#but you can play as a more well adjusted version of the Thing | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

honkytonk-hangman · 8 months ago

Text

How It's Done – Oneshot Version

Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x Aviator!Reader

Originally posted by unicornships

Summary: “Like me? I didn’t even think you wanted me as a squadmate, let alone–” you stop speaking, but only because Hangman cuts his eyes sharply away from you to glare out at the ocean. “Well, I do.” He says kind of indignantly, all things considered, and eyes you almost sourly. “You can just say no if you don’t–” “–No, I do!” you quickly cut him off, because at the end of it all, you’re a little too much of a hopeless romantic to let this moment pass you by.

Warnings: erm maybe just some references to sex? jake being jake? language? minions. big warning for minions xD

Notes: Originally I intended this to be a two-parter series, but I wanted to change how it went, so I rewrote the parts I didn't like and made the entire thing into a oneshot instead!!! This fic will replace the 'part one' already on my blog, but I will keep this part up, linked at the very bottom of my masterlist! thank you everyone for being so patient! Thank you @hangmanssunnies, my love my biggest support <3

Words: 11.6k!

“Well, I’ll be damned…”

You pinch your eyes shut and steel yourself at the sound of the all too familiar Texan drawl, hanging on to the hope that perhaps he isn’t talking to you. You’re out of luck though, and moments later Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin slides into the open space next to you at the bar, already posed in a casual lean as he looks you up and down appraisingly.

It makes your teeth grind.

It makes your face hot.

“If it isn’t Mirage. Would have invited you to play with us if I’d known you were here earlier…” Hangman cocks his head, and his lips tip up in an infuriatingly perfect smile. “But one can never really be sure if you’re around or not… and that's before you get in a cockpit,” he grins, but when you meet his eye at last, he looks away from you, toward Penny who seems to approach in the nick of time, saving you from needing to respond.

You blink down at your drink, and finish it quickly, unnerved by what you think might have just been a compliment of sorts from Hangman. You’d been stationed together previously, though you weren’t friends, so you’d been expecting something a little more acidic in nature. You’d heard him interact with other aviators, knew he liked to push and poke them, usually got away with it too. For some reason though, he’d never really gone there with you and frankly you’ve always just chalked it up to not being worth his time. In fact, you’re pretty sure the only times you’d ever actually spoken had been in the sky. To be completely honest, you’re more than a little surprised that he remembers you at all.

You didn’t exactly go out of your way to stand out…

You were naturally quiet, which wasn’t helped by your social anxiety, resulting in most people describing you as extremely shy. They wouldn’t be wrong, you suppose, you did tend to keep to yourself, the idea of having too many eyes on you all but unbearable to you. But if you’d thought a roomful of people singing happy birthday to you was bad, somehow being under the unwavering stare of Hangman is approximately one thousand times worse.

“Penny, my dear… I’ll have,” he stops to glance pointedly down at your now finished beer, adjusts his stance to lean even more and unwittingly makes the muscles in his bicep bulge.

“Five more on the Old Timer,” Hangman says, nodding to the man who sits on the other side of the bar.

Internally you blanch, but externally, you say nothing and give even less away, feeling a little ping of satisfaction that apparently, you know something Hangman doesn’t. Before he’d come along, you’d been carefully watching the interaction between Penny and Captain Mitchell. You’d never met the man before, but you knew how to read military insignia, which at this point, was more than you could say for Hangman, who dismisses him quickly.

You wonder if Monday morning you’ll be able to work up the nerve to tease him about it.

You’re distracted from your thoughts when Penny returns with the requested drinks. You had no real intentions of going and hanging out with Hangman and the others, but before you can excuse yourself, your empty beer is smoothly plucked from your hands, replaced quickly with a brand new one.

“Help me carry these back?” Hangman asks then, jerking his head in the vague direction of the pool table. You frown when he immediately takes off walking, not actually letting you help him at all, all four beers still slotted between his fingers. You find yourself following him anyway, as if he’d placed some kind of spell over you.

Hangman stops ahead of you at the ancient jukebox, looking back over his shoulder at you, nodding in a pleased manner when he sees you trailing behind. He waits for you, gaze never leaving your form, even as he nods to the space next to him. You awkwardly step up to the spot opposite to him, and look past the glass and at the selection inside. Hangman, once more, takes up a lean, this time against the rickety machine.

“Would you be so kind as to select track number…” he trails off as he checks the list of songs, but quickly flicks his gaze back to you, and smiles bright, tauntingly, again. “Eighty-Six?” he asks, but it's barely a question. You nod, and swallow, shifting from holding your beer with two hands to holding it with just one. You carefully tap the chunky ‘eight’ and ‘six’ keys as he watches. The machine’s little analogue screen confirms that your song is next up, and nervously, you look back up at Hangman, horrified to find he’s just been staring at your face for the past however long.

“S’been a while, Mirage.” He drawls, making you blink rapidly and look away.

“Has it?” Is all you can manage meekly in reply, surprised when he lets out a genuine sounding laugh. He hums warmly, and you practically feel it in your chest.

“And yet,” he lifts hand, two beers held expertly between his fingers, but he extends it to tap your nose, almost making you almost flinch.

“You haven’t changed at all.” Hangman grins Cheshire-like down at you, before his eyes narrow ever so slightly, and he leans in even closer while flicking his eyes up and down your form again.

“I don’t bite you know,” he tells you, his voice sounding serious, but his somberness lasts mere seconds.

“Well, not unless you ask me to first, sweetheart,” he winks and his smile grows large as your eyes grow wide and you splutter, flustered.

Your face grows hot with slight embarrassment, a wave of inner resentment at his teasing washing through you.

Hangman laughs, seemingly bored with you now, and he turns to walk back toward the pool tables. Without even looking, he beckons you to follow with one finger on his still occupied hands. For a moment your pique prevents you from doing so, certain that if you were to dip into the crowd now, he’d not care enough to seek you out again, let alone notice you were missing.

You know he didn’t mean it, you know his flirting is just to get a rise, but you also know that he’d never do it to Phoenix, or Halo, and a little bit of you hates yourself for being such a marked pushover. You make the decision now that you won’t let him do it again, if you can help it.

Your eyes travel past Hangman then, towards the pool tables where you can now see another figure has joined the other gathered aviators, and for the first time all evening, you don’t feel nervous to go join them.

You follow after Hangman, but quickly diverge from his path, cutting around a gathered group of Navy personnel to get there faster. As you approach, you take a moment to shake off any lingering anxiety, before gently laying a hand on the faded Hawaiian shirt in front of you, doing your best to keep yourself from bouncing on your heels.

Rooster half looks ready to wave off whoever is trying to get his attention, but when his shaded eyes land on you, he spins his whole body to face you, grinning widely in unguarded excitement as he gathers you up in his arms.

“Miri!” he exclaims warmly, and you can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of you when he briefly lifts you off the ground.

“I was just about to ask Phoenix if she’d seen you yet.” Rooster informs you.

“Seen who?” Phoenix steps around him, frowning as she quickly glances you over, though it disappears quickly.

“Yeah, that about tracks…” Rooster mutters mostly to himself.

“Nat, this is Mirage, you know her right?” Rooster introduces the two of you, and while neither of you make to shake hands, you only feel friendly energy radiate off the other woman, even as she openly looks you over now, nodding at Rooster’s words.

“Right, I have heard about you… I guess there's no real mystery behind your callsign… I didn’t even realise you were here… Sorry,” she tells you bluntly, but you appreciate her straightforwardness.

“They said ‘Wallflower’ was too long.” You joke lightly, and the other woman smiles. A moment passes between you, and you get the distinct feeling that Phoenix has become determined to never let you go unnoticed in her presence again.

You aren’t sure just yet if you appreciate that, but you are sure that you’ve just made a friend.

“Mirage?” Another voice joins then and you look to your left, smiling again when you see another familiar face.

“Bob!” you move to embrace him too, not seeing the look shared between Phoenix and Payback who watch you in surprise.

“Huh. Figures.”

Neither you or Hangman have moved since Rooster and Mav went down. The rest of Dagger had returned an hour ago, mission complete. There was no reason for either of you to be on standby.

And yet.

When the call came through that Dagger Two had been hit, both you and Hangman had separately requested to be launched, to help, but you’d been denied.

As a rule, you made yourself easy to work with, even if those around you were less compliant, and you’d experienced plenty of that, flying alongside Hangman the past few weeks. Whether it was him leaving you to get shot down in training, or refusing to fly as a team during simulations. And yet, despite his habit of ‘hanging you out to dry’ being the reason behind his callsign, deep down, you’ve never once doubted flying alongside him in the real thing like the others seemed to.

You’re glad for that lack of hesitation now, glad that it only takes a single moment of eye contact from across the tarmac for the two of you to understand one another perfectly. Glad that when you got word that somehow, Rooster was supersonic again, you already know his answer before you even ask.

“Hangman? Hondo’s cleared us for take off with the ground crew, against orders. You with me?” you ask quietly, looking over at your wingman, knowing that when you return you’ll most certainly be court marshalled, but unable to sit and do nothing any longer.

“To hell and back, Mirage,” comes his immediate reply.

You see him move in sync with you, both of your canopy’s lowering at the same time.

You ignore the panicked voices ordering you to stand down, long enough for Hondo and the others to get you on the catapult, and by then it’s too late.

In two seconds you’re propelled from zero to over a hundred and sixty, and in your ears you hear Hangman right behind you.

“Do you want to get a coffee with me?” The question makes you jump, your drink almost sloshing everywhere. The sudden voice, as well as the person it belonged to, takes you completely by surprise, but you’re thankful he doesn’t draw attention to your startling.

Up until moments ago, you’d been peacefully watching the ocean toss and turn, burying your feet in the damp sand and thinking about what you were going to do with your upcoming two weeks of post-mission leave.

Most of Dagger were a little further up the shore, a bonfire crackling away, although you weren’t the only one to have splintered off. Mav and Rooster were currently standing in the shallows talking, and you think Halo and Phoenix have moved to sit apart from the others as well. You had managed to sneak away easily enough, content to just sit on your own for a while, though your efforts appear to have been mostly in vain, if the man now plopped in the sand beside you is any indicator.

You blink at each other.

“What?!” you blurt out dumbly, not completely certain you really understood what he’d said. Hangman’s lips press into a thin line, and he looks away from you, linking his hands together around his knees, and staring out at the rolling waves.

“Coffee. Would you like to get one with me?” He repeats, sounding only a smidge impatient, but it still doesn't clear up much for you.

“I… No, I heard you the first time… I… I just don’t understand… why?”

Over the past three weeks you’ve been forced more out of your shell than you ever have before. It was torture. It was wonderful.

Part of you pats yourself on the back for being able to ask him so starightly, but another part of you slaps yourself in the face for questioning him.

Hangman turns to look at you apprehensively.

“Are you asking why coffee or why am I asking you?” He speaks slowly and carefully, his face blank and devoid of any hint he was teasing, though you think he might be anyway.

“Why… Why are you asking me?” You push, shuffling your feet in the sand, drawing his attention for a moment. He looks back at your face and frowns slightly, cocking his head.

“Because I like you? And that is usually what somebody does when they like someone. Ask them.” He answers, and this time you definitely get the impression he’s politely trying not to laugh, but for once, you don’t feel like you’re on the outside of the joke.

Still, you find yourself taken somewhat aback at his confession, admitted so easily and freely, as if it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, which confuses you.

“Like me? I didn’t even think you wanted me as a squadmate, let alone–” you stop speaking, but only because Hangman cuts his eyes sharply away from you to glare out at the ocean.

“Well, I do.” He says kind of indignantly, all things considered, and eyes you almost sourly. “You can just say no if you don’t–”

“–No, I do!” you quickly cut him off, because at the end of it all, you’re a little too much of a hopeless romantic to let this moment pass you by. Especially when for the past three weeks you haven't been able to get rid of the odd heart skips you got whenever Hangman acknowledged your presence at all.

And besides, you weren’t blind.

Hangman was ridiculously pretty, and not anywhere near as much of an asshole as he wanted people to believe.

He looks at you blankly for a moment, processing your words, before his face breaks out in a smile. It isn’t one of his usual smirks or tauntingly pearly grins, though. It’s softer, sweeter, and you stare mesmerised as he looks away from you again quickly, and down at his linked hands, nodding.

Two days pass, and even when you’re sitting across from him in a small, niche little coffee shop you had no idea existed, you feel like you’re in a dream.

You’ve never seen Hangman out of uniform, you realise, and it’s a whole new experience you’re forced quickly to process when he stands to go get your drinks.

Dark jeans, white shirt, casual jacket. It’s a simple outfit, but goddamn does he make it look good. Nervously you have to wonder if your white and blue sundress, sneakers and bomber jacket were having the same effect on him, though you highly doubt it.

He returns quickly, attentively, placing both your coffees down, before folding himself into his chair once more. You both look at each other awkwardly before you distract yourself by taking a sip of your coffee. Hangman seems to do the same, but instead of drinking, he begins tearing into several little sugar packets, and emptying them into his coffee foam.

You huff out a tiny laugh before you can stop yourself, and his eyes quickly snap to you.

“What?” he asks defensively, but the corners of his mouth twitch.

“I just… I guess I never figured you for a sweet coffee kinda guy…”

“Oh, and why is that?” his twitching lips turn into a full smirk, but it isn’t his usual Hangman smirk. You chew on the inside of your lip, and sip your coffee once more before answering.

“I’m not sure. I guess you just don’t seem like the type of guy who…” you trail off, unsure of what exactly you’re trying to say and even more; how to say it.

“Listen, I may have rippling, glistening abdominals, but I have a sweet tooth,” he says, putting on the defensiveness now, leaning toward you and pointing at himself. You pinch your brows together and purse your lips, nodding vehemently.

“I know how to have fun,” he tells you, tipping a third sugar into his coffee.

“Of that I don’t really doubt, Hangman,” you say, but his gaze snaps back to you again, almost sharply this time.

“Jake.” he corrects you.

You pause.

Of course, you knew his first name, but you’re fairly certain you’ve never once used it. Hangman has just always been, well, Hangman. But you weren’t in a cockpit right now, he’d asked you out, this wasn’t the time and place for callsigns. He wasn’t Hangman, and you weren’t Mirage.

“Jake,” you say slowly, carefully, as if he’ll tell you any moment he’s just kidding around. But he doesn’t.

“Miri,” he replies, slow like you, but softer, and it’s silly, but it sounds so nice coming from him. You shake your head and swallow.

“Jake, if you don’t like coffee, why did you ask me out for one?” you ask him, watching as he blinks slowly at you, before his gaze slowly drops to the latte in front of him.

“If I asked you for a drink, you might’ve got the wrong idea,” he starts, speaking carefully. “If I asked you for dinner, it could be too formal, too awkward–”

“–It’s already awkward,” you point out, making him grimace slightly, so you shrug.

“Coffee just seemed like– I just wanted to–” he cuts himself off and drops both hands to the table.

“Look– I just didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding about what this was. I like you. I know you like coffee.” Jake admits all in a flurry, his voice quiet, and his eyes flickering around as he speaks.

For as long as you’ve known him, you’ve never seen Jake unable to maintain eye contact, actually it seemed to be something he took immense pride in, and it always made you slightly uncomfortable, but right now he appears completely incapable, and it's not a side of Hangman you’ve ever seen before. You realise you might be meeting Jake properly for the first time.

You decide to let him off easy, with all the newfound courage Dagger had been feeding into you the past few weeks, and you change the subject.

“You know, when you came up to me at the Hard Deck that first night, I was kinda surprised you remembered me at all,” you say slowly, sipping your coffee and eying him evenly. Jake frowns then, but it smooths out into a cool grin, and he leans back in his chair, cocking his head.

“Are you kidding? I’m always clocking possible threats.” he tells you, making you cough lightly.

“How am I a threat to you?!” you ask in disbelief.

“Oh, I could name a few,” Jake teases, nodding at you, but flicking his eyes away, almost making a show of clocking an incoming group of customers behind you.

You weren’t clueless, you knew you were a part of Dagger for a reason. You were damn good at your job, but still, Jake was Hangman, not only was he an aviator you respected, he was an aviator with very high personal standards, and for him to see you as comparable to him… well truthfully, you find yourself rather humbled.

And then flustered, at his clear unabashed flirting.

“I always thought you flirting was just you messing with me,” you admit, and he grins wider.

“Can’t it be both?” he asks, leaning forward again, and clasping his hands together. He seems to have no problem maintaining eye contact now, you note. When you cold-stare him, he simply shrugs.

“You’re cute when you get all flustered and nervous, what can I say?”

“Literally anything else.” You grumble back.

You finish your coffee and push the cup to the side, crossing your arms on the table and leaning forward like he was. Jake mimics you, pushing his own coffee away, clearly with no intention to start, let alone finish it. You aren’t as good as him with eye contact though, no matter how much you’d come out of your shell, so you take the opportunity to glance sideways out the window, only for your gaze to catch on something.

Your heart thumps loudly for a moment in your ears, and you wonder briefly if you should act on the thoughts popping around your brain right now, or if you should just stay put.

You lean forward even more, and flick your eyes back to Jake who is staring at you curiously.

“Hey, I have an idea…” you start, chewing on the inside of your lip, before standing up. You only hesitate a little before offering your hand.

“You with me?” you ask without thinking, the words the same as the ones you ask time and again to your wingmen while in flight manoeuvres. Jake stares up at you for a moment, before he too stands, your heart skipping when he takes your hand. With a tiny squeeze you almost don’t notice, Jake grins, and nods.

“Oh, hey! Stop! That’s not fair!” You elbow Jake in the side, but it’s already too late. The hand he’d shot out to block your light gun had done its job, and where you’d previously been neck in neck for score on the dual Time Crisis cabinet, Jake’s character was now cheering in victory, while your screen was asking you to insert more coins and try again.

Jake chortles and you both slot your plastic guns back into their plastic holsters at the front of the machine.

“We never agreed to no interference,” he says proudly, and you sock him in the arm only half as hard as you can.

“I didn’t think it needed to be said!” you exclaim pointedly. Jake grins down at you, and collects his tickets.

“Quit complaining, all these are gonna go towards whatever stuffed bear or whatever the hell you want anyway.” He rolls his eyes, and gestures to the shoddy ‘rewards’ counter of the arcade you’d spotted from the coffee shop.

“I want the Minion.” You state firmly after glancing at the redemption counter for three seconds, and spotting the big ugly yellow creature on the top shelf. Jake sighs in a put-upon manner and shakes his head.

“See, this is how you know I really like you. I’m willing to ignore that,” he says, and you actually think he might be serious this time. You grin up at him as he takes your elbow, and begins leading you toward the back of the room.

“What are you going to cheat me out of kicking your ass at this time?” you glance around you, goosebumps trailing up and down your arm as Jake lets his hand slide from around your elbow, down your forearm and into your hand, which he squeezes as if in warning.

“I didn’t cheat, I simply used black ops tactics,” he says, narrowing his eyes at you. You purse your lips at him and narrow your own eyes back.

“Cheat.” you say again, pronouncing each syllable deliberately.

You come to a stop then, and you look up at the old photo booth machine. Jake pulls out a fistfull of tickets, squinting his eyes at the label with instructions, before looking back over at the redemption counter. He seems to run some numbers before he looks back down at you with a grin, and waves the strings of crumpled tickets.

“My cheating means we can use the booth, and still have enough for a Kevin plush, so I don’t wanna hear no more complaining outta you,” he waggles a finger in front of your nose, and you blink up at him sheepishly.

“Jake– I don’t really want the Minion…” you say, before your voice turns suspicious. “Anyway, how do you know which one is Kevin?!” you lift an eyebrow, only for Jake to roll his eyes and push you into the curtained booth.

You orient yourself in the tiny enclosed space, looking around you as Jake takes a moment to feed several lines of win-tickets into the machine before he follows you. He’s forced to duck down real low, making the space even smaller, and you both stare for a moment at the small seat barely big enough for one person, let alone two.

“Well, either you can sit on my lap, or I can sit on yours, darlin’, but I know which one I’d prefer.” Jake intones lowly, and for the first time in an hour or so, you feel yourself get all flustered again. Honestly, you’d kind of forgotten about the explicitly romantic tone of this meeting until now, and more than that, your stomach begins to flip and flop like the first time you’d gotten in a jet when he eases past you and drops himself onto the bench before patting his thighs.

“Jake, maybe if you just move over a litt–”

“No can do, honey,” and he’s not even trying to tease you, he demonstrates the spread of his legs, and the tight fit into the booth, before looking back up at you expectantly again.

“Okay… Okay…” you say more for your own sanity than anything else, and turn, quickly perching yourself on his leg before you can really think too hard about what you're doing.

Your efforts are for naught though, because the moment you’re sat down, Jake’s hands are tugging you against him further, sitting you more comfortably on the thick expanse of his thigh, and you barely repress the noise that nearly escapes you at the feeling of his fingers digging into your hips.

“There we go, sweetheart,” he says softly, almost to himself, and moves his hands to wrap around you completely. If he notices your little noise, which by his self satisfied smirk he definitely has, he thankfully chooses not to say anything. Your face grows warm, not only at the hold he has on you but at the pet name too.

“Did you just call me ‘sweetheart’?” you ask, sounding half bewildered, half incredulous, forgetting for a moment where exactly you were and why. As you look over your shoulder at the man behind you, Jake stares back, his smirk still in place even as his eyes seem to search your face, his own expression mostly unreadable.

“Would you prefer ‘honey’?” he almost purrs, his voice distinctly amused, but you notice that he doesn’t back down, doesn’t apologise or step back.

It makes your stomach twist up in knots. It makes your heartbeat skip like a record.

You turn away from him, shake your head.

“It’s fine,” you tell him bashfully, wanting to grumble slightly when against your back you sense what you think is him puffing his chest a little. Quickly, you add: “Not at work, though…”

Jake chortles, but as you peek over your shoulder to look at him again, he’s relenting, his smirk gone and replaced with a far softer smile as he nods.

“Not at work, though.” he repeats lowly in confirmation, almost making you jump when he shifts one hand to steady you around the waist, his other reaching out to begin fiddling with the controls on the lit up screen in front of you.

“Alright, let's get this show on the road shall we?”

By the time you’re exiting the tiny cubicle, Jake’s hands still attached to your hips as he follows you out, you’re both laughing quietly to yourselves. You’re amazed to find just how much Jake can affect you, either setting you at complete ease or sending you into a tizzy, depending on what he’s said or done. Usually you wouldn’t be surprised by other people’s effects on you, you were jumpy and anxious by nature, but it was rare that somebody who put you on edge as much as Jake did, could also give you such comfort.

When he detaches his hands from your sides at last to survey the sheets of photos spat out by the booth, you marvel at how much you start to miss the contact. With all the subtlety you can muster, you inch closer to him, under the guise of getting a look at the photos as well, though really, you’re only hoping that you might prompt him into reaching out for you again.

Jake chortles and points at a set of two pictures. In one, you’re both grinning madly, pulling silly faces, and in the other, you’re wearing softer smiles, and you notice now, that Jake had pushed his face a little closer to yours. It makes heat rise in your cheeks, not just at the seeming intimacy of the photo, but truthfully, of how much you like seeing the two of you like that.

“You won’t mind if I keep these, will ya?” Jake asks, looking over at you. You simply shake your head, and he grins a little wider, carefully tearing off the two pictures before pulling out his wallet and tucking them inside, for sake keeping, you assume.

Jake lets you keep the rest, and absently, you fold them into the zipper in your purse, too distracted by the fact that he does indeed take your hand again, before quickly releasing it to instead wrap his arm over your shoulder. You can’t stop yourself from smiling a little as you blink dumbly up at him, and he grins down at you, ducking his face even closer to yours.

“Now sweetheart, I believe I was instructed to win you a minion plush.”

You try to avoid Phoenix’s hard stare, and focus on wiping down your helmet.

“You’re acting weird,” she finally announces, still managing to make you jump despite your anticipation. You then immediately proceed to do yourself exactly zero favours, proving her point by refusing to look up at her, choosing to instead hurriedly continue with your current task.

“What? No I’m not. I’m fine. You’re being weird,” you argue, wincing at your clearly abysmal attempts at behaving like a normal adult human. You start re-cleaning the pristine surface of your helmet, your nerves conjuring imperfections you logically know don’t exit.

Just before you completely lose yourself down the spiral of unhealthy compulsive behaviours, A hand, Nat’s hand, stops your own. Tugging the cloth out of your hands and taking your helmet away from you, she places it down on the workbench you stand on opposite sides of. Chewing your lip, you at last meet her eye.

“Miri, it’s okay to have a crush–”

“–I don’t have a crush!” You blurt out both far too quickly to be believable, as well as in sheer panic. Your face grows immediately hot, and you can tell Phoenix is trying not to laugh at the show you’re putting on so poorly. Her lips twitch, but her expression softens from amusement into something softer, mixed with traces of pity. Just when you’re starting to debate the pros and cons of sprinting out of the room, getting in your jet, and then flying away never to be seen again, she relents, releasing you from her eye contact and making herself busy as she tidies up bits and bobs littering the workbench.

You swallow thickly, and stay watching her, your heart rate only spiking higher as your anxiety builds once more at her sudden apparent indifference. You follow her movements without moving an inch, sharply aware that not only was she still very much focused solely on scrutinising you, but even more mortifyingly, that this conversation was far from being over.

“Nat,” you say with surprisingly more strudiness than you believed possible, pausing to swallow the dryness in your mouth. “I don’t have a crush, okay?” You wait for her to look back over at you, nothing but disbelief rolling off of her faux-casualty, giving you a bullshit shrug and a smile.

“Okay.” she says. You had hoped that would be enough, but you should have known better. You clear your throat again.

“Nat,” you say, only making yourself louder, as if that was a sign of nothing going on. She looks up at you somewhat blankly. You know you’re totally screwed already as her eyes dip to watch your finger begin quickly tapping on the bench before you with barely any acknowledgement from yourself. “There’s nothing weird going on,” you say, pleading with your voice and face and every atom of your being that she drops it.

She drops something, unfortunately it’s not the subject though, but you still feel some semblance of stress leaving your body as her fake lack of care dissolves, and she leans back to rest against the cabinet behind her. She crosses her arms and shrugs again while letting out a soft, pitying sigh, which this time doesn’t raise your non-existent heckles as much as it had when it first showed its face.

You stare at one another, at what you think is an impasse and wordless agreement to now never talk of this episode in your friendship ever again, but once again, you should have known better.

“If it’s any consolation, I think he has a crush on you too, so it's not like it’s a total waste of energy… despite all evidence to the contrary,” She says conversationally at first, before muttering out the last part under her breath.

“He doesn’t,” you state with so much certainty you almost forget for a moment that it’s not even a little bit true. Instead, crossing your arms too, you feel like a middle schooler having a much too serious fight with her friend at lunch. “We’ve just become closer, like all of the squad have. You’re just noticing it cause you want to!” you’re a little taken aback by the sound logic of your own reasoning, all points earned to your side then immediately becoming forfeit when you can’t help yourself from stupidly continuing to speak. “Why? Has he said something?!”

Your outburst of near-giddy excitement destroys all chances of you walking this back, and you find yourself with only one option left available. But your prior readiness to exit out of this failed interaction at roughly 300 kts/min becomes soberingly not so fun to fantasise about when you sheepishly remember the current charges against you, for the theft of the $70 million dollar military aircraft you’d technically stolen when you and Jake had taken a joy ride to pick up Mav and Rooster.

You're snapped back into the present as Natasha Trace regards you unreadably and slowly lifts one perfect eyebrow at you. You cover your face and hang your head, you reason with your now permanently mortified brain that if you just admitted to the thing she already believed to be true, she’d stop looking any closer, possibly finding out something actually secret.

It helps that your embarrassment for the flurry of extremely obvious questions is very real, and you groan into your palms. You hear before you see Phoenix laugh, listening to her chortle at your outing yourself, but you notice that he demeanour is warmer now, and she pushes herself up to sit on the top of the bench between you, crossing her legs.

“He’s not said a thing, but he doesn’t need to,” she tells you, seemingly glad to just be able to share her findings and observations, which you uncomfortably realise have been going on for a lot longer than you realised.

“It's what he’s not saying,” she explains, and you blink up at her in genuine curiosity.

“Huh?”

Phoenix turns her gaze upward as she thinks.

“He doesn’t make fun of you… or snipe at you, not really,” she begins, resting her head in her hand. “To be honest when we first met, I was expecting to defend you. You’re a good pilot, a great one, but Hangman isn’t exactly known for recognising that in others…”

You frown up at her, unsure of anything to say to abate her suspicions.

She’s not exactly wrong, even when the two of you were first stationed together, he’d never poked fun at you, never really called you out. To be fair, he hadn’t really acknowledged your presence at all, but these days you knew that was more to do with the fact that all this time, Hangman had liked you, had seen you were shy, and didn’t like crowds, and as you’d found out recently, often made more of a spectacle of himself to draw attention away from you.

You have to stop yourself from smiling dreamily at the thought of him.

“And I mean, he disobeyed direct orders for you, he knew what you were doing, and he went with you anyway… I’m just saying Miri, I don’t think you’d be disappointed if you were to say something–”

You quickly cut her off.

“I’m not saying anything to him!”

At last, given your already clear admittance of your supposed ‘crush’, Phoenix relents, holding up her hands and shrugging.

“Just think about it alright? It’s even sort of… cute, in a weird, Hangman-y way.”

You grumble at her, but thankfully she doesn’t bring it up again for the rest of the afternoon. Still, you leave the workshop with a sparkling helmet, cleaner than you think it ever has been, and with a pressing matter to relay to your boyfriend, most of which involves playing it much, much cooler in front of Phoenix the next time you all hang out.

You know you’ve made some personal growth when you answer the door in your matching Star Wars X-Wing PJ’s and slippers, and aren’t immediately mortified.

Jake stands there, already grinning back at you, and looking like a greek god sent to earth in his dark jeans and plain white shirt.

“Red Leader Mirage, your rescuer has arrived!” he announces, doing what you judge to be a surprising spot-on impression of Lt. Porkins from Star Wars, shooting a lazily salute down at slippers

Unfortunately, you aren’t given the chance to ask him more about his perfect Red Six however, as he’s almost immediately pushing away from where he’d been leaning against the side of your door, posing for your perusal you assume, and holds out a brown paper bag for you to take. You swipe it, and shoot him a thankful smile.

“Thank you, Jake, really…” you side-step his self-congratulatory jokes, but he doesn’t seem phased, simply shrugging, and taking a step closer to you, letting one hand rest gently on your shoulder, before he hooks it and tugs you into him.

You’d started getting all-too familiar with just how physically attentive Jake seemed to be, something you would never have guessed about him several weeks ago, but had come to terms with now. Clingy was never a word you would have used to describe him before. He hugs you briefly, then pulls back to look down at you, his brow furrowed and his expression filled with genuine concern, another thing you’d been getting more familiar with.

“How’re you feeling?” he asks, inviting himself in by walking you backwards and kicking your door closed lightly behind him. You’d come not to mind this sort of thing either, but mostly because you know if you asked him to leave again, he would, no questions asked. That was another new thing you’d been learning about Jake Seresin.

In comparison to how Hangman could be up in the sky, Jake was entirely understanding, one hundred percent supportive, and almost a little too observant when it came to your particular anxieties. It meant he often knew without you saying when to push you, and when to not, and on the occasion that you did need to say, he always respected those boundaries.

It was starting to make you nervous, how much you were growing to like him.

“Cramps are kicking my ass, but other than that, mostly fine. Thank you for these,” you try again, hoping that he really understands just how much you appreciate him coming over for you tonight. Never in your life would you have imagined feeling comfortable enough to ask Hangman to stop by the pharmacy and pick you up sanitary products, and never would you have imagined he’d make no issue of it.

“Sure,” he says, again with a shrug. “You want me to head out?” he asks then, tipping his head back at your door, even as he inches his face closer to yours, brushing his nose tip against yours. Your lips quirk, then break out into a full smile when he grins before dipping low enough to press a kiss to the corner of your mouth. Your stomach somersaults and pulls at least ten G’s for sure as he continues to brush his lips against yours teasingly.

This hadn’t taken much getting used to at all. Jake was a good kisser, and had proved it after your second date, almost in the exact place you were now, both his hands cupping your cheeks and his lips full on yours, hungry and insistent. That had been almost four weeks ago now, but after his hands had tugged your hips flush to his, you’d quickly put the breaks on.

You were still slightly uncertain about going further with Jake so soon. The fact was, you worked together in a high impact, high stress job, and if anything should happen between you, it would be easier to keep things professional if you took it slow

Jake had, to your slight surprise, though you aren't sure exactly what you were expecting, nodded slowly and taken a step back. He’d told you that the only thing he wanted more than you, was for you to want him too. You’d had to explain that your position wasn’t because you didn’t want him, which had led to more making out, but he hadn’t pushed to go further and he’d left that night with the affirmation that however long you wanted to wait was alright by him.

“No, you can stay,” you tell him, wrapping your arms around his neck to stop him from pulling away too much as you try not to full-on pout. Jake smiles against your lips and presses into you further, moving to push you against the wall, where he crowds your space entirely and stops teasing you, capturing your lips with his at last.

You’re about to experimentally slide your hand up his shirt, a thought that had been lingering in your mind more and more these past few days, but your kiss is over too soon, and he pulls back, leaving you breathless.

“Weren’t you waiting for me, so you could do chores?” he prompts, nearly making you grumble. Instead you nod, and gently push back against him, heading towards your bedroom just down the main hall.

“You can wait in here if you like,” you suggest, feeling a little nervous about the idea, but it was something you’d been thinking about for a while now. Even if you and Jake weren’t sleeping together, that didn’t mean the two of you couldn’t sleep together, did it? It was something you’d wanted, specifically with him, but not really something you’d ever experienced before. You were ready to move out of these early stages of your relationship, eager to push yourself and your limits just a little, so you could settle into something more comfortable with Jake, something where you weren’t always a little surprised when he touched you, or called you by one of his innumerable pet names.

Jake shoves his hands in his pockets and nods, clearly thinking through what this invitation could mean as he follows you quietly.

“Um, I feel like I should say ‘excuse the mess’, but you know–” you cut yourself off and gesture around your bedroom when you both have entered. Jake snorts.

“Well that’s what being in the Navy gets you. I won’t judge if you say it anyway,” he tells you lightly, and you scoff.

“Yes you will!” you insist, and are met with a confident, familiar cheshire-grin.

“Mhm, but only a little. Have you changed your mind, honey?” he steps toward you again then, almost closing the distance in one stride, his hands still shoved in his pockets, but his gaze locked intently on you in a way you haven’t felt since that second date. Your heart beats so loudly you’re sure he must be able to hear, but he doesn’t mention it, just waits for you, crowding your space again.

“Oh, I– No… not… I didn’t… I’m sorry…”

The moment you speak Jake is stepping back, pulling his hands from his pockets to hold them up, his expression losing the intensity again.

“No need to apologise, my mistake.” Jake’s words are sincere, but he looks away from you.

You let out a little sigh.

“It’s just so soon, and with the trial–”

“–You don’t have to explain yourself, honey,” Jake pulls his hands from his pockets at last and places them at your waist, drawing you in. You fall quiet as he lowers his face to yours, though he teases you again by not kissing you, simply looking you over, and then smirking when you pout. “You want it when you want it, and that’s when I want it, okay?”

He makes you nod, before he at last lowers his lips to meet yours and kisses you, slow and sweet. You finally get the chance to test the waters a little, easing your hand carefully underneath the back of his shirt, making you giggle against his mouth when he jumps slightly at the feel of your skin on his. Jake doesn’t say or do anything about it though, thankfully just letting you explore a little as he tips your head back further to deepen your kiss, and you brush your fingers up his spine.

After a short while of this, he must feel the urge to tease you again, because with little to no hesitation at all, unlike you, he slips his hands beneath your shirt, his warm palms gripping onto the bare skin just above your PJ shorts, almost making you moan. You’re glad you’re able to hold back the sound, mostly, but your own surprise doesn’t go unnoticed by the blond currently kissing you.

He only continues doing so for a short minute longer, before he’s eventually pulling back, lips pink and kiss swollen. You can’t help but frown at the parting. He squeezes your waist, and nudges your nose with his own.

“What do you want to do, honey?”

You groan at the apparent lack of making out in your future, not because you don’t think he’d agree, but mostly because you’re not quite ready to ask him for more, though a part of you senses he’s not willing to let you off the hook for those chores you’d told him about earlier.

“I need to fold this laundry,” you point past him, to your walk-in wardrobe and the basket that lies within. Jake looks over at it and lifts an eyebrow, which you choose to ignore. He nods then, and takes a step away from you, making you frown even more when his hands fall from your body.

“I’ll help,” he says, making your eyes widen, and you quickly step around him to block his path, where he is clearly about to make for your basket.

“No! Um… It’s okay, It’ll be easier if I just do it…” you trail off, wondering if you sound insane and neurotic, but Jake simply raises his hands again and nods.

“Well, what do you want me to do?” he prods, and you realise, he’s come inside thinking you want him to help with your chores.

“I was thinking… I was thinking it might just be nice for you to just… be here?” You cringe, and narrowly avoid making a face at yourself. Jake blinks at you as if he doesn’t understand.

“You want me to… sit around while you do laundry?” he asks, tone confused, but equally unimpressed. You nod. Jake shifts, then clicks his tongue. “I was not raised to let somebody work while I sit and watch, especially not my girl. My mother would tan my hide.”

You’re a little surprised by the seriousness on his face, despite the humorous inflection in his voice. You suck in a breath, mulling over how to explain to him what you had been thinking when he came inside. Jake’s eyes flicker over you for a moment before he shifts again, crossing his arms and lifting his chin at you.

“Alright sweetheart, just say what you gotta say, I can hear those cogs turning from here…”

“I… I like that you want to help me, I think that’s really sweet…”

“But…?” Jake prompts.

“I find this kinda thing hard, and I was hoping we could just try and do something… domestic…? Together?” your face goes hot at your admission, and when Jake doesn’t immediately respond you wonder if using the word ‘domestic’ was too much, too soon.

“What is ‘this kind of thing’? I get the other part honey,” again, his voice is playful, but you see the seriousness behind his eyes and it lends you even more comfort. How is he so good at this? It’s almost like he’d read your teenage diary entry all about your perfect guy… it's the sort of attention, care, and behaviour that you’ve never actually gotten from a guy you were seeing before, so you aren’t really sure how to compose yourself.

“This kind of thing,” you gesture between you and him, before clearing your throat. “I don't know what to call it– us, but–”

“–a relationship.” Jake cuts in firmly, and you pause, heart thumping. You hadn't actually had this discussion yet, but you guess you’re having it now.

“Right. I mean, I’ve been in relationships before, but they’ve never really worked out and I feel like I never get to the point with boyfriends where I feel fully comfortable, so I–” you clamp your mouth shut, both at the use of ‘boyfriend’, and at the fact you were rambling, and you’re pretty sure it's too early to start telling him about how all your prior relationships failed.

“Right. So, let me get this straight; you were going to come back in here and put your laundry away, regardless of me being here?” Jake holds up a hand as he repeats back the information.

“Yeah…”

“And you just want me to keep you company?”

You nod, and clear your throat.

“Yeah.”

Jake stares at you, a level of understanding crossing his face, before his eyes flick to your laundry behind you, then back to your face.

“... And you’re sure I can’t help you?” His resolve sounds weak, and you think he’s already made up his mind to do as you asked, but his upbringing requires him to triple check. You smile, and this time step toward him, gingerly resting your hand on his arm, which he immediately raises, and flips, sliding it so now you’re holding his hand.

Again, you can’t fathom how he got so good at this sort of thing. Your knees go wobbly.

“I have a bunch of lacy unmentionables in there, so…” you try to lighten things, but it's not a lie. Jake picks up what you’re putting down, and gives your hand a squeeze. He tips his chin at you and lifts an eyebrow.

“Now why’d you have to go and say that honey? You sure you’re certain I can’t help?” his hands slip from yours to rest at your hips again, completely bypassing your top this time and your heart stutters.

You bite your lip, and nod your head, trying not to laugh him off fully, because while that may be your instinctual nervous reaction, you didn’t want to discourage him entirely. You liked that Jake acted as if you were a pretty girl, like you were desirable, and not like the awkward dork you actually were. You didn't want him to stop doing that.

His expression turns a little softer, and he leans down, moving slowly as to give you time to process, and he presses his lips to your cheek, lingering for just a moment before he taps your sides with his fingers, then steps away.

You’re still catching your breath when he looks back at you, pointing at what looks like one corner of your bed.

“Can I?”

You nod, and gesture at the whole mattress.

“Make yourself comfortable!”

–

You can feel the pounding music of the club in your whole body. The lights flashing and dancing in different colourways in time with the music give everything around you an ever changing aura, and maybe it’s all the drinks you’ve had tonight, but in front of you, Natasha seems to glow.

Her hands grasp your forearm firmly and you giggle, uncharacteristically carefree as you almost slip again.

“Alright! Okay, let's get you seated!” she says. She’s had a few too, but not nearly as many as you, and you’re glad for it now as she steers you toward the bar and grabs a paper cup to fill with water from the nearby water station toward the end. You find yourself drinking it without prompting, but miss the taste of the fruity cocktails you’d been downing all night. “I’ll call us a cab,” she says, beginning to pull out her phone, but you hastily stop her, placing a hand on her arm and shaking your head rapidly, making the colours spin even more.

“No! My boyfriend said he’d pick us up!” you insist, ignoring the way her eyebrows shoot up, then stitch together.

“You boyfriend?” she asks, but you miss the real question behind her words, instead you simply nod, and begin to fumble around in your own purse until you find your phone. Nat watches you expectantly as you open your messages, quickly tapping ‘call' on the top icon, and pressing the phone to one ear, and your finger to the other.

It rings less than once before it connects.

“Heeyy!” you sigh in relief down the line, happy to even just hear his voice after all night going without. “Yeah, no, everything’s alright, you just said to call you when we were done!” you say in reply to his amused questioning. You look up at Nat briefly, and if you were more sober, you might’ve been able to tell that she was leaning in slightly to try and hear the voice on the other end, but you aren’t, so you don’t.

“Okay, I’ll meet you out front!” you tell him excitedly, before adding on; “Is it okay if we give Nat a ride home too?” there's a short reply, and at last you’re smiling wide and nodding, even though he can’t see you. “Okay, we’ll see you soooon!”

You hang up and stare back up at Natasha, who's giving you a funny look that you ignore. “He said he’ll be here in ten, he’s been at the sports bar in town waiting!” you tell her dreamily, like she might understand what it means to you that Jake would choose to remain only a short distance away in case you needed anything, in the knowledge that you didn’t always enjoy nights out like this.

Nat simply nods and after making you drink one more glass of water, you begin making your way through the crowds and out of the club.

The air outside is warm, but refreshing and you take in as much of it as you can, not realising how stuffy the air inside the club had been until now. It was getting late, and bars and restaurants around the club are lit up and busy, the streets all around full of people either on their way to their destination, or lingering as they talk.

It doesn’t take long for you to spot Jake’s car and he pulls up close to the curb, allowing you to beeline for the passengers side door, not realising that Natasha follows with more confusion and trepidation. Jake jumps out of the car to greet you, rounding it to quickly steady your wobbly walk with a hand on your hip, and with the other, he pulls open the car door and helps you inside, leaning in to help you buckle in, grinning even as he murmurs quietly.

“You had a good night, sweetheart?” he asks, clicking your seatbelt into place for you, making you giggle at him. You lean forward for a kiss, but he dodges you, somewhat more aware than you are of your present company, and instead rests his hand so he can squeeze your knee. Your good mood isn’t spoiled and you barely notice the dodged kiss, so you simply nod your assent to his question vehemently.

“I had a lot to drink!” you tell him, before bursting out into giggles again, the soft, sweet smile Jake gives you going unnoticed as he squeezes your leg again.

“Yes you did,” he says with clear, fond amusement, and at last moves back so he can shut your door.

Unlike you, on the other hand, Natasha may as well be sober as a judge, and she eyes Jake somewhat distrustfully as she steps closer, lifting her chin up at him as she talks.

“What’re you doing here?” she asks accusingly, making Jake cock his head at her, only half as annoyingly as he can. He gestures back at you in the front seat of his car.

“Miri called, sounded pretty hammered,” he tells her as if that explained it. Natasha narrows her eyes and crosses her arms.

“Yeah, but she said she was calling her boyfriend, what’re you doing here?” She dares him to reply with anything but the truth, however luckily for Jake, unlike most men caught in her crossfire, he’s able to brush her off with an infuriating grin.

“I guess she dialled the wrong number, do you want a lift home or not?”

At his ultimatum (however hollow it really is, he wouldn’t leave her on her own in the middle of the night), Natasha frowns darker at him, but accepts the door he opens, waiting for her to get settled before he closes it behind her and returns to the driver's side.

When Jake checks his rearview he notes in amusement that Nat has situated herself in the middle seat, giving herself a perfect view of the two of you in the front. You don’t, nor do you seem to have any weariness in the bloodhound you’ve just set upon the both of you, but if he’s honest, Jake had known from day one that the second Natasha Trace suspected anything, your little secret was over.

He drives back as normally as he can, but it's strange to him now to have you sitting right there in his passenger's seat, and not have his hand in yours, or on your thigh. It’s strange to him to be in this space where the two of you are usually so open with your affection, and have to suppress it. Jake does not like it.

The car ride home is quiet, you seem content to look out the window, the tiredness hitting you now, but every so often he and Nat make small talk about whatever football scores interested them in the past week or two, and before too long, he’s pulling up outside her home.

Looking over at you to find that you’re slumped over asleep on his window, Jake follows Natasha out of the car with a simple offer of making sure she gets in alright. The congeniality doesn’t last very long, and once they’re standing on her porch she turns to him with a frown.

“You don’t really think I’m that stupid, do you?” she asks, for once not sounding angry or scolding, but seemingly subdued, maybe even a little upset. Jake sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Looking back to his car to make sure you’re still alright, he levels his squadmate with a serious expression.

“No, I do not,” he tells her sincerely. “But it’s Miri’s choice to not want to be public yet, all I’m asking is that you respect that,” he goes on after a moment. He doesn’t really believe she would say anything, but he feels the need to get her agreement, if only for your peace of mind in the morning.

Nat hums to herself and briefly looks away to fish out her keys. Once she has them in hand, she looks up at him again, a little grin on her face this time.

“How long?” she asks. Jake rolls his eyes and can’t resist the urge to mess with her just a little.

“Few years,” he states matter of factly, waiting for her eyes to pop wide before he lets out a victorious laugh and shakes his head. “A month or two,” he admits truthfully, accepting the hard sock in the arm as Nat scoffs at him and moves to unlock her front door.

“Something, something, I’ll kick your ass if you hurt her,” she grumbles as she steps inside, immediately kicking off her shoes. Jake straightens up and gives her a mock salute.

“Yes Ma’am,” he says, chortling to himself as he receives a middle finger for his efforts and the door is closed and locked again.

Jake feels a little lighter on his walk back to his car, and when he climbs in, he leans over to carefully adjust your crooked neck and make sure your belt is still strapped properly. You wake a little, confused at first, and blink up at him in happy wonderment.

“Hey!” you mumble, like it's the first time you’ve seen him tonight. Jake chuckles and leans closer to press a kiss to your forehead.

“Let’s get you home baby.”

–

You awake the next morning with nowhere near the headache you’re expecting, but with an array of distinct memories that cause a pit to open up in your stomach. The pit then begins to growl as you register the warm, homey smell of food, and with little effort, you force yourself up and into the kitchen, where you immediately attach yourself to Jake’s bare back.

His skin is warm and feels so comfy against your cheek, and the soft little laugh he gives makes your belly flop around. He lets you stay like that for a few moments more, moving slowly but smoothly so you can move with him, and at last when whatever he’s doing with his hands is finished, he reaches around for you and rests his hands where he can.

“Did I really call you last night? While with Nat?” you squeeze your eyes shut, hoping you’d just imagined it all, but another soft chuckle lets you know you hadn’t.

“Never thought you’d be the one to let our little secret slip first. I underestimated you baby.”

You groan into his back, and try to hide your face, but before you can complain or dodge him, Jake has turned himself around, letting you instead smoosh your face in between his gloriously golden pecs, and you think things may not be so bad.

He wraps his arms around you properly, and for a moment you just stay like that. You wonder if you can convince him to come around shirtless more often, the warmth radiating off his skin feeling heavenly, not to mention he looked almost as delicious as the food he’d made. You wonder if he’d already worked out this morning, or if you can join him after breakfast.

One of Jake’s hands moves away from your back and cups the back of your head tenderly, making you mewl slightly, and you look up at him to give the attention you know he’s asking for. Jake stares down at you with a soft little grin, and readjusts himself slightly, so he’s able to drop his lips to meet yours briefly.

One kiss becomes two kisses, becoming three kisses and after that any semblance of chastity is given up on and he kisses you full and sweet, deliberately slow like he’s teasing you to ask for more, but for now you’re simply content to wash away all of last nights worries like this.

Coming up for air, Jake barely breaks apart from you, his lips still brushing yours when he speaks.

“I asked Nat not to say anything, she respects you enough to do that I think,” he says, dropping a few more soft kisses to your mouth when you crane your neck up for more. He goes no further this time, though, and leans back from you to gauge your reaction after several moments, and you force yourself to open your eyes and pout.

“It’s not that I think she’ll tell anyone…” you say to him, scrunching up your features as you recall your lack of playing it cool the first time she had brought Jake up to you. The memory makes you grumble to yourself, and you once more attempt to hide your face in his chest. Jake laughs, and makes you jump when he pokes your side.

“What is it?” he asks, like he already knows. You tell him, voice muffled in his skin, but clear enough for the details of your embarrassing inability to throw the scent off to be heard. Jake’s body shakes with more laughter as you relay the information, but instead of trying to make you stop hiding away, he simply cups the back of your head again, and holds it nearer, allowing you to wither your embarrassment away in the safety of him.

“I think we both know that the minute that woman suspected anything, it was game over,” he tells you once you’re done, still holding you close, but you feel his lips press to the top of your head sweetly, and you do your best to snuggle yourself closer.

After the bulk of your mortification has eased away, Jake makes you detach from him, but only so the two of you can eat your breakfast while it’s still hot.

“You know I don’t want to keep it quiet, like, forever, right?” you ask out of nowhere, your memories of last night replaying over in your head while you ate. Jake looks up at you and cocks his head.

“I’m happy to do whatever you’d like to do, for as long as you’d like to do it,” he says matter of factly, but despite the sweetness of his words, you can’t help but frown at him.

“No you’re not, and we both know it,” you push back, grateful for his always tender manner of going at your pace, but you’d likely never have been with him in the first place if he hadn’t thrown you out of your comfort zone that first time.

The only difference is, now you are with Jake, and you understood these things about yourself, and how they weren’t always as scary as your mind might make them seem. Jake frowns back at you, clearly ready to protest.

“I know you pretty well too, you know,” you cut him off. “I know you like PDA, and that you wish you were able to be more open when we’re out with people. I know you like to show off, and part of that includes me,” you tell him adamantly, because you know you’re right.

Jake huffs out a sigh and leans back in his chair, looking at you dead on, you know him well enough to know he’s a little annoyed at you calling him out, but you aren’t doing it to annoy him or just for the sake of starting an argument.

“Okay, so what if I do? That doesn’t change the fact that until you want something, I’m not gonna go for it,” he says, still frowning at you like he doesn’t understand what the point of talking this through is even about.

You change tack and, with your heart beat thumping a little wildly, get up from your seat and move toward him. Even in his annoyance, Jake makes room for you, pushes out his chair and wraps his arms around your waist when you seat yourself on his thigh, your own arms linking around his neck.

“Well maybe I’m giving you permission to go for it,” you say softly, quietly, because the idea still does make you incredibly nervous. But you like Jake, no scratch that, you think you’re in love with Jake, and you think he’s in love with you too, and something about that feeling for once in your life makes you want the same things he does too, including the PDA. You want him to sling his arm around your neck, you want to be able to kiss his cheek or hold his hand or whatever it is you two want to do, not just in the comfort of your own homes, but out at the Hard Deck with your friends, too.

Jake blinks up at you, like at first your words don’t even register, but then he’s tightening his hold around your waist, and grinning wolfishly up at you, all cocky and infuriating if you didn’t find it utterly charming. If you didn’t completely adore him, even this part.

“Permission granted, Lieutenant?” he asks mischievously, and you can’t stop yourself from giggling, like you’re drunk all over again.

“Permission granted, Lieutenant!”

#jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake 'hangman' seresin #hangman x reader #jake 'hangman' seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin x reader #top gun maverick #jake 'hangman' seresin fanfic #jake hangman seresin #top gun fanfiction

457 notes · View notes

minniesmutt · 8 months ago

Text

♱ ━━━━━━ 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋: 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓

♱ ━━━ CONTENT: ORAL [F. REC] FINGERING, MULTIPLE ORGASMS, OVERSTIM, PET NAMES, UNPROTECTED SEX, NIPPLE PLAY, CUM SHOT, CUM EATING/SHARING, AFTERCARE ♱ ━━━ WC: 1.9K ♱ ━━━ PAIRING: HAN X READER ♱ ━━━ 18+ work!! minors and ageless/blank blogs DNI! you will be blocked, put an indicator on your blog somewhere that you are 18+ before interacting with this work/blog ♱ ━━━ a repost from my old blog

After a short nap, Y/n took to unpacking the things she had brought. It was mostly clothing and a few photos but nothing else. Maybe if she asked, one of them would take her shopping.

She heard the elevator ding and peeked her head out of the bedroom. Chan walked out, hands in the pockets of his slacks. Y/n stepped out of the room and met him in the hallway

“How are you settling it?” Chan asked as he wrapped an arm around her

“Fine, the place is a bit bare though,” Y/n told him.

“I’ll have one of the guys take you out shopping tomorrow. I just came by to see how you were settling in and to go over something with you.”

“Oh?”

“Come on,” Chan pulled her into the kitchen. Sitting down at the table he had put in for her and pulling out a stack of paper

“What’s this?” Y/n asked skimming through the words

“Contract. Jist of it says what you’ll be doing as a front and you will be paid for the work you help us with,” Chan stated

“You guys are paying me but you’re also basically paying everything for me?”

“Think of it as fallback money. If something happens to us for any reason or another, for any amount of time, you’re not left with nothing to fall back on, financially that is.”

��How considerate.” Y/n smiled, “I’m assuming there’s another part that talks about sex.”

“Yeah. Every one of us has our own version of this contract. But you're welcome to update anything in it to your comfort level. Most of it goes over what we are into and that every single one of us is clean.” Chan explained

“Well, so am I, guess there really is no point in condoms,” Y/n smiled

“Only to prevent a pregnancy.”

“I’m on birth control. Don't worry about that.”

Chan explained a couple more things; everyone was made aware of using the traffic light system as a safeword— tapping them twice if she was able to talk for whatever reason as a fallback—, aftercare being important to all of them no matter what, promising her safety from anyone outside of them, etc. Y/n read through the papers as she listened to him, making a few adjustments here and there, but mostly agreeing with what everyone wanted. She signed her name where needed and turned the paper back to him. Chan checked everything and made a quick message about changes to the rest of the guys.

“We don’t expect you to memorize anything either. And it doesn't have to be one way, you can ask us for sex too.”

“Thanks, Chan,” Y/n smiled at him

“No need to thank me,” Chan smiled back

“Is there anything else I should know now that I live here?”

“Say goodbye to your privacy,” Chan chuckled

The two laughed for a moment before Chan got called away. Y/n saw him off before going into her living room. They had been kind enough to furnish the apartment for her so that was one thing she didn't have to worry about. She figured she’d do a little online shopping for a bit. Adding things she just thought were pretty to her cart, even if she didn't need them. She’ll find a use for them.

She heard the elevator again and ignored it after looking up for a second, one of the guys came in to see her, something she was quickly getting used to.

“Whatcha doing,” Jisung asked as he joined her on the couch, laying on top of her as she was laid back against the armrest

“Shopping,” Y/n answered as she peered down at him.

“For what?” He asked

“House decorations, clothes, random shit.”

“Doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Well, I was bored and that’s why I started. If you have better ideas, I’m all ears.” Y/n dropped her phone on her chest and looked down at him

“Just keep shopping,” Jisung smirked

Y/n shrugged and picked her phone back up. Scrolling through the website she was on. Jisung pushed her shirt up a bit then pulled her leggings off her legs. Y/n lifted her hips a bit to help him as he adjusted her legs to lay over his shoulders as he came face to face with her clothed cunt.

Y/n peeked down at him before he started kissing down and licking the cloth of her panties. Y/n let out a small moan as he continued teasing her over the fabric. Nonetheless, she kept shopping.

Eventually, he removed the fabric and softly kissed her clit, licking the bud to her entrance. Y/n smiled as she peered down at him. One hand removed itself from her phone and ran her fingers through his hair, gazing back at her screen. Jisung picked up his pace after a few moments until he was eating her like a starved man.

It wasn’t long till the phone and shopping were forgotten. Her hands tangled in his soft locks and her legs threatened to close around his head.

Han hummed against her clit as she gave him a particularly harsh tug. His eyes cast up her body as flicked the little bud. “Fuck Ji,” Y/n moaned

Jisung didn’t dare let up. Playing with her clit and entrance with his tongue. Enjoying the taste of her juices on his lips and dripping down his chin. He just gave a bit more pressure when he sucked on her clit which seemed to do it for her. Hips rutted against his mouth as he licked her clean from her orgasm.

“So fucking good,” He wasn’t letting up. He continued making out with her sensitive clit. Y/n closed her legs around his head as much as she could. Jisung groaned against her cunt, eyes rolling into the back of his head, just from her thighs suffocating him slightly.

He pushed her thighs up after a minute. Putting them to her chest as he kept going.

“Close,” Y/n whimpered as she grabbed the cushions.

“Give me ‘nother,” Ji mumbled against her clit. He pushed one leg over the back of the couch to free up a hand.

Soon he was pushing two fingers into her and matching his pace to the rate he was eating her out

“Fuck!” Y/n cried as her second orgasm hit her.

Ji kept going through her high. Fingers pumping in and out of her as he pulled his hips from her clit and sat up on his knees. “One more doll. Give one more and I’ll give you whatever you want,” Jisung begged as he pulled her other leg over his shoulder and kissed her ankle

“Need your cock,” Y/n whined, legs slightly shaking

“One more baby and I'll give it to ya’.” a third finger pushed into her

“Too much,” Y/n whined as she grabbed his wrist

“Color?”

“Green!” Y/n called as his fingers curled into just the right spot

“You can take it, doll,” Ji smiled

He pushed forward till he had her coming on his fingers. Her body convulsed under him as he pulled his fingers out, watching her juices flow out of her and soak the cushions.

“Good job doll,” Jisung smiled as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

He gave her a moment to come down and rest. He took off his belt, setting it on the coffee table.

“Where the fuck did you learn to eat pussy that good?” Y/n asked after her mind out of its haze a bit more

“Now why would I tell you?” He smirked as he leaned over her.

“Secrets are hot. You know what's hotter?”

“What?”

“Your dick in me.”

Jisung didn’t waste another second pulling ever fully down onto the couch and unbuttoning his pants and pulling his hard dick out, far too eager to actually take his pants off. Y/n couldn’t help but giggle at his eagerness and worked on unbuttoning his top and pushing it off him as he pumped his cock. He took his hand off his cock to take the white shirt off his body. Her hand replaced his on his cock, pumping him and lining the tip up at her entrance.

Jisung tossed the fabric to the ground before grabbing her hips and pushing into her. Both moaned as they got quickly used to the feeling. Jisung pushed his pants and boxers down more as he let her adjust to him.

“Fuck, move Ji,” Y/n whined

Jisung pushed her t-shirt up over her breast and moved her legs around his waist. He laid his hand on the armrest above her head. He pulled out slowly and thrusted back in quickly. His eyes glanced back and forth from her tits bouncing with his thrusts to her cunt swallowing him.

Y/n was a mess of moans and whines from him going down on her and making her come three times. Her walls were already clenching around him.

“Fucking warm,” Jisung groaned as his hips snapped into her.

Y/n tightened her legs around his waist. One of his hands fell from the armrest to lay next to her body. He lowered himself a bit to kiss between her breasts then sucked on the skin. Y/n ran her hands through his hair as his lips latched onto her nipple. Y/n gripped his hair tighter, clenching it around him.

“Keep clenching around me doll and I’m gonna blow,” his words were muffled against her boob, shifting his ministrations over to the other nipple and giving it the same treatment he gave the other

“Give…me, please.” Y/n whined. Her legs hiked up higher on his waist as she got closer to her next high.

“Got you all dumb on my cock,” Jisung couldn’t help but chuckle at her.

His tip hit right up against her g-spot. She pulled at his hair as her orgasm hit her again. The man above her pulled away from her nipples and gave himself a few more thrusts before pulling out; coming on her lower stomach.

Jisung rested his head on her chest as they both caught their breath. It took a few minutes before Jisung lowered himself down and then looked up at her. Y/n caught his gaze as he licked his cum from her skin. Y/N shivered under the touch of his tongue before he pulled away, bringing his lips back up to hers. His tongue immediately darted into her mouth. Y/n melted as his cum transferred from his tongue to hers.

Ji pulled away after another moment of enjoying her lips. “You could’ve come inside,” Y/n told him

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” Jisung smiled.

He stood up from the couch and fully took his pants off. He scooped her up in his arms making her squeak in surprise. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he made his way to her bathroom.

Jisung sat her down before giving her a forehead kiss. He started a warm bath for the both of them before walking out of the room and grabbing their clothes. Y/n took care of herself by the time he came back and checked the water.

“How are you feeling,” Jisung asked as he helped her into the water after he got in.

“Tired,” Y/n sighed, leaning back against him.

Jisung wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her shoulder, “Go to sleep, I’ll take care of you.”

“Thank you, Ji.”

♱ ━━━━━━ ⇤prev| m.list | next⇥

♱ ━━━ please support writers by reblogging and/or leaving feedback

243 notes · View notes

scorpioriesling · 5 months ago

Text

Red

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *

Pairing(s): Cassian x reader

Warnings: angst, but HAPPY ENDING I promise

Summary: He broke things off before you'd even had a chance to try; it didn't matter. Loosing him hurt either way. Even more when you knew you loved him more than just as his friend.

SR’s Note: This ends happy... trust the lead up. I also am very happy with this idea, I was spiraling on it and I'm so glad I finally finished it! So, here it is. I hope you see what I am going for with this one. ily all

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *

“Thank you!” You shouted, smiling broadly to the cheering crowd around you. The feeling was surreal; performing for quite arguably the largest crowd yet was an experience like no other. Fans gathered around the stage from far and wide; every corner of Prythian knew of you, as you’d made quite the name for yourself over the years. Velaris was just another stop on the three-month long tour, but it was by far the most populated.

“You’ve been kind to me tonight, Velaris,” you say into the microphone, and the crowd roars again. Your eyes sweep the streets around you, and you wave to a few familiar faces. “I have to say, this is probably my favorite stop on my tour so far.” You wink, and the crowd roars once more. This was your home court, after all.

Making your way toward the end of the long runway, you approach the piano stationed at the end of it. You were known for playing your own songs for part of the show, switching the songs for every show to spice things up a bit so every court would hear something new. For the Night Court, you had something quite special in mind.

* ✧･ﾟ: *

“Y/N, you know it just won’t work,” Cassian sighs. Tears threaten to spill over your waterline as you follow him through the entryway of the kitchen in the Townhouse.

“What’s gotten into you? We’ve made it work before,” you stammer.

“Yeah, as friends,” he emphasizes the last word, turning to face you. His warm brown eyes meet yours, and a tear slips free. He sighs heavily, looking down and shaking his head.

“Cass…” You whisper. He looks up at you, eyes full of sorrow. His hand cups your cheek, his calloused thumb brushing away the free falling tears streaming down your cheeks. A beat of silence passes between you as he stares into your eyes, all of the unspoken love passing between the two of you.

“You know we can’t.” He says, and your bottom lip trembles. His hand retracts, and a soft whimper escapes your throat. He looks down once more, backing away from you slowly. Soft cries work their way out of you, tears blurring your vision until all you can see are the soft glow of his red siphons passing through the doorway of the kitchen for the last time.

* ✧･ﾟ: *

The piano bench is warm from the afternoon sun as you sit upon it, adjusting the crimson gown beneath you as you take your seat. Fastening the microphone to the stand on the piano’s top, you give a gentle smile to your fans again.

“So… as many of you know, for this part of my show, I play a couple of songs myself; on the piano, for that matter.” Cue a few more cheers.

You take a deep breath, making eye contact with a few fans close to the stage, searching the crowd for maybe a certain someone in particular, though you’d never admit it — even to yourself. “This first song I’d like to play for you is called Say Don’t Go.”

* ✧･ﾟ: *

“Alright, let’s go over what you’ve got so far?”

You hand over your age-old notebook to Azriel, who happens to be an amazing lyricist and songwriter as well as one of your best friends. You sit next to him on the couch in the Townhouse — the feeling almost normal again. You hadn’t been here in months since you’d finally professed your love to Cassian, only for your relationship with him to come crumbling down around the two of you. It wasn’t something you enjoyed to think about — but, it did provide for an inspirational song, one you needed Azriel’s support in writing.

“I’m liking the theme of the colors we’re working with here,” he says, brows knitting as he scans over the page before him. “It seems… quite personal.” You chew your lip, and he raises a brow at you expectantly. Sure, he knew what happened with you and Cassian. Did he really want to rehash every detail right now?

“All of my songs are… personal. You know this.” You shrug. He gives you a look.

“This one seems. Hmm.” He looks like he’s trying to find the word. “Fresh.”

You narrow your eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He slides his eyes to yours. “Have you talked to him yet?” You cross your arms over your chest and avoid his stare.

“I think he’d prefer we didn’t.” Azriel rolls his eyes, but you don’t need to look to him to see it.

“You’re both quite ridiculous in your delusions of one another-“

The door to the living room swings open, and his blue siphons blaze at the sudden intrusion. Both of your heads turn in synchronized motion.

“Azriel, Rhysand is — oh, hello, Y/N.” Amren’s dark grey eyes widen in suprise as she takes in your presence, and you only smile at her. Gods, how you’ve missed your friends, just seeing them, being around them all the time. And oh, how you’d missed Cassian too, no matter if he thought being together meant putting you at risk. You didn’t care — not when it came to him.

“Nice to see you again too, Amren.” You say. She offers a polite smile, and turns her attention back to Azriel, noticing the notebook in his hands and your scrawled handwriting all over it.

“I’ll just tell Rhysand you’ll be in to see him later this afternoon.” She says, elegantly drifting through the doorway once more. Azriel turns back to you, the blue of his siphons dulling once more.

“Shall we continue, then?”

* ✧･ﾟ: *

“But you won’t, but you won’t, but you won’t.” You play the last chords on the piano, and the crowd erupts in cheers. You smile, and your eyes find the familiar dark grey ones of Amren’s in the front row before you. Your smile grows to a beam as the bright blue of siphons nudges between bustling fans to her left, edging toward the front row. Azriel offers a small wave, which you return. You’d originally planned to play “I Hate It Here” next, but noting the small nod of Azriel’s head, you knew. His unspoken words were encouragement enough, and though the male the song was written for may not be in attendance tonight, the next song you’d play would be from the heart, just for him anyway.

“This next one,” you begin. “This next one, is, um…” you trail off. Your eyes meet Azriel’s again, and he gives you a thumbs up. You nervously bite your lip.

Clearing your throat, you take a steadying breath. “This next one, I’ve actually never played live before.” You say. The crowd quiets as you play the first chord, hands trembling slightly. Your mind flashes to those nights when you’d sat next to Azriel, the blue of his siphons illuminating the keys of the piano in the dark of night as he went over the chords with you.

You played the next few notes.

Your mind went to Amren, her dark grey eyes scanning over the words you’d rewritten a million times, until she physically took your pen from you, telling you that your lyrics were perfect.

You kept playing.

Your mind went to Cassian, the red in his lips when he finally kissed you for the first time after training you all morning. You ignored him when he pulled back, telling you it was a mistake.

“Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street,”

The red rose he gave you when he took you to dinner. You teased him, told him friends don’t go to dinner together and it was most definitely a date, and by the end of the night, he let you win the argument.

“Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly… loving him is like trying to change your mind, once you're already flying through the free fall,”

The red hues in his hair you caught sight of when he took you flying, countless times through Velaris. Your favorite was at sunset, the oranges and crimson streaks in the sky so beautiful that he’d coast slowly to let you enjoy the view. The flutter of your heart felt so warm, so bright, so familiar at the memory, when he’d claim you were more beautiful than any sunset he’d ever seen.

“Like the colors in autumn, so bright, just before they lose it all,”

Your mind races as you remember the mission he allowed you to go on, the one where you were almost killed entering the Autumn court. The one that caused the argument that ended any chance of a relationship between the two of you. How silly it was, that you couldn’t be together out of fear. You loved him so much you couldn’t see it before, but he loved you too much to loose you.

As you approached the chorus, your fingers flew over the keys rapidly, Cassian’s beautiful face in your mind, pure love pouring from every word you sang.

“Losing him was blue, like I'd never known. Missing him was dark gray, all alone. Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met; but loving him was red… oh, red. Loving him was red…”

You continued the song, eyes closing as you reminisced on old memories you’d locked away. Tears pricked your eyes as you played, thinking of how it used to be when you could love your best friend freely, thinking of how it could be, if only.

As you approached the end of the song, your eyes drifted open slowly.

“His love is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end, street.”

The crowd cheers, and you smile, gazing up at the star filled sky. You smile to yourself, proud that you’d finally played the song you’d poured your heart into. Your gaze travelled back down to Earth, focusing again on the crowd and looking for Amren and Azriel. You glanced around, not seeing them.

To your shock, a figure was being escorted by security to your right up onto the stage. You stood, immediately recognizing the oversized wings and tanned skin. Rushing over, you were greeted with an emotional smile as Cassian took your hands in his.

“Was that…” his chest heaves, mouth open but not speaking. You can’t help but smile up at him, a hot tear escaping your eye at the sight of him. Azriel and Amren stand behind him, just out of sight.

“Yes.” Is all you whisper. His large hands slide around your waist, pulling you close so you’re flush against him. You can’t help but laugh, sniffling a little in the process.

“I don’t think I can be without you any longer,” he quietly admits. The cheers from the audience are drowned out by the absolute intensity of his gaze, and you can’t help but glance at his lips.

“It took you quite long enough.” He chuckles, lifting you onto your toes with ease and slotting his lips onto yours, the crowd erupting behind you. Your hands tangle in his unbound hair, one foot popping up behind you. His hands gently brace your waist, setting you down after a few moments and kissing your forehead before meeting your eyes once more.

“I believe you have a few more songs to sing?” He teases. You swat his chest, and he laughs.

“Mhm… and even more, just for you later, if you’d like.” You wink at him, and his cheeks flush red. You giggle, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before sauntering back to the stage. He only gazes at you from the sideline, eyes wide as you catch his stare, taking the mic from the piano once more.

“Alright, who’s ready for another song, yeah?!”

* ✧･ﾟ: *

#Spotify #a court of thorns and roses #a court of silver flames #acotar #acosf #acofas #acotar smut #a court of frost and starlight #cassian smut #lucien acotar #lucien vanserra #lucien x reader #cassian #cassian acotar #cassian acosf #cassian acomaf

111 notes · View notes

wing-ed-thing · 1 year ago

Text

Tobirama Mentorship Headcanons

Tags/Warnings: No Reader Pronouns

𓆃 One of those old school hard-asses who you think is going to be really hard on you, but is surprisingly patient, a great teacher, and is overall just sort of awkward.

𓆃 Out of all the mentors you could choose, Tobirama definitely isn't the popular choice. After all, Hashirama is far more charismatic (and hokage) and Madara, as standoffish as he is, offers a mysterious promise for great power.

𓆃 Tobirama is a surprising mix of technique and unexpected charisma. While more aloof and serious at first, you can count on Tobirama to simply be absolutely excellent at teaching.

𓆃 He somehow understands where the hold-ups happen and offers great advice on bypassing learning difficulties. He'll always have you try the hard technique first, making you accomplish that before he gives you the "shortcut version."

𓆃 "Do you see how much simpler making that one adjustment was?" he'll ask, knowing well his techniques work, "Compare that to the traditional method. It cuts the work in half."

𓆃 Very attached to the phrase, "Work smarter" with a great insistence that it "does not mean cutting corners!"

𓆃 Tobirama is extremely perceptive and has a large range of knowledge of different jutsu and types which he throws into mental calculations to understand where your hang-ups may be.

𓆃 He almost annoyingly leaves you to figure things out before he gives you the answer. Tobirama is trying to train you to think multi-dimensionally about your jutsu so that you can be creative in solving your own problems.

𓆃 Not only is he extremely smart, but he's great at communicating. You won't get clearer instructions from any other instructor and never makes you feel bad about asking questions.

𓆃 He takes each one seriously and puts significant thought into his answers.

𓆃 Tobirama isn't very charismatic off the bat. Instead, he has a perpetual resting angry face that makes him rather unapproachable.

𓆃 It's important to know that his expressions are subtle and are off this RBF base. He has no idea that he's making a sour, judgmental face most of the time.

𓆃 He's actually very dorky and will try to say things to relate to you, only to fail on the execution.

𓆃 From pathetic dad jokes that don't really make sense to "so... what kind of kunai do you carry?" he's not really good at socializing with his students when he's trying.

𓆃 Tobirama, however, loves pranks. He loves getting into hijinks so he'll end up being this "kind of cool mentor" by letting you into restricted areas and the like.

𓆃 He'll wear this little smirk because he's trying to act like he doesn't know what he's doing, but he loves that he's working with his students to play funnies on other people.

𓆃 Along with his awkward communication, Tobirama can frequently say very harsh things without realizing it. Being on the more "logical side," he doesn't often think about the connotations of the things he says.

𓆃 Tobirama is overall a really great choice for a mentor! While your beginning may be bumpy, you get the best of both worlds. You get to have a serious education and learn powerful new jutsu from a legendary shinobi who really treats you like family.

Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed, and supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.

Notes: You would not believe how hard it's been to get good Tobirama panels let me tell you—

#Tobirama x reader #Tobirama senju x reader #naruto x reader #Tobirama headcanons #platonic headcanons #naruto headcanons #naruto headcanon #naruto x you #naruto x y/n #x reader #naruto #x you #reader insert #x gn reader

276 notes · View notes

derangedanomaly · 9 months ago

Note

Heyyyy- since you accept Obey me requests- here's my request ✌✌

Can you do Obey me brothers and their s/o being scared of then after a nightmare of an evil version of themselves?

Lucifer: His s/o's nightmare was them being eaten alive by Cerberus and Lucifer stood there drinking tea like he didn't care at all

Mammon: His s/o's nightmare was Mammon chopping off their body parts and being a backstabber

Leviathan: His s/o's nightmare was being drowned by him

Satan: His s/o's nightmare was Satan torturing them with a book called "Medieval Torture"

Asmodeus: His s/o's nightmare was their skin being pulled off for it being "hideous and ugly"

Beelzebub: His s/o's nightmare was being eaten by him

Belphegor: His s/o's nightmare was being choked and their eyes and mouth glued

Here's you're first ever Obey Me request!

Yay! Thank you for the Obey Me! request! I haven't played Obey me for awhile, and my hyper fixation is on Undertale right now, so this might be a little ooc. (Maybe) But I hope you'll enjoy! :D

Masterlist

Nightmares

(OM! brothers x reader)

Warning: Disturbing nightmares, panic attack (?), cannibalism, drowning, torture, death, maybe some headcanons of my own

❗️Background info: The brothers and you are sharing a bed in this.

Lucifer:

Lucifer is almost always doing paperwork, so he'll probably just sit on his chair while you're sleeping in your shared bed.

You never succeeded in dragging him to sleep, and you got tired after awhile, so you just gave up.

Lucifer does look at your sleeping form more than once while doing his paperwork though. And since there's no one in the room... and you're asleep.. he will smile stupidly while looking at your calm form. (You know, that ONE smile that's in cartoons. The lovey-dovey one.)

You usually have peaceful nightmares, or they're not really that scary to you. But- one night was different...it was....

Terrifying. That's the only way you could describe this scenery..

You truly felt immense fear, being in this black pit of darkness. Where were you? Oh how you wish you could answer this question with a confident smile on your face.. but you can't. You have no sense of direction, since this place doesn't seem to have no end..

After your eyes finally adjusted, you were met with Cerberus. Yours and Lucifer's pet.. well, more so Lucifer's. But he liked you very much too! He was always a great dog! Often guarding you, which Lucifer praises him for- but wait... why does this look very- intimidating now? You were never terrified of him before, but now, something tells you to run. Run as far as you can. But you can't bring yourself to..

Your soft breaths are starting to turn more heavy, as you basically start panting now, taking a few steps back from the lingering gaze of the pup you once, without any fear, petted. What is happening? Your hands are starting to shake, as you search for an escape, until you spot Lucifer, just right behind Cerberus. You perk up upon noticing him, hoping he'll help you out. "Honey!" You yelp at him, but didn't get to finish as Cerberus suddenly flung at you. You scream as you felt his teeth tearing themselves into your stomach. You frantically look at Lucifer's shadowed face again. "L-Lucifer?!" The last thing you saw was Lucifer's face, gaining a smile as he took a sip of his tea. His face...it was like he...didn't care at all. "You're just a dumb human" Were his last words, until your vision faded to black.

Your eyes flung open, finding Lucifer right in front of you, holding you close. "Y/n! Dear, is everything alright?" You flinched at the sound of his voice, and quickly shuddered away from his touch. He looked at you in confusion, trying to understand why you did that, but then it hit him. "You must've had a nightmare.. I saw you shuffling and flinging yourself a lot from my desk." You didn't respond. But you did stopped shaking. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He tapped the spot on his lap, gesturing you to sit, but you do not move. You're frozen in fear from what you've saw in your dream.. Lucifer, Cerberus... It was all so suffocating.. all because you were a human... Is this how Lucifer really views me? You take a look at Lucifer's face the second time, he's showing you a kind smile, wearing a soft look on his face. It's different from the one he gave you in the dream.. no. Lucifer wouldn't do that. And neither would Cerberus.. you softly smiled, as you finally went over on Lucifer's lap, laying on him, while talking about your nightmare.

Lucifer's gonna reassure you that he wouldn't even dream of doing that, and also says that Cerberus likes you. He wouldn't eat you :)

He's gonna pet your hair the whole time you're talking about your nightmare. (He has his neutral face on while you talk.)

Will take you to see Cerberus, to reassure you further. He doesn't want his partner to feel terrified of him! (Cerberus cuddles you the moment he sees you.)

Mammon:

Mammon's NOT a light sleeper. That's for sure, but that's a lil different when you two start sharing a bed.

Look, how can he be in a deep sleep when he has the most charming, beautiful, and overall great person (aka. You.) next to him?

He's spooning you most of the time, or you're spooning him. There's just no in-between. He's touch starved. 💀

He sometimes let's out snores while sleeping. (Just nudge him a little and he'll stop.)

Your breath hitched in your throat when you saw Mammon, your lover, rev up a chainsaw. You had tears in your eyes, as you couldn't believe that you'd fallen for a lie. Everything he ever said or done was fake.. You never felt this betrayed in your whole life... So much for being your most loyal demon of the pacts.. "Ma-Mammon..? Why??" You had the need to ask him this particular question as you moved away from the chainsaw.

His face wasn't seen. Only one big shadow covering it..you didn't even see his mouth. . . But you did heard him cackle at your words. "Why? What a stupid question. And my brothers say I'M the stupid one." Finally, his chainsaw made a contact with your arm, as you screamed. "You see-" he continued, while slowly cutting off your left arm. You yelled in pain.. you didn't know what hurt you more, the pain of feeling your body parts being cut off, or the betrayal that happened right in front of your eyes... "-You're......" You couldn't take it anymore as he was still cutting off your left arm, painfully slow. "-Just a useless human. I could probably sell your organs on the black market for a really good price." He finally finished cutting off your arm, as he moved onto your other arm.

But you decided to make a run for it, in hopes of running away, but it seems like Mammon's reflexes were too sharp, as he flung his chainsaw right at your legs, effectively cutting them, making you fall on the cold hard floor... Everything suddenly went blank..

You yelled, sitting up from your bed, making Mammon sit up as well. "Y/n! What happened?!" He looked at you in concern when he saw the terrified look you were wearing. He looked into your shakey eyes, lacking any spark of happiness... He frowned, taking your hand in his. You flinched at this, but relaxed once you heard these words coming out from him. "Y/n... Whatever it was, it's ok. Must've been a bad dream huh? It's ok.. you're fine, you're at home, laying in your bed next to your GREAT boyfriend!" You couldn't help but chuckle at his last words, slowly engulfing him in a hug. Yes... that's right, Mammon would never do that to you..

He might've acted strong, for your own good, but he started crying after he heard your nightmare. He can't believe his own ears. Chopping down your body parts? Acting like a backstabber?! He states, that it doesn't sound anything like him.

Cuddles you till morning 🥺

Leviathan:

You tried to sleep in the bathtub with him, but it was too uncomfortable. :(

He was so sad, he was really looking forward to it when you both finally decided to share the same bed. (Definitely imagined a scene from an anime similar to this)

It took some convincing from his side, until he decided to have a normal bed, just so you two can cuddle. (You just KNOW he fell deeply in love with you.)

He kinda regrets it, since he misses his bathtub, but after hearing your squeal and wide smile, jumping up and down, he wouldn't change his decision.

Your eyes widened when you felt cold water all around your skin. This was so unbelievably cold... You decided to take a swim in a lake with your boyfriend, Leviathan, but he wasn't with you right now.. which was odd, since you were sure he followed you all the way here.

Looking cautiously around you, you notice that the atmosphere completely changed..it felt surreal. Creepy. You slightly shuddered, until now coming up with the realization that you were in the middle of the green lake... The cold started being unbearable, so you decided to turn back around, only for you to feel something slimy wrapping around your leg. You jumped up, when your other leg was caged too. You felt trapped, your breath quickening as you frantically try getting out of whatever had your legs..

It's not until you're pulled underwater that you scream. You're being pulled more down, the sky completely disappearing from your sight as you look down. Surprisingly, you're met with your boyfriend. He has this evil smile, with a lovesick look adoring it. You felt immense fear, as you were pulled all the way down to him. He sighed, holding you close..

"Now no one can steal you from my grasp.."

You sit up abruptly with a gasp. Leviathan turning away from his phone, also sitting up next to you from his laying position. Your breathing is uneven, your whole body shaking. You drowned..

Leviathan's voice stirrs you from your shock, as he laids a hand on your back, making you yelp. He jumps at your sudden yelp, as he looks at you in concern. "Hey, goofball... I-Is something wrong..?" You could only stare in fear, looking into his eyes. His gaze wasn't the same as how he looked at you in your dream earlier... It was filled with love and passion, not obsession and derangement... You finally snapped out of your shock, blinking a few times until describing Levi your nightmare. Safe to say he was devasted that you saw him like that.. he would've never do that to you! He's your sweet little introvert boy. This little realization made you absolutely at ease. Yeah.. that's right. He's your little snake..

Levi was so sad hearing you talk about your nightmare. :(

He doesn't want you to think of him like that, If it was a nightmare, it was probably provoked somehow.

He wants to know every detail that made you scared so he knows to never do that EVER. (Even as a friendly joke/banter.)

He's such a sweetie..

Satan:

Satan definitely likes to have you sleeping on him. It helps him relax, and it also calms him down.

He often runs his hand over your hair, petting you.

You and Satan read books before going to sleep, so it's pretty common for you to have a dream about the story that you heard before going to sleep.

The books in particular were never really gruesome or scary, because Satan wants you to hear a more lighthearted story before bed. But this time...this time you wanted to try something new... Oh how much you wish you didn't..

You couldn't feel any of your muscles.. and you also didn't had the energy to move anymore, you even gave up fighting it. Satan was in front of you, with a book titled 'Medieval Torture'. He tied you up while you were sleeping, and is now using every technique in the book on you.

The book had a total of 1000 pages.. and he was only on page 14.. you truly don't think you can survive this, but the most terrifying part of it all? Satan knows you can't survive this, yet he's still going.. you have no idea if that's because he's too engrossed in the book and it's techniques, that he doesn't pay your health any mind, or... He just simply doesn't care. Which seems really cruel and heartbreaking to you.

You cry out another scream as he finished yet another painful torture.. page 17. You just can't take it anymore..the look in his eyes that seem distant, the silence as only your screams are heard, no one coming up to help you.. you started to tear up, which takes his attention to you.. "P-Please..Sa-Satan..." Your heart breaks as he chuckles, hearing your pleas. "You're nothing but a lousy human."

You wake up with tears swelling up Satan's shirt, you freeze upon noticing that you're laying on top of him. You couldn't even get a word in, as Satan's voice rings out from underneath you. "Shh...Y/n, I'm here , I'm here... It's ok.. you had a nightmare, I assume? I knew I shouldn't read you that book.." his hand keeps rubbing soft circles on your back, which makes you relaxed almost immediately. The nightmare version of Satan is completely disregarded, as you look up at Satan's soft gaze. You softly smiled, getting your breathing in check.

Satan couldn't believe his ears when you told him about your dream.. he immediately knew that this wasn't just a nightmare. It seems too far fetched.

He has to do something about this, so you'll never have a nightmare that has him acting like this.. but being the avatar of wrath...that seems almost impossible. Since he easily lashes out at people.. but he'll try for you.

He would do anything for you.

Asmodeus:

Asmodeus and you have the most comfortable sleep! His sheets are very comfortable and fluffy, as well as his pillows.

He likely sleeps with you and him holding hands, or you spooning him / him spooning you.

You both wear matching sleeping masks! (They're so cute too!)

Soft tears ran down your cheeks as Asmodeus stood in front of you, verbally berating you... "Ugh. I can't believe that someone as gorgeous as me, used to date someone as ugly as you!" You flinched when he glared at you, showing off his demon form. You didn't know what to expect when he held you up by your hair. You screamed at the pain of feeling your hair pulled out. He suddenly reached for a pair of scissors, which were laying on a nearby table, he cut off your hair, making you fall back on your knees. You whimpered and shook.

"I think I know how to fix this hideous face." He suddenly showed off his long nails that only got longer, and sharper. You gasped at the sight. Was he gonna use these to... "Come here.." you screamed as he tore his nails in your thigh when you tried to escape. He tore your legs up, pulling out any skin that was showing, your muscles being the only thing on display on your legs. You were screaming in pain the whole time, until it abruptly stopped when he aimed for your head next. "I'm gonna make you shut up for forever." His nails tore through your skull, making you go numb in his arms..or were you already dead?

You breathed heavily, sitting up and taking your sleeping mask off of you. You start to visibly shake, your eyes full with tears. "Darling?" You hear the voice of Asmodeus, as he also lifts up his mask and sits up. You shake in fear. Still remembering how angry he looked in your dream... "..hey, you're ok. You're with me honey! No need to worry your pretty little head." He holds your cheeks in his hands, smiling down at you. After a bit of staring, you started to slowly return the smile, finally coming to your senses. Yes..this was your Asmo..

He was so disgusted by his nightmare version. How could he be so cruel towards his gem?! The audacity!

He gives you a whole skincare routine while you're telling him about your dream, listening very intently.

He feels slightly angsty that you probably see him like that deep down, but he keeps on reassuring you. He just doesn't want you to think about him like that!

Beelzebub:

Beel hugs you in a bear hug in his sleep

I swear, he has that soft snoring.

Beel sometimes drifts off to the kitchen to eat. Not before giving you a kiss though. 🥰

Hot tears ran down your cheek as you flung around, in attempt to escape Beel's grasp. But he held you pretty tight, to the point where you felt like passing out. "B-Beel?" Your boyfriend only glared at you, and threw you on the ground. You couldn't even get a scream out, as you only saw his shadow from your view on the floor.

"Hungry.." he looked to be in a daze, as his eyes shadowed in what you assumed to be hunger. You don't know how you even got in this situation.. and you certainly don't know how to get out. You whimpered when he roughly pulled your hand up to his face, and sniffed it. You shuddered, trying to pull your hand away from his face. He grunted in result, probably getting annoyed, which ultimately... Made you more frightened. He suddenly sank his teeth in your hand, pulling it apart. You screamed in agony, you were being eaten alive... By your boyfriend. You could never ever imagine yourself in this situation before...

You stirred awake, wide-eyed. It felt so real... You couldn't help your tears that travelled down on your pillow, and stiffened when you felt a pair of hands hugging your form. "Cupcake...? Is something wrong?" You immediately relaxed upon hearing Beel's voice.. somehow, even though you had a nightmare about him, you felt safe within his presence. You turned around and hugged him tightly. "I had a nightmare.."

He listened to every word you spoke to him. Feeling his heart break with each word.

He felt absolutely disgusted by his nightmare self. He does have a big appetite, but he would NEVER resulted in eating you alive. Goodness no!

He will be more affectionate with you from now on, trying to prove himself as loyal.

Belphegor:

Belphegor Is the one that's always not letting you out of the bed. He doesn't want you to leave yet. Just a few more minutes, yeah?

Belphie sometimes visits you in your dream, since he's the avatar of sloth. (HC! I have no idea if Belphie can look into people's dream in canon, but I think that it's a fun head canon :D)

Belphie avoids touching your neck, because he still feels guilty about suffocating you to death.

You sleep while hugging the other close. :)

You can't believe that this is happening again. Belphegor, your boyfriend, is choking you to death, again. But this time... It's different. Your eyes and mouth are glued shut. You can't see shit. "Pathetic human. I can't believe that it was this easy to fool you into trusting me. Again." Belphie laughed maniacally as his hands held your neck in a tight grip. You can't talk, see, nothing. This is utterly hopeless.. the past memories of this exact moment start replaying in your head as you shake in his hold.

"Wow, I can't believe you're this pathetic..." Belphegor spoke again, presumably to you, but it didn't sound like it was coming from him. Everything suddenly went quiet, your body falling on the floor. You got surprised when your eyes and mouth got unglued and you could see, and speak again. "H-Huh?" You got picked up from the floor, as another person hugged you close. You looked up to be met with Belphie, your Belphie. Your eyes widened, he looked really different then before as he kept hugging you close. "...I'm really sorry that you had to witness me like that again..." You didn't understand anything. What is happening? "I-I don't understand..?" Belphegor chuckled at your words, pulling away from you to look into your eyes. "You had a nightmare dummy. About me..." You frowned when you heard this. You weren't even scared of him right now, despite this awful dream. His presence is calming..

You nuzzled into his chest and cried. "H-Hey.. it's ok. I'm here...shh.." he wrapped his hands around your form and petted your head.

Belphie's worst nightmare became true. You had a nightmare about him. About that night... He hates himself for that mistake he once did, and he doesn't wanna lose your trust again.

But he doesn't blame you. It probably was a really traumatizing experience for you..

He'll make it up to you. Actually, after you both wake up, he will get up. Just so he could get you something..

A/N: you can tell when I was starting to get lazy. 💀

#obey me #obey me fandom #obey me fluff #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor

192 notes · View notes

pterygoidwalk · 6 months ago

Text

DE2 VR

I've been playing with an idea for a DE sequel for a while I've been calling Video Revachol. just for fun, don't jump up my ass about any of this.

Disco = to learn and Disco Elysium = To Learn Elysium. Video = to see, so Video Revachol = To See Revachol; the story would involve tracking down Harry all over Revachol, starting at the Video Revachol rental store he kept having nightmares about.

here's more

A week after the Hanged Man case, Harry goes missing. You play as Kim, and the game kicks off with Jean visiting P57 to ask if you have any idea where Harry could have gone since you were the last person to spend any significant time with him in his new post-amnesia state.

This solves an issue I've had with the idea of a Harry POV DE sequel, that would have to pick a "canon" ending from DE to spring off of. Jean will interview Kim for details on how Harry was acting and you can describe any kind of Harry you played (or make one up wholesale), explaining to Jean what he was worked up about politically, whether he was sober or not, how well he did his job etc etc. Basically a more detailed version of Kim's assessment at the end of DE but the player is the one dictating it. This impacts what Harry is doing while MIA.

Regardless of the Harry you describe, Jean recruits Kim to help him search for him because a missing police officer is a huge deal, esp one as unstable and erratic as du Bois. Just like Kim does in DE, Jean can suggest where to go next and discuss the case with you as your partner. He obviously has a lot of insight into how Harry thinks, but you aren't dealing with quite the same Harry he's used to.

See this post for an explanation on the modified clothing mechanics Kim and Jean have. They don't steal clothes like Harry does, so you're limited to clothes they already have or can get thru legitimate means. Kim can mod some clothes he finds if they aren't too dirty or stupid looking.

The plot follows a search that goes all over Revachol, starting at Video Revachol and Harry's nearby apartment and then going from there.

Kim has his own set of skills and thought projects, but you aren't starting with a clean slate like Harry. Instead of amnesia, Kim's got a lot of repression and mental blocks compartmentalizing things that will take time to open up. One of the big ones is what happened to his old partner, Eyes.

Dominic "Eyes" Aguilar was Kim's satellite officer. The two of them were close, and it is very vague initially what happened to him. Kim *refuses* to dwell on it, and you'll need to complete a few mental exercises to even let him meditate on the subject. There are hints that Eyes might have been killed, others that he died of an overdose, or that he just quit or was fired. This is a parallel to Harry and Dora, but different because whatever happened to Dom happened very recently. Kim has not been dealing with it in a healthy way. Lots of phantom Doms crop up visually and as auditory hallucinations; his absence is fresh and Kim hasn't adjusted to it.

This affects his dynamic with Jean, a recently orphaned satellite officer. Kim tries to keep him at arm's length emotionally and you can do that successfully, or you can let Kim open up to him. I like the idea of it mirroring the "gruff older man adopts a lost child" trope that was popular in the 2010s, but the lost child is a 34 yr old cop with depression and anger issues.

Other story beats I keep thinking about:

At some point the Kineema is taken out of commission (either damaged or Kim's captain rescinds authorization to use it for some reason), so they take Harry's old motorcycle with a sidecar, inspired by this one sketch by DE's art director. Kim is a huge fan, and Jean... isn't.

When unable to tag along with Kim, Jean has a cop horse he rides around. This way he can leave the scene for various reasons without taking Kim's transport option away. Her name is something stupid like Pookie or Cookie and Jean loves her even tho she's mean. Kim does not like horses and will not attempt to ride her even if prompted.

What happened to Harry is determined by the description you give of him in the beginning. It all has something to do with the Shivers visions telling him about the very terrible thing that's going to happen to Revachol if he doesn't stop it (or, if you described a particular type of Harry, he might be trying to expedite it in a way where he'll come out with some power over what's left)

Kim has a decomptage but it's in disarray after losing Eyes. His team is also majority young women, which gets him some comments. If you eavesdrop/EDC some of his team you find out there's a whisper network among women in the RCM, and Kim's considered a good guy to work for because, quote, "He won't call you with a love confession at 3 am like the other bellends here". This can cause some conflict for Kim because obviously he wants to be a safe mentor for these officers, but female officers trying to join his team has caused some unneeded scrutiny towards him from the other men at P57. You gonna keep up the feminist thing even if it alienates you from 80% of your blue brothers? huh??

Kim's entire relationship with the RCM is framed like an abusive one. The more Kim leans into the cop identity, the more power he feels but the more paranoid and jumpy he gets. A LOT of his fellow officers treat him like shit and you can even get Kim fixated on the idea that some of his team want him dead and out of the way.

like. fucking obviously i want kim and jean to flirt. It becomes very clear that Jean's lonely and misses Harry, so he tries to get Kim to bond with him. You can shut him down or open up-- this is tied to progress on any of the thought projects/compartmentalization deconstruction relating to Eyes. Kim won't let himself get close to Jean without processing some of that grief.

#video revachol au #idk what im doing with this but it's fun to think about

93 notes · View notes

thosegothsims · 6 months ago

Photo

RE: Not So Berry Legacy Challenge

howdy! so a long, long time ago in like 2019, i decided that i wanted to rewrite the not so berry challenge originally by @lilsimsie and @alwaysimming to fit in some more of the occults and other packs we’ve gotten over the years since their challenge was originally created. this was also partially inspired after seeing @sweetlysimss had created an updated version of the original NSB challenge as well around the same time, so credit where credit is due! check out both the original challenge and sweetlysimss’ updated version — without them i wouldn’t have been able to be confident in recreating the challenge to suit my own tastes and interests! ♡

the challenge still follows a similar structure to the original challenge, but i’ve adjusted many of the generations to fit storylines that i find more fun, adjusted the rules to things that i personally would like to explore, and make use of packs that i don’t find myself playing with to their full potential too often. i especially added a lot of occult gameplay, because i tend to just make occult sims and then don’t do much to play with their specific gameplay or with the aspirations that come with the pack they’re in.

if you’d like to see a full rundown of the entire legacy, click here to see the google doc i’ve made with all of the generations’ rules laid out for you. below the cut is the first generation’s rules so you can get an idea of what the full challenge will be like!

GENERATION ONE: MINT GREEN

You are an alien who doesn’t quite understand all of what earth has to offer. You and your minty self decide to take the best course of action and learn about the world around you—through science! With the power of two worlds (literally) in your hands, you go a little...crazy with the power at your fingertips, and strive to become the world’s first alien mad scientist.

> The Sim

Traits: Genius, Ambitious, Materialistic

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Career: Scientist

Species: Alien

> Rules

Skills, Career, and Aspiration

Master scientist career

Complete Chief of Mischief aspiration

Master mischief and logic skills

Personal Life

Marry human spouse

Have at least one enemy (optional: who has a voodoo doll attached for...purposes)

Use the Electroflux Wormhole Generator to visit your home planet of Sixam

Number of children this generation doesn’t matter, but heir must be human

Optional

Complete the elements collection — you have to know all about the elements on this planet!

Live in StrangerVille & solve the StrangerVille mystery with your spouse. Why does the flora around here seem so familiar?

102 notes · View notes

gravitycircuit · 6 months ago

Text

Version patch 1.2.0 is out now on Steam! This is accompanied by a hefty sale, 35% off until May 27th! Other storefronts and platforms will follow in due time, we ask for your patience! Artwork in the image above by @teoft. Go give them a follow! Read the patch notes for this release after the break!

WHAT'S NEW?!

Version 1.2.0 introduces new Game Modifiers, that allow you to spice up the game, and provide additional challenge! When starting a new save (or New Game+), after choosing which difficulty mode you want to play on, you can choose up to five modifiers to enable. These modifiers were made based on some player suggestions or feedback.

The modifiers are as follows:

MASTER LEVELS: Remixes the game's levels to provide more challenge for those who have mastered the game's movement.

RUDE ENEMIES: Changes up enemy and boss behavior to make them all, well, ruder. If this is picked in tandem with Hard Mode, bosses have more health.

DOUBLE HAZARDS: Makes the game's hazards (spikes, lava, crushing) deal double damage. Ouch.

SINGLE CREDIT: Levels need to be beaten in a single go from start, and no restarting from checkpoints via the Pause Menu. Death sends you to the Guardian Corps HQ (or beginning of level if you haven't reached that far yet). Can not be enabled with Iron Circuit.

IRON CIRCUIT: No saves until the game has been cleared, and no restarting from checkpoints via the Pause Menu. Death sends you to title screen. Can not be enabled with Single Credit.

FLIP WORLD: Walk on... Ceilings? Who's the joker that asked for this? (Note: doesn't necessarily flip everything)

Game Modifiers become available upon completing the game on any difficulty, or by inputting the following code on File Select screen: LEFT, LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, BURST! A legend has it that if you beat the game with any of these modifiers enabled (or when "Everyone is There"), you might even see something little extra? Only one way to find out! ...Just make sure Speedrun Mode is disabled!

Of course, this is not all. Below is a list of other things that have been added, tweaked or fixed!

QUALITY OF LIFE ADDITIONS

Added a checkpoint menu in the mission select screen. This allows you to warp to checkpoint in a previously cleared level, as well as toggle any in-level cutscenes to play again (like boss confrontation dialogues). Mission rewards and certain challenges are disabled if this feature is used.

Added an extra toggle in the game's settings, which determines if speedrun mode is enabled by default or not when starting a new save file. If the setting is set to "default", speedrun mode is enabled by default when accessing file select screen. Otherwise, it's off. However, even if the setting is set to "off" or "default", you can manually toggle speedrun mode on/off on the file select screen, like you have been able to do up to this point. The intention is to remove any confusion caused by some players wanting to have the on-screen timer on during normal play (which determined if the speedrun mode was toggled on/off when launching the game).

Added an additional setting for enabling an aiming arrow that appears around Kai, which can help with aiming the hookshot during platforming sections or similar. There are three different settings for its behavior. The aiming arrow is disabled by default.

Added a toggle for adjusting double tap tolerance.

Mission Complete screen now shows the target values for max rank in relevant categories in square brackets (clear time, enemies defeated, damage taken). Rescues, if available for the level, are displayed with the icons as usual.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES/TWEAKS

Made it possible to cancel to divekick (down+attack while mid-air) from air jab (attack while mid-air).

Made it possible to gain sprint speed if the run button is held down, or "inverse" run button behavior is in use, when exiting quick warp portals in cyberspace (Warehouse Area).

Similar to above, certain aerial Armor Paint abilities are refreshed when exiting a quick warp portal.

If Loadout Swap button is assigned to the same button as Accept or Cancel, the Accept and Cancel buttons override the Loadout Swap button on the pause screen (ex: when exiting out of the pause menu with Cancel, the game won't do double input by closing the pause menu, and also swapping loadouts).

Fixed an issue where pressing attack after a wall jump might lock you out, and prevent you from moving back towards the wall. The game was simply treating like you were still in wall jumping state, and as such was applying some forces onto you.

Fixed an issue where crumbling blocks (Ore Mines) may sometimes block the hookshot from going through them when they've been crumbled.

Retracting metal spike blocks (final level) have had their hittable boxes increased in size, making them easier to clear out.

Fixed an issue where Kai did not gain sprint speed if he jumps out of a crouch while run button is held, by releasing the down button roughly on the same frame as the jump input is detected.

BURST TECHNIQUES

Burst Spark's hitbox has been increased to hit a larger area. Does damage ticks slightly faster, duration slightly shorter. Essentially you're stuck in place for a shorter duration (overall duration reduced by ~25 frames, or ~0.42 seconds).

Support Platform has been buffed. Creates three platforms to cover a wider area, the platforms take few frames longer to start falling, side platforms do slightly less damage than the main one. You can still perform the original version by holding the Burst button during the startup.

Cycle Kick can now be cancelled with a jump or hookshot at any point. Can gain sprint speed out of it if run button is held down.

ARMOR PAINTS

Hot-headed Red Armor Paint's Float Beam now does its damage ticks faster. How it affects boss invulnerability times has been adjusted.

Heavy Orange Armor Paint now grants a slight damage boost for hookshot on top of its other effects.

Scheming Pink Armor Paint can now be set to activate by pressing and holding jump while holding up, or double tapping jump while holding up. The setting can be found in the controls menu. Shop description changes to match the selected setting.

Fixed an issue where the "powered up" state of certain Burst Techniques (Heavenly Piledrive, Surface Render, Catch Interrupt) were not handled correctly if they whiffed, or Kai got struck by hazards, when using the ability of a certain Armor Paint. Similar fix was applied for Powered Walker's Self-Destruct ability (Ore Mines).

ENEMIES

Contact damage has been removed from Flip Panel Turret enemies (City Center).

Crystal Floater enemies' contact damage has been removed (Cyberspace).

Fixed an edge-case game crash involving the Battie enemies. It was unlikely to happen, but there was some potential for it.

Fixed an issue where the Virus Zombie and Turret Zombie enemies had their usual behavior code running when they were grabbed by the player (normally, any normal behavior is paused on grabbed objects). This led to some weird interactions at times.

BOSSES

Trace's (Patch Circuit) Burst Technique can now hit her own minions. This is so to prevent situations where her minions might cause undodgeable damage.

Fixed an issue with Ray (Optic Circuit), where after a certain action he always jumped towards the wrong direction from what was intended.

Fixed an issue where Crash (Break Circuit), in rare circumstances, might wind up defeating themselves due to some of the larger falling blocks.

Fixed a minor visual error where certain bosses' mugshots in their lifebars got mirrored on the horizontal axis during their Burst Technique activations.

Fixed Crash's (Break Circuit) mugshot to have a "weak flinch" animation during his boss fight. He can now properly feel pain.

And a few [SPOILER] worthy changes...

[SPOILER] Fixed a phantom hitbox from one of the later game bosses, where they grabbed an object off of the floor, and threw it. During this throwing animation, the boss would have a hitbox beneath them for one frame, that could hit the player if the boss jumped before the throw.

[SPOILER] During the Final Battle, if you have gotten to a certain phase, the transition to the next happens much faster. This behavior happens by default on Speedrun Mode. If you hold down the run button before the transition were to occur, the transition plays normally without any skips.

[SPOILER] During Final Battle, if you have gotten to a certain phase, on subsequent attempts the game will drop little health before the transition described above occurs. You know you'll be receiving the health drop if your opponent is different color from before. This behavior only occurs if you are playing on Easy or Normal Mode. Hard Mode won't see this extra drop. The intention for this change is to make the Final Battle little easier for first time players, by giving them a little token of encouragement on subsequent attempts at the final portions of the game, while retaining the challenge of clearing the encounter in one go the same as before.

LEVEL ADJUSTMENTS

Adjusted the clear time goal for the main eight levels from 5min45s to flat 6 minutes for max rank.

The final level in the game has had its target clear time increased from 6 minutes to 7 minutes for max rank.

Adjusted the enemies killed goal count from 45 to 40 for the first two of final levels.

Adjusted certain enemy positions in a couple of levels to make them a bit less messy or rude.

In the Steelworks level, adjusted geometry to remove a single tile gap that was possible to squeeze into with Support Platform Burst Technique.

The final level of the game has had its level layouts slightly touched on the blue floor.

Am I hearing things in Cyberspace (Warehouse Area)?

Note: When playing levels with the Master Levels modifier (or Easy Mode), target clear times are increased by one minute. Playing with Rude Enemies modifier adds another extra minute. This is to account for the more difficult platforming, and giving players more leeway during boss fights if playing with self-imposed minimalist challenge in mind.

GENERAL BUG FIXES

Fixed Medley's (Wave Circuit, City Center) concert billboard's despawn and respawn radiuses, so it doesn't disappear if you weave back-and-forth between the screens.

Fixed a minor edge-case oversight in Warehouse Area, where in a certain portion of the level, you weren't able to drop from a ledge-grab-jab with the 'up' button, like you are supposed to. Had to press 'down', like you generally have to in all other instances.

Fixed a little oversight where during Bit's (Shift Circuit) Burst Technique, if you position yourself in certain ways, one or two of the screen slashes may not render because they're deemed "off-screen" based on their starting positions.

Fixed a scenario where if Kai is using a certain Armor Paint to carry an object, and Kai then picks an end-of-level item, releasing the hookshot button to throw the object may softlock the game entirely.

Fixed an issue where if Hardware Barrier Burst Technique was active at the same time as Emergency Accumulator Booster Chip, taking a hit would trigger both at once.

Changed the order in which certain damage calculations are applied, to fix an issue with Underflow Guard (Booster Chip). Underflow Guard is supposed to prevent you from going below 1 health if you had 2 or more, but if Function Overload (Burst Technique) is active, the damage becomes fatal anyway (because Function Overload multiplied the incoming damage after Underflow Guard's reduction by 1.2, and rounded up, meaning at low enough health any damage would bypass Underflow Guard).

Fixed an oversight where if player took damage from hazards (spikes, lava, crushing), this was not reflected in the damage number reported on the Mission Complete screen.

Fixed an oversight where when Kai grabs a stunned (gray blinking) enemy he is standing next to, the enemy may become overkilled (red blinking) from the grab action itself. This means that upon throwing the grabbed enemy it would not do any damage to other objects, due to overkilled enemies becoming intangible.

LOCALIZATION

Fixed one minor color tag issue in some dialogue in Japanese localization.

Fixed some missing text strings in Chinese (traditional) localization.

Fixed some text overflow issues in a text box in Chinese localizations.

MISC

Applied a fix that should prevent any flickering issues while streaming the game through Discord.

Wrote additional code to better ensure that, if in the event that the file that locally tracks player's challenges progress (ie. "Pat's Challenges") has through whatever means become corrupted, the game treats that as though starting from scratch. This prevents the game from crashing during startup.

Made the game crash screen little more readable with a darker blue background, as well as deploying an additional support Pat for your comfort (PC versions only).

Improved the code efficiency of various objects (ex: gray breakable crates, explosive barrels, goop dispensers, and several others). These changes help with general performance on lower-end hardware.

...And maybe some few smaller things. This has been a big patch (bigger than we anticipated), so might have forgotten to list a thing or two!

#gravity circuit #devlog #patch #sale #update #changelog

71 notes · View notes