#brings him a lil flower as an apology (all of this without a single word btw) and tele accepts and they carry on playing

[kindred-spirit-93]

made an art :3

had something different in mind lol but alas my limited skills dont translate; wanted smol neomachus crouching and being kinda cute and their dads in the bg realise are like ah fuck. they keep it civil tho.

hc that penelope and patroclus have scrapbooks and write each other letters and stuff whenever the bois do something adorable.

reference. pls ignore what achilles is wearing lmao idk why it looks the way it does :') facial hair sucks. also forgor this was a modern au lol

also to me achilles doesnt have scars bc hes a both like half god but also bc water heals minor stuff, so ody gets all of them. this was both initial draft and finished piece lol. did this in one sitting and honestly not bad. ill take it ^-^

some of you may know that i’m about 22k words into an enemies to lovers telemachus/neoptolemus fic rn and for those of you don’t know that, hi, i am in fact writing that.

their dynamic is very special to me (especially the version in my head where they attempt to kill each other on multiple occasions but it only causes them to fall more in love with each other) but genuinely the way i came to the idea of shipping them was literally just bc i was thinking “odysseus and achilles would HATE to be in-laws”

like you cannot tell me that achilles wouldn’t be spinning in his grave at the idea of his son dating the son of odysseus. his ass could NOT handle having to see odysseus at family gatherings. and odysseus would find it all so fucking funny. like on principle he would not approve of his son dating achilles’ son, but he’d also see achilles bursting a blood vessel trying to be diplomatic and he’d decide that it’s all worth it.

and in my head there’s this modern au where like achilles is alive and neo, his estranged son who he doesn’t have a good relationship with, comes to him like “father i want to get your blessing on my relationship” and achilles is thinking “ok let’s not fuck this up this is my chance to rekindle my relationship with my son” but then when neo says “i am gay. i am dating odysseus’ son” achilles has a fucking panic attack and neo assumes it’s bc achilles is homophobic and he’s like “father i cannot change who i am. i am gay” and achilles is frantically like “NO IDC THAT UR GAY BUT CAN YOU PLEASE BE GAY WITH LITERALLY ANYBODY ELSE??????”

it’s romeo and juliet core if you think abt it. the feud is achilles hating odysseus and odysseus thinking it’s the funniest thing ever

ofc i actually do really like neo and telemachus’ potential dynamic and i have a lot a lot of thoughts on it but i just think it’s so funny to look at achilles and odysseus’ perspective on this

[buckyalpine]

always you’s angst only ending … feed us a tiny lil drabble of maybe bucky not stopping until he and bruce and maybe even shuri (cause bby’s the smartest) find a way to bring her back?

like he enters the portal, scoops up her body, and kisses her back to life. then throws her over his shoulder, locks her in his bedroom, and makes love to her for like a week straight.

“she’s barely been back for a month- AND SHE’S ALREADY PREGNANT?!”

- ur local angst slut who’s actually hella sensitive and cannot handle this shit, gossip girl 💋

Always you angst alternative ending 

18+

Okay YES, if your a pure angst fiend, you may ignore this but I'm here to mend hearts from the sadness that was this fic.

Warnings: Angst, FLUFFFFFFF, Smuuuttttt, happy ending 

5 years later

Bucky refused to accept you being gone. He tried to heal, going to therapy, grief counselling, medication, writing letters, everything under the fucking sun to help him come to terms with the fact that he’d never see you again. 

It was impossible.

It ate him alive.

He was physically stronger, pouring all his time into the gym to find a way to numb the pain but he was more mentally fucked than ever.

It had been 5 years, nearly 6 and the raw pain he felt was still fresh. Every night, he'd wake up searching for you. He couldn't let go, holding onto the pieces you had left behind. He wrote to you as often as he could, keeping a locked diary of things he wanted to tell you, letters he knew no one would see but what else could he do when he wanted to talk to you so badly but you weren’t there. 

That didn’t stop him from finding a way to pour his heart and soul somewhere. 

_________________________________

Happy Birthday babygirl,  I wish I could wake you up with kisses today, tell you how special the world is with you in it, make you pancakes, feed you in bed because I know you’ll cuddle up in the sheets until noon. Buy you a pretty dress, take you out, maybe even go dancing, even if its just me and you and Steve’s playlist of songs from the 40′s. I’d hold you close to me all night until your feet were sore or until Tony told us to turn the cheesy music off. 

I know he secretly ships us (Peter taught me that word) 

If it were up to Stark, he’d throw you the biggest birthday party ever; that wouldn’t stop me from trying to sneak you away for some more birthday kisses. birthday cuddles. Birthday sex...is a new song Sam introduced me to. 

I wanted to do so much with you today sweet girl. Show you how much I love you on your special day. I should have shown you before it was too late. I regret it every single day. I’d give anything for just another day, just so you’d know. 

It was always you. 

Steve brought you some flowers today, Sam brought some balloons. I hope you see them from wherever you are. It’s not the same without you here angel.

We miss you baby. 

I miss you. 

Till we meet again,  JBB 

_________________________________

Hi Baby, I know it’s not a special occasion, I have no real reason to write today. I missed you though. I wanted to tell you about how I jumped out of a plane today and all I could think of is how much you would have laughed because I didn’t use a parachute. You’re laugh is the sweetest sound in the world and I’d give anything to hear it just one more time.

Sam recorded it all, you would have been the first person he showed the footage to. I’d probably ignore you both and then you’d probably tease me about being grumpy and I’d want a kiss to feel better. And a hug. Maybe some cuddles. Please? 

Also you’d be proud of me today, Red Wing broke and it wasn’t my fault. Promise. I even apologized to Sam after but he doesn’t think I’m being sincere. And I’m not because red wing is a little shit. So is Sam. 

I miss you sweets. I wish you were here. It hurts. Everything hurts. 

I hope we meet again. I’ll never let you go. 

Yours, JBB

_________________________________

My y/n,

I’m sorry. I should have told you. I regret it everyday. I’ll never stop trying to find a way to get you back. 

I love you,

JBB

_________________________________

It’s been almost 6 years. It still hurts.

Till we meet again, JBB

_________________________________

I can’t anymore. I need you back. 

JBB

_________________________________

There were some days where Bucky was able to focus, writing as much as he could, spilling all of his feelings onto the paper, a tiny part of him hoping that one day he’d be able to give you all his letters so you’d know you were all he could think of. 

Then there were the days where sobs tore through his body, his breathing labored, only managing to scribble three words before crumbling into a dark abyss. Bucky wracked his brain every single day; if you were able to go back once, there had to be a way to get you back again. Bruce and Tony had spent countless hours in the lab trying to find a way to reopen the portal but nothing led to you. 

*****

Bucky stared at his burner, pressing call and ending it before it could go through multiple times before finally letting it ring. There was only one other person he could turn to. He knew he wasn’t going to be immediately welcomed back into Wakanda but this wasn’t just about him. Everyone wanted you back. Nothing was the same without you there. If there was a 1% chance to get you back, he had to try. His chest felt tight as the jet landed in a secluded area having arranged a private meeting with Shuri, the one person he trusted with his life. 

"I-I have a favor to ask" Bucky's eyes were already pleading with her, his heart racing as he approached her, ready to fall on his knees. 

"Anything Sergeant Barnes" Shuri smiled, sensing he was there for something urgent, nodding for him to continue. There was zero hesitation as she immediately agreed to come back with him to try and get you back, bringing her own lab equipment with her so she could work with Bruce. After filtering through a number of timelines and timestamps, she’d managed to pinpoint the portal to find you but it wasn’t without its consequences. 

“You understand you may not return” Shuri whispered as Bucky threw on his tactical gear, insisting on getting you all on his own while rest of the team watched in pin drop silence, reluctantly letting him go alone “And y/n...we can get her back but there's a chance she may not...” 

She squeezed his hand before he stepped onto the platform, not wanting to finish the sentence but he already understood. He knew it was possible he’d find you again but it didn’t mean he’d find you alive. 

“Then at least I get to say goodbye” He gave her a strained smile; he had to bring you home one way or another. If this was how he had to go, he would run happily to his death; he’d be at peace knowing he died trying to find you. With the push of a button, he was instantly thrown into a warp, transported to where you had last been with Nat. Everything came to a halt as he found himself at an abandoned hydra base, the cold nipping his skin. Bucky blinked, his vision focusing on the fuzzy figure laying on the ground, his feet moving before he could process anything. 

There was no one else around. 

It was you. 

His doll. 

His y/n.

He sprinted to you, tears clouding his vision as he approached you, dropping to his knees, both fear and hope fighting for dominance. He found you. You were there. But would he ever actually get you back? Were you even breathing? 

“Y/n?” Bucky cradled you to him, scooping you in his arms and chasing the portal that had already began to close. He held your face to his neck, his metal hand protecting your head, holding you securely against his body as you both fleshed back to the present. 

The team gasped as he appeared on the platform again with you safely tucked in his arms. They didn’t dare move, everyone holding their breaths while Bucky laid you down with you still in his arms, his hand softly stroking your cheek. 

“Y/n? Doll?” His heart was beating erratically, your skin was warm, a glimmer of hope burning stronger as he gently shook you, pressing his cool metal hand against your face. “Please” 

“C’mon doll, come back to me baby, I have so much I need to tell you” He pleaded, his warm breath fanning against your face, tears brimming his eyes. Tony and Steve itched to whisk you off to the medbay while Sam silently shook his head, wanting to give Bucky an extra minute, hoping you’d be able to wake up in the super soldiers arms where you belonged. 

“Baby, wake up sweets” Bucky couldn't help himself, pressing his lips softly to your forehead, trailing feather light kisses down your face while cuddling you. “C’mon I l-love you” His voice cracked, his lips finally pressing against yours. They were still soft, warm, you had to wake up, you had to-

Your lips stirred, your eyes cracking open, taking your first breath as your eyes focused on Bucky. 

“Sweetheart?” Bucky's eyes grew wide, unsure if he was dreaming or not, scrambling to hug you closer, cupping your face gently.  

“Bucky?” Your voice was a raspy whisper, leaning into his touch, feeling his tears fall onto your skin as he pulled you into his chest. 

“My doll” He let out a soft sob, cradling your head as you buried your face into his neck, moved to cling onto him, the last thing you remembered was darkness and now you were in his arms again surrounded by his warmth, his scent. Everyone stayed rooted in place, tears falling freely, dying to grab you, hug you, hold you again but they were not about to separate the two of you, not after how badly Bucky had yearned to get you back. 

“Bucky” You wept, your mind still piecing together how you were back but it didn’t matter, not when he was holding you again. 

“Hi baby” He whispered against your hair, wiping your tears with his thumb, cupping your face, kissing you all over before capturing your lips again, relishing in your touch, feeling your fingers card through his short locks. You lost yourselves in each other, the rest of the world no longer existing. 

“Okay white wolf, When do we get to say hi to our girl” Sam snorted, sniffling seeing you tucked in Bucky’s arms, the brunettes lips curved into a smile for the first time since you’d been gone. Bucky loosened his hold around you, helping you to your feet, giving you one more kiss before letting go. 

“Come here” Steve scooped you up immediately after, struggling not to squeeze you tight, “We missed you sweet heart, so much”

“Hasn’t been the same without you” Sam gave you a once over, determining you were well enough for a slightly bone crushing hug before having you grabbed away by Tony. Tony wasn’t able to say much, biting his bottom lip to keep it from trembling, hugging you the longest, reluctant to let you go. You were engulfed in Nat’s arms as she wept, squeezing you like her life depended on it. 

“You saved me” She whispered in your hair, her tears falling onto your skin, “Don’t ever do that again” She hissed sternly, grabbing your face to look at her, “Don’t ever ever do something like that again” 

“Give me my baby back” Bucky grabbed you, tossing you over his shoulder as soon as everyone had gotten their hugs and kisses, not interested in giving anyone a second longer when he needed you so badly. You squealed, giggling as he carried you straight down the hall towards his room without glancing back. As soon as he locked the door, his hands were all over you, holding you tightly to him. 

“Your baby?” You shyly whispered as he rested his forehead against yours, nodding and chasing your lips. 

“M’never letting you go again doll, never” He trailed kisses down your neck while unbuckling the straps of your gear letting it drop to the floor. “I want to love you, I want to hold you, I want to make love to you, I want it all with you” 

Bucky tore your clothes off, hoisting you up to wrap your legs around his waist as he carried you over to the bathroom, turning the hot water on, hot water pouring over both if you. The steam made you woozy, your body turning into jelly under his touch as he massaged your muscles with delicate touches, his lips ghosting over every bruise and scar that had marked your skin. You let out a needy whimper, staying close to him, your butterflies erupting in your tummy every time he touched you. 

“Bucky please”

“I want to love you so badly baby, love you the way you deserve” Bucky willed himself not to take you right there, focused on rinsing off and grabbing a towel, carrying you over to his bed. He tossed to towel off, climbing on top of you, neither of you having the patience for a slow build or teasing. Your belly clenched feeling his hard length rut and rub against your bare cunt, your slick coating his cock. 

“I need you” He rasped while you whined, wrapping your legs around him, bucking your hips up. “You have no idea baby, God I need you” His eyes were pleading with you, his cock starting to leak feeling your arousal. 

“Wanna feel you Bucky” You spread your legs for him, your breath hitching feeling the tip of his cock rub through your folds before pressing into your entrance. 

“Gonna make love to you so good sweet girl” Bucky whispered as he started to push his cock in, his heart beating faster, cock growing harder feeling your heat pull him in deeper. He groaned, letting his body weight fall onto you as he started to thrust, pleasure consuming both of you immediately. 

“JAmessss” Your gasp melted into a moan, your head pressed against his pillow as he filled you, stretching you open, letting you feel every ridge and vein of his cock. “Stretching me to so good Buckyyy” 

“Yeah? You feel so good wrapped around me baby” He rasped, his orgasm already creeping down his spine as he pressed sloppy kisses all over your face, overwhelmed with emotion and the feeling of you under him. Your moans made him twitch, nearly growling when he felt your nails dig into his skin as he kissed your cervix with each roll of his hips. 

“I missed you so much baby, didn’t know what to do with myself, I-I couldn’t breathe without you, couldn’t live-” Bucky could feel tears brimming his eyes, struggling to keep them away, “Fuck I missed you so much, I felt like I was drowning every single day” 

You sniffled over his words, your heart connected with his, squeezing your thighs around his waist, desperate to keep every inch of his body pressed with yours. 

“It-it was always you” He kissed your forehead, as he kept you caged under him, moaning against your skin.

“I love you” you cupped his cheeks, brushing his tears away, his nose lightly bumping against yours. You pulled him down for a sweet kiss, only pulling away for air. All of it was so much all at once, the quietest cries and softest kisses, feeling every inch of each other, making up for lost time. Bucky pulled the covers over you both, wrapping you in a cocoon of warmth, hiding you from the rest of the world, savoring this moment with just the two of you, his sweet girl back in his arms again. 

He let his arms roam across your body, stroking your waist, your thighs, gently cupping your breasts, softly suckling your nipples, his body trembling as he tried to hold his climax off and make this moment last forever. 

“M’gonna marry you, you know that?” His hands came to lace with yours, pinning you against the bed, eyes locked with yours. His pace didn’t falter, thrusting into you, loving the way your pussy fluttered around his cock, rolling his hips so he could push into you deeper. “W-will you? Will you marry me babygirl” 

He knew you had just come back but he wanted nothing more, unable to stop the words from slipping out. You let your own tears fall down your cheeks, pulling him impossibly closer. 

“Yes” You whimpered, sniffling back sobs as he stroked your head, smiling against your lips. 

“Gonna make you my wife baby, marry you and take care of you until my last breath” He started to fuck you faster, panting, the muscles in his body tensing. 

“Tell me more Bucky, please?” You whined, your heart aching for more, everything you’d always wanted with the one person you’d always been in love with. 

“Oh baby, M’gonna get you pregnant sweet girl, have a family with you, everything with you, take care of your swollen belly, make love to you even when you’re full of me, show you how much I adore you princess” You gasped as he braced himself, his grunts growing louder, his body heat radiating off him, unable to stop the pleasure that was growing. 

“Tell me your mine baby” He whined, wrapping his arms around you while you threw your head back, your eyes rolling back at the feel of his pubic bone rubbing your sensitive bundle of nerves with each thrust. 

“I’m yours Bucky” 

“Fuck don’t stop y/n, please, I need it” His voice was needy, desperately clinging onto your body, craving to hear nothing else. “Say it again doll”

“I’m yours Bucky, all yours soldier” You moaned louder, your legs shaking around him “I’m gonna cum” 

“Cum with me baby, same time, please” 

“BuckyBuckyBucky- You cried our, your walls staring to flutter, ready to fall off the edge with hi. 

“M’right here, I got you, togther, c’mon, cum with me princess” Bucky rolled his hips, pounding you into the mattress, biting down onto your neck as he felt your nails scratch down his back while white hot pleasure tore through you, your pussy milking his cock. 

“FUCK JAMES” Your body trembled as he fucked you through your high, burying his face into your neck, his lips brushing by your ear. 

“YES, Yes baby, my good girl, my sweet girl, s’perfect for me, yes, I’m gonna give you my cum, get you pregnant, have a baby with you, take care of you, love you, all of it with you baby, fuck- I LOVE YOU- UGGHHH- 

Bucky collapse on you, filling you with his cum until the bed was damp, his body jolting from sensitivity each time you fluttered around him while kissing his temple. He hardly moved, a steady stream of cum still pouring into you, staying connected to you the entire night, cuddling you next to him. 

“I finally have my baby back, my sweet sweet baby, she’s back” 

It has been nearly a week since you were back but you hadn’t left Bucky’s room once. You only took a few moments to eat and sleep, the rest of the time wrapped up in each other, connected in the most intimate way possible, while whispering sweet nothings, 

It was everything Bucky needed. Emotional. Warm. Soft. Loving. 

He couldn’t help the tears every time he was inside you, he finally had you back, wrapping his arms around you every time you made love, making sure you knew exactly how much he had always adored you. As much as he wanted to take you apart in every way imaginable, he couldn’t help but slip into missionary every single time, wanting to see your pretty face, feel your body, have your legs wrap around him as he came inside you. 

*****

You threw on your coat while Bucky slipped his arm around your waist while you both made your way down, passing through the living room on our way out. 

“Damn future Mrs. Barnes” Sam whistled, along with the rest of the team, everyone gathered for a night for a movie. “Where you off to?” 

“The three of us are going out for dinner” Bucky smiled with a child like grin, snickering to himself while the team looked at you with confusion. 

“Three?” Steve cocked his head, noting the way you shied into Bucky’s chest, giggling while he kissed your head, his hand slipping down to brush over your belly. “THREE?”

Steve’s eyes grew wide as he shot out of his seat, pointing at your tummy. “THREE” He whipped his head to Tony, Nat, Sam and Clint who slowly connected the dots. “THREE” 

“For fucks sake, it hasn’t even been a month Barnes” Tony snorted, while everyone pilled onto you both, a large mess of hugs and tears. 

“You didn’t waste any time, huh” Sam wiggling his eyebrows while Bucky wrapped his arms around you, his hands splayed on your tummy. 

“Never again” He whispered, tilting your chin to kiss you deeply, “Never ever again” 

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[lcksndkys]

Title: Red Tulips

Pairing: Namjoon x reader

Rating: SFW

Genre: f2?, fluff, mild angst

Word count: 1,486

A/N: I hope ya’lls like cheese! This lil piece was written as part of the btsghostiewriters net drabble marathon with the prompt of themes: ‘language of flowers’. Keep an eye out for more drabbles coming! And shout out to my hype team @jinpanman and @wwilloww for the encouragement!!

Summary: Namjoon has been gifting you flowers for years. As a good friend, he brings yet another offering to spruce up your new apartment. Tonight, he brings you tulips and the promise of change.

When you open the door of your new apartment, you’re not surprised when you see Namjoon on the other side holding a delicate bouquet of flowers. As a flower shop owner and lover of nature he has been avidly gifting you with his personal creations for years. 

Lavender roses (enchantment) when you finished grad school. 

Asters (take care of yourself for me) when you left home for your first big job opportunity. 

Blue violets (faithfulness) when you landed your dream job and subsequently returned to your hometown.

Yellow acacias (secret love) when you accepted a promotion last month ensuring a permanent residence. 

“Joonie, you know you didn't have to bring me anything!” you laugh as you accept his offering with eager hands. 

Holding the flowers in one hand, you use your remaining arm to wrap around his waist.  Rising to your toes, you plant a chaste kiss to his dimpled cheek. Heat creeps up his neck at your affection, and Namjoon silently prays you won’t notice. You never have.

“Th-they’re tulips,” he breathes quietly into your crown as he wraps both arms around you. He breathes in your lightly floral scent and wills his heart not to race. Your hand runs up and down the broad planes of his back and you note that he has filled out with more muscle while you’ve been gone. 

You welcome him in to join the rest of your friends who have come to celebrate your move back to the city. Namjoon greets your mutual friends and chooses a seat next to his best friend Yoongi. 

Namjoon’s magnetic gaze is drawn to your every smile, every move. But in your pleasantly inebriated state, you grin back at your long time friend without noting the rosy, amorous tint in his eyes. 

Beside him, Yoongi peers over at his two friends in exasperation and rolls his eyes. He’s too sober to watch Namjoon make googly eyes at you all night. He has seen Namjoon silently pine for you over the years, too fearful of your rejection to make a move. Now that you’re finally back home, Yoongi hopes that your relationship might bloom like the buds that Namjoon carefully tends to. 

Drinks and laughter are plentiful as the night progresses. The evening blurs with the warmth of friendship, alcohol, and good company. The last few years have been full of professional growth and development, but you’ve missed the familiarity of your home and loved ones. 

As time wears on, people start heading home, but Namjoon and Yoongi linger to help a still happily buzzed you clean up. 

“I’ll take out the trash,” Joon offers, leaving you and Yoongi to finish cleaning up. In the kitchen, he haphazardly puts glassware back into your cabinets as you wipe down the countertops. 

“Those are romantic” Yoongi drawls, gesturing to the flowers by the sink.

“Nah, they’re from Joon” you laugh, dismissing his comment entirely with a wave of your hand.

“Exactly”

There’s a beat of silence as Yoongi quirks a brow at you. Crossing his arms, he leans against the freshly cleaned countertop assessing your reaction.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask, looking from Yoongi to the tulips and back again.

“Maybe you should ask Namjoon” is the cryptic reply you recieve. 

Outside, Namjoon is pacing back and forth. He thinks back to his pep talk with Yoongi earlier in the day. 

“You gotta tell her, man” Yoongi encourages. “She’s finally home, she’s single, and you’re gonna regret it if someone else sweeps her off her feet before you’ve had the chance to confess.”

“I don’t know if I can do it. I- I don’t think I could handle her rejection,” Namjoon sighs.  

“Ok, but if you don’t, you’re gonna lose her for good. Which can you live with?”

There’s no way he could bear watching you fall in love with someone else again. Going through it once was bad enough. Seeing your eyes ignite for another man is going to kill him. He’s sure of it.

Light suddenly floods the patio as you swing open the door to let Yoongi take his leave.

“There you are! I thought you might have left without saying goodbye” you pout from the doorway. You watch as Yoongi pulls Namjoon in for a bro hug and briefly whispers something to  the younger man before climbing into his car and driving off.

Namjoon steels himself. It’s now or never, he decides. 

“I, um, I have to talk to you about something,” he says, leading the two of you back inside.

You take a seat on the arm of the couch and curl a leg under you to watch him continue his nervous pacing. 

“Joon-bug, you’re scaring me,” you chuckle, hoping to break through some of the tension. Your mild buzz is quickly evaporating.

“You know you can tell me anything right?” you say quietly. You approach him slowly as you would a frightened animal, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

With you so close to him, Namjoon needs to tilt his head down to make eye contact. He can feel your warm breath on his chin, your skin on his. There’s the familiar pull of your gaze and his heart races with fear and love. He’s drowning, but finds that he doesn’t want to be saved. 

Before he knows it, he’s craning down further and pressing an urgent kiss to your lips. When you don’t immediately pull away, he brings both hands up to cradle your face, tilting you for a better angle. His thumbs brush tenderly along the apples of your cheeks breaking you out of your shock. 

You jerk back a couple of steps, eyes round in surprise and completely missing the way Namjoon’s face crumbles with defeat. 

“Wha-”

“Irresistible love,” he blurts out.

Your eyebrows pinch in confusion. 

“What?” 

“The red tulips. They symbolize irresistible love,” Namjoon repeats. “I’ve been trying to tell you with all the flowers,” he pauses to take a deep calming breath. “That I’m in love with you.”

Love. 

Your ears ring in alarm. 

“No- you aren’t. You can’t be'' you stutter in bewilderment. 

“I can, and I am. I have loved you for years.” Namjoon finds that once he starts, he can’t stop. “I’ve been waiting for you to notice me. But now I’m afraid that I’ll lose out on a chance with you. That I’ll always wonder what if. I can’t hold back anymore.”

You can only stare mutely at him for several heart pounding moments.

“I’m just confused,” you whisper, mind whirling with a montage of memories. You try to inspect them under a more careful lens in light of his confession. 

“Tell me if I should apologize for kissing you, or give me permission to do it again” 

He takes your silence as confirmation of your rejection. 

Your conflicted gaze meets his anguished expression. 

“I’m sorry for kissing you. It won’t happen again” comes his clipped response.

“Just hold on- wait” you plead, panicking when you feel him pull away and head for the door. Your heart wrenches in it’s cage at the possibility of losing Namjoon. 

You catch onto his wrist effectively halting his escape. Fleetingly, his eyes dart to your fingers wrapped around him and nods once at your request. Even now, heartbroken, he cannot deny you.

He gently pulls from your grasp, making for the couch to put some distance between you. He takes a seat on the armrest that you had previously been perched. His eyes are trained on the floor where he feels like his heart has been dropped.

“I didn't realize,” you say. 

Namjoon scoffs. “Are you really so surprised? I literally cannot hide the way my body reacts to you.”

He beckons to you. He needs you to approach him on your own will.

Once you’re close enough, he grasps your hand in his much larger one. You let him trail your fingertips along his forearm and you watch in wonder as goosebumps flare in the wake of your touch. He continues a path towards his chest, just left of center, where you can feel the rapid thrumming of the powerful organ hidden beneath clothes and skin and bone. Pulling you closer, Namjoon presses your palm into his chest and you feel the sudden uptick in the beating of his heart as you look into his eyes.

“Could you give me a chance?” 

Your heart seizes, enchanted by the man standing in front of you. Your friend, your confidant. Your lover?

Namjoon is a good man. He is handsome, smart, gentle, and patient. He’s everything you want. Your eyes widen at the startling realization. 

Namjoon is giving you his love, and you’d be a fool not to accept.

“Kiss me again, Joonie” you ask shyly.

The euphoric smile on his face is the last thing you see before your eyes flutter shut.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Over.

For those who dont know here is the link for the first part of this lil thing :3

You exhaled with a smile at seeing the new look on your apartment. It came with a generous amount of space on both living room and bedroom. Some of the Hassaikai members helped you with all the mobile and some boxes you still had to look over to put things back in order.

Humming to a song that was stuck in your head (and he wadled away wadle wadle) you kneeled on the ground to open a tiny box to start, but you soon frowned at seeing the contents of it...

It was a tiny little glass box, with a carnation safetly placed inside of it... along, it came a bit of your treasures you savored.. a pair of white yet with tiny little delicate detailsyou knrw he knew you love it; a tiny necklace, simple yet elegant, pingent of a heart attached to it; earings with the symbol of the hassaikai and others that were little white wings...

You soon took notice of the drops of tears that were falling down on your lap and inside the boz as you picked the earrings of the Hassaikai... Chisaki gave you this when you both started dating... it was the first ever gift he gave to you along with the carnation...

'I am by far one of the most normal men considering of what the society sees me... but I hope you that you have the patience to bear with me until I give you a life and a clean world to live in until there my dear.'

The words repeated on your head as sobs started to rip from your tgroat as you clenched the earing to the point they pierced your skin enough to hurt as you curped yourself on the floor in misery...

You wanted to forgive him. You wanted to forget what happened on that disgrace if a day...

But you just couldn't. You couldn't forget thhe warth yet neither that murderous gaze Kai had on you. You couldn't forget how his rough hands that usually touched you like you were made out of glass instead grabbed roughly on your arm to the point you cried in pain.

You couldn't forget how he used his quirk on you out of anger.

.

.

.

"Thank you." He muttered monotonously as he grabbed the bouquet full of roses, safetly wrapped up so it couldn't come in contact with him as he exuted the shop.

Ever since the accident, he hadn't been able to get sleep without having night terrors of the terrified look you had... the screams for him to get away from you, to not wven rouch you with a single finger...

He felt worse than the dirt his shoes collected while walking on the dirty streets of where he lived.

He stared at one single rouse out of all in the bouquet he just paid for it, sighing as he adjusted a petal that was a tad bit out of place only for him to accidentaly rip it from the poor flower.

He stopped at that, watching the petal dance while falling into the ground... his eyebrows frowned as he merely sighed after closing his eyes.

"It seems everything I do I end it up ruining it on a way or another..." he whispered to himself, lowering both arms in defeat.

In others it would be seen as childish for him to get all depressed over a simple petal falling from the bouquet... but not for him.

He was the one that was abandoned on the streets to starve; he was the one whose only brought problems more than pride to the man whose took care of him as his only son... he was the one that hurt and traumatized the one he loved over a anger tantrum...

What was wrong with him..? He though, bringing his free hand ro rub his face and sigh deepely.

Although, his ears peeked up at a sound of laughter. Your laughter. His precious angel's laughter which he hadn't heard from months... he swear he felt like crying in glee as he started to almost run towards that beautiful sound he oh missed so dearly.

What wasn't he expecting was get right in front of a scene that left his heart immediately dropping to his stomach... you were indeed laughing of course.

But in the arms of another man.

On the other side of the street he saw how the taller male bear hugged you and lifted you up off the ground and twirles you around as you squealed. Scrunching up your nose at him kissing hard on your cheek.

He slowly lowered down his hand where it held the bouquet as he stared at the scene that completely torn his insodes out as his eyes carried sadness and heartache...

Despite all of those feelings, he still found himself smiling as a tear ran down his face... it was better this way. You could have a normal life, not surrounded by body guards, not have to worry about constant magging of getting clean or sickness... having someone that could give you what you deserved...

He turned his back to walk away... but what wasn't him expecting was that you had noticed him. Walking away. You furrowed your eyebrows, and against your better judgment, you started to run toawrds him, not seing the open signal neither the car that was coming...

"Ka-Chisaki!" He heard you and let out a confused sound before turning and widening his eyes in horror and dropping the amount of flowers he had at the sign of a car coming and honking.

His feet moved before his mind could, his gloves already dissapeared as he shouted foe you or the car, he didn't know anymore, to stop.

Your eyes widened at the sound of honking and before could let out a sound you were engulfed in muscular arm, bringing you close to his chest as he almosy broke his wrist when making contact with the car and overhauling it in a question of seconds.

The screams were gone for a minute and all you could hear was your and Kai's heartbeat at top speed and his uncrotoled shorts of breath.

A half of the citizens clapped their hands while others immediately left the local as the owner of the car, a young man, finally recovered from the state of panic and got down angry yelling at both of you.

"You stupid bitch! Couldn't see a damn sign that I WAS THE ONE TO GO?! AND YOU TOO YOU DICK! You conpletely destroyed my car you asshole!" The male shouted as Kai put you back on your feet as he glared daggers at the short man.

"If a car cost more than a life so there-" the car was back in shape as soons as he destroyed "You can have it. But just for you to know I am not just an 'asshole' as you reffered me." He growled between teeh as you tensed... you knew that tone of voicw way too well...

"Pff-! Yeah whatever old man-" Chisaki grabbed the hem of the shit of the man and stared dead in his eye "H-Hey! Let go basta-"

"You're bold enough ti call the leader of the yakusa a bastard, arent you?" He growled, and the life of the brunnete seemes to fade away from his eyes as he heard those words.

Before you could say something the scared male face was brought to you as Kai growled and overhauled just a tad bit of yhe hem of his shirt to prove his point.

"This you rascal. Is not a bitch. She is a woman. One that deserves respects and was almost killed by you driving at an unforgible speed you irresponsible germ. So before I lose my patience, say your apologies. Now."

The man stuttered some apologies as your eyes widened at Chisaki before he let go of the brunnete to dall on his knees qs Kai glared at him.

"Get out of my sign before I change my kind on cutting your fingers off."

You stared dumbfounded at the zpeed the little man had to enter his car and get the hell out of thwre becore you gasped at seing Chisaki starting to walk away from you once again.

"H-Hey! Chisaki!" You called but he only stopped and crouched down "You're seriously not gonna say-" you stopped when he got up and turnes to you with a brojen face as he stared at the absolute destroyed bouquet... the majority of them were sprawled on the ground and somewere broken and petals lost and sprawled on the ground and on the street.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled as you stared confusely until he spoke on a sadder tone "Those were meant for you.." you hesitantly grabbed and stared in pity yet a tad bit of ahocked at the warmth you felt on your chest.

"You.. didn't had to." He sinply blinked at your astonished expression.

"I know. But is the least I could do." He muttered before a bit of awkward silence was in the air as you stared at the white roses in your hand, threatening to appear a smile on your lips until the man just sighed and turned midway away from you.

"Have a good afternoon." You eyes widened and before you could even mutter the words wait, he just left. Hands stuffed on his pockets and head hung low.

You furrowed your eyebrows before your eyes dropped to the ground where a mess of white petals and broken roaes were sprawled...

You buffed before looking at a meteo station and walking on the direction of your new apartment.

.

.

"You know," he heard the old male's voice ring from the door way as he tried to listen to some calm music layed on his bed and documments on hand "You could take a break now at then Chisaki, maybe some tea to help calm those nervs boy." He stopped reading for a moment as he sighed, looking at Pops unamused.

"Thank you for the offer. But I shall decline."

"Son you camt expect to just succumb into depression like that and think I would allow it." The words of the epder shocked him to some instant before he hesitantly locked eyes with grey ones "I bet you havent triies to verbally apologize to them even once, am I wrong?" Pops croased his arms as he stared at the man dressed in black.

"... try saying sorry for breaking a cup. The word itself wont make the cup return to its original form, it will still be broken." He sighed as he placed the papers on the desn after getting up "This is the same situation. Is not like I deserve or neither knows how to love someone anyway."

"So you just will accept (Y/n) to walk out, end things and be like that?" The elder gesture with his hand at Chisaki "You want to end things with the one you claimed to lo-"

"I didn't want it too, OKAY?!" he banged his fist on the desk as he droppes his head with closed eyes as Pops frowned "I didn't... I.. I cant take the thought of (Y/n) leaving me... but at the same time.." the elder widened hsi eyes at the drop of water that fell on the papers, staining a bit.

"I cant take the thought..of hurting such an angel like I did again... I wouldn't forgive myself." He spoke through teeth in hopes a sob wouldn't escaped until he felt the hand of his mentor pulling him into a firm hug.

"And you say you dont know how to love, huh?" Pops muttered with a smile whipe putting all of his force on the hug as Chisaki's tears deopped silently "Idiot boy, you are just as worth to love someone as anyone else. A mistake wont lwt you stop you if you do know you were on the wrong of it and want to be better." His hand patter the brown hair of Kai much as he did inumerous times as when he was just a child.

He pushed Kai away and sadly smirked at seeing the face of Chisaki all stained with dry tears but no traces of redness... just a broken look.

"When you act like this. Like a man. Is the times I am most proud of you, my son." His breath hitched at the male's words "i will get some herbal tea wether you want it or not. And believe me boy, things are going to get better soon or later."

"... sounds impossible." He muttered as soon as the elder left the room and closed the door.

.

.

.

It was his birthday. Tommorow was his birthday.

You frowned before inhaling sharply. It would complete almost three months since you just stopped talking with him. You were better. But you continually beated yourself up for craving that man's touch or just for hearing some word out of him.

The tiny little presents had stopped when you read a card where he apologized to seen like a stalker and would leave you alone for you to move on. One day after the day you almost got run over by a car and he had saved you and even defended your moral from that asshole that almost shitted his pants at only knowing Chisaki was from the yakusa.

You sighed... this was the first of a ever time Kai had hurted you... and this seemed like it did not only affected you. You sure was hoping for Kai to get possesive or even threatening you to come back to him like many cases you saw on the T.v. But you should have know that by now, Kai was different.

Despite how much he denied, he was a old and gentleman at heart, always looking for ways to please you through gifts since he hadn't has any form of touching in his lifetime that he didn't saw as sick...

... that was it. You had decided over fighting with yourself over three weeks by now.

You were going to give Chisaki. Your Kai Chisaki, another chance.

Packing your purse and everything you could carry on your suitcase, you locked the door of your apartment and left on destination of the house of the Shie Hassaikai.

.

.

.

The gates openes coincdentaly when a black car entered and you took the chance to sneak in. Tip toeing to your once shared bedroom and letting your things over there before you jumped with a squeal at a soind of cough.

"Is such a pleasure to have you back here my dear." You smiled at the old man's face and immediately hugged him, catching the elder in surprise before he chuckled and returned your hug "Care if I may ask why are you back out of the sudden?"

"I... I missed your son. So much." You spoke in embarrassment as the elder smiled and showed with his hand the hallway.

"I guess he is on a room reading something, go text your luck." You nodded, bowing with gratitide as you hesitantly walked and indeed found Kai sitting on a sofa, leg crossed over another as he read a book.

"'The only thing we never get enough of, is love; and the only thing we dont give enough of is also love.' Tsk... not a tad bit wrong Miller sir.." you heard your boyfriend mumbling to himself as he closed the book with a sigh to rub between hsi eyebrows.

You took careful steps while arms crosses behind your back as you looked at his hunched over form and messy dark brow hair.

"I never took you the type to read love quotes." You speak quietly, giggling at how Chisaki flinched and opened his eyes wide at seeing you just mere feet away from him "Hi."

"(Y/n)?" He spoke almost in disbelief as he stood up , hope on his eye swith a fraction of second before returning to that hollow look "What.. what brings you here?"

You rubbed your arm while taking carefull steps towards him, seeing how tense he was.

"I.. think we should at least had talked.. before all of this happened at least."

"You dont have too." He immediatly replied with a stoic look "Is all clear. And I dont take your reasons away from you. You have the right to have a life of your own." You furrowed your eyebrows and honestly being hurt by his words.

"What? So.. so you are okay with this? W-With.. is all this about us?" You pointed at the two of you as sadness overtook his features.

"... I juust know is for the best. For your happiness and safety at least. You dont have to make excuses to make me feel better. I know what I did. And believe, I regret it and hate myself with every piece of my soul."

"Well... I sure cant just pat your head and tell that 'aw baby it was nothing you want a cookie?'-" you saw how he cringed at your words and looked down at his feet "But... but I can say other things." He arched an eyebrows before his breath hitched when he felt your arma circle his chest as you rested your cheek where you could hear his heartbeat...

He stood there with hands on the air in both fear of hurring you and conoekte shock until you spoke something that completely broke him.

"I forgive you Kai... we can still be together... if you want of course."

The sobs ripped from his theoat without warning as his arms came down to gently hold you as he buries his face in your for the sake of his pride.

You felt tears of your own fall as well, staining Kai black social shirt, which he wa completely hot on it, as you clinged for dear life on him, after months finally feeling secure on his arms like you used to do...

"I'm so sorry..." he mumblex, swallowing a hiccup as he rested his chin on your head as you closed your eyes to let the tears fall.

"I know..." you mumbled before parting away from hin as you both stared at eachother until you smiled sadly as he wiped your tears away as you mirrored his actions. "Who would have thought.. a simple quirkless girl making the big bad yakusa cry like a child." You giggled as you saw the hint of tiny smirk beneath that mask.

You saw how he pushed down the said article to reveap his whole handsome face as he stares back at you.

"Should we start all over then?" You offered as his eyebrows quirked up.

"What about that guy you were talking with before... the almost acvident if you could say."

"... my friend thhat was telling me about his wedding in the next month you mean?" You asked with a tiny laugh as his face dropped in realization. "Y-You thought I was dating him?!"

"Well..." he sighed, looking away from you " You had your reasons to."

He widened his eyes at the sudden touch of your hands on his jaw and almost gasped when you pulled him to crush your lips with his... finaly registering what was happening he allowed himself to close his eyes and just... enjoy the moment.

"My jelly bean." You whispered with foreheads conected as Kai scoffed with a smile.

"Dont start with the stupid nicknames now." You smiled at him before he hesitamtly put his hands on your waist "so.. about what happened-" you shushed him gently before ppacing a more sweet kiss on his lips.

"Hush, is over now. In the past. I know you didn't meaant it, and I forgive you. Dont overthinking about it okay? Is over now my love." You nuzzled on his neck as he leg out a watery chuckle and engulfing you on his arms.

".. I guess.. I guess is over." He smiled as he closed his eyes and breathe din the svent he so desperately craved for months.

[batsforbadones]

Could you do some general relationship hc’s for Huntress and Ghostface? I read some of your stuff and just- wow. Your writing is absolutely fantastic! I highkey simp for it

Of course! I’m glad you like my writing, and I’m always glad to write for DBD :D.

HUNTRESS ( ANNA )

- Lesbian. No argument here. Women love women solidarity for this one. - Has a very specific kind of trauma where she’s so foreign to the idea of being out of power that the second she is, she breaks. She needs to be the more domineering partner, but desperately needs to be babied as well.  - Anna is a selective mute. She does her little hummings, and will mutter small things here and there. Single words. Yes’s. No’s. And she’s not very physically emotional either, but she does her best to make up for this like her mother would. - Gifts. She brings a lot of trophies back from hunts. - Deer heads. Deer antlers. Rabbit bodies- Hide blankets. We’re not going to talk about the time she brought back some woodsman’s body. We don’t bring that up-- Anything that you might find pretty. If you’re not impressed by any of the flowers she brings you from the woods, she’s more than willing to burn down some nearby flower stand to get you what you want. She believes you look prettiest holding Lilacs. - Dumb as a box of bricks, this one.  - Hasn’t ever thought about anything ever at all other than women, skinning things, and axes. She does not have the mental fortitude to do it. If Anna had been given better circumstances, she’d be a severely empathetic, and also severely depressed, but she was not given better circumstances. She has two modes of intelligence under her belt, and they’re definitely not intrapersonal or linguisitic. This makes for some pretty scary moments where Anna does her best to think, and her brain tries for just a second to let her realize how bad she has it, and how much she’s done, and when she does, she’s on her knees, practically crawling back to you for comfort.  - The next day, it’s like this is gone. It never happened. Anna is your big strong warrior lady again. - Once again, not super affectionate, but when she is, it’s almost to a smothering degree. Previous to you, Anna had never been ‘ held ‘. Her mom was very hands off. Anna grew thick skin because of it- She didn’t need anything to keep her warm.  - She refuses to sleep without you though. Even if you get into any semblance of a fight ( which is hard to do with Anna, she’s quick to apologize because of course she probably did something wrong. (( her ‘ apologizing is just grasping at your waist on her knees, kind of in a prayer position with her head shoved into your stomach )) she forces you into bed with her. She holds you tight. You couldn’t get loose if you tried. - Most nights, you’re big spoon. If you start the night one way, you will wake up with her back to you. No matter what. - Anna is a big dumb animal. Like a golden retriever, but she isn’t very prone to positive or negative reinforcement. If you give her sex in response to something, she’s no more prone to doing whatever she did. If you hit her in response to something, she’s no less likely to stop doing it. - An ass woman. She doesn’t know she’s an ass woman, but I know in my heart Anna is an ass woman through and through. 

JED OLSEN ( DANNY JOHNSON ) A lil NSFW, but like, not really.

- If I were to let myself have --- even a semblance of joy I’d say Jed was just wildly possessive. With a weird thing for blood. - But I can’t give myself nice things. - Jed does this cute little thing called keeping you in a state of constant paranoia. - He loves to keep you so mentally and physically exhausted that your logic is so ridiculously thin you can’t deny him anything.  - Your sleep schedule was never the best, but you had never pulled three nights without sleep before Jed. Not that you realized the correlation. - Not that you knew the man stalking the streets in that ghoulish mask, leaving photos of you with the most sexually explicit threats you ever heard, was your loving, painfully average boyfriend, Jed Olsen.  - And he kept it that way. - You tried to tell him once, that you were being stalked and threatened. He was glad a phone call came in at that exact moment, or else his torture of you would end so painfully soon. He had to ‘ leave for a meeting ‘ quickly after the call, and later that night, he wrote a horrendous letter, and left it at your door with the obligatory ‘ Tell anybody, and I’ll slit your fucking throat xoxo Ghost Face‘  - You know - Couple things. - I am not the first one to have this thought. He really - really likes calling you while he’s yanking it, voice gravely. You’re so deaf to fear you can’t recognize it as Jed’s. He blows his load and leaves the call with some pervy nickname. He’ll call you the same, weirdly specific thing as Jed just to see you tense up. You’re so sleep deprived, you can’t be bothered to think about how slim the chances are that both your boyfriend and this masked stranger call you ‘ Honey Bee ‘ or ‘ Angel Baby ‘ or something else so backhandedly sweet. - If you hang up in the middle of the call, you wake up with your windows busted out. They’re just - gone. Shattered glass all over your carpet.  - Of course Jed is there to help pick it up the next morning. Calling you his klutzy little kitty. - What does the infamous ghost face call you in his next, obsessive letter but his klutzy little kitty. - There are few people that can rival Danny’s voyeuristic tendencies. You’ve ceased every kind of solo act, making you all the more ready for the taking when Jed wants you.  - Fucking weird that you never get pictures of Jed railing you, but okay. Guess Ghost Face draws the line at being cucked. Weird. - He doesn’t draw the line at being cucked. - There is no line to be drawn. He wants your everything - spilling onto the ground in heaps of blood and intestinal tract. He really wants to wreck you just to see that he can do it. - He sees that knife as his dick. I will die fighting for this statement. Jed Olsen can’t pitch one unless he knows someone is afraid, which is the one reason you’re so ‘special’ to him. - He’s groomed you to perfection. Looking around while you two are going at it- Looking around in fear of him - You can barely focus on anything. His little, dumb, paranoid baby.

[snapdragon-mina]

Sunflowers and Snakes

Pairing: Dabi x Reader x Hawks

A/n: Written for the Bnha spring time event. Hi @amaamajiki , I'm your anon! I really hope you like this lmao.

Word Count: 2.25k

Warnings: Sorta spoilers for bnha, swearing, blood mention, Suggestive themes(Very very minor)

For the first time in about a month, You could go home on time. The restaurant you worked in constantly asked for you to work overtime. The only reason you continuously agreed was for that sweet sweet paycheck. Fortunately, everyone else was at work and did their jobs, so you were free to go home and cuddle the shit out of your dog. 

When you got home, all you could hear was the sound of paws on wood before your life flashed before your eyes. Seems your dog missed you a little too much because he pounced, knocking you off balance, and eagerly started licking your face. 

"Okay! Okay! Hey let's make a deal. If you get off of me, I'll give you a surprise?" You held your dog away from your face with one arm, while wiping off the sheer amount of dog slobber that was on your face with the other. The dog paused as if he were thinking before moving off of you and sitting down with a sharp bark. 

"That's a good boy." You smiled at him before turning on the TV for background noise. You walked into the kitchen to fix your dog's food. After pouring the food into the bowl, you stuck a lil treat in there. Boom! Recipe for a happy Schnauzer. The moment you sat the bowl down, he shot forwards and barely gave you back out of the way. 

Shaking your head, you walked back into your living room and sat on the couch. Moments of complete peace were hard to come by. After the fall of All Might, nobody was really safe. I mean, Endeavor doesn't give a shit about his fans, so why should you trust him to protect you? 

From what you gathered, the number two hero, Hawks has actually started searching for his soulmate. When asked to show off his tattoo, he refused. Something about "The thrill of the hunt". 

Tattoos are typically two of a kind. Only two people would have the same tattoo. Speaking of soulmate tattoos, Yours was a Snake winding around a single sunflower. It was actually huge, since it covered your entire left arm. It was a really cool design when you think about it.

A small whine managed to shake you out of your thoughts. You got up, grabbed the yellow leash, and hooked it to the matching yellow collar your dog wore. "Come on pretty pup, it's been awhile since I've had time to go on a walk, huh?"

He barked in response as his stubby little tail wagged rapidly. You opened the door and locked it behind you before letting yourself be led by your dog. Around five minutes into the walk, you felt your arm grow warm. Apparently your soulmate was close. It was like a game of hot and cold until you bumped into a guy with a black trenchcoat. Your arm felt extremely hot, so you looked at him. 

"You gonna apologize? You were the one that bumped into me." He had a relatively bored tone of voice. He was eerily calm for someone to be in this scenario. It felt like his eyes were staring deeply into your soul.

"Yeah uh, sorry… But-" You couldn't even finish your sentence, because he walked off with a dismissive wave. You wanted to follow after him, but your dear dog had decided he wanted to shit right then and there. You were forced to wait on him to finish. 

After cleaning up and disposing of the waste, you just decided to go back home to get some much deserved rest.

•••

Two weeks later, you had a day off and it was really nice outside, so why not go for a walk through the forest? You went through your typical morning routine and got dressed. You fed your dog and took him out for a bit. "Alright pup, I'll be back soon, okay?" You blew a lil air kiss and left the house. 

After roughly 15 minutes, you reached a clearing in the forest. It was peaceful and nothing seemed to be out of place. There was a river a few steps away from you, and all sorts of flowers blooming. The trees actually provided very nice shade. You wouldn't mind living out here or at least somewhere just as peaceful as it was out here.

You took a deep breath and sat on a nearby stump, just taking in nature. You didn't get to enjoy the peace for long, due to the sudden burn on your left arm. Your soulmate was quickly approaching your location. You glanced around, but didn't see anyone. Yet your arm was getting warmer and warmer. 

Suddenly, a voice spoke out. "You're the person from that night, right?"

You recognized that voice. You focused on where the sound came from and fixated on where he was standing. He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Yeah, I am. Hey can I-"

"I'm not your soulmate." He interjected. You shot him a confused look. There was no way you were wrong about this. "Don't believe me? I don't even have a tattoo." He held up both of his scarred arms. 

This only served to confuse you more. "Yeah no, I'm right. There's no fucking way I'm wrong." You shot back. He raised an eyebrow at you. 

"Are you sure about that? People are born without soulmates, y'know." He said.

"Let's say you aren't my soulmate. Why the hell did you follow me here?" You sighed, already annoyed that he ruined your perfectly peaceful moment. 

"Because I know who is." 

"Why would you help me? You don't seem like the type to help someone just out of the kindness of your heart." You narrowed your eyes and he laughed. He laughed at you. 

"Oh trust me, I'll be getting a pretty little payment for this," His eyes shone with amusement. "Follow me."

He walked off. Bold of him to assume you were gonna follow him. You stayed put for a moment before ultimately realizing it was useless. You had to speed walk to catch up to him. He walked out of the forest and towards a building that was pretty much hidden from view. 

Your arm was still extremely warm, due to you being close to the strange man. Hold on. You don't even know his name and yet you followed him to some secluded building where he's probably gonna-

"Dabi." 

The statement broke you out of your train of thought. That was… weirdly coincidental. He suddenly announced his name just as your mind began to wander. "Yeah… I'm Y/l/n Y/n…" 

He just hummed in response, as he continued to lead you through the strange building. Eventually the two of you came to a stop. The both of you stood in front of a door that had been painted red. He didn't even bother knocking and simply opened the door, revealing none other than the number two hero. 

Hawks' head perked up at the sound of the door opening and grinned lazily. "Hey, thanks again for bringing her." He had a glint in his eyes. Like he knew something you didn't. 

"Mhm. I'm expecting my… you piece of shit." Dabi trailed off before there was suddenly emotion in his voice. It definitely wasn't a good one. Had something happened between the two of them? Should you leave? Yeah… you definitely should. Dabi seemed extremely hostile and you were getting bad vibes. You went to take a step back but paused when you felt a hand tightly grip your wrist. 

"Huh?"

"You aren't going anywhere" His eyes were still focused on Hawks. Nobody moved for a moment before suddenly, the hostility drained from the air. Dabi let go of your wrist and walked out of the room. 

"Hawks-"

"Call me Keigo."

"Okay, Keigo… can you explain to me why I'm here?" The past like 5 minutes was a trip from start to finish and you really wanted answers. Keigo patted the spot next to him, so you took a seat and waited for him to start. 

"Your arm still feels really warm despite Dabi no longer being in the room, right?" His feathers ruffled slightly as a breeze drifted through the window. You nodded, unsure of what to think before it hit you. His grin got wider and he removed his jacket. "Well, Y/n, we're soulmates." He held out his left arm for you to see. Low and behold, The exact same tattoo was covering it. 

You felt extremely happy that you'd found your soulmate, but still extremely confused. How did your tattoo still burn in Dabi's presence if Hawks was your soulmate? It didn't make sense. 

"I should probably explain Dabi since he won't do it himself, and you're probably hella confused. Dabi is also our soulmate." 

That… that actually makes sense. You nod as Hawks explains everything and suddenly he gets to a topic that you'd been curious about for a while now.

"Because of his scarring, he no longer has the tattoo. But nature had him covered because he developed a telepathic connection to both of us. Aka, he can very easily read our minds."

That made even more sense. But that doesn't explain why he refused you as a soulmate. You shook off that thought and decided to get to know Hawks a little better. Eventually the two of you came to an agreement. Since you liked to cook, and he liked eating, sometime this month, you'd bake or fry chicken for him. 

It was starting to get dark and your dog probably missed you, so you decided to try to find Dabi. 

Dabi did not want to be found. It took you 30 minutes to finally get to him, and when you did he ignored any small talk you tried to initiate. Eventually he grew tired of your shit. "Look, I'm not your soulmate. Leave me alone."

"Yeah? Bullshit. Hawks explained everything to me. Why are you brushing me off?" 

"I don't fucking need a soulmate. Certainly not someone like you or Hawks." He snarled, turning on his heels to walk away. 

"I don't care about what you think you need. You need us, you can't deny that!" You argued back. You were really starting to get sick of this.

"I can and I will." 

And with that, he walked away. You balled your hands into fists tightly. You would've stayed, but your dog needed someone to take care of him.

•••

Almost a month had gone by since that argument, between you and Dabi and you hadn't heard from him since. Hawks moved in and actively bothered the hell out of your dog. He would complain about him biting his feathers, but you would often catch him sleeping with y/d/n curled up at his side. 

You were in the middle of baking cookies when a crash could be heard from within the house. You grabbed a kitchen knife and went to investigate the sound. It couldn't have been the dog, he was asleep when the crash was heard. Silently walking into the room the sound was heard from, you were kinda shocked to see him. 

He had numerous cuts in various sizes on his body. All of them were bleeding. "I just need somewhere to lay low for a bit, I'll be gone by morning." 

"Dabi…" Your heart ached at the sight of him, but you refused to be someone he could walk all over. "Get out."

It seemed like he was too preoccupied to listen to your thoughts, because your words shocked him. "...Out? Y/n, it's me." 

"I know. But you said you didn't need us, yet here you are." You stood your ground and he stared up at you for a moment. He was analyzing you, seeming like he was studying you for a weakness he could exploit. 

He let out a sigh and spoke under his breath. You raised an eyebrow at this and he cleared his throat before speaking up. "...I'm sorry. I just… don't want the two of you dragged down with me."

"Elaborate." You demanded and he nodded. 

"I'm a villain, you're a civilian, and Hawks is the number two hero. Being associated with me is like killing your chances to actually do something with your life." He hissed out. Seemed like the pain from his wounds was getting to him. 

You helped him up and led him into the bathroom. There, you cleaned up and bandaged his wounds. He studied your face carefully and you worked. "No hard feelings?" 

"No hard feelings. But Keigo should be getting home soon, so you're gonna have to relay your little speech again." You snorted as you finished up. He stood up and walked out of the bathroom with you trailing behind him. 

The two of you walked into the kitchen. You pulled the cookies out of the oven and offered one up as a peace treaty. He rolled his eyes and pecked you on your lips as a peace treaty. 

A minute or so later, Hawks walked in. He noticed Dabi sitting on the counter with a chamomile flower crown on his head. How you managed to get him to wear that is unknown to humanity. 

"Yeah, I'm gonna live here from now on. And no, you won't be topping."

Hawks rolled his eyes as you laughed. "At least you're not being a pussy about soulmates anymore."

"Fuck you too."

[knight-queen]

Lunatic Parade Yuma Mukami –(Chapter 4)

[Chapter O 1]  [Chapter 2]  [Chapter 3]  [Chapter 4]  [Final] 

一

Place: Tart Tatan , Glimmer Street Restaurants 

Yui: (For now, he told me to get something to eat as I got hungry but…)

Yuma: Ah...how shall we get staaart…

Yui: It was...the one who chased two rabbits didn’t get a single one.

Yuma: Aah...what’d ya mean?

Yui: I meant, it was impossible to get both heart and that giant cake at one shot.

Yuma: Tch...fuck. Don’t just decide the rare things or stuff all for yourself!

Aah, when I feel irritated, it gets on my nerves.

Yui: (I’m aware that I can’t have a gloomy mood but, it’s not impossible to...)

(get back my heart…)

*Running footsteps*

Yuma: Nh? That man is….

The fear store Manager:  Ooh! You’re ‘re after all, I got you!!!

Yui: Good afternoon! Why are you in a hurry?

The fear shop Manager: Details explanation will be later! Anyway, I want you to come with me!

Yuma: Jeez...what’s now?

Place: サントノレパーク通り / Saint Honoré Park Street

Yui: (Shop Manager...he’s running surprisingly fast…!)

Yuma: I knew, the bakers were slow but steady...Yui! Have a look there!

Yui: Eh?

Place: サントノレパーク通り /  Saint Honoré Park Street

Yui: (There’s a curtain in the giant cake’s space…?)

Yuma: Oi, that curtain, what’s that?

Shop Manager: I’ll have you to look at that no matter what. Come on, hold this rope?

Yui: Eh?

*Hold the rope*

Shop Manager: You too! Don’t pull it roughly, okay?

Yuma: Y- yeah…

Shop Manager: Aight, we’ll start counting. Hey, is everyone prepared?

Clown D: Of course!

Shop assistant: Same here, we’re ready!

Shop Manager: Okay then….One, two and ー!!

*Uncovers the cake*

Yui: This is...a new giant cake?

Shop Manager: Yeah, we ended up making one.

Yui: Eeh?

Yuma: However...isn’t it a little different though? It’s huge but the color is also different.

Shop Assistant: Fufu~ there was a lack of ingredients at last. So, we changed it’s usual design, therefore this time is a cheese-cake!

Clown D: For this, the rear car also smelled like cheese~!

Yui: (Wow…!)

Yuma: Heeh~ It means y'all did it.

Manager:  Aah, that was the spirit. Since, it was stolen, so decided to rebake once ‘gain!

You taught us the lesson to never give up. Thanks alot for that.

Yui: No, we didn’t do any…

Manager: Nope, I’m sure, we couldn’t get stirred up all by ourselves like this.

You could face many dangers in order to bring back the cake, am I wrong?

Yuma: Aah? I don’t get it?

Clown D: Ms. Assistant, you can’t hide the truth!

Assistant: Yeah. When you were passing by through the garden shop street...you bought the seedling of the demon-world strawberry, right? 

-> Spoiler! 魔界イチゴ means Demon world’s strawberry literally! 

Yuma: Y- yeah, what’s wrong ‘bout that?

Manager: Demon world’s strawberry has a very complex color plus the taste is very luxurious...but you still wanted to plant it, which is pretty difficult to.

It’s bines completely move like a hitting whips and if the flower blooms, then the pollens are deadly poisoned, in some cases, it is also called devil strawberry.

Despite of these, you still thought you had to grow that...for the giant cake...uuuh *cries out*

Yuma: Tha- that’s right...if it’s me then, it’s a piece of cake...haha…*fake smile*

Yui: (...Does that mean he bought it without knowing anything…)

Manager: Anyways! As you showed up your stubborn side, we also couldn’t give up at all.

Me too, more, more, much more than before! I’ll have pledged to having a warming up passion for making cake!!

Assistant: Thanks to that, we’ve passed a wonderful time...really, thank you.

And also, could you concentrate on finding a rare thing for Earl Walter...for your heart?

Yui: Eh…?

Manager: You told us the time cake was stolen, no?

Clown D: We have been worried~ Could it be that you were putting off your own purposes for us.

Manager: Thank you for all of these feelings...and also you helped us, we were encouraged.

Yui: That’s….same here, thank you.

(The truth’s that….we were the one to break the cake from the very first...but still they cared about us)

Yui: Really, thank you so much.

Manager: It’s aight! You were also in trouble.

Assistant: If everything goes well, then come again for eating the cake. We’ll serve it.

Yui: Ah...yes…

( I see. Everyone’s taking me as a resident of demon-world, not a human)

(It hurts when I feel like I’m deceiving them…)

Selectionー

-> Tell them you are a human /人間だと言う 

 -> Be silent/  黙っておく  (+Correct)

Yui: (I want to say bit, but I’ll end up creating chaos for sure)

(There may be bad people out there and also I don’t want to pour water on this excitement)

*Yuma gets closer suddenly*

Yuma: Yui…

Yui: Eh..?

*Strokes her hair*

Yui: (He’s...stroking my hair…)

(Does he know that I’m being worried)

Yuma: ...You better not say extra words. You gotta lie at this point.

Yui: Yes...got it.

Yuma: Aah--, sorry for making worries! We’ll concentrate on getting heart from here on!

Clown D: Yup, yup, do your best~!!

*Yuma’s BGM*

Yuma: Aight, this time for sure! We’ll protect the cake!

Manager: But...didn’t you hear what we just said? Heart!?

Yuma: Kukuh….unfortunately, I’m not a kind man who’ll just act on protecting the cake, ya’know? Well, I’ll explain my plan.

Earl will be coming to steal this cheese-cake too. Hit it in all newspapers!!

Yui: Ah...I see…!

Clown D: But, will the cake get stolen again?

Yuma: Dumbass, we have no choice but to bring the same topic. This time I ain’t allowed to fall behind!

Protect the cake too and following that, I’ll get the heart back!...make sense?

Yui: yes…!

Assistant: If that’s the deal, then we’ll cooperate too!

We have business in the shop, so it’s impossible to help all the way but...after that, let’s have the vow and help them!

Yuma: Oh! My bad!....This girl looks so overwhelming, so I’ll count on you being super nice!!

Yui: It’s...shameless thing.

Yuma: It’s fine ‘cuz there’ll be our victory from ‘re on.

*After a while*

Yui: (It’s been a long time but…)

Yuma: He’s not showing an appearance. Where’s he, that bastaard Earl!

Yui: (The pedestrian traffic is also less than before)

(I can’t have a guess since the demon world is dark, but to its residents, this time is natural)

Sorry for having all of you gathered here. I’m sleepy for a while, is it okay to get a sleep?

Yuma: No, it’s fine. Same goes for you, are y’ feelin’ cold?

Yui: No, since you gave me a blanket, I’m fine.

Yuma: Noo, that one piece of close won’t work.

Yui: Not really, it’s fi一!

*Hugs her*

Yuma: Stop talking and cling onto me more.

Yui: ...Yes

Yuma: ...kuku, if you think about it deeply, this situation quite looks like a dream.

Yui: About what?

Yuma: Ya’ know...the atmosphere that everyone’s restless, I don’t hate it.

Perhaps it’s been so since I was a lil’ kid.

Yui: Eh? When you were a kid…?

Yuma: In the past...every single day I had to plow the field and that wasn’t fun at all.

The thing I remembered that sloppy circus used to come in the spring festival during the snow thaw time. 

To a brat liked me, it was very interesting show...and I used to watch that like a stupid.

Yui: That’s how it was…

Yuma: It was like a provincial town, so I wouldn’t stay all the time there.

End of the day, that group used to leave, continuing to wave their backs.

“Don’t leave, do it more and more...continue creating this dreamy world…” I wished.

Those circuses always used to come in my dreams...Without even having any realization, I forgot ‘bout them.

For this, when I am in this parade with you, I am having a restless and a strange mood.

Yui: I see, thank you.

Yuma: Haa? Why give me thanks?

Yui: Because you shared an event about your childhood...it’s something to be happy about.

*Yuma blushed*

Yuma: Ha? That...not really, it wasn’t like that.

Yui: Nope, thank you for sharing that.

Yuma: Jeez...well, it’s fine. It’s your turn to share some of your past.

Yui: Yes...I want to share a lot.

Yuma: Kuku, is that so.

Yui, no matter what this place’s, if I am with you then一

Earl Walter: Hahahaha!! Conversations between lovers in one kind of beauty in a parade.

Yui: Kh!!

Yuma: Finally show up!!

Earl Walter: It’s useless if you just stand and watch. This elegant giant cheeze-cake will belong to me!!

Yuma: Wait ‘re!!

*Yuma runs off*

Yui: Yuma kun!?

Look here!! Don’t ya dare to think that you’ll fight the same thing as before!!

Yui: (He is holding a...mop?)

Earl Walter: Kh...don’t tell me this cake…

Yuma: yeah, I’ll make it into a brutal state in no time!

Yui: You...can’t!

Yuma: Shut up! Don’t split out anything!

Yui: ….!

Yuma: Oi, I’ll make you hear me! Give her heart back!

Earl Walter: Haah...that means you want to trade between the heart and the cake?

Yuma: The truth’s that i don’t wanna handle any of those! But...I am sure the guys of the shop will be convinced if I talk to them!

Yui: Yuma kun, but…!

Earl Walter: Pftt...Hahahah!!

Yuma: What’s so funny!!

Earl Walter: I’m apologizing for being soaked in this sentiment, however, there’s no way trade with that heart and just this cake.

Yui: Umm...then, what can we do so you can trade?

Earl Walter: In this area, a valuable thing is…

What about trading with this boy?

Yui: (Eh...?)

Yuma: Ha? Kh...me?

Earl Walter: Someone’s precious person, it has corresponding value right?

To you, he is precious, right?

Yui: …….

(What should I do...if I agree, then Yuma kun will...)

Yuma: Haa...if I go, then she will survive, right?

Yui: Kh...no!

Yuma: But, I’m not valuable at all. Are you targeting correctly?

Earl Walter: Aah, ofcourse. Human plus vampire...very interesting.

Since I haven’t gotten anything like this before...that’s it. I’ll decorate him like a stuffed animal.

Yui: Kh! That’s absolutely NO…!

Earl Walter: Then, will you give up on trading?

Yui: Then fine! I can’t hand over Yuma kun!

Earl Walter: Then, let’s break this conversation here.

Yui: …...Yes.

(It’s good...now)

Yuma: Wait...I get it. I’ll go with you.

Yui: Eh!?

Yuma: ...I can’t give up just for this.

*Yuma knocks out Yui*

Yui: Uuh….!

*Yui falls*

*Screen black*

Yuma: I’m sorry...Yui.

???: O~i! Are you okay!?

Yui: nh...I…

Clown D: What a relief, I was worried.

Yui: Ah...Where is...Yuma kun!?

(Not here...it means he went with Earl)

Clown D: When I rushed into here, I didn’t see him.

Yui: I see….

Clown D: Yes, I don’t know where did big bro go leaving you behind~

Yui: (He told that he will decorate with Yuma...it’s very awful)

(It can’t be…!)

I have to go there. Clown san, where’s the castle of Earl Walter?

Clown D: Bernstein castle? It’s that direction.

Yui: That way...I get it, thank you so much!

Clown D: No not at all~ By the way, *sniffs*...neh, I smell something good.

Yui: Eh?

Vampire Woman A: What is the smell? It’s so delicious…

Vampire Man E:  Aah, I can smell too...hey, is this woman, a human?

Yui: Kh!?

(Smells good, does it mean me?)

(Oh...I get back my heart, by trading with Yuma)

Vampire Woman D: You, it smells so good...can I have a little?

Vampire Man B: No, I’ll be first. Come one, gimme your blood!!

Yui: Kyaa!!

(I gotta run…!)

*Runs off*

Place:ベルンシュタイン城  城門前 / Bernstein Castle  front of castle gate

Yui: Haah...haah…!

(This is bernstein castle…)

*knock*

Yui: Excuse me! Please open the gate!

Give back Yuma kun!!

(I gotta get their attention quickly or…!)

*Running footsteps*

Vampire Man A:  Here she’s!! That woman!!

Vampire Woman A: Hey, lemme suck first!!

Vampire Man D: Nooo, me first! Hey you, come here!

Yui: Kh...No, don’t touch!!

*Knock*

(Please, open…!)

*Soaring*

Vampire Man C: Hm? Something’s flying? A giant bat…

Vampire Woman C: Hey, come here, won’t you!?

*Eagle’s flying*

Yui: (That’s...the egg we wanted to get in the mine, the giant mom eagle?)

Vampire Man A: Kh, this woman is a wild-...wild-animal-tamer!? Run!!

Vampire Woman D: Kyaa-!!

Yui: Why….

I wanted to do a terrible thing with you...but you helped me?

Thank you...kyaa!

(It’s rubbing my back...does she want me to ride?)

Vampire Man B: First of all, we have to deal with that eagle!

Vampire Woman D: Beat that at first!

Yui: Kh...please, fly away!!

(Let’s cling onto her...I’m sure it’s gonna be fine….!)

*Flies*

Yui: (Kh...I could be thrown off)

Vampire Man E: Oi, you can’t escape! Shoot it and make her fall!!

Yui: Fly higher…!

Place : Sky

Yui: ( Wow...she has reached higher in to time)

(It’s fine if she left me inside the castle)

(I don’t know she’ll understand my language, but let’s request)

Would you mind if I get off in that castle?

There’s a person there whom I can’t lose...please!

*Flying to that direction*

Yui: Kyaa!

(Diving down...I'll collide…!)

Place: ベルンシュタイン城  バルコニー / Bernstein Castle Balcony

Yui: (...Huh? It doesn’t hurt?)

Waah, wait, I’ll get off.

*Gets off*

Thank you for helping...you can now go back to your eggs.

(Maybe that cake has already hatched out? It was good that I gave back the egg couragely)

(He forcefully stole my heart but now he simply exchanged it, how weird. So, I can’t give up at all.)

(So two of us can escape together...for now, I have to search him first.)

Place: ベルンシュタイン城 宝物庫 / Treasure Room of Bernstein Castle 

Yui: (Waah...wonderful, all of these are Earl’s collection?)

(Glittering stuffs and also slightly creepy things...there are so many)

(I’m sure each of the owners of these treasures cherished a lot….I can’t forgive him.)

*Foot steps*

Yui: Kh…!

(Looks like someone’s here...I have to hide!)

???: Who’s there?

Yui: (Eh...this voice)

Yuma...Kun?

Yuma: Yui…?

Yui: Yuma kun!

Yuma: Why are y’ ‘re? That’s even alone...it’s dangerous!

Yui: Giant mom eagle protected me all the way and brought me here.

Yuma kun, why’d you go all by yourself? It’s awful!

I couldn’t help it...even if I helped all the way, I won’t be satisfied at all.

Yuma: Haah...Not really, I just paid back everything you did, that was all.

I told you that if you cut out your own purposes and think only ‘bout others, it’s comeout like this!

Yui: Kh…

Yuma: Of course, I didn’t do it just with a single inference.

My real intention was to help you, no matter what happens to me.

I really don’t care about the strangers but if it’s you then I can’t lose.

If it means to help you then I’ll overwhelmingly put myself into a fire...even though you’ll be sad.

Yui: (I can’t say anything back...he was always holding sorrowful feelings for me)

(Despite of then, I... was just acting on my own)

Yuma: Did you understand the feelings of the guys you left behind?

Yui: Kh…

Yuma: I’m asking if you understand their feelings when they were chasing after the person who was risky flying!?

*Yui cries*

Yuma: ….Now, crying out will be a foul game.

Yui: Because….uuh…

Yuma: If you’ve learned by this experience, don’t you ever throw out your life away, got it?

Yui: ….Yes...uuuh….

Yuma: Aah, you’re making an ugly face. Don’t just stand, c’mere.

Yui: Eeh…?

Yuma: You come to steal me from Earl, no? ...Kukuh, what ‘bout catching me then?

*Yui blushed and then laughs*

Yui: ...Yuma kun!

*Runs off*

*Fades to CG*

Yui: I’m sorry…

Yuma: I’m tired of hearing your “Gomennasai” Say something different.

For example “As a punishment for acting on my own, I’ll let you suck blood as much as you can” etc.

Yui: Yes...I’ll let you, no matter what’s the amount.

Yuma: heeh? You say it after all.

Yui: Because I got my heart back, and sure my blood will taste ー

Yuma: Haah...Stoppu! I told you that I don’t care ‘bout the taste. Don’t go against it.

Yui: But...you were the 1st one to say that “I want to suck your blood”

Yuma: Oh, well...I didn’t say for it’s yummy taste...I want it, because it’s your blood.

Don’t misunderstand.

Yui: Yes…!

Yuma: Kukuh...you’re finally making such a happy face just ‘cuz I’ll drink your blood. You can’t escape from these fangs anymore.

Yui: ...I don’t want the fangs, what I want is just to stay by your side.

Yuma: Haah? You also said it before…

Yui: It’s something to give back.

Fufu

Yuma: Well, I’ll forgive today.

Yui...let’s stay together forever.

Yui: (These gentle eyes...put me at ease)

(Stay with me all the time, Yuma kun)

*CG Fades*

*Claps, Claps*

Yuma: You dumbass!

Yui: Earl Walter!?

Earl Walter: Hahahah, you did really wonderful.

Yuma: Haa? What are ya’ saying?

Earl Walter: I thought you guys will be the perfect to possess the treasure.but...I didn’t think you’d do that far.

Yui: What do you mean?

Earl Walter: Sometimes it’s charm confuses humans and leads to misery.

...Vampires are deceived and end up going to a wrong path, the same goes with your heart.

So you and your partner are the appropriate owners of this heart. I was the judge.

But, it was needless to be worried. If your mutual bond continues like this, it’ll be fine.

Yuma: Tch...Without even yer words, it’s obvious to be fine!!

I mean, it’s still fishy. You make everyone unhappy for that cake.

Yui: (Certainly...everyone was having a smiling face…)

Earl Walter: Aah, I ate that cake as much as I could.

Yuma: Haaah!?

Earl Walter: I lost my interest in the cake so I returned it back to the forum. As I thought, a suitable amount is important. 

Yui: (So that was his purpose….I’m somehow disappointed.)

Yuma: I get it but not get it. When I speak with bastards like you, I wanna hit so bad. Anyway...see ya.

Yui: But, how can we get back…

Yuma: We’ll fly from the balcony...I want to have you in my arms for a while.

Ya’ can’t get separated.

Yui: ...Yes!

-> Continue

一 The end of Chapter O 4

[xelles-archive]

Her Cure

➥ Peter Maximoff x Self-insert

➥ Genre: Fluff with a bit of venting

➥ Summary: Peter comes to his girlfriend's house, but wasn't expecting to see her with a down mood.

➥ Word Count: 3.3k

➥ Warnings: Don't read if you don't like sharing Peter as an f/o. This is super, SUPER self-indulgent, so please don't send any hate.

➥ A/N: I'll be using she/her pronouns in this story because I still haven't gotten used to writing myself as 'they' in stories. Also, Peter's little sister's name isn't confirmed. It's just a headcanon of mine that her name is Lorna.

➥ Tags: @nougatships @just-sinag @selfshipping-port

The ringing from the alarm clock on Peter's desk was the very first thing that welcomed him into this new day, but the repeating, annoying sound was immediately dismissed when he slammed his hand on it. He nearly punched down the whole thing due to his pressure. He groggily sat up on his bed and harshly rubbed his eye. "Agh!" He groaned, getting weird glitches in his vision. That didn't stop Peter from doing his routine though, as it quickly disappeared, too.

He went to his closet and changed from his pajamas to his casual wear. The classic black band t-shirt and silver leather jacket. He dashed upstairs once, then came back to his room and grabbed a comb to brush his hair. "Hell yeah, you're looking great." He clicked his tongue and pointed finger guns at himself in the mirror. He finally went upstairs, for real this time.

He was met with his mother cooking breakfast, and the smell of eggs and bacon rose to Peter's nostrils, making him inhale the precious scent. It was a classic breakfast, and he can't wait to eat it.

Finally, after a minute or so, Magda noticed his presence. "Oh, Peter! I didn't notice you there." She looked behind to give her son a bright smile, which he nicely reflected back. "Oh, well, ya know. Just doin' things as fast as I can." Peter shrugged his shoulders, as the sarcasm in his line of voice made the woman giggle. The wide smile stuck on her face as she went back to cooking. "It's almost finished. Maybe you could wake up your sister for the meantime."

Peter nodded in response, and even though his mom wasn't looking, she knew he already obeyed what she said. It's one of the good sides to his mutation.

Not even a minute has passed, and the young boy was already back to his previous spot. The mother looked at him in confusion and opened her mouth to ask, but Peter already knew – almost like predicting it — what she was supposed to say. "She's dressing up. Don't worry."

She smiled again, and expected nothing more or less of her son. When was there a time without Peter ever lightening up the mood? She doesn't remember at least one moment when it felt boring in the house, well, probably except before Peter came.

But none of that matters, as they're all together now.

Soon enough, the youngest member of the family came down. "Hey there, lil sis." Peter greeted his younger sibling, who seemed to be still sleepy. She yawned quite loudly and nearly fell off when she climbed up on the chair. Even with the lack of response, the cute little scene that occurred in front of him made Peter smile. "Still sleepy, huh?" He mocked.

Lorna merely hummed and nodded her head with her eyes still fluttering open. Their mother turned around with two plates in her hand, scooting them over to where Peter and Lorna were sitting. Both of them childishly eyed the well-done dish, their mouths watering in hunger. "Well then, let's dig in." The woman clasped her hands together, and the small family grabbed their respective utensils to start eating.

In just a blink of an eye, Peter was munching down on the food. Maybe too fast. Not even having a single bite, Magda placed down her spoon on the plate. "Peter, slow down." She remarked, quite calmly in fact. As a mother, she had the right to be concerned of her children's intentions.

"Hm?" Peter looked up from his plate, and when he saw the disapproving look on his mother's face, he gulped down the food as hard as he can. "Sorry." He raised his hand as a sign of apology.

A gentle smile replaced the frown on her face. "What's with the rush? Do you have a date?"

Lorna nearly choked on her food as soon as their mother ended her statement. She placed down her utensils and looked over to his older brother with excited eyes. "You're going out with Xelle again?!"

"Whaaaaat?" Peter scoffed. "Noooo." He waved his hand, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I'm just gonna visit her house, that's all." He was supposedly going to continue eating, but Lorna still had more questions. This little girl was always excited when it comes to Peter's girlfriend.

"But it's still considered a date, right?" She raised her eyebrows, awaiting for her older brother's response. Peter opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again with a cocked brow. "I guess? I mean, we're still going out, so yeah, maybe it's considered a date." He just shrugged it off as he grabbed his glass of water to drink.

Lorna squealed, shaking her arms in excitement, and even rocking her legs back and forth under the table. "Ooooh man! I can't wait to have my sister-in-law!"

Even one single word could cause everything to crumble. Their mother had been listening to their conversations at the start, but she wasn't expecting to hear such words from her daughter. Her eyes widened, while Peter spat out the water he was drinking. Magda quickly scolded him for making a mess in front of them. But then, it's gone in an instant. The table looked clean again.

The mother anxiously looked over to her daughter, giving her an uncertain smile. "Maybe that's too early for your brother, dear."

Tilting her head in confusion, she asked another question. Oh, how different the circumstances will be if Xelle was here right now. She could have hushed the young girl, at least. "Why? Is he not old enough to marry her?"

"Okay, Lorna, I'm only twenty years old." Peter suddenly intruded in the conversation as he wiped the excess liquid on his face. "Plus, I still got college to catch up to. I don't wanna rush things."

Their mother laughed at him. "That's funny coming from you." It took a while for Lorna to register the joke, but even Peter's humor was fast enough for him to understand. He didn't even realize he was making a joke, yet he still laughed along. "Hah, real funny, Mom. Anyway, I gotta go." He took one last bite from his food before dashing off, probably to Xelle's place.

Neither of the two females were able to say something before he left. Magda's eyes brought themselves to check Peter's plate, and she was not happy to see it. She frowned, and even if she knew he wouldn't hear her, she shouted out his name.

He suddenly appeared in the dining room again. "Sorry. Again." He gave his mother an apologetic smile as he grabbed his plate and washed it really quickly. He made sure he got to say goodbye properly this time.

Magda released a sigh. "I sure do hope I'll get a daughter-in-law, too."

The young girl smiled widely at her mother. "So you agree with me!"

Arriving in his girlfriend's place, Peter was refreshed to see the familiar green plants in her tiny little garden. With all the flowers and succulents, her house looked adorable. Thank heavens her father allowed her to live alone. He's been here multiple times already, mainly for checking up on her and taking her out on dates, but when he saw somebody on her doorstep, he stopped in his tracks.

It looked like a woman. Well, at least to Peter. She had long brownish hair and wore fancy clothing, she even had a purse dangling from her arm. There stood Xelle in the doorway, a clear frown on her face. Peter furrowed his eyebrows in worry as he watched this lady talk to his girlfriend. He couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, so he just stood there. Besides, it was only a few steps away.

A few minutes had passed, and the lady finally turned around and entered her car, which was parked just outside. Peter pretended to walk as a passerby when the car zoomed past him. He looked behind him to check the plate number.

Xelle didn't even bother to look after that lecture from her stepmother. She ran her hand over her hair, tugging on it out of anger, as a long, sad sigh escaped from her lips. She had been fighting off her tears while she listened to those harsh words. She always thought of herself as a crybaby, and now that she finally has some time alone, she closed the door.

"Ow."

Or maybe not.

The female looked at her door, making an assumption that someone was behind it. She looked down at the ground, catching a glimpse of that silver-colored shoe she always recognized, stuck in between the door frame. She immediately opened the door, and to no surprise, she was faced with her boyfriend.

Peter waved his hand as a cute smile was embedded on his face. He didn't even need to say anything and Xelle already found herself smiling again, even the slightest. "Hi, Peter."

That was highly unusual. She'd usually jump at him for a hug or smile widely at him. The young boy noticed her change of behavior, the smile on his face disappearing. "You okay?" He brought his hand down.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She responded, turning around as she allowed Peter to come inside. He was polite enough to remove his shoes and set it aside before actually coming in. He closed the door and followed Xelle into the kitchen, which was just beside the living room.

Washing dishes, once again. Never the same, never different either. Peter watched her fingers gracefully slip past the smooth plates and place them down on a dryer. It was a weird thing for him to observe, but he loved every little thing about her. He can't resist himself.

Xelle was finally done with the dishes, dabbing a towel on her hands to get rid of the wetness, when Peter suddenly appeared beside her. He leaned onto the counter as he smiled at her. "So who was that lady earlier?"

Bringing her gaze to him, she raised an eyebrow at him. "What lady?" She asked as she hung the towel on the fridge's handle. "The lady you were talking to in the doorway." Peter responded, tilting his head while he awaited for her answer.

Xelle narrowed her eyes at him. "You were eavesdropping on us?" She asked in disbelief. The male in front of her widened his eyes and awkwardly laughed. "What? No. I just saw you talking with her." He stood up straight, placing a firm hand on her waist and bringing her over to him. Their bodies ended up colliding each other as their eyes focused on the ones in front of them. "You know I wouldn't lie to you." He pushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear.

She smiled at him, genuinely this time. "I know." As she thought the heavy burden in her chest was finally going to disappear, it just came back again. The corners of her lips deepened themselves into a frown, and to prevent Peter from seeing it, she pushed herself away from him. "But you don't need to worry about her. She's just my stepmother." She walked away into the living room.

Peter was, at first, confused why she suddenly distanced herself like that. The biggest thing that confused him was the stepmother. "Wait, stepmother? You have a stepmom?" He questioned as he followed her path.

"Yeah," she plopped down on the couch, "she and Papa didn't last long, though." Grabbing the remote control, she turned on the television. Her arm was laid out on the couch's backrest while her other one faced the squarish electronic. "But like I said, you don't need to worry about her." A few static sounds were brought to life until she stopped to one channel.

Even if she says that, of course he's still going to worry. Xelle was acting strange and he was not liking it. He pressed his lips into a thin line, shaking his head and stepping towards the couch. "Do you really think," he started as he sat beside Xelle, "I would believe that when you have that look on your face?"

Xelle brought her gaze to him and slightly tilted her head. "What do you mean?" In a flash, the remote control in her hand was gone. She looked at the absence of the object for a quick moment before she looked at Peter, who now had the remote in his hand, with wide eyes. "You know what I mean." He turned off the television and set the remote aside.

The short-haired female merely stayed silent and stared at him with uncertainty, this lack of response made Peter cross his arms. "C'moooon. You can't keep hiding things from me." He cooed a bit teasingly.

She knows she can't. He could always tell when something is bothering her, and that's why she still loves him to this very day. It's one of the biggest reasons why she's so happy every time she's with him. She took one deep breath before crawling over to Peter, to which took him by surprise. "Oop-" He yelped as Xelle pushed him down on the couch. She somehow got in between his legs and made herself comfortable to lay on his chest.

The adorable sight that took appearance in front of Peter's eyes made him chuckle out of amusement. He wrapped his arms around her and smirked down at her. "What, we're just gonna cuddle without even telling me what the problem is?"

Xelle giggled in response. As soon as her light laughter died down, her eyes wandered off to somewhere. "It's just…" She started. "Sometimes it's hard having alexithymia."

"Alexi- wha-" Peter narrowed his eyes, but it didn't take him long to realize what she was talking about. "Ohh, right. Alexithemic."

"Alexithymia." She corrected him.

"Right. Yeah."

She couldn't help but to at least smile at his silliness. "I don't know, it's just, it's hard expressing my emotions." The weight on her body — even though nothing was on her — felt heavy, as she found herself sinking deeper into Peter's embrace. "Especially since I don't have the confidence to speak up." Her hands gently hovered his shoulders. "I mean, it's not very severe, but it's, it's still difficult. It causes misunderstandings."

"Your emotions seep out a lot to me, though."

Xelle brought her eyes to look at him. He had that adorable little smile and raised his eyebrows, as if he was trying to prove what she said was wrong. "I could tell that you're sad, and…happy, oh, and…angry?" His statement sounded so unsure, but that somehow still made her laugh.

That's all he wanted to hear, after all.

A tiny chuckle is enough to relieve him that she's doing fine. He doesn't really consider himself a good person to ask for advice, but if Xelle sees him that way, he'll try the best he can.

Peter caressed the top of her head, despite the shortness of her hair, he wanted to get a better look on her face. "I'm kidding. But what makes you say that?" He tried to continue the conversation.

"Well, you saw my stepmother earlier, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She fiddled with her fingers and lightly clasped them together as she tried to find the right words to say. Peter could sense a bit of hesitance from her, but nonetheless, he waited for her to speak. "We kinda got into, uh, we got into an argument because I didn't get to say I'm sorry." Fully clasping her fingers together into a tight hold, her breath hitched for a quick second. "It's, it's one of the things I hate about myself."

Xelle was supposed to bury her face on Peter's chest out of the shame, until she felt sudden movement and had no choice but to look up. "Heeey." Peter pushed himself up with his arms and stared down at her. "Just because you didn't get to do something you want doesn't mean you can hate yourself." He said, receiving an astonished look from his girlfriend.

He didn't know what he truly meant, but he was saying it from the heart. He knew how it felt like to hate yourself for the things you do. He just didn't want to see the sweetest girl he had ever met do it to herself, too.

"I mean," his eyes looked everywhere before quickly bringing themselves back to Xelle, "you were considering the fact that you should apologize to her. That already makes you a good person, right?" He attempted to reach out to her face and caress her cheek with his thumb. "Besides, if you hate yourself, I'm hating myself, too."

Eyes burning up in tears, Xelle found herself melting into Peter's touch. A silent weep escaped from her lips, and as she couldn't bring herself to speak up, she just nodded her head in response. It was so easy for her to tear up, and yet Peter doesn't mind any of that. As soon as he saw her crying, he brought her into a hug. At moments like these, it felt like her alexithymia was gone.

Peter was her cure.

What sounded like sniffs turning into sobs eventually took over the conversation as the couple found comfort just by being in each other's arms. Peter gave her the time to let out her tears, giving her occasional back rubs and gripping onto her like he didn't want to ever let her go. It always hurt him to see her like this.

When her tightened posture finally loosened up, and her breath seemed to slow down, Peter also found himself finally calming down. It almost felt like their heartbeats were synchronized, being so physically close to each other gave them more of a chance to be connected.

Just as Peter opened his mouth to speak, his ears was met with something he never expected to hear on a day like this,

"I love you."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"I said I love you, Peter."

Did she really say that? She never voluntarily says 'I love you' to anyone, including Peter himself. Did she just really say 'I love you' to him?

"I- Wow-" He stopped himself mid-sentence as he chortled. Xelle pulled herself away and took a glance at her boyfriend's shocked expression. The corners of her lips brought themselves up to form a smile as she breathed out a laugh. "What, you're not used to it?" She teased.

"Yeah, well," Peter shook his head, "you never say those three words to anyone." He spoke through gritted teeth. Xelle's chest felt lighter as she released another hearty laugh. That laugh of hers that always gets Peter's head in cloud nine. It's something he always treasured, and now that he heard it again, he almost flinched when he felt her hands fondle with his cheeks. "Then consider yourself lucky." She placed a peck on his nose before nuzzling her face in his neck.

Peter was left speechless, his mouth slightly agape, after that unexpected occurrence. That quick nose kiss made his heart skip an extra beat. He was weak for those types of kisses. He doesn't know why, but he always gets flushed and hot when he receives affection from Xelle — let alone her rare, peculiar, wholesome behavior.

He was going to wrap his arms around her, when an idea popped in his head.

"Hey, you know what?"

She hummed in response, staying in position.

Peter grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her away, grinning widely at her.

"I love you too." Using his superspeed to his advantage, he showered her with lots of kisses on her face. To Xelle, it felt like she was being tickled. She laughed out loud as she tried to cover her face from any further kisses, but they still kept coming. Overwhelmed with the amount of love she's getting, she just slammed her hands and managed to catch Peter's face, finally closing in their distance and placing a firm kiss on his lips. It wasn't long enough before he gave in and returned the pleasure to her.

At this moment of time and day, Xelle feels content with everything that involves Peter.

[turning-the-kaleidoscope]

“Words Fail”

this was written for @physical-manifestation-of-spite ’s Dead Sea AU, which is absolutely heartbreaking and has decked me more than once. it breaks my heart i just,,, jdkflgdfg wow it breaks my heart. so much so that i was really inspired to write this lil something. 

thank you for the heartbreaking AU!! i don’t know how well this turned out but i tried my best, I hope you like it!! <3 <3 

[major character death ahead, just in case anyone’s sensitive to that]

Frankly, Reigen never expected to get this far.

He never expected to be able to become someone. To become a businessman. To become a person motivated by something more than “boredom.” And when he got into the psychic business, he knew it was only a matter of time before he, the most non-esper person you could ever meet, was struck down by more than he could handle. Death was just another walk through the park. It’d never scared him because he’d never had anything to lose.

He has things to lose, now.

He has everything to lose.

The blast is so bright that it blinds Mob’s face from him, but not before he sees the kid’s eyes, blown wide as realization sets in, hand outstretched, mouth open. There’s no shout, no scream. Or maybe there is and the explosion is drowning it out. Hell if he knows.

He feels the heat of it first, burning and then overwhelming, until it chokes the air from his lungs and winds smoky tendrils around his throat. Somewhere, distantly, he feels the pain of it. Burning like the sunset as he and Mob headed down sidewalks to their favorite ramen shop after a long day of work. The smoke makes his eyes burn, too, like they’d burned when Mob accepted him as who he was, who showed him that he was somebody. That he was enough. Not perfect, but. Enough.

He wants to speak but the burn sucks the air from his crushed lungs and the words get stuck on the heat in his throat. He wants to say it’s not your fault, but there’s so much pressure, so much heat, so much chaos that he’s barely thought the words before they’re replaced with a much closer, much more real kind of pain.

He can’t tell who’s screaming, himself or Mob.

He wants to apologize.

The one time he thinks his words might actually mean something, he finds he can’t speak at all.

It’s one of those things.

One of those things you have a list for, but don’t realize you have a list for. One of those things that’s so inconceivable that the thought of it happening had never once crossed Mob’s mind. One of those things where you don’t think, “Oh, that could never happen,” until it actually happens and you’re thrown headfirst into denial.

One of those things is happening, now, and Mob’s heart climbs into his throat, slowly at first and then all at once. The flames burn the air bright and fill the room with smoke. Distantly, he hears Touichirou’s voice, though he can’t make out the words. He’s on his feet but he doesn’t remember how he got there.

The blast dims and disappears and Reigen’s body hits the floor like a broken marionette.

A beat passes in silence.

“Sh… Shishou?”

Another beat passes.

“Sh-Shishou, I-I--”

“Do you understand, now? The difference between us?”

Touichirou’s voice seems to come from far away. The rest of the world rings and spins. The ground buzzes like a plucked bass string.

“What do you gain by caring for others? All they are is a weak spot in your side. A vulnerability.”

“Reigen-san?” He can barely hear his own voice. It doesn’t sound like him. The body on the floor doesn’t look like Reigen’s, either. Reigen would never be that still, that quiet. “R-Reigen-san--”

“You can give it up now, boy. Nothing you do now will bring him back.”

“I’ll teach you how to use your powers.”

It clicks into place. Slowly, then too fast. The gravity of what just happened runs to slam into him. It grabs him by the throat and forces him to look closer. To realize.

Something twists and snaps in him. He isn’t sure what it is. It could be his heart and he wouldn’t care.

[ A N G E R ]

He doesn’t remember when he got to his feet. His body doesn’t feel like his own. He has no thoughts. The floor beneath him doesn’t feel like anything.

[ G U I L T ]

Through a tunnel, he sees Touichirou’s empty eyes and empty face with empty features and an empty heart. He sees a monster. He sees a murderer.

[ R A G E ]

Distantly he hears Reigen’s voice. Those words--that warning--words he lived by. Words he always held close to his heart. Reigen wouldn’t want him to do this. Reigen wouldn’t want him to do this. Reigen wouldn’t want him to do this.

Reigen isn’t here, anymore.

[ Ṛ̗̥̰̙A̧̠̖̻G̪Ę͖̺̠̟͚ ̞̀R̛̠E̳G̷̩̞RE̱̳T̖̥̦̝̖ ̼̦P͇̩͚̯̯̲̬A̛I̯̞͈̤̮N͚͎̱̮͞ ̼̱̫̘G̘̹̺U̡I̧̗̯̰͖̳ͅLT͎̣̬͍̼͘ ̣̣͙̩͠B̮̠L̠̣̰̣̦̗A̛̭͔͉̳̙M͕͚͉̭̲͉̙̕E҉̱̮̦͉͔͉͔ ͔̬͚̬̬ͅḪ̺̰̦̖̞U̘̫͉͚̙̯R̮̰͔̝̠T̞̝͉̤̮̹ ̣̬̜̦̼̮̖F̞̰̣̀E͕À͕̙̖Ŗ̭͎̞̲̤̰ P̵̲̯A̞̖͖͉̬̥I̪͕͚̟̟Ņ͚̣̠̤̥̣͔ ͓G̴̼̮̪U̢͉̲͇I͈̻L̰T̷̥͎̟̺̤ ̞̭̼͕̠̱PA̗̺͎̭̼̲ͅI͎̩͉̙̟̮N͓͚̣͇͢ ̺̳̣̹̤̜̰A̧N͔G̱̟͙͚̟͘Ṳ̦͘I̜̦̘͈̻S͓H̜̥̖ ̱̺̠À͈̗̺͚N̹͇̮̯̠̦͢G͢U͇͔̫̜̱̻̠͞I̲̰̫̘S͓̦H̗̦͈̝̺ ͇̼̞̟̙̺̭̀A̼̙̺͓̝̗̝Ǹ̙̳͖̪͖G̱̳̭͍̺͙̤U̠͍͕̭̣̳̣I͎S̠̜͓H̢͔ Ḥ̶̬A͇̻͙͓̺T̞̹̭̩̼͈̻R̠̤̩̝̹͢ͅE̥D̬ ͚̯̺̗̰̹H͕̠̟̙͜Á̬̰̞̰̫͓T̶̤̳̫R̠̥͖͎̦E̸̮̯̦͖̞̝̜D͓̫̼̣̥ ̦H̯̞̠̫͔͢A̘̠̭Ț̢̞̳͍̰̲ͅR̯͔̱Ȩ͈̯̝̙D͕͚̮̖͖ ̻̘͎̫̖͎̕H̱A͎̯͙̙͙͚̱T͟R̵͖̩̭E̩̤͓͠D̨̩̤͍̣ ̜̫H̝̹̺͓͝ͅA͚̤̣̲̲̼̥T͢R͉̥̱̙̙̟̮E҉̱̬̮D̯̟͎̯̣͈͖͟ ]

The world as he knows it explodes and burns, and he explodes and burns with it.

Shigeo is missing.

He never came to the office that day, when he’d been there consistently for the past three months. Upon inquiry, Ritsu couldn’t tell Serizawa much of anything, but there was something distant about the look in his eyes, like he should’ve said something but really didn’t want to. Serizawa asked a couple others he knew, but their answers were more or less the same.

No one knows where Shigeo is.

And, it’s that reason that leads Serizawa to the one place where he knows he’ll find him. On a high, grassy hillside, dying rays of sun stretched like shining ribbons across rolling fields. It’s close enough to the ocean to smell the salt in the air, feel a cool breeze, but its crashing waves can’t be heard from here. There’s only quiet.

Shigeo is sitting before a stone shrine, its shadow cast over him with the sun behind it. He’s wearing a hoodie and jeans instead of his uniform. The breeze caresses his messy hair. His knees are drawn up to his chest and his arms are wrapped around them.

Serizawa stops short but close enough, silent. Shigeo doesn’t say anything and he doesn’t, either.

“... I, um…”

Shigeo’s voice is small, and it cracks on the end. He takes a second before starting up again.

“I-I’m sorry I haven’t… visited, yet. I-I meant to, I promise, I j--” He stops short again, this time squeezing his knees closer to his chest and resting his head against them. “... I’m sorry. I… I thought about this for… for a long time. Before coming here. But, now, I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”

Serizawa tries to swallow the lump in his throat with little success. He feels like he should do something, say something, but can’t find a single thing worth saying.

“... I-I guess, I should… I should probably say thank you,” Shigeo manages, struggling. Serizawa can’t see his face, and he’s not sure he wants to. “Thank you for… f-for everything. I don’t think I’d be who I am now, without you. I-I don’t think I would’ve gotten as far as I did. S-So… I just…”

The wind is cool, but the setting sun casts warmth through the grassy fields, and there’s no mistaking it.

“... I-I hope you realized it. How much you did for me. H-How much you did for everyone you met. I hope you--” Voice breaks. He takes a shaky breath. “I-I hope you’re okay. I hope you’re at peace. A-And, I hope--I-I hope you realize how much you mean to all of us. How much we all love you.”

The lump in Serizawa’s throat is choking him, now. But before he can say anything, Shigeo hauls himself to his feet, eye-level with the inscription of Reigen Arataka carved into the face of the shrine. The wind blows a little stronger, but somehow, warmer.

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” Shigeo says, a promise. “I-I’ll… I’ll come back whenever I can. I-I’ll bring flowers next time, I-I think. D… Do you like flowers? I…”

Serizawa holds his breath and moves forward, drawing closer, until the distance between them is no more and he can reach out and settle a hand, cautiously, on Shigeo’s shoulder.

Shigeo flinches, and his head snaps around, wide eyes meeting Serizawa’s. It strikes Serizawa for a moment, that he might’ve been expecting someone else, but he pushes that thought away as far as it goes and squeezes his shoulder.

The panic ebbs from Shigeo’s eyes, and he turns his gaze toward his shoes. Serizawa can’t see his face again, but there’s the slightest of trembles beneath his hand.

“... I’m sure he would like anything you brought him, Shigeo.”

Shigeo swallows hard, bringing an arm to wipe at his eyes. “You think so?”

“I do.” He squeezes his shoulder again. “No, I know he would.”

A silence falls between them, broken only by the rustle of grass as the wind cards its fingers through it. Serizawa isn’t quite sure how long they stand there, but soon the sun is gone and it takes its warmth with it, leaving the chill of night in its wake.

“... Come on, Shigeo. I’ll walk you home.”

Shigeo is already nodding, wiping at his eyes again, and Serizawa squeezes his shoulder one last time before lowering his hand and turning away. Shigeo lingers a moment longer before jogging to flank him.

“Can…” Shigeo’s voice doesn’t break this time. “Can we come back again tomorrow?”

A tight smile tugs at Serizawa’s cheeks. “Of course we can, Shigeo. First thing.”

Shigeo nods and Serizawa turns away.

It might’ve just been his imagination, but he thought he felt a warm touch on his shoulder as they drifted further from the shrine. He turned to see if, perhaps, it was Shigeo, but no. Shigeo was, however, reaching to touch his own shoulder with a faint, broken kind of smile.

The warmth accompanies them through the darkness and all the way home.

[tensify]

Love Bouquet {Flowershop! Haechan}

Pairing: Haechan X Reader

Request: “hello!! can you do a haechan flower shop au please?”

Genre: Fluff; Flowershop! AU; College! AU; Bulleted Scenario

Word Count: 1727

Summary: Who knew your old high school crush would be helping you pass your floral design class in college?

you recently graduated from high school and are now attending university

when looking at your schedule, you notice that you were put in an elective class called floral design

confused, you talk to an administrator to get this all sorted out

because why would you want to take a floral design class when that wasn’t even close to being your major?

you were really hoping that you would be able to switch classes

unfortunately, you’re not able to

so now you were stuck with this floral design class that you didn’t even want

and you would have to attend the class because you needed to keep up your GPA in order to keep your scholarship

the first time you came attended the class, you thought to yourself, well this is easy

well you were wrong

the class was in the morning and you were always tired from staying up late to study that you fell asleep during this class

let’s just say you weren’t doing too hot and needed some extra help

except you didn’t know anyone in your class (because you were always asleep) so you couldn’t exactly ask for help

one day you notice that there’s a flower shop across from your favorite restaurant 

and you think to yourself, what if the florist there could help me?

but then you’re like nah because it would be weird for a random person to go in and say “can you help me with my homework?”

eventually you regret the decision to not go in

now you were desperate

you had a test next week and guess who didn’t understand any of the material???

you!!! 

bc you played yourself

desperate times called for desperate measures

you were going to go into the flowershop even if you were embarrassed 

because despite you always saying “C’s get degrees” you really didn’t want that as your grade

so you go into this dainty lil flowershop

and your eyes divert toward the counter where you see a familiar face

you see donghyuck, a boy who went to your high school

admittedly, you had a crush on him in high school

as did many others in the student body

he was cute, funny, and full of charms and charisma 

it was hard to not fall for him

you knew he attended the same university as you, but you’ve never really seen him around

seeing him again may have brought up your past attraction to him

you thought you were over him?

BAM! you caught feelings again

there was just something about him that made you fall for him even if you didn’t know him very well

back in high school, he would always make jokes during class and you remember just laughing your ass off at all his jokes

from what you observed, he had a great personality, it’s just you didn’t know much about him

but of course, you never really did get to know him more because you were always too scared to talk to him

but now you were standing right in front of him at this flowershop, not saying a single word

which was embarrassing on your part

you didn’t even know he worked here, which proved how little you knew about him

after a while, haechan speaks up “did you need something?”

im always using names interchangeably im really sorry if this bothers anyone

and you just freeze, your body going into fight or flight mode

realizing you’re making a complete fool of yourself, you decide to speak up before you embarrass yourself any longer

“do you happen to know anything about flowers?” you ask

you mentally face palm yourself because obviously he would if he was working here!!

maybe you wouldn’t have embarrassed yourself if you didn’t speak at all

“no, I’m working at a flowershop and no absolutely nothing about flowers” he says sarcastically

you’re taken aback from his words because you weren’t expecting it and you were already so nervous in front of him

you stutter on your words, not knowing what to say in response

donghyuck notices your flusterdness and apologizes

then you proceed to ask him if he could help you in your floral design class

which lead to a “i’m in your class!! but you probably didn’t know since you’re always sleeping”

curious, you ask him how he knew that because you swear you’ve never seen him in your class

“you sit in front of me. i always see the back of your head and it’s always on the desk”

now you’re like shit, since you discovered that your former crush sits behind you in class!!! and notices you sleeping all the time!!!

haechan agrees to help you with the class

so the next time you come to class you look behind you, and sure enough you see him

he gives you a small wave and you turn around feeling butterflies in your stomach

because boy was he cute!!

later that day you met him in the library so he could help you with the class

he brought a binder which had a bunch of pictures and descriptions of each flower

he was really focused on making you learn everything

but you couldn’t focus because of the cute boy next to you

your head felt fried, all the thoughts in your head just scrambling

does anyone else want eggs rn??

“hey, are you listening to me?” he asks

you snap out of your daze and nod your head yes

“i think we’re done for today, we can continue tomorrow”

so as you start to pack up your stuff, getting ready to leave

donghyuck is like “wait, y/n. i have something to as you”

and you’re not sure why, but you were scared bc what could he possible need to ask you?

“is it true...that you had a crush on me in high school? a lot of people told me you did but i didn’t know if it was true”

your eyes widened at the question

you just did not know how to respond

yes, it was true that you had a crush on him in high school and it was even true now that you have a crush on him now

it was embarrassing, you didn’t want him to know about your crush on him

“uhhhh” was all you could say

“don’t worry I had a crush on you too” he said

if it was even possible, your eyes had widened even more

you were shook™

letting out a nervous laugh, you proceed to gather all your things and leave

when you went home all you could think about was donghyuck and how he said he had a crush on you too

you wondered if he still did and if you could ever had a chance with him

for the next few days, you had awkward tutoring sessions

well they were for you

donghyuck acted like his normal self, cracking a few jokes and there

they were just awkward for you because you were shy and nervous around him

within the past few days, there were only a few things you remembered

and when asked for what you remembered, all you could say was “red roses mean love and desire, gardenias mean secret love, and red tulips were a declaration of love”

“that’s all you can remember?” he asks, because boy did he teach you way more than that. “they’re all about love”

here you are again, with the heat rushing to your cheeks

“uhm those are just the easiest ones to remember” you defend yourself

and he laughs at your cuteness

the next day was different

you notice he had a bouquet of flowers

all the the flowers you mentioned yesterday were in the bouquet

red roses, red tulips, and gardenias

thinking back to the day before, you recall that all these flowers meant love

“i made this flower arrangement for you” he says

you are in utter shock you could just not believe it

did lee donghyuck,,, really,,,just make a flower arrangement for you?

hE DID

“i’ve had a crush on you since the tenth grade” he confesses. “now it’s our freshman year of college and i figure it’s about time i do something about it”

now you’re a mess

but alls i can say is during this session you guys cutely keep looking at each other and smiling

he reaches to hold your hand and it’s warm and something about it is just so comforting

but to be honest you still don’t remember anything he tried to teach you

eventually, your days are numbered

your test was coming soon and you seriously haven’t remembered a thing

donghyuck came up with a new way of teaching you

this time, he was going to bring you bouquets of flowers and would teach you individually

and you could keep it too

that really did help you because it wasn’t like you were trying to learn this subject but it was like learning the meaning of a gift he gave you

soon enough, you were all set for that flower design class, thanks to haechan

you learn that you have aced the test about flowers and its meanings

you go into that cute little flowershop to see your now boyfriend and thank him

“can i get a bouquet of yellow tulips” you say

your boyfriend goes and prepares you a bouquet of yellow tulips

and as you’re about to pay, he stops you and tells you it’s on him

as soon as he hands it to you, you give it right back to him

“I remember that yellow tulips meant ‘sunshine in your smile’. yellow tulips remind me of you because your smile is my sunshine” you say

donghyuck just about made the biggest grin in his entire life

he was so happy and his grin went from ear to ear

it was so cheesy but he loved it

now i imagine dating donghyuck would be very sweet at first but like the evil maknae he is, there’s a turn

you can’t be around him without any roasting or pranks

sometimes he sends you orange lilies, which as pretty as it is, means hate

it means no harm because you know he loves you :)

what a cute fluffy relationship

goodbye and i think this is my favorite writing so far :’)

masterlist

[strawbebbynya]

Moments

AO3 | FF.net | Patreon

Captain Davenport/Merle Highchurch for @littleneonlimelight​

The first moment they have together is on the beach.

Sure, Merle and Davenport have had moments alone together, but not moments, moments so quiet that they almost forgot the other was there. Moments where they are the only two people in the world, no matter how true or false that may be. It starts off simple enough, two older men watching the waves in complete silence. Davenport has never seen Merle so at peace outside of tending to his garden on ship, singing to his plants-- hell, he may even be happier here, on the beach, than with his plants

Davenport, however, is not at peace; not on the inside. Inside, he is fighting a losing battle with himself, searching for a way to tell Merle that, for a decade now, he has been completely, absolutely, head-over-heels in love for the cleric

His hands were trembling with the thought of being held, dwarfed completely by Merle’s own (the thought of the pun gets a nervous laugh out of him, and Merle chuckles too, though at what, Davenport isn't sure.) As the sun began to set, Davenport’s trembling worsens and his courage continuously wanes. That’s when it happens.

Without a word, Merle takes Davenport’s hand in his, fingers intertwined, and squeezed gently.

The captain’s heart almost explodes. His face and ears were bright red, brighter than the robes of their uniforms, and, oh no, is he hyperventilating? Calm yourself, damn it! You’re the captain of the Starblaster, not some village boy with a crush!

And yet, neither of them let go for long after the sun sets, until they’ve fallen asleep on the beach and woken up by their crew calling after them.

They don’t talk about it for a long time. But Davenport knows he’s not seeing things when he catches Merle’s eyes and sees them twinkle mischievously

The second moment takes place on the Starblaster.

They lost Lup, Taako, and Magnus halfway through the year, and things had been hard the four of them left, Barry most of all. He rarely left the libraries of this world, bringing back tomes to the Starblaster to pour over their contents in the solitude of his quarters when it was too dangerous to stay planetside. Lucretia was Lucretia, never the one to be very social anyways. That left only Merle and Davenport.

The memory of their night on the beach, as completely and absolutely innocent as it was, felt sinful to Davenport. He’d had male lovers before, done things that even now he felt too ashamed to think about, but just holding the cleric’s hand had felt like he was crossing the line. This was his coworker, his crewmate, his employee. He should be keeping his distance. So why had he jumped on the first chance to help Merle with his plants?

Mostly, he’s just standing a few feet from Merle, watching nervously as he sang and tended his plants. Merle collected seeds from every world they visited, taking care to replicate their biomes almost perfectly and writing down notes whenever he found something he considered interesting. Though Merle didn’t seem to notice, Davenport certainly took note of how the plants would lean towards them, petals opened a little wider, and follow him as he walked away, almost drooping as he left.

I know the feeling, Davenport thought.

“Hey, Captain?” Merle called as he spritzed the cacti with water. “Come over here, I wanna show you something.”

The gnome almost tripped over himself scrambling to the other man’s side. “Yes, Merle?”

In front of them was a small, wilted cactus in a pot, its petals drooping lazily. “I’m… not always going to be around, Captain. And someone needs to be here, to take care of the garden. Now, it’s not much, but this lil’ guy… he needs a special touch. He need some time on his own, before he can join his brothers. I’ve got too many plants to take care of, but… I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking care of it for me.”

Davenport swallowed the lump in his throat and took the pot, scrutinizing it. He remembered seeing others like it about two cycles ago; Merle had received it as a gift, for helping the locals set up a greenhouse to help their crops during the long, harsh winters. It was certainly much better looking when they had first gotten it, that was for sure.

“What… how exactly do I…”

Merle tore out a page from his notebook and handed it Davenport, then moved through the room, gathering the items that he would need to care for it. “It likes being told secrets and sung sea shanties at least once a week, but the more you tell it, the better. You’ll have to give it five spritzes of water every day and change the soil once a month. It won’t grow too big, and you can use its petals for tea.”

Davenport was then shooed back to his room with instructions on where to put it to maximize growth and happiness, along with a lot of jargon he couldn’t make heads or tails of. When he was alone, he stroked a finger along a little petal and smiled.

Maybe sharing secrets with this thing wouldn’t be so bad.

The third moment happens after the parley.

Watching Merle’s smokey form suddenly dissipate had taken a toll on everyone, but it had felt like a stab through the heart for Davenport to see it. When he had seen Merle reappear on the Starblaster, he had wanted to just run up to him and hug him, or punch him in the face-- or both! But he had refrained, thanking Merle for what he had done.

The second time, however, felt far worse.

With no one left to care for them, Merle’s plants were bound to wilt. Davenport had only experience with the small plant the cleric had given to him (and it had blossomed beautifully with his dirty secrets), but he had decided to take it upon himself to care for the plants. He was the one closest to Merle’s room, after all. It wasn’t because he wanted to feel closer to the man.

At first, Davenport couldn’t make heads or tails of the gibberish instructions that had been left behind. They were written in a mixture of dwarven and common slang, forcing the captain to get Lucretia’s help in translating, but even then it was just as nonsensical. Every plant had its own way of being cared for, and, if the instructions weren’t followed to a T, they would wilt, smack him, or both.

The captain pleaded with them to give him a chance-- he wasn’t Merle, but Merle would be back soon, they just need to hold on a little longer.

They didn’t listen, of course. But that didn’t phase him.

Slowly but surely, Lucretia and Davenport began to make sense of Merle’s writings, and the flowers began to bloom again. The day that Merle returns, Davenport makes it a point to show his work. Merle checks over every single one, his smile growing wider with each plant.

“Well I’ll be damned, they must really like you!” said Merle. “They look wonderful!”

Davenport’s ears turned red. “Well, it wasn’t just me, Lucret--”

Merle grabbed Davenport by the cheeks and kissed him square on the cheeks with a resounding smack. Davenport let out a surprised noise, staring wide-eyed at the other man as he pulled away. “Merle…?”

The cleric grinned and pat his bright red cheeks. “Just think of it as a thank you, oh captain, my captain.”

The fourth time takes place in bed.

Merle was a heavy sleeper, and a loud one at that. But, as Davenport had found, he couldn’t quite sleep without it. It was almost like white noise, he’d once told the others when they asked him how he could stand it.

Tonight, however, neither man was sleeping. Merle had invited the captain to partake in some new tea, which they had discovered a little too late to make them more awake than tired. They spent half the night drinking tea in Merle’s quarter, sitting in his bed and talking. Then, the cleric’s hand, slowly, almost fearfully, rested on top of his. Davenport almost dropped his teacup in surprise, meeting Merle’s uncertain gaze.

“Captain, I’ve… been thinking--”

Davenport snorted at the thought of what the twins would’ve said to that, then covered it up with a cough.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together, and we’ve gotten… close. Or, at least, I’d like to think we have. And, seeing Lup and Barry, it made me realize, I… oh Pan, how do I say this without making a damn fool of myself? Captain, I like you. I like you a lot, and I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I just had to get it off my chest.”

Davenport gaped at Merle so long his mouth began to dry out. Merle must have taken his silence for rejection, as he began to babble out an apology and pull his hand away. When the captain took his hand, however, he immediately clammed up.

“I like you too, Merle,” Davenport muttered, unable to look him in the eye.

They were both silent for a moment, until Merle started laughing. Caught up in the sheer ridiculousness of their situation, Davenport joined, leaning against the cleric’s shoulder. Their laughter died down and they turned to each other, Merle with a mischievous glint in his eye.

They spent their night doing far more than sleeping.

The fifth moment is their last moment.

They are playing a card game of their own making; the turns take at minimum five minutes to complete, often longer with how they fill the silence with words. Merle is holding Davenport’s hand across the table, stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. They have been completely silent for some time now, when Davenport’s head shoots up.

“Holy shit… I think it's my birthday,” he says in bewilderment. “I, I guess we got to start… I guess we gotta start caring about stuff like that again..”

Merle looks up at him. “What are you, like, 130, 140?”

He laughs nervously. “Yeah, I don’t know, do we count those years? I- I certainly didn’t age during that- Jesus, Merle! We’re going to get older now!”

Merle hums, a small, sad smile on his face. He doesn’t tell him that he’s happy to grow old with Davenport.

There’s a pause before Davenport speaks again. “Do you- do you think we’ll be able to have normal lives after this? Nobody’s ever had a life like ours, there’s no...rule book. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Why would you want a normal life? Normal lives… suck!”

Davenport laughs, squeezing Merle’s hand.

“Like, this game, we play this game, we just sit here. It’s just a way to kill time! C’mon, Skipper, you don’t want to just kill time all the time!”

“I know, I just-- How do you wanna live, Merle? Like, I don’t have a-- this mission has been my life for a century. I don’t know what I want to do.”

“You wanna know what I’d like to do? I’d like to move to the beach. You know why? Because with the ocean, the scenery is always changin’, and I want the scenery to always be changin’, man. I don’t wanna be lookin’ at the same thing all the time… I wanna see a million, billion shells… I wanna watch rain come sweepin’ in… That’s, that’s the life, right there! Change it up, man! Keep it interesting!”

As Merle speaks, something is happening to Davenport. He drops his cards, sweat beading on his forehead. He blinks rapidly, barely registering what the other man is saying. He’s.... forgetting. He’s trying to remember their moments together on the… on the beach? No, no, it was a… a bed? There was definitely a flower involved right?

He’s forgetting, forgetting, he doesn’t want to forget--

He forgets.

[strawbebbynya]

The first moment they have together is on the beach.

Sure, Merle and Davenport have had moments alone together, but not moments, moments so quiet that they almost forgot the other was there. Moments where they are the only two people in the world, no matter how true or false that may be. It starts off simple enough, two older men watching the waves in complete silence. Davenport has never seen Merle so at peace outside of tending to his garden on ship, singing to his plants-- hell, he may even be happier here, on the beach, than with his plants.

Davenport, however, is not at peace; not on the inside. Inside, he is fighting a losing battle with himself, searching for a way to tell Merle that, for a decade now, he has been completely, absolutely, head-over-heels in love for the cleric.

His hands were trembling with the thought of being held, dwarfed completely by Merle’s own (the thought of the pun gets a nervous laugh out of him, and Merle chuckles too, though at what, Davenport isn't sure.) As the sun began to set, Davenport’s trembling worsens and his courage continuously wanes. That’s when it happens.

Without a word, Merle takes Davenport’s hand in his, fingers intertwined, and squeezed gently.

The captain’s heart almost explodes. His face and ears were bright red, brighter than the robes of their uniforms, and, oh no, is he hyperventilating? Calm yourself, damn it! You’re the captain of the Starblaster, not some village boy with a crush!

And yet, neither of them let go for long after the sun sets, until they’ve fallen asleep on the beach and woken up by their crew calling after them.

They don’t talk about it for a long time. But Davenport knows he’s not seeing things when he catches Merle’s eyes and sees them twinkle mischievously

The second moment takes place on the Starblaster.

They lost Lup, Taako, and Magnus halfway through the year, and things had been hard the four of them left, Barry most of all. He rarely left the libraries of this world, bringing back tomes to the Starblaster to pour over their contents in the solitude of his quarters when it was too dangerous to stay planetside. Lucretia was Lucretia, never the one to be very social anyways. That left only Merle and Davenport.

The memory of their night on the beach, as completely and absolutely innocent as it was, felt sinful to Davenport. He’d had male lovers before, done things that even now he felt too ashamed to think about, but just holding the cleric’s hand had felt like he was crossing the line. This was his coworker, his crewmate, his employee. He should be keeping his distance. So why had he jumped on the first chance to help Merle with his plants?

Mostly, he’s just standing a few feet from Merle, watching nervously as he sang and tended his plants. Merle collected seeds from every world they visited, taking care to replicate their biomes almost perfectly and writing down notes whenever he found something he considered interesting. Though Merle didn’t seem to notice, Davenport certainly took note of how the plants would lean towards them, petals opened a little wider, and follow him as he walked away, almost drooping as he left.

I know the feeling, Davenport thought.

“Hey, Captain?” Merle called as he spritzed the cacti with water. “Come over here, I wanna show you something.”

The gnome almost tripped over himself scrambling to the other man’s side. “Yes, Merle?”

In front of them was a small, wilted cactus in a pot, its petals drooping lazily. “I’m… not always going to be around, Captain. And someone needs to be here, to take care of the garden. Now, it’s not much, but this lil’ guy… he needs a special touch. He need some time on his own, before he can join his brothers. I’ve got too many plants to take care of, but… I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking care of it for me.”

Davenport swallowed the lump in his throat and took the pot, scrutinizing it. He remembered seeing others like it about two cycles ago; Merle had received it as a gift, for helping the locals set up a greenhouse to help their crops during the long, harsh winters. It was certainly much better looking when they had first gotten it, that was for sure.

“What… how exactly do I…”

Merle tore out a page from his notebook and handed it Davenport, then moved through the room, gathering the items that he would need to care for it. “It likes being told secrets and sung sea shanties at least once a week, but the more you tell it, the better. You’ll have to give it five spritzes of water every day and change the soil once a month. It won’t grow too big, and you can use its petals for tea.”

Davenport was then shooed back to his room with instructions on where to put it to maximize growth and happiness, along with a lot of jargon he couldn’t make heads or tails of. When he was alone, he stroked a finger along a little petal and smiled.

Maybe sharing secrets with this thing wouldn’t be so bad.

The third moment happens after the parley.

Watching Merle’s smokey form suddenly dissipate had taken a toll on everyone, but it had felt like a stab through the heart for Davenport to see it. When he had seen Merle reappear on the Starblaster, he had wanted to just run up to him and hug him, or punch him in the face-- or both! But he had refrained, thanking Merle for what he had done.

The second time, however, felt far worse.

With no one left to care for them, Merle’s plants were bound to wilt. Davenport had only experience with the small plant the cleric had given to him (and it had blossomed beautifully with his dirty secrets), but he had decided to take it upon himself to care for the plants. He was the one closest to Merle’s room, after all. It wasn’t because he wanted to feel closer to the man.

At first, Davenport couldn’t make heads or tails of the gibberish instructions that had been left behind. They were written in a mixture of dwarven and common slang, forcing the captain to get Lucretia’s help in translating, but even then it was just as nonsensical. Every plant had its own way of being cared for, and, if the instructions weren’t followed to a T, they would wilt, smack him, or both.

The captain pleaded with them to give him a chance-- he wasn’t Merle, but Merle would be back soon, they just need to hold on a little longer.

They didn’t listen, of course. But that didn’t phase him.

Slowly but surely, Lucretia and Davenport began to make sense of Merle’s writings, and the flowers began to bloom again. The day that Merle returns, Davenport makes it a point to show his work. Merle checks over every single one, his smile growing wider with each plant.

“Well I’ll be damned, they must really like you!” said Merle. “They look wonderful!”

Davenport’s ears turned red. “Well, it wasn’t just me, Lucret--”

Merle grabbed Davenport by the cheeks and kissed him square on the cheeks with a resounding smack. Davenport let out a surprised noise, staring wide-eyed at the other man as he pulled away. “Merle…?”

The cleric grinned and pat his bright red cheeks. “Just think of it as a thank you, oh captain, my captain.”

The fourth time takes place in bed.

Merle was a heavy sleeper, and a loud one at that. But, as Davenport had found, he couldn’t quite sleep without it. It was almost like white noise, he’d once told the others when they asked him how he could stand it.

Tonight, however, neither man was sleeping. Merle had invited the captain to partake in some new tea, which they had discovered a little too late to make them more awake than tired. They spent half the night drinking tea in Merle’s quarter, sitting in his bed and talking. Then, the cleric’s hand, slowly, almost fearfully, rested on top of his. Davenport almost dropped his teacup in surprise, meeting Merle’s uncertain gaze.

“Captain, I’ve… been thinking--”

Davenport snorted at the thought of what the twins would’ve said to that, then covered it up with a cough.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together, and we’ve gotten… close. Or, at least, I’d like to think we have. And, seeing Lup and Barry, it made me realize, I… oh Pan, how do I say this without making a damn fool of myself? Captain, I like you. I like you a lot, and I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I just had to get it off my chest.”

Davenport gaped at Merle so long his mouth began to dry out. Merle must have taken his silence for rejection, as he began to babble out an apology and pull his hand away. When the captain took his hand, however, he immediately clammed up.

“I like you too, Merle,” Davenport muttered, unable to look him in the eye.

They were both silent for a moment, until Merle started laughing. Caught up in the sheer ridiculousness of their situation, Davenport joined, leaning against the cleric’s shoulder. Their laughter died down and they turned to each other, Merle with a mischievous glint in his eye.

They spent their night doing far more than sleeping.

The fifth moment is their last moment.

They are playing a card game of their own making; the turns take at minimum five minutes to complete, often longer with how they fill the silence with words. Merle is holding Davenport’s hand across the table, stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. They have been completely silent for some time now, when Davenport’s head shoots up.

“Holy shit… I think it's my birthday,” he says in bewilderment. “I, I guess we got to start… I guess we gotta start caring about stuff like that again..”

Merle looks up at him. “What are you, like, 130, 140?”

He laughs nervously. “Yeah, I don’t know, do we count those years? I- I certainly didn’t age during that- Jesus, Merle! We’re going to get older now!”

Merle hums, a small, sad smile on his face. He doesn’t tell him that he’s happy to grow old with Davenport.

There’s a pause before Davenport speaks again. “Do you- do you think we’ll be able to have normal lives after this? Nobody’s ever had a life like ours, there’s no...rule book. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Why would you want a normal life? Normal lives… suck!”

Davenport laughs, squeezing Merle’s hand.

“Like, this game, we play this game, we just sit here. It’s just a way to kill time! C’mon, Skipper, you don’t want to just kill time all the time!”

“I know, I just-- How do you wanna live, Merle? Like, I don’t have a-- this mission has been my life for a century. I don’t know what I want to do.”

“You wanna know what I’d like to do? I’d like to move to the beach. You know why? Because with the ocean, the scenery is always changin’, and I want the scenery to always be changin’, man. I don’t wanna be lookin’ at the same thing all the time… I wanna see a million, billion shells… I wanna watch rain come sweepin’ in… That’s, that’s the life, right there! Change it up, man! Keep it interesting!”

As Merle speaks, something is happening to Davenport. He drops his cards, sweat beading on his forehead. He blinks rapidly, barely registering what the other man is saying. He’s.... forgetting. He’s trying to remember their moments together on the… on the beach? No, no, it was a… a bed? There were definitely a flower involved right?

He’s forgetting, forgetting, he doesn’t want to forget--

He forgets.