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unseededtoast · 5 months ago

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Turtle Doves | Joel Miller

Part Twenty Two

Chapter Directory

Series Summary: In which two broken souls connect so deeply, that if one should perish, the other would surely die of a broken heart. (slow burn, timeline changes. After TLOU1, before TLOU2, assumed knowledge of infected, uses elements from both show and game)

Series Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, death, and sexual content.

Also cross posted on my Wattpad and AO3, if you prefer those formats. Here is a link to my masterlist for everything else I’ve posted.

"But that night you got hurt, I enjoyed killing them. I liked hearing them die in front of me, their blood staining my hands."

Joel and I don't stay in the town for another night, we continue on. Our pace is slower than what I've become accustomed to, but Joel's wound isn't completely healed yet. The two of us have been silent after our discovery, Joel didn't have anything to say after I declared my death threat. No, instead of saying anything, he just handed me the photos and nodded solemnly.

With the two of us getting closer and closer to Omaha, I find myself feeling appreciative of Joel's slower pace. This gives us opportunities to find things we may have otherwise missed. And it also gives me more time with him. Since his near-death experience, I find myself trying to memorize the way his eyes shine golden in the sunlight, the way his voice sounds in the morning, how his shirt clings to the broadness of his shoulders, just small details. The small details are the ones I know will fade first, and I want to be able to hold onto them for as long as possible.

I know this to be fact because I can no longer quite remember what Ryan's voice really sounded like, and I can't quite remember just how soft Lucas' hair was. The simple things about them have slowly faded from my mind without me realizing it, until I thought about them one day and could never truly remember. I've never been able to forgive myself for forgetting, and I know I don't want to forget these things about Joel. After all, he's the man who has kept me alive all this time.

A part of me wishes I could be there when he's reunited with his pseudo-daughter. I wonder if he's going to tell her about this, or never mention it to her at all. She would have no idea I exist, or that Joel and I took this trip together. I know Joel is trying to protect her from the people of this world due to her immunity, so it makes sense if he never tells her about any of this. She's still a child at the end of the day, and no child should hear that there's a bunch of crazed men out there trying to find and kill them. Even if she never knows about me, or any of this, I know I'll still be able to rest peacefully at night with the knowledge that I helped protect her.

"This okay for tonight?" We stop walking as Joel points out a small, run-down gas station. It's likely the only building for miles, and so I agree to stop here for the night.

As we set up our makeshift camp, I continue to think about the girl waiting for him back in Wyoming. After hours of on-the-road thoughts, I can't help but to be fascinated with someone who is immune. It's glaringly obvious that she's one of a kind. Sure, I've known for a while that she's immune, but I think it just took some time to process it, to really understand what it means and the ramifications of it. But mostly, I just want to know how it happened. What caused her to be immune and why it's not being replicated anywhere else, that we know of.

My eyes follow Joel's form as he starts the fire for the night, my thoughts anywhere but the present. I watch how he situates the flammable material while wondering what his life is like in Wyoming and if he's excited to be back. Obviously, he's probably eager considering he's got family waiting for him. He lights the fire and the amber glow illuminates his features in soft light. His eyes look warm and inviting, the curve of his nose beautifully adorns his face with unique character, the plumpness of his lips reflect with the drink of water he just took. As if he feels my eyes lingering on him, he looks over and meets my gaze.

"What's on your mind?" He asks, shifting back from the fire a few feet as it takes flame. My eyes dance between him and the fire, debating if I should confess or not.

"I um, I've just been thinking about a lot of things." It's not a complete lie, I guess. Orange flames rise and dissipate, crackling in front of us.

"About what? You've been quiet since this morning." Instead of confiding in him my most recent thoughts, I decide to unload the other thing that's been bothering me for a while now, since he was stabbed. With a sigh and a quick lick of my lips, I tell him my moral dilemma.

"I've never been one to enjoy taking a life. Didn't like it when I was on FEDRA gate duty, and I didn't like it when we ran into the Fireflies. But that night you got hurt, I enjoyed killing them. I liked hearing them die in front of me, their blood staining my hands. And I've been having these thoughts of what it's going to feel like to kill these people. It's almost anticipatory." Our eyes stay locked on one another as I speak, my words quiet and somber. With a shaky breath, I continue,

"And I'm not sure what that makes me. Am I really any different from them if I look forward to killing?" My throat constricts, like my body doesn't want me to voice my fear. The silence between us is palpable and dread grows in me with each second Joel doesn't say something. Not being able to handle the criticism when he opens his mouth, I focus on the fire.

"Doesn't make you a bad person, if that's what you're worried about." He finally speaks, and his words catch me off guard, the total opposite of what I was expecting.

"Then what does it make me? Because it isn't good." My voice cracks. I know it's not fair to be asking him these questions, but, I can't stop from asking them. He shifts his weight to his other side and leans forward slightly, looking deeper into my eyes and I fear if he looks too hard he'll be able to see right into my soul.

"Makes you human. Means you have purpose, something worth protecting. Or, in your case, a ledger to balance." There is no trace of anything but authenticity as he speaks, his words settling into my mind. My eyebrows come close together as I mull over what he's said and I realize he may be right.

"You know I really thought you were going to die that night." I change the subject slightly, not wanting to admit to him that he's becoming my 'something to protect' and a part of my 'ledger to balance'.

"And if I did I suppose it was just my time." He relaxes his posture as if the thought of death is no more stressful than deciding what he's going to wear the next day.

"Don't say that." I shake my head, not wanting any more images of his dead body in my mind. The one from this morning, from the photos, still haven't left my mind. Each time they pop up behind my eyelids, it instills a new fear in me each time.

"You did a damn good stitch job." He tries to lighten the mood, pulling up the hem of his shirt to show the still intact sutures.

"It's a wonder you didn't bleed out. Do you even remember what happened?" I'm not entirely sure how much he saw, or what he remembers. To answer my question, he shakes his head.

"Not really, just remember you gettin' there and the rest is just kind of-" He motions with his hands that his memory of the night has become scrambled.

"One of them got you real good with their machete. I stuffed the wound with my shirt to try to stop the bleed and then I had to get you to another building. On the ground just outside of where we ended up there was one of their torches, barely still burning on the sidewalk. So I took it and heated the blade of my hunting knife, then I cauterized the cut. Found the sewing supplies when I was looking around and just did my best. Truthfully, you lost a lot of blood, like, way too much." I give him the brief recounting of the night. His fingers lightly trace the stitching before he meets my eyes again.

"Thank you." He tenderly says, dropping the hem of his shirt.

"It was the least I could do." I shrug one of my shoulders. The silence between us returns for a few more moments before Joel announces that he's going to get some sleep for the night. I tell him I'm going to as well, but end up staying awake.

After a while, the flames of the fire begin dying off but my eyes remain affixed to the back of Joel. The shirt across his shoulders is drawn tight, battling to stay intact. His dark curls are barely brushing the collar of the shirt, more prominent from the humidity of the day. As my eyes wander down his solid form, the chain around my neck seems to burn my skin. Disgust with myself boils up from within, and I force myself to look away from Joel.

My gaze turns up to the ceiling and I try to flood my mind with how Ryan sounded, how he felt, how he loved me. Bits and pieces come back, like how his hand felt on my cheek, how solid his chest felt when I hugged him, but I cannot remember his voice. I can feel the timbre of it, but can't place the true tone and inflection. Tears well in my lower lash line as I accept that I genuinely can't remember him fully anymore. I've known for a while that certain things have faded, but I never took the time to mourn that loss, I have not allowed myself to mourn Ryan the way I should have all those years ago.

My hands curl into frustrated fists, my nails digging crescent shapes into my palm as silent tears run down my face. Tears of guilt for forgetting, tears of sadness because I can no longer remember all of my husband. Tears of fear because I realize that I may be falling in love with another man; one whom I cannot be with. I grit my teeth together in lieu of screaming and a hollow feeling opens in my chest.

Moving faster than my mind can keep up, I go outside where the air hits the wetness of my face and sends a shiver down my spine. Once I'm sure that I'm far enough to where Joel can't hear me, I let myself cry. With each ragged breath I take my chest heaves up and down unevenly. Tears uncontrollably run down my face and I grip the chain around my neck tightly, wishing I could just have one more second with my family, wishing I could feel the warmth of their skin on mine, to tell them how much I love them one final time. Hoping and praying that my love for them and their absence is enough to stave off the feeling blooming inside of me for Joel.

All through the past ten years I've yearned to have my family back, there's been a hole in my heart, a void that has never been filled since outbreak day. A void that hasn't been hurting as much the past couple of weeks. I've always missed Ryan and Lucas, but lately their absence has been a dull ache as opposed to the sharp stabbing I'm used to. I'm not sure what this means, because I know I love and miss them vehemently. But I also know how I feel about Joel.

Unable to stay standing, I lower myself to my knees, burying my face in my hands. My eyes squeeze shut and the tears fall off the ends of my eyelashes. Guilt overtakes me as I remember how on outbreak night Ryan protected Lucas and I to the best of his ability. How he told me he loved me, and that we were going to be alright. If only I had turned that corner first. Why was I the one to survive, but they had to die?

Guilt burns into anger and I blame myself for what happened. If only I had been brave enough to go first, then maybe they would still be on this Earth. I know they could've forged a life for themselves somewhere. Meanwhile I was content being shipped everywhere and ended up being a lowly pill runner. Why couldn't that FEDRA guard have shot the infected two seconds earlier and spared them? It just isn't right.

Sobs strain my throat while I try to stay quiet and I use the sleeve of my button up to wipe my nose. The stars above me shine brightly and I stare at them, stray tears falling down my cheeks. If only they could reach out to me and let me know that wherever they are, that they're together and they're not suffering, that they're not angry at me for feeling this way about Joel.

Ryan and Lucas will never be able to be replaced, they will always occupy a special place in my heart. I know I can never have them back with me physically, yet I know that they are forever with me, tethered to the very fiber of my being. But I feel that my heart is opening up a new spot, and I'm not sure I'll be able to kill whatever is blooming. I'm not sure I want to.

With wide eyes I search the sky for some sort of sign, some indication that my feelings are right or wrong. But my search is cut short when I hear the door of the gas station open. Quickly, I use the sleeve of my shirt to wipe my face and hope that the darkness of night will conceal my puffy face. As my head turns to face Joel, I can almost swear I see a streak of light in the sky. But by the time I do a double take, whatever I thought I saw, is gone.

"Are you okay?" Joel's voice cautiously asks as he slowly approaches me. The stars are shining so bright tonight that I can see the familiar crease between his brows. His boots crunch softly on the loose pebbles on the pavement and I nod my head, trying to stabilize my breathing.

"I'm okay." My voice betrays me as I speak, it comes out hoarse. Joel comes to my side, and lowers himself next to me, crouching instead of resting on his knees.

"Why don't you come back inside? I'll get the fire started up again." I feel his eyes on me as I stare back at the sky, one last lone tear sliding down my cheek. Joel's words are smooth as honey, calming and soft. A gust of wind blows past us, sending another shiver up my body.

Joel must see the slight quiver as the breeze passes, and he puts an arm around my shoulders, the other under my elbow, and he helps me back to my feet. He keeps his arm gently wrapped around me as we go back to the gas station, and I lean into his touch out of instinct. Before we enter the building, I stop and take one last look at the sky, hopeful to see whatever it was that zoomed past when Joel stepped outside just to confirm what I think it was. But nothing happens.

I step back into the building in front of Joel, who works to get the fire reignited. My body begins to physically calm down from my crying, jagged breaths turn into hiccups. The first one shocks us both, but after the second I think I can almost see a tiny smile on Joel's face. However, when he turns to me after the fire is rebuilt all signs of a smile are gone and is instead replaced with a caring expression. Joel's dark brown eyes are wide and I see how his eyes look over my face, his shoulders aren't tight and rigid, he almost looks relaxed.

He walks over to me and leads me to what I've claimed as my spot for the night, marked by my backpack. Gingerly, he sits me down and crouches by my side once more, moving a rogue strand of hair out of my face that was plastered to my cheek from the tears. His fingers are warm against my face, and he lets them linger there for just a second longer than he needs to. My eyes slowly blink, appreciative of the contact. He licks his lips and his eyes look over my face once more, trying to piece together what's wrong.

"You don't have to tell me why, but I just need to know that you're alright, that you're not hurt." I look into his eyes that are inches from me and I nod with another hiccup jolting through me.

"I'm not hurt." My hoarse voice confirms to him and I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand to dry them fully. I feel that my eyes are puffy, my lips swollen from keeping quiet and I hope I don't look as disheveled as I feel inside.

"Okay." Joel nods and only then does he back away from me. Though I wish he would stay. However, I know that with my uncertain emotions, that it's probably better he that he doesn't. For his sake. He doesn't need to be roped into my personal shit show.

Every few minutes a hiccup interrupts the quiet, and each time I see Joel struggle to keep a smile at bay. I'll admit, they do sound a little ridiculous and if I weren't so upset I'd probably laugh at them too. But as my hiccups calm down, I find myself transfixed by the dancing flames.

Perhaps I needed to come to terms with my reality, accept my losses, and understand how Ryan and Lucas are still a part of me to be okay with something new. And perhaps this something new is for the better. Even if it doesn't work out, at least I know I'm still human enough, capable enough, to keep going.

Twenty Three

#joel miller #joel miller the last of us #joel miller tlou #joel miller fic #joel miller tlou fic #joel miller the last of us fic #joel miller fanfic #joel miller series #tlou #the last of us #the last of us fic #the last of us fanfic #the last of us joel #joel the last of us #pedro pascal

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sonicasura · 2 years ago

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The most chaotic and funniest thought just hit me.

Mario and Tales of Arcadia could exist in the same universe.

Let me explain. The Super Mario franchise had their own cartoon in the 90s called the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. In it, the brothers can travel between Brooklyn and the Mushroom Kingdom via a green warp pipe located somewhere in the sewer systems.

Basically no one else knew about this pipe nor the hidden universe(I'll call the Mario World we know as the Hidden World from this point afterwards) except the Mario Brothers. Then you also consider there is more than one warp pipe. And thus this glorious idea.

For setup, the Hidden World could be considered the Promised Land to all Trollkind. A realm where sunlight nor lack of being near a Heartstone DOESN'T turn them to stone and bears many treasures of peculiar power but also a potential second home should their realm fall apart i.e what will become the Darklands.

Some trolls left to seek out the Hidden World but never came back. There had been only one account of someone finding the mythical 'Green Channel' that leads there. However the troll discoverer in question was branded as a liar and label an outcast. This explorer writes a journal of his experiences before eventually disappearing. 'Beginner's Guide To The Hidden World' was the only thing left as no one knew the writer's fate.

A book of a madman's ramblings and gone unfound inside Arcadia's Trollmarket until the first human Trollhunter been made. You don't expect Jim or Toby to not look through the books in Blinky's library especially if a problem arises. It bonks the poor Trollhunter on the head and our favorite book troll practically flips out once he sees the guide.

Whether the major plot point is such as Battle of Two Bridges, find Gunmar's weakness or handle Angor Rot, it doesn't take much convincing to look into this Hidden World. Now since sewers weren't prevalent in the middle ages, no Troll thought the 'Green Channel' could be a giant sewer pipe. Modern human thinking leads to Team Trollhunters rediscovering the Hidden World and it's unique flavor of insanity.

(Jim seriously needs a huge break from being the universe's drama dump. Why not throw a very long overdue albeit super goofy bone? Plus I know some of you guys want to see Draal put on a Cat Bell, Jim in a Tanuki Suit and Toby in a Penguin Suit.)

Now for some worldbuilding!

Trolls born in the Hidden World have natural immunity to sunlight. An occurrence that is half adaptation and half magic revelant. They can also survive without the presence of a Heartstone but are unable to use powers up unless they return or have a special item.

It takes four hits to make a Hidden World troll lose their active power up, two for Changelings and three for a normal troll. Although those who possess the Amulet of Daylight, like Jim, can take four hits no matter the species. They have a major kingdom located somewhere near the Seaside Kingdom known as Stoneheart and are neutral territory. Koopa Troopas are considered rivals specifically the royal ones like Bowser.

Trolls came up with 'Action Filming', a maybe Mario canon(my memory is rusty) where the games/series is a play while the characters are actors and friends offscreen. You know they would make a concept like that as they're still a warrior based race.

Quite friendly to outsiders and visitors, a good chunk of Hidden World trolls are travelling freelancers in their own expertise. The most common are traders, bodyguards, to of course any occupation that revolves around geology or architecture. Gunmar is considered the Hidden World Trolls' Boogeyman, a story to teach young whelps to behave.

If proven real then Jim definitely has an army willing to help him out as major threats are taken quite seriously in the Hidden World. I can say that Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Partners in Time, and Bowser's Inside Story are the only games mostly based on true events. You can't expect three major incidents that affected three different kingdoms, ESPECIALLY their royalty, weren't taken seriously nor have a huge impact on everyone else.

Hidden World Trolls rarely eat cats or any other pet considered animals. I think the reason why they limit themselves in canon is because a missing cat ain't gonna draw major attention unlike cattle and other farm animals. Although I bet a grocery store that accepts or can keep trolls' existence a secret would be a godsend. But yeah, their food options aren't limited in the Hidden World.

Finally for the last bit, there have been some unique adaptations that tend to crop up with Hidden World Trolls. These can range power up based ones such as species with Penguin Suit or Fire Flower traits, environmental like those raised in Lake Lapcat have feline characteristics, to seemingly random ones like shapeshifting. Yep. A natural born Changeling who doesn't need a familiar to transform is a possibility.

That's it for now! Until next time folks, I'll see you at the warp pipe between Arcadia and the Mushroom Kingdom!

#sonicasura #back on my bullshit #crack taken seriously #tales of arcadia #toa #tales of arcadia trollhunters #toa trollhunters #trollhunters #super mario #super mario bros #super mario brothers #mario and luigi series #super mario series #super mario brothers super show #mario #mario series #mario and luigi #worldbuilding #crossover thoughts

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brighteststar707 · 2 years ago

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Sunshine

a silly thing i wrote just bc i liked the idea of saeran in a straw hat :)

On warm days, you often find Saeran hunched over in the garden, hands muddy, softly murmuring to the plant he’s working on at the moment. You like to joke that they know him as well as you do, with how much he talks to them.

His skin has started to take on some colour after spending so much time outside, which gives him a healthy glow. When you come close to kiss him, you see the faintest hint of freckles dusted over his nose and cheeks. The first time you see them, you pepper his face in kisses and tell him he’s pretty (he’s starting to believe you).

It means more to the two of you than it would to anyone else. Each freckle is a reminder that he is finally able to spend time outside under the sky. They are a marker of this new life he has found.

It doesn’t make him immune to sunburns, though. It’s easy for him to lose track of time as he works and come inside after a long day with his cheeks and forehead burning red. You gently spread aftersun on his face and remind him that he needs to take care of himself.

One sweltering summer day, you come out into the garden to bring him something to drink. Today, he’s tending to the produce garden. It’s a small experiment he started at the beginning of the year. He likes the idea of being able to provide small things for his family (even though you often remind him that he provides much more than the vegetables he harvests).

He has forgotten his sun hat somewhere in the garden, probably taken off for a second and left behind as he moved on to the next task. You find it as you make your way to him and pick it up, smiling to yourself. It’s a simple hat, made of straw with a wide brim to protect his face from any further burns. You bought it for him on a whim while in the garden centre and you can’t help but smile every time you see him in it. You now have a matching one to wear on days you join him outside.

He hears you approaching and turns to greet you. He smiles widely and you admire the way the sunlight glints off his hair. You’re holding the hat behind your back so he can’t see, and he’s all too happy to accept the drink you offer him (a strawberry lemonade this time) and not ask any questions yet.

When he’s least expecting it, you plop the hat back onto his head with a soft “one more thing, darling.” He looks up at you under the brim and smiles guiltily. You lean down and kiss him hard before returning back inside, promising to bring him a snack soon.

#working on something else but i've been looking at it for too long #so finally decided to return to this from the drafts #for a change of scenery #no thoughts just pretty sunshine sunhat saeran #mystic messenger #mystic messenger saeran #mystic messenger GE saeran #ge saeran #mystic messenger saeran choi #mysme saeran choi #mysme saeran #mysme ge saeran #saeran choi #my writing

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chasingpj · 3 years ago

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𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤

pairing: percy jackson x child of aphrodite! gn reader

requested?: yup!

warnings: mentions of underage drinking, one curse word, and mentions of sexual tension

category: fluff, shy boy x obviously interested girl trope

a/n: don't mind me I'm just projecting and I got carried away

you’re not sure what gravitated you to percy more

the crystal green eyes, the freckles over his nose, the disheveled dark curls, or his clumsiness

the first time you laid eyes on him, he was walking back to his cabin after sword-fighting practice

his tan skin gleamed in the sunlight as a hand came up to swipe away the damp hair sticking on his forehead

for an action so mundane, it made your stomach flutter like crazy

and then the beauty of the moment was ruined right when he trips over the steps of his cabin

you heard stories of the kid killing the minotaur, blowing up a volcano, and rumors of being the suspected child of a huge prophecy

yet, he was not immune from tripping over his feet

and you’re sure the dorky charm of that moment made you think, he’s mine

for the next few days, you were determined to approach him

but you didn’t just want to come up to him and introduce yourself; that would be too plain and forgettable

you ended up finding your opportunity during a capture the flag game

silena gave you instructions to distract percy, and you headed over strong, ready to make your first impression while also taking him down for your team

sure, he had water powers and done a bunch of cool things, but your father made sure you were well trained in sword fighting and martial arts even before you knew about the camp

you planned to take him by surprise, and luckily it worked

with ruthless attacks, it didn’t take long for you to sweep him off his feet and knock his sword out of his hand

by pressing the flat of your sword under his chin, you forced him to look up at you, and you peered into those clear green eyes

gods, he’s cute, you thought

“hey,” you said

percy was stunned, not sure if it was because you effortlessly took him down or if it was because you were one of the prettiest girls he’s ever seen

“... hi,” he sputtered, gawking for a moment as you offered your hand

you swore you felt sparks when his fingers brush across your palm... even though the contact was a little sweaty

in the distance, you heard the satyrs blow the horn and the roars of celebration from your team

“i should go back to the others. catch you later, ocean eyes,” you flirted

percy’s shoulders tensed up when you blew him a kiss; awkwardly frozen in his place as you waited

“well, are you going to catch it? you can’t just let my kiss fly away.”

percy shifted on his feet, not sure if you were serious or not, but when you held your ground with arms folded over your chest, it was clear that’s what you were waiting for

and so with a flushed face, percy awkwardly grabbed the air in the front of him, and you couldn’t help but giggle

“good, i wouldn’t want it flying to a stranger,” you commented playfully. “you know, i don’t really like this whole outdoor camp life thing, but seeing your pretty face around here makes it a lot better”

“uh… oh, thanks?” he stammered, not having the words to respond

you winked at him before walking off, more than satisfied with your first impression

after that, you were contemplating your next move

children of aphrodite can see all the possibilities in a potential relationship

you were able to see you and percy eating ice cream in central park, holding hands at camp, a shy kiss on your first date

you wanted all of it, and you going to make sure you get it

of course, silena and your siblings were your wing women

if percy was in the strawberry fields, you were picking strawberries beside him

in the fields, you got to know him and his sarcastic humor, which made your crush flourish

you even took sword fighting classes at the same time as him and made sure he was your partner most of the time

whenever you had a chance, you’d affectionately fix his hair or his armor just to hear his shy thank you’s

he’s never had a girl show this much interest in him, so you definitely made him a little nervous, but despite that, he opened up to you pretty quick

sometimes he’d help you out in the stables, and you noticed how he’d fumble with the harnesses or knock things over when you would flirt with him

you loved his reactions so much that you always took it up a notch just to see how he’d react

you suppose the pegasi didn’t make percy’s shyness any better

there were times where he’d shush them, or the tips of his ears would grow even more flushed at a neigh or huff from one of the pegasuses

as the summer came to an end, you gave percy your email and made sure you stayed in touch

you didn’t live very far from one another, but you didn’t dare ask to hangout

you wanted to be asked first!

and you were disappointed when the invitation never came despite the two of you being consistent with sending emails

the year flew by fast, though, and you were excited to return to camp for an array of reasons; percy being one of those reasons, of course

when you saw him for the first time that summer, you were in awe at how different he looked after a year

he was taller, broader, and just more handsome overall

your stomach went into a frenzy when he greeted you with a boyish smile while his hand rubbed the back of his neck nervously because he didn’t fail to notice how, somehow, you were even prettier than he remembered

unfortunately, having the prepare for the war meant you guys were too busy to hang out as often as you did the previous summer

but when you did have time to see each other, it was still fun

there was an unspoken rule between you and percy that any talk about the war wasn’t allowed

it allowed you guys to just bask in the nights where you would watch the sunset while joking around and sharing funny stories

those nights were calm and still; they brought a sense of normalcy amongst the chaos and growing tensions

because of this, percy had sought out your company whenever he could get it

being with you made him feel like time slowed down

inevitably, the battle of manhattan occurred and passed, causing the summer to end with the grief of losing your siblings

while campers arranged the ceremonies to honor their siblings, percy hopped around to help

losing silena as a counselor meant it was time to pick a new one, and to your surprise, your siblings nominated you

you were silena’s right-hand person, the oldest in the group after her, and the strongest fighter, so your siblings felt it was fair that you took the role

but it didn’t feel right to you; the pressure of being a newly elected councilor while still grieving silena weighed hard on your shoulders

after the nomination, you needed time to get away and sit with your thoughts, and you were only there for a moment alone until percy had found you

his eyes studied your somber expression, and he was quick to ask what was wrong

as you poured out all your worries, percy was quiet and attentive

you cuddled up to his side for comfort, and even in your sorrow, you didn’t fail to notice the way he tensed up

finally, when you let everything out, he chimed in to soothe your worries

your expression was a little lovestruck as he said everything you needed to hear, and well, his strong arm around your shoulders definitely helped too

you were so elated that you couldn't help but press a kiss on his cheek to thank him

his flushed face was enough to lift your spirits for good that day

by the time the summer officially came to an end, you could feel that percy’s feelings for you were becoming stronger

the romantic possibilities you envisioned became more apparent, but percy hadn’t asked you out yet

and like, you guessed you could have asked him out, but that wasn't fair in your book

you were already making the first moves; it was his turn to do something about it

then you were sure your mother pitied you because finally, after a few more months of emailing, percy asked if you to go ice skating with him, and of course, you agreed

but then, you concluded that it was more like a cruel joke from your mom because percy never showed up

you waited hours for him before you trudged home in defeat

heartbroken wasn’t even enough to describe how you were feeling

being stood up with no follow up from him made you conclude that he just wasn’t interested and you just needed to move on

it wasn’t until you went to CHB for christmas break did you find out percy was missing

you were crazy worried about him and helped as much as you could to try and find him

when it was confirmed that he was still alive, you were more than relieved

from that day on, you were itching to see him again, and finally, after the giant war, you were able to speak to him

you only said a hello before you got sucked into a game of truth or dare with your friends

the game was self-explanatory; spin the bottle and the person who’s chosen is submissive to the person who spun it

you made up some lousy dares for the first few people until you spun the bottle in percy’s direction

“truth or dare?” your voice was challenging, and a little flirty

percy shifts in his place, “truth.”

“do you want to kiss me?”

“dare.”

“kiss me.”

the instigating coos of your friends made you smile, which contrasted percy’s stunned expression

“never have i ever-”

“that’s not even the game, percy!”

your friends laughed at your interaction, but you were honestly a little annoyed

he liked you; you could feel it, so what was he even waiting for?

“it’s fine. you don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to,” you say with a playful smile in an attempt to hide your disappointment

“shit, i’d kiss you,” leo joked, and you suddenly perked up at the request

a new idea came to your mind

“so kiss me,” you snapped your gaze to leo, a smirk on your face

leo gasped so hard; he choked on his own saliva

while he coughed erratically, showcasing all his shock on his face, you announced, “new rule! you can only give up a dare if someone else in the group offers to take it for you.”

your gaze fixed on leo, “so, are you going to kiss me or what?”

“uh, only if you want to,” he stammered, and you smiled, moving to lean over in his direction

suddenly, percy cut in, “i didn’t give up the dare.”

your attention shifted to him, and you didn’t fail to pick up the jealousy radiating off of him

your stomach flipped with anticipation at the success of your idea

if percy needed a push, you were going to push him

“you’ve given leo false hope then,” you joked, and playfully leo sighed.

“man, so close,” he mumbled.

you bit your lip as you leaned in percy’s direction

you felt his attraction to you; his eyes told you everything you needed to know and more

and before you knew it, your lips were against his

the kiss was short, but for a moment, the world around you was drowned out; you barely heard the coos and cheers of your friends around you

with a satisfied smirk, you pulled away, settling back in your spot as percy’s eyes averted elsewhere, too shy to look at you

you and your friends played the game until you grew bored and found something else to do

because the festivities kept pulling you in one direction to another, the only interaction you had with percy was the occasional longing glance and nothing else

as you escorted a few of your sisters who drank a little too much back to your cabin, you were sure you’d have to wait another day to talk to him

lost in your dismay, you automatically denied piper’s offer to finish the task

it wasn’t until she scoffed did you pull out of your thoughts

“are you kidding? go. i’ll get them back. you find percy.”

“oh yeah. you guys need to do something about that sexual tension. are you gonna date him or what?” another one of your sisters slurred

before you could even protest, you were shooed away by not only piper but by the rest of your siblings too

you stayed in your spot, making sure they had at least made it to the steps of the cabin before you pranced up to percy’s cabin

you figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask if he wanted to go on a walk with you

your knock is followed by a few moments of shuffling before he opened the door

and, whew, you were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a shirtless percy

“hey." you leaned on the door frame, your eyes trailing down to admire his toned torso

“eyes up here," percy playfully demanded

you were almost hesitant to avert your eyes, but you obliged.

"i wanted to ask if you wanted to take a walk. you know, i just haven’t been sleeping well."

percy leaned against the door frame, amused at the dramatic pout on your face.

“sure, let me put on a shirt firs-”

“oh, you don’t have to. i don’t mind,” you cut him off, and his head tilts back just a little as he laughs

“i’m putting on a shirt,” he declares playfully, and you whine in fake disappointment

on your walk, he told you all the crazy things that happened while he was missing, and even though his stories were a lot more interesting than what you had to say, he was eager to hear about what you've been up to

your conversation persisted as you walked around the camp and as you arrived at the docks, another idea came to mind

suddenly, you cut yourself off mid-sentence, your gaze fixed on the water

“perce, you know, i can’t swim,” you mention, stepping on the wooden dock

“really?”

“really.”

it was quiet for a moment, and percy's expression was laced with confusion as you kicked off your shoes

you didn’t even care that you were wearing designer clothes, running straight off the dock and into the deep lake water

you heard percy yell your name right as your body completely submerges in the water

and it wasn't even more than 3 seconds before percy jumped in, one arm immediately wrapping around your waist to swim up to the surface with you

his baffled expression sent you into a fit of laughter

“what? why did you do that?!”

“cause i knew you’d come and get me.”

percy’s lips curved up into a smile, and you took the time to admire his features in the moonlight

you swore you saw his eyes flicker to your lips for a second, and the action made you hyper-aware of how close your noses were

"kiss me!" you thought in your head as you circled your arms around his neck, pulling him even closer

you could feel his admiration, the accelerated thump of his heart, the fluttering in his stomach that mimicked yours

the kiss you shared earlier was far too short for your liking, and you were already looking forward to the next opportunity to kiss him again

“i haven’t forgotten that i owe you a date.”

you smiled at his words, half-distracted at the proximity of his lips

“so it was a date all along?” you asked, and percy nods, amused

“you know, i was thinking now that there isn’t another big prophecy and the chances of me disappearing again aren’t likely, that, maybe, you and i could-”

“yes! gods, yes.” you cut him off, and percy laughs at your eagerness

you waited too long for the question that you couldn’t even let him finish asking

he isn’t able to say anything else as you pull him into a passionate kiss

it was as if the years of anticipation were being poured into the movement of your mouths

the kiss was long, growing in eagerness until the harpies had ruined your fun and the two of you had to run back to your cabins

a part of you had wished that all of this would have happened sooner

you had plenty of nights where you were stared at the ceiling with conflicted thoughts, wondering if you guys just weren't meant to be, if you somehow made up his attraction to you in your head, or if you should ask him out first and save yourself the potential regret

but when you returned to your cabin full of enthusiastic siblings asking why you were soaking wet and why your lipstick was smudged, you realized you wouldn’t have changed a single thing

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#percy jackson x you #percy jackson oneshot #percy jackson imagine #percy jackson fic #percy jackson x reader #percy x reader #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson x y/n #percy jackson headcanon #my writing

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aminiatureworld · 4 years ago

Text

Enigmatic Feelings

Characters: Albedo, Diluc, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader

Word Count: 5,544

Warnings: None

Premise: Love is a potent force. And sometimes little things take on larger meanings, especially when one party is unaware of them.

In which the reader’s s/o is jealous

Author’s Note: This trope is 100% my guilty pleasure. I hope I did it justice.

I also realized while writing this that all these characters have the emotional understanding of a teaspoon, but they’re trying their best, so that’s what counts.

Albedo

Albedo was many things. A great alchemist, a man of secrets, a weapon with which one might someday bring destruction. He was even a lover, albeit an unpracticed one. But what he was not was emotional. Or so he thought.

Of course Albedo knew what jealousy was, knew the sort of stupidity that people could fall into when altogether too infatuated with their own love. But just because one knows what jealousy is does not mean one must fall prey to such things. Or so Albedo assumed.

It was the fourth day in a row that a knight had approached your door. Friedrich was his name, and he was doing a stellar job at capturing your attention, and pulling on emotions that Albedo had long told himself he didn’t contain.

Today the flower was a Windwheel Aster, swaying this way and that in the pocket of space between your two hands. You were smiling at it, or rather at Friedrich, brightly, fingers mere moments away from Friedrich as you went to claim the fourth flower this week. Though the was nothing necessarily untoward in Friedrich’s movements, and Albedo would much rather a person of integrity be attempting to woo you, even if the idea itself turned knots in his stomach; nevertheless it still left a bad taste in the alchemist’s mouth, and a worry in his heart that he was not so immune to jealousy as he’d previous assumed.

“Thank you!” You spoke to Friedrich, giving one last wave before walking back over to Albedo. “Albedo look! It’s a Windwheel Aster. It’s very nice of Friedrich to give me one, maybe I can use it, or maybe it’ll be helpful for your experiments?”

“Yes, thank you. I, I think you should keep it.”

As much as Albedo wanted to take the flower and throw it in the incinerator, he couldn’t bring himself to shatter the smile on your face. No matter how dearly it cost him to see you smile down once more at the delicate red petals. And no matter how much it haunted him the rest of the day to imagine you, face framed by a smile, a bouquet of a random knight’s making in your hands.

That knight as Albedo put away the Bunsen burners and the graduated cylinders he kept his mind preoccupied by thoughts of you. Surely he had to tell you his feelings, for if not they would keep building in his chest; building and building until one day he erupted, with you in the line of fire rather than the knight who was creating this whole dilemma, perhaps even unwittingly. Though Albedo had never been in a relationship before he knew stories. Weren’t books full of those kinds of moments? Men, women, people, all of them running over one another in their misunderstanding, in their overwhelming guilt.

No, he wouldn’t turn out like that, wouldn’t let the two of you be hurt in such a way. He had to tell you. Had to make you understand how much his chest constricted when he saw you carrying the gifts of others, had to let it be known before he lost control of these emotions. After all, wasn’t that what happened with emotions? They grow and grow and one day they spill over. And Albedo never wanted these emotions to spill over. No matter the cost.

“May I tell you something?”

The sunlight was streaming through the laboratory windows, the air warm enough that Sucrose had tied up her hair during her shift. And yet Albedo felt cold, oh so cold. He was going to tell you today. He hadn’t been able to tell you three days ago, nor two days ago, nor yesterday. And now the bouquet of flowers that occupied a tiny glass on the windowsill felt quite large indeed. Today would be day eight if Friedrich showed up at lunchtime, and before that Albedo would tell you.

“Of course you can Albedo, I’m all ears!”

You turned around, a soft smile once more spreading across your face. Putting down the pencil you’d been holding you leaned back against the lab table. Albedo took in a deep breath. He could do this. He would do this. He had to do this. No matter what, today. Today, he would do this.

“I-I’m jealous.” The words hung in the air for a moment, as if not understood.

“Jealous?” You tilted your head slightly, worry making your smile slip. “Albedo, jealous of what?”

“Of Friedrich, of you and Friedrich, or rather, I mean, of Friedrich giving you flowers.” Albedo paused, words tangling in his mouth, tripping on each other in an attempt to be understood. What if this was a mistake.

“Albedo,” you shook you head softly, walking over to cup your partner’s face, “I promise that there’s nothing in it. The flowers are lovely, of course, but nothing in this world could replace or stem my love for you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I know,” Albedo replied hurriedly, worried still that he might be misunderstood, “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, or say that I doubt you. My love, I will never doubt you. I just, I just feel so uncomfortable when he brings you flowers. It feels like, like I don’t know; it feels like I’m being poisoned, suddenly and all at once. And I don’t want it to affect the way I act towards you. So, so I wanted to tell you. You don’t have to stop, if those flowers make you happy then that’s what matters. But, but I just wanted to tell you.”

You said nothing, staring into Albedo’s eyes, gaze piercing through the alchemist. It was always that way with you. How you managed to destroy the control he thought he had, the wall he’d erected between himself and humanity. How you made him feel unsure and fallible and whole. And, just as before, now your gaze softened and you shook your head, your smile a balm for the raw unfamiliarity of putting together emotions.

“It’s okay Albedo, I’m glad you told me. Just like my emotions matter to you, I’d rather not see you unhappy. To be honest, I just never saw Friedrich’s actions in the way that he probably meant them. We all struggle with our feelings sometimes, I do just like you. Just as long as well tell each other, all will be well. Alright?”

“Yes. Thank you. I don’t know what I do without you.”

“Well you’ll never have to find out, so it doesn’t matter!”

There was no eighth flower that day, at least not one that was successfully given. Albedo supposed that he could pity Friedrich, but in reality he felt nothing but relief. The emotions that had left such a bad taste in his mouth seemed so far away now, for there was you, only you. It would only ever be you for him, and the days in which you said the same thing of him Albedo felt as if he could truly be happy, and truly acknowledge the emotions that swirled inside him, the love for you so great it spilled over into a vast ocean.

Diluc

Diluc found most merchants loathsome, something perhaps not entirely fair considering his own status as a mover of goods.

Still, merchants in general were an unlikeable bunch. Prone to complacency and greed, this elite circle was comprised of people who thought of little than of ways to line their pockets anew. It disgusted Diluc and as he stood there, watching as a man who had enough jewelry on his body to weigh down a pack mule and a smile that made one want to run in the other direction, throw compliments and boasts your way, the winery owner was reminded about all that was wrong with the world in which he worked.

“So your goal is to attempt to find a route through which we might trade our wine in Inazuma?” You repeated the words the man had just spoken, expression skeptical. “As much as it would mean good business to begin another trade route, I believe the border restrictions will cause no little difficulty.”

“Restrictions such as those are nothing for a man like me.” The merchant smile once more and Diluc felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. “I have the ability to wave past such an issue. Indeed with the right price I believe I could expand your network to include all of the seven major lands, if you haven’t been trading internationally.”

“Thank you for your offer.” You replied, too focused on the work in front of you to notice the merchant’s roving sort of gaze. “I’ll see what Master Diluc has to say. However I warn you, as much as international exports are important for a growing trade, smuggling wine into locked countries will do little good. Especially considering what the damage could do to this winery’s reputation if such a thing was found out.”

“Don’t worry, I assure you my methods are completely secure. In fact, if you’d like to discuss it in more depth, I do believe that I may be able to enlighten you over a meal.”

“Perhaps, although Master Diluc would certainly have to be there.” You smiled slightly, and Diluc wondered for a moment if you were being purposefully oblivious or simply didn’t notice the meaning behind the merchant’s words.

“I will be back tomorrow, perhaps you’ll have an answer then?”

“I’m sure I will.” You replied, smiling as the two of you shook hands. As the merchant walked out of the winery your smile morphed into a sort of smirk and you looked up towards the balcony of the second floor.

“You can come out now Diluc, I know you’re there.”

Diluc couldn’t help but smile at those words, he truly couldn’t get anything past you. Hurrying down the stairs he swept you up in his arms, sighing slightly into your neck as you tightened the embrace.

“Ever so observant, my darling.”

“I know that you’d never let a transaction or a business conversation take place without your knowledge.” There was a playfulness to your voice, coming from the knowledge that you were utterly correct. “Still, you could’ve come downstairs you know. I don’t think that anyone would need to believe that you were going through your ‘very important paperwork, and lurking around is your night job.’”

“It seemed somehow wrong to suddenly appear in front of you two and derail the conversation.” Diluc drew away and placed a soft kiss on the tip of your nose, chuckling when you immediately wrinkled it. “Especially since you were doing so well on your own.”

“Oh he’s just like the rest of them,” you sighed, “altogether a bit too full of themselves.”

“Especially in this one’s case.” Diluc said, finally letting a scowl cross his face.

“What do you mean?”

The look on your face was one of innocence and confusion, and for a moment Diluc felt his thoughts stammer, as he realized that you truly were unaware of the way that the merchant was looking at you, unaware of the manner which caused Diluc even now to continue to press his hand gently against your lower back. If you didn’t notice it, then surely Diluc was overreacting, surely there was no reason for his heart to stutter and his stomach to drop. Surely there was no reason, and surely he shouldn’t tell you.

“Nothing at all, I just didn’t like his face.” He hurried now to reply, realizing how odd his pause must’ve seemed. “Will you be accepting his proposal for a business dinner?”

“I’m not sure. I suppose it couldn’t hurt. And then it might be a good venue for the two of you to talk. Since you find him especially ghastly, I think a more public meeting might be easier.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think that invitation was meant for me.” Diluc replied, before realizing his gaffe and falling silent.

“What? What do you mean of course it’s meant for you. I mean you are the owner of the Winery. Who else would it be for?”

“For, for you my darling. Why else would he ask you in such a way?” Diluc tried to keep the acid out of his words. It wasn’t your fault after all. It wasn’t your fault that some louche was asking after you.

“But I’m not the one in charge.” You furrowed your brow. “I can’t make the final decision. And I won’t allow him to attempt to bypass getting your permission either.”

“My darling, I, I think he meant it a different way.”

“What way?”

Diluc sighed, capitulating quickly to his want to tell you. Even if it was perhaps selfish of him, he was never truly good at keeping his feelings masked away, at least in a way that didn’t result in him completely shutting down. And you meant to much to him than for Diluc to try and lie to you.

“You see, I think he was attempting to ask you on a more romantic sort of dinner.”

“What?”

Your reaction was immediate, your expression quickly turning into one of shock and then of disgust. Letting out a groan you buried your face into the front of Diluc’s coat, eliciting a short laugh from its owner.

“Why? I… I… Even if I weren’t in love with you I’d never go out to dinner with him.”

“I don’t think he would appreciate the sentiment.”

“Diluc.” You let out another groan, shaking your head as if to rid yourself of the thought. “Archons, ugh thank you for telling me. I, disgusting.”

Diluc said nothing, simply tightening the hold of his arms around you. Though your reaction was certainly justifiable he knew there was something more behind them, and he felt grateful for your consideration. Though he knew that would always have been your reaction, it didn’t stop the pressure that ha been building in his chest, the thoughts that screamed what if, what if, what if. What if there is something better than you.

“Hey, are you alright?” You voice drifted up through the fabric of Diluc coat. He smiled, relaxing his grasp around you and pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head.

“I will be. May I hold you a little longer?”

“Of course. You’re the only one for me, you know.”

“And you for me. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Those words, though so small, were somehow enough.

Xiao

The new guest at the inn had been speaking to you for quite some time. That was Xiao’s first observation. The second was that you didn’t seem to mind. The third was that for some reason he suddenly felt incredibly irritated.

It was a beautiful evening, the kind that would’ve normally had you and Xiao sitting on the roof together, fingers entwined, the silence of nature cushioning the two of your from the outside world. It was a ritual, something that Xiao had come to rely on, had come to almost sanctify. Yet here he was, sitting on one of the thicker branches of the trees that dotted the outside of the Inn, trying desperately to quench the anger that bloomed in his chest as he watched you and the guest talk the minutes away.

Perhaps the worst part was that you didn’t seem to mind. Instead of pulling the conversation towards a close, you seemed perfectly content to keep talking, smiling brightly and quickly answering the questions of this uninvited guest. Normally Xiao didn’t care about , or rather didn’t keep track of, the people you spoke to. Of course you would have friends, would have people that mattered to you. Just because Xiao had disconnected himself from humanity didn’t mean that you had to. So why was he so angry?

His patience ran out when the guest reached for your hand. Sidling next to you as fast as he could Xiao peeled off his invisibility, enjoying the shock that registered across the uninvited guest’s face as he moved his hand back. Reaching to entwine his hand with yours Xiao shifted his gaze towards your face. Shock was painted into your expression, but there was also something else, a glimmer of happiness or of satisfaction. Somehow it unnerved Xiao, and he focused instead on the task at hand, whatever that task was.

“It’s getting late.”

“Oh, of course.” Turning back to the guest you smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but perhaps we’ll speak again some other time?”

“Gladly!” The man’s face lit up, before Xiao’s glaring left him scampering down the steps.

“Xiao, is something wrong?” The question was so genuine, without any sense of knowing more than you let. Unfortunately the question was also unanswerable.

“It’s late. We should go.” Xiao gestured towards the roof, hoping the reminder would flush the question out of your head.

“You’re right, I suppose it is getting late. And we wouldn’t want to waste such a wonderful evening.” You smiled. And yet somehow Xiao felt unplacated. He was happy, wasn’t he? So why, why did the question hang in the air, and why did the discontent remain?

The next day was a lazy one, as Xiao waited for you to be done with work. More than usual he missed you, and he wished that the hours would go faster, so he might be able to once more enjoy your presence, to banish the discontent that he still felt, evening after an hour spent wholly in your company.

Eventually the sun made its descent from the heavens, and Xiao pulled himself once more to the perch on the tree he’d taken the night before. Gazing down at the balcony he saw the familiar figure of the unwanted guest, and a stab of anger flashed through him. This was made all the worse by your entrance, and the fact you once more stopped to make time for this intruder.

The man was just as insufferable as before, full of jokes that Xiao didn’t understand and words that though praising of you felt somewhat hollow, almost insulting. You laughed along to these jokes, smiled at these odd compliments. And when the man asked if you might be willing to talk more over some sort of meal you merely smiled.

Xiao, however, found the whole ordeal unbearable. Why should this person be asking all these things, be prying you with words of intimacy and familiarity. Had he not arrived yesterday? Was he not an utter stranger? Confusion mixed with irritation in Xiao’s head, and he found it difficult to hold on to the stony reason he’d built up. What was going on? What was this terrible feeling of anger and want? He couldn’t understand human ways. Less could he understand why they should have any sort of effect on him.

Still he had to do something. Had to do anything. Swooping down once more Xiao began the same charade. This time, however, the man merely jumped, and for all his glaring Xiao couldn’t dislodge the guest from his place on the balcony.

“It’s late.”

“Ah it is. Are you hungry?” He asked, addressing you once more.

“I’m not at all, but Xiao’s right. It is late. If you haven’t eaten yet then perhaps you should. Smiley Yanxiao is quite strict about his rest.”

“Ah, then perhaps you’re right. Still, why not join me? You can tell me your name, and we can talk a little more about the things you do.”

“You don’t even know their name.” Xiao spat out the sentence, barely able to contain the odd sort of irritation that still spun around him. He asked you all those questions, said all those words of praise, all without knowing your name. It felt somehow dehumanizing, somehow… wrong.

“I would be glad to learn it.” The man smiled.

Xiao simply shook his head. He needed to leave. It was becoming too much again, and the last thing Xiao wanted was for a stranger to see him this way, see him unsure and confused and not a little frightened of these alien emotions. Glaring at the man one more time Xiao scooped you up. Ignoring the surprised shriek that you let out he shot up into the sky, moving towards the familiar sanctuary of Jueyen Karst, deeply grateful that the guest, whatever he could do, could never fly.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” You asked, barely giving Xiao the time to set you down onto one of Liyue’s sloping peaks before asking him the one question he couldn’t answer.

“Nothing.”

“Well it’s certainly not nothing. You’re being awfully rude to that guest, and I can’t understand why. Usually you don’t really care about those sorts of things. So something must be wrong, and I want to know what it is.”

A pause.

“Please.”

“I can’t.” It was all Xiao could say, the only thing that would truly encompass the truth, because in truth he couldn’t. He himself didn’t understand it.

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“My chest hurts.”

“What?” Immediately your face shifted into one of worry, and you placed a soft hand over Xiao’s heart. Somehow the gesture was calming, and Xiao closed his eyes, enjoying the receding of the hot bands that had just been restricting him.

“My chest hurt when I saw you with that, that guest. My chest hurt and I felt angry. That’s what’s wrong. My chest hurt, but now it doesn’t; and I don’t understand it.”

There was a pause, and Xiao studied the expressions on your face, watched as they shifted from worry to confusion to caution.

“Xiao, is it possible you were jealous?”

“No.” The idea was somehow insulting.

“It’s alright to be jealous Xiao. It just means you care about someone very much. You don’t have to just dismiss it like that. I want to make sure that you’re alright, so please be honest. Is it possible you were jealous?”

Xiao let another gap form in the conversation, trying to figure out how to answer. The suggestion felt demeaning, felt as if he somehow had no control over himself, no trust of you. And yet it somehow made sense, and even as he shook his head he found himself letting out a different answer.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s okay if you don’t. I know that new emotions can be frightening, can be difficult to deal with. But Xiao, I’ll always love you. It doesn’t matter who else I meet or what else happens in my life. I love you the way that a bird loves the sky. You’re a part of my life I could never lose. So even if this isn’t jealousy, even if I’m wrong, I still want to let you know. I love you.”

Xiao sighed, a smile finally gracing his lips, the pain in his chest finally melting away. What did he ever do to deserve such a person as you, he would never know. He wished he could repeat those words back to you word for word, wished that he could explain that his love for you was all encompassing, had seeped through the cracks of his existence and his life. He wished he could form together the words necessary to convey his love for you. Even if it was impossible he still wished it.

So instead he leaned over towards you. Letting out a gentle sigh he brought his lips to yours, reveling in the soft sensation of your mouth against his, reveling in the way you leaned against him, bringing you arm up to his neck, letting out a soft breath of contentment as the two of you disconnected.

You didn’t ask him anything else, and for the rest of the evening you two sat on the grass, watching the fireflies dance around you as you leaned against one another.

Perhaps Xiao didn’t yet understand the extent to which he loved you, the emotions that had now risen up, given life by the love you’d poured into the adeptus. Perhaps he didn’t understand this yet, but he knew that all would be well. For with you all that irritation seemed so far away, as if it belonged to a Xiao of yesterday. Because here and now you two were together, breathing in the same mutual contentment, the same mutual trust, the same mutual love. And that present was more important than any jealousy could be.

Zhongli

Looking back on the matter Zhongli admitted that maybe pretending the problem didn’t exist was probably not the best solution.

It was only that you two had seemed so oddly content in talking, so, compatible, that Zhongli couldn’t help but feel a twinge of discontent, a tension that spread through his jaw and down to his stomach. He didn’t quite understand the nature of the emotion that now spread over him, but he did understand that it was connected to the bond that was now forming between you and the vendor in front of you.

“Dearest one.” He spoke softly, walking over to where you now stood.

“Oh, Zhongli!” Your face lit up as usual, and the ex-archon felt a piece of him uncoil. At least some things seemed to be unchanging, just as wonderful today as they had been the day before.

“I’ve been looking for you. I know you spoke of wanting to learn more about the nature of Cor Lapis, and the tea shop has been offering a new brew. Perhaps we could share a drink?”

“Oh that sounds lovely!” Turning around towards the vendor you smiled gently. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to try that lovely soup you were speaking of some other time.”

“Not at all!” The vendor’s smile was good natured, and Zhongli didn’t understand why he nevertheless felt a twinge of uncertainty. “I look forward to it. I hope you two have a nice day, and we’ll talk about it more later.”

Though the stall receded into the distance as the two of you turned the corner, Zhongli couldn’t help but let the moment run through his mind once more, finding it as sore to think about as a bruise might be to the touch.

“That vendor? Oh they’re new on the scene.” You smiled, taking a sip of tea.

The tea house was as calming as ever, the noises of the outside a distant song, and the hushed whispers inside adding to the intimate atmosphere. Zhongli normally loved to sit here, drinking cup after cup of tea, watching as the people came and went about their business, immersed in a small fragment of Liyue life. Now, however, he found he couldn’t stop thinking about the vendor. If he closed his eyes he could still remember their face, and the way yours was lit up while they were talking to you.

“Their name is Eli.” You continued on, oblivious to the way Zhongli’s hand tightened around his teacup. “They said that they set up shop maybe�� two weeks ago? It hasn’t been a very long time, and they’re still struggling a bit. I hope that they’ll be able to get their business off the ground, who knew that street food was such a cutthroat world.”

“The city of Liyue is full of people who might make their way in the world, doing whatever they can. Perhaps it is unsurprising that competition is second nature to Liyue’s citizens.” Zhongli replied, hoping his tone wasn’t too curt. If it was you didn’t seem to mind, nodding softly in agreement.

“Speaking of Liyue and stories, perhaps you would like to tell me the story you were going to tell? I very much doubt that Cor Lapis is the blood of Morax.”

“How humans love to spin their stories.” Zhongli chuckled.

But even as he began to speak of jewels and pressure and the minerals that lay deep beneath the earth a bit of him was still preoccupied by the vendor’s easy words and your smiling face.

The next time he ran into you with the vendor the pit in his stomach had only gotten heavier. Standing a little ways away he let the conversation between the two of you flow in and out his ear, frown slipping deeper the more he heard.

“I cannot believe that your stall nearly caught fire on your first day! How unlucky.”

“Even worse that I didn’t know who to try and tell about it. If I had known you were part of the Guild then I would’ve asked you.”

“Well next time there are troubles you can just send a message to the Adventurer’s Guild. We can’t have our citizens being injured on our watch.”

“You sound like true heroes. I wish I could do the sorts of things you did. Your commissions sound fascinating! I would love to see how you go about your day some time.”

“Really it’s nothing, most days it’s quite boring really, just like any other job. Still, it’s nice to know that people have an interest in what we do.”

“Oh certainly! I find what you do very interest– ”

“My dearest one!” Zhongli called out, unable to continue listening to the conversation, feeling somewhat guilty and certainly upset. You turned slightly, smile brightening as you saw your partner.

“Zhongli! So sorry that I didn’t meet you outside your office, I must’ve lost track of the time. Eli here was telling me all about their first days at work.”

“I’m sorry that I got out late. I hope that you did not have to wait awhile.”

“Oh not at all Zhongli, like I said I’ve just been standing here. You don’t need to feel bad at all!”

“I’m glad. Perhaps now we can go?”

Zhongli attempted to smile, but it felt a lot more like a grimace. You stared at him, face the picture of confusion. Taking a step forward you glanced one more time at Eli, shrugging apologetically. Before any more words could be passed between the two of you Zhongli grabbed onto your hand. Walking quite quickly he didn’t let go until the two of you were at your apartment and he could finally breathe again.

“Zhongli, what’s the matter with you?” You asked, closing the apartment door behind you. Walking back towards Zhongli, who stood there silently, you let your hands rest lightly on his shoulders. “You can tell me you know, I can tell you’re unhappy.”

“I have a confession.” Zhongli started, feeling somehow compelled to reveal his thoughts, as if keeping them locked away would only be dangerous.

“Yes?”

“I, I did not like the way that the vendor spoke to you.”

“Eli? But they were perfectly nice.”

“I do not mean that they were rude. They were perfectly cordial. I mean, when the two of you were speaking, I, I felt uncomfortable. It was as if there was a barrier between us in that moment. I, I did not like it.”

“Oh Zhongli.” You breathed out, an indulgent smile on your face.

Reaching up you planted fleeting kisses on the archon’s face, peppering his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, touch featherlight. It was a familiar gesture, one of comfort, one used in darker nights, when shadows dotted the periphery of Zhongli’s vision.

“Zhongli, I assume you know what jealousy is?”

“I know the term and what it means. I admit I am not personally familiar with the concept.”

“Well I am, so let me tell you. What you experienced, that was jealousy, plain and simple. I know it’s very uncomfortable. Jealousy can be such a messy feeling, it sticks everywhere. But it’s also normal. So you don’t need to worry. I promise that nothing will happen, and I promise that these feelings would go away. I also promise that I love you very much, so even if you feel these emotions, you don’t have to worry.”

“How could I ever worry about you?” Zhongli murmured, wrapping his arms around you, basking in your proximity.

The apology only came in the evening, after words and kisses and love had hung long enough in the air to dull the feelings that Zhongli had been carrying around. Now he lay there next to you, chin resting gently on your head, suddenly realizing that he’d most likely acted quite rudely.

“I’m sorry I ignored Eli.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” You murmured. “Though I’m not actually sure what got you riled up about them.”

“You are also a bit oblivious dearest one,” Zhongli let out a soft laugh, “it seems they were quite taken with you.”

“Were they?” You asked, tone betraying your surprise. You paused for a moment, as if trying to replay your interactions. “I never noticed. To be honest, I don’t think I could ever notice, not when I have you.”

“Thank you.” Zhongli whispered, oddly overcome by the confession.

As he lay awake, carding gentle fingers through your hair and listening to the even breaths of your sleeping form he pondered just how lucky he was. Precious gems might come from pressure and earth and chance. But you were more precious than all of them. And he’d never forget that.

#genshin impact fanfiction #albedo x reader #diluc x reader #xiao x reader #zhongli x reader #genshin impact #albedo #diluc #xiao #zhongli #scenarios #requested #my writing

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outivv · 4 years ago

Note

I was just watching Demon Slayer while eating my lunch, and I got an idea. So what if The Boys' s/o is a demon, but they're like Nezuko; they can shrink and enlarge at will, but they aren't immune to sunlight so they may rely on The Boys to carry them in a makeshift backpack. They can also absolutely kick ass if necessary, and they're insanely stronk. But most of the time, they're smothering The Boys with kisses, headpats, etc. because they really like The Boys and want them to know it.

Synopsis: demon slayer au, where y/n is like nezuko

Warnings: mentions of fighting, and minor cursing.

Game/ anime: genshin impact and a slight bit of demon slayer.

Characters: zhongli, Diluc, childe, kaeya, and dainsleif

Pronouns for reader: gender neutral/ not mentioned

A/n: yes! Demon slayer has been on my mind recently, so yes! I really want to see the movie but haven’t gotten around to it for some reason? I don’t know, but this was honestly really exciting to write because demon slayer is probably one of my favorite animes. So I really hope you enjoy, and have an amazing day/afternoon/night! (Now I’m imagining the boys as demon slayers :’))

— zhongli —

To say the least zhongli is hiding you from xiao. So he took you in, and now he’s stuck with you.

In the first few months of your relationship(?) he found out that you can shrink and enlarge at will. Which to say the least was surprising. Literally gave him a heart attack when you suddenly enlarged to get something on top of the cupboards.

Later that same day he found out you hate sunlight. Like... hate it. He’d do anything in his power to make you comfortable, and when you both need to go somewhere in the day he’d try to shield you from the sunlight as best as possible. Then you suggested that he’d carry you in a little backpack, and it’d be easier because you could shrink... so he did that.

You probably got caught by some treasure hoarders, thinking that the makeshift backpack you were in had something valuable. When you jumped out and throat punched one of them though, they found out just how wrong they were. Zhongli watched in awe at your strength before realizing that it would be smart of him to step in and help.

He finds it oddly adorable how you can go from absolutely destroying a ruin guard in one punch, to smothering him in kisses and love. He doesn’t mind it no, but he finds it kinda hilarious. I mean you went berserk and now you’re nuzzling up to him saying how much you live him. Kinda makes him just... sit there. Like ‘wow... ok... I mean... I want the affection but... wow...’ he’s absolutely smitten honestly.

— childe —

Now in childe’s scenario I’m going to say either you were a failed experiment gone right by dottore. Or he found you in the forests of snezhnaya. (I’m gonna leave it up to you to decide) either way, childe said you could be valuable to the fatui, and now here you are... in a relationship with this bastard amazing guy.

I feel like he’d know about your strength, and growing/shrinking abilities. Mostly because I think because one of the reasons that they kept you was so you’d be of some sort of use to the fatui (at first! Childe grew to care and love you. Lowkey a sucker for these kinda fics so... I’m adding it into my headcanons.) they’d have to see what you could do exactly. For their safety, and the safety of others, they’d need to know.

I think he’d be kinda iffy on the whole ‘carrying you in a backpack’ thing. Mainly because it’s always snowing in snezhnaya so it’s always cloudy. But when you travel he’s going to have to suck it up and carry you.

I think you’d often go with childe on missions, because 1. He’s your boyfriend. And 2. He’s the one that decided you should join the fatui, so in the harbingers eyes he’s the one that has to take responsibility. (I feel that that made y/n sound like a dog I’m so sorry :’)) so he’s seen you in action before, and every time he does it never fails to take his breath away.

And you fighting countless foes on the battlefield, and then showering him in your love makes him feel proud, and kinda cocky. Like you, a future harbinger candidate, just took down a bunch of foes... and now your going to give him all of your affection. He just feels extra special when you do that, not going to lie.

— kaeya —

He probably found you doing some commissions, he was just taking a stroll around mondstadt and stubbled upon one of the people the knights wish they could recruit. Complete coincidence.

When he goes to walk over to you fighting a bunch of hilichurls, and sees that you’re taking them down in one hit, he’s slightly impressed. I mean they’re just hilichurls after all. At first he challenged you, and said you should fight the ruin guard at the thousand winds temple, and when you rose to the challenge and completed it with ease he could see why the knights wanted you so badly.

Of course he’d “stumble” upon you more and more, and then you know... you start dating (I’m not in the mood to write a while backstory for how you got into a relationship but just imagine it as a “he kept challenging you and then fell in love with you” kinda thing? I’m not sure but yeah :D)

Whenever you fight, whether it be sparring with someone, or a commission, and kaeya has the honor of seeing you he’ll announce to everyone that “hey that’s my s/o!” And he expects attention and kisses afterwards from you.

He knows the routine by now, you fight, or do a commission, just something that involves fighting, and then he gets a bunch of attention. Kaeya is no fool. He knows.

When he found out that you hate sunlight, and that’s why you do most of your work at night, he was kinda surprised. He honestly just assumed you were like rosaria, and were busy during the day so you did your... “community work” at night.

When he finds out you can shrink and grow he’s just kinda like “oh... well that’s new. Cool. But new.” And then asks you what else you can do that he didn’t know about.

I don’t think he’d need to take you anywhere in a makeshift backpack. And if he needed to he probably couldn’t due to knight work you know?

— Diluc —

He’s seen you a few times at angels share, only late at night of course but he’s still seen you around. He’s been kinda crushing on you from afar so he didn’t know much about you. Only that you’re a high ranked adventure from somewhere other than mondstadt. Eventually though he did ask you out, and now you’re dating. Congrats!

When he saw you fight for the first time I can guarantee that his first thought was ‘where the hell are they from!? What were they feeding them holy-“ he’s in absolute awe at your strength. Diluc isn’t much of a guy for sparring, but now he’s inclined to try to spar with you. He’d probably break something but it’d be worth it in his mind.

After you fight like three ruin hunters, and you run over to him smothering him in love and affection, he’s taken back. Like he had to make sure you were the same person that absolutely destroyed those ruin hunters. I mean he’s not complaining... he probably found it attractive honestly. (You thought childe would be the one to find you destroying some enemy and then giving him all your attention, attractive??? I mean he does... but no! It was Diluc all along!)

He’ll take note that you don’t like sunlight and then will be very adamant on getting you a backpack that you can fit in. Like it’s one of the first things he does after finding out.

When he finds out you can shrink/ grow though? He’s confused. He’ll act like it was normal but will then suddenly say “what was that.” Very sternly. Like he demands and answer.

— dainsleif —

You’ve been with dainsleif for a while, both as he travel companion, and his s/o. So I think he’s knows for a while that you’re insanely strong, don’t like sunlight, and and grow and shrink.

When he found out you were really strong he was kinda taken aback but went with it and didn’t really ask you about it, more passively asked you how you got so strong.

Whenever you come up to him and kiss him, and just generally shower him with love and attention, he’ll gladly take it. Like full smile on his face, because just like Diluc he thinks that you beating a ruin hunters ass and then giving him all your love is attractive.

When he saw you shrink and grow he did the same as Diluc, except didn’t demand an answer. He was just like, “so... care to explain what that was?” He’ll understand if you don’t want to but that doesn’t make him any less curious.

You both travel a lot, so he’d have to carry you in a makeshift backpack everywhere. He doesn’t mind it, he wishes you could be walking right beside him but he understands that you physically can’t. Cause sunlight will turn you to dust, and he loves you too much to be selfish and let that happen.

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wayward-mikaelson · 3 years ago

Text

Something Just Like This (AU!Daniel Brühl x F! Reader)

Word Count: 9219

About: Your father takes on a business partner, who captures your eye and makes your Ex jealous.

Pairing: AU!Daniel Brühl x F! Reader

Warnings/Trigger Warnings: Language, Jealous Ex, Angst, Some Sexual Content (Touching and boob grabbing), Implied Smut, Daniel talking in both German and Spanish,

MINORS DO NO INTERACT

A/N: I wrote this for my dear friend @saturdaynightzemo. I got too carried away with the word count but it's okay. There also maybe a part two later on down the road.

**This work is written for the 18 and up crowd so please read at your own discretion. This work is also crossed posted on other sites under the same title. Please do not copy and paste my work anywhere, sharing the links and re-blogs are perfectly fine. Linktree to my other social media sites are in the link in my bio. Feedback is welcome!**

German/Spanish Pet Name Translation

*Liebling--Darling

*Wonderschönen--Beautiful

*Querida--Darling

*meine liebe--my love

*scheiße--Fuck

*Mi Querida--My Darling

French/Italian Translations

*Un Peu des deux--A little bit of both

*Il mio italiano è un po' arrugginito--My Italian is a bit rusty

Forever Tag: @hobby27 @donnaintx @myinconnelly1 @elansaidaris @magssteenkamp @440mxs-wife

Zemo/Daniel Tags: @saturdaynightzemo @dailybruhlfic

Masterlist

It wasn’t the sound of the car that made you turn your head. Oh no, you were practically immune to those sounds, living at the tracks your whole life. It wasn’t even the color of it either. You’ve seen enough cherry red cars to last you a lifetime. It was a nice color and the shine of the wax really shined, but after a while the color just sort of faded into life itself. Just like many other things at the track.

It was the driver that stepped out of the polished car that caused you to stop in your tracks. He wore a grey suit that shined bright in the sunlight. His hair wasn’t as long as all the other drivers you knew that passed through here. It was brushed back, away from his eyes. Oh and those eyes, they looked over his entire surroundings. His beard was just an added bonus. You had a thing for bearded men.

He was new and every pair of eyes, including yours, watched as he walked into the building. No doubt to your fathers office. This man looked like he meant business. Before the mysterious man walked into the building, he turned and looked around again, this time those eyes landed on you for a brief moment. Making you instantly drop your gaze to the bucket of water at your feet.

“Who is that?” you turned to see Finn, your ex, was standing next to you.

Finn and you dated for a few years in and out of high school. It wasn’t until you were almost done with college that you saw that the two of you drifted. For you it was the perfect time to figure out who you were and who you wanted to be. Finn, of course, agreed to the split. Both of you thought it would be temporary, but you soon learned that you no longer loved Finn like that. That was three years ago.

“I have no idea,” You shook your head and went back to your job. Which was washing the cars for today’s photoshoot. “I’m sure I’ll find out later at dinner.”

“Speaking of dinner,” Finn grabbed a sponge and started to help you. “Your mother invited me. I said yes cause she said she was making her famous lasagna. I hope you don’t mind.”

You shook your head. You didn’t mind it but you knew that your mother was trying to set you and Finn up again. Your mother loved Finn and missed having him over more when the two of you were together. She just couldn’t get it through her head that you and Finn were over and nothing could change that.

“No, I don’t mind at all,” you straightened up and turned to Finn. Finn’s ginger hair hung around his face. “You know you never have to ask me if it’s okay. You’re practically family.”

When Finn was thirteen, his father died of cancer. It was a really hard time for both Finn’s family and your father. Your father was really good friends with Finn's father and on his deathbed, your father promised to look after Finn as if he were his own son.

Finn stood up and by the look on his face, you knew what he was going to say. “I can be more than practically family, Y/N.”

You turned away from him. “Finn, we’ve talked about this many times. I don’t feel that way anymore about you. Please stop. We’re better as friends.” You turned to him to see him nodding. Finn dumped the sponge back into the water and left. Over the last few years, Finn had tried desperately to get you back. He has never dated anyone else and you don’t want to know how he even relieved himself. If he did.

You had one other sexual partner after Finn and that was a weekend fling in Spain. You never called the poor guy when you got home. But God was the sex good. Like out of a work of fiction good. The things that man had done to your body, things that Finn would never do or didn’t know how to do.

You went about the rest of your day like normal. All the cars got washed in time for the photoshoot, which also went smoothly. You had lunch with Bea, one of the girls in the back offices. She talked of nothing but the stranger that was still at the track. Apparently your father was showing him around the place.

“And the accent,” Bea’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. “It’s to die for. Makes me tingle each time I think of it.”

You chuckled a bit, “I’ll take your word for it.” The way Bea talked about this man, you wanted to meet him and hear the accent. “Is your neighbor still single?”

Bea’s head perked up faster than anything. “Yeah, she’s still single. Why? No wait, let me guess Finn?” You nodded. “I’ll see what kind of magic I can cook up. He really needs to learn that it’s over.” And you couldn’t agree more.

By the time closing came around, you took care of tidying up the track and making sure bags were tied up for morning trash pick up. You found it easier for the morning cleaning crew to just grab the bags. Just as you were tying up the last bag, Finn approached you.

“I’m about to take off,” he leaned up against the side by side you drove around the track. “Would you like a ride back to your house?”

“Um,” you looked over your shoulder and saw that the mysterious man's car was still here. He had been here all day and part of you wanted to know why. “Let me check in with Dad and see what his plan is. He’s been with that man all day.”

You made your way to your fathers office and one little peak said that he was in the middle of a conversation. You were about to turn until your father saw you and waved you in. You waltzed in and noticed the man on your fathers leather office sofa. You froze in place as this man’s eyes looked you over. Not quickly like any normal person, oh no. This man’s eyes slowly took in your whole appearance. You knew you looked like a hot mess so what did this man see? Even you let your eyes wander over the man’s appearance. He still wore the grey suit, but the coat was undone. He sat back on the couch with both arms spread out on the back. His ankle was resting on his knee that seemed to bounce a little. You noticed he had some curls and one stray curl dangled in front of his face. Then you noticed his eye color. A chocolate brown that still bore deep into you. It was like he was looking deep into your soul.

“Sorry,” you tore your eyes away from the man and looked back at your father. You swore you could still feet those dark eyes on you. It made your heart pound a bit. “I was just wondering if I’m still riding home with you or if I should ride with Finn.”

Your father stood up and crossed over to you. “Ride with Finn, dear. I’ll be home hopefully in time for your mothers cooking. You know how she gets if any one of us is late.” Your father chuckled lightly, pulling a smile from you. “Also, I want you to meet this gentleman here.” Your father slightly turned you around to face the man, who was now standing. He was pretty tall compared to your small figure.

“Daniel Brühl,” he held out his hand. Damn, Bea was right about the accent. You felt your knees get a little weak as you took a step towards him. You were thankful that your father still held onto your shoulders or you really would have fallen onto the floor and looked like an idiot.

“Y/N,” you took hold of his hand and the grip nearly caused your knees to buckle. They were rough and calloused, something many business men that come through here don’t have. They are almost always moisturized and smooth. But Daniel’s hand’s felt like he’s worked with them for years. It was a pleasurable feeling.

“Y/N?” Daniel smiled and that made you press your thighs together. You prayed that Daniel or your father wouldn’t have noticed. “A beautiful name,” You instantly felt arousal form deep within your core at the sound of your name rolling off this stranger's lips. You wanted to melt instantly. But you kept your composure and remained professional.

“Thank you,” you managed to get out putting your hands behind your back once Daniel let go of yours.

“Daniel here,” your father walked back towards his desk. You noticed that your father’s french accent was creeping in. This happened when he spoke a lot of French. “He’s a tough kid to bargain with.”

“And you sir,” Daniel sat back down and ran his hands over his dark beard. You wondered what it felt like. “Are a hard man to negotiate with and I’ve had some hard ones. You are the smarter one.”

With that, you said your goodbyes and went out to where Finn had been waiting. You got into his small little beat up sedan and began the drive back to your family home. You didn’t live at home, you had a small apartment about five minutes from the track. But on nights like this where your mother wants to get the family together, you stay in your own room. Or if you drank too much you always stayed the night knowing that was safer. Tonight might be one of those nights where you stay the night there since Finn was joining for dinner.

***

“Momma,” You called from the dining room. You began to set up the table and there was an extra plate and such. “You gave me an extra place setting.”

“No, no I didn’t,” your mothers thick Italian accent came around the corner. She held a dish towel in her hand and you instantly were brought back to your childhood. “Your father is bringing someone from work. Plus, I always make plenty of food for everyone.” Your mother lived a majority of her life in the States, but never lost her accent.

You shrugged your shoulders and set the place, wondering who your father was bringing to dinner. Once the house was clean and the table was all set to your mother’s standards, you went to shower and freshen up. You dressed in a nice burgundy blouse and skinny jeans. You put on a pair of beige sandals that are strapped up to the bottom of your calf. You threw your hair into a messy bun and let a few strands of hair fall out. Then you dried your face and threw on very little makeup to make you look like you weren’t tired.

Very rarely, your father came home with someone from work. But when he did, you made sure to make yourself presentable. You were, after all, representing your family when someone from work came to the family home. Something you owed your family for putting up with your stubborn ass for twenty-seven long years.

You found yourself back in the kitchen. Your mother wouldn’t let you touch her cooking and you couldn’t blame her. You weren’t that great of a cook, something that you got from your father. In a way you were more like your father than you were your mother. Something your mother was okay with. But your mother did enjoy the fact that you and her would sit for hours hand sewing blankets for women and children shelters for the winter.

You pulled a beer from the fridge and cracked it open. Before the glass bottle hit your lips your mother was pulling it away from you. “Momma!” You half whined.

“I will not have you getting drunk before your father and his guest gets here,” your mother scolded you.

“I wasn’t going to get drunk, Momma,” you took the beer from her thin hands. “I was only pre-gaming just in case I don’t like him and need to tell him or her to kindly fuck off.”

“Y/N Y/M/N!” Your mother’s gasps had you quickly leaving the kitchen. You knew that if you stayed any longer, the kitchen towel would end up being used on you and not some random beer spill.

The door opened and closed and soon you were able to hear some voices. Finn’s voice was very distinct, it was a bit louder than your Italian-French family. You made your way towards the foyer to great your father and his guest, yes with beer in hand so they knew that you wouldn’t give a fuck later on. But the moment you entered the foyer, the beer bottle slipped from your hands and crashed to the ground. Luckily the bottle didn’t break but you spilled a good deal on the tile floor.

“I’m so sorry,” you dropped down quickly and picked up the bottle and grabbed the towel that Finn, somehow or somewhere grabbed, and cleaned up the spill you made. “I came to say hello. I don’t know what happened.” You rambled on, trying not to make eye contact with your fathers guest. A guest you didn’t know would step foot into your childhood home.

Daniel.

“I told her, Alexandre,” Your mother came around the corner drying her hands. “I told her not to drink before you guys got here.”

“Momma!” You stood up and stared at her. Part of you was embarrassed and the other part was just flat out wanting to be smited out of existence. “This was...I just...I barely drank it.”

“Then why did you drop it?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“Because I have butter fingers, Momma.” Which was a lie. You knew exactly why you dropped it but you didn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of the guest.

Dinner went as well as you could have imagined it going. No one focused on you nor Finn, which was a bit surprising for you. Your mother used to always keep most of the attention on Finn. But with Daniel, all the focus was on him. You probably thought it was because Daniel was new to the mix. No one knew him.

Nope.

“I don’t know how it happened,” your fathers French accent was making more of an appearance tonight. He must have spoken a lot of French. “But, young Daniel here, talked me into making him a partner.” Your father raised a glass towards Daniel and everyone followed suit. You quickly glanced at Daniel to see his eyes focused on your father. A genuine smile on his face. “To Daniel. May we have an amazing and thriving business relationship.” With that everyone toasted and resumed dinner.

After dinner, you stood on the balcony and smoked a cigarette. You rarely smoke but tonight you felt the need to put one in your mouth. As you took a long drag, you heard the door open and close. You didn’t look behind you to see who it was. You thought it was Finn trying to talk to you or get into your pants. Or both. Who knew with him anymore?

“Tonight is nice,” the voice called to you. The accent sent chills down your back and right to your core. You were lucky that you kept one of your fun toys here. You were definitely going to need it.

You turned to see Daniel walking his way towards you. A beer in his hands and an unopened one in the other. “Yeah,” you answered, giving him a smile. “It’s really nice. What brings you out here? I’m sure my Dad has a lot to talk to you about?”

Daniel shook his head and smiled. That smile sent an electric shock through your body. It was pure and sweet. “Your father and I, we took care of a lot of things today. He was pretty stubborn but saw the benefits of having a partner and took it.” He handed you the beer and you took it without question.

You smiled. “My father is a very stubborn man, I’m glad he worked something out with you. But,” you turned back to look at the city skyline. Gosh it was beautiful. Your parents picked out a lovely spot to call home. “My Dad, he knew he needed help from someone that wasn’t family. He’s just been putting it off.”

Daniel stood next to you. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “I’m sure this might be hard on your brother.”

You choked on the breath you were going to take for the next drag. “What? Finn?” You couldn’t help but laugh next. “That’s a first. Finn isn’t my brother. I’m an only child.”

Daniel looked at you. It made you wonder what was going on in his head. He turned to his side and let smoke blow out his nose. Fuck, it was hot. You turned away to gain some kind of composure. But mostly press your legs together. If your parents and Finn weren’t here, you’d probably jump the man already.

“Really?” Daniel asked, taking a look towards you.

“Yeah,” You answered, taking the final drag of your cigarette. “Finn is actually my ex. He’s been coming to family dinners and such since we were in middle school after his dad died.” You tried to think back to when you first met Finn. Was it kindergarten? It had been so long ago. “My mom considers him family so he hangs around still.”

“I see,” Daniel gave you a mysterious smirk. You wondered what it meant. “Will I see you tomorrow?” Something in those dark eyes of his hooked into you.

The question caught you off guard. You fumbled with the cigarette butt until it fell over the balcony edge and into the ravine. You prayed the butt didn’t start any kind of fire. “Fuck, um,” you rubbed your head with your left hand. “Yeah, I don’t work too much alongside my Dad. I do a lot of the grunt work. Not because I have to but because I like to, if that makes sense.” You turned to see Daniel staring at you. Those dark eyes seem to be peering right into your soul now. If only you could read the mind of the stranger in front of you.

“That does make sense,” Daniel grinned at you again. This time you grinned back. “I noticed your mother speaks Italian and your father French? Do you speak some?”

You smiled. “Un peu des deux.” Then as best as you could say it, “Il mio italiano è un po' arrugginito.”

Daniel nodded his head and grinned. “Not bad,” he finished his cigarette and puts out the butt.

“Y/N?” Finn's voice brought you out of the cloud your head rested in. You turned to see him standing, with his arms crossed. His eyes were staring at Daniel, not yours. You could see the hint of jealousy in them. The attention you gave to Daniel, it seemed like Finn didn’t like it. Finn probably thought he was entitled to it. But you didn’t care. “Your dad wants to see you.”

You turned back to Daniel who looked Finn over and then turned back to you. “Your ex doesn’t look very happy,” he whispered. “Could it be that you’re talking to someone that isn’t him?” Daniel raised an eyebrow. It was like he knew after one look at Finn.

You stifled a laugh, “Unfortunately, who knows with him.” You pushed off of the railing, “If you’ll excuse me.”

The talk with your father wasn’t exactly what you were thinking. It was smooth, as all other talks with him went, but he only had one request. To show Daniel the ins and outs of life on the track. According to him, Daniel was a very hands on type of guy. Which could explain the roughness of his hand when you shook them earlier that day. You could still feel them hours later.

“You’re okay with this?” your father asked softly. “I can always have Finn do this, if you don’t want to.”

“No no no,” you quickly shook your head. “I can do it. I really should be stepping up more, for when the day comes when I need to take over. You know?” You look at your father with what felt like the eyes of a small child. Your father was getting up there in age and you hated the idea that one day you may lose him.

“I do, sweetheart," your father stood up from his chair and rubbed his hands together. "I appreciate you doing this. I really wouldn't be thrilled if I had to have Finn do it. I don't necessarily trust him with a man like Daniel around." You tilted your head to the side and wondered what your father meant. "He's been slacking on his work a lot recently and no amount of talking has helped. Not to mention the looks he gave our guest tonight."

Your eyes widened some, you forgot your father saw more than anyone realized. Kind of like you. "What will you do with him?" You asked.

"One more talk and if nothing changes, I'll let him go." Your father looked down. "Breaking a promise to an old friend. But my business comes first."

"Don't worry, dad," you walked towards him and pecked him on the cheek. "I got this."

When it was time for Daniel to head out, you stood by your father. You wished you had more time with Daniel. He was a lovely person to talk to and you wanted to know more about him. As you all said your goodbyes, you gave Daniel a smile. A smile that he returned and gently took your hand in his and planted a soft kiss to it. His dark eyes didn’t leave yours. His lips were soft and you wondered what they would feel like against yours. You felt your face burn up and watched as Daniel did the same to your mother. From the corner of your eye, you saw Finn glaring at Daniel. The look in his eyes didn’t look friendly and when they swept over to you, it sent a chill down your spine.

***

Over the next couple of months, you taught Daniel the ins and outs of the track. You showed him what was easy and most effective at getting the job done. Like your closing up routine of tying the bags up for the morning clean up crew. Daniel was an excellent learner and listener and that made you feel great. You thought that you were a crappy teacher and you told him that. But Daniel shushed you and told you that you were doing great.

The time that you had spent together, you got to know him as well. While you taught him the ins and outs, the two of you talked about life. You learned that Daniel was born in Spain but grew up in Germany. He lived in a bilingual home so he was very well versed in both Spanish and German. That really intrigued you and later on you were turned on when you heard him say a few phrases. Phrases you committed to memory when you wanted to think about his voice.

When you weren’t with Daniel you were either with Bea having lunch or stuck with Finn. The days you were stuck with Finn, you wanted nothing more than to shove a sock in his mouth and tell him to just shut the hell up. Finn wouldn’t stop talking negatively about Daniel. It was “Daniel can’t do this” or “Daniel can’t just waltz in here and change things.”

“For the love of God, Finn,” you finally snapped at him one afternoon. The two of you were working on an old car that needed repairs. “Can you fucking shut up? Daniel is a partner, meaning with the contract he and Dad drew up, he’s also part owner. So he can do whatever the fuck he wants here. Which also means he can change up whatever he can.”

Finn stopped what he was doing. “Why are you so defensive of the guy?”

“I’m not,” you huffed as you tightened a bolt. “I’m simply stating facts. Facts that you have chosen to ignore. Speaking of ignoring things?” You wiped your hands on a towel. “Have you taken that order out?”

Finn shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”

You sighed. “Finn!” you practically yelled his name. “That order needed to go out like two days ago! Why? You know what,” you calmed yourself down and placed your hands on your hips. “I’ll take care of it but, you go home and when you come back on Monday, you will be handling the front desk for a week.”

Finn snorted. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Y/N. You’re not the boss.”

“True,” you walked towards him and pressed a finger into his chest. “But when Dad isn’t here, I take over. You should count yourself lucky, anyway, since Dad isn’t here. He’s this close to firing you. So go home and come back with a work ethic like Dad’s or Daniel’s.”

Finn held up his hands and walked away. “Fine. Whatever.”

The rest of the morning had been a blur. Daniel and you talked about more ways to make the work life at the track even more smooth. Daniel came up with really good ideas that you liked. Once you guys agreed to something, you guys noted it down and put it on your father’s desk. You always wanted to make sure that your father also agreed before changing something. Daniel agreed as well.

“Do you have anything planned this weekend?” Daniel asked you as the two of you went down the inventory checklist. The question didn’t necessarily catch you off guard. You and Daniel were at the point in your work relationship to ask what the other was up to for the evening or the weekend.

“Nothing really?” you resumed your counting of paper towels. “What about you? Have anything planned this weekend? Or will you be as boring as me and do nothing?”

“Y/N, you are never boring,” Daniel's voice was calm and gentle. You turned to him and saw the most charming smile on his face. It nearly made your knees weak. “In fact,” Daniel set his clipboard down and crossed over to you. He placed both his hands on your shoulders. The firm but gentle grip alone made your brain fuzzy. Does this man know the effect he has on you? “You are one of the best people here. Which is why I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to dinner tomorrow evening?”

Now that question took you by surprise. Suddenly the hands that were resting on your shoulder felt extremely heavy and the dark chocolate eyes that looked into yours, well they were holding you in place. The corner of the left side of his lip twitched up into a small crooked smile. It was cute, sweet and it made your heart swell. You knew there was a good age gap between the two of you but right now that didn’t matter to you.

“Sure,” you smiled as you answered him. You felt your face grow warm and you didn’t care if Daniel saw that. You just took in the huge smile he gave you.

“Wonderful,” Daniel licked his lips and dropped his hands. You watched as he rubbed them together as he always does. His left hand gripped his right thumb. “I’ll make reservations for tomorrow and pick you up at seven?”

You smiled and reached out for Daniel’s arm before he left the area. “I’m not staying with my parents, so you’ll have to pick me up at my apartment.” You scribbled your address on the paper and handed it to him. You watched as he smiled even more as he looked down at the paper.

“Your apartment complex is right across from mine,” Daniel’s look at you had your face burn a tad bit more. “Probably meant to be.” Daniel winked at you and walked out of sight. Leaving you to wonder if that encounter actually happened and not you daydreaming it happened.

Your lunch with Bea was exactly how you pictured it. Once you told her about your dinner with Daniel, her entire face just lit up and she squealed lightly. You listened to her ramble on and on about how some of the older women have tried to score a date with Daniel. But according to Bea, Daniel would let them down softly.

“Where is he taking you?” Bea was practically bouncing by the time the two of you got back to the track.

“He didn’t say,” you answered. You were curious but you wanted it to be a surprise. “All he said was that he was going to make reservations.”

“I bet it’s somewhere nice,” Bea’s sing-song voice made your heart flutter and skip a few beats. This was the first date you had been on in years. Since, Finn took you out to the pizzeria in high school. “Wait,” Bea turned with an eyebrow raised. “What if he’s a murderer and you’re just his type?” Bea air quoted the words his type.

“Bea,” you laughed and shook your head. “You watch way too many crime documentaries. But,” you placed your hand on her shoulder and smiled. “If I do go missing I want you to be the one to write my story for Netflix.”

Bea smiled. “You’re a great friend. Just keep me updated so I don’t have to do that.”

You watched as Bea walked away and when you turned around you saw Finn standing a few feet from where you stood. The look on his face pretty much said that he had listened to yours and Bea’s conversation.

“I thought I told you to go home?” You placed your hands on your hips and stared at Finn. “Why are you back here?”

Finn took a deep breath and turned around and began to walk away. You weren’t going to have any of that, and if it were your father, you knew that your father would fire Finn faster than anything. You caught up to Finn and stopped him. “Excuse me!” You placed a hand on his chest. “I asked you a question.”

Finn gripped your hand tight and roughly flung it to the side. “I was going to apologize to you about my behavior and go back home. But after hearing all of that,” Finn pushed you aside. “I don’t think I will.”

You grabbed Finn by the arm. If he was going to be rough and push you around, might as well return the gesture. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Finn spun around and took hold of your upper arm and squeezed it tight. “What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Finn was practically yelling now. “After all this time of trying to get back together, you plan a fucking date with that foreigner?”

You felt the color drain from your body. Anger boiled under your skin as you ripped your arm free from Finn's grasp. “You better watch what you say next.” Your warning tone held more venom than you thought. “Don’t forget that my parents came from overseas, too.”

Finn stared at you for a good five minutes before turning around and walking away. You couldn’t believe what he had said. You couldn’t believe that he would actually stoop to that level. You shook your head and hands hoping the feeling of rage would leave your body. But it didn’t. Nothing you tried to help you calm down worked. You were so pissed at Finn. You wanted nothing more than to punch him in the throat.

As you walked into the building to cool down in your father’s office, Daniel took notice of your appearance. The way you walked wasn’t that loose and free walk. Your body was so tense that it looked almost robotic when you walked. He knew something was wrong. He stopped what he was doing and was at your side in seconds. You didn’t know it but Daniel had fallen hard for you already and would move mountains to make you happy. He knew that this was one of those moments. He hated to see that look of pure anger on your face. He wanted to know why and wanted to know how he could fix it for you.

“Y/N?” Daniels soft voice asked. He gently placed a hand on your arm and turned you around. “What happened?”

“Finn,” was all you had to say. Daniel let go when he saw that you clearly didn’t want anyone to touch you. You heard him mumble a small apology and looked up at him. You saw the worry in his eyes. “He’s being an asshole and not to mention that he hates your guts.”

Daniel didn’t seem surprised by that. “What did he do?” he just asked.

“He complained about you this morning for starters,” you opened your fathers office and plopped onto the sofa. Daniel sat next to you. “Then he overheard Bea and I talking about our dinner date and he got so angry over it.”

“He got angry that his ex-girlfriend is moving on?”

“Yep,” you answered, rubbing your face. “I asked him what his deal was and he turned around and yelled at me for repaying him for going out with you.”

Daniel shifted around on the sofa, he crossed his legs and placed a hand on your shoulder. The gentle touch began to calm you down. You sat back and closed your eyes. You felt two fingers lightly brush the hair from the side of your face behind your ear. You opened your eyes and looked to the side. There sat Daniel, his dark eyes just looking into yours. He looked so peaceful and so sweet. You wanted to sit like this forever.

“I have to report this to my Dad,” you broke the silence and sat up. “He put his hands on me and my Dad isn’t going to like it at all.”

***

The next evening as you got ready for your dinner date with Daniel, you thought back to the conversation you had with your father. It went as you expected it to go. He was calm through it all of it and you knew that if your father was calm, he was pissed. He obviously made sure you were okay, you were his only child and daughter. It didn’t matter the relationship he had with Finn, Finn grabbed you and insulated Daniel and his family.

“I’ll take care of it,” your father said. “Just enjoy your weekend and your dinner with Daniel.”

When you had told your father about your dinner with Daniel, he didn’t sound surprised. He was really cool about it and was just happy you were getting back into the world of dating.

“You’re not concerned about the age difference?” You asked. You weren’t too iffy on the age because you were a consenting adult. You just wanted to make sure your father was okay with it, because it mattered to you what he thought about it.

“No, not at all,” your father replied. “Your mother had you late in her forties. We are old enough to be his parents. Plus, Daniel approached me before I left town to see if it was okay to take you to dinner and that his intentions were one hundred percent pure.”

It was not long after you got ready that Daniel knocked on your door. You got up from your couch and made your way towards your door. You peeked through the little eye hole and saw Daniel standing there in a grey suit, almost like the one that he wore that very first day at the track.

You took a step back and opened the door. Once you did, you watched as Daniels took a deep breath as he looked you over. You wore a red sundress with white flowers printed around it. The Dress had a deep V in the front that stopped in the middle between both your breasts. The shoes you wore were a beige gladiator sandal like heel, the straps went half way up your calf. Your hair hung low around your shoulders and your make up was natural except for the light pink lip gloss you threw on.

“Wunderschӧnen,” Daniel said licking his top lip. The small action alone had your cheeks rosy with color. But you knew that he had called you beautiful or something like that. Even the way he looked you said it.

“I don’t really dress up like this,” you brushed the slightly wrinkled front of your dress. “This dress is like three years old I think and the shoes, Bea let me borrow those…” You let your voice wander off.

“You look lovely,” Daniel smiled as he looked you over again. How was he going to get through dinner with you looking like that? “Shall we?” He offered his hand to you and you took it with a smile. “I promise to make tonight memorable.”

***

Dinner was amazing.

The two of you barely ate anything because the two of you couldn’t stop talking. You guys started out talking about each other's childhood and somehow the two of you ended up talking about some cat video you saw that morning. Talking about that video had you laughing all over again.

“Let me see,” Daniel stood up from his side of the table and moved to sit next to you. He placed one arm behind your back as you got the video ready. When you pressed play on the video, instantly Daniel started to laugh. You loved his laugh so much. “That was good,” he said when the video was over. “That was really good. I needed a laugh like that.”

“Well, I’m glad I can give that to you,” you took a sip of the wine that Daniel had insisted you try. You were a beer kind of gal and you only liked certain wines, so you tried it and were very much in love with the semi dry alcohol. “Tonight is very nice and I’m very much enjoying every second of it.”

Daniels hand rested on the small of your back and began to slowly rub his thumb in circles. The smile on his face said it all. He was enjoying everything about tonight. The way you laughed was something out of a book. The way you leaned over the table earlier while the two of you talked got him worked up and he wanted nothing more than to take you in the restaurant bathroom. To nuzzle his face between your breasts. To have his way with you. Then the way your soft skin felt under his rough, calloused hand--everything in that moment was perfect for Daniel.

“As am I,” Daniel replied. He watched as your tongue quickly darted out and wet your lips. He wanted to know what they would feel like against his own. Were they soft? Would they moan and whimper his name if he had his way with you? But Daniel couldn’t, not tonight at least. Daniel just wanted to take you out. He wanted to enjoy your company outside of the track.

When the check came and was paid for, Daniel walked you to your side of the car and held the door open for you. You got in and let Daniel close the door. Tonight was the best night you had in years. It was what you needed.

Then your phone rang. It was Bea.

“Are you calling to see if I’m still living?” You answered the phone.

“You can’t blame me,” Bea laughed. “But now that I have you, tell me all about it.”

You looked to see Daniel standing outside the driver side door. He had his phone in his hands and it looked like he was texting someone. “Well, I’m still with him. But I can tell you that it’s been amazing. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You better, I have a homicide detective on speed dial,” Bea giggled.

“Bye, Bea,” you hung up the phone in time to hear Daniel get in.

“Sorry about that,” Daniel said, buckling in. “An old buddy texted me. Wanted to see how tonight went. Told him I would call him once I had you dropped off.”

“That’s sweet of him,” You tucked your phone back into your wallet. “Bea called me to make sure I was alive. She watches too many crime documentaries and somehow was convinced you were a serial killer and I was just your type.”

Daniel got a good laugh at that. “Well, she did get one thing right.” He started the car and put the car in reverse. The look on your face questioned his statement and he saw that. “You are my type.”

***

Daniel walked you to your apartment door and held your ice cream as you opened your door. He followed you in and shut the door with his shoulder. You set your things and turned to him with a small smile on your face. You wanted to ask if he wanted to stay for a drink and hang out for a while but you began to feel the butterflies in your stomach.

You turned back around and reached for the random clean glass that sat in the dish rack. You quickly filled it with tap water and chugged it until it was all gone. You set the glass to the side and turned to see Daniel still eyeing you. The way you noticed how his eyes flicker around body made your cheeks burn. Gosh, you don’t remember how long it’s been to have someone make you feel like this. You weren’t sure when the last time in your and Finn's relationship he made you feel like that.

“Thanks for dinner,” You told him, crossing over to him to get your slowly melting ice cream from him. “I had an amazing time.”

“As did I,” Daniel handed you the cone. “I guess I should be going. I don’t want to take up more of your night.”

You walked Daniel to the door. You were bummed that the night needed to end because you wanted more of his company. Daniel wanted the same but he knew that if he stayed any longer he would be even more tempted to have his way with you. Daniel wasn’t someone to just fuck on the first date.

Daniel turned around once he opened the door. There you were, your body practically brushing up against his as he looked down at you. Daniel immediately took notice of your flushed, rosy cheeks and the way your chest rose and fell with each deep breath. You, too, were holding yourself back.

Daniel couldn’t stop himself, he reached for your face and pulled it towards his. The moment your lips touched, it felt like a million sparks were set off inside your body. You instinctively wrapped your arms around Daniels neck and held him closer to your body. Daniel slid a hand around your shoulder while the other hand slid down to grip your hip. He walked you back until your back hit the wall.

Your lips and his moved together like a dance. His were soft against your own. They were intoxicating and your mind was drunk on the feeling. Daniel let his tongue slip out and brush over your bottom one, causing you to moan. You could feel the arousal pooling between your folds. You wanted more. You hitched your leg up and wrapped it around his waist. Daniel grabbed it.

“Querida, no,” Daniel pulled back and rested his head on yours. He was breathing hard and so were you. “We shouldn’t, at least not tonight.” He pulled his face back and brushed some loose hair from your face. “I want to make it a more meaningful first time for us. I want to kiss every inch of your body and worship it. I want to feel the softness of your skin on mine and to hear you scream out my name as I’m working you through multiple orgasms.”

You didn’t have any words. At first you were honestly a little disappointed to be turned down but as Daniel spoke, you felt your chest clench up and your cheeks warm up. You wanted Daniel even more now. You wanted to feel him inside you giving you the pleasure he knew you needed and wanted to give you.

“Okay,” you nodded your head. Your voice was just above a whisper but you knew that Daniel heard you.

Daniel smiled and leaned in to press his lips once more to yours. When he pulled away, he let your leg fall and took a step back. He put his hands in his pockets, “I very much enjoyed tonight, Y/N. I’ll see you Monday, meine Liebe.”

After Daniel left, you closed the door. You made a beeline towards your room. You flopped onto your bed and reached over to the night stand. You pulled out your friendly little buzzing toy and checked the batteries. When you were positive they worked you turned the lights off and called it an early night.

***

When Monday came around, your father was back in town. You tried to approach him about Finn but he said he’d talk to you after work. You understood why as soon as the first group of suits came in. There were meetings after meetings today and Daniel was a part of all of them with your father. So you hardly saw them. Only in passing where Daniel would wink at you from afar. Or the best one, you were making an afternoon cup of coffee when you felt Daniel next to you. He brushed against you as much as he could and whispered something in one of the many languages he knows.

By the time it was ready to shut down the track for the night, you went to find your father. Once you did, you were caught up on all the going ons with Finn. Which made you realize that the reason today went super smooth, Finn wasn’t at the track. You were happy that your father took care of it because from what he told you, you knew it needed to happen.

You were doing the last of your closing duties when you heard something bang around in one of the garages near you. You finish tying up the last bag and make your way towards the only garage open. There you see Daniel, arms deep into the engine of his red car. You heard him muttering under his breath and he didn’t sound like he was in a good mood.

“Hey,” you called while walking into the garage. “Do you need a skinner arm?”

Daniel stood up and as he did, he bumped his head on the hood of the car. “Y/N, I didn’t hear you come in.”

You walked next to him and looked into the spot that Daniel's arm was just in. “Looks like you lost a bolt. I might be able to reach it for you.” You took the sweater you were wearing off and threw your hair into a crappy bun and reached into the engine. “How’d you manage to knock this down there?”

“I knocked the car and it just fell,” Daniel replied. You could feel him standing next to you. “There was a rattle and I wanted to fix it.”

You managed to get the bolt until you felt another concerning thing in the engine. “Well that isn’t your only problem.” You stood up and handed him the bolt. “I felt something down there, might want to see what it is.”

Daniel rolled under the car and heard a few soft curses. When he rolled out he had a look on his face that pretty much told you that he wasn’t happy about what he had found. He sat up and rubbed his face. “Mouse nest and a few chewed up wires.”

You knelt down in front of him and placed a hand on his forearm. You didn’t miss how his muscles tensed up and relaxed at your touch. “It’s common around here,” you gave him a half smile. “I’ve had mice in my engine a few times. The wires are an easy fix and I can help you with that tomorrow.”

Daniel turned to you and took your hand in his. “I appreciate that, Liebling.” Then he leaned towards you and pressed his lips on yours. You felt your knees give out from under you and you landed right on his lap. One leg on either side of him.

Daniel’s hands were on your hips pulling you closer to him. This allowed you to wrap your arms around his neck and deepen the kiss even more. Eliciting a low groan from Daniel and feeling the grip on your hips tighten. “Scheiße!” Daniel pulled back and you saw how blown his pupils were with lust. He wanted you, and he wanted you bad. You wanted the exact same thing.

Daniel gripped your hips tighter and shuffled around until your legs were wrapped around his waist. He managed to stand up and walked towards the workbench that was beside you guys. He placed you down and let his hands run from your hips down to the bottom of your thighs. Even though you wore jeans, his hands still left goosebumps in their wake. Making you groan softly.

Daniel placed a gentle kiss to the base of your neck and nuzzled his nose up to your jaw, the hair of his beard tickling the sensitive parts of your skin. . “Daniel,” you breathed a sigh and let your head fall back. Your hands held onto both his forearms. Your legs still wrapped around his waist. “Please, Daniel,” you whined softly, tightening your legs around him.

Daniel groaned when he felt his half hard, clothed erection brush against your clothed core. You sucked in a soft, sharp breath. The sound of his name on your lips was music to his ears. It was the most beautiful sound and he wanted to hear it again. Daniel moved his left hand between your bodies and pressed his thumb to your almost damp center.

“Mmmm,” Daniel hummed and pulled away. He kept his thumb where it was and slowly rubbed small circles. He watched as you closed your eyes and let your mouth fall open. “We probably should take this somewhere else.” He leaned in towards your ear and brushed his lips over them, sending a chill down your back. “Or we can risk getting caught on camera or by someone walking in here.”

The idea of getting caught thrilled you, but you remembered where you were. The risk of getting caught was high, but the risk of getting caught by your father was even more high. You took a deep breath and brought a hand up to his hair and gently gripped it. “Then we should probably take my car to your place.”

***

You had barely made it through the doorway when you felt Daniel pull you towards his chest. He shut and locked the door and had you pushed up on the closest wall in seconds. His lips crashed onto yours and you could feel the hunger behind the kiss. His hands strayed from your sides to your ass where he squeezed. You squealed and felt a smile on Daniel's face.

Daniel pulled you away from the wall and guided you back towards his small living room. His lips never left yours. Daniel still couldn’t believe that you were right here. In his arms, his lips on yours. He knew back at the track, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He would have taken you right there on that workbench if he hadn’t thought about the camera hanging in the corner of the small area.

Daniel pulled away from you briefly to turn the two of you around and sit on the couch. He leaned forward and pulled you towards him. He looked up at you with those dark eyes and you smiled as you placed your hands on his shoulders and straddled his lap.

You kept eye contact with Daniel while you let your hands slide down to his chest. One by one, you undid each button on his shirt. Once the last button was done, you slide your hands over Daniel’s chest to the golden chain that hung around his neck. You looped your finger around the chain and pressed your lips to his.

Daniel's arms wrapped around you and he held on tight to you as he leaned back. Daniels hands slid to the bottom of your shirt and gently gripped the hem and tugged. You leaned back and let Daniel swiftly take your shirt off. Leaving you in your bra. It wasn’t lacey at all, just a solid ocean green color.

Daniel leaned forward some and slid a hand up your back until it reached your bra clasp. In one swift movement, your bra was undone and on the floor. Daniel looked at your bare breast and took them into his hands and squeezed them. You closed your eyes and exhaled. You didn't even realize that you were even holding your breath.

You opened your eyes when you felt Daniel shift around. He had his arms around you again and was standing up. He began to carry you back towards his room. Daniel dropped you down on the soft mattress and as you were backing up, Daniel was crawling his way towards you.

Your back hit the head board and Daniel slid a hand between your legs and used a knee to spread your legs enough to fit himself in between them. The hand that slid between your legs reached the button of your jeans.

With one little look he asked, “Do you still want this? I’ll understand if you want to-”

You cut Daniel off and grabbed hold of his face and brought him to your lips. You kiss him hard and let your tongue run along the bottom part of his lip before pulling away. Daniel groaned “Of course I want this. I want you,” you breathed deeply. “I’ve been waiting for something like this. Someone like you.”

Daniel’s lips curved into a mischievous grin. He leaned back onto his knees, letting his hair fall into face as he pulled your jeans down in one swift movement. “And you, mi querida,” he crawled his way back up to you and brushed your hair from your face. “Are everything that I have been looking for. Now, let me treat you like the goddess that I know you are.”

#Daniel Brühl #daniel brühl fanfiction #Daniel Brühl x Reader #Daniel Brühl x You #Daniel Brühl Smut #Daniel Brühl Angst #daniel brühl imagine #Brühlnation

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trensu · 3 years ago

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I had a thought about a vaguely Cupid-and-Psyche inspired crack!fic where Elias is a god of Love

(Jon: don't you mean Emotional Manipulation?

Elias: you say to-may-to, i say to-mah-to

Jon: ... I say to-mah-to, I'm not American, what does this have to do with anything?)

Jon is obviously Cupid. Elias took a shine to him and made him immortal against his will and keeps him as his servant or smth. Idk Elias is a douchebag, okay? ANYWAY, Elias is also a petty bitch and so he gave Jon Love arrows

(Jon: it's mind control.

Elias: they inspire passion, Jon. Just bc you don't experience it, doesn't mean--

Jon: No. Me being ace has nothing to do with it. They're mind control arrows. These people wouldn't have done all that if they weren't being influenced.

Elias: you have no romance in your soul

Jon: ...i find your interpretation of love and romance extremely suspect.)

Whenever Elias feels jealous or neglected or just plain bored tbh, he sends Jon out with to shoot whoever's caught his ire with one of those love arrows and has them make fools of themselves. Jon does it (he's bound to Elias for handwavey reasons so he can't really disobey) and it usually gets him in trouble. It's how he's gotten all those scars. (Jane Prentiss falling in love with worms and attacking Jon with them when he accidentally stepped on one while trying to make an exit was pretty tame in comparison to Jude Perry's reaction when she realized Jon struck Agnes with an arrow so she'd fall for some no-name mortal boy).

Such is Jon's life. Being immortal is not all it's cracked up to be when you can get injured and scarred. So when Elias started muttering about Peter's wandering eye, Jon knew it was only a matter of time before he'd send him out with those arrows again.

Peter, apparently, had been showing too much interest in a mortal boy named Martin, whose Loneliness tasted as bittersweet as dark chocolate (or so Peter claimed as he boasted during his dinner with Elias while Jon slowly sunk further into his chair the more irritated Elias's scowl grew).

"make him fall in love with something hideous and embarrassing," Elias had seethed at him, practically throwing the quiver at his head. At least two of the arrows pricked him so he was quite grateful that he was immune to their mind control (Elias: don't be ridiculous, Jon. Having you susceptible to the magic you're tasked to handle would be a stupid move on my part. You could get compromised and be completely useless to me!)

Grumbling, Jon set out to track down the mortal boy. He was not prepared for the the way the sunlight glinted off of Martin's light hair or his warm smile. He was not prepared for the twinge he felt in his heart when Martin's pale eyes glimmered with tears after receiving his mother's harsh words (the pain, worryingly, felt all too similar to the slice of the arrows he aimed at people).

He didn't want to shoot Martin with one of the mind control arrows. He wanted Martin to be happy. So he persuades his good friend Daisy to get her gf Basira to fake a prophecy. To her credit, she did a fantastic job delivering a fake prophecy. But there was some sort of miscommunication (or Martin's mother deliberately misunderstood; it could go either way). Instead of telling Martin's mother to marry off her son to a kind and handsome man with a gentle heart in order to avoid the wrath of the gods, the prophecy was somehow interpreted as sacrificing Martin's hand in marriage to some sort of hideous beast that lived at the peak of a nearby and treacherous mountain.

(Jon: how did she get that idea from your prophecy? what exactly did you tell her???

Basira: i can't fake a prophecy, Jon. and i'm not telling you what the prophecy was

Jon: What?? Why not???

Basira: it would violate the oracle-client confidentiality clause on the consent form we have them sign prior to a reading)

Jon was irritated by how quickly and eagerly Martin's mother was to dress up her son and dump him on the mountain. He was tempted to use the arrows on her, instead, but he figured Martin would be upset if something happened to his mother so he refrained. Jon fretted as Martin started his slow procession up the mountain. Martin wasn't made to endure such a harsh environment, and even if he had, he shouldn't have to!! Martin deserves to be loved and treated well and get given all the good things life could offer!!

So Jon constructs a luxurious enchanted castle using godly magic and more favors than he probably should've called in. He puts big obvious signage to Martin knew it would be his castle provided by his non-existent monster spouse.

(Daisy: he's gonna get suspicious when his monster spouse doesn't show up. he'll probably leave and try to find it. he seems like the self-sacrificing type and you know how those get.

Jon: i have a plan

Daisy: .... is this like all your other plans?

Jon: shut up, daisy)

So Jon pretends to be the hideous monster spouse Martin was expecting. Sort of. He only visits after dark, and informs Martin that he can not bring light into the room for if he sees his visage he'd be cursed (or something; Jon came up with something on the fly and was definitely not suave about it but Martin complied and that's all that mattered). He spends his nights with Martin, telling him stories and meekly asking permission to pet his hair and hold his hand while doing his best to ignore the pounding of his heart and the heat on his cheeks whenever Martin softly says yes. He didn't say yes the first time Jon asked, and Jon skittered away from where he had been creeping closer. He respected Martin's boundaries (he isn't Elias, after all) but as he and Martin spent more time together, Martin became less guarded and began to allow Jon close.

It got to the point where they would cuddle in bed and Jon was so content in Martin's arms that he occasionally dozed with him. Everything was great and Martin seemed genuinely happy to spend his days in the castle learning new hobbies and such while spending his nights with someone he couldn't see. Until one day Martin asked if he could have his mother visit. Jon wanted to say no, but the hesitant way Martin asked tasted too much of fear of rejection for Jon to deny him.

(Daisy: why do I have to guide her here?

Jon: bc you're my friend and if you don't Martin will be sad which means I'll be sad and you'll have to listen to me cry about it and you hate that

Daisy: damn it jon)

And because martin's mother is awful and bitter and spiteful, she tells Martin he should find out what his "captor" looked like. his spouse was a monster, after all, he should know what he's dealing with so he could defend himself and her if it should decide to attack them. so one night, shortly after his mother left, he waits until Jon has dozed off before quietly lighting a candle.

Jon wakes when he feels hot wax drip onto him and sees Martin staring a him with a shocked expression. Jon realizes what happened and flees in a panic. He knows what he looks like; short and skinny an riddled with scars of all kinds. Ofc Martin would be disgusted by him. He ends up licking his wounds at Elias's.

(Elias: my poor delicate darling precious boy

Jon: really, Elias?

Elias: can't a father worry about his child??

Jon: you're not my father!! you kidnapped me and immortalized me against my will!

Elias: details, details. anyway, you can stay here until you recover from your grievous injuries. byyyyee!

Jon: where are you going? elias? why's the door locked? elias?? LET ME OUT, YOU POMPOUS ASS)

When Jon recovers and finally manages to escape, he finds out that Martin had been trying to find him but Elias had given him impossible tasks to prove he's worthy of him. Thankfully, Daisy, Georgie and Basira all helped him out, much to elias's displeasure. Since Martin completed the tasks, Jon was able to reunite with him and they lived happily ever after~!

#tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #jmart #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #trensu tells stories #this is a purely self-indulgent not!fic in case you couldn't tell #its a little bday gift to me since it's been rolling around my head for awhile now #i've also been thinking about an almost phantom of the opera au but this one amused me more #because it's more ridiculous and cracky than the other #and these characters need more comedy XD

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glowinggator · 4 years ago

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S/O /w Emotional Support Cat

Request: Is it okay if I ask how the boys react to Reader (with permission) brings their emotional support cat to the lair, or them finding out reader has one.

Pairing: All, Non-Poly

Content Warnings: None!

Word Count: 1266

Raphael

A cat!! A small friend :)

He’s not too shocked to find out that you have an emotional support cat, honestly. He thinks it’s really cool! Animals are good friends, and he’s an animal lover himself as well. Plus animals just tend to bring nice energy with them! He totally understands it.

He’d also love to bring the cat over! He even buys a little cat bed for them to sleep in.

(He loves cats, but he knows nothing about them. The cat bed never gets used </3)

Unfortunately… animals take a long time to warm up to him. He has no idea why, either! We all saw how Mayhem reacted on the first meeting. Depending on how skittish your cat is, it could take anywhere from a week to months of contact for them to really get used to Raph.

He’s a little sad that your cat doesn’t immediately vibe with him, but honestly, he’s just happy that you feel comfortable enough to bring them over. If you’re happy, he’s happy!

He gets so excited if/when your cat warms up to him though. His eyes light up like a torch in the dark when your cat presses their head into his hand for the first time.

He knows every detail about your cat, it’s really sweet. What temp they like the heating blanket on, what their favorite toy is, what their favorite brand (and flavor) of cat food is, where their favorite spot is… He genuinely considers them to be part of the family at this point.

Honestly, 10/10 he loves you and your emotional support cat <3

Leonardo

Your emotional support animal is… a cat? Alright, he can get that. Different strokes for different folks, after all.

He thinks the cat is super cute, honestly. He always brings strings and cat toys over for your cat when he comes to your apartment. They’re a member of your family, and he’s gonna treat them like one!!

He’s cool with bringing them over to the lair as well! He’s a little worried that they’ll escape or get lost or something, but like, you know them best. He trusts you!

He still sets up little cardboard cat-gates. He doesn’t know that they could just jump over them if they wanted to, but he doesn’t NEED to know that.

He actually gets a little excited when you bring them over for the first time? Like, this is such a huge display of trust and comfort, and it just makes him really happy. He makes sure to get the softest blankets for them to lay on.

The cat likes him, by the way! He has really good vibes, and most animals tend to pick up on that. Dogs usually gravitate towards him, but cats are Not Immune to Leon.

(Raph is SO SALTY ABOUT IT LIKE WHY DON’T THEY LIKE ME I LOVE CATS PLEASE PSPSPSPSP-)

When your cat isn’t by your side, they like to sit on Leo’s chest. He wants to carry them around like a parrot so bad like-

He meows back at them sometimes. It’s cute.

He also likes to do voices for them.

He loves them a lot, and he’s happy that you have such a sweet and reliable emotional support animal.

Donatello

Oh, you have an emotional support animal? Are they a therapy animal? A psychiatric service animal? Prescribed by the court, or independently pursued? Dog? Cat? Horse?

He thinks the neuroscience between human-animal relationships is neat, and it’s something he somewhat understands on a personal level. Animals are quiet and non judgemental. They don’t have the predetermined biases that a human, yokai, or mutant might, and that alone reduces so much stress and pressure.

He thinks it’s kind of cool that your emotional support animal is a cat, as well. He’s always been a cat-person.

Every now and then he’ll build a little gadget for them to play with. It’s more basic than what he’s used to, but sometimes it's just fun to tinker. It’s still stuff you probably couldn’t buy in stores too, like, what a good boyfriend!! Your cat definitely appreciates it!

He’s fine with you bringing your cat over. The only rule is No Cats in the Lab.

It’s not that he doesn’t like them, it’s just like. It’s an accident waiting to happen. He doesn’t want them to get hurt from jumping where they’re not supposed to, or from getting shocked by an exposed wire or something. He’s genuinely just looking out for them.

This is a headcanon I’ve had for a LONG time and I’m so happy I finally get to bring it up. Have you ever heard of Rubber Ducky Debugging? In short, programmers will carry around a little rubber ducky, and when they run into a problem with their code that they can’t seem to solve, they explain every line of code to the rubber duck. It makes the programmer think about their code in a new way, which points out the problem that makes the program fail.

Your cat has become the Rubber Ducky. Your cat has been blessed with knowledge including - but not limited to - string theory, black hole mirage theory, the coding to an updated battle shell, the code for a self-aware supercomputer, and much more. Your cat has transcended this mortal plane.

Like, he has full-on conversations with your cat. It’s a really silly sight to walk in on.

Responds to their meows with things like “Yes, I know. Tell me more.” He always says it in a really monotone voice, and it makes you giggle.

Your cat likes him a lot. They follow him around like a shadow when he comes out of the lab.

He’s definitely started training them on how to use communication buttons. Speech pathology is so cool… your cat will take over the world soon.

Overall, they’re good friends, and he’s happy that you have a loving outlet to help you emotionally.

Michelangelo

Oh, Baby? Tiny little baby man?

Loves that you have an emotional support cat! Cats are such good friends, and they’ll always keep your secrets. Plus, you can smooch their tiny little head. What’s not to love?

He’s actually the first to suggest bringing them over! And he’s super stoked when you agree.

He definitely spends a few hours cat-proofing the lair. He’s watched too many cat videos where they bat stuff off of ledges. He loves them, but cats are NOT to be trusted with such temptation.

Please let him bust out the laser pointer. He’ll get so excited about it, like… it’s all he’s ever wanted.

Your cat takes a little while to warm up to him, just because Mikey is so high energy! Even when he’s sitting still, he’s still a little fidgety. So depending on how skittish they are, it may take a little while.

Definitely likes to nap with them! It’s a really cute sight to walk in on.

(Sunlight lover solidarity <3)

Looks up cat-safe recipes to cook for them, and he’s memorized how much of each thing a cat can have per week. He spoils all of his pets, and your baby? No exception. (And your cat certainly isn’t complaining! Healthy and delicious food!)

He likes to talk to them. Both for emotional stuff, and for silly stuff.

If he’s cooking, and they’re not with you, they’re on the kitchen table meowing at Mikey. He always responds. Either with meows or words, but he actually feels mean if he doesn’t say something back.

He loves them a lot, and he’s happy that you’re happy!

#rottmnt x reader #rottmnt imagine #tmnt leonardo x reader #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt raphael x reader #tmnt michelangelo x reader #rottmnt michelangelo x reader #rottmnt Donatello x reader #rottmnt leonardo x reader #rottmnt raphael x reader #tmnt imagine #tmnt x reader

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sisterofsomeone · 3 years ago

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花吐き病 - Part 1 – The Beginnings of Cherry Blossom

- Hajime Iwaizumi x Fem!Reader

- Masterlist

- Warnings: Angst, minor character death, swearing,

- Summary: Iwaizumi and Oikawa had been your friends since childhood. Sure you had feelings for Iwa-chan, but they wouldn't be the death of you, right?

———————

I'm not her. I wish I were, maybe then it wouldn't be so painful.

The sky was grey, overcast, and dreary as you stared across the courtyard. You saw some of your friends huddled under the bike shed to avoid the rain, but you were already caught right in the middle of the downpour. It was cold, a chill running through you as you trudged towards the entrance of your school, white shirt almost completely transparent now. This is exactly what you needed on your first day of senior year.

"Oi y/n, you're gonna get sick." He said throwing his jacket over your shaking shoulders and pulling you under his umbrella. "You're an idiot, you know that right?" You nodded silently. Words were always hard when it came to him. You dared to look up at him, his eyes cold and jaw tight. You thought he was mad until a smirk crawled across his face. "Enjoying the view?" You flushed, darting your eyes back to the ground while he chuckled softly above you. His hand guided you forwards as your legs grew still next to him. “Hurry it or I’ll leave you out here in the rain.” He barked out, causing you to rush to be beside him again. He was warm and smelled of cinnamon and birthday cake. All your friends would snicker whenever you said something like that, but it was true to you, the only way to describe Iwaizumi correctly, as abstract as it was. His hair was dark like the bark of an oak tree, hands calloused but firm against your back, pushing you ever forwards. You had kissed him once at a party in middle school. His lips were soft, movements strong at first before the boys started to poke fun at the two of you. He grew hesitant and eventually pulled away, leaving you stunned and flustered. It was a stupid dare he said as he wiped his mouth and smiled at the boys, but to you it meant everything. He tasted of sunlight and summer; a warm, buzzing feeling spreading through your chest, intoxicating you. Now you know, that was when it took root.

Iwaizumi ushered you to the nurse’s office, telling her you had been caught in the dreadful rain and she took you in without hesitation. Iwaizumi left with a silent nod in your direction as the nurse instructed you to undress and swap into some dry clothes, she had some spare and laid them on the bed for you before pulling the curtains shut. You did as you were told, undressing, and handing her your wet clothes. His jacket hung loosely across the back of the chair you had placed it on, but you enjoyed it being there. Iwaizumi always looked after you, and had done so ever since your mother passed three years ago, but he was a good friend to you even before all that. Your father had told you about your mother’s death over dinner, rather callously, saying that she had not been strong enough to survive the operation. You excused yourself from the table and ran all the way to Iwaizumi's house without shedding a single tear. His father opened the door, welcoming you in with a smile and shouting for Iwaizumi to come down and say hello. You silently followed him up the stairs, the news hadn’t reached them yet, so he was absentmindedly mumbling about some new move he learnt at practise that day. He kicked his bedroom door open and motioned for you to sit down. His room was messy, clothes scattered around the floor and dirty plates stacked on his desk. He caught your eyes and pulled you into his chest. “What’s wrong? You’re not okay.” That’s when you broke down, allowing yourself to finally cry for your loss. You felt all that pain, and he was right there with you through it all.

“Hey? You okay darling?” You blinked, not realising you’d been staring at the jacket.

“Y-yeah, just cold.” The nurse nodded and closed the curtain again to give you your privacy back while she went to turn up the radiator. You pulled the scratchy grey jumper over your head and shimmied into the black skirt she’d left on the bed for you before finally putting his jacket back on your shoulders. It was warm, Iwaizumi had brought it when you two went shopping a year ago, saying he looked like a shoujo-romance-manga-guy. You’d scoffed at the time, but you couldn’t help the fluttering of your heart. Your chest was aching as you watched him observe himself in the changing room mirrors, seeing him fix his hair and smile stupidly at his reflection. He was beaming when you shot him a weak smile back, exclaiming that this was the jacket he was gonna buy. You’d tried to remind him that it was more than he had said he’d wanted to spend but he dismissed you by saying that if you liked it, it was worth the extra money.

“Thank you for the spare uniform, I’m gonna head to class now. I’ll be back for my clothes at the end of the day if they’re not dry beforehand.”

“Okay darling, just be careful now, and don’t go back out into the rain without an umbrella!” She was smiling at you, but her tone was laced with worry as you rushed out of the little office.

The class had begun as you pulled back the door.

“Nice to finally see you today.”

“Sorry I’m late-“

“Miss, Iwa-chan did tell you that he took y/n to the nurse’s office.” Oikawa said as he waved at you. You smiled softly at him, and the teacher muttered something about rudeness or tardiness. You took no mind as you rushed to your seat beside the setter.

“So, see-through shirt trick hey?” He nudged you with his elbow and you flicked his forehead.

“More like I didn’t look at the weather forecast and left my umbrella and coat at home today. No trick. I don’t even think there is a trick that would get him to notice me.” You dropped your head onto your desk and heard a sigh leave the boy next to you.

“You never know until you try!” His sing-song lilt always annoyed the hell out of you.

“I can’t even speak to him, let alone pull off flirting with him.” You sneered back as Oikawa chuckled softly beside you.

“Well, you better figure it out fast. I hear she’s gonna confess to him today under the cherry blossom tree in the school garden.” The emphasis was apparent, and the word dripped with disdain as it left his lips. Oikawa hated Aoi almost as much as you did, but the two of you seemed to be the only one’s immune to her charms – sadly, that included Iwaizumi.

“It’s only a rumour, so you may be lucky. But I wouldn’t count on it sadly.” You lifted your head to meet his gaze. He was staring at you so intently, looking for any sign of distress in your face, but he didn’t find any. You were good at hiding your feelings.

“Good for her, I just hope she’s good to him.” You forced a smile, sitting up and finally paying attention to the teacher and the grammar lesson she was attempting to teach.

Oikawa continued to try to get your attention all morning, but you ignored him, opting to throw yourself into boring lesson after boring lesson, pretending to be okay with the idea of Iwaizumi falling for anyone but you. Your chest ached, lungs burnt, but you just pushed all the pain down and faked a smile, answering any questions thrown your way easily. He threw paper at you; pens poked your sides making you yelp and have to fake sneezes to cover the sounds.

“Fucking stop it Toru.”

“Oh, first name? I must be in trouble.” He smirked, throwing more paper your way while the teacher’s back was turned.

“You are. I’m so gonna kill you for this.”

“Then admit you’re upset.” You rolled your eyes at him.

“I’m not upset. Iwa-chan isn’t mine to be possessive over.” Your chest ached at this admission, your body reacting to the idea of losing something that was never quite yours to begin with. Oikawa raised his eyebrow at you quizzically.

“That’s such a lie.”

“No, it’s not. He is free to date whoever he wants.” Your chest didn’t seem to agree, the tightness growing and your lungs burning. “And so am I.” You beamed at the setter, seemingly unfazed but he didn’t buy it.

“Like you would date anyone else.”

“I could!”

“Could not.”

“Could so!”

“Could-“ There was a loud bang as the board eraser collided with Oikawa’s shoulder, covering you both in a cloud of chalk dust. You recoiled, spluttering, and gasping for air.

“If you two are quite finished arguing in my lesson!” The teacher shouted. Oikawa protested for a moment, before the threat of another eraser being thrown at his head this time shut him up for good. Finally, some peace and quiet before lunch.

Oikawa’s girls had always hated you, but now they were easily planning your death, figuring out how to make it look like an accident. He had followed you at the start of lunch like a lost puppy. You headed to your usual area bento in hand, towards the bench beside the volleyball gym, and when you went to sit down he grabbed you and pulled you onto his lap. That’s how you ended up like this, with Iwaizumi looking very uncomfortable sitting next to you two.

“So, this is new.”

“Oh, this? Nah, you just never see this side of y/n.” Oikawa teased, wiggling his eyebrows as he placed his hands on your hips. You yelped and glared at the brunette underneath you.

“O-Oikawa…” You stuttered out, obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. You turned to look at him, your face red and body shaking softly.

“Aww y/n! Don’t be like that! You love sitting on my lap, don’t you? You love it when we’re alone at least.” Oikawa purred into your ear, but obviously loud enough for Iwaizumi to hear.

“Okay shitty-kawa, leave the poor girl alone.” He said, wrapping his hand around your arm and pulling you off of the brunette and onto the bench beside him.

“Aw, you’re such a buzz kill.” Oikawa poked his tongue out, pulling his eyelid as well and Iwaizumi just rolled his eyes.

“Shut up dipshit.” He said laughing softly. It was a nice noise.

“You would think after ten years of us, she’d get bored you know?”

“Oh yeah, all your other girls ran off within a few months max.” Oikawa threw a bit of his omelette at Iwaizumi, narrowly missing his friend. They shared a laugh across you, the sounds already calming you.

“You’d think you’d stop getting handsy with y/n after she so obviously turned you down last year.” Iwaizumi teased.

“Hey! She didn’t turn me down. We agreed we would be better as friends – mutually!” Oikawa pouted as you stifled a giggle. Iwaizumi glanced down at you, a smile spreading across his face when he saw you fully relaxed again. This was how you loved spending time with the two of them, just joking around and having fun. It wasn’t long before you were all separated again and had to rush off to class for the afternoon. But soon you’d be able to watch them practise after school like always, and that was the highlight of your day.

He was late. Iwaizumi was never late, but here it was 20 minutes into practice, and he wasn’t there. You had checked the changing rooms, running field, even his classrooms, but he wasn’t anywhere. You walked slowly back to the gym through the gardens, thinking about calling him, when you heard it.

“I like you. I like like you, Iwaizumi.” Silence. You hid behind the stone wall in the garden, just out of sight of the pair.

“Aoi I-“

“You don’t need to answer me now, just tell me there’s no one else.”

“Look, I’ve told you I’m single-“

“But you haven’t told me if there’s anyone you like yet, Iwa-chan.” It sounded wrong coming from her, the nickname sickly sweet, almost heavy in your ears.

“Aoi, -“

“Tell me there’s a chance for me Iwa.” You could almost hear the pathetic fluttering of her eyelashes from your hiding place. He would never.

“There’s a chance. But I want to get to know you first, okay?”

That’s when you felt it for the first time. The clawing at the back of your throat. You rushed to the bathroom, gasping, and struggling for air as your chest tightened. Throwing open the bathroom stall you retched into the toilet bowl, eyes watering and body shivering. Then you saw them through the tears streaming down your cheeks. Cherry blossoms were lying in the toilet bowl. You coughed and spluttered, bringing up more of the pale pink petals. They fluttered momentarily, before hitting the water and settling. That’s when you knew you couldn’t ever love anyone else, and you couldn’t survive without Iwaizumi loving you back.

- Tags: @haikyuu-cafe @sassyglassesbunny @cuddlesslut @daphnxy @bakugouswh0r3 @playboygeniusphilanthropist

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duhragonball · 4 years ago

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Battle Tendency Liveblog: JJBA Ch. 65-66

This is the start of the “Ultimate Warriors from Ancient Times” arc, but I want to focus on these two chapters because they feature Mark. I’ve got a lot to say about Mark under the cut, but the short version is that he’s a lousy Nazi and he deserves everything that happens to him.

A large chunk of Chapter 65 is just Caesar hanging out in Joseph and Speedwagon’s hotel room. They try to play cards, but they’re both cheats. This wouldn’t bother me at all until Speedwagon points out that he’s been here for eight hours, and never bothered to explain why. You’d think Joseph would have demanded an answer a long time ago, since he’s not known for patience.

As it turns out, Caesar’s been waiting for Mark, a buddy of his in the German Army. Stroheim was in the German Army too, and he told Joseph that the Nazis had discovered three other Pillar Men in Rome. That’s why he and Speedwagon came here, after all. Well, Caesar’s an Italian, and Italy and Germany are allies, so Caesar managed to persuade the Germans (through Mark) to let him take a look at the Pillar Men. So in this chapter, Mark rolls up in a car and drives them over to the site.

But we already know what happened at the site in Chapter 64. The Pillar Men have already reawakened, and all the Nazi soldiers stationed there have been slaughtered. When Mark leads our heroes into the catacombs, they find the remains of the Germans, while Mark bumps into the Pillar Men themselves. (Note: the above image is not to scale).

The thing is, bumping into the Pillar Men is hazardous to your health. We saw that vampire grab Santana and large chunks of his body were completely absorbed. The same thing happens to Mark, only faster, because Wamuu doesn’t even slow down as he walks past him. He just walks right through Mark and half of his body is gone.

So when I first watched the JoJo anime, it was right after I watched the Hellsing Ultimate anime, and I got a kick out of seeing two completely different anime takes on vampire lore. Let’s face it, the Pillar Men are presented as something beyond mere vampires, but they’re basically just super-vampires, not so different from Alucard in Hellsing. And both make use of the Nazis, except in Hellsing, the Nazis are the villains, while in Battle Tendency, they’re kinda sorta allies. Stroheim is clearly a bad guy, because he killed his prisoners and tormented Speedwagon, but Mark is presented as a completely sympathetic person. He’s got a sweetheart back home, Caesar’s the one who introduced them, and he’s planning to get married the next time he goes back to Germany. And for his very brief appearance in JJBA, he’s completely friendly and helpful to the heroes. We’re supposed to feel very sorry for him when he gets killed here.

Part 2 is my favorite, but I think this stands out as it’s biggest flaw. I get the idea. Hellsing was dealing with a lot of dark themes, and the protagonists were horrifying in their own right. So Kouta Hirano used the Nazis as villains to humanize his vampire characters. By contrast, Hirohiko Araki seems to be using the Nazis to dehumanize the Pillar Men. They’re so evil that even the Nazis look halfway decent by comparison. At least the Nazis are human, with human loves and fears and honor. The Pillar Men kill Mark without even noticing him, and Speedwagon likens this to a human stepping on an ant. I get what Araki is trying to do here, but it rings hollow. Fuck Mark, and fuck his Nazi fiance. The first time we see him, we get a close up of his Iron Cross medal, with the damn swastika in the middle of it. We’re supposed to buy into the idea that he’s “one of the good Germans”, and it’s 1938, so World War II hasn’t officially started yet, so somehow Mark is supposed to be cool. But no, I don’t buy it.

Let me go off on a little sidebar and try to explain how we got here. Battle Tendency was published in 1988. Back then, Hitler had been dead for decades, and Germany had been partitioned into two countries, East and West Germany. The Nazis seemed to have been consigned to the dustbin of history, and as time passed, pop culture grew more comfortable using the Nazis as historical villains in stories like this one. There was a sense that yeah, the Nazis were really bad, but they were gone now, and they would never come back. I think there was a similar mentality surrounding the Soviet Union after the U.S.S.R. dissolved. By the 2000′s there were all sorts of internet memes about Nazi stuff and Soviet stuff and it was rationalized as harmless envelope-pushing.

The problem is, it doesn’t seem so harmless in 2021, when Russia is a autocracy that meddles in U.S. elections, emboldening white nationalists in the process. The “alt-right” fanatics who marched in Charlottesville in 2017? The rioters who stormed the Capitol building this past January? Those assholes probably wouldn’t call themselves Nazis, but neither did the Nazis. They called themselves “National Socialists”, because they were trying to make their ugly policies sound more legitimate. The same holds true for “alt-right”, “economic nationalist”, “Qanon”, “truther”, and so on. They’re just new labels for the same old horseshit.

I don’t want to judge Battle Tendency too harshly, because it’s the product of a different time, an era when people could at least pretend that Nazism was one of the few problems that we didn’t have to worry about any more. The same mentality can be found in Hellsing. The Nazis in Hellsing are definitely villains, but the conceit is that they’re all immortal vampires or werewolves, because that’s the only way the Nazi menace could possibly exist in 1999. Otherwise, they’d all be dead of old age. Battle Tendency is set in 1938, so it takes the liberty of presenting sympathetic Nazis, because we already know they’ll be defeated in the end, right? We might as well see what makes them tick.

Araki may have thought that using Nazis in a story set in the 1930s would be no different than using Napoleonic French soldiers in a story set in the 1800s. And in the long run, that might be true, but I don’t think we’re there yet. In the here and now, it’s aged rather poorly.

Of course, just because Caesar and Joseph feel bad for Mark doesn’t mean I have to. And Araki may have been more self-aware than I’m giving him credit for. Nazi Germany wanted to set itself up as the Master Race, and in this fictional world, the Pillar Men have come to do the same thing, only they’re much, much further ahead of the game. I think part of the point of Stroheim and Mark was to contrast the Nazis’ supreamcist attitudes with Kars’ ambitions. For all of Stroheim’s boasting, he’s helpless against Kars’ might. But at the same time, for all of Kars’ power and brilliance, he’s ultimately chasing the same pipe dream as Hilter and his followers.

Let’s get back on track. While the good guys react in horror at what happened to Mark, the Pillar Men just stand around nearby and discuss their situation. They completely ignore our heroes, just like they ignored Mark. Kars wants to locate the Red Stone of Aja, because it’s the secret ingredient to the mask he designed that will make them immune to sunlight. Esidisi doesn’t understand how the stone helps their plan, but he’s totally on board. But as they head out, Wamuu suddenly attacks Kars, because Kars stepped in his shadow, and apparently Wamuu just lashes out at anyone who does this, friend or foe.

Wamuu is deeply sorry for this, and begs to be punished, but Kars apologizes instead, because he knows about Wamuu’s whole shadow thing and he feels that he’s the one who made the mistake here. I really love this exchange, because it defines the Pillar Men so well. As indifferent as they are to human lives, they respect one another a great deal. Kars is the leader, but he still treats the other two guys like close associates. He needs Wamuu’s sharp senses and keen warrior instincts. Meanwhile, Wamuu and Eisidisi practically worship Kars like a god. They’ve literally followed him around the world and across thousands of years in pursuit of his vision.

So yeah, if the goal here was to use Mark’s suffering to make me hate the Pillar Men, it doesn’t work. The Pillar Men are evil, sure, but they’re pretty cool bad guys. On the other hand, Mark looks ridiculous here, with Caesar holding and talking to half of his body. This looks like something out of a Tex Avery cartoon.

I mean, let’s set aside the whole Nazi thing for a moment. Why should I feel sorry for Mark? Because he’s in pain? He got cut in half! He should have died instantly! Because he was going to get married? We only met this guy one chapter ago! Because he’s Caesar’s friend? Well Caesar’s kind of a jerk too.

Anyway, Mark begs Caesar to kill him and end his suffering, so Caesar uses the Ripple to stop his heart. Or the half of it that’s still there, I guess.

Okay, so the whole point of Mark’s death is to really get the good guys fired up to battle the Pillar Men, right? Okay, Caesar tries to take them on, and he opens with the Bubble Launcher, the same move he talked about earlier. It didn’t beat Joseph, but Caesar’s Hamon power does hurt Wamuu’s skin, which is more than Joseph managed to do against Santana.

The Bubble Launcher is supposed to surround the opponent with dozens of soap bubbles charged with Hamon energy. Wamuu can’t escape without touching them and getting hurt. But Wamuu just sprouts all these long braids from his head and clothes, and swings them around with superhuman precision to know the bubbles away without hurting himself.

As it turns out, these Pillar Men are familiar with Hamon. Santana was surprised to encounter Joseph Joestar’s powers, but Wamuu and the others have fought Ripple users in the past. And Wamuu’s more intrigued than worried...

Oh, as one final aside, on the car ride to the catacombs, Speedwagon asked Caesar if he tried to use the Ripple to destroy the Pillar Men before they woke up, and Caesar explains that it didn’t work while they were in their dormant state. Remember, at the very start of this story, Speedwagon called Straizo because he wanted someone to use the Ripple to destroy Santana before he could wake up. Now we see that even if Straizo had agreed to his request, it wouldn’t have done any good. Sunlight doesn’t seem to kill the Pillar Men so much as it makes them turn to stone, and the Ripple only hurts them while they’re flesh and blood. So the only way to kill them seems to be by using Hamon in a direct confrontation, and that’s a tall order...

#jojo's bizarre adventure #battle tendency #joseph joestar #caesar zeppeli #robert e o speedwagon #mark #wamuu #kars #esidisi #get wrecked mark

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bookwyrminspiration · 4 years ago

Note

im not the anon but *please* keep going

okay okay okay so hear me out

(for anyone confused, here’s part 1)

The entire family has implemented a schedule for the important parts of the day to give their kid some stability

For example: all meals happen at the same time each day, the order they do things before bed is the same, the time they go to bed is the same, etc

Not all of the day is structured so they don’t feel trapped within a cycle, but it’s enough to give them a sense of comfort

Sophie struggled the most with following it because her sleep schedule is so erratic, but over time the repetition came to help both her and the kid

it’s also fun because the kid can look at the clock and go !! dad always makes dinner right now, so then they can go and see what Fitz is doing in the kitchen and maybe even help

This kid loves the aesthetic of capes

But.....the vast majority of elven capes feel soooo greasy for some reason, and it’s not that they can’t wear them, it’s just ...no one wants to wear something that feels greasy

Like you know those certain fabrics that always feel kinda oily no matter how much you wash them? They feel like that

So Biana and Flori worked together with the kid to find fabrics that didn’t feel icky and then made custom capes so they could get the aesthetic without the ick texture

While we’re on the topic of clothes, the kid isn’t great at picking weather appropriate things either

It’s not that they don’t feel the cold or are immune to heat, it just doesn’t take priority in their mind and they end up wearing shorts when it’s 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 degrees Celsius) (what no I totally haven’t ever done that multiple times and only realized it much later /s)

So they set up a system, their closet is divided into cold, neutral, and hot. That way their parents can tell them which section to pick from and they can still chose their outfit, but their parents know it will be weather appropriate

A lot of their meltdowns are more internal (like shutting down, spacing out, getting really anxious, going on autopilot), which means you wouldn’t really notice

Neither Sophie, Keefe, nor Fitz picked up on those ones (as opposed to the louder more tantrum like meltdowns) until one day it seemed like their kid was just kinda daydreaming and Keefe jokingly nudged them to ask what they were thinking about and instead got slammed with a wave of anxiety so intense he curled over gasping

Suffice to say Sophie and Fitz were very worried

I mean I can’t blame them. your partner who can feel emotions briefly touches your kid and is now curled over struggling to breath? Definitely worry worthy

Oh and also because I just need to talk about this somewhere

Grady and Edaline absolutely a d o r e this kid

So much. They love to spend time with the kid, but usually they go to the kid and not the other way around.

A bunch of uncontrolled animals making a shit-load of noise all the time? I can already feel the sensory overload.

The kid loves to sit on Grady’s shoulders and he is all too happy to oblige

Edaline likes to play with the kids hair, and it’s a pleasant sensation for the kid that actually helps ground them, so it’s a win win situation

Everyone enjoys a lot of time with the kid—and most of it is in silence

The kid isn’t completely nonverbal, but it’s just the idea of breaking silence is very uncomfy and they’d prefer to just let it be

This is great when it comes to Tam especially. They have the best cuddle time, because there’s just no need for words and he subconsciously brings this darkness with him everywhere that the kids finds so soothing (cause like I mentioned in the other post, sunlight be ouch)

Once Sophie walked in on them both asleep on the floor, Tam on his back and the kid curled up on top of him in a blanket

It’s one of her most precious memories

Im now realizing how much I’ve written and I’ll stop here for now but just know that there is absolutely no end in sight in my mind

This idea has taken root and it is s p r e a d i n g and I don’t think it’s gonna stop

I will be thinking about this still so if you want more just let me know because I have more /g

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bloomyn · 4 years ago

Text

you can be the cherry on top

Helloo! If its okay can I request prompts 16 and 27 from the random prompts with Ushijima where the reader introduces some spontaneity into his life, teaches him to take risks and go off a routined lifestyle like going for a drive at 2am to a convenience and like cheating a game at an arcade or something ? And he actually kinda enjoys the thrill of going out of his comfort zone and wants to get to know her more ! Thankyouu srry if it doesnt make sense😊

pairing: ushijima wakatoshi x reader

tags: fluff, strangers to friends to lovers, breaking records ; fixing hearts, learning to live a little

warnings: none

tendou screeched.

“wakatoshi! you’re never going to beat the high score.”

olive - colored eyes narrowed, focusing on the screen in front of him. it was stupid game, nothing more than something he would’ve played as a child but it was the score board that ticked him off.

1. ‘ur mom’

2. ushijima

3. ushijima

4. ushijima

5. miracle boy sa to ri!!!!

“wakatoshi let’s head back to the dorms. it’ll be fine, you can’t beat the high score so what.”

the taller man scowled.

you’ve grown to hate the oak brown of the desk in front of you. the imitation wood has glared at you every second of everyday for the past three years and you might throw up if you have to look at them for another second. when you drop your forehead against the desk no one pays mind, you’re sure their all bored out of their minds too. it doesn’t help that the sickly gray walls of the classroom love to tease the tangerine sunlight that’s blocked by the thick window curtains.

being a teenager is horrible.

being a teenager stuck in a classroom with possibly the most boring people in the world is catastrophic.

you could care less about modern japanese literature, you’re more worried about the sweat that’s pooling under your arms and the back of your thighs and..have they fixed the ac in your dorms yet?

outside of the window you could see a student jogging, it wasn’t surprising, he was always there. purple tracksuit, you had called him, always the same outfit at the same time, every single day.

how boring

“[l/n] please do not take my advice lightly, entrance exams are coming up and it is very important that-”

you nodded your head, “yes sensei i know, trust me, i’ll figure it out!”

your homeroom teacher sighed. “just, please. shiratorizawa wants to make sure that all our students succeed.”

plastering on a fake smile you started stepping backward slowly, “yep, mhm, i understand.”

“just go.”

“thank you bye bye!”

you rushed out of the hallway, passing through the classrooms and out of the gates of shiratorizawa academy. thankfully, the streets were pretty much empty save for the occasional student or cat making their way down the street.

the arcade was visible for miles. blinding lights that lit up the block and the smell of sweaty seats that lingered for ages.

yum.

you waved a hello to the attendant and made your way to the back, searching for your high score (you couldn’t help it, seeing ‘ur mom’ on top the scoreboard was almost intoxicating), only to find a boy (man? maybe.) pounding harshly at the keys. you almost wanted laugh, watching this mountain of a man get so frustrated at what was no more than a child’s game.

“you good there buddy?” you teased, making your way next to the boy. he only grunted in response, his fingers wrapping tighter around the consoles and eyes narrowing themselves, focusing solely on the screen in front of him.

leaning against the side of the game you sighed, pretending to flick dirt out from your fingertips.

“you know,” you drawled lazily, “ i have the high score.”

the boy froze, you could practically see his back stiffening at the sound of your words. a cold chill ran down your spine at the mere sight of his face (or more specifically the look on his face).

on the screen the “game over” flashed loudly, displaying the score board, and by the consecutive list of ‘ushijima’ underneath ‘ur mom’...

“oh, are you ushijima?”

he nodded stiffly. “you have the high score. how?”

you grinned cheekily, ignoring his obvious disbelief and disgruntlement, “wanna watch me play? i’ll blow your score out of the water. i promise.”

ushijima smirked, “show me.”

you started the game up, playing just as usual, you know; following the rules. behind you ushijima crossed his arms. you weren’t doing anything special, in fact he was pretty sure you were moving slower than him how could---

and with a quick flick of your fingers in an unknowable combination, the screen was cleared of the ‘bad guys’, and “NEW HIGH SCORE!’ bounced around on the screen. you licked your lips, whipping around to see his reaction and oh, it was so much better than you’d expected.

“good game right?”

slowly, the taller man closed his eyes, “how?”

should you tell him the truth? you wondered. it’d be so much more fun if you lied instead; leaving him frustrated and flustered over your effortless ability to wreck his scores.

“cheat code.” you breathed lazily, “it works for a lot of games actually, it’s really common.”

“you...cheated?”

you almost rolled your eyes, “it’s just a game ushijima, don’t tell me you haven’t cheated at a game before?”

his silence spoke for him.

had this man had any fun ever? at all? even a little?

“come on ushi-kun, live a little why don’t you.”

your persistence was refreshing. maybe it was because he had only just met you and you had no idea who or what he was like that you would push him like this. he knew was blunt, there was no point in lying or drawing the truth out. but you seemed to be immune to that.

so he held out his hand, asking for the coin.

“i can try to be more exciting.”

besides him you blew air out of your lips, “ i don’t want you to try and be more exciting, just like,” you paused, looking him up and down. “what do you do for fun?”

“volleyball.”

“and when you’re not playing volleyball...”

“i’m at school.”

you really had to think of different response besides groaning. begrudgingly you held out your hand.

“come on.” you huffed.

tentatively ushijima placed his hands in yours. “will i regret this?”

“i’d be insulted if you didn’t”

so you were breaking into your own school. well, it wasn’t exactly breaking, just sneaking into the closed volleyball gym.

“it’s locked.”

rolling your eyes you shoved your hands around in your pockets, hoping that somehow you’d have a bobby pin, and voila! you smirked, whispering a ‘got it!’ before jamming it into the lock.

“this would be a lot easier with a key.”

suppressing the fattest eye roll you could possibly think of you turned around,

“obviously it-- oh.”

behind you ushijima held up a single bronze key, matching the same company as the one on the lock. oh.

“you play for the volleyball team?”

he nodded.

“wait you go to this school?”

this was not fun anymore. holy shit this was not fun.

a screech left your throat as you dodged another one of ushijimas serves. you thought volleyball was all fun and games, this was a nightmare.

“i thought you wanted to play?” he quirked, tossing the ball up one more time.

“yeah, play. not die!”

you dove to the floor barely dodging the ball. on the other side of the net ushijima was smiling, laughing almost.

at least one of you was having fun.

“god ushijima do you enjoy torturing yourself?”

ushijima tossed a towel to you, while continuing to sip from his water bottle.

“hm?”

grimacing, you wiped the sweat from your forehead onto the towel.

‘geez, this guy hasn’t even broken a sweat’

“why volleyball?” you breathed softly.

“my father taught me how, he used to play for shiratorizawa.”

you nodded along, “that’s cool.”

an icky silence spread over the two of you as cooled of from your unintentional work out. you smiled to yourself, it was fun though, even if your bones seemed to be in danger.

“something wrong?”

you blinked a couple times before looking up. had you accidentally made a face? (your mother had made it point to call you out whenever that ‘pinched look’ arrived)

“no? what do you mean?”

this time you were frowning, but of course ushijima didn’t notice (or simply just didn’t care).

he set his water bottle down, “you look disappointed.”

scoffing you tossed the towel back to him. “i’m not.”

“i don’t believe you.”

this man.

so you shrug. “ i don’t know, just feels like the day has so much potential and instead i’m going to end up laying by myself in a dorm where the ac doesn’t work.”

“it’s only 7:22.”

you sighed, “yeah but it’s too late to do anything and too early to go back to the dorms.”

in his mind ushijima had two options:

1. leave and maybe never talk to you again

2. stay and, not have any regrets about what you were going to do or if you were going to do anything because he wanted to be there, not to be with you, but to have fun, yeah to have fun, he needed to have more fun.

“come with me.”

ideally ushijima would’ve whisked away in his new car and driven you into the sunset while listening to your ‘don’t cry just vibe’ playlist.

unfortunately the two of you were broke third years who had no form of personal transportation and had to worry about missing volleyball practice the next morning.

so you were on the train.

“ushijima where are we even going.”

he hadn’t given you an answer for at least 15 minutes prior to asking so you jabbed a finger into his chest.

“answer me.”

peering down at your figure he nodded his head. “i can’t tell you.”

already you were starting to receive some stares from the others from the train so you dropped the subject. i mean you had been the one to tell him to live a little. god he didn’t even know your name! he wasn’t gonna kidnap you, no, but he could! especially with those serves--

“we’re here.”

“i only come here during school breaks but, i figured now might be an appropriate visit.”

the moon hung heavy over the dips and curves of the hills. the small lights flickered in and out, lanterns most likely, setting the scene. wonderful.

“well.” you huffed, “aren’t we just full of surprises today.”

smiling at your words, ushijima motions upward.

“step there. you’ll have a better view.”

ah, so he was going to push you off the cliff and they would never find your body. that’s how this was going to go down.

“just so you know ushi - kun, if any murderers coming running at us--” you take his hands, wiping a fake tear off your face, “i would die for you, i would sacrifice, my life so you could escape.”

“you just met me.” he deadpans.

stepping up on the rocks you extend your arms out. wind swept underneath them, the sounds of the hills working in tandem, your mind was gone, too absorbed in the view. “i know.”

“does it still feel like a waste?”

this time you shook your head, “here with you? absolutely not.”

two weeks later:

“you stole a car.”

those are the first words he speaks when he finally sees you again. after your little moment at the hills you’d disappeared for two weeks. he was starting question your existence. but here you, waiting for him at the front of the school swinging car keys between your fingers.”

“technically,” you start, “it’s my aunt’s and i’m just borrowing it.”

you can’t describe the look he’s giving you. you can but, it wouldn’t accurately describe whatever he was feeling. “so are you getting in or what.”

“i have volleyball practice.”

you hold up the little bronze you’ve stored in your pocket. “not anymore you don’t”

-- he forgets to ask if you even have your license yet. (it’s fine, it’s you we’re talking about)

you don’t immediately start dating after that. it takes three more spontaneous tokyo roadtrips and six almost ushi - abductions for him to ask you out. and when he does, you beat him to the punch.

“well.” you say, poking his chest a bit. “who else am i gonna drag to the arcade at 3 in the morning?”

(he says yes.)

#wow #um #i will be editing the ending 2nite #its so hot #ITS SO HOT AND I CANT THINK #bleh #ushijima x reader #ushijima wakatoshi #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #haikyuu #ushijima #ushiwaka x reader

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mollymauk-teafleak · 4 years ago

Text

The Bianca Nureyev Detective Agency

This was an anniversary present for my wonderful girlfriend @spiky-lesbian who is just the most wonderful girlfriend ever and I love her a lot!

Juno tries to entertain his and Nureyev’s daughter on a slow day in space...

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

Being a space pirate did sound good on paper. It sounded like a life full of narrowly dodged laser bullets, sprawling on beds of golden creds, witty one liners delivered to fallen foes in the smoking ruins of their empires that you’d just toppled and large, audacious hats.

And it was like that, about twenty percent of the time. But what they didn’t tell you was that the other eighty percent was a hell of a lot of waiting. It was a lot of snail crawling through deep space, killing days upon days worth of time in cramped metal hallways, eating stasis food and absorbing simulated sunlight. Planning your next big twenty percent could only take up so much time.

And it only got harder when you also had a three year old space pirate to entertain.

“Mamaaaaaaa,” Bee Bee poked her head up over the edge of the sofa, looking like some burrowing animal resurfacing, “I’m bored.”

Juno lowered the case file he’d been reviewing, eyeing his daughter with the tired amusement only a parent could muster, “Oh?”

Bee Bee scrambled up onto the family room’s busted old soda, sinking down beside her mama. She peered at him for a moment, taking note of the way he was sat, one ankle folded over the other and tried to copy him as best she could with her chubby little legs.

“Space is boring,” she declared, “There’s nothing to do.”

Juno set the files aside, silently accepting that he wouldn’t be getting back to them anytime soon, “Nothing? Nothing at all?”

“Nope,” his daughter gave a forlorn sigh, “Nothing at all.”

“Well then,” Juno shrugged, sinking down into the sofa so they were level even if it would be murder on his back later, “We’ll just have to think of something to do, won’t we, kiddo?”

Bee Bee giggled, “Yes. What was mama doing?”

“Oh,” Juno looked to the files he’d piled on the arm of the sofa, “Nothing interesting. Just looking into cases where other people have tried to do the same job we’re going to do.”

“And what happened to them?”

Juno winced. It wasn’t as if their daughter was unaware of the dangers they faced in their line of work. Pirates weren’t exactly famous for operating within the confines of the law, even in her storystreams. And since she’d been born, she’d seen her daddy at work, often getting a birds eye view of it all from a wrap slung across his chest.

“Well. Jail mostly,” he admitted, knowing he didn’t have to hide the truth from her even if it didn’t feel good to.

“Huh,” Bee Bee hardly blinked, swinging her legs, “Well, Auntie Buddy’s way way smarter than all of them. And Auntie Vespa is faster and Auntie Rita is better and Uncle Jet is cooler and my daddy is the best at stealing ever ever in the whole galaxy. And my mama’s the best detective. So we’ll do just fine.”

Juno grinned, reaching over and stroking back her curls, “Yeah. We’ll do just fine.”

“So can I help Mama? With being a detective?” her eyes sparked excitedly.

He knew that look, once her mind was fixed on something she’d follow it to the far side of the universe. She was like her daddy in that. But she wouldn’t exactly find much interest in going through old case files that somehow managed to make jewel heists sound boring. Though the tactics these failed thieves had used didn’t have an awful lot of pizzaz to them. Probably why they’d flopped, or at least that’s what Buddy would say.

“You know what?” Juno snapped his fingers like he’d just had a fantastic idea, “You’re just the kid I need for this very important case!”

“I am!” Bianca beamed, not a question. She had perfect confidence in her own abilities.

“It’s a classic head scratcher, kiddo,” Juno announced grandly, mostly to stall for time while he decided just what this case was going to be, “I’ve been at it for years and I’ve never been able to crack it but with your pluckiness and my brains we might just solve the case of...uh...the case of daddy’s missing glasses!”

Bee Bee gasped appreciatively, “Daddy’s always losing his glasses!”

“He is,” Juno snorted, “And we’ve got to go help him, right?”

“Right!” she jumped onto her feet, bouncing up onto the couch cushions and promptly tumbling, Juno just about managing to catch her. It didn’t seem to diminish her enthusiasm, as her legs windmilled wildly, “Let’s go!”

“Okay,” Juno grinned, “Well, first thing is to examine the scene of the crime and…”

“No, mama!” Bee Bee frowned, looking at him like he was profoundly stupid, “First thing is to dress up.”

“Of course. My mistake.”

Apparently no detective work could be done until Bianca was wearing her mama’s old coat, the one he’d hung onto for sentimental reasons even after he’’d been unable to really call himself a detective. And long after the leather had worn on the elbows and there were none of the original buttons left on it.

It needed to be rolled up quite a few times to even get the tips of her fingers poking out of the sleeves and the bottom of it looked like a mad kind of wedding train but Bee Bee grinned in delight and it was pretty good to see the old thing getting some use again.

“Now we go to the scene of the crime,” she declared, waving her arms, “Daddy and mama’s room!”

“Come on then, co-detective,” Juno laughed, “Lead the way.”

If Nureyev was surprised to see them burst through the door, it didn’t show on his face. He didn’t scare easily. He only smiled and tilted his head, quickly shoving the book on pregnancy he’d been reading far under Juno’s pillow. They weren’t quite ready to broach that subject with Bianca yet.

“Hello, my loves,” he hummed, “What adventures are we on today?”

“We’re playing detective!” Bee Bee toddled up, clambering on the bed to give him a quick hug before anything else, “Going to find your glasses.”

“Oh could you!” Nureyev smiles pleasantly, “It does seem I’ve misplaced them again, reading is something of a chore without them.”

Juno arched an eyebrow at his husband, “You wouldn’t possibly be deliberately reading that book without your glasses so you could claim you have while not retaining any information or looking at any of the diagrams?”

“An outlandish notion,” Nureyev flicked his fingers at him airily, turning his attention to Bianca who was now crawling around the bed, bent over so she could scrutinise every inch of the sheets like a bloodhound with a scent, “Please, dear little detective, will you take my case?”

“We on the case, daddy!” Bee Bee assured him, hurrying over to give him a hug, now just because she wanted to, “We’ll find the glasses.”

“You gotta question the witness,” Juno advised, “Build a timeline.”

Bee Bee nodded, looking up at Nureyev with a sudden fierce seriousness, “What is your timeline, daddy?”

He couldn’t help but smile down at her as he pretended to think, “Let’s see...well, I went to the kitchen for breakfast...then I had to collect some floorplans from Buddy’s office, I read them over in the family room with my wife...then I had an appointment with the physician. Then I came here to have a nap and do my assigned reading.”

Juno rolled his eyes at that last one.

“We’ll track 'em down!” Bee Bee declared, barrelling off the bed onto the ground. Again, her mama only just managed to catch her, “Come on, Detective Mama! Before the trail goes cold!”

Juno chuckled, pausing briefly to lean down and kiss Nureyev, before he followed his daughter, not needing to hurry too much, one of his strides matching about five of hers.

Their trail through the ship took them most of the rest of the afternoon, clattering through the winding corridors, the two of them making up wild twists and turns whenever suited them, inventing new characters, dastardly schemes that had happened off screen, speculating wildly on new threats. Buddy of course joined in enthusiastically, she was a regular and beloved playmate of Bianca’s. Just searching her room turned into a frantic search to disarm a bomb left by this mysterious glasses thief, a bomb that turned out to be in Buddy’s chest which could only be fixed by a hug from a plucky little detective.

Vespa was less willing, they caught her in the middle of disinfecting all of her scalpels. But even she wasn’t immune to Bee Bee’s charms, eventually playing her role with grudging grace. And Juno was able to get a quick whispered update on Nureyev’s check up, feeling a little better that it wasn’t just him and his husband who knew, that he had someone to offload all his anxiety on, the same anxiety he was trying to shield said husband from.

Even better, they ran into Rita in the kitchen and the game then swerved happily into the wildest corners of two vast imaginations, going off on a tangent that somehow involved werewolves, a falling moon and a galaxy wide ring of prolific glasses thieves (it turned out Rita had lost her pair too, though they did turn out to be perched on top of her head).

It was when Bee Bee was rolling happily around on the floor that she suddenly froze and squealed in triumph. She bounded up to the side table next to the old, sagging sofa, less than an inch from where Juno had been sitting earlier.

“Here! Here’s the glasses!”

Sure enough, there was a pair of cat eye spectacles on a silver chain resting there. Even Juno couldn’t raise much of a grump when he realised they’d been inches from their goal at the very start of the job. Some cases just worked out that way.

“We’ll have to take them back to your daddy, huh?” he panted, collapsing next to his daughter on the sofa. Somewhere along the way he’d picked up glitter on his black turtleneck, a rubber glove from the infirmary stretched over his head like a mad hat and one of Buddy’s scarves wound around his neck.

“Yes! And then get paid,” Bee Bee nodded, making Juno slightly nervous about what sort of payment she was going to demand. She’d asked to be paid in ice cream last time they’d played this game.

She plopped down next to her mama, leaning against his arm, adding more glitter to his favourite jumper, “Mama? I don’t think daddy is very happy right now. I think something’s up.”

Juno froze, “Uh...what makes you say that, kiddo?”

“Well…” Bee Bee wrinkled her nose, “He just seems...floppy. Always flopping on you and he looks pale and he doesn’t sleep good, mama. I think he’s sick.”

Juno tried to keep his face carefully neutral, “Your daddy’s fine, honey, I promise.”

“Hmm,” she replied, in that way she had that let him know she didn’t believe him in the slightest, “But it’s okay. Because we found his glasses and that’s gonna make him happy. And then we’ll help him more and we’ll do detective and find his happy.”

Juno relaxed, wrapping his arm around her, “Oh yeah?”

Bee Bee beamed and nodded, “Cos I’m the best detective ever! And mama helps!”

Juno sat back, laughing mostly to himself.

“You know what, kiddo? I thought I was pretty good but I think you really might be the best ever.”

#the penumbra podcast #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter #fluff #please reblog and comment if you like this!#tw: trans pregnancy

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