#and then found out years later that he had been stalked & all their coincidences had been planned long in advance

[zeebreezin]

I haven’t been able to write much recently because of exams, but good lord, Dr. Laurence Frost is such a guy. Like, his situation is horrific, right. He’s living a psychological horror story but does not recognize that whatsoever. There’s some real shit going on with him because I really want to capture how cults actually work, especially on the ways they prey on vulnerable people - and despite him objectively being a pretty terrible person in his own right I wanna make sure I capture the nuances of his situation accurately.

However, and this is really important: he’s also fucking hilarious.

Imagine having resting bitchface so severe even the dawn machine leaves you the definition of -_- <- having a great time. He invented a genuinely impressive treatment for migraine headaches out of love & devotion and then immediately used that same formula to torture rebels. Despite being an utter shell of grief at the time he was still a decent guardian to Bev. He let Bev play with matches. And chemicals. He’s the only man on this Geode with a smidge of self awareness. His gift for Vincent’s stag party was cosmogone laced cocaine. Vincent chose him to be the godfather of his child. His closest direct inspiration is the fucking 300% fatality surgery guy. He works two jobs. Canonically he has no friends. I love him.

[bunni-v1]

idk if this counts as a story idea but may I request Lillia x child human reader. It was during the fae and human war and you were his kid but got ripped away by the humans from the war and years later you reunite.

Stay safe pls!! <33

Lost and Found

TW: War Trauma!; Lilia does stalking again but only a little; You look like Lilia

Info: Lilia x Reader (familial); Angst with a happy(?) ending; Not cannon compliant; Not my finest piece my bad guys

🍓I LOVE writing Lilia. I started writing him for Cureé and I realized how silly he is. I was a bit lost on how to go about writing this since canonically Lilia didn’t know how to (or didn’t know he could) love until Malleus. But… tbh making shit up is what fanfic is for lol.

Fae can only be born through love. That was a fact that all Fairies knew. You could not produce a child unless there was mutual love. So, it was quite a surprise when General Lilia found himself stuck with a child who looked a little too much like him for it to be a coincidence.

He was not capable of love, at least… he didn’t think he was. He had no clue who could’ve mothered you — he had no idea who he loved, except the princess of course, but she did not love him back… Without your mother, what was he supposed to do? He was a General and he was in the midst of a war — how could he have time to raise a child?

He would’ve dropped you off on someone else’s doorstep, making you another unsuspecting person's responsibility. When he looked into your big red eyes, he knew he couldn't. You didn’t ask to be born just like he didn’t ask for you. Whether he liked it or not, you were his responsibility and he was just going to have to live with that fact.

So after drills and horrific blood-filled battles where he lost hundreds of soldiers, he would return home to you. 

You were old enough to be walking and talking, and boy did you walk and talk. You wandered around his small quarters and babbled on and on about things he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It was annoying, at first. He was used to silence when he was alone — he treasured it. You did not.

Still, he put up with it because he didn’t have a choice. 

He would make you little meals — none of which looked all that… delectable, but you scarfed them down like they were the best things you’d ever had. Maybe they were.

Eventually, he began talking to you — about his troubles, about his day, about his workload. It didn’t matter, because you would sit there and listen attentively to everything he had to say and respond with the best sentence you could muster for your age.

He hated to admit it, but he came to care about you. He liked spending time with you after his long day, and worried about you while he was gone. Each milestone you crossed filled him with a sense of pride he’d never gotten on the battlefield. He adored each hair on your head, even when your little hands were tugging too hard on his own while you tried to practice braids.

He even began to teach you magic and loved how your face would light up when you got a spell right. 

The both of you would go for runs together in the forest, and your long black hair — so much like his — would flow in the wind.

When it would storm, you would cry until he wrapped you up in a blanket and held you tight in his arms.

He would’ve been happy with this little life he had with you. He could’ve lived his days out like this and been satisfied.

War tears families apart, though. War does not have favorites. War doesn’t discriminate.

He should’ve known better, he should’ve been more careful, he should’ve moved you as soon as he knew humans were in the area. He didn’t, though. He left you there and promised you that he would be right back. He promised you that he’d keep you safe.

He rarely failed his missions, but this one he had. He came back to his home ransacked and you gone. 

He searched for hours: Nothing.

He screamed your name until his throat was raw: Nothing.

He begged his men and friends to look: Nothing.

It was one of the few times in his life he cried. It was one of the only times that he could not stop. The little family portraits you’d made served as cold reminders of what he had lost. He could hardly handle looking at anything that belonged to you, so he locked it away in a little box and hadn’t opened it since.

That was centuries ago, and Lilia had long since moved on from his loss. He only hoped that the humans did not kill you — that they had enough humanity to let a child survive, even if you were his. That, maybe, you were still happy and alive out there.

He used what he learned from you to raise his boys — who were his pride and joy. Still, he missed you every time that Malleus would proudly show him a drawing of their little family. Or when Silver looked at him in excitement after finally perfecting a spell.

You would’ve loved your younger brothers, he was sure of it. If only you could be there to see what they’ve all achieved.

Still, they grew and time passed until eventually Malleus and Silver were both attending NRC. Lilia joined them — half to keep Malleus safe, half because it seemed like a fun idea. He had seen most things in his life, so there were few surprises left that could actually surprise him.

Seeing Malleus chatting with a near-carbon copy of himself, however, did quite the number on his old heart.

You were short — still taller than him, unfortunately — and had grown your hair out so you could put it up in a ponytail. Long like his used to be. Your red eyes seemed to sparkle in such a familiar way. His heart and his head couldn’t take the shock, so he slipped away before he could be spotted.

He continued to observe from a distance, trying to convince himself that he was wrong. That it could not be you after all these years. Everything proved him wrong. The way you talked, your mannerisms, and your love for art. Especially your keen eye.

When you cornered him in between classes was when he really knew it was you. You had a scowl on your face that could scare off any trained soldier. It was his scowl.

“Are you going to explain why you’ve been following me all this time, or am I gonna have to use force,” you said, just as he might’ve so many years ago.

He didn’t have much of a defense, so he improvised, “I like your art, watching you draw is interesting.”

“That's…” He was busted,  “a bit creepy… If you liked my art you could’ve just talked to me, I know I’m a little scary looking but I don’t bite.”

Thus began the ruse of art-loving Lilia. The two of you would meet up around campus and he would watch you sketch these elaborate drawings like it was nothing. He always knew you would be a talented artist. 

He got to know you again. Got to see what you liked, and what you didn’t like, and learned that you couldn’t taste — which explains why you ate his cooking so happily. He found out that you were saved by a loving human family who not only adopted you but did their best to let you learn about your origins. He knew you were loved in the way that you were meant to be — in the way he never would’ve been able to during that time. 

It helped heal his heart enough that he was able to go through that little box of your stuff that he had kept for so long. He had missed looking at the little drawing of you and him you’d given him for his birthday.

Truthfully, he thinks you forgot all about him, and he was okay with that. Less pain for you to suffer through. Then, one day, that changes.

The pair of you were in his room because he had this cool piece of architecture you were dying to sketch out in person. He had left the room for only a few moments, but when he came back you were focused on his desk, and he realized that he did not put things back into the box like he usually did the night prior. You were staring at one thing in particular, the picture you drew all those years ago.

“I apologize for the mess,” he sounded behind you, but you didn’t react. 

Instead, you picked up the little picture yourself to examine it closer. The silence as you observed the piece made Lilia’s skin crawl.

Finally, you turned to him with an awkward smile, “This is gonna sound crazy, 'cause we’re both college students, but… did you ever have kids — like, your own kids?”

Unsure of how to respond, he muttered, “Once.”

“Were they taken by humans,” you followed up.

“A long, long time ago.”

“This is probably a stretch, but, do you think that maybe you could be my dad…?”

He didn’t respond for a long moment, face going stiff as if he was once again that young soldier who found you crying on his doorstep after your mother abandoned you. You bit your lip nervously, unsure of what to do yourself when he was looking at you like that. 

“It was just a stupid question, I’m sorry,” he didn’t respond, “I’ll go. Sorry.”

As you began to walk out, his mind came back to him and he kicked into full gear, “Wait, no, I’m not upset. Please… sit, let’s talk.”

Talk you did. About him and his life. How you disappeared and how he searched for you for so long. Then about his boys, and how much he loved them and how badly he wished that he could tell all of you the truth. You cried as hard as you could, and he swaddled you up as best as possible and wrapped you up in his arms — like he always used to do. He cried too, the hardest he had in his entire life. Because you were safe, and because you were reunited with him.

At some point, you asked, “Did you miss me?”

He could only respond, “Every single day.”

[animeyanderelover]

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, toxic relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional mindset, sadism, paranoia, clinginess, stalking, isolation, abduction, death

Happy Death Day

Sakata Gintoki

🍨There's just a deadly silence when he sees your lifeless body as the normally lay and childish man turns completely quiet. His eyes are just focused on you as his face gives nothing away of the emotions he is currently feeling. It is deafening and eerie to witness someone like Gintoki just being so silent and almost looking emotionless as he just stares and stares and stares, unable to tear his gaze away from you and even unwilling to do so. This is the last time after all, isn't it? The last time that he can look at your face before death will rot your fesh slowly away. So he just engraves this image into his mind even if it is the most haunting thing to bear for him, even if all of his senses and his heart scream at him to look away at the horrifiying image of your corpse. Gintoki is terrified to forget though, terrified of your face vanishing as years pass by and he slowly forgets what you looked and felt like. Until eventually he turns around without uttering a word, your dead face now forever burnt into his mind as he silently walks away. He doesn't even have a destination in mind as he leaves. He just wants to be alone for a while.

🍨​Shinpachi and Kagura wake up to Gintoki being already awake and are about to nag and scold him that he needs to prepare breakfast but both just fall silent when they initially see the look on his face. He's just sitting up on his tatami matt as he silently stares ahead of him, his gaze focused somewhere far away. He looks unusually thoughtful and serious but when he notices both of them asking him concerned what is wrong, he pulls up a ridiculous grin as he tells them that he just had a weird dream and lies to them without hesitation when they ask him what he dreamt about as he tells them the most random bullshit he can come up with. He hides everything behind his normally stupid and lazy facade even if he knows that he isn't fine as his heart throbs painfully in his chest and the image of your dead body is stuck on his mind the entire day. He feels a sense of dread as he starts his day that only builds the more hours pass by until he can't hold on anymore and decides to pay you a visit. There have been a lot of strange coincidences today that resemble his memories of this long and unsettling dream he had.

🍨​His steps become faster and faster as the sense of unease only continues to build up until he starts running to your house. He knocks multiple times but the door remains closed. This shouldn't freak him out as much as it does but he can't help it with everything that has already happened today. Then his mind suddenly recalls where your body was originally found, an abandoned alleyway, and so he rushes over to find that backstreet again. He can't clearly remember where it was exactly and only remembers the location it was somewhere. People give him a strange look as he dashes into every backstreet only to rush out again only a few seconds later. The panic is showing right about now on his face as the feeling of dread has become a weight that has settled inside his chest. Then he finds you though. On the ground and surrounded by some aliens as you shiver and try to shield yourself from their kicks and hands trying to grab you.

🍨​There is only white and hot fury on his mind and nothing else for a while. He doesn't know what is going on as all his senses are overwhelmed by this wrath and the memory of your dead and bloody body, humiliated and violated. The first thing he recognizes consciously again is the feeling of your hands wrapped around his torso and your scared and crying voice ringing inside his ears as he snaps out of whatever murderous haze he was just in. His clothes have splatters of blod on them and the walls around you two are decorated with the still warm liquid too. To his feet lie all aliens, only inches away from death and some letting out silent screams of pain. Has he done this? He starts pondering what will happen if they should report this and briefly he wonders if it would be safer to get rid of them for good. But he can't do this to you whilst you're still here. So he just grabs you and leads you out of this narrow street, taking a different way out then he took to get inside. His hold on you is unusually tight as he plans to drop you off in Yorozuya. You're still in shock from what you've witnessed but he tries to reassure you with a silly and fake smile that it'll be fine. He'll take care of it somehow.

Hijikata Toshiro

🚬​The cigarette drops out of his mouth as his eyes are glued to your body as the reality crashes down onto him. A small part of him has desperately tried to deny Kondo's word when his Commander called him and informed him with a somber and serious tone about you. Now he can't deny it anymore. His breathing grows labored, his lungs hurt and in the next moment he suddenly grabs one of the doctors by their collar and starts shaking them violently as he lashes out and yells at them about why they couldn't do more to save you. Then he drops them and storms out of the room where a lot of other Shinsengumi members are with sad expressions on their faces since they know what happened. His anger protects him from his overwhelming sadness in that moment as he continues shouting at all of them angrily about how useless they are for not being able to save you and that they shouldn't be in the Shinsengumi. He's trembling, a wet veil over his eyes as his mind is racing and his heart is hurting, even Kondo's attempts to calm him down as he storms out of the hospital and drives home whilst breaking the speed limit. As soon as he has slammed the door behind him, he breaks down into tears.

🚬​You stir awake from your sleep as the terrible events that just took place in the last moments of your life have disturbed you to your core. Whilst you place a hand above your chest, you realize that Toshiro isn't lying next to you. That feels you with nagging unease since you really could need some comfort and presence right now due to your nightmare. So you get out of bed and search for him in the house. You eventually find him standing him outside right in front of the door. You can smell the scent of smoke even as you walk down the stairs and realize that he is smoking in the middle of the night. When you step slowly outside, you notice that he's clutching an empty box of cigarettes inside his hand. How many has he been smoking already? His eyes are closed and his head tilted to the ground as it almost looks like he's in pain of some sort. He really seems to be elsewhere in his mind because he only notices you when you call his name cautiously.

🚬​There seems to be a look of horror, guilt and sadness shortly on his face when his eyes land on you but he quickly hides his feelings as he puffs on his cigarette and asks you with a sigh why you are awake and here. You remind him that you would like to know the same but he is stubborn and insists on you telling him first. So you confess to him that you had a nightmare and you fully expect him to sigh again and belittle you for coming down for such a minor reason but you are surprised when he instead asks you what your dream was about. Is he alright? His response surprises you and you shortly hesitate to describe to him such a gruesome dream but when he arches his eyebrow up in a silent way of telling you that he is getting a bit impatient, you decide to tell him briefly about your dream. Then you see it. A look of sheer shock and terror that spreads on his face as the cigarette slips out of his mouth and drops on the ground before he is pushing you back inside the house with a tight grip on your shoulders. He forces you to sit down in the kitchen before sitting down next to you and urging you to give him more details.

🚬​You're literally being interrogated in your own kitchen in the middle of the night as you see Toshiro growing more scary and unhinged with each piece of information you give him until you can hear him wheezing, his chest heaving fastly as he's about to hyperventilate. Then suddenly he tells you that you'll stay home today without explaining any further. You think that he's joking but he is not as you realize when he leaves for work and locks the door and all the windows, leaving you stuck in your own house whilst insisting that he is doing this for your own safety. A while after he is gone you can see some cars from the Shinsengumi pulling over and staying there as if watching over you and you know that Hijikata ordered them to do so. Meanwhile Hijikata himself is going on a little hunt as he tells Kondo frankly that he has something else to do today before leaving. Something about him just seems off and it is as everything that happens around him serves to make him grow more paranoid as the similarities between what is happening now and what he can remember is eerie. This time though, you won't die. Because he will remove those pesks before they can dare to lay their hands on you.

Okita Sougo

😈There is this odd sensation deep inside his chest that is growing when he finds out the news about your death and all but storms to the hospital. When his eyes land on your corpse though, this feeling festers throughout his entire body and fill him with ugly pain. Yet his voice remains scarily calm as he asks what has happened even if his aura is absolutely terrifying in thar moment. The doctors and other Shinsengumi members around him can only stutter out explanations of what has occured during his absence. Useless. Incompetent. All of them. Those are thoughts that fill his head as he hears them stuttering away whilst sensing his growing anger. There is this urge to just pull out his katana and slash all of them, to just punish them somehow for standing here unharmed whilst having failed to save your life. He tries to prevent this from happening though as he storms out of the hospital with gritted teeth, his hands clenched into fists to stop those sadistic and murderous impulses and he only stops when he is far away from the hospital. That's when Sougo notices the wetness on his cheeks and realizes that he's crying. The tears start flowing relentlessly down ater this realization.

😈​Loud knocks on your door force you out of bed in the middle of the night. You've woken up much earlier but have just been lying on your tatami matt in shock and panic with sweat coating your skin as you've almost felt paralyzed. The persistent and violent knocking on your door forces you to stand up though and open the door even if you don't know who wants something from you in the middle of the night. When you open the door and find Sougo standing there, looking the tiniest bit disheveled as if he woke up, hastily dressed up only to race to your house. He has the normal deadpanned expression on his face though besides his hair and clothes looking a bit messy as he just looks at you before forcing his way into your home. You just don't say anything. You are in the worst mood possible to argue and you know that he wouldn't listen to you anyways. Instead you watch him with worry and caution as he suddenly walks through the entire apartment of yours and checks every room as if trying to find an intruder.

😈​After he has finished his investigation he just grabs you and drags you back to your room, throws his jacket on the floor before forcing himself under the sheets together with you. He tells you briefly that he feels like sleeping with you before he shuts up and closes his eyes without giving you more information. He expects you to prepare breakfast for him and wakes you up as soon as he isn't asleep anymore and forces you once more to leave your blanket. Whilst both of you are munching away on the food, he admits almost casually to you that he would like you to stay home today, although his voice sounds like it is already a firm decision. You just give him an incredulous look and are about to protest before he shots you a sharp glare that quickly makes you shut up. He's acting strange today. Normally he would let you protest just to bully and ridicule you yet today he seems...more tense and via that also more impatient. Okita has simply decided to trust his guts who have warned him that something about those memories he has in his mind.

😈​He's using all the information he has in his memories that he was told by other members of the Shinsengumi and the doctors and tracks down the culprits who murdered you. He seems to wait though, waiting for something that gives him the final confirmation that those memories in his mind aren't just a byproduct of him losing his sanity but are valid and true. As soon as he is given that validation, whether it is because of everything that happens on this day like it happened in his mind or because he catches them searching and failing to find and kill you. He makes sure to lure them somewhere where he is alone with them before he murders all of them without mercy nor any ounce of guilt or any emotions on his face. They deserve all the pain and every slash he inflicts on them with his katana after all. They murdered you before after all, didn't they? And they planned to do it again. He disposes of the corpses somewhere and makes sure to clean himself and his sword without leaving any traces that could lead back to him before he makes his way back to you.

Takasugi Shinsuke

❤️‍🩹​His face remains unchanged but all of his subordinates feel it, feel something quite terrifying that is being emitted from him. Matako still dares to speak up in an attempt to console their leader but she quickly shuts up when Takasugi tells her in a dangerous tone to just be quiet. His one eye is staring at you without tearing itself away as he feels something stirring deep inside of him, something that only grows the more he is forced to look at your lifeless body. He feels the bitterness he has been harboring inside of him since Shoyo's death reaching its boiling point. Something else is worming its way inside of him which only further enhances his anger and bitterness. Guilt. Guilt for being unable to protect someone he dearly loved again. Is this just the cruel mockery of this world? Taking everyone he loves away from him whilst forcing him to only watch? He eventually tells the other members of the Kiheitai to leave the room, to leave him alone with his corpse so that he can plunge even further into deranged insanity to destroy the world who seems so set on ruining everything for him.

❤️‍🩹​You are startled upon initially waking up and feel chills going down your spine as you recall what you just saw and experienced. Was that just a dream? You just lay there with your eyes wide open and your body trembling a bit as you feel the air drying the sweat off of your forehead. Then you hear footsteps approaching the door leading to your room and tense up, forcing your head to turn around when you hear the door being opened. You can faintly make out the silhoutte of a body standing in your doorframe and you soon realize that it's Shinsuke who is just standing there. He appears to look at you silently and you can feel the sweat starting to return as you feel a weird tension in the air that makes breathing even more difficult than it was already for you before he came. He doesn't say anything and you don't dare to speak up either as you just look up at him with nervous and anxious eyes. He eventually leaves you again after minutes of just looking at you and leaves your mind confused and racing with thoughts behind.

❤️‍🩹​The next day you feel his gaze lingering on you as soon as you enter his vision and you realize just as quickly that he has also become quite a bit more restrictive. Obviously he has been always sort of controlling, restrictive and isolating ever since he has abducted you but on this particular day it seems like he has gotten even worse with this behavior. He wants at least one member of the Kiheitai with you, preferably Bansai and Matako, which gives you almost zero privacy unless you have to use the toilet in which case you get to enjoy a brief moment for yourself. You do take notice of how Shinsuke himself seems to force you to stay a lot more with him in the same room, especially as the day goes on. The tension whenever he is with you is unbearable as your heart is pounding inside your chest, the silence between you two only makes you more awkward and nervous yet you don't know what to say to him. You are worried to speak up whilst around him too. All of this nearly makes you overlook the events that take place on that day. Takasugi doesn't overlook them though. He has been waiting for them.

❤️‍🩹​You silently obey when he orders Matako, Henpeita and Bansai to stay with you whilst he goes somewhere. He only briefly mentions that there is something that he needs to take care of and that he'll leave your safety in the hands of the other members of the Kiheitai. After all he knows how the day will end if he doesn't do anything. He doesn't tell anyone about this because he feels like he has to do this by himself. The feeling of guilt and sorrow because of his own weakness due to your death before still remains inside his heart and his mind. It's a painful leech attached to his soul and he needs to get rid of it by killing the vermin who managed to get you before. Just like Okita he shows zero mercy and just remains apathetic, although he won't toy around and just finishes the task quickly before he returns to you and the rest of Kiheitai.This is his new declaratio of war against this world. He will murder everyone who tries to take you away from him.

[hater-reads]

The guy I fought with in a game is my neighbor - Chapter 3

“Ah, Geto! There's someone moving into the apartment across from yours,” the owner of the building said, "I wanted to let you know because no one has lived there the last few years, I hope it is not an inconvenience for you.”

“Not at all, as long as they are not a nuisance.” Geto laughed. 

Having a neighbor would be a new experience. Geto never interacted with the people in the neighborhood, but if the person lived in front of his house, he would inevitably have to get along with them.

“Forgot to tell you, they are moving starting today, be nice.”

“Mmmph.”

Geto walked up the stairs and found a pile of boxes right in front of his door. Then he saw a woman with short brown hair, who looked his way. The woman looked exhausted. Moving must be tiresome, he thought. They both greeted each other and Geto was about to enter his house when the woman spoke up. 

“Umm, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“My friend will be living here soon; he can be a little too much. Please tell me if there's something that bothers you and I will scold him.”

“Oh, I see, I thought you were the one moving in. If he’s nice guy I think we will get along just fine.” 

“We'll see...My name is Shoko Ieiri, by the way.” 

“Geto Suguru. Nice to meet you” 

They shook hands and Geto finally entered his house. Just when he was about to close the door, he heard a man's voice, it was a melodic voice with a mocking tone. He was greeting the woman in the door. That’s the new neighbor then, Geto thought. But he didn’t look back and just closed the door. 

Geto's days passed quietly, he didn't get a chance to meet his new neighbor the first few days after the move began, so he didn't really care. He thought that sooner or later he would get the chance.

“Yes… I moved in recently, that’s why I haven’t been streaming. But these days everything will be back to normal.”

Geto: He moved in? Mmh what a coincidence.

“It’s a small department, no neighbors around, just one guy in front but, I will not disturb him.”

Geto: ??? Well… that’s actually a scary coincidence.

“Do you all want me to show you my place? Hell nah. But I can go outside though.”

Geto kept watching the livestream of the masked man with white hair. He felt extremely nervous, why was that place so familiar to him? He had been there before…this meant that this guy lived near him. GojoSweetCupcake, his enemy…No, that can’t be, it’s impossible, right? Geto thought. 

He put on a black sweater and sandals, grabbed a cap and a mask to cover his face and stepped out of the building to look around. He knew it was impossible that this guy was around this place, but he had to be sure. He put on his earphones and continued to listen to the livestream in secret, hiding his face with the screen. 

“This is the parking lot. I shouldn't be showing this, what if some weirdo decides to come and mug me…”

“Wait…I think there’s one already.”

When Geto heard this, he felt a cold chill down his spine. Then he looked around for the person but found nothing. For a moment he felt as if his heart was about to burst.

“Just kidding. That would freak me out.”

Geto let out a big sigh. This bastard.......

He was about to leave when he saw a figure leaning against a parked car, it was a tall, thin man. That… can’t be.

“Hehehe, you guys there’s nothing to worry about. I won’t fall for your jokes, there’s no one behind me.”  

Geto let his curiosity get the better of him and moved a little closer to him, seeing him from behind. Damn, that voice... he definitely knew it too well. 

Geto took a slow step back, and a crack was heard. He had stepped on a branch.

Gojo looked over to the place where he was hiding. 

“I think…that's all for the livestream. Thanks for watching.”

He ended the livestream. 

Geto had been discovered, he felt like a criminal. Would he go to jail? Wasn't this stalking? Why had he followed this person in the first place? Geto covered his face and was ready to run, when the man spoke up.

“Hey, you!”

Now, this was embarrassing.

“I wasn’t… I live here, I just….”

Gojo came closer to him, Geto was sure he was going to get punched in the face. He had to run; this was one big mistake. If he was punched by this guy... all of his dignity and pride will be gone. He started to walk fast and headed to his department; he was almost running at this point. 

“HEY!”

Then he felt someone grab him from behind, the guy pulled his sweater off and Geto fell backwards. How strong was this guy? Geto didn't even have time to run away again when Gojo finally caught up with him.

“Are you okay? Sorry I pulled you…”

Gojo stood in front of Geto and saw his face. The mask he was wearing had fallen off and his face could be seen well, the black-haired guy was on the floor, his face slightly flushed.

He’s beautiful, they both thought at the same time.

[verdemoun]

Hello there! I love the blog, have been stalking it for a while, and finally have a question worth asking

How are the Gang Members remembered by whatever niche historians decide to study the Van Der Lindes in depth? Were the "lesser" members like Kieran and Sean even remembered at all? Did John ever get historical vindication? What the hell do modern philosophers think of Dutch VDL and his ranting? What do the Timewarp gang members think about this?

Also feel free to use this as an excuse to talk about whoever you'd like, I was just giving examples.

Sorry if this is rude!

Please never be afraid of being rude this is such a fun ask.

I imagine the gang would be remembered very similarly to the Dalton gang irl, or Captain Moonlight (Australia and LGBT history represent, ask for an infodump). Which is - not very well and widely speculated on based on biased newspaper articles of the era!

There is a wikipedia article on the gang listing off ALL the gang members and their years active, but it is significantly shorter than the articles on the 1911 gangs. Multiple movies were also based on the VDLs, which I've posted here.

Bill, John, Hosea and Dutch are the four best remembered, with a lot of historians being absolutely fascinated by the fact that Bill and Dutch rode in the VDLs together only to part ways and both go on to be leaders of extremely violent gangs that seemed to be in conflict with the original VDL code.

John is somehow the most controversial VDL, with the evidence having been released but the modern era bureau never making a formal statement that John was coerced by the agency to hunt down Bill, Javier and Dutch. Historians are neatly divided, with some arguing there's literal evidence of Jack and Abigail being held on vague charges by the agency on dates that happen to coincide with John hunting down the gang, ergo he was blackmailed, while others argue John had always wanted to hunt down the gang for the legendary still-missing Blackwater Massacre money and started killing the former gang much earlier than 1911.

Micah is literally only remembered for being 'the first gang member John Marston killed', to his own distain.

Naturally, all the women in the gang were forgotten. Some particularly charming 'vanderlindonians'/redditors still argue that Sadie, who had her own infamy as a vicious bounty hunter, was actually a man and Sadie was a nickname for Sadler Adler.

Ironically, Sean and Kieran specifically are actually well remembered for their alliances outside of the gang.

Due to Sean being the son of Irish folk hero Darragh Macguire, what little is remembered about his life has been widely documented and the burning of the Greys' tobacco fields has been correctly attributed to him.

Kieran Duffy, who has previously been a leader of his own gang, is remembered for his previous gang's activity but 'went missing' in 1888 (when he was captured by the O'Driscolls and later the VDLs). Kieran's gang and the pre-1899 VDLs are often compared by historians due to both being gangs with ''moral'' codes.

^^ This is also how most of the VDLs found out about Kieran's mysterious past as former army man and later gang leader. Whenever they try to ask him about it Kieran pulls 'i'm just a baby' because he is more than eager to forget his past.

Bessie has read almost every essay released about the gang, as well as all newspaper articles from across the decades. Sometimes when she's enjoying a bottle of wine with Hosea she'll read them aloud. Most of the time it's hilarious wrong and they'll both be holding their sides laughing, such as John hunting down Micah actually being a lover's quarrel and they were both ratting on the gang to the Pinkertons only for John to get greedy.

Sometimes it'll be a little too close to home and Hosea will just go quiet - such as one essay suggesting Hosea was the planner and voice of reason in the gang, not Dutch, and after his death the surviving gang members were doomed to follow their darkest human instincts for their own survival.

[robobrainrot]

The Knack

Chapter 2: It’s Not Stalking

Notes: its a Knockout-Centric Fic with a human OC. Breakdown is alive and well. Optimus is alive and well. Set in the Prime Universe: Post Predacons Rising, Pre-RID15

[Chapter 1 Here] [Chapter 3 here]

enjoy my scribbles ✌️

Two weeks later...

Though he’d loathe to admit it, Knockout had returned to that parking spot three times in the last two weeks. Not that he was counting. His excuse to himself was that it was a pleasant covert spot in the shade. The weather was pleasant in this area at this time of year and he deserved a break.

It was merely a coincidence that it was also the way the human artist walked.

He had only seen them once in his last three attempts. They had been walking with a femmine human and didn’t notice him. Not that it bothered him.

Today, it was exactly two weeks after their first meeting. Same time. Same place. Sure enough, they came walking down the hill. When they were about 20 meters away, they finally noticed him.

In Knockout’s rear view mirror, he saw them smile brightly. They didn’t run over exactly, but their posture straightened instantly. The human paused in their stride for a moment. “Hello again, pretty boy.” With nothing more than a flirty finger wave at the car, they continued down the street.

That was it? What a tease.

…

Against his better judgment, Knockout looked up the username the human had given him. He was very familiar with social media. He used it occasionally to find races and fellow car enthusiasts.

Their account was mostly art stuff. Some occasional rambling posts. Scattered memes.

He learned their name was Kylan and they were an art student at the local university. They liked drawing various cool things they found around town. There was a text post referencing a gorgeous red sports car that they forgot to take a photo of.

Attached to that post was a rough approximation of what he looked like. It wasn’t as good as the one they did live, but considering it was from memory- it wasn’t bad. The detailing on his doors was completely wrong.

He scoffed. The purple scribbles they had added made him look like an illegible death metal band logo. Much less elegant than his custom pattern.

“My decals do not look like that.” He commented indignantly.

“Knockout. Darling,” Breakdown’s voice came behind him followed by two large servos on his hips. “What’s got you so revved up? I could hear you from across the bay.”

He minimized the tab quickly. “Nothing!” He looked up at his Conjux. Even leaning down to accommodate his ample chest, Breakdown was still taller. “Just a personal project.”

“You know I support your car junkie addiction… you don’t have to hide it from me.”

“It’s not an addiction. I can stop whenever I choose to.” He huffed. Knockout placed a kiss on his chin. He traced his servos down to intertwine with his partner’s. “If you want to talk about addiction…” he moved both their hands up his torso. “I could go for another polishing soon.”

The larger mech moved closer to press against him. “Hm… That could be arranged. I just got-”

Knockout’s computer pinged. His screens popped back up with the social media interface to let him know he had a notification.

It was a direct message.

“ OMG! It’s you! I thought maybe the drawing got blown away with all the wind. I hope it made you smile! “

“‘Drawing?’” Breakdown read aloud.

Knockout sighed dramatically. “Can we go back to my seamless distraction?”

The Stunticon looked between the screen and his Conjux several times. “After you show it to me. Have you been sneaking off to be a secret art model?”

“Not yet. I am playing the long game.” He wriggled out of his partner's embrace to walk over to his storage crate. It was mostly full of polishes, buffers and other beauty supplies. He picked up a small glass case. Knockout revealed it to Breakdown with a flourish. “A human left that on my window. Evidently, they were so taken by my lustrous finish that they couldn’t help themself from stopping to admire me.”

Breakdown leaned down to look at the tiny image. He squinted.

“And, they know I’m… not a car.”

He raised a brow. “You showed them your root mode?”

“Of course not. They just… know? They thanked me for letting them draw me– not that I had much choice in the matter. They didn’t ask permission.” He huffed through his vents. “They just knew.”

“And… your solution… is to stalk them?”

“It’s not stalking!” Knockout huffed. “They gave me their username with the drawing. Clearly, they wanted this.”

Breakdown took a deep vent in and out.

“I can handle it.” He placed the image back in his crate. Spinning on his wheels, he turned back to him. He reached up to pull him down to eye level.

“Be careful. For their sake, and yours.” Breakdown brought Knockout’s hand up to his eye patch. The hard gray metal contrasted his orange protoflesh. It was a stark reminder for both of them of past mistakes.

“I will, BD.” He smiled at his partner. “Trust me. This isn’t some Hollywood blockbuster. Nothing drastic is going to happen.”

…

After they started messaging online, Knockout was easily able to trace their IP address to know where they lived but he had never actually driven by their house.

Today was the day he finally got curious enough to look. Kylan lived in an old town house. It was white with brown shutters and looked like a scrap heap.He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected to find but there was no obvious sign of the human. It’s not like he could go up to ring the doorbell to ask for them.

The Aston Martin parked across the street and settled down. He must’ve slipped into power down mode because when he woke up, it was dark out.

There was another slip of paper on his dashboard. He smiled to himself.

Glancing up, he saw the lights on in the second story of the human’s house. Zooming in, he could see Kylan sitting at their desk drawing. They had headphones on, wiggling back and forth to whatever they were listening to.

Knockout never really understood human’s relationship with music. Of course, they were good at it. There were plenty of songs he liked the sounds of. It seemed to affect their species more. He could ask their resident radio wiz about it, but he didn’t want to give Bumblebee that satisfaction.

With that, he pulled out of his spot. He headed to his favorite hiding spot and slid under the gas station canopy.

Knockout pulled the slip of paper out of his plating. This time, it was in a yellow-ish envelope. The artist was upping their game. How fancy, he purred to himself as he pulled out the piece of paper inside.

His optics narrowed at the tiny image.

“A parking ticket!?”

…

Over the next month, Knockout learned that they came home at approximately the same time every Thursday. This wasn’t always because he was there. Their posts had consistency at that time as well.

The Autobots kept him busy with various tasks around their new base. Ratchet always needed an extra hand, even if he didn’t want one. Arcee was still tense around the former-Decepticon but things were easing up. She had gone from openly hostile to occasional glaring. Agent Fowler was a similar story. Whenever the other two sports cars returned from Cybertron, they’d burn rubber until someone sprained something. Then, they’d get another lecture from Ratchet.

Overall, life after the war was pleasant, though strange. There wasn’t anyone threatening him every other minute of the day. He was allowed to just be.

Integrating Breakdown into the team was more of a to-do. Bulkhead and Wheeljack were not keen on the idea. But, with time and conversation, they came to a mutual understanding.

The ex-Decepticons got their own remote warehouse. Originally, they had been staying with all the Autobots, but that lasted about 2 weeks before someone put in a noise complaint. Their little home away from home gave them some much needed space from the other bots. It was dinghy but it was theirs.

Knockout leaned against a crate as he stared at the blankest wall of their space. It was gray metal, like the landscapes of Cybertron. It was distinctly not light the bright colors of the planet he currently resided on. Over time, he had become quite attached to the rainbow of hues that made up Earth’s environment.

“Breakdown,” He called to his conjux, “I think it’s about time we got some color in here.”

[ >> NEXT CHAPTER >> ]

[jess-moloney1]

There are some people who say to defend Jess «if she wanted to become famous, she could have chosen and dated someone who is more famous than Jamie », but I noticed something that other people have noticed or maybe not, Jamie is the new Johnny Depp version of this generation for 17 years now since he played in Sweeney Todd in 2007, with a very famous director and with very famous actors (Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman).

Jamie is the new version of Johnny Depp of this generation, because he is a chameleon actor, which means that he is able to play and adapt in all role in a film as a wizard, sailor, vampire, hunter of shadows, cow boy and others exactly like Johnny Depp and we must not forget that Jamie is a singer, musician and he was part of a group of singers and musicians « Counterfeit » (who were very popular and famous from 2015 to 2020) and he is a model and has posed for several clothing brands.

I suppose Jess knew by heart Jamie’s professional career well before she date with him, she learned well about everything on him and she realized at one point (I don’t know when exactly), that he was becoming more and more famous every day since 2007 and she started stalking him even if she knew that he was in a relationship with someone else, which means that this woman had no respect for him and his ex partners and for his private life, everything she did to attract Jamie’s attention is due to the fact that she had to know his personal life by heart, what he likes to do outside of work like surfing, his tastes in music (her favorite hard rock bands), tattoos, his style of woman, travel, hiking, beach, spending time with his family and his friends and she managed to get into his life in this way, to make him believe that she likes all his tastes and she certainly made him believe that they are made to be together and that they are soul mates.

Jamie is popular and famous with teenagers, young adults and adults so it was enough and interesting for Jess’s business (and not for the person he really is and not out of love) to choose and date Jamie and he has a lot of followers on IG, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter.

Jamie announced on IG that he was going to be part of the cast of Stranger Things season 4 in October 2020 (before Jess appeared weirdly in his life), this show is world famous and has gained many fans since 2016 and I suppose Jess upon learning that Jamie was recruited by the Duffer brothers she understood that he would become even more famous and she did not waste time attracting Jamie’s attention on IG and weirdly 2 years later she appeared with a fake smile on her face at the preview of Stranger Things season 4 with Jamie in New York (Is it a coincidence ?).

So people who continue to find excuses about the fact that Jess could have found someone more famous than Jamie is not convincing to me to defend her and she is not innocent and benevolent as she seems, knowing that this woman had only one goal: to sit in the foreground and be welcomed on a red carpet (thanks to Jamie, not thanks to herself).

I agree with you. Most likely nothing was “a coincidence” it was a well-planned sick, cruel  game to Jess and Jamie became her victim. The way she’s stalking people is obsessive and morbid. She’s also paranoid and probably has serious mental health problems and other sh*t to deal with. Jamie is an amazing, multi-talented person with a big heart. He deserves so much better than her. I think there’s nothing that he can’t do if he puts enough effort into it. I also see why Jess chose Jamie. 

Like you said, Jamie is famous, popular and handsome. He would have a real chance to become even more famous and popular. When he gets new fans and that way becomes more known, the same thing could happen to Jess. There’s a chance that if Jess had been with someone more famous and not as talented as Jamie, people would have discovered her secrets and that could have destroyed all her future chances. 

[zaceouiswriting]

Good old times

Character: Ethan Steiner x male reader

Universe: Teen Wolf

Warnings: Short description of near death

Love is a beautiful thing. It can excite someone. Take that person high into the sky as if walking on clouds. With a pounding heart that could make even a hummingbird envy.

But sometimes, even with the greatest love in the world, some people can’t be happy. They know they are loved but still cannot be content with it.

For me, love was the most beautiful thing. Like my body turned to jelly when I was close to my lover. At times it was so intense I thought my body would just collapse, leaving me unable to do anything but stare at its beauty. But it still felt incredible. At least up to that one day - That stupid fucking day.

That dreadful day was long behind me. The scars, both physical and psychological, were too deep. Impossible to hide. Always at the limit, fearing the worst in every situation. Since that day, I have not slept more than two hours a night.

Which finally led me to find the person who almost destroyed me. It took a long time.  A year passed since it happened until I finally had the energy to try to find him. It was another six months before I found a photo of him.

I didn't wait not even a second before jumping out of my seat to get to my car.

And about sixteen hours later, I was finally at my destination. I didn't know anyone in the town. Not the best idea I've ever had, but I had to do something.

That night I slept in my car, it wasn't comfortable, but luckily no one disturbed me.

It was the coming morning when the fun would begin. My goal was to go back to school after the terrible things he did to me. I couldn't even believe it myself. A monster like him should not have anything good in his life. I would do everything I could to drive him insane.

Only one positive thing came out of all of this he thought I was dead, which gave me a tremendous advantage. I terrorized him for days, showing up at his school, always in the corner of his eye, but when he looked straight in my direction, I just up and disappeared.

I knew this was slowly driving him insane. He said it himself to his brother, the second worst person on this planet.

They spoke of the "good old days". Apparently, they now regret doing this to me. If these geniuses had come to this conclusion just a year earlier, it would have saved us a lot of trouble. Their reason was that I never did anything awful to them. They even admitted that I had tried to help them - several times.

But the real problem is that they never thought about that while slitting my throat and cutting open my upper body.

As I lay there in the forest where they killed the pack and me, an outside helper, arrived after they left. A strange being came to me and offered me a second chance. But with the caveat that I had to lose my feelings for the person who killed me.

Of course, I accepted the offer immediately. Because how hard could it be to lose feelings for someone who killed you? As it turned out, it was very, very difficult.

Now, as I almost stalked him and saw his beautiful face once more, I knew I couldn't put those feelings behind me. The being that had offered me this deal seemed to know it too, which would explain why it was smiling so painfully at me.

Still, I tried my best to give myself a reason to banish those feelings from my heart.

By sheer coincidence, one day, he wasn't with his twin brother or one of his new friends. He was alone at his locker at school when he should have been in class.

Without him noticing, I leaned against his locker door. To the side where he couldn't look because of the door and just waited.

It took him minutes before his hand finally reached the door and slowly closed it.

„Hey there, handsome.“

His body froze. Not a single muscle had any strength in them. Torturing him with the memories we once shared was delicious. Even sweeter than honey. But to see that. He tried everything not to go completely insane, as he thought he was on his way to doing so.

„Maybe if you close the locker, I will be gone. Or I will still be standing here. Your decision.“

Nothing happened for a long, agonizing moment. But finally, he locked the door, not looking at me the entire time. His eyes closed. He quietly told himself that I wasn't real. Which hurt a little, but it was understandable in a way. After all, he believed I was dead.

„I know it's hard, but you have to look at me. Look into my deep eyes and tell me why you did what you did to me. So I can hate you and leave for both of our sakes,” I whispered in his ear. My hot breath on his skin must have made him realize that I was real and not just an illusion his mind, which was now slowly going insane with the regret of his actions, is projecting.

Not long after, he finally opened his dark brown eyes only to look me straight into my eyes.

„(Y/N)?" he asked absolutely, out of breath.

As I nodded my head, he jumped around my neck. That I was confused, wasn’t something I needed to mention, necessarily.

I tried to push him away, but his grip only got stronger. Tears were falling down his eyes.

"I missed you so much! I thought you were dead." His screams only got louder as he hugged me. It broke my heart again to see him so devastated.

"Yeah, because you killed me or at least tried to," I muttered angrily, at his antics as if nothing had happened.

Contrary to what I expected, he didn't let go of me after my accusation. But he wasn't silent either, "Aiden and I couldn't bring ourselves to kill you. The wounds weren't deep enough to even let you bleed out. But Deucalion punctured your heart with his walking stick. There was nothing we could have done to save you at that point," he tearfully admitted.

But his words got me thinking. I never had any connection with Deucalion. So why did this strange being put this restriction on me?

At this point, the image of the creature came fully to mind again. Appearing like a young guy man but with wings darker than night. 'The Angle of Death' or, as my people call him, 'The Boy of Second Chances'.

That I had never thought of him before made me a little angry. Not many are lucky enough to see this side of him. Pleasant, kind, and giving just as you have lived so far, he granted you such easy limitation because you were similar souls.

Therefore keeping inside my limitations would be easier to archive than anything else. Losing feelings for someone whom I never knew would not be that hard. Not even hatred clouded my heart after hearing that he had actually killed me and not my longtime boyfriend, Ethan.

Now finally realizing that death had given me a second chance without any hard-to-follow limitations because I was living the life I'd lived so well: he just had to do it. Maybe he even had sympathy for me. But most likely hoping he would not see me for a long time after the fact.

Still, Ethan wasn't entirely off the hook. „I'm still mad at you for even trying to hurt me. So how about hate sex? After that, we can talk to Aiden about anything?”

Ethan didn't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He forcefully grabbed my hand and ran down the hallways of the school. In search of a place to bend down so I could use him the way I wanted. Like in the good old days.

[Masterlist]

[beautiful-songbird]

An Unlikely Date

Pairing: Idol!Jungkook x Baker!OC

Genre: fluff

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: mentions of creepy guys

Summary: Astrid is greeted by a mysterious guy in her bakery one morning, but he's not as mysterious as she thought he was.

Astrid flicked the switchblade open before slicing open the cardboard box. These had been piling up recently at the bakery, and for some reason, no one had bothered to flatten them and throw them out. They didn’t receive that many shipments of pastry boxes each week, so these had to have been in here for a while for there to have been so many of them.

Recently, she’d been pondering her life. She’d done more research on Jungkook and found out just who he was exactly. There was no shortage of interviews and livestreams from him, and she was sure it would be very hard to keep up that sort of a persona for this long. He’d been in the eye of the public for eleven years, and despite the tattoos and piercings, he still seemed to be the sweet man she’d met at the coffee shop a couple months prior.

She never had bothered to text him. She was generally a very outgoing person, but the thought of talking to a celebrity freaked her out for some reason. Why had he given her his number, anyways? They’d met twice. And those meetings had been more like disasters. He didn’t strike her as the type of person to give his phone number to any girl he talked to. So why her?

“Astrid, there’s someone looking for you. Go run the register. I’ll finish these.”

She looked up at her coworker, Thea, who was holding her hand out for the box cutter.

“Who is it? If it’s Jacques again, tell him I don’t want to talk to him.”

“It wasn’t him! This guy only spoke English! He said Astrid, but that was all I understood.”

She sighed, shutting the switchblade and slapping it into Thea’s hand. “If it’s one of those weird guys again, I’m calling the police.”

“It wasn’t!” Thea swore. “It was an Asian guy!”

Astrid stepped into the dining room as Thea’s last words rang in her ears. Oh. Oh. What was he doing here? She wasn’t sure how she recognized him with the bucket hat and massive pair of sunglasses he was wearing, but she did.

“Jungkook?”

He glanced up from his phone, sliding his glasses down as he did so. He grinned when he saw her.

“Astrid!”

She couldn’t help but smile. The way he said her name sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

“Hi there. How can I help you?”

“You never used the phone number I gave you. I was wondering why.”

She raised an eyebrow as she approached the counter. “How did you find me?”

Somehow, the prospect of him stalking her wasn’t as terrifying as it should’ve been. Generally, the guys that showed up at the shop were slimy and very clearly had bad intentions, but Jungkook was grinning like a little kid as he pulled his sunglasses off.

“It was completely by chance, honestly. I was looking at bakeries around here and found this one’s Instagram page. I was shocked to find you in a few of the photos.”

She laughed. “That’s lucky. You came to ask why I haven’t texted you, then?”

He smiled sheepishly. “I suppose that doesn’t sound good, does it?”

She shrugged. “I find no fault in someone being curious. Although I have to wonder why you’d go out of your way to come here and find me.”

“I’ve come across you three times now on accident. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“I suppose you may be right. What are you doing in France, though? It’s nearly Christmas. Shouldn’t you be home with your family?”

“I’m headed to America for Christmas. We just decided to take the scenic route on the way here. And I can’t pass up a good pastry. Do you have anything that’s chocolate?”

“We have plenty of chocolate options. Would you like a chocolate filled croissant?”

“That sounds amazing!”

Ten minutes later, Jungkook was seated at a table eating his croissant when Astrid brought him a cup of coffee. Then she seated herself across from him.

“Can I ask why you’re headed to America for Christmas?”

“One of my bandmates is spending Christmas with his girlfriend in California. He’s going to propose to her. We just so happened to have someone who wanted to record a song with us, so we’re all meeting up there.”

“Oh, that’s sweet! Good for them! Have they been together long?”

“About a year and a half?” he guessed.

Astrid nodded. “That’s nice.”

The two of them sat there in silence for a few moments as Jungkook continued to eat and Astrid watched him. For the most part, their bakery was rarely visited. Astrid and her friend had built it from the ground up, but her friend had ditched her suddenly with the excuse that Astrid wasn’t a good business partner.

“Hey, this is going to sound insane, but I’m attending a wedding in February. Would you like to join me?”

Astrid laughed. “Um, where is it?”

“It’s in Australia.”

“Oh?” she giggled. “That sounds like fun. I suppose I can see if my schedule can manage that. Are you sure I can trust you, though?”

“I have about five girls that would beat me up if I harmed you, and I’m sure my mom would find a way to Australia as well to join them.”

“Sounds like you know a lot of strong, confident women.”

He nodded in agreement. Before Astrid could respond, Thea appeared from the back of the shop with a mountain of broken-down cardboard boxes in her arms.

“Astrid, where is the recycling bin again?”

◇◆◇◆◇

“Atti, who is Kim?” Elliot asked as he flipped through the new year’s calendar on Astrid’s wall. “And why are you going to her wedding without me?”

Astrid entered the room just in time to smack him in the head with her slipper. “Stop snooping around in my stuff. Kim is their last name. I’m going to Australia next month for their wedding.”

“They have the same last name already? That’s awesome!”

She groaned. “No, you idiot. It’s the groom’s last name.”

“Who are they, though?”

“They’re friends of my boyfriend.”

“Oh, you mean the Korean guy who gave you his number?”

Astrid smacked him again. “Out.”

He grinned mischievously as he walked backwards out of her room. “Can’t wait till the wedding, Atti,” he winked. Then he disappeared around the corner before she could hit him with her slipper again.

This is part of the Dad!BTS series that can be found here

A/N: Well I'm just cranking stuff out at this point...I'd say help but I'm quite enjoying getting to know these characters more

It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!

Taglist: @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger @jinnie-forthe-winnie @taehoneycheeks @aianloveseven @bangtansjonas @fly-you-dam-fools

[bonky-n-steeb]

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐵𝐸𝑆𝑇 𝐷𝐴𝑌

𝘽𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙔 𝘽𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙀𝙎 𝙭 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍

𝗥𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧: doctor!reader has no clue that Bucky is a secret agent and she soon finds out.

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: Fluff, minor angst.

ᴛʜɪs ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇᴛᴀ ʀᴇᴀᴅ, sᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ

MASTERLIST

Bucky was finally back from his business trip. He had been gone for two whole weeks and you both had missed each other terribly.

Today he had decided to make it up to you, and had taken a day off from his work, and so had you. Instead of a simple date, you both had decided to spend the entire day idly roaming around the city. It was a nice reprieve from all the stress that came with being a surgeon.

While walking, you stopped in front of your favorite boutique. The dresses there were expensive but chic and you were friends with the owner and designer, Maria. Whenever you wore one, you used to turn all the heads in the room. Currently there was no special occasion coming up, and you already had enough of the dresses so you decided to window shop.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Bucky asked. “Buck, I already have so many of the dresses and I don’t need another one as there is no special event coming up anytime soon.”

“My doll doesn’t need a special occasion to look good.” He said kissing your temple. “Buck...” you tried to protest but he nevertheless dragged you in.

“Welcome! And congratulations you are our lucky customers.” You looked at her dumbstruck, Maria wasn’t a person to give any discounts. “Lucky customers?” You asked.

“Yes, today is the 7-year anniversary. And we had agreed that the first person to walk in the boutique would get 75% off on any dress of their choice.” She said with an infectious smile.

“75% off? On any dress?” You squealed. You looked up at Bucky and he gave you his signature smirk. You were a sucker for sales. As you looked around, your eyes were captivated by a dress. It was maroon, with long bell-shaped sleeves. It had a V-shaped neckline and was a flowing gown.

“You like that one doll?” Bucky asked as he saw you staring at the gown. He knew you would like that one. “Yes. I love it.” You said excitedly. “Alright then, pack it.” In your excitement you failed to notice the understanding nod shared between Bucky and Maria.

You were super excited and were talking nonstop. That was one of your traits when you got excited. You couldn’t believe you walked in at the right time, and the credit was Buck’s, he was the one who dragged you in. You couldn’t believe your luck.

The next you decided to visit the bookstore you usually frequented. The moment you entered, the book store clerk, Simone happily waved at you as if she was waiting just for you.

“I have something for you.” She said as she bent down and produced a book. It was your favorite one. “Open it. It’s a signed copy.” You couldn’t believe your eyes. Your favorite author had signed that book along with a sweet message scribbled just for you. “Oh my goddddd!!”

You couldn’t believe that this day was even real. “Bucky, I don’t know what is happening today, but it’s already the best day of my life.” You squealed and he pulled you closer to him, “It’s definitely the best day of our lives.” He pressed a chaste kiss to your lips.

After around an hour later, your beauty salon lady called up and informed you about her latest offer. And so, you decided to give her a visit while Bucky went home. Once you were done, you were looking exquisite.

You were too euphoric to notice all the coincidences. Everything was perfect until you went home. Bucky face was worried. “What happened? You look worried.”

“It’s Nat’s birthday today. We both forgot. Don’t worry, Steve has arranged a party. So now let’s get dressed and go.” Nat and Steve were Bucky’s colleagues and best friends.

You knew this universe was giving you signs. After all the shopping you did, it was worth it. You decided to wear the new elegant dress.

When Bucky saw you and his jaw dropped. He himself was wearing an expensive navy-blue suit. “I swear to god, if it weren’t so important, we would’ve never left this house.”

Once you reached the location, you were surprised to find no one was there and it was completely dark. But then a sudden focus of light was out on where you stood with Bucky.

Just then Bucky got down on his knees and produced a velvet box. “Will you make me the luckiest man alive by marrying me?” He looked flustered and scared. Without thinking twice, you squealed “YES!”

Apparently, Bucky had already bought that dress for you, there was no offer at Maria’s. Also, he had arranged for the signed copy and the salon well. He just wanted it to be the best day of your life in all sense.

———

Maybe you had been wrong. It had been a week since your engagement, but today was the best day of your life.

After learning the news, you had been euphoric. You wanted to tell Bucky as soon as possible, but he was too busy today and you knew better than to disturb him.

Before going home, you decided to celebrate a little and went to the nearby cafe. You ordered your favorite pastry and sat at one of the tables.

Suddenly there was a small pat on your shoulder. You turned around and saw the last person you expected in this cafe. “Tony?”

Tony Stark was a billionaire. Despite having all the money in the world, his heart wasn’t as healthy. And that’s when you came in. When he had first come in due to an emergency, you had treated him and ever since then he had become your patient.

“What are you even doing here?” You asked as he took the seat in front of you. “Having some coffee, I guess.” He said shrugging. And then his eyes fell on your ring.

“Woah! I see someone is engaged. Didn’t think you’d break my heart so ruthlessly.” He said pretending to be hurt. You excitedly nodded, “Just a week before.”

“Well, so who is the lucky man?” He asked. “Bucky Barnes.” You said smiling giddily. “I’m sure he must not be more handsome than me.” Tony quipped.

“You’ll be disappointed!” You took your phone out and showed him a picture of Bucky. Tony squinted his eyes and took your phone into his hands. “This is Bucky?” He asked skeptically.

“Yeah. Why?” Tony seemed confused and then pulled out his own phone. “As long as I remember, his name is Andrew and he is already married.” Your eyes widened at that.

“What? You just be mistaken. Are you sure it’s him?” Tony nodded. “Yeah, see this. I met him around a week ago, that’s why I remember. Not gonna lie his wife, Sonya was impressionable.”

He said giving you his phone. There was a picture of Tony and a couple. You couldn’t believe your eyes. It was indeed Bucky, and the worst part was, his ‘wife’ was none other than Nat.

~~~

You were sitting on your couch and crying when Bucky came home. “What happened?” He quickly kneeled on the floor besides you.

“I’m gonna only ask once, because I can’t emotionally afford to ask twice; what is going on between you and Natasha?” You ask, your eyes were blood red and puffy from all the crying.

“What?” Bucky took your hands in his and pressed kisses. “Don’t lie, I know everything. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“I don’t get what you are saying, doll.” You took out your phone and showed him the pictures Tony had sent you. At that Bucky scoffed, “Oh this!”

“Oh yes Andrew! What the fuck is even your name you liar!” At that Bucky’s demeanor grew serious. “Listen, it’s not what you think. Wait right here.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead and went upstairs.

“See this.” He said running downstairs and giving you a file. “And what is this? Your marriage certificate?” You asked incredulously. “Just read it once please.”

You took it and started reading. First it didn’t make sense but after some time it did. Bucky was an agent working for a secret government organization called ‘Avengers’.

“What is this Bucky?” He slowly started wiping your tears. “I’ve wanted to tell you for so long now. But I always thought that I’ll tell you tomorrow; but turns out tomorrow never came.

I know you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so this is the proof. My own file. I’ve worked as an Avenger for years. That day at Tony’s party we were undercover. And we pretended to be married. The ‘two weeks business trip’ was actually an undercover mission.”

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “Bucky seriously! You couldn’t tell this to me before? Do you know what I’ve felt in the past two hours? I literally found out in the worst way possible, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.” He pulled you closer to him and pecked you on your cheek. “This was some True Lies level shit.” You said laughing.

“So... now that you know this, I might as well confess something more.” You raised your eyebrows and wondered what all news today’s day was going to bring.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” You nodded, you remembered that day very clearly.

It had been an excellent day. Your surgeries had gone perfectly but you were tired. So, you decided to do what you did every time you had a good day; go and eat a pastry.

As you entered the cafe, you could see the pastry section to be completely empty. You pouted and were sad to break the tradition. You inquired but they weren’t going to make any more pastries for the day.

As you were about to turn around and leave, you came face to face with the most handsome man you had ever met, his eyes were so captivating, you feared you’d get lost in them.

“I saw you wanted a pastry, well, I guess I have one and you can have it.” His voice was smooth and you swooned. “Uh, no it’s fine.”

“Oh, I insist.” You looked up at him and gave him a pleasant smile, “Why don’t we share?” You asked shyly. You spent the entire evening chatting and decided to meet the next day for a proper date. And that is how you had met.

“It wasn’t actually my first time. I had seen you before that at the hospital but I was undercover and so I couldn’t approach you.

But then I just got too shy to ask you out so I used to follow you around. I didn’t mean to creep or stalk. I just... God! This is embarrassing. But I kind of learnt your routine and habits.

I knew when you had a good day you would go and have a pastry at the cafe. That day before you went in, I bought all of the pastries. So, when I asked you whether you wanted to have mine; I actually had at least 23 pastries with me.”

You giggled at that. “Wait you are not mad?” You shook your head. “Actually, I would’ve been, but now that I know how you are, and that I love you so much, this is actually pretty cute.”

You stopped laughing and said, “Well, now that you’ve shared your secrets. I’d like to share something too. I fear I won’t be able to love you in the future as much as I do now.”

Bucky tensed up. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked adorable. “Because when a mini version of you will be running across the house, I swear to god I won’t be getting any reprieve.” You said snuggling him.

“I... what? Are you? Wait, is it what I’m thinking it is? Are we pregnant?”

“YES! You’re gonna become a daddy, James!”

[retrogalwrites]

Title: “Shigaraki and the perfect girl” / see on ao3

Pairing: Incel!Shigaraki x f!reader

Summary: Shigaraki has a crush on what seems to be the perfect girl who everyone loves, and becomes obsessed with the idea of corrupting her.

Warnings: attempted sexual assault, virginity fetishization, dub con, creepy behavior, stalking, manipulation and somnophilia with a twist

Contents: creampie, vaginal sex, breeding kink, scent kink (in a gross way), mating press, slight dumbification, corruption kink

Word: 4873

Shigaraki had been watching you from the very beginning, all through your high school years. It hadn't been much of his fault, he always told himself, when your existence alone did nothing but to stand out.

You had always been the center of attention, the most popular girl in the entire school, little Miss Perfect. With your good grades, unrivaled beauty, hordes of friends, admired by all students and professors alike. Being always so kind and innocent, with a friendly demeanor towards everyone, including an unwanted outcast like Shigaraki.

On his end, he had always been the creepy one, the strange one, the antisocial one that sneered at others and cursed them under his breath. Everyone avoided him like the plague, at least whenever they weren't too busy tormenting him, all too eager to remind him of how unwanted he was.

The complete opposite of you, Shigaraki was a social pariah.

On your third year, whenever other students would bully him publicly, give him looks and tell him how gross and disgusting he looked, you always had to come right to his rescue.

"Stop it, guys! That's no way to treat someone." You'd say softly, standing between him and his tormentors like some kind of protector. "Leave him alone, would you?"

And they couldn't say 'no' to you, no one could. Reluctantly they would give in to your heartfelt request and leave him be, those fools always dancing on the palm of your hand, but who could blame them? The hottest girl in class, lusted after by every boy in school, including Shigaraki himself, there was no way anyone could resist doing whatever you wanted them to. So pretty, so sweet, so perfect.

You had it all so easy, didn't you?

Shigaraki hated you for that, deeply and passionately loathed your very existence, a resentment that only grew stronger every time you would turn around, with that expression full of concern, to ask if he was okay.

Yes, he hated you for that. He also desired you for that, adored you in fact, wanted you as badly as any other buffoon in your class did. But not in the same way as them. No, when you looked at him with those sparkly eyes, pouting lips, leaning over his desk to give him an eyeful of your chest straining against the fabric of your school uniform, the feelings that stirred inside him were ugly and suffocating, something too depraved to be love.

When the other guys glared at him for having your attention even for a minute, it made his heart beat faster, it made his blood boil as his hands itched to grab you and destroy you, bend you over his desk and tainting every corner of your body right in front of them.

"You're lucky [name] takes pity on your sorry ass, Shigaraki." One of his bullies would scoff, once you were out of earshot.

"I didn't fucking ask her to. Maybe the bitch has crush on me, huh?" He'd spat back with vitriol, just to be met with a kick to the shin. As he hunched over in pain, he'd always hear those same words.

"Know your damn place, freak. A crush? Please, she's too perfect for you."

And they were right, so very right, but it only made Shigaraki want you more, more, more. His infatuation was warped with the thought of revenge, the desire of getting back at everyone by taking you away for himself, and to get back at you simply for daring to exist.

So Shigaraki would curse you in his mind, every single day, and then every night he'd spent it pleasuring himself to fantasies of you, sometimes holding the items he had stolen from you in the past (a gym shirt, your lip balm, the pencil you'd chew on during class). Creating scenarios where he'd get you alone to taint you, destroy you, turn you into dust and ashes with his own hands until he had dragged you down to his own level: a freak, a pariah, the lowest of the low.

If only he had the guts to do it, if only he could admit to himself that he wanted to do it at all, for real.

—————

After graduation, not seeing you for the following months pushed his mind deeper into that brewing obsession, drove him mad with it.

Shigaraki stalked your social media, watching his phone all day to make sure he didn't miss any of your publications and updates, downloading every selfie you uploaded to keep for himself and fap to later. His infatuation had been growing more and more out of control with each passing day, you invaded his thoughts every waking hour.

And yet Shigaraki told himself that it was really only a coincidence that he had ended up in the same college as you. Despite having read through a conversation on the comments from one of your posts on your Instagram a month or so before graduating, about your college prospects. Despite writing down those prospects to later tell his school advisor that he wanted to get into that same school. Despite having begged his father to send him there despite the inconvenient distance away from home in his daily commute, despite having chosen a major he didn't care about just to be in the same class as you.

His self-denial kept that obsession barely restrained, keeping it from pouring out into reality, and you also had to ruin that.

"Tomura!" You had approached him on the first day at campus, excitedly calling his name with such familiarity. The sound made his breath hitch and his cock twitch inside his pants, stomach fluttering.

"Oh, umm...hey." He chewed on his chapped lip, looking away as he lied through his teeth. "Didn't expect to see Miss Perfect here, of all people."

Despite of his dismissive tone being cold as ice, you kept smiling at him, only laughing as if he had been joking.

"It's so good to see a familiar face, you know? Come, sit next to me!!" You had grabbed his hand without a second thought, pulling him along with you into the classroom. People already whispering just from seeing you two walking together hand in hand: a breathtaking beauty like you and him, a disheveled mess, who had been wearing the same dirty hoodie for already a week.

Yet you didn't let go of his hand, even when he had already started to sweat and his palm got all clammy against yours, you didn't let go. The thought of rubbing off his filth onto your skin filled him with joy.

You really were a fucking idiot.

Holding hands with your stalker so casually, with the guy that wanted to ravish you in a dark corner, break you with his cock until you were screaming his name, and make you beg for your life like a pathetic bitch. Yes, that's what he wanted to do, more than anything in the world. He wanted to destroy you, to violate you, to break you, to make you his. Those weren't fantasies, it was reality.

Shigaraki used that same hand to jerk himself off that night in his dorm, imagining that it was you being forced to stroke his throbbing cock. He imagined that you would be so disgusted by his filthy self, your clear skin getting all of his dirt rubbed all over, fat tears streaming down your face as he forced you to open your mouth and take him in until you chocked on his cock.

Soon enough, he was thrusting into his fist, cumming all over himself until his cock softened, and his hands and abdomen were covered in his sticky semen.

What would you do if you found out that the guy you had been so kind to all these years wanted to hurt you so badly? Shigaraki imagined the despair on your face, and soon he was hard again.

—————

For most people, life after high school plays differently. Once you get to college, popularity contests become a thing of the past...but not for you, it seemed. During that first semester, Shigaraki had to watch how everyone around you was back to fawning all over you. Stumbling over themselves to ask you out to parties and dates (how many times did he overhear guys talking about what they wanted to with your tits and ass?), professors favoring you for your perfect grades, everyone adoring you as the perfect girl once again.

He was still an unwanted pariah, ignored by everyone, looked at with scorn by others.  Except whenever you gave him your attention, of course, only then did people want to get all buddy-buddy probably hoping to get to you with his help.

God. He fucking hated you. And he fucking wanted you.

One day, he finally snapped.

Shigaraki decided that he was going to have you before anyone else got the chance to put their hands on you, the perfect girl that everyone loved so much, would belong to the guy everyone hated.

He was going to tear you down once and for all, like you deserved, for living all these years with a silver spoon in your mouth having it all so damn easy. Wipe off that smile off your face, take it for himself, and make sure you were sullied, miserable, broken.

So, Shigaraki planned his next actions very carefully then. For a whole month, he tried to be more open towards you, more friendly, taking advantage of how kind you had always been towards him despite of the dismissive way he always had treated you with. Despite his awkwardness at it too, something that anyone else would've been turned off by already, but you took his attempts with endearment.

It pleased him, how you fell for it so easily, excited to see him reciprocate your attempts at friendship, the excitement on your face whenever you two were paired together for a project or study sessions.

You were so innocent, and so stupid. He truly loved you.

—————

Shigaraki couldn't believe his luck, the day after an assignment when he got you to come with him to his dorm to start working on how you were going to plan around the workload.

His dorm room was, admittedly, filthy. Unwashed clothes and trash scattered everywhere all over the floor, wraps of junk food and snacks hastily piled on an full trash bin in the corner. Anime figurines, video games, and posters decorated the shelves and the walls. The only spot that was kind of well kept was his gaming corner, with his pc and monitors all sparkly clean. He knew it was a shameful way to live, and he excitedly looked at your face hoping to see any semblance of disgust towards it. The lack of it, made Shigaraki frown.

"Err...sorry, I didn't know you were coming so I didn't clean up the place." He feigned concern, trying to edge a reaction out of you.

"That's ok, sorry for barging in." You gave an understanding smile.

Shigaraki's twisted resolve only became stronger. He was going to wipe that smile off your face, and that thought echoed in his mind on repeat for the following hour you two sat down to work.

Though, of course, his attention was not in the books in front if him. Shigaraki was too focused on the fact you were sitting on his bed, your bare things peaking underneath your skirt making direct contact with his dirty bedsheets.

Could you even begin to imagine that those bedsheets were stained with cum from his daily fapping? That he furiously had been jerking himself off to you for months in that same bed? His blood had begun to run towards his loins, and his cock was starting to strain against his jeans. Shigaraki had to cover himself with the textbook as to not to give himself away.

"Tomura, can we take a break? I'm getting tired." You yawned some time later, putting the book away and stretching your arms above your head. An action that gave Shigaraki a perfect view of your pretty curves, the way your tits heaved slightly as you pushed your chest forward, and a flash of midriff peaked from underneath your top.

"We still got a lot to do, dumbass." He curtly replied, pretending he wasn't leering.

You pouted, like a brat. He couldn't understand how you got such good grades when you could be this lazy sometimes. "Please, just fifteen minutes?"

He pretended to think about it, before shrugging at you begrudgingly. "Alright, just stop looking at me like that."

With a pleased, cheeky smile, you let your back fell on his mattress. Something that actually took him by surprise, Shigaraki watched in disbelief how you bounced on his bed, thighs and tits jiggling. You yawned again as you curled into a ball, he wondered if you even noticed how he ran his tongue over his dry lips. Were you really going to make it this easy for him? Were you that stupid?

"Wake me up in fifteen minutes." and you closed your eyes.

"Sure thing." He couldn't stop his lips from stretching into a huge, sinister smile.

—————

Shigaraki had never been a patient man, but he exercised all of the patience he had within him just to wait out the agonizingly slow seconds as you gradually fell asleep. He kept his eyes glued on your laying form through the first five minutes, casually but excitedly palming his erection through his jeans as he watched you fall asleep. He waited, and waited, silently observing your breathing until it fell into slow, regular rhythm. Soft snoring sounds purred from your throat, leaving your lips.

His cock was so fucking hard it hurt.

Hesitantly, Shigaraki called your name once in a hushed voice, then twice a little bit louder, and when he got no response from you, he knew that the time he had waited for all those years had finally come.

The time to break you.

The beating of his heart hammered loudly in his ears, as Shigaraki crawled over the bed towards you. His weight shifted the shape of the mattress, so he moved as slowly as his desperation allowed him to, as to not wake you up yet. Positioning himself above you, his legs straddled you underneath him as he unbuckled his pants and pulled out his throbbing erection, veiny shaft all with the head red and swollen, looking like he was about to burst. Then, supporting himself on his knees, he leaned back for a moment just to take in the wonderful sight you made.

Spread on his filthy bed, so comfortably on your back, breathing through lush parted lips. The girl chased after by everyone at school, they all would've killed to be in his place and to see you like this, to have you like this. Looking so small, so fragile, so defenseless, so fucking perfect.

Years of abstinence came down crashing all at once and Shigaraki's depravity took a hold of him completely, and it felt damn good.

His lips came down to cover yours with such pathetic urgency, Shigaraki crushed your soft body underneath his larger, even if skinny, frame. Dry and chapped lips devoured the softness of yours, and they tasted so sweet and creamy, exactly the same flavor of lip balm he had stolen from you back in high school. God, he could feel your heavy, round tits pressing against his chest, his erect cock rubbing needy against the snug gash of your clothed crotch, the engorged head poking at your entrance like he was in heat like a dog, shuddering violently at the stimulation. He moaned loudly against your mouth, forcing his tongue between your teeth and into your sweet mouth, as drool trailed down the corners of his mouth and smearing against your pristine skin. God, he forgot to brush his teeth after his morning coffee, his mouth was surely filthy...not like it even mattered to him anyway. Neither did it matter that he was going to wake you up like that, he indulged on tasting you completely. In fact, he anticipated to watch you wake up, and realize what a stupid bitch you had been.

Bringing his hands to your face, he forced your mouth to press harder against his as he kissed you so sloppily, his throbbing erection rutting against your core.

"(Name)...oh fuck, (Name)..." He whined against your lips. Just a virgin that he was, Shigaraki couldn't help that the mere stimulation of your clothed pussy-mound rubbing on his bare cock was really firing him up, pushing him so much that he was creaming his pants already. He shuddered, muscles tensing as the head of his cock spurted huge jets if his smelly, sticky cum all over the front of your skirt and your thighs.

He breathed heavily, looking at the mess he made.

Then he heard you call out to him, and the sound of your voice was anything but distressed, or even angry.

Instead, you sounded disappointed.

"Aww, you already came?" His eyes shot to your face. You were wide awake, face flushed as you stared at him through fluttering lashes and glossy eyes, the expression of someone who was throughly aroused. Shigaraki was the one struck by shock, and confusion.

"Tomura, I can't believe you are such a quick shot. I was looking forward to this, you know?" Your disappointment somehow puzzled him more than the sheer anger of being called out for his quick ejaculation, and that was impressive on itself. His expression made you giggle.

"What the fuck are you laughing for?!" He growled with bared teeth, his hands moving to your writs to restrain them above your head, crushing you with his body again. You whined, not in fear, but need.

He couldn't begin to understand what was happening. You weren't freaking out, you weren't crying, you weren't despairing.

"Do you understand what is happening here? I'm assaulting you, stupid bitch!" He lost his cool so quickly.

"Of course I know." Speaking in a whisper, your back arched, pressing yourself further against Shigaraki, raising your thighs to catch his cock between the soft flesh of your exposed, sticky thighs. He hissed through his teeth,  the touch easily making his cock spring back to life, harder than before.

"Tomura, you've always been a creep." For the first time, your voice sounded harsh, condescending.

And disgusted.

Finally, that disgusted look. Shigaraki stared at you with a burning gaze through red eyes, mouth agape at the sound of those words being uttered by you, that look on your face that he had wanted to see for the longest time. His cock twitched, a spurt of cum drooling down the tip and getting on your exposed panties. The feeling made you shudder, your things squeezing his cock between them again. His back arched, hands restraining you gripped your wrists tighter, he cursed at how fucking good it felt.

"But I always liked that about you, honestly! How gross you are, how dirty and smelly you are, you are always so mean to me too! I wanted you to take me like this by force one day."

"You...wanted this to happen?" Shigaraki was starting to understand, though none of it made sense. You snorted, giving him a suddenly smug grin that made his blood boil.

"I always hoped it would." A candid confession, your own breathing had become erratic, the euphoria of pouring out your deepest secrets. "It always made me feel so hot to imagine that you fucked me and made me all dirty and disgusting, that you turned me into a freak like you."

It sounded like pure bullshit, and yet the genuine honesty in your voice left no room to question it. The reality you presented him with had shattered his own. And it made him so damn angry and so fucking turned on. He felt all light-headed suddenly, like he was in a dream.

"So you've been fucking with me all this time?! Is that it, you damn bitch?!"

One of his hands roughly grabbed your throat, fingers circling the frail column of bone and squeezing hard, you gasped at the sudden pressure keeping you from breathing. You stared up at him. His gaze bore into yours, face inching closer to snarl with pure, scorching fury.

And yet you still looked so ecstatic, a lewd expression that couldn't be further from that angelic, innocent look everyone always said made you so perfect. You looked absolutely wicked in that moment.

"Yes...I have." You spoke through labored breaths, clawing and the hand around your throat. "You fucking...disgusting...creep."

Shigaraki realized then, that you hadn't ever been perfect, in fact, you had been the same as him from the beginning. A depraved fucking mess.

And he hated you for that, loved you for that.

Shigaraki then let go of both your wrist and neck, slipping his leaking cock away from your thighs as he leaned back on his knees. Gasping for oxygen, your head already felt light by the time you felt your clothes being violently ripped off from your body, blouse and skirt tearing away and being thrown behind Shigaraki's towering frame, leaving you in only your underwear.

The frilly, see-through thing that looked more like lingerie. God, you really were such a fucking freak, weren't you?

Shigaraki's hands went to unclip your bra that so luckily opened at the front. Throwing the item with the thorn pile of your other clothes. The sight of your bare tits bouncing in front if him was like out of his deepest fantasies, and Shigaraki didn't wait a second longer to roughly squeeze your breasts in his calloused hands, taking handfuls of the supple mounds of flesh he had always dreamed to grope. They felt full and heavy in his palms, fingers sinking into their softness, and seeing the way you mewled when his thumbs teased the hardening nubs of your nipples, making you softly moan his name, Shigaraki lost it.

His mouth attacked one of your nipples, mouth latching to the puffy areolae and teeth sinking into the flesh as he sucked hard and desperate. Your reaction was immediate, hands tangling into his messy white hair and fingers pulling at his scalp, mouth parted to mewl his name in pain and delight. He kept suckling at your breasts, hungry and rough like he was hoping to suck milk out of them, the other hand already playing with the other breast, mercilessly pulling and twisting your hard nipple, bruising the tender skin.

"Tomura wait — ooh!!" Your body trembled as you whined out his name, another wave of pleasurable pain hitting you when Shigaraki squeezed your breasts together and brought both nipples into his greedy mouth. Sucking at them and lapping at the pebbled skin with his tongue, until your were squirming underneath him like a needy little whore.

One of his hands delved down to your panties, the thin string that held them up all to easy to break with one powerful tug. You gasped, a sound that turned into a loud scream when you felt his fingers teasing the hot wetness of your pussy lips, before he buried one digit into your core, testing your insides.

"Oh fuck..." You breathed, biting your lip, feeling him experimentally finger your inner walls. Shigaraki was fascinated at how hot and slick you felt inside, your fleshy walls sucking around his fingers so tightly that he wanted to stuff his cock inside that hole now, now, now.

He let go of your nipples with a lewd pop, spit dribbling down the abused skin. "Who would've thought...that you had such a filthy mouth." He snickered. "You are so fucking wet already, you goddamn degenerate, you want my cock so bad, huh? I'll let you know I haven't showered in a few days." It was like he was testing you by basking in his own disgusting habits.

"Y-Yes, I do, I want your filthy cock!!" Another loud moan, uncaring that other people in the dorm were going to hear. "Please, Tomura, make me filthy!!" The expression on your face, mouth agape with your little tongue out so unabashedly desperate for someone like him made his heart flutter.

Shigaraki would've wanted to keep you begging for so much longer, but in reality, his own desperation had him pulling back his hand from your pussy, leaving you empty and sighing disappointed for a moment, but not for long. Firmly anchoring himself down with his knees on the mattress, he raised your hips with a bruising touch and with the clumsiness of an inexperienced man, plunged his cock into your pussy in one punishingly rough thrust. The sudden feeling of being full had you arching your back and curling your toes, nails clawing at his forearms as you writhed in pain from the sudden intrusion. Shigaraki buried his cock into you until his pubes brushed your outer lips, and he was balls depp inside.

"Fuck, fuck, ooh...holy shit you...are fucking tight." Tomura groaned with his mouth agape, eyes rolling to the back of his head. His breath hot against your skin as he leaned over for a moment, taking in the unbelievably hot sensation of you squeezing around him. "This fucking greedy pussy, hngg..." Your insides felt so good, better than he ever imagined, you were so tight sucking him in like you were trying to rip off his cock. Was this what pussy felt like, or was this just you? Seeing what a slut you were, he didn't think you were even a virgin. And yet your velvety walls wrapped around his shaft in a snug fit inside that scorching, pulsating heat, Shigaraki couldn't imagine anything else comparing to it.

He couldn't stop himself as he began thrusting his cock into your hole, pulling only slightly before sinking back, selfishly unwilling to let go of that delirious sensation around his length. The harder he snapped his hips, the better it felt, his balls throbbed as they slapped against your plump ass.

"Tomura, i-it hurts....mmm, oh!" Tears swelled in your eyes, and yet your hips were needly sinking on his cock like there was anything else of him to take. What a glutton for punishment you were, but soon that burning pain became something just as good, even better actually, delicious pain, and your were soon arching your back and bouncing on his cock with all your might.

"Guess neither of us are virgins anymore, huh?" You panted with a laugh. Shigaraki froze then for a second, his eyes stared at your face contorted by pain and pleasure with wide eyes, enraptured and burning with something a little hotter than desire. A virgin, so even after the truth of your character, you really were as untainted as he thought.

Shigaraki was scrapping your virgin insides with his cock, truly making you filthy in the most pure sense of the word. He was tainting you, breaking you, the perfect girl everyone adored.

That was it, Shigaraki cursed under his breath as he pulled out, earning a confused and disappointed sound of from your lips, that then became a little help when he grabbed the back of your legs and pushed them up, bending them against your chest. He positioned himself over you and stuffed his cock back inside, thrusting into you as hard as he could, taking up a new merciless pace. In that new position, both of you could feel him reaching even deeper inside you, the engorged head on his cock hitting the entrance of your cervix, that little orifice sucking at his tip like it was begging for his filthy, fertile seed. The thought made him fuck you even harder, the image of him pouring his cum inside you and impregnating your insides.

"Tomura, Tomura, Tomura!!"

His name was a chant on your lips, arms thrown around his shoulders to pull him closer. You could smell the sweat and grime on his hair, and the thought someone so gross like him was taking you made your insides flutter and twist with the build up of an orgasm. "Tomura, don't stop, fuck...don't stop!!"

He didn't and soon you were clamping on his cock, your orgasm making you so tight that Shigaraki was shooting his load too reaching an abrupt climax, pleasure hitting him as his cum flooded your insides with its warmth, painting your walls white and filling up your womb until it was overflowing out of you, steaming down your thighs and ass onto his bedsheets.

It was like a dream, the best dream he had ever had. And he would've thought that it was nothing but a dream, too. If not for the arms that were still clinging to him and refusing to let go, the pretty mouth breathing against his ear.

"Tomura, you...really are disgusting." A satisfied voice filled with disgust, and affection. His cock began hardening inside you and you barked a laugh.

He hated you for that, and he loved you for that. The perfect girl everyone wanted, that was just so perfect for him too.

[completelyandtotalyuneventful]

In your fic where tim kill joker i would love to see how Jason reacts

:)

There was no beta reading at all here. Like I didnt even read back over it, so sorry if it’s rough.

-0-0-0-0-0-

It’s 2:15 am, April 28th, when Jason Todd wakes up in his own grave.

It’s not a necessarily pleasant experience, to be honest. In fact, he would go as far as to say it wasn’t enjoyable AT ALL.

The events that follow aren’t that pleasant, either.

But years later, after days upon days of fighting and bleeding through a haze of murky green, he’s finally back in Gotham. Finally back home. And he will avenge himself. Avenge Robin.

Except… it seems he’s a bit too late.

It’s 10:38 pm when Jason Todd finds out the joker is dead.

He’s been dead, actually. For a long time. He died the day Jason was reborn. A life for a life. A soul for a soul.

It was probably just a coincidence and not all of that universe bullshit, but Jason hasn’t really found a straight answer as to why he’s alive again anyways, so who cares.

Here’s what he knows:

Someone broke into (?) Arkham and killed the Joker on April 28th, about three years ago. The same day Jason clawed his way out of his own grave using nothing but a belt buckle and pure fear.

It wasn’t Batman.

The second fact makes him angrier than he could ever imagine. It makes him want to give up on his investigation and give into the green that pools at the edge of his vision every time he sees that mocking signal in the sky. But he stands his ground.

Here’s the third thing he knows: no one has any idea who did it.

It was a clean crime. Security cameras disabled, no traceable path towards the asylum, nothing. There was no trace left behind that could even hint at who had done it. The only ones who knew what happened that night were a dead clown and the martyr who killed him.

Maybe martyr was too strong of a word. It could have just been a hit, or an old grudge, but whoever did it and for whatever reason they did it, they were a hero. In Jason’s eyes, at least.

A quick scan into the bat computer proved that Bruce had no idea who it was either, which Jason found laughable. The so called ‘worlds greatest detective’ couldn’t find who killed the man whose life he valued over his own sons. It just made the case all the more interesting.

But he needs to take a pause, step back for a bit. There’s some business he needs to take care of, a plan to actually save Gotham, rather than enabling a never ending loop of crime and heartbreak like his father.

So Jason dumps all his research into a file on his shitty laptop, dons a red helmet, and chops some heads off.

It’s 1:50 am, July 19th, when The Red Hood realizes he’s being followed.

By a kid.

Teenager, the kid quickly corrects. Red Hood disagrees. He has to be 13, at most. Which he informs the other of.

The 15-year-old is surprisingly offended by this.

It’s 1:54 am, and the kid knows who is behind the helmet.

It’s 1:55 am, and Jason knows who killed the joker.

The kid - Tim Drake, as in the weird boy genius neighbor kid who was a grade behind Jason despite being 3 years younger - tells him everything that happened. The exact path he took, how much money he spent on rides, the people he saw, how he hacked into Arkham. Every moment, every minuet detail, the kid has ingrained into his brain.

He describes how the Joker looked in enough detail to keep The Pit fed for months.

It’s 2:10 am, and Jason’s laughing his ass off about how, not only did this kid hide his murder from The Almighty Batman, but that he’d actually been stalking them undetected for years before Jason’s death.

It’s 2:11 am, July 19th, when Jason finds out this date is significant to Tim. And that his parents have been out of town for about 3 months and don’t plan on coming back any time soon.

It’s 2:13 am, and Jason is waking back to his safe house tailed by a too-lonely-too-smart-for-his-own-good kid who he’s already started to view as a little brother, and he’s just promised the kid the best birthday he’ll ever have as a thank you for avenging his death. He hopes he can live up to Tim’s expectations.

It’s 12:14 am, and Jason Todd is no longer alone.

[thewomenofchicagopd]

You're Safe- Kim Burgess

Pairing: Kim x Reader

Summary: A string of murders leaves Kim to figure out why this case had been bothering her.

Requested: No

Warnings: gun, mentions of dead bodies, murder, hostage situation, shooting, please let me know if there are any other trigger warnings that I may have missed.

Word Count: 2,012

Everything about this case was frustrating. It had been nothing but long days and nights for the team. Three females were abducted, and every time someone had a lead, it quickly went dead. Typically, the Intelligence unit could close a case pretty quickly, but the suspect only taking one victim a week and leaving no trace or body behind didn't help.

Kim was frustrated the most. She wasn't sure why this case had bothered her so much. She wasn't going to sleep until the early morning and was up before you were. She was getting very little sleep, and you could tell by the dark circles around her eyes. When she was home, she locked herself in her office for hours, going back over notes and images, trying to find someone or something to connect this case to the suspect. 

Kim rolled into the office around 6 o'clock. Logging into her computer, she watched the security tapes from each abduction, seeing if there was anything they might have missed. Of course, nothing new popped up, and Kim leaned back and let out a frustrated sigh. Leaning forward, she grabbed the files from her drawer and started flipping through them. 

The ding from her phone caught her attention. Picking it up, she saw a text from Jay letting her know that the first victim has been found murdered. Kim quickly grabbed her keys and coat, darting down the stairs and into her car. Arriving on the scene, Kim flashed her badge to one of the patrolmen and ducked under the tape. She walked toward her team and looked down at the body. Kneeling, she started examing the body. 

"Oh my god," Kim whispered. 

She finally understood why this case was bothering her so much. The victims looked like you before you changed your appearance, moved to Chicago, and murdered the same way your ex had murdered the other women back in your home state. Kim stood up and looked around for Voight. Her eyes landed on him talking to one of the Patrolmen. She quickly walked toward him and waited for them to finish their conversation. 

"You find anything?" 

"Yes, but I need everyone to head back to the district. Like, now." Kim said with urgency. 

He studied her face for a moment. "Alright, let's go. My unit, head back to the 21st." 

Everyone quickly piled into their vehicles and headed back toward the district. Before Kim filled everyone in, she looked up news articles from the case back in your home state. She printed up the photos of your ex and the women he murdered and then placed them on the board. 

"Everyone knows Y/N moved her from her home state a couple of years ago and always told everyone she wanted a change of scenery." Kim looked at everyone; they nodded but looked confused. She continued. "I know this may be a far reach, and I'm still not even 100 percent sure, or maybe it's just a coincidence. But each of these women look similar to Y/N."

Adam interrupted. "They look nothing like Y/N, she has short hair, and these women all have long hair. And she has different colored eyes than these women." He said with confusion. 

Kim shook her head no. "Y/N used to have long hair before she moved here. And she wears colored contacts." Kim took a deep breath. "Several years ago, Y/N was in a relationship with a man named Josh. She said it didn't end well, and he would constantly stalk her and send her gifts, trying to get her back, and then all of a sudden, it stopped. Y/N moved and changed jobs. Then these three women disappeared and were later murdered once he found out where Y/N lived and worked. 

"Did he ever try and go after Y/N?" Kevin asked. 

"Yes, but they caught him before he could."

"Do you know if he's out of prison?" Voight asked. 

"That I don't know." 

"Jay, look up and see if he's been released." 

Jay hurried over to his computer and typed away. "Uhh, looks like he got released about six months ago." He said and turned his monitor for everyone to see. 

"Does he have an LKA?" 

"LKA is..." His eyes grew wide. "Kim, he's been living in the same apartment complex as y'all." 

"What?" Kim asked, confused, making her way over to Jay's computer. 

She couldn't believe it. Millions of thoughts and questions were whirling through her head. 

"Kim. Kim!" Voight raised his voice a little to get her attention. She looked over at him. "You can not tell Y/N about this; you understand me." 

"But Sarge," Kim protested.

He held his hand up. "If Y/N's routine even changes the slightest, he will not hesitate to kill the other two women, possibly Y/N, and even himself. We need to figure out where he's taking these women. Kevin and Jay go to the apartment to see if anything is there. Everyone else, get to work."

Kim excused herself and went outside to get some fresh air. She sat on the bench outside the 21st, pulling out her phone and going straight to your name. Clicking on the call button, she placed the phone to her ear and listened to it ring. 

"Hello?" 

Kim didn't return the hello, just relieved to hear your voice. After a moment of silence, Y/N spoke up. 

"Kim, everything alright? You don't normally call in the middle of a case." 

"I-Yeah, I just wanted to hear your voice." 

Kim and Y/N got to talk for a good while before Hailey came down to get her, letting her know they found the body of the second missing female. Kim hung up with you and followed Hailey to her car. Hailey looked over at Kim. 

"You alright?" 

Kim sighed. "No." 

"You know it's for the best. Hopefully, we catch him before he gets to Y/N; if not, we'll get there before he can harm her." Hailey assured. 

Everyone returned to the district after going through the crime scene and Josh's apartment. Hailey placed the crime scene photos on the board as Jay explained what they saw back at Josh's apartment. 

"There wasn't a whole lot. It's like he just moved in. A couch, bed, and tv were the only things in there."  

"You think maybe he just rented the apartment to spy on Y/N?" 

"Maybe." Jay shrugged his shoulders. "We have no other address for him."

"Alright, Jay, see if you can find any more info on him. Kim and Kevin, I want you two going through footage and see where he goes when he leaves the apartment complex. Adam and Hailey go through the footage of the second crime scene." 

Kim and Kevin went through hours of footage. Every other day, he used his car to follow Y/N to her job and then would disappear. On the days he wasn't following her, he'd walk down West Fullerton, turn left on 42nd place, and then disappear shortly after that. 

"Well, I give him props. He knows how to avoid cameras." Kevin sighed. 

After a minute, a light bulb went off in Kim's head. "You know, Y/N's job is about 15 minutes from our apartment, and he follows her in his car. But he walks when he's not following her. So what if his secondary location is not far from the apartment." 

"Let me see if there are any abandon properties nearby." 

Kevin pulled up a log of abandoned properties and narrowed it down to nearby places. "Here, there are two properties right beside each other." 

They made their way back up to the bullpen to show the rest of the team. 

"Kevin, Kim, and Adam, you take this house. The rest of us will take the other. Let's go." 

They arrived at the house. Adam and Kim stayed in the front while Kevin went to the back. 

"Ready." Kim shook her head. "Kevin, you good?" Adam asked. 

"Good."

"Alright on 3. 1, 2, 3. Go, go, go." Adam whispered. 

Kim entered first, holding her gun high and searching the living room. She followed Adam up the stairs while Kevin searched downstairs. They each looked through the rooms but saw nothing but emptiness. Returning downstairs to meet with Kevin, they headed down towards the basement. There was nothing there either. 

"Sarge, there's nothing here," Adam said over the radio. 

"We found the third female. She's alive." Voight radioed back. 

The three of them rushed over next door. Kim was relieved to see the third female alive but wasn't sure what this meant when Josh finds out they raided his hideout. 

"I want everyone going door to door and asking questions. See if the neighbors saw or heard anything." 

After almost an hour of knock and talks, the team didn't have much. They all met back up at Josh's hideout and reviewed their notes, seeing if there were any similarities. Everyone was frustrated; they had nothing. None of the neighbors ever heard or saw anything out of the ordinary. 

"Everyone back to the district." 

Kim's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw she had a text from Y/N. 

"Popcorn." 

Kim's mind went into a frenzy. You two only used that word for emergencies. 

"Sarge, Y/N's in trouble." 

"What?" 

"Y/N, she's in trouble. She texted me popcorn, and that's our word for emergencies." 

"Let's move!" 

Everyone rushed to their cars and sped off towards Y/N's work. When they arrived, a rush of people were coming out of the building. Voight finally stopped one guy and asked him what was going on so the team wasn't going in their blind. 

"There's a guy in there with a guy, asking to speak with Y/N. The receptionist said she couldn't locate her, and he started going ballistic, waving the gun around, saying he would shoot the place up if someone didn't find her." 

Voight thanked the guy. The team slowly moved to the glass windows, seeing Josh holding the gun to the receptionist's head. Voight entered first to get Josh's attention, and the rest of the team followed suit. 

"Josh, my name is Hank Voight, but I need you to put the gun down so we can talk." 

"No, no, no. Not till I see Y/N." 

"I'll see if I can call Y/N, but you have to toss the gun." 

"No, not happening." He said, shaking his head. "Get Y/N here now!"

"Josh." 

Everyone turned and looked over to Y/N coming out of her office. Josh smiled at her and made Kim's stomach turn. She was now absolutely terrified this was going to go down a different way. Keeping her composure, she held her gun more firmly, ready to fire if she needed to. 

"Y/N, stop," Voight said. 

She didn't listen to him. "What's going on?" 

"I came to see you. I-I missed you. I thought I lost you and came to bring you back home." 

"Josh, this is my home." 

That fueled Josh's anger. 

"No, Chicago is not your home!" 

"Josh-" 

"Y/N, no," Kim said. 

Kim's voice got Josh's attention and seeing her there only fueled his anger. He removed the gun from the receptionist's head and dropped her. 

"You. You're the one that took Y/N from me!" He yelled, pointing the gun at Kim. 

"No, no. She left you. She moved on; you didn't." 

With tears in his eyes, he turned and looked at Y/N, the gun still trained on Kim. "I'll stop. I'll be better. Please take me back. I love you." 

"Josh, I can't do that. I don't love you anymore." 

"No, no, no!" He pointed the gun at Y/N and pulled the trigger. 

Y/N felt the searing bullet rip through her upper arm. She fell to the ground, groaning out in pain. Kim fired her gun at Josh and rushed over to Y/N. Kneeling, she lifted Y/N to sit up and looked for other wounds. When she couldn't find any, she wrapped Y/N in a hug. Y/N laid her head on Kim's chest and cried. 

"Shhh, you're safe. You're safe." 

[sooblvr]

dreaming of you

pairing choi soobin x gn!reader // genre fantasy au, fluff // warnings none // word count 1.6k

after yet another sleepless night, you turned off the alarm. tall, dark hair, a gentle expression and an awkward laugh. you knew his deepest secrets and comforted his sobs, yet he remained nameless.

the, literal, boy of your dreams visited you every once in a while since you were less than fifteen years old. he was no more than a couple years older than you and had somewhat grown together.

from imaginary friend to mystery man, it was hard to describe your relationship.

“i saw him again,” you began, “but it was different.”

yerin, who you had known for just over a year, listened attentively. enthusiastic and lively, she made a love story out of your odd situation. “did you get his name this time?” “he was crying. we were, i don’t even know where. it looked like a bedroom, could’ve been his.” “and what was he crying about? he does that quite often.”

you evaded talking about his personal problems. he confided in you, and even though you didn’t even know if he was even a real person, it didn’t feel right to spread his business. “his friends leave him out. he’s very sensitive, and they make him feel like the odd one out. plan things without him, constantly interrupt him, stuff like that that builds up over time.”

“if only you guys could meet,” she sighed dramatically, “you should ask him if he lives in seoul. for all you know he’s in the class next door. get his name too, full name, so we can look him up on social media or something.”

night after night you hoped to see him, but your meetings were sporadic and random. sometimes you were at an amusement park, others in a classroom. around your early teens you began keeping a journal. every dream you could remember from the first to the most recent was written. some dates as specific as ‘04/26/2012’ and others as vague as ‘spring of 2019.’

your most memorable one had a bookmark. he visited you the night before your birthday.

“your present is on my nightstand, but i’m afraid i wasn’t able to bring it with me.” “so you can control when you see me?” “well, no, but i had a feeling i would see you tonight. you’ll be eighteen by the time you wake up.”

both of you stood outside an elementary school. you sat on the swings and bet on who would go the highest. it was strange that no one had complained about your loud laughs and stubborn bickering. having known each other for so long, it always felt weird to ask anything remotely personal. it was like you were ashamed- if you were as close as you acted, shouldn’t you know this already?

“did you actually buy me a present?” “i was hoping i’d show up with it since, you know, our situation is weird enough to where i wouldn’t be surprised if i could bring stuff from my regular life.” “i guess that’s valid. what did you get me?” “remember the time we were at the museum? you liked one of the mood rings.” “go on.” “i found a similar one, and i got it for you.”

his birthdays tended to go by unnoticed. when you asked how he had spent his special day his voice got quiet, murmuring that he didn’t want to talk about it. as much as you wanted to know more about him, you were uncertain of his impression of you.

would he find it creepy if you asked where he lived? what he did in his regular life? did he have a job? was he studying? you figured he had to at least live in the same city as you. all your dreams took place at local places.

your questions were answered on none other than his birthday, which he spent in the tutoring center at your school. he sat by himself, and you saw him from afar. it would’ve been weird for you to just go up to him as if you were best friends. perhaps it was weirder to act as if you were total strangers. he returned his books to the front desk while you signed in.

he smiled at you with his characteristic softness, though you weren’t sure if he had recognized you. acting on an impulse, you caught up to him before he left, “happy birthday.”

there was the slightest blush adorning his cheeks. he laughed nervously, and you felt a sense of comfort from his familiarity. “thank you. i’ll tell you about my day later,” he was gone in less time than it had taken him to respond. and just like every other night, you hoped you would see him again.

“yerin, you don’t understand. he’s much cuter in person!” “i knew you liked him. i haven’t known you for long, but you’ve never talked about someone the way you talk about him.” “no, i couldn’t like him. we don’t even know each other-“ “yeah, yeah, that’s everyone’s excuse.” “we’ve only seen each other in our dreams, but there’s so much more to our lives than that. i act differently with you, and he probably does too. what if he’s a horrible person? what if he doesn’t want to meet me here? and if i never see him again?” “calm down with the mental cartwheels, i’m sure he’s just as great in person.”

you read through your journal, hoping that thinking about him before going to sleep would help you meet him. it didn’t. 

and even then, you wouldn’t see him through your dreams but through the campus counselors. sitting next to each other in silence felt excruciating, but you figured if he wasn’t talking it was because he didn’t want to. if only you could’ve noticed he was thinking the same thing.

as soon as you turned to each other, both hoping to make the first move, the receptionist called his name, “soobin, you’re up next.”

“soobin, no last name,” you told yerin during lunch.

“i don’t know anyone by that name, is he in our grade?” “probably not, he’s older than me.” “i could always ask around if-“ “don’t, i don’t want him to think i’m trying to stalk him or something.” “you’re never getting anywhere with this mister no last name soobin.”

it took months for you to coincide again. it was as if you had broken the biggest unspoken rule of all. though you were content with the newfound knowledge of his name, you regretted it as soon as you realized he had evaporated from your dreams too. 

“happy valentine’s day,” you were at a local park near the school’s campus. you were thankful this was a dream since the place was always incredibly full of people- mostly tourists. “it’s been so long since i’ve seen you.” he looked down, feeling guilty even though he had no control over your meetings.

before you could run out of time, you agreed to meet at the library you had met at. something about the plan felt familiar though. you looked for your dream journal when you woke up. you needed to settle your doubts.

sometime in 2012,

our first dream together was at a library, one much bigger than any of the public ones.

was that it? had your first dream shown where you would meet? you couldn’t remember exactly if the library from the dream had been the one at your university, but it was certainly odd that you remembered to make the distinction between the dream library and the public ones.

even if you were right, you didn’t know what to do with that information. did the other dreams mean anything? were they predicting the future? it didn’t make sense. you were so young in the dreams, how could they represent an adult relationship?

you brought your journal with you to school, ready to show him the coincidence.

“we’ve been to museums, gardens, cafés, even ballroom dances, and all while in our teens,” he went through every page. “do you think maybe they’re hinting at something?” “do you?”

you looked around while collecting your thoughts. both of you were clueless. until he recalled, “you know, i always found it odd that we never asked anything personal. we knew each other in our dreams. in every one except for the first.” “right. for some reason we also never questioned where we were. maybe we already knew.” “except for the library.” “because that’s where we were supposed to meet.”

the more you kept seeing each other, the more you kept finding similarities to your dreams. it was never intentional, but there’d be instances like sitting at the same table, the music playing being the same, or even the date being the same except for the year.

“do you remember this place?” “have we dreamed about it?” “the only dream where we didn’t really do much, we didn’t even talk.” “you kept saying there was something you wanted to say but you never did.” “i knew i wanted to say something, i just didn’t know what.”

he handed you a piece of paper. it was an ad for the place, “this was outside my door this morning.” “and do you know what you want to say now?” “i like you.”

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Stalker X Stalker, Part 5

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Perma tag: @nathleigh

Stalker x Stalker taglist: @aespades @jayjayspixiepop @blueslushgueen @fan-written @seraphichana @nerd-nowandforever

Marinette listened in on Tim for three days.

Not actively, of course, she didn’t hang onto every word he said. She just let her consciousness drift in and out of the conversations he had while she worked on finishing up the outfit she had designed for Audrey...

And, yeah, she was getting to the point where she was willing to bet on him being an okay guy. Better than okay, even. He was just so… genuine?

The first two days he had come in sick. She knew the signs of working while sick by heart, the trudging around and the groaning and the constant banging your head on the desk when you pass out randomly, and damn she was pretty sure even she wasn’t as bad as him. He probably shouldn’t be working at all, to be honest, he was CEO and there was nothing stopping him from taking the day -- or even just a few hours -- off. But, no, from the sound of it he was drinking ungodly amounts of coffee and calling it okay.

And despite the fact that he seemed absolutely miserable, he hadn’t taken it out on anyone. She had yet to hear him be impolite to anyone, not even the people that worked under him. His secretary had made a scheduling mistake and he had not only assured her it was fine but didn’t even require her to fix it.

Even when he was talking to himself while working he never once said anything questionable. And he talked to himself a lot. It was like a podcast, honestly, just hearing him rattle off numbers and weird business terms she hadn’t learned because she was self-taught. He talked almost constantly and he should have slipped up by now, yet here she was three days later with nothing to show for it except for a whole lot of guilt.

Marinette hadn’t thought much about it on the first day, everyone had their good days from time to time. On the second day she said ‘oh, it’s a coincidence’, but on the third day she had to call it: her paranoia had been a little unfounded.

Literally the worst thing about him so far was that he didn’t seem to care much about his own health… and that wasn’t really a bad thing about him as much as it was a bad thing for him.

So, yeah, it looked like she had no real reason to listen in on him anymore.

… but…

Something about him was nagging at her. He was a nice guy and she’d like to be his friend… it was just that, sometimes, she could swear she recognized his voice.

And it wasn’t like there were a lot of people she knew in America, she knew who he probably was.

Her hand itched towards the tiny device hidden under her window seat. One click (and maybe a little researching) and she’d know for sure who the bats were. The only thing stopping her was the knowledge that, if she did know their real names, she’d accidentally call them by them once and immediately get thrown either into a cell or out of Gotham. She was a meta (kind of), she was already on thin ice. She didn’t need the paranoid idiots that were the bats being more wary of her than they already were.

So, she left it alone.

She kept the bug, though. Mostly just because she wanted to hear it directly from him rather than just guessing by his voice. After all, voices can be similar. If he were to directly talk about bat business while she was listening in, though… that would definitely be a point towards her theory, to say the least.

And, yeah, she knew it was kind of messed up. She could be listening in on some innocent guy for all she knew, but it was… morally kind of okay? The whole thing about stalking is that it makes your victim feel unsafe. If he was Red Robin then he had found the bug and hadn’t felt unsafe enough to remove it and if he was a civilian then he would never know about the bug and therefore couldn’t feel unsafe. Therefore, it wasn’t stalking, not really.

… yeah, that makes sense.

She glanced at her sketchbook and yawned. She really needed to get a new outfit idea soon. Good thing Tim said he was taking her out tomorrow --.

Shit, Tim was taking her out tomorrow.

She jumped up from her spot at the window and ran to her closet. What to wear, what to wear...

Frenchie: where are we going tomorrow

Spiderman: It’s a surprise.

Frenchie: fuck your surprises tim what do i need to wear

She heard his laugh crackle through her earpiece. Rude.

Spiderman: Casual clothes.

Frenchie: there are LEVELS of casual tim

Spiderman: Oh, so we’re breaking out the capital letters. This must be serious.

She scoffed. Of course it was serious.

Frenchie: just tell me what to wear

Spiderman: A t-shirt and jeans is fine.

Kwamis, send her strength. Like she was going to wear a t-shirt and jeans. Did he even know who he was talking to?

But at least she had a gauge on how casual she could go. She picked out a light pink button down and black shorts for herself and then, because she had a little bit of foresight, she added some black tights.

She smiled faintly and dropped back in her bed.

She couldn’t wait to see where he was going to take her.

She found out the next day. Because that’s how things work.

She raised her eyebrows. “There’s no way it’s actually called a ‘space museum’. You’ve gotta be lying.”

Tim shrugged, a grin poking at his lips. “Do you really think I’d make it up?”

“Well, considering your outfit, I’d say you aren’t the most creative of guys so maybe you did,” she teased.

Tim looked down at his outfit and pouted. He was wearing little more than a black turtleneck and pants under a white jacket. “Must you make fun of every outfit I wear?”

“Only the bad ones. Seriously, would it kill you to wear a little bit of color?”

He rolled his eyes. “At least I thought to bring a jacket. It’s thirty degrees!”

She had forgotten that Americans used Fahrenheit, sue her.

Of course, she was never going to admit to this. She stuck her tongue out at him. “Maybe I’m just not a wimp.”

He snickered. “Oh, so you’re not cold?”

“Not at all.”

“Then stop hugging that coffee cup.”

She looked down at the coffee cup that was her only source of warmth and happiness in this cruel world that had two different measuring systems (three if you counted Kelvin). She gripped it tighter. “... no.”

He rolled his eyes again and, after a beat of hesitation, shrugged his jacket off and offered it to her.

Marinette normally wouldn’t give in this easy… but she really was cold and his clothes were far thicker than hers were and she knew that her teeth would start chattering soon which would have been so embarrassing...

So she blushed faintly and slipped the jacket on. It smelled like ungodly expensive cologne. “Thanks.”

He grinned. “I’m taking your coffee as payment.”

“No --!”

~

After dropping by a cafe so Marinette didn’t kill him, Tim took her to the space museum (yes, that actually was what it was called).

He thought she would have missed the night sky. Gotham hardly ever had a clear night due to the thick smog that hung over the city like a curse. And they spent quite a lot of time outside at night, she must have been feeling a little homesick.

So, he rented out the museum for the day. Yes, the whole museum. He was rich and mildly famous and what was the point of that if he wasn’t going to use it to make the people he cared about happy? He doubted she would be able to enjoy the sights as much if people were constantly taking pictures of them and asking about their relationship.

She raised her eyebrows just slightly but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the lack of people.

They slipped through the rooms quietly in search of inspiration.

Many of the rooms were your typical museum things: exhibits showing off different space rocks and explaining stars and supernovas. They didn’t stop much here, obviously, there was little to be inspired by. The most that happened for a long while was Marinette stopping from time to time to take a picture of a nice color that she wanted to try and replicate later.

And then she had stopped to look at a spacesuit. She blinked a few times before breaking into a grin and flipping to a new page in her sketchbook. He could barely make out the name ‘Jagged’ from where he was fiddling with his camera a respectable distance away.

So, Marinette, at least, was having a productive time. Tim was… a little stressed, to be honest.

Tim was having a particularly hard time getting ‘inspired’.

It had been years since he had picked up his camera, which was certainly a problem but it wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that he had never been one to take pictures of locations or objects. Sure, there was the occasional picture of the Gotham skyline, but he had always had a tendency towards taking pictures of people. Batman and Robin working as a team to take out a bunch of thugs, Robin and Nightwing racing each other across the rooftops, Batman and Nightwing stopping for ice cream after a particularly long patrol… and now he wanted to take pictures of Marinette.

But that would be weird because a) the first day he had implied he took pictures of attractions in order to alleviate suspicion about why he just so happened to be on the same rooftop as her and b) she probably wouldn’t think they were close enough for him to take pictures of her.

He kind of wished he could just go back to the old days where his subjects didn’t know he was there and he wouldn’t have to worry about what they would think about him if he took a picture of them.

His fingers itched towards the camera hanging from his neck because she looked so cute with her tongue poking out of her mouth and her orange, yellow, and white colored pencils sticking out from between her fingers like little Wolverine claws and he loved the way his jacket looked on her and --.

“You can stop staring, I’ll be done as fast as I can.”

His brain shorted out and the only response he could come up with was a squeaky: “Sorry?”

She looked up from her work with an awkward smile. “I’m sorry it’s taking so long, I just… if I don’t do it now it’ll slip my mind. I’m working as fast as I can, though.”

He was rebooting. Give him a minute.

Ah, there it was.

Wait, she thought he was being impatient?

“Nononono take your time, it’s fine! I just...”

He trailed off before he could finish the thought because this was the second time they had hung out he couldn’t make things awkward between them already.

… but she was giving him a confused, vaguely concerned, look and he was pretty sure that if he didn’t come up with something soon it would be awkward anyways.

“IwasjustwonderingifIcouldtakeapictureofyou?” He blurted out before he could stop himself again.

She blinked once. Twice. And then a blush spread across her face.

“Oh. Uh… sure?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he said.

“It’s fine. A little sudden but… fine,” she said with a tiny smile.

Tim couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

Not one to be blushy for long, apparently, Marinette flashed a wink. “Should I call up my friend Adrien for modeling tips or…?”

He rolled his eyes and schooled his face back into his usual grin. “It’s fine, just keep working. I’ll figure out angles and stuff.”

She tipped her head to the side confusedly. “Don’t you need me to be still?”

He didn’t look up from messing with the settings of his camera. “Not at all. You’re probably going to be one of my easier pictures.”

“... thanks…?”

“I do mostly nighttime photography. Capturing things in motion without it blurring requires a --.” He cringed. “Sorry, um… basically, when you want to take photos of things that are moving fast, you need a lot of natural light.”

“... you can talk about it more in depth, if you want.”

He shrugged. “I’d bore you.”

“I like your voice,” she said… then she seemed to realize the implications because she cleared her throat and did her best to backtrack: “In comparison to every other American I’ve heard so far, at least. Why do your accents… sound like that?”

“Ah, yes, because everyone knows that French people have the best accents.”

“Excuse you, I have been told by many people that my accent is actually very nice.”

He grinned. “By whom? Half-drunk men on the street?”

She gasped as if offended. “I get my information from much more reliable sources... like drunk women in bathrooms, thank you very much.”

“I see. My mistake. I apologize.”

“As you should.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don’t you have a design to make?” She looked down at her sketchbook and a silence stretched between them as she squinted at her design.

“You forgot what you were doing, didn’t you?”

She groaned and rested her head in her hands.

He took a picture of her exasperated pout.

~

Marinette ended up with two outfits.

One was for Jagged, based off of the spacesuit she had seen. She had figured that, with all the songs he wrote about being free, there was bound to be one about how he ‘finally had his own space’. It was good to be prepared.

The other was for Cassandra Wayne. Marinette hadn’t thought much about it, to be honest. She just knew that Cassandra liked the color black with designs on top of it, and that the planetarium had a nice star pattern that would work for that. It would be super expensive, what with all the gems she would need, but it wasn’t like the Waynes couldn’t afford it.

… and then she looked up to see Tim pouting.

She giggled, resting her head on her hand. “What?”

“My sister is getting a dress and I’m not.”

Oh, so he was an actual fan. Interesting.

She brushed that conversation aside in favor of teasing him: “You want a dress?”

“Yes! No? Yes? I --.” He huffed and took a seat in the chair next to her. “I have faith anything you make will look nice.”

She felt a blush rise to her face and she rolled her eyes. “Hm. Telling the person in charge of your wardrobe ‘I have full faith in you’ is a terrible idea.”

“Oh? I don’t think you, in good conscience, can make and give me anything bad.”

She squinted at him for a minute before breaking into a grin. “Wanna bet?”

He leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing her for a few moments, before smirking. “Sure, how about we put five thousand on it?”

She choked. She’d forgotten he was rich rich.

She was quick to backtrack: “Nah. With all your fashion choices so far I can’t trust you not to wear it to some Gala or whatever it is you rich people do.”

“Damn, there goes that plan.”

She grinned and looked down at her sketchbook. After a few seconds she flipped to a new page. She squinted at his outfit for a few moments before starting to doodle something.

“What’re you making now?”

“I’m making you something with some color.”

He huffed. “Excuse you, I’m a goth in a family of goths. I can’t wear color.”

“Yeah, yeah. Trust me, I know. I’d say Richard is the black sheep of the family in that aspect but he’s the one wearing color.”

He laughed a little. “So Dick is the white sheep, then?”

“Yea --.” She stopped and then squinted over at him. “Dick?”

“It’s what he insists everyone calls him.”

She looked down at her sketchbook for a moment, processing, and then shook her head. “Your brother has a degradation kink.”

Tim brought his hand to his mouth in stunned silence before pulling his phone from his pocket and definitely not informing the family group chat of his discovery.

She snickered and went to work on the outfit again. It was a simple one, because she didn’t want to go too far out of his comfort zone, but there was no way she was going to be friends with a monochromatic idiot.

She leaned over until her head rested on his shoulder. He tensed up just a little before resting his head on top of hers.

~

When she had finished he took a picture of the planetarium to keep up pretenses and they had made their leave.

… but first, they stopped by the gift shop. Because why not?

Tim could have bought everything there for Marinette -- and probably would have, if asked -- but, considering she had freaked out about five thousand dollars earlier, he figured maybe he should keep that more or less quiet.

Instead, he followed her around while idly bouncing a Saturn shaped bouncy ball. It was a terrible shape for a bouncy ball and he kind of loved it, to be honest. Not to mention the little smile Marinette made behind her hand every time the ball would try another mad dash for freedom was pretty cute.

And then they hit the t-shirt section. And her lips twitched as she reached out and picked up a bright blue shirt that said ‘May the F=MA be with you’ in white text.

“It’s awful. It’s perfect.”

He grinned. “Wow, look at you. You know one of the simplest physics formulas by heart, aren’t you smart?” He joked.

She bowed. “I know, I know.”

He held out a hand for it and she stared at him for a few seconds in confusion.

“I’ll hold it until we get to the front desk.”

She squinted at him. “I’m paying for my own shirt.”

“I can afford it,” he said with a sigh.

“So can I.”

“Either you let me pay for it or I’ll keep track of everything you buy while with me and add it to your commissions.”

“... either you let me pay for it or I’ll never make an outfit for you ever again. I know your measurements and style, Timothy, you won’t be able to get past me.”

They narrowed their eyes at each other, daring each other to call their bluffs…

And then his shoulders sagged. “Fine.”

He’d just have to use his connections to lower prices on fabrics for her. Did he mention that he was rich and mildly famous? Yeah. It was pretty cool.

~

She smiled as she leaned against the doorframe to her apartment. “Thanks for taking me out. It was fun.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled back. She was determinedly ignoring the way his smile made little butterflies flutter in her stomach. She patently hated butterflies. They weren’t allowed.

“I had fun, too. Want to do it again, sometime?”

“... sure, I guess you passed my test.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Your test?”

“Oh, yeah.” She waved him off. “If you had made any creepy comments today I would have blocked you.”

He seemed a little relieved by this information, though she wasn’t quite sure why. “That’s a pretty good test to have in Gotham.”

“I know, I’m pretty smart,” she said jokingly.

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

Damn it, now she was blushing. Shit.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you flatter every girl you take to the space museum? Is this your strategy?”

He snickered. “Well, considering you’re the only girl I’ve taken, I’m going to have to say yes.”

She hummed. “I’m glad I’m so special to you, because that means you won’t drop me when I never give you this jacket back.”

He huffed. “You can’t just do that.”

“I can and will,” she teased. Then, because she wasn’t a completely cruel person, she reached up to her coatrack and pulled down a red scarf for him. “Here, take this so it’s more of a trade than stealing.”

“If I don’t?”

“Then you get to walk back to your house in the cold like that.”

He snorted. “What happened to not wanting to steal?”

“At least I offered!”

He rolled his eyes and leaned down so she could wrap the scarf around his neck.

She looked up at him, a blush spreading across her face, and then carefully draped it over his shoulders. “There. Now you have a splash of color.”

He smiled at her. “Ah, I see, this was all just a plot to get me to wear colors. It all makes sense now.”

“Of course.” She tugged him down more by the scarf to press a kiss to his nose. “You should wear red and black more often. They’re totally your colors.”

He smiled a little dopily. “You have no idea.”

She pushed his face away. “Weirdo. Go be cryptic somewhere else.”

“Fine, fine. See you in a few days.”

“See you then.”

~~~

Bonus Batfam group chat stuff

Timtamalam: What if Dick makes everyone call him that because he has a degradation kink?

LetMeLeaveTheChat: i fucking hate this family.

BloodSon: This is exactly the kind of lowbrow humor to be expected of you, Drake.

Timtamalam: I’m unappreciated in my time.

CAss: :0

Timtamalam: See, this is why Cass is the favorite.

YouDontSeeMe: DickJoke please respond

DickJoke: I raised each and every one of you and this is the thanks I get

LetMeLeaveTheChat: sucks to suck, dickwad.

DickJoke: That’s it when I get through all this dumb Heartless stuff I’m coming back to the manor and we’re all going to have family time

CAss: :(

ItsEggplantNotPurple: damn it

YouDontSeeMe: crap

LetMeLeaveTheChat: fuck. and an extra “fuck” on duke’s behalf.

BloodSon: Look at what you have done, Drake.

Timtamalam: Sorry guys.

[zirkkun]

just before.

just before. (Undertale fanfic - based off of Wickedtale by @alch3mic​ - rated M by AO3 standards.)

+ soldier!sans x dancer!reader (they/them prns)

+ 4456 words, english

+ prologue to soldier’s story. first time he ever meets dancer.

+ cw: mentions of murder, classism, yandere/obsessive personality, abusive/controlling parents

+ “he hadn't heard that phrase in years. so constantly aware of the corruption plaguing the world... well, as it seemed, there was still one highlight to live to protect.”

+ AO3 link

Ebott City. The corrupted hell hole that was somehow above ground, while the actual hole the "monsters" came from had been far more palatable. At least, in one case. Many didn't have the same experience he did, but… whatever. That didn't really matter. He didn't really care about it anymore. Why dwell on the past? There's too much shit going on in the present to even have time for something like that.

Day-to-day life was flooded: constantly moving, constantly working, never slowing, never stopping. There's no time for that. The day he gets time to take off and sleep, get whatever medication he's sure he needs for his horrifically weak non-stomach, and lead a healthy and safe lifestyle while retaining his wealth? Ha. In dreams, maybe. This city wasn't kind enough for that. Though, maybe if his ambitions weren't so specific, he wouldn't have fallen into this path of endless work… but it's a little late for that.

His brother had made use of their skills the two of them had attained growing up, and with that opened a dance studio where others of all sorts could come through and learn how to dance. A small corner of peace in this awful world, that little building, where monsters and humans could both dance without feud, where rich and poor could both talk without judgement. Maybe it was ironic, maybe it was fate, or maybe it was straight coincidence that his brother had named the place "Enchanted Dancing." He knew that the name was merely in reference to the magic of their home where everyone had their own sort of dances they practiced, which they all soon found was very different from most other monsters who had battle magic specialties. But even still… heh, ah, it just further proved his point. The only decent place in the world was the Underground, before they ever surfaced.

A beep. 6:00 P.M. Work.

Or, rather, his second line of work.

While he'd abandoned his dance skills long ago, he never really fully disconnected with music as a whole. It's not like he really could when he doesn't have anything else to his life or history -- he doesn't know anything else. So, he made it a pastime to make his own musical works, trying to sell them online for money, but quickly found it's not exactly easy for people to find your work… let alone get them to pay for it when they do. He had run low on money fast -- so fast that he needed something quick and easy that he could do to not end up on the curb in a weeks' time.

He doesn't remember how he heard about it, or really what possessed him to go along with it anyway; but somewhere along the line, he'd caught word of some pretentious wealthy human furiously rattling off how their reputation would be "demolished" if the rumor that had begun about their business didn't come to a halt. How they would pay "insane amounts of money" to have that rumor "eradicated." You know, without really doing any work themself, or trying to better the work that they were doing, or fixing the root of their problem to begin with… Yes, because throwing money at the problem until it's pushed onto someone else is the better solution.

And yet… when someone comes up to you in your hour of despair, presenting to you an arguably invisible layer of protection in this world of work or die, something to get you out of the dark and stop the ticking clock of your otherwise inevitable doom…

It's not like he was going to turn down the offer.

He'd forged some sort of alias -- whatever it was at the time no longer mattered, since he'd had many over the half year or so he's been doing this -- and scribbled out a note of sorts explaining what was, at the time, a feigned, short "resume" for work as an information broker. The note was left with the pretentious prick, who did, in fact, end up contacting him in the end, offering more money than he thought he'd ever see in his waking life. Needless to say, he took the job… and found the issue to be so incredibly simple to resolve that even a child could have done it.

Well, no.

A child would have had more sense of morality.

... probably.

Who was he kidding here, honestly? He complains about the rich on a regular basis, their foolish waste of money, their apathy towards those that didn't have any money, just pure care for only money.

But here he was.

Morality erased.

Lives ruined.

Bank account overflowing.

Doing the same things they were doing.

The very least he could do -- and the very least he does do -- is support those whose music he'd wanted to support while he was on the edge of homelessness. Even some of his online friends, music composition friends, were consistently met with the cash they needed in a moment's notice. "Where did you even get this kind of money?" they would ask him. He would just jokingly say that an old witch blessed him with unending wealth, or something else to that extent of unbelievable ridiculousness.

But, unfortunately, not all of his money could go towards such good causes. While he did have far beyond the money to sustain multiple dozen families, at least a third of it was thrown right back into the exchange as he paid person after person for job after job he was unwilling to do.

There was no blood on his hands. No dust caked into his bones.

But it was splattered all over the money he handed out like trick-or-treat candy.

He'd met two others, notably, that did a lot of work alongside him. A crafty cat and a wily wolf… figuratively, of course. The three of them sharing the same first name, they merely tossed nicknames at each other. More often than he probably realized, they took much of his budget for work he was far too lazy to bother with. You know, scouring the dark web for information, stalking people to track their pathing… the occasional hit here and there. Sometimes, he would do it himself, but only if he really felt up to it… and frankly, he was never in the mood for murder. But that damn wolf was shockingly willing -- for the right paycheck.

He did recognize, however, the two of them did seem to have a mutual similarity that he, personally, did not share.

… he did not have anyone close to him. He didn't have anyone who looked after him, cared for him. It didn't bother him until recently, when apparently that damn wolf managed to lock the object of his affection into a relationship. Even the cat seemed bitter when he heard the news. Someone so fucked as him still manages to find someone?

… the world was just trying with his emotions at this point. Taunting happiness at the end of a pole taped to the back of his head, leaving it just out of reach, but always in his way and always in his line of sight.

Of course, he had his brother…

... who he doesn't talk to for weeks at a time…

... and he keeps turning down his offers to meet up again…

… yes, he had his brother. A strong emphasis on the "had."

He was alone. He knew that. But, at least for the case of his brother, he'd done it on purpose.

The last thing he wants is to have his brother, someone so passionate and pure, hands still clearly clean of sin; find out he has the richest humans of the city wrapped around his fingers out of both fear and dependability.

So, frankly, sometimes he found himself jealous of the other two. The other two who had someone to care for them.

He supposed the trio of them could sort of be friends…

He'd met the wolf a few times in person, both intentionally and not.

He'd bumped into the cat, wasted in a bar, more than once.

… No, they really weren't his friends. Co-workers is the best way he could probably describe them.

Yes, he was just jealous of them.

He was alone.

…

… Well, work isn't going to start itself. He pulled his phone back up to his face, clicking it on to see how long he'd zoned out for. 6:03 P.M. Not too terrible. He slammed shut his laptop, pushing back from his chair as he went to put on the outfit that had practically become his "uniform" at this point. A dark under layer of tight leggings and a fitted long-sleeve athletic tee with a zip-up turtleneck; a desaturated over layer of a baggy, now sleeveless hoodie and equally as baggy gym shorts. And, of course, a hat, as usual… but he wore those no matter the time of day.

His apartment door clicked shut behind him as he left, and once the door was locked, he evaporated into thin air.

-- only to appear, moments later, in front of one of the most lavish mansions in the richest part of Ebott City. It was so bleeding with "I'm such a rich, extra asshole" energy that it made his Soul twist with disgust. The walls were marble, shimmering from small lights below them to show off their sparkling, smooth surface. Each edge of the building was lined with gold-plated metal, even the rails to the stairway. Arching windows stood on either side of the front door, which was probably big enough for an average sized elephant to fit into with some extra ear room to boot.

Thank the stars he didn't have to go inside again. He already knew what his job was for the night, and to be back inside that disgustingly overdone building these pretentious humans called "home"... Just thinking about it made him feel beyond insulted.

He took another shortcut -- this time, finding himself on the rooftop. Although the sun had not yet fully set, even so, it was still much darker here than standing in front of the artificially-lit trophy they called a front entrance. He popped open his phone again. 6:05 P.M.

Unlocking it completely, he pulled up a message from the cat he'd gotten this morning.

morning soldier~ i managed to get done what you needed me to for today last night. which, you owe me BIG-TIME for, mister.

i was up until 4 am doing this!!

Soldier checked the timestamp. Yesterday, 11:34 P.M. Does that cat think he's an idiot? Whatever, it's not like this was the important part of the message. But, if anything, he's getting docked pay for really bad lying. It's not like the guy needs more alcohol money, anyway.

here's a list compiled of all the parties in ebott tonight. i only looked for ones starting after 6 pm like you asked, but there was still far too many… the list is very long (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

[file download link]

i hope you're happy!!! cause im not looking any more than that!!!!! ☆⌒(> _ <)

He downloaded the file to his phone, browsing through it to see what parties had been collected into the spreadsheet. He only could assume that's what was bringing them out, at the very least.

Oh, yes, his job for the evening. That's integral information, I suppose.

The mansion whose roof he sat upon currently was owned by a human family with the surname King. They had twelve children, all adopted, but were all also kept on very rigorous and strict schedules. The eldest of the children very recently had been caught sneaking out of the house every evening by one of their siblings, and sleeping noticeably late in the morning, their final semester of university was suffering from this all as they refused to finish their thesis. So, naturally as it is for all the rich, they threw their money at the problem hoping that would fix it.

Today's "that" was the skeleton monster sitting on their roof, waiting to see when someone would eventually leave the house.

With a hefty sum of money, upfront payment, as usual; Soldier was told to follow their child for three nights, and to report back after that time with what they had been up to. Seemed easy enough. Of all the jobs he'd gotten, tailing someone for a few days and tracking their every move was probably the easiest he's ever had the misfortune of doing.

He continued to scroll through the list. He had been given absolutely nothing to work with from the Kigngs as to where their kid was headed or when they tended to leave the house, or any information of actual use; so he was going into the job without a clue as to what he was really looking for. It was probably the most difficult aspect of the job -- hence why he outsourced the bulk of it. As for the "where," parties seemed like a reasonable assumption to make for a human college student. That's a rather common stereotype of sorts, college students getting drunk at party after party, is it not? Better than nothing, he supposed. Nothing else really came to mind anyway, but that doesn't mean there wasn't another option. Even still, it's a better start than nothing.

Now he had to just wait for the "when." He had the list in front of him, hoping he could deduce when the human would leave their house… but the more he read it over, the more bored he got. Guess the cat wasted his time. Oh well. That's not Soldier's problem.

Just as he locked his screen shut, planning to come down from the roof and investigate any exits that might be hidden to most of the house, he heard an absurdly loud sound he initially thought was a gunshot, followed by a raspy huff of various curses. Peering over the edge of the rooftop, after shortcutting there silently to avoid making attention towards himself; he noticed there was, in fact, no gunshot, but rather, an awfully messy and junky trap door of sorts, seemingly made of plywood. A human, who he assumed was the one who swore earlier, grabbed a bush that had been sitting next to it, picking it up like it was nothing and placing it over the door. It was in line with several other, similar bushes. The human dusted off their hands before walking, keeping a close eye on the mansion walls to their side.

Well, looks like he's found who he's supposed to tail.

He kept watch over them for as long as his eyes could follow, and then, the moment they left his vision, he shortcutted to where they had been moments ago, though slightly distanced as to be hidden nearby; and simply repeated the process. Soldier knew this part of the city better than the back of his hand, so he knew where he was at all times, as well, making shortcutting silently even easier.

… However, what he didn't understand was where the hell this human was headed. A few times he tried clicking on his phone, scrolling through the list again, but they weren't headed in any direction towards any party. And even when they started heading in the direction of one… they would end up taking a "wrong" turn and dodging it completely.

…

… this was taking a really long time…

It's… almost been an hour by now. Soldier's starting to recognize this area a little less. He knew the map layout, but not all of the details about where they were or what was distinctly different about each street. They were outside of the rich part of town, but not quite in the poorer side that he was used to, either. If he was remembering correctly, this was in the direction of downtown. Unless this human's planning on breaking into some probably-already-crashed college dorm party for the night, they definitely weren't planning to party at all. Okay, well, that throws that plan out the window.

But now he had no idea what to expect. Were they banned from getting help, so they're actively seeking it out? Unlikely. Were they secretly addicted to drugs? Unless it was alcohol, getting away with drug smuggling in downtown was a horrific, nearly impossible idea. Did they have a significant other that their family wouldn't let them see? Well… he had no idea. Thoughts and questions and possibilities kept cycling in and out, but he never lost sight of where they were going.

And, sure enough, the bright downtown lights descended upon them as they started making their way across the long bridge leading to the most eventful point of the city. Due to the sheer length of the bridge, and the fact that Soldier was not as well-versed in the map of the downtown Ebott area… he resorted to traditional stalking, mimicking their every step as casually and nonchalantly as possible, as though to avoid being spotted.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. One new message.

weeeeell? was my work useful? >:3c

He merely huffed half a laugh before typing out his response.

i didnt use it at all

what?! Σ(･口･) soldier, i went through all that hard work, and you didn't even LOOK at it???

i looked at it

i didnt use it

...you're at least still paying me, right?

no

you are the WORST 凸(｀△´＋）

i'm never doing anything for you again >:(

you dont need the alcohol money anyway

But the cat never responded to that one. Well, Soldier's never been the best at landing most jokes, despite his tendency to make them. Clearly sarcasm wasn't his strong point either. Whatever. He'd pay him later.

He put his phone back in his pocket, putting his attention back to his job as the bridge finally began to end. If the human was suspicious of his following them, they showed no signs of it. Good. Frankly, being silent by stalking someone in this manner isn't his strong suit. He had assumed they would have stayed nearby… not gone to the other side of the city.

The sun had set, but even still, downtown was overwhelmed with artificial lighting, and frankly, it was already giving Soldier a headache and he hadn't even been here for more than 10 minutes. Curse his ridiculously weak and sensitive body.

The human kept walking along, though their pace was beginning to hasten as they flickered their gaze between stepping and a phone screen. Naturally, he also quickened his footing, although unsure as to why. Maybe they were running late for something?

They took a sharp left into a shady alleyway; Soldier shortcut to its entrance, spotting them sprinting down it as fast as they could before eventually climbing up a wooden fence at the end, reaching its peak and jumping over it with ease. Like they'd done this many times before. Soldier, confused, checked the name of the buildings on either side of the alleyway… but neither were significant. One was even an apartment building of sorts, but it looked abandoned at best. Well, might as well continue.

Reaching the end of the alley and pushing himself over the fence with magic to avoid making as much sound as possible, Soldier's feet landed on the concrete of the other side. It was surprisingly… clean. As if someone kept it nice regularly. He went to take a step forward when he heard chattering, and instead, tucked himself behind the smallest edge of the nearby wall, barely peering over its edge to see the rest of the area.

It was like a very small park. Perhaps a courtyard? But it was too barren for that. Well, all except the trees. There were four skinny trunks sprouted from the ground, all of different kinds, and probably no more than two and a half meters tall. Around them was a square-shaped sidewalk of the same concrete he was standing on.

But, at that center of the trees, were two humans, not one. He recognized the one he'd been following up until this point -- vaguely, and mostly just from the color of their clothing -- but the other was new.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I was held up worrying I was going to get caught…" the human he'd followed spoke. "My dad apparently hired someone to follow me for a few days. One of my sisters told me… she apparently ratted me out -- she was forced to -- and now my dad's on a manhunt to find out what I'm doing."

"Yikes," the other person responded. They had a higher pitched voice, but a lower tone of interest. "Sorry to hear about it. You didn't need to come racing here to tell me that, you know. You could have stayed home and texted me to move the lesson."

Lesson?

"No, it's fine. I came because I wanted to. It probably would have been better if I waited… but I was too excited about tonight," the human explained. "It's the first time we're practicing the whole dance routine straight through. I've been practicing on my own some other nights, too."

… dance routine?

The other human let go of a heavy laugh. "You've really been practicing for two weeks straight with no other dance party breaks?"

"I said on some other nights!"

The both of them laughed.

But Soldier was stuck on "dance routine."

A phrase he typically only heard from his brother anymore, and he barely talked to him as is.

A phrase he'd never said himself in… so long.

An act he hasn't tried since they were still trapped Underground…

An act that, even back then, he'd sworn off doing after so many years of it.

It's like he'd been punched directly in the Soul. Possibly even with a knife.

"Well, are you ready to start, then?"

Soldier's attention peered back to the two humans.

"Yup, whenever you are!"

There was a brief period of silence.

Then the music started. He didn't recognize it at first…

But the realization that it was his own piece hit him in the face like a truck. Some sort of shivering heat rushed through his body. … embarrassment? ...maybe? He… wasn't sure.

But even still…

He soon became entranced by their dancing.

Only the human he had been following was dancing the routine. Every step timed perfectly to every beat and measure… so meticulously performed with such dedication. But then, some old part of him started to creep back from where it had been shoved away, as he started judging the technique of their every move. Sure, they had a… beautiful dedication to every step they took… but much of it was wrong. Though, they were not missteps. Everything planned was executed with confident perfection. The moves themselves were wrong. Some of them didn't match the tone of the piece at all, and it was clear that they were self-taught, just based on how they were moving in between each one. He wasn't mad, no… no, rather… he was utterly fascinated.

Soldier stood and watched the whole routine, start to finish. Though, he couldn't help but have a yelp from his own Soul every time they did something his own memory was screeching to be incorrect. It was yelping because… he wanted to correct them. He wanted to walk up to them, tell them what was wrong with their choices, and point them in the right direction. He wanted to… take them by the hand, directing their movements through his, teaching them how to dance the way he was taught. He… couldn't stop staring…

A scream. Soldier shortcut in a panic. He was now on the opposite side of the wooden fence, back in they alleyway.

"What, what is it?" The voice of the second human.

"I… I thought I saw someone." A breathy, horrified tone from the dancer. "I thought someone was watching me but… th-then I blinked and… they were gone."

The second human huffed angrily. "You haven't been getting proper sleep lately, have you? Maybe you should go home and rest."

Still breathing heavily, the dancer hummed a sound of malcontent. "I… Can I finish the routine first?"

"Really, now…" But with a sigh, the second human allowed them to start again from the beginning.

Meanwhile, Soldier…

He was doing his best not to scream on his own. So many emotions overwhelmed him entirely. Most of which he could not identify. But one thing would not stop looping in his mind. One thing other than a raging beat echoing in his skull from the sound of his own Soul racing, that was. In fact, that only heightened.

The thought of taking their hand. Teaching them to dance.

The overwhelming feeling of hearing someone else not just listening to his work… but expanding upon it. Being able to express themself through it. Being able to see themself through him.

The raging passion burning deep inside of him, regretting his forgone dancing career. It ate at his Soul, bit by bit. Begging his laziness to cave for them and them alone.

The fact that all of these thoughts happened in the very same millisecond that he made eye contact with them… he felt unexplainably and weirdly hot.

That eye contact. Their eyes, their face. They were almost as beautiful as the dances they performed… no… perhaps even more so.

Another loud beat echoed in his skull. The song was reaching its end. He knew he needed to start going home before he was caught.

But part of him wanted to be caught.

Part of him wanted to catch them.

… And all of him wanted to see them dancing… just one more time. Once more, that's all he asks.

Just one more time.

Maybe… maybe that will suffice.

Maybe that will drive away the fortissimo thoughts clouding his sense of reality. Maybe he'll be able to go back to…

A thought. A separate one, remembered from earlier this same evening.

"Alone."

He was… alone.

…

Did he really want to go down the same paths as…?

No, not really.

But it seemed his Soul was not giving him much other option. The mere thought of never being able to label himself as lonely… and if it was because of someone as beautiful as them…

Well. He already was a hypocrite, chanting against a society he partook in regularly. What other damage could be done by reaffirming what he already knew?

Besides. His Soul was desperate.

He wanted that dancer for his own.

No… no, this was most certainly a need.