#anyway. cough cough. if anyone wants to suggest the best way to get into chess i certainly would appreciate it

[walterdecourceys]

i really need to watch chess i'm sure i'd love it but i just do not have the mental energy for it

[emiewritesthings]

doctor, doctor - jay halstead

jay halstead x fem!reader

summary: in which y/n takes it into her own hands to look after a sick jay 

a/n: i’m not gonna lie i think this is one of my fav things i’ve ever written, i would really appreciate some feedback and p.s the beginning of it is based on that scene from brooklyn 99 :)

masterlist

“okay, it’s 10 o’clock, meaning halstead is officially an hour late to work,” y/n announced as she appeared from the break room with a mug of poorly made coffee. looking around, she had immediately distracted everyone in the room with her playful smile. “okay let’s do this, theories!” she encouraged, taking a sip with excitement, but immediately regretting it as s he spat it back in the mug and abandoned it on adam’s desk as she leant against it.

“uh, he forgot to set his alarm?” antonio suggested, willing to play along with the little game that y/n had created. however clearly his answer didn’t suffice as y/n scrunched up her nose and shook her head in disappointment.

“you are a detective in a unit that just last week rescued 5 people kidnapped and used as chess pieces in a human sized version of the game and the best you could come up with is he forgot to set his alarm? pfft, disappointing, dawson. who’s willing to take this seriously?” she scoffed, brushing his idea off with a simple roll of the eyes as the group laughed at her ridiculousness. 

“maybe he has been murdered by a gang looking for revenge.” adam piped up, earning a sudden and rather forceful slap on the back as y/n cheered. her eyes looking over at antonio as she gestured towards the less experienced detective.

“yes, that’s what i’m talking about. bit dark, ruzek, but better than dawson’s,” y/n hummed, adam clearly pleased with the praise he had received by the pretty detective. “any one else wanna shot?” she offered it out into the room, suddenly the sound of rolling wheels on the chair had everyone turn to face al who was munching on a ham sandwich.

“he walked into the middle of a drug ring, slept with the kingpins daughter and is now having limbs removed, one by the hour.” suddenly an eery silence fell in the bullpen as al suddenly disappeared back to his desk and everyone was left with an image that she was sure was burned on the inside of everyones mind.

“uh, okay, someone might want to arrange a psych check for olinsky asap,” y/n mumbled, pointing in the direction where he had once been and looking around as if checking that she hadn’t been the only one to hear al’s suggestion. “anyways, all of you are wrong. clearly he has joined a motorbike gang and now makes his money on the road striking off names on the government’s hit list.” 

just as the room erupted into discussion about how idiotic this conversation was, as well as their ideas, the sound of footsteps caught y/n’s attention as she arrived at her desk. however as he reached the floor, the reason for his absence was clear.

“woah, you look like death.” adam chuckled, it immediately being silenced as jay sent a deadly glare his way. with his skin paler than normal with undertones of green, a layer of sweat draped over his forehead. jay flashed as smile at y/n as he passed, reaching his desk and collapsing on his chair with a wince. 

as everyone went back to what they were doing, y/n found herself straying her eyes away from her computer screen for longer and longer periods of time until she found herself by his side with a sickly sweet grin, pun intended. 

“i don’t wanna hear it, y/l/n.” jay mumbled, massaging his temples with his fingers hoping it would somehow sooth his pounding skull. whilst usually he had every minute of his day just to hear the woman chat away about whatever crossed her mind, he had found himself in quite the state since last night, leaving him restless and irritable.

“believe it or not, i just wanted to make sure you were alright,�� y/n’s entire demeanour crumbled as she melted at the soft features of his face that came with being so vulnerable. but from the look in jay’s eyes, it was clear he didn’t 100% believe her excuse. “and to ask what the hell you think you are doing here? you are sick jay, you need to rest.” 

it was very rare that jay found himself ill. in the years that y/n had been working by the man’s side, she could count on one hand the times she had seen him with so much as a cough. in fact she had called him captain immune system for a period of time when she realised he was pretty much indestructible. y/n couldn’t deny the concern bubbling in her gut seeing him so weak.

“i’m fine,” with her eyes slitted in a look that practically shouted ‘bullshit’, jay continued. “i promise, it’s just a little cold. nothing serious, i think i’ll survive.” he joked dryly, finding it incredibly hard to look away from y/n for her eyes were filled with a warmth that he knew was an expression usually saved for those she cared deeply about. 

“yeah well, you need to take care of yourself, jay, i’m being serious. chicago can cope if you just have one day off, get your energy back.” 

y/n was reminded of the times she had the exact same words spoken to her by the exact person that didn’t seem to want to take them onboard. every time she had so much as a sniffle he would be straight over with some soup that his mother used to swear by and the name of a box set that he would put on for the two of them to watch as he sat stroking her hair in order to try and convince her body to rest. neither of them had anyone else to take care of them, so had taken it upon themselves to be that person for the other. 

“now, i’m gonna go tell voight that i’m taking you home before you infect this whole office.” before he could object, she had already ran (not literally but jay was impressed by her speed walking) to her boss’ office. knocking on the door, with a sweet smile and a sea of words running off her tongue so quickly that voight had to agree just to shut her up, y/n returned by his side. “come on, germ face, your carriage awaits.” 

“you know i love it when you talk dirty to me, y/l/n.” winking at her, y/n giggled as she supported him back down the stairs and out of the station. the two chatted away, y/n explaining how she thought al was secretly a sociopath and jay filing her in on the newest instalment of his apartment block drama until they pulled up in front of jay’s apartment building. 

as they walked through the door, jay’s arm resting around y/n’s shoulders as he struggled to find strength, they managed to reach the sofa before y/n’s body gave up. both of them letting out large breathes before looking at each other and falling into laughter. 

“you hungry, i could try making your mom’s soup?” y/n asked, as she pushed herself up to look down at the man. her hair falling down around her face and tickling jay’s skin. “i’m sure it won’t be as good as her’s but i’m willing to give it a try.” 

the way she was sat with the large window gleaming light behind her, y/n almost looked like an angel. her eyes and smile were wide, with her beauty wrapping its hands around jay’s neck squeezing until his head felt light and he nearly reached up to touch her porcelain skin. but jay had noticed the sensation way before he was blocked up with a cold.

“yeah, uh, that sounds nice.” jay agreed with a minimal amount of sass, but y/n didn’t seem to notice as she moved off the cushions and towards the kitchen. she had pretty much memorised the recipe when jay had finally given it to her on her birthday after offering to pay for it multiple times. whizzing around the kitchen, she was too busy to notice the tired eyes admiring her from afar. 

jay wished his mom was alive to see the woman that she would have loved. all the times he had brought girls back to his family when he was younger didn’t add up to an ounce of the beauty and power that y/n held in her middle finger. the way she bit back at his wit, but also had the ability to spot when he was upset from the other side of the city. she was everything her mother wanted in a daughter in law, everything she wanted for her little boy. 

“okay, give me your honest opinion. i can take it i promise.” y/n sudden appeared with a tray that held a large bowl of the semi-thick orange liquid, a glass of water and a couple pills. approaching jay, she carefully helped him up from where he laid and placed it onto his lap. “actually that was a complete lie, do not tell me the truth. i may just cry.” 

“why thank you, nurse y/l/n.” he teased.

“it’s doctor actually.” she quipped back.

jay chuckled lowly, as he grabbed the spoon and took a large spoonful to his mouth. feeling the slight sting of his tongue at the heat, it was only when the flavours hit that he was suddenly transported to an earlier time in his life. a simpler time. only this time there was y/n by his side. 

“the verdict?” she prompted, taking a seat besides him, pulling her knees up to her chest. 

“not sure whether i want to tell you, don’t think you’ll fit in this room if your ego grows any bigger.” y/n grinned as she leaned over to press a kiss against his shoulder. jay closed his eyes at the contact, feeling the ache in his body freeze for a moment as it registered the tingling sensation. “all jokes aside, it really is good.” 

“i’m glad, your mother was a smart woman.” she nodded, leaning forward to turn tv on. jay continued to spoon the soup into his mouth, as y/n chose a show that they both had started together and had refused to watch another minute without the other. y/n leaned back making herself comfortable, having already texted voight telling him that she would most likely need the entire day off, and getting the go ahead, she had no plans other than being by jay’s side for the next however many hours. 

it was sometime in the early evening and the tv continued to emit light, but neither jay nor y/n was paying any attention to the drama. jay, with his head on y/n lap, was leaning into her touch as her short, thin fingers ran through the dark strands that sprouted from his scalp. his body wrapped in a blanket that y/n had grabbed from his room, he felt completely at peace. 

“you know what, i think you are more bearable when you are at death’s door.” y/n joked quietly, as the forest green eyes were exposed back to her own. jay groaned in annoyance, realising that there was no sweet y/n without the sharped tongue y/n. a trait he adored, but at his own expense. 

“and to think i was starting to think you had gone soft on me, y/l/n.” he hummed, wishing he could forever have her giggle on repeat wherever he went, for the sound made goosebumps run down his neck and down his arms, like some kind of magic that only y/n possessed. 

“as much as i love you, i can’t risk my bad ass reputation for you.” 

although jay was sure it was just part of her banter, the moment the ‘i love you’ fell off her tongue, he found himself wide awake, unable to push past the feeling in his gut as it looped over again and again in his mind. y/n could see the conflict in his face, as he glanced up at her with something she had never noticed before. 

“you mean it?” he asked. 

“mean what?” confused, her fingers fell from his hair, making jay regret ever opening his mouth.

“do you really, you know, love me?” he knew he had committed too far to try and retreat. maybe he could blame it on the fact he couldn’t think straight, although she was like a lie detector that wouldn’t let such a bogus excuse pass. y/n blinked down at him, watching as he sat up to look at her with a hunger that needed to be addressed. swallowing the lump in her throat, y/n nodded.

“of course, you are one of my best friends, jay.” it was true, but it wasn’t the full truth, both of them knew that.

“i didn’t realise we had started lying to one another,” jay’s eyes were soft, as he reached to place his hand against her cheek, smiling as she slowly leaned into it. closing her eyes, she tried to find what direction she was looking for, but didn’t dare take the first step. without even thinking, jay jutted forward and captured her lips before they could form a single syllable. 

gently, but passionately, jay and y/n moved their lips against the others. the feeling was ever-growing as the kiss deepened and deepened until they had no choice to pull back, deprived of their ability to breath. as jay’s eyes came back into view, y/n, for the first time in her life, had lost the ability to form a sentence. 

“we just...” she began but it ran off quickly. jay chuckled.

“we did.”

the two sat in silence, examining the other one’s face until y/n found herself moving forward until she was sat in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist as she pressed her lips against his. just like before their bodies and minds were set ablaze with desire and what had remained unspoken for what felt like forever. jay had nearly completely forgotten about the illness that had put him in the care of the woman that he craved more than anything else the world had to offer. 

as their lips parted ways, suddenly the air had thinned and everything felt... normal. jay’s lips were unable to break out of the large grin mould that y/n had put them in, which was soon mirrored by the young woman. a small giggle escaping her lips.

“if i get whatever it is you have, i expect the exact same treatment.” 

“only for you, doctor y/l/n.”

[minervahopebeyond]

Blood petals.

Chapter 22: High (on Felix felicis) <part 2>

Getting back his Sundays with Weasley was a relief. He missed him so much.

They chose not to play chess that day so they could catch up on everything. They absolutely prohibited anyone from joining them (something that Granger and his best friends understood, but Potter did not).

It was warm outside. This was probably Draco’s favorite time of the year, when it wasn’t too hot or too cold and everything smelled nice. He was sitting with Weasley near the lake, enjoying some peace after this awful months.

“Did Harry told you that he can’t play the last game of the season?” Draco frowned at him. “Yeah, it sucks. Snape put his detention on the same day at the same hour.”

“Detention?” Weasley, then, looked at him, confused.

“Yes, detention. For the curse, ferret. You were there.” Draco said ‘Oh...’ in a low voice. “Ginny was super pissed, she thought that maybe you suggested it to him, since he is your godfather and-“

Draco lost his cool at that.

“I fucking didn’t. Yes, I was mad. Yes, I ignored the golden boy and stayed here but I’m not petty. This was Severus idea. I can talk to him tomorrow if you want.”

Ron shook his head softly, looking at the lake.

“I don’t think Snape is asking too much. Harry could have been expeled for what he did.” He sighed. “And Harry wouldn’t want you to talk to him either. He kind of had a discussion with Ginny at the burrow. She said that he was acting like he didn’t care about the cup; and Harry said that he clearly wanted to play, but he actually had other worries in his life that weren’t quidditch.” Draco gasped dramatically.

“Never let Mr. Potter hear that. He would never recover from the heartbreak.” Weasley chuckled and looked at him with kind eyes.

“I missed you, ferret.”

“I missed you too, weasel.” He said smiling at the redhead”

———————

The exams were near and Draco couldn’t help but to think that it was all so <cite>useless</cite>. He wanted to read something that would give them an advantage at war, not fucking history of magic. And yes, dark magic is bad but... How were they supposed to defend themselves with the eight offensives spells that were taught at school?

Draco didn’t care if he died, he was dying anyways, but the golden trio needed training (like high level auror training). And the sooner they got it, the better.

Because his friends liked to pretend that they were normal teenagers even though they weren’t, Draco found himself studying at the library with his two best friends and two thirds of the golden trio.

They had asked Severus and McGonagall for a special permit to study all together at the library. Draco was surprised that they had let them. Almost no one could leave their houses after curfew since the begging of the year... But McGonagall seemed to be happy with the request; said that it was good that they were taking care of their studies, and that she cherished Inter-house unity. Severus couldn’t complain after that.

Potter apparently had better things to do than study. The blond boy wished he had came up with an excuse too.

“Draco, at least pretend that you are reading the book.” Said Granger, and Pansy chuckled.

“I think that it’s a-“ He began to say but he was interrupted.

“A waste of time. Yes, Dragon. We know.” Draco glared at him.

“Come on, ferret. Even I’m making an effort. Oh! I know.” Said the redhead as he grabbed his potions book. “If you don’t want to study you can help me with potions. I don’t understand a bloody thing ,and you don’t even read instructions when you brew.”

So he ended up helping the weasel. Or teaching him would be a better term, because he didn’t seem to know even the basic stuff of the subject. Maybe an hour had passed, it was getting really late and he wanted Hermione to call it a night. It had to be her bloody decision, because she had declared herself the leader of their little study group.

Then they heard someone else enter the library. Draco looked alarmed at the door for a second until he recognized Potter.

The boy was rather energetic, he walked towards them with a smile on his face. The weasel widened his eyes.

“And...?” The redhead asked, anxious.

“Done and with time to spare. I thought that I could join you and study for a while.”

There was something rather strange about the boy. His voice was different somehow... The daffodils didn’t even moved when he talked, it was like they didn’t recognize him either.

“Of course, Harry!” Answered Granger with a smile and Draco almost groaned because now they would be there all night.

Then the boy walked around the table to where Weasley and him were.

“Ron can you move a little so I have a place to sit, please?” Draco frowned at that.

First of all: the table was huge and Potter could sit in all the other free places. And second of all: what was going on with him? He was never that polite.The shocking part was that Weasley didn’t even complain, he just moved to the left and let the green-eyed boy sit between them.

“Potter, he was sitting there because I was helping him with potions.” Draco said with an annoyed tone. The boy didn’t seem to notice, he just grabbed the book and passed it to the blond boy.

“Well, I need help too.” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And Draco wanted to know why he was acting so weird. He looked at Granger and Weasley for an explanation, but the other two just had this amused expression on their faces.

“Since when? You’ve been on top of the class since the beginning of the year, Potty.” He said and snorted.

“Are we friends?” The boy asked suddenly. Draco widened his eyes and stared at him. What the fuck?. “Because I think we are, but you never call me Harry. And you call all your friends by their names or by a cute nickname. I don’t have a cute nickname: Potty is the one you use when you want to make fun of me.”

The blond boy was frozen in place. He really couldn’t understand what was happening. The flowers seemed to wake up at that, hearing Potter’s rant about the ways that Draco called him.

“Is Potter high?” Pansy asked raising one eyebrow. Blaise looked quite entertained as well.

“Not exactly.” Hermione responded, trying not to laugh.

“Come on, ferret! Harry asked you a question.” He said with a smug tone. Fucking weasel. At this point, Draco was already blushing.

“Yes, we are friends. Stop acting weird.” Draco said as he passed the pages of the potions book.

“Great.” The boy smiled at him brightly. “Does that mean that you are going to call me Harry or do I get a cute nickname?”

And Draco thought that he was going to die from the embarrassment and the fucking flowers slamming themselves against the walls of his lungs. The only good thing was that Potter was acting so weird that he didn’t even have the concentration to cough. But his face was really red, he felt the heat all over his cheeks and ears. Draco decided to play it safe.

“What, Potter? Do you want me to call you ‘darling’, too?”

He thought that it would be enough for the conversation to be drop entirely, but he was mistaken.

“That would be nice, yes.” Answered the green-eyed boy, and everyone bursted into laughter. Draco blushed terribly.

“If I agree to call you by your stupid name, would you drop this?” And the boy nodded enthusiastically. “Fine, Harry. Salazar, It’s unnatural.”

“I don’t think so, Draco” said the boy with a smile on his face.

When he turned to see the rest of his friends, everyone had this smug look on their eyes. Draco wanted to punch them.

[toxic-gorgon]

Blending: Yomi x Reader

Along with spicy content, I can also write fluff. One of my favorite of the fluff, where reader-chan meets Yomi’s son for the first time.

You knew being in a relationship with a demon would have its challenges, you weren’t gullible after all. Especially someone as powerful and stoic as Yomi, the man can have anyone cowering in fear ridiculously easily, demon or not. Still, you found yourself quite taken with him and him to you. Actually, you’re still not 100% sure how the gods graced you in this way, but no matter how you look at it, the both of you compliment each other and your relationship flourished for just over a year. Now, it was time for the next step. Meeting his son.

He was vague on the types of things his son enjoyed, so you had to use your knowledge to the best of your abilities, good thing you somewhat know what children like, having been around younger cousins and all. This was a first meeting, so it had to be absolutely perfect! If a child has a bad experience, it carries on with them, so your hopes of perhaps someday blending a family with the man you love will be over in a blink of an eye. So, pulling out all the stops, you set out an assortment of snacks. Chips, sweets, crackers, anything a child could possibly want. A little bribe never hurt anyone, right?

You smoothed out your skirt, making sure with all the chaos, you looked presentable too. Ugh, you were terrible with first meetings, but with how Yomi spoke of his son, you knew he would be just as respectable and loving as his father.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sudden rapping upon your door tore you out of your thoughts. Nervously, you stretched a smile across your face and walk towards the door. With a heavy sigh, you open it revealing your demon lover and his young son, Shura. Stepping aside, you wave towards the child.

“Hey, glad you guys can make it. You must be Shura. I’m ___. Nice to meet you.” While Yomi displayed a calm smile, placing his hand on his son’s shoulder and urging him to be friendly, the young boy however glanced up with his ever so scrutinizing gaze. You extended a hand to him anyway. You can’t let him know you’re intimidated.

“Hm?” The boy looked to your hand, then back up at his father. “Father, I pictured her much differently.” Off to a grand start. Yomi squeezes Shura’s shoulder. The boy scoffs, but shakes your hand reluctantly. Your smile never falters, but you move aside to allow the two in.

“Come in, the dining table is in the next room. We can chat in there. I also have drinks and snacks, in case you guys are hungry.” Just like a great hostess, you pointed to the next room. As they come past the door’s threshold and start for the next room, you shut the door, only for Shura to speak up again.

“Father told me not to have high expectations for human dishes. I’m sure it’ll be ok enough.” Your eyebrow twitched. Why that spoiled little….no, he’s just a boy. You cough, forcing out more pleasantries.

“Regardless, I hope everything is to your liking. More importantly, I wish to get to know you, Shura. Your father talks about you all the time.” You follow them into the next room, gesturing them to sit down. On one side of the table, sits Shura and Yomi, while you sit across from Shura, as if you were in an important business meeting. That’s what if felt like, anyway.

Shura’s gaze takes in each one of the goodies spread on the table. Each one he seemed to lose interest in, but rather looks back up to you. “How many men have you been with?” You choked, your eyes widen in disbelief. Why would he need to know that?

“Shura.” Yomi’s firm voice warns his son, to which Shura rolls his eyes.

“Father, I want to be sure she’s serious. I won’t tolerate anyone less than.” Ever so straight to the point.

Placing your hands on the table, you respond, pushing past your insecurities. “Only three, I’ve been in three relationships before your father.” No, you won’t be defeated that easily. Shura just nods, but you can see the wheels in his head are turning. “What about you, Shura? Do you like movies? Games?” You ask, trying to turn the conversation into more a pleasant one. The boy was not having it.

He frowns, a look of irritation plastered on his features. “Don’t treat me like a child. I don’t care for those things.” Ok, you need a new plan. He crosses his arms, pouting. On the inside, you were panicking. Why was this so hard?

“M-My apologies. I’m sorry. Tell me, what do you like then? I would like to get to know you more.” Maybe you can still save this meeting.

“Why don’t you have children yet?” Nope. Your eyebrow twitches again, you knew children asked a lot of questions, but this was over kill. What are you suppose to say? He’s hanging onto your every word, making snide judgments, you can feel it!

“O-Oh. Well, I’ve never found the right man to settle down with. I love children, I really do, but without the right person, I didn’t see a reason to have any.” You spoke the truth, and hoped that was enough. It seemed to be, as Shura nodded, reaching over for one of the chips, and nibbles on it.

His eyes lit up, but he quickly suppresses it. There, you noticed, perhaps you were getting through to him at least a little bit. You reach over and take a carrot from the veggie tray, bringing it to your lips. Now, it was your turn to ask the questions. What better way to gain the boy’s trust than playing his game? If you can’t speak to him like a child, then speaking to him like an adult may gain his favor. You hoped anyway, certainly you don’t have much more room to make mistakes.

“How’s your training going? Your father tells me you’re also into martial arts.” Shura’s eyes lit up again, this time he couldn’t suppress it. Rather, his displeased expression softens into a thinking one.

“It’s going well. I’m still not as strong as father though.” he sighs with a huff. You smile, the fact he was trying to catch up to Yomi was adorable.

“I see. Your father is quite strong. You must look up to him a lot, yeah?” Shura nods embarrassedly, glancing over at Yomi for a second, before turning back to you. There was even a small blush dusting his cheeks, which made him all the more adorable.

“Y-Yeah, well. He better watch it, because someday I’ll beat him!” Determination etched with the boy’s every word, which made his father chuckle proudly, patting his son on the back. You loved it; this could perhaps work after all.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind you will. I would like to see you two spar sometime, if that’s ok?” Shura nods, as he takes another chip. By the look of Yomi’s collected expression, he’s pleased with how this interaction is, as you are. That was, until the boy asked another question.

“If you’re so nice, why aren’t you married?” His words cut through you. Back to square one. How were you going to tackle this one? Every relationship you had, while they didn’t end terribly, was still quite the sore spot. You’ve already spilled your guts to Yomi, to which he understood greatly, but this was a child asking.

“Well, that’s difficult to say. I suppose I’m focused on my career, rather than on marriage.” You weren’t lying; you did take your career extremely seriously. Shura however studied you, looking for any signs of falsehood. He shuts his eyes and nods, accepting the answer.

“Fair enough.” Then comes the awkward silence. You nibbled on another carrot, not yet defeated. This game of wits is far from over. You had to choose what came next wisely, so you went with a different approach. If talking was getting harder to bond with, then a game will surely make him open up.

“How about we play a game? I know, you said you don’t like games, but this isn’t a child’s game.” you suggested softly. Shura arched a brow, but you caught his interest.

“What is it then?” he asks, crossing his arms and sitting up straight, as if trying to intimidate you. You hop out of your seat and leave the room for a moment, shuffling things in a carbonate, before coming back.

You set a chess set on the table, opening up the box, and start setting it up. “It’s chess. It’s a game of strategy and conquest; you can handle it, right?” you sang, issuing the challenge. Shura smirks, excitement twinkling in his eyes.

“What do you take me for? Fine, I accept. I won’t go easy on you, so be prepared.” He leans forward, mapping out the pieces before him. You hold up your palm, sitting down back in our seat.

“Not so fast. For every piece that’s taken, the player must reveal something about themselves. Deal?” The boy looks questionably at you, and then up at his father. With a smile of encouragement, Shura nods, looking a bit less confident. He would admit it to you, he couldn’t show you weakness.

So, a new game of wits begun, and with every piece taken, you each said a fact about yourself. It started small of course, your dislike for certain foods, your hobbies, and such. Shura was a little less compliant, but still played with your rules, and only said facts he felt it was ok for a complete stranger to know. While the game was getting more intense however, the more he loosened up and dropped his stoic act, his inner child coming out. You were getting through to him!

When the game finally ended, Shura was the victor, which he rubbed in your face quite harshly. Pointing and laughing at your defeat, but the payoff was more than worth it. You stand up and extend your hand to the boy, and the boy shook it with a bright smile. “Good game Shura, you got me pretty good.”

The rest of the visit was easy going with the ice officially broken. So, when it was getting late, it was time for Shura and Yomi to go. You opened your front door, saying your goodbyes, giving Yomi a hug, and then Shura one.

“It was great meeting you Shura, I hope to see you again soon.” you smile, waving the two off. You shut the door after they leave, resting your back against it, and letting out the most exasperated sigh you saved up during the whole visit. You don’t know how long you stood like that, but holy shit, that was fucking painful. You couldn’t help but smile though, because there wasn’t a doubt in your mind that it went well, even if it had a rocky start. You were sure Yomi will tell you about Shura’s thoughts during your next date, but until then, you needed a good rest.

Yomi and Shura almost make it back home, before Yomi questions is son. “What do you think of her?” Shura looks up to his father, then straight ahead, deep in thought. A faint blush dusting his cheeks, while he speaks.

“She’s ok, I guess.”

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND Chapter 5

Ahh, finally a good and proper chapter, by my standards anyway. Ok. so the middle picture on the left side is a picture of the interior of the ‘girl’s bus’ and the picture above Greg Blackford aka Luche Lazarus, is the bed’s for the girls bus where as the two pictures to the left of Miracle Laurie, aka Hazel Stevens are pictures of the boy’s bus because the Caelums have a thing for black edgelord while Sylva and the girls prefer white and lighter colors so day and night. ok and then then the necklace on the right of Luche is the necklace Sylva is letting Ada, the gorgeous red head in the middle wear and above that is Luche’s gun, note, neither of them know that they match but Sylva does because Sylva is the best game of life/chess player with people’s lives ever and she’s a BAMF and I love and adore her and want to be just like her when I grow up and again in my head she’s played by the gorgeous and charming Heather Grahm. Also Hazel is AMAZING and a BAMF too. I love and adore her as well. She has a gray morality to her character that I admire because her and Titus both have a ‘family comes first’ mentality. (*cough cough* HEARTH AND HOME *cough cough*) So now we start to see a divide based on loyalties. So seeing how that’s gonna play out and who picks which side is gonna be interesting to say the least. I’ve laid SOME GIANT ASS puzzle peices on the board this chapter, so hopefully everyone can put it together before it’s be a race to see who burns the puzzle table first, Cor or Gilgamesh. And if you look closely you’ll see references to Kingsglaive and FFXV all over the place. (Cor the Immortal Marshal, Luche the traitor) And getting Luche and Ada back together will bring back A LOT of early RaeLena vibes and paralells. SO MUCH PINING. SO CLOSE AND YET SO FFFAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR. (My Eyes Adored You by Frankie Valli reference)

@the-immortal-marshal enjoy, read carefully, I added a bunch of stuff. 

You can go here to AO3 or read below. 

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND

Chapter 5

The next day, Titus had the start of football tryouts and so Hazel went to the hospital, hoping Luche was in town again, since he didn’t seem like he was really with either Luna and her group or Noctis and his in the pictures both groups posted on Instagram or Facebook and knew that he seemed to be blooming into his role of Sylva’s right hand man and she knew Sylva was still in town for the moment so there was a good chance he was with her now.

“Hi, is Mr. Lazarus or Sylva in today?” Hazel asked Kathryn.

“Yes, both are in but Sylva is about to leave for vacation any minute.” Kathryn answered.

“I need to see Sylva then before she leaves.” Hazel insisted just as Sylva left her office.

“Hey!” Sylva greeted Hazel happily.

“Hey, I know you’re about to leave but could I walk you out?” Hazel asked.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” Sylva asked as Hazel left and walked with her to the elevator.

“Um, where are you going on vacation?” Hazel asked.

“Oh, Regis and I are going to tour wine country by train in California for a week then we’re going on a couple of cruises with the kids to Hawaii and then to Alaska why?” Sylva asked.

“Is there any possible way you can take Ada with you?” Hazel asked.

“I can offer but there’s no way Cor will agree to it.” Sylva answered as they stepped into the elevator.

“That’s just it, he needs to because he’s going to get her killed.” Hazel blurted before Sylva stopped the elevator.

“This is a secure elevator and you have my confidence, what’s going on?” Sylva asked as she put her bag down and turned her phone off to make sure this conversation stayed confidential as she turned to face Hazel completely and gave Hazel her undivided attention. ��

“Ok, I’m breaking a cardinal rule by telling you this but you’re the only one who can help. So Cor got close, too close to Gilgamesh, Cor was talking about it over dinner last night in front of God and everyone like a god damn hot headed idiot and Gilgamesh has since taken notice of him and sent a warning, in the form of my sister Charlotte showing up at my door to give the message to Cor myself which I was able to pass off on someone else to try to stay clear of it from Cor’s perspective but Charlotte came to me while Titus was with me and even though I locked him in my bathroom with my 9/11, she referred to him by name which means that now Gilgamesh knows of Titus and he’s my new soft spot and he’s going to be held above my head to keep me in line and he’s in danger and I’m doing everything I can to protect him but Cor and his ego and his god damn mouth and his obsession with Gilgamesh are going to get us all killed. I’m safe because I’m Charlotte’s sister and I’ve been respectful in the past and I know the rules and usually never break them and I’m lawyer-ed up so I’m covered legally. Ada is young and innocent, she has no business in this and if she dies because she’s close to Cor, that’s on him. I can’t say anything to her directly because if I do, that’ll get her killed quicker because I’ve had a tail since college and I’ve just gotten used to the constant surveillance. But if push comes to shove, they will not hesitate to kill her just to send a message to him to back off and I know Gil and Charlie will make me choose between Titus or Ada and them and I can’t do that, I love Titus, I can’t loose him. I can’t go to the authorities because Gilgamesh has moles in everything and I’ll be dead before I can make a statement and it’s because of those moles that I’ve never had any charges and my legal cases have gotten dismissed and never put on my record and it’s why my record is as squeaky clean as it is. Is there any way we can get Luche and Ada back together any quicker? Because if she was back with Luche, she’d be ok because Luche would keep her away from this shit storm.” Hazel explained as Sylva just listened while her eyes got wide as her stomach dropped and knotted.

“If I have to take her kicking and screaming, I will.” Sylva swore.

“Thank God.” Hazel breathed in relief as she leaned on the railing.

“Is there anything that I can do to help you and Titus though?” Sylva asked.

“If push comes to shove, I’ll have to go WitchHazel to get Charlotte out of whatever bind she finds herself in. And I could use access to a helicopter.” Hazel answered.

“Witch hazel?” Sylva repeated.

“I’ve had a few former boyfriends who were Marines, Special Forces and Black Ops, they all died trying to free me of this before and I got to keep all their gear when they died and know how to use it because all of them trained me very well. WitchHazel is what Charlie likes to refer me turning into her one woman army when her regular army fails her. I hate doing it and it’s almost landed me jail time but the moles and my lawyer, who also works for Gil, have been very good at keeping me out of it...so far.” Hazel answered.  

“Absolutely. Whatever you need. You’re family and Titus is family too and a family takes care of itself and each other. I will have the best lawyers lined up- who aren’t entangled in this- if need be and I will make myself and all that I have available for your disposal if, like you said, push comes to shove, however that comes to transpire, I can fly a chopper too if you need me to. Charlotte saved Lunafreya’s life, I owe her myself.” Sylva offered and Hazel broke down crying again as the two women hugged each other tightly. Hazel feeling so much lighter now that she wasn’t carrying that burden alone.

“Thank you so much, please don’t say anything about this to anyone. Not even to Regis, please.” Hazel pleaded.

“Of course, every woman is entitled to their secrets and this will be ours and ours alone.” Sylva reassured her. “Thank you for trusting me with this. I will never betray this confidence, I swear on all my kids’ lives.” Sylva swore.

“I trust you.” Hazel laughed as she pulled herself back together. “I was about to go tell Luche to try to steal Ada back if you hadn’t been here.” Hazel admitted.

“Oh don’t bother, I’ll handle everything.” Sylva assured her as Hazel nodded in understanding. “Is there anything else or is that it?” Sylva asked.

“No that’s it.” Hazel shook her head no and quickly wiped her face as Sylva nodded and resumed the elevator and turned her phone back on and once back on, she found she had a missed call from Kathryn.

“Yes?” Sylva asked.

“Hey, if you’re still in the building, Cor Leonis is here.” Kathryn informed her.

“Great, what bay is he in?” Sylva sighed.

“He’s standing right in front of me at your office, he says it’s really urgent.” Kathryn answered.

“I’ll be right there.” Sylva said as she pressed the top floor again.

“I should get off here, I can’t chance being seen with him while he’s under the microscope like this.” Hazel insisted as she got off the elevator on a different floor to make a clean get away.

“Understood, if you ever need anything, text me or call me or do whatever you gotta do.” Sylva encouraged.

“Will do. Hey would you mind some company on that wine tour?” Hazel asked as she realized her opportunity to make sure Titus was clear of this too.

“Like you and Titus? Doesn’t he have football?” Sylva asked.

“He has an assistant coach.” Hazel shrugged nonchalantly.

“I will text you the particulars.” Sylva grinned mischievously. “And if you’re going to ask him sooner than later, like I suggest ASAP, might I suggest putting on nothing but a sports bra and booty shorts and do one lap around the track, making sure he watches you then go ask him.” Sylva advised before Hazel nodded solemnly to that before the elevator doors closed and Hazel quickly went to the shops down the street to quickly buy just that.

“Hey, funny seeing you up here, without being banged up first.” Sylva teased Cor when she got out of the elevator.

“Haha, very funny.” Cor groused. “Could we talk please? Privately?” Cor asked.

“Sure,” Sylva nodded as she went back into her office.

“Uh, you’re about to meet up with all your kids right?” Cor asked once the door was shut.

“Yeah. We’re supposed to be touring wine country in California by railroad and then meet up with the kids for the cruises to Hawaii then Alaska.” Sylva nodded.

“Could you please take Ada with you and make sure she meets up with Crowe and Libertus?” Cor asked and Sylva blinked in surprise, having thought she would have had to literally bend his arm for him to accept such an idea.

“Yeah, why?” Sylva felt compelled to ask as she eyed him wearily.

“Well I’m getting close to catching Gilgamesh and it’s going to get hot and I don’t want Ada around just in case it gets messy.” Cor explained.

“Uh, ok, yeah sure, how soon until she can get packed? Regis and I are leaving tomorrow morning.” Sylva said as she texted Hazel those particulars.

“When and where will you need her?” Cor asked.

“At my house, we should be leaving the house around 9, after breakfast.” Sylva answered.

“She’ll be there.” Cor promised.

“Does Ada even want to go? I feel I should be asking her that.” Sylva furthered.

“Yeah, she’ll love it.” Cor insisted.

“Alright.” Sylva nodded.

“Just um, could you try to keep Luche away from her?” Cor asked.

“I’ll do my best.” Sylva offered.

“Thanks, I owe you big.” Cor breathed in relief.

“You’re welcome, just don’t go getting yourself killed while we’re gone.” Sylva urged him.

“I’ll do my best. Thank you so much Sylva, I really appreciate it.” Cor nodded before he left, Luche jumping back into his office to avoid Cor seeing him before he poked his head out and narrowed his eyes at Cor’s retreating form.

Soon after Cor got on the elevator Luche felt safe to leave his office and walked down the hall to Sylva’s office to see her walking out of it with a determined look on her face.

“Everything ok Sly?” Luche asked.

“Yes, pack, up, we’re leaving, as soon as you can get ready to go, we need to do some last minute shopping.” Sylva insisted as Luche nodded in understanding as Sylva followed him into his office as he shut his computer down and started packing up for the night as she shut the door for privacy.    

“OK, so change of plans, Cor is up to his neck in something he has no business being in and we’re taking Ada with us tomorrow to get all of us out of the shit show that will most likely go down while we’re away. Hopefully Hazel and Titus will be joining us, you and Ada are going to join the band team, hopefully Titus and Hazel can join Regis and I for the wine tour, then all of us are going to go on the cruises, keep Ada safe. Make sure she stays with the group at all times. Whatever she wants or needs, buy it for her. Use my card, you can even buy her and Crowe things together so it’s not weird. Be friendly, be charming, be gentle and crazy super respectful and not intrusive and try not to actively win her over. Be subtle and she will be magnetically drawn to you. Take this journey over the next three weeks as her friend and confidant. That’s all she’ll want and all she’ll need from you. You have to reestablish the base, the foundation of your relationship and build up from there. But it has to be laid well first. Got it?” Sylva ordered.

“Got it.” Luche nodded.

“Now, you and me are going to do a little shopping, if she’s going to be touring with a rock band she should look the part. You know her sizes still right?” Sylva asked as Luche ducked his head as his cheeks chained cherry.

“Yes.” Luche admitted.

“Good, we’re going to use that. Come on.” Sylva ordered as she nodded towards the door as he finished up and grabbed all the files and put them on Kathryn’s desk.

“We’re both leaving now, see you again in a few weeks ladies.” Sylva bid Abby and Kathryn.

“Bye.” They waived off as Sylva and Luche immediately started shopping.

Meanwhile Hazel was in the backseat of her SUV the school parking lot getting dressed in Sylva’s prescribed outfit before she gave herself a pep talk and strut out towards the field. The other boys noticed her first before Titus followed their line of sight and his jaw dropped, his whistle dropping from his mouth as it hung open as he watched Hazel come closer before she did a little waive and started jogging around the field, causing a distraction for everyone, especially Titus as he watched her breasts bounce and her ass and thighs jiggle as she jogged and barely could handle both the teams exercises and watching her and doing his best not to get a hard on in his shorts and he had never had to think of his grandma in a nighty so much in life to achieve that. He couldn’t even bring himself get mad or irritated as his possessiveness surged so strongly, it nearly undid him.  

“Hi,” Hazel nearly giggled as she caught her breath as she finished her lap around the field, Titus literally turning in his spot so that she was still front and center in his field of vision.

“Hi.” Titus returned as she noticed the sweat bead all over her skin, especially on her heaving chest since the sportsbra was giving her magnificent cleavage.

“So I have a question for you.” Hazel began as she swayed a little in place. “Sylva invited us to tour wine country with her and Regis and I’d love to go, could maybe your assistant coach take over next week?” Hazel asked sweetly.

“Uh,” Titus stammered as his brain was short circuiting having her damn near naked next to him was sending every other thought but her and what he’d like to be doing with her right about now- out of his head.  

“Or if you don’t want to go, I could always come to work with you and keep jogging around the field since I don’t have classes for a while.” Hazel prompted and did her best not to grin too evilly when Titus’ eyes narrowed at the notion as she took his hand and wrapped it around her waist, even though she was sure she was dripping with sweat at the moment but she nearly had him. “Please Baby?” Hazel cooed and Titus was putty in her hands.

“When?” Titus asked as his mouth both watered yet felt incredibly dry at the same time, no other woman ever had this effect on him and he was still getting used to her taking his breath away on a regular basis.

“Tomorrow morning at 9.” Hazel beamed.

“Seems...kind of last minute...” Titus noted.

“I’m being encouraged to go.” Hazel whispered as she stood toe to toe with him and placed her hands on his chest as his arm tightened around her waist as she gave him a meaningful look.

“Oh, you could have just said...never-mind, yeah, we’ll go.” Titus immediately agreed.

“Great, I’ll see you at your place after tryouts.” Hazel winked before she kissed him with promise and pulled herself away and sauntered away, sashaying her hips entirely for Titus’ benefit, making Titus pull every anti-boner image into his brain to keep from reacting to her.

“John?” Titus began before John, the assistant coach came over to him as Titus pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought of how on earth he was going to pay for it all as well as try to pull reason back into his head instead of the onslaught of lust that currently filled it.

“Yeah?” John answered.

“You’re gonna, you’re gonna have to take over, for the next week or so. I gotta...I gotta take care of...something personal, for at least a week.” Titus told him as Titus fought to gather himself together and not run after Hazel to fuck her right then and there as John snorted a laugh.

“Yeah, you have fun with that, I gotcha covered.” John reassured him as he gave Titus a congratulatory pat on the back.

“Thanks.” Titus nodded before he refocused himself back to the training.

The moment Titus came home though, he knew she was already there because her SUV was in her spot in his driveway and came running into the house because he was going to fuck Hazel so hard she wouldn’t be able to walk afterwards, because the moment he dismissed his players and got back into his truck, his cock got so hard he could drill through concrete with it and it would not go down. He noticed her bags by the door, already to go before she came down the steps, his luggage in her hand as she had already been packing for him.

“Hi,” Hazel greeted happily before he grabbed his bag out of her hands, let it drop to the floor as he walked her over to the closest wall and immediately started stripping all her clothes off roughly while kissing her fiercely.

“Oh wow,” Hazel gasped as she responded in kind and started stripping him out of his clothes too before he picked her up and pinned her to the wall and impaled himself quickly and roughly into her, her own wetness and the river of precum dripping from his head making that feat easy and making her moan and cry out in ecstasy as he growled, moaned and hissed in pleasure before he started up an enthusiastic and vigorous pace, slamming into her so hard, her whole body was shaking and they were threatening to put a hole in the wall in the shape of Hazel’s upper body as her legs tried to wrap around his waist since she was already clinging to him with her arms around his neck and shoulders. “Oh my God.” Hazel whimpered as Titus bit and sucked on all of her hot spots as his hands dug into her luscious curves, his fingertips especially digging into her ass as he used his hold on her that way to keep her up while the rest of him pinned her to the wall. Her breasts smooshed up against his pecks and her amazing soft belly rubbing up against his as her whole body began to writhe from the pleasure he was giving her as her keens and whimpers grew more loud and desperate and her face flashed pain as he hurtled them both closer to release and once attained, they both simply clung to one another, their heads resting on the shoulders of the other as they caught their breath.

“The next time you pull a stunt like that again, I’m fucking you like this at the god damn school, I don’t even care who’s around.” Titus warned her as she giggled gleefully.

“Promise? Because you could of, I waited a whole five minutes in the car just in case.” Hazel wagged her eyebrows suggestively with a scheming grin and Titus was ready to fuck her through the God damn wall but right at that moment his body was screaming for a break.

“Come on Baby, go easy on me, the next time you want to do something spontaneous or whatever, all you have to do is ask, you don’t have to go through so much trouble.” Titus reminded her as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Ok,” Hazel agreed before she kissed him meaningfully as he regripped her and went ahead and carried her upstairs for round 2.

Meanwhile, immediately after Cor had left Sylva’s office, he went to Theo and Stacy’s to tell Ada the news.

“Hey Love,” Ada greeted Cor when she saw him stride into the restaurant.

“Hey, you need to get out of here as soon as possible.” Cor insisted.

“What? Why? I have like three tables, and one of them just got sat, I can’t walk out.” Ada argued.

“Yes you can, you need to, you need to go home and pack.” Cor returned.

“Wait, what? Where are we going?” Ada asked, thinking Cor was perhaps about to tell her he was taking them on a surprise vacation or something romantic like that.

“You’re going to go spend the next three weeks with Crowe and all them.” Cor answered.

“Why? Weeks ago you said I couldn’t do that, that we couldn’t afford...” Ada started to argue.

“Sylva will be taking care of you.” Cor interrupted as Ada blinked in surprise.

“Again, weeks ago, you didn’t want her taking care of me at all, you insisted you needed to, what the fuck changed? Does this have something to do with what happened at the restaurant because you haven’t been yourself since then.” Ada demanded as Cor looked around to see if anyone was listening to them before he pulled them to a lonelier place in the restaurant.

“Ada, I’m this close to catching Gilgamesh but if the past is any indication it’s going to get ugly and I can’t have you around just in case it does, you’ll be better off being with your friends, you’ll be safer with them.” Cor revealed, his eyes and his facial expression pleading with her to take him seriously and to understand.

“Well then learn from the past! And keep it from getting ugly then! You said you were always going to keep me safe remember? I always thought and felt that the safest place will be right here with you.” Ada countered as her eyes began to water as her hand spread over his heart. “You said that before I came into your life how you were reckless and how do I know you won’t be reckless again without me here?” Ada asked as her tears started falling from her eyes.

“I swear on my life I will not be reckless but I have to do my job Love. If they try to make this personal, I could never forgive myself if anything happened to you. I can’t risk you Love, I just can’t. Thankfully we have friends who can help ok? You just need to trust me and do this. When it’s all over and Gilgamesh is behind bars and can’t hurt anyone ever again, it’ll be ok and I’ll never ask you to leave me ever again, I swear. Please Love, I know Sylva will take good care of you, she’s doing this as a favor to me, just until things get better.” Cor pleaded as he held her hands in his before Ada just crumbled and rested her head onto his chest before he pulled her into a hug.

“Fine,” Ada consented as she wiped her streaking eyeliner and mascara and left him to go hand her tables over to other waitresses as Cor told Theo and Stacy himself that Ada needed to go away for a while, which they understood as they quickly cashed her out and Ada left with Cor to go home and pack what she could before making love with Cor as much as she could before she left.

Meanwhile Sylva and Luche were still elbow deep in clothes from not just hot topic but every other store in the mall and beyond. Sylva using visual dimensions rather than actual clothing sizes to make sure she got everything she could for Ada, trying to anticipate Ada’s every need and want, from new clothes, to bras and underwear and makeup and toiletries and things, but Luche could tell she wasn’t buying things with joy because she wanted to, she was doing this because she needed to. She was on a mission and Luche really started to worry since Sylva was so intensely focused and her face was a scowl of determination and they had been shopping non stop since the moment they left the office in mid morning to now, which was now the late afternoon.

“Sly, you should get something to eat.” Luche worried as he felt himself grow famished and his arms grow heavy from carrying almost everything, thinking Sylva wasn’t going to stop until she bought Ada’s literal weight in stuff as he pinned the pile of clothes in his arms to the wall and had buried his face into them trying to catch a few moments of rest.

“Uh huh,” Sylva hummed as she tested the jean’s size in her hands, trying to make sure they would fit. A little big would be ok but she didn’t want to get anything too small.

“Mom! Food.” Luche said a little louder with a little more bite and that seemed to snap her out of her haze.

“Huh? Oh food, sorry Lu, you’re probably starving, yeah, let’s just get this and um, hopefully the food court will have something decent.” Sylva shook her head and blinked as she quickly grabbed all the things she wanted to buy and continued to grab things as she walked to the cash register before they gathered the rest of their bags and quickly walked to the food court in the mall and got something to eat.

“So I take it you can’t really tell me the specifics of why Ada is coming with us tomorrow.” Luche ventured.

“Nope,” Sylva shook her head no as she focused on her food.

“Her life is really in danger then.” Luche concluded as Sylva hesitated for the smallest moment.

“And that’s a fucking yes. Fuck.” Luche growled angrily, having grown quite adept at reading Sylva unusually well.

“Luche, listen to me very, very carefully.” Sylva began as she stopped eating and reached out to put her hand over his to prompt him to look up at her.

“Ada is old enough to know there’s risk. Right now she thinks that the reward of being with Cor is worth the risk of staying with him. Your job, if you really love her, is to show her that there is a life outside of him that she could be living and a life she would be enjoying to the full and better off choosing by leaving him and coming back to you but no one can force her or push her to make that decision, she has to choose that on her own without any prodding from anyone. Hopefully over the next three weeks, she’ll be distracted by Crowe and the baby and all her friends and having fun and you need to remind her to live in the moment because the present is all we have. No one’s future is certain. I know you will make sure she is always out of harm’s way and that she’s safe. Even if you have to come off as a little overprotective to everyone else. In a year or so, you’re both hopefully going to look back on the next three weeks fondly. Make sure you make only good, positive memories for you both. That’s all I can tell you right now.” Sylva urged.

“Should I be bringing a gun?” Luche asked pointedly.

“Just in case, yes, because I know Gladio, Iris and Craig already packed theirs and one more couldn’t hurt.” Sylva nodded.

“Ok, after we’re done eating, lets go get one.” Luche proposed and Sylva nodded yes before she quickly finished her plate.

The next morning, Titus, Hazel, Cor, Ada and Luche as well as Rose and Clarus met up at Sylva’s house as Cor talked with Clarus, Regis and Titus while Luche chatted with Hazel about his new gun as she gave him tips on how to use it best as she revealed her own that she always carried in her purse as Rose did the same with her own gun since Sylva had told both Rose and Hazel that she encouraged Luche to get a gun to protect Ada and they were both relieved to hear it and were impressed with his choice.

“Good morning sweetie, I’m so happy you could come with us.” Sylva greeted Ada sweetly as she hugged Ada tightly as Ada had come into the house, knowing Ada probably needed a mother figure right about now as smiled sadly when Ada hugged her back just as tightly.

“Thanks for having me Mrs...” Ada began to thank her as she fought not to cry again.

“Sylva or Mom sweetie, it’s ok. Now I hope you don’t mind, but I got you a few things to help you enjoy your vacation with all the girls ok?” Sylva informed her as she reached up and wiped a stray tear away from Ada’s eye and gave her an understanding look and encouraging smile.

“Oh you didn’t have to,” Ada shook her head as she sniffled and tried to pull herself back together.

“But I wanted to so I did. So I wanted to run something by you first. Now Luche will also be joining the band group as well and he has a joint credit card with me and I instructed him to buy you whatever you want or need since I won’t personally be with you the whole time whereas he will be and I told him to look after you and take care of you and protect you and I trust him to do that while still maintaining a respectful distance, so think of him like your body guard ok? Is that ok with you or would you prefer me to ask one of the other boys? I know Gladio will be abreast of what’s going on soon and I know he’ll gladly be your shadow too, all the boys should be looking out for you and the other girls.” Sylva put to Ada thoughtfully.

“No, that’s, that’s fine.” Ada nodded in agreement.

“OK, so just in case you’re not completely comfortable with Luche paying for every little thing, here’s a thousand dollars to start off with. Use it for whatever you want or need ok? Don’t worry about a thing and if you try to hand in change and receipts to me or Luche or anyone else I’ll be disappointed.” Sylva gently teased as Ada smiled bashfully as she took the envelope full of money from Sylva.

“I know this is going to be really hard on you, just try to enjoy yourself and have fun and stay in the moment. You are and will be surrounded by surrounded by friends who love you like family and a family takes care of each other. Cor is a big boy, he can handle himself and handle himself well, he’s practically immortal at this point, it’ll be ok, he’s just being protective and so am I ok? Also you have my number, use it if you need or want anything ok? Sky’s the limit. Also I’m sending you with plenty of birth control, not that you’ll need to use it, but it’s important to your health that you stay regular ok?” Sylva urged.

“Thank you, so much.” Ada breathed in relief as Sylva gestured to the luggage Sylva had already packed for Ada.

“Also, we’ll be going on two cruises and they’ll be formal nights and I didn’t know your exact dress size so again, let Luche buy you some formal dresses ok? Also, I packed a few jewelry items to wear for the formal nights on the cruises ok? So when we get back, just make sure to get them back to me ok? Otherwise everything else is all yours, including the luggage. Do you like them?” Sylva asked as she unzipped one of the small carry on size suitcases to reveal a few jewelry cases and showed them to Ada as Ada gasped in astonishment, it was by far the most beautiful jewelry she had ever seen in her life as Sylva smiled brightly, knowing Ada would fall head over heels with some of the last of her mother’s favorite jewelry. Also knowing that if Ada would choose to stay with Luche permanently and faithfully, she would have no trouble gifting these pieces to her as another ‘daughter’ to her.  

“Oh my God! Wow! I love them, thank you so much for letting me borrow them!” Ada thanked her as she carefully touched the pieces reverently and fell head over heels in love with them.

“You’re welcome, I just want you to have fun and look fabulous while doing it, that’s all.” Sylva insisted with a shrug but Ada both could feel and see that Sylva was being completely genuine and that meant the world to her too.

“I’ll do my best.” Ada promised.

“And that’s all anyone can ask of you or anyone else. Also I got you some jewelry for you to keep and it’s in this jewelry case here, so when you get on the bus and get a chance to look it over, let me know what you think. I hope you don’t mind but I had to have Luche help me with this because he knows you and your tastes and sizes better than I do and I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable.” Sylva informed her.

“No, that doesn’t make me uncomfortable, that’s fine, that works actually, I haven’t changed much taste wise or size wise since we’ve been together. I’m sure it will all be great.” Ada nodded.

“Well I didn’t let him pick out your more personal and private items so don’t worry about that ok? All he told me was a bra size and a panty size and I sent him packing to pick out shoes and a good pair of rocker combat boots and he never saw any of those items and I packed all these bags myself.” Sylva explained.

“Whew, ok, yeah, that’s perfect.” Ada smiled in relief.

“Good, come on, we should get some breakfast in us before we go.” Sylva insisted as everyone got breakfast then afterwards got going. Luche went ahead and put Ada’s new luggage in the van since they needed two vehicles to cart everyone and all their stuff while Ada and Cor were saying goodbye as Luche kept his back to them, not wanting to see Cor’s tongue down Ada’s throat as he got used to the weight of the gun on his hip before Rose and Clarus promised Ada that they would look after Cor while she was gone which was really reassuring to her too.

“You’re gonna be ok kid.” Titus offered as he sat between Ada and Hazel in the limo before Ada just hugged his arm and rested her head on his shoulder and practically curled up next to him, the way any little girl would to her father and Titus couldn’t help but be reminded of how young she still was and pet her head affectionately, feeling his fatherly instincts kick in as Hazel continued to talk with Luche.

Once on board Sylva gave Ada a mimosa since that’s what she and Hazel were drinking on the plane but Ada only sipped at it as she was still pretty down before Luche just huffed and went behind the bar and got Ada some of Regis’ favorite whiskey, which was the best whiskey on board the plane and put it into a coffee cup as her tea steeped in another before he simply handed both over to her and walked away again, not knowing if he should talk to her right now or not and wanted to be supportive yet not intrusive and he could see she was already feeling down and he found himself feeling powerless to help before Titus saw Luche’s gesture and could only shake his head as he smiled sadly, knowing full well that Luche still loved her and he felt himself become torn because while he was happy for Cor for having Ada, he wasn’t so sure Ada being with Cor was the best thing for her though so he and Regis went over to where Ada was and sat down on either side of her and told Ada about some of the hi-jinks Cor got into not so long ago which did brighten her up and got her to laugh and smile as Luche stayed with Hazel and Sylva to give Ada some space for the flight as Hazel and Sylva both continued to give him subtle yet very vital advise as he listened to their council attentively.  

When they landed, Noctis and his gang as well as Lunafreya and hers were already there, waiting on them, Crowe being the first to run and practically tackle Ada with a hug as the two started crying as they were cackling with laughter as Regis and Sylva pulled their kids aside and told them what was up and how important it was that they all look out for each other and to take care of each other while Luche loaded up Ada’s things onto the girl’s bus which he was not surprised in the least was the nicer bus, with actual potted plants, like aloe and herbs in the windows and loads of fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh flowers in vases and perfectly clean and tidy and had actual air fresheners, making it smell like a flower shop inside a spa, it even had a little mini lawn in the corner for the puppies to do their business while on the road which even that was immaculately clean and didn’t smell of dog mess at all before he went and put his stuff on the guys’ bus and wasn’t surprised to see the carpet stained and covered with dirt and crumbs, junk food and trash and beer cans, both empty and half full everywhere and the fridge crammed full of left overs while the air literally smelled like stale farts and he wanted to hurl and immediately jump ship and get on the girl’s bus. He wanted to take pictures and send them to Sylva, knowing she would bark at her kids to clean the fuck up.

‘Please spend two seconds checking out this stye of a bus that the boys have.’ Luche texted Sylva real quick.

“So let me see how you guys are doing on the bus!” Sylva insisted with forced happiness as she pushed past Noctis and Ignis and the rest of the guys who suddenly looked like deer caught in the headlights.

“Oh my God. Boys!” Sylva snapped angrily as they all hung their heads in shame as she looked it over before noticing at least in the back of the bus where Noctis’ and Ignis room was- was actually really clean and well taken care of, most likely Ignis’ doing.

“All the boys on the boys’ bus now!” Sylva yelled angrily as they all obeyed and got on, none of them looking her in the eye as they all blushed shamefully as Regis came on board and gasped in horror too before looking at his son and his friends harshly as they ducked their heads even lower.

“Really?” Sylva demanded as she didn’t even want to touch the filth as she put her shirt, that she had thankfully sprayed with perfume over her nose for a moment to get a break from the smell as Luche, Ravus and Nyx just shook their heads in the back of the group. Nyx and Ravus at least grateful they were in a group all their own and had kept the Escalade clean at least.

“Who has severe intestinal distress? Because this stench is not normal, did you boys actually drag your asses on the carpet like a cat instead of wiping?!” Sylva demanded as all the guys snickered a laugh before Regis cleared his throat which got all of them to stop immediately as all the girls had gathered at the entrance of the bus and started cackling at that analogy.

“Yes!” Crowe called out before giggling as Libertus glared at her through the window.

“Also, I realize that for most of you, this is your first time away from home and you want to enjoy the rock star life style but I am not hiring a maid for you guys and the girls will not be cleaning this either, you all will. I will be in constant contact with the girls to make sure they don’t have to pick up after you, you are adults, not toddlers and are perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves and each other. Every five minutes on the five minute mark I want to see progress in cleaning this bus and I will be texting all of you for pictures and all of you will be doing your part. I will work out a rotating cleaning schedule if I have to, or better yet, Ignis, since I’m sure you’re the reason yours and Noctis’ space at least is clean, you are in charge of assigning everyone rotating tasks so that everyone does a little bit of everything. Seriously, this is disgusting. And when was the last time all of you showered? Because I smell B.O. too, put on some God damn deodorant- I packed a literal case of it, where is it? Has anyone used any? You better start because all those girls deserve better than this.” Sylva growled before Regis stepped in.

“And how could they ever expect you to take care of them if you can’t take care of yourselves? You’re lucky I’m not taking pictures of all of this and sending them to your parents.” Regis threatened, shifting back into Principal mode.

“You know what?! Maybe we should.” Sylva said as she got her phone out to take pictures as Regis did the same before they all rushed to stop them.

“No, no, we’re sorry, we’ll clean up, we’ll clean up right now. We’re so sorry.” They all swore as they quickly got to work.

“Thank you. When I see you in a week I want to see this bus just as clean as the girl’s bus is. Because I know Yasmine refuses to put up with filth of any kind and they’ve already been sending me pictures of everything. Now, I’ll see you boys later, I love you all, be good.” Sylva insisted as she hugged them all before she left and took refuge on the girl’s bus as Regis stayed behind to supervise the boys.

“And who has been buying beer?” Regis demanded as he picked up an empty beer can as all the boys looked at each other but refused to look at Regis or answer his question as he narrowed his eyes as he noticed half the boys were now sporting quite a bit of facial hair and were groomed to look quite a bit older than they were. Tredd especially.

Meanwhile back on the girl’s bus. “Oh this is so nice! I love it.” Sylva praised as she looked everything over and noticed the fresh flowers and how there wasn’t a spec of dirt or dust in sight and their cleaning supply pantry was stuffed with cleaning supplies the same way the boy’s fridge was stuffed with leftovers while their own fridge had some leftovers too but mostly fresh fruits and vegetables and some really healthy food choices which she was really proud to see, including several bottles of wine which she didn’t mind one bit, knowing that Luna and Selena would have most likely shared the wine and bar supplies from her parent’s estate which she didn’t have an issue with.

“Actually a lot of the boys like to spend time on our bus because our bus is so nice.” Yasmine admitted.

“Figured they would.” Sylva nodded as she held Otis and Diana, each dog on each arm as the girls showed off their bus and how they had put their own personal touches to all their personal spaces as Sylva praised their decorating choices as Yasmine gave Ada the last slot in the safe for her jewelry and passport. “Goodness, you babies are so precious, makes me want to get a puppy.” Sylva cooed as Otis and Diana tried licking at her face.

“Ok, well you girls take care of each other ok? I have a train to catch. Love you, bye.” Sylva cooed to all the girls as she handed the dogs back and hugged them all before she turned to leave.    

“Oh, and as a reward for being good and responsible and making me so, so proud, here you go.” Sylva winked as she handed them a stack of hundreds. “Divide it evenly girls.” Sylva cooed before all the girls giggled and squealed in delight.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a train to catch.” Sylva grinned as she walked off the bus and walked right back onto the boys bus.

“How are we doing in here?” Sylva asked as she poked her head into the bus to see all the boys with garbage bags and Clorox wipes while Regis took the cue as they both bid everyone goodbye and got off the bus as Luche was vacuuming and subtly mouthed ‘thank you’ to Sylva as Ignis did the same as she winked at them before Ignis and Luche looked at each other questioningly before Ignis pointed subtly to Luche who nodded.

‘Thank you.’ Ignis mouthed to Luche who nodded sagely at that and went back to vacuuming.

When Sylva got back on her plane and took off, Ada decided to pull all her bags out and actually go through them, curious and excited to see what was in them and noticed a lot of the clothes smelled like Luche and his cologne because he was the one to carry most of it and she may or may not have inhaled that scent deep into her lungs and welcomed the comfort that brought her. Happy and pleased that he chose so well for her.

Meanwhile back in the boy’s bus.

“Since when do you carry a gun?” Tredd asked Luche as he noticed it.

“Can’t be too careful.” Luche replied before Tredd frowned and looked at the other guys while Gladio had quickly finished his part and was on the phone with Cor, getting the real story over in a corner.

“Oh shit.” Gladio breathed before he went and got his own gun out of his bag and put it on.

“What the hell is going on?” Tredd demanded as he watched Gladio put only not only his own guns on but handed Iris hers as she came on board to get armored up too since she had just gotten off the phone with her mom as Gladio and Iris gave each other meaningful looks before Iris told Craig what was happening in Spanish before he went and got his too.

“Seriously! What the fuck is going on? Are we about to knock over Fort Knox?” Tredd asked.

“We can’t tell you cause you’ll run your mouth and ruin it,” Iris growled threateningly.

“Oh shit!” Tredd realized. “Ada’s in danger because Cor got close to someone he shouldn’t of didn’t he and she’s here with us to get away from the shit hitting the fan!” Tredd realized as he put all of that together before Luche pinned Tredd to the wall by the throat.

“If you run your mouth, you will get her and the rest of us killed do you understand?!” Luche roared.

“The guys we’re protecting ourselves and everyone else from have already killed thousands and thousands of people. We are easy targets. Just a bunch of kids against an army of very highly trained killers. How easy would it be to kill all of us? While we’re up on stage or at a gas station in the middle of nowhere? While the girls are selling merch or out shopping? How easy would it be for them to get snatched up? Or kidnapped? A million things can go wrong. So congratulations for figuring it out, now shut your mouth and don’t breathe a word of this to anyone or if we get caught I’m telling them to shoot you first.” Gladio snarled as he had Tredd pinned up against the wall too while Craig was holding Iris back from kicking the shit out of Tredd too.

“Ok, I got it, I got it, don’t choke me you bastard.” Tredd tapped on Luche’s hold on his throat before Luche let go as he and Gladio slowly backed away but stared daggers at him as did everyone else.

“Jesus,” Tredd coughed and just shrugged it off before Gladio held a meeting with all the guys on the bus.  

“Alright, in case you haven’t figured this out, Cor Leonis is about to nail one of the most notorious mobster boss and gangster that’s currently in the US right now. His name is Gilgamesh and no one knows what he looks like because he wears a freaky mask and this fucker has laid waste to entire police forces and swat teams before because they wear super advanced armor and only carry armor piercing rounds so they can kill everyone else while no one can touch them. He has an army of dozens of generals with thousands of foot soldiers under them. His right hand man is a woman, she’s simply known as the Empress and she’s just as lethal as he is and she has an ace up her own sleeve, someone known as WitchHazel, all one word, capital W, capital H or in Chinese it’s Jin Lu Mei, because she is either Chinese herself or knows Chinese as her mother tongue because the one account Cor has of her is the two of them talking to each other in perfectly fluent Chinese. When either another rival mob, or another rival gang or even another law enforcement force has cornered the Empress before, she makes one call or one text and within minutes WitchHazel comes and breaks her out of anything and everything and they slip away again and disappear, no one knows who she is, all we do know is that it is a she, but she’s clearly trained as special forces because she’s a sniper and takes out a building full of people with surgical precision, like she’s the Punisher and she is a one woman army. She’s trained with CDC and the best idea they have is that she’s a mercenary and she’s just as dangerous as Gilgamesh and the Empress. Now chances are, we’ll be cool because we personally don’t pose a threat to Gilgamesh and hopefully nothing will happen but we will be careful, the girls are counting on us and so is Cor. Everyone needs to look out for each other, no one goes off alone, especially the girls and especially Ada. Luche, Iris and myself will be on Ada duty but Luche is tasked with taking care of her for the most part because Cor asked Sylva to take care of Ada and when Sylva’s not around, Luche will be doing that for her. Iris, you’ll keep eyes on her while she’s on the girl’s bus. Guys, keep your girls close. We’ll just have to be the overprotective, possessive boyfriends until further notice.” Gladio ordered as all the guys nodded in agreement.

Once on the train, Hazel and Titus unpacked and relaxed and opened one of the bottles of wine already in their luxurious cabin.

“Where did all of this come from?” Titus asked as he grabbed her toiletry bag to put her toiletries away and saw fifty thousand dollars in it.

“The same people who encouraged me to get out of town.” Hazel answered as she took it and put the money in the little safe. “So I’m using it and splurging it on you and this trip and keeping you safe.” Hazel added.

“Those people wouldn’t be lead by a guy named Gilgamesh would they?” Titus asked as Hazel froze in fear so he put the bag down and gathered her in his arms. “Hey, no one is listening to us right now, no one is watching us, the curtains are closed, there’s no bugs in this room and I swear on my life whatever you tell me I will never repeat to another living soul, just...tell me, let me know what I’m up against. Please.” Titus pleaded with her as her eyes watered.

“It’s not Gilgamesh, or Gil as I know him, it’s Charlie.” Hazel finally admitted.

“Who’s Charlie?” Titus frowned.

“Charlie, short for Charlotte, Gilgamesh’s Empress, his right hand man that’s a woman, that’s my sister.” Hazel revealed as Titus’ eyes got wide as he looked at her in surprise, not having thought in a million years that Hazel was so close to the most dangerous criminal he had ever heard of. And knowing she wouldn’t be apart of this if she had a choice. She was trapped.

“...How? She’s not...” Titus tried to argue.

“White? No she isn’t. Her birth mother, is my adopted step mother who raised us side by side by twins because we were born on the same day, you know my mother is Chinese. She had an affair with an older black guy as a teenager and when her parents found out, they tried to force an abortion on her but she was too far along by the time they found out and had to drop out of school and brought shame on the family and they then tried to force her to give Charlotte up for adoption and she refused and my father, who was in the next room over and holding me while he grieved my mother because my birth mother died giving birth to me, he heard the commotion and came to my mother’s rescue and practically married her on the spot to save her from her own parents. When Charlotte was a little girl, we went to a family reunion and my uncle, my father’s brother, raped Charlotte, my dad killed him on the spot and it fucked Charlie up. Fucked all of us up. As a teenager she got in trouble and never, ever got out of it, just got into deeper and deeper trouble with increasingly more dangerous people. When Gilgamesh got a hold of her, he claimed he found his ‘Empress’ because he’s Chinese and obsessed with Imperial China and finding a beautiful blasian girl who was just as jaded and just as ruthless and cut throat as he is, but more importantly, was just as brilliant as he is, was all he wanted. Now that Gil and Charlie are together, they’re an unstoppable powerhouse. I’m safe from them and protected by them because I’m Charlie’s sister but you and everyone else is not. You can not tell Cor or anyone else any of this. No one can know any of this. If Cor were to find out and try to bring me in for questioning or use this against me, or them, it will cost him his life before he can enter the interrogation room. They’re not above mass murder, either civilians or an entire district of law enforcement, in fact I know they already have done both and they have moles in everything. I can’t go to the police, or sheriff’s office, I can’t go to the U.S. Marshals, I can’t go to the CIA or the FBI, definitely not congress because I’m pretty sure Gilgamesh has people in all of it, I don’t know who they are and thankfully I’ve never met them so even I couldn’t expose them even if I wanted to. I just know they’re there.” Hazel revealed as she expected Titus to withdraw from her but he stayed steady as ever as he listened with rapt attention.

“Ok. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I love you.” Titus nodded in understanding before he just tightened his hold on her and hugged her as she hugged him tightly, feeling even better now that she told him and he didn’t run or withdraw or anything. She took a leap of faith telling him and he caught her and was keeping her and that’s all she wanted and all she could ever ask for.

“I love you too.” Hazel murmured as she clung to him.

“We’ll get through this, together. I promise.” Titus whispered and Hazel for the first time, allowed herself to really believe that and put real faith in that because he really meant it.

“Just don’t try to free me from all this ok? Everyone who has ever tried has died. I can’t loose you.” Hazel pleaded.

“Ok,” Titus agreed but he was already mentally trying to figure out exactly how he was going to be the first to succeed. Having the odds stacked against him wasn’t new. These were just different odds is all. Instead of a football game or his career, it was his life and the love of his life. He couldn’t screw this up. He waited his whole life for Hazel to come along and now that he had her, he was not going to let her go, ever. And he’ll be damned if she ever felt powerless or helpless or she was like a prisoner or slave to anyone’s will but her own ever again. He just had to bide his time and be smart about this. Maybe he needed to play some chess with Regis while they were on the train to really improve his tactical thinking skills.

Meanwhile back on the girl’s bus, Ada was still going through all of the things Sylva had bought for her and was putting on a fashion show for the rest of the girls which boosted her confidence and made her feel better too especially once she got into her makeup and all the girls helped her put it on and got her looking like a model. Helping take picture after picture of her to send to Cor and Sylva.

While back on the boy’s bus Luche had just settled into his bunk, being ever so grateful Sylva invested in some outrageously comfortable mattresses for both buses and he had already packed a sheet set for himself and his bunk, not knowing who had slept on his bunk before him and not wanting to know who or what had happened, he just Lysol-ed the bunk then Febreeze-ed it then put on his own sheet set and bedding before putting on his own pillows too. He still had a lot of think over and mentally figure out. He couldn’t be rash, he had to be smart. That one rile from Tredd had him ready to take his friend’s head off. He had to remember that Tredd wasn’t the enemy. Gilgamesh was, although Gilgamesh wouldn’t even be an issue if Cor wasn’t a factor in everyone’s lives. Maybe if Gilgamesh could just take Cor out before he got taken down so the rest of them would be ok and unharmed, that would be ok. Honestly that would be, in his mind, the most ideal situation. Because he could more easily catch Ada from such an emotional devastation. But then again if that happened Cor would die a golden boy hero and she’d be liable to go find another just like Cor. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the greatest idea. Maybe Sylva’s idea was the best after all, Ada just needed time and space away from Cor to gain some perspective of her life and to enjoy this time with her friends and away from him and then when she got back she’d see how much he was really lacking compared to himself. He just had to prove himself better and more superior to Cor. But he still needed to be true to himself, but also he needed to do right by her too. He needed to do her justice and he needed to win her over without- as Sylva put it- ‘actively’ win her over. She said to be subtle, he needed to do subtle but meaningful gestures.

“Fuck, give those mice in your head a break, I can hear their wheels turning a million miles an hour from here.” Tredd teased from the bunk across the aisle.  

“Fuck off dude.” Luche bit out.

“Seriously, I can hear you huffin and puffin from here like a little bitch.” Tredd snickered.

“How many times have you gotten punched so far on this trip?” Luche asked to which Tredd just laughed harder. “And how many times would you like to get shot?” Luche snapped.

“Ooh, so now you got a gun, you’re gonna shoot your bro just for ruffling your feathers a little?” Tredd taunted as he reached out and poked into the curtain.

“What part of fuck off do you not understand?” Luche swiped at the intruding finger before Tredd pulled Luche’s curtain back a little.

“Look, I got ideas to help bruh, do you want to hear them or not?” Tredd insisted.

“If I do, will you leave me the fuck alone?” Luche droned.

“No promises.” Tredd grinned.

“Fine,” Luche huffed as he rolled over to face Tredd and ripped his curtain back. “What?” Luche demanded.

“Bruh, you were ready to kill me the moment you thought Ada would get hurt, no guy gets that fired up and ready to go on the rampage unless he really loves the girl.” Tredd grinned victoriously as Luche narrowed his eyes and looked out to see if anyone was listening or paying attention to their conversation.

“Oh relax, no one gives a shit. Look, the way I see it, Sylva hired you to be Ada’s bodyguard right? To protect her from everything and take care of her right?” Tredd reasoned.

“She didn’t hire me to do it but yeah.” Luche bit out.

“Damn, I was hoping you had some extra cash on you then.” Tredd teased before Luche grabbed his curtain to pull it back closed.

“Wait, wait, wait, that wasn’t my point, don’t be so hasty.” Tredd stopped him.

“My point is, you get to be her bodyguard and caretaker right?” Tredd furthered.

“Yeah,” Luche confirmed.

“On Sylva’s dime.” Tredd furthered.

“It doesn’t matter who’s dime it is.” Luche shook his head no, not wanting Tredd to get any ideas.

“Well my point is, still, pull out all the stops, go whole hog on her, now’s your chance to really take her back man, take advantage of it and just lavish all the stupid shit on her you can. Spoil her rotten whether it’s your money or not. Prove that you can take better care of her than Cor ever could. We both know you win out financially at least. You two are still friends, it’ll grow into something more before you know it. Now all you gotta do is be the perfect prince charming you usually are minus the uptight traitorous prick for snitching on us about the bus and you’ll be good to go.” Tredd grinned victoriously.

“I’m not a traitorous prick.” Luche argued.

“Yeah but you are hella uptight and you need to loosen up and have fun too, none of us can cut loose if you’re still uptight and we all think that everything we do is going to be repeated and reported to the biggest mom of all. Even if she’s the hottest MILF ever.” Tredd pointed out.

“Fine,” Luche groaned.

“That’s my bruh, happy to have you with us.” Tredd held out his fist for Luche to fist bump it which Luche returned their own bro handshake that was still unique to the two of them.

[margsld]

Outlander Epi 3.04 Recap

Of Lost Things you think quite a bit about.

Toni Graphia wrote this highly anticipated episode - it's the favourite thus far of the original author, Diana Gabaldon.  Again, this season is cramming a lot of details from the book and the additions and deletions are mostly good (don't get me started on Cheating Frank). It's bothering me a little that it jumps between times so often and making me OCD with my screencaps. Hold on tight. We are going on a bumpy ride.

Scotland 1968. Claire is still in Inverness hunting down her highland ginger biscuit like a Wight looking for Jon Snow.  Bree and Roger are using it as a chance to flirt at every opportunity *ah young love.... as finding your loved one’s secret loved one is like adopting a puppy together. It takes commitment.

Fiona is not letting Bree get in the way of her giving Roger a coronary and stops by the researchers, to nourish them with her baked goods.  We all want a Fiona Roger, you ungrateful oaf.

Claire pops up from the table shouting ‘Ginger Bingo’ (or is that 'Gingo'?) and shows them a list of Prisoner names from Ardsmuir. They are off again but it soon becomes a dead end.  They head to Edinburgh for a last laugh, take the time to stir up the locals with their outrageous womanhood etc & to look at some mouldy ship logs as prisoners were usually transported to the Colonies. They should have asked Jamie's Ardsmuir cell mate for help.

 It’s 1756 in Helwater, England. Jamie is living tough with a new name (Alex McKenzie) and with the Dunsaneys.  He’s sulking because they won’t let him grow his hair longer than his shoulders but that mop will not be ruled. Lord Dunsaney has a quick word on their arrival back from a holiday in Italy, Molto Benne! He knows who Big Red is and suggests keeping it from his wife.  I think it’s a ploy to keep the Hot Scot away from his wife for other reasons. *wink wink nudge

Roger has faked a broken down car just so he can see what other skills Bree has up her sleeve.  After some Scottish boy noises, Bree takes over the mechanic-ing and spots the trouble straight away.  Silly boy look, Rog. It was that sneaky distributor cap going all loose and now so was Roger’s feelings. Awwww. So romantic.

Geneva Dunsaney wakes and the devil says ‘Oh crap, she’s up’ as does half the Helwater staff. The stablehands draw short-straws to see which poor sod will be her ‘escort’ during her leisurely gallop in the woods.  Jamie cops abuse from her and dutifully bites his tongue.  Geneva’s exit is her sister Isobel’s cue to arrive just as Jamie is fantasising about kicking Geneva’s arse.  She’d like a ticket to that event and front row please.  Isobel is crushing on Jamie’s Chess buddy, Lord John Grey and naturally finds it appropriate to share this with Jamie.  She is only human. Jamie is a lady whisperer.

Claire gets a call from her surgeon buddy Joe Abernethy.  He’s sick of doing her workload and asks when she’ll be back in Boston instead of flunking around Scotland’s dusty Archives.  Claire isn’t sure but encourages Joe to operate on her fave patient as a treat.

Helwater, 1757.  The stablehands have all rallied and found Geneva a husband.  They party for days.  Mr Groom-to-be is that old that Geneva is stoicly trying not to vomit as he kisses her hand in farewell. They are to be married soon. Ick.

Geneva now has Jamie in her sights.  She's like a sailor looking for land after being at sea for 27 months.  She forces him to escort her on her daily horse ride and quickly puts the 'Bitch' in 'Bitch'.  Jamie trieds to stand his ground but dang, she looks like Claire, no? Plus, lady whisperer.....  Geneva is a brat and races her horse ahead, all the while laughing like a woman with a screw loose. Shortly after, Jamie hears her scream.  He finds her unconscience on the ground and goes to help.  He picks her up and she becomes animated again, laughing at her having tricked him.  Disgusted, Big, Grumpy Red promptly dumps her face first, into a big slushy mud puddle and we all cheer like it’s a Queensland win at State of Origin. Geneva is a bit nuts though and embraces her impromptu mud mask.  Chick logic. Life gives you lemons, you make a facial out of it, right, Ladies?

The handsomest redcoat in history, Lord John Grey, is visiting from London and we find them playing Chess in the Helwater gardens with Jamie.  Who knew chess was an outdoor sport? Lord John swells with pride that Jamie’s report card is in and it’s glowing.  Yayyy!  *high fives.  They are soon interrupted by Isobel, Hal (John's big bro), Hal’s ego and Geneva aka Mega Beyotch.  After introductions are made, it’s clear to Gen-baby that Hal knows Alex McKenzie and not just from his horsey-skills. She's a moth to the flame that one.  Of course it doesn't help when Alex aka Jamie aka can't this guy settle on one name, doesn't stop looking at his feet. Suspicious factor 50+.

Just a few days before the big nuptuals take place Geneva corners Alex and threatens to reveal his true identity to her mother, ensuring Jamie gets another stretch in HMS Ratfarm.  To keep his secret, she demands he takes her maiden-head so that Lord Crusty McEllesmere doesn’t have that privilege.  He tries to reason with her but she’s seen his backside in breeks and well Duh. 

Jamie’s sex class has attracted one eager student.  Professor Tight Breeks arrives and without hesitation performs Magic Mike’s striptease with the flair of a dead frog. That bum though is fiiiiiine!  He tries to turn her off the job at hand *cough by showing her his back scars but she’s impervious.  She’s seen that fuzzy butt peach for real and there is no letting this opportunity go.  He’s patient and she’s nervous and for the first time we see her vulnerable side and her nipples.  Jamie softens to her (no not that kind, he’s Scottish af) and starts to enjoy himself too.  Good class, sir. Good class. I reckon that's the best wedding gift she'll get.

Condoms didn’t exist in 1757 so when Geneva next visits Helwater about 7 months into her marriage, it’s very obvious that the father of her bulging waistline is Jamie.  He nearly has a conniption at the sight of her but keeps his cool because he’s Fraser. Jamie Fraser. Carry on, old chap.

Roger and Bree, kissing in a tree manse, K>I>S>S>I>N>G 

Bree & Roger are discussing giving up the search for Jamie.  Roger says feelings and so Bree grabs Professor Brown-Beard and smacks one on him. *Woot woot. He doesn’t want her to go back to Boston. #Broger

Nothings ever rosy for long in TV land and we find ourselves scurrying with Jamie to Ellesmere Estate.  There is some big emergency with Geneva.  She has gone into labour and all is not well. So of course a stable dude is just what she needs.  When they arrive, Lord Crusty McTightjocks has started chucking his toys out of the cot.  He has finally realised that Geneva was not a virgin when they married. Seriously? It took him a whole pregnancy to work out he’d forgotten to tap that?  *smacks forehead  Along with his toys, he threatens to kill the baby and Jamie arrives just in time to save the day by shooting Ellesmere, D.E.I.D.  Noone knows how the baby survived the fall to the floor because we all just cried as Jamie was seeing his son for the first time.  Awwww.  Blood gushing nearby, nope, don't see it.  Awwww, baby blinked at daddy.

The coroner found that Ellesmere died from severe arse-holeness and we all moved on.  Well, he really ruled it as misadventure, due to stress.  The stress of receiving a bullet at high speed probably. Just guessing.  Lady Dunsaney thinks Jamie is pretty HAWT now.  He saved her grandson and so he’s earned his ticket back to Sunny Scotland. Jamie chooses to stay though as he's wanting to see how this fathering business turns out.  He tells Mrs D that Scotland sux right now so he’s going to hang aboot in H-water for a bit longer, thanks.  PS>When’s payday?

Teaching your secret son to ride a horse like a boss is Jamie’s new hobby.  Wee Willie is starting to resemble his daddy though and even though he lacks the flaming red hair, it’s the cock of his head and the way he rolls his R’s that is starting to cause suspicion.  Even the neighbours are onto it.  Jamie realises it’s time to go before people put two and two together so Sayonara English bitches.

Lord John arrives at Helwater just as Jamie is about to leave.  Jamie asks him a favour; Would he look after Willie in his absence and in return LJG can have the use of his peachy playground.  When Lord John comes back down to earth from shock, he announces he’s to marry Isobel Dunsaney and raise Willie as his own anyway.  Jamie is pleased that all seems to be working out.  What's with the handshake here?  In the book it was a kiss and I wanted to see that. Tsk.Tsk. At least give the man a big hug....

Willie is distraught at Mac leaving and goes to visit him in his room.  PS. The security and supervision is terrible in this house, it’s a wonder anyone is alive.  He interrupts Jamie lighting Stinking Papist candles and wants to join his fire party.  Jamie explains he’s lighting them to remember all the people he’s missing or has lost, including his Wife.  He gives Wee Willie McCutey a hand-carved snake with his name on it to remember Mac by.  He wants to give Mac something in return so he'll remember Willie too but *sob Big Red will never forget *sob him *sob.

Things get a bit blurry here and tear ducts need to recover.  When it comes to saying goodbye we parallel bounce between times.Bree and Claire are also giving up the search and heading home to Boston while Jamie is leaving Helwater for Lallybroch.  Pause.  Just pause here.  Can't we have two more episodes with wee Willie?  No?  *grunts 

 Can we just have one happy ending ffs?  Is it Monday yet?

The End.

[afilitaria]

Could you please tell us more about your eo characters? They seem delightfully interesting ^^

I have homework to do so no doodles this time around but thank you for the distraction ehe

Which ones? To be honest I have way too many . _ . I love all of them and I’m ashamed of being bias to Snow ehehehe~ I’ll put down some of my faves here then; not everyone is here because that would take forever… hello wall of text

(Also, the writing tone is super inconsistent, whoops! Feel free to correct inconsistencies or offer suggestions, since these aren’t set in stone right now~)

Snow (EO3/EO2U/EMD): Runaway prince, prefers the title of Strategist rather than a Sovereign (I mean, it’s basically what he does? And he’s not -really- a Sovereign anymore). He’s naive and trusting to anything that seems amiable (”How was I supposed to see the guy’s face?! Am I the only one without x-ray vision in this party?!”) but will kick your ass in a game of chess or tactical warfare. He’s also sometimes a total wisecrack, like during the Ginnungagap third floor; he summarizes it as “So we’re not the chosen ones, but since you’re desperate, you’ll take anyone at this point?”

Also hands down abuses Proof of Nobility in EO2U early game just so the guild doesn’t have to spend money on inns, but would spend 420k en on a bow. “We’re so broke” - Snow Afilitaria Aurelis 2k17

I see EO3 as the prequel story to the EO2U arc, which is his adventures in Armoroad after leaving Afilitaria and before being reunited with the Aurelis brothers and Eden, who at the time are in the EOU arc. 

EMD, uh, it’s full of crack headcanons on my end because in my entire guild roster, only he, Alexander, Akihiro and Yukimura make it there (Aki being the blue haired Wanderer). So, after the events of EO2U, Snow wanted to go travelling with only Alexander, but the Mizuharus stow away on the boat ride to Aslarga because they figured it’d get boring in H.Lagaard. That’s EMD for me. Yup.

Alexander (EOU/EO2U/EMD): Snow’s royal guard and protector, the only one he accepted. Personality varies; early on in the story, he is very lighthearted, cracking jokes and puns (*cough Punvoke cough*), but as time goes on and he loses Snow for the nth time, he gradually becomes more and more serious, scared of how closer and closer Snow gets to death every time, to the point of becoming overprotective.

Anyway. The family of Aurelis was a powerful force in service to the Afilitaria noble family, and Alexander lived a carefree life, with the role of heir delegated to Orlandeau, the eldest. However, one day at the age of 13, their parents and servants were one day all assassinated, with the three children as the only survivors as Snow hurriedly sent forces to come to their aid. Seeing how they now had nothing but their lives, Snow took them in, and Alexander felt indebted to him and vowed to serve him for the rest of his life, in lieu of Orlandeau’s original duty, and he trained to be a knight.The story goes about as smoothly as you expect (not at all?), and Snow, being only 9 years old running a country on his ill parents’ behalf, constantly breaks down in stress when no one is watching. Alexander is the only one to notice and lend his shoulder for him to cry on, and well… I think you could guess the rest.

Hm? Why is Snow’s story summarized in Alexander’s section? Because Snow is a comic relief character. It wouldn’t feel right to put anything serious in his bio.

Orlandeau (EOU/EO2U): Anti-social, quiet, jargon spouting Orlandeau is generally regarded as a mad scientist by the Alchemist Union of H.Lagaard, but he does a lot for them; developing new technology and medicine with the help of Zero and Eden. 

Certain teams in said Union despise him however; in the past, he was in said team in the efforts to create homunculi, the perfect, superior life form. However, the project was largely abandoned and the team moved onto researching means to strengthening already existing life; however, Orlandeau refused to give up, taking copies of all of the team’s research and using it to create Zero; who was, by no means perfect, but something of an improvement; he made the mistake of using his own genes and as a result, Zero is slightly physically frail, though his magic power is beyond even his own. 

Zero (EO2U): I think you guys know about Zero; Orlandeau’s homunculi who developed a fascination with the War Magus Union. It took him a while to be accepted in there, seeing how he is an artificial life form, but in the end, they saw it as a means to end the sort of rivalry between the Alchemist and War Magus Associations, and work together.He’s a bright, bubbly, cheerful guy despite his looks, and is known as Doctor Zero to most, as he often volunteers in the hospital whenever needed with Eden.

Unfortunately, with these two, I’m not sure what else to say that I hadn’t covered already in a previous ask!

Vessalius (EOU/EO2U): Vessalius, like his eldest brother, is not so much a talker, but he is at least capable of holding decent conversation. He can be quite distant and hesitant to get close to others due to the trauma of losing his family.

He was the one whom took the news of their parents’ assassination the hardest, being only 10 at the time. Unlike Orlandeau, who regarded the event with calm, almost inhumane realism, and Alexander, who drowned his sorrows in favor of helping the one who saved them, he burned with the desire to exact vengeance on the people who ruined their life. He grew to be an assassin, learning thieves’ cant and slowly inching his way into their underground society, where he eliminated them one by one.

Then, with that done, what was left of his life? Snow was against his becoming an assassin in the first place even though Vess assured him he would not lay a hand on any innocents; Snow was still convinced nothing good would come of it and could not allow Vessalius to continue living in the castle if he wanted to continue this path. Safety precautions, plus Snow’s outlook for the country was of peace, not a stack of power-plays twisting into politics- thus, Vess left, and after his mission was finished at the age of 16, he abandoned his job as assassin and sought to become a survivalist. He settled for a while in a quaint little town and befriended the local medic, a fellow named Eden; who was being worked to death.

Eden (EOU/EO2U): Life Medic who loathes to hurt… though that changes during the events of EO2U, where he realizes he could be helping the team fend off their opponents, and thus, hello level 20 Medical Rod and Heavy Strike. He is generally cheerful, though clumsy and airheaded, but can recite ingredients for various types of vulneraries off the top of his head.

I mentioned before that Eden tires easily. He eats and sleeps a lot, and burns enough energy while adventuring to metabolize; but for the most part, the unnatural energy intake is due to the life energy that overflows in him.As a child, he never knew his parents; his mother died giving birth to him and his father completely unknown. He was raised at an orphanage, where his talent for healing was quickly recognized and taken advantage of. He spent many days and nights working, treating the endless stream of warriors who came to exchange coin for healing. He was willing to do this- though he received very little of the money, he believed this was at least what he owed to the people who raised him.

Let me reiterate that he was being worked to death. The survivalist Vessalius saw this and tried to convince him to stop, but he refused, and in another stroke of MoralityFail.exe, Vessalius kidnapped him and took him to Afilitaria, where he begged Snow to take them in. Eden wasn’t happy about this. It takes a good few years for him to forgive Vess.

The overflow of life energy is a result of his childhood spent tirelessly treating people; his body is so used to exerting so much magic that he grew to always generate far too much.

Valens (EO2U): Actual prince, Snow’s little brother and current Sovereign of Afilitaria. Due to in-country riot, he’s had to hide for an undefined set of time and the signal to return still hasn’t come. Asking Guild Aurelis to take him in may not have been the best idea, but at least not many people know who he is in H.Lagaard. He’s a bit of a brat and snarky as hell, and rules with an iron fist (which explains his country’s dismay, but he actually does a good job at keeping order.)

He hates Alexander with a burning passion and is always picking fights with him. Alexander is too happy to fight back, resulting in many bullet holes in his armor and slashes in Clover’s. Snow and Clover, while they both agree this rivalry is pointless, can’t really stop it at the moment.

Clover (EO2U): Gunner with no magical or physical prowess, but would probably attempt to disassemble a Yggdroid for analysis if he saw one. Would he succeed? Who knows.

He is Valens’ only royal guard because no one else would do it. He cares for Valens, to the point of aggressively going trigger happy on his assailants, but also understands the error of his ways and constantly tries to steer his direction into a less tyrannical and more peaceful rule. He is always very, very tired, drinks a lot of coffee (to the point of begging Regina to teach him how to make H.Lagaard Coffee out of Labyrinth materials) and is generally a calm and mellow person. Some exceptions apply on that last note.

Kiel (EOU/EO2U): The Hexer who swears too much in Latin (or the equivalent of thereof). I previously said he was a memelord, but unfortunately, memes don’t exist during the time period of EO2U, so in reality, he just has a personality that would translate to a memester in a Modern AU or something; loud, boisterous and mischievous.

He’s bound to Caeli by contract and has ownership of his soul in return for his magic power, but has yet to actually force control over him, if ever. He just appreciates Caeli’s company and probably just has the contract in effect so Caeli is capable of magical bardsong. Unfortunately this means they can’t be apart any more than a hundred meters or so, but Kiel probably enjoys this.He’s also really bad with names. He frequently calls Ginnungagap “Gingersnap”.

Caeli (EOU/EO2U): Also not really a memeadour due to timeline constraints. He just has the personality of one, though unlike Kiel, is a bit more mild and gentle about it.

So, did anyone notice the elven ears in the last drawing? Caeli is from a distant land where elves are hidden from normal society and prized as a slave commodity to humans. He was/is very good at singing and was kidnapped by adventurers who then sold him to a noble house that kept him caged up and forced him to play music for them. His magic power was sapped from him as they knew he would use it to escape, and thus Kiel, who was undertaking some sort of witch’s rite (which involved cursing/hexing those deemed fit to be punished), came to the castle and heard his beautiful, yet hauntingly sad song, and decided to set him free, soon after which the two fled to Etria.

Akihiro (EOU/EO2U/EMD): In which the second EOU/EO2U Ronin and male EMD Wanderer are all the same person. The rope ribbon’s under the kasa, apparently. He is the most undisciplined warrior you will ever meet, which translates to min-maxing the hell out of his stats whenever possible (high str and agi, but def and vit don’t exist, what is Clear Stance?). 

He was a Ronin that was second son of some Lord Mizuharu, from the Orient, and got disowned for bringing shame to the family time and time again. It’s because of this he set out to regain his honor, but his small understanding of the common language and his weak constitution weighed him down greatly, not to mention his abhorrent sense of direction. He ended up joining Aurelis during events of EOU, and accompanying them to EMD, where he picked up the class of Wanderer. He is proud of the great feat of scaling Muspelheim from start to finish by himself with only a bag full of sigils and bread. No one knows why he bothered to do it. Yukimura still mourns the loss of their supplies.

(You know, I was awfully close to making Akihiro in EO3 as a Shogun, were it not for deciding to instead make Natsume. He was so close to being everywhere.)

Yukimura (EO3/EMD): The first son of Lord Mizuharu, Akihiro’s brother, and a ninja. He has a very prickly personality and constantly scolds Akihiro for his lack of discipline. He does care for his younger brother though, and to this day, Akihiro still doesn’t know how much Yukimura has defended him from their parents’ ire. (He’ll never admit it.)

The events of EO3 has him travelling with the intent of finding his younger brother, knowing that if there’s one way he has to go about this, it’d be “go adventure all over the globe and hope you run into him, because chances are he’s doing the same thing.” Instead, he finds his long lost rival Natsume. “I’m surrounded by idiots.” - Yukimura Mizuharu 2k17

Natsume (EO3): Shogun, of the Ishikawa family. There’s a really weird love/hate relationship between him and Yukimura. He’s a complete and utter tease toward him, calling him the unauthorized nickname Yuki, much to his embarassment. He follows the EO3 crew around under the pretense to his family that it would be beneficial of them to have alliances with Mizuharu, Pendragon, Auditorre and Afilitaria, but that’s all lies; he just wants to get out of his duties and adventure.

He’s a smooth talker and constantly hits on Yukimura, who just jabs coldly back at him, though it’s pretty clear that said ninja doesn’t appreciate him flirting with other people either (that revelation came with a good concussion, courtesy of Snow). But, is he jealous or does Natsume just piss him off? Who knows.

Lyrald (EO3): Originally a cleric, he was the bastard son of a king from a distant land, and sought to gain his acceptance. After a mission to apprehend a drug-cartel gone wrong, he ends up framed for the crime and has to flee the country, knowing now he can never return, and is aided by a Ronin- who despite his lack of sense of direction, proved more than able to cut down their assailants. He learned basic martial and protective arts from the man and intended to follow him, but the two were separated after he elected to distract their pursuers for Lyrald to escape.

He doesn’t even know his name. Which results in many offhand allusions to Yukimura and him unwittingly describing the same person.He joins Snow and Yukimura, who both recognize him and are no fool to believe the media’s lies- later joined by Galahad, Edmund and Natsume.

Galahad (EO3): Zodiac scholar, the son of noble house Pendragon from a distant land. He’s travelling for no other reason to expand his knowledge, though his family insists he do it for their name (after all, they wanted him to be a knight, but instead he pursued magic arts and they didn’t even complain that much; it’s the least he can do). He’s very quiet and arrogant, often refusing to have level conversation to those who he deems not intelligent enough (and sassing those who are; Orlandeau being a case in point).

Edmund (EO3): Hoplite, Galahad’s assigned guardian during his pilgrimage. He actually does most of the talking on behalf of his liege and is quite friendly.Edmund is something like an adopted brother to Galahad, taken in by his father, and would gladly do any mission issued by him.

Lugh (EOIV): Sniper and head of the guild’s Tharsis branch. Honestly useless af in a fight,  but designs everyone’s clothes (and I mean every member from every branch’s redesigns) and calls all the shots. It me.

Varil (EOIV): Smol Medic. He’s 150% of Lugh’s self-restraint and will Caduceus him to the floor when his fudanshi-mode activates. Their origin is largely unknown and they will tear the third wall a new one.

(That ended up wayyy too long that’s like 2k+ words what the heck; anyway, thanks for the interest, Anon!)

[cerberosthehellguard]

Oneshot #18

Rating: T

Relationships: AkaFuri.

Characters: Akashi Seijuurou. Furihata Kouki.

Wordcount: 2000+ words

Tags: Incubus/Human AU. Fluff. Crack. Based on this comic.  

Summary: Akashi summons a rare and powerful incubus. Only, accidentally.

Author's note: What better way to start the new year than with a sizeable helping of sap and drama? Anyway, this is the last of my oneshots. I will be making a separate post about the future works and general gushing about my lovely readers soon but as of now, my oneshot collection comes to an end with this. THANK YOU AND ENJOY!! 

AO3 link right here! 

Mayuzumi was going to die.

A very explicitly gruesome death, Akashi predicted.

They were in college for god's sakes. Wasn't bullying supposed to stop with high school? Apparently not as the grey puffs of smoke grew bigger and bigger, engulfing the room with its force, enough to blur his eyes and make him difficult to breathe, throat constricting with every second that passed by. He had been thrown on the floor at the impact of the smoke, the suspicious book the cause of all this lying somewhere nearby and the room plunged in complete darkness even if it was only midday.

Akashi balanced himself on one elbow, covering his mouth with the other hand and coughed, trying hard to inhale something other than the pungent fumes and blinked rapidly to clear the tears pricking at his eyes when a strong scent of cinnamon, honeydew and chocolate washed over him.

The clouds of smoke began to dissipate slowly and a form appeared from within, looming over the fallen Akashi. Afternoon sunlight began to stream in from the windows again after the brief spell of blindness and the strange human-like form swished closer to him. With a lazy wave of its hand, the fumes evaporated, as if they were never there and the soft rays of the sun formed a mystical halo around it. 

Pitch black cloak resting on its shoulders that flitted to the floor like a long cape, lean sinewy body like a dancer's, long chestnut hair that wafted down to its slim waist, two tiny black horns protruding from beneath its messy bangs, glittering gold jewellery adorning its wrists, ears, neck and hips, pointy chin, pert nose, a smirk both mischievous and innocent at the same time and eyes glimmering like honey from pools of milk stared at Akashi as if he was the prize that had been greedily coveted.

It looked like pure unadulterated sin.

The being crouched in front of him, inching in close and tilting its head in contemplation as intelligent eyes roved over Akashi slowly, taking all the time in the world. "Hello."

The smooth, cautious and soft, velvety voice matched its form, Akashi mused. It could make people melt under its spell and become putty in its hands, to be played around like chess pieces. It slid a hand over Akashi's arm, feeling the bunched muscles there and leisurely undid his tie with the other.

"Hmm. You are quite handsome, aren't you? I have never seen anyone with hair that colour, it looks good on you."

The spirit licked its lips, running a pierced tongue languidly over its sharp pointed teeth, eyes gleaming bright as they watched Akashi's every reaction, every jerk, every blink, every breath, unblinkingly.

 What had Mayuzumi got him into?

 "So, what will it be, human? It must have been quite a heavy thirst to have summoned me. Reveal to me, your deepest, darkest, filthiest fantasies and I, will fulfil them with this body of mine." It was almost straddling Akashi's hips and bending down to seductively whisper in his ear, elucidating every syllable. "I will make you feel like you have never felt before, I promise. After all, your kind's blood tastes the best when you have absolutely succumbed to your desires."

Akashi noted dully that its fingers were starting to lazily undo his buttons with expert ease and that its hair smelt heavenly of chocolate through the frozen state of his mind at the words the spirit had crooned.

 Mayuzumi Chihiro was going to die a very painful death.

He was going to burn all of his light novel collection right in front of his eyes before Akashi even got around to torturing him.

 An incubus? Really?

He thought he had been dared to call upon a spirit of a dead person not a death sentence, for fuck's sake. Mayuzumi was going to pay. Dearly.  

 He jolted to awareness when the demon - demon! - licked the shell of his ear, its piercing feeling like cool steel against the warm skin. Akashi shivered.  

Gently but firmly, he pried off the long fingers one by one as he sat up.The demon protested as Akashi started to redo his buttons and his belt. "Let's do this now!!!"

Akashi cleared his throat. This was going to be difficult, to say the least. It was a dangerous demon, if the complexity of the spell was any indication - he had to explain carefully and hope it would see reason. "There....seems to be a problem. Pardon me...but I was simply testing to see if the spell worked and summoned you by mistake. I apologise for the inconvenience."

The demon stilled for a full minute before recovering, grabbing his hands in its and shifting to seat itself more comfortably on his thighs. "Oh that's okay! We can still play, though!"

Akashi sighed and shook his head delicately, not looking away. He gripped the hands in his and met its eyes levelly. Crimson against hazel. "Um.....I am not interested."

"What?!"

"I said, I am not interes-"

"AAARGH! I HEARD IT CLEARLY THE FIRST TIME!! You don't have to insult me! What do you mean you are not interested?? Why would you dabble with the forces of darkness and successfully summon me, ME" - pointing to itself as if they were of great importance that Akashi didn't understand the gravity of, the being lashed out - "if you don't want me to get into your pants?"

Akashi scratched his cheek, feeling sorry for both of them. They had been tricked into this embarrassing situation, even if Akashi was at fault for falling for the dare. And going through with it impulsively, without being aware of the consequences. He never did that. And the one time he had been goaded on to do, he was stuck with someone who could easily kill him with just a flick of their wrist, sitting atop his lap with arms crossed over their chest and glaring at him, scornfully.

"Well, I was challenged to do so because you were the hardest and the trickiest to call among the spirits but I was......conveniently uninformed as to what you were. I apologise deeply and-"

"This has got to be a joke. You can't be serious! Oh my god. Are you playing with me? Are you playing hard to get? Is that what this is? If so, I am more than okay with-"

"No no." Akashi put his hands on its shoulders, shaking them a little. He shook his head and took a deep breath. It was going to be so disillusioned. But there was no helping it. "Really. I don't want to have sex with you."

The demon looked like a child who had just been told Santa wasn't real. It was just two seconds away from bawling. Akashi had to think quick, he had brought this on himself, no matter how much he blamed Mayuzumi for getting him into this mess in the first place.

"But there are other things we can do." Hazel eyes sparkled at that. He himself felt his voice becoming chipper as he saw the gleam. "Such as.....watch TV, play basketball, go to the library?"

The demon's eyes widened as if positively mortified at the suggestions and threw itself off of Akashi's arms and backed into the far wall, all the way across the room. Quivering hands draping its robe around itself, shivering slightly and cowering as if to hide itself, the being stuttered to voice its thoughts.

"Yo-yo-you can't be serious!! You are asking me, ME, the one who refused to bed mortals - even nobles and kings! - that didn't qualify my standards, for platonic affection? ME??!! I will have you know you cretin, I rejected from using so many of your pathetic kind for blood simply because I wasn't interested! It does not happen the other way around! This simply is not happening!!"

The demon screeched, rapidly gaining control from its momentary lapse and letting out steam at being insulted. It was understandably indignant about the whole mess and Akashi waited for it to finish its rightful rant. 

It calmed down to mutters and grumbles before stilling like a statue and slowly turned to face him, shock written all over its beautiful features and whispered, "Does this mean we have to do....those things?" 

 Things?

 "Cuddling up on a sofa, watching movies about cats? Disney? Cooking breakfast together? Spooning in bed? Staying up late to talk nonsense at unholy hours of the night? Massaging with clothes on?! Scandalous non sexual acts of affection?? ME?!!! Are you serious?!"

"....I honestly hadn't thought of that but, yes. That....that does sound lovely."

The demon proceeded to blush furiously and sweat and tremble, eyes blown wide as the enormity of what it was expected to do, sunk in; holding its head with its hands as if an earth-shattering truth had been revealed.

Akashi tilted his head, regarding quietly. He could spend a few hours and study about ways to free the being from the uncomfortable situation he had put it in. "You...don't seem to be liking it. I could just-"

"No no! I mean ye-yes! I-I just need some time to emotionally prepare myself, ha ha!" It raised its hands as if in assurance that nothing seemed to be the problem, its disposition saying otherwise. "This is-I have-I have never done something like this before, so please give me a moment to come to terms with it...."

 Akashi nodded and stood up, offering a hand to the demon. "You can stay with me, until you choose to leave. Please, don't force yourself to please me. And. Akashi Seijuro. Nice to meet you."

The demon peered up at him, from underneath those long eyelashes and blinked. Akashi felt himself smile reassuringly at it. It really was a gorgeous creature. It slowly moved to stretch its hand and reach out to his while standing up.

Funny, they were both the same height, Akashi noted. Interlacing the warm fingers slowly a smile started to bloom on its face, nearly blinding Akashi with its beauty. "Furihata Kouki. It's nice to meet you too, Seijuro."

*

 Furihata couldn't believe his fate.

Even after three weeks of living with Akashi, who surprisingly cooked only with average expertise and had a strict sleeping regimen and other such funny quirks just like an old man instead of a twenty-year old, he couldn't believe it.

Reo had been so happy when he had been summoned. He was the pickiest of the lot. He was so finicky about who was calling him that he granted only an hour of two of his time before draining their life source, enough to last him a century or so. Reo was always mad at him for finishing so quickly and not enjoying the courting and not engaging himself with the human world more.

And now, this stunning redhead, who had been interesting enough to have successfully called upon him on the very first try, when bestowed with more than an hour of Furihata's time, had openly rejected him and all of his advances. Him.

He was this close to pulling out his hair.  

 Wearing a bright orange oversized sweater, gripping a mug of hot chocolate in one and another arm wound around the human, watching some dumb movie from a sofa too small for the both of them, Furihata lamented at how things turned out to be. 

That's it. He was going to label this as foreplay. Foreplay without the sex. He shall emerge victorious in draining the blood off this mortal. Soon. Furihata Kouki was nothing if not, absolute.

 Akashi snuggled into his chest a bit more and curled his legs up onto the sofa. Furihata immediately reached forward to fix the blanket, so that it covered them both sufficiently. Smiling into Furihata's sweater and nodding off to sleep, Akashi mumbled. "For what it's worth, you are doing a great job, Kouki."

 This vile tempter!

 Akashi didn't play fair, Furihata complained mentally. 

Heartwarming smiles and innocent sugary words all.

Sighing to himself, Furihata leaned back, tangling his legs with Akashi's underneath the blanket and planting a kiss atop the cherry red hair before taking a sip of the delicious brew, opting to watch the dumb movie.

Of all the lovers he had had in his existence, Akashi was by far the most riveting. And, honestly speaking, Furihata was in no hurry. Seduction after all, was a waiting game. He might as well make his stay pleasant here, as long as it lasts.