#because the association would not be obvious if you DIDN’T know I had in fact had this idea for ages

[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 || 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary_ where the salesman has to hide his true nature because he was too interested in the foreigner student living across his street.

warnings_ AGE GAP (reader in her early 20s and American), ANGST, FLUFF (soft!salesman), implied sex (very mild and bad), plot twist at the end. No proofreading yet…

notes_magnetic and switch were on replay while writing this <3 SOMEONE ANSWER MY QUESTION AT THE END!!!

♫ ♪ the worst playlist 4 gong yoo

✰ Index (+ fics here)

୨ৎ───୨ৎ───୨ৎ———୨ৎ───୨ৎ

It wasn’t a day without music.

You weren’t trying to sound cringe when you admitted you couldn’t live a day without music.

While showering, cooking, studying, painting your nails, walking to take the subway, or working in your office, you always have your EarPods or cable ones plugged into your ears.

And while that happened, you rarely looked at your surroundings. You knew you were in safe neighborhoods all the time.

After living for only a month in Namyangju in Seoul, you moved when a bright opportunity arose in a wealthier neighborhood.

The building across the street was sophisticated, futuristic, and bigger in comparison with yours; which could be considered vintage but cozier.

Hence why you didn’t know who lived there. And certainly, you were clueless about the neat man in an elegant suits and sweet smile coming out of said building each morning.

Men never approached you. Since you were a foreign woman, you were an outcast and outsider. And Korean society was not very fond of foreigners. Not that you could generalize, but it was an obvious fact.

And you weren’t looking for a boyfriend either. You had learned to enjoy the solitude after entering your twenties. With no boyfriend and few girlfriends, you would make it.

It was a very late winter, almost spring Saturday when you arrived at your favorite sushi spot near your apartment.

The place had a special roll of ahi tuna with spicy mayo, avocado, and fresh cucumber on top that you really loved.

It was slightly warm and orders were being shouted while you waited for your takeout.

It was then when you first saw him.

“A salmon sashimi order, please…” he said and you eyed him.

Tall, fit, great haircut, elegant suit. Overall, very great looking.

But you quickly turned back to your phone because there was no way a seeming bachelor like him would pay attention to you.

Plus, you weren’t looking for a boyfriend.

Plus two, that type of man would never be into you.

“Do you come here often?” you hear and you almost froze after seeing the handsome man facing you.

You were shocked.

“Sorry?” you ask just to clarify if you had actually heard him speaking English.

“I asked if you come here often…”

“Mostly every Friday or Saturday,” you say and he nods, offering you a polite smile.

“Me too. I had never seen you before”

His pronunciation was almost perfect and he had a sultry tone of voice that made you feel nervous and intrigued.

“Either you come too early or too late” You don’t want to sound like you’re flirting, you don’t think the man in front of you is interested. You decided that after being shocked. “I’m usually spent up with college and all”

“You’re a student?” you nod at him, attempting to smile for the first time.

The man in the suit smiles back and the attraction is undeniable.

“Yes, one more year and a half to graduate” Your hands were shaking but you pretended too well to not look bothered by the handsome man talking to you. “But I’m already an English teacher for kids with my associate's degree”

He didn’t know much about the occidental education, but he believed you were smart enough. At least you seemed like that.

“That’s great,” he says and you hear your order is ready.

You smile at the handsome man one last time and you are ready to leave, fully mentally set that it was only a friendly gesture to talk with a man like him.

“Care to join me for dinner?” You turn, shocked once again.

He offered a sweet smile that you couldn’t refuse.

“Where to, sir?” he smirked, pleased.

He had you right where he wanted.

“Wherever you’d like…”

Yeah, he seemed older, maybe late thirties, but he looked nice, he was approaching you, he could be single and you couldn’t miss the chance to say a neat guy like him showed interest in you.

“Sure” you finally accept and he starts leading the way.

“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have missed your vibrant clothing if I had seen you before,” he says as he keeps the door open for you to come out.

“Well, it’s not like I’m the most interesting or appealing woman, sir” he chuckles.

“If that were true, I would say there are no mirrors in your place, dear” You instantly blush, your legs feeling wobbly and a smile creeping up your face.

And you considered yourself fine, you had so much self-love. Still, you were thrilled to see how a man like him was interested in you

But he was lying. He had seen you for the first time a month ago….

…

You’re sweaty but freshly waxed.

Only you were imprudent enough to bake on a hot day. Your music was playing from your iPad charging in the kitchen when there was a knock on your door.

Your bare feet drag you across the living room and into the little reception room and when you open your door, you smile deeply.

“I brought our dinner” There is your salesman, in a dark grey suit, black tie, and dress shoes. Briefcase in one hand, takeout in the other.

“I baked cookies” you reply, standing on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“Can’t miss the smell…” he had never tried American cookies before.

Things were going well, to say the least.

The salesman was actually interested in you and turned out to be great company.

It would always amaze you how two different people could fit so well, like puzzle pieces that connect to totally different things.

His polished shoes rest near the entrance beside your sequin mary janes. His blazer was hanging beside your salmon coat and his hand was rubbing soft circles around your back.

Your legs were hanging over his lap and you were laying, one arm in the armrest of your coach while you admired the man beside you.

His eyes screamed he was falling in love, he knew. There was an unspoken rule about keeping private his identity and protecting the games. But no clause stated he couldn’t have interpersonal relationships or marry.

So there he was giving doe eyes to an American woman who was younger than him.

“If I didn’t know you, I’d say you have the eyes of a sweet sociopath” Both of you burst into laughter. Him actually finding the fun in your words.

If only you knew…

“And I’d say you have the eyes of a lovely perfectionist” you huff, playfully pulling his tie out of place.

“I’m not a perfectionist” he eyes your place as you laugh, noticing all the books and trinkets you had. “I just gave you half-burned cookies”

“And you also waited in advance to wait for your college website to open your registration window”

“Registration is a vital thing, handsome” he smiles and stares deeply at you, making you feel nervous but eager to smile back.

The comfortable feeling of being with him causes you to have an epiphany.

A realization from your heart.

Your fingers trace the fabric of his dress shirt and he pays closer attention to your touch.

“Will I ever see you with some clothes that are not nice suits?” He chuckles before leaning closer, applying pressure, your thighs pushing against your stomach.

“You could see me without the suit…” your cheeks burn and he notices it, smiling at the sight. “Don’t be shy, baby”

“You make me nervous all the time” you admit, a little giggle coming out involuntary.

“Really?” He asks feigning doubt, smiling, and grasping your chin.

You roll your eyes.

“Just kiss me already” he wastes no time and quickly pulls you into his lap.

What starts as a soft but deep kiss slowly turns into a needy one. Your fingers curl into his soft hair and his hands land in your hipbones, just to start urging you to grind against him.

“Don’t make me say it” you manage to say, out of breath as he started kissing your neck. “Just know that I want it so bad”

“As you wish so…” You didn’t know how badly he wanted to tie you up and see how much he could ruin you.

His lunatic behavior is well hidden under rough but lovely touches and nibbles all across your body.

His long fingers cherished each mole, scar, and stretch mark in your figure, only making you accept how much you liked him.

You pulled a handsome man like him and it only made your ego boost.

The salesman was made for you.

…

Over the months, while being abroad, you mastered your loneliness to the point where you had started to explore the city by yourself.

Now you have a boyfriend, but he gives you a lot of independence during the week.

Three weeks ago he took you to dinner and on the way back, while passing by a park, both of you acknowledged that dating would be fine.

There weren’t a lot of things in common between you two. Your salesman was older, he liked music from his childhood years from the eighties and loved grunge music from when he was a teenager. But he mostly loved classical music. He liked traditional Korean dishes and enjoyed sitting on your little terrace to simply enjoy the view.

When it came to you, you enjoyed all types of music but mostly from your childhood in the 2000s and 2010s, music that was released nowadays and from the fifties or sixties. You always missed dishes from back home and your boyfriend urged you to show him what you liked.

He was sweet but rough. A real gentleman who never made you feel insecure or uncomfortable, purely devotion.

The relationship remained new, but you could tell it was looking too good to be true.

You asked for a smoothie with spirulina and collagen. The smurf blue painted a little bit of your tongue as you sipped your drink outside of a coffee shop.

It was sunny and a little foggy at the same time, and you were utterly relaxed that you almost gagged when someone called you.

“… y/n?” when you turned to your left, you saw your boyfriend, in another suit, briefcase, and two bags full of bread in his hands.

You chuckled and frowned confused.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, taking off your sunglasses. “And why did you got all that bread?”

He wasn’t expecting you near him that morning. In fact, he wasn’t expecting you for the rest of the day. It was on the weekends when he was attached to the hip with you.

He could play the card of an obvious and innocent boyfriend very well.

“It is my day to buy treats for the workmates” he explains with a sweet smile, you sigh, smiling and nodding.

“Ah, I see” you reply, not knowing what else to say. “I had a very short lecture”

“Are you going home now?” He asked, not really worried but wanting to make sure you were not going to the park across the street. Just where he had plans…

“I think so. Maybe I’ll go to get some new trinkets from the mall” he nodded, debating whether to get closer to you or not. He wasn’t sure making contact with you in public was correct.

It was you who walked away, only turning to say goodbye.

“Call me tonight. And be safe, dear” you say smiling while blowing him a kiss.

It touched him. He had to be very careful now that he had you. Right where he wanted to.

…

There is no steam, but it should be.

It was another Friday, no more burdens until Monday.

And you weren’t alone.

“Fuck, y/n…” you had your salesman cursing and moaning your name in the shower.

“Just a little rougher, baby” you beg, savoring the cold water running down your throat and towards your breasts.

One of his hands skillfully carried your left leg up, so your knee was brushing his ribs.

“Aww, my girl wants more?” You nod, closing your eyes to focus on not cumming yet.

And out of nowhere, between deep and rough thrusts of him, you hear him saying something.

“I have to leave tomorrow,” he says between pants, with his eyes closed and battling with how good you were taking him. “Conference outside Seoul. Just a week, baby…”

Your pleasure is paused by his words.

“Why you waited to tell me a day before you’re leaving?…” he stops fucking you.

He realizes you didn’t take well the news and it makes him feel bad. He could swear there were almost tears in your face.

“Oh, no, my blossom. Don’t be sad…” you almost tear up, pathetic. But it took you by surprise and you hated saying goodbye even if it was temporary. “I’ll call you as soon as I can”

You do not say anything. You try to disguise your discomfort with the way he is still inside you, hard and ready to be back to action.

But he already knew you too well.

“I’m sorry. I’ll tell with anticipation next time” You eye him and you realize you love him.

“It’s okay. I understand”

Soon you forgot how well he went back to fucking you. Feeling so full of him, you kept tasting the way he moaned your name and kissed your chin.

But in the morning, just as you touched the cold and empty sheets, you missed him.

And as a woman, you couldn’t ignore the omen building up.

…

The first fight with your salesman wasn’t tremendous but it sure hurt.

You were utterly disappointed after not receiving a text or call from him in almost four days. You didn’t argue when he called, but it was beyond obvious that you were irritated. And it ended up in a bittersweet conversation and you hanging up abruptly.

The salesman was expecting you to yell and argue nonstop. But he was surprised by your short answers and tired tone of voice.

It made him feel bad. Like genuinely bad for worrying you.

But he couldn’t call you while being on the island. He had to wait an extra day to avoid suspicions from his boss. And now that he had a new task; to be extremely careful while being in Seoul because Seong Gi-hun was searching for him.

The salesman was stressed but as soon he heard your sweet voice, he almost felt bad.

You were his most precious thing in life.

The only thing keeping him from totally being insane. Like a magnetic pair, meant to fit despite being totally opposite.

You had such a strong hold on him that the salesman even found questioning his life decisions.

So he did a great job apologizing to you for not calling you sooner.

And a week later, he promised to take you to some thematic fancy bar in Gangnam.

He was smoking, a bad habit he had passed to you. But it was kind of a warm afternoon and he was waiting for you near the subway station.

A couple of minutes had passed when the salesman found himself out of breath after watching you arrive. Rarely does he see you in dresses, always vivid coats, shoes, and tops but never dresses.

That afternoon you had a cream satin gown, cowboy boots, and a long black coat. With red lips and sparkling eyes.

“By the way you’re looking at me… I might believe I look great” is the first thing you say, wrapping your arms around him and urging him to give you a peck. He chuckles, hugging you back.

“You also look too good, dear” his deep voice sends shivers through your spine.

He also looked too damn fine. Dress pants and a black turtleneck sweater, making him look younger and sexier-if that was even possible.

“Not too bad yourself too, honey” you compliment him and both of you start descending to the station.

You were excited because your salesman had shown you pictures of the bar, it was futuristic and you told him he had to take a lot of pictures of you in the restroom because it was all dark and it had neon lights. He rolled his eyes but assured me he would be your photographer.

By the time both of you were waiting, the salesman looked around.

Just to be careful. But to his surprise, it was more than that.

He studied the face of Seoung Gi-hun, he had only seen him once years ago. Now, it wasn’t only him the problem, but the shark loans he befriended.

A group of men looked around while seated on a bench, then texting.

“Let’s take a cab better” your boyfriend announces before grabbing your hand and dragging you upstairs again. “Wait- why?”

He doesn’t say anything, you look back and see a man staring at you in the distance.

Interesting…

“Are you telling me what the hell was that?” You ask again once you are back outside, on a sidewalk.

Your boyfriend eyes you briefly before turning away to gesture for a cab to stop.

“Didn’t you see that man? In maroon shirt and disheveled hair?” He asks and you frown.

“No?” he shrugs, opening the cab door for you. “Doesn’t matter… I just didn’t like how he was staring around. Maybe it was just me being paranoid”

You chuckle.

“As if they were looking for you…” his eyes snap open, and he turns to look at you after telling the directions to the driver. But you’re looking at the passing street.

He stares too much until something clicks.

Something he had completely missed.

…

Great food, great drinks, great pictures taken, and great kisses and subtle touches in the darkness of the dance floor.

When you open your eyes, you see only your desk lamp is on, everything else is quiet and dark. You are tied in a chair.

“How fun was to play detectives?” you hear him, standing up from your couch. “You’re the detective Seong Gi-hun hired”

The fucker had made you drink more than intended.

It was a few months after completing your first semester in Seoul. You needed money and Gi-hun needed a subtle person that wouldn’t draw much attention. A foreigner was perfect. He promised to prioritize your safety and be fair.

“I accepted the deal before I had even met you”

“Since when do you know?” He asks, demanding an immediate answer.

“The day I saw you at the bakery” you admit, sighing.

He chuckles, turning his back to you.

“Too damn smart, my girl” you should be scared, but you aren’t.

“Yeah no shit” you huff, your hands opening and then clenching in distress. “Now I’ve been playing dumb for weeks. Pretending I haven’t got new clues that lead to you…”

“That’s sweet of you…” he turns back to face you.

And lifts his arm, pointing at you with a revolver.

Suddenly not so romantic.

“Gonna kill me, honey?” you smile, feigning innocence.

“I should do so, according to my boss” he presses the gun against your forehead, but you don’t flinch.

Based on stereotypes and some intersectionality, he thought it was ‘so American of you’

“Then do it” you dare him, feeling how was paying more attention to the fallen straps of your nightgown dress. “Pull the fucking trigger, handsome”

“I really should kill you�� Your lips taste the metal of the gun, your salesman is a little insane.

“But I love you” he chuckles, leaning, putting both his hands in the armrest of the chair.

Inches away from you.

“I love you too” Your lips brush against his, the tension increasing.

It was so weird for him to admit he loved someone. After spending more than two decades unable to feel genuine human emotions, he was nonchalant, but deep inside, he was scared.

So he untied your hands.

“So what we’re going to do about this?”

It’s unbearable to be so close to him and not throw you against him. Your arms hugging him and pulling him closer.

“We both hush, honey” you whisper in his ear.

He kisses you, sliding an arm under your legs and the other on your back, carrying you to bed.

“As long and far as we need to” he promises and you nod, kissing him.

…

SOMEONE, PLEASE TELL ME IF GONG YOO’s CHARACTER DIED OR NOT IN THE SILENT SEA 🗣️

[inosukijiro]

✮⋆˙ giyuu has a crush

𝙨𝙮𝙣. ━ giyuu is wholeheartedly in love with you.

━ 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨. no bc i am making this man a pathetic simp for you idc. im writing these with myself in mind so yk, i have to pour out my feelings. and also i need to get all this giyuu writing off my chest, its actually a problem the fixation i have on this man but no fics tickle my brain just right so i have to write them myself

━ 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨. btw thank you so much for all the love and support on my last two posts. literally you all are so incredibly sweet !! (∩˃o˂∩)♡ i just graduated college so i might have a bit more time to write but no promises!

━ 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. none. giyuu might be a little ooc. modern reader in kny. i rewrote this a few times so pls be nice 🤧. 1.4k words.

─── ⋆⋅𖦹⋅⋆ ───  ─── ⋆⋅𖦹⋅⋆ ───  ─── ⋆⋅𖦹⋅⋆ ───

Giyuu actually doesn’t know how this occurred. No, actually that was a lie. He knew how this happened, but didn’t at the same time. And honestly speaking, the man does not care at all. You were so nice and sweet to Giyuu it made his head spin. Like it makes him ill in the best way imaginable. He doesn’t understand why you want to be around him so much, why you want to be his friend – not that he minds – but he just can’t get past his own indiscretions about himself. That was until you told him to his face.

You tell him that you thought he was cute – I'm sorry? – and you liked how calm he was – really? His brain can’t compute anything that you say. He doesn’t know if you need any medical assistance or he’s just dreaming. But it makes you laugh. The cute, dumb look on his face as he stands there, gaping at you like a fish.

It wasn’t like it was new information. You did enjoy his company the most. He was very quiet and by no means were you either, but you have this habit of matching the energy of people you were with. So, it was almost relaxing and refreshing spending time with Giyuu. Though Giyuu is silent most of the time, he does in fact talk. At first it's about a mission he was on recently, if and most likely when he gets more comfortable with you, he’s talking a little more in depth about random things that are on his brain. It's endearing really. Or sometimes he’s just talking about things that he thinks you might like to know, random facts, and so on.

But sometimes you do the talking and he likes that too. You could talk for hours and he could listen to every word you have to say. He would soak it up like a sponge as you focus your eyes on the crochet hooks weaving in front of you. Your voice is quiet and nice, soft and warm sounding.

This typically happens when you visit his estate. And you visit his estate a lot. Maybe Giyuu was a little disappointed that you weren’t staying with him, but he knows that he shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds. He’s lucky enough to see you this much, as much as he's lucky to see you at all. He can’t be too mad though. Mitsuri has jumped you the first moment she got when the Master had brought up your living arrangements. You had nowhere to go. And honestly, Giyuu may have been a little relieved that Mitsuri of all people had gotten to you first.

He really wouldn’t have minded if it had been Rengoku or Gyomei. For obvious reasons, Rengoku would be happy to have him stopped by and probably Gyomei too, because it seems like they don’t have a bone to pick with him. Honestly speaking, he wouldn’t have minded Muichiro either, though the boy would have probably forgotten your existence within the day. But any of the others, the thought made his skin crawl for plenty of reasons. Maybe it was because it would have become a hassle, or he would be harassed every time he went to visit you. Yes, it does seem on par with him that might just avoid you so you don’t get verbally assaulted like he does if you were to associate with him. But he was a lonely, pathetic man who was enamored with you at first glance the minute you showed up out of nowhere and he couldn’t help but thank the heavens that the stars had aligned so nicely for him – even if he felt he didn’t deserve it.

His only issue with the arrangement was Obanai. The man had almost butchered him on numerous occasions just for showing up to the Love estate. Even if he wasn’t there for Mitsuri, the Serpent Hashira didn’t seem to care. Maybe it was funny the first few times – it actually wasn’t – but you really couldn’t keep your mouth shut anymore. Obanai was wearing you thin with his commentary. Everytime Giyuu was around, it was like the others just couldn’t help themselves by making a comment insulting the man. Maybe it was because you didn’t want to disrespect a Hashira, especially if four of them were in the room with you, but Giyuu was here to see you, and it was almost like insulting Giyuu was an insult to you for wanting to spend time with him.

Mitsuri was okay with Giyuu coming to visit you, she actually encouraged it. So watching Mitsuri stand behind you while you gave Iguro a piece of your mind was something Giyuu didn’t know he needed to see until then. And maybe he did allow himself to feel a little selfish and smile mentally. He still remembers how Iguro had this look of disdain on his face, simultaneously looking like a scolded child and embarrassed because this was happening in front of Mitsuri.

Giyuu wondered if you caught the look that Obanai and Kaburamaru were giving you – if looks could kill and all that – but that was stupid. You most certainly did and just didn’t care enough. And Giyuu also wonders just what kind of sorcery you have, because he did hear you mention Sanemi by name at some point and now he's not bothering him as much, especially when you are around.

It wasn’t like he could do anything about it, not like he had ever done anything about it in the past. He never really had the heart to correct anyone in their assumptions of him, he never really thought he had to. Though, that mainly was because he thought he deserved such mistreatment. Regardless, it didn’t matter how he felt about it and himself. If you enjoyed his company that much to defend him, he was going to provide as much of it as you wanted. But there was something about it that made his heart swell a little bit bigger and flooded him with enough warmth that you could have mistaken it as him having a fever.

Now here the two of you were, sitting outside the Water Estate. You both had taken your places by the koi pond Giyuu has. It's so calm and cool. The soft moving of water could be heard every time the wind blew just enough, as well as the sharp sound of water splashing because some fish got too close to the surface.

Giyuu isn’t losing himself as he stares at the pond, watching the fish move around. He finds himself mesmerized though, as you talk. It’s nice, as usual. He likes how you talk and the way you talk. He could listen to you for hours and never get tired of hearing you. And he knows that if he glances at you now, even briefly, he wouldn’t be able to look away. You just look so… wonderful. It makes him dizzy. But he has such a weak will to do so, and now he's staring at you. Eyes soft and relaxed. He has never felt so content.

Giyuu doesn’t know if he realizes what kind of situation he is in. Or maybe he does. Maybe he’s finally realizing just how much of an effect you have on him. He likes you. He likes you beyond anything in the world. He loves you and everything about you.

You don't notice him staring. You’re too busy weaving the crochet hook in and out of your craft. You make it look so effortless. So enjoyable. And you seem so happy crocheting away as you speak. The way you talk and do it at the same time, you're so smart. You have to be. And Giyuu can’t help but hope you don’t look up. You’re as mesmerized with your work as he is with you. He would die though, if you caught him. The thought makes him sweat almost, being so close to you like this. His hands are clammy, and he's never been this nervous.

Yeah, he definitely has it bad for you. And for the first time in a while, even despite his nerves, he found the corners of his lips curling upwards, in a soft and timid smile. He averts his eyes, almost to gather his bearings, but that isn't enough. The subtle flush creeping onto his cheeks betrayed him. But he couldn’t be more delighted.

thank you for reading !! ૮₍˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶₎ა

[solifloris]

≡;-꒰ 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐁 ꒱₊˚ ପ⊹ I  𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔

╰┈➤ ❝ caleb x afab!reader | smut nsfw 18+ mdni | kinktober '24 day 10

tags : porn with some plot, porn with feelings, newly-established relationship, oral fixation, nipple play, softdom!caleb, flat-chested!reader, slight insecurities about being flat-chested, silly bickering, drinking mention (but no one gets drunk), kissing and making out, body worship (ish?), masturbation (f), dry humping, use of pet names "pipsqueak" "baby" “princess”. lmk if i missed any tags !!

wc : 5.4k (whoops!)

an : i had a lot a loottt of fun with this and also i know this is super super overdue, but~ a req for @anxiousgoddest !! bc flat is justice <3 (tysm for waiting patiently !!!)

taglist : @interstellar-inn @pixelcafe-network @hunters-association @darlingdummycassandra @milkandstarlight @thoupenguinman @valyvinny @rafayelsheart @jellyroom2 @chemiru @ywnzn @pepprrmint @angel-jupiter @theanbitchless (SIGN UP HERE)

AO3 / KINKTOBER MASTERLIST / KO-FI JAR / COMMISSIONS

Wherein a game of truth or dare leads you to take the next step in your relationship, and Caleb proves to you just how much he loves you.

"And you have to give me the recipe! How could you have kept this from me the entire time?!"

Scrambled, frantic noises scattered around by the doorway, and you chuckled as you helped Tara gather and put her shoes on. It was a usual scene, and she was still rambling on like she often did. "It's not my recipe, Tara," you rolled your eyes playfully.

“Yeah, but, come on!! Hiding a whole master chef in your bedroom—”

“Tara!!!”

Despite the mortification clear in your eyes, beside you, Caleb rolled his eyes and let out a snort of laughter. “Yeah, yeah, alright, point taken,” he placed a hand over her shoulder. With a raised eyebrow, he shuffled her out. “Sor-ry, but a secret stays a secret! At least, hey, you can just come over next time, right?"

Effectively, it seemed to placate her curiosity just a little bit. Just enough.

You watched the sparkle in her eyes seemingly grow to be more obvious, as she clasped her hands together and said—"Oooh! An invite? I could never turn that down! That’s a promise, Caleb!"

And your eyes softened at the playful banter.

Tonight had been the first time that Caleb had officially met Tara and your other Hunter friends, and you appreciated how naturally he got along with them. He might have owed it to his easy going personality, you thought, but it meant a lot to you knowing he could be just as good friends with them as you were. For all that Caleb wasn't around as often as you wished he would be, the little mutual connections made you happy.

In fact, Tara was even the last one to leave your little gathering, having stayed back a little bit for a second helping of Caleb's cooking. You couldn't blame her, of course—you would’ve stayed back for it, too! But it was amusing to know that she had certainly taken to expressing her approval of your relationship with him, enough to playfully demand for his recipes. 

Because, in her words, "it's only right for the best friend to have access to them, too!"

The thought of it made you laugh.

Now, as night fell and she hurried to catch the last train home, you watched as she hopped out of your apartment with another cheerful wave. "Take care, Tara! See you tomorrow!"

Caleb shook his head as he watched her dash down the corridor of your apartment complex, and then softly closed the door.

For the first time that night, there was a peaceful blanket of momentary silence.

And then he turned to you, leaning against it.

"Sooooo," he began, grinning slyly.

You knew that look.

"Now, we have the place all to ourselves again... What're you up for?"

Grateful you were standing near the couch, you picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at his face. "Caleb!"

Naturally, he caught it with ease. "What!?" he laughed. "I didn't say anything, I didn’t even do anything! I was asking you what you wanna do!"

"Well, don't make that face then!"

You threatened to throw another pillow at him, holding it in your grasp. But Caleb only shook his head with a smile, and it was easy for him to stride over, grasp your hands above your head, and pry the pillow away from you. It was smooth, and there wasn't a single chance for you to resist as you allowed yourself to be enchanted by that look in his eyes. He stared at you like that for a moment, the soft smile on his face never leaving, his closeness still inevitably making your heart race.

And then he pulled away.

You watched him walk over to sit properly on the couch, and you wondered how he still had the audacity to pat the space beside him.

You made a face.

"C'mon," he sighed, rolling his eyes in slight amusement. "At least cuddle with me? We haven't had the day to ourselves yet, cut me some slack, pipsqueak."

In all honesty, you weren't opposed to the idea. It had been a tiring day, so full of socializing and work that relaxing in his arms was a proposal that was surely more than inviting. But your pride, always raised impossibly high in his presence, made it harder for you to give in. You were used to it, in a way. Having known him for nearly your entire life meant you've adapted to it all; the banter, the teasing, the playful competition you often had with each other... It was just odd to think otherwise.

Yet, over recent months, your relationship had progressed into something more.

Something that should have allowed you to submit to your own desires for more affection for him... Only to find out that old habits died hard.

Still, he opened his arms expectantly, and even you hadn't the heart to reject him like that.

Slowly, you walked over to settle beside him. It was natural, the way his arm draped around your shoulders, the way you would shift to lean against his chest. The smell of his cologne—one chosen deliberately, you noted, given that it was your favorite of his—provided a comfort that made you relax. And you wondered why you were really all that hesitant in the first place.

With a quiet sigh, you watched him reach over to take the remote from the table and then point it towards the TV.

"How about a movie?" he suggested.

And he looked down at you, his gaze gentle.

You figured, you could at least indulge him a little bit.

"Mmm... Maybe not a movie?" you started, softly.

"Tired? I get that. We can just go to bed if you—"

"No, that's not what I mean."

A silence followed.

You'd cut him off, but you looked away. You found that it was difficult to bring up the topic at all, even if you wanted to.

"Pipsqueak?"

This time, his voice was devoid of the usual teasing, softer than you were used to. He set the remote back down beside him, and used his hand to gently guide your chin upwards to look at him.

It was that look.

Warm, and gentle, and so full of adoration.

The look that would always give you butterflies.

A little pout formed on your lips.

"Don't look at me like that..."

In response, he laughed, moving ever so closely, lips only a few inches from yours. "Hm? Like what, pipsqueak?"

You weren't having whatever game of catch he was playing with you, and you clicked your tongue. With a quick, light kiss on his lips—basking for a moment in the shock that spread across his features—you turned back away and crossed your arms.

"Like... Whatever it is that you're doing!" you huffed. "You don't know half the thoughts I have in my head because of you!"

"Yeah? C'mon. Try me."

Another pillow thrown unsuccessfully at his face—one that he caught with frustrating ease—and another laugh escaped his lips. It was one that gave you more butterflies than you'd have liked to admit.

Yet, be it the fact that he'd known you for nearly his entire life, his expression softened again. As if he knew to stop teasing; as if he knew there was something you wanted to talk about.

"Hey. Talk to me, princess."

Princess.

Not pipsqueak, not even your name—a nickname he reserved for the softer, more intimate moments you shared. A nickname you've only ever heard so lovingly from his own lips… a nickname for you.

Your eyes closed.

"Just… I've been thinking," you started, quietly, slowly, as if gathering your thoughts. "I mean, I don't know if now is the time and place for it, I was just..."

When your voice trailed off, he was quick to place a reassuring hand over yours, the warmth of it a comfort that was enough to get you to continue.

You cleared your throat, and tried again.

"Could we... Go further, do you think?"

The silence that followed this time was deafening.

For a moment neither of you seemed to speak, and you couldn’t dare bring yourself to meet his gaze.

“... I’m sorry. Forget I brought that up. We can just cuddle and put on Howl’s Moving Castl—”

“Hey, no, we could.”

Caleb interrupted you before you could bother to do whatever damage control was even possible at that point, and your words remained stuck in your throat. You were hyper aware of his presence next to you, his arms wrapped around your shoulders, and in light of what you’d said, it almost seemed too much. The moment he brought his other hand to rest on your thigh, you nearly could have jumped. 

Perhaps your jumpiness was something he had sensed, too.

“Look at me?” he spoke softly, giving your thigh a gentle squeeze. One of reassurance; one that you recognized.

And when you did meet his gaze, he shook his head with a smile.

“We could, princess, but only if you reallyyy want to.”

There was a very slight teasing lilt to his voice that you could just barely make out, and his eyebrow raised.

Of course, Caleb was Caleb.

He knew you too well.

“Sooo?” he flicked your forehead. “What’s the holdup, pipsqueak? That’s what you said, but… Seems like you aren’t sure you want it, either. What’s got this on your mind today? Talk to me.”

Ah…

You smiled wryly at him, a sigh of what appeared to be defeat escaping your lips. And instead of answering immediately, you allowed yourself to fall back against him, eyes closing for a little moment.

“...It’s awkward, huh?” you mumbled.

He didn’t quite reply, but he let out a hum for you to continue.

“Just… This whole thing. Like, I’ll admit it, I think about it. A lot, actually. It’s just… I don’t know how to cross the line without feeling like I’m ruining things between us.”

“So… You think about it? Really? Does it get you all w—”

A pillow to his face.

That teasing grin you knew all too well was plastered back on for you to see, and the sound of his laughter filled the living room.

“That’s not the point!” you protested. “I said all that I did, and that’s what you focus on?!”

“I was kidding! I was kidding! I swear!”

Still laughing, he had enough decency to raise his hands into the air, allowing you a free, unobstructed hit with the pillow you still wielded.

Satisfactory enough.

Your shoulders relaxed, finding familiarity in your childish banter, and the pillow rested back on your lap.

“Okay, but real talk…” He settled back beside you, giving you a little nudge. “It’s not just you. I think about it, too. And I want it, so I think… we could ease into it, y’know? Doesn’t have to be all at once, we can take our time.”

“Yeah, but… how? We make out all the time, but it’s not like it’s all that easy to just… go from there…”

He thought for a moment.

A brief silence passed yet again, and you peered at him curiously, before he spoke again.

“How ‘bout… Truth or dare?”

When he met your gaze, his head tilted sideways. Naturally, there was a playfulness to his voice that was almost always just there, but the seriousness in the way he looked at you compelled you to believe he wasn’t joking.

“Truth or… dare?” you furrowed your brows.

He shrugged.

“Yeah, s’fine, right? We get to be honest with each other about what we feel on the topic, and, you know… there’s also the aspect of dares bein’ there, and all…”

He had a point.

But if you were going to be honest enough with whatever answers you were going to give, and if you were going to build the courage to do whatever dares you had to do…

You stood up, and Caleb watched you quizzically as you walked over to the kitchen to get a single bottle of soju from the fridge.

“Wh— Hey, c’mon! Really? Do you need that?! Aren’t we doing this sober?!”

You rolled your eyes at the astonished expression on his face, setting down two shot glasses and the bottle before resuming your position cross legged on the couch. Your trusty pillow was nestled neatly back over your lap. “Oh, whatever. Not like we drank anything today anyway, and before I drink, I’m giving you my consent. I do want this, I just, you know… need a little push, that’s all. I’m not about to get myself drunk, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The doubt in his eyes seemed placated, and after a moment, he sighed and reached out to pour both of you a shot.

“Okay, alright, fine. Then… Rules?”

“Mmm… Three truths and three dares at a time. If you run out of truths, you have to do a dare next, and vice versa. Fair, right?”

You spoke before downing your first shot of alcohol, allowing yourself to savor the sensation with a momentary close of your eyes and a little sigh.

Across from you, you heard Caleb let out another one of his chuckles.

“Okay, okay… Fair's fair. Sooo… Since you drank just now, let's start with you. Truth or dare, princess?”

The question made you pause.

It was as if the reality had dawned on you, that you were really, truly doing this, and it took a moment before you could answer him—eyes fixed onto the pillow on your lap, a small frown on your face.

“Baby, if you don't want to pl—”

“Truth.”

At this point, you maybe regretted a little bit of the rule you’d imposed.

You reached out to pour another glass of alcohol, but Caleb’s hand shot out to grab your wrist.

He gave you a pointed look.

“Alright, c’mon. Drink later. You literally just had a shot. I’ll go easy on you, relax!” His hand gave you a little squeeze as if to prove a point, and then only after you had huffed and settled back in your seat did he give you your question.

“Okay… So what do you think of me?”

A simple enough question.

He was right; he did go easy on you.

But your frowned and crosses your arms, opening your mouth to speak—

“Like, really think of me, princess. C'mon, you know why we're playing this.”

The smirk that tugged on the corner of his lips proved that he knew exactly the type of answer you were about to give him, and you rolled your eyes.

Caleb was Caleb. He did, in fact, know you very well.

So you took a moment, mulling it over—because simple as the question was, the answer itself was far from it.

You thought many things about him.

That he was annoying.

That he was a tease.

That he could very easily get on your nerves, but that he could—just as easily—soothe them.

He was fun. Kind. Easygoing. Comforting.

He was reliable, dependable, protective, a little bit of a worrywart with you… But he was gentle. He was sweet. Loving, and caring—he knew you best. Every little tell, every little habit… Everything about you. And that was one of the reasons that you were drawn to him; always have been drawn to him.

You let out a slow breath.

Because you realized that at the root of all of these things… there was love. There was trust. 

“I think… I could trust you,” you mumbled. “I think that even if it's a little scary trying to navigate this whole relationship that we have right now… You've always been nothing but caring towards me. So, I trust you. I trust us. And—”

A wry smile played at your lips as you raised your eyes to look back at him.

“And I think you're handsome. Because I know you want me to say that, and, like, fuck it, fine. You're hot. It's true.”

“Oh, yeah? Do I make you feel ho—”

“Caleb!” You raised your pillow in warning, and he laughed, shaking his head.

“You’re so easy to rile up, pipsqueak. Geez… Never change.”

For good measure, you hit him again anyway, before crossing your arms once more and giving him a pointed look. “Truth or dare?”

“...Truth.”

His answer came after a period of silence. But this was a question you didn't need to think of.

“You said earlier that you've thought about this, too… What… What have you thought about?”

It seemed as if your question had come as a surprise to him, and you took delight in the way that his eyes had widened.

“Huh—well— Well, of this, right? Of… of you,” he said slowly. And he had every opportunity to take this question to goof around, but he averted his gaze, a slight action that gave you reassurance he was taking this just as seriously. “The most we've ever done was just… kiss. So, sometimes I think about other things. Like maybe how you'd look underneath all that, or the faces you'd make, the sounds you'd make, how you'd feel…”

There was somewhat of a bashfulness in the way that he spoke this time, not deliberately teasing you, but clearly wanting to give an honest answer. He ran his fingers through his hair, before he sighed. “Since we’re bein’ honest, I’ll also say I think about those a lot when you dress up a little. If you find me attractive, then it’s the same for me of you, y'know? But I've been tryin’ to wait it out ‘til you brought up the topic, so…”

Your cheeks grew warmer the more that he spoke, and with a huff, you, too, averted your gaze. “Geez, shut up…”

“You asked me that question!”

“Yeah, but I was just— you know…! I mean, I was curious how far your thoughts went!”

He scoffed. “Truth or dare, pipsqueak?”

“Truth!”

You answered really without thinking, and then immediately paled with the realization that you had one more truth left.

With a groan, you reached for the bottle. “Hold,” you muttered. You took a second to take your second shot, before motioning for Caleb to continue. “Hit me.”

This time, he smirked.

“When was the last time you touched yourself?”

Your jaw dropped.

“Wha—what?!”

“What, what! You asked me that, so of course I'll step it up!”

“You menace—” You shot him a glare, but it wasn't as if you were upset about it. Instead, with a bright red coloring the tips of your ears, you turned your head away.

“Two nights ago,” you mumbled. “Before you got home.”

“Whoa, so not too long ago, huh? Aww, princess… what were you thinking of?”

His words didn't at all help the flush that spread on your face.

“Wh—hey! No double-asking! Or triple-asking, for that matter!”

“But obviously it's me, right? Did you miss me that much, baby? Didn't know you got so needy in my absen—”

“Oh, shut up! Like, when was the last time you jerked off, anyway?!”

He smirked.

“No double-asking~”

You groaned as you kicked at him with your legs. “Fine! Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Caleb was a lot bolder than you.

There was little need for him to hide behind the ‘truth’ option, and it surprised you little to hear him, this time, choose otherwise.

Yet it was just as much of a test for you as it was for him.

Because what did you want from him?

You knew the answer to that, in a sense—you wanted a lot. But desire was a difficult thing to navigate. And just like it had been difficult for you to answer your first question in a way that was coherent, it was just as difficult for you to think of this. 

As you looked him over in thought, there was that nagging feeling within you that so desperately wished you wouldn’t be so awkward about it.

“I dare…” you fiddled with your hands, trying to search his eyes as if the answer would be written on there. “I dare you to make the first move.”

Your gaze fell back to your lap.

“And, truth,” you added, “because the truth is that I don't know how to, and I have to be a little pathetic and hide behind a game like this even though I can't bear to keep waiting any longer when I want you so goddamn badly, so—”

He wouldn't give you a chance to complete it.

Immediately, a pair of lips crashed onto yours, and your eyes widened. Words were immediately swallowed back into your throat. You felt yourself pushed back against the couch; his fingers found themselves in your hair, lips coaxing at yours to relax with him. This feeling… You knew it by heart. Familiar, while simultaneously not. Gentle, but at the same time… desperate. And for the first time that night, you really, truly realized, that this was something he wanted just as badly as you did.

Slowly, your arms snaked around his waist, breathing a little heavy when he pulled back.

“...That was your turn just now, right?” he mumbled. His forehead pressed against yours, hand moving from your hair down to cradle the side of your face. “So it's my turn again. Gimme another dare.”

Your breath hitched.

He was doing this on purpose.

Allowing you to ask of him what you wanted, allowing you to dictate the pace of this moment—because he knew that he would follow through with it.

It was you, after all.

And for all the times that you've felt loved, and cared for, and prized, with him…

You felt seen.

You looked into his eyes, all sunset-colored and real, full of warmth and kindness and all these things that you have always, always felt with him… You could melt like this. He wasn't teasing you this time. He was being genuine.

You wanted him to feel seen, too.

“What do you want?” you whispered back.

He let out a soft laugh through his nose.

“Nah, this isn't truth, pipsqueak. You're supposed to give me a dare, right?”

“But… What if I wanted you to act on your desires?” Your hand moved up his back to rest around his neck, leaning up slightly to nuzzle against his nose. “I know what you're doing. And it's working, by the way, so thanks. But… If you're okay with taking whatever dare I throw your way… Then I'm okay with whatever you decide to throw my way.”

“Baby…”

“We're still playing? Then I dare you to show me what you want from me.”

Slowly, he shook his head.

“Sure but… I don't want from you, princess. I want you. This isn't give or take. It's just…” He closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a soft sigh. “It's just me wanting to love you.”

He leaned in again, pulling you in for another kiss. It was a quicker one this time, but not any less tender and not any less sweet than his kisses usually were with you. He pulled back with a little pull on your lower lip, before shifting towards your jawline.

“Caleb…”

Tiny little fluttering kisses, and his head dipped, nuzzling against your neck.

“...Your shirt,” he mumbled. “It's your dare, right? Are we cool with taking this off?”

At his words, your cheeks flushed—suddenly, the realization that you had never gone this far felt more real than ever.

As if sensing your hesitation, his head lifted, and he looked at you carefully. “Too far? Wanna backtrack?”

You shook your head.

It was just like him to prioritize you still.

“No, just, mmh… You've never, you know… Seen me naked or anything before…” You reached out to run your hands through his hair.

“Shy?” he murmured.

“...Yeah. A little.”

“S’no need to be, pipsqueak. Hey, we were honest earlier, right? You're real beautiful. I already know that. I don't need to see what's underneath your clothes to believe it.”

“I know, I know… Just, I dunno… Be nice, or something? Ah… I think I'm just nervous.”

He smiled.

There was a tiny, light flick at your forehead, and he rolled his eyes playfully. “Did ya think I'd be mean?! Hey, c'mon. Is there something you're not telling me?”

It was your turn to smile, because hell.

He had proven time and time again how you couldn't possibly hide anything from him.

With a playful huff of indignance, you reached down to lift up your shirt, ever so slightly. “I'm not hiding anything. I was only… Well, it's just. It's not like… It's not like they're big, or anything. Not my favorite thing in the world to show off…”

He stopped you.

“You're worried I'll be turned off? I could never.”

“I know that! It was just a silly thought. Feels like guys tend to prefer it when we aren't flat-chested, so I was only—”

“Princess.”

“What?”

“So, I'm gonna take you up on your offer… And I'm going to, maybe, have my way with you just a little bit.”

You blinked.

“Huh? Where's this coming from?”

“Just—hey, there is nothing wrong with having a small chest, and hell if I'll have to prove it to you.”

“That's— that's not— It’s fine, you don’t need to—”

He tugged at your shirt, eyebrow raised as he began to lift it up. “Nuh-uh, I'm gonna spoil you today. You are going to lay back and be a little princess for me. Sound fair?”

It was near comical how insistent he was about it, and with another roll of your eyes, you raised your hands in mock surrender. “Geez! What, has this always been like, a fantasy of yours or something? Help yourself, I guess.”

Yet you couldn't keep the smile off your face.

In seconds, your shirt was lifted off of you, your bra following suit, both placed somewhere else on the couch. And his eyes raked over your figure.

“God… You're beautiful. Seriously. You've nothing to worry about, nothing at all.” His voice became lower, breathier. The sound of it was enough proof to you of what the sight of your breasts was doing to him. And the moment that his hands moved to hold them, your eyes followed the trail of his fingers, the sheer difference in size as he held you making you swallow thickly.

His touch was searing.

Despite the way that he would gently knead at your flesh, you couldn't help but squirm beneath him. Almost pathetically, you could see the way your nipples pebbled with the slightest touch, leaving nothing of your arousal to his imagination.

But you could tell that he was only just beginning.

A low, barely-audible groan could be heard from his throat.

And within the next few seconds, he edged closer and closer—his fingertip grazed ever so close to your nipples, but not quite touching. A tease, as he ever was, he would circle around and around, the sensation just barely there. And then he would move away. Back to holding you, massaging your little mounds, giving you a little squeeze.

When your eyes met, there was that damn smirk back on his face.

“Feeling good?”

He looked satisfied with himself, and he had every reason to be.

Your cheeks were bright red, lips parted. Every so often a wordless gasp would escape from your lips—maybe his fingers would get a little too close, the tingling feeling shooting straight through your core and having your body jump almost as if an involuntary response.

And then you felt it.

All the while maintaining eye-contact, you let out a whimper as he flicked the pad of his finger over your bud. 

“H-h—nn—!”

You could lose it.

Every little tease had you feeling more sensitive than you ever thought you could get, and yet, here he was; your nipples between his fingers, rolling it real slowly, feeling you up in a manner of both worship and playfulness that only he could truly pull off.

He tugged on them just a little bit to give you that jolt of pleasure, and you arched.

The sensation a welcome shock, your eyes widened.

“C-Caleb—?!”

“Hm? Oh… So y’like it like that, huh?”

He was fascinated.

He trained them to his touch, every rub, every pull, every slightest touch having you writhing beneath him.

“D'you think… Can you… cum like this?”

He didn't give you a second to answer.

It was as if he was insistent on making that happen. Immediately his warm lips were on your chest, burning through your flesh in a way that felt nearly all-encompassing; a heat higher than his touch, you felt almost as if he could devour you.

Yet aside from the pleasure, you could tell that this was more than that.

This was the extent of his desires, and the extent of his love.

The way he would fondle you with such adoration could have burned you, strong hands snaking down your body before holding you in place, tonguing over your nipples.

He licked, and sucked, and lapped, clearly never even wanting to pull away anymore, and the slick between your thighs was undeniable.

And again, for all the times that you've felt loved, and cared for, and prized, with him…

You felt seen.

That was what his love was like.

That even in the midst of something so lewd, with wet, embarrassing sucking noises filling the room… Somehow, some way, you felt loved.

To be loved is to be seen.

How odd, you thought, that in this moment you couldn't possibly think of a better way to describe the way he made you feel.

In this moment, all your moans and whimpers began to fall from your lips more freely, and you nearly choked at the feeling of him rutting against your thigh, the bulge in his pants more than obvious to you.

There was something so arousing about the fact that he'd gotten undeniably hard from this.

You couldn't help yourself anymore.

“Caleb… Cale—hng—Caleb—! F-feels good…!” 

Your hand snaked down, desperately pushing down your pants. Every suckle at your flesh spurred you on further, fingers dipping right into your head with a wet squelch, and he groaned.

Having resorted to leaving open-mouthed kisses and barely-contained licks all over your chest, his hips moved faster, rubbing against you, chasing a friction. Your hands matched the pace—thrusting in and out, your own eyes closed at the overwhelming pleasure you were feeling.

“Shit, holy shit, baby,” he hissed.

You caught his gaze travel down to the hand between your legs, panties pushed messily to the side as your sopping wet cunt took every thrust of self-pleasure.

In the next moment his lips were back on your perky, swollen little nub—

And you are gone.

It was so easy.

Your release crashed over with a cry from your throat, hips spasming, mouth held open, head thrown back in pure pleasure.

Caleb wouldn't stop.

There was an air of desperation in his movements, and your free hand flew to his hair, the other sliding your fingers out of your pussy to claw at the couch—”Caleb!” you cried again.

You tugged at his hair.

One last suck before he came, sticky mess ruining his sweatpants, seeping a little bit onto the skin of your thigh.

You groaned, falling back against the couch.

“You… My god… I can't believe you…!” you huffed. Your chest heaved, and your words, your tone, carried very little—if at all—genuine reprimand. He knew that, probably. Because instead of replying, his mouth was back on yours, stealing your breath away like it was so easy for him to do, before you felt him pull back.

This time, he sat up.

“You're fucking amazing,” he muttered.

He wiped a little bit of excess drool from his face, and shook his head. “Just—holy shit, princess. I don't think I can ever get enough of you.”

A pause.

You caught your breath, before reaching for the collar of his shirt and yanking him back down.

“Then don't.”

You weren't quite sure if it was the adrenaline from all of this, or the little bit of alcohol coursing in your veins, or just the fact that you had done this, that made you feel a little… bold.

Your eyes locked with his, taking in the bewilderment, the shocked silence.

You smiled.

“I said I trust you, right? Don't hold back, Caleb. I dare you not to.”

© rose-tinted-kalopsia. all rights reserved. do not: steal, copy, repost, reupload, modify, or claim any of my works as your own, regardless of credit given. absolutely do not use my works for AI training and other related purposes.

[mingis-orangejuice]

How do the OG love interests react to you with Sylus?

*a/n: Hi guys this is my first headcanon so please be nice :) In this none of them are officially dating MC but it's pretty obvious that they all have feelings for her. Also, it takes place at a work event for MC and I know technically in the main story there's no way Sylus would be allowed into a hunter’s association event, but I couldn't think of any other type of event where they would all happen to be at the same time. Either way, this is just for fun so it doesn't really need to make sense.

Genres/Warnings: fem!reader, nothing to really worry about, this is just some good old-fashioned fluff/crack. Some jealousy tho

An award ceremony was coming up at Unicorns to award the best hunters at the company, You were surprised when Captain Jenna told you that you’d been nominated for a few categories like most wanderers eliminated in a single mission and even Hunter of the Year, but since you were a rookie hunter you didn't think you’d win any of them, still, it was nice to be included, especially since you were one of the only rookies to be nominated.

That evening you got a call from Sylus congratulating you on your nominations. 

“How did you even know I’d been nominated” you asked. 

“Mephisto informed me,” he said with a small chuckle

“Oh so you have him monitoring me at work now?” you questioned, slightly annoyed.

“He was simply in Linkon doing some business for me, is it my fault that he happened to pass by your office on the way back to the base?” Sylus sarcastically asked, you could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

“Anyways, I wanted to ask you, have you decided on what you’re going to wear to the award ceremony yet? 

“Yeah, why?” you were suspicious of his sudden interest in your fashion choices.

“Good, come over to the base I want to see it,” he said flatly

“Why?” you were even more suspicious of his motives now. 

“Well, we’ll need to match if I'm going to be on the arm of the Hunter of the Year right?” *click*

Sylus didn’t even wait for you to reply and just hung up, almost like he knew you’d come over anyway so he didn’t need confirmation. He was right. Somehow he had not-so-subtly invited himself to your award show as your plus-one.

As you walk into the banquet hall, arms linked, you see a familiar face in the crowd…

Zayne: 

-Zayne would be a little bothered but would hide it by asking Sylus a million questions. about how he knows you, when he met you and how long have you and him been friends.

-He would make sure to emphasize the word “Friends” to know for sure if you two were dating

-his logic is if you and Sylus are dating, one of you would correct him, but if you are indeed just friends you wouldn’t say anything.

-to his relief, you  didn't correct him

-Sylus would sense the fact that Zayne probably has some type of close relationship with you too so he’d pull you a little closer by your waist as he proceeds to ask Zayne his own series of questions about how he knows you.

-Zayne would be satisfied after the conversation and excuse himself to go find his seat.

-even tho he was relieved that you weren’t dating Sylus he’d still glance over at you every few minutes because he couldn’t put his finger on it but he has a hunch that Sylus might be bad news and he wants to make sure you’re safe.

-Sylus would keep his hand on your waist the whole night because even tho you didn’t notice Zayne’s glances Sylus sure did.

-Overall while Zayne wouldn’t like the fact that you came to the ceremony with another man (especially since you didn’t even think to invite him) he’d respect your choices and leave you be (mostly)

Rafayel:

-He’d be the most openly bothered by it.

-the second he sees you walk in he runs up to you, ready to playfully scold you for not inviting him and that he had to find out about the event from Thomas, so he thought he’d invite himself. He told the person at the door that he was your plus one (he also slipped them a $100 bill)

-as he ran up to you his smile faded as he saw your arm linked with another man that wasn’t him

-oh so this is why you didn’t invite him

- He would greet you with a long hug hoping to make Sylus Jealous 

-he would instantly turn on his best customer service voice when greeting Sylus to try and hide how hurt he is that you invited some random guy instead of him

- but that would quickly fade once Sylus starts answering his long list of questions he just has to ask to make sure this random not important guy that you invited instead of him was worthy of being your plus one.

-Rafayel takes every answer as a challenge to try and one-up Sylus

-if Sylus mentioned that he took you to a fancy Italian restaurant in Linkon City last week, Rafayel would mention how he took you to a real Italian restaurant in Italy last month, (or at least how he wanted to but you were busy with work and couldn’t just drop everything and join him in Italy)

-if Sylus said he bought you the dress that you’re wearing, Rafayel would remind you of the time he bought you a cute mermaid-themed hoodie which is actually your favourite and you use it all the time, therefor it’s more important than a dress that you’ll only wear once

-while Rafayel was getting worked up trying to keep up with Sylus. Sylus kept his calm demeanour the whole conversation, he noticed that the calmer he was the more annoyed Rafayel would get and he found it amusing. 

-Rafayel would constantly text you throughout the night to check on you even though you were sitting only 1 table away.

-Sylus took note of this and would purposefully do things like put his arm around your shoulder or wipe the food off your lips to get Rafayel to frantically text you making sure you’re ok, and ask if you want to switch seats and come sit next to him where you won't have a random guy constantly touching you.

-overall he will be suuuuper jealous and will make it very obvious (even though in his mind he thinks he was being subtle) 

Xavier:

-I think he’d be extremely bothered but he'd be way better at hiding it than Rafayel

-like the others he’d also have a few questions for him about what his relationship with you is but he would very casually drop them into a normal conversation

-he, much like the others stared at you the whole night, but only just to make sure you were ok, definitely not because he was jealous or anything. You’re his co-worker and friend so he feels responsible if anything happens to you.

-he would try and do a background check on him during the event on his hunter's watch but nothing came up, since Sylus obviously didn’t tell Xavier who he really was. 

-this made Xavier even more worried, who is MC really sitting with, how is she so calm and why would he give him fake info, just what is he trying to hide? 

-he was so focused on staring at you and Sylus that he didn't even notice that he downed 3 full plates of finger foods, every time the waiters would pass by he would unconsciously grab the plates out of their hands and bitterly eat while staring, almost like he’s in a trance.

-once you guys get to the apartment building and the adrenalin wears off he’ll notice that his stomach is in so much pain from all the food he unknowingly ate while staring at you and Sylus.

-he nearly collapses in the elevator on the way to your apartments, so you decide to invite yourself over to his and take care of him

- he may be in tons of pain right now but at least he gets you all to himself 

*Please do not reupload anywhere this is my original work

[lilmoonbunny]

Denial; Mycroft Holmes

Mycroft only seeked you out to deduce you (aka, how Mycroft realised he liked you).

John and Sherlock were, without a doubt, the loudest neighbours that Y/N had ever had.

Gunshots at God only knows what hour, constant stabbing, banging, and so on. Despite this, she still considered them dear friends and the best neighbours that she had ever had. Sure, they were weird and loud, but they were also kind and genuine, at least for the most part. Alongside this, they also appreciated her baking, especially after long cases.

A gentle knock sounded on the door the 221B catching the attention of three people.

“You can come in, Y/N,” Sherlock called from behind the door, greeting the woman with a nod before turning his attention back to Mycroft whilst John smiled at her.

“Hi, Sherly. Hi, John.” She smiled at the two friends before turning to the older Holmes brother. “Hi, Mr Holmes.” Y/N greeted him with a smile. Although she hadn’t met him before, it wasn’t difficult to deduce who he was; the expensive suit and the fact Sherlock was glaring at him gave it away.

“Sherly?” Mycroft spat, grimacing at the nickname given to his brother. “Who on Earth would you let call you that?” He asked.

“This is Y/N, our neighbour. What have you brought for us today? I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” The sweet smile Sherlock gave to the woman made Mycroft feel ill. He had no clue who this woman was and absolutely no idea why they seemed to be this close.

“Chocolate cake, sugar cookies, and love.” She joked, beginning to laugh at the way Mycroft audibly gagged. “I’m only kidding. No love.”

“I should certainly hope not,” came Mycroft’s response, one which simply made her laugh again.

“Are you jealous, Mycroft?”

“Because of the cake, he is.” Sherlock interrupted, waving Myrcoft off. “No, I won’t take the case. You can leave now.”

“This is an urgent matter, brother mine.”

“Don’t care.”

With a groan and a roll of his eyes, Mycroft lifted himself to his feet and prepared to leave.

“I’ll leave these with you, just in case you change your mind. Goodbye brother mine. John.” The hesitation was obvious on Mycroft’s face, despite how well he typically hid his emotions, as he faced Y/N.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr Holmes.” Y/N smiled sweetly, earning a simple nod from him before he left.

Sherlock, who had leaned to grab the tub of baked goods from the woman’s hands, rolled his eyes as Mycroft left and immediately began to eat.

It wasn’t long until Y/N’s entire life had been researched.

There wasn’t much there. No criminal record, a few jobs, occasional moves, but no sign of her posing any danger to Sherlock and, by association, John. However, the way Mycroft felt upon seeing her was unusual, so he decided to do his own investigation.

“Morning, Mr Holmes,” he was greeted before he reached the empty counter. “Welcome to my bakery! Would you like anything?”

“Just a coffee, please. Black.” Mycroft nodded, not returning the smile she had given, despite the odd feeling it gave him. She was evil and he would prove it to Sherlock.

“Coming right up! Take a seat wherever you’d like, and I’ll bring it over.”

As Mycroft occupied a seat, he took a moment to properly assess the woman making his drink.

She didn’t seem threatening: a content smile on her lips as she prepared his coffee, humming a quiet tune that he barely picked up on. In fact, she didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all, but the feeling when he first saw her – a feeling Mycroft couldn’t explain – had him needing to investigate her further.

“Here you go, Mr Holmes.” Y/N said, placing a hot coffee and chocolate cake on the table in front of him. “Sherlock mentioned that you like cake, so I grabbed you some. It’s all on the house.”

“Why?”

With a small laugh, she responded without hesitation. “You’re Sherlock’s brother.”

How odd, Mycroft thought to himself. She doesn’t even know me and she’s giving me things for free…

Despite his thoughts, Mycroft simply nodded, watching as she took a seat opposite him. “I hope you don’t mind. It’s quiet today so I figured I’d try and keep you company the best I can. I’m sure you have better company than me, though.”

“I don’t mind,” he replied before even thinking. It was safe to say that he didn’t enjoy the way his chest felt whilst he watched her smile.

Maybe she’s a witch? No, don’t be stupid, Mycroft. They don’t exist.

“So,” Y/N’s voice broke the man from his thoughts. “It’s a funny story how me, Sherlock, and John met. I was actually working and Sherlock bursts in demanding to talk to me. My baking stuff had been found at a crime scene and he thought it was me!”

“How interesting.” Came Mycroft’s blunt reply, even if he was intrigued.

“You listened to it, so you must care, even just a little bit. I think that’s a win for me!”

Mycroft couldn’t help the tiniest smile that crawled onto his lips, but he internally prayed that nobody noticed it, especially her. She, however, seemed oblivious to the movement, simply staring over his shoulder and out of the window.

“Anyway, what was he like growing up? Was he like he is now? Blunt and rude?” Y/N asked with a giggle.

“He wasn’t, actually. He was rather sweet. He liked playing pretend with his friend; he always wanted a dog too.” Came Mycroft’s reply. “His favourite thing was pirates.” He said with a fond look in his eyes. Sherlock wasn’t going to be happy when he found out that he had told her, but he couldn’t resist answering her question.

Mycroft watched closely as the woman in front of him grinned, the bright and happy smile a nice contrast to what he was used to whilst working with the government. He couldn’t help but smile back, noting how her smile widened further as he did so.

“That’s sweet. I couldn’t imagine that, to be honest,”

It was time to ask the question that was on his mind. “Are you attracted to Sherlock?”

“Sherlock?” Y/N said, bursting into laughter. “No, absolutely not. He’s more like an annoying older brother. Same with John. We’re just friends, and, well, neighbours too.”

Confusion spread over Mycroft as she felt the weight on his shoulders lift at her words; she was telling the truth.

“How is she?” Sherlock asked the moment he answered the phone.

“How is who?” Mycroft’s voice sounded through the device.

“Y/N,”

“Why do you assume that I know?”

“It’s obvious you were there earlier.”

“…”

“Well, that and Mrs Hudson told us.”

“Of course she did.” Mycroft said with an involuntary roll of his eyes.

“So, how was it?”

“It was fine.”

“You like her then?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, you went to see her. It’s quite obvious, Mycroft. Come on, I thought you were smarter than that.”

Mycroft simply put the phone down.

He did not like her.

The next time that Mycroft came across Y/N was when it was raining.

He hadn’t wanted to seem ‘creepy’ by seeking her out again for more investigations and deductions, so he simply waited. She was friends with his brother, it wasn’t like their paths wouldn’t cross at some point. Besides, he didn’t want Sherlock to think that he liked her.

“Raining real bad tonight, isn’t it?” The driver spoke to Mycroft. He was new, so Mycroft couldn’t exactly blame him for attempting some type of conversation with him; it was still annoying, though.

Anthea, looking up from her phone was what caught Mycroft’s attention. “I feel bad for her.” She said, nodding towards a soaked woman. It only took Mycroft a moment to realise who it was.

“Pull over,” he stated bluntly, grabbing his umbrella. He simply ignored the look he was receiving from his assistant.

It had been a long day filled with rude customers, and to make it worse, it was raining, and she had forgotten her coat. Today couldn’t be going any worse for Y/N.

Shivering wildly and soaked to the core, Y/N huffed, watching the way her breath instantly evaporated; it was clearly below freezing, but she held out hope that the rain would stop and she would be home soon.

Her hope seemed to pay off, though, since she could no longer feel the rain. As she looked up at the sky, she spotted a familiar face.

“Mycroft?”

“Y/N.”

“What are you-“

“Get in.” He said, pointing towards the car before wordlessly leading her towards it, still holding the umbrella above her, even if he was getting wet.

“You don’t have to, Mycroft.” She said as he ushered her in and shut the door behind them both. “I mean, I’m soaking your car!”

Mycroft, who could feel the heat on his cheeks from their proximity, simply shook his head. He was too focused on the way her leg was pressed against his as she sat between him and Anthea who stared at her phone with a small smirk.

The ride was void of conversation, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, the only noise was that of Y/N shivering.

After a moment of hesitation, Mycroft shrugged off his jacket and handed her it. “Here.”

There was no chance of refusal, Mycroft wouldn’t allow it, so with a quiet ‘thanks’, Y/N popped the jacket over her shoulders. He just found the chattering of her teeth annoying, was what he told himself.

As they arrived at the flats, Mycroft followed her out of the car.

“Thank you, Mr Holmes.” She said as they stood on the door of her flat.

“Mycroft is fine, Y/N.”

“Thank you… Mycroft.” She said with a small smile before bidding him a goodnight.

“I see you gave her your jacket,” Was all Sherlock said as Mycroft entered 221B.

It was hard. Very hard. Harder than anything Y/N had ever experienced. Having a crush was not easy as it was, but having feelings for Mycroft Holmes was the hardest thing in the world: he rarely showed emotion, he was blunt, he was rude, but most importantly to her, deep down, he was nice.

A small sigh left Y/N’s lips as she worked on her latest batch of cookies for the morning. He was on her mind… again. It was a common occurrence by now.

“We’re not open yet, sorry!” She called over her shoulder at the sound of the door opening. As she turned around to see who it was and apologise again, a blush rushed to her cheeks. “Mycroft! What are you doing here?”

Mycroft stood there, umbrella in hand, and gave a simple shrug. “I was on my way to work so thought I would ‘pop in’ as people say.” He explained, earning a laugh from the baker.

“Modern phrases don’t suit you, Mycroft.” She teased.

With an amused shake of his head, Mycroft took a seat at the table nearest her.

“Want some cookies? They’re fresh out of the oven!”

Mycroft nodded with a grateful smile, always glad to have sweet treats. He would never turn down anyone’s desserts, least of all Y/N’s; not because he liked her and didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but because she was a good baker.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence, Mycroft gladly eating his cookies with an appreciative look whilst Y/N worked on her next batch. There was nothing awkward between them, and there, surprisingly, never had been.

“Are you not at work today?” Y/N broke the silence with a question that was bugging her. She could have sworn Mycroft had always worked this time over the months that she had known him.

Mycroft hesitated for a moment. He was supposed to be there right now but had decided to visit you before. It wasn’t like anyone could fire him for it, he was basically the British government, after all.

“Not yet,” he lied, and he was glad that he was a good liar.

“Oh, okay! I’m happy you came then. I don’t want to bother you.”

“You could never be a bother,” the words fell from his lips before he even registered what his thoughts, and he noticed the blush race up her cheeks, as did she with his.

“Thank you, Mycroft.”

As he stared at her and her rosy cheeks, a million thoughts went through his mind, but they were all related to one thing: her. It was in that moment that he realised the truth, he did like Y/N, and he had been attracted to her since the beginning; that was what he was feeling.

Oh dear…

[world-in-a-nook]

A call for warmth...

characters : Aventurine x gn/reader relationship : established relationship art : @miikanar (edited) synopsis : Aventurine calls you after a day on a buisness trip, he misses you deeply warnings : hurt/comfort, self-loathing, identity crisis, petnames (my love, my dear,honey), bantering wc : 1k60 nda : not my native language

It was one of those nights for you both: one away at home, the other on the work trip. Since you had gotten into a relationship with Aventurine, you knew it would mostly be long distanced. You never minded. After all, technology helped you cope, and he wasn’t the type to ignore your texts or calls. Speaking of which, while you were working, a notification appearing “Incoming call from My darling. Answer?”. You excused yourself to your colleagues and went outside, leaning on the wall before answering:

“Hello darling!”

A second, then two. You frown because he isn’t always that silent. Finally, he spoke in a slurred fashion that told you he was probably drunk:

“Good evening my love. How are you?”

“I’m good Aventurine. And you? I can hear that you’ve drank…”

“Is it that obvious?” The slight tease and hint of smile reassured you slightly.

“Yes, my love. You should go to bed. Isn’t it late on Salsotto?”

You could hear his steps on the carpeted floor as he whined on the other side:

“But I wanted to talk to you! And my goodnight kiss! And my hug!”

You can’t refrain a chuckle as you slowly sat on the floor while responding:

“But we can’t, my dear. At least not for now… You’re coming home soon, don’t worry it will be alright…”

There was another moment of silence. This time you could hear him open a door and the distant city sound. He had probably gone on the balcony of his hotel room. It was part of his night routine, teasing about how you were both looking at each other from afar. You were about to scold him again and insist he should go to bed, but he spoke first:

“I miss you…”

“I miss you too my love…”

“No, no I miss you. I miss your scent, your embrace, the twinkle in your eye. I feel so strong when I’m with you, like…like I could make the biggest bets…”

“But you’re strong my dear.”

“No, I’m not.”

You frowned and unconsciously leaned forward as if trying to protest while facing him but he insisted:

“I’m not strong. I’m just a manipulator who tricked you into loving me. I’m just a lucky bastard who can’t live a normal life without being scared.”

“It’s normal to be scared Kaka—”

“Don’t call me that. Please, don’t…”

You opened your mouth to say something, yet the silence crept between you. You had known his name randomly a few years ago: when he had put offerings for Gaithra Tricolps on the chimenea’s mantle and explained it was for the day of Kakava. Though you already knew that unconsciously, it was also a gift for his family. A quick sentence on how it was linked to his name, and he went back to his playful safe, trying to evade your questions by announcing one of his many purchases. So you too, you randomly called him Kakavasha. It was a pretty name, it rolled off the tongue. And Aventurine didn’t mind, in fact it sounded comforting, a warmth of intimacy and trust from those four syllables.

Yet today, he didn’t want to hear it. You didn’t know how he didn’t want to associate with this name, with his people, with this loneliness. So you tried again but this time with another :

“Aventurine I—”

“I’m not Aventurine ! Aventurine is just-… just-…It’s just a façade, a farce!”

Aventurine of stratagems, the stone of the lucky ones. Was he even lucky? He had lost everything just to attract wealth. He was a lucky charm yet a curse for those who dared to touch, even approach him. And yet here you were, on the other side of the phone, listening to his nonsense and blurry words. At least tonight, you didn’t have to smell the blend of alcohol and his cologne, nor did you have to help him undress and fully lay in bed. You were away from him, away from his supposed luck, from his cursed wealth. It was better for you that way. But was it ?

“My love?” your voice came through the fog of emotions

At the two words, his heart fluttered with joy, and he weakly answered:

“Yes honey, I’m here…I’m-I’m still on the line…”

The words felt comforting yet sour, as if he wasn’t allowed to call you this. Someone else should take care fo you, hug you and make you feel happy. He quickly uttered:

“I’m sorry for disturbing you, honey. You must be working. I-I need to go to bed…”

“Honey, I’m alright. Please listen to me. As I said, everything will be alright. You’ll be home soon.”

He swallowed a tear and wobbled until he fell on his bed, barely taking off his designer shoes. He repeated:

“I miss you love… I miss you so much…”

“I know, I know. And you’ll be home soon. I’m not the only one who misses you, you know. I’ll have to battle with the kitties for your attention.”

He let out a chuckle before responding:

“Don’t worry, this time, you’ll be the first to have my kiss.”

“Otherwise, I won’t give you any pancakes!”

“Oh, come on! The fly is gonna be super long and I’ve missed you!”

“Then I’ll need my kiss and to be the first one! Don’t go rushing to the kitties!”

“Fine, fine. You’re a tough negotiator, you know?”

You exchanged another hearty laugh as the conversation continued. A long talk, talking about your shared life, present and future. Even if his mind had been tarnished by his insecurities, you had managed to comfort him, as always and you would continue to do so.

It’s when you asked him a question that you realised the silence on the other line of the phone. After a few seconds, you could hear his breathing slow and steady. You couldn’t stop the soft smile appearing as you realised, he had fallen asleep during the call. Usually, he couldn’t sleep when on a trip. He would tire himself out with running or any exercises. On the rare occasions you couldn’t answer the phone, he would also drink to make the thoughts go away. Yet this time, he had fallen asleep during the call because you had been his home, and he needed you more than anything.

[tacharie]

Thoughts for The Montkraken Episode

so, I just finished the chapter and… wow I have a lot to say. I took screen shots for every part I wanted to talk about and I think this rant will be SUPERRRR long so bear with me. Tumblr won’t let me add screenshots so when I have better service I’ll edit the post to add them. These paragraphs are theories and side notes that I wrote after reading a certain section so you’re gonna see my thought process throughout the story. As always, spoilers ahead so I recommend skipping this if you haven’t read it already.

Alright so I was once a hater of this ship BUT… the Shobaru shippers may have a point in this guys 😭. LIKE.. I HAVE THE SCREENSHOT OF SUBARU BLUSHING UHHH. That is not a heterosexual stare feller 🤨…

AHHHHHHH THE FROSTHEIM DUO ARE BACKKKKK!!! I missed them so so much they’re so silly and deserve the best. Honestly the only two I trust in this school cause I CANT. I literally suspect anyone but them, but Imma be so disappointed if either of them are hiding something. I’ll be sad, but like I’ll help 🙄. I was actually so sad when the MC mentioned being the reason they could be in danger like GIRLLLLL DONT SAY THAT PLEASEEEEE. ITS LIKE THE ANGST WITH ADEUCE AND YUU LIKE STAWPOPP. Also when the Vagastorm kids were like “aw yeah Mido wouldn’t lie like that” it makes me happy that people can at least trust him enough to be honest and idk I found that kinda sweet :3. We’re also getting a bit of a timeline, like the One-Eyed Sleeping Beauty Murder being BEFORE the clash (sorry if this was already mentioned I don’t really remember stuff from the past chapters) which could’ve been a trigger.

Also, I feel like they’re trying to tell us that Jiro is Zenji’s brother because when he had that little laugh about the MC being scared of bodies, he said too. When you click the “too?” option, he just says that he isn’t the one afraid. It’s not Yuri as well cause he’s literally a doctor that is in the same room when autopsies are in session. Whatever the case, I assume he was referencing to Zenji, though it being a blurry memory. Little theory tho.

OK SO THIS IS JUST SO FUNNY TO ME. In Chapter 9’s title it says, “Girl Learns Shocking Truth About Monster”. I like to think the shocking truth was the fact he didn’t shower for 3 days 😭. CAUSE THATS THE PART SHE SOUNDS MOST SHOCKED. Idk that part was silly to me. THEY’RE OUTFITS FOR THEIR DORM IS SOOOOOO PRETTY. They ate I fear, a bit more than the other dorms. Also side note, they dropped A LOT of info with just how they word things. For example, Yuri saying “Jiro, you are well aware that I will not be associated with those germs AGAIN.” Soooo Yuri was in Frostheim? I don’t doubt it bc there’s another line that says “I’d rather not recall how bitterly cold that place is” which can MEAN TWO THINGS. I’m super sure that they’re implying that yeah, he was, but then something happened blah blah blah.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH HYDE AND DANTE??? Like ok bitches, spill your shot to us too don’t be shy. So, confirmed by them, Dante and Hyde used to go to school in Darkwick (which I assume the rest of the teachers are too). That explains their back and forth. WHAT REALLY CAUGHT MY EYE WERE THESE LINES.

Hyde: “…You really are a softie, Dan-Dan.” (Haha Dan- Dan)

Dante: “It would seem that way to someone as cold as you.” (???) “…There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, Hyde.”

Hyde: “…I’ll keep that in mind.”

WHATTTTT. WHAT ARE THE LINES. GO IN DETAIL ARGHHHHH. This gives us more info on the character individually too. Dante describes Hyde as cold… DANTE. So, it was obvious that this whole happy go lucky attitude was fake, but I expected to be more like Haru’s kind of attitude not like that yk?? now I know how much of a cash grab this game is, but I really hope they aren’t going to stretch the story out too long to the point where you have to P2W cause I haven’t paid a cent and I don’t plan to. I still want to learn more about them and stuff so :(. On the topic of Dante, there was a small flashback where I missed a word in the sentence that Dante said while talking with Alan. “I’m the man you supposedly killed.” Supposedly?? Now, I didn’t my catch this in my first run, but now it’s like wdym supposedly?? Shouldn’t you know? This is giving hella Jiro vibes and honestly, I’m getting sick and tired of these characters having a bad memory.

SPEAKING OF JIRO- he seems to have problems remembering things and they come back to him in the very weird moments (honestly a kin moment). I would like the think that he’s just suffering from the damages he had to go through from the clash. His relationship with Yuri is so… sad to me. Yuri seems to doubt him a little bit and I feel like he sees him as just a specimen, not much of a friend. Meanwhile, Jiro smiles a lot to Yuri and listens to him like a master, like that’s what he’s supposed to do. NOT AGAINST HIS OWN WILL DONT GET ME WRONG. He’s just so neutral about it it makes me a bit like awwww :(. They’re cute tho idrc.

Ok moving on to Haku and Tohma. (Ok at this point I’m getting nervous cause why are we seeing so many characters now. That’s probably just a coincidence). OK THESE TWO HAVE GOT IT GOING. Like there’s tension when you get their chat in the campus but this is like woahhhh… Also I don’t like how Tohma says “our wheelhouse? I see..” it makes me think he’s like implying “so you think you’re a part of them now?” IDK THATS JUST MY LITTLE STRETCH. Also poor Zenji, he’s like “aw yeah I died in vain lol” LIKE OUCH.

Nicholas. I DO NOT LIKE HIM. I REPEAT. I DO NOT LIKE HIM FOR A MINUTE OF A SECOND. The only staff I like are the cats, the grocer guy, and MAYBE Dante. LIKE HES SO… NORMAL?? LIKE THERE’S SOMETHING WEIRD GOING ON IK THERE IS. When MC says “I can’t believe Professor Nicolas would do something like that” I DO 😡🙋‍♀️. I am in full support of Yuri finding crimes against this guy.

Also, little other side note, I just realized that Yuri and Jiro have matching earring in opposite ears. It’s so cute.

Ok I might have to go back to the beginning and see what the “goat like anomaly” Jiro is talking about when he mentions the prophecy, cause I said “… the chancellor is a goat??” BUT ANYWAYS. Speaking of the prophecy, I’ll jot it down.

“The whisper of the new moon shall lead the champion to the academy on the solitary island. So long as the champion resides there, the world shall be sheltered from profound tragedy.”

Stating the obvious here, but this is most likely referencing to the last cutscenes we get when we choose our characters. I’ve checked the cutscenes again and there’s no visible moon, meaning it could correlate to the “new moon” portion. (Search up new moon to see what I mean). Assuming Solitary island means death, that would also help with the theory. So, whoever we chose in the beginning might just be the person who won the Laurel Crown.Honestly, this is just a silly little Drabble for a theory and VERY vague. Maybe the champion resides in the events of the past that we still don’t know about but this kinda helps?? Idk I’m just putting what I think at the moment. I’ll probably reread the game so I can get a better timeline. Also, Yuri’s rant about demon particles… doesn’t exactly sit right with me. Were they chosen to be resilient or was it just a birth thing?? Idk but I feel like a lot is missing from his theory. I mean, we’re using human logic to a supernatural cause so I don’t think pacts acting as allergies would work. If they’re not chosen, could it be that the ghouls can make pacts with more than one demon? I wanna see what happens if that was the case. Please comment if I missed something 😭.

Ok Towa appeared. (Why are we seeing so many characters I don’t like this) and we went back to that tree… WHAT IS THAT TREE?? And what the hell do you mean the fruit grew? What is that fruit supposed to be? An anomaly going to birth?? Is it supposed to represent the houses?? Motivation?? It seems so weird to me cause we just got introduced to that tree last episode. Sighs.

OK REN AND RITSU. WHAT IS GOING ON. I GUESS SINCE THIS IS THE LADT CHAPTER FOR INTRODUCING CHARACTERS BUT LIKE … STOP. I feel like something is going to happen with the MC pls 😭. Anyway, those two talking about ramen is so cute please don’t ever change you virgin and lizard looking freak 🫶( with love of course). GROCER GUYYYYYYY. YIPPEE :3!! I love that the cat is the owner and not the human lmao.

Also I will always be a MC defender cause she is so relatable. “Why are hospitals so creepy at night?” GIRL IKKKKKK. Idc what y’all say, the fact that she’s normal is keeping me sane from these freaky deaky events. ILOVE NORMAL CHARACTERS! LIKE MATSUDA FROM DEATH NOTE OR THAT ONE GUY FROM MASHELE. Anyways, I love her little comments and everything she’s so silly. Idrc if she doesn’t have much of a backbone cause honestly, she’s surrounded by danger so the best she should do is listen to the people that are constantly surrounded by it.

ALSO NEW THING. (Well idk if it’s new but yeah).

mention of a Dionysia Breakout. <—— Idk what that is, but it sounds like a little more. I love little details and slip ups thanks characters <3!!

HA! HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA! I WIN NICOLAS 😈!!! YOU DO HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE. AND I WILL FIND IT TRUST YOU WILL BE DELT WITH. I WILL KNOW THE PRIOR PAST >:(!! Also, Moby is being soooo annoying tbh. More character descriptions to add: competitive as a teacher. NO ONE WILL MAKE YOU HATE YOU JIRO ‼️‼️‼️ HES SO SWEET He literally asks if we’re scared and says we can hang back awwww. Though he doesn’t understand much, he can use logic and he can at least understand how we feel. It’s a nice sentiment :)!

I can’t take the transformation seriously I’m sorry. I’m still impressed by Yuri’s deductive skills and the transformation just sounded like he was constipated.

THE WHOLE BATTLE SCENE WAS EPIC!! MC HESITATING BECAUSE OF LEOS WORDS BUT STILL PUSHING FORWARD. YURI GETTING FLUSTERED. JIRO SMILING AND TRUSTING YURI’S ORDERS. THE FUNNY EXCHANGE ABOUT MUSCLE WHEN THEY WERE CARRYING THE POD. Those annoying ass pussy sticks we call Darkwick students 😡. JIRO LOOKING BADASS AFTER THE SHOT. URGHHHH I LOVE THIS CHAPTER.

HARU AND PEEKABOOOOO!! AHHHHH IM SO HAPPY I SEE THEM AGAIN!! I’m so glad he’s going to Hyde too cause I’m not ready. Also… the mermaid thing is so weird. For the Montkraken Mermaid, they seem to refer to it as “it” or “that mermaid”, but when they speak of the second mermaid, they use personal pronouns like “he /him”. Haru’s expression as well when he heard someone was abusing mermaid flesh… it’s a new one with a little crease under his eye. It’s such a sad face like, did he know this mermaid personally or was this fear?? Either way, I wanna meet him cause the other one was so pretty.

…You guys know the “I see who you are… you are my enemy” sound that’s on TikTok or reels or wtv? YEAH THATS SONG WAS PLAYING IN MY HEAD WHEN HYDE SAID WE HAD TO DO A SPEECH. HYDE IM IN YOUR WALLS. URGHHHH I HATE HIMMMMM. Call to action my ass IK either Taiga or Leo are gonna get their asses out of the door after the speech. OR BOTH. I’m starting to tweak.

NOOOOO THE SPEECH IS THE NEXT CHAPTER?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I feel so bad for Zenji… like I’m so deadass. Dude he sounds so sad about how he’s dead it’s so.. URGHHHH. ALSO I CALLED IT. THEY ARE BROTHERS. AHAHHAHA!! Well it was kinda obvious cause everyone thought it too but WOMP WOMP. Also I love his real name, Taro Kirisaki. It’s pretty :)!! But these lines killed me

“and though I have taken my final blow, my brotherly heart can’t help but worry for my kin. … Not that he has any idea I’m still around.” YEOUCH?? I DIDNT COME TO CRY BRO…

I’m tweaking out because of this speech bro. I’m gonna choose the corniest stuff and hope for the best. “I feel bad please stop for me 🥺” headass.

Taiga is officially my enemy as well. I called that shit about him leaving URGH. WHAT A FLIBBERTYJIBBET!! His outfit eats tho so it balances out. LIKE DAMNNNN. HE LOOKS SO GOOD.

DOUBLE?? TRIPLE??? QUINTUPLE???? HELL I MIGHT BECOME A GHOUL TO GET THAT MONEY GOLLY 😍😍😍!! CAUSE IN THIS ECONOMY??Also thanks Jin you a real one twin. Bouta split this cash with my wife and I’ll send you a wedding invite.

EDWARD. ED PLEASE. STOP PUTTING ME IN THE SPOTLIGHT… well it’s out now so woopy!! I really wonder what the others have to say about that cause they just gave really vague surprised reactions. Well, Ritsu documented it. I love that little guy please don’t ever change you silly.

NUMBER ONE CORNELIUS HATER IDC. Unless I know your intentions I DONT CAREEEEE. YOU ARE AN OPP IT IS ON SIGHT WITH YOU. SAME WITH YOU NICOLAS!! “I didn’t know whether to tell you or not I’m sowwy 🥺” CHUPA MI PITO HOE 😡.

… you’re telling me I didn’t have to do that awful speech because DANTE AGREED?? IM DONE. IM WHOOPING EVERYONE IN THE ROOM AND AURING THE PLACE OUT. FIRST ONES OUT ARE HYDE FOR NOT TELLING ME, NICOLAS, AND CORNELIUS. ARGHHHHHHH. Also, dude, who is that Janitor guy like seriously.

ROMEO??? AND HYDE???? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT BUTTERCUP?? Wdym worked for him?? What is going on… SPECIAL MISSION??? SHO??? OH NAW. I CANT TRUST NOBODY ANYMORE 😭

Towa crying :(. What does the fruit shrinking have to do with it now?? I’m so confused.

ALRIGHT IF YOU MADE IT TO THE END WOW YOU HAVE DEDICATION. Yeah this is my personal yap session to this chapter and it’s so URGH. I’m so excited to see the next chapter and I hope we get to see more and more. Now with the Gala in place, we can finally start WORKING. Based on the timeline, we have about … 8 months left?? So hopefully, for MC’s sake, she gets cured. BYE BYE UNTIL NEXT EPISODE!!

[fangsforiris]

I've recently checked out your Yui x female headcanons and I wanna know do you actually think Yui falling in love with the diaboys is just Stockholm syndrome? I know they’re just meant to be head canons but I’m pretty curious about it (but I’m pretty sure she genuinely fell in love with them)

I was waiting for this one!! Here’s an analysis on my end!!

TW FOR PEDOPHILIA, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, DIABOLIK LOVERS TYPICAL ABUSE.

So let’s start off with who Yui is as a character.

She’s supposed to be written as a sheltered, sweet, and overall empathetic girl who follows a strict moral code, mainly influenced by her religious views (Roman Catholicism).

This is heavily implied as in Romania at the time and as of current, Roman Catholicism is the main religion practiced.

It’s canon that her interactions with men have been controlled, as seen with her father— who did neglect her, leaving her to eat meals by herself, always be home alone, and basically only rely on the nuns for some support— but even then it wasn’t enough.

Hence why she can be considered to be a ‘good housewife’ since she has that experience on knowing how to manage a household with chores and all.

Even further pushing it for her previous relations with men, we know she had friends before— a life before— the house. Men? I would assume she was cordial when needed to be, but never was allowed to heavily interact, which is why she’s so out of date with her speaking, and pop culture— as it’s revealed by Yui, herself, that she doesn’t know that much.

But of course, why is that important? It gives the key foundlings to her environment, and also aids in assessing who’s more susceptible to Stockholm syndrome, and any tactics of abuse.

Basically who is the best ‘target’ for abusers to get too.

Her father canonically has given off-hand sketchy vibes, and also has canonically shown borderline pedophilic behaviours towards his own adoptive daughter. Even going as far as to want and attempt to marry her.

(I’m not sure where that is shown again, but in some MB routes— Kou’s, Ruki’s— he [Seiji, Her adoptive father] meets Yui and assumes she’s a vampire and attempts to kill her.)

Basically, it all starts at home. It sets the ground work for what you can take and what a person is conditioned to believe, etc.

In this case, Yui is conditioned to believe that it’s at least normal for her to appropriate these behaviours, and in a sense, still talk good about the men around her because she doesn’t know any better. She doesn’t know anything other than this.

That’s why she still tries her best to talk about her father is a positive light, because, due to her good heart, wants to believe and see the best and people (a core part in her character which allows her to live and persevere all routes— especially HDB with the boys.)

So due to that, we can take the groundwork presented to us as a Player, Reader, or consumer of the games and Diabolik Lovers Media, that Yui’s relationships and viewpoints of men is formed and directly influenced by her father and what rules he set up.

A psychological fact, everyone’s core parts and associations all start at home, with our parents. That’s why many get their viewpoints of how a man should treat you, via your father figure. And so forth.

It starts with discipline, then forming views and opinions, and overall how the treatment you receive reflects directly what you are constantly engaged and exposed to in your home-life and environment.

So for Yui, we can understand the following—

A) Relations with Father figure (which impacts her views/treatment by men) is shifty, but she still speaks in good light.

B) She is used to being alone, and handling everything herself. Bottling it in as she didn’t have that many outlets other than the obvious religious standpoint.

C) Despite it all, she’s raised to be a good person and is high or quite white, on the scale of morality.

So with that being said, what is Stockholm Syndrome?

Stockholm Syndrome is a diagnosis given when:

A) Feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor.

B) Hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. It is supposed to result from a rather specific set of circumstances, namely the power imbalances contained in hostage-taking, kidnapping, and abusive relationships.

That is the formal definition, given by Oxford Dictionary and Wikipedia (Cited from: King, David [2020], and Jameson, C [2010].)

Which are official reports reviewed by psychologists and psychiatrists who are heavily trained in their field.

Now, we can take it from the anime and HDB (the darkest of the games,) that Reiji implicitly states “You are not able to leave.” To which Subaru replies, “Just tell her that if she attempts to escape she’ll die.”

That in itself tells you there’s no escape. And that from that point on, Yui becomes a hostage. In a house with pre-established men who already are high level threats to Yui, and are highly dangerous.

And what is Yui? She’s afraid. Like any sane person who understands the power difference between a man and a woman— more specifically vampires. She learns this instantly, and also faces threats of bodily harm quick into her stay.

Whatever happens later on in any route, is Yui playing the saviour. She’s expected to cater to every boy, and there are heavy repercussions if she disobeys.

There’s a master post of everything in HDB that occurs when the boys attempt to kill her.

And of course, this doesn’t just start at HDB, this also extends all all games, MB, DF, LE, and just any and all games when there’s an introduction in characters or simply just any routes.

In every route there will be at least some sort of implication of abuse or undertones. As that is what Diabolik Lovers is, a dark video game series.

Point is, if it’s Diabolik Lovers, expect some sort of abuse towards the MC/Yui/Player.

With this basis and mentality in mind, it’s heavy and dark. Which is what lead many previous brides to take their own life. They couldn’t handle the constant pressure nor the abuse being presented to them that they underwent.

So where does Yui fit into all of this?

A) She’s one of the many brides and assumed to be the last bride to enter the house due to her complicated relations with her heart.

B) She is undergoing the abuse of the Sakamaki’s, Mukami’s, Tsukinami’s, and Kino.

C) She is quite literally a victim and survivor of what countless other brides have died to. The only thing keeping her alive is her heart, which also goes to make problems for her in the future.

It’s been stated, highlighted, emphasized and understood by everyone— including Yui herself, that all she is worth is her blood. A blood bag. That is it.

Of course, this is where the Adam and Eve Plan would come into play with Yui finding an Adam out of the candidates.

However, she is still in this environnement which tolerates and even thrives off of her abuse.

Which would, in some routes, condition her to become a masochist, thriving off of her own pain, just because the vampires constantly tell her, gaslight her, and condition her to believe that she likes it.

Even after Yui consistently states she doesn’t.

(This is also influenced by Cordelia’s heart, and what Cordelia is subconsciously pushing Yui too aswell, as seen in HDB, one of the scenes with Shuu as he gets jumped in the alleyway. Her thoughts— driven by Cordelia in the moment— reflect sadistic intent. Another scene where she’s pushed to enjoy her suffering, even when Yui fights against it because somewhere inside her knows it’s wrong.)

However, this isn’t to say that the boys don’t get character development. They do. Which is how we as a consumer and player can have fan favourites and like them.

But how do they get to that point? Through Yui. Using Yui as a direct catalyst to project their abusive tendencies into her, leaving her to pick up the pieces with herself, and become an unlicensed therapist to aid in their problems.

This is directly influenced by each of the Sakamaki’s mommy issues, the Mukami’s inferiority complexes and need to succeed, and for the Tsukinami’s— their need for their race to be saved.

And of course, understanding every boys’ underlying complexities of their individual traumas which make up their character as we know it.

Yui has to suffer a lot for her to get what we see it, or what is painted as, ‘love and a good ending,’ with the selected boy and route of each respective game— along with the boy chosen.

She gets here because she’s slowly conditioned to allow these abusers to take over her life, and basically become what they need in that moment.

But she does have her own personality, her own goals, motivations, and whatnot.

However it becomes overrided by the survivor mentality she’s instantly placed in when she’s constantly around these vampiric men. She’s always on her guard, and the moment she drops it, it’s used against her.

Even when she’s seemingly in a good moment with the boys, understand, that one wrong move can send her straight to death. So everything is much more calculated than it seems.

In fact— to further prove the Stockholm syndrome affect— Yui acknowledges that she’s stuck and trapped. In Shuu’s HDB route, DARK 01, she only attempts to get Shuu to go to his classes in hopes that the Sakamaki’s will be greatful to her and let her leave.

So even if she does happen to find attraction in any of the boys, and fall in love, there’s still an outlining of conditioning that gets her to that point.

This isn’t to hate on anyone that ships Yui with any of the boys, this is simply a brief analysis of the facts from a purely psychological approach!! I’d like to think if the boys got therapy and worked through their problems, perhaps then, they wouldn’t have projected their traumas onto Yui.

But thank you for the ask!! This was fun to analyze!!

[reidologyphd]

The BAU members Godly Parents

I love Percy Jackson and Criminal Minds so i'm mashing them together :) this will be a long one so i'll do the hiding thingy but a warning, i realised too late i forgot Elle and Matt :( sorry guys

CABIN ONE - ZEUS

Jason Gideon

he is a natural leader, people follow his orders even if they have authority over him

he can be very tempermental and critical

while the bau was made by him AND rossi he feels very much like the guy, ya know?

CABIN THREE - POSEIDON

Luke Alvez

honestly this is mostly vibes but he gives me major adult percy vibes?

like easy going and laid back until you mess with those he loves

and when you go for his family you better pray to the gods

also another personal thing but he looks like he'd smell like the sea

fiercely loyal

CABIN FOUR - DEMETER

Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau

cares very much for family

I feel like she has this untapped rage that I wish we saw more

she has let her personal experiences and her family cloud her judgement (I don’t see this as a flaw)

Kate Callahan

also very family oriented

as far as I remember all of her plots revolved around her family? (Meg, her sister, her being pregnant because jlh was pregnant irl)

she absolutely would turn the world into eternal winter if someone kidnapped one of her children

CABIN FIVE - ARES

Derek Morgan

this man has so much passion. Like I could make an argument for Aphrodite but I chose ares ultimately

while he is gentle soul at heart I find he is the quickest to become hotheaded and angry out of the team

he thrives on the thrill of the chase and does not ever have a career outside of ‘fighting bad guys’

Aaron Hotchner

absolute thrill seeker but hides it behind a stoic facade

ambitious as all hell and as stated in 1x5 ‘Broken Mirror’ will step on anyone to get where he wants to be

while a very family oriented man also he was never able to prioritise his family over the ‘war’ they’re fighting

I could write a whole essay on this ngl

CABIN SIX - ATHENA

Spencer Reid

do we even need to talk about this one?

I know he’s multifaceted and a nerd isn’t automatically a child of Athens but it’s the fact he loves learning and collecting PHD’s just for fun

he values wisdom and intellect so much I’m sure he’d marry it if he could.

I also just associate this brand of person with awkwardness/social ineptitude. Because things are obvious and clear to them they sometimes forget to factor in the emotional consequences or implications of certain things.

also he has a massive vocabulary and can describe any emotion to you but he cannot recognise when he’s feeling them

Alex Blake

honestly much the same as Spencer

a difference between them is that I think she tries to shove down her emotions because she sees them as pesky and inconvenient, rather than not feeling them

like despite Spencer being like her child she didn’t mention Ethan until one of her final episodes

CABIN SEVEN - APOLLO

Penelope Garcia

i'm focusing less on the medicine side of things and more the creativity because look at her

and in the Riordanverse Apollo is portrayed as... idealistic rather than predatory when it comes to love which i think lends itself well to Penelope's borderline toxic positivity and her insistence on seeing the good in people

she can be seen as obnoxious and loud (never to me though) and most definitely had a theatre kid phase, all of which i think goes hand in hand with being a child of Apollo

CABIN NINE - HEPHAESTUS

Stephen Walker

i'll be honest i don't remember Stephen that well so if this is wrong my bad king

as far as i remember he was perfectly nice if not a little solitary and was pulled in especially since he fit a specific need for finding scratch, like he was a specific part of the blue print?

pretty sure he was also part of a specific task force before and was like a building block there too?

i'm sorry king

CABIN TEN - APHRODITE

Tara Lewis

other than being absolutely g o r g e o u s

i feel like she has a lot of passion and drive but it's shown in a more subtle way and she likes to hide it with her intellect

i also think importantly she enjoys her femininity in a way that say Penelope or JJ don't (not to say those two aren't feminine, they just don't connect with it like tara does?). she's very much 'wears a stilleto to stab you with it' kind of woman, even if she doesn't express that as much

i also think she can be quite emotionally constipated in relationships and such in a way a child of Aphrodite might be because they're used to the flirting and chasing but then don't know how to maintain the relationship

Ashley Seaver

once again don't remember much about this queen but she is stunning

i feel like it's a very child of Aphrodite experience to be looked over and dismissed because of their looks and the two main things discussed with Seaver is that she's pretty and her dad is who he is

she is also very Piper coded in that she resents that femininity and the pigeon hole it puts her in and wants to be recognised for her own merits and achievements rather than her looks.

Piper and Ashley also both have famous dads, albeit for different reasons

CABIN ELEVEN - HERMES

Emily Prentiss

she is a nomad!!! she doesn't stay in the same place for too long!!!

while i am obsessed with the woman she is very adept at trickery and bending the truth, something children of Hermes are good at too

is home for those around her and has no shortage of love to give her friends because she sees her friends as her home too

it just fits

CABIN TWELVE - DIONYSUS

David Rossi

this one just fits for me too the man loves alcohol

he does love his family more but i don't that precludes him from being a child of Dionysus

he does also kill a man so i feel like that qualifies as having the madness, ya know?

not much to say this one just comes from the soul

CONGRATS!!! you made it to the end!!!! as a little treat if you made it this far i love you and i think elle would be a hunter of artemis, i'm really not sure about Matt

discussion is wanted and encouraged!!!

[cameronspecial]

Her Guardian And His Redemption

Pairing: Bodyguard!Drew Starkey x Reader

Warnings: Sexual Thoughts, Being Kidnapped, Someone Getting Killed.

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 6.7K

Summary: He was supposed to be there to protect her, but he wasn't. And then he made the biggest mistake of his life. How could he fix it?

A/N: This is Part 2 of Her Protector And His Hubris.

Masterlist

Francesca Chambers is not Y/N. It was painfully obvious to Drew as soon as he opened the file about her. Each page details a new fact that tells him he is going to hate working on this assignment. Francesca is the daughter of Senator Chambers and many of these sheets depict her run-ins with the media. One article on a meltdown about not getting the right colour car on her sixteenth birthday. One Reddit thread about a heated argument with someone just trying to do their job. One video of her attacking her friend because they were wearing the same outfit. He didn’t need to do any more research on her to know she was going to be a handful. She was nothing like Y/N and everything like his previous clients. Every single week there was a new party. A new incident. A new thing he had to cover up so he didn’t get in trouble with the senator. To make matters worse, Francesca seems to think that he should be completely infatuated with him because she is God’s gift to the world. 

“Drewwww, I need your help,” she drawls out from the bathroom. He sighs and puts his book down. The paperback copy of East of Eden is worn out. The spine is cracking because of how many times he has read it and the cover is missing the corner, lost a long time ago. It is not as nice as the copy Y/N gave him, but he couldn’t bring himself to take it. He knew that every time he looked at it, it would remind him of the danger he put his love in. The cushion of the chair creaks under his weight as he rises from the chair. He makes his way upstairs and stands outside of the door. He wraps his knuckles against the dark wood, “What’s wrong?” “I need you to come inside,” she pleads. 

“I don’t think it would be appropriate if I do so.”

“Please, Drew. It’s important. It is a matter of my safety.”

Knowing it could spell out a disaster if he doesn’t check on her safety after that, he enters her bedroom and then the bathroom. He finds her in the bathtub, covered in bubbles. “I need you to get me a towel,” she orders with a smile. He looks at her with tight lips, “That doesn’t concern your safety.” “Yes, it does! I could slip while going to get it,” she argues, batting her eyelashes at him. He doesn’t argue; it would go nowhere. He gets the towel for her, throwing it on the toilet before storming off to his room. This isn’t the first time she’ll pull this type of shit and it won’t be the last. 

———

Drew would never admit that his feet are aching. He should be used to this much standing by now. Yet, every time he goes shopping with Francesca, time seems to slow down, causing the blood to pool his feet. He isn’t one to be bashful and he isn’t with Y/N, but without Y/N around, he doesn’t know where to look. Especially because of the store they are in right now. The lacey materials all around the store fill his imagination with thoughts of her. Every garment he sees, he pictures her and all the naughty things he wants to do to her. “I want to try these on,” he overhears Francesca's demand to the sales associate. The other woman puts on a fake grin, “Of course, Miss. All of our changing rooms are currently in use at the moment, but I could make sure you get the next available one. Do you want to keep browsing and I’ll come to get you when it is ready?” Francescar’s eyes narrow and her lips pucker. Drew prepares himself for the hail storm that is about to occur, pretending to survey the store for threats. Although, he probably entered the store with the biggest one. “Excuse me! Do you know who I am? My father is a senator and one for call to him can have you fired,” she screeches, pointing an accusing finger at the employee. 

The blood drains from the associate's face, “I’ll see what I can do.” “Good,” his client’s words chase after the scurrying worker. “Can you believe some people?” she mumbles under her breath. Drew gives her a disapproving look, “You were rude to her.” “No, I wasn’t. I was just reminding her of her place,” she retorts. He rolls his eyes, nothing can get through to her. They are soon rushed to the changing rooms and Drew stands at the entrance. Francesca goes into the changing room, coming back out soon after in the first lingerie set. It’s a pastel green set that goes with her olive eyes. Drew can see her vying for her attention out of the corner of his eyes, yet his focus is on something outside of the changing room. It is a pastel pink slip dress. Flower lace covers the breasts and also forms two slits at the bottom of her dress on the sides. 

An image pops into his mind. The woman he loves standing in a doorway adorned by pink and flowers. He waits patiently for her to saunter over to him with her arms swinging at her side. She would straddle his hips, sitting back on his thighs. Her finger would raise and curl to beckon him forward. His hands find her thighs, pressing her closer to his crotch. He brings his lips closer to her and captures the beautiful petals. “I love you,” he promises to her. “Drew, you aren’t looking at me.” Francesca snaps him out of his fantasy. Irritation seeps out of him, “That’s because my job is to identify threats in our environment and I can’t do that if I’m looking at you.” He doesn’t glance over at her; instead, he continues to search the store for possible threats. She huffs at the lack of attention, “You are such a buzzkill.” She goes back into the changing room, leaving him to wish he could really say those things to his precious. 

———

James Notting isn’t Drew. It was obvious to Y/N that he was a good bodyguard. Except he would never make her feel the way that Drew can make her feel. She knows she is safe with James; it doesn’t feel the same way as when she is with Drew. Drew’s protection made her feel warm. With Drew, it didn’t feel like an obligation. It feels like his life mission to keep her safe. He wasn’t doing it for the money. He was doing it because he truly cared for her on a personal level. She doesn’t blame James for not being Drew; she has a hole inside of her heart James can’t fill. She finishes packing up her work to bring home and heads to the elevator with James following behind her. He opens the car door for her once they get to her car. As she ducks to get into the car, she has to move her right shoulder, which causes an ache to shoot through it. Her hand reaches for her healing wound and this only causes more pain. “Are you okay?” James worries. She nods and continues to sit in her seat. 

The car ride to her apartment is quiet. The only sound is the music playing from her playlist. When they get home, Alice is already making dinner in the kitchen. The aroma of the frying chicken instantly hit her nose. She greets Alice with a smile and makes her way into her office to put her work away. She is about to head back downstairs to talk to Alice when a cardboard box catches her eye. She should’ve brought that to the security firm a long time ago. Y/N holds in a breath as her feet drag across the hardwood floor towards it. Her hands shake while reaching for the lid to take it off. 

Versace and cigarettes. It surrounds her in its embrace. She immediately regrets opening it and wants to put the lid back on; nevertheless, the items inside draw her in like a siren song. She picks up the item on top. The custom copy of East of Eden she had made for him. Realizing he left it behind hurt her more than she could ever know. She was so proud of herself for thinking of the gift. Every time she found him reading it, a small spark would shock through her heart. To her, the book was a symbol of her love for him and he left it behind as he left her. The next thing she finds is his WCU shirt. He probably forgot it was in her drawers because it became her sleep shirt after the first night they made love. She used to make him wear it for a day whenever it would stop smelling like him, making him laugh with the way she would beg him to put it on right at that second. A coil wraps around her heart and tightens until it squeezes tears out of her. She brings it to her nose like she did on that fateful night, breathing in all the memories she had with him. The late mornings in bed she would spend with that shirt on. He would play with the hem of it while he guided her cooking from over her shoulder. The way he would go crazy to bring her pleasure with it on.

A polaroid is the final thing she can bring herself to pick out. The sunlight from the apartment window gave her an ethereal look. She was focused on the art book in front of her, sketching an outfit for her upcoming fashion show. He brought the Polaroid camera to his eyes and called out her nickname. It caused a smile to bloom across her, which was the moment he captured forever. The photo was printed out and he wrote My Precious in the blank area with a heart at the end. She watched as he put the photo in his wallet. “So I can have you wherever I go,” he said to her, kissing the photo and then her. Of course, like it always did, the kiss turned into passionate sex. Y/N guesses he doesn’t want her wherever he is now. 

———

After dinner, Y/N goes into her study to finish up her work. Her eyes double-check the guest list for her fast-approaching event. “James, I have the list for you to look over,” she informs the man somewhere in the apartment. He stoically enters the office and takes the list from her. He closes the door behind him, walking to his room. The sofa chair creaks as he sits to look over the names. He is looking over the possible guests to get a sense of what to expect and to flag any potential threats that she needs to change out. Most of the people are her usual ones until he meets one that causes him to freeze. Francesca Chambers. Shit. She probably invited the senator’s daughter because the girl is known to throw tantrums when not invited to exclusive events. Y/N never would have done it if she knew Drew was Ms. Chambers’ bodyguard. James could tell her that fact, but he won’t. Drew made a mistake and James wants to help him fix it. 

———

When the invitation came in the mail, Drew started to buzz with anticipation of seeing her again. He has seen her on social media, but it could never be the same as seeing her in person. It could never beat being able to reach out and feel her warm, smooth skin. Tonight’s event is raising money for the foster system. It would go towards group housing for kids who can’t stay in a foster home, food, and items. Another very important fact that Y/N wants to emphasize is getting children in the foster care system actual bags for their things. He remembers the day she had decided this would be her next fashion event all those months ago. She had watched an Instagram reel of a foster mother and one of the details that stood out was the fact that the children the mother was newly fostering had their personal belongings in a garbage bag. Her heart broke for the children who were already going through a hard time. She wanted to give them the dignity of their stuff being regarded as special. He had to comfort her as she cried for the kids in the foster system. He loves that she always brings her plans into reality. 

During the fashion show, he stands at the back of the room, searching for anyone he needs to neutralize. Every outfit is absolutely stunning and pride fills him up. He wishes he could’ve been there to watch her create such beauties. The end of the show is nearing when Francesca has to go to the bathroom. Like a good bodyguard, he follows her and waits outside of the room. He can still hear the noises coming from down the hall. His foot impatiently taps against the floor. Francesca is taking forever. The music starts to fade out and is replaced by a familiar voice. “Hello, thank you for coming to support the event. There are around three hundred ninety-one thousand children in the foster care system. Now, that may not seem like a lot to you. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve better…” 

Her voice starts to fade from his ears as he begs the universe to make his client leave the bathroom so that they can make it back for the end of Y/N’s speech. The universe doesn’t answer. Instead, Francesca takes ten more minutes in the bathroom and he discreetly rushes her back to where everyone is. It was too late. No one stands on the stage anymore and everyone is already moving on to where the cocktail party is being held. Francesca picks up her purse from her chair and they head over to the next room. His eyes scan the room, looking for the one person who could make him feel at home even though he is so far from where he grew up. He had been trained for this moment, so he could easily find her. He is too far away to hear the laughter that falls from her lips. Her head is thrown back in delight and he desires to be by her side, whispering how magnificent she has done. How noble this event is. How proud her mother would be of her. He knows those are the words she is dying to hear. Fear floods through him. There are so many people in this room, right now. And while he does trust James to protect his precious, big events like these can be hard to navigate with no help. 

Francesca hates charity. Why should she care about people below her? The only reason she is at this event is because she has to see the girl, who has such a strong hold on Drew. No matter how stupid Drew thinks she is, she knows he is in love with Y/N Y/L/N. She has seen the articles around the pair and Francesca wants that love for herself. Even now, she can see the way he looks out for Y/N and jealousy toils in her stomach. She needs his attention on her. She struts over to him and places her hand on his chest. “I really like this suit on you, Drew. You fill it out amazingly,” she flirts, running her hand up and down his pectoral muscle. To her surprise, he doesn’t shove her hands off of her. She takes this as an invitation to continue even if his awareness isn’t on her. Satisfaction comes to her when she catches Y/N’s envious gaze.

How dare he? Y/N and Drew had to keep their relationship a secret, yet it was okay for him to be public about his relationship with a senator’s child. Francesca is a more public figure than Y/N. It made no sense. They both had agreed to keep them on the down low, so she doesn’t understand why this bothers her. Francesca leans in to whisper something in Drew’s ears and he doesn’t react. Y/N is familiar with Drew’s composed demeanour. What kills her even more? Drew is letting Francesca touch him at her event. He broke her heart and now, he was breaking it all over again by flaunting his relationship with another girl. He can’t be clueless about who is hosting the show. Y/N never thought that Drew would go for someone so spoiled and rude. Maybe she doesn’t know him at all. She turns back to Jackie and distracts herself with the other woman’s story about a fashion malfunction. 

Drew hates the feel of Francesca’s hands on him; however, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Y/N is safe. That her surroundings aren’t putting her in danger.  Like he should’ve done the last time he worked for her. His vision falls on her again. This time, he examines her in full glory. Her red dress helps her stand out against the crowd. It only has one strap that rests on the side of her left shoulder. This leaves the still-healing bullet wound out for anyone to see. The skin where the scar is is taught, puckering in redness. He hopes she is taking care of it and that it is healing fully. If his self-confidence didn’t get in his way, then he would’ve been there to help her do all that stuff. He can make amend with that part of himself by keeping her safe tonight. He spends the rest of the night ignoring his job and fulfilling his life mission. 

———

She gets home around one in the morning. Her feet aching from the night spent in heels and her hair giving her a headache from how tight it is. She stumbles to her bedroom, ridding herself of her clothes. She turns on the shower and gets to work on taking her hair down. Once steam starts to fill the room, she checks the temperature of the water to find it is perfect. The warmth of the water causes her to let her emotions out. She can’t distinguish between her tears and the water from the shower head. It makes no difference to her. Memories from the night pass through her brain. The way Francesca would cling to Drew’s suit. The way he wouldn’t even look in her direction. The way that watching him with another girl made her feel like she lost him all over again. To make it worse, every single moment she had with him made an appearance. It feels like every single emotion she has been trying to avoid comes crashing down on her at once. 

Her shower ends about half an hour later and she may be tired, except she needs to complete her daily ritual. She gets her ice cream out of the freezer and plops down on the couch. The Office’s theme song starts to play on her TV. The ice cream helps fill the ache in her heart and lulls her to sleep, causing the ice cream to melt as she slumbers. 

———

It has been about a month since Y/N’s last event and the exes haven’t seen each other since. In that month, Drew realized he lost his social security card. He couldn’t get a new one yet because his birth certificate was missing too. His brain wracks through the last time he remembers seeing it and bites his lip when he realizes where it is. He left it in Y/N’s filing cabinet. She had insisted he put all his important documents there for safekeeping. His social security card must be there too. This is how he finds himself waiting at the concierge desk of her building. He no longer had access to her apartment without going through security protocols. “Hello, Ms. Y/L/N. There is a Mr. Starkey here. He says that he needs to retrieve a birth certificate and social security card from your residence,” he listens to the concierge call Y/N. The man behind the desk places the phone on the receiver and turns to Drew, “She says you can go up.” 

He listens to the elevator music, tugging on his flannel’s sleeves with nerves. He doesn’t know what to expect with being so close to her again. The front door is already open once he gets to her floor. His feet glide against the tile of the floor, scarping a little against it. Y/N is waiting for him at the door. “Where are the documents?” she asks. He gives her a soft smile, “I forgot them in your filing cabinet.” Her slippered feet slap against the hardwood floor as she walks to her home office. Drew removes his shoes and follows her. He catches up to her to see she is already getting out his files from the cabinet. He holds his hand out to take them, only for her to throw them carelessly onto her desk. She doesn’t wait for him to take it for her to quickly leave her office. 

He runs after her, not ready to let this conversation come to an end. “Your charity event last month was amazing,” he applauds. She doesn’t look over her shoulder whilst she boils some water for tea, “Really? I didn’t think you had noticed with Ms. Chambers on  your arm.” “Am I detecting jealousy?” he kids, hoping it would relieve some of her tension. “Jealous of Francesca Chambers?” Y/N laughs. “Why? Because she gets my sloppy leftovers. Because she is dating someone who promised to protect me, but is the reason why I got shot.” It was cruel to use Drew’s lowest point in life and to pit it against him. She doesn’t care. She needs him to hurt more than she does right now. She can’t stand to be in his presence. Drew’s heart bleeds with pain and it takes everything in him not to start crying at that instant. His insecurity starts to make itself known again. The constant belief of being at fault for his precious almost dying plagues his mind. He deserves this pain. It’s only half of what he deserves. “I never wanted you to get hurt. You know that right?” he justifies, stepping forward only for her to step back. 

“Well, I did get hurt, Drew. You couldn’t protect me and I almost died. It was all your fault,” she screams. “Leave. I want you to go, now!” He tries to argue. “Precious, please. I need to hear you say that you know I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he pleads. No matter how irrational, he needs confirmation that she trusts him. That she did believe he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. She needs his anguish to subdue hers. “Please, Precious. Tell me that you believe me.” She breathes out a low chuckle, “Why would I say that? It. Was. Your. Fault.” Words can’t explain the feeling in his heart. The acid of her word burns his heart so it disintegrates. The one thing left behind is the carving of her name, waiting to be filled by her love again.

———

There were three places where James didn’t need to follow Y/N to every room she went. Her apartment. Her father’s house. And her office. At her apartment and dad’s place, James needed to remain on the premises and ready to be at her side. In her office, he could remain in front of her office as long as he checked in with her every hour. An hour isn’t very long; however, it is long enough for Y/N to disappear. “I’m just going to meeting room five-sixty. It’s supposed to be a two-hour meeting,” she fills him in. He bobs his head, “Got it. I’ll check in on you in an hour.” With her notebooks and laptop in her arms, she heads toward the elevator and presses the down button. Being on the twentieth floor meant that she had a long wait down to the fifth floor. On her ride down, people went on and off without her attention because she was absorbed by her phone. She should’ve been watching her environment. Drew used to drill into her brain how important it was to do so if she was alone. It must have slipped her mind. 

By the time an unsettling feeling overcame her, it was too late. Her eyes glance up from her phone and she twists to the other person in the elevator. Ahead of her recognition of the figure beside her, a white cloth smothers her mouth and nose, causing her to inhale the fumes. It has a hint of sweetness combined with the familiar scent of nail polish remover. Her orbits start to droop and she is pulled into unconsciousness. 

———

She wakes up cuffed to a chair. Her hands and feet are both restrained and she tries to break the chair. A shooting pain goes up her butt while the sound of metal hitting concrete reverberates through the cold cement room. Shit, it’s a metal chair. She doesn’t bother to shriek for help. There is no point in wasting her energy. She tries to think of how to dislocate her thumb to escape the cuffs. It doesn’t come to her. The door in front of her opens with a squeal and her kidnapper makes herself known. Sienna Cox is a carbon copy of her brother. Y/N recognizes Sienna from the pictures Sean showed her during their three dates. The dangerous woman approaches Y/N with a knife in her hand. She circles the chair, letting metal glide against metal. Y/N flinches as the sharp point greets her soft skin. “You are the reason my brother is in jail,” Sienna states, hate dripping from each word. Y/N is never one to back down, “Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s because your brother tried to kill my then-boyfriend, which got me shot. Your brother almost killed me.” 

Sienna’s hand harshly tugs back Y/N’s head and the point of the knife connects with her neck. Y/N tries to remove Sienna’s hold, which produces a crimson knick on the side of her neck. “No, my brother is in jail because you had to choose a low-life bodyguard over him,” she growls. Y/N provokes Sienna more, “Hmm, nope. Your brother being an ass and delusional is the reason why he is in jail.” “Ugh, shut up,” Sienna yells, pulling pain from the incapacitated girl by slashing her forearm. Blood oozes from the cut and she can tell it is going to need stitches. She cries out in pain, starting to truly feel her life is in danger. Earlier, she didn’t think Sienna was capable of hurting her. How could she be so stupid?

———

Drew previously thought the day Y/N got shot was the most terrible day of his life. He was wrong. The ringing of his phone stops him from doing his job. He should be watching Francesca at the mall. The phone call prohibits him from doing it. The sole thing more important than James’ call would be Y/N’s. “She has been taken.” No greetings. No pleasantries. No small talk. Those didn’t matter though. Y/N was in danger. Drew doesn’t think about his client and runs to the car. “I want you to pull all the security footage from wherever you are. Comb it for the last seen citing of her,” he instructs. “Get background checks on everyone, and I mean everyone, who has been in the same vicinity as the place where she last was seen in within the last thirty minutes of her being there. Where are you?” 

“Her office. She went down to the fifth floor for her meeting. She never got there.”

“Okay, I’ll be there soon. Start with the hallway footage for both the twentieth and fifth floors as well as the elevators. Have a secondary team look through all other footage.”

“Got it.”

He blows through every single stoplight. He’ll deal with this later. James meets Drew at the door and gives him an update on what they found so far. “We know she was taken from the elevator, except we can’t identify the person who took her because a hat is obstructing her face,” James notifies. Drew looks shocked, “How do you know it was a female?” All the women, who don’t like Y/N, never registered as a peril to him. They weren’t the type to get their hands dirty with physical harm. “Height and body shape. We are going through the women who checked in to match outfits with the pictures they took when they checked in,” James clarifies. His brain processes everything, “You probably aren’t going to find her at the check-in. Get the tech geeks to program the computers to extract all the footage with similar clothes to the suspect. I’ll go through all of it myself. I want it done in the next five minutes.”

Y/N’s office is eerily cold without her brilliant smile to light it up. His hand traces against the glass desk's smooth surface. He should’ve been here to stop her from being taken. It’s happening all over again. This could be his chance. He could halt her from being hurt. From nearing the brink of death again. This time, he is going to be there to be the one to protect her. His vows to himself are interrupted by James. “They got what you want.” Drew jogs after James to the emergency base camp for the search. “Show me what you got,” he orders. He inspects the screens simultaneously and finds what he needs. He knows her from the background research he did on her brother. Sienna Cox. 

———

Honestly, Y/N would’ve done anything to get away from Sienna. Her villain monologue is a horrible torture method. At least she is too distracted to use the knife more on Y/N. “And when I visit him in jail, they take my phone away. Do you know how hard it is to not be able to use my phone for an hour?” Sienna complains, twirling the knife in her hand. Y/N fights the urge to make a snarky remark. The ruckus from upstairs freezes both girls. “Ugh, what could that be?” Sienna groans, leaving the room. 

Drew wanted Sienna to know they were there. It would make it more fun for him and the group. The narrow hallway means Y/N can merely be in one direction. I’m coming for you, Precious. He thinks to himself. Sienna rounds the corner of the doorway and halts at the guns trained on her. She changes course back to where she came from. The rescue team runs after her to find her with a knife against Y/N’s neck. “Take one more step and this Bitch gets a new necklace. A deadly one,” Sienna warns, digging the knife in harder. A sob racks through Y/N’s body until she spots Drew in front of her. A silent connection transcends them with their eyes locked on each other. She didn’t mean those words and she trusts him. On the way over here, Drew found out everything about Sean’s sister and what buttons of hers to push. “Okay. I just wanted to let you know that James over here loves your podcast,” Drew plays into her ego. He discovered if there was one thing Sienna loved more than her brother, it was herself. 

Unfortunately, she doesn’t buy his bait and the knife bites more into Y/N’s neck so that blood flourishes around it. Y/N whimpers at the new pressure on her. “You think that you can flatter me into letting your precious Y/N go? Well, you can’t! You guys are the reason why my brother is in jail and I’m going to stop her from testifying against him,” Sienna screeches. Her arm raises in the air with the knife, ready to bring it back down into Y/N. Drew has killed before, but this is personal. He can’t let fear come in the way of what he has to do and he prays that Y/N has the sense to stay still. His gun aligns with Sienna’s head, taking the shot. A coined-size hole punctures her head and blood spews out of the wound. Y/N shouts as red rain showers her. “Get me out of here, please,” she implores, struggling against her restraints. Drew motions with his head to tell James to take care of Sienna whilst he helps Y/N. He hurries towards her, pulling out a tissue from his pocket.

One hand smoothes back her hair and the other wipes the blood off with the tissue. “Drew, you’re here,” she sobs out, reaching for him with her seized hands. Red swelts are starting to form around her wrist and Drew wishes he could kill Sienna a second time. He gently pushes her hand against the metal armrests, “Of course, I am, Precious. But I need you to give me a second, okay? I’m going to get bolt cutters to get you out of here.” Her pleas end his movement. “Don’t leave me, please. I don’t want to be alone.” He nods at her need and wraps his arms around her shoulder. His lips press against her temple, “Never. I’ll never leave you.” He calls out for some bolt cutters and a few minutes later he is given some. “Okay, Precious. I’m going to cut the cuffs off with these. It might be a little loud,” he briefs her. He snips the bracelets around her wrists and ankles. She is finally able to move freely, bringing Drew as close as possible to her. “I was so scared. I thought I was going to die,” she confesses, gripping to him like he is a life raft. He flattens her hair some more, “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. She can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Y/N,” a familiar voice hails. She untangles herself from Drew’s hold, tearing his heart apart at the loss of contact. Her father grasps her in his arms. The father-daughter duo cling to each other, weeping at the fear of her being lost. Drew did what he came to do and it seems like he isn’t needed anymore. With his vision trained on the pair, he exits the damp cellar and goes home. 

———

Saving her proved to him how much of a mistake breaking up with her in the first place was. Simply apologizing to her isn’t what she deserves for what he did. He could make a big grand gesture to show how wrong he was. Pay for a skywriter. Organize a flash mob at her favourite places. Rent a billboard at Time Square. Those weren’t right for Y/N though. They weren’t personal to her; nonetheless, Drew knew the perfect thing for her. 

———

It’s been a week since Y/N was held captive for about three hours. She has already found a therapist, who has been helping her through her trauma. One thing has been killing her since that day and it’s the fact that she didn’t get to say thank you to Drew for saving her. She was horrid to him when he came to get his documents and she completely picked at his insecurities. Even with her behaviour towards him, he was there for her in her greatest moment of need. To add the cherry on top of the cake, he quit his job at the security agency because of her. He was going to get a suspension for leaving Francesca at the mall, so he decided to quit instead. James reassured her that Drew had enough money saved up to be out of work for at least ten years, which eased some of her worries. She glances at James standing behind her and she brings her hand up to knock on the door. 

Drew opens the door with a measuring tape around his neck. A dazzling smile crosses her face and her eyebrows form a hairy caterpillar. “Precious, are you okay?” he frets, examining every inch of her to make sure she has no additional injuries. She nods and spots the sewing machine behind him on his table. The sage green fabric is snagged between the sewing needle and the base of the machine. She shakes out of her confusion to verbally answer him, “Yeah, I’m fine. I actually came to say thank you. You know… for last week. You don’t know how much it meant for me that you were there.” She fiddles with her fingers and his hand cups his neck as he rubs it. “You don’t have to thank me, Precious. I know I hurt you, but I will always be there to save you. I’m glad you are safe,” he appeases. She disagrees, “No, I was so rude to you. You didn’t deserve it. I hurt you and you put it aside to help me, like what I should’ve done that day.” He doesn’t need her to tell him what day she is talking about. He already knows.

Silence overcomes the couple and Y/N is again drawn to the equipment behind him. Her finger points at everything, “What’s all of this?” “Oh, um,” the hand on his neck continues its friction of the skin. “I’m trying to sew you a jacket.” One corner of her mouth raises, “You are making me a jacket?”

“Yeah… I made a mistake and I needed to show you how much I love you, so I wanted to make you a jacket that says, Precious.”

Her heart skips a beat and the idea of him learning to sew just for her makes her feel honoured. “That’s really sweet, Drew.”

“Can I tell you something?” he asks. This is his opportunity to tell her who she is to him. Her head hinges up and down. His hand laces with hers and he pulls her into this apartment. He closes the door, “I called you precious because even before we started dating, I knew you would be a treasure to me. It was an instant connection for me and I was a fool to have let you go. I understand if you don’t want to forgive me now. I just need you to know all this.” Her hand reaches up to his chest, grazing it softly with her warmth. “You broke up with me and I didn’t think I could ever forgive you. But you were there when I needed you and with the jacket, I can see how remorseful you are about the decision you made. I’ve made some poor choices too. And if you can forgive me too, then I think we both deserve a second chance,” she admits, not being able to meet his eyes. His finger raises her chin, “I will always forgive you because there is no one else in this world that I was meant to protect more than you. A second chance is all we are going to need. I’m never letting you go.” She jumps into his hold, smushing her lips onto his. His hands grip her thighs to keep her steady and his tongue enters her mouth. 

Air eventually needs to enter their lungs, so they break apart with their foreheads together. He sneaks a peek at the fabric on the table and he sighs. “I know I’m supposed to be making it for you, but I’m going to need your help with the jacket. I screwed up somewhere and I have no idea how to fix it,” he fesses up. She giggles, “I can do that, except not right now. There is something else we need to be doing other than sewing.” He grins at the way her eyebrows move and he carries her to his bedroom. 

A few months ago, Drew had made the biggest regret of his life. All he saw was his faults and it led him to that decision. Thankfully, the universe saw his pain and decided to help him out. It gave him a chance to prove to himself he was worthy. It gave him his redemption.

Taglist: @loves0phelia @f4ll-for-you @mellillasstuff @jjsmarijuana @thelomlisrafecameron @crlsummer @rubixgsworld

[airas-story]

" i thunk you misunderstand something. I'm not your friend i'm your enemy."

"yeah, right ! Prove it"

P. S. : you could use any genre but personally i prefer crack

Tony sidled closer to Stephen, feeling slightly unnerved. “Should we be worried about this?” Tony asked. In all his years living with AI he’d never feared the traditional end-of-the-world scenarios that pop culture associated with AI. Not until this moment.

“I… don’t know,” Stephen admitted. “I’m blaming this on your kid, though. The Cloak might actually be innocent for once in its life.”

Yeah… Tony wasn’t sure he agreed with that. Just because FRIDAY was more verbal, didn’t mean it was her fault. The Cloak’s body language had been kind of threatening, if anyone asked him.

“FRI—” Tony started. “Do we need to have a conversation about making friends?”

The Cloak twisted, turning towards the camera and shifting in a way that radiated condescension. A sort of ‘you just got in trouble’ that Tony would expect from angsty preteens taunting their younger siblings. The Cloak followed up by extending the edge of its fabric as though to shake a metaphorical hand. Clearly ‘friends?’ taunting FRIDAY by declaring itself the ‘mature one’.

“I think you misunderstand something, Levi,” FRIDAY said, tone contemptuous. “I’m not your friend. I’m your enemy.”

The Cloak shifted, fabric shifting sharp and jagged with offense. A moment later it shifted, once again condescending. Tony had gotten good at interpreting the cloak. The ‘Yeah right. Prove it.’ was very obvious.

…what a disaster. “This is definitely at least half the Cloak’s fault,” Tony said. He sighed. “I really thought the fact that I had no human kids meant I’d never need to worry about figuring out the blended family phenomenon.” He looked at the Cloak before glancing at the cameras at FRIDAY.

Stephen sighed. “I never foresaw this particular problem, either,” he admitted. “…I don’t think parenting manuals cover this situation.”

Tony wrinkled his nose. “Great. We’re screwed.”

[shadowqueenjude]

Hiiii!! First your posts give me life!!! I’m always waiting for the next one because I know you’re going to spit gems and speak facts 💁‍♀️.

I have a question/thought about the mates situation. People keep saying SJM will be exploring the rejected mating bond concept, specifically in Elain’s book….When did she say that? WHERE? From what I’ve seen and read, she did say it was an interesting concept (fate, mating bond vs agency and all that good stuff) but she also said she didn’t know if she would be exploring it in the future, let alone in Elain’s book or the ACOTAR series. So HOW in the world do people take that as a confirmation that she will absolutely do it in Elain’s book? Even the whole “what if the cauldron is wrong” argument. Well maybe she’ll use Elain’s book to demonstrate that in fact the cauldron is never wrong because it actually doesn’t decide anything. This frustrates me to no end.

Anyway, keep slaying Queen 💅!

My dear Anon, we shall have an Autumn wedding.

This is what SJM said:

“That’s something I find to be very interesting,” she replies. “What if the forces that be put you with the wrong person? Or what if you just decide, eh, I’m not interested. … There’s a lot to explore within the concept of mates and your agency about it. 

“I’m not going to say if I am exploring it in future books or not,” she continues, “but it definitely offers a wealth of things to explore with this concept of freewill and what is true love. Is it something that’s destined? Or is it something that you make? Is it both?”

She did NOT confirm that she would be exploring it at ANY point!!!! I do NOT know why people are acting like it is a guarantee.

What if the Cauldron was wrong? COULD be foreshadowing yes, but the answer is rarely that obvious LMAO. Amren told Nesta that there were other ways to fight beside a sword, but Nesta became a warrior. Most likely it's talking about Elain. So is it really so hard to believe that this is NOT talking about Elain at all, but someone else entirely?

The three most likely options for a rejected mating trope are as follows:

LoA-Helion: we get to explore the pain and angst of knowing a mate has married and had children with another, and dealing with the rejected trope for centuries, but will eventually get together in the end. SJM is not about to give Lucien's parents a tragic ending lmfao. And in her world, rejected mates=tragedy.

Mor-Eris: if we go in the direction that mating bonds can only occur between males and females and Mor and Eris are both gay, so they can never have feelings for each other. In which case we explore the difficulties associated with a bond that neither person wants yet the instincts are still there.

Tamlin-Amarantha: did anyone wonder WHY tf Amarantha was so obsessed with Tamlin? Like, I know he's hot and all, but goddamnit girl what the fuck? Now, if they were mates and Tamlin rejected her, it would make sense. It would also add more nuance to Tamlin AND Amarantha's characters, and we'd get to explore Tamlin's trauma post-UTM after being forced to reject and kill his mate and how that drove him a little mad.

But, the rejected bond is NOT a guarantee, so there may NOT be any rejected bonds. These are all just theories at this point. One thing I am CERTAIN of is that the rejected bond will CERTAINLY NOT be Elain and Lucien. Especially not when SJM dangled Gwyn in front of us. Now THAT one is fucking obvious lol.

[epersonae]

Do you think you could fall in love again?

On the one hand, this is a wildly personal question, anon, and from the reaction of my knitting group, it would be totally appropriate for me to just abandon this in the depths of my unanswered asks.

On the other hand, if it is possible to know one thing about me as a person, just from my blog, it’s that I was deeply madly in love, and that that person died. And also: you have in fact activated my trap card.

Because I thought about this, almost as soon as they died, and not in a way where I was ready to fall in love immediately, but I think I said to @faintvox maybe the next day: can you be polyamorous with a ghost?

Because when I got divorced from my first spouse, I thought I wouldn’t find love for a long time. I expected to be single for years, because I had so much trauma from that, because I had loved him and it had broken me, because I thought it would be too hard to start over after more than 20 years with someone else.

And when I told Ryn that, after we started dating, they laughed at me. “There is no way you were going to be single for five years,” they said, which how long I said I’d expected. (For the record: I left my ex in August 2018; Ryn and I started dating in October 2019.)

Because Ryn and I were in a polyamorous relationship when we started out, and we were just trying to figure out how we wanted to do that again, more deliberately, and instead cancer-wedding-death. Our wedding vows deliberately included that space in our lives, in a way where it also was about our friendships, and was also something that would not be totally obvious to a couple of my older relatives.

Because I realized, after they died, that we together had written me a way through it — the fic we wrote together, one of the central characters is a widower, and the guy who created him always said “Magnus never loves again,” and we said “Fuck that,” and we said (altho this is I think @nekosd43's formulation originally), “Magnus is made for love,” and we shipped him in stories set before his marriage and we shipped him in stories set after. And Magnus’s grief and love for Julia is woven through the love that we gave him in the stories we wrote with him and Taako and him and Lucretia, and the love and the grief are both important. (JFC I WROTE A PIECE ABOUT LUCRETIA ASKING HIM ABOUT A TATTOO HE GOT FOR JULIA.)

Because among many other things, for the benefit of all the broken hearts is in part about what it means to have love that isn’t The Love, what it means to find love in the aftermath of tragedy, to find love in places you didn’t expect.

Because people in my family live a really fucking long time, and the idea of living another 30, 40, 50 years without romantic love, without being in love, is kind of horrifying to me. (No offense to my aromantic pals, but could not be me.) Especially given that I am already of a mindset that it is possible to have romantic love for more than one person at a time — to say that I couldn’t have it again at all is just not realistic for who I am.

No one is ever going to have the exact place that Ryn did and does. No one will ever be them, no other relationship will be the one that we had from when they first messaged me in 2017 until I lay next to their corpse in a hospital bed in 2021. Even in death they are literally my safe space.

And yet.

So the scene in OFMD 1x10, where Stede asks Mary what love feels like. I have always associated that with Ryn, and with my own little montage, because that is what our love felt like. (There are so many things about s1 Ed and Stede that are ridiculously us.) If we’d been married a year later, I bet some of that would have been in our wedding ceremony.

And yet.

I haven’t posted about it on Tumblr, but there is a somebody, and I am quite in love with them, and one time last summer I was watching Our Flag Means Death, as you do. And I got to that scene, and my mind was doing the montage overlay thing with moments of Ryn…and also moments with this other person. And I knew that I loved them, that I was in love with them, but to have that connection happen? I burst into tears.

Because I had known intellectually, but I felt it in a different way, deeply and truly, the simultaneousness of that love, the way it overlaps, and neither makes the other less, and there was love, and there is love, and whatever happens next there will be love.

[redroverrider]

Foxiyo Week Day One: Behind Enemy Lines

Commander Fox made several things very clear to his shinies. Some of them were obvious, like the importance of obeying your superiors. Or the fact that the Coruscant Guard was not just any unit of clones, but an elite one. Which meant that they would hold themselves to a even higher standard and functioned even more efficiently than groups away on the battlefield.

Other things were less obvious. Perhaps the most surprising message he drilled into them was that the senators of the Galactic Republic were not their friends. They were politicians, meaning that by their very nature they were selfish, corrupt, and power-hungry, and focused first and foremost on preserving that power. The Guard protected them and their employees, but that was because it was their job to do so. And that meant doing it the very best that they could. 

Still, Fox made it clear to new recruits that these senators were not to be trusted, no matter how friendly and caring some of them may appear. Any trooper who so much as made small talk with a senator was subject to a stern talking-to, not to mention inevitable betrayal.

So yes, perhaps he had a bit of a double standard, he admitted to himself, as he was currently sitting in Senator Riyo Chuchi’s office for no reason other to to spend time with her. Riyo was currently working through a draft of a bill that she and her associates were planning on introducing, while he was reading through the previous day’s crime reports. But no one needed to know about this. And even if someone did find out, he could always say he was providing her with reports and updates on the state of Coruscant, which conceivably fell within the scope of his job. But no one would ever find out about these times that they spent together.

Taking another sip of caf, Fox looked up from his data pad and over at Senator Chuchi, who, sensing his attention, looked back at him. He gave her a warm, polite smile, which she returned  immediately. He still was stunned how beautiful and charming she could look just by raising the corners of her mouth.

This was how these get-togethers usually were. They didn’t talk much, but they loved just being able to be in each others presence. It made them both feel a bit of relief from the normally stressful environments they both worked in. 

After a while, though, Fox’s com beeped, with Thire saying that a new squadron of gunships had just arrived, and were ready for inspection.

Fox stood up, gathering the few things he had brought with him. “Duty calls.”

Riyo got up from her chair and walked over to him. “Will I see you again this week?” She asked with a smile.

Fox returned the smile. “Probably. The troops seem to be doing well with our work right now.”

“Well, you have my private com channel,” she said. “So just let me know.” She put her hand on his arm. “Be safe, Commander” She said. 

“You as well, Senator.” He replied. 

Fox made sure to put his helmet back on before opening the door and walking out into the hall. He was immediately glad he did that, because he ran into Thorn walking in the hallway outside. Thorn glanced at him and then back towards the office from which Fox had came, as the two Commanders fell into step together.

“Did you have another meeting with Senator Chuchi?” Thorn asked, a slight hint of disbelief in his voice. He knew as well as any other other trooper how much Fox disliked politicians. 

“Yes.” Fox replied quickly. “You know how she is. Always wanting to know the good and bad of what’s happening around Coruscant.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard. Doesn’t it get to you having to update her almost every week?”

“Its part of the job. Not that big of a deal.” Fox said, hoping Thorn would drop it. 

“Still,” Thorn said chuckling. “We all know how you feel about the senators. The men always say that going into a politicians office is like going behind enemy lines.” 

“Well, it does feel like that sometimes” Fox said as they boarded the elevator. And with most of the senators, it genuinely did. In the case of Senator Chuchi, however, Fox never felt anything close to that. But for now, at least, no one needed to know that. 

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

Super excited to get to do Foxiyo week this year! I have plans for all the days, so I'm hoping to get most or all of them done

@foxiyoweek

[finniestoncrane]

Hard Truths

Golden Age!Scarecrow x GN!Reader, word count: 500 commission: thank you @the-exception-to-the-rules for this super sweet prompt, i am desperately pathetic for ga!jon and his long, pointy face 🎃🧡 commission me here! request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: tiny bit of angst, but nothing nsfw

In his gloomy office, Jonathan Crane loomed over an ancient tome that filled the room with the pungent dust of a thousand fingers belonging to a thousand curious minds. The air was thick with the stench of old books and stale coffee, two things you had come to associate with him. And in an almost Pavlovian response, your heart began to flutter as your nostrils filled with the familiar odour. 

You tentatively entered his safe space, his lone area of solitude for the most part, very aware that you were interrupting one of the only times he really had to himself, but finding it necessary to speak to him, to explain yourself for the little miscommunication between you two.

“Good afternoon, Jonathan.”

“Professor Crane, please.”

A curious fellow, to correct you to use a more formal greeting, but you obliged. Not happily, mind you, as you felt you were both definitely beyond formalities in your relationship. But it was perhaps to be expected, given how upset you believed him to be. 

“Professor Crane, then. Could you put the book down for a second?”

“Why?”

“So… so that I can explain?”

He dropped the book, only slightly, enough for his head, slender, pointed features and round rimmed glasses, to poke above it, looking at you questioningly.

“Why would you need to explain anything? I’m an intelligent man, my dear. I understand what happened. And I am at peace with it.”

It hurt to see him so nonchalant, especially because you could tell he was hurt underneath the facade. He’d opened up to you, letting you know the extent of his childhood bullying, the continuation of that into his career, poked and prodded by his colleagues, referred to as ‘scarecrow’ behind his back, when they thought he couldn’t hear. And you, the person he had trusted, had seemingly turned on him also. You were determined to explain, whether or not he wanted to forgive you. You needed him to know. 

“Well… regardless, I feel like I owe you an apology. Or an explanation. Or both.”

Jonathan had already returned his focus to his book, languidly turning the pages with a long, thin finger, pretending not to listen to you as you started to speak, ineloquently out of nerves.

“I denied our… relationship… when they asked me at the faculty meeting. Not out of embarrassment, quite the opposite. I was… I was worried they might only taunt you further. Professor Crane, a cliche who has fallen into a mad affair with his secretary. How… typical. How droll. And I didn’t have the heart to tell them the truth, that I’m…”

He raised an eyebrow, telling his obvious intrigue into your words. 

“... It didn’t seem the appropriate time to tell you, for the first time, that… I love you.”

Jonathan kept his eyes down, pretending to read, but you could see his smile curling into his gaunt cheeks, his eyes watering with the realisation that there was hope for him yet. And not wanting to disturb him further, you leaned over his desk and pressed a kiss to his forehead, leaving him in peaceful silence to digest the realisation that you cared for him genuinely. A fact that might take him some time to get used to.

[touchlikethesun]

american customer came in to the restaurant today (it was very obvious i promise, it wasn’t just the accent), and so me being me i was like “oh where are you from? are you visiting the city or have you moved here?” and she looked so insulted. like i had spat at her or something. and she said. “i’m from sicily.” with. the strongest most obvious american accent. and ik i was probably being rude at that point but i just blinked at her for a sec and she continued. “my husbands in the military he’s stationed there.” and i didn’t say anything to that i just excused myself but gurllllllllllll why are you getting pressed i was just being friendly also 1) i am almost certain i’ve lived abroad longer than you (it’s the vibe) and i would never DREAM of saying i was from any of the places i’ve lived. someone asks me where im from i say the US because they aren’t asking me where i live they’re asking where im from and sorry missy but you and me both are from that shithole and always will be. and 2) you’re stationed there with the military?!?!? you didn’t even go thru the struggle of finding a job of getting a visa you didn’t have to worry about housing or navigating local bureaucracy because i know for a FACT that the military handholds their wittle troops in the scwawy fowiegn cowntwy so you don’t have to deal with any of the actual problems typically associated with living abroad you have no idea what it’s like to actually move and live abroad, so EXTRA points against you for trying to say you’re “from sicily” god i hate americans sometimes i really really do