#and then ages later something happens to wake him up and free him from the tomb (maybe the dragon brand??)

[commanderfloppy]

Oughh when you get the idea for a character but you want them to work into lore but your brain broke and the wiki isn’t enough

[luimagines]

Counting the Seconds

Another Commission!

They asked for soulmate au with any Link of my choice. I chose Wild.

Not LU related.

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Waking up was a strange almost foreign experience. 

His limbs were heavy and his mind was foggy. He tried to remember what happened for him to be in a pool of water but nothing came to mind.

A voice rang in his head then, feminine, clear as day- calling out to him, telling him his name and his purpose.

The climb out of the hole in the ground wasn’t easy.

It was trying to control wet, limp noodles. His legs were like jelly, shaking and struggling to hold his weight.

Getting to the light proved to be only half of the difficulty. It was bright, almost blinding. He covered his eyes with his arm as he stepped out and gasped upon the vast land before him. It was beautiful.

Was this his home? Where did he live? Or did he live in the hole this whole time? Something on his arm catches his eye. It was virtually glowing against his skin with the angle of the light. Bright and running from his wrist to his inner elbow, he pushes his torn and worn-down sleeve even higher up his bicep to get a better look at what it was.

Numbers. He doesn’t know why they’re there, but he knows they’re important somehow. They’re counting down. Seconds continue to count down and change in the slot closest to his wrist. To the left of them were the minutes, then the hours and the days.

There was something wrong with it. He didn’t know what though. The young man scratched the day slot roughly, leaving angry red lines in his wake. The number was wrong. It had to be. Right?

Was it always like this? Was this normal? He can’t remember. Was it something that only he had to deal with? Was he the only person here? Was he the only person like this?

There was suddenly an old man in front of him. Link, as he started to call him, learned more, explored more, found pants-

There were towers, shrines, and weird glowing spirit orbs he had to collect, pay, and pray. The voice called out to him again. The old man appeared to be dead and had vanished almost as instantly as he was revealed. Link’s new mission was to find a Sheikah by the name of Impa. Whatever that meant.

Finding that woman and learning of that woman’s existence proved to be two very different tasks.

He was blasted with water by giant lizard things, chased through the grasslands by a large-looking pigman thing with a non-too-friendly club, and had fallen from the cliff faces no less than one hundred times. All of which happened right before he found a very helpful and rather pain-free trail that led him straight into the village.

Seeing the sheikah slate on his hip the people of the village, which he learned were the sheikah themselves, allowed him to enter without any problems. They even so far as to point out the exact building he’d find the elder Impa. Given that it was the largest building, he would have thought it was rather obvious that was where the elder lived. But Link smiled, thanked them for their help, and said nothing else.

Upon arrival, he was greeted by a young woman closer to his age (if he had to guess) who shrieked at the sight of him.

He ignored her.

Talking to Impa was an enlightening experience. He now had a plan on how to proceed. Given that he wasn’t sure why he had felt the drive within him to continue to this course, he ignored the vast empty connections in his mind for something that felt more concrete. More real.

He could save the princess. Whoever she was. Maybe she could help him with his memories. Perhaps she was the voice he heard in his head when he first woke up.

Impa explained, not too much later after he had thought it, that the shiekah slate in his hand contained pictures that could potentially help him remember who he was and what had happened to him to get to this point. She told him to find one of the locations he had in the slate and return to her if it had succeeded or not, otherwise, she would not share any further information with him.

A test of character, he presumed. He felt confident. Completely within his skill range. Link didn’t hesitate to step up to the old woman’s challenge.

He ran straight across Hyrule Field. Something told him that it was supposed to be significant.

Coming upon a broken stone icon, he titled his head. He had looked through the photos before running out of the village. Was this one of them-?

A memory.

He’s on the ground, kneeling before the princess as he blesses him and the sword. There were others around them both, watching, witnessing the ritual they were partaking in. A bird. A large woman. A large rock-like creature and a small scaled-covered girl. He knew them too, but he couldn’t figure out how or why.

He gasps as the memory fades away. Link desperately tries to hold onto it, to grab onto the sliver of the past he knows he must have. It wasn’t a complete picture, but there was so much that he had known to be true from the thoughts that he only had to begin digging in the soft soil of his mind.

It crumbles from his grasp before anything more concrete forms.

He looks back to the numbers counting down on his arm. He hadn’t been able to see them in the memory but he knew they were there. And he knew that there was still drastically wrong with what they were showing him.

Memory and photo intact, Link rushes back to Impa, trying to make it to the safety of the village before the sun fully goes down. He is only marginally successful. Not that it mattered. 

He tells Impa what he saw and she’s delighted at the news. Without further ado, she hands him a new tunic. It’s soft and blue and fits him perfectly. She gives him more information and he swears on his honor that he’s going to do whatever it takes to save the princess and stop the darkness that is plaguing the world.

He’s not sure how.

But everything in his body, heart, soul, and mind is pointing to that very goal.

Link doesn’t have plans to fail.

He looks at the spot where the numbers were. They’re covered by the sleeve now but they’re harder to forget about than he thought. Everyone else in the sheikah village had their arms covered as well. It would be awkward if he were to ask them if they had the same numbers on their arms.

He rubs the numbers and puts his arm down, turning to leave.

Impa chuckles softly, seeing him hold onto the nervous tick he developed all those years ago when she was a much younger woman. It appears not even death can change the foundation of the person.

“Link.” Impa calls to him before he can leave. “Do you know what those numbers are? Or have you forgotten about those as well?”

She knows? Link allows hope to buoy his spirits and his heart. He tells her that he doesn’t know what they are, but he thinks there’s something wrong with them.

Impa beckons him closer and tells him to remove the sleeve.

She gasps softly and smiles. “...So it was destined to be after all.”

Link isn’t sure if that’s good or bad. But he’s willing to bet that her smile means good news.

“We were worried about you, you know.” She laughs softly. “You will learn in due time if your memories come back as they should. But know this, those numbers mean the time left until you meet your soulmate. They are set by forces much stronger and wiser than us. Just keep in mind the time you have left. You will meet the most important person of your life when the timer runs out.”

When the timer runs out, Link echoes in his mind. He nods to Impa in thanks and begins his journey once more.

He was told to find the Four Devine Beasts and to free them from the Calamity’s grasp. He checks the map on his sheikah slate. The four glowing dots appear at all corners of the map. All of them are in place which he has yet to fill in. It’s likely to happen when he continues to activate the towers like the Old Man mentioned, so he decides to head to the closest one first, seeing that it’s just to the east of where he is.

From there, he thinks he’ll go counterclockwise. Work his way in a circle and all that jazz.

He barely makes it out of the village before being stopped by a strange villager on the road. They don’t appear to be sheikah but he’s certainly never seen them before. They greet him kindly enough so he’s inclined to do the same.

Until they start talking about their day, how they slept, how they woke up, and the weird dream they had. It begins to sound eerily familiar.

Darkness? Silence? A wet bed?

Link had half the mind to ask if they had merely wet the bed in their sleep before they called him by his name and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

They teleport behind him and begin to give chase.

Link curses his luck. Was this the Yiga the Sheikah had mentioned? Traitors to the crown and desperate to bring Ganon, their Master, back from the darkness and into the land of the light? They had planned to destroy the hero and let the Calamity take over the remaining peace and security Hyrule had to offer.

The notion doesn’t sit well with Link, and given that they think he’s the hero and thus wants to kill him, that makes them his enemy. One of which is very determined to end his life this day.

He runs out of breath and curses. He has a stick. Can he use that?

He takes a swing and hits the Yiga member, now in full uniform, across the face. 

Sword beats stick easily, but Link had also been collecting enough arrows on his way to find Impa the Sheikah Elder to continue fighting for his life.

The Yiga teleports away after being hit enough times.

Link’s bow breaks right after.

He glares at it and tosses it away. He still has arrows but they’re useless until he can find a replacement bow. 

He’s seen countless chests and abandoned crates around the land. One of them is bound to have the things he’ll need to fight back and survive.

He continues to go in the direction of the blinking orange dot on his map. He climbs up the first tower he can see and works his way through the puzzles of the shrines. So far, he’s managed to get through each and every one of them just fine. Link considers himself lucky that he could see at least seven from the top of the tower alone.

He’s almost excited about his progress. He thinks he’s done might well for himself. Link had managed to find more weapons and food, collecting everything he could within the slate in his possession. It was such a marvelous device. The storage capacity had no limits, it seemed.

Between the spirit orbs he’d collected and the new expansion to the map, he felt energized and invigorated to keep moving forward.

He meets fish people. They call themselves Zora. They look almost like the fish girl he saw in his memory. They tell him that their Prince is looking for a Hylian to help them with a problem back in their domain. Link listens and tells them that if he happens to meet this… Prince Sidon, he’ll be more than happy to hear what he has to say. Maybe the Prince would be able to help with his own problem in getting to the Divine Beast in the first place.

To his surprise and luck, after finding the prince and getting all the way to Zora’s Domain, they led him right to his destination of the Divine Beast anyway.

After learning what a lynel was to get the needed shock arrows and talking with the King of the Zoras, getting another memory where he remembered Mihpha, Link took off with the Prince to enter into the Divine Beast. He was instantly impressed with the size and complexity of the machinery.

Figuring out the puzzles wasn’t as difficult as he thought it was going to be. He struggled with his timing and the positioning of many of the gears and trying to learn the tools and tricks of the sheikah slate on the fly, he found the cause of the evil and eventually vanquished the blight against the zora, freeing Vah Ruta from Ganon’s control.

Mipha comes to him, saying her last words and vanishing from his sight. The sight of her causes an unknown and unfamiliar ache in his heart. He may not remember her completely but he knew that they were close once upon a time.

After he steps out of the Divine Beast, he quickly removes his sleeve, wondering if that was what the numbers were counting down to.

No. He still has over one hundred days before the timer hits zero. He sighs, letting the days take over and merely following through with the motions of his journey.

When he was done with all that needed to be done in Zora’s Domain, he headed east.

It was only after he had rushed past the laser eyes of the guardians stationed in Hyrule Field had he realized something he had missed.

He ducks behind a broken wall and sits down on the cold ground. Removing his sleeve again, he glances at the glowing numbers on his skin.

Link remembers why the number doesn’t sit well with him.

In the memory, Mipha was healing this very arm. But the numbers were much, much higher. At the time, there was a section meant to count the number of years he had left until he would meet such a special person.

The information doesn’t register as strange in his mind, so it must not have been very rare to have them. After all, many people go many years without meeting their person, he muses. But his was the only one that had entered the triple digits.

Link would have had to have waited for over 100 years to meet the person on the other side of this clock. The first case that anyone had known of. That’s why he felt like something was missing. 

Vaguely, he’s aware of the echoes of thoughts from his past coming back to haunt him. He would have been alone. He would have thought he would never meet this person. He would have died years before they were born.

The thought was chilling, however, the numbers currently on his arm tell a very different story.

He was no longer waiting on the years.

Link had less than three months until they met.

It was happening. It was really happening!

Taking a deep breath, overwhelmed with the emotions in his chest from the revelation, he sets off to the bright orange dot in the corner of his map. Link spends his time activating more towers and collecting more spirit orbs as he passes through the land. He feels stronger already, more able and capable of taking down bigger and stronger foes.

This feels right. He wasn’t expecting it to get colder the closer he got to the orange dot. He wasn’t sure what sort of Divine Beast this was, but he did not appreciate being thrown through the snow and more monsters that appeared to be able to toss ice at him and freeze him in place. Not cool.

Getting there, he meets the Rito and their chief. Their Divine Beast, Vah Medoh, had also been acting up and was taking their strongest warriors out one by one.

Eager to help, Link offers his services, although the words are familiar on his tongue, the actual act of helping is a bit lost on him. He comes to a landing post of their village and is taken back in time to the past, where he was a much stronger soldier and a much more knowledgeable citizen.

Revali, was his name. The bird man.

Link gets a bitter taste on his tongue from the encounter.

He was belittled and spoken down upon. His purpose and calling were mocked and worse yet, the Rito felt the need to bring up the numbers on his arm, jeering at the idea that he would never meet his soulmate.

Link comes back to the present with a scowl on his lips and a new word in his mind.

Soulmate.

Even though the blow felt as fresh as the day he had received it, Link decides that he quite likes the word.

Moving on, Link meets Teba and while Teba was not originally fond of the young Hylian man, they quickly become a fast team, gaining up on Vah Medoh and slipping through its defenses to take it out from the inside out.

Once inside, he goes through the same motions as before, electing to ignore the voice in the background that feels the need to continue commentating on his performance. After he clears the Divine Beast of the malice and from Ganon’s control, Revali comes to him.

Link doesn’t meet him with a smile.

“So it looks like there was something you did that I couldn’t.”

How are you still this arrogant and dead? Link thinks to himself but elects to stay quiet. It’s almost over and then; once he leaves, he won’t have to deal with it anymore.

Teba was more than happy to hear that Link was successful and they both returned to the chief with the good news that Vah Medoh should no longer pose a problem for the village and the people of Rito Village.

Link decides to stay in Rito Village for a little longer, helping the people here and there with whatever they need. He also explores more of the area around the village, taking stock of the monsters and the shrines of the area. And he spends more time than he’s willing to admit merely trying out Revali’s Gale and crashing into rocks and cliff faces.

To his credit, he only needed Mipha’s Grace twice throughout it all, but that’s all he’s willing to disclose.

Link decides to head west again, saving the southernmost orange dot for later. The journey seemed to take longer to cross half to distance back than it did to get across Hyrule Field the first time. He quickly finds himself going up. Not only does the elevation go up but so does the temperature.

Link can feel himself sweating like a pig. The clothes on his back quickly begin to stick to his skin and while he can’t smell much of anything from the sheer amount of sulfur in the air, he doesn’t think he smells all that pleasant either. 

He passes a small stream of lava and the light bulb goes off in his head. Oh, so that’s why he was beginning to feel like he was boiling from the inside out.

He passes a few other people and he’s tempted to start shedding layers like they had just to deal with the ever-growing heat. He takes out his outer tunic, just wanting bits of relief until he can get something to help with the heat. The numbers counting down on his arm wink back up at him. Link gasps softly and grins.

He knew that the number was going down this entire time whether he was actively looking at it or not. The seconds were constantly counting down as the passage of time went on. But to see the number move from three months or ninety days to less than sixty was like a small balloon of hope within his heart.

The minor sting of the memories of the taunts fades into what Link can only describe as excitement.

What was once an empty vessel of resignation was now a very true reality within his grasp.

Link steels his nerves and continues his ascent up the volcano. If he can just survive until then, then… then… He actually doesn’t have much of a plan for that moment, let alone after.

He shakes the thought from his head. Time will go faster the less he thinks about the clock. That’s how it’s been since the moment he woke up again. He just has to trust in the process and continue doing the work that has been laid in front of him.

Link finds himself in the middle of Goron City, woefully under-prepared for the literal flame-scape that it is.

He manages to trade off the pants and the flame-resistant armor off of some random civilian, that help him stay cool and survive in the midst of the volcano. The helmet he has to buy. Link attempted to also buy the helmet off of the man, but he was unsuccessful.

Fully docked with the needed armor, but now fully broke, Link begins to ask around and help around with the tasks around Goron City that eventually lead him to Bludo. They call him the Chief, but he quickly finds his way on the search for a young Goron by the name of Yunobo.

Together, not only do they give the needed pain meds to the elder Goron, but they team up to make their way up Death Mountain and toward Vah Darunia.

Frankly, Link finds this leg of the challenge easier than it was at the beginning. Revali’s Gale ends up being incredibly useful despite his earlier pettiness toward the bird. The fight, while a bit cumbersome to deal with, didn’t end up being too hot to handle.

Link laughs at his own joke, quickly freeing Vah Darunia and gaining another power to his arsenal, gaining more memories in the process.

Something about the Gorons lights a fire under him.

After settling all the shrines and the towers he could, he begins to use the sheikah more to his advantage. He supposes he could clear up all the map in the east and get all the corners he needs. There was that sheikah he was told to visit in a place called Hateno Village. He hadn’t gone because well… He didn’t want to.

Wasn’t that a good enough reason?

He huffs and figures that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

He’s got less than two months to kill and no one else is going to do it for him anyway.

After meeting a rather mischievous researcher by the name of Purah, who happened to be Impa’s sister of all things (he couldn’t believe they were related), he was told to go visit Robbie in the north somewhere in the Akala Region.

Link shrugs, if that’s what it’ll take to get the rest of the map filled out, then who is he to not check some things off of the list while he’s there?

In the end, he likes Robbie.

He was just as weird as Purah, maybe a little more.

But he likes him

Link collects more shrines and weapons and trades in all the spirit orbs that he has. The boost is immediate. Link can feel the strength sinking deep into the marrow of his bones. He leaves the ancient sheikah man and his much younger wife behind.

Link discovers that he can run for far longer, that hits from the Lizalfos, the bokoblins, and the occasional moblins don’t hurt as much as they used to, and that climbing doesn’t take as much out of him as it used to.

Link decides to explore some more, crossing roads with more people than he can keep track of. 

He finds a horse. He names it Peanut.

He finds many more horses, names them after more inconspicuous food items, and spends a good amount of time practicing his aim with his bow on horseback.

With just one more little corner of the map to be filled, and one more Divine Beast to free, Link makes his way directly to the South West of the map. 

He cheats and uses the teleportation of the sheikah slate to get as far into the land as he can get. At the top of the tower, he sees a fairy fountain and figures that it couldn’t hurt to check in on Kaysa. He had passed this tower much earlier in his journey but didn’t stay long since he had gotten lost in his attempt to reach Death Mountian.

Getting the upgrades he could afford, Link moves onward and southward. He quickly finds himself in a wasteland. Checking his map on the off chance he wasn’t going in the right direction, he finds that the location he’s in the middle of is quite literally named The Wastelands.

Correcting his course brings him into a desert. He sees a small outcropping post just in front of him, and behind it, he can see what must be the larger city. He cheers on the inside. Target Acquired.

Just beyond both settlements, he sees what must be the largest Divine Beast of the collection. It’s more than massive and he’s pulled into a memory once more at the sight of it.

After reeling from the forced emotions he experienced from the pull of the flashback, he allowed himself to calm down first and recognize that this might be different than the other Divine Beasts had gotten used to. Granted, they were all unique in their own way but he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take him just to free the machine from the cold hands of Ganon’s control.

He makes his closer regardless, once again shedding his outer layers as the sun begins to cook the earth around him, he rinses off his skin at the pool of the little oasis. Link learns that this was the Baazar. The place where men could stay and trace since they weren’t allowed in the city.

Link huffes and shakes the sand from his ears.

How was he going to get in the city then? He needs to talk to their chief to talk about the Divine Beast if he wants to have all of them freed before he even tries to go to Hyrule Castle to free the princess.

He got word that Gerudo City is heavily guarded and that the walls are taller than most are able to climb. Surely there’s someone who can get him in. He could try disguising himself, but he’s not sure that’s going to actually help him in his endeavors to get on their good graces if they’re as strong and proud as the men had made them out to be.

“Um excuse me?” A voice calls from behind him. “Are you from around here? I could use some assistance with something.”

Link perks up at the voice and turns around. He’s not a local like they seem to think he is, but he’s never going to turn down anyone who’s in need of help. 

He sees you and something in his heart kicks into high gear. Link takes a deep breath, unsure where the reaction came from. He tells you that no, he’s not from around here, but he’s more than willing to be of assistance.

You gasp when you see him and your cheeks go a bit pink at the sight.

Link barely registers that it might be because he’s shirtless and dripping wet from trying to use the pool to cool off from the heat of the sun in the desert. Link smiles at you, thinking that you are actually quite cute with a blush on your face like that.

He introduces himself and stands, using his tunic to dry himself off so that he doesn’t risk getting you wet either. You return the introduction in kind and offer your hand in proper greeting as you begin to tell him what you need help with.

Link swallows the spit in his mouth. The air feels charged with...  something. He’s not sure what, but perhaps he’s merely overthinking this. Maybe the heat is finally getting to him after all?

He takes your hand in a firm, but gentle grip.

Lightning shoots up both of your arms.

You both cry out in surprise and shock, stepping away from one another but not letting go of each other hands.

As if driven by instinct, Link looks down to his exposed timer on his arm. It’s all zeros.

He sucks in a breath and looks at you with wild, frantic eyes, praying that you had the same result you did.

You catch onto his gaze first, having seen his timer at the same time he did. With a bated breath, you use your free arm to shove your sleeve up, exposing your own timer on your arm. You choke on a secondary shocked shout and show your arm to him.

Also zeros.

Tears quickly gather in both of your eyes from the sheer adrenaline rush of it all.

You hug him unquestionably with a wet laugh, not caring if he isn’t fully dry yet. “This is amazing!”

Link puts his hands on your hips to hold you steady as the breath catches in his throat. He hugs you back and blinks away the tears. You don’t know what your words mean to him. He may not have all his memories back, but he knows that he had been waiting too.

You jump in his arms. “I’m so excited to finally meet you!”

“Me too.” He says softly. “I’ve been counting the seconds.”

[christhopersturniolo]

୨ MY LITTLE SISTER ୧ matt

summary: you had some plans with your boyfriend matt for the weekend, but something unexpected happens, and you have to babysit your little sister.

notes: this is my second time ever writing a fanfic (go read my first one) and english isn't my first language, it's probably not very detailed and there might be some mistakes, but I hope you enjoy it! all ears to feedbacks, l'd love to know what you think!

warnings: cussing, fluff

୨୧

I sigh “And why can’t you take her with you?” I say taking my eyes out of the screen and looking at my mom.

“How long will it take for you to understand that your dad is on a business trip and i’m going on one as well?” She answers walking from a side to another, packing some of her things. “I can’t take her with me, even if I wanted to.”

"But mom-" I start, only to be cut off.

"No buts, Y/n.” She interrupts, her tone firm. “I’m being serious." She looks straight into my eyes "It's what I'm telling you, you'll have to stay with your sister. I won't be paying for a babysitter while you're here with your ass in the couch. You are almost 18, you can very well take care of her, it’s only for the weekend.”

“But I told you I have plans with Matt!” I exclaim, leaning my head back on the headrest of the couch in annoyance.

My mom is about to reply when we hear the sound of my 3 year old little sister's footsteps coming from her room, followed by her little giggles.

We automatically get silent about this topic. I take a deep breath, reminding myself she's not the problem, she's just a child caught up in our adult issues. Bella is not the problem.

Don't get me wrong, I do love my sister, but it's a bit overwhelming to adjust having a sibling after being the only child for years. And with my mom's age, it's unexpected, to say the least.

SKIP TIME

Today is the day that my mom is going to her ‘super important business trip’, and also the day Im supposed to have a date with Matt.

After my mother left at 7am, Bella and I found ourselves up earlier than usual. We already had breakfast, so now, we don’t really have anything to do. We go to the living room, watch some TV.

Bella sits on the couch next to me and chooses the channel. After some good ten minutes, I look at my right to check on her, and she’s completely asleep, what makes me smile.

Until I realize that I didn’t canceled my dinner with Matt.

Shit, I completely forgot to talk with Matt! Fuck!

I get up and I go over to my bedroom, getting my phone and calling him. He takes some seconds to answer the call.

“Babe? Sorry, did I wake you up?” I ask, hoping the answer would be ‘no’.

“No, No, No..” He says with his husky morning voice, he definitely just woke up. “But why are you calling this early? Is something wrong?” I could feel myself getting fucking soaked as he talks, sorry, but his voice in the morning? I can’t take it.

I take a deep breath, trying to think straight. "Um, yeah.. Actually, my mom went out for the weekend, and I have to babysit my sister.. I don't know if I'll be able to make it to the dinner we had planned tonight”

“Oh” A simple response, What does that even mean? He probably hates me now.

"I know you already made the reservation, and I was super excited, I swear," I start saying nothing with nothing, feeling guilty for ruining our plans. "But then my mom told me she had this thing and..."

Before I could finish apologizing, Matt cuts me, understanding. "No babe, that's fine. Don't worry. Maybe we can do something else? With your sister? I have stuff to do all day, but I’m free at night, maybe we can have a sleepover or something?”

I sigh in relief “Yeah sure, that sounds great, I will talk about It with Bella”

“Alright call me later sweetheart, love you, bye” He ends the call and I go back to the living room, getting back on my place.

Bella is still peaceful sleeping on the couch. Not wanting to disturb her, I cover her with a blanket, but my actions unfortunately wake her up, blinking her sleepy eyes open. A small yawn escapes her lips, and she looks at me with a drowsy smile.

"Hey, sleepyhead" I whisper, gently brushing a piece of hair from her face. "Did you have a nice nap?" Bella nods, rubbing her eyes with tiny hands. "Mhm" she murmurs, snuggling deeper into the blanket.

I think about a way to tell her that Matt is coming over before she could fall back asleep “So.. do you remember my boyfriend, Matt?" Bella blinks, her sleepy expression turning curious. "Mm-hmm" she mumbles again, nodding slowly.

“What if.. He came over to a super fun sleepover with us today?” I say trying to sound extra excited to convince her.

Bella's eyes light up with excitement at the mention of a sleepover. "Yeah!" She exclaims, her drowsiness quickly dissipating. "Matt is funny!" Her sentence makes me chuckle “Oh he is?” She nods giggling, It doesn't even look like she just woke up.

The rest of the day, she doesn’t stop talking about Matt.

“Then- Then will Matt play games with me?”

“And can we watch frozen? I think Matt will like it”

Over and over, she’s more excited than me. But I mean, I can’t blame her, It’s Matt over all.

Around 8pm, Matt rings on the doorbell. I go over to the front door, Bella follows me, getting behind my left leg. I open the door and I see my boyfriend with two bouquets of flowers, a big one, and a small one.

“Hey love” He leans for a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, then he hands me the bouquet “This is for you”

A smile appears across my face, I chuckle “Thank you so much.. You really didn’t had to” I say looking at my favorite flowers.

“No that’s fine, don’t worry” Matt returns the smile, his eyes lighting up as he sees Bella peeking out shyly from behind me. "Hey, Bella" he says warmly, crouching down to her level. "I also brought these for you, little princess" he says, offering her the smaller bouquet with a gentle smile.

Bella looks at me, seeing Bella's hesitation, I give her a soft nod, silently urging her to accept the flowers from Matt. With a shy smile, Bella reaches out and takes the bouquet from him, still with one hand around my leg.

“What do we say Bella?” I place my hand on the top of her head, caressing her hair.

“Thank you Matt” She says still shy.

"You're welcome, Belly" He responds getting up, his voice gentle and kind.

Some hours after playing some board games and talking, Bella decided to go get her toys.

She returns carrying a bunch of dolls and stuffed animals, then she settles onto the carpet in front of us and places everything there. “Matt come play with me!” She says excited with some barbie’s in her small hands.

He gets up from the couch, and sits down next to Bella on the floor “Alright so what doll am I?” Bella looks around “Hmmm..” She grabs a really bad looking doll, marker-covered, and hands it to Matt. I automatically start laughing uncontrollably, Matt matches the energy.

I am just watching as they play, Bella makes Matt use a girly voice, what just makes everything ten times better for my entertainment.

After Bella got tired of playing with her toys, she made us watch frozen, it’s her favorite movie, this is probably her fifth time watching it. I sit on the left side of the couch, Matt on the middle and my sister next to him. Some 30 minutes after the movie started, Bella is already with her head on Matt’s lap, sleeping like a little angel, as Matt gently strokes her hair and she snuggles closer to him.

His eyes meet mine, seeing me watching him, he smiles “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing” With a soft smile, I rest my head on Matt's shoulder “You just look so cute taking care of kids” He chuckles and leaves a kiss on the top of my head.

୨୧

this actually sucked, i’m so bad at doing cute scenes, this def wasn’t what I had in mind lol, maybe i will delete it later.

[queenshelby]

Our Little Secret (Part 36)

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Warning: Infidelity, Age-Gap,

A few weeks later....

For the next few weeks, Cillian stayed at your house most nights, even with his son Max and, soon enough, you found a routine that seemed to work for you both. Cillian had been asking you to move in with him but, after all that had happened in the past, you were not quite ready for that yet.

Your decision to want your own space was somewhat upsetting for Cillian who saw it as another sign that you didn't trust him fully.

You had explained to him that you loved him and that you simply needed your own space to figure things out.

He had reluctantly agreed, respecting your wishes even though he knew that living apart would not be easy for either of you.

The fact that Cillian was not living with you full-time, made him want to make the most out of every free moment that he had with you and it made him crave your presence in a way that he hadn't before.

He became even more intentional about wanting to spend every available second with you, making it a priority to be present and engaged in your lives together, whether it was cooking dinner for the both of you, taking turns rocking Mara to sleep, or simply cuddling on the couch watching a movie together.

Of course, on occasion, you were intimate too but this time, you took things slower, exploring each other's bodies in ways that were both familiar and new. There was no longer a power dynamic between you in bed and having sex with each other was almost a rare treat these days seeing that Mara was a terrible sleeper.

She seemed to sense when you and Cillian wanted to be intimate and would wake up just then, refusing to go back to sleep. 

For you, this did not matter so much as sex was not always on your radar but for Cillian the lack of intimacy seemed to be much more difficult to accept. 

Unbeknownst to you, this had a lot to do with the fact that he was much older than you and, in the back of his mind, he was constantly worried that, one day, you would want to be with someone your own age.  He feared that you would grow tired of him, as he had grown tired of his first wife, and that he would lose you just as she had lost him.

Of course, none of this was ever spoken aloud between the two of you. Cillian had never been one to vocalize his fears, and you had never been one to question his love for you. Instead, you continued on in your routine, laughing and loving one another as if everything in your relationship was perfect.

But it wasn't.

Far from it, in fact. Beneath the surface of laughter and love, there were simmering tensions and unspoken fears that threatened to boil over at any moment especially when the tabloids had yet another field day, discussing your somewhat inappropriate relationship with one another.

The press loved to speculate about the nature of your relationship and whether or not it was appropriate considering Cillian's recent separation from his wife and the fact that you were his brother's stepdaughter and, whilst you laughed it off these days, Cillian couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

At times, you couldn't help but feel that Cillian's career was at stake, and that his reputation was taking a hit because of it. And yet, Cillian did not seem to want to talk about it. He wanted to bury his head in the sand and pretend that everything was perfect, that the two of you were blissfully happy.

But you could see the tension in his shoulders, the way he clenched his jaw when he read a particularly vicious article. You knew that he was hurting, but you didn't know how to help him and, it wasn't until he came home from his sister's birthday, apologizing to you for something you never thought he would do, that you had your first fight since Mara was born.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and you were both in the living room, surrounded by scattered toys and baby gear. Cillian had been quiet all day, his fidgety behavior fueling your growing unease.

"What's wrong?" you finally asked, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the two of you.

Cillian hesitated for a moment before answering. "I messed up. I really fucking have Y/N," he told you , his voice low and filled with regret.

"What are you talking about?" you asked, your heart rate increasing slightly.

Cillian took a deep breath before continuing. "At Siobhan's party last night, I ran into Amanda," he told you and, even before he continued , you could feel your heart clenching in your chest.

Amanda was Cillian's ex-girlfriend and, even though they had only dated for a short time, you had never fully trusted her. There had always been something about her that made you uneasy, something that you couldn't quite put your finger on.

"Cillian , what did you do?" you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.

"I did, I -, " Cillian stammered, his voice heavy with guilt and regret. "I don't know what came over me. I had too much to drink and she was there and-"

"Stop," you interrupted him, your voice sharp. "Just stop. I don't want to hear it."

Cillian fell silent, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Y/N. I am sorry, I really am. It was a stupid mistake," he told you while vaguely recalling last night's events. 

***Backflash***

He had been at Siobhan' 40th birthday party, attending without you because Mara had a cold and you did not want to leave her with your mother who had offered to babysit her for you so that you could go.

Thus, Cillian went on his own after you had told him that he should go. It was his  sister's birthday after all and it was important that he showed up. 

He did not know many of his Siobhan's friends and with his brother being in therapy still, he was the only family member that was at the party that night.

The party itself had been organized by two of Siobhan's collogues, one of which was Amanda whom Cillian used to date before you gave birth to Mara. Being polite, Amanda had invited you both, and although she very much disliked you, she simply extended her invitation for Siobhan's sake. 

"I see you came alone, Cillian. Why is that?" she asked intrigued when she saw Cillian standing there, on his own, nursing his drink and, whilst their breakup had been far from amicable, Amanda had always tried to stay in contact with Cillian.

"Mara is sick, so she sends her apologies," Cillian explained dryly,  not wanting to indulge Amanda in any kind of conversation.

"And that's why I chose not to have children," Amanda chuckled before asking Cillian how he was. "How are things with you and your baby mama anyway these days? I mean, the papers are really having a good time writing about the two of you," she  went on, her voice laced with false concern.

Cillian tightened his grip on his drink, trying to keep his anger at bay. "We're doing well," he told her, not wanting to give Amanda the satisfaction of knowing that her words had stung.

But Amanda was relentless, and she continued to press him for information about his relationship with you, probing for any sign of weakness or instability.

Cillian eventually excused himself from the conversation, finding solace in the bottom of his drink.

An hour later, he was rather tipsy and Amanda tried again, this time with an apology.

"Hey, I am sorry about before. I guess I am still holding a grudge over the fact that you broke up with me so abruptly back then,"  Amanda said, her voice softening as she put her hand on Cillian's shoulder.

Cillian looked at her, surprised at her sudden change in tone. "I am sorry too," he replied, feeling a wave of guilt wash over him. "I mean. for breaking up with you the way I did. I was a real dick, wasn't I?" Cillian admitted, taking a deep breath and looking at Amanda with apologetic eyes.

"It's okay. I know why you did it. Things were too complicated at the time,"  Amanda replied, her hand still on Cillian's shoulder.

Cillian nodded, feeling the weight of his mistake settle over him once again. "Yes, things were complicated," he agreed, taking another sip of his drink.

"But they're not complicated now, right?" Amanda asked, moving closer to Cillian. "I mean, you and Y/N are happy together, aren't you?"

Cillian hesitated, feeling a sense of unease creeping up his spine. "We are," he confirmed, his voice barely above a whisper. "But that doesn't make things less complicated, Am. I am over twenty fucking years older than her,"  Cillian said, looking at Amanda with uncertainty in his eyes.

Amanda laughed, her hand still resting on Cillian's shoulder. "Yes, you are and that always amazed me to be honest," she said, her gaze fixed on Cillian's face. "I mean, how did a man like you, a successful actor, end up in this kind of situation?"  Amanda asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "She is a sweet girl, but you are who you are, nominated for a fucking Oscar even. You could have any woman you wanted. Why settle for someone so young, naive and inexperienced?" She added, trying to hide the hint of condescendence in her voice.

Cillian took a deep breath, feeling a wave of protectiveness wash over him. "I love her. That's all there is to it," he told her firmly, unable to keep the edge out of his voice.

"Do you really? Or are you just telling yourself that you do because she had your child?" Amanda pressed on, her gaze never wavering from Cillian's face.

Cillian's jaw clenched involuntarily, but he didn't respond. He didn't need to. The answer was already clear in his eyes, and Amanda knew it. She sighed and took a step back, her hand falling from his shoulder.

"Fine. I get it. You love her," she said, her tone almost regretful. "But let me ask you something, Cillian. Do you think you can make this work in the long run? With the age difference and all?" Amanda asked, a trace of concern in her voice.

Cillian sighed, swirling his drink in his hand. "I don't know," he admitted while Amanda reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Am, what -," he started to say, but Amanda interrupted him.

"Ssh, just come with me. I want to show you something," Amanda whispered, her breath warm against Cillian's cheek as she led him away from the crowd and towards one of the lavatories at the very back of the venue. 

Cillian hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of him in his very drunken state.

"What are we doing here?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as she pulled him inside the small room and, before he could protest, Amanda had closed the door behind them, locking it with a soft click.

"Amanda, what are you-?" he started to say, but his words were cut off as she pressed her lips to his, her fingers tangling in his hair as she deepened the kiss. Cillian's mind went blank for a moment, his body responding to hers even as his mind screamed at him to stop.

"I am just showing you what a real woman can give you," Amanda murmured against his lips, her fingers immediately reaching for his belt buckle. "But I am sure you remember, don't you?" Amanda whispered seductively, her lips brushing against Cillian's ear as she slowly unzipped his trousers.

Cillian's mind was in a fog of confusion and guilt. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but he couldn't seem to find the strength to push Amanda away. He felt her hand wrap around his growing arousal, and he closed his eyes, letting out a low groan as she started to stroke him gently.

Tags:

@sunbeamseas @saint-ackerman @oatmealisweird @naxxsstuff @amanda08319 @r-m-cidnah @elysiannook @cillshot @infireddabdab @tastycakee @harrysbestiee @lilybabe22 @adalynlowell @henrywintersdearestgirl @ietss @thatgirlthatreadswattpad @ryiamarie @axionn

@heidimoreton @nela-cutie @futurecorps3 @delishen @nosebleeds-247 @thirteenis-myluckynumber @gills-lounge @hjmalmed @lost-fantasy @tiredkitten @sidechrisporn @smallsoulunknown @charqing-qing @hopefulinlove @aporiasposts @shycrybaby @me-and-your-husband @hjmalmed @lacontroller1991 @galxydefender @aporiasposts

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[jksprincess10]

Something in the shadows || 5. limbo

Summary: When a girl is found by Ellie just outside of Jackson, covered in what seems to be scratches from a beast, the community realizes that the infected might not be the only monsters out there.

CWs: Dark!Joel, monster!Joel, werewolf!Joel, NOT an omegaverse fic, fated mates, DUBCON, murders, gore, dark and horror themes, overprotective!joel, explicit smut, FMC without a name and a physical description (it's you baby), unspecified age gap, no y/n.

(3k words)

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

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She woke up to a cold, empty bed. She didn’t know what she had expected from a man like Joel – but part of her was still sad to wake up alone. The only reminders of Joel – bruises on her shoulder and her hips, where he had held her too strongly. As a reminder of her assault, her lip was split, blood had dried on it.

She dressed appropriately and walked slowly to the end of the hallway, where Joel’s room was also empty.

“I think he’s already up, I heard Tommy earlier.” Ellie’s voice startled her.

“Oh, thanks, Ellie.”

The older teen looked at her weirdly, up and down. “No offense, but you look like shit. You okay?”

“Yeah. Rough night… nightmares.” She lied effortlessly.

“Cool. I was just heading to the farm, catch you later.”

And with a last, weird look, the teenager climbed down the stairs. When she was free of her presence, she disappeared into the bathroom. Moving too much hurt.

“You have to tell me what the fuck happened, Joel. You’re scaring me, brother.”

The Tipsy Bison had been condemned when what remained of the bodies had been discovered by Tommy. Joel froze with pure dread as he discovered the bodies. He remembered telling her he would take care of it… and then everything was blurry. He thought he had just… talked to them. But the truth was much, much darker. The boys were disfigured, reduced to pure meat. He couldn’t have done that.

“I don’t know, Tommy.” Joel’s voice was rough, hiding an uncertainty. “I just… I talked to them, okay?”

“Talked to them?!” Tommy responded incredulously. “There is nothing left, Joel.”

The older brother’s hand trailed down his own face as he tried but failed to remember. There was a big gap between the moment where had taken care of her, then had come home to fuck her.

“This can’t be me. Do ya think I’m… I’m some sort of monster? Do ya think I could’ve hurt her and then take her into my own goddamn home?”

They had both done bad things in the past to survive but this – this has taken the cake of absurdity. 

“Okay, okay, I believe you.” Tommy stopped him, his hands before him like an offering of peace. “But now, ya gotta help me clean up this fucking mess, Joel. And I won’t tell anyone about this. Because they probably deserved it.”

“What happened to you?”  Elaine asked once her new friend arrived at the laundry place, letting her bucket of water fall as her mouth opened in horror. She ran up to her, her delicate and pale hands brushing where the skin had broken. The woman jumped at the unexpected touch, but she smiled as much as her split lip allowed.

“Don’t worry. Just… got into a fight.” She gave some of the truth, sparse, breadcrumbs in the forest of her mind.  She saw the mess of water. “Let me help you clean up before anyone gets hurt.”

 While they worked, they talked. Elaine, like last time, did most of the talking. But she could see something was off with her new friend.

“What’s going on with you, sweetheart? I know it must be hard for you to trust people around here but… you can tell me anything.” Elaine had the empathy of a good mother. The kind who would take you in her arms and waited until you stopped crying. The kind she probably had before.

“It’s just… men.”

The woman with the auburn hair hummed knowingly. “Miller?”

She shrugged in response, so Elaine did not push. But she knew.

“I’m just… disappointed. I got what I thought I wanted. But I’m just left… even lonelier somehow.”

“You’re gonna have to stop speaking in riddles if you want my help.” There was no bite behind her words,

“We… had sex, yesterday. I thought we had something going on, but I woke up completely alone.” Her voice was lower, so she wouldn’t attract the local gossipers.

“Mmh. I see. Sometimes… men just need space to sort out their feelings. I wouldn’t worry much about it. Is he the one who…?” She asked as she pointed to her lip.

“Oh god no, he would never… hurt me. I don’t think so.”

But he had hurt her before, hadn’t he?

He was washing away the gore and the blood from his body, but somehow, even as the red liquid flushed down the drain, he didn’t feel cleaner. The beast was dirty, and right now, in the most inappropriate of times, it still wanted. He had left her side this morning, partly because he wanted to let her sleep in, and partly because he was afraid of what he could do to her once the want came back.  Would he hurt her to take what he wanted?

He heard the door open downstairs. She was probably done with her work. He chased the bad thoughts away as he dried himself and got dressed in dark washed jeans, a discolored shirt that was probably black in another life and a flannel that he buttoned almost all the way to the top, leaving two buttons popped open.

Joel climbed down the stairs quietly, and he cleared his throat awkwardly when he found her in the kitchen.

“Oh, Joel.”

He was overly aware of her body language, of the way she jumped slightly at his voice. “M’sorry, didn’t wanna scare ya…” His palm caressed the back of his neck as he approached her.

“I just… I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me after yesterday.”

“What? God… no.” He groaned in frustration. “Listen, I’m very bad at this.” So bad that he couldn’t even tell Tess he loved her, even when she was turning in front of his eyes. “But it has nothing to do with you or what happened yesterday.”

“Okay…” He eyed the way she balanced herself from one leg to the other nervously. “I… when you said you would take care of the guys yesterday, what did you mean?” She asked suddenly.

Something primal in him wanted him to tell her everything. But she would be horrified. So, he did what he did best. He lied.

“I was gonna talk to them… but the poor bastards were already dead when I got to them.”

“Do you think it’s…whatever hurt me?” She asked worriedly as her fingers traced the scar across her face.

He hummed in response. “But… you ain’t got nothin’ to be scared of. I got ya okay?”

And with her bright, innocent eyes, he could see that she believed him completely. She approached him with more confidence now, and her hands laid on his shoulders as her eyes traced his lips.

“Joel… thank you.” She brought her face to the older man’s level and latched her lips onto his. It lit the fire in him, as his hands trailed down her body to hold her hips. He pressed her against his body tightly, and he could already feel himself getting hard. He was insatiable when it came to her.

She let go of his lips with a sweet smile, knowing the way his body reacted to hers. “Come to the winter ball with me. Please.”

“Yeah… okay. I’ll go.” She felt his hands on her ass, and he lifted her up to leave her on the counter. His lips trailed down her jaw, the soft skin of her throat. She smelled so intoxicatingly good, with a mixture of her and… him still somewhere on her body.

“Wait… Is Ellie coming back…?”

“Will be gone all day. Said she’d meet with a friend after work.” He mumbled back, his teeth sucking a bruise into her skin, before he soothed it with his tongue. She moaned in response, her body arching to get closer to him.

“O-Okay.” She’d thought Joel wouldn’t have much of a libido due to his age, but he seemed like he couldn’t get enough, and she couldn’t complain about it. He unzipped her pants as fast as he could before his hand sneaked in her wet panties.

“Couldn’t stop thinkin’ about this pussy.” Joel growled, his fingers already tracing fast circles on her swollen bud. The top of her body fell against his chest, and he held her with his free hand.

“S’yours Joel, all yours.” She slurred, already drunk on pleasure.

“Yeah?” He breathed against her skin. “Good fuckin’ girl.” 

With his fingers, he pushed her over the edge abruptly and embarrassingly quickly, and she let out a load moan as she came in her panties.

“Fuck, come here.” He lifted her and brought her with him, as he sat down on one of the dining chairs. “Need to be inside you.” He hastily undid his belt and freed his member, before pulling her bottoms off. He held the base of his cock so it would sit upright, and with his free hand, he pulled her down on it in a slow movement.

“Joel…” She whined weakly, letting the sound die against his lips.

“Hurts?” He asked as he felt her tight heat more and more. When she was sat still on him, he waited, his hand caressing her hips, where he had left bruises the night before.

“Hurts in a good way.”

Joel cursed under his breath as he guided her hips up and down his thickness, his half-lidded eyes looking at her in wonder. “Look at me.”

When she opened her eyes and looked at his, there was this bestial glint in his gaze that she had seen before. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out as she bounced up and down his dick.

“Yeah, that’s it. Keep goin’.” She felt a harsh slap on her butt cheek that was swollen from the night before, which made her yelp. His fingers then came down to her clit, where he teased her. “Come on my dick.” He ordered in the shell of her ear, before biting her lobe.

His name fell from her lips as he caressed her clit with a purpose, making her gush around his cock and choke him deliciously.

“Atta girl.” She was turning limp in his grasp, so he started thrusting his hips up, giving her a break. He could feel his eyes roll in the back of his head, she just felt too good. She felt… right.  “M’so fucking close, darlin’.”

“Come in my mouth, please…” She begged, and she was already getting off him to fall on her knees in front of his legs. “Please Joel.”

He held the back of her head as he guided his throbbing length in her warm mouth. He kept her in place as he thrusted between her lips. She could feel herself gag, so she breathed through her nose and let the tears fall as he finally came into her throat. Joel pulled her away to let her breathe, and his calloused fingers chased the tears away.

“Thank you for that, darlin’.” He said as he caught his breath again. He caressed her head affectionately, before pulling her up on his lap to kiss her with a newly found softness. For once, the beast felt sated. Calm.

Days later, she stood in front of the mirror behind her bedroom door, uncertain of her choice. The dress fitted perfectly; it accentuated every curve of her body. The color, a blue that was almost white, looked so soft on her. The fabric had a nice sheen to it, that caught the candlelight and made her look like a princess. Elaine had helped her find it, and she was extremely happy to have a friend here, because she had a feeling she wouldn’t find anyone in her vague memories.

But somehow, she felt self-conscious. Even though Joel proved to be a… passionate lover, to say the least, she feared he would find someone better.

“You ready?” Ellie’s voice called, with a shy knock on the door.

She opened the door and brought Ellie inside, panicking. “Please, be honest with me. How do I look?” She whispered; afraid Joel was listening at the door.

“Damn! You look good. You’re gonna give the old man a heart attack.”

Heat rushed to her face, and she smiled shyly as she finally admired Ellie’s outfit. It wasn’t what she had expected for her, but she wore a dark blue dress shirt and black slacks. It fitted her small frame surprisingly well. Her brown curls were loose on her shoulders.

“Watch your language around the old man, yeah? You look good too.” She caressed the top of Ellie’s head playfully, before grabbing her coat and going out of the room with her.

Joel looked at his broken watch while he waited for the girls. Finally, he heard giggles and their steps coming down. He was going to make a comment on how late they were, but when he saw her… he completely froze. His mouth was half-opened, his eyes bright as he admired her shiny blue dress and the way it caressed the body he had gotten to know so quickly.

He finally looked at Ellie too and the hint of a smile formed on his lips as he saw their outfits were matching. His shirt was two shades lighter, but they basically had the same outfit.

“See? Told you, he’s having a stroke.” Ellie mumbled.

“You look good, kid.” Joel cleared his throat, then took the hand of the woman he desired in his. “And you look… wow.” He couldn’t really say his real thoughts, though. How he wanted to tear that dress off her body and see if her underwear was just as pretty.

“Okay, get a fucking room, I’m leaving without you.” Ellie rolled her eyes.

Of course, it had been hard to keep their relationship hidden as Joel always wanted to jump in her pants. Ellie had guessed it pretty quickly.

“No, no. We’re leaving.” She responded with an embarrassed smile.

The room was decorated beautifully in whites and blues, making the green of the natural Christmas tree and the colorful lights really pop. It seemed like the whole community of Jackson was present, and she felt a bit intimidated.

Two men shone by their absence, though. The two who had ambushed her and bruised her. She felt uneasy, as she wondered who had murdered them. Of course, in the deep pits of her gut, she knew who did it. She just didn’t want to give more reasons for her brain to shout “Run”.

On the dance floor, she saw Elaine and her husband. She looked beautiful with her auburn hair in a high bun, two pieces of hair framing her face. They exchanged shy movements of their hands as a salutation, from afar.

She always stayed close to Joel, but the man really seemed out of place. He kept to himself, drinking, and keeping an eye on Ellie, who was dancing with a pretty girl.

“Come on, dance with me, Joel. You won’t stay here moping around all night.”

She extended her hand to him, and he tried to look annoyed as he took it, with a grumbling “fine”.

 The music slowed down, and she wrapped her hands around Joel’s broad shoulders, as his palms embraced her lower back. Her skin, even though she was fully dressed, felt like fire against his hands. He wanted to ruin her.

She admired his face with a smile, noting how his messy curls were slightly slicked back with gel. He looked good, like this. In another life, instead of a survivalist… maybe that’s what he would have looked like as a serious businessman.

“You’re handsome.” The words escaped her lips before she could stop them.

He grinned, the corners of his beautiful eyes forming lines that showed his age. “And you look like a fuckin’ angel.” His lips brushed her lobe as he whispered: “But we both know how you ain’t one, huh?”

Her cheeks heated up as she was reminded of how well he took care of her. She felt that constant pull and want with Joel, her lust never truly filled.

“Follow me, angel.” Joel ordered in a soft voice, his darkening eyes reading her easily.

He locked the bathroom door, and he sat her on the large edge of the sink, before going down to his knees like he was about to worship her. His body protested for a bit, the crack of his bones reminding him of his age. But he didn’t care.

“Makin’ me crazy, lookin’ like this. Want to spend every minute inside ya.” Joel growled as he kissed up her ankle, her leg, her thigh. He sucked and bit the sensitive skin there to remind her who she belonged too.

She let out a sigh of his name, her back arching as he got closer to his target. He helped her pull up the skirt of her dress until she was bare. Her pussy was covered by delicate white lace that was already wet.

“Shouldn’t even have bother to put anythin’ down there, darlin’.”

His rough hands pulled at the fabric until it ripped. She gasped.

“Joel!”

“What’s under is much prettier.” He shushed her and opened her thighs for him. He cursed under his breath as he dove in, the tip of his tongue collecting the wetness already pooling out of her hole. She was already squirming, still sensitive from the way he had fucked her that morning. His wet muscle went back to the top, effortlessly uncovering her clit to put pressure there. He licked, sucked, caressed at the bundle of nerves, until she whimpered, and he felt more nectar coming out of her.

“J-Joel, touch me, please…” She begged as one of her hands grabbed on to his gelled down curls as if to anchor herself so she wouldn’t drown just yet.

He groaned against her pussy, the vibrations giving her even more stimulation as one of his fingers breached her entrance. It was so thick, already filling her up just right as he kept sucking harder at her clit. He plunged his finger deeper until he curled it against that spongy part that he knew made her see stars.

“F-Fuck, please, please, I’m so fucking close….”

“C’mon baby, wet my face.” He mumbled against her, before putting more pressure on his tongue. He felt her grip on his hair strengthen, he heard her heartbeat faster as she came undone, gushing on his face beautifully. He ate her out through it all, until she pushed him away.

“You taste so fuckin’ good, baby.” Joel got up slowly, crowding her against the sink as leaned in to kiss her deeply.

 She moaned against his mouth, and she was about to unclasp his belt, until insistent knocks on the door made her stop. She came back to reality slowly, realizing where they were. Embarrassed, she pulled her dress down and got out of the bathroom. She vaguely heard Joel asking her to wait, but she knew their alone time was up.

Mortified, Elaine stood in front of them.

“Oh, hi.” Her mischievous eyes told her she knew what was going on. “I wanted to talk to you, what a coincidence.” She also acknowledged Joel with a polite nod, who cleared his throat and made up some excuse about going to see if Ellie was okay. Elaine pulled her into the now empty bathroom and closed the door, before taking out a small brown bag out of her purse. She looked at her friend, confused, as she took the bag.

“It’s a tea based on a flower that has contraceptive properties. Drink it once a week, and you’ll be fine. Indigenous women used it to prevent pregnancies. I’ve been meaning to give it to you, but I didn’t see you much these days…”

“O-Oh. Thank you.” Her slick still sticking to her thighs reminded her of how much she needed this.

“You’re welcome.” With a wink, Elaine let her leave.

She hid the bag in her purse, embarrassed that she got caught with Joel, and she went back to the main event. Her eyes looked for him, but it was too crowded. Instead, she found Tommy, Joel’s brother. The younger man looked beautiful; his longer hair tied in a low bun. He wore a blinding white shirt and dark blue pants.

“Oh, hey! I hope you’re liking the party.” He told her loud enough for her to hear.

Awkwardly, she got closer to hear him better. “Yeah… it’s nice. Do you do that every year?”

“Yup, it became a tradition. Was my wife’s idea.”

She nodded and thought the conversation was done, but he stopped her by placing a delicate hand on her bare arm. She almost pushed him away, but his eyes were soft and understanding. “Look… I’ve been meaning to talk to you… about Joel.”

“What about Joel?” She asked, trying to look disinterested.

“I’m… worried for your safety. I know my brother well, but he hasn’t been the same for a while now.”

She stayed silent and let him explain, but Joel stopped their conversation by finally finding her. His hand encircled her arm a bit roughly, and he pulled her towards him while flashing a dark glare to his brother. Tommy retreated.

“Chill, Joel. Was just talkin’ to your girl and see if she was enjoyin’ the party.”

“C’mon baby, we’re leaving.” Joel said as he ignored Tommy.

He pulled her into the dark, cold night, before she could protest. She finally gathered the strength to push him away, her big eyes looking up at him in distress.

“Joel, you’re hurting me. And you’re scaring me.”

The older man stopped in his tracks and pivoted his body so he could look at her. Some of his softness was back in his eyes, but still, something dark loomed behind. “M’sorry.”

“Tommy said… you haven’t been the same. What did he mean by that?” She confronted him.

“Ignore him.”

I was gonna talk to them… but the poor bastards were already dead when I got to them. His words flooded her memory.

“Joel, did you kill them? Josh and Kevin?”

Memories hypnotized his brain, like an out of body experience. He was inside the beast, as it destroyed the men.

“I did what was necessary to protect ya.” He responded darkly.

She didn’t know why, but tears drowned her eyes. They had abused her, badly, but she never intended for them to die like that. “Joel… you can’t.”

“Can’t control it. Forgive me, darlin’.”

She watched as he ran back to the house they shared, alone under the falling snowflakes and the moon mocking her.

[writingseaslugs]

Octavinelle: When You're Sick

Favorite dorm here we go! This was fun to write and hmmmm I really wanna be taken care of by the Octrio. They can be good at it, I swear! As always, the intro is the same as Heartlabyul and Savanaclaw, so feel free to skip it if you’ve already read those parts.

Disclaimer: All characters in this series are aged up. For more information about my version of this world and the type of reader you can expect, please click the “Au Information” below!

Request Information | Masterlist | Au Information

Octavinelle: When You’re Sick

The worst thing to ever happen to you while attending Night Raven College had to be, hands down, getting sick. You were alone in the dorm with only ghosts and Grim to keep you company, and as much as you loved them, they couldn’t take care of you when you became sick. This meant you had to make do and hope that everything was alright. Normally if you were under the weather, you’d just suck it up and go to class so as to not worry anyone. This time however, that wasn’t an option.

You woke up with every muscle in your body feeling sore and aching with even the slightest movement. Your stomach churned something fearsome and you had a runny nose and cough to boot. You had no idea what illness you had fallen to. Having so many symptoms…you could only assume it was the flu or something akin to that.

Still, there was no way you were making it to class like this. So begrudgingly you told Grim you weren’t feeling good and needed to rest, and to go to class and get your homework so you could do it later. The demon cat was grumpy about not having his henchman, but eventually gave in, leaving you alone to rest in your room and hope that whatever you had would go away.

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul is going to be concerned the moment he hears from Floyd and Jade that you’re home sick. He knows you tend to take care of others and neglect your own health, at least in the time he’s known you at the college, so he’s automatically assuming the worst. So he’s going to excuse himself from his own work at the lounge, pack up all his paperwork, and head over to your dorm. He needs to make sure his best customer, and sometimes best worker when you were strapped for cash, was okay and not actually dying, as Floyd so eloquently put it.

He’s not half bad at taking care of others oddly enough, though he is lacking in experience. It’s one of the many things he studied in his free time, so he at least knows what he’s doing. He’ll be calling the nurse anyway just to check in on you and make sure it’s nothing too serious. Once he gets that out of the way, he’s going to do his best in following directions and making sure you recover in the most timely manner possible.

Thankfully he does care for you, so he won’t be making any comments about how helping you out will come with a price later, like picking up shifts at the lounge. In fact, he’s very gentle with you and asks questions in a softer voice than normal. He even orders food from the lounge to be delivered so you can have something warm to eat that’s also delicious. He will be doing work on the side, especially the moment you fall asleep, so don’t be surprised if you wake up to pages turning.

Once you’re better it’s like a weight is lifted off his shoulders. He’ll be in a chipper mood as well, something the twins will notice right away. If you bring up wanting to repay him, he’ll just inform you that if he ever falls sick, you’ll be the one nursing him back to health. A good compromise in the end, and something you were already planning on doing for him.

Jade Leech

Jade won’t have too much of a reaction to finding out that you’re sick, other than a frown being placed on his lips. He finds out through Floyd when he’s complaining that his Shrimpy couldn’t come out and have fun since they were dying at home from some horrible, debilitating disease. Jade knows his brother is playing things up, but this does give Jade the little push he needs to go in and visit you to make sure you’re okay.

Thankfully Jade is one of the more competent boys when it comes to taking care of others. He’s already figured out exactly what was wrong with you and is grabbing some of the best medication from Sam’s, since the stuff the nurse has is “mediocre at best”. Since Jade is normally the one having to take care of Floyd when he’s sick, he knows all the things to do if you happen to be stubborn, especially with taking medication. 

He’s just very soft with you, showing you a genuine smile as you eat the soup he brings you, and playing with your hair. He doesn’t need to do much when taking care of you, trusting the medication to do all the work, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to want to leave your side. Just expect Floyd to be paying you a visit as well, even if you’re asleep, and waking you up. Where you have one twin, chances are you have both of them, but it’s all good since they’re both amazing at making you smile. Jade stays even after Floyd gets bored and heads back though, and he’s without a doubt skipping his shift at the lounge that night.

Jade is in a noticeably better mood once you’re better, but don’t be fooled. He’s going to be using this against you in an attempt to have you join him on one of his hikes. Saying something about the fresh air and moving your body will be good for you. He won’t force you, but he’s definitely going to be playing up that he’s so hurt if you decline. Just go with him, if you get tired the string bean of a man can and will carry you up a mountain.

Floyd Leech

Floyd doesn't even know how to react when he discovers you’re sick. He’s both mad and sad, all at the same time. People are going to be parting like the red sea the moment they see him walking down the hall with a scowl on his face. His shrimpy couldn’t possibly be sick, it wasn’t fair. He had so much planned to do with you today and now you couldn’t even leave your bed? He won’t stand for this and after pouting for half the day, Jade comments that he can simply visit you and maybe help you feel better. There goes the switch and suddenly Floyd is in an amazing mood as he ditches the rest of his classes and work just to go and visit you. 

Floyd isn’t half bad with taking care of others if he’s in the mood to do it. He is the one who takes care of Jade when he’s sick (which normally Jade gets sick right after Floyd). He’s not going to be talking to you in a super gentle voice, or babying you unless he finds it fun to do so. If you happen to get flustered by him doing so, then he’ll be more inclined to literally spoon feed you.

Floyd is just going to raid your medicine cabinets rather than going out anywhere, since it’s just the flu he assumes it’s not too bad. He’s also using your kitchen to cook you some meals and bringing them to you. He’ll be smiling brightly when you’re eating the food he made, and whenever you take the medicine. He feels so accomplished knowing that you’re getting better due to his efforts. There is a good chance he won’t be spending the entire day by your bed, since he’ll get bored, but he will be there on and off the entire time you’re sick.

You’re getting a good, healthy squeeze the moment you’re all better. Floyd is just over the moon and already telling you about all the things he has planned now that you’re no longer dying. Be nice and humor him, he has been going through a lot of emotions the entire time you’ve been sick. He just managed not to show you, but anytime he left the dorm, he was back to being grumpy and irritable, to suddenly depressed and closed off. He was really only smiling when taking care of you, so he deserves to squeeze you for a good while now that you’re no longer sick.

[came-out-of-the-coffin-desisted]

not to out of left field dragon age post, but i’m thinking of replaying origins and it made me think about how like. mahariel and tamlen are definitely old enough to be married/bonded by dalish standards, and they’ve been friends for at least a fews years if not their whole lives (and it’s probably their whole lives honestly) so they’ve had time to get bonded.

so the implication is that either a) they haven’t gotten their shit together enough to tell each other how they feel much before like. the week origins begins OR b) the elders wouldn’t allow them to bond, the way they wouldn’t let mahariel’s parents bond, and eventually they relented. and i know a lot of people like the first one and i agree that it is like. nicer to the characters. but the second one makes me go INSANE because it’s like. we think you’re too immature, or maybe just one of you is, you’re too impetuous, you don’t think before you act, and you egg each other on, or one of you is too devoted to hold the other one back. whichever it is, it’s a matter of worrying they won’t be good for each other— they don’t approve of the match.

until someone (probably ashalle or marethari herself) intervenes, and the FIRST thing, the very first thing that happens is they find that cave. no matter how it happened— if tamlen refused to go back to prove that he was worthy, if they egged each other on, if mahariel led tamlen forward— they WERE bad for each other, but not out of malice. out of love. and afterwards, when mahariel is a warden and tamlen is gone from them forever (even if they will, unbeknownst to them, see him again, just in the most horrifying way possible,) i can just imagine them sitting up nights, afraid to sleep because of the horrible dreams, alternatively blaming the elders for not letting them be together sooner and blaming themselves for not going back, for not making him go back.

in the gauntlet, the spirit or demon or whatever it is takes the form of tamlen, taunts them about their failure, about their waking fucking nightmare.

and months later, when there have been so many loses that they’re sort of numb to it all, when they’ve made a new family and maybe fallen in love again, when they’re living every day like it could be their last (because it could be,) they wake up one night in a cold sweat, or they’re in the middle of ~something~ with their new partner, and shrieks ambush their camp. they have to come out and fight, back to back with their new family, with their lover— they finish the fight covered in blood, every inch the warden, every inch the hero of ferelden. and in the aftermath, there he is. the ghost of the one person they never thought they’d lose, their best friend, the soulmate they were /supposed/ to have. and he’s a ghoul, he’s dying, and if they don’t kill him, the blight will force their hand.

and then there’s one fucking line with alistair about it. you can’t follow up on it. …but imagine if you could. imagine if the warden absolutely melts down afterward. imagine if they got to feel, for once, the ENORMITY of what they’ve lost, the enormity of what the blight took from them, which they’ll never get back, even if they have people they love. even if they live through it all, they save the world, now they’re the warden commander and they get to live free of fear—they’ll still never be one half of the happy elder couple who laughs and jokes and says ‘yes’ to every match because they believe in love over all. they’ll never get to see merrill become keeper and tease her about how pompous she was as a kid, they’ll never have children. they’ll never hunt again, never sit with the halla and smile about the beauty of the world.

in a lot of ways i think that the elven wardens lose the least, because they gain power they’d otherwise never have— but they still lose things. there is no easy way to become a warden. the only way that a warden loses nothing by joining is if they had nothing to lose at all.

[chipsinsalsa]

Pretty Boy 🖤

Sub Peeta x Fem! Reader

Plot: After a month of no intimacy with Peeta you decided to give him a punishment.

AN: As promised for the winner of the poll! I’ll be doing another poll later to see what the next one will be about! Once again disclaimer for any typos or mistakes. And thank you all for the support it means a lot 🥹! I am taking requests so feel free to do so 🤘

contains: smut, sub Peeta , dom fem reader!,character aged up, handcuffs, overstimulation, no katniss

It was a rainy day when you decided that your boredom just needed to be cured.

You and Peeta had been living together as a couple ever since he came home from the games. It had been great between the both of you. Every day you would wake up to freshly cooked pastries from your boyfriend, and at night you both had incredible chemistry.

That is to say that as of recently the both of you had been going on for about a month without any sexual intimacy. And today you decided you had had enough. You went up to Peeta who was per usual making something in the kitchen. It kept his mind occupied and off of the memories he held onto from his experience in the games.

He noticed you coming towards him with a serious look in your eyes. Immediately putting his stuff away sitting down ready to hear you out. “Yes, darling?” He spoke questioning as you began to sit down as well.

“Peeta it’s been a month”

He furrowed his eyebrows giving you a confused look. “A month? Of what? Did I miss our anniversary?”

You looked at the blonde-haired boy questioning whether he was playing coi or he genuinely didn’t know what you were saying.

“You know what never mind.” You said as you rolled your eyes turning away from him.

Peeta shook his head, still looking confused. "Know what y/n? You haven't told me anything yet," he said gently.

You took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eyes. "It's been a month since we've been intimate, Peeta," you said, trying to keep your voice steady. “Did I do something wrong?” You asked expecting the worst.

He began to shake his head “No no no, I just-” He paused. “I wasn't sure if you wanted to-”

Now you gave him a confused look. “What?”

“I didn't want to force you into anything”

You felt a warmth spread throughout your body at his words. It was sweet of him to be so considerate, but it wasn't what you wanted. "Peeta, I want to. I've been wanting to. I just didn't know how to bring it up, but do you know how long a month is?”

Peeta chuckled, understanding your frustration. "I know, y/n. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you."

“Oh, you're going to make it up to me, now!” You grabbed his hand dragging him to the bedroom immediately throwing him onto the bed and locking the door.

“Hey now slow down beautiful what's happening.” He said propping himself up.

“I’ll show you what's happening-” You walked over to the drawer next to the bed. As you opened it you dug through it looking for the one item you never thought you would use. Yet here you were pulling out a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs.

You dangled them in front of Peeta, his expression turning into that of fear. “Your not actually going to use those on me, right?” Before he could utter another word you walked over to him straddling him making sure he wouldn't move. You placed the handcuffs on him placing his hands to be above his head.

And you couldn't lie, the angle, seeing Peeta so…vulnerable made you want to do unspeakable things.

“Is this what you want?” He asked his eyes filled with fear.

“It's what you deserve.”

You heard him gulp as he struggled to verbalize. “I’m- why dont we take things slow maybe– fuck.” Was all he said as you took his clothed member into your hands. You could feel his desperation to be released already as he bucked his hips in the air. “Please-”

“Pleading already?” You cooed as you began to untie his belt taking off his pants.

His precum already showing through his boxers. You looked up at him. His cheeks flushed red. You knew he felt exposed and you loved it. “Such a pretty boy”

You slid his boxers off as his cock sprung out. His body shivering from the release.

You couldn't help but smile at his reaction. His body was so responsive to your touch, and it made you feel powerful. You leaned down and took him into your mouth, swirling your tongue around the tip before taking him deeper .“God fuck-” Peeta moaned and his body arched, the handcuffs preventing him from moving.

You continued to work your mouth on him, feeling him twitch and throb inside you. You used your hand to stroke him as you sucked, alternating between soft licks and deep sucks. Peeta's breathing became ragged and his moans becoming into desperate whines of pleasure. “I think I'm going-” With a pop, you took your mouth off his cock wiping your lips.

“Why'd you stop-” He spoke panting.

You smirked at Peeta's frustration, enjoying the power you had over him. "Not yet," you replied, crawling up his body to straddle him again. You leaned in to kiss him deeply, tasting yourself on his tongue. Your hands roamed over his chest.

“I need you-” He spoke between the kiss, his body writhing beneath you. You scoffed.

“Now you do.”

You broke the kiss, trailing your lips down his neck and chest, stopping to suck and bite at his skin. "Please," he begged, his hands pulling at the handcuffs above him.

"Please what?" you teased, trailing your fingers down his stomach towards his hard cock. You could feel the heat between your legs growing, and you knew you needed him just as badly as he needed you.

"Pl-Please... let me touch you," Peeta begged, his eyes pleading with you.

"I don't know, Peeta," you said, teasing him. "I kind of like having you all to myself." You smirked as you decided it was time for one final punishment. You opened the drawer one more time grabbing a condom and placing it carefully onto his shaft. You slid your clothes off positioning your entrance onto him.

“You ready pretty boy?”

Peeta's eyes widened with anticipation as he nodded, unable to form words. You lowered yourself onto him, feeling his hardness fill you completely. You began to move, riding him slowly at first, savoring the feeling of him inside you.

Peeta's moans grew louder, his hips bucking up to meet yours. "F-faster," he stuttered, his body shivering from the contact.

You picked up the pace, bouncing on his cock harder. Peeta's moans turning into whimpers, and his body shaking with overstimulation. "I-I can't- ah- I'm gonna-"

You didn't stop as he came, determined to push him over the edge. "Not until I'm done" you demanded, riding him harder and faster, feeling your orgasm building.

Peeta's body was now shivering uncontrollably, his eyes squeezed shut, and his breathing erratic. "P-Please," he whimpered, "I can't take it anymore. I'm a good boy, remember? You can't do this to me."

You smirked at his plea, loving the way he begged for release. "Oh, but I can," you replied, slowing down your movements to tease him. "I'm going to make you come again and again until you're completely and utterly wasted. And I'm finished."

The poor boy's eyes filled with a mixture of pleasure and fear as you resumed your movements, pushing him towards his second orgasm. "L-let me make you cum, P-Please I’ll do anything. Just let me touch you," he begged unable to moan anymore as only desperate whines came out of him.

You could feel your climax building, but you were determined to make him beg for release. "Tell me how much of a pretty boy you are and how badly you need me to come."

"I'm a pretty boy," Peeta stuttered, his words barely coherent. "I'm such a pretty fucking boy-"

You could feel his body tensing beneath you, and with one final push, he exploded into the condom with a loud cry. Peeta's body convulsed beneath you.

You collapsed onto his chest, feeling your own body shake with the intensity of your orgasm.

You felt his chest panting as he managed to stutter out only a few words. "T-that was- I-I-"

You leaned up to kiss him, a gentle smile on your face. "Shh, it's okay," you said, stroking his hair. "I know."

[felagund-the-valiant]

Broken Bonds - Curufin x f!reader + Celebrimbor

They say love conquers all, but they are wrong.

Words: 1.4k

Tags: hurt/no comfort, young!Celebrimbor

A/N: idk what came over me but I had sudden inspiration and had to try and put it into writing. Enjoy the angstiest thing I’ve written so far jfc

You sat next to Telperinquar as he was flipping through his notebook. Trying to pay attention to your son’s excited ramblings about forging techniques was proving difficult with the storm raging inside you.

The past few weeks had been tumultuous to say the least. Watching the man you loved stand stoutly by his father’s side as he rallied your fellow Noldor against the Valar and put forth his maddening oath to retrieve his precious gems from the dark enemy – an oath none of his sons hesitated to swear. Receiving reports of the man you loved spilling the blood of innocents at the behest of his father. The worst part had to be that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t completely shield your son from hearing about his fathers’ deeds.

“Ammë?”

You startled a little as your son called out to you. He was looking at you expectantly, waiting for a reply to whatever he had asked. Guilt surged through you at seeming so uninterested in your son’s studies when in truth you couldn’t be prouder of the understanding of his father’s craft he was already showing at his age.

A forced smile appeared on your face. “Forgive me, sweetheart, my thoughts were elsewhere.”

Tyelpë frowned at your response and let his eyes wander back to his notes. “Were you thinking about Atto?” he asked quietly.

Tyelpë might not have been a grown man yet, but he was old enough to understand that whatever was happening since the Darkening was waking some kind of darkness in his father’s heart as well.

You sighed and reached out to pull him closer, making him wrap his arms around you without hesitation. Your fingers idly combed through his strands of soft black hair as you tried to think of something soothing to say – you couldn’t come up with anything and so the two of you sat there in silence.

“Is Atto a bad man now?” Tyelpë asked after a while. The words pierced straight through your heart. Never in your life would you have thought that a child born in the Blessed Realm would have to worry about such a thing.

“He has made some very bad decisions.” It was a grotesque understatement but a naïve motherly part in you still clung to the hope of preserving what was left of your son’s innocence.

A knock sounded on the door and moments later your husband stepped into the room. He wore a smile on his face, but you could feel the fire sizzling beneath the surface through your bond. As he approached, you pressed a gentle kiss to Tyelpë’s forehead and let go of him.

“Give us a moment, will you?”

He nodded sombrely, collected his notebook and gave his father a brief hug before leaving the room.

Curufinwë sat down where your son had previously sat and slowly took your hands in his, giving you a chance to pull away. You didn’t, at least for now.

“How are you doing?” he asked lowly as he ran his thumb over the back of your hand.

You smiled mirthlessly. “Just fine. Is there something I can do for you?”

“I’m wondering if you’ve changed your mind?”

Your stomach churned – you knew he was referring to whether or not you would accompany him on his accursed journey to Beleriand.

“I haven’t. I’m not coming.” You shot him a warning look towards the end of your sentence. Countless hours had been lost to heated debates on whether or not Curufinwë would be departing alone.

His grip on your hands tightened. “Surely you would not want to deprive our Tyelpë of his mother’s presence.”

You wrought your hands free from his hold and rose to your feet, fists clenched at your sides. “We’ve been over this. You will not take him from me. I won’t allow it.”

Curufinwë rose to his feet as well, towering over you – looking every bit as fiery and determined as his father and yet showing an unusual amount of restraint compared to your previous arguments. Maybe they were wearing him out the same as you. “Am I not his flesh and blood as well? And am I not the one you bound yourself to?”

You could feel his fëa reaching out to yours, a gentle caress that made you shiver and curse yourself. You hated that, despite the sickening blind loyalty he showed to his father, despite all the Elven blood he’d spilled, you still found yourself longing for him. Craving the warmth of his touch and the sweet entanglement of your fëar. He smirked knowingly, able to feel your feelings as if they were his own.

Curufinwë stepped forward and once again gave you a chance to pull away before he wrapped you in his arms. Curse him. Why did he have to still be so considerate of you even now when he had lost this same fight more times than you could count?

His familiar sandalwood scent enveloped your senses, letting a bittersweet comfort wash over you. For a moment there were no destroyed Trees. No dark enemy. No oath threatening to tear your family apart.

“I love you, melda,” he whispered. “And I know you still love me, even if you might try to hide it in shame. I don’t wish to be parted from you and Tyelpë. The thought of being on the other side of the ocean and unable to ever see you again makes my heart weep.”

A wry voice in your head commented that he should’ve considered that before blindly following his father into madness.

It took all your willpower to free yourself from his embrace and take a steady step back. You closed your eyes and only looked at him again after taking a steadying breath.

“I don’t want our son to grow up so blinded by loyalty to his father he’d draw his sword on innocents at his command.” I don’t want him to end up like you, is what you were truly saying, and you both knew it.

“Melda-“

“Don’t call me that,” you said, pleased that your voice didn’t waver.

A sickening sudden thought struck you and you raised your right hand to examine the elegant golden ring on your index finger. It felt like yesterday that the two of you had joined hands in marriage, swearing each other loyalty until the end of Arda. To think that your husband demanded such loyalty even now, after everything he had brought on your family.

You clenched your jaw as you brought up your left hand as well and slowly slid the ring off your finger. It felt wrong. So very wrong. You could feel your fëa roaring in agony as you parted it from Curufinwë’s, a gaping abyss left in its wake.

A mixture of pain and utter betrayal flitted across Curufinwë’s face before it hardened and whatever warmth and vulnerability he had shown you was gone at a moments notice. “We’re leaving in three days,” he said in a strained voice and stomped out the room, slamming the door behind him so harshly the frame shook.

You sank to the ground, your legs not wanting to support you any longer and let out a strangled sob. On sheer instinct your fëa reached out for comfort but found only emptiness which just made you sob harder. You clenched your fist around the wedding band you now held in your hands and finally flung it across the room, hearing a faint clinking from where it landed.

The door creaked open so hesitantly, you knew it couldn’t possibly be your husband returning.

“Ammë?” A shaky voice called out and you hastily tried to wipe your tears away, but it was of no use.

Tyelpë rushed to your side at seeing you so distressed and wrapped his arms around your neck. “Were you arguing again? Atto looked so angry.” You could hear in his voice that he was desperately trying not to cry, but he soon gave in. Few things were as distressing to children as seeing their parents – their safe haven – angry at each other.

You clutched your son to your chest, letting your tears wet his dark hair and feeling steadfast determination bubble up in your chest.

No one would take him from you.

Curufinwë would not drag him across the ocean and poison his mind with his twisted version of loyalty.

You were going to fight tooth and nail to keep Tyelpë safe, this you silently promised him, as you sat there cradling his trembling body.

[morganbritton132]

Wait wait wait, in light of the recent update, I gotta ask - has Eddie ever passed out while getting one of his tattoos? I'm kinda obsessed with the idea that he's well known in a few of the local parlors, having new ink done every few months, and he's this badass middle-aged rockstar with jagged scars and covered in demonic imagery but all the artist just know him as Ed The Fainter and always have a cool wet towel and a bottle of water waiting for him. I also like to imagine that those times when Steve's there waiting for him, he and the receptionist or whichever artist is on break at the moment get a bet going about how long it'll take for Eddie to pass out / how long he'll stay out.

If this doesn't line up with what you imagine for the emtts feel free to say so and I'll just grab my headcanon and shove it into a different au, but I wanted to share in case you found it as endearing as I do :D

I love Eddie being Just Some Guy at his local tattoo parlor.

Like, the older guys that would’ve seen him in his heyday are just so used to this dork that it doesn’t even faze them when world famous guitarist Eddie Munson walks in for a tat. The younger ones don’t recognize him even if they do listen to his music.

It’s only after he gets popular on Tiktok that those guys are like ‘wait a minute is The Fainter with the pre-school teacher husband famous?’

Eddie doesn’t faint all the time.

There’s no rhyme or reason to when he does. He doesn’t have a problem with needles or with blood (at least in the quantity that you’d get with a tattoo), but sometimes he’ll just be chilling out getting a tattoo and the whole world will dip out from under him. He’ll wake up a bit later, soaked in sweat and confused.

He thinks it’s a bit embarrassing, but Eddie’s always been able to laugh at himself and make other people laugh too. It’s a bit of a routine for him when he goes. The whole shop makes a big show of getting him some water and something to eat, and they ask if he wants to take a break a lot no matter what tattoo he’s getting or where it’s placed.

The first time Steve goes with him to get a tattoo, it’s specifically to make sure he doesn’t get ‘Steve’ tattooed on his ass after Eddie lost a bet with Lucas. Eddie getting a touch up to an old tattoo and zonks out halfway through. Steve goes into full panic mode so now the shop has protocols for Eddie and Steve.

Once Steve learns that this is just something that happens (“Like at the blood drive, Eddie!” “Don’t remind me of the blood drive.”), him and Eddie’s main tattoo artist, Meg, always make a bet on if he’s going to pass out or not. Steve is scary accurate at this game which is good because Meg says she’s going to get him in her chair when he loses.

Also, Eddie has a series of tally marks tattooed along the top of his worst demo-bat scar. He adds to it every year and when Steve asks about it, Eddie just say, “That’s the number of years that I’ve been the luckiest man alive.”

There are thirty-five tally marks. If you were to calculate how many years that Steve and Eddie have been together, you’d get – “Thirty-six.”

“What?”

“We started dating summer of ’86,” Steve says, “That is thirty-six years ago. Summer of this year will be thirty-seven.”

“Well, ’86 had a lot of ups and down. Wasn’t really my year, was it, Steve?”

[libraryofneith]

Out of Mind - Chapter 10 (Joel Miller x Female Reader)

@hiroikegawa @evyiione @orcasoul @taz-97

I'm baaaaaack! Apologies for yet another delay but I have finished my finals, all set to graduate (hopefully) and that means I have more time for you lovely people. Thank you once again for your patience, please enjoy. Also I'm going to compile a series list with all the chapters since some seem to be harder to find than others.

If anyone else wants to be the first to know when this fic is updated let me know and I'll add you to the taglist.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Summary: You and Joel deal with the fallout of what happened with Marcus

Warnings: [whole fic is 18+ minors DNI], it puts its age in the bio or it gets the block button, cursing, allusions to PTSD due SA but no actual descriptions of SA, hurt/comfort, Joel is nice for once

You wanted to push him away, to fight him, to tell him to go to hell, but the warmth encompassing you, the soothing words in your ear and the smooth circles on the small of your back were too good to resist.

You

You were on your back. That much you knew. You were in utter darkness, couldn't even see your hand in front of your face, the oppressive weight of nothing surrounding you. There were only two things you knew: you were lying on your back, and somebody's hands were on you. You tried to crawl away but they snuck around your waist and pulled you back. In the darkness you could hear voices whispering.

This'll go a lot easier if you don't fight back…

I'm gonna enjoy this so much more…

This'll go a lot easier…

Sweetheart…

Don't fight back…

Don't…

Fight back…

Hands were grabbing your shoulders now and shaking you violently. You tried to scream, to tell them to stop but your throat was raw and nothing would come out. Instead you thrashed wildly, hands flailing everywhere, connecting with something - chest, arms, face? You didn't care you just wanted out. Then you heard another voice in the darkness.

Kid. Stop.

You turned away, the fear replaced by anger burning hot and sore in your chest. You didn't want him either.

It's OK.

The voice was so soft and so close, right in your ear. You shook your head, your hands still flailing in the dark, looking for anything to grasp, then they found two other hands, holding yours in a firm but gentle grip.

I'm here.

I don't want you here was what you wanted to say, but when you tried to speak nothing came out but sobs, and suddenly you could feel heat and moisture on your face as tears gushed out of your eyes.

Arms were encircling you now and you could feel a hand rubbing slow and even circles on your back. You knew who it was. As the blackness gave way to dark blue, white, grey and the nothingness became trees and bushed and rocks, you remembered where you were and who you were with. You wanted to push him away, to fight him, to tell him to go to hell, but the warmth encompassing you, the soothing words in your ear and the smooth circles on the small of your back were too good to resist. So you allowed yourself to fall into his embrace, head resting in the crook of his neck as your tears continued to fall.

"You awake now hon?"

"Shut up."

"OK."

Joel

It wasn't the first time she'd woken him up. That first night after, well, it had happened, she had slammed her sleeping bag down as far away from him as safety would allow and he hadn't objected, even as they fell asleep to the sound of each other's teeth chattering. He'd woken up who-knows-how-long later to the sound of her crying out. He'd jumped up, thinking they were being attacked by infected or more of Marcus' men but instead it was just her crying in her sleep. She looked like she was trying to hit something or someone but her arms were trapped by her sleeping bag.

He hadn't meant to scare her, he just wanted to wake her, or help get her arms free because at this rate she was going to hurt herself. But the minute his hand made contact with her shoulder, her eyes snapped open and her fist made contact with his nose.

"Ow, shit, what was that for?"

"Don't. Touch me" She spat, eyes filled with venom.

"I was only trying to.."

"I don't need your help. I don't want your help. I don't want anything from you." Joel flinched.

Her words had cut him deeper than he'd admit even to himself. But he didn't want to sleep with a broken nose every night so he did as she said, he didn't go near her. Even when the sound of her teeth chattering kept him up, even when she thrashed about so wildly she had bruises the next day, even when he could hear her crying in her sleep, and even when he could see bags under her eyes and her skin grow pale from exhaustion.

Until tonight. He was astonished when she put her sleeping bag next to him, but she'd simply glowered and said "it's too cold to sleep separately. This is just so I don't have to listen to you shivering all night. Got it?" He'd nodded. Got it.

And that's how he'd woken up to an elbow in his gut as she flailed helplessly. He'd tried to leave her alone, but this didn't seem to be going away, and he realised, with a stab of guilt, that it was probably worse because she was making prolonged physical contact for the first time since the attack. And that's when he decided, screw it. He couldn't leave her like this anymore. She could hit him if she wanted, which she did as he tried to wake her up. Shaking her only made it worse so he did the only other thing he could think of, something that he was sure would earn him a verbal or physical lashing later, and he took her into his arms, held her, stroked her back and whispered "it's OK" over and over again until her body relaxed and he could feel a wet patch where her face met his shoulder.

"You awake now hon?"

"Shut up."

"OK."

There she stayed, not saying or doing anything. He wasn't sure what to do, what she wanted, but when he slowed his circles on her back, she mumbled "don't stop" into his chest, so he kept going until her breathing evened out and her quiet snores indicated that she had finally fallen into deep and undisturbed sleep, but even then he didn't stop. He just held her, listening to her snores, crickets chirping, birds starting to sing in the early hours of the morning. He was almost starting to fall asleep himself when he spotted the first snowflake.

Shit.

"Get up." She gave a muffled groan of protest. "C'mon, we gotta move." She blinked slowly then shot up.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Her face was panicked.

"It's just snow. We'll live but we have to keep moving, maybe find some real shelter." If Joel remembered right there was a cabin not too far away that was (usually) abandoned.

She groaned and he could see her trying to gather her strength. That must have been the first decent sleep she'd had in days and he'd cut it short. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at it but didn't shrug him off.

"I know you're tired but we can't stay." She nodded and took the hand that he offered, allowing him to pull her to her feet. His stomach lurched as she swayed slightly before gathering her things. This was not going to be a good day.

[blacklegsanjiii]

Sengoku and his adopted grandson Sanji.

Sengoku finding Sanji still in the mask while he searches the North Blue for clues to what happened to Rosinante. Sanji, so small, stuck in the metal helmet and looking like he's around five or six thanks to his family just being picked up by this vice admiral and screaming in terror and clawing to try to get away. Sengoku barely getting the kid calmed down enough to pick the lock and get the mask kind of open. The mouth drops open and Sengoku curses as he takes Sanji to his ship.

He has the cooks make food and bring them up to his quarters and half ass explains that he found another kid. He sets Sanji on the bed and digs around and finds some clothes from deep, deep, in a chest that he gives to Sanji and says he's going to get that fucking thing off him come Hell or highwater. Sanji is shaking and frightened as the cook brings food in and looks at him and then at Sengoku and Sengoku gives him a look that makes the cook nod that 'yeah, i'm not gonna ask' nod and leave.

Sengoku has the kid eat and calls in one of the engineers and Sanji is looking around and still shaking and can barely finish his plate as Sengoku tries to get him to calm down and answer some questions. Sanji tells him his name and age and well. Sengoku doesn't believe Sanji is eight until he gets a birthday which makes Sengoku immediately click the pieces of this kid together.

Sengoku knows this is the supposedly dead third prince of Germa. So he calls Garp when Sanji falls asleep even with the mask still on because he fell asleep before the engineer could get there and he's not going to wake the kid. Poor thing is terrified and awfully suspicious of everything.

"I have the dead prince of Germa."

"Buddha, did you just say you have a dead kid?" Garp asks in disbelief. "I know losing Rosinante is rough-"

"He's not dead, he has the curled brows and is in a metal helmet on my bed. Says he's eight. Gave me the right birthday. Skin and bones and I can see so many bruises and cuts. Screamed like hell when I grabbed him." Sengoku explains.

"You're serious?" Garp asks after a few moments of silence.

"Shit, Garp, do I lie?" Sengoku asks and Garp confirms he doesn't. When they reach the main Marine HQ a few weeks later with the mask off Sanji he is introduced to the other admirals and vice admirals and other higher ranks.

Everyone is looking at that his malnourished and abused kid where they don't exactly know what to do with him. Tsuru is looking at him and sighing because Germa comes to the Reverie every year to show off the kids and the soldiers and their tech. Judge is an asshole. "You're keeping him, right?" She asks and Sengoku nods. "Then let's take him shopping, he needs clothes and a doctor."

Sanji is too well behaved while their out and Sengoku nods at Tsuru's looks because he knows something is wrong alright? He knows. So they get Sanji fitted in some clothes and the marine doctor is like very concerned as they check Sanji over and confirms the suspicions.

Sanji grows up with Sengoku and Tsuru and the other vice admirals/admirals. He trains as a marine and is strong and can use haki, skywalk, and set himself on fire. His adopted grandmother and grandfather are very proud of him. For the strides he's made recovering and for just how strong he is as a person and how strong his sense of justice is. It's amazing and they don't dote but they do give him a lot of support. He calls them Grandma and Grandpa which makes everyone laugh and Garp welcome them to the grandparents club.

Sanji still cooks, whenever he has free time. People keep asking him to switch to the canteen positions but he doesn't. He likes being on the front lines and helping people. It's what he's good at. Sengoku and Tsuru and whoever else is treated to his cooking always tell him each new meal is better than the last which makes him smile.

He is a captain in the Marines when he is enlisted to watch over a White Beard fleet commander in Impel Down. Turns out the guy is also the son of Roger and Rouge and Sanji knows about what the Navy did looking for the kid, it's awful. Sanji figured Ace was Rouge's son, you'd have to be deaf and blind to not know that. Her name is on his poster after all. Sanji knows Ace isn't being killed for being a pirate.

Sanji and Ace get to talking about their lives. Their trials and tribulations and the pit of this injustice is growing in Sanji's stomach. That's why this execution was going to be such a spectacle, why it was so secretive. Ace was easy to like and his parents being who they were and who his crew is, they'll have a war on their hands. A war Sanji thinks he's on the wrong side of at the moment.

He tells Sengoku that, that if the execution is going to happen Sanji will leave the marines. Sengoku tries to dissuade him, even gets Tsuru in on it but Sanji won't have it. At the execution Sanji rips his captain coat off and aids Ace and Luffy and the pirates from Impel Down and the White Beard fleet. Garp is yelling at Ace and Luffy and Sengoku is yelling at Sanji but Sanji, steel eyed despite the tears, yells back.

"Executing him for the sake of his parentage is not justice! After everything the Navy did in the wake of Roger's execution, how could a child be sentenced to death for being born! If that is what you call justice it's not real! If you're going to kill us, have it be for treason and piracy, not for being born!" Sanji yells at them and they start running for it. They have to if Akainu coming at them is any sort of guess to how the Fleet Admiral feels about this.

"Run! Run and don't look back!" Sanji yells to them to make sure they keep going. He makes sure they don't by following them. Running after them to make sure he'll take the hit if Akainu decides to throw a fist at them.

When they make it to the ship Sanji and it's leaving Sanji just has a full blown panic attack because he's alone again and he's a traitor of the marines. He betrayed his grand parents who loved him. Ace is trying to get him to calm down, calling him blondie and Ace is absolutely sweet on him, became sweet on him in Impel Down. Sanji can't go back though, he can't because what if they let Germa know? What if he's executed for simply believing what the Government was doing was wrong? Ace thinking it's all his fault and apologizing before Sanji tells him to stop with hitched breathing and choked words.

Sanji tells him when he's calmed down enough he believes in what he did, he doesn't think he was wrong. He's just alone with no where to go.

"Well, my brother's been looking for a cook, they'll be setting sail again in about two years." Ace offers. "I'll be going with them."

"I like cooking." Sanji answers.

"Heard you're real good at it too, blondie." Ace smiles and Sanji gives a wet laugh and nods.

[fuedalreesespieces]

pspspsp inukag hcs? OR kikkag hcs id love to hear

inukag headcanons

post-canon: whenever she has free time, kagome tries to recreate foods from her time as a way to practice her cooking skills. inuyasha "helps." (mostly taste-testing to make sure the spice level isn't too high, and also distracting her.) so far they've made a few iterations of udon, attempts at bread, cheese, and sushi. whenever they make something successfully, they invite miroku, sango, and their kids over to have some.

when inuyasha was building their home, he built it with kagome's future home in mind.

this isn't even really a headcanon...but they gossip. a lot. inuyasha will hear something in the village and pass it on to kagome, and they'll discuss it over food or chores until they've exhausted the topic to its core. and people-watching! amusing each other with stories about passersby! and this leads me into my next headcanon-

i think inuyasha starts talking a ton more after meeting kagome. and i don't mean this solely in the "he opened up emotionally" sense, i mean that he's more keen on talking with others and striking up conversation (at least with familiar people in the village.) he still prefers the company of those he's closest to, but he doesn't mind speaking with the child of the headman, or that girl who lives two houses down, or participating in idle chatter he might have once found trite.

kagome is endlessly fascinated with inuyasha's hair and like to style it to destress. inuyasha doesn't really get it, but it's soothing and he's happy to make her happy.

surprise kisses. inuyasha will surprise her with one on the lips and then just walk by like he didn't do anything, kagome will get him back later in the day, so on and so forth.

when one is working late, the other will stay up until they come join them in bed.

sometimes they'll have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night. when this happens they go out and take walks through the woods, etching out their favorite places as they go.

inuyasha taking naps in kagome's lap

stargazing! also sleeping outside (literally and figuratively.)

kagome definitely makes a joke about matching hair when hers starts going silver

inuyasha has a human life-span, so he and kagome get to age together. this is actually a headcanon of one of my inutwt friends, but inuyasha dies first (long lasting effects of all his injuries over the years.) they aren't miserable, though - inuyasha dies knowing that he's lived his life to the fullest, when before all he had ever done was survive. kagome lives a little longer, serving as the elderly miko of their village - like kaede - and telling stories about her husband until she, too, passes.

[beeismessingaround]

★・・・・・・★

☆Hi! So i wanna post a little about my mha DR because im really hyperfixated on it rn😭

So here it goes Ig if you have any questions feel free to ask Im more than willing to respond

★・・・・・・★

MHA DR ♡

Name:Bianca

Nicknames:Bee,Bia

Age:15

Height:5'4

Pronouns;She/they

Nationality:Portuguese

Appearence

I don't have a faceclaim but I used AI to try and mimick what I kinda look like

Also if u see me using any pics where the hair is longer it still makes sense because I spontaneously change mine anyways

★・・・・・・★

Quirk ⭐️

Quirk Description: it's called celestial control and I can basically control the moon and the sun , and based on the time of day, as in if its day or night I have different abilities

Day; I have energy manipulation, energy absorption, light manipulation, manipulation of the light spectrum, pyrokinesis and I can change light into physical matter

Night; I can manipulate shadows and dreams, I can create illusions,manipulate gravity, I can teleport between shadows, I can control blood (which doesnt have to be in people's bodies) and have other vampirism attributes, I can also manipulate the stars and their light into weapons and blasts

Drawback; Guys I haven't thought of one yet HELP 😭😭😭

Also during solar eclipses something diff happens but I'll probably make a whole other post about that

★・・・・・・★

Hero Suit !

So I don't have like an official hero suit but just so you guys understand the vibe of the suit which isn't really a suit anyways

Now this does have some practical functionalities I haven't thought of which ones but it does also it isnt a dress in like the picture it has pants I promise

Backstory :D

My backstory is not as intriguing as half of the people here it's so cringy but like idk

My parents weren't exactly common folk in this case my mother was a pro-hero called storm (yes same powers but not that storm) and my dad was out of the picture. From an early age, I exhibited an affinity for the sun and moon.

As a child, my quirk manifested unexpectedly. One sunny afternoon, while I was playing in the backyard, I reached out to touch a sunflower.And to my surprise, the flower caught on fire. My mother and my grandma who were both there there at the time were both amazed and concerned.

But mother dearest being a pro here handled it pretty well I would say, later on during my younger years I jst kept discovering I could do stuff it's like every day I would wake up and it's like wow I didnt know I could do that

Neat Ig

Anyways I had a pretty chill childhood I'll say, but I did know shoto and Momo and Iida before coming to UA cuz rich people know rich people.

★・・・・・・★

Relationships <3

So my S/O is Bakugo but my dear people I have a DR that is practically the same as this one but my S/O is Shigaraki cuz he's my favourite character, I jst didn't know how to make him my S/O in this one and I love my Angry Pomeranian man aswell so, anyways if u see me calling Shigaraki my S/O its jst different DRs

Anyways he's so silly lol

Name:Katsuki Bakugo

Age:15

Height:6'1

Love language:Quality time and physical touch

(his definition of quality time is training until my bones are mush ☹️☹️☹️)

Confession:Angrily blurting it out in an argument...Guys I'm a sucker for this

10/10 accurate representation of our relationship

I'll probably make a separate post with scenarios I've scripted in my DR lol

★・・・・・・★

☆Now for the friendships !!

So my friendgroup is mostly the bakusquad, I've been a mha fan since 2019 so yes bakusquad is forever in my memories

But if you don't know here is the bakusquad members

☆Bakugo - S/O

☆Kirishima - He's honestly my like best guy friend here

☆Mina - I Love her SM my bestie <333

☆Sero - He's the mom friend I appreciate him

☆Denki - I'm so excited to jst do dumb shit with him

Yeah those are all my best friends emphasises on Mina tho

Out of the bakusquad I scripted 2 of my CR friends in

☆Bea - Either keeps me from doing dumbshit or does it with me i love her, I made her s/o todoroki cuz Im nice

☆Mari - Childhood friend I've known her for 9 years now I think,most loyal hoe on the planet, obsessed with mickey mouse,just that should let you know she needs no s/o

And I'm also rll good friends with Jirou, Hagakure and Tsuyu I'm clearly a girl's girl

I dont have a bad relantionship with anyone in class cuz I scripted mineta out #self-care

This is the seating and dorm arrangements btw and i will take no criticism for them😙

I FORGOT TO PUT AOYAMA IN THIS ONE BTW

There are the dorms which were also meticulously crafted to however the fuck I wanted them ☺️

★・・・・・・★

Anyways I think that's all I have to say for now ask any questions if u have them and yh sorry for any spelling errors english is not my first language

-Bee⭐️

[shunin-gumis]

Designs of Happiness - Track A22

L4mps Main Story Translation

Title: Secret Diary Exchange

Characters: Yodaka, Nagi, Netaro, Toi, Daniel

Summary: The protagonist and co. visit the morning market to get some souvenirs for everyone. However, they need to do some damage control due to the crowds forming from the narrow and blocked passageways… 

Thank you aca @/463ce6, myun @/myuntachis Niri @/Niri_riri and jes @/arcanecrayonn for helping me with proofing!

Location: Hakodate Free Market

Momiji: The morning market sure is lively, huh!

Yodaka: It seems that even the local chefs come here to get their ingredients. That goes to show what an excellent marketplace this is.

Yodaka: We should get some souvenirs for Danny and Toi.

Momiji: Leaving aside the Manager, who couldn’t even be bothered to wake up, I hope Toi-kun feels better soon…  

Nagi: *sniffing* Huh, I smell something good, it’s making me hungry. 

Netaro: Look over there! It seems they’re selling this “fish bone broth” along with a helping of rice! 

*Nagi moves away from Netaro*

Nagi: …… 

Momiji: You mean fish bone soup. Along with Hakodate’s specialty squids, you can also buy portions of sashimi and salmon roe here, and even share it with others! 

Yodaka: So you can enjoy fresh seafood on the spot? That is a lovely service for the tourists to enjoy.

Momiji: Yes! It’s worth observing together later!

Momiji: (At least, that’s what I’d like to do, but…)

Tourist A: Hmm, this aisle is too narrow, isn’t it…?

Tourist B: That just goes to show how popular this market is, packed with all these goods, but…

Tourist C: Which store is this queue for? I don’t knooooww.

Tourist D: Kazuo! Watch your step, or you’ll trip over those boxes! 

Momiji: (The path is blocked by tourists and piles of boxed goods… Alright, it’s time to get into work mode…!)

~~~(Hospitality Battle)

Momiji: Good, we managed to tidy up some of these goods while providing hospitality! This should make it easier for all the tourists to travel through the area!

Yodaka: Oh? It seems we’ve lost sight of Netaro. 

Nagi: Ah, he ran ahead to the squid-fishing corner.

Yodaka: My… He seems to possess an odd innocence about him, almost as if he were a child. 

Yodaka: When I think about how I, too, must have been at that age, I can’t help but feel nostalgi— kh.

*ringing noise*

Momiji: (Huh? Yodaka-san is rubbing between his brows…)

Momiji: What’s wrong? Are you alright?

Yodaka: …My apologies, it seems I was suddenly overcome by a headache.

Nagi: Oh, do you need to rest?

Yodaka: It’s alright, this happens often. More importantly, I wonder if ten will suffice.

Momiji: Ten of what? 

Yodaka: Crabs. It seems like they’ll deliver them in a cooler box. To our friends back in HAMA House, that is.

Momiji: Wha– But those are Red King crabs… 

Nagi: Just one of those costs about half a month’s worth of food for me… 

Yodaka: Oh, the scallops look delicious as well. Miss, I’d like to buy 30 of these. Perhaps I should also get some squid and salmon and have Yukikaze prepare a seafood hot pot. 

Momiji: A-Are you sure it’s okay to buy so much?

Yodaka: Hm? Well, the place is full of growing young men. Don’t worry, I’m sure there won’t be any leftovers.

Momiji: (How dandy of him…!)

Momiji: L-Let me help you! What will you be doing, Nagi-kun? 

Nagi: Oh… I’d like to help too, but there’s a shop I’ve been meaning to visit… 

Momiji: Got it. I’ll see you later! 

~~~

Nagi: Excuse me, I’d like those roses, sprigs of lavender, wisteria and azalea.

Nagi: Yes. Please send all of these to the hotel addressed here. Thank you very much… 

Nagi: (Okay… I managed to secure more flowers to give away. These should last me for the rest of the trip.)

Nagi: Hm?

Netaro: Nyam nyam. Haa~ Every bead of this salmon roe has such elasticity!

Nagi: (Netaro’s eating at the food court, all alone…)

Nagi: ……. 

Netaro: It truly feels as though I’m consuming life itself. I’m certain this is what it would taste like. And then there is this crab fish bone broth! 

Nagi: …… 

Netaro: Fish bone broth… Or was it fish bone soup? Hm… I’m not certain... 

Nagi: Fish bone soup. 

Netaro: ! Gii!

Nagi: …I wanted to check on you. 

Netaro: You. Weren’t you avoiding me because you were traumatized? 

Nagi: Ugh.

Netaro: Are you not afraid anymore? 

Nagi: …No, I’m still scared.

Nagi: …I could have just ignored you, but— 

Nagi: I thought that maybe you’ve been alone all this time, so I decided against it. 

Netaro: …Hm?

Nagi: Being so far away from your home… Well, I don’t know how far, but seeing you eating salmon roe all alone, with no friends or family here on Earth… 

Nagi: …I figured you might be feeling lonely.

Netaro: “Lonely.”

Nagi: Yeah. Sometimes you feel lonely when you think about your family or friends, right?

Netaro: Friends… 

Netaro: Ohh~! The squid at the fishing corner looked exactly like my superior, it was hilarious! I couldn’t bring myself to eat it, in the end.

Nagi: Oh, uh… Is that so… 

Netaro: Why would you become “lonely” when you think of family or friends?

Nagi: Huh, do aliens not understand what that feels like? Maybe there’s a fundamental difference here… 

Netaro: …… 

~~~(flashback)

Boy: Netaro… Do you simply not feel lonely? If that’s the case, you probably won’t understand… 

~~~(end flashback)

Location: Hakodate Free Market

Netaro: …… 

Nagi: Netaro?

Netaro: Humans feel lonely when they are alone, yes? There was a human who taught me that before. 

Nagi: Yeah. Being alone is unfortunate, and makes you feel lonely. 

Nagi: Even though there’s all this tasty salmon roe here, not having anyone to share it with would be unfortunate.

Nagi: Having someone with you all the time will double your happiness—

Netaro: Double!? What logic is at play here!?

Nagi: If you’re together, then sad things are halved…!

Netaro: On what basis!?

Nagi: Being able to share your life with someone else is when you can feel happiness for the first time. I’m sure. Probably. No, that’s definitely the case. I guarantee it.

Netaro: What a profound mystery!

Nagi: You haven’t been here that long, after all. As a representative of earth, I should help teach you this stuff.

Netaro: How reliable! Thank you!

Nagi: (Huh? I think I’m not scared anymore…)

Nagi: (Netaro feels more like some innocent kid now.)

Momiji: What’s got you so excited?

Nagi: Ah, Chief.

Netaro: Gii was teaching me how being alone is unfortunate, and lonely.

Momiji: W-Woah, that’s a pretty serious topic, huh… 

Nagi: Oh, um, not really… 

Momiji: Hmm, well, there’s many different ways to live your life… But to put it simply, I’d say that’s true. 

Netaro: Mmm, I want to learn more! 

Momiji: Oh, Yodaka-san’s here now. If you’re done eating, let’s leave too.

Nagi: Okay.

Netaro: …Gii, you—

Netaro: You too, say the same things that he did. 

~~~

Toi: Uugh… *sniffling*

Location: Hakodate - Hotel Room

Toi: (I’ve been doing the diary exchange all this time, but…)

Toi: (I wonder how many times I’ve cried over Aa-chama’s replies now…)

Toi: *sniffling*

*sound of pages flipping*

Toi: “Why is Ani-sama avoiding me?”

“Perhaps he believes his life will be curtailed were he to remain with you.”

“However, just as one cannot replace their blood, it is a futile effort.”

“Shall I lend you my power?”

Toi: …… 

Toi: If I borrow Aa-chama’s power, will Ani-sama return to me…? Will he never leave my side again…?

Toi: …… 

Location: Hakodate - Hotel Lounge

Daniel: PT~ Lookie here!

??: “Nyaa”

Daniel: There’s a good kitty, I’ll be home soon, okay? Be good and wait for me~

Momiji: Daniel-san, what are you… Oh! PT!

Momiji: You’re looking at the pet camera feed, huh. Nayuki is looking after her, right?

Daniel: Yeah. But lookin’ at this just makes me wanna get home sooner!

Yodaka: So the little one we see around HAMA House is Danny’s cat?

Netaro: There was a cat!? I’d like to pet it! 

Nagi: Me too. Getting scratched is not a problem for me.

Daniel: Why are you so sure you’re gonna get scratched…

Daniel: PT is the cutest cat in the whole wide world! I’ll introduce ya when we get back.

Momiji: I’m sure Shuumai will sulk if PT gets all the attention.

Netaro: That green peas never comes near me any more… 

Momiji: (I do remember Shuumai barking up a storm when Netaro first showed up…)

Yodaka: That reminds me, what are we doing for dinner tonight? 

Momiji: Oh, we hadn’t decided yet, huh.

Momiji: The hotel’s buffet requires a reservation so… We’d have to eat at the restaurant below, or eat outside… 

Toi: Daimon Yokocho.

Momiji: Woah, you surprised me, Toi.

Toi: Our destination is Daimon Yokocho.

Momiji: Huh?

Netaro: Toi~ You’ve awoken?

Toi: …Silence. 

Toi: On your feet. We shall meet outside.

Momiji: (He just left…)

Netaro: …… 

Daniel: Wha– What’s up with him? Something seems off… 

Momiji: I was thinking the same… Is it because of what happened with Ryui-kun…?

Yodaka: Is this the answer he came to, beyond his depression?

Daniel: I don’t really know about kids these days.

Nagi: ……Changing how you speak, suddenly becoming distant… 

Nagi: *gasp*

Nagi: Maybe he’s at that age… 

Yodaka: Are you talking about…?

Daniel: Ah… You mean the type to look at a stormy sky all serious and go “it’s coming…”

Nagi: Wrapping their arms in bandages… 

Momiji: Aw, c’mon, Toi-kun’s actually a year older than you, you know? 

Daniel: Well, this kinda stuff depends on the person.

Netaro: I have absolutely no clue what this conversation is about. 

Yodaka: We’re talking about how we should go along with Toi’s change in attitude, Netaro.

Netaro: I see! 

Nagi: When he goes back to normal, forget everything. Just pretend like nothing ever happened.

Daniel: That’s the perfect attitude to have as an adult.

Momiji: Alright, let’s go with that. 

Momiji: (I’m worried about Toi-kun… We should find Ryui-kun quickly so that he can return back to normal…!)

Note:

The Hakodate Daimon Yokocho is the largest food stall village in Hokkaido.

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Masterlist

[hamliet]

Invincible: Proving the Superhero Genre Invincible

Another story I've watched recently is Invincible. I know it's based on comics, which I'll get around to eventually.

Despite masquerading as a dark deconstruction of the superhero story, the story is actually far more a hopeful coming-of-age story that just happens to don a gory costume. You can tell the writers love superhero comics, and that they aren't deconstructing it out of disdain but instead out of a desire to see what the main principles are.

In other words, it's far more akin to Hunter x Hunter's take on deconstructing shonen or even ASOIAF's spin on fantasy literature (matching the violence too) than it is a cynical, nihilistic tale with intent to ridicule. Love and friendships win the day. It's just complex to navigate them in a world where there has been so much hurt.

I wish Horikoshi had read a little more of this.

The tl;dr is that the world's Number One hero turns out to be working for a planet of alien colonizers who live forever and subjugate other lifeforms because they believe they're saving them. This gets to the heart of a thematic question often asked in the superhero genre but not often well-explored - what does it mean to save someone who doesn't want to be saved? Are there valid reasons to not want to be saved? What even counts as not wanting to be saved, and does perspective alter that? Is it not wanting to be saved for humans to cling to their fragile and short lives and free will when they could lose free will and have no more sickness and pain?

The story explores this through many different aspects and characters--from Eve being genetically engineered, to the boys turned into cyborgs, to Mark finding out his entire life has been a lie, to government bureaucracy running the superhero world. And just because the series affirms free will doesn't mean it's blind to the pitfalls of this, or that it doesn't explore the gray areas in which we live--namely, when to listen to others and obey orders, and when not to.

In addition to free will, the series affirms that one of the top gifts of humanity is love. Love is what wakes up the cyborgs when their emotions have been pried from their brains. Love is something intrinsic that can't be perfectly defined and doesn't listen to logic, yet also isn't purely emotional. It's powerful, and it's a weakness. It can save, but not always. (For example, Mark's love for his dad, the cyborg's love for his boyfriend, etc. But Eve's parents love for her doesn't save).

My favorite episode of the story is the final one in season 1, where Mark's father puts him through an overly literal lesson of the trolley problem and then tries to kill his own son. And then there's that one line:

Omni-Man: Why did you make me do this? You're fighting so you can watch everyone around you die! Think, Mark! You'll outlast every fragile, insignificant being on this planet. You'll live to see this world crumble to dust and blow away! Everyone and everything you know will be gone! What will have after 500 years? Mark: I'd still have you.

Really he has 0 reason to still want his father around at this point. And yet that single line contains so much power about what the series is saying.

Mark shouldn't still love his father, logically speaking. Even emotionally, he's determined to stop his father by any means necessary. But, he chooses to still love him, no matter what that means. Whether he lives or dies. Because whether he dies then or later, in that moment he loves his father. And it's so illogical and against what Omni-Man has been trying to literally beat into his son, yet so real, that it pauses destruction.

It doesn't fix anything. Not by a long shot. Not Mark and his father's relationship, not the world, not the plan of Omni-Man's Space!British Empire. Not Mark himself, as Mark will go on to make some pretty intensely Bad mistakes himself. But it means, in that moment, that a life is spared. And that single life is worth sparing (saving).

(This is how you write an abuser-son redemptive love arc!)

Mark and his parents are well done as characters, complex and flawed. I did wish the show had shown more of the ugly side of Debbie's grief (which they apparently do in the comics). I really would like women to be less sanitized, even if that means they act in despicable ways.

That said, the best female character is undoubtedly Eve. The special that chronicles her origin was brilliantly written--one of the best hours of TV I've watched. It's poignant and , despite being horror scifi cyberpunk in some ways, also realistic in how it portrays humanity. I appreciated that her adoptive parents were extremely complex for background characters. They desperately wanted a child, but not necessarily her. Her mom loves her, but still wishes she was someone else, and her father is just a bad dad. Of course, this is underscored by the fact that she's not their biological daughter, but I don't know that it would have been different if she was.

Plus, Eve and Mark are a great couple, though they take a bit too long to get together.

On that note, I also liked Amber as a character, but I thought the writing kind of didn't know what to do with Mark and Amber at times. Clearly they wanted this relationship to demonstrate the struggles of Mark trying to balance being a superhero with a normal high school life, but the writers were actually a bit too harsh on Mark at times. (I know, right?) I thought the main conflict between them in season 1 (about his identity) was unfairly framed as only Mark's fault when it wasn't, and it wasn't resolved in a satisfactory way.

Ultimately, though, the story is about humanity and all its ways of attempting to create superhumans. Science. Religion. Aliens. Living forever. Strength. Cyborgs. But what it affirms is that there is so much that is beautiful about humanity, and what transcends humanity are the traits we all can have--love and free will.