#and then over the summer he just. decided i was manipulative and a monster and so was my girlfriend.

[jeremiahthefroge]

Deeply Embarrassing: guy who's whole Thing is being The Super Smart Double Major English-Psych Guy, who you used to be best friends with before he freaked out and cut you off, is now revealing himself to be incapable of engaging in relatively simple texts in relatively easy classes and being effortlessly upstaged by people outside of the English department

[atlabeth]

bleedin' me dry | luke castellan

runaway with luke ending here!!

summary: luke has a proposal. it doesn't go over well.

a/n: so um. obviously im a huge percy jackson stan ive got annabeth in my name and ive literally wanted to be her since i read the books in second grade and by virtue of being an annabeth stan i hate luke but i also think he is so interesting and so good for angst and i also love the pjo resurgence we’ve got going on here from the show!! so here you go. here's some angst

title from vampire by olivia rodrigo

wc: 2.8k

warning(s): fem!child of demeter reader. luke is his own warning lmao. pushy and manipulative behavior, not the healthiest relationship! and no happy ending

“You know I love the forest,” you mused, “but you have to have a reason for bringing me out here.”

He gave you a wry smile as he squeezed your hand. “Do I have to have a reason? You said you love it—that’s gotta be reason enough.”

“I love it, but there are monsters here.” You twisted your free hand and flowers sprouted up a few feet away. “It does give me a chance to show off, though.”

You were in your cabin helping Katie clean up everything—it was the last day of summer and most of the Demeter kids had already left—when Luke knocked on the door and asked you to accompany him on “a little adventure”. Despite the teasing of your siblings, you bashfully accepted.

It wasn’t the smartest thing, admittedly, to find yourself in the forest with your boyfriend with a couple hours ‘til curfew when you still weren’t even sure if you were leaving or not, but you had your dagger. Luke didn’t have his sword, but you had been practicing.

It wasn’t like it really mattered, anyways—he probably just wanted to make out with you. It was far from the first time, and for all he knew you were leaving for the school year in a few hours.

He chuckled but didn’t say anything. You looked up at him, a slight frown creasing your brows, and nudged him with your shoulder.

“Is everything okay, Luke?” you asked. “You’ve been… oddly quiet.”

Again, it took him a moment to respond before he just shrugged. “I’ve been thinking, I guess.”

“About what?”

“Life,” he said. “Our lives.”

“Very philosophical for the hour,” you said dryly. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” Luke nodded, “yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Ask away.”

“Have you ever thought about leaving?”

“I’m still deciding whether I want to go back home for school or not, but—”

“Not after the summer,” Luke interrupted. “Leaving camp. For good.”

You frowned, a chill running down your spine. “Of course not. Camp Halfblood saved my life, Luke. I could never leave.”

“Says who?” Luke stopped and your intertwined hands pulled you back, stopping you as well.

“Says all the monsters that tried to kill me last time I went home,” you said slowly. “Don’t tell me you forgot the dracaena that nearly got me on that field trip.”

“‘Course I didn’t forget,” he said, inclining his head. “I just think you’re good enough now to make it without this place.”

“Luke,” you said with a strained laugh, “you— you can’t be serious.”

He shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because if we leave, we’ll die,” you said slowly. “I barely made it on my own out there.”

“You’re more powerful now. And you won’t be on your own,” he said, tugging you closer. Despite it all, warmth bloomed in your chest. “I can protect you.”

“Luke…” You trailed off as he cupped your cheek with his other hand, bringing your gaze back to his.

“What’s the point of staying here?” Luke murmured, an unmistakable softness in his eyes. “Just so we can sit around at summer camp for the rest of our lives? I mean, it’s not like that’s gonna be much longer, the way Chiron tells it.”

“I ha— we have friends here,” you said, huffing another laugh as you took a step back from him. It was easier to think when he wasn’t touching you, when you were still able to sever the string connecting the two of you. “We have a life here. A safe life, Luke, where we don’t have to look over our shoulders constantly.”

“Not me.” Luke shook his head as he moved a step forward in tandem, and he took your hand again, his grip tighter this time. “You’re the only thing I’ve got keeping me here.”

“Please,” you said in disbelief. “You’ve got a whole cabin of siblings that adore you. You’re the best swordfighter here. I’m pretty sure even Mr. D has a soft spot for you.”

“Please,” he mocked, “you can’t seriously believe that.”

You shrugged. “All I know is that when you finally asked me out, I gained a whole lot of enemies.”

“Like that means anything,” Luke said.

“The kids love you too!” you exclaimed. “Their eyes light up with stars whenever you help them with their sparring. You’re a beacon of light to this place— where is all of this coming from?”

“I’m tired,” Luke said roughly. “Tired of the gods ignoring us when all they’ve caused is pain.”

You frowned, but he continued on.

“You’re telling me you haven’t noticed it?” he asked. “When’s the last time you ever saw my dad give me any kind of attention besides some fun-colored smoke? He ruined my mother’s life— he ruined my life! And our cabin is damn near overflowing with unclaimed kids. Where are their parents?

“Luke—”

He shook his head as he forged on. “And you can’t say that Demeter is any good either. I bet she makes your cereal tastes real good in the morning, but she’s abandoned you for your whole life.”

“Luke, where is this coming from?” you asked, your frown deepening further and further as you let go of his hand and took a step back. “You— you know I’m not a fan of them, but you can’t just go around saying things like this. The last thing I need is for my mother to— to smite me, or strangle me with vines or something because I’m not appreciating her enough.”

Luke huffed a laugh. “That would be the most attention she’s paid to you since she claimed you.”

“She’s a goddess,” you said. “She’s got more important things to do than send me emails asking how my day is going.”

“Really?” Luke asked, his eyebrows rising.

“Yes, really,” you enunciated. “I expect it. I consider myself lucky she claimed me at all.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” he marveled as he said your name. “Your mother has never been there for you, and you think you’re lucky?”

“Luke—” you started, but you couldn’t even finish as he continued on.

“Demeter wasn’t there for the year you spent feeling like the scum of the Earth because you hadn’t been claimed yet. Demeter wasn’t there for the childhood she gifted to you then abandoned you for.” He pushed forward still. “Demeter wasn’t there for all those sleepless nights you spent in the Hermes cabin wondering if you were ever going to know who got you into this mess.”

“Luke, stop,” you finally managed to get out, moving back in turn.

“You know who was?” He continued to forge on, capturing your wrist when you tried to take another step back, eliciting a shaky exhale as you flinched. “Me.”

You ripped your arm away from him, fire in your eyes and blazing in your blood. “Don’t ever touch me like that again.”

“I’ve been here for you since the moment you stepped foot into Cabin Eleven!” Luke’s voice rose, and you’d never been more aware of the dagger hanging off your belt. “Through every tear, every tirade, every godsdamned rant about the gods—”

You stumbled back, and your heart stuttered in your chest as your back hit a tree. Your jaw was clenched, attempting to stop your tremors trying to wrack your body.

“And you’re telling me,” his voice suddenly lowered until it was scarily soft, little more than a whisper as he leaned over you, noses nearly touching, “that you would still choose them over me?”

“If you do not get away from me right now,” you said, quiet and even, “what we have, and anything we could have, will be over.”

Luke didn’t move. “Answer me.”

For a moment, it was just that—you and Luke staring at each other. His chest rising and falling just so from the effort of yelling, his beautiful eyes devoid of any previous softness. You thought your teeth might crack with the pressure in your jaw.

“No,” you said. “I wouldn’t choose them over you.”

And for an even shorter moment, his eyes do soften.

“But I won’t leave my family,” you whispered. “Not for whatever cause you think you’re fighting for.”

And just like that, the armor went up again.

“So that’s the way this ends,” Luke said evenly, and when he moved a few steps back, you felt like you could finally breathe again.

“You know who I am,” you argued, though you couldn’t make yourself move. “My siblings are my family— my friends are my family. I’d never leave them.”

“Oh, I should have expected it,” he said offhandedly. His laughter was a cruel thing. “I always knew you were a coward.”

“Don’t you dare turn this on me,” you spat. “Why do you even want to leave in the first place?”

“Because I’m sick and tired of all the bullshit that goes on here!” Luke yelled. “We’ve been here for years, and what the hell do we have to show for it? A couple scars? A lot of near death experiences? Some deadbeat parents that ruined our damned lives?”

“I have a family that I never could’ve dreamed of!” you exclaimed. “I have sisters and brothers that love me, friends that understand me, and—”

Your voice broke for a moment and you swallowed the lump in your throat, forcing the tears back. Some of the fire burning through your veins had been extinguished as you continued.

“And I thought I had a boyfriend that was there for me.”

It was there again—his eyes softening ever so slightly when he looked at you. But then he clenched his jaw. “And I thought I had a girlfriend that was there for me.”

“I won’t leave,” you enunciated. “I’m not going to help you with whatever crusade you think you’re meant to lead against the gods!”

“You don’t understand,” he insisted.

“You don’t understand!” you exclaimed. “You’re ready to leave all of this behind, and for what?”

“I don’t want to leave it all behind,” he said. “I want you by my side. We could be something truly great together— can’t you see?”

Luke took your hand again and pulled you away from the tree, gesturing with his hand around you. “You can control all of this. The whole world is your domain—we’d be untouchable.”

“Luke, you sound crazy,” you said roughly. “Where is all of this coming from, seriously?”

“I just know that we can live a better life,” he said. “Together, without the gods.”

“Witho—” You couldn’t even manage to finish the word, shaking your head at the pure absurdity of it. You hardly recognized your boyfriend purely because of the insanity he was spouting. “Luke, we don’t need to leave! We don’t need to stand against the gods, or— or whatever this is!”

This time, you took his hand as you tried to smile. “We can make this work, Luke, and we can make it work here,” you begged. “I promise.”

“Things need to change,” he said, voice steely, pulling his hand away. “And they’re clearly not going to change here.”

“Yes, they can,” you insisted, your hands clenching into fists at your side. “I want things to change too, believe me! But going off on your own isn’t going to do anything for it. We can start it here—together.”

His eyes were colder than ever as he looked down on you, and you truly didn’t recognize him. The glint in his eye and edges you would cut yourself on and the insanity he was spouting for no damn reason. You didn’t know what in Hades’ name had gotten into him.

“All we do is sit around and wait for that hag in the attic to spout prophecies, and then Chiron sends some kids off to die, and then we sit around and wait to do it again,” Luke said. “The gods keep making kids and the kids keep dying because they leave them in the world alone— we’re practically grandparents here because we’re lucky to make it past sixteen! The gods don’t do a damn thing about it, and neither does Chiron.”

He shook his head as he stared right into your eyes. “You’re not as smart as I thought if you think you can change anything here.”

“So— so what?” you asked brazenly. “You’re just gonna leave?”

Luke shrugged. “I was always gonna leave. It just depended whether you were with me or not.”

He turned around and started walking, and for a moment you were fully dumbstruck, unable to move. Then something snapped inside of you, and you moved your hands straight up through the air. Vines sprouted from the ground and tangled around Luke’s legs, stopping him and nearly causing him to fall.

“You don’t just get to walk away from me after spouting this bullshit,” you fumed as you ran to catch up with him. “What in Demeter’s name has gotten into you, Luke? Gods— this isn’t you!”

“See?” Luke smiled, ignoring your question. “You are powerful.”

“Answer me,” you seethed.

He shrugged, that small smile still on his lips. “It’s always been me. Maybe you’ve just been too stupid to realize.”

“Where are you going to go?” you asked, ignoring his jab. “Not home, clearly.”

It was a deep cut, something you never would have said under normal circumstances, but his expression didn’t change.

“I’ve got plans,” he said, ignoring your jab, and he huffed a laugh. “And I guess they don’t involve you anymore.”

All you could do was stand there, stunned as you stared at him. It was cliche, but it really wasn’t him, because you loved Luke and he loved you.

He’d always been a bit spitfire, always a little sharp around the edges, but you loved that about him—and he softened those edges for you. He was strong-willed and caring and passionate about everything, and you didn’t want to lose him. Not like this.

You knew what he’d been through. You knew what happened to his mother, what happened to Thalia, everyone he’d lost and every reason for every scar. But you never thought—

Gods. You never thought he’d actually do… this.

“Let me go, will ya?” Luke asked, tilting his head. “Or else what we have will be over— or whatever it was you said back there.”

The vines receded against your will, like his words just connected to your subconscious. You stayed rooted in place as he continued walking away.

But then he stopped. Turned around, looked right at you.

And for a moment you were fourteen again, feeling alone and forgotten going into your third month in the Hermes cabin. Grumbling your way through sword practice because the excited camp counselor who just happened to be your age refused to let you sulk for another day.

It was days after your fifteenth birthday, and the golden sickle with sheaths of wheat had finally appeared over your head at lunch. Luke had lunged at you, wrapping you in the tightest hug possible, and looked at you with all the stars in your eyes as he congratulated you. He helped you move your meager belongings into the Demeter cabin the very next day.

It was the first time you decided to go home since arriving at camp, and Luke was sidled outside your door, making wry comments every so often as he kept you company while you packed.

It was him kissing you right before you went over the hill because he said he couldn’t keep his feelings in any longer. It was you kissing him right back wondering why he waited so damn long.

It was three years of the best thing you’d ever experienced, of the most steadfast companion you could’ve had by your side—three years of Luke Castellan’s love.

Then you blinked, and you were back in the woods. Luke’s expression had softened, but the brimming tears in your eyes blurred your vision.

“I really did love you, y’know,” Luke finally murmured. “But you should know that love isn’t ever enough.”

He was out of your view before you could even muster the strength to move again, and then you were running through the forest faster than ever before.

But when you reached Cabin Eleven, there was no sign of him. And when you checked the pavilion and the forge and the amphitheater and the training arena and every other godsdamned place, you were just as disappointed.

But by the time you got to Chiron and found out the chaos that had spouted in his wake, that he had wanted you to be a part of, it was much, much too late.

Percy Jackson was fighting for his life. Camp had been left in complete disarray. Luke was working for Kronos.

And the man you loved was truly gone.

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Honestly I'm more impressed when reading fanfics in ATLA how Ozai is constantly tormenting his kids(sexually, physically, emotionally) like 24/7. Personally Ozai struck me as the type of person to not really focus on his kids beyond honing in their skills, especially if that kid is Zuko.

Seriously if Zuko never spoke during the war meeting Ozai probably would've entirely ignored him. When we see what Ozai's ideal version of Zuko is like when he's under the impression Zuko killed Aang, Zuko is legit silent and basically sits there like furniture during the meeting.

Also I struggle to see Ozai interacting with his children beyond training since that's probably where Ozai's expertise lies more than parenting. Ursa was probably bench pressing the parenting duties until Ozai told her to leave and even then, I imagine Ozai left other people to do the more tedious tasks like servants or what not.

I believe that Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, and Azula including the entire Fire Nation Royal Family have very complex relationship dynanamics with each other. I believe that over time Ozai began to develop feelings of affection, care, even geniune love for his family. However, since Ozai has been raised to be a ruthless, cunning, manipulative vicious warriors since his childhood. Ozai and Ursa maybe be Fire Nation Royal and Noble by blood. However their personalities and background environment extremely differ. Which is why Ozai is so much colder, cruel, and brutally ruthless compared to his wife Ursa and even brother Iroh. Ozai has been personally brainwashed and socially conditioned since childhood by the Fire Nation Elite and Fire Lord Azulon to become the man that he is today. Compassion, Morality, Peace, Pacifism and Mercy are signs of Weakness and MUST be eradicated and eviscerated. However, during Zuko and Azula early childhood Ozai was more gentle and fatherly towards his children and husbandly towards his wife. Ozai was never some sadistic wife and child beating that the ATLA Fandumb tries to horribly make him out to seem like! It just their Abuse Porn Headcanon Fanficition Obession!

Zuko mentions that Ozai and Ursa along with their family used to be happy, and we saw that in Zuko's flashbacks. Yang, just decided to make Ursa a victim because in his mind: URSA IS A GOOD WOMAN! OZAI IS A BAD MAN! SHE MUST BE HELD HOSTAGE BY THE EVIL ABUSIVE MONSTER!!! While Ozai and Ursa arrange marriage does make sense and was confirmed by the creators. It doesn't mean that Ozai and Ursa's relationship was ALWAYS BAD, or SHE WAS KIDNAPPED! Plus, the Urzai relationship is quite normal in the antiquity of Asian societies that the Fire Nation is based on aka Shogunates of Japan and Imperial Chinese Dynasties!!!

Ozai HIMSELF stated in the comics that he tried to be a good father to Zuko and Azula during their young childhood which is canon to flashbacks that Zuko has in the show. Zuko HIMSELF also stated that Ozai tried to be a good father to him and Azula. WHICH ALSO EXPLAINED WHY ZUKO TRIED SO DESPERATELY TO GET BACK IN HIS FATHER'S GOOD GRACE AGAIN AND REGAIN HIS FATHER'S LOVE! So, in conclusion, Ozai did love and care for Ursa, Zuko, and Azula. Despite, according to the comics he was ALSO FORCED into an eugenics experiment with the granddaughter of his grandfather's old rival and friend. On the orders of his father Fire Lord Azulon and the wishes of the Fire Sages. I believe that Ursa did alot of the child rearing when Zuko and Azula were toddler with Fire Nation Royal Servants helping her as well. However, Ozai was a active and positive influence as a father for his children in their early youth. Why would Zuko desperately want to return to the Fire Nation and his father if Ozai was just a cruel, harshless, bastard to him? Ozai, Ursa and the children used to enjoy the time at Ember Island with theater plays and playing on the beach at their family's summer house.

Ozai's harshness and ruthlessness regarding Zuko have nothing to do with Ursa or Ikem's forbidden love! Ozai wants Zuko and Azula to both prove themselves. Ozai doesn't favor Zuko or Azula. It is about which child will succeed Sozin, Azulon, and his legacy as future Fire Lord. In fact, Ozai doesn't want Zuko or Azula to think that they are the “favorite” child. He wants Azula and Zuko to improve through competition. Because of the “only the greatest of pressures can forge diamonds” & “steel sharpen steel” mentality. Ozai has the mentality of an imperialist warlord. Ozai isn't trying to be the world's most loving and caring father but rather continue and build upon a powerful and dominant legacy that his forefathers had created before him. He wants Zuko & Azula to be cold, ruthless, heartless, vicious, and brutal imperialistic warmongers like him (Ozai), his father (Azulon), and his grandfather (Sozin). As far as Ozai and Azula is concerned, Zuko is a disgrace as Firstborn of the Firelord. Ozai had some hope in the past for Zuko which is why he didn’t Exile, Assassinate or Banished him during his childhood or during reign as Firelord until the Agni Kai duel. Ozai was originally shame of Zuko for possibly being a non bender. Fire Bending probably means everything to Fire Nation Royalty and Nobility, even Piandao [probably noble] parents abandon him for being a non bending because it would be a disgrace. Ozai was probably going to disown Zuko for being a “non-bender” that was born on a Winter Solstice and Premature. High Fire Nation society is all about power, dominance, intimidation. 

In Fire Nation Elite Society, the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko was socially justifiable in the eyes of the of the elite noblity. The burning and banishment was cause by Zuko breaking sacred Fire Nation tradition in a War Meeting that he wasn't invited for!

HE IS A COMPLETE FAILURE OF A FIREBENDER AT 14 AND HAS NO MILITARY EXPERIENCE AS A GENERAL YET HE HAS THE GALL TO CALL OUT GENERAL LI PLANS FOR BEING TERRIBLE?

INSULTING AND CRITICIZING A HIGH RANKING WAR GENERAL WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE NOT BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE ACCORDING TO IROH!

REFUSING TO DUEL (ANIMATED ATLA) OR HOLDING BACK (NETFLIX ATLA) IN A SACRED AGNI KAI DUEL WHEN COMMANDED BY THE FIRE LORD AND HIS IS OWN FATHER!

Extremely hot take...Yeah, I know. Granted, Zuko was MORALLY RIGHT about the Fire Nation troops being sacrificed on the battlefield for victory, but SACRIFICES ARE COMMON IN FUEDAL ANCIENT WARFARE which the Fire Nation is based on! Tokugawa Shogunate Japan, Yuan Mongolian Empire, Tang Dynasty and etc. Which were Imperialist and Absolute Monarchies. Robb Stark and Napoleon did the same thing and are considered great generals!

Was the plan immoral? Yes, but the Fire Nation genocided the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom for decades. Morality is the LEAST of the Fire Nation concerns especially when you can sacrifice a platoon of inexperienced fodder to capture a massive town or city and flank the powerful EK army. Firelord Sozin also had no issue committing genocide against hundreds or thousands of Air nomads during the beginning of the war, the same can be said for his son Firelord Azulon genocide of the Southern Water Tribes and his raids on the Earth Kingdom and Seige of Ba Sing Se!

Ozai's distaste and despisement of Zuko have NOTHING to do with Ursa and Ozai's arguments in ATLA Canon even in the Comics Ozai was simply saying that to hurt Ursa's feelings and gaslight her over bullshit letters. Ozai views Zuko as a disappointment of a son, firebender, and prince. His skills in Firebending are pathetic compared to his sister's and his morality from his mother and later uncle is out of line with Ozai and mainstream Fire Nation Elite Imperialists. If Zuko was a ruthless and cold-blooded killer like Azula and was at least just as good as his YOUNGER sister, then Ozai would NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEM with Zuko as his son and heir! Zuko represents everything that Ozai was raised to hate and resent; compassion, morality, mercy, weakness, etc. Ozai hates his son for incompetence as a firebending warrior which is antithetical to Ozai as the strongest firebender in the series along with him being an Agni Kai champion along with the morality and softness that Ursa and later Iroh fostered in Zuko. The fact that Zuko doesn't conform to their society's warrior culture and morality bothers his father since Ozai was likely forced to conform since his own childhood under his father Azulon’s reign. Ozai probably resents that Zuko has his mother and uncle's affection whereas Ozai as a child probably didn't have his mother, Ilah's love to protect and care for him from Azulon's wrath due to her death in childbirth. Iroh got to experience his mother's love and presence along with his father's respect during his childhood, something that Ozai never had. Ozai resents his first-born Zuko and relates far more with his second-born daughter Azula who is neglected like him.

[miiilowo]

May I ask for some info on characters in your gay boy summer drawing (Idk names sorry)

GRINS EVILLY. yes u may ( vvv pictures for people who havent seen em)

human dudes named finn, big monsters named arthur. arthurs not his actual name, but ill get to that in a minute. theyre ocs ive had for quite some time now but i've been renovating because i wanna make an actual digital horror series sometime in the coming years (everything would be posted to an in-universe youtube channel 'owned' by finn)

Finn is a shoddy paranormal investigator who lives alone in an RV out by the woods. While he's not too far from town, he's out there enough to get in trouble and not have anyone find out for ... A longer period of time than what would be preferable, let's just say that. Loves ghoul hunting. loves ghouls. ghosts and demons and whatnot. Uploads everything to a youtube channel.

One day, he decides to check out an abandoned house thats rumored to have demonic rituals and summonings happening within it, cause why wouldn't he? He gets there. snaps a photo down the hall. sees a numerous amount of red eyes staring back at him, and immediately books it back home! naturally he immediately gets followed home by the Thing he found. this is not preferable.

Arthur, when summoned, only has one way he can get back home. He needs a willing blood sacrifice in order to draw the portal and return- Emphasis on the word "willing". Typically, he would manipulate the summoner into being that sacrifice, by getting them emotionally attached in some way; making them reliant on him. Whoever summoned him last was aware of this, however, and booked it before he could do anything. With Finn being his first human contact in years, he's desperate, and tracks him down-So he can lure him in and use him.

issue one: there's been a string of murders in the woods nearby where he lives issue two: he's kinda thick skulled. since the murders happened recently, there might be some weird paranormal activity happening, right? issue three: the killer was visiting the scene of the crime when finn showed up, as killers tend to do. now he has a murderer coming for his ass

now, you can't really have a "willing blood sacrifice" if someone kills them before you do, right?

the series would follow the two as arthur tries his absolute best to keep finn from getting killed, and over time, arthur realizes he isn't being kind and loving to finn just because he needs to use him to get back home anymore.

anyways. handful misc information:

finn nicknamed arthur out of fear when he saw it staring at him through his window in the dark at like 2 am and it stuck

arthur cannot form words because of the way his mouth is, so he primarily communicates through technology, sort of forcing finn to be constantly recording. think of that one scare in the mandela catalogue where the date displaying on the recording changes to the words 'bad idea, mark' or whatever it says

eventually i want finn to strap a modified spirit box to arthurs neck so he can communicate like that. ideally this will resemble withered chicas voicelines in ultimate custom night

everything about them you can find in the #redux tag on my blog and also on @reduxblog cause i RB everything there :3

[specialagentlokitty]

Giles x teen!reader - a demigods fate

Part 8:

Giles had noticed a small change in your behaviour, the way you exhibited a bit more teenage like behaviour.

You were more open to staying in the school grounds when you had to, doing your work, though sometimes it was a fight to get you to focus and concentrate.

But you allowed yourself to be a bit more vulnerable, you trained them all in how to fight like a demigod, and that’s what you were doing now with Buffy in the library.

Compared to you, Buffy had speed and strength on her side, but you used your manipulation of the shadows to your advantage.

Everybody watched the tense fight between you and the slayer, the way your weapons clashed, metal on metal echoing around the library, and finally Buffy had you pinned.

“Not had for a human.” You said.

She held out her hand, helping you to your feet.

“Monsters don’t care about a fair fight, like demons and vampires they’ll win by any means, and some of them have powers. Learn the monster and their weakness.”

“They’re coming in full force now, are you sure that we’ll be enough against them?” Xander asked.

You shrugged a little, setting your sword in the table.

“No, but we have no other choice, they won’t send any more demigods.”

“Why? We need the help.” Willow said.

“I can summon the help when the time comes, right now I can’t waste my strength on that.”

“What will you do?” Buffy asked.

You gave her a smile, sitting down in the chair you had placed your jacket over.

“Let me worry about you, just remember your training.”

The bell went and the three other students looked towards one another, grabbing their stuff to head to class.

You looked through some of the parchments on the table, and you set them aside.

“You haven’t told them, have you?” Giles asked.

“I know there’s no point, at the end of the summer the hellmouth will open, creatures from Tartarus will come spilling out, monsters will come from all angles.”

“You don’t think they should know?”

You looked towards the door, shaking your head.

“Not yet, it’ll only worry them. The only thing you all need to do is fend off the hellmouth.”

“And you still don’t know what you need to do?” He asked.

You shook your head.

“Not yet, but I was given something.”

Reaching into your pocket you pulled out two coins, you set your first one on the table, and then you set another one on the table next to you.

Giles picked it up, furrowing his brows in confusion.

“I.. I don’t understand, what is it?”

“Stygian iron. It absorbs the essence of monsters, and demigods.”

You took the coin from him, tossing it in the air and catching the hilt of the sword, setting it on the table.

“Unlike celestial bronze this can hurt and even kill everything including gods.”

“How on earth did you come across such a powerful weapon?”

You watched as it reverted back into a coin.

“A gift from Hades, along with a note saying only to use it once, and I would know when that time was.”

“Wonderful, how cryptic of him. He hasn’t decided to explain it to you in more detail by any chance?”

You shook your head, putting it back into your pocket, and you picked it up the first one, looking at it.

“This was my first ever sword, given to my by my mom who was given it to her by Hades when I was a baby.”

You took his hand, and you placed it in his palm, curling his fingers around it before pushing his hand back.

“Take good care of it.”

“I.. I can’t accept this..”

“Please, I want you to have it Giles, think of it like a Christmas present.”

Giles put it into the pocket of his blazer.

“I will, and speaking of which, what are your plans for Christmas?”

“I have to go somewhere, retrieve something I don’t know what, I’ll be back before school begins though.”

Giles nodded his head and stood up, putting his glasses back on.

“You’ll be safe won’t you?”

“Yeah, I will.”

He smiled, holding up a hand to you and he walked to his office before coming back with a box, setting it on the table.

You looked at him confused, and he gestured to to it with a smile.

Walking over, you took the lid from the box.

Reaching inside, you pulled out the little teddy penguin and you laughed a little, grinning at him as you held it up.

“Penguin!”

“I thought you’d like it, a little change from the monsters and the studying. There’s something else in there as well.”

You set the penguin down, reaching into the box you pulled out a chain which held a small stone at the bottom.

You looked at it, turning it around to inspect it properly.

“I found it in a Greek shop I went into while I was searching for more books, the Satyr told me that this would bring protection to whomever was wearing it, that even in the underworld you would be safe, it was blessed by Hades himself. I.. I’m not sure if it is true however..”

You smiled, putting the chain over your head.

“It is, Hades blessed three of these, one for his wife, one for a hero long ago, and one for a hero yet to come.”

You looked at Giles, and you leant against the table, looking at the plush penguin in your hands.

“Merry Christmas (Y/N), and good luck with your quest.”

You set the penguin down, and you nodded your head.

“Thank you. Take care of it? I’ll get it when I’m back.”

“Of course.”

Giles took the penguin and you walked to the shadows to start your quest to who knows where for who knows what.

All Giles could do was worry, even as Christmas came up, he worried about your safety, who knows what you were facing or what was happening.

He looked at the tree you had helped him put up in his home, and the few other decorations you had made.

They weren’t particularly well made, they looked like they were made by a child, but you made them, and you were proud of them, so he was proud to put them up.

Sitting with a book and a glass of wine, Giles began to carry on his research about what was to come.

Rig was laid on the couch next to him fast asleep, Oris was laid on the floor by his feet, and both hounds snapped their heads to the corner of his home that he kept dark for you.

Setting his book down, Giles stood up, standing behind the dogs as they growled and paced back and forth.

You came stumbling out, gasping for breath, dropping to you knees.

“I.. I got it…”

You coughed some blood on to the floor, and the hounds rushed to you, supporting you before you could fall on the floor.

“(Y/N)!”

Giles picked you up, laying you down on the table, grabbing his first aid box to clean your wounds.

He noticed the small flicks of shadows at the edges of them, slowly stitching them back together and it made him grimace a little.

“What happened?”

“Giant…”

He nodded his head, and you held up your hand, showing him a book.

Giles took the book, setting it aside so he could finish cleaning your face, and your side.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m hungry…”

He chuckled, smiling a little bit he got up, making his way to the kitchen you heard the microwave and he walked back over.

“Come up, let’s sit you up.”

He helped you to the kitchen, sitting you on the stool by the counter, and he placed the plate in front of you.

“Did you cook all of this?”

“Yes, I had some spare time, I made you one just in case you made it back in time. I’m aware with impending doom you maybe don’t want to celebrate Christmas, but I still do.”

You smiled, grabbing your fork to start eating.

Giles set his plate down, and he stood there eating his own dinner.

“You didn’t eat yours?”

“Well, it would be rather rude of me to start without you wouldn’t it?”

“You didn’t know I was coming back.”

Giles smiled, tapping you on the head with the Christmas cracker.

“I had a feeling.”

You grabbed the other end and pulled up, immediately grabbing the paper crown that fell on the counter and you put it on.

“Ah, the ever so feared forbidden child, wearing a paper crown, I’m absolutely terrified.”

You grinned at him, and he went back to eating his food.

“So, why were you sent all that way for a book?”

“I don’t know, the prophecy said it was for the watcher, he would make sense of it when the time came.”

“Well, I’ll have a look through it and see what I can find, you in the other should go home and get some rest.”

You shrugged, feeding some of the turkey to the hounds waiting patiently.

“The nightmares?”

“Joys of a demigod.”

“Right then, after you’ve finished eating I’ll get the sofa made up for you, we can see if that helps any better.”

You nodded, and he did just that, sitting in the chair while you slept, Oris laid on your chest, Rig laid on the back of the couch.

The book didn’t seem like anything of much importance, mostly myths and legends that he had already heard off.

When you began to toss and turn he set the book down and walked over, picking up the penguin he placed it under your arm.

You grabbed it tightly, and he sat in front of you, picking up the book again.

Nightmares were a reoccurrence for you, and he knew that, and he had learned that you could sense somebody nearby while you slept, and it comforted you to know you weren’t alone.

The following morning you woke up and stretched, shadow travelling back to your apartment to go back to sleep and hide away until school began again.

Grumbling you trudged into the library, dropping yourself into your usual chair.

“How wonderful of you to finally join the land of the living.” Giles mocked.

You put a dollar in the jar then stuck your middle finger up at him with a little grin.

“At least you put a dollar in the jar first.”

Giles sat down, handing you your work for the day.

“Your grades have improved since you started, you should be proud of yourself, and you’re learning how to work through your dyslexia as well. You have come a long way, I’m proud of you.”

“You are?”

Giles smiled.

“Of course I am, you worked so hard to get these grades, just remember in a few weeks you have some more tests.”

You nodded, pulling your books closer towards you.

You opened one of them and began to read what your tasks for the day were.

You worked hard at studying, and you had worked really hard at trying to keep your grades, so when a few weeks when you did your tests and got your results back you ran to the library.

Bursting through the doors you tumbled and scrambled back to your feet.

“Giles!”

“What?!”

He came rushing from the top of the library.

“What’s wrong?”

You held up the paper to him and he jogged down the stairs, taking it from you, looking between your grin and the paper.

“I got my first A!”

Giles chuckled, smiling brightly and he set the paper down on the table.

“That is absolutely amazing (Y/N), I am so proud of you!”

You rushed forward, hugging him tightly and he smiled, placing a hand on your shoulder, patting it a few times.

“You’re doing absolutely wonderful, congratulations.”

Giles grabbed the jar and held it out to you.

“I think after all that swearing, you’ve earned this.”

“Yes!”

You pulled away and grabbed the jar, stuffing the money into your pocket, and you pointed to the paper.

“Keep it!”

With that you ran away again, and he took the paper, walking to his office to put it with all the others and the coin you had given him.

He smiled, seeing the progress you had made and it truly made him so proud, he felt like a proud father, and if he was your father he would be so incredibly proud of you were his child.

But even if you weren’t, he was proud of you nonetheless

[ryan-the-thing]

Honestly I gotta redesign some of these probably but-

Bill Cipher, a demigod who's true name is shunned, made an enormous and fatal mistake: burning down his entire dimension; following in his father's footsteps of ruling. He could't save his family from the accident, and was left in open space with few survivors who wanted nothing of him. They cursed him with immortality/a timeloop that he should suffer for in return of his arson. Immune to fire and abandoned, Bill wandered the depressing galaxy and eventually ran into the Axolotl. They decided to adopt him and give him a second chance after living together for a bit. Bill was sent to the 3rd Dimension, (no physical form), and decided to ask humans over generations to build him a portal in return for a prize of their choice. Planning far ahead of himself, he realized he could take over this dimension and be king, like the old days of being a prince. He liked this, and in the mindscape he met other trapped souls who wanted to rule under him. He made their deals and shortly after found Ford after his own brokenhearted experience. This was the perfect human! Smart, handsome... Ford took his offer and became close with Bill after a while. During a working hour of the portal with the scientist, one of Fiddleford's fingers were sliced off and he quit shortly after. Ford then took on the experiment by himself with Bill. As Bill accidentally showed Ford his true plan, Ford betrayed him, feeling tricked. Bill tried telling him the misunderstanding, but he was unsuccessful. Freaked out, Ford started taking down the portal, met up with Stan again, got sucked into the portal, yada yada…In the future, Dipper and Mabel's parents send them to the Mystery Shack for the summer. They watch over Mabel closely because she is an angel. She got it from her grandpa Shermy, who was killed by hunters. All angels should be killed on sight. Luckily, Mabel's family are there to protect her, and she still goes on adventures with her friends and family. Bill tries getting his project done through the kids, which fails. At the end of the summer, Ford is brung back through a portal and meets everyone again after 30 lost years in other dimensions. One day when Dipper comes back from an adventure with Ford, Mabel is jealous because she's not a demon or a nerd, and runs off. Soon, the accident of Weirdmageddon happens from Bill manipulating Mabel for an exchange to be a demon. He breaks the globe as possessed Blendin, and traps Mabel in her imaginative bubble, where she is not an angel. Weirdmageddon happens while the main characters try to stop Bill. The monsters he agreed with try to destroy the town and cause fire, which panics Bill. Which he didn't plan/want, but the demons were called off anyway. He begs for Ford to try and stop it, and it works with his own deal. Bill erases Weirdmageddon but become almost powerless afterwards. As the deal is done, the town goes back to normal, accepting Mabel as the last of her kind, and Ford keeping Bill with him again. Then it's just pretty much the same ending of Gravity Falls.

Oh yeah here's his info btw

[elliepassmore]

Never A Hero review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: time travel, morally gray characters, magic

Only A Monster review

Have you ever had a series where you liked the first book but didn't love it, but then read the second book and it completely elevated your opinion? That's what this book did for me. I liked Only A Monster but wasn't in love with it (even though I rated it 5 stars, don't @ me I have rating problems). But this book definitely hooked me. I liked where and who the characters were when this book opened, I enjoyed the adventure they went on, and overall I was more interested in seeing how it ended and was more desperate for the next book when I finished.

Joan was less naïve coming into this book and was still grappling with the implications of everything that happened over summer. She's obviously struggling with her heritage and has vowed not to time travel ever again, but is also still having fade outs where her mind dangerously tries to make her travel without time. As the action picks up, we see that Joan is still hugely protective and loyal toward the Hunts, despite the mixed emotions she feels toward them. She's determined to ensure that they're taken care of while at the same time she's trying to survive herself. We get to see even more of her complicated emotions regarding her monster heritage and her feelings of loyalty toward humans, which I liked. I wasn't so much a fan of how she decided to take such a morally high road that she didn't even use the trinkets that hold time. Like, girl, it's already been stolen, it's not going to become any less stolen if you don't use it and hurting yourself to avoid using it doesn't do anyone any good.

I loved Aaron from the get-go in book 1, but he does fall downhill here a little bit. It's not...entirely his fault, but I did hope he'd snap out of things faster. That being said, Aaron does make the right decision and returns to being his hilariously privileged but lovable self. His and Joan's friendship continues to be one of my favorite parts of this series and I'm very excited that he'll be in book 3 from the beginning.

Nick comes back in and I liked him again! I felt, in general, like he was much better this time around than he was in the other timeline. We get to see a different side to him this time around. He's gentler and more caring, and his protectiveness over humanity now gets extended to Joan and some of the other people they meet along the way. I think Nick is a more complex, nuanced character in this book than he was in book 1, and part of that is that he is able to make his own decision and come to his own conclusions in this one vs. in the first book when he was manipulated behind the scenes every step of the way (or almost every step).

I'm going to be honest and say I kind of had mixed feelings about the plot for a large portion of the book. Don't get me wrong, I really liked that Joan was forced on the run and there seemed to be this big mystery about the timeline. I also really liked how we got more insight into the true timeline as well as some of the other families we briefly came into contact with in book 1. That being said, I felt a little weird about Eleanor (new character), though I came around to her role in things toward the end. It's just, she felt cartoonish at first, but as more was revealed, more of both her complexity and her monstrosity became apparent. I like a good villain, even if I don't root for them, and Eleanor shaped up to be a good villain. I'm very interested to see where she goes and what she does in book 3 (also kind of scared at some of the implications for how the team is going to fix this).

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first one and it really elevated my opinion of the series as a whole. The villain in this one is more nuanced, and we get more nuance for our other characters and their past actions as well, which I particularly liked. The ending is definitely a banger and I'm looking forward to seeing how our protagonists get out of this one.

[riddlerosehearts]

so i finished my lightning thief reread the other day but before i start sea of monsters i'm going to share some random things i love from this book and don't think i posted about:

ngl i think annabeth's crush on luke is funny. like. i can understand why they cut it out in the show, it allows them to put more focus on percabeth, shift the focus of luke and annabeth's relationship to a familial one which would be done better if they interacted for more than 5 seconds in the show but oh well, and hopefully it'll also lead to them changing up rick's gross fuckup during luke's death scene later. but genuinely i think her crush is funny and sweet in the book??

and also i think it's a nice reminder that yes, annabeth is incredibly wise and competent, but she's also an emotional 12 year old girl. so she's got a crush on an attractive older guy who protected her and cared for her when she was at her most vulnerable, sue her lmao.

i miss gladiola the pink poodle, why must he get cut from every adaptation 😔 at least the musical paid homage to him by having a similar scene with a squirrel.

RIP to the "we drowned in the bathtub" "all three of you?" scene also...

i'm sorry i don't mean for this to turn into another show critical post but aaaaa. the procrustes scene really isn't even that important and i understand why previous adaptations have cut it, but if the show was going to include it, why couldn't they keep percy being a manipulative little shit and getting crusty caught in his trap all on his own. sorry this is just so much better than having annabeth suddenly pop up using her invisibility hat.

speaking of percy being a manipulative little shit: i still think giving gabe's number out on national television and claiming that he'd be happy to give everyone in LA free appliances is one of the funniest and best things he's ever done.

"i become supreme lord of the bathroom" is probably my favorite chapter title in this book. so legendary.

annabeth bringing an architecture book on the quest, just to read when she got bored, and gushing over the gateway arch and how she dreams of building something like it. and then spontaneously deciding that she's going to ride to the top of the arch just because she feels like it, high stakes time-sensitive quest be damned, because she's a kid with ADHD and not a perfectly calculating and flawless genius.

luke is kind of an asshole even before the Big Reveal and i love it 😭 yesss luke you just keep on manipulating these 12 year olds!! make percy feel guilty for lying to you about the shoes!!

this. why did the show take this from us:

sally killing gabe herself and telling percy that poseidon wanted to build her an undersea palace and treat her like the queen she is but she said no because "if my life is going to mean anything, i have to live it myself". ugh i love you sally jackson.

i'm sorry. but luke was right for this at least a little:

like the line "their precious western civilization is a disease" just GOES SO HARD!!!

percy not being able to decide whether to stay at camp year-round or go home for the summer until the last minute, and ultimately making the decision to go home right after annabeth reveals that she's going home 🥺

[cinnachaos]

ok so morgan lore (sorry this is so long , ive had lore cooking for these guys for a while and i never really fully finished it but here it is) (aslo i typed this all out half asleep i kight edit it later but maybe not idk)

warning for death and schtuff below

he lives on an apocalypse-ish planet where there are frequent lockdowns because of the inner monster stuff (refer to that other infodumping post) and unfortunately beth and jerry both got stuck in monster rampaging form and had to be exterminated/couldnt be found or anchored back into human form (they dont currently have a cure but later on with rick and morgan home they make one)

summer has a missing arm from a fucky wucky with a monster so she uses a robotic arm , she also has a shorter cut thats a bit fluffier and she doesnt wear a ponytail

rick has to leave the universe because he had a Monster Momento and fucked with a group of ricks so he wanted to make sure his morty and summer werent brought into it (his original family is all gone, it took him a LOT of tries to find morgan and summer so he cares a shit ton abt them)

morgan goes oh shit what the hell and takes a portal gun his rick stole and tries to find him but miami morty/mimi sees him thinking hes a rogue morty and goes can we keep him pretty please rick and even after he says no shoots a morty manipulator chip at him and drags him home like a wet cat

they go on adventures together, morgan usually wearing headphones and using weapons based off of games he likes because he doesnt like killing things so he does that to make it less AAAAGH for him (ill send my five thousand headcanons for the miamis and canon stuff about the monsters later)

one time he has a Moment with his monster form because unlike rick who at this point has most control over it bc hes coped with his trauma fairly well after mimi and rick get hurt and they have to heal him since his monster form usually damages him a lot (mainly through bruising, and if he uses his spikes or blades, bleeding)

they have a lot of fun unnttiiilll monster rick/his original rick comes to take him home and mistakes them for kidnappers even though theyve been taking good care of him so they both get into a fight and monster rick decides to take him home and keep him in the morty mind blower area of their house until he remembers which causes a huge freakout on morgans behalf

the miamis and monsters (summer and rick) go find him but go oh fuck its those guys and fight and then morgan has to go like guys what the fuck i like both of you and consider both of you family can you STOP FIGHTING so they go oh uh ok and now they have to share custody of morgan /lhj

also yeah monster care/research was prioritized in earth mv87 12 (theres more but i forgor) and it eventually calms down from a mass epidemic to just mildly dangerous

heres an old doodle of them since u got to the wnd of the infodump 🎉🎉🎉 (idk when ill draw sumker maybe later, just probably wont be soon cus im not hyperfixated on r&m anymore even if i still like it😭)

actually fuckit im putting my headcanons n shit here

ok so mv87/monster things

★ morgan wears headphones while on adventures to avoid hearing loud noises like gunshots, usually listens to splatoon music on loop

★ morgan has a habit of doing splatoon win animations sometimes when he successfully finishes an adventure

★ morgan was originally caught by mimi with pocket mortys stuff, he considers both the miamis and monsters his family, also very close to chaos rick and morty (another friends rick and morty) (hyperions-world chars!!!)

★ morgan is very close to his ricks but kind of scared of other ricks, he knows they can be really mean and devalue their mortys and him being really sensitive/fragile he cant handle that

★ morgan iscomfortable with miami mortys (/p!!!) kisses on the head to him and loves physical affection from any of his family members/close friends even if hes like eeeeeeeeehhhh from other people

★ morgan has a bad habit of getting extremely attached to ricks very quickly and is like a nice rick magnet 😭 hes befriended multiple ricks in the citadel like cop rick and enthusiastically waves at them anytime he sees them

★ morgan sometimes sways back and forth like an inkling/octoling idol position and has a few weapons a rick made him based off of splatoon/pokemon that he uses CONSTANTLY and will never go more than 5 feet away from him at all times

★ morgan can and will pull all of his family members into his hyperfixes/sp/ins. he will. hes done it with splatoon and pokemon . he will drag you in eventually/j

★ monster rick is really stoic/apathetic looking but really deeply cares for his family and he doesnt apply to the typical rick "idgaf about u haha fuck u u little pussyfart morty" /LHJ he tries his best to be a good grandpa and guardian even with his traumas and inner monster dealio

★ monster rick is always partially in monster form cus he thinks it looks cool, he also has a tooth gap between his front teeth

★ the mv87s do not know what sleep is. they constantly have eye bags except for sometimes summer because shes the most early bird of them all and she is very responsible

★ morgan is trans , i am heavily debating on making summer trans too. maybe. m a y b e.

miami headcanons

★ miami rick spoils the shit out of miami morty even though he wont admit it to anyone and if morty brings it up rick lectures him on the way home/lhj

★ MIMI FUCKING LOVES MONSTER HIFH AND YOU WONT BE ABLE TO PRY THAT HEADCANON OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS

★ miami rick goes by he/she with close friends/family but he/him or he/they w anyone else

★ miami morty isnt as smart as rick but just about as powerful when it comes to strength and fighting smarts? not counting weapons and stuff

★ miami morty acts like an absolute angel around rick for the most part but is menacing as hell to people behind his back LMAO. oh and hes an absolute girlboss, a diva who could and would throw you out a window like an empty soda bottle

★ miami rick is very protective of morty in the way that if anyone makes him feel uncomfortable because of his outfit or if anyone hits on him or just any creepy things in general rick will hate crime them

★ miami morty likes to jokingly flirt but sometimes will accidentally do it with other mortys and go oh wait thats me oops. well its still funny

★ miami morty also has a habit of platonically kissing his friends on the cheek/head like you would a pet or something and then has to awkwardly explain its not romantic 😭😭 (some fanart relating to pcoket mortys gave me this idea actually)

★ miami rick lets morty paint his nails sometimes, begrudgingly but it makes morty really happy so he acts like he hates it to keep up appearances but likes seeing morty happy

★ MIAMI MORTY USES HIS LOLLIPOP AS A SORT OF ORAL STIM, morgan would probably get him something that wouldnt murder his teeth to have in his mouth n stim with

★ mimi he/any moment

AGH. OK. FINALLY DONE. there. this is all like months old please excuse that i mostly am involved in like sploon and pokemon since theyre sp/ins not just hyperfixes lol

[cafeseoulmate]

Kang Taehyun’s Hot Boy Summer Destiny

time, mystical time cutting me open, then healing me fine. were there clues i didn't see?

featuring: child of athena!taehyun x child of apollo!gn!reader

genre: fluff, angst, pjo / greek mythology / demigod au, childhood best friends to lovers, idiots to lovers au, soulmate au, slowburn, mutual pining

wc: 14k

warnings and other notes: cursing, blood, injuries, graphic mentions of murder, alcohol consumption, charmspeak, insecurities, cliche upon cliche upon cliche, reader is a psychic

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave your childhood best friend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in a span of two months and had him meet his soulmate at the Summer’s End bonfire. It came to you just last week, the same night you dreamt about the quest you sent your half-sibling Hueningkai in the other day and how exactly you will slay the minotaur terrorizing the camp borders right now—which is why you can confirm, as a child of Apollo, that it was a very much prophetic and bound to happen soon.

“Apparently, I gave you a wardrobe update, a haircut, and introduced you to some Aphrodite and Hermes kids under the half moon—watch out!” You continue to explain as you lure the bull-headed monster further away from the camp gate, dragging Taehyun by the arm and picking up speed when the beast swings its ax exactly as you remember in your dreams. “So what do you think?”

You then aim your crossbow at the minotaur’s ankles as Taehyun instructed you earlier, shooting it with a specialized poisoned arrow. As expected, it takes a moment before the poison takes effect for a beast as large as the minotaur, effectively paralyzing it anyway right as you reach the clearing in the woods and giving you and Taehyun time to charge towards it this time.

“I think you’re properly crazy!” Taehyun belatedly yells back at you, heading straight for the minotaur’s horns while you set your crossbow aside on your shoulder in exchange for your sword. When the two of you near the minotaur’s laying on its side, your best friend swiftly releases one of the specialized net traps Yeonjun made, one that magically adjusts to the minotaur’s size and strength as it traps the beast in place. “I’m not letting you give me a makeover!”

You groan in annoyance even when you already expected this as his answer, kicking the minotaur to lay on its back and stabbing it down right in its torso while Taehyun digs his boot on its neck, slicing one of its horns off.

Up close, the yells and growls that the minotaur releases into the peaceful air is enough to burst a human’s eardrums off. Instinctively, you protect yours and Taehyun’s ears by manipulating the soundwaves and shutting up the minotaur.

“Not even if you’ll meet your soulmate at the end of it?” You ask as you hold the minotaur down by your sword when it starts to flail around the net trap, moving only with half its strength with the poison quickly spreading in its veins. You feel a slight sting on one of your arms but decide to quickly ignore it as you busy yourself with the monster's frantic movements. “I literally just mentioned that I saw them from behind at the end of the dream—red string and all—and you’re not even just a little bit curious?”

Taehyun briefly pauses, the blood on the minotaur’s horn in his hands dripping down his elbows as he looks at you incredulously, before definitively shaking his head. “The future’s still subject to change, even in your dreams, remember?” He counters matter-of-factly, stabbing the horn straight into its heart and effectively killing it once and for all. “You could still dream about something different later on.”

You roll your eyes, removing your sword from the minotaur’s torso right before it fades into dust right in front of you. “The vision should happen in two months, I’m not going to dream of anything new about it at this point.” You counter, jogging over to Taehyun’s side as he gathers the net trap back in its pouch. Once he’s done, the two of you get your bearings and walk back to the direction of camp. “And before you argue and use my dream journals against me again, I re-checked them all as soon as I wrote this vision down so I can confirm that I have no other unrealized visions that says anything else about what’s destined for you this summer."

“Whatever. I can meet my soulmate fine even without a hot boy makeover, thanks.” He chuckles in amusement in front of your oddly determined expression, wiping the blood off of his sword with a cloth from his bag. “A haircut would be nice, though.”

You bump your shoulder harshly against his as you also wipe your sword, returning it to the sheath on your hips and making a mental note that you'll clean everything thoroughly tomorrow. He retaliates quickly and you give him a glare. “You’re mocking me.”

“I’m not, my hair really is getting longer. It’s annoying.” 

“Why settle for just one if I can give you a full makeover, then, genius? It’s not like I won’t ask for your input at all or make you do something you don’t want to do.” You pull your best puppy dog eyes despite the blood drying off in your hands this time, looking up at Taehyun with wide eyes and pursed lips. “Plus, I objectively do better makeovers than half the Aphrodite kids! The muses are literally my godmothers!”

It’s not hard to miss the small smile that briefly breaks out on Taehyun’s usually stoic face even as the two of you trek through the forest this late in the afternoon, the sunlight filtering in through the towering trunks of trees illuminating his face just as you spot the tiniest hint that you’ve broken into his tough facade successfully once more.

“Beomgyu’s gonna get you for that comment at the next Capture the Flag.”

“Only if you tell him which I know you won’t because you’ll be teaming with our cabin again in the next game.” You scoff, waving your hand dismissively. “So, what’s it going to be, Tyun?”

Taehyun shakes his head. “Still a no for the whole makeover but a maybe on the haircut.”

“Are you serious?”

“Tell me this, then: what does my soulmate look like, oh great Seer?” He smirks teasingly. 

You huff in exasperation, kicking a branch that happens to be in your way as the camp gate comes into view. “I already told you, I only saw them from the back. I woke up before they could even turn around.”

“Yeah, so what do they look like from the back?”

“They were in bronze armor and had sheaths for a sword and daggers on their side.” You recall, jogging over to the camp gate and into safety. Taehyun follows close. “It could literally be anyone in camp.”

“Exactly, so why bother dolling me up if they’re probably just someone we’ve been camping with since we were kids?”

“They could be a new person in camp for all we know.” You retort swiftly with a hopeful smirk. “Or a visiting Hunter! You know I dreamt that they’re coming this summer.”

“Whatever, they’re still people we meet everyday.” Taehyun shrugs before gesturing to the direction of the Big House. “I’ll report to Chiron. You should get that gash checked at the infirmary.”

“What gash?” You ask dumbly, to which Taehyun rolls his eyes before taking your hand in his and showing you a gash running down the outer side of your arm. “Oh. Well, shit.“

“The minotaur probably clawed you while you held it down.” Taehyun tsks softly, examining it for a bit longer before gently releasing your hand and smacking your forehead. “Stupid. For a child of Apollo, you should be more aware of your body when you get hurt.”

You hold the spot where he just smacked you, furrowing your brows. “Ya!”

“I’ll see you at dinner! Don’t make detours and get that checked out with Soobin!”

You groan in exasperation, digging your boot deep in the soil as you watch Taehyun’s retreating figure disappear in the dirt path. Once he’s gone, only then do you begrudgingly turn around and head to the infirmary with a sigh, focusing your remaining energy in the meantime to at least disinfect the wound with your own vitakinesis.

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you gave Taehyun an elaborate hot boy summer makeover in two months and had him meet his soulmate, red string connecting their wrists and all, at the Summer’s End bonfire. As his best friend of 13 years who’s also secretly pined over him for at least a decade of that time, you know that it’ll take all the brains and brawn at camp combined to convince him to follow his destiny at the end of summer. 

It’s no easy feat but Apollo and your mentor, the Oracle of Delphi, is not raising a quitter of a demigod.

♡  

Taehyun’s hair is growing longer as he’s mentioned and you’ve expected, bangs sticking closer to his eyes when you spar and your view of the back of his head when you try to surprise him from behind seemingly shaggier. The natural blonde roots of his hair are also starting to grow back as the dyed purple ends he did at the start of Spring are fading into a dull gray, signaling the change of the seasons along with the increasingly hotter weather. 

You already know that he won’t give in that easily when it comes to buying him new clothes and forcing him to socialize at camp functions. Taehyun’s stubbornness and logic are, from your point of view, his worst features when you know you’re about to lose your case to him. But, after letting your friends in on your agenda last week (and both Hueningkai and Beomgyu laughing in your face before you pushed the two in the lake) and consulting with the Oracle of Delphi yesterday, you’re hopeful that you’ll get him to agree to the rest of the makeover by virtue of either peer pressure or another vision of his future this summer—whichever works on him first. 

For now, you focus on the clippers you borrowed from one of your siblings in your hand, leaning forward in your own seat as you work through the section above his right ear. In front of you, your best friend calmly skims through his copy of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, occasionally glancing at you through the bathroom mirror. 

As cabin counselor, you’ve cut your siblings’ hair far more times than you’ve actually done much more important leadership duties such as turning off the lights exactly at midnight or constantly reminding people to clean up after their respective areas. As the one who’s been insisting that you predicted this specific situation, you’ve also dreamt of giving your best friend a smooth haircut, noting in your dream journal about how this part of the overall vision was relatively quick but you still managed to remember Taehyun’s smile when you woke up. 

Regardless, a looming feeling of dread stirs at the pit of your stomach and you unconsciously hold your breath as you snip at the hair right above his ear. 

“Relax.” Taehyun suddenly mumbles, head still hanging at the angle you instructed him to but his eyes moving over to your direction. “You being nervous makes me nervous.” 

“I’m not nervous.” 

“You’re not even breathing right now.” He points out sharply before moving to another page, careful not to move his shoulders too much as he dusts off chopped hair from the previous page in the process. “Breathe.”

You ponder on whether you should tell him that you’re worried, partly about the fact that you’ve never cut his hair yourself before but mostly because this is exactly how the dream played out in your head so far and, for some reason, fulfilling your own personal future is often daunting. Regardless of how long you’ve been having visions and fulfilling some of them yourself, you still worry that something unexpected will happen. In this case, the last thing you want to do is to accidentally nick your best friend’s ear. 

There’s also the fact that you’re doing all of this to lead him to the path of his soulmate in the end and as much as it pains you to not be that person for him, it also worries you being the one to have to lead things until they meet. You want to put your best friend’s happiness first and that includes making sure that everything goes according to destiny.

“You won’t hurt me.” He adds softly almost as if reading your mind, pausing briefly as he reads one more paragraph in his book. “Anyway, you brought this to yourself because you kept insisting about your dream.” 

You roll your eyes, the worry quickly dissipating when he chuckles right next to your own ear. “I’m not worried about that, not anymore at least.” You reply with a soft exhale, moving your chair behind Taehyun as you finally move on to the back of his head. “And I’ll make sure I see my vision of you fulfilled at the end of this summer no matter what.” 

Taehyun hums in thought, shoulders tensing slightly when you place your hand over it. You snicker in response, knowing full well that it’s because he’s ticklish, before continuing your work. 

“So, how did you exactly see my hot boy makeover in your dream?” 

You unconsciously furrow your brows as you work, carefully dusting away the hair that sticks to the nape of Taehyun’s neck when it builds up and holding the clippers in your other hand away when he flinches in response. “What do you mean?” 

“Last time, you just said everything you generally have to do but how did you actually see it in your dream?” 

You take a moment to gather your thoughts and recall the dream itself and how you wrote it down in your journal, filling in the silence with the faint buzzing of the clippers as you even out everything nicely. “Well, it started out exactly with this very moment: me cutting your hair and doing an awesome job. Then, when you stood up and admired my work in the mirror, you let me drag you to a bunch of flea markets that were right outside the cabin for some reason.” You narrate slowly, occasionally pausing between words as you bit your lip in concentration while simultaneously thinking about how you’re going to proceed with telling him the rest. “The more we moved between stalls, the more trees turned into the buildings at the Lincoln Center until we reached the end of it all where the campers were all partying by a bonfire in front of the Met.” 

Taehyun chuckles, most likely as he tries imagining your dream for himself. Pausing again, you also laugh at how silly it all sounds being spoken out loud. 

You continue after you’ve gathered your thoughts once more. “You talked to some Hermes kids and Aphrodite kids until it turned into night—with the half moon out as I mentioned before—and you got so tired that you excused yourself to the buffet.” At that, you finish the back section of his hair, moving your chair to Taehyun’s left side. “I watched you talk to your soulmate from the sidelines after that. They came into the scene right as you grabbed a drink, mentioning something about the bonfire and showing the red string around their wrist. I woke up right after and wrote everything as I remembered it.” 

You sigh in relief under your breath after your mini speech, mostly at the fact that you were successful in not accidentally letting slip some details the entire time. Though it makes you feel guilty not sharing everything to Taehyun sometimes, you particularly omit the parts you think he doesn’t have to know—the way his dream version’s smile made your dream version’s heart skip a beat, the way his dream version held your dream version’s hand through the flea market, the dread of knowing that he was going to meet his soulmate that you were unconsciously feeling the entire dream, and the way your dream version actually ran away from the scene before you woke up. 

Besides, if Taehyun knew about these things, the teasing would never end. 

He has a soulmate and it’s not you, you remind yourself again internally for good measure, Stop having weird thoughts, Y/N.

“So you just concluded after that this will all happen over the summer?” Taehyun asks after a moment, darting his eyes over to his left this time as you continue working. 

“Sometimes, I get that instinct of important details I have to know when I dream, like my subconscious telling me that I have to know this and that while interacting with the people in my dreams.” You shrug, bending down to the level of his left ear this time. “At that time, my subconscious kept telling me that time was passing as we moved places then your soulmate confirmed it towards the end when we reached bonfire.” 

“Did you tell the Oracle about this?” 

“Oh, right!” Your gasp, suddenly remembering what you’re supposed to also tell him today. When he looks up briefly and steals another glance of you, you quickly return his gaze with a knowing smirk. “I almost forgot to tell you but I visited them yesterday to consult about my vision. I was hoping I’d get a second opinion from them because, knowing you, you won’t easily agree to letting me give you a makeover unless something important comes up.”

Taehyun seems unfazed despite your best impression at being menacing, shrugging as he follows along your train of thought. “Okay, and?” 

“And I asked them about my vision about you and if they’ve seen other things lately. Guess what?” When Taehyun doesn’t ask the question back, you roll your eyes and continue, “They also saw a flea market and Lincoln Center in one of their visions about you and me! Apparently, they saw both places in a vision about Chiron’s next quest for us!” 

In that moment, Taehyun’s calm and composed disposition immediately does a 180 as his mouth forms an ‘o’ shape and his hands unconsciously move to close his book in shock. “Oh...” 

“So...” You drag out, just as you finish working on the left side of his head. Untying the top section of his head, you then switch your clippers for scissors and a comb before moving in front of Taehyun with a proud grin on your face. Dread, on the other hand, dawns on him in an instant. “I guess prepare your money because we’re going shopping in Manhattan after our next mission!” 

Taehyun groans, sinking deeper in his seat while you bend down and comb down his hair. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me...” 

“You can come with me to my next visit to the Oracle if you want to confirm it all but they’ll probably just get annoyed by you asking the same questions I did yesterday.” You chuckle, tapping his shoulder as a signal for him to sit properly. “So I guess the only thing left for me to do is to get you to come to at least one party this summer and everything should be good.”

He glares at you from behind his bangs. “You always have to have the last laugh, huh?” 

“Well, I am the one with the prophetic visions in this friendship.” You shrug with a laugh, gathering some of his bangs in between your fingers and carefully trimming the ends. “Anyway, I’ve thought it all over and tried recalling my vision as much as I can and we won’t actually be buying a whole new wardrobe. At the very least, there’s this shirt I have to buy for you because you were wearing a flannel I couldn’t recognize towards the end.” 

“Is it at least my style?” It’s his turn to frown and pout which you giggle at as you work in front of his face.

“Very much, yeah.” You nod confidently, cutting another inch off of his bangs before ruffling his hair. “Trust me, Tyun, I got you always. Also, I’m done with your hair.”

You stand up and move to the side, setting your tools away in their proper bathroom basket while Taehyun shakes off all the hair on his clothes and move forward to the mirror.

“Do you want me to dye your hair too?” You ask, crossing your arms and leaning your whole body by the marble sink. “I think either Beomgyu or Yeonjun have leftover purple dye in their cabins.”

“Did you foresee it in the future?” He asks with a defeated sigh, inspecting his bangs and the back of his head meticulously.

You shake your head. “No but I’d be happy to dye your hair for you if you want. It’s the least I could do after trapping you into your own worst nightmare.”

Taehyun shakes off more chopped hair from his head and his shirt, stepping aside the pool of purple hair littering the very center of the bathroom. “It’s not that it’s a nightmare for me, it’s just—you know how I feel about destiny and soulmates.” He sighs, moving to the side to change into the extra camp shirt he brought with him. “I’d rather just make my own way without thinking about it too much and meet whoever’s out there for me when I do meet them.”

“And I promised you before, we’ll move along this whole thing at your own pace—or when things present themselves.” You assure, quickly looking away when he takes his shirt off in front of you with a nervous gulp. “Like you said, the future’s still subject to change, and like what my dad always says, the visions are often just guidelines into the future.”

“But does fate really think I need a makeover right now?” Taehyun asks more to himself than to you, his voice muffled only at the start as he pulls his shirt over his head. “I mean, besides the haircut, I don’t think I need a whole new look right now. I’m perfectly fine.”

In the meantime, you busy yourself with crossing the bathroom without peeking at Taehyun and grabbing a broom and a dustpan in the cleaning cabinet, sweeping off the hairs on the tiled floor while keeping your head down.

“Maybe it’s not going to be about having a brand new Taehyun—like visual-wise,” You suggest, only glancing up at him momentarily when he tells you he’s finished changing before moving the hairs you’ve gathered to the trash can. You make sure that your tone is sincere, mainly thinking about how, in the time since you’ve known him, Taehyun really is a person of work and routines and not much of relaxation and doing little things for himself. “maybe it’s just about trying new things this summer. Who knows, you might discover that you actually enjoy shopping in Manhattan flea markets the most after this or that you can finally tell that one kid from the Aphrodite cabin—Haneul, was it?—that you’re not interested in her advances.”

There’s a pause that momentarily hangs in the air as Taehyun combs his hair down absentmindedly by the sink, dirty shirt in his other hand. “Did you rehearse that beforehand?” He says with a teasing smile, one that you easily catch over the mirror and immediately recognize as the same that you dreamt of.

Witnessing it in person pushes heat on your neck and up to your face, your chest feeling light when he chuckles at the way you frown at him. “The one time I'm actually being sincere to you and you ask me if I rehearsed it beforehand.”

“You never know with children of Apoll—ow!” You smack him in the chest in a heartbeat, his hands swiftly moving up in front of you before you could deliver a second blow. “I was kidding!”

You roll your eyes, fighting back a grin when you pretend to hit Taehyun again and he instinctively holds his arms up in defense. “Gods, you children of Athena are so annoying. Do you want me to dye your hair or not?”

“Not right now but definitely the next time we’re both free.” He grins. “Thank you for the haircut, by the way. Hyuka's right, you should start charging people for this.”

You unconsciously annoy yourself with the way your heart starts speeding up as you take a proper look at your work on his hair. Get a grip, he’s just complimenting your work, he always does that when he needs to. “Oh, I will be collecting my fees in our next sparring demo at the arena.” You retort, hand reaching up harmlessly this time as you fix his bangs. "Gods, you better sweep your soulmate off their feet when you meet at the end of the summer with how well I did your hair."

He briefly freezes under your touch before visibly relaxing his shoulders as you ruffle more fallen hair off of his scalp, following you carefully with his eyes the whole time. “Y-Yeah, I got it. Well, future Taehyun does.”

In the back of your mind, a small feeling of dread starts seeping into your thoughts—the exact same dread you felt in your dreams that anticipates the arrival of the stranger that is Taehyun’s soulmate. But at the same time, your heart skips a beat as you glance up at him again.

Gods, you are fucked.

♡

When Chiron inevitably gives you and Taehyun your next mission a week later, you find out that the quest you’re embarking on has to do with retrieving a demigod and one of Persephone’s pearl that has somehow ended up in a nearby flea market.

You retrieve the demigod Kazuha first, explaining everything to her over the course of three days before killing the harpies that have been stalking her by disguising themselves as potential sponsors for her ballet school. Given the hassle of commuting back and forth to Long Island, however, you let her tag along with you and Taehyun on the second part of your quest right after—even helping you narrow down the possible flea markets when you let her in on the information Chiron gave you about the pearl’s previous whereabouts.

(Taehyun initially insisted that he can just call Yeonjun to pick up Kazuha but you insisted otherwise, citing that you don’t want to bother Yeonjun and that Kazuha is a natural with your extra bow and arrow. While partly you have a feeling that Kazuha is one of your half-siblings, there’s also the way she held onto your sword when you let her borrow it that gives you a strange feeling about something that you’re not sure of yet.)

So what was originally two people scouring the Greenwich Village flea markets becomes three as Kazuha links her left arm with your right and asks you all sorts of questions about camp. To your left, Taehyun is loosely holding your other hand as he often does in big crowds of people, eyes examining your surroundings carefully.

Taehyun's hands are cold despite the humid weather but you don't pay much mind, not when your own hand is warmer than normal as a child of Apollo and balancing everything out.

“Oh we should buy this!” You exclaim as you see yet another pair of earrings that catches your eye, Kazuha immediately agreeing with a nod and a grin as you inspect the vintage sunflower-shaped accessory. “It’s so cute!”

Taehyun rolls his eyes from behind you, letting you drag him along by the hand anyway as he carries a paper bag of all of your combined purchases in his other hand. “Ya, I know I said we can stroll around but we really need to find the missing pearl and get home before sundown.”

You ignore his words, turning around with a smile and hovering the earrings next to your face. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful. But you have so many sunflowers at home already.” Taehyun calmly points out, glancing over your shoulder as he tries to inspect the merchant’s items but to no avail. You hope he misses the way your knees almost physically buckle in front of him. “I’m actually starting to think that your dad is also symbolized by the sunflower.”

“But I don’t have sunflower earrings yet!” You retort before turning to Kazuha. “What about you, Kazuha? What do you think?”

“I think yellow brings out your complexion pretty well! It's wonderful!” She flashes a thumbs up of approval before lowering her voice for her next words. “And I think it’s pretty fitting for a child of Apollo!"

“Thanks, Kazuha!”

Taehyun squints his eyes at Kazuha, shaking his head in disapproval. “Don’t entertain them too much, it’ll get in their head.”

“Jerk.” You scoff, removing your hand from Taehyun’s to elbow him to which he only smirks at you before you face the merchant again. “How much for this, ma’am?”

The old woman leans over the table to inspect the earrings, pushing her eyeglasses higher up her nose before smiling warmly in recognition. “For you, I can give it away for six dollars.” She answers, voice simultaneously hoarse and small. “Great choice, child, it would look very lovely on you.”

You smile at her, before glaring up at Taehyun playfully. “See, a compliment isn't so bad every once in a while.” You scold him before taking out your wallet from your slingbag and handing the old woman your six dollars. “You have really lovely items, by the way, ma'am.”

“My, thank you!” The old woman smiles before moving to the clothes rack on the side of her table. “Feel free to look around, my dear. I’m sure your sister and boyfriend can also find something that they like around here.”

You almost choke on your own spit and Taehyun, though seemingly unfazed, coughs awkwardly before moving to the clothes rack. Then, on your other side just witnessing it all, Kazuha giggles behind her hand.

“Oh no, ma’am you must be mistaken. We’re not—“ You shake your head wildly as you put the earrings on and take a step away from Taehyun, heat rising up your face uncomfortably despite the scorching hot afternoon sun beating down on your backs. “He’s not—he’s not my boyfriend.”

In the meantime, Taehyun busies himself with combing through the clothes on sale, eyes abnormally wide in what you’ve come to know as his go-to flustered expression before pulling out a green plaid flannel. “How about this, Y/N?” He asks, trying to keep his voice monotonous even when he knows full well that you can decipher his embarrassed feelings through his voice. “About that thing you mentioned last time?”

“What thing?” You and Kazuha ask at the same time.

“The thing.” Taehyun repeats with more emphasis this time, waving a green plaid flannel in front of you before showing you another hanger with a blue flannel. “This too.”

You open your mouth to speak but no words come out, Kazuha ending up speaking on your (and, unknowingly, your vision) behalf. “Um, I don’t know what the thing is but I like the green one.” She says, pointing innocently at the exact same flannel you’re belatedly registering as the one from your vision. “But the blue one is cute too.”

Taehyun nods in thought, ultimately returning the blue flannel and folding the green plaid one over his arm. “Kazuha, you can look at this too if you want.” He suggests, beckoning her over to his side. “Y/N, I thought you wanted to shop for more clothes.”

Kazuha’s expression brightens and she’s quick to jog over to Taehyun, relaxing immediately at Taehyun’s first gesture of hospitality towards her. “Oh, right! Sure!”

You, on the other hand, remain at the very front of the stall, watching the two interact on the sides until it hits you, the same sense of deja vu you always get when parts of your vision unfold in reality.

The way Kazuha held your sword last night, her passing comment about wanting to learn how to work with daggers, and the way Taehyun also visibly warms up to her in real-time when she suggests a second and a third shirt for Taehyun to buy for himself.

“Holy shit.” You mumble to yourself, coincidentally spotting a familiar ocean blue pearl in a pile of brooches that the old woman brings out when you look away from the two at the same time.

Taehyun looks over his shoulder to you in concern, following your gaze to the brooches. “Y/N.”

You meet his gaze, eyes widening as you quickly pick up the pearl brooch and show it to the merchant. “Excuse me, ma’am, how much for this brooch?”

“Oh, that’s something a neighbor just gave me to sell away this morning. A dollar would do, darling.”

You sigh in relief, handing out an additional dollar to the old woman before thanking her then joining Kazuha and Taehyun near the clothes racks.

“Okay, I got it. Easy enough...weirdly.” You declare, showing Taehyun and Kazuha the brooch in your hand then quickly averting your gaze to the clothes in racks and boxes around you. Seeing the two up close, the total weight of your realization slowly starts uncomfortably settling on your chest, making you cough awkwardly. “What else do they have?”

Taehyun, meanwhile, takes the brooch and leans close to pin it on your sling bag, patting it down on your chest. You unconsciously hold your breath the whole time.

“Let’s keep it here for now so we don’t accidentally crush it on the ride home.” He whispers low, glancing up at you before quickly leaning away. 

You nod meekly, belatedly exhaling as your eyes follow Taehyun’s figure when he turns around and pays for the clothes he’s picked up—including the green plaid flannel you’ll see him wear at the bonfire.

“Y/N, do you like wearing silk scarves?” Kazuha asks from your opposite side, showing you a whole band of patterned silk scarves. “They’re pretty trendy this summer!”

You nod again absentmindedly, fighting the urge to blurt out what you’ve just realized about Kazuha and Taehyun right now as she shows you a bunch of silk scarves you can try.

You try looking for the red strings for the rest of that flea trip market and the subsequent subway ride back to Camp, discreetly inspecting Taehyun when he slots his hand back into yours when you move on to other stalls and making sure that you lead Kazuha to the right subway by hand when you go home. Though you don’t have the ability to do so, it was worth the try anyway in your head, anything to further confirm your suspicions. 

Taehyun definitely noticed, though, but chose not to speak on it until after dinner when you’ve introduced Kazuha to Yeonjun who’ll be her temporary cabin counselor.

“There’s no string, not one I can see anyway.” He states on the walk to your cabin, holding his arms up to show you his bare wrists.

You frown when he takes your hand back in his after, both in frustration and the uncomfortable feeling of being hyper-aware of how his thumb rubs the back of your hand. “Maybe you won’t see it until later? You tell me, I'm pretty sure you've read all about it before."

“There aren't much books on it actually. Anyway, didn't you dream of it for Soobin before?" He points out, referring to last summer when you helped the child of Poseidon actualize a vision you had of him befriending one of Hades’ children. In that particular vision, you also dreamt of a red string but your subconscious instincts (also confirmed by the Oracle in your later session together) only told you that the future anticipates it to be platonic. "Did he say anything about it?"

“I didn’t think they’d date, I just predicted they’d be good friends because my subconscious told me so. The Oracle also didn’t see it coming either, you know.” You clarify. “And, no, Soobin hasn't mentioned anything about seeing the string on himself. He did mention that there are older Aphrodite campers who can see them but they’ve all left camp before we even came in. No one in camp right now has the gift.”

"Then maybe it's just a metaphor for connection in your dream. Simple as that." Taehyun shrugs.

"Still a connection and clearly pointing towards something important." You insist, finally reaching your cabin and getting bombarded by the sounds of Sunwoo’s electric guitar and what you can identify as Soyeon making up a tune on the spot. “Who knows, the red string in my vision may actually be platonic or romantic like what happened with Soobin!”

“You’ve known me for 13 years. What do you think?”

You stop on the marble steps leading up to the entrance, instinctively raising your hand up to the door and manipulating the sound waves escaping the walls to form a bubble around the cabin. The house mutes up from the outside in an instant. “I just told you what I think?”

Taehyun rolls his eyes, gesturing to himself then to you. “I mean what do you think about us? Suppose we have a red string to each other, what does it mean to you?”

Your entire body tenses up, eyes looking up to inspect every inch of your best friend’s face for any signs of breaking out into a laugh and revealing that he’s messing with you.

Taehyun furrows his brows in thought, anticipating your answer with bated breath and a seemingly erratic heartbeat that reaches your ears when you unconsciously focus on it.

You gulp, the sound seemingly louder in your now quieter surroundings. When you focus in on the sounds around you once more, you also hear your heartbeat uncomfortably pounding in your eardrums at the sudden tension.

“You’re my best friend, my first friend here and the longest one I've been with, actually.” It takes all remaining strength in you to answer, coughing awkwardly in the silence. “We grew up together, went to school together until the 12th grade, and spend the holidays alternating with your dad and my mom. We train together on weekdays, and we go on quests together all the time because we always insist to Chiron and Mr. D. that we’re a package deal. Not to mention, we've already gotten ourselves stuck in the Lotus Casino for a whole six months before. I think that's already pretty epic enough in itself."

“If we were tied together,” You add, hesitantly hammering in the final nail in the coffin. “I think it’s just platonic like all of our other connections with other people. If we’re anything else, something would've happened long ago."

Taehyun takes an abnormally long moment to reply, his expression morphing into something undecipherable before he lets out the breath he's been holding. It makes you frown and you ponder on asking him if you said something wrong until he beats you to it.

“Exactly my point." He coughs awkwardly before taking a step back. "Like us, it could be friendship for all we know in the end. Soobin's was just a whole different case."

Your heart sinks somehow, as if you were expecting him to say something different in the back or your head. “Then we’ll never know until next month.” 

Taehyun hums with a nod, the loud music coming from your cabin gradually returning as you dispel the sound bubble you made around it. 

You want to ask his question back to him, the words at the tip of your tongue and hoping he’ll actually say something completely different from you until they dissipate as Taehyun pats your head goodnight, a strange smile on his lips. “I’ll be off, then. Sweet dreams, stupid.”

“Night, genius.” You greet back instead, the feeling of dread you’ve been holding back for weeks now momentarily slipping up as your voice shakes towards the end.  

You don’t end up sleeping at all that night, all sorts of thoughts—from anxiety you’ve been feeling as your summer unfolds similarly to your vision to the possibilities that Kazuha could be one of your siblings and Taehyun’s soulmate—keeping you up with your siblings’ loud music until the next day. So instead, you reread all of your recent dream journals entries with your live journal, correlating each event and detail with each other: the time Taehyun had you cut his hair, your quest of finding Kazuha, all of Kazuha’s comments that could possibly be clues, the flea market trip today, and Beomgyu’s brief mention of a beach party co-hosted with the Hermes cabin and the Dionysus cabin before you embarked on your latest quest. 

Taehyun’s hot boy summer was unfolding in real-time with some contingencies your vision didn’t warn you about beforehand. On the one hand, you’re glad that it’s happening generally as planned at least, with only the beach party and the bonfire left to fulfill. But on the other, you feel somewhat conflicted and overwhelmed—anxious of seeing the rest of the plan through, conflicted about having an inkling of who your best friend’s prospective soulmate might be before the bonfire, and resentful that, for some reason, you suddenly and selfishly don’t want it to be anyone else but you. 

(Soobin ends up having to fight an internal battle of not to laugh in front of your face when you report for a volunteer shift at the infirmary the next day, dismissing you quickly and letting you sleep in one of the cots.

“This better be a life-changing realization if you have eyebags this bad.” The older boy sighs with concern as he brings you an extra blanket from their supply closet. “What is it this time?” 

“It’s nothing.” You grumble, draping the blanket over your legs as you lay down before lifting it over your head.

“Are you sure?”

“Go tend to your patients, Soobin. Someone’s gonna come in in 10 minutes with a concussion.”)

♡

The Saturday of the beach party, Kazuha is coincidentally claimed as a child of Aphrodite in the middle of the beginner's archery class that you teach. Though the strong gust of wind brought by the doves that welcome Kazuha as one of Beomgyu's half-siblings eases your worry about her discovering her godly parent and the possible difficulties that may happen if she ends up as your half-sibling, it is an inconvenience to your class and a tell-tale sign that Beomgyu and the Dionysus cabin counselor, Hyunjae, will bring in more ambrosia and alcohol for reckless campers to consume.

Forcing Taehyun to socialize with the Aphrodite and Hermes cabin kids suddenly seems like the worst idea, your suspicion immediately proving itself true when you arrive at the beach later in the evening and scour just how many people are already drunk by 8 PM.

"Drinks?" Taehyun asks you after you've congratulated Kazuha on her claiming, gesturing over to a group crowding around what seems to be coolers of beer and soju and a table of snacks and ambrosia. You've bleached and re-dyed his roots in his cabin over the course of the week, his hair looking as bright as it did in the Spring, and he's allowed you to style him tonight in a crisp white printed shirt you ordered for him online, a cropped leather jacket, and jeans. "If you're making me talk to a bunch of Aphrodite and Hermes kids, I'd probably need two bottles of beer first."

You look up at him as the two of you walk to the drinks, actively avoiding his hand reaching for yours when you feel your knuckles bump against his.

"I mean, do you still want to, looking around?" You chuckle nervously, instinctively ducking along with Taehyun when a beach ball gets tossed in your direction. You then quickly pick the ball up and toss it back to Chaewon who thanks you appreciatively. "Everyone definitely sounds and smells like they're pretty buzzed already."

On your right, a bunch of Hephaestus kids and Zeus kids have started an impromptu fire show around the bonfire then to your left, a good half of the Poseidon kids, Ares kids, and your own siblings are all knee-deep in the water and having an intense game of water dodgeball. Then somewhere behind you, some of the Aphrodite kids, Hermes kids, and Dionysus kids have started big circles of the camp staple truth or dare, dragging anyone who comes near while also occasionally playing music on the speakers provided by the Hermes cabin.

Making a whole turn as you walk, Taehyun ends up shaking his head with a laugh. "Maybe not intentionally right now." He answers belatedly, stopping in front of the coolers and picking up two beer bottles for you. In the meantime, you pick up some chips and ambrosia for yourselves. "I'll need to be at least a bit buzzed myself before I let any of the Hermes kid drag me to a conga line

You laugh but nod in agreement, snatching the beer bottles from his hands and opening them simultaneously using both of the caps. You then hand one to Taehyun and take a big gulp of your own. "Okay, so where do you want to go for now?"

The two of you move away from the coolers, scanning the area as you walk and snack on your loot.

"Yeonjun's probably getting pissed drunk with Wooyoung, Haknyeon, and Changbin by now and Beomgyu's definitely making sure that none of the Aphrodite kids end up in places where they don't want to be in tomorrow morning." You start before taking another swig of your beer, the beverage warming slightly in your hands as you harness the sun’s energy through the half-moon. “Personally, I don’t want to be taking care of three more guys later when you’re all drunk and talkative so I’d really like to avoid any 98 liner tonight.”

“I don’t get too talkative.” Taehyun frowns, sipping his beer slower and hissing at the cold temperature running down his throat.

You roll your eyes, thoughts immediately going through all the times he’s jumped on the big rock formations further down the beach and pretended he was Socrates while blackout drunk. “That’s why you don’t remember things when you drink, genius.” 

Taehyun sighs, opening a bag of potato chips whil he drinks. "Whatever. Anyway, we just saw Soobin with his siblings so he's not drinking tonight but I'm not really in the mood to get in the water.”

You nod in agreement, immediately moving away when the water climbs closer in the sand. "That leaves us with Hyuka, wherever he is right now." You point out, snatching a handful of chips from Taehyun’s bag. “Come to think about it, I haven’t seen him since lunch.”

"Me too. Where could he even be?" Taehyun squints his eyes under the dim lighting of the fairy lights haphazardly set up around the beach, turning his head on both sides as you walk past the fire show that has now quieted down with the kids preparing DIY fireworks on the spot. "He's not with Soobin or Hiyyih. I doubt he’d be with Yeonjun and Beomgyu at a party too unless he’s drinking tonight.”

The two of you walk further down the beach, examining every face and group you pass by, occasionally making small talk with the other campers, and making sure that your respective siblings are still drinking safely and responsibly. Some of the Demeter kids hand you more food and drinks while some Hermes kids invite you to do shots and drinking games with them as the night progresses further and you momentarily forget about looking for your half-sibling, feeling light-headed from all the beer mixed in with ambrosia while Taehyun gradually loosens up as well right next to you the more freely he converses with the other campers.

You take more and more notice of the Aphrodite and Hermes kids approaching Taehyun much like in your vision, complimenting his outfit with flushed cheeks and cheeky grins in real-time before running away to gossip among themselves. Though you realize early that you’re feeling quite tipsy already, the amount of people that crowd you for Taehyun every now and then effectively keeps you awake with a strange feeling bubbling up in your chest.

“Do you think it’s weird that Eric just called my outfit nice after I pushed him off the climbing wall on Wednesday?” Taehyun hums at one point, glancing over his shoulder as the said son of Ares joins his friends at a new big circle in the sand.

It's almost an hour later when you've scoured the whole beach for Hueningkai but to no avail, finding it weird even in your light-headed state that your half-brother is not at the very center of all the festivities.

In the meantime, you shake your head, dragging Taehyun to your opposite side when you see another child of Aphrodite, Haneul, try and approach you two. Glaring her down until she backs off, you then muster up an answer for Taehyun, “It’s not weird. He probably thought it’s nice to see you out of your polos and sweatshirts for once. You’re overthinking it.”

“I like my polos and sweatshirts. I mean…I’m glad you reminded me that I own a leather jacket but I like my other clothes.” Tipsy Taehyun pouts at you with his eyes blown wide and his cheeks flushed, linking his arms with yours as well which you don’t mind as much now compared to earlier in the evening when you were sober.

After probably three or four bottles of beer and a gods-awful lot of shots, the drunk Taehyun you know was slowly coming out with the long but slow sentences and the darting eyes. “You know, I was wearing a yellow sweatshirt when we first met.” He adds belatedly, finding interest in the sand.

You nod, slowing down in your walk as the breeze picks up and smacks your drunkenness in your face. When Taehyun stumbles slightly in the sand, you’re slower in pushing him back on his feet as the two of you stand near a smaller bonfire made by one of the Hephaestus kids. 

“Yeah, you let me borrow it when I arrived in the dead of Winter without a jacket then you gave it to me a week after when I couldn’t sleep well at the Hermes cabin. We didn’t know I had limited thermal manipulation that time.” You try your best recalling, finding it now a good time to sober up a bit as he tries talking your ear off. “Ya, you literally saw me wear it with my sunflower earrings when we had workshop together on Thursday.”

“Right, right! Soobin and Hyuka complimented you after breakfast too.” Taehyun grins and chuckles, nodding along. “I remember because I was there and I was proud they complimented something of mine without knowing!”

“Right, Hyuka. We haven’t seen him all night.” You frown, taking your last sip of your fourth bottle before disposing it in one of the trash cans set up near the bonfire. “We should look for him soon.”

“Wait!” Taehyun suddenly exclaims when you walk ahead towards the more secluded area of the beach. When you turn around, you then see him shrugging off his leather jacket and passing it to you. “It’s cold!”

You raise a brow and nod. “Yeah, so wear your jacket, genius.”

Taehyun stubbornly shakes his head, pushing the leather jacket to you. “No, I mean it’s cold so you wear my jacket!”

You conclude that Taehyun is more intoxicated than usual at this point with the way he’s just casually forgetting who your godly parent is. The thought makes the more rational side of your brain, currently pushed away in the deeper recesses of your mind for tonight, emerge back further and laugh.

“Oh, we’ll have to get you water soon. You’re literally forgetting who your best friend is.” You tsk softly, taking the leather jacket and wrapping it around him again. Your fingers end up grazing his exposed collarbones in the process, hotter than normal after a few drinks. “I’m hoping you still know how to put on a jacket, at least, given you just removed it a second ago?”

If Taehyun was taken aback by how hot your hands suddenly are, he doesn’t visibly show it on his face. “Why are your hands so hot all of a sudden?”

“A family thing, I guess. I learned it after you gave me your sweatshirt.” You shrug teasingly, already feeling yourself sober up the more Taehyun uncharacteristically keeps his head in the clouds with the final sip of his beer bottle. “If you remember, you also called me a portable furnace when that snow storm hit in the 3rd grade then avoided me like the plague when that heat wave came the summer after.”

“I would never do that.” Taehyun frowns as he discards his own beer bottle in the trash can, almost missing it by a literal hair and hiding his embarrassment by taking your hand in his. “Well, not the me right now, at least. I guess kid Taehyun had more sass."

You chuckle lightly. Your rational side, wanting to come back to your full senses, wants to take your hand back immediately but the remnants of the alcohol in your system holds you back from actually saying it. "You're still pretty sassy most days. Family trait too, I'm guessing."

“I wish my hands could also heat up like that, though, especially on colder nights like these.” He sighs to himself as he pushes his arms through the sleeves of his leather jacket again and rubs his hands for extra warmth. “But then I won’t be able to hold your hand whenever I want to since we’d just burn each other.”

You almost choke on your own spit, coughing as Taehyun obliviously leads the two of you to walk around the beach again. “E-Excuse me?”

“I like holding your hand.” He squeezes your hand once for emphasizing before shrugging, as if it was the most casual declaration in the world right now. “Anyway, let’s go around and look for Hyuka once then if he's really not here, let's just join the Hephaestus kids by the smaller bonfires.”

Dumbfounded, you just let him led you down the sand path of the beach with your hands swinging gently between the two of you, almost missing the way tipsy Taehyun smiles to himself after glancing down at your hands.

Eventually, you find your aforementioned younger half-sibling with Beomgyu, Kazuha, and the Aphrodite kids in a rockier and more secluded part of the beach of all places, right at the center of a truth or dare circle.

"Hey, you guys came!" He exclaims giddily, running over to you with a peculiar skip in his steps before wrapping his arms on both yours and Taehyun's shoulders. "My other other other favorite sibling and the guy who's been stealing them away from me!"

"I wouldn't say stealing your sibling away. I just needed help with my hair." Taehyun rolls his eyes as he helps you pry Hueningkai's bigger frame away from the both of you. "I didn't think you'd be drinking tonight."

"Me too, actually! But I got apple juice to go with everything so it's been pretty fun!"

"How many bottles have you had even?" You ask at the same time, more sober now that you’ve walked the entire stretch of the beach. "Gods, you stink! Did you come in straight from sparring?"

"I made it to three bottles today!" Hueningkai proudly slurs his words in answer, taking both yours and Taehyun's free hands and dragging you to the circle. "And I was dared to bring in two more people so I guess that's you guys!"

You glance over at Taehyun, raising your brows in question to which he answers non-verbally by shrugging.

"Come, come!" Hueningkai tugs you closer before you could protest, sitting you down next to Beomgyu while Taehyun is dragged over to Kazuha and Yuna. "Sieun, you’re next! Truth or dare?”

Though you end up witnessing Yuna getting dared to do 10 consecutive soju shots, an elephant spin, and then a whole somersault, Taehyun reciting the multiplication table backwards and revealing the campers he’s not very fond of, and Jeongin revealing the names of all the people and nymphs he’s ever had a crush on, this circle of campers is relative tamer than the others you almost got dragged to previously. It’s a rowdy bunch with too many bottles of ambrosia and soju swiped from the main party (courtesy of Beomgyu) but you find yourself easily tipsy again and laughing along to your friends’ antics, leaning your half of your body weight on Beomgyu next to you and even picking dare twice to entertain yourself and everyone else.

(The first time, you ended up getting in a competition with Hueningkai and Yunjin on who can raise their body temperature the highest then on your second dare, Kazuha dared you to mute Beomgyu until his next turn.)

“Oi, Beomgyu, truth or dare?" Sunghoon asked once the said child of Aphrodite’s phone pointed towards its owner five rounds later.

You then manipulate the soundwaves in the air with a snap, allowing Beomgyu to immediately and excitedly blurt out, “Dare!”

While everyone comes up with a new dare for him, Beomgyu then shoves you away from him playfully because of how you muted his voice out for 15 minutes, making you laugh.

“Dude, that was awful! I wanted to yell when Sunghoon jumped in the water!” He exclaims to you, making you and Ryujin on your opposite side laugh. “Then when Kazuha prank called Eunchae and Taehyun did all those ambrosia shots!”

You shrug teasingly, raising your hands up in defeat. “Well, it was nice for us being slightly quieter for 30 minutes!”

“Ya, come here, you little—!”

“Okay, we dare you to use charmspeak on anyone in the circle!” Sunghoon interjects with an excited yell, eyes then landing on you. “How about on Y/N?”

Your eyes widen as your mind quickly goes blank with all eyes on you. From the corner of your eye, you see the same indecipherable expression on Taehyun’s face and his body visibly tenses up despite the soju bottle in his hand.

At the same time, Beomgyu’s hazy eyes brighten up in an instant before turnjng to you with a menacing smirk. “Oh, revenge is coming early for you!”

“It’s just for a minute, though!” Hueningkai points out. “Just make Y/N do something small. Nothing too weird or dangerous please, they have two siblings here!”

“Wait, let me think of something!” Beomgyu raises his right hand in front of him with a chuckle while his left raises his soju bottle on his lips again. “It should still be interesting since this is my opportunity at revenge!”

You glance at Taehyun again from the corner of your eye, almost flinching in the sand when you meet his eyes, then at Kazuha two people away from him with wide eyes and mouth forming an ‘o’ shape curiously. When you focus on Kazuha and Yunjin, you can faintly hear her ask about charmspeak as an ability of Aphrodite’s children.

Gulping down another sip of soju, you suddenly find yourself shrugging and agreeing to the dare. “Fuck it, okay, sure. Give me your best shot, lover boy.”

“Okay, okay. Geez.” Beomgyu rolls his eyes, irises turning pink right after. “You’ve always been curious about my charmspeak, huh?”

Without even thinking about it, your mouth suddenly blurts out, “Yeah, sure.”

Your circle of friends gasp in surprise, having never really seen you entertain requests like this before, and you also gasp at the very recesses of your thoughts, belatedly realizing what is going on with you.

Beomgyu smirks and clasps his hands together in content. “What should we have you do? What do you want to do, love?”

A force settles itself on your shoulders, moving your muscles around like a puppet. This time, you shrug and gesture over to Beomgyu in a daze. “Whatever you want me to do, it’s fine.”

“Y/N, truth or dare? I think another dare would be good for you this round, don’t you think?”

“Ya, Beomgyu, careful there.” Jeongin warns, to which he earns a shushing gesture from said child of Aphrodite.

“I choose dare.” You answer back monotonously despite your efforts to fight back whatever force is making you answer before you could even comprehend anything, worry settling in the back of your head as a mischievous glint crosses Beomgyu’s now blood red eyes.

“I dare you to kiss the prettiest person in the circle!” Beomgyu declares, glancing around. “If you can’t decide for yourself right now, you can pick me or Kazuha or Sunghoon.”

Beomgyu’s name somehow pushes itself to the front of your mind and the tip of your tongue, pushing Taehyun’s name of all people. “I choose—“

“Beomgyu, that’s enough.”

Taehyun’s low and commanding voice is enough to snap you out of your trance, blinking twice and turning your head towards him, and disrupt Beomgyu’s concentration, much to everyone’s chagrin. His stoic expression remains the same but if you focus on the fainter sounds around you, you can clearly hear him gritting his teeth and huffing.

Next to you, Beomgyu raises his hands up in surrender, a small hint of a knowing smirk on his face. “Okay, okay, calm down. I was going to stop there, actually.” He replies with a light-hearted chuckle, eyes going back to their natural brown. “Should we move on? Taehyun, truth or dare?”

Instead of answering, however, Taehyun stands up and storms off, leaving his soju bottle in the sand and walking to the direction of the path back to the cabins.

“Tyun—“ You try standing up and going after him, only for Beomgyu to hold you back down by your elbow. “Gyu, let go of me!”

“Are you crazy? There’s literal steam going off of his ears right now, I’m not letting you go after him.” Beomgyu retorts calmly, tightening his grip on your elbow when you flail around. “Let him cool down for a bit.”

“I swear to the gods, Choi Beomgyu—“

This time, it’s Hueningkai who interjects, “Dude, no, he’s right. Let’s leave Taehyun alone for now, I don’t want you getting thrown off a tree or something.”

“But—“

Beomgyu shakes his head. “No, nope, no buts. I think that also checks out for our game tonight.” He interjects, standing up and dusting the sand off of his pants. “Come on, guys, let’s clean up and head back too.”

You groan, standing up last and helping everyone clear out the mess. “I don’t even know why he’s so upset.” You mumble to Hueningkai after, heading back to the more crowded area of the beach to discard your empty bags of chips and soju bottles. “It was just a game.”

It takes your half-brother a moment to ponder on your question, opening his mouth multiple times only to close it quietly. When he does answer, he says, “E-Eh, well, it’ll probably go away by morning.” Shrugging, Hueningkai then offers to walk you and Yunjin back to the cabin after finding Hiyyih by another bonfire. “Taehyun was probably just upset by charmspeak, child of Athena and everything. Don’t worry about it.”

♡

It did not go away by morning, not even in the weeks that followed. Though Taehyun was civil with you—continuing to spar with you on weekdays, accompanying you even on smaller solo quests, and even partnering up with you during one of your assigned strawberry picking days—it was the kind of civil you’ve associated over the years as him being cross with you. 

For one, he’s suddenly quieter than usual and only speaks to you when it is absolutely necessary, which in Taehyun talk would only be when he has to ask a direct question about your work or if he has to clarify something. He doesn’t even ask you anymore if you got hurt during sparring sessions or what time you finish your beginner’s archery classes, the longest he’s spoken to you in the past three weeks being the time when he asked you and your fellow cabin counselors the details about the arrival of Artemis’ hunters to camp. 

Though Beomgyu’s apologized to you and to him multiple times, you’re also quick to catch onto Taehyun tensing up whenever the three of you are within five feet of each other before ultimately moving away. He’s mostly hung out with Hueningkai and Yeonjun in the meantime and you’d often find the three standing together even when they’re not teammates for an activity, leaving you to resort to drilling your half-brother with questions about Taehyun at the end of the day. 

(But even Hueningkai is no good help most times because he’s decided that he’d rather keep some things between him and his friend rather than open up to you, his literal sibling. You also had to find out from Yeonjun that it was Hueningkai himself who proposed that they talk via text messaging when they’re together, knowing that you can focus on sounds well.) 

But most importantly, Taehyun, whether he’s doing it intentionally or not, has been harsher on you than everyone else during team games. As you’ve observed before in all the other times when he’s held grudges on you or other campers, it’s his way of letting off steam: being more critical of you during brainstorming sessions, yelling at you a little louder in the field, and pointing out all of your mistakes with a harder expression on his face after. Though it was nice that he’s at least not giving you the cold shoulder, there have been times in the past few days that you’ve wanted to just tear his head off or stab him with a poisoned arrow in annoyance because you knew him well enough to know that he doesn’t fully mean what he’s saying and that he’s just projecting. 

And you desperately want to apologize for whatever it is that you did at the party, as evidenced by the growing number of paragraphs on your phone’s Notes app and the amount of times you’ve tried cornerning him at the forge, but you just can’t seem to find the right time—not when Taehyun’s always buried in work, talking in secret with Hueningkai and Yeonjun, or nitpicking at everything and making it an argument between the two of you. As much as it hurts knowing he’ll meet someone new soon, it hurts even more knowing that he’ll meet this new person while being extremely upset with you and won’t let you apologize. 

Gods, you think that you really are fucked. 

By the afternoon before the Summer’s End bonfire, a celebration at the canoe lake for departing campers, you find yourself terrorizing Soobin at the infirmary instead of helping out with last minute preparations on the bonfire. 

Initially, you were going to the big house and consult with the Oracle of Delphi until they kick you out, then you’d stick with the Hunters of Artemis for the rest of the night when the Oracle pushes you to go to the bonfire. However, Mr. D. has closed the big house earlier than you anticipated, pushing you in the direction of the infirmary at its closing time and catching Soobin packing away his things for the day. 

“Have you ever thought about making a cure for any kind of broken heart?” You ask with a sigh as you help fold blankets and fluff pillows. “I mean, I get that most demigods and heroes would rather follow their loved ones to the underworld but don’t you think it’s also good to have a back-up option, especially for us people in the waking world?” 

"Just go up to him, make sure he’s alone, and say sorry like you’ve always done in all the other times you’ve fought.” Soobin shrugs three cots away from you as he makes an inventory of the infirmary’s medical supplies. “I get that he’s a bit intimidating when he’s mad and that you’ll probably need to apologize at least five times but he’s still your best friend. Besides, this isn’t your biggest fight with him, as far as I’m concerned.” 

“It’s not just that.” You whine dramatically, plopping down on the cot in front of you. “It’s also because I—well, first, I’m not exactly sure what I’m apologizing for. For complying with Beomgyu for a dare? Willingly getting charmspoken? He’s upset and he’s valid for that but I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around his point of view that time.” 

“Maybe he was upset on your behalf. While it was a drunken joke for everyone else, it probably wasn’t for him. He’s still a child of Athena and you know how his mom feels about Beomgyu’s mom sometimes.” Soobin suggests. “And you know he’s very protective of you. That and the fact that charmspeaking is done differently with Aphrodite and Athena kids probably agitated him.”

“I mean, still, I was fine and nothing really happened, anyway.” You point out before scratching your head and waving your hand dismissively. “Whatever, there’s also the thing with tonight. I might just ruin it for him if I corner him for a bit just to say sorry. Soobin, he’s literally meeting his soulmate tonight and my instincts told me it’s the romantic kind of soulmate.” 

“Yeah, so? Before this soulmate person, you’re Tyun’s best friend. I don’t think five minutes of apologizing is going to change anything for the rest of destiny.” Soobin retorts expertly and you immediately regret coming to your most level-headed friend in your time of actual stress and dramatics. “I think you’d even make his night if you try and make amends right before he meets this person, whoever they are.”

You pout and Soobin rolls his eyes, finishing up his inventory before walking over to you. He sits right next to you on the cot, sighing as he does so. 

“I didn’t see me apologizing to him in my vision.” 

“You also didn’t predict that you’d be getting into this specific situation in the first place.” Soobin retorts sassily. “Isn’t it your dad who said that your vision are just general guidelines? This isn’t the future you saw back then, it’s your present now and it’s demanding you clear things up with Taehyun as soon as possible.” 

You rest your chin on your knees, whining dramatically. “But Soobin!”

“You’re literally just making up excuses. Take it from me that if you don’t do what you have to do as soon as possible, you’ll regret it when you have to wait for a long time for your next shot.” 

“That’s easy for you to say, you got the girl in the end.” You grumble. 

Soobin raises a brow at this. "So it’s about being in love with Taehyun now?” 

Your eyes widen and your hands immediately find themselves smacking Soobin’s arm. “Ya, I never said that!”

Soobin, however, is unflinching as he maintains his stance calmly. “You don’t have to say it. Yeonjun and I watched you two grow up too, you know.” He states matter-of-factly. “If you really love him as a best friend first and foremost, you’d still go up there even with all of your excuses and conflicted feelings about tonight. I promise you, destiny protects certain events to make sure that they happen so just go up there freely and talk to him, it’s fine.

“Besides, you’ve been putting this up for three weeks now, shouldn’t it be time that you do something about it? Knowing Taehyun and how Athena’s kids hold grudges, it’s probably just as hard on him as it is on you too.” He concludes, standing up and dragging you with him on your feet easily. “He needs you there, Y/N. Don’t keep him waiting for too long.” 

“Will you make that cure for broken heart when he breaks mine right after?” 

Soobin rolls his eyes but proceeds to drag you out of the infirmary anyway. “We’ll just have to see.” 

♡

Taehyun is wearing the green plaid flannel from the flea market over a cream-coloured hoodie and jeans, purple hair styled neatly and a silver earring on one ear. When you spot him as you arrive at the campfire, he stands by the drinks table with a glass of ambrosia and his brows furrowed in thought. Kazuha stands in front of him in full armour and sheaths on her hips, most likely from the games with the Hunters of Artemis that you organized this afternoon, and showing something on her phone. 

The dread you’ve been harboring the whole summer rises up your throat along with the full weight of the last part of your vision happening in real-time. Instead of running away like in your vision, however, Soobin just holds you in place before letting go and disappearing into the party when Taehyun spots you over Kazuha’s shoulders. 

“Y/N!” He calls for you, eyes wide in what you’re surprised to find as worry. Walking past Kazuha, he sets down his glass and takes another tentative step forward to you. “Wait, it’s not—”

“Can I talk to you?” You interject, gulping down your nervousness. You’re nervous about what you’re going to say to him but, most importantly, you worry about the fact that you didn’t see this part in your vision. “Alone, if that’s okay.”

Taehyun immediately nods, almost as if he was expecting you to ask, and jogs the rest of the distance to you. “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” He says, extending his hand to take yours before quickly retracting it and walking past you. “Come on.” 

You follow him away from the bonfire quietly, stopping a few meters from the canoe lake and away from the path campers usually take. 

“Look, Taehyun—”

“Y/N, I swear—”

You both back away from each other in surprise, Taehyun coughing awkwardly while you immediately avert your gaze in embarrassment.

“You first.” Taehyun eventually suggests with another cough, hands digging deep in his flannel’s pockets from the cold breeze that blows past. 

“No, it’s okay, you can go first.” You insist awkwardly, finding interest in the soil under your boots as you avoid his gaze. 

“Y/N.” He calls for you sternly, taking a step forward and making you look up at him. “We won’t get anywhere if we just keep tossing the conversation to each other. Just go ahead.”

There’s a long pause between the two of you as you try and stare him down, but to no avail. Sighing, you then give in and speak first. “I wanted to apologize for the thing with Beomgyu last time. I didn’t mean to upset you by playing along with the dare and letting him charmspeak me.”

“Oh that. No, it’s—”

“I’m really sorry for not apologizing sooner too.” You continue to ramble on, zoning out in your own words that you fail to notice how Taehyun’s eyes have softened from your words. “At first, I thought I’d give you time to cool off while I thought about what happened but then I let it drag on for so long because I didn’t know how to approach you when you were actively avoiding me and everything. I should’ve just went for it instead, like I’ve always done, but a lot of things were holding me back—”

“Y/N—“

“—like you’re always tense when I try approaching, especially when Beomgyu’s around, and you gave me a different position for Capture the Flag two weeks ago. I just knew from those things that you’re more upset than usual and that I should be extra careful with what I say to you—”

“Y/N—”

“—then, there’s also the fact that you’re meeting your soulmate and I kept using it as an excuse to myself that if I talk to you before, during, or even after tonight and mess up, I can’t forgive myself for making you angrier or, worse, ruining your night. Then, there’s also the fact that I—”

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate.” 

You close your mouth immediately, at the same time as your eyes widen in surprise. Taehyun takes the opportunity to step closer to you. 

“But, you were there, exactly like my vision...”

Taehyun shakes his head. “She was showing me her soulmate while explaining how she can see the red strings.” He clarifies matter-of-factly, gradually picking up speed in his speaking once more. Half of the weight on your chest and shoulders leave, only to quickly return when he continues speaking, “Then, she told me something else. Well, confirmed something for me, really.” 

You gulp, feeling your mouth dry up as you ask, “W-What is it?”

Taehyun takes a moment to respond, filling in the silence by finally taking your hands in his. "It’s you, Y/N.” He sighs in relief, catching your eyes with his sincere ones. He smiles softly at you. “It’s always been you.”

When you don’t speak or react beyond wide eyes and a slacked jaw, he continues. “Since I gave you that sweatshirt when you first came to camp and the 3rd grade when you made sure I wasn’t cold by practicing your thermal manipulation on me. Since we were first allowed to head classes on our own and you made sure that I ate and rested between sessions because that was also the summer when we were so understaffed because older campers were going on quests. Then when we got stuck at the Lotus Casino and I didn’t want to tell you what made me snap out of it but I can tell you now that it was my mom getting in my head and telling me to save you.” He releases a long exhale, his normally confident and composed demeanor slouching up to what you couldn’t believe as nervousness. “I wasn’t really upset with you or Beomgyu that night and I really am sorry for how I’ve been acting. I was just angry with myself for not doing anything then—and for not doing anything about my feelings until now, even—and that made me even angrier with myself that I couldn’t bring myself to just talk to you. I was just really embarrassed.

“Kazuha’s not my soulmate, she just happened to be confirming it for me when you arrived. She actually approached me in the first place because she worried about us, mainly you and the red string she’s been seeing around us this whole time. But whatever, red string or not, I’ll only ever be in love with you in this lifetime and the next. It’s you, Y/N, and it’ll only ever be you for me.”

Taehyun’s breathless at the end of his mini speech and you’re effectively caught off-guard, hands unconsciously warming up in his. 

“Y-You...you’re in love with me?” You repeat incredulously, feeling your heart pound in your eardrums. When you try and loosen your hands from Taehyun’s grip, worrying that you won’t be able to control your body heat as your emotions rise, he only resists. 

“If that’s okay.” He purses his lips worriedly. “Look, we’ve talked about it last time. It could be platonic if you want. Like you’ve said—”

“That was before I knew you were in love with me! I was thinking Kazuha was your soulmate that time!” You interject quickly. “I...I just thought that I love you too much and that I wanted you to be happy before anything else.

“Listen, when I dreamt my vision of you earlier this summer and saw someone else with you in the end, I just thought that was it, it was over for me. How can I compete with someone you were destined with? I’m just your best friend who’s stupid enough to wait until I thought I was about to lose you to do something.”

“Don’t say that.”

You sniffle lightly as you speak, not expecting yourself to break this easily with all the overwhelming emotions coming to you all at once. Taking a deep breath, you then continue, “So I just pushed my feelings aside tried pushing you to your destiny because that’s what the Oracle told me to do, that regardless of whether I want the future or not I have to deliver it. I wanted you to be happy first even when I wasn’t and I wanted you to meet your soulmate so I had to say all of those things but I really, really love you, Tyun—as more than a friend, if it wasn’t clear to you already.”

“Did you never consider that it could be you?” Taehyun frowns, cradling your face gently as you catch your breath. “That I’d feel the same way?”

“I didn’t think you’d choose me that way, at least until now.” You shrug unsurely, voice getting embarrassingly small towards the end. Taehyun shakes his head in disapproval. “Not against people as beautiful as Kazuha, at least...maybe even Zeus kids like Yeji and Chan or—”

“That won’t do, my love.” He tsks softly, wrapping his other arm around your waist and leaning closer until his lips are only an inch away from yours. You look up at him with bated breath, closing your eyes when he connects your lips briefly for a kiss. “Don’t ever think like that again, please.”

It’s sweet and chase but also desperate and yearning, Taehyun gently pulling you as close to him as possible while you raise your arms up to his neck. 

“Gods, I thought you didn’t have to worry about things like this. Child of the sun and all.” He chuckles lowly on the crook of your neck, hugging you comfortingly as he moves to littering more kisses down your neck. “But I’ll gladly prove it to you right now and for the rest of time.”

You scoff through a few tears that have slipped down your cheek, patting his back once. “Since when did you get this cheesy, hm?”

“It’s just for you, don’t worry, my love.” He assures, lifting his head up to capture your lips once more.

♡

(bonus)

You had a dream—or a vision, what have you—that you invited your childhood best friend and boyfriend, Kang Taehyun the son of Athena, on a date at the strawberry fields right after a day of patrolling camp borders. You had it all planned out according to what you saw: a nice picnic dinner of yours and Taehyun’s favorite foods that you prepared with Kazuha and Yunjin, a playlist of music you’ve curated for him over the past week (and some from your archives of the past years), your prettiest picnic outfit, candles, your dad’s missing chariot that you may or may not have swiped while he went on vacation to Egypt, and a pair of wings-shaped earrings you’ve been secretly making at the workshops with the help of Yeonjun and Beomgyu. 

(Well, the earrings aren’t actually part of the dream but you did see yourself giving him a gift and Taehyun did mention something about wanting to make earrings for himself for some time now so you thought of going just a little off-course and bring it along.)

“Eight PM sharp tonight! Don’t be late, I have a surprise!” You remind Taehyun as you pass by him on the way to the forge, pressing a kiss up to his cheek before reluctantly letting go of his hand when Hueningkai complains about being late to his session with the Hephaestus kids. “Oh, and wear that fitted black shirt you have! I hung it in front of your closet yesterday.”

“Will do, love. Oh, and I also have a surprise.” Taehyun winks with a grin, ruffling your hair with a fond smile. “Unless you saw it in your dream then just pretend that it’s a surprise.” 

You have a hunch but not because you saw it in your dream, rather because Taehyun’s not that discreet with going around camp with his guitar and because Yeonjun accidentally let it spill to you that your boyfriend had him order something for you a few weeks ago. Apparently, it was something fresh and yellow that he was planning to preserve and you remember mentioning in passing at a workshop class about how you were interested in flower preservation. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You feign ignorance, making him roll his eyes while you laugh. “I’ll see you tonight, genius.” 

“I’ll see you tonight, stupid.” 

♡

taglist: @choisuebin @forever-in-the-sky2 @rencarnationofangel @hyukalovie

[venus-haze]

I saw that artwork for Siren!Elvis, and now thats all I can think about, so can I get headcannons where reader is the one person he decides not to drown?

Absolutely🖤 For those of you who haven't seen @memphis-menace's incredible Siren!Elvis art, here it is! I went more with the modern interpretation of sirens rather than the traditional mythological one. 

Siren!Austin!Elvis x Reader

Warnings: Dark themes such as hypnosis, death, unreality, emotional manipulation, drowning, and implied sexual content that involves coercion which some people may find disturbing or triggering. Do not interact if you are under 18 or post thinspo/ED content.

When your friend invites you to spend the summer with her family at their beach house, you’re excited, unable to think of a better place to spend the summer than by the ocean. You have a whole room to yourself and free reign of the nearby beaches and coves for three months

You and your friend spend the first week of the summer hanging out on the beach or heading out with her family on their boat. You feel at home by the sea, more invigorated than you had felt in–you couldn’t even remember

One day, your friend decides to sleep in, so you head out early on your own to the beach, but as you make the usual trek down the sand dunes, you hear a faint singing, and find yourself following the sound. You know you want to head to the ocean, but your body moves you closer to the coves, deeper and deeper until you reach a spot that seems to be untouched by the beach developments that threaten to encompass the whole shore

You walk in the direction of the singing, entranced by the beautiful melody. It seems like the sound is coming from the water, loud and clear, though, and your face inches toward the water’s surface when suddenly, the singing stops, and you swear you see a man’s face in the water’s reflection instead of your own–except he isn’t entirely a man, from what you can make out of his features

The sun’s beginning to set when you make your way out of the cove, and you don’t remember anything that happened, or how long you were there for, but your friend is in tears when you return to the beach house, saying she was worried sick that something had happened to you. What is there to say? Something had happened to you, but you couldn’t explain or even recall what

Day and night through the summer, when you’re alone, you end up back in that cove, drawn in by the same song but unable to remember it when you’re out of your hours-long haze. Every time you’re about to touch the water’s surface, you come back to reality. You brush it off as sleepwalking, or just being distracted during the day

One afternoon in late July, when you’re with your friend and her family on their boat, you hear the singing again, except this time, so does everyone else. You don’t even notice your friend’s dad begin steering the boat in the direction of the cove, they’re all just as drawn to the sound as you are

The boat stops just as it’s about to reach the cove, and one by one, almost mindlessly, your friend and her family jump off the side of the boat disappear beneath the water, and you catch a glimpse of what you can only describe as a monster as blood splatters the side of the rocking boat, watching in horror as they get torn apart by whatever’s lurking below

You’re drawn closer to the water as the song begins again, tears welling up in your eyes as you try to will yourself to move back and avoid the same fate. Then, yet again, just as you’re about to reach the water, it stops. Except this time you see him

When he looks at you though, he appears far more human, so different from the creature you’d just witness massacre your friend and her family–he’s beautiful, with glimmering cerulean scales littered across his skin, the webbing between his fingers the same color that puts the ocean to shame

There’s no malice in his expression as he swims over to where you’re sitting, soaked and shivering—when did it get so cold?

“I won’t hurt you, but you have to come with me,” he says

Your voice is shaky as you answer, “You say that like I have a choice”

He smiles gently, knowingly, and though your lip trembles, despite what you’ve just seen, you take his hand as he guides you into the water, a finned arm wrapped securely around your waist

You’re brought back to the cove you always found yourself in, now realizing it’s his home he’s been luring you to all along. He helps you onto a flat rock near the water’s surface, and you know better than to try to run, he can bring you back with just a murmur. Instead, he leans against the rock, staring at you starry-eyed

Sirens like him are a dying breed, human development and pollution making it impossible for them to thrive despite their abilities. He tells you there used to be dozens of sirens in that cove, but he’s the only one left, unsure of which humans to trust until you came along

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. “I finally have you all to myself”

He collects beautiful things. He has for hundreds of years, his cove filled with baubles and knick-knacks he’s violently taken from tired pirates to vacationing families–those like your friend’s. You, however, are the ultimate trophy, outshining all the gold and out-glittering all the gems

For a week or so, you’re his doll, posed and positioned however he pleases. You’ve since shed your clothing, you’re never out of the water long enough for any of it to dry. Besides, he prefers you that way, soft and accessible

He knows he has to turn you, your human body unable to handle being in the water for as long as it has been. Your muscles ache and your skin is becoming discolored. He sings for you again while you’re in the water, and you find it more difficult to stay afloat

“Just focus on my voice, darlin’” he says, as if you can do anything else. All of your mental facilities are used to focus on his voice, and you begin to slip beneath the water’s surface. He joins you, his face once again grotesque and monstrous as you’d seen when he killed your friend’s family, but this time, you go to him

Taglist: @eliseinmemphis @crash-and-cure @kittenlittle24 @im-lame-irl​ @loudwombatmugkid​ @rxsesss​ @roseymary04​ @queendelrey​ @jovialladyaurora​ @positivitylane112​ @moonknightswif3​ @holy-minseok​ @datsavageavenger​ @21bruhs​ @luckyevansstan​ @djsjs13949 @butlerslut​ @ash-omalley​ @powerofelvis​ @sad-bisexual-bitch​ @peachy-deaths​ @kibumslatina​ @adoreyouusugar​ @raefoxiegirl @donnamarie23 @ilovehobi101​ @memphis-menace​ @animeketsu-yander​ @phhistheloml @dkayfixates

[davisbette]

♥️🌌 15, 17, 19, 85 🌠♥️

🚂🚃 asks

15. Is there a song, book, movie, or other piece of media that has drastically altered your life? What was it, are there multiple?

There are multiple, yes. *cracks knuckles*

Novels:

1. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

I will never be able to explain what this book means to me. It's a fabulous, ineffable feeling that no other piece of media has ever made me feel. I'm so different from Lily Bart, and yet i find her so relatable, so easy to understand. Her incapacity to reconcile two conflicting ideas, her lack of drive, her lack of self-worth beyond being a beautiful vessel; how her mother's influence has shaped her ideals, how Selden challenges them and why that appeals her so much. The world Lily's mother built for her is crumbling, and she's helpless. She's her own worst enemy.

I had to microdose this novel because it made my heart physically ache. I knew from the start she was doomed, and at the end i cried for her, and i cried for myself fearing i will suffer the same fate.

2. Notre Dame de Paris.

A shallow reading of this novel won't make it justice. The Disney movie is like: the monster is actually human / the human is actually a monster yadda yadda yadda, boring (still a good movie tho). The book doesn’t have such a stale dichotomy. Claude Frollo is terrifyingly human and terrifyingly well portrayed. I remember getting goose bumps when i read the boat scene in which Frollo —like Charon ferrying the souls of the dead across the waters of Hades— ferries Esmeralda to the other side of the shore, where he (also as the role of judge) will decide her final sentence.

3. Of Human Bondage.

The movie does not do justice to the book. Yes, Bette's performance ✨️talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before✨️, etc. But the book is better. In the novel Philip himself is incapable of understanding why he's so frightfully in love with Mildred, he's in a constant struggle to get over it. He hates Mildred, he desperately loves her, he hates himself for loving her. *Insert ouroboros encircling Cupid: love is self devouring here*. And Mildred...well, I can't figure her out, she confuses me. In the movie (as with Frollo) she is just plain bad. But in the book she's a constant ????? she's petty, she's mean and manipulative, but she is also capable of being incredibly naive, of giving in to passionate impulses and of feeling compassion. I think Mildred is far more stupid than evil, which once again makes her more human.

Poetry:

Devotions.

Mary oliver was right: You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Completely changed my view of the world and shaped me into the person that i am today.

Shows:

The x Files.

I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said by the x files meta writers on this app.

Movies:

The Sound of Music.

It somehow feels like a movie adaptation of Mary Oliver's poetry. 174 minutes of pure joy.

17. What's the most interesting coincidence you've had happen to you (or someone you know)?

Sorry to disappoint you querida but i have no idea.

Many interesting coincidences have happened to me! almost all of them related to coincidentally meeting a key person in my life.

19. In general, is there any historical event you desperately want to witness?

85. What memories would describe as your "core" ones?

My mom clumsily playing videogames just for the sake of spending time with me. My dad sleepily reading Donald Duck comics to me at night and me asking him to not fell asleep and to go on, go on! bc i was a such a restless, full of life child and couldn't understand how the people around me was so drained. My childhood summers. ABBA on the car radio while travelling. The first time my cat looked at me with his big baby blue eyes. Meeting you. My last year of highschool which was the only one good.

100 questions to talk about on the late night train at 11:04 pm

[angel-anoetic]

Hey! 🌿 here, I've been having Jack Manifold brain rot recently. He's so pretty and genuine and has such a nice singing voice. And then I was struck with this idea of Jack and Reader being reincarnated souls of dryads who waltz to save the world when the egg takes over and reset the timeline minus the corruption that happened and only Foolish remembers (because he's a god) even if you don't write it, thank you for writing all of my requests, it means a lot to me! ❤️

hey hey 🌿! i too have had jack manifold brain rot or it might be the gender envy but anyways- his voice is so pretty. Anon, you always give me the best writing prompts to and i always love writing your requests! i hope you enjoy !!

Don't forget to like to save, and reblog to share

c!JackManifold x gn!Reader - Saving Souls

genre: /rom, soulmates almost (?), fantasy, Dreamsmp au

warnings: none! (let me know if i missed anything)

masterlist <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first time you had noticed any kind of power, you were maybe 5 years old. It wasn't too obvious at first, things that could be passed off as mere coincidence Leaves seemingly following you, flowers turning to face you.

But you couldn't ignore the big signs, the bigger things. Vines growing around you, the flowers you picked immediately sprouting a few more in their place.

It scared you, but over time you got used to it. It gave you something to do on the hot summer days and cold winter nights. Spring gave you the most power and let them flourish, literally and metaphorically.

It had been some years ago when you met a young man who went by the name Jack Manifold. It was a nice day and you decided to cross the river that surrounded your home when you came upon a field of flowers after walking for a few minutes.

There were so many that you could feel their energy fill your veins. But there was something else. Someone. An energy that matched your own, too powerful to be a plant or a part of the Earth. Then he appeared, seemingly from nowhere. A tree a few yards away suddenly a boy.

From there had blossomed, no pun intended a friendship and relationship that held so much power. You two had grown and helped each other through work through the cons of your powers. Learned how to control them before they controlled you.

So one day when you received a message from an old friend regarding a certain evil that had taken over his friends and one of his homes, you couldn't ignore his call.

You and Jack showed up a few days later, and after a brief meeting with Foolish, you considered your options as you and Jack walked to the Egg's resting place.

"Maybe we could find if its core, and if we're lucky it'll be plant-based. Or Foolish did say that there are lots of vines and other plants surrounding it. We can just bury it so deep it won't be a problem ever again."

"No, Foolish wants it gone, and I think we should exhaust all of our options, whether we destroy the Egg or not."

As you two made your way to the Egg, people began to stop and consider the new visitors. Some looked tired, others just seemed angry or upset.

Then you two found it. The entrance to its resting place. Its red color illuminating what otherwise would have been a darkroom underneath the SMP. Vines and some other plants that you weren't sure you had ever seen.

"Oh my god." You looked at Jack, his eyes glowing against the room's tainted glow.

"What is it?"

"This is worse than what I would have expected, Y/N. These plants...I've only seen them once before in a very bad place. But it could work to our advantage."

You both made your way down the stairs, the sight of the Egg pushing beyond what you could have ever imagined. It stood tall, and the pure energy and heat that it gave off were almost enough to make anyone tired.

You began to feel a sense of panic rising in you, your hands slightly shaking at the sight of the object.

You felt the energy rushing out, towards the palm of your hands as a small flutter of energy found its way to the ground. As soon as the small seeds touched the ground, they grew into enormous green and white flowers.

A terrible scream suddenly emitted from the room, one that neither of you could hardly understand.

"Y/N, do that again."

"W-What?"

"The flowers, help them grow, just like those."

You focused on the type of flower, seeing it in your mind, then three more sprouted out of the original one.

Another scream filled the room.

"Alright, I have a plan. I'm not sure it will work but I do know it's worth a chance."

You couldn't look away from the Egg. It was like a monster staring you down, one that you were seconds away from fighting.

Jack turned to you, grabbing your face gently, rubbing his thumb against your cheek.

"Hey," he whispered, "It's alright. We are gonna take care of this in no time and help so many people. And we're gonna come out of it together. Okay?"

You nodded, grabbing his hands with your own, leaning into his energy.

"Alright, the plan is simple. I am going to try and manipulate these plants and grow the ones you just did. The Egg, it doesn't like the sight or the addition of plants that aren't connected to it. So while I'm carrying that out you need to start making something to protect us. I don't care what it is, how big it is, as long as it's strong enough to get us through a really bad thing. Can you do that for me?"

"I can do that."

You both smiled until Jack spoke. "Then let's do this."

Jack picked one of the flowers and one of the crimson plants that encased the room. He placed them gently together in front of the Egg and began to focus on transforming them into whatever he could.

You on the other hand began to pull together whatever plant matter you could find. Some pieces of wood and plants you had never even seen in your life still seemed to bend your will with just a little resistance. A small burrow was slowly being formed around you. When you looked up you could already see Jack had formed a large hybrid of the red and white plant which was now surrounding the Egg in a spiral.

The screams returned, nearly knocking Jack off his feet. He was a mess, the focus combined with the pure power that he needed to do what he needed was taking its toll slowly but surely.

Eventually, the Egg's screams, while still loud, became weaker, and a sudden rumbling came from the ground around you both.

"Jack! Jack get in here!" You screamed from your makeshift plant and wood bunker.

"Just a minute!" He continued his work, the vines and leaves already infiltrating the Egg's core.

You looked up, the ceiling above you caving in slowly. Right above Jack.

All he felt was the large vine wrap around his waist, then a harsh pull as he fell next to you within the bunker, moments away from the boulder that nearly crushed him.

"Keep going! It's not over yet."

You turned your attention away from the bunker and began to help Jack. The screams had to be the worst part. Your ears were basically going numb. You weren't even sure if Jack could hear your encouragements or if you were even talking.

All you know is that both of you were trying, the shaking of the ground was strong, and a sudden bright light was exploding from the Egg.

Then silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were the first to wake up. The ringing was still in your ears, but less powerful and daunting. Jack was situated against you, sleeping peacefully.

You leaned back against your arms and tried to shake him awake. Eventually, he stirred up, and you were able to clear away your shared 'bunker'.

After you made your way back up you saw the change immediately. The skies seemed happier. People were less scared to move about town.

You and Jack walked around, people greeting you as you did. You spotted Foolish atop a hill.

When you finally met him up there he smiled.

"Y/N, thank you so much. It happened. Whatever you two did...it worked." The tears filled his eyes as he engulfed both you and Jack in a hug.

"I don't know what you did, but no one here even seems to know what happened. It's like they went to bed and woke up new people. A fresh start."

You laughed. "That's great Foolish. I'm happy we could help. It was all Jack in the end."

You both turned to each other, the light in both of your eyes new.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[pardy-dardy]

some thoughts on Kris

DELTARUNE SPOILERS DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVENT CAUGHT UP YET!!!

TLDR: Kris is a lonely second-child who has lived in the shadow of their brother their entire life, causing them to act out on occasion to get attention. They somehow gain the power to create the Dark Worlds (which allows them to become as important and loved as they feel they should be), alongside the curse of us, the “Player,” which can influence their decision-making to a certain extent.

    Depending on how you, the “Player”, choose to proceed, you are either working against Kris’ natural inclination toward mischief and cold-heartedness (pacifist), or working with and actively feeding it (genocide thru the manipulation of others).

        It’s not hard to see that Kris has some problems. When playing thru Deltarune, it’s told to us that Kris is known to pull some pretty mean-spirited pranks on folks (eggnog/mayonnaise swap, for instance). Some of the dialogue options given to us are mean as shit as well, and I have a feeling that if the “Player” wasn’t there to push them toward better choices, they’d be meaner than Susie, easily. Also, they carry a fucking knife with them everywhere, and Chapter straight up starts out with a fake-out slasher scene. C’mon now.

    But they’re not all evil! After all, they’re shown to deeply care for their brother (going as far as googling when Asriel will be home on summer break), as they seem to be one of the few people in their life who treated them like someone normal. I would not doubt it being the situation that Kris was given the “oh, you’re Asriel’s sibling, right?” treatment all their life.

    They love Asriel so much that I’d bet you Ralsei is a manifestation of the goodness he impressed upon them. After all, Ralsei mysteriously isn’t affected by the same worldly rules as other Darkners (with the turning to stone thing), and physically appears just like the Boss Monsters we know from Undertale. Ralsei is always pushing Kris toward the path of light if he can, and I’d say that’s a reflection of the love they have for their absent brother.

    In light of their parents’ messy-sounding divorce, a town full of people entirely physically unlike them (right up to the fact that they cannot use magic while everyone else seems to be able to), a natural difficulty making friends, and a massive hole in their heart where Asriel used to be, Kris has become a bitter, cold teen who finds themself lapsing into their own imagination just to escape their melancholy reality.

    Somehow, this imagination turns into real, tangible power. Kris finds out one day that the worlds they create are just as real as anything else, and that they can be brought into existence anywhere they please, so long as they strike the earth with their knife. In these worlds, Kris is able to live the ultimate escapist fantasy-- they are the one true protagonist, the unequivocal hero of every story they would ever want to tell (no matter how nasty their actions during said story). They are important, they are at the center of it all, and they will save every world they create without fail.

    And you know what? Everyone else who is able to be pulled into Kris’ Dark Worlds agrees! Being a hero and saving a crazy, wacky world is far better than the bitter realities they live with. Berdly says it, Noelle says it, Susie says it-- and though Kris doesn’t appear to say anything, it’s pretty apparent that they agree (dialogue options point toward Kris being in the same boat). The only person who doesn’t agree at all is Ralsei, and that’s because he understand something more about the nature of the Dark Worlds than we, the “Players”, do (but perhaps not Kris).

    But by the end of Chapter 2, we are given in-game confirmation that it’s Kris who is making the fountains. Why would they do this, given that there’s a good chance they know everything Ralsei seems to know?

    It’s as I said-- Kris wants to make their fantasy real, however twisted that might be. They get the attention they feel they deserve, and as we play through the story, Kris also realizes that they can make friends that way, too. It becomes the strongest social tool they have, to a point where if you go Pacifist, you even befriend BERDLY of all people. And, as icing on the cake, everyone agrees with Kris that the Dark Worlds are a better alternative to the real world. They are going to continue the cycle as both creator and savior at the very least, so that every day can scratch that psychological/emotional itch for them.

    Even if you go the new Genocide Path, the “Player” validates and feeds the nastier part of Kris’ nature. It, again, makes sense that Kris would want to floor the world in Darkness. They can continue to act out their nasty fantasies, hurting who they please and turning worlds to ruin because in the end, they will be the master of the world.

    And when they forcefully rip us from their body, Kris is reminding us of who is ultimately in control. No matter what we do, what direction we help push Kris toward, it all feeds into their end goal. 

In the Pacifist route, it can be interpreted as something they have to do, something they do in opposition to the “Player” so that they can keep feeling important. Hence why they let us back into their body once they’ve done the deed, instead of leaving us out to dry.

In the Genocide route, it can be interpreted as them asserting dominance over us, since we clearly also want more worlds to decimate. Even though we’re willing to aid them in their plan, they want us to know, again, who ultimately decides what happens. Again, they let us back into their body once they’re done (and can make sure that there’s no risk of interference) to show that we’re in on it together, but that they see us as a variable they can’t fully trust.

God, this story is getting so fucking interesting. Toby Fox you god damn fuck head let me pay you for these chapters already bastard dog

[rocorambles]

Shareholders

Pairing: Iwaizumi x reader mainly, with sides of Oikawa x reader, Hanamaki x reader, Matsukawa x reader

Genre/Warnings: Yandere, Toxic Relationships, Manipulation, Spanking, NSFW, Degradation, Non-Con/Dub-Con

Summary: Iwaizumi is the only one who has your heart, but you’re realizing that you should have read the fine print of the contract when you signed up to be his girlfriend. Maybe then you would have seen the names of the other three shareholders clearly written out. 

Requested by Anon 

If someone had asked you how you felt about love and the idea of soulmates when you first entered high school, you would have laughed in their face. You were growing up, becoming more jaded, becoming more knowledgeable about the world. You didn’t have time for silly romantic notions, not with school, extracurriculars, and cramming for the college entrance exam. But then you met a spiky haired boy with the most beautiful green eyes you’ve ever seen and suddenly, love didn’t seem so far fetched. 

It wasn’t love at first sight, far from it. At most it was slight interest as the two of you sat through the same classes and walked past each other in the halls of Aoba Johsai. Neither of you yourselves really understand how it happened, but subtle nods of acknowledgement became friendly good mornings, polite small talk became playful exchanges full of inside jokes, and weekends spent separately became weekends you spent watching Iwaizumi’s volleyball games and going on dates to video arcades and movie theaters that were playing anything monster or Godzilla related. And now, as a third year, as an official adult, you think you just might have found your soulmate.

You cherish the moments you spend alone with Iwaizumi. Sometimes the moments are sweet as the two of you sit on a pair of swings and talk under the night sky full of stars twinkling, as if they’re winking at the two lovebirds encased in their soft glow. Sometimes the moments are heated as the two of you argue about which Godzilla remake is the best. Sometimes the moments are full of laughter as Iwaizumi holds you in his arms and recounts something stupid or funny that had happened at volleyball practice. And sometimes, now that both of you have passed the mark of adulthood and see each other for the man and woman you’ve both become, the moments are full of passion and desire as you lock the bedroom door and entangle limbs on a soft mattress.

Every second you have with your lover is perfect, but it’s becoming harder and harder to find time alone together. You like Iwaizumi’s friends. You really do. And you love the fact that he has such a good group of close friends, but sometimes you wonder if it’s normal for them to be so close to you as well. 

Matsukawa isn’t so bad, but you can almost feel his large presence hovering around you as you walk from class to class. You’ve gotten used to the way his tall frame casually leans outside your classroom door when the bell rings and you shoot a smile at him, but you find it odd that he picks you up from classes even more often than Iwaizumi does. He’s become a second shadow by your side and at first you had found it unnerving, especially since he doesn’t speak much, but over time you’d grown to find comfort in the security he radiated and the soothing peacefulness his quiet personality offered. 

On the other hand, there are definitely times when you wonder if you can muzzle Hanamaki. The chestnut haired boy has always been able to make you laugh and you genuinely enjoy talking to him, but his recent increase of pet names for you and his flirtatious remarks that borderline sexual innuendos make you tense. You had brushed off his initial usage of babe, honey, and sweetheart, but when he had called you a pillow princess in broad daylight, in front of your class, your cheeks had flamed a bright red and you had to fight the urge to slap him. But he always backed off at the perfect moment, right before you completely lost your cool, and you grudgingly continued conversing with him until the tension slackened and the two of you were back to your playful banter. 

But the worst of them all is Oikawa. The first time he had planted a kiss on your cheek you had frozen stiff, but you had just chalked it up to his womanizing ways and shrugged it off. But it’s harder to ignore the way he’s constantly finding ways to hold your hand, twirl locks of your hair around his long fingers, and far too intimately rest his hands on your hips. It’s unfortunate for you since Oikawa is also the one who you always feel the need to be on your best behavior around. You know he’s Iwaizumi’s best friend, the longest friend he’s ever had, a friend he’s practically known and spent his entire life with. But that doesn’t stop the way unease churns in your gut whenever he’s around you and it feels like he’s always around. In fact, it feels like all three of them are always around you, almost even more so than your boyfriend himself.

You consider bringing it up to Iwaizumi in private multiple times, but even when the three get up to their antics right in front of your boyfriend, he never seems to be bothered. He just shrugs his shoulders and continues talking to you when Matsukawa offers to hold your bags for you. He just laughs when Hanamaki leers at you with barely concealed lust in his eyes and says he’d love to see you in the skimpiest bikini they could find for the upcoming beach trip you’re all planning. And even when you had stared at him with panic written all over your face as Oikawa forcefully pulled you until you were sitting in his lap, Iwaizumi had just nonchalantly looked up at the two of you and told you both to keep it down as he bent his head back down to continue studying. You trust Iwaizumi with your heart, your life, so if he’s fine with everything and he isn’t concerned, maybe you’re just overthinking things? Yeah, that must be it. You mentally chide yourself for being ‘that girl’ you’ve always hated and made fun of, ‘that girl’ who complains about her boyfriend’s friends for no legitimate reason. Disgusted at yourself for getting so worked up over nothing, you vow to take your boyfriend’s lead and just take it all in stride. 

The rest of the school year continues until one day, your teacher decides to surprise you all with randomly assigning you partners for a project. The classroom groans. Isn’t it silly to forcefully pair up third years? It’s your last year and you all know each other enough to know exactly who you want to work with, but your teacher ignores your disgruntled muttering and that’s how you find yourself seated next to a boy you’ve seen around, but never really talked to outside of a few superficial lines of small talk. He’s nice enough and the two of you settle into a comfortable rhythm as you outline and plan out how to complete the project and you both smile as you exchange phone numbers, agreeing to text each other about when to meet up. 

It’s just your luck that this project is going to take an entire month to finish and you whine to Iwaizumi about not getting more time to hang out with him, but he just chuckles and flicks your forehead, telling you to behave and get your work done. After all, what’s one month when you have an entire summer break to spend together, four years of college, and hopefully an entire rest of your lives to spend together? You blush at the implications of the last part of that sentence, but you wholeheartedly agree and you throw yourself into the project, hoping to keep your grades up even in your last year. 

The work is more complex and time consuming than you had originally thought and your partner is just as studious as you, so the two of you find yourselves spending a lot of time together. You discuss what the best next step is between classes. You put your heads together at lunch as you both jot down ideas in your notebooks. You text each other about when’s a good time to meet up in person outside of school to keep on working. It’s all purely platonic, but the three sets of eyes following you, watching you, observing you narrow in displeasure. 

You aren’t around Iwaizumi as much as you furiously work to complete your project and the boys use that to their advantage, crafting words, twisting tales, whispering into Iwaizumi’s ears every chance they can get. During practice, in the locker room, as they walk back home together, they constantly feed him lies, exaggerations, and condemning words. Matsukawa makes offhands comments about how friendly the two of you seem to have gotten, claiming he was surprised when he saw your partner tuck a lock of hair behind your ear as the two of you walked together in between classes. His eyes look on in amusement as they catch the brief furrow in Iwaizumi’s brows. Hanamaki teases Iwaizumi for being so oblivious. “Iwaizumi, her partner’s going to steal her from right under your nose at this rate. I mean I saw the way he looked at her when they were talking and he totally wants to fuck her. He could barely stop looking at her tits and ass, not that I can blame the guy.” He secretly smiles when he sees the ace’s fists clench at his words. But the breaking point is when Oikawa comes rushing into the volleyball gym, loudly exclaiming of your betrayal. “Iwa-chan! I accidentally read Y/N’s text when I was sitting next to her and her partner asked her to get coffee with him this weekend. They’re going on a date! You need to stop them.” The three third years share a dark amused look when Iwaizumi spikes the balls harder than usual at practice that day.

Furious is an understatement for how Iwaizumi is feeling and he knows he’s being an asshole, he knows the criticism he shouts at Kindaichi and Kunimi is more harsh than it should be, he knows he’s hitting the spikes way too hard for a normal practice when Watari flinches as he practices his receives. But he can’t bring himself to care as the image of you and that fucking bastard who’s your partner fill his mind. The first and second years steer clear of their vice captain as the team freshens up in the locker room and Iwaizumi is so caught up in his thoughts that he misses the way Oikawa ushers the juniors out as quickly as he can leaving just the four third years alone. He practically growls when a hand is gently placed on his shoulder, but he takes a deep breath to calm down when he turns and sees Hanamaki raising both of his arms in submission. His stomach knots a little at the sympathetic look in both Matsukawa’s and Hanamaki’s eyes, but he’s distracted by Oikawa shoving a phone into his hands. “Iwa-chan, you need to talk to her right now! She should be wrapping up her club activity right now too. Tell her to come.” It’s actually not a bad idea and with the encouragement of his friends he finds himself shooting a text your way and they all wait for you to arrive.

“Can you come to the locker room? We need to talk.” You worriedly bite your lip as you run as fast as you can to the boy’s locker room. The text had come out of nowhere and it sounded so serious, so...final. You shake your head rapidly dispelling your greatest fear. No, there’s no way Iwaizumi was breaking up with you, you know how much the two of you love each other, but what could possibly be wrong then? You're panting for breath by the time you reach the meeting spot and you bang on the doors, expecting your boyfriend to come out, so you yelp in shock when instead, the doors open and a strong arm hauls you inside until you’re in the middle of the lit room, held tightly against a familiar hard chest. You wince at the harsh grip Iwaizumi has on your hips as he burrows his head into the crook of your neck, but you soothingly rub his back, the only part of his body you have access to in your current position as you gently coax him into telling you what’s wrong. 

A sarcastic laugh fills the room at your words and you flinch in surprise. You hadn’t realized anyone else was here and as your boyfriend’s grip loosens a bit, you squirm until you can look around and your face pales when you see the rest of the third years lounging around, staring at the both of you. “Hajime, I really shouldn’t be here, especially not if there are other guys in here. We’re going to get in so much trouble if someone finds out!” You struggle to escape his hold and rush out of the room, but his iron grip returns and holds you still. 

“Is it true? Are you going on a date with your partner this weekend?” 

“Wh-what?” You’re so flabbergasted by the question that your mouth flaps open and you make unintelligible sounds for a few seconds before you put yourself together. “Hajime, what are you talking about? Of course not! We’re just meeting up to work on the project.”  

“I didn’t realize you get coffee at the most popular cafe in town for dates just to work on a project with someone you barely know.” You angrily whip your head around and scowl at Oikawa. You’re beginning to realize exactly what’s happening and you frantically clutch Iwaizumi’s face in your hands and plead with him to take your side, to believe you, but you know your words are falling on deaf ears as every question he asks you and every answer you respond with is spoken over by one of the other three figures predatorily staring at you. Your heart sinks as you see the fury building in his sharp eyes and tears well in your eyes as you feel his nails dig painfully into your skin as he tightens his hold on you even more with every filthy lie his friends spew. It only stops when you begin to sob and hold Iwaizumi almost as tightly as he’s holding you, blabbering on and on about how much you love him, how sorry you are for making him feel like he isn’t the only man you need in your life.

You revel in the way calloused hands loosen their grip and begin to tenderly stroke your hair and soon the only sounds in the room are your sniffles and Iwaizumi’s affirmation of his love for you, but when your cries finally subside, a hand grabs your chin and firmly forces you to look up until you lock eyes with the green you’ve come to love. “I love you and I know you love me, but you need to be punished. I can’t just let you get away with thinking that flirting, letting other men touch you, letting other men even think they have a chance to be with you is okay.” You nervously look at the other three men still silently watching the two of you and you beg Iwaizumi to save the punishment for home, for when the two of you are alone. You know what his punishments entail and there’s no way in hell you’re letting them witness it, but your resistance and struggling only serve to irritate your boyfriend even more. You flinch when loud tearing sounds fill the room before fabric flutters to the floor and you desperately try to hide your now naked body as your ruined clothing mockingly litters the ground around you.

Iwaizumi sits on the bench and pats his lap as he pointedly stares at you and you hesitantly stumble over and lay yourself across him, your ass perfectly positioned in the middle of his thighs and you shudder when you feel his hand sensually rub the plump mounds before grabbing a handful and teasingly squeezing the flesh. Humiliation lances through you when you hear Hanamaki’s wolf whistle almost right in your ear and despite everything inside of you telling you not to look, to pretend this isn’t happening, you turn your head and see the three of them far too close to Iwaizumi and you, their shadows falling across your prone figure. You quickly duck your head into the crook of your arms as you try to hide your face, but a warning smack on your ass has you lifting it again, although you keep your eyes straight ahead, refusing to look at your spectators. 

“40 spanks.” “Hajime, that’s too much!” A smacking sound reverberates throughout the room and you scream at the sudden sharp pain. “I can increase it, babe. Don’t try me. I want you to count loud and clear and thank me after each hit. If any of us can’t clearly hear you, we’re starting from the beginning again.” You want to protest more, but the lingering ache from just that one hit stills your tongue and you whimper out a “yes, sir”. 

Smack. “One. Thank you, sir.” Smack. “Two. Thank you, sir.” Smack. “Three. Thank you, sir.” 

You try your best to keep the numbers in your head straight, to move your mouth and speak, but Iwaizumi is hitting you with the same force he uses in his spikes and pain and humiliation cloud your head and constrict your throat. When the thirteenth slap rains down all that escapes your mouth is a broken sob and you hear Oikawa’s voice mockingly sigh. “That’s no good. Iwa-chan told you what you need to say.” You clench your eyes shut in shame when Hanamaki moves to stand right in front of your face and crouches down until your eye to eye. “Did our little princess already forget how to count? Well, I hope you start counting like a big girl otherwise it’s going to be a long night.”

Smack. “One. Thank you, sir.” Smack. “Two. Thank you, sir.” Smack. “Three. Thank you, sir.” 

You make it further this time, spurred on by your determination to get this over with, but it’s no use and you stumble over your words as the 24th hit comes down on your aching flesh. You quickly try to fix your mistake, but Matsukawa just smirks at you and wags his index finger at you and you recoil at being treated like a misbehaving child. Dread pools in your stomach as you wait for Iwaizumi to start from the beginning all over again, but a voice interrupts him. 

“Iwa-chan, we have a game coming up. You shouldn’t overwork your arm.” Oikawa almost laughs at the confusion on Iwaizumi’s face and the hopeful glint in your eyes and he has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep the sick smile from stretching across his face when he sees your jaw drop at his next words. “Let’s take turns! We can forget about the counting rule since our silly little girl can’t seem to remember her numbers today. Iwa-chan’s already done more than his share, so how about 10 spanks each from the rest of us?” You wait for your boyfriend to stop this madness, to yell at them all in his trademark style, but panic consumes you when you feel him slide out from underneath you. “Not a bad idea, Shittykawa. Mattsun, you’re up.” Scrambling to get up, you raise yourself on all fours only to be shoved back down. “Behave,” your boyfriend grunts into your ear before affectionately kissing your temple as Matsukawa takes Iwaizumi’s seat and kneads your bruised cheeks. His hands are so big and you brokenly cry out from the pain of having the bruised flesh treated so roughly. It feels like ages before he finally stops his harsh handling of your sensitive skin, but you almost sob in relief when he begins to rain down hits. His slaps aren’t as powerful as Iwaizumi’s, but he purposefully aims for the tender spot where your thigh meets your ass and you scream as he repeatedly hits the same vulnerable spot over and over again. But despite the stinging pain, you don’t miss the way his other hand begins to slide down your back until it’s directly on your ass and you plead for him to stop as you feel long fingers spread your cheeks apart and fingertips begin to circle your tightly puckered hole, a hole even Iwaizumi hasn’t experienced yet. And for the first and only time of the night, your boyfriend’s voice sharply cuts through the air in warning and you relax as Matsukawa’s hand retreats back to your lower back.

Hanamaki’s up next and although he’s the weakest of the four, his hits are still strong enough that you whimper with every smack as your already abused bottom isn’t given any moment to rest. But what he lacks in power, he more than makes up for with his mouth and you try to cover your ears with your hands only to be stopped by Matsukawa gripping both your wrists tightly. “Damn, Iwaizumi. I’m jealous that you get to hit this whenever you want. You’re not going to be able to sit properly for days, princess. Red looks good on you. Shit, yeah, keep on squirming like that, sweetheart.” You freeze when you feel something hard nudging at your stomach. “Why’d you stop? You were making me feel so good.” You use all your willpower to stay as still as possible, but when fingers begin to dip into your pussy, your struggling renews. “Holy shit, you’re drenched, princess. Is this even a punishment if you enjoy it this much? Iwaizumi, your girl’s a slut.” Your ears burn with shame and you cry as Hanamaki rapidly thrusts his fingers in and out of you, the lewd wet sounds of your dripping cunt accompanying the loud smacks as his other hand continues your punishment. He finally finishes and you gasp when he rips his fingers out of you. 

You whimper when you feel a new set of hands spread your legs apart. “Wow, you’re so pretty even down here, Y/N-chan!” A tongue flattens against your pussy and languidly takes one long swipe and despite your wailing and cries for him to stop, you feel your pussy get even wetter from Oikawa’s action. You’ve never been more thankful for your boyfriend than when he yells at Oikawa to stop fooling around and get on with the last part of your punishment and with a “Mean, Iwa-chan!” the tall brunette takes his place underneath you and almost affectionately rests his hand on your ass. But you know better. You’ve seen Oikawa’s serves up close and personal. And sure enough, when his hand comes swinging down, a loud, piercing sound fills the room and it takes you a minute to register that it’s your own voice echoing throughout the room. He pauses between each hit, waiting for you to fully come down, waiting for your senses to return to you, and when you’ve barely scraped yourself together, he whips his arm through the air again. It’s a vicious cycle and you think you might faint from the sheer overwhelmingness of it all when he’s only halfway through, but Oikawa’s always been a master of reading people and he patiently waits no matter how long it takes for you to collect yourself together, wanting you to be fully aware when his palm meets your ass. You know you should feel nothing but hate for the handsome setter, especially since he’s one of the reasons you’re in this position, but he knows just the right words, just the right tone to use as he murmurs praises and encouragements to you and with your body overwrought with exhaustion, pain, and humiliation, you melt at the sweet words that act as a pleasant temporary escape.

Iwaizumi’s quick to wrap you in his arms as soon as Oikawa’s last smack echoes throughout the room and he carefully rearranges you, making sure not to even brush against your bottom more than necessary, until you’re curled up in his lap, your hands weakly wrapping around him as your face sinks into his muscled chest. He can feel your body quivering against his and he peppers kisses all over the top of your forehead, murmuring about how well you took your punishment, what a good girl you are, how much he loves you. And he feels his heart absolutely melt when you look up at him with glassy eyes and tell him how much you love him. He’s so lovestruck that he doesn’t even question the way your eyes trail to the other three men as you continue with your barely coherent words, apologizing for everything that you did. He doesn’t notice how you completely relax in his arms only when Matsukawa nods at you, Hanamaki smiles at you, and Oikawa winks at you in approval and forgiveness. 

Iwaizumi is the only one who has your heart, but you’re realizing that you should have read the fine print of the contract when you signed up to be his girlfriend. Maybe then you would have seen the names of the other three shareholders clearly written out. But as your eyelids grow heavy and you sink further into the toned body and earthy scent that have become like home to you, you vaguely think that it might all be worth it as long as Iwaizumi and you have each other.                        

[lethargicsunlight]

“It’s Beauty and the Beast, but You aren't the monster..” (Fem!Reader X Kirishima)🥀 Chapter 3 “The Beast”

Had to put up a chap on Valentines Day for the big red man himself, right?

Summery: Eijiro Kirishima, Pro-Hero Red Riot, has taken to a new patrol area that recently encountered a rash of random crimes. Villain unknown, he makes it his personal responsibility to ensure this new sector of Esuha City feels safe as the police force conducts their investigation while aided by FatGum’s Agency. After a bomb goes off in one of the Apartment buildings close to the station, he decides to help with the victim’s interview in the hopes of boosting their morale…

Instead, he meets you–who is far from ready to receive any such kind tidings. Burdened with curiosity and his steadfast beliefs, the Sturdy Hero feels swept into your world and finds himself sympathizing with the possibility that–

You might not be the monster everyone says you are.

WARNINGS: SFW, bodily injury, mental trauma, angst, BLOOD

The prince rallied his forces in the West, and prepared for their battle in the Steppes. The carrier eagles spread across the continent, seeking all who were friend to their king that were willing to take up arms against the enemy.

It pained the prince, knowing he would endanger his people once again--but to that end, he would stand with them on the battlefield and face such danger head on like his soldiers.

His red hair--

You flinch in your typing.

Red hair?

You shake your head--surely you had written him with black hair?

Despite having been in the process of writing this rough draft for almost a year, you dash back through a hoard of document files to find the character references.

Sure enough, black hair.

Anger boils in your chest, and you slide the laptop away from you on the hotel's (single) counter top. Not even your secret world could be free from the toils of the real one; you had found that blasted red-headed man almost every time your eyes had shut. Now, it was happening while your eyes were open.

The glimmer of hope you had felt at the cross walk should have been smothered, but somehow it came back every morning. It reminded you of a time when you had wanted to talk to people--when you had wanted people to talk to you.

He just wants information. You remind yourself, picking up your stiff bones to find the hotel's tiny-ass refrigerator. All that stuff he said was just manipulation. And I don't want to talk to anyone. And I don't want anyone to talk to me.

After another go of trying to convince yourself, you switch your focus to something else.

Your apartment's reconstruction was due to be completed within five days. Due to the structure being sound enough (and the fact the construction in bustling cities like Musutafu were required to work rather quickly due to subsequent villain and hero battles) the revival of your home was fast approaching. Thank god.

Unfortunately, being an author didn't allow for fancy insurance perks. You had already received a check for the damage to your items, but it was far less than the accrued worth of your home furnishings. Once again, you would be forced to pay and save and pay and so on--until it was back the way it was. Or at least similar.

The hotel's mini-fridge mostly contained leftovers. Which, that had been your intention but.. Looking at all of it...

It just felt ew.

Dinner out it is then.

🥀

There's something to be said about the food service industry in Japan, perhaps even Esuha City specifically.

If you want your food quickly without a chat and to be left alone at your table, you could find it.

You had ruminated on the idea of leaving before, to put as much distance between you and the Hero Commission as possible. A cottage in the United Kingdom, or a cabin in America; maybe Maine or Michigan.

But.. This was home. Your apartment, the rainy season, the red and golden leaves, the corner-store ice-cream, the sticky summer sweets in the next town over--The Hero Commission may have taken the hope out of you, but damn them if they think they can have your mochi too.

"Oh my gosh..!"

Suddenly the café on your right comes alive. There's a couple, one now standing next to their chair and their partner on one knee--a ring clutched in shaking hands. The crowd 'ooh's and 'awww's.

"Will you marry me?"

"Of course!"

And they hug, and the café erupts into applause. And you stare, from the sidewalk, somewhere between melancholic and exasperated. You really didn't need this today.

"Now ain't that a beautiful sight." A voice says, too close to your right side. You flinch and glance--he's wearing a thick jacket and a fur-lined beanie. His features are so unremarkable, you don't even mentally take stock of them.

"...Uh huh." You drone, than try to speed off so you can pass the café. No offense to the newly engaged couple, but you were trying far too hard to keep up your solitary lifestyle to deal with reminders like that.

🥀

Ugh, finally!

Relief at last, as you waltz into one of your favorite restaurants. There are booths at the front, but closer to the kitchen there are one-person nooks. A tablet, attached to the wall, takes your order and starts up a bill. A drink arrives via a window in said nook only minutes later, and your feet sway in delight.

Or was it... complacency?

NO. You inwardly chastise, taking a loud sip no one could pester you for. This is how it aught to be. This is great. No one to taunt me, no one to treat me terribly or make me feel ugly. I can eat as fast and as sloppy as I want. No one's controlling me, no one's--

It's by chance, pure chance, that you look over your shoulder when you hear the door open and the jingle of their entrance alarm. A movement in your peripheral that catches your attention, draws a quick glance, that usually you didn't bother with. Who cares who just walked in?

Unless it's the same person that tried to talk to you earlier, in his fur-lined beanie. Well, except, now as you pay a little more attention--it's not a fur-lined beanie. It's a fur-lined face. A mutation quirk.

Is it coincidence? Paranoia gnaws into your bones, and you know the truth. Coincidence or not, one way or another, he followed you here.

The jingle comes again, and you watch four more people cross the thresh-hold and join the aforementioned...wolf man? They're all dressed warm, but you're pretty sure the thick jackets and low hats don't just hide their features out of convenience.

Your food arrives through the window in front of you, and you mentally groan. Not only were you being followed by probable villains looking for an easy score, but you wouldn't be able to eat your meal. Or get a refund.

You take one last forlorn draw of breath, taking in the steam and aroma of your would-have-been meal, before reaching to the tablet and paying for it. There's actually a little bit of guilt in your heart, knowing they'll be cleaning an untouched dish from your table. Sorry. I'm so sorry. It's really good, I'm just.. You know, about to get mugged. Gotta call the police. Maybe I'll get take out from here later.

Silently you rise from your seat and walk out. If all went well, you'd just go to another place. If it was a mugging, as you suspected, there was a convenience store near the hotel that you could stop in after writing--another--police report. Wow! Two for two this year.

And, heading further into the well lit streets of Musutafu's most populated ward, all seems well. They didn't follow you out, nor have you seen them over your shoulder for the last three cross walks. Great. Left my meal for nothing.

Maybe you needed to go to a therapist after all. Maybe, you could use a fake name or--was anonymous clients a thing?

You'd accused Red Riot of working with the commission to torture you, and now you had accused warmly dressed people for wanting to just, mug you? You didn't even look like you had money. Sure, it could be more nefarious than that, but with heroes everywhere in the city? What happened to your sense of truth?

They took it away. You reply within, causing your foot steps to slow and your shoulders to hang.

Maybe you had been wrong, but it was better to be careful, right?

You reach for you phone with the intention to check the time. There were still a few places open late but--

Where's my phone?!

Frantically you search for it a second time. Then a third. Had you left it at home? Dropped it? Left it at the restaurant? You turn on a heel and start heading back. The new lap top had already been quite damaging to your funds, you couldn't afford a new phone; muggers be damned.

🥀

"What are you doing out here?"

"Huh?" Kirishima looks up to see one of the sidekicks from FatGum's agency. "Oh! Hey," He says, but stops. He can't quite remember this guy's name. There were so many nowadays, scouted for and hired in an attempt to help counter the swell in recent villain activity.

"Hey," The un-named sidekick offers a polite smile. "Kinda late isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah. Most of my patrols are during the day but, it was brought to my attention that a lot of the packages were probably delivered at night. Just thought it was a good idea."

"So you're on, like, extra patrol? Without your hero costume?"

"Yeah," Kirishma, not Red Riot, scratches the back of his neck in some form of embarrassment. This guy liked asking questions. "Just trying it out, not looking conspicuous or anything."

"Oh. Okay." Sidekick-guy looks around a moment, extending their conversation into something kind of awkward before opening his mouth again. "Well, I'm heading home, so. Good luck!"

"Er, yeah, thanks. You too..?"

And they're gone.

Weird. Kirishima shakes it off, then continues his stroll. Guess he's just tired though. I should probably go back to the Agency and pick up the roster, it's rude not to know people's names when you work with them...

He comes to a corner and stops, looking up at the hotel--your hotel--for the fifth time that night. Not that he was obsessed or anything, it was just.. On the route. His call with Tsu had been enlightening--though, he wanted to disagree with her on some things; especially the 'giver her time' part. He wanted to fix his mistakes now.

His heart aches when he remembers the first night at their dorms in U.A., so long ago, when he'd unintentionally upset Tsu when he and the others went forward with their plan to save Bakugou. Though it was successful, he was ashamed that he never thought about how Tsu would feel when they directly ignored her advice.

Gah, and it still hurt to think about it!

And thus, he chooses to follow her advice to the letter this go round, and continues on his path to the next street over.

🥀

You know what it sounds like: when someone is following you.

And you, poor you, had made a very bad decision. What had you said earlier---'muggers be damned'?

Yeah, that wasn't serving you too well right now.

The streets' population had thinned on your return trip to the restaurant. Somehow, everything looked darker and more desolate--to the point you wondered if you had perhaps made a literal wrong turn--

Before your eyes you watch a street sign change. The letters, in white, wiggle and shift until it makes a new word--a street you swore you passed several blocks back.

Someone was manipulating your environment. Or, your brain's interpretation of it.

No phone, no real weapon aside from a hotel key card and a dense wallet, (note that you did in fact own a very nice self-defense kit in your apartment but uh--it blew up recently) and the defensive side of your quirk--which was fucking unpredictable at best.

Hence why pro-hero work wasn't really an option.

You stop then, but there's a distinctive sound of shoes shuffling on concrete nearby. This clearly felt like being hunted down, and honestly if not for the peril it was causing you--this would make for some good writing material. You know, if you live through it.

"Okay, I know what's going on." You say, hands up. "Look, I don't know what you want, but I don't have a whole lot. I can give you my credit card if you want it, but I'm just warning you--not a lot on there."

A few seconds of silence pass by at your confrontation. Oh, what, am I being mugged by ghosts? But, the agitation grows despite your mental humor.

Their response comes in the form of visually appearing ahead of you, wiggling and writhing at first like the letters on the sign. After they had solidified, they approaching like predators; low to the ground with hungry eyes beneath heavy warm attire.

Your stance widens.

I don't think they're here for my wallet...

Suddenly, more of them begin to pop and shift into existence--much closer to you than the first few. The way reality seems to flex around them was really unnerving; but it gave you a better idea of what was going on. Whosever quirk was influencing you had a range, and that was good to know. Additionally, though, the original five you remember from the restaurant had at some point turned into about ten, which meant some of them might be illusionary.

And your quirk doesn't work on illusions.

"Okay.. Okay, I see, money's not your thing.." You take a step back, eyes darting between all of the assailants. "You guys know if I scream, a pro-hero--"

"Go ahead~" Someone says, but obviously not one of the entities in front of you. It's a feminine sultry voice with something else, something animalistic. Snake-like. "No one's going to hear you, dear. Not while my eyess are on you."

Shit, shit shit shit--you take another step back, pulling out that hotel room key. Better than nothing. You had some decent self-defense training, they won't take you down without a fight even if your quirk doesn't activate.

"Finally got you talking.." You grumble, holding the (damn near pathetic) hotel key up like a knife. "What are you stalking me for? What do you want?"

"Let me guesss, you're expecting ssome kind of reveal?" The voice, hidden beyond your probably-fake environment, answers. "Ssorry ssweetheart, thiss is just bussinesss."

You threw as many 's's in there as you could, didn't you? You ask inwardly, but your lips remain tightly shut. Angering your opponent probably wasn't a good idea--if what she said was true, it sounded like an arrangement. A mercenary oriented one.

You know. Murder.

"Oh," You utter, grieving a little for not having a witty comeback.

Luckily, or unluckily, your awkward conversation comes to an end by way of a classic knuckle punch, thrown in your direction by one of the more burly looking assailants. You manage a dodge, twisting and moving back enough to see claws as their hands reposition from a fist.

Mutant quirk, animalistic in nature--probably enhanced strength, speed, durability. If I can think fast enough--

A blow hits, right in the side at your lower back. You pivot forward, conveniently back into the arms of your first attacker. There, he lands another blow to your upper chest that leaves you gasping, but your conscious enough to move your body out and away. Well sort of--the rest were encircling you. Surely not all of them were real, but you had no way of telling them apart.

Had you really been out of the game so long, you couldn't hold your own anymore?

Of course.. going to the gym and practicing fighting moves hadn't really been on your agenda since leaving the court rooms.

You cough, righting yourself as they stare at you with smiles and gleaming eyes--like dogs, pouncing on small animals for fun.

"Nice scar," One says, leaning in. "Pity, you really did have.. a kinda pretty face."

You glower at him over your hotel key.

"Almost felt bad leaving the package.."

"Who wants me dead?" You ask, looking--well winded, but more confident than they probably wanted you to look.

"Why does it matter? You're dying today, girly. Who cares?" Another responds, similar in tone. Related, you note--for once you find him amongst the crowd, he is also similar in stature.

"Dying wish then." You retort, with a little shrug.

There's an uneasy, tense, exchange of stares then. A sixth sense, you realize, as they see through your façade and attempt to validate it with their comrades. Like you had something up your sleeve.

And, indeed, you did.

"Save it for your next life," is their answer, followed by another thrown fist aimed at your cheek bones. Veins and tendons bulge as the wallop is tensed, then thrust forward, and it gives you only a few seconds to use your quirk--

But it's enough.

🥀

Eijiro, still walking his rounds around the sector, still dropping glances at your hotel as he walks past, now stands in front of a vintage console store. He heaves a great sigh while watching pixelated characters hop, kick, and dance across the display screens--characters he knew well. One day, they would be selling his old video games, labelled as 'vintage classics'.

The thought depressed him. But hey, time has to move somehow.

...Despite his positive outlook, his mind wanders back to Bakugou--and more importantly, that look he'd given him. The once-in-a-blue-moon glimpse into his friend's actual feelings.

Maybe he was just making things up--maybe he just wanted Bakugou to regret not hanging out, or being a human being for once and establishing relationships with people outside of work--but he was almost sure it had been real.

"Heh.. I can hear it now." He mutters, catching his reflection in the glass that separated him from the television screens. He puffs out his chest, and digs in his eyebrows. "We're heroes, Kirishima. We have to make sacrifices. You can't be the best if you're worried about dumb shit like--" He stutters for a second, almost losing character. "Like--relationships and parties and..."

He falters, the impression sliding from his shoulders and causing them to slump.

"And living." He says with a finality. A final nail in the coffin, as he watches a character get taken out on  the screen followed by big "K.O." written in orange font.

Kirishima had learned long ago that he didn't want to be the best. He denied it at every turn, at every query someone threw at him--even if it was himself in the mirror. You wanna be the best don't you? Work harder!

And, well, he did work hard. Just, not as hard as Bakugou.

Despite the green monster of jealously that might swell in his gut while watching his friend's name rise on the leaderboard, there  were always days like these that humbled him. And plenty of others, when he was actually protecting a civilian or stopping a truck from crushing a bunch of school kids; it was in the doing. It didn't matter where his name was on the leader board.

In fact, there's a deep sympathy that he feels for Bakugou in that moment.

"I wish I could reach out to you man." He says, before going back to his walk. This time, he would be heading back to the agency. "I hope--"

He stops, shoe skidding over sidewalk as a scream splits the air.

🥀

Using your quirk had a tendency to make you feel blind when you otherwise weren't using it.

It's refreshing, despite how much it.. sucks.

Living several minutes, sometimes hours, within seconds of the moving world--between spaces and moments and memories and matter--it's indescribably big.

And it is, perhaps, because of that feeling; that you change.

You remember the doctor when you were young, who tried to explain it to you in words you understood. But, you technically never remembered the words--all you could see was a younger version of them, stealing from a convenience store. Over and over and over again.

In some way, under high stress, your quirk would shift. Usually it was directed as an emitter type; but based on whom you were gazing upon, Judgement would make a decision--and in the face of danger, morph into a transformation quirk. Supposedly, the malevolence of your opponent directly affected the size and duration of this shape-change. This was only negated in a safe environment.

Fortunately for you, these guys were seasoned mercenaries, and murder was pretty high up there on the malevolence scale. So you were big. Just as big, you might say, as the hatred that festered at the sound of their dying victims screams, gurgles, and gasps.

When you come back from the visions, you're thrashing. You're wholly unaware of your features, but your claws digging into the earth below hint at something truly gruesome.

Better than a damn hotel key!

"What the hell--"

"Mizuchi, you didn't say anything about this shit!"

"Ugh, that'ss what you get for taking your time!"

They come at you anyway, brandishing weapons this time in the form of pipes and broken bottles; whatever the street could provide. The first thwack of a pipe to your enlarged form has your back twisting, and you find horns adorning your crown as they knock the assailant backwards.

Nice.

Following him would be another, but you grasp the ability to fight like an animal pretty quickly. There was a maw for biting as well--but despite knowing their horrid truths, there's always something that keeps you pulled back. Some lurking old version of yourself that still wanted to tame the beast.

Yet, even with that sentiment, accidents happen.

One of them screams, as one of your horns protrudes through a shoulder; painting the sidewalk in red. It causes the inner you to lurch, but your physical form only growls in response. By trying to shake him off, you throw him instead. Oops.

You try to step away, but your backed into a corner. One that technically shouldn't exist, but it takes a second before the illusion ripples and fades out to reveal you had instead been fighting in an alley way.

Maybe that will stop them. Maybe, they'll take the hint and move on to someone else--

You would have hoped, if not for the shards of glass that slice through the flesh of your shoulder. Inwardly you might of screamed, but you outwardly roared--clutching at the wound with one arm while lashing out with the other. You nail a good hit, claws bared, and they scream too.

"What the--hey!"

A familiar voice..?

You try to look in their direction, but another bottle cuts into your left temple. You whirl back on them, but the troupe was already leaving. There's an animalistic urge to run after them, and you even step forward--but with your foot (paw?) landing on even more glass, you halt in place. Instead, your frustration leaves your lungs in a loud roar.

Finding your breath, you hear the sound of scraping metal from behind.

"Listen man, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.."

Red Riot? Again?

You go to turn and look at him, but you stop midway. No, I can't. I can't look at him.

"Just come quietly, and we won't have to make this a bigger mess than it already is.."

Oh, shit--he's talking to me.