#and trying to figure out the other ravens speaking too

[silvermasquerade]

So I’m rereading the Raven king for Golden Raven things….

ARE COLLEEN AND JASMINE THE ONLY FEMALE RAVENS ON THE LINE HELLO.

cause Thea has graduated pre the events of these books. But well holy shit. It’s just Colleen and Jasmine. I thought there was more

[kizzer55555]

DP x DC: The Most Dangerous Card Game

Ok so Danny has essentially claimed earth as his. And he is fully aware that there are constant threats to the planet. Now he can’t stop a threat that originates on earth (that’s something he’ll leave to the Justice league) but he can do something about outside threats. Doing some research on ancient spells, rituals, and artifacts, he cast a world wide barrier on the planet to protect it from hostile threats so they cannot enter. This will prevent another Pariah Dark incident. However, barriers like this come at a price. You see, there are two ways to make a barrier. Either make one powered up by your own energy and power (which would be constantly draining) or set up a barrier with rules. The way magic works is that nothing can be absolutely indestructible. It must have a weakness. The most powerful barriers weren’t the ones reinforced with layer after layer of protective charms and buffed up with power. Those could eventually be destroyed either by being overpowered, wearing them down, or by cutting off the original power source. No, the most powerful barriers were the ones with a deliberate weakness. A barrier indestructible except for one spot. A cage that can only be opened from the outside. Or that can only be passed with a key or by solving a riddle. So Danny chooses this type of barrier and does the necessary ritual and pours in enough power to make it. And he adds his condition for anyone to enter. 

Now the Justice league? Find out about the barrier when Trigon attempts to attack, they were preparing after he threatened what he would do once he got to earth. How he would destroy them. The Justice league tried to take the fight to him first but were utterly destroyed, so they retreated home to tend to their injuries, and fortify earth for one. Last. Stand. Only when Trigon makes his big entrance…he’s stopped.

The Justice league watch in awe as this thin see-through barrier with beautiful green swirls and speckled white lights like stars apears blocking Trigon and his army’s advance. The barrier looks so thin and fragile yet no matter how hard the warlord hits, none of his attacks can get through and neither can he damage said barrier. That’s when Constantine and Zatanna recognizes what this barrier is. Something only a powerful entity could create. For a moment, the league is filled with hope that Trigon can’t get through yet Constantine also explains that it’s not impenetrable. And clearly Trigon knows this too for he calls out a challenge. 

And that’s when, in a flash of light, a tiny glowing teenager appears. He looked absolutly minuscule compared to Trigon and yet practically glowed with power (this isn’t a King Danny AU though).

And that is when the conditions for passing the barrier are revealed. And the Justice realize that the only thing stopping Trigon and his army from decimating earth. The only way he can get through….is by beating this glowing teenager in a card game. 

Not just any card game though. The most convoluted game Sam, Danny, and Tucker invented themselves. It’s like the infinite realms version of magic the gathering, combined with Pokémon, and chess. And Danny is the master. So sit down Trigon and let’s play.

(The most intense card game of the Justice league’s life).

After Danny wins, this happens a few more times with outer word beings and possibly even demons attempting to invade earth, yet none have been able to beat the mysterious teenager in a card game. Constantine might even take a crack at it and try to figure out how to play. He’s really bad though. Every time this happens, the Justice league worry that this might be the time the teenager looses. Yet every time, he wins (even if only barely). 

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have gotten addicted to the game and play it almost daily. Some teachers might seem them playing the game are are like ‘awww how cute’ not realizing this game is literally saving the world. Jazz is just happy they aren’t spending as much time on their screens playing Doomed.

[sanguinesmi1e]

A Round Door Like a Porthole, Lazarus Green Pt. 1 (you're here) Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4

Wayne Enterprises didn’t really need a small business specializing in “ecto-weapons” invented by self-purported ghost hunters, but S.T.A.R. Labs tipped Lucius Fox off that Lex Luthor was trying to buy an obscure little company in Illinois, and thwarting Luthor was always worthwhile. Now Tim just had to figure out what to do with all the equipment and the concerningly large arsenal of guns and things that looked like normal household items but seemed to have other, horrific purposes. He would have laughed at the way they slapped “Fenton” in front of every invention name (do ghost hunters really need a Fenton thermos? Won’t a normal thermos keep their coffee hot just as well? Are ghosts like trout, to be caught with a Fenton Ghost Fisher which just looks like a normal fishing rod but glow-in-the-dark. And what the fuck even is a Fenton Peeler!?), but he thought with some chagrin about the batarangs, batmobile, and everything else that had “bat” as a prefix in the batcave. 

However, of all the things Tim hadn’t expected to find when he flew out to do an inventory of assets after they bought the business sight-unseen, a portal generating a Lazarus Pit in gaseous form was probably at the top of his list. He didn’t even know that Lazarus water could change states from a liquid to a gas like that. Maybe there actually was something to the whole ghost thing. He supposed that it made sense for ghosts to exist, after all Deadman was part of Justice League Dark. Speaking of. . . he should see if Bruce could call in someone from JLD to assess things. He was feeling decidedly out of his depth.

John Constantine did not like to consult for mega corporations like Wayne Enterprises, but Batman had specifically requested he go check something out and he figured, where's the harm? 

There. 

There’s the harm. 

It turned out the “thing” he’d been called in to look at is a machine that can tear open a stable portal into the Infinite Realms. That is not something that should be possible. That is not something technology should be capable of achieving. That is definitely not something that should exist. Bloody hell, what had the Bats roped him into!?

This really should have been Zatana’s job. Or Deadman’s. Hell, Raven or Secret would be preferable. Because John would prefer not to be dealing with this. In fact, he would prefer to be back in literal Hell than deal with the crazy shit in the Infinite Realms. Could John handle demons, archangels, and even gods? Yeah. He can bind or exorcize most supernatural threats. Does that mean he relishes the idea of going toe to toe with heavy hitters from the Infinite Realms? Absolutely not. 

Some beings who lived there were just little blob ghosts made from ectoplasm and emotion. Some were the restless undead who could not or would not cross over to their afterlives. And some were the embodiments of concepts like nature, destructive weather, and dreams. He wasn’t sure where Death fit into the Realms, whether she ruled or visited, or if it was actually just an extension of her, but he didn’t really want to find out. There were many things John could defeat. Death wasn’t one of them. And now he was looking at a portal into a realm where the living were not meant to be. 

Danny hadn’t returned to Fenton Works since graduating high school. It turned out that he was less anxious when he was not living with people who fantasized about “tearing him apart molecule by molecule” and thought that discussing their plans to dissect him (although he maintained that it would be a vivisection since he’s only half dead) made for fascinating dinner conversation. Who would have thought that his constant stress, anxiety, and insomnia were caused by environmental factors? He’d been unpacking things with a very nice therapist his sister helped him find, and seen great improvements in his mental health. It really helped that she was dead too, and unlike Spectra she didn’t feed off the misery of her patients.

Danny hadn’t intended to ever return to Fenton Works, but when Jazz told him that Jack and Maddie sold their life's work to Wayne Enterprises and a multibillionaire playboy was about to have unfettered access to the Ghost Zone, he was. . . concerned. To say the least. And that was why he was in the middle of doing some light sabotage when Tim Drake-Wayne and a guy in a trenchcoat who reeked of cigarette smoke entered the basement lab. It’s why he was hiding under the Specter Speeder removing the ecto-engine, and there to overhear the conversation that followed.

“So, am I right in thinking that’s a Lazarus Pit?” Tim asked Constantine.

The older man stared at the portal, then at Tim, then at the portal for an uncomfortably long time. Then he pulled out a flask and drained half its contents before saying, “Yes and no. That is basically the same substance as the pits, but I think that this does something else entirely. It seems like this machine basically functions as a summoning circle, but instead of pulling one entity from one side to the other, this is just an open doorway that is perpetually pulling in anything or anyone who gets within its sphere of influence.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing, John.”

“It’s really not,” 

“So what does that mean, is it like a blown hatch in space causing rapid depressurization?” Tim felt a little ill at the thought. “What is it even pulling into our world?”

“No, no. Nothing so dramatic as that. It’s more like, hm, so the way summoning circles work is they invite or compel a specific entity to manifest, by basically making a one-way magical portal for them. This portal is kinda like an invitational summoning, which entices, but doesn’t force anyone to enter. Usually a summoning will have a purpose though, and the being you summon will be offered a deal. If this is doing what I think it is and pulling citizens of the Infinite Realms through and leaving them on this side without a contract or direction, they’re probably getting pretty frustrated and causing havoc. It’s like offering someone a job in another country so they have to get a visa and uproot everything, only to get off the plane and find an empty office, no housing, and no paycheck.” John lit up a cigarette and took a drag.

Tim wrinkled his nose, but knew from long experience that it wasn’t worth it to argue about American tobacco restrictions in the workplace with Constantine, especially while the man was doing him a favor. Also, the man looked like he really needed either a cigarette or another drink, and he’d prefer second hand smoke to a drunk sorcerer. “So then why hasn’t this town been overrun by these beings from the Infinite Realms?”

“Good question kid, but what I really want to know is how is this portal staying open? Really, how was it opened in the first place is the most pressing issue.” John mused.

Tim had already located the blueprints for the portal while waiting for Constantine, but either the Fentons had intentionally falsified the documents to seem plausible just long enough to make off with the money, or he just didn’t understand enough of the interaction between physics and the occult to comprehend how the portal could possibly function. 

He flipped back through the blueprints while the blond man sat cross legged in front of the swirling green portal and his low, distracted mutterings took on the cadence of a chant. The curl of smoke from his lit cigarette unfurled into some kind of spell array, and began to glow. Huh, maybe Tim shouldn't be too quick to judge him for tobacco misuse. Tim triple checked the flat file for any more information about the portal, and came up empty handed.

John, meanwhile, kept chanting as the magical array grew and spread to encompass the entire entrance to the portal. At last he stopped speaking and stood up, stepping back to double check his work. “Alright, Drake. You might wanna close your eyes for this one. It’s gonna be bright,” he said, popping his cigarette back between his lips. Then he stepped forward and blew a mouthful of smoke on the center of the array. The smoke caught against the softly glowing lines, pushing them until they floated back and collided with the nebulous green swirls and, despite Tim closing his eyes, flashed so incandescently white he could see them through his eyelids.

“OW! Fuck!!” John clutched his face, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. “I’m doubling my consulting fee,” he grumbled under his breath.

“You alright?” Tim asked, blinking spots out of his vision.

“Yeah, yeah. Just give me a sec.” He too was blinking now. “That was not supposed to be so bright.”

“I’m assuming it worked though.”

“It had bloody well better ’ave worked.” The older man squinted at the slightly dimmer lines which still shone painfully bright against the green. “Oh. Yeah, that worked. Fuck. . .”

“What?” Tim looked on in alarm as Constantine pressed a hand over his mouth. 

“Oh man. What wanker did you say created this portal?”

“Presumably Drs. Madeline and Jack Fenton. Why?” He drew the last syllable out skeptically. 

“Because, they opened this portal with a child sacrifice, and bound his death and all the lost life potential to their bloody machine to create a perpetual gateway to the Infinite Realms.”

[fairsweetlonging]

( ˚❀˳ ) ERROR_FILE_CORRUPT || shen qingqiu (shen yuan) & yue qingyuan

* . ⊹ synopsis. shen qingqui has not been giving the system satisfactory results. it decides to take matters into its own hands. yue qingyuan tries to persuade it otherwise.

notes: @artsarasp this is all your fault

word count: 774

based on this post and this amazing art

The afternoon sunlight trickles ember and gold through the latticed window, soft and bright and warm as it fills the room. In the stillness between them, it feels distant, wavering, like still water disturbed somewhere below the surface where he cannot see.

Hazy steam curls from two teacups set on the low table, pale porcelain gleaming faintly against the dark grain of the wood. It’s an old blend, something light. A favorite. He doesn’t know why that matters. Maybe because this one has never been rejected. Maybe because he’s grasping for something that is no longer there.

On the other side, Shen Qingqiu sits unnervingly still, as if his body has forgotten how to breathe, how to live, his back straight but rigid, like a figure carved from stone rather than a man of flesh and blood. 

When he reaches for the tea, his fingers move with a strange, stilted motion, like a doll whose joints have rusted with disuse, or the rotten wood of a foundation that shakes the house with every gust of wind, about to collapse. As he leans forward, his robes don’t move along; not even a hair falls out of place. 

There is something profoundly wrong about him, as if he’s not even actually there. 

Yet it follows their rituals, to perfection, moving through the steps of their routine as if they were its own; slow sips, remaining silent as they drink, no idle talk, leaving the only sound to be the soft clack of porcelain on wood. 

Yue Qingyuan drinks faster than he would any other time, faster, even, than is proper. It burns the roof of his mouth. There is no need for formalities, not here, not for that thing. 

It is the same face, the same gentle slope of his nose, the curve of his mouth, the raven black hair that lies gracefully along his shoulders, but the eyes… Xiao Jiu’s eyes are blue, all of it, sickly, devoid of life; when he stares into that hollow nothingness, it is almost as if something is staring back at him. 

Yue Qingyuan puts down his cup. His voice is deceptively calm. 

"What do you want."

Something flares in Xiao Jiu’s eyes at the question, almost as if it’s been waiting for this.

When he answers it is not in words, but in a cacophony of metallic hollow sounds that reverberate through the back of his mind.

【 this system does not ‘want’ for anything. this system is tasked with helping user002 create a good story 】

It doesn’t even bother opening Xiao Jiu’s mouth as it speaks, keeping that same, placid smile on his face. Somewhere, Yue Qingyuan is glad for its lack of trying—it never seems able to match its movements to the words quite right.

【 your interference caused a plot-divergence too difficult for him to fix. so this system has taken over 】

It’s said that before, when they first caught on, back then, when they thought it was only a matter of time before they had driven the creature out. User. Plotlines. Story. Protagonist. He interfered with something, poked the sleeping bear where he should have let it lay. He doesn’t know when. He doesn’t even know what he did.

But Shen Qingqiu cannot be the only one, not with how the system speaks about him; the number two insinuates the existence of a user one, like how nine insinuates there is a seven. 

Yue Qingyuan isn’t sure he wants to know whether user two has come with user one, or after him.

Despite his diligent studies, his upbringing to become the future sect leader, Yue Qingyuan isn’t that well read, not in these kinds of stories, anyway—in stories with protagonists and heroes and villains, the kinds that have overarching themes and conflicts. 

But he knows that though audiences are fickle, they are also easily entertained. After all: the worst crime of a character is not his flaws, it’s being boring. He's heard Shang Qinghua speak of it often enough, how audiences care very little for the quality, but will sing the praises of any story that manages to keep their attention. 

Perhaps there is a different way to keep their invisible audience entertained.

"Does… does it have to be Xiao Jiu?" His fingers curl to fists beneath the cover of his wide sleeves, grasping the fabric until his knuckles turn white. Please. Please, just this once, let him do something right. "Could someone else create this story?"

The system blinks. 

【 someone like –yue qingyuan–? 】

He nods.

【 calculating… 】

Xiao Jiu shakes his head.

【 perhaps the next story… 】

[sordidmusings]

Thirsty Thursday with Mihawk - The Hat Stays ON

Art by koitosoup

A/N: This is very indulgent because I needed desperate and needy Mihawk to exist and this prompt tumbled right on into that to sate me 🤡 (at the airport hoping no one is looking over my shoulder rn too LOL)

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: afab!reader, NSFW, p in v, forceful undertones towards beginning, desk sex, creampie, begging, praise, lots of the pet name "love", Mihawk is like super needy he moans "please" dude, he's also very in love, and trying sUPER hard not to finish first by the end 💀, stress relief before Cross Guild meeting, brief moment shit-talking the other two lol turns real sweet at the end cuz I couldn’t help myself

Please enjoy this man being as close to a mess as I think I can convincingly get him ╰(▔∀▔)╯

~ ~ ~ ••• ✦✦✦ ••• ~ ~ ~

Mihawk is usually the type of man to fully take his time enjoying every inch of you.

Usually.

“I know, love, I know,” his voice is full of panting desperation, worn to a fluster by his pressing need and his frantic firm thrusts into you. “I’ll make it up to you later, I just -nnhah- just gotta fuck you now -nnnhg fuck- don’t wanna think about anything but how fucking good it feels inside you.”

When Mihawk came to your study not thirty minutes before the next Cross Guild meeting, this was the last thing you were expecting. Though, it did fly right to the top of the list when you saw the intensity of his shining gold eyes on you and the rigidness of his figure, all coiled muscle waiting to pounce and gritted teeth waiting to tear. You’d barely been able to get just his jacket over his shoulders before he was on you, speaking his need and hunger with persistent lips and hands. He was so set on getting his fill that he simply let his prized coat be dragged down his arms and thrown to the floor. Somehow, his hat survived the rush of his motions and the beloved closeness necessary for his demanding kisses.

Though they were rare, you loved the times he was like this, using you for his pleasure, clinging to you and taking you like nothing else in the world would ever suffice in sating him. You got just as much out of these times as he did, but you played it as a favor, partly for the delicious flavor it added to the dynamic to hear him apologize, beg, and thank as much as the stalwart Dracule Mihawk can and partly to earn the long and worshipful treatment he’d reward you with later. You’re not sure how he hasn’t caught onto you yet. Seeing the meticulously controlled man lose himself in his desire for you has you dripping, shown in the wet slap on each strong thrust. It was surely enough to give your abundant eagerness away.

Beyond that, you are just as ravenous for him, thighs clamped around his sides, hands gripping tightly to his tense forearms as he fucks you on your desk. You feel the jump of each muscle from their work sinking a bruising grip into your hips, manhandling them forward and back opposite the motion of his hips to fuck you just like he wants - like you’re a lifeline and if he just digs as deeply as he can into your sweet cunt as quickly as he can then he can finally breathe again.

Your heels pull him in on each quick thrust, the clench of your legs and abs for the motion helping a rhythmic pulse stroke at every inch of your walls and further firm your swollen lips and clit to absorb each delicious impact of Mihawk’s hips. The soft, sweat-damp skin of his back and sides teases your sensitive inner thighs and calves as he fucks you, his obliques dancing especially sinfully against your flesh. You loved admiring the look of his chiseled figure but absolutely nothing compared to the bliss of him using it against you.

The urge Mihawk has to collapse down over you and continuously drag you as close as possible is strong, but it is beat out by the erotic sight of watching the slap of his hips bounce your body. It lets you have a beautiful sight too; Mihawk backlit and looming over you, muscles fully displaying their strength and tone with the lack of his jacket, his curled hair and the feather on his cap swaying in time with him fucking into you. The hat still resting on his head only makes you feel smaller captured under him; he always looks impressive with it on and it makes the shadow he casts over you that much larger.

Mihawk uses an iron grip to throw one of your bare legs to hook over his shoulder. He uses his other hand to grip the inside of the other and shove it to the side, flat on your desk, trapping it down by putting his weight into his hold on your thigh. It forces your hips to turn on their side, giving him a new angle to work you open on his thick cock. The change has each forceful drag of his cock in you feel new again, recharging your nerves in their pleasant screaming. You tell him their call through whiny panting, chants of his name, and streams of “yes! like that, so good, fuck me harder, need it, need you so bad-”

There’s a firm thump and rattle of your desk as his hand plants next to your head to keep from collapsing over you. It leaves him crouching over you like a predator, but the hazy need in his eyes begging you to let him keep feeling this forever betrays the fact that he’s as deeply in your clutches as he tries to snatch you into his. The thickness of your thigh trapped between you helps keep him up as well as his other hand still pressing your leg down. His fingers that are sunk into your thigh dig deeper and tremble with his pleasure and overwhelm.

“Gods, love, you’re perfect, want to live between your thighs,” Mihawk groans, so close you can feel his panting breath cool the sweat on your face. He’s fighting his eyes to stay open, needing to see the pleasure scrunching your brow, loosening your jaw, fogging your eyes. The fluttering of his lids catches your eyes and swells your heart, shooting arousal through you from knowing he’s feeling so desperately good from fucking you. The amber of his eyes is so bright trained on you that it seems to glow through the shadows haunting his face. It makes him look all the more feral as he grips, spreads, bends, and fucks you like he wants to eat you whole. “Just -hahn- need some more from you, can you -nngaaah- do that for me, little love?”

You sob out a moan as you snap your eyes shut against the onslaught of sensation. The soreness his weight is pressing through your thigh and the tender stretch from your other leg being folded to your shoulder add more buzzing chaos to the sensations swirling their way through your body to flood your brain. The way he holds you open lets your clit take a soft impact every time he shoves his whole length into your plush pussy, giving the bud more little teases with how your body reverberates from the impact. 

“Look at me while I fuck you,” Mihawk snarls, but there’s desperation bleeding through the growl in his voice. You want to whine back at his request but you want to please him even more. You blink your eyes open and the raw need in them has Mihawk collapse just a bit more over you, feeling the want you and your pleasures ravage through his body begin to burn him alive. The brim of his hat taps lightly on your forehead from his closeness while he pants and moans to you, “Like that, love, fuck you’re so good for me.”

Meeting your gaze is a double edged sword; his arousal magnifies, his soul lights up, and his cock twitches hard but it also throws him to feeling right on the precipice of cumming and he’s not ready to stop feeling you. The siren song of the wet slapping of your hips, the slick sound of your pussy gushing around him and trying to keep him sucked as deep as he can reach, and your panting breaths carrying high moans and pleads and praises all tempt him to let the torrent of pleasure rush over him, promise him it would feel like endless blissful sin. It is all the harder to resist because he knows exactly how delicious it feels to sheathe himself from root to tip in you and pump stream after stream of hot cum into your welcoming walls while your cunt clings to him almost as tightly and desperately as his hands cling to you.

“Love, need you to cum,” Mihawk rushes out. He palms the hand on your thigh up so he can rub circles over your swollen clit. Your moans gain even more volume, filling the air in your office almost as thickly as the sweet, musky scent of sex.

“Need it, please,” he whispers breathlessly, “Need to feel you -nnnnhhah- love, love, need to feel your cunt sque-heeze me.” 

His vision begins blurring from the strain of staying right on the edge of cumming, barely holding back the powerful orgasm built from the burning in his muscles, the tingling in his fingers, the swirling in his head, and the throbbing of his cock. Giving up on trying to refocus them, he scrunches his eyes shut and lets his forehead fall down to rest on your temple, finally bumping his hat to fall onto the desk next to you. His closed eyes allow him to focus in better on all the other ways you are filling his senses, latching especially to your open mouth serenading him with needy babbling and fucked out moans.

“Can you be -ghahh- good and do that for me?” Mihawk pleads against your cheek. “Can you cum for me?”

“Y-yes, please, wanna be -mmmngh- good for you,” you whine back to him. His hips stutter at the tone and you feel his lips pull up around gritting teeth, an airy “fuck” sneaking past them.

“You are, sweetness, you are sooooo good for me,” Mihawk praises, swirling his thumb more insistently across your slick clit. The increase and pressure and perfect timing with his firm thrusts has your core tightening in threat of bursting. Your thighs had already been shaking in warning of your coming orgasm, but now the trembling is seating itself in every clench of your walls around Mihawk’s thick cock, wringing tighter and longer on each pulse. Your nerves sparkle and buzz more with each clamp down, the blazing rub of his throbbing dick and its bulging veins whiting out your mind. “Now come on, love -nngh- cum on my cock -fuuck please- let me feel you, make me cum -nnnghah- need to fuck you full.”

With a sob of his name, you finally fall over the edge. It feels as overwhelming as you had been expecting since he first stormed in and threw you over the desk. Your hands and cunt cling to him in need of a tether and in need of more; while your body is trembling with the bliss of your orgasm a tiny piece in the back of your mind is waiting for the final thing that will melt your whole body into a honey drip of heaven.

Mihawk doesn’t leave you waiting long; he is only able to feel your pussy milk him a handful of times before he can hold his end off no longer. With slurring groans of endearments and praises, he is overtaken by pleasure and can think of nothing beyond the relief of pumping you full of his cum with his twitching cock and grinding hips. The force of it has his thighs quake and numb out, making his weight crumble over you as he can no longer hold himself up. He nuzzles his face down the side of yours until he’s tucked panting against your neck, forehead pressed snuggly against your racing pulse.

You welcome his weight with open arms, one dragging him ever tighter to your heaving chest and the other winding its hand into his thick dark hair to ensure he never leaves. Both of you are still gasping for breath, your pressed chests rubbing and shaking against each other much like your greedy hips do as they ring out the endless pulsing beats of your orgasms. Your cunt and core continue to massage down on him and wring every bit of tight and bubbling bliss from his still hard and pumping cock that they can get. 

The feeling of being not only filled with his large and achingly hard cock but also the swelling heat of his cum makes your eyes roll back. He’s filled you full to bursting, now leaking out of you on every grind and the warm sticky sensation and sound matched with his pelvis massaging small sweeps across your clit prolongs your peak. You get to spend a long time suspended in the feeling of your body bursting with heat and joy and relief and electricity, all shoving your soul right out of your skin only for Mihawk’s presence to trap you right back into the storm raging in your nerves.

Mihawk begins to feel foggy and a bit delirious as he finally releases his pent up need in you, finally sates his ferocious hunger for your delicious touch, finally finds his comfort and peace stuck as close to you as he can possibly get. He makes a halfhearted attempt to bring his mind back to his body but is happily distracted by the aftershocks that jolt your body and flutter your cunt. They pull extra little spurts and groans from him each time and he’s defenseless to the contentment he feels following their slowing pace into the warm hover of affection that always envelops him after sharing bodies with you.

It takes a long time for either of you to actually come back to yourselves. The whole time you are afloat, you guide each other with trailing touches from limp but loving hands, quick kisses stolen between smoothing out your breath, and gentle squeezes in the embrace you keep on each other, needing those little moments where it's even more of a hug than a hold. Mihawk chases the touches that tease across the dips of his lower back or scratch up the back of his neck and across his scalp just a little bit more than the others. You feel too boneless to lean into almost any touch at the moment, but you do manage to roll your head to the side so you can gaze at your grandfather clock in the corner.

“I don’t think there’s time to make you presentable for them,” you sigh out with no real remorse. Mihawk is of a similar mind.

“Not my fault if those two don’t have anyone to take care of their needs,” Mihawk mumbles dryly. “Also not my problem if they’re mad I’ve had mine met.”

The laugh you give at his attitude earns you one of your favorite prizes: Mihawk’s lips making the slow curl then spread into a real smile. It is only topped when they close again to press a kiss in the shape of that smile on their resting place against your skin with enough love to reach straight through that skin and nurture every beat of your heart.

[eiightysixbaby]

a haunted house with a very handsy steve || 18+

Your body jolts when a pair of hands grips your shoulders.

“Steve!” you scold, spinning around to face the culprit.

The pathway around him is dark, save for a few colored strobe lights shining in an erratic pattern. Your heartbeat races, the haunted house keeping you on edge.

Your boyfriend snickers where he stands in front of you, though the sound is mostly drowned out by the noise machines playing throughout the attraction.

The hair on the back of your neck stands up, on high alert as you wait for the next monster to jump out at you. You have to stop and wonder how and why you let Steve drag you in here in the first place.

“It’s not funny,” you pout at him, moving your face away when he tries to kiss you better.

“Baby, c’mon,” he says, trying to coax the attitude out of you.

You keep walking forward, letting him follow hot on your trail. He wraps his arms around you from behind, strong and muscular as they pull you against him.

“Steeeeve,” you whine for the second time, eager to just get the hell out of this haunted house.

His lips press to the shell of your ear, and you can’t deny the way your heart flutters in your chest. The feeling of his warm body molded to your back makes heat pool in the pit of your stomach, and now you really need to get out of this damn house.

You’re about to round the corner into another scare zone — you can tell by the shouts that come from up ahead — when Steve pulls you off into a side room.

“Babe, what—” you start to speak, but he cuts you off with a hot kiss to your mouth.

You’re hidden behind a curtain, definitely not supposed to be back in this area, and you wriggle in your boyfriend’s grasp where he has you pressed against a wall.

“Steve, what if somebody catches us?” you ask, trying and failing to escape his pleading mouth. He chases you in whichever direction your head tilts, pressing kiss after kiss to the corner of your mouth, your jaw, your cheek.

The thought of Chief Hopper raiding the attraction and kicking you two out is mortifying, but your brain is saying one thing and your body is saying something entirely different. You’re pliant beneath his wandering hands, letting him caress all the softest parts of you.

“Nobody’s gonna catch us, honey,” he murmurs, letting his hands slide up beneath your shirt. When his fingers reach the cups of your bra and dip under, you shiver.

You bite your lip, a quiet moan escaping you. Your clothes suddenly feel too tight, your panties clinging to your skin with wetness that seeps through to your jeans.

You clutch the collar of his sweater in your hand, pulling him to you in a heated kiss. You let your tongue trace his bottom lip, satisfied when he groans into your mouth. His noises are barely audible with the screams of teenagers getting scared in the maze, but the vibrations reverberate against you.

“Baby…” he whines when his fingers cup your heat, feeling how soaked you are even through a layer of denim. “She’s so fucking wet for me.”

“Steve, please,” you beg, craving his touch, ravenous for it.

He moves to unbutton your pants, tugging the zipper down with haste. You know you’re about to get the sweet, sweet fullness of his fingers inside of you, and your body prickles with anticipation.

Before he can pull your jeans out of the way, though, the curtain is yanked back, a loud voice letting out a booming roar of a noise.

“Jesus!” Steve yells as you scream bloody murder, a masked figure standing in your once private space.

A laugh comes from beneath the mask, smug and gravelly. Your heart pounds so hard you can hear the blood pumping in your ears.

“Wait a minute,” Steve grumbles, reaching forward and ripping the mask off the stranger’s head.

A mop of curly brown hair and a shit-eating grin appear before you, your hand over your heart as you steady your breathing. Your body relaxes at the sight of the familiar face.

“Eddie, I swear to god, man!” You watch as Steve shoves the other boy, making him erupt in another fit of laughter.

“Got you, fuckers,” Eddie says, smirking. “No playtime in the haunted house, kiddies,” he taunts, waggling a finger like a teacher scolding some bad five year olds.

“Screw you, dude,” Steve grumbles, all the while you’re buttoning up your jeans and reaching for his hand.

“C’mon, big boy. Let’s go back to my place,” you coax, dragging him out from behind the curtain, Eddie gesturing in the right direction with an outstretched arm.

“Behave yourselves!” he calls after you, getting the middle finger from Steve. You can’t help but laugh, rolling your eyes at the antics.

“Bye, Eddie!” you call.

“Get back to work, asshole!” Steve yells over his shoulder, before turning his attention to you. “I forgot he was fucking working here,” he tells you, pouting and petulant.

“Don’t be all mopey on me,” you coo. “The sooner we get out of this haunted house, the sooner you can finish what you started.” You say this with your lips nearly pressed to his ear, placing a teasing kiss on the harsh outline of his jaw.

“So, should we start running? Cause I’ll run,” he suggests, making you laugh once more.

“Beat you to the exit?”

“Not a chance, honey.”

[bleedingichorhearts]

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬…” {2/2}

𝕬𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗: I believe the Big Blue has the worst abandonment issues. He was a single, loyal Primarch there for a second wasn’t he? Also, some of these Primarchs were kind of hard to appease.

𝕾𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖞: The “Primarchs” reacting to you saying “I’m too old for this.” Simple as that.

𝕿𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖉: @kit-williams, @egrets-not-regrets, @bispecsual, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog.

+@c-u-c-koo-4-40k.

TW // Slight Angst.

|°ᴛᴀɢ ʟɪꜱᴛ ᴀᴘᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ°| |°ɪᴄʜᴏʀ’ꜱ ᴀᴏ3°| |°𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕃𝕚𝕤𝕥°| • {Part 1}

Angron; “The Red Angel:”

Angry boi, angry boi… is not angry at you for saying such. How can he be? Life can be like a slave to one’s soul. He understands you in a way, not of your words, but the possible meaning behind it. He might… ponder with you on it, on your simple words. His nails ticking at him, but it’s nothing compared to the thought of your impending fall. Perhaps he shall hold you closer? No… no.

Roboute Guilliman; “The Avenging Son:”

Pauses in his work to look up at you. Those tried, pretty blue eyes of his roaming of your figure in sudden deep thought. A thought he had never really considered much since— He hums, finally standing up from his work and coming over to sweep you off your feet and nuzzle into you; inhaling your scent. He doesn’t wish to be alone once more…

Mortarion; “Death Lord:”

Surprisingly scared of your words. Something akin to his 9th brother. He doesn’t wish to hear you say those words again. He gets goosebumps just thinking about it, and might have a secret depressive episode only you can cure. Tell him how much you are doing; how well you are doing, not the opposite, please? He doesn’t wish to loose so much…

Magnus The Red; “Crimson King:”

Would also hear your words through warp, your soul, and it’s only then does he truly realize your mortality. He knows you’re mortal, yes, but he just… he didn’t think it would be so soon to realize the extent. Don’t be too surprised if you see him trying to commune with the warp more than necessary to rid you of your mortal shell…

Horus Lupercal; “The Lupercal:”

This man. This man knows what to do, and do you know what he does? Pampers the shit out of you: would make you stay in bed, massage you, anything to make sure you won’t say those words again. Though, the thought haunts him, and may drive him a bit… “passionate.”

Lorgar Aurelian; “The Urizen:”

Would stare at you like you had two heads. You? Old? Nonsense! You speak of nonsense! He worships you nearly everyday: 24/7 how could you claim yourself “old?” Would he have to show you what beauty you hold? What creation and power you wield? Well… he wouldn’t mind showing you again and again until you’re the brightest, glowing star in the his galaxy.

Vulkan; “Lord of Drakes:”

Another that says “You? Old? Nonsense!” This giant of a drake stuffy will swiftly pick you up in his arms (maybe do a twirl) before giving you a gentle kiss. Letting you sit on his arms as he will carry you around within his arms the rest of the day. No, you are not leaving him, no matter how hard you whine. He doesn’t like the thought of something he cherishes very, very dearly leaving him so soon…

Corvus Corax; “The Raven Lord:”

Yet another that unfortunately stares, and is… unsure of your words. There is an ache in his chest, a certain well known pain… He isn’t oblivious of your mortality, but he’s not sure if he should acknowledge it either. You might find some of his little crows surrounding you more often, and that’s when he’ll acknowledge it, and perhaps his sons will too. Crows take care of each other after all.

Alpharius & Omegon; “The Last Primarch:”

Hits them harder than you think. They have… shared you within the legion. You cuddled them, no matter who it was. You entertained them, no matter what they did. They didn’t think too much on your mortality, but now they definitely are. Perhaps they can find something in their blackmail archives to ensure your life? They don’t like to loose many… like Omegon.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Jack Howl - Room Relaxation Vignette

"Happy Birthday"

[Sports Field]

[tup, tup, tup]

Jack: Pant, pant… I could really feel the burn on those last 20 meters.

Jack: What's my time…? Oh, not bad. I'll have to remember this feeling for next time. Alright, guess it's time to stretch and head back to the dorm.

Riddle: Are you doing solo practice after your club activities once again? You sure are diligent, Jack.

Jack: Oh, Riddle-senpai. When you say "again" like that… did you already know that I always stay behind longer?

Riddle: Well, when the Equestrian Club ends our activities for the day and leave the stable for our respective dormitories, we do pass by the field.

Riddle: I've spotted you running by yourself many times before. Are you training for a meet of some kind?

Jack: Ah, actually, recently my times have been fairly stagnant, so I've been trying to adjust my running form.

Jack: Nothing I was doing was really working… But I think I've really started to figure out what I need.

Jack: For now, I plan on heading back to my dorm and, starting tomorrow, I'll focus on working on my newest running posture.

Riddle: A good decision. It would not do for you to injure yourself by overworking.

Riddle: Besides, a student's priority should be their studies. Passion is well and good, however you would do well to not neglect your studies.

Jack: No need to tell me twice. I don't plan on neglecting my practice nor my studies whatsoever.

Jack: I made it here to Night Raven College, after all. I'll put forth even more effort so I can achieve even more.

Jack: Even if it's the day before my birthday, I'll have to continue doing my best… No, I'll have to do even better than my best.

Riddle: Oh, is your birthday tomorrow?

Riddle: Then I'm sure there's much for you to prepare. It would be rude of me to continue to keep you, so I'll leave you now.

[Riddle walks off]

Jack: Eh…? Oh, sure. Thank you, Riddle-senpai.

Jack: …Did I just say out loud that it's my birthday tomorrow? I hope he doesn't think I'm excited about it, or anything…

Jack: Ughhhh. Nah, it's no good worrying about something that's already done! Time to stretch!

[Savanaclaw Dorm – Jack's Room]

Jack: Whew… I feel much better after a shower. Guess it's time to finally get to my homework.

[Savanaclaw Dorm – Jack's Room]

Jack: Guess that's enough of reviewing today's lessons. I gotta put my homework in my bag before I forget, too…

[Roommate A speaks up]

Jack: … Huh? You wanna copy my homework before I put it away? I didn't work on it to help you guys out, why would I show it to you, anyway?

[Roommate B talks back]

Jack: You don't know the answers? Well, that's your fault for not listening during class. Don't come begging me for scraps.

Jack: Ugh, look at 'em, all grumbling over something stupid. Anyway… I guess I just have "that" left to deal with before going to bed.

「Survey on Quality of Life Improvements for the Student Body」

Jack: So they're looking for campus life improvements, huh. Well, there's the fact that some can be irritating just because they're a year or two older…

Jack: But it's not like the academy can really do anything to help improve personal problems. So, I guess…

Jack: I know I'd like it if they could do something about the rule that freshmen must live 4 to a room.

Jack: It's stressful enough having to share a small room with someone else, let alone 3 other people.

Jack: I can't wait for next year. Sophomores live 2 to a room, so it should be way better than right now.

Jack: There'll be more space in the room then… And I'll be able to find more sunlight for my cacti as well.

Jack: Even though I was able to beat the others to the spot that would provide the most light back when I first got here…

Jack: It's still not enough. Compared to the rooms reserved for the upperclassmen, it's still not as bright here, so I have to take extra care of the little guys.

Jack: Cacti are just like humans in that they don't do well if they don't get enough sunlight.

Jack: …That reminds me of back home for some reason. When winter comes, I always see people here and there sunbathing.

Jack: As a kid, I thought they were just lazy, and couldn't figure out why they'd want to just lounge out under the sun…

Jack: When I learned that there were health-related reasons behind it, I was both surprised and impressed.

Jack: It's not like I've been lacking any chances to be out under the sun ever since I've come to Sage's Island…

Jack: But if I could have a room big enough to roll out a rug, it might not be so bad to lay out and sunbathe on it a bit.

Jack: Alright… I've finished filling out the survey, so I guess it's time to sleep.

[roommates chattering]

Jack: Hey! You guys are being way too loud. How long're you gonna be at it?

Jack: You all better go to sleep right at lights out tonight… 10PM is bedtime! Don't keep me awake!

Jack: …Yeah, like those guys'll listen to what I say.

Jack: I should go back to the survey and ask for a canopy bed… Or maybe a partition.

Jack: Sleep is important for me to build my muscles… So I can't have them keeping me up… Yaaawn…

[Savanaclaw Dorm – Jack's Room]

[alarm blaring]

Jack: …Mm, is it morning already? Welp, then. First things first after waking up…

Jack: There's no question about it. TIME TO REPLENISH QUICKLY WITH SOME PROTEIN!!

Jack: I need to gain back all the nutrients I lost while sleeping. I'll swing by the kitchen for a protein drink and then head towards the washroom.

[Savanaclaw Dorm – Washroom]

[splash, splash]

Jack: Whew… No one's awake at this time, so it's nice and quiet here.

Jack: …Man, no matter how I look at it, my hair is tousled into a real mess. This happens every morning, sure, but…

Jack: Since I have thicker hair, it's so hard to tame the bedhead. Ah, tsk, there's even some pillow marks on my ears.

Jack: Well, I guess I'll just start with wetting the roots of my hair and then use the dryer while pulling the strands back…

[blow-dries hair]

Jack: Once the unruly strands are tamed, I'll comb it… Good, it's more or less better now. If I don't do this first, it ends up taking longer in the end.

Jack: I've tried a bunch of different hair products, but I ended up liking this wax the best.

Jack: Hair gel might be better to keep the shape, but it gets too stiff and takes too long to wash out.

Jack: Only using wax means that my hairstyle starts to lose its hold around evening time, but all I need to do for that is to just fix it up in the afternoon.

Jack: Nice, that looks good. All that's left is to spray it a bit…

[sprays hair]

Jack: Normally I won't use it 'cause I don't like it to get on my ears, but I want to make sure I look spot on today of all days.

Jack: As for makeup… Nah, I'll go without, like usual. I'd like to look good, but I don't want to get all dolled up or anything.

Jack: I'll just use my normal sunscreen. Can't say I really like how it feels on my skin, though…

Jack: But I remember the first time I ever went skiing by myself and the pain I went through when I forgot to apply sunscreen.

Jack: The way I got burned by the sun reflecting on the snow and I had to live with the embarrassment of the goggles leaving that imprint on my face… Augh, I don't even want to think about it again.

Jack: But thanks to that, I finally understand why my parents wouldn't shut up about not forgetting to put on sunscreen.

Jack: Looks like there's a bunch I'm able to understand more as I grow up, like that whole sunbathing thing. Guess that's another reason why it's fun to grow older.

[Savanaclaw Dorm – Jack's Room]

Jack: Alright. Now that I look presentable, I think I'll stretch out my muscles to prep for morning practice.

Jack: Phew… This old chair they supplied the room with really comes in handy for stretching.

Jack: Right after we got grouped together, none of us wanted it so we kept trying to shove it onto each other, but that was just a pain to deal with, so I kept it…

Jack: It's hard, sturdy, and it doesn't wobble so easily. Plus, the size is just perfect for someone of my height.

Jack: Next, I'll step onto the seat and… I guess I'll look over my class notes while I stretch, as usual.

Jack: I think we were on this page of the textbook for Magical History…

Jack: "The following year, the ancient incantations that were inscribed on the cave walls were successfully deciphered. The gathered mages then attempted to speak the ancient incantations…"

[Roommate B complains]

Jack: …Huh, what, I'm too loud? My voice woke you up? Well, good timing, the sun's almost up. Get up, already!

[Main Street]

Jack: Urk, is that who I think it is over there…? …Good morning, Riddle-senpai.

Riddle: Good morning, Jack. Have you finished with morning practice already?

Riddle: Happy Birthday. That's all I came here to say.

Jack: …Of course it was about that. Sorry to be a bother about it. I didn't mean to let it slip yesterday…

Riddle: Heh, you're no bother. We may be of different dormitories, however it is the duty of us upperclassmen to support our underclassmen.

Riddle: You should continue to do your utmost. …Of course, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that.

Jack: Yes, sir! I'll keep on improving!

Requested by @farfalla049.

[playboysaleen]

Through Ash and Iron (4)

Jinx x Reader x Caitlyn

Summary: Through Ash and Iron plunges you into the heart of Piltover’s gritty streets, where you’ve always felt the weight of your family’s failures. Rejected from the Junior Enforcer Program, your anger burns brighter than ever—until one fateful punch changes everything. The eyes of Piltover’s elite may look down on you, but it’s the wild eyes of Jinx that truly see you. She’s chaos personified, and you’re drawn to the destruction she promises. But that’s not all. Caitlyn Kiramman, a poised enforcer with a soft spot for rebels like you, offers you a chance to rewrite your future—if you can control the rage you can’t seem to escape.Torn between the order Caitlyn represents and the dangerous freedom Jinx offers, you stand at the crossroads of two worlds. As your power grows, so does the tension between these two women. One promises a chance at belonging, while the other ignites a fire you didn’t know you had. But the choices you make will change everything—not just for you, but for both cities teetering on the edge of war. Who will you choose? And how much of yourself will you lose along the way?

Warnings: Violence duh, gay panic(lol), cursing, all that jazz (whatever you seen in Arcane is what you gon see here)This is also a slight AU.(She/her)

Word Count: 4.4k

A/n: Yall are going to HATE me but-

___________________________

The bar on the outskirts of the undercity is a rundown, dimly lit place, its flickering neon signs barely cutting through the darkness. You slouch in a corner booth, a glass of whiskey in your hand, swirling the amber liquid as you try to drown the noise in your mind. It’s not working, but you’re trying. Each gulp, each burn, you hope it’ll make the ache inside you go away, even just for a moment.

You drink until the room blurs, but it doesn’t change anything. Nothing can change the emptiness. Nothing can take away the weight of betrayal that you’ve been carrying. Caitlyn’s face flashes in your mind, sharp and unyielding. She was right. She was always right, and you were wrong. You can’t even figure out who you are anymore.

Then, from the corner of your eye, you catch a familiar silhouette, a shape you know too well.

Lest slides into the seat beside you like she owns it, her presence undeniable. She’s sharp, sly, with an elegance that betrays her dangerous side. Her raven-black hair is tied back loosely, a few stray strands framing her face, revealing the thin scars that run along her jaw, a reminder of her past battles. Her eyes are calculating, fox-like, with a sharp glint as she watches you with a knowing smile. The way she moves is liquid, smooth, and predatory, like she’s always two steps ahead. She wears dark leather, adorned with subtle details—a vest, gloves, a belt full of tools—and it all just seems to fit her perfectly, as if she was crafted for this life.

“Rough night?” Her voice is soft, but there’s an edge to it, as if she’s already figured you out. She leans in just a bit too close, the warmth of her body seeping into your space. Her fingers brush against your shoulders, her touch light but somehow full of intent.

You can’t muster the energy to shove her away. Instead, you take a long sip from your glass, letting the alcohol numb your senses. “You could say that.”

Lest grins, her eyes tracing you like she’s reading the pages of a book. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot to say, but I don’t think you want to talk about it. That’s why you’re here, after all.”

You don’t answer, your gaze fixed on the table in front of you. There’s something about the way she speaks that makes you want to listen, even if you don’t want to hear what she’s saying.

“I can help you,” she says softly, a teasing smile playing on her lips. “You just have to ask.”

You scoff, but her words still stick to you, gnawing at the edges of your resolve. It’s been a long time since someone offered to help you without asking for something in return.

She senses the shift, the crack in your armor. “You need something. I can see it in your eyes. And I can give you what you’re looking for.” Her voice is almost a whisper now, seductive, coaxing.

Your heart is pounding, but you’re unsure if it’s from the alcohol or the way she’s reading you so easily. She places a hand on your leg, close to your knee, her fingers lightly brushing against your skin, sending an electric pulse through your body. “Just say the word.”

Then the voices start. Jinx’s voice—familiar, filled with that chaotic edge—pierces through the fog in your mind.

“Don’t listen to her,” Jinx warns, though it’s almost a whisper. “You don’t need this. It’s not worth it.”

Then Caitlyn’s voice joins in, sharper, colder. “You’ll never be enough.”

You squeeze your eyes shut, trying to block them out, but they persist, a clashing storm in your head.

Lest notices your discomfort, and her smirk only widens, sensing the conflict within you. “You’ve got a war going on in that pretty head of yours, don’t you? Too many voices, too many decisions. I can help with that too, you know.”

You try to focus, to push her away, but the voices keep cutting in, making your chest tight. You’re torn between the temptation to listen to Lest and the fear of what it might mean for you.

Then she pulls out a small brush, the tip glowing faintly with shimmer, and holds it up between you. “You could use something to calm those voices down. Just a little… release. It’ll make everything easier.”

Your stomach twists, a familiar, dark pull tempting you to take it. But then Jinx’s voice rises again.

“Don’t you dare.”

And Caitlyn’s voice cuts through, “You’ll never be enough. You’ll just make it worse.”

You slam your glass down on the table with a sharp crack, your head pounding. “No,” you say, your voice hoarse, a little too loud in the quiet bar. “I’m not doing that.”

Lest watches you for a long moment, her eyes cold and calculating, then slides the shimmer brush back into her coat. “Your loss.”

You stumble to your feet, disoriented by the alcohol and the flood of voices. You push through the door and step out into the cool night, feeling the weight of Lest’s gaze on your back.

But just as you turn the corner, you’re met by a familiar face, one that you didn’t expect to see tonight.

Jinx.

Her eyes are wide, scanning over you, her face a mix of confusion and concern. The moment she spots you, she storms forward, her voice rising. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” you mutter, trying to stumble away, but she grabs your arm with surprising strength. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Jinx snaps, her voice rising with frustration. “You’ve been out here getting shitfaced and talking to her?”

Lest, still lingering in the shadows, watches with amusement, but doesn’t make a move.

Jinx drags you back toward her lair, her grip tight but not unkind, as she leads you up to the rooftop. She slams you down onto a crate, spinning to face you with that fire in her eyes. “You were going to… with her?” she demands, her voice tight with anger.

“No,” you protest weakly, shaking your head. “I didn’t… I didn’t want that.”

Jinx glares at you, her eyes narrowing. “Then what the hell were you doing?”

“I don’t know,” you mutter, feeling the alcohol dragging you down. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I can’t… I can’t think straight.”

Jinx’s expression softens for a moment, but then she snaps. “Get it together. You can’t just—”

You lash out, your voice sharp and filled with pain. “I don’t know who I am anymore! I don’t know what I’m supposed to be!”

She freezes, her anger faltering. “What are you talking about?”

You shake your head, blinking back the tears that are threatening to fall. “I’m not enough for anyone, Jinx. Not for you, not for Cai— not for anyone.”

For a long time, she just stands there, silent, watching you with an unreadable look in her eyes.

“Stop,” she finally says, her voice barely a whisper. “You’re not alone, okay?”

You don’t say anything back. Instead, you curl up against the wall, wrapping your arms around your knees. You feel like you’re suffocating, and yet the distance between you and Jinx feels insurmountable.

Finally, she turns and walks back inside, leaving you alone in the cold night, the voices still swirling in your mind, battling with each other.

⋆.˚⟡ ࣪ ˖

Inside, Jinx stands in the dark, her mind racing. The voices speak again, louder than before, but she doesn’t listen.

That small voice, the one that had always been there but never fully heard, finally rises above the chaos.

She’s the one. The one you need. The one you’ve always needed.

Jinx sat in her lair, pacing back and forth, her mind a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts. The voices in her head grew louder with each passing second, each one demanding her attention, but there was that one small voice that she couldn’t ignore. It had been quiet for so long, but tonight, it felt insistent, urgent.

Go to her. She needs you. She’s the one who sees you. She’s the one who’ll understand.

Her heart raced, and her breath quickened. The words echoed in her mind, undeniable, undeniable. Jinx could feel it now—the pull. That same feeling she had tried to push away for so long. But it was there, undeniable.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to shut out the rest of the voices that screamed at her to stop, but the quiet one only grew stronger.

She’s the one. You know it. You feel it.

Her heart thudded in her chest, a frantic pace. She didn’t understand it, but she couldn’t deny it. The tug was undeniable, and without thinking, her feet moved. She ran out of the lair, her feet pounding against the cold stone floor as she made her way out of the building. The further she went, the stronger the pull became. The voice was louder now, almost guiding her, telling her that she had to go to you.

She rushed up the fire escape, every step an impulse she couldn’t ignore, her mind both frantic and clear at the same time. She was done fighting it.

When she reached the rooftop, she stopped for a moment, scanning the empty night for you. And there you were—standing on the edge of the building, as though you had been waiting for her. Your figure was silhouetted against the dim glow of the city lights, and in that moment, it felt like everything aligned.

She moved toward you, her heart in her throat. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t find the words. For a long moment, neither of you said anything. But when you looked up, your eyes met hers, and she could see the confusion, the turmoil, but also the longing, the unspoken desire to be understood.

You hesitated before speaking, your voice unsteady. “Jinx, I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t,” she cut you off, her voice soft but firm. She didn’t want any apologies. Not now. Not when her heart was saying something else.

You tried again, your words spilling out in a rush. “I’ve been thinking about you. About how you make me feel. I—I want to help you. I want to be by your side. I—I want to be there for you, like you’ve been there for me.”

Jinx’s breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t expected this. She didn’t know what she had expected, but it wasn’t this. She felt a tightness in her chest, and suddenly, all the voices in her head grew quiet, like they knew this moment mattered. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew. She knew it was real.

Before she could think, before she could second-guess herself, her hand shot out, grabbing the collar of your shirt and pulling you toward her. The kiss was sudden, electric, as though she had been waiting for this moment. The world around her seemed to fall away. There was no city, no voices, no fears. There was only you. And for the first time in a long time, it felt right.

You kissed her back, surprising her with the intensity of it, your arms wrapping around her waist as if you couldn’t get close enough. She felt you, the warmth of your body, the strength, the tenderness. It was all there, everything that had been left unspoken, everything that had been building for so long.

Her heart raced, her breath quickening, but the voices—they were silent. For the first time in forever, the voices in her head fell away, and there was only the feeling of you, of the kiss, of connection. The night air didn’t matter, the sounds of the city didn’t matter. There was only the two of you, only the space between your lips, the energy that passed between you.

When you finally pulled away, your foreheads touched, both of you breathless. It was as if the world had slowed, and in the quiet aftermath, you could both hear the sound of your hearts pounding in your chests. But then, as you stood there, still reeling from the intensity of the moment, you heard a voice. Faint, but sharp.

Caitlyn…

The voice, so quiet in the back of your mind, sent a jolt of panic through you. Your chest tightened, and you pulled away from Jinx just slightly, frowning. The guilt washed over you like a wave.

“I’m sorry, Jinx. I shouldn’t have—” you muttered, your voice full of regret. “I… I didn’t mean to—”

Jinx’s eyes flickered with confusion, but she didn’t interrupt you. She simply looked at you, as if waiting for you to explain. But before you could say anything more, a sound from the door caught both of your attention.

The door to the rooftop creaked open, the sound of footsteps echoing in the quiet night. Both of you turned in unison, only to see Isha standing in the doorway, her expression confused. Isha didn’t speak—but the way she looked at both of you said enough.

“I’m sorry,” Isha’s quiet presence seemed to say, even though she hadn’t uttered a word. She turned to leave, but you couldn’t help but feel like the moment had shifted. You turned to Isha, guiding her away from the rooftop with a heavy heart.

Jinx stayed silent, her gaze lingering on you both, a mix of emotions playing across her face. But as you walked toward the fire escape, you could feel the weight of the moment hanging between you and her.

Once you reached the ground, you turned to Isha, helping her along as you both walked toward the fort where you had gathered your things. Jinx didn’t follow immediately, but you could feel her eyes on you as you went.

In her lair, the voices returned, their noise swirling inside her head. But this time, one voice stood out—a quiet, insistent whisper.

She’s the one, it said, gentle but certain. She’s the one you’ve been waiting for.

Jinx didn’t know what the future held, but for the first time in a long while, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t alone.

⋆.˚⟡ ࣪ ˖

Caitlyn sat in her office, the silence of the room only broken by the soft rustle of paperwork as she carefully went over the latest reports. Her mind was still reeling from the events at the rally, from the confrontation with you, and the undeniable pull she had felt toward you. She couldn’t understand it, but she couldn’t ignore it either. Yet, as much as she tried to focus on her work, a nagging feeling in her chest wouldn’t let her go. 

The sound of the door opening interrupted her thoughts, and Caitlyn looked up to see Ambessa and Rictus entering. Both had their usual authoritative air, their presence commanding. Caitlyn, though still in her own whirlwind, nodded, signaling them to speak. 

“We have some information,” Ambessa said smoothly, her voice calm but with a cold edge. “It’s about the weapon used in the attack on the tower. We’ve been digging into the details and… we found something.” She paused for a moment, as if testing Caitlyn’s reaction.

Rictus stepped forward, his tall frame blocking the light from the door as he gave a sharp smile. “We traced the components of that weapon. Some of the materials, designs… They were linked to someone in Piltover. Someone who’s been making weapons for Jinx.” His eyes flickered toward Caitlyn, watching her closely.

The words hit Caitlyn like a punch to the gut. She felt a chill run down her spine. She hadn’t heard this before, but her mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario. Could it be true?

“Who are you talking about?” Caitlyn’s voice was tight, a creeping anxiety starting to form in her chest.

“Your little friend,” Ambessa continued with an eerie calm, her eyes locking with Caitlyn’s. “The one you’ve been so determined to find. It appears this person has been working closely with Jinx. The weapon that killed your mother… part of it was constructed using designs that belong to them.” Ambessa’s words hung heavy in the air, each syllable dripping with implication.

Rictus chimed in, his tone darker. “That’s right. We’ve traced the connections. The same person who’s been working with Jinx is the one responsible for the device. We have the proof. You were too trusting, Caitlyn. They were hiding in plain sight.”

Caitlyn felt her stomach drop. The shock hit her all at once, as if the ground beneath her feet was slipping away. She was frozen for a moment, her mind racing. You—could you really be involved in this? Was everything she had seen in you just a lie? Her chest tightened, anger building up, twisting in her gut.

“No…” Caitlyn muttered under her breath. Her fingers gripped the edge of her desk, her knuckles white. “You’re lying.” She barely managed to whisper it, as if trying to convince herself more than them.

Ambessa smirked, leaning forward. “We don’t lie, Caitlyn. We’re not the ones who were hiding in plain sight, now are we?”

“But she—” Caitlyn cut herself off, the realization beginning to hit her. She had trusted you. She had let you into her life, into her heart, even if she couldn’t fully admit it. And now, this—this betrayal. Her heart burned with the sting of it.

Rictus stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “You see, Caitlyn, Jinx has been using her. She’s been building weapons for them—for Jinx. And now, thanks to this,” he said, tossing a folder onto the desk, “we have the evidence. She was working directly with them to help them attack Piltover. She is a traitor.”

The word hit Caitlyn like a slap across the face. “No,” she said, her voice trembling with anger, “this is not true.” She couldn’t believe it, not yet. But the evidence—she had to look at it. She had to understand it. But no matter how hard she tried, a deep, hollow sense of betrayal started gnawing at her.

“And you’re still trying to protect her?” Ambessa’s voice cut through Caitlyn’s thoughts like a knife. “She’s been playing you this whole time, and you’ve allowed it. It’s time you face reality. She was never one of you.”

The accusation hit harder than she expected. The shock of hearing it come from Ambessa’s lips—the venom in her words—was enough to make Caitlyn’s head spin. She could feel the rage building inside her, her chest rising and falling with every breath. How could you—how could you—do this to her? How could you lie to her face, let her feel something for you, only to betray everything she had ever known?

Rictus’s voice broke through the haze of her thoughts. “She’s working with Jinx. We’ve already sent out people to track her. If you want to find her, you’ll need to act quickly. She’s a liability now. And if we don’t take her out, she’ll take us all down with her.”

Caitlyn couldn’t stand it anymore. The anger, the hurt, the overwhelming feeling of betrayal that clouded her judgment. You were working with Jinx? You—the person she had trusted, the person who had made her feel something she couldn’t explain—had been playing her this whole time? She felt her blood boil, her hands shaking as she gripped the desk harder, her thoughts racing with fury.

She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping violently against the floor. “I’m going after her,” Caitlyn said, her voice dark with anger and determination.

Ambessa and Rictus exchanged glances, but neither said anything. They didn’t need to. They knew what Caitlyn was capable of.

“You won’t stop me,” she said, her words sharp, cutting through the tension in the room.

As she turned to leave, her mind fixated on one thing: You. You had betrayed her, and now she had no choice but to find you. To face you. To make you pay for everything. Because if you had truly turned against her, if you had been working with Jinx all along… she would make sure you didn’t get away with it.

And somewhere deep inside, beneath the anger and the rage, there was a small flicker of something else. Something that made her hesitate. Something that, for just a moment, felt like it might break her heart. But she couldn’t let it. Not now. She had to do this.

You were a traitor. And she couldn’t let you go free.

⋆.˚⟡ ࣪ ˖

The warm sun bathed the open field in soft, golden light. The wind played through the tall grass, swaying it in gentle waves. Birds chirped in the distance, and the air was full of the scent of fresh earth and blooming flowers. You and Isha ran across the field, the sounds of her laughter ringing out as you chased after her in a game of tag.

She darted ahead, faster than you expected, her small figure almost blending into the landscape as she sprinted with joy. Her giggles were pure, carefree, and infectious. You pushed yourself to catch up, the ground beneath you soft and firm, giving way to each step as you closed in on her. She glanced over her shoulder just as you reached out, and with a gleeful shriek, you grabbed her in mid-air, lifting her up and spinning her around in playful triumph.

You both fell together into a patch of soft wildflowers, the colors of purples, yellows, and whites mixing together beneath you. The flowers tickled your skin, and the world seemed to slow as the sound of your laughter filled the air. Isha’s laughter was the sweetest sound, and you couldn’t help but grin as you both rolled through the flowers, giggling like children who had forgotten the weight of the world.

From the edge of the field, Jinx watched with quiet intensity, her eyes drawn to the way you moved with Isha, the way your smiles seemed so natural, so effortless. The interaction from a few nights ago—the raw emotions, the vulnerability, the tension—still played through her mind. Did you mean it? she wondered. Were you scared? She hadn’t forgotten the words you’d said, or how you looked at her, and it made something stir deep inside her. There was a longing, a confusion, that she couldn’t shake.

You playfully teased Isha about how you were going to catch her, your voice light and mischievous as you taunted her in your usual way. She squealed in excitement and dashed toward Jinx, her arms outstretched, ready to leap into her arms. Jinx caught her easily, lifting her up and spinning her in a whirlwind of laughter. You watched them, your heart softening at the sight of the two of them so happy, so full of life.

But then, your expression shifted. Your smile faltered, and something in the air felt different. Jinx noticed the change in your demeanor immediately. It was like the energy around you had shifted, something heavy settling over you. You stood still for a moment, your gaze turning toward them, locking with Jinx’s.

Then, with an unsettling calm, you took a few slow steps forward, eyes fixed on her and Isha. Something was coming. Jinx felt it too. Her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes flickered around the field, searching for any signs of danger.

That’s when the explosion hit.

The force of it sent shockwaves through the air, a deafening crack that reverberated in the ground, knocking you off your feet. You were thrown back, flying through the air, tumbling several yards before crashing into the ground with a harsh, painful thud.

Jinx’s blood ran cold as she heard your scream—no, your command—rising from the chaos.

“RUN!”

The urgency in your voice pierced through everything, and Jinx didn’t hesitate. She scooped Isha up into her arms with a swift, practiced motion and sprinted away. Isha’s small hands reached out toward you, her face full of confusion and fear, her quiet pleas echoing in the silence.

“I’m not leaving you!” she seemed to be saying, her face strained with the silent desperation of someone who couldn’t speak, but whose heart was crying out.

Jinx’s chest tightened. Her eyes blurred with tears, but she didn’t stop. She pushed forward, running as fast as she could, not even daring to look back at the devastation you had just endured. She could hear Isha’s soft cries, the child’s desperate fingers grasping at her in a futile attempt to return to you. It tore at Jinx’s heart with each step.

Behind her, you struggled to stand, your body trembling with pain, but you refused to collapse. Adrenaline surged through you as you fought off a few enforcers, desperate to hold your ground. The battle was brief, but your strength was fading, and you could feel it. The pain in your stomach was unbearable, but you fought through it, blocking blows, disarming attackers.

Then, the crack of a rifle.

The shot rang through the air like a thunderclap, and your body froze. The world seemed to slow as the bullet pierced through your side, the force knocking the breath out of you. Pain shot through your body like a lightning bolt, and you staggered back, barely managing to stay on your feet. Blood welled from the wound, warm and sticky, soaking through your clothes as you dropped to your knees.

Your vision blurred. The pain in your stomach was overwhelming, each breath a struggle. Your strength was failing you. You looked around, and your heart skipped as you spotted Caitlyn in the distance. She stood at the edge of the field, a rifle still raised, a cold look in her eyes.

Her gaze met yours across the battlefield. For a brief moment, your eyes locked, and you saw something in her expression—something cold, but also… familiar. It was a look that haunted you.

Jinx, hidden from view, watched it all unfold from the shadows. Her chest tightened as her mind raced, her heart hammering in her ears. She saw you drop to your knees, your body shaking, the blood pooling beneath you. She was paralyzed with fear, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene.

Isha’s small hand pressed against Jinx’s chest, her fingers curling around her as she whimpered softly, the weight of what was happening sinking in.

“I’m not leaving you,” Jinx whispered to her, even though there was no way she could keep that promise. Not with everything that was unfolding.

With a quick, frantic glance back at you, Jinx grabbed Isha and ran, putting every ounce of strength she had into escaping. The last thing she saw was you, crumpling to the ground, unable to move anymore.

The screams of the world faded as Jinx pushed forward, the only thing on her mind: finding her sister.

She wasn’t going to let you—or her—be lost to this.

————————

told yall… next chap later today (so much about to go down- this a long ass fic i wrote so hold on to your hats cause boy this meal about to be five mf stars)

[kisakis-boyfriend]

♦️ Platonic Ciel x Older Brother Figure?

Say Ciel has a close coworker, family friend or even a servant who is a few years older then him (15-17, teenage age around), and one night Ciel is having a panic attack.

IN SWOOPS OLDER BROTHER FIGURE TO THE RESCUE

Bonus points if the reader knows about Sebastian and refuses to let him around Ciel when the kid is vulnerable

Pairings: None

Warnings: Male!reader, servant!reader, hurt/comfort, panic attack comfort, reader's past is implied to be a bit dark

The night was calm — a few clouds passing in front of the moon, bringing it in and out of view, a chilly breeze fluttering the curtains by the open window, and the sound of silence presiding over everything in and around the Phantomhive Estate. Yet, you couldn't shake this odd feeling stirring in your stomach.

Something didn't feel quite right…but what?

Was this nagging feeling because you forgot one of your duties? Thinking back through your day, you recount all of your chores as a mental checklist and nothing seems amiss there.

Was there an important event tomorrow that you need to wake up extra early for? No, no one mentioned anything about any meeting or public figure visiting tomorrow.

It was really starting to give you a headache now… everything was in its place, but this gut feeling was beginning to make you nauseous. You know something's not right; somewhere in this place.

You mulled over your next course of action—eyes darting around like you were watching a mosquito fly right in front of your face—and finally settled on your next move: you'll take a quick walk around the manor. Down a couple hallways, by the young master's bedroom. Just a quick pass, make sure he's safe and asleep, then you'll wait and see how you feel after that.

Keeping quiet when you're worried isn't particularly easy to do, but you do try to avoid the creaky floorboards, and make use of the rugs to muffle your footsteps. Master Ciel's door was just a few steps away; all you have to do is stand outside and listen.

…

…

…

“Can't… I can't…”

A sob came from the other side of the door, and that was all you needed for your protective nature to make you spring into action. You knocked on the door lightly, “Master? Are you alright?”

As you knocked, the door slowly opened wide enough for you to make out two figures; the young master, sitting upright on his bed, and the head butler, Sebastian, kneeling in front of him. Ciel is clutching his chest, staring at the floor with shaking, unfocused eyes as Sebastian notices your presence.

The raven haired butler turns his head towards you, and you question “Sebastian, what's going on?”

“It seems that the young master had a terrible nightmare.” he explains, “What on Earth are you still doing up, y/n?”

You turn your gaze downward before answering “W-well… I had this strange feeling that something was a bit off. I just… just wanted to make sure the master was ok before I turned in.” your voice came out a bit shakier than you intended it to, but how could it not when you're so worried about him?

Sebastian gives a soft, assuring smile as he speaks. “I see, what good intuition you have there. However, I have the situation taken care of, so you can rest soundly n–”

“Um… can I… handle this one?” you interrupt. The head butler looks surprised to hear you ask something so bold, giving a whispered 'what' in return.

“I have experience with this kind of thing. I think I can help.” you smile sheepishly, half ashamed to even admit that out loud. You meet Sebastian's gaze and it's obvious that he's skeptical—you can practically see his mind pondering the offer behind his ruby eyes—but he sees something in you that proves you're being truthful right now. He motions for you to enter, then steps out, shutting the door with a 'click' as he leaves.

Your attention turns back to Ciel. The sight of your younger master is worrisome, yet all too familiar — heavy, labored breathing, unfocused eyes, face covered in sweat, and little awareness of his surroundings; he is, indeed, experiencing a panic attack of sorts.

You cautiously sit next to him on the bed, speaking with a gentle tone so you won't startle him, “Young master, it's alright, you're awake now. Whatever happened in that dream is over.”

While his breathing remains ragged and hurried, you pick up on the way his head turns toward you slightly, as if acknowledging your presence and paying attention to your words, at least a little. “Can you try to take a deep breath with me? Follow my count; breathe in… and out… One more time, in… and out…” Ciel is able to mimic you for the most part, his inhale stutters a bit, but this has already helped to prevent more hyperventilating.

“Good job! That's not always easy, I know.” you reassure, smiling solemnly as flashes of your past reappear in your mind. “Would you like my hand? You can squeeze it if you need to, it won't hurt me, I promise.” you laugh.

Ciel's gaze is fixed on your outstretched hand. While you are still in uniform, your gloves are missing. He reaches out, grabbing your hand as he trembles unwillingly. That little bit of human connection is so foreign to the young child — most of the time, the comforting touch comes from a gloved hand, which feels all too distant; too… lonely.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

His grip tightened at the suggestion. “…No…”

Immediately reinforcing his boundaries, you reply “That's alright, you don't have to. But if you change your mind, not a word of it will leave this room, I swear it on my honor as a Phantomhive butler.”

The young master shakily exhales, and though he doesn't reply back, you're sure he understands the truth in your promise.

You ponder your next move for a second, peeking at the door to Ciel's room to make sure there's no crack between it and the doorframe. Once you're sure that the head butler isn't spying on you, you lean in and whisper “I know it's late, and I'm sure you've already had your teeth brushed, but…” a small piece of chocolate is slowly pulled from your front coat pocket as you ask, “would something sweet help?”

The young master blinks a few times, a little dumbfounded as he wonders “Do you always keep sweets on your person?”

“Mm, I do now. After all, you never know when a bit of emergency chocolate will come in handy.” You joke. You've been trying to convince yourself that this habit didn't form solely because of your new master — that it was beneficial to keep a few treats on hand in case you run into an upset child on the street, or any child, really — but, in truth, the young master was the person on your mind when you initially made the decision.

You sat in mildly uncomfortable silence for a moment before speaking again. “It appears you've calmed down quite a bit. How are you feeling now?”

Ciel stares at the candy in his hand, speaking more in his usual tone. “Better.”

“Very good,” you sign in relief, “I'm glad to hear that.” your smile turns into a frown as you ask, “Um, Master, would you like to be alone now? I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome or prevent you from falling asleep…”

“NO!” the younger boy exclaims. With the speed at which he turned towards you, you're afraid he may have pulled something. “Stay… please stay…” he croaks.

His sudden brashness startles you—all you can do is stare into his misty eyes as he pleads with you. “O-oh, sorry… If you really want me to stay, then I will!” this appears to ease the tension as Ciel loosens his grip on your hand. “But… you should at least get under the covers again, young master. Lest you fall asleep right here and catch a cold.”

Ciel relents, but only after you promise again to stay with him. You help him climb underneath the soft sheets and begin to tuck him in when he says “I… want you to… ahem… to sit with me.”

“O-oh! I can do that–” you attempt to sit on the edge of the bed again, but your young master stops you, correcting his statement.

“No, I meant under the covers… with me…” The request sounds so unlike the Ciel Phantomhive you know, and yet, you sense the earnestness behind every word. Besides, how are you going to turn down his request when he's staring through you with puffy, red eyes? He's not even calling for Sebastian either, like he usually does for all of his problems—small or large.

“…Young Master, I'm still wearing shoes, won't they–”

“Just get in!” he sighs, exasperated. At this point, you have more than enough confirmation that he's fine with this. So, you lift up the sheets long enough to scoot in next to him, sitting stiffly as your shoulder brushes against your master's.

Silence hangs in the air, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere until Ciel speaks up, in a small voice. “When you mentioned having experience with this earlier, what did you mean by that?”

You turn toward him, surprised. “You heard that? I mean– you remember when I said that?” The fact that Master Ciel not only paid attention to, but is interested in something that you said is definitely a foreign situation. Nevertheless, you begin explaining, “Well, you see… I have quite some experience with night terrors–”

As you speak, Ciel slowly leans on your shoulder, not once interrupting your story. “At one point, I would have them every single night… I felt like I was going mad. One moment, I was huddled under my blanket, and the next, all of my past demons came to haunt me. I thought it might never end.” you yawn, leaning your head over until it rests on top of the young master's head. “But, you know something? My nightmares have lessened after working here…” another long, hard yawn, making it impossible for you to keep your eyes open any longer. “…I feel like… I can let my past go…and…finally have… a purpose…”

Silence once again fills the room — a much more gentle silence this time, as Ciel drifts off, and you drift off with him, comfortable in each other's presence.

[leighsartworks216]

Flight of the Crows

dragon/fiend!Sylus x gn!dragon/fiend!Reader

Might fuck around and make this a short little series cuz like 👀 This definitely taps into my early fanfic days of "What if they're a monster like him but DIFFERENT??!!" and it slaps idc Written with my Raven character in mind, but can be read separately from that

No spoilers for his myth please!!! I'm only gonna be basing this off what little I know but that is really not a lot so please just hush lol

Title from "Flight of the Crows" by Jhariah

Warnings: slow burn, dragon/fiend Sylus, dragon/fiend Reader, implied/referenced torture, blood, injury, near death experiences

Word Count: 647 (this is mostly a teaser/proof of concept tbh)

Main Masterlist

First Love and Deepspace Masterlist

Second Love and Deepspace Masterlist

The Raven Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form (fill this out to be tagged in future fics)

Your lungs heave painfully as you clutch at loose gravel in the fight to catch your breath. Half of the battle comes from the burning pain that rockets through your veins, begs you to collapse, to lay down and die. The other half comes from crawling on hands and knees up the rocky side of the mountain.

Your fingers are bleeding. All of you is bleeding. Where the blood stops and your skin begins is a mystery.

Grime sticks to your bloody hand as you turn it over. Your nails have been filed to nothing; down to the quick and beyond. The plate scales that once trailed up your arm were removed by any means necessary. Knives, brute force - whatever it took. Tossed into the crowd of onlookers like souvenirs to your suffering.

The plating on your face hurt the most. Exposed muscle as it was imprecisely removed. It would most likely get infected from the dust and rock. You'd much rather die up here than in front of those monsters.

"Well, well, well."

You jolt back to rest on your knees, glaring up at the imposing figure before you even as your vision swims with the motion. His armor and red eyes give him away: he's a fiend.

Just like you.

"This is my territory," he bites. If cruelty had a voice, he is not the owner, but he mimics it well enough. He smirks dangerously. "I don't like to share."

Your legs shake with effort as you shove yourself to your feet. Fire ignites along every nerve in your body. Your back is a raging inferno. Spots prick at the edges of your sight.

He tsks. "You're brave, aren't you? Standing up to me in that state."

Blood drips to the ground. It is already stained where you were hunched over before, but now it puddles on top of the saturated dirt, beading up like delicate gems. You can't tell where it's coming from any more.

Your fingers are cold. Your toes are cold. It's blazing hot up here, in the fiend's territory, but you're so cold.

The world tilts on its axis. You don't catch yourself. Your exposed jaw skids into the little pebbles and rocks. They stick into the sinewy muscle, jabbing through, down to the bone. You paw weakly at the ground. You have to get up.

"They've really done a number on you." You can hear his boots as they scrape along the dirt, but it's distant, echoey. You have to close your eyes to hear it better, too distracted by your swirling vision to focus. Your palm scrapes the dirt again as you try to push yourself up. "And yet you still fight. Are you that desperate to live?"

A shadow covers your face. You blink your eyes open, but they don't focus. They can't focus.

The silhouette of the fiend kneels down beside you. His head tilts. Sun bolts into your eye. You hiss and turn into the remaining shadows.

"You want to live so badly, but you haven't even asked to make a deal," he hums. "I could save you, you know. But what would you give me in return?"

Gods, it hurts.

It hurts.

He grabs one of your horns, what little is left of it, and lifts your head harshly from the dirt. "Do you speak?" he growls, patience wearing thin.

You're dying.

You're dying, you're dying, you're dying and-

And you can't.

Gods, you can't die.

Not at their hands.

Not of their doing.

Dirt clings to your dry lips. "Help..." It's barely a whimper. Barely coherent. You see the shadow of his head lean forward to listen even closer. "I'll..... I'm......"

He lowers your head back to the ground, softer this time. "We'll discuss payment when you wake up."

What feels like streams of cool sand glide up your body as unconsciousness claims you.

---

Tag List:

@the-golden-jhope @huen1ngk41 @armycaratlover @sylusfluffymeow @cheesemachine44 @nyx2021 @angel-jupiter @thelittlebutton @pikachuzhc @pomegranatepip @cordidy

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

TW fandom loves to speculate and theorize about mer and beastmen anatomy like how much they borrow from their animal ancestors. How about Miss Raven? What raven traits does she still have?

[Might be referencing this post?]

wiulwoyefapa THIS IS A TOPIC I THINK ABOUT A LOT, ACTUALLY. I think it's really fun to theorize what animalistic traits our non-human characters might have :DD

Here's just some of the raven stuff that stuck around with our Miss Raven:

(Please note: I do talk about bird and human anatomy in this post! Nothing explicit, but figured I'd warn in case this is an uncomfortable area.)

I think Miss Raven's general personality matches that of a raven; they're intelligent yet playful. She's less communicative and sociable than a raven, but I think she makes up for that in her writing.

Birds cannot taste capsaicin, which is the irritant that often registers as "spiciness" to humans. (It's an evolutionary adaptation that helps birds spread the seeds of chili peppers they eat.) Miss Raven has a high spice tolerance because of this, unlike her uncle (who is sensitive to spice).

Likes shiny things; her eye is easily caught by them regardless of value, size, color, etc. (That's her bird brain talking www) She can't wear much jewelry because she might get distracted by it. Instead she keeps jewelry in a little box and stares at it for fun, amusing herself with the sparkle.

This has been mentioned a few times, but Raven sleeps in a manner that's strange for a human. Instead of lying down, she'll form a "nest" of blankets and pillows and sleeps curled up in it.

Miss Raven is a little clumsy on her feet because the weight in her human body is distributed slightly differently than in her bird body.

She equates clothes to a bird's feathers, and being naked like having all your feathers plucked. (Man, have you SEEN a bird without its feathers? Most pathetic looking dry ass babies ever, I tell you.) Miss Raven tends to cover up her skin because, in her mind, she doesn't want to be seen as a crusty ol' naked bird.

Tends to wear skirts instead of pants because pants feel restrictive to her. She's used to having her legs out and feeling the breeze down there.

Miss Raven mostly wears black because she feels like she's kind of obligated to, as that is the original color of her feathers. More recently though, she has come to terms with the freedom her human form grants her and has been more experimental with her fashion.

Likes cuddling and when people play with her hair. This is because actual ravens cuddle with their entire bodies and preen their partners.

Ravens can eat almost anything, even garbage and carrion. Miss Raven has a strong stomach and an adventurous palate because of this.

She's smaller than the average raven, but she has the same protective instincts of one. If she's upset or trying to come off as intimidating, she'll puff up (her feathers stand up) and get verbally snippy (an actual raven would try to nip you).

Doesn't like people touching her things or being in her space. This is because ravens can be territorial!

Bird mouths are actually dry because their salivary glands are in the back of their mouths. This wouldn't work for a human and the kinds of food they eat, so when Raven first gained a humanoid form, it was weird for her to have a wet mouth and teeth 😂 Words felt so strange to speak too.

Initially nervous around predator animal beastmen and actual predator animals, particularly cats. This includes Lucius, Grim, Chenya, the Octatrio, the Savanaclaw trio, Fellow, Gidel, etc. It's Miss Raven's natural instincts letting her know she has to prioritize her own safety! She usually gets over it once she gets to know the other person a little better.

Distrustful of scarecrows since they're the things put out in fields to keep crows and ravens from eating their crops. Also has weird distrust of farmers because of this.

In terms of mating, ravens are monogamous and devoted to their partners, never straying too far from each other. They often go for romantic flights together and even give each other special treats. Miss Raven has that idea of an idealized romance in her head.

When content, ravens make a soft warbling noise (similar to how a cat might purr). Miss Raven does too, but she does her best to actively repress this sound, since she feels it is embarrassing.

Mid-February to late May is an odd time of year for her, as that's mating season for ravens. That's when she's at her most sentimental/emotionally squishy... She doesn't like being in public because it's so easy to make her cry (and those terrible NRC students would definitely do that) 😔

In early summer/late fall, ravens tend to molt and replace their feathers. Now that she has a humanoid form, Raven doesn't have to worry too much about that but sometimes still scratches excessively at phantom itches that come with molting.

Really impressed by skilled flying! This is because male ravens fly to impress females and to find mates. Raven always stares in wonder during Flight class. (Unfortunately, she's not that good at flying in her new form...)

While Raven's bite isn't as strong as Sebek's, she does bite. Birds typically have three kinds of biting: biting to open nuts and berries, biting to defend themselves (which can draw blood), and love bites (which mostly occur in domesticated birds). asbiliafeafia I like to think she gives little affectionate noms...

Insecure about the size of her "breast muscle" (not realizing that humans mostly have fat there). This is because the size of a bird's breast muscle is directly related to their flying ability... and flying's pretty important for her kind. Genuinely believes that the most skilled fliers at NRC must have a certain kind of physique to be as skilled as they are. (Envious of those buff boys/j)

Being a raven, she experiences culture shock when put against the habits and behaviors of others with animal ancestry. For example, aggressive behaviors that are affectionate to a dog or a cat are seen as intimidating threats to her.

Has cute domestic fantasies! That’s because a lot of birds will build nests together and share the responsibilities of parenting. She thinks it would be nice to build a life together with someone like that.

It's not weird for her to eat eggs! Wild ravens do it :>

THERE'S A REALLY SPECIFIC BIRD BRAND OF FLIRTING THAT SOUNDS WEIRD TO HUMANS. Birds in nature are protective of their eggs and typically only entrust their partner to look after them while they do something else, like hunt for food. Because of this, Raven is really flustered by someone asking for eggs in any context. For example, maybe they're eating eggs in the cafeteria and a peer asks her to "pass the eggs".

[perfectsunlight]

14 ⸺ JISOO

warnings: emotional cheating, closeted affection, jealousy, rejection

word count: 2.4k

part of the series: LOGICAL

kim jisoo knew who she was at an early age. the kims practically gave her everything on a silver platter, allowing her to have whatever she desired, whenever she wanted. being an only child, she grew up in a world where elegance and grace were as natural as breathing. her parents, prominent figures in business and law, ensured she had the best education, the finest clothes, and exposure to high society from the moment she could walk.

from the time they first met in 5th grade, chaeyoung was mesmerized by jisoo. 

even as children, jisoo exuded a rare kind of perfection—graceful, polite, and effortlessly charming. chaeyoung, too, came from wealth, her family owning a chain of prestigious hotels known for their opulence and impeccable service. yet, despite their similar backgrounds, chaeyoung felt as if jisoo was a princess from another planet.

“i like your headband,” chaeyoung timidly complimented as she looked at jisoo who was standing beside her. it was after school and the two girls were waiting for their drivers to pick them up. the raven haired girl slowly turned with a smile.

jisoo’s smile was warm, but her reply was as brief as ever. “thanks,” she said softly, her eyes flickering with a hint of curiosity as she took in chaeyoung’s earnest expression.

embarrassed by her own audacity, the young girl cast her gaze downward, fiddling with the straps of her backpack. chaeyoung had summoned all her courage to speak to jisoo, but now that she had, she didn’t know what more to say. still, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the delicate features of the girl beside her—the way the sunlight caught in jisoo’s dark hair, the slight breeze that played with the edges of her school uniform.

out of the corner of her eye, chaeyoung saw jisoo reach up and touch her headband self-consciously. it was a simple accessory, yet it looked effortlessly stylish on jisoo, complementing her perfectly.

“here,” jisoo said suddenly, surprising the other girl. she gently slid the headband off her own head and offered it to chaeyoung. “you can have it. it suits you.”

chaeyoung’s heart fluttered with a mixture of gratitude and nervousness. she hesitated for a moment, then carefully accepted the headband from jisoo’s outstretched hand. “thank you,” she murmured, her cheeks flushing pink with pleasure.

jisoo nodded in response, her smile widening just a fraction before she glanced down the street where her chauffeur-driven car was pulling up. “i have to go,” she said softly, her voice carrying a hint of regret. with a small wave, she turned and walked towards the waiting car.

chaeyoung watched jisoo’s retreating figure, clutching the headband in her hand as if it were a precious gift. 

in high school, chaeyoung and jisoo continued to move in similar circles, their paths intersecting in classrooms, at school events, and occasionally in the corridors between classes. despite being in different social circles—jisoo effortlessly popular and chaeyoung finding her niche among athletes—they still often spoke with each other.

park chaeyoung had grown into her own during high school. she was no longer the shy girl who could barely muster a compliment; she had become a confident and accomplished volleyball player, known for her tenacity on the court and her warmth off of it. her classmates admired her athletic prowess and her easy going nature, but the blonde remained focused on her studies and sports, always trying to excel in both realms.

jisoo, on the other hand, continued to excel in academics and extracurricular activities with an effortless grace that seemed to defy the usual high school dramas. she was involved in student government, led various school initiatives, and was often seen at social events surrounded by friends and admirers. 

despite her outward success, jisoo remained somewhat reserved, her interactions with others polite but distant.

it was during their sophomore year that chaeyoung began to realize her feelings for jisoo were deeper than mere admiration. she found herself lingering in hallways just to catch a glimpse of jisoo passing by, or scrolling through her parent’s socials to see glimpses of her in their posts.

her heart raced whenever jisoo smiled at her or spoke to her in passing, and chaeyoung would replay those brief moments in her mind, searching for hidden meanings in jisoo’s words and gestures.

it was also around this time that chaeyoung started to notice her attraction towards girls in general. 

she had always felt a sense of closeness with her female friends, but now there was a newfound awareness—a fluttering in her stomach when she saw certain girls, a quickening of her pulse when they brushed against each other during practice or shared a laugh over lunch.

but there was also something else that she soon quickly discovered about her feelings.

chaeyoung had found out jisoo was attending one of her volleyball games. it was the most anticipated game of the season so far, and the blonde was eager to not only win, but to impress jisoo with her skills on the court. as the game progressed, the athlete couldn't help but steal glances at her crush in the stands. she spotted her amidst the crowd, looking as effortlessly elegant as ever, her eyes focused intently on the game.

with each spike and serve, chaeyoung poured her heart into the game, fueled by a desire to impress jisoo. she felt a surge of adrenaline every time she scored a point, her determination driving her team towards victory.

after a particularly intense rally that ended in a spectacular kill from chaeyoung, she glanced up at the stands, catching jisoo’s eye. to her surprise and delight, jisoo smiled—a genuine, heartfelt smile that reached her eyes and made chaeyoung’s heart skip a beat.

the game ended in a resounding victory for their own team, and the blonde was engulfed in hugs and congratulations from her teammates. as she made her way through the crowd, she saw kim jisoo standing near the exit. her heart raced with a mix of excitement and nervousness as she approached.

but her footsteps slowly came to a halt when she saw the group of people surrounding the girl she liked. 

the crowd of fans and players started to gather more, congratulating the athlete and vying for jisoo's attention. amid the chaos, a guy from the opposing team’s school walked up to jisoo, striking up a conversation. chaeyoung's heart sank as she saw the boy laugh at something jisoo said, placing a hand on her arm in a gesture that felt far too close for the blonde’s liking.

a pang of jealousy hit the volleyball player hard. she clenched her fists, trying to suppress the emotions swirling inside her. without another word, she clenched her sports bag and turned and walked past jisoo, her steps quickening as she sought to escape the scene that was causing her so much pain.

jisoo noticed chaeyoung's sudden departure and quickly excused herself from the conversation. she followed the blonde, weaving through the bustling crowd until she found her sitting alone in a quiet hallway near the fire escape, her head resting against the cool wall, eyes closed.

“chaeyoung?”

the mentioned girl opened her eyes, her expression a mix of surprise and sadness. “oh,” she replied softly, not meeting jisoo's gaze. “hi.”

“you look upset,” jisoo said, concern evident in her tone. “everything okay?”

“i just needed some air," the blonde muttered, her voice barely above a whisper as she leaned her chin against her knees. 

without another word, the school’s sweetheart took a seat next to her. chaeyoung felt her stomach doing flips at the smell of jisoo’s signature perfume filling her senses. the silence between them was heavy, filled with unspoken emotions and lingering tension. chaeyoung's mind raced, unsure of how to express the storm of feelings inside her. she wanted to tell jisoo everything, to spill her heart out, but the words seemed stuck in her throat.

“i only came to see you play,” jisoo said softly, her words simple but filled with sincerity. it tore the athlete away and out of her own thoughts, causing her breath to hitch and her heartbeat to quicken.

“wait, really?”

the kim heiress nodded, a small, reassuring smile playing on her lips. she could see the confusion written all over the other girl's face. “of course. i wanted to see you play.”

the blonde felt herself biting her lower lip, the overwhelming emotion too much to contain. she wanted to say something, to tell jisoo how much those words meant to her, but before she could, jisoo leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her cheek.

the kiss was soft and fleeting, but it sent a jolt of warmth through chaeyoung's entire being. as jisoo pulled back, she gave chaeyoung's hand one last gentle squeeze before standing up.

“good job today.” jisoo said quietly, her smile lingering before she turned and walked away, leaving chaeyoung alone in the hallway. 

they never dated at all, jisoo couldn’t afford tainting her image at all. she became increasingly absorbed in her responsibilities and expectations. the pressures of her family legacy left little room for personal matters, and any potential relationship between her and chaeyoung remained unspoken and unexplored.

however, the two remained extremely close. chaeyoung would often sleepover at jisoo’s house, where the two would occasionally kiss and hold hands secretly while her parents were away. sometimes, they’d even go out together on dates.

well, jisoo never called them dates, but the chaeyoung always felt like they were. it was nice, it was intimate, and it was everything the blonde could ever want. but all of that changed once jisoo got into ygu’s renowned criminal justice program. 

determined to keep jisoo close, she made a decision that would shape her future. 

she tried out for ygu's volleyball team, pouring all her energy and skill into making the cut. the thought of attending the same university as jisoo, of keeping those precious memories alive, fueled her every move on the court.

when she received her acceptance letter and learned she had made the team, the blonde felt a mixture of excitement and anxiety. she was thrilled to be at ygu, to be near jisoo, but she also knew that jisoo's life had become increasingly focused on her future place in the kim family business.

despite the changes, chaeyoung clung to the hope that their bond would remain strong. she often sought out jisoo on campus, relishing their conversations and the brief moments of closeness they shared. 

however, it was clear that jisoo's feelings had shifted, her attention consumed by her demanding studies and ambitious career plans.

chaeyoung sat at a table, her books spread out before her, but her attention was focused on jisoo, who sat across from her, engrossed in her studies. despite her own assignments, she found herself captivated by the sight of jisoo's determined expression, her brow furrowed in concentration as she diligently worked through her notes.

the volleyball player couldn't help but admire jisoo's dedication and intelligence. she had always been drawn to jisoo's strength and ambition for years now, but now, at university, those qualities seemed even more pronounced. the blonde watched jisoo for what felt like hours, the world around her fading into the background.

“chaeyoung?” jisoo's voice broke through her reverie. the mentioned girl blinked, snapping out of her trance. 

“hmm?”

dark irises looked up from her notes, a small smile playing on jisoo’s lips. “you've been staring at me for the past fifteen minutes. everything okay?”

chaeyoung felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. she hated how obvious she was sometimes. 

“sorry, i was just thinking.”

jisoo chuckled softly as she thumbed through a few pages of her notes, still stealing a few glances at the girl in front of her. 

“about?”

taking a deep breath, chaeyoung decided it was now or never. she leaned forward slightly, her voice barely above a whisper. “jisoo, i still have feelings for you.”

jisoo's smile faltered, her expression turning serious. she quickly glanced around the library, ensuring they weren't being overheard, before focusing back on chaeyoung. “chaeyoung, we've talked about this–”

“i know, i know.” the athlete quickly responded, putting her hands up in defense, “but i can’t help how i feel. jisoo, i still like you. you’re always on my mind.”

the heiress sighed, her eyes softening with sympathy. “look, i care about you a lot. you’re my best friends, and i don’t want to lose that. but my priorities have changed. my family expects so much from me, and i need to focus on my studies and my future career.”

the athlete nodded, her heart heavy with the weight of her own emotions. all she could do was sit there and think to herself: i’d wait forever for you, kim jisoo. even if it means just being your friend now, i’d wait until you’re ready.

chaeyoung kept her word, but she was growing quite discouraged with the lack of affection from jisoo. she wanted jisoo to be obsessed with her, just like how she was with her. everything in the athlete’s mind was full of jisoo, even in the simplest things.

but then there was lisa.

lalisa, with her infectious energy and unwavering attention, became a bright spot in chaeyoung's life. despite having a girlfriend, lisa made no secret of her affection for chaeyoung, often texting her late at night, sharing inside jokes, and spending every available moment with her. lisa didn’t see it as cheating—she saw it as a deep friendship.

chaeyoung, on the other hand, reveled in the attention. she loved how lisa was obsessed with her, how she made her feel special and important. it was something she desperately craved from jisoo but rarely received.

“do you ever think about what we’re doing?” chaeyoung asked suddenly, her voice tinged with uncertainty. “i mean, you’ve got a girlfriend and all.”

lisa shrugged, her smile never wavering. she nudged the blonde gently, “we’re just close friends, right? i don’t see anything wrong with that,” the thai girl took a sip of her water before continuing to speak.

“besides, you make me happy, chaeyoung.”

chaeyoung's heart fluttered at lisa’s words. she loved the attention, the way lisa’s eyes lit up when she saw her, the way she made her feel special. but deep down, her heart still ached for jisoo, the girl who held her heart captive for so long.

“yeah, i guess you’re right,” chaeyoung replied, trying to push aside the lingering guilt. she didn’t care if it was selfish, she was going to do what made her happy. and right now, she could have her happiness, even if it came at the expense of someone else's.

TAGLIST ⸺ ✭ @silantryoo @rosiehrs @niniwhiskers @cwpiqwon @jisooftme @1luvkarina @scarfac3 @santasbitch @lisas-earlobe @wallfl9wer @aerihiltonn @unforgivenangel @uzumakioden @skydreamed @haerinfangs @la-douleur-ne-finit-jamais @haerinkisser @giginings @lilsvx @milanlaia @pandafuriosa60 @wifey-badalee @slowlyturninggay291 @dreamingst99 @7daysronnie

CLOSED.

[blitzyn]

don't worry

gray raven x gn!reader

request: can i request a found family comfort for the grey raven trio where reader/their newly assigned commandant is practically a kid—basically regarded as a 'prodigy' (not really reader was just raised specifically to be a commandant). at first reader seems almost disturbingly professional & rational to a fault, but then one day before a mission they found reader crying because reader was afraid & they were like. "nah man we're giving you a happy childhood" and discovers reader has horrible self-esteem issues. constantly blame themselves for stuff going wrong sometimes even if it clearly wasn't their fault. BASICALLY GREY RAVEN TRIO AS READER'S OLDER SIBLING FIGURES, TAKES CARE OF THEM, HELP THEM THROUGH THEIR ISSUES & TRY TO MAKE HAPPY MEMORIES W THE READER. ty & sorry for the long req oml 😭 — ⚖️

a/n -> YES ABSOLUTELY. Oh my god I’ve been aching and itching and desperate to write something for pgr after hyperreal came out on global I LOVE YOU. Slight spoilers about about the battle in kowloong but my memory of its kinda fuzzy sorry. also this is pre empyrea and hyperreal. NEWAYS darker fics coming up soon dw whoever sees this

wc -> 2.3k

cw -> a bit of self doubt from reader but nothing too heavy

Nearly everyone in Babylonia knew that you were, unarguably, one of the best commandants of their time. You were rational, effective, strong, and intelligent—everything needed in a leader. At a very early age, you could even be considered on par with the Egret commandant, Vanessa.

It was like a breath of fresh air for Lee, Liv, and Lucia, too. Their previous commandant had been one incompetent mess, to put it kindly. They were hardly able to submit their paperwork on time and often made one too many mistakes down on the surface, which inevitably led to their discharge.

You, however, were better in so many ways. You could keep up with the stacks of paper (which, honestly, the three thought was a bit much for a human), maintain a rational mind under pressure, and even utilize the potential they had during battle. Their growth had been evident to them and to many others, which is why when Liv hears you sobbing in your office, she isn’t sure what to do.

She’s well versed in the many different ways to console a crying child given her previous profession as a nurse, but she wasn’t sure how to apply her abilities to you. She readjusts her audio module after having increased it when she heard the faintest sound of a cry, quietly making her way towards the door that led to your office. She stopped in front it, a frown making its way on her face. She wasn’t sure how to handle this, but she knew she had to try.

“Commandant?” She softly knocked on the firm wooden door, listening intently to the sudden gasp that came from your lips and the urgent rustling of paper. “Are you okay?”

There was a pause, likely to recollect yourself and steel your voice. “Yes, Liv.” But she could hear it all—the shakiness, the faint sniffle, your raw voice. Although, there was one that deeply concerned her. She could hear the fear in your tone. Fear of what? She had only ever known you to be strong and brave; though, everyone had their breaking point.

She pursed her lips, tracing mindless patterns on the door before gathering the courage to speak again. “May I come inside? I would appreciate it if… if you could tell me why you’re so upset.”

“I’m not upset,” you countered quickly, even when you knew it wasn’t convincing for either of you.

“Please, commandant…” she pleaded, furrowing her eyebrows worriedly. She wasn’t about to leave you here when she knows she can do something about your tears. “I know you may not be comfortable sharing how you feel, but I would like you to trust me when I say that bottling up your emotions will only serve to hurt you. I know this, now. You taught me the importance of trusting one another, so, please, commandant. Can you trust me?”

There was a moment of silence before you shuffled over to open the door. Your eyes were rimmed red and you kept sniffling every so often, but Liv didn’t watch you with pity nor disdain. Her expression was free of judgement, and you seemed to recognize it when you relaxed the slightest bit.

“If you’re comfortable, could you tell me what’s bothering you?” She questioned softly, watching out for any signs of discomfort.

You pursed your lips, absentmindedly tapping a tune on the doorframe. It wasn’t that you wanted to shut your teammates out, you just couldn’t help but believe that you weren’t allowed to talk about your emotions ever since you began training to become a commandant when you were young. That was one of the main things your parents drilled into you: leading an elite squad had no time for how you felt.

So, you could only offer Liv a noncommittal shrug, slightly surprising her. She’s always known you to be decisive and often strayed away from gestures like that.

“It’s… what if… I’m just worried about tomorrow,” you finally admitted, averting your gaze. You fidgeted a little under your construct’s gaze, even if it was comforting. “What if something goes wrong, and I can’t do anything to fix it? Like… like last time, when Lucia had to switch to her Plume frame after Kowloong.”

A look of understanding crossed Liv’s face. You were afraid of not being enough. Of thinking that you could’ve done something better. She knew she was like that, and so was everyone else, most likely.

“I understand,” she said, noticing the way you perked up at her words. “I also have had countless experiences thinking that I could’ve done more, or that I should’ve done something different. But I would like you to acknowledge that what Lucia did in Kowloong was not your fault. She did what she had to as a soldier and our captain.”

You shook your head, looking down at your gloved hand. Underneath the fabric rests a scar that cuts horizontally along your palm. “But you’re a construct, Liv. It’s easy to say that since you’re so much stronger than I am. What if I’m just weak? What if you and the others are just slowing down to match my pace?”

Liv furrowed her brows, opening her mouth to retort when another voice beat her to it.

“We were humans, too, you know,” the voice said, and instantly you recognized it to be Lee’s. The two of you watched as he and Lucia made their way in the lounge.

“Yes, commandant,” Lucia nodded in agreement, quickly finding her place beside Liv.

You cringed a little, suddenly finding all the attention embarrassing. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to figure out what was going on,” Lee replied nonchalantly, but with the way he always bore a flat expression, it was hard to tell if he was secretly scrutinizing you or not. “There’s nothing to worry about tomorrow. It’s just standard procedure.”

You frowned at his words, beginning to wonder if you were just overthinking it all again. Lucia seemed to notice as she watched you closely. Nothing seemed to go past her eyes. “Is there something else that’s bothering you, commandant?”

“I’m just worried, I guess,” you tried to shrug it off, fighting off the growing urge to fidget. There was a beat of silence before Lucia spoke up with an eager smile on her face.

"Then, why don't we go out for a while?" She suggested, taking a peek over your shoulder towards the pile of paperwork still stationed on your desk. "It's been a while since all four of us got to hang out together."

"Yes, that's a great idea," Liv visibly brightened, glancing at her friend before returning her gaze back to you. "What do you say, commandant?"

This was the first time in a while you were unable to produce a decision on the spot. But as your eyes flitted onto the expectant expressions of your companions (minus Lee, of course), you could feel yourself gradually being swayed by Lucia's words.

"Uh... Sure. We can go out for a while," you finally relented, earning bright smiles from the two girls before they led you out of the Gray Raven lounge and through the winding corridors that led outside the building. You noticed a few lingering gazes upon you when you walked past, pursing your lips when you saw theirs move in unintelligible whispers.

"They're jealous of how you're younger than them but capable of achieving more," Lee suddenly said from beside you, not bothering to bat an eye when you looked at him. You opened your mouth to reply when he ultimately beat you to it. "No, I'm not saying it just because."

You nodded slowly, unable to fight the faint smile creeping on your face. It made you feel a foreign yet welcoming warmth knowing that he wasn't normally the type to do such a thing like raise his audio modules just to eavesdrop, and yet he did it anyway. He quickly noticed your smile as a blush colored his pale cheeks pink, so you mercifully looked away before he could start complaining about his heat dispersal system "malfunctioning" again.

You winced when you finally made your way out of the building, the artificial lights mimicking daytime on Earth briefly blinding you. You don't remember the last time you went outside just for a leisurely stroll, honestly. Sure, you've been out to visit the gun range or when you needed to depart for a mission, but never really taken in the sights since you were young.

"Where should we go first?" Liv questioned, humming a gentle tune as she looked around for something to do. Everything in Babylonia was limited due to its launch as an incomplete colony ship during the Golden Age, so there weren't any things like public aquariums or gardens. Many plants were used for study in laboratories and preservation just in case they could be replanted on Earth again.

"Why don't we get ice cream? I remember seeing a stand not too long ago," Lucia suggested, glancing at her teammates for approval. You felt a little strange going to an ice cream stand as a grown person who trained all their life to be a soldier, but you couldn't resist upon seeing the expectant gazes of your fellow comrades.

"Uh, sure. That sounds nice," you agreed, albeit a little awkwardly.

"Oh, but commandant," Liv began worriedly as she quickly looked you up and down. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—you appeared just as put together as always. But now that she knows more of you, she can't help but fuss over your well-being. "I don't remember the last time you ate or what it was. Maybe you should eat something first?"

You gave a nonchalant wave of your hand in dismissal, wordlessly urging her to not worry so much. Not that it'd ever work. "It's okay, Liv. I ate today. There's nothing to be concerned about."

She studied you for a moment longer before letting it go with a defeated sigh. But she wasn't genuinely upset now that she was able to see you in a way that didn't involve violence or dire situations. Continuing on, you could see the stand growing closer, noticing a few other people surrounding it. They were mostly children, with only a few parents watching over them.

Suddenly, one of them seemed to recognize who you were and came running in your direction with a wide grin. She was a little girl who couldn't have been older than ten, with messy, brown hair pulled into two droopy pigtails. "You're that person! The hero!" She cheered, nearly barreling straight into your legs. You steadied her with a firm hand, surprised when she abruptly raised her arm to request an autograph.

"Please?! You're so cool going wham! and bang! against all those bad guys on the surface! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!" She spoke so fast it was nearly impossible to keep up, but you made an effort to nod along with her words. "Super awesome and brave!"

"You haven't even..." You trailed off, wondering what she was told to believe that was solely what you did. Sure, there were a lot of Corrupted lingering around that you and your team disposed of, but there were others who did the exact same thing you did. But seeing this girl's excited grin and awestruck eyes stopped you from finishing your sentence. "Thanks, kid. It means a lot knowing that someone like you looks up to me."

You looked around for something to write with when Liv offered you a pen. You took it with a grateful nod before grabbing a spare paper from your pocket, not wanting to anger her parents by writing on her skin. She squealed and waved the paper around like a flag, staring at it like it was the greatest thing in the world. She repeated several thank you's before running off to her parents, leaving you back to your own devices.

You chuckled lightly, watching her before looking back at Liv. Your eyes widened in surprise when you turned a few times as you realized that Lucia and Lee weren't near you.

"Here, commandant!" Lucia said not a moment later, suddenly appearing behind you. She had an ice cream cone in her hand, holding it out to you. Upon closer inspection, you noticed that it was your favorite flavor. You carefully took it, giving curious glances towards the three.

"Oh, Lee picked out the flavor," Lucia informed, oblivious to the way the man tensed when his name was mentioned. "He noticed you had an interest in flavors similar to it.''

Lee's eyebrows furrowed as his lips dipped downwards into a frown, but there was no mistaking the embarrassed blush coating his cheeks once again. "There's nothing wrong with knowing my commandant's habits for optimal results and future developments."

Liv giggled quietly beneath her hand but decided not to comment on it.

"I hope you like it, commandant," Lucia continued on, eager to know your opinion on the treat.

"He'd be right," you said as you offered her a brief, grateful smile before beginning to eat your ice cream. "And, by the way, you can... you can call me by my name. If you want."

Lucia brightened, walking by your side as you all walked around aimlessly. "[Name]. [Name]! [Name]... [Name]," she repeated in various different tones, trying out how it'd feel to have your name on her tongue.

This time, it was your turn to turn away in embarrassment, futilely trying to hide behind your ice cream. "Don't wear it down all in one day."

"It's a very nice name," Liv laughed lightly at her friend's antics, taking part in teasing you just this once. Although, as she watched you, she couldn’t help but sadden just the slightest bit. Your features hadn’t yet fully matured, resembling that of a teenager just recently entering adulthood. She disliked how someone so young had to be forced into a world such as this, but all she could do was fight and hope that none others would be subject to the same fate in the future.

You just shook your head in exasperation, leisurely strolling forward. Being around your teammates—rather, your friends—like this sent a warmth through your body that only served to rekindle your determination to succeed on days like tomorrow just to have more times like these. It was a comforting feeling. But you could only hope that fate would be kind.

[twstfanblog]

*~Toddler Chronicles- Troublesome Threes~*

A/N: I've been wanting to write this series for MONTHS. but if Im gonna do this, I'm gonna do it in ORDER no matter how much I wanna do certain ones more than others. I hope you guys enjoy the starter for this series! It's gonna be LONG. Word Count: 5K Pairings: Alluded to Vil/Rook Warnings: Children, Me trying to type out a country accent lord help me...

Starter, Pt 1

“I don't think this is a good idea…”

A cloaked group of Night Raven students stood around a cauldron, the only light in the room coming from the bubbling liquid and the moonlight shining through the windows. They all wore masks to hide their identities from the nosey paintings lining the walls.

One of the figures scoffed, their accented voice coming out mockingly as they continued to stir the potion and whispered, “Oh, don't get cold feet now. This whole thing was your idea anyway…”

“I said we should think something up to knock those guys down a peg! Not brew a-”

“Shhhhhh.” Another figure quickly silenced him, turning to look at one of the eavesdropping portraits before addressing the group with a gruff whisper, “We agreed on not saying anything too damning while doing this! Those portraits would sell us out the second anyone asked them if they saw anything…Let’s just finish the damn potion so we can get on with this plan…”

The accented figure nods, reaching over and grabbing a jar to pour the contents into the cauldron.

Another figure reads the jar, tilting their head, “Wait… ‘Powdered Moon Petals’? Didn't the recipe call for ‘Powdered Moon Crystals’? Why are we deviating?”

“Are you insane?” The figure pauses in his stirring to flick at the other in annoyance, “Crewel keeps stuff like that under such heavy lock and key he'd have us expelled for even looking at the cabinet out of class hours. Moon petals are weaker but still have the same effect as moon crystals…” The figure looks at the potion, then adds another generous pour from the jar, “We just need to mix in a bit more than written…”

As the figure stops pouring, the potion gives a flash of light, slipping into an eerily calm shade of blue before fully turning translucent. The group all looked into the cauldron before sharing a smile.

“Now we just need to find a way to slip it to them.”

The nervous figure hummed, bringing his hand to his mouth in thought, “I think…I know the perfect way to do it…”

The sound of a gavel hitting a desk echoed in the semi-empty classroom, Vil sitting at the grand desk in front, “I call this meeting of ‘Juniors Against Freshmen’ to order.”

Cater calls out from his seat, smiling playfully as he raises his hand, “Vil~. I still think we should call ourselves ‘Judicious Juniors’-”

“We aren’t calling ourselves that.”

“Oh, come on.” Cater pouts, “The firsties get their cute little group of Freshest Firsties. We should have a cool group name, too.”

Trey chuckled a bit, raising an eyebrow, “You know this is a support group and not a club right?”

Rook hummed, looking to the side at the small gathering of party platters and large juice dispenser on a lone row of desks, “Are you sure, mon Chevalier des Roses? Though, maybe you are correct and this is more of a party between scorned mentors…”

Idia scoffed, tapping at his phone and tilting it slightly to allow Lilia to watch his game, “I'm not sitting in here for another four hours complaining about our freshmen without any kind of rations. Being around you guys is already like running a dungeon without healing items…”

Lilia perks up, giggling as Idia fails to dodge an attack, “So stimulating and fun?”

Leona sighs, lazily picking at his plate of various slices of meat from the platters, “More like aggravating and torturous…”

Vil bangs the gavel again, rolling his eyes, “Back on subject, please. Idia, you requested to be the first to speak tonight; what was your grievance?”

Sighing, Idia passed his phone to Lilia to continue his dungeon run, “Who's representing Yuu this meeting?” Seeing Malleus and Rook raise their hands, he nearly sat back down, “Oh, of course…Ah! Nope, I'm doing it. I move to add another crime to Yuu's file.”

“Noted. Please state the crime.”

“I want to add on the crime of Yuu teaching my brother the phrasing of ‘Deez Nuts’. I recommend we place another life sentence.”

Malleus frowns, ignoring Lilia's snort beside him and raising his hand, “I object! We have no evidence that my beloved is the one to teach your brother such a phrase.”

Vil raised an eyebrow, leaning his jaw against the back of his hand, “Who else would teach Ortho?”

Gesturing to his side, Malleus deadpans, “Lilia for one.”

Lilia fumbled Idia’s phone as he stammered, managing to just barely flip the device into a still-standing Idia’s hands, “Slander! I regret to inform this court that I do not speak to the Shroud youngling one-on-one often. Our cuteness would simply be too much.” He turns to Malleus, nose wrinkled as he raises an eyebrow in question, “Do you even know what ‘Deez Nuts’ means Malleus?”

“...” Malleus nearly copies Lilia's expression, turning his nose up at the older fae and looking away from him, “I do not. But it sounds eerily similar to something you would say.”

Lilia pouts toward Vil, crossing his arms, “I did no such thing…” He hums, casting a side eye to Cater across the room and raising a hand to tap against his lips, “Ace on the other hand…”

Cater perks up from his texting, slamming a fist onto the desk and yelling over to Lilia, “Why do you always bring up Ace’s crimes when I'm defending him!? Why not when Trey’s his third-year parent!?”

Trey hummed, sitting calm and relaxed knowing he'd have a smooth meeting acting as Deuce’s defendant, “He would though…”

“Trey, Ace is our baby. We have to protect his name!”

“This is your weekend; sorry.”

Cater groaned, rolling his eyes before standing up and pointing to Leona on the other side of Trey, “What about Jack, huh!?”

Leona stopped picking at his fangs with a claw, sucking on his teeth before he raised an eyebrow in question to Cater, “What about Jack?”

Vil spoke up, resting his chin on his elegantly folded hands, “Yes. Do tell, Cater. What about Jack?”

“...” Cater quickly turned back to Lilia, pointing to him instead of trying to place the blame on Jack, “What about Sebek!?”

Lilia and Malleus both gasped, Lilia placing a hand over his mouth and Malleus's fanned over his chest while the older fae said, “Sebek would never.”

“W-well!” Cater sputtered, frustrated at the turn of events before rounding on Vil, “What about Epel!?”

Vil instantly opened his mouth, a finger held up to properly chastise Cater but he sat frozen. He closed his mouth, a pinched expression on his face as he put his finger down and looked to the side. After a moment, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “He…wouldn't…he…knows better…”

Rook cooed from his seat, raising an eyebrow, “Oh…mon roi. Did that hurt to say?”

“Moving on.”

Idia stammered, raising his hands, “I would like a verdict on my case, please!? Ortho is aggressively good at setting me up, I'm getting really sick of it!”

Vil rolled his eyes and gestured to Rook, “We will choose after a small break. Rook, please bring me something from the vegetable platter and a drink.”

“Oui!”

Though mildly by force, the group of juniors decided to take a break. While only a few of them grabbed food, they all grabbed a cup of juice. Nearly in sync, they all take a drink.

…

Leona looked into his cup, squinting his eyes in offense at the liquid, “Who was in charge of the punch?”

Malleus pouted, looking into his own cup in confusion, “I was…”

Rolling his eyes, Leona slid his cup away from him, “Oh, that fucking explains it.”

Trey was quick, grabbing Leona's cup before it spilled onto the classroom floor. Standing up he took both his and Leona's cups to the trash, “Don't start a fight. I'm sure Malleus tried very hard…”

The fae in question turned his sour expression toward Lilia. When Lilia said nothing, merely continuing to drink his juice with a smile, Malleus breathed out a small fireball at Lilia's face.

“Ack! My bangs!” Lilia finally pouted at Malleus, expression confused, “Why are you fussing? The juice tastes fine!”

Cater passes his own cup to Rook as the blonde also collects Vil's unfinished drink, “Lilia, it has the aftertaste of dishwater…”

“...” Lilia took another sip of the juice, smacking his lips as he fully concentrated on the flavor, “...Well, that's not dishwater, I can say that with utmost certainty.” he looked into his half-empty cup, “What is that…?”

Leona coughed slightly, still trying to dislodge the taste from his mouth, “The taste of Draconia fucking up…”

“I will have you know I collaborated with the Asim child on what would be a delightful mix for our meeting.”

“Oh, so we need to sentence Kalim to death alongside you then?”

Idia groaned, digging through his pockets for an emergency piece of hard candy, “Maybe it was…like a ‘phantom flavor’, or something?” He cheers under his breath, quickly unwrapping the candy and shoving it into his mouth.

Vil finishes wiping his tongue on a napkin, “Explain.”

“Oh Seven, um? Yuu told Ortho about it and he's been researching it for a while. It’s the idea that you can load something up with so many flavors you just…make a new flavor that you can't place…not sure how concrete it is, but that's my best guess…”

Malleus hums, glaring into his cup before letting Rook take it to the trash also, “Asim did bring a large variety of syrups and sprites…”

Cater hummed, “Yeah…I love Kalim but I'm not so sure about putting him in charge of drinks…Jamil handles the food for their parties for a reason…” 

Trey smiled, giving Malleus a thumbs up, “But other than the aftertaste, it was really enjoyable, Malleus.”

“I can see your attempts to pacify me, Clover. I shall accept your pity only this once.”

“Okay?”

Vil sighs, banging his gavel on the desk, “Moving on-”

“Um!?” Idia waved a hand around, his hair barely flickering red, “The verdict of my issue, please!?”

“Oh. Right. We sentence Ace to death-”

Cater sputters, looking around the room before tilting his head at Vil, “AGAIN!?”

The meeting continued as normal, though no one could get the phantom taste of the punch free from their mouths, the third years parted ways at the end of the night.

Epel groaned, stomping down the halls of Pomefiore in the early morning. Vil had yet to make an appearance in the dining hall to the rest of the dorm. The house warden made it a habit to always give a morning announcement on the weekend like clockwork, only for neither Vil nor Rook to show up at the normal time.

If he had the choice, Epel wouldn't have even bothered seeing where they were, opting instead to just get his weekend started and hang out with his friends. Sadly, the other third-years had been concerned enough to basically bully him into checking up on their dorm head and vice. ‘You're their favorite, after all…’

Clicking his tongue, Epel ran a hand through his hair in frustration, “Even if ah was their favorite, ah don’ wanna see whatever they're doin’ together...”

He couldn’t fight the unease that welled inside him as he came up to Vil's door, seeing it cracked open but still dark inside. Vil never left his door cracked to sleep…Epel quickly jogged to the room, swinging open the door only to growl in anger at the scene.

The room was dark because the curtains were still drawn and Vil's bed wasn't made, the covers thrown off and half dragged onto the floor as though Vil had crawled out of them. What was pissing him off the most though was the fact Vil's silk pajama pants were also laying on the floor.

He slammed the door closed, making a beeline for Rook's room thinking of nowhere else for them to be, “Ah swear ta the SEVEN. If those two are late because they rolled too hard in the hay-AY! 

Epel banged his fist against Rook's closed door, hearing nothing but silence he started to pound both fists against the door and yell. Hopefully, they had woken up and at least tried to put clothing on, “You two shits better be DRESSED or Ah’m gonna-...”

He had swung the door open, expecting to find a scene of a flustered Vil trying to put himself together and an all too proud Rook sitting in the bed. Instead, he looked at the image of two toddlers on Rook's bed. A bold gold blonde with a messy haircut and green eyes stood on the bedspread, a hand reaching out to the bow and arrow placed on a wall display. Behind him was a second blonde child, large purple eyes peeking past the second child in fear. The longer he looked the more familiar the children appeared.

Epel closed the door, staring into the open air of the hall as he tried to let his brain catch back up. That…that couldn't be…

Taking a deep breath, Epel calmed himself before opening the door again, “Um-AH!” He slams the door back closed, backing away just in time as an arrowhead pierces just slightly through the door.

The look was brief, but the children were clearly Rook and Vil. The fact Rook had quickly gathered a bow in the few seconds Epel had closed the door only cemented the fact. His juniors…were toddlers…why were they toddlers? What was he supposed to do with two potentially homicidal toddlers!?

He grabbed his phone from his pocket, gently knocking on the door and calling out softly, “Ah…Ah'm sorry if ah scared y'all. Ah'm gonna go get ya some grub and clothes that'll fit, okay?”

After a beat of silence, a tiny voice spoke, “I don't want to eat bugs…”

“...” Epel pinched the bridge of his nose. That…had to be Vil, “Grub is food. Ah'm gettin’ ya food…”

“...Oh. Okay. I want fruit and toast, please, thank you…Rook says he wants eggs and bell peppers.”

“Shakshuka!”

“Got it! You two youngings just hang tight, okay?” What the fuck was a Shakshuka?

He didn't have time to worry, dialing Ace’s number and running back to the Pomefiore dining hall to alert his still-grown juniors. He needed all the help he could get.

Epel spoke over the phone, “Ah need ya to get Trey and come to Pomefiore. ASAP.”

Biting into his poptart, Ace responded with a full mouth as he leisurely walked through the halls of Heartlabyul, “For why?”

“Can ya please just not be a fucking bastard fur 5 seconds-”

“Maybe, what's wrong? It's like 8am?”

“...” Epel sighed, the visual of him pinching the bridge of his nose clear in Ace’s mind, “...They're…They're toddlers-”

“I'm sorry. Who’s, what?”

Ace listened to Epel's rant over the phone, claiming both Vil and Rook had somehow turned into toddlers. They didn't seem to have any recollection of who anyone was or how they got into NRC, leaving the dorm in a weakened, panicked state. Through the chaos, missing both their dorm head and vice, various students stepped forward claiming they were the proper ones to take over until this curse was dealt with.

In the moments of strife, Epel had been given the title of babysitter. ‘Since he was the Favorite’.

“How the fuck do you…become a toddler?”

“Ah. Don't. KNOW. Just get Clover over hur to HELP. The third-years are fighting over who gets to wear Vil's crown while he's like this, and everyone else is freaking out like we're about to be under siege any second now. Ah just need an actual component Junior who isn't trying to usurp Vil while he's a defenseless fucking infant right now…”

Ace muttered under his breath but agreed, changing course to go up the stairs to the third-year’s room. Over the line he could hear Epel directing the other Pomefiore students what Vil and Rook had asked for breakfast and if anyone had clothing that could fit children or how to make them fit. Knocking against Trey’s door, Ace realized that he hadn't heard from the third-year yet today either. Normally, Trey would have been up already and making some basic breakfast pastry for the dorm to nibble on until that day's scheduled tea time.

“Trey? You in there man? Something happened in Pomefiore and Epel needs you there like, now…” his brows furrowed at not receiving an answer after another knock, turning the knob to open the door, “Trey? Yo, Trey-...”

In the full-sized canopy bed was Trey, only much smaller and seemingly struggling to place his now too-large glasses on his face. Tiny hands trapped in the sleeves of his button-up sleep shirt.

“...” Ace closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before pulling the phone from his ear and speaking to the toddler in the bed, “Give me a second buddy, I'll come back and help you in a hot minute.”

Large topaz eyes blinked in surprise, Trey held his frames over an eye and closed the other tightly to see Ace clearly, “Who are you?”

“Be back in a minute.” Ace closed the door, putting the phone back to his ear, “ Hey, Epel? Um…we also got a fucking situation over here.”

“What!?”

Ace saw Deuce walking up the stairs, the spade soldier barely getting a greeting out before Ace pointed over his shoulder to the other third-year rooms, “Go check on, Cater. I'm…I got a bad feeling.”

“A bad feeling about what-”

“Just go check, I gotta talk to Riddle!” Ace rushed past Deuce, giving the other first-year no time to question or properly reject his command. 

Deuce sighed but decided to wait on taking his shower after checking on his senpai. Maybe he should have followed Jack's example and stayed at Ramshackle after their morning run…

Ace really didn't mean to slam the door open, but hearing it bash against the side table against the wall only made him pause briefly before addressing Riddle, “Hey, house warden, something happened…”

Riddle didn't look up from his paperwork, sighing and clicking his pen back into an active magic state, poised to fire his collaring spell at Ace, “Someone had better be gravely injured if you're slamming my office door open without even knocking…”

“...” Ace looked to the side, quietly contemplating before looking back to Riddle, “Define injured.”

“Ace-” a jaunty tune started to play from Riddle's phone, making the second-year sigh and hold up a finger, “One moment, Deuce is calling me.”

Ace watches as Riddle answers his phone, both of them jumping in surprise hearing the piercing cries of a child through the receiver. Epel spoke frantically, asking what was going on as Ace shushed him over the phone.

Riddle quickly puts the phone on speaker, calling out in concern, “Deuce!? What's happening, is that a child in the background!?”

“Rosehearts-senpai, help! Cater’s, like, a little kid!?”

The crying voice on the other side calls out, “Go away! You weird guy! I don't know you!”

“Is Ace there!? I need help, he's trying to run out of the room and he kicks surprisingly hard!”

“You SMELL!”

Ace pointed at the phone, catching Riddle's bewildered expression, “Yeah, that…that's what happened to Trey…”

“...”

“So, Vil Schoenheit, Rook Hunt, Trey Clover, and Cater Diamond have all turned into young children and retain no memory from their appropriate ages?”

“None, seemingly. We've managed to get Cater to calm down by giving him his phone though. I also casted a resize charm on Trey’s glasses but I would still appreciate if Idia could produce a proper pair after a brief eye exam.”

Ortho nods at Riddle's report, floating down the halls of Ignihyde to reach his brother's room. The house warden had called him since Idia wasn't picking up his phone, so he had to contact the next best person. Idia was possibly still asleep since he gamed much later than normal last night.

“Do you have any information on the Pomefiore third-years?”

“Epel has stated they're both fairly calm after the initial surprise. As far as I know, they’re being fed and clothing is being gathered.”

Ortho reaches his brother's door, “That's good. I will contact our dorm advisor to let him know of the current situation. You should focus on attending to your afflicted dorm members while Nii-san and I work with the teachers to reverse this.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Ortho. I will keep you posted- Ace put Trey down! You're upsetting him! I must go, keep me informed, please.”

“Will do, Riddle Rosehearts! Farewell for now!” Ortho taps his ear, ending the call. Turning to the door he knocks, “Nii-san! It’s me, please open the door!” hearing no reply, Ortho pressed in his override code to open the door himself and turned the lights on in the process, “Nii-San, we need to-...”

His brother’s room was messy as it always was. But laying on the bed, swimming in his now truly oversized hoodie, was a very small version of his brother sleeping. He was starfished on the duvet, one hand managing to escape the large amount of fabric to suck on his thumb contently.

“...Idia?”

The child whimpered, brows furrowing before he rolled over and snuggled deeper into his pillow, “Five more minutes, mama…”

“...” Ortho turned the light back off, “Five more minutes…” he barely registered the sleepy ‘thank you’ before he was closing the door back, pressing in another code to lock it from all access other than his own. He tapped his ear, redialing Riddle. Once the house warden answered, Ortho spoke, “Something happened…”

Yuu and Jack stood in the Ramshackle kitchen, both leaning over the island and looking at each other in silence.

Stirring their cup of now lukewarm latte, Yuu pondered for a moment before pointing at Jack with a raised brow, “Hollandaise?”

Jack shrugged, shaking his head in disbelief, “Of course I’ve had hollandaise. Everyone’s had hollandaise!”

“I have never had fucking hollandaise; that shit was so far out of my tax bracket.”

“Hollandaise is just a fancy word for mayo.”

Yuu snorted, “I’ve been around Trey and Vil way too much to know for a fucking fact, hollandaise and mayo are different.”

Rolling his eyes, Jack huffed and took a sip of his own cup of coffee. He waves at Yuu, “Give me another one…”

“...” Yuu hums, tracing the edge of their cup before pointing at Jack again, “Charcucci?”

“...” Jack sneered, eyes glaring at Yuu’s all too pleased smile, “Charcuterie?”

“You aren’t beating my allegations on you being a snobby rich kid, Jack.”

“Actually knowing what things are called doesn’t make me a snobby rich kid.”

Yuu sips their latte, looking to the side and mumbles into the cup, “No, but skiing in the Shaft Alps every winter does…”

“Shut-” Jack’s ears flick as his phone starts to buzz. He quickly pulls it out, seeing who was calling before answering the phone on speaker, “Ortho?”

Yuu perks up, smiling and calling out, “Morning Ortho!”

“Good morning Prefect Yuu! And good morning to you, Jack Howl. I have an urgent request for you.”

Jack’s expression turns concerned, “What is it?”

“I need you to contact Ruggie Bucchi. I’m still unable to figure out how it happened, but select members of the junior class have been turned into what I estimate to be four-year-olds.”

“...” Jack blinked, looking to Yuu to make sure they heard the same thing as he did, “Why…do you need Ruggie-Senpai for that?”

“Well…I actually need to reach Leona Kingscholar, but his phone seems to be out of service…”

Yuu hums, looking around the kitchen for their own phone to make a few calls, “Yeah he does that when he sleeps, so his phone doesn't even think about ringing.”

“So I tried to call Ruggie Bucchi, but his phone isn't allowing my calls either!”

“Yeah, Ruggie blocked most of our numbers. He says ‘We know what we did’...” Yuu pulls a face at their phone, seeing their call to Lilia had gone to voicemail.

Jack sighed, “I'll call Ruggie-Senpai. Is…everyone okay? Who was turned?”

Ortho sighed from his side of the line, a beeping starting to sound in the background, “My brother for one, Trey Clover, Cater Diamond, Rook Hunt, Vil Schoenheit-”

“Vil!?”

Yuu cooed, sending one-word texts one after the other to Lilia, hoping the constant vibrating would alert the fae his phone demanded his attention, “Aw~. We should tell him his dad sold him to the school.”

“Fucking why- Ortho, I'll call Ruggie-Senpai and keep you posted.”

The beeping in the background suddenly grew to a blaring alert, though Ortho's voice remained chipper, “Thank you, Jack Howl! I must go now. I believe my brother has awakened and is attempting to hack the system in an effort to leave his room. Farewell for now!”

Once the line cut, Jack sighed and started to dial Ruggie. Noticing Yuu also on their phone he raised an eyebrow, “Who are you calling?”

Yuu was growing increasingly frustrated, Lilia wasn't answering his phone and their chain of texts clearly wasn't getting his attention. They'd try to call Malleus, but the horned fae barely remembered owning a phone, much less actually charging it properly; so it was more than likely dead in his side table drawer again.

“I'm trying to get in touch with Lilia since when Leona inevitably says ‘Fuck them kids’ we can get Malleus to help instead.”

“...Fair plan.” The phone finally stops ringing, Ruggie’s annoyed voice coming through the speaker, “Ruggie-Senpai! There's a strange occurrence happening among the third-years. Some of them have been turned into 4-year-olds and Ortho is asking for Leona's help.”

“...” Ruggie starts laughing, hiccuped cackling and choked snorts before he speaks, “Damn! You gotta be desperate if you guys are asking Leona to help with a bunch of kids. Who got turned?”

Jack sighs but feels mildly better hearing Ruggie moving on the other side of the line, “As far as I know Idia-Senpai, Trey-Senpai, Cater-Senpai, Rook-Senpai, and Vil-Senpai…That's all Ortho said.”

Yuu and Jack wait in silence, Ruggie going quiet over the line but starts muttering under his breath. Neither of them heard much past Ruggie repeating the names, double checking the date and noting how 'They had a meeting last night'. The two first years look at each other before Jack calls out, “Ruggie-Senpai? Is everything okay?”

The two freshmen wait with bated breath, listening to Ruggie suddenly swear and the sound of him running. A door is slammed open and Ruggie swears again, only louder, “Ruggie-Senpai!?”

“He's not FUCKING HERE! FUCK-”

The call cuts out, leaving Yuu and Jack in silence past the dial tone.

Yuu perks up, someone finally picking up their call, “Sebek? Yeah, hey, shut up. Yes, I did change my contact name on your phone to Malleus, that's not the important part right now. I need you…to check up on Lilia and Malleus; I think something…happened to them…”

Silver and Sebek walked briskly down the hall toward Malleus’s room. Lilia's had been empty, yet full of uncharacteristic traits. His computer seemed to have been on all night, the death screen of his game displayed over the monitor. The bed was empty, so he hadn't fallen asleep suddenly either. Sebek had suggested that Lilia went to check on Malleus in the night, falling asleep in his room instead.

Silver hummed, “Still, he didn't even pause his game…I'm just concerned…”

Scoffing, Sebek rolled his eyes, “There is nothing to worry yourself over! Lilia-Sama and Waka-Sama are the strongest mages on campus; there's nothing that could waver their-”

The sound of a piercing scream echoed in the hall, the voice painfully young and terrified as it trailed off into sobs.

The two guards sprinted, slamming the door open and blanking only for a moment at the scene before them.

Halfway up one of the banisters of the canopy bed was a horned child, a chubby black-scaled tail barely poking out from the bottom of a far too large sleep shirt. He cried and struggled to pull himself higher from the black mass of a hissing and jumping creature below him.

Their brief moment of hesitation faded and Sebek sprung forward to sweep who he could only conclude to be a de-aged Malleus away from the danger of the unknown beast. Silver quickly drew his wand in its sword form, trying to cast a stunning spell on the now skittering mass.

Sebek manages to pull the crying child into his arms, standing on the bed and looking him over, “Waka-Sama! Have you been harmed!?”

Malleus wailed, rubbing his eyes in an effort to clear his tears, “Baul! I woke up and this monster was here! I want grandmother!”

Oh, that was…Sebek wasn't sure if he was prepared for this. He looked over to Silver, hoping his sophomore had some insight into how to calm their liege.

Instead, he got to watch the second-year bob and weave around the bedroom, caught in a dance with the unknown creature as it continued to dodge his spells and new efforts to simply grab it. Luckily, the beast made a break for the window. Unable to properly launch itself out due to its size, it struggled on the ledge long enough for Silver to grab it by its small pale legs.

Silver held the still hissing creature upside down by the legs, the long hair falling away to reveal a hissing naked child with bright red eyes and tiny fangs.

“...” Sebek looked away, covering a sniffling Malleus's eyes, “Is that-”

“Oh lord, this is my father.” Silver tried to gently place the seemingly feral child on the ottoman, only to have Lilia grip onto his wrist and pull himself up to bite into Silver's arm, “Ow? OW, OW!”

Sebek watched in mild horror as Lilia's child form started to bite at any exposed skin on Silver, tiny fang marks left behind to slowly bleed as the sophomore struggled to restrain the child.

He feels a tug at his collar, looking in his arms at the sniffling fae princeling.

Malleus looked around the room with a cautious eye, seeming to realize this was not his bedroom in the castle, “Baul…where are we? Where's Lilia?”

“...” Sebek quickly pulled his phone out, heartbreakingly ignoring his liege’s tearful questions and redialing Yuu.

“Yo, Sebek, you called back quick. Can Malleus and Lilia help-”

“SOMETHING HAPPENED!”

[silent-sanctum]

✧ Polaris ✧ - Jotaro x Reader

Chapter 12: Starlight & Sunshine

— The previous parts of the fic can be found in the pinned post of my profile. Hope you enjoy! —

Hey everyone 🥹

It's been a while since the last update. Why? Well, because I was actually spending my hiatus reviewing for my license, and now that I'm about to get it, I figured that maybe I should finally use my free time to write the new chapter (also admittedly it got delayed a lot mostly due to my executive dysfunction but hey! It's here now).

Anyways, happy reading and advanced happy holidays!

word count: 13.3k

With how superficial Jotaro’s injuries were, one long night of undisturbed sleep was enough for his wounds to recover. Though, looking back at that moment from your point of view, the subtle cheekiness of the delinquent wanting you to sleep with him wasn’t lost on you.

Admittedly, you were sure that either person wasn’t complaining.

His quick recovery allowed the two to use their time productively and be with the others in exploring Luxor, though before they joined them, it was only fair for their other party member to be checked on.

“Hey Nori, how’s our favorite hierophant doing?”

At your voice, Kakyoin sat upright and turned his attention to the direction of the door with a wide smile despite his bandaged eyes. “Y/N, it’s nice to hear you again. Here I thought you guys left for another city already.”

“And leaving a fellow student behind? Under my watch?” You chuckled as you stepped inside his room followed shortly by Jotaro behind you. Once you were within closer earshot of the red-haired teen, you made sure your faux gasp was heard. “The audacity. Were my numerous ice pop offerings not enough to gain your trust?”

He laughs softly at your playful jab. “You still owe me a multiplayer round of Spy Hunter. Other than that, I’m good.”

You rolled your eyes at that, a smirk plastered on your face. “Yeah, yeah. Wait ‘til we get back to Japan and we can have that round Nori.” You turned to your raven-haired companion with a nudge to his arm. “You want a shot at the game?”

“… Not interested,” Jotaro said, albeit with a hint of having second thoughts. “I… don’t play video games that much…”

“It’s not a calculus question. You’ll get the hang of it by the second to third try.”

“I’d rather do the question.”

“Nerd.”

“Jotaro’s here too?” Kakyoin asked with a slight tilt to his head. “I’ve heard from Mr. Joestar that you just got stabbed deep in the stomach. How are you up and walking already?”

“Don’t ask me.” The delinquent crossed his arms and sighed. “Doctor said I was good to go. It turned out my deeper wounds were healed miraculously and any surface cuts got patched up overnight.”

You caught him glancing at you with that almost wistful, contemplative look as if you had the answer to the out-of-nowhere miracle. In turn, you returned the gaze with a shrug. “Lucky you. You seemingly get what’s supposed to be a worse injury but here you are good as new. Meanwhile, I get my eyes scratched a bit and I’m not allowed to leave yet.”

There was an almost frustrated tone in Kakyoin’s voice as he said that and you could understand where he was coming from. “Hey, chin up.” You started, “On the brighter side of things, there’s no bleeding. No complications. It’s only a matter of time until your doctor discharges you.” Two pairs of footsteps approach from the hallway outside. “Speaking of…”

With a couple of soft knocks, the door opened to reveal a nurse and the physician in charge of overseeing Kakyoin’s health. “Pardon us,” the nurse said as she entered the room with the doctor behind her. “How are you feeling, Mr. Kakyoin?”

Kakyoin swallowed as he reached up to touch his bandages. “To be honest, I've never been without my vision before, so it's a bit unsettling.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“Not much. I think the painkillers are working.”

You and Jotaro stepped aside to allow the pair of medical professionals to assess their patient. “Hello, Mr. Kakyoin-”

At hearing his voice, the blinded teenager turned his head to the sound of the adult. “Doctor, when do you think I can take off these bandages?” He said with that faint trace of impatience in his tone. “I don't have any time to waste.”

“Mr. Kakyoin, while your eye injuries are not life-threatening, they are not minor either. I'm afraid we won't be able to discharge you anytime soon. But just a moment ago, we were contacted by doctors from the Speedwagon Foundation. They asked that we put you in their care. With their advanced medical techniques, I'm sure you'll recover much more quickly.”

The doctor continued, inquisitive. “Who are you exactly? The Speedwagon Foundation is world-famous. I don't think they'd get involved with an ordinary high school student.”

For a moment, Kakyoin didn’t answer for a minute until he let a small smile grace his face. “I have… acquaintances who are very reliable, that's all.”

You spared a glance at Jotaro who stood there with a neutral expression, his gaze cast on the floor with a thoughtful look. The memory of first spotting him carry the once-controlled Kakyoin to his house to get treated resurfaced in your mind and you couldn’t help but wonder if he remembered that moment as well.

The delinquent’s eyes slowly trailed from the tiles up to your face the second he knew you were staring, making eye contact the second he looked at you. You held onto that gaze long enough for him to break it with a faint pinkish tint to his cheeks.

Once the doctor had finished with his advice and excused himself together with the accompanying nurse, Kakyoin sighed as he slumped back onto the pillows. “Now that I know faster treatment is arriving, I’m growing more restless than before.”

You huffed, rolling your eyes light-heartedly at his impatience. “Just give it a little bit more time and then you can get out of here and do whatever the hell you want.”

At that, the red-haired boy chuckled.

---

The afternoon following the visit, the duo regrouped with the others as they headed out to explore the city of Luxor. Avdol was generous enough to provide the team with historical background about the locations they’ve visited. One particular spot the dark-skinned man introduced them was the Valley of Kings- an archaeological site where popular Egyptian kings were buried.

While you and Jotaro showed interest in his voluntary history lessons, he doubted the others were as equally so. The old man wouldn’t stop pacing around even if they were idle. Polnareff would rather chat with any nearby locals and be distracted by almost anything that wasn’t Avdol’s information dump. Iggy… well… he was a mutt with an attitude. Did he expect that little menace to absorb anything the Egyptian was saying?

No. The fact that Jotaro considered the dog was dumb to begin with.

“Hey, Avdol!” The entire group turned to Joseph. “I really need to tinkle! Know any toilets around this place?”

Of course, the senior citizen has to pee. “Didn’t you already piss back at the hotel, old man?” Jotaro said, rolling his eyes, while Avdol supplied him with an actual answer.

“There’s one that we just passed by. It’s the singular outhouse by the valley’s walls. You’ll see it when you see it Mr. Joestar.” Joseph turned back to see if he could spot the structure from his current spot. “Oh, and take someone with you as backup just in case of an ambush.”

“Uh… Polnareff?”

“Woah now, hold on,” the Frenchman said. “I know I like to relieve myself as much as our old friend here, but I do have to ask if the toilets here are somewhat… good? Functioning even-”

“Pol.” Whatever the white-haired man had to say got cut off by your abrupt interruption. “Do you have to go to the big boy’s bathroom or not?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Then stop whining drama queen and piss,” Jotaro continued on your behalf.

“Alright, alright,” Polnareff pouted and started to walk to Joseph’s side like a scolded child. “You two really can be direct with your words, huh? I’m still older than both of you by the way.” He and you shrugged in response and the Frenchman nodded wordlessly as he joined the old man on the trip to the outhouse.

While they were on their way, the others remained put and waited until the duo were done answering the call of nature. Avdol settled himself on one of the smaller rocks to meditate, Iggy sat by the same rock and lazed about, and the remaining two teenagers decided to roam around the area, never straying too far from the group.

“Hey Jotaro-ssi,” he looked at you. “We’re so close now. Can’t you believe it?”

Jotaro paused and stared at you, comprehending what you just said. Close? Well… of course. It’s only natural for us to be closer than when we first met. Isn’t that the whole point of spending time with each other and shit?

At that thought, he shied away from your gaze and couldn’t stop the tinge of warmth growing in his cheeks, but he had to respond or it’d be obvious. And god forbid if it came off as obvious. “I… yeah. Yeah, guess I can…”

“We’re so close to Cairo. All those days of travel and it’ll take one more day until we get to the capital! And we can finally put all this Stand fuckery behind us,” you chuckled. “At least, with the whole fighting others with Stands thing. We can’t exactly get rid of our ghost pals.”

Oh. That type of close. He fumed harder at himself for misinterpreting your words. Still battling with his embarrassment, the delinquent tipped his hat over his face in a vain attempt to hide his most likely reddened cheeks. “Sure…”

And of course, you’d pick up on his sudden bashfulness with a teasing coo. “Hm? What’s wrong? Do I see pink in your face?”

“Shut up.”

Like that ever worked on you. You smirked and fully turned in his direction, arms behind your back as you stepped closer to him with a playful type of predatory gait. Much like how you had approached him outside his house when you wanted to come on this journey to Egypt. “Why? I’m just asking. You never know- you might’ve caught an infection from your wound.”

With every step you took, his heart thudded harder in his chest. Not that you’d know any of that when his stone-faced expression is still plastered on his face, but damnit all… you made it hard for him to keep it up with that smug smile you had. He was already near the rocky wall and he’s not going to step back any further.

Jotaro stood his ground and forced himself to return your gaze with his stoicism, feigning a scowl to make it somewhat convincing. “I’m fine and I already told you my stab wound’s already healing.”

“Okay, but there’s nothing wrong in making a reassessment to make sure,” you said and took two more steps toward him. This time, his foot made that step back as his chest started to beat quicker and his cheeks to heat up further. You smiled up at him with a feline-like tilt of your head.

Again, the delinquent let out another one of his annoyed grumbling to get you to stop and spare his heart from bursting out of his chest. Fortunately, you did and stopped a few feet away from him. “You really do like being a menace, huh?”

“Can you blame me? You’re fun to tease.”

He scoffed despite finding your interactions amusing. “Just because I’m choosing to walk around with you doesn’t make you any less of a pain in my ass.”

You nodded with a pout, looking downcast. “Oh, of course, I’m well aware. My bad…” But just as he thought your teasing was over, that smirk returned. “But you aren’t exactly doing anything about it now, are you?”

Fuck. “You… ” He said with a grumble, scowling past his fuming cheeks. You remained unbothered by his punk facade and smiled.

“Yes? Got something to say? I’m all ears.”

Jotaro did have something to say but all it took for his words to fail him was you leaning close to him out of the blue in the middle of his thoughts. His heart skipped a beat and in another subconscious act, he took another step back until he made contact with the rocks behind-

“Agh!” He exclaimed as a zap of electricity shot through his shoulder, shocking him momentarily before he pulled away in an instant. “The hell?”

You stopped with your playful antics and switched for genuine concern as you drew away from him. “Oh my god, did I push it too far?”

Jotaro shook his head, rubbing the affected area of his shoulder. “It wasn’t you. It’s…” He looked back to see what caused that tiny spark. There behind him was an oddly placed electric outlet with one socket. “This?”

He stepped aside for you to see as well. “Who would install an outlet in the middle of this place?” You said. “This place isn’t a resting spot; from a practical standpoint, it’s installed way too high up for anything to be plugged in.”

Was it always there when we got here? Jotaro furrowed his brows, trying to remember if it was the case.

Just then, the faint voices of a complaining elderly American and a whining Frenchman came within their earshot. “Mr. Joestar and Pol’s back. We should return to the guys and step away from that faulty installation.”

The delinquent glared at the outlet accusingly once more, before giving up and sighing. “Fine.” He shoved his hands into his pant pockets and joined you on the way back.

However, as minute as it was, he could still feel the lingering aftershocks from his shoulder.

---

One history lesson and a failed attempt at a satisfying pee session later, the group collectively decided to make a quick stop at a nearby open cafe to discuss what to do next as the sun started to set.

You weren’t one to pass up on a group discussion so while your delinquent friend chose to stand nearby, you pulled a chair from another table and took up a space beside Polnareff.

“We could make it to Cairo in two days, but we're all compromised. Why don't we spend tonight and tomorrow in Luxor to take a break?” Avdol said.

“We should! Since we got to Egypt, our enemies have been getting stronger,” Polnareff said in return, groaning more from being tired than frustrated. “We've just barely been winning. Hell, we’d all be probably dead if it weren’t for Y/N's Stand getting us out of big trouble.“

“I agree. While I don’t mind protecting ourselves, I’d appreciate it if everyone could at least take a breather so our minds can rest. Maybe in that way, we can fight this new batch of enemies with better strategies than just simply facing them head-on,” you said, earning the group’s collective nod of agreement.

“Speaking of dealing with our foes head-on,” Pol craned over his shoulder to look at the delinquent still standing in the same spot, picking something off his sleeves. “Hey, Jotaro! We all agreed to take a mini rest day. I already know you’ll agree to it too but I’m just letting you know, pal!”

You turned to look at him also noticing the repetitive action from your fellow teenager, but you kept your attention on what he was picking that made him scowl with irritation- Coins, discarded bottle caps, safety pins, etc. In the background, the radio had switched from tunes to static.

“Mr. Joestar, are you feeling alright?” At Avdol’s question, you and Polnareff returned their attention to the older adult currently grasping the wrist of his prosthetic hand, which seemed to twitch involuntarily in the case that he wasn’t pranking them.

“I-I’m okay. I probably didn’t calibrate the joints in this bad boy enough.” The elderly man clenched his artificial fist and stood. “Enough of that, let’s find ourselves a hotel for now.” You and the others nodded, standing after him.

Heading out, you waited for the others to go first before you approached Jotaro. On his back, a couple of stray caps stuck to his gakuran. “You seem preoccupied,” you said as you plucked the items off his clothes.

“You think?” He said, dripping with monotone sarcasm. “Let’s just head to that hotel. I want to take a nap.” You gestured for him to go ahead so you could follow close behind.

However, as they passed by a nearby man working on carpentry, you heard the person cry out in pain the further they got away from him. You paused and turned around only to see a hammer flying straight at the clueless delinquent.

Jotaro could only notice what had happened once Silent Sanctuary swiftly caught the hammer by its handle a couple of inches away from colliding with his head. He stared at the object with surprise and drifted his gaze to you with gratitude.

“What? Did you hit your fingers?” Polnareff said. You returned your focus to the source and found the same carpenter hunched on the ground, crying with pain as he clutched the area near his cheek, whose skin was badly punctured by the three nails in his mouth. “Be more careful!”

While the Frenchman berated the poor guy, the hammer held in your Stand’s cloth continued to push against its hold, strongly drawn to the delinquent as it wobbled. You watched it do so with curiosity and he did too with you. Either way, the group left the man to his injuries and headed back to the city.

You stepped past the many locals, keeping close to the delinquent’s side. One of them lightly bumped against your shoulder and with an apology ready, you turned to look at the said person- a white-haired woman in a red hood, black skirt and leggings, and red shoes.

She didn’t look back at you or say anything, but you did your part and went about your day.

As the afternoon came to a close and evening took its place in the sky, the team managed to find a standard hotel and much like their time in Singapore, Mr. Joestar booked enough rooms for 3 pairs with the same room assignments.

The second you and Jotaro unlocked the door to your room, you spoke up first. “Alright, both of us can agree that there’s something wrong with you or at least something’s happening around you, right?”

“Bottle cap and spare change sticking to my pants and uniform isn’t exactly normal. Then there was that hammer wanting to hit me.” He groaned, crossing his arms. “I just recovered from a stab wound and life decides that a concussion should be next to my list of grievances.”

You huffed, smirking. “Who could’ve guessed inanimate objects would take a liking to you too?” You said even as stared at you pointedly. “Giving your posse of fan girls a run for their money.”

Jotaro scoffed, rolling his eyes. “The flying tools weren’t noisy or obnoxious. There’s that at least.”

Both of you stepped inside and almost immediately, the lights flickered and several small items began to shake from their spot. “It’s happening again…” You walked further in and eyed the metal jar decor that slowly inched off the bedside table. “It’s only affecting specific objects.”

With one glance at each other, you reached for the jar and held it firmly in your hands. Between your palms, the decor pushed against your grasp towards the direction of your fellow teenager. He cocked his head and stepped into a different location only for the jar’s pull to follow him. Behind him, the smaller items had dragged themselves to him and stuck to any spot of his body.

All of which were made of metal.

“Magnets,” Jotaro said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Damnit, I became a human magnet. That explains the annoying things being glued to me. But how did this happen?”

“Do you think it had anything to do with the minor shock you got back at the Valley? You know, with the out-of-place outlet?” You replied.

He frowned as he reached over to rub his shoulder where he got briefly electrocuted. “Maybe. Nothing else was strange but that random socket.” He narrowed his eyes. “Was that a Stand?”

“Can Stands come in the form of mundane, inanimate objects?”

“… Did you forget the ship? The car? The damn sun?”

“I said mundane, genius,” you retorted. “If that’s the case, then should we be concerned for everything now? We’re not safe around people, animals, and now random things in this place.”

Jotaro sighed, sitting down on his side of the bed with his hat over his eyes and his back against the headboard. “I can’t be bothered to think about whatever I have going on tonight. I just want to get some sleep.”

You sat next to him, tucking your legs underneath the sheets. “You do know I’ll start talking your ears off tomorrow the second I wake up in the morning.”

“It’s nothing new.” He looked at you. “You always talk my ears off when you get the chance.”

“But you’ve gotten used to it, haven’t you?” You scooted closer to him until your shoulders touched. “I’m surprised you haven’t snapped back at me for my never-ending speeches or dismissed me at any point of this trip.”

The delinquent kept his focus on you, searching your face as his mind looked for the words to say in return. He averted his gaze away shortly after and said, “Like I said, your constant talking isn’t anything new…”

“Not even a single ‘bitch’ for me?”

He pressed his lips into a firm line, his body tensing for a split second before he answered with a quiet, “… No.”

You quirked an eyebrow at his sentiment, a small playful smile growing on your face. “Oh? What’s this? Has the menacing delinquent done a quick introspection? Never expected that in my bingo card.”

“Shut up, woman.”

You let out a huff, still smiling. “Close enough.” You puffed out both your pillows and made yourself comfortable against the mattress. “I suggest you lie down completely unless you wanna wake up with an aching back.” Jotaro nodded and let Star Platinum switch the ceiling lights off as he rested his back on the sheets, his head on the pillows, and an arm laid open.

“The first thing we’re doing tomorrow is finding a solution to your magnet problem…,” you muttered, words slurring as you grew sleepy. Subconsciously, you inched yourself closer to him, resting your head on his shoulder. “Before we… move on to… Cairo…”

“Mm.” He hummed as his arm wrapped itself around your back. “Sounds good…”

---

The first thing you and Jotaro did the morning after Polnareff woke and nagged the whole group to breakfast outside their windows was what you had said to him: Find the source of his magnetism and figure out the person behind it.

But where do we start? Do we return to the Valley of the Kings to find that outlet or skip that and track the user? How though? It could literally be anyone. Your mind paced a million times over trying to figure out what to do. What’s our game plan here?

“You know you don’t need to stress this much, right?” The delinquent said, perched on the edge of his bed watching you walk back and forth. “I’m the one affected. Not you. We also have to eat…”

“I know that but who knows what could happen if we just let this slide any longer?” You replied. “There’s always a catch with this type of stuff. What could be harmless at first could become a threat down the line; so we should come up with a solution to this at least and then we can do the other not-so-threatening things next.”

He crossed his arms. “How harmful could it possibly get?”

“You’re gonna risk finding out?” He shrugged and you sighed. “Of course, you would. You know what? Fine. Let’s join Pol and the others for breakfast then I can return to stressing the fuck out.”

“Again… You don’t have to-”

“Alright then!” You clapped your hands once and headed for the door. You turned to look over your shoulder and smiled. “Food first, plan later!”

Jotaro rolled his eyes and stood to follow you out, only to get hit in the back by the nearby metal chair. He grunted and looked back with an irritated scowl. Once he faced forward again, you were there staring at him with a cocked brow and a face that screamed “I told you so.”

“Don’t.” You gave him one cocky glance over before proceeding out onto the hallway.

Your point only got proven even more as both of you walked down the area. The magnetism of his body had managed to cause a scene with three elderly women and the metal embellishments of their skirts, all of which had both of you intervene quickly with you providing appropriate apologies and him turning away to avoid peeking any senior undergarments.

Things only got worse as the nearby idle room service trolleys started reacting to his presence. He caught onto the noise of cutlery growing louder and not a minute later, he spotted a collection of steel forks and table knives flying straight in their direction. “Y/N. Run.” He grabbed your wrist and bolted with you tugged behind him.

You caught onto the problem and as soon as the kitchenware reached close enough, Sanctuary acted accordingly and shot out a wide strip of rose gold fabric to shield both of you from getting impaled. However, as you were about to round the corner, more cutlery flew through the air at alarming speeds in front of you.

Star Platinum’s precise barrage was the next to deflect the incoming forks and knives. With the way cleared, he increased his speed and ran out of the hotel hallway before any other kitchenware could find his location.

Eventually, you reached the hotel’s escalator leading down to the lobby and Jotaro ushered you to go first. You did and he trailed behind you. “Damnit. I hate that you’re right. Whatever magnet crap I’ve found myself in got worse.”

“I’d love to show off my smug laugh but we should deal with this first. Come on.” You couldn’t wait for the machinery to bring you to the ground floor so you continued to walk down the moving stairs, but another grunt caused you to turn back to see the delinquent stuck on the escalator’s steel steps, both feet and hands glued to its surface.

“Shit,” he cursed, struggling to get up. Star’s hands manifested to at least help push him up. “I lost my damn balance, now this?!”

You were about to help him but as soon as your back was turned, several strings with metal beads flew past you and further ensnared his body against the steps, wrapping around him with its thin strands and making Star’s efforts useless.

Someone rushed down the escalator steps and you quickly turned around to see a familiar red-hooded woman reach the bottom floor with a few of the same strings hung loosely around her waist.

The Stand user. “Hey!”

“Y/N!” You snapped your attention back to your companion, still struggling to free himself to no avail. At the same time, the woman weaved her way into the forming crowd. Damnit. “It’s getting too tight. I… I have to-” His words got cut off as Star’s fist readied to smash the machine he was stuck on.

“No, don’t!” You exclaimed. “You’ll just make more debris and be buried in them. I’ll look for the emergency stop.”

“Then you better hurry. I’m getting too close to the ground floor.”

You quickly reached the bottom steps and stepped to the side. There near the steps was the red button with the words “In case of an emergency” written around it. You pressed it without a moment’s hesitation and the escalator began slowing down, and just as the delinquent reached the bottom floor, the steps stopped.

Star Platinum went to work immediately and pulled off the strings that entangled his user’s body, tossing the freed strands far off into the distance and away from his magnetic field. His hands detached from the steel and ignoring the onlooking locals, you reached out to grab them and helped pull him up.

And as if a switch had been flipped, the magnetic force in his feet disappeared completely. He staggered forward and in turn, you lost balance and stumbled back onto the nearby statue, hands flailing to find something to grab onto.

As your palm found a solid surface, you yelped and recoiled immediately as a tiny zap of electricity shot through your hand. To your misfortune, the same bizarre outlet made itself known again. In that same second, you could feel the air grow tense around you with an invisible “pull”.

“Y/N,” he called out. “You okay?”

You raised a hand to stop him from approaching. “I’m fine but I got zapped too.” You stepped aside to reveal the Stand. “Guess you don’t have the right to say I have to relax, hm?” He cursed under his breath. “But what’s done is done. I saw the lady responsible for this whole mess and if I were to guess, she might still be nearby if her Stand’s here.”

Jotaro nodded and with you taking the lead, both of you pushed past the surrounding people and out the hotel’s entrance. “What did she look like?”

“White hair. Red hood. Black skirt. Red shoes,” you said as you surveyed the streets for the target. “She sort of stands out among the rest. You’ll see her when you see her.”

“Already did,” the delinquent said with Star’s crystal clear gaze fixed eastward. “She’s standing by that building’s entrance watching us from the distance.”

You acknowledged his report and made a move toward her only to find out your wrist had attached itself to Jotaro’s arm. “Now this?” He looked at their joint limbs and back at you. You groaned and continued running. “Whatever. Let’s just get to her. Is she still at the same spot?”

There was no resistance from him as he followed your footsteps, wrists still glued to each other. “She’s making a run for it.” He scoffed next. “But it’s more like she’s going for a casual jog by the looks of it. Like she’s taunting us.”

You breached past several more locals and made it to a small empty street where the woman currently was, her pace unhurried and brisk. Oh, she has the audacity to treat us like toys? Not even taking this seriously? For some reason, that fueled an inner level of petty you never knew you had and led you to sprint even faster.

Sanctuary acted on your command and manifested several of her silk fabrics, intending to bind the enemy user. However, you could spot the grin on her lips as she threw back a large pouch of bolts in your direction. You came to an abrupt halt and diverted the fabrics back to serve as a shield.

Just as you thought you were in the clear, several windows shattered all around the pair, and out flew batches of metal crafts, furniture, and electrical components. Instinctively, you and Jotaro huddled close to each other as both your Stands deflected and blocked the incoming projectiles, with Silent Sanctuary forming an arc on your side while Star Platinum released one of his barrages.

Then there was the car that pushed the teenagers down the empty street and against the wooden fences at the edge. You had his Stand to thank for taking the brunt of the vehicle’s hit while you had your Stand to thank for cushioning the impact against the wood.

When the dust settled, the woman was gone.

And to your late realization, your back pressed against the delinquent’s unable to detach without placing greater effort. “Great. Just great.”

“If you’re right, then she’s still close by. We can search around and deal with her properly then,” he said.

“Uh excuse me, are you forgetting something?” You looked back at him with a deadpan. “Do you want to go looking for her like this? What maneuver shall we use: Crab style or carrying-me-around-like-your-backpack style?” You retorted.

“Shut up and let me try something.” You threw your hands as he turned both of you so he held the fence, while Star hovered out of him and grasped both your arms. “Run a few feet away immediately at the count of three. One. Two…” And with one loud “Ora”, the Stand yanked your body off his and set you down as far as it could reach.

Following his instructions, you immediately ran a couple of feet away as soon as your feet touched the ground. For a second, his plan worked and he turned to see the outcome, but the strong magnetic pull returned not too long after and you yelped the second time as you were flung back to Jotaro’s magnetic field.

Jotaro caught you with a grunt, staggering back a few steps as his arms encircled you. You opened your eyes and found yourself back against his body, this time in a more intimate position with your front glued to his. “So, your plan worked… until it didn’t.”

He said nothing in return, looking away from you with hints of red dusting his cheeks underneath the shade of his hat. You puffed your cheeks as you pulled away enough so you could plant your chin on his chest with traces of warmth present on your face. “Oh come on. This isn’t the first time you held me this close.”

“That… That was different…”

“Was it though?” You hummed. Despite their current situation, you couldn’t help but tease him for a bit by raising your hand to tip his hat. “And we both know we’re used to close proximity like this by this point.”

“But let’s put our game face on because like you said, we can still track her down if my theory’s right.” Jotaro glanced down at you this time and with one look at your determined smile, he nodded with stoic, tinted cheeks. “We need some sort of plan though. Clearly, chasing her won’t do us any good if she anticipates it.”

By that time, a group of curious children had gathered to see the two 17-year-old teenagers seemingly get all close and cuddly in front of their eyes. “We should discuss whatever you have in mind somewhere more private then,” the delinquent said under his breath.

“Ah…” You looked over at your new audience. “Right. Can we at least change positions to something more manageable? Walk-wise? Unless you want to carry me.”

Jotaro made a low sound of agreement and through several, awkward attempts to move against the magnetic pull that may or may not have involved “suggestive” movements, you found yourself in a more… appropriate hold with your back against his chest.

“You lead the way this time.”

He nodded and took a step forward. You moved with him. “Ah, good grief. We better have a way to beat her by the time we get there…”

“Don’t worry. I think I have something in mind.”

---

An hour had passed since then and with a plan now up their sleeves, they ventured out once more and encountered the Stand user lounging by the walls, arrogant as usual with a cigarette in one hand and the other hidden behind her back.

“Look who’s back,” she said, casually turning to the pair. “Had fun being glued to each other, hm?”

“Cut the bullshit bit-”

She groaned and dropped her used stick to the ground. “It’s Mariah. You could’ve asked for my name before calling me other terms, boy.”

“I don’t know if you know this Mariah,” you started, making sure you enunciated her name out loud. “But we don’t give a damn what we call you. I could call you a derogatory slur for siding and believing a human leech with a petty grudge, but I’m more classy than that.”

Jotaro huffed at your blunt words, though from their talks during spare time, you did suggest using a variety of other unsavory terms for their enemies out of the fun of it, ranging from “ass licking cuck” to “cock sucking pussy”- both of which were two words more than his go-to token “bitch” and a string of words he did not expect coming from you.

There was a slight twitch to Mariah’s eye and a subtle frown to her otherwise smug expression but she sneered at you to make up for her break in character. “You’re talking big for a high school teenager. Why don’t you start chasing me down and attack me again using that Stand of yours instead of wasting time with your annoying little chatter?”

“How about you strike first this time so you could have a turn?” You said. “It’s only fair game and justifies this trial of yours once we beat you to a pulp when we’re done.”

Mariah let out a snort before bursting into laughter. “Fair game? Trial? What are you, a judge?” She continued, mocking. “You two going to give me a death sentence, hm?”

“I’m just saying; you want a turn or not? Because I know you know my Stand can easily catch you, lady.”

She narrowed her eyes at both of you and in the next minute, she smirked and stayed put with her free hand on her hip. “I don’t think I want to. Keep those turns for yourself. Not like it matters.”

“Okay,” you shrugged. “Your loss.”

A strip of Silent Sanctuary’s cloth shot out of you and darted straight to Mariah. Expecting it, she grinned and tossed a switchblade she held behind her up into the air, cutting through the electrical cables above her. Due to both of your magnetic fields, the loose wires immediately curved and flew straight to the two teenagers.

But you were prepared.

The second Mariah threw the blade, Star Platinum launched off a sizable rock hidden behind Jotaro toward and over the woman. Wrapped around it was another one of Sanctuary’s fabric strips. As a result, your body detached itself from the delinquent and went flying together with the rock.

He rushed forward to strengthen his magnetic field, drawing the cables away from you and towards him instead. At close range, Star snatched every stray wire and held it firm in one gloved fist.

Still caught off guard by the sudden toss, Mariah stood in the middle of whatever the two had plotted with a frustrated frown, trying to come up with anything to flee. But, as you said, your Stand could easily catch her. Once mid-air, Sanctuary launched several strips of silk toward the red-hooded woman rapidly, binding her arms and torso.

The second you hit the ground, cushioned by your Stand’s spare fabrics, Sanctuary lifted Mariah off the dirt. It spun her round and round until it built up enough centrifugal force to launch her toward the delinquent.

Jotaro held his hat over his eyes as his Stand hovered before him, and with his signature battle cry, Star Platinum landed one heavy jab at the enemy Stand user, followed by his trademark fist barrage. With one last uppercut, Star sent her battered body back in the air.

He intended it to end there considering how crippled and incapacitated she was, but you apparently had other plans as a strip of rose gold quickly caught Mariah while airborne, and with no time wasted, her body flung into a large upward arc. With enough momentum, Silent Sanctuary finished the fight by slamming her to the ground as hard as she did with Steely Dan.

With the enemy Stand user dealt with, the tense magnetic air surrounding him dissipated as her Stand ability became null as its user.

You walked over to Jotaro and went over to the shallow crater where Mariah lay defeated and unconscious. “Defendant,” From the inner crevices of his soul, he pocketed one hand and tipped his hat saying, ”With the jury’s verdict, you are hereby declared guilty…”

He subtly glanced at you, wanting you to come up with something to close his quip. However, knowing how silly his one-liners were for you, he might as well come up with something to finish it himself.

To his surprise, you beckoned him to lean over, only for you to snatch the hat off his head and wear it on yours.

Then, copying his stance, you placed a hand on your hip and tipped his hat over your eyes, holding one side of his hat’s visor. With one smooth sweep of your fingers across its edge, you turned your body together with the movement and stared down at the fallen enemy with your closing remark:

“Court adjourned.”

That was… Jotaro stared at you with wide eyes, his cheeks heating up at an alarming pace. I… He honestly did not expect you to join him in this otherwise dorky gesture, more so within a minute. But as you did so with his motif, his chest raced a million miles a minute and his stomach fluttered with butterflies he never knew he had.

You knew what you did and you didn’t hide it with the way you smiled slyly up at him. You removed the hat and placed it back on his head. He didn’t even realize he hadn’t moved since you made your ending statement. “Let’s check up on Mr. Joestar and the others and get some brunch while we’re at it.” With a playful pat on his shoulder, you went on your way.

Still reeling, he straightened up and held his face as he willed the blush from his cheeks to go away before the others saw him. Especially Polnareff.

“Come on!” You called out from a distance. Jotaro took a deep breath and with his cheeks cooled down significantly, he turned to follow you. “Hurry! I heard a window get smashed nearby!”

"Can... Can you say that again?"

"Absolutely not."

You and Jotaro ran to the sound of commotion from the street nearby and upon arrival, they were greeted by a young man with dark hair and bright blue eyes sprinting in their direction, holding two young boys dressed in oversized clothing in his arms. Behind them was an adult with a weird hairstyle and colored shades, wielding an axe and an oddly-shaped shadow with eyes.

Upon seeing the teenagers, the man made a panicked gesture to shoo them away. While they didn’t run away, they stopped in their tracks and watched. Wait a second. The delinquent narrowed his eyes at the people in front of them: The man himself wearing his grandfather’s clothes and the two children with him dressed in Polnareff’s get-up and Avdol’s robes.

We’re they- “Mr. Joestar?!” “Old man?!” You and he exclaimed simultaneously.

“Stay back, kiddos!” The man grinned and turned back to them, a youthful glint sparking in his eyes. He placed the much younger Frenchman and Egyptian down, both of which waddled behind him. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt this energized.” He cracked his knuckles dramatically and fizzled from his arms was an abundance of pure, channeled energy. Hamon.

“Joseph Joestar’s got this!”

---

Though the group planned to have yesterday be their break period, considering what had happened to both parties, their rest day was far from relaxing. From dealing with magnetic Stands to age-reverting ones, nothing had surprised them by this point.

But time waited for no one. By the time they aged back to normal and the following morning dawned upon them, the group progressed on their trip from Luxor to Cairo. According to the Foundation’s doctor, Kakyoin would stay behind for a few hours but would join them sometime late afternoon once his final check-up was done.

With a train ride and a drive down a couple of streets, they reached the capital at last. They began asking the locals yet again for the location of DIO’s headquarters using Mr. Joestar’s spirit pictures, starting from the outskirts of the city and working their way to the center.

Most of the day was spent with no progress and no news about the whereabouts of the vampire’s base and by the time afternoon came, the group was exhausted from both the constant questioning from people and the heat. Their search brought them to an open cafe where a handful of locals lounged and drank away from the desert heat.

You and the guys asked around and yet again, they provided no valuable information needed to progress their mission. That was until one of them spoke up claiming he knew where DIO was.

But with the way he presented himself with confidence as he played with his cards, you couldn’t help but be suspicious of his motives. Beside you, both Jotaro and Avdol shared the same stance.

Unfortunately, after losing to a 50/50 guessing game, your hunch was right once the group witnessed Polnareff’s soul get taken out of his body by the man before you named Daniel J. Darby, a professional gambler and the user of the Stand Osiris; and according to him, the only way to return the Frenchman’s soul was to beat him in any game.

Mr. Joestar was the first to challenge him with a game involving alcohol, coins, and breaking surface tension. If any of Jotaro’s and Avdol’s stories of the old man were right, then he should be able to use his tricks to beat Darby. You watched as they took turns dropping the coins into the full glass, your heart skipping a beat at every drop of the elder Joestar’s coins, and stayed nonchalant when he used a wet cotton to cheat.

Anything to beat the enemy after all.

However, by the end of the game, the notorious gambler lived up to his name and outsmarted the trickster Joestar at his game. The coin hadn’t dropped yet Osiris had managed to snatch his soul away and convert it into chips just like Polnareff.

By then, you looked among yourselves and pondered who should go next. As wise as he was, Avdol wouldn’t be able to face Darby with a steady mind considering how frequently his panic and neurosis were evident throughout their encounter with this enemy user.

While you were a confident person with no issues taking risks, you didn’t take pride in yourself when it came to any form of gambling. Never in your life would you imagine yourself playing a guessing game that would most likely be rigged against you which would end up losing more than you earned.

Which left the Jotaro to take the player’s seat.

In some way, it made sense despite the delinquent most likely never getting involved in any gambling. Among the three of you, he was the most calm and aloof when it came to high-risk situations like this, and with the game being Poker which involved a ton of bluffing and mental manipulation, you trusted him to beat Darby at his game with his wits.

With the keen eyes of Star Platinum, no card tricks and cheats would be utilized unless the adult wanted more broken fingers. Eventually, a kid was brought in to help deal the deck.

At first, the game was in favor of Darby with him having the better set than his opponent and thus is able to take half his soul chips, but in an unexpected turn of events once the next set of cards were distributed to both players, Jotaro never touched nor glanced at his cards.

You furrowed your brows with uncertainty, Avdol was on the brink of another panic session, and Darby became confused and frustrated on why the delinquent refused to look at his hand.

Instead of playing his hand, he opted to play in a competition on who got to raise the highest pot. On his turn, he wagered both Avdol and Kakyoin’s souls into the game, placing two stacks of six white chips alongside his remaining three. The gambler smirked and evened the bet with both Polnareff’s and Mr. Joestar’s souls.

But he wasn’t done because, on his next raise, Jotaro glanced at you briefly with an indescribable gaze before pulling out a new stack of white chips, wagering your soul next which unnerved the master gambler. Naturally, you were anxious knowing your life was on the line, but then again, when was it not?

At this rate, you could tell the cogs began to run full time in Darby’s mind, constantly doubting and growing paranoid about the situation at hand, more so after the delinquent showcased Star Platinum’s speed via a quick lighting of his cigarette and the sudden appearance of a cold drink.

The final nail in the coffin was yet another raise from the stoic teenager, placing a new stack on the table as he wagered his mother’s soul. Everyone was appalled, you included. Is he this confident that his cards are great? Did Star do something? On Holly’s behalf, your chest tightened with anxiety, and beads of sweat rolled down your temple.

This meant Darby needed to even the pot with something of equal value to two stacks of soul chips such as, as cleverly suggested by Jotaro, the secrets to DIO’s Stand. At that, Darby noticeably panicked having found himself trapped in a corner. With added pressure from the delinquent’s rising voice, the adult trembled from where he stood.

The audience waited with bated breath for his next move. You kept your hands clenched on your lap still trusting in his plan, Avdol began hyperventilating together with the kid dealer, and the man stayed frozen in his spot as his hair turned gray, unable to make that final decision.

In the end, Daniel J. Darby ended up losing in spirit before he could say “call”.

And now with the adult out of commission, all the souls he had stolen were set free, including Polnareff’s and Joseph’s as they were spirited back into their bodies.

Avdol went over to check what the teenager’s cards were and with you joining him, your heart momentarily stopped while the Egyptian beside you keeled over on the verge of passing out.

Jotaro’s hand was trash- no pairs and all cards being among the lowest values of the deck. I could’ve died for real. We all could’ve died. You knew the game was rigged in one way or another since Poker was the gambler’s favored activity, but knowing he was defeated regardless gave off another level of relief upon yourself and admiration toward the delinquent.

“Well, now we can’t ask him that question now, can we?” Mr. Joestar said, looking down at the currently giggling man twitching on the floor. “Let’s head out. The Speedwagon Foundation must have brought Kakyoin in by now.”

“Oh, goody!” Pol said excitedly. “Perfect timing too! I saw this cool place with a bunch of gals and games and I really want to drag him there-”

“Are you seriously going to spend your time doing that instead of asking around where DIO could be, Polnareff?” Avdol said in return, composing himself after nearly passing out a minute ago. “Miss Holly’s life is still on the line. A crucial line at that.”

“I mean I was planning to do that by night because I’m sure most people would be at home, right? And if that wasn’t enough, Kakyoin and I could ask more people while we hang out,” Polnareff grinned. “We get to have some time and we might have more chances for any information about DIO’s HQ. Sounds like a plan, eh?”

Mr. Joestar whacked the Frenchman by the back of his head. “Whatever Polnareff.” Other than their minor squabble, the three older members of the group went on ahead. You smiled and shook your head, wanting to join them.

But you paused in your tracks as something light tugged at you from behind. You turned to look over your shoulder to see a hand holding onto the fabric of your uniform top and you trailed further up until you met Jotaro’s averted, almost-shy gaze. “Something wrong?”

He said nothing as he dropped his hand only to step forward until his chest pressed up against your back. “Jot- oh!” You squeaked a bit when the delinquent suddenly tucked his chin on your head, wrapping his arms around you from behind as he slouched over you. “You alright?”

“Quiet,” he answered gruffly but you didn’t need his response for an answer. You felt his heart pound rapidly in his chest, his breathing coming out in deep stutters, and his hands shaking from where it overlapped over you. Your eyes softened and you leaned back against him, reaching up to hold his trembling hands with yours.

Like Avdol and yourself, he was just as terrified as you were; scared of the idea of his plan not working and sacrificing everyone’s lives in vain.

“Do you want to keep holding me as we walk? Or should I give you a minute to calm down?”

His arms tightened around you and his cheek pressed itself on your head. “Keep walking… we don’t want to lose track of the old man…”

You huffed and patted his hand, smiling. “Okay.”

---

Evening came by earlier than they had anticipated.

By the time they arrived at their hotel, Kakyoin was there waiting patiently in the lobby. Once the doors opened to the group, he turned around and approached them with a welcoming smile. Last Jotaro saw him, his eyes were bandaged but without them, he saw the vertical scars over and under both his eyes.

“Nice battle scars Nori,” you said with a warm smile of your own as you walked over to give him a friendly pat on the arm. “Good to know your eyesight’s still functioning.”

“You’re right,” Kakyoin chuckled. “Still being able to see is great, but it’s not so great to be sensitive to light from now on.”

You shrugged. “It’s a small price to pay. I believe you’ll adjust to it in no time.”

“You’re sensitive to light now?” Polnareff said with a pout beginning to form on his face. “But… But I had plans…”

All three teenagers turned to the Frenchman quizzically. “Plans? Like what?” Kakyoin said in return.

“Hey everyone,” Joseph called out. “Avdol and I will be booking the rooms again with the usual assignments, but a little while after, we’re going to talk over drinks about our plan moving forward.”

“Time’s running short so we’re going to prepare ahead of time just in case we find DIO’s headquarters as early as tomorrow,” Avdol said in continuation. “Anyone care to join us?”

Jotaro couldn’t care less about any of that and would rather act on the spot, but you heard the invitation and immediately chimed in with a quick “I will”.

At this point, he’s not going to deny being disappointed when you decided to be in the grown-up discussion group. He wanted to offer to take another of their casual stroll down the evening streets but apparently, you attended to other plans.

You looked up at him, questioning if he wanted to go with you and he slowly shook his head. You nodded and headed over to the two adults and walked away in the direction of the front desk, leaving him with the boy who had cherries for earrings and a guy with a penchant to do some fuck shit.

“With them on their way, what was it again about your plans? Kakyoin said. “You seemed very eager to talk about it.”

At the mention of nightly plans, Polnareff grinned with that excited gleam in his eyes. “About that! I had a little chat with Mr. Joestar and Avdol about us hanging out tonight! I figured if we’re going to go all out starting tomorrow, might as well have this night for ourselves!”

And some fuck shit it was.

“Oh a night out,” the red-haired teenager said. “That… seems nice. I’d like to do something fun once in a while. What do you have in mind?”

The Frenchman chuckled and slung his arm over Kakyoin’s shoulder. “Oh buddy let me tell you. On the way here, I’ve already spotted a ton of areas we could go to. There’s a nearby arcade with a bunch of games you told me about coupled with similar stuff of that genre. There’s also a bookstore down the street that I could’ve sworn had some of your favorite manga being shown for display.”

“Did you manage to find any VHS stores too? I’ve been wanting to add something to my soon-to-buy list for when I get back.”

“I was about to mention that yes,” Pol said. “There was indeed a VHS store near the arcade. I’m sure we can browse their catalog with something that will interest you.”

“Including the latest releases like The Lost Boys and Full Metal Jacket?”

“You bet your ass, my cherry-licking friend.”

Kakyoin beamed at Polnareff’s eager statement. “You’re quite the persuasive one, aren’t you? Because I’m becoming more interested in joining you.”

Jotaro watched the both of them chat like old-time pals, waiting for his time to insert his opinions on all this. This talk of hanging out for tonight and not once had the Frenchman turned to Jotaro for his input. It seemed like his plans were intended solely for him and Kakyoin only with the way he kept being buddy-buddy with the other teenager in the room. He bit back a scoff and resisted rolling his eyes in annoyance.

Aren’t you forgetting someone, asshole? As if sensing the negative vibe radiating from the delinquent, Polnareff finally turned to him with a cocked brow. “Aha! Looks like someone’s being grumpy today.”

“You think?” Jotaro said, his irritation unfiltered.

The Frenchman walked over to him and placed both hands on his shoulders with a sigh. “Jotaro, my cigarette-smoking little brother, I really do want to include you in our nightly exploration but I’m gonna have to seat you out on this one buddy.”

“And why the hell would you do that?”

“You see, in addition to all the aforementioned locations I shared, I actually intend to divulge our cherry friend here with some juicy Polnareff secret techniques on the way.”

“Secret… techniques?” Kakyoin asked in the background.

At that, Pol grinned and said, “I intend to teach him the ways of talking to the lady folk, and not just the getting to know them phase of it, but including the whole consistency of keeping it close with them for the long run.”

The red-haired teenager choked on his spit. “What?”

Oh, hell no. Almost immediately, Jotaro shrugged off the Frenchman’s hands off his shoulders with a deadpan expression. The action only made him smile wider as he raised his hands in surrender. “I told you. You wouldn’t like it.” He looked over at Kakyoin. “I mean, why would I give the basics to a lady killer like our delinquent friend over here?”

“Hey,” Jotaro grumbled.

“Ah my bad, monsieur. What I meant to say was why would I teach the basics of finding love when Mr. Bad Boy already had set his eyes on one?”

Polnareff glanced over at Kakyoin, who got the memo and smirked after him. “You’re making all the convincing points tonight, Pol.”

Between the two of them snickering to themselves, Jotaro’s cheeks fumed at the blatant observation made. How did they- why would he- “You… you…”

“Now, now.” The Frenchman slung his arm over the delinquent’s shoulders, this time making sure the latter didn’t shrug him off. “Don’t try to deny it. As a citizen of the City of Love, I can tell who’s after who just by a couple of tells and some signs here and there.”

What he wanted now was to bury himself in the dirt, never to reappear while they were here. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“It’s really obvious,” Kakyoin said. “Even I can see something is going on between you two.”

“Now, even if I can’t offer you the beginner’s guide to love,” Polnareff said next. “What I can offer are some words of advice on how to officially get the girl~”

“What do you-”

“Confess. He means a confession,” Kakyoin supplied succinctly.

His face grew a couple of degrees warmer as he glared at the grinning adult. “Fuck off.”

Much like you, the Frenchman continued with his speech regardless. “Alright listen up. The way to ensure guarantee in sealing the deal to her heart is to find somewhere secluded that’s also scenic.” Jotaro kept silent, admittedly listening to whatever he had in mind. “And then-”

Pol pulled away only to splay his arms wide open and break out in the most dramatic way of giving advice. “You proudly speak your heart out and say ‘Je n’arrete pas de penser a toi ma cherie!’ Then the fireworks explode, the crowds burst into applause, and the musicians start playing in the back-”

The delinquent whacked him firmly behind the head before he could spill more nonsense into the air. “Shut up. Your ramblings are going nowhere.”

“Since he’s been projecting too much of his ideal date, let me pitch an idea that could work for the likes of us more… reserved folks,” the other teenager piped in as the the Frenchman rubbed his head. “Pol’s right in one thing and that’s the seclusion. When you get there, you could start by easing your way into confession by opening a casual conversation. Only when you both are settled in good spirits you start telling her honestly about what you’re feeling towards her.”

“After all, nothing’s more genuine than simply saying the truth.”

Polnareff stared at Kakyoin with surprise and awe. “You know your stuff.”

“I don’t actually. I was just saying some stuff out of my head based on common courteous practices.”

“Both of you, look at me.” The delinquent’s voice brought both their attention back to him, who was least pleased about being the subject of their conversation. “Do I look like I’m able to do whatever the hell you just mentioned?” Neither replied. “Also, why are we even talking about this? Aren’t you two supposed to go out on your nightly escapades or whatever the fuck you said it was?”

“Because I mentioned about picking up ladies and said you couldn’t come because you’re already crushing on-”

“I’m not- Shut up!”

“Jotaro-ssi!” On cue, his heart skipped a bit at the sound of your voice. Everyone turned their attention to you by the stairs. “Mr. Joestar managed to convince maintenance to open the rooftop. You should come check it out!”

He quickly composed himself with a cough and nodded, standing more upright and pocketing his hands to at least keep his cool image intact amidst the flustered nature of his state. “O-Okay…”

Both Kakyoin and Polnareff smirked to themselves and gave him a supporting thumbs-up only for the delinquent to glare holes into their souls before following you up the stairs.

---

“Seems like I caught you in the middle of a conversation with the boys. Mind telling me what it’s about?”

You looked over your shoulder and found him shying away from your gaze. “It’s nothing important. Pol just wanted to hang out with Kakyoin and do some exploration around the city. That’s all.”

“Why didn’t you join them?”

Jotaro didn’t reply for a minute, and then he did. “I wasn’t interested…” He turned to look at you. “How about you? I thought you were busy talking with the old man. Got bored?”

“I was.” You tossed him their room key which he caught. “But after a while, Mr. Joestar got a bit too tipsy with the whiskey and proceeded to ramble about some lady he met somewhere in Japan, but he was all over the place with the details.” You chuckled. “And so I excused myself and a thought came into mind… that maybe you’d like to stargaze with me if you weren’t busy.”

He hummed. “That… sounds nice.” You smiled and continued up the last batch of stairs before reaching the door that waited for them at the top. With a gentle twist, it swung open and the two of you stepped out onto the rooftop.

Above them, the night sky was dotted with hundreds of blinking stars, glowing faintly alongside the moon in the darkness that blanketed the warm glow of the city below. You walked over to the middle of the space and settled down onto the cool concrete, bunching your knees to your chest as you took one deep breath.

The door softly clicked behind you, followed by a pair of footsteps approaching you. For a moment, there was a shuffle of fabric and just as you were about to check what it was, Jotaro had already draped his gakuran over your shoulders, as if on reflex, and sat on the spot beside you.

You held onto the edges of his uniform and tugged them over your body, smiling wider as a familiar warmth engulfed you. For a moment, none of you talked to the other and let the calm evening air fill the silence. You simply gazed up at the sky with awe and watched the tiny orbs of light twinkle.

“Back when we were in the desert, I haven’t noticed how pretty the night sky was here,” you said. “I know you’ve seen them before, but tonight, they’re just as pretty as last time, weren’t they?”

“Mm.” Your eyes still faced the stars but from your peripheral, it wasn’t the case for the delinquent. Not when his head was slightly tilted in your direction when he hummed his answer. Your hands gripped his uniform a bit tighter as you could feel your heart beat faster.

“What are your plans after all this?” You asked.

“After what?”

“After killing DIO… saving your mom… what then?”

A brief pause. “I guess… go back to studying, resume our days as high school students, and do some other stuff…” And then another pause. “Like… visiting a beach in Tokyo. Preferably during sunset or sunrise…”

You glanced at him and felt your lips curl into a smile before you let out a faint giggle. “You still remembered that?” He nodded once. “It was such a random thought though.”

“Not to me. It wasn’t.”

This time, you nodded back with nothing to say. You let go of his uniform and instead fiddled with your fingers as an indiscernible feeling bubbled in you, one that had your stomach filling with butterflies and your chest fluttering with every word he spoke during this moment.

There was that comfortable silence yet again, nothing but the gentle breeze, the faint noise of urban life below, and the occasional chirp of a bird or two to create the ambiance the both of you basked in.

But then, the delinquent shifted from where he sat, and when you looked over to see what he did, you saw him pat his pant pockets with furrowed brows and pink-tinted ears. You had a question about what he was doing, but it was left unsaid when something thin and solid pressed against your chest.

You reached inside his uniform’s pocket and pulled out a small paper bag. “What’s this?” You asked him but all he did was stare at the bag with wide eyes and reddened cheeks. “Did you buy something embarrassing?” You teased as you undid the flap and opened it. “Well, I promise not to tell everyone that you bought…” You pulled out the item in it and your words trailed off.

In your hand was an intricately made cherry blossom hair comb with small golden leaves and tiny rhinestones at the center of each rose-gold flower.

“You… bought this?” Jotaro shied away, nodding once as he held his hat over his eyes. “I mean… it’s gorgeous. It must have been expensive too. But why… would you spend money on a pretty thing like this?”

“I… saw it for sale and…” He curled in on himself as he mumbled the next words. “I wanted to give it… to you…”

What? You held the comb gingerly in your hands and began fidgeting it around, feeling every smooth and rough texture of the accessory. “You bought this… for me?”

Jotaro took a deep breath and faced you with every inch of his cheeks and ears now red. He gestured for you to give the comb to him and with you short-circuiting at the moment, you did what was asked. His eyes narrowed into shy squints as he mumbled, “But let me at least do this…”

Your cheeks grew warm significantly as you inched closer to him. With deft fingers, he tucked any stray hair you had behind your ear and slid the comb’s metal teeth carefully through your locks until it rested neatly on the side of your hair. Once finished, the delinquent gave it one more look over at you and nodded again, before turning away flustered.

No matter how much you sat in silence, your heart couldn’t stop beating hard ever since he gave you that gift, your fingers constantly toying with each other as you processed whatever you had going on in you. You thought back to the times he was there and in doing that, you realized how often he stayed by your side ever since meeting him at school all throughout the whole journey.

At first, you hadn’t thought too much of it. Jotaro was your first true friend you made since your transfer to Japan and you read all the gestures he did for you as platonic, but now, you considered the other option that lie past mere friendship.

All those times where he seemingly just stared at you as if honey dripped from his eyes, that moment where he had found and shielded you with his entire self during your breakdown, his bashful blushes, his willingness to cuddle when he wasn’t the type to do such things.

When he chose to reciprocate and open parts of himself that were hidden beneath his stoicism in the submarine and to be vulnerable in your arms after he distracted your possessed friend away from you, as if to compensate for his inability to communicate his feelings. And now, he had a thoughtful gift he bought for you.

Could it be because…

You glanced at him again and found the delinquent to be focused on the floor, still flustered from minutes ago. Could you actually be feeling this way? You didn’t want to jump to conclusions and possibly make things awkward between you two, but you just had to ask and seek an immediate answer.

To know and confirm whether or not the feelings you recently recognized you had, were mutual.

“Hey…” You started, timid and hesitant, but Jotaro looked over at you as he always did when you called for him. “I… have something I need to get off my chest and you have no other choice but to listen or else I’ll go crazy.”

He huffed and motioned you to continue.

Here it goes. “Take this with a grain of salt or whatever, but I’ll just say it outright. Right now. You can react to it however you want to react, except bursting into a scoff or laughter because I will beat you to the ground for making this embarrassing for me-”

“Good grief. Just say it Y/N-”

“I like you!”

And then the silence returns, more palpable than ever before. You were a blushing mess as you finally blurted out those three words, your chest thundering and your hands clenched into fists on your lap. On the other hand, Jotaro was speechless… a different type of speechless. He stared at you with widened eyes with a blush as deep as yours.

You pressed your lips together and averted your gaze away from him, clutching his uniform tight as you tried to make yourself small. “There… I said it. I think I felt that way ever since Singapore… or maybe even before that. I’m honestly not sure but I had these feelings for you for some time now.”

No response.

And with every second that passed, your embarrassment grew further until it was your turn to raise your voice at him out, flustered. “Could you say something? Your thoughts perhaps? I’m dying over here!”

“You said I could react however I want, right?” You turned to face him with furrowed brows and nodded. “Then feel free to slap me if I ‘reacted’ too much.”

“What do you-”

Your words were left unsaid as Jotaro leaned forward to softly press his lips on yours. You gasped against his kiss, your body stiffening and your heart clawing its way out of your chest.

It was over before you could process or do something in return. He slowly pulled away and hovered near your face, his breath fanning with yours. His hooded gaze found yours and this time, you couldn’t respond. You stared into his aquamarine eyes and waited if he’d continue.

“Jotaro-ssi, I…” He abruptly stood with pressed lips, a choked sound fleeing his throat as he immediately tipped his hat over his heated cheeks and rushed to exit through the door with tense shoulders, closing it behind him.

You sat there for a moment, your mind reeling from the additional surprise the delinquent had for you.

It was mutual. He did like you the same way you liked him.

The floral comb adorning the side of your head seemed to bloom with your emotions. At that thought, a smile blossomed on your face as you lightly touched your lips, still feeling the ghostly touch of his kiss. Now, you want to return it properly.

You got up with his gakuran still draped over you and exited the rooftop.

He couldn’t have gotten that far. If anything… You walked down a couple more flights of stairs to the second floor where your room was. You did give him the room key so if your hunch was correct then, he should be in there. You stopped before your designated hotel room only to see the door was left ajar.

You stepped inside and softly closed the door behind you. Walking further inside, you scanned the sleeping space for any sign of the delinquent. The bed was untouched and the chair was still tucked under the desk, but the glass door to the balcony was open. With the moonlight shining through the curtains, his silhouette was made obvious.

With the same adoration you held, you crossed over the room and stepped back out into the cool evening air. You turned to the side and there he was- sitting on the bench with his hand covering his face.

You silently approached and sat on the empty spot beside him. “Hey…”

Jotaro lowered his hand to his side and still without looking at you, he muttered a quiet “hey.”

Knowing he wouldn’t be able to make the next move, you inched closer to him until your shoulders touched his. “You know… you kinda left before I could say how nice that felt…”

“… Y-You… liked it?”

“Mhm. Just as much as I like you,” you said with a soft smile. You reached up and tenderly cupped his cheek. “And it wouldn’t be fair to you if I don’t return the favor, right?” The delinquent stared at you with shining eyes and subtly leaned on your palm, nodding once.

With your hand guiding his face close, you closed your eyes, leaned forward, and pressed your lips to his. You felt him reciprocate immediately, melting under your touch as he tilted his head to deepen your kiss. You drew back to catch your breath before he sought your lips again. His hands slowly held your waist just as yours held his nape.

This was nice.

It felt… right.

Every time one of you pulled away, the other would return for another and another, already growing addicted to the blossoming affection you mutually shared. In the middle of your kiss, you couldn’t help but smile against his lips and let out a soft giggle as he kept peppering kisses with his smile mirroring yours.

Eventually, you managed to hold back from seeking another by placing two digits between both of your lips. Without masking it, Jotaro pouted a bit as you drew away from him.

Shortly after, both of you remained sitting outside under the stars with your head resting on his shoulder and your hand in his, fingers interlocked with each other. “Guess we’re more than friends now, hm?”

“Yeah… it seems so.”

You chuckled and nuzzled his neck before tucking your chin on his shoulder. “Does this mean we get to call each other with cute petnames now?”

“Don’t get that started,” The delinquent scoffed. “I’m not calling you ‘baby’ or ‘sweetie’ or some other cutesy stuff like that.”

You scrunched your face with him at the mention of those two words. “Oh, hell no. I wouldn’t call you either of those too. I was actually thinking of making our own unique petnames.”

Jotaro cocked a brow and glanced at you. “You have something in mind for me?”

You gazed at him for a solid minute as you thought of what to call him. As you studied his features, you couldn’t help but notice the stars twinkling in the sky behind him and the star-shaped birthmark he had on his skin, and suddenly a thought came to mind.

The lone star glimmering in the darkness of your nightmares, its single light serving as your warm beacon of hope amidst the cold reminder of a forgotten past.

“Starlight.”

You uttered on a whim, the petname coming out naturally. You kept a close look at him and gauged his reaction, hoping it elicited some sort of positive response.

And you got one wherein he covered his mouth and turned away from you, body shaking slightly trying to stifle in a laugh. “Yah!” You swatted his arm and whined, your cheeks growing multiple degrees warmer. “Why are you laughing?!”

He cleared his throat and composed himself. “Sorry. It just came out…”

You narrowed your eyes at him and would’ve called all this off if it hadn’t been for Jotaro squeezing your hand as his way of apologizing and acknowledging your effort. “Well, if you’re gonna laugh about it, how about you try making one for me and see how I react?”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me a second.” He looked over at you and his playful gaze turned fond as he reached into the crevices of his mind to make something up for you. During the whole time, you couldn’t help but feel shy when he looked at you with mild intensity.

With the same soft tone you had when you said his petname, Jotaro said:

“… Sunshine.”

For a split second, your heart skipped a beat at his deep voice saying something as sentimental as ‘sunshine’, but instantly recognizing that fact had resulted in you hiding your mouth behind your hand as you bit back a laugh.

“Oi.”

“See? Not so funny when I laugh at your attempt at a cute name, huh?” You sighed and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek to say she didn’t mean to mock him trying. “Alright, maybe the petnames weren’t meant to be.”

“I think it’s for the best.”

“Should I just stick to calling you ‘Jotaro-ssi’ then?” You said with a teasing little tilt of your head.

“If that’s what you’re used to, then call me that all you want, Y/N-san,” Jotaro said, looking at you with a tiny smirk.

You let out a petulant “hmph” and laid your head on his shoulder, making yourself comfortable with him by your side. In return, he leaned his head on yours.

Even though you treated the petnames as a joke, you tucked your creations in a safe, cozy vault in your memories, holding them close to your heart with affection and care.

Starlight and Sunshine.

… I love it.