#and not only accepting it but finding joy in it and finding his own purpose for living inside that joy but

[lizardkingeliot]

That can’t be all there is.

[froggiewrites]

hello i wanted to request a comfort fic with Law,Zoro and Sanji with their s/o being depressed,stressed

thanks in advance

Hi, sorry this took so long! This is the first time I've written a few smaller scenarios instead of one larger fic and I've gotta say, I really enjoyed it. It was a nice change of pace! So thank you for requesting this 😊 I hope this fic brings you the comfort you need, and that you're doing well!!

Hard Times

Pairing: Law, Zoro, Sanji x Reader

SFW

Summary: You've not been yourself lately, and he's been worried about you. Warnings: Mild Hurt/Comfort, Fluff Word Count: 1.7k total (a little over 500 each)

It didn’t take him long to notice something was wrong. There was a subtle change in you, something a less observant man would have missed. But you always had his attention, and he knew you well. You were a bit slower to respond, your eyes a bit unfocused, your smile less bright. He tried to tell himself it was nothing, that you were just a bit tired, but after the third time of finding you in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, he knew that you needed some more support. He was more than happy to be that support.

Law

Law is a deeply caring man, despite his attempts to appear otherwise, but he is also, unfortunately, terrible at showing it. So he doesn’t talk to you about it, not directly. He instead racks his brain, thinking of every possible way to reduce stress and ways to treat depression. His instinct is to opt for medicine, but he knows he should start smaller first.

“I have a gift for you.” He places it in your hands unceremoniously, trying to hide his delight at your small smile. That’s the most joy you’ve shown in days.

“Thank you, Law! That’s really sweet of you.” You carefully peel back the wrapping paper he had spent far more time than he would admit on, only for your face to show confusion. “A…lamp?”

“A UV lamp.” He says it as though the purpose is obvious.

“Okay?”

“It mimics sunlight.”

You blink at him. “I–you didn’t clarify anything.”

He shifts on his feet, eyes focusing anywhere but you. “We’re down on the seafloor a lot, so you can’t always go on deck for sunlight. And I think some sun will help you.”

Your eyes narrow as you try to put the pieces together. “Why?”

“Sunlight boosts serotonin production.”

You make a soft sound of understanding, before you give him a smirk he would normally hate to admit made his heart skip a beat. “You were worried about me.” You say it like it’s such a victory, like it isn’t something you expected. Clearly he had failed you somehow, if you thought he wasn’t always fretting about you. He typically tries to deny such things, the vulnerability making him feel unsure and small, but you were worth feeling a little weak.

“Of course I was worried about you.” He spits it, like it was so very obvious, and you laugh at him. Normally he would prickle, his defenses growing higher, but that’s the first time he’s heard you laugh in over a week. He would never admit the sound brought a tear to his eye, the relief tearing through him like a hurricane. He can’t help shifting forward, his hands cupping your cheeks as he checks to see if you’ve regained the sparkle in your eyes. It’s dim, but it’s there. He can’t resist kissing you.

You accept his warmth quickly and easily. You practically fall into his arms, nuzzling into his neck when your lips part. “You don’t have to worry. I can handle it. It always passes eventually.”

He sighs, kissing the top of your head. “Just because you can handle it on your own doesn’t mean you have to. You aren’t alone in this. You have me. You have the crew. We’re here for you, whatever you need, whenever you need it.”

Your voice comes out much quieter this time. “I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You aren’t.”

“...You promise you’d tell me if I was?”

He chuckles. “I promise.” He gently takes the lamp out of your hand, places it on your desk, and guides you to your bed. “Now tell me everything you need to get off your chest.”

And, to his relief, you do.

Zoro 

Zoro is blunt. He doesn’t know how to dance around your feelings, and frankly, he doesn’t care to. The faster he breaks through your reluctance to tell him what you need, the faster he can help you, and the faster you’ll be happy.

“Why aren’t you asking for help?”

You jump, not having heard him come in, too busy struggling to ground yourself. “What?”

“Something’s wrong. Why haven’t you come to ask for help?” He’s still dripping with sweat, having just come from a particularly intensive workout that was a failed attempt to distract himself until you finally broke and came to him. He can see you try to avoid his eye, so he gently grabs your chin and steers you toward him. He tries to make his voice gentle, sweet in a way he can never quite nail. “Sweetheart, talk to me. I just want to understand.”

You still avoid looking straight at him, even now, but you finally speak. “I…didn’t want to be a burden.”

He can’t hide his obvious confusion. “Huh?”

You finally look at him, not understanding his reaction. “What?”

“Who cares if you’re a burden for a while?”

You look shocked, “I do!”

“Okay, well no one else does! Everyone is a burden sometimes. No one can do everything on their own. The crew’s job is to help each other.”

“None of you guys have ever been a burden.”

“Were we not a burden, or were you just happy to help?”

You open your mouth to argue again, but he can see the exact moment you realize you really have nothing you can say. You can’t deny helping your crew has sometimes made your life harder. He’s seen it countless times. Your Captain alone has gotten you into dozens of situations you could hardly think about without wincing. But you were always happy to help, and a burden shared is a burden halved.

“Everyone here is happy to help you if you need it. All avoiding us does is make us worry.”

You seem to shrink in on yourself. “I’m sorry.”

He pulls you close, chuckling a little at the discontented noise you make when you realize he’s still sweaty. You squirm halfheartedly, but it doesn’t take long before you snuggle into his warmth. He can feel the muscles in your back slowly start to relax under his hands as you accept his touch. “No need for apologies, sweetheart. Just fix it. Talk about it.”

You hold him tight. “I don’t know exactly what I need. Everything’s just…hard. I don’t remember it always being this hard.”

He tries to ignore the way his heart breaks at how pained you sound. He instead focuses on the positives: you’re here, you’re talking, and you’re willing to accept help if it comes. “It won’t be this hard forever. I’ll be right here to make it a little easier, alright? And you can talk to Chopper for some help, too.”

“...Do you think I should?”

“I think that’s up to you. But we’re here. That’s what matters.”

You spend the rest of the afternoon in Zoro’s arms, and if he sees you sneaking to Chopper’s office later, he doesn’t mention it, though his relieved smile might give him away.

Sanji

Sanji is very in tune with your emotions, often realizing you’re upset before anyone else, and sometimes even before you register it yourself. It’s not uncommon for him to suddenly appear, food and drink in hand, ready to pamper you to your (or, maybe more accurately, his) heart’s content. So you don’t seem to suspect a thing when he starts setting up picnics for you on the deck, each dish carefully prepared to boost serotonin production and the drinks designed to reduce stress and anxiety. You’ve probably had more chamomile tea in the past few weeks than you’ve ever had in your life. 

He sets up the picnic blanket in the perfect location: enough room in the shade for you to rest if you get too hot, but positioned in a way that encourages you to soak up the sun. As you eat, he oh-so-subtly encourages you to talk, maintains skin on skin contact as much as he can, and observes everything he can to improve the next one.

You sit blankly for a while, letting him do as he pleases but not reciprocating, before you finally speak, your voice much flatter than usual. “Sanji?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Why are you doing this?”

He freezes. “Why am I doing what, angel?”

You shift in his arms, forcing him to look you in the eye as you do so. He can’t help but brush a stray crumb off of your cheek, his thumb tracing down to your jaw. You gently catch his hand in your own, squeezing it. “These picnics aren’t just little dates, are they, Sanji? Something is clearly wrong.”

He doesn’t know how to explain he’s worried about you without you feeling pressured to speak. He doesn’t want to push you if you aren’t ready, but he can’t stand to sit by and watch as you drown in your own head. “I–do you have anything you want to talk about?”

“What?”

“You haven’t been yourself lately. I just thought…you could use something like this.”

You seem to relax a bit. “So you’ve been worried about me?”

“Yes. I didn’t want to push you, but you clearly need some help, darling. I was hoping I could make this a bit easier for you.”

You give him a real smile for the first time in a while. “Is this why you’ve been sneaking me so many little treats? And why you’ve been so desperate to keep me away from caffeine?”

He tries not to flush. “I thought you could use a pick-me-up. And I read getting better sleep can help with mood.” He pulls you closer, pressing your face into his neck to hide his redness from you. “I was hoping it’d make talking about whatever’s wrong a little easier for you.”

You snuggle into him, accepting your warmth. “Talking about it is always hard. Everything is, right now.”

“Are you willing to try? I think it might help.”

He can feel your sigh. Your reluctance. But slowly, carefully, you unfurl the tension you’re holding, and you allow him to carry some of your burdens for you. You talk for hours, about everything, including things you were clearly frightened to speak aloud. By the end, you may not be perfectly happy again, but he can see your steps are a little lighter. He’s never been more relieved.

Tag List: @pandora-writes-one-piece @shy-writer-999 @saturogojosgirl @dreamcastgirl99 @tochillwithamockingjay

[hero-the-meep]

Why is the Doctor making Donna a cup of coffee so significant?

Well, he is trying to impress her, to get her to travel with him again – like he tried to do by using the TARDIS to make it snow at Christmas the first time he asked her to travel with him.

But he got that attempt wrong. Donna doesn't like Christmas, and the Doctor having the power to make it snow "scared her to death."

A cup of coffee, just how she likes it, is (on the surface of it) a smaller gesture to show that he remembered the little details about her. A cup of coffee is what brought them together all those years ago.

But it's what Donna told the Doctor about what Lance making her that cup of coffee meant to her that the Doctor really listened to and remembered.

"I was temping. I mean, it was all a bit posh, really. I'd spent the last two years at a double glazing firm. Well, I thought, I'm never going to fit in here. And then he made me a cup of coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen. Nobody gets the secretaries a coffee. "And Lance, he's the Head of HR, he didn't need to bother with me. But he was nice, he was funny. And it turns out he thought everyone else was really snotty too. So, that's how it started, me and him. One cup of coffee, and that was it."

Donna fell in love with Lance because he made her a cup of coffee. So used to being unnoticed and uncared for, something as simple as an 'important' man taking the time to make her a cup of coffee meant everything to Donna.

She thought it was a sign that he was kind, that he was nice. She thought it was a sign he noticed and cared for her.

And the Doctor sees how it devastates her to learn the real reason why he was making her coffee was to drug her for his own ends. Despite their differences, he's gentle when he breaks it to her. And it connects her to him in a shared grief.

So when the Doctor makes her a cup of coffee after she regains her memories, he's not just telling her that he remembers the little details about her like how she likes her coffee, but the big things too.

He's showing that he sees her, that he cares about her thoughts and feelings, that he wants to care for her after all these years when he couldn't. That he knows how important this is to her.

But that's not all.

In the alternative timeline, Donna never meets Lance. And yet, when she is upset, and afraid, she asks Rose Tyler for a cup of coffee. Steam rises from her mug as they stand around the console inside the dying TARDIS, and have the most honest conversation they've had yet about the Doctor and their feelings towards him.

In the proper timeline, the person we see Donna drinking coffee with is Wilf. In moments of joy and moments of upset they bond over coffee. Before she finds the Doctor again, Donna brings Wilf a thermos to escape Sylvia's criticisms.

Wilf is the only person in Donna's life who she can be herself around, who has unconditionally cared for her, and who she takes joy in caring for back.

Even in the alternative timeline, Wilf has held onto not only the telescope but the exact same thermos Donna brings him coffee in when he's up on the hill.

For the Doctor to remember how she takes her coffee, we know they must have had moments together like this off-screen too.

So when the Doctor makes her a cup of coffee, just how she likes it, he is communicating he remembers not just the small details of her but that he remembers all these things that she associates with making someone a cup of coffee – kindness, acceptance, being noticed, caring for someone and being cared for, home, and family.

It's possible, for the Doctor, there's an apology in that cup of coffee too.

But wait, there's still more.

Did Donna spill the cup of coffee on the console on purpose?

The slight of hand was rather obvious. And it came at a time when Donna was trying to convince him not to leave her, to come back home to her, if only just for a visit.

He'd not said no, but she'd easily seen through him the first time he lied about coming inside to have dinner with her family that first Christmas, and likely saw through him again – the avoidance of eye contact, fiddling with the TARDIS, the wane "yeah, maybe."

She also rather clearly wanted to go on another trip with him (she never wanted to stop in the first place), and was only saying no because of her obligations to her family. It's possible she was buying time by spilling the cup of coffee – just one more than one last trip, without it being her "fault."

She had, after all, just dropped a cup of coffee on a computer and lost a job she'd probably hated, knowing Donna. And before things had gone really wrong, she'd definitely been enjoying herself.

It's also possible she's still quite angry with the Doctor, but unable to fully verbalise this yet.

He connects the cup of coffee to remembering every detail of her. She has not been able to remember any detail of her life with him. The last time they were standing around the console together, he took her memories against her will. He says it killed him; but she – or that version of herself, the one she actually liked – was arguably the one who was killed.

And she might be remembering Lance, another man she truly loved and trusted, and how a cup of coffee seemed like a kindness but was in fact a lie, a violation.

The Doctor quite possibly also suspects something like this is what might have happened, given his level of anger at her.

Despite the fact that this Doctor is more able to admit his feelings, we don't see what happened between them when he took her memories ever properly resolved in words.

Instead, there are a series of proxy arguments that stand in for it – Donna's anger that she gave away all her money because of him, that he sees taking the slow path, living a life day after day as such agony when he made her do it, his anger at her faith that he will know how to defeat the Toy Maker.

And their most emotional proxy argument of all – who is at fault for stranding them at the edge of the universe? Is it Donna, who spilt the cup of coffee, or the Doctor, who she couldn't stop from wandering off?

Thematically, however, there is some resolution. The Doctor lets Donna decide to regain her memories, even if it means she'll die. The Doctor knows Donna enough to save her from being left to die alone, even if it is at the very last moment. The Doctor admits he used to think he knew everything, but now he knows he doesn't.

Donna gets to tell him it's not all about him saving her, gets him to stop, finally gets him to come home with her.

And in their last scene, it's the Doctor who is having the cup of coffee.

[bafvkun]

I just feel like talking about how deep Mikayu’s bound runs don’t mind me (HEAVY spoilers ahead).

Lets get this straight : i don’t care if you ship them or not (even if you would be a fool not to) but no one can deny that they’re literal soulmates and I’m gonna show you exactly why.

Yu and Mika were ALWAYS bound to find each other and reunite. I’m not saying that because I’m delusional it’s literally canon. Their relationship is as old as dinosaurs and once again : this is canon.

Yu (or should I say Mika but like whatever if you didn’t read the scans it would take an eternity to explain) was literally created for Mika. The sole purpose of his existence was to look after Mika and be his only friend. Since day one they were ment for each other.

They swore on every stars and defied fate itself that they will always found each other again no matter how many times they die or get taken away from the other in a way or another, no matter their race, age or era.

There I was talking about the first versions of them, but let’s talk about the main one, the one we all know in the anime and throughout the whole manga, Yuichiro and Mikaela Hyakuya.

Mika was the first one in this life to get Yu to open his heart, to make him accept his fate and push him to make the best of it. Yu was just a traumatized child that almost got killed by his own parents yet Mika made him feel like he belonged somewhere, he showed him that family wasn’t always meant to be bound with blood.

When Yu lost Mika it was like he lost all hopes, for the longest time Yu was suicidal, already from young age and this loss just made him feel so much worse. Yes the loss of his whole new family, including Akane and the kids was bad for him, but deep down what truly broke them was the loss of one another.

Years later they reunited, Mika like Yu both changed deeply because of their own experiences and yet their relationship stayed unchanged. Just the dynamic between them switched, Yu was now the one to convince Mika that he could trust his new family (Glenn and his own squad).

One day my mom told me « if when you reunite with a long lost friend and it feels like not even a day has passed, then it’s real friendship » and it’s been proven to me that this is true, Mikayu being yet another exemple of this.

As a vampire Mika doesn’t feel much anymore, it’s said loud and clear that turning into a vampire takes away from you any vulnerability, any love or lust. Yet Mika feels so vividly for Yu, it runs so much deeper than his own nature. His loyalty towards him is beyond any words could ever describe.

And it’s also so damn obvious how Mika is just so grumpy with anyone but smiles whenever Yu is around. He didn’t smile for anyone else than him throughout the manga, Yu is his literal everything, he is the only one that brings him peace and joy.

Now we skip forward a bit, Yu and Mika are in a deadly situation and against everything Mika dies. First let’s get the obvious out of the way, his last words were « Yu, I love you. ». I mean. There’s nothing more straightforward than that.

But then, when a vampire dies he becomes a demon, so of course Yu had to take him as his cursed weapon. So that’s exactly what he did, after so much struggle that I will pass here he finally got to talk with Mika and have a contract with him.

But the thing is when a vampire dies and becomes a demon he loses all his memories from his previous life, so Mika didn’t remember Yu at all. Yet, despite everything their bound didn’t die, quite the contrary. Even before they did the contract, so before Mika had access to Yu’s memories, there was still something inside him that screamed « that guy is important to me », even if he didn’t understand where it came from.

All the memories Mika had of Yu after that was again : from Yu’s own memories.

And what Mika saw broke him, the desire to die was so overwhelming even in his demon form he found himself speechless and hurt. He didn’t remember Yu but he knew that he was important to him more than he could ever tell. And he didn’t only see their memories together, he saw Yu’s whole life, the moment with his parents, the years they spent apart, Yu and Glenn’s relationship and his new family, he saw everything.

He swore his loyalty to him yet again, ready to do anything for him and face the end of the world hand in hand with him. And of course, even when he lost his memories Yu never once doubted him and that he would still follow him.

Now. I’ve been talking a lot about Mika’s love for Yu but what about the other way around ? Moving forward in the story again Glenn revealed something to Yu, his squad and Mika that left a dilemma hanging in the air. Yu had to chose between humanity and Mika. And what did he do ? He chose Mika, betraying not only Glenn, the man that save him physically and psychologically and that he respected the most in the world, not only his squad with who he shared ups and downs like a family but humanity itself for the survival of Mika.

If this doesn’t speak volumes to you I don’t know what will. Yu sacrificed EVERYTHING down to his own survival just to spend one more day with Mika. Now not only vampires, demons and angels were against him, but humanity too all for the sake of one man.

Both of them constantly put their whole life and universe on the line for the other and they always do it in a heartbeat, like any other decision would just be unthinkable.

They had so many discussions that made clear how deeply their feelings for one another go, no matter if you interpret it as brotherly or romantic love. They confessed to each other so many times how they can’t live without the other, how life is meaningless if the other isn’t around. How there’s not even a point in trying to live if it isn’t to face tomorrow together and how each other’s happiness is more important than anything else in the world.

Both of them held on solely for the other, both of them are still breathing and living their truth thanks to nothing else than one another.

Their love is so fucking beautiful and pure, it stayed untouched through generations and generations of them.

Mikayu is an amazing ship and anyone would be a fool to not read Seraoh of the end just to witness such utter and raw love.

[untaemedqueen]

Finding My Pack

Alpha!OT7 x Omega!Reader

Genre: Fated Mates, Omegaverse, Smut, Angst, Fluff

Series Warnings: Omega Abuse (Not By OT7), Fated Mates/Soulmates, Scent Sympathy, Sunshine!FMC, Knotting, Smut, MMMMMMMF, MMMF, MMF, MF, Breeding Kink, Cursing, Dom!OT7, Sub!Reader

Chapter Warnings: Omega Abuse

A/N: This will be the only chapter posted to Tumblr. All future chapters can be found on Patreon~! See you there!

Chapter 1.

"You do not lock the goddamn doors in this fucking house."

The sentence was thick with a growl, one that if I was born correctly wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. Just hearing the sharp hit of his words, my insides clenched and coiled, dying to listen and make sure that he wouldn't be mad at me again.

"Sorry," I whispered softly, looking down at my bare toes that curled awkwardly under my gaze.

"You need to put on your scent blocker and try a little bit harder to fit in here. You're making all your brothers crazy with that fucking smell."

Swallowing thickly, I grabbed the bottle from him with a nod.

If my scent made my brothers crazy, they made me out of my fucking mind with sickness. Every one of them smells like acidic garbage with a hint of overpowering sweetness, y'know, like the way too fake soaps or body lotions you find in those hoity toity stores.

"You're a fucking Pangborn. Please act like it," my father grumbled, wrinkling his nose at the smell of my nervousness. "Jesus Christ. I can't believe your mother made you."

His words were a low blow but nothing I wasn't used to hearing now. Nothing any of the pack said got to me as bad as it used it.

Liar.

Okay, a lot of it hurt but I tried not to think of it all the time. It was my fault, really. I wasn't born right.

To be a Pangborn in Cypress City, you have to be an alpha. The Pangborns breed for one purpose and one purpose only, to give the city more alphas then they know what to do with.

Every Pangborn is expected to be a boy, to be an alpha and to take on the numerous betas that are practically beating down the door for them to be let in. So when I was born, disappointment was ripe in the air. It still is.

A small female omega with no qualities and no purpose.

I'm nothing.

Oh that's fun, what a great thought to have. Even if it hurts, it's true.

Since I was born I've been kept hidden like a secret. There's no fairytale here, there's no pack of alpha princes waiting at the bottom of my incredibly sterile, sad tower. There's no one that cares. Well, maybe Brady and MacKenzie but they pretend I don't exist half the time.

Looking down at the bottle of scent blocker, a sob threatened to well up in my throat.

"Weak omega bullshit." That's what my father would say.

It's so fucking annoying to be different. It's so painful. But the hope that one day I'd be accepted never ceased to creep into my thoughts.

So I sprayed the spray on even though it makes me feel sick.

I could smell him before my door opened. His alpha pheromones were bleeding throughout the long hallway that lead to my room.

He smelled of garbage, lemon juice and the slightest hint of boysenberry. Although the boysenberry is not his own smell. It's a betas.

"Oy!" MacKenzie booms, shoving open the door.

His bright red hair and forest green eyes searched the mostly barren room until he found me in the corner.

"He cornered you again?" he asked softly, stepping into the room like he's witnessing a hurt animal.

"It's okay!" I tried to beam a smile for him but it fell flat into some kind of grimace.

MacKenzie wasn't really my brother, he hailed from the Alban Pangborns so he's more like my very distant cousin but he's pack and that makes him my authority regardless. If he barked at me, I'd end up doing his bidding. Just like all my other brothers do. I'm grateful he doesn't do it but he still could nonetheless.

"You sprayed on the right amount," Kenz praised, giving me a small smile.

The praise made me want to preen, made me want to jump and shout for joy that I did something right but I kept it locked tight within me.

"You'll be pleased to know that your father and some of the others are going on a business trip soon. It'll just be some of us left in the house. You won't have to smell all this alpha shite around, you ken?"

His thick accent made me smile then. When he first came over from Alba I had not a fucking clue what he was talking about but now it almost feels like a secret language we speak.

"I ken," I nodded, setting the spray down on my dresser.

"Just wait a while to come down to get your dinner. The boys and I have been having a beta fucking feast," he wiggled his eyebrows and left the doorway without so much as a goodbye.

I wish I was a beta.

No, actually, I wished I was an alpha. I wished I was born an alpha so that I didn't have to be a disappointment and left out of everything.

Sitting down on my bed, I fluffed the uncomfortable comforter around me to no avail and since I know I'm alone I let out the most pitiful of whines. Whining wasn't allowed. My father told me that alphas hate whining more than anything.

Once I whined during dinner with the Landons and their alpha son looked like he wanted to tackle me from across the table. It was the one and only time I was able to go to dinner with my family. They never let me go again.

I apparently ruined their business merger dinner.

My family made a fuck ton of money. Too much money to count on your fingers, not that I'd ever see a cent. I wasn't worth a dollar to them. They own a vast majority of land across the globe, mostly farms or patches of free wilderness that people are begging to buy from them.

If only those vast patches of land would be able to buy me a soft comfortable comforter. This one is rough and itchy and I don't like it. I don't know much about being an omega but I do know that I don't like the blankets I own.

You see, omegas are rare. Like one in one hundred is an omega rare. Somewhere in history omegas just became a rarity and as such they're terribly hated.

Whenever I tried to ask the pack any questions they all shut me down with a growl and told me to go back to my room.

"Y/N!"

My father's bark was sharp and I tightened my terribly uncomfortable blanket over my shoulders at the noise.

If they are having a beta party downstairs I most certainly wouldn't be welcome to interrupt it. All the beta females that came into the house hated me. I tried to be friendly and smile, tried to make friends with other girls but they didn't want anything to do with me.

Probably feeding into the whole hate omega-kind thing, huh?

When my father shouted my name again, I had no choice but to get up. It was an alpha command now, filled with bite and fury.

If I saw one bare tit I was going to lose my goddamn mind. I'd been having these awful urges these past couple of months. It felt like something was boiling in my gut and itching beneath my skin, just begging to get out of me. What it was, I wasn't sure but it feels fucking awful and devastating just the same.

When I was starting to run a fever, my father would give me a few pills and lock me up in my room until the fever had passed and I was able to carry on with my chores.

My feet took me without thinking. The large home I lived in with the twelve others in the pack passed by in a blur. I tried not to look up from the wooden floorboards, I really didn't want to see anyone mating out in the open like I know my brothers loved to do.

I could hear the audible moans of the betas, probably in various states of undress all around me as I made my way to my father's office.

This had always been my home but I'd always felt like a stranger here. It's not just because my family wasn't welcoming, it just felt wrong. Nothing in this place is where it should be. The pictures on the cabin-like wooden walls weren't at all in the right order, the couches in the sitting room weren't staged properly, even the wood that goes into the fireplace smells horrendous.

Everything about this place made me feel sick.

That includes my father's office.

Once I stepped inside I was immediately smacked with pheromones, ones that made my stomach roll with nausea. I wonder if that's how everyone felt. I wonder if betas got nauseous with their families too.

My eyes scanned the room which was terribly out of order and then they caught on the one picture that sat on my father's desk.

It was her.

My mother. Whom of which I've never met. She was a beta that my father never bonded with but got pregnant anyway. He loved her…I think. But when she had me and I was an omega she was disappointed and left me here. She left me here alone. With these people.

Family.

She left me here with my family.

I hadn't realized I whined until my father cracked his hand down on his desk with a fierceness. "What did I say about that shit?!"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Not that she ever does, eh?" my brother Riley laughed, elbowing me in the ribs as he passed.

Riley was an interesting case of smells. There's the cedar which makes sense because he spends a lot of time outdoors, there's the sharpness of spearmint like a powerful gum that makes your nostrils burn and…boysenberry?

He and MacKenzie have been sharing again. Definitely not uncommon for those two.

"Close the doors. She's gonna scare all the betas away. I'm not waiting another round for Hunter to have an alpha son of his own."

"Keep the lineage alive." That's the pack motto. What a terrible fucking bumper sticker that would be.

I stood there, looking down at my toes as my father and Riley talked and laughed with one another. Probably forgetting I was even in the room. Which happens sometimes.

"Alright, little O?" Kenz cheered, entering the office.

"Don't call her that," my father snapped, finally remembering I was around.

MacKenzie held his hands up in a gesture to soothe any frayed nerves and he sat down with a groan on the couch closest to father's desk.

"Y/N," my father began, not even offering the kindness to look at me. "Your brothers and I are going on a business trip outside of the city. Some of your brothers, like MacKenzie, are staying back because they have a dinner meeting at the house while I'm away."

My head lifts in surprise. Will I be allowed to go?! Can I eat dinner with my brothers?!

"There's many alphas in the pack, we can kill two birds with one stone. This business meeting is incredibly important for us."

My smile was megawatt and I nodded instantly. "Sure, of course! I can–"

"You can," my father interrupted with a sneer. "Make sure you stay in your room, take your pills and keep your scent blocker applied when the Euphoria Pack comes to the meeting. This contract will be our biggest one so far and I will not have your omega bullshit fuck it up for the rest of us. Do you understand?"

The disappointment and sorrow that swirled through me almost knocked me off my feet. "Oh, I see… I understand."

"See that you do. I won't stand for losing this deal because you couldn't handle yourself."

God, I wanted to curl up and die. I'm so pitiful. What a fucking waste. I wish I was never born an omega.

Trying to bury whines and suffering hurt sometimes and in this instance it felt like a red hot poker was shoved down my throat.

"She stinks like sadness," Riley chuckled, shaking out his long brown hair and looking me over with disdain dripping from every pore.

"Lighten up, brother. She's only human," Kenz laughed, stepping in front of me and waving his hand behind his back.

Get out.

That's what he was telling me.

"Dinner will be brought up to you. If you're feeling hot then take your pills. We're leaving in the morning and we won't be back for a few weeks."

Oh, thank God, I could do without seeing my father and half of my brothers for weeks on end. Maybe finally I would be able to walk around without getting yelled at.

Three days of the freedom I thought I would be acquiring went by too fast. I'd been left with my brothers that were the easiest to deal with. Brady, Ronan, MacKenzie, Dash and Hunter were, of course, the easiest to deal with because they never nagged me and they were always too busy fucking betas to really give a shit what I was doing.

The house stunk of sex and carefree fun but more importantly it smelled of my freedom. I was able to go out in the garden to read, to sunbathe, to smell something that wasn't garbage. It was heavenly.

I'd seen flowers I've never seen before, ones that weren't there the last time I was in the gardens. Apparently Leticia, one of the pack chasers, suggested sprucing things up. When I suggested it to my father I got sent up to my room with no dinner and pills because I was acting 'out of order.' I'm a person not a goddamn machine. How could I possibly be out of order?

But now with the three days of freedom gone, I'm once again left up in my room without a single thing to do. Defiance curled in my bones and I narrowed my eyes at the white little pills on my bedside table.

My father wasn't here, he wouldn't know if I took them or not. I'd rather get a fever then take them and feel even sicker than before. Those pills made me nauseous and I felt like reality was so far out of touch that I'd never get back to it. I did end up spraying the scent blocker, though. Just one little spritz, just enough to save the visiting alphas downstairs from my monstrous odor.

They shouldn't be subjected to a disgusting omega. An embarrassment to the family.

The sprawling cabin estate was large before our eyes but it pales in comparison to the mansion we just created on the outskirts of the state.

"I don't like the smell," Jin murmured to us.

The smell was honestly horrific. These alphas seemed to stew in the scents of sex and their own pheromones. You could smell the female betas like they were throwing out a wide casting net to repulse everyone around them.

"Why the fuck did we agree to this?" Taehyung grumbled, folding his arms.

"Because although they're disgusting, they're rich as fuck and they have the land we need to start up the center," Namjoon replied evenly, fixing his tie.

I couldn't seem to take my eyes off the enlarged wooden cabin in front of us. That's exactly what it was: a large, gigantic wooden house. It would be almost comical if it wasn't very real.

"I don't even wanna touch the door," Hoseok hissed, taking to kicking the front door insead.

Even in this day and age everyone lives with the one soul purpose of finding their person, their omega but this pack didn't seem to care about finding one. Not with the way their lodgings smelled.

Now, of course, finding an omega that's right for your pack is like finding a unicorn or finding gold at the end of a rainbow but packs do it. Not all the time but enough to keep packs hopeful, at least.

Once the door swung open, a red headed alpha before us smiled widely. "Gents, welcome! The Pangborn Pack is happy to have you!"

Namjoon gave him his typical killer smile and the alpha seemed to relax at it. Our pack leader was all killer charm and easy going… until you fuck with his pack.

The seven of us have only had each other for quite a few years now and our family depends on one another more than most.

"Thank you for having us," Jimin smiled, stepping into the home first.

His eyes bounced around the interior before nodding. Once I stepped into the entryway behind him, the need to look at the inside faded. In the air, apart from the alpha scents were the scents of dinner and something so deliciously sweet that it made my mouth water.

Fuck! What is that smell?!

"Made us dessert?" Namjoon inquired with a laugh.

So he can smell that too.

The scent was warm and sugary like a fresh out of the oven sugar cookie with vanilla ice cream slowly melting on top.

Why the fuck was I about to nut over dessert?

Casting my eyes to Taehyung, I could see him tugging at the collar of his expensive dress shirt.

It was getting increasingly hot in here, that I could guarantee.

The scent was so thick and practically viscous I could feel it wrapping around my cock and tugging sensuously. My knot was two seconds from expanding and the desire to rut until I was sated was pressing indecently on my brain.

"No dessert here, lads. The betas can barely cook a steak without it burning! We ordered out for dinner tonight! Dinnae ken billionaires like you would be opposed to that, eh?"

"Dinnae ken means didn't think," another alpha offered, slipping in beside the redhead. His hair was long and brown, shaggy even with a boyish smile that could probably charm anyone he laid his eyes on.

"That sounds great," Jin replied, unbuttoning his suit jacket and cracking his neck.

Whatever that fucking scent is, it has us all by the balls.

Namjoon gripped his hand into a fist, eyes glazing over all of us. "To the dining room, then?"

"Getting right down to business! I love that! We have betas to look after anyway," Red chortled, wiggling his eyebrows at us.

When the group of us moved with the two other alphas, my heart started to hammer as the smell became stronger.

I tried to temper my growl that wormed its way up my throat but Joon caught it. "I don't know what it is but fuck, I want it so bad," he agreed.

"Alright there, lads?"

"Just have to use the restroom. Would you mind sending me in the right direction?" I inquired, needing to find the words through a thick haze of want.

"Bathroom on the first floor is occupied for the betas. Second floor up that staircase there," Red pointed to the staircase from where the scent is strongest. "Fifth door on the right."

With a nod, I set off trying not to falter and stumble from the exquisite smell.

"We'll be waiting in the dining room. The pack is excited to make this merger," the brown haired man smiled.

Once they were out of sight I took the stairs two at a time, eyes searching for any indication of where the scent came from.

I let my senses guide me. Following the smell took me past the bathroom and past any rooms that smelt of the alphas. Stopping at the end of the hallway, the door before me was completely different from the others. It was metal, almost sterile in a sense. But the scent was there, it was so heady and present that my cock stood to attention.

"Oh fuck," I grunted, shoving open the door and barreling up the stairs.

The hallway I rushed down was bare of anything home-y and it looks like some sort of clinical hospital ward.

The door at the other end suddenly opened in a flourish and the sweetest little thing I'd ever seen stepped out with curious, glazed eyes.

"Omega," I groaned long and low, stepping toward her.

She was the maddening scent. She was what my pack was going crazy over.

"Oh! I'm so… I've never–" the sweet thing whispered, looking me over with hunger.

The perfect woman. Right before my fucking eyes. Those lips, those sweet eyes, that adorable, if not a little scared smile, that fucking body. Built just for me and my other pack brothers.

Mine, mine, mine! Every cell in my body screamed it with frantic need.

"Why do you smell so good?" she whimpered, lifting a hand as if she wanted to touch me.

Please fucking touch me. Holy shit, I was going out of my fucking mind from this perfect little thing.

"What do I smell like, sweetness?" I inquired, stepping closer.

"Like warm hot chocolate and marshmallows. Not like garbage at all!" she gasped, looking up with wide, innocent eyes.

A laugh tumbled past my lips. What an innocent creature.

"Does everyone smell like garbage to you, sweetness?"

"I just want to…" she groaned, a whimper slipping past her lips.

A purr started in my chest, rattling my bones with how thick and heavy it was. Oh fuck, I'd never purred for anyone before.

"What do you want?" I asked softly, holding my hands up to show her I mean no harm.

She gripped my wrist with a dainty hand probably thinking it had a fierceness she didn't embody. She lifted my hand to her soft cheek and my purr started up once more.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, not taking her eyes off mine. "I know omegas are disgusting. I shouldn't bother you."

The sweet purr she pulled from me turned to a growl in an instant. "You could never be disgusting. Omegas are precious. Didn't your alphas teach you that?"

She stared up at me, eyes starting to brim with tears.

Oh my God, she was everything I could have ever wanted. My pants were so fucking tight, my heart feels like it was gonna combust and I'm pretty damn sure I just met my fucking mate.

"They're not really my alphas," she whispered softly, keeping my wrist close to her nose.

I wanted to take this gorgeous woman and lock her away where no one but the pack can find her. Holy shit, my brain was turning to fucking mush.

"What are they then if not your alphas?" I asked, stepping closer.

When my chest brushed against hers, she perfumed the air for me and another purr ripped from my chest like it was an instrument being played purely for her.

"Brothers, father," she mumbled, lost in a haze of our own making.

"So you don't have a pack of your own, sweetness?" I whispered, coursing my thumb over her cheek.

"No one would want me. I'm useless," the omega replied so softly I might not have heard her if not for her keeping my attention ensnared.

"I highly doubt that, pretty girl. What's your name?"

"Y/N…"

Beautiful.

"I'm Jeongguk. It's nice to meet you, sweetness."

"I can't take it. I can't take it. I can't take it!" Jimin chanted, rushing into the hallway.

The omegas gasp was loud and frightened for only a moment until she laid eyes on the other alpha. I purred for her, watching her instantly relax at the noise.

"This is Jimin. He's a part of my pack. The Euphoria Pack."

"Oh no, I've…I've ruined dinner. My father will be so upset with me," she groaned, sounding not as upset as she probably would be if I wasn't purring up a fucking storm.

"Scent sympathetic. I thought it was like a fucking myth for people like us," Jimin laughed, stepping up beside me.

He didn't seem jealous or upset at all that my hands were on her. We've never tried for an omega, not really. Unfortunately, most omegas wanted us for our money and not for the connection. Not to mention most of the omegas we met smelled so cloyingly sweet that it gave us headaches for weeks. Most omegas wanted just some of us but not all of us and that doesn't bode well for a pack.

"You smell like calming tea and blueberries," Y/N breathed, blinking up at him.

"And you smell like a yummy dessert, sweetheart. How's such a pretty omega like you hidden up here away from everything?"

"Why are you being so nice to me? I'm just an omega," she whimpered, looking between us.

"'Just an omega'? Don't you know your worth, pretty girl?" I scoffed, tilting my head.

She opened her mouth to reply, only to shut it and furrow her eyebrows.

"I want to introduce her to the pack. I think this is it. I think we found our girl," Jimin beamed at me, allowing her to pull him closer.

She seemed to be a needy little thing. One we certainly wouldn't mind doting on. She also seemed completely out of touch with reality and it wasn't just because she was obsessed with our scents.

"Do you have a nest, sweetness? Would you care to show us?"

A nest is very sacred to omegas, it's one of the only places they can find comfort during heats and in times of stress. It was incredibly forward for me to ask but I wanted to know what she liked. I knew my hopes might be high but I wanted to set up the nest in the new mansion how she would like it. Because she was mine. She was ours. She belonged with us.

"I– What's a nest?" Y/N asked, eyebrows pinching innocently.

"Do not fucking tell me you're kept in the dark up here," Jimin growled deeply, his scent turning acidic.

Instead of turning tail and running, she started to… climb him?

She climbed him like a fucking tree. And the good looking bastard was all for it.

One arm snaked around her waist to keep her up and the other ran up and down her back in soothing motions.

She nuzzled his cheek and neck, whimpering and begging for his scent to be all over her.

"Good girl," Jimin cooed, purring for her. "Take what you want, sweetheart. We'll gladly give it."

There were rules to getting an omega, courting before mating and making sure your omega was happy and well looked after. In some cities omegas even went to Help Centers to find their perfect pack but Cypress City had no such thing. That was what we were trying to change. That was why we needed this deal with this pack.

"I don't know what's happening! I'm so sorry! I just feel so…"

"Overwhelmed?" Jimin offered, pulling back to look at her.

She nodded, whimpering and tucking her face into the crook of his neck.

"We need to talk to the pack," I told him, pressing my chest to her back and purring. I drifted the back of my hand over her bare arm and she seemed to thrive on not only praise but physical affection.

"I can't leave her," Jimin hissed over her shoulder, hugging her tighter at the thought of having to part.

"I don't want you to go! Please! I'm so tired of being alone! Please don't go!" she sobbed into his neck.

A growl ripped from my chest at her sadness and I was storming off before I even knew what was happening.

She's mine. She's mine. She's mine.

"Guk!" Jimin called but I was already barreling down the stairs with a fierceness building in my chest.

They kept that precious omega in a sterile fucking ward like she was some sort of disease. She didn't even know what a nest was! It was a disgrace! She'd been abused without even understanding anything!

She's mine!

If one more sob of hers entered my ears, I thought I might burn their oversized camp cabin down and dance on the embers.

Shoving open the dining room doors, I glowered at the pack that sat high and mighty at the end of the long dining room table. Once they saw me and smelled me, they all stood.

"Been wandering around our home, have you?" Red asked with the tilt of his head.

"Stupid girl can't do anything but get herself in trouble!" one of them sneered.

The insult made a growl rip from my throat and they all stared long and hard at me. I wouldn't stand for this. I couldn't stand for this.

"She doesn't even know what a fucking nest is. How dare you all treat an omega like this! This is abuse!" I boomed, widening my eyes at them.

My packs jaws fell open in shock and suddenly they were standing to surround me, to have my back.

"She's scent sympathetic with us," Jimin assured, entering the room with her still cradled to him.

I was happy she liked him. He's far more easy going and carefree then most of us and she'd enjoy his company.

My pack stepped toward her and she cried sweetly at all of their scents. They purred for her and my heart expanded. No one was left out and she locked eyes with all of them. She jumped ship from Jimin to Namjoon and he nuzzled her hair. He wrapped her legs around him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Would you like to leave this place, pet?" he inquired.

“She'll do no such thing!" Red boomed.

When she whimpered at the alpha bite, we growled in defiance.

"You think your bark is bad? Mine was given to me by the devil. If I have to force you to obey, I fucking will. It's the omegas choice. You can't keep her here like a fucking prisoner!" Joon boomed.

"She's not a part of the deal," one of the Pangborn's hissed through his teeth.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she gasped repeatedly, trying to set herself down.

"Do you want to get down, pet?" Namjoon asked, tilting her jaw to look up at him.

She reluctantly shook her head, burying her face back into his neck.

Oh fuck, she's so perfect and sweet.

"Then you stay exactly where you are," the pack leader whispered, giving her his wrist to be able to tilt his head and glower at the Pangborn pack.

"You expect me to pay? For a person?! Are you out of your small alpha minds?" Namjoon bit out, sneering at her brothers.

"MacKenzie… Dad is gonna flip," one of them breathed.

"I'm tired of always having to sneak Juliet around. Just be rid of her. Omegas are nothing but trouble."

Hoseok growled so loudly, something he never does, that it almost made my chest rattle.

"I know you don't know us very well," Seokjin breathed slowly as the other pack continued to argue. "But if you feel safe with us we'd like to take you somewhere you can be yourself and be happy. How does that sound, princess? You deserve much better than this shithole."

"I won't feel sick?" she inquired, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

Oh, she's killing me here.

"Do you feel sick in this house?" Yoongi growled, narrowing his eyes at the other pack.

Her nod was slow and sad.

"I'm getting her out of here. Now!" Namjoon boomed, pressing her face into the scent gland of his neck.

She seemed to love being held. We could do that for her. We could give her anything and everything she wants. We could be good for her.

"Give us a million!" Red or MacKenzie called back but Namjoon was already heading for the door.

"Get fucked!" our pack leader growled.

"Wh-Where are we going?" Y/N asked, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"Home, sweetness," I promised. "We're going home."

[shisasan]

Moving to Japan many years ago and being introduced more meticulously to its culture, history, and philosophy sparked a deep and lasting fascination that took root within me. Through extensive reading, research, observation, and reflection, it offered me valuable insights that, for some reason, blended organically with my own Balkan mentality. Japanese thought is like a quiet, endless ocean - vast and mysterious, yet full of deep truths for those curious to explore its depths. It’s not only that we can learn from it - it’s that we are drawn to it. The soul, restless and searching for meaning, finds itself captivated by its quiet elegance, by wisdom that is not shouted but whispered, like a secret offered in the stillness of the night. Herein lies its true beauty: it doesn’t force itself on you, it invites. It calls the spirit to explore the unknown, to face its own shadows, and in doing so, to find peace.

Here are a few philosophical principles that I find deeply compelling, each reflecting a unique idea or value within the expansive spectrum of Japanese aesthetics, ethics, and spirituality:

In the philosophy of "kensho" (見性), the gradual awakening to one's true self, there is a calm defiance against the rush of modern life. How easily we are deceived into thinking self-worth is built overnight, but Japanese thought insists on a far more patient, sometimes demanding journey - a slow, deliberate peeling away of the surface until only the real essence of the self remains. This is not comfort, but truth, and the search for truth is never without a bit of struggle. Yet in this struggle, in this slow awakening, there is beauty - one that cannot be grasped by those who seek only the fleeting joys of instant satisfaction.

Much like "bushidō" (武士道), the way of the warrior, this journey demands honor, integrity, and the kind of inner strength that does not waver, no matter how treacherous the path, a kind of inner strength that stands resolute in all circumstances. Bushidō embodies Gi (rectitude), Yū (courage), Jin (benevolence), Rei (respect), Makoto (honesty), Meiyo (honor), Chūgi (loyalty), and Jisei (self-control). It is not simply enduring hardship - it is about living with powerful intention, where loyalty, integrity, and courage form the foundation of a purposeful life. This spirit of Bushidō isn't about suffering but about a fierce dedication to living with honor and resilience, and within that struggle, one’s character is shaped. There is no arrogance in true confidence, only a hard-won resilience, the kind that grows in the cracks like a delicate flower breaking through stone.

Then comes "shibumi" (渋み) - that quiet, understated elegance that goes almost unnoticed, simplicity hiding a depth of complexity. True self-esteem, true understanding, doesn’t need to shout. It exists in the way a person holds themselves, moves through the world with calm, steady presence that speaks volumes without saying a word. This is confidence born not from pride but from humility, from understanding one’s place in the larger order of things, and finding peace in that awareness.

The beauty of "wabi-sabi" (侘寂) lies in its celebration of imperfection. It rejects the idea of flawless perfection and instead finds beauty in the cracks of imperfection and flaws. There is something both bittersweet and freeing in this acceptance - that we are all, in some way, broken, and it is through those very fractures that we find our true beauty. It’s a perspective that would resonate deeply with Dostoyevsky, who found humanity in the brokenness of his characters.

Perhaps the greatest gift of Japanese philosophy is the concept of "yūgen" (幽玄), that deep, elusive beauty lying just beyond reach, in the shadows and the unseen. Life is not meant to be fully understood, and some things are better left as mysteries. This unknowable depth gives life its meaning, its richness. The surface may seem dark, but beneath lies an entire world for those willing to look deeper, to feel with their soul, rather than just see with their eyes.

Finally, there is "fudōshin" (不動心) - the unshakable mind. To be calm, to be still, in the face of the storm - that is where true strength lies. It lies not in the victory and worldly achievements, triumph or success, but in the calm, steady enduring of life’s storms. This is the magnetic presence that draws others in, not through force or charm, but through the quiet power of someone who has faced the abyss and emerged, not untouched, but unbroken.

In Japanese philosophy, I’ve found a mirror to the human condition - beautiful, tragic, profound, and endlessly deep. It teaches us that self-esteem, like life, is not something to be attained in a moment, but something to be continuously sought, patiently, through humility and acceptance. There is no end to this journey, and in that endlessness lies its greatest beauty.

[kurishiri]

Liam Evans ┊ To our greed this Christmas

꒰ ִ ֺ ⊹ @ notice ⊹ ֺ ִ ꒱ this translation may not be 100% accurate or contain creative liberties due to characterization or narrative flow purposes. if you enjoy, please consider reblogging, but don’t repost these or claim these as your own!

— the 230 times sent bonus for elbert's promised christmas event.

— cw: a bit of angst maybe, ale cameo!?

Liam: Kate, look!

On the night of December 1st, Liam handed out a box with each number ranging from 1 to 24 written on it.

Liam: It’s called an advent calendar, where you receive a present every day until Christmas day.

Liam took apart the part of the box that said ‘1,’ and there appeared a cookie.

The interior of the box was split into 24 parts, each containing some sweets.

Kate: Ohh...! It really is wonderful that we get to enjoy not only Christmas, but the days leading up to it as well.

Liam: Right? Every day from now, I’d like it if you could enjoy it little by little.

And so, we spent our days looking forward to opening the advent calendar.

However, one day, a certain incident occurred...

Roger: ...I’m really sorry. I know you guys were looking forward to it.

In Roger’s hands was the advent calendar — albeit in a pitiful state.

Ale just happened to be around in the castle, and drawn to the scent of sweets, it seemed he ate all the sweets.

Liam: No no, it’s on me for putting it in a place Ale could reach, so don’t worry about it.

Roger did go out looking for an advent calendar to replace the one we had,

but apparently it was not a common thing in England, so they didn’t sell it anywhere...

And so, wanting to apologize, Roger treated us to some booze.

(I know Liam was looking forward to the advent calendar, too, so I wonder if there’s something I can do as well...)

(...Oh, I know!)

On the third day before Christmas...

Liam: A present for me?

Kate: Yep! Go ahead and open it.

Liam took out a small box from the bag I gave him.

Liam: Is this an advent calendar?

Kate: It’s handmade, so it doesn’t look the most pretty, and the date went from 21 to 23...

Liam: But you knew I was looking forward to the calendar, so you went out of your way to make one?

L: Thank you so much... I’m so happy.

Just like handling a precious gem, he treated it with respect and courteousness, his hands cautious.

Liam gently took the distorted handmade box in his hands.

Liam: ...You know, there was a time when I was little. My butler, Jacob, gave me an advent calendar.

—— Flashback ——

Jacob: Young master, would you take this?

Liam: What’s this?

Jacob: It’s apparently called an advent calendar. See, the dates are written on it, right?

J: Apparently, you can have a little present until Christmas.

Liam: But, I didn’t do anything to deserve a present...

Jacob: You did do something, though? After all, to be able to serve you, every day has been a joy...

J: This is a present to thank you for every day. So please accept it!

—— End flashback ——

Liam: And then... when I happened to find an advent calendar in a shop, I thought to myself, ‘I really want to enjoy this with Kate.’

L: Because just you being here with me has made every day shine... and I’m grateful for that.

L: So, it really makes me happy that you made this advent calendar while thinking of me.

L: Can we open today’s present then?

When I nodded, Liam opened the calendar——and his eyes lit up.

On Christmas day, after enjoying a Christmas party with Crown, we returned to our room.

Liam: Kate, could I use this?

The three tickets he brought out were ones put into the advent calendar.

Written on each one was ‘hug for 〇 minutes,’ ‘kiss 〇 times,’ and ‘〇 for 〇 minutes,’

where the circles were where Liam could write the numbers and words he wanted.

Of course, even without these tickets, Liam and I have hugged,

and we have kissed — and done more than that — as well...

But Liam sometimes does hold himself back for me, so I put in something that would let him think it was alright to touch me as much as he wanted without holding back.

(That said, I did realize afterwards it was a bit of a bold move, perhaps...)

(But every time Liam opened a part of the advent calendar, he looked so happy, which makes me happy in turn too.)

Kate: Of course. I gave them to you so you could use it, after all.

Liam: Yay, then I’ll start with the hug one.

Liam handed me the ticket, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Kate: A hug... for 1,000 minutes?

Liam: Yep, for 16 hours and 40 minutes.

While converting to numbers I could more easily understand, Liam pulled me into a tight hug.

Liam: ...Then we stay like this until 3:40 P.M. And then there’s the kiss ticket.

Kate: Kiss... 1,000 times.

Liam: I figured holding back wasn’t good, so I wrote the number, wanting to go all out. ...No can do?

Kate: It’s... not that... Just that I’m happy that you want to touch me—— ...nn...

He stole my lips while I was talking.

Liam: ...Sorry, I couldn’t hold myself back. That would make the first kiss. Can I have the second too?

Kate: ...Yes.

This time, Liam went further than a peck, his tongue entering my mouth.

Kate: ngh... ah...

The deep kiss made the heart of my mind go numb.

Liam: ...And that’s the second one.

Kate: R-really? Are second kisses... really that good...?

Liam: It counts as a kiss when we part after our lips meet, right? Okay, next is the third kiss...

And so, over and over, while hugging me, we spent hours exchanging many kisses.

Kate: Liam... I...

1,000 minutes of hugging had yet to pass, and we had yet to share 1,000 kisses.

But, a flame lit in my body, and the inside of my stomach throbbed, wanting Liam.

Liam: Mhm... I’m also at my limit. Let me use the last ticket then.

Written on the third ticket was ‘doing pleasurable things together for 1,000 minutes.’

Liam: ...Let’s feel good together for 1,000 minutes, then, Kate.

I accepted the greedy love that Liam showed, as the Christmas night went on until late.

Fin.

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masterlist🐈🎁 ┊ ko-fi ☕️ ┊ comms 🤍

[sp00pypumpkins]

This is how I feel Zero would met player HAHHA, they werent prepared to face an adult human per se XD.

Au belongs to @asamary!

I am going to rant a bit about it under the cut.

He uses they/he pronouns

He is slightly smaller than catnap

So Zero was just in a intership for a short period before he found the truth and wanted to out it but they got him and turn him into a toy! When he found the truth he met the prototype but his fascination of gadgets and mechanism was stronger than feeling fear XD

He can produce energy via his emotions and on his own will if he is in good shape, he met the critters soon after, he was in charge of the time for movies or shows and story telling. His knowledge in mechanism made him be able to have more dinamic storytelling using tricks with lights and such.

Zero then loses their temper electrocuting a scientist not on purpose trying to stop them for taking more kids, in wich the scientist take notice and take him to the labs in wich he got experimented more and amplifying his production of electricity.

He then kept being experimented while being plugged to the facility providing electricity to a portion of it. He became a living generator.

The prototype then offered them to be part of the hour of joy by the promise of revenge and freedom and no more pain, he accepted and shut the facility down from electricity and closed the doors from many places trapping everyone inside.

Now this is where the the au and canon takes different paths

Since in canon Zero gets deceived by the Prototype and was kept as a generator for the prototype (basically he will still be used as a generator by the prototype) the prototype would carve a mouth in the shape of a smile on Zero so he can feed. Zero dislikes him after being betrayed.

In the au since the prototype just killed the scientists and the bad people, Zero is very loyal to the prototype and helps them finding the more bad people by hacking security cameras or websites, but he stays in the town most of the time.

In the au Zero lives in the basement of the aparment the critters live in (if they are in a building and not just a singular house lmao) He produces the energy of a portion of the city, if he doesnt their electricity would go hirewire, he just plugs himself at night and acumulates the electricity in the generators.

If there is a storm and ther ei s apower outage he can easily feed the building, you just need to wake him up and tell him about it.

Zero has 6 minicritters of themselfves in wich some are patrolling and some are around him, they are like security cameras in a way

They go around fixing a lot of stuff around town specially electronics,

He likes to create gadgets, toys or artwork from metal, thats why he would go to the dupmster zone to search for parts and bring them home, they find admiration how the prototype can dissamble an object to create another so he looks up to the prototype like a teacher.

He is usually in the background doing mundane fixes there and there, because he was isolated and the only contact was when they experimented on him, he gets veyr anxious around adult humans but with time you can see he is just a silly guy who adores affection he just doesnt know how to handle it yet.

I like to think they are the guy whom people go when something gets broken or need assitance with.

I really couldnt stop thinkning about the au, its 2 am but I probs forgot things.

If ya dont mind I shall keep doing lil comics about this au with my oc in it qwq

Now just a wip of a future ref I am making

Some fun facts:

He dislikes being touched in the back

The Prototype helped zero gain a mouth and get unplugged from the cables since it was a tedious and careful task.

The minicriters have different shapes (i forgot to put the x body marks on the square anthena minicrtitter :()

Simple shape on anthena= complex shape on body and vice versa.

He can speak human language very soflty but it feels off for him specially if he talks for to long it starts to hurt. (He normally talks in gibberish like puppycat from the show :D)

The stronger the emotion the more energy he can produce

If there are tvs plug on them or he touches them, he can comunicate with those using memories and replicating the voice from that memory (is like doing a collage of different voices and images in a tv) he can also project their dreams on tvs

He is very light

The scarf/coat is attached to them like part of their body.

They are protective of their friends he isnt very strong but will fight for them

He gets sometimes ghost pains in their back, the scale of pain depends of the day

ANYWAYS thats it me thinks I shall make lil comics about all the facts and other stuff other times qwq

If u read everything, thank you and hello! Hope u have a good day :D

Also sorry about the grammar and writting english is not first language and its 2 am HAHAHA

They have a hard time hidding how they really feel because the color their anthena, eyes and stars may change by how he feels

He tries to always stay calm and with right composure but he is actually very emotional, he just had learn how to manage the emotions

[moochii-daisies]

-18+, Minors DNI

- Genre//Pairing: fluff // idol yoongi x ditzy mess of a reader (they're the same age, reference to bein born in the 1900's)

- Summary: yoongi misses going to the movies, luckily - someone has a plan

- Length: 4.3k words

- warnings-content contains: swearing and yoongi has a lil sad moment (immediate comfort). reader and yoongi have unspoken (obvious) crushes on each other. cheesy use of d-day because song references bring me joy. they hold hands. because it's important to me that someone holds his hand. idk what it's like to be an idol this is loosely based on a daydream haha.

- Sidenotes: i think yoongi mentioned missing going to the movies in road to d-day? idk but the idea keeps popping up so i hope you enjoy and thank you for reading if you do <3 also - i think i read a fic a yr or so ago that first inspired this and if i can find it i'll post it here asap! (despite how this starts - i feel like yoongi would be so accepting and i hope that comes across)

──୨ৎ──────୨ৎ──────୨ৎ─────୨ৎ─

     "no."

yoongi slams the door in my face before i'm able to get a word in. and ok yeah, this idea is ridiculous.

but i'm on a mission.

it's sole purpose?

is to get this man out of the damn house.

     the devil himself mumbles through the intercom outside his front door, "you of all people, can not tell me to leave." and to be fair, the devil has a point.

     yoongi and i met in a pretty cliche way: bumped into each other in an elevator at work. but it wasn't love at first sight.

to put it politely.

the first time we were introduced properly, all this man did was stare blankly and say, "ok." before loudly launching into a monologue about how some girl on the elevator had ruined his morning coffee. (i accidentally bumped his shoulder and made him drop it.)

     in the many months since then - choice words have been said and things got immature. we may or may not have driven each other insane by exclusively texting at obscene hours. and someone may have pushed every single button on the elevator once to make the other late (it backfired, we were both going to the same meeting.)

     weirdly enough and despite all of this, our mutual love of chillin' the fuck out has been strong enough to bond us together. our combined ability to not leave the house has led to us spending a lot of our free time in each other's company. usually i hide whenever the doorbell rings, "you're like a stray cat." is what yoongi always says, all because i hissed at the sound of the doorbell one time. in my defense, i never know who the hell is gonna walk through his door. and i only hissed cause i was really tired. i think jungkook had come over at 8am to drop something off before he went to bed.

also, we almost exclusively hang out at his penthouse apartment. he came over to my place exactly once and discovered that i'd stopped going to the grocery store. in my defense (again), convenience stores really are convenient.

     since i "keep myself alive with shit food and miracles" - according to yoongi, our friendship has evolved to be...dynamic to say the least.

     this time though, i'm not the one who needs help being a person.

this time is different.

     i knew yoongi was famous before we became friends but it pretty quickly became obvious that yoongi was such an extreme shut-in out of necessity, not his own free will.

     if i hadn't recognized it, he certainly would've let me know. the hints started to drop whenever we'd watch a movie, he'd grumble and throw pieces of popcorn into my hair -

"this would be way more fun if we were in a theater."

     he insisted he didn't really want to go though, so i dropped it initially. but then he started sighing while looking out the window.

longingly.

     his chest would heave while he peered around dark curtains in his living room. although, he only ever did it at nighttime, so i dunno what he was looking at exactly. we did help stop a mugger once - with the aid of gargantuan binoculars that he bought for a bird-watching phase. i can't deny, that part was pretty cool.

however - the popcorn has become an issue. it's like he always has it on his person, specifically to throw at me. i dunno how he manages to do it but, there have been a few meetings lately where the other members stopped to pick pieces of it out of my hair with skeptical looks.

     i've given every reasonable excuse for it at this point and they're starting to get strange (ex: "i like to eat it with my hair hanging over the bowl.") whenever i've tried to call out the person responsible, yoongi does that thing he does when he's trying to avoid something. he gazes off at nothing and pretends to think very hard. usually, while he's walking away.

    all of this is to say - that's kinda why i'm here now: arguing with yoongi, locked outside of his apartment, with three giant bags weighing on my arms.

     " i, for some reason, am the only person who can tell you to leave." i smash down the button of the intercom to relay my response.

hobi led the group call initially -

     ok, i say group call. but this was the entire conversation:

hobi: yoongi?

jin: yep.

jimin: mhm.

taehyung: yup.

namjoon: yeah.

jungkook: yerp.

hobi: got it?

- ...

hobi: got it?

me: yes!

- call ended -

     i haven't really gotten that close with them yet.

and as far as i can tell, this is up to me.

apparently.

     yoongi scoffs through the monitor and static tickles down my ears.

     "you're the boss." is all he says.

     i can see the smirk on his face despite being on the other side of the door.

there's a moment of silence after that.

a moment that i break.

     "he who shall not be named! these are heavy and you have neighbors and i have time today. and i also! have no! shame!" yoongi pulls me through the door mid-shout.

     "are you fuckin' kidding me? you apologized to a tree for laughing too loud." his grip on my upper arm slides down to yank a bag out of one hand.

     "well, if it had been a person then it would've been polite." i huff and wobble on one leg, trying to get both shoes off hands free.

     as i look down at my stupidly tight boots, another bag lifts off of my arm.

     the sound of it crinkling is followed by a very heavy sigh.

     i triumphantly wrangle the second shoe off and grin at yoongi.

     "get out." he says sternly, then shoves the bags back against my chest.

     i grip onto his hands before he can pull them away.

with a small tug, and once he leans his face in closer, i whisper out, "no."

     he bonks his forehead against mine gently with a low, "okay, good." and we both smile on our way to the kitchen and dining area.

     once i've set the bags on the dark oak table i turn to him as seriously as i can, "ok but for real, if i have to watch you sigh while lookin' out the window one more time? i'm gonna lose my mind. plus, it'll be fun! you always say so..."

     i forget about trying to look serious and swing my hips back and forth as i talk.

     yoongi leans against clean kitchen countertops, crossing both arms and one foot over the other.

     "the simplicity is what i miss most." he's wry with his words, wrinkling his nose.

     i groan and rifle through the bags, "well when you start to sigh about that then i'll work on it. for now though, we've got...this!"

      shaking an ankle length tweed trench-coat, i turn to him with an encouraging nod.

     "this is gonna help me be unnoticed?" he asks incredulously.

     instead of answering, i dive back into the bag, rummaging around until i find a plastic pipe next.

     "might i suggest these for you sir?" i walk around the table and wave the trench-coat around in the air.

     "c'mon, you know you wanna. i already got us tickets on my phone! it's that new gambling movie where everything's tense the whole time but, the soundtrack has some composers you like -" i didn't mean to let that last part slip out.

     yoongi's lips twitch and he snatches the trench-coat away from me. then he gripes out:

     "hat."

just one word, accompanied with an expectant look.

     "please don't talk to me like i'ma dog." even though i say this, i reach into the bags to find the right one.

     yoongi smirks and takes a Sherlock Holmes style hat away from me.

     he jerks his chins at the bags and softly commands, "you."

i pull out an oversized men's suit, bowler hat and fake mustache from the middle one.

      yoongi's deadpan, "did you just wanna dress like Holmes and Watson." and i open my mouth to respond, then close it, twice.

     "look - it's D-Day. we're in disguise, it's like a sneaky mystery. like, nobody is gonna know except us and you can't throw popcorn at me!" i sneak in the request i've been too scared to ask at the end. it's easier to say with my eyes closed but, that doesn't cover how red my face feels.

     it's silent for a weird amount of time and i peek an eye open to glance at him.

     "change." is all he says as he squints at the ceiling, and i try not to skip on my way down the hall to the bathroom.

as i do, i hear his rumbling complaints bounce off the walls around me. the way my heart is thudding makes both ears strain for it, seeking it out.

"you keep calling it D-Day like that means something. but do i say no? of course not. why would i..."

i'm glad he can't see the smile on my face as i shut the door behind me. one deep, calm breath and my heartbeat settles back to normal.

     yoongi likes jasmine, tobacco and cedarwood. he's got those aroma reed incense jar things in every room. i've learned that he sticks with jasmine when he's moody, and that cedarwood is reserved for very good days. tobacco's kind of a mixed bag though. like, one day he was really dedicated to making a stew. as in, all day long - it was next level incredible though.

on another tobacco day, he got himself into a funky mood from reading too many crime novels. i know we both wound up believing that we were actually figuring out an unsolved case but, that was a sleep-deprived 5am belief.

     anyways, today it's jasmine.

i wiggle into the baggy suit and place the bowler hat on top of my head. it's so big that i can only see the reflection of my chin when i look in the mirror. it's always soft lighting at yoongi's place. decorations? eh, he's made it look nice but it isn't a priority. harsh lighting though? it makes him so irritable that he called jungkook over one day to help him switch all of the lightbulbs out for ones labeled, "soft and gentle". the overhead light is never on in his apartment and despite the black wood accents, nothing looks lifeless or dark. instead, it's all just warm.

everything in his place is always warm.

     "what if we don't do this and we never speak of this again?" yoongi grumbles on the other side of the bathroom door and my fake mustache teeters as i fight off a grin.

     handlebar secured - i fling the door open, except, all i can see is a bit of yoongi's broad back as he hides behind the wall. a few steps to my right and just around the corner, i try to take a sneaky glimpse but our eyes meet directly. he frowns, rolls his in an exaggerated manner - and tries not to laugh. the hat is squishing his cheeks together in a way that makes me want to giggle just as much as it makes me want to bite them.

     "perhaps you do need a hat." i hold a hand over my mouth and duck my head away from his gaze.

     "are you...laughing at me?" he leans over to regain eye contact. if he's trying not to look amused, he isn't putting much effort into it.

     "nyope. no. i dunno what you're talkin' about." i twist my lips together, attempting to hold back my smile. then yoongi starts snaking his neck around, chasing my averting eyes with a side-smile sliding across his face.

     long, wide fingers stretch out and palm the top of my bowler hat.

"gimme a good one." he teases, then steers my head over to the bags and patiently waits for me to find him a better one.

i whip around with an oversized floppy sunhat in my hands.

"i think it's perfect." is all i can say.

unfortunately, i can't hide my beaming grin as i do.

yoongi scoffs and rips the hat out from my grip before ironically growling, "then put it on me."

it comes out deep enough that it hits the pit of my stomach.

he holds it hostage in front of his body, just in front of his hips - and watches me with such a probing curiosity, my cheeks feel like they're steaming.

every part of me vibrates as i reach for it. i don't know what's making me so nervous. it's just putting a hat on his head. my attempt to tease him comes out in a mumble, "what? you scared you won't look handsome?"

yoongi tilts his head, the inquisitive stare bearing down on me makes the dining room shrink - trapping both of us inside of it.

"do you think i'm handsome?" his tongue pokes out of his mouth and he exhales a laugh while i smack him on the shoulder with one of my suit sleeves.

"you know i do fucker." the words tumble out of me without permission and all i can do is hope that i said them fast enough, and incoherently enough, for him to not understand.

he chuckles and turns a shoulder in a half-assed move, avoiding my half-assed blows. then he adjusts the giant sunhat, two pouty lips grin at me from underneath its brim. as soon as the plastic pipe tucks between them he asks, "to the movies?"

i push down on the fake mustache tickling under my nose, "indubitably."

i don't need to think about how handsome yoongi is or why he asked what i think or how going to the movies alone together kinda feels like a date. even if we're dressed like...well, kinda like if Holmes was having a gardening day and Watson lost all of the suits that fit him.

as we tug on our shoes, yoongi loses it over the fact that i only remembered to bring ankle boots. one red pointed toe sticks out from beneath the suit's pant leg.

"so stylish." he muses.

i trip over my own feet and ignore that he says this, "gimme your shoulder please."

yoongi smirks but dips one shoulder down slightly so i can place a hand on it for balance. once the most frustrating shoes in the world have been put back on, he casually reaches up to weave his fingers through mine.

he doesn't say anything about it, just stealthily moves towards his front door so he can stick one eye against the peephole. holding my hand as he does.

"Watson," he loudly whispers back at me, "i think this is broken." and i tear my eyes away from our intertwined hands.

in just as loud of a whisper i shoot back, "or maybe nobody's outside and we should move Holmes."

my hand is squeezed in response and i know i should help with being a lookout but, the way our fingers look together is doing something to the inside of my brain. something that makes it hard to breathe.

was his hand always so big?

it's like our hands lock together at the knuckles.

like they've both finally slid into place.

hey yoongi, did you know we're holding hands?

were you aware? that you held my hand and also are now holding it?

the objects of my fascination yank out of view as yoongi hurries us through the door and down the hall.

"go, go, go." he repeats the words under his breath and the dampness of his palm makes his nervousness a bit more blatantly apparent.

i match his pace.

he does this funny thing whenever he gets speedy - both arms lift up to his sides like a professional power walker. except this time as he does it, he doesn't let go of my hand.

so we power walk to the elevator at the end of the hall, side by side. neither of us say a word, aside from his looping "go, go, go" until the metal doors before us ding and we make it safely inside.

unseen.

well, no.

     we see ourselves in the reflection of the elevator doors and neither of us can keep our eyes open as we're hit with continuous rolls of laughter.

the mood sobers once a second ding lets us know that we've made it down to the parking garage.

now it's my turn to lead.

ok, it would be my turn to lead except - the moment that we walk by yoongi's car - he halts.

"look. look how safe and inside and fast we could get there with this instead. we live in a modern world, not the 1800's or whatever." he bounces as he whines and it's so cute that i physically feel a scream bloom within my chest.

i try my absolute hardest to appear unmoved.

with a tug on his hand i let out an exasperated sigh, "Holmes is basically from the 1900's. which - mind you - we were born in. AND, how will we know that the disguises work if we don't put them to the test? hm?"

i can't decipher all of the emotions in yoongi's expression, amused appears to be one of them at least. the ghost scent of jasmine wafts under my nose as i gaze at him. a nervousness restlessly attempts to settle itself in my pulse.

then yoongi stops hiding.

both shoulders curve forward as he sinks in on himself. silver-grey hair hangs over his face while he stares at the ground.

"i miss bein' a person." the words are spoken to the asphalt beneath our feet, they come out a little bitterly.

"i can't do things that make me...relate to people anymore. i can't do things like, like people do - you know? no, you don't." yoongi answers his own question, then takes a deep breath before he continues.

"i think i feel like a person around you and i'm grateful, i hope that isn't doubted but - who i am now can't...be a person. all the time." one shoe scuffs against the floor. he's wearing his favorite comfy Vans.

i know he put them on so i wasn't alone in wearing goofy shoes but, he still pulls the look off.

he chews on the plastic pipe, looking lost in thought - and even that he pulls off well.

i can't think of anything that feels right to say and it's not an optimal method but, i open my mouth with the hope that something good comes out of it.

"you're right. that i don't know what it's like but - um, but that's why this plan is so potentially perfect! we're just pretending to be wonky Holmes and Watson, so it doesn't count as real people time. is that bad? well uh, we can have someone follow us? in case it backfires or something?" i feel my voice pitch up, what feels like, a few octaves as i finish speaking.

a gummy smile beams out from under his sunhat before he pats the hood of his car twice. a man in a suit and dark sunglasses pops up in the drivers seat, the sudden appearance makes me yelp.

with buckled knees i hiss out, "are you fuckin' kidding me yoongi? you couldn't just tell me he was coming?" my grip around his hand tightens and i cling around his bicep.

yoongi just shrugs, "eh, it seemed like an opportunity to get closer. c'mon Watson." and he strides forward, like the conversation never happened at all.

the black car behind us feels off putting at first, but pretty soon, we're so engrossed in the roles that i forget all about it.

yoongi really loves the pipe. he nibbles on it between speaking as we tuck behind a wall.

"the lady in the red hat seems like a clue," he softly murmurs, "like a clue to something...mysterious."

my eyes narrow, "please never become a detective."

"oh i'm sorry sidekick. did you say something? something that undermines your lead detective?" he bickers back with a wiggle of his head. we keep up the petty argument as we trail behind the lady in the red hat until she turns away from the path to the theater.

"ok, well. she's no longer a suspect for now." yoongi clears his throat and my chance to retort disappears as soon as he see's a small group of young adults walking ahead of us, towards the direction of the theater.

with an unexpected quickness, yoongi squats down behind a garbage can - holding our hands on top of his knee.

"i'm out. this is so fuckin' stupid. not elementary, dear Watson. the opposite of elementary." he says this urgently but doesn't budge.

"we are two talking chins. that's all the world can see Holmes, and all we need to do is get snacks. then we're in the dark. and i'm buying! you don't even need to talk to anyone! you can just, i dunno - hide behind me." i don't know why i'm whispering.

"oh sure, i'm letting you buy." is scoffed into my face and i'm reminded of the first time we were introduced properly.

i jolt to my feet with renewed stubbornness, "gimme your card then. cause you know what isn't super sneaky? hiding behind, maybe the only, public trash can in the area. let's go, let's go, let's go."

yoongi makes an assortment of disgruntled sounds but stands up and shuffles to stand behind me. my left arm folds behind my back because we both silently refuse to let go of the other's hand.

"it looks like you're holding me hostage." i murmur back to him as we approach the theater.

hard plastic presses against my lower back and, "pew pew." rumbles against my ear.

yoongi keeps speaking, "huh, it's emptier than i expected."

i twist around to give him an impish stare.

"movie theater's typically are on tuesday morning's." i mimic his deadpan delivery and get a snorted laugh out of him.

we awkwardly walk in tandem towards the concession stand, yoongi jokingly asks for popcorn and dodges the elbow i jab back at him.

fried chicken, a cherry-coke slushie and a bag of sour candy successfully acquired, we find our way over to theater room three. yoongi holds the first in one hand (because, "i don't trust you with my chicken.") and i balance the other two. our held hands remain threaded together.

"you better not throw any of these at me." i frown, struggling to force the candy bag into a suit pocket.

"does my hand bein' sweaty bother you?" yoongi bluntly asks and i trip up the first step towards our seat. usually, he likes to be up in the back and in the corner - out of sight, where it's easy to slip in or out if necessary. today, i want him to experience the Best Seats. mid-way up, directly in the center. that isn't the point but it's all i can let myself think.

i only realize i've been staring at him instead of responding when he tries to unclasp our hands.

"it doesn't! it doesn't!" i panic and squeeze my fingers around him. even in the dark room and under cover of his sunhat, pouty lips twitch up into a smile.

"if anyone else comes and i hafta pee these 'Best Seats' automatically lose three points." he chuckles and maneuvers himself ahead of me. as we trudge up the steps, the pre-show clips rolling on the big screen sound like they're incredibly far away.

"oh sure, i'd expect a full house at 9am." the snicker at my sarcasm brings an unwanted blush across my face. he leads us to our seats while i stare at the floor, red cheeks hiding beneath my bowler hat.

chicken secured, slushie in it's rightful cup holder - we plop into the cushioned chairs with budding excitement. i bounce a bit in my chair as i ramble about the Experience of going to the movies until he unlinks our fingers. the palm of my hand feels unbearably empty without his pressing against it but he doesn't let it go, he keeps it on the top of his thigh - wiping the other off against his tweed trench-coat.

"you may not mind but, i don't want you holdin' a sweaty hand all day." yoongi states calmly.

the notion that he imagines holding hands outside of this movie scheme makes me choke on spit and i whip the slushie out of its holder to suck down icy cherry-coke. a freezing burn brings sweet relief from whatever the hell is buzzing through my bloodstream.

"you're so considerate." the words come out of me a bit strangled and yoongi wraps a warm hand around my throat. he jerks his chin up so that the sunhat flops back a bit, revealing a knowing look and one lifted eyebrow. then he casually remarks - "look at what you just did, not considering you stresses me out. of course i mean it in a good way, shush. better now?"

i nod dumbly as the freezer burn subsides. grateful for him and his warmth, and for the darkness that blankets us - equally infuriated at the screen lights for shining directly on our rosy pink faces.

the universe must be listening in on me because as yoongi opens his mouth to speak again, the lights and theater screen all fade to black. a booming voice throughout the otherwise empty room informs us the show is about to begin.

my fingers twitch against his thigh and i feel my wrist turn without me telling it to. long digits push through mine before they curl around the knuckles. out of the corner of my eye, i watch him relax and spread both legs wide.

in a hushed voice i ask him, "D-Day, good day?"

soft lips push against the tops of my fingers before something's flung into my hair with a snort.

"D-Day, very good day."

[nerdygaymormon]

Hey, I'm a member of the church and enby. It's been rough ever since I came out. I'm still a teen, but all the talk about being sealed in the temple and God only creating men and women has really been hard. Do you have any advice?

First I'm going to address the idea that God only created men & women and then I'll follow that with some advice.

————————————————————

The Bible states that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them; male and female created he them.” (Gen 1:27)

God creates a person and calls it adam, which is Hebrew for “human” or “mankind.” Adam isn’t even necessarily male. 

That the first person created in this story is a ‘human’ or ‘mankind’ is a big clue that this story is allegorical and meant to represent all of us. Adam and Eve are there to teach us lessons about the purposes of life.

One way to think of “male and female” is that these are the two options, God made the male and God made the female and that’s it. However, another way to look at this is one end of a spectrum and the other end of a spectrum, and everything in between, like when we use the first & last letter of the alphabet to mean everything, A to Z, or Alpha & Omega.

Biologists say that the idea of 2 sexes is overly simplistic, that actually it is a spectrum. Whether you’re looking at X & Y chromosomes, at genes, at hormones, at internal or external reproductive organs, or secondary sex characteristics, the reality is not as simple as either M or F.  

Even the other parts of the creation which are presented as a binary are actually bimodal, meaning most incidences are concentrated around two ends of the spectrum but they aren’t the only option. For example, God made day & night, but there’s also sunrises and sunsets. God separated the sky from the water, but the sky has clouds which hold water. Separating the water from the dry land still includes marshes, bogs, & swamps where the water & land are mixed. 

The binaries presented in the creation story are not binaries but spectrums, and are pleasing unto God. Why would we not expand that lesson to include other parts of creation, including people, especially since that fits what we find is the reality? Gender is a spectrum, sexual orientation is a spectrum.

These thoughts are from a post I made, click here to read the rest of the post.

————————————————————

You are not alone, you are not the only one who faces this situation. Thank heavens we have the internet and ability to connect with others. It’s good to find friends who are nonbinary and Mormon because they’ll get you in a way that most others won’t. I’ve found interacting with other queer people really helps me feel better and normal about my own concerns and feelings.

You have claim to two great histories and legacies–LDS & LGBT+. Both the queer community and LDS church, in different ways, teach me about being kind and accepting others.

This church teaches that we’re each entitled to pray and seek revelation and confirmation. You can pray to ask if God loves you, all of you. You can seek confirmation for decisions on your path. Your Heavenly Parents love you as you are and for who you are. You are precious to them. Jesus loves you and offers the blessings of the gospel to you. His ministry elevates those who are on the margins.

We are that we might have joy! That is a beautiful teaching. Find joy. Take steps towards it.

Go slowly, or rather, I mean, at your own pace. You don’t have to run faster than you want as you’re figuring things out. In fact, I hope you can think of this as an opportunity for deeper happiness and more joy and meaning in your life. People who fit the binary have handed to them in what ways they should seek meaning & happiness, but you get to explore and learn much of this on your own.

Mormons have a lot of expectations regarding dress and appearance, but it’s okay to do things your own way. Want a short haircut, fine. Want to dye your hair blue, terrific. Want to wear pants, okay. Want to wear colorful shirts, do it. Want to wear bow ties & suspenders, perfect. Clothes are an example that much of gender is a social construct, clothes are not inherently gendered. If you don't fit the gender norms don't feel obligated to stick to the gender constructs.

I suspect 2nd hour is most troubling as it’s when Mormons segregate by gender. It’s okay to skip and spend time on the couch or take a walk around the building. If Sunday School is about a topic that is causing you stress, I don’t think forcing yourself to sit there uncomfortable is going to yield a lot of benefit. Don’t let the good you could be getting be swamped by the negative, find ways to remove or minimize those things that cause you trouble. Recognize it’s going to be complicated and frustrating.

Even things in the gospel that seem simple to others can be difficult for queer people. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore that feeling. In those situations I ask myself these 3 questions — “Does that sound like me, do I resemble that remark?” — “Does this sound like the God that I know?” — “Does this fit with the great commandment to love one another?”

Being a nonbinary Latter-day Saint often means hungering, aching to the depths of your soul, just to be acknowledged, to have any of our theology reference you at all. One small thing you can do at church is simply saying 'a child of God' instead of 'a son or daughter of God.' Instead of praying, “Dear Heavenly Father,” try saying “Dear God” as a gender-neutral title.

When someone figures out they're nonbinary, things shift in ways they may not have anticipated. Be curious about yourself. For example, maybe you hated shopping for clothes, but actually maybe you just hated shopping only in the men's or the women's section because that's very limiting. Now the whole store is open, perhaps clothes shopping can be enjoyable as you get to express your gender in what you wear.

None of us comes forth from the womb fully-formed—we all grow, transform, and become. Those who are nonbinary get to do it in unique ways and I hope you, and those around you, appreciate the wonderful journey it is. Being nonbinary is not a mistake, it is not good or bad, it just is. You choose whether it’ll be a blessing or a curse in your life.

I wish you much joy in your journey of self discovery!

[randomfoggytiger]

Fight the Future Hallway, In-Depth (Part III): "No, Something Stung Me"

Resolution made, Scully quietly ruminates over ideas, raising an eyebrow when one sticks. Steeling herself for her own first undisguised overture, she closes her eyes and swiftly pulls back to face Mulder.

Mulder remains frozen in place, face hardened, afraid her withdrawal is his anticipated rejection. As Scully cups the back of his head and crushes her mouth to his forehead, his eyes immediately close: emotionally overwhelmed.

Prolonging the kiss, Scully presses her lips harder, scrunching her face and eyebrows in an attempt to translate the ardor of her devotion and awe and gratitude and love.

Mulder flexes his mouth and clenches his jaw, understanding her gesture, feeling its depths, and holding back a responding wave of emotion. When she finally separates, his jaw and lips remain tightly clenched.

Leaning her head against his, Scully attempts to center herself-- them-- with a slow, purposeful, breathy release.

Mulder’s eyes pop open at her exhale, an idea of his own taking shape; and closes them again briefly while his hands plunge forward for purchase on the back of her head.

Both pull back in sync; and Scully studies his face freely for the first time-- no pretenses between them, unashamed of the tear still clinging to her cheek.

The feeling of being precious to him, of seeing the proof of it in his eyes, nearly overwhelms her in a different teary direction; and she looks away to tamp down a giddy surge of joy. Turning back, her eyes glance at the one thing Mulder hasn't given her: his mouth.

Her expression drops slightly, becoming more serious as she weighs his present confession against his past retreats-- purposeful or not-- from more serious or passionate subjects (his sneer at her "date" in The Jersey Devil, his attempts to lighten the bent of her maternal considerations in Home, his idealized worship of doomed soulmates in The Field Where I Died, his blind run after monsters and initial avoidance of her cancer topic in Detour.) She looks back up from these unspoken observations… and finds Mulder openly eyeing her with want.

Scully freezes, shifting between his eyes in shock. What she sees is the truth; and, when his expression doesn't change, she slowly moves in a little closer.

Mulder’s eyes are hooded and tender, bearing his soul to Scully as he never has to another being-- to the one and only person who accepted his brokenness long ago, who trusts and believes in him regardless, and who, consequently, makes him wholly beautiful.

He is handing her his heart, complete.

His partner's undeniable, brazen reciprocation of his heartfelt confessions have stripped away the last of his halting considerations. Mulder begins to slowly pull her in, zeroing in on and maintaining laser-focus with her eyes for any signs of hesitation or rejection.

Scully, feeling his reciprocal move towards her, nearly loses control of her smile again; but lets it shine through her eyes as she keeps them locked onto his. Her eyebrows scrunch and her mouth tightens, powerful emotions tightening her chest: not only is she ready, she’s been hoping for this moment.  

Mulder continues to inch slowly forward, and she smooths out her face to further encourage him, getting lost in the moment as it continues to progress. 

He blinks, still moving at a snail’s pace, waiting and waiting and waiting for her to back away or tell him to stop. Expecting it. 

When she doesn’t he covers more ground, caressing her cheekbone as another small test before the kill shot. He gives her one last chance, catching her eye; and when she glances away only to look directly at his lips, they both prepare for his descent: Mulder closes his eyes, while Scully waits until completely certain he will follow-through.

Then the bee stings, and she startles away. 

Scully launches to the side-- “Ow!”-- while Mulder almost topples onto her, eyes still closed. He snaps back to reality as she clutches at the back of her neck, staring down at her hand in confusion before drawing away, misreading her quick reaction as the last minute rejection he’d been expecting. Again, he closes his eyes-- this time in chagrin-- and opens his mouth in disappointment and embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.   

“No,” Scully assures, indignant at the interruption, confused as she identifies its cause. "Something stung me."

Mulder takes in her reassurance; and as the rational part of his brain kicks in, he pulls his hand away from her neck, not wanting to get hurt by whatever injured Scully.

Scully extracts her unexpected passenger, staring at it, puzzled.

He examines it, too; then peels back her shirt collar to inspect the damage on her neck.

Risk assessment over, Mulder intuits, “He must got in your shirt.”

Disappointment and resignation pour from his voice as he rubs her neck and cradles her head, working his way back through the last minute mentally. Mulder's already accepted her assurance; but now has to process (and live with) the interruption of their first kiss.

And, of course: “Mulder…?”

“Yeah?”

“Something’s wrong.” 

Something's wrong, indeed.

CONCLUSION

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[itjazzbicch]

The Way You Are

Pairing:  MK1!Kenshi Takashi x Reader 

First time writing for Kenshi so I hope I did well! 

Summary: Returning home to the reader who was worried about his travels with Lord Lui Kang and his fellow champions, the reader is in shock when they see that he not only has Sento, sees what Sento can do, and also learns why Kenshi came back wearing a red band across his eyes...

Warnings:  MK1 story mode spoilers (If you don't know what happened to Kenshi in story mode lol) Slight swearing, established relationship, little flirting toward the end (And that's it, pretty much!)

Word Count: .9k 

Kenshi setting out to find Sento already worried me since he was going on this conquest alone, being his only support, and learning how it turned out to be much more than finding Sento put me in distress.

It took him some time, but he finally came back to me, telling me over a phone call; his low tone built up more anxiousness, but I was glad he was finally back.

Learning about the realms and how he was being sent to Outworld was a lot to take in as it was all new knowledge to me, and I was relieved when I saw the hilt of a new sword out the window.

He must've gotten his hands on Sento! Hearing the door open, I nearly jumped for joy but came to a slow halt once I saw a blindfold covering his eyes.

"Kenshi?"

"I did it, Y/N," He started smiling at me, pulling out the centuries-old sword to show me, "I have Sento."

"I never doubted you, Kenshi," I smiled back, nervous to ask, "What's with the blindfold?"

"About that," He sighed, hand caressing the red band, clearly nervous to explain why he was wearing it, "Don't worry. I can still see, sort of."

"What happened while you were gone?" My voice grew stern as I approached him, wanting to know what he was hiding, going to touch the band, but he gripped my hand:

"You don't want to see. Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"I do," I said more sternly, showing him that I was acting out of care, "I want to know what happened because if someone did this on purpose, I'd gladly visit them."

"That's not necessary," He huffed, letting my hand go, "It wasn't intentional."

"Please, just let me see," I whispered with a sweeter tone, his deep sigh a signal to allow me to lift the band, seeing how his eyes were gouged, "Oh my goodness."

I covered my mouth with a hand as tears filled my eyes, angry at the thought that someone would do such a thing to him, someone I cared about more than anyone.

"This wasn't intentional? Are you kidding me?" This disbelief was strong, unable to accept that this was somehow an accident.

"It truly wasn't, Y/N," Taking my hand to provide comfort, he assured me, "But as I said, there's no need to worry. Sento gave me back my sight in its own way."

"What do you mean?" I knew Sento was a mighty sword but didn't understand until he entered my living room.

"See how I can move around with no issues?" He pointed out, watching and beginning to understand, blown away as he wielded Sento, "Just watch."

Going to a fake plant I had in the corner, he sliced the leaves into pieces, my jaw dropping at the blue aurora that flowed around Sento's blade, not believing my eyes:

"What the hell? What was that, Kenshi?"

"Sento has my ancestors within it," He explained, "They guide me, make me stronger. I can finally free my clan from the Yakuza and their crimes."

I still couldn't believe what I witnessed, but I knew it was true. I ran to hug him as he put Sento away, hugging him tightly and praising, "I knew that you could get Sento back. You will fulfill all your goals. I know it."

"Thank you, Y/N," He hugged back, squeezing me as he whispered, "Thank you for always being the one by my side."

"Forever will be, Kenshi," I vowed, holding his face, staring at that blindfold and only able to imagine the hell and pain he went through to make it this far; there was still a far way to go.

Tears swelled in the corner of my eyes again, and he quickly noticed, trying to apologize:

"I know that I worried you while I was gone, and seeing me like this-; I'm-"

"It's okay," I assured, swallowing a breath to shake off the sad tears and mean wholeheartedly, "You came back to me, and if Sento brought back your vision in a new way, that's all that matters. I'll always love you the way you are."

My last sentence made him smile, his embrace warming with his words, "I may have lost my eyes, but I'm not easily defeated. Don't stress over me. I'll always come back to you."

"You better," I teased but meant firmly, bringing his lips to mine, filling our connection with all the passion in my heart that I had for him, making him chuckle some as our lips briefly parted, "Or you better take me with you."

"You'd be in for culture shock. I'm not even sure if that's what I should call it," We laughed more, but I was serious despite my giggles:

"Maybe, but I'd still go and kick the hell out of anyone who even thinks of harming you."

"So protective," He joked, smirking at me while gripping my hip, "I still have skills, you know?"

"I am protective, and I own that," Kissing one more time as I hugged him again, I made sure he knew all my actions and words were made from love, but also trying not to be too serious and play along, wiggling the hip in his hand, "And trust me, I know you have all kinds of skills." 

2023 © itjazzbicch — do not repost or translate my work. Likes, reblogs, and comments are always welcome 

[froggiewrites]

Possession

Pairing: Doflamingo x Reader

NSFW

Summary: Doflamingo wants you, and he has always been good at getting what he wants. Warnings: Smut, Possessiveness, Manipulation, Yandere (i think this counts?) Word Count: 1.8k Notes: This is pretty different in vibes from everything else I've posted here, but Doffy has bewitched me a little bit. I was trying to finish Dressrosa before writing about him but I just had to get this one out. Crossposted from Ao3

Doflamingo did not know exactly when you caught his eye.

It was small, at first, the instinct to seek you out. He didn’t indulge in it. He had far more important things to worry about. But as time went on, as you appeared again and again, he found himself more and more determined to have you.

You were a sweet thing, innocent and uncomplicated, ripe and ready for the taking. It took very little effort to endear himself to you. A few well timed words and well placed smiles and you were falling at his feet. It was adorable, really, the way you fell apart when he came around. He expected the passing fancy to end at that, a short dalliance that would end in you being thrown to the side as his ambitions led him somewhere far greater than here, somewhere you couldn’t and shouldn’t follow.

But he found himself enjoying you more and more. Your wide eyes and gentle smiles, your soft hands and thighs, your plush lips and warm mouth. You may not be an asset to the family, ignorant to his work and his purpose, but you were…useful, in your own way.

The nightmares didn't stop, but it was a little easier to come back to reality with someone beside him, not that he would admit that. And if some days he awoke with his hands primed around your throat, ready to squeeze, well. Nobody had to know. That was the risk you took, you naive little thing, when you followed him home. When you accepted his invitation into his bed, into his arms. If you noticed the bruises when you woke up, you never mentioned them. He doesn’t know if it’s ignorance or pity that keeps your mouth shut. He doesn’t know which is worse.

It turns his stomach to think you would pity him, dare to see him as small enough to deserve anything less than utter devotion, than worship. But the idea of you leaving if you truly knew him, knew better…it’s worse than revolting. It makes every one of his muscles tense, his chest tighten, his teeth clench. Every part of him primed to chase you down, hold you tight, ensure that you would not and cannot leave him.

Once he had a hold of the thought of you leaving, it stayed buried beneath his skin, a constant nagging feeling he couldn’t shake. He was haunted with the image of you sneaking away, catching a ride on a ship somewhere far out of his reach. In the days following, he holds you closer than ever before, grip strong enough to bruise. You cannot move an inch without his permission. As it should be.

He begins his careful construction of your cage soon after.

It begins slowly, with small gifts that earn him that soft smile. Then the next step, as you slowly start losing contact with old friends, start coming to him more and more as the only person in your life there and willing to listen. He keeps you coming back for companionship, for joy, for pleasure, ensuring that you can come to him and only him for such things.

When he takes you, he studies you, carefully plans each action to lead you further and further into this delusion you seem to have. That he loves you. That you’re safe in these arms. That you chose this. 

“Doffy!” You cry sweetly when his teeth find your neck, nipping at you gently, finding and latching onto your most sensitive parts. Tomorrow he will pretend the marks are an accident, that the small amount of blood he draws was simply due to an excess of enthusiasm, and not just him taking what he’s owed. Every part of you is his, including the blood in your veins. If he wants it, it is his to have. He savors the taste of iron on his tongue, the taste of your very life, your vital essence.

Doflamingo’s hands are calloused, and you gasp as you feel their roughness against your skin. He holds himself back, ensuring his touches are firm but not cruel, that his pace is steady but not brutal. His hands find your breasts first, pinching and prodding demandingly. He keeps his eyes on your face as his fingers find their place, teasing as he watches you struggle to keep your eyes on his, lashes fluttering. You keen sweetly as he rolls your chest in his hands, and he almost struggles to keep the smirk off of his face. You’re putty beneath him, ready for him to shape in whatever image he pleases.

His hand slips lower, fingers tracing slowly down to where he knows you want him. He carefully plans his steps in this dance, and he can see in your eyes that you’re following his lead without question. You shine with adoration, and when he intertwines his free hand with yours, you light up, a goofy, lovesick smile overtaking your lust for a moment. He grins, a sense of warmth blooming through him. Surely a sense of accomplishment, for continuing the charade successfully. For leading you further and further into your cage without a moment’s hesitation. You’re eating out of his hand, just as you were meant to.

His fingers push past your panties, and he begins by inserting only one, slowly sliding it into your hole as you moan. He keeps his pace slow even as you wiggle your hips in frustration, even as you begin to softly whine. He doesn’t give you what you want until you beg.

“Doflamingo, please, more!” Your voice is tinged with desperation, and he chuckles.

“I need you to be more specific, little bird.”

“Faster, please.”

He had planned to make you beg far more than that, until you were nearly crying for him, but the sweet little whimper in your voice makes it hard to deny you. “That’s all you had to say.”

He begins to thrust his finger at a significantly faster pace, then adds another, then another, prepping you well for the real show. As much as he would love to take you immediately, to take and take and take until you’re broken beneath him, he was sure you would leave for that. You wouldn’t look up at him with that sickening admiration in your doe eyes anymore, and he simply would not lose that. He attempts to take the hand intertwined with yours back, to rub at your clit as you clench around him, but you curl your fingers around him harder, and cry out, “No, stay, please!”

He allows you to keep the hand, for now.

He can feel you near your precipice, can see it in your eyes, and chooses the exact moment before you break to pull out his fingers. You sob as they leave, and he gives you a sympathetic smile, hoping you’re too far gone to realize it’s far closer to a predator’s smug grin. “I know, sweet thing, but you can’t have all the fun to yourself.”

He finally peels your panties off, leaving you bare and caged beneath him, where you belong. He lines himself up with your entrance, and he stares you dead in the eyes as he plunges his full length into you at once. You cry out, eyes closing, and he tuts quietly. “Eyes on me.”

You obey.

His pace is fast but not punishing, and he keeps his thrusts on the softer side of brutal. Another thing he will blame on his enthusiasm tomorrow, when you quietly whine that it hurts to walk and he shushes you and tells you you belong in his bed anyway. You’ll laugh like it’s a joke, and he’ll laugh at your ignorance. One day you’ll realize it was the truth, and you’ll willingly nest here at his side, ready and wanting whenever he asks. But that is the future, and right now he should be more focused on how deeply his cock is buried inside you, and how you cry and tighten around him, calling his name.

His teeth long for your neck again, but he can’t bring himself to break your intoxicating eye contact. He can see himself reflected in your eyes, looking a far more innocent and giving man than he is. Is this how you see him? His hand finds your clit, willing to continue the charade. You nearly scream as you feel his finger rub against the nub, and he almost laughs. How easy you are to unravel. A few more thrusts and a few well practiced movements of his fingers and you come undone, squeezing around him tightly, eyes falling shut, back arching off the bed and pressing your chests together. He keeps moving, allows you to keep riding it out, burying you in your pleasure. He cums a few moments later, burying up to the hilt in you, filling you, marking you as his. He bites down on your shoulder, hard enough to bleed, and after his orgasm subsides he licks the wound, lavishing in the taste of you.

He falls on top of you, pinning you to the bed, and you don’t complain. You bring your arm up to run your hands through his hair affectionately. With the hand still held to the bed, you gently run your thumb over his knuckles, memorizing the feeling of it. You lay in silence as Doflamingo begins to slowly ponder the next stages of your entrapment. You’ll stay tonight, of course, but likely still go home tomorrow. Perhaps the next step should be ensuring you stay here every night. Accessible, willing, waiting for him. After that, he’ll find you work to do in the family, find some busywork that keeps you here. You can have everything you’ll ever need in these walls, if he so chooses. And choose you he does.

“Doffy?” Your sweet voice breaks him out of his pondering, and he looks down to see you staring up at him with something resembling worry.

“Yes, little bird?”

“Are you alright? You were frowning. Did I do something?” Your tone is filled with anxiety, your eyes searching his face for answers.

He chuckles. He can’t deny the pleasure he finds in you looking at him for comfort, for reassurance. You trust him. “No, of course not. I was just thinking about some plans for the future. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about.” To ensure the matter is laid to rest, he kisses you on the forehead, watching as you flush red, as your lips twitch into a smile and you hide your face in his shoulder. So sweet. So simple.

You fall asleep crushed beneath him, dreaming of a life shared. He falls asleep holding you close, dreaming of the next step in making you well and truly his.

[earthlybeam]

For @stormchaser819 💛☀️✨

Generally humans tend to be more openly affectionate and physically expressive than elves. They engage in actions like holding hands, giving their friends a quick kiss on the forehead or cheek for good luck or as a way to say goodbye, or when showing how much they’ve missed each other. It’s also common for humans to casually drape an arm around a friend’s waist while sitting together and chatting comfortably.

how would the elves react to this?

↓

↓

↓

Glrofindel version only as stranger, friend, lover

☀️𝓖𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓵

Stranger:

𖤓 Glorfindel, as a hero of the First Age and a warrior reborn, carries a profound sense of purpose and a touch of otherworldliness that sets him apart. When a stranger displays human affection—a quick clasp of his hand in greeting, an arm slung around his shoulder, or a cheeky kiss on the cheek—his initial reaction would be one of polite surprise. He is not unkind, but such forward gestures would be unexpected, given his elven heritage and the natural reserve that comes with his centuries of life.

𖤓 His first instinct might be to step back, though not out of offense—rather out of sheer unfamiliarity with such an open display of emotion. Glorfindel is gracious and understanding, knowing the ways of Men differ greatly from those of Elves, and he would not wish to cause embarrassment. Instead, he would offer a gentle smile, perhaps bowing his head slightly as a way to respectfully acknowledge your gesture while maintaining a certain distance.

𖤓 Internal thought: How strange and bold are the ways of Men. Yet there is a warmth in their hearts that is both disarming and endearing. Public action: A warm, understanding smile, with a courteous inclination of his head, though he would not yet reciprocate the physical aspect of the gesture.

Friend:

𖤓 As your friendship with Glorfindel deepens, his initial reserve would begin to fade. With time, he would come to understand and appreciate your affectionate nature, even finding it refreshing compared to the often formal relationships among his kind. He would still be hesitant to mirror your gestures outright but would allow them with a sense of quiet acceptance, knowing they come from a place of genuine care.

𖤓 For instance, if you were to throw an arm around his waist during a moment of camaraderie, he might respond with a soft chuckle, perhaps allowing his hand to rest lightly on your shoulder. A kiss on the cheek when saying goodbye might still catch him off guard, but he would mask his surprise with a warm expression, silently marveling at the openness of your spirit. Over time, he might find himself unconsciously responding to your touches—a reassuring squeeze of your hand or a firm clasp on your shoulder during moments of shared triumph or loss.

𖤓 Internal thought: There is strength in their affection, a courage to lay one’s heart bare. It is a quality I find myself drawn to, though it is so unlike our own ways. Public action: A light, thoughtful touch—his hand resting briefly on yours or a gentle clasp of your shoulder, accompanied by a smile that speaks of trust and growing affection.

Lover:

𖤓 As your lover, Glorfindel’s approach to affection transforms into something deeply meaningful. Having fully embraced the bond between you, he sets aside the elven restraint that once defined him, allowing himself to meet your gestures with his own. Though his touch is still deliberate and purposeful, it is no longer hesitant. Instead, each caress, each kiss, each lingering embrace is filled with the weight of his devotion and the eternal nature of his love.

𖤓 In private, Glorfindel becomes more openly affectionate, finding joy in the ways you express yourself and reflecting that warmth back to you. He would hold your hand as you walked together, press a kiss to your brow when words could not suffice, and pull you into his arms with an ease that feels both protective and loving. Your human openness to affection would inspire him to show more of his heart, and he would cherish these moments as rare treasures.

𖤓 In public, however, Glorfindel retains a touch of elven decorum, though subtle gestures—such as a hand resting lightly at your back or a fleeting, tender glance—betray his feelings. For him, love is both a joy and a responsibility, and he carries it with the same grace and strength that defines all he does.

𖤓 Internal thought: You have brought light to my heart once more, brighter than the fires of Gondolin. Your touch is a balm to my soul, a gift I had never dared to hope for. Public action: A hand lingering on yours, a tender smile shared across a crowded room, or a subtle, protective touch at your waist. In private, he is far more open, often pulling you close and letting his actions speak of his boundless love

If you want anymore of any other elven characters like lindir, haldir, feren, meludir, Galion, elros, elladan, elrohir, Legolas, celeborn, erestor, thranduil, Elrond, Gil-galad.

Let me know 💚🍃

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Devastated doesn't even cover it.

I'm never trusting a cishet writer of queer people again.

For someone who had given up on being happy, of being whole. For someone who only existed for someone else because there was no reason to be alive (I certainly wasn't worth anything beyond the service I could render to others), Izzy Hands gave me hope that it was never too late to be your true self.

He found love, acceptance, and he was beginning to take those tentative few steps towards being whole. He didn't need Ed. He was worth something all on his own.

And they killed him.

They killed the old, disabled queer who had lived a hard, lonely life where his only purpose was to be someone's loyal attack dog, and was finally finding happiness, a family.

"It's about belonging."

"This is a story about queer love, about queer joy."

But not if you're old, disabled, battling with the scars the world has left on you, had to do things to survive. The best you can hope for is to apologise to your abuser and then find peace in death.

Queer joy is only for the right kind of queer.

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME BALDUR'S GATE 3 / PART FOUR

i'll feed your innards to the ants before i do that.

you're not here to play with the locals.

question, kill, then move on.

fail her at your peril.

were i not merciful, i would slice the skin clean from your meat.

i am nothing if not merciful.

tell me: why shouldn't i run you through this instant?

you are nothing until i tell you otherwise.

nothing even approaching a useful thought in that skulll.

it costs me nothing to spare your sorry life.

i required your silence and you made me a mockery.

save your anger for the enemies.

i will skewer the jeretic with his own silver sword.

don't trust a word out of her mouth.

you were supposed to rush to my defense.

fat lot of good you are.

she could shoot fireworks out of her backside for all i care.

i don't know what just happened any more than you do.

not my usual quarry, not my usual ally.

your faith is your own concern, not mine.

i didn't think you'd react so pragmatically.

in the future, i expect you to be honest.

as if mingling with a horde of goblins wasn't bad enough.

let's do what we have to, then get out of here.

let's not linger in this place any more than necessary.

pain without purpose is a terrible thing.

you bore the pain like a true believer.

i don't think i have the stomach for this.

this place was supposed to be abandoned.

a joy to see a familiar face in such a precarious setting.

a fine mess you landed yourself in.

how better to learn the ways of a people than to live among them.

one should cherish all of nature's bounty, but goblin guts are quite far down the list.

you're a true friend of nature, or perhaps a lunatic.

it's unbecoming to demand honorifics from the one who saved my hide.

you weren't speaking lightly when you said you needed help.

that doesn't mean i can't help.

you have my sincere sympathies.

the magic used is beyond me. it's either not of this world, or so ancient as to be lost to even nature's memory.

the natural order must be protected.

there's no order anymore, only chaos.

chaos is welcome in doses.

i'm practically an expert.

you're either an excellent storyteller or you've experiences something quite exceptional.

i'd be irresponsible not to debunk such a strange claim.

i cannot trust my own mind.

there is great potential within you.

you're looking for solutions in the wrong places.

if we work together, we may turn this around.

until it is found, i will take something precious from you every hour that passes.

silence now, or i will silence you forever.

he's been resilient, but he'll talk.

i will have an explanation, or your head.

i do not wish to spill blood here.

come daylight, we will find a place to end this.

you can accept you're wrong, or we'll be rid of you permanently.

you had every chance to look the other way.

you chose this.

don't expect to be mourned.

she's a liability.

thieves aren't afforded such luxuries.

loosen the grip on your pride for one blasted moment, won't you?

imagine what we might achieve if we channeled some of that hostility back at our real foes instead of each other.