#but cell phones?? magic. magic is the only explanation.

[shellyseashell]

my favorite part of descendants is how absolutely weird you can get with timeline stuff. canon makes it seem like every story took place in 1995 and now it’s 2015, but you have stories that took place in the 1500s and others in the 1700s and others in ancient times. and as much as canon may like to pretend everyone has adjusted to technology they probably wouldn’t realistically have, not everyone would want that. basically what i’m saying is i want horse drawn carriages on the same streets as cars, some people with landline phones and others with cell phones, people wearing a modern dress next to someone in a medieval gown or greek tunic. i just think it’d be funny.

[lucimiir]

Maggie stiefvater can keep mentioning things like Instagram and Tiktok but I live in denial and continue to believe that there is NO WAY these books take place later than 2005

[rainee-da]

🍀 Your First "I Love You" [2]

CHARACTER ❥ Delisaster 🍾 / Domina Blowelive 💧 / Cell War 💎

W A R N I N G ⚠️ PG-13 fluff with hurt/comfort on some / BIG SPOILER!!!! / might be too OOC for you.

D E L I S A S T E R 🪞

He was simply lounging around, stuffing himself with booze (rip that liver) when you suddenly come into the room.

At first, he didn't pay any mind to it. He gave you one of his toothy smiles as he leaned back on the chair lazily, waving a bottle of booze to your face, saying "Eyy sup', want some?"

When you finally say the magic word, he suddenly goes blank.

Not like a 'mind-blank' type of blank, but his face suddenly goes blank. All the shine in his eyes, his smiles, vanish into the void.

Honestly, this will make you feel afraid. Did you anger him? Did he not feel the same?

He suddenly picked up his phone and made a call to someone with a low whispering tone, too low for you to hear anything, and walked away. Leaving you alone with your thoughts.

But before you could think of any worst-case scenarios, a bunch of his goons suddenly barge into the room bringing... party popper???

Delisaster finally comes back being brought in by his goons... on a sedan chair???

At least, you're now relieved because he's now giving you a wide smile. A bit too wide. Scrap that- now you're creeped out.

Before you could ask about what the hell was going on, all of his goons popped the party popper, and a bunch of pink-shaded confetti flew across the room. Good luck seeing anything at all.

As soon as you're able to scrap off any of the confetti that is stuck on your face, you've now realized that the confetti is shaped into a heart. Kinda cute tbh.

And out of nowhere, he's already in front of you. Smiling wide, hugging you tight, laughing maniacally.

"YAHOOOOOOOO YOU SAID THE MAGIC WOOOO-" rip your ears.

All of the goons that surround you are now crying for some damn reason, passing a box of tissues around. Is this a wedding? a funeral??

Finally calming down, Delisaster finally leans back to take a look at your face. Now you can see that his smile is so gentle and he's looking at you oh so fondly.

He's caressing your face as if you're made of glass, and this is the most gentle and affectionate you've ever seen him. Usually, he's a menace to society

"I know I never really made you feel easy around me, especially with my reputation and all... not even my brothers can stand me... I don't even know if I deserve you," his voice breaks slightly as he leans closer your ear, "But you made me the happiest man, and I can never thank you enough for that... I love you too, baby."

... That would be so romantic if only the goons around you aren't screaming an ugly-ass cry, with the sound of snots being sniffed as ambience.

D O M I N A B L O W E L I V E 💧

He chokes on his apple juice, almost snorting liquid through his nose when you suddenly come up to him and say those.

"W-what do you mean??" he stammers with his face now as vibrant as his hair, eyes shaky as they darted around to avoid your gaze. "Do... do you even understand what you're saying? how serious that word is??"

Man is so melodramatic, but you can't blame him. All his life he believes that any form of endearment given to someone means that there is any ulterior motives behind it and things such as 'pure love' is just a thing from a fantasy book.

You are fully aware of his upbringing, so you wouldn't be surprised if he didn't believe you right away.

What you didn't expect though is for him to go into full-teacher mode and info-dumping you about the definition of love.

He deadass mansplaining 'Love' to you by citing sources from dictionaries, biology, and psychology studies.

He's so academically smart and his brain is like a walking dictionary but he's misusing it in such a weird way.

After he's done with his rant explanation that who knows how long it is, he'll avert his gaze from yours. He's panting slightly as he broke in with his question, "Now that you understand, next time don't say those words so easily to someone," he huffed slightly and crossed his arms, "It's not like I've ever done anything to you that warrants something such as that, you know."

Okay, now that understandably pissed you off. So it's now your turn to go on full-tangent on why you love him, what you love about him, how you didn't need him to do anything for you to love him, and about how his view of love is full of shit.

And now it's his turn to be bewildered. Your outburst has effectively overwhelming his heart with warmness that he never felt before in his life.

By the time you're done his face that is previously tinted pink now goes scarlet red. His mouth is agape and shaking slightly like a fish in the open air, and all of the retort he intended to throw is stuck in his throat.

Domina_Blowelive.exe stopped working lol.

"Whatever! You're stupid anyway," is the only counter he could throw back at you, and Gods he hate how weak that ended up coming out from his mouth.

Before you could say anything back to him he already turned his back and stomped away from you, huffing and mumbling profanities.

He's so embarassed that he didn't pay any attention to his path and ended up turning left a bit too early, and slamming his head onto the wall.

If Levis and the gang are around to see that, they'll not be alive for long lol.

You're the only one who could make the top students of the prestigious magic school Walkis Academy turn into a cuckoo mess. Congratulations!

It will take you a while for him to finally believe and accept your feelings. Even so, you didn't need him to say anything to know that he feels the same way.

His journey to recovery is still long ahead, he needs more time to unpack those childhood trauma that led him to become the person that he was. But I swear it will be worth it.

Please be patient with him ♥

C E L L W A R 💎

"What do you want now?" he said as he stared at you with an exhausted look on his face, checking you out to figure out your intention based on body language alone.

Because that's the only reason for his whole existence in this world, right? to give and to serve?

You repeated your confession, and now he stares at you dumbfounded. He narrowed his eyes and exhaled in frustration as he ruffled your hair slightly.

"Don't say such a useless thing next time. It's a burden."

Yeouwch that comes out wrong doesn't it?

Even though what he means by that is that it is useless for YOU to love HIM, and it will only burden YOU to love HIM.

But what do you expect? he survives his whole life in the attendance of Innocent Zero's deranged family by belittling himself down, doing all the nuisance and humiliating tasks to stroke Innocent Zero's children's ego. what a bunch of manchild.

Being negative and blunt comes as a second nature to him.

But then again, now you're hurt. What makes it worse is that before you can ask him to clarify what he means he's already out of sight, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

He realizes that you seem like you're about to cry before he goes, and he can feel his heart ache to see you making that expression. Then again, what he said is not exactly wrong, right?

He's only realized what he did when Delisaster waltzing to him out of nowhere, whistling towards him and teasing him about "being so cold to your booboo."

He can feel his soul draining out of his body as he listens to Delisaster's explanation that is filled with a bunch of degrading mockery because let me remind you again he's a menace.

Delisaster finally saunters off somewhere else. Cell takes this short amount of time to his advantage and goes hell-bent on finding you.

The maid and butler that come past him are confused because they never see Cell that mortified.

Upon finding you, he wastes no time and lunges towards you on instinct, effectively tackling you to the ground as if he's a bounty hunter. But he made sure to hug your head before it slammed to the ground, burying it in his chest.

His mind goes blank at the sudden closeness and now he has no games. Honestly, he didn't know what to say either even if his mind did not go blank. Man really had no games.

But he still tries his best, like he always does. He leans back slightly while still pining you down, staring at you with eyes wavering, a mixture of anxiousness and affection.

"I... just realized I worded it wrongly before..." he stated hesitantly as a start as he proceeded to explain his thought process, "Honestly, I don't know if I should even be indulging in these feelings... I have my master to serve, and I'm afraid you will get hurt if he finds out."

His mouth clumsily formed into a thin smile, his hand reaches towards your hair, twirling it on his finger and taking a mental note of how soft it was, "But, to answer yours... I feel the same, and always has been."

The smile that grows on your face makes his world stop for a moment. Stunning him into silence as he stares into your eyes that is full of life and affection. His mind then wanders, imagining things that a tool like him should have no right to dream of.

'Wouldn't it be so nice... if I could live a normal life with you?'

This is the continuation of this headcanon! I initially intended for this to be included in the previous post but alas; I hit a roadblock lolol-

I've been thinking back and forth between adding Cell War or not. But I didn't care what anyone say; Cell War is part of the family too! I want to make hcs this angsty boi so much

I'll be ending this prompt right here and move on to the next one I had in mind (I'm currently in Mash's brother hyper-fixation phases and will be writing tons of them in the future lol). If you want me to write for other character feel free to request one as long as the ask is open!

Thank you for reading!🍀

[ironstrange1991]

Distraction

+18 Smut

Pairing: Stephen!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: Stephen is bored and you are the best distraction he could find in the moment.

Word Count: 2,7k

Warnings: Dirty talk, love bites, fingering, p in v unprotected sex, creampie.

A/N: This one is short. I haven't written og Stephen in a while and god I love writing him. He is definitely the best at dirty talk and being a teasing bastard. Anyway, I hope you guys like it.

Stephen was bored. Usually he could handle the endless meetings at the Avengers compound reasonably well, but he hadn't slept last night and had only been back from a mission two days ago. Furthermore, with due respect that Captain Rogers deserved, the calm and militarized way in which he spoke, exhaustively explaining every detail of things that Stephen already knew, was making him sleepy.

Stephen looked around at the huge conference table. Everyone was there, including you. Next to Stark as usual, typing whatever was on your laptop with a dexterity that always fascinated him.

He propped his chin on his hand, his eyes focused on you. It was certainly a more exciting distraction than Rogers and all his chatter.

Stephen and you met right there at the Compound when he started working with the Avengers on a few sporadic missions. You were Tony's new assistant, one of many who came to take Potts's place after she decided to retire from the position and stick to her duties as CEO of Stark Industries. However, they always gave up, but not you. You and Tony soon formed a friendship that went far beyond work and Stephen could only assume that was the only reason you stayed.

Anyway, Stephen would be eternally grateful to Stark for giving him, even indirectly, the opportunity to meet you. Of course he would never admit that.

He could say without a shadow of a doubt that the chemistry between you was instantaneous and after a few dates you engaged in a relationship that lasted two years. You lived with him in the Sanctum and you still worked as Stark's assistant and Stephen loved you. To be really honest about it, he was irrevocably in love with you and felt like the luckiest man in the world to wake up next to you every day.

You seemed to notice Stephen was staring at you because you glanced at him and smiled innocently.

Stephen smirked and moved his fingers quickly causing your computer screen to go white and a message to start writing itself.

I'M BORED

Stephen watched with amusement at the way you looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to what was written on your computer screen. You gave him a disapproving look and then grabbed your cell phone and typed a reply.

Stephen felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket, he took it and read your reply.

FIFTEEN MORE MINUTES. BEHAVE YOURSELF.

Stephen's smirk turned into a grin and he moved his fingers again without bothering to try to be discreet.

MAKE ME.

Stephen watched your face turning slightly pink. You bit your bottom lip thinking of an answer.

STEPHEN STRANGE, WHAT DO I DO WITH YOU?

Stephen quickly moved his fingers to magically write a reply and when he did his eyes met Romanoff's who looked as bored as he was but managed to fake it better. She arched an eyebrow and glanced at you.

LET'S GET OUT OF HERE.

He turned his attention to you who seemed speechless at his suggestion, but before you could respond, Stephen got up and left the room.

You were looking towards the door and feeling all the eyes in the room on you even though you knew no one was paying any attention to you. You scribbled a message on a piece of paper and passed it to Tony.

I'LL BE BACK IN A MOMENT.

Then you got up and left right behind Stephen.

Tony read the paper and faced you leaving and his eyes met Natasha's. He waved his hand at her and she shook her head with a shrug. The two turned their attention to the end of Rogers' explanation.

You looked around in the living room and Stephen was nowhere to be found. You walked quickly down the hall looking everywhere trying to figure out where he had gone, then the door to one of the rooms opened and Stephen grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you inside. He pinned you against the door, cupping your face in his trembling hands and pulled you in for a passionate kiss.

"Stephen... I'm working and so are you..." You said when he finally broke the kiss to breathe, but he cut you off by kissing you again, this time with more tongue and teeth. His hands went down your body, one grabbed your breast over the silk shirt you were wearing, the other continued down grabbing the hem of your skirt and lifting it so that he had access to what he really wanted.

 Stephen loved seeing you in your skirts and shirts and heels. That made him even more crazy about you. So did your hair in a bun or ponytail as it was now leaving your long neck open to view and at the mercy of his lips.

"You call that work?" He breathed on your lips.

You moaned softly as his fingers touched your clit through your panties and his lips moved down to your neck.

"I'd rather do something more productive with my time."

You moaned softly as he pulled your panties to the side and thrusted his finger inside you.

"And seeing how wet you are, I'm forced to believe you agree with me."

You took your hand to the nape of his neck and cupped his face with your other hand while grinding your hips into his hand.

"This is inappropriate..." You whispered, however you pulled him to your lips again, thrusting your tongue into his mouth, moaning with the sensation of pleasure building between your legs as Stephen worked his long, agile fingers into you. . God, the things those fingers could do!

"I don't care." He said into your lips and lowered his mouth to your neck, biting, sucking on your skin until a purple mark formed and then moving on to the next spot.

You groaned surrendering to him "Fuck it! Just fuck me, Stephen."

Stephen let out a small giggle and pulled you onto his lap and you locked your legs around his waist. He carried you across the room and set you on the desk, his fingers moving impatiently and making the buttons on your shirt undo themselves. He pulled your bra down and licked your nipple, curling his tongue around the bud as he directed his hands to your skirt, lifting it impatiently and grabbing your waist with his other hand lifting you off the desk for a moment to hike up your skirt to your waist. He took off your panties and put them in his pocket.

Your hands were also quick to search for his belt, quickly unbuckling it and unbuttoning his pants and reaching inside his briefs and finally grabbing his cock, releasing and stroking it up and down which brought a moan from his lips

"Fuck, I love the way you touch me, Y/n. These hands feel so good around my cock, squeezing me so tight..." He moaned louder, turning his lips back to yours "Have I told you how much I love you today, sweetheart?"

You moaned softly into his lips as he began to fuck you with his fingers. The sound of it echoing through the silent room.

"Hm, not yet, but I'm ready to hear it while you cum in my mouth."

Stephen chuckled, replacing your hand with his own. "Unfortunately we don't have time for this, sweetheart." He gave a couple of jerks and then spit into his hand running the saliva over the tip of his cock and fitting himself better between your legs. When he finally entered you, you both moaned loudly and your legs locked behind his back.

"We still have a few minutes" You replied pulling him to your lips and smothering your moans in his mouth as he thrusted into you so hard the desk started to creak.

"Yeah? Now you don't think it's inappropriate, hm? I bet you were bored too. You know, all I needed was you to give me some distraction." He bit your earlobe teasing you.

Your hands grabbed his hair pulling at it a bit harder than necessary. "Is that what I am to you, Doctor Strange? A distraction?"

He groaned increasing his pace. Stephen wasn't exactly a fan of quickies, he preferred to take his time with you, but under the circumstances all he could do was hurry up before anyone noticed you two were missing.

"You know you are everything to me, Y/n, including a good distraction." He responded with a cocky smile on his face. "So good... So. fucking. good." He punctuated each word with thrusts so hard they rocked the desk backwards. You had to support yourself with one of your arms and when you did, you dropped some objects on the floor that you didn't know what they were, but the noise of it shattering on the floor made you both stop for a second and then both of you started to giggle.

"Do you know whose room this is?" Stephen asked reaching a hand between you to touch your clit. He moved his fingers in circles, eliciting a loud moan from your lips. Very loud.

"Shhh, they'll hear us, sweetheart. I need you to be quiet."

But it was impossible to be quiet when he was fucking you so hard and so good. His huge cock hitting your sweet spot every time.

Stephen kissed you desperately, you two were so close. Your lips went down his neck and you sank your teeth into his skin to contain another moan as he increased the movement of his fingers on your clit, synchronizing them with his thrusts that got faster and roughier.

"Fuck, Y/n, I'm gonna cum. Be a good girl and cum with me."

You cupped his face kissing him passionately "Make me." You teased repeating the words he had said to you minutes before.

Stephen bit your bottom lip and brought his hand to your throat, choking you, and literally started to pound against you. The skin hitting against skin sound plus your moans and grunts were so obscene. You two had no idea how loud you were being.

"Stephen... fuck I'm gonna c..." He interrupted you by sticking his tongue in your mouth, kissing you and moaning obscenely into your lips as he came inside you and you came with him exactly as he demanded.

"Fuck... you're squeezing me so tight..." He praised you, but you didn't have time to think on a reply or anything else because Clocky came flying and enveloping you both and an instant later the door opened and Tony stared at you both with a mixture of surprise and irritation.

"Please tell me you two are not doing what I think you are doing... on my desk."

Stephen didn't even turn to look at Tony before replying "Not anymore."

Tony groaned irritably "I liked that desk." He said leaving and slamming the door. "I'm working with a bunch of perverted teenagers..." You heard him say as his voice faded down the hall.

Stephen made sure to lock the door with a flick of his fingers this time and Cloaky flew away landing in a corner of the room.

Stephen rested his forehead on yours and you both started to laugh.

"I said this was inappropriate." You complained.

"And I said I didn't care." He responded, pulling out and conjuring a cloth to clean the two of you up.

"It's not you who will end up getting fired." You shot back coming down from the desk and pulling down your skirt. Stephen was buckling his belt and gave a dry chuckle. "Stark likes you too much to fire you for any reason, sweetheart."

You buttoned up your shirt quickly and then casted an accusing look at Cloaky "He was here the whole time? Watching us!"

Stephen gave a small laugh and came towards you, gently tucking some stray hairs behind your ear. "He?"

"I imagine it as he. You don't?"

Stephen tilted his head thinking "I never thought about it." He ran his thumb around your lips, wiping away the excess of lipstick. "Anyway, I think we have to thank it for not letting us traumatize Stark even further."

You giggled locking your arms around his neck "I love you, Stephen Strange." He grins "And I love you, sweetheart. More than anything."

He kissed you softly and you used your shirt sleeve to wipe his lipstick stained lips.

"Thank you" He thanked giving your lips a little peck.

"I think it would be even more embarrassing if you walked out of this room with your lips full of lipstick."

"You're assuming I'm walking out of this room. The meeting is over. I'm going home."

You shoot him an angry look. "My shift isn't over for two hours and if that means I have to walk out that door, you're definitely going to come along with me. I don't need to remind you that it was your bad idea, right?"

Stephen giggled "Didn't seem so bad five minutes ago, did it?"

You bit your bottom lip "Don't be cocky." You said slapping him on the shoulder and grimacing. "We have to go."

Stephen used his magic to put all the objects back in place and restore the glass on the picture frames you dropped on the floor. Cloaky flew up to him and latched on to his shoulders and you were both grateful that there was no one in the hall when you left, but the gratitude soon faded when you reached the living room and were greeted by giggles and whistles. Of course Tony had told everyone what he had seen.

"That's it, Doctor. Life is short." Wilson teased to which Stephen retorted "If you keep teasing me yours will be."

Sam laughed even harder.

"The thing is, out of so many places, you guys had to do your magic right in my office room?" Tony asked, but you could see in his face that he wasn't mad. Not really.

Thor laughed loudly and you felt your face turning red.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's leave them alone." Nat said smirking at you. "You missed the end of Rogers' explanation. He is upset."

Steve raised both hands "It's okay, I... understand."

"Really? I thought the only thing you still did in bed was sleep." Tony teased.

"I know a girl who can answer that question for you, Tony." Steve answered.

"Leave me out of this!" Sharon defended herself and you couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation. That was your family, your friends and you loved them even if they were a bunch of idiots at times.

"Okay, the show it's over. I really need to go now, sweetheart" Stephen said squeezing your hand and placing a quick kiss on your lips.

"See you at home." You said watching as he opened a portal and walked through it.

"See you guys." He closed the portal leaving only sparks behind.

"Okay, now you're going to have to tell us: is the magic man really that magical?" Natasha asked teasing you and everyone laughed again.

You felt your face getting hot, but smirked "He is. He's very magical."

Reblog please! Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing!

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[thebluestbluewords]

parenting books did not prepare them for this:

"The Smee twins don't want to be boys anymore." 

Mal blinks. The parenting books didn't prepare her for this one. "Uh. Sure. Do they want to be girls?" 

Carlos shrugs. For some unfathomable reason, the Smee twins have decided that Carlos is the most trustworthy adult in the house, and have consequently decided that they're only going to talk to him when they need something. It keeps things nice and quiet, but it's also weird that they picked the guy who spends most of his free time researching better ways to make explosions as their singular safe adult. "Dunno. They didn't exactly say, so I figure probably not. Do we have books on this shit?" 

They have books on everything from feeding toddlers (thankfully not applicable - the Smee twins are old enough that they're willing to eat anything, and Celia and Dizzy haven't managed to procreate yet) to managing runaway teenagers, but they don't have any books on what to do when your sort-of-adoptive kids decide that they don't want to be boys anymore. "No." 

"Figures. Can we get some?"

"If you can figure out what books cover it, I'll misappropriate treasury funds to buy 'em," Mal decides. It might not even count as misappropriation if she can get Evie to write up a little blurb justifying the expense as part of the isle kid program. They got Celia and Dizzy's cell phones with official treasury funds. The magic that Evie's email connections can work is basically infallible at this point. "Do they want to cut their hair or anything?" 

"I didn't ask. There were a lot of tears." 

Mal winces. "Did you try and comfort them, or something?" 

Carlos's face is what she can only assume is a pained reflection of her own. "Yeah. But it didn't really work, so I just told them that they don't have to be boys anymore, and then I got them set up with chocolate milk." 

Chocolate milk is the ultimate comfort food. It's also the only way that any of their newest VKs will drink milk, which is proving both expensive in the finances department (Evie) and adventurous in the cereal department (primarily Jay). 

"Yeah, that's fine," Mal decides. If they're not actively wailing, everything is probably fine. "Do they want, like, to paint their room a different color?" 

"Crying," Carlos reminds her, like it's a complete explanation. "Didn't ask." 

"I can't ask them, they'll cry if I look at them wrong," Mal says, in a very measured and calm sort of tone. "Go back and ask if they want to paint the room, or cut their hair, or something." 

Carlos casts his most baleful look up at her. He really has to work for it too, because the universe is deeply unfair, and he's taller than she is now. "Crying." 

"Don't be a wimp." 

He groans. "I'm too young to be a single parent. You're aging me prematurely. Every time I do things like this I can feel my brain cells maturing." 

"Shut the fuck up and go talk to your kids." 

[misc-obeyme]

something i haven't understood in obey me so far playing is what year it's set in? did I miss the amount of years stated somewhere?

like we have the D.D.D. which is like a cell phone. But then we get sent back in Nightbringer and we still have D.D.D. And anime. And heavy metal, probably. What year is it again?

No way it's been like centuries, which is how they make it sound. I'm not even sure it's been a whole decade into the past. How long does it take to get a school up and running, Diavolo?

-a confused player

Dear A Confused Player,

Don't worry. You are all of us.

You didn't miss anything about what the years are because they've never stated anything about that.

They kinda explain everything away with the "time soup" but even that isn't really an explanation at all. They mostly just don't talk about it.

It's generally accepted that the Devildom is behind the human world technology-wise. There's proof of this in season three of the OG where the brothers don't know how to use some pretty basic kitchen appliances. The idea is that in the Devildom, they have magic to supplement their tech needs, so they don't need as much tech. This is pretty standard for fantasy worldbuilding. It's the idea that magic essentially does a lot of the stuff we use technology for.

But then yeah, Nightbringer happened. And that's supposedly thousands (millions? they don't state specifics) of years in the past. So presumably, the technology wouldn't be as advanced as it is in OG. Which would mean we wouldn't have things like D.D.D.s and there was also the wasted potential of old school outfits.

Since things seem to be about the same in Nightbringer tech-wise, the question becomes why?

Either Nightbringer is set in a timeline that's so drastically different that this tech was developed a lot earlier than in the OG timeline OR it's always been that way and the OG timeline was actually taking place far into the future for us. Another possibility is that the Devildom actually developed all their tech before the human world developed theirs, but at some point their development just stagnated. Meaning it stayed at about the same level from Nightbringer to OG.

And then there's the RAD founding discrepancy. In OG, they make it sound like RAD has been around since way before Lucifer & co fell, but this was mostly portrayed through old Devilgrams. So they just straight up retconned that. I think RAD's development has only been happening for a few years in Nightbringer and then it's established before MC leaves.

All of this is to say, the time is wonky and makes no sense. You can speculate about it for hours and still come up with ??? because any of these options could work. Due to them fucking around with time travel, timelines, and "time soup," anything goes at this point.

Time travel is a risky thing to include in a story for many reasons. And this right here is one of them.

We might've been able to suspend our disbelief on the time frame of the OG, but now that they've tossed in this time travel to the supposedly distant past, it's a lot harder to just go well, it's a fantasy story so I'm not gonna worry about it!

Just one of my many complaints about the writing of this game lol.

Anyway, that's the best I can do, I'm afraid. I might have gotten some details wrong because I forget things sometimes, but this is how I've always interpreted things. I hope that helps a little, but in the end it's kinda up to you to headcanon whatever you like!

[excessive-vampires]

Dealing with Demons Chapter 8: Operation Friendship Part 1: Riley

Masterlist with CW

Taglist: @demyxdancer @softvampirewhump @d-cs

"Stay in the car." Sil closed the door Avi had just opened. Riley heard the demon make a muffled noise of offended protest.

"Sil, what's the point in bringing them here if we don't let them help." Riley walked around to the other side of the car and opened Avi's door. Sil closed it again.

"They have a point, Sil."

"Shut up, Mike. Look," She turned back to Riley. "I don't know about you, but I'm not happy that we have to babysit an incredibly dangerous and unpredictable creature during our investigation. The less involved they are the better."

"You think I want them here? Of course not! But Coleman thinks they can help, and if this is as serious as Avi and Coleman think it is then we need all the help we can get."

Sil sighed. "Alright." She opened Avi's door.

"Thank you, Agent Silverman. And thank you, Riley, for your kind words and vote of confidence."

"Jokes are my thing!" Mike called out as he walked towards the prison doors. Sil rolled her eyes and followed him. The others followed her.

The prison was basically a normal prison, but with a staff that was in the know about magic. Not all of the prisoners were in there for magic-related crimes, but you wouldn't find a mage in any other prison in the area. There had to at least be someone there to make sure no one was drawing runes on the walls with their food or something. There were separate facilities for sorcerers and other inherently magical beings, and those places were definitely not like normal prisons.

Avi shuddered as they walked through the doors.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked.

"I am a creature of avarice and this is a place where they take away everything you have. It's practically my antithesis."

"Huh."

Going through security took a while. Luckily, they let Riley keep their amulet, but Mike was carrying a lot of magical devices that had to be examined and cleared for use within the prison. Riley was worried that Avi would somehow have even more stuff, and be much less willing to part with it, but the demon dutifully emptied their pockets when they had to. All they were carrying was a wallet, a set of keys, and two cell phones.

"Why two phones?" Riley asked.

"Only one of them is mine. I'm holding on to the other one for a while for a friend." Avi offered no further explanation and Riley didn't press the issue. There were more important things to worry about.

The cell they arrived at looked like any other prison cell, except for the lack of prisoners. The bunks pressed up against the bare walls were empty.

"The others were moved for the duration of the investigation," the guard who led them there said.

"We'll want to interview them later," Sil said. "Can you tell us what exactly happened?"

"I can do you one better, we have it on tape." The guard pulled out a tablet and the group gathered around to watch.

The footage showed four prisoners sleeping in the cell. Then one on a bottom bunk just vanished. No flash of light, no noise, nothing. There one second and gone the next.

"Freaky, right?" said the guard.

Avi made a noise of assent.

"Thank you for showing us this. Now, could you give us some space to investigate for a moment?" Sil asked.

"Sure." The guard walked a little ways away.

Sil got out a blue washable marker from her pocket and drew a rune on her hand. Then she shoved her palm out towards the cell. Nothing happened.

"Never seen that happen with a detector spell before. What does it mean?" Mike asked.

Sil opened her mouth to answer when Avi cut her off.

"That the magic that took him originated somewhere other than here, and that it called him to somewhere specific without needing to know where he was before. A demon didn't do this, couldn't have, at least not without a human mage's help."

"I guess that narrows our suspect pool. Slightly," Mike snarked.

Sil got out some hand sanitizer and a tissue and cleaned her palm. "Riley, write that down."

"On it." Riley retrieved a pen and notepad from their pocket and summarized what Avi said. They could have typed it on their phone, but it always felt safer to Riley to have a physical copy of important information.

"Hey, I thought demons were more powerful than humans," Mike commented.

"We are, but we're also limited by more than just the four impossibilities that other mages are. Imagine a sorcerer who can't learn runes to augment their natural talent. We can put a lot more energy into what we do than a human, but humans have more options."

"Huh," Mike said as he got out a magnifying glass with runes etched into the handle and moved to search the cell. The others watched and waited for a few minutes as he inspected every inch of the small space.

"It's clean. No artifacts. It looks like everything about this originated on the other end of things."

"That means Bell probably wasn't involved, he's just a victim in this one. Or maybe he was recruited as an accomplice, I don't know." Sil sounded frustrated. "Okay, I think we're done here. Time to go interview the cellmates." She didn't wait for a response before walking back towards the guard acting as the group's escort.

The interviews yielded little pertinent information. None of the prisoners had woken up when Bell had disappeared, which suggested that there were no sudden changes in the environment. Not even a drop in temperature. All that did was confirm the spell used to take Bell used energy extremely efficiently, and hint at an extremely powerful caster.

Soon they were back in the car headed to Clara Bolton's house. The drive was silent and tense. Riley thought hard about what they had learned about the case.

"Does Bolton's fiancée know what you are? And about the deal?" Sil asked as they pulled into the driveway.

"Yes, Clara had to explain my presence to Jessica when I brought her back home after the kerfuffle at Bell's apartment."

"And she went with the truth?" Mike asked.

"It's best not to start an engagement with a lie."

"Then I think this time it might be for the best if you did wait in the car," Sil said. "We don't want her to panic."

"I don't believe she will panic at seeing me. In fact, since she knows me and not any of you, maybe I should take the lead here."

"Absolutely not. I order you to wait in the car."

Avi pouted and sighed. "Alright, I guess. I'll stay."

The rest of the team got out and walked up to the door. Sil rang the bell.

The woman who opened the door was in pajamas, her curly hair was a mess, her eyes were red and puffy. Not how you would normally expect to find someone on a Wednesday afternoon.

"Yes?" Her voice was rough.

"Hello, Ms. Williams," Sil said. "We're from the Bright Bureau. We handled the altercation between your fiancèe and Andrew Bell, and we sent someone earlier to check on you and Ms. Bolton. We're here to investigate her disappearance."

"Yes, of course. Come in."

Riley got out their pen and notebook.

"Do you mind telling me what happened this morning?" Sil asked.

"I woke up and she... she just wasn't there. I looked through the whole house but there was no sign of her." Williams started wringing her hands.

"And where is your bedroom?"

She pointed off to the left and Mike and Sil walked off in that direction, leaving Riley to continue the interview.

"Thank you. And then what happened?"

"I thought maybe she had just gone to work early but her phone was still on the nightstand and her car was still in the driveway. I was just about to call someone when your agents showed up and told me what had happened with Bell."

Riley finished writing and looked up. "I am so sorry Ms. Williams."

"Thank you."

Mike and Sil returned. Mike walked over to Riley and pulled them aside.

"It's the same as it was at the prison."

Riley wrote that down.

"Excuse me, agents." They turned to look at her. "I just—is there anything to suggest—do you have any idea if Clara is still alive?" There were tears rolling down her cheeks.

Riley looked at Sil, who nodded. Then they turned back to Williams.

"We know for a fact that Ms. Bolton is still alive."

Williams looked up at Riley, cautiously hopeful. "How?"

"We, um, we have been in contact with the demon Avi. They were able to confirm Ms. Bolton's status for us because of her... deal."

"Could you bring Avi here? I want to hear it from them."

Riley looked at Sil who was visibly clenching her jaw, but she still nodded.

"Okay, I'll go get them." When Riley opened the front door it revealed Avi already standing in the doorway.

"No need, I heard everything." They walked into the house. "Hello, Jessica."

"Is it true? Is Clara—"

"She's alive."

Williams rushed forward and grabbed Avi by the shirt. "Please! Please find her and bring her back to me! Save her again, I'm begging you! I'll do anything, I'll sell you my soul!"

Riley panicked, but knew they could do nothing to interfere if they wanted Avi's continued help with this case.

"Jessica, there's no need." Avi put their hands on her shoulders. "I'm already looking for Clara as part of a deal with the Bright Bureau, and I promise I'm doing everything I can to find her."

"Okay, okay. I... Thank you... I think I need to go lay down. Are," she turned to the rest of the team. "Are you done here? Is there anything else I need to do?"

"No," Sil said. "We have everything we need. Thank you for your time Ms. Williams, we'll keep you updated."

The team returned to the car.

"I'm surprised," Riley said to Avi. "That you didn't let her make a deal."

"Doubling up like that isn't technically against the rules, but it breaks the spirit of them."

"Wait." Mike turned around to look at Avi. "There are rules for being a demon?"

"Oh yes. Actually less like rules and more like... hmm... Laws isn't the right word, people break laws all the time... Instincts? Yes, instincts. The vast majority of creatures never act against their basic instincts, and if they do it means something is very, very wrong."

"So what are your instincts?"

"Don't break your word, is the big one. If a demon promises you something, they're not lying. Then there's doing everything in your power to fulfill your side of a deal. And there are some things that are just impossible, like making a deal without the client's knowledge and consent, and making a deal under false pretenses. The more one of us bends those rules the more wrong it feels but outright breaking them is just something no demon can do. And the same goes for angels. Generally, the rules keep deals fair for everyone involved."

"Huh, it's like a cosmically enforced code of ethics," Mike said.

"Exactly."

Riley scoffed. "I wouldn't call it ethics if there's nothing in it against eating human souls."

Mike's face paled and he turned back around. Avi turned to look out the window with a frustrated expression Riley could see in their reflection.

Then Riley's phone dinged, alerting them to a new email.

"Hey, Avi, Coleman sent a list of addresses from the missing persons cases."

"Excellent. Send it to me and I'll check them out."

Riley started to forward the email, then stopped. "No."

"No?"

"I'm going with you to investigate." If Avi was going to help with this case then they needed to be supervised at least.

"Okay."

"And we need to stop back at base first to tell Coleman what we found. Then maybe she can use that information to narrow down the list."

"Alright. I can be patient."

[misscorn]

Day 4 AU/Free Prompt

It’s time for: t-t-t-time travel bullshit @takaritsuweek hehehe

**

This had to be a nightmare. Or maybe Takano Masamune had been kidnapped in his sleep (unlikely)  - or somehow sleepwalked all the way here (even less likely). He was even willing to believe that this was some sick and twisted punishment from a deity that he had accidentally angered during his time on Earth. What other possible explanations could there be? The only real logical option was the first: nightmare. However, no matter how hard Masamune tried, he could not wake himself up. 

No, instead of opening his eyes to his beloved, official boyfriend, Onodera Ritsu, he woke up alone and in a familiar, yet nauseating room to a very loud and repeated buzzing. It sounded like his old alarm clock, the one he used in high school. He had smacked it to make it stop and it then took several moments for it to sink in that it was his old alarm clock from high school. He sat up quickly once the realization struck him and he basically fell out of bed in his panicked attempt to stand. Once he managed to actually find his balance he stood frozen with his hands out in front of him, as if this were some kind of illusionary mirror maze that he would smack face first into the second he took a step forward. 

“Ritsu?” He called out, still unmoving. The silence that responded was unnerving. “Ritsu?” He repeated, more urgent this time, finally willing his body into action as the fear of being alone outweighed his caution of his surroundings. He navigated the piles of books on his bedroom floor (freaky how they seemed to be in the exact spots he remembered, was this some kind of elaborate prank?) and rushed out into the hallway, calling out his lover’s name as he haphazardly threw open doors to search for him on the upper floor. 

“Shit…what the fuck…” Masamune said under his breath, anxiously running a hand through his hair as he came to the conclusion that the house was currently occupied by no one else but him. 

“Mew?” 

Well, apparently not no one else.

Sorata stretched and curiously approached Masamune, apparently having just woken up himself. He meowed again, louder this time as he reached up to paw at Masamune’s leg. Sorata was used to being fed his breakfast by now, but Masamune had been running around the house in a tizzy. 

“Sorata?” Masamune said in confusion. “How are you here…why are you so small?” He said, shaking his head.

Sorata merely let out a little ‘mrrp��� and walked past his legs to rub against them. 

“No…no, there’s no fucking way. I’m crazy. I’ve gone crazy.” Masamune said as he started to rush toward the bathroom, getting in front of the mirror and staring in both disbelief and horror. 

Masamune hadn’t just magically appeared in his old house and that was it. That would be too easy.

He raised a hand slowly in front of the mirror, watching as the reflection of his teenage self did the same. Holy shit. What the fuck is going on?! Where the fuck is Ritsu?! Masamune only became more panicked, rushing back to his room in a vain search for his cell phone - which of course he did not have yet as that model didn’t even exist in this current time. 

Despite this, he still ripped his room apart, going through drawers and dumping them empty, not bothering to put anything back as he moved on to the next. He yanked his comforter and sheets off his bed, shaking them in the hopes that by some miracle he had fallen asleep with his phone in hand or on his person and had taken it with him through this cruel time jump. He looked under the bed, under his nightstand, even under his piles of books even though that made as little sense as a smart phone time jumping. 

“Fuck!” Masamune cursed. Wait, house phone!

Masamune hurried down the stairs to get to the house phone - which was practically ancient by his own standards of ‘current’ technology - and got halfway through dialing Ritsu’s number before he realized what an idiot he was. Ritsu’s number in high school wasn’t the same as his adult cell phone number, obviously…and Masamune didn’t know Ritsu’s home phone number. 

“This can’t be happening…” Masamune said miserably. He and Ritsu had finally gotten somewhere good, somewhere comfortable and happy. And now this bullshit decides to come out of left field and wreck it all?! 

Of course, there were times that Masamune wished he and Ritsu had never broken up in the first place and could have gotten the whole high school sweetheart experience, but not at the price of losing his current relationship with Ritsu!

I guess this means we’re starting over…again, Masamune thought with a big sigh, I’ll have to do things right this time…unless he already left for England! Another wave of dread flooded over Masamune and he rushed to check the calendar hung up by their door. His parents used it in order to keep track of their busy schedules (and Masamune suspected also to align their schedules in a way that meant they could avoid each other) and he prayed that the month was accurate because if it was then that meant Ritsu was still in the country. 

Shit, I don’t know what day it is today…when I went to sleep yesterday it was Sunday, so is it Monday here? Masamune rubbed a hand over his face, feeling overwhelmed and underprepared to handle this timeline shattering event. 

Masamune then felt a paw at his leg again.

“Meow!” Sorata exclaimed in displeasure. 

“Right.” Masamune sighed. “Crazy time traveling or not, I guess you still need to be fed.” He said. “Come on, we can talk theories on what the hell is happening while I get your food.” He scooped Sorata up into his arms, carrying him off to prepare breakfast for them both. 

-

Masamune found himself unable to eat much and his frantic efforts to figure out what the hell was happening had set him behind on what was once his high school morning routine. Again, he wasn’t even sure if it was Monday, but he hoped that his alarm waking him up at least meant it was a school day and that he would be able to see Ritsu. He ended up getting started on his route to school a little later than he typically would have and he didn’t see Ritsu stalking him in the background at any point, much to his disappointment. 

What do I even say when I see him? Should I tell him what’s going on or will that absolutely break him? I don’t want to cause my boyfriend’s mind to unravel. Or more likely he could think I’m insane and break up with me, Masamune could feel his blood pressure going up from the stress, I guess I’m just going to have to act like everything is normal. Besides, maybe at the end of the day this really is a dream, he thought, attempting to cope with the reality in front of him. 

Masamune was a bit relieved to see other students flooding into the school building, meaning that it was in fact a school day and Masamune had a chance at seeing Ritsu. 

Damn, did he ever tell me what class he was in…I really don’t want to wait till the end of the day to see him, but I might have to, Masamune thought, though as he approached the entrance he caught sight of a familiar head of brown hair in the corner of his eye. He looked toward Ritsu, the younger teen jumping at the sudden eye contact - apparently, he hadn’t been expecting to get caught in his staring. Ritsu stood there, face slowly turning red and mouth gaping open like a fish as he briefly froze under Masamune’s gaze.

Masamune’s breath caught in his throat and his palms started to sweat, his heart picking up pace and thumping in his ears. He looks just how I remember…I’m so glad he’s still here, Masamune thought, a smile unconsciously tugging at his lips. The relief at seeing his lover was enough to nearly make Masamune collapse and cry, but he held it together enough to take two steps in Ritsu’s direction before Ritsu suddenly turned tail and rushed off. 

Masamune opened his mouth to call out after him instinctively, wanting to chase him down and glue him to his side so that nothing (not even time travel) would separate them ever again, but then he remembered that he needed to be acting ‘normal’. Unfortunately, in this time period, it was not normal for Masamune to chase Ritsu down. 

Hopefully if I can get things right this time, I’ll never have to try to chase him down again, Masamune thought, unhappily shuffling his way toward his classroom. But, if he had to, then ‘Saga’ would slowly have to transition into the kind of boyfriend who did do that. Because regardless of if he was a teenager or adult, Saga or Takano, dreaming or time traveling, Masamune was not letting Ritsu go. 

-

Classes had never been so brutal. Masamune had much more important things to be worrying about than his calculus class. Not to mention he couldn’t remember the last time he had done calculus. Those several hours of waiting to escape so he could go to the library and see Ritsu were agonizing. He’d never wanted to yell at someone to shut up more in his life (and he yelled at people to shut up all the time) than when he had to sit through his physics class working in pairs. 

Masamune rushed out of the classroom once they were dismissed, pretending as though he didn’t hear when some other student called his name to try to talk to him - he didn’t care, he wasn’t interested, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to pretend to be for the next ten to fifteen minutes. He went to the library as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself, only to deflate in his excitement when seeing that the table he and Ritsu always sat at was empty. 

Maybe he’s just not here yet, Masamune tried to reason, heading over to sit down. He didn’t even bother getting a book to fake read, instead staring at the door anxiously, barely blinking. He’s definitely going to come, right? It’s a little hard to remember where exactly we’re supposed to be in our relationship right now, but there’s no way he won’t show up. Masamune tapped his foot and chewed his thumb nail as he started to desperately wish he had a cigarette. 

It felt like hours had passed, but Masamune’s frequent glancing toward the nearest clock told him it had only been a few minutes when the doors finally opened once more. Masamune moved before he could think, standing from his chair the second he spotted Ritsu and making strides toward him. 

Fuck acting ‘normal’, Masamune decided as Ritsu met him halfway. 

Ritsu appeared confused and nervous, looking at Masamune with a slightly furrowed brow. “...Senpai?” He said cautiously, carefully studying Masamune’s expression. 

Masamune took in a sharp breath at that and grabbed Ritsu’s hand, leading him off wordlessly, ducking into an aisle of bookshelves that had no other students browsing.

“What-?” Ritsu started as Masamune gave a cursory glance to double check that no one could currently see them before he cupped Ritsu’s cheeks and swooped in with a kiss, desperate to ground himself with Ritsu’s touch. 

Ritsu, however, pulled away before Masamune could even fully enjoy it, making Masamune all the more desperate to have his lover close. Though, the familiar shade of red on Ritsu’s cheeks was certainly a welcomed sight as it made Masamune feel warm - even as Ritsu started to scold him. 

“H-Hey, we’re in school right now, and there are still other students in the library!” Ritsu whispered. 

“Don’t care.” Masamune said, wrapping his arms around Ritsu to pull him into a tight hug. 

“I do!” Ritsu wiggled a bit against his hold, but really didn’t try that hard to escape. 

“Well, don’t.” Masamune said, as though it were that simple. “You should just care about me.” 

“W-What is that supposed to mean?” Ritsu asked, wondering if he detected a bit of possessiveness. “You’re acting a little…strange today. Is everything okay, S-Senpai?” He continued, stumbling over the honorific just slightly.

“Everything’s just fine.” At least, it is now that you’re here, Masamune thought as he finally released Ritsu and opted for ruffling his hair instead. “I don’t feel like staying at the library today. You should come back to my place.” 

“Eh? R-Right away? But I just got here-”

“I know, but I want you to myself. Where other students can’t see.” Masamune said. 

Ritsu turned red and looked away. “You’re being more forward than usual…”

“Do you not like it?” Masamune asked. 

“It’s not that, I-I…wasn’t expecting it.” Ritsu said. 

“I just missed you is all.” Masamune said. That made Ritsu look toward him again, eyes wide and jaw dropped, as if he couldn’t comprehend the idea of ‘Saga-senpai’ missing him, let alone saying it out loud. “Come on, let’s go.” Masamune insisted, walking off. He quickly grabbed his bag that he had left at the table before leaving the library with Ritsu right beside him.

“Will you spend the night tonight?” Masamune asked, pleased that Ritsu was actually next to him instead of behind him. 

“Ye-wait, no-”

“No?” Masamune looked at him with a frown.

“Not no, no, I’d have to ask my parents first…” Ritsu explained.

“You can call them using my house phone. You should give me your number while you’re at it.” Masamune said. 

“Y-You can’t call my house!” Ritsu exclaimed. “I mean - my mother, if she answered the phone and you said you were calling for me, she’d have a million questions and I wouldn’t know how to explain right now-”

“How about I give you my house number then? And you call me whenever you can.” Masamune said. 

“Oh…o-okay.” Ritsu said with a nod, clearly surprised by the offer, but he didn’t have the same starstruck look on his face that Masamune remembered. Maybe his idolization was beginning to ease up a bit? Masamune certainly hoped so. He wanted him and Ritsu to get back to a comfortable stage in their relationship as quickly as possible. That couldn’t happen if Ritsu was still in awe of the fact that ‘Senpai’ was even looking at him. 

“And I mean whenever, okay?” Masamune reiterated. “You won’t bother me.” He promised. “I want to talk to you as much as possible.”

Ritsu stopped on the sidewalk, turning to face Masamune directly with a slightly furrowed brow. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright, Senpai?”

Masamune gave a soft smile, taking Ritsu’s hand in his once more despite the inevitable protests of embarrassment he would receive. “Never better.”

-

As more and more time passed Masamune began to let go of the notion that this may be a dream that he would be waking up from at any moment. His alarm continued to wake him up for school, Sorata continued to be a kitten, and Ritsu - his Ritsu - continued to be fifteen. Though, the course of their relationship had certainly been altered to a certain degree already. Masamune was getting to experience things he hadn’t been able to in their high school years: secret late night phone calls with his boyfriend, dates other than the library and fast food, and he got to see the personality behind Ritsu’s shy shell quickly start to come through. 

Though, Ritsu still seemed to be having difficulty believing that his previously aloof and unreadable boyfriend was now quite clingy and affectionate. He frequently asked Masamune if something was wrong, if he wasn’t feeling well, or if there was something that he wasn’t telling him. Masamune, however, brushed off his concerns, hoping that eventually Ritsu would accept his behavior as the new norm because Masamune was physically incapable of pretending that he cared less about Ritsu than he did. He had no idea how he did it the first time around, but he couldn’t do it again. 

Now, Ritsu was over at his place and the two of them were actually watching a movie in his room - as opposed to putting on a movie for pretense before having sex. Masamune was surprised when Ritsu was the one to pause it this time around. 

“Something wrong?” Masamune said.

“I have to ask you something.” Ritsu said, taking a deep breath. “I’ve been wondering for a while now if I should ask it at all, but…” He bit his lower lip anxiously. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Whatever it is, you don’t need to be nervous.” Masamune assured. 

“Do you love me?” Ritsu blurted out, sitting up straight and looking Masamune head on, his eyes full of fierce determination. 

Masamune’s stomach dropped and his breathing briefly stopped altogether.

What? Why? Why was Ritsu asking this? Had Masamune really made the same mistake twice and not been clear about his feelings again? But this was different now! The circumstances in which Ritsu was asking were different! And Ritsu didn’t look nearly as bashful as he did the first time he asked it. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? It had to be, Masamune wouldn’t survive being separated again. Oh God, I need to answer him, I haven’t answered him, I have to say yes, I can’t lose him, I can’t let him run away, I can’t fuck this up again, I’ll never forgive myself, say something you fucking idiot before he misunderstands-

“Senpai? I just meant - do you feel anything for-”

“YES!” Masamune exclaimed way too loudly considering how close they were sitting next to one another. “I love you, Ritsu, I love you more than anything in the whole world and if I have ever done anything to make you doubt that I am so sorry-”

“Takano-san.”

“-I will spend the rest of my life showing you just how deeply and madly in love with you I am if that what it takes for you to believe me, please Ritsu, just don’t leave me-”

“Takano-san!”

“-the answer to your question is and always will be yes, I have very intense, staggering, devastating feelings for you, you are my first and only love, you’re the person who taught me what love really is, I don’t know what I would do without you and I-wait.” Masamune took a couple deep breaths after he stopped his distressed rambling. “What did you just call me?”

“I knew it. I knew it!” Ritsu exclaimed, standing to his feet. “Oh my God, it really is you!” He said, tearing up a bit with joy. 

Masamune quickly stood as well. “...Ritsu? My Ritsu?”

“Yes! You idiot!” Ritsu beamed even as he insulted Masamune, throwing his arms around him.

“Wha-but-how?” Masamune asked, hugging him back tightly. 

“I don’t know. I just woke up and I was a teenager in my parents’ house again.” Ritsu said, his voice slightly muffled against Masamune’s shoulder. “But I’m so glad you’re here too. I was pretty scared…” He admitted. 

“How did you know it was me?” Masamune asked, still not quite over his shock. 

“Are you serious?” Ritsu asked, pulling back just slightly to look up at him. “You actually smiled at me when we saw each other in the morning, told me to ‘just care about you’ in the library, and then practically begged for nightly phone calls. If you were trying to be subtle, you did a terrible job.” 

Masamune scoffed. “I did not beg…”

“And the way you answered my question just now confirmed it.” Ritsu said with a small smile. “Sorry to make you relive that, but I knew it was you the second you looked like you were going to be sick.” He added with a quiet laugh. 

Masamune gave him a squeeze, letting out a big sigh of relief. “God, who knew my Ritsu could be so cruel?” He mumbled.

“I had to be absolutely certain before I said anything.” Ritsu insisted. “I didn’t want you to think I was crazy...”

“Well, we’re together now, at least. So, what happens next?”

Ritsu shook his head. “I don’t know.” He said. “It seems like we’re stuck here as far as I can tell.”

“I guess as long as I’m stuck here with you it’s not so bad.” Masamune said. “Damn, now I’m pissed I couldn’t tell it was you. But why’d you run away the first morning we saw each other? Why didn’t you try to talk to me?”

“Well, I didn’t know for sure if it was you yet! I couldn’t just approach ‘Saga-senpai’ first thing in the morning.” Ritsu said. 

“Is that all it was?” Masamune asked with a smirk. “Cause I remember you turning pretty red.”

Ritsu huffed. “What? You didn’t get a little…overwhelmed when you saw me like this?” 

“Of course I did. I get overwhelmed every time I see you.” Masamune’s smirk became a grin as he sat down on the bed and brought Ritsu into his lap. 

“W-Wait a second, the movie-”

“Forget it.”

As it turns out, even across timelines, some things never change.

[icarus-suraki]

Classic, owl, skeleton for the spoopy asks :D

Spoopy ask game ooooooh~

Classic: What’s your favorite classic spooky movie? I could get really pedantic here like "But what do we consider a 'classic' and what is a 'spooky' movie? Indeed, what is a 'movie'?" But I'm not gonna.

I'm gonna go way back to a true classic: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920.

The German Expressionism turned up to 11, the irrational and disproportional sets, the establishment of a buncha tropes, the influence it had and still has, the visual elements, the twist ending, Conrad Veidt in a black leotard and a lot of eye makeup…!

I like a lot of spooky movies, some more spooky than others, and I could just sit here and list them, but Dr. Caligari is just so iconic and influential in so many ways.

The art museum here had a showing some years ago accompanied by a live string quartet and I desperately wish I could have gone. Alas!

Owl: What creature would you have as a familiar? This is tough! I mean, I can always fall back on the classics: cat, crow, raven, owl.

Whatever, I'm kind of basic: cat. But it would be interesting to have a hairless cat. I worked with a guy who once said that I seemed like the kind of person who'd have a hairless cat. Maybe he's right. My hairless cat familiar and me, practicing experimental chaos magic in a minimalist house all done in black and white. That's the dream.

Now, speaking of, I did have a dream about a skinny black-and-white cat (more black than white, but he had white toes) named Honk who I saw in the bay window of an old bookstore next to a sign that read "Honk is not for sale!" So if I ever find Honk (who will be adoptable, I'm sure, but not for sale), maybe he's my familiar?

Skeleton: What never fails to send a shiver down your spine?

A lack of context!!!!!!!!

Let me explain: the less context or explanation there is around an image, a sound, a video, &c, the creepier or stranger it is (to me).

This is why I get disappointed partway through basically, um, every analog horror series or internet horror creation: sooner or later, there's too much context and/or too much explanation and it destroys the mystery. It puts too much of a frame around the concept. It solidifies it. And it immediately defangs it.

Once there was all this lore that evolved around The Backrooms, they immediately stopped being interesting to me. Do I like that The Backrooms are this collaborative storytelling project? Absolutely. And I enjoy some of the things people have made in that whole concept. But they've ceased to be as eerie to me because there's all these explanations now.

One of my favorite(?) examples of no-context-horror is from just before the US-made version of The Ring came out, the "cursed video" was posted online--and it was just the cursed video. There was no context, just a series of unnerving and (seemingly) disconnected images. (It was 2002 and I remember watching it on my friend's desktop in her dorm room. We were all scaring each other with it. If you had a cell phone, you'd call your friend's dorm number right after she'd seen it lol.)

And, yes, a lot of the images are gross or disgusting unto themselves--twitching severed fingers in a box is gross. But not knowing how everything connected together made even benign images like a plain wooden chair all the more horrifying. As in, if the images will go as far as a finger jammed onto a nail, the implications of the plain wooden chair are even more horrifying.

But then you see the whole movie and it's like seriously? That's it? It was a real letdown for me. The suggestions were scarier than the facts.

And, honestly, anything that you do show can't be as horrifying as what might be shown. I don't even mean Cloverfield-style where you don't really see the monster but you know a monster is there. I mean leaving the whole thing open-ended enough that the benign becomes the terrifying. Why are weird sounds in the dark scary? Because you don't know what's out there; you can only imagine it. Or worse, you can only half-imagine it.

I think The Blair Witch Project (1999) just about managed this because they never showed the witch. You got no satisfying explanation. That made it scarier (to say nothing about the "is it real or isn't it?" marketing, as Cannibal Holocaust did back in the 70s).

Nowadays, it feels like all the found footage stuff explains too much. It's like the creators think of something for the backstory so therefore they must include it in the main plot. No, don't do that. Stop that. You have to hold some things back.

Same thing with most modern "real ghost videos." It's Too Much.

Back in the early 2000s on YouTube there were actually decent "real ghost videos" that had no context, no explanation. Some of my favorites were compilations of ghost videos and photographs from Japanese horror/ghost televsion shows--I remember the photos giving me the absolute creeps in particular. And it was because I had very little context. The language and culture barriers made everything scarier--to say nothing of the time distance, since most of the clips I was watching were from the early-mid 90s. So it was all low-quality VHS tapes and film cameras, which made it just that much harder to really parse out what you were seeing. And then when you see it, you will shit bricks.

And I think this lack of explanation is what makes Tool's video for "Sober" by Fred Stuhr so fucking disturbing. Humans like narrative and explanation right? And, yes, there's some kind of narrative here but it doesn't entirely align. There seems to be a story here but it's not clear. At one point, this human-like figure the camera has been following opens up a pipe and there's raw meat flowing through it. What does it mean? What's going on? Why is this happening? We want an explanation, in part because the raw meat is distressing unto itself, but we get nothing, which makes it more distressing than just gross-out images. (The video always reminds me vaguely of Kafka's writing, and he understood this too. See: The Trial and The Penal Colony.)

I could talk about this for hours because I really think "showing the monster" is both the escape hatch or the release valve of horror but it's also the weak point of horror. Stephen King loves to show the monster eventually in his books and I don't usually find his books all that horrifying. But Revival actually almost got me because of the creepy visions the main character experiences and the whole "Mother is behind the paper sky" line. There's not much explanation in the plot/text about this, but it's not totally unexplained. But I can tell you, the first time I hit it in the book it actually got me. And that's rare.

I think that lack of context is very hard in the, well, context of a narrative. I mean, narrative demands context. Narrative is context. So the things that get me are the rare things without much of that: the cursed video from The Ring, music videos (like "Sober"), certain kinds of visual art (Francis Bacon's early work, especially), butoh dance, early internet stories and some urban legends, ghost videos/photos that don't try too hard… Lose the context, gain the fear.

(I think this is why I like the smeared, almost-but-not-quite look of older AI art, like Midjourney v3. It's in that other uncanny valley: it should be recognizable and yet it isn't entirely right.)

Oh my gaw this went on longer than it should haaaaave...

[jesytr]

MY LIFE IN SHAMBLES.

that day wasn't a good one. and when she says it was bad she means it was REALLY BAD. she lost her favorite plushie. one that was vintage and made out of fluffy mattress and stuffed full of cocaine. she knew a few culprits that might've stolen mr. bubbles, but she wasn't sure which guy stole it. or even if they passed it from one another to one another. it was a total mystery.

the first guy that she found ended up chasing her out of his hideout with a freeze gun , the second just apologized and told her he wasn't aware that she even owned any plushies. she informed him half her apartment was plushies and that she was very hurt that he didn't remember coming over and seeing them all. the third guy was @dastruction and he definitely was up to something when she visited him. having come out of a hospital full of inmates she knew those types. she studied him then. testing his fears , just in case she'd have to shoot him for any damages he might've gotten away with doing for mr. bubbles. her eyes squinting the whole time she entered his hideout. she decided to play it cool. mafia bosses were always up to something shady and she knew he'd be up to SOMETHING. she just couldn't tell if it was drugs, murder, or overall mayhem. she assumed the first.

she looked at him with a quizzical expression and decided to ask plainly. with as much thought as she could put into it, " so I've been meaning ta' visit , but ya' never call me. what's up with that ?? it's not like ya' don't have a cell - phone. " ( she paused. ) " unless ya' don't have one. in which case. I shoulda' called ya' first , really. then the issue is me. " she rambled on, " I've gotta tell ya' ... I feel like we connect on a personal level. ya' steal , I don't. It's real magic , our relationship , see I know ya' stole from me. I need ya' ta' tell me where Mr. Bubbles Is. " she continued to say , her thoughts on her precious cocaine filled plushie.

she wavered then, " I'm at a loss for words , boss. I knew ya' knew betta ' when ya' stole him, but whatta ' I know. I'm only the basic girl with a dream to find my lost stolen plushie. " here she lingered. waiting for an early explanation and a quicker solution to her problems.

[yeongwonie]

STUPID CUPID! — 24

pairing. park sunghoon x f!reader

SYNOPSIS. alone on valentine’s day, you decide to sign up for the student council’s fundraiser: a matchmaking survey, hoping to at least get a few laughs out of the whole ordeal. little do you know, park sunghoon (your archenemy since junior high) has the same idea. but it’s fine! your student body president, kim sunoo, would never tamper with the matching system, right?

note. it's not glitching dw i just added white imgs for spacing!! + there are more texts nd another note at the bottom :)

masterlist

⤎ prev | 24 — a weird coincidence (written; 0.9k) | next ⤍

SUNGHOON DOESN’T HEAR A SINGLE word his coach tells the team at the end of practice.

though he tries his best to pay attention, all he can think about is his plan for talking to you. he still hasn’t decided on a good conversation starter (because what’s the best way to say “hey, here’s why i ghosted you three years ago” without sounding like an asshole?).

during the years he’d spent avoiding this conversation, he’d unknowingly let his mental image of you grow into some fierce, unsympathetic monster. now, looking at you, he feels a bit ridiculous.

how can he be this nervous to talk to someone who, a few years before, was one of the closest people to him in the world? for a moment, he questions whether or not he should go through with this plan, whether an explanation now is too little too late.

how can he be this nervous to talk to someone who, a few years before, was one of the closest people to him in the world? for a moment, he questions whether or not he should go through with this plan, whether an explanation now is too little too late.

how can he be this nervous to talk to someone who, a few years before, was one of the closest people to him in the world? for a moment, he questions whether or not he should go through with this plan, whether an explanation now is too little too late.

then, he remembers the way you’d looked at him on monday, and the promises he’d made to jungwon and jake in the weeks before. if he doesn’t do something now, he knows he won’t be able to fall asleep for the next month, at the very least.

the second sunghoon opens his mouth to finally say something, your lips curl up into a smile, and you pull your phone from the depths of your bag. you’re just about buzzing with excitement, now, and he feels a light flutter of relief in the pit of his stomach.

it’s a little conceited of him to think otherwise, he knows, but he can’t help but feel reassured that you’re doing okay without him, and that his issues aren’t affecting you too much. if he knew you’d been losing as much sleep as he had about something that had happened in junior high, he’d be overcome with guilt.

lost in thought, sunghoon lingers while you open your messages and click on a chat. as you begin typing out a message, he can’t help the pang of jealousy in his chest.

it’s silly, he knows, but he wonders who you’re texting, who you were so excited to talk to that you were frantically searching through your bag for your phone. he remembers the period of junior high when a text from you would instantly improve his mood, and he’d lay stomach down on his bed talking to your for hours, like he was in a kdrama.

ultimately, his curiosity overcomes his determination to grant you some privacy, and he tries to read the previous messages (the contact name, soulmate with an emoji, is unhelpful for everything but contributing to the suffocating feeling).

every word looks oddly familiar.

could you be the person he’d been messaging for the past few weeks? he’d suspected it earlier, but the less rational part of him still wants to forget he’d seen anything and leave.

mind clouded with confusion, he turns around and walks briskly toward his own bag. every cell in sunghoon’s body wants to get out of the room and go home. he wants some magical message to appear in the sky and confirm that, no, his match is not you, and he was only hallucinating. now, he feels nauseous too.

when he finishes gathering his things and no message arrives, sunghoon takes a breath and starts to walk once again, feeling lighter with every passing second (there’s no way you would take this long to type out a reply, right? if it was him, he would’ve gotten your reply by now). he’s ready to chalk the entire situation up to his own overthinking and get a nice, full, night of sleep.

backpack slung over one shoulder, he steps into the cool, evening air. the sweat still clinging to his hair and his clothes makes him shiver, and he winces at the though of catching a cold (and what punishments jungwon would come up with for him if he did).

he vows to talk to you tomorrow as he remembers his initial plan, maybe after class, or even on friday after the team’s rehearsal. he takes a final glance in the direction of the practice room, fully exhausted from the emotional roller-coaster of the past five minutes more than practice itself. even though he failed, he feels happy enough to skip home.

then, sunghoon feels his phone vibrate in his pocket.

note. HI AGAIN HAHA how are we feeling abt this chapter T-T sorry again that it’s so late tumblr is the loml and my worst enemy we r just like y/n nd sunghoon ig

[val-made-a-mistake]

❝ALWAYS HIGH.❞

(not my gif)

request/summary:

warnings: smut, oral sex m receiving, alcohol, weed, reader being irresponsible/reckless/an asshole (she plays music in the open while having sex in an apartment, she’s lowkey so rude lol) zemo calls reader a “good girl” so do with that what you will, etc

word count: 2.3k

tag list: @tkachuk-dubois @prestigious-tea @chiefdirector @adelaidesphantoms (pls dm or send an ask if you want to be tagged, if you’re not tagged it’s not letting me tag you)

a/n: THANK YOU SO MUCH @baar-ur i totally went overboard with this. i did a lot of assuming, i wrote smut because all of my (posted) zemo fics have been smut, i hope it’s somewhat to your taste! i only have experience with eating edibles, aka i have mom-friended while other ppl eat em, it was an experience nonetheless lol. apologies in advance if this seems squashed

SEQUEL HERE

//////

You downed another shot of peach vodka, waiting for the dreamlike effects of the gummies you’d eaten an hour ago to kick in so the horrible feeling of waiting for him to text back would drown itself.

For Madripoor’s standards, it was a quiet night. You only heard a few gunshots near your apartment building and much less screaming, even though you got the alert that Selby was dead and there was a hefty bounty out for her killers. The fish in the aquarium by your bed swam contentedly, and as you watched the water slosh, your neon lights shone pink. All was peaceful except for the nervous thrum of your heartbeat. 

God, you were hating how you were always a mess and he was so put together.

You’d received word around eight hours ago that Helmut Zemo had somehow broken out of a German prison, and the first place he’d chosen to hide out in was Madripoor. It didn’t matter if the rumour was true or not, if he was on his way or already here, you knew you would be horribly flustered to see him again, which led you here in your self-imposed quarantine. You remembered being his most trusted associate in Lowtown, remembered how glitzy the parties were, all the fun times you’d had together. 

You had missed him so much you left him multiple calls, all of which went to voicemail.

Yeah, it was unreasonable to assume he had a cell phone on the run, even more so to think he’d be up to answering at 3am, but a small part of you hoped despite your doubts. He’d always been your voice of reason, the one who knew when you’d drank or smoked too much, but at the same time, the last time you’d seen him was 2007, why were you even still clinging onto this?

It was just that 2007 Helmut was quite the dazzling memory. When he’d came to the Brass Monkey for the very first time, you saw the Sokovian Armed Forces uniform first, recognized him as the baron the tabloids had absolutely torn apart second, and somehow he was cuter than the pinched faces of royalty you stereotypically pictured. Poor baby. Had he been kicked out of his aristocratic family and forced to join the military to survive? You figured the grandeur of Sokovian royalty was diminishing as the country had been at war since before you were born. You visited Novi Grad once, and understood it to be the hotspot of a country that had no idea how to be.

That same night, you’d witnessed the first Sokovian-Madripoorian weapons trade deal, and had promptly left for a party, nauseated by all the back and forth.

Your memory went weak there. Somehow you’d found yourself on your knees in a club bathroom with your mouth full of the Baron Zemo’s cock, and magically you were his associate. The associate of this weird military-royalty hybrid.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Back in the present, your conscience was a stream of curse words and half-hearted explanations as to why he hadn’t replied. The obvious one was it was three o’clock in the fucking morning, but these gummies Selby sold you always made you more paranoid than you were straight up just hitting a bong.

You were regretting texting him already.

DING!

The notification sounded so loudly you practically fell off your chair, and you flew across the room a dishevelled mess, ripped your phone off the charger, and paused the music to stare at Zemo’s response.

Why do you only call me when you’re high?

Formal, perfect punctuation, a simple question, really, and you faltered. He was so different from your acronymed, all-lowercase speak. You weren’t nearly good at guessing what was going on with the user behind the screen, either.

You bit your lip, a different type of panic filling you now that you were afraid you were getting shut down, and contemplated texting back. Should you wait the ten minutes you had waited just to spite him?

You knew in your heart of hearts you were too giddy for that. In the end, you texted him this:

im always high

This was true. Twenty years in Madripoor, twenty years a bounty hunter, anyone was bound to become some variation of an addict.

DING!

I have some time to spare. Where are you?

You replied immediately.

lowtown, room 407 lackrey place. craywick ave just off main street

You watched with bated breath as the speech bubble jumped up and down, indicating he was typing.

I’m coming over. Don’t know how long this meeting will take, perhaps an hour; I’m in Hightown.

You grinned as a new wave of giddiness washed over you, and you glanced over at the cubicle of bathroom you had, calculating. You hadn’t really shaved in a while, and if it was going to be the first time you saw him in twenty years…

Yeah, alright.

can’t wait to see you, you replied, your heart jumping at the little swoosh sound the message left.

You were brave enough to leave a winky face before you darted off into the bathroom.

//////

Around forty five minutes later, you were dancing to whatever song was blaring on your phone and twirling around, fully entrapped in your high while deciding between whichever robe you wanted to wear. You weren’t even hiding that you were in your best lingerie at this point. All your usual signs of being high were there— the euphoria, finding everything just a little too funny, sudden famine, horniness, you revelled in it.

There was a soft knock at your door and you looked up.

Slinging dark satin over your shoulders, you didn’t even bother pausing the music and got up to answer.

He’d come alone, of course he had, you hadn’t said anything about coming alone or with friends in the message yet here he was in a fur coat and turtleneck, staring you down like he was still undecided whether you were friend or foe.

“Hey,” you said casually, near soberly.

“Hi,” Helmut Zemo replied curtly. “May I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.”

You glanced down the hallway to make sure you weren’t being watched (the one time you didn’t do it was the one time you’d be kidnapped) and stepped aside to let him in. As soon as he stepped inside, the door automatically swung closed with a soft click, and you redid the half a dozen locks once more.

Zemo surveyed you. “Is it necessary to do that?”

His accent hadn’t changed at all during the years you’d been apart; you unconsciously shuddered.

“Have you ever seen the Purge movies?” you asked instead.

“Never heard of them,” he replied with narrowed eyes.

“Well, that’s what it’s like living here.”

You turned around and immediately flopped on your bed. “You’ve changed your fashion, I see.”

“I knew I would have to make a stylistic impression on Selby,” Helmut replied, instinctively taking off his fur coat and draping it over a chair.

Your brain connected the dots sluggishly— he’d been to see Selby, you’d gotten an alert Selby was dead— and you decided you didn’t care.

“Lady killer, huh?” you teased, trying to position yourself much more sexily on the bed. Fortunately, Helmut didn’t notice.

“That, er, wasn’t me,” he responded, awkwardly sliding his hands in his pockets as he turned back to you— he only just seemed to notice you were wearing lingerie, somehow, and you saw his mouth open the tiniest bit before he closed it, but the damage was done, a frisky spasm of heat went through your body.

“How much time you got?” you demanded.

“I can be here for as long as you want me to be,” Helmut answered. “Are these walls soundproof?”

“Not even a little bit. You know once one of the tenants kidnapped one of the Power Broker’s boys and held him hostage here the whole night? The screaming was incredible to listen to.”

He tilted his head. “You’re an expert at killing the mood, do you know that?”

You were daintily examining the sleeve of your bathrobe now. “Then why don’t you shut me up?”

Those words were the only confirmation he needed: one minute he was near your dresser, gazing at your bottle of peach vodka, the next minute his mouth was on you.

You whined unabashedly, wrapping your arms around him as he made it onto the bed in a confusing tangle of limbs. The song you had on was still playing.

“Now it’s three in the morning and I’m tryna change your mind…”

The satin slid off your shoulders and Zemo pulled it down hungrily, making you gasp as it dropped to your midsection, and you gave a little flirtatious wiggle of your arms to get it off completely and throw it elsewhere.

His lips meandered ever so softly down your jaw, your neck, your collarbone— your eyes rolled back as he pressed a kiss to your shoulder.

“Stop teasing me,” you complained.

That only made him go somehow slower along the lace: his teeth toyed with a strap, and then— RIIIP!

You groaned as your breasts became free; Helmut took one in his hands.

You weren’t even sure how he could be so calm and collected while working you like an intricate puppet. He could do this shit with his eyes closed the way he moved, the way he drove you to the precipice of orgasm and yet dragged you away, and you needed to let the world know that you were his and only his the way curses rolled out of your mouth and the euphoria mounted.

“I can never stand your whining, schatzi.”

Helmut fumbled at his belt and you whined without meaning to, wanting him to have another go at untangling the knot in your stomach, but all your complaints subsided as he pulled out his dripping cock. It was like you went on autopilot.

You wrapped your mouth around him and you were rewarded with the softest grunt you’d ever heard.

And it went straight to your clit. He was so thick, the way your mouth stretched around him absolutely encouraged you to cum, you had no idea how you’d been holding it off this long— sheer force of will, probably.

You felt a finger drift on your face. 

“You look so pretty like this, liebling.”

This only encouraged you to bob your head around him, and he groaned at the ceiling.

“And I can’t see you here, wondering where am I…”

As you stuck your tongue out, a small trail of saliva hung from the end of your tongue to the tip of his cock.

Fireworks instantaneously erupted in every nerve of your body as he pushed you down onto the bed once more, it was a wonder you even lasted thirty seconds before his hands were skating up your thighs and he was rubbing your clit with his thumb.

You opened your mouth to whine, but it died in your throat as Helmut tugged the lace aside, exposing your pussy. He clearly didn’t want to waste any time: in the rush of cold air, he’d entered you.

“Why’d you only ever phone me when you’re high?”

“Oh my god,” you whispered pathetically at the stretch, and closing your eyes, you absently started bucking your hips against him, grinding with him.

“Mein Gott,” he gasped, “Such a pretty little hole.”

That only made you clench around his cock inside you.

“Why’d you only ever phone me when you’re high?”

You were out of your mind with want. Distantly, you could hear your voice over the blood rushing in your ears.

“Fuck me, fuck me, please,” you begged.

He obliged so fantastically you felt as though you’d been flung into outer space: you came hard, and the hand on your clit came back again, stimulating you. You bit your lip to keep from crying out, and he only pushed into you harder.

“Why’d you only ever phone me when you’re high?”

His mouth was all over you: you felt his lips ghost over your neck, then your jaw, and he kissed your collarbones again as he ramped up speed.

“Fuck...fuck...”

You couldn’t help but come again. Your entire body was a live wire, your skin felt electric everywhere Helmut was touching you.

He held you tight, deep and rough and fast and oh, god, you loved it.

You weren’t realizing you were whispering please for the past minute as he thrust into you. You looked up at him desperately, open and wanton for him to take.

He was panting, so fucking close to coming with the way your pussy squeezed his cock, which turned into both of you panting as he sat up, slowly pulling out of you with a vulgar, sopping wet pop.

“Be a good girl,” Helmut gasped, “Spread your legs.”

You complied without much thought, your legs falling open automatically to reveal your glistening, wet mess of a pussy, and you heard a ghost of a groan as he came on your stomach.

“Haven’t lost your touch,” you said dumbly as the song faded out, and he laughed a little. “You haven’t lost yours.”

“I’m so fucking high right now, I dunno…”

You mumbled something incoherent and turned your head to the side, away from him.

“Why are you in Madripoor?” you asked suddenly.

“Would you believe me if I said I missed this charming place?”

You shook your head slowly.

Silence.

“I’m on a mission,” he said.

“Is there gonna be murder?” you replied, your eyes fluttering closed.

“It may have to come to that, yes. It’s only a matter of time before I’m thrown back in prison. There’s a chance I won’t survive.”

You mumbled something again and turned your head to the other side. “Call me if there’s murder.”

Zemo smiled a little. “I will.”

He took a look around your apartment. You were definitely good at murder if you could afford a place like this: you had an aquarium with at least a dozen fish, neon lights bordering the walls, a Magritte painting, either real or a rip off he wasn’t sure, expensive looking rugs, cloud-like blankets and pillows…

When he looked back at you, you were fast asleep.

He smiled to himself and put a blanket around you.

“Sweet dreams, liebling.”

[mysterytickingnoise]

Someday

Pairing: Merlin x Reader

Genre: Bittersweet Angst

Word Count: 2,058

Summary: After getting caught and accused of doing witchcraft, and failing to prove your innocence to Uther, you have to take desperate measures to flea the kingdom. Unfortunately your escape plan works a little too well, and without your knowledge the people close to you end up mourning you.

Request from @joyismycenter : "If you’re asking, I’d love some bbc Merlin x reader where he though the reader was dead but she/they turn out not to be. Love me that happy angst"

Authors Note: Thank you so much for sending in the first request for this blog! Fair warning I'm doing all my writing on my phone at the moment and I couldn't really get the ending to flow how I wanted it to so it's not perfect, but I really hope everyone likes it!

[Image Description: A gif of Merlin (from the BBC Show Merlin played by Colin Morgan) looking over his shoulder. End description]

It was such a silly mistake.

You trusted someone too soon, tried to help them.

Next thing you knew you were being accused of witchcraft. It was true but considering your accuser had no real evidence you thought perhaps you could argue your way out of it. You called them crazy, demanded proof, spouted off any alternative explanation for what had happened to no avail. Uther didn't give a damn about proof, the moment the word magic was held against you it was up to you to prove you hadn't used it.

Even if you hadn't, how do you prove a thing like that?

Pleading your case was useless, and the one person who could help you had left with Arthur and the knights before any of this had begun. Even if they somehow showed up before the execution, you wouldn't want Merlin's help.

He couldn't be caught helping you, not with his destiny. You weren't worth the risk, though he certainly would've argued otherwise if he'd had the chance.

No, you only had one choice left in your small cell. You would have to find an opportunity to use something that you saved for a situation such as this. When an old friend came to visit, to say goodbye, that was your opportunity.

You asked them to come back with the blue vial tucked in the back of your armoire. "It's a poison," You had told them. "I don't want to give Uther the satisfaction."

Tearfully, they obliged. In the middle of the night you chugged it down, and not one hour later your 'body' was wrapped in a sheet and wheeled out of the dungeons 'To be buried in the morning.' But the enchantment on the potion wore off before then, and you woke up alone and free.

You crept out of Camelot at the break of dawn with nothing but the clothes on your back, making it to the treeline before your will broke down and you turned back to look at the old castle peeking out over the tall walls.

Your home was behind those walls, your friends lived there, and the man you had surely fallen for. Tears stung your eyes as you thought about him, the fact you never got to say goodbye, how long it would be until you would see him again.

You could risk waiting for him to return, but if someone outside of Arthur's party were to catch you...you would be forced to do something you'd regret. You'd have to cross the line of no return and goodbye at that point would surely be permanent.

'Someday,' You thought, 'Until then, he'll understand, he might even come find me.'

Little did you know the guard who discovered the empty cloth had no intention of telling the king that the body of a prisoner had gone missing on his watch. No, he had a family to tend to, he wasn't losing his position because of some witch. It didn't even cross his mind that you might not be dead.

There was an empty grave in the pauper's field the next morning, and any questions on your whereabouts were contained in the mind of one underpaid guardsman for two years.

Meanwhile, Merlin had been devastated when he heard the news, even confused. Gaius told him the whole story, what he knew of it anyway, but he could never wrap his mind around it. It didn't make sense. He had spoken to you only a few days before, you smiled and hugged him and told him to come home safe. And just like that you were gone? The irrational fear of someone you tried to help, and the blind tyranny of Uther, that's all it took and now nobody would ever see that smile again. No, it didn't make any sense at all.

He eventually did what he had to do, put on a brave face and got back to work. And yes, a while after that night things got somewhat close to normal again. But there were always moments where he'd think to himself that he'd have to tell you about his day or a joke he heard, and then he'd remember. In other moments, he'd see Uther laughing at dinner or be forced to hear one of his speeches and his jaw would clench just a little tighter than it had before. And when he found himself awake in the middle of the night, when the world was dead silent and the only light in his room came from the moon, it was because he had found himself caught up in the memories you had together.

You had those nights too.

You had been dead on your feet by the time you stumbled into the small, reclusive village you'd learn to call your home. You'd been told that nobody really ever passed through on purpose, and they liked it that way. You told them that you could use a life like that, and then asked if they had need a physician. They did.

Sure, a reclusive person probably would've loved the little life you built for yourself. You had a small but cozy spot to live on the edge of the village, not long after you showed up you began to tend to minor wounds and ailments, making a few friends along the way. Occasionally two farmers would ride into the city to barter off crops for supplies and other things, eventually they began to bring you back a book or a small trinket each time to thank you for your work. It was nice.

But still loneliness tugged at your heart, more than you imagined it would when you took that last look at your home. On the most random days, doing the most random things, you'd find yourself thinking about everyone again and crying for up to an hour before you could pull yourself together again. Those moments became more rare over time, but they never hurt any less. You were never quite back to normal.

Finally, you were wrapping a farmers broken finger, speaking about the state of the kingdom and how you were surprised Uther had felt the need to improve anything it all, when you heard the news.

"Oh, no. The king died months ago, Arthur's in charge now."

You knew you must've gone pale, as the next thing the man said to you was a question of your health. You were quick to respond with a growing smile, "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

He shrugged at you, "I'm not all that concerned with politics. These men, they're all the same to us out here, you know?"

But you knew the difference.

Your life depended on it.

You finished his treatment and sent him away without much else to say on the matter. You had to pack, after all. Later on that day you pleaded with a neighbor to let you borrow her horse, and your friends gathered around as they overheard you say you needed to go to the capitol. You honestly felt a bit bad leaving in such a rush, but after you relayed a safe version of your story, why you came here and why you had to leave, they all seemed to understand.

With many promises from you that they could send for you if they ever needed to, and many words of encouragement from them, you took off. Even when you stopped in the night to allow the horse some rest, you never got any yourself, too excited and nervous and overwhelmed all at once. You spent hours contemplating what to say to everyone, but nothing seemed right.

Another days journey, and you were home.

The response you got to your return wasn't what you expected. Your first stop was to check on the friend who got the potion to you in the first place, and strangely they let out a short shriek before slamming the door in your face. You knocked again, speaking through the door. "It's me...I'm back?"

"Go away!"

You furrowed your brow at them, hurt and confused. But ultimately you walked away, thinking a reaction like that might be deserved considering what you must've put them through that night. As you continued down the street there were a few people who recognized you and proceeded to clear out of your way with gasps and whispers, pulling along anyone they were walking with.

Last time you were here you had been accused of witchcraft, and two decades of fear don't just disappear with a new king, so you simply accepted that as the reasoning and started to make your way up through the lower towns.

On the other end of the city, Merlin had just reached the end of an extremely long day. It had dragged on so long that it felt as though the walk from the armoury to his room took another hour. He didn't even bother to get something to eat, he just wanted to sleep. So naturally when he had just layed down in bed when someone decided to knock on the front door, he didn't know any better than to be annoyed.

At first he thought Gaius would take care of it, then he remembered that he wasn't home.

Maybe they'll just go away.

Whoever it was knocked again and he pulled the pillow over his head.

Please go away.

The front door creaked open and he heard a familiar voice call out. "Hello...Gaius? Merlin?"

He sat up, a heavy feeling settling into his gut as he realized where he had heard that voice before.

But...it couldn't be. Could it?

He shook his head, leaving his bedroom to shoo out the person who couldn't have been you.

But there you were, flipping through an old book that had been sitting on the table since the day before. When you noticed he was standing there you looked up with a sad smile, saying the only thing that you could think of; "Hi..."

"Hi?"

"I uh- I know it's been a long time," You started, crossing your arms over your chest in an awkward stance. "I wish I didn't have to leave like I did but..."

"Leave??" He repeated what you said once more. Finally you registered how strangely he was looking at you, not angry or upset but bewildered, and maybe even scared. What he said next confused you even more. "How are you alive?"

"I thought you might've had more faith in me than that." You joked, but he wasn't amused. "Am I missing something?"

He was hesitant to approach you, unsure of how he was supposed to say it but he tried. "They told me you were gone, that you'd poisoned yourself. I mean...Gaius saw you."

"It was meant to look like that, but it was a trick." You said. "I left when I awoke, they didn't tell people I escaped?"

He shook his head no, tears starting to stream down his face. "...I can't believe this."

As the reality of the situation hit you, you couldn't help but cry as well. All you were guilty about, what you thought you put your loved ones through, it had actually been so much worse. "I am so sorry, if I had any idea I would've- well I don't know what I would've done. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm just, I'm so happy that you're here, and you're okay." Striding over with a grin, he pulled you into his arms. "I've missed you."

"And I, you. More than I could ever put into words." With a laugh you continued. "Things got so boring without you."

"I'm sure they did, you won't believe some of things I have to tell you."

And that was all it took, you both sat down at a table as you filled each other in on everything that had happened in the last two years. It took hours, there were multiple times you had to stop and collect yourselves as certain stories had you laughing until your stomachs ached. Gaius came home and after another tearful welcome back he made you all something to eat and had plenty of his own twists on things that had happened.

As if no time had passed at all, the world felt normal again. You were back where you belonged.

You were home.

[floralseokjin]

⤑ made-up love song drabbles

Seokjin’s chapter ix 

kim seokjin x reader warnings; angst, this feels pretty heavy at certain points but gets lighter as you go on, there’s a therapy session included, and just a lot of introspection  words; 7,459

author’s note; this kind of ran away with me, wasn’t expecting it to be so long haha but I hope you enjoy! 

Read the original chapter ix here 

↪︎ read the series here / and drabbles here

After you left Seokjin immediately poured the rest of his whisky down the sink and rinsed his glass. His mind was whirring, head heavy and starting to throb. He swallowed two painkillers down with some water and took a deep breath. He felt like crying. It felt like everything was crumbling around him. All his recent happiness, all his progress, and now possibly it seemed, his relationship with you… 

He’d wanted nothing more than to beg you to stay, and he had to an extent, but he knew it wasn’t right. He closed his eyes, not quite believing you’d witnessed all that. You probably thought he was a monster. He hadn’t lost his temper quite like that in a while, not since before the divorce… Embarrassment washed over him, yet he couldn’t stop himself from still being mad at Nana. He knew what you said made sense. He knew he’d been out of line but Nana continuously goaded him. She’d done so throughout their marriage. But he was no saint, he knew how to provoke her too. It’s what they did best. 

He moved away from the sink and tried to quash his anger, instead thinking of you and how much he had hurt and upset you. He hadn’t meant for it to get that bad, and he knew deep down that the reason he was so angry was because he’d brought it all on himself. He caused the incident by keeping his relationship with you secret. It hadn’t been on purpose, he wasn’t being vindictive, if anyone would believe him. He just… He had been selfish. He didn’t want to ruin anything because he was finally really happy after god knows how long. It was stupid in hindsight, but what was done was done now. 

He reached for Arin’s mug of hot chocolate and fresh waves of guilt and emotion hit him. She didn’t deserve any of this. He needed to be there for her, to push his own troubles away and put on a brave face because none of this was her fault. She needed to know that. Thankfully, the drink hadn’t grown cold yet, and he finished it off with some cream and mini marshmallows. He took one last deep breath and made his way down the hallway. Moping was no good for him. That’s what Chaewon always said. 

Arin looked happy to see him, instantly reaching out to him as he took a seat next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close, kissing the top of her head. He immediately felt lighter with relief. His daughter had always been his magical cure, and even though a cuddle wouldn’t make everything in his life right again, it certainly helped, and was very much needed. She asked where you were at one point, and unsure what to say, and feeling like shit for lying, he quickly said you needed to be somewhere. Arin probably didn’t buy it, looking dubious as a result of today, bus she didn’t say anything, asking instead if they could watch a movie. 

She wasn’t very talkative, and he didn’t blame her. Neither was he. He spent most of Shrek the Third lost in his own thoughts. As his anger slowly drifted away, shame replaced it. He’d been absolutely awful today and even if some of the things he’d said to Nana came from a valid place of concern, most were shouted for no reason other than frustration and hatred on his part. He was ashamed of himself. 

After the movie finished, Arin complained she was feeling hungry, so he left her to pick a new movie while he found something to cook up for dinner. He caught sight of the bowl of salad and his heart sunk, remembering the picnic outside. There was no salvaging it now, everything had probably spoiled in the sun, and as he waited for Arin’s dinner to cook, he went outside with a garbage bag, throwing away all the food you’d painstakingly prepared. It felt like he was throwing your relationship in the trash. He didn’t eat with that thought in mind, managing one piece of toast before it turned on him. 

At around 6pm his phone started to ring, vibrating in his front pocket and giving him a shock. For a split second he prayed it was you, but he knew he was being foolish. You needed time and if he was being honest with himself, so did he. He needed to concentrate on Arin tonight, as much as he…loved…you, his daughter’s wellbeing was the most important thing. If he could just make sure Arin was okay, then tomorrow he could concentrate on you and him. 

Pulling out the device he saw it was Nana. He suddenly felt very, very sick but picked up with a cautious hello. He was almost 100% sure she wanted to speak with Arin, the only way she could seeing as Arin was too young to have a phone of her own, but he was still wary, not wanting a repeat of earlier. 

“I want to speak to my daughter.” There was anger to her tone, and he knew her well enough to understand she had her guard up right now. She’d left his place upset and emotional, and that was two of the things she hated people seeing. Especially him. She hated being vulnerable. 

Seokjin sighed weakly. “Nana, come on, don’t be like that.” He hesitated, wanting to say sorry for today but the word wouldn’t come. Despite the guilt setting in, he was still pretty angry and frustrated himself. 

“I want to speak with Arin,” she repeated. “Will you let me?”

“Of course I will,” he replied. What did she take him for? 

He turned to Arin, ready to tell her it was her mom on the phone, but she was already waiting, her ears probably catching Nana’s name a few seconds previous. He smiled gently at her and passed his cell phone over. He tried to concentrate on the television as they spoke, not wanting to eavesdrop. Arin was uncharacteristically quiet as she hummed along to whatever Nana was saying, the occasional okay and I know slipping from her lips as she curled a lock of hair around her finger over and over again, but he understood why. Today had been overwhelming for everyone involved but especially her. She hadn’t seen or heard them argue in a long time, both he and Nana careful to hide them from her as of late. Today had been an awful mistake and the now a stronger wave of guilt was eating him up. 

After a few minutes he heard Arin tell her mother she loved her and then she hung up, returning the phone to Seokjin. He stretched over and placed the device on the coffee table, turning back to his daughter apologetically.   “I’m sorry about today, Arin.” 

She immediately flung herself into his arms, wrapping hers around his sides to hug him tight. He squeezed her right back, running his fingers through her hair gently. “Daddy was really angry, I shouldn’t have shouted.” 

“Mommy shouted too,” she reminded him. “She was angry that I called Y/N my stepmom.” Hesitantly she looked up at him, her eyes wide with worry. “I didn’t know it was wrong.” 

Seokjin sighed gently, trying to see things from Nana’s point of view. “It’s not a wrong word. It’s just a word that hurt your mother’s feelings.”  Arin looked a little confused by that explanation, and suddenly Seokjin felt the urge to be as honest as he could with her. She was still young, yes, but she wasn’t stupid. Far from it actually. She deserved not to be kept in the dark. 

“She… she didn’t know that Y/N is my girlfriend.” 

“Why?”

“I was wrong and didn’t tell her.”

Arin stayed silent as she mulled his words over. After a few moments she simply said, “I didn’t know that.” 

Seokjin ran a hand down her back, choosing his next words carefully. “Will you tell me what happened today? How mommy found out?”

Arin wriggled away from him to get comfier, sitting back against the sofa again. Seokjin copied, lifting his arm up so she could cuddle up to him. “She asked if I had a new bracelet and I told her Y/N had bought it for me last weekend when I stayed with her.” 

Looking down at her wrist now, Seokjin saw no bracelet and he guessed Arin had taken it off in a bid not to hurt her mom even more. She was such a sweet child, always thinking of other people’s feelings. 

“Mommy asked who she was and I said she was my stepmom – only because Suzie told me that’s what she is. Suzie has one too and it was fun because then we both had stepmoms.” 

Seokjin nodded along in understanding. “It’s okay, it was only a misunderstanding. But to use that word it needs to be discussed first, okay?” 

It was Arin’s turn to nod and Seokjin continued carefully. He was well aware everything was up in the air now so it hurt hearing the words that came out of his own month. “Right now Y/N is just Y/N. Before we use that word we have to make sure she likes it, alright? And mommy too.” 

“I didn’t know.” 

“I know you didn’t,” he comforted, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He wasn’t even too sure she knew what exactly the word meant. 

They both stayed silent for a little while before Arin spoke again. “You and mommy haven’t argued for a long time until today…because I said that word…”

“Hey,” Seokjin exclaimed softly wanting her to look his way. “We didn’t argue because of you. None of this is your fault, okay? It’s my fault and I’m really sorry.” 

She gave him a small smile and patted his head. “It’s okay, daddy. I still love you.” 

He couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. He could always count on his daughter to cheer him up. “Thank you, Arin.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you too. Very much.” 

The new week started off badly. He had been foolish to think Mondays were something of a fresh start, foolish to think calling you first thing in the morning was a good idea, and as you told him you needed some space and that you’d call him once the week was over he couldn’t help but think the worst. You’d insisted that you weren’t mad at him, and you had no reason to lie to him, but there was no doubt you were upset… overwhelmed. That morning he’d woken up even more ashamed of the way he’d acted the day before, wincing as he remembered the way he’d lost his temper. He’d sworn that he would never let that side of himself appear ever again, but it was easier said than done. Nana had struck a nerve with the way she had spoken to you and it had been impossible to keep his cool. 

He felt deeply ashamed when he thought about how confused you must have felt watching he and his ex-wife hurl abuse at each other. Deeply ashamed when he thought about the way you’d found out things he had never told you… You were hurt he’d never let you know what triggered his divorce, and he understood why completely. It wasn’t like it hadn’t crossed his mind to share such a personal detail with you, it had, of course it had, he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Your experience with infidelity was the complete opposite of his. You had your heart torn to pieces by your ex-fiancé and he had his ego bruised… His marriage with Nana had already been completely over, he just didn’t have the guts to get out. She was correct, he was a coward through and through. 

But most of all he was deeply ashamed of his behaviour entirely. He had never meant to compare the both of you. He had never meant to use you to hurt Nana. It was extremely petty, such a low blow, and he didn’t know where it had come from. Rage had washed over him and he’d spat words that he couldn’t take back. It was the worst thing he’d ever done in his entire life, and despite the grievances he had with Nana, he regretted those words deeply. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her like that. It was shameful, and he felt horrendous for hurting both women with his foolish behaviour. 

Was there a happy ending after this? If Nana didn’t already hate him, she did now, and you were probably not too far behind. You’d seen him at his most poisonous, heard him use you to prove a point, found out things he’d kept from you, and learned he’d kept you a secret from his ex-wife. How embarrassed you must have felt… How confused… He’d made so many mistakes along the way, it was a wonder they hadn’t caught up with him sooner… 

He wouldn’t be able to bear it if you wound up hating him. Not when he loved you so much. He hadn’t even had a chance to confess yet, coming so close to it Saturday night but backing out because he was scared it was too soon. He’d made the decision there and then to tell you once he took you to Paris, getting swept away with the idea and the romance of it all, but now the regret for not professing his love that night was like a lead weight inside his chest. Would it have changed anything? Would yesterday have had a different outcome? 

And while he was regretting things, he regretted not letting Nana know about the relationship. Yesterday could have been avoided completely – maybe. 

The more he thought, the worse it got and by Tuesday he could feel himself spiralling. He knew the feeling all too well. Soobin had already worked out something was the matter. (His lack of morning shave a dead giveaway.) And that meant he was doing a terrible job at hiding his mood. He couldn’t have Arin sensing the same. She obviously hadn’t forgotten about the weekend and wouldn’t anytime soon, but he couldn’t make it worse for her. He needed to be there for her, as her father, not too busy distracted with his own misery. It was selfish. 

But he couldn’t suppress it all. He knew that was unhealthy. So, Tuesday night, once Arin was tucked up in bed sound asleep, he called the one person his former happiness had been neglecting for months now… 

“Seokjin,” Chaewon greeted, her warm voice laced with surprise. “Long time no speak.” 

He felt guilt immediately wash over him. “Yeah… I’m sorry about that.” It was stupid really, she wasn’t taking it personally, he could guarantee that, but nevertheless it was an emotion he was all too familiar with these days. 

Chaewon chuckled. “Don’t apologise for being happy and not needing me.” 

His heart twisted. 

She sensed his trouble. “Jin?”

He hesitated, looking down at the bottle of whisky sat at his desk. He was in his home office. “Something happened.” 

There was silence as his therapist processed his vague words before she pressed him gently, “Oh?” 

He took a breath. “Are you free to talk?” 

“Yes, of course.” 

“I’m sorry for calling you out of hours.” He apologised. “Don’t feel bad about billing me for this. I’ll even pay double.” 

“Seokjin, don’t be silly,” she told him softly.  “Let’s name this a friendship call. Now, what’s wrong?” She sensed the last bit of reluctance he was holding onto. “Come on, you can tell me anything.” 

He sighed. “I don’t know where to start.” 

“How about from the beginning?”

They spoke for an hour in the end, Chaewon listening attentively as he explained the weekend’s events. He left nothing out, or least what he could remember. He made no attempt to hide his wrongdoings or soften the story. He didn’t want to. He knew he had done wrong. She was sympathetic, but she didn’t mince her words when it came to her disappoint in him. 

After the argument he and Nana had gotten into just before Arin had moved in with him, he had worked hard with Chaewon to find a way to curb the anger he often felt when he and his ex-wife communicated. He thought he had been successful, but now he realised all he’d done was find ways to avoid it. He barely spoke to Nana unless he had to, a hello barely exchanged when she called in the evenings to speak to their daughter. A text shared to confirm when Arin would get picked up for the weekend, or one shared to cancel visits… He saw her even less. Jia, Nana’s PA and closest friend was the one who collected their daughter, and he knew it was because his ex-wife wanted to avoid him just as much. 

In the long term they had just been making things worse. That’s why last Sunday had been so bad. A build-up of every single frustration felt since the last time they’d seen one another, because no doubt Nana had her own list. It was a recipe for disaster. 

It felt good to confide in someone though, someone who knew him very well on a professional and personal level. Chaewon was amazing at putting him in his place so kindly. It was a gift really, and he appreciated it immensely. The older woman saw his negative traits but never judged him. She understood them and tried her best to help him with them. He guessed that was her job, but she did it so well it was hard not to see her as some sort of friend. 

That’s why when she asked to see him in person tomorrow he didn’t hesitate to free up his schedule. Truth was, he wanted it too. His mind was still clouded and he needed her insight. Her advice. He wanted a good night sleep too but he didn’t think that would be possible any time soon, no matter how much Chaewon tried to help him. Not when his sheets continued to smell like you…   

.

.

“It’s about time you both let go of the past.” 

Seokjin let Chaewon’s words sink in as he sat opposite her, nervously chewing on a nail. It wasn’t a habit of his, but it was somewhat of a distraction right now. A comfort. They should have let go of the past a long time ago. Maybe then they would have divorced sooner. Maybe then there would be less resentment…. 

“Arin is the one thing you have in common and you need to work together in order to be the best possible parents you can.” 

That cut his heart deep, a twinge similar to what he’d felt all week. Ever since you left. “I know,” he replied quietly. “It’s just…”

He couldn’t continue. Despite how he’d insinuated Nana was a bad mother, he didn’t think that deep down. They both loved their daughter equally, but that love was separate. It had been separate practically since she was born. Arin was missing their combined love, although she knew no different… 

“You need to let go of all that bitterness and resentment.” Chaewon continued. Words she had said fairly regularly for the last two years or so. “For your sake, for Arin’s…” But now there was a new addition. “…and Y/N’s.” 

Seokjin snorted. “Who said I haven’t scared her away already?”

Chaewon stare turned a little stern. “It was a shock to the system, anyone would need some time to process what happened.” When he stayed silent, she continued. “You have to make her see you’re trying your best to change things. You need to take responsibility for your actions.” 

“I will.” 

He wanted nothing more than to apologise profusely and answer any questions you had, but you’d requested time first and he was listening. He was just scared that time would work against him. He continued on, ignoring his deepest, darkest worry. 

“It’s not fair on her. She should never have witnessed all that, and it just drums in how unfair this has been to Arin her whole life.” Arin had been the witness to many an argument when he and Nana were still married. “I hurt the people closet to me because of my careless actions,” he concluded with a sad smile. Time after time. 

“And it’s not too late to change that,” Chaewon reminded. “Put a stop to all this nonsense.” 

Seokjin’s smile grew for a millisecond, feeling like a child getting told off. 

“Your marriage with Nana didn’t work out, that’s life. But you have a beautiful little girl together. That’s the most important thing, and it goes hand in hand with your own happiness.” She paused and then continued. “It’s very obvious that Y/N brings a great deal of that to the table.”

Yes, you did make him deliriously happy. He felt young again when he was with you. He felt invincible. Loved. He felt loved. 

“Concentrate on both of them – Arin and Y/N – and make some changes. Talk to Nana – civilly. Make this work and you can all be happy. I promise you that.” 

He had never heard Chaewon like this before, she was practically pleading with him. He let out a little laugh. “You make it sound so simple.” 

She simply smiled at him. “If you’re determined enough, it is.” 

.

.

“Mom wants to talk to you.” 

Seokjin looked at his phone outstretched in Arin’s hand with slight confusion. For the past four nights, ever since Sunday, Nana had spoken with Arin just before she had to get ready for bed. It was routine now, another avoidance, he exchanged a hello with her and then passed the phone on. Her tone less defensive as the days went on. Tonight had been the same despite his session with Chaewon this lunchtime. But to his surprise, maybe Nana was making the first move. 

He took the phone from Arin with a smile, not wanting to make her nervous. Usually he left her alone to speak to her mother, not wanting to pry or insert himself but tonight he was sat next to her on the sofa, replying to emails on his laptop. He hadn’t been listening at all, too engrossed with finalising details for an upcoming project, so of course it had come as a shock to find Arin passing the phone to him. 

“Hello?”

“I was just wondering if I could have Arin this weekend.” Nana totally bypassed a greeting of any kind, but she wasn’t demanding in her tone, nor defensive, it was just the way she was. She’d always been straight to the point, no time for pleasantries, and many years ago, when they’d first met, he’d found it highly amusing. 

“Um, of course,” he replied, taken back a little. He would be more than happy for her to have Arin. It wasn’t her weekend, but that had never bothered him before. He wanted Arin to see her as much as possible. It was only fair seeing as their daughter now lived with him. 

There was a brief silence before Nana spoke again. Had she been expecting him to say no? Surely not. But then again, after last weekend maybe her worries were valid. She found her bearings. “What time does she finish school? I’m taking Friday out, I’ll drive down and collect her.” 

Seokjin couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. Nana had not once collected Arin herself. “She finishes at 3.”

Nana hesitated, “Do you think they’d let her finish early?” 

“I don’t know… It’s usually only emergencies –”

“Never mind,” she stopped him. “There was just a bunch of things I’d planned, thought we could get a head start, it’s fine.” 

He glanced over at Arin who was watching him hopefully. It was obvious what their phone call had entailed. They’d been making plans for the weekend and Arin was visibly excited. He smiled at her. 

“I could always phone the school tomorrow,” he suggested to Nana. “See if it’s possible. Maybe she could skip the whole day?” 

Nana sounded ecstatic. Something he hadn’t heard in years. “Really? Do you think there’s a chance they’d say yes?”

He shrugged to himself. “It’s just one day, I don’t see why not.” 

Nana was busy thinking. “Maybe I could take tomorrow afternoon away from the office too… Pick her up at 3.” 

It was his turn to hesitate now, opening his mouth ready to suggest something. He knew he owed his ex-wife an apology, but over the phone just wouldn’t do. He needed to see her. He went for it. “Or I could do it for you? I can drive her to you.” 

“You would do that?” She sounded shocked. 

“If she’s allowed to miss a day then yes.” 

“Oh.” It wasn’t often Nana was left speechless. “Okay,” she agreed after a moment. “That would be great actually.” 

His attention went back to Arin then, who was practically vibrating with excitement next to him. His replies hadn’t given away much, but it was enough to tell her she’d be seeing her mother this weekend – and possibly skipping a day of school. He grinned at her and she clung to his arm. 

“Can I say bye to mom?” 

“In a minute, Arin,” he chuckled, amused by her eagerness. “We’re not done yet.” His next sentence was directed at Nana. “I’ll text you tomorrow morning and let you know what the principal said.” 

For the first time in god knows how long there was no malice or sarcasm attached to her gratitude. “Thank you, Seokjin.” 

He took it as a positive sign. Things were changing. They would change. 

The next day he dropped Arin off at school himself. The plan had been to head to reception and ask if he could talk with Principal Jung in person, but after saying his goodbyes and watching Arin meet up with some friends in the playground he began to get second thoughts. What if he accidentally bumped into you? He was on pins even in the parking lot. He wanted to give you all the space necessary and the last thing you probably wanted to see was him walking towards you in the corridor. At work. 

No, instead he drove to his office, phoning the principal as soon as he’d finished up his morning meeting. Hoseok – as he’d been told to call him – was completely understanding. Seokjin didn’t even have to whip out the sob story about Arin missing her mom dearly. Dirty tactics were always the last resort, and he could talk a good game, but thankfully his skill wasn’t needed today. Arin was all set to go this evening. 

The drive wasn’t a long one thankfully, just under an hour as Nana lived in the neighbouring city. This wasn’t the first time he’d been to Nana’s penthouse, the place she’d bought after they’d sold their family home, but the last time had been pretty explosive. Not nearly as bad as last weekend, but close. Arin had thankfully been waiting in the car for him that time, as he and her mother argued over where she should live permanently.  

Seokjin stood beside Arin in the elevator, feeling nervous for the conversation he wanted to have. He was never above apologising when he was in the wrong, but with his ex-wife saying sorry had never come easily. It was childish and he knew he needed to change, so today was the perfect test. If he wanted a clean slate he had to be as honest as possible. 

“Mommyyy,” Arin squealed as she opened the door to greet them, barrelling into her practically. 

Seokjin stood back as they hugged, a soft smile on his face. 

“Arin, I missed you,” Nana informed her, breaking away to take her bag. As she did so, she glanced at Seokjin, then back at their daughter. “Listen, darling, go to your room for a little while so I can speak to daddy.” 

Seokjin felt a little relieved. At least they were on the same page – potentially. 

Arin though, was unsure, looking between her parents as she spoke. “I don’t want to. What if you argue again?”

He felt his heart break at her words. “We won’t, sweetie,” he reassured, bending down to look her in the eyes. “I promise.” 

She still looked dubious, but then Nana took over, her voice light and breezy.  “We won’t be long, okay? Think about what pizza you want to order for dinner.” 

Arin’s eyes lit up at that request and Seokjin couldn’t help but chuckle. That pizza obsession of hers was getting dangerous. “Okay,” she agreed easily, waving to him before she skipped off to the furthest part of the apartment. 

Seokjin watched her leave before rising up again, tugging down the ends of his jacket. Nana was looking at him, an unreadable expression on her face, but he knew it wasn’t anger she was feeling, so that was a plus. He thought back to Sunday, how mad they had both been, how upset Nana had looked as she’d rushed off. The guilt came back. 

He exhaled. He might as well just bite the bullet. “I’m sorry for calling you a terrible mother. I didn’t mean it.” 

Nana stayed silent but her arms wrapped around herself. It was such a vulnerable action, it took him by surprise. 

He continued. “I was just frustrated. I let things build up and exploded.” 

She stared him straight in the eyes, shoulders sagging a little but her voice was strong. “You know I love our daughter half to death.”

“I do,” he agreed. “I don’t doubt that.” 

She look relieved. It made him feel oddly sad. He had never wanted to make her doubt herself as a mother. He was a piece of shit. 

Still, she needed to understand some things. His point of view and where he was coming from. His frustrations weren’t all for nothing. They were valid. “But you have to understand I’m the one who has to pick up the pieces when you end up cancelling on her. It takes its toll.” 

Nana’s gaze flickered to the floor as she whispered. “I’m trying to be better.” Then she looked up again, her voice stronger. “I’m trying to free my weekends up. I’m trying not to do as much. I thought maybe I could even have her for an evening every weekday? I could pick her up from school, take her out for dinner. I know it’s a distance but maybe I could get every Wednesday afternoon away from work... Hopefully.” 

Seokjin was impressed. Nana lived and breathed work so to hear she was thinking about possibly taking an afternoon away every week was… It made him very happy. “She’d love that,” he grinned genuinely. “She misses you a lot.” 

Nana couldn’t help but smile too. “I miss her always.” With a slight chuckle she continued, “This apartment is so quiet without her.”

Seokjin looked down at his feet and grimaced slightly. He knew that feeling all too well. Living without Arin had been close to torture after the divorce. Everything felt so silent, the house gigantic and lonely. He hated the thought of Nana feeling the same way. “You can see her any time, Nana,” he murmured. “I’ll never try to stop you.” 

Despite everything, their grievances toward one another, they had and would always co-parent well. Arin was their number one priority and she needed both parents in her life. 

“I know that,” Nana nodded, “and I’d never try to take her from you.” 

It didn’t bear to think about, but he had to admit, sometimes it was easy for irrational thoughts to creep in when someone was left feeling insecure. 

“She loves living with you. She’s really settled at her new school, she never stops talking about her friends.” Nana continued, making small talk of sorts. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d done this. “She’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.” 

Seokjin nodded in agreement. She loved her new school, her new friends – her new life, you could say. That was easy to see. 

Nana cleared her throat, dropping her arms to her sides. “I apologise too. I was out of line turning up at your door like that. I was just so mad... so hurt.” She took a few seconds. “I wish you’d just told me.” 

“I should have.” She was absolutely right. “I see that now and I regret it. It was wrong of me to keep my new relationship from you. I wasn’t doing it to be vindictive. I just...” he stopped himself. Even though they weren’t excuses, they felt like they were. His reasons didn’t matter.

“You should have been the first to know because of Arin. If I was in your shoes, if it was the other way around, I would have been angry too.” He stopped and sighed at his stupidity. “I never meant to hurt you, neither did Y/N. She actually had no clue you didn’t know until that day.” 

Nana’s eyes widened with shock, before she looked regretful. “Yeah, that one makes me feel even guiltier. I shouldn’t have spoken to her the way I did. It was a shock to hear Arin speaking about a stranger like that. A stranger I had no clue existed.” 

Seokjin appreciated her apology, but he needed to make sure she understood something. “Yeah, about that, Arin really has never called Y/N her stepmom. We’ve only been together for a few months. I spoke to her about it and Arin understands that’s not the case. It was just kids being kids.” 

Nana nodded. “I shouldn’t have flown off the handle, and I should have listened to your explanation the first time around.” 

He held her gaze. “I’m not trying to replace you, Nana.” 

If that’s what she was worried about, it wasn’t the case. He had never meant to compare the two women and he regretted it deeply. 

Nana’s lips quirked up at the side, her voice relaxed and at ease. “But eventually Arin will call her that.” 

His eyebrows shot up, understanding what she was getting at. “I don’t know,” he shook his head. His relationship with you was up in the air right now. He’d made one too many mistakes. 

Nana brushed him off with sway of her hand. “I guess I’ll learn to deal with it when the time comes.” 

He admitted defeat. “And I’ll have to do the same.” 

It was inevitable really. One day Arin would probably have two blended families and while he really wanted his to be with you, he didn’t want to get his hopes up right now. 

Nana snorted. “Fat chance of that happening. I don’t have time to fall in love again.” 

He stayed silent, unsure what to say. He’d thought the same once upon a time. Until you walked straight into his life. (Or, more fittingly, until he’d reversed straight into yours.) Everyone deserved love in their life and he hoped that one day his ex-wife would find it again. 

She was looking over at him sadly now, eyes softening, and it was almost jarring to see her show this much emotion in front of him. “I did love you, you know,” she murmured before laughing quietly at herself. “I felt like I never told you enough, but in the beginning it was good, right?” 

“It was.” Seokjin hated getting nostalgic, in fact, he actively avoided it, but in this moment he let himself go. Ten years ago, he and Nana had fallen hard for one another. It was fast and exhilarating but – “We just…” 

“Rushed into things that weren’t meant to be?” She finished for him. 

He’d been so eager to marry before he was thirty, to follow in his parents’ footsteps. He wanted, no, needed, to become CEO.  He needed to build something he could be proud of, and having a family fit into that logic. He’d had tunnel vision, but it wasn’t all bad. 

“I can’t regret it though,” he told Nana softly, “because we made Arin.” 

“At least we agree on one thing,” she chuckled. 

“Yeah,” he smiled. 

It was strange speaking like this with one another. He couldn’t even think of the last time something similar had happened. They were always too busy at one another’s throats, not listening to what the other had to say. Now all that fight had gone. They were both exhausted from years of bitterness. Years of fighting. 

He didn’t want to fight anymore. 

Nana seemed to think the same. 

“I’m ashamed she had to hear us fight like that,” she said. “I apologised on the phone but…” 

“She’s okay.” He reassured. “I think she still thinks it’s her fault a little though. I’ve tried telling her it wasn’t repeatedly.” 

“I’ll talk to her over dinner.” 

“Good idea.” 

There was a pregnant pause before Nana chuckled. “This is the first time we’ve spoken so civilly in a long time.” She hesitated, wanting to say something else. He waited patiently, curious. “Maybe we should think about talking it out with a professional?” 

He raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t a bad idea actually, but then… thing seemed to be working out well on their own right now. “Maybe we should see how things go first? Now that we know how one another feels.” They weren’t out of the dark yet, but it was looking hopeful. “But if you think it will help then I won’t refuse,” he added, wanting to show how seriously he was taking this. 

She smiled slightly. “Okay, we’ll see how things go.” 

It seemed like the conversation had run its course then, and Seokjin shuffled, about to suggest he head out now, but Nana spoke again. “Are you okay?” She asked. “No offence, but you look like shit.” 

He laughed, actually laughed, at her words. He could always count on her to be honest with him. “I haven’t been sleeping very well,” he admitted, “but talking with you definitely helped.” 

She eyed him doubtfully. “I hope I haven’t ruined things with you and Y/N. I can talk with her if you want?” 

“No, it’s fine,” he shook his hand. 

She looked down, feeling foolish. “I guess I did enough damage.” 

He chuckled. “No, pretty sure I did that all on my own.” 

Looking up, her mouth opened, as if she was about to ask him what he meant but stopped herself at the last second. She wasn’t there yet, and neither was he. 

He took a step back. “I should go.”

Nana went to follow him to the door. “I’ll have her back by Sunday. Do you want to say goodbye?” She saw his nod and called for their daughter, her voice echoing off the walls. “Arin? Arin, darling, come here and say bye to your dad.” 

A few seconds later he heard Arin’s footsteps getting closer, she hovered by the entryway, looking worried for a second, as if she was expecting the worst but then she saw her parents smiling faces and relaxed instantly. 

“I’ll see you Sunday, okay?” Seokjin told her as she made her way towards him. He reached to pick her up, something she scolded him over sometimes because it was “embarrassing” now. She was getting older, he kept forgetting, because to him she would always be his little girl. This time however, she let him do so, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed his cheek. 

“Okay, bye daddy. Love you.” 

“Love you, too,” he grinned, kissing her back before he put her down.

Nana watched on with a grin of her own. 

Being home alone was odd. Seokjin couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on his own. In the week Misook was here to help out with Arin and the housework, then every other weekend she often dropped in when he needed her. When the house wasn’t occupied by his daughter or Misook, you were here with him, so it had been quite a while since it was just him. It reminded him of the past, when he’d lived here all alone. He never wanted to go back to that. 

He was happy to see Friday roll around. It felt like he’d been waiting all his life. Just one more day and he’d get to speak to you. The lack of communication was killing him. Ever since you’d began dating you’d spoken every day. It felt strange to be without that, like he was missing a part of himself. He’d been able to distract himself with work throughout the week, but no amount of distractions could really stop him from thinking about you. Stop him from missing you. Because he did. Terribly. 

The photo on his desk didn’t help matters either – the two of you smiling together on the fishing trip he’d organised over the summer – but like hell was he hiding it away in a drawer. 

It was probably best that Arin was with Nana this weekend. It gave you both some time to talk and sort things out – hopefully. He was praying so hard that everything would be okay, but he was getting ready to fight for you. Just in case. Of course he would listen to what you had to say, and respect it too, but if it happened to be bad news he would try his best to make you see how sorry he was and how hard he was trying to change. He couldn’t lose you. Not when he loved you so much.

You made him want to be a better man. 

.

.

He got home pretty late from the office, staying just to avoid an empty house and after having a quick shower and ordering takeout, he decided on an early night. This week had been mentally and emotionally draining so it was probably for the best. Plus the sooner he slept the sooner tomorrow would come. 

He’d just stepped out of the bathroom when he heard his phone ring in his sweatpants pocket. He pulled the device out automatically, expecting it to be Namjoon, because who else would be calling at this time? But to his surprise and utter amazement, he saw your name flashing across his screen. 

His heart began to pound embarrassingly loud and he rushed to answer, sounding a little breathless as he murmured your name.

“Hey, you,” your replied, and he swore he could hear the smile in your voice. His shoulders instantly released the tension he hadn’t realised they’d been holding. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to call tonight.” He heard himself say, cursing himself because it sounded so dumb. He was over the moon you’d decided to call. Of course he was. 

“Sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” 

“Of course not,” he rushed. “Well,” he laughed, “I was just about to head to bed.” 

You laughed along softly, the sound making his heart sing. “I was going to wait until tomorrow but Soojung is with Taehyung tonight and being alone means I can’t stop thinking about you.” 

He couldn’t stop the sigh of relief that slipped past his lips. It was so good to hear you say that. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all week. Are you ready to talk? I’m willing to answer any questions you have.” He meant every word. 

“I’m ready,” you replied. “Should I come over? I don’t want to do this over the phone.” 

“I can come to you?” He suggested instead, not wanting you to go out of your way for him. “Arin’s with Nana until Sunday.” 

“Oh. Okay. Now?” 

“It’s not too late?” 

“No, it’s fine.” You sounded a little eager and that just made even more relieved. He’d been expecting the worst all along. “I really want to see you.” 

He smiled, happiness overwhelming him. “I’ll be there soon, okay? Really soon.” As he spoke he made his way into the closet, opening up his drawers to find a clean t-shirt. 

“Don’t speed,” you told him jokingly.  

“Of course I won’t,” he laughed. “I’m going to hang up now but I won’t be long.” 

“Okay, see you soon, Seokjin.” 

He couldn’t stop the grin on his face as he said his final goodbye, his heart racing with excitement as he tore off his old shirt to put the new one on. It was a little creased, but it would do. He didn’t have time to find anything else. 

He needed to see you. 

He needed to be with you. 

[cosette141]

The Emma Button (OUAT fanfic) (oneshot)

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Author: cosette141

Summary: "What is that thing?" "It's a device used for... talking... I don't bloody know. I press the Emma button and she answers usually." My take on why Killian decided to refer to Emma's speed dial as "the Emma button." oneshot

a/n: Warning: this is possibly very tacky. idk. lol

"I think it's time you had one of your own."

Killian raised a brow from where he sat at the bar at Granny's diner. Emma sat down on a stool next to him, and she held out a small, black rectangular box.

Killian has seen these magic boxes before. He's seen people staring at them for quite long periods of time, and he knew there was some sort of… way… to speak to other people who also had a box of their own.

He'd been careful not to ask questions, never being one to show uncertainty or ignorance to the natives of an unfamiliar land.

And if he were being honest with himself, he wasn't quite comfortable with the device.

Killian regarded it the same way he would an empty flask. He looked at Emma. "And why, pray tell, do you believe I need one of these devices?"

Emma's face shifted, like she was trying to hide a smile or a laugh. And Killian would have been offended if it wasn't such a rare, beautiful sight. "Because," she said, rolling her eyes. "Yesterday was the fourth time I had to track you down."

"I only go from here to the docks, love."

"Well I don't want to have to walk all the way to one to find out you're at the other," she said, brows lifted with the tell-tale this is not up for debate look that Killian recognized from Milah. Scratch that—from women.

That look was not up for debate.

Emma gestured with the phone again for him to take it. Warily, he did, holding it between his forefinger and thumb, eyeing it like it might explode.

"It's not going to explode."

Killian lifted his brow. Perhaps she was not the only open book.

"It's called a cell phone," she said, amusedly watching him inspect it. "You can use it to call people."

"Call people?" echoed Killian, finally giving up his reluctance to get to know what the bloody thing does.

"Yes," said Emma. "Pretty much, you can contact anyone who also has a cell phone. It doesn't matter how far away you are from them." She reached over, using her thumb to open the device up. "You flip it open like this," she explained, "and you put this to your ear to listen, and there's a microphone at the bottom that you speak into and it allows the other person to hear what you say."

Killian blinked.

He didn't know what a microphone was—perhaps a smaller version of this phone?—but if it allowed people to hear him speak from miles away, that was magic if he's ever seen it.

"And before you ask," said Emma, when Killian opened his mouth, "no, it isn't magic, and no, I don't know exactly how a cell phone works. Just know it's science and it works."

Science.

That was a word Killian now knew, since any time he's been confused by something, science was Emma's explanation.

And he was quickly learning that she had no idea how this science worked, either.

"Aside from making calls," said Emma, "you can send texts, which…" She hesitated, trying to piece together how to explain it to him. "It's like writing someone a letter, but it's a really short letter, and you don't need paper or ink." Emma pressed on the bottom half of the device, and the top half glowed, displaying numbers and symbols. Emma pointed to them. "It also tells you what time it is, what day it is, and you can play some games and take pictures with it."

"This does all that?" asked Killian, turning it over in his hand. For something that wasn't magical, and so small…

"Yeah," she said. "Sometimes I forget how impressive it actually is. It's practically a tiny computer."

"A tiny what?"

"Nevermind." Emma pulled out her own device, holding it up. "Now that you have a phone, you can call someone. I'll show you." Emma took his device, and pressed several things, then waited, and her device started to play a jingle. "See?" she said, gesturing with her phone. She opened it, then handed Killian his phone back. "If you hold it up…" she gestured for him to do so, and he warily did, only to hear her voice crackle through the device as she finished, "…you can hear my voice." She smiled when she saw his brows shoot up. "And if you talk, I can hear you," said Emma.

Killian pulled the phone down to speak into the bottom half, but Emma grabbed his wrist, keeping his arm where it was, sending a tingle down his whole body. "No," she said with a giggle, "you can leave it here; I'll hear you just fine." Emma closed her device and Killian pulled his down. "All you have to do to talk to someone is dial their phone number."

Killian gave her a lift of his brow. "Swan, the only person I will be contacting with this device is yourself."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Fine. All you have to do to talk to me is dial my phone number."

"And a phone number is…?"

Emma took his phone. "See all these numbers? Every phone has a unique set of numbers. Like… how we have unique names to go by." Killian blinked. Emma sighed. "I can put me on your speed dial."

He didn't even want to try to decipher what that meant.

Emma pressed more things on his device, and then handed it back to him. She pointed at one of the little squares. "This button," she pointed to a second one, "will call me. So, to talk to me, you just press that."

"This?" asked Killian, trying it.

"Yep," said Emma, nodding. "That button is me."

Killian pressed it, and her phone started to play music.

Emma smiled. "Look at you. Twenty-first century man."

Killian smiled too, because whether or not he liked this strange device, having it made Emma smile, and he was learning that he'd do pretty much anything to elicit one from her.

She wasn't smiling, however, the next day when she found him wandering the docks, Killian claiming that the infernal device would not stop making noises, and gesturing to the ground where the cell phone lay shattered in pieces.

As Emma grabbed his coat to drag him to the nearest electronics store for a new phone, she concluded that he did press Emma's buttons.

Just not the ones on the phone.

AO3 link

@jrob64 @teamhook @kmomof4

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Miraculous Shanghai: The Legend of Lady Dragon

Warning: Spoilers! Other than that, have fun!

Also, if you want to watch the full English Dub, click here!

I love how we saw Fei's backstory as to how she became guardian of the Prodigious and how it was actually stolen because there are people who want money from her adoptive father's studio. It was also sad to see that the values her father implemented into her fade due to the circumstances they found themselves in. I speak for all of us to say that this girl needs a hug.

The intro as always is beautiful! Since it was not the first thing we saw, I was confused when looking through the episodes on YT.

I always enjoy Marinette's monologues, and this one was over how she looked forward to her holiday (it was like a vacation type thing). And how she looked forward to spend time with Adrien since his father was going to let him out. It was all perfect...

...until she went to deliver Uncle Wang's package and found out Adrien left for Shanghai at the last minute. But all is good though because she could go to Shanghai, deliver the gift personally, and see Adrien.

It hurts me to see that the writers made Marinette's purpose to go to Shanghai is to see Adrien when she can do that in Paris! It frustrates me that her character development goes back to square one, even as the protagonist of the show. People might point out this was before season 3, but I have a few points that say otherwise or that the writers are mixing things up. But first, the plot points and thoughts of everything else.

Also, I get that Marinette is 14/15/16 at the time of this episode, but how likely is it to send your child on their own halfway across the world??? On SHORT NOTICE??? I swear Sabine and Tom are too chill with this, but then again, there would be no story.

Also, I love how Ladybug and Chat Noir took the opportunity of their patrols without akumas to bond more. The Ladynoir in this episode I stan!

Gabriel you piece of trash! If you did not plan to spend time with your son, why take him to Shanghai when he was hoping to spend time with you?! And do not say "for business purposes" because even though Adrien is a face in the brand, at least don't give him false hope and that bs!

Nooro, thank you for trying to talk Gabriel out of it, but he is literally a wall (talking to Gabriel=talking to a wall)

I will say, the waiting for 15 years thing is very concerning.

Uncle Wang has been looking forward to see Marinette in person in Shanghai to learn more about her roots. He is ecstatic and its just heartwarming and heartbreaking when you think that part of Marinette's stay will be related to Adrien.

At least we see one thing that makes Marinette's stay not all about Adrien though: she is genuinely interested in her origins! Like when she asks about her family's traditional songs and about her mom, even learning her real name!

Speaking of which, Sabine's name is Xia Ping and only called herself Sabine when she started living in France. Also, I love her photo!

Bastille the bird that was around since forever is an icon!

Also, I can't believe Uncle Wang has not taken a break since Sabine moved to France, like what the hell??? Give this guy a break for goodness sake.

Thank you Gabriel for having one brain cell and allowing your son to leave the hotel! We still hate you for everything else though.

Its cool that Kwamis speak all of the languages. It is also the most logical thing because their wielder could be from anywhere. My question is are they taught the languages, does it form when a concept forms in the universe and they start existing, or like everything else is it magic?

Gorilla is iconic for two reasons: he is still a self care king, and he was willing to give Adrien some space to get action figures.

And now as I wrote that, this is where I am getting confused and start to believe this is post season 3: 1) Gorilla seems less anxious about being in a new place (unlike NY where he stayed in the hotel room the entire time), and 2) His obsession for action figures was shown in Party Crasher (season 3), which makes me wonder if the explanation is during season 3 or this episode hints at season 3. For the first point, it could be because Gabriel was not in NY to his knowledge.

Fei appears again and explains how she views the world and how she also uses that to help and take advantage of others.

She almost steals Adrien's phone and miraculous until Gorilla steps in. It hurts me because she is a good person but had to resort to stealing for a reason that we will explore soon.

Plagg, we always say your stomach causes trouble, but this time, you brought Adrien to Marinette's uncle...

...but also that ironically separated them as Marinette found them just as they climbed into the taxi.

This is also where Fei (wearing a disguise) crosses paths with Marinette and steals her purse. Then she went for the kwagatama and miraculous.

Things get worse for Fei as these boys that took a photo with Adrien earlier started chasing her. Then Marinette started going after them.

That is when she realized she was robbed and understandably, she was more horrified of losing her Miraculous.

Adrien shows up to Uncle Wang's home/restaurant. So many iconic moments happen.

1) Bastille says something about love between Marinette and Adrien. And Adrien responds with the line that makes us want to jump into the TV and talk some sense into him.

2) You say that "she's JuST a fRIenD" yet you stay over with her mom's uncle so you can surprise her lol. Adrien, you kill me and every other Adrienette fan with this contradicting statements.

Speaking of Marinette, she gets lost and has trouble communicating with others because she does not speak Chinese. And at some point says that she regrets not taking lessons?! Uh, what does this imply, that she refused lessons or that she did not have the opportunity for lessons??????? I NEED ANSWERS!

Can we say once again how talented and artistic Marinette is? Bad time? Moving on!

Uncle Wang is unaware of Marinette's tardiness, and Adrien just jokes about it. Considering that she is technically missing (reality is that she's lost), I don't think its time to joke about it.

The lady that gave Marinette some earrings that look like the Miraculous is so nice and bless her soul

The person from the pawn shop is the bad guy that we see at the very end of the NY special! And he knows about what happened to Fei's father! I am grateful that he sees no value in Marinette's stuff so he won't sell it for a lot, but I hate how he's greedy for money and was willing to exploit Fei's hunger for answers and Marinette needing her miraculous for personal gains.

Meanwhile, the boys from the photo with Adrien that chased Fei were trying to get Marinette's attention (they found her kwagatama when Fei dropped it running away and fighting them), but she thought they were gonna attack her. And then she bumps into Fei, who helps her escape.

Marinette finds comfort in Fei for being willing to "help" her (remember that she was gonna bring her to the pawn shop). She also finds Fei as a helpful, kind person who is brave: something that Fei does not see in herself, but does not have the heart to tell Marinette the truth.

Meanwhile, Chat has transformed to find Marinette and its the most endearing thing I've seen! Adrien, you blind oblivious fool! You care about her more than you think!

They arrive in the pawn shop, Tikki escaped the claw machine, and Marinette finds the earrings...for 100000 Yuan.

Fei, understanding what its like to have something entrusted to you be stolen, gets in a spat with the pawn shop owner in Chinese, accusing the owner for greed and accusing Fei for theft, while Marinette just stands her.

Also, when did Marinette become naive???????? I get that she's in another country and they are speaking in a different language that she does not understand, but based on the tone of their voices and shouting, I feel like she should have sensed something was off.

Fei swaps the earrings the lady gave Marinette and took the miraculous back. To the lady, this is why your soul is blessed. So bless your soul!!!

Apparently, Marinette realized what happened and said that Fei stole her earrings and feels bad for the man. Girl, you do not have to feel guilty for the man! He was about to destroy them before he thought about sentimental value! Also, he did not pay Fei anything for them! (Felt that this should be brought up because even though Fei was wrong in stealing her stuff, she was also robbed from potential cash and answers, therefore the man was owed nothing.)

The boys from Adrien's photo are actually vigilantes of Shanghai (and will be referred as such from now on), wanting to bring Fei to justice for stealing, which catches Marinette's attention, but not enough to ask any questions.

Also Marinette is not wanted as a criminal. She is missing as Uncle Wang called the police.

Fei still lives in the school, which has been in ruins. Despite not having much, she still offers Marinette a cup of what I believe is water (or tea?). See peoples, Fei is a good person at heart (if y'all aren't aware of it by now)

Gabriel saw and recognized Marinette. This is horrifying and if it is prior to season 3, we see why he tries so hard to target her. Or reasons why he targets her in season 4 along with everything else we know from "Truth".

Fei should have been given the chance to explain why she stole Marinette's things, but the pawn shop owner was like "you know, I might as well expose Fei myself"...

...and it really broke Marinette, who heavily trusted her. But she can't dwell on it for long...

...because AKUMA COMES FOR THE PAWN SHOP OWNER! AND HIS FAN SHOOTS KNIVES! AND HAS GREEDY MOTIVES! AND HELPED HAWKMOTH GET INTI THE CAVE WITH THE PRODIGIOUS!!!

Also, Nathalie was involved in obtaining the bracelet years ago. Again, the 15 years thing is concerning.

Marinette flees to transform, but not without telling Fei how she broke her trust and how she feels that Feinwas not genuinely helping her. It hurt me so much!

Ladybug transforms, hears Chat's voice-mail (to which she is swooned by the fact her kitty cares for her civilian self), and calls him. The best Ladynoir scene so far!

So the prodigious is like a jewel with powers, there is only one prodigious from what we see, and that one prodigious has multiple renlings that only the wielder can see. Oh, and the bracelet is like a key. Cool.

I don't like how Fei's Lady Dragon outfit looks whitewashed, but at least her hair is red instead of blonde (which still does not make this okay)

Epic Showdown between the akuma, Hawkmoth, Ladybug, and Lady Dragon. Hawkmoth corners Ladybug and Lady Dragon gets caught in some rocks.. All hope seemed lost...

...until Chat shows up and frees the akuma with the help of a basketball.

We learn something new folks: the same butterfly can create a different akuma. This is very frightening because...

The statue that determines who is worthy of the prodigious gets akumatized! The horror!

Also, if the statue says Fei cannot become the dragon because her intention to seek vengeance for her father is not noble and worthy, then what makes Hawkmoth think he will be successful in becoming the dragon??? Because it seems that his intentions are not pure or noble. Just saying.

Hawkmoth notices the akumatized statue heading to the city and all of a sudden remembers about Adrien. Confronting the statue, he gets turned into ashes(?).

CHAT, HAWKMOTH IN ASHES WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THE BETTER IF THE STATUE DID NOT DESTROY SHANGHAI AND YOU WOULD NOT THINK AS SUCH IF YOU KNEW HE WAS YOUR FATHER! But I am not mad at you, just wanted to point out your irony.

ML WRITERS, WHY DO YOU KEEP KILLING OFF CHAT????? LADYBUG DOES NOT NEED ANY MORE TRAUMA AND THAT WAS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY!!!! I AM SCREAMING INSIDE!!!!!

Fei is understandably upset and blames herself for what happen. I want to hug her so badly.

Marinette reassures Fei and forgives her, even though Fei felt that she could not be forgiven.

The structure they were standing on collapses and it was Fei as the Dragon who saved her, not Chat. Honestly, I love how it turned out as it strengthens their friendship, but I still prefer a Marichat alternative. WHERE IS THE MARICHAT PEOPLES???

Final showdown!

Poor statue guard was upset about the damage they caused as an akuma, but Miraculous Ladybiug fixes everything.

Fei learned an important lesson: let justice take its course, not enact revenge. But it was quite funny to have the pawn shop owner be flown away to court in a literal sense.

The bracelet has a renling-like creature, who is just so adorable, especially since they missed Fei and was waiting for the day they would be reunited. Aww!

Ladynoir version of the Moon scene from NYC! Except no dancing, just them challenging each other over who will get to Paris first if they traveled in opposite directions. No one shall ever know we were in Shanghai as civilians lol (Reminds me of my best friend when eating grapes during choral rehearsals)

Marinette, Adrien, Fei, and Uncle Wang enjoying a birthday (?) dinner was wholesome.

I love how Uncle Wang calls them boyfriend and girlfriend because of how they act around each other, yet Marinette and Adrien both deny it. Bruh, these children need to open their fricking eyes! I really wanted to jump through my phone screen!

The Shanghai Vigilantes came to return Marinette's kwagatama necklace. They are so precious even though we thought they were enemies in the trailer.

Even though they were at odds at first, love how the Vigilantes blushed when Fei played the accordion and she's just like "whatever". I stan an asexual queen.

Do I even want to know what Marinette accidentally said when she mispronounced "sister" in Chinese? Based on what Fei said, probably not.

Uh...NOW I WANT TO SEE MORE OF ADRIEN TEACHING MARINETTE CHINESE! While I do take some issue of Adrien (a white French boy) teaching Marinette her culture like most of us had issue with in "Kung Food", I also want to see them interact outside of school and hopefully bond. ML writers need to keep their word otherwise Adrienette stans will riot!

Love how the final scene turned out! Its just *chef's kisses*

Also, the hell with the business trip?? It was mentioned once again IN THE ENDCARD! It might not be as interesting, but I want to think that there was more truth to it.

Also, wifi troubles kept interrupting the show at crucial moments, but okay.

Overall, I live for the Shanghai episode! The animation is just as incredible as the NY special (which I also live for) and I love how this episode has a great focus on Fei and the prodigious. I mean, before the intro, she tells her story. And she has her monologues alongside Marinette's. In many ways, it's refreshing. Also, Ladynoir and Adrienette stans will be satiated with the scenes associated with each ship. Also, I love Fei's character development! And the final scene is wholesome!

I won't lie though: there are a few issues regarding whitewashing Fei's transformation and such. It is important to see these things and as a good friend of mine always says: you can enjoy something while also being critical of it. And that is very important no matter how devotive to something you actually are.

Anyways, we are being well fed with all the Miraculous content and I will see you all very soon! Also, get some sleep peoples! I know some of you aren't sleeping!