#but under the yellow lights it makes it *chefs kiss* to me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

plush-rabbit · 3 years ago

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The Brothers + Diavolo Making You Flustered

Request: Hi!hi! The aphrodisiac writing was absolutely *chefs kiss*. I have this habit of when I get embarrassed/flustered I immediately bury my face into the surface in front of me. Like if I’m sitting on the floor I’ll lean over and bury my face on the carpet, sitting at a table I’ll lean over and plant my face on the surface etc. How do you think the brothers (+diavolo if that’s okay) would react to seeing MC do that for the first time when they make them flustered? You’re so talented by the way! ily!

Word Count: 1K each

A/N: I hope you like this!! It was a bit difficult since i didn't want to make everything the same, but yeah!!

Lucifer:

His sleeves are rolled up, flour coating the tips of his fingers and dusting across his apron, and the smell of garlic and onion fills the room. It smells lovely, it smells like a home. You stand beside Lucifer, watching as the water boils, bubbles fizzling out and steam rising. A box of noodles is held in your hands, your eyes peering over to where the bread is held in his hands. Your tongue peeks between your lips- it’s a soft pink, tinged with blue from candy and for a moment, he forgets himself, wanting to taste the candy that rests on your tongue, wishing that he were your lips to feel the gentle caress of your tongue.

“Remind me what we’re making again?” You ask, sniffing at the pot, only to scrunch your nose at the scent. “And why it’s us making it?”

“A Devildom dish,” he responds, giving a side glance. “It’s similar enough to a human cousine, so you needn’t worry about it being anything unsavory.” He turns to you, his smile almost teasing. “And we’re making it because it’s our turn on cooking duty.”

“If you wanted to spend time with me, you could always ask.” While your words are true, he tries to hold his composure, not wanting to reveal that you had hit the nail on its head. “You don’t have to assign us both to cooking duty. It’s pretty sneaky for you, dear Lucifer.” Your hand pats at his back and he promptly turns away from you

Walking away from you, he starts the timer on the oven, the preheat button lights up as the oven begins to glow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I drew our names on a complete random.” He turns to you, his smile making you unable to see what he’s really thinking. “Do you not wish to spend time with me?” he asks cooly, walking towards you. Despite the flour on his hands that dusts over his face, and the apron wrapped around him, he still holds an aura of confidence and authority that makes you break away from his gaze first.

“You’re absolutely awful,” you mutter, giving him a grin to let him know that it was a playful insult.

“And yet, you’re still here,” he coos, his grin wicked and cool at the same time. “I must not be totally awful if you still wish to spend time with me.” You groan, shaking your head with a smile on your lips and he turns to hide his more giddy smile, smiling calmly when the oven beeps. The preheat session is done. He opens the oven, a wave of hot air making him knit his brows together for a moment. “There’s no need to be ashamed of being so fond of me. I am Pride, it’s only natural that you would gravitate towards me.” He grabs the rack of bread, carefully slipping it inside the oven and closing the door.

“Well you’re a lot more than Pride to me.” His eyes widen and he turns to you, his body facing towards the oven with his head half-turned. “You’re Lucifer. You’re someone close to me and well, I actually am glad that we got to spend time together. I would love to hear you admit that you simply wanted to spend time with me, but-” you shrug- “you’ve got that stubborn pride that I can’t help but adore.” You turn to him, a cheeky smile on your face that matches the light in your eyes.

It’s silent between the two of you. It’s comforting, one that is welcomed and isn’t making either of you awkward. He watches as you carefully stir the pot, your index skimming under the words of the cookbook. Your brows furrow as you carefully read over the direction, careful to not add the wrong ingredient or wrong measurement. You’re methodical, carefully going about everything, and in the kitchen with Lucifer, he can’t help but smile at you, his smile soft and eyes crinkled as he watches you carefully.

“I know I haven’t told you this enough- or perhaps before-” silverware clinks together as he reaches over from a baking brush, his eyes never leaving yours- “but I’m actually quite proud of you.” He tears his gaze away from you, his smile widening and his chest puffing. “You have this knack about you that makes it so easy for others to fall for you, that I have to admit that even I have fallen victim to you.” The baguettes are painted over with a mixture of garlic and spices, his words never stopping or falling to hesitation as he speaks. “You’re-” he sighs, not knowing how to put what he wants to say into words- “I’ve been Lucifer for such a long time, living and holding power, but I must say, when I’m around you, I feel more me than I ever had in my entire existence.” He turns his body to you, his hands open and knuckles brushing over your cheek, a thin line of white left against your face. “I’m glad that I’ve gotten to meet you.”

His eyes widen, his words finally registering to his ears. He looks up, eyes meeting the stone wall before he turns to you, his mouth agape and hands still holding a baguette, and the baking brush. The garlic and onion sizzle on the stove, the yellow glow of the kitchen and the buzzing sounds of the outside do everything to fill the room, not a single ounce of silence is graced to either of you.

“You can’t just say stuff like that!” You say in a hurried tone, your face hot enough that you can feel sweat start to bead. “It’s- It’s-” you can’t find the proper words, it isn’t embarrassing but it isn’t something that you hear everyday- “Ah!” You decided, burying your face further into the table, your hands cushioning the blow.

His hand claps over your back, slowly rubbing between your shoulder blades in an attempt to soothe you over. “I would have thought you would have enjoyed hearing the truth,” he teases lightly. “Was I wrong about that assumption?” he presses, his elbow nudging against your shoulder where you still lay with your head rested in your hands.

You peer upwards, your face slowly revealed to show a flushed color that makes his chest puff with pride, his smile . “You wanna know why I know that you wanted to spend time with me?” Lucifer raises his brows in confusion. “I hadn’t written down my name yet.” His smile twitches away for a moment. “You called it before I could even write my name down.” You smile at him, your smile gentle. “I still have the paper in my pocket. You really like me, huh Lucifer?”

Mammon:

Textbooks are left open, pencils and pens sprawled over the coffee table as you and Mammon rest on the couch. He talks vividly, and as he’s excited to tell you stories of his past, his mouth works faster, skipping over details and returning to them moments later. Your hands are wrapped tight around his bicep, your face hidden as you try to stifle your laughter. He can feel your hands tighten, the way that you cling to him and even try to push yourself closer to him. “So that was when I decided to just grab all the things I could carry and just book it!” Mammon exclaims, clapping his hands together and extending his right arm forward. “You should’ve seen how angry those witches were, but hell, they deserved it for thinking they could pull one over on me.” He turns to you, his grin wicked, slowly widening as he leans back cautiously to not let you move away from him. “Fuckers should’ve known to not touch my stuff.”

You let out a laugh, shaking your head and leaning onto him. His smile twitches for a second, softening into a gentler smile, watching as you turn your face into his arm, trying to stifle your laughter. It’s loud, infectious and it’s something that reminds him of a spring day that he once spent in the Human Realm. He isn’t sure how to explain it- something about it that screams life and youth, something that sounds so unapologetically like you, that it makes him breathless. When you start to pull away, he lets his grin widen, eager to look at you again.

He’s so close to you, your hand within arm’s reach that if he really wanted to, he could just take it in his. His mouth goes dry, his tongue too invasive in his own mouth and he watches as you adjust your hair, his eyes fixated on how your hair slips through your fingers. There are words stuck in his throat, but no matter what he thinks of to say, he isn’t sure what he should say. He’s at a loss, wondering what would be the perfect way to bring back the mood, to continue the conversation without it being forced, but in all honesty, he’s fine, just sitting here with you. He’s more than fine with just staring at you.

“Hey, Mammon?” He jolts at his name being said, a shock running through his spine. He nods his head, swallowing what little saliva is in his mouth. “I really like hearing your stories, you know?” You smile softly at the book in your hands. He watches you with unblinking eyes, wondering what it is that you’re getting at. “I really just like listening to your voice. I know you were stuck with me at first-” internally he flinches, he doesn’t like to reminisce when you were first put under his charge- “but I’m glad that it was you.” He is left breathless, his muscles tense as you look at him, a smile stretching past your lips and gracing your lips. You look at him for a moment, your eyes darting to where his hand is clenched tightly and you nod to yourself, turning your attention back to the book.

You’re facing away from him, your fingertips tracing over the edge of a page as you try to focus on the words but he can tell from the pout on your lips that you aren’t registering anything from the book. What should he say? What can he say? He knows he has to say something. He knows that he should match your energy or at least attempt to but he can’t. There are so many things he wants to tell you, and they all seem so disorganized. You’re pretty. You’re nice to him and you always let him sneak into your bedroom late at night. You rely on him and as much as you need him, he needs you more. You have such a soft touch that it leaves him tingling all over as if some ghost were the one responsible for it. He lets out a slow breath, his lips parted slightly as he breathes out. “You know,” he says quietly, his fingers twitching and moving to clutch at the end of your shirt, “you got a real nice laugh. It’s nice to spend time with you, ya know?” Once he’s started talking, he’s unable to quiet himself, unable to register the things that he’s saying to you. “I like hanging out with other demons and all, but there’s something about you that I like more. It’s like with you-” his hand waves in the air, eyes glancing around your room- “I get to just feel safe. I get to relax and know that I can count on you. And I want you to know that no matter what, I’ll always be on your side. Forever and ever.” Mammon turns his head, his smile stretched wide and hand going to cover yours. “You turned me into a sap, ya know?’”

The moment is tender as he smiles down at you, only to slowly realize the weight of his words as you stop in your movements, your fingers letting the page fall back to the others, words lost upon themselves as your shoulders rise. His eyes widen and his lips thin. Heat creeps upwards from his chest and scorches its way to mar his features, his face turning into a darker shade as he flushes. His mouth goes dry, unable to produce any type of saliva as he sits beside you. Slowly, his mouth parts, and he’s unable to find the words to deny what he just said, but before he can, you curl in on yourself, burying your way into your hands, your hands spread and fingers parting to cover as much of your face as it can.

“I-” he coughs loudly into the rook of his elbow. You can tell that he wants to resort to his usual denial of feelings but he stops himself before he can even reach the middle of his sentence. “Listen, just because you-” you can feel his eyes on you- “will ya look up at me? I’m not gonna tear your head off or anything, I just don’t want you getting a bigger head than you already have.” You slowly turn to him, watching as he tries to avoid your gaze. “Let’s just go get a bite to eat. We can’t study on empty stomachs or whatever.” He rises quickly, his hand held out to you as he keeps his attention out on the door. “Come on, I’ll pay for ya and everything.”

Your lips thin and you look at his hand. You inhale a sharp breath of air, slowly letting it go. His face is still flushed, a deep color that burns against his skin. “Like a date?” You ask, hoping to see more of his reactions. He stiffens at your question, his brows furrowing to meet each other. He stammers out a response, clearly flustered. You lay your hand on his and he immediately quiets down. You smile at yourself, your heart skipping a beat as you realize that it was you who brought him to such a state. Slowly, his hand curls with yours and he gives a brief nod of his head.

Leviathan:

Leviathan sits alone in his room, a blanket pooled around his lower half, his eyes have begun to burn, tinged with red from lack of sleep as bright colors flash across his pale face. An empty bowl save for kernels that rest at the bottom of the bowl, his fingertips tinged with red and he can feel his mouth heavy with acid and past snacks.

His hands tap against his controller, his fingers already reaching toward a button before he can even register what he should press. His mind is on autopilot, reaching and stiffening when an enemy nears and even so, his character is still killed. He lets out a frustrated groan, careful to throw his controller towards his pillows and not the walls- he can’t risk losing yet another controller; least of all having to patch a hole- or in his case, covering it with a poster. His hands are thrown into the air, fingers outstretched before they are curled into a fist. He arches his back forward, the heels of his hands cushioning his eyes. He tears up slightly, wincing at the sudden realization of burning pain that lingers in his eyes. Slowly, he pulls away just in time to hear his door creak open.

“Password,” he says with a lack of conviction, turning slightly to watch as you enter with a bag in your hand. He raises his brows, his arm stretching outward as he blindly searches for his controller. “What do you have there?” He jerks his chin, returning his attention to the game in front of him.

The light clicks on- something bright that fills the room in a soft blue that stretches around him. He winces at the sudden light, the controller dropped onto his lap as he rubs his eyes vigorously. If it weren’t obvious enough that he kept himself secluded in his room, it was obvious from the way that he rubbed at his eyes, and had to blink multiple times before he could finally look at you without shielding his eyes. You end him a wicked smile that slowly grows until you reveal your teeth, the bag in your hand held slightly tighter. In response, he sticks his tongue out at you, his cheeks tinted with a pale shade of pink.

“I’m surprised it’s taken you so long to defeat the boss,” you say, walking towards the bathtub where he sits. You sit in front of the porcelain, your gaze fixated on a television system that he has set up for a more immersive gameplay experience. When you are met with a lack of response, you turn your head to see him with narrowed eyes. “What? No witty remark?” Once more, you’re met with silence. “Levi?”

He sucks in a sharp breath. “I- Fuck, you know?” This time, he’s met with silence. “First, I can’t get the concert tickets, then I can’t even get the new figure and now, I can’t even defeat this stupid game.” His cheeks fill with air, and he slowly lets the breath go past his lips. “And the concert was going to have passes to meet them behind the stage and the figure was signed and-” his character dies once more and the controller is tossed pitifully onto the pillow. He leans over the tub, his arms crossed under his chin, and his eyes on you. “My luck isn’t usually so bad, you know?”

You pat the floor beside you, your hand meeting the cold tile. “Come on, sit beside me,” you comment, shuffling over a few inches to give him even more space. With a huff, he rises out of the tub, small bits of crumbs falling onto the porcelain. He sits beside you, his arm brushing against yours but neither of you make an effort to move.

“I’m sitting, now what?” He asks, the television blurry as it replays his death with the words “Game Over” in bold letters.

“Well, Levi-” you hand him the bag, with fingers pinched over the handles- “since you’re having such rotten luck, why don’t you open the bag?”

He gives you a narrowed stare, slowly retrieving the bag from you and pulling out the pastel colored tissue paper. At the bottom of the bag sits a box, the words of a favorite anime of his stamped beside with the usual font. His heart skips a beat, as he slowly clasps his hand around the box, his fingers pushing against the plastic and he gaps, reality crashing onto him like a wave.

“It’s-” he doesn’t even finish saying the sentence, your nod is an answer to everything. “The figure that I wanted- I- How?” He asks, looking at the box, so worried that if he were to take his eyes away, the box would vanish.

“Ah, ah-” you wag your finger in the air- “that is a story for another time, my dear Leviathan.” You sound so smug and a smile is already evident in your words.

He bounces in his seat, his legs shaking rapidly, knees softly knocking against each other as he lets his excitement show. His hands flap eagerly, his smile wide and eyes closed. A sharp breath is sucked between his teeth, as he stares at you with bright eyes. You’re startled, your shoulders raising a few centimeters into the air with wide eyes as you stare at him. A nervous smile stretches across your face with him so close to you and looking at you with such eager eyes. If you were to be honest with yourself, you’re a bit flustered with how he looks at you. Your heart races and it beats against your chest, rattling at your ribs and echoing against your body. You nod rapidly, gulping what little moisture you have in your mouth when he grabs your hands tightly in him.

He shouts your name, enthusiasm laced into his word, his hands pulling yours close to his chest. “Ah! You’re the absolute best!” His smile is so wide that it’s almost comical, leaving you smiling both in response to and because of him. “I’m so glad that you’re here! Of course, you’d be my Henry!” He drops your hands and pulls you in for a hug, squeezing tightly around you, his head nuzzled into the curve of your neck. “I don’t know what I would do without you, but I’m just glad that you’re the one that’s with me!” He pulls away, his hands now holding onto your biceps. Deep breaths exhale through him, his chest rising and dipping rhythmically. He calls your name and it’s sweet like honey on his tongue. “You really are the best. I mean,” his tone becomes softer, his smile less eager and more true, “you do so much for me. I couldn't ever imagine my life without you. You mean so much to me.”

“Levi,” you mumble, and when his hands fall from you and return to hold the box, you pull the bag towards your face, hiding away from him. Your neck grows hot, scorching your skin and making you breathless. “I’m glad that you like it,” you manage to squeak out, the bag further pressed towards you.

A few seconds pass until he finally realizes why you’ve pulled the bag to your face. Leviathan stiffens, clearing his throat and turning away, his hand covering his lower half of the face. The figurine sits beside him with a delicate smile plastered on their face. With the air so light and heavy, he reached into the tub, eager to pull out the controller. With a meek cough, he fumbles with the controller, passing it over to you, with his eyes still glued on the figurine. “Would you like a turn? Maybe you’re better than me.” He can feel his chest tighten when his fingertips brush against yours and the hundredth time, the game tune plays in the room.

Satan:

Satan’s eyes narrow unconsciously as he reads over the same page for the tenth time. No matter what, he is unable to focus on the words, the letters and lines meshing into one that nothing fully registers past the first word of the page. If he were to be honest with himself, nothing has registered since the last few pages that he’s read. With a huff, he closes the book, a small gust of air blowing at the hair that rests over his forehead. The book rests on the table beside him, nudging against the lamp that makes the room flicker for a brief moment.

The room is filled with sound, the hum of the air conditioner unit, the distant sounds of footsteps and talk across the house, the demonic animals that roam around outside. He’s sure that if he were to focus, he’d even hear the scratching of a pen. Scratch that- he can now that he thought about it. All the sounds make his skin crawl, uncomfortable and itchy and as he drags his nails across his arm, he’s only offered a second of relief before the feeling returns. He leans against the chair, his neck arched over the back of it, as he lets his eyes flutter to a close, the bright light of the library barely shining through his closed eyelids. It’s not like to be so distracted- especially when it comes to a favorite pastime of his. And yet, his mind is distracted, wandering to images of you where you were talking to others that weren’t him. He isn’t the jealous type- at least, not when he compares himself to his brother, but it seems that you brought out something different for him.

His leg twitches and there’s a burning sensation on his arm that he chooses to ignore. It only intensifies when he hears footsteps approaching. The sensation spreads and becomes sharper, insatiable as it burrows itself in the demon. There is a presence standing beside him and he already knows that it’s you. He can tell by the steps, by the breathing, by your scent. He frowns at the thought. He doesn’t know if it’s romantic or not to know such small details about you.

Something clicks- your knee, perhaps- and your hand rests above his slender one, cupping and still, there are gaps where his skin is unfortunate enough to not to be touched by you. “Satan?” You call out to him in a quiet voice- not quite a whisper but not your usual volume either. “Are you asleep?”

“Is it you wondering or someone else?” He responds, slowly opening his eyes and turning his head, meeting the top of yours. “Is there something that you need?” He makes no effort to move, stuck in his position as he is content just sitting on a chair with your hand over his.

“It’s me,” you answer him, turning your head to meet his eyes. His lips slowly turn into a smile with his eyes slowly growing heavy. “You don’t normally sleep in the library without cause. You okay?” Your hand slips from his and his eyes widen his hand closing into a fist, already missing your touch. But, he is soon reconnected with your hand as it rests on his forehead. You soon look down at him with pursed lips. “I- uh, I can’t tell if you have a fever or not.”

He smiles at you and sits up straight, holding in a moan when his back is already sore, feeling the muscles whine as they had already grown taut. “No- No I just, I have quite a few things on my mind, is all.” He gingerly goes to grab your hand in his, uncaring that your eyes are on him and that the door is open for anyone to walk in and see Wrath so tender. “I’m sorry that I worried you.”

Your hand in his is turned, pulled slightly away but not enough to be taken away from his grasp. You walk from the side of the chair to stand in front of him, and when you meet his eyes, you nod down, gesturing to his lap. He smiles softly, nodding his head and leaning back, humming under his breath when you situate yourself on his lap, your head resting on his shoulder.

“You’re oddly touchy today,” he comments, his hand curved on your lap as the one he held is moved to behind his neck, your fingertips barely touching his collarbone. “Did I do something to deserve this?”

You give a half-hearted hum, and in the corner of his eye, he can tell that you have closed your eyes. “Think of it as a way to make you feel better.” You give him a play tap and he nods, his eyes staring straight ahead, lost against the colorful spines of the books. “So what does have you so worked up?”

Is now his chance? Is he now able to tell you the full extent of his feelings? He has you sitting on his lap, comforting him in a way that few people would ever dare to. There's feelings there, bubbling and forming on both ends and he knows that it’s both ends. It’s you that is on his mind. Filtering in when you shouldn’t, invading every space of his that he has until he’s completely overwhelmed. It’s a strong feeling, something that rivals his own wrath and for the first time, he welcomes it- he doesn’t put up a fight against it. He wants to feel whatever it is that you make him feel. He wants the intensity of it until he’s exhausted, until the wrath that has been boiling inside of him ever since he can remember, can finally evaporate, can finally be extinguished.

You call his name once more and he looks at you, his smile tight and eyes closed for a moment. “How do I tell you that I care for you in a way that says exactly what I’m trying to say without scaring you off?” His eyes close and his hand turns over on your thigh, palm open and empty. “How do I tell you that you’re the thing on my mind? That it’s you that is reducing me into a mess at the simple thought of you.” He turns his head enough, shrugging his shoulder to make sure that you’re looking back at him, your chest still and the hand that you had relaxed, is slowly crawling over to his open one. “The thought of you warps into this- this jealous demon that isn’t exactly something I’m fond of. I you to myself and yet, that I want you to myself and that the thought of you with anyone else, makes me more of wrath than I have ever been.” Your hand closes above his and he nods slowly, clasping his hand over yours. “It’s you, and it’ll always be you.”

With a jolt, his words finally register to him. He turns to face you, but you’re buried into his shoulder, your hand holding tightly onto his, as if he were your lifeline and the one over his shoulder is grasping at his sweater, bunching the knit fabric into a mess. Your heart beats over the sound of the room, the hum of the electricity erased, the steps and chatter muffled under you. He smiles softly, a slow chuckle taking over, until he’s laughing widely, his chest shaking and vibrating under you with every laugh. You moan his name and he can only say the first letters of an apology before his laughter takes over.

“Really, really- I’m not laughing at you,” he says through an attempt at laughter. “I just forgot how different you are. How you always seem to change depending on your mood.” He feels a harsh pat against him, your head shaking as you press further into him. “Please, never change,” he says with a laugh at the end, his head turning, his lips meeting against the side of yours in a quick press.

Asmodeus:

He’s flawless. He has to be. Or, maybe he’s just naturally like that. You are not the best when it comes to reading Asmodeus- too enthralled by him that you can’t seemingly tell when he’s told a joke or not that pertains to his beauty. Very little of it matters to you- you may appreciate that he is quite gorgeous, but you’ve also gotten to know the demon that embodies Lust.

Perhaps it’s because he knows who he is, that he is Lust, that he has to appear the best at all times. He can never make a mistake or it’ll be all that’s talked about- he knows as well as anyone else how easily a reputation can be damaged. However, when he looks at you, he doesn’t have to worry about that. He still wants to look his best for you, but he knows that if he were to slip, you wouldn’t see him any differently than how others see him.

You sleep beside him, nestled under his covers, the blanket pulled a little bit past your lips. Your hair is askew, small strands that stick up or curl around your face. Slowly, he takes a slender finger and softens the hair back to you, smiling when you try to lean into his touch. Your eyes flutter open, and you turn before he can see you, yawning and stretching your arms upwards, the cover crumpling above you. You lie still for a few more seconds and he sits upwards, daring to peek at your face. As if already knowing that he was going to watch you, you run a hand through your hair in an attempt to make yourself look more refined, to fix your appearance before him. You rub your eyes with a knuckle, turning to him and opening your mouth only to have a yawn cut through.

“Did you have a good nap?” Asmodeus asks, watching as you stretch your limbs, your muscles pulled taut as you let out a whine of satisfaction. You nod in response to him. “I’m glad. You know, I do have to tell you that you were right. I try not to ruin my sleep schedule but that nap felt simply divine. I think I feel more rested than I usually do.”

You smile at him, turning over to rest your head on his chest. His hand immediately comes to curve over the back of your head. “I like sleeping with you. You have such a soft bed and you always give such nice hugs.” He laughs in response, his hand lowering to hold near your shoulder. “It’s true. Devildom is still-” you take a brief pause- “different. And somehow, when I’m with you, all my worries are just-” you blow out a gentle puff of air- “gone.”

“I’m here for whenever you need me. All you have to do is just call,” he comments, his hand running past the sleeve of your shirt, his index and middle fingers touching against your warm skin. “I think it’s almost time for dinner. Would you like to accompany me? I’d be more than happy to take you to that little restaurant we found the other day.”

The edge of your sleeve is toyed with, pinched between the fingers and released. His hand returns to where it lay only to be disturbed when you rise, causing his hand to rest beside him. You give him a blinding smile that makes his heart flutter as he looks at you. “I’d be more than happy to, but I would like to get ready before we go out.” He raises a brow at you, tilting his head to encourage you to continue. “I want to look my best for you.” You lean forward and he smiles, fully ready for a kiss, only to have you pull away and kiss his shoulder. He frowns, his lips pushing towards a pout as he looks at you.

“Not even a kiss?” He asks, a tease of playfulness loosely attached to his words. “I have to say that I’m hurt.” He watches as you move, curling your legs underneath you as you watch him with a hint of smile on your face. “After all that I do for you, and yet, you have the gall to deny me a simple kiss?” he lets out a huff, not trying to hide the smile that graces his features and you. “You should be ashamed of yourself. There are demons who would kiss my steps to even look at me.”

“Asmo,” you call to him and he quiets, looking at you with expectant eyes. Despite him being the demon who can be considered one of the strongest- and is- you’re still the one who holds all the power in the relationship. He nods, encouraging you to continue. “Why do you want to go out with me?”

He can’t help the smile that forms, that twists the already playful one into something more bitter. It’s a question that he asked himself the first time he realized his feelings towards you. He could have it all and you’re just a human with minimal magical abilities. He’s met countless lifeforms who were and are beautiful, their beauty forever imprinted and never seeming to age. But, he still chooses you. And he’s content with that. He’s more than happy that he’s with you.

His thumb traces over your bottom lip, his eyes focused on your cupid’s bow. “You know, there are times when I look at you and I wonder if you see yourself the way that I see you.” He knows what to say, it all comes so natural to him when he compliments you. “Your scars and blemishes, the stretch marks around your tummy and how they pale and wrap around you. The little moles that you have are kissed along your sides and cheeks.” His thumb moves down and now his hand holds yours. “I have to be perfect- I have to be loved and admired, but then I see you and I think to myself how as long as I’m loved by you, that’s enough. You really have changed me in a way I never saw myself. Beauty means everything to me- or at least it did. But now I have you, and I have to admit, that I prefer you over anything else in the world.” He leans forward and lets his lips press against the corners of yours. “I want to go out with you, because to me, you’re the best that there will ever be.”

It all happens in a flash, seeing your face darken, feeling the hand slowly shake and then your face is hidden by the covers. He can hear you whine his name, and when his hand touches between your shoulder blades, his nimble fingers reaching above the collar of your shirt and touching your neck, he can feel how hot it is. He laughs as his arms reach around you and pull you close to him, giggling and accepting your odd human behavior.

Beelzebub:

Detention is quiet, save for the ticking of the clock, but other than that it’s silent. The room is occupied by a total of three people- you, Beelzebub, and the unfortunate professor that is stuck to watch over the two of you who scrolls through their D.D.D. while music plays loudly every now and then. You suspect they are on an app similar to one from the Human Realm, complete with word play and aesthetic from Devildom.

You turn over to Beelzebub, quirking your brows when you see him scribbling over a paper with a pen. You peer over, sitting straighter to get a closer look only to find him mindlessly doodling, similar drawings cover the paper in blue ink. As if feeling your stare, he turns to you with slightly wide eyes before relaxing them, sending you a smile and raising his paper, to show you his work. You return the smile, pleased at his cute antics and his boyish smile. You send him a thumbs up, before the professor coughs, catching the attention from the two of you.

They stand up, their tail curling around their leg and with a yawn, they expose their teeth. Their phone is stuffed into their pocket as they slowly walk to the front of the desk. “I’ll be back. I expect the two of you to still be here. You both have an hour left.” With that, they walk to the door, the heels of their shoes clicking, the door creaking before it finally closes leaving you and Beelzebub alone in a room.

Immediately, you turn to Beelzebub, your chair squeaking as you shift it hastily. “Beel,” you say excitedly, patting your hands on your thighs. He answers with a hum, tilting his head to the side to show that he is listening to you. “You have power over the professors, don't you?” You see the corner of his lip twitch upwards. “I mean you're the Avatar of Gluttony, can’t you just get us both out of here?”

The pen is set down and he leans back on his chair, his legs sliding underneath the desk until they are stretched to their full length. He turns to you, his smile lazy and eyes half-lidded. “I don’t feel like getting in trouble anymore than I already have.” His smile is crooked, teeth barely glimpsing from behind his lips.

“But we’re already in trouble,” you try to argue, pushing forward. “Please?” You lean forward, holding onto his bicep, with a pout on your lips. “If I use the pact powers, I’ll probably be the only one in trouble.”

He snickers, crossing his arms and lowering his head to side his smile. “We have an hour.” He looks up at you, a hand coming to cover yours. “Just sit and wait, okay? I’ll treat you out later.” You stick your tongue out at him and he laughs, pulling away from your touch and turning his own chair to face you, his hand resting over the desk, pulling on the tip of the pen until it is pulled underneath his hand. “What makes you want to go home so early anyways?”

“Why don’t you wanna go home?” You shoot back, your arm bent above the desk, with your chin resting on the palm of your hand. He shrugs in response, his attention back to the paper as he starts to bounce the pen between his index finger and thumb. “What are you drawing, anyways?” it doesn’t go unnoticed that he stiffens at your question, his lips pulling into a thin line as his leg starts to bounce. “It’s the same image, right? Like the same character that you’re drawing?” You lean closer, watching as he bounces the pen faster in his hand.

“It’s- It’s for art class,” he responds, clearing his throat. His hands grab at the paper and for a moment you think he’s about to crumble the paper, but instead he slips it between a notebook, careful to not let an edge slip out before it’s stuffed into his bag. “We have to draw-” he hesitates, squirming under your attention- “a thing.”

“I thought sports took care of your electives?” He sucks in a breath through his teeth, turning his attention to the board smeared with chalky remains. “Oh? Are you lying to me?” Your hand flutters to your heart, your voice faux hurt as your slump over in your seat. “Beelzebub, I’m actually hurt. Here I thought we were close and yet-”

“I’m drawing you,” he says, effectively making you stop in your theatrics. You turn to him, your mouth parted. “I wanted to draw you and give it to you as a gift but I can’t get your smile right.”

“Well that didn’t take much probing,” you mutter, scooting your chair closer to him, the toe of your shoe nudging against his backpack.

“I don’t like lying to you,” he states, his body becoming still and eyes returning to where you sit so close to him. Close enough where he can smell your cream. “I just didn’t want you to find out.”

There’s silence between the both of you, your lips pursed as you nod. “My smile?” He nods. “It should be simple, shouldn’t it?” Just a curve and some smaller curves for the lips and boom, you’re done.” You grab his backpack, holding it in your hands, the opening pointed towards him.

“No,” he says with a frown, pulling the same notebook out and slipping out the paper. Upon closer inspection, the images of what appears to be you are roughly scribbled. They aren’t the best but the thought of him drawing something for you and being nervous about you finding out makes the drawing much sweeter. “You have a nice smile. It’s like- like,” you look up at him to see his brows furrowed. “I don’t know how to explain it. Your smile is nice. It’s a lot more than nice. When you smile at me, it’s just nice. I like seeing you happy. You smiling at me makes me feel special and I don’t want to half-ass some drawing of you. I want to make it special because you’re special to me. Your smile makes me feel warm, like I’m being hugged and everytime you smile, it always reaches your eyes and when your eyes crinkle, it’s like you’re just looking at me and that makes me feel so-” he takes a deep sigh and releases it slowly- “so safe.” His words come to a soft close, his face a warm shade of red. He lets out a nervous chuckle. “That sounds dumb, doesn’t it?” When he looks at you, you’ve curled into a ball in your seat, your face buried into his backpack. He calls your name frantically, his hands on your shoulders, only to pull away when you let out a high-pitched whine. “Did I offend you?” His name is muffled between the fabric. “Yeah?”

“You’re really sweet,” you moan pitifully, clutching the bag tighter, hoping that it effectively hides your burning face. “I think I’ll actually die from what you just said.” Your heart beats in your chest, the sweet confession echoing in your ears and when you smile, you can only hide it, not wanting him to see the wide grin that is now plastered across your face. “I’ll take any drawing that you give me.” You hold your hand out, ready to receive the unfinished work, not yet lifting your head.

His hand covers your outstretched one. “Maybe if I can see your smile right now, I’d be able to get it right,” he teases slightly. Your only response is shaking your head, giggling through the fabric as you feebly try to shake his hand away. He laughs widely, holding your hand tighter as he urges for you to look upward at him.

Belphegor:

The room is quiet, no footsteps that echo from above, no noise that travels from the stairs into the room that was once Belphegor’s prison. Beside him, you lay curled on your side, resting against him, your hand playing with a drawstring of his hoodie, playing with the frayed ends at your fingertips.

“I thought being around you would make me sleepy,” you murmur, an ill-placed yawn ruining the validity of your statement.

Even where he lays, he knows that you’re pouting, with your brows knitted together. “It seems that I am already making you quite tired. You only lasted how long?” He’d make a show of checking his nonexistent watch, but he rather not, already too comfortable in his current position to risk moving. You blow a raspberry in response and he lets out a giggle, his hand that is placed underneath you is bent to hold a strand of your hair in between his fingers. “Come on, be nice now. I can also make you unbelievably tired but unable to sleep.”

“You’re so cruel Belphegor,” you say in a whisper, your hand finally still from playing with his drawstring. “You’d take away my sleep for a simple noise? How juvenile,” you tease, nuzzling further into his side, humming when his fingers part through your hair and scratch lightly at your scalp. “Here I am, whisked away from my homework to come and nap beside you. And what do I get in return? Teasing.” The last word slowly drifted off into a simple breath of air that was tickled against his side.

It really hadn’t taken you so long to fall under his own sleeping spell. A part of him is a bit bitter, wanting to spend more time with you where the both of you were conscious and could actually talk, while the other part of him, is simply glad that you’re resting beside him, that you’ve taken time out of your day to lay next to him.

“It’s not like you don’t deserve it,” he says through a smile, twisting your hair around his index. “I mean, out of all the reactions I can get, yours is possibly the best of them.”

“Thank you,” you say, sounding a bit more like a question. “You know, I’m glad that you invited me up here. I haven't been getting the best sleep as of late.”

“You can always come to me,” he’s quick to say, eager so evident in his voice that he’s drowning in it. He wants to be near you, he wants to be with you.

“I don't want to bother you,” you confess with a faint voice.

“You could never bother me.” It’s the truth. He’d crawl to you if it meant even a fraction of your attention would be given to him. He’d do what he could just to hear your voice. You’d never be a bother to him. You’d be his saving grace. It’s silent for a moment, one where he can hear the house come alive under him and feel your breath with even more vigor than before, feeling each and every pause, every gust of air a kiss against his skin that makes him yearn for more. He calls your name, and it’s thick on his tongue- foreign and light, and yet it sounds like he’s said it countless times before, as if he knew the name by heart. You hum in response and he takes a deep breath.

His finger twirls around a small piece of your hair, letting the hair curl around his finger before he releases it, only to do the same thing once more. “I’m always surprised that you let me get so close,” he says in a quiet voice, careful to not ruin the moment but a part of him knows that it might have been ruined already when it alludes to him. He can feel your eyes on him, watching him carefully as your lips part. “I know that I’m not exactly a knight in shining armor or anything and uh-” he lets the strad of your hair go, watching it bounce in freedom- “I just want you to know that I appreciate that you even let me touch you. I really like you, you know? I think you’re a much better person than I’ll ever be.” His lips stretch into a bittersweet smile that soon falls into a frown, twisting his features into something more somber. You say his name and it makes his breath hitch, a hiccup in his throat as his name fills the momentary silence. “I mean it. I think that’s why I- why you mean so much to me. I could never be like you. I can only admire you from afar and want you for myself.” He lets out a breathless puff of air that has humor etched into it. “I just wanted you to know that you mean a lot more to me than I’ll ever be able to put into words.”

With every continuation of his words, you felt your body respond to him. Your stomach twists with butterflies causing a storm inside of you, your chest tight and the sweet relief of air has escaped your lungs, and you’re hot, heat flush against your face and creeping from your chest and upward. You wonder if he could hear every change in your breathing, in your heart that beats, in just you.

He looks at you through half closed eyes and for once, you don’t think that it’s sleep that’s causing his soft smile and tender eyes. You stiffen, your muscles going rigid under his stare. The pillow is cool under your face as you stay hidden from him, gripping at the edges and turning away from his gaze, unable to keep as tight face as a smile creeps across your face.

He laughs as you lower your head, hiding your face from his after the tender words that were shared. “Come on, was it that easy to make you flustered?” He teases, the bed dipping as he moves. His hand tugs on the pillow that is held tightly in your grasp. “Oh come on, just look up,” he whines, weakly tugging at the pillow. “Seriously, you’re so dramatic and for no reason. It shouldn’t be news to you that I like you.” His smile is clear in his voice, light and full of kittenish behavior. “If you don’t pay attention to me, I’m going to continue, you know.” His grin widens when you finally peek at him, and he can’t help but laugh.

Diavolo:

There is chatter in the room, accompanied by the heels of shoes that click against the tiled floor. The room is lit in an orange glow that makes the atmosphere of the room seem almost dream-like. You tug wine glass, pulling it closer to you, careful to not let a drop spill over and stain the pristine white tablecloth. You glance around the room, watching people chat amongst themselves, their own eyes glued to their partners.

You look at the prince before you who takes a sip from his glass, his tongue peeking to wipe at the taste on his lips. “Diavolo?” The glass is set down and he looks at you with slightly widened eyes. “When I said I wanted to go out for dinner, I was fine with just some Akudonalds or ya know-” you glance once more around the room, your gaze focused on the silverware set carefully in front of you- “anything.

“This is anything,” he says, his smile cool and hands resting above the table. “We hardly go out and when we do, the others tend to accompany us. While I enjoy their company, I’d also like to just enjoy yours. So I thought, since this is a rare occasion, we’d make the best of it.” He leans close to you, and you know that there is no malice or hidden intention with him. He is honest, able to tell you what he wants without finding it necessary to hide himself. “If you are uncomfortable with such a restaurant, we can always go somewhere else, next time.”

“It’s not that, it’s just-” you clear your throat, leaning against the table, lowering your voice- “I’ve never been to such a high-end place. I don’t want you to overspend because of me. I’m fine just going somewhere low-key.”

He laughs, shaking his head and his fingers drum against the table. I’m a prince. There’s no such thing as overspending and even if there were, I don’t mind it if it’s you that I’m doting on.” You nod slowly, your fingers running at the edge of the fork handle. “Really, there is no need to worry. I’m just happy that you agreed to join me on this outing.”

You do your best to not shake your legs, mindful of the wine beside you. “‘M glad I was able to join you as well. I- I like spending time with you.” You smile sweetly at him, a hint of nerves tracing against your smile. “I just have to admit that I was taken aback when you invited me out. I know you mentioned how it’s always us with the others, but I don’t know-” you fingers find themselves tracing around the base of the glass- “I guess I always figured you liked me because I was able to get you out of work since you know, I am part of your work. I never would have assumed that you actually wanted to spend time with me.”

For a moment, it’s silent, a brief moment that couldn't even be considered silent, just a short pause but it's enough for him. “May I admit something to you?” Diavolo asks, his hands fiddling with the napkin beside himself. You nod, leaning forward, urging him to continue. “I was always fascinated with humans. I loved humans- they were these beings who had free will and they all lived different lives but in the end they shared the same fate.” He chuckles softly and his hand goes to the stem of the wine glass. “It’s the same for demons, of course. Any life can be taken and for the most part, they have free will, but I think I love humans. Or at least I thought I did.” He looks up at you, his smile faltering for a moment as he struggles to keep it up. “But I think rather than love, I hold admiration for their humanity. For their tenacity, and kindness; their love and warmth that they have with each other. And when I look at you-” his hand leaves the glass and is left open towards you- “I’m reminded of how beautiful humans can be.” His smile turns bitter for a moment, falling and he makes no attempt to keep up the facade. “I’m reminded just how fragile they are. I need you to know that I admire humanity, but I think I love you. I love how you do your best to help those around you, how you adapt to your environment, and just how easily you can make others fall for you.” He lets out a short laugh through his nose. “If I have to be honest, I think I’m also jealous of you. I wish I were the only one who could have the opportunity to fall for you.” His hand is still held out towards you, vacant without yours.

Throughout his monologue your body has been on fire, pooling in your stomach and against your back. You stare at his empty hand, trying to will yourself to hold it but the most that you can do is lay your head on the table, silverware clicking together and a dull thud heard. You want to let out a whine but you’re sure you’ve already called attention to yourself and- oh dear. What will people think of when they see Lord Diavolo with a human who has planted their face against a table. Your thoughts race, clouding your mind as the silence in the room is deafening, echoing in your ears as you rest with your face down.

“Is this a human custom?” Diavolo asks, his voice full of genuine wonderment. “Should I also be doing it?”

“Dia,” you mumble, your body slowly squeezing against itself in order to make yourself smaller. “You can’t confess so nonchalant,” you say in a hushed whisper, wanting to let out any type of noise that is slowly building up inside of you. “It’s- It’s too much for me,” you whine, slowly raising your head to peer at him.

“Well, I am a prince- a demon one at that. I suppose you can say that there are different customs for us as well.” His smile is jovial, and he reaches across the table, his hand open and this time you take it. Unable to look him in the eye, you resort to watching as his hand slowly threads to intertwine himself with you. “I must say, if that’s the response I were to get, I might as well continue it. I rather liked whatever it was that you did.” He’s so honest, looking at you with a wide grin that shows his pointed teeth and you can’t help but bury your face once more, grinning when you hear him let out a small laugh, his hand closing around yours.

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biostris · 2 years ago

Note

Okay, so...

I noticed you do Chef Saltbaker x Reader posts, and I, kindly, want to request one!

But... make it Vampire!Chef Saltbaker!

What happens is all up to you!

A/N: I noticed you did a similar prompt! (I was scrolling the tag looking for the good stuff) if there are any similarities please know they are only coincidental! I wanted to make this a morticia x Gomez adams feel to is so the reader might be hinted to be AFAB but pronouns will remain they/them for the sake of inclusiveness.

(C/W): Blood (ink??), mentions of sharp objects,

NSFW motions (not actual sex but yeah), cannibalism and mentions of someone being cut up.

:Vampire! Chef Saltbaker x reader:

:Midnight snack:

The moon was high over the small fishing village of inkwell isle IV, and (y/n) was currently sound asleep in their lush bed. But there was on thing missing, “gah fuck-“, Saltbaker. (Y/n) groaned awake shuffling out from the blankets to see what the salt shaker was cussing over.

They treaded down the old wooden stairs and into the kitchen, where the silly old chef usually hung out when he had free time, a yawn pried their mouth open to escape as their feet met cold linoleum. “What’s going on?” They asked, sleep heavy in their voice, Saltbaker was startled and he slightly jumped as his cleaver landed a little to hard on his cutting board.

“Oh honeybun!” He exclaimed, just above a whisper, “I’m so sorry did I wake you up sugar?” He asked while wiping his hands in a kitchen towelette. (Y/n) shook their head “I was already starting to wake up,” the admitted as they soon found themselves wrapped in the bigger lads arms.

Saltbaker pressed a soft kiss into (Y/n)’s temple as he held them from behind, the soft and dark fabric of their robe spilling over his arms as he held his sugar plum close. He breathed deeply inhaling the scent from their perfume, hunger hit him where it hurt and he quickly had to pull away from (Y/n).

(Y/n) was confused as to why he was in such a rush, then it hit them and they smiled “oh my love~” they called out to their beloved chef who had already gone back to chopping some poor bloke to bits to distract himself from his hunger. Saltbaker pressed his lips into a thin line, fangs beginning to peak out from his lips and only grunted in response to (Y/n)’s advances.

“Don’t you grunt at me! I know you’re hungry my darling, do you want a little snack before your��” they looked around to the body of the old man sitting in multiple parts, his blood spilling into a bucket, “feast?” Saltbaker sighed “as much as I’d love that honey bunch,” another heavy slam from his cleaver echoed.

“I wouldn’t be able to control myself.” Familiar yellow rings formed around his pupil as he glanced to his beloved, there they sat, robe falling off their shoulders, exposing their jugular to him, he could practically feel their pulse through the ground as he began to feel his restraint slowly slip. They just looked oh so sweet.

“Cmon mi amor, you know I can handle it.” They cooed in a more comforting tone, (Y/n) raised their arms as if to invite him into a hug, their (E/C) orbs sparkling in the dim light of the kitchen. Two faint needle light holes caught his attention which caused him to fumble with the cleaver in hand. “Lord..” he whispered under his breath.

(Y/n) was internally smug as they watched Saltbaker slowly walk into their arms, the table they sat on creaked under the new weight of the chef and both beings flushed red. Saltbaker began to kiss up (Y/n)’s neck before taking another whiff of that sweet scent he loved oh so much.

(Y/n) smiled as they rubbed his back, they felt is warm tongue lick up their flesh and the gasped as blissfully sharp teeth pierced their skin. Saltbaker’s grip transferred from the table edges to around his loves waist, laying them down on the table in the process.

They were light headed in the best way possible, (y/n) let out a breathless gasp as Saltbaker detached quickly, “you’re mine you know that?” Was all he asked, his yellow eyes glowing as his shadow covered (y/n)’s frame. (Y/n) could only nod and pant, “good,” salt baker kissed his loves fore head before helping them sit up.

“Now don’t move, I think you need a little snack as well.” And with that he set aside his own meal and began to prep (y/n) an aftercare snack before they both went to bed for the rest of the night.

#chef saltbaker cuphead #chef saltbaker x reader #cuphead fanfic #cuphead the delicious last course #chef saltbaker #chef Saltbaker simp #vampire chef Saltbaker

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sunmoonandeddie · 3 years ago

Text

and he kissed me right here

pairing: modern!bucky barnes x reader

word count: 6,100

summary: I've always been sure that all I ever wanted was a glamorous life.

warnings: Cuss words, mentions of the Afghanistan war (Bucky is a veteran), angst, happy ending, cheesy romantic confessions, age gap

a/n: This is based on the song 'Stars and the Moon' from Songs for a New World! It's the first one shot in my musical series! This is written in first perspective, but there is no physical description or use of a name in this!

Twenty-Two

I sighed as I tossed a few more dirty plates into the dish window, wiping my brow. After a shitty dinner rush and an even shittier rush around two in the morning consisting only of drunk ass college kids looking for some sort of carb to suck up all the alcohol in their systems, I was ready to go the fuck home.

“Sweetheart, you head on home now,” the head chef insisted as he watched my head nod slightly as I tried my best to fight off sleep. “Ain’t nobody comin’ in before Melissa gets here. No point in you staying on your feet any longer.”

Louis was a godsend. At sixty-seven years old, you’d think he would rather be anywhere but a diner at almost four in the morning.

“Nah,” he had said when I’d asked him a few months after I’d first started. “My Ginny died a few years back, and since she’s been gone, I don’t really have the stomach to sit around that house all alone.” He had laughed, but there’d been a deep sorrow that had come over his deep brown eyes. “Kids are worried, but… Sleeping the day away is better than laying up at night staring at her side of the bed…”

“You sure, Lou?” I asked even as I headed for the back room where all the employees clocked in and kept their possessions in their own little cubbies. I did my checkout in view of the security camera, just like always. I didn’t want anyone to be able to say I stole anything.

Everyone who knew me knew that I wouldn’t, but I’d worked at two many places where the girls tried backstabbing each other and sabotaging everyone else to get them fired.

Though people were a lot nicer in Louisiana than any of the other places I’d lived.

Louis chuckled as he set a to-go box in the window, nodding towards it. “Mmhm. Long as Buck is getting you home safe.”

I gave him a joking eye roll as I took the to-go box gratefully, grinning at my name written in all caps with green Sharpie on top. “You know you don’t have to make me dinner every night.”

“Yes, I do,” he said, shooting me a look. “How else do I know you’re getting enough food in you, huh?” He pointed his rag at me. “Now you go ask him to get you home. Tell him I said he can clock out, and that he’s supposed to text me when he sees you safe inside. You better not say you’re gonna ask him again just to walk yourself home.” The old man shook his head as I headed for the back door, muttering to himself, “Damn girl thinks I’m gonna believe she’s feeding herself good enough when she’s risking her damn ass walking home alone.”

Despite the fact that I’d put off asking for Bucky Barnes’s service, I really did appreciate how fiercely Louis cared about me.

It had been a real long time since anyone had cared so much.

I hesitated at the back door of the diner, my hand resting against the cool metal.

What if he said no?

Granted, he most likely wouldn’t. But what if he said yes, and he secretly thought me some dumb little girl that couldn’t take care of herself?

What did I care if he thought that?

“I don’t care what he thinks of me,” I huffed as I straightened my shoulders, holding my chin a little higher.

“Stop talking to yourself and get going!”

I jumped in surprise, before shooting a glare in the direction of the kitchen. “Stop listening in on my private conversations!” I demanded before storming outside with new found vigor.

Only to freeze when Bucky looked up from where he was sitting on the curb, smoking a cigarette.

God, he was handsome.

“You okay, doll face?” He asked, his New York accent a sharp contrast to the southern drawls you were used to.

“Um… Y-Yeah,” I said faintly, glancing back at the door that I’d come in from. “Um… L-Louis wants me to ask you… Can you walk me home? Or give me a ride? I don’t… I don’t know if you drive…”

“I do drive.”

“O-Oh. Okay. Great.”

“But I don’t have my car on me.”

I peered at him curiously. “Oh. Um… I can just walk by myself. I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna be a nuisance…”

He stood up, tossing his cigarette to the ground and stomping it out. “Don’t be ridiculous, darlin.’ Come on. I’ll walk you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he began to head for the street. “Besides… It’s a real nice night.”

“Oh…,” I said in surprise at how ready he was to be of service. “Okay. But only if you’re sure.”

A faint smile graced his lips as he glanced at the ground, letting out a faint chuckle that rumbled deep in his chest. “I’m sure, darlin.’ But you gotta lead the way.”

I was surprised by the rapid pitter patter of my heart beat as we walked side by side down the street, the chorus of ‘Yellow Brick Road’ getting stuck in my head on a loop.

Bucky was an enigma that I found myself wondering about more often than not, but I always ended up talking myself out of going there. After all, he was an older man. A much older man. At least fifteen years older than my own twenty-two years, or something along those lines, not that he looked it. The man looked like some kind of rugged Greek god. Like Hades if Hades was born in the eighties. His dog tags clinked together under his shirt as we walked, his metal prosthetic glinting in the moon.

“So how did you end up in NOLA?”

It took me a moment to even realize that he was talking to me, my heart skipping a beat and my face going hot in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.

His bright blue eyes flickered over to look me over. “How’d you end up in New Orleans?”

“I actually don’t know,” I snorted, avoiding his eyes as I kicked at a few broken up pieces of asphalt. “I just… Picked a bus ticket and ended up in one of the Carolinas. Then I picked another bus ticket and ended up in Minnesota. And then I picked another, and another, and another, and then I actually just… ended up here.” The months I’d spent alone on those Greyhounds felt both so long ago and also like it was just yesterday. “The diner was the first place someone recommended for food that’s good but cheap, and as I was eating my mountain of cheese fries, I saw the flyer that said they were hiring. So here I am now…”

“Huh,” he said, his brows furrowed. “I didn’t take you for the type of person to run off on your own… riding buses all over the country…”

Head tilting to the side, I gave him a long look. “You didn’t? What kind of type did you peg me for?”

Bucky gave me a long look, a single brow raised as though silently telling me that I jumped to conclusions. “Just that jumping from place to place can take a lot outta someone,” he said slowly, his voice low and soothing. “Hell, if you were my girl—” He broke off as his cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink, his long hair falling in his face.

I swore my heart had stopped inside of my chest, and I swallowed thickly around the lump in my throat. “Oh?”

He rushed to try to correct his wording. “I-I just mean, a lady should be comfortable. And if I had a g-girl like you, well… You’d never want for anything,” he stammered, stumbling over his words like a flustered school boy. “Hell, I… I’d give you the stars and the moon…”

I was shocked into silence, staring up at him like he was the sun itself. “Bucky…”

“No, no, don’t say anything. I… I know that was a lot,” he insisted quietly, unable to meet your eyes as he stared up at the shitty apartment building you called home. “Hell, you probably don’t want a gross old man hitting on you.” His metal hand, glinting in the low light of the street lamp, reached up to brush against my cheek for just a moment before it quickly dropped. “Just let me walk you home each night so I can make sure you’re safe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I breathed out, unable to take my eyes off of him as he took a few steps back.

There’s a somewhat playful smirk on his lips as he watched me stumble up the steps, continuously glancing back at him. “Goodnight, baby doll.”

“Goodnight,” I said, barely audible before I finally headed inside.

Bucky kept his word. He walked me home every night, and honestly, there wasn’t a moment that I wasn’t thinking about what he had said, about if I was his girl.

What if I was his girl?

But… with that meant I’d have to give up the life I’d dreamed for myself. I wanted luxury, to never worry about bills or where I was gonna get my next meal or if I could afford to buy the nice work shoes or if I could only get the cheap ones that would fall apart in three months and then I’d just be right back where I started.

I wanted the life that celebrities lived. Hell, I wanted to go to parties on the same yachts the Kardashian-Jenners did, even if I couldn’t fucking stand them.

And with Bucky… I wouldn’t have that.

“So why’d you go on the run anyway?” Bucky asked one night as we sat on the curb, eating ice cream in the Louisiana heat. “I know you told me how you got here, but you’ve never told me why.”

“You’ve never told me how you ended up here or why either,” I shot back, nudging his shoulder with my own.

Somehow the age difference seemed non-existent as we sat there. Honestly, I felt like we were just a bunch of dumb teenagers, shooting the shit and enjoying each other’s company.

Bucky took in a deep breath, his shoulders sinking in a way that made it look like he had all the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I was over in Afghanistan for a long time,” he admitted quietly. “When the war first started, I was 19. I had no idea where my life was going and I had no options except my dad’s mechanic shop. So I enlisted with my best friend, Steve. The one I told you about.”

It’s completely silent except for the sound of an occasional car horn off in the distance.

“Neither one of us knew what we were doing. We realized very quickly that we had no reason being over there, but… but there was nothing else,” he said, swallowing around the lump in his throat. The ice cream he was holding was melting in his trembling hands. “I didn’t know how to do anything else, so I stayed. Steve moved up in the ranks, but I stayed pretty low… I didn’t mind. Kinda liked being the older guy all those young kids could talk to, could rely on… Because they were just like me, getting into a fight that wasn’t theirs because they had nothing else.”

My heart was shattering inside my chest as I scooted a little closer, my knee knocking against his as I tried to give him some sort of silent comfort. He’d been through Hell and made it through.

Bucky let his head rest against mine, his eyes closing as he breathed in the scent of my perfume. “They eventually moved me to some kind of specialized team… Called us the Howling Commandos. I found out that Steve was heading it and he picked me to be part of it. That’s how I met Sam, because he was on some sort of similar team with the Air Force, except it was just him and his friend, Riley,” he continued, taking a bite of his chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. “I am proud to say that I didn’t kill a single person while I was over there. I just couldn’t. Hell, they’re people just like me, terrified and unsure of what’s going to happen.” His lips pressed against my forehead, letting it linger. “But then about five years ago, I was on a mission with the Commandos, Sam, and Riley, and… this bomb went off while we were playing a game of soccer. I wasn’t even in a fight. That thing took my arm and it took Riley.”

Tentatively, I let my fingers find his, holding his hand and squeezing reassuringly.

“Sam decided to come home with me.” There was a forlorn look in his eyes, as though he was right back at that game of pick-up soccer. “After losing Riley… he couldn’t find a reason to be over there. And then Steve decided to stay, and hell, he’s still over there, leading that fucking team…” Glassy baby blue eyes finally found mine, the both of us doing our best to not cry. “I couldn’t face my family for a long time, so Sam asked me to come stay in Louisiana with him and his family, and I haven’t left since.”

“Have you gone to see your family?” I asked slowly, almost like I was scared I’d frighten him if I spoke too loudly, like a wild animal. “Let them know where you are? That you’re safe?”

He turned to look at me, his baby blues shining. “You worried about me, baby doll?”

“I can’t help it,” I said honestly, unable to tear my eyes away. I hadn’t opened up to someone like that in so damn long. “I can’t help but worry about you.”

The way that I felt about Bucky absolutely terrified me, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. It snuck up on me, like a train coming around a bend.

I hated it.

“What do you want out of this life?” Bucky asked on one walk home, his arm linked in mine. He’d become so much more… tactile. If anyone took a moment to look at us, they’d think we were a couple on a romantic stroll.

Perhaps we were.

But I couldn’t help but grin as I looked up at the sky, taking in the warm air. “I wanna live like how the movie stars do… I want a big house on the beach and twenty cars and a yacht and… and…”

He looked at me long and hard. “And you never wanna have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you’re gonna have a place to sleep at night…”

For some reason, I’d felt a bolt of panic over whether or not he’d understand. Whether or not he’d think differently of me, but I should’ve known that he wouldn’t. Hell, he knew me better than anyone else.

“You understand,” I said quietly, my hand squeezing his bicep gratefully. “I want to live how the other half lives for once. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

A small smile graced his features as we shuffled along. “There isn’t. But… What about love?” He asked.

“Love?”

“Love.”

Love.

Could I even have love? Did I want it?

“I don’t know if there’s a lot of room for love in my plans,” I admitted after a long moment. “In my experience, love has always just been a lie. A word used to manipulate and eventually abuse.”

Letting out a snort, he let his fingers tickle down my tricep until his fingers intertwined with mine. “I’d show you it’s not… I’d show you what real love is,” he said. “I’d give you every part of me, give you all my strength to help you grow into who you wanna be, even if I don’t particularly care about being famous or rich…” He brought my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “I’ll give you a love story, a life, that’s a million times better than any recycled Hollywood plot… I’ll give you the stars and the moon, if you would just let me.”

I hated the way that he made my heart beat faster, the way my breath hitched. “Jamie,” I breathed out quietly, the two of us having stopped in our tracks to just… take each other in. Live in each other’s presence for a moment. “I…”

“You want a big life… one a lot bigger than little old me,” he said simply, shrugging. His blue eyes were so honest, so loving. So warm. A warmth I hadn’t ever experienced before. “I know. But that doesn’t change that I’m in love with you. And if you ever change your mind…” Bucky reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card, pressing it into my free hand. “This is where you can find me. I figure it’s time for me to go home.”

We’d come to a stop in front of my building, and I was shocked at how tight my chest felt. My eyes watered as I stared at him long and hard. “Jamie, please… I⏤”

“Don’t say it. It’s okay,” he insisted as he cupped my cheek, letting his thumb run over my skin as though he was memorizing it. “I just want you to be happy, darling. You got that?” His lips pressed to my forehead, letting it linger. “Go get that life you’ve been dreaming of.”

Twenty-Three

I left New Orleans the next day, grabbing a bus ticket after throwing all of my belongings into my old duffel bag. It was time to move on.

But God, did it hurt.

I didn’t stop crying for weeks, fighting the urge to go right back to Louisiana and tell Bucky to take it back, to get him to beg me to stay with him.

But what kind of life would that leave me with? Working in the diner day after day? Never getting anywhere?

But you’d have James, a voice inside my head reminded me snarkily.

Then again, he most likely wasn’t even in New Orleans anymore, if what he said was true when he gave me the business card of his father’s mechanic shop. Was he really planning on going home to New York City?

A few months later, and I’d worked my way all through the southwest to Santa Fe, where I met Pietro.

My heart was pounding as I pressed in the familiar numbers, having memorized them from the business card now soft and faded from how often I held it in my hands like a lifeline. “Come on… Pick up… Pick up…”

“Barnes Tires and Motors, this is George,” a man said in a gruff voice when he finally picked up. “How can I help you?”

“H-Hi, is James there? James Barnes? Bucky?” I stammered out, hands trembling so bad that the old payphone was almost rattling.

There was a pause, and then muffled talking away from the phone.

And then I heard it being picked up. “This is Bucky,” he said.

It felt like the wind had been knocked right out of my lungs. How had I gone so long without hearing his voice?

Breathing in sharply, I tried to figure out the words to say. But my throat was dry and it was like I’d suddenly forgotten the entire English language.

That was all that it took for Bucky to realize it was me. “Baby doll? Baby doll, is that you?” He asked quietly. “I…” He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “You don’t gotta say a thing, sweetheart… But just know that if you’re in trouble or you need help or… or anything at all, you better call me…” His voice wavered, as though he was fighting tears just like I was. “God, I miss you so much, baby doll. I love you.”

I love you, too.

I hung up before I could actually say the words. “God, I’m so fucking stupid,” I whispered as I leaned back against the wall of the gas station I’d found myself at, rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes.

My dumb ass had decided to wander from the bus station, and I’d walked over a mile away. Unless I was staying in Santa Fe for a bit, I’d need to start making my way back.

“You okay?”

In my distress, I hadn’t even heard the rumbling of the motorcycle or noticed the handsome man making his way to me. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” I said even as I wiped my nose with a pathetic sniffle.

He eyed me for a long moment, his eyes roaming over my figure. “You hungry? I know a great little place nearby. My treat.”

And well, I was never one to turn down free food.

Even if that ‘little place’ ended up being a food truck.

“You know, when you said it was a little place, I didn’t picture it having wheels,” I said teasingly, licking salsa off of my lower lip. “Though, it is the best food I’ve ever gotten from a food truck before.”

“Oh, come on. This is the best food of all time!” He laughed, shaking his head.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I snorted, finishing off my flautas.

Pietro looked at me long and hard. “So, are you gonna tell me what the hell was going on to have a pretty girl like you all teary eyed?” He asked, his head tilting to the side.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Was this your plan all along?” I asked. Wiping my hands off on a napkin, I did everything I could to avoid his eyes. “Get me all fed and then question me?” But at the same time, the thought of being able to finally talk to someone about it was so appealing… After a long moment of hesitation, I finally gave in. “I fell in love with a man, and he let me go because he knew that I want a life he can’t give me,” I said. “And I was a bitch who didn’t even tell him I love him back when he said it to me.”

Pietro took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “Damn. You really are a stone cold bitch, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” I indignantly threw a chunk of tomato at him, glaring. “I just opened up my heart, you dickwad.”

“Dickwad?!” He said, blinking at me in shock. “No one’s ever called me a dickwad before.”

I raised a single eyebrow at him. “Maybe not to your face, but they definitely have.” He gave off the vibe of a fuckboy, of a really, really bad fuckboy.

“Well, since you’re running away from your feelings, how about you spend a week or two with me on the road?” He asked with a grin.

I couldn’t help but blink at him in shock. “What?” I let out a laugh, pulling one of my legs up to my chest. “Do you throw that line out to every girl you meet? Or am I just special?”

Pietro threw a chip at me, and I barely managed to dodge it. “No, I don’t. But… You remind me of me. Needing adventure. A life bigger than four walls and a fence.”

Instinctively, I wanted to snap back that sometimes, four walls and a fence could be an adventure, could be the biggest life there was, as Bucky’s face flashed across my mind.

But I couldn’t do that. Not when I wasn’t ready to face the truth myself.

“Come on, sweet cheeks,” he teased as his foot hooked around mine. “Just think of it. The open highway, a rhythm beneath your feet… Nights full of passion and days of adventure…” Pietro’s voice was deep and husky, as though he was trying to lure me in. “No strings… just warm summer rain soaking us to the bone before we find some cheap motel to huddle down in…”

Plastering on a smile, I stood up and brushed myself on. “Thanks, but… I’d rather be drinking champagne, and the quicker I get to LA, the sooner I will be.”

He let me go with a kiss on the cheek and his cell number pressed into my hand, with a promise to come and pick me up the second I rang.

And despite how sweet he was, how wild and funny and charismatic, there was only one man I wanted to call.

Twenty-Four

I sipped at my martini as I sat at the rooftop bar, absentmindedly watching the television that was mounted on the wall as people droned around me. I’d been in Los Angeles for a year, and I’d spent my time finding the best places to find a husband who could give me the life I dreamed of.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it took connections to build a career, and the best way to get a foot in the door when nepotism was so rampant was by marrying someone in the industry.

My silk dress was the most expensive thing I owned, something I’d saved up for months for, had skipped meals for. And fuck, was it worth it. I could feel the stares, the lingering gazes on the little bit of thigh that was exposed by the slit in the dress.

I’d already turned away several men, able to tell just from their expensive watches and cheap suits and shoes.

It was amazing how all the up and coming finance bros thought they fit in with the truly big dogs.

“Well, hello, gorgeous.”

I turned to see who was speaking, my heart skipping a beat when I realized who I was speaking to.

The world famous (or infamous) director, Tony Stark.

“Hello, handsome,” I said smoothly, my lashes fluttering innocently as I took a sip of my horrible drink.

I fucking hated martinis. Always had.

But ordering a martini was more sophisticated than ordering a frozen strawberry margarita.

“Is this seat taken?” He asked as he motioned to the empty bar stool right next to me, even as he was already sitting down. “Let me buy your next round.”

“I can’t think of anything better,” I said, feeling as though my dream life was already in reach.

Twenty-Eight

“Tony, where are you taking me?” I laughed as I let my boyfriend lead me to the private dock at our Malibu mansion.

Well, his mansion. I just happened to also live there.

It had been a whirlwind of a year since I had met Tony, and he’d bought me that second round. He’d taken me all over the globe, anywhere my heart desired.

But I made sure to avoid New York City, though he never understood why. I would never tell him.

Not when I was so close to my dream. I could practically taste it.

“Come on, come on. I have a surprise for you,” he said, keeping his hands over my eyes. He was sure to keep me from tripping and busting my ass, thank god.

The ocean waves were so comforting as they hit the shore, a sound I’d gotten used to over the past year.

He finally brought me to a stop, quietly telling me to keep my eyes closed. “Okay,” he said finally. “Open them.”

My eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the bright light of the California sun. But I was more shocked by the sight of Tony on one knee in front of me, holding out a box with a sparkling diamond ring in it. “Tony?”

The ring was the size of a fucking meteor. It was easily the biggest ring I’d ever seen.

“You know, I never thought I’d meet someone like you,” he said quietly, his dark eyes shining. But his voice was steady. “Someone who understands me, who doesn’t expect me to change into someone I’m not. You accept me as I am, and that’s why I want to give you the world.” He couldn’t help but grin as he nodded to the right. “Starting with that yacht you’ve always dreamed of.”

I hadn’t even noticed that there were two yachts at his private docks instead of just the one. The new one had SS Princess emblazoned on the side, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh… Tony…”

“So, what do you say?” He asked, bringing my attention back to him. “Will you be my wife?”

“Yes.”

Thirty-Two

Swallowing nervously, I looked down at the business card in my hand for the millionth time, the stock paper soft from how often I’d looked at it in the past ten years.

Hell, just how often I’d looked at it in the past six should’ve made it fall apart by now. Not that I didn’t have it memorized.

I’d finally ended my marriage after being miserable for so long. I’d gotten my yacht, my fancy houses, my career, all the jewelry that I could dream of, and none of it made me happy. Tony and I… never grew. And I never dreamed. Every day was the same, and every day was torture as I realized that I didn’t have the one thing that actually mattered.

The garage in front of me was busy, music blasting and the sound of men shouting to each other as they worked.

Suddenly I felt absolutely ridiculous wearing a Chanel dress and Gucci heels, an Hermés bag on my arm.

BARNES TIRES AND MOTORS was lit up along the top of the shop in bright red letters, though the lights in the ‘r’ of ‘motors’ were out.

I felt like a fool. I had wanted the life I had so desperately that I gave up everything for it. I got the movie star life, my name on billboards and my face on magazines.

But it wasn’t ever enough.

My heels clicked against the blacktop as I slowly made my way towards the front area of the shop, bells clinging above my head to let them know someone was there.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” A man asked as he came around the corner.

He looked so much like Bucky, it punched the air straight from my lungs.

“H-Hi. I’m looking for James Barnes. Is he here?” I asked after a long moment of hesitation. There was no way that the man was Bucky, but I didn’t doubt he was related.

The man raised his brows, wiping his hands on a rag. “My son’s in the shop. I’ll take you to him.” His full head of hair was white, his thick facial hair matching. Even with all the wrinkles on his face, he was a handsome man. Holding open the door for me, he led me into the loud shop, some eighties rock song blasting over the speakers.

I couldn’t help but smile as ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ by Scorpions came on. It was one of Bucky’s favorites back when we worked in the diner together.

“BUCK! YOU GOT A VISITOR!” The man shouted, causing several people to look our way.

My cheeks felt hot as I avoided their gaze, hoping they wouldn’t recognize me. I didn’t want to be a famous movie star anymore, a celebrity that had to beg for scraps of privacy.

My mind went numb, my heart stopping inside my chest as he stepped around a gray Ford Escape another man was working on.

He was even more handsome than he was the last time I saw him.

“Can I help y—” He broke off, his blue eyes going wide when he realized that it was me. “Hi.”

All of a sudden, everything I’d planned to say flew out of my head. All of the eloquent words I’d strung together were gone. And I just proceeded to word vomit.

“Did you know that, uh, when you marry someone you’re not in love with, you won’t… you won’t grow into it?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Um… I married a man who could give me a life I thought I always wanted, and he just… sucked.” Eyes stinging, I fought back against tears. “And I thought that all I ever wanted was the life I have now, was the life movie stars and the Kardashians lived. But… But I hate it. I hated every second I was away from you.” I let out a weak laugh, unable to stop the tears. “I wanted to turn around the second I got on the bus in New Orleans, but my stupid stubborn ass didn’t. I should have. I should’ve gotten off and just run right back to you because I… I love you, James. I always have.”

The garage had gone almost deadly quiet, and my heart sank when I realized Bucky looked almost frozen in shock.

“I know that I shouldn’t have showed up like this,” I scrambled to say. “But I… I’ve been trying to get my divorce finalized for two years and I finally did, and I kept telling myself that once it was done, I’d never hold myself back from what I really want ever again. From who I want. If… If you want me.” My face felt like it was on fire, my hands shaking. I shook my head as I took a step backwards. “What am I thinking? There’s no way you’re not married. I… I’m so so—”

Before I could finish the word ‘sorry,’ Bucky had closed the distance between us, his hands cradling my face so gently. He held me like I was made of fine crystal as he kissed me. He kissed me like his life depended on it, like I was the one source of oxygen.

And I kissed him back just as fiercely. “I love you. I love you so much,” I breathed out in between kisses, unwilling to let him go as my Hermés bag fell into the dust and oil on the concrete below.

Bucky smiled into the kiss, his arm wrapping around my waist to keep me pressed to his chest. “I love you so much, darlin.’ God, I’ve missed you…” His nose nudged against mine as we finally broke for air, both of us breathing heavily.

My knees felt like Jell-O as I held onto him. His grip was the only reason I hadn’t fallen to the ground already.

“I’m sorry I was a dumb twenty-two year old,” I said, snorting as he stole another kiss.

“No… Don’t be sorry,” he insisted, his fingers massaging my scalp as our foreheads pressed together. It was like he was scared to stop touching me, like I would disappear at any second. “You were young… You had to go out and make your own mistakes… I’ve just been waiting for the day you were ready.”

All the years apart melted away and all that remained was the two of us, two souls so intertwined that there was no way to truly separate us.

Our lips were half molded together as I said, “I’m never leaving you again. I promise I swear on everything…”

My heart almost stopped inside my chest as I heard someone clearing their throat, looking to see Bucky’s father staring at us with his arms crossed over his chest. “M-Mr. Barnes, sir…”

He gave a crooked smile that was so reminiscent of Bucky that I couldn’t help but grin back. “The Mrs. will wanna know if you’re staying for dinner.”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked up at Bucky, toying with a strand of his hair. “That sounds perfect.”

Later that night, Bucky and I laid in his bed, a mess of bare limbs as his fingers ran up and down my back soothingly. “What do you want from this life, baby girl?” He asked absentmindedly.

Humming, I traced shapes on his bare chest, sometimes pressing a kiss to where his prosthetic met his shoulder, on the tender scar tissue. “You.”

A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth, despite the already mischievous look on his face. “Really? Not even the stars and the moon?” He asked teasingly.

I knew he’d give it to me anyway, give me all that he could. But I was sure now that the only thing I wanted from this life was his love. “Not even the stars and the moon.”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes reader insert

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sirthisisa-wendys · 3 years ago

Text

Queen of Diamonds (Chapter 10): Kisaki Tetta x Fem!Reader

created by: @sirthisisa-wendys and @thehypestdeano

synopsis: the hardest goodbyes are always the ones you dread the most. And even the vacation is for your safety, you can't help but feel anything but safe without Tetta.

wc: 1k

tw: fluff

previous chapter 👑 masterlist 👑 next chapter

song recommendation:

"We need to go, sweetheart."

You're curled up on the bed you two share with Kisaki behind you, his breath much more even than it was an hour before. You're performing your last bit of protesting - even though your bags are packed, your flight is booked, and your husband is insistent that you leave for your own safety and comfort.

You silently remain in bed as he rises, placing a shirt and some pants on before coming to your side of the bed.

"Babe," Tetta murmurs softly, patting your arm. "It's time to go." You say nothing as tears start to slide from your eyes and onto the pillow beneath your head. "I know," he whispers, absorbing some tears with his thumb. "I know."

"Come with me," you croak softly, reaching out to touch his face. "Please."

"I can't," he repeats and you whimper softly, feeling a sob rise up from your throat.

"How long?" you wonder, and Tetta leans forward, looking you in the eyes.

"Probably a few weeks."

A few weeks without him... Could you make it?

It's the question you ask yourself as the driver takes you three to the airport. It's the question on your mind while you walk through the private airport, hand tightly held in your husband's. And it's the last thought you have before you stand on the runway, the private jet ready to take you and Hanma away.

Hanma takes your bags and leaves the two of you alone on the tarmac. You sniff, straightening your spine as Tetta turns to you and kisses your cheek once.

"Call me when you get there. I'll answer right away." You don't reply, holding onto his hands as if it's the last thing you'll ever be able to do. As if it's the last time you'll see him. "Don't cry," Tetta murmurs. "It's not for forever. You'll be back in no time." He leans in for a real kiss this time, embracing you fully while you melt into his touch.

Finally, he leads you up to the stairs, holding your hand until he can't any longer, and lets your fingers slip out of his grasp. Your last glimpse of Tetta is as you're pulling away from the hangar, and he disappears, becoming a small dot as you ascend into the skies.

____________________________________________________________

Upon your arrival, the call to Tetta had been brief.

"I'm glad you made it safe, my love. Enjoy yourself, and I love you."

And now you're seated on a new bed in the luxury bungalow overlooking the beach, alone. The terrible feeling of dread sinks into your stomach again, though it was staved off earlier with the amount of alcohol you consumed on the plane. Now, you're slightly buzzed, but not enjoying yourself like you said you would.

"Do you want to go out to the market?" Hanma wonders, his eyes taking in your despondency with curiosity. "Or maybe go--"

"No." Your answer is enough for him to leave you alone, his yellow eyes drifting away to find something else to entertain himself with.

Later - once you're tucked under the bedsheets despite it being only five p.m. - Shuji finds you and leans in the doorway with a grin on his face. "D'you want something for dinner? The chef is coming soon and he wants to know if you have any preference."

"I'm not hungry." Hanma pauses, perhaps looking for the right words to say, but he chooses silence and disappears once more.

You're left alone for the rest of the evening, as expected, but when your phone lights up with Kisaki's name on it, you snatch it from the bedside table.

"Tetta?" you whisper quickly.

"Hey... How is it going?"

"It's..." You inhale deeply, trying not to let the bubble of emotion spill out of your mouth. "It's fine. Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine. Just making sure everything's going smoothly."

"Are you working your magic?" you inquire, chuckling a little.

"I'm working my magic," he affirms. There's a brief pause in which you consider begging to come home, but you shove it down to listen to him continue. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, anything," you reply, perking up.

"Can you keep a list of what you do every day, and bring something back for me? I don't want to miss a thing when you come back and tell me about your trip."

"I will, I promise."

"That's my girl." Kisaki sighs. "I have to go now, but I'll talk to you tomorrow. Same time."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

After you hang up the phone, the emotions spill forth, causing you to curl in on yourself and sob uncontrollably. Finally, finally, once you felt secure in your marriage and fully comfortable with the man you love, it's all snatched away from you in an instant.

And it's simply not fair, you conclude.

_____________________________________________________________

"Breakfast in bed!" Shuji shouts, making train noises as he enters your room with waffles and fruit and orange juice. "I had the chef make some blackberry jam if you want to try it," he adds, smiling widely. "We have reservations at a cafe for lunch, so just be prepared to leave around eleven, okay?"

Jet lag combined with your lack of decent sleep is enough to make you more than irritated with the showmanship displayed, but you silently take the breakfast. You notice your eyes are puffy and red when you look at them in the mirror across from the bed, and your normally disheveled hair looks hardly slept on.

"Also, there's a... dinner reservation, I think? I'll have to check. Is there anything else you need?"

"Some more sleep," you mutter, looking up at the jovial man. "You don't have jet lag?"

"No," Hanma laughs. "When you travel as much as I do, jet lag isn't a problem." You angle your head at him, frowning.

"I'm a little jealous," you admit, but Shuji shrugs, running a tattooed hand through his wavy black and blonde locks.

"Everyone is." With that, he leaves you in the room to eat your breakfast in peace.

_____________________________________________________________

taglist: @hana-patata @xbabybajix @tjjjrsj @shvjis @saltmaki @roxxiies @ravenina14

#tetta kisaki #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers #tetta kisaki x reader #kisaki tetta #tokyo revengers tetta #kisaki tetta x reader #hanma shuji #shuji hanma #Spotify

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 3 years ago

Text

Tell the Truth

Prompts: aaaa the way you write angst is just *chefs kiss* wonderful. I’ve been really enjoying the butterfly project series, it has made me cry multiple times. May I request some fluff to balance the angst? - anon

Excuse me while I sob over Redemption Never Came and politely grabby hand for more angst with a happy ending (Roman angst my beloved) (Also you are an amazing fanfic artist :D) - anon

This is so heartbreaking and whumpy but so soft in the end and I would devour a second part about everyone trying to help undo all the negative patterns they've all instilled in Roman and just showing him affection and everyone's hearts breaking a little more each time he's surprised they actually want to be around him. - LadyofhteWoods

And now a part of me wants to see all those scenarios again, only this time Roman gets loved- walk in the kitchen, get a hug. Sit on the couch? Cuddle pile. Go on a quest? Bring friends, if hurt, patch up and movies. Crying in bed because you had a bad time and your brain is screaming that you suck and a wave of depression has rippled through you and you feel horrible? Have some tea… cry it out…. We’re here. - A_tiny_star_prince

Read on Ao3 Part 1

Warnings: self-doubt, self-deprecating thoughts

Pairings: dlampr

Word Count: 7688

Roman lies. A lot. Maybe it's time they did something about it.

Roman’s lies don’t vanish overnight. How could they? When he’s so used to repeating them, over and over, in a horrific little mantra before he goes to sleep, how can he be expected to get rid of them in only one night?

That doesn’t make them less difficult to hear.

Janus is downstairs, helping Virgil fold up one of the blankets strewn about the living room, when he winces and hisses.

“J? You okay?”

Janus nods, jerking his head upward. Virgil follows his gaze and winces too.

“…Princey?”

“I think so.” That’s a lie. He knows it’s Roman.

“I got this,” Virgil says quietly, taking the blanket from Janus, “you go. He seems to let you help more than he lets us.”

He never really had the choice to let me.

Janus swallows heavily as he appears outside Roman’s door. The lies aren’t nearly as poisonous as they were a few days ago, but they’re strong enough to curl his tongue at the bitterness in his throat. He raises a hand to knock on the door.

The lies falter for a moment before another one floats through.

Don’t come in.

He smirks, gently pushing the door open to meet a darkened room.

“Impressive,” he says softly, making his way over to the figure in the bed and perching on the end, “that could’ve been one of mine.”

He’s rewarded with the quietest of huffs before a head shyly peeks out at him from the covers. Janus smiles and tilts his head.

“Hello, sweetie.”

“Hi.” Roman shuffles a little. “Sorry. Didn’t realize I was summoning you.”

“There’s no need to apologize.” Janus glances around the room. His computer is off and shut. The bathroom light and fan are off. He looks back. “Can I help, sweetie?”

A shuffling of the blankets that’s probably supposed to be a shrug.

“Let me come find you, then,” he murmurs, standing and moving to where the head was a moment ago, “how did you get this many blankets on top of you?”

He slowly starts to move them out of the way, peeling back layer after layer, only briefly wondering whether or not Roman can breathe properly under these. It’s a careful act, one he treats with the same reverence as cleaning his gloves or his scales, creating a little cocoon of blankets as he gets further and further into the covers.

The last one puffs just the slightest amount, up and down.

So you can breathe, good.

Janus doesn’t move this one all the way out of the way, just lifts it up enough to peer inside. Roman’s little face peers back at him, partially covered by another blanket clutched tight to his chest. He looks so…child-like.

The realization makes something warm turn in Janus’s chest.

“Knock knock,” he says softly, “anyone home?”

Roman blinks. “Mm.”

“May I come in, sweetie?”

“Mm.” Roman jerks his chin toward Janus’s clothes. “Lose the sharp bits.”

Janus snaps his fingers, transforming his usual clothes into a soft yellow shirt and sleep pants. “Better?”

“Mm.”

“How did you manage to get so many blankets balanced on your bed,” Janus asks as he slips beside Roman, “mine always fall off after three.”

“Practice.” Roman shifts to make room.

Janus frowns. “Come here, sweetie, let me cuddle you.”

“You don’t have to.”

The frown deepens. “Sweetie?”

Roman buries his face a little deeper into the blanket. “You don’t like cuddling. Virgil an’ Remus said so.”

Oh, Roman…

“Come, sweetie,” he insists, tugging Roman gently into a proper hug, “there.”

“But—but—“

“I may not be as big a fan of cuddling as you and Patton,” Janus says firmly, cupping Roman’s face, “and I’m certainly the type that enjoys being tackled by Remus—“

Roman snorts.

“—but you’re upset,” he finishes gently, “and I want to help.”

Burden.

Needy.

Don’t understand boundaries.

Don’t deserve help.

Janus hisses. Roman sighs.

“Sorry.”

“No need for that,” he assures, still cradling Roman’s face as he pulls him close, “I understand. It’s alright.”

“I know, and I—I don’t want you to leave, but—“ Roman swallows— “I just—I still don’t believe you’re here.”

Janus wraps a pair of arms around Roman’s waist and squeezes. “I’m real, I’m here.”

“I just—“

There’s another lie swirling in Roman’s brain, too nebulous to make it all the way to Janus, but present enough that it makes his mouth tingle. He leans down to kiss Roman’s forehead.

“…you said it was your job to protect the Ego.”

“That’s right, sweetie, it is.”

“I guess I…I just…”

Janus gives Roman another encouraging squeeze. Roman brings the blanket further up his face.

“…I guess I figured that if you—if you could h-hate me that much or h-hurt me that badly and not—not care, then you…maybe you…”

Janus’s heart clenches as the lie finally makes itself known.

Not worth protecting.

He pulls away, shushing the heartbroken whine that Roman makes, taking off his gloves and wrapping every arm around the poor thing. He presses another kiss to his forehead, letting the hiss out into his hair.

“That’s not true, sweetie,” he promises, “and you’ll never know how sorry I am for hurting you and letting it get this far.”

And the poor thing is so tired, so weary that he goes limp in Janus’s arms, save for the blanket clutched tightly to his face. Janus frowns, opening his mouth to say that might be a little uncomfortable, what with Roman’s arms tucked between them, when he starts putting the pieces together.

Roman is still wearing a fair amount of clothing, he’s got something pressed up against his face, under his chin, and he’s got so many blankets piled on top of him that even Janus feels warm.

“And here I thought I couldn’t feel more rotten,” he whispers, carding one hand through Roman’s hair, another scratching gently between his shoulder blades, “but you must be in agony.”

A questioning hum is let out against his throat.

“You’re still touch starved, sweetie,” he says in way of answering, squeezing a little tighter, “are you still cold?”

There’s a soft rush of breath as Janus cups the back of his neck and then a noise is just about torn from his throat as he uses it to pull Roman close.

“Oh, shh, shh, you poor thing,” he murmurs, pressing another kiss to his cheek, “I’m right here, sweetie, I won’t leave you.”

They lie there for a while longer, Roman’s arms slowly lowering the blanket until he shyly puts his arms around Janus in return.

“There you go, sweetie,” he encourages, “hold onto me, that’s it.”

“Why—why are you letting me hug you?”

“Because it seems like you’d like to hug me.” Janus squeezes him again. “You don’t need to have a reason, sweetie, if you need a cuddle, you can have one.”

I need a reason. I need an excuse. I need an argument. I have to convince you.

Another hiss. “You can always ask for hugs, sweetie, you don’t need to convince me to hug you.”

“…really?”

Oh, Roman… “Yes, sweetie, you can ask any of us.”

The wave of disbelief that hits him makes him grit his teeth.

“I promise, sweetie. I promise.” Another kiss to his forehead. “You’re not unwanted, you’re not a burden.”

The silence he gets implies that Roman may not want to prove that—or disprove it—for himself right now.

“…can we just stay here for a bit?”

“For as long as you need, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, settling them in for some rest, “for as long as you want.”

——————————

Patton is in the kitchen, the first one downstairs this morning. There’s already a pot of coffee brewing and he sets the kettle up on the counter. He reaches up to pull the mugs for everyone. The plain black one for Logan, the Nightmare Before Christmas one for Virgil, the sparkly one for Remus, and the blue puppy one for himself. He frowns.

Roman used to keep his mug down here too. This really big red one with a golden crown on the side. He hasn’t seen it in ages.

Footsteps on the stairs.

He turns and sees Roman walk into the kitchen, smiling brightly as if there’s nothing wrong in the world, not a seam or stitch of his prince costume out of place. He strides into the room like he owns it, as if he’s just come down the stairs in his resplendent palace to a crown of adoring onlookers.

“Ah! Patton!” Goodness, he speaks like it too. “Good morning!”

“Roman!” Patton rushes forward and wraps him in a hug.

This is where everything goes wrong.

Roman tenses. Not in a way that means he wants out, but out of sheer surprise. Patton waits for Roman’s arms to wrap around him but instead, there’s just a very, very soft touch to his shoulder.

“Patton,” he asks quietly, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m great, kiddo, why?”

“W-well, you’re…you’re hugging me.”

“Sure am.”

“…why?”

Suddenly Patton feels very cold.

He pulls back, not enough to let Roman go completely, but enough to look up and see a truly heartbreaking look of confusion on his face. He can’t help the soft noise that comes out of his mouth as he raises one hand to his face.

“Are you asking why I’m hugging you?” Roman nods. “I want to hug you, kiddo. You’re hug-shaped.”

“I’m…what?”

“Hug-shaped,” Patton repeats, tugging him a little closer with the arm still around his waist, “you’re worth hugging, I like hugging you.”

“O-oh.”

And Patton has to watch as every scrap of confidence falls from Roman’s expression, his shoulders slump, and he looks like he loses some of his height, even. The shift is so drastic that it almost springs tears to his eyes at how much Prince Roman suddenly looks like a lost child, swimming in a costume too big and too heavy for him. Roman face contorts as he looks at a spot on the counter, furrowing his brow as if it’ll explain everything to him if he just glares hard enough.

There’s something fragile about the way Roman leans into Patton’s hand, something breakable about how warm he is right now. Patton shifts his weight to his other leg and there’s a flash of panic in Roman’s eyes, quickly stifled but there.

“Oh, kiddo, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmurs, pulling Roman back in for a proper hug, “I’m right here, it’s okay. You just let it out, okay?”

Roman’s breathe shudders a little into Patton’s shoulder. Then he starts pushing Patton away.

Patton listens, confused, until he watches Roman shake himself and put the mask of the prince right back on.

“Terribly sorry,” he says in the awful, awful cheerful voice as he rakes a hand through his hair, “don’t know what came over me.”

“Don’t,” Patton blurts before he can stop himself, “don’t do that, sweetheart.”

“Don’t do what, Padre?”

“Don’t pretend,” he says, reaching out for Roman again, “you don’t have to pretend you’re okay. Or that you don’t want something.”

“I don’t like being needy, Patton,” Roman says in a soft voice that’s just this side of wobbly, “and you don’t like me needy.”

And doesn’t that just feel hot and guilty in Patton’s throat?

“I like you, sweetheart,” he says instead, “and you’re not being needy if you want comfort or even just a touch. You’re allowed to want something, Roman, you are.”

Roman huffs in disbelief and turns.

“No, Roman—“ Patton hurries to get in front of him— “you are.”

Something flickers across Roman’s expression. Patton doesn’t even need Janus to tell him that Roman thinks he’s walking into a trap.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Patton says quietly, “I’ve hurt you so much, haven’t I? I’ve made you think that your job is wrong, that you—that you’re wrong and you’re not, kiddo. You’re not wrong. You’re not awful. I promise.”

Roman’s lip wobbles.

“Oh, come here, sweetheart,” Patton coos, wrapping him back in a hug, and finally, finally Roman’s arms come up to wrap around him too, before he’s being squeezed so tight it borders on painful.

Patton doesn’t care.

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart, I promise.” He rocks them back and forth a little as Roman buries his face in his shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, I know we will.”

They stay like that until the kettle goes off and Roman startles, jumping back a little bit. Patton soothes away the last of the jitters and smiles, watching Roman look like…Roman. Not the Prince, not the horribly lost child, just…just Roman.

“I think that’s my cue to make you the biggest mug of hot chocolate you’ve had since Christmas,” he says quietly, “now what mug would you like?”

Roman glances at the cabinet. “Anyone is fine.”

“Then why don’t you go grab one while I get the hot chocolate?”

Patton busies himself with the box, purposely letting Roman have his privacy as he picks out a mug, trying not to make his smile too blinding when he turns and sees Roman shyly hold out a big red mug with a sparkly crown.

“Good choice,” he says softly as he takes it from him, “I missed this mug.”

Judging by the way Roman’s mouth curls up in a little smile, he knows what Patton meant.

——————————

Virgil walks into the room and sees Roman sprawled out across the chair. He almost doesn’t see it.

He’s got to give it to Janus; even though he knows he can hear lies, he’s not sure he would’ve believed that they were actually coming from Roman. Because Roman looks the fucking picture of relaxed right now. It looks like he saw Patton and Logan on the couch and decided there wasn’t enough room for him to take up as much space as he wants. It looks like he’s occupying the entire fucking corner and not just the chair. It looks like he’s every bit the arrogant prince they used to think he was.

Then he sees how tight his jaw is and the slight tremble of his hands.

The room isn’t warm, there’s no reason for Princey to be shivering. There’s certainly no reason for him to be so tense as he sits in the chair, tapping a pen against his cheek in a fabulous impression of mindless thinking but is actually a carefully controlled way of preventing himself from moving any further.

He’s gotta hand it to him. Princey’s good.

Virgil walks up to Roman and shoves his hands into his pockets as Roman looks up.

“Dark and Stormy,” he says in a perfected casual lilt, “is there something I can do for you?”

And wow, okay, if this is what Janus hears all the time then Virgil has no idea how he fucking does it.

Janus hears lies, Virgil hears fears.

Please don’t make me leave.

If you want the chair I’l give it to you, I’ll move, I’ll sit on the floor, I’ll be quiet, but please don’t make me go. I want to stay, please, can I—can I stay? Is that okay?

Virgil tilts his head. “Move the book.”

Roman furrows his brow. “What?”

“The book.” Virgil nods to the notebook in Roman’s lap. “Move it. Move your arm.”

Confused, Roman does as he asks only to squeak in surprise when Virgil pronounces it perfect and plonks himself in Roman’s lap.

“Virgil!”

“Yeah?” Virgil pulls out his phone and leans his head against Roman’s shoulder. “What’s up?”

“You—you’re—“ Roman still doesn’t move— “you’re in my lap.”

“Sure am.” Virgil looks up at him and lowers his voice to a whisper. “No?”

Roman’s voice drops too. “What?”

Virgil indicates his weight. “No? This okay?”

“Y-yeah, it’s fine, I just—what?”

In lieu of a verbal answer, Virgil reaches behind him to take Roman’s free hand and pull it close, tucking it under his chin and clutching it there. Roman’s hand trembles. He finds himself absentmindedly running his thumb over the knuckles, the palm, the fingers. He keeps his eyes on Roman’s face.

Roman’s other arm lowers, gingerly resting on Virgil’s legs. Virgil smiles and squeezes his hand.

“I’m sorry, Princey,” he whispers, “I’ve been fucking awful to you.”

Roman’s face twitches. “…so have I.”

“What, been awful to me or awful to you?”

For a moment, he thinks Roman’s just going to say that he’s been awful to Virgil. Which, yes, he was in the past, but not like Virgil’s been. But instead, Roman opens his mouth and shakily whispers: ‘both.’

“I know, Princey.” Virgil squeezes his hand again. “You’re all good with me, and we can…if you want, I can help with the second part too.”

Roman’s eyes widen and godfuckingdamnit that hurts.

“I gotcha, Roman,” he says softly, lacing their fingers together, “and ‘m sorry I haven’t been there for you recently.”

Roman swallows, Virgil’s eyes drawn to the roll of his throat. “You…you want to help me?”

Roman, you’re gonna ruin my reputation of not having a heart by smashing it into fucking pieces.

“Yeah, Roman,” he reassures, “I wanna help you. You’re important.”

“I am?”

“Sure are, Princey.” He lightly knocks his head against Roman’s. “And if it ever feels like I don’t believe that, call me out on my bullshit. ‘Cause that’s bullshit.”

“What are you two muttering about over there?” Patton shakes his head fondly when Virgil decides to just turn his head upside down instead of turning around. “Virgil, that’s not good for your spine.”

“We’re metaphysical, Pop-star, who cares?”

“When you start complaining about neck pain,” Logan says wryly, “me.”

He glances up too and Virgil hides a smirk at how his face softens when he spots Roman’s expression.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, yes,” Roman says hurriedly, “everything’s fine.”

“It’s Hug Roman time,” Virgil says immediately after, “so I’m hugging Roman.”

“I think that’s less of a hug than you sitting on his lap,” Logan says, standing, “but we’ll never fit all of us on that chair.”

Virgil feels more than hears Roman’s inhale as Logan and Patton start moving the couch cushions to the floor. He sits back upright just in time to see Roman’s hopeful face and butts his head against his again.

“Come on, Princey, let’s go.”

“…are you going to stand up, or…?”

“Or you could carry me.”

“Virgil,” he hears Patton chide.

“No, no,” Roman says, “it’s fine, I can carry him if he wants to be carried. I will need my hand back, though.”

Okay, yes, Virgil does enjoy Roman carrying him a bit too much for altruistic purposes but it’s worth it when Roman goes to gently set him down and the other two pull him down instead.

“There,” Logan says softly as Roman’s head comes to rest against the base of the couch, “much better.”

Roman opens his mouth to say something when Logan’s hand tangles in his hair and it turns into a slightly strangled sound. Patton chuckles, wrapping his arms around Roman and sighing softly.

“Hey, who wants to play a game?”

Remus’s head pops up from behind the couch.

“We’re already playing a game,” Virgil says, “it’s called Cuddle Roman, now get your butt down here.”

Remus gasps. “My favorite!”

“Okay good,” Virgil mutters as he moves out of Roman’s lap to make room for Remus, “I totally thought he was talking about butts.”

“I have a feeling, my dear,” Janus sighs, striding from the shadows and totally not making Virgil jump, “that it’s both.”

Remus just cackles. Janus takes a seat, reaching out to take one of Roman’s hands in his. Roman frowns at him slightly, his head still spinning from the amount of people around him.

“What—is there something wrong?”

Janus shakes his head. “It’s Hug Roman hours. So I’m here.”

Vigil chuckles at the blush on Roman’s face. “So this is becoming a regular thing, right?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

“Indeed.”

“Yay!”

Remus just holds his brother tighter.

——————————

“…come in.”

“If you’d like to reschedule, Roman, it’s no trouble, I’m happy to…”

Logan trails off as he walks into the room, Roman’s back to him as he hunches over a table near the door to the Imagination. He shuts the door quietly behind him and tucks the notebook under his arm.

“Roman?” He takes a step forward. “Are you alright?”

“Never better, Specs,” Roman says cheerily, too cheerily, “just give me one moment and I’m all yours.”

Logan frowns. “If you’d like to reschedule, Roman,” he repeats, softer this time, “I can assure you, it’s fine.”

“No, no, that’d be rude.” Something crinkles in Roman’s hands. “Just—just one moment.”

There’s a heavy clunk and a barely contained hiss.

“Roman—“ he starts forward— “are you hurt?”

“Not hurt.” Another clunk. “Just…incredibly clumsy, it seems.”

“Can I help?”

If he weren’t paying attention, he would miss the way Roman’s shoulders tense with disbelief.

“N-no, that’s alright,” Roman says, the first time his voice has slipped, “I’m just…no, it’s alright.”

He jerks his head toward the desk, being very careful not to let Logan see his face.

“It’s over there, I’ll be with you in one moment.”

Logan looks, then walks over to the desk and carefully sets down his notebook. He glances up at Roman and can’t stop the soft noise at seeing Roman’s hands shake and fumble with a large bottle.

“Roman,” he calls softly, “Roman, please.”

Roman freezes.

“…please what?”

“Let me help you,” he says, walking over, “let me help you with this.”

Roman shudders and tries to laugh again. “You don’t need to busy yourself with inane and worthless tasks, Logan.”

Oh. Oh, dear.

“You’re not inane or worthless, Roman,” he says firmly, “nor are you a task.”

Roman’s shoulder is cold under his hand. He cups it nonetheless and leans closer, mindful to keep his gaze down and away.

“Please?”

Under his hand, Roman sighs. “…if that’s what you want.”

He’s not prepared for when Roman turns around, a bottle of micellar water in one hand and cotton ovals in the other. His makeup—done so wonderfully this morning—is smeared and wearing away, his nose bright red under the concealer. Logan lets out another soft noise, taking the proffered items and gently pushing Roman to sit on the table.

He takes one of the cotton ovals and gets it damp, cupping Roman’s chin in one hand.

“Let me know if anything starts to sting or hurt,” he instructs softly and starts to clean the smudges from his face. Roman sits perfectly still, his gaze down at Logan’s tie. His hands fold neatly in his lap and he looks every bit the cooperative ideal.

Except for the way he looks terrified every time Logan so much as shifts his hand.

“You are not worthless,” Logan says quietly as he works, swapping out the cotton ovals when needed, “you are not annoying me. You are someone I care about very deeply and someone I enjoy helping.”

Roman’s chin wobbles.

“I am always impressed by the ideas you create,” he continues after quietly bidding Roman to turn slightly, “and you never cease to amaze me with your creativity.”

Roman’s throat works against his hand as he swallows. “Remus—“

“Remus is Remus,” Logan interrupts gently, “turn—yes, there you go—and you are Roman. You are clever, you are kind, and you are wonderful, and I care about you very much.”

He takes a new cotton oval and takes Roman’s chin again, tapping gently until Roman makes eye contact.

“Close your eyes,” he bids, “and let me know if they start to sting at any point.”

Roman closes his eyes and Logan carefully, carefully starts to clean off the eyeshadow. The golden sparkles are stubborn, clinging to the skin, but he works patiently until the last of them come off. He realizes after that the oval is wetter than it was when he began.

“Oh, little star,” he breathes, glancing around and summoning a soft washcloth to clean Roman’s face the rest of the way, “it’s alright, you can cry if you need to. I won’t mind.”

“It’s stupid,” Roman mutters, raising a hand to swipe angrily at the tears, “it’s stupid.”

“If it’s making you upset, it’s not stupid.” Logan gently but firmly places Roman’s hands on his own shoulders and replaces them with the cloth. “Tell me?”

“I—it’s not even a quest.” Roman’s voice cracks horribly on the last word. “It’s just—I was making something and it broke and I—I worked really hard on it and now it’s ruined.”

Logan lets out a soft noise. “I’m sorry.”

His chest aches when the apology makes Roman shake himself. “It’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t want to just dump that on you.”

“I asked you to tell me what was wrong,” Logan chides, patting his cheek dry, “you’re not dumping anything on me.”

He sets the cloth aside and cups Roman’s face with his hands.

“And I am also sorry,” he whispers, “that I have made you believe that I do not worry about you the same way I worry about Thomas.”

Roman’s eyes fly open. “You—you what?”

“I care about you very deeply, Roman,” Logan says, “you’re very important to me. So yes, of course, I worry about you. You’re upset, and I’ve made you feel like you can’t come to me. I…I have not behaved well toward you. And I will remedy that.”

A new wave of tears meets Logan’s thumbs carefully swiping them away.

“Bonk?”

Roman leans forward and lets Logan rest their foreheads together. After a moment, his hands move to give Roman a proper hug, leaning up to press a kiss to his forehead.

“What were you making, if I may ask?”

“…just a house.” Roman sniffles. “It got destroyed in the last brainstorm.”

“Would you like help?”

“…don’t we have to work on the ideas?”

Logan smiles, resting their foreheads together once more. “This feels more important, doesn’t it?”

Roman’s small but warm smile is more than worth the extra hours they’ll have to spend working on the videos.

——————————

Somehow they forgot.

Somehow they forgot that Roman was scared of the dark.

It wasn’t common that thunderstorms plagued the Imagination, simply because—well, Thomas didn’t need literal brainstorms when he’s got Logan working with him. Sure, sometimes Remus decides he’s going to make his entrance extra cliché and arrive in a literal flash of lightning. Or Roman will create a field of flowers larger than the eye can see and soft bruised purple clouds will roll across the sky, quiet thunder and light rain that feels like a cushion.

But it’s never enough to cause a blackout.

For a moment, they’re all just confused. Thomas’s apartment is fine, Thomas is fine, so they don’t understand what’s happened. Then Remus points out that they, uh, maybe didn’t close the door to the Imagination as tightly as they should have.

He gets smacked upside the head for that.

So they’re here, in the middle of the dark, trying frantically to figure out how to not run into everything. Well, three of them are fine. Virgil can see in the dark. Janus can see in the dark. Remus can see in the dark.

“Is that because you’re the Dark Sides,” Patton mumbles as he puts his glasses back on for the fifth time in the past minute, “or do you each have some kind of ability?”

Remus smiles, even if Patton can’t see it. “It’s more fun!”

“That doesn’t—“ Logan pinches the bridge of his nose— “that doesn’t even answer the question, Remus.”

“I think you’ll find that’s his justification for most things,” Janus says wryly, taking Patton carefully by the arm and guiding him to sit on the couch, safely out of harm’s way.

Virgil elbows Remus to get him to put down the Morningstar, please, and sits down next to Patton. “How long is this going to take to go away?”

Remus shrugs. “Dunno. Probably won’t be that long. We all just gotta sit tight.”

Janus raises a hand to his mouth—not that Logan can truly appreciate his expression—and mock gasps. “Remus, suggesting that we don’t do anything?”

“Oh, fuck off, Snakey.”

“Language!”

Remus blows a fat raspberry. “Even I know it’s a bad idea to try and do something right now. I mean ask Roman—“

It takes a moment for them to realize that Roman isn’t sitting there.

“We should go get him,” Logan says after a moment, “just to make sure we’re all in the same place.”

And with that, Remus is off, stomping up the stairs and conveniently forgetting that two Sides can’t see past the little pinpricks of light at the bottom of the windows. Virgil rolls his eyes and makes to stand, only to frown.

“Virgil?” Logan touches his elbow when he notices him pause. “Are you alright?”

“Feels like I’m being summoned.” He rubs his chest absentmindedly. “But not really.”

“Well, let’s just keep an eye on—hey!”

Virgil doesn’t even hear the end of Logan’s sentence before he’s yanked into another room.

He blinks, disoriented, shaking his head to figure out where he is. Only when Remus bursts up the stairs and pouts that how dare Virgil sink out to beat him here does he realize why he’s here.

Judging by the way Remus’s face falls a second later, he does too.

Remus knocks lightly on the door. After a moment, he curses and goes to knock louder.

“Don’t,” Virgil mutters, grabbing Remus’s arm, “you’re gonna freak him out more.”

“Well, I can’t just blow the fucking door open,” he growls, shaking him off, “that’s gonna make it worse.”

He opens his mouth but another sharp tug from his chest makes him wince. “Okay, then don’t bust it down. Just—oh, god, we gotta get in there.”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.”

Remus doesn’t rear back and kick the door open, which says something about how concerned he is. They can’t see much of anything except for—

—oh.

Oh, no.

Roman notices immediately when the blackout happens. How could he not? He’d been in the middle of trying to sort out his journal for the day when suddenly he was drowning.

Oh god.

Oh, god.

Within an instant, his chest seizes. He can’t see. He can’t see. There’s something—

No. No, it’s fine. He’s in his room. Everything is fine. Because he’s safe. He’s in his room, he knows where everything is, he knows what everything is in here, he’s fine.

There’s nothing here to be scared of. There’s nothing here to be scared of.

So why is Roman so scared?

He shouldn’t be. He shouldn’t be. He’s a prince, for Disney’s sake, he’s the protector of the Mindscape, he’s—he’s—

He’s Prince Roman. Not some newly minted squire crying because he’s away from home for the first time and it’s all dark and scary and he can’t see anything because he doesn’t know what’s going on and he can’t tell where anything is and he swears he can see things moving in the shadows and—and—and—

Roman shoves his fist in his mouth before he can whimper.

No. No. He’s fine.

He’s fine.

…besides, what would the others say?

He’s a prince. He’s Roman. He’s not some scared weak thing. He’s just—he’s just—it’s—it’s—

They can’t see him like this. He’s supposed to be strong. He’ll never be taken seriously if they don’t see that he can be strong. They don’t take him seriously already, do they? Let alone if they could see him in the dark, alone, hyperventilating, terrified.

But he is.

He’s—he—

Something moves.

Oh, god, something moved.

He freezes, goes absolutely still, tries frantically to still his heaving chest, be small, be unnoticeable, his pride doesn’t matter right now, it doesn’t, he’s not gonna be hurt if he can’t be seen—

“Ro-Bro?”

His next inhale is a whine.

No, no, not Remus—he can’t—not Remus, Remus is strong, Remus will laugh at him, Remus loves the dark, he can’t cry in front of Remus, not for this—

“Oh, Ro-Bro,” he hears through the haze, “Ro-Bro, I’m so fucking sorry, I forgot, hey—hey—“

He won’t cry. He won’t cry. He won’t cry.

“Hey,” Remus calls, tugging carefully at the hand clapped over his mouth, “hey, don’t do that, Roro, you’re gonna hurt yourself, stop it, it’s gonna fucking hurt if you do that, you know that—“

The sob that tears itself out of his throat as Remus pries his hand away hurts his ears.

“Hey, Roro,” Remus soothes, taking his hands and squeezing them firmly, “hey, you gotta just be here for me, you focus on me, okay?”

“Re—“

“Come here, Ro.”

Remus scoops him up into his lap. To hell with whatever is twisting around in the shadows, Remus is holding him in his lap, rocking him back and forth and Remus is of the dark.

A rush of shame through his stomach and the first real sob into Remus’s shoulder hurts.

“Nuh-uh, Ro,” comes the mutter over his head, “don’t hold it in.”

The shame only grows. Then Remus tightens his grip until it’s all he can feel.

“I’m right here, Ro, I’m right here. It’s okay. You can be scared.”

“N-not scared.”

A gentle hiss in his ear as something—someone presses against his back and more arms than he can count wrap around his chest.

“Shh, shh,” Remus murmurs as he starts, “it’s just Janny.”

“Boo,” Janus whispers as he presses a kiss on his shoulder. Why—why is he here—did he—did he lie too much? He’s not scared, he’s not scared—

“Shh, sweetie,” he whispers as Roman starts to flinch, “I’ve got you, you’re okay, sweetie, stop that. We’ve got you.”

“You’re scared, bud.” Is that—is that Virgil? “Hey, hey, buddy, we got you. I’m sorry, Roman, I forgot you were so scared of the dark.”

Can’t be scared, can’t be scared—

“Shh, shh, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “stop that. You’re allowed to be scared, it’s okay. You don’t have to be ashamed of it.”

Virgil presses closer, nudging Janus’s head out of the way and replacing it with his own. He leans down to nuzzle into the crook of Roman’s neck, finding the place his collar digs into his neck and loosening it. Curse him. Curse him.

“Hey, bud,” Virgil murmurs, “you’re okay. You’re okay.”

“N-no—“

Janus hisses gently in his ear again.

“No—“ Roman’s breath hitches— “no, no, no—“

“Roman,” comes Logan’s warm voice from somewhere above him, and no—

“Give him to me,” he hears again after a moment, and when he feels Remus’s arms begin to loosen and Janus pulls away he mewls—

“Hush, little one,” Logan says softly, gathering the poor prince into his lap, “you’re safe, you’re right here, it’s just a blackout.”

“You’ll—“ Roman hiccups, his hands still pushing Logan away from him— “you’ll laugh—“

“Never,” comes the chorus, Logan’s arms firmly around his waist. Then another pair of hands covers his and pulls them away.

“Hey, kiddo,” Patton murmurs, gently but firmly placing his arms around Logan’s neck so Logan can cuddle him properly, “sorry it took us a little longer to get here, we had to take it slow up the stairs.”

“Pat—Pat—“

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Patton coos, crouching down to run a hand through his hair as Logan tucks him into the crook of his neck and Virgil rests his head on his shoulder, “we’re all here, it’s okay.”

“Stupid—st—stupid,” Roman mumbles, “I’m stupid—“

Another hiss, followed by a kiss to the nape of his neck. “Stop lying, sweetie,” Janus whispers, “stop it. You’re not stupid.”

“I’m a prince afraid of the dark,” Roman spits out, disgusted, “of course I’m stupid.”

“Falsehood,” Logan murmurs with more tenderness than Roman can remember, “you’re not stupid. You’re not.”

“I’m crying because I’m afraid of the dark,” he spits again, “I’m af-fraid of the dark—I’m afraid of the dark, I’m—I’m afraid—“

He’s afraid of the dark.

Patton presses a kiss to his forehead. “I don’t like the dark either, sweetheart.”

“You’re—you’re not—you’re not crying—“

“No, I’m not.” Another kiss. “But you are, Roman, and that’s okay.”

“Come on, Princey.” Virgil butts his head gently against Roman’s. “You just gotta breathe first, okay? We’re not going anywhere.”

Remus calls from somewhere over his shoulder—what has he been doing? Where’s he been?— “come on, I got all the pillows.”

“Re?”

“Come on, Ro-Bro,” Remus murmurs, appearing at his other shoulder, “close your eyes.”

“It’s already d-dark, Re.”

“I know, but I don’t wanna get the blanket in your eyes.” Suddenly, there’s a swath of fabric hitting him in the face. “It’s just for a moment, Roro.”

“Ready?” Logan scoops him up. “Up we go.”

“H-how can you see?”

“He can’t,” Janus says, suddenly appearing behind him, “but I can. Come now, my prince, we’re just over here, come on…”

Roman lets out a soft noise of surprise when his back hits something soft.

“Snap yourself into something more comfortable, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “we’re all just going to stay here for a while.”

Patton takes his hand and kisses the back of it as Logan helps tug down the t-shirt he’s poofed himself into.

“I’m sorry,” Roman mumbles, “I’m sorry I’m so scared.”

“None of that now, sweetheart,” Patton chides, cuddling into his side—oh, Patton’s in soft things too now— “you’re gonna be taken care of now. We’re right here.”

“I’m right here, Ro-Bro,” Remus says, promptly flopping down over Roman’s legs, “and no one else is going anywhere.”

Virgil huffs, curling around his head and ruffling his hair. “He’s right, Princey. Just relax for a little.”

“H-how long is the blackout going to last?”

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Janus says, snuggling into his other side, taking his hand between two of his, “but we’ll be here the whole time. Now please, sweetie, breathe.”

He tries. But it’s still dark and even though he knows the others are here, he can still feel the darkness pressing in on top of him. He can still see things moving in the shadows. He can feel it. He can see it. It hurts.

“Roman,” comes Logan’s voice, warm in the dark, “Roman, listen to me.”

“L-Logan?”

“Yes, dear,” he says, “it’s alright. Virgil is by your head, and he can see in the dark.”

Virgil gives his hair a little tug. “Right here, Princey. I’ve got you.”

“Patton is on your left. He won’t let anything hurt you.”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Patton kisses his cheek. “I won’t leave you.”

“Janus is on your right. He can also see in the dark, and it’s his job to protect you.”

Janus leans down to kiss his temple and squeezes his hand. “My prince,” he murmurs tenderly, “my sweetie.”

“And Remus…”

“Nothing’s laying a fucking finger on you, Ro-Bro,” Remus growls from down by his feet, “they’re gonna have to get through me first.”

Logan chuckles. “See?”

“L-Logan?”

“I’m right here, little star,” he says softly, “what do you need?”

“W—where are you?” Roman’s hands tense in Patton’s and Janus’s. “Where—I—I can’t—“

“Hush now,” Logan says, so softly, so softly, as a hand cups his cheek to brush away his tears, “I’m right here, I know you can’t see me. I’m sorry. I know it’s dark. I know you’re afraid. It’s okay, my dear, shh.”

Roman tries to reach out for him only to be thwarted by the grip on his hands.

“Hush, Roman, it’s alright, what can I do?”

“S-stay, please, stay—I want you to stay—“

“I’m right here, can I—“

“Please—“

He almost sobs again with relief when Logan lies down, his head tucked over his shoulder, curling his arms about his waist.

“We’re right here, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, “we’ve got you.”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Patton kisses the back of his hand.

“It’s okay to be scared, Princey.”

“We won’t let anything happen to you, Roro.”

It takes another half an hour for the storm to end and the lights to flicker back on. Roman stays tucked up in their arms, their soft words in his ear, gentle hands wiping away his tears, until he can blink up at all of them and murmur ‘thank you.’

“Of course, sweetie.”

“We’re here for you, Roman.”

“It’s no problem, Princey.”

“We’ve got you, kiddo.”

“All you gotta do is ask, Roro.”

——————————

Remus knocks on the door, the present in his hands. Roman opens the door and tilts his head.

“Re?”

“Can I come in, Ro-Bro?”

“Yeah, yeah, come on.” Roman shuts the door. “What’s up?”

“This is for you,” Remus says, holding out the box.

“Oh—Remus, I didn’t—I’m sorry—“

“You didn’t miss anything, Ro,” Remus says quickly, “and I’m not expecting anything in return. Just wanted to give you something.”

He shuffles.

“And I, uh, I also haven’t really apologized for the shit I’ve done to you, so…it’s that too.”

“O-oh.” Roman clutches the box. “Thank you, Remus. Can I open it now?”

“Sure.” He watches as Roman carefully opens the box and pulls out the stuffed octopus.

“Oh, Re, this is so cute!” He holds it up, looking at the little face. “I love it, thank you.”

He turns it over.

“Wait, what’s…”

“It’s a mood toy,” Remus says quietly, “if you flip it this way, it’s happy.”

The cream side of the octopus has a little smiley face.

“And if you turn it inside out—“ Roman flips the plush so that a red face frowns at him— “it’s sad.”

Roman’s eyes widen and he looks up at Remus.

“I know you find it hard to ask for things,” Remus says, edging a bit closer, “so I thought this could…help.”

“Re…”

“And I—oof!” Remus lets out a grunt as Roman tackles him onto the bed. He chuckles, his arms wrapping tightly around his brother. “I’m glad you like it Roro, just promise me you’ll use it?”

He gets his request a few days later.

It’s been quiet, Thomas is taking a break, and they’re all in various corners of the living room. Janus and Virgil are lazing about in the patch of sun by the window, Patton is in the kitchen, Logan is working on something on his laptop, and Remus is toying with the grip on his Morningstar.

Roman walks down the stairs and he’s clutching a little red octopus.

“Hey, Ro,” Remus says quietly, hopping up and scurrying over to meet him as he comes down the stairs, “you wanna go be alone?”

Roman shakes his head, pushing gingerly into the living room. Remus turns to see everyone paying attention to them, including Janus, who’s sat up fully and is reaching out to Roman.

“Come here, sweetie,” he calls, “is your brain being a bastard?”

Distantly, Remus hears Patton huff at the language but no one says a word as Janus gathers Roman into his chest, bending to murmur softly in his ear. Virgil scoots closer, acting as the guardian, letting Roman relax with the knowledge that nothing will surprise him right now. A gentle tap on Remus’s shoulder and he turns to see Logan, who bends closer.

“What do we do to help?”

“Help me make a mattress big enough for all of us?”

Under Logan’s guidance, Remus manages to make a normal mattress with lots of comfy blankets and pillows. Patton comes from the kitchen with a glass of water set on the table near the three on the floor. He pauses as he turns and quickly sets a cup of tea next to it.

Roman’s grip on the octopus doesn’t lighten up, even after he’s been in Janus’s arms for a while, even after Logan’s gone over and helped Virgil walk him through coming out of the spiral. Janus walks over to Remus and Patton and quietly tells them they should try and get them all to eat something. Nothing too straining for Roman’s system, but something.

Patton brings out a few bowls of snack food and sets them at the foot of the mattress. Then he goes and gently cards his hands through Roman’s hair.

“Come on, kiddos,” he says softly, “let’s move to the mattress.”

Logan scoops Roman into his arms, depositing him safely in the center of the mattress, little red octopus in tow. The rest of them cuddle around him, some Disney movie playing on the TV. Roman eats, then lays his head on Remus’s shoulder. Logan takes Roman’s free hand into his lap and cradles it there, stroking it with his thumb.

About halfway through the movie, Roman turns the octopus so that the cream side smiles at the screen too.

General:@frxgprince @potereregina @reddstardust @gattonero17 @iamhereforthegayshit @thefingergunsgirl @awkwardandanxiousfander @creative-lampd-liberties @djpurple3 @winterswrandomness @sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes @iminyourfandom @bullet-tothefeels @full-of-roman-angst-trash @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind @demoniccheese83 @pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious @firefinch-ember @fandomssaremysoul @im-an-anxious-wreck @crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch @enby-ralsei @unicornssunflowersandstuff @wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams @averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @aularei @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws @cecil-but-gayer @i-am-overly-complicated @annytheseal @alias290 @tranquil-space-ninja @arxticandy @mychemically-imbalanced-romance @whyiask @crows-ace @emilythezeldafan @frida0043 @ieatspinalcords @snowyfires @cyanide-violence @oonagh2 @xxpanic-at-the-everywherexx @rabbitsartcorner @percy-07734 @triflingassailantofmyemotions @virgil-sanders-the-gay-emo @cerulean-watermelon @puffed-up-bees

If you want to be added/taken off the taglist let me know

#dragonbabbles #fic #sanders sides #roman sanders #roman angst #logan sanders #deceit sanders #janus sanders #sympathetic deceit #remus sanders #sympathetic remus #patton sanders #virgil sanders

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killianglyndon · 3 years ago

Note

do you have a tutorial on how you made your gifs? the pinned post is mwah *chefs kiss*

hi! thank you so much!! i dont really have a tutorial but this one is the one i followed when i first start making gifs. tho i use photoshop 2019 to make gifs and potplayer to screencap instead the ones mentioned in the link.

and some of my tips under the cut

tips for downloading videos:

I don't t*rrnt so all videos I made gifs from are direct downloads, and pls pls pls always look for 1080p videos, for me, I think .mkv files work the best, but sometimes I use .mp4 file too. whether you use .mkv or .mp4, try to look for the bigger file, most of the time, I'll try to find 10-20gb files for movies and 2-3gb files for tv shows, but if the file is bluray it might be around 7gb.

here's my sharpening setting:

smart sharpen: amount: 500%, radius: 0.4px, remove: gaussian blur

smart sharpen: amount: 10%, radius: 10px, remove: gaussian blur

then add a gaussian blur layer (radius 0.3px) and set opacity to 80%

smart sharpen: amount: 500%, radius: 0.3px, remove: gaussian blur

smart sharpen: amount: 5%, radius: 5px, remove: gaussian blur

then add a gaussian blur layer (radius 0.3px) and set opacity to 80%

^ six layers in total, I usually use action so it saves me a lot of time ajfhajk

coloring:

I color every gifs by hand, unless it's same scene, so I don't save/use psd. I always color gifs in this order:

brightness/contrast: I usually don't touch brightness, only adjust contrast unless the gif is super dark

levels: I use dropper tool in it, black dropper to find the darkest point, white dropper to find the brightest point. (usually make the gif look less yellow and make the light? in the scene pop)

vibrance

color balance: idk if anyone has noticed, but i always tried to make my gifs look blue/white-ish, I usually enhance cyan and magenta here.

selective color: I usually only adjust black (to enhance contrast) and white (remove yellow) here.

hue/saturation (sometimes): remove yellow or green

anyway, I believe there is no correct way to color since anyone does it differently, it's more like trials and errors. AND, sometimes, some scenes are just impossible to color, like no matter what u do, they still look bad, it's normal. if u have any more questions, I'm happy to answer u!

#ask #anon tag✨#gif tutorial

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reidsmemory · 4 years ago

Text

Movies

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Genre: Pure fluff

Warnings: Grumpy Spence

Challenge: Day 8 - Movies

Quinn Speaks: This is hella late :/ Sorry for the hold up y’all!! My schedule got super busy bc I started peer tutoring this week as well as attending a school conference thingy! My Halloween writing challenge!!

not my gif!

“The weather is too bad to head back tonight,” Hotch told the team as you all let out a collective groan. It was about 4:30 and you all had just wrapped up a case in a small Colorado town.

“We were suppose to start our marathon tonight,” your boyfriend tugged on your sleeve a bit as he talked in a hush tone. It was true, about a week before Halloween you and Spencer would take turns picking out spooky movies to watch.

“I know,” you whispered back, “maybe we can find something on the TV back at the hotel?” He grumbled a bit and placed his head onto your shoulder. You hadn’t seen him this upset about something since some guy had openly flirted with you at a bar before you two had gotten together.

You knew that you had to do something as pretty much everyone on the team had expected to go home and spend time with their loved ones or just relax in general.

“Lets head back to the hotel, yeah?” you said to the team as they nodded and walked over to the black SUVs and piled their bags in the trunks. You hopped in the passengers seat and Derek sat across from you in the drivers seat. Spencer grumbled something about you not wanting to sit next to him as he made his way into the backseat with Penelope.

Morgan started to drive and you pulled out your phone and started to look some things up.

“Whatcha doing there, Princess?” Derek asked as he saw your fingers rapidly typing on your phone.

“Oh nothing,” you spoke with a teasing grin as he chuckled a bit under his breath. Spencer shot you a look in the mirror of the car and you just winked as he grew more curious.

Morgan eventually pulled up to the little in you were staying at and he promptly pulled into a parking spot as Hotch, who was driving the other SUV, did the same. Everyone got out off the car and reluctantly went to go check in again and get room cards once again.

Spencer opened the door to your shared room and dropped his bags down on the floor and face planted into the bed. He groaned loudly and you went over to him and rubbed his back lightly.

“Don’t worry, Doc,” you spoke sweetly, “everything’s gonna work out, yeah?” He just whined at your words, but they were muffled by the mattress. “I gotta step out for a minute okay?”

He didn’t respond.

You let the man to sulk in your shared room as you closed the door and got on the phone with the restaurant. “Hi, yeah I’d like to set a reservation for eight.” You paused a bit as the man on the other end talked. “Y/N Y/L/N.” Another pause. “Yes that’s perfect, thank you so much.”

You sent a text to the group chat you all had saying, ‘be ready in 30!’

Stepping into the room, Spencer was now sitting up right and he looked at you with confusion evident on his face. “What are we doing in 30 minutes?”

“You’ll have to wait and find out, Doc,” you replied as he groaned and you let out a light laugh.

***

You opened the door to the restaurant. It was a small Japanese place that was family owned, in fact you had met the daughter on the case earlier this week. The team stepped into the place and were greeted as you talked for them, “table for Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Right this way,” she said as you all followed. Spencer grasped you hand and you smiled at him lightly. He of course returned the gesture, but you could tell he was still a bit upset.

She gestured for you all to take a seat at the table as the chef prepared to start cooking. It was one of those places with an open grill where they would make the food right in front of you and the team was big enough to get it’s own table.

You all looked at the menu and ordered as the chef in front of you started making some food. You kissed the back of Spencer’s hand sweetly as he blushed at your public display of affection.

“So what was with all the blankets and pillows in the back of the car?” JJ asked as she took a bite of the appetizer in front of her.

Everyone’s eyes were trained on you as you smiled. “Well the city is putting something together tonight and I figured we could go tonight if you all were up for it?” They all responded with nods or yes’ and you smiled.

“What are they doing?” Spencer asked you quietly.

“That is part of the surprise, babe,” you smiled as you spoke, “and no I will not tell you because we are dating.” Spencer closed his mouth and pouted a bit as you took the words right out of is mouth.

“Here you are,” the chef said as he gave Spencer his dish and Spencer thanked him. “And for the lady,” you smiled and repeated Spencer’s actions as he moved to give Emily her food.

Everyone ate for a bit and you all shared laughs and smiles. Derek even shared some of his high school stories which always earned wide smiles and aching stomachs from the laughs. JJ jumped in with occasional story about Will and Henry and Hotch did the same with Jack.

Penelope informed you all of the new TV she was binging and even wrote it down on your palm so you could watch it and report back to her. You and Penny had a tendency to share shows so you could gossip about them whenever you weren’t working.

Emily entertained you all with a story about her many times traveling the globe as you and Spencer glanced at each other, both silently agreeing to visit the place Emily talked so highly of.

Everyone’s plates were clear and you all paid for your own food; split bills made no sense in the opinion of the team. By the time you all had cleared out of the restaurant the sun was starting to set as orange and yellow hues filled the sky and a light chill was felt in the air as Spencer unconsciously pulled you under his arm as if it was second nature now.

“Alright, Princess,” Derek said as you climbed in the passengers seat next to him, “where to next?”

“I just put the location in the GPS,” you said glancing down at your phone, making sure the text with the address got delivered to JJ. He nodded at you words and pulled out of the parking lot and started to follow the directions that were spewed from the mouth of the car.

Street lamps up and down the little town as some people walked their dog or ran on the side walk with their ear buds in and surely playing some type of motivational music. Slowly more and more parked cars came into view and Derek whistled from besides you.

“Full house,” he stated as you nodded. Looking to Spencer who was trying to catch a glimpse of what everyone had gathered for.

Derek managed to find a spot and so did Hotch as he parked right across from you. Grabbing the blankets and pillows from the back as well as slipping your hand into Spencer’s. “Can you tell me now?” he asked.

“Just a few more steps and you’ll see for yourself.” As the team followed your steps thy soon saw what you had come for. A big blow up screen was set up as well as vendors for popcorn and candies.

The title card of ‘Coraline’ was on the screen and you saw Spencer’s eye light up as he soon turned to you and placed a kiss on your lips. You gladly indulged in the mans actions and could here Penny and Derek making a commotion as you did so.

He pulled away with a sheepish smile as he never really was one for PDA. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Yeah, yeah,” you murmured back as his smile grew into a wide, lopsided grin at your words. “Come on,” you said as you pulled him as you both jogged a bit to catch up with the team.

Kids were laughing and playing around you as parent watched with careful eyes and full hearts. Spotting some of the officers from the town, you all waved as they did the same back. Laying the blankets down on the grass, you all seemed to have a different idea of how to enjoy the night.

Garcia and Emily going to buy some snacks from the vendors despite the filling dinner they had not even a half and hour ago. Hotch, JJ, and Morgan pulling out their phones to facetime their families and tell them to tune into the same movie their were about watch so it would seem as if they were watching it together. Rossi striking up conversation with people around you as well as wondering around to talk to the officers.

Spencer opened his arms as the both of you laid down on the grass. You kissed him softly as his lips soon moved against yours. After a few pecks you broke apart and cuddled up next to him.

“You’re seriously the best girlfriend ever,” he said in hushed tone.

“I know,” you said with a grin as he laughed a bit. “I hope this make up for missing-”

“This more than makes up for it,” he cut you off, “I love you so much.”

“I love you more, Doc.”

***

Remember to tag your piece ‘QHC2020′ or ‘Q’s Halloween Writing Challenge 2020′ if you are participating in this challenge!

Reblogs, notes, and comments are always appreciated!

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jaskierswolf · 3 years ago

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Darling, Buttercup

Prompt: Reminds me of you Relationships: Jaskier/Aiden Rating: E Content Warnings: Smut, butt plugs, orgasm denial Summary: On Jaskier’s birthday Aiden buys him a new present, and they can hardly wait to try it out.

A prompt fill for @dapandapod and a bingo square for @witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo

It was Jaskier’s birthday and he fully intended to make the best of his day. They didn’t have anything special planned, but if Aiden didn’t completely pamper him then what was even the point? They had been housemates for three years now, having met in the second year of university in the Amateur Dramatics Society. Jaskier had been studying music and Aiden was a chemistry nerd. The musician was secretly convinced that his friend had just wanted to learn how to make poisons. He just had this energy about him, a modern day assassin. Aiden assured Jaskier that he had never killed a man in his life, but Jaskier just wasn’t convinced. Still, he was a good friend, his best friend.

They got on well, both incredibly flirty and carefree. Their drunken exploits were chaotic and Jaskier had a criminal record to prove it. His poor mother would be rolling in her grave. It was an easy decision to keep living together after university had ended. Rent was expensive and they were both broke.

And if Jaskier had a tiny little crush on his friend then nobody needed to know. Aiden tended to go for men that were more muscular than Jaskier, taller, with arms the size of fucking tree trunks. Whilst Jaskier wasn’t slender, he was certainly no body builder. He was a happy medium, strong and yet lithe enough to still attract men that would both fuck him and let him fuck them. It was a terrible stereotype but people made assumptions, and well, he was also guilty of that on occasion.

Luckily, Aiden was a very accommodating housemate. He didn’t complain about Jaskier’s stream of partners or the late night sex. Then again, on the occasion that Aiden had a friend round and Jaskier didn’t, Jaskier wasn’t shy about taking himself in hand and getting off to the sound of his friend fucking in the next room. He liked to imagine that Aiden did the same.

They flirted all the time, but that didn’t really mean much. Jaskier was a natural flirt, it was practically his second language. He just couldn’t turn it off, and Aiden was so very pretty, long dark hair tied up in a messy bun revealing his undercut. His tanned skin was covered in freckles and the light brush of stubble on his cheeks was just so tantalizing. Jaskier wanted to touch. He wanted to feel the scratch against his calloused fingertips. God, he was so gone on the man, but they were friends and that was fine.

Of course, their traditional birthday gifts didn’t help. Jaskier was responsible for about ninety percent of Aiden’s sex toy collection, and Jaskier’s drawer of silky and lacy underwear was filled with previous gifts from his roommate. Although, Jaskier wasn’t entirely sure if Aiden realised how much he actually wore the soft silky panties. He’d tried them on as a joke one day, but they’d felt so good against his skin that he’d never really stopped. Wondering what new pair he’d receive this year, Jaskier went downstairs. He already had a bottle of champagne in hand and he was ready to face the day.

Aiden was flipping pancakes when Jaskier entered the kitchen. There were two champagne flutes on the side, and the table was filled with bowls of berries, melted chocolate and whipped cream, all of Jaskier’s favourites.

“Oh this looks divine, darling,” Jaskier cooed, smirking at his own personal chef for the day. “Almost romantic.”

Aiden winked. “Only the best for you, my little lark.”

“Thank you, kitten,” Jaskier purred with a coy smile.

The innuendos got out of hand whilst they ate, but really… whipped cream? Jaskier was weak, he couldn’t resist, and he knew for a fact that Aiden had used whipped cream before in bed. That thought made Jaskier shiver, his cock swelling in his pants as he pictured Aiden licking the cream from his body. He knew, he just knew, that the bastard was good with his tongue. Jaskier had seen the way his roommate ate a banana.

But they were just friends.

There was no need to get hard at the bloody breakfast table.

“Presents,” he choked out before he could get too lost in his thoughts. “It’s my birthday! I demand presents, what delightfully pretty panties have you got for me this year, dear heart?”

Aiden flushed, worrying his lip as he scratched the back of his neck, his fingers brushing through the short hair of his undercut. It was a nervous habit and one that Jaskier thought was adorable. “I thought we’d have a change this year.”

No pet name, Aiden must have really been nervous.

“Well, go on,” Jaskier said with a wide grin, waving his hand in front of his face. “The anticipation is killing me, and I’m really not getting any younger over here.”

Aiden laughed, still nervous, but Jaskier was thrilled to have broken some of the tension. “It is your birthday, old man,” his roommate teased, but finally produced a square box wrapped up in a rainbow.

Jaskier peered at it suspiciously “You haven’t glitter-bombed me have you, kitten? I know I’m gay, but I really really don’t want to clean that up.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Just open it, buttercup.”

With a giggle, Jaskier tore at the paper, sighing in relief when a ton of glitter didn’t fall out the box as he peeled back the tape. Inside was a rather sizable butt plug, making Jaskier’s cock twitch again. He felt his cheeks heat up and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. Arousal flooded through him as he thought about working himself open, his fingers brushing against his prostate as he fucked himself, ready to take the pretty plug that Aiden had picked out for him. Even better yet, Aiden could prep him. That silky smooth voice cooing into his ear, filthy and low, watching as the plug filled Jaskier up.

Fuck.

“I- hmm, I thank you. Aiden, kitten.”

Aiden frowned. “You don’t like it? It has buttercups on it, so… well, it reminded me of you.”

“Buttercups,” Jaskier repeated, his brain not able to form proper words. “Right, yes, my name. I like it, the plug I mean. Not my name. Although I do also like my name, I chose it. I’ve always liked buttercups and it’s just- ”

“Jaskier!”

“Buttercups....” he finished lamely. “Sorry, got carried away.”

“I can take it back?” Aiden asked. “I do actually have your traditional birthday gift if you’d prefer.”

“No!” Jaskier said too quickly. “No, yeah. I like it, love it actually.” And he really really did. The silicone was a pretty sky blue and covered in little yellow buttercups. The shape was pretty basic, but it was definitely a good size, bigger than the ones he already had in his collection. “I can’t wait to try it out,” he blurted before he could engage the filter on his brain.

“Well, what are we waiting for, petal?” Aiden shot back.

The pair of them froze, staring at each other in shock, mouths dropped open and matching red faces.

“Did you just…” Jaskier stammered.

“I mean, only if you want?” his roommate asked, with a cock of his head.

Jaskier whined and practically launched across the table, knocking their breakfast to the floor. Their lips crashed together, noses bumping, teeth clacking. It was terrible and they both pulled away to laugh, but it wasn’t awkward like Jaskier had expected. The natural chemistry that they had finally sparked to life as their lips met in a more skilled kiss. Jaskier was half on top of the table, trying to get closer to his housemate, whose hands were locked into his hair, keeping their lips melded together. Jaskier moaned into the kiss as he felt his heartbeat quicken, a warm rush of arousal flowing through his body.

When they finally broke apart, they were both panting and red faced. Aiden nipped at Jaskier’s lips as they parted, a cocky smile on his face. “Drop your pants, and bend over the table.”

“Fuck, yes. Yeah, okay,” Jaskier stammered and slid onto the floor, pulling his shorts down in one smooth movement.

“You- you wear them?” Aiden said, his eyes wide as he gazed at the soft pink silk that barely covered Jaskier’s cock.

Licking his lips, Jaskier sent his friend a wink as he bent over the table just like Aiden had requested. “Of course I do.”

“Jesus Christ, Jask.�� Aiden fled the kitchen, backing out so that he didn’t have to take his eyes off Jaskier until the last moment. When he returned he had a bottle of lube in hand, a hungry look in his eyes as his gaze roamed over Jaskier’s arse. “Why haven’t we done this before?”

“Less talk, more action.”

Aiden laughed, his fingers running under the band of the panties before he gave Jaskier’s arse a quick swat, not hard but enough to make Jaskier yelp as the unexpected hit startled him. He felt his heart racing as he heard the click of the lube bottle, every beat was pushing fire through his veins, and he struggled to stay still as his fingers clawed at the table. Jaskier shivered as Aiden slowly pulled down his panties, and there was the probe of a slicked finger at his hole. It had been so long since anyone else had touched him there, his last few partners being women that really had no interest in fucking him into the next century. So he’d been left with his own fingers and his toys.

It was a poor substitute for having a partner.

One finger pushed inside easily and Jaskier whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut as he bit back a moan. It didn’t help that a litany of praises were falling from Aiden’s lips, cooing over how pretty Jaskier looked, how well he was taking that one finger, and when a second finger slid inside with the first, Jaskier keened. There was more resistance this time, and Jaskier fought to relax, but it just felt so fucking good.

“Fuck, Jask, do you have any idea how pretty you look around my fingers?”

Jaskier snorted, pushing his arse back against Aiden’s hand. “Maybe you should take a photo for later.”

“Not a bad idea, buttercup,” his roommate purred, then Aiden hummed nonchalantly as his fingers brushed against Jaskier’s prostate, making him gasp in a broken moan. Sparks flew in front of Jaskier’s vision, his pleasure building unfairly quickly. “I wonder if you could cum like this, on just my fingers.”

He could. He knew he could but his cock was aching, leaking onto the kitchen table, and he was so very desperate to touch. “No, no.. please,” Jaskier whimpered.

“No?” Another press against his prostate, another moan tearing from his lips. “Are you sure?”

“Kitten, please!” Jaskier’s voice cracked as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through him. If he’d known Aiden was this talented with just his fingers then he would have pinned down his roommate years ago. Two fingers in and he was already teetering on the edge of a precipice, a fluttering in his core.

“Well, if you’re sure…” Aiden said cooly, pulling his fingers out and leaving Jaskier feeling so helplessly empty.

“Hey, no.. I didn’t- didn’t mean that,” Jaskier whined.

“Finish prepping yourself. I need to wash this.”

And with that Aiden left the room, leaving Jaskier alone and panting. “The fucking bastard,” he hissed, “fucking knows what he’s doing.”

“I can hear you!”

“Good!” Jaskier yelled back, grabbing the bottle of lube. He slicked up three fingers and pushed them inside his hole, groaning at the stretch. He couldn’t get the same angle that Aiden had managed, but it filled the aching emptiness from before and each movement of his fingers had him gasping for breath. “Hurry up, kitten!”

A hand on his back settled his restlessness, and he felt the press of Aiden’s lips on his shoulder. “Patience, buttercup.”

Jaskier’s fingers were swatted away and he felt the press of something larger, the pretty plug with buttercups decorating it, the toy that Aiden had picked out especially for him.

“It reminded me of you.”

Jaskier whined, his orgasm so close now that Aiden’s hands were on him once more, stroking down his spine so lightly that it was almost ticklish. Every touch fueled the heat at Jaskier’s core. He moaned and tried to wiggle his butt back against the plug, but Aiden held him still. One hand threaded into Jaskier’s hair, tugging and pulling his head back.

“Good boy,” Aiden purred, and the toy finally pushed past his ring of muscle and slid into him, filling him up so nicely.

Jaskier cried out, “Fuck, Aiden, kitten, feels so good.”

He was a babbling wreck as Aiden pulled the plug almost all the way out before thrusting it back in. Aiden slapped his arse once and then pulled Jaskier’s panties back up his legs. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”

“I- I… what?” Jaskier stammered, looking down at his cock, hard and leaking against the pink silk. “Aiden?”

His roommate raised an eyebrow at Jaskier, running a hand through his hair. “You can touch yourself if you want to cum now…”

“Or?”

“Or you can come to my room after dinner tonight, your call, buttercup.”

Jaskier swore and pulled up his shorts. He was so fucked.

#the witcher #jaskier/aiden #Jaskier #aiden the witcher #wolfie's witcher writing

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pretty-face-breaker · 3 years ago

Text

WIJ Prompt: Sleep

CW. creepy whumper, pet names, implied murder, blood stains, forced to get rid of evidence for a killer, past consensual torture, coercive relationship

@whumpmasinjuly

Timeline: A few months before Hayko escapes

— At its corner, the desk clock read 2:00 am.

The light of the lamp fell on his hand as he wrote, eyes skipping the document before he turned the page to give the pen a healthy shake. Then, it was from the top again with the court file number, judicial centre, applicant. Down until his hand hung off of the desk. He seemed to only breathe once a page.

He had been dealing with paperwork for the past few hours but for Hayko, filling in blanks was like second nature as riding a bike might be for someone. Just as they would know when to lift their hips for an oncoming bump, he knew where to push the nib hard enough that the ink wouldn’t swipe and smear the space. By muscle memory, he crossed every t and dotted each i but ensured, as each page filled up, to go back and check.

Two empty fruit bar wrappers sat near him beside an empty mug - all he had eaten since the single boiled egg and tea in the morning - which wasn’t his proudest meal plan but there was work to be done for next week. Crisis had struck. One of the cartel’s major benefactors was on trial for embezzlement.

He wanted to laugh.

Hayko sighed, letting the fountain pen click down before stretching up to the ceiling and then back. The exercise was useful when he needed a reminder that he had bones that weren’t made for crouching over a desk for hours at a time.

“Good morning.”

The seat almost toppled back as Hayko flinched and darted his eyes to the doorway of the other man’s room. “Jesus, you scared me, Nick.” He stood up quickly, fingers leaning on the desk for support when his head suddenly began to spin and his vision blacked out for a moment.

Looking at his figure in the doorway, they suddenly felt colder.

“Working late again, busy bee? You should be asleep.” Nick wasn’t moving from the doorway, just leaning on one shoulder and just out of the perimeter that the light would allow him to be seen. It was all too dark to tell, but Hayko felt like he was smiling.

He smiled nervously in response, dragging his hands closer to him. “Always.” They held a long look under the benevolent layer of darkness before Nick ripped it away by stepping forward, then again until the yellow light of the desk lamp crawled up to his face. When Hayko saw his face, he was silently surprised at having guessed correctly that he was smiling.

Then, he saw his shirt.

Nick must have noticed the immobile terror in his face because he chuckled. It rumbled in his ear, signalling a little involuntary shiver up the man’s back. “Don’t worry, doll. It’s not mine.”

His fingertips were chilled against the desk now as Hayko kept his eyes locked on the bloodstains, of which there were plenty, clotting near the buttons at the waist, splattered across his sleeves, and painting a grimly neat stripe up to his collar. The glaring light of the bulb brought out their faint redness but mostly, it looked like Nick had painted the shirt black.

“Th-... then whose?” He’d been meaning to ask. Hayko breaths mellowed as Nick began sliding off his watch and walking over. When it was off, he dropped it behind him with a thunk that made him blink. Right on the court order, too, he thought.

He should have been asleep by now. He should have gone to bed before he got home because then, he wouldn’t have to be dealing with him in the late hours. Nick was different at night, less human, and not in his humanity but his general appearance.

Nick’s hands travelled to his waistband and plucked the dress shirt from his pants, not hesitating to start immediately unbuttoning. For courtesy, he turned at an angle to the bed next to the desk, facing the headboard as he took off the stained shirt. His chest was splattered with fainter spots of blood. Those would be easier missed and Hayko was glad they were.

He finally found enough courage to bring his hands fully to his sides but not enough to look at him as he undressed, not out of disgust of the bloodstains but out of awkwardness. Never really figuring out where to look any time Nick undressed in front of him - although he probably would prefer it to be at him - Hayko let his eyes wander to the floor.

“Is that all you ate today?” Nick was looking at the empty wrappers and mug, skipping the pile of paperwork entirely in a way that made Hayko redden a little for the mess.

He anxiously scraped the tiny crack in the floorboard made by his chair. “Yeah, um... ‘didn’t have much time for much else.” While technically not true, he thought, it wasn’t that he had the appetite for anything more either. With the recent heat-wave that had overwhelmed the city, he could hardly remember to eat without Nick being the one to remind him. Like they were god damn married.

The man pulled his tie loose then swooped both off, tsking in disapproval as he hung them over his arm and faced Hayko. “You need to seriously take care of yourself, love,” he chided with a hint of warmth. “You have work, sure, but not eating?”

He found it harder to stare at the floor with Nick looking directly at him now. “Wasn’t hungry,” he mumbled, frustrated with the nagging while he stood there covered in a litre of fucking blood.

It seemed strange to him, even this far into this veil of a romantic relationship, that Nick insisted on playing concerned spouse and talking down to him in that voice thick with adoration. He hated it. But mostly, he hated how it tricked him every time, for a few moments, to believing that the concern was genuine.

That if Nick wanted to, he wouldn’t just break him in two for a quick, sadistic fix.

“What if I hire a chef, hm?” Hayko’s eyes travelled uneasily up to his, avoiding the body not out of embarrassment or modesty but the light bruising, the little scratches at his shoulders that indicated there had been a struggle.

He swallowed down the image of his victim clawing from below so he wouldn’t accidentally imagine his own face to fill in the blank.

“A nice one, family friend even, so you don’t starve yourself cooped up in my bedroom all day with your papers.”

“Your papers,” Hayko reminded him carefully. It was annoying when he couldn’t at least pretend to remember that he was his employer. But Nick just chuckled before handing him the shirt, tie draped over. His fingernails were black with blood.

“Do me a favour?”

The dried, metallic smell overwhelmed him and he swallowed as the scent lingered, reminding him of the uncharacteristically pleasant evening a few nights ago, how the stench had replaced the man’s sage cologne as he had looked over Hayko’s bare back. Looked over the cuts there and decided to open a few up again as he shivered and bit back whimpers.

He closed his eyes a moment, reliving the painful buzz his mind had been in, too clouded by chanting of more, more, more to say anything coherent until Nick had finished and planted a kiss on his neck and woken him up. Memories like those and how close they happened to each other sometimes made Hayko forget the nature of how he even got here but if he was honest in the moment, that one evening had...almost made it count.

Hayko gasped back to reality, snatching the shirt before Nick could snap at him. “Sure, yeah, I-I’ll throw it away.”

“Don’t throw it away, silly,” Nick interrupted as he turned to his bathroom. “Clean it. I like that shirt a lot, you know, you’ve seen me wear it to lots of those end-of-the-month parties Don Miguel likes to organize for us.”

Hayko seemed at a loss for just what to do with the bloodstained clothing in his hand when he noticed that it wasn’t just stained but bathed in life. The combination seemed heavier in his hand than any of his shirt’s ever had. He thought, with a stirring and morbid curiosity, just which of his fucked up methods Nick had used to squeeze the breath out of the-

“Did you hear me?”

He should have been asleep, and then he wouldn’t have to deal with this tonight.

“Nick-... I don’t think-” He stammered and motioned to the red cluster. “There’s too much… I don’t think I can, um, actually clean it with the amount of blood.” Waiting in silence for a response, Hayko unfolded the shirt by the shoulders, as if he hadn’t already seen the wreck. “Plus, a lot of it is dried. How long ago did you?...”

Sighing, Nick stopped and tilted his head. “You know I’ve got a couple of those enzyme detergents in the left cabinet of the other washroom. Multiple, actually, so fill up the sink and leave it.”

And with that, Nick nodded at him which was cue that it was time to stop asking questions.

When he stumbled through the living room, he noticed it was pitch black where Nick hadn’t even spared the bar lights to make his way to the bedroom. Only further proof that the man was a born predator, Hayko thought grimly.

He searched blindly for the light and squinted upon flicking it on. Nick may not have convinced him with the criticism of his diet but Hayko was starting to pay attention to the poor lighting he usually worked under.

The left cabinet revealed the detergents. Hayko took them out, one by one, and stacked them on the sink before opening the faucet. He took note to plug it before it filled up and shut the warm dial. The colder the better Nick had mentioned off-hand once on a night similar to this one, where Hayko had watched him scrubbing a shirt in the sink from the hallway, pretending the water wasn’t turning pink between his fingers.

He breathed once, the sharp smell of chemical piercing his nose, and sprinkled it in. The shirt went in next and then the tie and all he could do was stare at it, infatuated. He had watched a man come home from killing someone, taken his clothes, and stuck the evidence in heavy-duty detergent.

He was a fucking lawyer.

He didn’t sign up for this.

Where had the time gone for it to have gone this far, to be involved like this with a psychopath? Going from tied up in his god damn basement to playing boyfriend?

Sure, it had been a stupid mistake on his part but it was a mistake, all he had wanted was to live, and one verbal contract later, now watched blood merge with water.

The blood stained dress shirt stared back up at him disapprovingly. It probably thought he deserved it, Hayko thought faintly and the sudden rush of nausea almost made him double over and wretch into the sink.

The clock ate the time with ticks, and all Hayko did was stare at the shirt in the sink. Until he heard a rustle from behind. The man had probably finished washing up and just in time, too. “You should’ve been asleep.”

Nick was right, always right.

Tagging: @doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp

Ask to be added/removed!

#whump #whump writing #creepy whumper #implied murder #blood #masochism #implied past torture #abusive relationship #wijday3 #prompt: sleep #captive whumpee #whumpmasinjuly #nick and hayko #captivity #psychological torture #wij21day3 #original fiction

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dancingthesambaa · 3 years ago

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The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 18

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black furred monkey put out a hand towards him.

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 18: Spiders, Demons, and People, Oh My!

“Just one more hour-”

“No, I’m putting my foot down you workaholic, you are shutting down and enjoying this festival with the rest of us,” Tang firmly said with arms crossed.

“But-”

“No.”

“It just-”

“Nope.”

“Sweetheart-”

“Love you too, but no.”

“Just give it up Pigsy, you know he’s not gonna budge,” Macaque called out as Wukong, in his human disguise snickered beside him.

“Shut it,” he barked back.

Tang decided to pull out the big guns as he clasped his hands together and said with wide eyes “If you don’t get your ass out of there and enjoy the festival, I will make sure you sleep on the couch for a week.”

“…fine!” He threw up his hands as everyone else cheered.

“Took you guys long enough,” Mei snorted.

“Just remember kids, threatening the couch is always a good way to get your partner in control,” the historian said with a wink.

“Don’t tell them that!” The pig demon shouted out.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have opened on a holiday!”

“I can’t help it!”

“I know you can’t sweetheart, but this is why I’m here to remind you,” he said as he gave a kiss to his partner when he closed down.

“Awww, aren’t you both sweet,” Wukong teased.

“Can it!” Pigsy embarrassedly yelled.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true,” he grinned to Wukong. No one besides those that already met him, knew that the monkey in disguise was the Monkey King and not just some dude called Wukong. Cause if they did, then the whole world would have shortly known by Tang fanboy screeches.

“Now that Pigsy has finally given in,” MK grinned as he ducked a rolling pin to the head, “we can finally meet up with everyone else!” He cheered as his bright purple sash, which was tied securely around his bright red changshan pants, flew behind him as Mei, who wore something similar to MK, but with a green dragon art wrapped around her shirt, charged after him.

“Man they sure are excited,” Sandy chuckled as Tang and Pigsy also followed the two children.

“Is he always like that,” Wukong asked as both monkeys slowly trailed behind them, easily knowing where the group was at all times.

“In a nutshell, this isn’t even his first time trying to work on Lunar New Year,” the other simian commented.

“I can scarcely believe it,” he muttered under his breath, not that it stopped the black monkey from hearing, as he forced himself out of his memories. “Also, have I mentioned that I’m loving the hairdo.” He smirked as he grabbed one of the two long strands from the monkey twin buns he was sporting.

“Blame Emerald, she wanted the both of us to match for some reason,” he rolled his eyes as he adjusted his bright red qipao adorned with flowers.

“I certainly will,” he teased. He was in a changshan as well, but in bright yellow that had clouds littered all around the front and he too had a sash tied around his waist, but in red. “Thanks for letting me borrow your sash by the way.”

“You would think that in your multitudes of outfits, you would have a red sash somewhere tucked in there. It’s even your favorite color,” he fondly huffed.

“I’m just as surprised as you are, I could have sworn I had one,” he lied with a smile on his face. Of course, he has red sashes, that’s his signature look, but he’s not gonna say that he wanted a piece of his friend’s clothing outright.

“Sure,” he rolled his eyes. “Well, we better catch up to them before they blow up the fireworks again.”

“Fireworks? You mean the one used during the parade?”

“Nope, I mean the ones they accidentally cause sometimes when they’re bored together,” he deadpanned as Wukong started to burst out laughing. “Not funny dumbass, there’s a reason there are now fire extinguishers at every other street lamp this time around.” He began to pick up the pace as he jumped onto a rooftop.

“Now I really have to know the full story!” He quaffed as he followed right behind.

“Not from me you're not, I swear I still have myokymia every time I think about it.”

“Man, I had almost forgotten just how good food stalls are,” Wukong said with his face stuffed with buns.

“Rethinking the shut in life,” Mac joked as he bounced the youngest of Yanyu siblings, Yuzu, in his arms.

“Oh yeah,” he eagerly nodded.

“We’ll just sit here and stuff your face, I need to hand Yu Yu back to one of her siblings,” he said as he went over to the group.

And that is precisely what he did as he continued his eating as he gazed upon the crowd of people and demons all enjoying the festival. He could see children running all around as they waved their puppet zodiac animals in the air, some couples were holding close to each other as they ventured from stall to stall, he could even see some mother, father, or guardian holding their child on their shoulders to get a better look.

“I should have come out here sooner,” he mused as he fiddled with the skewer stick in his mouth. “Really is nice out.”

“It really is, especially when the fireworks start,” he stopped when Mei finally announced her presence and sat next to him. He knew she was there and watching him, but he decided it was best if she made the first move.

“Well, how do you do on this fine night, little Miss. Stalker,” though that doesn’t mean he won’t still tease the hell out of her. He may be wary of her, but she is still vastly a child compared to him.

“Could be better, but since you're here I’ll guess I’ll settle,” she shot back and sat next to him.

“Ha, I could almost laugh, moon cake?” He held out a tray filled with mooncakes to the girl, who nodded in thanks as she took one. “They’re not as good as Moonshine, but they are pretty good.”

“The only cooks that can ever rival Pops is the chef that cooked for me when I was young and Pigsy.”

“If you say so,” he shrugged as he finished off the tray. “So what brings you around here.”

“Other than the festival?”

“Oh, that was a given, I mean here, with me as of this moment in time. I thought you still didn’t like me.”

“Still don’t,” she automatically said, “buttttt not as much as before.”

This made Wukong pause in his snacking as he looked towards Mei, “Oh? What changed? Was it witnessing my badassery? Beholding my awesomeness in all its glory? Or was it-”

“None of the above,” she promptly stopped him before he could get any more cringier, “You make Pops happy.”

“Oh,” he has to say that he was both not surprised, but still taken aback by her comment. “That's it?”

“Well, and you have stuck by his side when that creepy ass fucker showed up, so bonus points for that.”

“You should have seen Dad's face when you went absolute ham on his ass,” MK interjected as he latched onto Mei's back. “When he wasn’t all disgusted with the creep from hell, he was grinning the entire time. Especially when you landed those blows on him.”

“He was,” he couldn't help but perk up.

“Ugh, you both have it so bad for each other,” Mei said as MK nodded.

“What?!” He nervously said as he shot a look towards Macaque, who was talking to both Sandy and Yanyu, “I don’t have a-”

“You always try to go near him and cuddle a lot of time, all the affectionate nicknames, the goo goo eyes, jealousy towards Shun and your quick deflection of any mention of Dad boyfriend, stealing Dad clothing even though you had some of your own, I can go all day,” MK smirked as he listed off all the obvious ways the Sage monkey had a crush on the Doctor monkey.

“Don’t lie to us, it's so obvious,” Mei shared the same look.

It looked for a second that Wukong was going to rebuttal, but he sighed in defeat. “Is it really that obvious?”

“To everyone but Dad,” he chuckled and patted the monkey on the back.

“Greeatttt,” he groaned and put his face in his hands. “That’s just peachy.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get too much grief over it, well at least not from us. I don’t know about the rest,” she shrugged.

“Really?” He peeks through the cracks of his hands.

“The two of us have been keeping an eye on you,” she gestured to both her and MK.

“MK, you too,” the Monkey King held a mock wounded look.

“Sorry, but I have to look out for dear ol Dad,” he scratched the back of his neck. “And to be fair, a part of me really didn’t want him to date anyone anytime soon after Shun and I didn’t know how the both of you would be like after the whole fight and everything.”

“Oh,” was all he could utter.

“But I can say that I don’t think I have ever seen Dad so happy than when he’s around you.”

“Now that’s a lie,” Wukong interjected, “You should see the way he lights up when he’s with you guys, his tail always swishes behind him when you're with him.”

“Ladies ladies, we’re all pretty,” Mei butted in before the two boys could go on to fight over the stupidest thing. “But at the end of the day, you make Pops happy so maybe you're not so bad and I guess you wouldn't be so bad as a partner.”

“It would definitely be weird,” MK couldn’t stop the images from intruding in his head.

“Thanks,” he couldn’t stop himself fondly rolling his eyes, but he paused when the implications hit him, “Wait? Did I just get your approval to court Macaque?”

“Court, who even says court these days?” The dragon successor says to herself.

“Red,” said the monkey's successor, “But yeah, you did. Though when it does happen, I’ll just let future me worry about that.”

“Thanks for the boost of confidence and approval, but those aren’t really necessary, I doubt Mac sees me as nothing more than a friend,” he gave a sad smile.

Both teenagers exchanged a look at the sheer stupidity of the monkey before MK sighed and stepped forward. “Well, I never thought I would be ever giving love advice to the Legendary Monkey King when mine is none existent.”

“Your Portay clone on the other hand is a huge flirt,” Mei called out.

“I still don’t know how that works!” He yelled back, he still can’t believe that his own clone would flirt with both of his crushes when he doesn’t even have the guts to say anything. He turned his attention back to the Monkey, “But what I can say is that you should tell him that you love him before it’s too late.”

“Kid, thank you for trying to encourage me, but I’m not going to do it,” he ruffled his child’s hair, “I don’t want to ruin what we managed to scrounge back together.”

“Dude, Pops still consider you his friend even after your big ass fight that went down in history,” Wukong’s eyes slightly widen at Mei’s words.

“Wha-”

“So, if you think that telling him would lead him to ditch you when not even physically fighting would? Then there is something seriously wrong with your head,” she bluntly finished.

The disguised monkey stayed quiet for a few more moments before grabbing both of their heads this time and fiercely ruffling it.

“Hey!”

“Not again! I just did it!”

“I’ll think about it,” he smiled down at both of them then scoped them in his arms as he walked towards Macaque. “Hey Moonlight! I saw this shooting game a few stalls back, I bet I can beat your ass on it!”

“Try me,” he smirked as he waved bye to the group and eyed the two squirming kids in his arms. “We’re they acting up?”

“Nah, just decided they needed a better view.”

“Your ass is not a better view!” Mei yelled out.

“Being upside down technically counts as a worse view,” MK shouted as well.

“What are you talking about it’s an amazing view!” He teased.

“No, it’s not!”

The black furred simian let out a laugh, “Keep them like this, Gods know it would be easier to keep an eye on them from doing anything stupid.”

“Aye Aye captain!” He mocks saluted as he held them steady and began to walk towards the stand together.

“Put us down!”

“Stop this is really humiliating!”

“Do you hear anything?”

“Nope, just little kids complaining.”

“We’re not kids!”

Everyone cheered as the parade was starting and they all gathered around in hopes to get a better look at all the different floats, with an extra cheer for their own zodiac.

“They sure are excited about the floats,” Wukong chuckled as he watched his student, Mei, and a bunch of other children stand on Sandy’s shoulder to get a better view.

“You should have seen the other year, they almost got onto the float,” he smiled as the two of them sat on a rooftop a little ways away.

“I can believe it…thanks for dragging my ass out here,” he slightly nudged him. “I really have forgotten just how amazing the festival is and spending time with people can be on this day.”

“Anytime Peaches, and if you want you can join us next year, though it won’t be in the city, but rather in the forest. We’ll be just eating round the table and lighting up lanterns with the whole forest, unfortunately not as exciting as the festival here,” he said.

“I would be more than happy to join in,” he instantly said. “I haven’t lit up a lantern in years and besides, anything with you guys is nothing less than fun.”

“Well I’ll make sure to let comet know to bring your ass around then,” he smirked as he looked up in time to see the first firework go off. At moments like these, he’s glad to have durable headphones, it was pure torture back then with ears like his.

“Yeah!” The disguised Monkey King stood up and cheered before sitting back down. “Fireworks are awesome no matter when.”

“I give it a 6/10, now lanterns on the other hand,” he said as he leaned against his friend.

“Don’t disrespect my lights like that,” he lightly shoved him before wrapping an arm around him and putting his head on his as the two of them watched the lights explode.

Everything was truly beautiful at this moment in time.

Unfortunately, the moment couldn’t last as the fireworks were cut short and before either one of them could comment on it, they heard screams and a voice that dominated.

“This is the Year of the Spiders!”

Neither monkey needed them to exchange looks before they both rushed to the scene and saw hundreds of robotic spiders spread all across, chasing and capturing people as they went.

“Shit Mind control!” Macaque cussed as he saw their eyes glow green when the spiders managed to snag someone.

“How in the fuck is the Spider Queen able to do that?!” Wukong muttered to himself as he already dropped his disguise and began to attack any spiders in his way.

“I don’t know, but I think something like that will have the answers,” he pointed to a large spider robot emerging from the ground. “At least Daiyu gonna have a real good time with this.”

“Damn, it’s like Bull King all over again.”

“I’m sorry what,” the black monkey blurted out. He heard the Bull became huge, but he thought it was an exaggeration, so he shook his head. “More on that later, I can already guess you're going to the spider robot of doom.”

“You know it,” he cracked his knuckles.

“You do that, I’ll try to find everyone else and destroy as many of these fuckers as I can,” he emphasized by breaking a few of the spiders on the humans and demons back. He summoned some clones and began to spread them out, “You better not get captured or mind controlled, I don’t feel like kicking your ass right now.”

“Trust me I won’t,” he cockily smirked as he summoned his cloud. “Be careful out there,” he yelled out as he flew off.

“I’m going to laugh in his face if he gets captured, now to find my kiddos and everyone else before I lose it” he muttered as his tail wrapped around the spider that tried to surprise attack him from behind and crushed it into pieces.

“Red!” Mei and MK rushed over to the fallen demon who had crashed land on their ship.

“That was a nasty fall you took there,” she continued as the both of them helped him up.

“What are you doing here?” MK asked once he was up.

“Escaping the Spider menace!” He hissed out to cover up the fact that his face was involuntarily heating up at his crushes arms holding him, “that Spider freak captured my father and she was going to do the same to me.”

“Shit she even captured the Bull King,” the Pig demon said.

“Yes, but luckily I know a way to cure the atrocious mind control that she had enslaved everyone in.”

“You do!” They all hopefully said.

“Yes, but I’ll need your help seeing that my own ride is currently,” he looked over towards the broken parts, “unavailable.”

“If it means saving them then count us in,” MK said determinately.

“But where are we going?” Sandy asked.

“The one place where we can only get the supplies,” he pointed upwards as everyone slowly realized what he meant.

“Space,” well almost everyone.

“No noodle brain! The Celestial Realm!” He loves him, but he can be a bit of an airhead at times.

“Fbiwbfowdjosbd The Celestial Realm! The home of heavenly deities and immortal beings!” Tang tried to go forward but was held back by his partner.

“Down Tang, down.”

“Yes,” he said unfazed, “so will you help me.”

They all exchanged looks with each other before MK stepped forward with a confident grin. “Guys, let’s help a demon steal from the Celestial Realm.”

“Macaque is so gonna laugh at me for this,” Wukong groaned as he tried to break free of the web. “So, so hard.”

“Seems there are things that even you can’t handle,” Spider Queen mocked as she stepped back into the room filled with tied up demons all being drained, some of them more tired than others.

“Can it little caterpillar!” Minsheng yelled out, they too were captured after they got surrounded. They're not as strong a fighter as everyone else, so it was needless to say they were hopelessly outgunned. “No one wants to hear you bitch! Seriously, I don’t know how Daiyu can even stand that voice!”

“You got that right!”

“I would rather die now than listen any longer!”

“Seriously just shut up!”

All the demons shouted out as they mouthed back to the Spider Queen.

“QUIET!” She yelled out in rage, “ Especially about that vulture. Lest you forget, you are all my prisoners now, you are nothing short of a battery for my darling. It’s best to remember that for the rest of your miserable lifespan.”

“I mean they're not wrong,” Wukong smirked, “You are getting really annoying.”

“I, unfortunately, can’t help but agree,” Bull King rolled his eyes at the supposed ‘Queen’ rage. “Your voice is grating enough that I wish to rip my horns from my head and seal them in my ears, but I know it wouldn’t be enough.”

“Why I outta-”

“And besides, you do know that this is not gonna work right?” Minsheng said.

“Now what are you blabbering on about now?” The spider demon was getting sick of this backtalk from these whelps.

“This plan, yeah it’s not gonna work.”

“Oh, now why is that? I suppose you mean of Monkey King protege and their needless efforts,” she smirked as she crawled up to him and leaned in close. “Well, I can assure you that those children are not prepared for my little spiders that are close behind ready to strike when they're down.” She backed up with that same malevolent smirk and was about to turn away when he spoke once more.

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about them.”

“What?” She turned back around, “Then who in the hell are you referring to?”

BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

A series of crashes and explosions all happened simultaneously from the outside as it only subsided for a mere moment before continuing once more.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOOOM!!

“What in the hell!” She cried out as she caught herself on the wall.

“That, that is who I am talking about,” the rabbit demon said as the spider raced towards the monitor. She pulls up the screen to see a sight that even frightens some of the captured demons. Because there on center screen was a tall malevolent violent monkey with eyes that glow bright purple as it took down some of the larger spiders that have sprouted out. But what they all noticed is that the titanic demon looked pissed as he screamed.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE MY KIDS!”

“What the sweet hell is that!?” She screeched out at the sight.

“Congratulations! You have completely pissed off one enraged papa!” Minsheng smiled at her horror. “Now he will happily introduce you to your execution if you don’t do as he says.”

“What?!”

“Hah, not even I would trifle so lightly when it comes to the Six Eared demon and his claims,” the Bull King laughed loudly at her foolish actions.

Some of the demons were even nodding in agreement.

“You're telling me.”

“Even we know not to fuck with him.”

“Oof, you're really gonna get it now,” Yin laughed.

“Better hope you have some blessing saved up somewhere in that shriveled up place you got a soul,” Jin snorted, “cause you're gonna need it!”

Wukong was staring at the monstrous form of his crush in all of his crush with a slight blush and said with a happy sigh, “Oh you’re so fucking screwed now.”

“That’s Macaque!?” She shrieked as she turned and couldn’t help but give a silent gulp as each and every demon looked at her, whether they were exhausted or not, with a malicious grin.

“You're done Spider Bitch,” Minsheng gleefully said.

She didn’t say anything else as she scurried out of there and went to look for the little girl.

“Bye Bye little spider,” they called out as the door closed behind them leaving them with only the sound of mechanical parts churning and the sizzling noise of their energies being drained remaining.

“Of course you would be infatuated with the Six Eared doctor,” Bull King couldn’t help but sigh, breaking the silence.

“Oh come on, even you!” Wukong shouted back, thus putting the room in a burst of laughter as the demons, whether civilians, criminals, or anywhere in between, began to gossip like middle aged wives at the market when they spotted an old friend.

“Oooo, is that so?”

“Of course you would go after doc, he is quite the catch.”

“Tell me everything!”

“Spill the tea!”

“Now that is something I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“If you have lived as long as I have, you would have long guessed that this was a long time coming.”

“I’m surprised that it wasn’t sooner.”

“Please someone just kill me,” he groaned as the chattering just continued. “Death would be kinder at this point.”

“Sorry, but fresh out of deaths today,” Sheng laughed.

“And didn’t you get yourself like four times immortal?” Yin asked.

“Five, remember the Yama book situation,” Jin said.

“Oh right, I keep forgetting.”

“I regret that so much,” he groaned even louder, it didn’t help that even the Bull King was laughing at his misery. “So, so much.”

Somewhere high in the sky

“What the hell is that!” Pigsy pointed out the giant transparent demon.

They all looked in shock as Tang said, “Please don’t tell me that the Spider Queen made an ally!” He groaned.

While the three adults began to panic at the new situation that popped up, three people, two humans, and one demon smiled widely.

“DAD/POPS/UNCLE!” MK, Mei, and Red all yelled out as they witnessed the scene.

“SAY WHAT!” The three other adults spun towards them in shock.

“Wait,” Sandy squinted his eyes, “Now I may be getting old, but is that giant demon Macaque?”

“What/Excuse me,” both Pig and historian deadpanned.

“ It is! And he’s kicking butt!” MK cheered as the titan stomped on a hoard of spiders.

“Kick that spider ass!” Mei yelled out with a savage grin as the monkey tail threw a giant spider down and obliterated it.

“Of course this would be nothing less than what he can do,” Red smirked at the chaos that was firmly putting the wretched spiders in place.

If anyone was paying close attention, they would have seen both titan and monkey ears twitch. They didn’t move from their position, but a sigh of relief did emerge.

“Found em,” Ahmed asked after he crushed a spider in his jaw.

“Yeah, I don’t know how the fuck they got out of my radius of hearing so quickly, but I found them,” Macaque, who was puppeting his larger version, smiled.

“That’s one worry crossed off.”

“You're telling me, now all we have left is to finish off this shit,” the monkey growled as the lion kept a close watch on his back. While it wasn’t difficult to control his larger version for a short time frame, it was difficult trying to maintain both forms and making sure that there would be no excessive collateral damage. He may be angry, but even he doesn’t want to hurt any innocent people, so it was shortly decided before he began his shadow puppet that the lion would keep guard while the rest helped everyone else. He can even hear Daiyu manically laughing off in the background where there’s the most spiders and can hear the slaughtering of mechanical parts.

Back on the ship, the others were slowly freaking out.

“I thought he was a doctor?!” Tang exclaimed as he watched the monkey decimate the eight legged cretins.

“I thought so too!” Pigsy was just as confused as his partner.

“Dad was a fighter long before he was a doctor, he just doesn’t do it as often anymore. I mean he used to have sparred with the monkey king a lot,” the teenage boy explained.

“You mean to tell me this is him going easy?” The pig demon could feel his eye twitch.

“Yup!”

“I hate to see him at his peak,” the historian muttered, then he paused, “wait, he knows the monkey king?!”

“Uhhhhhh.” MK just realized what he had admitted and slowly began to back away.

“Oooo, you fucked up now,” Mei chortled while sporting a large grin.

It took a minute for it to fully sink in, but once it did, boy did Tang straighten up with his eyes blown wide as if he had just been electrocuted. “No way! No way! Is he the fucking Six Eared Macaque from the Journey to the west?!”

“Say what?!” Pigsy exclaimed.

“Maybe?!”

“Is that a question or an answer!” Tang demanded as he stalked closer to him.

“Yes!” He was officially freaked out.

“Oh this is funny,” Red grinned.

“Right,” Mei happily agreed.

“Are you saying that he is the legendary deity that managed to help so many lives, but he is also the enemy of the great monkey king and I am just now learning that I’ve been hanging out with that same legend and dneirbowdubeodosbsudbksd!” The book loving man's mind has been blown as his words have long passed him.

“Great, you broke my partner.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Wait are you just now figuring that out,” Sandy blinked, “I thought it was obvious.”

“You knew!” Everyone on the ship snapped towards the giant in shock.

“Yes? It’s not like he was trying to hide it,” he pointed out.

“He really wasn’t,” the biker woman was on the floor dying of laughter at that.

“Hey look scary, creepy, too many legged spiders in need of decimating right ahead!” MK diverted the attention back to the city ahead. “Talk later!

“Oh ho ho, believe me, there will be many, many talks ahead,” Tang hissed and stomped his way to the front of the ship.

“Welp that’s going to be Dad's problem right there,” he said.

“Gonna pin the blame on dear old Pops,” Mei snorted.

“Yup! This is payback for the needless anxiety this caused me,” the monkey's successor eye twitch.

“HA!”

She may be outnumbered and her pawns may have been taken out, but she will not back down after all.

“All of you together can’t beat me! I am the Queen of Spiders!” Spider Queen declared in hysteria as she took a step forward towards the monkey brat.

“Oh yeah,” they all turned to see the Monkey King casually walking down the wall as he picked up the staff and with a spin he declared, “Well I’m the King,” and with that statement, he freed his student.

He bent down and helped pick him back up with a sheepish grin, “Well you already know I’m not too hot on some things, apparently spiders are one of them too.” Then they all stood tall against the Spider Queen as if daring her to try to make the next move.

“Well if I can’t have this world, then no one can!” She cried out as she slung herself up to the Spider mech. l and started it up once more as the ground began to violently shake. “I’ll level this whole city!”

Right when she did that though, both student and mentor jumped up in the air.

“It’s now or never!” Wukong cried out as MK grabbed hold of the staff.

“Right!” The two began to spin and spin and spin even faster until they were a golden pinwheel of light.

“Here comes Monkey Kid!” Right after that last work, Wukong flung MK forward as the student shouted out facing the enemy head on and the proud mentor whispered as he watched his kid take that final strike.

The machine broke as everything shut down at that moment in, but before MK could feel proud, he had noticed that he was currently free falling.

“Shit!” He yelled out and quickly looked around to find any sort of platform he could get a hold of.

“I got you!” He felt his collar then his body quickly stop free falling as quickly as Wukong in bird form was holding him up.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite fast enough to fly far away enough from the incoming explosion in his small form, but luckily there was another as he quickly grabbed the both of them in his hands and jumped far away enough. Just in time as everything explodes.

BOOOOOM!

The machine shattered in millions of parts that it was spread far and wide throughout the city, finally bringing the Spider Queen's short, but deadly, reign to an end.

“Whew, thanks-DAD!” MK exclaimed as he finally noticed that he was in the hands of his father's titan form.

“Great catch Moonbeam!” Wukong beamed up when he got out of bird form.

The Monkey titan didn’t say a word as examined their bruised, injured, and bartered form and with a worried purr, he gently stood up and began to walk back to the group with them still cradled in his hands.

“Anddd I don’t think he is letting us go any time soon,” the student said as he slumped down, only to wince at his bruises.

“Nope,” Monkey King replied as he tried to relax, but both the memories and the wounds made it very hard to do so, it also didn’t help that there was a familiar smell in the air.

Their form eventually made its way to the rest of the group as they all stared up at the lumbering giant that towered over them all.

“I feel like I should be more frightened,” Tang mused as he stared up at the ominous titan with a glowing eye staring back at them.

“I don’t blame you,” Pigsy huffed as he had to stop him from instinctively standing in front of the group, even though the giant monkey was an ally.

“Just be glad he’s on our side,” Sandy smiled up.

“You're telling me,” Red nodded as he rubbed his hands from stopping the explosion alongside his father.

Bull King said nothing as he stared up at the titan.

“Hey guys!” MK shouted as he waved at them.

“Liking the view from up there!” Mei shouted back.

“It’s pretty nice! I never knew laying down on a giant monkey’s hand would feel good until now!”

“Maybe I’ll give you a ride on my war form then,” Wukong joked as he climbed up and sat on the titan's shoulder.

“Wait what?” Though he wasn’t able to ask anymore as the violent hand slowly came down and in front of the group.

“A ride! Count me in!” The dragon girl hopped in first as Sandy followed close behind.

“This might as well happen,” the pig demon sighed as he supported his partner's weight on him and sat down next to the others. But that didn't stop Tang from going starry eyed over the Monkey King and Macaque titan form.

“I’m not going,” Bull King growled when the hand still stood in front of both him and his son.

Red promptly halted in his step when he said that and looked almost longingly to his friends as he put his foot down.

The Bull demon saw his heir's morose expression and only took a moment before he sighed, “You may go if you wish…son.”

The Bull prince's eyes sparkled at his words and he lit up with glee as he rushed over to the rest of the group, getting one arm hugs from both his friends. Yet, the hand still hasn’t ascended.

“Nice teeth,” Mei commented as the Prince settled down and she noticed her other friend teeth.

“Huh?” MK saw her wordlessly take out her phone and show him his new sharpen teeth, his eyes sparkled with glee. “This is so cool! Hey Red, we match!”

“Indeed we do,” he gave a slight grin, “but mine are much more deadlier.”

“Give me a couple days to get used to this and we can find out,” he grinned back.

Before Red could shoot back a growl was heard.

“I said, I’m not going,” he emphasized his words and glared at the giant.

Giant Macaque only raised his brow as he used his free hand to pluck the Bull King firmly, but gently held him as he continued his way.

“Unhand me you insufferable cretin!” He yelled out as he tried to break free, but with him still being wounded and drained of his energy, the struggle was barely even noticeable.

“And you say I’m headstrong,” Monkey King snorted at the demon struggles.

“Oh I am so keeping this,” Mei smirked as she took so many photos.

“Send me that,” Pigsy and MK said.

“Will do!”

They were only put down when they finally reached their destination, which was Pigsy Noodle shop, and standing in front of the doors was a lion supporting a tired looking monkey.

“Thank fuck you all are alright,” he sighed as he released the titan puppet when everyone was off and he should probably be glad that Ahmed was supporting his sorry ass as he would have fallen straight down from the abrupt disperse of energy.

“Are you okay,” Wukong worriedly asked as he noticed his moon tired form and how the lion was helping him.

“Will be, but for now everyone gets your sorry asses inside so I can patch you up,” he pointed to some of the clones inside already holding materials in hand.

“I’ll help-” MK began to say, only to be stopped by his stare “-after I heal up,” he quickly added.

“Nice save,” Mei whispered as both of them and Red went inside.

“You and I are gonna have a long talk Mr. Six Eared Macaque,” Tang almost growled.

“Wasn’t really trying to hide it,” he smirked as the historian raised both his hands in exasperation.

“And that’s what’s pissing me off, ‘it came along the way,’ you weren’t even trying,” he huffed as he marched inside, but not before giving a stink eye to the lion. “And I bet you knew as well.”

“Guilty as charged,” he had to hold back his laughter as his friend gave another strangled yell.

“You're gonna have one hell of a lecture from him,” Pigsy smirked as he nudged the monkey.

“I have already accepted my fate,” he shrugged.

“Good call, also don’t really care about your past and whatnot, you have already shown me that you're a pretty decent demon no matter what history may say.”

“Thanks,” he gave a small smile.

The pig demon patted his shoulder and went inside as well. Macaque looked towards the blue giant who just smiled.

“I already knew.”

“And this is what makes you the smart one,” he smirked as the therapist gave a hearty laugh.

“You need help,” Wukong cautiously asked once more as he stepped forward.

“I am not doing shit except letting my clones do the bandaging and healing, I need to sit my ass down,” he grumbled before giving a slight smile, “but thanks for worrying about me dumbass.”

“Always,” he smiled back.

“Now go sit your ass inside before I make you,” he deadpanned.

“I mean I don’t really need it, you know I heal pretty-”

“I can easily tell that both you and Bull along over there had your energy drained,” Monkey King paled.

“Ah…so you know.”

“Oh I know,” he tail swished angrily behind him, “and I also know just how fucking dangerous energy transfers are when they’re not done properly! And I already know that it wasn’t really Spider Queen's main concern now is it?”

“Ummm,” he nervously hummed.

“Now, get your ass in there or else,” his eyes flickered.

“Aye Aye!” He quickly walked in and escaped the eyes of doom.

“So it seems that there is more to the story,” Tang muttered as he watched the interactions as a salve got put on his leg. “It seems that the two immortal monkeys aren’t enemies.”

“Oh there is a lot more,” MK wished he could rub his forehead, but his hands were currently occupied by the clone wrapping his hand. “So much more.”

No one could say anything else before they heard the Demon Bull speak.

“I’m not going in,” Bull King huffed, “I’m not so fragile that I need to worry about such items.”

“You know what no,” Bull demon raised his eyebrow at the doctor's tone. “I’m not even gonna argue with you, your ass is going in there and you are going to sit down and you are going to get checked over.”

“You dare speak to me like that!”

“Frankly I don’t care!” He barked out as he broke free of Ahmed’s hold and marched up to the larger demon. “I have long since run out of fucks to give and I simply don’t fucking care! I am already spread thin with clones all around making medicine, helping out at the hospital, checking for survivors, and other shit! I was spread thin when I made my Puppet Titan to obliterate the fucking spiders. I am so spread thin that even my own self control is waning as we fucking speak that it’s taking all in me not to just make your stupid ass go unconscious, just so I won’t have to fucking hear you! So. Go. In. The. Noodles. Shop!”

“You don’t have the power to stop me,” he growled and took a step forward, not even acknowledging the lion demon piercing eyes nor the monkey Sage's own ominous stare.

“If you don’t get your ass inside I will call Queen Iron Fan and tell her about your stupidity about your health,” he bluntly stated.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he took a step back in fear.

“Try me bitch.”

“…fine,” he let out a final huff and lumbered inside.

Mei whistled as the clone was getting some derbies out of her back, “Dannnggg, just one word of the mother and he just comes.”

“Mother does worry about our safety when she’s gone,” Red nodded.

“For good reason.”

“Okay!” Macaque said loudly as he plopped himself right next to Wukong, “While you guys are getting bandaged, how about you all tell me what the hell happened both inside the ship and how the hell did you get that antidote because I know the smell of immortal peaches from a mile away and that antidote had that in spades.”

“So that’s why the whole city smells like that,” the brown furred monkey eyes widened, “I thought I was going crazy.

“What is the point in that?” Bull King questioningly asked.

“Well, I thought that it would be better if we all figured out how not only she managed to get her hands on mind control potion that potent, but how almost all the demons, including you two, one of the strongest ones in the world, got captured by the Spider Queen.” He emphasized, it literally makes no sense how she was able to do that. Sure she may be strong with access to her minions that do her dirty work at times, but she’s not that strong to manage to take down so many villains, and she doesn’t have the connections to find a potion of that kind of caliber.”

“That is a fair point,” the Bull demon reluctantly agreed.

“Great! Now talk.”

“She caught the staff?” MK blurted out as he popped up from Mei's shoulder.

“I know! Caught me by surprise too,” Wukong huffed at his student surprise.

“To be fair, Lady Iron Fan did the same with me, but she had some sort of metal glove.”

“But not with pure energy,” Red leaned back into Mei side, “it took me countless centuries to find all the supplies to make that glove and the Spider Queen only used her energy, something is not adding up.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” she nodded as she subtly brought her two crushes, which she will happily keep to herself until both of them are comfortable, back to her. She could very much appreciate the fact that they both had very warm and comfortable bodies that she will happily take advantage of.

“So that’s where Minsheng was,” Ahmed hummed, “the others were worried about them.”

“He really did tell her off, but I saw him escape with the rest after they broke free,” the monkey explained.

“That’s one worry off then.”

“Son, how did you know the incantation and the symbol to enter the Celestial Realm?” Bull King asked when they got to the part where they were about to enter the realm.

“Umm well you see,” he nervously chuckled, “there are so many ways you can get inside the realm other than the main entrance and it’s not like it was hard to actually find another way once you know what the main one looks like. But don’t worry, I haven’t stepped foot inside the realm until today, so they shouldn’t know that it was me who entered!”

“To be honest I never knew that there were other ways you can get inside,” Wukong admitted, “Nice job.”

“Indeed, show me how exactly you managed this feat when we get home,” the giant Bull said. It is no easy task to accomplish something that no one else has done before, he didn’t acknowledge the pit of warm pride he felt.

“Yes father!” He excitedly said, not noticing that his two friends were eyeing the Bull King with disdain.

“Wait hold up, how the hell did you manage to sneak into the Celestial Realm almost undetected?” He questioned when his son finished telling them how they escaped the holy realm.

“Well there was like nobody there, the only real problem we encountered was the spiders, two lion statues that came to life, and perhaps my crippling anxiety,” he shrugged.

“Well get to that last bit later, but what do you mean no one?! You went to the Heavenly Orchard, Lao Tzu alchemy lab, the fucking Jade Emperor Throne Room! What the hell did you mean no one was there?!” His eyes twitch as he gets shrugs from almost everyone, he says almost as now Red son is realizing that what he said is true and is slightly paling at what that could mean. Even Wukong and Bull King are looking at the group in absolute confusion.

“That does raise a concerning question,” BK rumbled. “The Celestial Realm is never without the deities inside, especially the Jade Emperor himself. So if all the deities were gone on the same day then there must have been a deadly matter that needed to be taken care of…but everyone gone? That still makes no sense.”

“You're telling me, it wasn’t even that easy for me to cause havoc when I was up there. I had to disguise myself as so many people just to make it out to the courtyard,” Wukong nodded.

“It just doesn’t make sense on why-” he stopped himself as he looked towards the other monkey and then his son and a thought occurred. “No, that couldn’t be, hey flicker do they still have that Spirit detecting thing for when you enter the realm.”

“Indeed they still do,” he faces palmed as he completely had forgotten that they had been specially made after people, deities, and demons tried to break their way into the realm one too many times.

Macaque couldn’t stop his smile from growing as he finally realized what happened and he burst out into laughter. “No way! No fucking way! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“Huh?” Everyone echoed as they watch the monkey burst out almost out of nowhere.

“Umm Dad?” He tried to call out, but he was too busy laughing.

“Pops? You good?” She tried, absolutely nothing in reply.

“Mango, moonlight, my other half,” Wukong grabbed him by the shoulder, which did make him pause, but still was sporting a wide grin. “What the hell did you figure out?”

“Srk, okay holy shit this is just way too funny,” he choked out and continued. “The reason why no one was there was because they sensed MK spirit energy and the staff, both of which had been imbued with your energy. I mean, I know that after sensing your energy was coiled around mine a few weeks ago, they did not want a second round with Wukong in any way shape, or form, especially his successor, so they just fucked off and left!”

Dead silence overtook the small restaurant as everyone's eyes slowly turned to the Monkey Sage, who was sporting both a cheeky and a sheepish grin.

“I feel like I should probably apologize to them one day.”

“The sad thing is that it sounds about right,” Red sighed. While he doesn't visit the celestial realm, he knows enough to know that many deities, including the Jade Emperor, would rather just up and leave than deal with Sun Wukong after what he last did no matter how many centuries may have passed. He does have to admit that out of everything he did, this may have been one of his biggest feats yet. “What is my life right now?”

“Let’s just continue,” Pigsy said as he was holding back his partner from asking so many questions.

“Evil laughter?”

“Shut up.”

“It was fun!”

“And highly entertaining.”

“Shut up!”

“And that’s all of it,” MK finished off.

“Crazy as usual, but that still doesn’t explain how she was able to do what she did,” he leaned back. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Wukong stiffen, but he kept that to himself. He will get it out of that monkey when they're alone.

“I heard the whispers again,” everyone's eyes whipped towards Bull King, but only Red son and Macaque knew what he was talking about.

“You mean the same ones that controlled you back then,” the doctor hissed out.

“Indeed.”

“You met Lady Bone Demon?!” Wukong blurted out but immediately regretted that as everyone's eyes were locked on him.

“You know that vile cretin!” Bull King growled.

“Wait Bone Demon! As in the same one you met in the Journey to the West! That one!” Tang wanted to lean forward, but both Pigsy and Sandy were holding him back.

Wukong said nothing as he gripped his fists under the table.

“Monkey King?” MK worriedly asked at the monkey's still expression.

“Sunbeam,” the monkey blinked at his friend's hand on his and looked up to see his concerned look, “what happened?”

“…okay,” he entwined his finger with his and looked at the group. “I met her on the ship.” He then began to explain his experience with the demon on the ship and the restaurant was silent as he talked.

“So,” Macaque broke the silence, “it seems that we were right on the idea that this was no ordinary spirit.”

“You’ve been investigating this?!” Wukong asked as everyone barring the Bull family and Ahmed looked in shock.

“Of course I have, Bull King got possessed and no one found that at all suspicious? I mean that’s why Queen Iron Fan is currently not even in the city right now, she is meeting some people over some enchanted artifacts and spells that will help. But now that we know who exactly we're dealing with, I think we can narrow that down by a lot. So, you’ll update her,” he said towards the Bull family.

“Already doing so,” Red’s son said as his eyes were glowing red.

“Good, now anything else you tell us?” He looked back to his dumbstruck friend.

“Just that I…encountered her a few times before and that there was a reason she was buried so deep underground,” he sighed as he rubbed his thumb on the black fur. “What she wants the most is to make herself known to the world and she wants to accomplish this by conquering the world, so she’ll be after me first and my powers.”

“And we will be ready,” MK determinedly said. “We know that she is alive and that she is probably planning something, but whatever it is, we'll be one step ahead of her.”

“You got that right, I mean who would ever expect this,” she gestured towards the room filled with people, demons, and immortals, “Wukong lives in isolation so in no way will he be interacting with mortals, supposed enemies with Pops and Bull family.”

“That part is still true,” Bull King grumbled.

“Mostly, but even then you can tolerate him and that is what she won’t be expecting!”

“But there still is the problem that we don’t know what she is planning after her plan failed,” Tang pointed out.

“Was it her plan at all?” They all turned to face Pigsy.

“What do you mean?” MK asked.

“Well, it just seems that with the whole spider theme going on, it was more of the Spider Queen plan and the Bone chick tagging along at the end, you know, like that one person in a group project. I always hated that guy, stupid Hans,” he growled.

“You…do make a point,” Red eyes flickered once he finished his talk. “And mother also said that she will be going to the highlands next after she’s finished dealing with the…unruly elves.”

“That’s one way to say it,” Bull King nodded.

“But since the plan with the Spider Queen failed, where would she go next?” Mei asked.

“We’ll hold on,” everyone looked to Sandy now as the giant looked at Wukong and Bull King, “You said that she was following the Spider Queen, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Indeed.”

“Well I may have only met the Spider Queen once, but it’s easily recognizable that she has a superiority complex that hinges more towards the self importance side, and judging by how you describe the Bone demon, she is very tactile and manipulative to use this to her advantage. So we already know it was Spider Queen's plan first, but it was the Bone demon who most likely approached her first as you said that the Queen was more hostile towards the other. But, even when the plan failed, I think that she will still stick with the Spider Queen as she is not only one of the strongest in the city, but maybe has the resources she needs at the moment,” he finished and took a sip of his tea.

“Holy shit,” Mei whispered out as MK nodded.

“Knew you were smart, but man you were hiding it in their big guy,” Pigsy smirked.

“Oh well just a guess based on what I know about their personality and actions,” he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

“A well educated one it is,” Bull King said, “What is your profession?”

“I’m a therapist.”

“That makes sense,” he nodded.

“But for now, how about we hold this off until tomorrow,” Ahmed said as he looked at everyone’s bandaged bodies and drooping eyes, “I think we all deserve some shut eye.”

“But-”

“Their invasion just failed and they won’t be staring back up any time soon,” he cut MK off, “this can wait until tomorrow, where our minds would be fresher and perhaps our bodies a little lighter.”

“Agreed,” Macaque nodded.

“…okay,” MK gave in.

“Good, now everyone upstairs,” most of them began to trudge back up, the doctor eyed the Bull family, “I assume you have the teleportation spell?”

“Yep, prepped and ready,” Red confirmed.

“Then have a safe trip back,” and with final goodbyes, the Bull family left the restaurant, and with a flash, they were gone. Macaque watched them leave and promptly grabbed hold of the back of Wukong collar “And where do you think you're going?”

“Back to the mountain?” He questioned.

“No you're not, you're staying here.”

“Look Mac I really don’t feel like talking more about her,” he sighed once he knew everyone else was gone.

“And that is fine, but you are not leaving my sight anytime soon, now come on,” he pulled him up, “there is a hoard of blankets and pillows calling our names. So just relax, you are safe.”

It didn’t impact the monkey until he felt the warm coil of violet energy gently brush against his vigilant golden aura, did he finally settled down, and his nerves slowly relaxed and the next thing he knows is he is sitting on the rooftop surrounded by blankets and pillows and he is currently snuggled on Macaque shoulder as he hums softly and felt his soft hands groom his fur.

“Sleep Sunshine, we can deal with it all tomorrow,” he whispered and tucked him further underneath his chin.

He wished he could thank him for doing this, for watching over him during his blackout, for keeping him calm, but the words eluded him, and instead, he cuddled further into the hold. He stiffed when he heard soft footsteps approach, but relaxed at the familiar energy of both of his kids approaching him.

“Mind if we join,” MK asked as he took in the sight.

“Would you be up for that Sunspot?” Mac looked down.

Wukong didn’t say anything once more and just wordlessly nodded.

“Alright, you both can join, but right to bed.” He firmly told them both.

“Oh don’t worry, even my bones feel tired,” Mei said as she cuddled next to the black furred monkey and MK softly laid next to the brown furred simian.

Then there’s was silence once more as only the bustling from the streets could be heard as people reunited with each other once again, the whistle of winds, the steady breathing of the small group, and the soft humming of a six eared monkey lullabying them further and further into a deep sleep. And as Wukong listened, felt, and saw everything, only one thought was left as he closed his eyes for a long slumber.

He really loved his family.

As to why Mac didn’t get captured? Easy, he doesn’t have the same kind of cocky ego that both BK and Wukong shared. He actually likes to think before he acts.

Also, hey yeah remember how I said my longest chapter was like two chapters ago, welll I made a freakin new one and guess what? IT’S OVER 9000!! Like holy shit I need to sleep, but damn am I proud of how long I can make these XD

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #mk #macaque #PlumTeaAU

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