#and the shit ass 'comic relief' always felt out of place and it was just annoying

[whenfatecollides]

the fact that sweet home writers went 'we're going to kill half our og cast and then skip a year ahead without any explanation whatsoever about what happened in between oh and by the way here's a hundred new characters and half of them are military soldiers' really is baffling to me. everything season 1 managed to build being completely destroyed in a matter of 4 episodes is craaaazy to me. I just can't believe these were the same writers involved in season 1 there's just no way

[ajgrey9647]

"hi" *raspy voice* + Boom! Comics; Sentry Skull; Post-Shattered Grid (but please, please, PLEASE don't go near the zombie timeline; me and mine are still so enraged about that)

A Skull in Bloom

*Not gonna lie, this is way longer than I thought. But came surprisingly quick as it unfolded in the wildness of my mind. Enjoy!

In the end, Tommy Oliver proved to be every bit of the ‘fucking dick’ he was purported to be. To Skull’s way of thinking, there was a big difference between just being a ‘fucking dick’ and being a ‘piece of shit.’ And to his astonishment, Tommy managed to fit both bills.

Skull’s cheeks were streaked with sweat and grime, the sun blindingly hot overhead as he made his way back to the other Coinless. His gear was heavy despite all the lithe muscle he had put on as one of Drakkon’s Red Sentries. It was a relief to never have to don that insulting red armor again.

As Lord Drakkon, Tommy had demonstrated more than just misplaced fear and anger. He was a whole psychopath; a cruel, vicious, narcissistic demon spit up straight from the bowels of Hell itself. If he recalled correctly, there was a religious story about the Devil being allowed to roam the Earth for so many years. He wasn’t sure, but it sounded familiar.

Things had changed so quickly that at times, it didn’t seem real. It was like the plot of a futuristic dystopian horror movie. So much carnage, pain, and death. Sometimes, Skull marveled that he managed to survive and at times even thrive. As a child and young teen, he was sure he’d be one of the ones to be picked off first.

Looking back, Skull attributed this miraculous survival to his actions that day at the mall, the day he’d valiantly shoved a cocky, hateful Green Ranger from the second level straight into the fountain below. He’d stopped him from killing the Blue Ranger before his very eyes. Really wild when you thought about it.

Eugene Skullivitch had saved someone’s life, and not just anyone. A fucking Power Ranger! Skull wasn’t a hero. He was just a lonely, neglected, goofy punk. A freak, as the Green Ranger had screamed at him full of wrath mixed with disgust. The evil Ranger had been thwarted by a powerless, skinny teenage boy, not another Ranger.

That had really bruised Tommy’s exaggerated ego.

Skull plunged the end of his walking stick into the dirt as he surveyed the horizon. Still a whole lot of nothing out here. Abandoned buildings, wild creatures scavenging for food, disease-infested insects. He wiped a hand across his shiny brow, dark strands licking at his flesh when they moved.

Up ahead stood the bombed-out hulk that used to be Angel Grove’s mall; his own personal Disneyland. The weary traveler gave a slight smile as memories flooded him of all the good times he’d spent in this place, enjoying bad mall snacks, rocking it at the arcades, and laughing his ass off in the joke shop. He still had his old banged up ear buds and his music player; older than dirt now, they were merely relics of a bygone age.

More importantly, it was the site of the beginning of his transformation.

Saving the Blue Ranger had inspired some latent part of him, a part he never knew existed. It wasn’t all the attention and accolades he’d received that gave him such satisfaction. He could have done without all that honestly.

That Blue Ranger was right. Skull was braver than he thought possible. He’d done something incredibly dangerous (and stupid) by charging the Green Ranger. What if he’d turned around, still holding that wicked-looking sword of his? Skull had no martial arts training period and this dude was able to kick even the Power Rangers’ asses.

Despite always having to look over his shoulder after that heroic stunt, Skull felt his confidence start to slowly bloom, like a delicate flower. He was actually capable of more. The Blue Ranger’s words always echoed in his mind when he found himself feeling frightened.

Skull had felt a weird connection with this Ranger that he couldn’t explain as well. Maybe it was because like Skull, the Blue Ranger was of a slighter build but unlike Skull he was soft spoken. The Red and Black Rangers were bulkier and more commanding in their actions and speech. Blue wasn’t flashy and upfront.

So it wasn’t a deal breaker to be a hero if one didn’t have muscles and bravado. You could be smaller and reserved and still powerful. Skull wished he had more time to talk with the Blue Ranger, but duty called. He could still see the graceful acrobatic flip he’d done over the railing to rejoin the team.

After that, Skull found that the Blue one was his favorite. He’d catch the monster battles on the news and wait on baited breath to see if his Ranger made it out alright. Somehow, he had also scraped together enough moola to get an action figure of his own. Bulk had ribbed him at first but Skull put his foot down.

Having that confidence boost surprised him. He found he had more influence than he believed. He was even able to steer Bulky in a different direction when he decided to get up to shit; no always but rather often. Skull started to relax into being his own unique person and express some of his hidden flamboyance.

Then everything just went to absolute hell.

The Power Rangers had been defeated. Rita had won. Then, the space witch was dead, killed by her own Ranger; he was revealed to be none other than that ‘fucking dick’ Tommy Oliver. Rechristened Lord Drakkon, that murderous fuck went on a killing rampage. Drunk on his own power and rage, he’d somehow overlooked Skull as he went after the Rangers.

Jason, the Red Ranger.

Zack, the Black Ranger.

Kimberly, the Pink Ranger.

Trini, the Yellow Ranger.

And most shocking of all: his former best friend and co-adventurer, Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger.

The crazy bastard ended up slaughtering Jason in their Command Center and decimated Billy as the boy bravely defended Trini. Skull had to blink back tears; they stung his eyes with the sweat and grim irritating their surface. He sniffed and continued forward; the much-needed supplies tucked within his gear making his back ache with the strain.

He thought back to a conversation he’d had with Billy, before Tommy sprouted his fangs and dug them into the entire fucking planet.

Carrying his lunch tray, Skull strolled into the cafeteria, unsure where he was going to sit this day. The clatter of plastic trays on tables, cacophony of conversations, and random loud laughter filled the room. Scanning the open seats, he was somewhat surprised to find Billy sitting by himself in the farthest corner. And right next to him was a vacant seat.

Plopping down next to the bespectacled teen, Skull grinned.

“This seat taken?”

Billy sighed and rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

“Before you ask, it’s not true,” he huffed, cheeks starting to redden.

Twirling a crinkled, over-salted fry into catsup, Skull shrugged and laughed.

“About Jason and Kim? No, I know it’s bullshit. I think everyone else does too,” he added noncommittally. “Where’s the other dweebs? I heard Kim went home sick and Jason’s in lunch detention.”

Billy looked at Skull in surprise.

“You believe that rumor is false?”

Skull arched his brow.

“Yeah, those two are such goody-goodies. No one buys it. It’s just too juicy to drop.”

Billy stared down at his food a moment before answering his companion’s question.

“Zack is making up a science experiment that failed and Trini’s assisting him,” he muttered, dropping his chin into his hand, appetite gone.

Skull nodded like it all made sense.

“Not surprised. Oliver was Zack’s lab partner, right? Five bucks he fucked it up on purpose,” he stated, like it was fact.

Billy shook his head then frowned.

“Where’s Bulk?”

“Oh, he’s in lunch detention with Jason. Bulky was egging the fight on between him and Tommy in gym class. I tried to get him to cut it out but there was just too big a peanut gallery to play to,” he explained. “I tried to tell Mr. Kaplan that Tommy said something gross to Jason first, but the teacher only saw Tommy catching a punch.”

He glanced across the cafeteria at the teen in question, who was also sitting alone, picking at his food with a sneer of disgust.

“I bet he’s the one who spread that rumor about Kimberly giving Jason a blow job in the locker room, too,” Skull added.

“Most likely,” Billy answered. “They both got called into the guidance counselor’s office this morning. That lead to Kim asking to return home and why Jason was so agitated.”

“What crawled up his ass and died? He’s awful to you guys, especially Jason.”

Billy could only shrug and sit silently.

Then, he turned to Skull and changed the subject.

“I wanted to commend you for your rescue of the Blue Ranger. That took a lot of fortitude, Eugene,” he commented.

Skull squirmed and waved the statement away.

“It was nothing. Just doing my civic duty.”

Feeling eyes on them, he turned back towards Tommy’s table and found the teen staring daggers at them.

“A word to the wise, Billy-boy. Be careful with that one. He’s not just a teenage outcast like me and Bulk. Once when I was in the office, waiting to see Kaplan, the secretaries were talking about him and all the stuff the police were called out for and CPS shit. They thought I was listening to my music but I wasn’t. And I’m glad,” he said firmly, his expression serious as he stood with his empty tray.

“There’s something bad wrong with him. Like serial killer level bad. And the way he’s fixated on Jason? He’d better watch out too.”

Skull had hit that nail on the head, if he hadn’t known it at the time.

Drakkon was a killer and much more.

After Billy’s death at the asshole’s hands, Skull had managed to work his way into Red Sentries. It had taken a long time but he knew how to play the long game. He felt it was the right thing to do. It was a way to help even with the Power Ranger no longer with powers.

Even Bulk had stepped up and defended a traumatized Kimberly from a frenzied crowd. He pulled her under his wing and declared if anyone had an issue with her, they’d have to go through him first. Skull was immensely proud of Bulky.

Moving through the ranks, the former gangly teen had gotten physically stronger. Which was wonderful. It was the mental aspect that took a toll.

Lord Drakkon was a vindictive, cruel, and abusive tyrant. Skull came to appreciate the statement that there were worse things than death. On certain occasions, he had been glad Billy wasn’t alive to see this or be at risk to undergo some of Drakkon’s outlandish punishments. He himself had to fight back the vomit until Drakkon had disappeared back to his crypt before hurling violently, barely getting his helmet off in time.

The sadistic fuck even kept a prisoner that he had somehow mentally warped into his own psychotic little pet. Not much was known about him but he was as bonkers as Drakkon and just as deadly.

Sadly, even the usually perceptive Skull did not recognize his old classmate, Jason Scott, nor would he have believed it if told the man’s identity. ‘Red’ thinner and wild-eyed, with shaggy grey hair and a real violent streak. Jason would have killed himself before serving the tyrant.

Goddamn, Drakkon was a piece of all mighty shit.

Praise be, that he was finally fucking dead!

As Skull ambled across the entryway towards the palace, he noticed a group standing in the courtyard ahead.

Rangers?? Impossible! Why would they be here?

The Ranger Slayer stood before the team, their backs to the approaching former Sentry. Bulk stood at her side, a protective arm draped around her shoulder as they listened their guests. Her face was a mask of disbelief and horror.

Hearing footsteps behind them, the Rangers swiftly turned as Skull emerged onto the cobblestone terrace. He, himself, did not resemble the Skull that they knew in their universe. Older and rugged, a quiet confidence surrounded him. And at the same time, he still had a mischievous sparkle in his dark eyes, a flair for the extravagant when it was available.

Catching the eye of this Blue Ranger, a Billy, from another dimension, Skull gave a gentle smile as he moved to stand before him.

“Hi,” he said simply, his voice raspy from the long trek.

Billy could only stare into this man’s eyes, yes he was a grown man here, and found himself at a loss for words.

“Penny for your thoughts, Billy-boy,” he quipped at the Blue Ranger, dropping a cool wink. “As long as you aren’t here to tell us that motherfucker’s clawed his way up from hell again.”

[loversgothic]

Is there a particular reason you stopped making Fortnite art?

ohhhh boy. theres a few? in part its because it stopped being fulfilling and i lost interest and inspiration. its also because i cant play the game anymore because it cant run on my laptop with the new updates.

but a big one is that people are... really mean. really, really mean. people in the fortnite community overall are SOOOO NEGATIVE esp to artists. i make primarily romantic art and pinup art, and people can be incredibly unkind. ive been called slurs (both homophobic and racial), ive seen my friends get bullied for posting art in a similar vein, fuck that shit was a NIGHTMARE. fortnite possibly has the worst fandom ive ever seen, and ive been in SO MANY of them! i made mostly Jonesdation art, and while there were people who liked it, there was a lot of people who also didnt. there was some kind of weird.. looming feeling that i was afraid of posting my indulgent work (of course i always posted it anyway! im no pussy) but i dont like having that feeling loom over me. its also bc some of my friends kind of thought it was Funny when i did Foundation art since they didnt care much abt fortnite lore and thought my serious art i put all my time into was funny because of who acted Foundation. and i want my ideas to be taken seriously enough if i present them in a serious fashion.

its also because The Seven got slipped out of the story as time passed, and i really just couldnt get into the Oathbound or current groups. and even then, content with The Seven and Foundation in particular really felt like punch after punch regarding a character i became attached to (to nearly a delusional extent) with peoples perception of him becoming shittier because of a fucking comic that sucked ass. after a while it feels like people forgot abt him :( fortnite seriously moves WAYYY too fast and theres too many characters to get attached to, once your fave falls out of relevancy in story you are probably not gonna hear about them again? the only seven members i ever see ANYONE talk abt anymore is origin and that is bc im friends with the number one origin fans SBHJAHBANJA i love them i hope they have fun forever <3

something else that i think is that, i fell out of the fortnite fandom because it feels like its not a great place to explore ideas for me. when it comes to writing, i want to explore relationships, symbols, backstories, and the character i liked (Foundation) did NOT have that many people willing to explore those ideas and it made me scared to share them. Fortnite also doesnt really have a lot of... depth. it COULD have depth, sure, but you have to grasp at straws and make up half of it. it just.. wasnt fulfilling enough, i need something i can Dig into.

ill always love the Fortnite characters, and ill always love The Seven. ill always love Fiore (my foundation oc i made before he got unmasked officially) and FUCK ill always love all of the villains and Jones. but right now i need to explore something else fulfilling

here are some other small reasons:

my art has been stolen for tiktok thirst traps multiple times

i dont have a problem with being in a community with a lot of teenagers (i am a teenager. an adult one but ykno) but DAMN its a relief to be able to talk like an adult to OTHER ADULTS now that im out of there

ive also had to hide my nsfw art twitter for a variety of reasons that are complex. (one of them being that Im not trying to get bullied more)

it felt like i was fucked bc i couldnt produce relevant art fast enough to keep up with the game

[nicobaka]

CLEARING UP AND EXPLAINING SOME THINGS THAT PEOPLE TEND TO MISUNDERSTAND ABOUT GRAY, JUVIA, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP

(warning: spoilers. It's also gonna be some LONG ass shit lmao. Sorry for typos in advance)

I heard a lot of people hating Gruvia for things that they misunderstood (or just straight-up dismiss/ignore) about the ship, and so I thought I'd clear up and explain some of those here because I just think all this hate towards the ship is unnecessary especially when most of their reasons of why they hate the ship aren't really valid or reasonable.. I mean, yeah, you can dislike and hate it all you want, we all have different preferences. But the level of hate Gruvia gets for reasons that are already proven false and untrue is just unbelievable. Like people saying Gray is somehow "controlled" by Juvia, or that Gray has "Stockholm syndrome" when Juvia never even tried to kidnap Gray... And worse is when people start to spread misinformation and slander the ship, spreading hate and negativity towards the ship for reasons that are again, proven to be untrue.

[ GRAY'S BIG TSUNDERE ASS ]

Gruvia is not one-sided, it's just that Gray's a big frickin Tsundere and that he refuses to show affection, so he may come off as cold to her sometimes. Although later on he realized that he should accept his feelings for Juvia rather than pushing her away and trying to run away from his own feelings before he regrets it, so now he has become less of a Tsundere and is trying to become a better person for her (but still a Tsundere lmao)

[ GRAY'S PAST AND CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ]

Gray does not dislike nor hate Juvia, even from the very beginning after they just met. Hell, even right after their fight in their first meeting. After their first actual meeting, Gray even helped her, saved her, made her happy, and even smiled with her. He wouldn't have done all that if he disliked her. He wouldn't have said he has no problem with Juvia joining the guild if he disliked her. He wouldn't hang around with Juvia inside and even outside the guild if he disliked her. He wouldn't have worried and felt bad about her not passing the exam of he disliked her. He wouldn't have carried her running away from danger even though she already said she can run away by herself if he disliked her. He wouldn't have agreed to going out with Juvia, which clearly meant as a date to her, if he disliked her. He wouldn't have lived with her for half a year if he disliked her. He would have agreed with Juvia leaving him alone if he disliked her, but instead he hugged her, thanked her, and cried on her arms. He wouldn't have sacrificed himself for her safety if he disliked her.... I can go on and on for hours with this honestly. But the point is, he clearly doesn't dislike nor hate Juvia. He even said he's grateful for having Juvia always by his side.

It's just he didn't wanna get too attached to her. He has always thought ever since as a child that it's his responsibility / fault whenever someone he cares for dies. He blames himself for it, consciously or unconsciously, and puts the burden upon himself. He feels like whenever he gets too attached to someone, they would leave him and when that happens it'll be his fault. That's the reason why he seemed cold to her sometimes, it's that he doesn't wanna get too attached to her, afraid that she would just leave him like the others...

"I'm going to avenge my mother and father!"

"I wasn't... able to do anything..."

"It's your fault, Gray." (Lyon)

"It's my fault that Ul died 10 years ago"

"No matter how much time pass, it won't change the fact that it's my fault Ul's dead!"

"I lost both mother and daughter..."

Him trying to push Juvia away by being cold to her is most likely something he did unconsciously, since he himself wasn't really sure about his feelings for her and having the fear of loosing his loved ones before, at least when it was just starting. But as we already know, his attempt of trying to not get too attached to her wasn't successful. It didn't have any chance of being successful to begin with since the reason why he didn't want to get too attached to her and why he had developed the fear of loosing her in the first place is because he's already attached to her from the beginning. He was the one to save her, worries about her a lot, cares for her, protects her, and spends a lot of his time with her, which made him even more attached to her. Which explains his expression at that one recent official Gruvia art which some fans didn't like... He looks like he feels like he shouldn't fall in love with Juvia, but he really just can't help it.

And when it actually almost happened, when Juvia almost killed herself for him, it finally became clear to him what he feels about her, and he realized that it was stupid and cowardly for him to try and avoid Juvia and his very own feelings, because of his damned childhood trauma. He could've lost all the chances he had with her forever, with all those efforts she spent on him all be put in vain. And now that he realized this, that doesn't make the fear of loosing her disappear. It can't be erased just like that. But instead of avoiding, hiding, and keeping his feelings like before, he's trying to improve and be a better person for her that can protect her no matter what.

[ THE LOVE POTION THINGY IS NOT CANON ]

The episode about Juvia buying potions made her look bad for some fans. It was not in the Manga. It's not canon. The part where Lucy expected Natsu to confess (which was seen in the same episode) is canon, since it is from the Manga. But the part where Juvia buys love potion and uses it to try and get Gray is not in that chapter, nor is it in any chapter in the manga, meaning it's not canon and is an anime-only part. Well personally I found it quite funny, but some fans really hated Juvia on that one.

[ JUVIA IS NOT A YANDERE B*TCH ]

I saw a lot of people referring to Juvia as a "yandere" and portraying Juvia as such.. Juvia is NOT a yandere girl who will kill you if you reject her and shit. If anything, she's the opposite. She can NEVER hurt Gray. She'd rather kill herself than hurt Gray. When she thinks she's making Gray uncomfortable, she immediately apologizes. When she thought she disrespected Ul's death anniversary by saying it should be a happy day for Gray because it's their anniversary (she didn't know it was Ul's death anniversary at first), she felt very sorry and disappointed in herself. The reason she couldn't approach him at the start was because she didn't want to make him and his friends uncomfortable, and because she isn't used to socializing with other people (add the fight with Phantom Lord which caused the guild a lot of trouble, plus how people always disliked and pushed Juvia away). Basically, Juvia has, or at least had social anxiety. At first, she couldn't approach Gray because she was extremely nervous. Juvia also wasn't as bold as she is now towards Gray at the start, she was shy and was shown to even stutter a lot trying to express her thoughts to Gray and the guild members. Yeah, she becomes extremely mad when someone threatens Gray's life, but that's just like Natsu being mad when someone threatens to kill Lucy. Or Gray being mad when someone threatens Erza's life. Or Mira being mad when someone threatens her siblings lives.. But Juvia didn't even actually kill Meredy (the one who did threaten to kill Gray), but instead even became friends with her! A yandere would do the total opposite. I think that if Gray ever rejects her, she wouldn't even be mad at him, but would probably be very depressed and think a lot about what she did wrong.. She was even willing to give up on him in Tartaros Arc, when she had to kill Gray's father, she thought she doesn't deserve to love him anymore after what she did so she was willing to finally give up and leave him alone... When yanderes are the kind of people who'd go as far as to kill every other person close to you just so they can have you for themselves...

But Gray himself does not want her to leave. Even though he seems annoyed with how Juvia is clingy towards him and all that, in reality, he doesn't want her to leave. He hugs her and says "thank you" to Juvia for being the one to "kill" Silver, saving his father and finally letting his father rest in peace, so that Gray didn't have to kill his father himself. Silver himself wanted to die and even thanked Juvia for that so I don't really understand why people hate her because of it. And if Gray disliked or hated Juvia, he definitely would have agreed about her leaving him alone.

The main reason why Juvia acts like this is because she's trying to show her love for others that she wasn't able to show before, since she was always rejected, avoided, disliked, and even hated by others. She's always pushed away by others. So now that someone (Gray) didn't push her away and showed care for her, she didn't want to miss the opportunity of finally feeling loved and being able to share her love.

And Gray, together with the guild, accepted her. She wants to feel loved and accepted, so she's trying all her best to not be seen as someone gloomy or unlikable that others used to think she is. She does things that she thinks would make them happy, she does things that she thinks would make them accept her. But since she never really knew how to interact with other people before she joined the guild, and the people she used to be with were toxic as hell, she comes off as awkward sometimes. But she's growing, together with Gray and the guild, she's growing.

[ THE LOVE RIVAL" THING IS JUST FOR COMIC RELIEF AND WAS NEVER SERIOUS ]

She may say "Love Rival!!" when someone's getting close to Gray, but it's only put as comic relief and she was not actually serious about it. Even Lucy, the one whom she always calls her "rival", never took it seriously. If Lucy did, she would have never approached Gray ever again, or hated Juvia for it. If Juvia was really serious about her so called "threats", they would have kicked her out of the guild long ago. Plus, she may act like that, but in reality, she cares for and is willing to sacrifice for her friends, including Lucy. And Lucy herself knows that. Even Gray knows when she's just joking around and even called her out for joking at serious times.

It's sad that people say that they are concerned about Gray and Juvia "forcing" herself into him when they don't really actually think about and consider what Gray is actually feeling towards her.. Gray loves her, she loves Gray. Just let them be happy. Gray has lost too much, at least let him enjoy being with Juvia.

Anyways, I'M NOT FORCING YOU TO LIKE THE SHIP, WE ALL HAVE PREFERENCES. But I'm just trying to make you understand both characters, their relationship and development a little more. Well, this is mainly just from my perspective tho. Especially with all the hate this ship gets and how misunderstood both characters are and the things they do. And if you got to this part, thanks for reading all of this lmao this is my first time posting something like this in Tumblr, I hope it wasn't that confusing.

[rightsockjin]

Summary: Jungkook is the best friend anyone could ask for. He’d been there for you through thick and thin, and right now, you were looking extra thick and his patience was thinning...

Rating:M

Genre: SMUT! A good amount of angst...

Warnings: Mutual mastrabation, porn, big dick JK. Best friend pining. Pillow riding. Butts. Blow job. Spit. Finger licking? Is that a warning? 

Word count: 4,906

Author’s note: this has nothing to do with his boots...

It's been years. Literal years. Years in which Jungkook had questioned what the nature of your relationship was. Never did he truly have the confidence or the strength to so much as toe the line between what you already had and something more.

You were laying down on his bed, your socked feet pushed up against the lowest section of the attic ceiling . Your toes were pointed and your heels tapped softly on the wall, your legs flush against it. Your butt was pushed up against the pillows on his bed. The comforter was slightly pulled from the edges. He’d be upset. Really, he would be upset since he had this weird OCD about the neatness of his bed but his mind was blank.

He leaned back against his gaming chair right across from it and in front of his desk. His laptop  was firmly closed. His heart rate must have been 100 beats per minute. His hands were sweaty and a little slick from the lotion.

It was safe to say that he hadn’t expected you that day. Given, you come over whenever you feel like, he had hoped-no prayed, that he would have a solid hour or so to himself. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to see you, it was just that seeing you was the cause of the issue that he was trying to resolve.

He’d been taking you to the gym with him lately and he was really starting to see results. Especially in your thighs and your butt. Now, he had always thought you were attractive which was what had led him to question his feelings for you in the first place, but now he was getting hard ons far too often when you were around and he was running out of excuses to get away and rub one out.

It seemed that the pillow under your butt was getting uncomfortable because you started to shimmy it to the side. Finally, you pulled it out from under you and set it longways on your body. Without seeming to think much of the action, you wrapped your legs and arms around it and cuddled into the fabric that he’d freshly washed.

Your butt stuck out behind you, in perfect view of Jungkook whose erection was straining painfully against his jeans. His mind wandered back to what he had been watching before you had so rudely barged into his room. A film, of sorts, with two equally consenting adults but their faces were blurred. The woman had a fantastic ass so as he stared at yours, it wasn’t hard to put your face where her’s should have been.

He spread his legs farther to try to give the thing between his legs room to breathe but his jeans only strained over the rock hard rod. He needed to get you out of his room. He needed some relief.

“Hey,” he said, his voice cracking almost comically. He cleared his throat quickly, hoping you missed the sound but when your head snapped to look at him he knew you wouldn’t let it go.

“HeY,” you mimicked, rolling over to face him and onto your knees, your legs straddling his pillow as you sat back on your heels. The light from the attic window outlined you from behind, like a spotlight shining from almost directly behind as the sun began to set. He couldn’t help but scan your body in a position a little too sexual to be accidental. His eyes stopped on your torso. The white shirt that had been perfectly fine only seconds before now seemed extremely see through. In mock slow motion, you reached up and pushed your hair from one shoulder to the other. The shirt rode up slightly revealing what looked like thin black ribbons of fabric that wrapped around your ribs.

Jungkook’s dick pulsed where it was squished. He balled his hands into fists on the arms of his chair and forced himself not to react, though arousal thrummed through his body like a wildfire.

“Why are you such a bitch,” he groaned, channeling his arousal into annoyance as he’d recently taken to doing. It had the added plus side of making you so angry sometimes that you’d just leave him alone until he apologized which went hand in hand with when he’d finished himself off in the comfort of his own room.

“Geez, I’ve been here for five minutes and already you’re being rude.”

Jungkook groaned and rolled his eyes at you plastering a patronizing look on his face.

“Maybe it's because you came in and fucked up my sheets,” he said, waving his tattooed hand around you. You looked down, a small frown on your face as you saw the little tornado of blanket you had disturbed.

“It’s not that bad…”

Damn you. Damn you and your stupid cuteness. You shifted in your position, holding onto the pillow and spreading your legs wider in an attempt to smooth it out slightly. You probably didn’t mean it. Jungkook told this to himself over and over as you moved. From his perspective, it looked a little like you were humping the pillow. With your lip between your teeth and your brow furrowed in concentration, it wasn’t hard to imagine that you were instead pleasuring yourself before him.

Subconsciously, one of his hands slithered closer to his bulge. It was when he felt it on his thigh near his center that he froze and sat on both his hands instead. He could feel his underwear becoming wet with precum, a small wet spot appearing on his jeans.

“Just-just stop, Y/n! I’ll fix it later. I’m going to have to fucking do my laundry again…” he muttered more to himself than to you but you had clearly heard it, letting out a little hmph.

“Damn. You’ve been such a huge dick lately. I don’t know what your problem is but if you’re going to be exuding this much small dick energy, I don’t wanna be around you anymore.”

Jungkook glared at you. Your arms were now crossed over your bosom, pushing them closer together. A little bit of cleavage visible over the neck of your shirt. How could someone be equal parts infuriating and attractive?

“Well no one’s asking you to stay here! I didn’t even invite you over,” he said turning his chair around with his bare feet so he was looking at his shut laptop.

“When have I ever had to ask to see you?” You asked.

He had severely miscalculated his turn. He bumped his knee hard against one of the legs of the desk. His laptop bounced threateningly close to the edge but stopped just short of falling.

“I don’t know? Maybe you should start! You’re fucking rude sometimes!”

Jungkook didn’t dare look back. His heart had stopped suddenly. It was like he was seeing himself from another vantage point and that him was yelling at the present him to shut the fuck up.

There was a silence from your end as well. Like you couldn’t quite believe what he’d said to you. Sure, you guys cursed back and forward at each other before but it was never serious. It was always in good fun, but this time it seemed a little close to home.

“Fine,” you said suddenly, his bed creaked as you made your way off of it, “I’ll leave. I just fucking missed you since we hadn’t spent time together lately… guess you outgrew me too.”

Jungkook’s heart sank to his stomach. What had he just done? A light sweat broke out on his forehead.

Say something idiot!

“What do you mean ‘too’?”

You were by his bedroom door now. He could see you out of the corner of his eyes but he couldn’t force himself to look at you.

“You’ve changed JK…you used to love to sing, and your friends. You used to have a closet full of white shirts and hated being called oppa. You used to love banana milk and your Timbs… you used to love me…but I guess,” you sighed, your shoulders slumping and what looked like tears started to run down your cheeks, “like the rest of those things… you outgrew me as well.”

Your thin hand reached out to grasp the door knob but Jungkook chose then to act. He jolted off his chair not caring what he hit on the way, he was next to you in two steps.

“Wait Y/N-” but he was cut off by metallic thud and a loud drawn out female moan. All the blood in his body drained. His hand stayed perpetually frozen in the air between him and yourself. The tears on your cheeks ran freely but the shock on your face contradicted that emotion.

Neither of you moved. Another, rather loud moan filled the attic room. It bounced off the poster covered walls and seemed to bounce off the walls of his skull as well. Had he really been watching his ahem…films that loudly? How had you not heard it before you walked in?

“Fuck,” the video yelled and it was like someone had pressed play on both of you. Jungkook’s eyes widened and he rushed back to pick up the fallen computer. You hissed awkwardly looking at the wall to avoid eye contact.

Jungkook shut the computer faster than he thought was humanly possible. The sound cut off just as the woman was getting rammed from behind and her moans were cut coming out short and breathy.

It was when he had set the computer carelessly back on his desk that it hit him hard. You had just witnessed that. Where did you go from there?

He chuckled, because he didn’t know what else to do and the tension in the small room was starting to choke him and honestly that wasn’t one of his kinks so he needed to put an end to it.

“I interrupted you…didn’t I?” Your voice was soft and devoid of emotion. Jungkook chanced a glance at you, his hair covering his eyes slightly. If he pretended it was no big deal then maybe you would take the hint and make it no big deal as well.

“Yep.”

“Oh,” you said, ”Oh! Shit! I’m sorry! No wonder you were so pissy! I would be too if you came over in the middle of-” you clapped your hands over your mouth, your eyes wide and your cheeks red.

That was not a picture that Jungkook had even considered. But suddenly, it was all he could see. You, completely naked in your slightly messy room, your toes curling and uncurling as your fingers pumped in and out of your warm entrance. Your hair, cascaded on your pretty shoulders as your other hand pinched at your nipple. That enticing lip of yours between your teeth and little breathy moans coming out of your lips just like the ones he’d just heard.

His dick twitched again. He was unsuccessful this time in keeping his groan in his throat. It hung in the air between you like an invitation that he regretted sending instantly but he couldn’t take back. You turned slowly to face him.

“Did-did you just-”

“N-no! I didn’t! I-”

“You totally just-”

“Y/N!”

“What?” You asked forcefully, taking a step towards him.

“Please stop… this is humiliating enough without you pointing out that I-”

“Moaned at the thought of me masturbating?”

You’d said it. Somehow, he knew there was no going back. You had ventured past the metaphorical line together, maybe not in the way he’d wanted but here was the chance he’d been looking for. He either pushed you away indefinitely, or took the chance to see if you could do something more with the foundation you had built together.

“Okay fine, so it turned me on a little. So what? I’m a guy! Do you forget or something?”

You blinked at him, biting your lip and furrowing your eyebrows. A shock of arousal burst through him at the sight.

“Can you please stop doing that? You’re making it really hard to keep my hormones under control,” he begged looking up at the ceiling. The light in the room had significantly dimmed. It was making it difficult for him to see you properly.

“What if I want it to be hard,” you whispered so softly he wasn’t even sure if he had heard you correctly.

“What if you- if you…wait what?” He needed to hear you say it again. He needed to be sure he didn’t hear you incorrectly.

“What if,” you took a deep breath, “what if I want to make it hard for you to keep your hormones at bay?”

Jungkook.exe has stopped working. Error #6969. Recalibrating.

His mouth hung open. The gears in his brain had ground to a stop. There was no way he had heard what he thought he’d heard.

You looked at him expectantly. Hope in your wide eyes. Jungkook swallowed loudly, clicking his mouth shut.

Drooling isn’t attractive.

He scrambled around for some words to say back to you. Anything to say to you that expressed what he was feeling. Maybe a ‘hell yeah’ or a simple ‘okay’. But he couldn’t make his mouth move. His penis pressed against his jeans painfully.

“P-pardon?”

Nope. Not the optimal thing to say. Not even a little close to what he wanted to say. You were right. He was exuding small dick energy and you were projecting the complete opposite.

“You know what? Never mind… let’s just pretend that I didn’t say that and I’ll leave you alone to sort yourself out,” you mumbled under your breath reaching for the door knob again, but this time Jungkook was much quicker and there was no laptop to distract him. He clasped his hand over your wrist before you could turn the knob.

You snapped your head to look at him, the blush still prominent on your cheeks as you looked up at him. There was fear and embarrassment in your pretty eyes. Jungkook didn’t know what he was going to do but he knew he couldn’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers.

“Wait! Uh… what if I told you that it’s been hard?”

It was your turn to look confused. You raised an inquisitive eyebrow relaxing your body slightly.

“What’s been hard?”

With an embarrassed hiss Jungkook said, “It’s been hard… my um…you know?”

You searched his face as if you could read his emotions and thoughts on it like a book. After a couple of seconds of tense silence, the muscles in your face relaxed and your confidence seemed to rise.

“Oh…really?” Jungkook nodded without hesitation. The fact that you hadn’t run screaming spurred him on, hoping that if he was honest he could maybe get somewhere with you, even if it was short term.

“Do you…would you want some help? With that?”

Your eyes were focused on his own but it felt like you could see right through him. The sun had fully set and the only light was coming from the stars and the moon outside the attic window. He was grateful, really. It did a good job of hiding his major dorkiness.

“You…you want to help?”

You hummed, a sound so low and even that It sent shivers down his spine. Just the thought of seeing you naked was enough to have him twitching like crazy.

“Yeah… Why watch porn on a screen when you could watch IRL right?”

Jungkook.exe has stopped working again. Error #6970. Rebooting system in progress. Were you really offering-

“I mean… you could do it as well! We could both… and you can tell me what to do if that’s what you’re into? Or we could just watch each other -hmph-” Jungkook slammed an open palm against the wall effectively pinning you between his toned body and it.

His breath was warm against your cheek. His chest was barely grazing your own. A jolt of fear and arousal hit you hard as you looked up at your best friend of many years. If someone had told you days ago that you would be propositioning Jungkook the way you were now, you would have laughed in their face. But that was then and this was now, and now you knew much more information than you did then.

“It’s the least you can do,” he whispered against your ear, “you did ruin my sheets. Give me a good reason to have to wash them.”

You looked back and forward between his eyes, searching for any hesitance. When you found none and he put his hand down, gently caressing your cheek with his knuckles, you realized that this was actually happening in real time and not in one of your many daydreams.

Jungkook nuzzled his lips on the shell of your ear before he sucked the lobe into his mouth. He nibbled lightly, pressing his lower body against yours. You could feel his erection against the lower part of your stomach. You gasped. It felt big. Really big and unbelievably hard.

His big hand found your waist easily. He held you against the wall and gingerly ground his hips into you. He let out a shaky exhale against your neck. One hand traveled up your torso. He could feel the thin ribbons he had seen earlier under his fingertips. He traced them softly. Inevitably, they lead him to your clothed chest. It didn’t take long for him to realize that you weren’t exactly wearing a proper bra as your nipples were already poking out of the thin fabric of both your shirt and bralette.

Jungkook ran a thumb over the sensitive bud. It was feather light but it ignited the fire that had been steadily burning over the last couple of minutes. You gasped softly as he did it once more and nibbled at your pulse point. His breath was hitting your neck, his hips still rotating sensually on your lower belly.

When you didn’t touch him back, Jungkook panicked. Had he gone too far? He stopped his hand at your chest and pulled away from your neck. A bit of worry was evident on his face.

“Is…is this okay?”

You nodded quickly, not wanting him to stop. He smiled brightly, clear excitement in his expression, then pulled away from you entirely. You tried to hold back your disappointment as you watched him back away.

“Hey we’re not done yet,” he assured, his teeth on display, “I’m just taking you up on your offer.” He shrugged as he lowered himself back on his desk chair. His legs were spread wide, his feet firmly planted. He was slouched against the back of it with an expectant look. Slowly, he unzipped his pants and slid them part of the way down.

Even in this darkness, you could see the enormous bulge in his underpants. Your mouth salivated, something primal awakening at the sight. You wanted to touch him. You wanted to eat him alive, but you didn’t move, still a little confused as to what you were supposed to do.

Jungkook palmed himself over the fabric. His face screwed up into a slightly pained expression. Like even this much stimulation was too much.

You swallowed thickly as you watched his head loll to the side. He was sexier than in your dreams. Sexier than you could have even imagined.

“Well?” he asked, looking at you through lidded eyes, “Get comfortable on my bed babe.”

As if you were in a trance, you walked over back to the bed and sat on the edge trying to think of what to do to entice him. You had pictured this moment so many times, but in every single one, he was on top of you or touching you in some way. You had never thought about him wanting to watch you touch yourself.

In a spurt of confidence, you pulled off your shirt revealing the infamous, barely there, black bralette. You rolled your shoulders back and pushed your chest out so he could better admire it and you weren’t disappointed. Jungkook’s mouth fell open at the sight. A quiet fuck escaped his lips and his hand tightened around his bulge.

“You like?” you asked cheekily with a wink.

“Duh,” he answered rolling his eyes, “Take off the sweat pants.”

You raised your eyebrows at him but did as he asked. Still, this was your best friend, you couldn’t help but be a bit bratty.

“Damn you’re so bossy. I’m doing you a favor JK.”

Jungkook laughed at that, pushing his pants fully off of him as he watched you strip yours.

“Annoying as always. Why did I think you would change that in the bedroom?”

“You love it,” you argued, spreading your legs wide, finally free of your pants. The black, silk underwear you were wearing on full display. You set your hands on your knees to keep your legs spread. The light of the stars seemed to catch every curve and edge of your partially exposed body. You smirked as you looked at your best friend. He was manspreading, his chest rising and falling quickly, like he’d just finished working out.

“I can’t argue with that…” he said blinking rapidly as if you would disappear after he closed his eyes, “Take off your bra.”

“Hell no. I’m more naked than you are, take off your shirt Jeon,” you argued, snapping the edge of your underwear to your skin as a punctuation.

“Hey! You said I could tell you what to do,” he groaned already reaching for the edge of his shirt.

“I changed my mind. If you’re not going to be fair then I’m calling the shots.”

“Whatever,” he groaned, his abs out in the open, but he didn’t stop there. In one fluid motion, he yanked off his underwear. His dick sprung up against his stomach, long and thick. Even in the blue tinted darkness, you could see how angry the tip looked.

“Happy now?” He asked wrapping his hand around his penis and giving it a solid tug that made him screw up his face again, “your turn.”

You said nothing, instead, you pulled down one of the black cups of your bra so your boob hung out in the open for him to see. Then, with not nearly as much grace as him, you tugged your underwear off and sat back farther on the bed.

“Damn,” Jungkook whispered, “you’re so…” he paused looking kind of embarrassed, “beautiful.”

You blushed, not at all expecting him to give you such a genuine compliment based on what you were doing right then, but you took it nonetheless and smiled.

“Hey,” he said before you could thank him, “do you think you could, uh… ride my pillow?”

You blinked at him, then looked at the pillow behind you that you had been cuddling earlier. Jungkook was anal about his pillows being clean so this request really took you by surprise.

“Really?”

“Yeah… please?”

“Okay,” you agreed but you only moved the pillow closer to you and hiked a leg up on his mattress. Your lips were spread enticingly and you curved a finger so he could come closer. Jungkook did as you asked, his hand wrapped firmly around his member and stroking it. He stopped a couple of inches short of his bed, his eyes fixated on your core.

With one finger, you traced from your opening up to your clit. The coldness of your own hand sent a shiver up your spine. You whimpered, doing it again but with two fingers, collecting your arousal. Jungkook watched, enraptured by what was between your legs. The scent of you making him twitch uncomfortably.

“Wanna taste?” you asked him holding your fingers out in front of his lips. His eyes widened and he nodded leaning in quickly and taking your fingers in his mouth. His tongue worked to collect all of your juices. It felt heavenly. You could already imagine what it would be like to have his mouth between your legs, but that was a venture for another time.

When he had finished, you pulled your fingers back and onto your core. With his saliva coating your digits, it wasn’t hard to slip them into your heat. Your walls fluttered around them as you pumped in time to his hand around his shaft.

You let little mewls escape past your lips as Jungkook moaned at the sight. With your other hand, you began to rub at your clit. A shock of pure pleasure nestled in your stomach. You drew tight little circles around it. Your legs twitched with impatience.

“Ngh… Jungkook,” you moaned letting your eyes roll to the back of your head. Jungkook’s hand sped up on his erection. The sound of his fist on it turned you on a little.

“Fuck, Y/N… can I ask you a favor?”

You stopped your fingers on your core and looked up at him. He looked down at his sex then back at you awkwardly gesturing at it.

“Could you…maybe get it a little wet?”

“Yeah,” you said enthusiastically, pulling your fingers from your entrance and changing your position. You pushed the pillow between your legs and spread your lips apart so the fabric was nuzzled right against your sensitive bits. Then, slowly you pressed your wet fingers to his lips again and whispered, “suck.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jungkook half joked but the thrill it sent through you was nothing to laugh at. He took your hand in his own and put your fingers back in his mouth. You leaned down over his member and began to fervently lick around it, using your other hand to stroke your spit into his skin. He tasted vaguely of baby powder and lotion which you assumed was what he was using to masturbate before.

You gave his tip a couple of good generous licks before you sucked at his slits. His precum was salty against your tongue and he casually bucked his hips up into you but you held him down. His lips on your hand stuttered and fell open.

You pulled your fingers from his lips and you used both hands to hold him down as you greedily sucked. Loud, prolonged moans came frequently from Jungkook. Maybe it was because he was so worked up but you could already feel his dick twitching like crazy. Slowly, you began to build your own pleasure with the pillow between your legs, rubbing your soaking slits on it back and forward. The pleasure made you moan around him which made him groan and choke on the sound.

Suddenly, you felt his hand on your back, traveling lower until it was on your ass. He squeezed it slightly, jiggling it and pushing you forward on the pillow. You pushed back against him sending another shock of pleasure directly to your clit. His other hand found its way to your chest. His finger tweaking your sensitive, exposed nipple and rubbing circles on the areola.

You took a bit more of his erection in your mouth, spit dribbled down yours lips and onto him. You did your best to slurp it up, lewd noises floated around you both. Jungkook’s melodic moans filling the room like music.

You found yourself close to the edge faster than you anticipated. Jungkook continued to aid you in your pleasure, bucking his hips slightly as you sucked him off with care. You ran your fingers over his toned abs, abs that you had wanted to lick since the day you saw them and the thought alone pushed you so close it was painful.

“Fuck Y/N… I love you…” That did it. Your walls clenched around nothing, blood pumped into your clit at an alarming speed, your mouth fell open, wide around his cock and it fell straight into the back of your throat setting off your gag reflex. You moaned erotically against him. The pleasure filled your every nerve as Jungkook gasped and twitched then stilled.

Ropes of hot cum hit your tongue, some making it into your throat, some spilling onto his pelvis as he orgasmed. You both came down from your high, nearly together. With his dick still in your mouth, you slurped at the remaining cum around him.

He hissed and tried to push your head off of him but you didn’t stop until you had licked it all up. When you pulled away and sat up so you could see him, his words sunk in. Jungkook loved you? As more than just a friend?

It seemed that it had just dawned on Jungkook what he had let slip as well. His cheeks darkened in the faint light of the moon and he couldn’t look at you. There you both sat, almost entirely naked, his hair sticking to his sweaty forehead, his pillow soiled with your orgasmic juices and the words hung out like an invitation that he’d regretted sending but couldn’t take back.

“I love you too,” you whispered.

Fireworks erupted all over Jungkook’s chest, his lips pulled up into his bunny like smile, his toned chest rose and fell with the quick pace of his heart. The explosion was so powerful that fireworks didn’t even seem like the right word for what he was feeling as he lunged forward and sandwiched your lips between his.

No, not fireworks. It was something more like Dynamite.

Read the rest here!

Part 2

[a-supernatural-writer]

Candle in the Wind Pt.1

Next Part

Everyone is a witch because I said so and Michael deserves some loving. Also, sorry for posting this so late. Meant to post this a long time ago but it's been a little crazy.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1502

Michael Emerson x gender neutral reader

“How long have they been going at it?” Michael asked from his spot on his bed. He was leaned up against the headboard, tarot cards laid out before him.

The sounds of yelling and arguing traveled from downstairs and broke through Michael’s closed bedrooms door. Lucy and her husband, well, soon to be ex-husband, were fighting.

You sighed, “For an hour, at least.” You pulled one of Michael’s throw blankets closer to your body as you sat next to him, watching him take the cards on the bed and reshuffling them.

“Think they’re gonna stop?” Sam asked as he sat down on the floor with his familiar Nanook, which was an Alaskan malamute.

Michelle, who was Michael’s twin sister, scoffed at her younger brother's question, “Probably not for a while, bud.” She had long brown hair that was curly like her twins and the same blue eyes.

Michelle was walking around her and Michael’s shared room, lighting a few candles that were scattered about. Some were on the dresser and nightstands while others were placed upon stacked moving boxes.

Michael’s and Michelle’s room was sort of a safe haven for all of you when Lucy and her husband fought. It was the one place that all of you felt safe. It also helped that each one of you put a warding around the door so only Lucy could come in.

The only other place that the Emerson siblings went to get away was your little apartment that you had down the street with your own mother. Your mother was also Lucy’s closest friend and she was helping the poor woman through her divorce.

You smiled a little as your own familiar, Angel, a pure white fluffy cat purred as she rubbed her face up against yours and Michael’s arms. Michael shared your smile, leaning down to place a kiss on top of Angel’s head affectionately, which she purred even more at the action.

Even though Angel was your familiar, Michael treated her with the same love that you did. Not all witches had to have familiars, they were more of a choice if you wanted to have one. Both Michael and Michelle chose not to have one, while you and Sam did.

But the majority of the time, Michael really did enjoy taking care of her and in a weird way, she was his familiar too, even if it wasn’t official.

Michael then placed a soft, quick kiss upon your own lips before returning his focus back on his tarot cards.

You smiled, leaning your head on the brunette's shoulder, watching him as Angel curled into a ball between the two of you.

You and Michael have been dating since last year. You both grew up together and as the both of you got older, feelings became stronger. Suddenly, at a high school party the two of you were kissing in the backyard and made your relationship official. And it’s been wonderful.

That smile quickly disappeared as the fighting downstairs suddenly stopped when the front door slammed. Each one of you froze in your spots as the sound of footsteps came closer and closer to the twins bedroom door.

All of you breathed a sigh of relief when Lucy was the one who opened the twins door, giving all of you a sad smile.

“Hi mom.” The three Emerson children greeted their mother as she closed the door behind her, all five of you now in the room.

You gave Lucy a comforting smile, “Hi, Lucy.”

Lucy smiled a little bit more when she saw that you were in the room, “Hi, y/n. Michael called you?” She asked, stepping into the room and taking a seat at the end of Michelle’s bed.

You nodded. Michael called you just when their parents started fighting and without even asking, you immediately went over. You flew through the twins window with your broom to not get in the middle of their fight.

“Thank you.” Lucy said, patting the spot next to her and gesturing for Michelle to sit down.

Michelle flicked off her lighter and sat down next to her mother, resting her head on her shoulder, “Dad still angry?”

Lucy sighed, putting an arm over Michelle’s shoulders and rubbing it, “Very.” It was a simple answer but the rest of you couldn’t help but deflate at the words.

Their father never knew about Lucy and her kids being witches. It was something that they hid from him until they thought he was ready to know. They thought it was gonna go well, but they were proven wrong when he started saying words that you dared to never to repeat.

And it wasn’t just the fact that they were all witches that caused everything to go down hill, but their father, in general started fighting with Lucy about stupid little things. Like what Michael and Michelle were going to do for college, or Sam being into comic books. Basically wanting to control his kids lives and not listening to Lucy in the process.

He even took a stab at you. Saying that Michael could do better and not be with a ‘nobody’ like you. Of course, that’s when Michael stopped talking to his dad, with Sam and then Michelle falling behind.

It even amped up more when their dad stumbled upon Michelle making out with a girl on their front porch. He said some words that made you very close to hexing him, and that’s something you never do. He hated Michelle for being a lesbian, so in return, Michelle went against every single rule that their dad put in place.

Lucy defended each and everyone of you, taking the brunt of his words. All of you were just thankful that in less than a week, he would be out of the house and out of state. Away from all of you.

“Is he gonna be back tonight?” Sam asked while petting Nanook. You hoped that their father was staying at his friends house tonight. You didn’t want to have to face him, nor would you want your boyfriend and his family to see him for the rest of the night.

Lucy shook her head, “Probably not. I don’t think he’s coming back for a few days.”

All the anxiety in the room washed away at Lucy’s words and you wanted to almost jump up and down in celebration.

“Good.” Michael simply said, setting out his tarot cards in a new formation.

Lucy bit her lip, “Come on.” She patted Michelle’s shoulder and reached down to ruffle Sam’s hair, “Help me with dinner.” Lucy didn’t respond to Michael, she knew that he was at the point of fully hating his father, so there was nothing really to say.

Lucy got up from her spot with Michelle and Sam following. Nanook followed Sam, leaving just you and Michael in the room.

Michael said nothing, just stared down at his cards with a furrowed brow and clenched jaw.

You sighed, “Hey.” You said softly.

He turned his head towards you, his gaze softening just a little bit. He was pissed, holding back a lot of anger towards his father.

“Things will get better.” You said, placing a small kiss on his cheek before resting your forehead against his.

Michael breathed out, his tensed shoulders now relaxing as he leaned into your touch. You were always good with calming him down. “You know that for sure?” He asked you, his eyes boring deep into your own.

“I can’t see into the future like you can, but I know how strong you are Michael. You’re going to pull out of this better than ever. You, Michelle, Sam and your mom are going to be okay, as long as you have each other.” You said, trying to ease his mind about the future. Things were going to be tough, but you had a feeling it would turn out alright in the end.

Michael couldn’t help but smile a little, “What would I do without you?”

You hummed in thought for a second, “Probably fall on your ass every time you ride your broom. Sometimes you can’t fly for shit, Michael.”

The two of you chuckled at your joke. You weren't wrong. Michael had a hard time flying his broom when he first started. You had to save him from his face meeting the earth floor more times than you could remember. He was pretty good now. But he was much better at riding his bike than he was his broom.

“Promise to be with me through it all?” Michael asked you, his hand cupping your face.

“Promise.” You answered, pressing your lips to Michael’s who moved his lips against yours. You were never going to leave Michael, you loved him too much to even think about it.

Whatever the future had in store for all of you, you were ready for it. And you were going to walk hand and hand with Michael every single step of the way.

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

Kit and Ty’s reunion (Fan Fiction) - Part 7 - Let’s kick some Cohort ass

Title says it all. Just because I needed to see some Cohort ass get kicked. My kind of therapy. Characters based on Cassandra Clare’s (TSC) though I created one for the plot. Three years after TDA.

The two following days passed in a blur. Kit was returning to his bedroom after training one evening when he saw a package left on his bed. He opened it and emptied the content on his desk. There was a folded note and a necklace. Kit felt a jolt of uneasiness as he recognized instantly the whitish-green pendant with the Chinese characters carved into it. Even though he had only learnt a few Chinese words from Jem, and didn’t know how to read them, he knew exactly what the characters meant. When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze.

It was the pendant Jem had offered Tessa over a hundred years ago, when he had proposed.

With a growing sense of dread, Kit opened the folded note and read. We hold someone you love. If you want to see her again, meet us at the following address. Alone. If you warn the Clave or anyone at the Institute, we will know. And what you’ll find there will be her dead body. The address printed at the bottom of the note seemed to be in a residential area, a 30 minutes’ walk from the Institute.

A flash of memories went through Kit’s head. Tessa smiling indulgently at him as he made yet another one of his bad jokes. Their banter about books and movies. Tessa carrying a giggling Mina and staring at Jem adoringly, as he was making faces to make them laugh. Tessa singing to Mina - loud enough for Kit to hear – the song his mother used to sing to him. Well, the mother who had given birth to him. Tessa was also his mother now.

When he snapped out of his daze, he was fully dressed in Shadowhunter gear. Thankfully, he always kept weapons in his room and was now heavily armed. He didn’t pause to think as he walked to the window and started escalading straight up to the Institute’s roof. He would not go through the corridors and risk being followed by someone at the Institute. He had noticed the way the Centurions sometimes seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air when he thought he was alone.

Perched on the Institute’s roof, he felt grateful for all the training Jace had put him through. He now knew that, as much as Jace could jump from unexpected, impossible heights, so could he. He had even trained to jump out of a Malachi configuration. Theoretically. Jace had smiled conspiratorially at the time, telling him it was a talent that could always prove useful.

He drew two runes, Heightened Speed and Surefooted, sparing a glance, as he always did, at the Voyance rune at the back of his right hand. He only paused to take one deep breath before jumping from the roof and landing gracefully on the ground. He murmured a silent thanks to Jace and almost wished his mentor were there for a high five.

He made it to the location in short time, although it seemed like hours to him.

He tried to circle around the meeting point, but it appeared empty. Just when he thought about doing another round, he heard laughter coming from an alley surrounded by two brick buildings. He peered his head. No one. He started as he heard a creaking noise behind him. Spinning toward the sound with his sword raised, he saw a familiar figure standing a few feet away.

It was one of the Centurions who had been assigned to his security. The Swedish blond girl, Kiersten Lindquist. She held a finger to her lips, hushing him, and slid silently next to him.

“It’s a trap” she said low in his ear. “I have sent Anush back to the Institute for reinforcements. I’ll distract them and you run. Don’t – and I repeat it – whatever you do, don’t let yourself get caught. It’s you they want. They will not hurt me if they are still looking for you. They would want to use me as bait.”

“But– Tessa…”

“She’s fine” snapped Kiersten. Then, more gently “please don’t mess up our plan.”

Wait– Kit thought, there was a plan?

Before he could ask, a dozen Shadowhunters – and it was plain they belonged to the Cohort - were circling them. They were calling themselves the Imperishable Order, now. Same shit, different name, thought Kit.

“Hey Barbie girl” drawled one of the Cohort members. He looked very familiar. “We have no quarrel with you. We just want the Herondale Faerie-slut. Leave us be and we will not harm you.”

“Manuel. I see you haven’t changed” said Kiersten calmly. “You’re still a disgrace to the Scholomance.” She drew her longsword and shouted “NOW”.

Kit sprinted, knocking down two Cohort members on his way, disappeared around the corner of the nearest building and scrambled up its wall with a dexterity that would make both Jace and Jem proud. Up on the roof, he could see six Centurions had been dispatched to look for him. He glanced at the battle taking place beneath him and heard shouts as a newcomer joined the melee and incapacitated a Cohort member in a record time, before turning to fight two others. Kiersten was fighting two on her own.

Kit decided to check on the hunt party. Only two of them had decided to climb the stairs up to the top of the building, while the others were searching the area. Suddenly, he heard in a loud, clear voice “STOP. STOP now, put your weapons down or I SWEAR TO GOD I will cut Barbie’s throat.”

He hurried back to stand at the edge of the roof, to assess the situation below.

Kit watched as the newcomer – a tall figure wearing a Centurion uniform – took a step forward and kneeled, laying his two blades on the floor. He raised both his hands as he stood. The moon lit his face. Kit gasped. Ty. No, no, no, Ty. I am so sorry.

Manuel strode to stand behind Ty, encircling him with his arms and lifting a knife to his throat. He was almost standing on tiptoe as Ty was taller than him, and it would have been comical if not for the dreadfulness of the whole situation.

A few feet away, facing them, another Cohort member had Kiersten in a headlock.

Kit had to force himself still. His hands were clutched into fists, his entire body trembling with the urge to fight. He kept repeating Kiersten’s words in his head. They will not hurt me if they are still looking for you. They would want to use me as bait.

“Well, well, look who we have here” said a woman’s voice and Kit recognized it at once. Zara Dearborn.

“Is this… Julian Blackthorn’s younger brother? The weird one? Well, whatever they say, he is hot as hell.”

Manuel laughed. “I figured you would say this, Zara. We all know you have wet dreams about Julian Blackthorn. No shame in that. You know what they say, keep your enemies closer and all that.”

Zara spluttered. “Seriously? You really want to talk about this? How about your crush on Emma Carstairs?” And in a mimicking voice, “Oooh Emma, you have such pretty blond hair and you’re such a badass, and you have this long, beautiful sword making up for my tiny, little…”

“Let’s make a truce,” said Manuel. “When we get back to Alicante, the Blackthorn Ken here will be all yours.”

“That’s actually a great idea. The look on Emma’s face when she finds out that her little brother-in-law and I…“

“I’m sorry, Zara, but this is not happening” said Ty, in a loud, clear voice, that didn’t betray a flicker of fear although he had a knife pointed at his throat. Kit felt a surge of pride. “No offense, but psycho bitches are not my type.”

Kit could see in the distance silhouettes running in their direction. He sighed in relief. Reinforcement was coming. He jumped from the roof and landed directly behind Zara, pointing his sword in her back in almost the same motion.

Several gasps of surprise.

“You think that jump was high? I can do it in my sleep” said Kit, showing off.

He winked at Ty then, who was glancing his way, pride glittering in his eyes.

Kit knew he needed to stall until reinforcement arrived. Admittedly, the Cohort members were already doing most of the job.

“So… Manuel, I have to admit I am a bit jealous. You see, I have been fantasizing about holding Tiberius in the exact same position for years now.”

Ty, who had not betrayed a flicker of emotion until then, flushed a deep shade of red.

Manual smiled viciously. “Oh, I see. I guess all Faeries are queers.” And then, he spoke in Ty’s ear but loudly, so everyone could hear “So, who’s the bitch?”

Ty didn’t answer but looked pointedly at Zara.

“Let me translate for you, freak. Do you hump him? Or does he hump you?”

“Come now, Manuel. This is the 21st Century. Keep up” said Kit, flashing his best smile. “We believe in equal opportunities.”

“OK guys, did I miss something? did we really run into Cohort members or some hormone-crazed teenagers posing as such?” it was Barbie – sorry, Kiersten – who had just spoken.  

No one answered as this was the moment when Jace appeared out of nowhere and knocked down the person who had her in a headlock with the flat of his sword.

Kit pushed Zara away, with such force that she ended up sprawling on the floor.

He instantly turned to where Ty was standing… looking down, his foot resting on top of Manuel’s body, which was writhing on the ground. Manuel was staring at his hands, his forearms, which were covered with red rashes and blisters, his face a mask of shock. A powder substance was eating away his knife, which had somehow landed a few feet away. 

Kit saw Ty put away a small vial filled with red-purple powder, with a satisfied look on his face.

All hell broke loose.

A fleeing Cohort member was swept off his feet as a whip circled around his foot and Isabelle, looking like a warrior goddess, pulled vigorously.

An arrow lodged itself in Zara’s thigh as she tried to stand up. Alec, standing a few feet away, had already pulled a new arrow. He looked… bored.

Kit knocked down another Cohort member using only his right hook. Because, well, he could.

In a few minutes, they had rounded up the wounded and tied their hands behind their backs.

The party that had been sent to search for Kit came back to an incongruous sight.

Zara, Manuel and the other Cohort members who had remained with the Centurions were now huddled together in the middle of a circle made by Anush, Kiersten, Ty and Isabelle, who was slashing at the air with her whip as to make a point to whoever thought they could chance an escape. Kit thought she looked like a hot school teacher scolding her very, very naughty pupils.

The search party turned around, making a run for it… only to be met by Jace. He was leaning casually against the side of the wall, his arms crossed.

“Hey, guys” he drawled. “Looking for something? Your dignity, maybe?”

One of the fleers launched himself at him, weapon raised, and Jace simply ducked out of the way as he drew his own sword.

Kit sensed a movement behind him, just as he was facing another one. Glancing backward, he saw that Ty had joined him to cover his back. He felt heat – the heat of the battle, the heat of Ty's body so close to his – as they fought back-to-back, four opponents at the same time.

Alec and Jace eventually joined them, and it was almost over before it had started.

The remaining Cohort members joined their friends in the circle where Kiersten, Anush and Isabelle had remained. Isabelle had put away her whip and was staring at her nails.

Clary finally swept in, gracefully, not a single hair out of place, and started drawing a portal.

“Sorry we are late” she said, standing next to Simon who was carrying large paper bags. “We had to stop to buy us dinner.”

*****

Hope you’ll enjoy reading it, as much as I did writing it @heloisacosta23 @arangiajoan @nenyx @naerysthelonesome @adoravel-fenomeno @eutonyinwhisper  @chlo-tk @the-blackdale @thechangeling @herondalebitchh

[darklymelanatedstories]

Hope you like this intro to:

Hide and seek (ft Goku)

Part 1

You kept as still as you could–despite your uncontrollable shaking–steadying your breathing as not to hyperventilate.

Breath in...breath out...breath in...breath out

The only thing you could hear was your breathing in this unbearable silence. Where was he?

Last you saw him, he was counting to 10. But you didn't stick around as you started running as soon as he reached 2.

You tried to control your sobbing and quietly prayed that he wouldn't find your hiding spot. It was dark and cramped on an especially dark night. Hopefully he'd miss you if he ever were to come by, if you just kept still.

Breath in...breath out–

Then you heard it.

The sound of a broken twig and crunched leaves as his footsteps became known, followed by the loud clanking of chains that spoke wonders of its intended use. You could hear his goofy chuckle, that which once brought you joy now brought you chilling goosebumps.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

~

"Found you, (Y/n)!"

A shriek left your lips as you were tackled to the ground.

"Goku! Goku, let go of me!"

You rolled around the grass in a fit of giggles and laughs as you tried to push the spiky haired man off your smaller form.

"Not until you give it."

"Never!"

Still struggling to free your self, you thought up a plan that was sure to work...and if it didn't then you'd die from embarrassment.

With Goku looming over you, you cupped his face with your hands, closed your eyes and hoped for the best as you leaned forward.

"What are you doing?"

You froze. Your lips just a kiss away from his and the man of your dreams was watching.

"Uh," You immediately pushed Goku off your form and jumped up from you spot. "Hey Vegeta. We were...uh just wrestling."

He raised an eyebrow at you. At that moment you could've died from embarrassment and you'd be happy because the last thing you'd see is Vegeta.

"Wrestling with your lips? Or actually was it tongue wrestling?",he teased.

"Well..."

"It's (Y/n)'s distraction technique to put her enemies off guard." Goku said, placing a hand on your shoulder. His way of saying that he was backing you up. "I gotta say it sure did the trick for me." He chuckled and you couldn't help but notice the light blush on his face.

"Uh huh, so if you two idiots are done with your little games," he then turned to look at Goku. "We have a match to get to."

And with that, he left.

"Sooo Goku–"

You were immediately cut off when Goku started rummaging through your backpack that you left on the ground. Realizing what he was looking, you rushed over to him but it was too late.

"Aha! Found it." He raised the box he found, up in triumph while using his other hand to stop you from trying to take it.

"Sorry (y/n)",he said before making a run for it, with you chasing after him.

"Goku, get back here with my donuts!"

•••

After chasing Goku and failing to get your donuts back, he made you a deal that if you stayed to help him prepare for his match against Vegeta then he'd give you your donuts back.

You didn't really have anything else planned so you decided to stay and help him warm up, also while trying to find where he hid your donuts. Priorities, right?

You were currently holding the giant punching bag still while Goku sent a flurry of punches so fast and hard that you thought you were the punching bag. The reason for his sudden aggressiveness was because of all the eyes that were immediately on you he moment you walked into a gym full of thirsty male wrestlers.

"Oh, sorry. (Y/n) are you okay?",he asked when he realized he almost punched you.

"Yeah.",you reassured. "It's nice not having you going easy on me as usual."

"But you know I'd never hurt you."

You gave him a smile and playfully punched him in the arm. "I know, big guy." You stood on your tip toes to match his height, your face dangerously close to his. "So does that mean I can wrestle today?"

Goku blinked comically before he chuckled. "I don't know (Y/n)."

"Aw." You crossed you arms and pouted. "Can I at least have my donuts?"

"Yo guys I found a box of donuts. Let's eat!"

Goku's eyes snapped towards the donut thief and you noticed him somewhat trying to forced back the scowl. You figured it was because someone found the donuts so you paid it no mind. You ran over to hug Yamcha and chow on your donuts like the world was coming to an end. Unaware of the burning glare a certain spiky haired man has been giving Yamcha. Though he kept his mastered fake smile whenever someone came near him.

It's no secret that Yamcha has been after you for a while now. Making no effort to hide his feelings or keep his hands to himself. He'd always make up an excuse to be around you or to have you to himself even if it was for something like watching a movie. You never really picked up on his flirty nature since he was like this with most women and you thought nothing of it but seeing him so much as touch you made Son want to cut Yamcha's hands off, break both of his legs and literally kick what's left of his ass with them.

He hated it. He hated that he loved the idea of having Yamcha scream in agony. Goku was a nice guy. He is a nice guy. Most loved in the city.

Goku had tried to convince Yamcha to leave you alone with some lame excuse but Yamcha wouldn't give up.

He watched as you laughed at whatever Yamcha just said while he wrapped your arms around you in which you thought was a loving brotherly manner.

6 weeks.

6 long weeks of seeing that shit and he was tired of it. It would end...tonight.

•••

Walking over to his car in the dark, empty parking lot, Yamcha couldn't help but feel uneasy, as if he was being watched. And the more he tread towards his car, the harder the feeling felt. Reaching for his keys in his pockets, he pressed a button that lead to what was music to his ears.

beep beep

Now sure his car was only a few steps away, his nerves slowly calmed as he quickened his pace.

"Haha, what was I so worried about. No one is here but me.",he tried convincing himself.

"10"

Yamcha immediately stopped in his tracks at the sound of the sudden voice seemingly echo in the parking lot.

"9"

"What?!" He started freaking out as he heard it again. The voice sounded so familiar but he was too scared to find out who it was.

The voice chuckled. "8"

"Who are you?!",Yamcha yelled only to be answered by another number.

"7"

"Fxck this!" Yamcha started jogging to to his car cautiously as his eyes searched the darkness for any other signs of life.

"6...5... You better be running the opposite way Yamcha because if I find you...no one else will."

Increasing speed, now running to his car, he tried to ignore whatever it was that was speaking to him. Once he reaches his car, he'll be fine. He'll be fine. That's what he keeps telling himself.

"4...3. Yamcha turn the fxck around before I kill you~",they sang.

They were delusion if they thought that would happen. Yamcha was getting to his car if it's the last thing he does.

The mysterious voice was soon heard laughing as soon as Yamcha touched his car.

"2.."

A horrific thought came into Yamcha's mind of seeing this person in his car.

He cautiously opened his door, his guard up just in case.

"Oh thank God!",he shouted after letting out a breath of relief. He jumped into his car in excitement. "Yes, I made it, now let's get the fuck out of–"

BOOM!

An explosion seared the air and earth in large expansion of smoke and flames leaving only a few large burning scraps of what used to be Yamcha's car.

~

Fixated on the glorious sight from his hiding place, he couldn't help but let out a derange cackle.

"Nothing like a bomb to make everything lit!",he joked to himself, clapping his hands excitedly to have gotten another victim in such a long time. Though he had to admit it wasn't as much fun as chasing after his prey in a nice little game of hide and seek but it was exceptional. He wouldn't waste all that energy on Yamcha.

Letting out a content sigh, he composed himself as he wiped a tear of joy from his eye. "I've missed this."

Looking back at the tiny destruction he's caused, he scowled at the thought of seeing that bastard Yamcha again. To think that one wrong move could have destroyed their friendship so fast that it'd have to result in manslaughter.

No regrets.

"I warned you Yamcha but you just had to go after my (Y/n).",he said. "You aren't the first and you certainly won't be the last. (Y/n) is mine and anyone who thinks otherwise better hide, because once the countdown ends I'll come seeking. And when I do, you better pray to Kami that I don't find you."

[atsunflower]

Hospital for souls — Intro

Rated: SFW

Author note: hey yall! This is the first chapter for my "Throne: the series". Remember, it's a yakuza!au, so there will be lots of mentions of dark themes. This chapter, thought, is safe and kind of plain, but totally important to the start. Please, enjoy your reading!

Warnings: cursing and slight mentions of anxiety and OCD.

I — Intro

Previous || Next

You walked down the aisle sandwiched between two bodies clad in Armani suits. Even though they knew you woudn’t dare to, they held you like you were about to run away from this whole circus.

There was no bridal march, neither a suntuous decoration. The Elie Saab gown you wore was heavy on your body, making you feel like you didn't belong; the harsh glares thrown at you didn't help either.

You felt helpless.

In the end of the red carpet, a man stood tall and stoic. His hair wasn't combed so the wavy locks were free to frame his face; the harsh glare he gave you three did nothing to diminish his beauty — at least, you tought, he's not a creepy old man. But this fact don't made you feel any relief.

Your head then hung low, as if you were trying to vanish away from this ceremony. The blond man by your left tightened the hold in your arm —not for support, but as warning— while the gray haired one only clicked his tongue; their implicit threat made your skin craw.

Two months ago, you'd never imagine your life would change completely, considering you weren't given any options.

Two months ago, a tall brown haired man would escort you out of the hospital you worked and then, take you to your doom: from a fatherless daughter to a bastard of Inarizaki and then, a bride for a man you never saw before. A whole arrangement that lasted 60 days and took you away from everything you had, from everything you knew.

Lost in thoughts, you didn't feel when your steps halted nor when the two figures who held you let go of your arms to take their seats. The man waiting for you don't bothered to acknowledge your presence by his side, but you saw his features hardening once you reached for him.

In shades of orange and black, the venue pretty much looked like a courtroom, its aesthetic doing nothing to ease your nerves. In the pulpit, an old man stood proud, sporting a wise aura only the time could give him.

The elder cleared his throat and everyone in the room stood on their feet.

"Good evening ladies, gentlemen and the distinguished people from the families" his voice sounded loud and mighty, even if he wasn't using a mic. "Tonight, we are reunited to celebrate an unprecendented moment in the history of our kind: the union of Inarizaki and Itachiyama households"

A minute of silence was made; everyone in the place held a solemn face, waiting for the man to proceed.

"I, Ukai Ikkei, the elder of Karasuno, feel honoured to lead such important event" He said placing his right hand on his chest "Assuring you all that, Karasuno, the household responsible for all the bureaucracy and diplomacy related to our activities, is still commited to keep a neutral eye over families matters only to officialize, document and inspect the agreements between the families. That being said, the ceremony shall begin."

His raspy voice dragged the boring speech until a men with bleached hair walked to where you and the groom stood, with a huge book in his hands. He carefully placed it on the desk in front of you, grabing the leathern material of its cover and opening it.

"Tonight, a new chapter is added to the Book of Deals. With clauses that concern only the involved parts, we witness the signing of this agreement by the main heads of Inarizaki and Itachiyama, as well the bride's signature. But first, shall we hear the marriage votes and the exchange of rings"

A man from Itachiyama's side stood and came to you both, holding a black velvety box. He opened it, offering its contents at you first; you took the larger golden band and started:

"I, [L/N; Name], daughter of Inarizaki, give you, Sakusa Kiyoomi, this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you and Itachiyama, manifesting my will to this alliance between our families" surprisingly, your voice sounded steady while reciting the speech you knew by heart, paying no mind to the snickering behind you.

Sakusa looked at you with distaste, his body going stiff the moment you held his hand and slipped the golden band to his ring finger. He then took the remaining jewel and turned to you:

"I thee wed" and you felt even more humiliated, the jiggles only adding more weight to the diamond ring in your finger.

To your relief, Ukai cleared his throat again, proceeding with the formalities

"Now may the newly weds to sign the Book. I also summon Inarizaki oyabuns to officialize the deal." Atsumu and Osamu were by your side, eager to finish this. Sakusa went first, smoothly running the pen over the page. Then, Ukai handed him a glistening object.

God, you hated it here.

Using the lancet, the tall ravenette punctured his thumb, smearing the blood between his fingers and then pressing the red fingerprint onto the blank paper.

Before handing you the fountain pen, he fished a tube of hand sanitizer from his pocket, rubing the alchool as if his life depended on it.

Did the man suffer of OCD? You almost pitied him. Almost.

Then, it was your turn. Scribbling down your name next to his, you sealed your fate.

Sakusa [Name].

You flinched when you felt your thumb getting punctured, Atsumu doing you the favor and smirking at your reaction; why the man hated you so much?

The blood stained the beautiful dress you wore, before printing your mark on the paper.

Almost a metaphor, as if you were now tainted too.

When the twins were done, the old Ukai was more than ready to wrap the event.

"With both consents and the power vested in me by the families, I now pronouce you married. May peace prevail among Inarizaki and Itachiyama"

"Aren't the newly-weds supposed to kiss now?" You heard Atsumu whispering to Osamu. The latter merely scoffed at his brother's stupid antics.

Everyone got out of the room, since Karasuno would host a reception in honor of the wedding.

During your time in Inarizaki, you learned that the place worked as a hotel for the Yakuza.

The Crow, as it is called, was supposed to be a neutral space where the most important matters to the families were held. With a glamourous western architecture, it looked like one of those luxury mansions from the movies.

In the ballroom, soft piano melodies were being played and waiters offered booze to the guests.

The champagne tasted stale in your mouth.

You were now sitting alone in a table on the corner, observing the other people mind their own business, too absorbed in their bubble of power and crime.

You would never get the way they acted so nonchalant, when everything they had was made of blood. This coldness was scaring.

"Why are you so sad in your big day?" The snarky question almost had you spitting the champagne. The brunette sat by your side, his mouth doing a soft curve as an apologetic smile.

"You tell me, you little shit" your reply came in a joking tone, trying to ease the bad sensation on your guts, but he got what you meant.

"You know, it could've been worse." he let out a breath, looking around the saloon "You know how Atsumu is. Also, Osamu shares that weird twin bond of theirs, so it's hard to tell what he's thinking. But it definetely could have been worse"

"I figured it out by myself, Suna-kun. It's just hard to accept the fact I was dragged to this against my own will." a tear rolled in your left cheek and the man by your side wiped it with his thumb.

"Yeah, but the former lady wanted you dead back then" always blunt, he never held back when stating the facts "Things work this way between the families. You were lucky you haven't to face a bigger mess" he held your hand over the table, while propping his chin on the other palm.

It was Suna who brought you into this life. Though, you never resented him because you knew he was just following strict orders. Besides, he was the only one who was nice towards you; never knowing when it happened, you both agreed on this weird friendship a couple of weeks ago. Now he was the only person you cared about.

"But it's not that bad. You are going to live in that huge ass mansion of your husband" the playful tone and the way he wiggled his eyebrows was comical. "You also can see the weird faces he makes first hand. Man, the way he looked constipated during the ceremony was fucking priceless." You accompanied him on a snort, almost forgetting the circumstances.

"I'm going to miss your antics so bad" and you would have said more, if it wasn't for the shadow looming over you.

Sakusa was standing behind your chair, with a face mask covering his features.

If stares could kill, you'd be dead on spot.

"Time to go" was all he said, waiting for you. You bid goodbye to Suna and followed your husband out of the hotel, a sleek sports car waiting for you two while you made your way towards it.

He stopped dead on his tracks, taking a hold of you arm.

"Listen. Itachiyama is famous for respecting our women." You frowned "But know your place and don't even try to make a fool of me or of my household, got it?" His voice was slighty muffled by the mask, but you still understood every single word he said.

"What do you mean?" You asked, ignoring the way he tightened the grip on your arm, resuming his steps.

"Simple. Stay out of my way or you'll deeply regret it, you fox runt."

❥ tagging: @kenmamazing, @keekee-732, @chiibichann, @shinguchi, @captain-shittykawa, @fortheloveofbakugo, @daisyjaebae, @jihoonspout, @floodinginstars, @fl4mepillar, @trash4sportsanime, @translucentthoughts, @kemochie;

[askmerriauthor]

Star Wars Thoughts

After “The Mandalorian” and playing “Star Wars: The Old Republic” served to rekindle a more active interest in Star Wars for me, it occurred to me that I’d never actually seen the original trilogy all in one.  I’d just seen the movies piece mail over several non-consecutive viewings, so I figured I’d sit down and rectify that.  Going through them all in a row brought some observations.

I never realized Luke can’t (or at least couldn’t) understand R2-D2.  I assumed he knew how to speak Binary, but C-3PO spends the entire first movie translating for Luke.  After Luke and R2 pair up to head to Dagobah, Luke only understands R2 when his ship visibly translates the beep-boops into written text for him.  All the time Luke spends talking to R2 on Dagobah itself is just him bouncing a monologue off R2 without ever having an actual conversation.

Holy shit are these movies efficiently written.  The pacing is tight as a drum, you get exactly as much screen time as you need for each concept to play out, and everything moves briskly without feeling rushed.  The stories each movie tells are as simple as can be, but that really works to their strengths.  I’d say the only real exception is “Return of the Jedi”, as pretty much the entirety of Endor felt like filler to just occupy the rest of the cast with while Luke and Vader did the actual heavy lifting.

The effects are really impressive and hold up remarkably well for the time they were made in.  That said, the additional CGI extras re-cut into the movies are glaringly out of place and frankly lessen the quality with their presence.  I don’t mind the notion behind them - Lucas wanting to flesh out the scenes in ways that he couldn’t originally - but the janky quality of the CGI and juvenile, out-of-place humor doesn’t do the movies any favors.  I’d actually like to see the OT redone again with the additions kept in, but re-rendered to actually composite better with the original footage.

To that same measure, the added scene with Han meeting Jabba in “A New Hope” should be cut.  It serves no purpose, looks bad, and literally repeats dialogue line for line said in the previous scene with Greedo.  Bad Lucas.  Bad.  No cookie.

Han shot first.  Fight me.

After being captured by the Ewoks, C-3PO is mistaken for some kind of golden god by the little guys.  Han demands the Droid use their misunderstanding to get the party out of trouble, but C-3PO refuses by saying that “his programming forbids him from impersonating a deity”.  I am aching to know what happened that would demand such a limitation exists as standard issue in a protocol droid’s programming.

Man does that Yoda puppet hold up to the test of time.  It still looks good and delivers a great performance.  “The Mandalorian” really made the right call in keeping Grogu as a CG-enhanced puppet rather than a full CG character.

I always knew C-3PO was meant to be comic relief, but I didn’t realize that Chewie was as well.  I’ve always had it in my head that he’s some kind of badass warrior as advertised, but the movies play him up as being a fuzzy oaf who doesn’t really do much of anything.

Emperor Palpatine walks using a cane.  Why did I never notice that?

What the hell why didn’t I ever realize that young Mark Hamill was jacked?  Everyone always goes on about Carrie Fisher in the golden bikini but was Sleeveless Training Montage Luke a thing for fans back then too?

Boba Fett still goes down like a punk-ass bitch without doing anything useful the entire trilogy, just as I remembered.

[ricksbowen]

one more time | pt. 4

IN WHICH: a nighttime visit turns into a whole other session.

INSPIRATION: she — harry styles, the less i know the better — tame impala

WARNING: this series will have smut in it and is pretty sexual all around ( read with caution ). there are implications of sex right off the bat, and everyone is 18+ and in their senior year. there’s also family problems mentioned.

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6

The sound of his doorbell going off terrified Ricky in more ways than he wanted to admit.

He had spent five minutes getting ready to answer the door. The metal bat in his hand and the comical hockey helmet he put on were only precautions; who would ring at 12:16 AM? It only had to be a serial killer, and Ricky Bowen wasn’t going to be one of the stupid teens in every horror movie ever.

He was smart. He’d beat them up.

“Okay, Ricky. Just open the door.” Ricky jumped on the balls of his feet, his eyes trailing up to the peephole on his door. He nodded to himself, turning his head to crack it as he continued to hype himself up. “Peephole. Right— peepholes are great,” Ricky muttered, peering through the small hole.

You were standing outside. The rain that was pouring outside didn’t seem to phase you as you stared at the red rain boots you wore.

Ricky’s shoulders slumped ( he totally wasn’t excited for a serial killer to be at his door ) at the sight of you, relief coursing through his veins as he opened the door. Leaning cooly against his doorframe, Ricky managed a smirk past the hockey helmet over his head. “You look glum.”

“And you look stupid— who did you think was at the door?” You retorted, an eyebrow raising in question.

“Freddie Krueger. Jason Voorhees,” Ricky counted the names on his fingers, and even your sadness couldn’t stop the smile that crept on your face. “Hannibal Lector, the live-action Cat in the Hat—“

“You were scared of that movie?” you asked, cocking a brow in amusement. “I should’ve known you were a pussy,” you remarked, laughing softly at the ‘hey!’ he let out. You ducked under his arm, entering his house and shaking the rain from your hair like a wet dog.

“Umbrellas are a great invention.”

“Shut up, Bowen.” You shrugged off your coat, hanging it up alongside the other coats. You knew he was looking at you; rarely did you ever come to his house without a warning. “Stop staring.”

“I’m not,” Ricky retorted, averting his eyes to anything that wasn’t you. He pulled the hockey helmet off his face, shaking the mess of hair he had on his head. He watched you from his peripheral vision, your actions less lively than usual as you made your way to his kitchen. “I’m guessing you didn’t sneak out just for the hell of it.”

“Usually I do,” you answered, eyes darting up and down his pantry for anything edible. You knew you left some chips from the last time you were here. “My parents were arguing again. They were too loud, so,” you reached up for the familiar bag of chips. “I came here.” You didn’t want to get into the details of your parents’ problems. Ricky already knew most of them, from the growing rumors of an affair to your mom’s want to leave both you and your dad. “The only time they can get along is when they’re yelling at me,” you added quietly, almost inaudible.

“Stay as long as you want,” Ricky hummed, coming up behind you and reaching for a box of cereal. You always ranted to him because you knew he understood what you were going through. After everything that happened between his parents in his junior year, how could he not? “I can put on a movie or something.”

“Horror?”

“Sure. We can pick it apart like we always do,” Ricky said with a crooked grin, one that made you smile back. “We are still allowed to do stuff like that, right?”

“Like what?” you asked, making your way to his couch and flopping down on it.

“Normal friend stuff. I mean, we’ve had sex,” Ricky paused, staring up at his ceiling in thought. “Multiple times, In a lot of places,” he turned to the couch where you sat, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Your point?”

“Wouldn’t it be weird?”

“It hasn’t been weird,” you stated, sending him a puzzled look. “Has it been weird for you?”

“No!”

“Then what’s makin’ you change your mind?” you pressed further, the overwhelming feeling of curiosity making you ask him.

Ricky let out a sigh, clicking on a random movie. It seemed cliche enough; teenagers lost in the woods. Normally, the most cliche ones were the funniest ones to pick apart. He threw the remote back onto the living room table. “This girl asked me on a date today.”

Your eyebrows raised, surprised at the lack of emotion you had as you nodded. “Who? What’d you say?” you asked with a beaming smile, shaking him gently and making him let out another loud sigh. He picked a random horror movie, not bothering to look at the summary as he put it on.

“Just this girl I got paired up with for science. I went out with her today.”

“And? You can’t just leave it at that!” you pressed on, leaning into him with a cocked brow. Why didn’t he tell you? Usually you’d help him out with everything when it came to date, from what he was supposed to wear to where he was going to take her.

“She sucked; she kept on judging every little thing I did. All the jokes I made?” Ricky sucked in a breath, feigning disappointment. “She took them too seriously. When I said that I’d kill for a burrito, I actually don’t mean it,” he said, trying to keep a straight face as he felt you hit him as you laughed.

“Holy shit, she thought you were gonna kill someone?” you forced out behind bundles of laughter, throwing your head back as more guffaws left your chest. “I’m sorry, it’s just—“ you cut yourself off, a string of uncontrollable giggles following and making him bite back a grin.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, giggles,” Ricky said, words dripping with sarcasm as he looked at you from his peripheral vision. “I hope a jumpscare bites you in the ass,” he muttered.

“Aw, Ricky,” you sing-songed, nudging him playfully with a shit eating grin. “I’m sorry,” you said, your smile anything but sorry. Ricky still refused to look at you, faking the silent treatment and making you sigh. Ricky pulled his eyes away from the movie, setting them onto you and raising a brow.

“Are you really?”

“No, not much,” you grinned, and Ricky chuckled as he shook his head. He felt you move closer to him, putting your head on his shoulder like you always did when you both had movie nights. It was nothing but platonic.

The movie was watched in silence, the beginning dragging on for longer than you liked before the first teen separated from the group.

“She’s so gonna die,” you muttered, head still on Ricky’s shoulder. You felt him nod, eyes focused on the screen, and the music from the T.V picked up. The tension grew along with the devilish idea in your head. Ricky was staring at the screen with wide eyes, goosebumps rising on his skin, and the girl opened the door—

You let out a yelp. Ricky screamed bloody murder.

Ricky’s chest heaved, hand on his chest as he stared at you with frightened eyes. You were laughing, practically falling off the couch in laughter. Ricky swore he saw tears in your eyes.

“Y/N, stop,” Ricky whined, his high-pitched voice only making you laugh harder and clutch your stomach.

“I forgot how easy you were to scare!” you giggled, trying to calm yourself by breathing deeply.

“Please don’t do it again,” Ricky muttered, face burning with embarrassment.

“Or what?” you challenged, the smile on your face contrasting your glum expression moments before. It felt nice to smile, to laugh without having to worry about people yelling at you to stop. Usually, that was how things worked at your house.

Ricky moved closer to you, your smile faltering just a bit at the slightly determined look in his eyes. You knew the game he was playing.

“What’re you gonna do about it, Bowen?” you joked, knowing fully well what you were doing with him. You saw the way he clenched his jaw, and how the movie suddenly sank into the background as his attention was focused on you.

Ricky leaned forward just as you did, your lips pressing against each other. Your hands go to the sides of his head, pulling him down over you as your back hit the couch. Ricky hovered over you, deepening the kiss and making you let out a small moan in response.

He detached his lips from yours before reattaching them to your neck, making you tilt your head back to give him more space. You felt Ricky’s lips go down, his lips sucking a mark right above where your sweatshirt started to cover your skin. You felt him bite down, making you gasp, and you could practically hear him smirk smugly at the reaction.

Ricky’s hands tugged your sweatshirt up in a silent plea for it to come off, shivers running up and down his body when he felt your hands trail underneath his shirt. Wordlessly, you sat up and tugged it over your head, throwing it somewhere in the living room. You lifted your hips, pulling your pants off and revealing the black panties you wore.

Ricky swore he forgot how to breathe.

In turn, you tugged his shirt off, tossing it behind him. You pulled his joggers down, letting out a laugh when his lanky legs got stuck in them. Ricky sent you a sheepish grin, pulling them down his legs as quickly as he could. That too was thrown behind him, and you pushed him back, making his back hit the couch.

You straddled him, listening to the groan he let out when he felt you grind onto him. Ricky was looking up at you through his eyelashes, his mouth slightly agape as he breathed heavily. It was sinful how innocent he looked under you, gazing at you as if you were a goddess on earth.

To him, you were. To him, you had to be the most beautiful person, inside and out.

You looked down at him, leaning down to his neck and attaching your lips to his skin. Ricky let out a whine when he felt you suck in a mark right under his hear, the sound influencing you in more ways than one.

“Protection?” Ricky breathed, eyes shutting tight when he felt you grind down against him again. You were teasing him, the equally teasing smile on your mouth making him melt into a puddle.

“I’m on the pill,” you mumbled, pulling away from his neck and hovering over his dace. Your eyes were hungry and dominating, sending a sense of thrill down Ricky’s spine as he looked back at you with a lustful haze. It was obvious that he was enjoying it, being under you and having you tower over him.

Your hands went up to his neck, fingers wrapping around it as you grinded down onto him. He let out a moan, hips bucking up subconsciously at your movements. Your hand pressed against his throat only spurred him on more.

You pushed your panties aside.

—

The sunlight hit you in the face, making you rub the sleep away from your eyes.

You and Ricky had made it up to his room after having a few rounds on his couch. The stamina you both had was unbelievable, even for Ricky ( who you knew secretly loved working out ).

You opened your eyes, succumbing to the bright light shining through. The cotton white sheets that covered your naked frame brought you warmth, and you gently stretched. Only when you moved did you notice the arms that were wrapped around you, pulling you close to him.

Ricky never did that. He knew that you didn’t like having arms wrapped around you after sex.

You pulled his arms off of you, heart beating rapidly in your chest as you moved to the other edge of the bed. It brought back too many painful memories of him. Ones you never wanted to remember.

“Luka!” you squealed, head thrown back in laughter when you felt the arms that were once sleepily wrapped around you poke you in the stomach. You turned to him, face-to-face with your boyfriend.

“Aw, I never knew you were ticklish, babe,” Luka said, the crooked smile on his face making you roll your eyes. The sunlight that shone through his windows hit him perfectly, showing you the freckles that littered his skin. Your finger reached up, gently touching each of the little kisses of sun that were on his face. You moved your finger between them, connecting them like dots.

“What’re you doing?” Luka asked softly, cerulean blues observing your face.

“Counting your freckles,” you replied, making a smile appear on his face as he pulled you close to him. You turned around, making yourself the little spoon as he held you closer to him.

You moved your legs to the side of his bed, letting them hang off the edge. You let out a shaky exhale, the feeling of Ricky’s hands on your waist burned into your skin. You reached for his drawer, opening it and grabbing a random shirt. You pulled it over your head, standing up and stretching the tension away.

You hated how even the little things reminded you of him.

“Y/N? Are you leaving?” You heard Ricky’s groggy voice ask, his head peeking out from his blankets. His curls were like a bird’s nest, messed up from your hands sifting and roughly tugging on his hair last night.

“No— I can’t do that to you, you know that,” your words were soft, almost pointed towards yourself as you climbed back into bed. You pulled the blankets over you, making sure you kept a distance away from him.

“You okay?” Ricky asked, voice gentle and inviting as he gazed at you. He wasn’t blind to the sudden space between you both, his choice of wrapping his arms around you not even a memory in his mind. You knew he didn’t mean it, that he had always liked holding onto others, but the feeling always left you pained.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” you mumbled, your eyes meeting beautiful hazel ones as he looked at you.

Ricky observed you, taking in the little details. The messiness of your hair. The small amount of mascara that was smudged under your eye. The blooming hickeys he left on your neck that led to unholy placed under his own shirt. The way your eyes drooped because it was too early for you, and how your hair was a mess of tangles thanks to his hands running through them the night before.

Something changed when he looked at you. Ricky’s mouth fell agape at that moment, and something clicked.

He didn’t know what his epiphany was, but he didn’t want to find out.

—

TAGS: @tomshufflepuff​, @myrandom-fandomlife, @softpeteparker​, @sarcarstic-space-weirdo​, @particularcth​, @lifes-a-party-youre-a-boy, @paniniirae, @supersouthy​, @jointherebellion215, @gabyer0309​, @hannarudick​, @broken-from-fandoms​, @complete-trash-101, @ssprayberrythings​, @raven-waheda, @timelordtardis​, @chubby-cheek-calum, @nicole-lynne​, @loserr-likeme​, @whoseblogsthis​, @stxfxniexreads, @cherrydolan​, @allaroundaddict, @of-outerspace​, @blueevelvt, @kitykatnumber, @rocketdolans, @givemebooksorgivemedeath, @80sthottie

[xbunnybunz]

Daybreak (2/?) [Wolf Keum x Reader x Alex Go)

Summary: The day brings to you Alex Go, and in the night, Wolf Keum. Your past is inescapable. They build you up and tear you back down, but this is what you need to survive.

Genre: Romance, Angst, Drama

-----

When you wake up to the alarm in the morning, the ringing thrums a migraine in your head that could only be a hangover.

You blearily open your eyes and look to your alarm clock to the right, the intense sunlight piercing through your curtains further inflaming your headache.

7:10AM

You roll over and slap the snooze button, flopping back down onto your back with a sigh.

You lay in bed for a while, running through your classes for the day. You didn’t recall having any tests or quizzes, so you take the day to heal from your drinking binge instead.

The next time you open your eyes, it’s 1:43PM.

The sunlight has dwindled from sweeping over your face to sitting shyly in the corner of your room, refracting through the window and streaking a rainbow onto your wall.

Wolf and Alex Go flipped through your mind like a stop-motion movie, and only looking back on it did you realize what entirely different characters both were.

Wolf was cold. Everything about him was so goddamn cold, his stare, his presence, his mannerisms. But Alex Go was warm in a soft way, warm in the way the sun would feel washing across your face at the beach.

You wondered what business fate had in bringing both boys to you in one night but abandoned the sentiment as soon as it popped into your head.

You were tired of hearing about fate and of destiny, it reminded you too much of what he used to say. Life was fickle, and you knew it, lolling from one side to another, one moment in your favor, the other against.

Heaving a sigh, you push yourself to sit up and swing your legs over the bed.

Your shadow played across the floor and traversed to your desk, messy with the clutter of books, journals, and half-written novels.

You pay them no attention and stroll over to the closet, pulling a shirt from a hanger to wear to the local food mart. A grumble erupts from your stomach and find yourself salivating at the possibilities of different ramen flavors or day-old cold cuts.

You head out to the market after freshening up, and the trip there takes a little less than a few minutes.

The elderly lady at the register gives you a sweet smile and welcomes you, and you return the gesture with a bow. Your eyes skim the wall of chips and baked pastries until your gaze lands on the shelf you were looking for.

You peruse the selection of gourmet instant ramen, tapping your chin thoughtfully and pondering the root of all human struggle, beef flavor or chicken flavor?

The door chimes distantly and a few people walk in, exchanging greetings with the cashier.

You close your eyes and let the sound of others around you seep into your soul. It was days like this that everything felt normal again, like time had finally begin to move forwards again. You craved it, but always knew this relief never lasted for long.

You open your eyes and see the slight furrow of your brows in reflection of the vending machine beside you. You also notice a pair of legs trailing up to a familiar white and blue uniform, and whip around.

“Alex Go?”

“Hey!” He smiled, and even in the blue-hued light of the fluorescent bulbs, he shone like the midday sun. “I thought I recognized you, but I couldn’t be sure.”

You turn to face him and rub your arm, giving him a tiny grin. “I knew we’d be seeing each other around, but this soon? You sure you not stalking me?”

You reach out to give him a playful punch, and he barely budges.

“Stalking?” he seems genuinely taken aback until he sees the look on your face. “I mean, if I was stalking you, I’d hope you hit harder than that!”

He laughs and the sound is melodious, boisterous, but not grating. The way his shoulders shake mesmerizes you for one, two, three seconds.

“Hey, you’re lucky I didn’t use this hand instead!”

You wave your right fist at him and pretend to swing, and right on beat, he feigns impact with a dramatic pop of his shoulder.

There’s a light feeling in your chest, and it flutters with each beat.

When was the last time you spoke to anyone like this, the last time you spoke to anyone at all?

“What are you doing here?” He asks, green eyes alight and curious. “Other than looking at instant noodles, I mean.” He gestures to the shelf you were both in front of, and you shrug.

“I had a pretty shitty hangover, so I skipped class and stayed home instead.”

You feel a bit abashed admitting that aloud, but continue regardless.

“I also forgot I don’t have a lot of food back in the apartment, so I had to crawl out and get my rations for the week.”

His gaze is gentle but piercing.

You hadn’t noticed yesterday in the shroud of night, but his hair was exceptionally dark. You wouldn’t liken it to the pitch-black darkness of nighttime, but to the gentle shadows cast by foliage on a peaceful afternoon at the park.

His eyes were a lighter variant of green, like the pale olive of leaves right after the end of winter, just before the start of summer. It was a delicate kind of beauty that felt tender to behold, and you cherished it every moment you could.

“Cutting? Come on, there can only be one delinquent here.”

He bumped his shoulder into yours, but it was mostly your shoulder colliding with his bicep.

“And I’m no professional, but I don’t think cup noodles are the best thing to eat during a hangover.”

You let your fingers dance over the flimsy cardboard packaging, humming.

“Well, it’s the fastest and easiest. So unless you’re going to help me, I suggest shutting your trap.”

You poke him in the chest and your breath gets shallow when you feel lean muscle under the modest uniform.

Alex flusters as well, though much more outwardly. He clasps his hands over his chest where you jabbed him, and his voice comes out an octave higher than usual.

“What? What do you need help with?”

He looks to you for an answer and finds you brandishing two boxes, one chicken and the other beef, trying desperately to hide your awkward reaction with an equally as bizarre question.

“Noodles. Fresh, hot, preserved noodles. Chicken or beef?”

You don’t really care what flavor he chooses but you hope the diversion works.

Alex falters a bit at the sudden change in topic and mood, but much to your relief, eventually eases his sights on the boxes in your hands. He has to stop himself from rolling his eyes, but he can’t stop the cocky smile from overtaking his features. He places a hand on your shoulder and raises an eyebrow.

“Uhm, duh?” He gestures to the box on the right. “Chicken.”

You beam at him and put beef back on the rack, plucking a few more chicken ramens off the shelf.

“You, my good sir, are a man of good taste.”

Alex drops his hand from your shoulder and winks at you with a chuckle, his words igniting a fire in your cheeks.

“Oh trust me, I know.”

You can’t stop the smile that creeps across your reddened face. “Don’t be coy with me, Alex Go. I still remember the way you stuttered yesterday.”

“Coy? Who’s being coy?” He laughs and feigns ignorance, but his jittery feet, bobbing this way and that, give him away.

He eyes the fridge behind you and sighs, shoulders slumping almost comically.

“Shit, I almost forgot why I came here.”

He busies himself with grabbing handfuls of ice cream, and you peer at him curiously. He catches your stare and explains himself as he counts the number of cones he has.

“I’m on snack duty for the group today, those lazy bums were ‘too busy’ teaching Gray and Eugene how to play pools to come out with me.”

He steps away from the fridge and closes the door with his hip, the suction of air making a fleeting ‘thwump.’

“They’re just broke and won’t admit it, fucking losers.” He says this, but there’s a smile on his face. You smile with him, because now seems like a good excuse to be happy.

You both walk to the register and Alex goes first, but still waits until you have everything in a bag.

When you step outside, the sun is intense but warm. You have to squint to see anything, and when you look at Alex you see he’s doing the same thing. He catches your eye, and you both laugh at each other until your stomachs hurt.

“I guess this is where we part ways.” Alex says, still slightly out of breath, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Yeah, guess so.” You wring your hands a bit, feeling a bit jittery at the thought of returning to solitude.

Alex hesitates too but you barely have time to register it before he freaks out, seeing the time on a clock hanging from a nearby shop.

“Holy crap! I’ve been gone for that long? Ben’s gonna chew my ass out!”

Alex grabs your right hand to shake it and misses the way you flinch.

“It was so nice seeing you again! I just feel like we kind of click, yaknow? If that makes sense.”

He retracts his hand and ties a knot on his bag, he’s moving and talking so fast you can’t keep up. You’re still stuck on how he says you both click, because you think so too and you’re so glad he feels the same--  and you don’t want to go home and you don’t want to be alone.

But he’s taking off before you can even understand he was saying goodbye.

“I’ll see you later! Get home safe!”

He waves and takes off charging, and he reminds you of a soaring jet.

There’s a noise in your throat, but no words come out.

Your hands clench and unclench, heart still hammering from when he took your palm in his.

You don’t want to wait to see him again, you think. You don’t want to leave it up to chance, or fate, or whatever the fuck they called it.

How long have you waited for someone to hear you? To see you? To feel you?

“Wait!” You shout, and it pushes all the air from your lungs.

You give yourself half a second to inhale then take after him, the plastic bag with your noodles tugging on your wrist.

“Alex!”

By some miracle, he hears you and turns around, stopping short in his sprint and waving at you.

He cups his hands over his mouth and shouts something you can’t hear over the whistling of the wind and the rustling of the bag at your side.

When you finally catch up to him, you’re totally winded. You wonder what kind of superhuman stamina Alex had because he didn’t seem to be struggling at all.

You place your hands on your knees and double over, taking deep breaths of air that burn your lungs but make you feel so goddamn alive.

“Woah there!”

Alex braces you with two hands on your arms.

“I told you I’d wait for you. Why’d you keep running like that?”

“Give me your number.”

Alex’s eyebrows shoot up, and his hands fly off your body.

“H-huh?”

Your voice comes out raspy and weak. You’re only able to speak between inhales, but it doesn’t stop you from repeating yourself.

“Give me. Your number.”

Alex’s bewildered expression greets you when you look up, face red from exertion and embarrassment. Upon seeing your ruffled state, Alex makes a weird noise at the back of his throat and reddens as well.

“O-oh. I thought I misheard you…” He swallows thickly and rubs the back of his neck again. “Did you run all the way here to ask for that?”

You give him a look and drop your head again, giving one last exhale before rising again.

“Yeah, I did.”

Alex’s blush spreads to his ears, and his green gaze flickers from you to whatever thing wasn’t you. His dark hair tousles in the wind, and he rubs his nose.

“Oh wow. I mean you didn’t need to sprint, I’d be flattered regardless.”

He gives you another smile, and you notice that when he’s nervous his smiles are close-lipped. Either way, it warm your chest.

“I was just afraid I couldn’t catch up to you.”

He reaches for his phone and extends it to you after unlocking it, and you try hard to ignore the background he has of a tall, tan redhead face-first on the floor at a bowling alley.

“I would’ve waited.”

You type your number into his phonebook and call it, waiting until the buzz of your phone resounded from your pocket.

“I wanted to be sure.”

You hand the phone back to him. Your fingers brush and you don’t miss the way he jolts a bit.

“Right.”

He shifts a bit back and forth, like he couldn’t decide between staying or going. Or maybe you were just hoping that was the case.

You notice the bag he’s holding is dripping something, and you point it out to him.

“Oh crap-!” He opens the bag and is relieved to find its just condensation, but remains jumpy.

“Ah, thank god. But it’ll be the ice cream next. I really gotta go this time, I’ll see you!”

He takes off for a bit, and you watch, baffled, as he stops short and runs back to you, jogging in place. The condensation from the bag flies off and hits your arm.

“And uhm- I’ll call you.”

You blink in surprise, and can’t help the bubble of laughter that erupts from your lips.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Alex Go.”

He returns the smile and it’s radiant as ever. It leaves you warm when he turns to leave, warm when his back is just a speck in the distance, and warm still when he’s out of your sight.

Alex Go, you think. Your fingers flex a bit at your side. And you smile.

[twiistedgalaxies]

Genesis: Chapter 11: The Search

How two brothers can take two opposite paths. How a man can be made into a monster and how the other must pay the ultimate price to save everything he knows and loves.

Or, alternatively:

The origins of All for One and One for All.

Previous Chapter

First Chapter

      “Where were you?” Tomura asked stiffly, knees drawn into his chest and back resting against the metallic back-bars of the bed. He held onto his own legs like a life-line. His steel gaze was on Hisashi, but he knew his eyes were distant. Relentless agony over several days does that to a person.

      “I got you your medicine,” Hisashi said awkwardly, depositing the crinkly prescription bag at the foot of the bed.

      Tomura was unimpressed, “Where’d you get the money?”

      His brother blinked, “I had some stashed away in case of an emergency, with how ill you’ve been I figured now would be the best time to use it,” he scratched the back of his neck in a pale imitation of nervousness, “it took a while to get your prescription filled, sorry.”

      A bitter taste flooded Tomura’s mouth. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t stupid, he knew his brother was probably lying to him. Before the incident with Bruce, he would have overlooked it, overjoyed that he’d get some relief from his own body. But after seeing the preeteen’s whimpering, curled form, he knew it had to stop before someone else got hurt. Hisashi looked like a mess, far more than he should have for a simple trip to CVS. His curly white hair stuck up in odd places, soot clung to his left cheek, and a nasty looking cut was crusting on his forehead. Even worse, one of his jacket sleeves was completely missing.

      “What happened?” Tomura asked, yawn drawn out of him, chronic illness wearing him thin. It was a lucky thing that most of the kids and staff were preoccupied with class, otherwise he wouldn’t have been the sole witness to his older brother crawling through the church window like a home invader.

      “I got mugged,” Hisashi said smoothly, “With how hard it is to get medicine these days, someone probably saw me leaving the pharmacy. I fended them off of course, but they got a few lucky hits in.”

      Tomura had seen his sibling fight before. No one ever got in lucky hits. “Why do you keep lying to me?”

      The teen had the audacity to look puzzled, tilting his head to the side like a kicked puppy - a strange look on someone so tall and gangly, “I’m not lying to you ‘mura, do you really not trust me? After all I’ve done for you?”

      He was too tired and sick for this shit. Tomura laid on his side and pulled the thin, cotton blanket over his head. Footsteps echoed through the room as Hisashi migrated to his own bed and rummaged through his things. He knew he should be grateful, but not knowing what his brother was up to, the terrible things that could be happening under the teen’s veneer of protectiveness, made him ill. At these thoughts, Tomura felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He pulled the blanket tighter around his body.

      Hisashi sighed, “At least take the medicine I got for you. I hate seeing you like this.”

      “Fine,” Tomura grumbled, poking his head out from under the covers.

      “So you can be reasonable!” Hisashi tried to tease as he measured out his brother’s dose. Tomura scowled, feeling his nose scrunch up as if he smelled something rotten.

      “Oh don’t be like that,” Hisashi huffed, “I even got you your favorite drink, see?” The teen held out a strawberry Ramune soda. Tomura perked up at that, but quickly reigned himself in. He was still angry at his brother. 

      The bed creaked as Hisashi sat down at Tomura’s side and passed him the medicine and soda bottle. The preteen stared at the beverage for a moment, before trying, and failing, to open it. Damn EDS, this wasn’t worth another dislocation. Hisashi must have noticed his struggling, because he quickly snatched the bottle from his hands and easily popped the marble inwards. The teen handed him back the drink and ruffled his hair. 

      Tomura popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it with one gulp of his soda, wincing at the carbonation but still savoring the sweet taste. “I didn’t know they had these at CVS,” he said.

      “I was surprised to see them too, I guess the pharmacy has gotten a lot more cultured,” Hisashi replied with a quirk of his lips.

      They fell into an uneasy silence, Tomura gazed into his bubbly pink drink, not wanting to look at his older brother. His left hand wandered to one of the many raw patches that had bloomed on his skin over the past week. What on Earth had his brother gotten himself involved in?

      “Are you mad at me?” Hisashi asked, Tomura didn’t need to look up to see the frown coloring his voice. Yes. He was angry, angry that his brother couldn’t trust him enough to tell him what was going on, angry that he was always kept in the dark, sheltered from what was going happening until it leaped up and punched him in the face. The anger was a simmering, burbling thing, caged in the space between his ribs and diaphragm. His grip on the Ramune tightened, knuckles white.

      Tomura swallowed, “Go get changed, you look homeless.”

                                                -@~*^*~@-

      The rest of the day was spent with Tomura staring up at the ceiling, and reading the few comics he owned for the dozenth time. He was bored. Hearing Hisashi get berated by the matron for sneaking out didn’t really count for entertainment. Even though he was irritated at his older brother’s deceit, he still didn’t want him to suffer. Belatedly, he realized that because Hisashi had been given intensive cleaning duty for the next week, his brother would spend his own birthday cleaning out the kitchen’s drip pans.

      Tomura turned onto his side. The medication helped. A lot. He was still in pain, obviously, and whenever he sat up too quickly he was overwhelmed with dizziness, but it was better than hurting so much he couldn’t think. Or a violent cacophony of color sparking under his eyelids when he was hit with another wave of anguish. Yay chronic pain. The church bells rang, signalling the end of the school day and causing Tomura to wince at the loud noise. It didn’t take long for his peers to flood into the room. His bed creaked as two people sat at his side. He fluttered open his eyelids.

      “Hey,” he croaked, greeting two of his friends. He noticed the tense look on their faces and felt his eyebrows knit together. Something was wrong, “Where’s Emrik?”

      Finn and Jonah exchanged glances. Finn turned a dull gray-blue, “We don’t know, he’s been missing all day. We tried to ask Mr. Stewart where he was but couldn’t get any answers.”

      Jonah harshly gripped Tomura’s bunched up bed sheets, “The matron said he got adopted, but that’s crap. No one wants to adopt us.”

      Tomura swallowed, he could see why. Mutants weren’t exactly popular right now. He was surprised that they were even able to talk to Mr. Stewart, he usually avoided the defective like a plague. “I could try to help look for him,” he suggested.

      Finn raised an eyebrow, turning yellow with surprise, “Absolutely not, especially with how sick you’ve been the past several days.”

      “I’m feeling better today!” Tomura protested, “Hisashi got me some medicine and I can probably at least walk. I have my braces.”

      His friends looked at eachother again, having a silent conversation. He really wished they’d stop doing that. “Fine,” Jonah conceded, “But we’re staying with you. If you get hurt your brother is going to kill us.”

      Finn shuddered, “Definitely would kill us.”

      “When’s the last time you guys saw him?” Tomura asked.

      The duo seemed to mull it over for a second, “When we were playing Sorry! last night,” Jonah answered, “I remember whooping his ass at the game.” Tomura felt a pang of jealousy at being excluded but shoved it down, now was not the time.

      “I think I saw him when we were heading to bed, he seemed to fall asleep with the rest of us,” Finn said, hand on his chin, eyes pointed upwards.

      “So he must have disappeared this morning or last night,” Tomura finished for them, “Hisashi was out late last night, I’ll have to ask him if he saw anything.”

      “What was he doing, by the way?” Finn asked, “The matron was ripping him a new one at lunch, I think the people all the way down in Mexico could hear her.”

      Tomura rolled his eyes, “Apparently he was out getting me my medicine and got mugged.” Jonah shot him a disbelieving look. In a silent reply he shrugged, making a ‘what can you do?’ gesture. Tomura sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, biting the inside of his cheek as his body screamed in protest, “Just let me get dressed and get my joint braces on and we can head out.”

      “Sounds good to me,” Jonah replied, “just try not to die on your way to the bathroom. I’ll pin the blame on Finn of course, but-”

      “Hey!” Finn yelped, indignant, before lightly smacking his friend on the shoulder. This escalated into playful roughhousing as Tomura got up.

                                                -@~*^*~@-

      The trio spent the rest of the afternoon combing the once-church grounds, only resting when they had dinner, and immediately setting out to search again. The sun was setting when Tomura was looking up into the bell tower’s scaffolding, which was cast into a beautiful orange glow.

      “This is a terrible idea,” Finn said, nervously hugging his arms to his chest.They were on the second floor, which housed the staff. It was normally barred to the orphans, and almost every room was locked. Tomura was surprised they were able to get up the stairs in the first place.

      “Shut up Finn,” snarked Jonah.

      “What if the matron catches us? Or worse-”

      Tomura scanned the scaffolding, he felt a smile on his face, “I think I know how to get up there.”

      “You mean how I’ll get there,” Jonah replied.

      Tomura ignored him and moved a potted plant off of a table that had been pushed against the wall. He reached up for the first part of the scaffolding, testing to see if it would hold his weight. It probably would. Probably.

      “We don’t even know if he’s up there!” Finn protested, face pinched with worry.

      “Well,” Tomura started, “I don’t think he’s up there either, but maybe going up somewhere high will help us see something we wouldn’t from the ground. I saw it in a comic book once.”

      Jonah rolled his eyes, “Just try not to hit the bells, we don’t need all of LA coming down on our heads,” he paused, “Besides, I want to go up after you.”

      “You’re both being stupid,” Finn hissed, reddening as he did so, “What if you fall?”

      Tomura shrugged, “It’s not that high up.” Finn looked like he wanted to scream. 

      He began to climb up the bleach-white scaffolding, pausing whenever it gave a dangerous creak. A grunt slipped out of his mouth when he leaned on his arm wrong, sending pain shooting through his body. It nearly caused him to slip, but luckily he was able to regain his balance. Finally, after what felt like ages, he reached the top and propped himself up on the opening, legs dangling out over the slanted roof.

      “Wow,” Tomura breathed. It was beautiful. The rolling, golden hills of Los Angeles gleamed with the light of dusk. Distant car lights filled the main roads, making them look like gleaming candy canes. The various graffitied factories that filled their little industrial district bellowed black fog from their smokestacks that wrapped and joined together in the sky. The golden hour cast everything in shades of pinks, yellow, and red, and he found himself unable to take it all in, even though their neighborhood was far from photogenic.

      So absorbed was he in the view that he nearly fell off of the ledge when Jonah called up to him, “Do you see anything up there ‘mura?”

      Oh, right. He was supposed to be looking for clues. His dark eyes scanned the area around the orphanage grounds. Tomura frowned. “I don’t see anything weird!” he called.

      “Well then let me-”

      “Actually,” He said, cutting Jonah off, “I think I see a cleaning company van parked on the side of the road, you think Matron Abra is finally cleaning this place up? I’ve started naming the cockroaches that live in our room.”

      “Ew,” Finn blanched.

      “That doesn’t help us find Emrik,” Jonah huffed, “Now climb down from there, I want to see.”

      Tomura made his way down, feeling his stomach drop when he saw just how far up he climbed. Oops. No wonder Finn was so worried. His feet landed on the carpeted floor with a soft thud. Wordlessly, Jonah began to climb up the scaffolding, taking a slightly different route than he did.

      “What was it like up there?” Finn asked, his voice a low whisper.

      “It was nice,” Tomura replied, “Are you sure you don’t want to go up there next?”

      Finn shook his head, “I’ll leave the climbing to you guys, I’ve never liked heights.”

      “Yeah, I don’t see anything,” Jonah called down to them, “I thought you were just blind but I guess this is a dead end.”

      “Where do you think Emrik could have gone?” Tomura whispered to Finn.

      “I don’t know,” the boy replied, “Maybe he really did get adopted.”

      Jonah climbed down to the floor besides them, “No idea, but if he did get adopted I doubt they were doing it for good reasons. Maybe it was the man the Matron has us see sometimes?”

      Tomura tilted his head, giving the reptilian a quizzical look, “What man?”

      Finn blinked with surprise, “You guys don’t see him too? Must be a mutant thing.”

      Jonah gave him the side eye, “Anyways, whenever we’ve been acting up too much the matron has us see some man in a lab coat for a check up and to run some weird tests. It’s nothing really crazy, just uncomfortable.-”

      The boys froze as the stairs creaked behind them. Jonah quietly swore.

      “Run?” Finn whispered.

      “Run.” Jonah agreed.

      The trio fled down the hall and shoved themselves into a dark janitor’s closet. It smelled terrible, like excrement mingled with barely used cleaner. Jonah and Finn quietly bickered and Tomura shushed them as footsteps tapped down the hallway towards the preteens. Panic seized his throat as he remembered the potted plant abandoned on the hall floor. A click of porcelain on wood. 

      “Well that’s odd,” he heard the matron murmur. “Is anyone there?” she called.

      Tomura tightly gripped one of his friends’ hands. They were clammy with sweat. The floorboards creaked as she paced up and down the hall, doors clicking and groaning as she looked in various rooms. Silently, he prayed that she wouldn’t check the closet, that she would just pass them by. She stopped in front of the door, heeled shoes casting shadows through the sliver of light underneath it. His heart dropped in his stomach as the doorbell slowly turned. This is it, he thought, this is the moment we’re completely screwed.

      The church bells rang, signalling curfew. The matron walked away from the janitor’s closet and went down the stairs, probably to corral the other orphans. Tomura let out a sigh of relief.

      “I told you so,” Finn muttered, though it came out as more of a whimper. Jonah thwacked him upside the head, causing him to squeak with surprise.

A/N:

Unfortunately, it looks like Tumblr’s new post editor (that’s currently in Beta) might have a character limit added to text posts. Hopefully that’s not carried over onto the final release, but if it is chapters posted on here will just be AO3 links. Until then, I’ll just do what I’ve been doing! I almost didn't put a chapter out today, but I managed to get everything finished in the knick of time, thankfully. I might (?) take a week long break because school is burning me out, but it depends on how I'm feeling. Zoom University is exhausting, lmao. As always, feedback is appreciated! 

AO3

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Would you be willing to write a scenario about Kai's s/o going in to labor and the delivery? Maybe just Kaito?

Lets give plague doctor more heart attacks :D

Honestly? You deserved at minimun a pat on your back, because carrying a child is not easy... and aparently carrying a Chisaki inside you was equal to hell.

Deadly cramps, torturous nauseas and dear lord even comenting the word 'peas' left you wanting to pull all of your stomach out.... all of this for exactly seven months and a half already.

The baby was surely a fighter. His kicks were dead ass strong and ever time it was a bad one, you would wince in pain while supporting yourself on somewhere.

This baby was going to knock you out at some point...

Ever time Kai notice that this was happening he would place his entire gloved and scold his unborn child.

'Not even in here and are already causing trouble brat? Be good to your mother or we might have trouble.'

It was always in that same no emotions present tone of voice of his but you could see the genuine adoration in those usual cold golden eyes.

Although today you were feeling quite... normal.

No deadly kicks, neither the urge to puke ans surprisingly your feets weren't sore!

What a great day!

You got up from your chair to grab something to eat as you carresed slightly your belly on the way.

Although when you were already half the hall you started to feel dizzy and had to support yourself omwith one hand on the wall.

"Woah not looking great there miss. You good?" You heard Mimic's voice but when you looked down you just saw a black blur.

"Y-Yeah..." you took a shaky step "I guess."

"You guess?" Mimic spoke in sarcasm while Chrono coincidentally entered. Irinaka pointed to you for Kurono to see as he also made a slightly concerned face.

Before the man could ask what was going on, you felt as if a hammer had hit you in the gut while you howled in pain, no longer holding back the discomfort or the recent, unbearable pain.

Chrono and Mimic were immediately on your side when you almost fell to the ground. In your mind passes a thought that scared you to no ends and just to confirm you lowered your hand lower to push it back to see that your terrors were true.

Blood and other fluid... your water bag broke... The baby was coming earlier.

You let out a bloody scream at seing this and another joilt of pain came into you.

"ShIT ShE'S DyInG?!"

"Of course fucking not Irinaka! Shut up!" Chrono went to lend you a shoulder but you stopped him.

"K-Kurono... P-Please... K-Kai.. H-Here." You said between breaths, trying to stal calm since you knew this was going to stress the fuck out of everyone... especially Chisaki.

Hari didn't even objected and ran looking for Chisaki as Irinaka came back into his human form to at least see if it helps.

"Breath chick, you're a fucking fighter to carry that little shit."

"MIMIC!" you shouted and the man apologized at seing the anger in your eyes.

~

Chisaki was currently looking at the medicals exams of his unborn son along with the first ultrasound picture. The boy was going to be here soon and after a very long time he felt anxious.

He flinched at the way the door of his office hitted the wall as Chrono shouted his name.

"What the hell Chrono? Lost your manners?" He said darkly while placing the documents inside of his drawer.

"(Y/N)." He said while pointing at your direction "She's bleeding."

In one blink of Kurono's eyes Chisaki was already running through the house while placing his mask up.

Shit. What had happened?! Were you okay?!

"Angel." He called, ignoring his horror at seing the state you were in, and kneeled on the floor.

"Baby... coming." You breath out while jolting in pain again.

Damn those contractions

He cringed at your whines but ignored his own discomfort and scooped you up in his arms in bridal style as he shouted for a precept to clean ths mess as long for Chrono to get the fuck in the car.

Mimic swore he saw the walls trembling.

~

"Count to ten angel." He said monoustly but the way his hands tremble slightly and the hint of desperation in his eyes told everthing.

You screamed as the car suddenly roughly spun aside, the last drop of patience on your husband completely gone.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT CHRONO?!"

"IM SORRY BUT A GUY ALMOST HITTED THE FUCKING CAR AND COULD HAVE KILLED US YOU KNOW?!" Poor Hari was consumed by both you and Overhaul's desperation.

"Oh my god both oF YOU SHUT UP!" You shouted causing both of them to be completly silent all the ride to the hospital.

He was going to talk to you about that later, but maybe it was a understatement since you were giving birth at this point.

~

Kurono had to hold back Chisaki when a bunch of nurses just pulled you out of Kai's arms and a doctor told him to wait outside.

His wife was giving birth to his soon son and he was supposed to wait OUTSIDE YOU FILFH UNPROFESSIONAL BASTARD?!

When a nurse came to Chrono, asking for him to get out of the room since only it was allowed the father, he arched one eyebrow at her and pointed with his palm at a very furious Chisaki, silently saying 'Im the one keeping the beast calm, you sure about that?'.

The nurse just gave him a apologetic look before, with the nerves on their skin of talking to a dangerous man of the yakusa, calling Overhaul.

The way Chisaki looked at them could be described as murderous and if he had a laser vision quirk the poor nurse would be already dead on the spot.

"I-I'm sorry! But you can enter now." She bowed apologetically while indicating the door for Chisaki.

He didn't even acknowledge her as he entered the room abruptly, ignoring many looks of the doctors and just making a bee line at you.

Despite your eyebags and squirming in pain figurine, you still manage to look angelic... just incredible.

"Angel, it's almost over." He said monoustly, a mix of pain and relief at seing the way you opened your eyes.

"Kai..." you whispered while crying... your hand desperately hilding the bed sheets as you cried out...

"Dad hold her hand!" A male nurse suggested and you almost laughed if it wasn't for the torturous pain you were in.

Someone was trying to give others to Chisaki? Your Chisaki Kai? Great joke.

Chisaki narrowed his eyes at the man befofe cringing at seing you crying again... you were in so much pain but yet refused to just grab his hand because you knew him.

He suddenly left to a quick bathroom and picked a hand sanitizer and a handkerchief.... the scene was almost comic to the doctors and nurses. A soon to be father wipping his wife's hand before holding it onto his gloved one.

"You don't change do you?" You whispered while smilling at him, pure appreciation and love on your eyes as you looked into those beautiful golden ones that you had fallen with.

"Why should I?" He said monotonously but you could see the hints of a smile behind that black face mask of his.

His hand suddenly cracked at your strenght as you turned your head away from him to muffle your screams.

...ouch.

The doctors were surprised because they LISTENED to his hand cracking and he was just... there. He suddenly glared at them with pire hate as his words spilled from his kouth like venom.

"Bunch of incompetents, my wife is having a kid and you just stand there without doing nothing? Move and help her before I lose my pacience bunch of filfh." They flinched before returning to their activities whiel Kai scoffed 'sicks' under his breath.

Your screams had stopped and your grip on his hand released, putting the pieces together he looked up and saw a tiny creature on the arms of one nurse.

"You did it." He amused out loud while you only let out a sleep deprived 'yay' before closing your eyes as you tried to catch your breath.

He picked the handkerchief and wiped your forehead gently before looking down at you.

"You're sweaty..."

"No shit sherlock I just gave birth." You said between breaths and giggles receiving a pinch on your arm along with a scoff of his.

"W-Why isn't he crying?" You suddenly breath out.

Shit. Is true. He haven't heard his son cries. He looked uo already with anger before he saw the doctor bringing a white blanket and handing rubbing the face of your new born to you.

"See mommy? Your baby is fine." He felt butterflies forming inside his stomach at seing the little boy face in contact with yours... you smilling tiredly but still manage to open your eyes to look at your son.

"Kaito... is so nice to meet you.." you teared up at seing your baby for the first time... he had his father looks.

He punched his chest to prevent any hints of despicable tears fron falling from his eyes but it was really damn difficult... Luckily he managed to stay with his stoic face at least.

The moment though he saw you closing your eyes he internally panicked.

"Angel." He grabbed your face and shook slightly, checking your pulse with his other hand and sighing in relief at feeling your heartbeat on his fingers.

"She is just tired, will come back as soon as she recuperates... would you like to hold your son mister?"

He eyed the doctor in suspicion before choosing to only look at his son, eyes secretly telling how much he was willing to do for this little one already.

"Place him on the crib for now. I want my wife to see the scene, she wouldn't leave me alone after knowing that I holded my son without her seing it." He spoke crudely amd coldly at the doctor bit they didn't seemed to mind at first.

The doctor nodded in understatement before placing the kid carefilly down on the crib, right besides Kai as he sitted on the edge of the bed... holding your hand in his gloved ones.

He took a glance at his sleeping son and decided to just carres the tip of his thumb on the chubby cheek.

He swore the kid just smiled at the contact... a simple contact... but it was rather a nice feeling.

"I made this brat..." he mused out loud for himself before smirking down at his son and bringing your freahly washed head to rest on him instead of the pillows of the hospital.

"Welcome to this world... Chisaki Kaito."

[bottleofspilledink]

God’s Watching, Put on a Show || Chapter XI

The air was cool and crisp, blowing by her and carrying with it the lingering scent of teenage rebellion and the joy that was momentary liberation. Her feet moved swiftly as she waded through waist-high grass, it’s dew caressing the sliver of skin between the end of her pant leg and her sneakers.

The long walk over to the partly hidden, run-down shack they had made their hideout gave her time to think, mind wandering, thoughts racing. And yet, the thirty minutes she walked wasn’t enough for her to sort said thoughts, not enough to know what to do with them, anyways.

She was excited. Who wouldn’t be giddy if something they had waited on for a year now was coming closer with every day, with every passing second, with every step?

Under that, though, there was a sense of dread, Lilith instinctually doubting all the good that was happening to her. Again, I ask, who wouldn’t doubt all the great things that came to them if it were drilled into them everyday that they simply weren’t deserving of it, too sinful to be worthy of anything other than guilt and scorn?

And even deeper than the dread, there was fear.

What if there wasn’t enough money? While Colette’s parents had told her to expect about a few hundred thousands, it was a known fact to all of them that because they were the ones to set the fund up, they could access, and consequently take, money from it as they wished.

What if there was no money at all? Colette not being granted access to her trust fund for some superficial reason was always a real, daunting possibility, leaving her as the one the whole group would have to rely on.

Lilith arrived at their hideaway, almost hesitant to knock at the door, fearing what she could find inside it. This was the one of the two nights that would determine their future. Should she not fear or fret, to a certain extent, that something could go wrong?

Regardless, she soldiered on and knocked.

“Who’s there?” Asked Joan, voice wary and gruff, a slight creak coming from her end probably due to her leaning on the door to make sure no one who wasn’t supposed to get in was able to.

“It’s me.”

The girl’s response was the clicking and clacking of deadbolts before swinging the door open and ushering Lilith inside. It was an unspoken, sorrowful truth the five of them shared, that all the locks they’d placed on the shack weren’t a mere sign to others looking for a place to hang out that it was taken, but an unfortunate, and necessary precaution they had to take due to the simple fact that they were them, that they were gay.

It was so that – if it ever came to it – they could buy themselves a few seconds more.

To hide what they had to, be it alcohol or forbidden books or money.

To come up with a lie, unconvincing as it may be.

To say their dreaded, tearful goodbyes to one another before the inevitable consequence for being them came to claim them.

They wouldn’t have to worry about that for much longer, though. Not if tonight went well. They would never have to worry about it again.

“Where are the others?” She looked around the space they’d made their own, devoid of people save for her and Joan. The time they’d agreed on drew closer and worry slowly made it’s way into the cavity of her chest that seemed to exist for such unpleasantness alone, the part of her she didn’t want, that ever constant fear.

Maybe it would go away once they were out of this town. She hoped it would.

In a better world, she wouldn’t have to feel like this to begin with.

She tried not to think of that too much.

“They came here, pooled together ten bucks, and went back out to buy a pack of cupcakes and a candle for Colette.”

Relief flushed out most of the concern and Lilith allowed herself to plop down on one of the beanbag chairs they got for relatively cheap at a yard sale.

“What about Colette?”

“She’s not here yet,” Joan said, sitting in a near-identical chair from across her, wiggling a bit to try and get comfortable, legs shifting constantly, much more accustomed to the hardwood floor.

“And you guys are sure she’s back from her trip?”

The girl stood up took to leaning on the door again after hearing rustling from outside.

“God, I hope so. It’d be a waste of cash if not.” The girl stood up took to leaning on the door again after hearing rustling from outside. “She said she’d be back on the twentieth.”

A series of knocks came from the other side, panicked, frantic.

“Open up! Colette’s almost here!”

The familiar clinking of metal reverberated around the shack once more, the two girls coming in not even a second after.

“What’s with all the rush?” Joan locked the door once more despite knowing their friend drew nearer by the second. Better safe than sorry. “Doesn’t she know we’re waiting for her?”

Paula gave her no mind, instead sticking a small, pastel blue candle atop one of the cupcakes.

“Joan, dear, your lighter.” She held her palm out, expectant, Joan fished it out from her pocket and passed it over. If Paula wanted to surprise Colette, she might as well indulge her.

Meanwhile, Julia took a lacy tablecloth she had smuggled away from her house during laundry day and smoothed it over the wood of the table, she got the remaining cupcakes from the box, putting them on top of the soft fabric in a short line, careful, making sure none of them touched.

They handed stripped, sparkly party hats to Lilith and Joan, leaving the only one with a small pompom atop it on the table, for Colette.

The set up was modest, intimate, even nostalgic in a sense.

It looked like a child’s tea party. Food just enough for the five who were coming, the silly party favors, the simple decor that could hardly be considered such. All they needed now was a few plastic cups, a teddy bear, perhaps a tutu, and they were good to go.

There was a second after everything was set up before Colette came knocking.

“Guess who’s back from the Bahamas?”

Hushed, excited whispers came from them before they giggled and let her in.

The creak of the door was drowned out by the party horn that Paula had bought.

“Happy birthday!”

“Holy shit, thanks, but I need to tell you guys that those hats make you look like Christmas elves!”

The giggles they had momentarily stifled returned when Lilith put one of said hat on Colette, playfully tugging a strand of her sand coloured hair along the way.

“Then you’re an elf too!”

They cackled and squealed as Colette screamed bloody murder, exaggerated and theatrical.

Julia then held out the cupcake for the girl as the laughter died down and they sang for her, jolly, off-key, filled with love.

“Happy birthday to you!”

They were acting like teenagers. Carefree, joking, happy.

Granted, they were teenagers.

It just wasn’t very often that they felt like one.

“Happy birthday to you!”

As they sang, jovial, unselfconscious of their pitch and tone, Lilith felt all the misery of the day’s happening fade, giving way for their merriment and warmth.

She felt safe.

She felt comfortable.

She felt loved, unconditionally, by this group of misfits, her friends.

Her family.

“Happy birthday, dear Colette!”

There was happiness in the very air they breathed tonight. It wasn’t something they felt often especially nowadays, this sort of infectious joy, this infrequent, sought after euphoria. And yet they basked in it now, fueled by each other’s warmth, feeding off of each other’s joy. This rare, coveted high they had so little of, but shared nonetheless.

“Happy birthday to you!” The final notes were dragged out to a comical extent, punctuated by guffaws and giggles, laughter and lack of breath halting it.

Lilith wished, as Colette blew out the candles and made hers, that the song could have kept going.

She wished her lungs would grow as if they were pufferfish so they could continue that final note til the end of time.

She wished that tonight would never end.

She wished for an eternal, permanent happiness, for all of them.

They settled down after the song, eating cupcakes as they chatted, asking Colette about her trip.

“There were a ton of cute girl in bikinis,” She said in between bites, a bit of green frosting smeared on her pale, chubby cheek. “You guys should come with me on my next trip!”

“Sure, lemme just pull some cash out of my ass and we can fly there on a private jet when Christmas break hits,” Joan cackled, crumpling the polka-dotted wrapper of her cupcake, slightly jostling Paula who sat in her lap.

“Okay, but speaking of money…”

Reminders of their other reason for being here effectively put a damper on everyone’s mood except Colette, who from her skirt pocket took out a crisp, pristine check.

“Will five hundred thousand be enough for us?” She smirked, sliding across the cloth covered table.

The rest of the girl shared glances, incredulous.

“Holy shit.” Julia said, the first to break the for once not terrible silence.

The sentiment was echoed and they all cheered, hugging and crying and hopeful, Colette in the middle of it all, receiving thanks and cheek kisses and hair ruffles, all of them getting pulled down from each other’s weight but refusing to let go, the girls now in a giddy pile on the hardwood floor.

“Well, that was at least nine tons off my shoulders…” The blonde said, finally being released from the tight hug, breathless, short, wheezing laughs coming from all of them as they lay unmoving, tired but happy.

None of them bothered to get up, content to lay on the floor, on each other.

They talked about the future, what they needed to do to reach it, what they wanted to do once they graduated and left town, some serious, some silly, some plans mixed in with some wishful thinking.

“I’m gonna shave all my hair off right after graduation.” Joan declared, flat on her back, eyes fixed to a certain point in the ceiling where the colour of the wood became lighter, large hands holding Paula’s dark ones.

“Yeah?” The voice was Julia’s, but Lilith couldn’t see her, the girl probably above her, just outside her peripherals along with Colette.

“Yeah! I’m not even gonna wait til we get to San Fran. We can just shave it off in the back of my pick-up truck and huck it at whatever car passes us.”

This earned a snicker from the girls, some of them adding what they’d do if whoever they threw it at decided to pursue them, coming up with outlandish excuses for what to tell the cops ranging from ridiculous ones like “she was shedding” and “the wind just blew it away” to outright slander against whoever the hair hit like “they were following us so we tried to throw them off” and “they actually tried to throw that at us, but it backfired.”

“In all seriousness though, we are not cutting your hair while the truck is running. I don’t want my girlfriend ending up with scissors in her skull.” Paula flipped herself over to lay on her stomach and reached over to twirl a lock of Joan’s hair, not caring enough to prop her body up, letting her cheek press against the ground while the others burst into laughter at the mere mention of scissors.

“We chop it off at some gas station bathroom or we wait til we pull over somewhere to camp for the night and do it there.”

“Aww…” They all lamented the loss of a prank before Colette spoke up.

“We can still chuck it at someone if we braid what we can, cut that off, and shave the rest. Then we can hang the braid from a tree and scare hikers!”

“Hell yes!”

The question of what they wanted to do the moment after graduation made it’s way around the circle, the answers varying from things like “take a nap” to “get wasted” and “yeah, getting wasted sounds good!”

“Hey, Lilith! You’ve been hella quiet, dude.” Julia coaxes from somewhere in the room. “C’mon! tell us about whatever the fuck you feel like doing!”

“Hmm… I think I’m gonna give my grandpa the middle finger and fuck his study up,” She nods to herself, the others made her carry on, telling her to stick it to the man and too count them in with her.

“Yeah!” Lilith laughed, throwing her head back as much as the floor beneath her would allow, adrenaline rushing through her at the mere thought of getting back at the man who had made her life a living hell. “I’m gonna get a knife and just stab his armchair and straight up vandalize all his books and smash that stupid paperweight on his desk!”

The girls cheered and jeered, shouting curses at the man and his bald spot and his cock, joking about everything from erectile disfunction to micro-penises til they devolved into fits of manic, belittling laughter.

From there, they bounced from topic to topic, though they always drifted back to thoughts of tomorrow. It was what made life worth living after all, at least for them.

The sights of the city, the courses they wanted to take, possible part-time jobs, the girls they hoped to meet. (Or at least, the single ones did. Joan and Paula added to this by suggesting cute places where they could go to on dates.)

Eventually though, the question was asked.

“So, anything interesting happen while I was out.”

Lilith could immediately tell that those who could see her from the corner of their eyes were staring, leaving her to recount the week’s events.

She sighed, long and loud and long.

“Buckle up. This gets shitty and it gets shitty fast.”

 …

 It took a good hour and a half to get through everything, the occasional comments from Joan and Julia not very helpful in keeping it short.

“So, let me get this straight-”

“We’re not!” Julia cut Colette off, giving Joan a high-five while the rest of them groaned.

“As I was saying, in the two weeks that I was gone,” she took a deep breath and spoke again, “Lilith started a fire and met a girl and fell in love and told the girl that she started it because she felt bad about fucking sandwiches also the girl is gay and can’t cope with it, which is why when you almost kissed, like, five days after you met, she freaked out and cried and threatened to blackmail you if you told anyone about what happened, then proceeded to act like nothing happened literally this morning and freaked out again cause she saw your boobs and again, couldn’t cope and had a panic attack during lunch and is now actively rebelling against her mother.”

“I wouldn’t say the panic attack and maybe gay realization and acceptance happened cause of Lilith’s hotness, but like, cause we human?” Paula interjected, still somewhat puzzled on how to put all the admittedly intense happening into words, but being the only one with Eve during the majority of her breakdown, the burden fell to her. “I think she saw how the fact we were lesbians doesn’t change how we’re human and how we weren’t evil like what some sermon taught her or something and had a crisis of faith because of it.”

Colette and Julia, who hadn’t been able to hear this part of the story earlier, stood in stunned silence, jaws dropped, socks knocked off.

“Oh wow. Well, that was…”

“A lot?”

“A mood killer?”

“A really bitchy thing to do?”

“All of the above.”

Lilith only shrugged, the “I-told-you-so” more implied than anything.

The night was drawing to a close, the girls knowing and dreading that soon, eventually, in the next thirty minutes, they’d have to go home.

“I think that’s enough for tonight. They’ll turn the lampposts off at three and it’s not safe out without it.”

“Okay, but one last question, is this girl on our side now or what? I mean, we already know she won’t tell anyone we’re gay cause then Lilith could just tell them that she’s gay too, but is she one of us now?”

They exchanged glances before reaching a unanimous “no.”

“She could be, though. If she apologizes for being a dick and accepts the fact she’s gay, all our problems with her are gone.” Joan added, albeit rather begrudging.

The girls nodded, agreeing once more. They felt sorry for her, yes, especially since they all knew what it was like to be in Eve’s place, but it was no excuse.

With those final statements filled with pity, the night was over.

Dusting themselves off, they sat up slowly and stood on wobbly, somewhat numb legs, they helped each other up, some being pulled to their feet, some leaning on other’s for support. Even when their legs didn’t feel like that of a newborn deer’s, their movements were sluggish. No one wanted the night to end, not even Paula, the one who suggested it. They wanted to stay here and sleep and cuddle and feel safe with each other. But so many good things had already happened that night, and no one wanted to push their luck and potentially jeopardize the plan by getting caught.

They left silently, not a single goodbye uttered, not so much as a wave given.

It was probably for the better.

Lilith knew she’d end up in tears if they had to vocalize their parting. It wasn’t like the other nights where they themselves knew that they had not the means to leave, no matter how much they wanted to. This was different. They enough money to leave whenever they wanted, the only things keeping them back were themselves.

She tried not to dwell on it during the walk home, mind shutting off all internal debates about whether it was sadder to be locked up with no choice or to willingly stay, making what was once a cage you were forced in to that of your own.

Instead, she remembered her friends’ echoing laughter, the familial warmth of their company, memories made not even an hour earlier already filtered with fondness and tinted with nostalgia.

It only served to accentuate her sorrow.

_____________________________

Taglist: @anon-nom-nom95 @leahstypewriter @madame-ree @phillyinthebathroom @melpomenismask @littlemisscalamity @gaypeaches @pirateofblood @i-wanna-be-a-rock @extrabitterbrain

[cake-writes]

Compromise (Part Seven)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Story Warnings: Mom!Reader, Dad!Bucky, Ex-Relationship, Co-Parenting Drama, Slow Burn, Angst, Fluff, Separation Anxiety

Summary: You didn’t want to trust him again, because every time you did, Bucky broke your heart just a little more. Deep down, though, you wanted to get along with him. You wanted to be amicable. You wanted your daughter to know her father. You’d always wanted that. It just required a compromise.

Part Six / Master List / Spotify Playlist

After what felt like hours, you were the proud owner of a brand new Land Rover.

You didn’t really know the details, other than that the vehicle was in your name. Bucky may have paid for it in cash – or a bank transfer, but you didn’t know for sure because he signed most of the paperwork while you made sure Winnie didn’t get into any trouble in the play area. The only thing you signed was the title. He even offered to handle your insurance payments, because they would without a doubt skyrocket and you weren’t exactly confident that you’d be able to afford them.

It was a weird situation, and honestly, you weren’t sure how it made you feel. You were indebted to him, absolutely, but it made you feel… good, for some reason. Like he was taking care of you. Like he was taking care of Winnie.

Maybe because he was.

The ride back to the compound was short and sweet. Bucky streamed Winnie’s cartoon from his phone to the small built-in TV on the back of his seat, and she was absolutely delighted. Kept her busy while you tried to figure out what to say.

A simple ‘thank you’ didn’t seem like enough, but the smile he gave you in return made your heart pound. You turned up the radio to drown out the frenzied rhythm, but you could still hear it in your ears.

After you dropped him off, for the rest of the night all you thought about was him.

Eight o’clock came around and you realized that something was missing. Mr. Squiggles.

You’d been in such a rush – and such a state – to leave for the dealership this morning that you hadn’t double-checked Winnie’s belongings. You’d probably left some other things at Bucky’s, too, but her stuffed unicorn was the one thing she would absolutely have to have tonight. She’d throw a tantrum otherwise.

So you had no choice but to text him. Not that you minded.

You, 8:03pm Sorry, I think we left Mr. Squiggles at your place. Could you please have a look?

Bucky, 8:04pm On it.

A few seconds passed, and then he sent you a photo of it laying atop Winnie’s lavender sheets. Oh, it was a huge relief that it hadn’t gotten lost during the vehicle trade-in. That would have been a nightmare.

You, 8:05pm Thanks so much! We’ll be around shortly.

Bucky, 8:05pm Already out the door. See you soon.

You stared blankly at his text for a few moments.

Bucky was coming over.

He was coming over right now.

He was saving you the trouble of going back to the compound. It would have been a half-hour round trip, not to mention Winnie’s excitement at making another unexpected visit. The two of you had a very specific bedtime routine that you rarely deviated from, otherwise you knew she’d never get to sleep. This was about to be another one of those nights, but Bucky was really saving you a lot of hassle by making the trip himself.

You, 8:06pm Thank you! I’m getting Winnie ready for bed. Key’s under the mat if you want to let yourself in.

And with that, you set your phone down on the bathroom counter to focus on the task at hand.

“Winnie,” you called out, turning on the faucet to the tub. “Bathtime in five minutes.”

“Okay!” came her response from the living room – sweet, but begrudging. She never did like baths, but you found that giving her a five-minute warning helped a lot.

The tub filled quickly, with you checking every so often to make sure the temperature was alright. By the time you managed to corral her into the tub, more than five minutes had passed – not that you noticed. Lots of bubble bath and bath toys kept her entertained while you washed her hair and combed out all of the knots.

Your voices echoed off the tile as the two of you sang her bathtime song, to distract her from the pain of detangling her too-fine hair. You’d never understand how it got knotted so easily. Even with too much conditioner and plenty of detangling spray, it was still a chore to comb out her hair.

Then there was a sudden knock on the bathroom door, to which you jumped and bashed your head on one of the towel racks.

“Ow, Christ,” you swore, holding your aching head.

Bucky’s laughter was clear as day on the other side. “Sorry, doll. Guess you didn’t hear me come in.”

Winnie’s eyes lit up. “Is Daddy here?”

“Yes, Daddy’s here,” you began, but she hopped out of the tub to let him in and you changed your tune completely. “Winnie, honey, we’re not done with your bath—”

She fumbled with the doorknob for a moment before she yanked open the door.

Now, while you didn’t particularly want her trailing water all through the house, the bigger problem was that you were barely dressed. Just a flimsy tank top, no bra, and a pair of plain underwear. That was all. Bathtime got messy, and you didn’t like getting your clothes wet. You had a spare t-shirt and a pair of shorts sitting on the bathroom counter for when he arrived, but you hadn’t put them on yet; hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

Of course, Winnie wasn’t dressed, either, but she was his kid, for one, and for two, she was covered in suds anyway.

“Hi, princess,” he greeted gently, kneeling down to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Look who missed you today!”

When he pulled Mr. Squiggles out from behind his back, Winnie squealed and accepted the stuffed animal from him – and then she took off down the hallway towards her room, naked as the day she was born. Bucky let out a snort of laughter and then, when he finally chanced a look at you, the expression that came over his face made your face flush.

It wasn’t like Bucky hadn’t seen all of it before, but the way his eyes trailed down your body made you feel like he hadn’t. He took in every inch of you, every dip and curve and that made you hotter under the collar than it should have.

After a moment or two, however, he finally seemed to come to his senses.

“Shit, sorry,” he stumbled over his words, quickly turning around to give you your privacy. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” you reassured him as you pulled on the t-shirt, but your throat was impossibly dry. “Thanks for coming.”

Water dripped from the faucet in a staggered staccato, the only sound save for the rustling of your clothing and Winnie’s quiet giggles down the hallway.

“You… You shouldn’t keep your key under the mat. It’s not safe.”

You glanced up from tying the drawstring on your shorts to find that Bucky had shoved his hands into his pockets, and he was peering up at the ceiling, as if to make a point that he absolutely wasn’t looking. He hadn’t yet changed out of his clothes from today; that plain black t-shirt was still tight as hell, and damn if his ass didn’t look even better in those jeans now than it had earlier.

You swallowed hard, willing your voice not to waver. “Where should I keep it, then?”

“I’ll have a look outside when I go.”

Well, he would know best about this, wouldn’t he?

“Sure,” you said, pulling a towel from the rack. “Thanks. You can look now, I’m decent.”

You still weren’t wearing a bra, but the t-shirt mitigated that a bit. Putting a bra on was too much of a hassle and you were tired. You also had a bunch of other things to do before you went to bed – namely dry Winnie off (because she definitely wasn’t going to come back to the bathtub now), laundry, and lunches for tomorrow.

Bucky made it a point to keep his eyes above your collar this time, but he seemed more amused than anything, even if his cheeks were tinged pink.

“What?” you asked blankly.

“You’ve got bubbles in your hair,” he said with a grin, automatically reaching up to brush them away. He didn’t ask for permission, but he didn’t need it, either.

Your heart skipped a beat at his gentle touch, and that was when you noticed it – tension in the air, tension so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Your skin burned hot wherever he touched: the crown of your head, a stray lock of hair he tucked behind your ear, and finally on your cheek where his hand slowly, hesitantly came to rest against the side of your face, thumb tracing your cheekbone.

Bucky spoke quietly, then, “I really appreciate you trusting me.”

He didn’t just mean with this, but with everything.

His eyes were soft and so, so blue that you just couldn’t handle it – so you shoved the towel at him, and that broke the spell. He immediately let you go in favour of catching it before it hit the ground.

“Do you want to put Winnie to bed?” was all you could manage with your brain short-circuiting.

“Yeah,” he stammered, “Yeah, of course. Whatever you need.”

“Thanks,” you said again, quickly pushing past him to make your way to the kitchen. You could barely breathe, because whenever you inhaled all you could smell was him and he was absolutely intoxicating. “Let me know if you need me.”

Thankfully, he didn’t.

A little after nine o’clock, you finally finished just about everything that needed doing before the morning. Laundry was in the dryer, dishes were done, and lunches were packed – three of them, because you wanted to do something nice for Bucky as a thank you. A couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were nothing in comparison to a six-figure Land Rover, but you did what you could.

Slowly, you cracked open the door to Winnie’s bedroom. Bucky hadn’t yet come out, so you were expecting to find him still reading to her, but he wasn’t. No, he was fast asleep with your daughter curled up into his side. Somehow, he’d wrangled her into her favourite nightie, and a half-open book lay on his chest; he hadn’t gotten very far into it by the looks of it.

It was a comical sight, because Bucky was such a thick, muscular hulk of a man, so much that he took up the majority of Winnie’s big girl bed – baby pink sheets atop a simple twin mattress. It was also incredibly sweet, and you found yourself smiling a little.  

After taking a few quiet steps into the room, you got to the bed and carefully plucked the book from Bucky’s hand. It was another one of her favourites, which you closed and sat on the nightstand.

He’d always been a light sleeper, at least in the time you were together but right now he didn’t seem to be. Even when you pulled a spare blanket from the closet and lay it over him, he didn’t stir at all. You tucked in your little girl, too, and then leaned over her father to press a kiss the crown of her head.

That was what finally seemed to wake him.

His arm slowly slid around your waist, metal cold against the exposed skin where your shirt had ridden up, which sent a shiver through you – and then you toppled into bed with him, half on top of him if you were honest with yourself but all you could think about was how good this felt. One of your legs was thrown over his thigh, and the other was wedged between him and the edge of the mattress, holding most of your weight.  

He wasn’t awake at all, you realized. He wouldn’t do this without permission.

“Bucky,” you whisper-shouted at him. “Bucky, wake up.”

But he didn’t. No, instead he grumbled something inaudible and buried his face in your neck. His hot breath fanned against your sensitive skin, to which you grit your teeth at the pleasant feeling.

God, this felt good. When was the last time you slept with someone? Both literally and figuratively. 

“Bucky,” you tried again, just a little louder and with your free hand you dug your fingers into his ribs. Corded muscle jumped beneath your fingertips, but he still didn’t budge.

With a heavy sigh, you resigned yourself to your fate – not that you minded, truth be told – and you fished your phone out of your pocket to make sure he wasn’t going to miss any early-morning missions if he slept here overnight. A quick text to Steve would hopefully do the job.

You, 9:11pm Does Bucky need to be anywhere in the morning?

A couple of minutes passed, during which you made yourself a little more comfortable. Bucky’s grip around your waist had loosened enough for you to shift to a less awkward position, but you still couldn’t get out entirely. He had you well and truly trapped – except, well, he didn’t. Not really. 

If you wanted to, you definitely could have woken him up. You could have bit him. Scratched him. Kissed him, even, if you had to. There were plenty of ways to wake him up, but you only made a couple of half-assed attempts.

Why?

Steve, 9:15pm Not that I know of.

You, 9:16pm Thanks!

Steve, 9:16pm Why?

With a yawn, you set your alarm and then dropped your phone down on the bedside table. Bucky could have the honours of explaining this to his best friend. Tomorrow was going to be a mess, but that was a problem for the morning. Not for tonight. Not when you were so tired of fighting.

Maybe you could be a little selfish. Winnie slept like a log, after all, and you always woke up before her.

This was harmless. 

Right?

Your heart was racing, as were your thoughts, but all you could think about was how good it felt to be in his arms again, how comfortable it was to rest your head on his chest, how nice it would be to fall asleep to his steady heartbeat.

And it was.

Interlude #2