#and sure there’s a bit of a rivalry between the two towns but that kind of stuff gets left behind after high school

[bowl-of-fruit-loops]

hey why did bill’s ex-wife move to clivesdale? literally no one from hatchetfield would do that. people die and go missing all the time and they refuse to leave. and if they do they don’t move to fucking clivesdale

[analogwriting]

Star-Crossed

Chapter 14: Coração

Donquixote Rosinante x gn!reader word count: 3.5k a/n: obligatory pov swap lmao first|next

As you laid there sleeping, Corazon laid there just watching you. The light from your lamp was dim, creating a warm orange glow that really just emphasized how beautiful you were. It was the kind of light that the sun even produced at a certain time of day that people loved taking photos in. What was it called - the golden hour? 

He pushed a strand of hair out of your face, watching as you scrunched your nose slightly before relaxing again. You looked so peaceful like this - sleeping, curled against him. He wished you’d be able to look this way all the time. You worked so hard for everything you had and cared so much for your patients and the people around you. He just wanted to be able to help give you some kind of peace, but he felt like there wasn’t anything he could do. He wished you wouldn’t push yourself too hard. You deserved a break too.

Though, you’d always been like this, hardworking and making a name for yourself. Growing up, before he had left the family, there had been rumors about you. People had all kinds of names for you - none of them kind. No one had seen you, your appearance had always been covered if you were in the field - scarce as that was. You were your father’s secret weapon. No one would know who you were sent in until the damage was done - people were terrified of your name alone. You could take out entire squads just by yourself. 

Still, no one really knew who you were. You were just a faceless shadow of destruction. He had feared you just as much as everyone else did.

Corazon would’ve never guessed that you and the doctor that had shown him and Law such kindness were the same person. Never in a million years would he have put two and two together. When you had first pointed your gun at him that night all those years ago, he thought that’s exactly who you were - the being of destruction, come to kill him as well. Only for your entire gaze to soften the moment you heard Law’s voice. Then he thought that you definitely weren’t the rumored shadow. Someone like that would never be able to show such softness and compassion. Someone like that only knew how to destroy, much like Law when he had first met him. The kid just wasn’t as deadly, obviously.

Between the kindness and the absolute confidence in finding a cure for Law, he wasn’t sure when one caused that first spark of a small crush. He had felt like some high school teenage boy back then. Just having a silly crush on some random person who was nice to him. Law had caught on and teased him about it, but that’s all it was - some silly little crush. He knew he was going to be leaving with Law as soon as he was better. 

He would never forget the amount of relief he felt when you said you had found a cure for him. He had been at his wit’s end, almost giving up. As much as he still looked for it, he had mostly resulted in just giving Law’s final days as much comfort as possible. Then you showed up like some twisted angel that night. He thought he was going to be the one to die, only for you to end up his savior; Law’s savior.

Then, he had to leave. Law was better and the town was overall too dangerous - especially for children. Corazon didn’t exactly blend in, people still knew his face well, and the rivalry between the Donquixote family and your family was at an all time high. The tension was awful, people were dying left and right. And again, there was that person that could wipe out just about anyone in mere seconds. It was no place for a child to grow up. Besides, you made him promise to get him out of there, so he did. 

He hadn’t wanted to come back either - that was all Law. Law was the one that had wanted to come back to the hospital that saved him, he had wanted to find the person that saved him. There was a bit of argument about it, but Law said that he’d move by himself if he had to, so Corazon ended up agreeing to go with him. 

He had been worried about the state of the city. If it was that bad then, he could only imagine how bad it was now. Even if the hospital had gained a more positive reputation, he was sure one of the families took it over; so he decided he’d tag along to keep the boys safe since he knew how things worked in the underbelly of the world.

He was surprised to see that things had mellowed out over the years. The town wasn’t just some constant crossfire anymore. You didn’t seem to realize it, but it was because of you. The safe haven of your hospital had somehow kept everyone in line for the most part. Since you helped everyone no matter where they were from, families weren’t losing people as easily. Everything came to a stalemate of some kind. You were some kind of god that was keeping people, who should be long gone, alive.

When he ran into you that first time, as in the first time you caught him, you immediately felt familiar. He felt like he knew you somehow. He had even brought it up, but you denied it. He didn’t make the connection that you were the doctor, no. Just that he felt like he knew you. He let it go, accepting your throw away comment of just having one of those faces. 

Also a face that he couldn’t seem to get out of his mind either. He thought about you often, trying to place where he knew you. The connection was so strong, he couldn’t help it.

Then it happened again. He had taken a tumble only to be caught by you once more. He knew then that there had to be something special about you. What were the odds of it happening twice? If anything, it at least meant the two of you were supposed to be linked in some kind of way. He just didn’t know what it was. Destined to be friends? Lovers? Coworkers? Who the hell knew? 

But hell, he knew one thing. You were absolutely breathtaking from the moment he saw you. You also seemed to have the kind of aura that drew people in and made them feel safe. At least that’s how he felt. He felt safe around you, even if he wasn’t in any kind of danger - like he didn’t have to worry about anything. He wanted to get to know you.

You had radiated kindness and seemed to actually care for his well-being. Sure, you had been strangers when you patched him up that second time he ran into you, but he could tell you actually cared. It had reminded him of the compassion of the doctor from a decade prior. He wanted to know more about you but you were quick to leave. 

That third time, however, he was determined to know who you were. When the opportunity presented itself - him helping you carry things - he took it. Talking to you was easy; it felt like he'd known you forever. It was then that he also realized that he really liked you.

When he found out you were a doctor at the hospital where Law was so determined to work, along with the feeling of familiarity, he had started getting the suspicion that you were the doctor that they had been seeking. Everything checked out, the timeline seemed right. You had mentioned working at the hospital a long time as well and ‘knowing’ the doctor in question. 

But you were being tight lipped about it. He didn't really understand why, just respected your decision. 

He often found himself walking by the hospital, which is why he ended up visiting so often. It was as if some invisible force always guided him there, so he always made up some kind of excuse for why he was there. He had wanted to see you, even if only for a second. You just brightened his day so easily, took his breath away even. When he’d be there and happen to see you from across the waiting room, he could feel his breathing catch with excitement.

Then there was the surprise with your father. Corazon would admit it, that wasn't his best moment. He definitely could've handled it better. Learning that this kind and compassionate doctor that he had been falling for all this time was some heartless killer? The faceless scary story from a decade ago? He wasn't in the scene anymore, so he had no idea if you were as well. You denied that you were, but he refused to listen - like an idiot.

Some insane grim reaper being the nicest and warmest person he's ever met? He couldn't connect the two, but all the evidence pointed to being as such. However, that didn't stop his dumbass from doing something rash. 

He had expected to see the legendary killer when he confronted you. He had expected you to do a 180 and completely change your demeanor, to show him just why people feared you so. Only you didn’t do any of that. You just looked at him in a way that hurt more than any gunshot wound. 

You looked disappointed and betrayed; and he didn't blame you for it. Things had been going great - hell, he was going to ask you out. Then he had to go and be an idiot. You looked so tired at that moment, but also like you had been expecting it. And that somehow hurt even worse. If he could turn back time, he wouldn’t have reacted in that way.

He wasn’t going to lie, he was impressed by how easily you were able to dismantle his gun and how quickly too. For a moment, he had seen a glimpse of the person people feared, but he still only saw you. He saw the talent of the famed killer, but you were still you, just wounded and hurt. He should’ve apologized right then and there, only he didn’t and he honestly wasn’t sure why. Cowardice, probably. Resignation. The belief that he had already fucked up beyond repair - whatever word covers that.

Law found out immediately, apparently having seen the whole ordeal from a distance. Man, he wasn’t sure where the kid learned to scold like that, but he sure let Corazon have it. He let him do it, too. He deserved it. Law was right, he had completely fucked this up. He didn’t know how he’d ever make this up or have you forgive him. He had given up all hope, but Law kept pressing him to at least apologize. Again, cowardice stopped him. He couldn’t bring himself to face you.

Ultimately, he didn’t care where you came from. He was from the same underbelly, so it’d be hypocritical of him if he did. You also didn’t judge people where they were from, that much was obvious in your work - that was the whole point of your work. He thought you had to have hated him for the way he reacted; not that he blamed you.

He was forced to face you when he discovered you stumbling around the streets. He had slowly been building the confidence to talk to you again, but seeing you, he just clammed right back up. 

It also didn’t help that you were absolutely plastered, so he assumed that no matter what you talked about, you wouldn’t remember. He had decided he’d just take you to the hospital where he assumed someone would know how to take care of you from there. Then you went and ultimately broke down, thinking he was Marco. Hearing the hurt and pain in your voice made his own heart hurt. You cared so much about others that he felt foolish and stupid all over again for ever questioning your motives in the first place.

There wasn’t a single bad bone in your body. You had merely just been surviving before, just as he had. It’s not like it was your fault your dad used you to his advantage. It wasn’t your fault you were just that talented in fighting.

Then you dropped an absolute bomb on him when you hinted at the fact that you were the doctor that saved Law. Sure, he had already suspected it, but he had long forgotten that theory since the blow up. He was right back to square one, trying to connect all the dots. You were so heavily entangled in his life and he didn’t even realize it. Fate had played her hand and it took him too long to figure it out - at least that’s what he thought. 

He had decided that he needed to bite the bullet, ironically enough, and talk to you. Even if you didn’t forgive him, he wouldn’t blame you. You had every right to be angry at him for as long as you felt was right, but he wanted to be able to at least apologize and talk to you one more time. He just hoped you’d be willing to talk to him.

He had remembered Marco telling him that you enjoyed coffee and weren’t exactly a flowers type of person, so he figured a bouquet of coffee-flavored chocolates could say what he couldn’t. Only he didn’t exactly think of how wasted you had gotten the night before. When he showed up only to be told you weren’t in, he was bummed out. 

Then you showed up and it was as if fate was giving him a break. He was able to talk to you. He thought that being able to start with a clean slate, completely open and honest with you was the best way to go. Now that he thought about it, however, it was embarrassing the way he had went about it. You didn’t seem to mind too much, delivering the same kind of monologue that he did. 

It had given hope that he hadn’t completely crumbled everything. You were way too good for him.

Only he wasn’t really able to have a proper conversation with you about it for too long before your father had called you away. Shortly thereafter, his brother and Crocodile had shown up to take over the hospital. He had been ushered away with Law and his friends to a side of the hospital he had never seen. He just assumed it was the one you had spoken about. 

Despite this, he didn’t once suspect you were behind what was going on. He had already done that to you once and immediately regretted it. He knew you wouldn’t do anything like this. His worry for you only grew. Were you okay? Were you aware of what was going on? He just hoped that you would be fine. Though, you were the single most feared person in the area, so he knew you’d be able to handle yourself. It was clear that Doflamingo, Crocodile, and your father all feared you considering they took hostages. They wouldn’t have done that if they thought they could take you.

After all, you were just one person. They were that scared of you, that they used other means to get to you. Part of him hoped that you wouldn’t play into that trap and take them on anyway, but you were too kind. He knew you were going to do whatever you could to make sure no one was hurt.

Hell, even after he was shot, he didn’t blame you. There was no one else to blame besides the bastard that did it and himself. He knew that Doflamingo had been itching to shoot him since he laid eyes on him again. He knew the man would feel betrayed in whatever twisted way of thinking he had. He had fully prepared on dying in that moment when he raised the gun to him again. He had already silently apologized to you and begged for your forgiveness.

Then you came in like the aggressive ray of sunshine that you were. That cold look in your eye as you advanced on Doflamingo. That was the very person so many people feared, but you were his saving grace. He wasn’t going to lie, it did rile him up a little bit as he laid there bleeding out. He had felt bad that he didn’t notice Crocodile in time for you, but he was honestly struggling to keep his eyes open.

The cool headedness you displayed was honestly admirable. He could only watch you in awe as you were so calculated and so sure in your movements. It was like watching that Sora show that Law liked so much and you were the main character - a superhero.

When you came closer however, he would tell just how close to breaking down you really were. Dealing with everything, everything falling out of your grasp, all after losing a patient and while hungover? It was as if Fate was enjoying having you as her punching bag. Of course no one was really as cold and heartless as your father painted you to be. No one was invincible. He just wanted to hold you, but he could barely stay sitting up. 

He didn’t want to leave you that day, but he did. He knew he had to. You had a plan and he was going to let you carry it out, as much as he didn’t want to. He knew that if they weren’t there, you would’ve taken care of everyone in no time. He had felt like he held you back, not that he had meant to, but it’s just what happened.

You went radio silent and he did nothing but worry the entire time. He couldn’t do much as he healed from his injuries. He reached out to Marco several times, but even he was terrible at providing updates. The only one he really received was that you were at his place resting. He felt so much relief hearing that you were okay. He was able to relax a bit, but he was still worried about you. He knew you couldn’t have been doing well mentally.

Eventually, Marco reached out to him. He asked him to come and talk some sense into you. Nothing that he or Whitebeard were saying was going through. You had lost all motivation to do anything. You were withering away and they were worried about you. He wasn’t sure what he was going to be able to do, but he figured he’d give it a shot.

And, boy howdy, was he glad he did. Seeing you curled into bed in the fashion that you were, he knew that you weren’t doing good - not when he was used to seeing you in constant movement. Then there was the immediate decline of a meal. Marco had said you hadn’t been eating, so you had to be starving - whether you would admit it or not. He could definitely tell when you sat up. Your face had thinned out and your eyes looked gaunt. You hadn’t been taking care of yourself and were downspiralling faster than anyone could keep track of. 

He just wanted to hold you and tell you it was okay. And that's…kind of what he did. Well, after he completely biffed it and tripped over himself, but you had done the same. He had asked how you were doing and you had just unleashed on him. Everything that you had been holding back came out all at once. He had just been glad he was able to be there for you. 

After, you immediately seemed to do better. You just needed to let it all out. When you started to apologize, he almost wanted to laugh. The last person that should be apologizing was you. You didn’t do anything wrong. You did everything in your power to do everything right, to keep everyone safe. 

All he knew was that he was glad to see life in your eyes again. He just hoped he could provide more help. He wanted to be able to do anything for you. He knew you’d get your hospital back. He believed in you. You were smart, cunning - you’d figure it all out. You’d kick ass and take it over, it was just figuring out how first.

As he was thinking, he couldn’t help but realize that he, quite literally, fell for you. He chuckled softly, pulling you in closer as he kissed your head. He couldn’t be happier than when he was with you and he’d do anything for you. 

The thoughts in his head slowly dissipated as he fell asleep curled around you.

----

first|next

[godfrey-hath-forsaken-thee]

MY PLAY!!!

Strictly Professional

by Godfrey

Character Breakdown

Samantha McDermott: 45, she/her, businesswoman in Galway City, Ireland. She's bi, and a flustered disaster, but tries to appear well-put-together - even if she does have a bit of a temper.

Fiona Galvin: 42, she/her, also a businesswoman (though a less successful one) She is, funny enough, also a flustered bi disaster. She never quite managed to keep composure the way Samantha does, and she often gets emotional.

Amaya Nicholson: 29, she/her, Fiona's assistant. Sensible, practical and very clever. She's more than a little frustrated with her boss.

Frederick Walsh: 43, he/him, Samantha's assistant. Very classic-English-butler vibe about him. He's smooth as you like, and more than willing to go along with anything that'll work.

(Script under the cut, this may get expanded on in the future but idk)

Scene 1

We are in a meeting room, with a table and chairs in the middle of it. Successful businesswoman Samantha McDermott sits on one of these chairs, while her main corporate rival-slash-kind-of-aquaintance, Fiona Galvin, sits on the other. They are in the middle of a very heated argument, and Samantha and Fiona’s assistants, Frederick Walsh and Amaya Nicholson respectively, can only stand and watch, wondering what the hell their lives have come to.

Samantha: I’m telling you, Fiona, this strategy isn’t conducive to my business!

Fiona: Spoiler alert, Samantha, it’s not your business, it’s mine!

Samantha: If we’re going to do this, we need to do it properly.

Fiona: Well, excuse me!

Samantha gets up from her chair, wearing an ungainly scowl.

Samantha: (in that cold, deadly tone that’s somehow worse than her yelling) Don’t test me.

Fiona gets up too.

Fiona: (trying to sound braver than she is) I’ll test you all I like, thank you very much.

The two of them glare at each other, ice-cold fury in their eyes. The tension between them is palpable.

Amaya can’t stand this anymore.

Amaya: God, would the two of you shut up?!

Samantha and Fiona turn to Amaya. Fiona’s gaze lingers on Samantha for a moment longer.

There is a frosty silence.

Amaya: Now, let’s go over this one more time. The two of you are supposed to be signing the papers for a charity partnership, but you’re too caught up in this stupid, pointless rivalry the two of you have!

Samantha: It’s not pointless….

Fiona: (turns away and sulks)

Amaya: You could be a force for good in this world if you work together, but no! You had to get into this absurd turf-war over your clients!

Samantha: (pointedly) Well, maybe if Fiona here would actually tell me who her clients were, misunderstandings like the one that happened last week could be avoided-

Fiona: (jumps in) I was not responsible for-

Samantha: (raising her voice) It was literally your fault!

The two of them begin squabbling again.

Amaya: Let me finish! (silence for a moment) This has been going on for years, and I, for one, am sick and tired of it. You’re both mature adults, and it’s time you started acting like it.

Samantha and Fiona walk off, fuming.

Frederick: (turns to Amaya) I don’t see what’s so difficult about acting civil around each other.

Amaya: I know! I just don’t get it!

Frederick: We have to do something.

They both think for a moment.

Amaya: (brightens) What if we set them up on, like, a blind date?

Frederick: (intrigued) Oh?

Amaya: If they won’t co-operate by themselves, we’ll have to take matters into our own hands.

Frederick: Are you sure it’ll work? 

Amaya: (shrugs) No way to know unless we try. Now, where should we have them meet? 

Frederick: Oh - there’s an Italian restaurant in town.

Amaya: Consider that table booked.

Frederick and Amaya high-five, and walk off.

Scene 2

We are in an Italian restaurant. Romantic music and the smell of fresh pizza fills the air. 

Enter Samantha, stage right, and Fiona, stage left.

Samantha and Fiona look at each other in disbelief.

Samantha: Fiona?

Fiona: Samantha?

Both in unison: Oh, come on!

Fiona whips out her phone and calls her assistant, Amaya Nicholson, whom she knows is somehow behind this.

Enter Amaya, stage left, smiling in a very satisfied way.

Fiona: Amaya Nicholson, I swear to God, I am going to kill you!

Amaya: Surprise!

Fiona: You set me up on a blind date with my sworn enemy! What were you thinking?

Amaya: Just see how it goes! The two of you have a lot in common - an interest in business, a love of Celtic tradition, you’re both very successful-

Fiona: Are you kidding me? We hate each other’s guts!

Amaya: She’s a great person, once you get to know her. This could be fun for you!

Fiona: Now you listen here-

Amaya pretends that the phone line is breaking up.

Amaya: Oh no - I’m going through a tunnel - I have to go - goodbye.

Amaya hangs up the phone, and Fiona walks over to Samantha, who is sitting at a table. Fiona sits opposite her.

Samantha: (coldly, not making eye contact) Hello, Fiona.

Fiona: (nervously fixing her hair) Hello to you too, Samantha.

Samantha: So, your assistant set us up.

Fiona doesn’t respond for a few seconds. Her chin is resting on her hand as she looks dreamily at Samantha, admiring her in that red dress…

Samantha: (snaps fingers) Hey - Earth to Fiona, do you read me?

Fiona snaps out of her reverie at once, giving her head a swift shake.

Fiona: Guh - what? Sorry, sorry, I just... Yeah, no, that’s not on.

Samantha: I assume she thought it was going to make us like each other.

Fiona: (awkwardly) Haha, as if! No way, no sir! (to audience) What is wrong with me tonight?

Samantha: (sighs) Well, even if this goes as badly as we both know it’s going to, at least we get a free dinner out of it…

A waiter enters, stage right, looking very dignified.

Waiter: Are you ready to order, ladies?

Samantha: Ah - yes. I’ll have the pasta carbonara, please.

Fiona: Caesar salad for me, and a bottle of whatever you think’s drinkable in this joint.

Waiter: I’ll see to it. Oh - may I say, you make a wonderful couple!

Samantha chokes, turning away.

Fiona slams a hand onto the table.

Fiona: What?!

Waiter: Well, I’ve never been one to judge, and I just think it’s so nice to see love winning. Anyway, I should get on with your order…

The waiter walks off.

Samantha takes a deep breath, trying desperately to compose herself.

Fiona: What in the hell was any of that?

Samantha: (fighting back laughter) He- he thinks we- you and I - oh Lord…!

She bursts into a sudden fit of high, crisp laughter that is absolute music to Fiona’s ears. It lasts a few seconds, and then she gives a soft sigh.

Samantha: I’m sorry, it’s just, I never thought of things like that. I mean - I’m that way inclined…

Fiona: As am I-

Samantha: But I suppose I didn’t ever think we’d be mistaken for a couple, is all.

Fiona: Well, we certainly argue like one.

Samantha: We do. And we have meetings in places like this, apparently.

Fiona: Hey, just because it was my assistant that set this up, doesn’t mean this was my fault. Trust me, I’m as upset about this as you are.

Samantha: She’s right, though - this could be a chance for us to get to know each other better.

Fiona: Shut up.

Fiona leans across the table and gives Samantha a gentle shove.

As the evening goes on and the wine flows, Samantha and Fiona loosen up and actually start to get on with each other.

Samantha: (slowly) You know what, Fiona?

Fiona: What?

Samantha: I thought this was going to be an unmitigated disaster.

Fiona: That makes two of us…

Samantha: And, well, it… It would appear I was mistaken.

Fiona: (brightens considerably) Hang on. Did I hear that right?

Samantha: Oh, now, don’t you even start…

Fiona: (over-the-top voice of reverence) The high and mighty Samantha McDermott-

Samantha: We are not-

Fiona: Who can do no wrong-

Samantha: (gives a loud, vocal sigh)

Fiona: Has admitted defeat?

There is a pause. 

Samantha has never dealt well with that word.

Samantha: (tone dripping with sarcasm)  Well. You would certainly know defeat when you saw it, wouldn’t you? 

Fiona: (mocking sweetness) And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?

Samantha: Only that your company and my company have been at each other’s throats for as long as either of us can remember, and you’ve never once managed to get ahead of me. 

Now it’s Fiona’s turn to be uncomfortable - in this, as in damn near everything else, they’re pretty much evenly matched.

Fiona: Now, now, there’s no need to address this here-

Samantha: Oh, but there is.

Fiona does not like the look of this conversation.

So she pulls her best card.

She gives a sultry smile.

Fiona: If you don’t stop talking, right now, I’ll have to shut you up with my lips.

Samantha draws back, shocked. 

She is, to put it bluntly, a flustered mess, and her face makes it crystal clear.

After all, Fiona is rather pretty…

Samantha: You- You…! 

Fiona: Go on. Say it. Hit me with your best!

Samantha: You… bad person! 

She gets up and takes her phone out of her bag, walking off.

Samantha: (furiously) Frederick, bring the car, I’m going home.

The waiter returns with the cheque.

Waiter: (notices Samantha’s empty chair) Ah. Rough night?

Fiona: Don’t.

[riddlegecko]

Can you give a little rundown about all of your Hatchetfield ocs?

oh sure!

jasper mckenzie (13, he/they): a fighter at the hatchetfield rollerama who competes under the name "foxtrot", for his ability to transform into a red fox when he puts on a knit fox hat he got from his grandma. brash and reckless with a bit of a tough kid exterior, and often a little desperate to prove themself/make themself useful. still very warm and compassionate deep down, especially towards his family. parents are calvin and lana mckenzie (both mid-to-late 40's), with two siblings, older brother larry (17) and younger sister millie (8).

ramona "mo" phillips (23, she/her): a film school drop-out stoner currently working as a camera operator at hatchetfield action news, while working on her big passion project- a documentary about hatchetfield history and folklore, on the side. though she comes off as spacey and disinterested, she's very passionate about her work, and has a knack for investigative research (for better or for worse). usually accompanied on the field by her dog bentley, a senior black lab/beagle mutt.

neferata, the witchwood bat-child (17, she/her): a cryptid living in witchwood forest who resembles a mix between a human and a monstrous bat, notorious for occasionally coming into town at night to wreak havoc. born fiona elizabeth barrett, neffie is the child of a couple who sacrificed someone to nibbly in order to become vampires. in some timelines, she is captured by the hfpd and rehabilitated into human life, and in these timelines she is much kinder and less feral despite struggling with blood cravings and visions from nibbly. but in timelines where this doesn't happen, she remains a feral nuisance who lives to cause chaos and drink blood.

nicolas chaput (34, he/him): a bartender working at the birdhouse, and grandson of isabel chaput, one of the starry children butchered by the hatchetmen. spent much of his childhood and teenage years working to help preserve the church's legacy through... expected means, before leaving all that behind to get married and live a normal life. not an easy task when you're constantly plagued by the literal demons of your past, but he (mostly) manages and remains kind-hearted. married to jimmy quinn (35, he/him), the son of a hatchetman whom nicolas had a bitter rivalry with in high school before realizing they weren't so different despite their warring families, and who similarly left his own family behind to be with nicolas.

lysander stavros (28, any pronouns but greatly prefers they/them): an artist/performer who comes from a massive family of similarly artistic minds. unable to find and maintain steady work for themself, lysander ended up applying to work at watcher world, where they were enticed into becoming a full-time entertainer for blinky. no higher honor than making art for a god, after all. highly egotistical and rude, lysander is seen as borderline insufferable by much of hatchetfield despite their talents, and these traits only became worse once they became blinky's little lapdog. but, they are genuinely very kind and cordial towards children.

[mugiwara-no-toshokan]

Thrice Prophesized

CisFem Reader x Roronoa Zoro

CW: In-Universe levels of violence, amnesia, romance, reader gets some good bad-ass moments, but shouldn't feel Overpowered if I did my job well, surprisingly no smut in this one loves, but it's book 1 of 2.

Still 18+

Chapter 5: Cold Clues

Nami had explained to you how a lot of the islands in this world had their own climates, and often their own seasonal cycles, seemingly independent from one another. They were, amazingly, interconnected, but so fine and variable and complex was the system that connected them that not many people could comprehend it. Nami had a natural talent for it, and was herself amazingly smart, and these things made her a strong navigator.

Which was to say you weren’t surprised to have left a calm cool ocean only to find yourself at an island buried under snow.

What you were surprised by, was how quickly the crew had ended up scattered.

You were walking through the snowy village with your coat over your shoulder, Dr. Chopper walking with you. He had taken a form that looked mostly like a reindeer, but considering you were walking around in normal clothes you were more the sight than him.

“You’re not cold?”

You shake your head. “Winternight knights are cursed,” you turn to him. “Ah, by cursed I mean a specific kind of magic, not something inherently bad. Enchantments effect objects, enhancements are temporary, but curses last forever. All knighted warriors in the duchy are cursed to acclimate us to the cold.” You look around and begin to wonder if you shouldn’t just suffer under the coat. “Seems the effects have followed me here.”

“People will probably just assume you are a Devil fruit user.” Chopper assures you. “But uh, you are gonna stick in their minds like this.”

You put the coat on and can already feel yourself heating up. “Does this happen often?”

“Huh?”

“We had a plan.” You grumble.

Chopper smiles at you. “Oh, yeah, this happens a lot. Let’s get what we can and head back to Sunny. It’ll work out, it always does.”

You take Chopper’s advice and focus on the task you were both given - clothes for yourself, and medical supplies for the ship. You were supposed to have Zoro and Sanji with you, but a ruckus in town had separated you and the only one you found after was Chopper.

Jinbei and Brook had left with Luffy to scout around the town and see what they could find, and everyone else had stayed with the ship.

At least with just you and Chopper things were peaceful.

“Do Mast- er, I mean do Zoro and Sanji hate one another?” You had been asked to drop formalities by most of the crew that morning and were working on it. “They seem to be perpetually at odds.”

“They don’t hate one another,” Chopper assures you. “No one can say for sure what goes on between them, but there’s respect and rivalry there. Nami says they look up to one another and are too pig-headed to admit it, so they get into arguments.”

“Hm.” You smile at the revelation. “And yet they are in sync enough to fight well together. There were a few young knights like that back home.”

You two continue the rest of your trip in relative silence, working your way through what you needed to buy and keeping one another in line of sight the whole time. You were already on your way back to the ship when things went wrong.

Chopper grabbed you by the arm and pulled both of you into an alleyway. You ducked down and hid as he turned into his smaller form and listened as a small group of marines passed by.

“They say she’s been spotted here in town, we have to find her and let boss Smoker know. The bounty is only alive, so stay alert.”

You looked over at Chopper with a bit of a scowl until you realized the young reindeer looked scared. You tilt your head questioningly and he just shakes his head for now. You write the first few letters of Smoker’s name in the snow and then draw a check mark and an X under it. You point to yourself and your sword and then point to the name and symbols.

Chopper looked between you and the note for a moment before he circled the X with his hoof. You nod in understanding. As far as Chopper is aware, the person in question is better to avoid than face. You tap him and point down the alley, and then point up and put your hand over your eyes and pantomime looking around.

Chopper nods and heads into the alley with you close behind. He’s built to be quiet in the snow and you’re trained to be quiet in the snow, so it is relatively easy going for both of you. Looking around carefully you find a point where you can climb up and get a look around. Your coat is an off white, so you leave it on as you make your way up onto the building’s roof.

Crouching down you do your best to look around without being seen. There are a couple easy to spot groups of marines, all likely looking for you, and your new vantage point gives you a clear view of the area around the town. There are three marine vessels docked at the harbor - the sails are unmistakable even from this distance, and you understand now why the Sunny had been docked so far from the town.

Dropping back down you look at Chopper and shake your head.

“We’re going to have to run for it. The net will get too tight if we dawdle and we both would do better in the woods than the marines.” You say quietly.

There’s a shrill whistle and you both look to see a young marine looking down the alley at you. You grab Chopper and run, any delay at this point would be disastrous for you both.

You hook toward the harbor at first, and then cut toward the forest. The marines had been working their way into the town itself, so it was statistically likely they were thinner nearer the harbor areas. Unfortunately, no matter which route you took to the woods you had to cross the main throughway that came up from the harbor.

The cacophony of whistles when you hit the open roadway set your teeth on edge, but you kept running. You didn’t need to look behind you to know there were a lot of marines on your tail. You just had to be faster.

“You can transform,” you hold Chopper out in front of you for a moment. “Can you turn into something fast?”

“Eh? Yes! I can!” He assures you changing then and there, running alongside you with obviously slowed steps.

“Then run as fast as you can and find help.” You command. “I can’t protect you against so many, but I can hold my own and make it to the tree line on my own.”

“I can carry-.”

“You’re faster unburdened - go!” You shout, nearly smacking him on his hindquarters like a common horse.

Chopper opts not to argue any further and takes off. In a couple seconds he’s so far ahead of you you’re a bit taken aback by how fast that form is. You aren’t slow either and the snow is your home, so you weren’t being hindered by it like the marines chasing you.

Your only problem now was a matter of numbers. You were a single spot they were trying to box in, and they were many spots worth of people to create the box. Add to that you don’t know what or who their leader is, and what magic they may or may not have.

Best case scenario was that you got away on your own and met up with Chopper before he needed to come back with help. Worst case scenario, you were captured, alone and without dragging Chopper or anyone else from the crew into it. Much as you didn’t want to be apprehended, you would prefer it happen without damage to the crew that had helped you.

You strip the coat off and leave it to fall to the ground. Hopefully it wasn’t terribly expensive, and if it was then you hoped Nami would forgive you. Less weight, less bulk, and less restriction meant that you could go faster. The only weight you weren’t willing to dump was your sword.

“I found her coat!”

“Tell boss Smoker! If she freezes to death we’ll be in trouble! Call in reinforcements and get the snowmobiles!”

“What in the hells is a snowmobile?” You grumble to yourself as you jump into the side of a building and vault yourself in a sharp angle away from it.

You have a sudden vision of someone striking you and twist your body out of the way, rolling off the side as fist cuts through the air where you used to be. Smoke coalesces around a gloved fist and a severe looking man with white hair, a scar on his face, and cigars – actual plural number of cigars - in his mouth forms in front of you.

Boss Smoker. Well, at least it was a safe assumption. He wore a marine uniform, but it didn’t look to be strictly regulation. You were crouched, unsure if you were going to be forced to fight or not.

“Aren’t you cold?” He asks in a gruff voice. He looks relaxed, but you’re not that naive.

“That’s quite the question when you’re dressed like that yourself.” You say. You at least were cursed, why the man before you had his jacket opened when he was shirtless under it in this weather was beyond you.

“Oh, you can talk.” He muses. “Reports said you opened your mouth and sound rang out in the minds of those who were around, but no one actually saw you speak.”

You glare at him, open your mouth as if to speak, and then turn suddenly and bolt. It wasn’t that you weren’t sure you could fight him, it was that if you let him keep stalling you, you were going to end up surrounded.

You were fast, but this man and his form didn’t have to worry about the snow, and you didn’t get far before you were surrounded by smoke. You focused haki into your shoulder and barreled into the smoke. Your reward was hearing a pained grunt from the aptly named marine as you managed to clear to the other side of him. He reformed and you caught a glimpse of surprise on his face before you continued to run.

It might’ve been better for this world not to know you could use haki, but even better than that was you not getting caught on your third day. You reached out with your observation haki again, searching for Chopper and anyone else from the crew while also trying to watch your back. It was tricky business, paying attention to several things while running through a foreign town, but your options weren’t kind currently.

You saw the next attack coming, but there was no avoiding the disconnected onslaught. You ducked the strange, pronged weapon that came at you and hopped over the hand that went for your foot, but the best you could do about the boot to your chest was guard against it. The force of the blow was the first understanding you had of how strong and solid Smoker was, but even if he hadn’t connected solidly, there was little else you could do in midair like that.

The attack pushed your back into a building, and rattled your lungs a little more than you anticipated. You cough, land on your feet, and draw your sword. You can’t easily coat it in haki yet, but you need something to keep that strange metal weapon at bay.

Smoker forms in front of you again and you wonder idly if you can honestly take this man down enough to get away. You’re not practiced in dealing with Devil fruit users, and you’re not comfortable with haki enough to be combat ready. You have your sword skills, and you have faith in them, but this world contains other factors.

“Just come along quietly.” He says, his body in that false relaxed position again. “I’m a lot more amicable than most bounty hunters are gonna be, kid.”

You bristled. “I am a knight.” You draw yourself up, no longer considering your escape routes. “I am no child.” You were a little slight for your age, but you were in your 20s. People in your world were adults by 16.

Smoker’s relaxed posture changes and he takes up a position opposite you. “My apologies, Miss.”

“My name is (Y/N), knight of the winterlands, vassal to the Archduke of Winternight. Show me what this world has to offer,” you demand, letting haki flow through your body as you would your winter magic.

You charged at the taller man as his jitte came arcing down toward you. Your blade came up flat and you shoved the attack aside as you slipped inside his guard. You weren’t surprised when your sword cut through nothing but smoke, and so you followed the wide swing with a haki-coated fist and felt yourself connect solidly with the smoke.

Connecting with something that should be intangible was still an odd sensation and your follow through was lacking. You found your feet quickly, but your opponent was as much a seasoned warrior as you were, and his experience was better suited to this fight than yours.

Knights of the duchy fought monsters more than anything else.

A tug of smoke around your foot caught you off guard and slammed you into the - thankfully soft - snow. You let out a grunt of surprise and turned onto your back in time to block his weapon with your sword before it connected. You nearly swear under the weight of the blow, shifting to the side and skittering the strange blunt weapon down the length of your sword as you rolled away. You vaulted yourself backward, finding that you seemed stronger than you expected and almost shoved yourself into the air too forcefully.

You didn’t see any other marines around yet and decided discretion was the better part of valor, but mostly because you could feel people closing in. You tensed the muscles in your legs and leapt with all the force you could manage and were delighted to find yourself up on the roof of the squat building you had been fighting nearby. Running across the roof you vaulted over to the next roof, continuing the movements until you had to land back on the ground to exit the town.

Once you reached the tree line you risked a glance over your shoulder and saw Smoker barking orders to nearby marines. They needed to follow you, but the forest posed more logistical issues than the town. You ran deeper into the woods, keeping your haki focused forward so you could locate Chopper or anyone else, and stop them before they went into the marine infested town.

It took a few minutes, but you found Chopper and you weren’t surprised to see Zoro and Sanji with him. You called out and waved as you slowed down enough to sheath your sword.

“(Y/N)!” Chopper bounded over to you followed by the others. “You’re hurt!”

“Huh, no I’m fine.” You say, looking over your body and realizing you were injured. You had a fairly decent gash on your right upper arm. “Oh. Huh. I didn’t even notice, sorry Chopper, it’s not so bad. I must’ve slammed into something when Smoker shoved me into a wall.”

“You ran into Smoker?” Zoro questions.

You nod. “And not far enough back to be safe yet, we should get back to the ship. The town’s crawling with Marines, and they might start checking the bays and inlets.” You explain as Chopper bandages your arm hastily.

“He’s a tough one to shake off, that’s impressive.” Sanji admits as the four of you head toward the ship.

“I have to say, the most unsettling thing was how badly they want me alive,” you admit, as your legs shudder under you. “Erm.” You stop jogging and feel exhaustion sink into your limbs. “I don’t know why I’m so exhausted all of the sudden.”

“Stop using your haki.” Zoro says, and you let it go.

“It’s-.”

“It’s like a muscle,” Sanji offers. “You gotta build it up.”

“Ah. Sorry, mana back home was more like a pool - you had what you had and… oof.” You had ceased using your haki, but you weren’t prepared for how draining it had been.

Zoro lifts you up and puts you over his shoulder. “Be less troublesome next time.”

“Don’t go wandering off and leavin’ Chopper and I alone like that.” You grumble in return, you wouldn’t be in this situation if you had been with all of your guards.

“Tch. Where’s your coat?”

“Somewhere in town, I’m fine. Even exhausted like this I’m not gonna get cold.”

“She’s cursed.” Chopper says. “Keeps her warm.”

“Cursed?” Sanji questions with a concerned tone. “Oi, Marimo, don’t haul a lady around like a sack of potatoes like that!”

“It’s a kind of magic, not a negative-.”

“She’s fine, cook.”

You sigh and just let yourself slump against Zoro’s shoulder as the two seem ready to bicker all the way back to the ship. There’s a strange sound in the air under the sound of them arguing and you smack Zoro’s back to get his attention.

“Hey, what’s a snowmobile?”

All three pirates stop running and a strange buzzing sound can be heard in the distance. Sanji makes an aggravated sound and all three of them jump up into the trees.

“You’ve seen Frank’s General, right?” Sanji says in a quiet voice. You nod, the machine was certainly a wonder. “A snowmobile is a machine like that, but it travels quickly over snow.”

“Faster than me,” Chopper admits.

“We can’t outpace them, and we don’t want to lead them to the Sunny.” Zoro explains.

“So, we’re going to fight.” You sigh as Zoro sets you against the tree trunk, on a sturdy branch. You were tired, but the pursued rarely had the luxury of rest.

“We’re going to fight.” He says pointing to himself, Sanji And Chopper. “You’re going to stay quiet, and as out of sight as possible.”

Your pride wanted you to argue, but you wouldn’t be much help until you had a chance to rest. You nod, leaning back against the trunk. You’d rather be helpful than a hinderance, but in that vein you needed to stay put.

The three of them drop back down into the snow, and stand quite openly in the forest. You feel something start to flow off Zoro and it was almost like he was screaming out at the world around him with his haki. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, but it felt like a beacon, and seemed to work like one as well.

Strange metal rectangles with two or three people sitting on them slid into view and surrounded the three of them. Before you had barely sorted out how the snowmobiles worked, you were all surrounded. No one down below had looked up into the trees to see you, but you were still doing your best to stay still.

Smoker arrived as well, and a young, black-haired lady with glasses was with him. You wondered what kind of person brought their secretary with them, because despite the sword at her hip she looked more like an assistant, and less like a fighter.

“Roronoa!” She exclaims, pointing at him. Your eyes go wide, and you see Zoro flinch ever so slightly.

Ex-girlfriend maybe?

You tried to picture the demon-swordsman in a relationship with someone and nearly start laughing. Especially with someone who looks like an administrative assistant. That man has the entire crew on his shoulders with how protective he is – you know that, and you haven’t even exchanged a hundred words with him.

It didn’t take long after the fighting started that you realized there was a small problem. The dark-haired girl was a good swordsman, but Sanji wouldn’t strike anyone who was a lady, and Zoro pointedly didn’t want to fight her. Which left Chopper, but he wasn’t quite strong enough, or at the very least her demeanor was shaking him up too much and he couldn’t keep up.

She was, for whatever reason, legitimately pissed at Zoro.

A couple minutes into the battle Smoker had commanded all his men to stay back. It was the obvious call, none of them were doing anything except racking up personal wounds. They were entirely out of their league going up against Zoro, Sanji and even Chopper.

As far as you could tell, this battle was won. Smoker and Tashigi had a situational upper hand, but they didn’t have the combined strength of Sanji and Zoro, with Chopper helping the situational upper hand was all but gone. You could see it in Smoker’s body language that he was aware of this as well. After all, he had come into the forest to find you on your own, not part of the Straw Hat crew.

And yet he was still going to fight, you could tell that from his stance. It was admirable, in a way, doing what he believed was right despite knowing he wasn’t going to win. As a knight you could appreciate that. A good knight followed their master’s orders even if they didn’t always agree.

A great knight served a master they believed in. One they didn’t have to question.

Captain’s already decided.

You caught yourself smiling before you cover your mouth. You kept one eye on the fight below you and one eye on the world around you. Knights had a sense of their space without the use of magic, so you could sense the creatures and forest around you without having to use Haki. It wasn’t as accurate, but it kept you sharply aware of your surroundings.

Something tickled the edges of that ability and caused you to jolt in your hiding spot.

It was winter magic. You were sure of it.

Your limbs were moving before you even realized what you were doing. Equal parts of hope and fear spurred you on – was it a way home, or did someone else from the duchy get pulled into this world?

You could hear a ruckus from below you as you sprang from one tree to the next, moving on frenzied instinct, but you had no idea if you were the cause of the ruckus or not. When the trees thinned too much for you to stay in them you let yourself fall to the ground. Haki cushioned your landing, and your sword was in your hand as you ran.

Your legs ache, your lungs are on fire, and you can feel your body straining dangerously. You had worn yourself out burning through your haki earlier and you weren’t recovered, but you needed to reach this feeling. You might break your body to reach it, but you will reach it.

The buzz of the snowmobiles tickled at your ears, and you kept track of the sound secondary to the tug you felt in your core. The ruckus was because of you, there was no denying it, and you were being chased. A beat of observation haki, however, left you with a comforting knowledge.

Marines were on your tail, but none of them were Smoker, and Chopper was coming up behind them quickly. No matter what, you weren’t going to be completely on your own.

Just a little closer, you could feel it.

[chickensoup-4-mysoul]

herculean (drrr x f!reader) - chapter 4

chapter 4 - eye to eye

synopsis: Something weighs on your heart ever since you left Shinra's apartment, and you decide to act on it.

word count: 2,986

warning: N/A

It felt like you hadn't laid in your bed in five years. You wholeheartedly wanted to nestle completely into the silk sheets and wade away to snoozetown, but your brain wasn't ready for sleep yet.

"The bartender guy you met is Shizuo Heiwajima. Dude's super strong and he's got a bit of an anger issue." Saburo continues explaining. 

"He's a good guy, though. As long as you stay on his good side--and out of his way when he's pissed off (you failed at that part), you're alright."

"Dotachin and Shizuo go way back! They've known each other since high school." Erika whispers into your ear. Is she trying to be subtle? She's failing.

Kyohei seems like a good judge of character, you can trust him, right?

"And what about this... Izaya Orihara?"

"Not the best guy."

"Bad news."

"Better off steering clear of him."

So the consensus on this Izaya character is that he is...bad. To say the least. After seeing what a sore subject the guy was, you refrained from questioning further.

From what they told you, seems like you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in a battle between two men who hated each other (although Erika thought they were in love with each other but no one wanted to unpack all of that). You wondered what could have started such a rivalry. They seemed to like Shizuo, but not Izaya. Was Shizuo the good guy? Was Izaya the bad guy?

A chill ran down your spine as you remembered the moment you made eye contact with him. The smile on his face that you couldn't seem to look away from. He wasn't too bad looking either Ew shut up.

You remembered Shizuo and the way that he couldn't even look at you in Shinra's apartment. What was going through his head? Was it remorse? Self-loathing? He had hurt you, after all. Did he expect you to hate him? Was that why he had so much trouble talking to you?

Eventually, you were able to fall into a deep sleep, but not without the persistent thought of the tall blonde bartender who insisted on wearing sunglasses inside.

...

The man's uninterested gaze morphed so quickly into a look of stupefaction.

"What'd you just ask me, little missy?"

"I said, does a Shizuo Heiwajima work here?"

You don't quite appreciate the way he laughs in your face. He garners the attention of two other bar patrons sitting near by.

"You fellas hear this chick? Says she's lookin' for Shizuo Heiwajima!!" They join him in his laughter.

"Well, is he here, or not? That's all I'm asking," you press, unamused.

The man's smile disappears, replaced by a scowl. He rests his weight on the countertop between you in an attempt to gain a few inches on you--you're happy you wore platforms today.

"Listen here, Fancy Pants. I dunno what kind of trouble you're looking to get into, but you ain't gonna find it here."

".....so he's not here."

"Get outta my bar!"

Before you're out the door, you make sure to mutter a comment about the odor of the place before scurrying off (Yes, you WILL throw rocks from your glass house--and what about it??).

Storming along the sidewalk, you huff in frustration. That was the fourth or fifth bar, and the previous few had treated you the same. You thought people were supposed to be polite here!

After your pondering session last night, you decided that you wanted to talk to Shizuo. You thought that the best place to find the man would be at his place of work, but so far you had no luck. Now it was almost noon, you had no signs of Shizuo, you had been stared down by several too many sleazeballs (you regret wearing a tube top today but they shouldn't look at you like that no matter what you were wearing!), you were hungry, and you were pretty sure you had entered the sketchy side of town. 

You clutched your cellphone close to your chest as you strolled past a rundown looking apartment building, prepared to dial a number if anything were to go down.  

""ᵂᵉˡˡ, ᵍᵉⁿᵗˡᵉᵐᵉⁿ ᵒᵇᵛᶦᵒᵘˢˡʸ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ᵃ ˡᶦᵗᵗˡᵉ ᵈᶦˢᵗʳᵃᶜᵗᵉᵈ, ˢᵒ ʰᵒʷ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵉᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵇᵉˀ ᴬᶠᵗᵉʳ ᵃˡˡ, ᶜˡᵉᵃʳˡʸ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃʳᵉⁿ'ᵗ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵉᵐᵒᵗᶦᵒⁿᵃˡ ˢᵗᵃᵗᵉ ᵗᵒ ʰᵃⁿᵈˡᵉ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʲᵒᵇ ᵃⁿʷᵃʸᵎ"

Wow, the walls in those apartments must be really thin, you can almost hear every word they were saying in there! Now some man was practically roaring and--

wait. You had definitely heard that roar before.

You are alerted by the sound of shattering glass. A man crashes through a window, followed by--is that a washing machine? They soar through the air, flying right over you before crashing to the ground, only a few feet away. You wince at the sight, but breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of the man's groaning confirming that he's still alive. You turn back to the building from whence he came, spotting a dark-skinned man looking out that same shattered window. Even from the distance, his sigh is audible as he removes his glasses and rubs his temples.

"Now you've done it...Shizuo!"

Your ears perk up at the name. Could that be...? Lo and behold, from next to the bespectacled man emerges a head of blonde hair. "Hey...H-Hey!!! Shizuo!!" Excited by the discovery you yell out to him, waving your arms in hopes that he would see you. At the sound of the familiar name, Tom Tanaka spots you, nudging Shizuo. "You know that chick...?" He asked, staring amusedly at the weirdly eager girl.

Upon seeing what Tom was talking about, Shizuo's cigarette dropped from his mouth to the floor. Standing right there, waving happily at him...

...was the girl he had almost killed.

"I found you!!!" You laugh, happy to have gotten his attention.

...

Tom is well aware that Shizuo is a grown man with a private life of his own. However, as he resides here, sitting across the table from Shizuo with a foreign girl between them--one that he apparently knows-- he can't help but shoot him an accusatory look.

How could you not tell me about this!?

Shizuo could already tell that Tom was deeply misreading the situation. The way he glanced between him and the girl as they ate lunch left little to the imagination as to what he was thinking. In response to his pointed stare, he could only stare right back and attempt to telepathically communicate.

I don't know what's going on either!

You were really enjoying this rice. The way you scarfed down the contents of the bowl was probably not ladylike, but you had earned a good meal after your wild goose chase that morning. You had expected Shizuo and Tom to converse a bit more since they seemed to be coworkers, but everyone at the table was just silently enjoying their food.

After catching up to the pair, you had asked Shizuo to go out to lunch with you. Except for the fact that his coworker was standing right there and, not wanting to be rude, you panicked and ended up inviting both of them. That was stupid, obviously, because now you couldn't really discuss the things you wanted to. 

"So..." you're thankful to Tom for breaking the silence. Shizuo is not. "You two know each other...?"

You sneak a glance at Shizuo, wondering if he'll answer. He does the same to you, and you both end up having a moment of awkward eye contact (as much contact you could get with those damn sunglasses). He quickly looks away, scarfing down another mouthful of his food.

"We're... familiar with each other," you answer vaguely. Tom's eyebrows shoot up like rockets and you quickly decide that that was the wrong answer, "I mean!!! We've met briefly before, but that's about it."

"I see." Bury me alive. 

"So...you both are...debt collectors?" You try.

"That's right! Shizuo here is my bodyguard!"

"That dangerous of a job, huh?" A bodyguard?? You were scrounging around every bar for nothing??? An image of the man and the washing machine flying over your head flashed in your mind and you winced. Guess he must have done something to threaten Tom.

"What about you?" Unlike Shizuo, Tom had no trouble asking questions. "You're not from here. What's your calling here in Ikebukuro?"

You gladly went on your classic story about your studies and prospective career, and how settling in Ikebukuro would aid you in pursuing said career. From your peripheral, you noticed Shizuo's intense focus on you as you spoke. It takes everything in you not to crumble under his gaze, maintaining eye contact with Tom in an attempt to calm your embarrassment.

"You really think we dress all that great??" Tom fiddles with the collar of his shirt.

"Oh, absolutely! You are a very fashionable man, Tom. But besides the aesthetic, your clothing choice serves a purpose. The suit provides professionalism. Obviously, your work requires people to take you seriously, but the striped button up is rustic. It keeps people from underestimating you. It's the perfect juxtaposition!"

You were ranting again, but Tom seemed to eat up the validation. It's definitely a myth that men don't care about what people think of their style. On the contraire, they take great pride in it! You turn to Shizuo who, not expecting the attention to be turned on him, almost flinches under your gaze.

"And, though I didn't completely get it at first, I can understand how a bodyguard in a bartender's outfit would be most intimidating. A man working such a blue-collar job definitely wouldn't be afraid to get his hands dirty!"

"Uh...right." Shizuo knew damn well that he wore those clothes because they were a gift from his brother, but you looked so excited. The word understand continued to echo in his mind. It was strange to you, how he dressed, but you didn't judge him for it. You almost seemed to find it admirable.

"Well, seems like you really know your stuff!" Tom smiles smugly at the look on Shizuo's face, and for the first time since they were teenagers, Shizuo might actually be willing to punch him.

You smile proudly, completely oblivious to the tension building between the two childhood friends.

...

So, Tom ran away before Shizuo could kill him, using the excuse that he had some sort of "paper work" to do at home. In reality, he was just deserting Shizuo to walk you home alone. The two of you trek silently in the direction of your apartment. The trip was silent except for the occasional direction from your GPS, and the click of your platform sandals against the side walk. It was killing you, how neither of you could say anything. You had so much to say!! But how were you supposed to say it??

Hey, I know it was you who almost killed me, but your friend from high school said you guys were cool, so it's all good!

You could only keep walking, occasionally sneaking glances at him. It was still well into the afternoon and the sun had reached it's peak among the sky. Even shining at its brightest, the sun's rays did little to reveal the eyes that hid behind those stupid sunglasses. It was hard to tell whether or not he was even looking at you.

"The uniform is fine, but you'd look so much better without those sunglasses hiding your face." GIRL WHAT.

You both stop walking at the same time, you in shock, and him in god knows what. He turns to look at you for the first time since you had started walking.

"I-I'm sorry how rude of me!! Here I go, thinking, I know everything about what everyone ought to be wearing! Honestly, if you feel better wearing those then--!"

"You really think I'd look better...?"

You're stunned silent by his calm, contemplative tone of voice. He stares at you expectantly, waiting for your answer.

"W-well, I mean... you'd look fine with or without them. It's more about...how you appear to others, y'know what I mean. You..make better connections with people when you can make direct eye contact with them!! Also, I know some consider it rude to wear sunglasses indoors, but on the job that might work for you for intimi...dation..."

When you look back at him, his glasses are tucked into his vest pocket. Deep brown eyes. The most typical eye color, shared by almost every person you had passed that day. His gaze was strikingly....human. This man who possessed great strength, known for going on rampages all over Ikebukuro, who you had just watched hurl a man through a window with his own home appliance, stood before you looking so pure. You suddenly feel shy, like this was some sort of intimate moment but chill out, girl the man only took off his glasses.

"Y-yeah...yeah that's much better." Neither of you move, simply standing there, staring at each other. Now's the time, you goad yourself, Here's your chance to get it off your chest!

"I'm not mad at you for--" "I'm the one who--" "--throwing that sign!" "--threw that sign!"

Seems like you both seized the opportunity, breaking the silence at the same time. His eyes widened and you briefly relish the way the light catches them.

"You knew...?"

You told him about Kyohei and the van gang. How they had told you of his feud with some guy named Izaya, and his super strength. "I know I was caught in the wrong place and you didn't mean to hit me! And you made sure that I was okay after, which was really kind of you! So...please don't think that I'm holding anything against you."

Shizuo can only stare at you now. He had honestly not expected this to be as easy as it was. Guilt had been eating away at him ever since you walked out the door of Shinra's apartment. All he could think about was how much you would hate him if you found out. How terrified of him you would be when you realized his true nature; the violence, the short temper...and here you were, trying to make him feel better.

"Can I see...your arm...?" He's a spitting image of when you first met him--bashful and hesistant--except now, without his glasses, he was so much more vulnerable. His focus was locked on you, always on you. The request confuses you, but you see no harm in it. Palm facing down, you offer him your right arm, lifting it closer to his face so he can see whatever he's a so interested in.

You had long ago removed the band-aid, he noticed. The day before, when he carried your unconscious body to Shinra's home, he hadn't had the courage to look too closely for fear of seeing just how much damage he had done. Upon closer inspection, the only remnant of the previous day's events was a darkened mark, similar to the burning of rubber tires against asphalt. It was minuscule; if he hadn't looked closely enough, he would have missed it. His eyes are owlish, shifting between your face and your arm. You would pay a million dollars to be able to see what was going on inside his head right now, because at the moment you had no clue.

"Any idea when you might be done...? My arm's getting a little bit tired." You cover it up with a joking smile but the burning in your biceps is no laughing matter. He coughs awkwardly and returns your arm, not even realizing that he had taken it into his hands in the first place. "Well...that was a nice break! Let's keep on moving!"

The rest of the walk is more on the pleasant side. You engage in small talk and whenever a silence did fall, it was comfortable, with no pressure to keep forcing conversation. The more the two of you converse, the less enigmatic that he seems. You begin tallying the things you've learned about him in your head: how close he is to his brother, how far back he and Tom go, how weird his other friend Shinra was. Unbeknownst to you, he's doing the same thing to you as well. It's easier on his end due to you doing most of the talking, and he's thankful for that.

A chime resounds from your cellphone, signaling that you had arrived at your destination. "Oh! Looks like this is me," you point to the tall building the two of you were approaching. "Thank you for walking me all the way here!"

"No problem."

You turn your back to him, ready to turn in for an evening at home, but something stops you. Abruptly, you return, pushing your phone into his face. "W-we should do this again!! Like, hang out, I mean, if you want to!! It's okay if you don't..." The moment you stutter out the first words, it's a downward spiral from there and you're already going through the five stages of grief. Shizuo saves you from your own embarrassment, accepting the device from you and typing something in. When he hands it back to you, you see that he's put himself in as a contact. When you look back at him, he's smiling. There's no smugness or ill intent to it, just a simple quirk of the corners of his mouth. It suits him. A lot. 

The two of you exchange goodbyes before he leaves in the direction you came from. You briefly wondered if he'd be able to retrace his steps well enough to get back okay, but then you realize that if he were to get attacked he could just knock his assailant to kingdom come. Boarding the elevator up to the top floor, you allow a chuckle to slip out. Yeah, he'll be alright.

[good-morning-tucson]

LITTLE BOY SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON: THING A WEEK 1!

i plan on doing this for every joco album. at least the studio ones. i’ve done this for other artists so i got this. WHOOPEE!

see you all in hell - i kind of view this one as a bit of a nothing song given how it’s one of the automated voice sample ones. but it makes my brain feel really nice. thank you jonathan.

my monkey - i came around on this song big time. i like thinking of it as an argument, or post argument, or some kind of hardship and using it as a way to apologize to a partner or loved one of some sort. very cute. 

w’s duty - man. i can’t come up with anything. ask me about this one later. 9/11.

shop vac - GOD DAMN. BOY HOWDY. shop vac makes me EVIL. i think it’s painfully good at describing what it sets out to, and as someone who was in a similar situation, it makes me want to cram a .44 in my skull in the nicest way. thanks mr. coulton!

baby got back - honestly. this one just makes me think of my best friend/gay lover aspen. joco’s baby got back is ingrained into my brain as aspencore. based and aspenpilled. aspenmaxxed. his mom was mad that it’s good.

someone is crazy - he was so real for this one. it would go crazy as a late night road trip song with some good pals. he was insanely real for this one. i really like how he frames the subject of the song and the language he uses to address them. have i mentioned how real he is?

brand new sucker - i like viewing this as both a breakup between two people, using creative language and such, and also just as like. a vampire or a blood sucking insect partner of some kind. he was CRAZY for “everybody says you shouldnt be a stranger but everybody likes it better that way”

sibling rivalry - i don’t have much to say? it makes me imagine two siblings that desperately want to reconnect and be close again but both have something stopping them from doing so? i dont know. it fills me with a weird amount of anxiety.

the town crotch - this one also grew on me a TON. the town crotch makes me long for something that never was and never will be. i think about the accompanying tidbit and joco being into tall and dangerous women frequently

podsafe christmas song - joco yelling got me feeling some type of way

My lawyer told me to apologize for that previous statement.

furry old lobster - this song makes my brain shut off. i like his voice in this. :)

drive - THIS SONG MAKES ME FREAK. i know its his least favorite song but oooooh little monkey brain is Thrilled with the Fun Music by the Funny Man. im sure if i could drive i would also feel like sexy

overall, thing a week 1 is pretty danged solid. no immediate skips, but only one of these songs (shop vac) is really outstanding to me. i think it’s definitely a great kick-off to thing a week as a whole, though.

[nikodimopoulos]

If he was being honest, the Sons of Silence as a concept were a bit ridiculous to him. Perhaps he should have had stronger feelings considering his cartel ties, a very prominent rivalry between the two organizations spanning decades – but, honestly? Maybe it was his extensive military experience, or how he took literally everything in his life way too seriously, but he thought the whole get-up and club mentality was kind of juvenile. Regardless, he wasn’t stupid enough to think they weren’t an effective militia of sorts on their own, and he wasn’t about to go out of his way to piss them off. So, like for most things, he’d keep his mouth shut. “Right.” Multifaceted, sure. That was one word for it. Brows knit together slightly when the other male spoke once more, taking a moment to register that he was talking about his car. “Something like that.” Niko wasn’t one to talk much about money, even despite the wealth he’d accumulated between Los Santos and the restaurant. He allowed his possessions to speak for themselves.

He watched as the Son walked back and forth from his car, making note of his tone, his movements. He’d chosen to see his own paranoia as an asset over the years, even though it was really one of the biggest things that alienated the people around him. “Penny – oh, right. Mikayla’s mom.” He remembered after a moment, shaking his head. “I haven’t had the chance to meet her yet.” They’d decided to take their relationship slow, mostly for Niko’s sake given he hadn’t really even dated for the better part of a decade. That compounded with the fact that he wasn’t exactly an open book even with those he trusted, well, it made for quite a bit of hesitation on his part. “Yeah, she is. Might have gone back to sleep-- how do you know her again?” Obviously this guy was familiar with the family given his casual tone, the relaxed manner he moved, which put him a bit more at ease. "Will." He repeated, committing the name to memory as he returned the handshake. "That's right. My family owns the restaurant across town. I'm guessing you've been?" Most people tended to know his face from there, given how he was always buzzing around when he wasn't tied up with LS business. "Need a hand?"

Will was enjoying his new routine with the B&B. With the vineyard still going through a sale, it was nice to have a place he could go to every day and actually put some work in. He found himself thinking about it all the time, different ideas he wanted to tell Penny about. He appreciated her vision and her enthusiasm and he just wanted to help that vision come to life. And she was letting him help more and more as they spent later nights at the B&B and Will volunteered his earlier mornings to help her brings things back and forth. Which was why he was pulling into the driveway this morning. To pick up a few pieces of equipment she had gotten sent to the house so they wouldn't stay outside of the B&B all night.

He had hesitated in the driveway when he saw the other car, not remembering Penny mentioning that she or Mikki had gotten a new one but when he saw Niko walking out it had all made sense. He had seen them together and since it had been a little while since he had actually talked to Mikki, he could only assume. But this pretty much confirmed it and he tried to ignore the unsettled feeling in his stomach as he hopped out of his truck. Will smiled softly, having heard a version of that joke so many times. "Yeah well, we are a multifaceted bunch, what can I say?" He glanced over at the Bentley in front of him, "You must have paid a pretty penny for that one, huh?" He looked it over for another moment before going back to his truck and opening up the door the flatbed. "I'm just here to pick something up for Penny, I'll be gone in a few minutes. Is Mikki home?" He paused when he realized he hadn't introduced himself and walked back around to the front of the car. "I'm Will, I work with Penny at the bed and breakfast." He held out his hand towards him and forced his lips to turn up a bit. "Niko, right?"

[r0-boat]

Enemies to lovers domming Emmet

There was an ask I did that I read wrong

Thank you for the sender that told me about it, it was my mistake. I'm going to leave the original one up and just make a new post :)

I didn't want to go with a similar story so I made something with more plot

Gn!reader, they fuck Emmet whether they have a harness or a dick is up to you

Cw: the two buttheads a lot there's a little bit of fighting. Degrading, overstim

I hope I didn't make this too wholesome I was trying to do hate fucking

Emmet's smile twitched. God it's you again...

"Emmet, don't be rude. They came all this way to discuss business with us," Ingo whispered to his brother

"I'm Emmet, they're from a rival Railway company we shouldn't have to"

You just had to shoot Emmet a smirk as you walk up to his older brother.

"Thank you for having me again, boys; Opelucid city's Drake Station is happy to work with you again!"

___

When rumors of Drake Station's powerful Subway boss reached Nimbasa, Emmet's interest was peaked.

This ended up in a humiliating defeat. One Pokemon of yours decimated his party after weeks of training your Pokémon still ripped through. It was trending on Swellow for weeks of Emmet getting brutally humiliated.

This started a rivalry that people tuned into, interested to see the battles between Drake and Gear station.

But what they didn't know was the even spicier relationship behind the curtains...

Ingo was kind enough to let Emmet go early,

" See you at home; I'm going to go see some places; make sure you bring back something to eat,"

Ingo gave his brother a small smile and a nod" try not to be out too late."

He gave a nervous chuckle before getting on the line to Opelucid city. When he got off, he made his way to Lacunosa town,

---

It was evident that your rivalry would become something more the two of you as much as you swore up and down that you hated each other had excellent chemistry and got along well. It was clear you both wanted something from each other.

---

Emmet open your door and came into your house, throwing his coat on your couch before sitting down. " you know you could at least knock." You snipped

"I'm Emmet, and you gave me a spare key and I'm going to use said key, also you already knew I was coming~"

His monotone voice ended in a purr when you came over and kissed him.

You deepened your kiss, unbuttoning his polo shirt and running your hands all over his chest, running your thumb over and pinching his nipples.

Emmet whined when you broke the kiss removing your hands from his body.

" patience, pet, there's Lube on the nightstand in the room. Get ready for me."

Emmet's eyes lit up, his smile going wider before making his way to the bedroom.

He displayed himself for you moving up his fingers before slowly pushing them inside his asshole, shuttering on how cold the liquid was.

You bet your lip when you wrap the collar around his neck. Fuck, he looks so good like this collared and obedient, eager to please

You rub the liquid on your cock, giving it small Strokes before slamming it inside of him,

"Oh Fuck!" Emmet held back his moans as you started to pound into him mercilessly.

"If only they could see you now getting fucked like this underneath me."

Emmet shuttered at your words clenching around you,

" Subway boss Emmet is actually just a little whore"

"S-shut the fuck-hah!"

His eyes roll back biting into the pillow when he feels your hand wrap on his cock.

" Little do they know every time you talk shit, you still come back just to have a taste of me, pathetic."

You change your pace hitting harder and deeper.

Giving his cock a squeeze, he loses that, exploding all over your hand and chest while you fuck him through his orgasm, milking every shot of cum from his cock.

"S'much, oh~ so fucking good! More, More!"

You wrap a finger around his collar, pulling him forward, your lips meeting his, his cock still throbbing; you stop your pace for just a moment reaching over to grab a new toy.

You press the cold plastic tip against his shaft before turning it on you stayed deep inside of him while the you press the vibrator harder against the tip of his cock

"Mmph, such an annoying tease~!"

Man isn't he talkative tonight.

His soft moans of pleasure were like music to your ears.

Occasionally Emmet would try to grind his hips or buck against the toy only for your hand to come down on his thigh; he only whimpered, his cock jumping at the sharp pain.

He was getting close again but instead of you finishing him off you lower the vibrator settings.

"Beg Emmie, ~"

He gave you a glare there is no way in fuck-

" beg, man whore or I will leave you like this" you grow your hand coming down on his dick.

"HAH! Fuck! Please make me cum! please- I am yours I am forever- oh~"

You pick up your pace putting the toy on the highest setting.

You slam your lips down on him once again as he cums again. His arms wrap around you as you move deeper, staying nice and still as you milk his cock

Emmet purrs, feeling your tongue run up his neck before sucking. He loves when you mark your territory.

Cock growing soft in your hands you slowly pull yourself out of him.

Emmet snuggles closer to you laying his head on your chest.

"I love you Baby"

Yeah, I think it's time to come out to the public about your relationship with your rival.

[newmih]

He's like a teddy bear

Words: 867

Characters: Kai Parker x reader (couple), Damon and Stefan Salvatore

Warnings: allusions?

Summary: Y/N tries to spend some time with her boyfriend. But Damon always shows up at the wrong time.

A/N: The title is soooo bad!!! /English is not my first language. Sorry for any mistake I made./ /Gif is not mine!/ /What is in italics is from @write-it-motherfuckers (in part). (by the way, if the account reads this, is it okay to be tagged this way? )

Masterlist

Bonne lecture

You were reading a book quietly in the Salvatore house when the sound of breaking glass made you look up from your reading. On the one hand, you weren't really surprised. After all, this kind of thing happened all the time, but on the other hand you were really curious to know what had happened. You thought for a moment. Maybe a Mikaelson had returned to town. You shrug at the idea and smile slightly. If that was the case you were certainly not in danger anyway. You had always had a talent for making friends with people the rest of the world seemed to distrust.

Getting up, you put your book down on the table and slowly made your way to the front door. The noise was coming from there, and although you weren't a hundred percent sure at first, the sounds of fighting that persisted removed your doubt.

You finally arrived at your destination to find Stefan and Kai fighting. A vase had already exploded and bits of glass were strewn across the floor. You rolled your eyes at the unexpected but ridiculous sight. The blond vampire was on top of the hybrid and was trying to strangle him. The other man was vainly trying to cast a spell but couldn't really speak.

-Boys?

Both of them raised their heads at the sound of your voice and immediately stopped fighting when they saw a look of disappointment on your face. You sighed before finally heading back into the living room.

-You're on your own to clean up!

You settled back in and resumed your reading. You really intended to finish it before the end of the day, but you didn't count on the man who had just thrown himself at you. Kai put his head on your thighs and pushed your book to the side. You rolled your eyes again which made him pout.

-What? I didn't kill anyone today. You should be proud of me. -Oh really?

You pushed him away and he landed on the floor. Rubbing his head, he got up and went to pour himself a glass of bourbon. If Damon found out the hybrid had touched his precious liquor he would surely lose his mind. Then he sat down in front of Y/N and began to tell him about his day. How he had avoided killing the guy who was walking too slowly in front of him. How he thought about torturing the waiter who took too long to bring him his order, but he didn't. How he really wanted to have a good time with his girlfriend right now, and by good time he meant good time.

-What? Kai! Definitely not here!

This time, it was the dark-haired man's turn to roll his eyes. Sometimes you were really not fun but he loved you anyway. You sighed when he thought out loud and finally put your book down to lay on top of him.

He smiled, for himself as well as for you, and put his hands on your ass to pull you even closer.

-Hey you.

You hadn't seen him for a few days because of a certain rivalry between him and the older Salvatore. Anyway, your best friend would eventually find out that you were dating the big bad of Mystic Falls.

-You missed me, didn't you?

You hummed in response and leaned in to kiss him. You really did miss him. You finally broke away so that you could breathe and at the same time not die, it would be good for both of you.

-Do you want to do something today? -No. Just stay with you.

He smiled and started to sprinkle kisses on your face when a noise in the house caught his attention.

Damon appeared in front of the door to the room that had been left open and Kai had just enough time to pull you away from him and pretend that the two of you weren't doing anything, alone, on the couch. You certainly weren't ready to be lectured about how bad the bad guys are and that you shouldn't go near them especially if you're a human who can die easily and not come back to life and blah blah blah....

Your boyfriend looked at him for a few seconds before quickly disappearing from the house leaving you to deal with the vampire who still seemed to be processing what had just happened. Oh, you were definitely in for a lecture. The dark-haired man looked at you for a long time before finally exploding.

-I can't believe Stefan let you talk to Kai alone like that. What's wrong with your little mortal head? This guy's dangerous!

-Dangerous? Kai? You're kidding, right? Because he looks like a big teddy bear to me. He's so cute-

-I'm serious Y/N! Everyone in this town knows to stay away from him, and you should too! When he shows up, bad news is bound to come!

-I'm pretty sure you're overreacting, and then you're too late to warn me. I've been dating him for months.

-Sorry, WHAT?

Before the vampire could even react, Y/N had disappeared, not counting on suffering the anger of his friend.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Everyone who knew Billy Hargrove had thought that even though he had only been in town for a short time, he wouldn’t be leaving without making his mark on Hawkins High when he graduated. He was their new top dog, their poster boy in all things social, athletic, and academic, so it only made sense he’d choose to go out with a bang.

Graduation is held outside on the football field, a first for the school because the senior class of ‘85 is made of up of too many kids to hold it in the gym like usual, which would theoretically give him the perfect opportunity to screw around and ruin the formal ceremony.

What nobody had expected though, was for him to be sitting up straight and attentive at graduation, his hair pulled up in a bun under his cap and his earring left at home, wearing a pair of dress shoes he couldn’t afford, with all kinds of pins and cords and even a valedictorians medal adorning his robes.

And nobody expected him to wait at the head of the stage as his full name, William Reuben Hargrove, was called, walking across in perfect time and doing every polite handshake, smiling at the teachers and administrators and getting his photo with his diploma in hand and a respectable smile on his face.

Because he was one of four valedictorians above two salutatorians, he wasn’t given the opportunity to read his own speech, but rather was chosen to read the graduates address. His reputation preceded him, and it was clear from the tension sparking the air that everyone, including the parents, expected him to pull something when called to the stage and given the microphone.

But he didn’t, he stood proud and read it off loud and clear, or at least recited it from memory that way, Max had to read it to him for weeks in practice because he couldn’t power through and read it, the text small and too close on the page it all jumbled together, stepping down from the stage when he was done instead adding any words of his own,

It’s like a collective sigh is let out when he sits back down, Nancy taking her turn up on the stage to read the closing remarks and turn the tassels, and just like that the ceremony passes by without a hitch.

Because even though all knew who they thought Billy was, they didn’t know about the man he had to be in front of Neil Hargrove, watching from the bleachers.

Instead, what his peers had all wanted was for Billy to walk to his own tune, slouching in his seat and picking at his nails when he wasn’t supposed to be paying attention, fumbling the fancy walk and keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets as a big F-U to the school and all it stood for, and they definitely expected him to show up in a crumpled suit and scuffed old shoes, his hair a mess under the cap, looking like his true ragamuffin self.

Only, Steve Harrington was the one to do all that.

The rumor mill would have it that Stevie boy got wasted the night before graduation and was barely powering through it on a hangover. Truth would argue however, that he had woken up that morning alone, so depressed that no one, including himself, gave a damn about the accomplishment he had fought so very hard for, that he didn’t care about doing this stupid ceremony nobody would see anyways the right way, the Harrington way.

So he didn’t show up to senior assembly or to any of practices, he didn’t earn any scholarships or awards anyways, and he felt he hardly deserved the passing grades he was most likely given by sympathetic teachers who knew him all too well from retaking failed classes for years. He didn’t really feel like there was anything to commemorate, so he showed up, but only for the piece of paper, and maybe a little bit to prove his father who said he’d never be able to do it wrong.

After the ceremony was finished, they turned the field over to families to take pictures with their graduates, and graduates to take pictures with each other. Billy got a handful taken of him and his family by the school's photographer and Susan’s camera too, and a decent couple of Polaroids with the real friends he’d actually made, Tommy and Carol and Heather.

There were no pictures taken of Steve on his big day. He’d gone straight to the auditorium and gotten his diploma for the folder they handed him on stage, then drove himself home before anybody could stop him and ask for one.

~~~~~~~~~

It happens again in June when grad party season hits.

Among the most anticipated invites was the one to Billy Hargrove’s graduation party. Everyone was sure he’d have a big house party for the seniors, he always brought the life to the party like Hawkins had never seen it, it only made sense he’d have his own.

But again, his peers are mistaken, because nobody gets an invite other than that same handful of friends, and they all get theirs, along with a tiny print of Billy's unrecognizably serious senior photos, in the mail just like the rest of the Hargroves’ extended family.

Because his party is a family affair, an open house from eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon at an outdoor pavilion in the state park, where he’s supposed to dress nice and greet every member of the family with the same practiced smile, regardless of if he even knew who they were, or if they could tell the difference between him and his cousins.

None of it felt like real family to him though, when not even his mother could be bothered to come despite the effort he went through to get her an invite, and him and Max both playing the role of perfect children so well they almost forgot the other was there.

So him and his friends just sit at a table in the corner between making his appearances with great aunts who he didn’t even know, acting like ordinary kids under the watchful eye of Neil Hargrove until it’s over and they get to pack up the green and yellow decorations bought to be recycled for Max’s party again in four years and count all the money he’d gotten in cards, which he was supposed to be saving for college.

Steve again is the one to meet those expectations they held for Billy, the fallen keg king maybe not as undeserving of the title as they had thought.

As it turns out, his parents hadn’t been paying enough attention to realize it was time already to celebrate him, and it was far too late to send out invites if he wanted to have it before it was socially unacceptable but their standards at least, too much of his family living in Italy anyways, so he just had his own party.

The sort of party where kids came for the liquor, uncaring about the host of the state of their house after they're done getting their kicks, as long as they have something to do and a chemical codependency to form.

A couple of kids do actually bring him generic cards as congratulations, without money in them of course because they knew who he was and where he live, but not that his parents were planning on cutting him off as soon as they could, but most everyone else just came to get hammered, basically celebrating their own graduation with Steve’s money.

He’s miserable. He gets just as drunk as anyone else and passes out halfway through the party, waking up to a trashed house and a few stragglers on his lawn. Definitely not the type of celebration one has for their child they’re so proud of, or even actually gives two shits about.

~~~~~~~

Another expectation shattered, was the rivalry between Billy and Steve. They were supposed to be bitter enemies, the ex king shown up and beaten by the one who’d go on to steal his spotlight, but while they were different, from their personas and from each other botg, they were very much the same, and they recognized that in each other.

After they had thanksgiving break to let the tension between them cool off, things moved quickly from making friends at a house party neither of them wanted to be at to making out in the back seats of the Camaro.

By June they’ve been going steady for a couple of months already, but even though they’re officially at boyfriends status, Billy doesn’t go to Steve’s party. It was the night before his own and he’s pretty sure Neil would’ve killed him if he had stumbled home wasted just a couple of hours before he was supposed to look nice and represent the family well. Steve told him he didn’t expect him to come to something like that anyways, knew the party scene was for the side of Billy everybody but Steve liked to see, so he doesn’t go.

Steve does end up showing at Billy’s though, not able to stay long because Billy was sure Neil would see them for what they were, even if another of the assumptions about him was that he and Heather were dating. So he just drops by with a card and his well wishes, pretending he was only there as a courtesy, being members of the same sports teams and all.

He slips the card in the box and gives Billy and Tommy a little, too cool for this, definitely ditching as soon as he can, wave, and that’s the end of it.

But what nobody knows, or could presume about them, is that Billy came back to his house that night, and they had their own little celebration, for the both of them. No parents who couldn’t be bothered or who controlled every last minor detail, no people there in the name of just family or just to have a good time.

Just Billy and Steve, the real them that nobody knew like one another did.

[missyasf]

Game Of Hearts

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↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 11k

___| Next

Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together! 

Side mention: This could be considered a prequel to the current Alice In Borderland. I’m writing based off the Manga bc I was a glutton and couldn’t wait no spoilers will be present as of...

Escapism

noun

the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy ♡ 

You had known all about this during your short lifespan, as a child you’d often play pretend with your sister that you were movie stars living in a five star hotel rather than the shitty busted up apartment on the wrong side of town. Escapism came in, many forms. It was often a way for people to cope psychologically, simply because sometimes, facing the reality of your situation can be too much for one person to handle mentally. 

Or at least, that was the topic of your lecture today in class. The human mind always fascinated you. Even at the young tender age when your mom died and you watched your once cozy little family fall apart piece by piece until nothing was left in its wake. 

It was your fascination that drove you now for most things, why? Why, why, why? You always wondered what the motive was behind someone’s actions, not only thing but you wanted to  understand them better, to try and sympathize. You were already fairly intuitive in nature. It wasn’t difficult to read people. In fact your line of work made it easy, you’d watch a man who would be excited to be with you reach for his left finger as if used to touching something. A wedding band perhaps? 

The lowlife cheater was fairly common in a whore house after all. Or the man who had been pissy this morning behind you in line because you had decided to try something new on the menu and you weren’t fast enough, obviously because he was tardy and woke up late, his shirt unbeknownst to him was button the wrong way and his tie loose and even the way his hair fell were all signs of being late to work. 

It was the little things you noticed in people’s facial expressions, the way they moved and spoke. You could read people like a book, and sure sometimes it was useful. But you often wished you weren’t so perceptive. It drove you mad knowing when a potential love interest was no longer interested through a simple text or a friend not wanting to talk by their tone. Sometimes you wished you could just blot it all out, still, you lived like this day in and day out, you were used to this kind of thing and honestly. Friends? Love? Your gaze dropped a little to your feet, the pumps you were wearing a jet black and the heel too high for any respectable woman to ever wear. 

...It wasn’t like you ever had any of those in your life and you had struggled to come to terms with the fact that you could survive without that kind of support. Still...it made you envious, the couple happily holding hands on the sidewalk. The group of friends all laughing at a table while they studied. Oftentimes these feelings are muted, but when you’re faced with something you’ve always craved, those muted feelings suddenly become hyperactive in your mind. 

It’s pathetic, honestly. 

“How dare you! You disgusting slut!” 

In this moment however, you were brought back to reality at just what was happening, you squeaked loudly as you dodged the shoe the woman had thrown at you. This was all a regular occurrence, you had a lot of regulars who weren’t the most amazing people but hey, money was money. But along with them they also left a trail which their wives and girlfriends always followed. And then they always blamed you instead of their partner for leaving them for a prostitute despite you never having agreed to anything such as that.

It really wasn’t your fault, you were just trying to make a living while juggling with keeping up your own education, paying your fathers debts, rent and still somehow getting food on the table. What part time college job could provide that?

Prostitution wasn’t a job you would’ve gone into willingly but given the past and your trauma that was already laced in it you had been learning that sometimes because of the trauma we experience, sometimes people go back to that same trauma and actively participate in it as a way of feeling like they’re in control. 

That whatever happened before, would never happen again if you were in control. You weren’t sure if you qualified under this category, trauma came in many forms but the one most used as an example in your class was that a study showed that women who were assaulted often develop a kink for consensual non consent as a way of coping with what happened, except this time, it’s in a controlled environment where it can end the moment they want it too. 

Again, you weren’t sure you fell into this category, but you often wondered if your line of work was intertwined with your earlier memories when you were younger, if anything it brought comfort to you. Much of it, blotted out now simply because your mind couldn’t take it. Trauma expressed through amnesia was also much more common than many thought, and it’s so small, so easy to miss. After all how can you be aware of something if you have no memory of it anymore?

“Security!” Your manager screeched, two of the bodyguards were already between you and the feral woman who was ready to gut you clean as she screamed hysterically, her husband...your regular....at her side trying to get her to calm down only for her to come to her senses and slap him clean across the face. You didn’t condone violence, but he did have it coming...

You weren’t about to justify cheaters, you couldn’t imagine the hurt someone had to feel that not only did their partner cheat on them, but it was with someone...like you...You had been trying not to put down your job occupation, sex workers were just as valid as anyone else...you knew you would’ve thought this way if it was anyone but you in this position. 

You sighed as you ran your hands through your hair, watching the couple get dragged out of the tight space of the brothel, “Jesus christ....didn’t you say you stopped using perfume because of this?” Miki, your manager sighed as she crossed her arms. You didn’t want to say your manager was your friend but she was the closest you had as you’d often complain to her about most of your problems. Sex work often attracted broken people, it wasn’t something she wasn’t used to. 

“Yeah, but apparently he never got around to washing his clothes…” You wiped your mouth on the back of your hand, “Lipstick stain,” You glanced down at the ruby pink color that stained your skin now, “Fuck...that did hurt.” You rubbed your sore cheek that was still throbbing from where she had first slapped it when she ripped the door open of the room where she got to see with her own eyes you riding her husband. 

It had happened so many times now you weren’t even embarrassed about someone walking in let alone a partner. Miki gave you a lopsided smile as she patted your shoulder, “Guess that just pays for being one of the best here. Did you at least get paid.” 

You nodded, “Yeah, I always make them pay in advanced but I was hoping to get a tip afterwards...He was a lawyer so you know he had good money.” You sighed, crossing your arms, you were well aware of his partner because a lot of the time he didn’t even come in for sex anymore. It was funny how humans work. 

He often felt his wife was overbearing and you had suspected some sort of verbal abuse by the way he talked about her constant screaming. Truthfully, you don’t think he ever intended on cheating with her. He just wanted someone to talk to without being judged, you could relate with sympathy to that, but he unfortunately chose to walk into a brothel instead of a therapy clinic and this truly was the only inevitable outcome. Still, you hope if for anyone’s sake, he gets that divorce for himself. 

 “Hey I think I’m gonna call it a day. I need to get back to Nanami, she was wanting to talk to me about college applications.” You sighed as you rubbed your neck, ever since she had graduated high school she had been chomping at the bit to start applying for college, maybe to just get out of the house and into a dorm. You couldn’t blame her and if she did that it would lighten your load a little. 

Guilt washed over you at the thought as Miki chuckled, “They grow up pretty fast huh? My brother was the same way, except the moment he found out I was a sex worker was the moment he called me a whore and we haven’t talked since. That was probably about five years ago,” She crossed her arms as she sighed, “Crazy how the things we do for the ones we love, never appreciate our effort...I’ll see you tomorrow then?” 

“If I’m not bruising.” You offered a weak smile as you nodded at her before going back to your room to get changed. Truthfully, you much like anyone else, often wished you could go to a world where reality wasn’t a concept any longer. Where you could lay out in the sun for the whole day and just soak up it’s rays with no worries or trepidations. 

But sooner then later everyone had to face their fears. Even you, you supposed. But no matter how hard you fought your demons, they always came back tenfold. Again, you supposed your story was no different from tens of thousands, and yet you all live on regardless. Maybe it’s you who should be the one seeking therapy. Pulling on your jeans and the cropped top over your head before pulling the jacket over your arms and grabbing your bag. 

The walk home was as quiet as ever, your hood over your head and earbuds any unwanted attention, it wasn’t too late at night, only eleven PM and your work had just been getting started but that had ruined the night for you and besides, you had already failed a test today, you could use the sleep tonight. 

Occasionally you’d hear the sirens of  a cop car passing by or a bystander shout, nothing out of the ordinary in this neighborhood. Walking up to the apartment complex you pulled the key from your bag as you unlocked the door. Quietly stepping insides as you shut the door before locking it once more. Your nose wrinkled at the smell of stale air mixed with rotten...something…

If anything, you were always lacking in something, you had been so busy most of the day that you never had time to clean anything leaving the house in a horrible state. Not that you thought this was much of a house. 

Walking down the narrow hallway you opened the rickety door with a missing lock as you gave a brief smile to the small clump of bedsheets. Your sister was curled up and on her phone, eyes darting to the door with a hint of fear before she jumped up, “Y/n! You’re home earlier from night shift already!?” 

You offered a smile as you set down your bag and nodded, sitting down on the mattress that laid on the floor as you replied, “Yeah, a coworker needed the extra hours so I let them cover for me tonight. Besides, you wanted to talk about college applications?” Your sister was under the impression your late night job was bartending at some hole in the wall downtown, where in all actuality you just went there to drink a few days and talk to the loud and sometimes obnoxious, but good hearted bartender who loved talking about his nerdy underaged friends that couldn’t do anything beside stay and drink soda. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t think your sister would accept you, if she knew what you were actually doing. Fear, most times came in many different forms and this was one of them. You simply didn’t want to be judged, even by her. So nobody in your life truly knew who you were, and therefore, how could you hold the expectation for people to accept you into society if you were already self sabotaging yourself? 

All philosophy aside, you were simply a lost soul, looking for your way in the cruel reality called life. 

“Yes!” Nanami was chipper as always as she squealed, clapping her hands, “I…! I was thinking about applying to the university you attend! Maybe I'll get a grant and move into the dorms there? I already applied for several jobs, I’m just waiting on a callback!” 

You offered a small smile as you hugged your knees to your chest, “I think you’d like it there, there’s lots to do around campus. But what will you go in for? The only advice I can offer is be sure it’s what you want to do.” 

Nanami’s face faltered a little as she hummed, “Well...I thought maybe working with animals? I’d love to be an assistant surgeon in veterinarian? I know it’s a pretty...sad job but...I really like the idea of being able to heal such innocent things.” Your smile tugged into a gentle one at your sister. She was too tender for this world.

It had been your goal sense the day your mother died that you took care of your sister, it didn’t matter what happened to you. You could rot for all you cared at the end of the day, all you wanted was to look up and see your sister's smile and her happiness in life blossom. She more than anyone deserved it. 

“I think you’ll be great at it.” You encouraged as you rested your chin on your hand, always happy to see her bounce in excitement as you yawned, your body was used to your demanding schedule but it was always more than happy to welcome a few extra hours of sleep.”

Hearing the door loudly slam close caused you both to jump, Nanami hurriedly crawled back in bed, pretending to be asleep as you frowned. Your dad must’ve come back home from wherever he was. 

“Y/n! Just stay here! Can’t you talk to him later?” Nanami looked scared, she always did when he was around. But you weren’t about to stand down to the bastard any day of the week, you offered a weak smile as you replied. 

“It’s fine Nami, I’ll be just a few minutes.” You replied, you knew that she knew, that was probably a lie. But you’d try your best, for her sake at least. But somebody had to put this guy in his place occasionally and it was always you. It results in a lot of screaming sometimes, other times he’d break down in tears or on a bad occasion you’d get shoved to the ground, a few times hit. Nothing major. 

Walking out of the room you leaned against the wall of the entrance of the hallway watching your father stumble around in the living room, “Did you finally talk to the loan company?” You called out as you asked, not in a forgiving mood tonight. He had said he’d do this for two weeks in a row. The company that sank your whole family into the ground. The reason your mother couldn’t take it anymore and put a blade to her wrist. 

Your father stood up, looking a little wobbly, obviously drunk, “Now listen here little girl I don’t have shit to own to you or anyone else.” You sighed as you tucked your tongue into your cheek, annoyance flowing inside you as you straightened up. You weren’t going to be bullied into being scared of this guy. 

“Actually you do,” Your smile twisted into something more sharp, more bitter and sinister as you walked forward, “See, if you hadn’t of gotten involved in something shady like loan sharks we wouldn’t be drowning in debt and mom wouldn’t have killed herself because of you and both your daughters wouldn’t hate you. I know you drink away all our money in some pathetic attempt to escape from the cold reality that you fucked up your whole life and watched your family slip from your fingers while not even trying to do anything other then put us in further shit,” You closed your eyes as you tilted your head, “But the least you could do, is admit that. You owe us at least that for being a total fuck up.” 

You opened your eyes to find pure rage brewing in your fathers eyes as you smiled once more, this time a false sense of sickly sweet tone to it as you shrugged, “Or you could live in denial, at this point, there really isn’t anything you can do to get anyone back ♡ ” 

You had turned around, planning to tell Nanami that maybe she should go sleep over at a friends house today but you never got the chance, suddenly being slammed into the wall and flecks of spit hitting your face, “I am your fucking father! I deserve respect from you and your worthless sister! Do you know how much I provide for you both?” 

Anger splintered through your veins as you grabbed onto his wrists, his fingers digging into your neck as you squirmed, “Like fucking what!? A shitty broken down apartment that your vacant from because you’re too fucking ashamed of yourself to even look at us sober!?” 

Much like years in the past you weren’t surprised to hear Nanami cry as she rushed out of the room at the sound of you both screaming, “Stop!” She cried out, trying to break you both up, “Stop! Don’t fight! Why…! Why can’t we all just get along!” She sobbed only for your dad to shove her down making her curl up in defeat. 

Alarm bells were triggered in your head at the sight of Nanami on the ground, she had never actually gotten hurt while in your sight and it was triggering something deep inside you as you watched him stalk up to her. Your hands shaking and rage boiling in your mind as you grabbed the closet thing you could find. An empty beer bottle on the table. 

Your vision blurred and you don’t quite remember what happened other than glass shattering over his head and the brute force of you shoving something before blood was stained on your hands. 

How did you end up sitting against the wall? Why was there….blood on your hands…? Your fingers trembled at the metallic sticky substance. All you could hear were Nanami’s sobs and cries as she frantically pushed herself away from the body slumped on the ground. 

“You…! He…!” Nanami’s eyes brimmed with tears as you heard a loud boom making you jump, your eyes darting to the open window where….fireworks, big and bold crashed and crackled before you felt like you were sucked into a vortex making your whole vision black out. 

Your head felt fuzzy and there was ringing in your ears as you groaned, curling up into yourself as the darkness beckoned you closer before you forcibly opened your eyes. You were laying against the hardwood floor. Beams of light streaked through the window and you could see dust particles in the air against the shower of sunshine that streamed in. 

...Wait...Light? The thought had perplexed your head enough to make you push up from the ground, memories pulling into your mind as your breath became shallow, suddenly looking to the side where...you slumped against the wall. It must’ve just been a bad dream….your eyes flickered to Nanami’s curled up figure...a really vivid dream…? Something wrenched in your gut as you rubbed your eyes. What happened? “Nami…!” You whispered, forcing your muscles to move despite their protest as she whined. 

After another moment she reluctantly opened her eyes, flickering around before she suddenly scrambled up, taking a deep breath as if realizing what had happened before, looking towards where your dad once was she frowned, “...I...What…” She seemed just as perplexed as you and if her face was anything to go by, last night had obviously happened, “Is dad…” She looked at the absent place of the floor. 

Leaning against the wall your eyes darted around the room, “I guess so…” You silently felt relief at knowing your dad was still very much alive as you leaned back as you closed your eyes, trying to remember what had happened before everything went dark...oh..! The fireworks...had it been a celebration last night? Your brows pinched together, something felt...off...getting up you opened the door to the apartment walking out. 

“Y/n? Y/n! Hey! Where are you going!” Nanami called out, quickly chasing after you as you frowned, cars were parked odd and there was no one out on the street...as in...at all...Something was very wrong and you couldn’t figure out what. 

“Wow...it..must be a slow day…” Nanami felt a sense of discomfort at the lack of life as you both walked down the side walk, it didn’t just feel like a slow day it felt, apocalyptic. As if humanity just left on it’s own leaving nothing but an empty city behind. Cars were parked on the curb and a few even left in the street.

“No, it’s like everyone vanished...This is really weird.” You wrapped your arms around yourself as you frowned, looking around as you came closer to where typically it would be a booming part of the downtown but it was empty, just as everything before. 

“Well, maybe it’s a national holiday?” Nanami rubbed her head, trying to make sense of the situation just as much as you, surely everyone wasn’t...gone...right? She looked around as she bit her lip, second guessing herself at all the cars that were vacant, “Hey Y/n.” 

You paused as you looked at your sister, curving an eyebrow as she offered a weak smile, “What if everyone got raptured away like they talk about in christanity?” Your expression flattened as she giggled, obviously getting a rise out of you as you crossed your arms. 

Raptured? Where? To heaven? “Wouldn’t it be fire and brimstone then if that was the case?” Nanami pouted at your words as you shrugged, snickering yourself at her expression, the tables now turned as you sighed, “I don’t think there’s anyone left in Tokyo...I mean, it feels like...we’d have seen someone by now...right?” 

“Well…” Nanami frowned once more, a little disturbed at your words as she spoke, “There’s no way everyone could be gone I mean, where would they go? And how could we miss something like that...Maybe the police found us and now we’re under some weird simulation.” 

Chills spilled down your spine as you shoved her making her whine, “Don’t say that! That makes me feel all weird…! I didn’t…!” You cut yourself off, you didn’t what? Murder your own dad in cold blood...you looked down at your hands, they were free of any blood but it still felt like something like sin lingered. Like no matter where you went, it would always be stuck to you.

You didn’t like this, not one bit. Briefly you felt the urge to go hunt down your dad, he was a deadbeat but you would never...you’d never kill him....Right?

“Well…” Nanami hummed her eyes scanning ahead before they jumped to the mall that was up ahead, “Hey…! If nobody is here...maybe we could make use of it! Come on! Let's go!” You yelped at her grabbing your arm before dragging you ahead. Cars were all parked and yet not a single person exited through the mall's entrance. Something just felt off! You wrapped your arms around yourself as you warily looked around the empty mall, “Nanami I really don’t like this!” You looked around, concern bubbling inside you as she ran ahead into the store, digging through the section of clothes as she giggled. 

“Relax! I doubt any of this is real and even so…! Who’s going to stop us!?” She shrugged as she bounced in excitement, “Oh my god! I had dreamed of something like this happening! Now we can do whatever we want! Go wherever we want! Y/n!” She gasped with a smile, “Now we don’t even have to worry about money!” 

“We don’t even know if this is permanent.” You looked around warily, not partaking as she began plucking off the racks, “Regardless of what this is, I don’t like it. I want to go back home, our home. This just doesn’t…” You shook your head, “This just doesn’t feel right.” 

“Well you can feel that way!” Nanami clacked her tongue as she gave a childish smile, “But I’m gonna go through this whole store and get a new wardrobe so feel free to sit on the bench and tell me what you think looks good!” 

Looking away you sighed, unable to pinch the anxious feeling you had away as you sat down reluctantly as Nanami went into the changing room. Well...at least she was smiling and she was happy...With each outfit Nanami tried out and giggled, you giggled with her and maybe things weren’t so bad after all…

“What a perfect day.” Nanami hugged you close as she sighed, yawning as you looked up at the sky in awe, you had seen a single star while living in Tokyo before, but now it was filled with constellations and millions of stars that stretched for miles. You could stare at it for days and days. The sun had just set a little over half an hour ago and you were ready to retire and find something to eat at the apartment. 

You and Nanami had tried going to the food court but much to your dismay everything had been...rotten...soiled and ruined, meaning there was no point in trying to find anything there and you were getting really hungry despite devouring bags of chips you had both got at the convenient store, another thing that stood out to you was that there was no electricity...at all..

Looking back up to the sidewalk something caught your eyes...was that…! Light!? “Hey! Nanami look!” You shook her making her squeak as she looked up ahead, “It’s the hospital! They have electricity there which means there’s other people! Of course! Why didn’t we think to check essential areas!? Come on! Lets go! I wanna figure out what happened.” 

“Alright! It sucks that this is already over but at least I can finally charge my phone, the battery is pretty low.” Nanami nodded in agreement as you both made your way up the road. 

The walk wasn’t too far and you felt excitement fill you at the sight of the hospital all lit up as you walked into the entrance, a frown slowly setting on your lips once more as you walked past the receptionist desk and…! Oh there’s other people! 

You felt relief wash over your as you ran up, there were at least seven other other people here at least! “Hey! Guys oh my god. I thought everyone was gone! What’s going on?” You asked, smiling bright in relief that you and Nanami weren’t the only ones left behind. Was this some kind of evac point or…?

Silence ensued and you slowly began to frown as you felt everyone stare at you as if you were insane, “Um…” You wrapped a hand around your arm, suddenly feeling as if everyone knew something you didn’t, “What’s going on…?” You furrowed your brows as you tilted your head, unsure of why everyone was looking at you like this. 

Somebody looked like they were going to talk to you, a guy relatively around your age but a woman stopped him- his girlfriend maybe? “Stop, the less that know the better chance we have.” She said quietly though you still heard just enough. Fear twisted inside you as you took a cautious step back...The...the less you knew? 

“Wow, you guys are assholes,” A girl suddenly whistled out, she was sitting in a waiting chair, a cowboy hat on her head paired with distressed jeans and...a bikini top? Strange but you’d roll with it if it meant getting answers. She stood up as she offered a smile, “Akari, nice to meet ya’. You folk must be new to the Borderlands huh?” She jutted her bottom lip a little as you frowned. 

“Um I’m Y/n and this is my sister Nanami...?” You introduced yourself despite feeling confused as you raised a brow, “Borderlands…?” You echoed, what was that supposed to be? Other than Tokyo?

Akari gave a nod as she let out a brief chuckle, as if amused by your confusion but you sensed she had no real ill will unlike....your eyes checked to the couple that stood off in the corner on their own, “That’s what they call it here,” She nodded in affirmation as your eyes darted back to her in confusion, “To be frank with ya’, I don’t have a damn clue what's going on. Nobody does. But ever since you crossed the threshold there’s no going back, so I’ll be brief. We’re all considered outsiders here and we participate in games at venues such as this to extend our stay.”

Nanami and you looked at one another confused as Akari waved you over to the table in front of a TV, “Here, you’ll wanna put these on, it’s for the game.” She explained as you carefully picked up the metal bracelet, something about it felt ominous as you reluctantly put it on, jumping at the way it latched together and there was no getting it off now, “Word of advice, just don’t panic and you probably won’t die.” 

“What?!” You screeched as Akari smacked your back, panic evident in your voice as you turned around to face her making her laugh again, this girl was insane! She had to be! “You’re…! You’re joking!” 

Akari wrinkled her nose as she tilted her head, “Ah shit, I wish I was- Oh…! There’s the last player!” Just on que everyone turned to look at who had arrived, someone heaving breaths with their hands on their knees as if they had sprinted. You were mildly worried at why he seemed so scared but you had a feeling that was the least of your problems right now.

“Y/n what’s going on…?” Nanami frightened grabbed your arm as she hid a little behind you due to all these immensing strangers that looked like they were ready to feed you to the sharks, literally. 

The guy walked past you both as he put on his bracelet, your eyes sharp as you watched it latch together automatically, your gaze jumping to everyone's wrists to notice you were all now wearing one. The TV suddenly lit up. 

Game 

You squinted your eyes a little at the sight of the screen, just what were you about to unwillingly participate in…?

Difficulty: 5♣

“The game you will be participating in is, Monster under the bed.”

A playing card? Monster under the bed? Your brows furrowed as you looked at Nanami who shrugged a little despite her concerned expression, looking just as confused as you. You could’ve made a joke out of this, surely it would’ve been easier. Maybe everyone would bust out laughing and you’d be at the end of a poor joke but...somehow you felt that wasn’t the case. Thus paying very close attention to whatever was on this screen, 

“Everyone will be sectioned off into pairs by the number chosen on your bracelet, when the doors to the ward open you will have three rounds ten minutes each to figure out who is the monster under the bed that must be returned to its own, once the ten minutes is up you must hide before you are found. If the selected pair that is the monster is chosen correctly it’s a Game Clear.  If the monster is not found by the end of the third round or if the pair fails to hide it’s a Game Over.” 

Rules: 

Once the doors are open you and your partner must find a hiding spot by the time limit

Both partners must be hidden. If one is exposed to the monster it’s a Game Over for both partners

There will be an X marked on the ground to place the monster of your guess onto. 

You will have three rounds of ten minutes each to find the monster.

Any attempt to remove bracelets results in a Game Over

If the monster is not found by the third round a Game Over.

The only Game Clear condition required is for the monster to be returned by the third round.

What…

What!? 

“Now the game will commence, you have five minutes to figure out who you have been paired up with before the doors open.”

Your mind was blanking as you watched everyone look down at their bracelet, hurriedly you lifted your arm as your mind blanked 2 looking back at Nanami her lips were already quivering as she sniffled lifting her arm in defeat as your lips dropped open, 5.

“Hey! Guess you’re my partner!” Akari grinned as she wrapped an arm around Nanami who sniffled, “Oh…” She looked between you both, “Oh! Oh don’t worry! We’re not the monster so I’ll make sure your sister lives! You should go find your partner.” 

Your hands trembled unsure of what to do before you went to hug Nanami, “Whatever happens just stay calm okay! I need to go find my partner now!” You whispered, kissing her cheek as she sniffled while nodding. 

Everybody was shuffling around looking for their partner now, you passed by a few people, 4, 1, 3...did you even have a partner…? You scanned around, your throat tightening a little in panic, there had to be a mistake! There were only 8 people surrounding you- you yelped at the tight grip that suddenly held your arm forcing you to turn around to be met with a white hooded figure, a lollipop handle hanging and earbuds in before sighing, “So it appears I’m stuck with someone useless.” The man concluded as he stood up making you back away a little as your lips parted somewhat indignantly. 

How...how rude! You looked up, unable to fully make out his face but you could tell you didn’t like him one bit, “I’ll…! First of all I’m not useless! I’m just trying to understand what's going on! This is insane! We aren’t actually going to die from this, are we!?” Pushing his hood down you were immediately met with a snide gaze and cat eyes that leered at you like you were nothing more then dirt beneath his feet, long blonde hair pushed behind his shoulders and his bangs hanging low, suddenly a viscous side smile appeared on his lips, “Apparently so, otherwise I wouldn’t have watched half my last game get their brains blown out and the other half hung.” 

You reeled a little away from the blonde, your face dropped in semi horror, unsure if this was just a sick joke or he was serious. You searched his face a thousand times over, but for the first time in your life, you couldn’t figure out what his goal was. You couldn’t figure out anything about him, except he was exceptionally cold, “Well I don’t suppose I have much choice to doubt you,” He said with an annoying sing song tone as he rattled his wrist that showed the bracelet with a matching 2 on it, “My name is Chishiya, just stay out of my way and we’ll both live.” 

How arrogant! You scoffed as he walked past you, not the least bit bothered at your offense as you whipped around, glaring at his back. How come out of everyone you got stuck with the most…! Pompous! Arrogant! Ugh! You crossed your arms as you followed behind him, stilling secretly sending daggers into his back with your eyes as everyone shuffled into the ward. 

Hospital beds were scattered around the room, a few closets and one large vent at the bottom right corner of the room ahead. 

“Wait, what is this?” The first person to speak was a fair thin older gentleman, he appeared friendly as he observed the room around him, everyone looked around in confusion as you noticed what he meant. 

Any possible hiding spot was covered by either sheets of metal or locked tight...How were any of you supposed to hide if…!? The rules mentioned nothing about solving puzzles to gain access to a hiding spot!

“Forget that,” Another man said with a sneer he was broad and a bit older, well into his late twenties at least, perhaps a gym coach? Or maybe a wrestler of some sort? He looked like he could break you and nearly every other person in this room like a twig, “We need to figure out who’s the monster. “ He cracked his knuckles as you leered a little away and nobody spoke for a second. 

Of course, who would out themselves as the monster, more importantly, how does one even know they’re the monster? You could immediately feel tension rise as the previous, more patient man spoke, a little more collected, “How about we just check one another's’ watches! If anywhere it would show us on that! One pair should work on solving these puzzles here so everyone has a place to hide” 

“Unless the monster is among us and it sabotages us so we all die by the time limit.” The girlfriend crossed her arms as she darted her eyes around. Truthfully you didn’t know what to believe, the wording on the soundbox was rather confusing as to just what were you looking for. Was the monster supposed to be in the group or it’s own entity?

“If that were the case it would’ve showed up on our watches, which it didn’t. So that won’t work.” Chishiya spoke matter of fact, his tone cool as his eyes gazed across the room before he walked away from the group inspecting various hiding spots granted you didn’t think he was about to help anyone but himself, if anything you were at least lucky that him securing a hiding spot meant it was one for you as well. 

You looked at everyone in confusion, some arguing while others scattered to look for a hiding spot as the clock ticked down. You breathed in relief at the sight of Nanami and Akari both going for a bed to hide under. Your gaze finally found Chishiya’s form before following him, unsure of what you were supposed to do, if anything outside trying to figure out just what the monster even was. 

You glanced up at the digital clock that stood above the entrance you had just come in from, it was already a minute in before you searched the floor where you found a red X in the center of the room, that must’ve been the...what? Offering spot? You cringed a little at the idea. Looking forward you peered behind Chishiya’s shoulder deciding to not think about that, it seemed the metal sheet that had wrapped around the bed and was sealed to the ground was locked by some sort of metal device…? Contraption? Lock?

“Isn’t hiding under a bed a bit obvious…?” You frowned as you crossed your arms, unsure as you looked behind your shoulder once more to where accusations were already being thrown in the group. 

“The vent is a decoy to make you waste time, I already checked,” Chishiya replied, his fingers nimble as they rattled the metal, “And even if someone were to accomplish it in the time limit it’s the most obvious spot the monster would first check. Next would be the closet given it’s at eye level and the first thing one is drawn too when they walk into a room.” 

Your lips parted a little in surprise at his assessment...obviously he wasn’t just overconfident, “And why this spot?” If he had really thought about all this in less than a minute then...did he have a reason for this spot? You now found yourself, slightly less annoyed and a little more curious as to what was going on in his mind. 

“If the monster were to check a bed it would be after his eyes are drawn to the closet. Next in that line of sight would be the vent directly across it, which would be his next place to look if not his first and vice versa. The beds are all staggered throughout the room making them less conspicuous compared to the other hiding places, the bed on the far end of the room would be no good.” 

Your brows furrowed in curiosity at his assessment as you watched Chishiya blow a piece of hair from his face, wiggling out one piece of the knotted metal, “It’s too far from the entrance where as the one in the middle is by average the one most people would start with, where as the first? It’s almost too soon in the start to look there thus making it the safest.” 

“It’s them! They’re over there conspiring!” You both twisted around to watch the broad man point an accusing finger at you both as your eyes darted from him to the clock on the wall, which read at six minutes. A few other pairs, relievingly so was your sister had started working on a hiding spot while a few others stood around and argued. 

Your face coiled a little as you replied, not appreciating the accusation to such a baseless accusation, did they not realize the longer they argued the less time they had to secure a hiding spot? “Someone who’s terrible at playing the minority would often be the first to point fingers. There’s only six minutes left before the first round is over and we need to hide. But if you want to talk about this then sure,” 

You stepped closer as you crossed your arms, scanning over him before continuing, “Let’s talk about the chances of you being the monster, ever since you first came in you’ve been all twitchy and acting like something is wrong. Even when we first got paired up, you seemed a little panicked. Anyways,” You turned around as you spoke, “How do we know one pair is a monster and not one single person?” 

“Eh,” Akari sat on the bed that her and Nanami chose as Nanami fumbled to work out the puzzle, she had always been good at those! You felt assured as your heart beat frantically at the idea of them not being able to get a hiding spot in time, “Let’s all calm down,” She gave an awkward laugh, “This isn’t a hearts game, we shouldn’t divide our trust. This is a team building after all which means this game should be making us work together, the last thing we need to do is throw that away on our own accord.” 

“...Team building?” You frowned as you murmured having not been aware that this was some sort of game category...Hearts? Clubs? The memory of the playing card flashing on the screen appeared in your mind again, right...was that to stand for some kind of game genre? If Clubs stood for team building then...there should be no reason that the monster is any of you. Why would they even suggest that to begin with?

Then...what was the monster? 

“One minute remaining.”

The lights suddenly began flickering, “Got it.” Chishiya yanked the last piece of metal undone as he pulled the sheet of metal off, everyone was now scrambling and the few who had not done their puzzle were now panicking. Getting down you crawled under the bed, your back flat to the ground as you inhaled sharply as you noticed the lights beginning to dim, “This is...uncomfortable.” You mumbled, trying to ignore being pressed shoulder to shoulder with a man you didn’t even know besides him having a god complex, “We should’ve went with the vent.” 

“By all means, if you want to try and get yourself killed already. Go for it.” You turned to look at him, dark endless cat eyes meeting you as you harshly glared at him, why was he so condescending!? 

You were about to snap back something before you realized it was completely dark and the door slammed open causing you to jump. Was your heart always this loud? You could see the heavy boots step against the ground making you unsteadily inhale, swallowing as you closed your eyes. You could only place your trust that Chishiya hadn’t picked a horrible spot. 

More importantly your mind was plagued with worry for your sister, you had been so caught up you hadn’t even tried to help her yet...did she even…! You heard a sudden loud scream from two people causing you to stiffen as you looked up at the bed frame lined with wooden planks. You could only cower back down at blood suddenly painting the floor.

Your stomach suddenly churned as you covered your mouth. So he wasn’t lying. Chishiya however looked just as nonpulsed as he did when he first told you himself, his eyes blankly staring up at the bed frame as if this was just a regular game of hide and seek as people screamed as they were torn apart. 

Or that’s at least what you assumed it was. 

After an agonizing few minutes the doors finally closed and the lights flickered back on making you breath in relief as you waited a moment, could you even bear to face what was waiting on the floor? You winced a little before something caught your eye. What was with all this extra wood stuck in the frame? 

Chishiya had already gotten out from under the bed and before you suddenly heard a few girls scream, your sister among them making you puff and breath as you scrambled from beneath the bed.

Standing up your mouth agape at the horrid sight of the female and the broad male that had been too focused on accusing others, they didn’t have...enough time...it looked like they had been completely mutilated, blood pouring on the floor and the smell made you want to gag as you looked away. 

“Well, now what do we do.” Akari scratched her head, also not looking phased that two people had just been brutally killed. Your eyes stayed placed on the bodies before they slowly trailed to your hands, the memory of blood staining them still fresh in your mind. 

“Well we have to figure out where the monster is?” The girlfriend of the couple spoke up, she looked around somewhat suspiciously, “But I’m not sure where we could find it? Maybe it has to do with the bracelets? Maybe there’s a clue hidden.” 

“Oh what about in the cabinets?” The collected man from before offered as he went to search the cabinets, your frown furthered as you glanced around. Everyone was now getting along, still on edge but along at least. 

Chishiya only leaned against the wall, his hands in his pocket as he rolled the lollipop in his mouth, his gaze the same steely one it was before as if he had done his job in securing his temporary salvation and was now done. 

Or maybe he just didn’t know what to do? It was obvious his strength didn’t lie in teamwork, clearly. But then again, you weren’t sure what was going on, you couldn’t get a read on him. Crossing your arms you stayed beside him, your eyes briefly washing over your sister who was working Akari to dig through a desk together. 

“Cabinets and drawers are too obvious.” 

Chishiya’s eyes flickered to your figure, his expression just as cold if not...a little smug maybe? He said nothing in return as you continued, “If we’re looking for a monster, it’s obvious it’s a metaphor for something. Inanimate most likely,” Your eyes flickered around the room, inhaling sharply, why did it feel like the answer was right in front of you? 

Think…! You glanced at the clock, only six minutes left. The rounds were really short…! “It’d be something small and inconspicuous, something that’s in plain sight….but easy to miss...and the game said it was a pair which means there’s more than likely two.” 

“Three,” You glanced at Chishiya as he spoke, pulling the lollipop from his mouth, that permanent smug look on his face as he answered, “Two is what they want you to think and if you spend a round searching for each like they hope it’s game over by three.” 

You rubbed your neck as you frowned, “It’s already the second round and we haven’t even found one…” You glanced around before you suddenly perked up, “Wait…!” Getting back down on the floor you laid on your back as you pushed yourself under the bed, “Chishiya! Help me get this thing out!” 

Within a moment the blonde appeared as well, his eye sharp and keen as they noticed straight away what you were tugging at, “You think this is the monster?” 

You looked at him as you raised a brow, “We have less than four minutes left on our second round, you have a better idea?” Chishiya said no more but helped regardless, successfully with the both of you maneuvering it around from beneath the wooden boards you managed to get it out. 

Holding it up you looked at it, “It’s a poppet doll.” You turned to face him as you smiled in accomplishment, “They’re typically used as curses to place upon people in folklore. If anything is a monster, this would be it.” 

Excited at your first victory you pulled out from beneath the bed as you waved it up, “Hey guys! We need to start looking for something similar to this! If not a replica.” Everyone huddled around you examining the doll before the microphone sounded, “One minute remaining.”

Everyone had immediately scrambled back to their hiding place as you ran to the red X, placing the poppet on it, that's the reason that had to be there right!? You’d just have to see, hurriedly you ran back to your spot under the bed. Making it just in time as the lights flickered off. 

The door slamming open once more as you slowly inhaled, it had to work right? If not...then you were at a loss for what to search for and you were utterly screwed. 

The boots stomped against the floor past the bed as you closed your eyes, unable to calm yourself. After a moment you heard a screech and something rip open before screams followed making you jump. Chishiya’s eyes were on the feet that stood by the closet that had been obviously ripped open. 

You heard the sound of something wet and a gurgle before a body slumped to the floor and you could hear begging before something got snapped in half causing you to close your eyes once more...Did you make it angry!? Was that not it? Fuck. You had never felt this stressed before as it roamed around, passing in front of your bed as you tensed.

Was this your last moment alive? Truly? 

Much to your relief, the door closed once more before the lights followed, flickering on, relaxing a little you sighed as you reluctantly got out from underneath the bed with Chishiya to see what had happened. Much to your horror it was the man who had been so kind this whole game and his partner. 

The monster didn’t check anywhere in the first round, yet he did this round? You tried to block out the bodies slumped in the corner as you glanced at the red X, the poppet doll gone. 

“Why- why were they killed!” Nanami’s eyes began to water as she grabbed her head, “This makes no sense!” 

“If it accepts the doll that means we only need two more. What happened to them is irrelevant.” Chishiya stuffed his hands back into his pocket as you glared at him sideways, not appreciating his careless tone. You could deal with it, but you didn’t want your sister dragged into it. 

Grabbing your chin you thought about it for a moment, “Well...the game said to return the monster to its own and…” You glance down at the X, was there some kind of unsaid rule that if you didn’t get all three of them on the first try that it would start hunting down players? “How would a mother feel if they only returned one of its children?” 

“This thing doesn’t have feelings,” The girlfriend of the partners replied coldly, her eyes like steel of her own as she clung to her boyfriend, “It’s as he said,” She waved to Chishiya, “It doesn’t matter, we’ll be like them if we don’t figure this out.” 

You glanced around the room, “Tell me this, if it doesn’t matter, then why did they give us all these different hiding spots?” Everyone was silent, all eyes on you as if your question didn’t make any sense, your eyes flickered to the clock that was nearing eight minutes, you didn’t have time to monologue, “No think about it. The monster never intended to look for us- that was never stated in the rules. So why did they give us all of these choices if we only needed one per pair? My point being, if we found one poppet in our hiding spot then...You get where I’m going with this? Chishiya.” 

He glanced up at you acknowledgement as you curved a brow, your lips threatening to tug into a smile as you tilted your head, “How confident are you in solving that vent?” 

He glanced back down and for the first time, you watch a cocky wide smirk twist onto his lips, “You’re lucky to have someone as smart as me here to be able to open it.” You tucked your tongue into your cheek as in annoyance as he sauntered over to the vent already getting to work, “As for everyone else, we need to open up as many of these as possible to find the other two.” 

Everyone immediately scrambled to get to work, with only seven minutes on the clock this was...going to be difficult. First Nanami and Akari searched all the opened spots as you worked on another bed. Rubbing your head as muttered, “Shit...I never was good with puzzles.” You awkwardly hung your head in defeat temporarily, briefly letting your eyes shift to Chishiya who was fiddling with several locks, his gaze sharp and you couldn’t even imagine all the calculations going on in his mind. You were somewhat envious of what it would be like to be that perceptive to anything adhering to logic and solution. 

“Aha! Found one!” Akari yanked the poppet from the top of the closest as Nanami covered her mouth, looking like she was gonna throw up being so close to so many dead bodies. You ignored the grisly sight at the second victory of the poppet doll. Akari quickly placed it on the X as you began to work on the puzzle once more, looking up at the clock. Oh no...Oh no there was only three minutes left!

“Chishiya! Hows that puzzle coming along.” You called out, trying not to sound alarmed but you could see the clear cut annoyance on his face as he continued working through the locks, “If you’d like to help while struggling on a novice lock feel free.” He replied condescendingly, not appreciating the pressure. 

You rolled your eyes with huff as you finally managed to get it undone, feeling triumphant as you searched under the bed but there was no luck, “There’s nothing here!”

“Or here!” 

Several people called out as well as you rubbed your head, standing up, “If the only other place that hasn’t been searched is the vent then maybe there’s only two? It did say a pair.” You felt a lump of anxiety well in your chest at the sight of the clock ticking close to a minute and half. 

“Should we really take the risk?” The boyfriend asked as he rubbed his neck, concern on his face as he looked around, “If we’re wrong then we’ll all…” 

You hadn’t even thought of that…

“...! Hey.” You turned to Chishiya who seemed to be trying to get your attention making you immediately come over, if he was asking for you it’d have to be for something important given there was nearly less then two minute on the clock, “Hold this right here.” He immediately pushed your hand onto the lock right where he wanted it, “This is a two handle mechanism meaning that there needs to be two people unlocking it. Push down and out at the same time.”

“Hide! Everyone needs to hide now!”

The lights were beginning to flicker as everyone scrambled to hide, stress evidently put on your shoulders now more than ever. You could only hope he was right with your life on the line, “Now!” You pushed down on your side, the lock sliding as you pulled out, pulling a piece of metal holding up the lock directly out as Chishiya did the same with his side. 

The lock fell off as well as the metal of the gate of the vent, you immediately with no hesitation leaned inside it was dark and hard to make it out anything besides the steep drop off. So he was right, this was a waste of time for a hiding place. 

Looking down you caught sight of wood before laughing in relief, “It’s here! Wait shit! Chishiya! It’s too far down in the vent, you’re gonna have to lower me down to reach it. Time?” 

“Forty five seconds.” You felt unfamiliar hands on your hips lifting you up as you were lowered down, “We have time.” 

You squinted trying to see as you reached down, “Lower me further! I’m not quite in reach,” Your muscles began to ache in your shoulder as you reached harder, growling in frustration, “Time!?” You were lowered a little further, the wooden poppet brushing against your fingers. 

“Thirty seconds! Could you go a little faster?” 

“Could you lower me a little quicker- Ah! Hey did you almost let go!?” You snarled back, grabbing the poppet doll, giving a good yank as it lodged in between the crevice it was in, “Get me back up! I got it. Time!” 

“Twenty seconds.” Chishiya called back, pulling you up as you gasped, pain from the metal jabbing into your stomach evident as you were met with a darkening room. Setting your feet firmly on the floor your eyes flew to the flock fifteen seconds and your spot was all the way across the room….! 

“Where are we supposed to hide!? We can’t get all the way there in time!” You hissed out running to the X as you dropped the poppet down. The lights shut off as the final five seconds counted down and before you could do anything you were shoved to the floor as you squeaked. Your body throbbing in pain and your mouth immediately covered as you were met with the coverage of a bed but neither one of you were bold enough to try and scramble beneath it as the doors slammed open. 

Fuck.

Your whole body was tense as your eyes squeezed shut, you were just a little ahead of the X here, if this is all the poppet dolls...they’d have no reason to go further into the room...unless...Your hand squeezed tight around the wrist of the hand that covered your mouth as you tried to calm yourself at the loud thudded footsteps. 

It was quiet for a moment before you heard more walking before the doors closed. 

“Game Cleared”

The lights turned on as you fell limp against the side of the bed, Chishiya’s hand removed from mouth as you pushed your hair from your face, closing your eyes as you breathed in relief, “Holy shit.” Was all you could mutter to yourself, you had never been more grateful to breathe air in your whole life. 

“I guess you weren’t that useless after all huh.” Chishiya clacked his tongue as you turned your head to look at him, raising your brows as your face contorted into something between insult and amusement. 

You’ve only known this man for a half an hour and yet...something about his words, if you dug down deep past that smug expression of his, was this a compliment? Looking away you pressed your tongue into your cheek, trying to keep from smiling, “Yeah, and you’re still conceited and arrogant but, I guess you have a good reason to be.” You glanced back at him again but you could hardly hold his gaze, something in that brief moment was electrified between you both as you laughed somewhat sheepishly, closing your eyes as you looked away once more. 

What the fuck was even wrong with you? If this was back before today you would’ve totally kicked this guy in the balls and went about your day.

“Y/n!” You straightened up at the sound of Nanami’s voice, your expression brightening as you stood up, quickly running to her as you hugged her tight, “I can’t believe that just happened…” She whispered to you as she pressed her face into your neck. You couldn’t either but, you were thankful you had survived this game. Whatever it was. 

“Come on, let's get out of this room.” You tugged on her arm, no longer wanting to be in this death room despite knowing it was all over. Pulling her out you paused at the sight of the TV and a...register…? You bracelet unlocked as you took it off, tossing it on the table as you tilted your head. 

“Congratulations Game ''Clear ``.''

“...Now issuing visas to those who survived the game…?” You furrowed your brows as you glanced at Nanami who rubbed her head in confusion. You grabbed the receipt as you looked it over with a frown before picking up the 5 of clubs playing card along with it. Odd. 

“It’s how many days you’re allowed to stay now! Almost a whole week, that's a good score for a first game!” Akari called out as she patted your back making you jump a little. 

Almost a whole week…”Until we have to play again to...continue our stay?” You raised a brow, deciding not to ask what happens if you refused. While you had many questions, you had a feeling you knew the answer to that one. 

A part of you couldn’t even believe this had happened, or was it all still a dream. 

“Hey…! Sorry for all of that in there,” You turned to see...oh…! It was the boyfriend of the partner, the gifrlfriend stayed behind looking brooding, “I’m Ryu and that’s my girlfriend Hiroko I was...ah…” He faltered a little, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze flittered to his girlfriend who was glaring him down, “You should stop by the Beach- I...I think you guys would make good additions! Bye!” He hurried not even finishing his original sentence before scurrying off making you furrow your brows at what he even meant. 

“The hell?” Akari raised a brow as she watched the guy run off, “Seems to me he wanted to chat more…guess we know who's really pulling balls in that relationship.” 

Nanami suddenly snickered, covering her mouth as she giggled, “Hey Akari! Why don’t we stay together! We did really well in the game together!” 

“Awh shit, if you guys really want me too!” Akari offered a quirky smile as you laughed, you had no problems with someone staying behind with you. Looking past Akari your smile faded a little at the sight of a white hoodie exiting the entrance. 

“Hey- I’ll be right back!” You pushed past the both of them who paid you no mind as you pushed out of the exit and down the stone steps, not sure why your feet were making you chase after such an egotistical man but…!

“Chishiya!” You called out, making the man pause, he turned around, pulling the earbuds out as he glanced up from his hoodie, raising his brows in acknowledgement, “Um…” Why did you even chase after him…? You stepped down the last step as you wrapped your arms around yourself. 

It was silent for a moment as you berated yourself internally for why you seemed so speechless all of a sudden. Chishiya however didn’t seem to mind, his eyes absent now as he stared up at the hospital, “I used to do my clinical rotations here.” 

You were broken out of your silent thrashing of internal humiliation as you raised your brows, lips parting in curiosity as you asked, “You were a doctor?” 

“No,” Chishiya snorted, that amused calico look of his on his face once more as he looked down at you, “I was a medical student. Training to be a doctor but that obviously didn’t happen…” His lips curved into a frown, his eyes cold once more as they looked back up at the building, “I came here tonight to see if anyone I knew would be here.” 

“Oh…” You looked away, feeling somewhat awkward and unsure of how to reply to him as silence took over once more beside the occasional rustling of the wind in the tree’s, the urge to speak overtaking you to the point you couldn't resist, “Chishiya...I…” You looked away, feeling somewhat bashful, “We...made a really good team back there.” You forced yourself to look up at him as you offered a bright yet subtly shy smile, “If you want...you could stay with us…?” 

Chishiya pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth, letting it drop to the ground as he spoke, “No thanks.” You turned to him in surprise as you frowned a little, you shouldn’t have expected anything less…

“Oh...I understand.” You offered a weak smile as he turned his back on you and began to walk once more, “I just have one more question,” You called out causing him to pause, “...Do you by any chance know about a place called the Beach?”

Note: Whew...! As a lurker in the Alice in borderland fandom I saw a lot of people complaining about the lack of Chishiya fics so I decided to volunteer myself and take on for the team to write a series for this little blonde fucker so PLEASE let me know your thoughts and I hope you enjoy!! Also

[shirbertshitposts]

10 Shirbert Moments from Anne of Green Gables series I think about a lot

In honor of Valentines Day I thought I would post a list of some of my favorite Anne and Gilbert moments. It was hard to narrow it to just ten as I have been going through all nine books and trying to queue posts about all their iconic moments through the series; However I decided to pick the ones that I remember even when I haven’t read the books in a while. I didn’t have the heart to rank them properly so they’re just listed in chronological order.

1. His future must be worthy of its goddess

In the twilight Anne sauntered down to the Dryad’s Bubble and saw Gilbert Blythe coming down through the dusky Haunted Wood. She had a sudden realization that Gilbert was a schoolboy no longer. And how manly he looked—the tall, frank-faced fellow, with the clear, straightforward eyes and the broad shoulders. Anne thought Gilbert was a very handsome lad, even though he didn’t look at all like her ideal man. She and Diana had long ago decided what kind of a man they admired and their tastes seemed exactly similar. He must be very tall and distinguished looking, with melancholy, inscrutable eyes, and a melting, sympathetic voice. There was nothing either melancholy or inscrutable in Gilbert’s physiognomy, but of course that didn’t matter in friendship!

Gilbert stretched himself out on the ferns beside the Bubble and looked approvingly at Anne. If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet little more than a boy; but a boy has his dreams as have others, and in Gilbert’s future there was always a girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a flower. He had made up his mind, also, that his future must be worthy of its goddess. Even in quiet Avonlea there were temptations to be met and faced. White Sands youth were a rather “fast” set, and Gilbert was popular wherever he went. But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne’s friendship and perhaps some distant day her love; and he watched over word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass in judgment on it. She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would as certainly lose if she were ever false to them. In Gilbert’s eyes Anne’s greatest charm was the fact that she never stooped to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls—the small jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of design, but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign to her transparent, impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and aspirations.

-- Chapter XIX, Anne of Avonlea

2. For the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert’s gaze

“What are you thinking of, Anne?” asked Gilbert, coming down the walk. He had left his horse and buggy out at the road.

“Of Miss Lavendar and Mr. Irving,” answered Anne dreamily. “Isn’t it beautiful to think how everything has turned out . . . how they have come together again after all the years of separation and misunderstanding?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful,” said Gilbert, looking steadily down into Anne’s uplifted face, “but wouldn’t it have been more beautiful still, Anne, if there had been NO separation or misunderstanding . . . if they had come hand in hand all the way through life, with no memories behind them but those which belonged to each other?”

For a moment Anne’s heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert’s gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

Then the veil dropped again; but the Anne who walked up the dark lane was not quite the same Anne who had driven gaily down it the evening before. The page of girlhood had been turned, as by an unseen finger, and the page of womanhood was before her with all its charm and mystery, its pain and gladness.

Gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of Anne’s remembered blush. Four years of earnest, happy work . . . and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won.

-- Chapter XXX, Anne of Avonlea

3. I just want YOU

“I have a dream,” he said slowly. “I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends—and YOU!”

Anne wanted to speak but she could find no words. Happiness was breaking over her like a wave. It almost frightened her.

“I asked you a question over two years ago, Anne. If I ask it again today will you give me a different answer?”

Still Anne could not speak. But she lifted her eyes, shining with all the love-rapture of countless generations, and looked into his for a moment. He wanted no other answer.

They lingered in the old garden until twilight, sweet as dusk in Eden must have been, crept over it. There was so much to talk over and recall—things said and done and heard and thought and felt and misunderstood.

“I thought you loved Christine Stuart,” Anne told him, as reproachfully as if she had not given him every reason to suppose that she loved Roy Gardner.

Gilbert laughed boyishly.

“Christine was engaged to somebody in her home town. I knew it and she knew I knew it. When her brother graduated he told me his sister was coming to Kingsport the next winter to take music, and asked me if I would look after her a bit, as she knew no one and would be very lonely. So I did. And then I liked Christine for her own sake. She is one of the nicest girls I’ve ever known. I knew college gossip credited us with being in love with each other. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered much to me for a time there, after you told me you could never love me, Anne. There was nobody else—there never could be anybody else for me but you. I’ve loved you ever since that day you broke your slate over my head in school.”

“I don’t see how you could keep on loving me when I was such a little fool,” said Anne.

“Well, I tried to stop,” said Gilbert frankly, “not because I thought you what you call yourself, but because I felt sure there was no chance for me after Gardner came on the scene. But I couldn’t—and I can’t tell you, either, what it’s meant to me these two years to believe you were going to marry him, and be told every week by some busybody that your engagement was on the point of being announced. I believed it until one blessed day when I was sitting up after the fever. I got a letter from Phil Gordon—Phil Blake, rather—in which she told me there was really nothing between you and Roy, and advised me to ‘try again.’ Well, the doctor was amazed at my rapid recovery after that.”

Anne laughed—then shivered.

“I can never forget the night I thought you were dying, Gilbert. Oh, I knew—I KNEW then—and I thought it was too late.”

“But it wasn’t, sweetheart. Oh, Anne, this makes up for everything, doesn’t it? Let’s resolve to keep this day sacred to perfect beauty all our lives for the gift it has given us.”

“It’s the birthday of our happiness,” said Anne softly. “I’ve always loved this old garden of Hester Gray’s, and now it will be dearer than ever.”

“But I’ll have to ask you to wait a long time, Anne,” said Gilbert sadly. “It will be three years before I’ll finish my medical course. And even then there will be no diamond sunbursts and marble halls.”

Anne laughed.

“I don’t want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want YOU. You see I’m quite as shameless as Phil about it. Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more ‘scope for imagination’ without them. And as for the waiting, that doesn’t matter. We’ll just be happy, waiting and working for each other—and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now.”

Gilbert drew her close to him and kissed her. Then they walked home together in the dusk, crowned king and queen in the bridal realm of love, along winding paths fringed with the sweetest flowers that ever bloomed, and over haunted meadows where winds of hope and memory blew.

-- Chapter XLI, Anne of the Island

4. Gilbert, I'm afraid I'm scandalously in love with you.

"Gilbert darling, don't let's ever be afraid of things. It's such dreadful slavery. Let's be daring and adventurous and expectant. Let's dance to meet life and all it can bring to us, even if it brings scads of trouble and typhoid and twins!"

Today has been a day dropped out of June into April. The snow is all gone and the fawn meadows and golden hills just sing of spring. I know I heard Pan piping in the little green hollow in my maple bush and my Storm King was bannered with the airiest of purple hazes. We've had a great deal of rain lately and I've loved sitting in my tower in the still, wet hours of the spring twilights. But tonight is a gusty, hurrying night . . . even the clouds racing over the sky are in a hurry and the moonlight that gushes out between them is in a hurry to flood the world.

"Suppose, Gilbert, we were walking hand in hand down one of the long roads in Avonlea tonight!"

Gilbert, I'm afraid I'm scandalously in love with you. You don't think it's irreverent, do you? But then, you're not a minister."

-- Chapter 9, Anne of Windy Poplars

5. Suitable Places

"(Are you sure you kiss me in suitable places, Gilbert? I'm afraid Mrs. Gibson would think the nape of the neck, for instance, most unsuitable.)”

-- Chapter 12, Anne of Windy Poplars

6. He narrowly escaped bursting with pride

"Anne, this is Captain Boyd. Captain Boyd, my wife."

It was the first time Gilbert had said "my wife" to anybody but Anne, and he narrowly escaped bursting with the pride of it. The old captain held out a sinewy hand to Anne; they smiled at each other and were friends from that moment. Kindred spirit flashed recognition to kindred spirit.

-- Chapter 6, Anne’s House of Dreams

7. Queen of my heart and life and home

"Gilbert, would you like my hair better if it were like Leslie's?" she asked wistfully.

"I wouldn't have your hair any color but just what it is for the world," said Gilbert, with one or two convincing accompaniments.

You wouldn't be ANNE if you had golden hair—or hair of any color but"—

"Red," said Anne, with gloomy satisfaction.

"Yes, red—to give warmth to that milk-white skin and those shining gray-green eyes of yours. Golden hair wouldn't suit you at all Queen Anne—MY Queen Anne—queen of my heart and life and home."

"Then you may admire Leslie's all you like," said Anne magnanimously.”

-Chapter 12, Anne’s House of Dreams

8.  Annest of Annes

But the best of all was when Gilbert came to her, as she stood at her window, watching a fog creeping in from the sea, over the moonlit dunes and the harbour, right into the long narrow valley upon which Ingleside looked down and in which nestled the village of Glen St. Mary.

"To come back at the end of a hard day and find you! Are you happy, Annest of Annes?"

"Happy!" Anne bent to sniff a vaseful of apple blossoms Jem had set on her dressing-table. She felt surrounded and encompassed by love. "Gilbert dear, it's been lovely to be Anne of Green Gables again for a week, but it's a hundred times lovelier to come back and be Anne of Ingleside."

-- Chapter 3, Anne of Ingleside

9. I couldn’t live without you

Anne felt like a released bird . . . she was flying again. Gilbert's arms were around her . . . his eyes were looking into hers in the moonlight.

"You do love me, Gilbert? I'm not just a habit with you? You haven't said you loved me for so long."

"My dear, dear love! I didn't think you needed words to know that. I couldn't live without you. Always you give me strength. There's a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you . . . 'She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.'"

Life which had seemed so grey and foolish a few moments before was golden and rose and splendidly rainbowed again. The diamond pendant slipped to the floor, unheeded for the moment. It was beautiful . . . but there were so many things lovelier . . . confidence and peace and delightful work . . . laughter and kindness . . . that old safe feeling of a sure love.

"Oh, if we could keep this moment for ever, Gilbert!"

"We're going to have some moments. It's time we had a second honeymoon. Anne, there's going to be a big medical congress in London next February. We're going to it . . . and after it we'll see a bit of the Old World. There's a holiday coming to us. We'll be nothing but lovers again . . . it will be just like being married over again. You haven't been like yourself for a long time. ("So he had noticed.") You're tired and overworked . . . you need a change. ("You too, dearest. I've been so horribly blind.") I'm not going to have it cast up to me that doctors' wives never get a pill. We'll come back rested and fresh, with our sense of humour completely restored. Well, try your pendant on and let's get to bed. I'm half dead for sleep . . . haven't had a decent night's sleep for weeks, what with twins and worry over Mrs. Garrow."

--Chapter 41, Anne of Ingleside

10. Old love light

DR. BLYTHE:- “The old, old love light that was kindled so many years ago in Avonlea ... and burns yet, Anne ... at least for me.” 

ANNE:- “And for me, too. And will burn forever, Gilbert.” 

-- Page 189, The Blythes Are Quoted

Feel free to respond to this post with any of your favorite shirbert moments that I missed!

[ilikefandoms]

What happened - Miguel Diaz

Request - @fruitiseavey Hi ! Can I get a Miguel x reader during s3 when he comes back from everything that happened and there’s a new girl and she asks him questions about her classes, it’s awkward but flirty and then she gets put in the drama between everyone? If possible thank you <3!

Pronouns Used - None

A/N - Not some of my best work, sorry about that. Still hope this was okay xx

Warnings - none

Word Count - 1136

You were new in town, and new town, meant new school. It was your first day at West Valley High, and although you had just about managed to find your first class by asking teachers, you also had no clue where your next class was. So, you decided to ask someone.

“Excuse me,” you asked the boy with the locker next to yours, “Could you tell me where room 34B is? I’m sorry, I’m new,”

“Hey, yeah sure. I’m heading down that way anyway,” the boy said, “I’m Miguel by the way,”

“Y/N,”

“So, Y/N… you said you were new?” Miguel asked as you started walking.

“Yeah, my family moved here a few weeks ago,” you explained.

“So, how are you liking it so far?” he asked.

“It’s alright. Definitely different than where I’m from, but it seems pretty cool,” you replied. 

You and Miguel continued talking, he liked this. Talking to someone that didn’t know of the accident - well, at least not yet. It was nice to have someone that wasn’t sending him pity looks every time you made eye contact. 

“We have lunch after this right?” you questioned.

“Yeah, it is,” 

“I was wondering if you could maybe, help me with getting to know my classes?” you asked, shyly.

“Sure, that’d be great,” he said.

“Cool, thanks,” you said, as you both approached your classroom.

“This is your class, here,” Miguel explained, gesturing to the door.

“So, I’ll see you at lunch?” you asked.

“See you at lunch,” 

**********

Class seemed to go pretty quickly, and before you knew it, the bell was dismissing you. You quickly made your way to the cafeteria, and managed to beat the rush.

You caught sight of Miguel waving you over - he was by himself, which you thought was strange. Maybe he was just a loner?

“Hey,” you greeted as you placed your tray down.

“Hey! How was your class?” Miguel questioned.

“My teacher is nice, the subject is boring. The usual,” you shrugged

“Who do you have?”

“Mrs Carter,” 

“Oh, yeah. I had her last year, at least you got her and not Mr Bridges,” Miguel stated.

“What’s he like?” you asked.

“Lets just say… he’s the type of teacher that’s not afraid to throw a textbook at a student,” he explained.

“Duly noted,” you nodded, making a mental note not to get on that teacher’s bad side, should you ever have an encounter with him.

“Can I see your timetable?” you passed it over, “Thanks. Ok, great! We have last period together,” he said. You only had one lesson after lunch.

“Really?” you asked, maybe too eagerly.

“Yeah. That means I can show you around, help you know your way a bit better,”

“Great! Thank you,” you smiled, and asked, “Um, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but… how come you’re sitting by yourself?”

“I’m not by myself, I’m sitting with you,” he said, trying to avoid the question.

“You know what I mean,”

“It’s complicated… Y’know it doesn’t really matter, don’t worry about it,”

“Okay,” you said not quite convinced, but you didn’t want to press the subject if Miguel didn’t want to talk about it. You had just met after all.

“So tell me about yourself Y/N,” he changed the subject.

You were both talking and getting to know each other. You were laughing at Miguel’s lame jokes, and he was doing the same. You even swapped numbers. That was until you spotted a table of students giving Miguel weird looks.

“Miguel, those people over there keep on giving you really weird looks,” you informed him, inconspicuously gesturing to the table.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. It’s just over some drama that’s happened,”

“What kind of drama? What happened?” and just as Miguel’s mouth opened to speak, the bell sounded.

“We have to get to class, lets go” he said standing up.

You grabbed your bag, and followed. Heads turned as Miguel walked down the hall. What was it all about?

You arrived at the classroom, Miguel gestured for you to take the seat next to you. “Just so you know, we had a substitute teacher in the last lesson, so you didn’t miss anything,” he informed you.

“Ok, thanks,” you nodded. You looked around the classroom, catching snippets of people’s conversations, when you heard a guy with a mohawk talking. He was one of the ones who kept sending looks at Miguel at lunch.

“I still can’t believe that Miguel’s not coming back to Cobra Kai. Sensei Kreese would love to have him back, despite the accident” you overheard.

Miguel was in an accident? What had happened? Is everything alright now? What is Cobra Kai, and who is Sensei Kreese? Your head flooded with questions, but was interrupted by the teacher walking in.

 “Miguel, it’s nice to see you back. That was one nasty fall,” he greeted, nodding at Miguel. Was that the accident?

“Okay, everyone…!”

**********

You had tried to talk to Miguel about what you had overheard, but you were left with one-word answers.

So, after class you decided that you would ask the guy that mohawk dude was talking to about it. He seemed more approachable, “Excuse me?” you said.

“Hey,”

“I was wondering if you could tell me something - I wasn’t eavesdropping - but, I heard you talking about Miguel being in an accident. What happened?” you asked.

“You don’t know?” the guy asked, giving you a confused look.

“No,”

The guy sighed, before explaining, “There was a huge fight that broke out in school, mainly between the two karate dojos - Cobra Kai, and Miyagi Do. Like everyone was fighting-”

“Why?”

“Miguel’s ex kissed him at a party, his current girlfriend go pissed, and went after her. Next thing we know, everyone’s involved. Anyway, Miguel was fighting this other guy Robby, and he kicked Miguel over the railings of the second floor. He landed on the stairs,”

You gasped, “Oh, my god,” you said. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about it.

“It was pretty brutal,” he shook his head, and walked off.

**********

When you got home that night, you laid down on your bed, and thought about what you had found out. 

No wonder there was rivalry within the school, after that happened. You could only imagine what everyone had been through. Maybe you shouldn’t tell Miguel what you had found out. Maybe you should wait until he tells you himself.

Your phone vibrated, a notification popping up. It was a text from Miguel.

Miguel

Would you like to hang out sometime?

Y/n

I’d love to 😊

You smiled down at your phone. This boy may have been through a lot, so the least you could do is be his friend. Who knows: it may end up being more.

[ssiggss]

Ok so, what group does Laceus, Lumeri, and Hephelia belong to and what's its name? What is their end goal? How do they fit in the plot? Do they know about the Arcane Order and what's their relationship between the two groups?

LEX ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

ALRIGHT SO

Group:

I'm not sure if that meant good/bad/neutral, BUT they are on the side of good and they assigned themselves as the protectors of all planetary systems!

Both Laceus and Lumeri are moon beings, both having been born out of Sanctuary! Hephelia was shot out of a red dwarf star, I call her kind stardrops!

Name:

I decided to name them The Astronos (Pronounced AS-TROH-NAUS)

Kinda sounds like Astronauts and I love it.

End Goal:

To ensure the safety of the universe, to make sure of life in space lives on in peace!

Arcane Order:

They've never met The Arcane Order, but when they do they feel a odd connection to them, considering The Arcane Order created them (even if it was so long ago The Arcane Order probably barely remember it)

Skrael takes a special interest in Lumeri, being that they both weild ice/water/wind based magic, though Lumeri's is a bit different!

Laceus gets along with him and likes to ask him a million questions (which goes for Bellroc and Nari as well.)

Hephelia thinks Skrael is hilarious, treats him like her own kid even though she was created by The Arcane Order and all of them are way older than her.

Hephelia adores Bellroc and they two honestly feed eachother's ego, its ridiculous.

Lumeri is a bit intimidated by Bellroc, but eventually gets over it- she just wants the awesome fire god to think she's cool.

Bellroc and Laceus quickly click and they often have long conversations with eachother, Bellroc sees him as their kid because while it was so long ago, they still remember planting that mushroom!

Nari and Laceus hit it off INSTANTLY and they like to show off their different types of mushrooms to eachother, eventually branching off into a friendly rivalry.

Nari absolutely LOVES Hephelia and thinks she's super cool, because giant fire cat, and Hephelia's like "tiny green bug, so small, so precious. I must protect this little nature god with my life."

Lumeri and Nari WILL get into the WORST shenanigans, it was honestly shocking the first time around how much chaos ensued when those two were around eachother.

Plot:

Okay I save this one for last bc I have a feeling its gonna be long!

-So to preface this, somewhere in the infinite expanse of space, a being known to The Astronos as The World Eater, or a Chaos Being, manifested, and began consuming planets and stars left and right, anything with a hint of magic inside.

-The Astronos managed to lock this planet snacker away into the deeper reaches of the galaxy, dubbed The Grave.

-After the death of Pyelan, an immense wave of magic was sent across the galaxy, and unfortunately the shockwaves managed to reach The Chaos Being.

It slowly awoke, and broke free.

-A few years later, The Astronos were minding every inch of their own business and suddenly, they felt it- the impossinly deep, dreadful rumble of death. The Chaos Being, bellowing into the universe, a sound no one should have to hear.

-They realized it was coming for them, to enact revenge. Forced to abandon Sanctuary, they left to Earth, knowing that this panet would be its next target.

They were the only ones inhabiting Sanctuary, but Earth was teeming with life- and magic.

-The Astronos book it and land in Oregon, which was convenient but also hard at first because every human that saw them either aimed small rectangular devices at them or screamed and ran.

-Town after town, city after city, no one listened to them. They were at a loss, until one day they came to Arcadia and grabbed the nearest human, at this point desperate for someone, anyone to listen to them.

-Lucky for them, that human was The Keeper of Peace, Tobias Domzalski. Toby believes them instantly, to their relief.

-Tobias calls an emergency meeting and everyone is absolutely fuming that their existence is being threatened once again.

(Steve and Eli are on Akiridion-5 and have no idea this is happening)

-Jim just sighs wearily and puts his face in his hands, Douxie groans and starts ranting, Mr. Incredible style.

"We literally just saved the world a few years ago, what's it gonna take for it to bloody stay that way?!"

So this is what I have so far, but basically, the gang goes to space and fights a colossal being that munches on planets!!

IM SO EXCITED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[ecto-american]

Hello there! I forgot if I asked this before (my apologies if I did, I don't mean to rush you, take all the time you need), but I was wondering if you were able to possibly continue of have a part two for that one request where Star stumbled upon Sam and Danny playing bowling. I really enjoyed it, and would love to see more. Thanks!

I take prompts within reason but literally never expect me to write it within any reasonable amount of time because ho boy

The first part mentioned in the post

But why Sam? Out of all girls in town? Well, ghosts were spooky, makes sense that they’d attach themselves to goths like moths to a light. Did that mean the ghost boy hung out with a lot of local goths? No...surely at least one of them would have spilled the beans. 

Star stared off into nothing as she thought, only-half listening to her boyfriend’s commentary on the game. While she wasn’t looking at anything in particular, the popular teen couldn’t help but let her gaze fall into the loser trio’s direction. They were a few lanes down from them, bowling. Why they were in public being losers was beyond her. Especially knowing that Sam’s basement had a bowling alley.

Danny bowled, and he did an excited jump, saying something to the other losers. He had gotten a strike. This was his third one. Valerie had told her he was good at bowling, but she didn’t really ever think much about it. Her cousin was sulking, as normal for her weird, goth self. Sam glanced in her direction, and they met eyes. Star looked away to stare at her own game. Paulina was up, and as normal, she wasn’t a very good bowler. She got a gutter and was complaining to Dash about it.

Star lightly sipped a milkshake to avoid needing to reply, until Kwan finally snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, Starlight? You okay?” he questioned. She glanced at him, and she shrugged.

“Just lost in thought,” she replied honestly. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Kwan was always such a sweetie, and Star couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s just some weird family stuff I can’t quite figure out,” she confessed. It was Kwan’s turn to steal a glance at the loser trio.

“Something happen with Sam?” he asked quietly. Kwan was the only one who knew the cousin connection, and he only knew because her parents had accidentally told him. If anybody besides Kwan, who for some reason really liked Sam, knew that she was cousins with that goth freak, her social life would be over. 

“...Sorta.” Star went back to watching them. The three had seemingly completely stopped their game, instead exchanging looks to each other.

And suddenly, they completely abandoned their game.

She didn’t even hide her confusion as she watched them simply...leave. As a group, with their game not even half over and leaving behind nothing, still in their bowling shoes, collectively going towards the back door. Where were they going? They had to be coming back, Sam would have never dared to leave her favorite pair of boots behind. 

Kwan noticed too.

“What’s up with them?” he asked. 

“I have no idea,” she mused. She stood up. “I’m going to go see. Just bowl for me if you want, or Dash can.”

“Gotcha!” Kwan nodded. “Let me know if you need help.”

“I can handle a goth,” Star lightly joked, smiling as she began to make her way towards them.

Sam was the last in line to exit out the back door, but she had seen Star coming for her, and she paused. She turned to her friends, saying something Star couldn’t make out before shutting the door on them. Sam turned to stare at Star as she approached, frowning.

“What the fuck is with you?” Sam demanded to know the second Star was close enough. “You’ve been super weird since Saturday. You actually texted me. You never text me.”

“Well yeah,” Star scoffed, crossing her arms. “I saw you and Phantom bowling together, and now you’re here? Bowling again?”

“Will you stop that?” Sam grumbled. Her hands went to her hips. “I was home alone all Saturday until you and Aunt Rene showed up. Nothing happened. Stop spreading false rumors just because you need a popularity boost in your prep crowd.”

“I don’t need anything from you,” Star replied. “Besides the truth I mean. Something’s going on. I wanna know what it is.” 

“Nothing’s going on,” Sam argued. “Why are you so hung up on this?”

“Because I know I saw something! I heard something!” Star insisted. She jumped, and Sam flinched as a loud crashing noise came from above. 

Star jerked her head to the ceiling, but saw nothing. She glanced at Sam, seeing her cousin stare worriedly above. It was obviously ghosts, any Amity Park resident could tell you that much. 

...Is that why Sam and her friends were eager to go? To see the ghosts? How did they know that there was a ghost fight going on before anybody else? That had to mean that her weird loser friends knew Phantom too. But Fenton’s parents hunted ghosts, didn’t they? They were the weirdos in town that wore jumpsuits everywhere. Maybe they had a tracker device? 

“We should leave,” Star spoke up. “Ghosts are dangerous.” She could have sworn that she saw Sam roll her eyes.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Sam just seemed to brush off the danger. There were hard thuds on the ceiling, making the room shake, and Star flinched. 

“That doesn’t sound fine,” Star frowned. 

Sam opened her mouth to reply, only for the ceiling to completely collapse as a ghost rammed inside. Star flew back a few feet from the impact, doing a roll as she was only stopped by the railing that separated the main floor from the bowling lanes. All the lights had gone out, and she could hear people scrambling for the exit. 

She looked up to see a full black ghost with its hands around Phantom’s neck, pressing him into the ground. Phantom kicked the ghost off, blasting him with some kind of green energy she had seen him use several times before the ghost screeched in pain, letting go of him and slithering off into the darkness of the bowling alley. 

“Are you okay?” Phantom’s voice asked, and Star immediately panicked. Sam.

She rushed over to see Phantom phasing Sam out from under some rubble, moving her away a few feet behind the bowling shoes counter. Star fell to her knees next to them. Sam looked dirty and had a few immediate scraps and bruises that began to form. Her foot was the worst. She couldn’t tell so much in the dark, but Star knew something was off. 

“I got her,” Star assured the ghost. He looked at her, almost...quizzingly. “She’s my cousin, I’ll ride with her to the hospital and call Aunt Pam.” 

Phantom blinked in absolute awe, glancing between her and the goth with disbelief. Well, it probably was kind of hard to believe. They were nothing alike. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. Why was he so hung up on that? 

“Wait, what?” 

Sam scowled, grabbing Phantom by the collar and yanking him to her.

“Danny, go stop the damn ghost already!” she snapped at him. Danny? Oh, right. Danny Phantom. So weird that Fenton and Phantom shared a name. Well, Danny wasn’t that uncommon. They had several Dannys in their grade. 

Phantom broke out of his stupor, and he nodded. He took her hand off him, and he lightly squeezed it. Like they knew each other. It was subtle, but Star saw the touch and that brief look of intimate concern for her. 

“Get out,” he spoke to Star, and he soon jumped over the counter, and back into the action.

Star watched his leap, before she returned to Sam. With Phantom gone, Sam seemed to finally break a little. She had tears in her eyes now, and she gave a hard sniffle as she tried to not openly cry. Family rivalry was brushed aside, and Star leaned in to hug her. Surprisingly, one of Sam’s arms wrapped around her in a light hug back.

“Come on,” Star said quietly. She let go, and she got to her knees, staying squatted next to her cousin. Sam stared at her, lip quivering.

“I’m not going to be able to walk,” she complained quietly. 

Another glance at the injury, and well, yeah. No way Sam was walking on that kind of a twisted ankle. 

“It’s okay,” Star soothed. “I’ll help.”

Star glanced around, seeing the ghost fight finally be taken out of the bowling alley and back outside. The emergency exit they were by before was completely blocked, and several lanes had been torn up. But at least it was ghost-free from the immediate looks of it. 

She sighed with relief, standing up before holding her hands out to Sam. She pulled Sam to her foot, quickly shifting as they put their arms around each other’s shoulder. Sam leaned into her, and Star wrapped her arm around her waist, and they began to slowly make their way out, staying hugged along the wall. 

“Star! Sam!” The girls snapped their head towards Kwan, who had rushed up to them. He looked a bit disheveled, mostly dirty more than anything else, and he was glancing at them, concerned. “Are you guys hurt?” 

“Sam hurt her ankle pretty bad,” Star explained. Kwan glanced down, and he paled a bit. 

“It looks bad,” he replied bluntly. Star glanced down, seeing the injury truly in better light. Kwan was right. It did look bad. She didn’t realize until now that Sam was actually bleeding from her ankle too, and that the blood was on her cousin’s tights as well as some on Star’s pants. “Here, let me.”

Kwan shifted to pick Sam up bridal style, and Star immediately rushed for the door to open it for him. Kwan carried her with ease outside, where police cars were already pulling up. Star waved an officer down as he was exiting his car.

“We need an ambulance!” she called out. The officer just nodded, speaking into his radio as he came over.

“What’s the damage?” the officer asked. 

“My ankle,” Sam replied, lightly lifting up the injured foot in question. Now in the full bright light of the day, Star was absolutely sure that it was broken. The boot hid her foot, but it was at an odd angle that feet just didn’t bend at. 

“Come over here,” the officer instructed. He motioned for them to follow him as he took a few steps back towards a bench. “Set her down here.” 

Kwan did just that, with the officer’s help, putting Sam sitting down on the bench. Sam gave a small groan of pain as her foot brushed against the ground as she was transferred.

“Did you call your parents yet?” the officer asked. Sam shook her head no.

“I’ll call them,” Star promised. The officer nodded.

“Star, please call Grandma Ida,” Sam pleaded. Star glanced at her. “Mom’ll flip out.”

“I’ll see if I can reach Grandma first,” Star promised. She pulled her phone out, scrolling for her contact, and she rang up their grandma.

She answered, and Star quickly filled her in on the details, even though her mind was still thinking back to Sam and Phantom. Things were still way too weird. They way they looked at each other, Phantom’s reaction to the family connection. They knew each other. Star just knew it.