#but they really do keep piling the horrors on my poor boy

[gillianthecat]

Bed Friend really kinda IS A Little Life lite.

[berrymilkwithsugar]

“Mechs can be replaced, People can’t.”

(Switch!Lloyd x Switch!OC)

So… I made another indulgent fic, this time with my baby Haruto…

Hope you don’t find the OC x canon too cringey, because I had fun writing this. (I wrote this late at night, so I apologize if it seems weird in certain places.)

The monastery stood still as Lloyd waited for the return of his pupil, along with his fellow ninja. They had gone to the crossroad for lunch and promised to return with food for the master. Yet the most peculiar sight was when they returned home, covered in noodles and pies. “What the- what happened?! Why are you all covered in food.” Lloyd asked, worried about them. Arin waves a hand as he tried to get the noodle broth out of his ear, “We went to the cross roads when there was an attack.” The boy explained, the other ninja nodded, confirming what Arin was saying was the truth. “I see,” Lloyd looks at them “I assume you weren’t able to salvage anything to bring back for lunch?” He asked and the food covered ninja shook their heads. “Sorry Master Lloyd.” Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose, “it’s alright. Nothing you all did, just go get cleaned up please, I hope you didn’t get the inside of your mechs dirty.”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck “Yeah uh.. about that.” He points to a pile of smoking rubble “We uh.. might of roughed them up in the fight.”

Lloyd looks on in horror, knowing that his lover had spent time (with the help of Sora) making the mechs for his fellow ninja. Lloyd felt a bit peeved. “You trashed them?!” He hisses causing the others to step back some “Lloyd, calm down, Sora can just fix them and they’ll be running good as new.” Cole tried to deescalate the situation, Lloyd sighed again “Fine, but these better get fixed… he worked so hard on the designs” Lloyd said as he walked back towards the monastery to sit down near his shrine of Wu, where the doors opened revealing his lover carrying a bowl of noodles.

“I heard a certain someone hasn’t eaten today.” The man playfully scolds. Lloyd blushed as the bowl was placed into his lap. “Must you always forget to take care of yourself dear?” He asks sweetly, the blonde blushed at the redhead. “Haruto, H-How much did you hear?” Lloyd asks as his partner sat down next to him. “Oh, just most of your conversation, you don’t need to be so hard on them you know.” Haruto said calmly, Lloyd looked down as he slurped his noodles. “I know, but it’s just that.. the mechs-“ “Can be rebuilt.” Haruto cuts Lloyd off. “People can’t, love. I get that they should have been more careful but they did the best they can.”

Lloyd now feels a ping of guilt, realizing his poor wording made him sound selfish, and cared more about Haruto’s feelings than the group. “You’re right, I’ll apologize to them when they’re done.” Lloyd says as he finished his noodles. “That’s the spirit!” Haruto said happily, Lloyd smiled as he laid his head down in his lovers lap. The ginger giggled “Tired?”Lloyd nodded “yeah… I just finished my work and training. My whole body is sore.”

Haruto cracks his knuckles and starts rubbing Lloyd’s shoulders “This should help~!” He says, massaging Lloyd, whom melted at the touch. Haruto on the other hand had a frown as he massaged his fiancé’s shoulders “You’re awful tense love.” He says. Lloyds body started to relax from the message “Yeah. I think I went too harsh of my body when I was training. Lloyd said as his eyes slowly closed again. “You really should stop doing that, you could hurt yourself.” Haruto says sternly. Lloyd slowly opened his eyes again and looked at Haruto,

“I know I should take a break. But the training must continue for the safety of Ninjago… and people like you… the visions they keep getting more.. prevalent and I don’t want to lose anyone else I love.” Lloyd said as he softly smiled at Haruto, whom blushes some. “I know, you’re worried, but stressing yourself out to the point you’re this tense isn’t healthy. How are you going to protect Ninjago if you’re stiff as a board?” He asks before turning his head, mumbling “Besides, you know I can take care of myself, dear.”

Lloyd smiled at this. Laughing softly “I know you can but I still need to look after you and the city.” Lloyd said as he gently grabbed Haruto’s hand. “I know..” Haruto says as he uses his free hand to summon a rose “For you, my love~” he gives the rose to Lloyd. It was a bright emerald green, with its thorns removed so it wouldn’t prick Lloyd. Lloyd looked surprised and blushing as he took the rose. He looked at the rose before gently grabbing Haruto's shirt, gently pulling the other man towards him and into a hug, Haruto hugs back. Lloyd tighten the hug as he lay down on the ground, pulling Haruto into cuddling with him. Which the elemental master of light obliged.

Lloyd softly smiled as he wrapped his arms around Haruto, holding him close and cuddling with him. “I didn’t know giving you a rose would get you cuddly~” Haruto teased, drawing a laugh out of the master of life. “What can I say? I was in the mood for cuddles~”

He nuzzled his head into Haruto’s neck, causing Haruto to snuggle back, “I know, I know.” He says. “But also… it’s cause you gave me a rose~”Lloyd said as he gently kissed Haruto’s neck, causing the ginger to squeak. This drew a chuckle from the blonde. “You’re always so cute when you make that sound~”Lloyd teased as he planted a few more gentle kissed on his neck. “Ehehehehe~ q-quhihihit it~!” Haruto giggled, Lloyd continued to kiss his neck, but this time, he began to gently bite his neck but it wasn’t enough to leave a mark. “Aw, but you make such cute noises~” Lloyd whined, “Ah~! Ehehehe! Lloyd~!” His beau squealed, Lloyd wrapped his arms around Haruto’s waist as he continued to bite and kiss his neck.

“You make all the best sounds~” Lloyd said as he softly bit the side of Haruto’s neck, “L-Lloyd~! It tickles~!” He giggles, Lloyd smirked against the ginger’s neck as he began to nip it more and more. “You’re so ticklish. It’s adorable~” the master of life cooed as he continued to gently bite and kiss Haruto’s neck. “Oh so you wanna play it that way~?” Haruto playfully threatens, causing the blonde to stop kissing his neck and lift his head to look at Haruto. “What are you gonna do? Tickle me back?” Lloyd said, sounding smug, to which, Haruto had a Cheshire grin before spidering his fingers over Lloyd’s sides. “Yep~!”

Lloyd began to sputter a bit before melting into giggles from Haruto’s touch. “Hehehehehey- stop thahahahahat~” Lloyd said as he tried to hold his laughter but failed. Haruto giggled at his lover before cooing “Gitchie gitchie goo~!” Causing Lloyd to let out a small laugh when he heard that. “H-Hahaharuto! St-Stahahaha-Stop it~”Lloyd tried to say, but it was hard as he was giggling so much that he was giggling in his words. Haruto chuckles “Why? Your laugh is so cute~!”

Lloyd shook his head and still tried to hold back his laughter “it-t tickles~! Plehehehehease st-stop~!”Lloyd began to squirm a bit from the tickling. Haruto rolls his eyes before stopping. “Okay okay, I’m not mean like you.” He says before sticking his tongue out at Lloyd playfully. Lloyd was still giggling for a moment after the tickling stopped. “Well, you just looked to cute, I couldn’t resist tickling ya. That’s all on you~” Lloyd said smugly as he wrapped his arms around Haruto’s waist again, drawing a giggle from the redhead. “You’re adorable~” Lloyd said, pulling Fujio closer to him and nuzzled into his neck again, causing Haruto to purr some. “You really are a cat~”Lloyd cooed playfully as he placed gentle kiss on Haruto’s neck.

“I am Nahahat!” Haruto squealed, “Yes you are~” Lloyd declares before he places a couple more kisses on Haruto’s neck before he moved up his cheek and started to kiss rapidly. This only made Haruto giggle more. “I’m not a cahahahat!”he squeaks. Lloyd continued to kiss Fujio’s cheek rapidly, “Are you suuuure~?”Lloyd asked between the kisses, Haruto nods his head “Yes~! Ehehehe!”

Lloyd smiled as he stopped kissing his cheek and went back over to his neck again, “If you’re not a cat, then explain the purring~”He teased softly. “I-It just happens when I’m happy~!” Haruto admits, Lloyd smiled and began to place more gentle kisses on Haruto’s neck again, “Really? So you’re always happy then~? Every time I’m near you~?” he asks. “Maybe~” Haruto admits. Lloyd chuckled and stopped kissing his neck for a moment, “And is it just me making you happy~?” He said as he gently nipped Haruto’s neck a few times, the ginger male responded with a nod and a squeak.

Lloyd smiled against Haruto’s neck when he felt him nodded “Just me? No one else~?” Lloyd began to gently bite his neck, the ginger bursts into sweet, melodic giggles. “Yes~! Now cut it out~!” Lloyd chuckled against his neck before he stopped biting him. “You’re so easy to tease~”he teased as he nuzzled into his neck again, causing the blue eyed man to blush “So are you.”

Lloyd placed a couple more kisses on his neck before he laid his head down comfortable on Haruto’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “Maybe, but you’re still more sensitive and more fun to tease~”

Lloyd wrapped his arms around Haruto’s waist and started to slowly rub his sides as he closed his eyes. “Imma just stay like this for a bit. I’m still tired…” he says, causing the other man to roll his eyes. “Alright pretty boy.” Haruto says. Lloyd chuckled when he heard that, “Did you just call me ‘pretty boy’?”Lloyd asked, as he still rubbed Haruto’s sides “Y-Yehes.” The other giggled. Lloyd lifted his head again and looked at Haruto. “You’re a tease~”

Lloyd said and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek as he wrapped one of his arm around Haruto as he began to gently scratch his back, “I know I am~” said the ginger. This caused the blond to chuckle softly as he continued to scratch Haruto’s back, “I’m going to tickle you if you keep that up~” he says jokingly. “Is that a threat or a promise~?” Haruto asks, Lloyd smirked as he stopped scratching Haruto, “It’s a promise~” Lloyd answered back and gently poked one of Fujio’s side, gently testing to see how ticklish he is, causing the yellow cladded ninja to squeak. “Eheheheek~!” Lloyd chuckled when he heard Haruto squeak, “Sensitive there~?”Lloyd asked as he once again poked him in the side, still gently, Haruto nodded “Yehehehes!”

Lloyd chuckled again, enjoying the sound of Haruto’s laughter. He then placed his hand on Haruto’s side and began scratching and digging his nails in gently, causing the other to shriek “Eheheheheeek!!”

Lloyd continued to scratch and dig his nails into his side. Enjoying the sound of his laughter. “You’re so ticklish~ it’s adorable~” Haruto shook his head “It’s nahahahat!”

Lloyd stopped what he was doing just to laugh, “It is~!” Lloyd said before he gently pinched Haruto’s side a couple times. “Ehehehehehehe!” Lloyd chuckled when he heard him squeak from the pinching. He slowly moved his hand up to Haruto’s torso. “You know what’s a sensitive spot~?” Lloyd asked, Haruto cocks a brow “W-What?”

Lloyd smirked when he saw Haruto’s expression, “Right here~” Lloyd said as he began to gently scratch Haruto’s stomach, causing Haruto to squeal and curls in on himself. Lloyd chuckled softly when he saw Haruto curl up in himself. “you’re even more ticklish here, huh?~”Lloyd said as he scratched faster on Haruto’s stomach. “YEHEHEHEHES!!” Haruto squealed. Lloyd grinned at the ginger, his adorable his laughter was. “You’re so cute I could just eat you up~! In fact…” He trails off as he rolls up Haruto’s gi, this caused the light ninja to panic. “Nonono, L-Lloyd, Lloyd no. Don’t do it!” He squealed, knowing what was coming up, Lloyd grinned as he started nibbling on Haruto’s tummy.

Sending the ginger into hysterics. “NAHAHAHAHAH Squeak WAHAHAHAHIT!! Snort LLOHOHOHOHOYD!!” Lloyd grinned as Haruto was driven up the wall “Om nom nom, mmm~ so tasty!” Lloyd blew a few raspberries here and there just to hear Haruto squeal. His back arched as he pushed at Lloyd’s head, trying to get him to stop with the raspberry assault.

Soon Haruto’s body started to go limp, signaling to the master of life that it was time to stop. He pulls away from the ginger and cuddles him. “Sorry love, you were just so cute~!” He coped and the ginger punched him in the arm. “Asshole~” he had a smile on his face when he says this. “I love you dork..” Haruto says as he nuzzles into Lloyd’s arms. “I love you too, my light~” Lloyd says kissing his lover’s forehead. “Shall we go repair the mechs now~?” Haruto asks, Lloyd waved his hand “Those can wait, for now let’s just stay like this.”

They stayed like that for the rest of the day, the mechs still a pile of rubble.

[thatswhatthepoetssay]

One Way Ticket

Tate Langdon x Reader | Angst |

Summary: Seven months worth of empty promises. Seven months of waiting for things to change yet somehow they always stay the same. Trying to change the outcome of an already released film, is just as pointless as trying to leave the Murder House.

Word Count: 865

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Ten months ago, YN moved in into the famous house of horrors in Los Angeles, California.

Nine months ago, a strange yet compelling boy next door introduced himself to her as Tate Langdon, one of her neighbors from down the street.

Eight months ago, the pair shared their very first kiss.

Seven months ago, Tate had asked YN to be his girlfriend, to which she of course agreed.

At first everything was absolutely perfect, Tate would come over every day and since YN has been busy with finishing her last year of high school online, it was the ideal plan. She wouldn’t have to leave her house and could focus on her studies, and Tate could enjoy his “nature walks”, as he called them.

The two teens enjoyed spending time together and could confide in one another about different troubles.

However as summer approached, the honeymoon phase of their relationship seemed to end. They started getting into more and more fights, which would almost always end up in Tate begging for forgiveness.

At first the fights were about small things that piled up, but as time passed their problems only grew.

After finishing school, YN wanted to get out of the house more, maybe even book a trip for the summer. Tate however wanted nothing to do with those plans. He was set on sticking to their regular routine and would always insist on putting off her plans for different times.

One day after suggesting yet another fun summer activity and getting turned down yet again, the poor girl has had enough.

“Alright you know what.” Tate gave her a look but continued looking through her cd collection.

“Why do you always insist on always staying at my house? I there like a warrant for your arrest that I don’t know about?” She scoffed.

Tate simply mumbled something about privacy turned to look out the window. He knew he couldn’t tell her, she would think he was absolutely crazy and would kick him out. He was genuinely surprised that none of the other spirits showed themselves to her yet.

After deciding that silence wasn’t a good enough response, YN let out a sigh and moved towards the door.

“You need to go. Now.” At that Tate turned back to her, his eyes widened at her words. For six months of their relationship they hadn’t fought once. However after summer started they seemed to fight quite often.

“Wha-what? Please YN don’t.” He pleaded.

“No Tate, I’ve had enough. You’re always so secretive, you never wanna do anything outside my house. Speaking of, i’ve never even been to yours!” She exclaimed as her cheeks began to heat up from anger.

“I’ve tried to be understanding, I really did. But I can’t keep doing this anymore. Leave and don’t come back Tate.”

He couldn’t help but just stand there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. Tate knew he couldn’t just walk out because she would watch him leave. She would see how as soon as his foot steps over the property line he disappears.

“Fine since you wanna be difficult, i’ll leave. But you better be gone by the time I come back.” She stated as her pointed finger poked his chest.

Quickly YN grabbed her purse and phone making her way into the hallway. She carefully went down the stairs and reached for the door handle.

As the front door opened she felt a punch to the gut and let out a yelp as she fell to the floor. At first she thought she was getting robbed, but the attacker seemed to only be interested in her.

She received a few more punches to her abdomen, then a women’s face came into view. She had a blonde updo and strangely familiar facial features.

“Stay still dear, shouldn’t be long now.” The woman whispered as she gently whipped the tears off of YN’s face.

Before YN could comprehend what had happened the woman left. That’s when the girl moved her hands towards her stomach. As her fingers touched the fabric of her shirt, she realized it was soaked with unknown liquid.

At first she thought that maybe she had spilled something. However, as YN raised her hand to inspect the unfamiliar liquid, she quickly realized it was none other than blood.

Panic started to overtake YN as she figured out she was stabbed by the blonde. Her eyes darted across the foyer in an attempt to find her phone and call for help.

As she lay on the floor, unable to get up or even move, a few stray tears escaped her eyes.

She had only recently graduated, her life was only beginning. She should have gotten to live it to the fullest and enjoy all the joys of it. Instead she was robbed of that. YN would never graduate college, travel the world, or marry the love of her life.

While her mind was racing with thousands of thoughts, her eyelids slowly became heavier. Her breath became labored and her whole body continued to shiver.

After a few more minutes of agony, YN became yet another victim of the Murder House.

Another soul added to the collection.

——————————————————————————

Ps: Hi guys! I know i’ve kinda disappeared for a while but im back. I would really like to start writing more so here I am. Requests are open so please feel free to send them! <3

Kisses and hugs, Anna

[homemade-clones]

💥💤☕️🌌 For Cheese and Gaze if it’s not to much pls <33

Of course, of course! Thank you for the ask! &lt;;3 OC emoji asks

💥 - What emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

CHEESE Guilt is the emotion that weighs the heaviest on his shoulders. He can laugh away his fear, and pick a brother (or partner, or massiff) to cuddle away the anxiety. But the guilt of all the lives he's not fast/skilled enough to save is something that keeps him awake at night, slowly chipping away at his resolve to face another day in this endless war. GAZE Loneliness. All the trauma this boy went through before finally settling into the squad left scars he's not sure how to heal nor deal with. It's the most apparent during missions, when – because of his position as sniper – he needs to split from the rest of the squad. He can manage it (so far), but the separation anxiety is always there, dancing in the back of his mind.

💤 - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

CHEESE Usually, yeah. He's got the ability to fall asleep quickly - and to stay that way until the sun rises again, if no there's no emergency. But then The Horrors and Losses of War™ bring forth bouts of insomnia. When he can't sleep because of anxiety, Aid puts his training to work - either with cuddles to ground him, or herding every available squad member (including his massiff siblings) for an impromptu cuddle pile until he's calm enough to sleep. Or, he may choose to keep pulling shifts and all-nighters in the med bay until he blacks out in exhaustion :) GAZE As long as he's not alone, Gaze is the guy that, if left idle for five minutes, will nap. Doesn't matter how awkward or uncomfortable the surface (or lack of it, he's fine with napping standing up too), it's Nap Time. And because he doesn't snore, most of the time people won't even know he's offline – he doesn't really have the need to blink as his eyes don't dry out (he only does it out of habit).

☕️ - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favourite drink?

CHEESE Hot drinks, all the way! For him, nothing cold can ever beat the amount of comfort brought by a good cup of tea, caf, or hot cocoa. GAZE He's ambivalent about it, both cold and hot drinks have their merits! He is very fond of iced tea, though, so he may favor cold drinks a bit more than hot ones.

🌌 - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

CHEESE He was the last one of the squad to be created. At first, he was supposed to fill the “sunshine golden retriever, emotional glue” spot in the squad, but then – as it goes with ocs – he took over my brain and turned into a very much fleshed out character! And the first thing I decided about him? That he's a redhead 😅 GAZE Ah, Gaze, my beloved chew toy, my poor wet cat babygirl. He came to me in a vision while I listened to “The Horror and the Wild” by The Amazing Devil. I have to admit, he's still being worked on, and may have strayed a bit from the original 'vision' of what he was meant to be - but no complaints, I very much like the shapes he's taking inside my brain. And the first thing I decided about him was how did his eyes work and affected his (lack of) quality of life and demeanor.

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls Season 2, Episode 15, "Lost And Found", Aka The Bracelet Has Breached Containment, Aka BraceletGate, Aka QuarterOnAStringGate, Part 5

We last left off in the eye of the storm...things are seemingly calm after Lorelai left work in the middle of the day to help Luke look for a new apartment, but of course, this being Mid-Season 2, shit's about to hit the fan as it often does in the last 10 minutes of these episodes. (You can find parts 1-4 and all other episodes in my pinned post). Lorelai thinks she has Luke Danes all figured out. LG: You'll meet someone one day. Probably at a Timberland (boots/ flannell/outdoor clothing) store. You'll ask her out, you'll pick her up, take her on a "patented Luke Danes' night of romance". Juice bar, batting cages, then you'll ask her back to your apartment... LD: I'll give you any amount of money if you stop talking. Allow me.

But Luke doesn't give her any money and she keeps going. "You'll lead her upstairs to the apartment door. You pause. Gaze into her eyes. The stage is set. Fate is waiting. You open the door. She sees your teeny tiny apartment. One room and no closet space and Jess' feet sticking up into the air, because you never did get rid of his dead body." (calling back to earlier in the episode where she said no one would notice for weeks if Jess died under a pile of fallen boxes). Why you gotta bring him into this. Leave his poor little feetsies alone. The feets are innocent.

I skipped past the end of A Tisket A Tasket and never took the time to #AdmireTheBaby in his white sockies so let's do that now.

Pictured: The Quarter on A String and veiny arms. He's wearing a shirt with his name on it. Where did he even find a patch that said Jess in Stars Hollow? Who sewed it on? Why are your arms so veiny? By the looks of that old fashioned phone Luke isn't getting internet in his apartment for at least another 10 years. Your watch is so chunky. Who's guitar is that? Can I borrow your hair tie? Why did your hair never look like this again? Me in Jess Mariano Overstimulation:

Okay, where were we?

“…Then, she sees it. The single bed. You know what they say, never ever date a guy who owns a single bed!” Lorelai’s not subtle Luke-Style rant about single beds evaporating Luke’s chances of getting laid any time in the next decade continues for another few moments, until Luke agrees to sign for the apartment just to shut her up and go home. Lorelai’s nagging wields such tremendous power.

Lorelai catches Jess emerging from Rory’s bedroom (Rory's not home, probably still stuck in the unfathomable hell that is watching movies at Dean's house). No doubt our boy here was up to something nefarious. They have a tense exchange of words which Jess eventually manages to okuh his way out of and go on his merry way.

#AdmireTheBaby

From Lorelai’s POV, I can readily admit that it might look suspicious. For once, Lorelai actually has a real reason to be sus and it’s not just her usual unfounded paranoia.

But because she just has to crank everything up to fucking 11, and she just can’t be *normal* about anything, ever, I will not be waving my Lorelai Gilmore Support Flag today. (Dean has one too. Yes, there will be maybe 3-4 occasions in the future where I side with Dean Forrester. Shudder).

Lorelai heavily side eyes Jess, then scans Rory’s room, as if she suspects Jess just got into the fat reserves of cash and valuables Rory keeps under her mattress. But she’s really just looking for a Quarter. Speaking of shady, suspicious characters, we then cut to Taylor intercepting Luke at the market, and find out that naturally, Taylor owns the apartment building where Luke wants to move.

In my horror spinoff titled: The Hollow: Jess Mariano's Revenge, who should snap and mow down Taylor Doose in cold blood first? Jess or Luke? First Taylor sabotages Luke's attempt at moving. He installs a traffic light in front of the diner without informing Luke first. He annexes the diner to build an ice cream parlor. And you best believe I'm definitely missing a few of them. Didn't he even try to open a competing breakfast service across the street or was that purely Kirk's doing? Taylor also has his slimy hands on the PTA, he committs censorship at the video rental store, and other ventures too numerous to remember.

Hallelujah for more glorious filler. Waste as much time as you possibly can, fellas.

Luke's gonna need some of that 75 cent Tylenol right about now.

WIth 10 properties + all the money he embezzles with the weekly festivals and "charity book sales" you would think he's so rich he could move out of Schitts Hollow (!!!), and like, retire to Florida or something, where he could live among his fellow Karens, measuring the heights of the blades of grass on their properties. Just leave everyone else alone. LD: What are you doing, buying up the town? TD: Well, not yet, but someday, who knows? That is truly ominous, but on my gritty Gilmores spinoff titled Schitt's Hollow, big coroprations are going to move in and flatten your 10 properties, including your market. Hello Walmart! (if during the course of production for Schitt's Hollow I can't afford to use the Walmart trademark, I'll just have a meteor flatten the town. Can't go wrong with meteors).

Cause Schitt's Hollow is filled with a bunch of spineless jellyfish. You're our only hope, Luke Danes. LD: You can't tell people what color to paint their buildings. TD: Someone has to. LD: No they don't! We don't live in a fascist country! TD: The fascists had their faults, but their parks were spotless. Oh dear.

They really had Jackson run for office in this show when Luke Danes should be the Mayor (or Town Selectman, or whatever) of Schitt's Hollow. Not that he'd ever want that bullshit job. Can you imagine Luke leading one of the town meetings? DELIGHTFUL.

Oh hey I found Jess Mariano's stunt double on the left.

In that moment, Luke Danes saw God.

Oh no, he didn't just go there. He goes on to explain that even though he's aware Luke has a sentimental attachment to the sign, it will confuse tourists. He wistfully describes his dream of opening an additional property where he can sell collectible plates. All that stands in the way of Taylor Doose's quest for power is a decent human being trying to make a living named Luke Danes. There are no tourists in Stars Hollow. They're just people who took a wrong turn and got lost trying to find something more interesting in Connecticut. Like the Pez Museum.

How Luke Danes has not completely stroked out from the stress of living in Schitt's Hollow, merely halfway into the second season, is simply incredible. His eyeball should be popping out. There should be veins throbbing in his neck. He is remarkably calm. We should all strive to be this calm in the face of overwhelming bullshittery. Please teach me your ways.

Alright, that settles it, in my horror movie spinoff titled Schitt's Hollow: Jess Mariano's Revenge, we're gonna have an uncle-nephew killing spree contest. Whichever relation can mow down the most annoying townies by the end of the movie will reign victorious. TD: It's people like you who keep Schitt's Hollow from being one of America's greatest towns! Luke is .2 seconds away from going nuclear and Taylor finally tucks his tail between his legs and retreats as he throws Luke's apartment application in the trash, sadly ending this entertaining b-plot. This leaves me with another 7 minutes to watch the rotting meat that is BraceletGate.

Okay Jess, you are one helluva slow worker. That gutter is still stuffed to the brim with leaves. The fuck have you been doing all this time?

Going back to my point that every word Jess says is imbued with meaning. That "How thoughtful" was as loaded as the earlier "that's ambitious". I'll call it Gourmet Sarcasm. Rory explains how she wasted her day looking for the QOAS in every place she could think of. What happened to Butthead's Bargain? The one where Rory agreed to watch movies all afternoon with Dean, a sort of torture condemned by most human right commissions? After all that she still had time to look for the QOAS? Maybe Butthead was merciful and released her from her end of the bargain. Allow me to break down some RorySpeak for you. Jess: It was just a bracelet. Rory: He won't see it that way (I'm scared of Dean). Jess: Not like you lost it on purpose. Rory: He'll read something into this (I'm scared of Dean). Things have been weird between us lately (I'm scared of Dean), but you don't care. Not only does Rory expect Jess to have a vested interest in her relationship with her mother but also with DEAN? And she also expects him to feel guilty for not caring enough about these things...? Narrator: Deep in his heart, Jess Mariano did care.

#AdmireTheBaby JM (with a mischevious lilt in his voice): I think you should keep looking. Things you lose are usually right in front of your face. Check the house again. #HintHint

Narrator: Dean Forrester, would in fact, not get over it.

Rory comes into the house to meet Lorelai where they discuss how they've turned the house upside down and looked 1,000 times. Rory is elated to find the QOAS under her bed. After she declares her plans to "celebrate later", she runs off to tell Lane to stop praying for her. Oh sure, millions of children are dying every day, but for some reason God answered the prayers of Lane Kim in Bumblefuck Connecticut who asked him to help her friend find her shitty boyfriend's shittyquarterbracelet.

Lorelai's got that shit-eating grin on her face, the one she always puts on when she's pretending to be happy for Rory but actually she's quietly seething underneath the surface and when her daughter is out of sight she's going to unleash holy hell on someone.

Target acquired. Oh dear. I'm really going to have go into part SIX with 5 minutes left in the episode.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Kilgharrah: “Kill that child, Merlin.”

Merlin (like a normal person): “No?? What the fuck???”

And with that, everything changed.

Part 2   Part 3(final part)

“You must let the boy die.”

Kilgharrah’s voice echoed incessantly through Merlin’s head for days after the Druid boy’s appearance, and subsequent disappearance. 

Merlin had, of course, ignored the scaly old bastard, and hadn’t once questioned if he’d done the right thing by hiding Mordred away in his tiny bedroom.

If the boy truly had such a terrible destiny, then the best thing for Merlin to do was to keep him close, if not to steer him away from his fate, then to at least be able to see it coming if it was indeed inevitable.

Currently, Morgana was the only one aware that Mordred was still here (other than Gaius of course, who was somehow disapproving and proud at the same time). As far as everyone else was concerned, Arthur and Uther included, the boy was never found, and must have slipped out of the city somehow (going by the extra patrols in the woods, as opposed to the castle and town).

The Warlock was nervous about anyone knowing at first, but when Morgana had tearfully thanked him for saving Mordred, and proceeded to sneak in spare blankets, food, and money for clothes, Merlin was glad for the co-conspirator.

The boy was currently curled up in the corner of Merlin’s room, a pile of blankets and pillows organised like a bird’s nest around him, wearing a soft shirt and sleeping the night away.

Merlin watched him from his bed, realising with growing horror just how protective of Mordred he had already become. He was so young. How could Merlin even consider punishing a child for some stupid destiny he didn’t even know about?

He had to think of a solution quickly. He couldn’t risk sending him away, not even to the Druids, they were as much slaves to the so-called prophecies as Kilgharrah was, and Merlin had once been (”Gods. Sounds like I’ve been dealing with destiny for years. It’s been like six months. I’m too young for this shit.”). But equally... what could he do with him??

Thankfully, no one had really gotten a good look at the boy, so hopefully with a change of clothes and a haircut, he wouldn’t be recognised, at least not if Merlin came up with a convincing enough story.

To be honest... the cover story worried him far more than the prospect of someone recognising him. Uther hadn’t recognised Nimueh, the woman who had been his court sorceress for years... the man was apparently not very observant.

In the end, it was a throwaway comment by Morgana a few days later, about a week after the Druid boy had “escaped” that gave Merlin a very stupid idea. So stupid, that it might just work.

~

Morgana had once again snuck away from the main castle to sit with Merlin and Mordred in the servant’s room. 

Gaius had said nothing as she’d entered the Physician’s chambers, enough food for four hidden away in the picnic basket she carried, just raised his eyebrow slightly, and thanked The Lady for the food offering that was definitely-not-a-bribe.

She gave him a quick wink, and the old physician rolled his eyes fondly as he set an overturned bucket in front of the door; if anyone came in, they would come in loudly.

Mordred was happy to see her, and Merlin hid a fond smile at the boy’s quiet giggles. He still didn’t speak much, so it was a relief to see him finding joy in something, even if it was clandestine visits from Uther’s ward.

She ruffled his hair slightly, resisting the urge to pull the touch averse boy into a tight hug, and set the basket on the bed. Merlin sat against the pillows, and Morgana sat down opposite him, the basket in between them as Mordred clambered up to sit just in front of Merlin.

Morgana and Merlin talked quietly as they ate, Mordred staying silent as the adults (or...as adult as they could get. Like Merlin kept thinking to himself, he was too young for this shit at sixteen, and Morgana was only two years older than him) avoided the elephant in the room.

The elephant being that they couldn’t keep this up forever. Arthur had a habit of bursting in whenever he so pleased, and it was a miracle he hadn’t done so already. Plus, it would be cruel to expect Mordred to stay cooped up in here for much longer. He was a child, he deserved to play outside and explore and do all the other things he couldn’t do in Merlin’s bedroom.

Once they finished eating, Mordred moved to his makeshift bed in the corner, tightly clutching a book that Morgana had bought him, and furrowing his brows in concentration as he read.

Morgana stared at him with a soft smile, and Merlin sighed, once again worrying about his new ward’s future.

Morgana tilts her head, as if a sudden thought had occurred to her, and looks slowly between Merlin and Mordred as the servant raises a questioning eyebrow at her.

“You know Merlin, the two of you look remarkably similar.”

Mordred is engrossed in his book, and doesn’t react at all to Morgana’s quiet comment, but Merlin’s eyebrow goes even higher as he huffs out a laugh:

“You think? I don’t see it.”

Morgana looks at him with a deadpan expression:

“Merlin, you don’t have a mirror in here. I’m fairly certain you have no concept of what you look like.-”

Merlin looks indignantly offended for all of two seconds before he sighs and nods, she’s right to be fair. He’s tall-ish, with pale skin, and he thinks he has brown hair. That’s about all he knows.

Morgana chuckles as she once again looks at Mordred:

“You both have very dark hair, bright blue eyes, pale skin. You know...-”

She looks back at him with a thoughtful frown on her face:

“-if someone told me you were brothers... I’d believe it.”

Merlin raises an eyebrow:

“Really?”

She nods decisively:

“Yeah. I mean, the more I think about it, the more I look between you, yes. You could definitely be related.”

Merlin nods his head slowly, thinking. He takes in a deep breath and tilts his head slightly:

“It could work. I haven’t really talked to anyone about my family so... we could say that... he came to live with me? Because life here is... good?”

Morgana snorts slightly, rolling her eyes before looking back at him seriously:

“You’d have to be more convincing than that. You could say that the harvest was poor in your village? That Mordred was better off coming to stay with his big brother in the big city?”

Merlin nods at her words, grimacing slightly as he mutters:

“If we’re running with the whole... brother thing, I need to write a letter to my mum, just in case. Gods she’s going to laugh so much.”

Morgana laughs at him quietly, but the noise finally catches Mordred’s attention and he looks up in confusion. Merlin moves the basket to the floor, and gestures to the boy to come over.

He walks over wordlessly, climbing up to kneel between them, biting his lip nervously.

“Is it time for me to leave, Emrys?” echoes through Merlin’s head, and he gives the boy a comforting smile, shaking his head slightly, before saying out loud:

“You’re staying with me, Mordred-”

The boy smiles slightly as he stares at Merlin in reverence, and Morgana quickly hides her questioning gaze. She could see that there was more between them than simple protectiveness over a child, and thankfulness for being saved, but she kept her thoughts to herself as Merlin continued:

“-but we can’t keep you hidden in here forever, so we’re going to tell people that you’re my younger brother, come to live with me. Is that alright?”

Mordred nods his head vigorously, and Merlin chuckles slightly as the boy’s grin grew:

“Ok. We’ll get you a haircut and tell Gaius the plan. Probably wait a few more days for things to settle down further, and then see how it goes, ok?”

Mordred nods once more, smile not leaving his face. Morgana bites her lip to stop herself from laughing at Merlin’s shocked face when the boy threw himself into the servant’s arms for a tight hug.

~

Merlin spends the next few days teaching Mordred all about Ealdor and his mother and Will, so that the boy could have at least a little knowledge on what was supposedly his home and family.

The next time Morgana came to visit, she brought a comb and a sharp pair of scissors, as well as a few more changes of clothes that looked less... Druid. By the time she left that evening, Mordred had much shorter hair, and a wide grin on his face at the prospect of finally being able to go outside (he was Druid after all, he needed trees and fresh air).

The letter had been sent home, and Merlin was expecting a reply any day now. The only thing left to worry about was how to hide Mordred’s Druid marking. It would be easy to cover with clothes, but Uther’s increasing paranoia meant that it would be best if they could find a more permanent solution.

Gaius suggested some sort of glamour spell fairly quickly, but Merlin was unwilling to cast one on the boy until he’d mastered it.

And THAT meant showing up to serve Arthur with ink all over his hands that he had tried and failed to cover.

Merlin had also realised with dawning horror, that he would have to tell Morgana the truth. She knew about the marking, and she was smart, there was no way that hiding it wasn’t something that had occurred to her. She would bring it up eventually, and how could Merlin explain without having to... explain??

Morgana was already risking her favour with the King, and frankly, her life, by protecting a Druid... she would do the same for Merlin, right? But Mordred hadn’t actually done any magic... BUT she’d always spoken against executions... BUT Merlin had lied and hidden it from her, his friend...

Hmm...

In the end, he’d decided he would just have to suck it up, and tell her. Fuck whatever that dragon said. After Kilgharrah’s last round of... advice, Merlin had been ignoring his calls. If there was an emergency, the cryptic bastard would tell him, and until then he could just sulk in that cave on his own.

That two weeks was also enough for Uther to become convinced that the mysterious Druid boy really was long gone, and to just forget about it. He was pissed of course, but talking about it and extending the search just highlighted that a child, barely eleven summers, had managed to evade all of his forces and that... did not cast him in a good light.

It took Merlin about two weeks to fully master the spell, which was longer than the three of them were hoping, but he was adamant that he perfect it before he cast it on Mordred, and Gaius was incredibly impressed at his ward’s determination.

Morgana was of course confused about why they kept pushing it back, she thought they were only going to wait a few days before they started introducing Mordred, but she trusted Merlin and saw no harm in waiting a little longer.

When Morgana arrived that evening, she could tell that Merlin was... anxious. They’d agreed on a specific day to make introductions but it wasn’t until the end of this week, it didn’t make any sense for Merlin to suddenly be nervous about it.

Mordred wasn’t quite as good at hiding his emotions, and didn’t even giggle like he normally did when Morgana came over, just stared at his “brother” anxiously.

Morgana rolled her eyes and huffed as she shut the door:

“Alright, Merlin. What is it? Spit it out.”

Merlin opened his mouth, about to come out with an excuse, before he snapped it shut again and took a deep breath.

It worried him, how easy, how automatic it was for him to lie, but that was a worry for another time.

Mordred reached up and took his hand, squeezing it, and Merlin looked down at him with a weak smile before sitting on the bed and gesturing that Morgana join him.

She looked at him worriedly, but settles where he gestures, and doesn’t acknowledge the way Mordred sits defensively between them.

The boy looks back at Merlin:

“Are you sure, Emrys?”

Merlin gives him another smile, and squeezes his shoulder slightly as he raises an eyebrow:

“I’m sure. And you need to get used to calling me Merlin at some point.”

Mordred pouts slightly, and Merlin ruffles his hair as he laughs, before looking back up at Morgana’s questioning stare.

He takes another deep breath, before slowly speaking:

“I... we’ve found a way to properly hide Mordred’s marking.”

Morgana looks taken aback, but relieved:

“Oh. Is that all? That’s good isn’t it? I have to admit, it was worrying me.”

Merlin gulps:

“Yeah it... it is good... it’s just, it involves... magic.”

Morgana raises her eyebrow, and nods slowly, as if it were obvious:

“I figured it would be. It’s not like it would be easy or reliable to cover it with make-up every morning, or hide it with clothes.-”

It’s Merlin’s turn to look taken aback now, and Mordred fixes her with an unreadable expression. Morgana continues:

“-The problem, lies in finding someone willing to do whatever spell it is. Someone we could trust wouldn’t share the secret, no matter what.”

Merlin grimaces slightly, more gulping, and taking yet another deep breath:

“We already have someone. Me.”

Morgana gasps slightly, and she’s vaguely aware of the brothers in front of her tensing up, but all she can focus on is the gold of Merlin’s irises.

The gold fades, and Merlin clears his throat, breaking her out of her stupor. She reaches over and punches Merlin harshly on the arm before getting up and beginning to pace, speechless.

Merlin and Mordred panic at first, but when she makes no moves towards the door in her pacing, they relax. That only lasts for a moment or two however, before she looks back to Merlin, furious:

“Are you thick Merlin? Why on earth would you learn magic in Camelot of all places?? Do you have a death wish!?”

Merlin laughs slightly, cheeks turning pink as he rubs the back of his neck:

“Actually uh... I was born with magic; I’ve always had it. My mother sent me here because she thought I would learn to control it better.”

Morgana looks incredulous as she continues to rant:

“What? With the fear of execution hanging over your head?! That’s not control, that’s terror.”

Merlin shrugs:

“It works though. My magic is mostly instinctual, the threat of torture by pyre sure as hell stops me from losing control when I’m angry or scared or whatever...”

Morgana huffs, crossing her arms and fixing him with a glare. Both Merlin and Mordred cower slightly as they are reminded of angry and disproving mothers; as if they were about to be scolded for getting their clothes dirty, or ruining their dinner with too many snacks.

She just stares at him for a minute, before she sags slightly, and begins chuckling at the boys’ fearful faces:

“You are ridiculous. But it’s far too late to persuade you to leave now. Does Arthur know?”

Merlin’s face morphs into a mournful frown, as he looks to the floor and mumbles:

“No. I wish I could tell him but... with Uther...”

Morgana sighs, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder:

“Uther won’t be here forever. We’ll just have to keep Arthur from turning into too much of a prat before he becomes King.-”

Merlin laughs at that, and looks up to give the woman a grateful smile. She returns his smile before continuing:

“-So, you can do the spell?”

Merlin winces slightly and gestures for Mordred to pull the collar of his shirt down, to reveal a blank patch of skin:

“I’ve actually already done it. It’ll stay there permanently until I take it off. Though we should keep checking, just in case.”

Morgana looks surprised, and smiles:

“What’s the problem then?-”

She rolls her eyes when Merlin looks at her incredulously:

“-Oh, come on Merlin. I’m not going to turn you in, you’re safe with me. You both are, and you always will be.”

The servant jumps up to give her a tight hug, which she quickly returns as Mordred nervously joins in. Morgana smiles to herself, and squeezes her boys tighter.

She may love Uther and Arthur, and she knew they loved her back, in their own way, but this? This was family.

~

The time finally came for Merlin to introduce his baby brother. Hunith had supposedly dropped him off late last night and left immediately, having to get back home quickly. 

Morgana had gone to gather Gwen and Arthur whilst Merlin and Mordred waited in their room (it was definitely their room now, instead of just Merlin’s).

It was early in the morning, and to say that Arthur was grumpy at being woken by Morgana instead of Merlin, was an understatement.

But he eventually caved, and dressed himself as he grumbled, allowing Morgana to drag him to meet Gwen (who was equally confused) before the three of them made their way to the Physician’s chambers.

Gaius was suspiciously absent, and Morgana knocked on Merlin’s door, before slowly opening it and walking in, Arthur and Gwen following her quickly.

Gwen was surprised at the sight of Merlin stood behind a child, hands protectively on his shoulders, but smiled and gave Mordred a soft wave in greeting.

Arthur however, froze, and stared at the boy with a shocked expression.

Morgana moved to stand next to Mordred, and took one of his hands as Merlin began to speak:

“Gwen, Arthur, I want you to meet my baby brother, Mordred. He’s come to live with me.”

Gwen waved again, and bent over to Mordred’s height:

“Hi Mordred, I’m Guinevere, but all my friends call me Gwen. I didn’t know that Merlin had a brother, but it’s lovely to meet you.”

Mordred gave her a small smile, and Merlin suppressed a chuckle as-

“I like her, Em- Merlin.”

-echoed through his head.

Arthur’s gaze moved away from Mordred finally, up to Merlin.

Merlin stared back at him blankly, but Arthur saw the way his jaw clenched as he moved a protective hand down, to pull Mordred closer to him.

The Prince let out a deep sigh, growling slightly as Gwen looked at him in confusion, and Morgana and Merlin stared at him challengingly.

He shook his head as his shoulders sagged, and he rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands before looking back to Mordred with a strained smile:

“It’s nice to meet you, Mordred. My name’s Arthur.”

With that, Morgana smirks slightly, and Merlin relaxes. Gwen just rolls her eyes:

“Sorry about him Mordred, he doesn’t spend much time around people your age.”

Mordred gives her another smile, and Merlin glances to Gwen, before looking down at Mordred:

“Why don’t you go with Morgana and Gwen to see the city a little? Me and Arthur need to talk, I’ll catch up with you later, ok?”

Mordred turns around quickly, and grabs Merlin’s hand tightly:

“You promise??”

Gwen holds in an “awww” and Morgana hides her smile. Mordred rarely talks aloud (she’d been told of the mental link), but she’s glad to see he was feeling at least a little more comfortable.

Merlin crouches down, and pulls the boy into a tight hug, stroking his hair slightly as he stares straight at Arthur:

“I promise. I’ll never leave you for long Mordred.”

Arthur gulps at Merlin’s hard stare, but gives him an almost imperceptible nod, which Merlin returns as he stands up. Mordred gives him one more look as he takes one of Morgana’s hands, and one of Gwen’s, and follows them out of the room.

Morgana shuts the door quietly, and Arthur sighs again before looking at Merlin:

“What are you thinking Merlin?? You just thought I wouldn’t notice?”

Merlin crosses his arms, his glare still hard:

“No, I knew you would notice, I just had faith that you’re a better man than your father.”

Arthur is still deep in his “my father can do no wrong” faze, and takes great offense at that, taking a threatening step forward and growling:

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Merlin just huffs and raises an eyebrow slightly:

“I had assumed that you were not the type of man to have a child executed, just for existing.-”

Merlin copies Arthur’s step forward, raising his chin and continuing, his voice low and dangerous:

“-Did I assume correctly? Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect that kid, Arthur. Nothing.”

Arthur stares at him incredulously, only managing to hold Merlin’s surprisingly confident stare for a few moments, before nodding and stepping back:

“Of course. He’s a child, Merlin, I won’t see him hurt, if I can help it.”

Merlin nods slowly, not looking away from Arthur as he softly says:

“I’ll hold you to that.-”

He walks around The Prince, opening the door and stepping halfway through before looking over his shoulder, and quietly saying to a confused Arthur:

“-If you truly believed that all magic is evil, and always corrupted, no matter what, then you wouldn’t care that he’s a child; you’d want him dead anyway. So perhaps think about your... prejudices, a little more deeply, maybe you’ll discover you are different to Uther in other ways as well.”

Before Arthur can even really process what Merlin said, the servant is shutting the door behind him, and rushing off to find his new brother.

~

OK SO!!! 

I really LOVED writing this, there will definitely be more parts, I just figured I should end it here before I got carried away

This series is finished!! (Links at the top <3 )

[fernweh-writes]

Hey hi hello!! I am in love with all of your slasher content!! (I may or may not have been stalking your page all day 😂)

Could I request the slashers (especially Michael 😘) with an s/o who is constantly cold?

Thank you!!! 🎉

I live in Georgia where it’s hotter than Hades and still freeze to death. Probably cause my family keeps the thermostat set on 65… but regardless my hands and feet are always freezing and that’s on poor circulation

-Fern🌿

S/O Who Stays Cold

Michael Myers

He produces plenty of heat but is very stingy with his warmth.

Michael is not big on cuddling, or touch of any kind for that matter. So it’s very rare that he actually let’s you cuddle up to him and steal some of his warmth. Usually he only allows it when you begin to shiver because when you’re that cold you get upset easily and he doesn’t like that.

He will make you a fire in the fireplace though in an attempt to keep you warm. Sadly since he is a human space heater this does also mean the fire makes the house to hot for him to stick around. But don’t worry he’ll just go about his murder things and let you keep warm.

Seeing you asleep on the ground by the fireplace with blankets wrapped around you is enough to make him cave in. You’re asleep anyways so it’s not like you’re going to notice him carrying you upstairs and tucking you in while he wraps himself around you to keep you warm…

Bo Sinclair

“We’re in Louisiana darlin’ there ain’t no such thing as cold”

Bo doesn’t understand how you can be cold in Ambrose. The place is so hot and humid and the air in the old house ain’t all that great. Not to mention, the summers are absolutely brutal. Seeing you walk around bundled up confuses the fuck out of him.

He likes to act like you’re just playing it up for attention. “Now darlin’ if you want me to hold ya all you gotta do is ask.” But he knows that you can’t fake shivering.

At night he pulls you so close to him you’d think he was trying to keep you from escaping. As much as he enjoys holding you close it’s best to keep your cold feet off of him or else he’ll get grumpy.

Vincent Sinclair

If you stay cold then Vincent will be your favorite person ever. Living with him you will not know what cold is!

With all the candles and the fire, Vincent’s workshop is always very warm and cozy. Plus he’s more than okay with letting you bundle up in the blankets on his bed if you want to be warmer.

He’s also more than happy to lend you on of his sweaters! After all he has plenty of them, hope you don’t mind some little spots of wax on them though. Plus he thinks the way they engulf you is adorable.

Need a cuddle buddy in order to keep warm? No problem! Cuddling with Vincent is a great way to stay warm seeing as he loves having you close. If he is busy then you can always coax Jonesy onto the bed with you. Of course you have to give her attention to make her stay, but the same can be said for Vincent.

Thomas Hewitt

This man is a human heater and no one can change my mind. He is large, warm, perfect for cuddling. 100% husband material right there.

Unlike some of the other slashers he is not stingy with his warmth. Thomas adores being able to spend time with you and just hold you close to him. Keeping you warm by cuddling you is so intimate and innocent and he loves it.

Would probably enjoy the fact you stay cold. Your cold hands and feet are very appreciated by him actually. The Texas heat is atrocious and your cold skin offers him some temporary relief from the inescapable heat. Plus you get to be warm so really it’s a win win situation here.

Will also smother you with blankets when you get cold in the winter. The old house doesn’t stay heated very easily, the only source of warmth being the fire place. Luckily Thomas has less work to do in the winter, which means you can cling to him for warmth all that you want!

Brahms Heelshire

Oh you’re cold? Here take his sweater! He won’t admit that he stole yours and cuddled with it within the walls and he’s not going to give it back so you can just borrow his.

Brahms is very clingy. Like needs to be attached to your hip 24/7 clingy. So of course he’s always down to cuddle in order to keep you warm.

Might even start turning the thermostat down to get you to seek him out and hold him. That or he will start claiming that he’s cold and he always keeps you warm so it’s only fair that you do the same for him. In other words, he takes advantage of your inability to stay warm.

Brahms also likes to wrap you up in blankets and cuddle with you by the fireplace on rainy days. The rain can make the old mansion even colder than usual. Luckily for Brahms, it rains pretty often!

Billy Loomis

If you put your cold ass feet on him he’s going to be very upset. Billy will 100% make a scene if you try it, don’t test him. Especially on movie night, he can’t focus on his horror movies when your cold limbs are trying to steal his warmth.

Will lend you his comfortable warm clothes though. He may have a bunch of the same white shirts but he has some hoodies and sweatpants buried somewhere in his room. Good luck finding them though because he’s not helping.

Good luck trying to get him to cuddle with you after putting your cold hands on him. You lost that privilege when you wouldn’t keep your hands and feet to yourself. He’ll still get up and get you blankets but he complains about it the whole time.

We all know this boy loves to sneak in windows so you can expect some surprise visits at night. If you complain about being cold, he will tuck you in before he leaves so the warmth can’t escape. Billy can be sweet sometimes.

Stu Macher

Oh you’re cold? Here take his sweater! Stu loves seeing you wear his clothes, it just does something for him. He thinks they look better on you and encourages you to raid his closet whenever you please. He thinks it’s cute seeing you walk around in his clothes that pretty much swallow you whole.

This boy will buy you so many blankets! Stu likes to make forts out of them with you so to him they’re a worthy investment. Plus he knows you’ll pile multiple blankets on top of you, so they all get used.

Stu is very physically affectionate. I think it’s safe to say that touch is his love language. So you already know that he’s always down to cuddle with you to help you keep warm. Unlike Billy, he doesn’t mind your cold hands. Let him hold them to warm them up for you!

Asa Emory

He has plenty of warm clothes for you to steal. Surprisingly, he doesn’t mind if you borrow his clothes, as long as you give them back. Also just try not to take anything he plans on wearing either or he’ll get a little upset. Likes the way his clothes smell like you when you give them back.

Asa is away most of the time which means you have free reign over the thermostat in the house. Just know that as soon as Asa gets home he’s turning it back down though. It’s not like you need to keep the house 100° when he’s around.

Once Asa is comfortable with you I believe that he likes for you to be affectionate with him. He may not reciprocate the touch much, but he definitely enjoys it. So when you wrap yourself around him to steal his warmth he’s not going to complain!

Jesse Cromeans

Buys you only the highest quality of blankets to keep you warm. This includes only the best heated and weighted blankets as well. However he refuses to put a thick comforter on the bed. Why would you need one anyways, you have him?

Jesse hates that he can’t always be there. His business trips can keep him away anywhere from weeks to months at a time. But when he returns he always makes up for it and makes sure to keep you warm at night.

There isn’t any reason for you to raid his closet. After all, he buys you more clothes than you could ever want anyways. But still, he thinks it’s cute when you do and loves the way you insist his clothes are just warmer and comfier as an excuse to keep them.

[enjennie]

Stay [ Lee Jeno x Reader ]

Summary: You find yourself in a dark room at a party underneath the basketball captain Lee Jeno. And he might just have a thing for you.

genre: Smut! (minors begone!) Fluff. 

warnings: contains smut and profanity. losing virginity + unprotected sexc time (pls practice safe segz)

a/n: my second smut ... i’m still testing the waters and this isn’t proofread but i just wanted to write smth to destress. also yes there is lack of foreplay bc im not too familiar with writing that yet but i hope it's not too bad !! enjoy ♡

The room was both dark and unfamiliar, but you push yourself into it without a second thought. Jeno’s arms are wrapped around your waist securely, lips molded together in an electrifying kiss that sent waves of euphoria all over your body. Jeno wasn’t any more familiar than the room. Not to you, of course. You knew all about him, but not the other way around. You were a stranger to him. Or so you believed. But none of that mattered to you in the moment. It should have. Yes. You kissed him. Yes. You initiated it. So why were you so confused on why it was leading to a very heated make out and possibly into… sex?

The music from the party you’d both left downstairs is muffled by the shutting of the door but what was really drowning it out was Jeno taking you into another world of your own as his lips drift from yours down to your neck while his hands touch you in places you’ve never been touched before. It all felt like a dream. But his voice brings you back to reality, proving that this all was in fact real.

“Are you okay with this?” he breathlessly asks. You’d both gone from the door and were now on the bed, with him towering over you looking mighty as ever. Godlike. Jeno the basketball team captain, whom you’ve crushed on for years was in front of you, had just kissed you back. You gave him a nod, not having it in you to construct a sentence by how baffled you were. “You’re not…drunk, are you?” he tilts his head to the side, inspecting your face in the dim light the moon provided.

“I barely had anything to drink,” you shyly confessed. You’d been throwing out your drink in bushes and every shot you took were mostly infused with soda. But Jeno knew. Jeno noticed it all. He chuckled, dipping his head closer to yours. Close enough that he caught a whiff of your perfume, close enough to hear how your breath hitched in your throat with the sudden proximity between you two. “Me too,” he quietly whispers into your ear.

So why was this happening right now? If it isn’t because of the heavy alcohol intoxicating you both to make unsure decisions, why were you in a room with Jeno when you were both very much sober and aware of what was going to happen? It wasn’t like you were the only girl at this party. Why was basketball captain Lee Jeno in the room with you, student council secretary Y/N, right now? Isn’t it an odd pairing?

You couldn’t think about any of that. Not when his lips are on yours again and they’re all you could think about. It didn’t take long before his shirt was on a pile on the floor along with yours. Jeno drew circles on your waist with his thumb as he grinded against your needy area. Your fingers laced through his while the other found itself entangled in his hair. Jeno let out a low growl when you pulled on his roots, and you can’t keep the smug smile from appearing on your face at the thought of him reacting this way because of your doing.

He didn’t waste a second more, he lined his tip against your entrance after pushing your skirt up and panties aside and thrusted himself inside you, making you yelp louder than you’d intended. You forgot to mention the fact that you were a virgin. Never have gone past the third base. Jeno drew in a sharp breath at your tightness and seemed to notice that the sound you’d made was more pain than it was pleasure. The boy propped himself up to peer at you. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gone so rough,” he apologized, concern flooding his face.

“I’m… I’m a virgin,” you let the cat out of the bag. It settled in the air for a while, hovering above the both of you in the dead silent room. You couldn’t look at his face. Out of embarrassment and shame. But Jeno placed a hand against your face, framing it and letting you look into his honey brown eyes in the darkness. “You’ve never done it before?” he whispers.

I ruined it. You thought. Maybe I should’ve told him I’ve already done it…

“C’mon,” he snaps you back into reality by pulling away and you see him holding his hand out to you. You stare at it, not knowing what to do in this situation. “Give me your hand,” Jeno smiled softly at you, his face completely changed as if he isn’t balls deep inside you right now.

You take his hand and he threads your fingers together, gripping yours firmly in his and pushing it down on the mattress. “Hold onto me, tell me how you like it,” Jeno shifts his body, pulling himself out of you, leaving you empty. Hollow. The friction made you gasp for air, which melted into a moan. You let your nails prick him on the hand from how hard you were holding his as he entered once again, slower this time. The stretch was painful, but so good. Jeno watched your face change from depicting pain to a mixture of pleasure. Such a sinful expression on an angelic face. You could feel him get harder inside you as he continued to thrust in a controlled pace.

“You okay” he asked softly. His mouth is by your ear and you can hear his soft panting. You let out a hum, too overwhelmed by what you were feeling to make up a reply. “Use your words, baby,” he urged.

“I feel great,” you breathlessly sighed back, just as his tip hit a new spot that felt otherworldly. “Fuck-,” you moaned. Jeno paused, biting on your neck, trying to restrain himself from going fucking you senseless.

“Keep going,” you directed. Jeno’s eyes grew dark from hearing your sultry voice telling him what to do. He pushed himself deeper, earning a delicious moan from you. Jeno bucked his hips and continuously rammed himself into you, filling you up with each thrust. He was pushing you into the soft mattress and had your thighs spread apart to give him space between them.

The sensation you felt gradually built up in your stomach as you cried out his name, your moans filling the empty room. Shutting your eyes and letting yourself indulge in the feeling Jeno gave you, the knot in your stomach tightened. He peppered your chest with kisses before his thrusts began to get sloppier, you noticed he was close. You let yourself look up at him and the sight of you was enough to send him to the edge as a string of curses along with your name escaped his mouth as he came. You clenched your walls around Jeno as you felt your orgasm hit moments after. Jeno slowed his pace down before pulling out completely and collapsed beside you, falling on the mattress of the poor stranger’s bed where you’d just lost your virginity in.

Your head was spinning and your hearts hammering as you came down from your highs. You turn to him, pushing your skirt down to cover your thighs.

“Did you enjoy th-,”

“That was amazi-,”

You both interrupt each other as you spoke, and you chuckle as he let you go first.

“That was amazing,” you finished your sentence. Jeno looked at you, his smile prominent on his face and his eyes displaying crescents. “Yeah? You’re not too bad yourself, made me forget that this is Hyucks’ parents bed,”  

That was enough to get you to spring off of the bed, looking back at it in horror. Jeno cracks up laughing, sitting up and reaching for your shirt before handing it over to you and pulling his own over his head. “Let’s go somewhere else,” he says, his tone suggestive. You knew it was to ask for a greenlight. It was surprising he even wanted to spend more time with you after the sex. The question brought a smile to your face as you put your shirt back on.

“Let’s get out of here,” you tell him. Jeno smiled at you, pushing the hair that covered his view behind your ears.

 That night, as you and Jeno sped away in his convertible with the top down, you let the cool wind run through your hair and engulfed the summer breeze. Jeno watched in awe, while he drove you to the hill with the best view of the city. He didn’t know how this was happening, when you both had never spoken before. It was always him and his little crush on you, going unnoticed. Shy glances from across the room at the girl who thought she was invisible when in fact you brought light into every room you walked into, almost like the sun followed you around.

But it was senior year. Fuck it, he thought. He’d heard you got into the college of your choice and it wasn’t in town. Jeno had decided on a whim that night, as he watched you bob your head to the song playing while mouthing the words along, that he was gonna tell you how crazy in love he was for you. When you disappeared into the hallway looking for the toilet, Jeno had followed you in a rush. To profess his adoration for you, tell you how you were the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. However, before he could spit it out, you’d kissed him. You didn’t know what came over you, in the moment it just felt right. It turns out to be the best decision you’ve ever made.

He pulled over, and you admired the view upon you. Twinkling lights from the bustling city of traffic and skyscrapers. Jeno turned the engine off, leaving you both in the sounds of nature around you. Crickets and the distant sign of life in the city. Cars beeping and music playing from different homes as seniors were having their party to celebrate the end of examinations. You looked at Jeno and he cupped your cheeks with his hand before pulling you in for another sweet kiss.

Unreal.

He pulled you easily onto his lap. How could you be so comfortable with a man you’ve technically just met? You felt like you could trust him with your life.

“We skipped all the formalities,” you murmured as you dipped your head close to his. Jeno lowered his gaze to your lips which made you subconsciously wet them with your tongue. He smiled sheepishly, leaning in and giving you a peck. “Then let’s start from the beginning,” He plants a kiss on your lips before pulling away after each one. “Hi-,”

Kiss.

“My name is-,”

Kiss.

“Lee Jeno,”

Kiss.

“Will you go out with me?”

[dango-milk]

all too well (kaeya’s version)

You call me up again, just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest.

an ode to heartbreak masterlist: (x)

word count: 3668

genre: angst

pairings: kaeya x gn!reader

warnings: mildly suggestive, swearing

want to be tagged when future oth works come out? click here!

What you had with Kaeya Alberich was a supernova of a love: blinding, passionate, and—inevitably—died an explosive death.

Mondstadt grew colder and colder as the autumn rolled around, and you wish you’d brought a coat with you as you trudged up the dirt path to the Dawn Winery. But it was rather a short walk, anyway, you had reasoned, and Diluc would most likely offer you a cup of tea by the fire to keep you warm all the way home.

And you’ve learned to live with the cold for years, you think, rather bitterly.

Still, your poor attempt at being logical did not keep your teeth from chattering, nor your fingers from turning a light shade of blue. You huffed (grimacing at the way your breath instantly turned into a wisp in the frigid air) and picked up the pace. The sooner we can get this over with, the better.

You hear someone call your name, and you turn to see Ernest, waving cheerfully at you from the warehouse. You offer a weak smile and wave back. “The master home?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Ernest chuckles. “Bundle up, you might catch a cold.”

“I will. Thanks!”

The leaves, all brilliant yellows and reds and oranges, crunch under your feet, and you heave a big sigh. Kaeya was always fond of the autumn season, even when he was a boy. You could vaguely remember him diving into a hill of neatly piled leaves, much to his own amusement (and the horror of the maids).

He was fifteen when he’d first met you—the firstborn of a well-off family in Mondstadt, but practically nobody next to the Ragnvindrs—and it had been autumn, too, you remembered. Your father was rather close to Crepus, the previous head of the Ragnvindr family, and though you’d already known Diluc when he was still about as tall as his father’s knee, you hadn’t met Kaeya in person until that day, when you tagged along out of boredom.

You swore that you would forever rue the day you had made that decision. It would have saved you a world of pain.

But how could you, with that mischievous blue (unhidden) eye and knowing smirk that popped out of nowhere while you were sitting on the stairs, staring at the sun set over the lake. How could you, when he had one leg propped up on the stone wall, framing the scenery before you with his fingers, like he was taking a picture. He then moved them to frame you, instead; and just like that, you were his.

“Oh my word,” someone wails, and you snap out of your reverie to see Adelinde running towards you, a large, fluffy coat over her standard maid attire. “Please do send a letter the next time you come here, Master (Y/N), it’s much too cold to be traveling around without a coat in this weather!”

“I’m alright, Adelinde, really,” you assure her. “I won’t stay long, really. I was just going to pick up some things…”

Adelinde’s eyes grew sad. “Ah, I see. Must you really? I’m quite certain that Master Diluc is perfectly happy to hold on to some of your items until you, er, move to a more suitable location.”

“Thank you, but I do not intend to trouble you any further.” You take a deep breath. “The less my presence is felt, the better.”

“Surely, I can’t persuade you to stay a few nights, at least? Besides, Master Kae—”

“I won’t be long, Adelinde,” you interrupt her, your foolish heart racing at hearing even the first syllable of his name. “Just a cup of tea, then it’s back to the city for me.”

Adelinde sighs, finally relenting. “It will be as you say. Master Diluc should be in the library.”

You send her a tight-lipped smile before trudging forward, nodding at the maids who rushed over to open the doors to the mansion for you.

“Ah, Master (Y/N),” Elzer calls, as soon as he caught sight of you. “Good timing. We were about to test some new concoctions. If you would...:”

“It is far too early to be drinking,” a deep voice cuts him off, and you follow it all the way up the stairs. It belonged to none other than Diluc Ragnvindr himself, his fiery red hair pulled up and flowing all over his (surprisingly) coat-free outfit.

You immediately felt small, like a child caught sneaking out of their room after bedtime. “Hello, Diluc.”

“(Y/N),” he replies in greeting. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I—well—” You fidget uncomfortably. “I just...came to get what’s left of my things here.”

“Oh.” The one syllable carried a whole lot of weight. “You don’t have to, you know. He doesn’t even come here anymore.”

“I know,” you whisper. “But…”

“No need to elaborate.” You think you saw Diluc’s features soften. “I know what you mean.”

“Thanks.”

He points his thumb behind him. “You know where.”

You pass him, muttering your thanks once again. A flash of color catches your eye, and you saw that rather unique vase standing proudly near the foot of the stairs.

Your heart aches at the sight.

The Dawn Winery’s storage-turned-spare-room stood before you, reeking of mothballs and regrets. It had been Kaeya’s room before he left, and he’d returned to it only because you were injured after a commission went wrong. Dawn Winery was just in sight when he finally came to your aid, and despite his own misgivings with Diluc, neither of them hesitated in clearing out the old room for you.

Those were the days, you think wistfully, remembering how Kaeya had set you down on the bed carefully. He’d removed the scarf you had wrapped around your neck to help you breathe a little more easily, before pressing his forehead against yours. Years and years of being together, but he’d never openly expressed his concern for your safety like he had back then—if his trembling hands and rattling breath meant anything.

“Don’t do that again,” he’d whispered, as he pressed a hand against your wound. “Quit your job at the Guild. I don’t care if I have to take care of you for the rest of our lives. You’re not doing this again.”

He’d stood to the side while the maids worked on you, talking to Diluc in hushed tones while clutching your scarf. You were delirious from the painkillers, but you could have sworn that the brothers actually agreed to team up against those treasurer hoarders you’d encountered. To this day, you weren’t really sure what they had been talking about; the memory of Kaeya’s wandering hands and feverish lips once the maids had left were all that remained of that night.

You rub your eyes furiously, trying to focus on the task at hand. You were here to collect the rest of your things—books, articles of clothing, anything and everything that once belonged to you. You’d decided this the moment you’d left Kaeya’s place, assuming that one part of moving on would be to clean up after everything. No part of you would be left in places you knew you’d once shared with him.

This love was a crime scene, and you were intent on clearing your name by destroying all evidence tying you to it.

Kaeya seemed to be on the same page as you, ironically. He’d sent a personnel of the Knights to bring you back the rest of your things from his place a few days ago.

You get to work quickly, slinging your bag off your shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. You didn’t leave many things here, thankfully, just a few notebooks and some extra clothes. You were painfully aware that this was purely for damage control, for making sure that you’re kept as far away from your spiraling thoughts as possible.

As you reach under the bed, your fingers bump into a thick book. Thinking it to be one of the many novels you had borrowed from the library (you dreaded the thought of turning it in, probably months after the due date, knowing that an angry Lisa was much more frightening than seeing your ex-boyfriend again), you pull it out, sighing in relief when it turned out to be a photo album instead.

You gently blow the dust off the cover before opening it, the spine cracking and the pages crinkling from being unused for so long. You gasp when you see Crepus Ragnvindr’s neat penmanship on the first page—he’d sent your father so many letters, it was impossible for you to not recognize it—detailing the contents of this album to be a collection of precious memories that he and his family shared.

You remembered. It all played out before you, like some motion picture in your mind’s eye, because you were there when Kaeya first pulled it out from Diluc’s library.

“Oh?” Kaeya flipped through the pages idly, and you had to giggle at Diluc’s eye twitching in annoyance at how his brother treated it so casually. “I didn’t think you still kept this, Master Diluc.”

Diluc answered nothing more than a resigned hmph, and crossed his arms. “Have a look at it, (Y/N). Have a look at it and see the truth.”

“N-now, now,” Kaeya protested weakly, trying to laugh it off when your head practically snapped to him, eyes pleading for a peek. “The important thing is what we have now, and what you see right in front of you is—”

“A man who the maids feared would drown in the bathtub because of how small he was as a child, so they put him in the kitchen sink,” Diluc finished. “He also had a visual impairment for a while, so he would accidentally run into a tree whenever we played outside. Pages five and seventeen, if you’d like to see.”

You chuckle as you flip through the photos that Diluc described, imagining Crepus’ laughter behind the photo of a young Kaeya splashing around in the kitchen sink. The amusement was quickly replaced with a stinging pain in your chest, which threatened to fill your eyes with tears, but you shake your head and turned your eyes heavenward, trying to stop them from doing what you had already been doing nights prior to today.

Against your better judgement, you add the photo album to the pile of things to keep.

“I think that’s about it,” you murmur to yourself, standing up and shaking your bag to make the contents settle nicely at the bottom. This was one step, you told yourself. One step to moving...moving on.

The scarf.

You search the room, looking for that piece of clothing that you admittedly thought was a little ugly—until, of course, Kaeya had said otherwise. You weren’t sure where he’d put it after pulling it off you that night, which made looking for it (in a room that you hadn’t been in in a while, no less) even more difficult.

You wonder if he’d kept it. Stashed it away in some hidden drawer, or stuffed at the bottom of a dresser. You weren’t sure how that made you feel. Happy? Vindictive? Bittersweet? Then again, you’d immediately thrown out everything you had of his as soon as you’d called it quits.

He did it too easily. So, you’d returned the favor.

“I can’t do this anymore.” His words rang in your ears, filling your entire being with an iciness unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. It was as if the words had materialized, slapped you across the face, and stabbed you in the gut with a rusty butter knife.

“Wait a minute.” You gasped for air. Wait a minute, wait, wait. This is what he had called you all the way out here for? Disappearing for days on end...granted, that thing with Stormterror was taking up all of the Knights’ schedules, you understood, really, but…was it really worth throwing everything away?

Couldn’t he at least give a reason, no matter how stupid it might have sounded?

But he had just stood there in your doorway, after weeks of not seeing each other, watching you struggle to catch your breath. The impassive look on his face was an even colder dagger forcing its way into your already breaking heart, the thought that this didn’t seem to be affecting him at all filling you with unspeakable amounts of rage, sadness, and disbelief.

You’d begged him to give you a reason. If it was about the Stormterror issue, it wasn’t his fault, it really wasn’t, and you’d wait for him no matter how long it took to resolve it. That was how it’s always been with you two; whether a certain case needed some cleaning-up by Kaeya, or a commission required you to camp out a little longer than expected, you would always find the other waiting at home, simply glad that you had made it through.

You wondered what changed.

He’d said your name with an icy, borderline frigid tone, wildly unlike the way his voice seemed to caress it before letting it out into the air. You’d never heard anyone say your name like he did, and you doubt you ever will.

“I’m sorry.” He cast his eyes downward. “I just can’t do this anymore. I...don’t feel anything for you anymore.”

That was, for you, the final nail in the coffin.

He’d called you up again just to break you like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest, leaving you a crumpled up piece of paper just lying there, on the floor of the home that you used to share. When he finally left, without even so much as a final kiss goodbye or even just a pat on the head, he took your heart with him, leaving you with no guard against the stream of memories.

Three years, all dissolved in three minutes. Kaeya had been many of your firsts; the first man to say he loved you, the first to kiss you, the first to make love to you, the first to own a shared space with you. The little boy who dive-bombed into piles of autumn leaves, the teenager who was bold enough to kiss you in front of your own father, and the man who would jump in front of an Abyss Mage to save you, all paled in comparison to the person you loved, and the person you wanted to love for the rest of your life.

The kisses in his offices, the drunken walks to Windrise, the dancing in his kitchen at midnight—you remembered it, all too well.

A knock came on the door. “(Y/N), I brought you an extra bag, if…” Diluc trails off when he sees your hunched figure, clutching your bag to your chest. You hastily wiped your tears away before turning around, smiling weakly. “I got it. Thanks.”

Diluc only nods, and tucks his hands behind him. “A cup of tea before you go?”

“That would be nice, Diluc. Thanks.”

That was how you found yourself curled up in front of the fireplace, hands wrapped around a porcelain cup. Your eyes flicker over to your old friend, who accepted his own cup from a maid with a murmured thanks, before settling in his chair with a huff.

“Good brew,” you whisper.

He only nods in agreement.

“I always thought you should start selling tea or coffee at Angel’s Share.”

“And extend working hours?” Diluc shakes his head at the thought. “Charles and I deal with too many drunks at night. No need to add sleep-deprived workers to the list.”

You laugh quietly. “It’s all business.”

“There are lots of things I will put up with, but not that.” His eyes soften, somewhat. “But if you ever need a cup...of tea, juice, coffee, alcohol...you can stop by anytime.”

There was no lilt in his voice, no double meaning behind his words. Diluc was always known for being brutally honest (socially inept, Kaeya called it), but to you, his candor was a welcome change.

It must be nice to not have to read between lines all the time, you thought wistfully.

“Did he ever tell you?” you whisper. “How it all ended?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Diluc stiffen. “I prefer not to discuss such matters with him.”

You only hum in response. Deep down, you had wondered what Kaeya’s take on the situation was; no doubt he’d find a way to turn it in his favor.

I don’t feel anything for you anymore.

You flinch at the memory of his words. It rang in your ears, as clearly as if he had been speaking in your ear all this time.

“I’d rather hear it from you,” Diluc says.

You turn to him, surprised. He only scratches his head sheepishly. “I’m...not exactly the person who knows what to do in these kinds of situations,” he admits. “All I know is that if you need someone to talk to, someone who can listen…”

He attempts to gesture his way out of his sentence. “Just...you know. You don’t have to carry it all by yourself.”

Soft sniffles began to fill the room, and Diluc nearly swivels his head around at the sight of you crying, hiding your face behind your cup of tea.

“S-sorry!” he panics. “I didn’t mean—”

“I don’t know what happened,” you sob, trembling as you try (and fail) to shield your face using your teacup. “He was gone for weeks, no letters, no personnel to forward updates like he used to do...he just showed up on my doorstep one day, and said he wanted to end it.”

Your shoulders were heaving with sobs, feeling everything spill out of you like a broken dam. “I’ve been up for days, just wondering what I did to fuck all of this up. Did I say something wrong? Or maybe I asked for too much? I did, didn’t I? Was it too much to...to...”

You struggle to catch your breath.

“Was it too much to ask for one day together—just one day, after everything with Stormterror blows over? Was it too much to ask him to come home for once? Was it…”

You swallow thickly, gesturing wildly as you try to explain. “I could deal with the breakup on my own, just...I can’t keep going over everything I’ve said in the past, because that brings back memories, and that brings more pain, because I remember everything all too well, and that keeps me up at night, and…”

As you struggle to maintain your line of thought, you see a hand reach out in front of you. You wordlessly hand your cup over to Diluc, who proceeded to refill it. Instead of handing it back, he sets it down on the tray that was sitting in front of you, and offers you a handkerchief in its stead.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, using it to dab at your eyes. “Just...nobody’s really offered to listen lately. Really listen.”

You meant it. Your relationship with Kaeya was always the talk of the town, with Mr. Candidate-for-Best-Grandson being who he was. It only followed that your breakup spread all over the city mere days after it happened.

Those who asked were either mildly curious, looking for gossip to blow out of proportion, or looking to score. It was infuriating.

“He’s always been an ass,” Diluc says nonchalantly. “But this...this doesn’t seem like him. I know just how much he lo—”

You fix him with a look. He clears his throat. “In any case, I’m sorry. I don’t speak on his behalf, he should tell you that himself...but I’m sorry that that happened to you.”

You nod, and wave the handkerchief around. “I will launder this item.”

“Keep it.” Diluc finally handed you your cup of tea. “You’ve always been a crybaby, so it might come in handy again someday.”

You stick your tongue out at him, and you could have sworn you saw a hint of a smile on his face before he turned away.

You leave Dawn Winery with a considerable weight off your shoulders. You had to admit, that spontaneous crying session with Diluc had cleared your mind a bit, allowing you some room to decide on the next course of action.

“Liyue?” Diluc said, as he walked you to the door. “You’re going to Liyue?”

“There’s a commission that’s probably going to take a couple of months,” you explained. “That Traveler taught me all about those teleportation devices, so that’ll probably cut my travel time. Still, I think that’s the best thing for me to do right now. Take some time off from...all of this.”

Diluc had agreed. “Stay safe. And remember, when you have nowhere to go…”

“I’ll know where to find you.”

So there you were, days after the incident, in front of that mysterious teleportation point in Mondstadt. The mysterious Traveler had explained how to use it, and it seemed simple enough; still, you were wary of the device, and out of concern for your limbs and other body parts, you decided to teleport just a few miles at a time.

You took a deep breath, taking one last look at the city. In the time that you’re gone, you wonder, will it change?

Or will you?

There’s only one way to find out, his voice purrs in your ear.

You take a deep breath. The wind blows through your hair, and just as you place a hand on the teleportation device, a familiar uniform catches your attention.

Your eyes could have been deceiving you, or you just didn’t see it properly, considering that the device had already teleported you to Stormbearer Mountains before you could even register what had happened.

But you could have sworn that you had seen Kaeya, who’d stopped in his tracks at the sight of you, your old scarf clutched in his hand.

[lovehimeri]

WARNING : horror , stalking , blackmail , threatning , character death , dark themes , gruesome details , gore

Tbh the inspiration for this was a song..I didn't plan to post creepy stuff on this account as it was just for cute stuff but oh well 😭 creepy alkaloid fanfic with some hiiai angst ig!

In this world , it's common knowledge that the strong eat the weak. Ever since he's  been a young one , he was taught to always know his place. Through the years , he learned that not everything adults say is true~he developed his own special way of thinking..But what happens when fright and terror turns into something else...? A weapon , one way to destroy everything he ever cherished .

The streets were dyed with a crimson color. The sound of chattering red leaves rustling in the wind was comforting~as some people might say . Fall is everyone's favourite season , isn't it? Is there even anything slightly better than piles of shimmering leaves gathered neatly, the fresh smell of wet grass after a long night of rain , the warm taste of hot cinnamon cocoa , the dark figure lurking in the shadows , waiting for the perfect moment to strike and swing a thick , metal axe at their poor prey..

"You barely ate anything! I'm not keeping up with this new routine anymore , Aira!"

"Moooom! I'm an idol now , I need to watch what I eat!" The little boy quickly puts on his shoes and hugs his mom , who hugs him back with a long sigh .

"Be careful on your way to school . There have been reports of people going missing these days..I don't mind if you walk with some friends , but straight from school to home , got it?" The woman spoke with a slight shake to her voice . Her son fails to match her worried expression as he grins and opens the door .

"You always worry so much mom , I'll just walk home with hiiro-kun!" Aira runs out and shuts the door behind him . 

'Waaaaaah! The trees are really giving their all this season! So pretty!' 

He loved admiring the scenery on his way to school . Aira was lucky to be able to see the beauty in many things , and only the bright side of the world . After all , he was just a young , innocent boy..

"Good morning!"

"GYAAAH!! HIIRO-KUN—you scared the life out of me! Did your parents never teach you to not sneak up on people from behind?! Especially when they're focused in something!" 

"Sorry , I'm sorry—you can let your anger all out on me like you always do!" The red head gives a cheeky grin , like he always does when he gets scolded by aira .

"No...that sounds like bullying! I do not bully people" Aira crosses his arms .

"Right..hiiro-kun , do you mind if we walk home together? My mom says people are going missing recently , I tried to shake it off but I do feel uneasy just thinking about being followed—that's kinda why I was scared when you came up behind me.." The boy anxiously rolls a piece of his hair in his fingers .

"Of course! Don't worry Aira , I went through a lot of special martial arts practice back in my hometown. I am fully capable of protecting you if anyone tries to steal you! Though I think no one should..I like having Aira by my side , so if anyone tries to take you away from me , I might have to severely injure them!"

"Sheesh , Hiiro-kun! You can't say things like that! it sounds reeeeally creepy!"

"But wouldn't it be creepier if someone takes you against your will? Wouldn't you feel so scared without me , Aira?" 

The blond boy looks down , thinking deeply.

"We arrived at school anyway! We're in different classes , but if you feel unsafe , you should call me! I will always be able to find you with my special senses!" 

Aira feels at ease when he's around hiiro .

"Teehee , alright , if that's what you want . Don't forget we'll walk home together later!" Aira giggles as he runs off to class . 

"Good morning , Ai-chan!" One of his classmates greets him as he walks through the door . Instead of a smile , he frowns . 

"Ugh , I told you not to call me that" Aira places his bag on the side hanger and sits next to his friend .

"It just suits you nicely! You're so lucky , you're popular and everyone loves you.."

"What's with the sudden switch? You don't seem so happy.." 

The other boy rests his face in his palms , as he looks sweaty and anxious.

"I'm just..really worried about you . You've heard about the missing reports lately , haven't you?" 

The blond boy nods.

"Well...my dad was watching the news this morning , I happened to pass by him and heard something on the tv . the police found 3 bodies out of the 10 missing cases , and all 3 of them belonged to popular idols..and the photos they showed...I don't think you should know about this either"

"No please! You gotta tell me , you can't just stop here" aira begs his friend to tell him more.

"I'm sorry if you get nightmares later then..here's the website , scroll down a little and you'll see the photos..but don't throw my phone in panic!" The boy hands aira his phone with the website on the main page , aira shakily takes the phone and scrolls down . The first photo that meets his eyes is a decapitated body , spine out and laid aside it , whatever is left of that body is a pile of rotting flesh and scattered intestines , the body wasn't clothed , and the chest area looks like it was cleanly cut open , all the insides poured out and instead of a heart , something that looked like a head , stripped of every inch of skin , rested inside the empty chest area . Aira couldn't stare any longer , he pushed the phone onto his friend , fighting back the urge to throw up the small amount of food he ate at breakfast . His eyes wide at the horrific idea that a human being is capable of painting their hands with someone else's blood , and transforming the image of another perfectly-shaped human into this..

He was even more terrified at the idea that he could be this monster's next victim .

"I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have let you see that..I wish I lived near you so we can walk home together . Are you going to be okay?" 

"Y-Yeah..I think..I'm walking home with hiiro-kun , y-you know? The boy from my unit?" Even when he tried comforting himself with the fact that hiiro is walking home with him , Aira couldn't shake that image from his brain the entire day . The terrifying details and thoughts—what if the last day of his life is today? What if even hiiro can't protect him? What if he makes the horrifying discovery of hiiro's body one day? He wouldn't let himself live to see another day if anything bad happened to any of his friends .

Five more minutes until the last school bell rings for the day , Akiomi walks in with an announcement .

"I'm very sure all of you already heard about the missing reports these days , so we advise you to walk home in groups and look out for each other . There won't be any classes starting from tomorrow , until the police lets us know that it's safe for students to come back . In the meantime , please stay at home and only go out if necessary" 

The teacher's announcement only made Aira feel more shaken . He just wanted to go home and sleep in his bed , and hope that this day will pass like a bad dream . Once he heard the bell ringing , he grabbed his back and rushed to find hiiro , not bothering to say his goodbyes to his friends .

"Hiiro-kun!" Aira hugged hiiro with all his power as if it was the last time he gets to hug him.

"I'm here , aira! Why do you look out of shape? Did something happen?" 

"I'm just..I just really want to go home..let's just leave" he grabs hiiro's hand , but the other boy doesn't move.

"I'm sooooo sorry aira! I promised sagami-sensei I will help clean up the gym after school , everyone was too scared to volunteer so I did!" Hiiro rubbed the back of his neck .

"Are you serious right now?! I..I'm really scared! I've seen things that you haven't , you don't understand how dangerous this is! You're ALWAYS like this , Hiiro. You never take anything ever seriously! If I don't make it back home alive , I'll never forgive you!" And with that , aira stormed off .

'Ahhh you have to focus! Keep your guard up! If I see anyone acting suspicious I'll just scream for help..I guess' His mind was blurry with thoughts , he didn't notice the familiar person waiting for him by the school gate .

"Aira~right here" 

"Tattsun-senpai? Why are you here?"

"Your father called and asked me to drive you home~the reports of missing people only go higher by the minute , he was worried about you . Let's go~"

Aira smiled . He truly felt safe with a trusted adult like tatsumi , not someone who'd leave him behind like hiiro...

As he got into the car , something didn't feel right . Why did his father trust Tatsumi out of all his friends to drive him home..? Even if they were friends and in the same unit , wouldn't his father trust someone more "responsible" in his eyes..?

And then he noticed Tatsumi driving in a different route .

"T-tattsun-senpai..? This isn't the road I usually take-"

Shit . His quivering voice gave it all away .

"I know~I'm just avoiding traffic , and I'm passing by a store to grab a few things , I hope you don't mind~"

Aira tensed up . Tatsumi was his friend that he could trust , he would never actually kill him..right.......right?

"I won't be late~" Tatsumi leaves the car . This was Aira's chance . 

Once he sees the green haired man disappear into the store , he opens the door and runs as fast as his legs could carry him . 

The adrenaline pumping in his blood from the suspicious situation he just encountered helped him run faster . He didn't bother looking behind , and while he was still running on the main road he figured out tatsumi could still see him when he leaves the store , without thinking , aira runs into an empty , dark alleyway .

Barely running a few meters into the dark area , his senses stopped him .

'What am I doing..! My fear took over me..tattsun-senpai would never..! Or would he...just shut up! Wait...is there someone sitting by the wall there? They could be gangs..or even worse..! I need to go back..but..tattsun-senpai..God this all that dumb hiiro's fault! Wait..didn't the person notice me? I've been here long enough to be noticed..they might just be drunk..in broad daylight?'

"U-uhm..excuse me?" The boy approaches the person crouching on the floor , but the closer he gets , the more he regrets it..

His hand flew to his mouth to stop himself from gasping too loudly . His legs shook , but no matter how hard he tried to move away , he felt as if he was frozen in place . He wanted to scream , cry , throw up , die...

He never would have imagined that one day he would witness a scenery as gruesome as this one . He just discovered a dead someone's remains , and even worse , he hated how he could recognize those blue locks and frail figure as his beloved senpai, hajime shino . He knew it was him , how can he not recognize the purple heart keychain he gifted him on his birthday , hanging from his bag the was thrown next to him?

His senses kicked back in before he would expose his position even more , and he turned to made a run for it , but got caught as fast as he tried to move . Someone is standing behind him , pinning his arms with their own , and their other hand muffling his noises . He couldn't help but break down in tears . He just wanted to scream and cry and beg to be spared . He didn't want to die . All the regrets of his previous actions made him choke on his tears . He should have never left tatsumi's car , now he's going to die and the last words he ever spoke to hiiro were stained by his anger and fear .

"Shhh..not a sound little bird~ or you'll end up like the messy thing you just saw" 

Why did the voice seem familiar to him?

He wanted to speak , ask who they are , what their motives are , he wanted to let out anything , just a few minutes long enough to convince this monster to let him go and live another day .

"I'll loosen my grip now , but don't think of running off anywhere , I can find you~" the taller person slowly loosened their grip on aira's body as they sensed he wanted to say something .

Aira took a few moments to breath and cry silently , his knees buckled and he fell to the ground , shaking and trying his best to silence his sobs .

"P-Please don't kill me! Not now..! I'll do anything—please!"

He couldn't look up to see his friend's murderer , he didn't even want to . He couldn't imagine what terrifying expression this monster could be wearing right now . It must be a really fun thing for them to haunt down little boys and kill them .

"W..what? Are you..aira-san?" 

Aira's eyes widened in shock . He finally understood why this voice was so familiar to him .

He slowly and shakily looked up to meet the person's eyes .

"H-huh?"

"I feel so, so bad you had to see this! I'm so sorry , I'm horrible , I should die instead!"

"M..mayo-san?"

Aira , still shaking in shock , couldn't believe what he was seeing . He hoped it was just a hallucination due to the insane amount of adrenaline running through his veins—he was still hoping it's just a bad dream .

"I won't hurt you..please don't be afraid of me!"

Was he seriously saying that right now? Aira's eyes couldn't deceive him..it's true . Mayoi is the one behind all those disappearing , and behind his dear friend's death .

Mayoi kneels down to aira's level , brushing his tears away with his bloody hands .

"It's really my fault for not cleaning up my mess~I feel so bad a cute and innocent person like yourself had to see this~" mayoi smiled . How can he smile? It's that same smile he wears when he's really happy about something..was he lying this whole time?

"Mayo-san..are you..happy? Are you..seriously happy? Did you hit your head?" Aira pushed mayoi's hand away from his face .

"Hehe..of course not~ I'm not doing this with my own will~ I can't control it , aira-san . Please believe me" mayoi pouted .

"N-No..you're a liar..you..You killed shino-senpai..you.." aira broke down in tears again .

"I didn't do it on purpose~people make mistakes~" mayoi reached a hand to pat down aira's hair , but the little boy slapped it away .

"Please don't touch me..I want to go home" aira cried . 

"Don't get on my nerves , aira-san~ you've already seen what I can do when I'm mad.."

Mayoi's voice change sent a shiver down Aira's spine .

"O-okay.. I'm sorry..please let me go home in one piece and I swear I won't tell a soul about this!" Mayoi could easily let him go , as long as he keeps in touch with him,  he knows aira won't tell on him . But something about aira's begging and his undying will to live made mayoi rethink about his decisions . 

"I'm doing this because I love you~" without a warning , mayoi hugs aira. The blond yelps at the sudden action , and completely shuts his eyes and buries his face into mayoi's shoulder , as he could clearly see Hajime's corpse from the position he was in .

"And because I love you , I want the best for you~ so be a good boy and do as I tell you from now on~"

"What..?"

Aira hears a clench , with a sharp pain in his left side , his eyes widen as mayoi pulls away from him , his body goes cold and he freezes in place. 

"Now if anyone asks , I saved you from an encounter with the 'mysterious' murderer, if you keep it that way , I'll let you live~ you're a cute shining idol , I don't want you to end up like your little friend over there~"

Mayoi pulls out the sharp knife from Aira's side , licking the blood away .

"Hm..doesn't taste as good as I had imagined..alright , I'll take you to the hospital now!" Aira struggled to keep up with anything mayoi has said , he struggled to breath or keep his eyes open , the last thing he saw was mayoi's sickening smile as he carried him and ran off . After all , the monster that grew within him of his own selfishness , desires and feelings that have been buried a long time ago . It's all out now and it will take a lot more than a series of killings to stop it…

[the-iceni-bitch]

A Surprise to be Sure

Pairing: Geralt/Fem!Reader

Words: 5761

Summary:  You meet Geralt and Jaskier on the road and have a lovely little adventure in the kingdom of Temeria.

Warnings: Explicit language, explicit sexual content, explicit descriptions of violence, TW mentions of rape, SMUT, 18+

A/N: It’s here y’all, my b-day Geralt fic! I’m really happy with how this turned out and could honestly have published it without the smut, that’s how much I love this fic. It is definitely going to be part of a series so I hope you all enjoy! (PS I love writing Jaskier way too much and could honestly just do a full series of him having random misadventures all over the continent!) I’m tagging @navybrat817​ because I know she loves some Henry Cavill

Jaskier had been belting the Fishmonger’s Daughter for the past 30 minutes, and Geralt was ready to murder him.

“Must you insist on shouting our position to every living creature in a 5 mile radius?” He hissed at the bard.

“List, my grumpy, hoar-headed friend. I need to be sure my voice is in top form if I’m performing at a royal ball. Now, you’ll feel better if you sing with me, Oooh Fishmonger, Oh Fishmonger, Come Quell your Daughter’s Hunger!”

“I’m going to feed you that damn lute before we reach the castle if you don’t shut up. I can’t listen to this for three days.” The Witcher growled under his breath. He couldn’t figure out why he had agreed to accompany the irritating man on his journey, but the man always managed to convince him to go along with his stupid plans.  

“Now, Geralt. You know you secretly love my singing. After all, how many jobs has that little song of mine rustled up for you, eh? Stop being so grouchy.”

He gave him a grunt. “Fine, can you at least sing something else?”

“Ah, but of course, my large, angry friend. Eh hem, You think you’re safe, without a care…”

“Gods, not that one.”

“Well, there’s no pleasing you is there. Ahh, what’s that noise?”

A feminine shriek split the air, causing a flock of birds to take flight only a few feet from the pair of riders. Roach of course didn’t mind, but Jaskier’s mount almost threw him, causing Geralt to smile.

“Gods, see, this is why I hate travelling on these creatures. Give me a nice coach ride any time. Come Geralt, let us see what fair maiden is in need of our assistance.”

“Our assistance?”

“Well, your assistance. C’mon Geralt, a damsel in distress, this is the perfect material for a new song.”

Geralt followed the idiot as he rode towards the sounds of distress, determined to keep him from getting himself killed. He didn’t really like getting involved in petty issues of the realms but knew that Jaskier lived for these tiny adventures.

They came upon you, surrounded by five men in soiled armor. Your cart had a broken wheel and was sinking into the snow and mud. One of the men had you pinned in the back of the cart by your neck as he buried his other hand in your skirts. The other men jeered at you as they kept their watch.

“Look Geralt, a fair maid waiting to be rescued, what could make for a better song? Ho there fellows, stop your raping or you’ll have to deal with my cantankerous companion here.”

“Move along, bard this doesn’t concern you.” One of the soldiers growled at Jaskier before spitting to the side. “Or, wait your turn and we’ll let you and your pal have her when we’re done.”

“Ah, Geralt, I’ll let you take care of them. Make sure to draw it out, a long fight always makes for a better song.”

“Oh, fuck this.” You hissed, pulling out the stiletto you had hidden in your skirts and gutting the man who was restraining you.

Jaskier turned his head and vomited as the man’s intestines seeped out of him and he crumbled to the forest floor. You flung your cloak off your shoulders as you drew the obscenely large longsword you had concealed beneath its folds and chopped off the hand of the next soldier who came charging at you before plunging it into his chest.

“I don’t know, bard. Seems like the maid has things under control.” Geralt grinned at his companion once he had finished emptying his stomach.

You wrenched the blade free as the two unhorsed soldiers rushed you. One of them tossed his own dagger at you and you used your sword to whip it back at him, catching him in the throat. You brought up your dagger and crossed the blades you were holding to catch the sword of your fourth opponent. You managed to loop the dagger under his hilt and wrenched the sword from his grasp as you let the momentum from his attack carry you the two of you backwards, flipping him over your head until you were straddling his chest. You gave him a small smirk as your drove your dagger through his eye.

“Shouldn’t we be doing something?” Jaskier asked as he watched the bloody show with abject horror painted on his face.

“What would you suggest bard? The woman seems to be able to handle herself, and I can’t say these soldiers seem particularly deserving of assistance.”

The final soldier had dismounted and was now striding towards you, twirling his sword around like an idiot peacock. You scowled at him before pulling a massive crossbow from beneath the packages in your cart and shooting him in the shoulder.

He went down with a soft grunt and you strutted over to him, crossbow slung over your shoulder and dagger twirling through your fingers. You tutted at him like you were chiding a naughty schoolboy.

“Oh, Abbett, what did you do with the money? I certainly hope you have it on you. I don’t feel like trekking through this frozen forest digging for it.”

“You cunt.” The man spat at you. “We fought those bloody Nilfgaardians to keep these farmers safe and warm. The least they can do to thank us is give up a few bloody coins and their daughters.”

You shot him again in the leg and he let out a scream.

“One more time, Abbett, the money? I can’t give those poor girls their maidenhoods again but maybe their families can offer a dowry to make them good matches.”

“Argh, bitch! It’s in the saddlebags.”

“Excellent! See, not so fucking difficult, and you saved me the nasty task of gelding you!” You took a few steps forward and shot him through the eye as you went to examine the horse and find the stolen coins.

“Ahem, hello, madam! I am Jaskier the Bard and this is my companion, Geralt of Rivia! Would you join us on our journey to the capital of Temeria? You seem like a lass with stories to tell and I’m just the fellow to put them to song.”

“Jaskier, shut the fuck up.” Geralt hissed at him.

You whipped around to the two of them and pointed your crossbow at the Witcher. “Fuck, I almost forgot about you two. Well, you’ve given me a bit of a conundrum boys. I was counting on there not being any witnesses here. These vagabonds are still wearing the king’s colors after all, and we’re close enough to the capital that that could prove to be a problem for me.” You had started to unfasten the bodice of the gown you were wearing, desperate to get out of the confining layers of cloth that had comprised your disguise. You revealed an outfit of bleached leather and furs that clung to your body.

“Oops.” Jaskier murmured, giving Geralt a sheepish grin as he raised his hands in supplication. “Geralt, friend, maybe you can talk to our new companion.”

“Right, listen, we don’t care that you just slaughtered five of the king’s soldiers, though I’m sure upon closer inspection they’ll be shown to be deserters. And as we have no desire to bring any trouble down on you, we’ll just be on our way.”

“Wait,” You called after them, tossing the rags of your gown onto the abandoned cart as you saddled your horse. “If you’re heading towards the capital, I’ll join you. I have some deliveries to make before I get out of this god-forsaken country, and that way I can keep an eye on you.” You gave them a grin as you rode up the hill to join them. “I can think of worse company than a bard and a Witcher.”

Jaskier shot a grin back at you as you joined them. “Ah, finally someone who will appreciate my talents. Tell me… um..”

“Y/N”

“Y/N, lovely, do you have any requests?”

Geralt groaned internally at the thought of being stuck with two singing idiots for the journey but was cut short by the sound of multiple bows being drawn.

“Fuck.”

“That’s far enough you three.” A captain in shining armor commanded as you came into view of a mounted regiment of king’s soldiers, accompanied by about 100 footmen who all had arrows trained on you. “What do you know about several groups of dead king’s men that have been found in these woods.”

Geralt shot you a look of reproach over his shoulder as you pointedly avoided making eye contact, examining your fingernails like they were the most interesting thing on the continent.

“There’s another group of dead soldiers in the clearing back there, captain. Looks like we’ve found our culprits.”

“Oh, just wait a minute. My grouchy friend and I were just passing through when we came upon this lovely woman being set upon by these supposed kingsmen. Granted, we considered dispatching them ourselves but our fair companion had things well in hand. Seems like she was doing your jobs for you.”

You and Geralt shared a groan. “Shut up, Jaskier.”

The captain gave a snort of derision. “You want us to believe this pretty thing has been besting the king’s chosen troops on her own for months? Take their weapons and restrain the Witcher and the woman. The bard can sing us some songs to pass the time as we travel. We’ll save this for the king to sort out.”

You gave a heavy sigh and started handing over your blades. Jaskier’s eyes started to bulge as you continued pulling smaller and smaller knives out of an increasingly absurd number of hiding places, until there was an impressive pile in front of the soldier who had been tasked with collecting your weapons.

Geralt was less forthcoming in turning over his weapons and didn’t really start until a spear prodded him in the back. He was gazing at Renfri’s blade when the captain lost his patience, and the butt of the spear whipped across the back of his head, knocking him cold.

“Put his blades with the rest of it.”

Geralt woke up with his face buried in your hair and let out a groan at the throbbing in his skull.

“What the fuck?” He lifted his head, squinting against the sun reflecting off the new fallen snow.

“Good morning, Witcher. Apparently this type of restraint has been proven to limit the ability of the restrained to extricate themselves from their bindings. You missed a fascinating lecture on it as they were tying us up.”

The two of you were bound face to face on the saddle of your massive black courser. Your arms and legs tangled around each other and wrapped in an intricate series of knots. He started trying to wrench himself free, but only succeeded in bringing you even closer to him as he let out a grunt of frustration.

“Look at the two of you, so cozy.” Jaskier rode up with a grin on his face, strumming his lute. “Do not worry yourselves, my violent friends. I am currently working on a plan to extricate the two of you from this predicament. I have the ear of the captain.”

“Are you going to annoy him to death Jaskier? Maybe if you sing that damn abortion song enough times, he’ll release us just to be rid of you.”

“You wound me, Geralt. The name of that tune is “You Think You’re Safe” and you’ll be happy to know that the captain is enamored of my talents and has asked me to regale him and his officers at their meal tonight.”

“Ah, good for you Jaskier. Make sure to sing the ‘Fishmonger’s Daughter’ I hear that’s a favorite of the troops.” You smiled at him, throwing him a wink.

“Oh, I knew I liked you, Y/N! See Geralt, it isn’t so hard to appreciate what I bring to the table. Thank you for your advice, sweet lady, I will be sure to take heed!” He rode off, humming to himself as he tuned his lute.

“Why would you encourage him?” Geralt growled in your ear, still fighting against his bonds.

“Ah, Witcher, you need to relax. I’m sure Jaskier’s plan will work out just fine.”

“The bard is an imbecile, the day I trust myself to any plan of his is the day I resign myself to a slow and painful death.”

“Well, be that as it may, if you don’t stop struggling, we’re going to end up in a very uncomfortable situation.” You said, giving a gasp as another jerk of your bonds brought you indecently close.

“Fuck.” He let out in a hiss, resigning himself to waiting for a better opportunity as a lock of your hair blew into his face, smelling of pine and turned earth “I don’t suppose you have any sort of plan of escape, since it’s your fault we’re in this situation.”

“Geralt, I do apologize that you have ended up in my mess. I’m so sorry that the war with Nilfgaard has caused unprecedented levels of desertion, and that the cowards that have runoff have been terrorizing and robbing the smallfolk. And I’m sorry that the king failed to listen to the pleas of his people, who had to pool together the last of their coin to contract me to come in and relieve them of their problems. But yes, this mess is entirely of my own making, and nothing to do with the colossal mismanagement of the realm of Temeria.”

“Hmmph.” He grunted into your hair. “So how are you getting us out of this mess?”

You gave him a snort. “Don’t worry that pretty head of yours Witcher, something will work out.”

“Alright, dismount.” One of the lieutenants ordered, leering at the two of you. “Hope you two have enjoyed today’s ride. I hear they’re already constructing a gibbet for you in Vizima.”

“I see the royal council has decided to do away with even the minimal farce of a trial then.”

Two soldiers had started to undo the maze of knots binding you and the Witcher together and you gave a hiss as blood started to flow back into your legs.

“An attack on the king’s army is an attack on the king. No trials for traitors to the crown.”

“You do know that neither of us are citizens of this kingdom?” Geralt asked him. “You can’t betray a monarch you don’t serve.”

“Pssh, a minor inconsistency. The king can’t be seen as soft during wartime.”

“Oh, of course not.” You murmured as the soldiers dragged you off your mount and led you to the prisoners’ tent that had been erected next to the officers’. The same intricate raveling of ropes and knots started again as they bound your upper bodies to the poles in the center of the tent. You could hear the beginnings of revelry in the officers’ pavilion when they left you.

“Well, now what?” Geralt asked you, pulling against the bonds at his wrists.

“Just, have a little patience.” You chided him, leaning against your pole in as relaxed of a pose as you could achieve.

“You did hear that they plan on executing us once they get us back to the capital?”

“No, Geralt, I missed that.” You spat at him as you heard Jaskier start to sing and gave a small smile. “Excellent, let’s hope he leaves the good stuff until they’re well and drunk.”

“What are you talking about, Y/N?” He asked you, still trying to wrench himself free.

“For fucks’ sake, give it a rest. Apparently the royal knot tyers are the only members of this army who haven’t fallen lax in their duties.” You rolled your eyes at him. “Just give it a half hour and we’ll give you a chance to get out all the pent up aggression.”

“So you do have a plan? Any chance you want to let me in on it?”

“I think I’ll leave it for a surprise.”

The two of you sat there listening as the sounds of drunken celebration filled the camp. It only took 20 minutes for the revelry to reach a dull roar, and a smile crept over your face when you heard the first refrains of ‘The Fishmonger’s Daughter’.

“Ah, Jaskier, perfect timing.” You muttered.

The song started speeding up and spread through the regiment. You heard the soldiers start clapping along and seized your moment, bending your legs and driving your back into the post you were bound to at each clap, starting to shift it out of the ground with each drive of your shoulders.

Geralt finally seized on your idea and joined you in wrenching his post out of the ground. Within a few rounds of the song, they were loosened enough for you to drag them out of their anchors, causing the tent to collapse around you. You slipped your bonds over the ends of the posts and unraveled yourselves. Geralt gave you a look of appreciation as you hefted your post, flung the folds of the fallen tent off yourself and whipped the post around to take out the two guards that had been posted at the entrance.

“Well, let’s find our weapons, shall we?” You said, giving him a grin.

Apparently, your appraisal of the army had been accurate; you ran into minimal resistance as you made your way to the weapons tent and managed to knock out the only sentries you encountered before Geralt had a chance to react.

“Ah, my babies.” You said to yourself as you started resheathing the ridiculous number of knives you had accumulated for yourself, kissing each blade before you returned it to its rightful place.

“How can you possibly be comfortable wearing all of that steel?” Geralt asked you around a grin, watching you tuck a dirk between your breasts and wondering how you managed to not cut yourself.

“I’m a woman traveling the continent alone, Witcher. I’ve found that the element of surprise is my friend, and there’s nothing quite as surprising as an unexpected knife between the ribs.”

He actually laughed at that, strapping one sword to his back and one to his hip as you hefted your crossbow and loaded it with a bolt before heading back out into the snow.

You were met by the surprised faces of a drunken group of soldiers who were wending their way through the tents, arms around each other as the slurred the lyrics to their favorite song. You shot the first through the chest as you drew your longsword over your shoulder and you dropped your crossbow to the ground, slashing the second across the face before they finally regained their composure and sounded the alarm.

Geralt drew his blades and clashed with three of the remaining soldiers as you grappled with the other two. He managed to drive his long sword through one of their chests before the other two had a chance to converge on him and he struggled to drive them apart with his fists to allow himself room to maneuver. One of his opponents went down suddenly with a dagger through his throat and Geralt threw a look your way to see your first opponent down and missing an eye as you drove your knee into the chest of your second opponent, driving him into a post as you brought your sword around and ran it across his throat.

Geralt threw his assailant over his shoulder and rammed his blade through his chest as you let out a shrill whistle and hefted your crossbow as the sound of hoofbeats rose through the camp. Roach and your courser came charging around the bend suddenly and you latched onto your steed’s mane and swung yourself onto his back as Geralt vaulted onto Roach’s. You turned suddenly and led him back towards the officers’ pavilion as drunken soldiers did their best to pursue you.

“We almost forgot the fucking bard!” You grinned at him as you hopped off your horse and slashed through the back of the officers’ tent. You emerged seconds later with a terrified looking Jaskier, who you tossed over the back of your mount like a sack of potatoes before leaping up behind him and kicking your steed to a gallop.

“Either of you want to fill me in on what the fuck is happening?!” Jaskier shrieked as he bounced around.

The two of you ignored him as you rode on. You set a punishing pace through the whole night, not looking back until you crossed the river into the kingdom of Redania as the sun rose and you finally allowed your horses to slow their pace to a walk, dismounting to give them a rest.

“If my lute is damaged, I’ll never forgive you.” Jaskier whined as he inspected his instrument, hobbling along as he tried to adjust after the unceremonious thrashing he had taken during the ride.

“Jaskier, a little thanks should be in order. Y/N and I did save you from a rather nasty execution after all.” Geralt grinned at him as he walked beside you, Roach nuzzling him in the shoulder as he patted her snout.

“I told the two of you, I had the captain’s ear, I would have been able to talk us out of any trouble.”

You gave him a snort as your courser butted his head into yours, begging for his own pats. “Jaskier, you would have been strung up right beside us. Just think though, this little adventure has the makings of a great song, eh? I’ll buy you a nice hot meal and a bath at the inn we’re coming up on.”

“Well, I’d never say no to a bath. How close is this inn?”

“Just over the next hill.”

You arrived within an hour and made arrangements for the horses as Jaskier headed in to arrange rooms and meals for the three of you.

Geralt and you headed into the inn and you grabbed the two of you the largest mugs of beer you could arrange before joining Jaskier at a table and tearing into the trencher of bread.

“So, good news first.” The bard said. “I arranged for nice, hot baths for all three of us, in addition to our meals. The only thing is, they only had two rooms.”

Geralt let out a groan at that. “Fine, bard, I guess the two of us are sharing accommodations for the next few days then.”

“Aah, well. I figured, with you two having grown so close during our little journey, that you wouldn’t mind sharing the much, much larger room whilst I make due with the tiny, lonely room myself that I’ve already had them unload my things into.”

The two of you shot him equally reproachful looks over your mugs of beer as a barmaid arrived to let him know his bath was ready.

“Ah, splendid. Well, you two enjoy your breakfasts. I’m going to take a very long nap after my bath and I’ll see you this afternoon, or maybe even tomorrow.”

A whole roasted chicken arrived and the two of you tore into it without a word, polishing it off quickly as you hadn’t realized how famished you were.

“I’ll arrange for them to bring up the hot water for baths for us.” You told Geralt as you stood up and stretched, downing the last of your beer.

“I’m fine without.” The Witcher grumbled at you.

You gave him a derisive chuckle. “If we’re bedding together for the two days it’ll take for the horses to rest up, you’re bathing yourself at least once, I don’t need to smell everywhere you’ve been in the past month.”

He gave an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders as he followed you upstairs. It had been a while since he’d spent the night with a woman he wasn’t paying, and there was something about you he found disarming. Endearing, but disarming nonetheless.

“Ah, at least there’s two tubs.” You said gleefully as you entered the room. A group of attendants arrived a moment later, carrying four large buckets of steaming water between them that they emptied into the copper tubs before taking their leave.

You started by pulling off your supple boots and Geralt turned his back as he began to unlace his jerkin. He heard you give a soft laugh behind him. “Are we really going to pretend like neither of us have seen a naked body before, Witcher?”

He whipped around at the amusement in your voice. You had removed your corset and sleeves and were down to nothing but a thin linen tunic on top. He tried not to stare at the shape of your breasts moving beneath the fabric as you worked at unlacing your breeches. You shot him a wicked look through your lashes as you moved your fingers back to unstrap the multiple sheathes that had been hidden beneath your bodice.

He did his best to ignore you as he ripped his jerkin off over his head. He made easy work of his tunic and breeches and sank into the tub while you were still working on undoing the intricate trappings of your hidden arsenal.

“I really don’t see how you can be comfortable in all of that Y/N.” He chided you as you removed the final straps and drew your tunic over your head before shimmying out of your breeches. He did his best to keep his eyes occupied elsewhere as you stepped into your own bath, hissing at the heat.

“Comfort is a matter of individual preference, dear. Oh, that’s wonderful.” You sank into the water with a sigh and dunked your head under before coming back up with a gasp.

“So, you going to tell me how you ended up with a warhorse, enough steel to equip a small band of thieves, and the strength to wield a tentpole like a damn quarterstaff, or is that something I’ll have to guess at?” He asked as he dumped a bucket over his head and ran the water through his hair before shaking it back out and splashing you, making you yelp.

“I think I’ll keep that my little secret for now, Geralt. Maybe if you buy me a few strongales over the next few days I’ll regale you with my tale of woe.” You let out a sigh as you felt your muscles relax. “Maybe I’ll get you to tell me your history as well. I hear the Redanians have a liquor that will light your chest on fire and make you forget the seasons.”

He gave a laugh and settled his head back against the tub. “You think you can outdrink me girl, you’re in for a nasty surprise… fuck.” He hadn’t heard you leave your tub and sat up startled when you crawled into his, sloshing water over the sides.

“Oh, Geralt, you’ll find that I’m full of surprises.” You said before pressing your mouth to his softly and giving a gentle sigh.

He got over his surprise quickly and wrapped his arms around you, pressing you to him fiercely as he growled against your lips.

You gave him a small laugh as you moved your lips down the line of his jaw to his neck, running your teeth along his collarbone before nipping at him softly as your hands moved down the plains of his chest, dipping below the water to take his cock in your grasp. He gave you a satisfying moan as you did so and you began sliding your hand up and down his length slowly as you raised a small bruise on his shoulder with your mouth.

He bucked his hips up into your hand as you increased your pace and you moved your other hand below the water to play with his balls. You leaned against his chest and gazed up at him with heavy lids as you watched him come apart under your ministrations.

He arched his back and gave a heavy moan as he came in your hand and you grinned against his chest as he softened, planting soft kisses along his throat as he came down and his breathing slowed.

He swallowed thickly and grinned at you before scooping his arms underneath you and lifting you out of the tub easily, making you shriek with glee before he dropped you unceremoniously on the large bed and pounced on top of you, nuzzling himself into the skin below your ear as his large hands skimmed down the sides of your torso before coming to rest on your hips and kneading them, raising bruises on your soft skin.

He brought one hand between the two of you and ran his fingers through the soft hair of your mound before rubbing them between your folds, making you arch into him as you let out a thin whine, fluttering your lashes as you gazed at him. He grinned down at you as he inserted two fingers at an agonizingly slow pace and you moaned as he started fucking them into you, curling them against that sweet, spongy spot each time.

He added another finger as he buried his face in your hair, inhaling your clean scent as you mewled and whimpered, begging him for more. He started strumming your clit with his thumb and you writhed underneath him, doing your best to grind your cunt into him as his fingers stretched you.

It was almost too much when he added the fourth finger and you wrapped your hands in his silver hair, pressing his face to your neck as you cried silently. He moved his mouth back to yours as he increased his speed and pressure on your tiny bud, moving his tongue softly past your lips and tangling it with yours. You came around him, clenching down on his fingers in your release as all the breath rushed out of you. He felt you go rigid beneath him before you collapsed back against the bed with a sigh.

“You think you’re ready for me sweetheart?” He asked as he kissed your neck, moving his hands up to palm your breasts.

You pulled his head back by his hair and gave him a grin before squeezing his sides with your thighs and rolling until you were on top of him, straddling his hips.

You sat up over him and he groaned at the sight of you, soft skin moving over lean muscle, a patchwork of faint scars covering your torso. He ran his thumb over an especially noticeable one that ran over your ribs below your left breast as you guided him to your entrance and sheathed his length inside you suddenly, making him hiss.

You started grinding against him, rubbing your clit against his pubic bone before you started fucking yourself on his cock. He tossed his head back with a moan and a murmured “Fuck” as his hands moved to your hips and guided your thrusts, meeting your hips with his own as he rutted up into you.

He sat up suddenly and pressed you to him as he knelt beneath you, staring into your eyes with lust blown pupils, a thin golden ring around a pool of deep black. You wrapped your legs around his back as he fucked up into you at a faster pace, making it hard for you to breathe.

He wrenched your head down to his and crashed his mouth against yours, his tongue invading you hungrily as you felt your pleasure starting to coil in your abdomen and you whimpered into his mouth.

He felt you starting to clench around him and moved a hand between you to strum at your clit. It only took a moment and you were flying apart around him, every muscle below your waist spasming as your orgasm wracked you and you cried into his mouth. His release was right behind yours as his hips stilled and you felt his spend spurting into you, coating your velvety walls in his release with a feral growl.

He collapsed back on the bed, still holding you to him as you both came down from you pleasure, breathing heavily as your hearts pounded together. You propped your chin on his chest and gave him a sinful grin that he returned, planting a kiss on the top of your head as you started to untangle yourselves.

“Well, if all your surprises are that pleasant, Y/N, I can’t wait to find out more.” He said to you over his shoulder as he stood up from the bed, grabbing a towel to finish drying himself off. He tossed you one and you ran it softly between your thighs, cleaning the mixture of your releases from your slit as you grinned back at him.

“My dear Witcher, I aim to please.” You threw a wink at him before you stood up and stretched. “I arranged for some clean clothes to be brought up, could you check the door for them?”

He peeked his head out and brought in two sets of soft woolens, tossing one to you. You yanked a tunic over your head before stepping into the clean pair of breeches. You decided to forgo most of your blades for the moment, opting for a simple belt that contained two daggers once you had finished lacing up your bodice.

“Shall we head down for more ale?”

“Gods yes, what else do you know about this storied Redanian liquor?”

You gave him a throaty laugh as you headed down to the main room and lute music floated up to meet you.

“Ah, Y/N! Geralt! My friends! Join us for a song won’t you? Y/N, I still want to hear you sing ‘The Fishmonger’s Daughter’ for us, eh? Oh Fishmonger, Oh Fishmonger, Come Quell your Daughter’s Hunger”

“Gods, Jaskier, aren’t you sick of that song yet?” Geralt growled half heartedly

“Pull the stick out of your ass, Witcher. C’mon, Jaskier. To pull on my horn, as it rises in the morn!”

“What a lovely voice you have my lady! For tis naught but bad luck, to fuck with a puck!”

The Witcher rolled his eyes at the two of you as he headed to the bar and the rest of the patrons joined in. What he wouldn’t give to never hear this abominable tune ever again.

“Lest your grandkid be born, a hairy young faun! Bleating and baying all day, hey ho!”

Permanent Tags:

@drabblewithfrannybarnes​

[bowlegsandbiceps]

Suptober Day 7: Young at Heart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Teen / Death!Dean & Human!Cas / Destiel / 5,073 words

Read on AO3

Suptober Masterlist (A03)

It was a snowy evening in the heart of winter when Death roamed the streets of Chicago. You wouldn’t have known him from any other young man, bundled as he was in a worn leather jacket, jeans and boots but there was a certain static about him that made other pedestrians give him a wide berth. He was headed to the fire station on the corner of Hope and Clairmont, humming a Billy Joel song as he avoided slush piles and other humans alike.

He posted up against a telephone pole, making sure to breathe so any passers-by would note the cloud of air passing his lips on every exhale and assure themselves that he was human. It was the least he could do. He checked his watch, an old Timex with a cracked face, and shoved his hands in his pockets. Any minute now.

Across the street, a young girl hurried into view from around the corner, her arms full of a bundle. She looked up at the sign over the fire station door, looked down at her bundle, and swallowed hard. A tiny arm rose from the bundle, naked and red. The girl took it and tucked it back inside the blanket. She sniffled, setting the bundle gingerly down on the top step before backing away slowly. One step, then another her eyes remaining on the pile of blankets before her face crumpled and she turned to run, a dry sob echoing down the empty street.

Death pushed off the telephone pole and made his way leisurely across the street. The baby had started to cry, cold now without its mother to hold it and keep its limbs covered. Death looked down at it, feeling its little heartbeat slow. He crouched down, breathing directly onto the child, and knew he was likely making its final moments worse, a wretched thing like him, even if he was trying to provide a little warmth. 

Then something unexpected happened. The baby quieted and bright blue eyes opened, holding Death captive in an intense stare. Death couldn’t feel things, he mused, but if it could, surely it would have been charmed by the babe who instead of recoiling from its impending end, raised a hand toward him, beckoning.

Death raised a cautious hand, one finger hooking in that tiny fist and he was surprised at how strong it was, despite the hypothermia. The child held his gaze still, just looking not pleading or frozen in horror and Death glanced at his watch again, noting the time. He looked up at the firehouse door, the sound of laughter dulled by the heavy metal. If only the girl had knocked before she ran. Death looked back to the child, its ethereal stare snagging his again.

Death raised his hand and knocked.

#

Inside the firehouse, a number of men made an uneasy circle around the strange man holding a bundled infant. Death hadn’t meant to stay but since he’d already gone and messed with the strings of Fate he figured he might as well assure that the child was taken care of.

“You found him on our stoop?”

“Yeah, you know, I figured some poor kid musta left him. Safe harbor and all.” 

Death looked around then down at the babe who seemed to be transfixed by Death’s face. Death wondered what he saw, why he wasn’t scared. His little soul was a speck of shining light, strong and hearty though his body was frail with the beginnings of pneumonia settling in his lungs.

“Why didn’t you take him to a hospital?”

Death blinked and the man recoiled slightly. “Well, he was left here, and don’t you have EMTs on staff.”

One of the men seemed to shake himself out of a stupor and stepped closer. He shivered as Death transferred the baby into his arms, the brush of his hand on Death’s coat giving him a sudden vision of fire and smoke and a strange sense of vertigo as if falling through the floor. He coughed, moving to lay the child on the table and it immediately started to cry. Death hovered closer moving into the child’s line of sight and it settled down though still made discontented noises as he was poked and prodded.

“Did you see who dropped him off? A firefighter asked and Death shrugged, hands back in his pockets.

“She was young. Hurried off before I could say anything.”

The firefighter narrowed his eyes but didn’t question it. “Did she say anything? Why she was dumping him? If he had a name?”

Death paused, looking down at the boy whose eyes were on him bright blue as all newborns are but there was an electricity in them. Death laid a gentle hand on the child’s head, feeling the soft down of hair, the fragile skull.

“No,” Death said finally. “But his name,” Death smiled and the child seemed to smile back. “Is Castiel.”

“Cas-tee-what?” One of the fire fighter’s whispered to another and Death turned towards him, causing both men to step back.

“Castiel. The Angel of Thursday.” Death’s thumb swiped across the child’s forehead. “The Angel of Solitude.”

#

Death was a busy man, lots to attend to and never in the same place for very long. He worked mostly with children, preferring to be the one to usher them to the other side but as time passed he found himself returning to one place over and over. 

The child he saved had been adopted almost immediately by a couple who’d lost many children of their own. Death may have pulled a few strings with Fate but the outcome was ideal. Castiel grew up well-loved and cherished by a mother and a father who understood the great gift they’d been given. They even decided to keep his name, something that pleased Death immensely. If he gave the grandparents a few extra years because of it, well that was his business.

It was a windy day at the beginning of spring when Fate suddenly shifted and Death lighted down in Chicago once more. Castiel, climbing around on the jungle gym at the local park, his babysitter on the phone several yards away was forty-five minutes from an untimely end. Death hung back, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket as he watched the scene play out, an older man making his way over. Death eyed the babysitter as the man approached Castiel, holding a leash and collar.

“My dog got out of her leash! Can you help me find her?” The man said, his face drawn in grief but Death saw into his heart and his rage rumbled as thunder in the distance.

“Oh no!” Castiel exclaimed, jumping down and touching the leash in the man’s hand. “I’ll help you find her. I got a dog too. His name is Marshmallow.”

The man offered his hand and Castiel took it. 

Death was there in an instant, one hand on the man’s shoulder. When the man looked up, his mouth opened in surprise and he gasped his last breath. Castiel cocked his head to the side at the man crumpled on the ground before he looked up at Death. Death could only stare back.

“What happened?”

Death shifted from foot to foot. “He was a bad man. He wanted to take you.”

Castiel’s eyebrows rose and he looked down at the cooling body on the wood chips. “Is he going to be okay?”

Death fought a smile, eyes flicking to the reaper nearby before waving them away with the man’s wretched soul. “He’s gone to where he belongs.”

Castiel nodded and offered his hand. “Wanna swing with me?”

Death’s neck jerked in surprise but found himself carefully slotting his hand in the child’s and allowing himself to be lead off to the swing set.

“I’m Castiel. What’s your name?”

Death paused thinking back to a time when he had a name. “Dean, I think.”

“Hello, Dean.” Castiel looked up at him, his face dominated by large blue eyes. “Wait, you think? Don’t you know your own name?”

Death huffed. “Well, no one has used it in… a very long time.” He cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, Dean.” Castiel grabbed onto one chain of a swing and turned to sit in it. “It must be lonely, no one knowing your name.”

Death sat in the swing next to the boy and pursed his lips. “Maybe a little, but it’s not so bad. My work keeps me busy.”

Castiel kicked off with his feet and began pumping his legs, reaching higher. Death lifted his head to watch. “‘Daddy says ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ I asked him who Jack was.” Castiel let his feet drag along the ground, grinding to a halt and Death felt a smile quirk at his lips as the child’s head tipped to the side in confusion. “But he just laughed.” Castiel’s head righted itself. “Not at me though. Sometimes I’m funny and don’t realize it.”

Death surprised himself with a laugh, the sound carrying on the wind and making the group of people gathering around the corpse by the jungle gym shiver. The babysitter was still on the phone but the commotion was stealing her attention. Death turned to look at Castiel, rocking back and forth in his swing, his eyes on the horizon.

“Hey, just so you know, for next time, any stranger comes up to you asking you to go somewhere with them you kick em in the shin and scream your head off,” Death rested his palm atop the boy’s head and Castiel looked up at him, a small smile playing across his lips. “Capiche?”

Castiel gave a deep nod. “I capiche.” His eyes had found his babysitter who was now frantically searching for him. When her eyes landed on him, Death hid himself from her. “She looks really mad.”

“She’s just scared,” Death replied and Castiel looked over at him. “You wandered off and she didn’t know where you were.” And a guy dropped dead about six feet from where you were playing. 

“Castiel!” The babysitter skidded to a halt in the gravel in front of Castiel’s swing, pulling him into her arms. “You scared me.” She picked him up, hooking him on her hip. “Come on we need to go.”

The child heaved a deep sigh as if resigned to his fate. “Okay.” He twisted in her arms, looking back at Death, and gave a small smile. “Goodbye, Dean.”

“Bye kiddo.”

The babysitter was already starting to walk away and she snorted, looking over her shoulder then at Castiel. “Who are you talking to.”

“Dean. He’s my new friend.”

Death sat smiling until they were out of sight.

#

Castiel was eight when his dog Marshmallow was going into his fifteenth year. Death generally let the new recruits handle the animals but on a scorching summer day, he found himself standing at the gate of the big craftsman on the corner where Castiel lived. He looked up at the second-story window, the one he knew to be the young boy’s who was getting bigger every day. 

They’d met many times over since that first encounter in the park and to Death’s surprise, Castiel always remembered him and knew him by name. Now seemed to be no exception, the front door opening to release Castiel into the world. His dark hair was an unruly swirl beneath the baseball cap he wore, his matching t-shirt proclaiming he played for the Mustangs, sponsored by Nally Ford. 

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel said with a small smile as he approached. Death smiled back but his eyes caught on the white ball of fluff that was attempting to make his way down the porch steps to follow the boy. 

Death let himself in the gate, striding forward and they met halfway, Castiel looking up into Death’s face while Death peered down into his. There was no fear there, no anxiety. There never had been, a wonder Death never could truly comprehend. Marshmallow gave a low growl. Death glanced down at the old dog, barely any teeth left in his head but ready to bite at the smallest provocation. That was about right.

“Marshmallow. No.” Castiel looked down at the dog then back up into the face of Death. “He’s just grumpy because he doesn’t feel good.” Castiel watched as Death crouched down, hand reaching. The growl ceased as Death’s hand hovered over the dog’s head and Castiel squatted down to pet him, hands gentle around the old dog’s ears.

“Yeah, about that,” Death began softly. “This is going to be hard for you to understand, Cas, but Marshmallow is very old.” As he said it, the dog’s eyes sank closed. Castiel rubbed his ears. 

“I know.”

Death swallowed hard, his hand moving to hover over the dog’s back and Marshmallow’s legs gave out, his body rolling to the side as he began to pant. Castiel rubbed his belly. “And when dogs get very old, well, they have to go.” Castiel looked up at him. “And when that happens, someone comes to get them.”

Castiel looked down at the dog who was panting, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. He ran his fingers through the curly white fur at his side. “Not the dog catcher…”

Death chuckled. “No, no not the dog catcher. Someone who helps them make the transition to their next journey.”

Castiel continued to play with Marshmallow’s fur. “Who?”

Death licked his lips, sucked in a breath he didn’t need. “They look like ordinary folks, sometimes you can see them, other times you can’t.”

“Like you?”

Death blinked and took a moment to marvel at the feeling of surprise, something he hadn’t felt in eons. “Yes, like me.”

Castiel looked up at him, blue eyes steady but solemn. “You’re here to take him, aren’t you?”

Death swallowed hard, the sorrow in the boy’s voice cutting him deeper than tears ever could. “Yeah, Cas. I’m sorry.”

Castiel sniffled a bit as he looked down, petting down Marshmallow’s side. “You’ll look after him? Wherever you take him? He won’t be alone, right?”

Death placed a hand on the back of Castiel’s neck and waited for a shiver that never came. Finally, he spoke. “Yes, of course, Cas.”

Castiel sucked in a deep breath and sat down on his butt, folding his legs so they butted up against Marshmallow’s legs. “Can I have just a few more minutes?”

Death glanced at his watch and nodded. They sat there, young boy and ancient entity as the dog’s breath became more shallow. Castiel dug his fingers into the thick curls of Marshmallow’s side and folded himself in half, pressing his face to its chest. The dog fussed attempted to lick at Castiel’s ball cap. Castiel breathed in deep and Death found himself doing the same, smelling cut grass, sweat and the musky odor of an animal nearing its end.

“It’s time, Cas,” Death murmured, his voice low and Castiel lifted his head, face tear-stained now, but he wiped them away with the back of his hand. He placed his hands on the dog’s side, looked up at Death, and nodded. 

Death allowed the dog to sniff the back of his hand, accepting the feeble lick before he carded his hand through the curls at the top of his head. Castiel’s hands that had been rising and falling with the dog’s labored breath stopped. Death curled his hand and brought it to his chest, holding it there for the feeble soul to feel safe on its journey. His other hand when to the top of Castiel’s head.

“Go get your father. He’ll help you with the ritual.”

“Can’t you stay?” Castiel asked, blue eyes shining with unshed tears and if Death had a heart it would have broken.

“I’ve gotta get Marshmallow to where he belongs.” Dean knuckled away a tear that was making its way down Castiel’s cheek.

“Okay,” Castiel lowered his head, looking at the cooling body of his beloved pet. He looked back up. “Goodbye, Dean.” 

Death was unprepared for the boy to wrap his arms around him in a tight squeeze before getting up and walking back towards the house.

#

Castiel was twenty when his fate changed again and Death nearly didn’t make it in time. In the back seat of a car, driving way too fast down a dark winding road, Death appeared next to him, his face striated in moonlight. Castiel jumped, his reflexes slower with the alcohol in his veins.

“Dean?”

“Cover your face, kid.” Death muttered as he braced his feet against the seat in front of him and threw out an arm. 

When they hit the tree at 63 miles per hour Castiel’s body slammed into his arm and Death could feel the ribs break, felt the punctured lung as if it were his own. The driver was halfway through the windshield, another reaper already there to take him. Death waved them away as blood slowly filled Castiel’s lungs. 

He coughed, choking on the acrid liquid, unable to get a full breath. His hand twisted in Death’s leather jacket, tugging, blue eyes wide and for the first time Death saw fear there. He couldn’t stand it. He reached past the headrest in front of him, touched the mangled face of the boy there and he immediately stopped breathing.

“You can’t do that!” A voice sharp from outside the car and Death nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned his head to look out the window and found the small blond woman standing there with her clipboard of names. “It’s the other boy’s time, Dean.”

Death glared out at her, throwing open the door. “You got your soul. Get out of here.”

“You reaped the wrong-“

“The hell I did,” Death yelled and every animal in the forest quieted, the wind through the trees died down. 

The two of them watched as headlights appeared down the road, slowing when the driver saw the wreckage. Death and Fate stood side by side on the shoulder of the road as the good Samaritan talked to Castiel through the back window, promising him everything would be alright. 

“He’ll make it.” Death heaved a sigh, hearing the sirens in the distance.

“Just barely,” Fate muttered, consulting her clipboard. “One of these days you’re going to run out of favors.”

Death turned to look at her. “Not any time soon.”

#

It was three days later in his half-empty dorm room that Castiel attempted to take his own life. Death arrived just as Castiel kicked the chair out of the way, his body falling with an extension cord wrapped tight around his neck right into Death’s arms. A quick flick of his pocket knife and Death had freed Castiel, laying him gently down on the floor as he coughed and sobbed.

“No! Take me! I want to die!” Castiel twisted onto his knees, grabbing onto Death’s legs and hugging them tightly. “Please. I can’t take it. The guilt, it’s too much!”

Death ran his fingers through Castiel’s unruly hair. “It’s not your time.”

“It was my time,” Castiel wiped at his face, fury in his eyes as he glared up at the ancient entity. “I heard you and that lady talking. She said you reaped the wrong one!”

“You hit your head pretty hard, kid.”

Castiel wiped at his face furiously, getting his trembling legs under him. “I know what you are. What you do.”

Death brought himself to his full height, leveling Castiel with his most pensive stare. “Do you?”

“I’ve always known,” Castiel spit. “And I never cared. You were always my…” Castiel trailed swallowing hard. “My friend. But this, I can’t take this Dean.”

“Why can’t you just be grateful,” Death huffed holding out his arms.

Castiel’s face went slack with shock. “You kill the man I love instead of me and I’m supposed to be grateful?”

Death’s mouth popped open, surprised again, that made twice in a single decade now. “Your… the man you loved? Wow, how did I miss that?”

“You miss a lot of things,” Castiel spit, his eyes hard.

Death rubbed his mouth. “When-“

“Since I was a child,” Castiel heaved a sigh. “Look don’t try to change the subject. I was dying already, Dean!” Castiel’s fists were clenched at his sides. “Why didn’t you let me go? Why’d you have to take him? He was everything to me. How could you not know that?”

Death rubbed the back of his neck, “Life isn’t really under my purview, kid.”

“What about love then?” Castiel got right in his face, nose to nose, and Death stood stock still. 

“I know it when I see it.”

“Then you must have been blind that night.” Castiel spun away, running his hands through his hair. “I can’t do this. Please. Take me.”

“No.”

“Why? Why not?”

“I told you. It’s not your time.”

“Are you sure it’s not because you have some weird obsession with me?” Castiel strode right up into what a human would call their personal space. “What is it about me huh? Why me? Why don’t you latch on to some other poor bastard?”

Death swallowed hard. “I can go if you’d like.” 

Castiel let out a humorless laugh. “Stay. Go. What do I care?” He let himself fall onto his bed, face buried in his pillow while Death stood watch.

#

Death didn’t see much of Castiel after that or more like Castiel didn’t see much of him. He’d check in every now and then, saw him graduate college, move to the east coast, fall in love and get his heart broken only to fall in love again. Through it all Death stood watch, sometimes with Fate at his side, like at Castiel’s wedding.

“I could step in,” Fate murmured, an offer she wasn’t likely to make twice but Death shook his head, watching as Castiel beamed with happiness after kissing his husband.

It wasn’t long after that they met again in a hospital just north of Chicago. It was nearing midnight and no one was around. Castiel was sitting with his mother, his husband and father had gone home hours before but Castiel insisted on staying. Neither could understand why Castiel refused to leave her side but didn’t question it. Castiel was a good son who loved his mother very much. 

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel said as Death hovered in the doorway. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

“I tried to wait for you to leave,” Death mumbled, looking down at his boots as he tapped his toe on the floor.

“Why?”

Death looked up and found Castiel’s head canted to the side, and he couldn’t help but smile. “We didn’t exactly part on the best of terms when we last spoke.”

Castiel looked down at his mother’s hand, so small and frail in his own. He cleared his throat. “You were right. I should have been grateful.”

“It was a callous thing to say when you were grieving.”

Castiel snorted. “That’s true.” He huffed a sigh. “But ultimately you were right. I didn’t love him. I didn’t know what love was then. Not that kind of love anyway.” Castiel ran his thumb over the thin blue veins of his mother’s hand. “How much longer does she have?”

Death checked his watch. “We’ve got a few more minutes.”

“Then sit.”

Death did, across the bed from Castiel and took in the changes, the strands of gray in his hair, laugh lines crinkling around his eyes and mouth.

“You know you look exactly the same as I remember you when I was four.”

Death grinned. “All that clean living.”

Castiel snorted, a grin pulling at his own lips before it faded. “You’ll take care of her?”

Death nodded. “Of course.”

Castiel squinted, opening his mouth then closing it again. Death heaved a sigh. “Go ahead. Ask whatever you want to ask me.”

Castiel’s cheeks bloomed a lovely pink that Death would see in every sunrise from that moment on. “How’s Marshmallow?”

Death blinked. “I give you one question to ask me whatever you want and you ask about your damn dog?”

Castiel frowned. “I loved that dog.”

Death rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Marshmallow is doing great. Has lots of doggy friends.”

A small smile tugged at Castiel’s lips. “Good. I hope Mom gets to see him.”

“I’ll make sure she does.”

“I’m ready.”

Death gave a small nod, waiting a beat to watch Castiel breath in steadily, his eyes on his mother’s face. Death reached forward, fingers brushing a white curl from her forehead before resting his palm there gently. One of the monitors began to scream. A nurse bustled in quickly, checking in and ultimately turning off the sound, standing by as the old woman took her last breaths. Death took her soul and cradled it to his chest.

“Take care of her,” Castiel whispered and Death gave him a solemn nod before he went on his way.

#

It wasn’t long after that Fate dealt Castiel another bad hand and Death had arrived to do his duty. Castiel’s husband laid prone on a hospice bed, his once strong body frail and hairless, ravaged by a disease Death hated almost more than he hated himself. Death came into the room unannounced, stood by Castiel’s side as silent tears ran down his face.

Death checked his watch.

“I can feel you.” 

Death nearly fell over in shock. Third time in as many decades. Damn.

“Don’t hide, Dean. I’ve been expecting you.”

“I tried.” Death placed a hand on Castiel’s shoulder. “I tried but I’m out of favors.”

“It’s okay,” Castiel sniffled, his own hand coming up to cover the cool one on his shoulder and Death felt the warmth as if it were the sun. “How much time do we have?”

“Couple minutes.”

Castiel nodded, leaning forward and placing a hand on his husband’s shoulder, giving him a light shake. He gasped awake, eyes hazy with pain and medication but something in them still blazed when they landed on Castiel. 

“Honey, I want you to meet someone. Can you see him? Next to me.” Castiel turned, looking up at Death, and licked his dry lips. 

“Yes,” Castiel’s husband croaked. “He’s just as handsome as you said.”

Castiel let out a watery laugh, glancing up at Death who was not blushing as he reached up to rub his ear. “He’s here for you.”

Castiel’s husband nodded solemnly. “About time.”

Castiel let out a quiet sob and immediately tried to shove it back into his mouth. His husband squeezed his hand as Death squeezed his shoulder. 

“Come on now. This ain’t the end. I’ll see you. Hopefully not too soon?” Castiel’s husband lifted his brows and Death gave him a small smile.

“Not if I have anything to do with it.”

Castiel was leaning over, pressing his forehead to his husband’s and breathing slow in his nose and out his mouth, barely hanging on. Death stepped forward, hand covering the one that Castiel held. One final gasp and then the room was silent. Castiel gave a soft cry, feeling warmth rush through him, love and light and something so bright it almost burned. And then it was gone.

Death pulled the soul close to his chest, his other hand lighting on Castiel’s shoulder. Castiel glanced up into the face of Death but was immediately distracted by the small ball of light in his hand. Castiel looked up and Death nodded in answer to his question. Castiel let go of the hand in his and wrapped his arms around himself as the tears came hot and fast.

“Can you please stay?”

Death shifted from foot to foot. “I need to take care of him. But I can come back.”

“Please hurry.”

#

Death wasn’t really the type to hang around any one place too long but for years after Castiel’s husband’.s transition, he found himself irrevocably drawn to Castiel. He’d always been to a certain extent but the man’s grief had worn down all his defenses, all his excuses to stay away. For once Death was welcomed into a home with open arms.

They sat on the couch and watched bad television. Death had a strange obsession with Dr. Sexy that Castiel found hilarious. Death tolerated all of Castiel’s terrible nature documentaries. It was one night as Castiel was going up the stairs to bed that he paused, looking back at Death who was putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

“I love you, Dean. You know that right?”

Death stood stock still and he’d be goddamned if it hadn’t happened again. He looked up to find Castiel just standing there on the third step, gaze just as intense as it had been when he’d first laid eyes on him as an infant. He didn’t have to say it. Neither of them did so Castiel just gave him a small smile and continued his ascent up the stairs. And that night, Death followed.

#

It was both the worst and best day of his tenure when Castiel’s time was finally up. Fate in her fussy suit with her obnoxious clipboard arrived to stand at the end of the hospital bed where Castiel lay, Death at his side. 

“No more favors. No more tricks,” Fate said softly and Death looked away from the face of his beloved, aged and creased as it was now, while his was permanently stuck as youthful and smooth. 

“Can I keep him?” Death asked, staring into the eyes of Fate and daring to hope. “I know it’s not ever been done. I know this is a one-person gig but…” Death looked back upon the only face he’d ever loved, into the only eyes that had ever truly seen him. “Just this once, can I keep him?”

Fate gave him a small smile. “Yes, Dean. He’s yours to keep.”

#

So Death and his companion were joined at the human’s crossing, bound by Fate herself to walk through eternity together. Sure they quarreled, sometimes even spending a few decades apart but the string that tethered them was unbreakable, a fact Death loved to remind his younger counterpart of. 

It’s said that when a couple dies within hours of each other they’re always accompanied by another couple, two men, handsome and young, looking more in love than any cosmic entities had a right to be.

[obwjam]

4 with a clone? Any clone you want!

“What can I do to get you to trust me?”

lol back doing these prompts from forever ago, gonna use rex and the 501st boys for this one because they currently have my heart

from this post

———————————————————————

Rex peered through the rusty metal bars, still in awe of what he was seeing. He could certainly understand the fear they must have been feeling, but he would have figured his face was a much better sight than that of a battle droid. Apparently not.

The 501st had been sent on a rescue mission to help a village that had been under siege and h held hostage by the Separatists, and they had finally destroyed the last of the droid army that was holding the civilians at gunpoint. Rex’s job was to go through all the buildings to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for as the rest of the squad set up relief tents outside.

He didn’t expect to find a three-inch-tall person cowering inside a cage.

The tiny thing had stared at him, paralyzed in fear, until Rex moved his hand to unlock the cage and they gasped and pushed themselves into the back corner. Rex had gently tried asking them who they were, what their name was, why they were locked up, but they wouldn’t give him anything but silence.

“Can you at least let me help you outta there?” he asked with a weak smile. He set his blasters down on the ground and took a knee in front of the cage. The little guy couldn’t have been much older than Anakin or Ahsoka. Their matted hair stuck to their tear-soaked face, and their baggy clothes were torn and caked with dirt. They were hugging their legs to their chest and their head rested down between their knees. They looked like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Kid?” Rex tried. He was beginning to think the poor thing didn’t even speak basic. “Can you... do you understand what I’m saying?”

It was subtle, but the tiny tilted their head up and made the slightest eye contact with him before whipping their gaze back to their shoes.

“I’ll... take that as a yes.” Rex sighed. He wasn’t qualified to handle something like this. He was just here to make sure the villagers were safe.

“Look, kiddo, I don’t know anything about your situation, but we set up a relief tent outside. It’s got food and water and anything you could want.” Rex looked down to his hand and flexed his gloved fingers. “Now, don’t freak out, but I’m just going to—”

“NO!”

The sudden shout startled Rex, and he lost his balance for a moment. His hand was about halfway to the threshold of the cage before the tiny had had enough. He stared at them, eyes wide.

“P-please... just... just leave me alone...”

Rex swallowed. Their voice was impossibly small and shaky. He had to strain his eyes just to get a good look at them as they shifted their position. He could barely see flakes of rust shimmering down as they rubbed against the cage bars.

“Hey, I’m not... I’m not gonna hurt’cha,” Rex assured. He held his hands up in surrender. “I won’t grab ya. Promise.”

At the movement of his hands, the tiny whimpered and eyed him warily. They were shaking badly.

Rex’s heart sank. The hut they were in was dark, damp and clearly damaged from blaster fire. The tiny was situated deep in the shadows, practically unnoticeable to anyone who passed by. They kept blinking away tears. Rex couldn’t help but wonder how long they’d been stuck in that cage.

“G-go away. Please,” the tiny stuttered, clearly summoning an immense amount of strength to say those words. Whether they were fighting through sheer exhaustion or pure fear, Rex wasn’t able to tell.

“Kid, it’s not safe in here! This hut is badly damaged. It could collapse at any moment. Just let me take you outside with everyone else—”

“No!” they cried again, flinching when Rex shimmied a bit to stay balanced. “I—I can’t.”

“Can’t? Why not?”

“Because!” the tiny was becoming increasingly exasperated, and the look of fear present in their eyes every time they defied Rex broke his heart. “I don’t... belong.”

“Is this not your home?” Rex was confused. Sure, they were the only tiny being they had encountered here, but it wasn’t uncommon for tinies to integrate themselves into larger clans. “Didn’t the Seps put you in this thing?”

To Rex’s horror, the tiny shook their head. “I was in here long b-before the-the droids got here.”

Rex blinked in shock. He saved this tiny... from the villagers he had just helped to free.

“It doesn’t matter,” they mumbled, drawing their knees closer to their chest. “I don’t need—”

“What can I do to get you to trust me?”

Surprised, the tiny cocked their head. “I—I—”

“If what you’re saying is true, then... then you don’t deserve to keep living like this. Let me take you back with me, I—I can get you the help you need and we can relocate you.”

“Relocate?” the tiny repeated. What was he going on about?

“I-If you just let me take you outside, we can get you some food and water and I can talk to my General about finding you a new home.”

“You mean... you mean leave Terronia?”

Rex suppressed a smile. That was the most optimistic they sounded thus far. “Yeah, kid. We can getcha far away from this rock. If that’s what you want, of course. Once the mission’s over and we leave, we’re probably never comin’ back.”

The tiny sat in silence, eyes darting around rapidly as they tried to piece together what Rex was saying. If he could really get me out of here...

“You’d... really help me?” they asked, still skeptical.

Rex sniffed a laugh and slowly brought his hand to the front of the cage, laying his palm open. The tiny just stared at it.

“I—I dunno...” They were looking at his hand like it was a ticking time bomb. “I—I’ve never...” they trailed off. Rex was pretty sure he knew what they were trying to say.

“It’s safe, I promise. I’ll go slow.”

After a moment of contemplation, the tiny slowly rose to their feet. Rex tried not to stare as they hobbled their way to the front of the cage. They almost looked like a kaadu that was just learning to walk.

The tiny stopped right at the foot of his palm. Rex’s hand came up just below their waist. With a clenched jaw, the tiny looked up at Rex, finally taking in the giant for the first time. He wore a soft, expectant expression, and his eyes shone as he watched every little movement of theirs.

His muscles involuntarily flinched when the tiny swung their leg up, but he was able to keep still as they situated themself in the middle of his palm. They awkwardly crawled to the center and sat down cross-legged, nervously eyeing the fingers that were as tall as they were.

“Okay, I’m gonna move...” Rex warned, giving them one last look before taking his blasters in his free hand and standing up. The tiny wobbled a bit, but otherwise seemed okay.

“Feeling alright?” Rex asked. The tiny nodded, looking around at their new view. They had never been this high up before. Given the situation, it was terrifying, but there was something exhilarating about it. Almost... fun. Adventurous. They found themself peering over the edges of Rex’s hand, soaking in the scenery that once looked impossibly huge and distant. They hadn’t felt this way in years.

Rex couldn’t help but smirk. Even if it was just for a moment, as he thoroughly killed the mood by starting to walk, the tiny wasn’t scared. They even seemed excited. It was adorable.

Rex pushed past the burnt brown cloth that acted as a door. He kept his hand close to his chest, trying to stay conscious of the featherweight in his hand as he slowly strolled through the camp he had helped set up. Several tents were pitched, with food, water, blankets and other supplied piled up in boxes. The villagers chatted between sips of tea and bites of ration bars. It was almost hard to believe they had treated this poor tiny so harshly.

“Captain!”

Rex’s stomach dropped. He has almost forgot about the rest of his squad. How was he going to explain this?

“Rex! There you are! I thought we’d lost ya— oh.” It didn’t take long for Fives to notice the tiny being sitting in Rex’s palm. They were now clinging onto his thumb for support, staring up at Fives with a renewed sense of fear.

Fives dared to speak. “Captain?”

“I found them in one of the huts. They... aren’t really welcome here, so I’m taking them to the General to see if we can help them relocate.”

“I see...” Try as he might, Fives couldn’t tear his eyes away from the tiny. He crouched down.

“Hey there,” he said softly, immediately taking notice of the way they winced when he got near. “I’m Fives. Part of the 501st. What’s your name?”

The tiny stared back, frozen. Above them, Rex cleared his throat.

“They... aren’t much of a talker.”

“Oh. Well, that’s alright,” Fives smiled, trying to show them he was friendly. “Lucky we found you, huh? Who knows what would’ve happened if Rex here didn’t—”

“Fives.”

“Right. Sorry. You’re in good hands with Rex, kid. Literally.” He cracked another smile. “He’s our best. He’ll take good care of ya until we can get you somewhere safe.”

“I think you should go help Echo get the rest of the rations off the ship,” Rex pressed. He was surprised how well he could feel the tiny’s tremors through his glove.

“Yes, sir,” Fives said, holding his gaze to the tiny for a few more seconds before standing back up to his full height. The tiny’s heart skipped a beat. “See ya later, tiny!”

The tiny blinked as Fives bounded off somewhere. “Bye,” they whispered weakly.

“Sorry ‘bout him,” Rex blushed. “A lot of my men are like that. But don’t mind them. They’re totally harmless. They’re just... curious, is all.”

The tiny nodded as Rex continued along. Luckily, they weren’t bothered by any more clones, but the villagers quickly noticed what Rex was carrying. He gave stern glances at each villager that looked almost disgusted that Rex was helping the tiny.

“That’s just awful,” Rex muttered, almost forgetting the tiny could hear him. He craned his neck down. “How could they treat you like that?”

They just shrugged. “‘Cause I’m tiny.”

Rex humphed. He wasn’t sure how inclined he felt to help out the Terronians anymore.

Suddenly, the unmistakable voice of Anakin pierced the busy air. “Rex! Where have you been? You were supposed to check in at 0500.”

“Sorry, General. I... I got a bit sidetracked.” Sheepishly, Rex held out his hand to reveal the once again terrified tiny to Anakin. The Jedi nearly did a double take.

“Rex? What... who is this?”

“This is... ah, I found them in one of the huts. They were stuck in this cage, so I helped ‘em out.”

“A cage?” Anakin was beside himself. He had seen tinies in his childhood, but none since he left Tattooine. He had almost forgotten how he used to try and befriend every single tiny that hung decoratively in Watto’s shop. “What would droids want with a tiny?”

“They didn’t,” Rex said, and that was all Anakin needed to hear to understand what was going on. Anakin’s expression briefly turned dark before he remembered the tiny’s trembling eyes were on him. He softened as he too crouched down, trying to offer a reassuring smile. The tiny could barely breathe. This was a Jedi!

“Hey, lil guy, I know it’s gotta be scary for you right now, but trust me when I say we’ll take good care of you. No more cages. We’ll keep you safe, alright?”

The tiny nodded almost robotically. Their open mouth only produced whimpers and gasps as Anakin stared right through them.

“We can work on that,” he quipped warmly. He could sense their fear so strongly he almost started to feel it too. The poor thing looked minuscule in Rex’s hand, surrounded by ships and tents and giants. “Are you okay with Rex? Or do you want someone else to help?”

The tiny was surprised. Someone was really asking them what they wanted? And a Jedi no less. Everyone seemed to want to help. Maybe this wasn’t a trick...

“I like Rex,” the tiny whispered, so softly that Anakin could barely pick it up.

“You like Rex?” Anakin said again, grinning up at the now-red-faced captain. The tiny nodded meekly. “Well, then I’ll let him help you get settled.” He stood up slowly. “Why don’t you head back to the ship a bit early? And take some extra rations with you. Something tells me you’ll need it,” Anakin winked, savoring the look of pleasant surprise on Rex’s face.

It took Rex a moment to break out of his daze. “You ever been on a ship before?” he asked, though he already could guess the answer. The tiny shook their head. “It might be a little nauseating, but the feeling goes away quickly. For some more than others,” he added under his breath. At this, the tiny chuckled. They almost couldn’t believe their luck.

“Thank you, Rex.”

Rex looked down, locking eyes with the tiny. They weren’t shaking so much anymore.

“Don’t mention it, kiddo. We’re here to help.”

“Caro.”

“What?”

“Caro. My name’s Caro Kann,” they said, taking a sudden interest in their shoes. “It’s... been a while since anyone’s asked for my name.”

“Oh,” was all Rex could say for a moment. There was a lot more to this tiny than he thought. Whatever questions he had, though, they could wait. “I’m glad you felt like you could finally tell me your name.”

Caro didn’t respond, but they didn’t need to. Instead of hugging themselves tensely, their shoulders had relaxed as Rex made his way to the gunship. Whatever was about to happen was going to be scary, overwhelming, and difficult to deal with. That much Caro knew. But it wasn’t very daunting, really. Not anymore.

“Ready, Caro?” Rex asked, pulling his hand up a bit as the gunship doors slid open. “You’ll need to hold on tight.”

Caro nodded and scooted over to Rex’s thumb, where they clung on tightly. Rex curled his fingers in, giving Caro a sort of roof protecting them from the noise and wind. Rex’s other hand was stretched high above, but he had moved the hand holding Caro close to his chest. Caro lurched forward as the gunship took to the air, but they weren’t worried.

They knew Rex was someone they could trust.

[chaoticpuff17]

Endgame

ADG Tae fic

Masterlist

Warnings: reference to non con. yandere behavior

hello my darlings! A little later than intended. blame my computer problems. But here it is! the next ADG oneshot! love you all, I’m off to go rewrite everything I lost on the Yoongi chapter. I’ve been avoiding it.--- Chaotic puff. 

Taehyung watched the screen a vicious smirk playing across his lips as he watched her run through the alleyway. His poor little bird, always running. She had to know by now that she couldn’t escape him. How many years had they been playing this game? She had to know by now that she couldn’t win, but it was cute to see her try.

She hated him. That was okay though. She just needed a little push in the right direction. He was tired of watching from a distance. He was tired of watching her and only seeing her face to face a few times a year. They’d been playing their game for so long now, she had to be tired as well. His sweet Aerie was an excellent opponent, but she had to know that it would all come to an end eventually.

He could remember the first time he had seen her. They’d been so young then. They’d both been on the train. Taehyung had been exhausted after a night of hacking, and she had been immersed in something on her own computer. Her glasses had slipped down her nose in the most enchanting way. Her hair was piled haphazardly on top of her head with strands falling down all around her face, though she didn’t seem to notice or care, and he couldn’t help but wonder what kept her so immersed. He’d pulled out his own computer and set to work finding her among the other people doing work on the train.

He’d found her easily enough, and the cause of the little furrow between her brow became evident enough. It was a paper for school, a literary analysis for an English literature class. Her face was all scrunched up as she looked over The Picture of Dorian Gray. She was intensely focused on it, and a little digging into her files and schedule had told him that the paper was due in a few days. He found her concentration, the way she poured over each line, endearing. He loved the way she chewed on her inner cheek as she thought over paragraph. She was just adorable.

A little digging into her computer had given Taehyung access to her life. He knew exactly how to go about finding her. He knew what school she went to, her major, where she lived, and he pursued her with enthusiasm. The only hitch in his pursuit was her continued rejection, something Taehyung had not anticipated. Why would he have? No one had ever rejected him before. She couldn’t have done better. Even if she tried, Taehyung wouldn’t have allowed it. She was his from the first moment he saw her on that train.

Aerie may have looked sweet, but she was a snappish creature by nature. She rejected every bouquet, every invitation to dinner. She’d rejected his affection at every turn, rejected his every effort, until she’d taken matters into her own hands and begun their little game. He’d gone to offer her the world, only to find her gone. Her apartment was empty. A quick search revealed that she had even dropped out of school. She’d simply vanished.

Taehyung’s first instinct had been panic and rage. How could she leave him like that? How could she reject him? And then there came a new feeling. Excitement. If she wanted a chase, he would give her one. It had been no trouble at all for him to track her down. She’d changed cities and was doing her best to keep a low profile, but she had no idea who she was dealing with. The look of shock on her face when he’d appeared on her doorstep had been so satisfying, so adorable. The frying pan she’d taken to the side of his head, was less adorable.

Taehyung had become smarter after that. His little bird was so prone to flight that he had to be more careful in his approach or risk another frying pan to the head something he had no intention of repeating. She’d been easy enough to find again though. She was never really out of his reach not with all the resources he had at his fingertips. He’d cornered her just a few hours later in a bus station a few towns over, succeeding in knocking her out and taking her to a hotel to wait for her to wake up again. He wanted her calm when he made his offer again, a life by his side.

She had not been calm though. She had fought him tooth and nail to get out of that room and had laughed in his face when he’d made her the offer, and it was something he couldn’t understand. How could she refuse him? He was handsome. He was young. He was wealthy, and he had chosen her. Out of every woman that had thrown themselves at his feet, he had chosen her. None of that seemed to matter though. She looked at him as though he had a second head, as if he was the most vile being on the planet.

It had been the beginning of a longstanding game between them. He would chase, and she would run. Sometimes he would let months elapse before he took her again. He loved the look of shock and horror on her face when he showed up again. It was something he would never get tired of.

The next time he decided to take her, he brought her to what the boys had dubbed as his play house. The house was situated in the middle of nowhere. Even if she was able to make it out of the house, there was nowhere she could go. He had designed it especially for her after all.

The area surrounding the house was made up of a series of mazes designed to keep her in, and most paths led back to the house, back to him.

The games were fun, but Taehyung was craving more now. Everyone was settling down. Namjoon had Y/N even if she had engaged him in a chase of their own. Hoseok had Iyla. Jin had taken his patient as his own, and Yoongi had sired a kid with one of Jimin’s girls. It was time to settle down himself, but that required nailing down his little bird.

He’d indulged her long enough. He’d given her plenty of chances to end this on her own, plenty of chances to surrender, to come to him of her own will. He let her believe that she’d managed to escape him, but she was never truly out of his grasp. He always knew where she was, always. A few sneakily placed tracking devices on her body ensured that.

She was a smart little devil. He’d give her that. His first few attempts at trackers had been foiled by her throwing out her phone each time she came in contact with him. He had quickly learned that he couldn’t place trackers in any of her devices. So when he’d switched to placing chips on her person, he’d errored on the side of caution and placed several in assorted spots. She’d never be able to get rid of them all. Of that, he was confidant. She was smart, but not smart enough to find all five trackers, and they ensured that Taehyung had no problem tracking her down for the endgame.

Taehyung stood up from his chair with a leisurely stretch. It was time to fetch his little bird.

Aerie woke up in a house she was horribly horribly familiar with. She’d been there more times than she’d like to admit over the years. She knew that within its walls lurked the psycho that had been nipping at her heels for years. Every time he tracked her down, he brought her to this horrible place. The house was like its own circle of hell with Taehyung ruling over it. Each time she was there, there was some new horror awaiting her. There had always been a way out, but it came at the price of playing his twisted games. She’d learned early on that Taehyung never did anything out of the goodness of his heart. Nothing was free, and she’d given up more than she’d ever wanted to admit over the years. He’d slowly taken everything from her.

In the beginning, he’d only been a stalker, the creep she kept rejection. She’d thought that if she moved away, if she laid low for a while, he’d forget about her and find a new obsession, and she would be free to enroll in a new school and live her life free of him. That hadn’t been the case though. He’d followed her wherever she went.

She knew he was toying with her. She knew he was letting her escape. He’d made that clear, made it clear that she had no power in their relationship. As much as she hated to use that word to describe them, it was the best fit. Twisted and horrid as it was, it was still a relationship, and Taehyung had made his affection for her more than evident even if she had done the same with her hatred for him. That never seemed to bother him too much though. He wasn’t delusional. She knew that he understood her hatred of him, he simply didn’t care. He seemed to think that time would reverse her contempt. It had not, and as much as she hated to admit it, this was not the first time she had woken up in the house tied down and practically naked.

Her hands were bound by leather cuffs to a bed that looked more like a bird’s cage than it did a bed. It was a glaring reminder of his degrading little nickname for her, his little bird. She hated that nickname as much as she hated him. The bed didn’t just look like a cage, it functioned like one as well. If Taehyung wished he could lock her behind the elaborate bars to rot. It was degrading, but so were most of the things he did to her. This time even her legs were restrained held apart by a spreader. It was only the beginning of her humiliation. Taehyung hadn’t even made his appearance yet.

She took a moment to shake off the last vestiges of grogginess caused by whatever drug Taehyung had used to knock her out his time. His more violent methods didn’t leave her with a lingering feeling of nausea, but they did cause more bumps and bruises. It was hard to say which one was worse, but she supposed that it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t as if Taehyung gave her a choice in how he captured her.

Once she didn’t feel like her head was spinning and her stomach wasn’t about to heave its contents all over the red bedding, Aerie took a look around to see where her tormentor was. She couldn’t see him through the intricate bars of the bed, but that didn’t mean much. He could be lurking somewhere just out of sight. What she did notice was the set of skimpy lingerie that clung to her body. She should have been used to it by now, but seeing his selections still made her skin crawl. There was no such thing as modesty when it came to Taehyung.

This particular set was black, lacy, and strappy. It didn’t cover much though. Much to her annoyance it was lacking in two distinct areas. There was no material where the cups of the bra should have been, there was nothing. Strips of lace curved up around the top of her breasts, but the majority of her chest was left exposed to the room. Her panties were lacking as well in the fact that the lace was missing one vital component, the crotch. In its place were two silky straps that curved down between her thighs and back up around her ass leaving everything but the area right above her center exposed. His lingerie choices were typically risqué, but they usually covered a bit more.

As much as she hated the lace wrapped around her body, what was worse was the collar fixed around her throat. This was an item she was intimately familiar with. The collar was made of a thick leather that was wrapped in a sumptuous black lace. The front of the collar was decorated by a single silver ring that Taehyung took full advantage of in his escapades. As his “little bird”, Aerie was nothing more than a pet to him, and the collar staked his claim in a blatantly obvious way.

She was ashamed to say that Taehyung had been her first, though it hadn’t been her choice. She could still remember that horrible day vividly. It had been a little over two years ago. She’d been particularly resistant to him that night, sick of him and his games. Her sharp tongue had been her undoing. She’d pushed Taehyung too far, refused him one too many times. Granted it was bound to happen eventually, but that didn’t make the result any less traumatizing.

Aerie woke up groggy doing her best to shake off the remnants of a drug induced sleep. It was like swimming through a fog. When she finally shook it off, she wished that she hadn’t. Her hands were bound above her head by leather cuffs, and she was dressed in a set of skimpy lace lingerie that certainly wasn’t hers. She couldn’t recognize the room, but she did recognize the man pacing around the room like a caged animal even if she wished that she didn’t.

Everything came rushing back at the sight of him.

Aerie hadn’t been on a date in a long time. Her stalker had put a damper on love life. Moving around from place to place in an effort to avoid him didn’t leave much time for dating, but she was excited. She’d even taken the time to do her makeup with what little skill she had and curl her hair all in preparation of her date with Minho. She’d met him at the store she’d been working at to make ends meet while she tried to hide from the man who had been making her life a living hell. He was sweet, and she enjoyed talking with him. One date couldn’t hurt especially not with someone has lovely has Minho.

The grin that had stretched across her face had been there all day that is until she saw the man of her nightmares stalking into the restaurant practically radiating fury. She stared at him like a deer in the head lights as he paused by the first few tables. The world stopped for a moment only to start again with the sound of bullets.

Taehyung released a volley of shots into the air sending the entire restaurant into a panic, a cacophony of screams filling the air.

“Everybody out!” He growled eyes fixated on where she sat across from Minho, and the patrons scrambled to obey him.

Minho reached across the table grabbing her hand as he stood up to flee the restaurant with the rest of the customers.

“Not you.” Taehyung growled stalking towards them pulling up a seat and taking a seat beside Aerie.

“We don’t want any trouble.” Miho stuttered eyes wide and frightened eyes his gaze flitted between Taehyung and the door.

“Don’t want any trouble?” Taehyung laughed arching one perfectly manicured brow as he draped an arm across Aerie’s shoulders keeping her in place. “You should have thought of that before you took out my girl. Isn’t that right, little bird?” He purred leaning in and brushing his nose over her neck in a motion that was far too intimate for what the two of them shared.

“Look man, I didn’t know she was taken!” Minho gulped raising his hands in a motion of surrender.

“Didn’t know?” Taehyung laughed moving his hand so that it was curled around the back of her neck one finger twirling a strand of her curled hair. “That makes it all better then.”

Without any warning, Taehyung drew his gun again and fired three shots directly into the other man’s head as Aerie screamed in horror beside him. His hand fisted cruelly in her hair dragging her back against her seat stopping her from running as she so wanted to do.

“Aerie, Aerie, Aerie.” He cooed his grin vicious as he gazed down at her. “You’ve been a very bad girl, little bird.”

There was a sharp prick, and then everything went dark.

That brought her back to the present where Taehyung had only just noticed that her eyes were open.

“You’re awake.” He grinned coming to take a seat on the edge of the bed. “I thought that I’d given you too much of the sedative for a minute there. How are you feeling, little bird?” He cooed moving up the bed so that he was sitting next to her hips, trailing a finger across her clavicle.

“Fuck off.” She growled trying to squirm away from him without much luck as the cuffs dug into her wrists keeping her in place.

“None of that, little bird.” He growled pressing down to keep her from wiggling away. “If you wanted my attention, you could have said something. I would have been by your side in a heartbeat.”

“Fuck off.” She repeated kicking wildly in the hope of landing a hit. She was almost successful, landing a hit to his upper thigh, but it was just shy of where she need it to land, and only served to piss him off.

Taehyung was quick to straddle her hips keeping her pinned down as he wrapped a long fingered hand around her throat.

“If you’re going to act like a whore, little bird, I’ll have to treat you like a whore.” He growled grinding his hips against hers.

“Get off!” She shrieked trying to buck him off without much success.

“If you’re going to be a whore,” He snarled moving down the bed and binding her legs so that they were spread apart. “You should at least by my whore, don’t you think?”

“Get off of me!” She shrieked again tears brimming in her eyes as the panic began to settle in.

“Such a shrill voice.” He hissed moving off the bed to grab something. He returned much to quickly. “If you can’t be sweet for me, you should remain silent.”

There wasn’t anything she could do as he wrenched her jaw open shoving a ball gag between her teeth and fastening it behind her head with practiced ease. “There.” He purred moving back so that he was settled between her spread legs. “Much better.”

She thrashed against her bindings as the monster tore off the skimpy underwear. Tears burned her eyes as he shoved a finger into her cunt. She wasn’t ready for the intrusion, but Taehyung didn’t seem to care as he pushed forward. He only paused as he was met with a resistance he hadn’t expected.

He pulled back a slow smile spreading across his features. “Little bird.” He cooed gently brushing the tears from her eyes. “Such a good girl, saving herself for daddy.” He pressed kisses down against her throat trailing them down towards the lace that covered her breasts before he savagely tore that from her body just as he had the panties.

“Don’t worry, baby. Daddy can be gentle.” He promised pressing a kiss to her nipple that had pebbled from the cool air. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to punish you for letting that leach put his hands all over you.” She whimpered her pleas coming out as a garbled mess against the gag.

She’d always thought her first time would be, well maybe not romantic, but at least nice and with someone she chose. Having that choice ripped away while being violated by the man who had made her life a living hell had made the blow all the worse. It had taken her a long time to recover from the trauma of being raped by her stalker, and that time had been made even longer considering that every time he came back to torment her, he had no problem with repeating the process over and over again. It was horrible, but she expected it now. It was just one more thing to get over with before he put her through whatever game he had prepared for them this time around.

“Hello, little bird.” His deep voice washed over her filling her with deep seated dread. “Did you miss me?” He cooed entering the cage like bed and perching himself on the edge of the mattress as he grinned down at her.

“Fuck off, Taehyung.” She growled pulling on the restraints that kept her arms in place. She knew better than to pull of the leg spreader. If she pulled on it, it would only make her predicament worse.

“Aerie, Aerie, Aerie.” He tutted one of his long fingers slowly trailing up her bare leg. “Why must you always be so rude, little bird? Haven’t you missed me at all? I’ve missed you.”

She grinned viciously as she jerked at her arm restraints trying to lunge at him. “What do you want, you fucking psychopath? Can’t you find another girl whose life you can ruin?”

He laughed showcasing that box shaped grin that would have been endearing on anyone else. “Why would I do that when I have you?” He cooed trailing his finger up to her thigh.

“What do you want?” She growled again.

“I have a proposition for you, little bird, but why don’t we have some fun first?” He hummed slowly crawling on top of her while she glared up at him.

“Or you could just tell me.” She grumbled wishing that any of her limbs were free so that she could smack him.

“And what would be the fun in that?” He chuckled placing a kiss on the soft skin of her belly. “I’ve missed you so much, little bird. It’s been so long.” He purred trailing kisses up towards her exposed chest.

“Get off of me!” She growled bucking her hips up in an attempts to throw him off thought he motion only seemed to encourage him.

“And if I don’t want to?” He asked smirking against her skin as before nipping at her exposed nipple eliciting a yelp from her. If there was one thing that Taehyung loved about his little bird, it was how sensitive she was. Her reactions were just as adorable as that first night.

“Fuck you.” She hissed doing her best to wiggle away from him despite her restraints.

“Oh, you will.” His grin was positively devious as he dove down to attack the sliver of her neck that was left uncovered by the collar.

He loved that collar. He loved the way the lace looked against her skin and how easy the loop made it to manhandle and restrain her. He’d more than once attached the matching lace covered leather leash to that little loop. Seeing her in that collar always got him fired up. Once he brought her home he’d have an array of collars for her, but this one would always be his favorite.

“Get off!” She shrieked wishing not for the first time that she could torment him just as much as he tormented her.

“Hush, little bird.” He cooed lifting his head so he could brush his nose against hers affectionately. “Let me make you feel good.”

It was a source of never ending shame for her that Taehyung was in fact an excellent lover. He pulled her pleasure from her by force with the persistence of a dog with a bone. Even if she resisted, he would make sure that she came for him, more than once. It was a matter of pride for him that he could make his little bird writhe with pleasure beneath him despite her protests.

“Stop!” She shrieked taking the opportunity to head butt him forcing him back much to his displeasure.

He hissed placing an elegant hand against his throbbing nose as he glared down at her. She was still feisty no matter how many times he played with her. He loved it.

“That wasn’t very nice, little bird.”

“That makes two of us.” She snarled relieved that he had backed away for the moment. “What proposition did you have?” She asked hoping to distract him.

“Eager aren’t we?” He cooed sitting back so that he was settled on top of her thighs.

“Just tell me, you sick fuck.” She huffed glaring up at him.

“This is something best discussed over dinner. Though I’d love to keep you just as you are.” He purred his eyes trailing over her form.

“Then let’s have dinner.” She’d do anything to avoid his more amorous attentions even if it meant sitting down to dinner with him.

With a sigh Taehyung set to work undoing the restraints at her ankles before unclipping the chain that kept her attached to the bed, though he left the cuffs on.

“Let’s get you dressed, little bird.”

She didn’t fight him as he pulled her up from the bed or when left her standing in the middle of the room her hands still cuffed together. He knew better than to leave her completely unrestrained. This wasn’t their first rodeo. She’d be more than happy to take off down the twisting halls of the house if he gave her the chance, but it was harder to escape from him if she was still bound, and it was better to see what he wanted before she made her escape. Taehyung would eventually start a game that would lead to her eventual freedom. He liked games.

He returned moments later with a long black dress in hand.

She didn’t argue or fight when he uncuffed her handed or when he stripped her of the strap of cloth he called a bra. Even if the dress was revealing, it had to be better than the lingerie he had provided.

She was right. The dress was revealing, but so were most of the clothes that Taehyung had forced her into over the years. This dress wasn’t the worst of them. The material was soft and silky against her skin leaving her back completely left exposed to the air. The top wrapped around her neck before diving down into a deep v ending just before her belly button. Not even her legs were left covered. There was a slit up the side leaving the entirety of her left leg exposed. But overall it was still better than the lingerie. Anything was better than the lingerie.

What surprised her was that Taehyung had removed the collar. He loved that collar almost to the point that she would call it a fixation, but she supposed that it didn’t match the aesthetic of the evening gown.

She allowed him to seat her on a long ottoman as he pulled her hair back in a sleek pony tail, and gave her a pair of earrings to match. They trailed down from her lobes in a line of stones that ended just at her jaw. She was dressed far too nicely for dinner with her worst enemy, but what choice did she have? It was always best to cooperate until he made his intentions for the evening clear.

He led her through the twisting halls of the house until they came to the overly ornate dining room. She never understood why the house was so sumptuously decorated. She’d seen it during the many times she had run through the halls in many failed attempts to get away from the psychopath that made her life hell. It wasn’t as though he lived in the house. She’d figured that out pretty quickly. The house was completely unlived in. She didn’t know where he lived, but it wasn’t here.

He seated her at the table before going out to get the meal he had had prepared for them. Taehyung wasn’t much for cooking, but he found that the staff at Namjoon’s estate were more than willing to work with him, and they did a far better job of it than he could. He would have asked Jin to do it knowing that his hyung was an excellent cook, but Jin had been busy preparing for the journey to go and retrieve Namjoon’s wife. She’d finally been located in some dingy little village in Italy. More than that, she’d been found in the final stages of a pregnancy that could only have been Namjoon’s doing. His hyung was as ecstatic as he was angry to find her. He knew that Namjoon had always wanted to be a father, but it had to hurt knowing that his wife had run off with one of his enemies and was peacefully playing house with them. It didn’t matter though. Namjoon would have her and the baby home in no time just like Taehyung would have Aerie home where she belonged at long last.

They both remained silent for the beginning of the meal as they both cut into the steaks that Namjoon’s chef had prepared, but eventually, she couldn’t take the anticipation anymore, though she hated being the first one to crack.

“Why am I here?” She asked setting aside her cutlery as she stared him down from across the table.

“Can’t I just miss you?” He teased setting aside his own utensils. He chuckled seeing the completely unamused expression on her face. “No. You wouldn’t believe that would you? I have a proposition for you.”

“So you’ve said.” She grumbled crossing her arms under her breasts.

“I’ve enjoyed our games, baby. I really have, but I’ve grown tired of them.” He drawled leaning back dramatically with a long suffering sigh. “I want to put an end to them.”

He could see her brighten up at that staring at him with interest. “You’re going to let me go?”

He laughed at that finding her suggestion amusing. “Of course not. Why would I do that?”

“Then what do you mean?”

“I want to play one last game. If you win, I’ll let you go, for good.”

“And if I lose?” She asked her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“You come with me willingly. You surrender, be mine.” As she stiffened her mouth set in a thin line of dread, Taehyung couldn’t help but smile. “No more running. No more games. As simple as that.”

“And why would I agree to that?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “You don’t really have a choice. I could always take you by force.”  

“Like you haven’t before?” She scoffed her gaze taking on a hard, bitter edge.

“One last game.” He assured her even though he didn’t have any intention of playing fair. She didn’t need to know that though.

She eyed him weighing her options. On the one hand, he could be lying, but on the slim chance that he was telling the truth, she would be free of him. She’d never have to worry about him lurking in the shadows at every moment. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had been free of him. It would be like the sun coming out of months of rain, but there was a much greater chance that Taehyung was lying. It could just be another twisted part of his games, one designed to crush her hopes.  But on the off chance that he was actually telling the truth, that the offer was genuine, she had to take it.

“Fine.” She agreed reluctantly. “What kind of game do you have in mind?” She asked even as she began to wonder if this was the right move after all. She knew better than to underestimate him. She even had a few small scars as a reminder of that. 

A feral grin spread across his face as he registered her agreement. She didn’t trust that grin. It never preceded anything good. It was too manic as was the light in his eyes. They always shone too bright whenever he got excited, but his excitement always brought her pain. Even though his eyes were shining with that disconcerting glee, they were dark. It was like two black holes staring back at her ready to suck her into his madness. 

“You remember the mazes. Don’t you, little bird?”

A grimace spread across her features, but she nodded. She had extensive experience with the mazes that surrounded the house. They were Taehyung’s favorite game. He’d set her loose in them to run like a scared rabbit. Each time they were different, and she hated them more than anything. They were as dehumanizing as they were unfair. They changed even as she was in them. The walls moved at their master’s bidding, confusing and turning her around through the endless halls of greenery. 

“I remember.” 

“You’re aware by now that there is more than one maze.” He began leaning forward gleefully. Of course she knew. She had tried more than once to slip through the gates that separated the different parts of the labyrinth. “All three sections will be available to you tonight. I’ll give you a twenty minute head start before I follow you in.” 

That caught her attention in the worst sort of way. Taehyung hardly ever entered the maze. She could only recall him doing it once before when she’d fallen and twisted her ankle rather badly after trying to scale one of the hedges. He preferred to watch and taunt from the cameras and speakers hidden throughout the infernal maze. 

Her new found hesitance didn’t seem to deter him though. He continued with just as much enthusiasm as before. “If you can make it out of the maze before dawn, you win,” His grin got even wider excitement coursing through his veins. “But if you fail to solve the maze or I catch you before your time is over, you’re mine.” 

It seemed simple enough, but nothing was ever simple when it came to Taehyung, and this would be the first time that he had actively hunted her through the maze. While she would have the whole of the labyrinth at her disposal, Taehyung still held an unfair advantage. They were his mazes. He knew them far better than she did despite the many times she had run through the mazes. He made sure to change them before she ran a particular section again. She had no idea how large the full Maze would actually be or what sort of traps he had laid for her within it. 

“As simple as that?” She asked slowly, skeptically. 

In the past, if she could complete or beat his game, she was free to go. He would even have some faceless driver take her back to the city where she would run as far as she could as fast as she could even though she knew he would find her again. She had no more desilusiones of being able to hide from him permanently. It was the whole reason she had decided to agree to this despite the unfair odds. It was a chance for complete freedom. 

“As simple as that, little bird.” He purred dark eyes boring into her. “Shall we?” 

He was more than eager to begin. The sooner they started, the sooner she would be in his arms. He had everything prepared for her. 

He’d moved into the house that Namjoon had provided in the vicinity of the main estate. With Hoseok, Jin, Yoongi, and Namjoon all starting families of their own, Namjoon had formed a sort of gated community surrounding the main estate. There was a house for each of them. Hoseok had taken Iyla from the main estate to settle her into her new home before Namjoon and Jin returned with Y/N. Yoongi and his little family had moved into their designated house as well. Sen was thrilled with the space for their son to run around in, and Taehyung could hardly wait to fill his own house with little ones. They’d have to start right away once he took her home. He wanted a big family after all. They’d have to start soon if they were going to meet his goals. 

She nodded stiffly standing up from her chair. It was better to get it over with whether she was going to win or lose. If she won, it was all the better to have her freedom sooner. If she lost, it was better not to have her hopes up for too long. It would only prolong her heartache.

She was quick to leave the heels that had been foisted on her at the door. They would do her no good in the maze. Heels never worked well on the soft ground and the grass. They would only slow her down. If she was going to fail, she preferred it be because she had failed to solve the maze than give Taehyung the added satisfaction of catching her himself.

She was about to head into the maze through the entrance Taehyung had led her to when he pulled her back by the wrist. The jolt sent her flying back into his chest much to his delight.

“I’m giving you your head start, but I’ll see you soon.” She was going to bite back with an acerbic response, but Taehyung cut her off with a searing kiss, one she wanted to immediately wipe away, but that would have only served to make him angry, and she had no time to waste.

Without a word to him, she hiked up her skirts, disappearing into the maze.  Twenty minutes wasn’t a long time, and she had to make the best of it or regret it later.

She had never had the entirety of the maze open to her, and it made her apprehensive. Even one section of the maze was hard enough to master, let alone all three of them. Trick walls and dead ends littered the halls, and Taehyung always made sure that each time she entered the hedges that she’d find them just as difficult.

She rushed through the paths cursing the dress that Taehyung had dressed her up in. The slit at least provided her with free movement, but only the demon that was Kim Taehyung would force her to run a maze in an evening gown. He was over dramatic like that.

Another thing to curse was the abundance of dead ends that thwarted her at seemingly every turn. They forced her to back track far more often than she would have liked or was prudent. No matter where she turned, it seemed like she was only going in circles. As much as she hated him, she had to admit that he had pulled out all the stops for their final game.  

Taehyung had retreated into the house to wait out the twenty minutes before he could follow his little bird into the maze. Logically, he knew it wasn’t long to wait, but the anticipation made the minutes stretch on into eternity. He passed the time watching her on his phone. The cameras gave him an unfair advantage, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was more than happy to watch her wear herself out. He had always kept the maze at least somewhat fair, but he wasn’t willing to give her that advantage this time. He had promised her that if she could escape the labyrinth before dawn, she would be free, but there was no escape. The only exits lead straight back to the house, and making it back to the house did not count as solving the maze.

He knew it was unfair, but it didn’t matter. He was tired of waiting, and she would be his whether she liked it or not. This at least gave her the illusion of a chance. There would be no escaper for her.

When the twenty minutes had past, Taehyung took to the maze, leisurely strolling down its paths as he trailed after his prize. He had the advantage of his little spies and the trick walls. He could herd her however he liked with those. He had the entire labyrinth at his fingertips, and she would never even know. Or perhaps she would. She was a clever little bird, and he wouldn’t put it past her to have figured it out. It was one of the many things he loved about his little bird.

With every step he was brought closet to her, he made sure of it. Doors were strategically closed guiding her towards dead ends and herding her back towards him. There was no need for him to strain himself. His poor Aerie was going to be exhausted before the evening was over, but that wouldn’t stop her from putting up a fight. He expected he’d have to carry her back to the house whether it was because she refused to come or from sheer exhaustion. It didn’t matter to him. She’d be in his arms either way.

It was easy to catch up to her with how much backtracking his meddling had forced her to do, but Taehyung wasn’t finished playing yet.

“Give up, little bird!” He called out knowing she was just on the other side of the hedge. “I’m going to find you!” A grin spread across his features as he heard the sound of her taking off further into the maze.

Perfect. She was headed directly to the center of the maze. He’d catch her there, and even if he didn’t, it wouldn’t be long until he caught her, not when he could see her every move.

“Come out, come out where ever you are!” He trilled out turning a corner and catching the faintest glimpse of her ankle as she ran around a different corner.

“Wouldn’t it be so much easier just to give up?” He cooed driving her further into the maze. It would be easier to subdue her when she was tired, and with the way she had been running around, she was bound to be exhausted. “I know you’re tired, little bird.” He sang catching another glimpse of her turning a corner. “You’ve done so well, but it’s time to go home. Don’t you want to go home, little bird?”

Her heart was pounding against her chest as she ran further into the maze. Taehyung’s words hounded her every step pushing her forward as panic coursed through her veins. Even if she was going to lose, she wasn’t going to go willingly. He’d have to drag her back. And with every step she was regretting her decision to run the maze. It felt less like a chance and more as if he was toying with her. He was always toying with her.

“Come on, little bird!” He called again drawing nearer excitement coursing through him as he pushed her towards the end game.

She burst through the path and into what had to be the center of the maze. There was a fountain there and two other paths leading out, but just as she made to run towards one of them, a gate slammed shut. She made for the other path only for the same thing to happen. There was only one way out, and she could hear Taehyung coming down that path calling out to her.

“No!” She shrieked pulling at the wrought iron of the gate trying to force it open, but it was no use. The door wouldn’t budge.

“Awww,” she could hear her tormenters deep voice coo, far too close by for comfort. “It looks like you’re trapped, little bird.”

She whirled around to face him eyes wide and chest heaving. “You cheated.” She hissed hands gripping the bars behind her as though to stabilize herself.

“I never said I wouldn’t.” He shrugged strolling towards her. “Game over.”

“You cheated!” She snarled again though her back was pressed against the bars in the hope that she’d somehow slip through them A foolish hope. He wouldn’t allow her to escape, not now.

He held out a hand to her smiling brightly as he beckoned her forward. “Come along, little bird. It’s time to go home.”

[journalxxx]

By Hook or by Crook (7)

“So! How does it look?” Toshinori asked, with a booming voice and his best hands-on-hips pose to kickstart the endeavor with a healthy dose of enthusiasm.

He wasn’t particularly successful. 

“Daunting. Impossible. Like I’m gonna die of old age before I’m anywhere close to making a change.”

“A little optimism goes a long way, you know?”

“...I may not die before I’ve lugged away some of this.” Midoriya amended tentatively, scanning the extensive length of garbage-filled beach stretching before them. “And… what doesn’t kill me will make me stronger?”

“That’s the spirit!” Toshinori gave him a pat on the back, strong enough to make the boy stammer forwards. He walked around the back of the truck and started unloading the few supplies he’d brought.

“Wear these.” Toshinori threw him a pair of work gloves. He hoped he’d eyeballed the size right. “I trust you’re up to date with all your vaccines.”

“Uhm.”

“Hopefully no one’s dumping organic waste in here, but I’ll bring some traps if you see any rats. They won’t solve the problem, but it’s better than letting them scurry around freely.”

Midoriya’s eyes darted between the gloves and the beach with muted horror. “R-Rats?”

“Scared of rats?” Toshinori couldn’t help but tease. “Did I mention that I had to wade through the sewers for half an hour before finding you and the sludge villain the other day?”

Midoriya instantly looked mortified. “I-I’m sorry-”

“Not your fault! Don’t apologize!” Toshinori tossed his hands in the air. This kid desperately needed to learn the basic mechanics of humor. “I’m just saying that heroes can’t be squeamish! Rats come with the job, as well as a variety of nasty stuff and filth.”

“Right.” Midoriya followed him as Toshinori, cooler in one hand and bag of papers in the other, sat down on the last steps of the stairs. He picked an egg sandwich for himself and fished a folder out of the bag, opening it on his thighs and starting to read it.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Midoriya was still staring at him, as if awaiting further instructions.

“Well? Have at it!” Toshinori gestured widely at his new playground.

“Oh, uhm, okay.” The kid donned the gloves and took a single step towards the piles before pausing to look at Toshinori again. “I thought you wanted to ask me… stuff.”

“Yes, but I’m not sure you can handle working and talking at the same time without building up some stamina first.” Toshinori answered, eyeing the boy’s scrawny frame critically. “We’ll talk while you’ll be taking a break to catch a breather, which is probably going to happen sooner rather than later.”

“Oh… All right.” Midoriya turned away, his arms hanging limply from hunched shoulders as he muttered to himself.  “...Where do I even start...?”

“From the small things. Working your way up to the heavier objects.” Toshinori explained patiently, then gave him a pointed look. “I get the feeling you’re procrastinating.”

The boy approached the closest stack… and did nothing. Was he ever going to stop waffling and get cracking? “Meanwhile, you’ll just, uh… do your own thing?”

“Surely you don’t need me to guide you through the elaborate process of moving objects from point A to point B, do you?” Maybe the kid detected the hint of annoyance in Toshinori’s voice, because he finally, finally set to grab the closest piece of junk- “...Oh. Okay, that’s not a great start.”

“What?” Midoriya stopped halfway through picking up what was probably the first electric fan ever invented, all the way back in the Iron Age. “I haven’t even done anything yet!”

“Bend your knees, not your back. Otherwise you’re going to- do you really not know this? Isn’t the correct way to lift weights Household Chores 101?”

“Oh, right, I know.” Midoriya rearranged his stance in a way that was less likely to earn him a slipped disk within the next two hours. “Do people really lift things like this though? It’s… a lot harder than the normal way.”

“For your legs, yes. For your back, no. You’ll thank me when you’ll be old enough to realize you aren’t made out of rubber.”

Toshinori munched slowly while he watched the kid carry his first loads to the truck. That act alone seemed to distract Midoriya to an amusing degree, his gaze often flicking to meet Toshinori’s eyes for just a moment before shooting back in front of him with blatant self-consciousness. Toshinori allowed the boy a few minutes of warm-up, just the time for him to finish his sandwich and sip a small cup of apple juice, before deciding to kick things into proper gear.

“Running from the truck to the heaps and vice versa would help you gain some endurance too, rather than leisurely strolling back and forth.” Toshinori commented as Midoriya walked past him. 

The kid stopped in his tracks and regarded him with a mix of horror and aversion that vaguely reminded him of death-row inmates when faced with their executioners.

“What?” Toshinori went on, unperturbed. “Are you expecting to get fit without getting tired?”

“No, of course not-”

“Besides, you’ll need to keep a swift pace if you want to clear the whole beach before the admission exam.”

“Wha- All of it?! Before the…” Midoriya sputtered, arms wrapping more tightly around the broken chair he was holding as if that was supporting him instead of the other way around. “Y-You never said…”

“But of course! They don’t do things by half measures in U.A., so why should you?” Toshinori grinned. “Plus Ultra, am I right?” 

Midoriya let out an incredulous chuckle. “You’re kidding, right? There’s no way I can do something like that...”

“Depends on how much elbow grease you’re willing to put into it.”

Midoriya’s expression shifted minutely as he caught onto Toshinori’s seriousness. “But… but that’s impossible! No matter how hard I work, I can’t- I can’t move stuff like that!” He griped, pointing at the wrecked husk of a van half-buried under a mound of assorted refuse. “Even if I do my best-”

“And pray tell, what’s your best?” Toshinori stood up and walked to the kid, ditching the whimsical demeanor. If playful cajoling wasn’t enough to stir him, maybe it was time to bust out the big guns. “What’s the heaviest you can lift? The fastest you can run? The hardest you can push yourself? When’s the last time you actually tried your very best, and how did it fall short?”

Toshinori was already well and truly spent for the day, but he let the provocation and drive in his words stoke the fire within him, and it flared. The Symbol of Peace broke out of his diminutive shell among dramatic wisps of steam, ready to bestow his wisdom more effectively than his rickety counterpart ever could.

“Do you know what’s the only way to gauge your limits? Reaching them. And the only way to get stronger?“ Toshinori held out his arm between them, and clenched his fist resolutely. He relished the sensation of unyielding muscles tensing and bulging under his skin, tangible proof of the truth of his assertions. “Gritting your teeth and smashing past them! Little by little, but constantly!”

Midoriya had only witnessed that transformation once, poorly and by accident, and it showed. The chair had slipped from his hands without him even noticing, and now lay forgotten at his feet on the bare sand. The kid was gawking at him with wide eyes and mouth agape, the very picture of spellbound rapture. It was far from an unfamiliar reaction from whoever was graced by the Symbol of Peace’s presence, and yet it was still flattering, every time.

“You’ll never improve if you keep dwelling on what you think you can do now. Focus on what you want to do next. Visualize it as a clear goal. Build an image out of it, and then carve it in reality. If you really want that van to move, then it will move. If you really want this beach to be clear, then it will be. But you have to put your back, sweat and heart into making it happen!”

All Might captivated his one-man audience with the usual effortlessness, boisterous showmanship and honest positivity deeply intertwined in a way that boggled his detractors’ minds, but that felt so natural and appropriate to Toshinori. He’d made an art out of it, down to the rumble of his voice and the firmness of his gestures and the levity of his attitude, the art of highlighting and displaying the very best parts of himself so that they could resonate louder, better, brighter.

“So what will it be, young Midoriya? Will you clean up this place within the next ten months or not?”

“Y-Yes. I will.” That had done the trick. It was obvious from the way Midoriya’s back straightened and his expression toughened. It was obvious from the spark kindled in his eyes, a reflection of Toshinori’s own passion, still lacking in heat but full of potential.

“Then you’d better get down to it!” The hero sealed the deal with a radiant smile and a thumbs up. “Time’s a-wastin’!”

“Yes, sir!” Midoriya picked up the chair and dashed towards the truck to unload it there, then he immediately bounced back down the stairs and towards the nearest heap of waste. Toshinori observed the boy’s next rounds with his unwavering smile and few approving nods that kept the kid a bit lighter on his feet.

How much easier it was for All Might to touch people’s hearts. How much easier to inspire, to reassure, to nurture. How much easier everything was for All Might, really. If only that shining beacon of hope wasn’t shackled by the whims of a withering body, how much richer society at large would be for it. 

Toshinori let out a deep exhale that took more than just air out of him, and the flame settled down to a low glow. He couldn’t hold back a few wet coughs, and he promptly turned his shrunken back on Midoriya’s concerned glance to sit back on the cool steps.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more than motivation to strength training. Right off the bat, Toshinori could tell that Midoriya wasn’t going to last twenty full minutes of workout. He honestly didn’t know that an ostensibly healthy individual could reach the ripe age of fourteen with such poor body awareness. The boy had coordination and balance on par with a toddler’s: he stumbled on his feet, he tripped on sand, he nearly fell off the stairs twice before realizing that trying to climb them while his view was obstructed by the very items he was carrying might be a less than optimal solution. He seemed to be unaware of the existence of entire muscle groups, and Toshinori had to physically get up and mime movements for him to understand how to exert force more efficiently. Not to mention that he needed incessant needling lest his sprints quickly devolved into lax jogs. 

This whole training thing was going to be… an interesting experience, Toshinori could already tell.

Exactly sixteen and a half minutes later, the boy all but collapsed on the stairs beside Toshinori, gasping for air and wiping his forehead on his sleeve.

“B-Break?” He pleaded, quite redundantly. 

Toshinori took pity on his plight and pushed the cooler in his direction. “Have a drink.”

“Oh, thank you…” The lack of polite refusal made Toshinori suspect that Midoriya had forgotten to bring his own water. 

“There’s sports drinks and fruit juice in there too. Save the snacks for after you’re finished, food and heavy workouts don’t always agree with each other.” Toshinori had packed food primarily for himself, expecting their after-school meeting to last long enough for him to slot in one or two meals in the meantime, but he had taken care of adding a few extras for the kid. A good idea, because the possibility of Midoriya face planting on the ground halfway through out of sheer exhaustion seemed more and more likely by the minute.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to…”

“I promised bribes, didn’t I?” 

Midoriya flashed him the tiniest smile, and eagerly drank some water while Toshinori retrieved a small journal and a pen from the other bag. He skimmed through the list of preliminary topics he’d scribbled on the first page under Tsukauchi’s advice, wondering which one he should tackle first.

“All right.” Deciding to follow his instinct in spite of basic common sense, Toshinori decided to begin from the end. “These phone calls of yours. Give me an idea of what they’re like. The last one you had with your father was on April 1st, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me about it. Everything you talked about, as precisely as you can remember it.”

The good thing was that Midoriya’s memory was very accurate, and he was able to recall the whole conversation basically step by step. The less good thing was that said conversation was largely commonplace and unremarkable, consisting of very ordinary small talk and inquiries about school, grades, news, local events-

“Quirks?”

“Mh-hm.” The boy nodded. “We always end up talking about quirks, in one way or another. Quirks and heroes. It’s always been… a common interest.”

“Always, uh?”

“Yeah, we’ve been doing it since… forever, really. I’ve always found quirks fascinating, and he has lots of great insight to offer.”

“I can imagine...” Toshinori mumbled. Asking who had initiated that habit was probably pointless, it sounded like it had started too early in the boy’s life for him to remember - or even to understand if he had been deliberately led to develop that interest. Some intriguing nature-versus-nurture speculations could be made on the matter, but they weren’t likely to aid Tsukauchi’s case. “And in what way do you talk about them?”

“We… analyze them, discuss them. What is known for sure about a certain quirk, what can be deduced from footage and descriptions of its use, what its unmentioned limitations might be, how it could be further developed… You saw my notebook, right? Basically the kind of stuff that’s in there.”

“Wait.” Toshinori blinked. Could he have already stumbled into a treasure trove of All For One-certified information? “You mean that all that’s written in that notebook was dictated by your father?”

The kid almost choked on his next gulp of water, and shot Toshinori an almost offended look. “No! No, no, it’s all stuff I found out on my own! Well, almost all of it, there are some additions of his here and there, but… Uh, I’d say at least 90% of it is mine, and 10% of it is his… Actually, more like 95% and 5%-”

Well, that sounded less promising, but it was still a lead. “So he’s been basically teaching you how to conduct your own quirk analyses?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say teaching. I wish our school teachers were that engaging...” Midoriya let out a small sigh. “But I guess we do go about it a little like with school essays. Research, deadline, discussion and all that…”

“Pardon?”

“Well, every month we decide which heroes or quirks we’re going to talk about the next time - back in March we chose Hawks, Kido and Snatch for last month’s call, for example. During the rest of the month we gather information and draw our conclusions, and then we compare them during the next chat.”

“You’ve got quite the well-oiled routine going on there, haven’t you?”

“Actually, I think it’s just to give me a chance to make my own deductions with a clear head instead of on the fly.” Midoriya scratched said tousled head in embarrassment. “I bet he doesn’t even need to do any research, he’s always on the top of his game. I’ve never been able to, uh… one-up him, you know? He always knows what I’m driving at, and somehow he always brings my hypotheses two or three steps further than where I stop.”

Toshinori answered with a non-committal hum. No surprise there, the man was a living quirk storeroom complete with its own self-congratulatory, sentient database. “You don’t seem too bothered by it though.”

“Oh, I’m not. It’s not like he’s ever… disappointed or angry or anything, even if I don’t get stuff. He just enjoys chatting, I guess.” That he surely did, Toshinori grimly thought. Way too much. “And I do too. It’s kind of like a game. Or a challenge.”

“A challenge?”

“Yeah, uh… How can I explain…?” The boy drummed his fingers on the bottle as he collected his thoughts. “Okay, for example: one of the first things dad asked me about Hawks was what shape his wings are, and what I could deduce from that about his flight capabilities. Which was a trick question! I knew it as soon as I heard it, because I’d already figured out the real answer during my research.”

“Ah.” Toshinori blinked. “And… how is that a trick question, exactly?”

“Because Hawks doesn’t actually fly! Not like a bird, at least, so his wing shape doesn’t matter!” Midoriya beamed, and suddenly Toshinori realized that that was the first real, genuine, enthusiastic smile the boy had given him since they’d met. And, without exaggeration, not crying, panicking or grimacing made him look almost like an entirely different person. “He simply can’t! Humans can’t fly even if you stick a pair of wings to them, they’re just too heavy! Other heroes who can fly properly are mostly transformers, like Ryukyu - their whole bodies change when they shift, bone structure and all - but Hawks’ body is entirely human if you exclude his wings.”

Midoriya reached for his backpack and drew out the same charred notebook Toshinori had signed days earlier. An item so vital to the kid’s daily life that he always had it with him, apparently, even more essential than beverages during a workout session. A peculiar, if questionable, trait.

“What Hawks actually does isn’t flying, it’s levitating!” The kid held the notebook open before Toshinori’s eyes on a spread page dedicated to the hero in question. “He uses the second facet of his quirk, the telekinesis that allows him to control his feathers singularly! That also explains his incredible speed, which is completely unjustifiable if you only take into account normal bird flight aerodynamics. His propulsion is powered by his feathers - and each of them is quite speedy and powerful on its own, so it stands to reason that he would be lightning-fast when his wings contain so many of them pushing him in unison!”

Toshinori politely elected to wait for the onslaught of words to subside on its own, although he already suspected that it was a little like standing right under a waterfall and waiting for someone higher up to turn off the faucet.

“That said, that doesn’t explain everything about his quirk… For example, a single feather of his is capable of lifting and transporting an adult person, that has been extensively documented. Yet, he loses the ability to levitate relatively soon after dispatching too many of them - he becomes unable to float even when he still has at least several dozens of them attached to his body. We couldn’t figure out why that happens with the information we have. Maybe it’s harder for him to apply his power to himself, that is often the case for emitters. Maybe it messes with his proprioception, and he can’t control the feathers he hasn’t detached as finely as all the others…”

If there was one thing Toshinori was absolutely certain of at this point, it was that the kid wasn’t short on breath any more. “And this is the part you inferred on your own.”

“Yep! And dad agreed with all of it!” Midoriya’s smile grew even wider. It was astonishing how much it didn’t look like dad’s deranged, shark-like, nightmare-inducing sneer, and Toshinori could only send a quiet thanks to the heavens for that. “This is all guesswork though. Do you… by any chance, do you know if we were on the right track? I’d be really curious to know…”

“Ah, I can’t help you there, kid.” Toshinori felt suddenly on the spot. “I’m not acquainted with Hawks, nor do I know more about his quirk than the average person.”

“Oh, I thought… Since you’re both- I mean, I thought All Might may have met him during the billboard chart events, what with them both being in the top ten.”

“We passed by each other, yes, but we were never properly introduced. He wasn’t particularly interested in rubbing elbows with the old guard, I suppose.”

“Oh. Well, that’s his loss, for sure.” Midoriya, funnily enough, pouted. “Pity, I was wondering… Even if he doesn’t fly, he does flap his wings in a way that resembles a bird’s. I wonder if that’s intentional, to mislead opponents and prevent them from figuring out how he actually moves. Or maybe he does it subconsciously…”

“I’m afraid I really don’t know…” Toshinori had never met Hawks on the field either, it wasn’t common for accidents to require more than a single big-name hero to intervene these days. Especially if one of them was the number one, who often showed up first and invariably solved any incident in mere minutes-

Toshinori suddenly came back to himself and almost facepalmed in frustration. Why was he letting himself be interrogated about completely irrelevant hero trivia? He was the one asking questions! God, he was bad at this. “And your father had nothing to contribute about all this?”

“Not about this specifically, but he did raise a point I hadn’t considered.” Midoriya looked up at the sky, once again lost in his very wordy, very deep lucubrations. “Hawks has an astonishing control on his quirk. He can use his telekinesis to move hundreds of feathers at once, to sense his surroundings, he can even harden them and turn them into weapons. He made Fierce Wings into an incredibly versatile ability, and he’s so young too… And yet, there’s no record of him attending any hero school or training facility in Japan, nor abroad. He claims to be self-taught, but… admittedly, it is hard to believe. One would think he must have had some excellent education and tutoring to make it into the top ten when he was only eighteen…”

Toshinori didn’t reply. Midoriya looked back at him when the silence stretched, and whatever he spied on Toshinori’s face made him immediately backpedal. “I-I mean, it’s odd, but, uh… not suspicious per se, nor a sign of anything… weird or bad about him. There are many heroes who, ehr, prefer to keep their personal history private, especially geniuses, and that’s fine! They have all the right to! Same goes for their quirks, it makes total sense-”

Toshinori massaged his left temple slowly. Right, better just nip this topic in the bud before it got irredeemably out of hand. 

He peered again at the notebook in Midoriya’s hands. So All For One had been imparting occasional, amicable quirk analysis lessons to the kid for a good decade, which sounded suspiciously like the kind of knowledge a potential underling or successor might use. On the other hand, Toshinori could think of a million other ways for the Symbol of Fear to instil skills in his son - all of them remarkably more efficient, safe, manageable and ruthless. The whole thing was contradictory in a way that didn’t sit right with Toshinori.

“Mind if I take another look at that?” Toshinori had been in a bit of a rush the first time round, and he’d only taken a cursory glance at the contents of Midoriya’s notes. But if there was a chance of those pages containing words uttered by All For One himself, a more thorough examination was in order.

“Not at all! But, uh…” Midoriya was fast to hand out the item, but his eagerness to assist was even faster to dampen. “Are you going to retain this as evidence too?”

“Mh, I don’t think that will be necessary...” Right, the poor kid’s house had probably been ransacked even further after Toshinori and Tsukauchi’s first pass. No wonder he was worried about losing this prized possession too. “But if it will be, I can make a copy of it for you to keep, so you won’t lose all your, uh, data.”

“Oh, thanks! That would be great!” The kid perked up instantly. He was so easy to please. “Although… I guess I should make a copy of it myself anyway. It’s already kind of… unrecoverable. I could detach the pages with All Might’s sign and preserve those separately, and just photocopy everything else…”

Toshinori’s imagination mercilessly supplied him with the picture of a new addition to Midoriya’s bedroom decor, his five-second poorly-made signature hung to a wall in an elegant frame. He repressed a groan, deliberately neglected to point out that he could simply provide as many new authentic signs as needed, and directed his attention back to the scorched edges of the notebook. “Right… What happened to this thing, anyway? Did someone put it in a toaster?”

Midoriya let out a totally not nervous chuckle as he wrung his hands in a totally not nervous fashion. “Oh, uhm... You know…” Toshinori didn’t, actually, but the kid didn’t elaborate either. 

Well, he was allowed to have a modicum of privacy, still. Toshinori let the issue drop, and nudged the boy with his foot. “You seem well rested. Back to the trash you go.”

Midoriya shuffled to his feet less than enthusiastically, and resumed toiling away at his task. While still checking on him often, ready to poke and prod at the first hint of sluggishness, Toshinori browsed through the kid’s notebook. While the contents were indeed worthy of attention, they were scarce in quantity. It must be rather new, since less than a quarter of the pages had been filled. However, the promise of more material to be discovered made Toshinori withhold his judgement on the matter for the time being.

Once that was done, he continued his perusal of the few files Tsukauchi had already put together about the Midoriya case. Toshinori had practically begged his friend to let him have an active role, any active role in the case: he simply couldn’t bear to twiddle his thumbs until someone else kindly pointed him to All For One’s hideout for another overdue thrashing. He simply needed to be involved, or he’d probably start crawling up walls within a week.

Questioning the kid was pretty much the only suitable occupation for him, currently… Well, it was either that or questioning Mrs. Midoriya, and Toshinori was fairly sure that his brain would leak out of his ears if he heard any more details about All For One’s romantic escapades. He wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to investigative work, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he was going to spare no effort to earn some results. If that meant poring over reams of police reports in the hopes of spotting some helpful clue, so be it. At least it would keep him busy, and busy was good, especially in trying times.

He’d applied the same logic to Midoriya, in a sense. The boy seemed the kind of person who’d very easily overthink himself into a negative spiral, even in less dire circumstances than the messy family drama he’d found himself into. It would do him good to focus on a better future, rather than on his depressing present. Giving him a goal to set his sights on would keep him going more smoothly. 

At first Toshinori had thought to motivate him towards his dream career, but it turned out that the boy’s strategy about the admission test was… nebulous at best. Not that he could truly blame him for it: fourteen-year-old Toshinori didn’t exactly have a multi-step plan towards becoming the Symbol of Peace either, one couldn’t help being somewhat scatterbrained at that age. 

The illegal dumping site had been a serendipitous discovery, and cleaning it up was the perfect type of goal to incite the boy towards. It was very obvious and straightforward, and required no intricate planning: he simply needed to roll up his sleeves and buckle down. And the muscle he’d build while doing it would serve him well for heroic purposes too, so it was a win-win on all fronts. Not to mention that some good old physical exertion would help him sleep at night, which he was still struggling with, if the persistent bags under his eyes were of any indication. Toshinori dearly missed the times when that trick still worked on him too, when driving himself to the brink of exhaustion was a guaranteed one-way ticket to restful and regenerative dreamland. Nowadays, if he accumulated even a sliver of excessive fatigue, all he got was… well, fatigue. And a metric ton of unrelenting body pains and lasting debilitation.

The rest of the afternoon went by smoothly and unremarkably. Midoriya drudged through many rounds of garbage disposal with decreasing energy and verve, but that was to be expected. Toshinori collected more barely relevant and generally useless information, but that was to be expected too. They were both in for the long haul, there was no point in getting upset about it. Eventually the sun started to set, and Toshinori beckoned the boy back to him with a handwave.

“You have more of these?” Toshinori said, tapping his index on the big 13 on the cover of the notebook still on his lap.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Could you bring them with you next time?”

“All of them?” Midoriya seemed frazzled. 

“If you still have them, yes. Would that be a problem?”

The boy scratched his head as his cheek reddened slightly. “N-No, not a problem, but some of them are really… I finished the first one when I was seven. They aren't just outdated, they’re… ehr, childish. Just doodles and misspelled ramblings.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I’ll be grading them.” Not yet, at least. Toshinori smirked at his own private joke. Maybe he should grade them, as a small practice run. “I just want to give a quick read to a few things here and there.”

“O-Okay…”

“Good. Well, I think we can call it a day.” Toshinori rummaged in his cooler to fetch a chocolate energy bar, and tossed it to the exhausted boy. “Catch.”

Despite the warning, Midoriya did not catch, and the snack bumped against his chest and fell to the ground with a sad clack. Reflexes were MIA too, apparently. What a rare specimen of a prospective hero Toshinori had crossed paths with.

“T-Thank you!” Midoriya immediately picked it up, unwrapped it and shoved it into his mouth as he hopped into the passenger seat of the truck. Whether it was real hunger or fear of passing as rude, Toshinori couldn’t tell.

The drive to Midoriya’s house was brief. The boy was too tired to chat - as if they hadn’t already had their fill for the day. When they arrived and Midoriya climbed out of the vehicle to be on his way, Toshinori finally addressed one last pressing issue.

“Tomorrow your father is going to call you.”

“Yeah.” The kid’s eyes dropped to the ground. Maybe Toshinori should have brought it up sooner. Way to end the meeting on a sour note.

“How are you going to handle that?”

“I’m not.” The boy shrugged. “Mom will tell him I just got my tonsils removed. It's… safer for now. I think.”

Toshinori nodded. “Let’s take a day off then. Even if you can’t speak, he might want to say something to you, and it would be strange for you not to be at home while recovering.”

“Okay.”

He looked so very small, and so very young like that, bathed in the warm hues of sunset, but with no real warmth to his eyes and demeanor. He was too small and too young to be dealing with this shit. No one was old or big enough to deal with any of All For One’s shit, really. Toshinori would have to make sure no one would have to ever again.

“Thank you for your help today. It’s very appreciated, believe me.” Toshinori offered, with his most sincere smile. “Feel free to text me or Tsukauchi if anything comes up, you should be able to reach at least one of us at any hour of day or night.”

“Okay. Thank you. Have a good evening.”

“You too, kid.” Toshinori watched him until the door of his house closed behind his back, then he drove off.

[headcanonsandhijinx]

I watched a few clips from ‘Black Widow’ and this au just popped into my head. (Be warned, this whole is incredibly messy and disjointed. I apologise for that. I’m just writing this as it pops into my head in a stream of consciousness because I’m kinda tired rn.)

Black Widow/Winter Soldier Wild AU

Can you imagine if when Wild’s really young and is discovered to be the hero, he’s just ripped away from his family and life to be trained as the hero. Except the training is pretty much just training him to be an obedient assassin who does whatever he is ordered to. He’s essentially got the training of Black Widow and the Winter Soldier and is just used by the royal family for whatever they want him to do basically.

***

I imagine parts of his training be things like…

1. The obvious weapons training. He’s trained with pretty much any weapon you can find in Hyrule until he’s a master at all of them. Sword, spear, bow and arrow, bommerang, etc.

2. Hand to hand combat as well. Again, he’s pretty much mastered it.

3. Pain resistance. He’s basically trained to ignore pain and they did this by beating him over and over until he learned not to flinch and show a physical reaction.

4. He speaks pretty much every language in Hyrule (Hylian, Goron, Gerudo, Rito, Zora, and Sheikah) fluently.

5. Any other stuff you can think of that he could be trained in basically.

***

Of course, as the hero he’s still Zelda’s bodyguard, they just never get along like they start to in the game before the Calamity awakens. Mainly because Wild has to follow her father’s every order and, like in canon, she hates that she has to be protected and feels useless because she can’t access her goddess given powers. And because Wild literally doesn’t even have the freedom to even think for himself, there isn’t really anyway for them to bond, so Zelda never ends up becoming nice to him like she is after he rescues her from the Yiga attack in one of the memories. (Yeah, this AU probably isn’t going to be super Zelda friendly, basically for more angst purposes when the LU boys come in).

A way to make the situation worse is by having all the champions, even Revali as much as he teases, be deeply uncomfortable by the way Wild is treated by the royal family. (I kinda imagine Revali still being a prick but he’s a bit nicer to Wild then he is in canon.) When they all first visit Hyrule Castle and see how he basically is treated more like a tool than a person, they are all absolutely furious. They all end up volunteering to train Wild in their various fighting styles as a way to get him away from the castle and his orders for a bit so that they can actually treat him kindly. But they treat him so differently to how he’s treated back in the castle that he’s actually confused by them treating him kindly. They’d all gotten back to their respective quarters that night and shed a few tears, the boy didn’t even know proper kindness.

The champions just see Wild as a member of their family and, although he doesn’t say it, he becomes fond of them too. He’s like a brother to all of them. They hate having to leave him to go and prepare the Divine Beasts and pray they see him soon.

Calamity Ganon rises.

The champions are killed in their respective Divine Beasts, and the makeshift family they had with Wild is broken apart.

Wild runs across a muddy field in torrential rain with Zelda’s hand in one of his and the Master Sword in his other. He’s running on nothing but orders and adrenaline. He has several cracked ribs, his left arm is broken even as he grips Zelda’s hand, there is blood pouring out of several cuts and gashes across his body, but still he keeps running. He has too, his body will not allow him to stop as he was ordered to run and protect the princess. She is his mission and he cannot fail.

But moments after Zelda finally unlocks her powers as she shields them from a guardian, he fails his mission. He collapses under the weight of his injuries and moments later, he dies in the middle of Hyrule Field. He has failed his mission and Hyrule has fallen. (Sorry, I don’t really know when I slipped into story mode there?)

But Zelda still manages to have him placed him the resurrection shrine as they still need him, and so, 100 years later, Wild wakes up.

The whole thing gets sadder if you imagine Wild’s training being so strong that it sticks after his resurrection. He doesn’t even understand it, he just hears a voice in his head yelling at him to not do this and not do that. (Extra sad thing, the reason he does all the side quests is because Zelda is the highest authority figure in Hyrule, but as she’s trapped in the castle and unable to give him orders, Wild just obeys anyone because he assumes that they’re a higher ranking than him, even though they are just normal people. And most of the time, they aren’t giving him orders they are asking for help, but he just doesn’t know the difference.)

Anyway, Wild completes his mission and defeats Calamity Ganon and everything seems okay. He’s still at Zelda’s side as she’s the current ruler and part of his programming is to obey the current monarch. They still don’t really get along, but Zelda is trying to be kind to him now, but I imagine that it’s just kind of too late for that now.

However, everything changes when the LU gang turn up (finally!) and look for this Hyrule’s hero, they do find him. But they just don’t expect him to be an emotionless 118 year old assassin. They talk with Zelda to discuss their quest and she says that Wild can go with them, blah blah blah. So they take Wild with them on their quest and just get more and more outraged the more they find out about him (oh, also Wild is mute in this and uses sign language.)

Since Time seems to be the leader of the group, Wild starts to treat him like he treats Zelda. Listens to whatever he says as Wild sees it as an order, protects him more during fights, that kinda stuff and it breaks Time’s heart when he figures it out.

Also i imagine that it’s also really strange for Wild to visit the other Hyrules and meet the other Zelda’s who have great relationships with their respective Links, because he doesn’t have that with his Zelda. (Although, I do see Malon immediately taking a liking to him and wanting to hug the poor boy, which would be super emotional for him as he hasn’t been hugged in years and can’t even remember his own mother).

***

But there are two times that the gang really learn how much his training messed him up and oh boy, are they fucking fuming!

The first time happened when Wild gets stabbed during a fight and doesn’t even flinch. Nobody notices until after the fight when they all sit at the camp fire that night and Wild just starts sewing his wound up as they all watch in horror. Hyrule asks why he never said he was injured and Wild says ‘it wasn’t important.’ And doesn’t understand why they make a fuss and insist he wastes a healing potion on himself (yes, Wild has an absolutely crap self-esteem here and doesn’t actually think he’s worth anything other than what he can do for people.) Hyrule has to be stopped from tackling Wild to check on the wound himself.

The second was when Wild put himself in danger during a fight to protect the others and when the fight was over Time yelled at him. It was out of concern for Wild’s wellbeing and asking why him had put himself in danger, but Wild thought he was in trouble and asked if Time wanted to punish him. Everyone, especially Time, was horrified and confused. Time asked what Wild meant by punishment and then almost wished he’d never asked. Wild just went into explanations of various punishments he’s had. They were all incredibly harsh, including being whipped, having to stand outside holding a sword outstretched in his hands all night while not being allowed to lower his arms, having to fight other full-armoured and equiped soldiers without any armour or weapons himself, etc. Wild is then the subject of a very big cuddle pile.

***

Basically this AU can be summed up as Black Widow/Winter Soldier Wild gets treated nicely for the first time in years and is very confused/uncomfortable, while the gang all immediately see Wild and are like ‘ahh yes, our amnesiac assassin now’ while they try to convince him that there is more to him than just being a puppet for people. Of course, while the quest with the black blooded monsters takes place as well.