#anyways it’d be hot if it wasn’t me so here ya go

[shion-yu]

Gave myself almost-pneumonia and my couch looks like a damn stock photo.

Since the whole time I’ve been like, “Am I living one of my shitty fanfictions? Coz this sucks.” Let me tell y’all a story.

Cold weather sucks as a severe asthmatic. I moved to the South so I didn’t have to deal with the frigid winters of upstate NY. I’m basically on and off sick until Spring comes (and then there’s allergy season but I digress). I think it’s helped some, but my lungs are just fucked up ok?

Anyways I went to a concert last Saturday and it was freezing. Then I went to the zoo on Sunday with a friend and it was also cold and swarming with kids who don’t know how to cover their mouths when they cough. It was a great weekend but by Tuesday I was sick - great. I had some warning bc my friend I went to the zoo with said they got sick yesterday. But it just seemed like a minor cold and I’ve been through this a million times, I truly did not think it was gonna get too much worse. My asthma was mostly under control and I rested a lot all week.

Thursday I’m more tired, but I start nebulizer treatments and even skip ice skating class and reschedule it for Saturday bc hey, I’m responsible. But Friday I start to feel worse. Like to the point where everybody at work is like wtf go home and one of them told me she’s gonna get me holy water. But it’s okay, it’s still been SO much worse and I’m really fine.

Saturday morning I wake up and I feel like I’m cured. So I go to ice skating class. And maybe I take a little walk in the rain. Bad fuckin idea. By the end of the day I’m having full blown asthma attacks one after the other and sweating like crazy. My abdomen is aching from coughing so much that it hurts to sit up. But I really don’t want to go to the ER. Not again. So I message my pulmonologist and hope I can just say never mind I’m good now by the time he answers on Monday.

That brings us to today, Sunday. I woke up at 6am after only 4 hours of sleep because I can’t stop choking. I’m sneezing and coughing up fluorescent green stuff, my throat tastes like blood and I have a fever. I really, really didn’t want to go to the doctor but it’s time. I drag my sorry ass to urgent care where the entire hour I sit in waiting, everybody who walks by gives me a ‘goddamn’ look because I’m coughing loud enough to alert the entire damn office. I’m so embarrassed bc what if they think I’m being dramatic and wasting time - again? I awkwardly explain my situation and the doctor sends me for CXR. When it comes back he says “Well, you don’t have pneumonia yet but see alllll this stuff here? That’s inflammation. I’m gonna prescribe antibiotics and (way heavier) steroids and you might have bronchitis already but your asthma is so bad that it’s indistinguishable by now. Also with your lungs you probably won’t be able to tell you have pneumonia until it’s pretty bad.”

So anyways, that’s my week. At least I got a lot of writing done for Whumptober - didn’t have to dig very deep to find enough misery to go around to all my fav OCs lol.

[ladytauria]

Hear me out: 92 and jaycest for the smut prompts

i heard you loud and clear nonny 😌

this... ended up being a monster of a fic (almost 6k) so i'm not posting the entirety of it here, lmao.

my original plan for this was to be a coda to cloves, smoke, and honey, but every time i sat down to write nothing came to me. so finally i started listing jay pairings while looking up selfcest prompts and—then something clicked and i ended up with this <3

in which hood!jay ends up in a universe where his alternate never died <3

i had a really good time with this one! i hope you enjoy <3

(note: i was picturing jay at about ~17 in this, and jason at least 22. however, no ages are stated; just that jay is going to college soon <3)

>> AO3 <<

Hood plants his hands on the desk, leaning against it, looking up at the monitors. Batman and Nightwing are still out. Spoiler and Robin’s curfews got called an hour ago. (Tim’s probably still sulking about it, but whatever. School’s important, no matter what the brat thinks.) Alfred retired when they did.

That leaves just Hood and Jay.

Hood… He showed up just shy of a month ago. Some asshole’s running around, opening portals to other dimensions, and Hood got caught in the crossfire. Stranded, until they can catch the guy.

He won’t show them his face. Won’t even walk around in just a domino! Instead, he’s always wearing that obnoxious red helmet.

It’s driving B crazy.

Even Tim, stalker extraordinaire, hasn’t been able to figure out Hood’s identity.

Or. If he has, the little gremlin isn’t sharing. Jason highly doubts he’d hide it, though. B and Dick are too wound up about it.

Jay… He can’t blame them. Hood’s scarily well-trained. Bruce tried putting him on lock down once and he just breezed right past the defenses as soon as they left. That’s when Dick had suggested they work together—mostly to keep an eye on Hood, which they all know Hood is aware of.

Jay’s pretty sure Dick meant to take the job. Hood and B… well, the way his hackles raise if Batman so much as glances in his direction… That’s a powder keg waiting to blow. Thing is, while Hood will tolerate Nightwing—mostly—the one he trusts the most is…

Jay.

It’s flattering.

And it’s kind of nice to be the one in charge of keeping an eye on Hood.

Jay is still a recent graduate of his Robin role, and it’s a struggle to be taken seriously as his own hero. He’s… looking forward to college, honestly. To either put vigilantism on the back burner or just set up somewhere new—he hasn’t decided yet. It’ll be nice, to leave and come back changed.

Anyway, but actually being trusted to run with Hood at night makes him feel… More like a part of the team. He knows Bruce will never trust him as much as he does Dick—and he’d like to say he’s made his peace with that, but he hasn’t—but at least he trusts him with something.

Jay just wishes he wasn’t so distracted. Even now, Jay’s not paying as much attention to what’s on the monitors so much as he is the way Hood’s tac pants pull taut over his ass and thighs. Which—fuck, those thighs. Firm and muscular and thick.

He choked a guy out with them earlier tonight. Jay’s blood had rushed south so fast he’d thought he was gonna pass out. It’d taken every trick he knew to will his erection down so he could keep working.

The arousal still sings in his blood—a quiet tune, but present all the same. Jay wets his lips, and then walks over to him. “That was some nice fightin’ tonight, Hood,” he says casually, drawing closer to Hood. “Bet you’re tired.  I wouldn’t mind givin’ ya a hand.” He trails his fingers over Hood’s forearm—doubts he feels it much, with his armor and jacket still in the way. “You could take a nice, hot shower, and then… I could give ya a massage. Work out some of that tension you’ve been carryin’.”

Hood is still. Jay’s not sure he’s breathing. “Kid,” he says—and then stops, hands flexing on the table. Jay waits for him to gather himself, or shake his head and tell him to get lost.

It’s not the first time he’s flirted with Hood. It was a joke at first. Hood was attractive, Jay recognized that from the start, but… Well. Jay had discovered a few years ago that flirting was a good way to throw people off of their game. (It also invited trouble, of course. The silent ‘I-told-you-so’ from Bruce after Mask started showing actual interest in him had been deafening. But mostly, it served Jason well, so he kept going it.) He hadn’t meant anything by it at first.

He does now.

Has since Hood shoved him up against a wall, bracketing him in with his body, one gloved hand pressed against his mouth. He’d hardly noticed the people passing them; senses too full of leather and steel and gunpowder. His cock had strained in his cup, a thousand times more uncomfortable than the brick at his back.

His attempts since have been utterly sincere.

Hood has never told him off. A few times, he’s even flirted back… before obviously stopping himself.

Jay persists.

“You don’t want this,” Hood says finally, turning his head to meet Jay’s eyes. The whites of his helmet are blank. They give nothing away. Neither does his voice, not with the modulator in the way. Even his body language is inscrutable.

“You don’t get to tell me that,” Jay tells him, his voice breathier than he means it to be. Anticipation thrums in his veins.

Hood lets go of the desk, standing up to his full height. Jay— Jay will be lucky to hit 5’7. More than likely, he’s going to be stuck at 5’5 for the rest of his life. Hood… Hood is taller than Bruce, beating him out by a single inch. Jay has to tip his head back to keep holding Hood’s gaze.

“You have… no idea who you’re talking to,” Hood says, and the modulator adds to the harshness of his tone.

Rather than turn Jay off, it makes him shiver before defiantly lifting his chin.

“Oh, fuck off. You wanna tell me you’re not interested? Fine, that’s fair. I’ll back off. You wanna tell me to stop? Fine. That’s fair. I stop. But you don’t get to tell me that I don’t want this. That I don’t want you.”

Jay steps closer. He already stripped out of his armor, leaving him in nothing but a form-fitting t-shirt and tight leggings. He ditched his cup, too, which means when he grinds his hips forward, there’s nothing to prevent Hood from feeling his erection as he plasters himself against Hood’s side, stretching onto his tip-toes. His lips brush where Hood’s ear would be, if not for the helmet.

“Let me show you how much I mean what I say,” he whispers.

Hood goes still again—but it’s the same kind of stillness that falls just before a storm. Jay holds his breath.

It’s knocked from him when Hood grabs him, broad hands gripping his waist and lifting him onto the desk—his ass just barely missing the keyboard.

Then, he reaches up; a low, mechanical hiss sending Jay’s heart into his throat. Hood tosses the helmet aside—Jay hears it hit the ground, roll, but he doesn’t bother to look where it lands. Instead, he watches Hood rip his domino off next, tossing that aside too, and then, finally—

Jay sees him.

He drinks him in ravenously. The scar, starring at his mouth and trailing up, up, to his temple, where it disappears into his hairline. His hair is dark, curly, wild and askew the same way Jay’s is after a patrol. There’s a shock of white in the front, where his bangs curl on his forehead, forming a heart shape.

Huh.

Jason’s do that too.

Their noses are similar, too; a little crooked, with a raised bump in the middle. They’ve both got full mouths, settled into a natural pout. A small scattering of freckles over their noses, including a darker one under the left eye.

A scar, mostly faded, over a brow.

Jay’s eyes go wide. “You’re—” Me, he doesn’t finish, the word sticking in his throat.

How many times had he tried to guess which of them Hood could be, if any of them at all? Himself had never crossed his mind, not once.

Hood… He wielded guns with brutal efficiency. None of Bruce’s security measures could contain him. When Nightwing challenged him to a spar, they’d been so close to evenly matched. He had the height, the bulk to match Bruce, and—

He was just…

Hood was dangerous, and lethal, and confident, and skilled, and big, and—

So very unlike Jay at all.

Yet… There he is. He has a few more scars, and his jaw is more defined, but— They have the same full cheeks, the ones that give him perpetual babyface. Especially with his long, dark lashes and full, pink lips.

Jay… is starting to see why people call him pretty.

“I told you,” Hood—Jason says harshly. It’s Jay’s first time hearing it without the modulator. His voice is low, gravelly. It makes his skin pebble.

Hood being Jason doesn’t make him want him less at all. He’s still the same ultra-competent badass that he was before, and—

Jay would like to get his hands on him right now, pretty please.

Jason doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. Insecurity still runs deep, Jay guesses.

“Go on. It’s past time little birdies went back to their nests.”

Jay fists both hands in the collar of his jacket before Jason can take more than a single step. “Shut up,” he snaps—and then yanks him down into a fierce, hungry kiss.

Jason gasps into his mouth.

For one heart-stopping second, Jay thinks he’s going to be shoved away. Thinks Jason will look at him with disgust, humiliate him for even considering that Jason might want anything to do with him.

Jason doesn’t.

Instead, he steps forward, forcing Jay to tip his head back. There’s the rustle of fabric, and then—a hand, no longer gloved, tangles in his hair, pulling just-so in a way that makes Jay gasp, shiver, hips rocking forward, grinding his dick against the molded abs of Jason’s armor.

His moan is embarrassing, high enough that the bats rustle restlessly above them.

Jason presses the advantage, plunging his tongue in Jay’s mouth. It tastes of peppermint and cigarettes as Jason licks into him slow and deep, delving into every nook and crevice of Jay’s mouth.

Jay shudders; legs locking around Jason’s waist.

When Jason pulls away… Jay whines, trying to chase him. It’s the hand in his hair that stills him; fingers tightening, holding him in place.

“Please,” he begs.

Jason’s nostrils flare. Then… his gaze flickers around them, evaluating their surroundings.

“Not here,” he says finally.

Jay whimpers, embarrassingly high, when Jason lifts him; hands braced under his thighs, the curve of his ass.

And Jay— he may not be very tall, but he’s solid; all muscle and pockets of fat, a body honed through years of training.

Jason holds him like he weighs nothing at all.

Even when they climb the stairs, Jason taking them two-by-two, he doesn’t falter. Barely breathes any heavier, even when Jay gives into the urge to start sucking marks onto his neck.

He knows he’s affected. He can feel his pulse, hear the soft hitches in his breathing, but—

His steps never waver.

>> continue on ao3 <<

[brutal-nemesis]

E&T: Looking Towards the Horizon

It’s a-me Crisp Rat-Anyway hi yes this is real it is here sorry it took *checks watch* over a year 🤪 what can ya do. But it’s a chunky one so hooray 2nd longest chapter to date i hope it makes up for the wait a little bit (°ー°〃) have fun kids

←Previous - Masterlist - Next→

Ingredients: bones breaking, including a compound fracture, a little bit of gore but it’s rather vague, the usual noncon body mod being a thing that exists and those dubcon touching vibes, implied perceived threat of noncon kiss that is in fact not that, mention of butchering

Erebus didn’t think he’d ever been so hot in his life.

He’d suffered through the humid heat of the rainy seasons at home, preferring the hot dry season that came before. But now, with the late-afternoon sun’s rays beating down on him from above and the heat radiating off of the black sand below, he found himself missing the muggy humidity and torrential rains. He couldn’t believe Neteri expected him to fly out here in the desert, but it was the next logical step now that he’d built up more than enough strength to walk properly again.

He shot a glance at Neteri, who was wiping her presumably sweaty hands on the sides of her coat. She returned his look with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I know it’s hot out here. Pretty, though.” They both gazed out over the black dunes of the Greikala Naman Desert, the towering cliffs behind them stretching out to either side, remnants of an old mine cutting into the rock face to their left.

“Still, not why we’re here. I just thought it’d be a great place for you to learn how to fly since the sand should help soften the impact in case you fall, and no one’s around to see so we won’t have to deal with people asking questions or you getting too self-conscious-”

“I’m not that self-conscious-”

“Hold these.” Neteri had taken off her glasses and was now holding them out to Erebus. He took them, confused as he watched her bury her face in her hands and take a deep breath. “You’re so self-conscious, Erebus,” she mumbled into her hands before lifting her face and replacing her glasses. “You’re like the most self-conscious guy I’ve ever met, okay?” She shook her head. “Seriously. You can be so dense sometimes.” Erebus opened his mouth to argue, but…no, she was probably right, wasn’t she? He couldn’t help it; he’d lived in an environment where people’s opinions and perceptions of him mattered a lot for the vast majority of his life. 

He cleared his throat. “Anyway, um…am I just going to start trying to fly now?”

“Yup.” 

“Okay…so, do I just, um,” Erebus flapped his wings hesitantly, “do that?”

Neteri shrugged. “Probably? It’s not like I’ve ever flown before. Really, I don’t think any other human has, especially not like this, so…you’re kind of on your own here.”

Erebus felt his face flush slightly. “Right.” He turned away, looking out over the vast expanse of dark sand. He-he shouldn’t be nervous about messing this up in front of Neteri, since she’d said it herself that no one had ever really done this before, but he still found himself proving her point about him being self-conscious to be spot on.  Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Don’t think about Neteri. Just focus. 

Slowly, Erebus started to flap his wings, shifting them as he did in order to find the best angle, the one that fought against gravity the most. He couldn’t really explain it, but he just knew when he found it, something in the way the air pushed against the wing membranes feeling right. Neteri was probably taking-no, no, don’t think about Neteri, just focus. Focus on his wings, on adjusting them bit by bit, getting them in just the right-

“Woah!” Erebus’s feet left the ground for just a moment, but due to the shock of it he forgot to keep flapping his wings and fell back to the ground, stumbling and falling down onto his back. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Did you see that, Neteri? I-I was-I was in the air!”

Neteri smiled back, extending a hand to help him up. “I saw! I’m sure you’ll do even better next time.” He took her hand and stood, some part of him…excited to try again, to possibly succeed, to actually fly. Once she’d backed up enough, he tried again, able to find the correct angle faster than last time. Soon enough he was in the air again, actually staying in the air, rising higher bit by bit, but…how was he supposed to go forward? Maybe by moving his wings like-nope, down into the sand he went. It did help cushion his fall, just like Neteri said it would, so he was ready to try again right away.

Over and over, higher and higher, faster and farther, his take-offs getting smoother and his landings resulting in less scrapes and falls, and he was doing it, actually flying. He was rather clumsy still, but he ignored the burning in his muscles and lungs and kept trying. The feeling of freedom, of actual control over something was far too intoxicating for him to do anything but reach for it again and again.

But when he ended up falling gracelessly into the sand, his head spinning and breathing short, he realized he may have been pushing himself a bit too hard. Attempts at sitting up were met with waves of dizziness too strong for him to overcome.

“Hey, are you alright, Erebus?” Neteri knelt by his side, turning him onto his back as she felt his forehead. “You’ve been using a lot of magic to help you fly, huh? I was trying to keep an eye on your condition, but you were taking off again so quickly that I figured you were alright. Sorry about that. Here, let me give you some of my magic power.” She removed her glasses and took his hand, pulling him slightly. “Sit up, Erebus.” Shakily, he did so, his ears ringing as the world spun around him. But Neteri, she, she was moving towards him, moving her face towards his, like she was going to-

Erebus collapsed backwards onto the sand, resisting the urge to scramble away as she looked down at him in concern. “I’m sure you’re dizzy, Erebus, but I promise you’ll feel better if you let me do this, and, well…it’ll be less awkward if you’re sitting up for it, yeah?” 

He desperately shook his head. “I-if that’s-that’s what’s going to-to-I don’t want it so-so please just-” 

Neteri cocked her head. “What do you-” A look of understanding, and slight horror, dawned on her face. “Oh, no, no, no, Erebus, I wasn’t going to-that’s not how we-” She sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected you to be familiar with how magic power is shared between wizards, seeing as you aren’t one yourself. Here, sit up, I promise it’s nothing like that.” Feeling he didn’t have much choice but to trust her, Erebus sat up once more, resisting the urge to flinch back as she leaned towards him, eventually just squeezing his eyes shut.

He felt her forehead and nose press against his, but that was where the contact ended.  “It’s alright, Erebus, this is it. Just breathe deep, in and out. When we share magic, we do it by sharing breath like this.” Erebus felt a puff of air on his cheek as she laughed a little. “It’s always a little awkward the first few times you do it, but after a while it’s just as normal as shaking hands.” 

“Huh.” It was a little awkward, but he was sort of used to Neteri touching him however and wherever she wanted that he was mostly numb to it all by now. Well, not numb but…he was okay with it. “Why…why is it done like this?”

“Because sharing breath is sharing life, and magic is life. Well, I mean, magic isn’t what makes us alive, but, like…magic power comes from your life force. The bond between your body and soul. That’s why you get weak and start bleeding if you use too much magic power, because the bond grows weaker, and…you’re closer to death. The bond grows stronger again over time, obviously, or else all wizards would die pretty young.” She laughed a little. “But…if you use too much all at once, it can kill you. Like, there are some spells that one person can’t do alone because they require so much energy that it would kill the caster. Not to mention that some require different elements of magic working together, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the amount of energy needed.” There was silence for a few moments. “Sorry for just dumping all of that on you-”

“No, it’s okay, I asked.” It felt weird having a conversation with their faces together like this, but Erebus wasn’t about to lean away since it did seem to be working. And…maybe talking was better than just sitting like this in silence. “It’s weird how little I really know about magic. I mean, I know a lot of what it’s capable of, but…I never really knew just how it worked or anything.”

“Well, it’s not like you’d need to know it to run a kingdom, right? You can’t use it yourself, so it’s not really something you’d have needed to know. But, for me, things you don’t need to know are the most fun to learn about, ‘cause then it’s all about learning for the sake of it.” She shifted slightly, her breath coming out differently for a moment, like maybe she was smiling now. “Curiosity is a wonderful thing, really. We’ve made so many advancements because of it, and, really, it’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now.”

Erebus sat back against his better judgment, gulping as he opened his eyes to look at Neteri. “I-is that why you did all of this to me? Because you were curious?”

“No, I-” Neteri sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head as if to clear it before putting her glasses back on. “That came out wrong. I was curious about demon anatomy in the beginning, and after so much study it led to-” She looked up at the sky, blue starting to fade into orange. “Look, why don’t you practice flying some more before it gets dark. You’ve got your strength back now, right? Just don’t go too far. And after that we can eat and…I can tell you why I’m doing this.”

Erebus stood, steady on his feet once more, and brushed the sand off of himself. “Fine.” He wanted to stay put, to protest, to not let the chance of finally learning the reason for all of this disappear, but Neteri sounded sincere enough, and he doubted standing his ground would result in him actually getting what he wanted. He’d waited all this time, so he could wait for a few more hours.

Besides, he wanted to try and fly again.

After a couple more attempts, he felt like he was really starting to get it, figuring out how to best move his wings and body in each different scenario. He was nowhere near feeling like he’d mastered it, but as far as the basics went, he was feeling pretty confident. For this next flight, he wanted to try and go high enough that Neteri’d look like a little white dot on the black sands below. 

As he rose up, he felt himself starting to get tired again, but upon looking down and seeing how much further up he’d have to go, he kept pushing. Going straight up was difficult, and he’d been finding it much easier to rise at an angle, sort of gliding, but he’d never tried going this high before. Neteri was getting pretty small below him, much smaller than normal, so maybe he’d stop here for now. He waved down at her, not sure how well she could even see him, before looking out over the vast desert stretching out before him, the sky above now stained with shades of orange and pink, making the dark sands below seem to sparkle. A feeling of joy welled up inside him, and he couldn’t help but laugh, the world around him so open, calling him to come explore, because he really could go anywhere now, and he couldn’t resist swooping towards the horizon, to fly as far as his wings could take him, to-

There was a harsh tug at the collar around his neck, and everything spun out of control.

Erebus began to plummet towards the ground as he choked, trying to get air flowing through his throbbing throat, flapping his wings desperately, trying to right himself befo-

Reality hit him, and it hit him hard.

Sand sprayed through the air as he hit the ground, grains taking his place in the sky before falling back down on him like rain. His arms were scraped and bleeding, little pockets of sand collected under the skin, but that stinging was hardly anything compared to the sharp pain in his legs. His lower left leg was roaring in agony, and his right ankle felt like it’d been stabbed through with a nail. Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear Neteri running over to him, shouting his name. He pushed himself upright slightly before looking down at his legs, hoping it felt worse than it looked.

All it took was the sight of white bone poking out of his torn pant leg for the world to go dark.

                                                            ~~~

Consciousness pulled Erebus to the surface all of a sudden, mercilessly dragging him back into his body. He jerked awake, crying out slightly as the pain in his legs returned full force. Neteri stood over him, and he was lying on his back in...the old barracks of the mine, on one of the bedrolls they’d laid out on the cots in here before going back outside so he could practice. She gave him a reassuring smile.

“Hey, Erebus, just breathe, it’s alright. You had quite the fall, and…not the best landing. Thankfully I know a spell that makes things lighter temporarily, so I was able to carry you here without much issue.” Erebus started to sit up, wanting to check the state of his leg, but Neteri pushed him back down. “No, no, I just finished cleaning the wound, Erebus, but I haven’t had the chance to heal you yet, and based on how you reacted to seeing it earlier…” 

Erebus sighed in defeat and laid back down. “H…how serious is it?”

“It’s going to take a lot out of me, but…I should be able to fix it. Most of it, anyway. You’re lucky that your t-no, you don’t know what bones are called, do you-your smaller leg bone? That’s the only one that completely fractured in half and broke through skin. Your…thicker leg bone is cracked, but not completely broken, which is good. The ankle on your other leg is also kind of messed up, but that I should be able to fix pretty easily.”

Erebus’s stomach sank as she kept talking, adding to the list of things she’s going to need to fix, the number of painful procedures that he’s going to have to sit through. “O-okay.” He gulped. Neteri didn’t seem mad at him, but…“I’m sorry I flew so far, I…I just got caught up in the feeling and I wanted to-”

“No, it’s alright, Erebus, I’m not upset with you. I told you not to go far, but I probably should have told you what would happen if you did. I have this ring, see, and when I wear it, it’ll pull your collar back towards me if you get too far away, and…I just didn’t think you’d be able to go that far so quickly so I figured it wouldn’t be an issue, but…I’m sorry.” She looked away as she apologized, but soon turned back to face him. “But everything will work out. I’ll get you fixed up and hopefully you’ll be able to try flying again tomorrow.”

The apology was a bit of a surprise, but Erebus wasn’t complaining. “So flying too far away from you so fast is what ended up making me…” Neteri nodded, and Erebus couldn’t help but sigh. He’d felt so free in that moment, but, really, he’d just been like a bird in a cage. One that flew straight into the bars. He couldn’t believe he’d deluded himself into thinking that he could actually fly away from all of this, even for a little bit. Just look where it got him.

Neteri gave him something to bite on and asked him to be still, and all he could do was comply and endure as she fixed the damage his naivety had caused. She started with the most serious injury, the bone sticking out of his torn leg, and he was already fighting back screams as she carefully worked the bone back into its proper place, but he knew it was only going to get worse. Memories of the surgery on his arm came flooding back, of the awful, fiery needles that stabbed through his bone as she worked her magic, and soon enough that same sensation returned full force, a dazzling array of stabbing pains surging up the entire length of his leg, paired with the sickening feeling of Neteri’s gloved hands probing around inside the wound, holding things in place as she lit them on fire, rearranging twisted muscle fibers and reconnecting ripped blood vessels.

At least, some of them.

Her hand left the wound behind, the pain telling him it was not fully healed yet. He shot her a watery-eyed look, and she smiled at him weakly. “I’m just going to fix your ankle up first. I had to use a lot more magic power than I thought I would just to get your leg bones fixed, so sit tight.” He swallowed and nodded, as if there was any other choice. The type and intensity of the pain in his ankle was much the same as it healed, and at one point Neteri had to hold his foot still so it stopped twitching in pain so much, despite his best efforts to keep it from doing so. At least he wasn’t tied down, able to grip the sides of the bedroll or wipe the tears from his eyes as he pleased. It wasn’t much to be grateful for, but he’d come to appreciate the smaller things.

Once she was done, Neteri practically collapsed to the ground, resting her arms on the side of the cot. Blood was steadily dripping from her nose, which she didn’t seem to register for a couple of seconds. After hastily shoving her handkerchief up her nostril, she sighed. “I fixed all of your broken bones, and I stopped the bleeding in your leg. I still have to…have to finish healing some of your muscles and close the skin back up but I…I just need a break.” 

Erebus couldn’t help but stare, now realizing what it meant when Neteri was wiped out from using her magic. “So you…you’re closer to dying right now? Because you used all of that magic power, your life force, to…to heal me. You…you put your life on the line to do this to me, Neteri, so why…?”

“Because I wanted to help people, can you believe that?” She laughed at the notion, her lack of lucidity almost making her seem more aware than ever. “I always thought anatomy was interesting, from the first time I saw my father butcher an animal as a girl.” She steadily crawled her way over to her bag, pulling off her bloodied gloves before rummaging through it. “I studied human anatomy, and then demon anatomy. I wanted to study dragons, too, but it’s basically impossible to get your hands on a cadaver, especially legally. So I studied humans and demons, demons and humans, and I got to thinking, what if demons didn’t come from dragons like we always supposed? What if they were humans to start? What if we’re similar enough to-” dropping the small package she’d pulled out of her bag, she laced her fingers together, “to become one?”

The silence that followed was impossibly loud, and Erebus ended up breaking it before he’d even fully processed what she said. “One like-like me?”

Neteri smiled dreamily, some of the jerky they’d brought along now clutched in her hand, the other wrapped around a familiar crystal. “Yes and no. What I really wanted to do was organs.” Her face fell, took on a coldness he’d rarely ever seen. “So many people need new organs. New limbs, even. We can only take so much from willing, healthy people. But demons,” she smiled, “demons can be butchered all we like. So I wanted to test my theory. Replace human organs with demon ones, see if they take. My proposal was accepted, but only if I made certain revisions.” 

Erebus could see in her face that she was coming back to herself, realizing everything she’d just said, realizing she couldn’t stop now that she’d started. And she’d promised to tell him, hadn’t she? “It had to be all on one person. Someone disposable. Seven surgeries, one part from each kind of demon. Things more tied to their innate magic. And that all was just to be phase one.” Her tone indicated that she didn’t plan on speaking any further. 

Someone…disposable. The phrase had made Erebus’s throat tighten. At the end of the day, that was him, wasn’t it? A prisoner of the Empire, branded as property and sentenced to live out the rest of his days in chains. His life could be thrown away without a second thought. But even worse than that…“Phase…phase one? What…what’s phase two, then?” Try as he might, he couldn’t imagine something worse than what he’d been through, so…maybe it wouldn’t be as bad.

“It’s…it’s the fate I want to save you from.”

“What?” Neteri was looking at him, determination in her eyes, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if her “saving” him was a good thing or not.

“At the beginning I thought this part would be easy. That my subject would deserve to…” she looked away, swallowing, “but you don’t. You didn’t deserve any of this to begin with, and I was too focused on my goals to see it.” She laughed hollowly before turning back to him. “I don’t want to freak you out, so…I’m not going to tell you what phase two is just yet. I promise I will eventually, once you’re out of danger. I just…don’t want anything to go wrong, and if you know what might happen if we fail…I just don’t want it to keep you up at night.”

“I can-okay.” What use was it arguing? Neteri was standing up now, putting her gloves back on, ready to get back to fixing him up, and this conversation was over. He laid back and tried to relax, but this was all a lot to process.

“Actually, Erebus…healing all this combined with the magic power I lent you earlier…I don’t know if I have enough energy to fix your leg and...do the other thing I need to do.”

“Which is…?”

She gave him a tired smile, leaning in close, her voice almost a whisper. “I’m going to remove the tracking magic from your brand.”

Erebus’s eyes went wide. “You…you’re serious?!” When she said she wanted to save him…he didn’t know what exactly he’d been expecting, but was she actually going to let him go? Was-was he really going to be free?

“Dead serious.” She straightened up. “I’m not going to get rid of it entirely, just transfer it to a crystal that you’ll keep with you until the time is right. It’s actually the main reason why I brought you all the way out here. Because I really am going to get you out of here.” A genuine smile spread across Erebus’s face at her words, as much as he was afraid that this was some sort of trick. But Neteri had always been honest with him. She’d hidden things from him, sure, but never outright lied, at least that he was aware of. “Thank…thank you, Neteri. Really, I-”

She shook her head. “It’s the least I can do. And I’ll do more to help you, I promise. But for now…is it okay if I save my energy for the brand and take care of this wound the non-magic way?”

“Yeah, that’s alright,” Erebus agreed, even though he suspected this meant he was getting stitches.

He was completely correct, but the gash in his leg wasn’t too long, so soon enough she’d tied the thread and bandaged his leg up neatly. She healed the scrapes on his arms, at least, since they were so minor that the amount of magic she used doing it was negligible, but the process of her cleaning the sand out of them first was far more painful than it had any right to be. Once that was done, they ate the portion of dried food they’d reserved for dinner, Erebus mostly making small talk while he thought through everything Neteri had said, hoping she was truly going to make good on her promises. 

He’d never been happier to hear her ask him to take off his shirt and lie down.

After he undid the knots of the special shirt she’d made to accommodate his wings, he nervously laid back, excited for what lay on the other side of the pain for once. Neteri told him that it would hurt, that it might be like being branded all over again, but he could handle it if it meant he was really going to be free.

He could handle it, right?

The burning was exactly like it was the first time, and before he knew it he was crying, biting back screams as Neteri slowly slid the crystal over his brand, igniting white-hot pain as it went, and suddenly he was right back up on that stage, rough wood pressing into the wounds on his back, all of his people watching, the collar tight around his neck, heavy chains on his wrists, the taste of blood thick in his mouth despite his missing tongue, the smell of burning flesh suffocating him, the Emperor’s almost bored expression as he pressed the hot metal to his chest, the sky above unfairly blue, unbearable heat overtaking him in waves don’t ever forget that you’re property now you’ll never be free you’ll never amount to anything more than a twisted science project everything you’ve studied and worked for means nothing and all you can do is watch as your very humanity is ripped away and torn to shreds and nothing will save-

“Erebus.”

Erebus tensed up, suddenly finding himself back in the present, Neteri looking down at him with concern. A rag was shoved up her bleeding nose again, but she gave him a weak smile as she wiped away some of his tears. “It’s over. I’m sorry it hurt so much, but it’s over.” She squeezed his hand, holding out the black crystal she’d bound the tracking spell to with her other one. He nodded and took it, numbly worming it into his pocket as he tried to crawl out of his daze. “Let’s go to sleep, then,” Neteri said as she started to pull her hand away.

“Wait-” Erebus sniffed, holding tightly onto her hand. “Please, could you…?” He still didn’t want to say it outright, but he hoped she’d get the message, and he couldn’t help but smile when she gave his hand a squeeze. 

“Alright. But let me get ready for bed first, okay?”

“Okay.”

She got ready quickly enough, even giving him something to help with the pain in his leg since she wasn’t going to be using magic on it anytime soon. Once that was done, she sat on the edge of the bed, holding out her arms and letting him bury himself in her stomach, causing her to laugh a little. “Would it be easier if I laid down? I mean, I have my own bed, but…I think I’m about ready to fall over.”

“T-that’s fine!” Erebus sat up quickly, scooting over to make room. He hadn’t been expecting this, but after what happened with his brand, he wasn’t complaining. Once Neteri had laid down, he cuddled up next to her, her arms around him so comforting. Before he knew it the tears he’d been holding back started to flow again, the horrible memories of that day still at the forefront of his mind. He’d mostly buried it under all the awful things he’d experienced since, but now it was all he could think about. Neteri mostly stayed silent, her hand stroking his hair and rubbing the base of one of his horns. After he’d started to calm down, she spoke up.

“You know, I’d never thought I’d lay like this with a guy.”

“Oh, I, uh-sorry, do you not want to-”

“No, no, it’s okay! I didn’t mean it like I don’t want to or anything, it’s just…weird? No…unexpected? Yeah. I never would’ve thought I’d do this, you know? Like if you told me ten years ago I’d be cuddling with a boy someday I would’ve laughed at you, you know?”

“Well, if you told me at the start of all this that I’d want to do this with you I would’ve…I would have been…” He sat bolt upright, trapped between her and the wall. “This isn’t…maybe I shouldn’t do this or even want this I-”

“Erebus.” Neteri took his hand, holding it firmly as she sat up slightly. “It’s okay to want comfort from me. After everything you’ve…no, after everything I’ve put you through, it’s only natural to want to be comforted, to need it, really, and, well… it’s not like you have anyone else to turn to. And I want to make it up to you, so, please, if you want to…it’s okay.” She smiled. “It’s not like anyone will know, anyway, if that makes you feel better.”

“But what if they did know, what if they all found out that I’m-they’d think I’m pathe-”

“You’re not a prince anymore, Erebus.” He stiffened like he’d just been slapped, jaw falling open slightly before he finally turned to look down at Neteri, his eyes wide. “You don’t have to worry so much about what everyone thinks of you. You’re not setting an example for anyone, you’re not expected to be a leader, you’re allowed to be vulnerable now, to want things without worrying about how you’ll be judged for it, to just be…you.”  She sat up fully, still holding his hand. “So if you want this, Erebus, it’s okay. Really.”

“I…am I ever going to see any of them again, Neteri?” he asked as his shoulders sagged in defeat.

She gave him a tired smile. “I don’t see why not. After we get away I can get you all fixed up, and…maybe you’ll be able to go home. Just as long as you keep it on the down low, it should be okay.”

Erebus smiled wide. “Okay. Thank you, Neteri. We can go to sleep now.”

“Alright.” She nodded sleepily, her eyes unfocused without her glasses on. She glanced over at her cot and bedroll before lying down and closing her eyes. Erebus hummed happily as he laid on her chest once more, his horn resting on top of her shoulder. As exhausting as today had been, he was almost too excited to sleep. The prospect of actually being free was…exhilarating.

Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt hope like this. For so long he’d been resigned to this life, the fate he’d been dealt, because he’d come to accept that escaping on his own was impossible and no one who’d cared about him would be able to save him.

For the first time in a long time, he let himself think about his friends back home, all the people he’d known and loved, of Lythia, and he remembered how they’d tried to save him. That…that was the last time he’d felt hope, the day he was whipped and branded and had his tongue cut off. Lythia had told him he was going to be rescued, and he’d believed wholeheartedly that he would be. And here he was again, being told he was going to be saved, and believing that everything was going to work out in the end. 

Last time he’d had hope like this, it had been destroyed right before his eyes.

Would this time be any different?

Next→

Tags: @dramaticcollapse @thehopelessopus @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @galaxywhump @as-a-matter-of-whump @mnmlover2002 @tears-and-lilies @yet-another-heathen @rippedjeansandfadeddreams @starnight-whump @unicornscotty @thebewilderer @kixngiggles @itallstartedwithharry @inky-whump @redstainedsocks @lonesome--hunter @his-unspoken-words @susiequaz12 @its-mysweetlittlesecret-blog @whumpasaurus101 @patheticlittleguy @jadeocean46910 @whumpinggrounds @pumpkin-spice-whump @suspicious-whumping-egg @befuddled-calico-whump @whump-in-the-closet

[launching-a-thousand-ships]

Kurt Fashion Retrospective s5-6

Putting these seasons together partly bc similar fashion and partly bc I tend to ignore s6 lol oops. Link to masterpost

So, we’ve entered the full on Crack era and it shows bc all of a sudden Kurt’s clothes are hella bright. It started end of s4, in Lights Out, and just... increased. And I do mean sudden bc yes, s4 he had some more black while sad over breakup, but wearing a bunch of bright colours together was never Kurt’s thing. He liked old hollywood, classy glamour. He looks great in greyscale. Yes he’d do pop of red (or in a red plaid) but this season... it’s very extra. Kinda adds to the jarringness of where the show is at now. Same with s6, which is even more of a drug trip. 

Kurt also wears more ascots. So many ascots. I love in Old Dog, New Tricks, which Chris wrote, he points it out in the recap intro bc he def noticed it too. Why so many ascots??

Also, we’re definitely at the end of any statement pieces, and not much comfy!Kurt looks. there’s one comfy hoodie in Tested and that is it. I’m so sad bc I love all his hoodies. Cozy, but interesting styles and fashionable. No, s5-6 Kurt basically has the same look all the time. Buttondown and tight pants. sometimes vest/blazer, sometimes an ascot. More short sleeves, I guess? Also quality shirtless/tank top Kurt in Tested but that’s not really fashion lol.

And again, the colours. some of the looks do work, but some are just So Many colours. And even s1 wasn’t like this. Kurt’s go to colour was a bright red, nice accent. s1 would also have some flashes of blue, but again the colours weren’t often all mixed together. It’d be an accent to more muted tones. The most we got was in Rhodes where he has the pale green and mustard tie. But that wasn’t the bright colours.

Maybe it’s Kurt being happier? But... Kurt’s not super happy s5-6 so idk why. Again, I think it was just to add to the chaos of what was happening in the show, bc everything felt like a fever dream and the wild colours helped with that.

Honestly, these might be my least fav for Kurt fashion?? S1-3 had some weird stuff, sure, but at least it was interesting? And Kurt had lots of variety, being more masc one day, more femme the next. S4 he’s all but dropped his fem looks but we got more hot looks so can’t complain. 

s5-6 they had like. a uniform. Kurt didn’t get much variety bc besides colour/pattern, his style was all the same and that makes me sad bc fashion was such a part of him. I get him wanting to be more ‘subtle’ bc of the drama with not wanting to be an ‘acquired taste’ and wanting mainstream success etc, but still sad that we really didn’t get much fashion from him in later seasons. Maybe part is no more performances? Like, remember Jazz Hot? The Lame Pants?? Now, Kurt performs and he wears same things he’d wear on the street. I miss the Artistry ugh.

Did this inspire me to do a bunch of Kurt art with different fashion? Maybee.... might be posted at some point....

Anyway, least fav s5 look:

Just... He looks like Charlie Brown. Plus not a fan of the pants and... ya not a win.

Most of my fav Kurt looks s5 are from Tested but that’s for lack of clothes lol. Here are fav Fashion looks lol:

Love how he’s only holding that sweater bc omg thos pants are Tight. He looks great tho.

I love this so muchhh. Can’t even express. He also just looks so damn cute here. I know it’s a simple look, but he rocks it

I wish we got a better view of this whole look bc I Spy some Lame Pants. And the lace shirt??? Why didn’t we get more Kurt in lace bc omg. See, he’s performing, so he’s a bit more extra in his look. Why didn’t we get more of this????

Onto least fav from s6 (part of me wants to say his wedding suit bc omg it’s so boring and it’s his wedding day, I can name like 10 other looks that would’ve been better):

I just. There’s plaid AND polka dots AND stripes? Kurt... no. And with the turtle neck... I can’t support this. No.

And my favs... 

I lowkey like the shawl? Esp with the tassels? See, this is an interesting addition that could spice up his fashion a bit. Lowkey would like to see this on different outfit tho, without ascot lol

I like this look after it’s all undone lol. Also, reluctant fan of the fruit rollup pants :)

Do like the spider shirt. Like a distant cousin of the spider brooch on the blue/black striped sweater XD

And that ends my retrospective! Mainly excuse for me to rant about Kurt, one of my fav hobbies. But none of my friends watch glee, so tumblr it is. And this is all just my opinion, obvs ppl will disagree

[gauntlets-shot]

just--a--jinx

“No—and for the record, I never hinted that you go up to Piltover. I just think there is another safer way of going about this.” 

Sharp, appraising eyes snapped up to Caitlyn. 

“‘…Safe?’” Jinx echoed the word as though she was unfamiliar with its meaning. 

Safer for who? 

No. No no no. This wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right. This stupid Topsider wasn’t making any sense. 

“Do you have some sort of secret passage way to Silco? Perhaps we could use those and…Never mind, we will figure out what to do on the way.”

And what?

Shoot him! A loud voice crowed in the back of Jinx’s head. 

Tie him up! Another suggested.

Stick pins in his eyes! A third voice interjected. 

There was no way Hat Lady was going to be down with that. It was as though the enforcer realised this, what with how quickly the suggestion tapered off into nothing. Whatever. It didn’t matter anyway. They weren’t doing this the ‘enforcer way’. That had never been part of the deal. 

“But first, can we please get something to eat? And you can’t leave me here to die. Do you really think getting to Silco and making it through Silco’s thugs will be easy? You can’t do this alone…plus call me empathetic, but I’m worried about your current mental state. That might cloud your judgement, don’t you think? Also if you let me die here, more enforcers will be sent down here. One of us dies and ten more show up. Then you’ll have to deal with them and Silco’s forces.”

“Uuuuuuuugh fine, whatever!” Jinx groaned. At least if the stupid enforcer was eating she wasn’t going to be making dumb suggestions or trying to steer Jinx in the direction she wanted under the guise of it being Jinx’s idea. 

Getting to Silco would be easy. Doing it with an enforcer was the challenge. Did Hat Lady realise what was being sacrificed just so she could have her little piece of the cake? Talk of bad judgement, empathy and repercussions fell on deaf ears. By that point, Jinx had already selected a direction and begun to walk. Yup. Taking an enforcer to get food. That was normal. Zaun’s finest for the Topside lady! Haha. Where would they go? Did this mean the next decision was going to be a Jinx decision? It was only fair that they got to take turns. 

“Listen, Hat Lady, if I was gonna kill ya, I’d pick something cooler than Slow Annoying Hunger Death.” Jinx drawled as she picked a route back towards the busy markets. It’d be easier to blend in there. Soon the smell of fish, hot pies and mystery soups began to fill the air. They were a team. At least for now. And teammates gave each other fair warning, right? 

My sister’s dead and you’re kinda buggin’ me. 

I wasn’t gonna kill ya, so stop making it sound so fun. 

A broad gesture pointed out the array of food stalls.

Pick one. 

“Maybe we should set a trap.” Jinx suggested, switching abruptly to a tone of false affability now that they were navigating busy streets. Acting upset and vulnerable only put a target on your head in The Lanes. Nope. Dead sister thoughts were promptly boxed up and buried in the darker recesses of Jinx’s mind as they wove through the market together. 

She was good at traps. You could control the variables with a trap. Single people out. It was early enough that there was no real confirmation that Jinx had changed sides. All of Silco’s warmth and guardianship undone in the space in one afternoon…he’d need more than just rumours to believe it. 

“Jinx goes poof, Silco comes looking. Easy.” 

No Vi. No Silco. 

Hell, once it was over, Hat Lady would be gone too. 

Alone. All alone.

Jinx shook the ugly thought from her head.

In all fairness, Caitlyn thought Jinx could find some sort of enjoyment in watching her starve to death. Clearly Jinx liked deaths that were more gruesome, perhaps more festive but was there no thrill to watch Caitlyn die slowly? Then if she did die, it wouldn't be by Jinx's hand and she'd be off Scott free—Caitlyn quickly shook her head and pursed her lips. It was just the hunger making her have such ridiculous thoughts, that's all it was. Thankfully, the blue haired girl began to walk and Caitlyn followed without any hesitation.

Caitlyn took a look at her options once Jinx had successfully guided her to some food. They were markets, sort of like Piltover except way less fancy. Down here, they were all huts held together by sticks and cloth. It was a hard contrast but Caitlyn absorbed the scene quickly so that she could find something to eat. She spotted some fish nearby and despite smelling amazing, it didn't quite look it. She tried not to make a face at the charred meal but desperate times called for desperate measures. Plus they were technically on the run still.

She went to grab a few pieces of fish before she paused. Caitlyn didn't have any money. It had surely been looted from her person when she was captured. Curse it all. She looked towards Jinx but only for a second. If the blue haired girl did have any money, why on earth would she give it to her? Sighing, Caitlyn looked around again before she noticed some of the gold finishes on her uniform. Gold should've held its current value even down here, right? She hesitated before she tore off a small chunk. She turned it over in her hand before she grabbed the fish and offered it to the shop keeper. "Will this cover it?" Caitlyn asked but the shop keeper looked more than satisfied. She must have overpaid. No matter, she had gotten food hassle free.

"A trap?" Caitlyn asked as she took a bite from one of her sticks of fish. She let Jinx explain herself before she shrugged. "That's not a bad idea." She wanted the food to be in her system so she could think properly but either way, it really wasn't a bad idea. "Would you care to elaborate on that idea?" Caitlyn asked as the pair began to walk again. Word would get around that Jinx was with some enforcer and that said enforcer paid a shop keeper in literal gold for a few fishes. That clearly wasn't something that happened everyday.

💣EVERYBODY PANIC!💣

Vi. 

The name ached in her brain, wrenching forth a sea of memories soaked in vile anger and tenderness. 

Your sister is dead. 

How many times had Silco uttered the words? Soothing every fear, wound and anxiety Vi had left along with her sister on the bridge that fateful night. But that wasn’t the truth, was it? Vi had never been dead. Just…gone, and Silco was fighting to keep it that way. It was an earth shattering revelation, hearing Silco’s hushed, urgent conversations about ‘dealing’ with family as though it were some ugly wound that needed lancing. What had really driven the sense of anger and betrayal deep was Silco’s pointed silence on the topic when Jinx returned for his daily medication. There had been a time where the routine was tender, where they’d shared secrets with one another and upheld a pact of honesty. But Vi’s name never left Silco’s lips. He was lying about her. He was trying to keep her a secret. 

The knowledge made Jinx want to drive the needle deep into Silco’s eye. Over and over and over and over. 

She did not. 

The one shred of self restraint holding back the tidal wave of anger and hurt from challenging her so-called father figure was the knowledge of the person tied in the other room. An enforcer. An enforcer that for some reason, had been talking to Vi about something that Silco didn’t like. But if Silco didn’t like Vi, who was the real enemy? The thoughts writhed in an agitated, wounded mess, battling with each other in a fruitless effort to make sense of it all. If Silco found out that she knew about Vi, everything would speed up. No. She’d heard Silco’s side of things in the whispers he exchanged when he believed she wasn’t listening. What about their prisoner? What did she know? 

It hadn’t been difficult to find where they’d been keeping her. Marcus and Silco had been spending the better part of the day formulating some convoluted plan of attack. As Jinx moved soundlessly past Silco’s office, she heard the two inside, hours deep into a debate on this shiny new enforcer’s life. 

Jinx entered the holding room noiselessly from above, perching on the rough, dusty rafters to stare down at the woman tied to the chair. She didn’t look as old as the other enforcers Jinx had learned the faces of. A cold distance filtered into Jinx’s gaze while she watched the enforcer as though she were a spider Jinx hadn’t decided whether or not to stomp on. 

“Ugh, I thought they’d never leave.” The snide commentary sounded from above as Jinx swung her legs over one of the wooden beams. 

“Y’know, it’s not sounding good for you in the old Decisions Room. Guess you should’ve kept outta the way.” 

There was a soft thump as Jinx hopped down from her vantage point, strolling absently towards the door to fix a makeshift barricade. She didn’t want any interruptions, after all. This chat was going to be important. 

Jinx’s voice softened to something dangerously quiet. Tender, with the threat of teeth. 

“…But you didn’t.” 

Jinx hooked around to the enforcer, imposing an unsettling lack of distance between them as she leaned into the unsettling behaviour that so often prized results from people. 

“Let’s talk about that.”

(( Starter for @gauntlets-shot ))

[nickfowlerrr]

Bella !! I just realized I submitted a req to the wrong acc 😭😭 by any chance—are you up to writing Drabbles or request for your PWYC series? I just reread it and omg I very much miss our dirty rough and tough biker Bucky ✨😭 anyways! Here is my silly lil request:

Imagine this: reader stumbles across a specific kink, (praise kink, daddy kink, degradation kink, knife kink, chase kink, whatever one you can come up with!) but she’s too nervous to bring it up to Bucky! Though, she forgets that Bucky can feel/sense her emotions through the ✨soulmate bond✨. When Bucky figures it out—he’s a lil pissed/sad that his pretty girl didn’t just tell him. So—he starts to do little things to trigger her new secret kink. He just can’t help it! He loves the way she blushes (when he calls her good girl, does shit with knives, you get it!) But suddenly Bucky can’t take it anymore—he pounces! Next thing ya know our lovely pair of soulmates are screwing!

I know it’s a bit long but I just desperately love this series ! Keep up the great work lovie!! ~🐰🎀

the thrill of it all

pretty when you cry series masterlist

pairing: pwyc!bucky x curvy!reader (dark!soulmate au)

warnings: 18+ ONLY. smut. chase kink, choking, primal play-ish?. probably forgetting stuff, please let me know if you come across something that should be added.

words: 5.5k

notes: thank you for sending this in, and sorry it took ages. it’s not exactly what you asked for 😓 but i hope you enjoy it! 🖤🖤🖤 i didn’t reread this bc i’m about to pass out but i promised i’d post it tonight so it’s going up rn and i’ll go over it tomorrow to fix anything i think needs fixing lol. fingers crossed it’s cohesive 💀 as always, reblogs and comments are very much appreciated! thank you for reading.

Getting home from the grocery store, you were surprised to find your laptop sitting half open on the table in the kitchen. You remembered you’d been reading on it this morning as you ate breakfast, but you could have sworn you’d shut it when you left. You set the bags down and went to the table, opening the computer the rest of the way. It was still on the story you had been reading earlier and you felt yourself warm up not only at the idea that you left it open so carelessly, but also at the content itself. Smut.

A reader being chased through the woods by her boyfriend who also happened to be a demon. You’d had to leave before you got to the inevitable, the part where he’d stop toying with her and finally catch her. To have his way with her on the forest floor, the moonlight shining down on them as he took her apart.. You were getting flustered just thinking about it.

You’d have been mortified if Bucky had seen it and you were grateful he wasn’t home to have stumbled upon your latest reading material.

It was so…kinky. And you hadn’t talked to him about any of your new self discoveries or ‘interests’ so to speak. You hated it but you were truthfully a little ashamed. Embarrassed. You knew it’d probably be in your best interest to talk to him about it, but you kept talking yourself out of doing so. Convinced yourself that it wasn’t that big of a deal. Though if it wasn’t, why were you so concerned with keeping your fantasies to yourself. If you knew Bucky, you knew he’d want to help you fulfill any fantasy that crossed your pretty little mind, but still the thought of having to bring it up yourself was just too daunting. You were fine just reading your kinky erotica and not having to ask Bucky to act it out with you. Really. Though your occasional daydream about doing just that was popping up more and more frequently, you didn’t bring it up. How weird would it be to tell him you essentially wanted him to hunt you, chase you, pin you down and just completely ravish you…God, the thought of it was getting you hot all over again.

You had closed your laptop and set it aside as you started taking the groceries out of their bags and putting them away. Your eyes went wide as you heard Bucky’s footsteps, the ones you only heard when he wanted you to, coming down the stairs. How long had he been home? And did he happen to have come into the kitchen..did he open your laptop? Immediately you worried that he had at the very least looked at it. You swallowed hard but kept focused on your task, putting the food away where it belonged. You would just wait and see if he said anything, no way you’d bring it up first and make yourself seem suspicious. He came into the kitchen without a word and leaned back against the counter as he watched you put the last few items away, his arms crossed over his wellbuilt chest.

“Hey,” you greeted, throwing him a quick glance over your shoulder. “Thought you said you had a meeting with Stark today?”

“Something came up, we had to reschedule.”

“Oh. So, when’d you get home?” you asked, hoping you sounded nonchalant.

“Not that long ago,” he answered vaguely. You narrowed your eyes at his avoidance of a real answer before you turned around to look at him.

“I didn’t see your bike when I pulled in,” you alluded.

“It’s in the garage. I’m about to give it a tune up.” He kept his eyes on you, his gaze heavy and slightly unnerving. You hummed in response as you stared back, trying to suss out why he was being so weird. There, of course, was an obvious answer, but you wished he’d just come out and tell you what he was thinking.

“You left your laptop down here,” he said, nodding in the direction of where it laid on the table.

“I saw. Did you..were you on it?” you asked, again trying to sound like you didn’t care one way or the other.

He shook his head vaguely as he rubbed the stubble along his jaw.

“Just saw it when I came in earlier,”

You subconsciously let out a breath of relief, nodding at him.

“Why?” he questioned, his eyes never leaving you, even as you looked down. “You hiding something from me, sweetheart?”

Your eyes shot up again at his question. “What?” you laughed nervously. “No.”

He pushed off the counter and started to walk toward you as you stayed in your spot and watched him.

“Good,” he said as he got closer, closing the distance between you. His hands came up to cup your face, taking you by surprise as he suddenly pulled you in for a fervent kiss, eventually breaking it to look you in the eyes again. He kept your face in his hands, forcing you to hold his gaze as your hands found his wrists. “I don’t want you keeping anything from me, got it?”

You swallowed hard before you nodded lightly.

“Got it,” you breathed.

He looked at you a moment longer, his thumbs brushing the soft skin of your cheeks gently before he slipped away. His gaze was even more heated now and you had a renewed sense that he was clearly lying when he said he hadn’t been on your laptop. Why else would he have been acting so weird? Telling you not to keep things from him. He had to have seen something.

You weren’t sure why you were so embarrassed by him finding out about your newly realized kink, but you were. Bucky had seen you at your most vulnerable countless times at this point, in as many compromising positions as you could think of. But you’d never really been entirely comfortable talking about or asking for specific things from him when it came to sex. He certainly loved when you were vocal, crying for him, and he loved hearing you ask him for exactly what you wanted, but you were usually forced to verbalize those things lest he just continue torturing you with tantalizing but unfulfilling touches until you used your words, face hot even as your neediness tried to overpower your mortification. You were still relatively inexperienced and even morso when it came to the kinker side of being intimate.

You really never even thought of yourself as kinky, but since Bucky, you couldn’t deny the dirty thoughts that would run through your head, or the tags you’d go searching through when you’d look for new erotica to read.

You knew in reality that Bucky would love it if you came to him with ideas for things you’d want to try with him, but you just couldn’t get past the embarrassment to bring it up. Hell, you’d only very recently started to even just initiate sex with him and that took a helluva lot to get comfortable with.

It took constant reassurance from Bucky that any time you found yourself getting worked up for him, all you had to do was let him know. Weeks of finding yourself flustered and wanting when you’d catch him working on his bike or on a car in the garage… in the kitchen cooking dinner for you… even just cuddling you tight on the couch... or fresh out of the shower as he was getting ready.. You often forgot he could so easily tell when you were turned on. He could feel the way your heart would flutter and the change in your breathing. He’d shoot you a cocky smirk and you’d go wide eyed and make yourself scarce before he could really call you out on it.

Though half the time he’d catch you before you could get far and you’d find yourself naked and full of him in no time at all, always ending the night with him reminding you that anytime you wanted him all you had to do was ask. It took awhile for you to do so uninhibited, but when he finally pleaded for you to just tell him, you realized not only how badly he needed you to, but also how freeing it felt to not stifle your need for him, either.

That day had been a big eye opener for you, and you thought back on it in vivid and arousing detail as you stood in the kitchen. That was the day you’d realized exactly what it was that got you so worked up. It hadn’t been the first time you’d felt cornered or caught by him, but it suddenly clicked that that was what made certain memories stand out in your mind when you thought back on the most memorable times you’d been intimate with Bucky.

The uninhibited passion. Raw desire for one another. The possession. The chase.

He’d just gotten out of the shower and you were admiring his form as he walked toward the closet while you were folding your laundry across the room. The way his muscles flexed as he moved, looking through his shirts for something to put on, was distracting to say the least. All of him was distracting. He was just so beautiful. You knew you were staring, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. That was until you were pulled out of your head by his blue eyes shooting to you as he turned around suddenly. You quickly looked away and finished putting your panties in your drawer before you took the empty basket and made to leave the room. You avoided his eye as he neared you, trying to just go get the next load of your clothes from the dryer and act like you weren’t just ogling him and longing for his attention. He got closer still and stepped right in front of you, blocking you from moving. You took a step back as you found the nerve to look up at him. His eyes were set on you and you couldn’t look away from his heated gaze. You tried to move around him, but he moved insync with you, continuing to block your way. You huffed before trying again, but he followed your steps and this time took the basket from your hands as he threw it to the side. You were taken aback at the swift action, and froze as he took a step closer.

“What are you doing?” you tutted.

He didn’t answer and only took another step toward you, as you took one back. You felt cornered. You felt like prey. You eyed the door and narrowed your eyes at him before you made to run for it. It was futile, you knew it would be, but you screamed none the less as he took you off your feet, grabbing you by your waist and pulling you back against his chest. His lips were near your ear as he spoke, “Where do you think you’re going, sweetheart?”

You couldn’t keep yourself from leaning back into his warmth as you placed your hands over his still holding you. You wanted him even more now, the thrill adding to the desire that was already there. He spun you around and pushed you up against the wall. His eyes were filled with desire, much the same as yours, you were sure.

“Need you to tell me you want me, princess. I need to hear it, I need to hear you say it.” He nuzzled against you as he spoke, keeping you pinned against the wall of your shared bedroom, nothing but his towel on as he stood before you. You nodded softly against him in turn.

“I want you,” you whispered before repeating yourself with more confidence, assuring him, “I want you. Right now.”

He crashed his lips against yours, his hunger for you evident in his kiss. He was going to devour you and you longed for nothing more as he kept you caged against the wall. You continued making out as Bucky pulled at you and removed your clothes in a fit, like he couldn’t get you bare to him fast enough.

He lifted you up and you instinctively wrapped your thick legs around him, your arms winding behind his neck. He carried you effortlessly to the bed where you spent the rest of your afternoon, completely consumed by him.

From then on, you'd made more of an effort in initiating things, and it was nice, you couldn’t lie. Owning your desires and letting Bucky know when you were feeling frisky was kind of empowering. You just weren’t sure you were ready to own and speak aloud your kinkier desires just yet. You were still learning and exploring what you liked on your own, and though you’d occasionally consider talking to Bucky about some of these things, you’d always get shy and end up too nervous to bring it up.

You found yourself almost hoping that he had seen what you were reading and that he’d bring it up so you wouldn’t have to. It wasn’t the most mature way to go about things, but at least you’d get it over with sooner and stop feeling like a teenager trying to hide porn from their parents.

Bucky didn’t make the connection right away. Sure, he’d noticed you would get more turned on when he’d corner you and cage you in, and the times you’d try to avoid him and put on a little game of cat and mouse, you would be damn near dripping for him when he’d finally get his hands on you. But he hadn’t ever put two and two together. It wasn’t until he stumbled upon your laptop you’d left in the kitchen. Was it an invasion of privacy? Maybe. But he was curious as to what you had been doing on it. You’d been glued to the screen all of last night until he was finally getting into bed. Your laptop had snapped shut and you set it on your bedside table in a flash like you’d been waiting for him all night. You crawled over to him the second he sat on the edge of the bed and he was pleasantly surprised when you looked up at him, lust swimming in your eyes as you tentatively moved to palm him through his sweats. He raised an eyebrow at you, his lips parting, but didn’t say anything as he leaned further back onto the bed. You pulled down on the top of his pants and he helped you get them down just enough for his cock to slip out past the waistband.

You wasted no time and took him into your mouth right away, moaning as you felt him stiffen further in your mouth. You took your time pleasuring him, bobbing up and down while twirling your tongue around his length as best you could, his hand fisted in your hair and grunts and curses were falling freely from his lips as you sucked. He almost came before he pulled you off of him and you gave him a pout at the loss, wiping some of the spit off your lips as you looked up at him.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he panted. “Where the hell did that come from? Not that I’m complaining,” he smirked dopily.

You shrugged as you stared up at him, “Just want you.” Your words brought a proud smile to his face and with that he pulled you up and smashed his lips to yours, meanwhile you shimmied off your shorts and panties as quickly as you could while he held you to him.

You were near insatiable last night and he knew whatever it was you’d been doing on your laptop had something to do with it. He could sense you getting flustered even before he’d entered the room, your heart racing faster, a sense of anticipation and excitement taking over you. He’d let it go the first time he noticed, got more curious the second, but after last night, he decided he needed to see what it was that was getting you so worked up, since he knew you wouldn’t be the one to tell him.

It was really just a coincidence that Stark had to reschedule the meeting they had set and he got home early. But one that worked in his favor. You weren’t home and your laptop was just sitting there, like it was begging him to take a look at what was on your screen. It was closed, sure, but easy enough to open.

He typed in the password he knew you used for everything and got in on the first try.

His eyes scanned the text on the screen, trying to get a sense of what exactly you’d been reading. There was another tab open and when he clicked on it, he was brought to a blog page. Your blog page apparently. All the posts were story after erotic story. Just reading the warnings some of them had he quickly realized these were what had been getting you so hot.

There were a lot of kinks littered along your page, but the one that stood out the most was the chase kink. It also appeared the most. And when he thought about it, he wasn’t surprised in the least. Though he was a little disappointed that you felt the need to keep it from him. He was always happy to get kinky with you, and now knowing what you were into, it gave him a few ideas. If you weren’t going to come out and tell him, he’d just get it out of you himself.

He went back to the tab your laptop had been on and sent himself the link to what you’d been reading. He shut the screen but didn’t close it completely as he was distracted by pulling up the page on his phone. He went upstairs to give it a read and figure out what he wanted to do with this new information.

Bucky had been outside working on his bike before he went upstairs for a shower. You had been in the kitchen baking pumpkin bread, making loaf after loaf until the can of pumpkin puree was empty. You figured you could take one to Eva, and maybe bring a couple to the shop for everyone, too. You’d figure it out later, you just wanted to finish up baking them. You were so caught up in mixing the last batch of batter that you didn’t even notice Bucky enter the kitchen until you turned around to grab your wisk, yelping at his unexpected appearance. You placed your hand over your heart as if it would help settle the beating as you steadied your breath.

“Jesus christ, Bucky, why do you do that?” you admonished. He smirked in response.

“You look so cute when you’re all helpless and scared, I can’t help myself.”

You swallowed hard and felt your face grow warm at his words, turning back around to combine the dry ingredients into the wet.

“‘M not helpless,” you argued.

He was behind you in an instant, you gasped at his metal hand on your throat forcing your head back so you could look up at him, eyes wide.

“Aren’t you?” he leered down at you. “Don’t you wanna be? You’ve been keeping secrets from me, pretty girl?” he purred in your ear. “You should know by now I’m always gonna find out what’s going on with you.” You whined pathetically as he tightened his hand around your neck, pulling you closer as he leaned down, your breathing shallow as he kissed your lips, taking advantage of your lips parting again as he flexed his fingers around your throat once more, slipping his tongue inside the warmth of your mouth.

You reached up and grabbed his hair, trying to pull him even closer. His hand slipped from around your neck and slid down your chest, groping your breasts as he breathed into you. His hand drifted lower and made its way under your dress, cold metal grazing the soft skin of your thighs, sending chills up your spine. You moaned into his mouth as he began rubbing at your clothed folds. The sound of the timer going off on the oven made you jump, but Bucky held your waist tight as you reclined into him, his lips moving to your cheek as you breathed deeply.

“I have to get that out,” you breathed as you pushed his hands away from you, reaching for the oven mits before you turned toward the oven. Bucky blocked your way and fixed you with a look.

“Ah-ah,” he tutted. “You’re not gonna get out of this, so might as well talk.”

“Get out of what?” you said, playing dumb. “It’s gonna burn, Bucky, I need to take it out,” you whined.

He turned and opened the oven door, grabbing the loaf pan with his hand.

“Buck,” you gasped before realizing he was using his left hand. “God,” you muttered, shaking your head.

“Worried about me hurting myself, sweetheart?” he teased as he set the pan down on the stove.

“I have to finish this,” you avoided, gesturing to the batter still sitting in the mixing bowl.

“Oh, don’t you worry, princess. We’ll definitely finish this,” he said. You looked up at him from the bowl, biting the side of your tongue in your mouth as he left the room

It was almost two hours later when you’d taken the last loaf out of the oven, the dishes washed and the cooled loaves wrapped, packed, and stored away to give out tomorrow.

You washed your hands, grabbed the load of towels you’d washed earlier from the dryer and headed upstairs.

You entered the bedroom and didn’t find Bucky, but you didn’t think much of it as you went to the bathroom to put the towels where they belong in the cabinet.

As you were on your knees, sliding the folded towels onto the lower shelves, the lights in the bathroom went off.

You bristled at the loss of light and called out into the room, “I’m in here, Bucky!”

No response. You rolled your eyes and got up with a huff. The light switches were by the door leading from the bedroom to the bath so you had to walk across the room to switch them back on. You were stopped in your path as you saw a figure standing across from you in the dark. You screamed in fear at the sight, stumbling back on instinct before your rational mind came back into play.

“Fucking hell, Bucky! It’s not funny,” you cursed. He stayed silent, his face still concealed by the dark, as he took a step to you. You stayed still, breathing heavy as you tried to discern him in the darkness. You pushed past him and got to the door of the toilet, flicking on the switch in there, giving you enough light to see Bucky now.

He kept inching closer and you kept backing away, eyeing him warily. His continued silence was perturbing and the look in his eye was intense and sure.

Every step he took, deliberate. Methodical. Like he was leading you into a trap of some kind.

“Bucky..What are you doing?” you asked. “You’re freaking me out.”

As you made your way back into the bedroom, you realized he had turned the lights off in there, too. “Can you say something, please?!” you snapped. You hadn’t been looking where you were going, and even if you had the light from the bathroom wasn’t giving much of any illumination that far into the bedroom. You tripped over something and only barely caught yourself from falling back on your ass.

“Better watch your step, sweetheart. You’ve read enough scenes like this, I’m sure you know how it goes. One wrong move and it's over. And you wouldn't want it to be over so soon, where's the thrill in that?”

You didn’t know how to respond. You had been pretty sure he’d seen your laptop, but now knowing he really had, you didn’t know what to feel. Though you were thoroughly embarrassed, you were also relieved. And growing more and more excited… He knew and he was playing into it for you already. And he was doing a damn good job, too.

He was nearly on top of you now, backing you into the closed door of your room. You felt that familiar thrill come over you. Your heart picked up speed and you were sure he could tell how aroused you were getting at his predatory gaze.

“Now we both know I can catch you in a heartbeat, so I'm gonna be nice and give you a little head start,”

“What are you-”

“If I were you, princess,” he said as he got closer, your back flush against the door, “I’d run.”

You turned quickly and threw the door open, cursing at the darkness encompassing the whole house. The only light afforded to you were the small night lights at either end of the hall and the candles still burning in the living room down the stairs. As fast as you could without falling, you hurried down the stairs, Bucky’s voice counting down from ten sounding from the bedroom.

You didn’t really think through where you were going, you just went. Instead of heading to the living room, you headed down the hall across from it. You were walking slowly, desperate not to hit your toe on a corner or walk into a wall, the hall pitch black, no lights left on. When you got to the doors leading to the den Bucky mainly used as his office, you saw light coming from inside.

“Boo,” he whispered in your ear just as you moved to reach the handle. You jumped at his voice so close and when you were suddenly pulled back into him, being lifted off your feet as he carried you away from the door, a la texas chainsaw massacre, you shrieked in fear.

“That’s the best you can do? I thought you wanted a chase, pretty girl. Didn’t even try to make it outside. No one else out here but us,” he mused. “Noone’ll hear you scream.”

You were thrashing against him, pushing at his arms, trying with no avail to get him to drop his hold, whimpering as he only tightened his arms around you.

“Mmm,” he hummed against you. “There’s always next time.” He changed his hold on you, lifting your legs into his left arm, holding your back up with his right, essentially cradling you in his arms. You tried to wiggle out of his hold, but he just threw you over his shoulder instead, slapping your ass as he took you to the living room, dropping you unceremoniously onto the couch. The light from the candles glowing and allowing you to see him as he pulled his shirt over his head. The clinking of his belt and the sound of his zipper filled the air as he removed his jeans before he straddled you. You were breathing shallow and you knew you were dripping for him by now as he leaned his face into yours and took your lips into his own, gently nipping your bottom lip before he drifted to your neck. His arms went under you and pulled the zip of your dress down, getting it as much off of you without your assistance as he could. He was impatient and decided to just tear it the rest of the way down the seam as you gasped.

“I’ll get you a new one,” he gruffed as he pulled the sleeves off your arms and threw the dress to the wayside. “You’d forgone a bra, granting him access to your heavy breasts the moment he got the dress off you. His lips descendeded on your pert nipple, his hand squezzing your breast as he pulled and tugged at your other nipple.

“Buck,” you moaned, your hands flitting through his hair, his stubble tickling your sensitive skin. You spread your legs around him and he ground down against you, his hard length throbbing through his underwear. You tugged at his boxers before he pulled away from you to get them down the rest of the way. He tore your own off and before you could complain, kissed your sweet spot and murmured, “Sorry, princess.”

His lips traveled back up your neck before landing on your lips again, tasting you as you parted your mouth for him, wrapping your leg around his waist and whining at the lack of contact you felt.

“Tell me what you want,” he said. You huffed in annoyance but knew you’d have to answer to get what you wanted.

“Want you to fuck me,” you pleaded.

“Whatever you say,” he smiled against your skin.

He took his cock in his hand and ran his tip along your wet slit, spreading your slick around and rubbing himself against your puffy clit, eliciting a moan from you. He teased you for a bit before he slid his tip inside of you. Your eyes closed in pleasure. “Feel good, baby?” he asked.

You nodded fervently as his lips returned to your neck. “More,” you pleaded, your fingers pulling at his hair. He pushed further into you and groaned at the feeling of your silky walls gripping him tight. He rolled his hips against you, setting a rhythm as he rocked into you repeatedly. His cock was rubbing against you in the most delicious way and he was stimulating your clit with his every move. Moans falling from you both as he fucked into you. His hand found your hip as he held you down into the couch, thrusting up into you harsher and harsher the closer he got to his release. The way he was pounding into you had you sliding up the couch with each powerful thrust.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he groaned into your ear as he held himself up above you, his rhythm faltering ever so slightly. The hand he had on your hip traveled to your clit and he expertly rolled it with perfect pressure as you cried out at the heat building hotter and hotter in your core. You felt your body tense as he slid against your g-spot repeatedly.

“Always so fucking tight, goddamnit,” he cursed, fucking you harder. You were unintelligible as you moaned and mewled at the pressure growing until you finally came undone around him. “Fuck,” he roared near your ear, burrying his face in your neck as he let himself go right after you.

You whimpered as his hips stuttered against you, your arms wrapping around him as he laid his weight down on top of you, placing soft kisses along your neck. You were breathing heavy as you ran your hands up and down his back, his weight a comfort as you shut your eyes.

Bucky pulled out of you gently, grabbing tissues off the coffee table to clean you and himself. He sat back on the couch and pulled you against him, kissing your head.

“I need you to know, sweetheart. You don’t need to keep anything from me. Ever. Especially stuff like this. I just want to make you happy. I want to make you feel good.”

“I know,” you murmured. “You know you’re the only person I've ever been with. I just - I didn't know how to approach it. I guess really I was just embarrassed. Maybe a little ashamed. I’d never..even thought about any of this stuff,” you laughed nervously. “It feels..dirty?”

“It’s a kink, princess. They’re pretty common. You’re not fucked up for wanting to be chased around before you fuck. It’s just a turn on, doesn’t say anything about your morality.”

You leaned your head against him as he rubbed your arm.

“You come across any other kinks you wanna try, you just let me know. You know I’ll do anything for you, pretty girl.”

You smiled softly at that. You knew he would, but it was always nice to hear him remind you of that fact.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

He tilted your chin up so you were looking at him. “I love you,” he told you, leaning down to kiss you softly.

“That was pretty hot,” he said when he pulled away. “We’re definitely going outside next time.” You couldn’t help but smile, a small laugh leaving your lips as you looked at him. “I love you,” you replied, hand coming up to stroke his cheek. “‘M tired,” you mumbled. He lifted you up as effortlessly as ever and moved to carry you up the stairs.

“If you drop me, I swear to god,” you warned him, earning a laugh in return.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.”

[bucksfucks]

mr. brightside

summary: the one where you fuck your ex’s dad.

pairing: ex’s!dad!bucky x f!reader

word count: 1,997 words

warnings: age-gap [20’s versus 40’s], cheating, divorce, sexual tension, teasing, revenge, protected sex, pet-names [sweets], squirting, oral, overstimulation, slight orgasm denial/edging, taunting, praise kink, metal arm kink, slight mocking — 18+ ONLY | MINORS DNI

The Killers were onto something, they really truly were when they wrote the lyric it started out with a kiss.

Because it was only just a kiss.

You didn’t know how it ended up like this, it was only just a kiss.

Except it wasn’t just a kiss.

At least not for your boyf—sorry, ex boyfriend.

He sure as hell did a lot more than just a kiss. Hitting all three bases in fact, slam dunking on them or whatever the fucking term is.

He did it all.

The worst part? He didn’t even cover his tracks properly, leaving you to find the evidence: panties shoved underneath the bed when you bent down to find the stupid earring backing that fell from your fingers.

You really wished you’d never bent down to find it, uncovering the pretty lace thong.

It wasn’t yours, never quite comfortably fitting into them before swearing them off. Your butt was plenty cute anyways.

Yet another part of you is glad that you found them because you would have never ended up in the position you were in.

Revenge tasted sweet and you really didn’t care about the consequences.

No, not when Bucky Barnes, your ex’s father was between your legs speaking Greek and making you moan his name.

Let’s rewind for a second.

You expected him to be there. For him to be opening the door. So when it wasn’t in fact him, but his father, well you were pleasantly surprised.

Call it what you want, but Bucky Barnes was hot.

He was a certified dilf, the ones you’d see at Disneyland and go damn, wish that was me.

And he was divorced, newly divorced. No one but a few people knew the details — you being one of them.

It had been a long time coming, apparently, neither of them putting up a fight as they signed divorce papers and she left.

He kept the house, busying himself with repair work as he told you he was looking to sell it and start fresh.

A new life. Some new experiences. New people.

You saw the way he looked at you, you weren’t blind to the fact that he licked his lips every time you wore something revealing or tight or really, anything.

He placed his hand on the small of your back whispering jus’ gettin’ by ya as a shudder went through your body.

How his son turned out to be a cheating dirtbag you’d never know. Quite frankly, you didn’t want to either because well, you wanted revenge.

You’d raised your share of men and God knows you were done with that.

Bucky was older, nearly twice your senior and maybe that was part of the appeal. Or maybe it was the bionic arm he told you countless stories of over dinner.

Whatever it was, he had you hooked.

So that’s how it started off with a kiss.

He had opened the door, moving aside to let you step inside as he put a hand on your shoulder and squeezed all while saying…

“Between you and me, he never could’ve treated you right.” Something about those words made you tingle, fire blazing inside of you as you had to take a deep breath and nod your hand.

“Thank you, Mr. Barnes. It means a lot,” he chuckled, reminding you that it was Bucky and that you would have to start getting used to calling him that.

Oh how intriguing that statement was.

The tension was thick and you knew Bucky could feel it too. You could tell by the way his eyes travelled up and down your body — nothing but a tank top and some shorts.

“Here, you can drop his stuff off in his room,” he said before you followed him up the stairs despite knowing the blueprint to his house.

You scoffed to yourself, of course your ex was living with his dad. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

It’s just that he kept telling you he was gonna get his own place, you know, for privacy. Yeah, it’d been two years and he hadn’t even tried to look for his own place.

You also thought you should be a lot more upset and broken-hearted over this. Carrying up a trash bag of his stuff and yet…all you could focus on was Bucky’s ass.

He opened the door and you just dropped his stuff on the floor without a second look before your eyes were trained on Bucky.

And his on yours.

And suddenly you were on the bed.

Lip-locked with your fingers tangled in his hair, tugging at the roots while he rutted his hips against yours before you finally parted for breath.

“You got any idea how sweet your moans are when you’re tryin’ to keep it down?” He whispered and fuck, it sent you into overdrive.

You whimpered, wanting to feel his lips on yours again.

Then an idea struck you, smirking as you licked your lips.

“Was always thinking of you, Bucky.”

That was clearly the right thing to say because he moaned into the kiss, nipping at your bottom lip as your heart thumped loudly, flipping at the prospect of fucking Bucky.

The way his hands travelled over your body, squeezing curves you’d grown to hate only for him to lust over. There was no denying that whatever the fuck you were feeling was real.

Even if it was a product of the moment; a product of you being cheated on causing your emotions to say fuck it and take what you’ve been wanting for years now. 

So that’s how you got to this place. 

With Bucky’s face between your legs, holding them open with thick arms as he lapped at whatever you had to offer him, making sure not to waste a single drop. 

“I��ve never heard you so.” He stops to think, “loud.”

One cocky motherfucker, you thought, but he deserved to be one when he had made you cum two, three? Ah, you’d lost count.

“Never thought I’d get to hear you moaning all for me.” He hums.

“It’s so much better than what I’ve been dreaming about.”

Your legs instinctively go to squeeze shut, but Bucky has other plans.

“Uh, uh, Sweets.” He purrs, “I know you’re not done, look at how wet you are.” 

His words made a shiver run down your body, thighs slick with your wetness and Bucky’s face was absolutely drenched as he continued to circle your clit with his tongue, rutting his hips into the mattress at the same time.

“I can feel how close you are…right on the edge.” He taunts, fingers curling upwards and brushing the spot you thought was a myth until that moment because no one had ever made you feel this good.  

“If you want it, “he smirks. “All you gotta do is ask.”

You whine, arching your back as you grip onto the bedsheets like you’ve never before. His fingers are still deep inside of you, but they’ve stilled, eyes watching you like you’re a helpless deer in the wild and he’s the starving lion who’s gotten a taste for you.

“Please,” you croak, “please let me come.” 

He groans against your pussy, wrapping his lips around your clit and you’re on the verge of tears from how fucking good everything feels. Your brain is foggy, head dizzy and everything is a new sensation.

“You’re not gonna come,” he growls, a whine leaving your lips out of pure frustration. “You’re gonna squirt for me.”

A throat wrenching moan rips through your chest, the wave of pleasure that washes over you (quite literally) curls your toes and steals all of the oxygen from your lungs. 

You had a taste of Bucky could offer you and you knew that there was no going back. 

“Fuck,” he hisses, “hottest fuckin’ thing.” He rushes out hastily before his lips are on yours in a deep, needy, and downright desperate kiss. 

A kiss where when Bucky’s tongue swipes against your own, you can taste yourself on him and it sparks something inside of you. A carnal need before he’s looking at you, panting.

“Are you sure?”

Holy fuck, yes.

You nod, “I deserve to be fucked until I can’t walk.”

Oh yeah, that’ll do it before you’re flipped over on your hands and knees, face pressed in the sheets until you’re left shaking in anticipation. Waiting and wondering when and what Bucky’s next move is going to be.

The crunch of the condom wrapped only make you squeeze your eyes tighter before you feel one cool and one warm hand on each of your cheeks.

“Poor little thing,” he cooes.

“Just desperate to get fucked every which way, huh?”

“Yeah,” it’s a pathetic little whimper that falls from your lips.

“Oh don’t worry,” you feel him glide through your folds before he’s lining up at your entrance. “I’m gonna take care of you.”

You inhale sharply, waiting for the moment he plunges into you, but in never comes. 

Instead, he bends his body over yours, mouth against your ear and you can feel his hot breath. 

“You really think I’d miss the look on your face the first time you take me?” God, his voice was so low and raspy, vibrating through his chest and onto your back before you’re flipped around.

“I just wanted to see that ass of yours,” he smirks. Your chest is rising and falling rapidly and out of sync, but Bucky doesn’t look anymore composed than you. 

His hair is mused, from your fingers being run through it as you grip it. Cheeks tinted and flushed a pretty pink, lips wet and love bitten with blown pupils as he drinks the sight of you underneath him.

Completely submissive. Completely desperate. 

Then the moment you’re waiting for finally comes. And you’re not sure it’s real because first time’s aren’t supposed to feel this good. Maybe you’re stuck in a dream, confined to your head and in a state of comatose. 

“Fuck,” it’s that low, almost a whine breathy pant that leaves his lip as he sinks into you. 

Head hung low as he watches his cock disappear into your cunt, the image being burned into his mind permanently now, sure to flash behind his eyes every time he closes them. 

“Feel s’fuckin’ good, Sweets. So tight and warm—shit.” He’s reduced to incoherent blubbering as he rocks his hips against yours, circling them as he watches how your face contracts in pleasure. 

Your mouth falling open, silent pants falling from it. How your eyebrows furrow and how you squeeze your eyes shut tighter every time he sinks back into you.

“And such a pretty sight, all for me,” he grunts, placing his forearms right beside your head, locking you in place. 

You can hear the low mechanical whirring of his left arm as he fucks you, deep and slow, in your ear and it only reminds you of how powerful he is. 

There’s something so intoxicating about him, how he smells like rich coffee and sweet oranges, but snarls at anyone who dares cross him.

“Oh I can feel how close you are, gonna make a mess all over my cock? Mark me as yours?” It’s a low taunt, a purr almost, as the bed creaks beneath you both. 

You can only control yourself for so long before he sends you over the edge for the last time that day, gripping him until he spills into the condom.

The moans that leave him are filthy, full of absolute sin, but you continue to dig your fingernails deeper into the skin of his back because he likes it. 

Both of you are entirely fucked out. Panting, trying to catch your breaths as you open your eyes and meet his. They have that hazy, post-sex glow that you knew you’d be seeing again.

It started out with a kiss, but you were glad it ended up like this.

[ibasae]

Sprout*Waning Hermitage - Monday 2

Shu: ...(lightly stretching)

hm?

Mika: G'morning, Oshi-san! Sorry I kept ya waitin'~

Shu: You're fine. The meeting time hasn't passed yet. But you're late in the sense that you're usually here before me.

Mika: Yeah~ But I've got a good reason. Hajime-kun made breakfast, so I only came after I've ate.

After all, I figured I should have a good breakfast in the mornin' if we're having practice today.

Ah, Hajime-kun is a good cook~! Steaming hot rice and miso soup, with hijiki and a hard boiled egg to top it off. Would ya make it for me, Oshi-san?

Shu: I'm full just hearing about it... You'd get heartburn if you eat that much in the mornings, plus I prefer a western breakfast anyways.

Mika: Ah~... That's right, Oshi-san eats very little.

I used to eat little too, and I liked to eat ugly looking things, but recently I've been findin' things "delicious." My appetite might've increased from that?

Plus, people would make me things or send me things while I'm at the dorm.

Shu: I'm not against you eating, I'm saying that you shouldn't eat too much. If you can't fit in the clothes I make, or if it affects your performances, I'll certainly be beside myself with rage.

Mika: Scary...! 'Course I know that...!

Shu: Then let's start practicing. For people that seeks perfection such as ourselves, time is always running out too quickly.

Kagehira, take a look at these.

Mika: Eh? What's this stack of paper for?

Shu: Goodness... It's the storyboard for the new song's MV.

Mika: Eh?! We just got the concept yesterday, and ya already made the storyboard?!

Shu: No need to be shocked. It's been a whole day. There's definitely room for improvement, but it's better than nothing.

Mika: No, this is more than enough. Oshi-san's so cool, you work so fast!

Shu: That's only because you have too much free time.

Mika: Ehehe, maybe so. I'll skim the storyboard. Hm...?

Wuee-----eh? a marionette...?

Oshi-san, I get that we have to work off my concept, but why did the artist create a marionette? Don't artists draw 'n paint 'n stuff? Plus, this feels very ex-Valkyire-y.

Shu: Ah, we're creating a fairytale---which takes concepts of the past. Which is why we are working with a common concept from Ex-Valkyrie.

Paitings and sculptures... I bounced around many ideas themeing them as concepts of eternity, seals of the past, etc etc, and still thought a marionette was the easiest to work with.

Compared to something inorganic. humans are likely to resonate more with something that looks like them and are more likely to be captivated by that as well.

Artists are more or less interested in humans, so there's many a few artists that are also experts in medical science. So, I've chosen the marionette---the closest to actual humanity---as a theme.

Mika: Uwah~ So that's the case. The MV looks supa pretty from the storyboard.

But is it really okay to have such a detailed set? Wouldn't we be spendin' too much money? Wouldn't the people at the agency get mad...

Shu: That's quite alright. I've already spoken with the agency. Back to the topic at hand---have you memorized everything?

Mika: Yup! I have it by heart. Let's start practicin', Oshi-san!

Mika: ♪~ ♪~

Shu: (Hm?)

Kagehira, stop for a second.

Mika: What's wrong, Oshi-san? Did I do somethin' wrong?

Shu: It's not that. It's just... something doesn't feel right.

You don't feel like a marionette. Can you try to radiate the energy you did in ex-Valkyrie?

Mika: Ah, okay. I see, let me try again.

Shu: ...

Start over, Kagehira. Use your imagination more.

...

Non! This is not the quality I'll settle with at all.

Mika: Ngh~...

Shu: NON! Absolutely not. This wasn't what I was going for at all!

Mika: But Oshi-san... I dunno what I'm missin'~...

Shu: (He's not missing anything---on the flip side, he's actually giving too much. Although I am beyond happy that he's more human now, and I've accepted Kagehira as an artist.... I never thought it'd become an obstacle in our work.)

It's not just about having a monotone facial expression, your fingertips are still overflowing with life. Can you even call that "having nothing?"---if you can't have the mindset of a monk, you won't be able to achieve "eternity."

Mika: Even if ya say that... Hm, life... I'm just tryin' ta remember my old self...

Shu: There's nothing I can do for you, so let's just end the practice today. You aren't in the mood so there's no use wasting our time.

Kagehira, I hope you deliver a more outstanding performance tomorrow.

[33roda]

Kaeya X Dom!Reader <3

tags: tiddy sucking (m!receiving), butt fingering, (m!receiving), brat taming kinda, gn!reader I think !!

____________________________________

Yet another exhausting Abyss Order attack, finally over with.

It was a quite difficult one at that, having required a whole army of knights at the gates of Mondstadt, so Kaeya invited the team to a drink at Angel's Share, out of all places. Even after all the energy that used up, he's still in the mood for drinks?

Well, that didn't matter anyway, because either way, you would've been forced to go either by Kaeya or by Lisa. You sat quietly next to Kaeya, listening to him chat with the other knights.

"Ah, another success.. Of course, we couldn't have done it without our Honorary Knight here," he chatted, sounding as sarcastic as ever. "You truly are a new storm after all."

He rested his hand on your shoulder while holding up his third glass of sparkling wine of the night, chuckling at how Amber was already tipsy after one sip of beer. Jean held her up, furrowing her eyebrows tightly, looking for where Lisa went. Probably off to flirt with the new naive bartender. Everyone's enjoying their time here while she had to babysit Amber and Lisa?

"Of course, Y/N. It is truly an honor to celebrate this with our new Honorary Knight." she stumbled as she continued holding up Amber and wiping her drool with napkins, her slurring drowned out by the noises in the background. You let out a polite smile, showing your appreciation to everyone on the table.

"Thank you, Grand Master. It was a pleasure working with you today." The table was awkward. Too formal, too stiff, but Kaeya didn't seem to mind it, just smirking and slowly sipping on his wine. You almost started wondering and fantasizing about when it'd be time to leave, but as soon as you thought of that, you felt Kaeya's hand slide off your shoulder and started gently caressing your thighs. Ah, expected. Of course there had to be an ulterior motive to his invitation, not that you minded. Taking advantage of the loud, distracting chatter in the background, he ducked his head next to your ear just enough so you could feel his hot breath against it.

"You sure look bored, Y/N. Quite rude of you to not respect etiquette," he whispered against your ear and chuckled. "I have something more fun for you later. Meet me outside the bar once the rest leave."

Ha. Finally, something interesting this night. You had nothing to lose anyway, so why not entertain his request? his actions motivating you to just get the night over with, you try to be more friendly with Jean to lessen the tenseness in the air, her unaware of the touching and groping exchanged between you and Kaeya underneath the table.

Lisa would never seem to return, and Jean eventually got tired of the Outrider hiccuping and slurring on her words next to her, deciding it was best for everyone to just go home. Exchanging goodbyes to everyone, Kaeya escorted them outside, looking back and shooting you a wink and a smug smile before leaving the tavern. Oh what you'd do to wipe that smug smile off his face, and you'd be sure to do just that tonight. You started packing up your stuff, taking your sweet time with it, thinking about how you're keeping The Cavalry Captain waiting. You can already picture how he'll be squirming and begging to be touched.. What a pretty sight, you thought, as you exit the tavern door to be greeted with silence for a second; then the husky voice of a grumpy-looking Kaeya.

"Took ya long enough, Honorary Knight," he raised an eyebrow, waiting for an excuse or an apology, getting a figurative slap in the face when he got teasing instead.

"Oh, so sorry, Captain, did my touch make you so needy in there you couldn't wait for a few minutes?," you cooed, giving him as much of a smug smile as he was giving you earlier.

"Hm," he scoffed. Resistance? from a new knight like you? that's new. He was known to be irresistible, to both men and women, being all dolled up with his fancy fur and chains. At least he still has you in his hands, he thought.

Thank Barbatos the streets were empty ‒ if anyone saw you leading the Captain to your house in the dead of the night, the rumours would not sound pretty for either of you. But rumours were the least of your concerns, being in your room with Kaeya holding you against the wall and leaning down to whisper in your ear as you twirled his ponytail in your fingers from behind.

"Getting you here was easier than expected, Y/N," he taunted, "I'm starting to think you've wanted this for some time."

"In your dreams," you looked up at him. To be honest, he was a very attractive man - looking down at you with half lidded eyes and that smirk that never seemed to fade. He shot down to kiss you, but it was too early, you thought. He had to earn it. You grabbed his ponytail, forcing him to throw his head back and expose his pretty little neck to you. His eyes going wide as you started tracing circles on his exposed chest - now that was a sight to appreciate. Funny, he's the captain yet his skin felt smooth and silky against your calloused hands.. now you understand why he liked showing it off so bad. Switching hands to grab him by the face, you snickered, "It seems like you've been the one planning this, Sir Kaeya. Actually, how about you let me be your master tonight, hm?"

"You think it's that easy? Insulting of you, Y/N," you raised an eyebrow at the disobedience, even with your hands grabbing his cheeks, his words coming out slurred. Should've expected that from a smug fuck like Kaeya. "Prove yourself to me."

"You really are a brat. Not surprised, honey." you said, letting go of his cheeks and immediately diving into his chest to lick and suck at it, leaving it with red and purple bruises. Sliding your fingers across his wet chest and under his shirt, you flicked his nipple with your thumb before squeezing it, feeling him shudder standing in front of you. "What's wrong? can't handle it? need to lay down?" you didn't even let him finish before shoving him down into the bed, impressing him with your sudden strength. Giggling, you pinned his wrists down next to his head. "Just let me have my fun with those pretty tits of yours." Surprisingly, he didn't complain - instead, he just bit his lip and turned his head to the side, allowing himself to be touched. "Such a good boy, really,"

"Th-this is just a one time thing, Y/N, don't get your hopes up," he stuttered out between little gasps and squirms, "I promise you, I'll be stuffing you full tonigh- ngh!" he choked, feeling you move his shirt to the side and start lapping at his nipple. If he wasn't hard before, he sure as hell is now. Riling him up was easier than expected - although he'd never admit that. You continued nibbling at him, feeling his hardness underneath his pants on your stomach. Poor Kaeya, getting hard just from this?

"Sensitive, are we?" you commented between licks. "No wonder you love showing off your chest so much. Makes me think how you'd like showing the rest of you off?"

"You'd love to see that, huh?" he remained smug.

"Why yes, I would, Captain," you purred. You started unbuckling his belt and stripping him all the way down to his underwear, leaving so much more area for you to lick, kiss, and just ruin. "Such a pillow princess. Are you like this with everyone else?"

"N-no!" he exclaimed, looking insulted. "Just strip me already, Y/N." Honestly, it was pretty funny how he tried to mask his horniness, even with his dick as hard as ever under you, face flushed and breathing heavily.

"I'm not stripping you unless you call me your master. And if you strip yourself," you held up his chin with your fingers, "I'll just leave you here, naked and horny, with no pleasure at all. Your choice, Kaeya."

"Master.. please, please strip me - I need more, anything, please," he sounded like he was about to cry. How adorable, his pride crumbling right before him, all just so he could have your touch..

"Good boy."

You pulled down his tight blue underwear down to his ankles, freeing his oh-so-pretty cock. He was certainly impressive, but unfortunately, his dick would be useless to you tonight. "How pretty," you hummed, tracing every vein with your fingers, feeling every throb. "You want more, don't you? I want to hear you beg for more."

"More, please, I n-need you to touch me master, please," gasping, he tried rutting against your hand, rubbing himself on you, anything - but failing. "I want it so bad,"

Having the Cavalry Captain being your little bitch wasn't so bad after all. Laughing at his little whines and pathetic attempts to get off on your hand, you grabbed him and started pumping gently, watching his reactions in pure amusement. His usually striking eyes shut closed, eyebrows tight, his mouth wide open - it was all a sight to behold. Groans and whimpers filling the room, he continued trying to thrust harder into your hand, chasing his release. But baby, he had no idea the plan was entirely different than he thought.

He really thought it was just a bit of teasing, then you'd make him cum with your hands, or fuck you tight. But you stopped pumping him, leaving him whining and begging for more, a look of pitiful disappointment on his face. It almost made you feel bad.

"It's not gonna be that easy, pretty boy," you slapped his thighs, "legs up for me baby."

"H-huh?" he looked genuinely confused, still in a daze from the sudden disappearance of your hand on his cock. Not letting him waste any time, you lifted his legs all the way up by yourself.

"Can't even take orders?" you smacked his ass, making it jiggle and let out that filthy noise. You were impressed how loud it was, honestly. "What would the other knights think seeing you like this, Kaeya? maybe you want them to hear you get fucked? see you all spread out for your master?" Not even giving him a chance to respond, you shoved your fingers in his mouth, he could only hum little "mmphs" and nods in your direction. "I never knew our Captain would be such a slut," you watched in amusement as he coated your fingers in drool, looking up at you in desperation. "I'll give you exactly what you want." smiling at him, you rubbed your saliva-coated fingers against his hole for a few seconds before shoving a finger in to prep him. He wanted more, evidently, by the way he kept humping down against your finger with hesitant moans.

"Y-You're doing it all wrong," he slipped off your fingers with heavy breaths, "let me show you how it's done, master," You raised an eyebrow, and as soon as you were gonna grab him by his throat and punish him, he spread himself out even further with his hands, looking to get a reaction out of you. It was his first time doing this with someone else, but he's definitely fucked himself in front of a mirror before. Who wouldn't love to watch his body like that, anyway?

Shoving two fingers inside himself, he started looking for his spot, erratically humping the air looking for more stimulation, anything; but the most you'd do is stroke his thighs with a smile on your face, teasing him even further. He was obviously just trying to put on a show for you, make you watch him stretch himself out and look at him make the most erotic faces for you - he'd even make sure the whole of Mondstadt heard him get fucked, as if he wasn't gonna wear your hickeys like an award in front of the other knights tomorrow. Watching him fuck in and out of himself, listening to the filthy noises his ass made; you couldn't help but cross your legs a little. "Do you like it, master?" he whimpered.

"I know what you're doing, prince," you answered, "trying so hard to get more.. such a desperate bitch, don't you think?" he nodded in agreement. "Well, since you've been so good.." turning him over, you pushed his face down into the bed. He was already arching his back for you - his pretty hole all wet and ready to get fucked. "You'll still have to work for it, though," you laughed, hearing him groan in protest into the bed. Gently pushing your digits into him, you ordered, "Fuck yourself on my fingers, Kaeya."

Immediately obeying, he pushed himself back onto your fingers, dick flailing under him, sobbing and begging for you to just fuck him yourself - maybe if he obeyed for a little, you'd finally do it? "Such a good boy. And to think you wanted to fuck me?"

You wouldn't let go until you found his spot, curving your fingers towards his navel, making his legs give out from all the pleasure - the Captain was simply a doll in your hands to play with. Even when his legs gave out, only then would you finally fuck him yourself, his tears staining your bed alongside his cum. Fucking his spot even when your arms got tired, you had to make him cum again. His moans getting more and more high-pitched with every fuck into him, squirming and grinding his ass against you, he finally came again with a throaty moan filling the room. You pulled out of him and gave his ass a quick smack, letting him take his breath before turning over to face you. His cum all over his stomach and chest was a sight to remember, dick twitching, his face blushy and pretty lips open gasping.

Sliding your fingers across his chest, you picked up some of his cum and put it near his mouth, waiting for him to put his tongue out to lick it. He did just that, making eye contact with you, and even holding your wrist in place so he could lick it all up. "Good puppy."

He'll definitely be limping around the other knights tomorrow.. Not that he minded. He'll absolutely be teasing you again at the Knights of Favonious headquarters, anyway.

[babyboibucky]

The Match

Pairing: CEO!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You come across your boss’ Tinder profile.

Word Count: 1,446

Warnings: HMMMM sexual tension 😏

A/N: I wrote this in a whirl and tried to format it through the app last night and it SUCKS so I’m posting this just now. Anyway, there will definitely be a smutty part two to this lmfao ya know it

Edit: PART 2 IS UP!!!

The Match Masterlist || MAIN MASTERLIST

Saturday night and you’re on your bed, wine-drunk and all as you mindlessly swiped through Tinder. You start to frown when none of the guys impressed you enough to swipe right. Their bios were all the same, revolving around their egos only to end up with the good ol’ “DTF” line.

Bored and disappointed, you almost exited the app until a very, very familiar face appeared on your screen.

“Holy shitballs, it’s our boss.” You sat up immediately, bringing your phone to your face for a close inspection.

Indeed, it was your boss James Barnes but he was using “Bucky” as his profile name. You wondered whether it was his real account or a poser one. But then you remembered his closest colleagues calling him that.

You snorted as you checked out his profile. He didn’t have a bio but had a couple of photos uploaded. And oh wow, is that a shirtless mirror photo?

You rarely worked closely with your boss but goddamn, sometimes you wished you did because he was a hot piece of ass.

“Should I swipe right...” you mumbled to yourself.

Would it be unprofessional to do so? But then again, you never really interacted with him that much. Just a couple of polite nods and greetings whenever you passed by him at the office. You weren’t even directly reporting to him.

That being said, you were quite sure that he wouldn’t swipe right on you given that you’re his employee. Of course he wouldn’t want to be the unprofessional one so being tipsy and all, you decided to take one for the team.

“Tss, what the hell.” You huffed out and swiped right.

Not even a second later, the “It’s a match!” message popped up on the screen almost immediately. You choked on your wine and dropped your phone, eyes wide and heart racing because you just matched with your fucking boss.

“Shit!” You hissed, diving onto the floor the pick your phone up.

If the message popped out as soon as you swiped right on him, then that means...

“He swiped right on me first, what the fuck!”

-

Monday came quickly and you’ve never been this restless before. You couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that you matched with your boss on Tinder. Neither of you messaged the other over the weekend but now that you were headed to work, you honestly didn’t know what to expect.

You debated whether to call in sick or maybe, pretend that you died? Pack your bags and perhaps fly to a different country and start anew? You were overacting but matching with your boss on a dating app known for hook-ups should be a valid reason to justify your thoughts.

Maybe James didn’t recognize you that’s why he swiped right. That was possible since you and him didn’t really work together. It’d be better if he swiped right by accident, his phone probably slipped from his hands. He probably doesn’t even know he matched with you, yeah, you decided to settle on that conclusion.

Taking a deep breath in, you fixed your hair before stepping out of your car. Mondays were meant for meetings so he probably wouldn’t be around the office anyway. You rushed over to the elevator and let out a sigh of relief when you didn’t have to share it with anyone.

That was until someone managed to slip a foot in between the doors, catching up to you before the elevators slammed shut.

“Oh.”

Well, well, well if it isn’t James “Bucky” Barnes. Out of all the people you had to share an elevator with, it just had to be him! And judging by how his eyes widened at the sight of you, the Tinder incident wasn’t simply an accident.

“Good morning.” He greeted, clearing his throat as he stood beside you.

James’ scent wafted in the air as soon as the doors slid close and he smelled divine. He smelled like a man, a man man and it almost made your eyes roll. You greeted him back with a soft voice, fighting so hard not to look at him because as always, he looked pretty damn good.

He was restless beside you, adjusting his suit and then his tie. You could see him through your peripheral vision, he kept on fixing his hair as well. Did he get a haircut? It was shorter than before, not that you were paying way too much attention to him.

Meanwhile, you too were fidgeting with your shoulder bag, picking at the leather and praying for this torture to be over before you could even lose control and slam your lips against his.

“How was your weekend?” James asked, glancing at you.

This was probably the longest conversation you had with your boss. You weren’t even sure which was more awkward, striking a conversation after the match or simply remaining quiet for the entire ride up.

“Um, it was good. Yours?” You asked, stammering a little as you stole a quick glance at him.

James nodded, “Good too. Interesting actually.”

Fuck! He knows, he so knows about the match.

You would have preferred complete silence over the elevator music echoing in the air while the both of you were obviously feeling the tension. Was the elevator really this slow?! And when did it get this hot?!

You started fanning yourself when you started to sweat from the awkwardness of it all. Bucky too could obviously feel it, the tension and the elephant in the room waiting to be acknowledged. He loosened his tie all of a sudden, popping the top buttons of his dress shirt which quickly reminded you of the shirtless pic in his profile.

You could feel the heat creep up to your neck and ears. With how bright the lights were in the elevator, it’d be easy for James to notice how red you turned.

“Kinda hot today, don’t you think?” He asked.

You let out a mirthless chuckle, “Yeah, really hot. I think the maintenance should have the air conditioning unit checked.” You breathed out, clearing your throat again as you wiped the sweat forming on your forehead.

For a couple of seconds there was nothing but the collective sounds of you and your boss clearing your throats. The tension was so thick you can literally touch it if you tried. You wanted to address the unspoken issue but how the hell were you going to do that? Jump on his bones? It would seem like a good idea to do so except that he was your boss and that would result to you losing your job.

You wanted to ask James though, whether he was aware that you were his employee when he swiped right. Actually, you just wanted to bring up the topic just to get it over with. Acknowledge the match and then pretend it didn’t happen to save you both from the embarrassment. Yeah, you could do that.

Unable to hold back anymore, you broke the silence to ask James a question.

“Did you swipe right on accident?”

“So are you down to fuck?”

You and James asked at the same time, his straightforward question making you weak in the knees because what the hell...

James bit his lip, shaking his head in response. “I didn’t.”

“Oh.” You blinked, unable to stop yourself from staring at James’ mouth when he ran his tongue over his lower lip before taking it in between his teeth as he looked you over with glazed eyes.

Damn that tongue, though. And damn those blue eyes too.

“Are you...?” He repeated again, reminding you of his question.

Your boss, whom you rarely interacted with in the office, just asked you whether you were down to fuck. Truthfully, you were only on Tinder because of boredom and it wasn’t your goal to actually hook-up with someone. But now that your hot boss swiped right on you and seemed to be really interested in you...

“I...uhh...” you stammered, not really knowing how to tell him that yes, you would very much like to be fucked by him.

The elevator dinged, interrupting the tension between you and James. The doors slid open and James quickly straightened up before walking ahead.

But not without turning around to look at you expectantly, waiting for a response.

Due to the pressure and the elevator doors beginning to close, you blurted out the first thing that you could muster.

“Yes, sir!”

You blushed at your response but it seemed to have stirred something in James because his eyes darkened as he smirked at you.

“Good. Then I’ll see you in my office in fifteen.”

-

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[ssaeri]

crushing popcorn beneath my feet ii

☆ tags: mammon x gn!reader, y/n is a carnival booth worker, mammon keeps spending money on their booth to spend time with them, excessive usage of “pretty boy” starting now and i’m not sorry about it, mini-series, ft. lucifer ☆

☆ taglist: @my-perfect-machine ☆

The first time Mammon saw you was in passing. Thought you were cute as he headed towards the underground casino run by the circus’s ringmaster, but by the time he left, Grimm gone as he kept losing round after round of some stupid new card game, he was in too awful of a mood to notice you again.

The second time he saw you was by chance. He was looking for some Ruri-chan doll that Levi had begged him to get. If only I wasn’t sick…! Levi’s hands on Mammon’s shoulders had shaken, fingers digging into skin harder than either of them liked. Instead, I have to bequeath this honor to a normie like you. Don’t sully her with your dirty hands, you got it? You noticed his confused surveying, called out to him, and pointed to the right direction. Once he finally got the stupid toy, he realized that he never thanked you.

The third time he saw you was an embarrassment. With Lucifer hot on his tail, he skidded to a stop in front of your booth. Not crowded enough to lose the damn demon, but really, no crowd could stop his brother from getting what he wanted. Especially not when Diavolo’s name was on the line.

“Hey, pretty boy!”

His head jerked up. You again, the cute one working the rigged stand. You called him that last time, too. You smiled and beckoned him closer.

“There’s space underneath the counter if you want to hide.”

No time for questions or complaints now. He could feel Lucifer’s rumbling aura not too far away. He dove into the booth and rolled to the empty spot. It was tight, but it’d have to do for now; besides, he’d been in worse places. He covered his mouth with one hand, willing his chest to stop heaving. He’s athletic — not as athletic as Beel, sure, but fit all the same. Still, running away from an enraged Lucifer could be a Devil-ympic sport. Heavy steps got closer and then stopped mere inches from his face. Striped fabric stretched across wooden posts made up your booth’s facade, and through the gaps between fabric and dirt, he could see familiar black shoes face the opposite direction and take a step. Alright, he’d be in the clear soon—

Mammon’s heart dropped when you called out to Lucifer.

“Are ya lost?” you ask the demon, unfazed by his undoubtedly bitter expression. “You look a little angry there, buddy. Why don’t you play a few rounds of this to cool down?”

You weren’t seriously trying to make a quick buck from this situation, were you? And did you just refer to the Avatar of Pride as buddy?

“I am not lost,” Lucifer responded, voice stiff. “Nor am I angry. I am merely…looking for someone. Have you seen someone with white hair around here? Yellow-tinted glasses and a leather jacket.” He sniffed the air. Sniffed it. “He smells close.”

But you gave an easy laugh, teasing, “Maybe someone had one too many spiked slushies. I totally get it; the bartender has a way of making you forget how many you had. You can smell this guy?” You paused and then snapped your fingers. “I was wondering why you looked familiar. You’re Diavolo’s right hand man, right? Lucifer.” You leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, “Are you supposed to be drinking on the job?”

The air chilled. Mammon wondered if you had a death wish.

“I have not had any drinks,” he said.

You straightened with another laugh. “Could’ve fooled me. Thought I almost had to snitch on you to the prince. Anyway, the person you're looking for isn't here, so if you’re not going to make my boss happy and spend some Grimm, I’ll have to shoo you. Sorry.”

And he actually turned around with a clean Thank you and left you alone. One minute passed. Two. Three. Mammon was all too aware of the fact that he was breathing down your leg, but he couldn’t risk it until the coast was clear.

It felt like forever before you stepped back and poked your head down. “So why are you on the run, pretty boy?” you asked, eyes sparkling in amusement, and he swore he never saw anything brighter.

The fourth time he saw you was intentional. You tossed the baseballs between your hands as he approached, giving a nod once he was close enough.

“Are you my next challenger?” you asked.

He frowned. This thing was rigged. Everyone knew that half the stands on the carnival grounds were. Still, he hadn’t properly thanked you for the previous incidents, so he figured he’d drop some Grimm. It'd make your boss pretty happy, and if it gave him some time to talk to you...

The first ball hit air. You whistled.

“Missed that one real bad, pretty boy,” you said, squatting in your corner with your elbows on your knees. Your smile grew. “Missed that one, too. You’re kind of bad at this, huh?”

“Sh-shut it.” His fingers closed around the last ball. “And the name’s Mammon, alright? The great Mammon!”

You hummed, considering him. “Well, why don’t we make a bet? If you knock over one of these, I’ll call you the great Mammon. If you miss again, I’m never calling you that.”

A bet? You knew how to get him going. He pointed towards the big one right in the middle.

.

.

You snorted. “Alright, pretty boy, why don’t I give you consolation stickers?”

Three star stickers formed a triangle — consolation constellation, you called them — on the back of his hand. Maybe he should’ve learned his lesson. Should’ve realized that no amount of ego would win him the Hell Challenge level, but that was the thing with Mammon, wasn’t it? He never learned his lesson.

PT. 3: here

[kaleidoscope77]

Amazing (NaLu One-shot)

Summary: Natsu and Lucy's monthly routine is interrupted by a seemingly harmless question.

Rated: T

Words: 1998

----------------------------------------------------------

"Lucy?" Natsu scanned the room for his blonde teammate, a little hint of worry on his face. 

Mira had told him about how she came into the guildhall incredibly grumpy that morning, and she's been cooped up in her apartment for the rest of the day. 

The girls advised him to give her space for a bit, and while Happy decided to heed their warnings and lay low, Natsu knew good and well what was going on. 

"I'm in the kitchen!" The sound of Lucy's voice was enough to prove that his suspicions were correct, she sounded so out of it right now. 

Natsu poked his head into the kitchen, and gave a sad smile at the sight of Lucy hunched over on the counter. "You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Lucy grumbled, "Where have you been?"

"We just got back from a job yesterday," Natsu rolled his eyes, "I was sleepin'."

"...Well, I need you. Now."

"Hm… It's early."

"I know it's early. Just be glad it's not while we were on the job. Now c'mon," Lucy held her arms up, Natsu quickly getting the hint and scooping her up to carry her.

"Bed or couch?" 

"Bed, please."

Just as she requested, Natsu brought her to the comfort of her bed and gave her a moment to get situated amongst the pillows before he joined her in laying down. 

The two wrestled with the comforter for a bit before ultimately deciding to go without it, and as patience began to run thin, Lucy pulled Natsu closer by his scarf, bringing his body flush against hers. 

"You know what to do," She mumbled, earning a quiet growl in response. 

"Yeah, I know," Natsu didn't like being rushed, but he knew she had good reason to be impatient. He wrapped his arms around her abdomen and warmed up his hands, Lucy immediately sighing in pure bliss from the feeling. 

"Ah, yes…" She snuggled back into him, leaving no space between their bodies, "I've been waiting… all day for this."

Natsu frowned, had he known she was in pain, he would've came over sooner. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Like you said, it came early this month. Hit me like a ton of bricks, though."

"Then you should get something to warm your belly up when I'm not around…"

"I actually do have a heating pad," Lucy turned around to face him, making sure his hands didn't lose their place over the source of her pain, "But your hands are so much better."

Natsu couldn't deny that he really liked hearing her prefer his magic over something else, but a part of him still felt bad. He didn't mind doing this every month, it was the only time Lucy allowed him to not only be in her bed, but to also be this close to her while doing so. 

It's nice to feel like she depends on him, and to be able to do something for her that no one else can. And their alone time during these days are always nice, sometimes she'll fall asleep in his arms, and other times they'll pass the time by just talking about any and everything. 

But, he still hated that she had to be in pain for them to get this… close.

"Thanks for always doing this for me, Natsu," Lucy smiled. He couldn't help but smile back at her.

"'S not like I got something better to do."

"Mhm," She wrapped her arms around his middle, now each of them holding the other tightly, "You're the best. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Aw, that's sweet," Lucy laid her head against Natsu's chest, closed her eyes and took in the peaceful moment. It was amazing to think about how she'd been in so much agony this morning, only for him to show up and relieve so much of the pain in seconds. She considers herself quite fortunate to be close with a fire mage like this. "...Do you think you could do this for me forever?"

"Of course," Natsu couldn't see how that could even be a question. He'll always be here for her when she needs him.

"You sure? Forever is a long time…"

"Yeah, it's not like it's hard to lay here with my hand on your stomach."

Lucy let out a quiet giggle, "That's not just it, though. Like, would you do it even in the distant future? When we're older?"

"...I don't see why not."

"Okay, and even when we go off and get married?"

"Uh, obviously… C'mon, I thought you were smarter than this, Luce."

"What? Don't start with that," She rolled her eyes, "Do you actually think our future spouses would be okay with us cuddling once month?"

Natsu stared at her, and when she didn't get a response, Lucy pulled away from his embrace to look into his eyes. He seemed genuinely confused, like there was something he was silently trying to wrap his head around. 

"...Lucy."

"Yeah? You're thinking pretty hard there-"

"Why wouldn't it be okay for us to cuddle once a month?"

"Oh, c'mon. You know why," Lucy's face began to flush. It was obvious that these moments were pretty intimate, she'd only been ignoring it because her cramps are too ruthless for her to be worrying about that sort of thing. 

But for him to be so confused, it was like he hadn't even noticed how close they are, and how close they've been since he started being her personal heating pad not too long after they met. Lucy assumed being able to lay with him like this was great progress in the direction she wished to go with him, but perhaps it's not reciprocated.

"Actually, nevermind. Just forget I asked-"

"Wait, I don't get why you think I'll stop doing this for you when we're married…"

"When we're-" Lucy shook her head, choosing to ignore his choice of words and the way they sounded, "Look, my future husband may not like you in my bed, holding me like this."

"...Yes I would, though? And you just asked me to do this for you forever, why would that change when you're my wife?"

It took a full minute for Lucy to process what he just said, and then another minute for her to replay it over and over in her head to make sure he really just said that. 

Her face was bright red, burning nearly as hot as his hands on her stomach. "N-Natsu…" She willed herself not to stutter, but it was impossible with the way he looked at her. 

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean we'd be married to each other..!"

"What? Why?" Natsu's face broke out into a pout, and it was just the cutest thing. 

Now, Lucy's heart felt like it'd just explode. "Oh my gosh! You seriously- I- I don't even-" She was at a lost, she'd been harboring these feelings for so long, just for him to blatantly admit something like that. "You… you'd wanna marry me?"

"Uh, duh?" This whole conversation had Natsu so confused, "We're basically already married anyway."

"W-what!? No we are not..!"

"We're not..?"

"No!"

"Oh…" Now the sadness on his face doubled, causing Lucy's heart to get tight.

"But…" She took in a deep breath. If he could say it so casually, she need to be upfront with him too, "I mean… I'm not opposed to being l-like… that with you…"

"Oh, so you're cool with it?"

"...Yeah, I'm c-cool with it."

"Cool. Now let's get married so you won't have to ask stupid questions like that!"

"Huh!?" Lucy squeaked when he began to sit up, stopping him before he could start carrying her, "Wait, lay back down!"

"Oh, right," He almost forgot about her current predicament, laying right back down and warming up his hands to offer her comfort. "We'll do it once you're done."

"Oh my gosh…" Lucy still wasn't convinced that this was real life right now, and that he was actually serious about this, "...We can't just go off and get married, Natsu."

"Huh? Says who?" Now he seemed to assume there was something coming in between them, the angry look on his face nearly making Lucy laugh.

"We aren't even dating yet…"

"...So?"

"So, we can't just get married when you haven't even… asked me on a date yet…" Lucy played with the loose ends of her hair, now refusing to look him in his eyes. It was easier to say these things knowing that he wants something like this, but it's still incredibly embarrassing. 

"Oh."

"Y-yeah…"

The room fell back into silence, and Lucy let out an awkward cough when she realized he wasn't going to say anything more on the subject. "Uh, Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"...We can't get married before we start dating…"

"Yeah, I heard ya."

"...So, ask me on a date, silly!"

"Oh," Natsu had just assumed that was a rejection, he didn't know he could just ask like that, "Okay, uh, wanna go on a date?"

"I do!" As Lucy engulfed him in a big hug, Natsu's own heart began to flutter. She could be pretty confusing at times, but he was glad to have her right here. 

"We can get married now, right?"

"Ugh," Lucy tightened the hug so she could hide her flushed face, "I don't know if you're doing this on purpose…"

He wasn't, but if it got her to react like this, he'd be sure to keep it up. "You're so weird."

"Me? You literally just assumed we'd get married! Imagine if I didn't feel the same…"

Natsu growled, he did not like imagining that. Besides, it was pretty obvious to him at this point, it's not like Lucy just let's anyone cuddle with her. 

"And to answer your question- we can't get married now, that commitment takes time to think about."

"Eh? But I've had plenty of time…"

"...You've been thinking about it for that long?" Lucy's eyes sparkled, but she quickly brought herself back to reality, "I mean, no. That's something we'd need to discuss together in due time."

Still, Natsu couldn't understand why she'd want to wait so long, but if all she wants is time, he was willing to be patient. "Alright."

"Mhm. Leave it to you to wanna get married before we've even…"

"Hm? 'Before we've even' what?"

"...N-no, nevermind."

"C'mon, Lucy, I wanna know what else I gotta do."

"We, uh, we haven't had our first kiss…" 

At the same time, they leaned back to gouge the other's expression, their eyes darting to each other's lips. 

Lucy stifled an awkward laugh as she saw the look on Natsu's face, "Oh my gosh, are you blushing?"

He huffed, she was acting like her face isn't bright red right now. Before Lucy could convince herself that she shouldn't have said that, Natsu cupped her cheek and inched closer, her face heating up with each second. 

Lucy knew he'd go for it as soon as she said that, and she fought the urge to cowar away when his lips came down to meet hers. 

The kiss was quick and clumsy, but it had Natsu grinning against her lips and puffing out his chest in pride. 

Lucy let herself giggle once they separated, she was overcome with giddiness and excitement. In her head, things would've been more romantic than an awkward confession in her bed while she's battling period cramps, but that doesn't matter right now. 

"Can we kiss again?" Natsu mumbled, already leaning towards her lips.

Lucy answered by closing in the space between them, crashing her lips onto his and deepening the kiss. 

Her hands ran along his body, feeling him up and down and enjoying every second before they had to separate for air. 

"...Amazing," Lucy mumbled, though it wasn't like she had anything to base the kiss on. 

Natsu was in the same boat, and he was actually more concerned about kissing her some more. "Yeah… Amazing."

[nalu4emily]

Sickly Sweet

This little short came about while I was looking for writing prompts. The ones I used for this were "I feel thoroughly disgusting." "We need to get you into a different shirt, you've sweat through that one." and "Is that my shirt? Looks like I'm gonna have to burn it now that you've contaminated it!"

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the NALU fluffiness!

x

She was dying.

Well, not exactly... But damn, did she feel terrible.

She wasn't sure when it'd happened; in the guild? Out on a mission? Who knows?

Whatever sickness this was, it was bad. Her body ached like she'd been beaten with a stick over and over again, and her heart pounded so loudly it felt like it might blow through her rib cage. The throbbing headache that travelled from her face to the back of her neck, that burned her eyes like a really bad hangover, seemed to only get worse if she tried to move. And that wasn't even the start of it.

She lay there, under thick blankets piled high on top of her shivering self in a bid to warm up, or 'sweat it out' as she'd heard others say, but it was no use. Hours she'd laid there feeling too hot and then too cold; too sleepy but too restless to allow herself the rest she so desperately needed.

What she wouldn't give for just a bit of respite? To be able to fall asleep and give her body that extra time to recuperate.

No… the girl knew what she needed, there was only one thing for it, and that was Wendy.

The young mage could heal her in a heartbeat, then she'd be free to go about her day—probably find Natsu, and go on another mission or whatever.

"Lucy?"

Speak of the devil.

"Luce… Whatcha doing under all that? You tryna hide from someone?"

When had he sneaked in? She hadn't heard the window go. Then again, she could hear barely anything under the thumping of her own pulse in her ears.

This was so bothersome. She really didn't have the strength to entertain guests today, let alone one like Natsu. Sleep was her main objective right now.

"Lucy, I-" He gasped suddenly, whipping back the covers without warning, "Whoa-!"

"H-Hey! Give them back!" Trying to shout, her throat simply wouldn't allow the sound to come out. She'd croaked instead, using the tiny amount of strength she had left to yank the duvets back over her form, shuddering from the gust it'd created.

Shocked by just how sickly his partner was, Natsu stared wide eyed for a moment at the heap of shaking blankets in front of him. He'd only popped in to see why she hadn't been to the guild, and now it was all too clear, "Luce, you look awful…"

"G-Gee, thanks Natsu. Maybe it's because I feel awful?" She bit back, feeling irritable as well as everything else now.

Placing his hands on his hips, with eyes never leaving the bed, he listened in to the soft whimpers and grunts escaping her every breath, "Ya know, if you've got a fever, covering yourself like that is only going to make it worse." He knew he was treading a thin line, but he didn't care.

"I-I'm cold…"

"But your body isn't, I can feel the heat from here. You're probably sweating up a storm in there." He wanted to help, really, only Lucy had to let him first, and she could be pretty darn stubborn when she wanted, "And that's not good for anybody that's sick."

He was right, she knew that, but the mere thought of exposing her goose pimpled flesh to the open air made her teeth chatter even harder.

"Come on, Luce, let me help. You wanna feel better right?" Ever so carefully, he hooked his fingers under the blankets again, and slowly eased them upwards, his voice going from muffled to clear as he peeked in on the jittery girl. Meeting no resistance, he continued to peel it back, revealing the blonde that'd huddled in like a foetus to save some of the warmth she'd built up, "You're drenched!"

Opening her dry eyes for the first time since he'd got there, she blearily looked up at him, the concern etched into his face making her feel even more vulnerable, "I… I don't feel well, Natsu."

"I know you don't, Luce. But it's gonna be alright, because I'll look after you." He smiled at her, with that warm, comforting grin she'd seen so many times, and it filled her with reassurance, "Can you sit up? I'm sure laying in a wet bed is no fun…"

It wasn't, now that Lucy thought about it. In fact, it was incredibly uncomfortable and that only made her feel worse. Holding onto her throbbing head, she eased herself up onto her butt, her body feeling weaker than it had done in some time and leant herself against the headboard.

Taking a few sips of the water that Natsu had given her, she let the cool liquid glide down her pin-like throat, soothing it's painful prickle.

"Thanks Natsu." She breathed heavily, "Ugh… I feel thoroughly disgusting..." She wasn't exaggerating either, her body was soaked through, having seeped onto her clothes, keeping her skin damp and unbearably cold.

"We need to get you into a different shirt, you've sweat through that one." The fire mage said, walking over to the dresser, and pulling a random top from it to give to her, "Here, at least it'll be dry."

She took it from him and grimaced, barely believing what she was about to ask of her best friend, "I-I, um… C-Can you help me put it on? I don't have the energy…" Her blush reached the tips of her ears, unable to look at the boy, who, seemed more than willing to assist.

"Sure thing! Only, you can't hit me for looking." A 'Lucy punch' hurt, and this time it wouldn't be his fault.

"I-I won't…" Her eyes never quite meeting his, too shy, too embarrassed by what she'd asked him to do… Drunk Lucy never seemed to have this problem.

Satisfied that he wouldn't be getting a foot to the face, he gently lifted her saturated top above her head, careful to keep his eyes anywhere but her chest. Not that he even got a chance—her hands quickly came up to shield them from his view, and a pang of disappointment hit him straight in the gut.

"I dunno why you're covering yourself. It's not like I ain't seen it before." He murmured, grabbing the clean shirt to pull over her head, "Don't you trust me?"

"O-Of course… I just- I guess it's just a habit." She shrugged, releasing herself to push her arms through the sleeves, his eyes now focused solely on hers, making her heart beat for an entirely different reason this time.

"If you say so." He glanced down, glad to see Lucy in something loose and dry, when he paused, head tilting to the side, "Wait, isn't that-?" Cocking his brow, he marvelled at the shirt sitting so nicely around the blonde's body, smirking up at her with that daring face of his.

"What? What is it?"

"Isn't that my shirt?" He asked, wondering what the hell it was doing folded so neatly in Lucy's drawers—her pyjama drawer to be exact, "Care to explain, Lucy?" Her name drooled off his tongue, his voice laced with tease.

"O-Oh, um… w-well, it kinda… ya know…" Her face grew redder by the second, with his eyes piercing into her very soul.

Busted!

He'd wondered where that'd gone.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to burn it now that you've contaminated it!" He sniggered, earning a very unimpressed glare from the celestial mage.

"That's a big word coming from a guy that leaves his clothes in other people's houses!" She retorted, the corners of her lips raising as they both broke out into laughter.

"Fine, I guess you can keep it…" He said, placing a wet cloth on her forehead to cool her flushed face down.

"Like I was gonna give it back!" She chuckled again, feeling a new warmth seeping into her rattling bones, a warmth that always accompanied the dragon slayer. Pulling the boy up onto the bed, she laid herself down onto his chest and finally sighed in relief, "Thanks, Natsu. You always know how to make me feel… better..."

He cuddled close, smiling as she began to drift off, glad he'd been able to make her feel more comfortable at least, "Anytime, Luce!"

Her aches and pains were forgotten, and her shivers began to ease as she let the familiarity of Natsu's comforting presence take her to a place of peace and calm.

Maybe, she didn't need Wendy after all?

Thanks for reading! 

[warmblanketwhump]

flight plan: part 2

no planes in this one - just some good old-fashioned sickfic! But if you want the backstory, check out part 1 here.

“A, can you hand me my glass of water? Pleaaaase?” B sticks out their bottom lip in a pout, and A can’t help but laugh.

“Okay, you. It’s been four days and I know you’re getting better, because you’re getting pesky again.” A straightens the blankets and slides their hand up to feel B’s cheek. “Still a little warm, but I think you’re on your way out of the woods.”

“So I should milk this while I can?” B flutters their eyelashes and gives a pitifully fake cough, which slips into a real one, sharp and rattling. Concern flits across A’s eyes, and they help B take a few sips from the glass.

Despite the joking, A didn’t kid themselves about how sick B had been, or how awful they’d truly felt after getting off the plane. The first two days had been nightmarish - B barely conscious, shivering with chills and sweating through their sheets, alternating between terrifying fever dreams and inconsolable moaning and weeping.

A did their best to hold them through it, but they had been minutes away from hauling B to the hospital. Thankfully B’s fever had spiked just one final time before settling into general low-grade misery.

“As long as you need me, sweetheart, you’ve got me.” B gives a tired smile and pulls the blanket to their chin, huddling around the new stuffed animal A gave them at the airport.

“Did you call C?”

“Ah, not yet. Too busy with you, ya sick little bean.” A gently fluffs B’s hair. “You rest, and I’ll give them a call now.”

But C doesn’t pick up. Nor do they pick up an hour later, leaving A stuck with the unpleasant task of leaving a voicemail.

“Um, hi…this is A. I just wanted to call and let you know that B’s on the mend. They’re still pretty weak, but I think things are looking up. So…yeah. Thanks for everything you did for B - once they were feeling better, they told me all about what you did. And I…well, I care a lot about them. Obviously. So I appreciate it. I guess you can call back if you-”

The message cuts off, and A groans. Hopefully that was enough. Still, they couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomach.

Later, they settle in with B to watch a movie, B’s head cradled in their lap as A combs their fingers soothingly through their hair, reveling in the sheer normalcy of it all. They both end up falling asleep, and when A blinks awake as the credits roll, they notice a missed call from C. B’s still out, so they click to listen to the voicemail.

“Hey, A….sorry I *coughs*…missed you earlier. Wasn’t able to *sniffs* make it to the phone. So glad to hear that B’s *cough cough* doing better. I think they did a little sharing.” C laughs weakly, but A can hear the sheer exhaustion in their voice. “Anyways, glad they had you. And if you’ve got any survival tips, feel free to pass them along…..I’m just kidding. *cough* I’ll be fine. Anyways, I’ll…see you around, I guess.” They pause briefly, like they want to say something more, but a coughing fit steals their breath away, and the message ends with a click cutting off the rough gasps.

The pit in A’s stomach comes back. C sounds sick.

“Who….who was that?” B mumbles from their spot on A’s lap.

“It was C. They called back and they….didn’t sound so good.”

B’s eyes snap to meet A’s, more alert than they have been in days. “Did they sound like me?”

C pauses. They hadn’t thought about not telling B, but in hindsight, maybe they should have. After all, it’d only flood B with guilt, and they needed all the energy they had to get well. But one look at B’s concern, and they knew they wouldn’t be able to lie.

“Yeah. They did.” Immediately B struggles to push themselves up, throwing their blanket off their shoulders and trying to stand.

“Whoa, hold it there. Where do you think you’re going?”

“To C. If they’re sick, it’s from me, and if any hints from the past four days of living with me are any indication, we gotta help them.”

A throws their hands up, pressing B back on the couch. “Hold up. We don’t know them, we don’t know if someone’s already taking care of them, and we don’t know where they live. I’m sure they’re-“

B frantically shakes their head. “You didn’t hear them. On the plane. From what they said…I don’t think they have anyone. I have to go.”

A chews their lip. “Well, let’s get things straight first. You’re in no shape to go help them. Which leaves me. A random stranger they don’t know. And you want me to check on them?”

The question was meant to be sarcastic, but B nods vigorously and fear fills their eyes with a fevered anxiety. “A, you saw how sick I was. You think anyone’s gonna be able to fight through that alone?”

A sighs wearily. They could blame it on the fact that arguing with a sick B was like arguing with a brick wall. But truthfully, what did their heart in was the thought of B alone on that plane, sick and shivering and miserable, if C hadn’t helped.

Fine. They’d send a text.

You okay? You sounded kinda rough on the phone. B was worried….

A few moments later, C responds.

Eh, I’ve felt better. But thank you for asking. And tell B not to feel bad. They were a better seatmate than most.

A smile tugs at A. At least this C was polite.

Is there anything you need? B said something about you being by yourself.

This pause was longer. The dots appeared and disappeared a few times, before a message came through.

I hate to take advantage, but is there ANY way you could bring over some cough medicine? I ran out a couple days ago. No worries if not - I can figure it out.

C’s heart sank. So they were alone. Sure, they didn’t say it - but any good friend or significant other worth their salt wouldn’t leave someone they loved without medicine for days.

I’ll bring some to you! Want to meet somewhere neutral, or just want me to drop it off?

In moments, C sends a response and an address.

Dropping off is fine. You are an actual lifesaver.

A settles B into bed with blankets, a cup of water, hot tea, and six types of medicine on the side table. “Now if you get worse, call me and I’ll turn around immediately. Nothing’s more important than you, okay?”

B shook their head. “I’ll be fine. They need someone.”

A heaves a sigh. “You’re too good, you.” They give B a quick forehead kiss, and head out into the night.

By the time they get to C’s apartment, their stomach is flip-flopping - C is a stranger. A lonely stranger, but a random stranger nonetheless. They come to C’s door and knock tentatively, gripping the paper bag of cough medicine (plus some cough drops and Tylenol for good measure), and hold their breath.

Nothing. A few minutes go by and A knocks again. They’re ready to break down the door if C doesn’t answer soon, but they realize what took so long right after they hear the click of the deadbolt.

A had seen corpses that looked more alive than C did right now. They lean heavily on the doorframe, sweat beaded on their forehead, a thick grey throw blanket clutched tightly around their shoulders. Their face is hollow and devoid of color, lips dry and cracked, their hair mussed and matted to their head. The cool night air hits their fevered body, triggering a round of chills that make them shudder. Despite their misery, a tiny light of gratitude flits across their eyes, and they stare incredulously at the paper bag in A’s hands.

“C….” A’s jaw drops to the ground.

“A, I seriously owe you one.” C tries to laugh, but it turns into a wheezing chest cough, high pitched and tense as they fight to catch their breath. Their eyes blink slowly, and they start to slide down the doorframe, but A grabs them and they both tumble inside.

Even through the blanket, A can feel C’s every bone. C weakly clings to A as they stumble toward the couch, and A deposits them on the cushions before tearing into the package of meds.

“What have you taken so far today?” A asks, trying to figure out the dosages.

“I….nothing…” C mumbles. A meets their eyes in disbelief before cracking open the blister packet and retrieving a proper dose. Grabbing an empty glass on the side table, they fill it before helping C choke the pills down. C greedily gulps the whole glass, breathing heavily once they’ve drained it.

“Water…water’s good.” C smiles blearily - they’re almost completely out of it. A presses a hand to the side of C’s neck, and C flinches at the cool touch. Their neck feels like a bank of hot coals, slick with sweat, lymph nodes sore and swollen. Their forehead isn’t much cooler either.

“C, when’s the last time you ate or drank anything?”

C cocks their head like A just asked them to recite the entire periodic table. “I….not sure? Days….kinda blurry.”

A’s seen enough. “C, you’ve got to go to the hospital. I haven’t even seen your temp, but you’re burning up even worse than B was.”

C frantically grasps at A’s wrists, sharp panic flooding their eyes. “Please…no…no hospital. I can’t. The meds….I’m fine here. Please.” A shiver wracks their body, and they hunch their shoulders, wrapping themselves back up and pulling the blanket over their nose. “Please. You can go now.”

“C, you need help-“

“I don’t.” Their voice breaks on the last word, cut off by a brief hiccuping sob.

Confusion rises through A - one minute C’s a grateful wreck, and the next moment they’re demanding they leave?

“C, I don’t understand-“

“You don’t get it. You think it feels all nice, having people care about you. Making you feel like you matter. And then they leave you. Get tired of you. Decide you’re not worth it. And it hurts worse than if they were never there at all.” C scrubs their eye with the corner of their blanket and sniffles as tears run down their cheeks. “I can’t let it happen again. I have to be alone. So just go. Please.”

A’s speechless. They kneel down next to the couch, hand tentatively hovering above C.

“C, is it okay if I put my hand on you right now?” C’s still sniffling, but they nod and mumble a weak “yes”, and A gently lets their hand rest on this stranger’s shoulder.

“C, I want to respect what you want right now. But you should know that you’re very sick. And you’ve managed in your own way - how, I have no idea - but you need some help right now. Now I can either call the hospital and let them handle it, or take you home with me. It’s up to you. Otherwise, you need to look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you want to be left alone through this.”

They squeeze C’s shoulder, and it triggers a deep gasping sob from their broken, aching body, sending a fault line straight through A’s heart. The sob turns to weeping, and A can barely make out the words C whimpers: "I don't want to hurt anymore."

God, who broke this poor thing? A bites their lip. C’s losing it. They’re running out of options short of forcing C to come with them, and that’s the last thing they want to do to a delirious, love-starved person who’s known them all of 6 minutes.

“C, I’m not gonna hurt you. I want to help you. Heck, even B wants to help you. I had to practically pin them down to the bed before leaving, they were so hell bent on this rescue.”

C’s red, swollen eyes meet A’s. “You mean….they asked after me?”

“Yes. They did. They could hardly stop talking about you once they came to their senses.” A rubs C’s knee through the blankets. “And they’d never forgive me if I left you here alone - they were very adamant about that. So if you want to save me a lot of arguing with and consoling of a very sad B, you’d actually be doing me a favor coming back with me.”

C seems to be weighing their options, all while struggling to stay awake on the couch. “I mean…if it saves you the trouble….”

A’s the one nodding vigorously now. “Please. It would.” Please. Just come back with me. I can’t leave you here like this. But I don’t know what else to do.

C presses themselves up off the couch with a single shaking arm. “Well, if it’d help you, then I accept.” And then they promptly pass out into A’s waiting arms.

It’s late when A gets back home with a limp C, and B is knocked out in their room, light still on - they’d tried to wait up, but their body still craved rest.

A carries C over the threshold and into the house. They gently lay the bundle on the bed and feel their forehead - still too hot, but the medicine seemed to be working. They manage to wake C up enough to take a few sips of broth from a mug before they pass out again.

For the briefest moment, A lets their hand touch C's shoulder again, making a silent promise they barely know how to keep: I don't know who broke you, but I'm not gonna let you hurt any more. I won't allow it.

A wave of exhaustion floods their body as they feel the effects of several late nights and long days of caretaking. They'd be no good to anyone if they didn't get any rest. A drapes an extra blanket over C’s sleeping form and heads for the couch for the night - they’d check back in an hour or so.

--------------------------

B’s awakened by the sound of sniffling. And it’s not theirs. They blink tentatively in the lamplight, sleep clouding their thoughts. Snatching a blanket from the top of their bed, they wrap up, stuffed animal under one arm, and shuffle across the hall to see where the sound is coming from.

It’s C, swathed in two blankets, holding a wad of tissues and trembling like a leaf. B flicks on the bedside table lamp, and C winces at the light. B can see the tear stains on their cheeks.

“Cold,” C whimpers, coughing weakly. Pity floods B - it’s like looking at a picture of themselves just a few days ago. They reach out and put their hand on C’s head, and C leans into the touch.

“Yeah, this part sucks,” B says softly, guilt flooding their core. Sure, they didn’t mean to make C sick. But they did. And they felt a certain responsibility to make sure they made it through okay - just like C had cared for them on the plane.

“Can I get you anything? Another blanket, tea, medicine?”

“Throat hurts…water…please?” B nods and places the stuffed animal next to C before beginning the long, slow shuffle to the kitchen. A’s asleep on the couch, and they can’t bear to wake them up for something this small. But by the time they get to the kitchen, their legs are trembling with exertion. Easy there. You’re still sick, too.

They brace themselves against the sink as the glass fills, and will themselves to make the final journey back to C. By the time they’ve returned, the glass feels like a lead weight in their hand, and their entire body is chilled and shivery all over. They do their best to help C take a few sips, holding the glass with trembling hands, bracing themselves on the bed so they don’t tip over.

“Thank….thank you,” C’s grateful eyes meet theirs, and in a split second B knows the effort was worth it. But the validation is replaced with a bout of lightheadedness that nearly topples them onto C.

“Sorry,” B gasps. “Still not up to marathons yet. Just...need a minute.” They tug their blanket tighter, closing their eyes. “And this body forgot how to stay warm when I do stuff.” C’s eyes flood with concern - even in their fevered haze, they can see B struggling.

"Want to sit for a minute?" C asks softly, patting the open spot next to them on the bed. “I’m still cold, too.”

B wriggles into the spot, propping themselves up on pillows and pulling blankets over them both. "Just a minute - you need your sleep."

C's already dozing. "S'okay. I'll sleep just fine. 'Sides, you're warm." C's nestled themselves into B's side, head resting on their chest, and B wraps an arm around C's shoulder and holds them close. They’re warm, too. Just a minute....

Many minutes later, A pokes their head in to check in on C - and finds two sick peas in a pod curled up together, C's head still on B's chest, B's arm curled protectively around C, stuffed animal squished between them, both tangled in blankets and Kleenexes.

In spite of their own exhaustion, A smiles. After everything that had happened, they had a feeling C wouldn't ever be alone again.

[luminari-mc]

My Human, My Sunshine - Part 1

Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort.

Pairing: GN!MC x Mammon

Word count: 5194

Summary: Mammon finds himself lost in the human world. Meanwhile, MC can't get ahold of Solomon, their phone dead silent.

Warnings: N/A

A/N: My first writing piece for Obey Me! It's kind of a long one so I recommend you grab a snack or two during it. While this part is occupied by a good amount of text messages between Mammon and someone else, I'm already thinking of writing a part 2 which will have way more dialogue. In the meantime, please enjoy this little scenario I came up with after listening to a song that set me in an angsty mood. :)

______________________________________________________

Wet. Cold. Exhausted. And completely lost.

Mammon felt all of those, and yet, his legs kept on marching into the dead of night, his jacket covering his head despite being too drenched to protect him from the rain anymore. Each time a droplet of water came rolling on his cheek, his wrist would come to brush it off, and Mammon would let out an annoyed groan. If only there were any shops open, but the city was definitely asleep. He was thankful for the crashing sound of the rain on the ground around him, along with the smell of the wet asphalt keeping himself awake, otherwise, he surely would have gone crazy by now. The demon had even lost count of how many hours he had been wandering through the streets, how many mailboxes he had checked, how few passersby he had come across, only to receive negative answers to his questions.

And so Mammon kept on walking, not sure where to go next. But he felt sure of one thing: he wouldn't stop moving until he had found what he was looking for. Be there rain, or no rain. Lost or not.

"Tch, the human world's weather really sucks..."

As he walked on the pavement, his brow furrowed from the lack of new clues as to where his destination was supposed to be. His eyes caught sight of a bakery he had already walked by earlier during the day, its gentle light piercing the darkness that had been accompanying him for far too long now. Mammon's brow furrowed slightly at the sight- he knew he had gone in circles time and time again, but seeing it confirmed once more rubbed him the wrong way. Despite that, he decided to walk towards it, and took shelter under the entrance's porch. Surely the owners wouldn't mind him checking his phone for a few minutes, right? Right.

Pinching between his fingers the precious D.D.D. he had tucked under his shirt to protect it from the rain, Mammon looked at the map again. His stomach dropped for the upteenth time upon seeing the address still showing in his search bar, the letters and numbers taunting him. A knot formed in his throat as he tried his best not to scream at his screen.

"It wasn't there, you idiot..."

His mouth formed into an angry pout. Mammon looked into the list of potential addresses he had made throughout the day, and all had been crossed out. He felt his jaw clench- not only was he left with no addresses, no other clues, no humans to help him, but also that stupid rain surely would keep on falling for the rest of the night.

He was truly cursed.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!" Mammon groaned, his free hand reaching upward to grab at his hair in frustration.

Yes... that was a good question. What was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he could ask help from any of his brothers, or from the angels. It had already been a miracle a witch he knew accepted to snuck him into the human world without anyone knowing, but there was no way he'd get any more help from her without offering his own life in exchange. And contacting Solomon was absolutely out of the question, for his own obvious reasons that he still was suspicious of the guy.

For the longest time in a while, Mammon felt alone. More alone than he had ever been before. He had promised himself to go on this search on his own, stupidly thinking that it'd be over by the end of the day, and look where that got him. Lost in the human world, on the verge of catching some nasty human virus from all this rain that had poured on him, and without anyone by his side.

The grip on his phone tightened, the hand holding it shaking slightly as the anger was starting to consume the demon. Even Mammon's patience had its limits, and he was starting to reach it.

"Dammit, where the hell are ya-"

A pathetic yelp escaped his mouth as he looked in fear at his phone, which had buzzed for a very short second in his palm. Wait, was it a notification? But from who? He had taken all the necessary precautions before leaving, so who was still able to reach his number?

His mind ran through all possibilities as he quickly checked his screen, the name of the sender making him open his eyes wide.

Leviathan: Mammon!!

Leviathan: Where are you???

Leviathan: You promised me you'd play this new game with me after coming home from RAD, don't tell me you forgot?? It's been HOURS.

Leviathan: Also the others say they can't reach your DDD and Lucifer is seriously pissed!

Leviathan: And I know you didn't break your DDD, that wouldn't explain why I can send texts now and the others still can't. Even though mine didn't work before.

Leviathan: But do you know how much time and effort it took me to find a way to bypass a blocked number?? Well guess what, the same amount of hours since you broke your promise!

Leviathan: You're reading this, right? Then send something! Anything!

Mammon backed even more into the porch of the shop, his eyes stuck to the screen of his phone. All of the blood rushing to his head suddenly made him forget he was cold in the first place. Of course Levi would be the first to find a way to contact him.

The demon's chest rose as he breathed in heavily, his hands slowly wrapping around the phone. It took him a hot minute to get ahold of his trembling fingers so as to not make any typos, his mind debating whether responding was a good idea or not, even as he hit the send button.

Mammon: Sorry Levi, gonna have to postpone the gaming session.

Mammon: I got business elsewhere and I'm not sure when I'll come back home, if ever.

Leviathan: Ew stop sounding so gloomy, you're almost starting to sound like me and tbh it would be kinda creepy.

Leviathan: That still doesn't tell me where you are! I know it's like a common thing for you to get into shady stuff on a regular basis but even Lucifer seems concerned, and weirdly enough he's not even trying to hide it???

Leviathan: He's been pacing back and forth in the common room for 20 minutes and won't let go of his phone it's starting to creep me out.

Leviathan: Hey huh, if you really were in big trouble you'd let us know, right? Like, even by typing a secret message to let us know that you got kidnapped or whatever?

Leviathan: Nevermind, I really don't see why you'd even get kidnapped, so it HAS to be that you chose to disappear by yourself.

Leviathan: But anyway! It's been 2 months now since everyone's been acting weird and I've seen and heard you enough to CLEARLY see that you're getting worse but finding trouble with witches or whatever won't help you feel better. And yes I know you've been faking being fine the entire time!! Don't think you can fool me!!

Leviathan: Believe me and the hundreds of figurines I bought!! I thought they'd help and it's somehow doing nothing, I feel like the worst fraud of an otaku EVER!!! How can I call myself an otaku when I can't even find joy anymore in the things that make an otaku what he is??

Leviathan: It's like I'm losing my identity! Wait no screw that, it's not just me, we've all been losing it!!

The three dots of a message being typed disappeared and reappeared, and Mammon couldn't do anything but watch the messages of his brother pop up one after another on his screen. A sense of guilt surfaced inside of him, and it only made him frown. It's not as if he hadn't thought about asking Levi for help, before getting himself into this mess... but for both of their sakes, he had decided that it had to be him coming here, and only him.

But suddenly, just as he expected his brother to send another message, the three dots disappeared, and didn't come back right away. Mammon's focus on his phone increased at the unexplained absence of new texts from Levi, and he waited, expecting him to continue the chain of messages he had started. But nothing followed.

It wasn't in Levi's habits to suddenly stop texting in the middle of a flood of texts. The demon gripped his phone tighter, worry beginning to grow within his mind. Was it because they were in different worlds that their phones couldn't reach properly? Or worse- had Lucifer found him out?

His heart almost skipped a beat as the three dots reappeared under his eyes, before letting another message pop up.

Leviathan: wait

Leviathan: waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait

Leviathan: OMG NO WAY

Leviathan: MAMMON TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING

Mammon: I literally haven't said anything?

Leviathan: YOU PERFECTLY KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

Leviathan: DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE IN THE HUMAN WORLD RN??

Shit.

How did he even find out?! Well... he could only assume that it wouldn't take a genius to figure out where Mammon could have gone if not anywhere in the Devildom, but still, why did Levi have to type it out? His plan was supposed to be flawless after all.

Mammon: Sorry bro, I can't say where I am.

Mammon: I know Lucifer's bound to check all of your DDDs sooner or later and that's only gonna help him find me.

Mammon: And like I said, I have something to do, so I can't come back.

Leviathan: Wait! I'll delete all of our messages, and I'll even destroy my DDD if it means you tell me why you're there

Leviathan: Actually no don't even answer, there can only be one reason you took that kind of risk

Leviathan: Is it... because of MC?

Upon reading their name again, Mammon felt his stomach sink. The eyes of the Avatar of Greed closed almost instantly as if to avoid reading it, the damp air whistling through his teeth as he breathed in deeply. Of course Levi would figure that out too. Any of his brothers could have.

The demon leaned his head against the wall behind him, his eyes opening and staring into nothing as he contemplated telling Levi about his plan. It wasn't as if he had any backup plans considering the situation he was in, after all. And Levi had the advantage of being at home, and having access to technology and magic that could improve his search further. But the thought of Lucifer figuring everything out still haunted him, making the hair on his skin stand straight.

And yet... At this point, he had nothing else to lose.

Mammon: Ya gotta promise not to tell anyone about this.

Leviathan: Who do you take me for? I'm not a snitch!

Leviathan: Especially if it's about MC.

Leviathan: But huh... what about Lucifer? You know that if when he finds out you went to the human world, he's going to kill you.

Mammon: Fuck Lucifer.

Mammon: I'm tired of hearin' him say he's "taking care of it". He clearly knows something but won't tell any of us and I'm tired of not getting any news from MC since they left the Devildom 2 months ago.

Mammon: And what's with his excuse about them not havin' their DDD anymore to contact us? I call that a load of bullshit.

Mammon: Something weird happened and Lucifer's too stuck-up to let us know what it is.

Mammon: So I'm done waiting around to see when they'll come back, or IF they'll even come back. So I'm going to get them myself.

Mammon: Problem is, I went to MC's place, and they weren't there. Their neighbor told me that they moved out a while ago with, get this, "a guy with white hair".

Leviathan: ??????? Solomon?????

Mammon: I'd bet my Demonio and all the things I possess that it's him.

Mammon: Not only Lucifer's in on this secret thing about MC, but Solomon too. I've already booked him an appointment with my fists if he did anythin' to them.

Mammon: Hell, even Diavolo and Barbatos seem to be in it too, which sucks even bigger time.

Mammon: So that means it's just us 6 who don't know shit. I wasn't about to play nice and dumb for Lucifer any longer.

Leviathan: Mammon

Leviathan: I never thought I'd ever write something like that to YOU

Leviathan: but

Leviathan: you sound super cool rn!! That just makes me wish I could have gone too!!

Leviathan: Pleasepleaseplease let me help!!! I'm also worried about MC and I miss having them here. The atmosphere at the house has sucked ever since we realized we couldn't text or call them anymore and I huh... kinda miss seeing them around the others too.

For a split second, Mammon considered taking a screenshot of Levi's last message to sell it as "the proof that the Avatar of Envy can control his jealousy!", but now wasn't the time for that. He had Levi's approval for helping him find the whereabouts of MC, and that's all he needed at the moment. He hadn't even noticed his lips turning into a small grin upon reading his brother offering his support.

Mammon: Alright Levi listen.

Mammon: All I'm tryin' right now is to find where MC might be.

Mammon: I don't think they left the place I'm at, but I ain't about to search at every damn house there is here. Would take too much time anyway.

Mammon: So can ya use your shut-in powers and figure somethin' out? Like I don't know, catch their human phone's signal or whatever through hacking?

Leviathan: Lol? I'll let you know it's not because I spend my entire days in my room that I know how to find a human phone!

Leviathan: I know how to hack yeah, but I don't know how to hack human technology! Not that I maybe tried once or twice and it resulted in failure each time.

Leviathan: But huh... I could try?

Leviathan: Let me ask Satan if we could use magic too.

Mammon: Satan? Levi, are you stupid? Last thing we want is to get more people to know about what I'm doing.

Leviathan: Oh huh yeaaaah, about that.

Leviathan: I should have told you sooner, but when I stopped answering earlier it's because Satan caught me texting you.

Leviathan: But he actually knew you had left to the human world! So we don't have to worry! He's on our side... obviously.

Mammon: Then the two of you get on it.

Mammon: And don't catch Lucifer's attention.

Leviathan: Yeah!

Leviathan: I'll let you know when we've found something.

Leviathan: BRB!

And then just like earlier, Levi's texts stopped appearing on his screen. A sigh left Mammon's lips as he closed his eyes, and the demon allowed his body to slide against the wall behind him until he was sitting on the ground. As he stretched out his sore body, the second-born finally realized that after two whole months of not getting to hear MC's voice, seeing their smile, getting to touch them... he had gotten closer to finding them, all thanks to his brothers. He had let Lucifer's intimidation get the best of him throughout all this time, but not anymore. No matter whether his older brother would catch wind of where he was, and what he was doing, Mammon would never stop trying to bring back MC where they belonged. With him, in the Devildom, back with the family they had found and grown to love.

Closing the messaging app with his thumb, the picture of MC he had set as his D.D.D. background seemed to radiate like the sun. How dared them all try to separate his human from their first man? From the one who'd they come to whenever they had a nightmare and couldn't fall asleep? The demon who'd hug them as tight as possible in their bed after a long day at RAD? The one who'd had the chance to fall asleep with them, getting the absolute honor of seeing their face so close to his, and who'd protect their dreams from any bad thoughts and scary nightmares?

The anxiety that Mammon had worn on his face all day slowly disappeared, and a small smile was placed upon it instead as his eyes met MC's in the picture.

"I'm almost there. Ya just gotta be patient a little more."

I'll find ya.

Time went on as Mammon waited for any news of Levi and Satan's research. The rain showed no sign of clearing soon, and the demon was starting to doze off after spending his entire day without taking a single break. He could have almost fallen asleep if it hadn't been for the owner of the bakery opening the door to close his shop and asking him to sit somewhere else. So Mammon moved from one spot to another, and took shelter near another store instead.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting on the stone steps he had sat on, his phone's screen flashed a bright light as a new notification from Levi appeared from the top. Quickly passing his wrist on his tired eyes, Mammon tapped on the new message at the speed of light. The contents made him gasp, and for a second, he had almost forgotten how to breathe, as his now wide-open eyes were glued on the content of the message.

A full-on address, along with a picture of the place.

Mammon instantly stood up at the sight of the picture, the memories of his day resurfacing in a flash. He remembered very clearly seeing this particular building sometime during his search- its height had been making it stand out very easily amongst the other buildings in the city. Nobody couldn't mistake it with anything else.

Mammon: This is it?

Leviathan: Yeah, we placed down a map and confirmed it was there.

Leviathan: Satan actually found a book in his room with a spell that can help find a person's specific item with just some of their DNA.

Leviathan: So we went to MC's room and found some hair that Satan used for the spell, along with his phone so it could narrow down the list of MC's items.

Leviathan: I didn't think Satan's room could look even more of a mess, but he spent 10 minutes shoveling through his collection and now you can't even see the floor or his bed anymore lol

Leviathan: Anyway now that you got what you wanted, go and check if MC is there!

Mammon felt his legs move on their own as he flipped his jacket above his head and stepped under the rain again, a confident grin now brightly adorning his face as he typed on his phone to reply.

Mammon: Thanks Levi. I'll owe ya one.

Leviathan: Find MC and bring them back. Then you can consider us even.

Mammon nodded, a newfound hope filling his entire body and mind. After confirming that Levi had ceased texting him, the demon turned the phone off. He opened his hand to drop it on the wet floor, and let his right foot crash down upon it, the object almost breaking in half. Mammon promptly gathered in his hand the shattered item, now completely unusable, and threw it down a nearby sewer before letting his excitement take the best of him and sprint further in the direction of the building from the picture. At least, now Lucifer wouldn't be able to track him down with it if Levi and Satan got caught.

The more distance he covered, the more Mammon could swear he was about to take on his demon form at any moment. The thoughts of MC began to fill his head even more, as if they were the one pushing him to find them, to get to them as soon as possible. For the first time in 2 months, Mammon felt truly alive.

"Almost there. The Great Mammon's coming for ya, MC!!" he let out in the form of an encouragement to himself, his legs having found their energy again as his form was engulfed further into the city.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Anxiously pacing around the room, their head low and their phone in their hands, MC was growing more and more impatient. They were supposed to receive an update from Solomon about three hours earlier in the form of a phone call, but no matter the amount of messages they'd spent in the hopes of the wizard finally answering them, all they received was a dreadful silence. Grabbing a nearby chair, they let their body fall onto the seat as their fingers typed yet another message. They couldn't really understand how they had come to grow so persistent when it came to getting Solomon to reply to them, but having no other person to talk to ever since they left the Devildom 2 months prior would do that to anyone, they assumed.

'Solomon, sorry, I know I'm sending a lot of texts, but you said you'd visit today and I'm starting to be worried and... honestly a bit lonely. I thought going out today would help, but I just sat in the park for an hour before going back home and not doing much of the day.'

'You were supposed to meet with other wizards today, right? I hope nothing bad happened. But in case you're alright, all I'm asking is just one reply to at least get some sort of human connection. Not that I had a lot of it in the past few months.'

They felt their throat tighten upon writing their last sentence, feeling the frustration spilling out of their own words right back into their face. But who could blame them?

2 months without seeing, hearing, or even texting their friends back in the Devildom. 2 months without receiving a single visit from Luke or Simeon. 2 months spent exclusively with the company of Solomon, who had been acting strange ever since and had made them move out of their home under the excuse that it was to "train them at magic in a more private setting". But more importantly... those had been 2 months without having Mammon around, and MC would lie if they said they hadn't spent several nights crying themself to sleep, wondering how the demon was dealing with their absence.

The memories of their latest departure from the Devildom played in their head like a movie as they placed a hand on their forehead. Everything had seemed alright at the time, with them getting to say their usual goodbyes to the brothers, wishing to see them again once the new year at RAD would start, foolishly thinking that they'd get to spend their time hearing their voices on a daily basis once they were back in the human world. And before they could understand, their DDD had been taken from them, Solomon had been more present in their life than ever before, and for a reason they still couldn't grasp, it was as if the brothers had vanished from their life completely. No news whatsoever. Complete radio silence.

Just thinking back to this period, and how they could have probably caught that something was up as soon as Diavolo asked for their DDD after the brothers had left... it just made them want to puke.

But nothing could make them want to do so as much as the long-awaited reply of Solomon appearing on their screen.

'Hi MC. I'm deeply sorry I couldn't get ahold of you throughout the day. I won't be able to visit you today, since my services are still required here. Besides, it's getting late. I recommend you go have a good night's sleep as soon as possible.'

'If everything goes smoothly, I should be able to come back tomorrow. Then, we'll be able to go walk wherever you want. How does that sound?'

'I need to be going, but I shall wish you a good night. Take care, MC.'

And just as quickly as he had answered, Solomon went silent again. Leaving them in this apartment they had grown to hate, this prison cell he had put them in. A place where no fun could be found for them. MC didn't even bother sending anything else after that.

Their head sunk even lower, until their forehead slowly met with the hard surface of the dinner table. The phone faceplanted onto the wood as MC's hands turned into hard fists, a deep groan shaking the walls of their throat. It was hard not to let the tears escape their eyes, but instead, they opted to punch the table several times as hard as they could, until they felt their anger diminish.

How long was Solomon going to act ignorant towards them? How long was he going to ignore their pleas to get news from the Devildom, anything that would let them know why they couldn't contact the brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos? Even if the lords had been in some sort of trouble... they'd still find time to talk to their human, right? There was no way Mammon, the one they loved, wouldn't try to reach them one way or another... right?

Him who had been so clingy in such an adorable way every time they'd be at the House of Lamentation, he who had revealed to them that there wasn't a single day where his thoughts wouldn't drift to them no matter how hard he tried...

No. No amount of important duties would explain why Mammon of all demons, would ignore them like that.

They missed his antics. His entire being. The warmth he'd bring them each time he'd hold their hand before tucking his face into their neck like a pouting child, desperately trying to sneak one or two kisses in there, in the hopes he'd get to hear that sweet giggle of them. It wasn't for nothing that Lucifer had come to name them the chaotic duo of the House of Lamentation. They were two parts of a whole.

And yet, the world had dared to separate them. And MC was tired, oh so tired of not having their other half near them. The only feeling they had left, was one of pure desperation to see their greedy demon.

"I'm not asking for much... even a single word would do." MC replied to no one as they turned their head to rest their cheek onto the table. They closed their eyes, the anger slowly being replaced by a profound exhaustion. Could they really do nothing but act normal around Solomon, and accept that this was now their new life? No demons, no angels, just... humans around them?

Before they could slap the thought away, a loud banging coming from the entrance door made them straighten in their seat, their head turning towards the hallway in a panic. Their heart pounded inside their chest as the banging seemed to go on forever, until they used the back of their chair to push themself up, their legs shaking.

"S...Solomon?" They asked, way too silently for anyone to hear, and fully knowing that the person behind the door couldn't be the wizard.

As if they were waiting for an answer, MC stood there, their hand grasped onto the chair. The banging was insistent, demanding, angry. At this time of night, there were few reasons they could think why someone would mistreat their door in such a way, and MC wasn't sure they wanted to find the reason for it.

That is, until the person behind the door finally let their voice be heard.

"Oi, MC! Ya can hear me right?! Come on, open the door!"

It didn't take long for MC to let the familiar voice enter their ears, and it took less time for them to nearly stumble over the chair as their legs moved in a hurry to lead them towards the door as quickly as possible. Their hands messily trying to open the locks on the door, they were sure their mind had just played a trick on them, and the person outside was going to leave them completely disappointed, but they didn't care. This voice they could only remember so well despite the time since they had last heard it, was simply inviting them to open the door, to check for themselves whether it was true, or just a nasty joke played by their brain.

But as the last lock was undone, and the door was swung open, MC couldn't do anything but just stand there, their mouth agape.

Mammon kept on drawing breaths, his wet hair stuck to his forehead and drops of rain falling from his clothes onto the floor below, so much so that it had started to create a small puddle underneath him. As if the person who opened the door wasn't the one he expected, the demon took a step back, letting his eyes wander up and down on the human he had in front of him, almost in an attempt to check if it was really them. He too, couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open at the sight.

The two of them just stood there for a few seconds, taken by so many emotions at once that they weren't sure what to do. But right as Mammon took a step forward, his mouth opening some more to let out words that he so desperately had wanted to say for so long now, MC's face contorted into one of pure sadness before they rushed towards him. Mammon greedily welcomed them into his arms as they jumped and wrapped their arms around his shoulders, and their legs around his waist. They buried their face into his neck, the warmth of their tears mixing with the rain on his skin.

His embrace only tightened even more as they mumbled his name amidst broken sobs, the sound ever so close to his ear that even though he had his eyes firmly closed, he might have cried on the spot too. But he had found them. He had them in his arms again. After what had seemed like a million years, finally, they were back where they belonged, and he was back with his human.

Almost as if they were about to be pulled away from him, Mammon placed a hand on the back of their head, wanting to protect their entire being from harm no matter the cost. He still wasn't sure why it had taken so long for him to reunite with them despite the obstacles, but at the present moment, nothing else could matter.

The lord had finally found them, and he wasn't about to let anyone interfer between their happiness once more.

"I ain't letting you go." He whispered through gritted teeth, his head lowering into their shoulder. "Ever again."

[bestiesenpai]

youtuber Sukuna pt2

I wonder what things will happen in this part? I hope there's sparknotes, I don’t feel like reading all these words…

Content warning: *more* mean internet comments, Sukuna doxxing ppl(idk if that needs a warning?? But just in case)

part 1 --- part 3

Being a Youtuber was a lot more work than Sukuna thought it was. When he’d picked you up early in the morning, he wasn’t expecting you to come out with such a fancy camera and microphone. You looked cute as all hell too, hair styled nicely and your outfit was perfect for a day at a countryside cafe.

“Thanks for driving!” You said, climbing into his car and smiling at him. Sukuna could smell your perfume  as it wafted off your body and he immediately felt the urge to buy a bottle as well and spray his pillow with it.

“S’no problem.” He muttered, driving off as soon as you were secure. He’d looked up the place beforehand, reading their menu over and over so he’d know what to order. Slowing down at a red light, he glanced over at you taking pictures.

He wished he could ask you to send them to him so he could save them in the never ending folder he had, but he couldn’t. It would be weird, you weren’t exactly close, and it’s not like you shared any pictures anyway.

“Hey Sukuna, what’s my contact photo on your phone?” The question came out of nowhere and he looked at you in confusion.

“Contact photo? You don’t have one.”

“What, really? I’ll send you a picture then! And add a few cute emojis with my name.” Well, that was easy. He wasn’t expecting you to offer to send him a picture, but he wasn’t going to decline it.

“Okay, I will.” Turning his attention back on the road, Sukuna turned the radio on to fill the silence. “Should I...send you a picture of me?” He had the perfect picture in mind to send you, it was a thirst trap he’d snapped post-shower after a really good day at the gym. A towel hung low on his hips and he still had a few droplets of water on his skin and dripping down from his hair.

“Yes!”

The drive to the cafe was quick and easy, not a lot of traffic early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to settle in the sky and the dew on the grass was fading. The cafe you’d chosen was in a small countryside town, barley fields just a few yards away and farmers with their dogs walking by.

“This the place?” Sukuna asked, pulling into the small parking lot in confusion.

“Yup! I’m so excited!” Hopping out of the car, your camera was immediately put to work filming the surrounding area. It was peacefully silent all around you, the only sound the occasional breeze or dog barking in the distance.

Panning the camera to yourself, you took a quick couple breaths and babbled a few times before speaking properly.

“Hi everyone, as you can see we’re in a different place today! Me and Sukuna are at a cafe in the countryside that I saw online and fell in love with. Say hi Sukuna!”

“Hi.” He was standing at the edge of the lot where a field of wispy tall purple grass started. He waved dumbly, feeling like a dumb kid taken to Disneyworld.

“This is the name of the cafe…” Turning your attention elsewhere, you filmed the rest of your intro. Once again, Sukuna was amazed at the proficiency at which you did things and how smoothly he knew the shots would look.

Looking at the cafe on the outside, it didn’t look like anything special. It was a wooden and concrete building with two large windows. He could see the minimalist decor and furniture inside was wooden as well, probably handcrafted by someone in the town.

“All finished, let’s go in.” Waving him on, Sukuna jogged to be the first to the door to open it for you. Filming as you walked in, when Sukuna entered, he still didn’t understand the hype you’d placed around it.

The air smelt like a strong tea and the humidity was definitely higher. He was right in thinking that all the furniture was handcrafted, all the chairs and tables had a rough quality to them only achievable with a human touch.

“Look, this is what I came here for!” You were standing right at the dessert case, pointing your camera at whatever you were looking at.

“Why is it...?” Sukuna looked at it in confusion. There was an airbrushed cake shaped exactly like the peach emoji sitting in the case with a realistic leaf and stem as well and you looked inexplicably happy over it.

“The owner makes these cakes herself, and she’s doing a cute emoji series!” Bouncing on your heels, you tugged on his sleeve. “I’m totally getting a slice, what’re you getting?” Suddenly, the research he’d done the night prior meant nothing as he looked at the cake.

“I have no idea.”

“You’ve got time to think about it, I’m gonna ask the owner a few questions for the video.” Leaving him at the case, Sukuna saw you go up to the owner waiting at the counter from the corner of his eye. Since the two of you were the only ones here, he could hear your excited voice gushing about the cakes and decor.

Fifteen minutes later, you and Sukuna were seated right in the corner of the cafe, where the two windows intersected on the building. Not one for sweets, Sukuna got a plain poppyseed muffin and a hot tea; the cafe didn’t serve coffee.

Setting up the camera on the table next to you, you took a bite of your cake and loved it, immediately singing its praises to the camera. Sukuna ate as well, trying not to be too stiff as you spoke.

“Sukuna, you should try this too!” Holding up your fork filled with cake, you held it out to him.

“Hm, okay.” Grabbing your hand as well, he expected you to let go of the fork. But as he guided it to his mouth, you didn’t, and you were staring right at him as it went into his mouth. “Why ya staring?” He mumbled, feeling his ears burn.

“I need to know if you like it.” Sukuna didn’t let go of your hand as he chewed and you didn’t make a move to remove it either. You were too focused on his reaction to care, waiting on the edge of your seat for him to say something.

“It’s a peach flavored cake.” He nodded, snorting when you motioned him to say more. “It’s too sweet for me, but if you like it then I like it.”

“Good enough for me!” Finally you pulled away from him and put the fork down, turning to the camera and pointing in his direction. “Can you believe Sukuna doesn’t like sweets? He’s like an old man, he only got a muffin.”

“Please, could an old man deadlift almost 300lbs?” Sukuna scoffed, slapping his chest and flexing his arm.

“That’s so much! You have to train me some day Sukuna, I wanna lift that much!” Your shocked face made Sukuna smirk and he flexed the other arm as well. Your wide eyes got even wider, bouncing between both his arms.

“Anytime, (Y/N).” Sukuna felt confident enough to wink at you, and he saw the way your face faltered at it. Ducking your head away, you pretended to fiddle with the camera, the tips of your fingers shaking slightly.

It was afternoon by the time you finished in the cafe, walking out into the warmth of the sun. Looking out, all the land surrounding the cafe was flat, covered in fields of barley or tall grasses.

“Hey Sukuna…” There you were, touching the purple grass with your fingers.

“What?”

“Will you take a few pictures for me? For Instagram?”

“I don’t think I’ll be any good.” Sukuna barely knew how to take pictures of himself let alone another person.

“That’s okay, just try your best!” Putting another camera in his hand, you grabbed his wrist and tugged him to join you deeper in the field. “That camera is pretty simple, just point and click.”

“Alright.” Holding it up, he immediately snapped a picture of you.

“Wait for me to pose!” You laughed. Sukuna chuckled as well, and when you were ready, he took the pictures. He took as many as he could, clicking the button over and over.

“Take a look.” Twenty minutes later he was handing the camera back at you. Looking through the pictures, you instantly burst into laughter.

“Sukuna, why’d you take a picture of the sun? My head is in the corner, it looks like a toe!”

“I told you it’d be bad!” He couldn’t help but laugh as well. You really did look like a toe in the corner of the screen.

“Oh my god, I’m taking you to a photography class, some of these are too much.” Giggling your way through the rest of the pictures, you put the camera back in his hand. “Let’s take a couple together!”

Sukunas heart leapt for joy. He would be able to take a picture with you. It felt like he was a fan of yours and not someone you knew on a personal level.

“You’re gonna hold the camera, your arms are longer.” Flipping the viewfinder up, you slided up to Sukunas side. He muttered something unintelligible, too busy looking at the two of you together. He could almost imagine you were a couple.

“Sukuna, hold the camera like this.” His hand had gone limp, casting a bad angle on the two of you.

“Don’t face that way, the light will make you look bad.” In one of the pictures, you’d changed poses.

“I know you only take serious gym pictures but smile for this one!” His face had dropped down to a scowl, his normal resting face. After who knows how long, he was finally free from taking pictures.

Wandering back to the car, it was silent as the both of you settled in. You were busy looking over the photos and Sukuna was busy watching you from the corner of his eye.

“Anything else you wanna do here?” He asked after a while of pretending to look on Twitter.

“Mmmm, we can drive around some more! I don’t really know what else is out here.”

Sukuna drove you through the countryside town, marvelling at the farmers and all their animals. You stopped to get a couple handmade candies from an old man, and Sukuna made sure to pick up some food that wasn’t just sweets for you. Eating at a small restaurant, when you hit the road again it was nearly evening.

Driving back in near silence, somewhere along the way you fell asleep. Your head rested against the window, jostled a few times by the road or a turn. Sukuna couldn’t help but look at you any chance he could, and although he felt like a major creep, he couldn’t stop himself from taking a picture of you.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding.” Sukuna groaned as he got closer to the city, coming upon a wall of traffic. Far ahead up the road there was an accident that wasn’t going to be cleared away anytime soon.

“What’s up?” You asked with a loud yawn, stretching out your arms and legs as best you could.

“Traffic.” Leaning his head out the window, he let out another groan. “Might as well put the fucking car in park.” Shifting the gear and sinking low into his seat, Sukuna sighed. It’s not that he hated traffic, but he wanted every moment of this outing to be perfect, and this was seriously hindering it.

“Do you want me to send you some of the pictures we took together for your Instagram as well?”

“Yeah, send ‘em over.” At least Sukuna could stare at the two of you together to pass the time. The amount of pictures you sent him was seemingly endless and included a few he didn’t know you’d taken of him eating and looking out the window.

“How long do you think we’ll be here?” You whined, kicking your feet out in boredom.

“At least an hour.”

It was quiet for a few minutes, the sound of the radio and other cars around you filling the background. Sukuna could see you fiddling with your phone, opening and closing apps. He could see you getting antsy.

“I’m already so bored.” There it was. Your pitiful whine accentuated with your head pushed back. Sukunas fingers itched to reach out and squeeze your cheek, it was glowing from the sun. “I think I’m gonna get on Instagram live or something so I can complain more.”

Laughing at your honesty, as soon as you went live Sukuna got the notification on his phone. Your head was tilted away from him, only your side of the car showed. Waving at the camera a few times, you smiled really big.

“Hi everyone! I’m stuck in traffic!” Your eyes flicked across the screen, reading the many comments coming in. “Hm, what do you mean who’s car am I in? I bought this car!”

“Liar.” Sukuna mumbled with a cheeky grin getting bigger when you tried to hide your own chuckle.

“I swear I bought this car!” You couldn’t keep the lie going, and broke down in giggles the more Sukuna looked at you. “Alright, I’m in Sukunas car.” Panning the phone out, he saw himself on screen.

“Hi.” He waved, reading the comments asking if you were on a date. “Don’t you remember from the last live? We aren’t on a date we’re filming some fucking vlog.”

“It’ll be up soon! You’ll all really enjoy it, Sukuna was a great guest.”

“The best.” He nodded along. You responded to a few more comments, but there were some that kept coming up.

‘(Y/N) kiss Sukuna’

‘(Y/N) kiss Sukuna’

‘(Y/N) kiss Sukuna’

“Stop spamming that fucking message like a weirdo.” Sukuna finally snapped. You had done a great job at ignoring the comment, but it was all Sukuna could see on the screen. “You’re gross to ask us to do that.” But Sukuna did wish he could kiss you. Ever since the first comment came through, he’d taken glances at your lips as you spoke.

“Oof, don’t make Sukuna mad, he’ll kill you.” You teased, and your hand went out to squeeze his arm. “He said he can deadlift almost 300lbs, so watch out.”

“That’s fucking right.” Flexing his arm proudly, Sukuna nearly put it around your shoulder, faltering at the last minute and landing on the center console with a thud.

‘It would be kind of cute to see them kiss…’

‘I bet Sukuna can’t even hug (Y/N)’

‘I bet after today they’ll come out and say they’re dating!’

Now all the comments were talking about the two of you dating, and how cute it would be if you really were. Biting his lip, Sukuna watched your reaction closely. Truly he had no problem with the comments, he wanted them to be true as well, but if you were uncomfortable he was ready to put everyone in their place.

“Gosh you guys ship us so hard.” You seemed okay with it, your face wasn’t tense and you were still making eye contact with Sukuna. “Are you going to subscribe to my channel if I kiss him?”

“What?” Sukunas eyes widened and the comments poured in promising life long dedication to you if you went through with it.

“Alright.” Setting your phone up on the dashboard, you turned to Sukuna. “I’ll be quick, okay?”

“What?” He parroted. His hands were getting clammy just thinking about it and the look in your eyes wasn’t helping. With a nervous lick of his lips Sukuna leant forward and had just begun to pucker his mouth when you loudly kissed your palm and pressed it to his cheek.

“There! I kissed Sukuna!” With a big grin on your face you kissed your hand again and put it on him. “I did it twice! Now go subscribe!”

“What the hell.” Sukuna mumbled to himself, feeling like an idiot for thinking you’d really kiss him. He spent the next fifteen minutes in a stupor, vaguely replying to comments and trying to get over the embarrassment he felt.

Dropping you off nearly an hour past the original time, when Sukuna got home he buried his face into his pillow and let out a short yell. The biting shame he felt at almost making himself a fool in front of thousands of people was still fresh. He knew there’d be fancams of the moment just waiting for him. A buzzing on his phone pulled him out of his thoughts.

(Y/N): you need to send me a picture for your contact photo!

That’s right, the picture. Sukuna didn’t even need to scroll that far to find it, it was in his favorites. Sending it to you without a second thought, he didn’t even have the mind to check your reaction. Leaving his phone on the bed, he rushed to the shower to cool off.

When he returned, there were a flurry of messages from you waiting to be read. Most of them were unreadable keyboard smashes and a few emojis.

(Y/N): SUKUNA!

(Y/N): you can’t just send me a picture like that!!

(Sukuna): why?

(Y/N): you know why!

He could practically hear your flustered little whine.

(Sukuna): enlighten me please

(Y/N): SWSGMLU

(Y/N): you’re such a bully!!

(Sukuna): haha sounds like someone's embarrassed

It was a long few minutes before you replied and Sukuna could see the typing bubbles appear and reappear several times.

(Y/N): I’M GOING TO BED

(Sukuna): you that tired? it’s only 9pm

(Y/N): YES GOODNIGHT

(Y/N): BYE BULLY

(Sukuna): lol goodnight then

In a week, the vlog was up and Sukuna made his debut into the world. He rewatched it several times over, in awe of how well you’d captured the countryside and translated it to video. He even screen recorded some parts, like when he was flexing for you, just to replay your reaction over and over.

In the weeks following, Sukuna watched your channel grow exponentially. Your number of subscribers wasn’t small, but it was nowhere near his, yet you made the leap to over a million and a half practically overnight. And with that new success, came a lot of pressure.

You’d recently taken up streaming, and Sukuna was at every single one. He had made a Twitch account just to watch you and he subscribed immediately, blushing when you read out his name and personally thanked him in a text a few minutes later.

Entering your stream as soon as it started, Sukuna was ready to sit and watch you do whatever. Usually, you played a game like the Sims, but sometimes you’d cook or put makeup on for a stream.

But this time was different. When your face appeared on the screen, you looked down. Almost as if you’d been fighting back tears. Immediately, Sukuna grabbed his phone, ready to call you and ask what was happening.

“Hey guys.” He could hear it in your voice that you were sad. It warbled and broke, and you sniffled a few times.

‘(Y/N) why’re you crying??’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Did something happen? You can tell us, we’re here for you’

“No, don’t worry everyone it’s just…” A stray tear fell down your cheek and you wiped it away with a shaking hand. “I-I- just-” You quickly broke down crying, turning your chair completely away from the screen.

Sukuna was swiftly dialing your number. He had no idea what was wrong, you hadn’t told him anything was wrong, but he needed to know. He was prepared to go to your house if you needed him to.

“I’m okay, I promise.” Feverishly wiping your tears, you turned back to the camera. Taking several deep breaths, you didn’t look at the camera as you spoke. “I’ve just been getting a lot of hate comments recently and you know I always ignore it but-” Your voice caught, and Sukuna was glued to the screen. “It’s just been a lot honestly.”

‘(Y/N) WE LOVE YOU’

‘PLEASE DON’T CRY WE’RE HERE FOR YOU’

‘I bet it’s all of Sukunas fans, they’re so fucking gross’

‘Totally Sukuna fans, all the real fans love (Y/N) and would never do this’

“N-no, don’t blame Sukuna! He can’t control what people say!” It was totally his fans and he fucking knew it. His call had gone unanswered two times, but on the third time you answered. “Hello?”

“Put me on speaker.”

“But-”

“Put me on speaker!” He demanded. Sukunas blood was boiling, rage rolling over him in waves.

“Sukuna’s calling, I guess he has something to say.” Holding the phone close to the microphone, you kept wiping away tears.

“Listen here you insignificant dirtbags, stop leaving shitty little hate comments on (Y/N)s stuff. You’re all fucking piss poor losers who can’t even wipe your own asses, probably jerking each other off in a pathetic circle. Go get a fucking job, worthless pieces of shit. Don’t think this is something you can get away with either, I’m going to make sure you fucking regret the day you were born.” His voice was dripping with so much malice it scared you. While Sukuna was used to talking like this, you’d never heard it in person and you could tell he meant every word.

“Thanks Sukuna, but you don’t have to-”

“Tell me who they are. Where’d they leave the comments?” Angrily setting up a shitty webcam he had, Sukuna was preparing to do a livestream himself.

“I don’t know…”

“(Y/N).” Taking a pause, he stared at the screen. You were worrying your lip as you stared at your phone while the comments begged for you to tell him.

“Alright. Most of them are under the vlog we did together, and there’s a lot under my most recent Instagram pictures.”

“The ones with us together too?”

“Yeah, those are the worst ones.”

“Keep me on the line.” Sukuna had never been this angry in his life before and it showed in his actions. He was slamming things down in a rush to set up his stream and letting out frustrated noises in the back of his throat.

“Sukuna, what’re you doing?” You’d gotten your emotions under control enough to stop crying, your glassy eyes shining in the light of your room.

“I’m setting up my own stream.” Just as he spoke, his face appeared on the screen and he was live. “Tell everyone to send me screenshots of the hate comments, I’m going to teach these assholes a lesson.”

“I think they heard you.” Indeed they had. The phone was still close to the microphone, and now there were comments pouring in telling Sukuna they’d send links through his stream.

Clicking on almost all of the ones that popped up, his screen was bombarded with pictures of people leaving hateful comments on your posts. Many were saying that you didn’t deserve to be alive, to be so close to Sukuna, and many called you ugly or other mean names.

“Let’s see what this fucker looks like.” Going to one of the profiles on Twitter, Sukuna nearly spat on his screen looking at it. “This ugly sack of shit wants to leave some mean comments? Well it’s your lucky day bitch, you’re the first one to go.” It took Sukuna all of five minutes to find the person's Facebook account where they posted more personal information.

“Oh, that’s a pretty high brow uni you’re going to! It would really be a shame if I sent an email to the dean.” Sukuna said mockingly, already typing up a long email. “You’re not gonna be studying to be a doctor any fucking more. Have fun digging ditches bitch.”

Sukuna’s stream easily went from 200 viewers to nearly 40,000 just in the time it took him to dox the first person. The next one was even easier, and it snowballed from there. Sukuna had no qualms about sharing this personal information, from their addresses to their personal phone numbers to where they worked.

“You really don’t have to do all this.” You kept saying over the phone. You’d ended your own stream to calm down, but you didn’t hang up the phone.

“Yes I do.” Sukuna replied instantly. “People have no respect for others, it’s fucking gross. If they think they can get away with this they’re idiots.” So many comments were egging him on as well, with a lot of people promising to harass everyone exposed until they apologized. “I hope every single one of them loses everything.”

“Sukuna…” With a sigh, you sat back and watched him do it. There wasn't anything you could say to stop him, he was on a warpath and intent on causing harm. Eventually, you had to hang up the call as it got well into the night and he was still going.

“Keep sending the fucking links, I can do this all night.” Sukuna repeated several times, fighting off sleep. His eyes burned from staring at the screen for so long and his back had begun to ache but he wasn’t about to stop now. There were still so many people that had to pay.

After nearly eight hours of streaming himself doxing people, he finally stopped after his channel got banned. His manager had emailed as soon as the sun rose, frantically screaming at him to stop what he was doing or he could get sued.

(Sukuna): tell me right away if this happens again I’ll handle it

He texted you right after getting banned. His body hurt from exhaustion, he could truly pass out at any moment.

(Y/N): I will

(Y/N): sukuna...thanks for doing all that. It really meant a lot to know you care about me

(Sukuna): Of course I care about you

Sukuna was about to type out that he liked you, of course he did all of that and risked himself getting sued because he liked you and never wanted to see you cry again. Almost admitting to how he wanted nothing more than to give you a big hug, but stopping himself at the last moment.

(Y/N): you’re such a good friend Sukuna, thank you

(Sukuna): you’re welcome

It hurt to be put into that category, in the friendzone. It made his tongue curl in disgust, a rancid place that he wanted no part of. People that were in the friendzone were spineless and too weak to just confess their feelings - and Sukuna seemed to be one of them.

After that incident, you went on a break from all social media and Sukuna began to patrol your comments sections. He actively posted that he would start doxing people again if they said anything bad, citing all the damage he’d done to the previous victims. Sukuna had gotten what he wanted, all the people he exposed suffered in some way, most losing jobs and friends.

On a run to the grocery store, Sukuna was listening to a podcast you’d been on. He missed the content you posted, and while he did text you sporadically about Youtube stuff, he didn’t feel comfortable messaging you about anything else. His mind always stopped him, questioning him on if what he wanted to say was really worth your time.

“Hi Sukuna.” Standing at the bread section, Sukuna nearly jumped into the air hearing your voice pop up next to him. There you were in a baggy hoodie and sweats, looking every part an unnoticeable member of society.

“(Y/N)? W-what’re you doing here?”

“Hm? I’m shopping.” You chuckled, showing him your handbasket.

“Right.” Nodding slowly, Sukuna eyed you up. Your eyes were still a little puffy and he could see they were red as well. You looked tired and worn down, not your usual happy self. “Hey (Y/N).”

“Yeah?” You were unprepared for the heavy arm that landed around your shoulders and even more at being pulled into an embrace. Sukuna hugged you to his chest tightly, squeezing the back of your hoodie in his hands.

“I…” He could feel you relaxing into his arms, heaving a deep sigh like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders. “Don’t feel sad anymore.” Sukuna seemed to have a habit of saying the things he wanted to say in the worst way possible. What did that even mean? To tell you not to be sad anymore instead of offering something else, like his friendship, during this time. He wanted to tell you he’d be here for you.

“Thanks Sukuna.” Hugging him back just as tightly, he could hear you sniffle a few times. The hug lasted for a while, just standing in front of bread, and a good two minutes passed before you started to unwind yourself from him.

Keeping a loose arm around you, Sukuna kept you close, searching your face for any hint that you would possibly start crying. Your eyes were a little misty, and your lower lip quivered just a little, but you sent him a smile that made it all better.

“So, what’re you getting?” He asked, attempting to be casual.

“Well, I’m actually done shopping now and I just saw you standing here.” You admitted with a chuckle. “I know it’s been a while since we last spoke properly.” The last message you’d sent to each other was about a sim card two days ago.

“Don’t worry about it, you were going through stuff.” Shrugging his shoulder, Sukuna grabbed the bread he wanted. “I don’t want you to force yourself to talk to me if you don’t want to.”

“Sukuna, I want to talk to you more though! I know we only talk about Youtube stuff but I want us to be better friends.”

“Really?” Nearly crushing the bread in his hands, Sukuna quirked a brow at you.

“Yeah!”

“Well...alright then.” That made him really happy, like really really happy. You wanted to pursue a stronger relationship with him and while it wasn’t a romantic one like he hoped, he was still ecstatic on the inside.

“I have to go, but can we video call later? I have some things I wanna ask you.”

“Okay.” Giving you a brief wave, Sukuna watched you walk out of the aisle and out of sight. A silly smile stretched his cheeks at the thought of your call later, and it stayed on his face the whole way home.

Later that night, Sukuna was diligently waiting for your call. He kept his phone glued to his hand, something he didn’t normally do, just in case you called. At nearly 7pm on the dot, you called and Sukuna answered right away.

“Hi!” You weren’t in the baggy clothes anymore, it looked like you were in pajamas sitting on your couch.

“Hey.” Sukuna was sitting at his computer doing editing, so he didn’t have to worry about you seeing the lack of furniture in his home. All you had to look at was a blank wall behind him. “So, you wanted to ask me something?”

“Mhmm! I was wondering- well first, Sukuna do you watch anime?”

“Anime?” His face twisted up in mild disgust. “No, that shit is fucking lame.”

“Sukuna!”

“What? I’m not that much of a fucking loser to like anime.” Rolling his eyes, he immediately envisioned a man in his mothers basement jerking off to pixelated tits. “Why? Do you watch it?”

“Yeah…” Now you were embarrassed, and it showed on your face.

“Fine, you’re not a fucking loser.” Propping his phone up on his desk, he tipped his chair back and looked at the ceiling. “At least, not a total fucking loser.”

“Sukuna!” Now you were laughing at him, and he smirked at you. “You’re so mean, you know that?”

“Hey, that’s my brand ba-” He was about to call you baby, the word catching thickly in his throat. Luckily, he stopped himself and slammed his chair back down on the ground to cover it up.

“Well, now I don’t know if I want to ask you my question! You’re gonna say no right away.”

“Tell me.”

“No!” Shaking your head hard, you panned the phone up to your ceiling. “You’re definitely gonna bully me!”

“Who knew you were such a baby?” There, he’d called you baby like he wanted to. Not in the context that he desired, but he still got to say it.

“Am not!” Glaring at him, you exhaled shortly. “I was wondering if you wanted to come to this anime convention with me? It’s happening downtown in a few weeks and I’m a guest on a lot of panels this year. I want you to come with to help film stuff for me so I can make it into a highlights reel for my channel? As sort of a comeback video since I’ve been gone for a while.” It was amazing how you’d managed to say all of that so quickly without taking a breath.

“A convention?” Sukuna had only been to fitness conventions and a few that his manager made him go to.

“Yeah! And I wanted to know if you watched anime because I wanted to see if you’d cosplay with me!”

“Cosplay? What the fuck is that?” It sounded stupid.

“We would dress up as characters from an anime! Have you heard of demon slayer?” No, he hadn’t and his silence told you as much. “Look up Nezuko from demon slayer, that’s who I’m dressing up as!”

“Fine, one sec.” Quickly typing it into his computer, Sukuna’s brow rose seeing the character. “You’re gonna dress up as some BDSM girl?”

“It’s not BDSM!”

“Then why does she have that thing in her mouth?” What else could it be for?

“That’s because she’s a demon and they don’t want her to eat people!”

“God that’s lame.” Looking between his phone and the computer, Sukuna tried to imagine you in this outfit. It was cute, a cute pink kimono with a little hair tie and sash. The more Sukuna looked at it, the cuter it got. “But on you it’ll be cute.”

“So will you dress up with me?” You asked immediately, your eyes shining with excitement. “I already know what character you’ll be! There’s a boy named Inosuke that-”

“No way, save your breath. I’m not dressing up.” Doing a quick search of the boy in question, Sukuna let out a snort. “And why do you want me to dress up as someone with a boars head on? You saying I’m ugly?”

“You don’t have to wear the head!” The opportunity was quickly slipping through your fingers at seeing Sukuna cosplay. “It’s ‘cause you’re so fit and so is he! And you’re pretty similar too.”

“I don’t care if he was my twin.” Shaking his head, Sukuna closed the tab and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll tell ya what, I’ll come to this thing and take all the videos and pictures you want and in exchange, I won’t dress up.”

“Wait, how does that logic-”

“Just go with it. Now send me an email about the thing and I’ll clear my schedule.” Waving off any further questions you had, Sukuna quickly got the email for the convention. It was about two weeks from today, and it was going on for the whole weekend.

“So, do you think you’ll be able to make it?” You asked tentatively, worrying your lip.

“Of course.” Sukuna would definitely need to do some serious schedule rearranging. “I’ll pick you up like last time, just let me know the time.”

“You’re the best, Sukuna!” You smiled big at him and Sukuna smiled back. Maybe during the convention, he could show you he was more than just a friend.

When the day of the convention came, Sukuna got ready bright and early to pick you up. The sun had only just settled onto the horizon and he was chugging coffee before leaving.

“Hey.” You yawned loudly as you got in his car, still clearly half asleep.

“Cute.” Sukuna said in response. You looked absolutely adorable. The pink kimono looked good on you, the sash accentuating your waist well. The little green gag he’d seen earlier was hanging around your neck, and you had a cute pink ribbon in your hair.

“Hm? You like it?” Shuffling around, that was when Sukuna saw how high the slit was on your outfit, coming high up on your thigh. His eyes were glued to the skin that showed, unable to look away.

“I do.” He whispered, glancing at you briefly to see your eyes were closed.

“That’s good, I spent a lot of time on it.” Putting your seatbelt on, you yawned again and pointed lazily out the window. “To the convention!”

It was a short drive to the convention, and you were some of the first people there. With a badge around his neck, Sukuna followed you into the hall. You weren’t carrying the bag of camera equipment you’d brought, Sukuna insisted on carrying it so it wouldn’t ruin your costumes aesthetic.

“We’re here really early to get pictures! I booked with a professional photographer, and my pictures are going to be used as promo for a few brands here today.” You explained as Sukuna followed you into a room with a full photoshoot set up.

“Okay.” He was completely lost watching you begin to take pictures. After chugging an energy drink, you hopped straight into it. Sukuna made sure to watch the photographer closely, looking at the computer as the pictures popped up to make sure they weren’t indecent for you.

Nearly an hour and a half later and you were finally done. Sukuna had begun to film some parts of it for you per your request; his job as videographer started now.

“The convention hall is open now to everyone, it might be kind of overwhelming to see all the people out there.” You told him as the photographer was packing up.

“Eh, I’ll be fine.” With a shrug of his shoulders, Sukuna left the room and stepped out into the main hall. Immediately, he knew you were right. There were so many people already milling around dressed in costume, most from shows and games he’d never seen. The only readily identifiable characters for him were from Nintendo.

“Told you it was a lot.” Bumping him with your shoulder, walked out into the convention space. If Sukuna didn’t stand right behind you, he feared he would lose you in the crowd. There were other people dressed up as the same character and he couldn’t trust himself to differentiate between all of them.

Filming a little bit of walking around, Sukuna could hear and see people looking at him in shock. It wasn’t unknown that Sukuna had a distaste for anime and the whole culture surrounding it. Some of his most popular videos were him making fun of people at the very same thing he was at now.

“E-excuse me, (Y/N)?” A young teenage girl approached you, nervously fiddling with her phone.

“Hi!” You waved, immediately seeing her phone. “Do you want a picture?”

“Yes, please!” The girl's nerves quickly dissipated at your question, but she still looked scared of Sukuna.

“How about we take a few selfies?” Sliding next to her, you put an arm around her shoulder and posed. You and the girl took a numerous amount of pictures, and when she left she had a happy blush on her cheeks.

“Is that gonna happen often?” Sukuna asked, watching the girl disappear into the crowd.

“Yeah, sorry! I posted that I’d be going to this for the second and third day and a lot of people said they were gonna ask for pictures.” Rubbing the back of your head nervously, you sized up Sukunas face. “Sorry if it annoys you, I know it can be kind of tedious.”

“I don’t mind. Let's get going.” With a casual shrug, Sukuna walked to where your first panel was. He stayed off to the side as you talked to the organizers and other guests, feeling awkward that he couldn’t hold a conversation on whatever it was you were talking about.

The people soon filed into the panel, filling the seats and whispering excitedly about you and the other people sitting at the front of the room. Some of them noticed Sukuna and whispered about him too.

Ignoring them diligently, Sukuna filmed your panel from the back of the room. He didn’t need to worry about picking up any sound, you were speaking into a microphone. All he had to worry about was capturing good angles for you.

He did this for a few more panels as well, slowly getting more comfortable with people noticing him there. He even waved at a few fangirls that saw him, their faces erupting in a scarlet flush and giggling silly.

“We have almost two hours before my next panel, do you want to grab some food? I’ll pay.” Waiting in the back of an empty room, you tried to reach for your bag that Sukuna had slung over his shoulder.

“No, you don’t have to pay.” Pushing your hand away, Sukuna kept you at arms length.

“C’mon, you have to let me pay! You’re doing so much for me already!”

“Nope.” You tried to struggle past him and grab your bag, but Sukuna was strong enough to keep you at bay with one arm. “Fine! But I’m buying you a plushie later!”

“Whatever.” With the matter settled, the two of you left the room. Almost as soon as you came out, there was a loud gasp from a few people outside the door.

“Oh my god, your Nezuko is so good!” One of them shouted. Sukuna eyed him up, a young man dressed with a strange green and black checkered overcoat.

“Thanks!” You replied, fiddling with the edge of the brown one you were wearing. “I spent ages on getting everything just right!”

“Y-you’re (Y/N)! I didn’t think I was going to see you today!” Another man had on a similar getup to the first, but he was clad in yellow and orange.

“It must be your lucky day!” Laughing a little at his shocked face, you quickly noticed the third man standing there. “Sukuna look, this is what I meant when I said you should dress up as Inosuke!”

“Huh.” He looked at the shirtless man in front of him. The guy was muscular enough, not nearly as much as Sukuna was though. The brown pants he wore were too baggy for Sukunas liking, but he could see the way you were looking at him.

“Can we get a picture please?”

“Of course!” You quickly got in the middle of the three of them and crouched down, throwing up peace signs and smiling brightly as they took the selfies. Sukuna was watching all of their hands, making sure no one touched you or got too close.

“Sukuna, will you take a group picture for us?” You asked, already handing him a phone.

“Yeah.” You didn’t really leave him with a choice and it’s not like he was going to say no to you anyway. It was harder to keep track of just where these men were putting their hands, and every so often Sukuna would look to make sure that the hand placed on your back stayed there and didn’t go any lower.

“Thank you so much!”

“You’re the best, (Y/N)!

“Bye, please tag me in the pictures if you post them!” Waving cutely at them, you walked away. “Ah, that was so much fun! They were so cute!” Gushing about the pictures, you didn’t notice Sukuna had a vein throbbing in his forehead. He seriously wishes he’d dressed up in that dumb costume with you so you could feel the same way about him.

Quickly eating some fast food - much to Sukunas disgust - you were back in the convention hall. There seemed to be even more people here than before milling about. Gripping the back of your top, Sukuna made sure you didn’t get too far from him in the crowd.

“Let’s go check out the merch!” Leading him to a larger space in the convention center, your eyes sparkled looking at all the different vendors spread out. “Sukuna, is there anything you want to check out?”

“Not really.” The only thing he could see that he knew were some overpriced candies. “I’ll just follow you.” And that he did. You stopped at nearly every booth, rejoicing about how cute something was and how much you wanted a certain figure. Sukuna offered to pay for whatever you wanted, but you staunchly refused.

“Sukuna, which one’s your favorite?” Coming upon a booth filled to the brim with different plushies, you crossed your arms and squared your shoulders. “We aren’t leaving here until I buy you a plushie!”

“I don’t need one.” Not only would it ‘ruin’ his tough image, he didn’t like those things to begin with.

“Yes you do!” Stamping your foot childishly, you pointed at them. “Pick one!”

“Who knew you could be so mean?” He teased back with a flick to your forehead.

“Shut up.” Puffing out air, you grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to the booth. “I’ll even help you decide.”

“O-oh.” You were holding his hand. You were definitely, 100% holding Sukunas hand. Your two hands were squishing his one in your palms, shaking it side to side as you looked at all the choices before you. How was Sukuna supposed to pick something when you were holding his hand so close to your body? He could feel the tips of his fingers graze your sash every couple seconds.

“What about this one?” You pointed your hands to a brown bear with a giant body but a tiny head.

“What’s wrong with the head?” He looked concerned at the doll.

“It’s supposed to be like that!”

“I- okay.”

“Do you like it?” Looking at him hopefully, you squished his hand even more. “It’s so cute, you have to get it.”

“Let me see it.” Picking it up with his other hand, Sukuna stared at the unmoving, smiling face of the bear. Squeezing it in his hand, Sukuna let out a short sigh and put it down. “Alright, I’ll get it.”

“Yes!” Letting go of his hand, you rushed to grab your wallet before he could stop you. “Make sure to send me a picture of you with it!”

Right after you finished paying, Sukuna nearly demanded to buy you stuff as well. He’d seen the way you were eyeballing the figures and some books, and he wasn’t going to be the only one to leave this part of the convention hall with a souvenir.

The bags he was carrying were definitely heavier now when you left to go to your next panel. They put a little strain on Sukunas arms but he wasn’t about to let you carry anything and quickly ducked back to his car to put it all away.

Right in the middle of your next panel, Sukuna ducked out to go to the bathroom. He was keeping well hydrated during this whole day and it was surely catching up with him now. Wandering the halls, he eventually found a bathroom to use and on his exit, he noticed a sign for something called an ‘artists alley’.

“Let’s check it out.” Here, there were people selling things but they were clearly fan made. There were paintings and pins, stickers and fan art everywhere. Wandering between the vendors, his eye caught on a particular booth.

“Sukuna?” The person gaped when he walked up but he wasn’t paying attention to them. On a cork board above them was a moderately sized drawing of you, dressed up in an all red get up.

“How much?” He pointed at the drawing, looking at the red cap you had on that matched with the red jacket.

“The (Y/N) x Cells At Work fan art? It’s $35.”

“I’ll take it.” The artist was clearly surprised, scrambling to grab the drawing and put it in a protective sleeve. “Keep the change.” Sukuna slapped 40 down and turned away. “Oh, and don’t tell anyone I was here.”

“O-okay!” They shouted after him. Sukuna kept the drawing close to his chest and when he got back he quickly hid it in his bag so no one would notice. He started filming again like he’d never left and you didn’t question him on it when it was over.

“Man, I’m so tired!” With the convention over hours later, you all but collapsed into Sukunas car. It had indeed been an eventful day between speaking at panels and taking pictures with countless people.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” Sukuna agreed, taking a moment to sit in silence in the driver's seat. He hadn’t expected to be so tired after today. He’ll have to prepare better for tomorrow.

Driving you home, both of you were like zombies as you departed. Sukuna didn’t even have the heart to properly disrobe when he got home, collapsing into bed with the plush you’d gotten for him still in his hand.

The next day was just as hectic as the day before, the word had gotten out that you really were at the convention and now more people swarmed you in between panels. Sukuna took the pictures for all of them, giving any man that wanted one a harsh glare before he started. He was easier on the younger girls, but he still made sure that they didn’t try to flirt with you or anything. No one could be fully trusted.

“Sukuna, I forgot yesterday but we need to go to the artists alley!” You exclaimed in shock, grabbing his upper arm. “They have such cool stuff!” Oh, Sukuna definitely already knew about it. The drawing he’d bought of you was hanging in his room, by his full length mirror so he could see it whenever he wanted.

He pretended everything was brand new to him, acting as if he’d never seen the pins before or the stickers and tote bags. Coming upon the artist he’d bought from yesterday, he noticed there was more fan art of you there.

“Oh my gosh, that’s me!” You giggled happily, pointing to yourself drawn as a Pokemon trainer. “It looks so good!”

“Thank you so much (Y/N)!” The artist gaped, clearly shocked to see you here. “I-I studied all of your pictures so I could get everything just right!”

“You did a great job!” The two of you went on and on about the drawings and other paintings that were there. Sukuna wished he could chime in and say that he really liked the art he bought yesterday, but there was no way he was explaining to you that he bought a drawing of you as a red blood cell. He would rather die.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, all the panels going by so fast and melting into one another. He didn’t feel the same exhaustion as the other day, but Sukuna was definitely still tired as he walked to the car.

“Sukuna, thank you so for this weekend, it really means a lot!” You were the happiest he’d ever seen you. The footage he’d filmed for your video perfectly captured all the good parts of the convention, with several shots of your smiling face with fans and other panel members. “How can I repay you?”

“Well…” There was something he’d been wanting to ask you for a while, ever since he saw you in costume. Today was the last day of the convention and subsequently the last day you’d be wearing this costume. “Can we get a picture together?”

“What? We never took a picture together?”

“No.” Sukuna chuckled at your surprised face. Rushing to his car, you set up a little stand for your camera on the hood of his car.

“Okay, let’s take some!” As soon as Sukuna was standing next to you, you wrapped your arms around his middle in a tight hug.

“W-what’re you doing?” Immediately, his face began to blush.

“You deserve a hug, Sukuna, you’ve been amazing.” Sukuna could barely breathe. Not because you were holding him firmly, but simply from the fact that you were hugging him of your own accord. His hands were shaking slightly as he moved to hug you back, grinning shyly at the pleased hum you let out when he did so.

The drive home left a bittersweet feeling on Sukunas tongue. He was glad it was over so that he didn’t have to wake up so early and deal with the gross crowds of people. There weren’t potentially disgusting men and perverts trying to take upskirt shots of your costume or grope you that he had to worry about.

Stopping at a light though, he realized how much fun he had as well. Listening to you talk and share your opinions on the panels was interesting and getting to hear others talk to so passionately as well had made him interested in a few shows. He knew you’d be ecstatic to hear that he could potentially get into anime, and Sukuna knew that at the next convention, he’d dress up for you. He also loved the bear you’d bought him even though that was something he’d never admit.

“Thank you again Sukuna, seriously.” You squeezed his arm as he pulled up to your house.

“Don’t mention it. Let me help you with the stuff in the back.” You’d bought even more things today than yesterday, mostly for friends and family that couldn’t make it to the convention. Gathering all the bags, Sukuna walked them to your door and wandered right into your apartment.

“You can put them all near the couch!” Closing the door behind him you quickly jogged over to the couch to help him with the bags.

“Whoa, your place is nice.” It actually looked like someone lived here as opposed to Sukunas place that looked like an upgraded jail cell. There was a fluffy rug on the wall and a few cute figures and small plushies on shelves, you had plants hanging down from the ceiling and it smelled vaguely floral. There was also a space dedicated to fan made art and gifts, with some fresh flowers sitting in a vase.

“Thanks! Maybe we can film a video here someday!”

“Definitely.” Mumbling dumbly, Sukuna was vaguely aware of you staring at him. “What?”

“You’re such a good friend, Sukuna. I can’t thank you enough!” Again, you hugged him. Burying your face into him, you shook his body side to side before quickly letting go. “Anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask!”

“Hey that’s my line.” Patting you on the head, Sukuna let a dumb smile spread his cheeks. He truly had the most fun ever with you, and for a moment he could pretend that you were a couple and that he was going to spend the night here, cuddle up with you and talk about all the dumb little things happened the past few days.

But he wasn’t dating you and his daydream only lived a few seconds before he made his departure. Going back to his own home, as Sukuna stepped inside he got a notification that he’d been tagged in a photo.

It’s one of the ones you’d taken together where you were hugging each other tightly. Your smile was genuine, showing all your teeth. Your eyes were crinkled at the corners, looking at Sukuna’s kind of surprised face with an indescribable warmth.

‘I love my friends’

That was the caption you’d put with a simple heart emoji after. There were people in the comments asking if this meant you were dating now, begging for you to admit it so they could say their ship sailed. Reading the caption over and over, Sukuna bit his lip to contain the feeling spreading in his chest.

‘I love my friends too’

He commented. And one day, he promised himself that he’d get to call you something more than just a friend. Wandering further into his apartment, he smiled like an idiot at his phone, quickly screenshotting the post.

“Ow!” Bumping his shin hard into his plastic foldable dining table, he was faced with the jarring reality of his surroundings. If he wanted to call you his, he needed to get some furniture first.