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mymoonagedaydream · 1 year ago

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Part 1

Summary: Maybe the relationships worth fighting for were the ones in which you had to fight the hardest.

Pairing: Mob!Bucky x y/n

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: Language, vague references to violence, light public wankery

Author’s Note: This one has been sitting in my inbox for literal years so I hope you’re still in an angsty mood after all this time. Was meant to be a oneshot but hey I got carried away what can I say.

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Three loud knocks hammered against your door. It made you jump every time he did that, you were used to your guests ringing the buzzer.

You checked the time as you hurried across the length of your cramped apartment, cursing under your breath when you saw that it was almost nine. Him finishing work this late was never good news. Whatever had happened, whether it be another drawn out meeting or an unplanned, after-hours assignment, it would almost definitely have left him in a shitty mood.

You sighed. It used to be that bad days for him were few and far between, now they seemed to outnumber the good ones.

Sliding the chain off and turning the lock, your heart sank when you pulled the door backwards and caught sight of his miserable expression. You wished so much that there was more you could do to uplift him when he felt like this but, short of marching into his office and scolding his colleagues as if they were suave-suited school children, you were helpless. All you could do was try to help him take his mind off things.

“Hey, Hot Shot.”

He managed to summon a weak but warm smile, planting a kiss on your temple as he shuffled past. “Hey. The crazy newspaper lady let me in again.”

“I figured,” you pushed the door shut and followed him inside, “did she give you another fistful of clippings?”

“Whatta you think?”

He stuffed a hand into his pocket and set down a few scrunched up papers on the coffee table before dropping onto the couch. With a smirk, you picked them up and smoothed them out, scanning your eyes over the headlines.

“Bless her, she always saves the business stories for you.”

“Yeah, why is that?”

“Probably ‘cause you’re always in a suit and I’m always referring to you as Hot Shot.”

“You talk to her?”

Realising your mistake, you stopped absentmindedly thumbing through the clippings, lifted your gaze to his and shrugged. “Occasionally.”

He narrowed his eyes. You knew exactly what he was thinking. He didn't like the idea of you going near her, he thought it wasn’t safe, probably thought you’d end up locked in her apartment and chopped into tiny pieces that she’d save and use as bullion cubes.

So now probably wasn’t the best time to bring up your weekly visits to her apartment for coffee and cake.

Sure, she was a little intimidating to look at, with her wild eyes and deep, sunken cheeks, but she was a sweetheart really. She’d started tearing up newspapers in the downstairs lobby after her husband died a few years ago. He loved his morning reading and she loved clipping out his favourite stories and saving them for him, apparently doing it for other people was the only thing keeping her going now she was alone. You just wished you could think of a way to explain all that to Bucky without incurring his paranoia.

His glare wasn’t letting up. You knew if you didn’t swiftly change the subject there was a danger he might start trying to convince you to move into his much nicer, much bigger and much safer apartment again. As much as you appreciated the offer, it had taken so much for you to move to the city on your own, and you weren’t ready to give up your independence just yet. You were happy the way things were.

You cut in as soon as he opened his mouth to speak.

“Rough day?”

His head collapsed backwards. “Mhmm.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Nah, s’alright, just seemed like everyone was out to piss me off.”

“Can’t say I blame ‘em.”

He chuckled gruffly as you flopped down beside him, his arm moving to cradle your shoulders and hug you tight to his side. “Have you eaten?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“You wanna order pizza?”

“Definitely.”

You leaned forward and rustled around for the takeout menu in your coffee table junk drawer. Bucky shifted slightly, out the corner of your eye you could see him starting to dig the fingers on his free hand into his knee. He cleared his throat nervously before speaking again.

“Can I pay this time?”

“We’ll split it.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind-”

“Buck.” You gave him a look as you dropped the menu in his lap. “We’ll split it.”

He didn’t push back. You’d gotten pretty good at standing your ground out of necessity because, if Bucky got his way, you’d never be allowed to spend a single dollar. He earned a lot more than you, a helluva lot more, but you still preferred to keep things equal. You got by just fine.

The two of you settled in on the couch together. He hustled downstairs when the buzzer sounded and you demolished the pizza in front of the TV, enjoying the peace of each other's company, chuckling at whatever shitty reality show was on at 9pm on a weeknight.

Despite his best efforts, though, it was obvious that something still wasn’t quite right with him. He needed some help unwinding.

“Hey, you wanna hear something funny? It might cheer you up.”

His head lolled towards you, a wide smile creeping over his lips. “Go on.”

“So, at work this afternoon, Judy was doing her rounds upstairs when she noticed a guy tucked in the corner by adult fiction. It’s pretty routine to get the odd embarrassed reader trying to hide away up there but apparently he was grunting like a professional tennis player , her words.”

“Jesus.”

“Mhmm. So she called the cops and they hustled up there, apparently he’d been jerking off in the aisle to a fucking Mills & Boon novel called The Dark Duke . We had to get the janitor to get rid of it in a biohazard bag, poor guy. He’ll probably call in sick tomorrow from the trauma.” You were laughing through your words but, when you looked over at Bucky, an incredibly stern face was looking back. “C’mon, you gotta admit that’s funny.”

“It’s not funny that you’re around creeps like that every day.”

“This city is full of creeps, just so happens that a few of them have library cards.” You flashed your eyebrows at him, he didn’t even crack a smile. “Jesus, Buck, you don’t think you’re taking this a little too seriously?”

“No, I don’t.”

The two of you fell into silence. His eyes flicked away from you for a second, his expression suddenly becoming resolute. You could see the words forming in his throat. You knew exactly what was coming.

“You really need to think about coming to work at my place.”

You jumped up from the couch. “I can’t have this conversation again.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re already in a shitty mood and me making the same argument I’ve made a thousand times before isn’t gonna help.”

You picked up the empty pizza box and trudged through to the kitchen, hoping that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t, unfortunately, because he decided it was smart to jump up and follow you like an irritating child.

“I just don’t get why you won’t take it. It’s better money, better hours and we’ll practically be-”

“Practically be working together yeah, I know, I’ve heard this speech before and the answer is the same. Thank you, but I’m happy where I am.”

“You wanna work in a fuckin’ library forever?”

You threw the box down on the counter and swivelled round to face him. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Talk about my choices like that, like you know better.”

“Jesus, I’m just tryna’ look out for you.”

You shook your head, in disbelief that you’d been dragged into this argument once again. “Whatever.”

“Is that it?”

“I honestly don’t know what you want from me, Buck.”

“I want to know why you’d rather stay in a shitty job and a shitty apartment than have something better.”

“Because I don’t want to work for your fucking father, alright?”

His face dropped. You realised that your words had come out with much more venom than intended but, in all fairness, this had been building up for a while. You’d been with Bucky long enough to know what kind of business his family was in and you wanted no part of it. Your love for him had helped you move past your unease about what he did for a living, because you knew with utmost certainty that he was a good man at heart, but you couldn’t say the same for the rest of them. You wouldn’t allow yourself to get dragged in too.

He clenched his jaw for a second before biting his cheeks, his head slowly beginning to nod, anger rising in his face. You just waited. Anyone else might have been scared of him in this moment, of how he seemed to be coiling up like a threatened snake ready to strike, but you weren’t. He’d never given you any reason to be.

His mouth fell open but quickly snapped closed before any distinguishable words could escape. With a loud huff, he stormed away, yanking his jacket from the couch as he passed and tearing your front door open.

You saw him hesitate in the corridor for a second. He brushed his hand over his hair before suddenly lashing out, striking the side of his fist against the doorframe. The whole wall shuddered.

“Whoa, hey.” You hurried over and reached for his shoulder. “That looked like it hurt, are you-”

He grabbed you.

Your eyes locked with his, you’d never seen him this angry before. In fact, you were so caught up in his warped expression that it actually took you a few seconds to feel his grip, to feel how tightly he was squeezing and how his fingertips dug into the space between the veins and tendons in your wrist. You frantically looked down at his white-knuckled hand and tried to yank yourself free, hoping that any amount of resistance would encourage him to release. He didn’t let go. You looked back up at him.

No words were exchanged, but you saw in his face the moment he realised he was hurting you. The redness in his cheeks seemed to drain away in an instant, leaving behind a deathly paleness that highlighted how quickly the tension dissolved from the muscles in his jaw and forehead.

He let go.

With panic thumping in your chest, you quickly stepped backwards and slammed the door. You sheltered behind it, frozen, as he softly knocked against the wood and apologised over and over again.

You stayed there until you heard him walk away.

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Part 2

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kitchenisking · 10 months ago

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It's January and the new year has started! I hope everyone had a great new year and that 2024 bring only good things our way! and please remember to leave a kudos and some love in the comments to our amazing writers in this amazing fandom! love you guys😘

Children's Tales by artemis69 - (Rating: G, Words: 4,690, sterek)

Be careful, little girl.

Don’t go causing troubles in Beacon Hills, little girl, because the Hales live there.

Keep away from Beacon Hills, little girl, or the Hales will destroy you.

-- Or: In a world where the Hales are alive and the protectors of the town of Beacon Hills, the humans politely fake ignorance of their not-really-human status, and they all live happily ever after.

Then Kate comes in.

Well.

Tries to.

in the waiting room by CoraRochester, ravenclawkward - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 29,753, sterek)

“So, uh,” Stiles said, peeling the crust away from his toast. It was barely darkened, smeared thickly with butter and orange marmalade, just like he always liked it. “I have tattoos, which is weird, because I’m like, clinically terrified of needles. Swooning, fainting, the whole nine yards.”

That made the corner of Derek’s mouth lift into something like a small smile before it quickly smoothed out flat and neutral again. “I know,” Derek said, lifting up his fork. Stiles looked at the back of Derek’s hand and saw it was dark with ink—an elaborate full moon, stark on Derek’s skin. “I did them.”

…

In which Stiles has amnesia and falls in love with his husband all over again.

Sweet Tooth by Spikedluv - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 24,866, sterek)

Derek Hale had returned to Beacon Hills and the ice cream place was reopening. “Best. Day. Ever,” Stiles told Scott.

Lessons in Humanity by exclamation - (Rating: Mature, Words: 40,234, sterek)

Fleeing from werewolves, Stiles comes face to face with Derek, a werewolf human in shape but animal in his mind. Stiles is terrified of being killed, but it seems Derek has decided Stiles would make a suitable mate. Unfortunately, his idea of a romantic gift is a dead animal on the doorstep. Stiles must help Derek remember what it is to be human... and figure out how to explain his new werewolf stalker to his dad.

Happiness is Effortless by clotpolesonly - (Rating: G, Words: 5,210, sterek)

Derek just wanted an excuse to run out on his date. A very public fight with the fiance he didn't know he had is not exactly what he was expecting, but he'll take it.

come with me by buckysharons - (Rating: Mature, Words: 2,657, sterek)

Derek turns his head to the loft door, messily shoving whatever he could into the large bag. He’d rearrange everything on his property in New York. In another loft, but one much nicer, one cleaned with his parents money.

There’s a slam of a door, a slam filled with so much anger it makes Derek jump, alarmed.

“You’re leaving?” Stiles roars. He’s not angry, no. He’s hurt. Derek could sense it on him and he had no idea why.

He puts on the brooding mask he always seemed to have on, but this time was different. Stiles could see right through him. Though something tells Derek that Stiles has been able to see through it for a while now.

“Why are you leaving?” Stiles continues, giving Derek no room for him to explain himself. He demands an answer. Like he’s done everything to deserve it.

Which he has.

“I can’t stay,” Derek says vaguely, swallowing.

Stiles didn’t- he couldn’t take that.

Next To You (You Tell Me What To Do) by mercury_caduceus - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 6,175, sterek)

"Derek had barely noticed that he was still kneeling in a foot of water. His knees were sore and he was freezing but none of that mattered. Not now. Not when Boyd’s lifeless body was laying in front of him, his blood still on Derek’s hands. Cora was sobbing and clinging to Boyd, making his heart break even more. He hadn’t thought that was possible, Boyd had become one of his best friends and now he had killed him. He closed his eyes, he couldn’t keep looking at the body laying in front of him. Stiles hand on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him from completely falling apart, but he knew he was about to snap." ---- Stiles helps Derek after Boyd dies.

After the Smoke Clears by sffan - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 3,062, sterek)

Stiles needs a peaceful space. Derek gives him what he needs.

Alchemy of Attraction by ravenclawkward, wanderingeyre - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 15,893, sterek)

Once the table is set up, Stiles picks up the box and starts pulling out beakers, a hot plate, some Erlenmeyer flasks, a bunsen burner, and a bunch of other equipment and laying them out on the table. The last things to come out of the box are sealed containers with labels.

Derek is starting to get a very bad feeling about this.

Frogs? by Itsreallyjustforresearch83 - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 10,694, sterek)

“Catching frogs? This far into the pack lands? I’ll give you five seconds to tell me the truth before I rip your throat out. What is it that you want?”

“YOU! Alright?! I want you!”

#sterek #derek hale #stiles stilinski #fanfiction #stiles x derek #ficrec #fanfic #kitcheniskingficrecs

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avonne-writes · 5 months ago

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Your hs au college head canons sound sooooo angsty and good! I can’t wait to see what you do with them! While I was reading them, I couldn’t help but picturing like a scene where they each separately are talking with their new fiends who basically say something like “I’m surprised you two are together, you don’t seem like you are right for each other” which would add doubts for both of them because they are so used to people thinking they are such a perfect and sweet couple. And of course feeling those doubts causes more tension. And of course these friends only feel this way because they haven’t truly seen their relationship, only the way it’s been during this transition time. Ugh I love this kind of angst! Of course, only if it has a happy ending!

Hi dear! Thank you, I’m glad you like the headcanons.

Great addition, this 100% happens. Gale's friends would phrase it similarly to how you did, politely. They would go on to tell Gale that this happens to most high school sweethearts, and that a break-up doesn’t mean that the previous ~4 years were not meaningful or that they're bad memories. They try to comfort Gale. But they're not without fault either, because like you said, they don't know John and Gale's relationship super well and they see mostly the struggles in that first semester, so they encourage Gale to break up. They try to talk him down from investing more effort into the relationship.

But Bucky gets the short end of the stick here.

His social circle is made up mostly of his teammates. As you can imagine, some of those can be rude and extremely crass, boasting about their conquests and being hurtful out of mere ignorance. These guys would regularly poke fun at Bucky for the fact that he has never had sex with anyone but Gale. They'd say things like "don’t you wanna dip it somewhere else" and "how do you even know you're bi when you haven't even tried pussy". If he wants to skip a party, they whistle and boo at him that the missus has him whipped (this isn’t exclusive to him, they do it with everyone who goes home). Some might even try to comment on Gale, about his prettiness and how they'd tap that too. They think this is being inclusive but Bucky snaps and there's an altercation, and it takes a few days before the team dynamics reset again.

These are not Bucky's friends, just teammates. His actual friends within the team are much nicer, but they also echo some of the same sentiments. "Don’t you feel like you're missing out on something?" Bucky tries to keep most of this from Gale and he's not comfortable discussing his sex life with his mom, so the whole thing builds up in him. It doesn’t help that due to their issues, he and Gale don’t have sex that often or it just feels a bit off.

When he and Gale make up after their big fight, he tells Gale everything. Since this is exactly Gale's insecurity, Gale - much more gently this time than during the fight - tells him that he doesn’t want to hold Bucky back. It clearly pains him, but he even offers to do an open relationship for a while. But Bucky doesn’t want that, and he says it too. He snuggles close to Gale and basically just asks him to reassure him that it's okay not to want that. That it's okay to be with only one person and that they'll work on making sure neither of them regrets it in the future.

Gale is very pessimistic and thinks that's impossible, but at that point, he wants to help Bucky relax and he has the selfish desire to say yes too, so he tells Bucky that it's okay and that they will figure everything out. Ultimately, they do figure it out every time they struggle with something related to this, so Gale’s pessimistic fears don’t come true. And their sex life improves drastically after the fight. It’s the best it has ever been.

#buck x bucky #anon #mota #clegan #john egan #gale cleven #hs au

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safetycar-restart · 10 months ago

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I’m back with little!asks!

I’m aware that this topic may make people uncomfortable so I’ll give a little preview: this ask talks about simulated breastfeeding and general baby-age little!care. So, please stop now if that will make you uncomfortable.

As we know, little!Arthur regresses very little, and therefore relies on his mama to care for him. So, imagine for Christmas or perhaps even the anniversary of their little/caregiver relationship. His mama gifts him a breastfeeding simulator, explaining that now, he can curl up on his mama’s lap and just latch onto her to his hearts content. Just imagine rocking him back and forth, rubbing his back while he relaxes against his mama.

Equally, you know those long pieces of material that allow babies to hang from their parents against their chest. What if there was one designed for littles. I think that whenever a little was overwhelmed or sick, or just wants to rest, their mama would put them in that just sing to them. This whole idea is so cute to me. Little Arthur or Charles just pressed up against their mama’s chest as happy as can be able to calm down against their heartbeat and sleep if necessary 🥺

-🎞️

Aw yes the return of the little!au!! For anyone new, the little au is different from just discussing little drivers because in the AU, everyone in the world is either a little or a caregiver, in the same way that the d/s au is different from just discussing sub!drivers.

Firstly, I think things like breastfeeding simulators (which I had to google by the way) would probably be quite commonplace in this AU? Because it’s not uncommon to have littles who regress very young and who would enjoy and benefit from their caregiver using one of them.

Because of how young Arthur regresses, it would definitely be something you had been considering buying. And when your anniversary came up, it just made sense?

Arthur is a little confused when you show him it, but when you explain he’s instantly smiling and blushing because he knows that when he regresses he would LOVE it.

The next day he regresses and you get to try it out for the first time with him. Honestly the biggest hassle is just getting it on because you can’t hold him at the same time which makes poor little Arthur very unhappy. He’s too little to understand his mama is getting something ready so that he can snuggle even nicer than before, all he knows is he can see his mama doing something with her top and she won’t come over and give him snuggles!!!

Luckily you figure it out pretty quickly and you can join a Arthur in bed. The moment you’re with him he instantly forgets all about how he was upset before because his mama is here!!

You have to explain to him again that he can latch on now and suckle, because the poor little thing doesn’t quite understand. Yes you explained this to Arthur earlier, but that was when he was in his adult headspace and little Arthur can’t remember that!!

In the end you just gently take his head and direct him to the nipple and he wears his lips around it all on his own. He suckles a little, like it’s a dummy and that’s when the milk comes and oh! Oh he likes it!! He squirms so happily in your lap, humming a little cause it feels so nice!!

He falls asleep like that of course, all nicely cuddled up.

And I love the idea of having those wrap things for adult littles as well. Obviously they’re too heavy to physically carry, but there’s so much added security and safety from just laying or sitting with their caregiver and being all wrapped up like that.

I think that’s something that little!charles in particular just loves? He definitely naps the best like that, feeling so nice and safe.

I’m actually unsure if little!arthur would like it, mostly because I think he wriggles around a lot? He’s a very squirmy little boy!! And so being wrapped so close like that can stop him from being able to and make him feel a little claustrophobic. Unlike Charles who just instantly falls asleep.

#little!au #little!driver/rider #little!charles #little!arthur #cl #al #gn!reader #soft soft vibes #🎞️

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mothxmoons · 1 year ago

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Rookie rewrite chapter two

So far your first week had been very calm, moving in was easy as you didn’t have many belongings, you lived a little bit outside of the city, which meant you’d have to wake up earlier to get there on time but since you know what’s going to happen in 2 years it wasn’t a big deal to you. You were going to meet Wesker this weekend, after his work, and then you’d be introduced to the STARS team on Monday once you got your bearings of the city. Everything seemed in place, you had hidden weapons around the home, checked if the place had any secret cameras, which there weren’t, checked the home for any damage, met the neighbors, cleaned the garage, got money from the government until you would start your new job. All in all, the first week in Raccoon City seemed to be going pretty well as the people in the more rural areas seemed…nicer. Compared to the more hostile people in the city, this place was nice.

It was also a major upgrade from being constantly watched over by the government. A small room with nothing of your own besides your own clothing, and a few electronics they couldn’t figure out. Then running test after test on you, your body, your blood, your abilities. You could see why Sherry hated it in that one game. To them you were an alien, able to heal faster, quicker, stronger and tougher. Your blood samples always came back corrupted, most of the scientists couldn’t even stand to be near it, let alone try to inject it into themselves. Safe to say, you won’t be giving blood any time soon.

When the day came for you to meet Wesker for the first time, officially, you were expecting a charming bastard. Arriving at the city hall half an hour early, it’s weird but you don’t need that much sleep anymore. You can’t place why though, and you never had the time to actually think about it. Even when you’re laying in your new bed. You sat at a nearby cafe, enjoying the sights and the atmosphere of the city bustling around you. The people of this city might be assholes but at least it was pretty here. Not much else going for this mountainside city. A chill grabbed your attention, a stare, someone was staring at you. You glanced up to see a familiar tall blonde man in a navy blue button up shirt. He stood there staring at you, you looking back at him, before he walked over to you, setting his coat down on the chair in front of you. Wesker sat down in front of you. He was quiet, seemingly waiting for you to talk. You hummed, placing down your drink, still staring at him.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you, captain.” You spoke first, keeping your tone steady as you talked.

“Likewise, “rookie.”” He replied, he tilted his head slightly before he spoke up again. “How did you get that nickname anyways?”

“I was brought in by the government, and some of them didn’t like that. But they couldn’t give me a truly harmful nickname without being reprimanded and punished so… rookie, and then it caught on.” You responded, shrugging and bringing your drink back up to your lips. You could feel his gaze as you sipped your drink. He seemed to be studying you, he was curious about you.

“So captain, any questions you need to ask me?” You knew business as usual, you wanted to stay off of his bad side but you also wanted him to know you weren’t one to be fucked with either.

“Just any accomplishments you might have or any other skills that can be used in the office. I know you’re a great hand to hand fighter, but what about gun training?”

“Yes, I’ve been trained with firearms. As for skills around the office, at least you won’t have to worry about me causing chaos.”

He sighed, he had enough of that already. In the first week, he’s been the victim of several pranks and several schemes. Chris and Joseph seemed hellbent on trying to make him angry. He was sure he had a permanent crease in his eyebrow already from them.

“Good.” He nods slightly, rubbing his brow with a knuckle, shaking his head at the thought of another troublemaker running around the office. Honestly he questioned why he even started the experiment. He wouldn’t even attempt it if it meant dealing with everything they have put him through for the last two weeks for 2 years. But at the same time, Wesker got to meet an extraordinary rookie, one that he can’t help but be curious about.

“I might cause trouble when it comes to fights or sparring, of course, I understand that your team doesn’t have the same level of training as I do.” You said, a thumb running around the rim of your drink.

“That’s correct, but I believe they’ll learn something when it comes to sparring with you.” He nodded, his hand coming up to his chin as he thought about how you could easily crush some of the biggest egos on the team. “In fact, when I introduce you, why don’t you have a spar with some of the team? I think some of them could be humbled in that aspect.”

You found his smirk a little unnerving but in an infuriating condescending way. However it wasn’t directed to you, you can tell how he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

“I wouldn’t mind knocking down a few pegs.” You responded, your tone was a smidge colder than you intended, you had unintentionally reminded yourself who this man was.

However cold your tone was, Wesker didn’t seem to notice. You forgot that people in this universe weren’t exactly the smartest. Even Wesker himself, smart and clever, charismatic and charming, seemed slow to catch onto certain things.

You didn’t like how condescending he was, how manipulative he was. You could never trust him, it would be a death sentence. His smirk, his charms, his voice, they were nice but they could only barely hide the monster underneath, a monster you could see clear as day. He barely even tried to hide his secrets, it was just a power play on his part, and you don’t intend on being one of the pawns in the game.

You watched as he talked about the station and where to go, but you zoned out on your own thoughts, you already knew those things. You’ve always known those things. No amount of government training would make you forget. You were going to make sure he knew that hiring you was playing with fire. In any way possible. Sure, you weren’t going to cause petty trouble like some of the other members, you had something else in mind.

You were going to show him that you were not a pawn, you were the player and he was a little rook.

Wesker talked about the members on the teams and how they were split into two, Alpha and Bravo. It was quite serious for a police station in your opinion and it made you question why no one even thought to ask about it. Your thought looped back to how everyone in this universe is kind of stupid.

“You will be on my team, under my orders, of course.” He continued, seemingly unaware of your harsh gaze on him. “The deal I made with your uh…supervisor was that you remained alive. I trust that you can do that?”

“Sir, with all due respect, I believe I can take just about anything this job may throw at me.” Your tone was clear and sharp. He didn’t seem to believe you though, but he didn’t say anything to that effect, you caught it either way.

“I understand.” No he didn’t. He didn’t understand that he was hiring a human, but a human that’s so much different than the ones he was used to. “Just wanted to make sure.”

You’d make sure he regretted even looking at you thinking he has all the cards. When in reality, he isn’t even holding cards, he just thinks he’s playing. Like when you give your sibling a controller that isn’t plugged in.

The rest of the conversation was rather boring, he’d say things, you would respond back, it went on like that until he started to show you around the main parts of the city. Mainly the parts where you’ll be patrolling the most as a member of the team. Luxury spots were more Chris’ deal than his apparently. Not that you really cared, you had other things to deal with than those kinds of spots. Maybe once in a while, but probably not as often as you would like to. Wesker rambled a bit about the characteristics on his team as you two walked around, you weren’t sure why he was so open with talking about that. Normally he would keep his opinions about his team to himself.

Either way you hoped this meeting would end soon, you still had plenty to do. Home, decorations, buying groceries, and more importantly, buying clothes. The uniforms the government gave you weren't exactly comfortable or stylish. There were only two outfit alternatives they had given you, one white and one black, both in every day, workout, and sleepwear. You’d really like if he’d stop rambling about god knows what at this point, you didn’t realize you zoned out in him talking. Again.

“Since you live further away, I assume you’ll have transportation set up?” He asked, gaining your attention.

“My car won’t be here until next week or so. I’ll take the bus or catch a ride from a neighbor.” You responded simply, looking back from the buildings at him.

“Oh- no, you don’t have to worry about that.” He said suddenly, catching you by surprise. “I’ll pick you up until your car gets here. Can’t have the new rookie rely on those inefficient ways of getting to work.”

So it was about appearances was it? You stared at him for a moment before you sighed and agreed. Wesker seemed pleased at how you agreed so quickly despite your reluctance. He smiled, a little, strained smile. He drove you home as well, perhaps he just wanted to commit to memory where you lived. For whatever reason. You didn’t want to know to be honest, you don’t think it’d be good for your sleep. Especially after you just got some freedom from being watched 24/7.

Luckily he didn’t talk much on the way to your home, it was rather silent besides your directions to your new home. He seemed to enjoy the silence but you couldn’t tell, his stoic demeanor didn’t tell you much about what he was feeling. Maybe he enjoyed the more quiet moments since he is mostly around the team now. You already knew what kinds of people they were.

He dropped you off, said goodbye, and would be waiting for you on Monday. You sighed as you watched him leave before you entered your new home, falling onto a couch from the previous owners that they had left. It was quite comfortable, you’ll keep it. You needed a moment of respite since you’ll be mostly shopping Saturday and Sunday.

#albert wesker x reader #resident evil x reader #wesker x reader

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thebluestbluewords · 2 years ago

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Rhyming is hard

This is about 90% an excuse for me to write Banter, 9% jokes about murder, 1% plot. I wrote the dialogue for this over a year ago, and scavenged it from my drafts to clean up yesterday.

“Mirror, feel my evil presence,” Evie chants, clutching the mirror in one hand like it’s a call phone. “Show me the location of our parents.”

“That’s seriously the rhyme you’re going with?” Mal asks, leaning over the table to stare at the mirror as Evie sets in down in the middle of their huddle.

Evie frowns. “What do you think rhymes with parents?”

Mal’s nose scrunches up as she thinks. “Errants? Aberrants?“ she offers. “Um, clearance?”

“Insurance,” Jay adds. “Which won’t help against theft here, cause apparently they’re all too good for that. Don’t buy a phone from the guy in town unless you’re okay with getting it stolen, by the way.”

“Don’t tell me that.” Ben says firmly, leaning over Evie’s head to see the mirror as well. The black smoke curls angrily, like the magic contained in the mirror is trying to escape the glass and smash their faces in for daring to use it for frivolous things like checking up on their parents, and then begins to clear.

“Incoherence?” Carlos offers, drumming the very tips of his fingers on the table. “I think your rhyme was good though, Evie. I’m just offering suggestions for next time.”

“Shut up, it’s working.” Mal gasps, pushing him out of the way as the smoke inside the mirror swirls into the beginnings of a clear picture.

The background resolves itself first, into a deep grey wall made of rough stone. The figure standing in front of it is small in stature, which is made all the more obvious by the gigantic crow sitting on her shoulder.

“My mother,” Mal says, sounding almost disappointed. “As alive and evil as ever.”

“Didn’t need a mirror for that one, babe.” Evie says fondly. “Pretty sure we all remember what she looks like, considering that she’s been the bane of our existence for the last sixteen years.”

Mal, on the pretense of leaning closer to the mirror, puts her hand over Evie’s on the table, interlacing their fingers. “Maybe Ben wanted to know, and also shut up. It’s changing.”

The mirror is changing, but not to a nicer sight. The background darkens, and the view of Maleficent monologuing to Diablo fades out. The background turns a nasty, muddy shade of grey-brown, and the figure visible in the mirror doesn’t look much nicer. He’s filthy, for one thing, and he’s wearing a collection of leather scraps that would be better suited to a scarecrow than a living person.

He’s also swinging a shovel at the wall with what looks like increasing violence, and his hair is on fire.

“Dear old dad,” Mal drawls. “Great to see him expanding the cave for once.”

“Is that Hades?” Ben asks, in a tone that could generously be described as ‘strangled’.

Mal laughs. “Yeah. My mom wanted a powerful kid. She didn’t pick him cause he’s a great father, she picked him ‘cause he’s one of the most powerful entities on the isle. And I guess ‘cause he was DTF, or whatever. Chernabog isn’t much for procreation.”

“Wow.”

“I can’t raise the dead or anything,” Mal explains, eyes still locked on the mirror. “Not even a fly. I just get some sick highlights in my hair when I use his fire, and some cool shit happened with a ouija board once.”

“That’s, uh, cool!” Ben manages, before the mirror swirls again, and a new face comes into view.

“The Evil Queen,” Carlos says, reaching out to touch the side of the mirror. “Do you think the mirror’s showing her in better light because it’s magic and it likes her better, or does her castle just have better lighting?”

“Mother’s castle has flattering light,” Evie says, but it’s her turn to stare at the mirror, eyes blank and lips slightly, beautifully parted. “She keeps it that way on purpose. For visitors.”

“Not that you got many.”

Mal’s hand is warm and firm over Evie’s own. Her exile should be an old wound by now, but even old injuries, even ones that can be treated softly now, still ache sometimes.

In the surface of the mirror, the Evil Queen is stabbing a needle, over and over, into the soft flesh on the inside of her legs. Behind her, there’s an intimidatingly large stone cauldron resting on a low fire.

“Is she—“

“She’s fine,” Evie says quickly. She’s still staring at the mirror, but she’s looking through it now, like she can’t bear to see her mother through the magic. “That’s what she does, most days. She’s just waiting while the cauldron heats up.”

“Pretty fucked up.”

“It’s not anything magical,” Evie says, but her voice is soft and she’s still focused on the mirror. “It’s acupuncture. She’s doing it for weight loss. And the cauldron isn’t magical either, it’s just some makeup compounds that don’t come over on the barges.”

Jay whistles, low and long. “That’s a pretty big cauldron for some makeup, princess.”

Evie startles out of her stare. “Oh, we sold it. She’s not boiling children’s skulls or anything like that. It’s a foundation base. She boils down some of the plants that come over and then adds pigments for each customer. It’s a pretty good business practice, and if we didn’t like somebody it was really easy to sneak something a little bit nastier than just pigment into their bottle.”

“Oh.” Ben says. He’s leaning over Evie’s shoulder to see the mirror, and he doesn’t pull back, but his shoulders tense at the mention of Evie’s mother slipping something untoward into a bottle. He’s got sort of a thing about poisons and edible spells, which is understandable. “I see.”

“Evil, babe,” Evie reminds him, tipping her chin up to look him in the face. “We didn’t exactly have a lot of other options.”

Unseen by Evie, the mirror swirls again. This time, it reforms to show a crumpled skeleton, surrounded by pieces of rusty metal.

“Uh, who’s that?” Ben asks after a moment, staring over Evie’s shoulder again. He looks a bit like someone watching a car wreck happening, but in a casual way. Like watching a car wreck on TV, maybe.

Evie glances back down at the mirror, and then recoils visibly at the pile of bones. “Oh, ew. I guess I didn’t word the request very well. That’s my father’s corpse.”

“Is that a dungeon?”

“It’s my mother’s dungeon, yes.” Evie explains. “She had my father killed down there shortly after I was born.”

“I’m sorry.”

Evie shrugs. “Thanks, I guess. She had him killed when I was a baby, so it’s not like I ever got to know him.”

Mal drops her head onto Evie’s shoulder. “Not like he was a big loss.”

“Come on, M,” Evie says fondly, tipping her head so that it rests on top of Mal’s, just for a moment. “Just because you don’t like your father doesn’t mean we all have to hate ours.”

“You never knew yours!” Mal points out. “And he was a man, E. We all know what men on the island are like.”

“I could have liked him.” Evie insists. “He might have been better that your dad. Not everyone is a bad parent.”

“Right, just everyone on the isle, then.”

“I know my dad,” Jay adds, leaning over to insert himself into the girl’s space. “Not to sway our data here, but I agree with Mal. There’s way more bad parents on the island than good ones, and my dad’s shit. Mal’s dad is shit. Evie’s dad is dead, so he’s not doing great either—“

“It’s changing again!” Carlos points out, smacking the table next to where Evie’s set the mirror down in order to argue better.

Five heads snap back to attention as the mirror swirls, and reforms into quite a different view. The background this time is bright grey, the color of the sky on a rainy spring day, the sort of day where the sun is trying and failing valiantly at breaking through the cloud cover. There’s a shop in the foreground, with a garish pink and green sign declaring it to be ‘the goblin mud spa’, and a bright copper car parked out front. There’s a woman in the front seat of the car, holding the steering wheel with one hand, and balancing a dirty glass in the fingertips of the other.

Carlos makes a soft, sad sort of noise. “…oh.”

On the surface of the mirror, his mother throws back the remainder of her drink.

“Is that normal?” Ben asks, leaning in to get a better look. “Drinking and driving isn’t exactly legal.”

Carlos’s hands aren’t visible, but there’s a sense of nervous, fidgety energy from him anyway. “…Yeah. She does that a lot. Goes away, drinks a lot, comes back stupid.”

“Magic mirror, move on,” Evie whispers, after they all stare for a long moment at the unmoving view of Cruella and her beloved car.

“Why isn’t it changing?” Mal asks. “It didn’t show my mom for this long.”

“You don’t wanna know,” Carlos mumbles, around the fingertip he’s got in his mouth. There’s a drop of blood smeared on the corner of his mouth, and it’s not entirely clear if his hand was bleeding before or after he started chewing on it. “Trust me.”

Mal frowns. “I totally do. Telling me I don’t want to know something is basically like slapping a neon sign on it telling me to keep digging until I find out. How do you not know know this already?”

Carlos sighs, and reaches out with his other hand to hover his index finger just over the surface of the mirror, above where his mother is pulling the strap of her soft leather purse over her shoulder. “That’s my dad. Human remains count, and that leather she used for her purse is the biggest piece of him left.”

Mal tries to recoil away from the mirror. but they’re so tightly packed around the table that she really just ends up shoving herself harder into Evie’s side. “Oh, gross. That can’t be hygienic.”

Carlos stares at her. “It’s leather. Humans aren’t any different than cows inside. Is wearing cow leather gross?”

Mal’s pale cheeks are somehow even paler than usual. “Yes,” she snaps. “It’s different.”

“It’s fine, you just have to process it properly,” Carlos says, leaning ever so slightly closer to her. “And besides, it’s not like there were any concerns about fluid bonding when she scraped the flesh off his skin. They’d already been there, done that, had a kid to prove it.”

“Gross,” Mal groans, burying her face in Evie’s shoulder. Conveniently, Evie’s wearing her coat with the mini caplet attached today, and Mal pulls the extra leather over her head. “You ever heard of a thing called TMI?”

Carlos smiles, but it’s not a very nice expression. More like an animal showing their teeth. “Evil, remember?”

“That’s horrible.” Ben says firmly. “I don’t mind knowing, but it’s still awful, and I’m glad you’re not there anymore.”

“Yeah, well,” Carlos mumbles, sitting back now that his point’s been made. “It’s changing again.”

The mirror clouds over with dark swirls, and clears to an image of Jafar, standing behind the counter of a shop while a woman in an emerald green dress examines a handful of jewelry that’s spread over the counter between them.

Jay waves a hand at the mirror, middle finger firmly up.

Ben laughs. “I take it there’s no lost love there?”

Jay grins. He’s still flipping off the image of Jafar in the mirror, even as the picture shows him carefully slipping one of the rings onto the woman’s finger, mouth moving like he’s flattering her the whole time. “Nah. Not really. He’s charming and all, but not a great parent, you know?”

Ben’s nodding before the words are even finished. “Yeah, that’s fair,” he agrees. “My dad isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy either.” Mal’s mother might be charming when she wants to be, and Evie’s mother is beautiful and dangerous and enticing, but Ben’s father has made a career out of walking the line between being loved and being feared, and neither of those things has made him the kind, attentive parent that Ben needed. Even more than the others, he can understand the pressure of having a career politician for a parent. “I wish you’d been able to get away sooner.”

“Me too,” Mal agrees, reaching across Evie to tap her fingers on one of the scars that runs, white and twisted and bold, across Jay’s wrist. “Your dad’s a dick.”

The mirror swirls again; the picture resolves into a patch of ocean. Very deep, dark, empty ocean.

“Is that the ocean?” Evie asks, staring. “I didn’t think any of our parents were the sort to get murdered by pirates.”

Jay makes a funny sort of choking noise. “That’s my mom,” he says, eyes locked on the mirror. Under the glass, the ocean undulates with the great swells of very deep, open water. “She drowned herself.”

“I thought the spell prevented that?” Ben asks curiously. “The spell was supposed to prevent anyone from dying under the barrier.”

Jay snaps his head up to look at Ben, and if his eyes are a little red, well, nobody else is close enough to notice.

“The spell doesn’t work all the time,” he explains, voice low and even. “You can get around it if you destroy the body. Scatter the remains, or burn them beyond what the spell can handle, or let the sharks deal with you. People who really want that way out usually go with the sharks.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jay lifts a shoulder. “It is what it is. Can’t blame her for taking the only way out.”

“Still.”

Evie’s gasp breaks whatever sympathetic moment might have happened, and her hand shoots out quicker than a snake to grab the mirror as it starts to shift again.

“Oh? Magic mirror, what—“

The picture solidifies before she can finish the command. A beige room, with a man sitting at a desk comes into view.

“Why—“ Mal starts, but Ben is faster, and he leans down over Evie’s shoulder to tip the mirror up for a better view.

“That’s my dad?” Ben says, sounding thoroughly confused by the discovery. “He’s not— he’s just sitting in his office. He’s not on the isle of the lost or anything like that.”

Evie tips the mirror back down towards herself. “Ah, I guess I didn’t specify well enough when I said whose parents we wanted to see. My bad, Ben. You got caught up in the spell too.”

“Are we going to see your mom next?”Mal demands, shoving her head further into Evie’s space to get a clear view of the mirror, which really isn’t large enough to be seen by five people at once, especially not when two of them are sitting on the same chair. “What does she do all day?”

“I….don’t know,” Ben says slowly. “I guess we’ll see. I think she hangs out in the library, mostly. With grandpa, if she doesn’t have state duties to do with my dad.”

The mirror swirls, and the surface turns brilliant, spring green.

“It looks like she’s outside?”

Sure enough, Queen Belle is standing outside, in the center of a ring of trees. There’s a book in her hand, and as she reads, she rocks back and forth slightly, her mouth moving around the shape of words that the mirror can’t play for them. Or possibly won’t. Evie’s been working on control of her powers, but when the spell is board enough to sweep a whole extra person in their attempt to see what their parents are up to, it’s possible that asking the mirror to help them ‘see’ their parents was a bit too literal. Or maybe the mirror can only do auditory assistance when it’s coming from the whole mirror, and not just the broken shard Evie keeps in her palm-sized frame. Maybe some of the magic was lost when her mother ground the shard to size, or maybe the magic is weaker than it should be, and there’s something deeply wrong with the state of magic in Auradon.

Or maybe they’re just not very good at directing spells yet.

Ben slaps his hand on the table. “Oh, that’s the glade above the lake!” he exclaims. “It’s enchanted. No wonder the mirror showed her too.”

Mal frowns. “You have an enchanted glade?”

Ben beams at her. “Yeah! It’s up the trail from the enchanted lake a bit. Kind of by the cliffs up there. It’s really pretty in the fall, when the leaves are all changing. I guess she’s been riding out there sometimes. It’s one of the most magical places in the kingdom.”

“She looks pretty happy,” Evie says thoughtfully. “D’you think that’s why the magic included her?”

“Yeah, guess so.” Ben says, shrugging. “I don’t really understand magic, but I know the glade is supposed to be one of the most magically powerful sites in the kingdom. It’s a nice place to read, I guess?”

“Ben.” Mal says sharply, as the image of Queen Belle turns, book still in hand. “Why is your mother reading a spell book?”

#my fic #descendants fic #rotten ot4 #only it’s actually very heavily implied ot5 because I know what I am about #descendants #mal bertha #evie grimhilde #jay son of jafar #carlos de vil #ben florian

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whinlatter · 11 months ago

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sorry i’m the anon from the other day who came to gush all over beasts and i’m back to do more bc i forgot to gush all over the way you write women and about their friendships!!! especially from a series that is narrated by a boy and also just generally dismisses girls as giggly and frivolous far too often, the way you have redefined not only their internal strength but the strength of female friendship! hermione and ginny, the unit they have going on w hannah and luna (the spice girls!!!), the inclusion of hannah abbott who shines for me in your series, pavarti’s speech for lavender at the greyback trial, probs so much more i can’t even think of right now. sorry i know i’m rambling so bad but it’s so flawlessly executed in beasts sometimes it makes me want to cry and i thought you should know!

mate thank you for this fr, that means the world. i am not the first person to point out that female characters, and particularly female friendships, are criminally undeserved in canon, nor the first to try and correct some of that in a fic, but it’s an honour to contribute to the cause and something i care about trying to get right. in chapters 10 and 11 one of the very dumb reasons i wanted scenes with girls getting changed (so the girls before the party, and ginny and cho before their surprise heart for heart) was because i wanted moments of intimacy and vulnerability between female characters, but also because i wanted the reader at this point in the fic to see that the girls are literally changing, trying on new versions of themselves, figuring out who they’re going to be in the next years of their life.

on the female friendships thing — it’s funny because i have found writing beasts that the moments between the girls have been the scenes that have basically written themselves or that have sprung up really organically and easier than when writing other dynamics. because it’s like, oh yeah girls hanging out and having a laugh! and looking after each other! and also bickering and properly arguing and growing up together! i benefit from that every day of my life and have done as long as i can remember and cannot imagine having grown up without it. and i really can’t imagine how i would even begin write a story about young woman coming of age without that being a part of her life (and if you were to write a story about a young woman whose life lacked it, surely the absence of it or the search for it would have to be a plot point). you’re completely right that ofc the series is narrated by a teenage boy, but it seems mad to me for a series that has such a large ensemble cast with meaningful arcs that there are no female friendships meaningfully and substantially depicted on the page (including ones dealing with conflict, or falling apart - it doesn’t always need to be positive, just an arc). jkr’s feminism, which is as bizarre as it is hateful, is so enraging for this (and many other) reasons: she pats herself on the back for her view that women (and exclusively cis women) are better than men, so they don’t need to grow, and for some reason don’t need arcs beyond their relationships to men (ginny changing over her adolescence is a literal major plot necessity and yet entire thing happens off stage?)

got the soapbox out SORRY but basically thank you forever i really REALLY appreciate this. thank god hannah abbott is enough of a blank slate to throw in a 10/10 cutie into scenes to make everyone be a bit nicer to each other!

#anon you’re a star #beasts #girlhoods i guess!

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deceptive-daydreams · 2 years ago

Text

California Dreamin’

Chapter One - Lasagna (18+ ONLY)

Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4

Modern!Eddie AU - In which Eddie travels to California searching for something more out of life. And then he meets you.

Warnings: mentions of deceased parent, self doubt, insecurities, eventual smut

5.6K words

Eddie x Reader, Friends to lovers, Slow burn

Next ->

Note: This is my first time writing in a while and this idea came to me and just kept building in my mind. A lot of it is self indulgent, not gonna lie. It builds off some of my personal experiences. If you read I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think :)

Masterlist

—

The air is different from Hawkins. Not cleaner, dirtier if anything but certainly different. And different is good, different will be good Eddie thinks to himself. It has to be because at this point it’s all he’s got.

As he drives into the suburban area of Circle Crest, he can’t help but notice the palm trees pass him by over and over. He’s never seen a palm tree before, always figured they were reserved for the movies and shows he’s watched on TV. And there are mountains but not mountains like in the midwest he’s used to. Mountains that look like they could probably be from Hawaii with how green they are from the Winter rain, the golden afternoon sun cascading over them as if to welcome him. As if to say everything will be okay.

Approaching the top of the hill that overlooks the city, Eddie takes in the amount of homes scattered throughout the landscape. Definitely the suburbs, something he has never really experienced. Other than Halloween in the rich neighborhoods back home. But as he looks to the right there are those gorgeous mountains right in front of him. The head of a hiking trail is just off the side of the road where people park their cars and disappear into nature.

California so far is not at all what he had envisioned. Obviously he wasn’t expecting to show up to a red carpet, Hollywood sign right in his face but he never pictured a forest before him just right off the main road. This forest was different from the ones back home. There were no pine trees and there were many people heading onto the trail, no doubt trying to get a walk in before the sun disappeared on the horizon.

Eddie reaches the street of his temporary home for who knows how long. There wasn’t really a plan. He just needed to get out of Hawkins. Turning into the neighborhood, there are some nice looking homes on his left, the kind that he was always convinced he’d never be able to have. They had pristine lawns and basketball hoops out front that signified happy families lived there.

A little further up the road at the stop sign there is an open field to the left with what looked like a dam on the other end. It was a reservoir but for most of the year it was just a field since there wasn’t much rain. To the right across from the reservoir are some more homes, not as large or nice as the ones he previously saw down the road but still nicer than he’s used to. They are lined up down the road, four homes with a little more land than the others. Each one is a different style and were probably all built at different periods in time. He reaches the last house, Marlene’s house.

It looks like an older one, maybe built in the 80’s. There is a chain link fence in front closing off the driveway. The driveway is made up of dirt and there is a wooden awning next to the house with a car parked underneath along with boxes and storage containers, a place for where things couldn’t find a home inside the house. The house is dusty and looks like it could use a paint job but it's still cozy.

Marlene is an old family friend of the Munson’s. Or at least Eddie and his Uncle Wayne. She’s basically his aunt. And her daughter Jocelyn is like his cousin. Not related by blood but still family. Back at the trailer park years ago they would cause all kinds of trouble, pissing off the other neighbors by being too loud.

Unfortunately by the time Eddie was twelve her and her mom had moved back to California where they had some family. They were having a hard time in Hawkins as a Latino family, Jocelyn an even harder time being gay. It was a fairly unprogressive town and Marlene wanted better for her daughter. That left Eddie without his only friend in a town that hated him even at the innocent age of twelve.

Eddie reached the driveway where the fence was closed off. His van must have been noisier and closer to coming apart than he thought since Marlene came running out with excitement etched into her features. Following her are two chocolate labs, barking enthusiastically. She pulled the gate open across the dirt enough for Eddie to drive his van in and park to the side underneath a large tree sitting in the front yard.

Marlene was a short woman with long black hair and brown skin. She was beautiful and kind hearted, always reminding Eddie not to listen to a damn thing anyone in that small town says. She’s the closest thing to a mom he had since she died when he was seven. But even so, he hasn’t seen Marlene in years. He thinks the last time may have been on Thanksgiving in middle school. He tunes in on a phone call with Wayne every now and then having basic conversation, texts Jocelyn, but that’s about it since they moved away.

“Come here you!” Marlene shouts out of excitement as Eddie hops out of the van, briefly stretching his legs. The labs eagerly paw at him and he gives each a scratch behind the ear. Marlene wraps him up in a big hug which he isn’t used to. “Eddie you’ve gotten so tall, and your hair!” She looks at him proudly. “Oh, this ol’ mane? Grew it myself, thank you.” Eddie shakes his wild curls, jokingly flipping his hair with his hand. Always dramatic and outspoken.

“So how was the drive?” Marlene asks as Eddie rounds the back of his van, beginning to pull out his bags. She assists in grabbing one. He didn’t have very much to bring, just his clothes and some things like books, his guitar, and of course his bong. But Marlene didn’t need to know that.

“Pretty fucking long. I was bored out of my mind for most of it.” He responds while kicking the van door shut. “I’m glad I’m here though. Get to see you and Jos.” Marlene hums happily. “Well let’s get you situated, we’ll go through the garage and say hi before I show you your room. Jos is in there with everyone.” She leads the way across the yard to the garage connected to the house. “Everyone?” Eddie questions with a raised brow. “Don’t worry they’ll love you!” She waves him off, approaching the open garage.

The garage isn’t really used for cars or anything a garage would usually contain. There are two couches in the middle of the room along with a coffee table and some mismatched colorful rugs underneath. In the right corner is a drum kit along with a keyboard and some guitars. On the left side of the room there is a bench with cushions lining one wall, long enough to hold around six people. The walls are painted orange but not too bright, just a nice orange on the verge of being yellow but not quite. The other side of the garage is lined with storage cabinets. There is a chandelier hanging in the middle, it looks like it could be an antique and there are lamps in every corner and a couple wooden stools scattered randomly.

On those couches sit people. People who appear to be having a great time, laughing and talking. Marlene walks in with Eddie following, he momentarily sets his bags down. “This is Jonathan, Argyle, Will, El, and…” your name leaves Marlene’s mouth and you can’t help but stare at the man who just walked in. His chestnut brown hair is long, curly, and wild. He’s wearing a tshirt with the name of a band you can’t be bothered to pay attention to right now and ripped black jeans with a chain hanging on the side along with some worn out black converse. He’s wearing these chunky rings and has a couple tattoos throughout his forearms and then you get to his eyes and you’re met with a pool of chocolatey irises. He’s gorgeous and that golden hour sun is just making it worse by lighting up the hues throughout his eyes you would otherwise mistake as plain brown.

“And this is Eddie, he’s gonna be staying with us for a while so you guys better play nice.” Marlene jokes. Jocelyn scrambles off the couch to hug Eddie, screeching as she does so. They hug for a minute and then pull apart “I missed you dude.” Jos punches him in the arm playfully.

Jocelyn is 23, the same age as you. She has shoulder length black hair with choppy layers. She’s definitely an indie chick with her style and music taste. She’ll call you out on your shit but is a solid friend through and through.

“Yeah ya left be back in that shit hole remember?” Eddie grins, shoving her shoulder. “Someone had to look after all those stray cats we tamed and it wasn’t gonna be me, those fuckers hated me.” Jos laughs. “Well they’re Wayne’s responsibility now. He’s gonna be pissed when like 15 cats show up at the door.” Eddie winces. “So they don’t have mama Munson to take care of them anymore?” Jos gasps. “Nah, it’s okay though. Wayne’s girlfriend, Leslie said she’d take over so not all hope is lost.” Eddie says confidently.

The rest of you watch this banter play out in front of you. Eddie was cute. There was no denying that. “You gonna jam with us while you’re here?” Jocelyn questions, glancing at Jonathan and Argyle. They formed a little band a few years back in high school. Jonathan on bass, Argyle on drums, and Jos on guitar/keyboard/singing. She was a triple threat. “Nope I’m a one man show.” Eddie crosses his arms. “You’re still such a dickhead!” Jos shoves him jokingly. “Alright alright, you don’t have to beg Jos, I’ll be in your band.” he smirks. Everyone else laughs.

Eddie says hello to everyone individually and shakes hands. Once his hand touches yours you feel the nerves taking over. He offers a quick “Hi.” You can’t say anything, anxiety builds up as he looks directly at you, gorgeous eyes and all. His rings are a cool contrast to your skin. You're suddenly worried if your hand is clammy before he pulls away, smiling and then picks up his bags.

He’s now bantering with Jonathan and Argyle when Marlene speaks up. “Okay let’s get you settled and then you can bicker all you want. Looks like you’ll fit right in with our crew.” She carries one of his bags through the door into the house and he follows after shooting the room a wink. He’s charming.

—

“And this will be your room” Marlene wraps up a tour of the house. Eddie notices the freshly made bed, a dark wooden nightstand next to it with a lamp on top, and a wardrobe at the other end of the room. It was empty other than that. “You can do whatever you want with it while you’re here. We barely even use it anyway.” She opens the curtains to let the remaining daylight in. The dogs trot around the room, their paws clicking against the dark wood floor. “Treat it just like home.” Marlene turns to Eddie, offering a small smile.

“Thanks, Mar. Just so you know, I’m gonna find a job and do what I can to help out. I’m no freeloader.” Eddie smirks, setting his bag and guitar case on the bed. Marlene chuckles and gives him a nod. “You’re a good kid, Ed. Wayne did a good job.” She says. “Mar, I’m 24.” Eddie laughs. “Still a kid to me. All of you.” She responds, making her way out of the room, the labs following her. “Feel free to join everyone in the garage once you’re ready. I think they already love you. Dinner will be ready soon, I’m making lasagna.” She finishes before disappearing down the stairs, the wood creaking slightly under every step.

Eddie gazes out the window, taking in the garden in the yard. Tomatoes, peppers, and some other vegetables each in their own barrels of soil. Some flowers sit along the side of the house, stunning colors decorating the aged chipped paint they sit in front of. The hose is still coiled on the ground, discarded until the plants need watering again. The house sits on a little patch of land. It’s not huge but it’s more than the expensive houses up the road.

The sun is just setting and it’s summer so it’s around 7:45. Eddie begins unpacking some of his things, dumping some of his clothes in one of the drawers of the wardrobe. That’s really all he has to put away right now, everything else remains back in Hawkins. The only other time he’s packed up and started brand new was when he was seven. Except that time it wasn’t his choice. That’s when his mother died and his dad went to jail. It was either living with his Uncle or straight to the foster system.

He shakes off the memories of his past, he doesn’t need to relive that pain. Eddie was never one to tune into his emotions fully. He learned at a young age not to express sadness and to “be a man about it”. Threats of “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” were ingrained into him. Closing out his thoughts, Eddie picks up his guitar and heads downstairs.

—

“Dude’s pretty cool.” Jonathan expresses, plucking the string of his bass. Argyle is bouncing a small rubber bouncy ball as he lazily paces around the garage. El and Will are sitting on one of the couches scrolling through some Tik Toks, bursting out laughing every now and then. You and Jocelyn are sitting on the other couch with Jonathan, talking. “He’s such an ass but like in the good way, y’know? You guys are gonna love him.” Jos lounges against the arm of the couch, propping her head on her hand. “So you’re cousins?” You question leaning back into the cushions behind you. “Yep, not by blood but that’s basically it. We practically ran the trailer park. The neighbors hated us sometimes.”

Jocelyn was your best friend since high school. She’s basically your only friend other than Jonathan, Argyle, El, and Will. They were great friends but Jocelyn was your best friend. The one you could tell almost anything. Except that you think her ‘cousin’ is hot. Not even having much experience with relationships yourself, you weren’t even going to go there.

“How long’s rocker bro staying?” Argyle questions, not once looking up from his bouncy ball. “As long as he needs. He just had to get out of that place, dude. Hawkins is not a forgiving place to live.” Jos explains. “Just don’t bring it up with him though. He’s kinda closed off and if he wants to talk about it, it has to be his idea.” She finishes. You can’t help but want to know more. You just nod in response.

Jonathan continues playing around with his bass. “So is he gonna be taking courses with us at the college?” He asks, his eyes not moving from the instrument. Jocelyn shakes her head. “No, he told me he was gonna find a mechanic job.” She says. Jonathan nods. “Maybe he can fix my shit box then. Still can’t figure out why it keeps stalling.” He chuckles. “Yeah, he’s real good with that type of stuff-“ “Damn right. I knew you had nice things to say about me.” Jos is interrupted by Eddie striding into the room. He sets his guitar against the couch before plopping himself next to Will and El.

Will seems intimidated by the big personality that is Eddie Munson sitting to his left. “Shut up.” Jos rolls her eyes. Eddie shrugs, leaning back and is he—yep he’s manspreading and usually it’d give you an unimaginable ick but because it’s him you don’t seem to mind. He makes it work and you find it difficult to tear your gaze away although eventually you force yourself to.

“Holy shit is that DND?!” Eddie’s eyes gleam at the box on the small coffee table centered in front of the couches. “Yeah, i-it is. It’s mine.” Will’s face turns red, seemingly embarrassed. “Dude, you’re already my favorite. We gotta play sometime.” Eddie looks at Will with a smile. Will seems relieved that the cool new guy doesn’t think he’s a huge nerd, when actually it seems like he’s also a nerd himself. Jonathan beams at the interaction, his brother has always had a hard time putting himself out there so to see Eddie already taking him under his wing almost brings him to tears.

A few minutes later Eddie and Will are still going back and forth, practically speaking another language. It’s sweet, you think. He’s sweet. The way he interacts with Will, not for a second judging him and just allowing him to go on a tangent about his favorite fantasy game, letting him take the lead on the conversation. Meanwhile you’re the only one still engaged in their discussion while everyone else has moved on, talking amongst themselves. El and Jos chatting about an upcoming concert they had been raving about, Jonathan and Argyle quarreling over something again, no doubt being about a song they practiced earlier and you would chime in every now and then, a word or two.

You were usually the more reserved one of the group. Always observing more than participating. For the most part you liked it like that but there are times you wondered if you were just a background character in everyone else’s story.

As the sun started fading out of sight, the group started to disband. El, Will, and Argyle piling into Jonathan’s car. “You promise we’ll go?” El questions Jocelyn, they had just been talking about going to the mall next week to find an outfit for that concert. “I swear.” Jos waves as the car door closes and they drive off. They had a sisterly relationship which was nice seeing as both of them were only children.

Just down the road around the corner was your house so normally you opted for walking. It was about half a mile away just in the other neighborhood on the other side of the reservoir Jocelyn’s house sat in front of.

Before you get the chance to say goodnight Jocelyn pipes up next to you. “You staying for dinner? Mom made lasagna.” And how could you refuse dinner when Marlene was cooking up one of her home cooked meals. “You already know my answer.” You giggle.

—

Eddie is still sitting on the couch in the garage where he had been conversing with everyone for the past hour or so. Except now he’s strumming his acoustic guitar, glancing up when you and Jos come back in from the front yard.

As if on queue, Marlene peaks in from the door leading into the house. “Time to eat, get your butts inside.” Like ducklings, Jocelyn, yourself, and Eddie file into the house and into the kitchen. The smell is immaculate, marinara and cheese filling your senses. “Smells amazing, I’m so hungry.” You praise while pulling out plates from one of the cabinets. It was practically your second home. “Thanks, Mom.” Jocelyn takes a plate from you, beginning to pile it high with the gooey cheese and noodles. “Thank you, Mar.” Eddie slings his arm around Marlene’s shoulders playfully as she sets down a tray of garlic bread. You then realize he’s the human embodiment of a golden retriever.

Marlene hums in appreciation and observes Eddie proudly. “You look so much like your mom.” She blurts out. It’s no secret that this is a sore subject for Eddie with the way his face drains as he clears his throat. Marlene instantly has regret in her eyes. “Uhm-I’m sorry- I just-“ she stutters. “It’s okay.” Eddie states, avoiding eye contact and moving to the table situated in the breakfast nook of the kitchen.

It takes him a minute but as you all assemble around the table for dinner he’s back to his normal antics. “Do you jam with Jos and her band?” He inquires, gesturing toward you. This catches you off guard seeing as you haven’t even had a full conversation with him in the time he’s been here. In fact, the only thing he’s said to you so far was ‘hi’ when he first arrived and was introduced to everyone. “Uh- well no. No, I don’t even know how to play an instrument. I'm basically the moral support.” You nervously laugh. He flashes a grin before he stuffs a large helping of lasagna into his mouth. “Most important role, right?” He says through a mouthful, smirking somewhat shyly.

You just offer a nod and a polite smile in response. It’s not a full conversation but it’s a start. And you chime in where you can but again, not as often as you’d like. The rest of dinner entails old friends catching up, the dogs waiting patiently for scraps to drop. One of them, Winnie is next to you, drool hanging off of her jowl. The other, Diesel next to Marlene. It almost feels like you're imposing on a family dinner. And although you are also considered part of said family, it feels like you’re an outsider, your own anxieties and insecurities getting the best of you.

—

The four of you are cleaning up when Jocelyn makes it known that there is a trip to the beach planned this weekend with everyone. “Ed, you gonna join us? Pleeease?” Jos puts on an exaggerated pout as she wipes down the counter. Eddie is scrubbing a plate over the sink while he squints his eyes as if he’s contemplating the offer. “I guess.” He sighs dramatically. “Only for you though.” He winks mischievously. Jocelyn rolls her eyes, finishing up her task and throwing a dish rag into a nearby basket in the hallway next to the laundry.

“Jos, will you help me with this?” Marlene asks, carrying two bowls of cat food, two more prepped and ready on the counter. They had outdoor cats that didn’t officially belong to them but they never really left the property. Why would they when they had the promise of a meal waiting for them every morning and evening? Jocelyn grabs the other two bowls and follows her mom out the screen door just off the kitchen, through the little hallway where the laundry was located and to the backyard. The door smacks against the wood of the house as they walk out, Winnie and Diesel following eagerly.

“So are you and Jos…” Eddie breaks the silence in the room, the sounds of silverware clinking against the drawer as you dry and put it away. He’s finishing drying off a plate. “Y’know—uh-like together?” He finishes his thought, awkwardly clearing his throat, eyes on you from across the kitchen. You giggle at this and his brows furrow. “She’s my best friend and I love her but not like that.” You explain, your words soft as if speaking too loud could disrupt the balance of the universe. He nods. “Cool, cool, I just—I didn’t know. Jos doesn’t really let me in on the gooey details of her relationships you know? She’s got that tough guy thing going on—at least with me when we talk.” He further explains.

“Oh I know, she hates people seeing her soft. Even me and I practically live here half the time.” You finish up with the silverware. “I live just down the road but I live alone so…” you shrug. “I like to come over here most of the time, sometimes help Mar with her garden or whatever she needs. Keeps me from going crazy in that big house by myself.” You continue. “How’d you end up as Mar’s assistant?” Eddie jokingly asks, he rounds the island, now leaning on it with his hands tucked under his chin as he listens.

You’re across from him on the other side nearest to the kitchen cabinets, busying yourself with small tasks so you don’t have to commit to making eye contact with him. That would be daunting. His eyes would swallow you whole.

“Um—well I met Jos in high school, junior year. And as they say the rest is history. We hang out in the garage a lot of the time and suddenly Mar has you doing chores you can’t say no to.” You laugh, shaking your head at the thought. “Because then she feeds you and it’s like eating for the first time every single time so how are you supposed to say no?” You lean against the counter closest to the wall, finally bringing your gaze to Eddie.

He’s so endearing in the warm kitchen lighting. A small smile is pulling at his lips and the corner of his eyes are slightly creased. It occurs to you that he’s just been listening to you talk, no interruptions, full attention on you. And it’s not like Jocelyn or Jonathan or everyone doesn't listen to you but a lot of the time, your voice gets drowned out by interruptions. Not intentional but still wounding your self esteem. It isn’t their fault by any means, you know you should just speak up above it all but some things are hard to change and easier said than done.

“Sorry—I” you’re about to apologize for the little ramble you’d performed seconds ago but he cuts you off but not in the way you’re used to. “Don’t be sorry. Why are you sorry?” He questions, now bringing his forearms in front of him, clasping his hands together on the counter, fiddling with his rings with his brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t know.” You offer a short answer. “Don’t apologize to me ever again. I don’t wanna hear it. Unless you like—I dunno, hit my car or something.” He stands up straightening himself out, stretching his arms above his head and ending with a yawn.

You don’t know how to respond, now too focused on the way his shirt rides up ever so slightly at his stomach, his happy trail on display for a brief moment. Marlene and Jocelyn stroll back into the house. Marlene announces that she’s going to bed and suggests the three of you think about doing the same.

“I’ve got a paper to write, so no sleep for me.” Jos sighs, grabbing her laptop from the coffee table in the family room adjacent to the kitchen. “You sleeping over?” She asks. “I have work in the morning.” You can’t fathom sleeping under the same roof as the metal head, maybe eventually as you get used to him but not now. Not when he’d be just down the hall and there was a chance of running into him on your way to the bathroom.

“You have work every morning. You work from home. Do you want me to drive you back and we can pick up your laptop—“ “No that okay, Jos. I’m just super tired, think I need to go home and recharge.” You say putting your shoes on. “Okay we’ll it’s dark so I’m gonna drive you anyway.” She grabs her keys off the side table by the front door. “I can drive her if you have that paper to write. I don’t think I’m gonna be sleeping any time soon either…” Eddie offers. Fuck. Now you have even more of a chance at humiliating yourself.

It’s decided and soon enough you’re hopping in the passenger seat of his van. It starts with a rumble, sounds like it could give out any minute. You don’t say anything though. “Sorry about the mess, I just drove across like half of America and couldn’t really bother stopping to throw away the trash.” He mumbles, throwing some of it in the back carelessly. “That’s okay, I don’t mind.” You respond shyly.

The tires crunch over the gravel and dirt that is the driveway, making their way onto the asphalt of the road but he stops just before. “Uh-pardon my French but where the fuck is your house?” Eddie looks cluelessly back and forth between the left and the right, unsure of which way to go. A laugh escapes your lungs and he looks back over to you, a grin on his face, a small chuckle falling from his lips. “Turn right and then make another right at the stop sign.” You manage to get out in between a wide smile. “Got it.” He snaps his fingers and begins driving.

—

The van stops in front of your house, Eddie seems to be taking it in. It’s a nice house, not like the fancy ones he first encountered earlier in the day but still nice. Most of the homes on the rest of the street are similar but different in their own ways. Different colors, different layouts, but the same general idea in the way that they’re all made of stucco. Somewhat cookie cutter but not all the way. Each house somehow still had its own personality with how one had a boat parked in the driveway and another had a swing hanging from the tree in front.

Your house was two stories, a cream color with a light brown trim and a hedge blocking the front door from view of the street with a little path leading behind it so as to reach the door. There was a small grass lawn in the front, not too large.

“Wow. Fuck.” Eddie expresses through an exhale. You quickly glance back to him, unaware that he was referring to your house at first. “Oh uh—yeah this is me.” You murmur, reaching for the car handle. “You’ve got shit figured out.” He says, still staring at the house. You feel the need to reveal that it’s not at all what he thinks. That you don’t actually have anything figured out at all. That it’s not even your house. Well not fully your house.

“It’s not like that. It’s my grandparent’s house.” You quickly say. “Thought you said you lived alone?” He inquires. “For the most part. They’re always going on cruises so most of the time it’s just me. I take care of the house, pay what bills I can. But I most certainly don’t have my shit figured out.” You explain, tucking your hair behind your ear.

“And here I was thinking I was the only one without my shit together.” Eddie smirks. You find a hint of insecurity behind his eyes, a fraction of self doubt but just as quickly as it came it’s gone, hidden away.

For some reason you feel comfortable enough to continue, clearing your throat before you do so. “And my mom and sisters are about an hour and a half away, living in the desert. I'm the oldest. Felt like I should stay and help out and eventually they put my name on the house. So technically it is mine, just not only mine.” You wince. “I—I don’t know why I felt the need to tell you-“ “If you apologize I’ll scream.” Eddie interrupts but again, you don’t mind because he’s preventing you from crawling back into the depths of your mind, insecurities rising. “So-“ just as the word begins leaving your lips he gives you a stern look, eyebrows raised. “Okay.” You say.

“That’s better.” He concludes. The moonlight is steaming in from the wind shield, brighter tonight than most nights. Eddie taps his rings against the steering wheel, following the beat of the song playing quietly over the radio, a metal song. “Do you visit your mom and sisters very often?” He asks. “Yeah, yeah usually every two months. They aren’t super far but I have stuff to take care of here. It’s real fun out there, the desert just does something to you, maybe it’s cause the airs super dry but I love it out there.” You grin at the thought.

“I’ve never been anywhere outside of Indiana so everything here is new to me. All I know is farmland and shitty small town people.” He says. “Well we always have people visit out there. Jos loves it, we swim and lay out in the sun. Have big family dinners. Maybe you can come out sometime.” You offer, nearly shitting yourself. How are you even forming coherent thoughts while speaking to the beautiful boy in front of you? “I’d like that.” He looks down at his rings tapping against the steering wheel.

His long eyelashes cast a shadow over his cheek and his silhouette is like something out of the renaissance.

“So Jos said you work from home?” He changes the subject. “Yeah, I do some insurance work. It’s really boring but it pays pretty well and I don’t have to be in an office building with people I don’t like all day.” He laughs at this. “I respect it.” He says. “What about you?” You question. “Well I don’t have anything going for me yet but back home I worked on cars at the auto shop. I’m really good at taking shit apart and putting it back together. I’ll probably find a shop here that’ll take me in.” He tells you. “You will. There are tons of shops down on Main Street.” You enlighten him.

—

You could have listened and babbled on and on with him all night but eventually you bid him goodnight and he waits as you make your way through the door. Only leaving when he’s sure you made it in.

You let out a long sigh, making your way upstairs and to your room for the night. Eddie Munson was going to be a problem in the best way possible.

~end~

Next ->

Masterlist

#Eddie Munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #Eddie Munson fic #eddie Munson x female reader #Stranger things #St4 #Eddie’s-house fic #Eddie Munson x fem reader #Cal dreamin’

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mamaluigi2018-commsopen · 16 days ago

Note

Sparky and Static both share the last name ”Inazuma”. I doubt this is a coincidence to Genshin Impact’s Inazuma, cuz you draw Genshin stuff sometimes. But it leads me to make some theories/speculations or smth similar.

Sparky and Static are “mirrors” to Ei/her puppet “The Shogun” and Makoto. Sparky and Shogun are both aggressive in their own ways, and both share a (somewhat) callous personality. But unlike Shogun, who can’t think for herself, Sparky is more than aware of what he does because he’s. well. human… atleast somewhat??? You also mentioned that the Creature’s bite also worsened Sparky’s attitude, this lowkey mirrors the Fatui’s influence on the Shogun but thats just me.

Meanwhile, there’s Static and the actual Ei and/or Makoto depending on how you see it. I personally see it as a mix of both but ehhhhhh. Makoto is said to have “cherished each moment within time and space.”, reflecting Static’s love and care for everyone in the group. That’s literally all I can point out because. MAKOTO IS DEAD.

Now, lemme get onto the *fun* part :3

I straight up believe Static is gonna die one way or another in the story. My main theory is that it’s gonna be via the Creature. But yknoooow. Perhaps as a starting point for something like Spark’s character development? I have a feeling he won’t be a jerk forever lol.

I felt hesitant posting this cuz I am straight up just YAPPING. But. Uh. Yeah.

I cracked the code my fellow gamers, Ei and Yae are Sparky and Static’s moms guys TRUST!!!!!! /JJJJJJ

So for firstly

I went with the name Inazuma when i conceptualized the characters back in around 2014, cause since Sparky and Static are japanese so i figured to give them a last name that was fitting since most of OC's names are puns, just relating to personality or their powers, so i just used the japanese word for lightning since it's Sparky elemental power and Static's his brother so they share a last name.

Secondly, I can definitely see that kind of comparison. Sparky is indeed a human, is just the Creature bite gave some of her virus in Sparky, so he's basically a cross between a normal human and a slow mutating Creature (which you can see happen in arts like these where his veins start to glow looking like "cracks" and his eyes turn red and sharp teeth)

And for thirdly, While Static does not die, he does come CLOSE to actually dying, mostly from protecting his brother who, while he can brush off alot of pain and can heal from nearly all fatal blows, is still his baby brother so he wants to be the one protect him. Luckily, Hyrdo had the idea of using one of the meteorite shards (which is what gave the characters their elemental powers) to save Static from blood loss, since it will give him a healing factor and allow him to join the team.

Lastly, while that is an interesting turning point, Static has been one of the few characters Sparky is nicer (more tolerable towards) at the initial start of the series, next to his parents. Its more people not connected to his immediate family he's more inclined to be rude and aggressive towards. However there is a soon similar event that leads to Sparky needing his big wake up call, but not before another tragedy takes place.

#asks #anti hero #sparky inazuma #static inazuma

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orangemoonxworks · 1 month ago

Text

KINGDOM HEARTS: DIVERGE, VOL. 0 MARCH OF THE FOOLS, PART I — V WRITTEN BY: Naude Lucem -------------------------------------------------

Ava quietly sighed as she went through the stack of paperwork piled in front of her. The strong winds brushing against the large windows behind her were washed out by the thickness of the glass and the barriers that surrounded the Vulpes Unionis Praetoria. Of course, this was necessary given that the Grandmaster’s chambers were always at the highest point of these towers. Despite it being nearly silent, the ringing afternoon bells from the Seventh district’s clock towers, though faint, managed to get through.

Ava’s gaze slowly rose from the papers and, with rapid swiftness, swept her left land out and summoned her keyblade though partially – the bladed half was lodged inside a spatial rift. She turned the keyblade sideways. Golden chains quickly sprang from the multiple spatial rifts that opened around the room, all of which seemed to be striking down at something on the move, piercing through the floor. The chains ceased after reaching the vicinity of her desk.

Ava’s eyes narrowed. Her keyblade vanished from her right hand along with the spatial rift then appeared in the left. She swung the keyblade right, quickly coming to a full stop as if time had frozen. Something cracked. The barrier concealing the perpetrator shattered like glass to the floor revealing Gula slightly leaning back with his hands up. The tip of her keyblade was less than a hair from his neck. He nervously chuckled. A ray of light sprang up from the floor fully illuminating Gula. It happened in a flash – a light bream shot up from a spatial rift that appeared beneath him which then crashed through the ceiling, burning a gaping hole through it.

Luckily for Gula, he managed to evade it though narrowly, quick stepping away. He reappeared in front of her desk then frowned. “Someone’s not in a good mood today.”

“What do you want?” she asked straight away.

“What, I can’t visit a friend?”

Another spatial rift appeared though this time above his head. It was slightly larger than the others, and light was glowing from inside. Ava’s glare, like a sharpened blade, pierced deeply into his soul. “Out with it. I won’t miss.”

“All right, all right. Geez. You used to be so much nicer.” Gula sighed then continued. “I genuinely want to check in on you. I mean, you did cause quite a stir during our meeting earlier.”

“And whose fault is that? Those were your words, not mine.” Ava replied sharply.

“But you delivered them so well. Might’ve flubbed a little here and there but I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Everyone reacted just as expected – well, all except for one. You deviated from the script.”

Ava’s eyes narrowed. “You asked for my help, and I gave it to you. Next time, do it yourself.”

“You know I can’t do that. Like you, I’m still working on the mission the Master gave me. And I’m nowhere close to figuring out who the traitor is or what they’re looking for.” Gula stepped away from her desk then began massaging his chin. “I thought I’d get some leads after the scourges started popping up, but so far I’ve got nothing and its starting to irk me.”

“And now you’re suspecting us?”

“Gotta keep an open mind.” Gula said, tapping his finger on the side of his head. “Everyone’s got something they’re hiding in the shadows. Even our renowned and virtuous leader Ira has something hidden in his heart that he doesn’t want anyone to know about. The same goes for Invi, our Master’s number one fan girl. Loyalty can make you do some truly shameful things – some that’d even make you wish you could forget.”

He continued. “And then there’s Aced. That Bear-Headed idiot never ceases to amaze me. One minute he’s as dense as a brick, and the next he’s alarmingly perceptive. If he wasn’t such a self-righteous dumbass, he’d be a real force to reckon with. And that’s one of the reasons I don’t like him or trust him.”

“And what about me?” Ava asked.

Gula snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “You’re just as unpredictable. Everything changes with time – especially people. And that’s what makes people unreliable. You used to be so lively and cheerful. Nowadays, I can’t tell whether you hate me or trust me. Hmph. But that’s fine. I prefer it that way. The less defined a relationship, the easier it is to throw it away.”

“I’m not some tool you can toss in the trash.”

“It was a figure of speech. Speaking of that, shouldn’t that apply to you too?” he asked, the palm of his hand to her. “Are we not each other’s pawns in an elaborate game of chess?”

Ava briefly paused, looking down at her desk, then raised her head and stared straight into his eyes. “You’re right. I absolutely hate you.”

“Is that right?” Gula chuckled. “Even though you’ve gotten colder with age, your heart’s still as soft and pure as gold. If I were you, I’d treasure that. Time tends to darken the heart, you know.”

“Tch. Funny, coming from you.” Ava snapped back. “You’ve changed the most out of us. And for the worst too.”

“I’m glad you’ve said that because the last one I’m suspecting is me, of course.” Gula pointed to himself, his finger pressed into his chest. “You’re the only other person who knows there’s a traitor out there. For all we know, I could be the traitor! That’d be an interesting twist, right?”

“Sure. Whatever you say.”

“In all seriousness, I doubt either of us are the traitor. I’ve been watching you all for the past seven years, and while everyone’s got their own things they keep in the shadows, I haven’t come across anything that’d make me question your devotion to this realm and the future we’re striving for.”

“So, why’d you make me say all that?”

“Who knows.” Gula spread his hands out and shook his head. A smirked crept on his face. “Maybe I just wanted to mess with you.”

As soon as he said that, a light beam rained down from the spatial rift Ava had summoned earlier. Gula kicked his feet off the ground and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the deadly beam mere inches from his face. He landed on his heels and stumbled backward, barely catching his balance. For a moment, all his could see was white. As soon as his sight began to return, he sucked his teeth then glared at Ava.

“That was a joke, you know.”

“And I missed, didn’t I?” she coldly replied. “Look, I’m busy. Stop playing around and tell me why you’re really here.”

Gula let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. I guess I am being a pain-in-the-ass.”

He snapped his fingers. Ava’s attention shifted to the three notebooks that appeared on her desk.

“One of my guardians found these while they were going through the archives in the Librorum Praetorium. These are journals that the Master wrote sometime before or after the realm was created. From what I skimmed through, they seem to be just a collection of notes and halfwit ideas. I was never interested in his crackpot theories or his bizarre and useless inventions – like those talking cats that were supposed be our personal aides.”

“The Chirithy, right? I thought they were cute.”

“Anyway, you were always into that stuff – more than anyone else. So instead of having them locked away in some far corner collecting dust again, I’ve decided to be generous and give them to you. Think of them as a gift from a friend.”

Ava’s arms folded. “Uh huh. And you’re not just pawning these off on me in hopes that they’ll have something you’re looking for, right?”

His sighed, letting his shoulders slump. “Nothing gets past you, does it? I am curious about whether there’s anything interesting in them, but the journals really are just for you. That said, if there happens to be something that’s worth looking into, that’d be great wouldn’t it?”

Ava blankly stared at him, unconvinced.

“Well, I’ve clearly overstayed my welcome. You can go back to doing your precious work for Union Cross.” He said, lazily flapping his hand as he turned to leave.

He took only a few steps forward before stopping and looking back over his shoulder.

“Oh! I forgot to congratulate you on the number of students you’ve managed to rake in.” He grinned while holding up an index finger. “This year’s crop is looking pretty good so far. Let’s hope it stays that way. I’ve already got an eye on a few.”

Ava’s right eye and upper lip twitched. “I’d appreciate it if you kept your eye away from them. Wouldn’t want your influence warping them into something beyond repair – like you.”

“Ouch. That kind of stung. You really used to be much nicer.” Gula frowned then turned around, headed for chamber doors. “Eh, whatever. Enjoy those journals. Read them to your heart’s content.”

Ava watched as he left chamber, his hand waving limply as the doors closed behind him. With peace and quiet now returned to her, she palmed the side of head then let out relieved groaned. Her eyes fell upon the journals he left. She picked one up, gently rubbing her thumb slid across it’s dingy and worn surface, then let slip from her hand and fall back onto her desk. Ava leaned back in her chair, her neck lying on the head rest.

“As if I’d trust anything that comes out of your mouth.”

#kingdom hearts diverge #kingdom hearts #fanfic #fanfiction #writeblr #fic #writing #kh #union cross #kh union x #kh union cross #orange moon works #naude lucem #kh fanfic #kh fanfiction

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foreverrunningfree · 1 year ago

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@czigonas wanted to see me answer those artist questions and I did them all so it’ll be under the cut

1. Art programs you have but don’t use?

As of rn I cannot draw on my laptop/tablet so technically paint tool SAI and photoshop(idk what version). But I guess I hadn’t used photoshop for /years/ back before my drawing hiatus. Sorry but SAI is so much nicer to look at and to use, for me personally.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left,right, or forward?

I flip flop my canvas a ton to a) look at it for wonkiness and b) to get specific lines in a direction that feels good, but the actual act of drawing I typically like to have them looking left cause most the the lines flow from top right to bottom left which is nicer to do since I use my right hand to draw even tho I am ambidextrous.

3. What ideas come from when you were little?

This question confuses me on what it’s actually asking soooo? When I was like 12 I had to write a story for school so I did a story about a plane crash in which the survivor came face to face to a rat/bat/cat/dog creature thing? I’ve always wanted to redraw the creature, idk if I have the original drawing I did and I don’t feel up to digging to see if I kept it during all my moves.

4. Fave character/subject that’s a bitch to draw?

My favorite animal color patterns aka brindle, merle ,roan, spots/stripes. So time consuming. In terms of shape, human faces for sure.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself?

Before hiatus, probably 90% /shared/. Currently, probably 75% /posted/cause I can’t post the porn to tumblr lmaoooo but I have shared them with like half a dozen friends.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously?

I’m sure there’s a ton but if it’s subconsciously then how would I consciously know?🤔 ok serious answer, probably every single 2D animated movie or show I’ve ever seen, and all the various artists I follow. I mean, there’s parts of my style I can pinpoint you to what it’s inspired by.

7. A medium of art you don’t work in but appreciate?

I’ve never /seriously/ tried oil paint, acrylic paint, or pastels but that shit always looks so good. Also watercolor even though i have tried and enjoyed using watercolors but I am far far faaarrr from being proficient in them. Non drawing wise, I fucking love dioramas, especially those that are then filled in(?) with acrylic(?). I watch a lot of those videos on YouTube.

8. What’s an old project idea you’ve lost interest in?

Most of my old animal ocs I had in the same universe in my mind and had a comic planned that I never got around to. I still love and wanna revisit those ocs. But also my dragon age ocs who I’ve SERIOUSLY BEEN CONSIDERING drawing in @soaps-hoe-141 universe 👀

9. What are your file name conventions?

Before hiatus/ on my laptop, subject or character and whatever was happening in the pic. Now using procreate on my iPad? I don’t think I’ve named a single one lol.

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw?

Nothing, no clothes, nude, nakedness please and thank you. lol but I guess I do sorta enjoy figuring out clothing in general, folds and shit, getting that practice in. Like how it hangs and creases in poses since I’m not used to drawing it.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing?

I don’t usually listen to /only/ music while drawing, I much prefer having a favorite movie playing in the background and/or a show I enjoy rewatching/am actively watching. I also watch a lot of gamer YouTubers I put on as background noise/short watch breaks that their voice is just soothing to me even if I’m not /watching/.

12. Easiest part of the body to draw?

I’m not sure… maybe boobs/pecs for humanoids. General body shape for animals?

13. A creator you admire but whose work isn’t your thing?

Honestly can’t think of a single one. I mean, plenty of artists do work(or with a medium) that I can’t or don’t want to do/use personally but I read the question of “isn’t your thing” as “subject you don’t enjoy”. If that’s correct, then idk what to tell you. I don’t follow or remember people who majority does things I can’t enjoy on some level.

14. Any fave motifs?

Quite a lot of religious imagery I guess ex. Circles around a persons head. Less serious answer is drawing characters in meme formats lol

15. Where do you draw?

Please don’t tell any physical therapists I live like this… on my back on my couch with my head on the arm rest while holding my iPad propped up on my chest like 8 inches away from my face lmao

16. Something you are good at but don’t really have fun doing?

Idk???? I do shit for my own enjoyment so I’m not sure? Maybe perhaps backgrounds? Like I could do something decent if i wanted to but I’m not into it so I usually just don’t?

17. Do you eat or drink while drawing?

I take breaks… but while actively drawing? I often drink aka let the horny demons out while I enjoy whiskey lol.

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you’ve broken?

Broken broken? Next to fucking none? some charcoal sticks but otherwise…. None… I majority do digital art so really nothing to break there lol

19. Fave inanimate objects to draw?

Idk? I like doing life charcoal drawings? Of whatever, but particularly statues if that counts? I usually have living beings as my subjects.

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy?

Ok, I hate this question, cause we are all good at different things. Maybe it’s just most of those I follow have different strengths than me???? But I guess if I had to pick, recreating from life(or picture) is a lot easier for me than some others(like making it life like/very accurate).

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways?

Yooo, anything I’ve reblogged honestly. Love everyone.

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing?

Absolutely none, again don’t let the pros know cause damn. But I will do stretches or take breaks as needed.

23. Do you use different layer modes?

Absolutely. Mostly for lighting and shading but yes, if I’m doing digital imma take advantage of it.

24. Do your references include stock images?

Yes? I don’t really understand what it’s asking?

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were not inspired by?

Idk? I don’t usually get feedback of that sort.

26. What’s a piece that’s viewed a wildly different interpretation from what you intended?

Again idk? I guess my shit is straight forward?

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff?

Almost never, again don’t let the pros know lol I do sometimes jump between pieces or start a new sketch before going to something farther along.

28. Any art events you have participated in, like zines?

Nope, wanted to and have tried before but I tend to NOT do something if I feel pressured to do it.

29. Media you love but doesn’t inspire you artistically?

Again I feel like this is a weird question or maybe it’s just my understanding of it but I can feel inspiration from all sort of artist shit even if it’s something I’ll never do(ex making a crochet animal or dioramas). I guess I can feel inspired to create from other creators even if it’s not direct inspiration/subject/medium.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated?

Underrated as in no one has seen aside from a few people irl would be my colored pencil pieces I did during afternoon naps when I worked at a daycare a few years ago.

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sybilius · 2 years ago

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Strap in lads, it’s time for a Syb Project!

So the house I currently rent is equipped with a set of very stylish shades that the dead owner (I rent from his son) clearly payed a bunch of money for ages ago, and most of them are in various stages of “slightly damaged”. Here is the only perfect one, currently living in the master bedroom:

Now the current absolute worst one is in the adjacent bedroom. Not only is the base fringe completely fucked up (and apparently an attempted repair with....gauze?), the springing mechanism completely doesn’t work either, and we’ve been hand-rolling up the thing as it falls into further disrepair:

There is it disassembled from its window (didn’t grab an un-glamor shot beforehand, but you can imagine it doesn’t look great). I figured after taking apart the roller that this would be a fool’s errand. But I am nothing if not a fool. Here are some views of the mechanism:

The basic idea is that unrolling the shade tightens up the spring, which is supposed to be tightly attached to the wooden rod. Inside the end piece there are brakes (one of them, the other side is just a metal rod that spins freely), which ideally, pulling the shade at the right angle sharply, smoothly releases:

Now for the Problems. The first issue, which I did correctly diagnose, was that the metal fitting that connects the wooden rod to the spring mechanism was Kinda Fucked:

If we observe the other, perfect drape:

Now at this point I was thinking. This looks like a lost cause. I do not think I can properly re-house the spring such that it attaches to that partially damaged wood. But I’m wandering around the hardware store and come across the variable-size hose clamps and figure. Well. what the hell:

I also put some elbow grease into the shade itself, cut off the messed up fringe, picked up a new pull from a local fabric store, and shaved off about 2.5cm off the side to accommodate the size of the hose clamp.

Button was one of my grandma’s old ones. If nothing else, this looks cute.

The good news was, the hose clamp DID in fact work to transfer the spring momentum back to the shade, such that when it was pulled down, it was successfully tensing up the rod.

The bad news, though? The braking mechanisms were completely jammed. I mean, possibly this was the compromise made by the amateur repair job that came before me (very sadly). This meant that although the curtain is working more like it used to, it doesn’t work practically speaking. I can pull it down, but I can’t roll it up, because the spring tension has completely jammed it there.

This was very saddening, of course.

After several attempts to work with the messed up metal piece, I concluded that I needed to set it back to the way it was. Some combination of the messed-up wood, the old brakes, and not really knowing how to configure/set up the initial spring tension to make this work meant that this lovely guy wasn’t going to be springing back to its former glory.

So I junked the old metal piece (which was at that point thoroughly messed up from all the hammering), and used the hose clamp to keep the spring from popping out too far. This has restored the state where the shade can be pulled down, and is possible to manually roll back up (though it doesn’t hold any “middle states” that get it past gravity particularly well).

It looks a lot nicer though, so I think I have to count that as a win.

#might just add real curtains next year. who could say #my projects #personal

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t0kidal · 2 years ago

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Bad First Impressions

This is a continuation of Oops I summoned a Demon. I hope you enjoy, today we’ll be meeting a lot of... interesting people.

~~~

With that kiss out the way, you and Balam Shichiro have now entered a contract. He gives you a place to stay and in return, yada yada.

Course... as it turns out there are some legal conditions that need to be fulfilled.

First of all, you can’t be left alone out and about which someone forgot to mention.

Not that it bothered you too much, now you had an excuse to stick real close to said someone.

But this mostly meant that wherever he went, you would go and guess who had a little lunch date the day after your summoning.

Yep... you were about to meet someone who meant a hell of a lot to him.

~~~

“Ms. Y/n... I really don’t think this is a good idea...”

Balam could feel two facets pressing into his upper back, toned arms wrapped around his neck, while that tail wrapped around his waist, freeing his arms.

Safe to say he’s redder than the color red itself right now.

He feels you chuckle and pull yourself up a little higher to teasingly blow in his ear, just outside his mask, causing him to jolt a little.

He didn’t need to turn his head to see the shit eating grin on your face.

You had to admit, it was actually super comfortable piggy backing the brawny brain. When you didn’t tire yourself trying to fluster him it was fairly peaceful and pleasant to lean on him.

What you felt through his shirt was pretty pleasant too~.

“C’moon Shichiro~ Just call me Y/n. We’ll be quite close to each other for a while y’know~”

Were you laying it on a little thick? Maybe... You decide to be a little nicer...

Eventually.

While thinking this, he actually reaches around and manages to pry you off his back, placing you gently on your feet.

You look up at him genuinely wondering if you’d some how upset him. Only to feel him straighten and glare behind you, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder to guide you in front of him.

It’s a sweet and gentle gesture, and you can’t help but blush a little... but the intense look on his face causes you to turn your head in the affronting direction.

A pair of human males were whispering among themselves, scornful, lustful, could you really blame them? You weren’t just a snack but a whole damn meal. But these disgraceful beings...

Would do well to never cross you.

Though it seemed they were deterred by Shichiro alone so you supposed there was no need to waste your breath.

~~~

After a few more minutes of walking... and thinking about what exactly happened.

“Shichiro, you’re a weird one.” You say out loud.

He looks so confused, you can’t help but laugh.

“Surely... surely there’s something wrong with you? You’re just so... cute.”

He’s confused even more, but unable to defend himself as you point out the tall dark figure sitting very out of place at the quaint and cheery cafe table.

“Ah, Shichiro.” His stoic face doesn’t change but by the tone of his voice he respected him. Tall and lithe, dark but not for trying. He’s dignified and straight laced, seemingly stubborn but not unable to adapt as evident by his posture.

His eyes meet yours and while you’re eyeing him up and down his expression deepens with reserved coldness. Lines that might become early wrinkles appearing with that very stern frown.

‘Oh no he’s hot.’

~~~

“So Shichiro, how’ve you been?”

“U-uhm... I’m good Kalego but how are you...?”

“Quite alright, thank you.”

You were very ignored for this conversation so far and your unrest was visible on your face as you stirred your tea with a long clawed nail or yawned obnoxiously once in a while...

Never taking your eyes off of Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.

Said Mr. can only sigh before he asks, “Raim or Robbin?”

Balam, immediately recognizing the question (is Y/n more like Raim or Robin?), “A bit of both, though we only met yesterday... I’d say a very proactive Raim.”

You whine, “C’mooon~ I’m not that easy to ignore~ Am I~?”

Kalego only lets out a haggard sigh... “Too easy.”

You pout.

~~~

The three of you eventually move to a different locale, a restaurant they seemingly frequent, evident by the warm welcome they received upon entering.

Soon enough, your group awaits for your pick up to be ready to go.

During that wait, however, you couldn’t help but ask them questions, might as well scope out what life might be like for you here.

“You know...” you hum as you conjure a little piece of mochi to nibble on. “It’s sho intereshting.”

“Hm?”

“Some celestial must’ve blessed me cause I got to meet two hotties in the span of two days.”

Kalego, only grunted whilst Balam flushed a lovely tulip tint.

You cackle with wicked glee, earning you a “Silence.” from the gloomier male.

You hear someone sniff, not a sniffle kind of sniff but a bitchy kind of sniff, and turn around to see a scruffy paler man.... he’s rather gaunt...

Is he handsome? Yes. Are you going to assume that he’s the sniffer? No yet... So in return you just turn back to the real cuties in the room.

“Ah, Fenrir-san. What brings you here?” Kalego feigns surprise... he had no doubt that this man was actually Narnia, granted, in full disguise. And Narnia must’ve come purposefully considering this case pertained to someone close to him.

“Hello, Kalego-kun! How are you?” You don’t bat an eye at his laid back saccharine tone or relaxed countenance and just let him be... yeah... let him think the malice oozing off of him wasn’t noticeable.

“Quite well, thank you. Have you heard from my brother recently?”

Even you and Shichiro pause to watch what happens, Shichiro in a more polite sense and you... followed his lead.

“Only briefly, I believe he mentioned he’ll be busy for the coming months.” His eyes finally meet yours, “Ah, hello! Apologies, I didn’t notice you. Pleasure.”

Course, he meant ‘pleasure to meet you’....

But you could not deny the opportunity to have some fun with this man.

You extend and hand and he takes it, gently like a prince.

Gingerly like holding a roach.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” that earns you an eye twitch, “But you can call me anytime, darling~”

He drops your hand as if it burned him, though to the naked eye it might’ve seemed more casual.

“Charming. The name’s Fenrir.” He hums, “Tell me... how are you liking the human plane so far?”

“Mmm it’s alright. Course, I only got here yesterday. Humans are… so… cute~ I mean this in a kinder sense like Shichiro here. And when it comes to the not so kind sense… they’re more like puppies with milk teeth rather than wolves with vicious fangs.”

She grins knowingly at him... and he could only scoff in distaste.

"Is that so~ Well then, I suppose demons like you have a rather simplistic charm to them.. not nearly as overwhelming in any sense. I must say, I'm a little disappointed. Are you sure you're a vicious devil?"

She chuckles....

"Try me, Bitch~"

#reader insert #fem reader #succubus reader #balam shichiro #naberius kalego #there should be more tags but I can't think of any more

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