#bodyguard crush

[sabraeal]

Seven Swipes for Shirayuki, Chapter 6

[Read on AO3]

Obiyuki Trope Madness 2024, Semifinal #1: Bodyguard Crush

“Yuuta.” Names have never been Shirayuki’s forte; she struggles with Sarah and Sara, crosses her fingers when she comes across a Siobhan or a Ciaran, and now labors to decipher whether this is a ‘u’ sound or an ‘oo’ sound— gosh, it might even be a ‘uu’ situation, which is a whole other disaster entirely—

“Does he have a last name to go with that?” Obi murmurs, just loud enough for her to catch it. Well, so she hopes. “Or maybe you could just ask him for his number. Skip the whole swiping song-and-dance and just get down to—”

“Could you spell that for me?” she asks, a hair louder than necessary, hoping her smile doesn’t flicker under pressure the way old fluorescents do . “The patient’s name, I mean.”

“Oh! The…the patient’s…” Her well-meaning visitor shuffles, pink flaring up right under the spray of small freckles across his cheeks. It really is just like being back at the old B&B again, trying to smother a laugh as the sweet retriever from down the street keeps bringing back the wrong ball. “Right, of course. You need the patient’s…god, sorry, I wasn’t even thinking…”

“Happens all the time.” She bites back a smile as pink blooms into carnelian red. “We don’t tend to see people at their most put-together here.”

“Haah, right, makes sense.” His tanned hand digs into the tousles mass of his hair, sending it wild. It's a charming look, she has to admit. Makes her wish there were Beggin’ Strips for people too— he looks like he could use a treat. “Just feels a little stupid, that’s all. Not like you could look me up. In a patient registry, I mean.”

“You got a Tinder, though?” Obi crosses an knobby ankle over his knee, pant leg riding up enough to show the chili peppers on his socks. “OkCupid? Plenty of Fish?”

"Uh." The man blinks, first at him, then at her, as if she might confirm that this line of questioning is somehow part of the official visitor registration process. It's not. “Y-yes?”

"Ooh?" Obi pitches forward, fingers poised over the app store. “Which—?”

“Obi.”

“What?” Having reached the end of his leash, her wayward hound finally comes to heel. With a tug of his coat, he slouches back, not a hint of contrition lingering in that smirk of his. “I was just wondering.”

She lets her glare do the heavy lifting as she repeats, “What was the name again?”

“Ah, my dad’s? Katsu. Katsu Baudin.” The man coughs, clearing his throat. “And I’m, uh, his son. Yuuta.”

“We know,” Obi chirps helpfully as she puts in her login. It shouldn’t work— IT’s supposed to update the registry at midnight, and she’s been legally off payroll for three days— but the system only takes a long, hard think and rolls over, displaying patient information with the same enthusiasm as a dog wagging its tail. “With two ‘u’s?”

“Uh…”

Her visitor— Yuuta— glances at her, but she’s too busy tallying the number of security and privacy regulations violated to give him much more than, “Katsu Baudin, Room 7760.”

There should be some palpable relief on the air, or at least the barest whiff of gratitude, but instead their wayward visitor shuffles awkwardly behind the counter, not flushed but— strained, maybe. “Um, sorry, I don’t mean to be a pain or anything, but do you think—?”

“Two floors down.” Wistal is hardly as labyrinthine as Wirant— built into a hill, each wing designed to be the magmum opus of architects thirty years apart, resulting in atria so beautiful they graced the covers of Architectural Digests and hallways so nonsensical as to be be hostile to human life, with entrances on every floor between the first and the fourth besides the third— but with each level laid out exactly like the last, it’s easy to get turned around. “If you go straight out from the elevators, take your second right. 7760 should be down that hall on your left.”

“Ahh, right, thanks. That’s…a huge help.” He hesitates, gaze fixed down the hall as if it were a thousand yards instead of five. His fingers fingers drum nervously on the counter top. “I don’t want to— I mean, it’s just—”

He hangs his head, dark eyes huge and pleading as they peer up from under that fluffy flop of hair, as helpless as a dog that’s found a door it can’t nose open. “I suck at directions.”

It takes every last ounce of her self control to keep only the corners of her mouth twitching. “That’s no problem at all. Just let me call down to their desk and give them the heads up that you're coming. Then you can go there and have someone take you right to the room.”

“Oh!” His head snaps up, eyes so wide she can nearly see a waggling tail behind him. “You can do that? Er, I mean…I wouldn’t want to put you out…?”

In Wilant there would have been some grumbling, some pointed questions about just how many times his parents had dropped him on his head as a child if he couldn’t go two floors down and take a turn without getting it all twisted, but here—

Shirayuki glances across the hall, catching a flash of pale hair above a designer button-down, of a profile that has graced more covers of GQ than she’s got fingers on one hand. As exceptional as Izana is, she doubts that’s even the most impressive statistics on the floor. There’s a husband just around the corner she’s pretty sure has a collection of Super Bowl rings. Recent ones, considering all the rubbernecking outside their door.

“They’re used to worse,” Obi offers, so helpful as he scrolls. “A little hand holding isn’t going to break the scale.”

Yuuta blinks down at him. “Er, all right. If you’re sure.”

“Please,” he scoffs, slouching further into the ergonomic plastic. “Unless you’re bringing your mistress to watch your wife go through labor, no one's even going to—”

“Just a minute!” Shirayuki smiles as she picks up the phone, refusing to acknowledge anything over her shoulder. “Let me see what I can do.”

*

There may be no phone trees or music on internal lines, but there’s still plenty of waiting, especially with no voicemail for stale calls to be shunted to. Still, it’s only a few minutes before someone picks up— a nurse fresh from shift change, happy to take of ‘that old charmer’s baby.’ Watching Yuuta’s back disappear into the elevator makes a nice ending to an unplanned long night, and Shirayuki—

“What, you aren’t going to go with him?” Obi leans back in his chair, straining the ergonomic claims of those cushions. “Make sure the prodigal son makes it back home? Maybe hold his hand a little?”

“I think he’ll manage just fine.” She blows out her cheeks as she sits, letting her mouth settle into her sternest frown. “Now, I trust you deleted that thing?”

“Me? No. I’ve swiped right on three real studs already. And let me just say” —he presses a hand to his chest, the silk of his tie rumpling under the pressure— “I chose better for you than you choose for yourself.”

“Obi!” It’s a strangled noise, one she just barely keeps to quiet-hours guidelines. “I told you that I wasn’t interested in—!”

“Trust me, Miss,” he soothes, entirely too smug. “You’ll be interested in these guys. Or at least their traps.”

“I thought we agreed that—”

“We didn’t agree on anything.” His eyebrows may twitch up to angelic heights, but his attempts at innocence are ruined by the downright sly curl his mouth takes. “You said I should, and I declined to take your advice.”

All at once, the fight seeps out of her, leaving only the weariest sigh in its wake. “Obi…”

“Aww, come on, now, Miss. No need to go borrowing trouble yet. It's not like you've matched.” His lips twitch. “Yet. But let’s be real, who could say no to a knock-out like y—?”

“You are going to delete that,” she informs him with all the authority of a limp dish rag. “Right now. While I can watch.”

“Aw, Miss,” he whines, using only the most pitiful pitches. “I’m just helping.”

Shirayuki stares. “You think this is helping?”

“Of course.” His shoulders twitch, halfway between a shrug and a shield. “What better way to recover from a bad break up then having someone blow out your—?”

“Ah, no!” Her hand flies up, the flimsiest barrier between them. “Don’t— don’t finish that thought.”

“But, Miss—”

“I appreciate your…consideration,” she informs him, gracious. “Really, I do. But I think that maybe you and I process this sort of thing differently. Very…very differently.”

“I didn’t say you had to jump right into bed.” Though he sounds dubious on that order of operations. “But you could let someone take you out, treat you right. And then maybe on date three, you—”

“Three?” It’d taken almost six months for her to even kiss Zen, let alone even think about the sort of activities that might require the removal of clothes. And by then, it took them three months of planning to even get them in the same room. “Do people really…?”

“You know how it is, Miss.” Obi’s sprawled across the chair, lounging in a way its ergonomic bullet points were never supposed to accommodate, but there’s nothing casual about the way his eyes settle on her. “People are busy nowadays. Not much time to take it slow.”

“I have time.”

Shirayuki nearly jolts straight out of her chair. “Ryuu?”

*

(Shirayuki’s not given to believe in the supernatural— not ghosts, not ESP, not sixth senses that seem to only work in hindsight— but she’ll give Yuzuri this: her ability to locate her anywhere in this rabbit warren of hallways is downright occult.

“Have I got the goss for you, girl,” she squeals, stealing a baby carrot out of her lunch box as she slips into the empty seat beside her. It’s all empty seats in the break room right now, but Yuzuri rolls even closer, voice pitched low. “Word on the street is that Ryuu’s got something going on with the new intern.”

“In Imaging?” It’s hard to picture her— she’s a shy thing, always disappearing behind a white coat as a cart turns a corner, just a blonde ponytail above pink scrubs. “I guess they’re around the same age.”

“Same age,” Yuzuri scoffs, gnawing on her ill-gotten gains. “Is that what you think people care about? The same age? No, this girl is like…his type.”

That doesn’t sound quite right, not to her ears. “I don’t really think Ryuu has—”

“Of course he does. Everyone has a type, Shirayuki, even you.” Her voice drops to mutter something that sounds suspiciously like, “Even if you don’t realize it.”

“I just mean that Ryuu hasn’t shown much interest in…anything like that.” Romance, she means. But if she says it, Yuzuri will probably counter with something about sex, and quite honestly, she’s not sure if she can handle Ryuu and... and that idea in the same sentence. “I’m not really sure he wants to, either.”

“Yeah, yeah, normally I’d agree with you,” Yuzuri says with a dismissive wave. “But this girl is like, smart. And super cute. Like freckles everywhere! And her laugh— seriously, you have to hear it. He like, smiled and stuff.”

Well, the smile is a start. “Is that what his type is? Smart and cute? Freckles?”

“I mean, basically right?” Her hand flop open into something between a slouch and a shrug. “That’s what you’re like.”

It’s a good thing there’s no silverware involved in eating hummus, otherwise it would have clattered to the floor. It’s sad enough that she’ll have to toss out this baby carrot casualty. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, you know how it is,” Yuzuri presses on, as if she didn’t just drop a detail more devastating than an atom bomb. “It’s not about you. It’s just that every guy wants to fuck their mom or whatever. Freudian stuff.”

Shirayuki has opinions on Freud— capital ‘O’ Opinions, as Obi likes to call them, along with, the kind that don’t get us asked back to the country’s finest conferences— but all she can manage is, “I think I’m more like a sister than a mother.”

Yuzuri shrugs. “Same difference.”)

*

“Ryuu.” Her hand slaps to her chest, as if that might keep her heart beneath it better than own her ribcage. Which might be true, from how hard its pounding to get out. Shirayuki can hardly blame it. “What are you…? Ah, I mean, were you…?”

It’s still strange to have to look up to meet his eyes, to see the way his face furrows with the beginnings of annoyance. “It’s now or not until after four. Should I come back?”

“Wha— oh, the ultrasound.” Now that she’s on her feet, she can see the cart at his side, loaded up with one of the mobile units he must have requisitioned from Imaging. “Are you doing it?”

“I said I would.”

There’s no humble shrug to go with his words, no inflection to imply emotion, just a simple recitation of the facts. “Well, yes, but I thought you would have one of the techs on shift come up and—”

“I had time.” His shoulders settle into stern angles as his chin lifts, as imperious as any MD. “Is there a problem with that?”

There’s a half dozen, starting and ending with how he’s the Attending today; someone who has a thousand more pressing responsibilities than doing some investigative ultrasound for her patient. But as much as she might try, the words won’t stick together in her mouth, won’t let her make anything but the most unconvincing sputter. “N-no, it’s only—”

“Aw, come on, big guy.” Obi saunters up to the counter, elbow brushing her shoulder as he furls himself up for a lean. It’s nice; steadying. “You know there’s no one else Miss would trust to do this more than you. But don’t big shots like you have busy schedules? I wouldn’t think you’d have the time to come help little old us.”

A stubborn red that clings to the tips of his ears. “As I said, I do. Is it in that room, there?”

His head bobs toward the door. There’s no one behind the window now, just a straight view from hall to window, blinds strung tight across the glass.

“Yes, 9060.” He’s already wheeling the cart towards it when she adds, “Izana should be with her, too.”

The cart squeals to a stop.

“Oh.” His knuckles blanch so white she can see bone where they grip the handle. “Then maybe I should come back. Later. After…”

He doesn’t finish the thought. Shirayuki frowns. “I don’t see why. Is there something wrong with—?”

“Oh, I get it.” Obi’s smirk stretches long into a leer as he leans toward her, voice pitched to be heard as he whispers, “I think he’s afraid of Her Majesty. Intimidated by laying hands on America’s Sweetheart. Little too famous for his blood, I—”

“I didn’t say that,” Ryuu grumbles, sullen. “I’m not laying hands on her anyway. It’s only the probe that will—”

“So it’s His Majesty then,” Obi amends, so considerate. It’s a struggle to keep her mouth from twitching, giggles straining behind her teeth. “Can’t say I blame you for that one, little guy. That guy makes me break out into a cold sweat.”

“I’m not afraid of Izana Wisteria.” The name snaps between his teeth, cold. “I just thought that if she has a visitor, she might not want to be interrupt—”

“You know, Miss.” It’s hard to call something as languid as Obi’s lounging aggressive, but that’s what it is— weaponized slinkiness, the way a cat weaves through legs at dinnertime. “If Ryuu thinks that this is too rich for his blood, you should really just get someone else to—”

“I’m doing it.” The cart squeals as it angles toward the door, wheels grinding with the same single-minded focus as Ryuu’s teeth. “I— I’m already going!”

He doesn’t so much march as storm over, shoulders hiked like pickets by his ears as he knocks at the door. “Excuse me,” he says, swinging it open. “Name and birth date, please.”

It shuts before she can hear Haki’s answer.

*

“Boo.” Obi doesn’t so much sit as he does slump, a puppet with all his strings cut. “He coulda kept that door open a smidge longer. I've heard that America’s Sweetheart fudged the date on her birth certificate to get that role in Mean Girls.”

“I doubt that.” Shirayuki spares him the flattest stare, fingers striking the keys with a pointed power as she logs out from the system. “Her family’s a big deal, aren’t they? Hollywood Royalty, isn’t that what Yuzuri called it?”

“Miss.” His shoulders shake along with his head. “Only you could ask if the Arleons were a big deal.”

Years ago she might have blushed, might have stammered out excuses about the how cable didn’t run out that far until she was in college, and the combination post office/movie theater in town only ran movies two years out of date, but now— now she simply says, “That proves my point, doesn’t it? There were probably newspaper articles about it. An entertainment Weekly birth announcement? Something. It can’t be much of a mystery.”

“There was also some website that counted down to her eighteenth birthday.” He shrugs, casual, as if that isn’t the most horrifying thing he’s ever heard. Then again, knowing Obi, it probably doesn’t even make the top thirty. “But you know, once you get a thing like that in your head…”

He lets his grin do the rest of the talking. Like all of his outrageous behavior, she simply ignores.

“Thank you for that, by the way.” One of his narrow brows hikes up toward his hairline, and she clarifies, “With Ryuu. You’ve always known how to handle him better than I do.”

“You do just fine.” The seat creaks as he tucks his thigh against its arm, elbow lazily hooking over his knee. “He just needs a little heat to get him into the kitchen sometimes. And you’re not someone who’s comfortable with turning it up. Especially when it comes to Ryuu.”

Shirayuki doubts her interns would agree with that particular assessment, but she simply says, “Thank you anyway. If you hadn’t been here, I think we really would have been waiting until four.”

Obi hums. “Oh, I’m not sure about that, Miss. Seems like you handled it just fine the other day.”

She blinks. “The other day?”

“You know.” His shoulders twitch, the laziest suggestion of a shrug. “Ms. Luteal Cyst?”

*

(The cart wheels catch on the threshold, casters making a nasty ka-crack as they struggle over the metal strip. The noise alone has got her grimacing, but when she sees the close-cropped dark hair, so like Obi’s now that all the curls have been left on the barber shop floor, her mouth pulls thinner still.

“Ryuu.” He’s supposed to be on days this week— at least according to the schedule posted up in the break room— but yet he’s here, wincing as the last wheel wails across the floor. Ah, and he’s gotten the squeaky cart. “I didn’t think you’d be…?”

In, she wants to say, but doing the tech’s job keeps trying to elbow its way out at the same time, and instead the question just hangs, awkward.

“Oh, Shirayuki.” He blinks, first at her, then as he leans out the door, as if—

“This is the right room!” she assures him, a laugh startling out of here. “It’s just a slow shift, so I though I might keep my friend here company while she waited.”

“Oh.” The girl sinks further into her pillows as he stares, withering under the stern furrow of his brows. Shirayuki’s half-tempted to tell her that it’s not personal, that without regular reminders, Ryuu’s face defaults to forbidding. “The gel’s going to be cold.”

“I-I don’t care.” She lifts her chin, defiant; a challenge if he means to make it one. “Anything’s fine as along as my baby’s okay.”

Ryuu shoots her a wary glance across the bed— don’t let this girl have emotions on me, it says, loud and clear— before he turns back to the computer, fingers clacking pointedly across the keys. That leaves her to help the girl lift up her johnny, rearranging blankets and drop cloth so her legs and clothes are covered, terrible mesh underwear and all.

“I’m surprised to see you here.” The words might be for Ryuu, but Shirayuki keeps smiling down at her patient, trying to keep her in the conversation. “Usually we don’t have doctors doing untrasound, but Dr Goldregen sometimes helps out when there’s a bit of a scheduling back up—”

“Or when the tech no-shows.”

Her smile stiffens. “O-or that.”)

*

“Ah…” Shirayuki shakes her head. “That didn’t have anything to do with me. Mihaya was late for shift change—”

“Must be nice to have a wing of a hospital named after your family,” Obi muses, head tilted over the back of the chair. “Then you can just waltz into work at any old time, and everyone just says ‘thank you for your time.’”

“I don’t think anyone says that to him,” she snorts. “And he does a passable job when he’s here, so—”

“So no one can fire him.”

Shirayuki struggles against a smile. “So no one can fire him. Ryuu just got here early for shift change and saw there had been a request pending for over an hour. It had more to do with being efficient than helping me.”

Obi hums, unconvinced. “I think you underestimate just how much that kid likes to please you. Maybe he didn’t know it was your patient or whatever, but I bet he showed off once he knew you were there. Probably had good bedside manner and everything.”

*

(The girl yips at the first touch of gel on her stomach, but Ryuu doesn’t even flinch, already pressing the probe down to spread it around. “It’s cold!”

He sends her a sidelong look. “I did warn you.”)

*

“Not…measurably.” It’s effort to keep her tone even. “Ryuu respects my opinion, but he’s really not the sort of person to give special treatment just because—”

“I’m done.”

“Ryuu!” Zen used to joke about putting a bell on Obi— or at least he did, before Obi sent him an Amazon link to a few human-sized collars— but Shirayuki is beginning to wonder if they might need to find one for Ryuu. Last thing they need is for him to startle someone into coding. “A-already?”

He nods. “One sac.”

Shirayuki frowns. That’s hardly what she expected. “Are you sure? Sometimes it’s tricky to see if—”

“I checked for a posterior placenta too.” His shoulders twitch, the barest shrug. “Sometimes hyperemesis gravidium is just hyperemesis gravidium.”

“I guess.” There’s just something unsatisfying about saying it’s hormones; something that feels dismissive rather than diagnostic. “I just could have sworn…”

“What I said before.” Ryuu clears his throat, looking like he’d rather be anywhere than right here, standing in front of the nurse’s desk. “About not doing it again.”

“I know, I know.” She sighs, waving a hand. “It was already kind of you to do it this time— and personally too. I won’t ask again.”

“No, that’s not…” His lips press tight, a white line cutting across his face. “I mean, I’ll do it, if you really need it.”

She blinks. “Really?”

“In a few weeks,” he tells her, stern, as if she might turn around and tell him to go back in there. “There’s things that might not show up now. Rare things. But…things.”

“That’s really kind of you, Ryuu.” For anyone else, she might reach out— pat their shoulder, shake their hand— but for him, she just smiles. But the way he straightens, it’s enough. “But I’d hate to bother you after—”

“It’s not a bother. If you think something’s wrong, I believe you.” It’s been ages since he was the boy genius, a teenager that trembled when he walked onto the floor. But there’s shades of it now in the way he looks at her, gratitude and trust and affection all tangled up into something that makes it hard to look away from his too-blue eyes. “Garrack always told me that you have good intuition. My own experience agrees. It would be foolish to deny that based on something so subjective as statistics.”

It must be a little too earnest even for him, since he shakes himself, quickly adding, “I have other things to do today. Goodbye.”

He rolls off, squeaky cart wheel wailing, and all she can do is stare at his back.

Obi snorts. “No special treatment, huh?”

She’s not sure how to answer, but she’s saved from having to figure it out when Obi’s phone blings obnoxiously. “What’s that?”

He glances down at the screen, mouth unfurling into a terribly devious grin.

“Why look at that, Miss,” he drawls. “Looks like we got a match.”

[mochinek0]

Daminette December 2023: 17-Bodyguard

Damian had heard the whispers and rumors when he first moved to Paris. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the baker's daughter and fashion designer had been head over heels for Adrien Agreste, the model. That had been years ago. Some of their friends refused to believe she moved on from her gigantic crush. He had heard the whispers of how she babbled and froze with just a glance. How she had memorized his schedule and planned their future together. He had heard how she had fallen for him with a simple gesture of giving her his umbrella in the rain. The only thing that had ever stopped them from getting together was how blind Adrien was. He never saw Marinette was anything more than a friend and everyone knew it. That might have been true; all of it. Damian knew that Marinette no longer felt like that, if it had ever been true.

From what he observed, Adrien was the one now persuing the baker's daughter. If any of it had been true, Marinette had long moved on. Adrien was constantly trying to get her attention and would search the halls for her. If anything, the roles had reversed. Adrien Agreste now stalked Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Adrien Agreste was still 'blind' in his book. The model took zero notice how Marinette reacted to being around him. He noticed the subtle flinches when Adrien called her name from down the hall. He noticed the terror in her eyes, before putting a smile on her face to greet a friend.

Damian froze the moment he saw her.

'Marinette? What is she doing here? I thought she couldn't have a pet in the bakery. Why is she in the pet store?'

His eyes followed her as she moved away from the front and towards the middle. She was almost hidden by the shelves.

'Hamsters?'

"Marinette!" Adrien shouted, "Do you like hamsters, too?"

"Uh, sort of." she answered, weakly.

"They're amazing!" he cried back, getting closer to her and the hamsters.

Even from where Damian stood, he could see Marinette's eyes were searching for a way out; an exit. He quickly put down the giant bag of dog food and rushed over.

"There you are Marinette." he spoke, pulling her towards him.

"Damian!" Mari exclaimed, surprised.

"Did you get lost?" he asked, "I apologize for getting so busy."

"You work here?" Adrien asked, "Why?"

"I volunteer." Damian answered, "I donate to several animal charities nd I like to make sure all the equipment is up to date."

"We can go see the puppies on files now." The Wayne heir suggested, "You said you were looking for a guard dog?"

Marinette lit up quickly, realizing Damian was giving her a way out.

"I'm so glad you remembered." she smiled.

"A dog?" Adrien asked, confused, "What about the hamster?"

"Oh." Mari spoke, "Well, I do think hamsters are cute, but with how scattered brain I get, I might forget instantly. I could forget to feed it or accidentally kill it with a giant roll of fabric." causing the model to wince.

"A dog is better." Marinette stated, "Their routine would be my routine."

"But why a guard dog?" he questioned.

"Why do you have a bodyguard?" Damian asked.

"Huh?" confusing the model.

"Guard dogs keep their owners safe." the Wayne heir answered, "They are loyal to a fault and will attack, if necessary." pulling Marinette closer to him.

Marinette blushed at the closeness. She quickly placed a hand on his chest to get his attention.

"We should go look at those files." She suggested, "You mentioned....training and I wan to make sure they are trained before university."

"Of course." Damian replied, leading Marinette to the back room and away from Adrien's prying eyes.

Damian picked up a radio to give the other workers a warning about Agreste. On the security cameras, he watched as the blonde model turned away and walk out the store.

'Seemed Marinette was his only goal here.'

Marinette sighed in relief as Damian placed the radio down.

"Thank you, Damian." Marinette spoke.

He nodded his head in understanding.

"But how did you know?" Mari asked.

"You are uncomfortable with him." Damian stated.

Marinette nodded her head.

"You look scared when you hear him call out your name in school." Damian spoke, "Sometimes, you turn pale. Doesn't seem like he notices."

"I thought no one noticed." Marinette answered, with a smile, "Thank you so much."

Damian chuckled, "Now, would you actually like a guard dog?"

"I would love one," Mari sighed, "but since I still live with my parents-"

"The bakery." The Wayne heir concluded.

She nodded her head and gave a shrug. Damian went over to a drawer and pulled out some files for an adoption event taking place soon. Marinette looked at him confused.

"It would not matter if I brought another dog home. At this point, it's expected. You would just have to wait." Damian stated.

Marinette smiled happily, "Really?"

"Only if you do not mind coing over to bond with your dog." he declared.

Marinette hugged him and quickly felt him flinch.

"Sorry!" she cried, pulling away from him, "Um, I'll just look at these."

Marinette browsed over the files he had handed her. Damian could tell she was seriously considering the guard dog idea. She started by ruling out the smaller dogs, he expected someone like her to own. By the end of her selection, she had five folders left.

"What do you think, Damian?" Mari asked, "Is there any of them I should rule out?"

Damian looked over the folders. There was a Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepard, Doberman, and an Akita.

"Two of these would make great pets, but not guard dogs." He spoke, "I believe you should look online and learn more about them before deciding. You need to make sure you can take care of them. I don't just mean their diet and health. There are many people who return animals because they have gotten bored or because they didn't expect how much time they would have to use to train it."

Marinette smiled, "Thank you. I can tell you really care about these animals. I can let you know by the end of the week."

Mari stood up, ready to leave. She bit her lip in hesitation.

"Are you alright?" He questioned.

"Um." She began, "Nevermind. It's stupid."

"What is it?" Damian asked, "You clearly think it is important. Why do you hesitate?"

Marinette blushed, "Do you think, until I get a guard dog- Can you be my guard dog? Bodyguard! I meant bodyguard; not guard dog! At school! Keep Adrien away from me?"

Damian chuckled, "I wouldn't mind at all."

Mari lit up at his response, "Oh! I can bring you breakfast! Are there any pastries you prefer?"

"I prefer savory over sweets." he answered.

"I can make savory tarts for you." She replied.

With a nod, Marinette left the back room and quickly left the store.

'Guard dog, huh?'

Adrien looked around and spotted Marinette already at school. He couldn't wait to see her and talk to her more about hamsters. As he made his way towards her, he watched as she made her way over to Damian. To his surprise, and likely everyone's surprise, Marinette latched onto his arm. Damian didn't seem to mind and led her away.

Damian smirked as Marinette latched onto his arm. He had seen Adrien arrive and watched as Marinette quickly made her way over to him. He hadn't expected the physical contact, but after he initiated it yesterday, she likely expected it. Damian quickly led her away from prying eyes and hushed whispers. As they walked away, he leaned down to her ear.

"Woof." he barked.

He hadn't expected her to squeak, let alone blush. He chuckled as Marinette puffed up her cheeks and let go of his arm. Cheeks still flushed, she hurried into the school. Damian turned back and caught Adrien staring at them in shock. Damian sent a glare his way before following after Marinette.

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218

[doortotomorrow]

LUNYX Final Fantasy XV / Kingsglaive

[xinnamonbun]

Payjay Wedding! :3

@pencilgutz here's your fooooood :3

This was genuinely SO fun to draw. At first I was obsessed with trying to make this really polished since I was kinda making it as a gift- but around halfway through I kind of realized that I was having a blast just...doodling! So the end product ended up being a bit messy, but I think it ended up making it look more different. I'm not even going to lie the lack of people in the chairs was genuinely laziness on my part. But you can just say that this is a wedding photo that was taken after the ceremony.

Alts!

Some headcannon stuff for the wedding below the cut!

Venue stuff:

Genuinely, I think it would be hilarious if all of this happened right behind the hotel- just getting married right outside your house. TBH it would also be a pretty good excuse for most of the Inanimate Insanity contestants to come.

Roles?:

Grooms: Paper and OJ (duh)

Best man: Knife (paper)

Maid of Honor: Soap (oj)

Ring bearer: Cherries

Flower girl: Yang (he volunteered)

Groomsmen: Pickel, Bomb, Baseball, Silver Spoon

Groomsmaids: Candle, Taco (if post show) (idk who else-)

Groomsmate(s): Paintbrush

Photographer: Trophy

Caterer: Suitcase and Balloon (I love you guys but I swear; FLOUR NOT FLOWER-)

Drama (at this point it's like a mandatory thing at weddings): Salt. SALT.

After-party:

Knife and Baseball have to drag Salt out for wearing white (among other things). Test Tube catches the bouquet. She wasn't even trying to it just landed on her. You can decide if Suitcase and Balloon ACTUALLY make the cake properly.

[cassiopeia-grimm]

These gifs and photos do not belong to me, all credits go to the owner.

[manitapaleta]

Oh yeah I drew short haired lark the other day **shapeshifts into Itachi Uchiha** to measure my abilities

[meownotgood]

bodyguard aki... whew.... he's always at your side and you know he's strong enough to protect you, yet still he's stern to everyone else, and the absolute sweetest to you... so kind, always looking out for you more than his job requires, willing to listen to your personal matters or be a shoulder for you to cry on. he opens doors for you, holds your hand as you step out of your limo, extends his arm for you to hold onto when there's a crowd... you trust him more than anyone in the world...

[elderly-scrolls]

❗️ and 👉

thanks dear! | end of year art meme

❗️ a particularly ambitious piece

oof there were so many pieces that really challenged me this year. my very first art of the year, this piece of my BG3 warlock Frey, really set the tone for 2024 wrt pushing myself to do bigger illustrations. painting a digital oil painting was definitely outside my comfort zone!

👉 a WIP i’d like to try and finish next year

i wanna finish this silly ardeth/ed thing because there's 5.4k words of it already and i don't want to waste all that effort by letting it gather dust forever!

It seems like a betrayal to think of Ed in that way; a complete breach of trust, undermining years of stalwart protection and companionship, threatening the comfortable dynamic they’d settled into. Ardeth shies away from it for the same reason he’d swiftly quashed whatever schoolboy infatuation he’d harboured in the first few weeks of their partnership: it just wasn’t professional, and doomed never to amount to anything, given that Ed was…Ed.

But — Ed had kissed him. No amount of turning the scenario over in his mind could change the fact that Ed had kissed him.

The real question was why had Ed kissed him?

[zoebelladona]

PIA ZOEBELLADONA YOU ARE SO RIGHT !!!! the thaluke goggles NEED to be on. personally, i think it is entirely possible that luke knew about the fleece bc he had researched it priorly to attempt to save thalia from the fate she had been subjected to by zeus. the luke goes on a quest for the fleece is too real of a possibility if you ask me 😵‍💫

in canon i cannot decide if luke knew or not that the fleece could bring thalia back. if he didn't i see it this way: luke poisons thalia's tree so chb is given a quest to get the golden fleece so he can get the golden fleece and revive kronos, he always planned to let the questers take the fleece back after he was done with it because he wouldn't have let thalia's tree die that was never his objective, he did not want to kill thalia. if he did it's like you said: he poisons thalia's tree in a bit of a desperate attempt to find a magical object that, after doing some research, he realises can not only revive kronos but bring thalia back. did he blindly believe she would side with him? probably. but the point stays the same: luke did not plan to let thalia die, if she came back it was a bonus, he could not let thalia die.

which leads to my "luke goes on the fleece quest" fic. it's an au where luke does not join kronos and in a desperate attempt to free thalia from her fate he poisons her tree to be given a quest for the one object that could save her ✨️

[the-cookie-of-doom]

For all Chay says that kid!Kim is staying behind to protect him, it ends up the other way around in the end. Kim has already killed, but he’s still a kid, he’s still scared, and that should never have been his responsibility to begin with. So Chay is going to protect him, probably kill for him, and both kid and adult Kim are going to go a little bit insane about it

[shou-jpeg]

-Back on the Beat-

Part 1. 05

Kim really doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.

But Kim wants to know how Porchay is doing. The bodyguard at the compound that he has reporting back to him tells him Porchay has been spending some of his time in the medical wing of the compound, assisting here and there where he can. He’s also been spending time in the kitchen, helping prepare meals and learning to cook. And in the gardens, helping out there too.

And sometimes he spends the evenings with Tankhun, doing God knows what, because no one Khun hasn’t invited directly is allowed into his rooms.

The guard does not tell him if Porchay is still making music.

Shit. What does that even mean? Is Porchay… not fine? 

How does he even respond to that? What was he thinking, trying to talk to Porchay like this?

Kim really does not know what he’s doing. 

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[fridge-04]

Local man (single father of 20+) is tired of war crimes and wants everyone to chill the fuck out

[raymoo--hackery]

unstoppable intimidating loyal bodyguard experiences a hangover for the first time ever and she is Not having fun.

[blappel]

could you give anari sparknotes so i can vote on the poll... i dont want to be bald

Yes of course anon sorry for the delay i was busy so major shoutout to mod anari for writing all this out:

anora sparknotes (anari's side of things)

- pre-campaign has the worst several weeks of her life: her mission got sideways and her dad isn't happy so he manipulates her to isolate herself via breaking up w/ her gf that she doesn't even want to break up w/, so she ghosts her and said gf dumps her like any normal person would. then she got assigned bodyguarding duty for some royalty which she takes as a punishment

- TURNS OUT the princess isn't snobby and kinda cute so at least there's one win

- as far our adventure goes and more dangers are popping out in our way anari decides to train nora some fighting techniques mainly w/ daggers bc she realized that she can't always be there for her (which she constantly reprimands herself for). uh oh someone actually cares

- she actually enjoys training w/ nora and it reminds of good old days at the monastery, also yay routine in the midst of chaos which is her life now

- she also feels guilty about feeling good during those training session bc those good old days are connected w/ her ex

- anari gets nora's drive to succeed on her mission due to family reasons which is one of the reasons she didn't treat her harshly as she would any other nobility

- anari doesn't like indulging herself but she doesn't mind to dance w/ nora at the party. take it as you will

- oops ex here again but at least she managed to admit what happened. she realizes that she misses her and wants to have her in anari's life. not specified in which status. take it as you will x2

- you think anora is just full fluff in general? not really esp when nora have been having some violent urges that remind anari of herself & her dad and it scares her

- the difference is that she tries to treat nora as her equal and tells her when she's concerned about her ways

- nora tho isn't easy to read sometimes and it makes her feel like she isn't being listened to which frustrates her sometimes (which is very familiar feeling for her)

- anari is also aware of their difference in social status and when she starts to think of...certain things she realizes that nothing good will come out of this

- anari is currently put in the worst position ever after finding out that nora's cousin is her employer + nora getting weird powers so she has a lot of reasons to not trust any of them

- however despite that she tries to show her belief that nora in the end can make a right decision even though she has no guarantee of this ( but we do this in healthy manner unlike certain bunnyman so there's balance between concern and trust)

[blackreaderfics]

I might want to write this tiana x nanami ship that’s going around on TikTok y’all idk