#gonna die™
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overly-verbose · 10 months ago
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Omw to a verrrry important exam rn, pls send thoughts prayers and good vibes my way 'cause I did nOt sleep well 💀
(also obviously if it goes well I'll have an easier time actually focusing on finishing Part 8 so uh there's the bribe lol
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sforzesco · 2 years ago
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ascanio and louis xii
so
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Milan Undone, Contested Sovereignties in the Italian Wars, John Gagné
extremely bold of louis xii to assume that ascanio, who has a reputation for conspiracy, wouldn't turn around and say 'fuck you,' after all of that™
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(Ibid.)
it IS funny how men in power keep thinking they can put him on a leash like, pal. the odds are NOT in your favor
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too-young-to-fall-in-love · 6 months ago
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Turned Night Into Day
summary:
There's no reason why Illya should want to talk to him. Really, there isn't. So why's he showing up at his hotel room with a bottle of Scotch and something like an apology on his lips? Or, most of Amor Magnus Doctor Est chapter 8 in Napoleon's POV!! <3
notes:
inspired by Amor Magnus Doctor Est by @cha-melodius
tags:
POV Napoleon Solo, Napoleon solo has no self confidence, insecure Napoleon solo, Reunions, the happy ending to just like me, Mild Sexual Content, inspired by another fic, Napoleon Solo Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Professors
excerpt:
“I’m sorry,” Illya whispers, the words ringing like a gunshot in the otherwise dead quiet of the room. Of all the things Napoleon was expecting, it was definitely not that. “I heard what you and Gaby were talking about,” and “Did you really get Victoria fired to try and win me back?” seemed the most obvious. He’s only able to stare at Illya as the words rattle around in his head. In the silence of the room it seems that Illya might want to take it back. He finds himself hoping he will, because while there’s nothing he wants more than Illya, he’s only good for being left behind. He hopes equally as much that he won’t, because even in the face of reality he still wants him more than he’s ever wanted anything else. “What for?” he asks, head tilted to the side, brow furrowed. Illya huffs out a sound that could be a laugh, but it’s too harsh, too bitter to be classified as such. It’s so sudden that Napoleon actually flinches from it. “Everything,” he answers, like it’s obvious. Like he’d done anything wrong. Leaving him may have been the best decision Illya’s ever made. He can’t imagine how that could be wrong. “For blaming you when it wasn’t really your fault. For shutting you out. For not—” Illya’s voice catches in his throat, and he takes another swallow of liquor. Napoleon shuts his eyes against Illya’s next words, “for not being there for you when I should have been.” A feeble sense of hope takes root in his heart, growing until it threatens to choke him.
read more on ao3
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dootznbootz · 1 year ago
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I literally will think of the stupidest shit and if it makes me giggle, it's "canon" now. It just is. Idk why I keep doing this.
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cheemken · 1 year ago
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Another thing about the movies, each main character saw the number 180 before the accident happened and killed them all. Like Flight 180, hearing the number 180 on the radio, and race car 180 for examples
So if we’re going with Diantha seeing everyone’s death in a dream, imagine the thing that convinced her the dream was real was some kind of number or symbol she saw before the ambush happened
Also yeah, imagine the ABSOLUTE guilt Lance, Iris, Cynthia, and Leon (I forgot Hop existed for a minute lmao) felt for choosing to save their family over the other people in their regions. They chose to betray their job as Champions for their family. Perhaps the reason they chose to save their family and not let them die is cause they hoped they’d be able to escape capture?
But back to Diantha, imagine her trying to find a way to get all the Champions to come to Kalos so they’d be safer in numbers. But people like Iris and Wallace can’t because they’re guarding items that Team Rainbow Rocket would want for themselves
Unless of course Diantha just straight up tells all the Champions about what she saw. Calls an emergency meeting in Kalos and pretty much starts with
“So this might be a shock for all of you, but we’re all going to die within the next few days”
“…Diantha what the fuck”
Can you imagine how that mustve been for Dia tho😭😭
Homegirl wakes up in cold sweat, screaming, crying, almost threw up. Augustine ran to her room asking her what's wrong, worried as fuck, then she pulls him close, hugging him, terrified he'd suddenly disappear, her hands were trembling as she's going on how she'll make sure nothing happens to him and to everyone. Like, mfer is so confused but he's like really trying to calm her down. Imagine how paranoid she'd be, always having one of her mons (yes ofc its Gengar bc I still love this hc) watch over Augustine in Lumiose, making sure Lysandre doesn't get near him, and even spy on Lysandre. Then when she gets to the League she even tries to confront Malva abt it, and ofc that kinda shocked everyone and even Malva bc holy shit they haven't seen Diantha this pissed and terrified. Like, her hands are legit shaking, grabbing Malva by her shoulders, glaring at her, it got to the point Diantha ended up calling her Tyrantrum, the imposing dragon fossil glaring down at everyone. Malva eventually fesses up, she knows damn well Diantha's too pissed to mess w, and despite her always wanting to spite Diantha, she knows if she did rn she'll be the one dying bc she knows the lengths Diantha will go through to make things right.
And god just chdmdb Diantha explaining to them what her dream was, that she was so goddamn sure it was a premonition, and the others were sceptical at first but then again, she managed to find out abt Malva being part of Flare bc of that dream, even told them of Lysandre's plans and him being the head of Flare, and Diantha's starting to spiral again Drasna had to calm her down.
Then ofc, Dia calls in the other Champions, said it was an emergency, and y'know, they came as soon as the call ended bc Dia honestly sounded like she's abt to experience her fifth meltdown for the day and it's only 10 in the am, tbf she is on her fourth meltdown for the day—
When the others got there, Diantha is trying so so hard to calm herself bc Jesus Christ homegirl did not eat anything today bc she was hurrying to the league in a panic and that dream still continues to haunt her, so yeah she's like, at her limit
So she's there, taking deep breaths, and then looks at the other Champions, telling her of the dream, of the premonition she had. And ofc some of them couldn't believe her, especially w how detailed she is abt their deaths and the events that's gonna happen, but like, y'know, even Leon himself said that Rose really acting suspicious lately, even more so than usual, he's been more demanding, more isolated, as if he's planning smth. And ofc, that kinda surprised the other Champions too bc Leon and Diantha don't even get along well, they don't even agree on almost everything, but w Leon showing that he actually believes in what Diantha is saying is enough for the other sceptics to actually believe her, and they should start planning on what to do now bc if not then they're all gonna die
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ladyimaginarium · 2 years ago
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me& staring at my& multimuse draft of who's gonna present there & then on these. FUCKIN GOOGLE DOCS: bitch im& gonna Fucking Die TM
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madebypointlesswords · 2 years ago
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I watched the first two seasons of Stranger Things, so here's my review (i guess)
ahem
*inspects notes*
a hot mess
*bows*
that is all thank u
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too-multifandom-to-function · 2 months ago
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ourceliumnetwork · 3 months ago
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the list of traumas i need to unpack still and my coping mechanisms (or, more frequently, lack-thereof) keeps getting longer and i'm not sure i like that. I think i like less how much i already know they're hangups before they become a problem i have to actively work on, too.
#this post brought to you by#my aversion to bathrooms and kitchens being connected because they remind me that i have a body that has body functions#and those Weren't Allowed really - mean obviously what're you gonna do about it#but like... it was very clear it was seen as a Defect that i was in any way doing human body things even in normal amounts#so i learned to Hide all of my Disgusting Body Functions™#because if it was Found Out that i'd Excreted Fluids or Mucus or had Consumed Food and was Digesting those were Gross#and Punishable because they could Make A Mess#messes were *not* allowed (not well stopped but also not allowed so i was in trouble a lot because things would be messy)#(and not even always Really Actually Messy)#i'm way more fastidious about my Body Goo getting places than anyone i've ever met except for my parents and my sister#i'm not tidy by any means and i'm very bad at making sure things in my controlled space stay Clean and Sanitized but that's My Zone#that's allowed to be Disgusting (and frequently is)#(note: we're still using my definition of disgusting which probably just means Normal Amounts of Grossness)#but places that in my head are meant to be kept Sanitary and Nearly Sterile (kitchen & bathroom mainly) i get Very Anxious about#because if i'm in there i naturally will make things Unsanitary#it's why i avoided using shared spaces when i lived with people before - i can avoid Grossing Up The Place if i'm not in them#my big-e Ex was also not helpful in this because he was on my dad's level of fastidiousness#everything had to be spotless or he'd be upset and it had to be my job#and no i don't know which one i'm talking about there#my mom would freak out if there was too much dog hair - we had 2 dogs at any given time and all of them shed like hell#so ''too much'' was generally ''any''#household deepcleans were supposed to be a weekly thing and if it didn't get done weekly mom and dad were REALLY upset#everything i did that i considered ''gross'' was done in secret and in private and i was TERRIFIED of getting caught *checks notes*#having a body and it doing normal body things#so anyway if you've made it this far this is your friendly reminder that your body is not capable of any more grossness than any other body#and grossness is normal and it's fine you're not some sort of ooze monster who needs to be decontaminated constantly#you're just a human being with a human body#a lot of the way i've been handling this for a lot of these things is the ''well... people used to live in a lot dirtier conditions and THE#survived so i'm probably not going to die from exposure to 1 common household contaminant or body fluid from my own body''#it's... generally effective
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jen-with-a-pen · 2 years ago
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I have a singular shred of free time this morning but just wanted to let my mutuals know I'm alive just super stressed out with work and end of year meetings this week and whatnot. I'm gonna do my best to catch up on tags and reblogs this weekend but just thought y'all should know 🫶
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threadmonster · 2 years ago
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Hahaha that chapter tho, amiright? (⁠☞゚⁠∀゚⁠)⁠☞
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deathdetermineslife · 4 months ago
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the ULTIMATE f/o infodumping ask game!
(this is gonna be a long one...)
🍓 - disregarding the career your f/o currently has, what other career would they consider going into, if given the chance?
🍒 - if your f/o and you spend a day doing anything, anything at all, what would they do and why?
🍎 - what's your f/o's favorite drink? any drink, alcoholic or non alcoholic!
🍉 - is your f/o religious? what's their opinion on religion or spirituality?
🍑 - is your f/o more comfortable giving or receiving gifts? why? do they have any preferences on gifts they like receiving?
🍊 - if you asked your f/o to peel an orange for you, what would they do?
🥭 - did your f/o have stuffed animals growing up? do they still have stuffed animals? do they have a favorite?
🍍 - if you could change any one thing about your f/os backstory/character, what would you change? why?
🍌 - does your f/o have a vendetta against The Big Light™? what kind of lighting do they prefer?
🍋 - if your f/o could change one thing about themselves, what would they change and why?
🍋‍🟩 - is your f/o superstitious? is there any habits they follow or quirks they have to follow said superstitions? like not opening umbrellas indoors to avoid back luck?
🍈 - does your f/o believe in fate? do they thing everything is preplanned out by the universe or a higher power, or do they think that the idea of fate is bogus? why?
🍏 - if you have any queer headcanons for your f/o, how did they realize they were queer?
🍐 - does your f/o have any nervous ticks or idle quirks they do? like mindlessly tapping on a desk or fiddling with their hair when they're stressed?
🥝 - would your f/o ever let you do their make-up? what does their make-up process look like? is it simple? complex?
🫒 - what kind of hugger is your f/o? do they give good hugs? do they like hugs? do they like receiving hugs?
🫐 - is your f/o more of a writer or an artist? would you say your f/o is more left or right brained?
��� - if you and your f/o never met, what do you think your f/o would be doing right now?
🥥 - what hobbies does your f/o have? is there any hobby they would like to get into that they haven't tried out yet? what is it?
🍅 - if your f/o could buy you any gift in the world, whether it exists or not, what would they buy you? or, if they could make you something, what would it be?
🌶️ - does your f/o have any remedies they follow when they get sick? like taking a shot of whiskey to get rid of a fever?
🫚 - is your f/o a picky eater? is there any foods they will not under any circumstances, gun to their head, eat?
🥕 - when your f/o was little, did they dislike vegetables? do they still dislike them?
🧅 - what makes your f/o cry? do they get emotional at sad movies or books? do they only get emotional under very rare circumstances?
🌽 - does your f/o have a favorite animal? what is it? are they scared of any animals?
🥦 - does your f/o have any pet peeves? things that just really really get on their nerves? what are they and why?
🥒 - what's your f/o afraid of? do they have any phobias? anything minor they're scared of?
🥬 - what are some beige flags your f/o has? so, not bad, but not nessecarily good either. just. "oh. you do This."
🫛 - how does your f/o feel about pet names or nicknames? do they like them? hate them? what are their favorites and least favorites to be called and to use?
🫑 - how does your f/o feel about death? are they afraid of it? is there anything specific they'd like to do before they die?
🥑 - is there any niche topics your f/o is interested in? what are they and why do they like them?
🍠 - what are a few of your f/os favorite pastimes or things that they do when they're bored?
🍆 - does your f/o have a favorite scent? why is it their favorite? do they have a least favorite scent?
🧄 - does your f/o have any allergies? food or otherwise?
🥔 - does your f/o have any food dishes they make often? is there any foods you make for your f/o that they enjoy?
🍄‍🟫 - if your f/o could be any mythological species, what would they be? if your f/o is already a mythological species, would they ever want to be human?
I recommend practicing reblog karma ! people love infodumping about their f/os :) I also recommend sending more than one emoji at a time,,, there are Many here...!!!
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solxamber · 15 hours ago
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Unstable Stable || Leona Kingscholar
You were an S-ranked Guide just trying to live your life, but now you're emotionally (and spiritually) babysitting SS-class menace Leona Kingscholar—who’s decided you're his personal charger and refuses to unplug.
or: Guideverse AU!
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Life used to be normal.
You know, back when your biggest problem was whether to risk food poisoning for that suspiciously cheap sushi combo. Taxes were annoying, capitalism was soul-sucking, and people still thought “ghosting” only applied to dating. Cute times.
Then the gates showed up.
Like surprise holes in the fabric of reality. No warning. No gentle push notifications. Just BAM—mystical rift to MonsterLand™ opens in the middle of your grocery store and suddenly your choices are “fight or die with a half-priced avocado in hand.”
And that would’ve been it for humanity—extinct in a week if not for the emergence of Espers. Superpowered humans with the ability to close these gates and yeet the nightmare creatures back into the void.
Cool, right?
Except—Espers are dramatic. They're the “I’m fine” as they bleed out types. The “I didn’t sleep for three days, but I still went into a Class-A gate because I felt vibes” types. They save the world, but emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally? Absolutely not okay.
That’s where you come in.
You're a Guide. The human equivalent of emotional duct tape. Your job is to wrangle these unhinged battle gremlins post-gate before they disintegrate or cry themselves into a psychic nosebleed. Sometimes both.
It’s like babysitting, except your babysitter is also a licensed therapist, a soul mechanic, and sometimes a romantic interest depending on how "fanfic" things get.
Is the job dangerous? Constantly.
Are the Espers dramatic? Tragically so.
Is there a union? Not unless you count the Group Chat of Collective Suffering.
And does it pay well? HAHAHA.
Still, between dodging death and massaging the egos of glorified magical toddlers, you’ve somehow become really good at this.
Which is great, because your next assignment?
Is going to change your entire life. Probably ruin it. Possibly give you feelings. Definitely not covered by health insurance. (But then again, what is?)
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It’s raining like the gods themselves are ugly crying, but you? You’re bone-dry and smug. Perched on your little foldable stool like a judgmental gremlin, your umbrella is perched just right. Stylish. Functional. Invincible.
Across the street, a cluster of fellow Guides are soaked to their very souls. One of them is trying to use a clipboard as shelter. Another’s shoes have absolutely given up on life. They glare at you like you personally invented weather.
You take a sip of your lukewarm vending machine coffee and shrug.
“Sorry losers,” you say cheerfully, “get on my level.”
Then the gate sputters, flickers, and folds in on itself like a haunted paper fan. The Espers return—bloodied, bruised, twitchy-eyed and definitely seconds away from fainting like overcooked noodles.
Chaos erupts.
Guides leap up, yelling names, waving emergency blankets, fumbling for their med kits. People are screaming things like, “Catch him, he’s falling—OH GOD, HIS ARM,” and “Who packed juice boxes in the trauma bag again?!”
You stay seated. Sip your coffee again. It's mostly rainwater now. Whatever.
Then someone stops in front of you. Tall, soaked, radiating the exact vibe of someone who has murdered for being woken up too early.
And he yanks your umbrella to cover himself.
“I am not getting soaked again,” he grumbles, shaking rainwater out of his hair like an angry golden retriever with a six-pack.
You blink.
“Uh. Hello?”
Leona Kingscholar. SS-Class Esper. Walking lawsuit. The man once growled at a government official for chewing too loudly.
And now he’s under your umbrella like this is some shoujo manga and he’s your tsundere warlord boyfriend.
He side-eyes you. “Aren’t you gonna guide me or whatever?”
You panic a little. “I—I’m not certified for SS-Class. I’m just S-Class.”
He snorts. “Didn't think you'd forget me, herbivore.”
What does that even mean??? Is this… Esper code for “I like you”? Or “I won’t kill you today”? Who knows. He’s already sinking to the ground like a dramatic cat, using your thigh as a pillow without even asking.
And just like that, you’re guiding Leona Kingscholar while sharing an umbrella in the pouring rain, your fellow guides still watching like you’ve been chosen by some eldritch force.
Welcome to your life now. Hope you brought snacks.
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Leona is basically half-dead in your lap, but still manages to look like he owns both the rain and your dignity.
You sigh and set your coffee down, running your fingers through his wet hair. It’s soft, unfairly so, and smells like something expensive. His breathing starts to even out under your touch, eyes fluttering shut as your stabilizing energy pulses through him.
He doesn’t say anything. Just rests there with his head in your lap like this is a Tuesday afternoon nap spot and not the wet, cracked sidewalk outside a gate that just tried to eat reality.
You keep going. Until—
He grabs your wrist, eyes suddenly sharp. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”
You blink. “Uh. No? Pretty sure I stopped doing that in college. Why?”
He scowls. “You’ve been channeling too long. Idiot. Burn yourself out and you’ll fry your nerves. Can’t stabilize anyone if you’re unconscious in a puddle.”
You try to pull your hand back but he doesn’t let go. “I’m fine, Leona—”
“I need you alive, herbivore.”
You freeze.
Your brain does a little Windows error sound.
And then he’s standing, still holding your umbrella like it’s his now, yanking you up by the wrist like you’re the fragile one. You try to protest, but he ignores you entirely.
“Your car’s this way, right?”
“…How do you know where I parked—”
“Because you always park near the vending machine. Which is stupid, by the way. You don’t even lock it.”
You're still processing the fact that Leona Kingscholar, Mr. I-Hate-Everyone, has apparently been keeping track of your parking habits, when he tosses your keys back at you like a lazy monarch commanding his carriage.
And that’s how you end up being frog-marched to your own car in the rain by a grumpy, half-stabilized SS-Class Esper who refuses to let go of your umbrella.
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You’ve barely had your morning caffeine and the email has the audacity to say: Transfer Notice – Effective Immediately. No warning. No prep. Just vibes and bureaucracy.
You're sent to the high-level West Sector Guidance Office. The same one with SSS-Class Guide Vil Schoenheit, the gold standard of grace, glamour, and glaring disapproval.
So naturally, you walk in clutching your sad little cardboard box of office plants and off-brand snacks, looking like a lost intern who accidentally wandered into a luxury spa for dangerous superhumans.
The receptionist is too busy having a breakdown over printer ink to help, so you start aimlessly wandering the halls, trying not to make eye contact with any Espers that could punch through concrete.
And then someone yanks your box out of your hands.
You flinch, ready to throw hands, until you realize it’s Leona. Hair still a mess. Hoodie on like he just rolled out of bed. He doesn’t greet you. Doesn’t ask how you are. Just nods his chin, “Keep up, herbivore.”
You scramble after him like a duckling with no sense of direction. “Leona—what the hell is this? Why am I here?”
He doesn’t even look back. Just strolls down the corridor with your office supplies like they belong to him now. “Told ‘em I only want you.”
You short-circuit. “What?!”
“They asked if I’d take Vil or the new SS-rank from Sector 4. I said no. Told ‘em to transfer you instead.”
Your mouth opens. Closes. “You… requested me?”
He shrugs like this isn’t causing you a spiritual meltdown. “Whatever. You’re not annoying. You stabilize me fast. You don’t treat me like a bomb about to go off. You’re fine.”
And then—like this conversation hasn’t just rewritten the structure of your career—he dumps your box onto a random desk and starts walking off.
“Wait, that’s it?” you call after him. “You’re just—leaving me here?”
He lifts a hand in a lazy wave. “See you tomorrow.”
You stare at the desk. Then the hallway. Then the spot where your sanity used to be.
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You don’t understand what’s going on. But let’s be honest—you’ve never understood anything and that’s never stopped you before. You graduated on sheer vibes and a terrifying ability to guess multiple choice answers with unearned confidence. You once guided a Class A Esper while half-asleep and running on a breakfast of sour candy and spite. You thrive in chaos.
So when you show up at your new desk (which may or may not have been assembled incorrectly), you take a deep breath, sip your mediocre vending machine coffee, and prepare yourself for another confusing day of “just wing it and hope no one dies.”
And then Leona walks in.
No knock. No warning. Just opens the door like he owns the place—which, considering the way your coworkers scurry out of his path, he might as well.
You’re ready to guide. You roll up your sleeves. You stretch your fingers. You mentally prepare for the usual Esper touch-their-hands routine.
Leona?
Leona lays down on the office couch like it’s a five-star hotel bed. Puts his head in your lap. And knocks out like a tranquilized jungle cat. No explanation. No shame.
You blink. “Um. Hello? Sir?”
No response.
You glance around to see if this is some prank. Nope. Just you, a couch, and a warm grumpy lion man making your lap his personal pillow.
So you do the only logical thing: sigh, roll with it, and start guiding like this is completely normal.
The stabilization process is smoother than usual. Leona’s energy calms fast, his breathing evens out, and it’s honestly the most peaceful you’ve ever seen him. He doesn’t even twitch when you accidentally brush a hand through his hair mid-guidance.
When you're done, you gently nudge him. “Hey. Nap time’s over, sunshine.”
He grumbles like you’ve just committed a crime and blinks up at you with all the judgment of a cat disturbed mid-snooze. Then, with the reflexes of a seasoned villain, he sits up, grabs your coffee off the table, and chugs it like it’s his birthright.
“Hey!” you cry, scandalized. “That was mine! That was my life juice! That’s the only thing tethering me to this mortal realm!”
He hands you the empty cup with all the remorse of a man who steals from vending machines and sleeps through emergency drills. “You can get another.”
And then he leaves.
You stare after him. You stare at your empty cup. You stare at the void where your caffeine used to be.
This job is going to kill you.
But you’ll die confused and employed, and that’s the best you’ve got.
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You’re at the farmer’s market. Living your best domestic fantasy. You’ve got your reusable tote bag, your overpriced jam, a bundle of fresh herbs like you’re the protagonist in a cottagecore fever dream, and a leek that you're weirdly proud of because it was the biggest one in the pile. Life is good.
Then a gate opens.
Right there.
Next to the cheese stall.
The sky splits like a broken lightbulb, the air warps, and BAM—there's a rift to monster hell spewing nightmare fuel in the middle of tomato season.
You don’t know how it happened. One moment you were asking about eggplant pricing, the next you were in a technicolor void smacking a drooling, three-eyed creature with your leek like your life depends on it. Because it does.
You’re cornered by something that looks like the illegitimate child of a bear and a blender, just about to accept that this might be it—death by demon at a farmer’s market—when a figure crashes in, trailing lightning and rage.
Leona.
He surveys the chaos with a look of supremely irritated confusion. “Why the hell are you here?”
You, still holding the leek like it’s a holy weapon: “I don’t know, man, you tell me! I was just buying root vegetables!”
He groans like you’re giving him a headache worse than the gate, and with a single swipe of power, the monsters start dissolving into nothing. He suppresses the gate like he’s swatting a fly, and before you can say “gluten-free honey loaf,” he’s grabbing you by the arm and dragging you back to solid, blessed, non-nightmare reality.
You’re trying to catch your breath. You’re covered in monster goo. Your leek is bent in half. And you’re shaking.
“Okay,” you say, trying for calm but sounding like you’ve just survived the apocalypse (because you kinda have), “let’s get you stabilized so I can go sit in a bathtub forever.”
You reach for him—but your hands are trembling too much. You’ve seen monsters before, sure. But not that close. Not nearly getting your face chewed off.
Leona notices. His brow furrows. “Tch.”
Then—softly, carefully—he pulls you into his chest.
You freeze. Not from fear this time, but from the sudden warmth of him, from the way he smells like dust and heat and something grounding. You feel his hand gently settle between your shoulder blades, like he’s not sure how to comfort but he’s trying anyway.
“You don’t go in the gates,” he murmurs. “I go in. I’ll suppress every last one of them, no matter how many pop up. You just stay out here, alright? You wait for me.”
It’s the first time you’ve ever seen him look at you like that—not annoyed, not smug, but serious. Protective. Like your safety matters more to him than anything else.
You nod into his shirt. “Okay.”
And he holds you a little longer. Just until you stop shaking.
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You form a temporary bond with him after the whole gate-at-the-farmer's-market debacle because let’s be honest—your energy reserves were not built for stabilizing a lion in man’s clothing on a daily basis. You were running on fumes and instant noodles. One more session and you'd have crumpled like a used juice box with a sad little wheeze.
Leona didn’t even flinch at the idea of a temporary bond. Just looked at you like finally and said, “Took you long enough.”
Now, you’re guiding him and only him every day. Which sounds intense, but honestly? This is the freest you’ve been since graduating. No more being pinged at 3 AM to rush to a different gate across the city. No more sorting through esper tantrums or being asked if your hands are “certified emotionally soothing.”
You’ve got one glorified cat man to take care of, and he doesn’t even talk during sessions. He just shows up, flops onto your couch, puts his head in your lap like it’s routine, and is unconscious within minutes.
You're so free, you picked up a hobby. You, the overworked guide formerly known as Burnout in a Coat, now crochet lopsided scarves while waiting for Leona to show up. Sometimes you experiment with baking (badly). You’ve even started watching those long, slow documentaries about birds that people put on to fall asleep.
You are, shockingly, thriving.
Every now and then Leona’ll glance at your latest attempt at a potholder-turned-coaster-turned-abstract-art and grunt, “You’re getting better.”
Which, in Leona-speak, is basically high praise.
Life is weird. Life is monsters and gates and nap-hungry espers with bad attitudes.
But life is also calmer now. Just you, Leona, and the occasional crocheted disaster.
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The rift today is the kind of thing news stations send helicopters for. It's so massive that your phone buzzes with emergency alerts and a “Good luck lol” from your supervisor. You’re standing just outside the barrier, watching chaos unfold like it’s a live-action anime, umbrella in one hand, your thermos of emergency caffeine in the other.
Then—bam—some random, shaky-looking esper stumbles out of the gate and straight into your arms like you’re the protagonist in a romance drama. You're mid-stabilization out of pure reflex, patting his back like “there, there, emotionally damaged soldier,” when a low growl cuts through the sound of the rift and monster screeching.
Leona storms out of the rift next, all raw power and pissy vibes, his coat half burned and dust clinging to his hair. He sees you cradling Random Esper #453 like he just walked in on something illegal. His expression goes from “I need a nap” to “I'm about to commit a felony” in zero-point-three seconds.
Without saying a word, he grabs the guy by the scruff of his tactical vest like a misbehaving kitten and just yeets him toward another approaching guide.
"Not yours," he growls, before quite literally collapsing into your arms with all the elegance of a sack of emotional bricks.
You don’t even get the chance to complain. He’s already out, breathing slow and heavy, head tucked against your neck like he belongs there.
And you? You’re stuck holding one of the most powerful espers in the world like a sleepy toddler while another guide screams in the background about how Leona threw someone at them.
Just another day in your life.
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You are three seconds away from emotionally combusting in front of a full-length mirror, clutching two jackets like they personally offended you. One is sleek, black, mysteriously expensive-looking, the kind of jacket that says “I pay taxes and win arguments.” The other is fluffy, cozy, slightly ridiculous, and makes you look like a sentient marshmallow with excellent taste.
You’re weighing your options with the seriousness of someone deciding between saving the world and saving ten puppies. There are charts. Internal debates. You're about to do the unthinkable and consult the price tags when—
SWOOSH.
The jackets are gone.
You blink. Arms empty. Sanity shaken.
You whirl around and see Leona—yes, Leona Kingscholar, SS-class esper, noted napper, chaos incarnate—casually walking away with everything you were holding. That includes:
• The jackets
• The socks you forgot you picked up
• A weird little plush you were definitely only holding "ironically"
• A novelty mug that says #1 Guide, Certified Not Dead (Yet)
You trail after him, fast-walking with the energy of a startled mall pigeon. “Excuse me?! What the hell are you doing?!”
Leona doesn’t even slow down. He makes a beeline for the register like this is just a regular chore.
“You were taking too long,” he says over his shoulder, as if that explains anything.
“I was deciding! With purpose! With nuance!”
He pays. Effortlessly. Doesn’t flinch at the total. Just swipes his card with the bored grace of someone who buys entire coffee shops out of spite.
You arrive at the register breathless and confused. “I didn’t ask you to buy my—my impulse garments.”
He takes the bag, hands none of it to you, and starts walking out. “Didn’t say you had to ask.”
You make a strangled noise, flapping after him like a duckling trying to make sense of capitalism and emotional whiplash. “Are you—are you okay? Did you hit your head in the last gate? Why are you shopping for me?”
“Can’t have my Guide dying of hypothermia,” he mutters. “Especially not because they can’t pick a jacket.”
“That doesn’t explain the mug, Leona!”
“Sure it does.” He turns, smirking slightly. “You’ll need it tomorrow.”
“For what?!”
“Come to the gate.”
And with that cryptic nonsense, he strolls off into the distance.
You stare after him, confused, and wonder how exactly you ended up in this weird half-domestic cold war with a man who solves problems by spending money and napping through consequences.
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Dragging an unconscious SS-ranked esper to your car is not as easy as it sounds. Especially not when that esper is six feet of solid muscle, deadweight, and attitude—even while passed out.
It starts at the gate. After the monsters are suppressed and the chaos settles, Leona doesn’t get back up. You wait—he always gets up. Even when he’s cranky, bleeding, covered in soot and monster gunk, he always stands with that infuriating smirk, like he’s just taken a nap in a flower field. But this time? Nothing.
You run to him, heart slamming against your ribs, calling his name. No answer. Just the quiet rise and fall of his chest. Stable vitals, sure, but his magic signature is drained.
You can’t leave him there—not sprawled out in the dirt like a fallen war god. So you do what any sane, worried, emotionally-compromised Guide would do—you throw all logic out the window and start dragging.
Getting him into the car is a series of humiliating maneuvers that you’re certain would be classified as a war crime if recorded. He keeps slipping down. You have to brace your back against the seat and heave like your spine won’t sue you in the morning. At one point, his leg knocks the gear stick and almost sends the car rolling down the street. You cry a little.
Finally—somehow—you make it. You slam the door shut. Collapse in the driver’s seat, sweating like you’ve just run a marathon. And then—because fate is a comedic little gremlin—you have to carry him again. Up the stairs. To your apartment.
You consider leaving him in the hallway for a second. Just one second. But then he mumbles your name in his sleep, and your heart betrays you by going all soft and stupid.
Once inside, you get him on the couch, check his vitals again, and then begin your descent into spiraling anxiety.
Because he still isn’t waking up.
You pace. You hover. You poke. You even lightly slap his face once (he doesn’t react, but you apologize anyway). You check the clock. You make tea. You don’t drink it. You Google how long can espers sleep before it’s an emergency and get conflicting answers and a concerning ad for calming dog chews.
Two hours later, with your thumb hovering over the call button for emergency services, you’re just about to commit to panic when he stirs.
He stretches like a lion waking up from a particularly satisfying sun nap. Hair a mess, shirt rumpled, magic signature humming faintly back to life. You gasp like someone just turned the world back on and smack his arm with all the force of a mildly annoyed wet sock.
“You absolute menace!” you cry, voice cracking under the weight of emotional exhaustion. “You scared the life out of me! Do you want me to die first?! Because you are on a damn good track—”
He blinks up at you, unbothered. Like you’re background noise to the dream he just left. Then he raises his hand and���pat pat—smooths it over your head like you’re the one that needs comforting.
“‘m fine,” he mutters, which is frankly not the point, and then he drags you down onto the couch like you’re a weighted blanket.
The couch. The tiny two-seater couch that you got on sale and have never once regretted until this exact moment.
He adjusts slightly, making enough room for exactly one leg and half your soul, then shuts his eyes again like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
You stare at him, betrayed by the calm of his breathing, the warmth of his body pressed against yours, and the weight of everything you feel but haven’t said.
“Leona,” you whisper, voice too raw to be anything but honest.
“Sleeping,” he grumbles, completely unmoved. “You should too. You’re loud.”
So you stay. Your hand still buried in his hair, your heart still halfway out of your chest, your soul wrung out like a wet towel—but you stay.
And somehow, in that cramped, lumpy, too-small space, surrounded by exhaustion and emotion and quiet, you find the first real moment of peace that day.
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It’s not supposed to happen like this. Gates break, yeah—but they’re not supposed to breach before the espers arrive.
You're still in your uniform, badge clipped on, hair barely brushed, breakfast halfway digested (a mistake), when you arrive at the scene, and—
You freeze.
It’s a remote town, or used to be. Right now it looks like a war zone someone dropped from the sky and left in ruins. Roads cracked and splattered. Buildings collapsed like toy blocks. Smoke curling into the sky like it’s auditioning for a post-apocalyptic music video.
And blood.
So much blood.
You see espers fighting—familiar ones, ones you’ve guided before, their faces hard and blank as they tear through monsters like paper. But the monsters got people first. You see the cleanup teams already moving in. You hear crying. Someone screaming names. And then you see bodies being carried out in bags.
You step forward and your stomach lurches.
You force yourself to take a deep breath. You’re a Guide. You have training. You are not allowed to cry. You are especially not allowed to cry in front of espers who just fought through hell. You breathe in, focus on your mantra: I am here to help. I am here to help. You swallow down the nausea like it owes you rent.
That’s when you feel it—warmth behind you, a solid presence—and then large, rough fingers gently slide over your eyes.
“Don’t look, herbivore.” Leona’s voice is low, soft, somehow more grounding than anything you’ve clung to today. You don’t even flinch at the touch—just close your eyes properly under his palm and let the sounds of chaos fade a little.
You breathe out, finally.
When he lets go, you turn your head, eyes shut, and nod once.
He doesn’t say anything else—just places a hand on your back and steers you gently toward the tents that have been set up nearby. Emergency stabilization camps. Medical supplies stacked up. Guides running back and forth. Your people. You should be helping.
Leona sits you down first.
You start working. Slowly. Mechanically. He leans against your side as you place your hands on him, guiding the storm in his mind back into stillness. He’s watching you the whole time, like he’s memorizing your breathing pattern, your expressions. You don’t say anything, not even when your hands shake slightly at first.
When you’re done, he doesn’t move. Doesn’t make a smart remark. Just sits with you, quiet.
You lean your head against his shoulder for a second. Just one.
“Herbivore,” he mutters. “You okay?”
“No,” you say honestly. “But I’ll do my job.”
And he doesn’t argue. Just lets you rest before getting up and hauling a blanket off the supply pile and dropping it onto your lap with a grumble about “stupid guides forgetting they’re human too.”
You smile, small and tired, but real.
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You lasted longer than most would’ve. That’s what you keep telling yourself.
But it doesn’t make it easier when you turn in your resignation. Doesn’t make it hurt less to watch your fellow Guides blink in stunned silence. Doesn’t make it easier when the manager doesn’t even try to talk you out of it—just looks at you with that tired, knowing gaze and signs the form like they’ve seen a thousand others do the same.
And it really doesn’t make it easier when you go home and cry into your instant noodles like a defeated anime protagonist.
It’s not that you don’t love your job. You do. Or you did. But after the last breach… after seeing what happens when you’re too late… something inside you cracked.
You can’t keep holding people together when you’re falling apart.
So you go home. You unplug your work tablet. You turn off your work phone. You decide, firmly, that for the foreseeable future, you are retired. You make a little ceremony out of it. You throw your Guide badge into the drawer, slap a cartoon band-aid on your mental wounds, and decide your new job is to be horizontal and useless.
You don’t expect the knocking.
Frantic. Panicked. Desperate.
You open the door and Leona’s there—disheveled, annoyed, and clearly having run through multiple “I don’t care” speeches in the hallway before deciding none of them applied.
“Why’d you leave?” he says, skipping greetings entirely. His voice is rough like he ran here. Or yelled at a few people on the way.
You look at him. And you break the news gently.
“I quit.”
He stares at you like you just said you decided to become a professional soap-eater.
You try to explain—how you can’t take another bloody battlefield, how the sound of someone sobbing over a friend’s body has made a permanent home in your ears, how the pressure of always needing to be stable is crushing your chest like a vice.
“I just… I can’t do it anymore, Leona. I need a break. I need to feel human again.”
You expect pushback. Some snide comment. Accusations of cowardice or weakness.
But all he does is stare at you a moment, eyes sharp but quiet. Then, finally, he asks, “You happier like this?”
You blink. “...Yeah.”
He nods once. Then pushes past you like this is his house, grabs the half-eaten bag of chips from your counter, flops onto your couch, and turns on your TV like nothing happened. The audacity.
You just watch as he scrolls past every serious movie and lands on the stupidest slapstick comedy you have saved. And then he’s lounging there, one arm slung across the back of your couch, chewing chips like he pays rent.
You don’t ask him to leave. You don’t even sit far.
You curl into his side, just a little. Just enough to feel someone warm, someone solid, someone who didn’t leave even when you quit the one thing tying you together. And he doesn’t move, doesn’t make a snide comment, just lets you sit there while two characters on-screen fall face-first into a giant wedding cake.
You snort softly. He huffs a laugh.
Maybe the world can wait a little longer.
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You're not supposed to be here.
You're retired. Done. Free. You’ve been living a soft life, surrounded by overpriced lattes and therapy podcasts, learning to crochet ugly little hats for your houseplants. You’ve earned it. You deserve it.
But the moment the alert flashes across your screen—“Category Red Gate Breach”—your blood runs cold.
You tell yourself you’re just going to check. Just to make sure. You don’t bring your badge. You don’t bring your stabilizing gloves. You bring anxiety, a hoodie, and a tupperware of homemade cookies, because apparently trauma turns you into someone’s tired suburban mom.
When you arrive at the site, the street’s already cordoned off, flickering with damage and Gate residue. Monster ash drifts through the air like cursed snow. The temporary field hospital is chaos—Espers limping, bloody, barely upright, Guides running ragged trying to stabilize them before they keel over.
You’re not supposed to get involved. You’re not.
But then you see him.
Leona. Stumbling slightly as he walks, covered in dirt and blood and smoke. He bats away the hands of every Guide that comes near like they're flies. His expression is sharp, but his eyes are glazed. Too bright. Too wild. His coat’s half off his shoulder and his aura is fraying at the edges—like he’s running on fumes and sheer attitude.
You run to him.
“I told you to take care of yourself!” you shout, more out of panic than anything else. “You absolute menace—what the hell, Leona?! Have you not had a single guiding session since I left?! Are you trying to die?!”
He doesn’t answer. He just turns his head slowly, eyes locking on you like you’re a dream he’s too tired to question. His breath stutters.
And then he’s pulling you forward—no warning, no words—just grabbing you and kissing you like the world hasn’t ended yet because you showed up in time.
And you freeze for a heartbeat. Just one. Then your hands are on his shoulders, in his hair, your lips meeting his as the unstable storm of his aura crashes against yours.
You guide him—not with standard channels, not with gloves or focus crystals, but with your whole self. Through the kiss, through the desperation in your grip, through the way you’re pouring every unspoken emotion into him. Every “I missed you,” every “You idiot,” every “Please be okay.”
And slowly—slowly—his breathing evens. The twitch of his muscles fades. The trembling stops. He leans into you, forehead pressing against yours, and whispers, hoarse and raw, “Knew you’d come.”
You hold him tighter.
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It happens on a normal, sunny day.
Leona’s in your apartment, lounging like he lives here—which he sort of does at this point, considering how often he shows up without knocking. He’s flicking at one of your crocheted cactus hats with a deeply unimpressed expression, like it's personally offended his sense of aesthetics.
“You’re wasting perfectly good yarn,” he mutters. “This thing looks like a limp sea anemone.”
You throw a cushion at him. “Shut up. It has character.”
He snorts and catches it easily. He looks too big for your space. Too dangerous for your IKEA throw pillows. Too important to be wearing a hoodie you accidentally shrank in the wash, but he is, and it’s riding up just a bit at his waist.
And you—you’re just watching him, feeling the weight of it. The Gate breach. The kiss. The way he let you in like you never left. The way you still know exactly how to guide him better than anyone.
You set your tea down a little too firmly and blurt, “I want to form a permanent bond.”
The room stills. Leona doesn’t move. His hand is frozen mid-poke, just inches from your succulents-in-hats lineup.
“What?”
You swallow. “I want to bond permanently. With you.”
He turns to look at you slowly, eyes sharp, reading every inch of your face. “You serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“You sure this isn’t the post-massacre adrenaline talking?” he says, voice flat. “People say weird shit after trauma.”
You raise your eyebrows. “Okay, yes, I saw several eldritch nightmares and had to fight one with a leek, but I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I’m not going back to guiding just anyone. I only want to guide you.”
Leona’s quiet for a long time. Then he sits up—really sits up—and leans forward, forearms on his knees, staring at the floor like it's hiding answers in the carpet pattern.
“You don’t get to change your mind after this,” he says, low. “It’s a one-way door.”
“I know.”
“You’ll feel what I feel,” he says. “You’ll know what I feel. Even the ugly stuff. Especially the ugly stuff.”
You smile. “Leona, I’ve seen you eat cold pizza at 7 a.m. while shirtless and complaining about filler episodes. I know ugly.”
He groans like you’ve physically injured him and slumps back again. “You’re gonna make me regret this with your dumb jokes.”
But there’s a warmth in his tone now, soft and fond and careful.
He stands up and walks to you, crowding into your space, eyes locked on yours like he’s giving you one last chance to back out. You don’t. You reach out and link your fingers through his.
And he exhales shakily. “Okay then.”
He presses you back into the couch—your stupid, lumpy, too-small couch with the blanket that smells like lavender detergent—and his hands are cupping your face, his forehead resting against yours.
He looks at you, eyes bright. “You’re stuck with me now, y’know.”
You grin. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
And just like that, you’re not just a guide and an esper anymore.
You’re his. And he’s yours. Permanently.
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Leona remembered the first time he met you like it was a fever dream—a chaotic, embarrassing, infuriating fever dream.
He’d been a rookie then. Raw, unstable, claws out at the world and not interested in anyone who thought they could leash him. He didn’t need a guide. Didn’t want a guide. Especially not in some packed training center with too many bodies and not enough air.
And then you happened.
He had just come out of an intense simulated Gate. Aura flaring wild, brain buzzing with static, teeth gritted like he could physically bite down on the overwhelming noise in his head. The instructors had already radioed for a Class A guide, probably even a Class S, someone who could deal with an untamable lion.
Instead, they got you.
You must’ve been nearby and operating on some unhinged kind of autopilot, because you stumbled into the fray like a grad student five espresso shots deep and grabbed him by the collar without even checking his ID tag.
And then—then—you had the audacity to guide him.
It wasn’t the gentle coaxing kind either. It was hands in his hair, forehead pressed to his temple, murmured words like a mantra while he struggled to get away. He’d cursed, snarled, told you to back off before he did something you’d regret.
And you? You pulled his ear.
Pulled his fucking ear like he was a naughty cat on a countertop.
“Sit still, I’m working,” you’d snapped at him, voice sharp and fed-up like this was your fourth Gate that day and you were not about to let some rookie cat-boy ruin your stats.
And then—
Then it all bled away.
The noise. The storm. The static. It melted under your touch, under that weird, grounding, relentless presence of yours. He remembered your aura—bright, strong, so confident in a way you clearly hadn’t earned yet, but hell, it worked.
By the time he came back to himself, panting and blinking in the too-bright light, you were already gone, off to stabilise the next idiot without even sparing him a backward glance.
He had to ask someone your name.
It pissed him off for weeks.
Because you hadn’t even realized who you’d grabbed. You hadn’t known he was a potential SS-class Esper. You hadn’t cared. You’d just seen a wild beast and told it to sit down while you fixed it.
And somehow… it had worked.
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He remembered it like a film reel soaked in rain—gray skies cracked open, streets slick and flooding, people scrambling like wet rats to get to cover. And in the middle of that chaos, you.
The only dry, smug bastard in the entire goddamn city.
The rain hadn’t touched you. Not one drop. Umbrella balanced perfectly, a coffee in one hand, phone in the other, like the gates of hell hadn’t just burst three blocks over. You were humming. Humming, for crying out loud.
And Leona had frozen mid-step. Not because of the gate, or the suppression order blaring in his ear—he didn’t even hear it anymore.
It was you.
The same energy. Same aura. That same maddening calm like a slap to the face. He didn’t even need to reach for his senses to know it was you—the one who yanked his ear and made his soul stop screaming all those years ago.
He’d spent months trying to forget that moment. Or rather, trying not to remember it too fondly. That was the worst part: how easy it had been to just give in to your touch. No fights. No snarling. No claws. Just... quiet.
And now here you were, in his city, acting like the rain had never met you, walking through a Gate breach zone like it was your stupid, peaceful backyard.
You didn’t even flinch when he stepped up to you.
Didn’t bristle.
Didn’t bow like the others.
Just blinked at him and went, “I'm just an S class guide.”
And that—
That pissed him off.
Because you didn’t recognize him.
After all that? The ear-pulling? The spiritual mugging you gave his aura? The time you wrangled his chaos into submission with the annoyed grace of someone trying to fix a printer jam?
You didn’t even remember.
Leona’s eye twitched.
No. Fine. That was fine. He could work with this.
He’d just have to remind you.
He leaned in, voice low and lazy, that smile curling sharp and knowing. “Didn’t think you’d forget me, herbivore.”
Still blank.
“Oh?” you said, sipping your coffee like he wasn’t radiating enough energy to fry the sidewalk. “Should I have?”
Leona huffed a laugh through his nose.
Okay. You wanted to play this game? Cool. He’d just put himself on your schedule. He’d get stabilised. Regularly. By you. He’d show up with his whole chaos bleeding out and dare you not to remember what you did to him back then.
He’d make sure you remembered.
And by the time you did, he'd already be sleeping in your lap.
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He remembered that day like a fever dream.
The burn of energy spent down to the marrow. The static buzz in his skull, everything blurred and muffled. He didn’t remember passing out. Only that when he cracked his eyes open again, he was on a couch that was too soft, under a blanket that smelled like you.
And you—
You were pacing.
Pacing like your heart was about to break through your chest. Muttering to yourself. Swearing quietly. Picking up your phone like you were about to call for help—and that was when it hit him.
You were scared.
For him.
You, who once yanked his ear like he was a brat in time-out. Who lectured monsters and officials alike with the same exhausted sigh. You were standing there, shoulders hunched, knuckles white, about to call an ambulance like he was something fragile.
Leona would never forget that look.
Wide-eyed. Raw. Like you’d just lost the world and were scrambling to piece it back together.
He stirred just to stop you from dialing, more out of instinct than anything, and your reaction—Sevens. You swatted him like he was the one who gave you heart failure, your voice wobbly as you whined about how close you’d come to losing your “life juice thief.”
And something in his chest broke a little.
He didn’t say anything. Just patted your head with a heavy hand, tugged you onto the couch like you weighed nothing, and pulled you close. Too tired to talk. Too overwhelmed to pretend.
You didn’t argue. You just curled against him, the two of you folded together on that stupid couch not built for two.
He fell asleep with your heartbeat right there, under his hand.
And later, when he pretended it was the proximity that calmed him and not you, he knew he was lying. Because that image of you—panicked, pacing, nearly in tears because of him—was burned into his brain like a brand.
He thought: No one’s ever looked at me like that.
And maybe that’s when it happened.
Maybe that’s when he stopped running from what you meant to him.
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Leona remembers the gate break too clearly.
Not because it was the bloodiest he’d seen—though it was. Not because the air had smelled like ozone and rot, or because the monsters had crawled out of that rift like nightmares given shape. Not even because they lost people, though the weight of that had sunk deep into his spine.
No.
He remembers it because of you.
You weren’t supposed to be there. You were supposed to be off somewhere doing idiot hobbies and yelling at your succulents. Not standing there, pale as ash, looking at the wreckage with wide, hollow eyes.
He’d spotted you across the chaos, just as another stretcher went past you, another guide screaming for medics. And you just stood there, frozen. Staring. Not blinking.
Leona moved before he even realized it, instincts kicking in harder than battle mode ever had.
You didn’t flinch when his hand covered your eyes from behind.
"Don’t look, herbivore," he muttered. Not like a command. Like a plea.
You made a small sound—shaky, half-choked—and he felt it. That tremble that ran through your body like a frayed wire.
And he knew, right then, that he’d never forget your expression. The look of someone who’d seen one horror too many. The kind that made you never sleep easy again.
He turned you around, tucked you under his arm like he could shield you from the world with just his presence alone, and walked you to the temporary camps.
You guided him there—your hands still trembling, voice quiet—but you guided him all the same.
He watched you carefully the whole time, like if he blinked, you’d disappear. Like if he wasn’t careful, you'd shatter.
And he swore—
If he could help it, he’d never let you wear that look again. Not for gates. Not for anyone. Not even for him.
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Leona had felt fear before.
The kind that came with being outnumbered by monsters too big for even his claws to take down. The cold sweat of overusing his abilities to the point his bones felt like glass. The fury of watching comrades fall mid-battle.
But none of it—not once—had made his stomach drop the way it did when he opened your office door and saw the place getting cleared out.
Your desk was bare. The plant you used to scold for not thriving was gone. The mug that said “Espers are drama queens” was nowhere to be found. There was just a box, some paperwork, and a couple of Guides gossiping in the hallway.
“Transferred?” he asked, brows furrowed.
“Nah,” someone said. “Resigned. Burnout, probably.”
His vision tunneled.
Burnout.
You’d burned out—and you hadn’t said a word.
Leona didn’t even remember leaving the office. He just remembered standing in front of your door, knuckles aching from how hard he knocked, heart rattling in his chest like something was trying to break free. You opened it after what felt like eternity, hair a mess, hoodie too big, eyes shadowed with exhaustion.
And you smiled.
Small. Tired. But real.
It wrecked him.
You explained in soft words—words that he barely heard because he was watching the way your shoulders curled in, the way your voice wavered when you said “I needed a break.”
And Leona… he said nothing.
Because what could he say?
“Come back?”
“Let me fix it?”
“I need you?”
No. He wasn’t good with words like that. So he just walked past you, flopped on your couch, and turned on the dumbest show in your streaming queue. The one with the laugh track you always made fun of. The one you claimed made your brain smooth enough to nap.
And you came and curled next to him without saying a word.
Leona didn’t sleep that night. He watched you instead. Watched your face soften as the tension bled away. Watched your chest rise and fall. Watched the proof that you were still here, even if a little frayed at the edges.
He stayed until morning.
Because if you couldn’t carry the world for a while, he’d hold it up for you instead
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Leona refused to let anyone guide him after you left.
They tried, of course. S-class guides who were calm and polished, eager to work with him. People with pristine records and delicate, careful hands. They hovered around him after every mission, offering stabilizing touches and soft-spoken reassurances, but he bared his teeth at every single one of them.
He didn’t want calm. He didn’t want pristine.
He wanted you.
And it wasn’t like he meant to be dramatic about it, either. He knew how it looked—how reckless it was to take on gate after gate without being stabilized. He could feel it in his bones, the exhaustion chewing at the edges of his mind. His temper frayed easier. His sleep was worse. But every time someone reached for him, he’d shrug them off like their hands burned.
Because letting someone else guide him after you?
It felt like cheating.
Even if you’d never been his. Even if you’d never called him yours. Even if you’d left the job entirely and moved on, arms full of groceries and that stupid smug grin on your face like you hadn’t just ripped something vital out of him.
He endured. And endured. And endured.
Until that gate. The breach that nearly turned into a disaster. His vision had been half-gone from the overload, his hands shaking from pushing himself too far. He was stumbling toward his car, snarling at the idiots trying to grab him, when you came out of nowhere, yelling at him.
Scolding him for not taking care of himself.
You, who had no reason to be there. You, with your arms full of cookies and your dumb little apron still dusted with flour. You, who looked so heartbreakingly angry and worried all at once, like he’d carved a hole in your chest and left it open.
He barely heard the words. He couldn’t think past the rush of your voice and the you-ness of it all.
So he kissed you.
He didn’t ask. Didn’t hesitate. Just leaned forward, dizzy with the ache of needing you, and kissed you.
You didn’t pull away.
You kissed him back with a kind of fury that made his knees weak, like you’d been waiting just as long, like all your feelings were poured straight into your touch. You guided him with your hands on his face, your forehead pressed to his. And for the first time in weeks—months, maybe—he could breathe again.
You were his fate. You always had been.
And Leona Kingscholar had never once considered being free.
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Now, you're permanently bonded.
Leona comes home, not to silence or tension or the eerie calm of an empty apartment—but to you. You, burning something in the kitchen again. You, curled up on the couch in those ridiculous socks that he secretly bought two more pairs of because you kept losing them. You, complaining about your houseplants like they personally offended you, even as you tuck a blanket around one because “she’s sensitive to cold.”
He walks through the door and something tight in his chest unwinds. Every time.
Sometimes he still expects it to go away. Like he’ll blink and wake up, stuck in some sterile recovery room with a lecture coming and a headache already forming.
But then you smile at him, bright and familiar, and you say, “Welcome home, dumbass,” with that soft tone you always save just for him.
And it hits him again: you’re his.
You bonded with him. Not temporarily. Not out of desperation. You chose him.
Leona doesn’t care for sentimentality. But he knows—knows—he’ll never forget the day you tugged on his ear and made him yours.
Because something about the way you touched him… the way your hands didn’t shake… the way your voice didn’t flinch…
He hadn’t felt fear. He hadn’t felt chaos. He’d just felt—settled.
Even now, when you steal his hoodies and press kisses to the corners of his mouth and scowl when he eats the last cookie, he still remembers that exact moment. The tug on his ear. Your hand in his hair. The audacity you had to treat him like a person before he’d ever earned it.
He comes home to that now.
To you.
And for the first time in a long, long time, Leona Kingscholar doesn’t feel like he’s enduring the world.
He feels like he’s living in it.
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You’re both tangled up in the sheets, legs braided together, skin warm with the afterglow, when you roll onto your side and ask, “Hey… why me?”
Leona blinks at the ceiling, arms behind his head. “Why not you?”
You nudge his side, unconvinced. “No, seriously. You had your pick. So what made you want me?”
He’s quiet for a second. Then he says, almost casually, “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“Our first meeting. It wasn’t during that gate in the rain.” He shifts, turning to face you fully, voice low and quiet. “It was way before that. Back when we were both still rookies.”
You squint, thinking hard. “You mean—?”
“I was a mess,” he says, lips twitching at the memory. “Raw, half-feral. I’d just come off a surge and nobody could get near me.”
You stare at him. He stares back.
“You,” he says, tapping your forehead lightly, “stomped over, grabbed me by the ear like I was a misbehaving mutt, and told me to ‘stay put,’ like you weren’t terrified I’d snap your arm off.”
And then it clicks. It clicks.
“Oh my god,” you gasp. “That was you?!”
He raises an eyebrow, almost smug.
You burst out laughing. Actual, full-body, face-hiding, breathless laughter.
Leona watches you lose it, and something deep in his chest tugs—gentle, powerful, unmistakably warm.
He thinks, this.
This right here. The sound of your laughter in his sheets, the crinkle of your nose, the disbelief in your eyes as if you couldn’t possibly have manhandled one of the most dangerous espers in the country—this is what he wants every damn day of his life.
You’re still giggling when you huddle closer to him, pressing your forehead to his.
“I pulled your ear,” you murmur, like it’s the funniest thing in the world. “No wonder you’ve been so whipped since day one.”
“Watch it,” he warns, but there’s no heat in it. Just fondness.
You grin, and he kisses it right off your mouth.
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Masterlist
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dckweed · 1 month ago
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tiktok made me do it gf! vs. tf141 boys
You and your friends have spent way too much time on BookTok, watching those ridiculously hot tropes in dark romance novels—the hand on the throat, the deep growl, the Book Boyfriend Lean™ that makes your knees weak.
So, naturally, you have to test it on your boyfriends.
Bad idea.
Captain Price – "need a breather "
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"You sure you wanna do this, love?" Price’s voice is already a little too amused as he watches you set up your phone.
"Yes," you say, trying to act nonchalant, but the second you meet his gaze, your stomach flips.
This is John Price. A man who can command an entire squad with a single look. A man whose voice alone could probably send people to their knees. And you’re about to ask him to do BookTok trope behavior on you?
Yeah. You’re already regretting it.
"Alright," he sighs, setting his whiskey glass down. He moves toward you—slowly, like a damn lion closing in on its prey.
You gulp.
His chest brushes against yours as he leans in, his scent—whiskey, cedar, and something just him—invading your senses. He tilts his head slightly, bringing his lips to your ear, his breath warm.
Then, the voice. That voice.
"That what you want, sweetheart?"
You die.
Like, literally combust on the spot. Your brain short-circuits, your legs wobble, and you slap a hand over your face because holy shit.
Price leans back, smirking. "Think you need a breather, love."
You squeak, flapping your hands at him. "AGAIN."
He chuckles, shaking his head. "Didn’t even make it through the first one."
Kyle "Gaz" Garrick – "You asked for it"
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"You’re not gonna be able to handle it," Gaz warns, grinning like he already knows the outcome.
"Yes, I will!" you huff, pointing at him. "Just do it!"
He snickers, rolling his shoulders before stepping forward. "Alright, princess, you asked for it."
Before you can react, he leans in. His hands plant themselves firmly on either side of you, caging you against the counter. His dark brown eyes drop to your lips, then slowly, so painfully slowly, back up to meet yours.
His voice is a low rumble, damn near dripping with amusement. "This what you wanted, love?"
Your brain blue screens.
Your entire body betrays you.
One second you’re standing, and the next, your knees just give out. You have to catch yourself on the counter before you collapse completely.
Gaz’s eyes go wide. "Babe—"
"I TOLD YOU TO GO EASY ON ME!" you wail, slapping at his chest.
Gaz throws his head back, laughing so hard he nearly chokes. "You—You literally asked for this!"
"AGAIN!" you shout.
"You just FOLDED!"
"I DON’T CARE! DO IT AGAIN!"
Simon "Ghost" Riley – "Did you just die?"
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"You good, love?" Simon asks, watching you set up your phone with shaking hands.
"Yes!" you lie.
He tilts his head slightly. The mask is off, leaving you to stare at his sharp jawline, the way his lips twitch just slightly in amusement. You have a horrible, horrible feeling about this.
"Alright," he murmurs, his voice so deep you can feel it in your bones.
Then, before you can process it, he steps forward.
One hand grips your waist—tight, possessive, just enough to make you feel small. The other moves up, fingers sliding gently along your throat, not squeezing, just resting there. His thumb brushes over your pulse, and you know—you know—he can feel how erratic it is.
"You alright, sweetheart?"
You make a noise. A very embarrassing, strangled noise.
His grip tightens just slightly.
And then, he does it—the growl.
A deep, throaty rumble that sends a full-body shudder through you.
You panic.
Your arms flail. Your brain completely short-circuits. And before you can stop yourself, you just—
—collapse to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Simon blinks down at you. "...Did you just die?"
You slap the floor, face burning. "AGAIN."
He grins. "You sure you can handle it this time, love?"
Johnny "Soap" MacTavish – ""Too Easy""
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"You’re gonna break me," you whisper, already regretting this.
Soap smirks, stepping forward. "Aye, bonnie, probably."
His big hands slide around your waist, tugging you close until your chest is pressed against his. His head dips, lips ghosting just above your ear, his breath sending shivers down your spine.
"This what y’been dreamin’ about, hmm?"
You spaz.
Like, full-body flinch, hands shaking, brain completely fried.
Soap notices.
He chuckles darkly. "Oh, lass, yer too easy."
"I hate you," you gasp, pushing weakly at his chest.
"Do ye?" he teases, fingers tilting your chin up so you’re forced to meet his gaze. "’Cause I think ye quite like it."
You go feral.
Your hands slap against his chest. "AGAIN."
Soap grins. "Ye didn’t even last two seconds—"
"I DON’T CARE, DO IT AGAIN."
Moral of the Story:
You were supposed to be the one testing the BookTok trope.
Instead, you’ve just made things worse for yourself.
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vampyre-nights · 4 months ago
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Y'all I love Assan, don't get me wrong. He's a little sweetheart and I cherish him. However, the way a lot of y'all reduce Davrin down to just "Assan's Dad"™ is so fucking annoying. It's almost to the point where I wish Assan didn't exist as a character.
I've seen people try and say that Davrin "doesn't have a personality outside of caring for Assan" which is just... Completely wrong. He's extremely multifaceted from his care for Assan, to his dedication to the Wardens, to his love of the hunt, to his borderline paranoia that he's going to either die a hero or outlive his friends, to his self-destructive view of himself in a relationship, and even just how he treats Rook and the other companions.
What's even stranger to me is that he is 100% the guy that would like dom you but he gets no attention. If you asked him to he would probably degrade you because he knows you like it. He would probably be controlling, and manhandle you, and all of that shit that people (especially straight women) in fandom thirst over to the point of mischaracterising other characters for it. And yet I see almost no one talk about him outside of Assan and like "ooo I ship him with Lucanis because enemies to lovers and I can only think about Davrin in relation to other characters!"
And you know what. I'm just gonna come out and say it. I genuinely think it's because he's black. That's it. He's a fucking amazing character, and is the exact type of guy so many people would thirst over. But because he's black it's crickets. Pull yourselves together.
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