#being unable to let go of someone who means sm to you even after they died

[raticalshoez]

What are the lengths you'd go to bring back the dead?

[g1rlken]

hi dolly! 💕i just discovered ur blog n i love ur writing sooo much! 🙈💞 can u pls do 2 or 16 for nate!! 💗💗

you’re so freaking nice woah I love u sm 😠🫶🏼

Prompt: 2. Sunshine x grumpy + 16. Help get out of a toxic relationship

Nate Jacobs x fem!reader

2.7k words

-

Just the ninth if not the tenth party of the month. Another house party, on a school night, way past her usual bedtime and really overwhelming that it just won’t near its end. Y/n couldn’t bare it sometimes but she had to attended because her boyfriend Ryan did. It was fun though, driving him home as he’d be piss drunk and the party itself had the most obnoxious teenage charm. In order to block out on the godawful bass and flickering lights y/n guided herself into the kitchen when Ryan most probably didn’t even notice.

“Oh what have we here!” Nate exclaimed as he followed in some time after, she jumped down from the kitchen counter where she previously sat with an awkward smile. She’d known of Nate and him partially. They were supposed friends ever since that one term last year where she had to tutor him. Though they didn’t really reconnect after that once she started seeing Ryan. It was somewhat majorly due to him that y/n didn’t see a lot of her friends who seemed potential threats to him.

“Hi” she greeted him awkwardly looking out the door to see if Ryan was coming, she was scared he’d cause a scene if he saw her with Nate. Even if it was just a conversation, two of them at a reasonable distance with a probable small talk following. Ryan wouldn’t have it, he’d loose his shit over her even breathing in the direction of some other guy.

Nate could tell that she was a bit frantic over something and he was fast to connect it was a ‘someone’ rather. “What are you doing here all alone?” He asked pouring himself a glass of water.

“Nothing really just uh-“ she tried thinking of proper words to say. But the soft dread of Ryan walking in any minute made her mind preoccupied.

Nate interrupted her pause, “Beer pong’s too boring for you? Already calculated the probability of winning?” He joked, when she had helped him with math and there were similar questions as such counting probably of winning a coin toss. So it was a small jab from something between them.

A small laugh seemed to escape her genuinely as he correlated their previous connection through maths, “I didn’t think about that wow…” she trailed off, “one throw amongst ten glasses”

“One in ten probability of winning.” He answered his instant calculation.

“I don’t know the glasses are set up like a triangle and they’re not all equally probable to get in, maybe we take like one row at a time and then apply bayes theorem for each-“ she was going off about the self curated math problem between the two of them as he listened intently but looked absolutely clueless so she stopped herself “oh wait I’m rambling aren’t I? Sorry” she cringed to herself letting out a soft chuckle.

“It’s alright sweetheart” he added with a shrug, “I like hearing you talk.”

“Surely because math is so fun isn’t it?” She said sarcastically rolling her eyes at him.

“It’s not. But when you talk like that, it’s fun to watch.” Nate replied just mildly, contrary to his chance making intentions out of this conversation. Even apart from that he did mean that, he’d missed it, her.

“Like what?”

“That…” he pointed to her face vaguely, unable to describe how her eyes lit up and a cheery tone followed her voice whenever she talked about something she liked without being made felt like it was a chore to the listener “You get all smiley...happy. When you talk about something you love”

“Well I don’t necessarily love math.” She told him, it was true. Despite of being good at something, having a passion for it was unilateral to it.

“I guess you love being heard then.” It might just have been a note as Nate mentioned it so casually but as she thought about it, she couldn’t help but wander back to Ryan and how he never listened.

No. That couldn’t be, everyone’s a different lover perhaps “Yeah…” she trailed off with a small smile as her expression fell. Comprehending those moments where talking to Ryan about something in her life would just feel like talking to a wall.

“What’s wrong?” Nate asked catching on her fallen expression.

“What?” She asked confused, nonchalant because surely he wouldn’t fix anything “Nothing…”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing, what’s wrong?”

“What?” She frowned but couldn’t help laugh when she saw his ever so concerned face like her smile falling was that big of a deal. “Nothing’s wrong!” As a joke, she splashed some of the tap water on his flickering it on him through her fingers. She laughed as he took the attack of tiny droplets.

“You did not just-“ if it were some one else he would’ve most probably said the worst cusses in the book but with her he just let out a small huff.

“Did what?” She attempted to sprinkle his face once again but this time he got a hold of her wrists with one of his hands, she couldn’t contain her laughter. It was infectious to him as well, this light hearted moment was flooded all over like a forest fire with an irking voice.

“What the fuck’s going on here?” Ryan seethed, y/n immediately pulled her hands away from Nate’s as that boy strided in.

“W-we uh were just talking” y/n spoke frantically, it was disheartening to Nate to see her all panicky and frantic again, when she was just laughing and at peace a few moments ago.

“That’s what you’ve come up with?” Ryan questioned as he aggressively walked towards her “Why do you always have to slut your way about, everywhere I take you huh?”

“I wasn’t doing anything I swear-we were just talking, I used to tutor him math and we were just reconnecting over it I-“ y/n jumped rapidly to explain herself before Nate could intervene for her.

“Over math huh?” Ryan scoffed “Someone dumb like you? You were talking about math?”

“Hey calm the fuck down alright” Nate interjected before y/n could. “She said we were just talking so we were just talking.” He added authority to her words but it just made things worse.

“This is our matter so can you fuck off?” Ryan barked at Nate, the two weren’t friends but just distant acquaintances. Ryan naturally couldn’t stand anyone trying to talk to her because it was all ‘flirting’ and Nate couldn’t naturally stand y/n because that boy made his sun rays embodied girl feel awful.

“No.” Nate said adamantly “How about you grow a pair and stop being a little bitch about everyone who looks in her direction? Do you not think yourself man enough to keep her or do you have to berate her to have her around?” Nate was poking at him purposely because he himself wanted a go at this guy but he didn’t want y/n to think Nate was the guy who’d throw first punch, even though he wanted to.

But that was it, Nate received the punch he was asking for but he barely flinched very overpowered with his own urge of showing Ryan his place they two were at each other’s throats. This was the exact scene y/n was worried about Ryan creating, she tried to soothe the fight pleading them both but it didn’t work.

“Get off of him!” She kept on trying as she held Ryan from his arm, trying to tug him away but it was distracting him so much from throwing his hands at Nate. Her constant nagging and tugging.

“Get the fuck off me!” Ryan roared at y/n pushing her off of him very aggressively, intently pushing her so hard she fell to the ground and that was when Nate no longer held his punches. He beat the boy bloody red. By now the others had gathered too to help escalate the situation but it was of no help, Nate was like an animal unleashed.

-

A week since that, y/n couldn’t even meet Nate’s eye. She ignored him in hallways, changing her direction, she sat far across him in class always hurrying out before he could talk. She wouldn’t reply to his messages, not even see them. He hadn’t seen her around with Ryan either in their designated spots around the school so that was a good sign but he just wanted to talk this out with her because he couldn’t understand the relentless feeling of having lost her. Even as a friend. He never regretted having beaten Ryan, he deserved it. Nate was so certain of it. But y/n. He hated thinking she saw him differently after that, his obnoxious rage to protect that he wanted to cherish. Did it repel her? He felt entitled to at least find that out, he’d leave her be to just glance from the sidelines and wait till she’ll finally look his way if that made her happy but he’d like to know.

Another house party after that one with a facade, Nate as he lounged with his friends overheard a group of girls behind him gossiping about how y/n and Ryan are back together. Eavesdropping as his blood boiled he found out that she’ll probably be around here since Ryan’s here. When he heard that he immediately rose to his feet setting down his beer without a care to respond to his mates who asked about his sudden leave, they kept asking where he was going before he was lost in the crowd. He could barely register anything at this point.

As he walked through the crowd in disbelief and anger he finally did find y/n, out in the garden with some other girls he simple pulled her by her arm to himself without a word or explanation to others he received a few woahs he didn’t care for.

Nate would’ve pulled her aside to talk to her if she was standing with Ryan if that boy weren’t to busy getting piss drunk. “Hey!” Y/n resisted trying to walk herself but he continued to drag her with a tight grip on his arm getting to a quieter place by the small space between the backward and out shed. “Nate what are you-“

“What’s wrong with you?” He asked her, brows furrowed.

“What? What are you talking about…” y/n trailed off as some embarrassment and regret creeped within her but she full well knew what he was talking about.

“How are you even seeing Ryan again? Are you out of your mind?!” He exclaimed. He had so much to demand about, Nate swallowed his pride with timid hurt whenever she ignored him. He could bare her dismissiveness but not her sadness.

“Look…” She breathed unable to meet his gaze, “it’s different-“

“It’s different is it? What is tell me, has he come up with more ways to make you feel shitty?”

Remaining silent as she looked to the ground like it was the most interesting thing ever she felt horrible. Even more horrible of the life she could be otherwise leading but the life she was afraid of leaving. Afraid of the change leaving ryan would bring, afraid of its consequence the emotional weight.

“And you’ve been ignoring me this entire time. Do you think I can’t see that?” Nate spoke and this time she looked up increasingly confused at how he could see through her that much “You don’t look at me, always hurry away even right now you can’t even meet my eyes what are you so afraid of?!”

“It’s just…it’s difficult to explain” y/n tried to reply mildly as she sighed on the verge of tears.

“As long as you can explain it to yourself right?” He scoffed, really agitated how she couldn’t see what he could. Nate was an intense lover too, ferocious one that. But he’d never make her feel this miserable if she was his. She wouldn’t even have to be his he just wanted Ryan to leach away from her because she’d be happier exactly like she was before that boy. Constantly governing her and disrespectful. Nate had a bad temper and he was difficult but he’d never be difficult enough to the extent of hurting her.

Now tears brimmed her eyes and he instantly held back from his words realising just how distressing it must be for her “Hey…hey” he urged her raising her chin with his fingers to make him look at him “I shouldn’t have said that I’m sorry…” he apologised but it didn’t stop the tears streaming down her face. “Y/n…it’s alright” he brought her to himself enlacing her into his arms and he rubbed her back letting her cry it out.

“I just don’t know what to do-he—he apologised and he said he’d change and this is the second time this has happened and I-i felt embarrassed to see you because you did so much and yet I went back to him…I keep on doing this, I just, I’m very lost on that account” she wept “He’s my first-first everything and I do really like him but he just makes me miserable and awful. Every second I’m with him I just feel horrible I don’t even want to be here at this party but I am…because of him.”

“Look at me” he said pulling away from the hug to face her but she still kept looking down so Nate cupped her face in his hands “Look” he urged “It’s okay…it’s difficult. You’re learning to love and you’re too attached to him right now. You will get out of it only if you get out of it. You have gotten over much difficult things and you have been okay. You’ll be okay this time around too.”

“How do you know that?” She asked as her voice broke but her tears composed.

“Because I love you.” Nate blurted and didn’t even regret it, almost felt free of letting out a feeling so intense in him whether or not she reciprocated “I love you. I love all of you and I’m not embarrassed to admit it but I want you whole. I want you happy, I promise you i will maintain it and I don’t want you to think of it now” he said wiping her tears “we’re going to go home. I’ll drop you home. You’re not answerable to anyone if you don’t want to be at a place you don’t want to be. You think about Ryan, break up, sort your head out yeah? You deserve better than him because love shouldn’t make you feel awful and miserable. it doesn’t necessarily have to be me or anyone, your own self needs you the most right now. Act right by you.”

Nate drove her home after that, she was truly glad. The car ride was full of a comfortable silence and the genuine serene smile which adorned her face when she told him good night after dropping her off was all worth it to Nate.

Following two days were a bit long as Nate didn’t hear from y/n in any way. She wasn’t even at school. The game day was on the weekend so people rarely came from class these days. Regardless on the game day when he had to play himself he searched for her in the crowd full of people but couldn’t find her. That’s what he told himself weighing light on the fact that she might not have showed up.

He played his well that game, where they won. But he still felt like he had lost somewhat. Since he didn’t have y/n, or a sign of her that could bring his heart some peace. It’s as if his wish was turned alive, he saw y/n come rushing towards the team where everyone was congratulating each other.

He dropped his helmet to the floor when she came running and picked her up in his arms, feeling won, feeling at home. Nate hugged her as if she wouldn’t exist if he let go and likewise. Y/n finally felt liberated, happy, like herself again. Following his word of advise.

Y/n had broken up with Ryan, with a lot of comprehension and conversations with her feelings y/n had reciprocated Nate’s. “I love you too” she replied to what she couldn’t that night at the party and he smiled so hugely kissing her as she was still lifted up into his arms. She kissed him back wrapping her arms around him and like he’d promised, she felt alright again.

HEY!!!! Please let me know your thoughts I will think about it twice a week if you commented a smile face even. Anyways, THANK YOU for reading I love you and go drink water

+is my nate semi non toxic? Yes as a descendant of bob the builder family I fixed him

[silaswritesthings]

MORE SCARA X YANDERE! FEM! READER OLEASE‼️‼️

Summary: You wish you could wish Wanderer a happy birthday but how could you without revealing the extensive research you performed on his background to be able to possess sensitive information such as his birthdate?

Starring: Wanderer/Scaramouche

Genre: Yandere,

Warnings: stalking, reader is a Yandere

Author’s note: i get really happy when i get asks so thank you sm!! I would’ve posted this yesterday but life happens. Enjoy!!

Word count: 1.3k

A good book remains a good book whether it’s displayed before the eyes of the most respected curators of the world or among millions of books in a local library. To you, Wanderer was a good book. He was an arrangement of words and colours, brought together to form his masterpiece that he kept hidden under pages of silence and mystery.

There was nobody who knew of him who felt like they knew enough, and among those people was you; who knew the most about him but not enough. It would never be enough.

“What will it be this time?” Wanderer said from beside you. “Psychology, true crime or crime fiction?”

You wanted to be a bit greedy, to keep him in a decorative box in your room only for your eyes to see. Why? Because Wanderer was beautiful; beautiful in the way he handed you your library books as you checked them out like he was giving you treasures beyond human imagination. He was beautiful in the way he spoke about various things he’s read about, sometimes his voice would lull you into a trance during the entirety of his rants about the lack of historical accuracy in fiction, and you would hang onto every single one of his words until the sudden snap of his fingers bring you back to reality.

He was too perfect, therefore Wanderer was uncontainable. So much that you wished to contain him. For the time being, you could only do that by taking pictures of him while he wasn’t looking.

“Surprise me.” You said after feigning contemplation. You leaned against the shelf behind you and waited to see what he would do next.

He narrowed his eyes. “No.”

“But I want to extend my reading palate.” You challenged. He watched you for a second and another before sighing and asking you to follow him and so you did.

Upon your arrival in another library section, Wanderer had presented you with two recommendations; with one book in each hand he began to explain the contents of both books.

His voice was quiet, as expected since you were in a library, but you did not miss the way his voice would lower whenever someone walked by. You noticed a long time ago that Wanderer was a very private person but you didn't think there was anything wrong with your display of affection, it was only admiring someone with limited boundaries. He did, however, have rather strict boundaries and you knew there must be some you've violated or crossed by now, you've been stalking him… No, you've been watching him. Admiring him. You like him so you're more observant with him than with others, because he's interesting. Is this how he sees it as well?

“The latter sounds very interesting.” You said, after he concluded his explanation, pushing down your moral dilemma. He hummed in acknowledgment and pushed the book against your chest as he walked past you to return to the front of the library, but just before your shoulders brushed he paused, regarding you with a gaze you couldn't perceive.

“Are you free this evening?”

Your heart leaped to your throat and you were unable to think of an appropriate reply; I always have time for you- no, that sounds too desperate. What about ‘time with you is time well spent’- no, that's too artificial!

“Yes- I mean- sure, yeah.” You glared at the ground because your anxiety was very easy to pick up on. Your thoughts shifted from your embarrassment to the pressure on your chest decreasing, Wanderer had let go of the book and was making his way to the front of the library. His ears were bright red and you wished you hadn't forgotten your camera at home that morning.

________

Pictures of Wanderer in various places and scenarios were scattered all over your bedroom walls, each picture was surrounded by at least two sticky notes with your thoughts and observations concerning the picture written down in the neatest handwriting you could muster.

There was the picture of Wanderer when he first started working at the library, his shoulders were sunken as if there was an invisible force weighing him down. The two notes accompanying this picture pointed out how this was a week after he moved here, and the fatui were rumoured to have increased their activity because they were in search of someone.

You scanned a few other shots from that day, the urge to just watch the original surveillance video from the day was difficult to overcome. Not Nearly as difficult as it was to gather all the information you had on Wanderer, from how he had been running from the fatui: a Snezhnayan organisation deeply rooted in the political and economic systems of various nations, to how he was of inazuman origins and closely related to the Raiden Shogun- but you didn't know how. Not yet, at least.

Your wondering thoughts halted when you came across a picture you took the previous week; Wanderer looking directly into the camera with an irritated expression. You couldn’t fight off your smile, it was the first time you had taken a picture of him with his consent and this was progress. You treasured this picture because it was evidence of how far your relationship with him had come. Will he allow you to take more pictures of him like this? Or even better, will he open up to you about his past soon?

Speak of the devil, your phone rang and when the screen flashed on, the caller ID belonged to Wanderer and so you picked up.

“Hello?”

“Is there anything you’re allergic to?” No time for formalities, this was the Wanderer you knew and loved.

“Not any that I know of.”

“Great, then let’s agree to meet in 40 minutes.” Wanderer said, but you knew this was only him being considerate of you- or at least you assumed as much, because you could hear the hum of various conversations in the background. He definitely wasn’t home.

“That’s perfect,” you said, but your voice had quieted as you scanned his pictures in your room. How would he react if he found out about this… quality of yours? Would he be upset? Would he hate you? Those possibilities could scare anyone, but you’ve found yourself being drawn to all of Wanderers reactions whether good or bad. What you really disliked was no reactions from him at all- or perhaps dislike was too strong a word; could you really dislike anything about him?

Your gaze shifted to a picture you contemplated burning because of how terrible it looked, you had taken it in a rush but despite the terrible quality, it grew on you just because it was Wanderer. There was no need for better reasoning, that was more than enough.

Wanderer’s voice had softened when it filtered through the previously quiet line. “What’s on your mind?”

You hummed as you mulled over your response, “I’m just wondering if there was any special reason you wanted to hang out today.” By now, your attention had shifted to the middle of the wall beside your door where you had stuck a note written in bold black letters ‘3rd of Jan’: his birthday. Today. He hadn’t told anyone the real date of his birth, probably because he was trying to hide his previous identity as ‘the balladeer’ but no Information about him would ever be out of reach for you.

“There’s no special reason,” he mumbled. “Just felt like spending time with a friend today.”

The corners of your mouth tilted, his voice had always sounded pretty and no matter how many times you heard it you would never get tired of it.

“Then allow me to get prepared.” You finally said, ignoring the flutter in your chest.

“I trust that you’ll be here on time, 34 minutes left.” His voice was back to being monotone and sarcastic.

This filled you with amusement, and you decided to tease, “You trust me?”

He went quiet for a second and another, then finally he replied. “I always have.” He ended the call.

You held your phone to your chest as you gazed at his pictures again and thought, would he still trust you after seeing your room like this?

It didn’t matter. Even if he didn’t know you knew… Happy birthday, Wanderer <3

[hypocriticaltypwriter]

Fruitbats🦇🍒 ✨ask✨

What are the guy’s ways too care and comfort their girl chrysta when she’s feeling down?🥺❤️‍🩹 acts of service/words of affirmation/affection

OMG MJJJJ FLUFFY ASKIES MAKE ME MELTTTTT 🥺🥺🥺🥺 THANK YOU SM FOR THE QUESTION!! [And so sorry this took me forever to answer-]

Chrysta gets really upset or drained after a long day of nonstop work - or sometimes when her aunt scolds her for sneaking out. Sometimes, she feels too guilty, unable to really give her guardian an answer, so she's super quiet and kind of just stares off into space when she's with the boys.

Now, David isn't a guy who can be super affectionate [I mean - not like completely unaffectionate it kinda depends... This man practically bought a hotel to Rizz up a PRINCESS], so he's usually just a shoulder to cry on, or someone to listen to her complaints, rants, or worries. In the end, Chrysta appreciates letting David be some type of void to scream into just to do so, all her secrets or troubles locked away in a promise of never being told.

Ah, Marko’s a hard one. Kind of like David, he has a hard time dealing with a sad, mopey Cherri, and affection during it is hard for him to express. He doesn't want to hurt her any further. If anything, he likes to leave this type of stuff to anyone but him... But sometimes if not most the time, if he's driving her back home, as she's hopping off his bike, he hand her a little folded paper with poetry and a ring or bracelet he made. Nothing said. His hand is just outstretched to her, and once she takes it, he's off.

Paul is probably the one who is the most affectionate with her. He's hugging her, asking if there's anything he can do, spoiling her with treats and items on the boardwalk, or offering a snuggle in the cave, his shoulder to cry on, everything. He also is doing everything to try and make her feel better. Jokes, poking her sides to make her giggle, if she ever complains about someone specific, he always asks 'Do I need to go kill em?' Which... Is half joking- at least let it be for Chrysta's sake.

Dwayne is also rather affectionate! Not as expressive as Paul, but he's very gentle and sweet with Chrysta when she's down. Sometimes people just need to be sad, and that's okay. He's her rock, he's the one who's willing hold her for hours in his arms, whisper how proud he is of her, or how strong she is. Even when she doesn't want to talk, he's still making sure she knows how loved she is by not just them, but her family, and that she isn't alone. 🦇🩷

[station19probie]

Station 19: S0103: Contain the Flame

While yesterday, some unexpected shifts in my day meant I found the time to do an episode blog, which was great… I did spend most of today thinking I’d be unable to make a blog. Except, not because of my schedule… I had a migraine episode that started in the middle of the night, would not respond to meds, and even if that didn’t mean I already didn’t want to watch TV because it makes my eyes hurt more, I certainly wouldn’t have a good time trying to type out my thoughts. Luckily, it’s been about an hour since the attack finally dissipated… but, you know, apologies in advance if my thoughts end up less coherent than normal. I feel better enough now that I probably won’t have random typos, so, here’s hoping. Watching and blogging about an episode of Station still feels like a nice way to end my day, especially when the migraine made it suck so much, hahaha.

So let’s get started, shall we? Picking up in this episode right where the last one stopped, with the rest of the station getting called to respond to the fire Dean and Ben found in the crawl space when responding to a medical call.

“So that stuff back there with Jack — was that, uh, ‘we just got it on in the turnout room’ smack talk, or ‘we almost got it on but got interrupted by the alarm’ smack talk, or, ‘we’re really confused because we’re competition but we just drove through blue fire which is really hot but we still haven’t talked about that engagement ring hanging over our heads yet’ sm… ah yes, that’s the one. See, you can keep Jack a secret from the station, but you can’t keep secrets from me. Don’t even try.” - Maya

All of the smack talk at the start of the episode is already funny, but Maya always noticing everything, and the way the calls things out, is so great.

Now, I don’t know how much of each character’s backstory was developed at the start of the show, versus what was decided on in season 2 and 3 when we get to know more about these character’s personal lives and histories (but based on the conversation she will have with Ryan about her brother… next episode?… I have to think they had already considered that what Maya describes about their childhood, even if -she- doesn’t realize yet, is that of an abusive household…. Versus like, Jack growing up in the system was definitely decided literally anytime after the pilot, likely when developing season 2 because that backstory is introduced early on, and they fix the line from the pilot where he said to Maya that his parents got married after six months, by having her specifically ask about it and he clarifies that was in reference to some foster parents, as he doesn’t know who his bio parents are).

But even if they hadn’t considered actually exploring emotionally-abusive-parent as a storyline for Maya during season 1, it absolutely makes sense to me that her character grew up in an abusive household. Because while this is absolutely me projecting my own personal lived experience, you absolutely learn to *notice everything* all the time, about everything. And, it’s usually exhausting having this need to notice and pick up on everything all the time — but at least it’s fun when you get to joke with your friends about how of course you notice everything, why do you think I’m suddenly not going to notice everything.

And yes, obviously being observant and noticing everything isn’t automatically a symptom of having been abused, and not everyone who has been abused goes on to be someone who notices everything all the time. But, I’d say if you’re already someone who does tend to notice things (and we kind of get the impression that’s who Maya has always been, in her therapy session with Diane), experiencing abuse in childhood is definitely going to encourage that natural tendency you already had of being someone who notices things (at least, that was also my lived experience. So maybe I’m projecting, but hey, Maya reminds me of me!)

“So you’re the guy who runs back in when everyone else is running out?” - JJ

“I am.” - Dean

“That’s terrifying. Why on earth would you choose a job like that?” - JJ

“Didn’t have much choice after flunking out of mime school. Stupid invisible box.” - Dean

Please, why is this so funny? Even when I remember this line is coming, it kills me. It was such an unnecessary response, but it’s *chef’s kiss*

(Side note so I don’t forget to ask later… for tumblr’s formatting, on the previous two posts I used the “quote” text option, but on this one I’m trying out “indenting” instead because I think maybe it looks nice… thoughts? Preferences? I’ll honestly use whatever formatting people who read my posts prefer to see, readability and accessibility of my posts matters to me. I can even go edit the first two posts with consistent formatting if consensus is a different style option works better.)

“I inspected this building a couple weeks back, could have been smoldering for days.” - Jack

“Good to know.” - Andy

“Just a taste there — of my crushing.” - Jack

“Oh, okay, I see. That’s what you think that was?” - Andy

And so it begins! The butting heads of this episode. I do appreciate the episodes over the course of this season, when we see Andy and Jack’s leadership styles differ, seeing when they actively agree or disagree on calls, times when we see Andy feeling insecure in reaction to Jack’s decisions being right, times when we see Andy rightfully stand up for her choices. I think we really do get to the end of this season believing that of course one of these two would-be-captains will of course become the next caption of station 19, and I like that we get to see that it’s not just a clear cut of ‘well of course one is better than the other’ and instead there is nuance.

I mean, we’ll see a lot of that in the Ripley sit down episode, so I won’t talk too much about that now, but even in that episode where you’ve seen most of a season and you’re pretty sure you know what to expect from those sit downs, but of course nothing is ever so cut and dry and void of any nuance.

Even this episode, and sure I’m jumping the gun by talking about it before I even get there, but it’s not cut and dry either… yes, rules are good and the proper steps and protocols exist for a reason, and Andy’s right to say so… but knowing when do things not so by the book is also an important quality for leadership, so Jack’s firsthand experience of the building in his recommendation to jump right to cutting a strip? It isn’t irrelevant. And since they managed to effectively vent the roof so the fire can be contained and put out, and everyone safely evacuated the roof before it collapsed… so everything turned out fine, we’re left as the viewer sitting in that nuance, or just choosing for ourselves who we side with.

There’s absolutely this gray area when it comes to observing and analyzing these two and their desire to be captain, when it comes to their potential readiness to take on that role.

I mean, I literally took a course in college, where a main component of that course was learning about and researching and analyzing different styles of leadership (and how they show up in the world, who tends to gravitate towards which types, their effectiveness in different situations, and so on). And while, in case it wasn’t already obvious, I’ve always very much been a “let’s talk about the nuance” person, this course gave me an even greater appreciation for, and an academic backing for, my opinions on the important of nuance in leadership (and perhaps for a time increased my frustration with the more tyrannical leadership I often witnessed at the job I worked during this same semester I was studying actually effective leadership styles, but I digress, lol.)

Oh, Pruitt and Ryan… I love how they started out so… adversarial isn’t the right word… at odds with each other, in season one, but eventually become friends. Theirs is a fun relationship to watch grow and evolve. Like, the more we get to know these two, and know that Pruitt tried to take Ryan under his wing as a fatherly figure when Ryan and Andy were kids… do we assume that whatever it was that had lead to Andy and Ryan’s initial interaction in the pilot where they were obviously not on good terms (even if, after her dad collapsed so Ryan came to the house to check in with Andy about how she was and how her dad was, they all too quickly fell back into old patterns of getting naked with each other), so whatever lead to Andy being on the outs with Ryan, was it just that which made Pruitt seem less than fond of Ryan until they started bonding more as friends of each other and not just relationally connected through Andy? Was it also maybe partly due to Pruitt’s overprotectiveness of Andy, and his disapproval that his daughter went from just being friends with Ryan, to having the audacity to grow up and eventually start sneaking him into her bedroom, that influenced his less flattering opinion of Ryan?

We know Andy was frustrated when Ryan wasn’t supportive of her starting at the fire academy, and we know that when she graduated, her father missed the ceremony because he was bailing Ryan out because Pruitt was the only person he felt he could call… and yes Pruitt showed up, but is that maybe the last time Pruitt saw him until now? Since sometime after that, Ryan had would have gotten his life in order enough to become a police officer, and we know he moved off the street, and in the pilot says he just moved back into his parent’s house. And him and Andy being on good terms again, and Ryan clearly wanting to step up and be there for Andy now that they’re on good terms again… Ryan picked up her dad from the hospital when he figured the overturned tanker and the blue fire meant she couldn’t, and he takes Pruitt home per Andy’s request when they get called to this fire. So is this maybe the first time Pruitt has seen Ryan in a couple years, and so he’s just kind of thinking “sure, he’s a cop now, and sure, I watched this kid grow up, but just because my daughter can forgive him overnight, doesn’t mean I’m going to.”

I don’t know. I think their relationship is interesting. I like seeing the evolution of their dynamic. (But I also think Pruitt definitely over concerns himself with his daughter’s relationships and would-be-relationships in absolutely frustrating and irritating ways that can absolutely get on my last nerve because no, actually, what your daughter consents to and with whom is actually not your business and she’s actually an adult, and maybe if you’re concerned about choices she’s making, find a different way to have those conversations, because you are being condescending and disrespectful.)

“Warren, see those pipes?” - Andy

“Uh, pipes, yeah, yeah, I see them.” - Ben

“Good, keep doing that.” - Andy

“Keep seeing them?” - Ben

“Report any changes to me.” - Andy

“Changes? Am I being hazed?” - Ben

So, I think I mentioned this in the pilot, but I can’t remember so I’ll risk saying it again. But in this episode when we have the scene by the truck before they go to the roof, and then once they get on the roof, or asking Ben firefighting questions to make sure as the rookie he knows what he’s doing, but it also gives us, the viewer, a chance to learn why they’re doing what they’re doing too. And yes, it’s absolutely a trope in media to do the “have someone new so they are learning things and instead of needing to give a ton of exposition to the audience that’s boring, we’re teaching an actual character for the added benefit of the audience.” But, some media captures this better than others, as with any trope. Anyway, in most of the seasons of this show we obviously don’t have anyone talking about why they’re doing the things the do the way they do, so probably as an audience it wouldn’t have been a huge deal if we’d never had these teachable moments on screen, but since we got them, I really like how they did them, and I think the way they did the “make sure new guy knows his stuff” teachable moments, were really well done and I personally appreciate that they did opt to use the trope since they did it well.

But also, this bit with the pipes, as someone who knew nothing about firefighting, but just happens to have deductive reasoning skills… with Warren being so convinced he’s being hazed for having to watch the pipes, I’m just like… Warren, for being smart enough to be an anesthesiologist and a surgeon, how are you just totally missing why it matters that you watch the pipes while everyone else works on venting? (At least he gets it in the end, when the pipes grow, so they can get off the roof before it collapses.)

“Heat hole’s almost complete chief, interior team should stand by with hoses ready for attack.” - Andy on radio to Frankel

“Pruitt would have let you do the strip.” - Travis to Jack. “Yep.” - Jack

“How are those pipes Warren?” - Andy to Ben “Still piping. Definitely being hazed.” - Warren

“Let’s just start your strip.” - Travis to Jack “I know you want to slice and dice, Gibson, I get it, we all get it.” - Andy

“Captain, report your status.” - Frankel

This whole series of conversations happens on the roof very quickly, while Maya and Vic are working on cutting the heat hole *which Andy did communicate with Frankel* that the status was the heat hole was almost complete, and barely any time passes before Frankel is checking in with a tone that sounds extremely irritated and inconvenienced to be doing so? Your acting captain literally did just check in.

“Herrera, report in! Do you copy?” - Frankel

“Yes, chief, I copy, I’m here.” - Andy

“And what is your status?” - Frankel

*at this point Maya and Vic complete the heat hole*

“Show me what you’re made of!” - Andy, to the heat hole

“Herrera!” - Frankel

*heat hole: big fire!*

“There she is!” - Maya

“Heat hole’s completed chief. Ready for waterworks inside.” - Andy to Frankel

Like, Frankel *was* being communicated with, and then immediately starts getting on radio acting as if Andy isn’t communicating? When Andy just told you the heat hole was almost done, do you just think Andy’s going to neglect to tell you when it’s fully ready? Like, preparing a heat hole isn’t instantaneous, and as a firefighter yourself who climbed up to Battalion Chief, don’t you know this?

Like, this absolutely gives vibes of micromanaging Andy just to paint the picture of Andy being incompetent, when the reality is that any additional communication would have been a ridiculous play-by-play of “Maya is cutting the last section for the heat hole, Vic is holding Maya steady while Maya hits in the now fully cut piece of roof to turn it into an actual hole for the fire to come through” like… had Andy done that, the reaction would rightfully be “I don’t need a fully narrated play by play, I’m not a babysitter” but instead you’re going to come on radio like, 30 seconds after Andy said they’re almost ready, stand by, because it’s supposed to what, be instantaneous? Not nearly enough time passed in that scene for Frankel to actually take issue and needing Andy to check in.

And then Andy has the audacity to want to let the team inside have an actual chance to hit the fire with water before deciding to jump to the strip, and Frankel gets on radio all “we’re hitting it inside, what’s the status on top?” like… what’s with your attitude Frankel? Yikes.

“I love a good strip!” - Jack

“Chief we’ve cut the fire off.” - Andy on radio

“Copy that.” - Frankel

“Go on, gloat if you wanna gloat.” - Andy

“No need, strip speaks for itself.” - Jack

“Are we wrapping up here captain?” - Ben

“Yeah. You got somewhere to be probie?” - Andy

“It would appear that my good friend the pipes here are growing. Either that or this roof is sinking. They’ve grown several inches in the last few seconds.” - Ben

See, Ben, that’s why you were watching the pipes!

“You and your fireflies.” - Travis to Dean

“She’s not. Fireflies follow us around. The universe sent -me- to -her-.” - Dean

Hahahahaha

Ughh. Do I even need to talk about this post incident conversation between Frankel with Andy and Jack? Frankel is being so antagonistic, and for what?

“On the ground, this call sounded like chaos. Listening to you now, it’s worse.” Frankel, while standing in front of and speaking exclusively to Andy

Like… who are you trying to convince, Frankel? Yeah, they disagreed, but on the roof and now here Andy is sticking to “we have steps for a reason, we follow the steps,” and Andy is assured and calm in her explanations, like? And Jack is also assured that he knows this building which is why he recommended the strip. It’s not chaos just because they disagreed. And it didn’t become a problem at any point that they disagreed. And the team followed orders even though Jack and Travis both expressed the *desire* to cut the strip. So aside from Frankel’s agenda to turn this into something it wasn’t… it’s actually fine if someone disagrees with a leader and has the information to back up why they disagree? And it’s also okay if that info is taken into consideration while still not being acted upon? Come on, Frankel.

And sure, she does go from seeming to single Andy out, to then deciding to give feedback to both (telling Jack not to argue with his captain or chief, telling Andy to utilize the team and take advice of lieutenants) and tells them both “do better.”

But then again, we are supposed to see as the viewer that Frankel is not behaving fully professionally and unbiased or as helpfully as she could from her position, which is why for the sit downs we get Ripley saying that he’s doing them because he felt Frankel was a little too biased. (And since we never see Frankel after season one, are we meant to assume she either transferred or was let go from the department?)

“Figure out how to run this station together, or believe me, I will find someone else who can.” - Frankel

Maybe, and here’s a thought, actually let them run it together instead of pitting them against each other every other shift?

“I always encouraged you to speak up, as your dad, as your captain, but with Frankel you gotta be a little more… political.” - Pruitt

“I am not playing politics when it comes to the lives of my crew.” - Andy

And you’re fucking right for this!

“I’m so glad to see you,” Andy says as she opens the door to reveal Maya on her porch, as they each give each other a look that absolutely proves we were robbed of an Andy-Maya ship, because of course Andy should have been bi, we the audience deserved to see them together, haha. (I do love Marina as a ship though, don’t get me wrong. But everyone who ever watches and begins the show thinking Andy and Maya will eventually date isn’t wrong for thinking so. We did deserve that. I always want more queer characters and relationships though. I also think Jack should have been bi.)

“Frankel doesn’t pay compliments because she never got them. She had it tough coming up.” - Maya

“And she thinks I didn’t.” - Andy

“You didn’t. Well, not like her. None of us did, partly thanks to her.” - Vic

And here is when I’ll get into that Frankel rant I mentioned last episode.

Because Frankel is obviously so frustrating as a character, she spends so much time this season intentionally being adversarial towards Andy, and in the scene later this episode we’ll see her have a totally different attitude just towards Jack.

And sometimes I can’t decide if it would have been worth having Frankel actually in more episodes than we saw her in, for a chance for her character to be more rounded out the way most characters actually get the chance to be.

Except, well, that actually doesn’t matter. Because it wouldn’t change the lens through which we view her in these episodes of season one that she’s in.

While at first glance they almost look like a caricature, she unfortunately acts just like actual real life women who unfortunately do not see that just because they had a hard time breaking down barriers, that shouldn’t mean they should be resentful towards the women who come after who benefit from some of those barriers having been broken down. These women also fully fail to take into consideration the fact that, while they started breaking down the barriers, there is still a lot of work to be done, and the women who come after will keep breaking those barriers down and eventually clear them out entirely. They’re no longer solid blockades thanks to you, but making it easier for those who come next doesn’t mean they don’t also deserve to be there and didn’t earn their spot.

Of course it’s so easy to be resentful of knowing just how fucking hard you worked, and seeing someone who doesn’t have to go through what you went through… but it’s also always so baffling to me that they don’t see that these men who they don’t feel the same disdain for as the women who come after them… never had any barriers in the first place and always have an easier time, yes even than the women who only didn’t have to work as hard as you.

I mean, I’ve literally left a job before after a female manager who absolutely had this kind of mentality, first blocked from me applying for a job in another department, then later blocked me the promotion within my own team I’d been working towards for a couple of years, and had more than earned, and was basically promised was mine when it opened up, and instead the promotion was given to a new guy who they actually had to postpone the start date of the role for him to meet the minimum time worked for the company to qualify to promote. Someone who notoriously was not good at his job, and only put in any amount of effort directly in front of leadership staff, and it was still barely any effort and more shmoozing than actual work. While I was consistently lauded as one of the hardest and most consistent workers on staff, but this female manager especially (whose opinion was unfortunately weighed very heavily due to her seniority) was continually telling me I was not doing enough or working hard enough. I could not actually do more than I was already doing. This woman hated female employees. But showed so much respect and admiration for the men who would talk shit about her as soon as she was out of ear shot. (And myself and some of those other women she hated still always stood up for her, because her treating us like shit didn’t make their comments suddenly appropriate.)

So I did leave that job and ended up with a boss who was perhaps the most abusive misogynistic male manager I’ve ever met in my life… which really sucked for literally everyone who wasn’t the singular man who were his subordinates.

But some days I honestly don’t know which manager was worse… the one who openly hated and distrusted women because he was a man? Or the woman who “had it hard coming up” and made damn sure to keep making things harder for the women who came after her?

Because at least the man signed off the approval when I decided to apply to another team at the company — of course, his initial reaction to finding out about my internal application was to berate me for not telling him the day I submitted it, but when I reminded him that we’d had a one on one scheduled that he postponed last minute to leave early… an immediate change in attitude to one of support for my following my dreams or whatever bullshit remark he said to pretend he hadn’t just verbally accosted a subordinate. He was also allergic to email and would have been even more pissed off had I not had this conversation with him face to face at the earliest opportunity. And then after an interview the other team’s manager did want me for the role, pending my current manager signing off on the transfer, which he did do.

Anyway, Frankel… such a frustrating character, but such a good representation of the fact that there are in fact people who will fight their way through barriers, and then resent everyone who benefits from THEIR determination to succeed in spite of those barriers. That mentality of “if I had it hard, so should you!” even though that just hurts everybody more.

I hate it so much, but it is so true to real life!

“To Frankel!” - Andy

“To Andy!” - Maya

“To vodka!!!!” - Vic

You’re so real for this, Vic.

“Monogamy is for the weak — or the very, very dedicated.” - Maya

Obligatory shoutout to this *iconic* line.

And… now we start Jack’s first shift, where we see an immediate contrast to his chosen leadership style to how we’ve so far seen Andy approach things. I feel like, even without Pruitt’s later presumed interference, Jack probably would have shifted his leadership a bit closer to how things had been versus his initial “let’s switch things up” approach. My own suspicions are, it’s a mix of, having worked for Pruitt for a while and at least for some amount of time having been his only lieutenant, Jack got a front row seat to what he thought did and didn’t work from a leader, since leadership expectations can fall heaviest on those in the next highest role, but also, even as a lieutenant he’s more of a peer in practicality with the rest of the team than the captain, so he would have also been privy to opinions shared about what people didn’t like about Pruitt’s leadership style, that even while Andy was their peer might not have heard as much of just because he’s her dad.

So now Jack finds himself stepping into the captain role and able to change things he’s potentially been thinking about for a while that maybe he’d try if he were ever captain, see how this worked or that worked.

But also, he and Andy are switching off every other shift as captain, and Andy loves being very by the book.

Perhaps Jack feels even more of a need to really go in the opposite direction of, well if Andy’s going to do things this way, let’s just go all in on my first day and see if doing things completely the opposite works out at all, because at the very least, next shift we’ll go right back to those rules so there’s a safety net and I can try everything at once.

But, it was definitely too much, and he does course correct, and it might not have even had anything to do with Pruitt at all, even if Pruitt was there to make his own sarcastic comments about it leading the team to think it was Pruitt reeling him in.

And honestly, no captain ~immediately~ finds their rhythm in the role, because next season we see Sullivan end up needing to course correct, and the following season Maya has to find her footing as captain (though yes, her transition is made more difficult due to insubordination from those who didn’t think she should have been promoted). We didn’t see Beckett’s first 10 months, but the team never fully gelled with him so we can make assumptions. Theo then tried to overcorrect from Beckett, which caused issues in and of itself. And even Andy had to figure out how she was best suited to run things.

“If he’s going to work a desk somewhere it might as well be here.” - Jack

“He’s my dad, not yours.” - Andy

“He’s my captain. I got a call from station 23, asking me to recommend him for a job over there, that’s clear across town. I said no, so he could be closer.” - Jack

“It’s like you think you’re trying to help me or something, but you’re not. Having him underfoot all the time, watching over our shoulders..” - Andy

“It doesn’t sound so bad to me. I value his input.” - Jack

“I see. And you didn’t even think to give me a heads up because..?” - Andy

I do understand Andy’s frustration here, because earlier in this episode she had a conversation with her dad about the importance of him staying at home and taking care of himself and focusing on his cancer treatment and getting well. Because he dad was literally just in the hospital, from recently having collapsed and had literal surgery and they found cancer he needs treatment for. And Andy very understandably believes her dad’s priority should be his health, but her dad really wants to be working, so of course she frustrated, here her dad is starting the job of working reception at the station.

Meanwhile, Jack has a point of, if Pruitt is going to be working anywhere, it makes sense to him for it to be here, and probably in Jack’s mind, Pruitt already used to be captain there, so what’s the issue if he comes to work reception? The team already knows and trusts him, and it probably didn’t even cross his mind that Andy would take issue.

But also, I suspect that in addition to the frustration at the fact that here’s her dad working reception when she wants him focusing on his health, and her frustration that Jack hired him to work reception without telling her just as a matter of principle, and to an extent because she was not expecting to have her dad watching her as she works shifts as captain while hoping to officially promote into the role…

There’s definitely extra tension from the fact that Andy has so far avoided talking with Jack about the ring, and that since they haven’t really talked, the very nature of their relationship at all is just hanging over their heads, and now they’re competing for captain, and things would feel messy and complicated enough just from the captain thing alone, but I kind of feel like Andy might not even realize that the very fact that she’s avoiding talking to Jack about the status of their secret relationship, is compounding her frustration (though understandable) at decisions he is making when acting captain.

And of course Pruitt sees them arguing through the office door and is probably just like “yikes, didn’t think they’d be so immature over competing to be captain.”

No, it’s also the secret relationship you don’t know about hanging over their heads because they’re both all too happy to actually avoid a serious conversation yet, and don’t realize it’s impacting everything else.

(And then he hears Dean go down the pole and is at least distracted from watching the argument with a “wait, did I just hear what I think I heard?” Hahahaha)

“Frankel’s right — Jack’s in charge now, and I just need to be the best lieutenant I can be.” - Andy

“He’s counting on that, you know.” - Maya

Even if it’s not intentional on Jack’s part, Maya is absolutely correct. Because men benefit from not needing to even be aware of different dynamics at play, so they don’t see that the “rule abiding good soldier thing” Maya points out, actually benefits them and isn’t just some neutral thing because they’re just so used to it as the norm.

It’s like that thing where, you don’t notice the advantages you have until someone comes into to try and make things equitable, and it’s all “hey, you’re giving them something I didn’t get” when, no, it’s just making sure you’re on equal footing to start now.

“Didn’t have to take it to such an extreme, jumping into a pool of chemicals just to crush me.” - Andy

“I’m going to go check on the rest of those kids.” - Jack

“I mean, how did he know, to jump in? None of us could see into that pool. Nobody mentioned another kid missing.” - Andy

“He said he counted the flip flops. Six pairs, only five kids. He’s always a couple steps ahead that way, Rushes in like he doesn’t have a plan, when the truth is, he’s usually already leapt ahead of the rest of us. Used to drive me nuts. I like to know the steps, but now, I learned to just trust it. That’s why he’s ready for captain.” - Travis

“And I’m not?” - Andy

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but it is a skill to do what he does, a skill that you haven’t figured out yet. Jack’s been a lieutenant for years. You’ve had less than two days. You’re good, Herrera, but you’re still green. I lost a husband under a captain that was green. I know the cost.” - Travis

Side note… first, I would like some actual details on what is perceived to be a “green” caption versus more skilled, just because I like having things more specific than “you’re green” but more to my side note point… in season 4 we get the flashbacks episode of Theo and Michael and Travis… and the flashback is in 2012 when Theo says Ripley is putting him up for captain, and since the current captain of their station will be moving into Battalion Chief, he might even get to stay there as captain. And the next flashback is 2016 when we see Travis stressing and talking to Michael about how he’s worried because Theo is still green and especially since the two of them are friends, it makes Travis worry more. And it was 2016 when Michael died.

So my question… did it take 4 years before the other guy became Battalion Chief and Theo actually became captain? In which case, he was still a lieutenant in those four years getting more experience that way. Or was he captain for some or all of those four years but somehow still remained green?

See, this is why I want to know what Travis means by being green. Because the way he talks about it here, the number of years of experience in a leadership role help you become less green. What made Theo green?

(But also, he’s not wrong that Herrera literally doesn’t have the actionable years of experience in a leadership role, although we do see her excelling and showing strengths that would serve her well as captain because even without official promotions until now, she’s had the benefit from growing up watching her dad as a leader, and spent her whole life chasing this dream, and developing the qualities and traits that will serve her towards this goal, even if she only just now has her first promotion. Actual on the job experience can only help her, even if she has spent most of her life working towards becoming the person who is capable and qualified to take on these roles.)

“And the specialist they’ll get for you, well, that’ll probably be Doctor Bailey. She’ll knock you out just with her smile.” - Ben

Ben trying to reassure comfort their drowning victim while also speaking in such a complimentary way about his wife is the best.

“Montgomery thinks I’m too green to be captain.” - Andy

“He’s green… like a booger.” - Vic

Obviously in season one so far, we’ve seen much more of Andy and Vic being friends than we have the fact the fact that Travis and Vic are the best besties on the show, but since it is later established just how close Travis and Vic’s friendship would already be by this point, I’d like to think that even though of course Vic wants to support Andy for captain, she totally flubs in trying to come up with a proper retort to make Andy feel better about Travis calling her green, because Travis is her queer platonic soulmate already. I mean, what else explains that being the best response she can muster? Hahaha

“I said I got it, you don’t have to coach me. This is my race, not yours.” - Andy to Maya

And here we sprinkle in some tension that will build…

“Permission to speak frankly?” - Jack

“Granted.” - Frankel

“Andy has earned her spot. She should have made lead lieutenant years ago. You think Pruitt gave her a leg up? He held her back, because it made his life easier to have his daughter around. This place ran so smoothly on his command because of Andy Herrera.” - Jack

“Loyalty’s good, Gibson, it is, but you should stop while you’re ahead.” - Frankel

Jack gets a lot of unearned hate in the fandom. But, while just a bit ago I pointed out that he might even be oblivious to some of the dynamics at play in the captain’s race. But, in his conversation with Frankel he absolutely saw how differently she treated just him, versus how he has been witnessing her treat Andy in front of him. And his immediate reaction was to call it out, even if he thinks he deserves and has earned a captain’s spot, because he sees that it’s bullshit and he doesn’t want to stand by for that.

(Also I suppose now is as good a place as any to point out that in addition to the fact that I obviously don’t hate Jack as a character, for anyone who can’t stand any empathy being shown towards his character at all, you are reading the wrong person’s posts. Because, while in terms of character histories, I most relate to Maya’s backstory… but when it comes to how the characters act when stressed and triggered, I relate more to Jack. Maya’s “eyes forward” trauma response is much too ‘fight’ and ‘keep moving at any cost’ kind of energy…. which was actually a trauma response that did put me in more danger in my abusive household. But Jack’s trauma response of shutting down and retreating? Yup, that’s still where my trauma responses live — though, I do go to trauma focused therapy, big fan of therapy over here. But anyway, as someone who loves nuance and relates to Jack’s trauma responses a little too much, I do have thoughts on some of his future story arcs, which some will assuredly hate and that’s okay.)

“You didn’t agree to promote me just because I’m your daughter, right? You know I could do this job.” - Andy

“Of course. Did something happen?” - Pruitt

“It’s just… it is so hard to just sit back and not get involved. To just let things happen.” - Andy

“I know.” - Pruitt

“I know you know.” - Andy

I personally do not think Pruitt is as supportive of his daughter as much or as often as he should be, so I do appreciate when he does see her and support her. Which, I guess I’ll say now, even though a couple episodes from now I’ll be annoyed at him again right alongside Andy being annoyed at him, hahaha.

“I don’t even know why I came here. Weirdly, the one person Seth and I had in common was… you.” - JJ

This scene is sad. But I also think it’s important that the show did show us early on that they lose people, not everyone lives. Because that’s the actual reality of first responders, too, even aside from the fact that the show is a drama so you would probably expect deaths on the show as is. They do, to whatever extent, want to portray some of the realities. And the reality is that people will die. So having this conversation with Dean and JJ, who met last episode when she came into the station, and then were all flirty vibes this episode during the moments between evacuating people that Dean was actually outside, all the way until Dean found her “not boyfriend-boyfriend” Seth in her apartment and she rode with him to the hospital because “it’s just the right thing to do, you know, as a person.” So she feels a connection enough with Dean to come back and talk to him to process Seth’s death; but it also invites us the viewer in on a closer look at the fact that first responders can’t save them all, and even successful rescues don’t always result in lives actually saved, they might die at the hospital instead.

Also, shows doing stuff like this makes me think about the show Scrubs. I’m pretty sure it was the actual show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, who was the one who talked about this, but one of their early season one episodes, they start off saying how one in three patients die. And in this episode we see each JD, Elliott, and Turk treating a patient, and the expectation the viewer has for this episode is that one of them will die, but by the end, all three have died. And it was a way to set the tone for the show because yes, the show is a comedy, but they also wanted to be grounded to reality, and they wanted to set the tone of the show early on that, this show wasn’t going to just shy away from things just because it’s technically a comedy, so having all three patients die in this episode when you the viewer were expecting just one death, was very important to set that tone and precedent for the show very early on. (And, though Scrubs does has its problematic elements, I love this show could easily talk at length about it.) But, aside from just finding it fascinating hearing people talk about their creative choices for why they made something way they did… hearing this specific explanation for this episode has stuck with me, and started making me notice in other shows when they do things like that to show their tone and set their expectations for the viewers.

And so, that’s what I’m reminded of when I see this scene. The show is setting their tone in these early season one episodes, and this is a way to show that just like in the real world, not every patient lives. And the show found a way to do it through a character being able to have a conversation about it with one of the firefighters, which also sets the tone that something important to this show is human connection and conversation.

“Anyway… couldn’t sleep without getting that off my chest.” - Ryan

“What.. what if I won’t be able to sleep tonight?” - Andy

“Can’t help you there.” - Ryan

See, and this is why I probably in the future shouldn’t do a rewatch blog right after a migraine ends, nor take a couple hours break in the middle of writing it until I can’t sleep so okay I’m coming back to finish it tonight, because I definitely would have otherwise remembered to say in my notes about Andy and Jack arguing in the office about Pruitt working reception… in addition to Andy seeming to not realize that some of the tension between her and Jack is both of their avoidance at talking about their relationship, on Andy’s side it’s also compounded by the confusion of, stuff happened between her and Ryan and then he initially brushed her off of having a conversation at all with “we’re all good” when initially she was just trying to say they didn’t need to talk about it then when they were both working. But now Ryan has come to the station to talk to her because Pruitt got in his head and he wants to make sure he’s not influencing Andy and… At least this conversation is making Andy a little more aware of things she’s trying to ignore, in favor of focusing on trying to become captain.

And with what, we end this episode. Lesson learned on trying to write about an episode so soon after a migraine episode though.

[minachan95-written-works-on-ao3]

Title: Vampire’s Kiss (Chapter 32: Unreachable Sin. Part 18 of 18)

Fandom: King of Fighters

Characters: Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Shingo Yabuki, Orochi, Yashiro Nanakase, Leona Heidern, Kain R. Heinlein, Chizuru Kagura, Kusanagi, Goeniko, Chris

Pairing: Iori Yagami x Kyo Kusanagi (main one)

Genre: AU, BL, Supernatural, Fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Adventure, Slow-Burn, Eventual Romance, Dark Themes, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Human/Vampire Relationship, Human/Demon Relationship

Summary: This vampire already has bad luck on his side, yet he decides that his next prey going to be a certain redhead vampire hunter. However, the very little he knows how this encounter will end…

AO3 Link

An hour has passed until one certain vampire starts to wake up. However, as soon as he regained consciousness, the sensation of unbearable pain spreads across his entire body. It felt like an invisible force was crushing and squeezing him without letting him move a single muscle. Hell, it was impossible to breathe due to someone choking him. Soon enough, the pain fades away, yet, the sensation of the flame serpent wrapping around his body strikes the nocturnal creature. While the brunette silently whines and groans, his face twisting in pain. Just what happened when he was forcibly put under sleep? Or so, the vampire feared without being unable to move.

As soon as Kyo opens his eyes, he noticed that he was resting inside the familiar hut. More so, when the brunette turns his head, he can see restless Chizuru, and next to her, Iori staring at him with such a serious look on his face. It was followed by the witch’s question ‘‘You’re finally awake. Is it you, Kusanagi?’’. After the vampire leans on his elbows and sits up, he asks in an unsure tone ‘‘Oi, Kagura, Í hope that you find what you needed, ‘cos I can feel like someone beat me up and burned my body. Just what kind of spells did you use on me? And why are you staring at me like that? ’’. However, the sorceress keeps her serious face and closes her eyes. After opening her eyes, Kagura comments ‘‘It looks like you were asleep all this time while the dark creature was using your body.’’.

Meanwhile, Iori crosses his arms and silently listens to how Chizuru addresses Kyo ‘‘I asked Yagami about what happened when you two were off. He told me about your behavior in the abandoned necromancer's cave and when you stayed in the inn. From what I heard, I can guess that another entity lives inside you since you were born, Kusanagi. Perhaps, you are the incarnation of this evil spirit, who couldn’t find a feeling of peace after its death. And thus, for some reason, it decided to use you to achieve what it wants. It’s also safe to assume that it becomes active and takes over your body when you are in danger. For example, this dark creature has mistaken me for the threat when you were unconscious or when you faced that giant bat. It also can take over your body when your instincts are strong. However, I cannot fully confirm this yet.’’.

Once Chizuru finished explaining, the redhead steps in and speaks up in a serious tone ‘‘What are you suggesting to do? Is there is a way to kill that creature? Because there is no way that I would let that thing have Kyo even after I defeat him!’’. Yet, the ebony-haired woman briefly replied ‘‘Even when it possessed Kusanagi, you’ll kill them both. On the other hand, there is a way to suppress this entity. However, it comes with a big price. This is why I cannot do that without Kusanagi’s consent.’’. Of course, these words do not sound promising to the brunette, and all he could do is widen his eyes and swallows the saliva. Now, Kyo asks in a slightly nervous voice ‘‘What do you mean?’’. ‘‘If we successfully seal that dark entity, you won’t be able to use your awaken form and powers.’’ calmly replied Chizuru.

However, the vampire smirks and backfires in a careless voice ‘‘I don’t get it how can I lose something that was already stolen from me. So, it’s been a while when I was getting my food without even using my hypnotizing voice. Hell, I don’t even need to use my awaken form to defend myself. That’s why I have nothing to lose.’’. Now, his smug smile was wiped out by Yagami’s comment ‘‘And you still managed to end up under my foot, you become an easy target for other hunters and nearly got poisoned to death, you stupid vampire…’’. Nevertheless, Kyo tried to remain chill and unaffected, despite that his fists were itching to kiss the hunter’s face and remind him about the local fauna of the spider forest in detail. ‘If it wasn’t where we are and with whom, I would put you in your place, Yagami’, or so, thinks the brunette. Now, he replies in a slightly irritated voice ‘‘Unless you count some hunters back-stabbing, then yeah. Otherwise, I can defeat anyone without a sweat! So, only the weak and cowards use such a dirty and unfair play.’’. Lastly, the nocturnal creature addresses Chizuru ‘‘Anyway, what I need to do this time?’’.

After taking a deep breath, Kagura starts to explain ‘‘First of all, I need you to get me one of the rarest materials, which you can obtain in this world – the Crimson Stone. Perhaps, it is just a legend. However, for centuries, many alchemists devoted their lives to create this tiny stone, which holds great power and grants any wish and even immortality. Many have failed and lost their lives in the process. However, there were just a few, who have succeeded in creating Crimson Stone. These people to this day still wander in this world. There were also people, who rejected their humanity and entered into the demon realm. ’’.

As soon as the witch finished her speech, Yagami comments while resting his head on his chin ‘‘And that’s it? ’’. Now, the sorceress addresses Iori ‘‘Yagami, if you two manage to obtain this stone, I would need your help to restrain Kusanagi. While you would hold him until I say so, I’ll put him under the sleep. Then after that evil spirit appears, I’ll seal it inside the Crimson Stone.’’. ‘‘What if that creature won’t show up this time?’’, the redhead backfires. Without any second thought, this woman replies ‘‘Then, I would have no choice than to stress Kusanagi as much as it takes to summon the dark entity.’’.

The more Kyo listened to their discussion, the more he was uncomfortable. And thus, after shaking his head, the brunette instantly stands up and makes his way to the door. Before taking his leave, the nocturnal creature indignantly announces from the top of his lungs ‘‘ I AM NOT GONNA BE THE PART OF YOUR TWISTED TESTS! YOU WON’T MAKE ME GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN! So, good luck with that!’’. As he deeply breaths through his nose, Kyo adds ‘‘And you know what, Yagami? I thought that you were a decent human being, but you’re NOT! You’re as bad as that bastard hunter! You know nothing about me! So, fuck you!’’, with these words, he slams the door as hard as he could and left the hut.

It was followed by the redhead hunter face-palming while murmuring ‘‘That fool…’’. Chizuru only sighs and while trying to remain as patient as she could, she speaks up ‘‘And you would let him go like that? Should we start to search for him?’’. Now, without looking back, Iori backfires with such a disappointment in his voice ‘‘Leave him like that… That stupid fool will return as soon as he calms down and he WILL apologize. Besides, he won’t run away that far.’’. After Yagami fixes his long coat, he walks towards the door. Yet, he was stopped by the Chizuru’s voice ‘‘Wait! Where are you going?’’. However, as the redhead turns his head to face Kagura, she noticed the hunter’s concerned look. Now Iori defends himself ‘‘I remembered that I have some unfinished business in the Guild. Thanks to that stupid vampire, I have nearly no savings left.’’. Of course, the ebony-haired woman didn’t question him any further, because, in the end, the vampire hunter cared about the brunette. That’s why the sorceress felt relieved and now adds ‘‘Be careful on your way.’’. Lastly, without saying a word, Iori has left.

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Some time has passed after aimless wandering around the forest, which was near the witch's shop. Now, Kyo decided to take a rest and lean against one of the trees, surrounding the plain alley. Yet, he was still upset how the redhead, who agrees to awaken a natural killing machine as ‘Nagi. As the nocturnal creature was observing the sky, he hoped that the serene moonlight and the graceful dance of stars would calm him down. Eventually, he slides down, and after hugging his knees, the brunette hung his head down. Of course, it hurts how, according to him, Yagami was reckless and not considering that next time the dark being might even drain the hunter until there is nothing but bones and flesh left. Nor, what if the brunette may be fully aware of what is going on when ‘Nagi possessed his body. Even the mental image alone of lifeless Iori’s final moments, makes Kyo tighten his grasps around his knees and let out a silent and pitiful groan. He doesn’t understand why, but it feels like the unbearable suffering of losing the redhead and staining his hands with Iori’s blood.

Now, the nocturnal creature was anxious as never before by having mixed feelings. Yes, he was still mad at Yagami and wanted him to think more carefully about why the brunette has left. But at the same time, he wished that the redhead would find him and call him a ‘stupid vampire’ as usual. Of course, if the vampire hunter would forgive him. He realized that when he was mad, Kyo told what he didn't mean. However, the brunette couldn't stop himself. In the end, Kyo was trying to find peace of mind by listening to the rustling leaves by the night breeze. However, as he was enjoying the silence of the night, he was alerted by the sound of rustling grass under someone’s foot. When the vampire slowly lifts his head, he speaks up in a half-sleepy tone ‘‘Yagami? When did you-’’.

Suddenly, Kyo widens his eyes in a terror after noticing the man in front of him. The cold moonlight enlights long locks of golden hair, which was rustled by the wind. Now, the hunter’s bloody-red eyes send a piercing gaze to this target. As the blond delightfully smiles, he points the sharp tip of the broadsword at his target. Lastly, he addresses the brunette in a calm, yet mocking tone ‘‘It’s been a while, little murderer…’’. The reflected platinum light on the long blond hair and his white long coat and pants, made him look like one of the Lord’s sent archangels. However, Kusanagi knew one thing. Behind that divine appearance, Kain was a more twisted creature than any devil.

Meanwhile, all the brunette could do is to stare when the blade was so close to touching his throat. Now, he listens to the blond commenting in a proud voice ‘‘How many times I have to kill you before you’ll perish, vampire?’’. Even the noble creature of the night like the Kusanagi’s heir was paralyzed in fear by the hunter’s presence alone. After closing his red eyes and chuckling, Kain continues ‘‘It doesn’t matter now. I should have done this from the beginning before you became a pester.’’. The vampire hunter moves his broadsword away. One strike should be enough to end this pathetic creature’s life. Besides, there was no need to see how another disgusting head fells by his blade. Lastly, the blade swings towards Kyo’s neck. It was followed by the heavy sound of the sword sinking into the wood and countless birds flying away.

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

However, when he opens his eyes, Kain noticed that his broadsword is stuck in the tree. More so, how his target disappeared into a thin air. It was followed by the blond getting alerted by the unexpectedly launched fireball at him. However, the vampire hunter counter-attacks by gracefully sending the blue flame at his opponent. As the orange and blue flames crash into each other, they create an explosion echoing through the forest. Now, when the smoke was submerging into the air, Kain keeps his defensive position. As soon as the gray smoke disappears, the blond hunter smirks after seeing the brunette wearing white gloves and ready to snap his fingers again ‘‘Here you are. However, these toys won’t help you, vampire.’’.

Instead of replying, Kyo silently growls at his opponent while he tightens one of his gloves. As the sharp nails sprouted through the clothing, he warns Kain in a slightly shakily voice ‘‘I won’t let you get away so easily! Not after you made go through. Prepare yourself!’’. As his eyes glow in crimson red, the brunette dashes at his foe. However, the hunter dodges the attack by jumping backward and sending the blue pillar of the flame. That should be enough to perish this creature to the hell, or so, thought the blond.

Fortunately, the vampire slashes through the fire. After landing on feet and one hand, the nocturnal creature ferociously stares at Kain, who looked down on his foe. Without any second thought, the Kusanagi’s heir ignites his palm and uses upwards spin-slash. The warm light reflects on the hunter’s face as he blocks the strike with his sword. While Kyo was in the whirl of flame, he prepares for the finishing move. In the end, he dives at his opponent with the slashing strike. After the flame submerges into the air, the brunette landed on his feet. However, something was off. There was no sign of Kain.

All of a sudden, the brunette was alerted to hear his enemy’s calm yet menacing whisper from behind ‘‘You’re too slow.’’. When and how did he?-’ - Or so, wandered the vampire. Now, the broadsword penetrates his back and sprouts through his chest. As Kusanagi lets out an agonizing scream chocked by the blood gushing through his mouth, the sword was pulled out from Kyo’s chest. It was followed by the crimson liquid streaming through the vampire’s back and chest. Now, he suddenly drops like a rag-doll. However, the brunette shakily stretches his arm forwards. Right now, he was desperate to survive at any cost. As Kyo’s face was twisting in pain, he closes his eyes and crawls away as far as his strength allowed.

Meanwhile, when the dark crimson liquid was dripping from the hunter’s blade, Kain looks down on his victim, who leaves blood traces on the grass. Even the nocturnal creature’s struggle to survive, amused the blonde, who just stands while commenting ‘‘Why are you running? It’s useless.’’. When Kain drops his blade, it disappears into the thin air. Now, he started to approach the brunette. When he takes out the small bottle from one of his inner coat’s pockets, the blond adds in calm ‘‘I’ll end your misery by pouring some of this inside your wound.’’. Lastly, as he opens the bottle and is about to pour the holy water and finish his prey. Yet, the knife pierces his wrist.

It was followed by the bottle dropping on the ground and the growling voice from the forest ‘‘Who, the hell, allowed you to act as you want, you bastard?!’’. However, the nocturnal creature instantly recognized the owner of this voice. Now, as he turns his head, Kyo manages to spit out the pitiful words ‘‘Ya… Yagami…’’. Of course, the blond looks towards the redhead’s side. As Kain gives Iori a smug look, he pulls out the small blade from his wrist as it was no big deal. Now, greets Yagami with open arms ‘‘My, what a people we have here… What brings you here, you pesky brat?’’. However, step by step, the redhead hunter was approaching the blond while threatening him ‘‘You went too far this time. No god or devil will save you now!’’.

In the meantime, the vampire gathers his strength to shakily push himself and to sit on his knees. Yet, Kusanagi ended up leaning on one arm while with the other hand while with the other one, he covers his slowly healing wound. Now, he deeply breathes while keeping his head hung down. However, all the nocturnal creature could do now is to wait until Iori and then him to fell by their executioner’s blade. Despite knowing about their tragic fate, Kyo still silently prayed that any divine entity would grant them mercy tonight. Even the bloody tears start to run down his cheeks as he spits out silent and pointless words.

Nevertheless, the blond vampire hunter only gives the smug look as he was walking into the center of the plain alley ‘‘The louder the dog barks, the less it can do something. I’ll teach you how to behave.’’. As Yagami was following the blond, he was stopped by the brunette’s weak pledge ‘‘Yagami… Please, don’t do it! Run… You’ll-’’. Yet, his warning was cut by the Kain coldly glaring at the vampire. Now, he stretches his arm towards the vampire. The golden transmutation circle appeared below the brunette. Lastly, the hunter threats ‘‘Silence, low-life creature! Just wait patiently until I’ll finish you.’’. It was the protective barrier, which traps the victim and can only be destroyed by the summoner.

After Kain looks back at the redhead, he adds ‘‘Now, no one should interface, foolish child.’’. As Yagami picking his trustworthy whip, he quickly stretches it out in front of his opponent. It was followed by Iori unleashing a heavy low whip slash. Such gesture amused the blond in front of him, who stretches his palm and materializes a longsword in his hand ‘‘I see that you are prepared.’’. Lastly, Kain takes the sword into both hands and he stands in the defense position. Now, as impatience sparkles in his eyes, he points the tip of the blade at his opponent ‘‘Do not disappoint me!’’.

And thus, Yagami rapidly cracks the whip multiple times. Downwards, upwards, in the circle movement - each strike was blocked by the sharp blade. However, the avalanche of strikes has eventually stopped. The redhead lowers his left arm, which felt like was filled with the lead. Nevertheless, the blond uses his chance when Iori lowers his whip for a second. That’s right, the swordsman lowers his blade. As he sprints at the redhead, Kain swings the sword diagonally. Fortunately, Yagami’s reflexes were faster. He dodged the heavy strike by rolling to the side. It was followed by quickly picking up a few knives into his right hand while he was crouched. Now, he launches them at the blond.

Nevertheless, the spinning sword reflects the knives' attack. As Iori stands up, Kain lowers his blade and stretches his other hand at the redhead. Now, the blond hunter releases the wave of the blue flame at his opponent. Yet, Yagami unleashes the heavy strike and the fire has instantly faded away. However, Iori gets alerted at the unexpected blond’s attack. Even so, he jumps forwards and back-flips on time to dodge the thrusting strike. Fortunately, he managed to crack his whip and grasp the hunter’s sword while he was in the air.

As the blade sinks to the ground, Iori loosens the whip’s grasp. Now, he observes how Kain carelessly turns to face his opponent. In the meantime, Yagami wraps his trustworthy weapon into a spiral and points it at the swordsman. Now, the blond gave the mocking look for the fellow vampire hunter, who points the whip at him while threatening ‘‘It’s all over. Give up now and you’ll get a quick and painless death, Kain!’’. However, his foe only chuckles as he shrugs his shoulders. It was followed by the redhead grinding his teeth and asking in a furious voice ‘‘What a hell is so funny? Are you that eager to die!?’’. As the blond swoosh the long locks from his face, he replies in a nearly singing tone ‘‘Did anyone teach you not to play with the fire? You’ll get burned~’’. After a short pause, Kain receives no reply. So, he broke the deadly silence between them ‘‘Very well… If this is what you want. I’ll show you my power!’’. Now, Kain places his hand on his chest and begins to unbutton his coat.

After that, he picks up a golden necklace with a round bloody gem on it. It was followed by the blond announcing from the top of his lungs ‘‘CRIMSON STONE, GRANT ME MORE POWER!!!’’. All of a sudden, the red stone starts to flow in the air and brightly glow. The entire battlefield was covered in blinding crimson light. However, as soon it appeared, the light disappeared. Now, Kain was levitating in the air while the blue flame dances on each of his hands. Meanwhile, the blond was observing the vampire hunter from above; the countless swords were spinning behind his back. Lastly, the hunter in white proudly speaks up ‘‘How is it?... But do not be afraid. You won’t even feel how you’ll get crushed!’’.

It was followed by Kain pointing his palm at the redhead. And thus, he sents the swarm of blades towards Iori. There was no way that his whip could counter-attack such an amount of swords! That’s why Yagami instantly dodges the rain of swords by rolling on the side. Yet, another wave was sent at him immediately. The redhead rolls to the other side. Unfortunately, a couple of the swords scratched his right arm and leg. However, the hunter was too stubborn to give up even if he roughly breathes and could barely stand on his feet.

Surely, the fearsome vampire hunter’s struggle entertained Kain, who delightfully observed him. Finally, one strike and will kill this pathetic human. After the blond closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, he stretches his open left palm towards the hunter. It was followed by the heavy broadsword appearing in his hand. As he opens his eyes, Kain holds the handle in both hands and aims at Iori. Lastly, he diagonally dives at full force at the redhead.

However, at the last moment, Yagami ignores the pain and now push himself to the side. Unfortunately, the blond’s blade slightly cuts the left side of Iori’s torso. As Iori falls on his knees, he lets out a loud groan and now covers the wound on his left side with his palm. In the end, Kain lands next to the redhead. Now, he walks to pick up the broadsword, which is stuck in the ground.

After picking his blade, the blond approaches the fallen hunter. Now, he looks at Yagami with showing no mercy on his face. As Kain points his sword at Iori, notices that gaze filled with burning rage and hatred for him. Despite the threatening Iori's gaze, the white hunter cracks a sadistic smile ‘‘What a waste of my time… And all that big talk was for nothing. Oh well, at least you lasted longer than any of my targets. So, I’ll congratulate you on that. More so, I’ll make an exception for you. Do you have any last wish, worm?’’. However, Yagami spits out the threatening words between pathetic groaning ‘‘Damn you… We are not done yet…’’. Now Kain backfires ‘‘This is where you’re wrong… Die!’’. And now, the blond hunter was about to execute his victim. However…

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Suddenly, the man’s deep and cheerful voice objects ‘‘I don’t think so, pal~’’. Just the moment before Kain’s blade was about pierce Iori’s chest, he drops the broadsword. As the blond was silently groaning, he looks down at his chest and notices the sprouting tip of a massive sword from his chest. It was followed by the sword being pulled from him and Kain felling on his knees and soon enough felling on the ground. Meanwhile, when dark liquid was dying his snow-white clothes, the voice continues in a serious tone ‘‘I don’t care what you were doing after leaving the Guild. However, I won’t forgive you or anyone, who will harm one of Hunter Guild members.’’. Yagami only dumbfounded stares at the familiar person to him while addressing him ‘‘Yashiro… what… what are you doing here?’’.

It was a man with short silver hair, who wore an open black leather jacket and white t-shirt, lastly, and jet-black pants. Nanakase also had a black leather collar with a small silver heart on it. Now, Yashiro bends down and stretches his hands towards Iori, he simply answers with a smile on his face ‘‘We were minding our business until we heard the loud bang and I knew that we have to head in that direction. ‘What if Yagami-chan is once causing the problems or got into the fight against stronger types?’ this is what I thought and we canceled our hunt tonight.’’. However, they were interrupted by another voice. It seems that this innocent and excited voice belongs to a young teenage boy ‘‘Hey, Yashiro! Check this out! Hehe, someone got stuck inside the barrier like an idiot. And he just stares at me… Oh, never mind. The barrier is gone.’’.

It was followed by the demon hunter putting his big sword into the shed behind his back, and replying to that boy’s voice ‘‘What did you find there, Chris?’’. In meantime, Yashiro grabs the blond hunter by the collar of his coat and strikes Kain into the guts. After the blond hunter groans in pain, the silver-head throws him over his shoulder and warns in a deep and strict tone ‘‘I know that such a minor scratch won’t kill you, and that is very unfortunate for you. I’ll let the Guild Master decide your fate.’’. After straightening his knees, Nanakase stands up and looks in the direction of one certain person.

It was a teenage boy in his fifteens with big dark color eyes and short fluffy cinnamon-color hair with a fringe. This brunette wore a white shirt along with a brown and navy striped vest and matching pattern shorts. Lastly, the black swiss gunnery googles were resting on this boy’s head, who worn a gray color tailcoat. Of course, his doll-like face and slender figure can mistake him for a pretty girl. Yet, behind that innocent smile, he was a merciless killer with agile moves and deadly accuracy. That's right, Chris already surpassed most of the demon hunters at being such a young age.

But for now, the young hunter was squatting closely to the kneeling vampire. It was followed by turning his head towards the silver-head and replying in a louder voice ‘‘Nothing much. Just some big bro spacing out. Perhaps, he was drugged, I don’t know. You can see it by yourself.’’After returning his attention to the vampire, Chris began to poke the nocturnal creature with his finger while addressing Kyo in a playful tone ‘‘Hey, mister. Are you okay? Hey… Can you hear me? Hurry up and get uuup~’’. However, the older brunette keeps his head down without answering. Now, after Kusanagi roughly shakes the younger brunette’s hand, he sprints towards Iori’s side. Meanwhile, the younger hunter warns Yashiro ‘‘Hey… Watch out, Yashiro! That crazy dude is coming at you!’’.

Surely, it got the silver-haired man’s attention. However, instead of dodging, Yashiro stands in front of the rushing nocturnal creature at him. He was even to prepare to counter-attack by using the unconscious Kain’s body. Nevertheless, Kyo instantly passes him by. After the demon hunter looks behind his back, he noticed how Kusanagi was crouching and protecting the weakened Iori. While his furious eyes glow in red, his sharp fangs show up. While he was covered in his blood from head to toes, the brunette growls like a wild beast at another threat to the redhead’s life ‘‘Get away from him! I warn you. One more step and I’ll finish you off. Back-off, you shitty demon!’’. It was followed by him stretching out his razor-sharp nails while holding Iori closely to him.

It appears that Yashiro just cracks a smile and snorts. Now, the hunter murmurs ‘‘So, you can sense who am I… That’s not bad for a low-rank vampire.’’ and backfiring in a careless tone ‘‘Calm down little guy or you’ll hurt yourself. What’s your relation towards him?’’. However, Kyo just ferociously stares at his opponent. Just before Yashiro opens his mouth, he could hear Chris near him ‘‘Are you okay? Why don’t you kill him? He’ll eat that man!’’. However, Nanakase points by his chin at the vampire while commenting ‘‘Look more closely. If this creature was already lost his sanity, he would try to kill us first. But now, for some reason, this weird vampire is over-protective of my disciple. Chris, take Yagami away from this creature before it’s too late for him.’’.

Yet, the younger brunette gave a questioning gaze to his friend before trying to forcibly remove Kyo's hands from Iori. While he was struggling with his current task, Chris whines ‘‘Yashiro, I cannot do this… That idiot’s grasp is way too strong! Can I cut his arms off?’’. However, the other demon hunter addresses Kyo in a deep, yet calm voice ‘‘Stop doing this. It’s useless, you know. However, what are you gonna do to him? Heal him by some sort of miracle? Don’t make me laugh, vampire… Your vampire side is showing up and it won’t fade away for a long time. So, before you’ll reach the city, you and he will be killed by the other people. That’s why hand over Yagami and the Guild will take care of him. Besides, the sun will rise in a couple of hours. So, I suggest you retreat peacefully and not come any close to the Hunter Guild. You may meet the very nasty end if I caught you on sight. Don’t get me wrong, I do not forbid you from encountering that reckless fool once his wounds are healed. ’’.

Surely, Kyo had to admit that there was a part of truth in the hunter’s words. Even if the vampire’s heart was tearing in pain and guilt, but he lowers his arms. More importantly, he didn’t want Iori to die on his watch. After Chris throws Yagami’s arm over his shoulder, the young hunter stands up, he starts to catch up with his companion’s step. When both left without a farewell, Kyo was left alone surrounded by the silence of the night. Like never before he felt so pathetic and defeated. He was still wondering why did Iori did not resist or try to fight back, why did he remain silent all this time. Was he wounded this badly? Or was it because of the taste of utter defeat and hurting his pride? – Right now, the vampire had countless unanswered questions about the hunter.

As the brunette stands up, he covers his eyes and starts slowly walking towards Kagura’s shop. Now, through the gaps of his palms, the tears start to flow, while his lips were shaking. The nocturnal creature wished to sleep for eternity and in this way not to harm anyone, who are precious to him.

After a while, Kyo reached the door of the witch’s hut and when he silently knocks into the door, he waits with his head hung down. It didn’t take long enough for the ebony-haired woman to open the door. However, when she notices the brunette covered in dried blood and ruined clothes, she widens her eyes and asks in a concerned voice ‘‘Kusanagi, you’re back?... What happened to you? Come in. The explanation can wait for the later.’’. Now, Chizuru takes the vampire’s arm and drags him inside while he wasn’t resisting or telling a word.

When they were finally inside, Kagura helps Kyo to sit down on the bed and asks him ‘‘Did you got into a serious fight against Yagami? Don’t tell me… you two were fighting to the death? Is this why he is not here?’’. Yet, the words are stuck inside the nocturnal creature’s throat, and he shakes his head. The sorceress only softens her gaze ‘‘Then, what happened?’’. In the end, he didn’t manage to say even a single word. However, after the intense silence, which lasted like an eternity, the brunette spits out singly words in upsetting one ‘‘He… he was… taken… by other hunters…’’.

Of course, Chizuru knew that she have to let Kyo take as much as he needed time to tell what exactly happened. After the brunette bits hard his lower lip, he continues ‘‘Me and Yagami… were nearly killed… by that hunter. But then, two hunters showed up and … defeated that man. Then… then, they took Yagami. They told that they’ll take him to their guild and treat him until he’ll get better…’’.

The witch closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. After opening her eyes, Chizuru starts to lecture in a serious voice ‘‘Why are you upset, if someone helping him? Do you think that Yagami is that weak and won’t survive? Kusanagi, how could you heal anyone when you are injured and your spirit is broken? So, for now, you need to recover and have more faith in Yagami. Even I can tell that he doesn’t want to see your broken spirit. Besides, if you’re going to stay here for a while, then at least get a hold of yourself. First, clean up yourself and eat something. I’m pretty sure that there are still a lot of blood bags, which Yagami left for you. That’s why you can rest until tomorrow evening and you’ll guard my shop during the night. So, don’t think that I’m letting you stay because I pity you. I need you to work hard and prevent you from sinking into the dark thoughts.’’. With these words, the witch went to the study room. So, as soon as she left, the vampire sinks into the bed and curls into the ball.

Meanwhile, the two hunters were on their way to the Hunter Guild. However, Yashiro’s staring at the pendant, which was taken from Kain. Surely, it got the young brunette’s curiosity and now he asked in an innocent tone ‘‘What’s up with you? If you stare at it, you’ll bump into the wall or anything else.’’. Yet Nanakase puts the golden necklace with the bloody gem into the nearest pocket of the blond hunter, and replies ‘‘Nothing much. That little stone looked like Crimson Stone. But it’s just an incomplete version of it.’’. ‘‘Incomplete? What do you mean by that?’’ asks Chris.

However, now Yashiro starts to explain while they were getting step by step to the guild ‘‘From what I could tell, Kain wanted to create the Crimson Stone. Yet, you cannot make it even by using alchemy. It would be just a mere copy, which is nowhere near the original. Some humans might even be ready to massacre countless people or even devote themselves to create a fake stone, which only grants the grain of true Crimson Stone’s power. So, is it worth sin against the so-called god and devote yourself to something that you may never achieve? You may overcome death, but you will also lose the privilege to die. Humans are such stupid creatures, who will never fail to surprise. Right, Chris?’’.

Nevertheless, the brunette only cracks a smile and teases ‘‘That’s such a deep thought coming from someone like you. Did you practice this speech in front of the mirror? You know, that won’t impress even Shermie.’’. Yet, the silver-haired man counter-attacks in a playful tone ‘‘What’s that supposed to mean? Does little Chris wanna have his tiny nose get pinched until he becomes red and starts to cry?~’’. Now, he adds in a calm tone ‘‘When you live long enough like me, then you’ll understand how this world works and you’ll be still amazed each time of humans’ shenanigans. Anyway, how is Yagami-chan doing? He seems to be quiet all this time.’’. The brunette quickly gazes next to the redhead and replies ‘‘He looks fine to me. Perhaps, he just got exhausted… I can feel that he won’t only survive until he’ll reach the infirmary, but also would cause a lot of problems to the medics.’’. In the end, Yashiro only laughs ‘‘That’s what you expect from my disciple and no less…’’. With those words, the two hunters finally reached the entrance door of the Hunter Guild.

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

Anyway, Thanks to Helsic for another lovely commission!

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Chapter 1 Link

Chapter 31 Link

Chapter 33 Link

[threepointseven]

Home(Dinner Part 2)

Im shortening the exchange students name to S/N AKA student name

Sorry i forgot to answer the person who actually requested this @kurooandkarmaswife thank you sm for requesting! I hope you enjoy 😩

Also lets pretend you cant have more than 1 pact with a human cause yeah. If you havent read Dinner yet go read it since you’ll really only understand this if u read the first part

Fandom: Obey me!

Pairing: not really with anyone but has subtle undertones of solomon & Simeon x reader

Length: sort of long

Genre: Angst with comfort

Gn! Reader and exchange student!

Part three!

Dinner last night, was, well...pretty terrible. I ended up waking up at 2 am to the brothers STILL not home. Apparently even Diavolo had taken a liking to the new exchange student.

A day goes by and finally i get to meet the new exchange student.

Whoah

Is all i can think. I walk into the living room unnoticed as everyone is talking to the new exchange student, i wouldnt blame them.

They look incredible.

I felt a hint of jealousy wash over me. Seeing Mammon, Asmo’s and Beel’s joyful laughs as they talk to them. Their voice was ever so gentle, it’s what i imagine spring to sound like.

I tried forgetting about my distasteful thoughts of jealousy and walked over to them.

“Goodmorning!”

I called out to try and grab their attention

“Oh, MC! I didnt see you there;;”

Asmo said to me as he was taking selfies with the new exchange student

“This is the new exchange student”

Beel smiled

“Hi! My name is MC”

I happily introduced myself

“My name is S/N”

They brought their hand out and i shook it in return. Their eyes were ever so sweet, i felt the sadness come over me as i wore a soft smile.

Something tells me this wont end well.

Weeks go by as i barely get to see the brothers anymore. They’re always around S/N. I find myself longing the brothers touch. The random emergency texts i get from mammon, calls from Asmo asking me if i wanted to go to a club, Belphie always dragging me to his room to take a nap, Beel’s adorable goodnight texts, Lucifer’s complaints about work, Satan’s library dates, And levi’s rants about a certain anime he just watched.. i missed it all.

I guess i missed the warmth and the constant attention i got from them. The attention thats now being directed at S/N.

The new feeling of emptiness leads me to the Purgatory hall, a place i’ve been to quite often after S/N had won over the brothers.

I enter the room praying that i dont see S/N hogging Luke, Solomon, and Simeon’s attention....

What?

Did i just think that?

Am i that jealous?

Have i gotten so used to being in the spotlight that suddenly i become like this when not in the center?

Its an unpleasant feeling and i try to snap myself out of it as i see Simeon, Luke, and Solomon all happily seated on the couch drinking tea and eating pastries Luke made.

“MC! Hey!!”

Luke happily greets me as well as Solomon and Simeon. Im pulled to the couch as im seated next to Luke. I take a bite of the pastry and embrace the comfort of the sugary sweets.

The conversation goes on for a long time as hours go by. Soon enough the entire tray of pastries and tea are long gone.

As the clock hits 8 PM i realize ive been at the Purgatory hall for too long now. Excusing myself i go back to the house of Lamentation to be once again greeted by smiling faces and S/N laying out plates filled with food for the brothers.

The brothers quarrels, Satan’s face of annoyance, Asmo’s whining... The smell of warm food on the dinner table being handed out....

As i hide from the view of the brothers and S/N i look back to when it would to be me that made everyone dinner and calmed them down.

My chair.

My chair had been occupied by S/N,

What?

Did they expect me to sit on the floor for dinner or something?

As i slowly walked to my room i heard the deep voice of Lucifer

“Oh MC,,, sorry S/N is sitting on your spot, we thought you were gonna go to the purgatory hall for dinner tonight. We do apologize”

As i feel my throat closing up i smile and say in a bubbly tone

“Oh it’s fine! I was actually gonna go out with my friends for dinner anyways! I was just getting something from my room, i’ll be out in a sec!”

Lucifer gave me a warm smile and continued conversing with S/N

As i went to my room i started to realize the situation here. I’ve been replaced. I mean who wouldn’t replace me when the actual definition of an angel was right in front of them with their welcoming arms open.

As soon as i got to my room salty tears trailed down my cheeks,

Jealousy?

Sadness?

Anger?

Whatever the emotion was i wasn’t having it. Unlocking my DDD to be greeted by the wallpaper of me and the brothers all dressed up for a ball we went to together once. i tried to hold back my few tears as i called Solomon, a dear friend of mine.

“Hey solomon!!”

“Oh, yes MC? Is there anything you need?”

“I know i just left the purgatory hall but could I possibly stay there for the night?”

“Oh, of course! I dont exactly know why but Luke’s already whining about how you stayed for too little.”

“I’ll be right over”

I hung up the phone, my tears stopping after i heard that comforting voice of his.

That night i stayed at the purgatory hall, happily sleeping next to Luke, lulling him to sleep.

The purgatory hall became my escape. Solomon always made me laugh, Simeon always made sure i felt welcome there and Luke was practically my adopted son after how long i could stay with him.

As i went about the kitchen helping Luke make a pastry i showed him from the human world a strange feeling washed over me. The feeling of something being erased from my my soul, something was fading away. That something felt like it was piercing my soul.

I look around my body to see what it is. As i look around i see it.

My pact marks are starting to fade

I panic as i excuse myself and go back to the house of lamentation.

As i silently enter the room i hear the faint sound of the brothers, they’re discussing something.

“Cmon Satan you’ve gotta be quick! What if they find out?!”

“Removing a pact isnt that easy Mammon.”

As i listen more i realize what it is.

They’re trying to break my pact with me.

And for what exactly?

Because they want one with someone else.

That someone being S/N

It hurt. Who wouldn’t be hurt? tears flowed from my eyes in record time as i tiredly walk outside.

Devildom was a place the brothers always told me to beware of, but right now i couldnt care less.

While i walked around the town with puffy eyes and the stinging feeling of my pact marks being removed, i hear a certain group of people call my name, i look back to see Luke, Solomon and Simeon’s smiles quickly turn into frowns as they see my tears

“What’s wrong MC?!”

Luke worriedly asks

Unable to hold it in i tell Them.

“The brothers are trying to break my pact with them, they want one with S/N apparently. Im afraid i’ve been replaced by that saint..”

Solomon and Simeon’s face turn into faces of empathy while Luke’s turned quite sour

As Simeon came closer to me and pulled me close into a hugged he mumbles out a comforting phrase

“Whatever happens MC, you’ll always be welcome at the purgatory hall.”

The sentence made my stomach overflow with butterflies. I happily hug back, quickly accepting the purgatory hall as my new and improved home.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 38

Sorry for the delay. Real life gets out of hand. But here it is! The antepenultimate chapter.

Shout out to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as Ramblingwren

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

(The latest chapter will be up on there once this reaches over 500 notes on tumblr)

Hope you all enjoy

_____________________________________________________________

“I shouldn’t have let her go out there.”

Fu watched the school nurse, Angela, fret as she paced back and forth.

“I understand your concern, but I believe that it will all be alright. Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t failed in handling an akuma yet,” he explained. “The girl will be okay.”

The nurse stopped pacing.

“I appreciate your optimism but… I am really not used to this,” She said as she gestured to the air.

Fu blinked at the statement.

“Oh?”

“This! This whole thing! Super villains that appear whenever someone gets sad, teenagers with superpowers! This is all new to me! I just moved to Paris a month ago from the countryside. All I wanted was to further my education and get work in the medical field. It… It boggles my mind that everyone in this city is so okay with all of this! Even my new boyfriend Curtis is able to shrug off an akuma attack like a sudden drizzle. This isn’t normal!”

The guardian could tell the young woman was distressed, and he couldn’t blame her. In a way, he envied her. This was all foreign for her, but to him, this was his entire life.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blow up like that. I've had a lot to deal with, and this whole situation is just so…”

Fu moved to her and helped her sit down.

“It’s alright, this is by no means a good situation. Your concerns are very understandable. I can tell that deep down that your frustration and fear come from compassion and empathy. You will make a wonderful doctor one day.”

She took a deep breath.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I really needed to hear that today.”

“How about I teach you a medication technique that will help you calm down?”

“Meditation? I'm not really one for that kind of stuff.”

“If one wants to be a doctor, being able to calm down and handle an emergency situation is a must.”

The school nurse agreed that he had a good point, and that this may help get her mind off of things.

“Okay, I guess I'll give it a shot.”

Fu smiled.

“Good. Let us start simple. Close your eyes and put your hands together.”

Angela felt the action was a bit odd but complied.

“Now, take a deep breath. Count to 5 in your head and then breathe out.”

She took her breath and followed the order.

“Whenever you feel a thought come to your head, simply picture yourself putting it out of your mind and into a bucket.”

She tried her best to comply.

As she did this, Fu moved behind her and quickly pinched a nerve on her neck, causing the young woman to seize up for a moment before losing consciousness.

“That will help her relax.”

He carefully moved her to the cot and laid a sheet over her like a blanket.

Once it was clear that she was asleep, a turtle kwami flew out of hiding.

“So, what do we do now, Master?”

Fu took a moment to consider.

His plan was already in motion. Ladybug and Chat Noir had plenty of allies to help fight the akuma. All that needed to be done was to sit down and wait.

But as he thought about it more, he couldn’t help but think that he should go in personally. It was what he'd initially planned to do with akuma, after all. Listening to this young woman’s fears made him really see how his inaction has led to such fear and uncertainty.

For once, it was time for him to go on the offensive.

“Now we head out and find this akuma.”

“Master, you already sent out three miraculous. Let the other heroes handle this,” Wayzz insisted.

“The people of Paris should not have to become used to this. I have been far too lax with this situation. Right now, Ladybug and Chat Noir are facing their most dangerous akuma yet. For decades I have always remained passive in order to avoid making another mistake, but I have already made so many with my inaction. It's time I stop letting my actions be dictated by fear.”

“But Master, you can’t transform! Your body is too old to handle it!”

“Fear not, Wayzz. I have been exercising and restoring my vitality with the techniques of the guardians. By my estimation, I should be able to maintain the transformation without too much issue for 10 minutes,” Fu assured.

“That is not a lot of time, Master!” Wayzz pointed out.

“True, but it is better than nothing. We will head out and wait for the moment we need it. Be ready, Wayzz.”

The old guardian started heading to the door.

“But Master, what if you get captured? What if the akuma does succeed and you are unable to step in?”

Fu paused at the door.

“I know you are concerned for me. I appreciate your care. But I need to go out there. I have lived a long life, Wayzz, far longer than most humans. One day I may not be here to be the guardian.”

Wayzz felt a pang of sorrow hearing his Master talk about how he would no longer be around.

“But that’s okay. I know that when that time comes… I have two young heroes that will be ready to stand up and fight. The best thing an old man like me can do is pave the road for them.” The guardian said with certainty. He went to open the door.

“Fu…”

The old man stopped. Turning around, he saw the turtle kwami he had known for most of his life smile at him.

“I know you think of yourself as a failure of a guardian… but Su Han and the others were wrong. You are a great one. You are the most caring guardian that has ever held the title. And I will be by your side to the end.”

The old man felt his eyes well up at the sweet comment.

“Then let’s go, Partner.”

___________________________________________________________________________

The dragon heroine grabbed the confused snake hero and moved him to the closest room before closing the door.

“Okay we should be safe here,” she said as she looked over to her comrade. It was clear that Viperion was still very confused. It did not help that both his and her miraculous were beeping. They didn't have much time.

“Thanks… ummm,” Viperion started as he tried to rack his brain for a name. Part of him felt like he should know her. But his mind is blank.

“Ryuuko. You can call me Ryuuko. And you are Viperion.”

“Okay… weird name for me, but I guess it works.”

Ryuuko realized that the bubble Viperion had been put in wasn’t just to keep him frozen in place. One of the side effects must have been leaving him without any memory of who he was. Had her partner been aware of that risk when he took the bubble for her? She couldn’t know for sure. But right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand. Shehad to take charge since her partner was out of sorts.

“Okay, 'll try to explain this as quickly as possible.”

“Your real name is Luka. But when you are in your hero form, you go by Viperion.”

“Hero form...”

He looked down.

“Well, that does explain the costumes. I thought it was some sort of weird costume party.”

Ryuuko decided to ignore that.

“Okay, so I'm a hero. And you're one too?”

“Yes. We are both heroes picked by Ladybug to help her fight villains. Right now, we're fighting a bunch of them, and you got your memory wiped by one of their attacks. That’s why you are confused. Any questions?”

The boy took a moment to look himself over and then look at her. This was a lot of information to take in. Ryuuko was half expecting him to call her crazy. Which, given how bizarre the circumstances were, she wouldn’t blame him.

“Okay, I think if it was anyone else telling me this, I would have called it a load of bull. But… I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you. You sound sincere,” Viperion responded.

“Okay great, now let's…”

“I still have a few questions.”

Ryuuko sighs.

“Look, we really don’t have much time. We need to hurry and get out there to help…”

And just before she finished the statement, both of their transformations wore off. Revealing their civilian forms.

“Oh no.” Kagami muttered in horror.

“What happened? Where am I… What am I?” The snake kwami questioned as he looked at himself.

“It appears that Sass was also impacted by the amnesia.” The dragon kwami that popped out of her necklace commented.

Luka stared wide eyed at the creature.

“Are you a snake?”

“A snake? I suppose?”

“A snake with limbs? That is very rock and roll.”

The two fistbumped. Thankfully they seemed to get along.

Longg looked at them.

“This is quite a predicament.”

“We need to hurry back in. Longg! Bring the….”

“Hold on a moment. Both Sass and I will not be able to do that yet.”

Kagami stopped.

“How come?”

“We need to refuel. The energy of transforming AND using our unique powers drains a lot out of us. We need some food to continue.”

“Food… Okay.”

The snake Kwami grabbed his stomach.

“I find myself rather famished,” he commented.

Luka looked at him.

“Let me see if I can help you out.”

The teen took off the backpack he was wearing to go through it. Thankfully there was a bag lunch in there. For some reason he felt that was important. But decided that if it could help the little guy out, he was sure it wouldn’t be a big deal.

He opened the bag lunch and pulled out a bag of apple slices. Opening it to grab a piece.

“I know snakes usually are carnivores, but how about some fruit?”

“Ooo! It smells divine!”

Luka handed the floating kwami a piece of the apple.

He takes a bite.

“Oh! It's delicious! Juicy and sweet!”

The snake quickly devours the apple piece.

As that happens, Kagami looked through her bag.

“I don’t have fruit but I do have some onigiri. It was my afternoon snack… but since this is a dire situation.”

“Rice? Yes please!” Longg exclaimed as he dive bombed right into the delicious rice ball.

“It’s Umeboshi, it’s not to everyone’s taste but It is one of my favorites.”

“It’s the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The sour plum really brings a new dimension of flavor.”

Kagami smiled a bit at her kwami companion, happy that she could help.

The two Kwami finished their food and were ready for action.

“Okay, Sass. You need to help Luka transform.”

“Sass? Is that my name?” the snake inquired.

“So, he helps me transform into Viperman?”

“Viperion, and yes,” Kagami responded.

“All you need to do is say. Sass, Scales Slither. And to activate your special power just pull your bracelet back and say second chance. Then pull it back when you want to use it. But be sure not to use it right away,” Longg instructed.

“Okay seems easy enough. Are you okay with this?” Luka asked as he turned his attention to his snake pal.

“The floating horn snake seems fine with it so I say let’s give it a try”

Longg decided for the sake of his friendship with Sass to ignore the comment.

“Alright! Let's do this!” Kagami exclaimed as she prepared to transform.

“One last question.”

Kagami was starting to get antsy. She wanted to be back out there fighting. But she held back her annoyance, considering how he sacrificed his memories for her.

“Make it quick, we need to hurry.”

Luka scratches the back of his head.

“Are we a couple?”

If Kagami was drinking water she would have done a massive spit take. Her cheeks turned red.

“What?!”

“You know… together? You seem to know a lot about me, and I just feel this connection... like I can trust you even though I don’t remember anything. I don’t know how or why, but I feel like you matter to me.”

Kagami’s eyes went wide at the comment. It felt surprisingly bold of the musician to say. She had to admit that the statement made her heart skip a beat.

“No, we had just recently become friends.” Kagami responded.

“Oh…” Luka was saddened by the response.

“But, I have thought about the possibility it could be more than that one day," Kagami continued. "But that is something to discuss when you have your memory back. Maybe.”

The fencer felt her mind scream at her.

‘WHY DID YOU SAY THAT! Well, at least he won't remember.’

Luka smiled at that.

“Well, that must mean I must be a good guy, if I could have such a great friend like you.”

The teen prepared himself.

“Alright then! Sass! Scales Slither.”

The musician shifted into his hero form.

“Let’s go save the day.”

Kagami looked at her hero partner and smiled.

“Longg, Bring the storm.

______________________________________________________________________

“Well, that might be a problem.”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked to see a stone giant guarding the front door of the classroom. The two had hidden just out of the goliath’s view.

“Any ideas on how to take down Mount Akuma?” Chat Noir questioned.

Ladybug looked at the giant from their hiding spot and began formulating a plan.

“Stoneheart grows bigger when he gets mad. These akuma aren’t really able to express their emotions. That means we don’t need to worry about him getting bigger. We just need to find a way to incapacitate him.”

“We could ask Mayura,” Chat Noir pointed out.

“We could ask… wait WHA…”

Chat Noir covered his partner’s mouth and ducked down.

“Shhhh! She’s right there,” Chat Noir hushed.

Ladybug removed the cat’s hand from her mouth and looked from the spot to see that her partner was right. Mayura was in the building!

“She actually showed up?” Oh, this is a lot more serious than we thought. Hawkmoth is really playing it serious with this one.”

“To the butterfly man’s credit, he really has been throwing out some tough ones.”

“I will not give our worst villain credit for anything except this headache,” Ladybug retorted with annoyance.

“So, what do we do? Mayura is in the building and she is talking with the giant.”

Ladybug felt like the situation couldn’t get worse.

“Not so fast, Feather Freak!”

Ladybug recognized that voice.

“Chloé?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug glanced to see a familiar blonde strutting down the hallway. But their expressions of shock shifted to bewilderment when they noticed what she was wearing.

“So are you and that purple fashion blunder here? Or is it just you? I am guessing it's just you. Your boss doesn’t really like to show his face unless he thinks he is sure to win. No wonder Ladybug always kicks his…” The bee themed heroine confidently quipped.

“Queen Bee. Now that is a surprise. I thought Ladybug was done giving you a miraculous.” The peacock villainess commented. She had no interest in dealing with the bee heroine at this time.

“Well, you would be surprised by a lot of things. So how about we settle this. My fist really misses your face.”

Mayura rolled her eyes.

“Fortunately for you, I don’t have the time to deal with you. Stoneheart, I am sure Masquerade would love for you to take care of this pesky bee.”

“Oh don’t think you can walk away! You and that purple cockroach are the same. Both cowards that can’t even face children.” She jeered as she walked forward.

The stone giant moved forward, allowing Mayura to walk to the door and enter.

“Too scared to face me! Typical. I'll beat your pet rock as a warm up and then your butt will meet my foot!” Queen Bee exclaimed with confidence. “Because I am a real heroine!”

Queen Bee got into a stance and prepared to trade blows with the colossus of rock.

Chat Noir looked to Ladybug.

“Did you give her a miraculous?” He whispered in surprise.

“I don’t have any additional miraculous. I thought she had been captured with the rest of the class.”

“Wait… if it wasn’t you… you don’t think…”

“Either Master Fu is in the building and saw how dire the situation was or Chloé snuck away and had a Queen Bee costume stowed away in her locker.”

The two look at each other and immediately come to the same conclusion.

“We need to save her before she gets crushed!”

______________________________________________________________________

Mayura walked into the classroom.

She managed to keep a straight face, but internally she had a lot going through her mind.

What was once a standard classroom now looked like an elaborate throne room. The amazing curtains, the high ceilings. The steps leading up to an elaborate throne. The portraits of Masquerade really brought together the utter decadence and vanity of the akuma persona. It reminds Mayura of Gabriel’s obsession with Emilie in the worst way possible.

Despite finding the décor off-putting, she had to admit it was impressive how Masquerade had been able to change the room into something completely unrecognizable. A testament to her vanity.

She took a moment to see what akuma servants she still had in the room. The Gamer, Reflekta with around 12 copies, Princess Fragrance, Robostus, Zombizou and Horificator. While the white masks obscured their expressions, it was clear that all of them were watching her. It greatly unnerved her.

She kept these thoughts to herself as the masked akuma that was running the school took notice of her.

“Mayura. I've been expecting you.”

Mayura looked up to see Masquerade sitting on the throne.

“Please, come in.”

She approached confidently. Though in the back of her mind something seemed off.

Masquerade stood up from the throne and walked down the steps, a smile of certainty on her face.

“Masquerade. Your Sentimonster gave me the basics of your plan. Securing the school as your base of operations was a good first step. Your plan of creating a video to lower the spirits of those in Paris was also a nice touch,” Mayura praised.

“But of course! My plan is flawless,” Masquerade boasted. “Not even Ladybug and Chat Noir will be able to stop me.”

“Getting ahead of yourself aren’t you?” Mayura cut her ego trip.

Masquerade’s mood soured as her smile faltered.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You have yet to face the two heroes. Not to mention there's a pesky bee flying around.”

“A bee?” Masquerade was very confused by the comment.

“Yes, Chloé Bourgeois, or Queen Bee, to be precise. Seems that Ladybug and Chat Noir went and got back up."

“It doesn’t matter if they have one additional hero or three. This plan won't fail.”

‘Something isn’t right here. I need to leave now!’ Mayura’s mind screamed.

She wasn’t sure why, but something felt incredibly off.

“Speaking of heroes, your plan never really specified how you will deal with them. Care to elaborate?”

Masquerade’s smile grew more sinister.

“I am glad you asked. After Simularé relayed to me that you were here. I finally figured out the perfect way of dealing with those arrogant heroes,” the masked woman stated with certainty, moving forward.

She now stood only a few feet from the peacock villainess.

“Wait a moment, something is wrong here,” Mayura commented as she tried to focus. She couldn’t ignore the warnings in her head.

“What do you mean?” The mask akuma looked with confusion at the blue villainess.

Mayura looked around. Frantically trying to find something but it was fruitless. This distress caused Masquerade to smile.

“I can't sense it,” Mayura spoke with slight worry.

“Sense what?” Masquerade inquired further.

“Where is your amok? It should be on your person but I can't sense it.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes. If you don’t have the amok in your possession then that sentimonster will go out of control!” Mayura explained.

“Can’t you just rip the amok out?”

“If it's nearby and I sense it, yes. But I can’t do that if it’s out of my range.”

“So you’re saying you have no power over me right now.” A devilish grin appeared on Masquerade’s face.

“No, I am saying I don’t have any power over the senti…”

Mayura felt a chill as she realized that the masquerade in front of her was not an akumatized Lila.

“Horrificator, block the door,” the Faux Masquerade commanded.

The pink and purple monster quickly moved to block the door with her large form.

The controlled akuma started circling around her as Simularé undid the illusion and morphed into its true specter form, Simularé.

“You ungrateful little monster. You think your master will be okay with you attacking one of the ones that gave her power?”

“My master doesn’t care about you or Hawkmoth. You are a means to an end. And she gave me special permission to take your miraculous from you.”

“Well if your master isn’t here, then no one is jamming the signal. I can contact Hawkmoth and put this little coup to an end.”

Simularé shifted into Lady Wifi.

“I have access to every power my master does. You are trapped with no options.” The sentimonster mocked.

Mayura looked around as she was circled by the controlled akuma. She needed to get out of there.

She felt a pain rush to her head.

‘F*** not now’ She mentally cursed.

The odds were indeed not in her favor.

______________________________________________________________________________

Stoneheart began charging at the bee themed heroine, and just as Queen Bee was about to move, a yo-yo wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the monster.

The stone giant had expected his charge to make contact but forced himself to stop when he noticed the bee was gone.

“Sorry tiny, but I’m your playmate now,” called a cat-themed hero.

The mindless akuma didn’t visibly react to the change in foe and simply charged at the cat hero.

Queen Bee found herself near Ladybug.

“Chloé! What are you doing?!”

“Uh… Saving the day? I got the jewelry box that you sent out because you needed my help.”

“Jewelry box… wait a minute that means. You are wearing a miraculous.”

“Yep! Don’t worry LB, I will show you that I am worthy of being Queen Bee. And not to boast, but I totally saved someone. But right now, we gotta go beat that ugly pile of rubble.”

Ladybug looked at Chloé for a moment. With the situation as hectic as it was, Queen Bee has shown some competence when there is real danger. Ladybug knew that right now, all hands that could help would be appreciated, and Queen Bee’s appearance could mean that Fu may be closer than she expected. So maybe there were more reinforcements. So if this was the case. She would trust Fu’s judgement.

“Alright, just be ready to return the bee after all of this is over.”

“Right, right, but just know I will probably change your mind about that after this is over!” the bee exclaimed confidently as she jumped back into the fray.

Ladybug shook her head. Whether she was Queen Bee or Chloé, she was still a handful.

“Are you finished gossiping? Because I could REALLY use a hand!” Chat Noir shouted as he held his staff up to hold back the rock monster’s boulder of a fist.

Queen Bee and Ladybug jumped into view and noticed the situation.

“Don’t worry you stray cat, The Queen Bee will put that rock in his place. Ve…”

Ladybug covered Queen Bee’s mouth before she could.

“Hold it. We might need your power for later.”

“I think it would be useful now!” Chat Noir shouted as he struggled to hold the weight of the giant’s rocky hand.

“Okay if my powers are a no no right now, what is the plan?”

Ladybug looked around. She found her attention drawn to a fire extinguisher, Queen Bee, a rubber band, and a discarded backpack.

“Okay, I have a plan.”

______________________________________________________________________

Gabriel had made a decision.

He hurried out of the lair in his civilian form. He was going to head to the school. Now he would just need to get his chauffeur and go…

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he saw his son’s bodyguard and chauffeur fall to the floor at the steps of the main entrance, a white mask adorning his face that he was desperately trying to get off.

“What is the meaning of this?” Gabriel asked aloud in shock and anger.

He looked to see the mask akuma he created standing at the door.

“Well, if it isn’t Gabriel Agreste. Fashion mogul, and master manipulator.”

Gabriel’s visible anger faded as he stared at the akuma.

“Lila, is that you?”

“Oh quite astute! An amazing deduction. Was it that observational skill that made you the fashion success you are now?” the akumatized Lila inquired. “Though I go by Masquerade now.”

Gabriel knew very well the girl’s powers. He was the one that gave it to her. She was trying to antagonize him, get him angry. But that would not work.

“Well Masquerade, what brings you to my home at this time?” Gabriel asked calmly. Doing his best to keep his tone and mannerisms calm.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood, finding more people to join my little army and I notice my charm glowing as I was getting near.”

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he realized something. The charm bracelet was configured to locate anyone that has ever been akumatized. That included him. His ploy to ward suspicion off of himself was now biting him in the butt. And of course, Lila was likely holding a grudge with how he pushed her with his words about his son and his classmate.

“My bodyguard was akumatized. What of it?”

The silent action figure enthusiast stopped resisting and his body began growing. Gabriel noticed the man was transforming into the gorilla akuma. Gorizilla! And he rushed up the steps as the akuma moved and pounded his chest.

“Gorizilla, go gather up anyone who has been akumatized that you know of. I will handle Mr. Agreste myself.”

The giant akuma nodded at its master and headed off, leaving the agreste mansion with a giant hole that was once the front of the mansion.

“Handle me? And what do you plan to do?”

Masquerade’s necklace began to glow.

“Oh! Well that is very interesting,” Masquerade mused aloud as she learned from the glowing charm.

“What do you mean, interesting?” Gabriel asked. He knew that the charm had the bonus effect of pointing out the emotional weak points of those that had been akumatized. But he had PRETENDED to be angry and wasn’t actually emotional when the akuma took over. Did the charm still impact him the same way it did everyone else?

Masquerade started walking up the steps.

“You blame yourself for your wife’s passing.”

The statement was a blade pointed right at his throat. But Gabriel refused to react. He would not let himself be taken advantage of by his own akuma. He has been on the receiving end one too many times and he would be damned if he let that psychopath have control of him.

Masquerade saw that Gabriel was not reacting to the statement.

“I have never seen a man more miserable and pathetic,” Masquerade said. Her words sounded genuine and cutting.

Gabriel tried to turn around and walk away. But Masquerade jumped high with her superhuman agility and landed right in front of him, continuing her tearing down of his emotional state.

“All of this wealth and yet you are obsessed with what you don’t have. You are so blinded by the grief of losing your wife that everything else in your life may as well not exist. You locked yourself away, desperately trying to find something, anything that would bring her back. But now you are finding that color is starting to return in your life. You feel guilt over hiding the truth from your son, you loathe the attraction that you have been developing for another woman. You hate that you can’t dedicate every second to your lost wife and any speck of joy you feel without her here feels like treason since she is not here with you. You are a man so blind with his obsession that you fail to see the world doesn’t revolve around you. It's disgusting.”

“You know nothing of my life,” Gabriel dismissed.

But Masquerade knew he would say that. She only smiled. The truth was right in front of her. And she was ready to bring it home.

“You are actually terrified of facing her again.”

That shook Gabriel.

“What?”

“You are afraid of seeing her again. Whether it’s a year or 10 years, you feel that even if you could bring her back, she would be here and realize how much of a shell you had become without her. You are afraid that your obsession with her will be the very thing that drives her away once you see her again.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Then why haven’t you brought her back yet? Don’t you love her?”

Gabriel felt like his heart was being repeatedly punched.

“How dare you question my love for my wife!”

“Then why isn’t she here? If you loved her she wouldn’t have been taken from you and Adrien. But you were far too pathetic to do it. You failed her, and you are still failing her. You will never be with her again, and deep down. You know it to be true,” Masquerade answered coldly.

Those words were enough to get him down. That is what finally did him in.

Gabriel fell to his knees.

“No…”

Gabriel had broken. Masquerade knew she had him.

He was emotionally devastated, to the point where couldn’t even react to the mask coming his way.

____________________________________________________________

Well now things are now hitting their highest points of drama!

Will Ladybug and other heroes be able to stand up to Masquerade?

Will Mayura fall to Simularé's double cross?

Will I EVER update in time?

Tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Your support keeps it alive

[lunaastoir]

fluff/relationships w the liyue crew

characters included: xiao, childe, beidou, and zhongli

ik i forgot ningguang i promise i’ll include her in part 2, i just didn’t have time :(

all x a gn! reader 

my liyue babies :,) ft. ningguang in spirit

an: i was listening to my soft playlist (more like listening to cupid’s chokehold on repeat, no i am not basic 🔪) and i thought some fluff headcanons would be cute w these sweet people

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

xiao

ok so no surprise that he hates liyue harbor

he hates anything w a lot of people in it so he prefers to stay at wangshu inn tyvm

but by contrast, you love liyue harbor sm (it’s gorgeous i mean c’mON)

you go there often to retrieve your commissions in order to stay closer to xiao (liyue harbor is closer than mondstadt he argues but you’re well aware that they’re both equally far away)

so if anyone asked, xiao would absolutely refuse to go to the harbor like i hate people??? why would you even ask???

but,,,he’s so sOFT for you

if you asked??? he would agree in a heartbeat

but since he’s >:( angsty boy, he makes you think that he won’t go even when he’s already decided that he’s coming w you

he puts up the “if you so require, then i guess i will assist you with your travels in liyue harbor” but in reality he would definitely have said yes even without the almond tofu

while he hates the harbor, he thinks that with you anything is bearable :,) simp

you take him to see xinyan to vibe w her music and you can tell he really enjoys it

even tho he’s like 🕴 the entire time, you see the softer look on his face and the very slight smile on his lips as he listens to the music and watches the crowd

so so so cute very soft for him

i do see him as a subtly touchy person in public like brushing the hair off your face, swiping his thumb across your cheek, or gently pulling your hair back when you have a plate of food in your hands 

the type to link your pinkies together - he claims it’s so you don’t get lost but yk better 

after the concert is done you take him to that one waypoint near mt. tianheng and the both of you just watch the city lights and the way they reflect beautifully on the water surrounding the harbor 

personal headcanon that xiao absolutely loves stargazing since he believes the stars are the one true constant in his life especially since he’s experienced so much loss (basically they’ll never leave him god i hate myself why do i make everything SAD)

mini headcanon off of that - he doesn’t stargaze with people,,, like ever 

it’s something he loves to do alone so the fact that he lets you stargaze w him and even allows you to shift your head onto his lap while you watch the sky is a huge deal 

he loves it when you softly whisper abt how your day was or something you saw that made you laugh 

he just loves hearing your voice, it automatically calms the voices in his head 

you absolutely ADORE when he has flowers in his hair especially cecilias (cecillias? ceccillias? idfk) and you make a point whenever you go to mondstadt to pick a fresh batch of cecilias just for xiao while enlisting the help of your favorite bard  

these soft moments on the mountain are usually when you’ll sweetly tuck in a flower or two in his hair while laughing 

he’ll blush fiercely while looking away but will tuck the cecilias in securely as you’re unable to do so due to the position you’re in on his lap

all in all - this was not meant to come out as a date idea but we’re going w it 

this is so cute xiao pls let me put flowers in your hair sweet boy <3

childe

god, loml, my favorite war criminal after eren yeager 

there’s never a dull moment w this man - if you wanted peace and quiet, why the hell are you dating him bestie???

is the type of person to yell out “Y/N, i can’t believe i ran into you here!” if he sees you somewhere even tho you explicitly told him you were going to be here in the morning (ik you have a good memory ajax don’t lie to me 😐)

i don’t see him as being obnoxious w pda unlike someone else kaeya but he would definitely participate (think: handholding, cheek kisses, an arm around your shoulders)

loves it when he comes home and sees you in an apron cooking 

domesticity just makes his heart melt so you can be sure that your face will be peppered w a lot of kisses afterwards <3 

absolutely ADORES it when you trace his scars absentmindedly when you’re lying down or even when you’re having dinner in public  

he’s been far from his family for so long that small acts of mindless affection like this really make his heart happy 

you have him drunk on your love luv haha see what i did there 

he will let you put makeup on him. no i do not take criticism ⛄️

he already has on lowkey thick eyeliner,,, don’t be shy put some more bestie 

he will shamelessly go out in public w whatever you made him wear - doesn’t really give a shit even tho he has a reputation to maintain 

speaking of reputation,,, yk his mask? yeah that one - the red hair accessory that he has on his head

well on the mask, he attached a little charm the both of you got together on your first date during lantern rite 

it’s this adorable fox that we all shamelessly kill for meat and he placed it so it anchored to the side of his mask so when he fights it isn’t a nuisance or anything (does that make sense??? i hope it does) 

his subordinates notice and while they’re stoic around childe, behind closed doors they do whisper abt the mysterious person who’s captured his heart 

not so mysterious anymore when they literally see him cling onto you during his daily patrol around the harbor 💀

it’s ok tho he’s lucky he’s cute 

bestie,,, pls give him a neck massage 

i just KNOW he’s tense there idk something abt the way he carries himself just screams “my neck hurts so bad someone pls help me i would ask but my pride literally will not let me”

so give him a neck massage :) don’t worry tho he’ll definitely return the favor and then some

LOVES TICKLE FIGHTS 

he’s obsessed w them,,, it’s just the faces you make??? he can’t get enough 

he loves seeing the pure joy and the brief fear (he’s kind of a sadist) in your eyes before he attacks you w those damned hands 

it reminds him a lot of simpler times w his siblings and he’s happy he brings you joy and makes you forget your worries - at least for a little while 

all in all, he’s a good boy and no i will not tolerate childe slander 🔪 kaeya slander tho 😏

beidou

you pulled beidou??? wow everyone’s jealous (pulled as in literally from the banner and in this context but no i do not have beidou and no i definitely do not want to talk abt it)

god made beidou and zhongli just so all of us could have a sexuality crisis 

anyways, being w her is hard i will not lie 

not bc she isn’t a capable lover - no, quite the contrary 

she’s an amazing partner but the problem here lies in the fact that she’s almost never on land 

it’s hard working a long distance relationship but y’all love each other so it works out :,) 

when she is physically present however, expect to never be bored 

she’ll quietly fix the wrinkles on your shirt or fiddle with your fingers in her hands while she recounts her adventures out on sea 

she sometimes gets worried she bores you, however the way your eyes light up every time she tells a tale always reassures her otherwise

definitely the type to let you use her claymore if you want to learn 

she’ll provide useful tips as she tucks her hands into your sides gently, positioning you correctly so you don’t hurt yourself 

miss girl is an AMAZING cook 

i just know she cooks the best meals - i mean she’s friends w xiangling after all 

whenever she comes home from a voyage she’ll always insist on making something for you even if she’s abt to pass out 

pls tuck her into bed and promise her that she can make you something in the morning <3 the poor woman needs rest 

brings you back trinkets but they’re actually very practical 

she knows you won’t have much use for a simple charm (not that there’s anything wrong w that) but she believes you’ll like something practical more so she might get you a new engraved knife from the most recent place she’s been to 

definitely the type to surprise you when she docks 

i can imagine her anchoring her ship out a little ways from liyue harbor and rowing to the dock in order to make sure you aren’t alerted of her presence (i’m sorry the mental picture this made in my mind is SENDING ME INTO ORBIT but she means well i love you)

will take you to remote spots she’s found in her travels through liyue 

for example - the little heart shaped island and the island quest (?) that you had to use kaeya the bridge maker for in order to get to im sorry i’ll stop w the kaeya slander

she’ll get you seashell bracelets or necklaces idk why but she gives me those vIBES 

they’re super nice ones too, only the highest quality for you 

yes she’s a bruh girl but i also see her as someone who would enjoy intimate moments like watching the sunset or something 

“yo wanna catch the sunset, i heard it looks sick from the jade chamber” said before ahem it yk fell from the sky

kasdjksfashfjsahf yes ofc i would love to catch the sunset w you pls come home luv

anyways, she is a woman i would give the world for 

zhongli

ok gimme a sec i need to get my gentleman mode on 

this man,,, THIS MAN 

everything w him is so soft like your entire eXISTENCE w him could go in a museum it’s that beautiful 

in the morning when he visits you, he always brings you a cup of your favorite tea and a bouquet of glaze lilies he got from madame ping

holds the door for you, pushes the chair out for you, uses a napkin and brushes sauce off your lips when you’re eating - you name something sweet, he’s done it

secretly loves it when you fuss over him 

he doesn’t like to fight but say he encountered a group of hillichurls he couldn’t avoid and promptly defeated them but ended up tearing a part of his tux(?) (is it a tux? i could not tell you)

not that big of a deal, i mean it’s a scratch, he’s a 6,000 year old god, he’s dealt w much worse 

but seeing the worried crease in your brows as you usher him to sit at the table while quickly grabbing antiseptic to clean his wound

“it’s just a scratch, my dear. do not worry i’ve dealt with much worse.”

you quietly protest abt how “yes zhongli, i understand you’re an archon and have gotten worse injuries but i’m worried about infection just please let me take care of you ok? <3″ 

when you say that he feels weird emotions,,, wdym take care of him? 

he’s always taken care of himself or been expected to take care of others as the former ruling deity of liyue so having someone else genuinely worry abt his wellbeing creates a warm feeling in his chest 

he strikes me as the type to knit you something??? idk maybe it’s the grandpa vibes but i headcanon that he would knit you a scarf for the colder weather, it’s cute 

in the privacy of your home, he really likes picking you up

he loves it when you wrap your legs around his middle while he gets up to go do the dishes or smthg 

domesticity go brrrr

if you’re into making flower crowns, he would totally have you on his lap and wordlessly hand you a glaze lily whenever you expectantly hold your hand out while weaving the flowers together 

he expects you to make the crown for yourself but when you place the crown on his head and it fits perfectly while simultaneously tucking a glaze lily behind your ear, he looks at you dumbstruck 

his mouth parts open in awe and it’s quite literally the cutest thing

you’ve broken him 

thinks it’s the sweetest thing - will keep it on his head for the whole day 

he’ll even put it in water before he sleeps so it won’t wilt and he can wear it the next day <3 

scenic picnics!! scenic picnics!! 

the type to take you to the nicest spots in liyue to chat abt the history of the land w you over a cup of tea and your favorite food (whatever you like, he doesn’t mind)

recounts the people he’s met in his long life before finishing off by saying you’re by far the best person he’s met 

zhongli strangles lovingly come home soon 

thanks for reading! if you have any requests don’t hesitate to send them in <3 

[hheavenlysinful]

come here kitten~

✘a.s x reader

request:

heyy! i really love your writing and i wanted to send in a request! i was thinking maybe a cute scenario where the reader’s quirk is shapeshifting. and one day while she’s in a cat form aizawa takes her home, just thinking she’s a regular cat. but after a while she has no choice but to turn back into a human! i thought that would be cute to write about. :) thank you!

wc: 1.5k

✘ slight angst, fluff, usage of “daddy”, slightly suggestive (no smut)

✘ an: OMG THIS WAS SO CUTE :((( LIKE :(((((( THANK YOU SM FOR THIS REQ IT WAS FUN TO WRITE! I HOPE YOU ENJOY :) asks are open ^-^

masterlist

YOUR mind was fuzzy, your lithe body trembling with extreme fatigue. it had been a long time since you held your quirk up this long. the last time had ended poorly, with you being bedridden for almost a week. you hoped this time would be different. but as you awkwardly rested on your paws, too tired to hold your head up, you knew that was a false hope. but you had to keep your quirk going if only to keep the tiny ounce of dignity you had left.

you diverted your gaze from the muscular man who leaned on the wall beside you, looking out into the mellow clouds that covered the sky. it had been raining for quite a while now, refusing to stop even for a second. your groan came out as a choked purr as you rolled around on the soft mattress. for a man who never slept, the bed was perfect and so soft. your gaze flitted to aizawa, draped in a loose t-shirt and even more loose sweatpants. you didn't know a cat could blush.

your quirk wasn't unique, or at least not mind-blowing compared to quirks like all rights or aizawa. it was a simple shape-shifting quirk that allowed you to morph into any living creature you had touched. it was great for snooping around unseen and undetected and was even usable in fights, but the consequence for overusing your quirk was just too severe for you to handle. the long, dreaded nights, filled with fevers and chills made you want to jump off a roof. but you loved your life and the people that came in it. especially a certain sleep-deprived teacher who didn't even spare you a glance.

you had known aizawa since you were in high school, had continued to be by his side far after those youthful days. and though aizawa had changed dramatically you still couldn't help but feel that magnetic pull that just kept you in. but it began to dull soon after. it was a curse, you thought, how even after the months of silence, one glance at him had you running right back. you felt hopeless, yearning for a person who you never have. but you were happy that he was starting to come back in your life, after the long bout of no communication.

it had been a random occurrence, the rare time that aizawa ever left the house. today had been crap, to say the least, papers missing, villains being for bold than before. today...today just wasn't your day and it took all your effort to not cry out in annoyance and frustration. but you had waited patiently, like the good hero you were, biting your lip as tears began to form on your waterline. maybe it was the sullen weather or the lack of warmth in your heart, but you headed to a place that often brought you comfort: the playground.

it was old and rusty, almost forgotten, but you still loved it. and although you were far too big to fit in the small little tunnels, you just couldn't help but feel nostalgic when you glanced at them. long-buried memories of you and aizawa flashed in your head, small raindrops starting to drop from the clouds. you paused. the gods it seemed had just granted you a chance to cry.

you focused all your energy in your head, willing yourself to perform one more task before you weep. and in a sudden flash, you were on the ground, looking up at the gigantic playground. your little paws trembled as you clawed your way up into a tunnel, instinctively curling into a ball.

being a cat was much easier than being a human, especially when the small pitter-patter of raindrops masked the quiet whines of sadness that came from your body. you stayed there for a while, letting of quiet mewls as you cursed the universe for its awful tricks. loving someone who would never love you is hard, especially when you can't let go because they were never yours to have. it was truly awful, something you wouldn't wish on your enemy.

small footsteps at you quiet, your body jolting up into a defensive stance, although you didn't know what a kitten-like you could do, other than run away. but when you peered out of the tunnel you swore at the sky once more. for the universe had once again pulled your leg.

you had spotted him first, the long, black hair and sleep-deprived eyes were too distinct. you bit the urge to sprint away, especially as you watched him look around, such sadness lingering in his eyes.

"hmm?"

you jolted at the slight sound, hissing as aizawa's looming shadow covering your entire body.

"what's this?"

his hair was pulled into a messy bun, something you had never seen him where. and holy hell he was fine.

it felt odd having such thoughts as a cat, but you couldn't help it. his mere presence was enough to make you melt.

you purred as you hesitantly walked to him, nudging his arm with your nose.

"you must be hungry," he thoughtfully said as he reached forward picking you up. you squirmed at the sudden change in height, clawing his scarf to stay still. he laughed silently at your squirming figure.

"you can stay with me for the night," he hummed, another sear of heat flowed through your body as you awkwardly sat in his cradled arms. but you purred, resting your chin on his bicep. surely this wasn't a bad thing.

"should i text her," your head snapped up, suddenly jerked back into present time. you purred in confusion. aizawa, to his credit, had involved you in one-sided conversations, often ones where you wanted to answer so bad.

"there's this woman..." he paused as a soft smile painted his lips, "she's amazing and kind, and beautiful."

a surge of jealousy shot through your veins, a hiss echoing into the room.

"but, i pushed her away," he laughed helplessly, running a hand through his hair, "pathetic right?"

"no, you're not pathetic, i understand," is what you wanted to say, but you settled for a small meow.

"y/n,"

you tensed as your name left his lips,

"i wonder how she is, i bet she's happy. she's always been a happy one."

"no, she's not happy, she misses you too. and she wants to be with you and hug you and everything. and she wants you to know she's stupid too, for pushing you away and not trying to talk to you. she...she loves you."

you hated that you were a cat. able to hear every word, but not say anything back.

you knew...you knew somewhere in your heart that there was only one choice. and only the universe would know if it was the right one.

you took a deep breath in, loosening your body and releasing the energy you had kept in from your transformation. it felt comforting, the feeling of human skin of human flesh.

"NO, Y/N ISN'T HAPPY. SHE MISSES YOU AND SHE WANTS TO BE WITH YOU AND SHE WANTS TO DO EVERYTHING WITH YOU. AND NO YOU'RE NOT PATHETIC, Y/N IS THE PATHETIC ONE. SHE LOVED YOU SOO MUCH BUT SHE DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO TALK TO YOU OR ANYTHING. Y/N, SHE..."

"...y/n?"

you watched aizawa's face morph from sadness, to shock, to worry, to surprise.

and if you weren't in his bed, wearing your form-fitting hero costume, you would have laughed your butt off.

"hi?" you waved, turning your body away from aizawa's sight. a blush bloomed on his cheeks, dulling away the previous signs of shock.

"..."

you would have walked to him, but fatigue was taking over your body. you could almost feel the fever that was about to consume your body.

"what are you...what are you doing here?" he motioned wildly at the bed and his room.

"...you brought me here," you snapped back half-heartedly.

"you were the cat." it was more of a statement than a question.

"you," he pointed to you, "were the cat who i talked to you about...you."

you nodded, unable to form coherent words.

"...did you mean what you said?" he quietly asked, walking towards you oh so slowly.

"which part?" you muttered, averting your gaze from intense eyes.

"do...do you..." he sighed, "do you love me?"

you nodded.

he leaned forward, as he did when he picked you up at the tunnel. he grabbed your shoulders, groaning in relief as he leaned his forehead on your shoulder. you stuttered as you gripped his shirt, heart beating erratically.

"a-aizawa?"

"shouta." his voice was grim as he spoke, "call me shouta."

"w-what?"

"call me shouta, or daddy, or whatever you're into," he muttered into the crook of your neck, the warm air made you shiver.

"s-shouta what," you asked incredulously, gripping his shoulders harder.

"oh god, y/n just stop," he groaned, "stop acting so innocent, kitten"

the sinister way he murmured the pet name was enough for you to understand the true meaning behind his words.

what had you gotten yourself into?

[jypbae7]

Could you do a breakdown natal chart for Kun from Wayv?

QIAN KUN - NATAL CHART

Kun was one the most requested I got which was a pleasant surprise!!❤️❤️

(Not claiming to be an expert this is just for fun please don’t take anything too seriously!) Hope this is helpful and that you enjoy it 🥰❤️

Personality: Capricorn Sun, Leo Rising, Taurus Moon, Capricorn Mercury, Capricorn Mars

Clearly a LOT of Earth sign placements but nicely broken up by the fire sign rising

Capricorn Sun has serious and long term plans for the kind of future they want for themselves and once they set out for it they seldom give up. Stubborn to a fault, but also consistent enough to actually persevere. They want the perfect job, reputation, partner, house, family, etc.

Leo rising is a bright, warm and outgoing personality. Lots of energy, creativity and flair. They enjoy having a strong core of friends that they feel understand and enhance their experience and effect on the world. Leo’s are known for being hardworking and as a fixed sign it offers a lot of consistency and determination. They are extremely devoted and loyal once they develop a bond and trust with someone. Though the passion can fizzle out quickly if they aren’t feeling the kind of attention and passion they want.

Taurus Moon is a very grounded person with more social charisma and approachability than Capricorns are known for. They also have a tendency to like bold styles, they have big dreams and goals and you’ll be surprised at how well they can attain them if they’re focused enough (Kun is a Capricorn Stellium so yes this boy KNOWS how to get shit done when it needs to be done) Taurus is also a fixed sign which along with the stubbornness everyone knows about also comes with patience and consistency making them really good leaders when added with their natural friendliness and perseverance

Capricorn Mercury indicates a strong preference for structure, somebody who tends to follow rules and feels uncomfortable breaking them. They tend to have authoritative energy and demeanor. Big ambitions and determination to succeed and excel in their chosen career. Spend more time thinking than they show with a generally very logical mind which can sometimes lead to a black & white perspective

Capricorn Mars - responsible, organized, secretly a thrill seeker, can come off as aloof or guarded when they are around new people or people who they really want to make a good impression on.

Relationships:

Non-Romantic Relationships: Capricorn Sun, Taurus Moon, Leo Rising, Capricorn Mercury, Capricorn Mars

Trustworthy and dependable - the “dad” of the friend group who everyone calls when they have something serious to deal with

Platonic love languages: acts of service and quality time - he loves spending time with people with shared interests especially music. Also loves going out to different places such as different trendy cafes, movie theaters, museums - you name it.

Likes other thrill seekers who push and motivate him to get out of his comfort zone

Sense of humor is a lot more childlike and playful than one would expect from his serious and strict side

Capricorn energy is NOT to be crossed or messed with. These are the ones who are calm af and calculated when angry - this is when you know you are screwed. When Capricorn is calm and collected while enraged, ohhh boy, do they figure out ways to hurt you in the smoothest and most effective ways without so much as lifting their finger. Spare yourself the trauma and DO NOT LIE to him no matter what.

Romantic relationships and preferences : Aquarius Venus, Capricorn Mars, Capricorn Juno, Aries Eros

Aquarius Venus is outgoing, friendly and charismatic. They are attracted to interesting and unique people who stand out of the crowd. They like bold and spontaneous gestures and they will do them back for their partner as well.

Aquarians also dislike overly clingy/needy partners which Capricorn also isn’t a fan of either. These signs are all about independence, individuality, personal expression and achievement. Meaning that while they do yearn for a partner (especially Capricorn placements) they want a partner who is self sufficient and independent with their own hobbies, careers, dreams, goals, etc.

Capricorn Juno implies they’ll be a tough to nail down for very long because Capricorn wants only the best of everything and they’re always busy trying to excel at things and scoping out their options. So you’ll have to prove your worth to them before they are willing to commit because once they do it’s for the long haul

Capricorn likes natural ethereal beauty while Aquarius likes the bold - my guess is healthy mix of both. Natural looking and soft featured with some bold/unique traits like bright/bold hair or fashion style, a bit of spice/sass here and there is another secret pleasure

Be prepared for endless serenades and songs made and sent to you like love letters - whether he’s singing or composing a warm ethereal instrumental for you, his whole heart is in it

Love languages (most to least) - words of affirmation, gift giving, physical touch and quality time

Words of affirmation makes him feel really wanted and needed, he’s also really really good at giving it out to people he loves so if he’s doing it one sidedly it would hurt him and make him feel insecure.

Gives either unbelievably beautiful luxe gifts or unique/fun gifts and loves to surprise his partner with them often especially after time apart

Capricorns HATE wasting time they are hyper aware of how many hours in a day and how much can be done in a day. So, if he’s spending a lot of time with you, you’re very very special and important to him and he prioritizes this time very highly

Star gazing dates, beach dates, camping trips - this man will go out of his way to make sure every date is an experience. He is PREPARED, he has an itinerary in his mind, he’s looked up the travel routes and picked the best one. When you go camping he will FLEX with his efficiency and ability to handle the labor heavy tasks. This man will purposely wait till you’re looking to start chopping wood (not that ANYONE is complaining), put the tent up and have it filled with blankets and pillows galore in 2.00034 seconds because he practiced in the dorm living room with the others like a drill routine. (Lucas taught him how to chop the wood & still look hot while doing it)

Is the MOST polite and endearing person to your family and friends. Goes above and beyond to be the perfect partner around your family and they are unable not to LOVE him. Is especially soft and doting of any children or elderly relatives. And none of it is phony at all, he doesn’t know anyway else to even think. Respect, manners, and family are extremely important to Earth signs. They’ll probably end up liking him more than you but honestly you can’t even blame them

(None of y’all ungrateful people better ever slack on Zaddy Kun’s visuals ever again!! If I don’t get to see his happy trail during 2021 I’m burning the SM building down once and for all)

18+ Preferences:

Aries Eros ooof - passionate, possessive and steamy. Pick their partners off instinct and energy - once they really like you they become infatuated and want to STAY that way. If it’s not the “I need you so fucking bad I’m gonna lose my mind” type of love they DON’T want it.

Leo Rising is a possessive as fuck placement thankfully when they get riled up or jealous they have the confidence not to get angry with you or insecure about it. BUT.... you‘ll still be awakening a whole new type of beast and quite frankly he will let you know that it’s all your fault as he holds you down and uses you like the stupid toy you are till you remember who you belong to

If he sees you doing anything even remotely domestic his Taurus Moon and Capricorn Juno will have his mind go from soft and warm thoughts to bending you over the kitchen counter and taking you right there without a care or second thought spared

Positions where he feels in in control are his favorite - he likes being on top of you, behind you and if he can pick you up and carry you while ramming into you best believe he will.

His favorite is position is missionary - likes to feel big and dominant he also wants to be able to see as much of you as possible and kissing you as much as possible from your lips to just about anywhere else he can reach. Will be staring at you 99% of the time with big smoldering eyes that don’t waver in the slightest. In fact if you give him eye contact back he’ll just be even more turned on

Now...this might be controversial but... Capricorn Mars usually suggests power play/dynamic kink - think rich powerful CEO who secretly fantasizes about being tied up and blindfolded. Not to say that is exclusively his main kink bc it’s definitely not, he is 100% mostly dom BUT with the right person he’d be more than willing and very excited to try it out - probably because they are always in control so it’s an adrenaline rush for them to relinquish it to someone else. Doesn’t necessarily mean an extreme level of being submissive even just simple restraints can feel very extreme for a bossy and in-control Capricorn

Aquarius Venus also likes breaking relationship “norms” and trying out new things. They are super fun and bright when happy so when he’s in love he’s in LOVE. Wants to sing about it 24/7 but is too stubborn to be clingy or needy. The type to smile during sex, especially when he’s on top of you or drunk. Don’t even get me started on drunk handsy Kun whining in your ear about how he just wants to sneak out of the party early.....bc I will genuinely never recover

Very vocal in the bedroom - gives his partner tons of praise. Completely loses his mind and is loud af when you kiss your way from his neck down to below the hips

Most of the time sex with him is more passionate than kinky, not lightening fast jack rabbit thrusts instead hard and deep rhythmic ones that make your whole body shake - Hungry makeout sessions, sneaky little hickeys where no one else will see, massages than turn into hours of love making, takes his time to hit deep and hard inside you, handfuls of your hair, gaspy whispers

When he is feeling more kinky it’s usually spur of the moment. In the car in the middle of a rainy night during a cancelled schedule or after an especially steamy date night where he decides to take you to a hotel afterwards

KING OF AFTER CARE (NOT up for debate) - cooks you an amazing meal afterwords or orders up a feast if he’s too spent to get up too, cuddled up in blankets watching a movie for the rest of the night afterwards.

[kyoomiii]

♡ Confession mishaps [hcs]

-  ➣. . . ❝ hey i was wondering if you could do a kenma kuroo and bokuto (separately and if u do that many😂) where they try to ask their crush out but since the crush had been bullied in middle school, she thinks it’s a prank and kinda gets upset? thank u sm! ❞

― 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢: @ anonie ​ ―

- ✎ 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 ❝ kenma, kuroo, and bokuto ❞

- [ 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐(𝚜): there aren’t any explicit mentions of the bullying, however there are references to insecurities ]

- ⚘ 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎 ❝ fluff, angst if you squint ❞

❝ sorry for the long wait anonnie, but hopefully this is to your liking <3 ❞

-yoomi ♡

The experience as a whole is new to Kenma. He had never taken interest in people before, always wary but never seeking. 

He didn’t understand the clench of his heart, or the flush of his cheeks. He doesn’t know why you make his heart thunder in his chest, beating so quickly he fears it might pop out. 

He doesn’t get it, so he ignores it, let it be the way it is because thinking about it too much gives him a headache, it fills him with anxiety. 

On the other hand, Kuroo, he notices, sees the lingering glances from his friend and the gentle pink that dusts the apples of Kenma’s cheeks. He’s probably more excited about the whole ordeal than Kenma himself is, and he definitely can’t help that he feels he has to meddle a little, because at this point he fears Kenma will let the opportunity slip. Especially now as he inwardly cringes at Kenma's lack of motivation, despite the obvious (to him at least) longing in Kenma’s eyes.

“Kenma-”

“No.”

“You didn’t even know what I was going to say.”

“I don’t have to… I already know it’s going to be a bad idea.”

“Ouch, I was just going to say that you should tell y/n about your little crush, ya know before someone beats you to it.”

“I do not have a crush.”

“You do.”

“Do not.”

“Do too~”

“Whatever…”

“So you do!”

“... No.”

As the day draws to a close, Kuroo somehow manages to recruit Lev into his little devious scheme. The poor tall unsuspecting kitten is oblivious to the dangerous glint in Kuroo’s eyes. Even now, as the two peer around the corner of the entryway, eyes locked onto the pudding haired boy they call their fiend.

Their attention quickly snaps to you as you enter the scene, walking at a mild pace as you go to meet the unsuspecting Kenma, who stiffens at your sudden appearance, shoulders visibly tensing.

You were never close to Kenma, you were in the same grade and shared some classes, but the interactions remained limited, only ever resulting in conversations regarding schoolwork, or the occasional greeting. 

Even so, you had found yourself engrossed by the  boy who spoke so little some didn’t think he had a voice. He was in a way enchanting, to you at least. And perhaps you had grown a little too fond of him, admiring from afar, but keeping distance out of fear.

So it truly did surprise you when you received that little piece of paper, words written just a tad bit messy, and the words nothing short of sweet and endearing. The piece signed with a simple “from Kenma”

“Kozume-san I received your letter, it was very sweet.”

“...Letter?”

“Your love letter…?”

“Why would I send you a love letter?”

Kenma knows, as soon as your brows pinch, frown etched into your features he had messed up. He didn’t mean to sound harsh but your sudden appearance, and the mention of a love letter from him nonetheless startled him beyond belief. He liked you of course, but he needed time to ease into it, and this sudden crash of feelings and uncertainty filled his entire being with anxiety.

“I see… I’m sorry to have bothered you Kozume-san. Forgive me, I should have known better.” 

He doesn’t miss the little scoff that falls from your lips, or the way that tears threaten to spill from those eyes that he’s grown to love so much. 

“Have a nice day.”

“-Wait l/n-san.”

Kenma is surprised he can even hear his own voice, especially as his heart beats faster than it ever has before. He must’ve been a little loud, he concludes judging by your surprised expression.

“I...Eh…”

“Kozume-san?”

“I do like you… I just didn’t send that letter.”

An eruption of feelings explode within you like fireworks lighting up the night sky. You feel your breathing suddenly stop as your lungs suddenly find themselves unable to function properly as your brain malfunctions. He likes you back.

“l/n-san?-”

“I like you too!”

The sudden outburst leaves behind an awkward silence, both faces flushed hands sweating as you stare at one another unsure and panicked.

“Just y/n.”

“What?”

“Please just call me y/n.”

“Then please call me Kenma.”

And as you gently grasp onto his hand, the two of you become too distracted to notice the grinning cats just around the corner.

“KISS ALREADY!”

“Oh my god…”

Kuroo Tetsurou is nothing short of honest, he knows this, and deep down it’s something he prides himself in. However his current predicament is churning the little devious gears in his head.

Something as simple as an ex-girlfriend who can’t seem to take a hint has been driving him up the wall, and he is more than tired- he is downright exhausted.

For weeks on end it seems as if she’s around every corner, lurking, waiting, watching. Just to pounce on him, begging to get back together. And being the honest man he is, he tells her the same thing over and over.

“I’m sorry, I’m not interested.”

And today she seemed to be especially present, tailing after him when she could and bothering him to the point where he felt like he might explode.

Don’t get him wrong, he still cared for her to an extent, she was a friend before she was someone he had romantic feelings for and he didn’t want to burn that bridge between them. But still, things were getting out of hand and maybe a little push would stir her away.

Peeking around the corner he makes a break for it, however, despite his best attempts at hiding it seems that his height and unmistakable rooster bed head places him at a disadvantage.

“Tetsu-kun!”

Quick, he thinks as his eyes dart around the hall, landing on face after face until he recognizes someone he knows.

Dodging bodies and receiving dirty glares from students who were nearly trampled, he swiftly makes his way over to you. 

You had known Kuroo Tetsurou since your first year of highschool, the two of you were friends, and you often hung out with him and the other third years on the Nekoma volleyball team, but your platonic feelings for him soon grew into something much more.

He was sweet after all, a genuine person with good intentions even if his face and his naughty grin said otherwise. 

You were never sure if your feelings would be returned so you kept quiet, admiring from a distance as he held the hand of another girl, because you didn’t feel like he would spare you a glance in terms of romance.

But as he comes barreling towards you, his frame pinning you to the wall, face much too close to be played off as anything but romantic, you hope that maybe, just maybe there might be something there that isn’t platonic, that isn’t him looking at you as if you were just a friend.

“Tetsurou-”

“Shh…”

Flustered and embarrassed you stay quiet hiding your face away from the prying eyes of students who are curious at the scene playing out before them. 

Much to your dismay and relief, the moment lasts for only a mere fraction of a minute, and Kuroo releases you with a sigh.

“Thanks for playing along y/n.”

Your hopes are immediately crushed, but at the same time you chide yourself because you should know better. Someone like Kuroo Tetsurou would never admire you the way you admired him.

“It’s… No problem.”

And you don’t mean for your voice to waver, or for your hands to tremble as you become flustered beyond belief for thinking otherwise.

“If you don’t mind I need to go.”

You speak hurriedly because you fear that he’ll see the way your eyes water, or hear the way your voice wavers.

“Wait y/n!”

Despite the call of your name you don’t stop, you can’t stop, you can’t let him see you like this because he’ll see right through you with those perceptive eyes.

It’s only the gentle grip of a hand around your wrist that brings you to a halt, hazel eyes peering down at you as you struggle to gently tug away from his hold on you.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable”

“It’s okay Tetsurou, really.”

“No, I clearly upset you and what I did wasn’t cool…”

“That’s not why I’m upset.”

You huff, the tears you tried so hard to hold in spilling down your cheeks and landing on the linoleum flooring in small puddles. You inhale shakily eyes closing for a moment to recoup, you decide that it might as well be now than never.

“I just- really like you. And I don’t know, I felt I had a chance a second ago. It was silly of me to think that. It’s okay if you don’t return my feelings- or heck if you don’t want to be friends anymore I get it.”

Kuroo is shocked, eyes wide and mouth almost agap. He’s almost speechless, after months of pinning he thought it was obvious.

“You’re so dense you know that?”

“.....What?”

“I like you too. I thought I was making that obvious.”

His obnoxious laughter that you’ve grown to love fills the now empty halls.

“How about I take you on a proper date, this weekend?”

“I’d like that.”

If there was one way you’d describe Bokuto Koutarou it would be sunshine. Sure he had a knack for falling into his so-called “emo mode” but even then he seemed to pick himself up just as quick as he’d let himself fall. 

It was something you admire most about him, his endless bounds of energy that seemed to radiate from his dazzling being. Bokuto Koutarou is nothing short of a ray of sunshine.

On the other hand another word you’d use to describe him would be dense.

Could he really not tell your interest in him? Or was it that he chose to ignore it? Did he purposefully disregard your lingering glances, your shy touches, or you softening eyes? He had no obligation to return your feelings, you understood that. But that factor didn’t ease the continuous chipping curiosity had at your mind.

Even now, as Bokuto comes bounding up to you, frame as broad as always and grin stretched wider than the sea.

“y/n~”

He calls before completely engulfing you with his whole body weight sending both of you tumbling to the ground.

“Koutarou you can’t just do that.”

Your whines of disapproval trail through one ear and out the other as his bubbling laughter sounds throughout the gym.

“I’m sorry y/n I’m just so happy to see you.”

You can feel your cheeks heat up, your palms becoming sweaty at his sudden declaration. You knew Bokuto was always open with his affections, always one to be friendly to anyone and everyone, but the thought of him being happy to see you seemed to set your heart aflutter.

Nevertheless you try to brush those feelings aside, gently ruffling the hair atop his head, something that had quickly become a norm after he expressed his fondness of the action.

“I’m happy to see you too Kou.”

“Let me just grab my stuff and we can get going.”

He chimes happily as he releases you from his hold, bounding off to the locker room to retrieve his belongings. His broad shoulders face you, and it’s then that he doesn’t see the look of yearning in your eyes.

“You should tell him how you feel.”

A voice suddenly states, startling you from your trance, Their words registering in your head quickly, sending a flare to your face.

“I don’t know what you mean Akaashi.”

You stutter out, though Akaashi doesn’t seem to be the least bit convinced. His emerald eyes hold clear skepticism as he quirks a brow at you.

“l/n-san, you’d have to be blind not to see your clear infatuation with him. But if you’re not up to it I won’t intervene. It’s not my place.”

His damage is swift and powerful, leaving you in a state of bewilderment despite him leaving just as quickly as he arrived. Akaashi Keiji could be scary…

“ y/n, is something the matter?”

“Ah-Kou. No, just some stuff of my mind I guess…”

“Kay… But I hope you know I’m always going to be here, so you can tell me anything you want.”

And for what seemed like the millionth time that day, your heart began beating rapidly, pounding in your chest to the point where through the duration of the entire walk home you couldn’t hear anything but the constant thumping in your ears despite Bokuto’s ramblings. Akaashi’s words playing in your mind like a broken record “You should tell him how you feel”

“Koutarou I like you.”

For the first time silence falls between both of you and you fear you may have ruined one of the best friendships you’ve ever had.

“As in like like?”

“I mean… What other like is there…?”

His laughter feels the air, and suddenly you feel the world around you crashing down.

“I like you too. I thought I was making it obvious.”

Your head whips around to meet his gaze, golden eyes emitting pure happiness.

“What?”

“I like you too y/n… I guess we’re both a little dense huh?”

Dense indeed.

[rosepetalmark]

too soon.

↬ Jung Jaehyun x Reader ↬2.5k Words ↬Warnings: Mentions of alcohol ↬ Got in my feels one night listening to Keshi so this is inspired by his song “2 soon”

It hurt not having you there. After the breakup, which you both decided was amicable, something inside him snapped. 

At first, he let the sadness take over him. He knew these were all normal emotions to process once a breakup occurred, so he let himself mourn his loss. Just because you both decided you needed to focus on yourselves and careers, doesn’t mean it didn’t pain him knowing you wouldn’t be the first person he was able to hug when he got home from work, let alone kiss you whenever he looked your way. 

Most days he tried to distract himself, divulging himself into non stop practise, trying to work harder for the groups latest comeback, rather than drown in sorrow over his want for you and your relationship. 

Weeks had passed, and so did his urge to drink. At first he thought one shot would do, take the edge off and distract him from his thoughts and cheer him up a little, but five more shots later he was dizzy, sad, and still thinking of you. 

He reached for his phone several times in that moment, glancing at your name that’s been untouched for almost two months, desperately wanting to call you and ask if you’re doing well. If you miss him. If you still love him and much as he loves you. 

But each time he stopped himself, something within his heart knowing that you needed this time to heal as well. Hell, maybe you’ve already healed and want nothing to do with him. But he doesn’t know that, and he doesn’t want to know that. He just wants to be with you. 

And he knows this isn’t a healthy mentality to have. You both made it known that his career is at a very pivotal point, and that’s what he needs to be focusing on until he feels he is stable enough in his career to balance both being an idol, and a caring boyfriend to you. 

So each time he’s alone and in his thoughts, he gets wasted and cries about how he lost you, and how he wants nothing more than to put his career aside than to be with you. If you ever heard him say those words, he knows you’d be upset, wanting his happiness and career to be put first. It came before you after all, and you never wanted to be the reason for his career ever taking a negative turn. 

It wasn’t until he was at a yearly company party SM threw in December to not only celebrate Christmas, but all the successful comebacks and promotions each of their artists have done throughout the majority of the year. They may have worked NCT and Jaehyun to the bone this year, and this was just the slightest form of appreciation they had to offer. 

Yuta and Mark were joking about the time Jaehyun snuck you into one of SM’s after parties after the Golden Disk awards last year, focusing more on you than his friends and groupmates, never leaving your side or your lips for the matter; prompting him to drunkenly declare his love for you in front of the dozens of other celebrities surrounded in the same room as you all. 

Jaehyun was embarrassed when he remembered the next day, but you on the other hand thought it was sweet.  Knowing that he didn’t care what his repercussions were at the moment, only wanting to declare his love for you not only to you, but to those he's closest with and who know how hard it is to find love and maintain it in such a hectic and invasive career.

He got so drunk at this year’s party, that he locked himself in one of the building's bathrooms, tears streaming down his face because he knew the alcohol was not enough. It will never be enough. Alll he wants is you. 

Taking his phone out of his jacket pocket, he scrolled down to your name, and pressed “Call”. Knowing it was a long shot that you’d answer, considering you don’t have to associate with him if you didn’t want to, along with the fact that it was shortly after 1am, with you probably being fast asleep. 

With just two rings in, a soft “Hello” came from his speaker, nothing that you did in fact answer and were awake. 

“Hi.” Was all he managed to speak out, soft hiccups emerging from his throat, his cheeks getting hotter by the second as he doesn’t know what he’s going to say to you, let alone what you’re going to say back to him. 

“Are you okay Jaehyun? It’s 1am.”

Wiping his tears, he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t outright blurt out everything he was thinking and feeling the past few months, not wanting to scare you away from the intense emotions he was feeling as of late. 

“I don’t think I am.” He spoke softly, loosening his tie as it was constricting him from breathing properly through his intense tears.

“I miss you, like a lot.” He said between gulps, trying to calm down but his hiccups having other plans for him. “And I know we said this was for the best, but us breaking up has been eating me alive and I can’t stop thinking about you and us and it just really sucks.”

“It’s been two months Jaehyun.” You say, not knowing exactly how to process how he’s feeling. “Why didn’t you call me earlier if everything’s been bothering you so much?”

“I didn’t want to bother you. I wanted to give you space and let you live your life without coming off as some pathetic loser who needs you all the time.”

“Well, you’re not a pathetic loser, Jung Jaehyun. You’re a human being who lives a hectic life, one with feelings who deserves to feel and process and be comforted whenever something’s going on in your life. Don’t ever feel bad about it.”

Processing your voice, Jaehyun couldn’t help feel the comfort and peace that flowed through his body whenever you spoke to him. You always knew what to say, and even when you didn’t, your presence was just as reassuring. 

“I miss you too, by the way.”

“You do?” He cries, trying his best to wipe his tears while maintaining his attention on your voice. “I thought if I called and you heard me like this you’d for sure be happy we broke up.”

“Breakups are painful Jaehyun. I can’t even imagine how you feel because I know you don’t have many people to talk about things so it must hurt to bottle things up.”

Which was true. Jaehyun kept your relationship a secret for six months before even letting his managers know, slowly waiting for the company’s okay with your relationship, but not wanting for it to be public. He never wanted to do that to you, hound you with the harassment and chaos that came attached to an idol. It was already bad enough when two idols dated, let alone when one dated a non- celebrity, fans worked even harder to learn everything and anything they could, potentially harming anyone at hand. 

Jaehyun first told Johnny when you two started dating, the smirk on his face never once fading whenever the mention of you came up. The rest of the members slowly began to find out, each congratulating him that he finally found someone who made him smile, and wasn’t with him because he was famous. Anyone he attempted dating in the past either wanted him for his fame, or was someone in the industry who wouldn’t shut up about the industry. 

Dating you was like a breath of fresh air, because compared to his hectic life, you were just a regular, comforting human being. You worked a part time job at the mall, attended university and were studying to be a social worker, and had a great obsession with baking banana bread. 

Whenever Jaehyun was with you, you reminded him of what it’s like to be a normal human being, not an idol stripped of all his talent, time, and energy to make a company even more rich and successful than they already were.

And it wasn’t to say you lived a boring life, but compared to him everything you’ve done and experienced was so mundane. Nothing made Jaehyun happier than when he showed you the tiny details that go on in an idols life, such as where he practises, to where he and the rest of NCT record their songs, even taking you behind the stages of award shows and comeback stages-wanting you to see the full effect and experience up close, rather than on a tv or in a dressing room away from all the magic. 

You were the clarity and compassion in Jaehyun’s life and it absolutely shattered him whenever you were unable to be with him when your lives and commitments came first. 

When you both decided it was necessary for you to break up, Mark was the first person who found out. Jaehyun entered the dorm quietly, his cap covering his eyes and mask slightly rising up the bridge of his nose, only exposing about a centimetre of his face. 

Mark knew better than to ask what was wrong, as past experiences with Jaehyun being angry never ended too well, so he gave him some space. But three days after entering the dorm pissed off and not leaving his room once, Mark took it upon himself to check up on him, only to find him curled up in a ball on his bed sobbing, discovering that you two broke up and clearly he wasn’t taking it well. 

It took him about 6 days before he left his bed to finally shower and eat something that wasn’t a granola bar or cereal stashed in his room or brought in by Mark, and 9 days for him to finally tell everyone why he was so distant and upset. 

Obviously, everyone was saddened that you wouldn’t be spending time with them anymore, but ultimately were hurting for Jaehyun as well, as they knew you meant a great deal to him, and losing you meant losing all the plans and dreams he had for wanting to marry you one day. 

Obviously not in the near future, but in around 5 years, when you were well out of school and had a full time job, and when Nct was well off enough to not be promoting as often as they had their first several years as a group; only ever promoting or touring for a portion of the year, rather than having breaks for a few weeks every few months. 

It took all the strength in Jaehyun’s body not to call you every night after you broke up, but clearly that did not work because here he was, unfortunately consumed by alcohol he used to help cope with the pain for the past several weeks, drunk and sobbing to you. 

“It’s just been really hard. I know we said it’s for the best but I hate not having you in my life. I miss going for food with you at 2am when you’re stressed about your assignments. I miss giving you long hugs when we go long periods of time without seeing each other and- fuck! I just am so in love and want to be with you the rest of my life and I hate how I let myself become so attached to you and this relationship but I cannot go on knowing there’s a chance you’re going to fall in love with someone one day and I won’t be that man marrying you or being the father of your children or holding you when you’ve had a hard day.”

“Wow, you’re really drunk.” You say, hugging your pillow to your chest because no one has ever uttered such raw, loving words to you before and you cannot help but fight off the urge to cry because you too, want that life for the both of you one day. 

“Yeah I know. I’m surprised I said all that right now because I’ve been fighting the urge to call you every night because I wanted to give you space.”

“I want all that with you, Jaehyun. I want us to get married and have three kids and two dogs and I want you to help teach them all how to read and for them to make you play dress up with them and have tea parties and make sand castles. I’m still in love with you and always will be so please don’t be sorry or surprised you’re feeling this way because we both know we deserve to be with each other.”

“I want you so much.”

“Do you want me to come see you? Just so we can talk and I can make sure you’re doing okay?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I get if it feels weird or it’s too late.” He didn’t want to pressure you into doing anything, especially the need to take care of him when he’s drunk and sad and completely in love with you. You’re not his babysitter, nor his girlfriend for the matter- you are not inclined to care for him or even see him because he’s a mess. 

But you still want to. Because even though you haven’t spoken in weeks, you know that Jaehyun is the love of his life, and hearing him be so sad and lonely is more than heartbreaking. It’s complete agony. 

“Nothing is too late or too weird when it comes to you. I want to hug you and never let you go and tuck you in bed and make sure you’re safe and happy when you go to bed.”

“I’ll meet you back at my dorm if that’s okay? If I’m at this party any longer I’ll go absolutely insane.”

“I’ll see you there, Jaehyun. Please be safe and text me when you leave.”

“Of course, anything for you. And thank you, for even just listening. You’re an angel and I can’t wait to see you in a few minutes.” He chimed, shortly ending the call after he said those last statements to you. 

Jaehyun doesn’t know for certain where his future with you stands, but he’s okay with that. He’s seeing you soon, and you just confessed that you’re still in love with him and want a future with him, and that’s all he needs.

His conversation with you managed to clear his mind and body out of the abundance of alcohol that once consumed him, his attention  and newfound excitement now focused solely on seeing you, touching you, just being with you. He quickly ordered himself a cab, not even saying goodbye to his members, beyond ecstatic to be within your presence. 

And for now, that’s all he could ever ask for. 

[kosmosguk]

5 days of spooktober~ #4: snare

day #4: incubus taehyung x reader x incubus jimin

word count: 1.4k

summ. it’s strange waking up in your car the morning after Halloween with no recollection of last night’s memories except for a foggy dream. But what if what happened in that dream was real? 

warnings:  smut, dubcon/noncon themes (mindbreak, cunnilingus, handjob, vmin giving each other the suck a couple paragraphs in), 18+, explicit language, alcohol, taehyung wwe-smackdowns you at some point

a/n: prr someone needs to stop me from rushing thru fics and not checking over my work. I ‘tis a woman on a time crunch so excuse any mistakes. Can y’all believe Halloween is in a couple of days AND we’re one fic away from the end of this fun lil’ holiday spree? Also, this drabble wasn’t very yandere-ish for some reason whoops. Thank you guys sm for 3.6k; I’m INFATUATED and somehow rly funny rn. 

It seemed horrifically cheesy that you were out in the woods on Halloween on a night in which the moon was full and glinted a waxy blue. You had been drinking something bitter that burned on its way down your throat, and your head was spinning from the music of the party blaring around you.

You had only meant to step away from the party briefly, just to take a breath, but somehow you ended up deep in the woods. You stepped into something that made a squelch and wrinkled your nose in disgust.

God, you really didn’t want to end up as the first murdered side character of some half-assed horror movie thrown together on iMovie. And you even looked the part, with slightly smeared mascara and a short dress that you had to yank down so it wouldn’t expose an ass cheek to the unforgiving autumnal wind. You heard a noise, like the sound of a branch snapping underfoot, and your buzzed mind sobered as it quickly turned towards it.

“Fuck. Oh god, right there.’’

Wow, since when did the antagonist of a horror movie swear? They were always busy doing evil and ruining lives to swear. You blinked as the sound of skin against skin and ragged breathing filled your ears. Oh…oh. Yeah, you really had to get out of here.

You were about to gingerly step away when you heard the sounds shush, and you froze. Come on, come on, resume your activity, you pleaded in your head.

“Who’s there?’’

And you were running now, branches and twigs cracking underneath your frantic feet. No way were you going to meet face-to-face with two people getting it on in the middle of the woods. That would be an awkward confrontation to have.

You made it about another minute before something slammed into you and shoved you into the ground, knocking your breath right out of your chest and into the fall air.

“Literally, what’s your problem?’’ your voice mumbled out. You should have been terrified, and you were—the kind of scared that made you want to piss your pants. But you couldn’t show weakness; hell, if you didn’t die making the audience laugh then what was the point.

“Were you watching us?’’

You shook your head. Well, you tried to. Not much you could do when your face was in mud and your body was being pinned down.

“That’s not the kinky shit I’m into. I got a headache from the music and the sucky booze so I left for a breather. Didn’t mean to catch the two of you fucking, and if you want an apology, then I’ll give you one but only if you get the fuck off my back and apologize for body-slamming me. What are we? The fucking NFL?”

You were nervous sputtering now, and it must have shown because you heard his partner laugh, the voice light and soft and almost sweet if it didn’t sound so sensual.

“Come on, Taehyung. It was just a mistake. Besides, isn’t she funny…,’’ you felt this Taehyung get off your back, and you were being pulled up so you could face the two of them. The moonlight dappled through the leaves of the trees and sent waning droplets of pale light onto your dirtied face.

You could see the two you had interrupted…and wow, they were handsome to the point where it was almost otherworldly. If only one of them didn’t decide to WWE smackdown you into the forest floor.

You saw his partner smile impishly, a glint in his soft eyes, and he said with a lowered voice,” Hey, hey, Taehyung, isn’t she so pretty for a human? It’s been so long since I’ve had someone as cute as her.”

Okay, what the absolute fuck?

You laughed nervously. It was time for you to get out.

“Jimin, you’re right,’’ Taehyung’s lips stretched in an almost feral-like smile,” She is pretty.”

You saw a glint in their eyes, and suddenly, you were unable to move. You felt hot, tingling all over your body with a buzz that the alcohol had not given you, and your breaths were coming out in more rapid heated gusts.

You felt Jimin push you against the nearest tree, and his fingers toyed at the waistband of your jeans.

“May I?’’ his lips curved in a playful smirk, and when you nodded hesitantly, you saw his eyes darken as his soft pink tongue peeked out and pressed against his plush lips in a mischievous look. He was falling down to his knees, dragging your jeans and panties down with him.

You felt shame bloom in your gut but with it the heat intensified, and you were urging him to hurry by spreading your legs a little farther. You felt Taehyung press up closer to your side and the sound of a zipper echoed through the night air. He moved your hand to his throbbing cock, his voice hushed but breathy as you grasped it in your palm.

Jimin was pressing his tongue flat against your pussy, and you jolted, your eyes fluttering shut as he trailed his tongue up your slit and pressed it against your aching clit. He suckled on your clit, and you choked on a moan as he swirled his tongue around it. Your fingers trembled and tightened further around Taehyung’s cock, and you heard Taehyung groan.

Jimin’s movements against your pussy paralleled the intensity of your fist’s movement around Taehyung’s cock. He was savoring your taste, devouring you and playfully toying with you until every one of your nerves was alight. You were close, so close, and your head scraped against the trunk of the tree as your grip wavered around Taehyung’s cock.

“Please,’’ you begged, and your voice hitched on a loud incoherent keen as your legs trembled and quaked, and you felt yourself wet Jimin’s lips in a mixture of juices and cum. You heard Taehyung breath out a more ragged low moan, and something hot and sticky coated your palms and the fabric of your clothes.

You let go, almost sagging against the trunk of the tree, but you heard the two of them move, Taehyung taking Jimin’s place and firmly placing his arms underneath your ass to hoist you in align with his cock.

You tried to whimper, make a sound, but Taehyung leaned in closer—you caught a lustful glimpse of bright red in his eyes—and whispered softly in your ears, his cold breath brushing against the curve of your ear and leaving you trembling further.

“It’s my turn to devour you now, hm?’’

~

You felt lights in your eyes, forced to wake up in the back of your car.

“What?’’ you mumbled out as you heard someone banging on the window. It was dawn now, the sky a grayish-pink hue. You recognized the face of the friend you had gone with through your blurred vision and the throbbing ache of your head. You opened the car door and winced at the ache between your legs.

“I’ve been looking all over for you! Where were you?’’ your friend demanded.

You blinked once, then twice. You remembered taking a breather from the party and then…nothing. Well, not really nothing. You had a good wet dream, the kind that pinned you down and fucked you until you were a moaning whore of a mess. But that was but an alcohol-fueled dream.

Your friend sighed, shaking their head. “I guess whatever they spiked the drinks with did you wrong. Luckily, you’re safe. I heard that there was some kinda ghost in the woods. One of the drunk guys stumbled in and heard a ghost moaning, but he was wasted so it must’ve been a delusion.”

Your cheeks turned red as you felt something sticky on your pussy make a soft squelch as you made a move to try to get up. God, your hips were sore. That dream must’ve been something else. Unless?

“Are you okay? You look feverish.”

You blinked up at your friend for a moment and then shook your head, a silly smile on your face. You didn’t notice the eyes on you, the playful smile toying at the lips of the two beings hidden in the shadowy edges of the forest.

Yeah, one heck of a dream alright.

[pcvensies]

I love your blog and writing! I’ve recently gotten back into PJO and was wondering if you would write a fic where Percy was jealous. If you don’t mind writing PercyxReader.

Secret handshake

In which Percy gets jealous of his partner’s friendship with Jason

word count: 1600

trigger warnings: none

DISCLAIMER: this happens in some kind of au where jason d-words but is brought back because baby. pls bare with me. also, gender neutral!

also hUH logan is my percy. in my mind he is ,, idk man. i just love him sm. ur welcome for the gif ✌🏼😚

Jason was his friend. You were his partner. And you were all friends, it was all cool. Yet there he was, annoyedly sat on the floor, watching you both train with a frown drawn on his face.

Jason was a great fighter, as so were you, and you had this stupid ability to sincronize all your movements without even trying, which made you two an amazing team. Always effective, always on everyone’s mouth. And that fact alone could ruin Percy’s day, that you and Jason were so good together, and you and him were not.

“C’mon, Jay, you can do so much better”, you spoke, and Jason chuckled, turning around fast enough to hit you with his shoulder.

“Like that, you mean?”.

Your laugh made Percy’s heart flutter, as you got up and shook your head, punching the blonde boy on his arm. You looked so /good/ with your camp shirt covered in dirt, sticky hair somehow framing your face in a beautiful way, drawing shapes on your pinkish cheeks.

Jason smiled gently, shaking your hand, and the blue eyed boy groaned: when had Y/n and Jason made a secret handshake? And why didn’t they have one?

Percy was too busy being annoyed to notice your hand on his head, fingers running carefully through his dark locks, and when he finally did, he looked up at you.

“...not listening again, are you?”, there wasn’t any trace of annoyance on your voice, and still, the demigod felt guilty under your eyes, sighing softly and moving his hand to rest it on your calf, running his thumb over your skin.

Before he could speak, Jason wrapped his arm around your shoulder, breathing heavily and smiling down at Percy, which for some reason annoyed him even more. Jay being so oblivious of his feelings annoyed him.

“You should pay more attention to Y/n, Percy, or they might get tired of speaking to the air”.

He was joking, he didn’t mean it. It was Jason, for Zeus’ sake. But the dark haired boy couldn’t help the dirty look he sent the blonde as he got up, so fast it startled you, as your hand fell to your side.

“I was listening, thank you very much. And it’s all good, you tire them enough with all the training, Grace”.

Jason gave Percy a strange look, cautiously analysing his expression searching for a sign on what was up with him, but the dark haired boy simply sighed.

“I’m just gonna leave you two alone, so you can continue training. It’s not like I’m needed here anyways”.

Sometimes Percy had these kinds of moments, where even if he was pretty confident of himself most of the time, he’d doubt. Not you, of course, he would never doubt you. But himself, and his ways of handling your relationship.

You were left there, next to the blonde boy, as Percy walked away, fists closed and tense shoulders, muttering nonsense to himself under his breath.

The rest of the day was boring, and you’d swear it was cold for a sunny August day. You always felt cold when Percy wasn’t around, like if you were standing on the shade, and wherever you walked, it followed you.

He felt the same, somehow. When you were not around, he felt colder too. Like if everything around him was dark, like if the sun had stopped shining. You always brought warmth to him, sometimes without even touching him, and so he did to you.

Dinner was simply weird, your siblings trying to find out what was wrong, asking questions and trying to cheer you up with jokes and old stories. One of the older ones even threatened to fight whoever had made you feel like that, but it only caused the table to erupt in laughter as he was known for being a softie.

From where you were sitting, you could see Jason dining alone at the Cabin 1 table. It wasn’t even his table, this wasn’t even his camp, but it wasn’t weird to have him around CHB after he came back from the dead, to be around you, Perce, Annabeth and the rest.

You thanked your siblings for everything, excusing yourself and walking to his table, sitting next to him with a small smile.

“You look lonely as hell, Jay, it’s ruining the whole camp’s mood”.

He gave you a smile, chuckling softly and shaking his head.

“I’m still thinking about this morning. I don’t know what we did to annoy Percy so much, honestly”, he complained, as he took a sip of his ambrosia glass, “Have you spoken to him?”.

Perce and Jay had a close friendship, and you could feel how genuinely worried the blonde boy was. You shook your head at his question, and looked around, trying to find your boyfriend.

However, you didn’t, as he wasn’t there. Percy groaned once again, eyes locked to his cabin’s ceiling as his crossed arms rested on his chest.

He knew he was being childish, and still, he couldn’t stop it, the feeling that caused his chest to tighten and his face to get hot whenever he thought about you and Jason laughing together.

It wasn’t lack of trust, though, it was more like fear of you finding someone better. Someone who wouldn’t wake you up in the middle of the night, knocking at your cabin’s door because they can’t sleep. Someone who would listen to you all the time, someone who would always have their full attention on you, someone who would...

“...gods’ sake, Jackson, open the door!”, your voice made him jump, strong knocking finally making it through his ears, and he cursed himself for being distracted again. He couldn’t help it, really, and you understood, but he still felt bad whenever it happened.

The door finally opened, your shorter frame standing in front of him, arms crossed over your chest. You wanted to get mad, to fight him for leaving you and Jay like he did in the morning, for avoiding you two all day. But something on the way he looked down at you made you realise you couldn’t tell him anything he wasn’t aware of already.

He moved to the side, allowing you to walk in, in hopes that you wouldn’t yell at him or argue. Not because he didn’t think he deserved it, but because he was too tired for any of it.

You sighed deeply, sitting on his bed, watching him close the door slowly, as he raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Y/n I’m—”.

“No”, you cut him, and he tensed again, waiting for it.

You felt it, the exact moment his body went defence mode, and you patted the bed next to you, raising your arm his way. Percy looked at the bed, then at your hand, and he held it gently as he sat, both his hands wrapped around yours, playing with your fingers as he looked down.

“I’m not mad at you, Perce… just worried, you’ve been acting weird since Jason got here. We’re both worried about you, we—”.

“Why is it always ‘we’ with you two, huh?”, he spat out, unable to stop himself. He paused his fiddling with your fingers when he realised, and he finally looked up at you (gif!), “I’m sorry– I am so sorry. I don’t mean that you can’t be friends, I would never stop you from being friends with anyone, Y/n, it’s just… Fuck, I don’t even know”.

You looked at him with gentle eyes, your free hand resting on his knee as you nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“You two make such a great team, and you’re always so happy when he comes around… You even have a secret handshake. It’s stupid but I don’t feel like… like we have that”.

Percy had never been the best at being vocal about his feelings, and you knew he was doing an effort to put it all in words for you.

“Percy, babe… Jason needs it”, you spoke, your eyes on his, “He needs somewhere to go where he can forget about anything that isn’t laughing and enjoying a day under the sun, and I try to make that place here... And we are a good team because he’s not my boyfriend!”, you chuckled softly.

“What?”.

“I mean, I would lose it if something were to happen to him during a fight, but Jay and I are just friends! We protect each other like friends do. When you and I are out there, I’m terrified, and I know you are too. Always trying to take the most for ourselves so the other can stand back… It’s a whole different story, Percy. It’s what love does in the battlefield”.

Percy felt so dumb, both for lashing out at you this morning for trying to help Jason feel better, and for not realising the truth behind the cause of his jealousy. He groaned, leaning in to rest his forehead against yours, and you chuckled, letting go of his hands to cup his cheeks.

You run your thumbs over his skin slowly, his finally calm breathing hitting your face softly, and he pressed a small peck to your lips.

“I’m an idiot”, he said, and you nodded slowly, kissing him first this time.

“Just sometimes. But you have nothing and no one to worry about, alright? We can make a secret handshake too, if that’d make you feel better”.

He laughed a little, rolling his eyes and plopping back on the bed, pulling you with him so your head was resting on his chest. He run his fingers through your hair slowly, and pressed a small kiss to your head.

“I already feel much better… but I do have some ideas for that handshake”.

[mochiable]

anonymous request: hi bub, i don’t know if you’re still taking requests but i wanted to ask for a namjoon drabble or one shot about him and reader meeting on the bus and namjoon asking them out. a lot of fluff and cheesiness pleaseeee. thank you sm!

— rainy route.

pairing namjoon x gn!oc. genre fluff. wc 2.8k

The raindrops fell heavily, without stopping. They pounded the ground angrily, unleashing all their fury on the dark, wet pavement. People were running, looking for somewhere to take shelter from the rain. You just watched them, scrutinising them with your eyes and pondering why they would escape the rain, it was just water, just that, liquid falling from the sky.

You jumped into a puddle, splashing and getting mud on your shoes. You smiled sideways, wiggling your feet from side to side. Your father was going to kill you when he saw you.

As you got closer to the bus stop, the silhouette of a tall, hooded boy became clearer and clearer. As soon as you recognised him, your feet anchored themselves to the ground, forbidding you to walk any further and bringing you closer and closer to the boy. Now was the moment when you regretted not having taken an umbrella with you, the moment when you were ashamed of your soaked clothes, of your broken, craggy hair and above all of your muddy shoes. God, he must have seen you jump over that puddle.

Slowly your feet revived and you started walking towards the bus stop. Facing your fateful destiny you managed to get under the shelter of the roof, although nothing made sense anymore. You tried to ignore the male presence standing a few feet away from you, but you couldn't help but feel your heart pounding in your chest.

His name is unknown information. You knew absolutely nothing about him, only that he was damned handsome and generous. You saw him every day when he came to take the bus home. For months you had the opportunity to watch him from a distance, trying to camouflage your curiosity, but not quite managing to disguise it. You tried to convince yourself that it was impossible for him to notice your constant glances, but deep inside you knew there was a possibility that every time he turned towards you it was because he felt your eyes on his profile.

In any case, even if you had never spoken to him, you felt more than fortunate every time he flashed you his cute smile as a greeting. You had the luxury of thinking that those smiles were only and exclusively for you, scattering from your mind the thoughts that that's what he did with everyone.

“It's turning into a downpour, isn't it?”, his voice brought you out of your reverie, startling you slightly. You turned your head slightly and looked at him out of the corner of your eye. He had his eyes fixed on the sky, watching the raindrops over the top of his glasses.

You looked down slightly and with your right hand you pinched your thigh, trying to prove that the boy was really talking to you. You groaned at the pain you inflicted on yourself, causing the boy to turn his gaze towards you and look at you with curious eyes. Noticing this, you raised your head and looked straight ahead, watching the cars pass by and the water on the road being lifted by their wheels. “Yeah.”

And that's how you kill the only possible conversation you'll ever have with the guy you like.

“God, you're soaking wet. Did you fall in a puddle?”, fortunately I didn't notice any hint of mockery in his question, which somehow managed to make me relax. Just a little.

“No,” you let out a nasal laugh and tried to control your breathing, praying to God your voice wouldn't break. “It's just that I didn't bring an umbrella and I found it stupid to stand under some doorway.”

“Stupid?”, now it was his turn to laugh. Holly fuck, his laugh. You had just found your favourite sound. No doubt you could stay for hours listening to it. “You could have made yourself sick. In fact... yes, I think you already got sick”, in less than a second you found him in front of you, to see his face you had to look up. He brought his hand up to your face and with his index finger quickly touched the tip of your nose. "It's red," he informed you, smiling with sealed lips and raising his cheekbones.

The effort you made at that moment to keep from screaming was beyond any physical exercise you had been able to do so far. Your bones ached, and it wasn't especially because of the cold.

You stood still, the air catching in your throat and your pupils twitching as your eyes connected with his. You were about to say something, but were interrupted by the loud sound of a horn. You both turned your heads and both your eyes and mouth widened as you watched the bus swerve around a car and pass the bus stop. You closed your eyes tightly and leaned forward to keep all the standing water on the ground from caressing your back as little as possible.

However, the lashing of the water never came. That tall boy had been quick enough to roll you over yourself, grabbing your biceps and covering your body with his, as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders in a tight embrace. He groaned at the cold sensation of the water crashing against his back, at the same time as you gasped in astonishment, unable to see beyond the grey fabric of his hoodie.

Did he just do what I think he did?

After a few seconds he separated his body from mine and looked down at me with a worried expression. He tilted his head subtly to make sure I wasn't any wetter than I was before. Seeing how my clothes were safe from another dip, he turned and pulled off his hood, shaking out his hair and running his fingers through it.

I must have looked like a fool, but it was impossible for me not to open my mouth slightly at the sight. My eyes had decided to stop blinking just so I wouldn't miss a second of that beautiful sight.

“Why did you do that,” I asked once I had come out of my trance and approached him. I pawed a little at his sweatshirt, inevitably soaking my hand. He looked at me in confusion, as if what had just happened was hours ago. “You're completely wet! Have you lost your mind?”

Still with his head half-bent and with several strands of hair falling over his eyes, he turned to look at you and smiled. You felt yourself melt at that very moment - how could an already naturally attractive person be even more so? Was that even possible?

“You're worse off than I am. Don't worry, it'll dry,” he replied, repositioning his sweatshirt with one hand as he shook out his other hand to look at the time.

The bus we were both waiting for finally arrived and you both approached the curb to get on. He let you pass first, so you gave him a smile as a thank you. While you were looking for the bus card so you could pay for the trip, he went to find a seat. You finally managed to get your card and as soon as you had paid you made your way to your seat.

You had intended to sit in the front seats, but in the distance you saw the as-yet-unnamed boy raise his arm and wave to you, then point to the empty seat next to him. Not believing that he could be talking to you, you turned your head in case there was someone behind you, but obviously there wasn't. You turned again and pointed to yourself with your index finger touching your chest. You heard a soft chuckle from him and saw him nod his head repeatedly. Feeling your cheeks slowly turning pink, you walked towards him while trying to hide your face with the collar of your jacket.

“I hope you don't mind sitting with someone who looks like they've just had a shower,” he joked once you sat down next to him. You couldn't help the giggle that escaped your lips. Sitting next to you is a dream come true, you thought.

“That's what I should be telling you. I don't think you're any worse off than I am,” you replied, looking down at your own clothes and wiggling your feet, making the wet soles squeak on the bus floor.

“What do you mean worse? A bus bathed me whole!”, his eyes widened as he shook his hands in exaggerated gestures to prove his point.

“I lied to you. I jumped over every puddle I came across on the way here. I'm worse, end of discussion,” you rebutted, glaring at him with challenging eyes and watching devotedly as two cute dimples formed on his cheeks. Oh, I’d do anything to see them every day.

“Well, look on the bright side. We won't need to shower for a long time,” he joked again pulling a laugh from your throat and getting irritated looks from the other passengers the second he did. You both inclined your heads towards them in apology and laughed softly again as soon as your eyes met.

It might seem strange, but even though you had only known him for five minutes, there was a peace and tranquillity in talking to him that you had rarely felt when meeting another person. As if everything was in its place, as if everything fitted together perfectly.

But the warm interaction was interrupted by the freezing air that forced its way through the doors of the bus. Making your skin crawl and causing a chill that went up your spine. You prayed that the boy sitting next to you hadn't noticed, but he did, and in less than a second he'd already offered you his seat, which was further from the doors, and from which his body could protect you.

“Kim Namjoon,” he said suddenly. You unconsciously turned your head and saw his eyes fixed where the driver was. You stood for a few seconds in silence waiting for an answer until he turned his gaze towards you and showed you his white, straight teeth. “My name is Kim Namjoon, what is your name?”

“I am Ahn Chungae,” you replied quietly, watching in awe as his eyes glistened in the direct light of the moon's rays.

“It's a pleasure, Ahn Chungae,” he repeated in a whisper. You didn't know if it was your imagination, but his face was getting closer and closer to yours, and you couldn't help but wonder what must be going through his mind.

At that moment you turned your head towards the window and stood quietly staring at the foggy glass in front of you. Trying to avoid his gaze at all costs, you drew a sad face on the window, keeping your fingers glued to the glass as you looked through it at the lights of the city. Seconds later Namjoon's hand came into contact with yours, causing you to stop breathing for a moment. He carefully wrapped his hand around your fingers and moved them, drawing what would have been two eyes on the opposite side of the ones you had previously drawn, now forming a smiley face. Then he released your hand, which you placed in your lap, and you watched as his fingers would make their way through the steam from the window, writing two letters: RM.

“RM?”, that question sprang to your lips. Namjoon put his arm in front of your face, resting his hand on the glass. You turned and raised your head, meeting his angelic face, looking at you with a curiosity that made your stomach churn.

“I'm in a rap group, that's what my friends call me,” he laughed as his arm returned to a normal position. He was quiet for a few seconds, staring at you and scanning your face patiently. “Do you have any nicknames?”

“I think the closest thing to a nickname I have is 'Peach'?” you replied after you had organised all your thoughts.

“Why 'Peach'?” he asked curiously, bringing the side of his body closer to yours, coming to brush against your shoulders in a subtle way.

You couldn't help but blush when that question came out of his mouth. “My father started calling me that because when I was little I used to climb on the kitchen chairs to reach the peaches so I could eat them,” you admitted, a little embarrassed, trying to erase the image of you with a completely smudged face from your memory.

“How old were you?” “Two,” you replied with a giggle, eliciting a laugh from him as well.

“You sure were a beautiful baby,” he said bumping his shoulder against yours in an effort to embarrass you further.

“Stop it,” you groaned with laughter bringing your hands up to your face and hiding it from his eyes. You heard his laughter again and felt his warm hands come to rest on yours, pulling them away from your face.

“Don't cover yourself, please. I like your eyes,” he complimented you, unaware that he was causing a whirlwind of emotions to run wild inside you. How could he say all those beautiful words to you as if they were nothing? Did he not have compassion?

With nothing more to say, an awkward silence formed between the two of you. He seemed to be calm, staring straight ahead and humming a song your ears were unfamiliar with. You watched him out of the corner of your eye and tried not to shout. Say something! Talk to him! But nothing came out of your mouth.

“Chungae?” he spoke suddenly, snapping you out of your self-destructive thoughts and making you turn to him. “How old are you?” he asked nervously, fiddling with his fingers trying to slow his heart rate.

“Twenty-two, why?” you inquired back, furrowing your brows in confusion.

Namjoon sighed in what seemed like a sense of relief, which further fueled my doubts. “It's just that I wanted to make sure I wouldn't go to prison for asking you out.”

A smile settled on your face without warning giving away your answer in less than half a second.

“Don't worry, you could always say I made you think I'm of age,” you played along, suddenly feeling more confident.

“While I'm handcuffed and forced to keep quiet? Or better yet behind bars?” he joked, cupping his hand to his chin and leaning in your direction.

“I'd come visit you,” you assured him, leaning in his direction as well.

A smile formed on his lips and he moved closer to me, “Let's have a date, Chungae, tomorrow.”

Again you cursed being wet from head to toe, the shivering it gave you only made your nerves run high. You couldn't look him in the face from the embarrassment that suddenly hit you, so you decided to look over to where a man was sleeping with his mouth open, praying for strength.

“Why should I accept?” you asked in a whisper, rolling the laces of your sweatshirt with your fingers. “I don't know you at all, you could be any kind of freak,” you continued, finally daring to look him in the face.

“Well, I'm a little clueless... and clumsy. Very clumsy, I don't know how I haven't done anything stupid yet with how nervous I am,” he admitted with flushed cheeks. “But we know each other. We've been on the same bus for months and I know perfectly well that you don't stop staring at me until I get off at my stop,” he argues, leaving you in a state of surprise, you definitely hadn't been anything but disguised.

“How can you be so sure?” you asked, playing dumb. You couldn't believe he'd actually figured it out.

“Because I don't stop looking at you until I get off either,” he replied, making your heart skip a beat. What had he just said?

You rested your arms on the back of the empty seat in front of you and then put your head on them. He looked really cute with his cheeks slightly pink and avoiding your gaze. You were trying to look brave at the time, but the truth is that you were waiting to get home so you could scream with excitement.

“So...” as soon as you opened your mouth to speak, he looked at you and froze when he saw that you were also looking at him, and realising that you had already been doing it for a while, “since I'm legal, you can ask me out on a date.”

“I... Sorry about that, maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all,” he spoke haltingly as he looked away again, action that brought a smile to your lips. Oh, how the table had turned.

“Alright,” you blurted out suddenly, facing him and bumping your back against the window. He looked back at you with a confused expression. “See you tomorrow at the usual stop.”

That's how you got a smile out of him, one that wouldn't be the last and which was the author of the future ones.

all rights reserved © mochiable 2021 | reposts, modifications, translations, or spinoffs of any kind are prohibited.

a/n: hi guys! it’s been a long time. i’m sorry for being so inactive these last few months, but i’m in my last year of high school and i had to concentrate on my studies. anyway, as an apology i bring you this one shot i had unfinished in drafts. i hope you like it, and don't hesitate to let me know what you think, i love knowing your opinion about my work. also, thanks for the 300 notes in jaehyun's two posts, it means a lot to me, thanks for the support. see you soon!