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hestzhyen · 4 months ago

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Chapter 45 Uh, Seriously?! Posting

So! Full speed ahead it is, internet void! What a dense chapter.

First up, John Hishaku and the Samurai Murderer Guy that was at Chihiro's house in chapter 2.

Guess we'll see more of him soon, how fun! It's not quite clear how many people are talking here, but Hishaku scheming is afoot and the game is on. The only question is how fucked the Kamunabi is going to be by the end of the arc IMO.

And don't think I missed that vase reappearing. My nemesis. The spiky boi on the mid-left drove me insane as soon as the raws dropped but I would like to tentatively propose that it is a kiku (chrysanthemum). Different colors have very different meanings so I still admit defeat on that front. But kiku are usually associated with mourning or Imperial imagery, so that's cool. I demand a treat if this flower arrangement turns out to be the world's subtlest hint that the Hishaku are related to an old regime or breakaway faction of the government.

But yeah... so much cuteness this week. Very welcome after the rich drama from the past few chapters.

Boys who commit patricide together fall asleep mid-conversation wake up together, apparently. And for all the fan artists/fanfic writers out there, it's now canon that both of them are wearing long-sleeved shirts under the other layers. I was kind of hoping for Chihiro to be wearing one of his dad's shirts but this is more in character...

Fine, okay, it's probably for convenience's sake since apparently these guys can only rest for one night before jumping into the lion's den. But I'm flabbergasted by their soulmate coding. I kind of expected Hakuri to pass out, but Chihiro conking out at the same time in the same pose is too damn cute! Barely over a week together and they've already perfectly synced their sleep schedules and postures lol.

I find it deeply amusing that the entire flashback sequence at the end of chapter 44 was purely for the reader's benefit though. Seriously! Hakuri asked Chihiro "So... what comes next?" and then they both immediately passed out sitting up. So the last four pages were there just to spare us from even more infodumping in this chapter, which is much appreciated.

That's something that Hokazono-sensei also did at the end of the vs. Sojo arc in chapter 18. 10 pages to him exploding, 7 to the situation at the Kamunabi (which will now come into play! EXCELLENT LAYERING OF DETAILS!). I don't know if I'm smart or educated enough to do a full analysis on the techniques he's using, but I love the style. He doesn't let the emotional points linger too long or waste a single goddamn panel in this manga. Yeah, I want more time with the characters outside of serious plot moments, but there's not much else for me to complain about. The need isn't particularly dire anyway since every scene is efficient in giving us characterization and info at the same time (example later this rant).

So yeah. Thanks to that excellent pacing decision, we get to witness this crowning moment of heartwarming:

LOOK AT THESE DORKS. LOOK AT THEM. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE. Thank you for this moment of Team Goldfish x Hiyuki and Tafuku bliss.

And look at the food on the table! Hiyuki and Tafuku have earned a measure of trust with Team Goldfish! Just a bit, but Shiba definitely wouldn't have let them stay the night and eat with them if he felt they were dangerous.

It's also so sweet that Char's comfortable sitting in big bro Tafuku's lap... she's come a long way since her debut as a scared, scruffy orphan. Wonder where the gang is hanging though. Someone's apartment, I guess? A nearby hotel? More insignificant details this annoying reader wants to know...

TW for SF5-era tournament enthusiasts: That Stage appears in the first panel.

Did anyone have bets on Shiba wrecking Hiyuki in Street Fighter while waiting for Hakuri and Chihiro to wake up? I didn't, but I love it. And this scene highlights something I've really come to appreciate about Kagurabachi's writing: it's incredibly efficient. Almost every scene has more than one thing being conveyed at a time. For instance, here we learn that Hiyuki sucks at Street Fighter compared to Shiba but is too stubborn to quit (comedy & character consistency) and still doesn't know he's ex-Kamunabi (serious). This in turn tells us that Shiba's probably got something to hide from active Kamunabi personnel. After all, it's not like the org itself is a secret, and we wouldn't see Hiyuki questioning him twice if his circumstances weren't suspicious. So Shiba's subplot thickens while we laugh at the gag- peak efficiency.

The cuteness, though... the sweetness of this chapter, man!

Chihiro respecting Yuu's nickname and correcting Hakuri with such a gentle expression is incredibly adorable. He's so relaxed here... but oh wait, there's... chibi Hakuri and Chihiro apologizing for worrying Uncle Shiba?!

Chihiro and his new #1 enabler owe more than an apology but it's good enough for now.

This break wasn't quite long enough to reset the tension in my opinion, but it absolutely delivered on character moments. We definitely needed this after all the big feels from the previous few chapters. I wish there was more time devoted to letting us calm down before ramping up again but what we got here is pretty good.

And so we jump feet-first into laying the groundwork for the Kamunabi arc. A nice, efficient recap of the situation leads us into some additional context and a surprising bit of Shiba characterization. Whatever beef he's got with the Kamunabi feels quite personal for a guy who plays it cool and loose most of the time. We know he's glad he quit because they're too uptight, but there's gotta be more to it than that- he's subtly trying to steer Chihiro away from them while Hiyuki is having none of it here. I want to gently snap this man in half to make him spill his secrets...

At the end of the day, though, Shiba's not going to stop Chihiro from joining the Kamunabi. That's been his thing since Chapter 1: if Chihiro makes up his mind to do something, Shiba will offer advice and make suggestions but ultimately leave the decisions up to him. I wonder how much of his guilt over Kunishige's death plays into that...

Then!

PFFT. "I know what I'm doing here seems risky and unwise but It's fine, trust me. I've got Hakuri." OKAY BUDDY. You've been able to do a hell of a lot since you met this kid haven't you? It's like meeting him changed the trajectory of your life as much as you changed his.

Shiba's expression is very interesting to me. He's like "ah, I get it..." and he's not thrilled in the slightest. Adding Hakuri to the team means Chihiro can be even more reckless than ever before; what little influence he had over Chihiro's safety is all but gone now. And Hakuri himself won't try to stop Chihiro from putting his life on the line- he'll risk his own to help him do it! All this while they're poised to go somewhere he probably can't follow... poor Mr. Shiba.

And then!! AND THEN!!!

Chapter 32: Smile Unlocked (once has no meaning...)

Chapter 36: Smile Lost (twice is a coincidence...)

Chapter 38: Locked In (three times is a pattern...)

Chapter 45: Smile Restored (four times is fate)

The one pulling the other forward is always on the right, leading the reader as well.

When one calls, the other answers. What one starts, the other finishes. A and Un. And this time Hakuri echoes Chihiro's "you got it" catchphrase back to him! I hope this is their thing now, like the "How's my timing?/Perfect" bit that Shiba and Chihiro had.

I'm going absolutely insane over this interaction though. It's the first time Chihiro's gotten to hear someone affirm that they'll see things through with him at his own request (on-screen at least). The first time he's outright said he needs someone, even. And of course Hakuri responds so enthusiastically- he's finally wanted. Just a few days ago he thought he'd never amount to anything. But he's got so much hope thanks to Chihiro's faith in him now.

"What I need in my life is a samurai! THAT'S YOU!" is finally answered with "I'm going to need your help again." hnnnngh what in the hell is this chapter.

Platonic, familial, romantic- however you want to see their relationship, these guys are meant to be together. If I ever start to doubt Hakuri's importance again just smack me right upside the head- he's truly Chihiro's other half now. Let's cheer them on and hope nothing horrible happens to Hakuri ever again! Protect the smile of the boy who would die for you on command, Chihiro. You've been warned.

Protected Bearers

Cool stuff ahead, and tough times to go with them. I doubt things will be as simple as Chihiro successfully making his case and being allowed to start trying to Talk no Jutsu the former wielders. This arc seems like it could easily be longer and more complicated than the previous two combined. I kind of hope it is, just to get more time with everyone. I've never loved a cast of characters this much.

That said... In another series I'd be sure Chihiro would visit each area one by one in their own mini arc, but Kagurabachi is probably going to subvert the expectation somehow. We got previews of the areas so we'll be seeing all of them. Probably (we goddamn better after that gorgeous spread showing them off.), but not in the way we'd expect. This story is so fast I kind of expect us to blitz through all of them in a handful of chapters each... guess it depends on how in-depth we get with the bearers themselves.

As we originally saw them in chapter 18. The slightly updated designs from this chapter are pretty nifty.

I'm 100% sure the order they're presented here corresponds with the areas shown on the spread immediately afterwards. So eye scars is stuck in a temple, the girl is stuck in an onsen, kabuki monk guy is stuck in what looks like a floating shrine, and sushi chef is in... a sushi restaurant. Wow shocker.

I'm going to make the assumption that they got to choose where they were imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Maybe it was the government's way of expressing gratitude for helping the war effort? Which makes Magatsumi's wielder (the Sword Master) being sealed up like a nasty curse all the more intriguing... he's clearly fucked up but was he always that way or did the sword corrode his mind? Is there more to the lifelong contract with these swords than just being the only person who can use them? I better get some answers!

Anyway.

So Kunishige personally knew and chose these people... I wonder how meeting them will deepen Chihiro's understanding of his father's legacy. I sincerely doubt that all of them will make it easy for him to recover the blade they're tied to, but we'll hopefully learn a lot while Chihiro makes his attempts. Really seems like we are set up for Kunishige and Seitei War backstory so I am hype. Dead DILF lore! DEAD DILF LORE!

Hiyuki and Kamunabi Thoughts

Hiyuki also had some interesting moments this chapter. She understands that the current stalemate with the Hishaku has tied the Kamunabi's hands for the most part, forcing them to do less than savory things (like bidding on the Shinuchi) to keep the peace. And despite her hotblooded outburst before the auction, she still has rock solid faith in her org's mission. So I don't think she'll defect easily so as long as she believes the mission is doable under better circumstances.

And it seems like she thinks Chihiro might be the right catalyst for change... hmm. She's essentially using him as a chaos agent to shake up the status quo because he proved himself to her. She finds him worthy of deciding how to handle the blades, so now she's giving him and Hakuri the opportunity prove themselves to her leaders. Very cool. There's some rather deep stuff going on with her.

Hiyuki's much more establishment-oriented than her personality and actions suggest. I get the sense that she's there as an idealist who is willing to upset the status quo to see the mission through. A true believer in a bureaucratic institution- love that type of conflict. Can't wait to see more of her in this arc!

So now we're set to see Chihiro's philosophy and methods on trial. Super intriguing stuff and I'll definitely be looking at the questions each Kamunabi leader is asking to try and suss out their allegiance. Playing Guess the Traitor this arc is gonna be a lot of fun (I hope)!

Speaking of which... Azami as the traitor allegations don't move me, but I do think he'll be restricted this arc due to the ongoing investigation into his clandestine activities. Chihiro could well be on his own without an adult to watch out for him. At least he and Hakuri will be there for each other. ...With no one to try and stop them from doing reckless stunts. Uh oh.

So that's a wrap on this fuckhuge ramble. Hope the breakneck pace slows down just a smidge but I'm still very onboard with whatever is coming next. Thanks for allowing me to ramble as always, void.

#kagurabachi #long post #Don't lose hope Kazane fans he's gonna come back soon I just know it #Sorry for referring to Kunishige as a dead DILF once again #An onsen episode? In MY “no sexy fanservice” action manga? It's more likely than you think.#I caved and read the raws this week but I'm glad I did for the discussion around the sushi restaurant's name #It's not my own discovery so I don't feel right posting about it but there's intriguing stuff involving archaic and bizarre kanji choices

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thetarttfuldickhead · 2 years ago

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Locker Room Conversations I

In which Colin comes out to the team, Jamie manages to inadvertently make it mostly about himself and Colin really doesn’t mind:

Colin fell silent. The locker room was quiet.

There. Done. Out. He’d done it and his heart was racing so very fast but no one was yelling and the looks his teammates were giving him ranged from calm acceptance (Sam) to obvious surprise and confusion (Dixon), but there was no anger, no disgust. A few nods, a couple of shrugs, a murmured good for you, man.

All in all, that could have been worse—

“What the fuck’s going on here?”

A familiar drawl cutting through the stillness of the room like a lancet through tender meat and oh, and dammit, how the hell had Colin missed that Jamie wasn’t there with them yet? Must have lingered on the pitch with Roy for some extra-curricular coaching tips, same as always these days, and damn, damn, damn, now he’d have to do this shit all over again…

Practise makes perfect.

Colin took a deep breath. He was a strong and capable man. ”I’m gay,” he said. It did feel a little easier this time. Just barely.

“Yeah,” Jamie said, agreeably enough. After a long moment of looking oddly expectant, he added: “And?”

Colin shook his head, slightly puzzled and slightly hating how relieved he felt at Jamie’s non-reaction. Hated that he needed to worry about people’s reactions whenever he spoke of his sexuality. “No ‘and’. I just… I just wanted everyone to know.”

“Yeah, okay, but like, we knew that already?”

Stunned silence, then, spreading through the room once more. Jamie’s eyes wandering from face to face as his own scrunched up in his signature look of disbelieving incomprehension.

“No we didn’t,” Isaac said eventually. “I mean, I knew, but only like a week ago.”

“What, really?” Off everyone’s incredulous stare, Jamie hurried to add: “I mean, I figured we all knew, we just didn’t talk about it because of leaks and homophobia and stuff.”

“Yeah, but—“ Isaac started, but Colin interrupted him, having sufficiently recovered from the shock to speak:

“What do you mean you knew? How?” Had Jamie caught him kissing Michael too? Colin really needed to be more careful.

Or maybe he didn’t. Not anymore.

“Pretty obvious, mate. Like, you had this whole crush on me two years ago.”

“You knew about that?!” Colin’s voice rose an octave, but he didn’t care. Fancying Jamie Tartt, back when the striker first arrived at Richmond, had been six hellish months of notlookingnotlookingnotlooking and being unable not to look, being hyper aware of the other’s presence at all times, constantly trying to make him laugh and getting such an incredible rush whenever he succeeded... But he’d been so sure he’d managed to play it cool.

Appearantly not.

“Uh, yeah. Always know when people are attracted to me, mate. It’s like a superpower.”

“You never made fun of me for it… “ Which was really what had convinced Colin that he had managed to hide his feelings quite well. In no world he could imagine would the Jamie Tartt of two years ago have hesitated to pounce on such a delicious weakness.

But Jamie’s eyebrows rose a good two inches. “Why would I make fun of someone having a crush on me? I mean, come on.” He made a sweeping gesture towards his body and face. “But I was with Keeley so it wasn’t going to happen and when we broke up you were over me, so.”

“Hang on a minute,” Van Damme said. “Are you saying that if you hadn’t been with Keeley, it might have happened?”

Jamie shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not? He’s a good-looking lad,” he offered, with a friendly smile thrown Colin’s way.

Murmurs of agreement at that. Dani reach out to squeeze Colin’s shoulder.

This wasn’t going the way Colin had thought it would at all.

“Yeah,” said Cockburn, “but, he is a lad.”

Jaime rolled his eyes. “Yeah, thanks Cockburn, hadn’t noticed.”

“Ah, so you’re a bisexual?” Richard nodded to himself, not looking particulary surprised.

“Dunno, mate. I guess? Hadn’t really thought about it.”

Now that caused a ruckus, with players chiming in to offer their (more or less informed) thoughts on the topic and speaking over each other and Jan Maas telling them all that actually.

Jamie seemed unbothered by it, shouting back and telling them to fuck off and fistbumping Bumbercatch and laughing. Quietly, Colin sat back on the bench and watched. Feeling a tension he hadn’t known he carried slowly melt away.

Just like Jamie, wasn’t it? Casually stepping into the spotlight and stealing all the attention without even really trying? Somehow turning even this – this huge, important, life-altering moment of Colin’s – into a sidenote in the Jamie Tartt show.

Colin really didn’t mind, though. In fact, this was perfect. He could just go about his life, loving men and neither having to hide nor crow about it, and Jamie could be… well, Jamie… and if someone ever needed to step up and be a spokesperson for the queers of AFC Richmond, it wouldn’t have to be Colin.

And if he ever broke up with Michael and Jamie was still single… Ah, well. Burn that bridge when he got to it.

#colin hughes #jamie tartt #afc richmond #the team #ted lasso #crack #kinda #locker room conversations #did not mean to turn this into potential jamie x colin but here we are #ficlet #my stuff

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eff-plays · 11 days ago

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Hi! so I'm pink-ivy-vines but that's not my main so i'm sending this anonymously (i reblogged and commented on that lords of fortune post) and since you've also played a lord i was wondering if it felt as isolating to you as it did for me? because i'm trying a mourn watcher now and seeing just how much was either 1) never included with a lord of fortune rook (or maybe emmrich is just more involved than taash? i dunno) or 2) just flat out cut since it seems like there's so much missing when you play that faction. there are times when rook's dialogue hints at them trying to change from being a no-fuck's-given pirate who did steal stuff all the time but there's no follow up? no conversations about it? not to mention the weirdness of taash talking to me like i'm a child when they've only been in the lords for six months at the MOST.

Hiii @pink-ivy-vines!! 😊😊😊

I gotta be honest, the reason I picked the Lords is mainly because I noticed from the start that they were 1) the only vaguely morally questionable background, because even the Crows are just cool guy assassins now 2) the newest/least integrated faction in terms of lore 3) the least popular pick among players, and I'm nothing if not a contrarian. The Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, and Mourn Watch are also "new" afaik, but lbr the Veil Jumpers are just Dalish who accept diversity hires, while the Shadow Dragons have some justification for existing because there have been people fighting slavery in Tevinter since, idk DA2? And the Mourn Watch are just an extension of the Mortalitasi. So I figured they'd all be way more relevant to the world, and wanted to know what they'd cook up for the Lords, who are essentially unique to the game. How would they integrate a bunch of treasure-hungry pirates into this story?

Well. They wouldn't. I picked the least popular faction hoping for some new crunchy lore, or at least some fun interactions, maybe some interesting characterization options for Rook? But look what it got me. Nothing. Serves me right, I suppose? I can't say I didn't expect it, so I didn't feel as, uh, robbed? I'm sorta used to making up my own little dude either way, but it is a bummer in a Dragon Age game, where even Inquisition gave you something to chew on.

There are some scant Lords-specific dialogue options where you basically go "damn I sure did stealing once", and I liked Elgar'nan tempting you with gold and glory when he tickles your pickle in the Dalish rescue mission, but nobody really comments on your background, aside from Taash, who seems to have an entirely different understanding of the Lords. And you can't even correct them? Instead of "hey I've been around for longer and had a higher position than you", it's "umm things changed since you left, like a lot, so stfu" and you feel like a stranger in a faction that already has fuck-all to do with the plot. It's so baffling.

My impression was honestly less that there's content missing and more that they just didn't bother making any more of it? But then you get shit like "Oh yeah I used to be a slave before the Lords took me in" and Taash is just like "huh" and that's it. Like a Lord Rook potentially has the most hardcore/traumatic backstory but it's like whatever, I guess. Didn't even bother mentioning that in the faction slides.

Also what was the point of the arena. Why was it so easy. Didn't even have good loot at the end. What the fuck. I guess it's a leftover from the live service days but like. What.

#veilguard critical #veilguard spoilers

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another-heroine · 10 months ago

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I Kissed a Boy and... I Have No Idea What I Had in Mind!

Have you ever thought that I would lose this opportunity? NEVER

I'd like to thank @dujour13 for trusting me her Azata boy for gay scientific purposes lol

Presenting y'all Andrine and Siavash doing bardic disgusting things below the cut

Then I asked him, “Are you sure?”

And he said, “Of course, that’s so sweet, it should not be that strong”.

And I replied, “My dear, haven’t you learned that sweet ones usually are the strongest?”

And all was fun and games until we both ended up wasted over the tavern’s roof now.

I turn my head slowly to Sia. “You know, I can’t understand why I still give ears to you.”

“It must be because we are… all ears,” he giggles.

I roll my eyes, but laugh along.

“Orange beer, who could say it ever exists?”

Siavash shrugs. “You should see my homeland. We use oranges in many recipes, even drinks.”

I cross my hands over my chest, gazing at the stars above. “Stop, you are giving me craving for things that don't exist around here. I mean, not bragging, maybe I can find some in the River Kingdoms, but that’s not the point.”

He shuts his eyes, with a scorny smile. “Of course, Your Highness.”

Suddenly we overhear a conversation below. There are two fellows more drunk than us, tipsy and sentimental towards each other.

“No, because you are my best friend!”

“No way, you are my bestest friend!”

“And you are the bestest over the bestest of all!”

Silence. Someone burps.

“Can I kiss you?”

“What? Are you out of your mind?” the second one sounds sober for a second.

I have to see it. I sit, ignoring my dizzy head. Just hope I don’t fall off the roof. Sia does the same right after me.

“But friends do it too!” The lovestruck fellow holds the other by the shoulders. “It’s just… Don’t look into their eyes! Then it’s not… uh… gay.”

Sia and I look at each other, holding our breath. We were looking for silver and got gold.

“Ok then,” the second one agrees, but not without some stiffness. “If you don’t tell everybody tomorrow, so don’t I!”

Sia says under his breath, “There they go”.

And there they went. It was the most tasteless kiss I have ever seen.

“Amateurs.” Siavash scorns and lends his torso over the elbows.

I pout. “Give them a chance. Must have been their first time ever.”

“I could do it better.”

I put my hands on my waist. “Oh, of course, Mister Professional Kisser. You got too cheeky after that beer, you know?”

“Oh, my sister-in-arts, you know what I’m talking about. We bards are full of subterfuge and charms.” He waves his hand like was talking about trivial things.”Not a big deal kissing someone who is not your type.”

I frown. “Can you give an example?”

“Like… when you have to seduce someone to get information.” His eyebrows raise, like I’ve asked for something absurd.

I ponder for a while. “Well, I’m used to enchanting them with magic. Easy peasy.”

“It does not have the same taste.”

“My boy, I’d rather die than kiss Irovetti, I swear you.” I feel my stomach twisting as I remember that bloated face. “Some people think I despise men in general, which is not entirely true. I even have friends who are,” I give a dry laugh. “But seriously, I just can’t. Every time when I had to confront one, they wanted me dead or worse, ugh.”

Suddenly I catch that familiar gleam in his eyes.For some reason my heart skips a beat, and I keep the straight face. “Ok, what now?”

“Do you wanna try?”

I’m taken aback. “Are you serious?”

Siavash shrugs. “Why not? Friends do it too,” he is amused to repeat the words we heard moments ago.

I give a crooked smile. “If Woljif finds out, I will be a dead queen.”

“What about Octavia?”

“She would join us.”

Damn, I miss my wife. But she wouldn’t mind at all, it’s true, we have an agreement towards it.

Though the picture of me kissing a man was not in the plans.

“Ok.” I get closer. “But it’s only for scientific purposes. And I truly hope that tomorrow I don’t wake up surrounded by the Family members!”

“You have my word!” He raises a hand.

Thankfully, he is not prickled. And still tastes of orange. Actually, as soon as our lips meet, I’m stormed by a myriad of sensations. And don’t ask me what kind they are.

When we get apart, I fulminate him.

“Goddammit, Sia, you are smoother than a lot of girls I’ve kissed, you prick!”

Though I give him a little push, he smiles proudly.

“You flatter me, Drine. It was good for you?”

I pretend indifference. “It would be better if you were a girl anyway. But it was not unpleasable at all. Eight of ten.”

“Eight?” His smile grows.

“Don’t get full of yourself or I will give you a seven.” I crawl off the roof. Enough of nonsense for tonight.

He asks out loud, “I was better than Octavia?”

I look over my shoulder. “Neither in one million lives!”

#“siandrine isnt real they cant hurt you”#siandrine:#i love them #glad for finally get some time to write and write about them!#mooties' ocs #mooties' crossovers #ockiss24 #pwotr pals #pathfinder wotr #pathfinder kingmaker

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thebleedingeffect · 1 year ago

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i am so SO excited you're playing skyward sword. skwsd is my absolute fav zelda game, and i love skysd link so much, he is my little guy, my dude, the love of my life. how are you liking it? how far are you?

I'm enjoying skyward sword immensely!! Admittedly, at first I was little hesitant to get super into the game pass the intro forest temple because of how decisive this game seems to be. People seemed to either hate or be neutral to this game but I decided to play it anyway cause I do love loz and it seemed fun!! But I'm genuinely happy that I decided to play it anyway despite what the louder part of the loz community has said cause I'm truly enjoying myself a bunch.

The npcs are super animated and I love how much personality they have, even the rude ones, it just makes me happy to see how animated and diverse in personality that skyloft is! I love the little remlits and just how damn cute they are <33 I legit refuse to hurt them or throw them off cliffs they're so so cute I adore them!! Another thing that I like is that the game gives you a bunch of incentive to help fellow npcs and it gives you great rewards for doing so. It makes me actually want to look around skyloft and talk to people which is even better cause it gives me more opportunities to learn of the npcs!

I also fucking LOVE the dowsing feature, it's genuinely so great and helps me out a bunch in wanting to find objects naturally and not wanting to resort to guides. It's just nice cause I can stay in the game and find stuff at my own pace :]

ANOTHER THING!! I love how fucking COLORFUL everything is!! I am playing the HD version on the switch so I know the graphics are improved but even still! The environments and dungeons are all so pretty to look at and I llooovveedddd the ancient cistern :DDD also going back to skyward sword made me remember how much I love classic dungeon crawlers and how much I missed them in botw/totk </333 the puzzles are also very fun and are well-designed so that's a massive plus.

And uh... I've made it to the part where sksw Zelda meets with sksw Link after he managed to get all of the goddesses flames and tells him the whole deal. I genuinely did not expect for that entire scene to hit me as hard as it did but I'm really happy I managed to avoid spoilers for this long cause holy shit, holy shit. That entire conversation is so expertly written and I love how it characterizes the both of them, how they were both forced to grow up out of desperation. sksw Zelda telling Link that she was so sorry that she used him and his devotion to her?? That she knew that he would chase after her no matter what and she couldn't stay or tell him anything because the world needed a hero? That she was so sorry but she had to do it because it wasn't just them anymore, they had grown up and now the responsibility of the world was on their shoulders.

The little line of her saying that she would've been so happy to just with him on Skyloft for all their days and that she holds those memories so dear to her is just an absolute gut punch. It's so expertly written cause I feel like it would've been so easy to make her into a selfish, cruel character thanks to this conversation, but it's so wonderfully done that I fully understand why she did it. It's a case of fate demanding the worse of choices into their hands and they can do absolutely nothing about it because for as much as they love each other- neither of them could sit back and watch the world suffer. Of course, what she did wasn't good but that's the point! She hates herself for having to lie and cause him pain, for dragging him into this because she could see no other to ever be her hero.

The tragic thing is that I very much doubt it was ever in sksw Zelda's control, I think that sksw Link was always meant to be the hero and fate has a heavy hand in this game. Her motivations sort of remind me of oot Zelda's actually, blaming herself for circumstances out of her control, having to constantly stay out of reach, and having to grow up so fast. Both of them had to be the lights on the horizon that directed their heroes, but always just out of reach because he's the hero and she's the goddess, it's always so much bigger than either of them.

I've only gotten this far yet but god, GOD! This isn't even half my thoughts about the entire deal but Zelda constantly going back and forth from referring to herself with Zelda and Hylia?? Ouch??? The sudden instability of your own image... of feeling like everything you've ever known has been predestined... do you hate yourself for your past actions in another life? Do you hate her-you- for this inevitable fate that you and your hero are doomed to for reasons that you'll always blame yourself for? Does she hate herself even more that Link did exactly that, run after her, prove Hylia-herself- right? Does she feel responsible for all the physical, emotional, and mentall pain that Link has grown through in order to become the hero that the world needs? For forcing him to grow up with her when all they ever wanted was to be together and be torn apart at every single point?

Do NOT get me started on sksw Link oh my ggogoodosso ad dwshdi HELP! He's so fucking TRAGIC and PAINFUL TO EVEN THINK ABOUT! How every single person he meets he always tells them that he's looking for someone and he always seems to be in a hurry because he can't be late, not again. The sheer desperation, the unapologetic love, the personality, the inherent sacrificial nature, always looking into the past while running after Zelda- HELP ME!!! But I think one of the most painful parts to me... is that I really don't think Link blames Zelda at all, for any of it. How painful of a thought is it that I think he'd be perfectly open splitting himself on the master sword for her and he wouldn't blame her on his last breath? Would she believe him? Would she believe that she singlehandedly orchestrated the death of her hero after putting him through so much pain?

Another thing is that he isolates himself, he helps people whenever he can but there's so much guilt and isolation swirling around in him as well as the crushing weight of his destiny that he just realized. One key theme I find in the game is that early on it's stated that Link is different, from everything from the knight's academy, to Impa telling him only he can do it, to Groose trying and failing to be that hero. It doesn't feel like a blessing, it feels like a destiny he could've never avoided and he was always going to be the hero who's blood was split to protect others. Link was always going to be the one who ends up alone while everyone else stays in the past, together but eternally waiting for him- or moreso, waiting for the hero that he's forced to become. It genuinely makes me so sad that he only had Fi for the longest time but even then... she's not much more than a guide, at least at first. I really don't feel like he'd be comfortable or even believe that Fi would understand, not when she's under even stricter instructions than him.

So yeah uhhhhhhhh you could say I'm enjoying the game a bunch!! I'm waiting to finish the game before talking a BUNCH about it on the dash and flooding my blog with sksw reblogs but I'm enjoying myself so much!! Also I just missed the triforce so so much- DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I RESENTED THE SECRET STONES FOR TAKING MY BABYGIRL THE TRIFORCE AWAY??? I literally do not care about the secret stones, bring back the triforce I love her so so soooooo much and every single time I see any sort of triforce imagery I start crying and throwing up !

#IM NORMALLLLLL IM NROAML!!!#im not even done with this game yet. and im already like this . okay.#GHIRAHIM is also so fucking funny he's a gen amazing villain I love his shit so much #he's both threatening and funny as hell. maybe they should've done that with kohga- *GETS SHOT*#yeah I like skyward sword. ignore how I'm shaking #thebleedingeffect talks #echo talks loz

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koko-online · 1 year ago

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Let me guess. You’re a Zenos enjoyer and that’s why you hate Zero. Because she got exactly the story you had hoped for Zenos. For him to learn how to be around people and go on adventures with you, but instead of him, his voidsent got the story.

Neat, my first ask on this account.

Oh dear lord I would have quit the game if they gave my sweet precious boy Zenos this story. Zenos is perfect as he is, and what you're describing is literally the plot of 6.0.

The patch story is, like, really bad.

1. It's clearly just a trial story, which is fine, but because they called it the msq, they felt they needed to take up a certain amount of playtime. So they invented these completely contrived, fake problems that give us an excuse to waste a ton of time talking to NPCs in Garlemald and the First who really have nothing meaningful to say.

2. The solution to their contrived problem, at least in Garlemald, flies in the face of the themes of the decade-long msq--selflessness, self-determination. It's literally just the propaganda line for 21st century colonialism??? "Garlemald, this poor sweet darling baby 🥹, its people are desperate not to improve their conditions, but to really feel like they've earned it 🥹 ! I know, we'll stop providing aid and instead let them sell off their natural resources to Thavnair for pennies, y'know, for the spirits of the people!"

3. E v e r y t h i n g just felt so god damn forced. The Golbez / Durante stuff was played up for tears, but we literally only just last patch learned who the fuck they are and their back story. Zeromus is completely irrelevant to the plot and was just an excuse to give us a trial. They literally were like "sorry, wol, you missed the story cuz you were just roleplaying a nuke, here's an echo flashback of what the *real* heroes were doing".

4. **Zero.** Counter to what I think you're implying, I never really had resentment toward her *in the context of Zenos*. Zenos had his ending. In fact, he had three endings if you're counting the high school AU. I love him, I love his character, I'd love to see more of him, but if they're done with him, I'm satisfied. **On the other hand** Zero just whines the entire god damn time, in the same exact way, about how she doesn't understand non-transactional relationships until suddenly it clicks for her in 6.5. There's no development, it's like they had an *idea* for the development and direction of the character, but they forgot they had to stretch it for two years worth of main story, so they just....had her repeat herself until her gigantic 180. It's not *shown* how she's transactional in nature or changing, it's just that she literally tells us every patch that that's how she is. It's so god damn boring and dry. It's like reading a 14 year old's fanfic.

5. The constant, unrelenting fellatio of FF4 also doesn't help. I have nothing against it, but they went *hard* with the "inspiration" this time. Makes everything feel disposable and predictable.

6. And since you brought up Zenos, like. Zero went *out of her way* to bring up Zenos in conversation, out of nowhere, four patches in a row. They were clearly angling to draw a contrast here, but it was never made. She never accepted or rejected Zenos view on friendship, she just ... WANTED TO SAY WORDS I guess. God I fucking. That went nowhere.

7. AND SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT WENT NOWHERE 6.1 was full of neat little lore about the voidsent and souls and what it means to devour someone. This all went absolutely freaking nowhere. Just thought we'd bring it up I guess????

8. So much, SO MUCH of Endwalker's story--main, patch, and side--revolves around the theme of companionship. At the same time, the game that story is in is progressively turning into a single player action rpg. It leaves the stories feeling hollow and fake. Like, okay, I should make friends and that's where the fun of the game should be. How should I do that? Uh...sit in limsa I guess? Cuz everywhere else is either silent (DF), communication forbidden (PvP), just soloed by the community (v/c dungeons), or positions other people as either warm bodies or hindrances (PF). FUCKING ENDWALKER man. They started off so strong with the msq and fucked it up every single step of the way.

#ffxiv #ff14 #asks

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thisisevenharderthannamingablog · 5 months ago

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Liveblogging notes for ep 13.

Everyone in this show is fantastic. I hope they all get all the work they want forever.

Vegas and Pete having morning-after conversation about Pete's life approach. Living in the present seems like an excellent way to navigate a setting like this one, especially if you aren't a power broker in it.

WHY are you two back at the main house?! And WHO cares what Korn wants? Porsche looks nervous AF about this whole encounter. Time to let go of the past. Porsche is thinking about the picture his uncle gave him and makes a couple of cautious sallies toward Korn.

Vegas clearly likes cooking. Look at that chiffonade, damn. All of these kids could have been normal people, but NO here's Gun to ruin everything again.

Back to the main house and mirrors. Kinn all Babe you seem stressed let's have sex. Porsche about to tell him about the photo? but Korn interrupts by summoning Kinn.

Korn is unhappy about something. Uh-oh. Is this going to complement the scene we just had with Gun? Maybe Kinn and Porsche should take a vacation together. (Again, what is your angle with that suggestion? A play for time...?) Kinn looks very relaxed but literally cannot talk to his father without drinking. It's a lot more subtle than Gun beating the shit out of Vegas all the time, but it is so consistent.

Oh no you two, you promised. :( Don't be like this.

Vegas is... reaching his breaking point? Pete is a) still chained up and b) trying to come to terms with what he did last night? Telling Vegas to approach Korn and end this situation. It's your choice. Here we are again! His immediate choice is to take all of his anger out on Pete.

Yeah no I think Pete has a few regrets right now actually.

Interesting how all the couples in this show have a forward-rewind dynamic. Nothing is resolved simply.

Khun of all people has realized that Pete is actually missing. Kinn and Porsche have a mutual oh shit he might be right moment.

Pete meanwhile has reached his breaking point and wants to die - not as a victory condition when being tortured this time, but in despair. God knows he's coped fantastically well with the past week, should get Employee of the Year at least.

Vegas... apologizes. Does not want to lose Pete now, doesn't want him to leave. "Can we start all over again" well that's quite the parallel. We would need another three seasons for Vegas to learn how to process having a normal emotion. He has not gotten the "if you love something set it free" lesson.

I'm sorry, Pete says, and punches his lights out. Crying. Bloody. Anguished.

Back at the main house Khun is holding a funeral for him. Showing up at your own funeral is always fun. Stop hugging the man who is bleeding everybody.

Porsche wants to know what happened to him; Pete lies his sunny ass off. Porsche not buying it, ready to hand out some revenge. Pete still won't tell the truth but wants Porsche to take care of him (reminder which side of the board he's on now).

Kim tries to contact Chay. Chay blocks his number. So all three couples are in states of disarray. (Although to be fair and slightly ironic, the only thing Kinn is covering up right now is wanting to take Porsche on a honeymoon trip, literally the most innocuous thing he has ever done.) Kim is having unaccustomed feelings? Goes through his Chay pictures and memories while Chay's love song plays and Kim looks like he wants to cry.

Song still playing over Vegas, getting the news that Pete turned up back at the main house; Pete and Vegas both looking at food alone. Vegas crying. Pete having a breakdown, cradling his scars all alone??? Help I can't take this.

Porsche and a mysterious phone call. (Must have been Vegas.)

On the one hand Pete is so obviously not okay. On the other, if he's going to keep lying about what happened, what's everybody else supposed to do. An outing to Yok's, ostensibly for karaoke to cheer Pete up. Are you wearing one of Vegas' shirts buddy what is that print supposed to be.

Porsche heads out to the alley. Vegas is getting punched a lot lately, but I'd say he earned these two. Now, what is up with that picture of Porsche's family? Interesting rationale, Vegas being the only one in the family who can't be bought off by the mains.

Vegas doesn't know anything about the photo, but he can help Porsche find Uncle Thee, who clearly does, and the money he wants to talk. He's also seen that same photo in Gun's office. There is a generational information wall here, not a main/minor family one.

Ooh, in exchange for giving Porsche info, Vegas wants to talk to Pete. Porsche has come a long way, not even sightly intimidated by Vegas now. (Vegas has also stopped hitting on him.)

Lighting a guy's cigarette appears to be be Vegas' go-to move, and honestly Pete pulling a gun is probably the most sensible reaction possible, the fucking nerve of him. (Two out of three couples in this show have beaten each other bloody and done the "go on, shoot me then" thing. I love it.) Pete why is your face.

A visit to the cemetery so Kinn can meet his in-laws. Porsche appears charmed, still so shy with his words though. Recap of those early disaster days to where we are now: Kinn finally able to trust someone again, happy to be wherever he is if Porsche is there with him. This is so framed as a wedding.

So we need a wedding night: the pool scene. Some very strategic camera work going on here. Symmetrical framing to emphasize the mutual I love you. I can't believe it took 13 episodes to get to this moment. They are so huggy after sex they're adorable.

Now Porsche is the one getting up to secret stuff. Getting texts from Vegas. Sneaking out with Chay. At least he left a note for Kinn? Khun freaking out because they're gone (and because Kinn won't say anything about it), running into Kim, who is Concerned and about to go look for them when Korn summons him. Such a face that kid makes.

Vegas has tracked Thee down to a monastery. Porsche's parents were not killed in a car accident, they were shot. And so is Thee, before he can give the answer to who killed them. Porsche is having a flashback? An argument about his mother. His dad dead in the kitchen while Porsche hides. Kinn and Pete arrive, Vegas and Porsche leave. Korn getting the news and ordering that Porsche be retrieved safely.

Music runs in the whole family, huh.

Porsche has not run off; he is ready to shoot Korn for having killed his parents. Bomb drop! Porsche's mom was Korn's sister.

#b watches kinnporsche #kpts

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kaashikuroo · 3 years ago

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Hiiiii I’m loving your work !!! Please could I request a meeting your abusive ex with oikawa and Ushijima? Thank you so much:)

I believe i’ve already done Ushijima so I’ll just be doing Oikawa. :)

When you meet your abusive ex -Haikyuu scenarios

Characters: Oikawa

Genre: Angst to fluff

Warnings: Violence, cussing, abusive ex, furious Oikawa, minors dni (even tho it’s sfw)

Part 1: Kuroo and Akaashi | Part 2: Iwaizumi and Bokuto | Part 3: Ushijima

MASTERLIST

Requests? Send ‘em here!

T.W: VIOLENCE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Oikawa:

House parties were really a hastle.

Even if you were just attending one.

You and Oikawa were invited to Makki’s houseparty. You didn’t really want to go but Oikawa insisted.

“Y/n-chaaaaaan~~ C’mon! it’ll be fun!” He pouted.

In conclusion: you couldn’t say no to this stubborn manchild. :(

So here you were. In this huge ass house which was super crowded.

“Damn. Didn’t know that Makki knew so many people!” You yelled in Oikawa’s ear trying to overpower the loud music booming from the dance floor.

“He knows a lot of people and everyone is allowed to bring at least one guest of their own so his parties are always packed!” He yelled over the music back in your ear, explaining the situation.

You just nodded, looking around.

You guys happened to pass Makki and made conversation with him.

“The boys are over there! They’ve been waiting for you!” He told Oikawa, motioning towards somewhere in the crowd.

He looked at you, a bit concerned knowing he couldn’t bring you with him.

You smiled at him, waving him off.

“It’s fine! My friends are supposed to be here! Go have fun!”

He smiled back at you, giving you a thumbs up, turning around to catch up with the boys.

You walked around for a while before spotting your friends at the mini bar.

You guys talked for a bit before their boyfriends came upto them, asking them for a dance.

They left after saying goodbye to you.

You sighed as you took a sip of your lemonade, looking around the place.

‘So many people…’

Your head was starting to pound because of the loud music.

You suddenly felt an arm snake around your waist.

You immediately snapped your head to the side, not recognising this touch as Oikawa’s.

You felt your blood run cold as soon as you saw who it was.

This man was the very reason you hated being around people.

Oikawa knew about your ex. Although he didn’t know what he looked like, he hated his guts since the first time you broke down infront of him because the memories were haunting you so much. When Oikawa learned that the scars on your back and stomach were from him, he almost lost it.

Your ex would be super agressive with you, not letting you go anywhere, making you his punching bad to release some stress. And he had named it love. That’s why when you fell in love with Oikawa, you’d always expect him to hit and scream at you but when he didn’t, you could tell that this was real love.

Horrid memories of your past relationship days started to flood your mind, making your vision blur.

You were too shocked to do anything about him dragging you away.

“My, my. Look at who we have here. Didn’t know you could actually look like a snack.” He pinned you against the wall of one of the many empty rooms in this gigantic house.

You couldn’t speak. You were too scared to.

“Yah, Y/n. You know I still love you, right? I missed you.” He said, licking your earlobe.

You shuddered, snapping out of your trance.

Now that you actually registered what was happening, you started to stuggle to get him to release you.

“Nu-uh, baby. I know you want me.”

You looked down, started to panic.

“What’s wrong?” He asked as he lifted your chin back up.

“Let me go.” You said in a stone cold voice that even startled yourself.

“Oh, damn! Didn’t know you could grow a pair. But.” His eyes suddenly turned dark as he smacked you across the face, as you fell down from his grip that suddenly loosened.

“Don’t talk back, baby. It makes me angry and turns me on at the same time. I doubt that you’d want them both mixed together.” He smirked at your fragile state before pulling you up by your hair.

It hurt like hell.

He threw you against the wall, hitting your head against it in the process. Thankfully you weren’t bleeding.

“Must I remind you who you belong to?” He said, closing in on you as you wanted to emerge with the wall behind you.

“STOP! STOP PLEASE!” You were crying hard by now, wanting nothing but to get away from him.

You knew that this man had no limit to what he could do to you. This terrified you.

He smacked you across the face again.

“How dare you raise your voice, bitch? I love you!!” He held you in a chokehold.

You couldn’t breathe.

But then…you could.

You started coughing, falling onto the floor.

———

“Oi, Oikawa! We’re gonna join the dancefloor with our partners! Come with yours!” Said Kuroo.

“Sure thing! Iwa-chan? You don’t have a date, right? Please help me find Y/n. I don’t really know where they are.” He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

Iwa rolled his eyes but agreed anyway, not finding anything better to do.

They spent almost 10 minutes going around the house, searching for you.

“They didn’t go home, right?”

“I don’t think so. They would’ve told me, Iwa-chan.”

Oikawa could sense that something was wrong.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this, Hajime. I can’t even contact them.”

Iwaizumi tensed at the mention of his first name.

“Let’s search the rooms.”

They looked at eachother before dashing to the stairs.

“STOP! STOP PLEASE!”

They stopped in their tracks, recognising the voice.

The dashed as fast as they could towards the source of the sound.

They finally opened the door to the room you were in.

Both the boys stood there frozen, eyes widening at the sight infront if them.

However, Oikawa’s shock turnd into pure rage pretty fast.

The sight of your bruised face stained with tears, a horrified expression which he wished he’d have never seen and you being hurt right infront of him just made something inside him snap.

He went towards the guy that was gripping your neck, and shoved him off you and onto the floor. Iwa ,on the other hand, rushed towards you, checking your bruises and making sure you were responsive.

It took him a while to process the situation, not believing that all this had happened in his absence.

Once it finally clicked that this guy infront of him put you into this condition, his mind stopped working.

All he could think of was putting him through 10 times more pain than he had put you through.

He got on top of him and started punching the hell out of your ex without stopping.

Oikawa wasn’t angry. He was livid.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” He said, delivering a powerful punch between every word.

By now, you could breathe steadily thanks to Iwa’s help.

You looked over to the other two to see your ex bleeding from various parts of his face while Oikawa was still giving him full-strength punches. His knuckles were bleeding and the last thing you wanted was for him to get hurt.

This new sight of your boyfriend scared you and you couldn’t figure out if he would do the same to you too.

Your ex was passed out by now. But he still kept going, not knowing how to calm down.

It wasn’t untill he felt a weak tug on his sleeve, he stopped punching him.

He could feel his heart break at your fragile state. Tears welled up in your eyes, silently begging him to stop. He relaxed his entire body, figuring out he was only scaring you more.

Iwa got up and called the police on your ex.

“B-baby…?” His voice came out broken but he didn’t reach out to you, afraid that you’d be scared of him.

He reached into his pocket, wiping his kuckles on his handkerchief.

He slowly put his hand just inches away from your skin, silently asking for permission to touch you.

You took a moment to analyze the situation and figure out that nothing can harm you anymore and that Oikawa would only provide you with comfort.

You nodded a bit, making him choke out a sob as he pulled you into his chest.

“Baby…You s-scared me-”

“I’m sorry.” You said as your tears spilled once again.

“No. Baby. None of that. We’ll head back home and everything will be back to normal, yeah? I’ll take care of you. Don’t you worry.” He said, burying his head in the nape of your neck, taking in your comforting scent while hold you closer than ever before.

Since Iwaizumi had already calmed you down for the most part, you were able to think rationally.

“Baby, I’m okay. Just hurt.”

He immideately let you go and started to inspect your body.

“Where does it hurt? I’ll take you to the hospital.” He said, getting up.

“No need, Tooru. I called for some medics with the police.” Iwaizumi said with a soft voice.

“Thank you, Iwa.” You smiled at him greatfully.

Oikawa sat there, holding you until the police and medics came.

Iwaizumi deslt with the officers while you got treated under Oikawa’s worried gaze.

Iwaizumi drove you two home immediately after that.

You two cuddled on the bed and you could tell he was trying his best to not make you uncomfortable or touch your wounds.

“We’re never going to another houseparty. Don’t scare me like that again, love.” He said as he held you against his chest. “I love you. I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you.”

“I’m here now, Tooru. I love you too. Let’s heal together.” You said, peppering his chest with kisses.

He blushed profusely at your actions and words.

“Remind me to buy Iwa-chan a pizza.”

“We’ll get him two.”

Protective Oiks 🥺🥺🥺🥺

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thesolferino · 4 years ago

Text

True Calling

⤷ dream x f!reader.

⤷ word count: 3.9k

⤷ requested: yes, by this lovely anon!

— summary: dream meets his favorite singer on an among us livestream.

“Dude, what could go wrong? Just do it.”

“What could go wrong?! Literally so many things, you ass.”

Dream heard Sapnap sigh through the mic right into his headphones, the dim grey of his Discord background doing barely anything to illuminate his features as he stared at his open messages blankly.

“First of all, don’t.. speak to me like that, I am doing you a favour by sitting here and listening to you panic about stupid shit. Second of all, nothing big could go wrong. What, you’re a little awkward in the beginning, maybe, and that’s it.” Dream adjusted his headphones a little bit, Sapnap’s rant flowing into his ears but dissipating somewhere halfway to his brain, because, yes, things could go wrong and he can’t be proven otherwise.

“Did you forget that I’m a public figure? And that my fans are insane? I say one wrong thing and it’ll be memed and haunt me in my dreams. Did you forget that SHE’s a public figure? And that this is live? God…” he retorts back, listening to Sapnap helplessly sigh once again in response. He anxiously switches from his Discord to Twitter, then to YouTube, to Twitch and then back to Discord, frantically clicking around. In reality, he knows Sapnap is right, and it’s anxiety whispering into his ear that he’s gonna somehow fuck up, but maybe it’s simply easier to stay and argue with him into the night instead of actually responding to that message.

The stream is still going. Quackity’s voice speaks over Sapnap’s quiet breathing. “Damn, he’s still not responding. Um, let me try Tubbo, maybe?”

Before he knows it, the opportunity to join the stream is slipping out of his fingers, and Dream isn’t sure if he’s happy about that or not. On one hand, he gets to meet one of his favorite artists whose album he’s played way too many times to count, and on the other, the chances of him embarrassing himself in front of that same artist and a hundred thousand other people are extremely high, and he’s not sure if he likes the odds of that.

“Man, I don’t know. You won’t listen to me, anyway. Don’t join if you don’t want to.” Dream hears the annoyed tinge in Sapnap’s voice, and that’s what pours the last bit of courage into his veins because the best way to do anything in life is to follow Sapnap’s advice after you’ve already irritated him to the point of defeat, and he murmurs a quick “bye” and hangs up before the other can even respond, typing a rapid “Sure, send me the VC link” back to Quackity.

He hears a delighted exhale coming from his Twitch tab just as Quackity forwards him the link. “Okay, nevermind, we’ve got Dream! He’ll join in a second.”

With that, he swiftly closes the Twitch tab and with an encouraging sip of water, he finally joins the Discord voice chat with the rest of the players. Your Discord image sticks out like a sore thumb to him despite being a super basic, Googleable picture of you that he’s probably seen a million times by now, and upon seeing it, reality slaps him right over the face and he realises that, oh shit, he actually joined.

“Hey everyone.” Dream speaks into the mic and a mix of excited voices greets him at the same time as he loads up the game. Your icon is missing the green halo. He stares at it, as if you’ll magically speak up if he stares long and hard enough. That, apparently, works.

Pokimane’s “Dream, hi!” seems to set something off in your brain, and you speak again.

“Oh, Dream?” the green halo appears, and Dream resists the urge to say something stupid or bite his hand or anything of the sort when you say his name. “Aren’t you the guy who listens to my music all the time?” you giggle.

Quackity laughs loudly in his usual fashion, and Dream feels his hands go cold as the Among Us loading page pops up. “Wh-huh?”

“Yeah, you-you listen to my music a lot! Your fans always tag me under that… ‘Dream’s Spotify’ Twitter account, I remember you.” Dream swears his heart is about to jump out of his chest and start bouncing around on the floor because his ribs are way too restrictive for that type of movement, but he tries his best to play it cool and laughs lightheartedly.

“I do! I’m, like, your biggest fan.” he grins, as if you can see him, and you laugh in return.

“Yeah, man, you pay my rent. Thanks.” you say and a couple of people laugh while Dream inputs the code and his character finally pops up, immediately running around like the rest of the group. He runs around your purple character and hears you chuckle as you run around him too, but not for long, because the game starts and everyone mutes themselves. He audibly sighs, because he can afford to, considering he’s not streaming and nobody can hear the amount of courage this whole thing is taking him.

A notification pops up on his screen - the Dream Team group chat seems to be talking. Must’ve already found some way to make fun of me, he thinks to himself as he huffs out a large breath and runs through cafeteria and weapons to do his tasks in navigation. Corpse is hot on his tail the whole time, and not to say he’s an untrustworthy guy, but Dream isn’t really looking forward to getting killed before even speaking to you properly, so he runs around, trying to find somebody to stick with so Corpse doesn’t shove a knife in his back while he’s doing a task.

Thankfully, Karl emerges somewhere from the direction of storage right into communications where Dream was going, too. Just as Dream starts finishing download and Corpse and Karl line up behind him, his screen flashes bright red and white and the bold letters “Dead body reported” pop up. Everyone unmutes themselves and his eyes bore into your character, immediately.

“Alright, the body was in top left of the… uh, upper engine. I need everyone’s positions.” Rae immediately spoke.

“I was in electrical, I-I went through cafeteria to the upper engine with Poki, there was nobody there, we did our tasks, went down to lower engine, then Poki left with Toast, and I went to electrical and the body was reported.” Sykkuno said, and Pokimane confirmed with a hum of agreement.

“Dream?” Rae asked, and he spoke up.

“I never even went that way, I went through weapons to nav, and then to communications, and then the body was found. Corpse can vouch for me because he was following me the entire time and I kinda thought he was gonna kill me. And Karl saw me in communications, us three were all together when you… reported the body.” He rambled, trying to defend himself.

“Yeah, it’s true, he was with me the whole time.” Corpse supported.

“Karl, which way did you get to communications?” Toast asked.

“Uh, through storage.” Karl replied quickly.

“That’s funny, ‘cause I was in security, and I could swear I saw you walk past.” Toast said, and a couple of “ooh”s echo through the call.

“That makes no sense because even if I did go that way, I wouldn’t have time to get to communications and start doing my task with Dream and Corpse if I killed Ethan! And Rae, you-you saw me do my task in storage!” Karl loudly defended himself.

“...that… that’s true, yeah.” she said.

“If you ask me, Toast, you’re being real sus for lying about that.” Karl threw it back at Toast, who protested.

“Listen, I didn’t say you killed anybody, I just said I saw someone run past!” he claimed.

“Bretman and Y/N are being real quiet, though.” Corpse points out, and the green halo around your icon lights up once again.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realise I was muted. Sorry, guys.” you laughed. “Um, I was with… Quackity, in… what’s that shit on the right called?”

“O2.” Quackity quickly jumped in.

“Right, O2. I went to… top left, first, and I did my tasks there, and then to weapons and then to O2, and then the body was reported.”

“You were in top left?” Rae repeated.

“Yeah.”

“And was there anyone with you?”

“Um… no? I was alone, and then I saw Quackity in top right, and then we went to, uh, O2 together.” you said and Corpse sighed loudly.

“That means she could’ve had the time to kill Ethan and run.” Toast points out.

“Hey! I didn’t kill anyone! I don’t even know how this game works…” you whined into the mic and Quackity laughed.

“Yeah, I dunno Y/N, you were dancing real suspiciously around me…” he said, causing you to defend yourself louder.

“Why would I kill anyone?! I don’t even know how to do that, I’m a nice person!”

“I don’t think she did it, guys.” Dream pipes up, tugging at the wire of his headphones absentmindedly.

“Shut up, you simp.” Quackity fires back instantly, making everyone in the call laugh, including Dream.

“Damn right, I’m a Y/N simp. She can do no wrong. I mean, look at that innocent face! She did nothing, I’m-I’m sure.” He argued, making you cover your mouth and giggle.

“Their face is literally the same as everyone’s! We’re all astronauts!” Rae protested, but Dream kept shaking his head.

“No, hers is more innocent.” he said. “Toast, why are you so set on accusing everyone, anyway?”

“Oh, you’re so not attacking Toast right now-”

“Guys, I think we should skip.” Sykkuno pipes up to calm the conversation, and everyone agrees, even though most of them mumble “sus” under their breath as soon as they mute their mics.

Dream’s tiny green astronaut stomps his way over to the left side immediately, changing paths this time and making his way into the Upper Engine, trying to finish his tasks in time and possibly find someone to accompany him so he at least doesn’t have to argue over his alibi. He had four tasks left, two of them in Upper Engine, so after that he was free to roam around wherever his heart desired. Just as he started doing one of them, he watched your purple character step in and run circles around him, earning you a quiet laugh that he didn’t know he uttered until he heard himself do it and silently scolded himself for getting that flustered at something so simple.

The two of you did your tasks together before going down to reactor. Just as Dream started doing one of his tasks, a dead body was reported again and he unmuted himself as Toast immediately started borderline yelling into his headphones.

“Bretman just killed Sykkuno RIGHT in front of me. I literally watched him do it. He killed Sykkuno in COLD BLOOD.” he confidently claimed and Dream, quite uninterested, grabbed his bottle of water and lightly sipped on it, wiping beads of sweat resting right above his eyebrows with his forearm, blindly looking around the darkness, trying to get his eyes to adjust looking away from the computer screen. His eyes searched for the window - it was open, just enough to let a fresh breeze inside, but it never seemed to do that, letting humid air in with open arms like a welcome guest. Florida is fucking hell, he thinks, gulping down some more water.

“No, I didn’t! I seriously did not, he’s the one who killed him and is trying to frame me now. I swear to God, Toast…” Bretman shouted into his worn mic, trying to argue back.

“Yeah, to be honest, Bretman, you were silent the whole time when Ethan died.” Rae reasoned, earning quite a lot of “ooh”s and causing little “voted” signs to appear next to Poki, Toast and Karl’s names as Bretman tried his best to fight back.

“I didn’t know I was muted the whole time! You know I’m bad at this! Why would I... you know what, nevermind! Vote me! Vote me! You’ll see when Toast kills you all, I don’t care anymore. I literally saw-”

Dream slumps further into his chair, sure that the foam would have a dent of his body shape imprinted even when he’s long gone from it, and unlocks his phone with a quiet sigh. He opens Discord, and wishes he hadn’t, because Sapnap and George are always on the front lines and ready to make fun of him at any chance possible. He types back a stupid joke, calling them losers, but before he can press send, a Twitter notification pops up on his phone that almost makes his painfully sweaty hands lose grip of the phone.

“this is so boring” your message reads, from your official Twitter account. Dream blinks a few times, and looks up from his phone to observe his murky, empty room, eyes flashing from the window to the ripped chocolate bar wrapper that somehow made its way onto the floor to a cup of coffee from this afternoon. Did the humid air finally get to him? Hallucinations?

He clicks on the notification - it proves to not be a product of his imagination, after all. Three dots dance around on his screen cheerfully, but they suddenly stop. His ears tune in. Bretman is still defending his honor. Something else must’ve interrupted you. His shaky hands barely hit the right letters.

He takes a handful of screenshots amidst his euphoria, and forwards them to the group chat with no caption besides an emoji sticking its tongue out - he wants to tell them to suck his dick, or something along those lines, but your message remains a priority as he rushes back to the Twitter app to reply.

“Right” he manages to write without a typo. “They’re annoying”

Three dots immediately return to his screen like a happy memory, and he almost can’t believe you’re texting back so fast. George would probably humble him by saying it’s because you have nothing better to do, but what George doesn’t know can’t hurt him, Dream supposes, and clicks on your profile instinctively as he adjusts his headphones on one ear. By the time you finish typing your message, the group decided to vote out Bretman, who ended up not being an imposter.

The three dots disappear as quick as they came, and so does the anticipation that bubbled up in Dream’s throat as he sourly leaves to finish the rest of his tasks. The rest of the game stays as boring as it started, save for the giggles and hushed laughter that came from you at every few jokes he made - of which he made quite a lot, in a desperate attempt to make you laugh, at least a little bit. Of course, Quackity was there every step of the way to accidentally mention how Dream sounded a lot more hype and alive during this game than he does ever, but you win some, you lose some, eh?

In the next game you actually decided to set up proximity chat, so of course Dream followed you around everywhere, hot on your tail at all times - what else is he supposed to do, when the chance presented itself, really?

“Are you imposter?” His character obnoxiously ran circles around you as you did your wires task slowly and unsurely since this stream was your first time playing.

“No, but I wouldn’t tell you even if I was, dummy.” You replied, running around his own character briefly before running up to do the rest of your tasks, watching the green astronaut follow you close behind.

“Why not?” Dream questioned, eyes following all your movements since he didn’t have anything better to do considering he finished all his tasks.

“Do you not know how this game works?”

“Yeah, but you’d tell me, right? I wouldn’t… rat you out.” He heard a sigh coming through his headphones in response, and his grin widened just a little, watching your character walk away from him.

“I know you wouldn’t.” you replied. “I’ll tell you if I’m imposter, I guess.”

“You wouldn’t kill me, would you?” Dream spoke into his mic, reaching to fix it and realising the way his hand trembled a little, fully aware he was walking the line between flirty and obnoxious more than usual. He lowered his gaze just to see his keyboard reflect the light of the computer back to him - the sweat from his palms seemed to seep onto the keyboard. He refused to think about the mocking things his best friends would say if they found out how nervous he was just to talk to you.

“No, of course not! I wouldn’t be able to kill you.” You chirped just as a dead body was discovered and the two of you were torn from the conversation.

In the next one, his screen flashed an ominous black and red with the word “Impostor” and your purple character stood proudly next to his green one, and he snickered to himself, adjusting his headphones one more time (the more he did it, the more he was convinced it was one of those anxious habits of his).

Shifting in his chair, he started moving and couldn’t believe his eyes when he realised the two of you managed to lock yourselves in a room with Corpse and Sykkuno, accomplishing a double kill in barely the first two minutes of the game. The two of you vented while Dream muttered curses under his breath, breaking out in a sweat wondering if you’re going to get caught or not as you casually hummed to a random tune while faking tasks, hitting the notes in such an effortless way that it made Dream relax and get even more nervous at the same time. It didn’t take too long before the body was found, and you seemed to adapt to the game very quickly, as Dream just sat back most of the time and watched you stretch out a whole essay on why you and Dream could NOT have been imposters.

“Why would they stick together the whole time? Couldn’t they get at least someone else to vouch for them?” Toast complained.

“Girl, Dream wants some… alone time with Y/N, obviously.” Bretman said, despite being the one most sus of you in the first place, forcing laughter out of the whole lobby, Dream’s sticking out the most as his mood constantly swayed from finding the whole thing funny to being worried sick if you actually find him weird.

“Exactly! And we’re gonna have our alone time if we want to, thank you very much.”

Well, Dream thinks, taking a stressed gulp of water from his bottle, at least we cleared that one up.

“I don’t think that sounded the way you wanted it to, Y/N.” Karl pipes up, making Quackity burst into another fit of loud laughter, and you immediately protested.

“It sounded exactly the way I wanted it to! Now, vote Rae or else.”

When the meeting was over, he ran after you through cafeteria, grin splitting out on his face before he even spoke.

“You’re pretty…” his silence extended as he watched your character stare at his. “...pretty smart.”

You snorted. “Right. You’re pretty…” you extended your silence in return, mocking him. “...too.”

His heart jumps. “You forgot a word there.” he says as you stomp out to storage.

“I said what I said, Dreamy.”

He swears this can’t be healthy for his blood pressure. In the corner of his eye, Discord notifications pop up like crazy. The boys must be watching your stream. His heart swells with both pride and dread, knowing he’s about to be called something along the lines of pretty Dreamy for the next two months.

“How do you know I’m pretty? You’ve never even seen my face.” Dream replies as heat creeps up like a spirit rising from soil, from the back of his neck, seeping into his ears and cheeks somewhat equally. His eyes dart to the window again. Of course it’s the stupid Florida weather that has him burning up, flustered. Maybe he should open another window.

“Is this an invitation to see it?” you say, a teasing tone clinging off your voice and he can practically hear you smiling.

“No, I’m just saying! If you want to see it, though, that… that can be arranged.” he bites his lip as a physical attempt of holding back the smile that breaks out as he waits for your response, chest puffing in both nervousness and odd confidence.

“Can it? I mean, I don’t need to see it, I just know already, you have those… pretty boy vibes. But I wouldn’t…” you chuckle. “...be opposed to seeing it, for sure. Don’t count on me not to leak the pictures, though. I want the clout.”

“What do you MEAN you want the clout, you’re Y/N! You don’t need clout from a Minecraft YouTuber!” He argues back, a small wheeze escaping him mid sentence as you giggle and run around, with him following your every move.

“You keep my fucking lights on, man! Whenever your Spotify Twitter account thingy tweets that you’re listening to my stuff, the streams go up! I need your clout.” you say as you run into admin and snap Toast’s neck and run back out casually, as if nothing happened.

“Yeah, that’s how me listening to your songs on repeat works.” he says and you let out some sort of irritated groan.

“Shut up, smartass.” Just as you say that, somebody seems to find the body and you’re pulled into a meeting, where Rae susses both of you immediately.

“No, because both of you are always together! And someone always spots you walking by the place where the bodies are found! At some point that can’t be a coincidence, right?” she accuses, practically yelling into the mic.

“Of course they’re always together, check- check fuckin’ Twitter! They’re trending on like three different spots already!” Quackity jumps in, loud as always, and the lobby gives off mixed reactions.

“What? We are?” Dream asks, and Quackity confirms with a “yeah, man! Check!” and so he complies, quickly pulling out his phone to check the trending tabs. Sure enough, among the politics and sports, “DREAM Y/N”, “PRETTY BOY” and “DREAM FACE” are crammed, sat at 7th, 14th and 18th place, respectfully. A satisfied grin breaks out on his face. At least they see it, too.

“This has to be the first time Dream has trended for something heterosexual.” Karl points out, earning loud laughter from Quackity and Bretman, less loud on your part.

“Exactly! We’re a power couple! Stay mad!” You shouted, with Dream supporting you in the background, although still shyly adjusting his headphones every few seconds, unable to comprehend that oh, this is actually happening.

Both of you get voted out during the next few minutes, but that really means nothing to Dream - they actually do him quite a favor, because the two of you get to excuse yourselves and he sees those three familiar dots dance on his screen again as he leans back into his chair with a dopey grin, playing with the strings of his sweatpants, waiting for your next and next and next message.

He opens Discord on his computer to type one last message into the groupchat before turning it off for the night:

Dream (03:14): maybe Minecraft wasn’t my calling after all

Dream (03:14): can’t believe I just met my soulmate on Among Us

#dream x reader #dreamwastaken x reader #dream imagine #dreamwastaken imagine #dream fanfic #dreamwastaken fanfic #dream fluff #dream x you #dreamwastaken x you #dream x y/n #dreamwastaken x y/n #mcyt imagine #mcyt fanfic #mcyt x reader

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adarlingwrites · 3 years ago

Text

Leave it to the Wind

Summary: Between deadlines, an awful transport system, and aswangs lurking about in the shadows, you have much to worry about as a college student in Manila, and it's so much that your social life is practically dead. Your wind people roommates want to help you remedy that.

Words: 9343

Relationships: The Kambal/Reader (Crispin/Reader/Basilio)

Warnings: Adult content, alcohol, brief scene of sexual harassment

Author’s Notes: God, the fandom is so thirsty for the Kambal, and so am I. Finally, some Filipino himbo representation.

The premise is: Hannah and Amie decides to play matchmaker. Hilarity ensues. Smut ensues. Please be nice, I based the characterizations of the character on the Netflix series and Trese wiki pages since I couldn't get my hands on the original comics yet oof. Some words, like terms of endearment and curse words, will remain in Filipino. Translations are provided. Reader is AFAB and is referred to with female pronouns.

Reposting this from AO3 with all three chapters in one post. A Filipino (Taglish) translation is in the works!

You don’t know how they managed to convince you, to be honest.

You rarely ever go out at night anymore. So many strange incidents transpire in Manila’s narrow streets. Just recently, you’ve heard of a new story about a tikbalang who allegedly participated in illegal street races.

So when your roommates and friends Amie and Hannah invited you for a night out, you hesitated. You gave them every excuse you can think of; you needed to do laundry, you needed to study, you needed to finish a project, and so on.

You know that the two of them are wind people, but you can’t help but think. Which of the various stories you had been hearing are real? What else in this world you haven’t witnessed yet?

“Aw, you’re such a buzzkill! Pretty please? You don’t go out with us as often. Enjoy yourself a little,” Amie whines, lying on the sofa of your living room.

On the other hand, Hannah turns to you with a mischievous grin on her face. “C’mon, get dressed already,” she commanded. “There are some total hotties we’d like you to meet! One of them might catch your eye!”

“I told you, I don’t need a relationship. You two try this every week. How do you even know so many people?” you retort, laughing softly at yourself.

“Well, our night lives are active,” Hannah retorted. “Don’t forget our sex lives!” the other added. Hearing those words, you felt your face get flushed with heat.

You needed a good fuck.

“Damn it, fine! As long as you pay for me.”

They finally got you to say yes.

As the night went on, you went to several bars, and you swore that you had explored every crevice of the city. It doesn’t help that the guy Amie and Hannah were with, a tall, dark and handsome man with flowing locks of black hair, drove like a demon. You got around quickly in no time.

Around an hour after midnight, you’re all exhausted from a night of dancing and mingling. None of the people your friends introduced to you caught your attention. At that point, you just wanted a stiff drink to unwind.

Voicing it to your drinking buddies, they nod in agreement.

“I know just the place, in Malate,” the man you’re with said. “Quiet. Discreet. I can take you there, if you want.”

“You mean The Diabolical, right? Let’s go! Text Crispin and Basilio, they might be hangin’ there too,” Amie croons.

A chuckle escapes your lips upon hearing their names. “Huh? Were they named after the characters in Jose Rizal’s novel?”

“I think so? Whatever! But seriously though… Those two can totally make you scream their names louder than Sisa ever did! Best lay I ever had!”

The remark made you laugh so hard, you swore you can be heard in the next city. “What the fuck! Amie, gaga ka, Sisa was their mom! The context of that scene was rough.”

Hannah’s mischievous grin spreads on her face once more, and she gently elbows your side. “Well, if you’re lucky, in this context you’d be crying their names while your eyes roll to the back of your head.”

You’ll never admit it, but you had hoped all their teasing would come true.

It didn’t take long for the four of you to reach your destination. As you enter The Diabolical, a strange chill envelopes you. The air feels different inside; it’s almost as if you stepped in a different world. Perhaps it’s the alcohol, but when you looked around, you saw a duwende sitting by the bar. Or was it called a nuno? At the end of the bar, you saw them; two men both dressed in black suits. One has short hair, while the other one has longer, reaching past his shoulders. However, they’re facing away from you. Only the back of their head and part of their cheeks were visible where you stood.

You snapped out of it when the man you three are with spoke up. “I’m gonna call it a night. Have fun, you three.”

“For real? Wow Maliksi, this is the first time I ever saw you wanting to leave early. Aren’t you gonna stop by and say hi to Alex?” Hannah asks him.

“Maybe next time,” Maliksi answers back, a somber expression on his face. “Oh em gee, did you two fight? Wait, what are you two?” Amie asks.

“Whatever. It’s complicated. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Your friends nodded and let Maliksi be. He waves at your group, and heads out the door. The engine of his car roars to life, and his car screeches away.

As the car moved farther away though, it seems that the screeching of the tires turned into hoofbeats.

Perhaps it’s just your imagination.

“Amie! Hannah! Have a drink! Hey, who’s that with you? Is that the person you’ve been wanting us to meet for ages now?”

Your head turns to where the voice was coming from; one of the men in the suits, the one with short hair in particular. You finally had a good look on their faces.

Twins?

“Crispin! Meet our friend! This is…”

As Amie and Hannah introduce you to the Twins, you can’t help but stare. You took the sight of their features in; they’re tall, with broad shoulders, and hard muscle underneath that black suit and white tie ensemble. They have wide noses with a high bridge, prominent bone structure, and a prominent widow’s peak.

Merciful Bathala, they’re gorgeous.

What caught your attention the most are their eyes. They're pitch black, save for the small reflection of light.

Are these people even human?

“Stare at them like that any longer and they might melt,” Amie teases. The two of your friends are giving you an ear-splitting grin due to your reaction to the Twins.

“I, uh-” you stuttered, and you could feel the heat rising in your cheeks.

“Hey, don’t be shy. You can sit between us, miss. We’re all friends here,” the twin with the longer hair says. If the other one is Crispin, then this must be Basilio.

Behind you, your friends are already giggling. They took their places next to the twins and leaned on their biceps. Across from you, the bartender comes to take your order.

“What’ll it be, kid?” he asks.

For some reason, you’re panicking. Maybe it’s because of the alcohol in your system. Or maybe it’s because you’re sandwiched between the twins. “Uh, what would you recommend, manong?”

Laughter erupted from the twins. “Hank, she called you manong!” Basilio teases while grinning like a fucking dog. “Geez, are you really that old?” Crispin eggs him on, giving him a shit-eating grin. Hank takes a wet rag he uses to wipe down the countertop and strikes the two down. “You goddamn assholes!”

You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing with them.

“Ow! Alright, we’re sorry, we’re sorry. Get them the best seller, Hank. We’ll pay for their tab,” Basilio says, and Hannah and Amie squeals with joy.

“Oh em gee, you boys are so sweet! Thank youuu!”

As Hank prepares you a drink, you try conversing with the twins. “You two seem fun to have as drinking buddies.”

Hank turns around to reach a bottle from the shelf. “Those two are mischievous little shits, that’s for sure. You know, when these two were kids...”

“Hey man, don’t embarrass us like that in front of our new friend,” Crispin whines.

While the three continues fucking around, you leaned back slightly to glimpse at Amie, who was trying to get your attention for a while now. She points to her phone, and you fetch yours from your bag.

You read your group chat with them. “Soooo, do you like, like them?” Hannah’s message said.

“You’re into them aren’t you? You got so shy around them, it’s so cute!” Amie’s message said.

“Right? It’s rare to see you so flustered!”

You typed away furiously at your phone, cautious to not let the twins beside you see the conversation.

“Well, they’re an improvement from the ones you introduced me to earlier. Easier on the eyes, too…”

Your friends giggled, and as their drinks arrived, they stood up. “Girl, we’re gonna leave you with them, there’s some super hot tikbalangs who just came in the bar. Byeeee!”

“Hey, wait!”

They didn’t heed your words and went to sit on the tikbalangs’ laps.

Fuck, tikbalangs are real? Is Maliksi a tikbalang too?

“And off they go, flirting with those beasts after they’ve used us for drinks,” Crispin laments, voice dripping with light-hearted sarcasm.

“It’s not like it’s the first time we got used by them though,” Basilio adds, cringing.

You can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

Basilio’s head whips towards you, sweat gathering on his brow. “Seriously?! Shit, what did they say about us?”

“All good things, don’t you worry,” you answered.

“Nah, I need to hear what they said word for word,” the twin with long hair responds. “This is making me paranoid!”

Crispin moves closer to you, Basilio puts a friendly arm around your shoulder, and you can only smile. All of you are inebriated and if you were sober, and if someone else dared to get this close to you, you might’ve slapped them. But you feel good about the Twins, and your roommates never put you in harm’s way, so your trust for them extended to the brothers, somehow.

“Just tell us already,” Crispin slurs. “Tell us what they said about us. We’re curious.”

“Fine, fine. Okay, Amie and Hannah mentioned your names when Maliksi suggested that we head here to drink. Then, I mentioned that your names came from Rizal’s novels.”

“Then Amie said,” you continued, pausing briefly to come up with an impression of your roommate’s speech. “‘Seriously though… Those two can totally make you scream their names louder than Sisa ever did! Best lay I ever had!’ Fuck, it was so messed up!”

“That’s messed up, alright,” Basilio sputters, his face a deep shade of crimson. “I’m this hot and those are the only details they can spare?!”

“Ok, but that Sisa joke was kind of funny though. But it was still fucked up,” Crispin adds, and he takes a sip of his drink.

“Hold your horses, the story’s not done yet,” you say. You’re starting to feel more confident around the two.

Your conversation went places, until you found yourselves drinking until three in the morning, and at that point, it’s only just the four of you in the bar; Hank, the Twins, and you. Even Hannah and Amie are nowhere to be seen. Knowing them, they probably took the tikbalangs they were flirting with back to your apartment.

They didn’t even wait for you. Looks like they’re really setting you up tonight. Maybe they wanted the apartment to themselves tonight, and they got exactly what they wanted.

You had planned on getting up to go to the restroom, but when you tried standing up, you almost fell from the chair. The Twins caught you before you landed face first against the floor.

“She’s had enough to drink,” Hank comments. They set you on a chair with a backrest. “How will she get home? We can’t send her off in a cab at this rate. The train doesn't run this late either.”

“Hannah left her behind too,” Crispin adds.

“Hey, how are we gonna deal with this?” Basilio asks. “We can get you home once we sober up a little. It’s fine if you-”

Basilio never got to finish what he was going to say, because you nodded off against his stomach, and puked your lunch out.

You don’t remember anything after that.

When you awaken, the sun is already high up, and the first thing that greets you is the fan in the ceiling. Your muscles are screaming at you, and your throat feels dry. Memories of last night came crashing back and you started sweating in horror. Maybe it’s just a drunken dream, but it felt all too real.

You were flirting with these gorgeous twins, had too much to drink, and at some point puked all over one of the twins’ shoes.

And now, you don’t know whose bedroom you are in. You check yourself, and you’re still wearing the same clothes, with nothing out of place. There are no bruises or marks on your body either. You looked around you, but there was no one else in the room.

The doors crack open slightly, and you see two pairs of void-black eyes.

“I… um… good morning?”

“It’s… already 2 in the afternoon,” one of them says. He has long hair. This one is the twin you threw up on.

“Why don’t you have some lunch?” the other one said.

You just nodded and said nothing else, ashamed of yourself. You threw up on one of them and now you’re eating at their table. You just wanted the ground to swallow you alive.

“Sorry for puking on you last night,” you near-whispered to Basilio after you swallowed your first bite of food.

The silence broke when Crispin roared with laughter, tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. Meanwhile, Basilio was glaring daggers at his brother. He’s frowning like a child whose toy got taken from him. “Sure, keep laughing, kuya.”

“I’ll never show my face here again, I promise,” you say to them, hiding your face behind your hands.

“What’re you talking about? Forget about it. We’re friends now, right?” Basilio tells you, smiling. “But next time, vomit on my brother too.”

“No one’s throwing up because I won’t be allowing any of you to get wasted that bad ever again,” Hank announces as he enters the room with a carafe in his hand. “Bossing’s not gonna like it if the bar ends up smelling as bad as Basilio’s room. Here, have some coffee.”

“We should introduce you to bossing next time too. She’s not here at the moment,” Crispin adds. “Let’s do this again next week.”

The invitation made you smile, and you poured yourself a cup of coffee. You continued eating the rest of your meal.

“...my room doesn’t smell that, right?” Basilio asks after a few moments of silence.

“Gago, it stinks so bad. It’s why we made the guest stay at my room, because if she stayed at yours she could’ve died from how bad it is,” Crispin exclaims. “Seriously, how can you live with bringing women to your room at that point?”

“Kuya, you’re embarrassing me to our guest!”

Translations for non-Filipino speaking folks:

bossing: a somewhat affectionate way to say “boss”. Comes from the old tradition of adding -eng or -ing to ones name to make a nickname, e.g. Luciana - Lucing

Gago/gaga (ka): (you) idiot/moron - someone stupid, foolish or ignorant

Tikbalang: creature from Filipino mythology similar to a centaur. They are hulking beasts with a horse's head.

manong: a term for endearment to an elderly male relative, or elderly men in general. Originally an Ilokano term referring to the first born son in a nuclear family.

kuya: big brother. Can be used to refer to one's own older brother, someone else's older brother, or an older peer or male acquaintance.

Author’s Notes: This chapter was heavily inspired by Bita and the Botflies' song Manghuhula.

Warnings: brief scene of sexual harrassment

After washing up, the Twins accompanied you to the gate, exchanging glances at each other behind your back. Little did they know, you definitely noticed it.

“Wait,” Basilio says, tapping your shoulder lightly with a large hand.

Crispin takes his phone out of his pocket. His younger brother proceeds to do the same. “Give us your phone. We’ll add our numbers, and you can text us if something happens,” he says.

“Or when you get home safe,” Basilio adds.

You look at the two of them back and forth. “This isn’t just an elaborate excuse for the two of you to get my number, right?”

Neither of the two spoke, giving each other a nervous glance.

Their reaction made you laugh out loud, and you took out your phone from your bag. “Here. I’ll give you my Facespace too.”

With the tension broken, the three of you exchange a chuckle. You punch in your number in their phones, while they did the same to yours. Crispin looks over his brother’s shoulder and frowns.

“Epal,” Crispin says to his brother, snatching your phone away from him. The older twin types something in, and it’s the younger one’s turn to stick his nose in. Basilio attempts to get the phone back, cursing all the time.

“You’re going to break her phone, gago,” the older twin curses, pushing a palm against Basilio’s face. “Then let it go! You’re the epal, I wasn’t done yet,” the younger one snaps back.

You give them a look of irritation, and check out what they’re arguing about.

“What the hell are you two grown-ass men fighting about?” you ask as you butt in to look at what they’re doing.

A loud snort bubbles from you as you see it; Basilio added “the hot twin” next to his contact name. Crispin added “the hotter twin”. Now, the former wanted to outdo his older brother.

Against your better judgment, you say, “You’re twins. You look like each other. You’re both hot. Now stop fighting over my phone.”

Perhaps it’s the afternoon heat, but there is a tinge of red in their cheeks after your remark. You waved them goodbye as you got in a tricycle that’ll get you to the nearest train station.

The MRT, in some strange miraculous twist of fate, isn’t as packed as usual. It’s still populated, but there were a few seats waiting to be taken. You sit down somewhere away from direct sunlight, and you take out your phone to tell Hannah and Amie that you’re on the way home.

The first thing you see is a text from Basilio. Then, a text from Crispin. You tell them both that you’re on the train now, completely forgetting about messaging your roommates. To pass the time, you launch the Facespace app and decide to look up their profiles, only to find out that they’ve already sent you a friend request.

Upon seeing Crispin’s profile, you did your damn best to stifle a laugh.

His work description says “works at the Krusty Krab,” but that wasn’t the craziest thing about his profile. At first, the Bible verse in his bio caught you off guard, thinking that someone like him didn’t seem religious, but when you quickly looked up “Ezekiel 23:20,” you did your best not to howl with laughter.

Basilio’s isn’t any better.

In his work description, he put “Model at For Her Magazine,” and “edi sa puso mo.” Then you scroll down to see a thirst trap of him pulling his shirt up with his teeth, and you can feel the heat rising to your cheeks again. Well, at least that work description is believable.

They’re- what was that term your younger university friends were using again?- himbos.

They’re definitely himbos.

Arriving at your place, you slot your key inside the doorknob and twist. As you enter the door, the heavy, musky scent of sex and sweat hits your face, and you regret getting too wasted last night and losing your chance to hook up with one of the Twins.

Or both.

Both?

Regardless, at least they’ve invited you again to hang out next week.

You raise your eyebrow and cross your arms at the scene before you. Cans of beer litter the living room, and your roommates are taking a nap by the couch. A tikbalang comes out of the bathroom, glamor off, and you snort as you watch him duck under the door frame because of his massive height.

“It’s already four in the afternoon. Time to go, big guy.”

He nods awkwardly in acknowledgment, morphing into his human disguise, and exiting your apartment.

You sit between your roommates, rousing them from their sleep. “I’m not going to clean this mess up,” you tell them, motioning to the trashed state of the living room, and reaching for the remote to turn the TV on. You just want to take a shower afterwards and sleep in your own bed tonight.

After rubbing the sleep from their eyes, your roommates near-tackles you on the couch, a curious, excited look on their faces. You forgot all about what you were watching and stared at them in surprise.

“So how did it go? Did you get to hook up with any of them?” Amie asks.

“Or both of them?” Hannah adds.

“Gaga, nothing like that happened.”

The two of them let you go with disappointed looks on their faces. “So sayang! Here we were thinking you finally have a sex life,” one of them says as you lean back on the backrest, closing your eyes as they continue to pester you for details.

“Why are you two so determined to get me to screw someone?” you finally snapped, amused and irked at the same time.

“Because you’ve been doing nothing but totally stressing yourself out! See how super fun it is to let go every now and then?”

“Thanks for the new drinking buddies, girls, but I have my fingers to keep me company. Hookups are too much work,” you lie to them, eyes still closed.

“That’s a toe-curling, full-body orgasm you’re missing out on, girl!”

“That’s assuming that the person I’m with knows what they’re doing,” you retorted.

One of them pokes your side with an elbow, and you assume it’s Hannah. “The Twins do.”

You opened your eyes, and you guessed right; it’s Hannah. You give her a look, before rolling your eyes, appearing to look disinterested. The smirk tugging at the edge of your lips says otherwise, though.

“So what happened last night?” Amie asks.

“I got wasted and threw up on Basilio’s shoes. Then, I ended up sleeping in Crispin’s room. When I woke up, they fed me and sent me home,” you tell them. Your roommates giggle at the story.

“Ah, speaking of which, I gotta let them know I got home,” you said off-hand, and somehow the remark only spurred your wind people roommates on.

“Yieee, you’re friends with them on Facespace already!” Amie quips, leaning in to see what you’re typing. Playfully, you move your phone away from her to conceal what you’re typing.

“Make a group chat with them!” Hannah exclaims, taking your phone away from you. You tried taking it back, but Amie joins in the mischief and blocks you from doing so.

When you got your phone back, the deed was done, and the chat was renamed to a single eggplant emoji. The like button was replaced by an eggplant emoji too.

Panicking, you add your roommates to the group to avoid looking suspicious, and swiftly type up a defense.

“Please ignore that, Hannah made this chat using my account.”

The teasing never stopped after that.

Weeks passed and you never bothered to change it, though.

It’s been about two months since your first encounter with the Twins. You’re becoming a familiar face at The Diabolical, going every Saturday to see them. Sometimes Hannah and Amie didn’t accompany you anymore. You’ve met the Twins’ bossing a few times, who turned out to be none other than Alexandra Trese. You’ve heard of her exploits and the two imposing bodyguards who were almost always with her. It surprised you that they’re none other than the Twins you knew, but it made perfect sense. Those two were jacked, and those muscles aren’t only for show.

Of course, because of your increasing presence in the bar, it didn’t take long for the rumors to circulate. Word on the street is both of the Twins had a thing for you, and neither is making a move out of consideration for the other. They are waiting for you to move.

You elected to ignore them, perfectly happy with your arrangement of having two handsome men to keep you company while you unwind. The thought of getting together with one of them, or even both of them did cross your mind a few times, however.

Ultimately, you wouldn’t know what to do if the day comes that you’ll have to confront how you feel and choose between the two.

Do you have to?

Crispin and Basilio are twins, but they’re distinct from each other. The older is more serious, with a dryer sense of humor, while the younger is goofier, and somewhat softer. One complements the other, and they’re both good company despite their differences.

Speak of the devil. Your phone buzzes and you see that the eggplant chat is active. The Twins are inviting you to The Diabolical again.

“See you guys at eight,” you type in. Someone reacts with an eggplant to your message. Then the next few messages were nothing but eggplant emojis, followed by Basilio sending “#TeamTalong”. Crispin cusses him out for it, but sends the same message right after.

Yeah, that became a thing among the five of you.

You and the wind girls got dressed and took a taxi to the bar, your favorite jacket draped over your shoulders. Pressured by your roommates, you wore something nicer tonight; a black faux leather dress that hugs your figure deliciously. The shiny fabric added to the effect. The six bottles of Pulang Tikbalang beer the three of you shared before going out might’ve contributed to your newfound bravado.

But now that you’re actually wearing it outside your apartment, you feel a little reluctant.

“Maybe wearing this is a bad idea,” you mutter to no one in particular, tucking a lock of hair behind your ear out of self-consciousness.

Amie taps you from behind. “Oh hush, that outfit is totally sexy,” she comments. “Finally ready to get dicked down tonight, girl?”

“Shhh, gaga ka, manong driver can hear you.”

That didn’t deter them from making more inappropriate comments, much to the manong's ire.

It’s nine already when you get there, you’re in the Philippines after all. The merriment is already in full swing when you step through the door. Hannah and Amie went ahead and sat next to their lay of the week. The Twins wave you over from their usual spot, but before you can reach them, a man you’ve never seen before tries to get your attention, snaking an arm around your waist.

“Hey baby. You’re a regular here, right? Want to drink with me?”

“Sorry, I’m here with someone else,” you tell him, moving away.

“Ah, here to see the Twins? Why don’t you ditch them for a change of pace and come with me, babe?”

“Not interested,” you flat out said. “Please move, or I’ll make you move.”

To your surprise, the man drops his glamor and reveals himself to be a kapre. He looms over you, cigar in his mouth, and you can feel the tension rising. People are starting to stare, and your friends took notice of it too.

“Try,” he huffs, puffing smoke to your face. You give him a sour glare while trying not to cough.

Before your roommates or the Twins could come to your aid, you panicked and saw an empty bottle of Pulang Tikbalang on a nearby table. Emboldened by the alcohol in your veins, you shatter the bottle and point the jagged edge at the hulking beast, hands shaking. You are a tiny thing compared to the enormous creature before you, after all.

“Don’t you dare look down on me.”

“Already doing that, honey.”

“I’m not your honey,” you say as you press the edge against his stomach, not enough to draw blood, but hard enough to hurt.

“I love it when they fight back,” the kapre croons.

Under the haze of alcohol, you were more than ready to shove the edge in, consequences be damned.

Before things could escalate, Crispin takes the broken bottle off of your hands and steers you away from the stranger, while Basilio steps in to defuse the tension. “Hey, why don’t you back off, pal? Our friend said no. You wouldn’t want us to tell our bossing to ban you from the place because of this misunderstanding now, don’t you?”

Heart in your throat, you turn to the Twins, then to the kapre. The tree giant pauses, looking at the three of you, then smirks.

“Heh. Fine. But if you torpe whelps don’t make a move, I will.”

The giant puts his glamor back on and skulks away.

“Wow, what a jerk! He only left you alone when the boys stepped in,” Hannah quips, tossing her hair in indignation.

“You almost didn’t need rescuing, but I’d hate to help Hank mop the blood off the floor later,” Basilio comments, nudging you gently with an elbow. His eyes go a little lower from your face, and you see him look away.

You realized Crispin hasn’t let go of you yet.

“C’mon, let’s just go,” you tell everyone. Crispin proceeds to remove his hand away from your shoulder, and you take your usual seats by the bar.

The bar is loud, but the silence between the three of you is deafening. Even Hank seems to have taken notice, eyeing your usually loud and cheerful group.

“What’s up with you three? What happened back there?” the older man asks, leaning over the bar top.

“Just a handsy kapre who couldn’t take no for an answer. I won’t let it spoil the night,” you answer him.

“That’s the spirit. Holler if he tries something like that again, I’ll have him kicked out,” Hank replies, setting down three ice-cold beers in front of you guys.

Yet somehow, the conversation never livened up.

Three bottles of Pulang Tikbalang later, you’ve had enough.

“This is about what that kapre said, isn’t it?” you finally say, slightly pissed.

The Twins look at each other with guilty expressions, and simultaneously nod.

“Do you boys wanna talk about it?”

They look at each other again. “Shit, this is awkward,” Crispin comments, scratching his head. Basilio nods in agreement, uncharacteristically silent. “We didn’t want to pressure you into anything you didn’t want to do,” the older twin continues.

“Look, I don’t want to ruin my relationship with my kuya just because we’re interested in the same girl,” Basilio says. “Same here,” Crispin adds.

“So we were waiting for you to make your own move,” Basilio continues.

“Ah. So the rumors are true,” you sighed.

“We’ll accept whatever outcome there is. If you choose me, or Basilio, or neither because this is fucking messy, we totally get it,” the older twin says, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.

Now the decision rests in your hands.

“Why don’t we talk about this somewhere more private?” you ask them.

You watch as both of them gulp. “Where do you wanna talk?” Basilio asks.

“Anywhere private.”

“I just cleaned my room earlier. Why don’t we continue this there?”

You nod, and they lead you away from the bar.

Looks like it’s going to be a long night.

Translations for non-Filipino speakers:

epal: in Filipino slang, usually refers to a person who inappropriately presents himself in a situation or butts into a conversation.

kapre: a tree-giant from Filipino mythology. Often described as very tall, dark, and hairy. Almost never seen without a cigar.

sayang: literally means waste. Can be used alone as an expression similar to "what a waste!"

torpe: someone who cannot spit their romantic or sexual feelings out to a crush or love interest

III

Author’s Notes:

Warnings: Smut. Filthy smut. Writer-is-definitely-going-to-the-second-circle-of-the-Seven-Circles-of-Hell-levels-of-filthy smut. Bawal bata, tulog na. If you're under 18 please turn back.

After the door closes behind the three of you, you sit on the bed, while Crispin sits on a chair near his brother’s desk. Basilio locks the door, and leans against it, unable to look at you.

“Right. So. How are we going to deal with this?” you ask them, crossing your legs.

“Don’t ask us,” Crispin says, swiveling the chair to face you. “You’re the one caught in the middle after all.”

Curse his choice of words.

“This is too weird,” Basilio speaks up. “If you want me to unlock the door, just say the word. We can walk out of this like nothing happened.”

“And then what? Things are going to be awkward between the three of us, I just know it,” you say to him, palming the back of your neck. “Things might get awkward with Amie and Hannah too, and I live with them. I don’t want our tropa to disband just because of relationship drama.”

“What about Amie and Hannah? Is it because we have history with those two?” Crispin asks.

“They’ve been trying to set me up with either of you. The fact that they also slept with you in the past also doesn’t help. Shit, this is messy.”

“Er, um,” Basilio stutters. “That might’ve been our fault.”

You furrow your brow and cross your arms. “Keep going.”

The Twins look at each other, as if gauging who should explain the situation. “So, we remained in contact after being used as a prize for bossing’s race with Maliksi, right?” Crispin starts.

“Uh huh.”

“Well, they mentioned a third roommate in passing and joked about lending us to her. Of course we blew them off, then Amie showed us a picture of you. We got curious and asked them to introduce you,” Basilio continues.

“I didn’t expect us five to become friends. And now we’re in this mess,” Crispin adds.

You look at them back and forth, and laugh in resignation. Elbows digging against your lap and palms pressed against your face, you rub your face and run it through your hair. “Amazing. Just amazing. See, I have a problem too.”

The Twins didn’t respond, eyes fixated on you.

“I like the two of you.”

You feel the air shift around you. Basilio’s standing upright by the door now, and Crispin straightened up too. The room is so quiet, you can hear them gulp in anticipation for what will happen next.

“There. I said it. The reason why I haven’t made a move at all is because of this exact moment that I was dreading. I didn’t want to choose,” you admit, feeling the blood rush to your head. “I just wanted for us three to stay like that, drinking buddies sprinkled with sexual tension.”

“And you’re in the middle, enjoying our attention,” Crispin says, crossing his arms.

“Selfish, I know,” you admit, head hanging low.

This is it, the moment that can make or break you three.

“Us three. If only...” you whisper, only for the words to fall flat on your tongue

You stand up, gathering your things and carrying your bag. “Nevermind. What a mess we’re in. I’ll go so you two can sort things out between the two of you. It’s been a fun ride.”

Basilio doesn’t move from the door, and behind you, you can hear Crispin getting up from his seat.

“We can still make this work, right kuya?” Basilio starts, looking over your head to give his brother a knowing look.

“Yeah, I think so,” Crispin replies. “What was that you said? The three of us?”

Your eyes widen, and you look at them back and forth. Their bodies are dangerously close to yours. Now you’re literally caught in the middle.

“I- uh…”

“I think we can work out an arrangement,” Basilio whispers, one hand moving to hold yours.

“Only if you want to,” Crispin adds, his breath kissing the back of your neck.

“I don’t want to lose either of you,” Basilio adds.

“Same here.”

Damn it all.

Giving in to your darkest, most hidden desires, you lean in to capture Basilio’s lips with yours, leaving his black eyes wide open in surprise. They flutter close, and he savors the kiss, slipping a tongue in. Then you turn to Crispin, and you give him the same sweet kiss as well.

“Damn, I didn’t mean like, now,” Basilio mutters, feeling the front of his trousers get tighter as he watches you make out with his brother.

Bringing your attention back to the younger twin, you loosen his tie, while you push out your ass to grind against Crispin. “Are you complaining?”

“Not at all.”

“Wait, are you sure about this? All of us drank tonight… we don’t want you to do something you’ll regret,” Crispin says, moving his hips away from you. Basilio pauses too, and wraps his hands around your wrists to still your hands, a look of concern on his face.

“Kuya’s right.”

“I’m a grown woman. I might’ve had a few bottles, but I know what I want,” you reassure them, waiting for the two to make a move. “I know I want you two for months.”

Basilio lets go of your hands and lets you do as you please, a cocky smirk on his lips. Behind you, you can feel Crispin’s gloved hands reaching for the zipper of your dress. “Really? How much do you want us? C’mon, say it,” Basilio asks, moving in to place kisses on your neck.

“I wanna hear it too,” Crispin whispers against your shoulder, and he punctuates it with a light kiss.

All of a sudden, you felt shy at the prospect of confessing your fantasies out loud. “Why don’t I just show you boys?”

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this one,” Basilio teases. “Consider it as payback for throwing up all over my shoes.”

“You’re still- ah!- mad about that?” you ask him, gasping in the middle of doing so when you felt a hand snake between your legs from behind. The older twin slips his fingers past your underwear, circling your clit with slow strokes.

“Not mad, I just want things to be fair,” Basilio teases, pulling your dress down. He gives your breasts a squeeze, fondling and rolling your nipples until they harden, and he seals his lips over your right one. Crispin moves from behind you and he takes his place next to his twin, lathing his tongue over the left. All four of their hands pawed at your flesh greedily.

You were at a loss for words because of how good they’re making you feel, soft moans bubbling from your throat.

“Speechless already, huh?” Crispin mumbles against your skin.

“Ngh! The wind girls weren’t lying, you two know what you’re doing,” you gasped, face flushed as you watched the Twins lavish their attention on your breasts.

“Shhh, stop changing the subject. Play along, or neither of us will make you cum,” he adds, pausing to give you a teasing lick, and resting his tongue on top of the hardened bud. On the other hand, Basilio is sucking like a starved babe while squeezing your still clothed behind.

You fake a scoff of indignation and grin. “Fine. I- oh fuck- want you two so much, I’ve been fantasizing for weeks.”

Basilio pauses to address you. “Describe them.”

You’re a little mortified, but the alcohol in your system pushes you to be bolder. “I imagined Basilio punishing me for ruining his shoes.”

“And how did he do that?” Crispin’s voice.

“He asked me to suck him off,” you start, and a pinch on your bottom from the subject of your fantasy tells you that he wanted to hear more details. “He fucked my face while pulling my hair and told me how good I was the whole time and that he forgave me.”

“What about me? What fantasies did you have?” Crispin asks again.

Your breath hitched in your throat but you pushed on. “Hearing how you scolded Basilio, I imagined you taking me from behind and saying the meanest, dirtiest things possible.”

The Twins looked at each other, and stopped, their lips leaving your breasts with a lewd pop. “You want to make them all come true?” Basilio asks.

Cheeks burning, you give them a curt nod.

The two of them lead you to the bed, where Crispin puts you on all fours, and he takes his place from behind. On the other hand, Basilio is standing near the edge of the bed, the bulge in his pants inches away from your face. You stare at it, licking your lips.

As you undid Basilio’s pants, he shrugs off his suit jacket and takes off his tie, then he takes off his dress shirt, revealing his abs and the trail of dark hair on his lower abdomen, disappearing into his briefs. From behind, you hear fabric shifting, then Crispin peels your panties off of you. He brings a gloved hand against your skin in a loud smack, making you cry out.

“Ah, wait, we need a safeword,” Crispin mentions, soothingly squeezing your skin.

“What about Eternos?” Basilio suggests, and Crispin cocks an eyebrow. “Wait, you mean, like the game?”

You stifle a laugh. “I’m fine with it,” you say to them, and they take it as a signal to continue.

The older twin dips a gloved finger between your folds, gathering your wetness, and tsked. “Look at you, already so fucking wet. You want this so much, huh?”

You nod frantically, then Basilio stills your head. “Open your mouth, baby. Tongue out.”

You oblige, and Basilio fishes his cock out of his briefs. Your eyes grow wider as you take in the sight of it; girthy, with a nice length, and a few veins running on the underside. You wonder if Crispin’s is the same. The twin in front of you lightly smacks his member against your tongue, and you proceed to lick it, running from the base to the tip, slicking it with saliva. You swirl your tongue around it, then try to slide it in your mouth as smoothly as possible.

As Basilio begins to breathe harder with each bob of your head, Crispin pulls your ass towards his face, and a choked moan escapes your lips as you feel his mouth on your heat, toying with your folds before he finally finds that sensitive nub. The older twin proceeds to lick and suck at it, eating you out like you’re the best damn meal of his life.

Meanwhile, you push a palm against Basilio’s thigh to make him pause, and before he can ask you if you’re fine, you take his balls in your mouth and fondle him with your tongue. Your hand pumps his neglected cock as you did so.

“Shit! Your mouth feels so damn good,” he hisses, breathing hard. When you take his dick back into your mouth, Basilio gathers your hair and uses it as a handle, watching his length disappear in your mouth over and over, his black eyes hazy with lust and his mouth whispering words of praise.

Crispin looks at his brother with a hint of envy, cock painfully hard against his trousers. He unzips it for relief, and proceeds to stroke himself as he continues to prepare you.

“Hey, Basilio, got any lube?”

“Um, there’s- ungh- a bottle of it under the pillow.”

“...you keep lube under your pillow? What the- and condoms? Can’t you put them in your drawers or something?”

Basilio doesn’t give his brother a response and focuses his attention on you. You gasp against his cock as you felt a cold, gloved hand prod against your asshole, and goosebumps formed on your flesh as you felt the cold lubricant smearing against your entrance. Crispin pushes his lubed thumb in, and you cry out in pleasure, your jaw opening wider for Basilio to claim. Then, two more fingers prod at your pussy, and you swear you can see stars as they slid in. The older twin toys with you while eating you out, and you feel a knot forming at the base of your stomach, threatening to uncoil at any moment.

You couldn’t take it. Basilio’s cock slides out of your mouth and you look over your shoulder, moaning and panting.

Crispin pauses from eating you out to ask you a question. “You’re gonna cum? You wanna cum on my fingers like the filthy slut you are?”

“Yes, please, please, let me cum,” you begged, and with a devilish smirk, Crispin dives right back in to finish the job.

You squeezed your eyes shut as the pleasure inside you exploded, shameless moans coming from your throat as your first orgasm hits you. Basilio watches the look of pleasure on your face as Crispin makes you cum, making his cock twitch.

“Now that’s how you please a woman,” Crispin teases, shooting his brother a challenging look while wiping your juices off of his face.

“Wait until it’s my turn,” Basilio replies, smirking.

Panting, legs wobbling, you didn’t get to rest as Crispin takes his cock and slides it in you. In front of you, Basilio cups your face and directs you back to his cock, smirking. “You’re doing so well, baby. You’re taking us like a champ, you know that?”

“Fuck,” Crispin hisses from behind you. “You like this, you little slut? You like being fucked by two cocks at the same time?” he asks you, each word punctuated with a hard thrust.

Now you’re really caught in the middle.

Basilio’s panting heavily now, his thrusts becoming erratic against your mouth. You know he’s close, and you brace yourself for what’s coming. Eyes screwed shut, he lets out a low groan as he spills inside of your mouth, his cum painting your tongue white. You try to swallow it all, but a few stray drops dribble down your chin. The younger twin cleans you up, and kisses you deeply, not minding his taste on your mouth. He sits on the bed to catch his breath, and allows you to rest on his thighs.

Behind you, Crispin begins to rut faster, his thumb still in your ass as he pounded you. You writhe and cry against Basilio’s lap, bracing yourself from each harsh thrust. The younger twin pets your hair, but he moves his hand away when Crispin pushes your head against his brother’s lap.

“Take it all of it,” Crispin groans. “Ungh, you make me so horny, you little slut.”

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Basilio gets an idea.

“Hey, kuya. Hold her up.”

Crispin blinks before obliging his brother’s request, clamping a hand around your throat. “Is this fine?” he asks you, and you nod a few times. He tightens his hold and pulls you to his toned chest, your hair sticking to his skin from your sweat. Basilio kisses you, then latches on one of your breasts. One gloved hand fondles and pulls at your nipples, while the other moves south to stroke you.

“Ah! I think I’m gonna cum again…” you choked, face red and tears forming at the edge of your eyes.

“Say our names,” Crispin whispers against your ear in a low growl.

You mutter their names at first, but it turns to full blown cries as your climax fast approaches.

“Crispin! Basilio!”

It hits you so hard, your eyes roll to the back of your head. You cried shamelessly, and Crispin places a kiss on your open mouth, tongue slipping in and teeth clashing with yours. He pulls out and finishes on your back, cock resting between the valley of your cheeks, still half-hard.

The Twins move to clean you up, looking around for tissues and anything to wipe you with.

“So,” Basilio says. “One more round?”

Your eyes widen, and you look down to see that Basilio is hard again.

“How- what the fuck? What are you two?”

Crispin sighs. “Hannah and Amie never told you? We’re demigods.”

“We don’t get sick and our injuries heal really fast. Talagbusao is our dad,” Basilio adds, and you give him a disbelieving glare.

“You didn’t need to let that last detail slip out, gago,” Crispin berates him as he pulls you close to his muscular chest. He lay down on a pillow, one arm propping his head up.

After a few seconds of silence, you say something. “At least let me have some water first.”

“Right.”

The Twins stare at each other.

“One of us has to fetch it,” Crispin says.

“What? Why me?” Basilio complains, scratching his head.

“Because I’m older, and I’ve worked hard to give her two orgasms in a row.”

“Hey! I’m sure that last one was thanks to me.”

You groan, grabbing a pillow to cover your face. “Ugh, please don’t turn this into a competition about who made me cum the most. Just get me my water, pretty please, Basilio?”

At the request, Basilio smiles and dresses haphazardly to get it for you. “Don’t start without me.”

You close your eyes with a smile. Crispin buries his face against your hair and plays with it. “You have him wrapped around your finger, you know?”

You chuckle at the remark, and Crispin kisses your temple. “Just don’t hurt my little brother.”

“I have no intention of hurting either of you,” you tell him.

Basilio comes back with a pitcher and some glasses, and once everyone’s hydrated and ready, the night continues.

The Twins spoil you with their attention, hands roaming your body as they planted kisses on your skin. Basilio sucks on your collarbone, biting experimentally and leaving marks that would darken in the morning, which draws a whine from your throat. Not wanting to be outdone, Crispin kisses your back, then the back of your neck, and he found a sweet spot that made you moan at that place where your ear connects to your neck. Basilio observes this and does the same to the other side.

“Hey, um, can I do it in your ass?” Crispin whispers in your ear, almost sheepishly, and you stare at him for a few seconds before nodding.

“Sure. Be gentle. And use a condom.”

“Of course. You go on top. What’s our safeword again?” he asks you, testing your knowledge.

You roll your eyes and try not to laugh. “Eternos.”

“Good girl,” Basilio says.

Flipping yourself around, you lean into Crispin’s lap. “Here, let me help,” you say as you grasp his cock and start to pump. The younger twin behind you reaches for the lube and prepares your ass. You sigh with pleasure as you feel the cold sensation of the product on your skin. Crispin sighs as you slide his length between your lips, head bobbing up and down, and you feel him grow inside your mouth. You give the tip a small lick before doing the same thing you did to Basilio, cupping his balls with your mouth and fondling them with your tongue.

“I want you now,” Crispin rasps, tugging your hair to get you off of him.

You smirk, turning around to give him a great view of your ass. He reaches around for a condom, finds one, and tears the foil open. After sliding the rubber down his shaft, he positions himself against your hole, pressing against the tight ring of muscle. You wince in pain as he starts penetrating you, prompting him to squeeze more lube to relieve your discomfort.

“Relax,” Basilio instructs you, planting soothing kisses at your jaw. You did as he said and unclenched your muscles, entrusting yourself to the two of them.

As Crispin pushes past the ring of muscle, you sigh in relief, discomfort replaced with the feeling of fullness. You lean back into his hard chest, a soft sigh leaving your lips as he starts to move. Meanwhile, Basilio kneels between your legs, rubbing your clit with the head of his dripping cock, but he freezes before he slides it in.

“What?” you ask with concern.

“We’re out of condoms.”

“Just pull out,” you tell him with a strained voice, gasping as Crispin moves inside you.

“No, you don’t understand. We’re demigods. Our… um.. Yeah, we’re really potent.”

You smirk at him. “I’ll ask the girls for something in the morning,” you say against your better judgment. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Cum all over me.”

His cock twitches at your last suggestion.

“Ugh, Basilio, you’re really killing the mood here,” Crispin strains to say, holding you gently by the neck. “I pulled out too, remember? Make up your mind already. I wouldn’t mind having her to myself for now, though.”

“Not a chance,” Basilio retorts, sliding the tip of his cock past your folds and pushing inside.

A loud cry rips from your throat at the sensations, feeling stuffed to the maximum as two cocks start to pump inside you. Crispin’s grip on your neck tightens, while you tangle your hands through Basilio’s hair, pulling him closer and kissing him.

Soon, The Twins find a steady rhythm, syncing their movement so you can feel the full force of their thrusts. Basilio throws one of your legs over his shoulder and begins to massage your clit with his thumb, while Crispin fondles your breasts with his free hand, using the tip of his fingers to roll, squeeze, and pull at your nubs. With every thrust they give, you clench, drawing a groan from both of them as they felt themselves being squeezed by your muscles.

“Oh God,” you whine. “Fuck, you both feel so good.”

“Say our names,” Basilio growls, and you oblige.

You chant their names like a prayer, underscored by the slapping of skin as the Twins fucked both of your holes. Hearing their names only spurred them on, and their movements became more desperate, sweat rolling off of your bodies.

“Basilio! Crispin!”

Underneath you, Crispin gropes at your breast harder, beads of sweat rolling off of his forehead and dripping to your skin. “Your ass feels too good, I’m gonna cum,” he hissed between clenched teeth, and you silently thank Bathala that he’s near his limit. The lube is starting to wash off.

With a few more rough thrusts, he cums, shooting inside the rubber. Crispin cups your jaw and kisses you, deep and sweet, tasting your tongue. You’re on the verge of climax now too, and you give Basilio a desperate look. He understood what you meant.

The younger twin thrusts harder and faster while still rubbing that sensitive nub between your legs furiously, and the older one helps by stimulating your nipples once again. The bombardment of sensation is too much, and you feel white hot heat racing through your body as you cum one last time, voice hoarse as a throaty moan escapes past your open mouth.

The spasm of your muscles is enough to send Basilio over the edge too, pulling out of you and spilling his load all over the mound of your pussy, and your stomach. You feel Crispin slip out of you too. Basilio leans in to kiss you, almost tenderly, but still full of desperation, tongue and teeth.

After a quick cleanup and another drink of water, the three of you lay in a heap of limbs, exhausted. Crispin doesn’t shift at all, content on letting you lie next to him, while Basilio moves next to you, effectively sandwiching you between the two of them on the narrow bed.

Everyone is sated, and with your eyes growing heavy, you wanted nothing but sleep.

“So, who’s better?”

You don’t know who said it, but you raised your hand to give him a middle finger. “Tangina niyo, you’re both good. End of discussion. Now please let me sleep.”

Thank Bathala that they did.

The next morning, all three of you wake up sweaty, stinking, and really, really hungry.

“Good morning to you two,” you sigh, snaking your arms around theirs. Each of them gave you a kiss on your temple. “Damn, I’m starving,” you said, sitting up. “Let’s take a shower and grab something to e-”

Underneath the three of you, the bed’s legs give out, and a loud thud can be heard throughout the house. As you three scramble for purchase, frantic footsteps are approaching, and the door bursts open.

“What was that? Crispin is missing from his room and-” Hank blurts, toting his good ol’ triple barrel shotgun "Ama, Anak, at, Espiritu Santo". Funnily enough, when he sees the tangle of limbs before him, he utters the same words and quickly turns away. Alexandra arrives shortly after, gives them a quick glance, and shuts the door.

Breakfast with their bossing is filled with a mortifying quiet.

You barely touch your food, embarrassment burning your cheeks, and you shoot a glance at your twin lovers.

“Next time, lock the door,” Alex finally says, getting up from the table with a coffee in her hands. She’s too fucking exhausted to deal with this.

“It’s Basilio’s fault!” Crispin yells after her. Basilio made no attempts to defend himself, knowing that he forgot to lock the door again after he came back with the water.

Grumbling, you finally take a bite of your breakfast, jacket draped over your shoulders despite the heat to hide the bruises on your body. “The girls are gonna have a field day when they see me like this.”

“I need to replace the bed,” Basilio mumbles, stuffing his mouth with rice.

The three of you looked at each other, and laughed.

“So, see you next week?” Crispin asks with a smile, and Basilio gives you a pleading, doe-eyed look.

“Yeah. See you two next week.”

Translations for non-English speakers:

tropa: ground of friends. People you chill with

tangina niyo: Filipino profanity. Roughly translates to "you sons of bitches"

Ama, Anak, at Espiritu Santo: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s Hank’s weapon’s actual name in the comics.

482 notes · View notes

nameless-shrimp · 3 years ago

Text

RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT || BUNGO STRAY DOGS (SQUID GAME! AU)

↳ PAIRING: Bungo Stray Dogs characters x GN! Reader

↳ TYPE: one-shot

↳ WORD COUNT: 3.9k

↳ WARNINGS: intense swearing, mentions of blood and death, spoilers to squid game, anxiety, heavy grammar errors, bad writing lol sorry

↳ SYNOPSIS: You're one of the contestants for a series of weird games that promises to grant you money if you win them all, though you meet a couple of interesting men along the way before participating in the first game...

↳ AUTHOR’S NOTES: i have been really obsessed with squid game lately, so i am glad to finally finish this. i don't think this will be a series, honestly. however, if you guys want me to do a specific game in general, feel free to suggest it. otherwise, have fun! this was just for fun and i wanted to write something about it, sooo here you go!

Lights flickering to a bright hue with your eyes darting open. The creak of the beds close by were audible as you shifted underneath the covers. ‘Fuck,’ you think, frantically retracting your eyes from one stranger to another. Jolting up, you glance down at the number on your jacket. 101. Strange. And the entire room slowly fills up with crowds of people huddling to the center.

Due to your curiosity, you stand up from the bed, cautiously looking over your shoulder. Recalling the mess you ended up in—shit. Was this a safe place for you? And you knock your shoulders into some of the other strangers who were initiating conversations with others; mild tones, yet your mind remains blank.

Uneasy looking people stood farther to—what seemed to be—the entrance of the entire dull, white room. Dressed in neon pink attire; shapes etched across their masks. One square, the others remain a triangle. Most likely slaves kept to their master. And you walk behind a man in front of you. Striking orange hair that was not meant to be missed, and you feel a shove from behind, causing you to stumble in front of him.

“What the he—”

“Sorry, uh,” you murmur quickly, raising your hands in defense. Turning around, your eyes meet a face with a dull emotion of hazel irises; flickering a sense of displeasure. Facing the man with mocha hair, he throws his arms across his chest. Displeased stares looked frightening on him. “Oh shit.”

“Why, hello there,” he says coolly, of course he did. Despite the tough demeanor he portrayed. Tapping one foot, he playfully places a finger to his chin; mind dwelling into a lost thought—playfully, though. “Do you happen to remember me? I believe we met at the train station.”

The familiar face was not forgotten. The man with the slim trench coat, who casually drank a hot coffee that day in the train station. He ran into you, completely drenching his vest with the painful liquid. A clumsy fool he acted, only to have you take the opportunity to steal his wallet and play an innocent act before you both had parted ways.

(The same asshole who also had no cards in his wallet. Not one bill, either. A broke fuck, maybe.)

“No,” your head shakes. “Don’t think so.”

“You’re cute,” he murmurs, eyes squinting to a harsh stare. “You took my wallet, little pickpocket.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Cuuute, really,” his voice trails off in amusement. Giddily, he throws his hands in his green jacket pockets. Your eyes guide down to his number. 456. Damn. “And I happen to find the person I hate the most here with me.”

You blink. “I—I’m sorry?”

“Not you.”

Your body was pushed aside, watching the deafening stares of the orange haired man striking the one with espresso locks. The tension was arising into an unsettling situation, despite the confused strangers that surrounded the three of you already. They begin to bicker on about a different conversation, bolstering each other about their personal lives and how one was smellier than the other and—fuck. Were they really doing this?

“Yo, what fucking gives, Dazai?” The one with orange hair retorts, raising his voice. He clenches his fist while stomping past you to walk up to the familiar stranger with the dark brown hair. They share frustrated stares; darting daggers with their eyes. “I know your suicidal ass is in debt but I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I can say the same, Chuuuu-ya,” Dazai responds, shaking his head in disbelief. He sighs deeply, clearly portraying an act of unwanted desire to speak with Chuuya. “Nice to see that the Port Mafia’s executive is in a bit of a mix-up as well with all of us.”

“Shut your mouth, bandaged freak.”

“You started it.”

“Did I now?” Chuuya growls. “I’ll kick your ass right here and now.”

Dazai chuckles, inching a smile on his lips. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Bring it, asshole.”

“You’re still a shrimp—can’t fight when you’re too tiny for me.”

“Shut up,” you quip, catching both of their attentions. They gaze their stare at you with frustrated stares. “Both of you. That isn’t important. Settle your business outside of here, but… do you have any idea where we are?!”

“You played a game with a stranger, right?” Chuuya asks, scratching his head. You nod; he grits his teeth in irritation. “He gave you the money if you won and we all decided to join in on this game. Didn’t ask to be kidnapped, though.”

“Oh, please,” Dazai joins in, causing Chuuya to scoff. “I only wish that they took my life when I was asleep. Shame that they didn’t do such a thing—they had the perfect chance.”

“So, you guys got in a van and had sleeping gas kicked in, right?” You ask, furrowing your eyebrows at them. Blood boiling; you gulp. ‘This can’t be safe,’ you think. “What the hell is going on here?”

The crowd grows as the conversations rapidly increase within a minute. Dazai grabs Chuuya’s shoulder, shrugging him back further into the crowd away from you. ‘No… this isn’t good…’ and you inhale a sharp breath, only hoping that the nightmare wasn’t meant to be as bad as you thought it would.

Those in pink begin to march in front of everyone, causing the lights to shutter to a dim. You turn around, darting your eyes in hopes of finding the two strangers that you spoke with. Even though you had no connection with either Dazai or Chuuya—despite the fact you stole Dazai’s wallet, but, oh well—you’d feel more comfortable with their presence around. Still, no sign. The two vanished amongst the others with similar green jackets; unfamiliar faces painted in an either giddy facade or an uneasy expression.

The guard with the square mask begins to speak, talking about how the first game was about to commence. Though the audience wasn’t pleased, multiple strangers started to yell out loud about how they were kidnapped and put to sleep. All belongings were missing. You start to toy with your fingers, in hopes of easing the unwanted anxiety, though that did not help much at all—and the guards drenched in neon pink choose to avoid conflict; not one word was shared. Complaints washed over the crowds.

The television flickers as the lights dim to a lower hue. Contestants were exposed with their numbers portrayed through the intercom. All of those played a simple game—ddjaki. And the hidden lives of their debts were shown, flickering from one player to another. You mentally pray that your face would not show—and much to your luck, it did not. Although, that didn’t ease any bit of the unsettling feelings to fade away.

Once the television shuts off, the lights still remain low. The guard with the square mask raises his voice, “you all participated to play games in order to win money. That is the deal.”

A glow rises from above; bright in illumination to capture the attention of others, and money slowly falls into a large dome—shaped like a piggy-bank. The others watch in awe, where you clench your fist. Shaking; unnerving, the money continues to flow in the dome. Other contestants salivate at the sight—mostly due to their high debts and loans, as if you were any different.

“For the sake of fairness,” the square guard explains; voice so low in a dead monotone. It’s unrecognizable, yet also echoing in an undetectable manner. “We cannot disclose any information about the future games.”

And within minutes, the large sea of contestants force themselves in different lines. ‘Is it possible to back out?’ you think, while walking into one line. You were supposed to sign a waiver—though you couldn’t fool yourself out of this shenanigan. After all, you chose to join the game. Perhaps, it would’ve been easy, and even if you had lost in the end, then at least you tried. ‘Damn.’

“Hey you,” a raspy voice was audible, and you turned to see Chuuya kick in the line behind you; Dazai followed suit from him. “Someone doesn’t look the least bit thrilled about this.”

‘By someone… you mean me, right?’

“Of course not,” you argue, shaking your head. “They used sleeping gas on us and took away our belongings. Even stripped us as well to wear these clothes. How can I not be scared out of my mind right now?”

“Don’t worry,” Dazai says out loud from behind Chuuya, bonking the orange-haired man’s head with his fist; Chuuya grunts in annoyance. “Even though you decided to snag my wallet, you can still stick with us if you’d like.”

“I didn’t—” you try to retort, but sigh; giving into defeat was a stubborn move, but in this case, there had been no point in lying further more. “Okay. Fine. I’m sorry I stole your wallet.”

“There we go!” Dazai waves a hand while you take further steps forward as the line continues to move fast. “Was apologizing that so hard?”

“You didn’t have shit in your wallet, anyway!”

“No, I didn’t,” Dazai chuckles pridefully. “I don’t have much in there.”

“There wasn’t even one credit card.”

“Oh, that’s so sad,” he fights back fake tears. “I’m sorry I couldn’t provide any funds. Maybe once I win, we can go out sometime? My treat.”

Chuuya groans loudly, scratching his head with both of his hands. “You bandaged asshole—do you really think asking someone out right now is the best time?!”

“Hey, what gives?” Dazai murmurs, scrunching his nose. “You act as if I can’t have my own enjoyment while being trapped in here.”

“Just—shut it. ‘Kay?”

“Says the most powerful executive who is in tons of debt. Sorry, did you run away from the mafia? You owe too much to a couple of people outside of there, don’t you?”

“Say what you want, old snake,” Chuuya snaps, knitting his eyebrows in displeasure. “I have no time to worry about your ass when we are against each other. Prize money’s mine.”

Dazai laughs loudly, forcing himself to slap his knee in childish amusement. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Your ass is dead once we are all released from here.”

You blink, watching the two bicker in line. Loudly. The other contestants share blank stares at the two. Sighing while you take a few steps forward, your throat clears. “You two really are the bestest friends, huh?” You giggle.

Dazai and Chuuya turn to you simultaneously with angry glances. “No, we are not!” They chant together—at the same time.

‘God…’

You walk up to one of the guards, hand shaking while you pick up the black pen. Eyes trailing along the printed words; everything was written so simple. The rules are basic, yet something is off. Though, you look up to the guard—hidden beneath the uncomfortable triangle mask. Questions flood your mind, yet only shaky breaths fall out from your lips as you sign the permission waiver before halting to the far side of the room.

Chuuya and Dazai wait near the entrance, only to have the guards escort all of the contestants through the room. Unsure of the future events, you attempt to keep your body from shaking. A few steps into the blank rooms lie a large illusion of stairs—brimming in green and pink. Chuuya follows behind you, murmuring how “trippy” the area looks; the contestants glance around in awe. Bright colors radiate from the high illumination in the room.

Your picture was taken, where you forced a small smile in front of the camera. Some of the other players portrayed silly faces. ‘Aren’t they scared?’ you think, wondering if the others might feel just as uneasy as you do. No words were spoken; harsh noises of footsteps walking up the colorful stairs were only echoing throughout the large room—what seemed to be an illusion that trailed on to a different dimension, almost. ‘Trippy…’ you laugh to yourself—exactly what Chuuya said.

After walking up several flights of stairs, you walk into a large room with the others that portray nothing but the outdoors. Or what it seemed like.

You feel someone bump into your shoulder, where he shouts a loud “I’m sorry!” to you. Blinking from the ray of the sun blinding your view, you watch the younger man in front of you raise his hands to surrender. He spits out apologies, asking if you were harmed, but you shake your head.

“No… I’m alright…” you say. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“No, not at all,” he says; grey-hair flowing from the wind. His haircut was unusual—nothing like you had ever seen before. “It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, Dazai!”

He calls out the name you caught on from before. Your eyes widened, turning to face the younger man who had just bumped into you and ran into Dazai, who kept his hands tucked in his pockets. ‘They know each other?’ and you walk further to them, where Chuuya was scanning the area surrounding other confused contestants.

“Atsushi,” Dazai smiles. “Nice to see you here. Didn’t think I’d run into you.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Atsushi inhales a sharp breath, palms resting on his knees as he arches. “And Chuuya’s here too.”

“What the hell is this?” Chuuya quips, crossing his arms.

You glance around the big room, lost in a puzzling daze. The other contestants stand, watching the sky above; fluttering birds among the pale blue. Nothing out of ordinary, despite the large uncomfortable female doll-like state further into the area. The walls were up high; painted to camouflage the sky. Shivers tremble down your spine, causing you to roll your shoulders back.

“I don’t know what that is but that just looks creepy,” Atsushi murmurs, taking a step back.

Dazai’s presence creeps up close to you, causing you to look at him. Face so pale yet heavenly underneath the sunlight—which was hidden amongst the clouds. Murmurs of chatter began to rise up, where the other contestants were engaging in random conversations.

“I’m so confused,” you say.

“Tell me about it,” Dazai sighs, shaking his head.

“You mean you don’t know what’s going on?”

“No?” He chuckles, raising a brow. “What makes you think I know what’s happening around here?”

You scoff, crossing your arms. “You seem like someone who knows what’s going on.”

“I’m new to this just like you are and everyone else.”

Turning to Atsushi, you poke his shoulder. He turns around, beaming a bright smile before awkwardly throwing his hand behind his neck. “Hey there, you okay?” He asks.

You nod. “Kind of… I’m guessing you all three know each other?”

“Right,” he nods. “Dazai and Chuuya, and then I’m Atsushi.”

“I’m sorry, I just—” you say, nearly losing your breath. “I’m so confused.”

“Well, it’s a long story about how we—”

“No, no,” you interrupt. “Not that. Just—” your hands wail around, darting eyes from every corner of the lit room; painted to the looks of the outdoors along with a creepy doll statue further down. “Everything! What the hell is going on?”

“I told you already,” Dazai says, tilting his head. “We don’t know what’s going on. Everyone is experiencing this fresh just like you.”

Chuuya scoffs. “Let them be scared. They got every right to be.”

“I didn’t say they couldn’t be scared. Wooow, not listening as always, hm?”

“What did you say?!”

“Too short to hear me from up here, I see.”

Your face twitches. ‘Are they always fighting…?’

Atsushi places a hand on your shoulder, showing off a gentle glance. He grins with confidence, causing your bottom lip to quiver. A kindhearted spirit he bestowed—almost so naive, in a way. “Don’t worry,” he says. “You can stick close to us if you get lost. Even if we’re competing against one another, I’ll do my best to help you out if anything.”

“I…” your voice trails off; a sigh follows. “Thank you, Atsushi.”

“The first game is red light, green light.”

An unfamiliar voice echoes throughout the room—most likely from a hidden intercom. There were multiple crowds of players in front of you. ‘A kids game?’ you think, pursing your lips. No way. Could it be that easy? A smile slowly trails up your lips; fists clenching in excitement. Energy soars through your legs. ‘Easy!’ if only you had known the games would’ve been simple such as this, the anxiety was nothing but a burden.

“You can move forward if the tagger yells ‘green light’. Move during ‘red light’, and you will be terminated from the game.”

Chuuya blinks, fighting back a laugh. He smacks your arm playfully; you wince. “Damn, is that all? It’ll be easy.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Dazai says; voice dark with his eyes gazing into a blank. “There’s a catch.”

“Huh? Not everything has to be crazy puzzles and fancy tricks, Dazai.”

“They steal our belongings, put us to sleep, strip our clothes, and then the permission waiver states we aren’t allowed to abort the game at any time,” Dazai exhales deeply, facing the ground. “There’s a catch. Just watch.”

“A—Ah, really?” Atsushi stutters before glancing back at the statue that was further away. “The head moves… that’s really creepy.”

“We’re just going to have to play the game,” Dazai says, furrowing his eyebrows ahead. “But just remember what I said… ah…”

You blink at his confused stare at you. “What is it?”

Dazai chuckles playfully; such a sudden change of character. “I don’t think we caught your name.”

Scrunching up your nose, you huff. “You don’t need to know it.”

He smirks in return. “We’ll find out eventually.”

“Green light…”

You cautiously take a few steps forward, with the others following close to your tail.

“... Red light!”

A sudden shot was heard from a further distance. The intercom calls out that one of the players has been eliminated. You freeze in your tracks, where you spare a glance at the other three, who all seemed to be dazed in a shock—whereas Dazai only has a blank stare. ‘What was that noise…’ you begin to panic mentally. ‘Don’t tell me that was…’

“Green light…”

The others move; footsteps shuffling beneath the sand below. However, you stay in your place, eyeing Dazai who talks a few steps further in front of you.

“... Red light!”

One of the contestants ahead began to turn, running the opposite direction but—bang. A splatter of red paints the nearest players. In an instant, a wave of people begin to shuffle to the opposite direction of the doll. The crowd splits into numerous directions. Screams were audible; loud enough to pierce your ears. Boiling blood had never been so uncomfortable before and panic rises in your breaths, clearly frozen to the position you were in.

“Don’t move!” Dazai shouts, causing Atsushi to flinch at the raise of his voice.

“Fucking hell,” Chuuya swears, keeping his position steady. “They’re shooting at people that are moving? What kind of sick people run this game?”

“As if you were any different in the Port Ma—”

“This is no time to argue with me, you bandaged ass!”

You close your eyes, forcing your feet to stay planted on the ground. Nearby, people fall to their deaths, with the large gunshots popping out as if they were confetti. The entrance to the room decorates in sheer red; child-like wallpaper remains a dead battlefield. Bodies litter the ground, only with those alive remain stuck in place—either from absolute fear or that they were completely determined to follow the exact rules of the game. Perhaps, both.

“The rules will be repeated. You can move forward if the tagger says ‘green light’, but you are eliminated if you move during ‘red light’.”

‘This can’t be happening…’

“Green light…”

“Move, now,” Dazai quips in a sharp whisper. Chuuya curses him out from behind.

You start to move your feet, unsure of where to go except you maintain your balance—somehow.

“... Red light!”

You freeze in your spot, watching the others that were unfortunate enough to move get shot. Cold-blood. Wincing, you keep your head down, attempting to fight back the tears from coming through.

“Green light…”

Atsushi quickly takes his steps forward but stops quickly. Dazai and Chuuya follow close to him where you remain in your spot—still. Trapped. With the sudden shock electrifying your veins. ‘Please let this be a dream.’

“... Red light!”

Bang, bang, bang. It seems like the gunshots were never ending.

“Green light…”

Quickly, you snap yourself out of your gaze, darting past the other contestants where you nearly lose your step. Tripping on your foot, your eyes flash into a bright light—most likely facing the end of your life, for what it seems, though a tight grip was kept in front of you.

“... Red light!”

You freeze, keeping your arms sprawled out. Chuuya keeps his grasp on you tight, with his bottom lip bitten. Completely focused on keeping his grip on you tight.

“M’gonna help you back on your feet…” he whispers with his lips in a fine line—most likely to avoid having the statue detect any bit of his movement, shaking in his position from his hold on you. “You better stay alive, you got that?”

Blinking rapidly, you fight back a nod.

“Green light…”

Once Chuuya lets go, you swift on your feet again before making hasty steps forward in front of the others. Atsushi calls out your number, exclaiming that you need to slow down or else you’d lose balance. But the finish line was right there—the ground covered in nothing but the remains of death and those who feared to have their lives lost; disgusting, and unfortunate. Though you lived, and victory was at the tip of your tongue. Adrenaline rushes through you after more steps are taken by your shaky feet.

“... Red light!”

You notice Dazai nearly moving his hands close to you. He chuckles in amusement, almost loud enough for the other remaining contestants to hear. Sweat glistening from his forehead along with yours—your jaw drops. ‘He ran up to me so quickly! Does he have a death wish or something?’ you think but a smirk grows on his face.

“Looks like we’re all gonna make it,” Dazai whispers, attempting to keep his lips pursed in a tight line to keep them from moving.

“Green light…”

You dash to the line in front, where you almost trip on your feet—again—before Dazai tumbles down by throwing himself to the end; he laughs excitedly, right as Atsushi jumps in with a scream and Chuuya joins in. Nearly falling to the ground, you let your face meet with the sand; tears trickle down your flushed cheeks. You’re alive.

“... Red light!”

The buzz goes off in the room loudly, where the other contestants were immediately shot once the game had announced its end. You cover your ears, pursing your lips tightly before batting your eyes to flush away the tears; lips covered with the taste of salt. The entire room stains with washed blood drying the sand below the motionless corpses. So cruel. All of it.

Atsushi sits by your side, placing a palm behind your back. The only remaining illumination of the room flickers, trickling down to nothing.

Pitch-black.

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