#and over until they gave up fighting and that image has been stuck in my head all week. that’s what it feels like rn. except im the one

[pepprs]

like i hesitate to make this comparison when i don’t actually have the condition and god willing never ever will but it’s like with c*vid how sometimes it alters your tastebuds forever and everything you once loved tastes rotten. that’s exactly what this is like. and it fucking sucks

[a-soft-hornytiny]

Lecture.

Summary: Your roommate Mingi decides to tease you and you take your revenge.

Word count: 2.8k+

Genre: Smut

Pairing: Mingi x female!reader

Warnings: blow job, hand job, teasing, cum, cum swallowing, oral, dirty talk, bit of voyeurism ig (Let me know if I missed something) be careful while reading.

Notes: this has been chilling in my ideas for a looooong time. I think one of my moots made me write this down, sadly don’t remember who. And hello~ im kinda back?

Taglist: after the cut (let me know if you wanna be added)

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Unfortunately you had started studying right when covid hit and now you were stuck in this university dorm with your hot but annoying roommate Mingi 24/7. You shouldn’t really be complaining, you knew that. He took care of his stuff, did his chores and cleaned after himself. Yes he was a bit loud sometimes when he was recording some of his rap tracks in his room but that was not why you were annoyed.

You were annoyed because you didn’t know if he knew what he was doing when he walked out of the bathroom. Just a towel around his waist. Little water drops running down his chest.

And he decided to always shower right when you had an online lecture.

You couldn’t escape it either since the living room table was the only place in the dorm where the internet was good enough to survive a whole hour and a half lecture. And the bathroom door led to the living room, which led to his room.

Of course he didn’t do anything wrong in particular but how were you supposed to concentrate on “The basics of marine anatomy” when you had “The basics of human anatomy” walking right in front of you.

But you couldn’t say anything until you figured out if he was doing it on purpose or if his extremely innocent image was real. But you weren’t sure how.

Your first attempt was lying about when your lectures were. You told him they were earlier than usual and waited for him to come out of his room, but he didn’t. He went to shower at the same time as usual, which meant it still collided with your schedule. You couldn’t actually skip a lecture just to prove that your roommate wanted to make you horny.

And just as you were nearly convinced that he just had a weird daily schedule of showering at exactly 9:15am, your schedule changed and your lecture was delayed from 9am to 11am. And suddenly he started going to the bathroom at 11:15am.

There was no way that was a coincidence.

And with that little theory you decided to jump into the cold water and the next time he came out of the bathroom, hot as always, you bluntly stared him down.

“Like what you see?” He raised one eyebrow while walking into the kitchen, not even sparing you a glance. But you could swear that you saw him smirk.

You didn’t answer. You let your eyes wander from his short pink hair, which he was sloppily drying off with a towel, to his defined shoulders over his long torso and his slightly visible abs.

“I think you should get back to your lecture or your professor will wonder what makes you drool.” He said while picking up an apple from the counter and walking over to his room. Before he closed his door he gave you a quick wink. And that was all the proof you needed. He was doing it on purpose.

And you were gonna get back at him.

Shortly after your first lesson ended you started creating your masterplan. Fight fire with fire they say.

Not only did he know about your schedule but you also knew about his. So right before his evening lecture you decided to take your best underwear and run to the bathroom. You waited a few minutes until you heard him settle down at the living room table before you started your shower.

oh he will regret this you thought while stepping out of the shower and putting on a very revealing bra and fitting panties. You dried yourself off just enough to not make a mess and took a step towards the door. While grabbing the handle you realized how nervous you were. But you wanted him to feel the consequences of his actions and opened the door.

Mingi had just finished a sentence when the bathroom door opened. He thought nothing of it at first but when he saw skin in the corner of his eye he couldn’t help but look up. And there you were.

You tried not to look at him directly while walking to the kitchen sink to get a glass of water but you could feel him staring. The feeling of being scanned from top to bottom gave you goosebumps. Was that how he felt when you stared at him?

Just as you finished your glass of water, you turned around. You had expected him to be subtle. To glance at you from time to time. But you were wrong. So wrong. He had turned towards you on his chair, his legs were spread and his eyes were completely fixated on you.

“Like what you see?” You imitated him while walking to the living room. “I think you should get back to your lecture before your prof-“

“My camera is off and I’m muted.” He interrupted you with a huge smile on his face. But it wasn’t a happy smile, it was a dirty one.

You felt shivers run down your spine. Fuck. It felt like he was a predator and you were his prey. Suddenly you could feel every single centimeter of your exposed skin. And it was burning. His hands were resting on the inside of his thighs. You couldn’t do anything against it when your eyes decided to lock on his crotch. An all too familiar tickling feeling appeared in your stomach as you imagined what may be lying underneath his pants. But he noticed.

“Well you must be down bad for me if you put so much effort in just to get my attention.” You answered while leaning on the table right across from him, giving him a good view of your cleavage. He gulped. Success.

“You could’ve told me instead Mingi, honey. Now we’ve wasted so much precious time.” You grinned at him before turning around and slowly, really slowly walking towards your room. You could feel his eyes on your curves as they moved from side to side.

But before you even realized it, you heard the sound of a chair and felt arms wrap around your waist. You inhaled sharply as he pressed his body against yours. You couldn’t see him but he rested his head on your shoulder and whispered against your neck.

“Oh Y/n, please stay with me a little longer… My lecture is getting boring.” He exhaled against your ear and hugged you even closer. You could feel his desire for you… and you could feel his.. oh my god.

You didn’t even realize that you had held your breath until he let go of you and walked back to the living room table. He was giving you a choice. You could either go to your room, get dressed and forget what happened or you could turn around, possibly risking your perfectly platonic relationship and see what happens next. And both sides had their perks. On one hand you were still burning in embarrassment and wanted to hide in your room for the next week or so. But on the other hand you could feel the little puddle in your panties and the excitement in your bones.

You decided to turn around.

He didn’t say anything while you walked towards him, only giving you a small smile. But it seemed genuine. He seemed genuinely relieved that you decided to turn around. You wanted to sit on his lap but he stopped you.

“Wait a bit, I have to present some of my assignments results soon and I have to turn my camera on for that.” He scratched the back of his head, sorry on one side and upset on the other. He pointed to the chair next to him instead.

It was good that it was midsummer, otherwise you would’ve been cold. But this way it was fine. You sat down next to him, still feeling his eyes on you.

“Mister Song, please present your results now.” You heard the voice of his professor through his laptop. Mingi then unmuted and turned his camera on. While he started talking you tried to take in every detail of his flawless face. He had really sharp features which were a big contrast to his soft image. Your eyes scanned his body as he seemed to be uncomfortable with something. And then your eyes landed on his crotch again.

There was not much left to imagination anymore. You could clearly see the outline of his hard dick in his pants. And he was squirming, obviously bothered by the tightness of his pants. A quick picture rushed through your mind. No, you can’t do that. Or maybe you could? You felt your cheeks heat up as the image got clear in your head. Fuck it. You had nothing to lose.

Without much hesitation you slipped off your chair and kneeled down under the table. Right in front of him. You could see his eyes widen as your hands fiddled with his belt. He started stuttering and his ears turned red.

“And that's when I found a study proclaiming th-that-“ he cleared his throat and sat up straight. You couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as you finally managed to open his pants and pull out the massive tent in his underwear. Mingi cleared his throat again before he continued talking. There was already a wet patch at the top of his dick showing how aroused he actually was and you couldn’t help but touch it softly.

He sharply inhaled, interrupting himself mid sentence. “Is everything alright Mister Song?” His professor asked, making him blush profusely. “Yes sir, I’m good” he answered, his voice still shaking. The vibrations of his deep voice sent shivers down your spine as he continued to elaborate on his studies.

You loved the power you had in this moment. His whole body reacted to everything you did, even if it was just a nervous rush of his eyes. Time to make it worse.

You grabbed his underwear and slowly pulled it down until his cock sprung free. You watched it move as your mouth filled with saliva. Fuck he was huge. The tip of his dick was slightly wet and it stood tall. You wanted to suck him off so bad. And as you were kneeling in front of him you realized that you wanted to do this for a long time.

But as he did for you, you wanted to give him a choice. When he had a short break in talking you looked at him with big question marks in your eyes, your mouth hovering over his dick by just an inch. His eyes were big and a bit puffy as he looked down but he didn’t answer. All that he did was softly taking the back of your head in his right hand and pushing you closer.

That was a yes.

Without any hesitation you opened your mouth widely, allowing him to guide his dick into your mouth. Then he let go.

He tasted amazing. You closed your mouth around his tip and let your tongue run over it a few times. Goosebumps formed on his whole body but you decided not to move. Until he started talking again.

Right when he opened his mouth to start another sentence you wrapped one hand around the shaft of his dick and let your head slide down. You could take about half of him without having to deepthoat, the other half was in your hand. He let out a quiet but pathetic moan before collecting himself and starting anew.

You looked up at him with a mischievous light in your eyes as you started to move your head up and down in a steady rhythm. You hum slightly, the vibration intensifying his pleasure. His breath was heavy but he managed to stay still and keep talking. You moved your hand with your mouth to feel his whole length.

In the corner of your eyes you could see that his thighs were slightly shaking as you stopped and gently licked his tip again. You felt how much he held himself back. He wanted to buckle up his hips, he wanted to moan your name and grab your head to push you deeper. But that had to wait.

“To conclude, my research successfully proved the given statement.” His voice was getting lower and lower and his eyes darkened as his professor thanked him and called on the next in line. You never had someone shut his laptop so fast. You stopped.

“But Mingi, your lecture still goes on for half an hour..” you wanted to protest but he had already pushed the table back to get a better sight of you.

“Who fucking cares.” He said before grabbing your head and pushing you closer. You immediately opened your mouth, willing to take him as deep as he wanted. You felt his dick enter your mouth and touch the back of your throat. You took a deep breath through your nose before you pushed your head down further, taking him completely.

Mingi let out a deep growly moan and looked at you in disbelief. “One one ever took me completely..” he groaned before throwing his head back. “Fuck.”

You felt high. The adrenaline rushed through your veins as you felt his pre-cum leak down your throat. You were good at this. You knew that. His hand was buried in your hair but he didn’t put any pressure on it, he let you do your thing. And you did your thing.

After giving yourself a few seconds to adjust, you started to move your tongue around his base while slowly picking up speed. His moans were angelic. He clearly wasn’t afraid of being loud and it was obvious that he didn’t care what people think. The walls were thin.

“God Y/n why did you never tell me how good you are at this?” He asked, completely out of breath. You couldn’t answer, still having his pulsating cock inside of your mouth. But he didn’t need an answer. All he needed was your wet mouth around his dick.

“This is the exact outcome I had hoped for.” He chuckled, taking a deep breath after. “Fuck I’m already close.” He whispered as his grip in your hands got stronger. A feeling of superiority overcame you as you felt his dick twitch. Then you slid back, continuing your movements with your hands but giving him a dirty smirk.

“If I had known you wanted me to do this, I would’ve done it way earlier..” you grinned, making him moan. “Such a big dick but not brave enough to make a proper move on me.” You were teasing him. You wanted him to feel what you felt. Even though you knew there may be consequences for that.

He let out a small whine. “I’ll return the favor I swear but please don’t let me wait much longer.”

You chuckled and let some salvia drop on his tip before taking him again. You could taste the salt on your tongue. A clear indicator that he wouldn’t last much longer.

“Cum for me handsome..” you whispered under your breath before picking up speed again. His moans got louder, more frequent as his hips began to shake. His right hand was still caught up in your hair but his left hand was grabbing the chair. And he was squeezing the wood so hard that if you didn’t know any better you would think it was about to burst.

“Please Y/n, let me fill you up..” he groaned, getting closer to his high with every little movement of your tongue. _With pleasure_ you thought carefully sucking on his tip.

He started shaking uncontrollably, his head thrown back. “Fuck fuck fuck!” He moaned as his cum started filling your mouth. It tasted amazing and you gladly gulped down every drop of it, still moving slowly to help him ride out his orgasm. His whole body was in high tension as you swallowed the last drop of his cum and let go of him.

His body immediately collapsed on the chair and his breathing started to get more and more regular. You didn’t move. Still kneeling in front of him.

When he finally opened his eyes he gave you a dark smile.

“I think we should move this into your bedroom”

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

Tags: @jonghoisbabie @multidreams-and-desires @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers-writes @serialee @crimsonbubble @cometoceantrenches @em--ilysm @deja-vux @kawaiiloli00 @ddeonghwva @aaaaajonghooooo @sansbun @cookies-n-joong @plonys @hijirikaww @nari-nim @yunkiwii @mingi-ivity @racheloveyunho @seongsangsgf @jhmylove @lizsvcks @yunhobabygurl @leoninadecorazones @kerra-that-one-random-fangirl @star1117-archives

[lavendernlilac]

Scar gently wrapping the rope around Grians arms, connecting her to the bed posts, tugging the knots once or twice to make sure they’re secure. He makes sure he gets her legs too, a little less restrictive than the arms so she can squirm around a bit. The last of rope is used to make a bralette shape across Grians chest, beautifully framing her boobs. By now she’s already whining slightly, the texture of the rope and light touches of Scars fingers winding her up, while he’s calmly asking how each knot feels.

Once she’s all settled in her bindings, Scar picks up the vibrator and sets it in place, turning it on briefly to make sure it works, getting a high moan out of Grian. Content with this set up, he makes sure that the camera and earpieces are all ready to go, and that Grians all set(and still play with this all) before he’s hopping out of the window to start his patrol.

It’s sudden when the first wave of vibrations hits Grian, a shocked gasp and whine falling out of her throat as she tries to grind against the sensation. Steadily, the intensity drops, sitting at the lowest it can for a while. She can hear Scars soft chuckles and praises in the earpiece as he messes with the intensity again.

This goes on for a couple hours, Scar reducing the intensity when he has to fight something/someone, but edging Grian when he’s just observing the area. They chat a little(it’s more begging on Grians side) when the vibrations are low, making sure to check in whenever possible.

Scar barely lasts 4 hours into his patrol shift before he’s on the way back home. He’s been edging Grian(and himself) for the last hour and a half and he can’t take it anymore, his hands twitch for Grians skin, lips dry from not being able to kiss her. He doesn’t tell her he’s on his way, just appears in Grians bedroom so suddenly she’s jolting out of her skin.

The rope stays on when he gets on top of Grian, kissing down her body until he’s lapping at her pussy, right next to the vibrator. She’s moaning and twitching while Scar eats her out and ups the vibrations. Takes barely a minute until her orgasm hits and the vibrator is turned off, leaving her to grind as best she can against Scars tongue until he’s leaning back up to kiss her. Grian is babbling between kisses, whining for scar to fuck her right in his ear.

The vibrator gets removed, but in its place lands Scars cock, already sliding into Grians hole. It doesn’t take long for Scar to finish, maybe a handful of slow thrusts, before he’s leaning back and untying the rope from Grians body.

She’s boneless, fully ready to knock out as Scar cleans up the bed. She barely registers getting picked up and transported to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Scars fulfilling the usual bath routine with a mostly asleep Grian against his chest, who’s mumbling all sorts of praises about tonight. She’s out cold when Scar tucks her back into bed, but he still has at least half his patrol left so Scar is giving her a kiss on the forehead and climbing back out of her window, leaving the camera on just to keep an eye on her.

My own prompt got stuck in my own brain lmao. Personally can’t really write, but I gave it a shot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-bodypillow anon

chomping on this actually hello??? I love this wdym you can’t really write !!!! /lh

I’ve been spinning this around in my brain for the past few days and now you hit me with THIS… I’ve been meaning to actually write out a drabble for this idea because of how much it’s latched on LOL. that’ll be in a separate post me thinks but I’m looking at this with big wide eyes waugh !!!

obsessed with the image of scar just showing up announced and scaring the hell out of grian DBDBRHRH but I’d image with how quickly scar is climbing on top of her she doesn’t have much of a chance to say much 😳

though I’m also very soft over scar holding her to his chest after. I can imagine him untying her very slowly and very carefully, rubbing her arms as he helps her sit up. grian being grian, flops herself right against scar’s chest and demands that he carries her and who is scar to deny her?

and WAUGH I just have this image of the two of them after, grian’s starting to fall asleep and scar’s stroking her hair,,, he still has to finish patrolling for the night but grian is so warm and soft he doesn’t want to leave her,,, he kisses her forehead and starts to get up but a hand is grabbing his shirt to stop him. grian looks at him very sleepily and asks him not to leave ;w;

it’s,,, so tempting for him to stay with her, pull her into his arms and fall asleep. but he has a responsibility to the city,,,, he promises to be back as soon as he can :(

this isn’t related to the post at all but it’s got me thinking about like. one of the first times they really butt heads about anything. in the beginning I don’t think scar has any balance between being scar and hotguy, and when he starts dating grian, it gets even more complicated. and grian kind of gets a bit upset about that because a) she wants to see him :( and b) scar’s not taking proper care of himself but he fails to see why that’s a problem and waugh. waughhhh!!!!

anyways. ahems. ty for this <3

[angelxd-3303]

"The best way I can describe it is like...a rut, I guess?" Cranky Kong took a sip of his margarita, nodding. Luigi swirled his, continuing.

"It's like when you get stuck in a ditch, and you rev the engine, but all it does is create a rut in the road. Then, even when you fix the kart, driving over that spot will get you stuck again. Realistically, I know I'm in a completely different situation. I have a husband who has and will fight for my safety, Mario and I will never have to be in the run the way we were before, so it should be ok, right?"

"Then ya drive over the rut."

"Exactly. Something happens, or someone says something, and it's like you're right back in that moment. Mario tends to get stuck in his own head a lot more than I do, but I know I'm still guilty of it. Whenever I'm alone too often, I tend to fall into the rut of: 'Mario went off to find us something to eat, I'd better go hide until he gets back!' Next thing I know, the entire Capital is in an uproar because no one can find me, and I've been tucked into the bottom of a broom closet for hours." Cranky Kong snorted at this, chuckling at the mental image.

"The worst part is, I know Mario had it so much worse. He shielded me from so much as a kid, and I can only imagine what he deals with." The two looked out across the arena, where Mario and DK were going at it. Seeing the competitive grin on Mario's face made Luigi's eyes sparkle.

"Your son has done him so much good. He and Peach are a match made in heaven, but DK has a way of bringing out the little kid in Mario. He helps him focus on the moment, and gives comfort when the past is all he can think of." Cranky Kong gave a rare smile.

"Yeah, well that human has been good for him too. DK's really grown up since he started dating your brother. He's still a little shit, mind you, but he's more... balanced." It was Luigi's turn to chuckle, the noise drawing Polterpup from where he lay by his master's feet. The dog yipped, tongue lolling out as he panted happily. Luigi patted the spirit's head softly. He looked back up in time to see DK scoop Mario up and spin him around. Mario laughed, a warm smile resting easily on his face. The older brother rested his hands against DK's cheeks and softly kissed his forehead. The ape grinned, holding him closer. Mario shifted to rest on DK's back, and the couple left the arena to meet Peach in the doorway.

The princess hugged both of them with an elated smile, and Luigi sighed. Cranky Kong nudged his knee with his own.

"You're all doin' great, ok? For the hell you've seen, you and your brother are doing great." He assured. Luigi leaned back against the warm stone seat.

"Yeah." He said, gently playing with his earrings.

"We're doing great."

[luffysinterlude]

here with some of my oc’s backstory!! (i love her) / (warnings: ooc!doffy & sengoku, oc’s mother (x rosinante), timeline might be off (i envision her to be 21/22 post time-skip), brother!law x oc) / (note: i mention cupid having dark hair, but that’s about it. you could imagine it from a reader’s perspective as well!! not really sure how i envision cupid yet, just her fits)

(inspired from this one moment where i was sick in bed and let my imagination run wild.)

donquixote rosinante’s daughter cupid was to be kept a secret from the world.

he hadn’t known she existed until she was five, through a letter that held tear stains and smeared ink. his one and only ex-lover from the east blue had fallen ill and had a month to live. in less than three weeks later, corazon finds himself standing in front of a newly added gravestone, a small dark-haired girl sleeping peacefully in his arms.

i promise i’ll keep her safe. she is your legacy. thank you for trusting her with me, i’m sorry we missed the chance to be a family and i’m not sure if i’ll ever be able to get over losing someone so great. i’ll make sure she grows up the way you want her to. i’ll see you in the next life, my beautiful alia.

when sengoku found corazon sitting in his office with a child in his lap, he nearly had a heart attack. corazon explained the situation…even letting some of his feelings slip. when sengoku pried about the mother, he thought he’d died and resurrected on the spot. monkey d. alia…a familiar name, someone he’d watch grow up with his adopted son. he wasn’t upset though; he and garp had raised them both to be young naval commanders. although alia had suddenly disappeared six years ago and garp refused to tell anyone his daughter’s whereabouts, he was proud of them, a warmth swelling in his chest.

yet his blood ran cold as he realized he shared a granddaughter with garp. he made a mental note to ask garp if he had any idea and if so, why he didn’t feel the need to tell him.

sengoku agreed to keep the child a secret, but only if he was allowed to raise the girl and train her to be a marine. corazon hesitated a bit; not wanting his adoptive father to shove his views of justice down his daughter’s throat, but he trusted sengoku enough, nodding his head at the idea. he promised her he’ll stop by every chance he had.

unbeknownst to them, a certain man sat just below the open window..smiling at the precious news from his little brother.

within just a year, sengoku watched so much potential grow in cupid, she was such a strong girl who seemed to excel in everything he put her through. for a six year old, she had more self-discipline than most marines. she never gave up and proved herself every time.

so imagine the feeling he gets when his oldest son pays him a visit, asking for a favor. doflamingo has never been forgiving; a silent threat in the air as he demanded a warlord position and custody of cupid. sengoku silently prays for corazon’s mercy and gives him want he wants with not much of a fight, only asking that cupid never ends up dead or on a bounty poster.

corazon’s heart shatters as he hears the words fall from sengoku’s mouth. tears welled in his eyes at the sudden wave of grief that hit him, a small amount of anger bubbling under his skin. he told me he wouldn’t hurt her. cora clenched his eyes shut at the words, an image of both cupid and alia flashing through his mind. his decision was then made:

i’ll go undercover. i made a promise to alia and i won’t let him be the reason i break it…and i’ll stop whatever madness doffy has planned.

x+x

hearing the news that her father was joining her on the numancia, cupid allowed her mind to ease. she trusted and loved her father to take care of her, and stuck to him like a parasite. you’ll never be alone, he told her. i’ll always be with you.

some time passes and cupid quickly becomes a main asset to the donquixote family. she’s always being watched by doflamingo though; something she noticed the minute she stepped foot aboard. he didn’t have to be present for her to feel his strong gaze. she trained restlessly, sometimes in secret so her dad wouldn’t scold her. she wanted to be as strong as her parents…maybe even stronger.

she soon meets a boy named Law, her interest in him beginning when he shows up seeking refuge in the family, saying he doesn’t have much time to live; words she’s heard before. she soon finds herself following him around the ship, observing him and trying to help him get away her father…

one day though, she feels a familiar pain in her chest: her father was taking Law around the world in hopes to find a doctor that’ll heal him. she cried silently as she eavesdropped on the quiet conversation between the two brothers, her heart desperately wanting to go, but she knew doflamingo would never allow that.

that night, she stares out into the dark sky, searching for a ray of hope; for herself, her (new) brother, and her father. even though she was a child, she was able to piece together her uncle’s plans for dressrosa. she’s always been able to read people’s next move and sometimes hear their thoughts — something she noticed when her grandfather sengoku trained her alongside marines — yet around those she trusted and loved, she never felt the need to.

the day Law and Corazon parted ways with the family, she hid in her room—she had told them she’d see them again, a stern look in her eyes. she formulated an escape plan to follow the two, one that involved a lot of thought: every second matters, i can’t fail.

when the news that cupid had suddenly disappeared a month exactly after the departure of Law and Corazon, and just before her birthday, doflamingo could only laugh. he knew Corazon was smart enough not to break a promise with him, so the thought of a nine year old girl somehow being smart enough to escape from him drove him insane.

you’ll come back to me eventually. just because you’re blood, i’ll allow you to escape this once. consider us even, rosi…because your life is mine once i find you.

+x+

here’s my vivre card! don’t tell anyone i’m giving this to you, it’s our secret.

the warm voice of her father clouded cupid’s mind as she stared at the small paper in her hand, the freezing temperature suddenly causing her arms to wrap around her body. a familiar voice caused her to untuck her chin from her chest, yet when she looked, nobody was near.

it’s been almost six months since Law and Corazon began their journey. a part of her wishes that her father had tried harder to include her in their search, but she knew that he only wanted to keep her safe. she also knew that by leaving, he would suffer more.

she figures that by now doflamingo had figured out cora’s secret. she prayed every night hoping the evil man didn’t beat her to them, and so far he hasn’t. yet that thought alone made her move her legs just a bit quicker in the thick snow, fighting against strong winds.

a tall pink silhouette caught her eye as she was beginning to feel tired, a small burst of adrenaline causing her to run towards the figure. she tried using her haki — a term she learned about after confiding to baby 5 about her power sources — to hear what they were talking about, but using it at a distance isn’t something she learned yet.

and so she did the next best thing she could think of:

“DAAAAAAAAAAAD!! LAAAAAAAAAW!!”

corazon froze in his spot when he suddenly felt his daughter’s presence in the surrounding area. neither of the males could hear her voice due to corazon’s devil fruit power, but the wide-eyed look on law’s face as his eyes traveled behind cora’s head caused law to slightly panic.

“she’s behind me, isn’t she…?” corazon spoke. his head hung low, his eyes clenching shut as he grit his teeth. he should be angry. angry at cupid for acting on impulse and following them. angry at cupid for leaving his brother’s ship without thinking of the consequences she’d face. instead, he chuckles. its a light-hearted chuckle, an image of alia popping up in his head.

law nodded, still in a slight panic and shock. he was happy to see his sister again, but he was hoping that the next time they met was when he was fully healed and recovered. in a way, cupid reminded him of lami; he thinks it’s because of how she clung to him like they’ve known each other for their entire lives, or how she’s the only other person (after cora) he trusts.

+x+

���you understand, don’t you cupid?” she does, but wishes she didn’t.

cupid was speechless; she wants to scream at her father for getting himself into trouble, the sense of danger continuing to grow with every second. she wants to beg her father to take her and law and leave immediately, she just reunited with them both, she doesn’t want to leave this land without the two of them alive.

her loving, protective father, was going to give his life in exchange for her and law.

whether her brother was aware of this or not, it was going to happen. she knew her father didn’t have it in him to kill the man, and even after she tried convincing him to let her be a distraction while the two got away, he refused.

tears welled in cupid’s eyes as she realized that this was it. the long time of waiting for her father to finally come back for her, has gone down the drain. the four years she has spent knowing him has felt like two days. both of her parents have sacrificed themselves for good reasons, and the thought makes her angry. she wants to destroy all the evil people in the world for causing pain to those she loves — including those who’ve caused harm to Law — and make them suffer. she cries uncontrollably, the cold air around her disappearing due to the heat rising in her body.

the look on his daughter’s face broke his heart. cupid was a perfect mix of him and alia; a reminder of the love that once bloomed between the two, a period of time where cora felt nothing but bliss. alia was a major inspiration to him, both as a human-being and a marine, and he prays that alia isn’t too harsh on him when they meet again.

her name’s Cupid. i named her after the god of love, because she’s so full of it and she reminds me of the love we shared share. she’s a bit shy at first, but as soon as she warms up to you she can be a bit much to handle. she likes to observe everything: people, animals, places…she’s a very adventurous being, and through that, i think she’s unlocked part of her observation haki. she’s only five, yet she’s so strong and so smart.

please, as a dying wish of mine, do not let her be forced into anything she doesn’t want to do. let her grow into her own person. i’ve been thinking more about our fathers’ ways of living…and i can’t imagine a soul like hers serving people like them. i have a strong feeling that cupid will be a big threat to both the government and pirates alike.

she’s always been special; this whole island loves her. at first i thought maybe it’s due to my dad’s reputation, but i’ve come to find out it’s just because of her spirit and humanity. she’ll make history one day. she knows i don’t have much time left, and she’s been so understanding. i can tell with every passing day that she’s trying to make this time more enjoyable and peaceful for me. she also knows about our separation and all about you, and she says she’s excited for the day for the two of you to meet — it’s kind of some sort of bragging right for her.

please, take good care of our cupid. one day she’ll understand the importance of her life, but as for now, she’s too young. attached below is some ways to contact my brother and his colleagues, they’re trustworthy people and dragon owes me one. if you ever need to contact them, please do so for any reason. be safe, rosinante. as long as cupid is alive, so is our love.

corazon was prepared for his death the moment he decided to go undercover. he had written dragon a long, long letter, explaining to him the situation that he’s in. as long as cora stays alive long enough to carry law and cupid to safety, his mission ends then, and he can rest peacefully (while hoping his body is found). silencing both children, he hides them in a wooden box, waiting for doflamingo to finally find him again.

+x+

“you’ll both be safe here. and,” corazon took yet another, bloodied, deep breath; his eyes bouncing between both of his kids, desperately hoping that in his next life he remembers their faces. “i love you.”

the last memory cupid has of her father is one that’s bloody, gruesome, and heartbreaking. but the words he spoke to her are engraved in her mind.

as long as she remembers she’s loved, this life is worth continuing to live.

+x+

★ an: i still have sooo many more ideas for cupid’s backstory (involving cora and alia) but for now i’ll settle for this. please let me know what i could work on!! i’m still getting back into the groove of writing :p

[the19thduckpotato]

Can All Might kill All for One? AKA a small headcanon that's been stuck in my brain for ages now (with spoilers including ch 400).

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

First all, I submit to you that All Might has never killed anyone. Oh sure, he thought he did, about six years ago. And most likely beat himself up about that (among other things) until the Nomu showed up at USJ. Not guilt over destroying AfO specifically but anguish over thinking he had taken a life. How many times did he force a smile in those years and think about how dangerous he, his hands, his powers were. That he wasn't safe around others, corrupted even, and that just gave him another reason to distance himself from others.

If they knew what I had done, even knowing it was protect them, they'd no longer smile. They'd fear me.

Antithetical to what the Symbol of Peace is supposed to stand for. And that's a huge part of why he never let that fight be publicly known.

And now here we are at the final fight.

Being broadcast everywhere worldwide. The world knows All Might. Only a fraction of the world knows "that skinny man fighting in the far-off country." So if it's a matter of reputation, Toshinori has an advantage.

But it may not be about keeping the image of All Might intact.

It almost feels like Toshinori is praying Rewind will remove AfO for him but now that Stain has AfO pinned down, it's no longer that simple.

And you know AfO is going to use this last gambit to his advantage. "Can you do it? Can you murder me while the whole world looks on? What will they think of you then? What will Izuku think of you??"

Because doing so would be Toshinori's final sacrifice of self (that and not the sacrifice of dying himself) to keep everyone safe. A terrible burden. One last small victory for AfO as he forever leaves Toshinori stained.

Except.

Toshinori's bloodied smile. "I've made myself miserable for years thinking I had. So I've had practice. And this time around, I've got help and support. I think I'll be ok. Unlike you."

And he will follow through because it has to be him. Poetically, All Might needs to avenge his master's death. And Toshinori will do it because he can't let his kid dirty his own scarred hands. The burden ends here.

And he knows that they'll all understand why.

[sincerely-sofie]

Check-in for October 24, 2023

I'm planning on doing regular check-ins that peeps can read or skip as much as they please. If you want to see behind the scenes of my projects or get to know me a bit better, feel free to peek below the cut! If not, just look at this color palette I made for my web dev class and admire it:

I know green and pink are my favorite colors, so I may be just a tad biased, but look!!! Look at how pretty it is!!!

I plan to use the palette for a website that is basically a guided tour of a fictional town that's populated by bug people, and while the colors used in the initial character sketches are still my preference, I don't think they look too bad in this proof of concept image! They definitely need some tweaking, and some details in the art itself need correcting, but all around it's not too shabby :>

I also made the logo for the website which, while uninspired, doesn't look that bad. I'm not in a logo design course, so I can't be too upset about that. I made two versions--- a light and dark one--- so that I could have it appear on most colors of background.

Also, I've printed off tons of art and stuck it on my walls over the past few days to inspire me. The art wall has been very successful in beautifying my space, but I've been a bit too worn out to draw much other than the start of a project where I draw individual generations of pokemon by memory. Venusaur looks exactly like I remembered it, but also nothing like that at all. Charizard's line only looks halfway decent by virtue of Twig existing.

I must say, though, that I am charmed by these drawings' doofy lil grins. Just look at Bulbasaur. He is raring to go! Charmander is ready to shake your hand! Look at these lads!!

I've been trying to learn Clip Studio Paint by drawing a new The Present is a Gift comic in it, but I cannot begin to explain to you all how intimidating of a program it is for me. I'm a Procreate gal, y'all. I have a conniption whenever I look at the Photoshop interface. When I look at this:

I am desperate for the cozy white space of this:

I spent over an hour struggling to draw a simple piece for Instagram, admittedly while desperately trying to get OBS to not give out on me while I recorded my screen, but I think that I'm slowly learning how to not faint whenever the Paint window boots up.

Anyhoo--- enjoy the WIP teaser for the upcoming comic featuring a chat between Dusknoir (piloting a KO'd Twig) and Darkrai amidst a cave-in. If I am found dead, know that said comic worked alongside Clip Studio Paint to kill me.

As an update for The Present is a Gift in terms of the fanfic, I recently broke 6,000 words for the first draft. I haven't been writing too regularly--- when I do, it's usually to just sit down for 30 minutes max to try and get a little bit of a head start on NaNoWriMo coming up--- but whenever I do, the words come in batches of 400-700+ at a time. My dudes, I used to take a week to reach the lower end of that amount. I've been beating perfectionism back with a stick while sobbing "Quantity begets quality! Quantity begets quality!", but since I've set myself a challenge to write as many garbage words as possible without editing them until the first draft is done, I've been writing--- and enjoying the process of writing--- more than I have in my entire life.

I've been trying to win NaNoWriMo, a challenge where you write 50k words in November, for the last 7 years. I resigned myself to being a NaNo rebel and trying to write just 15k words next month. But if I keep cranking out 1,500 words in under two writing sprints per day--- without properly trying to eliminate distractions--- I think I could actually win for once??? I didn't think Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction would be what gave me a fighting chance at winning NaNoWriMo, but here I am. PMD brainrot truly is a miraculous thing, but I'll have to see exactly miraculous it is on the 1st of November.

So... yep! I probably should have figured out a way to sign off on check-in posts before deciding to publish this. Oops. Welp. Um. Thanks for reading?

Sincerely, Sofie

[the-robot-bracket]

TOM propaganda:

"He's voiced by Steve Blum, he likes anime and he respects women."

"The coolest robot you'll ever meet once a week. No really. Toonami is program block that usually hosts anime but is for action cartoons in general and is on Adult Swim ever Saturday night/Sunday morning (12am-usually 3 or 4am). Anyway, here's some stuff about him specifically. He's voiced by Steve Blum doing his Spike Spiegal voice but was originally voiced by Sonny Strait. And the reason for more than one voice actor isn't just 'they decided to change his voice'. No, they gave that decision its own lore. See, T.O.M. has several different incarnations (there are T.O.M.s 1-6) that usually come to be when the current incarnation gets killed during one of the stories they show that provide said lore. He went from voiced by Sonny Strait as T.O.M. 1 pre-The Intruder, the first of these stories, to voiced by Steve Blum as T.O.M. 2-current.

Some examples of these stories have been: blob/slime like monster invades his ship and essentially eats him, his ship gets stuck in a tractor beam of a trash compactor ship that's running on pure autopilot, a sentient computer virus infects his ship (along with its AI and his best friend) so he jacks into the mainframe to fight it, that same blob/slime monster comes back years later but intelligent after his first body was properly assimilated into it, planet he and his AI friend are stranded on is threatening to implode onto itself and they have to find a way off before they go with it, the new ship they got during the last adventure gets zapped by alien lighting (? idk it was a nebulous storm that acted almost virus like) and there's time travel shenanigans involved and everyone is traumatized a bit, their ship gets hacked and forced to come the space station where robots that look just like T.O.M. are being made as...basically slave labor bots and he has to work to shut the place down and free them. They also get incredibly traumatized in that one too, but because of how little story there's been since then you wouldn't be able to tell by first glance.

Anyway, he also looks cool, with his third incarnation being the fan favorite for having a shape that looks like it has muscles? IDK man. He usually just has a 'visor' for a face, taking place where a human's facial features would go...except for one time he had both eyes and mouth which fans didn't like. I don't mind that incarnation though cuz I grew up with him. Plus, through means we still don't have the full answer to, that incarnation has actually been revealed to be like a twin/clone of the aforementioned T.O.M. 3. Like they have the same memories up until their 'birth' and stuff. For his current body (and honestly my favorite cuz he looks cool :)) T.O.M. 6, he has a cool feature with his visor in which projected images can be shown through, like when they had him wearing a digital costume during Halloween two years in a row that had a flaming jack o' lantern on it.

Personality wise- he's sardonic and cool, but actually also a big nerd. He's also a very loyal friend. If you were his best friend and got corrupted by evil, he'd try literally everything before taking action against you (like he did in aforementioned story about time travel). This loyalty could also be a bad thing as sometimes he puts his loved ones' needs over his own, letting himself get sacrificed so the others can get to safety. He's also an avid gamer. One who canonically raged quit Dark Souls and threw a game out the airlock cuz he couldn't get past one of the levels no matter how many times he tried.

A karaoke program insulted his singing during one of the stories and for years fans (or at least I was) were convinced because of this that he couldn't sing until an intro for the block like last year where he sang like five seconds of a sea shanty and it sounded pretty good.

Uhhh what else... IDK man I just really like him... I love this traumatized weeb robot in space and hopefully this all was a good reasoning as to why. He's so cool. Look up 'Toonami Total Immersion Events' if you can, those are the stories I mentioned."

[elsanna-shenanigans]

November/October Contest Submission #2: Nightmare

Words:  ca. 8,000 Setting: Scandinavia circa 800 CE Lemon: lime Content: explicit horror, descriptive images of death and decay, PTSD, slight BDSM, MCD

~~~

The Viking Age

Air filled the space between bone and flesh as her arm rose into the sky.

And escaped with the fall of the hammer on steel.

With each breath, frigid air resonated with the rhythmic ringing of metal. The blacksmith’s chest rose and fell with the tempo. The forge raged in the cold with tempestuous embers kicking and licking at the sweat on her exposed skin.

Muscles burned and tendons stretched; every sinew and vein drove every ounce of strength deeper and deeper into the glow.

“Anna, you are a sight to behold.”

Anna became shrouded in steam as she plunged the white-hot steel into the trough of water with a sharp sizzle.

“If you keep staring at me like that, Eric, I may have to tell your wife that her husband has an eye for another redhead. Should I expect a challenge from her?”

Eric sat on a stump as he watched the blacksmith dull the glow on his blade, unaffected by the steam and sweat that stuck strands of fiery hair to her cheek.

“Ha! She would be no match for you.”

“You’re no match for me.”

The black wolf pelt across his broad shoulders bristled with his chuckle.

“Truer words have never been spoken. Perhaps she should challenge that husband of yours. Would be a fairer fight, I think.”

Eric nodded toward the fenced area on the other side of Anna’s house. A meager hamlet with a forge on one side and a farm on the other. A wide-eyed and wide-smiled man stood in the pen with a reindeer calf in his arms and a carrot in his mouth. He caught the pair of eyes looking his way and gave an awkward wave in their direction, nearly losing his grip on the calf and stumbling over.

Anna did not wave back. Instead, she returned her gaze to the cool steel in her hands.

“Is there a reason you’re wasting air in my forge, or did you come just to tease Kristoff and pine for things you can’t have? Your sword won’t be ready until tomorrow.”

Eric brushed raven locks out of his face in an attempt at seriousness.

“I came for your answer.”

“You know my answer” was Anna’s reply, swift and sharp.

“I know the lie that you tell yourself. Come now, Hammerfall, you can’t expect me to believe that you don’t miss it? Just one more is all I ask.”

Anna brought a whetstone to the blade and began to smooth the rough edges. Her eyes were focused entirely on her task, yet they seemed elsewhere at the same time.

“I don’t raid anymore.”

Eric let irritation show on his brow. He directed that irritation toward Kristoff, the reindeer, the forge, at anything he perceived to be the cause of Anna’s weakness.

“You’re wasting your life, Anna! You are blessed by Thor himself yet you sit at your forge, growing old with that oaf. Your hammer is meant for more than fixing swords and shoeing horses.”

“My hammer is meant for whatever I choose to strike with it. If you don’t want that to be your head, then I suggest you take my answer to heart. And never ask me again.”

Eric closed his eyes and let the irritation and disappointment dissipate through his feet and into the permafrost.

“Very well, shield-sister. It won’t be the same without you.”

Anna showed a moment of forgiveness for her brother-in-arms when she looked up from his sword and gave him a reassuring smile.

The sky bellowed with a deep rumble that shook their chests. Anna placed the sword on her anvil before walking to her gate. There she looked toward the fjord from the side of the hill where she made her home.

“Whose longboat is that?” Anna asked as she stood next to Eric. It pulled up to the dock, ropes flying from each end to secure its mooring. Eric could just make out the motif of a black horse’s head painted on the sail.

“Loki’s ballsack. That’s a Westergaard longboat.”

Anna squinted her eyes in a vain attempt to get a clearer look. A young man disembarked before all the rest, seemingly younger than everyone else on board yet clearly in command.

“Which son is that you think?” Eric wondered as he put his hands on his hips.

“The youngest, I would guess. Hans, maybe? I wonder what he is doing here—”

Anna’s words trailed off as her eye was caught by the second figure leaving the boat.

Tall, and shrouded in a white bear cloak that covered her face behind a hood encircled with teeth and jawbones.

Hans reached out to assist the mysterious person onto the dock.

“Who is that?” Anna’s words were almost a whisper, but Eric shared her wonder.

“His wife? Doesn’t look like a warrior. Why bring her with a raiding party?”

Anna pulled herself away to return to the rapidly cooling sword and returned it to the forge to re-soften the metal. As she stoked the fire, the visiting party hiked their way up the main trail from the docks that weaved its way through the village toward the massive longhouse that sat overlooking the valley.

Eric had moved away from her gate as the party passed by the edge of her homestead. Anna continued to work, but through the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the cloaked figure.

The shrouded woman hesitated just for a moment, lingering for a single, chilled breath. Just long enough for her head to turn. Long enough for Anna to be caught in the gaze of two massive orbs of pure glacial water. They stared at each other, transfixed for an eternity until the spell was broken.

“I don’t like the look of her,” Eric said, cutting the silence.

Anna blinked and the party had moved on toward the longhouse. And when the mysterious figure left Anna’s sight, her chest expanded with a forgotten breath.

~~~

The sun burned through Anna’s eyelids causing her to turn away from the unwelcome sensation. She stirred in her cot underneath the furs with groggy reluctance.

“Rise and shine, honey.” Kristoff’s voice was not much more welcome. Anna simply groaned in response. “It’s nearly midday. Did you have trouble sleeping?”

Anna finally rose, attempting to wipe the fog from her eyes, and yawned through her answer.

“Just some weird dreams.”

After eating breakfast, she began the meticulous process of starting up her forge for the day’s work. A smoldering piece of wood from the fire Kristoff had started in the morning stoked a budding flame within the bed of charcoal. As the embers began to wake, she gathered long iron rods with hatch marks running down the length. Soon enough there was the familiar sound of ringing metal as she hammered a chisel through each mark, cutting segments of equal length to fall into a bucket below the anvil.

She quickly got into a rhythm, breaking piece after piece.

Breathe. Hammer. Chisel. Breathe.

Breathe. Hammer. Chisel. Breathe.

A glance toward a pair of blue eyes watching her.

Hammer to chisel.

Hammer to thumb.

She cried out with both pain and surprise toward the figure of a bear-cloaked woman standing just feet away with an intense stare. Anna pulled her glove off and rubbed at her thumb while she kept her own gaze on the woman who had yet to say any words.

“Can I… help you… my lady?” Anna wasn’t sure how to address her. She wasn’t sure of her status. She was dressed in quality not known to most save for a Jarl’s wife.

“I’ve never seen a woman blacksmith before”, the stranger said. Her voice was soft and carried a curious wonder with the question.

“I suppose there aren’t many of us.” Anna was visibly confused at the lack of social decorum. “They call me Anna. And you are?”

“Elsa. Was your father a blacksmith?” The woman’s stare never ceased and the uneasiness was growing.

“Yes—”

“May I watch you?”

Anna looked the woman up and down, not sure what to make of her.

“Sure… I’m just making nails today. Nothing exciting I’m afraid.”

“That’s fine.”

Elsa pulled back her hood so that the ring of tooth and bone stood erect along her shoulders. A bundle of braids of varying lengths and thicknesses tumbled alongside her neck and against her chest. They were unnaturally white as if the bear fur was a part of her mane. Her skin was a pale hue Anna only ever saw on corpses except for a thick band of black paint that stretched across her face from each temple painting her massive eyes in a sky of black like twin moons against a starless expanse.

Anna’s heart skipped a beat.

Elsa began to sit on the stump next to the forge, but Anna got a sudden urge to stop her.

“Wait. That stump’s not very comfortable. Let me get you a chair.”

Without waiting for a response, she entered her house to grab the chair she usually sat on at the table. She placed her hands on it but then hesitated and looked toward the other chair, still occupied by her husband. Determining that his chair was larger and thus more regal she issued a command.

“Up. Now.”

Kristoff stood without a word but with his question in his eyes. She swapped their chairs and proceeded outside with the larger and her husband was left to sit and ponder.

When Anna returned outside, Elsa was looking toward the fjord. She placed the chair over the stump, trying and failing to have it level. Elsa sat and folded her hands across her lap when a glint of a silver ring caught Anna’s eye. The blacksmith returned to her task, having forgotten completely where she left off, and having forgotten completely to breathe during the whole ordeal.

Having neglected the fire, she furiously began pumping air into the coals. Her hands gripped the bellows tightly, veins beginning to stretch against the skin of her exposed biceps as the heat rose to her face.

Anna was keenly self-conscious of the mysterious woman now staring intently, and intensely, in her direction, but without any word. Silent as a hunter.

“So…” Anna attempted to break the silence as she grabbed her hammer and chisel from the anvil. “Would you like me to make you something? I’m afraid I’m not very skilled at jewelry. I could make a bronze clasp for you or your husband—”

“I don’t have a husband.”

Elsa’s stare didn’t break but her fingers reflexively flinched around the silver ring on her middle finger.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I thought that Hans—”

“He is… my master.”

The stare was finally broken and the silence returned and all Anna was aware of was the slow rise of her chest and the frustrated heartbeat underneath.

“You have no thralls in your homestead?” Elsa said as she returned to watch Anna awkwardly place a small length of iron into the burning coals.

“No. I… don’t need them. Kristoff and I manage fine on our own.”

The woman said nothing more and Anna went about her mundane tasks for the day, all with the intense but curious onlooker watching every movement.

Every rise of the hammer and twist of the tongs;

every loose strand of hair against a cheek,

every bead of sweat.

And every breath that Anna struggled to take in time with her tempo.

~~~

Anna tossed and turned in her cot. Sleep was not coming easily. She looked toward her husband, soundly dreaming beside her, then looked toward the ceiling. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.

She felt the cool air enter her windpipe and flow through her chest causing it to rise. Her chest rose even higher with a deeper inhale through her nose and fell with the escape from her mouth.

Then her chest refused to rise.

She breathed. And breathed. And breathed and breathed and breathed.

But no air entered her chest.

It didn’t rise, it couldn’t rise. It was as if a great weight sat atop her body and rejected the needed expansion of space.

She opened her eyes, and the expected sight of a darkened ceiling was blocked by something completely unexpected.

Twin moons against a starless night, glowing, radiant, and with a hovering gaze just above Anna’s face.

Anna couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak. She looked down and saw Elsa’s naked body lying atop her, the furs pulled away, their chests pressed against each other, and her legs draped across Anna’s thighs.

Then a hand came over her mouth.

She looked toward her husband, still next to her, still dreaming.

She tried to shake her head. She tried to reach for her axe that slept next to her pillow.

She tried to breathe.

Elsa pressed her hand against Anna’s mouth and the weight on her chest grew even heavier. She feared it would collapse under the pressure.

Anna’s vision began to blur. Stars began to fill the darkness as a red haze encroached, threatening to black out her mind.

Suddenly Elsa pulled her hand away and Anna made one last attempt to take one last gasp of air.

But lips pressed against her mouth.

The air did not come.

Instead, she felt Elsa’s chest expand above her, taunting her desperate lungs with their swollen bounty.

Anna felt as if her very soul was being consumed, pulled out of her body through her lips and into the chest of the ghostly woman straddling atop her very life.

Redness turned to black and the stars blanketed her eyes concealing the rising moons.

And her chest finally rose.

She coughed. And heaved, and gulped for air. She launched herself out of her bed, stumbling over the edge with her vision still blurred. She desperately grabbed for her axe and scoured around her home. Finding no sign of the woman, she ran to the door and searched.

And found nothing.

No bear skin cloak or ghostly figure of a naked woman glowing in the darkness; not even a moon in the sky. Just a blanket of stars and Anna’s breath billowing in the night air.

~~~

Anna awoke the next afternoon, her fiery mane in a tangled mess and her eyelids heavy and plastered shut.

“You don’t look so good, honey. Are you feeling alright?”

Anna chose not to tell Kristoff about the night. She chose not to tell him many things. Her problems were her own and she would deal with them on her own.

The waking routines proceeded without incident. Kristoff left to shepherd their herd of reindeer, leaving Anna behind to finish her meal and start up her forge. She pulled the hide that covered her doorway to go outside, and standing there in her forge was Elsa.

Anna froze for a half second before lunging to a rack of unfinished swords, pulling out the bare steel, and pointing it at the woman. To Anna’s surprise, Elsa had a look of shock on her face in response.

“What are you doing!?” Elsa exclaimed as she backed away.

“What am I doing? What are you doing? Why did you attack me last night?!”

“Attack you? I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Anna stepped forward and Elsa stepped back twice as far.

“You tried to kill me!” Anna’s rage pushed Elsa back against the gate. She was visibly distraught, and it gave Anna pause.

“I didn’t attack you! I don’t know anything about what happened to you last night. I was with Hans, at the longhouse. Ask him, ask the guards, ask you’re own warriors that stay with the Jarl. I was there all night.”

Anna’s breathing was furious but her mind was growing more confused.

“I don’t understand… You were there. You were on top of me. You were choking me! You…you kissed me.”

“I kissed you? I tried to kill you then I kissed you?”

She lowered her sword. She looked toward the ground as her mind tried to walk back the events.

“Was your husband home? Did he see any of this?”

“He was asleep… He didn’t see anything…”

Elsa took a few hesitant steps forward, glancing at Anna’s sword but also looking at Anna with concern. She reached out and touched her arm and Anna felt the cool steel of the silver ring against her skin.

“I think you had a bad dream, Anna.”

“I felt my chest burning. I felt my life leaving me! I felt you, your hands, your skin, your lips… I… I…”

Anna’s cheeks flushed and her eyes grew wide under the recognition of the revelation she didn’t realize she was making.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I’m so so so stupid. Dreams can be such— you know? I can’t believe I—”

As Anna spoke she went to the forge and began pumping the bellows at a rapid pace, not realizing that she had yet to begin the fire and the coals sat cold in the basin.

Elsa came over and put a reassuring hand atop Anna’s, halting the futile motion and letting Anna catch her much-needed breath.

“It’s ok, Anna. Dreams are funny things. They can be informative, but also mischievous. Windows into our souls, as well as our imaginations.”

“We don’t have to speak of this again.” Anna moved a loose strand of hair from her cheek to behind her ear as she looked away awkwardly.

“May I watch you again today?” Elsa asked, nodding toward the chair that remained from the day before.

“Sure,” Anna responded as relief began to cleanse the awkward moment.

The day finally resumed at a more comfortable pace. More words were exchanged, mostly Anna recounting the parts of her life she was willing to share, mostly about smithing, or Kristoff. Elsa was far less free with her conversation. She preferred to ask, not answer. Anna noticed that she was particularly tight-lipped about her past or where she came from. She did not press the matter.

She knew where thralls came from.

~~~

Two women waded slowly through the thick soup of water and peat, their legs wrapped tightly in oiled leather and furs.

“You didn’t have to accompany me. Bogs are pretty messy. I can not guarantee the safety of your woolens.”

“I do not mind getting a little dirty”, Elsa said as she made her way through Anna’s wake.

They found their way to a small island, a raised hill of dirt, in the middle of the bog where Anna would often camp during her trips to gather iron. There was a small, makeshift structure where she stored supplies as well as stockpiles of iron ore. Anna grabbed a basket which she slung to her back and a knife for cutting through the peat.

“You’ve set up quite the hideaway here”, Elsa said.

“I like to come here and be alone with my thoughts. An escape from… a life I once had.”

Anna started a small campfire to warm up by when they returned.

“Does your husband know about this place?”

Anna didn’t show much reaction to the mention of Kristoff before responding.

“No. No one knows about it. You’re the first person I’ve ever brought here. I’m not really sure why, but I felt like… I wanted to share it with you.”

Anna caught a faint smile from the other woman, but also saw it tinged with what she thought was a sense of confusion.

“I’m glad you brought me here. It can be our secret.”

Anna smiled back.

“Well, ready to get dirty?”

And with that, both women returned to the water.

The bog was blanketed with a thin layer of mist that clung to their hair and chilled their cheeks. Anna scanned the surface of the brackish water for the telltale glisten of the iridescent film that would reveal her prey.

Once she found a spot where the water was slick, she punctured the film with her fingers and pulled layers of peat which she cut with a knife. On the underside amongst the mud and roots, she found what she was looking for. Small nodes of naturally occurring iron ore. She pulled them free of their rooted mooring and tossed them into the basket on her back.

“There, see? Once you know what to look for you can gather a good amount in no time.”

“This seems to be an odd task for someone who carries herself as a warrior,” Elsa said.

Anna bristled at the accusation.

“I am no warrior”, she said as she plunged her hand back into the mud.

“A murderer then.”

Anna froze.

“What did you say?” She looked up, hoping she had heard wrong. That Elsa’s voice was simply distorted by the wind.

But there was no wind. And there was no Elsa.

There was nothing but mist. She called out again and swiveled her head in all directions but saw no sign of her companion. She decided to pull her hand from the water and search.

Except her hand wouldn’t move.

A sharp pain pierced her shoulder as the unexpected force prevented her arm from following the movement of her body. She looked down at the mud where her wrist met the water and pulled. And pulled and pulled and pulled.

But her hand would not be let go.

“What the Hel?”

She positioned her legs in a more stable stance to get as much leverage from her thighs as possible. She feared for the strength of her wrist but finally, the mud began to give. Her hand was released with a slow suction of muck, but it was not alone. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around something.

She wiggled with her elbow to try and work her hand free yet her fingers refused to let go of the object in the mud, like a thick root buried deep in the earth. She grabbed it with her other hand and continued to pull. It was rough and rigid, and her hand was stuck to it as if by thick sap.

“Let go of me, you piece of—”

Suddenly the mist began to glow red and a crackling filled Anna’s ears.

The bog was on fire.

Seemingly out of nowhere Anna was surrounded by flame. Her heart began to race as she felt the onslaught of heat brush against her. She continued to pull at her shackle, and as she pulled the root from the mud she began to recognize it. A familiar set of carvings inlaid within a wooden body told her the impossible.

It was the handle of her axe.

The fear of the encroaching flames was now muddled with confusion. She didn’t bring her axe, and she certainly didn’t drop it in the bog.

As she pulled with all her might, the head of the axe finally revealed itself. And like her hand before, it was not alone.

The peat began to give way to something underneath, rising like a shallow dome from the bed. The slick film across the water became fibrous, like long strands of black hair. When Anna tried to pry her fingers from the shaft she found that the mud covering her hand had turned into a dark syrup. A coating of red stuck to her skin and spread from her forearm, over her fingers, and onto the wood.

When the surface of the bog finally broke, Anna saw that the steel of her axe was buried in neither wood nor mud, but bone and gore. A face rose from the water, covered in decay and staring at her with empty orifices. A skull of rotting flesh that peeled from charred bone. A row of teeth hung above an open maw where a lower jaw ceased to be. Strands of matted hair clung to the top of the skull where her axe sat embedded between the gaping eyeless sockets.

Anna screamed.

She pulled, and kicked, and punched. Strips of flesh stuck to the knuckles of her free hand. She stumbled backward, falling into the brackish soup. Her hand finally broke free of the axe, but now the corpse was on top of her, pressing her into the mud.

She couldn’t escape the gaze of the voids above her face. She felt the weight of the body grow heavy as mud, water, and peat began to cover her body. The back of her head started to sink, leaving her face alone to float atop the surface. Her gasps of air came rapidly, desperate to get enough breath to break free. She sucked as much air into her lungs as she could, but soon enough there was more than just air that entered her mouth.

Mud covered her eyes and seeped into her nose, eventually pouring down her throat and filling the space in her chest with earth and decay.

~~~

“AHHHHH!!”

“Anna! Wake up!”

Anna’s vision cleared from the red mist that blinded her. She saw Kristoff on the ground and herself on top of him. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt the familiar grain of wood in her hand and she saw that her axe was raised above her head, ready to come down on her husband. She dropped the weapon and jumped backward, falling over their bed. She lay there hyperventilating and staring wide-eyed with fear that matched her husband’s. He slowly rose and walked toward her.

“Anna, it’s ok. You were having a nightmare.”

Anna didn’t respond with words, instead choosing to leave their bed and storm outside. She nearly ran to the gate and gripped the top with white knuckles. She breathed in as much of the cold night air as her lungs would allow, desperate to get her heart rate under control.

Kristoff came out with a blanket in hand and worry all over his face.

“Leave me alone”, she said. “I… want to feel the cold.”

Kristoff hesitated for several moments before reluctantly returning inside, leaving Anna to watch the plumes of air escape her burning lungs.

~~~

Elsa did not come that day.

Anna stood alone in her forge with the smoldering coals growing dim and her hammer laying atop the anvil. She had a list of things that needed to be made or mended but she could not seem to bring herself to start the work. Instead, she stood by the heat of the coals, looking past the empty chair, over the gate, and toward the ship still moored in the dock.

~~~

Anna lay in bed, refusing to close her eyes. Kristoff wanted to stay by her side, but she forced him to set up another bed across the living space of their house. For his safety. She looked over to where he lay sound asleep. When she felt the fog of fatigue begin to encroach upon her, she rose from the furs and walked around, refusing to let sleep take her.

She decided to walk outside and let the cool air wash over her. She once again found herself gripping the wooden gate and watching her breath leave her body.

A scream filled the sky.

A cry of agony erupted from behind her. She spun around and saw the inexplicable sight of her house engulfed in flame.

“What!? Kr—Kristoff!”

She ran into the fire. Flames covered the walls and ceiling. Her lungs burned even hotter with the smoke replacing the frozen night air. She ran toward Kristoff’s cot only to find him laying there, a charred husk, his hands petrified in a grip of agony, and his skin peeling away.

Anna couldn’t breathe. Her eyes began to water and she backed away toward her door. But she was halted by a figure standing in the frame.

A woman, naked, with pale skin save for her hands and feet which were black as pitch. And the skull of a bear masking her face. She stood as still as a ghost with her hands by her side and the eyeless skull watching.

Anna let her anger and fatigue boil to the surface.

“You! You’re doing this, aren’t you!?”

Instead of fear, Anna let her anger propel her forward. She grabbed the woman by the neck and lifted her in the air with the strength of a blacksmith’s arm, knocking her against the wood of the door frame.

“Why are you doing this to me!?” Anna yelled as she tightened her grip around the thin neck.

A voice spoke from behind the bone.

“I am not doing anything. This is your dream.”

Anna didn’t believe her. She grabbed the bottom of the jaw and tore the mask off the woman’s face revealing the twin moons against the starless sky.

Elsa spoke again, soft almost as a whisper with every breath that Anna felt slip from the neck between her fingers.

“You have control, Anna. You can end the nightmare.”

Anna watched as Elsa’s eyes began to roll into the back of her head, her breath leaving her body and her hands still laying against her sides with absent protest.

She tightened her grip.

She felt tendon and veins constrict underneath the pale skin.

Then, with Elsa still pressed against the wall, Anna found her own breath leaving her body and entering through Elsa’s lips as she kissed her. Her hand let go when she felt Elsa’s arms wrap around her shoulders with black hands gliding underneath her hair. She held the woman against the wall with the force of their bodies embraced tightly together. She felt Elsa’s chest expand against hers. Smoke and ash still burned yet the women did not care.

Anna grabbed Elsa’s thighs, brought them around her waist, and swung her from the wall to land on the floor where both women now lay amongst the burning corpse of Anna’s house. She felt the heat rise in her core and let it burn as embers licked at her sweat. She let the weight of her body press against Elsa’s skin, making every breath a desperate gasp of ecstasy.

She lost herself in the gaze of the moons and the heat of the flames and sleep became a distant memory.

~~~

“Wow, you look as if you drank a whole barrel of mead last night.”

Anna sat in her bed. Her eyelids were heavy and nearly glued shut and her hair a tangled mass of fiery bramble. Kristoff brought her some water to help with her face. She placed her hands in the bowl and splashed the cool liquid against her cheeks and rubbed the morning crust from her eyes.

“I… I don’t even know anymore”, she said with a raspy yawn as she massaged her throat that chaffed from the dry air.

She moved about the house as slowly as a glacier. Each spoonful of porridge took its time to her mouth and lingered between her teeth. Kristoff had left to attend the herd, leaving Anna alone to recover from her dream-induced hangover. When she finally got ready for the day she didn’t even attempt to braid her hair. She merely walked out into the sun with a full mane of chaos.

And Elsa was there waiting for her.

“You… don’t look so good”, she said.

“Tell me about it.” Her words were almost slurred and she had to shield her eyes from the blinding sun bouncing off of Elsa’s white cloak. However, it did not prevent her from noticing the fresh split in Elsa’s lip. “Just… crazy dreams…”

“I’ve never seen anyone wake up from a dream looking like you.”

Elsa looked upon Anna with her usual gaze, but today it gave Anna an awkward feeling in her stomach with the images of her dream still fresh in her imagination.

“But then again… I’ve never had anyone make love to me next to the burning body of their husband before.”

Anna was inspecting her hammer. The words lingered in her ears for several moments, allowing her addled brain to register their meaning. Once they sank in her eyes grew wide and she dropped her hammer, causing it to bounce off the anvil and onto the ground.

“What… did you just say?”

Elsa remained casually seated in her chair, fiddling with the ring on her middle finger.

“Why did you sleep with me last night?” She asked as if it was a normal inquiry.

“No… no no no no no. This must be a dream. I’m still dreaming.” Anna began pinching her skin in various places.

Elsa stood from her chair and walked over to the anvil and the hammer laying in the dirt. She picked up the iron tool and weighed it in her hands.

Then she swung it toward Anna’s head.

Even with the fog clouding her mind and vision, Anna’s reflexes took over and she dodged the blow, but the sudden movement spun her compromised sense of balance and she stumbled to the ground. Elsa stood above her, but where Anna expected to find anger or hatred was instead a befuddled Elsa inspecting the hammer as if something was wrong with it.

“I still can’t seem to finish you off.”

Anna wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel fear or confusion. She started to back away with her elbows digging into the dirt. She glanced behind her toward the house and her axe sleeping inside. She attempted to launch herself from the ground, but a sudden weight came down on her ribcage, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She winced and looked up to find Elsa sitting on top of her with her cloak draped above like a furry white tent.

“Why… are you doing this?” Anna could barely wheeze out the words with the pressure pressed against her chest.

Elsa continued to look at the hammer and gave it a few test swings against her palm.

“I didn’t come here for you, but you pulled me into your dreams. What else was I supposed to do?”

“I pulled you into my dreams? How is that—”

“Despite popular belief, we don’t cause nightmares. We are drawn to them like a moth to the flame. Especially when someone decides to dream about us. And besides, your dreams are far more fascinating than that stuffy Jarl of yours who seems to only dream of roast boar.”

Anna’s confusion only grew but she felt a slight relief from her ribs as Elsa shifted her weight to allow her chest more room to expand.

“The other night… you did try to suffocate me.”

“I tried to kill you. It would have been the easiest way to escape.”

“Then… why did you stop?”

“You kissed me.”

“What? I didn’t… you kissed me!”

“It was your dream, Anna. I was trying to kill you and your subconscious response was to kiss me. I was so taken aback I lost control and you woke up. I’ve never had someone kiss me while I was killing them before. Nor have I ever had someone cry out with such ecstasy in the middle of a nightmare where their husband was burned alive. Do you often have dreams where you mix death and sex?”

“What? No!? I don’t— Get off of me!!”

Anna struggled underneath the weight, shifting and turning, trying desperately to wiggle out from underneath the thighs gripping against her sides. She felt sudden momentum as Elsa stood and placed the hammer back on the anvil.

“There’s no point in killing you now. We are leaving tomorrow. I failed in my task and Hans is not happy.”

She gently touched her lip and a spot of fresh blood was left behind on her fingertip.

Anna finally got to her feet. She thought about running to her axe, she turned to look toward the door but Elsa seemed to lose any interest in doing her harm. She watched as Elsa readjusted her cloak to sit comfortably around her shoulders.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was supposed to kill the Jarl. But you kept dreaming about me. Dragging me into your mind. It’s partly my fault. I wasn’t too keen on leaving… But our time is done and I must obey my master.”

“Is there a way you can escape? Do you… have to leave?”

Elsa inspected the silver ring on her hand with a solemn look of defeated dejection.

“I am bound to him. I can’t break it. I can’t invade his dreams. Not while I wear this ring.”

“Maybe I can break it for you. I have the tools—”

“No. Only a dwarf has the skill to break a ring such as this. And last I checked, you are no dwarf.”

Something within Anna wanted her to push harder. They wouldn’t know unless they tried, she thought. She may not be a dwarf but she was the best smith out of all of the clans. There must be something she could do. Her hammer must have some use besides pounding nails and sharpening swords. Some use beyond death and the mundane.

Elsa began to walk toward her gate and once again Anna was torn as to whether or not she should attack this woman who threatened her or let her leave.

She grabbed Elsa’s arm.

“Wait! Please…”

Elsa raised her toothed hood over her head but looked toward Anna with a wanning sadness.

“It was fun while it lasted. Dream about me again, sometime. Maybe… I’ll answer.”

And with that, Elsa pulled from Anna’s grip and crossed the threshold of her homestead. She looked back once, and then proceeded up the winding path toward the longhouse. Leaving Anna to wonder what the night will bring.

~~~

“Anna… Anna! Wake Up, Hammerfall!”

Confusion awoke Anna as the sound of Eric’s voice was not accustomed to her bed.

“Eric? What are you… It’s the middle of the night…”

Anna rubbed her eyes and saw Kristoff had lit a fire despite the late hour.

“Somethings happened. The Jarl is calling everyone to the longhouse. Get dressed and bring your axe.”

Eric promptly left the house. Anna haphazardly donned her garments and cloaks for the cool night air and strapped a belt across her waist with her axe settled into its iron ring at her hip. She took a torch from Kristoff and met Eric outside her gate.

They quickly made their way up the hill. The village was alight with activity, torches making their way through trails to converge at the overturned ship that made the home of the leader of their clan.

Inside, was a half-awoken army of Anna’s fellow clansmen, all facing toward the imposing throne of the Jarl that sat occupied by a mountain of a man with a bristling grey beard that lay against his barrel of a chest adorned with matching gray wolf pelts.

As Anna made her way deeper inside, she overheard an argument already in progress.

“We demand justice!”

She did not recognize the voice. One of the Westergaard men she assumed.

“Justice? Is this a joke? You demand justice for your own lord-lings stupidity?!”

Anna and Eric slithered their way toward the front of the gathering. Eric leaned against one of his fellow warriors and quietly inquired what had happened at a low enough whisper so as not to draw attention to himself.

“Hans has been killed,” the man said.

“What!? How?” Eric’s voice rose slightly, drawing a few looks but nothing more. Anna stood silent next to him, her hand gradually tightening around her axe.

The man leaned toward Eric and Anna so that he could speak low.

“That woman he brought. She was a mare. He brought her here to kill the Jarl, but she turned on him. Killed him in his sleep. His chest was crushed. Like a boulder was dropped on him!”

“By the gods…” Eric could hardly believe the words if not for the body on the ground before the men from Westergaard with his jaw hung open and his chest collapsed in on itself like a crater on the moon.

The Jarl continued to speak.

“You bring that creature into my home, planned to use it against me, and when you couldn’t control it you demand justice of me? I will save you from further dishonor by allowing you to leave my sight. Bring the foolish boy’s body back to his father. Let his stupidity be a lesson to your whole clan. Take what shred of dignity you have left onto your boat before I command every warrior in this house to take it from you.”

The men hesitated, contemplating their chances or their bravery, but resigned themselves to their fate. They picked up Hans’ body and begrudgingly walked out to the cold and made the hike toward their longboat.

Murmurs began to fill the hall as the men gathered all gossiped and stoked their fears of the revelation that a demon had been among them.

“Eric,” the Jarl said. “Gather a hunting party. I want this creature found and killed before it can invade any of our people’s minds.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Anna turned back to her home and to sleep but was stopped by the Jarl’s voice.

“Take Hammerfall with you. I hear the creature has spent some time at the forge. She might have insight on how to track it.”

Eric nodded his acknowledgment and gave Anna an excited grin at the prospect of hunting together. Anna did not return his excitement.

Upon returning to her home, she began to change into clothes fit for a long hunt. Leathers and furs of a lighter make for added mobility. Her axe and hammer sat on opposite hips and a well-worn bow nestled against her back with its quiver of arrows fully stocked.

She walked outside to find Eric and a handful of men waiting with torches and hunting dogs.

“She spent a lot of time here, didn’t she? Do you know which way she may have headed?” Eric’s voice was commanding, but familiar. He could hardly contain his enthusiasm at seeing Anna geared for a fight.

Anna pondered the question. Her response was hesitant and Eric looked at her with mild concern. After a few long, lingering moments she spoke.

“We head toward the bog.”

~~~

The party made their way quickly through the forest with Anna leading the charge.

“What makes you think she went to the bog?” Eric asked.

“She doesn’t know there’s a bog, but this is the only direction she could easily have gotten to on foot. If she didn’t escape through the fjord or over the mountains, she came to the bog.”

“And she probably got stuck with all her fine clothes. Good thinking, Hammerfall.”

Anna had steel in her stare and did not look toward the rest of the party as she led them through the darkened forest. When the trees and rocks began to give way to moss and muck she halted the group.

“We should split up”, she said.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. The fog is pretty thic—”

Anna cut Eric off with a sharp and commanding voice.

“The bog is expansive. We won’t have any chance finding her unless we cover as much ground as possible. We split up.”

Anna began issuing commands to each man, sending them off in various directions. Eric still looked unsure of the idea, suggesting multiple times they should at least go in pairs, with him by her side. After multiple rebuffs he finally acquiesced to her commands and reluctantly followed her orders.

Dawn began to break, infusing the fog with a pink glow.

The hunting party moved slowly and silently through the peat and brackish water, bows drawn and eyes failing to pierce the thick blanket of mist that covered the morning.

Anna waded through the water, her bow still on her back and her axe by her side. The water came up to her knees and her feet stuck to the mud with each step. She knew the bog like no one else and quickly made her way to the familiar hill of dirt where her usual camp resided with stockpiles of iron and enough supplies to survive for weeks in the wilderness.

And there was Elsa, standing in her brilliant white cloak reflecting the morning light as if she was formed from the fog itself. Anna rose out of the water and stood before her.

Anna couldn’t help but breathe deep with a sigh of relief.

“Why did you do it?” Elsa said.

Anna reached into her tunic and pulled out a silver ring.

She held it up so that Elsa could see. Elsa’s eyes widened and she raised her hand to look at the ring still banded around her finger.

“So, am I to be your thrall then?”

“No!” Anna clutched the ring. “I just…”

She took deep breaths, letting the wetness of the fog seep into her.

“I didn’t want the nightmare to end.”

Elsa’s eyes grew even wider with surprise and confusion.

And then shock overtook all else when an arrow flew by Anna’s ear and entered Elsa’s chest.

“No!!”

Anna dropped the ring, spun on her heel, and threw her hammer blind, her instincts taking full control and guiding her aim toward the source of the arrow. The hammer flew through the air and struck raven locks.

Eric fell backward from the impact. Anna was already running toward him with her axe drawn and her feet breaking across the peat like an icebreaker through the frozen fjord.

Eric shook the stars from his head in time to see Anna’s axe heading toward his head and he drew his sword to block the oncoming blow.

“Anna! You’re bewitched! Snap out of it! It’s me, Eric!”

She kicked him in the abdomen, sending him careening back into the mud. The mud and iron deposits in the water made his hand slick and the grip on his sword was unsteady. Anna swung at the weapon, sending it flying into the misty void.

She stood above him with her axe raised above her head.

“Anna, wait! Stop!!”

Air filled the space between bone and flesh as her arms rose into the sky.

And escaped with the fall of steel.

Anna buried the axe between his eyes and let his limp body fall into the mud where it slowly began to sink and become one with the iron.

She returned to the hill within the bog to find Elsa’s prone body laying in the dirt with an arrow erect in the air. She ran over and saw the nearly imperceptible rise and fall of Elsa’s chest. She fell to her knees and gently brought Elsa’s head into her lap.

“I’m here, Elsa. I’m here. Don’t worry, everything will be ok.”

Elsa’s eyes opened and she looked toward a glint in the ground. Anna followed her gaze and saw the ring she had dropped. Elsa’s hand stretched toward it, quivering in the air with a weakened strain. Anna reached over, picked the ring up, and placed it in Elsa’s hand.

“Here. Your freedom. It’s yours. You can do what you want now! You’re not bound to anyone anymore.”

Elsa held the ring toward the sky, letting the rising sun bounce off its tarnished surface. Her breathing had slowed to a crawl.

She took Anna’s hand and placed the ring on her finger.

“Wait… What are you—”

Elsa placed her hand against Anna’s cheek. The cool silver brushed against her skin and wiped mud and tears from her face.

“Dream of me… and maybe I’ll answer…”

Anna felt one last breath leave Elsa’s lips as they shared their first and final kiss.

~~~

[summoning-potema]

I caught the flu or something a week ago so I had some time on my hands and finally got around to updating the sims ;u; have some sh80 baby pics and weird townie drama they got themselves into

baby deli: (I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

shane: he really is my kid

i have to start with these for context lmao. i made shane and addie sims over and have been testing them out in the trash den save because i'm working on making over all the townies in another save file and then i plan on restarting their family and addie's house blah blah.. anyway. i sent them on a vacay to check out the high school world and invited maeve, the town drug dealer, over so addie could buy weed. maeve hit on both addie and shane within like 20 minutes of each other so the Vibes of them all together are very rotten it's so funny

I ended their vacay early and gave them a cas baby to play around with all the infant stuff and unsurprisingly he is the cutest little thing I LOVE HIM. I got my defaults converted over but i'm still trying to figure out how to fix the mesh eyeball thingy for infants so he has insane eyes all the time but i don't hate them lol

i forgot to mention they're in an apartment so they don't have a yard and their coop is in their bedroom

Maeve asked to stay over (... i'm not sure if this is a mod thing??? or a hs years thing???) but they were over for like 5 days. I could not figure out how to send them home. Who asks to crash with a couple when you're the sidepiece for both of them, who also happen to have a loud baby and no spare room, and you live literally next door?

shane: wanna see a picture of my son?

maeve: i can smell him over there but sure. i love. children.

Because they flirted with both shane and addie drama was inevitable and addie and maeve were enemies 3 minutes in because addie probably made out with shane in front of them. so, maeve started talking shit to addie and shane got up and told maeve off?????

ADDIE, GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE FUCKING GUTTER FOR FIVE MINUTES

addie: this is so hot

maeve: letting your boyfriend pick your fights for you, huh princess?!

addie: GASP how dare you

addie: let him pick my fights. PLEASE. wait until they see how i settle things.

addie: TALK to the hand. BITCH.

i did try to make them not hate each other because maeve was crying all over the house and trying to pep themselves back up. and they were STUCK HERE so i thought. let's put a baby in this party i'm sure that'll smooth things over

maeve: you're making me cry :(

addie: i can't believe we're stuck with an even bigger baby

Finally, have some outtakes because tumblr has lifted the post image limit 👼🎺 rejoice

addie: it's so important to give children time outside :)

baby deli: (momther... i can't... breathe...)

tru love at the dump

shane (very high): your mom's a great artist. maybe you'll take after her?

baby deli: (i really hope not)

last one cuz they're cute :)c

[malereader-inserts]

Please Never Fall in Love Again

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Harry Potter x Male!Reader Summary: It was a selfish ask, and yet, Harry understood now. Word Count: 1,027

“Don’t fall in love with me, Harry.”

Your laughter was stuck on repeat in his head, almost as if it was a broken record player. Along with your laughter, an image was stuck with it. It was how your head tilted to the side with a small brewing smile as you spoke your words carefully.

It’s how you threw your head back in laughter and amusement upon you seeing Harry’s face. It was how your eyes glimmered so brightly, that Harry almost forgot that he was the chosen one and he had to fight Voldemort. 

“Please,” Harry whispered to himself, afraid of being too loud, “Please come back.”

Harry sat in the darkness of his dorm, surrounded by the noises of the boys’ snoring. And yet, that wasn’t enough for him to be distracted as he stares at the moving picture of you and him together. Harry wipes his tear from your face, your stupidly perfect face.

It was hard for Harry, he stares at an empty bed in the dorm and wakes up to the bed already made, he was so used to seeing you flip to look at him, arm dangling down the side of the bed as you give him a stupid sleepy smile. Your hair is a mess as you could barely keep your eyes open, but you can’t fall back asleep because Dean and Seamus are once again arguing in the morning as Ron tell them to shut up whilst Neville tries to calm them down. 

It was hard for Harry because you would do up his tie, even if he knows how to do it himself. How you would look at him through the mirror, standing behind him, with eyes so soft in the morning - Harry can only smile back. 

It doesn’t feel the same for him when he’s walking to the great hall by himself, and not having a companion talking his ear off, somehow in the space between eating breakfast and leaving the Gryffindor common room - you find the energy to start annoying Harry. 

It hurts the most for Harry when he enters the classroom and sees an empty seat, a seat where you should be sitting. The desk you once occupied, where you would write your notes and the seat that you would often swing back on, the seat that you would turn around just to get his attention. It’s now empty, in the line of sight of Harry, he can’t get over it. The more he stares, the more he can feel his walls crumbling down and opening the dam for tears.

“Mr Potter, please stay behind for a chat,” Harry was snapped out of his daydreaming to look up at the head of his house.

Hermione and Ron give him reassuring smiles as Harry looms over the desk, whilst McGonagall looks at him, her hands clasping on another. 

“I know you miss him,” She says, “I know it’s difficult, but he wouldn’t want to see you so focused on him.”

“I wish I hated him,” Harry blurted out suddenly, McGonagall looking at the boy in surprise, “I wish I hated him because it would have been so much easier to forget about him and move on. But, he’s on my mind constantly, everything reminds me of him.”

Everything did remind him of you. Harry curses the God above for loving you so hard and passionately because he doesn’t want to dwell on the thought of you. He wants to stop thinking about you and yet at the same time, he doesn’t really.

“Harry-”

“I’m sorry Professor, but I wish he never left, I wish I was there to protect him better. He shouldn’t have died that night. I loved him Professor and I- I hoped he knows that I loved him, so much.”

There was silence between the two, Harry’s outburst had caused a sudden awkward silence. McGonagall refusing to speak until she knows that Harry has let it all out and Harry was still caught up in his head, his thoughts are muddled and nothing was coming out coherently.

“Don’t fall in love with me, Harry,” your words echo his mind as he can hear the response he gave you.

“And what if I have already?”

“Well, then I ask of you, please don’t fall in love again.”

At the time Harry thought it was a selfish ask, but now that you were gone, it didn’t seem that selfish at all. Because, at the end of the day, Harry didn’t want to fall in love with anyone else, there was no one else to compare to you. 

You really do light Harry’s life, even if it was just a little bit brighter than usual. 

“Why do people I love die?”

McGonagall rounded her desk, the moment she heard Harry’s voice cracks, how he had to grip the desk for balance as his knees give out, and a heart breaking sob breaks the silence of the transfiguration classroom.

McGonagall engulfs Harry into a hug as he sobs on her shoulder, he screams a little bit, as the weight of the deaths of his loved ones starts to crash down. He misses his godfather, he misses Cedric, but he misses you especially.

The boy who had brighten his life since they were eleven years old, now Harry stands alone at the age of sixteen, he just feels so lost without you. Death doesn’t allow you to say goodbye, it just carves holes in your life, in your future, in your heart.

“It’ll be alright, Harry,” McGonagall says, trying to soothe the grieving boy. 

He wishes he’ll be alright, he wishes you’re actually alright. 

“Please don’t fall in love again, Harry. It’d be pretty devastating if you loved another after me.”

“Bold of you to think that I love you.”

“Please, Harry, I love you, but you’re the most obvious person in the world.”

“Well, if that’s the case, I’d be pretty devastated with myself if I could move on from you so easily.”

“You woo me with your smooth words, Harry.”

Harry’s heart hurts a little too much, and you’re not there to soothe the pain away.

[noteguk]

devilish | kth | m

— summary; in which Taehyung has a bit too much fun toying with your limits. 

— contents and warnings; pwp, smut, Taehyung x reader, established relationship, edging, guided masturbation, dirty talk, corruption kink, sliiiight dumbification, dom!tae, mentions of past virginity loss, mentions of blowjobs, mirror, begging, orgasm control, praise kink, use of the word “slut”, cockwarming, unprotected sex 

— words; 2,4k

— author’s note; this request has been sitting in my askbox since forever because I was stuck with the last version of it. Eventually I deleted that document and completely changed the plot (or lack thereof), and now here we are. I really like corruption kink so :) this was a nice ride 

Requested by anon! 

Taehyung was almost convinced that you were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

Granted, he was biased. He had been dating you for some time now, but, in his defense, he was positive that the wind had been knocked out of him (how cliche) the first time he had laid eyes on you. And it all went downhill from there. Taehyung became a bit more crazy about you every time he saw you, paid a bit more attention to the small details that he might have missed before — the way you played with your hair, the shy tug of your lips every time he made a flirtatious remark, the fluttering of your eyelashes when you leaned away after a kiss. It was all beautiful, perfect, created by angels just for him. And he loved every second of it. 

It was just a matter of time before his little obsession leaked into the bedroom and Taehyung didn’t hesitate to make good use of it. Even if you were a bit embarrassed by it, always so shy, Taehyung liked to watch you play with yourself as he told you what to do: where to touch, how to move, when to stop. And you were always so good for him — following his orders eagerly, giving him more every time he asked you to. 

You were so, so perfect that he thought he was dreaming. He couldn’t have wished for a better girlfriend. 

“That’s it, baby, take it slow,” his husky voice sounded next to your ear, one of his hands caressing your hair gently. You had your back pressed against his chest, sitting between his legs, with your own thighs open and pushed up to the level of your breasts. He could see everything like that. “So pretty. You’re always so pretty for me.” 

Taehyung had his eyes zeroed in the reflection before you two, the large rectangular mirror presenting him with the glorious view of your flushed heat. He followed, mesmerized, as you circled your clit with two of your fingers, whining beautifully at your growing pleasure, back arching and eyes closing. 

Taehyung was used to your body, how it reacted; he knew the telltale signs that your orgasm was getting closer. And that was the dangerous part. “Shhh, you’re almost there, baby,” he mumbled, the venom in his tone telling you that he would do it again — ask you to stop just as you were about to cum, making you cry and whine until he allowed you to start over. But then your pleasure was almost gone, and you had to build it back up from zero. “Look at you, you’re so desperate. You like playing with your little pussy?” 

You nodded, a frail moan leaving your mouth. You could feel yourself clenching around nothing, begging to be filled up. 

“You do? That’s so dirty,” he teased. Taehyung’s hands were resting on either side of his body now, supporting his weight. No matter how much you wanted him to touch you, you knew that he wouldn’t. He found much more satisfaction watching you do it. “Is that pussy wet for me, baby? Does it want to cum?” 

“Yes, yes, please,” you implored, overwhelmed. Taehyung had made you edge yourself five times already, it had been going on for too long, and you didn’t think you could stop it again. You would try, though, of course you would, but you were afraid that your body wouldn’t respond in time. “I want to cum, Tae, please.” 

He hummed, placing a wet kiss against the nape of your neck. Taehyung was breathing heavy, fighting against every cell of his body so he wouldn’t bend you over and fuck you full of his cock. He also had his needs, but his objective was to teach you some discipline. He needed you to need him. 

“One more time for me, baby,” he said. His cock was unbearably hard inside his pants, leaking into his underwear as he heard the beautiful sounds of your soaked pussy. He was going insane thinking about how well it would wrap around him, how gorgeous you looked when you were full of his cock. “Stop it one more time.” 

You almost cried out at his words. “N-No, I can’t,” you whined. You could feel your orgasm just about to overflow, your thighs shaking as you continued to rub your clit. “I can’t do one more.” 

“Shhh, you can,” he calmed you down. Another kiss against your neck and you swore you were about to die. “Stop now.” 

And you actually stopped, because you were such a sweet, obedient girl for him. Taehyung watched as your chest heaved, your eyes closing as you pulled your hand away from your pussy, a shaky moan of frustration leaving your lips as you let your orgasm slip away for the sixth time that afternoon. He felt his cock throb in his pants when he saw how soaked and puffy your cunt was for him, caught himself groaning out in hunger. 

“That’s such an obedient slut,” he complimented, his voice a hoarse vibration against your shoulder. Taehyung knew you were on your limit, and he loved that, still, you followed what he told you to do. “You used to be such a good girl, baby, now look at you: edging that little pussy of yours, begging me to let you cum. That makes me so fucking hard.” 

You could only whine, because your limbs had turned to jello and you didn’t think you could find your voice quick enough. Your own reflection stared back at you in the mirror — your skirt pulled up and panties brushed to the side, your heat dripping against the bed, making a mess that you were sure Taehyung would tease you about later. You didn’t know what had happened to you, it seemed as if your life had completely turned around ever since he had walked right into it. 

And, as if he was reading your mind, Taehyung continued talking as your pleasure melted away. 

“When I met you, you couldn’t even kiss me without getting shy,” he started, one of his hands leaving the bed and resting on your waist. Your body shivered at the warm contact, sensitive. “You were this timid little virgin, you hadn’t even touched yourself yet, baby. You didn’t even know how to.” Another kiss against your neck had you shuddering, hoping for more. “And now you are soaking all over my sheets like a good slut. You learned how to take my cock so well, didn’t you? I taught you well.” 

You nodded, brain flooded with images from your past. Taehyung had always been drawn to your innocence, found his delight watching you discover your pleasure for the first time — rather, he loved teaching you, breaking that inexperience apart until he had you whimpering for more, embarrassed and needy, grinding your pussy against him just to feel something. He had turned you into a desperate little thing, an obedient girl that could cum just by playing with your tits, or that would start crying when it became too much — and still would ask him to keep going. 

You were a giver: you liked to provide Taehyung with whatever it was that he asked you to, loved to be showered with his praises every time you made him cum. You liked to play up your innocence just to see how he reacted, weaponized your apparent cluelessness because you knew that he loved to show you how to do things. It was a perfect game that you two played, and it always ended up just like both of you wanted to. 

Taehyung’s hand slithered up your stomach and groped your covered breast, pulling you out of your reveries. You pressed yourself closer to his chest, a shot of pleasure going straight to your core as his fingers brushed against your hardened nipple. 

“Taehyung, please,” you begged once again, your voice a pathetic little thing, “let me cum.” 

“My baby wants to play with her pussy again?” He asked, his voice an octave lower. You nodded. “Hm? Want to make that tight little cunt cum?” 

“Yes, yes, please,” you were losing your mind, droplets of sweat running between your breasts. The bedroom was so hot, you felt like you couldn’t even breathe. “I need it so bad.”

He chuckled devilishly against your skin, his thumb grazing your nipple. “Alright, baby, you’ve been good,” Taehyung finally gave in, making you breathe out in relief. “But sit on my cock first.” 

Your heart hammered against your rib cage, your pussy clenching in anticipation. “What?”

“You heard what I said, baby.” He removed his hand from your tit and used it to unzip his pants. The sound was harsh and loud, shooting straight to your dripping core. “Come on, I’m not very patient.” 

Taehyung was patient, though, that was how he managed to edge you so many times without losing his cool. But you bought his act and moved forward so he could fumble with his pants, your eyes following his movements on the mirror as he pulled his cock free. 

You sighed at the sight, your mouth watering with the thought of licking his cock clean. He was so hard and heavy, leaking all over himself, and if you weren’t so desperate to have him inside you, you would’ve turned around and sucked him like he had teached you, until you were crying and he was cumming down your throat. 

“Don’t ride it. Just keep it in.” Taehyung shattered your dreams just as fast as he had built them, a frown covering your features as he placed his hands on your hips, pulling you towards him. “Keep my cock warm as you touch yourself, baby. Make a mess on it and I’ll think about fucking you, alright?” 

Taehyung always had wonderful arguments, because that had you agreeing within a second. You struggled to place yourself over him, lining his tip with your entrance and, just as you were about to sink down, he stopped you. 

“No, baby.” Taehyung placed his hand on your chin, tilting your head towards the mirror. “Want you to watch too.” 

“I’ll watch,” you guaranteed, earning a soft smile in return. 

You sat down on his member with ease, thankful for how absolutely soaked you were. Ever since Taehyung had taken your virginity, you realized that you would never get enough of that feeling — of his length stretching you wide open, hitting every spot and throbbing inside you. Back when you had your first time, you had been so flustered that you couldn’t even watch when Taehyung entered you and, now, you couldn’t tear your eyes away from your reflection, your hand clenching the hem of your skirt so it didn’t cover the view. 

Behind you, Taehyung moaned out at the sensation, his eyes closing. “That’s it, baby, fuck.” He breathed out. “This pussy was made for me.” 

And you felt the same, felt like the two of you were made to be together like that, a perfect match for one another. 

Before you could react, his hands were back on your body, playing with your tits as you squirmed under his touches. The movement of your hips against him was automatic, filling the room with the sounds of your wetness and a beautiful whimper coming from your throat. “T-Tae, I’m…” 

“Sit still,” he commanded, ignoring your shy requests for forgiveness. You managed to stop your body from moving, instead focusing on how perfectly he was buried inside you, his pelvis glued against your ass. “Didn’t you want to cum? So, go ahead. Play with your clit, baby.” 

Another moan left you as he pushed your breasts together. “But I want to—“ 

“No, no. You already asked for what you wanted,” he interrupted. Taehyung’s eyes were hooded and dark, looking at you from the reflection like they were daring you to disobey him. “Play with your pussy for me, baby. Cum all over my cock. That’s all you’re gonna get for now.” 

You agreed with a frail movement of your head, your fingers moving back to your sensitive nub. You coated them in your juices before pressing down on your clit, crying out in sensitivity as you started to rub yourself again. This time, with the feeling of Taehyung’s cock inside you, it was much easier to find where you had left off, your walls clenching dangerously tight around him as you searched for your high. 

Taehyung continued to watch you, his gaze burning your body. He was biased, yes, but you were the hottest thing he had ever laid eyes upon. And he wasn’t ignoring the way you were moaning out his name, your perfect cunt clenching around his cock, the sweet smell of your perfume infiltrating his nose. All of you was perfect, handmade for him, and he was going insane knowing that you were all his. 

“Gonna cum,” you warned, looking at him through parted lids. Taehyung, of course, knew that already. He knew your body better than yourself. “Can I cum?” 

Taehyung smiled — you were so cute. He had already allowed you to and, yet, there you were, making sure his desires hadn’t changed. Even though you were about to break, you still needed his permission. “Of course, baby,” he said. “You’ve been so patient. So perfect for me. You can cum whenever you want.” 

He could not even blink when you finally tipped over the edge, your pussy gushing down on his cock and pulsating around it as you finally — finally! — found your high. Taehyung knew all those small mannerisms already — the opening of your lips, the rolling of your eyes, the high pitch of your voice — but he couldn’t help but feel like he was experiencing them for the very first time. 

And as you came down from your moment of euphoria, your thighs jittery from overstimulation, Taehyung had erased every single doubt from his mind: you were, undoubtedly, the most precious, beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

[soulmate-game]

Not related to the other two Bio!mom Harley AUs that I did. Just... similar. I wrote this instead of sleeping, as per the usual.

—*—*—*—*—*

“I need your help.”

No accent, no threats of violence, no beating around the bush (figurative or otherwise). No fighting or unconscious bodies.

Just Harley Quinn with her hair down, no makeup, and completely serious, in the center of the Bat Cave. Even though her usual exaggerated Brooklynn accent (circa 1950s) had become a pretty inseparable part of her personality over the years, every now and then she forcibly stuffed it down and used her mostly unaccented voice. The one reminiscent of days with less colors on her face, a high bun, and a pristine white lab coat.

Every single one of the Bats and Birds present, fresh from an interrupted patrol thanks to her, could count the number of times they had seen Harley like this on one hand. Bruce would have the most recollections, but everyone else would have plenty of fingers left on said hand. So they all knew, especially when Bruce willingly pulled down his cowl so he could look Harley in the eye, that this was the start of something they were not likely to forget. And maybe their chances of survival were slim too.

“Harley,” Bruce’s voice was still gruff, seeing as he was still mostly Batman at the moment, but his eyes were soft. “Maybe you should tell us what you need help with first. And sit down. You look exhausted.”

Sure enough, there were dark circles under Harley’s eyes. She let Bruce-man lead her over to one of their debriefing tables and sit her down. She let out a huge sigh, her fingers tangling in her loose blond locks.

“I have a confession, and it isn’t gonna leave this cave, capiche?” The slight return of her accent relieved a little of the tension, but not much. Taking this as their cue, the rest of the bats spread out into their usual seats at the table. Bruce stayed near Harley, keeping a hand on her shoulder in silent support. Harley didn’t continue talking until he gave her a solemn nod in agreement. She gulped— an action that immediately returned the tension.

“... fifteen years ago, back when I was still with Joker, I disappeared off the Gotham scene for a few months. I’m sure a few of you remember,” she looked up, and a couple of the older vigilantes nodded. Really, Jason has still been Robin back then. But the memory stuck out in his head now that he was thinking about it.

“Yeah, you were breaking away from him a little bit, which was weird at the time,” Red Hood mused aloud, arms crossed. “I think you helped us out a couple times and did some of your first team ups with Ivy before you vanished. Then a few months go by and you were back in action with Joker, so we mostly ignored it as you just being you.”

Harley nodded. “Ah, my Ivy’s a lifesaver, even back then. She helped cover up the timeline by keeping me in action for longer than I should’a been without putting me at too much risk.”

“Timeline…” Red Robin spoke up, eyes huge even behind his mask. “You don’t mean—“

“Harley,” Bruce breathed, having also caught on. “You were pregnant?”

The air went still. Harley sniffed, eyes watering even as she smiled.

“Oh yeah. Shouldn’t have been possible, ya know? Me ‘n Joker being dumped in that damn acid should have made us both more sterile than an operatin’ room. But I knew I couldn’t raise a kid, so after she was born—“

“You kept her?” Damian interrupted, earning a gentle cuff over the head from Dick. Harley just snorted.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I thought about abortion. But the baby didn’t do nothin’ wrong, and I was still in love with Joker back then so I was ecstatic that I was able to make something new with part ‘a him in it. Still, I knew a baby didn’t deserve to be raised in Gotham. Especially not my baby, not with my enemies and history. Not with who her father was. I knew he’d never want her, never let me keep her. So I spent the last five months of my pregnancy lookin’ around for the best possible family to take her in. And I found them in Paris, France. A sweet couple, both of them bakers. Sabine, she’s both adorably sweet and super kickass. Comes from a Chinese family that is crazy about teachin’ their women martial arts. But nothing shady about it, I triple checked. Just bonding through kicking people in the face. Which is perfect, I wanted my baby to know how to defend herself. I knew she’d need those skills eventually. And Tom, that’s Sabine’s wife, he’s a gentle giant. Same size as Bane, but as harmless as a puppy and makes the best croissants ever. Seriously, the best.”

“Harley,” Bruce gently prodded, but there was a tiny grin on his face. Seeing her behaving so… so normally, so proud and reminiscent, was a rare treat. Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of how far the woman had come. How she had freed herself and become a better person, mostly on her own.

“Right, right. The point,” Harley took a breath, rubbing her forehead. “I came clean to Tom and Sabine, but apparently they knew who I was the whole time. They just didn’t care— did I mention they are perfect? Anyway, once I explained everything, they agreed immediately to adopting my baby. They’d been wanting kids, but it would’a been too risky for Sabine’s health. That’s how I found them anyway, they were in the market to adopt. We named her Marinette. She took Tom and Sabine’s last names, hyphenated. We decided Quinn would be her middle name. And after that, I came back to Gotham and told myself that she was in good hands and I needed to forget about her. Cuz I was no good for her. I knew that. I went back to my old tricks. And then…” Harley chuckled, but it was self-depreciating.

“Then a few years passed, and I started breaking away from Joker for real. Then we broke up, I blew up Ace Chemicals while you guys were outta town doing Justice League and Young Justice shit. I started dating Ivy. And—“ she smiled softly at the table, clearly seeing something the rest of them couldn’t. “Then Ivy convinced me to go see her. Visit my baby, see how she’s been. And I did. Marinette was seven years old, but damn it to hell she was gorgeous. And say whatever you want about me and Joker— most of it will even be true— but neither of us are stupid. And she inherited all of our intelligence. All of it. She got my blue eyes. But she got his hair, which meant Sabine teased me relentlessly about ‘are you sure she isn’t that Wayne’s kid?’ And don’t make that face Bruce, you’d be lucky to have a kid half as beautiful as my Mari-pie. No offense, Damian. Anyway. Anyway, this is the important part. Or part of it.

“She sat there and listened to everything I had to say. Everything. A little seven year old, who could barely understand English at the time, and she listened without interrupting once. She never threw a fit, she wasn’t angry or confused. I told her about the things I’d done in the past— well, G rated versions— and she didn’t care. She called me Momma Harley right away, said she wanted to meet Aunt Ivy sometime soon, and started telling me everything about her that I’d missed. From that day on, she became my sunshine. The light of my life, and I still call her at least once a week every week. When I disappear for a few days out of the city? I’m visiting her—“

“You’re banned from international travel, Harley,” Dick scolded, but he sounded way too amused for it to work. He knew she had her ways, anyway. Nobody could actually stop Harley damn Quinn from doing whatever she wanted.

“—Ugh, she tells me the same thing every time! Disappointed glare and everything. I don’t know how I gave birth to such a goodie goodie, but somehow I did. Not important though! The important thing is, I’m always the first to hear when something new happens in her life. And we had decided that she wouldn’t visit me in Gotham until she was at least eighteen, but apparently she disobeyed me— which I should have expected honestly— and entered you guys’ WE international scholastic competition.”

“Oh no,” Bruce pinched the bridge of her nose. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? The contest winner?” He finally pulled out a chair and sat down. “The winner gets an all-expense paid trip to Gotham for them and their whole class.”

“Exactly!” Harley threw up her hands. “Mari told me last week, and I’ve been trying to talk her out of coming ever since. But she’s inherited both of our stubbornness too, and she isn’t budgin’ a bit. ‘Momma Harley, I wanna see you and Auntie Ivy though!’ And ‘Momma, Gotham’s nothing I can’t handle,’ or my favorite, ‘Maybe you’ll finally get to see me dropkick someone three times my size then, and I’ll prove it.’”

“So that’s what you meant by you need our help,” Tim said as he leaned forward over the table. “Joker just broke out of Arkham yesterday. You want us to protect her.”

“I’d prefer if one of you was with her outside of the mask too, as often as possible,” Harley confirmed. “I can’t stop her from coming here anymore, but I also don’t trust Joker for a second. As soon as he sees her, I’m afraid he’ll make the connection.”

“She looks like him?” Damian asked, scrunching up his nose at the ugly mental image of Joker as a teenage girl. Harley shook her head, solemn.

“She looks like a dark-haired mini-me,” she corrected. “She even keeps her hair in pigtails as her way of showing support for me. And I know Marinette can kick ass, Sabine’s trained her well. But Marinette inherited more than I’d like from me,” Harley ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t notice it until she was thirteen. She got a crush on a classmate, and it was almost like watching videos of me back during the early days of— well, of Harley Quinn. Just without the crime and insanity. She didn’t even realize that she was almost stalking the poor kid until I pointed it out, and luckily I was able to put my doctorate to good use and we nipped that right in the bud ASAP. She never meant it that way, anyway. As soon as I explained things to her, she was horrified and immediately asked me to help her learn how to have a healthy relationship. That was a fun discussion,” Harley grimaced. “But she still gets attached to people really, really easily. Once she grew out of her crush on that boy, she adopted him as her unofficial brother. She already calls Selina “Auntie,” even though I’ve barely mentioned her to Marinette. She gets attached fast, and deeply. And I’m afraid that even after all the warning I’ve done, all the stories I’ve told her—“

“You’re afraid she’ll get attached to Joker just like you did,” Bruce finished for her, closing his eyes. “Because she knows he’s her father.”

“Yes,” Tears were slowly dripping down her face already, her hands curled into fists so tightly that her knuckles were paper white. “You know how he is. If he finds out she’s his biological daughter, he’ll immediately try to take advantage of that. And he’s far too good with his words for people like me and Mari. I’m worried outta my mind. Please. Help keep my baby safe from him.”

“We will,” Jason no longer had his helmet on, or the domino mask that he usually wore underneath it. All of them knew masks were merely formality with Harley nowadays. And he needed to look her directly in the eye so she could see how serious he was. “I can sign up as a bodyguard for the class. It won’t be weird, seeing as they’re tourists and this is Gotham. They also have several rich kids in their group if I remember right.”

Bruce nodded, agreeing with Jason. “That’s a good idea. I can lead the class on their tours of WE personally. That’ll serve the purpose of keeping an eye on her and shutting up the investors that keep begging me to make more public appearances for the sake of the company. Marinette’s name is already released to the news as the winner of the contest, so we can’t keep her out of the spotlight long. Tim, you’ll have to keep an eye on any and all pictures of the class. Try to erase or doctor the images with her in it well enough that connections between her and Harley can’t be easily made. Dick, you and Damian will be in charge of keeping an eye out for any activity from Joker. The slightest hint, and you notify all of us. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis who is necessary to stick with the class and who goes after the clown.”

“She’s gonna sneak out of her hotel to stay with me and Ivy,” Harley admitted, bringing the (now slightly judgemental) attention back to her. She raised her hands up in surrender. “She didn’t tell me that, and I didn’t approve or suggest it! I just know my baby too well to not realize that that’s her plan. Could ya provide an escort?”

Bruce sighed. “This is gonna be an eventful month.”

[versadies]

I have this idea my brains been stuck on:

So imagine the reader is Childe’s younger sibling and is that reckless teenage years ykyk and maybe while out on a mission gets really hurt and doesn’t come home kinda thing and yk how Childe I a with family... HAHA SORRY FOR ANGSTY IDEAS JSHRNR

penpal: girl don’t be sorry— im in a full committed relationship with angst so you can send as many angsty ideas as you’d like! sorry if this hc is so short wjsbdn

characters: adventurer!reckless!reader x brother!childe

warning/s: blood, not proof-read, near-death experience, angry childe, swearing, spoilers on archon quest chpt. 3-act 3 and childe’s story quest (?)

-> oh boy

-> you’ll be the death of childe from the amount of heart attacks you gave him from your recklessness.

-> man’s this close to to put you in a big bubble whenever you’re on an adventure.

-> every time there’s danger, you’d dive into it and ended up having injuries big and small. it really doesn’t help childe being comforted with the fact that you’re an adventurer too.

-> he gets even more worried when he brought you to liyue with him. he knows how dangerous liyue can be along with the commissions so he made sure that your commission isn’t related to killing one of the most dangerous bosses in the nation.

-> although you kept on being reckless, childe knows your capability of fighting bosses given that he’s the one who trained you in fighting. he knows you’ll go back home alive especially since you have a lot of knowledge on survival intacts.

-> however... he noticed how you’re taking a long time on this mission.

-> he recalled you saying you’d be back the next day— yet 2 in a half days has passed by and you still haven’t come back. even katheryne didn’t know where you were.

-> he couldn’t help but worry about his dear sibling while working. why are you not in the inn yet? are you stopping over somewhere to eat or relax? isn’t your mission just about finding a certain ore around guyun stone forest??

-> when childe comes home and you’re still not there, he’ll literally rushes out from the door and starts looking for you.

-> he first headed to the guyun stone forest and killed every single monsters around the area before he starts to find you. he started to become nervous when he couldn’t find you around the first two areas.

-> childe would’ve laughed at himself for being nervous for the first time in forever, but he was too focused on finding you and the fact that you’re nowhere to be found makes him even more anxious and worried.

-> he then went to the other area that was famous for having ruin guards around. the fact that there were no signs of any ruin guards made childe clenched his fists.

-> in the end, he still haven’t found you. just a couple of dead ruin guards along with—

-> blood?

-> childe’s heart dropped at the sight of the crimson liquid. could it be your blood? or a person who tragically came across to these ruin guards? if it was you who slained these ruin guards, where the hell are you then?

-> he noticed the blood on the sand leaving a track, causing him to follow and see where it would lead him to.

-> archons, please don’t be dead.

-> the blood ended up leading him to one of the “mountains” of the island along with two ruin guards walking around.

-> did you possibly climb up from the ruin guards?

-> childe will immediately start climbing without the ruin guards noticing— screw fighting them, he needs to know if you’re there and okay.

-> by the time he reached to the top, he first saw your bloodied hand and he nearly fell at the sight of you.

-> there you were, lying unconscious with injuries all around your body. he recognized the scarf he gave you wrapped around your waist, his heart clenched at the sight of the blood plastered in it.

-> “don’t worry, n/n... big brother will kill these monsters for you.”

-> as soon as childe looks away, his eyes will darken and immediately jump out from the mountain, landing on one of the ruin guards.

-> “come at me you bastards!”

-> by the time he finished killing the ruin guards brutally, he’ll climb back up and bring you down, making sure the scarf around your injury won’t be removed.

-> he then realized that he can’t go anywhere else— given that he just swam his way here.

-> that is, until he overheard familiar voices and sees aether, paimon, and a man with an eyepatch who goes by “kaeya” not too far from where he is— their eyes widened when they saw him and you.

-> by the time he arrived on shore thanks to aether and kaeya, he’ll immediately rushed to wangshu inn, the nearest place where he can get help in treating your major injuries.

-> by the time you get help in the inn, childe won’t leave you alone. he’ll stay beside you all the way, regretting in letting you go to a dangerous place such as the guyun stone forest.

-> when you wake up, he’ll immediately give you a big hug with a relieved look on his face.

-> expect childe to make sure you won’t go to any commissions until every single of your injuries have been healed and are no longer there. he’ll literally bring you to baizhu and make sure you’re being checked up on.

-> forgive him for everything he’s doing but he just wants to make sure his little sibling will be okay— the image of your bruised body never left his mind even during his harbringer works.

-> he’ll even start finding time to join you on commissions even if you protested that he should be working. though if he’s too busy for it, he’ll request katheyrne to send a skilled adventurer who can go with you on your adventures.

-> “don’t mind me joining on your commissions,” childe would say, giving you a cheeky smile.

-> “your brother just wants to keep you safe, that’s all!”

[bokutoslittlebird]

The Perfect Family

Alpha!Bokuto x Beta!reader x Beta!Akaashi

Author’s Note : If you’ve read the little drabbles and asks with the fluffy BokuAka family, then you’re in for a surprise. Those were not canon to the actual works I created, it was just something nice to write and think about. This will not start off fluffy at all. This will also include the pregnancy process, so be warned of that ; This is a sequel to my Kinktober piece, Threesome with Bokuto and Akaashi ; I’m so sorry it took for fucking ever

Warnings: Omegaverse, noncon/dubcon (explicit use of the word r*pe), gun play, choking, water torture (attempted drowning), gaslighting, manipulation, watersports (briefly, kind of), mindbreak, dumbification, pregnancy, creampie(s), asphyxiation, lactation, knotting, breeding (technically), degradation

Kōtarō’s rut had finally ended, pumping you full and fucking you into a stupor, all while Keiji made sure to have him give you a break. It was the week for you and Kōtarō to catch up, after all. You were bonded to Kōtarō and Keiji now, you were their mate, so you had to be taken care of. With the stinging pain on your shoulder from Kōtarō’s mark, you were only missing the legal document to bind you to Keiji the normal, Beta way. Keiji was currently thinking about which ring to get you, since Kōtarō had already decided on his “proposal” gift. Keiji figured you’d need time to adjust, however, as he was laying on the couch with Kōtarō’s arms wrapped around him, you missing. There was a cute show that they were watching, Keiji was sure you’d like it. You weren’t allowed out of the bedroom yet, so he would have to show it to you another time.

Once Kōtarō had been satisfied and Keiji had recovered, both got to work on making your stay permanent. You attempted to leave, but Keiji was quick to cuff you. Kōtarō held you down, forcing you to struggle until there was nothing left to do except lay there. Kōtarō had to go back to Osaka soon, so he was trying to enjoy his last few days in Tokyo.

“That was a fun show. Cute, too,” his yawning interrupted his sentence, cutting it short. Keiji nodded in response, snuggling closer to Kōtarō. The Alpha was warm and comfortable, it gave him a sense of home. “I gotta go back tomorrow, Akaashi,”

“I know, Bokuto-san,” Keiji sighs, knowing he’d have to work on their new pet by themselves. It was going to be a struggle. At the beginning of the week, you were so pliant and easily coerced into things. Now, you wouldn’t look or talk to them. Kōtarō threw a fit yesterday, screaming and crying because you weren’t the same person, you were much more distant. It’s the same when it comes to Keiji, however. You only looked at him with betrayal and sadness, even then only looking at him briefly. You exhausted yourself, but you were fighting them. Distancing yourself and giving them the silent treatment. It made Kōtarō not want to leave, you being so upset at him, but he didn’t have a choice.

Kōtarō needed to find a new place for everyone to live, of course. With the high probability of you becoming pregnant, you couldn’t be living in Tokyo, hours away from your alpha. Knowing you would be carrying his pups without him around had Kōtarō growling, Keiji gently patting his arm. Kōtarō calmed down at that, indulging in the calming scent of Keiji. Keiji has already been bonded to him, so it wouldn’t be as stressful if he wasn’t bonded — you were both his mates and therefore, you could be trusted in Keiji’s care. It was still hard to go. He didn’t want to leave with the state you were in.

“What place were you thinking about?” Keiji mused, running his finger in a pattern on Kōtarō’s arm. Just something to do as he mentally planned for the upcoming weeks. The type of house would determine how long those weeks would be.

“Some place big, but close by the gym and practice gym. Maybe traditional? I’ve always wanted to live in a traditional, zen kind of house,” Kōtarō’s eyes lit up as he talked, images and scenes of a large house full of his lovers and his children, playing volleyball in the yard. Keiji smiles at that, knowing it would be at least a month. Enough time to have you positively pregnant and to get you settled into your new role. It’d take effort, of course it would, but he could do it.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Bokuto-san,”

“Ya know, we really gotta get used to calling each other by our given names. You’re gonna be a Bokuto, aren’t’cha?”

“Well, of course I am. Just like [Y/N]. We’ll be the Bokuto family,” he sighs, closing his eyes as the name settles in his mind. The Bokuto family has a nice ring to it, he thinks.

Kōtarō spends his last night cuddling you to sleep. You want no part of it, lying stiff as a board as he presses kisses to your neck and rubs his hand over your stomach. It’s a sickening thought, the possibility of getting pregnant. If you really had been ovulating during the rut, you most likely were pregnant. It’s not like you’d know or not, you barely leave the bed to urinate. It’s disgusting to have to deal with, but even when you do get the bathe and do your business, Keiji is right next to you, ready to intervene if necessary. Although Kōtarō is often in there with you, lathering up your body as his touches become less innocent, Keiji’s stone-cold gaze forces you to not attempt anything silly.

When the morning comes, Kōtarō is desperate to keep something of yours until he can see you again. In order to keep him happy, you acquiesce to his demands and let him take your used clothes, yet to be washed. As if the lingering scent of the morning sex isn’t still clinging to his skin. You can’t smell it, nor Keiji, but you know it’s there as you watch him dress himself, tucking himself away as he rambles on about his plans for the future. Three kids for him, two for Keiji, a nice big house, just the ideal lifestyle for anyone. It’ll never happen, though. His delusions will soon shatter when you stay distant and refuse to love him or Keiji.

Keiji waves goodbye to you, saying he’ll come back when he’s done with work. He plans on taking Kōtarō to the train station and then going to work, so you’ll be stuck for the next few hours. Until dinner time, that is. After an hour, you hear a ping from your phone and reach over to look at it. You can still use your phone, of course, but any possibility of calling for help is useless. In this society, nobody would help you. Not only that, your phone is bugged and linked to Keiji’s. He knows when you unlock your phone, what you do at what time, and how long you’re on it. You’re almost positive he can shut it off if he wants to.

The noise is a message from Kōtarō, telling you he misses you already. A roll of the eyes as you lock it, setting it beside you again. You’re able to barely reach the table beside the bed, but none of the drawers. One hand is secured to the headboard, wooden and strong enough to withstand Kōtarō’s ruthless rut. You feel restless as the day has only begun, the next time you will be able to move out of the bed, if at all, will be when Keiji comes home.

The doorknob to the apartment jiggles, making you jump. Keiji should’ve gone to work, so the sudden noise was unexpected. When it finally turns, you expect to see the familiar hair of your former friend, the tousled raven hair and the broad build. Although the man has the proper stature, the hoodie covering his head and the cheap-looking mask covering his face prevent you from properly identifying him. You can’t tell if he’s smirking or not, the intense feeling that he’s giving off tells you he is. With your hand secured to the bed, you really don’t have much in the way of options. The phone is still an option, but you doubt you could get to it in time.

The man lunges towards you, spurring you to attempt to grab the phone. Your fingers brush the metal device before your arm is forcefully gripped and twisted. You scream as your body twists, attempting to lessen the pain. It’s useless, but you still try. When your mouth opens, he quickly shoves something round and hard in it, your tongue pressed against the barrel of the gun.

“Don’t move a muscle,” his voice was low and hoarse, as if he was adjusting it to hide his identity. It was still unfamiliar to you, your brain unable to register what was going on. The man easily overpowers you, using his weight to keep you pinned to the bed. Fear prickles your skin, the chill setting in deep into your bones despite the lingering warmth of the fading Summer heat. It’s a horrible feeling, frozen in fear as your mind races, unable to do anything except stay still. It’s horrible, the fact you listen to the stranger’s demands despite wishing you were dead and out of Kōtarō and Keiji’s grasps. The gun is removed from your mouth, but the knowledge of it being in his possession is enough to keep you compliant, barely acknowledging the man’s hands moving to slip under the dress you were kindly given.

To keep yourself ready and easily accessible to both Keiji and Kōtarō until they had to part, it was best to slip you into a plain and simple white sundress. It was a present from Kōtarō, a small way of saying you were his now. With the lack of panties or other undergarment, you were essentially naked to the intruder as he sat on his heels, dark eyes scanning over your form. You were shaking from the fear, the unknown, but you weren’t attempting to move or thrash about. It was so easy to take advantage of you, you already nice and wet for him, too. The slick buildup from the morning session with Kōtarō lingers, as well as the creamy substance of his seed fucked into you. Unless the intruder was an Alpha, he couldn’t do much damage, but the thought of leaving you alone without a touch, a taste, was too unbearable.

It didn’t take long for the feeling of something hard and thick to push against your folds, collecting slick and teasing, your sensitivity making you whimper at the touch. It was a sudden plunge, forcing himself deep into your cunt as he groaned, your walls clenching around him. You thought the groan sounded familiar, but there was no more time to think on it when he put his hand on your throat, effectively shutting off proper access to your lungs. Your walls tighten again around him, him finding it hard to retract his hips but thrusting back in. His pace isn’t too fast, but his thrusts are brutal as he continues to drive his cock into your sensitive and abused pussy. He’s not an Alpha, you can tell by the lack of an inflating knot, but it still remains that you’re being violated by an unknown man. The whimpers coming from your throat are all you can release, barely sucking in air to stay conscious. When your vision starts to fade, the man and the walls of the room slowly blurring together, you start to panic.

The gun is still beside you, but it’s not your concern. The bullet in the chamber can’t threaten you unless the barrel’s against your head, but the hand currently cutting off oxygen is threatening your life. Attempting to dig your nails into the fabric of the hoodie is useless, his work gloves keeping his hands from getting any marks, either. Your lungs burn from lack of air and your vision slowly fades to black, a heat and chill settling over your body at the same time as you continue to feel his body pinning you down. The brutal fucking is the only sensation you still have, the stinging of your skin as he snaps his hips to meet yours and the squelching sounds from your sloppy pussy, cum and slick spurting and coating his cock as he chases his own high. You don’t know if he finished inside, your sensations dying out as you slip into unconsciousness.

When you wake up, your lungs ache and your face feels wet. When you flutter your eyes open, you’re faced with the creamy beige walls of Keiji’s bedroom, the lamp and phone on the bedside table. A presence is beside you, a large hand gently brushing your hair. Your eyes widen as you jolt, Keiji gently shushing you as he holds you. It’s comforting, someone familiar beside you after the experience you just had. You don’t know what happened after everything went black, but the smell of Keiji’s morning coffee and his cologne calm you down, tears spilling out as your fists bunch up the fabric of his shirt.

“I had a bad feeling, so I immediately came back home. I didn’t expect you to be completely unconscious, what did you do?” He asked, oblivious to what had really transpired. It was painful to recall, the fear from before rising again as you remember the man’s stature, looming over you as he pinned you to the bed. Another fit of tears come, the droplets soaking the white of Keiji’s shirt. “Darling, you need to tell me what’s wrong. What-“

“A stranger,” a hiccup interrupted you, red and tired eyes looking to his face. He looks confused, so you need to press on. “He broke in. Violated me. He— he ra-“

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. If I had known something so horrible would happen, I wouldn’t have left you all alone. You could’ve come with me, but you’ve been so naughty, you know,” his voice is gentle, but there’s a certain chill in his voice that has your fear spiking. His hands are warm, caressing your back as he speaks. “But, you know, you cheated on Bokuto-san and I. I have to punish you,”

“I— I didn’t do it on purpose!” Why were you defending yourself? Your mind had to momentarily adjust itself, the feeling of helplessness from earlier now back. Once the cuff had released the headboard, it was nothing for Keiji to force you into the bathroom. No amount of strength you had could compare to him, nor height. He wasn’t afraid to hurt you either, almost smashing your fingers in the door frame because you wouldn’t let go. “Akaashi, stop!!”

“Akaashi? Now, we can’t have that. You should address me properly, dear,” he grips your face, smushing your cheeks together as you find yourself practically flung into the tub. It’s already full of hot water, almost scalding, as he holds your head under. Struggling once more, it’s futile. His strength far surpasses yours, stature looming over you. Under the water, his image is distorted, but the way he looks down at you feels familiar. Before that thought can continue, you feel your lungs burning as you thrash again, thoughts only focused on surviving. When your head is pulled up, you gulp air as you cough, water sputtering as you do. “You need to be punished.”

“Let me go, I didn’t do anythi-“ your head is once more under the water, nails digging into the flesh of Keiji’s arms as he holds you still. You didn’t get a good gulp of air, so you’re quickly back at the previous feeling of helplessness as your lungs burn, vision blurring. Before everything goes black, you’re once more pulled from the water. Your face is hot, either from lack of air or the heat of the bathroom and water, you’re not too sure. But Keiji is sure of one thing and that’s the way you’re clinging to him. You were digging your nails into him, squirming and attempting to leave, but now your nails were digging into his as your grip tightened around his forearm. You were clinging to him, unconsciously seeing him as your savior, as he was the one who controlled your ability to breathe, therefore your life. He could drown you if he wanted to, but Kōtarō wouldn’t like that. No, he just needed you to depend on him, change your stance on how you saw your lovers.

Keiji also couldn’t help how delicious you looked, drenched as steam rose from the water, your white dress floating around you as if you were an ethereal being. You looked angelic and untainted... an urge to corrupt you washed over him, compelling his body into the steaming water. It was a tight fit, but he managed. With his sweatpants on, it was easy for him to simply push down the waistband and pull out his cock. “Now I have to cover up that man’s scent, or do you want everyone to know you’re a whore?”

“Akaashi, enough, this isn’t any diff-“

“Are you saying I’m a rapist? That’s what you’re implying, right? If you really think that, then I’ll be that. I would never purposefully hurt you,” his words contradict his actions, his hard cock pressing into your walls as he speaks. Sensitivity still lingers, your legs twitching as he sinks down to the hilt. “You’re saying I’m the bad guy, aren’t you? Well, how about I be the bad guy? Let’s recreate the scenario,”

“Akaashi, please, stop!” You cry out, weak limbs attempting to push him off. Hot, fat tears stream down your cheeks as Keiji licks them away, kissing their trails as you continue to sob at the feeling. It was a horrible feeling, being helpless, but a part of you knew you were safe. Keiji wouldn’t let you die, the only thing that prevented you from putting more effort in. Even with the splashing water, he kept one hand on the back of your head to prevent you from going under. Keiji’s pace is always the same — slow strokes, but deep and meaningful as he rocks his hips into yours and makes sure to roll his hips. It’s a completely opposite of Kōtarō’s, brutal and relentless, but Kōtarō fils you out more. Keiji has to make sure you feel every ridge, every vein, every pulse from his cock and have it completely engraved into your mind.

When Keiji gets close, he holds you closer to him, kissing your neck as your hands grasp at the tub’s edges, mind reeling from the force of your orgasms. Your nerves are on fire, your walls constantly clamping around Keiji’s cock like a vice, all while he rides out his own high. He presses a sweet kiss to the mark on your neck, where it meets your shoulder, right where he sports a matching mark on his own skin. It’s Kōtarō’s bond, what links him to the two of you forever. With a final thrust, Keiji spills deep inside you as he kisses you deeply, forcing you to swallow his moan of pleasure as he swallows your mewls. You’re still tight around him, walls fluttering pathetically around his girth as he relishes in the way you feel, keeping his seed locked inside you.

When he breaks the kiss, you’re both panting heavily, chests heaving for different reasons. “There. Now he’s gone,” a gentle kiss on your temple. With those words, a silence settles over the room. Although the stranger may be gone, in his place stands Akaashi Keiji.

The next day, Keiji is home.

“Just a precaution, dear,” he had said. “So nothing else bad will happen to you when I’m not here. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” With those words, he convinced you of his intentions. The previous day’s events had you rattled, the fear of being alone subconsciously rooted into your mind. A small whimper of Keiji’s name, his given name, had him smiling and cooing at you, taking you anywhere in the apartment you wanted to go. It was nice to finally leave the bedroom and bathroom sections, seeing the front room and kitchen, able to hear and see people outside the windows. You dare not let your eyes linger too long on the windows, covered completely with only shadows passing by, nor on the door. The door which had a recently newly installed lock, to take extra precautions. A passing thought of how it seemed to be so quickly enforced comes by, leaving as you become hyper aware of the blank gaze Keiji gives you. It’s not blank, per se. It looks blank to many bystanders, but to you, you know he’s focusing. He’s watching you and analyzing what you do. It’s a test.

A test you seem to have passed, when he calls you back for a bath. He doesn’t guide you there, no threats, just a simple “Come along,” as he walks towards the same bathroom he almost drowned and violated you in. The fear and anxiety of going back has your flight or fight response kicking in, the seemingly easy option of flinging the door open and leaving has your legs moving. But Keiji is quicker, stronger, and smarter than you. Before your fingertips can even graze the lock, your face is slammed into the floor.

“You were doing so well, too,” his feet are planted on either side of you, one moving to plant itself on your back. With a bit of force, you’re screaming as he has his heel pushing into your spine. “You deserve to be punished.”

“Fuck you, Akaashi!” You spit, squirming and wriggling to get him off. When his foot moves, you attempt to get up, but soon he drops down and fists your hair in one hand, the other pushing your cheeks together.

“I should wash that dirty mouth of yours,” he growls, shoving your face against the floor. By shoving, he essentially drops you into the floor. With a burning sensation in your nose, you feel a vaguely familiar liquid trickling out, a small red dot beneath you. He does it once more, making sure to keep his hand on your head to prevent you from getting up. “I trusted you to listen to me, [Y/N],”

“I’ll never listen to you,” you declare, hands balling into fists beside you. “I’ll never forgive you and Bokuto for what you did. I’ll never forgive or forget how you raped me, either!”

“I did no such thing. You enjoyed it, whore. You clamped around me like a vice last night, just as you probably did the stranger that violated you. Can it be consider violation if you were wet? What about when you started to enjoy it?”

“How would you know that, unless-“

“I know how much of a slut you can be, sleeping around with Alphas in high school and other Betas. You probably got off on being raped,” He sneers, putting more force in his hand, making it uncomfortable as your cheek is smushed against the floor.

“Fuck you,”

“I’ll take that as a yes. As a punishment, you won’t be leaving that bedroom for some time,” he finally lets you free, a large breath of air inhaled as you realize he was putting his weight on your lungs. “Come here,”

Wrenched from the ground, you find yourself dragged, kicking and screaming, back into the bedroom where Keiji cuffs you to the headboard. He’s huffing, but he manages to get both wrists cuffed to the headboard. Back to square one, with you refusing to acknowledge him while he tries to talk. Well, he does talk, you’re forced to listen.

When dinner time comes around, you expect some plain chicken broth or maybe even water, but instead you’re given nothing. Keiji doesn’t come in the room at all. The water running let’s you know he’s washing dishes, but where’s your meal? When his humming enters the room, you know he’s coming down. When he opens the door, in his hand lays a plate with bread crust and crumbs, along with some pocky sticks. Just two, however. Barely considered a meal. “Dinner!”

“You’re kidding me,”

“Dear, you know I don’t joke around easily. You were naughty this afternoon, so you’re going to eat my leftovers. Bread crust and some stale pocky sticks is the only thing on your menu,”

“I’ll starve instead,” a glare sent his way does frazzle him one bit, instead almost makes him... chippier. As if you’re falling for his well hidden trap. A nod and he’s gone, your only source of food with him. He won’t enter to room again until nighttime, so you’re left to wallow in your own solitude, something you used to take for granted.

When Keiji does finally come into the room, you’re excited to see him before remembering you don’t like him. Instead of taking the key and releasing your restraints to sleep, he grabs his pillow, his blanket, and his phone charger. “Where are you going?”

“Well, since you obviously hate me, I thought it’d be best that I leave you alone. After all, that is what you wanted, yes?” A small smirk is on his face as your eyes widen, thoughts running through your head as he takes his leave. Without a bid goodnight, Keiji leaves you alone in the room. With no possible entertainment except your mind, you feel uneasy. Unsteady. The world is suddenly dropping you off in an empty room with nothing and you can’t think of anything to keep yourself entertained. The television set buzzes to life outside, while the popping of popcorn fills your ears along with the melted butter smell. An urge to move flits around, but you decide it is best to not.

The next day, it’s a similar situation. Within three days of Kōtarō’s leave, you’ve found yourself craving his company more than ever. Keiji is ruthless and merciless, entering the bedroom for clothes and then leaving for work. He doesn’t talk to you, he doesn’t look at you, he barely enters the room anymore. You feel your stomach grumble at the thought of food, your mouth dry from the lack of fluids in your system. A pathetic way to die, one would think. With the lack of nutrition, your body will eventually decay or fall into an unstable state. Keiji isn’t a dunce, he knows this — at least, he should. Why then, you wonder, is he allowing this? Not only are you completely attached to the bed, but you haven’t been able to get up at all, even for bathroom use. The urine has stained the sheets, turning the pristine white cotton into a grimy yellow color, the ammonia stench covering the entire bedroom. You felt like a helpless child, in dire need of your parents to come home.

In a way, that’s what it was. You were helpless and needed someone else’s help. You need Keiji’s help. You can only go so long before you end up breaking, and you’ve reached a limit. The disgusting liquid under you was the final thread, the squelching and squeezing every time your hips move to a different area to attempt to leave the spot resulting in a failed attempt. The white dress was soaked, first from the bathroom incident and now it was dyed yellow due to your own fluids. Kōtarō wouldn’t be happy with those results.

When Keiji finally comes home, you hear him. You hear the door close and a sigh. Waiting for him to enter the room is quickly disregarded as you call for him. With no hesitation, he arrives at the room, looking at you. “You called, darling?”

“Keiji, please. I’m sorry I was bad. I need you, please don’t leave me,” you cry out, pulling on the cuffs. Shushing you, he quickly attends to your wrists, red and raw from the tugging, pulling, and twisting you’ve done over the past day. Once one hand is free from the restraint, he’s happy to feel it grabbing his shoulder, a silent beg to not leave. “Kei-“

“I know, I know. I won’t hurt you,” his words calm you down, sobs turning into hiccups as he guides you off the bed. Your legs are weak, unstable from lack of use, so he bridal carries you into the bathroom, not caring about the urine. After setting you on the toilet, he strips you of your dress and starts the bath. Trusting you to not move, he leaves. Another test, to see if you’ve really shaped up after the last attempt.

Keiji stands in the bedroom, pulling the sheets off the bed and removing the pad. He puts them aside, but waits. No movement from the bathroom, not even the toilet seat squeaking or the shutting off of the water. Continuing to put the sheets and dress away, he picks out a set of panties — new and clean, a treat for being good — to go with the pastel pink sundress. It looks exactly like the other one, except the color. After getting a towel and a change of clothes himself, he leaves.

You’re still sitting on the toilet, looking at him as he enters. Perking up, you push into the hand the caresses your head, brushing the tangled hair. He stops the water, guiding you into the tub. Once you’re settled, he strips down and joins you.

“You’re not going to hurt me?” You ask, voice dull.

“Of course not. When have I ever done that?”

The next day is such an improvement, Keiji can’t help but let Kōtarō know how well you’ve adjusted. You’re compliant out of fear rather than love, but Kōtarō doesn’t know that. He’s so excited to see a picture of you cooking in the kitchen, he probably wouldn’t care. The picture doesn’t capture the longing look at the knives, the fleeting glances at the door, the rigidness of your body as Keiji wraps his arms around you. It’s small gestures, but you never move to accomplish the action. Your finger might twitch, a gulp as you see the unlocked door, but you continue on. You make the noodles, you bring the tray to Keiji, you sit in his lap and allow the arms to secure your place. The food is something you’re ever thankful for, the lack of food spurring your resilience into breaking. With a gentle blow, Keiji feeds you the ramen you dutifully prepared for the both of you all day.

You never looked at the door again. You never looked at the knives unless you were cutting something. Even with Keiji breathing down your neck, eyes focused on your hands, you didn’t twitch or move to hurt him. You went to the bathroom and didn’t complain when he joined you. Even when he had to do his little daily checkup, you didn’t complain. The first time, you mentioned it tickled and questioned what he was doing, sticking his nose between your legs as he pried them open. He just smiled and said he needed to know if you were healthy, to which your questions easily stopped. Although he occasionally swept his tongue over your still wet folds, you never told him to go away and leave you alone. Even when he went further and had put you on the bathroom’s countertop before diving between your legs once more, your fingers thread themselves through his hair as you moaned.

When the news of Kōtarō coming back reached your ears, you didn’t know how to feel. Keiji was the one to help you, give you comfort, so you didn’t feel too excited to see Kōtarō. Keiji knew this would cause problems, as Kōtarō was expecting you to be as loving to him as you were to Keiji. After an explanation of the situation, you promised to perform appropriately for Kōtarō. With a whispered threat of locking you up again, you easily complied with everything you were asked to do. When Kōtarō came through the door, he was easily able to catch you as you jumped on him. “Welcome back!”

“Aw, [Y/N]! I’m glad to be back!” He nuzzled into your neck, indulging in your scent. You could easily pretend to be in love with Kōtarō, but your scent would tell him if you were feeling off. With his superior senses, you had to be forced into a mindset where you did love Kōtarō. Threats and memories of the past had could nodding along, situating yourself into his life easily. “I missed you, a lot,”

“Well, we won’t have to be gone for so long again, right?” You ask, a pout forming. “Or are you going to leave me?”

“Oh, no! You’re gonna live with me,” he grins, a closed eye smile. Your eyes widen as the information is processing, Keiji coming from the kitchen.

“It was a surprise for you. We’ll be moving to Osaka to be close to Bokuto-san,” he’s drying a knife, one he recently finished washing, but it’s also a silent threat. Kōtarō didn’t see the horrified look on your face, but he sure did.

“O-Oh. Okay! I can’t wait, when are we.. when do we move?” Twiddling your fingers, Kōtarō wraps his arms around you once more, effectively picking you up. No hesitating, your legs wrap around his waist as he looks up at your face, love flooding his eyes.

“You’ll move in with me tomorrow. Once Akaashi’s boxed everything up, he’ll join us. Our room is all set up, and there’s lots of rooms for kids. Speaking of-!”

“Another time, Bokuto-san,” Keiji harshly whispered, Kōtarō’s eyes widening before smiling, nodding. You didn’t know what that was, but you then focused on Kōtarō moving to the couch.

“Let’s eat, I’m starving! Maybe I can have something special for dessert, if you know what I mean,” with an added eyebrow wiggle, you shyly smile and nod. It’s what Keiji told you would please Kōtarō. It’s what Keiji told you that you need to do.

The dinner itself is fine, but when you ask to use the restroom, Kōtarō points out the red splotches on your white dress. Panicking, you attempt to locate the spot as your face heats up in embarrassment. Keiji then points out the bit of blood on Kōtarō’s pants, making you think your cycle has started. At that mention, Kōtarō’s growling in anger as you seize up in fear, unsure of what to do. Keiji tells you to change while he deals with Kōtarō, you immediately obeying and going to the bedroom.

“I thought ovulating meant she would get pregnant. Why isn’t she pregnant? Were you wrong?” Kōtarō asks, still angry. He knows he scared you, your lingering scent of fear in the room and around him. He thought he could smell another scent on you, but he didn’t know what it could be.

“Bokuto-san, I know this is frustrating but it’s possible she didn’t get pregnant. However, spotting is a sign of pregnancy. It was only a few drops. If she has anymore blood leakage that gets heavy tonight, we’ll know,” Keiji is able to calm down Kōtarō, who rolls his shoulders back and lies against the back of the couch. “Do you want to change your jeans?”

“Nah, it’s barely noticeable. Plus,” a thumb runs over the denim, Kōtarō licking his lips as his eyes darken, “this is like she’s claiming me, right?”

Kōtarō does not force himself on you that evening. Instead, he just cuddles you that night. It’s a differing touch than Keiji’s, who ends up rolling to the other side of the bed in the night. Kōtarō holds you close and tightly all night, snuggling closer to you, as if it was possible, and nudging his nose in your neck. It’s sweet, you think, as he caresses you like you’re made of glass.

The next morning, Kōtarō has you properly dressed to leave with him. A set of panties, sweatpants, t-shirt, and a hoodie. It’s a casual set of clothes, but they are all you came to Keiji’s house in a week and a half ago. Kōtarō says he’ll get you better clothes once you’re settled in, but you feel uneasy as you bid goodbye to Keiji. He worries about your mental state once you’re alone with Kōtarō, but he just has to hope you’re able to seem stable enough for a day.

In Osaka, you feel like your life is beginning anew. It’s not much different from Tokyo, but as Kōtarō guides you through the streets, it becomes known that Osaka has a lot more greenery. It’s very beautiful, in your opinion. When he stops in front of an old house, you glance at him. “Our new home, sweetheart!” He cheers, kissing your cheek as he picks you up. Carrying you inside the house, you notice the security. The gate is only opened via pin entry, which the gate itself is roughly 2 meters tall. Even the door to the house requires thumbprint access, a very modern and technological touch in an older, traditional house.

He shows you to your room, which is also his room, but yours too. It has its modern touch, with the remaining aspect of futons to lay on. The cameras in the hallway also are in your view, the one in the bedroom and the hallway. Looking into each room, you notice they are containing cameras, but one room is different. “What’s this?”

“Oh? This is our nursery! So, when you have a baby, it’ll be in here,” he chirps, pointing out things in the room. Scanning the room, you notice the lack of camera secured.

“Where’s the camera?”

“What— what camera?” Rubbing the back of his neck, he fakes confusion. You see right through it.

“I noticed the other cameras. There’s not one here,”

“Oh, well, that’s because this room has baby monitors!” He gestures to the white device. A nod of understanding has the tour moving on. Showing you to the kitchen, you notice the pantry and fridge are stocked. “Would you make me dinner?”

“Of course. What do you want?”

“You, served hot and steaming in the bath,” he grins. Eyes widen as you realize what he wants, you sheepishly laughing as you acquiesce.

Kōtarō is much rougher than Keiji, you knew that, but the way he fucks you with fervor as he hasn’t seen you in almost five days is something akin to his rut. Sinking his teeth into your skin, remarking his territory as he spurs you into your first orgasm of the night. Your nails are digging into his broad shoulders, the only thing you can use to keep yourself grounded. The setting wasn’t in the bathroom, but rather the bedroom where he claimed he wanted to “seal the deal” of you coming home. Legs tighten around his waist, back arching as he continues to drive his cock into you and litter your neck with less painful marks, claiming already claimed territory. As he presses a wet, sloppy kiss against your lips, you scream as you tighten your walls, feeling his knot force its way inside you.

A warm hand rubs the side of your body as your walls convulse around him, squeezing as he pumps you full of his cum. It’s a memory to you, but it feels so warm and fulfilling, you immediately relax in his hold as he continues to pepper kisses along your body. It’s a comforting feeling, being praised and cared for, a drastic difference from the way Keiji treated you a few days ago. Well, how you think he treated you a few days ago. He said he never did it, but your body said differently. With Kōtarō’s eyes of love looking down on you, you didn’t think it mattered. That was in the past, this was the present. You felt comfortable here, that was what mattered.

When Keiji arrived with a bunch of boxes, you were told to make them lunch so they could eat when they were done. Kōtarō said he didn’t want you straining yourself after last night, so you agree to his demands. Deciding to make some udon for lunch, you get to work as they lug in the boxes. The boxes aren’t large nor heavy, but watching Kōtarō easily lift three of them with no effort, while Keiji brings in two at most with also no effort, you feel yourself get wet at the thought of them hot and sweaty afterwards. With a possible treat in mind, you work more diligently, mentally preparing yourself to ask them.

Keiji mentioned he’d be looking for another job while Kōtarō was at the gym. It would be the first time you would be alone and free to roam. You begged Keiji to not leave for too long, hands grasping at the fabric of his shirt as he pried your hands off. Kōtarō gave you a sweet kiss before he left, telling you he’d try to hurry back, but you knew Keiji would get back first. Sitting in the large house, you didn’t know what to do except cook and sleep. Your phone screen lit up with a message from Kōtarō, a picture of him blowing you a kiss with a message of ‘I miss you!’ under it. You smile at that, sending back a message that you miss him, too.

Before you lock your phone, you look at the many games you have on it. There’s one game you don’t remember being on it, it looks like a tracker app. Clicking on it, it welcomes you and it shows how far along you are in.. pregnancy? First reaction is to panic, how do you know if you’re pregnant? Going into the internet app, you search up symptoms of pregnancy. One that jumps out to you is the spotting, only a little bit of blood as the sperm fertilizes the egg. It is most likely what you did on Kōtarō’s lap, the day he came to Tokyo. Another surge of panic comes as you think of your lovers, your mates. With Keiji looking for a new job and Kōtarō being busy with being a professional athlete, they don’t have time to take care of you and a baby. You decide to not tell them.

Although you decide to not tell them, the next week is excuses of your recent symptoms. You find yourself more exhausted than usual, not even getting out of bed to bid goodbye to Kōtarō and Keiji. Not only that, you end up in the bathroom as you feel sick, but only half of the times does something come up. It’s when you have another episode of morning sickness does Keiji pop the question. “Should I get a pregnancy test?”

“N-No! I’m not pregnant, just some bad sushi!” When Keiji’s grip on your arm gets tighter, you whimper. “Keiji, stop hurting me,”

“I’m not hurting you, I just need you to tell me the tru-“ the door shutting cuts him off, his attention to the door of the bathroom where Kōtarō is, panting.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it? I could sense it,”

“I’m just a bit sick-“ “She’s pregnant-“ You both speak at the same time. Your eyes widen as Keiji looks at you.

“Pregnant? Now? Really?” Kōtarō is ecstatic, but you don’t take it that way.

“I’m not, I promise! I’m sorry!” You beg. Kōtarō’s mood turns sour, the anger directed towards you. Keiji stands back, but he doesn’t interfere.

“Why are you lying to me? If Keiji says you are, then you are! I know you’re lying!” He kneels on the ground and grabs your shoulders, digging his meaty fingers into the flesh. You yelp in pain, attempting to get him off. “Why are you doing this?! You were doing so well!”

“Stop, Kō-chan, stop! You’re hurting me!” A call out of his childhood nickname has his rage quelling, as you brush his hands off and rub the stinging skin. “I don’t want to be pregnant,”

“This isn’t about what you want. It’s about what we want, do you understand that?” Keiji speaks, voice low and threatening. You quickly nod your head, attempting to explain yourself.

“I- I thought that you wouldn’t want a baby because you’re both busy! I don’t- I don’t want to burden you more than I do,” with your words, the anger and rage suddenly evaporates as they understand.

“Burden us? Baby, we love you and do everything for you. You’re going to be carrying my pups and Keiji’s babies, we want this. This is all I ever hoped for,” Kōtarō coos, taking your hands and pressing a kiss to them. A fit of sobs escape as you wrap your arms around him, hiccuping into his chest. Keiji sits and smiles, knowing you have completely adjusted into the proper role.

With the news of your pregnancy, Kōtarō is able to get off a lot more to be there for you. You’re no omega, so it’s not as if he has to take off for 9 months, and Keiji is there to take care of you. Keiji takes care of any appointments you need to do, signing you into a private hospital nearby where Kōtarō’s teammate’s omega gave birth. A list of what was normal was given to you and Keiji and what would be a cause for concern, so you made sure to drill into your head about the possible problems. It was vital that you were able to give birth, being able to give Kōtarō and Keiji what they wanted all you needed to take care of yourself. Keiji prepared your meals, making sure you were eating properly even before the bump showed.

When the bump became prominent, you were glad that your wardrobe consisted of dresses. The dresses you had were all loose-fitting and easy to move around in. With the upcoming winter months, you had lots of blankets and an oversized jacket, bearing Kōtarō’s MSBY number and logo. Kōtarō couldn’t keep his hands off of you, always rubbing your bump and pinching the extra fat you were putting on. Worry over the added weight was a brief concept that quickly evaporated as Kōtarō voiced how much he loves the extra meat to fondle and love, tickling you as you giggle afterwards. Keiji couldn’t say he disagreed with Kōtarō, the added weight adding to your cuteness charm as you did the most basic and minuscule things. He could disagree with Kōtarō on the obsession with the pregnancy milk, however.

Lactation was painful, the way your boobs ached as they were full of creamy milk. Although they ache, Kōtarō encouraged you to let him drink from them. Hesitation was in the beginning, but once his lips had secured themselves on your nipple and started sucking, it was quite relaxing. The tender ache in your breasts were gone as Kōtarō drank from them, but he often had to drink from both of them due to Keiji’s aversion. He didn’t see the appeal, he rather enjoyed teasing your nipples when the sexual appetite of yours had risen, but he didn’t see the appeal in drinking the milk. Keiji did oblige Kōtarō, however, in looking into lactation cookies, which would increase milk production and could even make it taste better. It was worth a try, as it would help the children to develop as you breastfed them.

The lactation cookies Keiji made looked awful, but tasted amazing. You would have eaten all of them had it not been for Keiji stopping you. Kōtarō seemed excited, immediately begging for another go. He’d have to wait until nighttime, since he often took naps after you breastfed him during the day.

At night, you often slept completely naked, able to easily feed Kōtarō if he woke up in the middle of the night. Your sex drive had risen exponentially in your second trimester, to the point Kōtarō had to request off to take care of you. He made sure to keep his promise, stuffing you with his thick cock and plugging you up with his cum or lapping at your folds until your fluids splashed against his face. With the third trimester underway, your libido has decreased while your milk had increased, but that didn’t deter Kōtarō from getting frisky. Even as Keiji bathed away from you two, he couldn’t help but touch himself to your whines and mewls.

Kōtarō has been riding a cloud since your pregnancy came about. Even before the milk, he found it hard to resist fucking you, especially with the added sensitivity. Your breasts were larger now, bouncing with every thrusts as he tweaks the nipples, watching the cream dribble from them. He can’t help himself, really, as he goes to attach himself to one of your perky buds. When Keiji enters the room, he chuckles at the sight.

“Should we worry that there won’t be enough milk for you and the baby?” He muses, sitting on the futon next to you. Your hand grasps at his silk shirt, bringing him down to give you a kiss. Even as Kōtarō drills into you, you want more. A wet pop resounds around the room as Kōtarō laughs, groaning in your ear as he plugs you with his knot, pumping you full.

“The pup can have those bottles, and with help of those miracle cookies, we should be fine. You sure you don’t want to at least try a bit? It feels nice for her, doesn’t it, my little Beta?” He coos, pressing kisses to your cheeks as you come down from your high, walls fluttering around Kōtarō’s cock.

“It relieves some pain, I’ll admit that,” you smile at Keiji. “You can try,”

“Well, how can I say no to that?” He smiles back at you, brushing hair out of your face. Kōtarō massages your breast, holding it so Keiji can attach his lips to the nipple. His eyes focus on the creamy liquid dripping from the bud, only to become transparent as it follows gravity. When he does get a taste, he knows he’s in trouble. It’s as delicious as Kōtarō said, creamy and full that makes you want more. As he sucks with fervor, you giggle and Keiji is joined by his other lover, suckling any milk he left behind. It’s such a strange thing to happen, both grown men sucking on your chest as if they had been born only recently. With the swell of your stomach, you knew they’d have to share their milky mine.

As your due date drew near, you found yourself unable to do anything alone. Kōtarō was off completely until you delivered and Keiji was no longer looking for a job, as it was decided Kōtarō made enough for everyone to live comfortably. He knew he’d have to find another job soon, as more children were born and needed to be fed, but that was a well ways off, at least 9 more months.

What started as a normal day soon turned to chaos as preparations for delivery expedited when your water broke. The hospital had your room prepared already, but it was for your week stay as you were three days away from your date. Kōtarō was in a frenzy, unsure of what to do but desperate to do something. Keiji has to drive to the hospital, while you were doing breathing exercises with Kōtarō in the back seat. It was the birth of their first child, so even Keiji was panicking, but he was also excited.

Once settled into the room, the nurses had to check to see how far along you were dilated. Kōtarō was anxious, his scent permeating the room as he started to pace. The doctor had come in, spurring him into a fighting mentality because the doctor was another Alpha. Keiji and a nurse had to get him out of the room, with a promise he could see the children once they were born, but he would have to wait in the waiting room. Weakly calling out his name and telling him you were fine, he obliged as he left, punching the wall once as he felt his emotions boil over. Keiji was by your side, holding your hand as you squeeze it, pushing when the doctor told you to.

When the room was filled with screaming, the clock chiming as 12:15 had arrived, signaling the date of birth of your first born son. With his stubby arms and legs, you laughed as you held him, Keiji getting the honor of cutting the cord. The baby still needed to be cleaned and checked over, so the doctor and nurses took him while Keiji went to get Kōtarō. By the time Kōtarō and Keiji has come back, you were holding a small, but still big, baby boy swaddled in a thick blanket. Kōtarō immediately raced over to look over both of you, his scent out of control as his emotions mingled together. He didn’t know what to think.

“It looks like it’s yours, Kōtarō,” Keiji says, hand resting on Kōtarō’s shoulder. He smiles in response, looking at the baby’s golden eyes blinking open at him.

“Sure does, Keiji. I guess the next thing we should work on is proper marriage, right?” He watches as the baby grasps his finger, the small hand even smaller compared to his large one.

“A proper marriage, yes. The ring, the dress, the ceremony, you would like that, wouldn’t you dear?”

“Of course Keiji. Anything you want.” As you look up to him, he sees nothing but love in your eyes. He smiles, nodding in agreement.

“Well, as well as making sure the next one’s mine. We should start on that as soon as possible, don’t you think?”

[sukirichi]

earned it [06]

Gojo Satoru is a firm believer that if you work hard for it then you shall earn it. But on the other side, he’s not unfamiliar with his own sins. He also believes that there is punishment due for his sins as he’s earned it.

cw. attempted murder and suicide, angst ig i feel nothing at this point because NAOYA 😭

notes. i’m rolling with the earned it jokes that reader is shippable with everyone so HAH enjoy this chapter because I didn’t enjoy the last LMAO (IM SO EXCITED FOR TOJI TO APPEAR!)

series masterlist

Your muscles throbbed, the pounding of your heart felt even through your skin. You’ve spent hours in the training room, taking punch by punch, landing blow by blow – yet no matter how hard you tried, you kept falling on your ass. At this point, your backside was beyond sore, skin drenched with sweat and clothes sticking uncomfortably to the surface. Meanwhile, your ‘savior’ barely felt the need to catch his breath, instead gazing down at you with disappointment written all over his face.

“Why do you expect so much from me?” you panted, fists clenched on the mat. “Didn’t you tell me you just needed me to get your money back and that’s it? I didn’t ask for you to do anything so stop telling me I’m indebted to you all the time.”

Naoya clicked his tongue, clearly disappointed by your lack of resolve. Above you, he swept up his cane and finally balanced himself. You previously thought he didn’t struggle because he looked so calm and composed, easily overpowering you even with his injury, but his lips were strained, jaw clenched tight that perhaps he was just good at concealing his pain. It made you shut up and watch his every move; his back faced you – probably to hide whatever fleeting moment of vulnerability he had.

“I won’t always be there to save your sorry life,” he said calmly, “You need to learn how to be strong on your own no matter how tough it gets. Now if you’ll keep complaining instead of finishing your training, I could happily lock you up and force you to do my dirty work for me.”

“Then why don’t you go ahead?!”

“I don’t want to,” Naoya responded without missing a beat. He easily closed the distance with a few staggered steps, his head tilted to the side as he surveyed you.

You wondered what went through his mind. Did he see a weak woman? A woman who must be so helpless, so useless that you stayed there, legs too tired and muscles aching too much you couldn’t move? There was no telling with Naoya, and his guarded gaze didn’t help either. Satoru had always been difficult to read at most, but with Naoya – it was practically impossible.

Even as he cupped your chin and twisted it sideways, his eyes narrowed over all your features like he saw something you didn’t, he was too guarded.

“I need you in taking down Gojo Satoru. In order to accomplish that, I have to use his weakness against him. You showing up won’t be enough. No, I want to hurt him…and what better way than to take what was once his, right? Dangle right in front of his eyes what he let go of, make him regret his actions?” his smile turned dark, and for the first time since you’ve met him, you got a glance of what his heart really looked like.

It wasn’t true that Naoya was heartless – no, he just had a dark, sinister heart that didn’t beat the same tune as others. He played his own music with the bones of his enemies, drinking their lifeline from a gold cup and drowning in them, his ominous laughter the perfect antithetical melody of what could’ve been angelic hums.

“Don’t you want that?”

His question made your heart skipped a beat. This whole time, you’ve been so hell bent on achieving something, but what you wanted to reach had never been clear. You were too driven by emotions, by the pain Satoru’s absence had caused, and now that the opportunity was presented before you, you faltered.

“I don’t know what I want.”

“Well, if you ask me what I want…” he tilts your chin up with his finger “It would be to see you strong enough that even you would be capable of taking me down. So be strong, keep fighting – I’ll be there with you every step of the way. You only have one job, and that is to live. I am not allowing you to give up at the slightest of minor inconveniences.”

“And if I get weak?” you questioned with an oscillating tremor, the bite of his cold skin against your heated ones spiking. “If I want to give up? Would I fail you then?”

“I don’t think you’re someone who cares about failing others, so don’t fret whether you’d please me or not,” Just like that, Naoya’s scornful tone had risen again. He let go of you until you dropped down to your palms, blinking back at the sudden change of atmosphere. “Like I said, just do what you need to do, keep going. Don’t look back or be afraid to take the next big step because I’ll always be there right beside you.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“I’m not asking you to, princess,” he snickered, already half way to the door that only he was allowed to go in. Even though you’ve been staying in his manor for quite some time, there were still some things Naoya didn’t trust you with, leaving you only more curious to find out the secrets within.

“Only time will tell. But once you’ve made your decision, know that my ring is always waiting beside your table,” his voice echoed through the large room, stopping in his tracks to look at you once more. This time, he had no haunting features, only the cold emptiness likened to staring back to an infinite void of nothingness.

“I expect an answer when I get home.”

You still remembered the day you decided to wear his ring. Naoya had come then, tired and aggravated from matters he didn’t bother explaining. You stood on his doorway, lips shut tight as you nervously fiddled with your ring, unsure if whether you should tell him or allow him to piece the puzzle himself.

Thankfully, Naoya was a lot more observant than you gave him credit for.

His eyes slid over your face before he followed the motion of your fingers, smirking as the jewel glinted under the bright lights of his home. Wise choice, he’d once told you, and you believed it.

Your life hadn’t been the same ever since. Your spontaneous marriage equated to hellish training of perfecting your image as his trophy wife, spending hours in his secret laboratory and discussing business plans through a glass of wine. Naoya wasn’t around much to teach you everything and it pained him to be your own trainer too so you had to ask help from his guards, refusing to give up and fall down even as your muscles screamed at you to take a break. For Naoya, with Naoya, giving up and running away felt like a myth; a buried solution in the past that should never be brought up again. But now that he was gone, you did exactly that.

You’d given up. Satoru had made you run away.

“Miss,” a deep voice cut you from your thoughts. You tore your gaze away from the  glowing night city of Milan to turn to Satoru’s right hand man, the tall figure looming rather shyly instead of imposingly. “You haven’t eaten since we got here. Would you like anything? Mr. Gojo will cover your expenses.”

“I want to go home.”

He froze at your deadpan statement. Finally meeting your gaze under his lashes, Geto pursed his lips. “You know we can’t do that, Miss. It’s unsafe back in Japan.”

“And who’s to say Toji won’t follow us here?” you snapped, pushing your weight off the Cleopatra set and uncrossing your legs. “Why can’t your stupid boss just activate the account and give it back to us? I think we’ve made it clear we’re more than capable of handling our finances, and I’m pretty sure Satoru doesn’t need any more money when he can afford all this.”

“Mr. Gojo…has his reasons for everything he does.”

You laughed bitterly. Maybe it was the fact that Satoru had left this morning for whatever business he had that you didn’t have anyone else to let your anger out to that you’d swiped your gun under your thigh holster and dashed his way.

Geto’s back slammed against the wall, the cool barrel of your gun pressed to his jaw. He swallowed nervously, eyes darting to your weapon, and you laughed heartlessly. “Oh, please, do tell because nothing makes sense,” you crooned, flipping the safety off and letting your heated gaze meet his rather docile ones. You almost felt bad for him. Almost.

“I could easily put a bullet through your head and hijack his plane. I’ll be gone before you know it and who’s to stop me from doing that? Why should I stay here any longer with you?”

“Because your husband asked you to,” Geto responded softly. You stepped back with wide eyes, yesterday’s event crashing all over you once again. He must’ve sensed you no longer held any hostility because he used his pointer finger to move the barrel away from him, gently peeling your hands off his suit. “Because you know, if you go back to Japan, there will be nothing waiting for you there.”

You balled your fists. “I will kill Fushiguro Toji myself. Then I’ll kill Satoru.”

“Even if he used to be your lover?”

“Especially because he used to be my lover.”

Okay…maybe your plan of escaping and returning to Japan hadn’t worked out that well. Exhaustion finally crept up to your senses that you passed out not long after attacking Geto – who reassured you to no end he wasn’t mad you tried to kill him – and days have passed ever since. You hated to admit it, but being stuck in an overseas hotel wasn’t so bad. Geto’s presence was a lot more comforting than his master’s that you didn’t mind having him watch your every move. Plus, he was really nice to immediately follow your every whim. You wanted hot chocolate? Extra pillows? A really expensive wine that you refused to pay for because you were petty and dramatic? He provided it all without question.

Except he probably should have, because you’d stripped off to your underwear, head tipped back to take one final swig of the nearly empty bottle as you slid deeper into the tub.

Your fiery nature of rolling your eyes at Satoru every time he came around (which was rare, for some reason) couldn’t fool anyone – not even yourself. The moment Geto retired to the living room, you would bite the pillows to muffle your cries, thinking back to when Naoya was still alive. It was an endless torment of what if you had stayed, what if you had pushed the rubble off him, what if you just saved him?

Would he still be alive? Would he have survived? Would you be back with him in the Zen’in Estate instead of holding your breath under the tub in a desperate attempt to conceal your tears?

It hurt so bad. It hurt everywhere.

Your lungs begged you to rise up and breathe, but you stayed still under the water, eyes shut tight and hands clenched around the tub’s edges so hard your knuckles turned white. Soon, you grew dizzy and your grip slipped away. Finally, fucking finally, you were falling, falling way too deep that your legs bent inside the tub. Bubbles erupted from your lips in one last breath. At the back of your mind, you let out a sincere laugh for you’d meet your husband soon. He’d be disappointed, probably scold you all the way to the afterlife – until strong arms pulled you out of the tub and into someone’s chest instead.

“Shit, what are you doing?! You could’ve drowned!”

You coughed out water and fisted Satoru’s button-up shirt that had now clung to his skin from the water. Looking around you, you were still very much alive, the uncomfortable twisting of your heart a painful reminder of that. Above you, Satoru sat you in his lap while he remained cross-legged on the floor, muttering curses under his breath as he wrapped a towel around you.

Scoffing, you pushed his hands away, though you kept the towel anyway to lessen your shivering. Why the fuck was the AC so damn strong here?

“Dying seems like a better option, don’t you think?” you snarled at him, teeth chattering from the chill that had begin to seep in.

Momentarily, you worried on how much of a hot mess you probably looked like. Smudged eyeliner, wine-stained lips, unbrushed hair and remnants of the wine mixing with the once clear bath water – you shook your head at the thought and glared at Satoru.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“I was out contacting friends to ask for help. We’re going to need a hundred pairs of eyes watching anywhere that Toji could possibly come through.”

“Is this your pathetic idea of ‘keeping me safe’? Locking me up in this stupid hotel and having your man watch me all the time?” you pushed yourself off him, the sudden motion of standing up giving you wobbly legs. Satoru reached over to steady you but you slapped his hand away, your glare warning him to not take another step.

Seeing his face, seeing him worried as if he didn’t just cause your life to turn into absolute hell, you wanted to grab the wine bottle and smash it right at his pretty face. He had no right to look at you with pity.

You hated him, utterly and terribly despised this man with your entire being.

“What are you really planning, Satoru? Why can’t we just come back home and attack Toji with all we’ve got? Why don’t you just give back our fucking money so we can end all this for once and for all and I can leave?!”

“Because I don’t have the money!”

“What?”

“The money…” Satoru’s back slid off the wall, his palm coming up to thread through his hair. He sounded weak, defeated. “I don’t have it.”

“Gojo,” you snatched him by the collar, teeth bared as you demanded, “What do you mean you don’t have it?”

Satoru paled. “When I stole the money from the Zen’ins, the figures were all fake. They’re not real, there’s no actual money hidden behind their accounts and it was too late before I realized that,” his lips trembled as he continued, “Whatever Toji placed in there, it’s not his actual account where he hides everything and it would make sense too because I stole it too easily – almost as if they wanted me to take it. A few hacks here and there and it was immediately wired to me but after meeting you…” Satoru shook his head, chin dropped down low. “I checked again and the account never existed. It’s a fake one. The digits are just there for show.”

“So then why would Toji want it? Why did my husband have to die for nothing?!”

“I don’t know, okay, I don’t know anything!” he argued back until your faces grew closer, his nose brushing with yours.

Somehow, you couldn’t pull away. His knees had drawn up, forcing you to rest on his thighs as you both breathed heavily, your grip on his collar almost havered.

“Whatever the Zen’ins are hiding, that’s beyond me. I may be in the business for far longer than they have, but they have always been notorious with their possessions that I’m not surprised even I can’t find where it really leads back to. Whatever Toji is hiding there, your husband must’ve known something about it. Why else would they fight tooth and bone over it?”

“If there was, Naoya would’ve told me about it.”

“He would if he trusted you,” Satoru suddenly grabbed your wrist and shook it until you stared at your ring. “How are you even so sure he could trust you with that information? Have you forgotten you’re just a pawn to his game and you’re nothing but a bed warmer?”

“Don’t you ever speak about us that way. You don’t know how much he cared for me.”

“If he really did, then why didn’t he tell you why his cousin is after you? He’s using you as bait, Y/N. I’m not the bad guy here. That man you’re so deeply in love with? I can’t guarantee he’s better than me. We’re all men in the mafia, love is the last thing we would care about.”

You pushed yourself off him.

His words stung too much, not because it was a lie, but because you know there was some sort of truth ringing behind it. You trudged out of the bathroom and sat on the bed, unstirred by the fact you dripped all over the carpeted floor. From behind you, Satoru’s rushed footsteps echoed, but you didn’t care. You simply threw on a robe with your back turned to him.

“And you’d know that better than everyone right? Considering how easy it was for you to leave me?” When Satoru didn’t respond, you chuckled humorlessly and sat on the bed. “What Naoya and I had…it was a friendship that healed my soul. I don’t…I don’t know what to do without him.”

“Friendship?”

You smiled sadly. “I wasn’t actually in love with him, idiot. Men like Naoya don’t know what love is, but he sure does know how to protect family.”

The notion of talking about him, of accepting that maybe he really was gone…somewhat reliving.

Satoru was the last person you wanted to talk to your late husband about, but Geto – which is the much better company – wasn’t around, and you hugged your knees to yourself, refusing to let Satoru see through your vulnerability.

“You know, I trusted him more than I did myself. He was always there for me, no matter what. His soul was dark, angry, corrupted – he’s not the man I would fall for, but despite all that, he was the friend I needed,” you buried your face in your knees, voice muffled as you cried, your heart shattering again and again and again.

The ring on your finger had never felt so heavy ever since you wore it.

“I loved him as much as I hated you.”

Satoru was silent, so much so that you wondered if he was even in the same room at all. You sat there crying, too hopeless to even try to conceal it anymore. Shivering, you close your eyes and forced the image of Naoya’s last moments away from your memories, desperately praying to whoever had mercy that you could just forget all about it.

“Geto told me you tried to kill him,” Satoru murmured after a beat, “You could’ve easily escaped and went back to Japan if you wanted to, so why didn’t you? Was it because of me?”

You remembered what you tried to do today.

Just like that, Naoya was alive once more. You were brought back to the day of your wedding when he’d clasped your sweaty, clammy hands in his, rubbing some warmth in them before pressing a kiss at the top of your knuckles. He’d asked you to promise him something then – an entire contrast from his constants orders over your well-being – and it was a promise you’d momentarily forgotten; a promise you’d broken out of mourning.

“Naoya once told me,” you reminisced through dry, cracked lips and even more shattered heart, the picture of his disappointment as clear as day. “Death was the only place he can go where he would never allow me to follow.”

It took a lot, but it somehow got better. After allowing yourself a faint moment of weakness where Naoya resurfaced in your mind to remind you of our promise and your purpose, you felt stronger, somewhat steadier with each step you took. You were still wary around Satoru, although that was a given.

His friend, Geto, was really nice, on the other hand, and you couldn’t explain why you always lowered your guard around the formal dark-haired assistant.

You and Geto were playing chess when Satoru barged in out of nowhere, a plate and a syrup condenser on his hand. “So I got you breakfast,” was his greeting, nodding at Geto once as a silent order to give you two privacy. You pouted as the latter left, but soon your attention had been diverted to the heavenly aroma filling in your senses. Seeing your approval, Satoru hid a smile behind his dark sunglasses. “Still like pancakes?”

“Trying to get into my good graces now?”

“I’m just trying to cheer you up.”

You rolled your eyes but snatched the plate from him anyway. “So I talked to my lawyer,” you begun, pouring syrup all over the fluffy bread until it was almost spilling to the sides. Beside you, Satoru’s snickers were barely muffled, to which you ignored wholeheartedly. “They’ve already processed my inheritance over Naoya’s possessions and assets. Once we return to Japan, I’ll be the next leader of the Zen’in Clan, much to the disappointment of his elders, of course, but they can’t do anything about it,” you informed him with your fork hanging in mid-air, the words falling thickly. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

“That we’re back to being enemies?”

You offered him a sarcastic smile. “Naoya lied about strengthening his alliance with your family. He doesn’t actually give a fuck about you.”

“I figured that much,” he snickered to himself, shifting his weight until his elbows rested on his thighs. “Listen…a friend of mine is flying to Milan tonight to meet us. They have strong connections with banks all over the world and they brought in some information about that hidden Zen’in account. I think we’re finally getting off to somewhere and finding out what really is in there,” Satoru gauged for your reaction, but you kept eating – more like stuffing the pancakes inside your mouth for you were finally free of having to act perfect without your husband.

Satoru’s hand landed on top of yours. “I promise…I’ll give it back to right where it belongs. As soon as it’s wired back to you, I’m setting you free.”

You stared at the unwanted figure over you, and you snatched your hand back, waving a bread knife below his lashes. “You can’t set me free when I was never yours,” you sang breathily, the tip of the blade hovered right at his lips. Satoru raised a brow at you, but you quickly retrieved the knife back with widened eyes. “Now that you mention it…I think Naoya told me something about his family stashing secret weapons and even heirlooms through offshore accounts and buried under islands. He was a little sleepy during that time but I remember it,” pushing the plate away from you as you lost your appetite, you clutched your palms under your chin in thought. “He said he was looking for something he lost as a child, possibly an heirloom.”

“He’s doing all this for heirlooms?” Satoru immediately coughed his words back when you glared at him, raising his hands in surrender. “I mean, I was just saying. I didn’t think he was a sentimental type of guy.”

“The question here is what both Toji and Naoya could’ve both wanted from that account. It’s not just an heirloom, obviously there’s something there worth more than money,” You argued and slapped your knees, heading straight to your (unfortunately) shared room. “Whatever. I’ll get this over with as soon as I get the money back.”

Satoru, as always, was hot on your heels. It annoyed you how he trailed over you like some sort of puppy or shadow – Naoya had always been too classy to not give you space.

The difference between them just kept getting more and more uncannily obvious.

“Whoa there, stop. Did you really think I’d give back the money to you and that’s it? Are you forgetting the fact Toji is out there to kill you just so he can have his hands on it?”

“He can have the money for all I fucking care,” you shrugged and sat on your bed, scrolling through numerous piles of emails and records that Naoya entrusted you to keep. Surely you could find something. “I just need to find whatever Naoya’s spent his whole life killing for.”

“Why don’t you care about the money? Didn’t Naoya expect you to take over his business?”

Your thumb froze over a file. Suddenly, your throat grew dry, and you quickly flashed Satoru a stinky eye. “I-it’s not my main concern.”

“It’s not safe for you. If Toji finds out—”

Got it. You bookmarked an email Naoya had forwarded you around three years ago and resent it to an old friend, pocketing the phone back to your pyjamas before Satoru could see. “I’ll handle it. I’ve been doing well so far before you came into our lives again,” you finalized, stopping for a bit as you waited for that all-too familiar footfall matching with yours, only for the room to be coated in silence.

Satoru stood there on the other side of the room, eyes deep in thought before he sighed. “I’ll meet you at the hotel restaurant tonight. We have a lot to discuss on what our next move should be,” nodding once, Satoru left the room.

The hotel room was eerily silent.

Dinner came around faster than you expected. With Geto out to run some errands for Satoru, something about ‘establishing bases’ or whatever, you were locked in your room, using Naoya’s black card to get enough amount of clothing to last you for your stay here. Even though Satoru had promised he’d take care of everything, you didn’t want to be in his debt for any longer. You weren’t his, you were Naoya’s, and you shot down his curious looks when heaps of shopping bags had been delivered to your door.

An hour later, you left the room, struggling to zipper the back of your dress. Satoru was already in the living room buttoning up his suit jacket, just as handsome as ever (though you’d never tell him that.)

His hands froze in the last button once his eyes landed on you, and you huffed at him, too distressed to even act cute or bothered while pointing to your dress. Satoru strode to you in three long steps, his cold fingers brushing against the dip of your spine when he clutched on the zipper.

You had to bite your lip down to prevent the shivers from spilling through, his lips dangerously close to your ear as he whispered, “You look great.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

If Satoru was bothered by the lack of sincerity in your voice, he didn’t comment on it. He removed his hands from you and watched as you slipped black velvet gloves through your arms – just in case you had to end up killing someone; leaving fingerprints was a risk you couldn’t take.

“Did you really get dressed to kill?”

“I came here to negotiate,” you corrected, “I’ll do everything I can to find out whatever’s behind that offshore account. And you, sir,” Frowning at him, you pulled Satoru closer by the tie, perhaps a little too harshly since he nearly knocked his head with yours. He was quick to steady himself as you fixed his tie, flattening it down with your fingers. “You need to know where you should stick your nose in. This is more my business than yours so don’t get in my way acting all hero and shit. I assure you I can handle myself.”

“You’re really going to berate me for worrying about you?”

“You can no longer worry about me,” you disclosed, snatching your black purse from the counter before doing the come hither motion at his shock-still figure. “Now let’s go. We have a case to crack.”

“Case to crack? You sure sound like a detective.”

You snickered, but made no further comment. The elevators dinged and you arrived at the restaurant, which you really regretted not visiting soon enough because the place was grand. Red carpeted floors, golden chandeliers, soft jazz music playing in the background as the lights dimmed down low, the faint clinking of utensils against plates and light chatter of the guests so heartbreakingly nostalgic.

It seemed that even after his death, Naoya had every intention to never leave your side. The setting reminded you too much of your never-ending late night fancy dinners.

Naoya being Naoya, he didn’t blink twice in flaunting his money and renting out entire restaurants all for himself, claiming that he just ‘wanted to have an intimate moment with his wife.’ Sure, it mostly consisted of you discussing what move you should make next, but it was the most affectionate gesture you’ve received after spending years in the quiet and cold environment of the Zen’in Estate.

The outside world wasn’t any better when you and Naoya were marked as targets by the entire government, so it made sense, that only with him that you’d find comfort in.

You must be so out of it you never even noticed Satoru leading you to your seat, a warm meal that should’ve been comforting right under your nose. It was too much – too similar that you headed straight for the wine, ignoring Satoru’s questioning gaze. You noticed from the corner of his eye that he opened his mouth too many times in an attempt to make light conversation, but this dinner wasn’t for you to rekindle your old flame.

No, you were here to wait for his ‘friend’ and review important matters. You were determined to fulfill that purpose alone and only that alone that you never once made eye contact with him, even standing up to reach the salt shaker near him instead of asking him to pass it.

Just as you leaned back to your seat, the music grew louder. A foreign man walked to the stage where he was basked in the spotlight, all heads turning to him when he tapped the microphone, sending little echoes all over the hall. “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s loosen up tonight with a drink and bring our lovers out here on the dance floor,” he sang while swaying side to side, snapping his fingers to the beat that had turned into calming to sensual. “It is a fine evening, isn’t it? Come on, don’t be shy, the night is still so young!”

You dropped your fork beside the plate. “Did you know about this?”

“I swear, I had no idea.”

“Those two attractive lovers in table 42, the dance floor is still much too spacious!”

“Pretty vulgar for a five star hotel,” you commented under your breath and dabbed the pasta sauce off your lips with a napkin, slapping it down the table as you stood up – much to Satoru’s surprise who’d tried to make himself invisible from the host’s eyes. Stupid him; did he really think he could blend in with his sunglasses and snow white hair?

If you were to be honest, you’d rather choke on shrimp than dance with him, but you had an image to upkeep. If you couldn’t gather with the crowd and pretend to be one with others, both your true natures would be fished out even with innocent eyes. You were left with no choice but to be comfortable in the dance floor, sighing deeply as you placed your hands down on Satoru’s wide shoulders. He furrowed his brows at you but said nothing else; strong, cautious hands sliding down from your back before they settled at the curve of your hips.

“Keep your hands to yourself, Mister. I won’t hesitate to stab a fork through your jugular right here.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I know you’re not my little angel anymore.”

Angel. It was what he used to call you back then – when you were still but an innocent, naïve being who never believed in monsters until you fell for one.

He was right; you were no longer his angel. The woman he loved had been left abandoned in the street, the purity of her soul tainted with anger and heartbreak that soon bathed in blood and the need for revenge. His angel was no more – the woman he danced with was nothing but a replica of the face and body he adored the most. Now, you danced with him, not as his angel and neither as his rival’s wife, but simply as a woman whose kindness had long vanished into thin air.

Satoru danced with the devil.

And he should be disgusted just as you should be repulsed with how sickeningly smooth and graceful he was in everything he did, but the wine – yes, it was the fucking wine – messed with you that you actually enjoyed it. Your bodies moved in rhythm and syncopated with the beat, the romantic high notes of the violin and the tender embrace of deep trebles like a classical painting coming to life and you were its subjects to be expressed.

Perhaps…you were just sad. You grieved and mourned too much you’d momentarily forgot what love was, in turn making you forget what it felt like to be constantly unsafe and peeking over your shoulder in case someone tried to kill you.

Satoru just felt so warm, so safe and alive that you found your head dipping lower, your muscles relaxing around his soothing and undeniably tender touch, the space between your bodies diminishing until you surrendered to the power of your desire. You were so close, your ear about to press on his chest to listen to the blissful sound of someone’s reassuring heartbeat along with the music, and then you saw him.

A tuft of blonde hair, a chiseled face, a nude cream suit and a deep blue shirt beneath – what the fuck was he doing here?

The spell was broken in an instant.

Satoru must’ve been under the same trance for his hand trailed lower to pull you closer, your chests grazing with one another before you placed your palm flat on his body, lips thinned into a grim look that resonated with the sick, twisting feeling in your guts.

“I,” you croaked out, clearing your throat when it went dry. “I need to go to the ladies.”

You left Satoru without another word, bunching your dress up to run to where he had disappeared. He was still walking coolly and inspecting the paintings hung in the empty lobby with faux interest – although knowing him, the bastard probably did enjoy classical pieces and studied about them in his free time; which he didn’t have much to begin with.

As if sensing your presence, he stopped right in front of a replica of The Sleeping Venus, his hands dug deep in his pockets. “The shape of being is the visual demonstration of a state of being in which idealized existence is suspended in immutable slow-breathing harmony. All the sensuality has been distilled off from this sensuous presence, and all incitement; Venus denotes not the act of love but the recollection of it. The perfect embodiment of Giorgione’s dream, she dreams his dream herself,” he narrates in his baritone voice, “A little cordial, is it not?”

You took your gun out from your thigh holster and lowered it right at the back of his skull. “Don’t move another inch.”

“No need to be so hostile in a public setting, Y/N. I’m only here to look out for you and making sure you’re not forgetting who you are. Killing me isn’t part of the plan.”

“Neither was murdering my husband,” you growled, pushing the barrel harder against him, though the man didn’t budge before you. “I know that it wasn’t Toji who set off the bomb, Kento, you did.”

“We simply saw an opportunity that couldn’t be wasted. Two notorious mafia leaders in an unsuspecting supposed safe environment?” The fact he didn’t even deny it left you speechless. Kento spun around until your gun rested between his eyes, and he languidly pushed his glasses up his high nose as he looked down on you. “We could’ve killed two birds with one stone had you not been in the way.”

“You guys are out to kill me too now?”

“Don’t act too surprised. The Organization isn’t patient enough to wait for both leaders to die.”

“So you killed my husband?!” you argued, “He was my friend, I told you not to touch him!”

“Only in the exchange that you hand him to us,” Kento echoed, jogging your memory until you were kept up to date. “But it’s been five years and what has happened so far? You’re fraternizing with the enemy and even manufacturing drugs for your so-called husband. Now that he’s dead, you’re here in Italy, looking as stunning as ever as you wine and dine with a former lover,” Kento tilted his head to the side to study your appearance – smiling at how you seemed too bright and fashionable for a woman in supposed mourning.

“I hardly believe you’re actually affected by this at all.”

“How dare you! I’ve proven to no end my loyalty of the higher-ups!”

Kento didn’t bat an eye at your outburst. If anything, he stepped closer to your weapon. “Kill me if you wish, Y/N, but know the moment you put a bullet in my head, the Organization will place you on the same pedestal as Naoya’s and Gojo’s. I wouldn’t recommend such methods considering we’re already at unease on whose side you’re really on. If you do this, you will be our enemy.”

“I did everything for the Organization. What else would you want from me?”

“The contract was easy. We want both leaders – whether dead or alive – in our custody. If you don’t hold your side of the deal, it’s not only your life that we’ll take from you,” Kento pulled out a red coin that made your heart sink deep into your stomach for it served as a threat over the consequences of your actions.

He lowered your gun with the coin and smirked at you, his lips right beside the shell of your ear as he purred, “I suggest you be careful with what step of action you take next.”

“Oi, Nanami, you’re here!” Satoru’s voice suddenly boomed in the hallway. Nanami was as unbothered as ever from taking a step away from you, nodding to your gun which you quickly concealed right before Satoru arrived. You were frozen – rendered immobile with the flashing red metal from his palm – that you couldn’t even protest against Satoru wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “I see you’ve met Mrs. Zen’in already.”

“Hmm, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Madam,” taking your hand in his, Kento’s eyes were nothing but eerie as he kissed your knuckles. “Shall we start our discussion?”

SUKI RANTS! Nanami quoted Sydney Joseph Friedberg (an art critic) in one of his dialogues. A little backstory on the painting was that the portrait was originally made by Giorgone, who had a student and also his lover (if I’m not mistaken) called Titian. Giorgone never finished the portrait because he died from the plague but Titiane finished it for him, symbolizing that Y/N still has a mission that connected her from Naoya even after his death and she has to finish something he started. The portrait is of a nude woman that symbolized oneness of nature and that the woman isn’t posed for the gaze of men, but rather they are dreaming, hence the quote: “Venus denotes not the act of love but the recollection of it. The perfect embodiment of Giorgione’s dream, she dreams his dream herself.” Nanami said the painting’s meaning resonated with Y/N’s situation too much since she wasn’t in love with Naoya, but she had a recollection of their moments that still represented their relationship, and that Naoya’s dream (goals) are also shared by Reader. I was gonna ask you guys what your theories are on that scene but I think this makes me sound cooler if I explain it so *lip bite emoji because I’m still broken over Naoya’s death*

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