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amyyythestarry · 11 months ago

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TSUMITSU BAKENEKO RYOKAN!

♡︎

It was 12:00 AM at the Hanakotei Inn, the place was harmonious inside and out.

All of the residents of the Inn minded their own, because today was a slow day. No new visitors were coming, and the Minamoto visitors had left a day ago, as well as others.

It was only a little disappointing because the cat yokais didn’t have human meat to feed on, but it was ok, they had other food.

No mischief to get into, no business to take care of, no running around, meant the day was bound to run moderately.

Mitsuba Sousuke found the tediousness to be quite understimulating though.

All of his friends were doing other things, like napping and relaxing, no room for hanging out and doing things that weren’t boring.

So with the endless time on their hands, they wandered around.

He wandered to the garden in the backyard of the Inn, he looked at all the flowers and plants and vegetables growing there that he knew maybe five of his friends took care of. They thought of wandering into the woods nearby that was strictly forbidden to the cat people in the Inn, but then thought more rationally and decided to leave. There wasn’t anything interesting in the garden anyway.

They wandered into the bathhouse where they hoped to find someone else he hasn’t crossed paths with today.

There was no one in the bathhouse.

So all of the residents were actually relaxing in their rooms and doing nothing.

He would say they all were being lazy, but they needed some slack after working with visitors and everything.

He wandered into the ryokan kitchen where he found Mokkes working on some food, probably for lunch. Mitsuba didn’t think anyone was going to eat lunch while lazing around.

He stared at the Mokke even when they turned to him and called out, “Mitsuba-chan, Mitsuba-chan! Come over here!”

Mitsuba wondered if the Mokke wanted to hang out with him, or if they wanted him to help with making the food. But, after an incident in the kitchen involving him and another cat named Mei, probably the worst cooks in the Inn, he thought that was unlikely.

They only wanted his help serving the food, and Mitsuba thought that was more inconvenient than helping make it. All of the residents were nowhere outside of their rooms, and most like Hanako, the person in charge, says to not disrupt naps unless there is a guaranteed emergency. Especially his own naps.

But Mitsuba politely agreed, and carried a box of food, kare raisu, catfish garnished with herbs and lemon, sided by vegetables and fruits heading to room 204.

Once he got there the door was closed, he knocked but no one answered on the other side.

He had forgotten who’s room this was.

“Hello?” They called out.

Still no answer.

Mitsuba decided to open the door, it was a bit irrational, rude to walk into someone’s room without permission, the person could have been asleep and they would possibly disrupt them. But, there could just be no one in the room to begin with.

So when Mitsuba pulled the door open, a part of them believed there to be a sleeping bakeneko, or no one at all.

But there was a person.

Just not a bakeneko.

Definitely not, seeing that a kinked cat tail was on the floor, and cat-like ears were being held above a head.

The person sat tailor sitting, caramel brown hands holding the black cat ear headband, and held it in the air as they stared at Mitsuba.

Yugi Tsukasa’s face was blank at first, until it morphed into a one of intense realization, epiphany. Mitsuba looked innocently curious at the tail and ears not being on Tsukasa’s person before he could just jump up and down in elation knowing one of his friends were awake.

‘Sh*t,’ Tsukasa internally cursed.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Mitsuba ( Fortunate to Tsukasa ) not noticing the not-so-obvious sweat drawing on Tsukasa’s forehead. His expression turned into confusion.

“Um….. I came here with.. Food.” They held out the box of food.

Tsukasa stared for five seconds longer, before etching a small, nervous smile on his face.

“Oh.. Thank you.”

He quickly got up from his position on the floor, speedily walking over to Mitsuba, snagged the box, and was about to close the door and dismiss them when they stopped him from sliding the fusuma in a rush.

“Ah- Wait!”

‘Sh*t,’ Tsukasa internally cursed again.

“Tsukasa-kun, are.. You ok?”

“Perfectly fine!”

Tsukasa could see Mitsuba’s eyes dart back to the ears and tail, looking behind his four inch shorter figure to see them. He quickly blocked his vision.

Mitsuba looked at the top of Tsukasa’s head, seeing there was in fact, no black cat ears as usual.

“Tsukasa, where are your ears?” They pointed at Tsukasa’s head, being even more confused when they only saw two round lobes the same color as his skin, on the side of his head. Tsukasa visibly froze a little.

“Oh, um, I..” He held the top of his head, trying to come up with a lie.

“I-I wanted to shift into a human! I’ve shifted!”

Now, in the 6 seconds with Mitsuba tilting his head to the side, now very able to see the tails and ears again, Tsukasa realized that that wasn’t the most clever excuse. It would have been, if the tail and ear extensions weren’t lying on the floor right behind him, in plain view.

In those 6 seconds, Tsukasa could somehow understand his nekomata older twin brother’s hostility towards tall people, and started internally praying that Mitsuba would play the clueless card today.

Because, Mitsuba knowing that those ears and tail weren’t real, and weren’t natural, means the risk of the whole ryokan knowing. And that meant the risk of being hunted down and eaten dead or alive was high. And that meant the disappointed face of his brother, Hanako ( Yugi Amane ) staring down at him as a cloud in the afterlife, tsking, expecting him to wear the extensions even when in his own privacy.

Tsukasa’s been careful all this time, all his time being in the Inn. He’s learned to be patient with the internal, quite unimportant pain in the butt wearing the tail and ears brought him, he’s learned to blend in with all the other bakenekos in the Inn, he’s learned to walk around in this little world held in the ryokan where cat yokais roam around, serve humans with hospitality before eating them, if given the chance.

He’s learned so much. He’s learned to blend and camouflage.

But, man, did they really have to keep blending and camouflaging when in their own privacy. Their own room?

Despite the monologue above sounding like they were vex, they only thought about the negative possibilities and outcomes of this interaction with anxiousness.

“Tsukasa-kun, your ears and tail, it’s over there? It’s detached from your body…” Mitsuba’s voice dripped with confusion, then uncomfortableness and horror, pure brood and concern.

“I don’t think that’s normal, Tsukasa-kun! You should go get that checked out, that can’t be a good thing!

Mitsuba thinks Tsukasa’s very real and natural ears and tail fell off when trying to shift, and that must mean they’re physically unwell.

Tsukasa would have laughed with ridicule of the broad assumption, and they did, but it came out more nervous than anything.

“No, no, that’s not the case! I’m perfectly fine!-“

“But, y-your-“

“I know, I know!”

“You should be inspected or something!”

“No, It’s fine Mitsuba, I swear!”

“Then what’s up with that whole situation!!” Mitsuba vaguely pointed to the extensions on the floor.

“…… It’s.. Um……

Complicated?”

Tsukasa could have winced at their emphasis on the question mark.

Mitsuba could have winced at their emphasis on the question mark.

At this point, Mitsuba and Tsukasa were yelling over each other. Tsukasa, in a desperate attempt to make Mitsuba relax, and Mitsuba, in a desperate attempt to encourage Tsukasa to let him get some help.

Mitsuba, the whole time the black haired boy and him were yelling, had to drown out the rushing, agonizing, powerfully overbearing scent of a very familiar humane smell coming from the same boy blabbing about there being nothing to worry about. Same boy with no black pointy ears on top of his head, or kinked furry black and white tail, as he would usually have.

And the pink haired boy couldn’t think, ‘Has he ever smelled like this before?’ While still trying to urge Tsukasa to believe that this was a very real and serious problem.

He doesn’t understand why they're being so stubborn about this. It’s equivalent to not having a whole leg and an arm on your body, and instead them being right behind you, on the floor! If Tsukasa were to have no arm and no leg, would he still be smiling, bleeding out and most likely on the verge of death still telling Mitsuba ‘this is nothing to worry about’?!

Why isn’t he bleeding now, anyways?

Why did the cat ears on the floor, Tsukasa’s cat ears, look like they were on a headband!??

Mitsuba always thought Tsukasa made no sense, but this was just borderline absurdity.

He always thought people here were absurd too, but this was Tsukasa, not people.

Tsukasa, the person who would definitely qualify as the most absurd, insane, carefree person to ever exist within the Inn for now on.

Because, serious, what the h*ll?!!

Mitsuba was about to drag Tsukasa out of the room and through the ryokan to look for help with the very serious and real problem, but Tsukasa acted first and dragged Mitsuba into the room with him, slamming the fusuma door shut.

He almost tripped, stumbling back, then his right foot stepped on something. He looked down and it was the extensions.

He quickly distanced himself away from the tail and ears, pushing himself to the wall, hands in fist to his mouth, trying to prevent himself from screaming because the residents would definitely hear.

“Ok, Mitsuba, I’m gonna need you to calm down.”

“Bu-but-!”

“Just, relax.”

And that was what Mitsuba tried to do, calm down. Of course this was still freaky and Tsukasa should be freaking out as well instead of encouraging him to ‘relax’, but maybe, just maybe Tsukasa was trying to cope with the situation? Try and compose himself instead of freaking out about his very real and natural body parts being detached.

And Tsukasa was trying to cope with the situation, but as in trying to get Mitsuba to understand him when he was about to confess that those body parts weren’t exactly real and natural at all.

He was about to rat himself out, uncover the lie he’s been trying to keep between him and his brother ever since living in the Inn. He was about to betray his brother’s trust, the same brother who was a very real and natural cat person, a nekomata. The same brother who gets on his a** whenever he takes off/feels like taking off the extension.

Tsukasa always has understood his brother’s caution, but never at this high and mighty rate.

He wanted to lay this on Mitsuba as easy and simple and blunt as possible. No sugar coats, because that only makes an uncovered lie worse, just nice and dry. But he had to wait for Mitsuba to calm down first.

So when a fast minute had passed, and Mitsuba parted his fist from their mouth, looking at Tsukasa expectedly, he thought this was the right time.

“Mitsuba, those are fake.”

Easy, simple and blunt. Nice and dry.

No immediate response though. Mitsuba stood there, understanding what Tsukasa was saying, knowing what he was implying.

Still, after a few seconds of registering the words ‘those are fake’, bewilderment could be his only reaction.

“…… What is fake..?”

Mistuba knew what they were saying, what they were implying, he understood. And the assumption accompanying the thought was, ‘Oh, so maybe their shifting went smooth, and they just have fake cat ears and a tail laying around’.

‘Where would they get fake cat tail and ears from? Why would they have those anyways??’

There was probably no justifying this, he realized. He’s 100% sure none of his other cat friends even had artificial cat ears and tails lying around in their rooms.

“Those,” Tsukasa gestures to the extensions. “They’re not real, they’re just fake.”

“Oh…… So.. You just have fake ears and tails in your room?” Mitsuba laughed because that question was humorous, to him at least. This situation was humorous, actually. So were his previous worries.

“No, those are the ones I wear.”

Yeah, Tsukasa had more than one pair of artificial ears and tail because he could never be too careful. Careful was something he was not today, apparently.

Mitsuba took yet another few seconds to think, and that turned into yet another minute.

“Those are the ones I wear”, says Tsukasa. ‘What do you mean..?’ Mitsuba thought about saying that again, but he had to think some more. He had to do the math.

Fake cat ears and tail + Tsukasa = nonsense.

Absolute nonsense.

This was definitely a joke, right?

Why would Tsukasa, a very real and natural cat person living in a cat person Inn, wear fake cat ears and tails?

“Why?” Mitsuba says.

“Because,” Tsukasa started.

“Wait, If I say this, promise me, you won’t tell a single soul.” Tsukasa cut his own previous saying off, now inching away from the door closer to Mitsuba’s spot in the room. Puts the box of food down on the ground, right by the extensions, and holds out his pinky finger.

Mitsuba looks at his finger, and back at him, and back and forth, until finally he hesitantly holds out his brown skinned pinky.

“You promise?”

“… I promise.”

“That was hesitant.”

Mitsuba straightens up, “I swear, I promise.”

“Double promise?”

“Double promise.”

“Triple promise??”

“Yes, triple promise! I won’t tell anyone.” Anticipation slowly eats up his patience, wanting to know what Tsukasa has to say.

“No matter what I say?”

Now that was tricky to commit to, Tsukasa could admit that he did have a very real and serious problem going on, and Mitsuba wouldn’t be able to say a thing. He’d have to let Tsukasa walk around with no tail and ears, or not let anyone know that Tsukasa didn’t have any tail and ears?

Their pinky fingers remained entwined, they stayed there until one of them broke the silence. Mitsuba hoped it was Tsukasa, and Tsukasa knew he had to fess up sooner than later.

Ok, easy, simple and blunt. Nice and dry.

“I’m.. Not really a bakeneko.”

Then they stood in more silence.

‘Sh*t,’ Tsukasa internally cursed a third time.

Tsukasa’s thoughts ran wild in his head, Mitsuba squinted at him.

“You’re not really a bakeneko..?” He laughed.

“No.”

“… A.. Nekomata-?”

“No, I’m not a cat yokai at all.”

“……………..

So, what are you? A human?”

“… Well, ye-“

Tsukasa got cut off by Mitsuba’s loud gasp. He covered his mouth with his other hand.

Mitsuba’s eyebrows furrowed, showing a look that didn’t believe Tsukasa at all. Tsukasa gripped Mitsuba’s pinky a little more, signifying that he was being serious.

A million questions ran in Mitsuba’s head, 30 miles per second.

How?? How was he human? Why was he human? He lived in the Inn, he wasn’t a visitor, he wasn’t an outsider. He knew how this place worked, how the people worked, how it all operated. He was the third Innkeeper! He’s been here longer than Mitsuba. So how could he be human?

Was he actually being serious?

This had to be a joke.

What, now there were humans roaming around the Inn, all free and willy nilly, blending and camouflaging in with all the regular cat people? If Tsukasa was here, what other humans would have been?

The cats there eat humans. They had them for dinner, they made sure the humans were properly taken care of, they made sure the humans trusted them, before tricking them and devouring them.

Now how In God’s name did Tsukasa, a very natural and real human, get through the Inn all these years without getting eaten? How was he still alive?

“How- what-?!”

“I know it sounds crazy-“

“Oh no, of course not! I understand.”

That was full sarcasm at its highest. But Tsukasa raised one eyebrow, tilted his head, and had the audacity to say, “Really?”

“NO! THAT IS CRAZY!”

“Oh, well yeah, duh.”

Mitsuba deadpanned. For a second, he even thought this little absurd, chaotic, strange, bizarre, insane freak was stupid for telling him that secretive secret. But he did want to know, and he did promise not to tell anyone the secret.

“... How????”

“I don’t.. Actually know.”

“But, your brother, he’s a neko- Is he a human too?”

“No.”

“You're serious..”

“I’m serious.”

Mitsuba gave another disbelieving look.

That didn’t make sense, this was making no sense again. He could have considered the possibility of Tsukasa being a human. Humans were real, anyway. It was just slightly, slightly different from if he would have said he was an alien, y’know? Aliens weren’t that real, for all Mitsuba knows.

He’s thought it over, and now it makes a little sense. Just a little.

But now, with the even newer information ‘Hanako isn’t a human’, the sense is dumbed back down.

And Tsukasa can’t make sense out of it either, so they both just won’t know.

Before Tsukasa and Mitsuba can converse more, like Mitsuba wants to because he needs to know more, they hear footsteps coming from outside the room, inching closer to it.

Mitsuba turns to the boy and sees him already hastily picking up the extensions and putting them back on.

Mitsuba doesn’t know if he’s the stupid one or not anymore.

Once the extensions are back on, it looks like Tsukasa never took them off. They look normal, like a normal, very real and natural cat person.

Mitsuba can’t be the stupid one. Those extensions are just too realistic looking.

The Mokke burst into the room without a thought, without worrying if anyone in the room would be shaken.

Mitsuba realizes the Mokke were probably wondering where he was these 20 minutes or so.

He straightens up, and sees from the corner of his eye Tsukasa doing the same, like the Mokke we’re coming for him as well.

“Mitsuba-chan! You're still in the first room,” one Mokke says, crossing two bunny ears across their body. “We were looking for you! How long does serving food take?!” They complained.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I, uh..” Mitsuba looks over at Tsukasa again, wondering what excuse to make up. “Lost track of time!”

Tsukasa looked back at him, and sweat rolled down both of their faces.

All four of the Mokkes narrow their cute, small black dotted eyes at him, and then at Tsukasa.

One of the Mokke’s eyes became even more narrow. “You're lying! What were you two doing in here?!” They huffed.

Mitsuba’s eyes widened, dark pink dusting his cheeks.

“Nothing! I was delivering the food!!”

“Yeah right,” another Mokke snaps, “Whatever! Get back to work, Mitsuba-chan!”

The Mokke were sometimes really harsh when it came to doing what they wanted.

They turned to Tsukasa, “And you too!”

They both nodded their heads without another word, still stiff and startled.

They stood there until all of the Mokke yelled, “Well what are you waiting for! C’mon, chop chop!!” Mitsuba and Tsukasa ran out of the door, towards the ryokan kitchen. One Mokke picked up

the rice curry and fish food box and carried it outside the room.

——

Their friends had woken up, now fully ready for the lunch food coming their way, being delivered by Mitsuba and Tsukasa.

Mitsuba walked to Yashiro Nene’s room, carrying a box of rice, salmon and vegetable sushi, sided with fruits.

He exited the room with a sigh, walking back to the kitchen to deliver something else and not getting caught up in talk before the Mokke scolded him again. But then he remebered a certain curly black haired, very real and natural human disguised as a cat guy, who wasn’t anywhere near him, and wasn’t anywhere in the kitchen.

He thought the boy just went to give food to someone else, but after five minutes of rapidly moving back and forth from the halls of the ryokan to the kitchen, there still was no sign of him. The Mokke were concerned too.

“Hey, Mitsuba-chan,” a Mokke with pink cat ears walked up to them while they gathered two boxes for one person, “Have you seen Tsukasa-chan.”

They skimmed through any memories they may have had of Tsukasa being anywhere in his view, just to make sure, but they haven’t seen him pass through the kitchen or the hallways.

“No…. No, I haven’t seen him since he entered the kitchen five minutes ago.”

The Mokke didn’t believe him right away, thinking he was being secretive again, but Mitsuba put his hands up.

“.. Hmph! He probably skipped out on working again! I knew he was going to be lazy!” They glared to the side.

He didn’t know Tsukasa did that often. He’d always see him walking around, either roaming around or working? Carrying tea or food with purple mittens. He was a certified delivery boy along with Mitsuba.

But despite that, Mitsuba could see him skipping work from time to time.

“He never finishes work… Whatever. The next time we see him, we’ll teach him a lesson.”

Mitsuba would have wondered why anyone would want to punish Tsukasa, of course since he hasn’t known him as well, and still doesn’t. That just made the whole human reveal and secret keeping and promise making even more inconvenient.

The Mokke walked off with tiny subtle stomps, and Mitsuba continued his tasks.

He finishes them, now going back to uselessly wandering around. Nene quickly finished her food to make room for another cat nap as soon as he went to her room again, Mei is busy drawing and she says she needs no distractions, he doesn’t want to hang out with Hanako.

They think they would settle for a nap of their own, but once he wanders his final wander, around the small blue building to the right of the main entrance, they hear rumbling of multiple tiny footsteps, a little yelp, and the sound of a big splash.

They freeze, then look left and right for where the noise might have come from.

He searches more, and walks out of the back door of the building, and then sees a big pile of light hot pink, hot pink and some black small blob figures all surrounded and inside the little wooden hot tub. About 20 of them, all shouting with high pitched voices.

“We’ve caught you!”

“Yeah, you slacker!”

“We’ll teach you how to work ten times as hard!”

“No off days for you in the next three weeks!!”

They hopped and slashed in water, obviously talking to something or someone under their pile, soaked and suffocated in water and Mokkes.

Mitsuba wonders if he’s walked in on a crime scene, if he should leave before he ends up like the unfortunate person or thing having to meet the wrath of the Mokke. And he’s really about to leave the scene of crime so no one will know he witnessed it.

But then he hears giggles, “Stop, that tickles!!” In a distortion of coughs and gurgles with a familiar voice, than even more choking.

The Mokke are definitely trying to kill someone.

Mitsuba turns back around, knowing that is a voice he knows means that’s one of his friends. And well, he’s not a hero, not at all, he wasn’t going to play the part either. But, it’s one of his friends, he has to help. Right?

So he walks up to the hot tub, making sure to stay out of the Mokkes sight and try to see who’s under the water.

He only sees a messy head of dark curls, in the water being drowned by all 20 Mokkes. The pink bunny supernaturals have all their weight on the person, making them go all the way to the bottom and still be smothered by the small furious creatures and warm water.

He wondered if it was Hanako, but he just saw him in his respective room.

So then he thinks it has to be Tsukasa.

He doesn't want to get in the water, so he just splashes it enough to get the person under water’s attention, beckoning them to swim up to him.

The person manages to push some of the Mokke off of them, and swims up to the right side rim of the hot tub.

Mitsuba holds out their hand to allow the person to grab it. Once a slightly darker brown hand clamps onto theirs, and they pull them out of the tub, is when their suspicions are confirmed.

Tsukasa’s hair is soaked enough to cover his eyes, his clothes are drenched, and he’s hacking up water from his system.

“Tsukasa-kun, are you ok!?”

When he’s done dying of coughs, he turns to Mitsuba and holds up his right thumb in response.

Mitsuba sees his ears are lopsided, and instantly goes to his side and adjusts them. Right before one of the Mokke realize their murder attempt wasn’t a success, they see Mitsuba and Tsukasa on the side.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” They squeak, angrily hopping towards the two and leading the Mokke mob to do the same.

Mitsuba shields Tsukasa, “I should ask y’all the same thing! Why are you all trying to drown him?!”

Another Mokke grumbles, “Because! He wants to sneak away from work!”

“Yeah, he never gets anything done!”

“We were teaching him a lesson!”

Mitsuba now remembers that one of them did say they were mad at Tsukasa for being off tasks.

“Well, that doesn’t mean you kill him!”

“Bad children are punished!”

“Not punished by death!!” He defends.

Tsukasa stared up at Mitsuba as he kept convincing the Mokke to leave him alone.

It worked, surprisingly, and Mokke grudgingly agreed to leave. With a final demand, “Tsukasa-chan, you better come to the garden to work at exactly 2:25 PM!!” “YEAH! On the dot!!”

Tsukasa and Mitsuba watched the Mokke walk away.

“You should start actually working.” Mitsuba said.

Tsukasa only laughed, but it came out shaky. The warm water that stuck to his skin started getting cold because of the breeze all around them. He shivered, cupping his body and squeezing his shoulders with his wet arms and hands.

Mitsuba decided Tsukasa should get cleaned up, grabbing onto his hand and walking away from the hot tub, back inside the Inn and through the halls back to Tsukasa’s room.

Mitsuba stayed inside the room as Tsukasa washed up in his bathroom, wiping his damp hands off and sitting in silence. Leaving him and his thoughts about the crazy day.

At least it wasn’t boring anymore.

Tsukasa left his extensions on the floor in front of the bathroom, and told Mitsuba to ward off anyone who wanted to come in, unless it was Amane. So Mitsuba stared at the extensions half absentmindedly, thinking more about the secret he now had to keep.

Once Tsukasa got out they wore a black hoodie with the big deep purple words ‘LAV-ENDER’ in the middle. Mitsuba had to chase away all the whispers in his head claiming the boy looked even a little cute.

They put on some other artificial tail and ears they got from a closet, threw the wet ones in his bathroom laundry bin, and then pulled out two futons from the closet.

“I’m sleepy,” they said, plopping them down in the middle of the room.

Mitsuba agreed, rubbing the previously forgotten drowsiness from his eyes

They both sat down on top of the futons, looking out the window, hearing chirping and seeing blue Kingfishers fly around in circles like they were performing for squirrels in the trees. “I want to eat those birds.” Mitsuba mumbled.

Tsukasa heard him and chuckled.

“You can’t let Amane know that you know I’m a human,” Tsukasa spoke up after a minute of looking at the birds,”He’ll hunt you and me down.”

Mitsuba smiled and agreed.

The more they watched the performance the more they became dozy, and soon enough Tsukasa and Mitsuba fell asleep.

Their futons were close enough to allow Mitsuba to subconsciously cling onto Tsukasa’s hoodie, and their hands, pinky and all, being entwined.

Mitsuba dreamed about a universe where they and Tsukasa were humans, going to school and living a life of a creature that’s not a yokai animal, or lives in an Inn, or eats human beings. Real and natural.

Tsukasa dreamed of him owning a house in the countryside of Japan, all alone. Opening the door and seeing a cat with pink fur, he took it in until the cat went out the window in the afternoon, and disappeared. Leaving a note promising to see him again.

♡︎

I forgot to add the fact that Mitsuba has cat paws and not humanoid hands.

But I’m not changing it.

8 notes · View notes

unhingedhearties · 6 months ago

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I'm Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today

I should be getting ready for a big family event (that of course has to happen while the new season airs. Good thing there's space on the TV to record the rest of the season) but then THIS catches my eye, and I can't not share it:

I see the name Writer Janine so I know this is going to be good.

Oh! It's been a post or two since I've explained it, so here's a refresher for those who don't know who Writer Janine is. Writer Janine is the Heartie who wasted no time calling Lucabeth breaking up a massacre right after a real world massacre happened and when asked to rethink her choice of words since it was grossly inappropriate, doubled down because the slaughter of innocent people half a world over means nothing to her.

Never. Ever. Forget. That.

So this is what this brilliant mind wrote:

You'll notice a lot of the same words get reused. Hmm... I feel like I've pointed this out before 🤔

Wow, it's almost like Mei and Mike are in love or something. It's almost like Mei's only ever been in an abusive relationship and Mike's in his first real relationship and they're both nervous and happy about it. But other people (real or fictional) can't be happy. That's not allowed! Not when Team Lucas fans are still hurting 7 freaking months after their soap opera didn't end the way they wanted.

Bill Avery... lousy inspector *literally travels to the scene of the crime & figures out Pike's testimony doesn't add up with nothing more than a stopwatch and his own 2 feet.*

😂 This woman watched WCTH, believes this and actually thinks she's a writer. It's like a dog thinking it's people.

disloyal, disloyal, disloyal etc...

Janine, this show doesn't take place on Kashyyyk and the cast isn't made up of Wookiees. No one has a life debt to Lucas. Especially when they've known Elizabeth far longer. And yes, Lucas is a fraud, a crook and con. I'm sorry him being interesting triggers you this much. We like us some bad boys here, not neutered down tea sippers. It's time for him to dip into the whiskey and have a real drink like a man's man.

Little Jack easily transfers affections from his dad for half his life to mom's new guy.

Okay, I've got to say this first. White Americans have the weirdest relationship with the concept of "community". You all claim to want it, you cry about how it apparently doesn't exist anymore, you idolize some long-gone concept of community from "the good old days", but when you actually see what a loving, supportive community of people is (usually from *gasp* large immigrant families) you fall apart. Community isn't going to your mega church once a week to gossip about which families looked at you the wrong way or aren't raising their children in a way you approve of. It's family and friends you trust pitching in, going out of your way to lend your time and help when someone needs it instead of just sending "thoughts and prayers", and doing what you can to create a positive environment not just for your kids, but all the kids around you. Especially with kids that are experiencing difficult circumstances like, I don't know, one parent leaving or dying. Like Elizabeth and LJ.

I remember 30 years ago when people were quoting the phrase "It Takes A Village To Raise A Child" like they were profound scholars, but never put it into practice because the reality of what that means sent them into a tizzy. That's why I love Faith looking after Lilly and the whole Daycare Center plot. Everyone pitches in to help the kids and community grow.

A four year old boy having several positive male role models in his life isn't going to harm him. Lucas wasn't LJ's "dad" for half his life, he was his buddy. And his buddy is still a positive influence in his life. And if it surprises you that LJ has affection for the Mountie that's kind to him and shares the same job as his biological father, I don't know what to tell you (besides that you're a shit writer if you didn't see that coming).

Anyway, how about some of the responses:

Oh Lynne, you sweet summer child. I wish I had your optimism.

Oh my God, we're still doing this!?

Team Lucas Stop Deflecting And Actually Address The Horrible Behavior From Your Side Challenge: Impossible.

Stop. You do not want to be this kind of person. You need to stop ignoring when a handful of people you agree with do awful things and you need to stop bring up the awful behavior of the handful of lunatics from the side you hate as deflection. If you live your life like this, it will come back to bite you in the ass. If you really want to keep acting like this though, I have no problem pinning the reprehensible behavior of people like Janine and Liz onto all Lucas fans. If you want to be this way, I can start saying all Lucas fans think the massacres in the middle east aren't that big of a deal and that Ben Rosenbaum raising money to fight MS really pisses them off. The choice is yours.

"talks down on her ex's love language"

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! I've ranted enough on this post and don't have time to go into this, so I'll leave it up to people who have said it before and better than I could: Love Language is bullshit part 1

Love Language is bullshit part 2

Love Language is bullshit part 3

Love Language is bullshit part Just Go Here

#when calls the heart #wcth #hallmark #hearties #fandom drama #unhinged fans #wcth season 11 #team lucas #team nathan

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magicalara · 2 years ago

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So...2022 huh

It's time for Em's yearly letter to the blog where I talk about it since the new year's coming in about an hour and a half in my timezone. Prefacing this with a tw for talks of depression, anxiety, horrible friends, and no proof reading. Here is my word vomit and if you don't get to the end, happy new year everyone.

So 2022 was one of, if not the, worst year in my 19 years of living. It started off with the pressure of a class which if I didn't pass, would essentially mean I couldn't go to college, and is ending with me having to walk on eggshells around people and feeling just...so anxious and depressed. Before I get into that, however, in order to save the people I want to specifically call out from having to hear about my depressing word vomit, I'm gonna mention them first.

So I can't make a new year's post without tagging my girl @pinktea99 who has been around for what feels like ever. I think it'll actually be two years of our friendship early next year I don't remember for sure, it might be three...time is fake it doesn't matter anyways. Between the amazing fanfictions you used to make that I still go back to every now and then and now just tagging me in posts you think I'd like, Mo you've been the biggest supporter I've had since I practically started posting real shit on this hellsite and I could not be more grateful. You're on of my biggest inspirations and I love and adore you so much. Let's go into 2023 with just as much happiness as you've given me in 2022 and even more. I love you so much, my dear 💜💚

Next up (and honestly the only other person I have to tag oops 💀) @docmartensanddietcoke my beloved. We've only been friends for a few months now but hot damn do I feel like we've known each other for years. We clicked so quickly and it kinda scared me at first but in such a good way??? Idk but you're amazing and so sweet and passionate and I just love talking to you so much. You've made me so excited about writing again after so long of being stuck in an endless loop of writer's block and just general insecurity that led to me not posting. I'm so happy I met you and I can't wait to see what 2023 brings us. Much love to you and thank you for showing me the pleasures (nudge nudge wink wink) of the pairing that is William T Spears and Mey-Rin 💜♥️💜

Okay so now the other stuff lol. So if you're one of the 20-30 some-odd people who started following me from seeing all the black butler bullshit I post, you wouldn't know but I used to be a kpop blog. I'm like 99% certain that I privated/deleted all of those posts though so yk hopefully y'all don't see that. I still reblog my nct loves because they are my ult group and I love them very much but I used to like only post about kpop. I had to switch because I just wasn't happy with it anymore. I had always envisioned myself as having a blog full of things I loved but after coming back from a break where I saw the fandoms I loved to interact with having gone to shit, I couldn't do it anymore. So I got rid of it all and rebranded 😃 It was honestly a really good decision though and I'm glad I did it because it reminded me of the reasons I started a tumblr account in the first place: to be happy.

For as creepy as certain sides of the black butler fandom may be, I've never felt so supported. Y'all are amazing and I still can't believe any of my posts got passed 50 notes let alone my top three all being just shy of or completely pass 100. All of the interaction is so appreciated and I can't wait to interact with you all more in the new year <33

With the good, though, comes the bad. So much of the last half of my senior year was full on unnecessary bullshit and drama and breakdowns. From the feeling of being stabbed in the back by people I thought I could trust, to being almost taken advantage of in my first wlw relationship, it just was not a great time. This really sucked, though, because my greatest hope was for my senior year in high school to be something worth remembering as I wasn't able to do anything the previous two years since covid put a downer on all of that. But whatever, I graduated and kept the people I wanted to and dropped those I didn't. It's still a work in progress in dropping some of those people, but in getting there lol

I got my first job, which I still have now, and I love working there. There are better days and worse days (I work in public service so there are always those karen's who will come in) but I love the people I work with and am glad that I decided to take the offer to work there when I did. I have some good memories there that definitely are core memories

I can't do this without mentioning the passing of Technoblade. If you didn't know who he was, Technoblade was a minecraft youtuber and streamer who helped so many people with his amazing and funny videos and his stories that he created on the Dream SMP. He unfortunately passed in June this year due to cancer. When I watched the video his dad made announcing it, the world went silent. I spent that whole night and much of the day after crying my eyes out. I couldn't imagine someone who had brought me so much comfort being gone. Hell I'm still not over it, and I don't think I ever will be. Techno was a huge influence, inspiration, and comfort for me and always will be. Fuck cancer.

I had many family problems throughout the year that I won't get into because that's a little more personal than I'd like to get to on such a public place lol. Just know that to all of you who are celebrating alone this year, I feel you, and my heart goes out to you. We aren't alone if we're all together

The one huge positive that I do have to mention is my starting to watch anime. I decided to take the plunge and watch ouran highschool host club because of a cosplay I saw of hikaru and kaoru on tiktok that made me go "oh what the fuck I'll give". I went in not expecting to finish even episode one and came out with new comfort characters and a world I couldn't leave behind. After ouran, I found kuroshitsuji and we'll...here we are lol

On top of the comfort I found in ouran, I found a series that was so much darker but had such good characters that I started to connect with and love. Grelle has been such a huge comfort for me and I can't imagine myself leaving her (or the series) behind at any point for next long while. Seeing such an empowering transgender woman really did it for me and I'm so happy I decided to watch this show and subsequently binge read the manga. I can't wait to see all the kuro content this next year brings

I've lost people this year, I've gained people this year. I've cried so many tears of sadness and absolutely no tears of joy. I've spent way more money than I should on genshin impact and food. Most importantly, I've found a place where I think I can start to build myself up again. Good fucking bye 2022, I'm gonna do my best to make 2023 my bitch and I think that y'all should join me. Thank you all for being here, and I wish you all a happy, healthy new year

If you've made it this far, new chapter of forever forgiveness comes out in two weeks ;)

#happy new year from em #i hope that readmore worked im doing this all on mobile 💀#putting kuro oruan nct and techno tags bc i can #kuroshitsuji #black butler #nct #ouran highschool host club #technoblade #love you guys and thanks for making 2022 that much more tolerable #💜💜💜

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gay-little-treat-wizard · 2 years ago

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Elrya: The New World By T. A. Onkọwe (Me)

14 - Lǐzhì-Mei

Number of talons per hand vary wildly.

Teeth are serrated and appear to be part of beak.

Upper epidermis skin is approximately 4 inches

Wingspan is approximately 14 ft. wide.

Longest feathers 24 inches, shortest 10 inches

Venom appears to be more basic than acidic as opposed to first assumption

Approximately 50kg, will weigh remains later.

The birds are several regions away from their natural habitat, perhaps a unnatural chill in Zewatal sent them eastward? Further research needed.

Lǐzhì circled the carnage, taking careful notes and making anatomical sketches as the bodies melted around her. It was a rare gift to study these creatures, as foul as they are, they are immensely rare.

And here we have a whole flock to study!

“What are you doing?”

Lǐzhì turned to see Fianna, a drunken Flynn half sleeping, half resting on her shoulder.

“Science. Taking notes,” She turned back to the pool of venom she was studying before remembering her etiquette. People like details, even when they don’t ask for them, but not to much, even when they ask. Very confusing. “These birds are very far away from their natural habitat. Normally they fly on a specific migratory pattern between the Tica and Zewatal Highlands and the Bende Wetlands. I suspect due to their avoidance of extreme temperatures a sudden climate change scared them of. Although that won’t explain how they got here.”

Lǐzhì continued. “Zhōngxīn is supposed to be warded against all magical attacks. Its ancient neutral ground, so they couldn’t have gotten through naturally. I’ll check the wards myself tomorrow.”

Fianna blinked, looking at her with an expression Lǐzhì couldn’t place. “Right.”

Oh, have I said to much?

“Anyway, I just wanted to thank you.” She readjusted the man slumped over her shoulder as if he were a scarf. “During the fight, you’re quick thinking and shield made this much easier.”

Strong neck and jaw muscles, probably for their diet of scavenged bones, cacti and tougher eats, even less reason for the attack.

“You’re welcome.” Lǐzhì paused, thinking of what to say in response. “You’re good at… arrows. Much better aim than me.”

“Really? You seemed to have no trouble finding your mark during the fight.” She tilted her head towards the corpse they were standing over; it had a rather large chunk of ice pinning it to the floor through its guts.

Guts are an odd grey colour, highly unusual for a fresh corpse, further details need more research.

“There’s a reason I use storm spells. You don’t need to aim. Otherwise I have as good a chance as hitting you as this darned things.” She used her foot to pry open the corpses beak.

The males appear to have teeth on their tongue, though these are made of ivory not beak cartilage.

Fianna laughed then stopped when she noticed Lǐzhì's bewildered expression. “Oh, you’re not joking?”

“No. Was I supposed to be?” She asked earnestly. “I was simply complimenting you for a skill I quite lack, and informing you in the interest of future fights.”

“Noted.”

Lǐzhì nodded. “I will see you at the expedition briefing tomorrow. I hope he is well to.”

She turned about words and stalked out of the hall, then as she stuck her foot out the door, she remembered her etiquette lessons.

Can’t believe she almost didn’t say goodbye.

She turned about, marching back up to the redhead and waved her hand in the practiced Elvan way Liàng taught her. “Goodbye.”

Then she turned around yet again and returned to her room. As soon as she left the hall, she was swarmed by her guards and litter barres. Thankfully, Liàng was conspicuously absent, so Lǐzhì took the opportunity to walk back to her bedroom with her own two feet for once.

The accommodation the temple had provided was a well-guarded spacious open-air suite with servant’s quarters for Liàng and the rest of her retinue. As her servants retired to their quarters and she was about to retire to bed, she heard a heavy thumping from outside. At first, she was going to ignore it, determined to get a good night’s rest, but it continued, getting louder and more insistent. She sighed, got out of bed, and threw a silky housecoat on top of her nightwear.

She left her room and suite to peek her head out into the hallway, of course followed by a half a dozen guards. Opposite the suite was the entrance to a, presumably, identical one. Infront of that entrance were two Elvans, banging on the door.

I’m starting to understand why father thinks these people are barbarians.

She stepped out of her room, her guards attempted to follow, but she stilled them with a raised hand.

“Can I help you?” She asked using the little Cerisi she knew.

They whipped around, drunk and confused for a moment before they saw her. “Apologies Duchess. We’re attempting to coax the prince out of his room. The kitchen staff gifted us a barrel of ale to share thanks to the pretty wench chatting him up.”

Ah, they were here for the quite Cerisian prince. Not surprising; To her knowledge he was the only other noble dignitary in the complex of equal import.

“The… wench? Right…” She squints at them until they begin to shuffle on their feet. “I think I saw him leave with her, the wench, to the… gardens.”

Lǐzhì was an awful liar but they were drunk and happy, so took her at her word.

The taller Cerisian punched his companion’s shoulder with a sloppy smile as the too, loudly, shuffled away. She waited a moment, till she no longer heard their footsteps and started closing her door.

“Thank you.” The door opposite her was cracked open, so all she saw was a stormy blue eye and a few inky black locks of hair.

“You’re welcome.”

Sleep comes easy after. Her dreams are loud and full of broken glass and feathers and alcohol and boisterous Elvan barbarians.

A.N- @sewi-li-suwi, @sinharder, @reiki-tsubetai@concoctionboy and @hummbirb if you're interested. Let me know if you don't want to be @'ed.

#writers #write #writingfemale #writerslgbt #fiction #Elrya #By T. A. Onkọwe #fantsay #lgbt fiction #writblr #socially awkward

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ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic · 2 years ago

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Part 3 - Chapter 15 - I-Island: Friends New And Old

Blank Canvas Part 3

AO3 - here

Fanfiction.net - here

It's finally I-Island time!!! :D Super excited to explore this arc with you peeps. ^____^ I'm sure you're all wondering how this is going to go down since Izuku doesn't have OFA. I myself am happy with what I came up with so I hope you all do as well!

Warning for spoilers for My Hero Academia: Two Heroes for this next arc on I-Island. Please watch the movie if you don't want to be spoiled! :D

Linktree to all the things!

End notes for the chapter are under the line.

There ya have it! The start of I-Island shenanigans. Izuku's muttering seems to just be getting worse but he's got an idea on how to handle that in the future. And it's just so fun for him to have awkward introductions because of it. XD

Melissa has officially met the Freakateers! Mei is so possessive and overprotective of Izuku. XD I just love her spaz nature so much. Her emotions always doing a 180 flip at a moment's notice. Hitoshi and Shouto of course would be more chill while Izuku is awkward but sociable. Plus Quirkless bonding time.

I had a lot of fun with Hound Dog being a part of their group in this. Easily sniffing out that something wasn't quite right. ;) And with All Might actually being open with his friend about OFA, David and he had a heart to heart both getting things off their chests. Will the Heroes be prepared in time? We'll have to wait and see! :D

Fun Facts About Japan:

This is more of an anecdotal one. For my personal experience with it comes to the JET Program application process, it took about 10 months. I submitted my application in September and got an email in December that I would get an interview which was in January. Then in March I found out I got wait-listed and had to wait to see if I would get picked or not. Thankfully only for a week! I got another email informing me I was to be placed in Yachiyo City and let's just say for me I was very happy for the wait.

In the application you can give requests of possible placements and why. Not a guarantee but I have a feeling it might have affected my placement. XD I put down Chiba as my top choice for the sole reason that Tokyo Disneyland was located in it. Yup, as reminder Tokyo Disney is in the Tokyo Bay area but technically it is in Chiba Prefecture! Anyway, I added that I would find a way to visit Tokyo Disney regardless of placement but being in Chiba would just make it easier. After a week, I find out I got Yachiyo that was 40 minutes away by train? Ya-freaking-tta!! I'll take it. And if I became the local Disney expert/park guide, let's just say I channeled my inner cast member and Disney magic. ;P That and years of experience visiting the US park as well as working in Disney World for a year.

Anyway, when it came time to finally depart for Japan in late July, for me it was quite the process. Depending on where you're flying from, not all airports have a direct path to Narita or Haneda airport. That was happened to me and so I had to fly to California, stay a night, and then take a flight from there to Japan. Lots of lugging around so many suit cases to and from and back to the airport. The flight to Japan is over 11 hours and once you get there, as soon as you get through customs and to the hotel, it's straight into 3 days of orientation. Physically and mentally exhausting but still worth it.

Then there's that first night in Tokyo. You're exhausted but how can you resist not exploring! Seeing Shinjuku for the first time was an experience much like how Izuku is when he first sees I-Island. So much to see, hear, eat, and just absorb. And I feel like I mentioned this once before, but I still cannot believe I got to see a freaking giant Godzilla head on top of TOHO cinema my very first night in Japan! XD That's when it really started to sink in for me. And it just so happened to be when a newer Godzilla film had come out too so double Godzilla. You can see some of my pictures here. Enjoy!

That's it for now! We've got more I-Island fun to come next chapter. But no spoilers for that. ;) Have fun theorizing! Okay, bye bye. ^___^

#mha #bnha #quirkless au #fanfic #blankcanvasfic #blankcanvasheritage #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #shinsou hitoshi #hatsume mei #All Might #yagi toshinori #present mic #yamada hizashi #pro hero hound dog #inui ryou #melissa shield #david shield

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kung-fu-headcanons · 2 years ago

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Hey there, I just LOVE your blog and your HCs, keep it up! But do you have perhaps, by chance, any headcanons for Shifu and Mei Ling (the vixen from the series)?

Aye sure thing

Sorry if these headcanons look like I gave up on it and forgot what I was doing 🗿

*insert We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth here*

Bro I remember seeing that Shifu had a love interest back in the day for the first time I was absolutely s h o o k e t h 😂😂😂 Shifu was my fav character (and still is tbh) so yea that was a wild trip

I kinda feel them seeing the other again was extremely awkward, sort of how you would feel after seeing a classmate after many many years or smth... basically it was just really WEIRD. Not sure if this genuinely happened in the show since I haven't seen that episode in a long time but either way...

Speaking of which idk if they ever genuinely got back together but who cares lol. I see them as just distant mutuals.

Back in the day Mei Ling would know EXACTLY what to say to fluster Shifu, so she would tease him sometimes it was kinda funny ngl

I mean Mei Ling kinda gives that kind of vibe anyways.. Shifu got used to it really quick lol

Mei Ling stole a writing utensil from Shifu without him knowing in their primary school years and she never gave it back. To this day, she still has that writing utensil.

Shifu definitely chided Mei Ling on not doing honorable acts and basically was the more responsible one out of the pair, he was successful in getting her to not at the beginning of their friendship (and relationship ig) but later on it got harder and harder to convince her what she was doing was wrong

So eventually she just made up her mind, though I think a small part of Shifu still believes she can change. Quite stubborn but that's just how it is ig

Y'all think Shifu wonders about what went wrong and where it went wrong? Like I feel he holds himself very accountable and thinks about what he could have done differently to not lose Mei Ling like that, though a part of him knows that nothing would have made anything different

Also this whole shabang is a part of his past that he does not speak about but of course when Mei Ling showed up to the Jade Palace that got slapped in his face

Cant remember how the actual episode went but to me Shifu should have/definitely pulled the "we're not on speaking terms" card for a while LOL. At least not until he felt ready to confront Mei Ling. There was probably feelings of anger and also just confusion, because like.. what

Do people have any interest with a redemption arc between these guys?? I don't really care but idk wouldn't it be kind of cool if they can be on at least okay terms

#kung fu panda #kung fu panda headcanons #kung fu panda hcs #kung fu panda hdcs #kung fu panda shifu #kung fu panda mei ling #kfp #kfp headcanons #kfp hcs #kfp hdcs #kfp shifu #kfp mei ling

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onionsoop · 3 years ago

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Late at Night /// Nanami x f!Reader /// (+18)

Summary: During a class trip to Hokkaido, you find yourself stuck in the same bed with Nanami which leads to some late night events unexpected events :0

Length: 4.5k

Tags & Warnings: Teacher x Student (Reader is 18), exhibitionism (kind of), voyeurism (kind of), fingering, unprotected sex, creampie, stupid “same bed” cliché, praise (kind of)

Authors Note: Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that this the first fic that I’ve ever written and I hope you enjoy! I’m hoping to keep writing and posting more fics to this blog in the future for Jujutsu Kaisen, Haikyuu, and maybe some other fandoms. Anyways, thanks for reading and sorry for any spelling mistakes :) Oh, also there might be a part 2 for this??? idk, ill decide later on, not sure what direction I wanna take it in

The sound of the bus coming to a halt was what woke you up from your long and uncomfortable nap. You opened your bleary eyes to find the rest of the students in your class beginning to stand up and climb out into the cold and snowy outside. It had been a long trip, about eight hours and during that time almost everyone had fallen asleep. You had all left at eleven in Tokyo and due to being so far North, the sun had already set outside despite it only being seven. You picked up your backpack from where it was shoved underneath the seat in front of you and let out a sigh about having to get up and stretch your stiff legs.

As you filed into the line, you were greeted by a large slap on your back, “Hey Y/N, how’d ya sleep?” Nobara asked, giving you one of her signature grins.

“Fine,” you said rubbing your eyes, “though I can’t say that the bus window made a very comfortable pillow.”

“Well good thing we’ll be able to sleep soon. Hopefully, Gojou will put us together and won’t ruin our fun,” She said with a wink, receiving a small chuckle from you. Two weeks prior to the trip, Nobara had spent most of her time devising a plan to prank Itadori and Megumi while they were asleep. You knew she was counting on you to help her out with it, but you were a little unsure if you wanted to risk getting caught and excluded from the rest of the trip in order to fulfill one of her silly ideas.

Once everyone finally piled out of the bus, you were all led into the Dining Hall for a nice hot meal, a welcomed contrast to the freezing temperatures outside. You had never been to Hokkaido before and both the piles of white fluffy snow and the different array of hot soups and curries were new and exciting to experience. Dinner was overall jovial and chaotic, you sat with Itadori, Nobara, Todo, and Maki and you had all had a good time arguing about what activities you wanted to do in the next few days and which dish was the best. By the time dinner was over, you felt completely stuffed. During the course of the mea, you had eaten almost everything you could get your hands on and now felt more ready than ever to go to bed despite already sleeping on the bus.

Everyone was piled into the main lounge area of the dorm building to be sorted into rooms. You could see students shifting around trying to get closer together and counting the number of people between them to try and be spaced together. From the edge of the room, Nobara was making aggressive eye contact with you and beckoning you to come over, which you quickly did in hopes that you wouldn’t be stuck in a room with people you didn’t know.

At the front of the room, Gojou stood up and clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Now everyone, as you probably know, there are going to be four people per dorm, no more, no less during the duration of our trip. In every room, there is going to be one chaperone and three students. There are only two beds per room, so you will have to share with somebody else or choose to sleep on the floor, it’s up to you. And finally, to your displeasure, we have already assigned who is going to be in what rooms.”

That final sentence caused a groan to come from the student body along with sounds of protest and arguing. Gojou ignored this though and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper and began to read names off of them. Students all began to pick up their stuff and head to their dorms as they were called out, and as you all listened Nobara let out a groan as she was sent to a room with Inumaki, Panda, and Mei Mei. You waited on the floor still surveying who else you might be put with. The number of students in the room was dwindling and most of your friends had already been taken which sent a pang of worry into your gut.

“... and in room 6 there will be Itadori, Megumi, Y/N, and Nanami,” Gojou said. A momentary wave of relief washed over you after hearing that, you knew Megumi and Idatori semi-well, so it wouldn’t be too awkward of a time, but that feeling quickly dissipated as you remembered you were with Nanami. It was a well-known fact that about ninety percent of the female population found him attractive, and you couldn’t be excluded from that group. The pieces of the puzzle quickly snapped into place as you thought more about the room situation. You were the only girl in the group, which meant that there was no way in hell that they would be letting Itadori or Megumi share a bed with you.

You would be sleeping right next to Nanami. For the next four nights.

The walk to the room was only a chance for you to get more and more anxious as you thought about the upcoming events. Megumi and Itadori were cheerfully chatting in front of you, occasionally turning back to include you in the conversation or make a joke, but it didn’t help with the looming feeling of Nanami behind you.

You all arrived in the room and Itadori immediately jumped on the bed, messing up the sheets and knocking off one of the pillows, earning a sigh and displeased look from Megumi. Despite your nerves, you plastered a neutral expression on your face and tentatively walked over to the second bed in the room, setting your bag down and sitting down on the squishy mattress.

At this point, Itadori and Megumi were starting to argue, Megumi saying that he wouldn’t be able to sleep next to him if he was going to take up that much room while Itadori was doing his best to stretch all his limbs out across the full length of the bed. You pulled out your phone and tried your best to look busy. It wasn’t quite time for lights-out, but you still felt a bit nervous starting to unpack in a room full of guys, especially with one that made your heart race.

Nanami, in his typical fashion, had not said anything since being assigned to the rooms. You felt him sit down on the other side of the bed and saw that he was beginning to unpack out of the corner of your eye. You shouldn’t be so nervous, nobody else is, after all, Nanami was just going to be sleeping next to you, you had stood that close to him before on other occasions. It still felt different though… You quickly shut those thoughts out of your head as soon as they came in. He was your teacher, you shouldn’t be thinking that way.

To distract yourself, you unzipped your bag to go and look for your pajamas and toothbrush. You had packed a mix of cold and warm clothing for your trip considering you would be traveling all over the place, but you soon realized you had made a mistake with your pajamas. You pulled out the green shorts and tank top you had packed without much thought, despite never feeling this way about them before, you now felt that they might be a little too revealing for sleeping in a room full of guys.

You shoved the top back into your bag and opted for a t-shirt instead, which helped you feel a little less nervous about your situation. In order to get out of the room, and to hopefully talk to Nobara, you rushed into the girl’s bathrooms and let out a relieved sigh. This trip was going to be a difficult one to get through.

You quickly got changed in a stall and spent a large portion of time afterward talking with the other girls in the room. Many of them were complaining about who they got put in a room with while others were whining about not getting to stay with Gojou. Apparently, Momo was the lucky girl of the night who got to room with Gogou, Todo, and Mechamaru, but she didn’t seem to have much interest in her good fortune. Finally, Nobara slammed open the door to the girl’s bathroom and made her way over to you.

“I can’t believe this stroke of luck, you got a room with both Itadori and Megumi, that’ll be perfect,” She said with a devious grin on her face.

“I’m not really sure, do we really wanna risk the rest of the trip?” You said, trying your best to calm Nobara’s excitement.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. Plus, we can wait until the last day too, then they’ll have their guard down too,” she stated, nudging you in the arm after. You continued to happily chat with the rest of the girls and avoid going back to your room for a good half an hour, but, as expected, you heard Gojou come down the hall announcing that it was five minutes until lights-out. Most of the girls quickly began packing up their stuff and rushing out of the bathroom to not get in trouble and you figured you should do the same.

When you walked back to your room and pushed open the cracked door you were quickly confronted with your nerves coming back and a hyper Itadori. Megumi was in bed doing his best to read a book while Itadori was bugging him through multiple various and loud methods. You went back to your side of the bed and put your toothbrush and skincare away, laser focusing your eyes on anything that wasn’t Nanami.

The five minutes that you had before bedtime seemed to be over before you could even process it. For the first time that night, at least to your knowledge, Nanami finally said something, “Alright boys and Y/N, lights out.” Which earned a complaint from Itadori and caused Megumi to quickly jump up and shut off the lights, eager to have a chance to get away from him. You could see Itadori and Megumi start to bicker about the blankets and “staying on your side of the bed” as you pulled back the covers and crawled in between the blanket and the sheets. The bed was warm from the thick layered blankets on top and the fuzzy fabric it was made out of and as soon as you sank into it, your tiredness from the long day hit you like a brick. Despite that though, you still went stiff when you felt the bed shift from Nanami laying down next to you.

“If I steal all the blankets during the night feel free to take them back.” He said, making you jump and answer with a quick “Okay.”

Even after Itadori and Megumi had finally settled down you still couldn’t completely calm down. You were making sure to stay on the very edge of the bed to not accidentally make contact with Nanami, but it wasn’t a comfortable position. You thought he might be asleep already but you weren’t entirely sure, he hadn’t moved much from his original position either. You could hear Itadori’s snores from across the room and the constant shifting of Megumi who was currently covering his head to try and drown it out. After a while though, you finally felt yourself begin to drift into sleep, and you welcomed it.

It was the middle of the night. You don’t know what woke you up but you found yourself disturbed and rubbing your eyes in the pitch-black room. As your eyes were beginning to adjust though, you immediately froze. You found yourself facing the chest of Nanami with his arm under your head, you must have rolled over at some point in the night putting you right next to him.

The slight smell of aftershave filled your nose and you could hear him gently breathing with the rise and fall of his chest, he must be fast asleep. The loud snores of Itadori still echoed through the room but all you could concentrate on was the man in front of you. You had never been this close to him before, or anyone before, and your heart felt like it was about the burst out of your chest. You wouldn’t dare move in fear of waking him up and making the situation awkward, so you stayed frozen in your spot trying not to shake.

You couldn’t deny that you had thought about things like this before, the thought of being so close to him, having him touch you, and being able to feel him under your hands, but the prospect of having it actually happen was just too anxiety-inducing. You could feel your face going red as you thought about all the dirty things you had done before, and you felt a slight twinge between your legs.

You couldn’t. Could you? You hated the thought as soon as it entered your head, but that didn’t stop your hand from creeping between your legs and resting on your stomach. It was so wrong, he was your teacher, he was nine years older than you, but you didn’t want to stop. You would probably never get a chance like this ever again. You could even promise yourself to sleep on the floor the next three nights, but just this once, you wanted to risk it.

Your fingers crept down under the waistband of your shorts and panties and dipped into the slick folds between your legs. You tentatively put two fingers inside, never taking your eyes off of Nanami’s face, and began to pump them in and out. Your thumb found its place on your clit which you began to rub circles on. The sudden feeling of having your clit touched was enough to make you clamp your other hand over your mouth to try and quiet your breathing. Your first priority had to be staying silent.

You could feel your eyes beginning to half close as you gave into the pleasure, and they drifted down to look at Nanami’s chest and the sculpted muscles under his shirt. You began to move your fingers faster feeling your release on its way and you held your hand tighter to your mouth as your head became fuzzy. Small whimpers were beginning to slip out of your throat and you could feel your movements getting sloppier as you continued to speed up.

A hand wrapped around your wrist, stilling your hand.

You froze, eyes shooting open to find Nanami looking down at you with a weary expression. You opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out. Your brain was in a frenzy, you wanted to just evaporate into thin air or die on the spot, but you couldn’t do anything.

“What are you doing?” He asked with no hint of emotion in his voice.

“I-I’m sorry-- I--,” you couldn’t spit the words out, truthfully you couldn’t even think of what to say. You were caught red-handed and you didn’t think you would ever be able to make yourself forget the embarrassment you felt at this exact moment.

“Do you normally do this when you’re put next to your teachers?”

“No, I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’ll leave--” you stuttered out, trying your best to make the situation end as quickly as possible.

“So this is a special occasion then?” He asked, holding your gaze and not releasing your arm.

“N-No--”

“Which is it then? Do you normally do this or is this a one-time thing?” He said, interrupting you before you could spit out another pitiful apology. You tried your best to slow your breathing to get out a coherent answer, but it wasn’t working with the way that Nanami’s eyes were drilling into yours.

“I-Its a one-time thing, I-I’m sorry, I’ll go sleep on the floor,” you said trying to pull your hand out of his grasp but he didn’t let go. You felt sick, you shouldn’t have taken the risk, you knew that the mortification you felt would outweigh the pleasure you got from masturbating if you got caught.

“You’ll be left frustrated then.” He said. Everything he was saying wasn’t registering, all you felt was the panic in your gut and the need to get away as quickly as possible.

“T-That’s fine, I-I don’t care,” you quickly spit out, feeling tears pricking at the corner of your eyes.

“Are you sure...? ...I’d be willing to help,” he said, keeping his voice low as to not wake Itadori and Megumi.

“I--.., w-wait, what?” You said, the meaning of his words finally hitting you.

“I would be willing to help, I don’t want one of my students feeling pent up and unsatisfied.”

“I…” you didn’t know what to say, you were so shocked by the whole situation that the thought of answering was even too much. He pulled your hand up from under your shorts and out into the open where evidence of your actions was clearly visible on your fingers. His gaze dropped back down to your face expecting a response. You opened your mouth to answer before diverting your eyes and opting to give a small nod.

Nanami’s hand landed on your hip and slowly made its way down under the waistband of your shorts while the arm that was under you came down to reach around your back and pull you closer. You could feel his fingers brushing past your stomach as they trailed closer to your dripping wet cunt. Your breath was caught in your throat as you felt everything that was happening, you had to be dreaming, there was no way.

Nanami’s fingers finally reached your entrance and he slipped one inside of you, causing you to let out a small gasp and cling onto his shirt. His fingers were much larger than yours and could reach places that you couldn’t yourself, making you tighten up around him. It was truly torturous as he began to move his finger inside of you, the friction on your tight walls and the adrenaline from the whole situation was enough to make your head fuzzy and cause a small whimper to come out from your sealed lips.

You could feel him pulling you closer as you held onto his shirt and arched your back from the pleasure. He was already going at a gentle and agonizing pace inside of you, but when he added a second finger it was what threw you over the edge into a shaking mess. You were no longer able to control your breathing and keep quiet so you threw a hand over your mouth in order to stifle your moans and whimpers.

“Getting close?” he asked, whispering into your ear making you shiver from the feeling of his breath on your skin.

Without thinking, you whined out, “Y-Yes, b-but I want more, I-I need you inside of me...”

As soon as you said it you knew you had gone too far. Here Nanami was, fingering you and holding you close to help you cum, and you had the audacity to ask for more. His fingers stilled inside of you and you tightened up at the feeling of them sliding out, leaving you empty. Nanami put his hand under your chin and tilted your head up to look him in the eyes.

“Then climb on,” he said, making your eyes widen.

You took your hands away from their place on his shirt and began to unsteadily move yourself on top of him. At that same time, he had his fingers hooked around the waistband of your shorts and thoroughly soaked panties and was pulling them down your legs. You positioned yourself on top of his lap, your thighs on either side of his hips. You had your hands braced firmly on his chest, trying to hold yourself up, but you couldn’t manage sitting up more than a few inches. Under your bare pussy you could feel his hard-on through his pants and you were trying your best to keep your hips still and not grind on him.

His large hands began to pull his pants and boxers down and you lifted your hips to make it easier, but when he had finally removed them you couldn't hide your surprise about his size. Apparently, the look was written all over your face because a hint of a smile was on Nanami’s face and he grabbed your hips to keep you steady.

“You were the one who said you wanted more, sweetheart. You haven’t changed your mind right?”

You dryly swallowed and quickly shook your head no. Even if you were worried about being able to take him, it didn’t mean that you weren’t going to try, especially when one of your wet dreams was playing itself out in real life.

Nanami slid his hands around your hips and under your thighs to help position you above his cock. You could feel yourself beginning to shiver with anticipation just by looking down at what you were going to take in your tight, dripping pussy. The need to be filled up by him was becoming overwhelming and he was taking his sweet time with looking at you and lowering you onto him. When the tip finally touched your entrance you let out a whimper followed up by a pathetic “please.”

“Please what? I wanna hear you say it.” Nanami said, bringing a hand up to stroke your cheek.

“P-Please fuck me, I-I wanna be filled up so badly,” you said, your voice barely more than a whisper. Finally, you felt him start to enter you, your walls painfully stretching to accommodate his size, and you weren’t able to stifle the high-pitched moan that escaped your lips when it happened. Your vision was getting blurry and your arms lost the strength to hold you up anymore, causing your head to smack into his chest. You heard Nanami curse at the loud noise you made and you felt his fingers force their way into your mouth and down your throat, forcing you to keep quiet. He continued to push your hips down onto him, earning a few whimpers and causing you to grip onto his arm. Despite your heavy breathing, he didn’t give you much time to adjust to his size, you could feel the painful sensation of him pressing up against your cervix as he held you down along with the feeling of your slick beginning to coat both of your thighs.

His grip tightened on your ass as he began to lift you up and down, you tried your best to help by moving your hips but you didn’t have much strength left in your legs after being so close to cumming earlier. The feeling of him stretching you out and rubbing against your slick insides would have ordinarily caused you to make moans that could be heard through the walls, but the combined force of using all your willpower and having two fingers shoved down your throat was enough to reduce your noises to just quick and heavy breathing. The wet sound of you bouncing on his dick was the only noise that could be heard throughout the room and it was enough to make you tighten up around him, causing Nanami to shut his eyes and get a concentrated look on his face.

In a hushed and deep voice, Nanami asked, “Can you keep quiet sweetheart?” which you quickly nodded to. As soon as he had removed his fingers from your mouth, leaving a trail of saliva behind, your hand was back over your mouth and you were biting your lip hard enough to draw blood. His free hand brushed a piece of your hair behind your ear before making its way under your shirt. You felt him grab your chest and begin to pinch your nipple between his middle and index finger, making your job of staying quiet much harder than before. The feeling of having your chest played with sent waves of pleasure down to your crotch, only causing you to feel yourself get wetter and closer to orgasm. The pace he was fucking you at wasn’t ruthless, but it was slow and powerful enough to make you feel your release building up inside of you, every thrust made it a challenge for you to hold on and not completely give in. You could feel that he was close too, his movements were getting more erratic and you could see the sheen of sweat on his face in the dim light of the window.

You took your free hand and moved it up to his face, brushing your fingers past his cheek and sliding them into his hair. You didn't feel like you would be able to hold on much longer and your eyes began to cross as you let yourself fully give in.

“Cum with me sweetheart, okay?” He said, looking up at you through lowered eyelids. You nodded with what little energy you could and prepared yourself for what was next. His hand moved from its spot on your chest and went down to help fuck you faster on his dick. The pace quickly picked up and you could feel that your pussy was going to be bruised in the morning from how hard he was going. He reached his thumb down to your clit and began to move it in circles like you were doing before, causing you to gasp and grip onto the hair that was in your hand.

It took all your effort to keep in your moans and whimpers as you reached your climax, feeling your cunt spasm around him and the words “good girl” falling from his lips. Your vision went blurry as he continued to fuck you through your orgasm and cum inside you, filling you up with his hot sticky liquid.

When you regained your focus, you were both a gasping and sweaty mess under the covers. His hands had moved to rest around your back and hold you against him and his cock was still sheathed inside of you. You didn’t have any energy to move and simply let your arms fall limp on the bed, savoring the afterglow and the feeling of his cum starting to drip out of you.

You felt immensely tired and could feel your eyelids wanting to close. You felt Nanami place a kiss on top of you head which caused a faint smile to form on your lips and you wrapped your arms around him, ready to fall asleep exactly where you were resting on top of him.

As you gave one last look around the room though, the last thing you saw before you drifted to sleep was Itadori staring at you wide eyed from the other bed.

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #nanami #nanami kento #nanami x reader #smut #jujutsu kaisen fanfic

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lunar-wandering · 3 years ago

Text

Lanterns and Lies

surprise!! here we go, the sequel to Glamours and Gauze!

Word Count: 7k

Read on Ao3

Macaque had lied, when he said the shadow lantern was gone.

When the Lady Bone Demon had caught him, she had made a specific note of needing the lantern.

And, well, Macaque wouldn't let that happen.

So he'd shattered it, again, and during the Lady Bone Demon's momentary shock, he'd taken the opportunity to gather the broken pieces and run.

One of her minions had cut him with the cursed knife while he was running away.

That didn't matter now though, his injuries had been healed, and the Lady Bone Demon had yet to make another move. For now, sitting on the roof of the noodle shop, he was safe.

He starred down at the shattered pieces of the lantern in his hands.

With a sigh, he carefully extended his magic, putting the pieces back together again, reforming the lantern. He held it gently in his hands as he looked around the roof.

Now where was he gonna hide this-

"Macaque, I brought plums!"

Macaque startled upon hearing MK's voice, he'd been so distracted focusing on putting the lantern back together, he hadn't even heard the other climb up the ladder to the roof.

The.....lantern....

Which he told MK was gone....

In a rush to avoid MK seeing the lantern, Macaque did the first thing he thought of.

He shoved the lantern into himself, letting it mix into his own magic. Not the smartest way of storing it, it was a highly magical item, who knows how it would act while in direct contact with his magic, but it was the first thing he could think of, and this was only a temporary measure, so it should be fine.

....Probably.

"Hey bud, what's up?" Macaque asked, turning around to face MK, who was setting a small bowl of plums on the ground. "...What are the plums for?"

"You said that if I brought you some plums, you'd tell me about the time Monkey King walked into a tree." MK said, "And I fully expect you to keep your end of the bargain."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Macaque said, grabbing the bowl of plums. "Well you see, what happened was-"

"That had to be the stupidest shit you've ever pulled, Wukong." Macaque said, breathing heavily as he leaned against a tree. Wukong for his part, just smirked.

"I didn't see you try to stop me." He said, laughing as Macaque glared at him.

"I did try to stop you. Multiple times. But you didn't listen." He said, "You really need to stop picking a fight with every random person you meet."

"You're no fun at all." Wukong said, yawning as he stretched. Macaque rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He said, "Anyways, we should probably head back to the cave, get some rest-"

"I'm not tired." Wukong said.

"You literally yawned a few seconds ago."

"Doesn't mean I'm tired. Besides, there's still more stuff to do." Wukong said, turning and walking off further into the mountain's forest, Macaque trailing behind him. As they walked, Macaque noticed Wukong start slouching, little by little. He didn't say anything though, knowing that Wukong would only deny it if asked.

It would be better just to watch and deal with the consequences when they came.

And oh boy, did the consequences come: in the form of Wukong turning a corner and immediately walking directly into a tree. The tree snapped in half, falling to the ground, with Wukong tumbling down after it. There was a loud thump, as dust and leaves were sent flying into the air. A few nearby birds called out in concern.

"Timber." Macaque said, a smirk on his face, walking over and crouching down beside where Wukong now lay on his back with a dazed expression on his face. "So. Not tired, huh?"

"Shut up." Wukong hissed, sitting up, pulling dirt and leaves out of his fur as he did so. "The tree just. Got in my way, that's all-"

"You're expecting me to believe that a tree got up and put itself in your path?" Macaque asked, "Wukong. I'm not stupid. Let's just hurry up and go back to the cave to rest already."

"I'm fine." Wukong said, moving to stand up, but wobbling a little, tipping backwards again-

Macaque caught him, keeping him from having another close encounter with the ground.

"I ended up having to carry him all the way back up the mountain." Macaque said, making little images with his shadows in order to give MK a better visual of what happened. "He ended up sleeping for like, 3 days. Took him still being tired when he woke up again for me to realize he'd gotten cursed. Wasn't hard to break it afterwards, but boy did Wukong protest the whole time. Practically had to tie him to his bed."

MK scribbled in his sketch book, and Macaque, out of curiosity, moved closer, looking over MK's shoulder to see a sketch of what Macaque had just described.

"....You're drawing this?" He asked. MK nodded.

"Yeah! I've got a lifetime goal of illustrating all of Monkey King's adventures!" MK said, pausing his sketching to show Macaque a quick flip through of the rest of the book. "...You got any other stories?"

"Lots." Macaque said, leaning back. "But you're gonna have to bring more plums if you want more stories. I'm not just gonna hand this info out for free."

"Of course, of course." MK said, standing up and walking back over to the ladder, mumbling to himself as he climbed back down. "I'm going to have to permanently add plums to my shopping list...."

Macaque stayed where he was, waiting patiently until he couldn't hear MK anymore, before letting out a relieved sigh.

That had been close.... No matter what, he couldn't let the others know that he still had the lantern. Revealing that would probably cause the others to push him away, they wouldn't trust him anymore, and he really couldn't have that. Hanging around them was the most advantageous position for him to be in right now, and he wasn't about to give it up any time soon.

...He still needed a place to hide it permanently, keeping it inside of himself probably wouldn't be a good idea in the long term. With that thought in mind, he mentally reached inwards with his magic, shadows starting to surround him as he prepared to take the lantern out-

"Hey, Macaque!"

Macaque startled again, the shadows that had condensed around him vanishing as though they'd been popped like party balloons as he whirled around to see-

Mei, who giggled at his shocked expression, holding up her phone and taking a quick picture of him before pocketing it.

"Would you two stop doing that?" Macaque asked, sighing as Mei circled around him.

"Hey, it's not my fault you didn't hear me coming." Mei said, giggling at the expression on Macaque's face. "Seriously, with all those ears you have it's a wonder you didn't-"

"What do you want." Macaque growled, "You wouldn't be here if you didn't want something."

"Wouldn't I?"

That. Wasn't a question Macaque felt that he could answer. He honestly couldn't think of a reason why any of MK's friends would want to be around him, but they hadn't really been pushing him away either....

Mei seemed a little concerned with how he'd suddenly gone silent though, so it was probably best to quickly change the subject.

"Ah, anyways, I have some stuff to do, so I don't really have time for you." Macaque said, walking past Mei and over to the edge of the rooftop. Distantly, he noted a weird tingling sensation come over him, but he ignored it, figuring it wasn't important.

"Oh, now that's a lie." Mei said, a smirk on her face. "You never do anything other than lounge around up here."

"Do not." Macaque said, crossing his arms. "I do plenty, you just haven't noticed."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

Macaque pondered for a moment on how best to answer-

And that was when his foot started sinking into the shadow underneath of him.

Outwardly, Macaque remained perfectly calm, not letting Mei in on the fact that anything was amiss.

Inwardly, he panicked.

That was definitely not supposed to be happening, why was it happening it shouldn't be happening why was he l o s i n g c o n t r o l-

He was snapped out of his panic when he heard the sound of an engine starting up behind him. Subtly looking over his shoulder, he could see MK, ready to drive off, probably to deliver some noodles.

Macaque made his decision in a split second.

Turning and pulling his foot out of the shadow it'd been sinking into, Macaque jumped off the roof. Ignoring Mei's shout of "Hey, wait!", he slipped into the shadow of the tuk tuk, just before MK started to drive away.

Macaque hung out in the shadow of the tuk tuk for about 15 minutes before he actually bothered to wonder where exactly MK was going.

MK slowed down a bit as he turned a corner, and Macaque figured it was as good a time as any to ask.

Carefully, he materialized on the back of the tuk tuk, then, after making sure there wasn't anything around for MK to accidentally hit should he swerve, asked;

"Where are you going?"

MK's foot slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching and Macaque almost falling off from the sudden inertia. As soon as they were still, MK whirled around, staring at Macaque, shocked.

"How long have you been there?" He asked, and the expression on his face genuinely made Macaque laugh.

"Oh, not very long." Macaque said, "I was riding along in the shadow for the most part."

"...You can do that?" MK asked, "You probably save like, so much money when traveling then-"

"Bold of you to assume that I have any money at all." Macaque said, "Anyways, you didn't answer the question. Where are you going?"

"Why do you want to know?" MK asked, crossing his arms. "And why are you here anyways? Usually you just stay on the roof, what changed?"

"Nothing! What, can't I just want to go for a ride once in a while?" Macaque said-

And his hand started sinking into the shadow beside him. Swiftly, he pulled it out, rubbing it to get rid of the remaining tingles. MK watched this happen with a look of suspicion.

"...Uh-huh, sure, like I believe that." He said, tone as dry as the desert. "And anyways, I don't think you'd want to-"

And then he paused, looking as though he'd just been hit with some kind of realization.

"Actually-" MK started, "I think it would be good if you came with me."

He turned back around, taking his foot off the break and turning back onto the road, speeding up a little.

"You still haven't told me where we're going." Macaque said.

"Oh, you'll soon find out."

Macaque had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

He was right. He hated this.

Staring up at a temple that quite obviously belonged to Sun Wukong, Macaque regretted every decision he had made in his life that had led up to this moment.

He regretted it even more when the monkey himself opened the front gate.

"Ah, there you are kid!" Wukong said, "I was beginning to think you'd never show up!"

"I'm only 2 minutes late..." MK muttered, and Macaque couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.

Sun Wukong was not, exactly, known for being very patient after all.

"Oh, I see you brought... an audience." Wukong said, finally noticing that Macaque was, in fact, also there.

"Audience? Please, if anything I'm the lead actor." Macaque said.

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that." MK said, and Macaque would've hit him where it not for the warning glance Wukong gave him.

Macaque ended up being dragged to MK's training sessions with Wukong, again and again. Some days it was because MK himself forcibly brought him along, and on other days it was because Macaque was simply avoiding Mei. (He denied the accusation that he was avoiding her when asked...and then almost tripped as his foot sank deeper into the shadows. Luckily he'd managed to blame it on a stray tree root, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up...)

Over the course of said days, Macaque had tried multiple times to find a better place to hide the lantern than within his own magic. (He'd long since figured out that the lantern was reacting whenever he lied, thus messing with his own magic. He had no idea why it was doing this, but the why didn't really matter so long as he could find a way to stop it.) But of course, since karma was apparently out to get him, he was interrupted by someone every single time, forcing him to keep the lantern within himself, lest the others find out about it.

Honestly though, he was shocked that Wukong hadn't noticed, considering his golden vision and all, he should've been able to see the fact that the lantern's magic was contained within Macaque.

(Macaque had nearly panicked when, on day 2 of him following MK to his training, Wukong had leaned close to him with a contemplative look on his face.

"...Why are you so close to me?" Macaque had asked, and huh, how long had that slit been in Wukong's eyebrow? Had it been there for a while and Macaque had just never noticed or-

"I'm checking to see how much of the glamor you're wearing." Was Wukong's response, as he studied him. "You're still recovering, you probably shouldn't be using magic to cover all of it."

So....Wukong was concerned about him. Macaque couldn't really imagine why, but still-

"You didn't need to get so close to me- can't you obviously see I'm wearing it?" Macaque had asked, gesturing at his own face. Wukong, surprisingly, winced at that, finally backing up a bit.

"Well, I guess you seem fine." He'd muttered, turning away, "Don't know why I was even worried."

And Macaque should've been relieved, but for some reason-

For some reason he felt like something was wrong.)

Macaque relaxed in the shade of a tree, watching Wukong train MK. It was almost soothing to watch the mentor and student trade hits as they sparred.

But of course, being relaxed didn't mean that Macaque didn't notice things.

Like how Wukong was a full 2 seconds slower in blocking MK's attacks than he'd been when Macaque had stolen MK's powers. Which wasn't really something that would normally raise concern- he probably just wasn't being as serious as he would be when encountering an actual threat, but.

Something about it was making the alarm bells that had been constantly ringing in Macaque's head louder. (Something he, obviously, didn't appreciate. Loud sounds, even mental ones, weren't very pleasant for him).

Macaque, of course, was never one to miss an opportunity to call Wukong out.

Which was why it was so surprising when MK beat him to the punch.

"Monkey King, are you okay?" MK asked, and Macaque sat up straighter, paying more attention, because oh, he wanted to hear this.

"Of course bud! Why do you ask?" Wukong said, and despite the fact that his back was to Macaque, the shadow monkey just knew that the other was lying.

"Well I don't know, you've just- seemed off, is all." MK said, shifting back and forth as he seemed to contemplate what to say. "Like, a little slower maybe? And I haven't seen you use your cloud in days, which is kinda weird, since you normally seem to use it-"

Wukong stiffened, and it was at this point that Macaque got genuinely curious, deciding that he had to see what kind of expression the other monkey was making right now. So, he slipped down into the shadows of the tree, and reappeared out of MK's shadow, startling the both of them as he slung an arm around MK's shoulder.

"Kid's right y'know." Macaque said, putting on a smirk as he looked at the other. "Even I've noticed, and I've barely even been paying attention."

That was a lie, and he barely kept himself from wincing as he felt the tingle of magic flow through his body.

Only for nothing to seemingly happen. That was...mildly concerning, he'd felt the flow of magic, so something had definitely occurred, he just couldn't tell what.

...Well, whatever. If he couldn't notice it then it probably wasn't important.

Macaque refocused back in on the subject at hand, studying Wukong's expression. Nothing he hadn't expected, the usual nervous smile and look in his eyes that indicated he was lying where all there.

Or, well, most of it was expected.

The slight twinge of fear was new.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong!" Wukong said, taking a slight step back. "I'm fine, really!"

Both MK and Macaque rolled their eyes in sync.

"If you're so fine, then explain to me why you keep waiting until MK is almost right in front of you before blocking him?" Macaque asked, MK nodding along as he spoke. "Seriously, it's like you can't see it unless it's close-"

Both Macaque and MK froze, coming to the same conclusion at the same time. Wukong, seeing the expressions on their faces, scratched his cheek nervously, avoiding their gaze.

"Oh my heavens." MK said, "You need glasses."

"I do not-"

Tang had been having a peaceful day at the noodle shop.

Having, being the key word.

Because suddenly, said peaceful day was interrupted as Macaque appeared out of nowhere beside him. Tang barely kept himself from startling out of his stool. (He'd started to grow used to the shadow monkey's sudden appearances, but that didn't really make them any less startling).

Macaque, for a moment, looked confused as to where he was, looking around in surprise, before taking notice of Tang and schooling his features into something unreadable.

"Oh." He said, "Uh. Hello?"

"Hello to you too, Macaque?" Tang said, a little confused, before finally taking notes of one important fact.

Macaque's eyes were fully purple.

"...Ah." Tang said, "Not Macaque."

"Hm, smart man." 'Macaque' said, leaning back, "Nope, I'm not the original. Just a shadow clone, that's all I am."

"Why are you here? Is there trouble?" Tang asked, worry seeping into his voice. The clone just shrugged.

"Dunno." 'Macaque' said, "One minute, I didn't exist, the next, I'm here."

"How can you just not know?" Tang asked, blinking in disbelief.

"He probably created me on accident." 'Macaque' said, almost as casually as though he was reading out a morning newspaper.

"That can happen??"

"Well, not normally, but in certain cases-" The clone started, then paused, eyes narrowing. "Well, actually, if that's the case, he probably doesn't know I exist right now..."

"Shouldn't you... tell him?" Tang asked, and watched as the clone contemplated it.

"Well I mean, not telling him would be kind of funny." He said, before shaking himself out of it. "No- no, you're right, I should probably tell him."

The clone proceeded to go completely silent, and Tang watched him with thinly veiled concern. After about 2 minutes of silence, with the clone making increasingly dramatic facial expressions, Tang decided to comment again.

"...Are you actually contacting him right now?" He asked, and the clone broke out of whatever state he was in to glance at him.

"Hm? Oh- yeah." He said, "Mental connection, y'know?"

"Then how come MK doesn't ever-"

"Cause he doesn't know it exists."

Of course. Of course the lantern had made a clone.

That certainly explained why there hadn't been any obvious reaction after the magic tingle.

Although, it was weird that the clone had ended up in the noodle shop. Why on Earth would it have formed there?

(In all honesty, it was probably because, once again, Macaque felt safe there. But he never planned to admit that fact, not even to himself, so he slid that thought back into the deepest part of his mind.)

As it was now though, Macaque sat back under the tree, head in hands, mentally communicating with the clone as MK and Wukong continued to argue about whether or not the Monkey King needed glasses.

"C'mon!" MK said, stomping his foot on the ground, "Just admit that you're nearsighted already! It's obvious!"

"I don't need glasses!" Wukong said, hopping backwards as MK tried to tackle him. "I can see just fine!"

This statement was contradicted, as MK suddenly moved backwards, distancing himself from his mentor. Macaque could see Wukong squint, something he wouldn't normally do-

And then MK moved forwards, with a speed Macaque honestly hadn't seen him use before (and wasn't that funny, that somehow this argument was actually causing MK's speed to improve) and managed to tackle Wukong to the ground.

A roll of parchment fell out of one of Wukong's pockets.

"Oh?" Macaque said, standing up, temporarily blocking his shadow clone's messages out of his mind (it was fine anyways, it seemed to have gotten distracted), he walked over, picking up the roll of parchment. "What's this?"

"Wh-Hey!" Wukong said, looking up from his position of being pinned to the ground by MK, squinting his eyes as he focused on Macaque. "Don't- give that back!"

"Well now, if you're so pressed over it then I kinda have to look, right?" Macaque said, slowly unrolling the scroll despite Wukong's protests. MK, surprisingly, kept Wukong pinned, watching with curiosity as Macaque looked over the parchment's contents. "....Huh."

"What is it?" MK asked, and Macaque turned, holding out the unrolled parchment so that MK could see it. Wukong, at this point, stopped struggling, simply laying on the ground face down.

"Tell me, Wukong, why exactly do you need a map?" Macaque asked, crouching down in front of the other. "You planning on going on vacation again or something?"

"You're going to leave me again?" MK asked, and maybe Macaque was just hearing things (rather unlikely....) but there was almost a note of panic in MK's voice.

Wukong must've picked up on the panic too, as he quickly jumped into reassurance.

"Woah, hey, I'm not- I'm not vacationing any time soon." He said, attempting to shift around a little, before sighing. "...Could you get off me now, please?"

MK scrambled to get off his mentor, Wukong slowly sitting up and stretching a little. Macaque rolled his eyes at the display, shaking the map a little to draw their attention back to it.

"Hey, I'm not letting you off that easily." He said, "Explain the map. Now."

Wukong sighed again, avoiding both Macaque and MK's eyes.

"...Fine, so maybe I.....wasn't exactly on vacation...." Wukong muttered, "I was...searching for something. A weapon."

"...To fight the Lady Bone Demon, right?" MK asked, and Wukong looked at him in shock.

"How'd you-"

"Maybe leaving your successor alone when there's a powerful demon on the loose isn't the best decision, Wukong." Macaque said, rolling up the map and putting into his own pocket, before lightly rubbing his arm, a few specific... memories running through his mind. "Seriously, be glad she still hasn't gotten everything she needs."

"What do you know about what she-" MK started, then cut himself off, looking at Macaque as though he'd been given the answer to everything. "She's the one who hurt you."

Macaque didn't respond, turning around and walking away.

"Hey wait- where are you-" Wukong started-

"I'm going back to my spot under the tree." Macaque said, "You two can sort through whatever your 'vacation' was about on your own."

"...Huh." The shadow clone muttered, eyes closed as he seemingly listened in on whatever was happening to the real Macaque. "That's.....interesting."

"What is?" Tang asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Nothing really important." The clone said- and started melting slightly. Tang looked on in confusion as the clone suddenly panicked, stumbling over his words. "Wait- no I mean- it, it is important, but not really something I should be the one to tell you about?"

The melting stopped, the shadow clone returning to normal as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Does that....usually happen?" Tang asked.

"No." The clone answered, but didn't elaborate. Tang figured he'd just have to ask the real Macaque about it later. "...Anyways, do you think you could help the real me out with something?"

"Depends on what said something is." Tang said, crossing his arms.

"It's nothing bad, I promise." The shadow clone said, chuckling. "But, would you happen to know where I could buy a pair of glasses?"

"This is dumb. I look stupid."

"Aw come on Monkey King, I think you look cool!" Mei said, MK nodding along with her. "The glasses suit you just fine!"

Wukong sighed, sitting in the noodle shop with his arms crossed, leaning on the counter.

"What's with the sudden need for glasses anyways?" Pigsy asked, sliding a bowl of peach slices over to the monkey. Subtly, he also handed a bowl of plums over to Macaque, who was sitting slightly off to the side in the shadows.

Wukong stiffened, pausing for a moment before opening his mouth to answer-

"And don't lie to me." Pigsy added, and Wukong slouched a little.

(Macaque had to admit, it was kinda fun to watch the Monkey King basically get reprimanded like a child.

The only reason he didn't comment on it was that he was sure that if he did, he'd get the exact same treatment.)

There was a moment of silence, before Wukong groaned, laying his head down on the table, and muttering something that was too quiet for the others to hear, but nearly made Macaque choke on the plum he'd been chewing on.

"What?!" He said, in pure shock, "You- you're losing your powers?!"

Almost instantly, there was pandemonium.

"What do you mean you're losing your powers!" MK practically screeched, "That can happen?!"

"I don't know, but it's the only explanation I've got!" Wukong said, throwing his hands up into the air. "I can't use my golden vision or my cloud anymore- and I don't know why!"

"How, exactly, does this relate back to you suddenly needing glasses?" Pigsy asked, completely ignoring how the others where in varying states of a mental breakdown.

"I- I usually just use my golden vision to make up for it." Wukong said, "Like, magic contacts, you know?"

"...And now you can't do that anymore." Tang said, "Because you can't use your golden vision."

"......Yeah." Wukong sighed.

"Is there...anything we can do to help?" Sandy tentatively asked.

"Well, I was planning on going out and finding.... something." Wukong said, turning to look at Macaque. "Speaking of which, you promised you'd give me the map back once I got glasses, and I'm wearing them now so-"

Macaque tsk'd, pulling the map out of his pocket and tossing it over to the other monkey, who caught it and placed it upon the counter.

"It's not like I can go and get it now though." Wukong said, the others staring over him to look down at the map. "Since I can't use my cloud anymore..."

"I have an airship." Sandy said, and Wukong turned to look at him in confusion. "We could use that, to travel there."

"What- no. No. Absolutely not." Wukong said, jumping up onto the counter (ignoring Pigsy disapproving glare), and staring down at the others. "In case you don't remember, you guys have something called mortality. I'm not going to just bring you guys with me-"

"Like you have much of a choice." A new voice said, and Macaque barely kept himself from startling as he suddenly noticed Red Son beside him.

"How long have you been there-" Macaque hissed, but was ultimately ignored.

"You coming too, Red Boy?" Mei asked, despite Wukong's faint protests that nobody was coming with him, thank you very much-

"I have nothing better to do." Red Son said, shrugging. "My parents went on vacation a little while ago, I've just been hanging around since then."

"So, we're all going?" MK asked, glancing over at Macaque, who, realizing he was being stared at, sighed, standing up and stepping closer to them, in the light.

"Fine, whatever." He said, "If you guys want me to go, I'll come, but I'm not happy about it."

The others stared at him, with a mixture of confusion and shock.

"....What?" Macaque asked, already dreading the answer. MK slowly pointed behind him.

"Has your shadow always moved like that?" He asked, and Macaque didn't even bother to look, instead immediately slamming his back against the wall to cover it as he threw a glamor over his own shadow. He wasn't sure what it had been doing that the others saw, but he absolutely refused to let it be seen any longer.

"...Whatever it was you saw, forget about it." He said, and while most of the others simply shrugged, accepting it as just him being weird, looking away-

The look in Mei and Wukong's eyes did not promise good things.

The first day on the ship, everyone was mainly focused on settling in, making sure all their stuff was where it needed to be, choosing rooms, so on and so forth.

And so, for the most part, Macaque was free from whatever Wukong and Mei were planning.

The second day on the ship, however.

The second day on the ship made Macaque wish the airship had a plank so he could jump off of it.

It had started small.

"Hey, Macaque?" Mei asked, grabbing his attention before practically shoving her phone into his face. "What do you think about this?"

Macaque could barely register the image in front of his face, but eventually parsed it out to be a picture of- a kitten??

"I hate it." He said, instinctively, and almost immediately started sinking into the shadow beneath him. Mei, being so close to him, immediately noticed, confusion flashing on her face for a brief second, before a smirk took over.

"If you say so." She said, and backed off, turning away as Macaque hurriedly pulled his feet out of the shadows before he could sink any further.

Some part of him hoped that would be the end of it.

As soon as he ran into Wukong though, he instantly knew that this wasn't over by a long shot.

"Macaque." Wukong said, leaning against the wall, and Macaque instantly noticed that his glasses were missing.

"You owe Tang 5 cents." Macaque hissed, it was well known that Tang had made the Monkey King promise to pay him whenever the monkey was caught not wearing his glasses. Macaque, of course, didn't really care, but he was looking for some way to distract Wukong from whatever he was planning to do to him.

"I'll pay him later." Wukong shrugged, and Macaque mentally cursed. "So. How'd you sleep last night?"

Macaque wasn't going to be led into the trap this obviously was.

"How did you sleep last night?" He shot back.

"I didn't." Wukong said, perfectly honest. "I did see you walking around for a bit though, so I'm curious as to whether or not you slept. You need it more than I do, remember?"

That.... was true. Macaque did need to sleep more than Wukong did, but-

"I slept just fine." Macaque lied, sighing as he felt the glamor over his ears fade away. Wukong crossed his arms, a concerned look on his face, but Macaque ignored it, choosing instead to walk into a nearby shadow to teleport to another location on the ship, throwing his glamor back on as he did so.

(He, in truth, was in the same boat as Wukong, both literally and figuratively. He hadn't slept at all, instead laying awake all night, worrying.

Wukong was losing his powers. MK was not nearly close enough to being ready. The others, outside of Red Son, might have some powers or abilities, but they are no where near close enough to being capable of beating the Lady Bone Demon.

He'd have to rely on the unknowns of this weapon Wukong was seeking out.

Macaque didn't like relying on unknowns.)

He emerged in the ships engine room-

And very nearly fell right on top of Red Son.

"Watch where you're going!" Red Son huffed, dodging out of the way and angrily brushing non existent dirt off of his jacket. "Seriously, what is with you guys and trying to knock me to the ground?"

"Maybe you just look very squishable." Macaque muttered, not really intending on giving Red Son a proper response. He actually didn't want to interact with anyone right now, especially not Red Son, so he turned, moving to leave the engine room-

"Not so fast." Red Son said, stopping Macaque in his tracks by grabbing hold of the back of his scarf. "I've got some questions for you."

Hm. That didn't bode well.

"What makes you think that I have any answers?" Macaque asked, only to be met by a deadpan look that promised-

That promised fire if he didn't co-operate.

If there was a list of things Macaque strictly didn't want, fire would be number one, at the top of the list.

"...What do you want to know?" He asked, slumping a little in defeat.

"Why you stayed." Red Son said, elaborating when Macaque only looked at him in confusion. "Your wound healed. You were perfectly free to go. And yet.... you stayed. Like you were....trying to protect something."

"Uh, yeah, myself, obviously." Macaque said, shrugging. "Hanging out around the Monkey King and his successor is the safest place to be after-"

"That's not it." Red Son said, and Macaque froze. "Sure, staying around them while you're weak makes sense, you'd need someone to protect you. But after you've recovered? Once you're strong again? Sure, I can understand you getting attached, but always staying around them is a little strange."

There was a glint, in Red Son's eye, and Macaque suddenly remembered a moment, yesterday, where Mei had dragged the fire demon off to the side to have a little conversation. He'd thought nothing about it at the time, but now-

"You say that you're protecting yourself....But at this point, somehow, you're mostly protecting them, aren't you?" Red Son asked, "Whatever it is you're hiding, you're hiding it to protect both yourself and them."

Macaque didn't answer, instead staring at the floor.

Whatever Mei and Wukong had been planning, Red Son was in on it.

And he was very clearly not as interested in taking a subtle approach.

"Your powers have been on the fritz lately." Red Son said, almost like it was an afterthought to his whole theory. "Don't think that we haven't noticed. It's different from Wukong though, in that you're not losing your powers, if anything, it's like they're getting stronger, almost as though they're being drawn from a different source-"

Macaque didn't want to stay here any longer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He lied, and didn't resist as his powers fluctuated in response, letting himself completely fall into the shadow behind him.

He ended up falling out of a shadow on the ceiling.

Luckily, it was in his own room, so no-one else was there to witness it.

Didn't mean it didn't hurt though.

"...That's gonna bruise later...." He muttered to himself as he slowly pushed himself off the floor and stood up.

For a moment, he just stood there, slightly dazed.

And then he started pacing.

This was not good, the others were onto him, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

Not to mention the lantern, it's influence on his abilities was getting stronger the longer he left it inside himself. There was literally no telling how far it's influence would go.

(He'd already started noticing some strands of his fur turning purple. It wasn't anything that couldn't easily be covered up by a glamor, but the fact it was happening at all was incredibly concerning.)

He had to find another place to hide it. But where-

And suddenly, Macaque was struck by an idea. A rather bad idea, honestly, there was sure to be consequences from this, but it was the only idea he had right now.

The ship's clock struck 4 am.

Macaque slipped into MK's room, holding the faintly glowing lantern.

For a moment, he stood there, beside MK's bed, letting the lantern hover over top of him, thinking.

Maybe......maybe he shouldn't do this. He could probably find another way, something more reasonable than a hastily made, sleep deprived, decision. After all, the lantern had proven that it came with side effects, who knows how it'd affect MK?

Well. If he's actually being honest, he was hoping that the Monkey King Magic MK had would effectively cancel out the lanterns effects.

...He had no way of proving that it could do that though.

After a few more minutes of standing there, mentally debating, Macaque finally came to the decision that, yeah, this wasn't a good idea, he should just go back to his room and try to sleep for the few remaining hours of the night, come up with a better plan tomorrow-

A loud sound clanged from the engine room, and Macaque startled, barely keeping himself from squeaking as the sudden noise surprised him, squeezing his hands on instinct-

And snapping the lantern in half, the bottom piece falling and merging into MK's magic.

For a moment, Macaque just stood there in shock.

Then MK curled up, letting out a small noise of pain as little golden and purple sparks started shooting across his body, and Macaque panicked, reaching into MK's magic and hurriedly pulling out the other half of the lantern, shoving both pieces back into himself as MK started to stir.

By the time MK was sitting up, blinking his eyes open, rubbing his arms and looking around the room in confusion, Macaque was gone.

The next day, Wukong practically broke down Macaque's door, MK in tow.

"Mine explaining to me why there are traces of shadow magic all over MK?" He asked, before pausing as he registered the scene in front of him.

Macaque was curled up under his blankets, a pillow over his head effectively hiding him from view. The only part of the other monkey that Wukong could actually see was his tail, which was dangling over the side.

This wasn't really that weird, Wukong fully remembered that the other monkey was in no way a morning person.

...It was slightly more weird due to the fact that it was lunchtime.

"Is he...okay?" MK asked, leaning over his mentor's shoulder.

"You tell me." Wukong said, "You're the one with the golden vision right now."

Macaque's tail, which had been swinging idly, froze, and suddenly there was a mad scramble as he tried to pull all the blankets off of himself and sit up at the same time. Essentially, he ended up rather tangled, and was far too late to stop MK from using his golden vision.

At first there was nothing MK hadn't already expected. The bags under the eyes, the mussed up fur, the six ears and the scar. These were all things he knew that he'd find.

The purple streaks in Macaque's fur was surprising.

But not nearly as surprising as the lantern that lay intermingled with Macaque's own magic.

"What do you see, kid?" Wukong asked, and MK watched as Macaque sat up straighter, finally managing to pull the blankets off of himself.

"Nothing! He sees nothing! Right, bud?" Macaque asked, a panicked twinge in his voice, and-

MK could see the lantern flare, the magic traversing Macaque's entire body, before condensing around his arm.

Which proceeded to sink into the shadow on the bed.

"...Well." MK started, staring as Macaque pulled his hand out of the shadow and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That's not something you see every day."

"So I was right then?" Red Son asked, "He's been storing the lantern within himself?"

"How'd you even know about the lantern..." Macaque muttered, from where he sat at the kitchen table, leaning back with his arms crossed. His glamor had been taken down, allowing everyone to see the purple streaks in his fur.

The lantern sat on the table in front of him.

"I have my sources." Red Son said, looking overly proud of himself. Macaque huffed, looking away.

"I thought you said the lantern was destroyed?" Mei said, using a spoon to lightly poke the lantern, almost as though it would grow legs and run away.

"Yeah, like, I saw you break it-" MK started, and then was stopped mid sentence as Macaque raised his fist, before harshly crushing the lantern, breaking it into pieces. A few of the others jumped. "What did you do that for-"

Macaque simply raised his hand, letting his magic call out, and letting the pieces slide back into their proper place. By the end of it, the lantern looked as good as new, as though it'd never been broken. MK watched the display with wide eyes.

"I did break the lantern." Macaque said, "It's just not that hard to fix."

"Regardless-" Wukong started, grabbing the lantern out of Macaque's hand, the lantern switching from it's usual purple to a soft golden glow as he did so. "You seriously should've told us that you have this. It would've saved you so much trouble."

"Would you have trusted me, if you knew I still had it?" Macaque asked, only to be met with silence. "...Yeah. Thought so."

There was a moment of silence as Macaque sat there, looking down, not meeting anyone's eyes. Then Sandy softly placed his hand on Macaque's shoulder.

"It's not that we wouldn't have trusted you." He said, gently. "We would've just taken a bit longer to come around, is all."

"Uh-huh, sure, keep telling yourself that." Macaque said, still looking at the floor, and thus missing the entirely silent conversation everyone else shared.

They all agreed they probably weren't going to get very far with this issue any time soon, by the look of things. (That didn't mean they wouldn't bring it up later, though.)

"If you thought we wouldn't trust you if we knew you had the lantern, then why didn't you just, I don't know, throw it away?" MK asked, and Macaque sighed, slouching down in his chair.

"...Lady Bone Demon wanted it." He muttered, and everyone immediately stood up ramrod straight.

"What?" Wukong hissed, staring down at the lantern in his hands as though he was seeing it in a new light. "Why- what could she possibly want with-"

"Don't know, didn't stick around long enough to find out." Macaque said, shrugging. MK and Red Son both looked horrified.

"That's how you got injured." MK muttered, "She must've captured you because she wanted the lantern...."

"The Lady Bone Demon has a cursed blade..." Red Son said, under his breath, only Macaque hearing him.

"Yeah yeah, I got captured, I got injured, whatever, it's all over with now." Macaque said, waving a hand around as though he wasn't making light of something horrifying. "Anyways, anyone else got any bright ideas on where to hide the lantern?"

"....Was that a pun." Wukong asked, "Seriously. You reveal that the Lady Bone Demon is after both you and the lantern and then you swap topics with a pun?"

"You got a problem with that?" Macaque asked, a smirk on his face. There was a moment of tense silence as the two of them stared at each other.

Wukong set the lantern back down on the table.

And then tackled Macaque out of his chair and onto the floor. Macaque let out a startled yelp as they went down, before quickly switching to clawing at the other as Wukong easily pinned him to the ground-

And then suddenly Wukong's grip weakened, and Macaque easily reversed their positions, pinning Wukong to the floor. For a moment the Monkey King looked confused, before a look of nervous realization appeared on his face.

"Uh- guys?" He said, nervously giggling as Macaque and the others stared at him in confusion. "Um. I think I just lost my super strength?"

#Monkie Kid #fanfic #my writing #Glamors and Gauze-verse

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