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badbatchsprincess · 3 months

Text

Heated ~ pt.20

Pt.1 ~ Pt.2 ~ Pt.3 ~ Pt.4 ~ Pt.5 ~ Pt.6 ~ Pt.7 ~ Pt.8 ~ Pt.9 ~ Pt.10 ~Pt.11 ~ Pt.12 ~ Pt.13 ~ Pt.14 ~ Pt.15 ~ Pt.16 ~ Pt.17 ~ Pt.18 ~ Pt.19 ~

Masterlist

Summary: This is an ABO Bad batch!Poly x Omega Reader smut with a plot. This takes place as an AU before order 66. Y/N previously served under the 501st before being transferred to Special Forces 99. This is her adventure with these rowdy Alphas in a quickly changing universe.

THIS IS AN ABO AU ABOUT THE BAD BATCH (NO CANON OMEGA!) Due to the unfortunate situation of her name being Omega… Omega the child from the canon series is not going to be apart of this fanfic/porn with a plot. I feel obligated to put this warning in because it makes my skin crawl thinking anyone could make that mistake.

Warnings: Smut!!! hunter/prey kink, semipublic sex, general awkwardness? violence

Yo!!! I'm sorry I haven't been able to post this, I've been continuously distracted while in the editing process so I apologize for the longer wait than I anticipated. Ugh. Anyways, more to come! Enjoy!

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Crosshair shot up from the table, using his four inches of overhead height against the Commander.

The sniper zeroed in on Wolffe, eager for round two after Kashyyyk. You stood up to intercept, but Crosshair’s arm shot out to keep you behind him.

“If it isn’t Tarkin’s favorite little pet,” Wolffe snarled. “Looking for another beating?”

You cringed, feeling tensions rising quickly. Stepping out from behind Crosshair, you locked eyes with the Commander. “Please stop this, both of you,” you tried to reason. “What’s in the past is in the past.”

Wolffe smirked devilishly and gestured to you. “Still haven’t mated her yet, huh? What, she belong to your brother now?”

Well, shit.

Crosshair swung with such ferocity that the Commander only had a second to realize his fist was coming right for his chin. Wolffe’s entire frame shifted backward on impact, and suddenly the fight of all fights broke out.

You sighed and shook your head, watching as the two of them aimed perfectly trained punches at one another, bumping into various tables and causing a ruckus. You turned to look at Bolts and Stunner, silently asking for their help to break it up. They just shook their heads in fear of interfering. You sighed again, watching as Crosshair dragged Wolffe across the tables, knocking over at least four people’s lunches.

Glancing over at the troopers who were supposed to be monitoring such outbursts, you saw they too stood there, uncertain what to do. Two high-ranking officers brawling in the middle of the mess hall was definitely not something they were briefed on handling. They weren’t sure who to answer to.

Realizing it was up to you, you stepped forward, dodging Crosshair’s elbow as you tried to break them apart. Wolffe kicked Crosshair in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the side of a table.

“Wolffe!” you snapped at the man, making him look down at you as he breathed heavily from exertion. He stared at you curiously.

“Oh my,” a sing-song voice rang out. “Captain, are you alright?” A woman, an omega, tried to help Crosshair stand up. You spun your head around, locking onto the way her hands wrapped around Crosshair’s arm, feeling his bicep.

Your moral high ground suddenly became a ditch. “Absolutely fucking not!” you snarled, stalking over to the girl. Leaving Wolffe to watch, you brutally socked the girl in the face, to his total surprise.

A symphony of “Oooh’s” broke out from the cafeteria as your vision turned red and you continued to pummel your fists into the snarling omega. She was stronger than you thought she would be, but she was untrained. Her hits weren’t as strong as Echo’s, so you barreled into them, throwing her over the lunch table and watching her stupid slippered feet tumble through the air.

Crosshair stood back up, shaking off his fists before getting back into a fighting stance. Wolffe licked the blood on his lip as he watched you beat down the poor girl who tried to help his opponent.

Quite the match you two were, he realized.

Wolffe and Crosshair tiptoed in a circle, trying to figure out who would strike first. Crosshair shook his hands out like a boxer prepping to strike. Then, the energy in the room shifted, and it became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The cafeteria went silent, and all of the troopers turned rigid. You sat up, rearing back for another hit, when you looked to see what had them all staring.

To your left, Admiral Tarkin and his officers stood in the mess hall doorway, looking at you and Crosshair with scrutinizing eyes.

You dropped the girl and fixed your white slip with a huff, before sauntering over to Crosshair, giving Wolffe a nasty glare as you wrapped your arm through Crosshair’s.

Tarkin’s beady eyes studied you closely, making your skin crawl. He gave you an entire once-over before cracking a small smirk.

He was very pleased with his little project apparently.

His officers, however, viewed the lot of you like pathetic vermin, their noses high in the air aristocratically. It made you want to punch them too, and wipe that smugness from their faces.

You held in a growl as they continued on, leaving you all in uncomfortable silence. Wolffe wiped his lip, giving you a once-over as well before slipping out of the cafeteria. Crosshair seemed to have won this fight.

“What did that mean?” you asked.

“Admiral’s checking in on his investments,” Crosshair grumbled, grabbing your hands to rub the blood gathering on your knuckles.

You noticed some of the 104th regs filing out of the mess along with the injured girl. She and her friends hobbled off to handle the bruises forming on her chin.

“He likes that you’re prone to violence,” Crosshair added, taking your hand in his.

“That seems to only be when I’m around you,” you laughed off the awkwardness you were now feeling, seeing the way everyone regarded the two of you with fear in their eyes.

“The bond,” Crosshair smirked, leading you from the mess, presumably back to your apartments.

You walked with him, still holding onto his arm, making the turn down to the residential section of the base. You noted how much this place reminded you of Kamino, with all of the light interiors and bright windows overlooking the Nabooan lake.

You were just about to comment on the beauty of it all when the door to your left slid open, and the two of you were forcefully yanked inside the dark entry.

“What the—” you yelped, still clinging to Crosshair as he tucked you behind him ready for another fight.

The doors slid shut, and you heard a locking mechanism as your eyes adjusted to the slightly darker room. Rows and rows of bunks filled the room as far as the eye could see, and all around you were troopers in various perches, staring at the two of you.

The 104th.

Crosshair snarled, zeroing in on Wolffe. “What, not enough of a beating for you?”

Wolffe sighed, relenting. Stunner stood up from his cot, slightly confused at the sudden change in behavior from his commanding officer.

“Will you just relax for a second?” Wolffe raised his hands.

You nodded behind Crosshair, shifting to the other side of him to get a better look at Wolffe. You narrowed your eyes at him, making him give you an apologetic look.

“What do you want?” Crosshair’s tone made you shiver.

“I just want to talk,” Wolffe said, putting his hands down at his sides. It was odd seeing him without his grey kit on; he seemed too soft.

Crosshair scoffed. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah,” Wolffe groaned. “Really.”

He reminded you of a grumpy Rex.

Crosshair looked him up and down. “Talk.”

You yanked your little dress down, watching as Wolffe sat down on one of the bunks, looking to his men before turning his attention fully on Crosshair.

You studied Wolffe, noticing that his eye scar had a matching counterpart dragging from his temple under his hairline. Then you looked at Stunner, who ran a nervous hand through his hair, showing off a slightly bald patch. Then the others: you noticed all their hair was slightly longer, just like Crosshair. They looked at you the same way Fives and Jesse would.

That warm kindness made you realize something.

You stepped forward from behind Crosshair standing in front of him.

“What did you think of General Plo Koon?” you asked suddenly.

Wolffe raised a brow at you.

You felt Crosshair’s nervousness bleed through the bond. He was silently begging you to shut up, not to rile up the regs and provoke violence. Mentioning Jedi was a surefire way to active the programming.

Ignoring him, you continued, “Ahsoka told me you viewed him like a father, that in return he viewed all of you like his sons.”

You looked to the rest of the room. When none of them tensed up and instead, curled in on themselves, it confirmed your suspicion. The violence you expected didn’t come…

Turning to Crosshair, you said, “They’ve been removed.”

Crosshair shot up straight, looking to Wolffe. “Is she correct?”

“Yeah,” Wolffe nodded quietly.

“How did you know?” Crosshair crossed his arms.

“We had help,” Wolffe gave Crosshair a knowing look, communicating something you didn’t understand.

“How many?” you asked.

Wolffe tilted his head back towards his men. “Every last one.”

“How did you end up here?” you asked.

“Better question is, how did you end up here?” he returned, “Last I saw you, I was carrying your limp body through a chemical attack on Kashyyyk.”

“Tarkin has taken a special interest in her,” Crosshair answered, “She has genetics he’s invested in.”

You fanned yourself slightly, feeling a little claustrophobic in this windowless barracks. Crosshair noticed you fighting off your anxiety and ran a comforting hand over your head. Bolts got up to give you his seat on the cot, which you gratefully took. He gave you a nod, leaning against the bunk post next to you.

“What kind of genetics?” Wolffe pondered.

Crosshair looked at you before raising a brow. “She’s a rare species of omega… he wants to clone her.”

The entire company let out disapproving grunts.

“Why her?” a trooper asked from next to Stunner.

“Apparently, I’m not bound to monogamy,” you shrugged. “Something about some ancient line from a million years ago. I don’t know.” You fanned yourself, suddenly feeling a little antsy. You chalked it up to all the men staring at you.

“She can have multiple alphas,” Crosshair added, “Tarkin wants clone offspring for his war machine. He needs more of her kind to accomplish that in a timely manner. A new generation of elite soldiers.”

Wolffe crossed his arms, making a disgusted face.

“Is that true?” Stunner asked you.

You nodded. “Unfortunately. That’s why he’s always lurking around.”

“Is that why she smells like that?” a voice asked from the back.

You suddenly became self-conscious, trying to discreetly sniff your wrist for any hint of something unusual.

Crosshair just nodded. “Yeah.”

“What do you mean?” You sniffed more intensely, still unable to smell anything.

“You just, well…” Bolts shifted uncomfortably, “You smell good.”

Crosshair raised a threatening brow, making Bolts squirm. You looked back at your alpha, urging him to answer.

“It’s true,” Wolffe laughed. “You smell very unique.”

“Unique?” You squeaked. That wasn’t necessarily good.

“Not like any other omega we’ve been around,” Stunner shrugged. “Like freshly washed clothes.”

“The rain on Kamino.”

“The sun.”

“The color blue.”

“Fresh soap.”

“Toothpaste.”

“Saltwater.”

“Ice.”

“Garjon lilies on Kasshyyyk.”

The voices in the room made you blush. You hadn’t realized how distinctive your scent was. Now you were starting to wonder if Hunter had been forced to endure this all along. Poor alpha; he was probably suffering this whole time being in suck close quarters with you.

Wolffe then looked at Crosshair with a wary expression, “You don’t think Tarkin wants to…” He hesitated, gesturing towards you.

You cringed, filling in the blanks. Ew…fucking eww!

Wolffe winced as well, “He’s an alpha. If her scent is affecting us, he might be an old fuck, but you never know.”

You wanted to gag. That was the worst visual you’d ever had in your head… actually, ever…

“I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life now. Thanks,” you gagged.

Bolts giggled.

“That’s never going to happen,” Crosshair’s tone was icy.

“Okay,” Stunner stood up, “So she’s a mutant,” you scoffed, a little offended, and you felt Crosshair bristle, “and Tarkin wants her cloned. What the hell do we even do?” He turned to Wolffe.

“We actually kind of have a plan,” you spoke up.

They turned to you.

“Well, we were able to get a message out to a friend, who will relay it to my… other alphas.” It felt strange to say, “Crosshair’s batch mates.” Your cheeks heated up.

“Hunter got your message?” Wolffe confirmed.

“I hope so. We didn’t have much time earlier,” you replied.

“We won’t know if he got it,” Crosshair sounded uncertain. “We could only try to get the message out; the signals are being jammed so we won’t be able to get a message back.”

You felt the room deflate a bit.

Wolffe crossed his arms, showing off a big scar on his bicep, “Not to be too invasive, but if Tarkin needs her for cloning, why isn’t she locked up in the Kaminoan lab?”

Crosshair put a pick into his mouth, “He wants her pupped.”

You choked at his blatant admission, coughing quietly. Ignoring the prying stares from his brothers.

He continued, “They’re trying to hunt down my brothers as well. They want a litter of mutant offspring.” It was a joke, but you weren’t laughing.

“They want the whole set?” Bolts joked.

“That’s a lot of pups,” Stunner shook his head.

“They’re keeping her in an apartment and letting her roam around so she isn’t stressed out or whatever they’ve come up with,” Crosshair tapped his arm with his trigger finger.

Poor alpha; he was probably so worried. You knew he was a master at masking it, but it was coming through the bond lightly.

“This is so much worse than I thought,” Wolffe sighed. “I knew they were trafficking omegas; we realized they wanted us to procreate, but this,” he pointed to you, “is so much worse. The moral ethics of this…” He was shaking his head, clearly distraught.

As Wolffe rambled on about morality and politics, you felt a presence approach you. You turned to see Stunner walk up next to you. You raised a brow in question.

He sat down between Bolts and you, “So how does it work?” He was like a curious pup, and you were sure he and everyone else were curious. It was probably the most bizarre thing any of them had ever heard—hell, it was the weirdest thing you’d ever heard of.

“The bonds?” You clarified.

“Yeah, and the other stuff?” He tried not to let his curiosity come off as rude.

You laughed quietly, “They don’t kill each other, if you’re wondering about that.”

“I don’t know how…” Bolts shook his head, “I’d take off another alpha’s head for touching my omega.”

You fought back a smirk, “It’s different. My soul chooses my alphas. There’s a very strong connection even without the mate bond completed. Like right now, I can feel Crosshair through it. It’s quiet, but it’s there. I think it connects all of them together too in a way. They’re all good sharers anyway. Hasn’t been a problem so far.”

Bolts asked, “Can you sense the other 99’s?”

You shook your head, “Just the tiniest bit of anxiety. It’s stronger when they’re in close proximity. I’m sure they’re worried out of their damn minds.”

“I’ve heard stories about the bonds,” Bolts said, romantically, like a child reading fairy tales. “I didn’t know if it was real or not.”

You poked him, “Well, when we get out of here, you’ll find your mate and you’ll know yourself.”

Stunner broke the spell, “So when you all fuck, who goes where?”

Bolts coughed awkwardly, but you just giggled. His bluntness amused you.

“It’s not a group activity,” you chewed your lip, “I have separate relationships with them; we’ve split up the time equally.”

“Except for Mimban,” Crosshair reminded with a smirk. He was yanking Stunner’s tail.

You shrugged, “Yeah, except Mimban.”

You watched Stunner’s mind start to churn with what that could possibly entail. His mind was going wild with images that made his cheeks heat up. How scandalous.

You laughed and nuzzled into Crosshair’s hand, which was still lazily petting you.

“The only question I still have is, why does Tarkin think her clones will want to mate? Isn’t that predetermined?” He waved his hands around, alluding to the Force or something unknown.

“Tarkin believes she has a natural disposition for clones,” Crosshair rolled his eyes. “His words, not mine.”

“Why does he think that?” Wolffe was still confused. “She was in such close proximity to five alphas; obviously, that would be a likely outcome, but she’s an omega— they’re particular.”

Crosshair opened his mouth to speak, but you cleared your throat, “There’s been… others.”

They all whipped their heads around, as if you were dangling a treat in front of a dog.

“Well… one other,” you knew your face was bright red at this point. No point in fighting it; apparently, everyone on this base was going to learn about your sexual history.

“A reg?” Stunner gawked.

Crosshair hardened with jealousy; his petting turned into a possessive grip on your hair.

“Yeah,” you squeaked.

Wolffe smirked, “Anyone we know?” His aura was intense, making you want to squirm like you did back on Coruscant in 79’s. Damn this alpha.

“Mm-mm,” you shook your head, chewing on your lip, knowing words would fail you.

“Tarkin believes her to have a particular disposition for being attracted to clones. He thinks her clones will be too.”

“Well, isn’t that just perfect for the Admiral,” Wolffe ran a hand through his hair. “When does this cloning process start?”

Crosshair shifted, “I’m assuming after her heat. They haven’t bothered us much since she’s supposed to be healing.”

A quiet beep made the room go silent. Crosshair pulled out his Imperial com device from his pocket and read the message, “I’m being summoned.”

“To Tarkin?” Worry washed over you. Was this about earlier, the fight in the cafeteria?

He nodded, “I’ll be right back, Ad’ika. Stay here, okay?” Crosshair must have been desperate if he was leaving you in the care of his least favorite reg.

You whined in worry as he pressed a quick kiss to your forehead before leaving the barracks.

You watched the doors close behind him and couldn’t tear your eyes away from them.

You took in a few shaky breaths as anxiety made you shake like a nervous pup separated from the pack. You started to feel his bond weaken the further he got from you on the base, and suddenly you felt so lonely.

You jumped when you felt someone touch your arm, “Hey, you okay Y/N?” Wolfe’s face softened as you tried to calm.

You swallowed nervously, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure you, but based on the look he was giving you, you must have appeared like a frightened tooka that he was afraid might bolt if he moved too fast.

“I-I’m not used to not having him nearby,” you admitted, rubbing your arms to soothe yourself, “and I’m worried. He has a natural ability to get into trouble.”

Wolfe chuckled at that, “I know.”

You gave him a weak smile.

Bolts handed you one of their blankets to wrap around yourself. The scent was definitely reg. You wrapped it around yourself like a little shield. Omegas liked soft things, after all.

“He’ll be fine,” one of the regs chirped. “He’s Tarkin’s favorite pet; the man could get away with just about anything.” It was a joke, an attempt to reassure you, but it only seemed to make your anxiety worse. What did Crosshair have to do to earn that title?

Wolfe knelt down in front of you, trying not to cause you any more distress. You looked back at him, getting a close-up of his robotic grey eye. The last time you were this close to him, you two were pressed up against each other, both naked, on the day you were born.

You squirmed under his gaze. The memory of his blazing hot body was making you pant.

He narrowed his eyes, studying something in your eyes. You could tell the others were getting a little uncomfortable too. They shifted slightly, all around you, trying to figure out what their leader was doing.

“What happened after Kasshyyyk?” he asked, suddenly diffusing whatever tension was building.

You recounted all the events that led you here, leaving him astonished. He then told you about Order 66 and how they were forced to kill Master Plo Koon. You told him about the 501st, which had you fighting back tears. They tried to reassure you that the 501st boys weren’t able to control what they were doing, and it wasn’t their fault. You sniffled, quickly wiping away a rogue tear.

Then you sighed, suddenly feeling very sad, “I just want to go home, Wolfe.” You hadn’t realized how broken you sounded.

You knew if he had wolf ears, they’d have flattened at that statement. You could see the alpha desire in him to want to please you, being battered. He knew he couldn’t give you that. Not now, anyway.

“We’ll get out of here,” he said definitively. “We just need a plan.”

“Crosshair has an idea, but it’s unorthodox,” you looked at him. “We just need to get outside, out of range of the signal jammers to make sure our transmitter can reach my pack.”

“You think five men can break us out of here?” Stunner didn’t sound convinced.

You quirked a smile, “You’d be surprised at what they can do.”

“They were one of the most successful squadrons during the Clone Wars,” Wolfe nodded. “I trust the commandos.”

“So you just need to get outside?” one of the others asked.

You nodded, “Crosshair thinks we can exploit his strange relationship with Tarkin. He thinks if we use my reputation for causing trouble, he might convince Tarkin that I broke out to play cat and mouse with my alpha. Except, I have no idea how to get outside. We’ve been trying to scope it out, but it’s so locked down.”

Bolts laughed, “So that’s what all that was about.” You weren’t sure if he meant the cafeteria or the other events. “Well, luckily Tiptoe and Grim are on guard shifts. They can probably turn a blind eye.”

Your head perked up. Grim stepped forward from the crowd of his brothers, causing you to stand up. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” He laughed. “Arm is better now, thanks to you.”

You smiled. “Good.”

“You know him?” Wolfe asked, confused. He looked to his sniper.

“My patient on Kasshyyyk,” you turned slightly, teasing the Commander, “told me all about your little crush on a particular omega.”

Grim tensed as Wolfe’s gaze shifted to the sniper.

“Well, that’s not exactly a secret. Half the company knows,” Stunner laughed.

If your eyes didn’t deceive you, you would have sworn you saw Wolfe’s breath quicken and a slightly undetectable flush grace his cheeks.

Was he embarrassed? The mighty Wolfe? You stifled a giggle that threatened to break loose.

“Anyways,” Wolfe grumbled, “back to the escape plan.”

“We can do it,” Grim nodded. “We’ll need a legitimate distraction to justify abandoning post, or else the officers will have our hides.”

Tiptoe made himself quietly known. His footsteps were barely audible as he shifted forwards. “If you start a fight among some others in the company, Grim and I can break it up while you slip outside.”

“We can handle that part,” Bolts volunteered.

“And how exactly do I do that?” You asked.

“I’m sure your knack for trouble will inspire you,” Stunner grinned.

The door swooshed open, and Crosshair entered again, this time more tense.

You walked over to him, letting him tuck you into his side.

“What did he want?” Wolfe asked.

Crosshair chewed his pick. “My squadron has been replaced. My second made a full recovery, and I’ve been ordered to train them to hunt down my brothers and bring them here for the program.”

“So, he really does want all of the 99’s,” Wolfe nodded.

“And is willing to spend quite a bit of resources doing so,” Crosshair also nodded.

You looked up at him. “We came up with a plan to get outside.”

He raised a brow.

You let the others fill him in.

~~~

You took a deep breath. You could do this.

They lined everything up for you. You just had to make it believable.

Adjusting the oversized clothes you stole and modified from Crosshair’s collection, you used them to blend in as you wove through the corridors, trying to walk like the other omegas.

No one seemed to pay you any mind without the white dress.

It was dinnertime, and clones started to meander around the base, socializing and grabbing food at their leisure.

The omegas also seemed to be coming out more and exploring the base.

You kept your head down, hoping the cameras wouldn’t notice you right away at least.

You spotted Grim and Tiptoe at their posts in the new all-black Imperial armor kit. You noticed Tiptoe tapping his sidearm with two fingers, giving you the signal as you danced through the crowd.

To the right, Bolts and Stunner casually talked to other clones with their backs turned to each other.

You carefully sneaked closer, using another clone as a shield as you cautiously approached.

Even though everything was staged and everyone knew their roles, you couldn’t help but feel adrenaline pumping through your veins.

Right on cue, you reached out, yanking hard on both their long hair, making them yelp in shock as you continued past them as if nothing happened.

They immediately turned on each other, accusing the other of the painful hair pull. You bit back a smile, ducking into an alcove next to the blast doors.

As planned, their verbal altercation turned physical, wrestling to the ground. Fake or not, it was believable.

You waited for Grim and Tiptoe to move in before slipping behind them and running to the blast doors. Activating the lock deactivation, you heard the door slide open just enough for you to squeeze out undetected before it shut behind you again.

For the first time in days, you felt the warm Nabooan breeze on your skin. You fought back a sigh, continuing forward with slippered feet moving silently towards the landing bay.

You could see the forest on the other side of the tarmac, and you followed Grim’s directions to avoid being seen. Keeping to the left and out of sight of the bright artificial lights.

You had to stop yourself from getting ahead of the plan, even though your eagerness to disappear into the woods was overwhelming. There was a plan in place, and you had to follow through. Ducking behind some shipment crates, you waited for the troopers to pass as you continued towards the edge of the base. Now came the difficult part.

Grim had told you about a perimeter sensor that would detect you the moment you stepped off the base.

You’d have about thirty seconds to sprint before the troopers were on your tail.

Looking right, you saw the line of blinking perimeter sensors in the treeline. Taking a deep breath, you gathered your wits.

Kicking off your slippers—they would only slow you down—you stepped barefoot onto the cushy moss floor. With one more exhale, you sprinted off like a rabbit. The beeps of the sensors turned frantic as you flew through the woods, hopping over fallen tree trunks as you ran.

Then the alarms blared, making you jump in shock.

“Kark!” you yelped, sprinting nimbly to put distance between you and the base.

You heard yelling behind you and knew Grim and the patrol were closing in like a group of hounds.

Your heart raced, adrenaline pumping as you grabbed Rex’s comm and turned on the distress signal. Wrapping it in a piece of torn white cloth used earlier to write a note to your alphas, you hoped to disguise it further.

“This better work,” you grumbled, watching the orange pending light turn green.

“Yes!”

Overjoyed, you knew you had escaped the jammers’ range.

Your success gave you a burst of energy as you sprinted on. Lack of functional clothing gave you more mobility than plastoid. You heard men yelling and struggling to locate you, gaining even more distance.

Taking a right turn, you went deeper into the forest to throw them off your trail. At least they might lose you, though you weren’t sure about Crosshair and Grim. Their eyes were too keen.

Feeling like prey, you stopped to catch your breath and find a hiding place for the device Hunter would find. You tucked the fabric-wrapped comm into a cut trunk’s deep groove, hidden from view.

Changing directions left towards the lake, you needed to "get caught" now that the device was planted. You hoped Grim would find you, he needed to catch you before you reached the lake.

Hearing noise to the right, you veered right to make it look more believable before being intercepted. Heading down the slight decline towards the lake shore, you saw an armada of white-armored troopers decorating the hillside.

“Over there!” one yelled, and you yipped, sprinting off, letting them give chase.

“Kark, kark, kark,” you muttered, hiding your smile as the thrill consumed you. You sensed Crosshair approaching through the bond, knowing he was closing in. Your excitement made you vibrate at the thought of him hunting you down like an animal, it aroused you more than you realized.

Unexpectedly running into Grim’s back, Crosshair’s presence distracted you from seeing Grim’s all-black armor in the darkness. He stumbled from the impact with a grunt, and you went tumbling into the ferns with a startled scream.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he grumbled, grabbing your arm and hauling you up.

You flailed, trying to yank your arm free, but he was as strong as Crosshair, his grip firm and unrelenting.

“Did you have to run so damn far?” he groaned, pushing his helmet’s comm. “I got her, Captain.”

“I had to make it realistic,” you whispered, yanking and growling loudly in an attempt to break free.

You heard footsteps approaching… and you swallowed thickly trying to wet your throat while you caught your breath.

Grim suddenly straightened and pulled you close. “She’s all yours, Captain.”He threw you at Crosshair, who caught you by the scruff. You weakly pushed against him trying to act defiant.

“You are nothing but trouble, huh Ad’ika?” he said, threading his hand through your hair, grasping your nape, making you wince in slight pain as he tilted your head up to face him.

You saw Grim return back to the line of troopers as the chase came to an end while you panted in Crosshair’s grasp.

They watched as you continued to thrash but Crosshair had a good grip on you.

“I just wanted to play, Alpha.” You whimpered giving him those fuck me eyes he and his brothers couldn’t ever resist, “It’s so boring in there.”

Crosshair let out a low groan. While you both knew it was all a ruse, you couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes dilated and his pants tightened at your tone. Clearly the hunt had also affected him just like yourself. You rubbed your thighs together feeling the wetness start to gather.

You smiled devilishly. He released your hair to grab onto your arm but you slipped out of his grasp like a greased eel. You turned for the woods, but before you could even take another step, he had you by the neck, bending you over the nearest tree stump and pinning you there.

He let out a warning growl as you wiggled against him teasingly. Pressing the plush of your ass into his lap.

He bent down, pressing into your rear making you heat and your core ache with the delicious pressure. His lips brushed your ear making you shudder, “Did you do it?” He ran his free hand up your side tickling you a bit.

You nodded making him give an approving grumble. The com was placed. Your mission as a success.

He straightened up keeping your ass flush to his lap, “Are you going to behave? Or do you want the entire guard to watch you get fucked over this tree like the little slut you are.”

You’r traitorous body shuddered and you felt the panties you wore soak instantly.

Fuck.

You snarled at him in one last attempt to buck him off still feeling a little bratty. He anticipated the squirm but not the kick. You used your heel to shove him backwards enough to slam him into the tree directly behind the two of you. His surprised expression made you smirk.

Before he could launch at you, you pinned him to the tree smashing your mouth against his. He sighed into the fiery kiss before bending down to grab your legs. You wrapped yourself around him while he slammed you into the tree making you bite out a yelp as the bark scraped against your back.

In the background you heard Grim and the others retreat slightly, understanding that Crosshair has it all contained… in his own strange way.

You were just being a brat.

Desperate for your alpha’s attention.

The plan seemed to be working out perfectly.

Once the other troopers were out of site and retreating up the hill, Crosshair ripped your panties off at the core making you gasp while he shoved his joggers down to line up with your dripping heat.

“Such a little brat.” He smirked rubbing this feverish length against your slick folds. You moaned shamelessly, wiggling, trying to get him to push inside you.

“Are we alone?” You whispered in his ear as you grinned against him.

He shook his head, “One spy, directly to our right.”

“Tarkin’s?” You asked. Crosshair always knew when there were eyes on him.

Crosshair bit your ear with a tiny nod confirming it.

“Alpha please!” You whined loud enough, “I promise I’ll be good. I wont run off again. Please!!” You tried to grind down but Crosshair used his trigger hand to pin your neck to the trunk.

“I don’t believe you.” He narrowed his eyes playfully. His eyes dilated as his tip brushed over your soaked entrance.

You whimpered pathetically.

“Had the entire base up in arms.” He sucked a bruise into your neck, “My precious little omega was off galavanting through the woods unprotected. Do you want to give me a heart attack?”

You shook your head apologizing praying he’s take mercy on you. The characters your two played made your heart thrum in your core. It was dangerous and exciting to have the imperials wrapped around your little omega hand.

“I just wanted to play, alpha.” You pleaded, “Just like we used to.” The lie rolled off your tongue perfectly.

“I know little one.” He ran his nose along your hair line, “But you can’t put yourself in danger.”

You let out an exasperated sigh.

Then you felt the air get punched out of your lungs as Crosshair unexpectedly slid himself inside of your pulsing heat. You let out a moan and your head slumped forwards into his neck.

“I shouldn’t be rewarding you, you little brat.” He pulled out to thrust again making you mewl, “But I know you just couldn’t help yourself, huh omega?”

You nodded weakly feeling him fill you to the brim before pulling out, only to thrust back inside brutally pushing you up the tree trunk with all his force.

Everything in your vibrating body begged him for a brutal fucking. You craved the way the tree bark bit into your flesh and the warmth Crosshair surrounded you with.

“You were even going to let all those soldiers watch you.” He teased started up a pace that made your spine jolt with electricity, “Little omega slut.” He nosed your neck before thrusting with everything he had.

You whined loudly letting him push you up and down the trunk as he rocked into you with precision. You grabbed onto his shoulder, scratching him through the black compression shirt making him growl as he pounded you mercilessly.

Crosshair then yanked you from the tree before slamming you down onto the stump making you howl as he pounded into your sopping cunt. Your hands grabbed at his arms as he pinned your neck again while he brutally fucked you. Your moans could he heard all throughout the forest, no doubt by his men too.

You wouldn’t be surprised if they too stopped to watch from the distance and the idea only made you wetter. Ori Sols must love an audience, you joked to yourself.

You whimpered as your cunt fluttered around Crosshair’s length making him throw his head back as his thrusts stuttered. You watched him come undone as he shot hot ropes of cum inside of you as he released your neck. He stayed there for a moment, ignoring your wriggling before pulling out leaving you confused and throbbing.

“Alpha…” Your puppy eyes made him smile evily.

“Only good girls get to cum.” He tucked himself back into his pants watching you with an amused brow.

You were stunned he was going to edge you like that then leave you hanging. You cried out scrambling onto your hands and knees.

“Please!” You could feel the frustrated tears rising in your eyes.

After all that hunting, your body was absolutely desperate for release, you were so close too.

He crossed his arms and tilted his head in the direction of the base.

Kark.

You sniffled climbing down off of the stump on wobbly legs. He didn’t even bother helping you as he nudged you along back in the direction of the base.

You huffed as you began the long ass hike back to the tarmac. You quickly realized why he was being so smug… he had a perfect view of the stickiness dripping down your thighs as he strutted behind you. You snapped at him, making him playfully nudge you again.

You growled and he just flashed you a fangy smile.

Bastard.

~~~

The tarmac finally came into view, and you felt like your heart was about to drop into your stomach. Any thoughts of an orgasm disappeared nearly immediately. Crosshair guided you towards the base door, and you tried your best to appear indifferent, though you couldn’t shake the feeling that you might actually get in trouble for this one.

You noticed Crosshair’s new squadron lined up at attention as he passed, caught off guard in their sleep clothes as they saluted their commanding officer. You smirked at the hint of pink on their cheeks, no doubt from witnessing—or at least hearing—what you two had been up to in those woods.

Then you saw Wren, the girl from the transport and Crosshair’s second. You glared at her, sizing her up.

She was pretty, and that irked you.

"Go on," Crosshair nudged, snapping you back into the moment.

You should have killed her when you had the chance.

Your attention returned to the blast door as it slid open. Grim resumed his post, ignoring you like a disciplined guard would. You noticed the others in the hallway eyeing the two of you suspiciously, as if they had no idea who you were.

You chewed mischievously on your lip, looking not the least bit apologetic for causing so much chaos. In fact, you even glanced up at Crosshair with twinkling eyes and a smug little smile of your own. You had every reason to be smug—you had just outsmarted these Imperial idiots, and now your rescue signal was being broadcast across the galaxy.

Crosshair raised an eyebrow before shaking his head in exasperation, like a disgruntled alpha.

You tugged at his arm to regain his attention, but he slowed his pace as an officer approached the two of you.

"Can you two come with me?" It wasn’t really a question, but the officer seemed too nervous to phrase it any other way.

Crosshair followed the officer, leaving you to trot behind him. You didn’t miss Wolfe's slightly anxious glance as you passed, before he resumed his conversation with his brothers.

You were led to a part of the base you didn’t recognize. The hallways transitioned from the warm, Kaminoan-type interiors to something much darker and sleeker, reminiscent of the Republic Venators.

You watched small droids zipping by, scurrying between troopers’ feet. Even the astromech droids were black and silver.

The officer guided you down a corridor and into a dark spacious office. You sensed Crosshair’s unease through your bond, clinging to his arm as he halted.

The figure behind the desk swiveled around, revealing Admiral Tarkin. His stern impassive expression radiated authority.

A surge of panic gripped you. He seemed perturbed.

Were you truly in trouble?

Surely, you all thought Crosshair would have some lee way with the admiral, but now you weren’t so sure.

"So," Tarkin began, his tone sending a chill down your spine, "My officers have informed me of your little excursion." His gaze fixed on you, though you knew his statement encompassed both of you. He set down a data pad that clearly showed security cameras from the woods. You swallowed thickly, realizing he had seen the whole ordeal himself. You inside’s churned.

He turned to Crosshair. "She is not to leave this base."

The command was unequivocal. Crosshair nodded with a compliance his chip would have demanded.

You struggled to contain your narrowing eyes. That rat man sure had some nerve.

"As you are Imperial property, both of you are confined within this base until further notice." He turned back to you. "Is that going to be a problem?” He snarled wolfishly at you.

You hesitated. Crosshair’s stern gaze compelled you to respond.

You swallowed before addressing the admiral, "No, sir."

Tarkin huffed, clearly unconvinced. He clearly was aware of your behavioral habits.

"And please refrain from any public indiscretions. My personnel do not need any further distractions," he added with a nasty smirk…. YUCK.

You felt revulsion stir within you.

"Apologies, sir," Crosshair’s voice was deep and measured, his military demeanor evident.

"Omegas can make us do strange things, Captain," Tarkin remarked, rising from his desk and pushing his chair back, “But we must not allow them too much room.” He observed you, “Give an inch, they take a mile.”

You were seething. Fucking bastard alpha.

Approaching cautiously, he eyed you up and down. You found yourself instinctively challenging him. You refused to yield to Tarkin, even though you sensed Crosshair silently urging you to comply with his silent stare.

"May I?" Tarkin inquired of Crosshair, who reluctantly nodded.

He reached for you, and you instinctively stepped back, ready to snap, but Crosshair nudged you. "Behave, Omega."

You huffed but allowed Tarkin to approach again. This time biting your tongue.

He slipped a finger into your torn t-shirt, pulling the collar to reveal your neck. The ick nearly swallowed you whole.

"You haven’t completed the bond?" Tarkin sounded impatient. Angry even? You studied the way his brow quirked up just slightly.

"It didn’t take, sir," Crosshair lied smoothly.

It sounded believable.

Tarkin examined further, tugging at the fabric. You suppressed a growl bubbling in your chest, feeling Crosshair’s anger through your bond; he shared your anger with Tarkin’s pawing at you but forced himself to behave or else you’d blow your advantage.

"Well, we can't afford another escape attempt, can we?" Tarkin released the fabric, stepping back and folding his arms behind his back. "Take her to the processing sector. I’ve had a tracker put into collars for a problematic omegas like her. She will be marked as yours, especially now that it seems her kind cannot be marked the traditional way.”

You tensed.

A collar?

"Yes, sir," Crosshair affirmed obediently.

"You may go," Tarkin dismissed, turning back to his desk.

Crosshair led you out of the office in silence, a model of compliance. The perfect soldier.

You, however, vibrated with rage. The audacity of that man to treat you like a fucking dog.

Crosshair sensed your subtle shakes and whispered, "I know." He sounded resigned, aware that any outburst would jeopardize your entire plan. You both would have to comply until you were certain it was the right moment to strike.

You forced yourself to take a deep breath. You needed to stay calm.

But once this was over, you knew exactly who would be the first to meet the end of your blaster.

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

Taglist: @substantial-exposure

@rains-on-kamino

@minimissmoo

@z-and-the-batboys

@aynavaano

@9902sgirl

@sideofhorny

@sxftiebee

@booksandtitts-blog

#crosshair #hunter #tech #wrecker #echo #abo #star wars #bad batch #smut #wolffe

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boatem-probler · 4 months

Text

That There's a Choopah Cobbler in... Tokyo Soul!

1 / You Are Here! / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

Hello once again dear readers! Al Boatem-Probler here to bring you another report on this mid-2010s Minecraft roleplay series.

Everyone's favorite boy is here, which means I will now be keeping track of Deaths Witnessed, Injuries Sustained, and Other Traumatic Events, the way @paranoidpug did in her own summaries. Not to mention, I've gotten to the episodes that haven't been covered in @sketchygainedyoursoul's summaries! Very exciting!

This report contains mentions/discussion of: scatological humor, violence, guns, stalking, harassment, and Professor Geode Rocks.

Previously on Tokyo Soul:

“STOP DROP AND RICKROLL” – Dom

“Fish are just flowers that swim in the ocean.” – Taurtis

“I’ve never felt so unsafe in my life.” – Taurtis

This Time...

Episode 6 – THE NEW GIRL!

I forgot to write this down last time, but it’s been established that Taurtis can and WILL fall asleep literally anywhere. I was reminded of this because Sam decided to sleep in Taurtis’s bedroom, while Taurtis fell asleep standing up directly outside the door.

Sam attempts to wake him up by enticing him to eat the sushi that has been sitting on their kitchen table for over a day now.

Sam insists he can see the creepy old man hiding behind a wall near their house. Taurtis insists he’s crazy. In a break from form, Sam is actually telling the complete truth this time.

Dom is putting the horrible old sushi on a bagel. Just thought you guys should know this.

They know what happened to Grian now, he went to the other Tokyo, you know, the one in Canada.

Sam: “Do you remember Grian? He’s lived with us for a very long time?” Taurtis: “That guy with the glasses, who had that rocket ship? Yeah, the rich person!” I think this is probably referencing the Yandere prequel thing? IIRC they were doing it at the same time as Tokyo Soul, but I’d have to check to be sure.

Checking the dates on the episodes… oh dang this one went up on Christmas Eve. Grian Christmas Present Momence. Okay, the first episode of Yandere went up nearly four months after this episode, so uh… in conclusion I have no idea what’s going on with this dialogue. Interesting.

Dom calls Grian “the Friendly Kid”.

Anyway they go to pick Grian up from the train station. I can’t tell if this is a different train station or if the name of it has changed between episodes.

GRIAN’S HERE!!!!!

Grian: “I don’t know whooooo was responsible for that. But you sent me halfway round the globe.” Sam: “Why are you looking at me when you say that, it wasn’t my fault!” Grian: “I just feel like… you just gave me the wrong ticket, that’s all.” Sam: “I put ‘em all in a box, I shook ‘em up, and I randomly drew one.” Grian: “And two of them went to Tokyo, Japan, and one of them went to Tokyo, Canada.”

I just had to relate nearly all of that conversation because right now I feel like any of it or none of it could be true. Because playing Russian Roulette with their plane tickets is some shit Sam would do I think, but intentionally giving Grian the wrong ticket and lying about it is also some shit Sam would do I think. So I’m just like, putting it out there for public debate.

Taurtis: “How long did it take you to realize that it wasn’t actually Japan?” Grian: “When I was on the plane, and they said Welcome to Canada.”

Apparently Grian had to spend all of his own money on the plane ticket back from Canada.

Taurtis: “How do you get your face caught in a blender?” Grian: “It happened One Time.”

They notice Geode walking to school. It seems he lives in a house with some kind of weird construction on top of it that is perpetually on fire.

Sam makes Grian show them the way to the school he hasn’t been to yet. Grian ends up asking Igbar von Squid again.

Hey whatever texture pack these guys are using has a really good nighttime skybox! This shit is pretty!

Sam’s mom texts him apparently???? I wasn’t aware she existed.

Sam and Taurtis nonchalantly introduce Grian to the creepy old man. Grian is appropriately terrified.

A new student turns up, named Yee, who’s Minecraft skin is I think supposed to be Monster Kid from Undertale. They have immediately started hitting on… one of the boys, it’s unclear which.

There is a circle of blood around a sheep’s head inside the school.

Grian: “Ooh, this school is an upgrade… [walks around the corner] Ohhhkay I take back what I said.”

Ah, apologies, it’s a goat’s head. Someone killed one of Señor Loro’s goats.

Regardless, Sam and Taurtis make Grian wrestle for his class schedule. Grian legitimately sounds terrified the whole time. Señor Loro accidentally punches a hole in the wall and runs off in shame.

Ohhhhkay, the creepy old man is IN the school, WEARING a girl’s school uniform.

Taurtis and Sam attempt to pressure Grian into going over to talk to him. It actually doesn’t entirely work, they end up all going over there. Taurtis and Sam attempt to set up the two “newbies”.

Taurtis: “Grian, you like girls, right?” Grian: “No, I’m into dudes.”

Ellen was Grian’s baby gay awakening. Taurtis immediately wants to know who Grian thinks is cuter, him or Sam. “You guys are just not my type,” Grian says. He does however admit that Taurtis has “some good glutes”.

Geode is collecting the goat blood from the floor. I cannot stress enough that Geode looks aggressively normal. He is wearing the blandest suit and has the blandest haircut imaginable.

Grian’s locker is absurdly far away from everyone else’s. Like down multiple hallways.

Episode 7 – SENOR LORO!

Tori tells Sam off for punching another kid who came in late. She is the only reasonable teacher in this school probably.

Tori is taking them fishing this class.

They walk past the girl’s bathroom next to the pool because Tori is lost. There is another goat head in it. Sam and Taurtis decide to take the head with them, in case they run into Señor Loro. Grian is worried he’ll think they killed it.

They continue to the pond behind the school, where they are given fishing rods to use. For some reason, the fishing rods sound like guns. I feel like this wasn’t intentional.

Creepy man sighted once again. Sam is now calling him Grian’s “girlfriend”.

Not Dying Class! Nurse MD has decided to call Grian “Mr. BoyMan”. Today, they are competing in a Food Pyramid Scavenger Hunt for the prize of a lifetime subscription to Hunter x Hunter. Their homework is to eat at least one item on the food pyramid. Grian is mad that their teacher isn’t teaching them anything.

Sam and Taurtis terrorize Grian with, uh, Bathroom Chocolate. Grian throws up a couple times. To be honest I’m not entirely sure what Sam and Taurtis are and aren’t doing In The Fiction so to speak, but Grian definitely vomited, so I feel I must put this on the record.

The principal has been sighted by the vending machine! Grian disagrees with his staffing choices, and tells him so, very vehemently. The principal gives Nurse MD a raise. Nurse MD gives Grian detention.

Nurse MD: “Go to the guidance counselor to get your attitude in check.” Grian: “You need to go back to university to get your degree sorted.”

Grian: “Dr. Nurse MD has to be there while I do the detention, sucks to be him!”

Apparently Nurse MD is allowed to just lock him in a room, actually. Also half the school was filming this altercation from the courtyard.

Sam: “I think that’s going up on YouCrab later.” Grian: “Good, I want everyone to know what useless staff they have here.”

Apparently “this sort of thing really triggers” Grian, this sort of thing presumably being incompetent teachers. He’s sort of using “trigger” flippantly here, but like, you could very well argue it’s true.

Oh, apparently “detention” means you have to wrestle Señor Loro. At least Sam legitimately offers to tag in for Grian (after a little while enthusiastically cheering for Señor Loro to “give him the ol’ one-two”).

They tell Señor Loro about the second Goat Murder, and he asks them to help him look for the rest of his missing goats. He gives them each a “Crystal of Tenochtitlan” whatever that means. Oh, apparently they allow you to talk to animals.

Episode 8 – GIRLFRIEND?!

Instead of searching for Señor Loro’s goats, the boys attempt to figure out which one of them Yee keeps hitting on. It’s Grian! Sam immediately tells Grian he should ask Yee to take off her glasses so they can see if she’s a lizard person. She does. She is a lizard person, and not Monster Kid as I had previously thought. In my defense, Sans Undertale has literally been in the background of several scenes already. Grian is spooked, Yee is angry, Sam has never laughed this hard in his life (according to Sam). I think they’re all being a bit mean.

Gym class is a competitive obstacle course, Girls (easy) vs Stupid Boys (difficult).

On the way to Professor Geode’s class, Sam and Taurtis tell Grian what happened last time (roughly). Grian is very apprehensive.

Geode collects everyone’s trash. The classroom has been slightly rearranged. There is now some sort of… operating table? In the center, with all the chairs arranged around it. Dom is in a giant test tube in the back. Taurtis is given a Special chair next to Geode’s throne.

Sam is told to “COLLECT THE MILK OF THE INNOCENT ONE”. This means Dom, apparently. When Sam fails to do this, Geode does it instead. I don’t know exactly what this entails, because Sam wasn’t looking at it, because Sam is not a very good cameraman. But I suspect that the limitations of Minecraft would still leave me scratching my head if I had seen it. Dom can be heard to take damage, but that’s all the information I can give you.

Geode throws onto the operating table, which I’m beginning to suspect is more of an altar: Milk of the Innocent, Toilet Paper, Rare Crystals, and Hair of the Chosen One.

This apparently clones Taurtis, somehow, although there appears to still be only one Taurtis in the room.

Geode does not offer any explanation, he’s too busy being confused by Grian’s accent and not knowing what England is. I’m… also not entirely sure he knew what a clone is either, before Sam explained that he’s not Uncle Sam because some people can have the same name.

Oh also Google Docs tried to autocorrect “Geode” to “God” I just feel like you all should know that.

Episode 9 – INTERNET DATING!

I am now officially into New Territory, not covered by previous summaries!

They try to free Dom from the test tube and the stained glass texture SERIOUSLY bugs out.

There is. Ah. Some sort of. Sheep… cultist… possibly robot? In the hallway. It has some sort of… mechanical backpack on?

Apparently its name is Jorje the Special Goat. So this is what breaks me.

I don’t know why I’m so stuck on this, I’m usually great at stories where Things Just Happen.

Anyway, Jorje has a dire need to go to the computer room to talk to his girlfriend.

“Is your girlfriend single?” – Taurtis Minecraft, 2015

The gang try to convince Jorje to break up with his internet girlfriend and/or that his internet girlfriend is catfishing him, so that he will tell them what he knows about the Goat Murders.

Dom is just. Up on a rooftop, by the way. He keeps doing this.

It turns out that not only is Jorje’s internet girlfriend a real person, but they’re also a person of ambiguous gender and probably a furry, which are some pretty big plusses in my book. It seems like they didn’t know Jorje was Actually For Real A Goat, though.

But the boys do manage to get some information on the Goat Murders, so that’s nice. Apparently there’s some sort of Creature or perhaps a Beast underneath the soccer field at school.

“That there’s a Choopah Cobbler!” – Jorje

Actually he called it a “chuubakaabra” but potato, potato.

They tell Señor Loro about the chupacabra. Señor Loro hands them guns. Peachy. At least this time it’s Grian who accidentally shoots Taurtis.

Sam then shoots Taurtis on purpose.

There’s an item in Señor Loro’s vending machine called “Fully Cooked Ramen?” and I’m losing it.

Grian: “Hey, Mr. Principal! :) Your teacher gave us snipers! :) I don’t know what kind of circus you’re running here! :)”

Episode 10 – HUNTING A MONSTER!

Half the school is at this soccer field this feels so dangerous.

Taurtis is just shooting wildly.

Uhhhh. That there’s a Choopah Cobbler!

I promise I’ll stop saying “that there’s a Choopah Cobbler”.

Everyone tries to shoot at the chupacabra through a very narrow doorway. They mostly just end up shooting each other.

The chupacabra flees into the sewers. Dom is also in the sewers. He goes there to read.

They lose the chupacabra, briefly mistaking the creepy old man for it.

“Can I shoot him anyway? I reeeeeaaalllly wanna shoot him.” – Grian

Kurokuma: “Uh, you didn’t find any bodies, did you?” Grian: “Not yet!”

He doesn’t, in fact, shoot the creepy old man. Score one for morals, I guess. :/

Half the damn town is in these sewers.

They shoot at a “sugar dealer”, agree to say they were the chupacabra and call it a day. They then attempt to exit the sewers, which takes some time because whoever made the map didn’t account for the ways in which ladders interact with trapdoors in Minecraft.

They’ve emerged in a completely unfamiliar part of town, and it’s getting late, so Señor Loro suggests they stay in a hotel for the night, and WHY IS THE CREEPY OLD MAN AT THE FRONT DESK. Like, this place is swanky.

The old man makes a comment about setting up cameras in their rooms. Great note to end this part on.

Grian Trauma Count!

Deaths Witnessed:

Aftermath of 2 Goat Murders

Injuries Sustained:

Grian jokingly implied that he got his face caught in a blender once

Likely some bruises from wrestling Señor Loro

Shot in the leg by Sam, who was aiming for the chupacabra

Shot by Senior Loro, apparently on purpose?

Traumatic Events:

Sent, possibly on purpose, to a completely different country without any of the people he knew, and had to use his own money (all of it) to get back where he was supposed to go

Stalked and sexually harassed by a creepy old man (he keeps making comments about the characters’ legs). Also forced by his friends to actually speak to said creepy old man.

Vomited twice due to Sam and Taurtis being gross.

Punished for calling out his teacher’s incompetence and made to wrestle the guidance counselor.

Was handed a gun by one of his teachers again (and accidentally shot Taurtis), and brought on a monster hunt.

Geode’s Class is a traumatic event in itself.

Some pretty big numbers already, folks!

Something I think is interesting: before Grian arrives, both Sam and Taurtis are pretty vocally uncomfortable with Old Kurokuma, but as soon as Grian's with them, Kurokuma is suddenly "our friend who runs the panty shop", "Grian's Girlfriend", "Grian why are you uncomfortable, this is a completely normal schoolgirl, she said teehee".

I feel like I still need to chew on this a bit more to be able to actually say anything analytical about it, but it's definitely catching my attention.

Next Time...

"I'll do one post per school day," I say, and then they almost immediately stop going to school for an arc.

#al's unhinged tokyo soul summaries #tokyo soul #yandere high school #yhs #this'll be the last time i tag *all* of those i think

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shinyhappysims · 6 months

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Onyeka Family Update #2

All the Oneyka kids are finally married, so I think now is a good time for another update.

As a treat, this update will be from Adaeze’s POV, because we love to hear from a fellow snarker. Long post ahead because I probably won’t be doing this for the Onyeka fam again and I want to give a semblance of a conclusion to some of their stories.

My parents Bre (66) and Chukwuma (69) Onyeka are living their golden years in Henford-on-Bagley. I would say they tried their best at raising us but I’m not so sure I believe that. My parents and I don’t talk much, which is more than okay by me. They’ve forgiven me for the whole “secretly applied to college, snuck out and took a bus an hour away and never came back” thing. It’s the fact that literally everything else I’ve done after feels like a personal attack on them and everything they taught me. That’s more their problem than mine, to be honest.

The oldest Nnadi (39) is married to Miguel (39). They have a staggering quiver of 13 arrows: Gideon (21), Ephraim (19), Shoshanna(17), Bartholomew (14), Abigail (12), Obadiah (10), Keturah (8), Solomon (6), Tirzah (5), Maranatha (4), Galilee (3), Naphtali (1), Ebenezer (0). Yes, I definitely knew all the names of my sister’s kids off the top of my head and didn’t stalk her Simstagram and write down the names just a few minutes before this. Nnadi is obnoxious. I’m not mincing my words because she’s never had the grace to do so with me. She’s literally the person people talk about when they say they don’t like Christians. But that’s amazing for her. She can claim persecution for her beliefs. My parents are so proud that they made her a perfect little doormat for Jesus. All of her kids so far seem to be the same way. Glory be, I guess.

Kelechi (38) and Sandrine (41) are the Pastor and 1st lady of Calvary Baptist Church in Brindleton Bay. They have 4 children: Faith (16), Daniel (9), Noah (7), and Grace (5). They are, in my opinion, true Christians. Kelechi always has been supportive of me and my siblings that aren’t the way my parents dreamed. As a pastor, he tries his hardest to give objective answers and uses the bible to support his advice, which has led to his popularity as a mentor. Calvary’s population has nearly doubled in his time as pastor. Kelechi and Sandrine were not intending to have such a large gap between Faith and Daniel. Their marriage was very strained in the first few years and they thought having another child would be the fix. Unfortunately, Sandrine had a battle with cancer. Luckily it was caught in the early stages and she pulled through, but the way Kelechi treated her during that time strengthened their relationship and they had more children because they actually loved each other now. If anyone deserves that happy ending, it’s them.

My twin and favorite sibling Chidi (36) is in an open domestic partnership with the lovely Sade (37). They live in San Myshuno and have no kids, and probably never will. Chidi is an attorney and Sade is an artist. For awhile, Chidi flew under the radar and didn’t make too many waves but that changed about 5 years ago. I think it was a combination of turning 30 and meeting Sade that made him want to stop trying to appease our parents and just live the way he wanted. Chidi is no longer a Christian. He wanted to stay one at first but the more he deconstructed, the more he realized it wasn’t a fit for him.

It’s me, Adaeze (36)! The Onyeka family failure—not at all. My parents just wish I was. When my husband Raj (38) isn’t being an absolute dreamboat he’s an art restoration specialist at the Simsonian Museum here in Newcrest. We have the coolest little girl named Kali (6) and I haven’t told anyone yet, but we have a second baby on the way! My parents have never met Kali and I don’t plan on letting them. Growing up is hard enough when you don’t have your own grandparents trying to drag you into a cult.

My sister Isioma (34) and her husband Anwar (36) are living their best lives in Del Sol Valley. They have 5 kids and are expecting number 6 anyday now: Imani (11), Aaliyah (9), Malik (8), and twins Layla and Rahim (4). Isioma has somehow mastered the balance between impressing Mom and Dad and doing whatever she wants. As much as I love her, there are just some things that I can’t talk to Isioma about. She’s nowhere near as bad as Nnadi, but I don’t think she realizes just how close minded she still is. She’s slowly getting better though.

(hi it’s kwanjai please ignore that Layla’s hair glitched black and the twin’s diapers aren’t changed it’s been a long day and I refuse to take this pic again lmao)

Jachike (32) lives in Windenburg with his wife Maisie (29). They have 7 children: Renata (9), Beaumont (7), Irving (6), Gwendolyn (5), Cordelia (2), Anneliese (1) and Hans (0). I’m fully convinced that they only got married because they were horny for each other and now they don’t know what to do except keep fucking and having more kids. They don’t really seem well matched in my opinion either. Growing up, Jachike was a down to earth, guy next door type, and Maisie just seems extremely out of touch. I mean… she named a child Hans. Maisie also mentioned she only wanted 8 kids, but she’s got a lot of child bearing years left, so I have no clue what her plan is.

Nnadi Jr. Ifeanyi (29) is married to Nolan (40) and is the proud mother of 6 children: Jordan (8), Lorelai (6), Connor (5), Thomas (4), Alanna (2), and Natasha (0). The only difference between Ifeanyi and Nnadi is that Ifeanyi follows the bible’s command for women to be quiet. All that hate just simmers on the inside. The average person would be rightfully weirded out by her and her husband’s age gap, but Ifeanyi wears it with pride. She thinks it’s a testament to her maturity and meekness. No, bestie… you were groomed. Anyways, my money is on her to have the most kids out of all of us.

Ifeanyi’s much cooler twin sister Onyinye (29) is married to Joseph (29) and they have 1 daughter, Nwanneka (1). Growing up I became really close to Onyinye. When I moved out I felt like I was leaving behind my child. Onyinye is like me in a lot of ways: science career, having kids on our own terms, only ones with hot husbands. The only difference is she’s still a Christian. I’m proud she was still able to find the loving aspects of that religion, even though I wasn’t. I also love that she doubled down on her emo phase. I remember our mom used to force her and Ifeanyi to dress alike in sickeningly pink bows and huge, frilly dresses.

Lotanna (27) lives in a sad beige house in Henford-on-Bagley with his sad beige wife Tori (27) and their sad beige children Brixten (2) and Trigg (0). Lotanna is the sibling I’m most wary of. He seems normal on the surface, especially now that he’s married to picture perfect Tori, but then he opens his mouth and the foulest statement you’ve ever heard pops out. He’s never evolved passed edgy Simeddit thread humor, except now it’s not humor, he legitimately thinks that way. I seriously feel bad for his future daughters.

Sochima (26) has been married to Ciaran (28) for just under a year. I’ve never met Ciaran in person. He seems like the average guy we grew up with, which would be horrifying for me, but a dream for Sochima. Surprised that we haven’t gotten a pregnancy announcement from them yet. I would’ve put her up there with Nnadi and Ifeanyi in terms of the number of babies she would pop out. Wonder what’s going on there.

#fundie simblr #fundie sims #fundie snark #sims 4 legacy #shs: update

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collectivecloseness · 1 year

Text

Prompt list

Prompts are now closed! To be opened again for general use soon

Please send in the prompt, including which characters are involved, who is saying what (if you want that specificity), and the genre (eg fluff, angst, smut, etc)!

Reblogs are fine, but do not repost

1) hey. You know i love you, right?

2) I’m blushing because you look good!

3) I’m not letting you go, it’s too risky

4) nobody’s ever done anything like that for me before

5) I only trust you

6) please don’t go, please. Please don’t leave me

7) please? Just one more kiss

8) I got you something

9) you’re cute. // Thanks! ...wait what!?

10) hold my hand

11) tell me you love me

12) don’t let go!

13) I’m not scared when I’m with you

14) I’ve never been in love before

15) this is all your fault

16) I’m gonna catch you

17) *clinging onto their leg*

18) I thought we agreed, no breaking the law unless we were together

19) what are you hiding?

20) you look pretty... I said you look shitty!!!

21) who did this?

22) hey! Don’t talk about yourself like that

23) don’t touch me

24) how am I supposed to trust you

25) that’s where all my clothes went

26) I’m the luckiest person alive

27) I’m packing. What does it look like?

28) it was supposed to be a secret

29) I can’t wait to have this/a baby with you

30) why would you do this? I thought you loved me

31) I can’t do this without you

32) who trashed the place?

33) let me smother you in love!

34) What the hell is that?!?!

35) how are you so perfect?

36) I’m so sorry, I can change

37) I thought you didn’t love me anymore

38) such a good girl/boy/(pet name)

39) no! Hey! Don’t cry!

40) babe. I know you’re not dumb... but how did you believe that???

41) I know you can’t resist my charm

42) what do you mean I can’t go home?

43) do we have to get you to a hospital?

44) I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that

45) how can someone as perfect as you, like someone like me?

46) wait, you really wanna date? Oh thank God, me too

47) how do I ask people out?

48) I need you to get out of my house now

49) but... I love you

50) I have a crush

51) you’re my best friend, I’m here for you

52) oh my god. I think I’m going to faint

53) babe I’m so sorry, but that’s the funniest shit I’ve seen/heard in my life

54) what’s updog?

55) Ow! Why’d you hit me?

56) I don’t believe you

57) did you just smell me?

58) oh my god I wanna have their babies

59) I don’t just want to be friends

60) don’t ever put yourself in danger again!

61) if I find out who did this, I’ll kill them

62) I hate you!

63) you’re so warm/cold

64) (name), it’s me

65) please don’t hurt me/them

66) I had a nightmare

67) you’re too sweet

68) I’m desperately in love with you

69) I’m not going to lie I’m horny as fuck right now

70) I don’t want to do this, but it’s for the best

71) help me...

72) if i don’t get to snuggle with you right now I am going to scream

73) noooo. I’m too sleepy

74) carry me?

75) you want to have a threesome?

76) baby no, how could you ever think that?

77) ...did you just lick me?

78) what the fuck is wrong with you

79) you’re my soulmate

80) no, I’m not going if you’re/they’re not going

81) they’re not dead!

82) it’s not stalking

83) hey, I heard someone’s feeling down

84) I wanna taste you

85) get away from me, leave me alone

86) I can’t handle you being mad at me anymore

87) you’ve been so good

88) no no I want to buy dinner tonight

89) why don’t you go hang out with (name)?

90) quick hide!

91) really? Again?

92) you know I never meant to hurt you

93) wait are you jealous

94) I can’t lose you!

95) I feel like I’m suffocating when you’re not around

96) do you hate me?

97) I can’t do this anymore

98) shit? They told you?

99) don’t be scared, it’s just me

100) I like like you

101) you’re too nice to me

102) you’re a jerk

103) I’m going to save them if I die trying

104) no you’re too pretty

105) it’s all my fault

106) what do you mean they’re in the upside down

107) you don’t have to hide around me

108) that tickles

109) come out come out wherever you are

110) just tell me what’s wrong

111) who knew our first (kiss/date/blank) would be in a hellhole dimension

112) I’ll never let anything like that happen to you again

113) you’re safe now, you’re safe with me

114) if you don’t die I’m going to kill you

115) my family is still here!

116) I almost lost you once. I’m not doing it again

117) please open the door

118) I was so worried about you

119) what’s your problem?

120) come back to bed

121) you’re the only person who hasn’t hurt me

122) please hold on

123) put some clothes on

124) fuck. I could watch you forever

125) you’re way too drunk for that

126) it’s only weed!

127) how are you always falling over?

128) you know I have a front door. Why’d you always use my window?

129) it’s so late, why’d you call

130) I can’t go to sleep without you

131) I think that’s an actual war crime

132) is that blood?

133) I’d never make fun of you

134) you just make me nervous

135) why do crushes make you panic so much?

136) how are they so hot

137) I’ll be your wingman

138) okay what did you do

139) I feel like I don’t need to explain why that’s a bad idea

140) catch me! // NO WAIT IM HOLDING-

141) if (weird habit/kink) is wrong then I don’t want to be right

142) smug ass // you love it

143) I’m not wearing THAT

144) maybe we should wear a disguise

145) should I call sheriff Hopper

146) something’s wrong... they’re missing

147) what no i don’t even like them

148) I’m just going to assume that blood is fake

149) this isn’t my bed

150) I can’t believe this is the moment we’ll have to tell people we fell in love

151) I totally got/scared/pranked you, I can tell

152) who knew fighting a literal monster would look so sexy?

153) hey hey hey, stop that

154) I don’t think I remember the last time we weren’t touching

155) get a room!

156) if I see either of your body parts again I’m taking out my own eyes

157) why date one of us, when you could have us both/all?

158) I thought I’d lost you

159) I love your best friend, but do they have to always be around?

160) you’re such a dork. It’s very attractive

161) you’re lucky you’re cute

162) uh uh! You owe me one

163) quit your job. I’ll look after you!

164) want me to beat them up for you?

165) I think something’s out there

166) I think someone’s watching/following me

167) I don’t want to go back to the upside down

168) fuck... you look so pretty under me like that

169) f- shit yeah! You can dom me!

170) why don’t you care?

171) i just want to make you happy/smile

172) I’m not letting you torture yourself anymore

173) it was an accident, I swear

174) uh, yeah, no, we’re not doing that

175) are you trying to get yourself killed?

176) I could listen to you laugh all day

177) I don’t care what people say, I love you

178) I don’t want a partner I want you!

179) wait did someone hurt you

180) tell me what’s going on

181) you’ve got trauma, it’s not your fault

182) I’ll never let anything happen to you

183) were they bothering you?

184) do you like them more than me?

185) Forget them! You’ve got me. I’m awesome

186) To me, you’re everything

187) I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you

188) No! They’re dead. I don’t care what happens to me

189) Let me pay!

190) Wait, you’ve already planned the date?

191) I’m not calling my kids that

192) It’s not fair! You know you’ve got me wrapped around your evil finger!

193) You know I was joking... right?

194) I promise you that’s not true

195) I can’t lose them

196) are you ignoring me?

197) nice of you to finally drop by

198) they’re not even that good looking

199) hold on tight

200) Fuck me // you wish

#prompt list #Fruity four/reader #Eddie Munson/reader #Kurt Kunkle/reader #Steve Harrington/reader #Robin Buckley/reader #Nancy Wheeler/reader #Joyce Byers/reader #Chrissy Cunningham/reader #Ronance/reader #Steddie/reader #stancy/reader #platonic stobin/reader #hellcheer/reader

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thicksimpx · 3 years

Text

Masterlist| Prologue| Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5| Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13 | Ch14 | Ch15 | Ch16 |

Summary: Leaving the soul society for “research” - desperately looking to find answers, anything that’ll help him take down the Spirit king.. that is until he meets “HER” - She has him enamored, desperate and most of all curious… there’s something about HER

"Sometimes we do bad things for the people we love. It doesn't mean it's right, it means love is more important"

Warnings : 18+ , mature content, mature language, possessiveness , stalking , murder/gore, rough penetration, creampies , fingering, masturbation, cam girl y/n, Lots of Psychology lessons😂, violence, public sex, unrequited love.

"Personally , I believe in love at first sight"

—— Monday Aug 23rd _ 1:00Pm

I wasn't even supposed to be here this long. It's been three months and there's no sign or message from Gin. I have to get home, how am I going to take the Spirit kings place if I'm stuck in fucking America?

"Good morning Professor Aldridge" , confused I looked up at the young woman who spoke. Right that's my new name.

"Good morning Kelsey how are you today?" I smiled. I watched as she covered her face walking to her seat trying to hide her blush. Disgusting.

I don't even understand why I had to change my name, those soul society bastards wouldn't even think to go to America let alone think to find me here of all places.

Shuffling papers on my desk I wait for the lecture room to fill up with my "students". Here the door open I looked to make sure it wasn't another administrator coming to flirt like they always do. To my surprise it was HER. I was completely taken by the way the sun reflects off her golden skin, the way her clothes curve over her chest and ass. The scent that flowed from her each time she walked by. Her hair was midnight-black curls that sometimes flowed over her shoulders. A pair of arched eyebrows looking down on sweeping eyelashes. Her delicate ears framed a button nose and A set of dazzling, angel-white teeth with the perfect canines.

Of course this all was viewed over time with careful observation. I've never pictured myself being attractive to any woman who didn't have fair skin. But she was different. I could see it Everytime she looked at me.

—

"Now that you're all here it's time to start. Today we will be talking about the theory of love at first sight. " half the class looked excited while the other half rolled their eyes.

"By a show of hands how many of you believe in love at first sight. Don't be shy I won't judge" looking around at the hands up I noticed one female didn't raise her hand. Y/n L/n. Such a pretty young woman, I wonder... who hurt you?

Continuing on I walked around through the aisle of seats "For those of you who've raised your hand, I too personally believe in the theory of love at first sight as well. However, how did you know it's actually the feeling of love and not just attraction or lust?"

"Love isn't real.. it's an negative illusion caused by Lust. People create the idea and memory of love later on in relationships .. " y/n spoke out. I stopped to look at her for a moment before smiling.

"Yes Ms L/n although that can be true in a sense, love has been a long research topic among psychologist, philosophers and even poets. With that said. There is a science to love. Being in love is affected by huge, measurable changes in the biochemistry of the brain. I won't go into much detail this class because we don't have that much time but scientists do believe that love at first sight can be real for certain people, but staying in love is the deeper challenge." Stopping back at my desk I turned to look back at Y/n who sat at her desk with her chin in her hand tapping her pen. "Does that change your outlook on love Ms L/n?" I smirk.

Her eyes widened at being called out. Sitting up shrugs she simply shrugs. I chuckle a bit. How could she be so cute.

"Tonight I would like for you to think about a time when you have been in love or felt love and explain to me what it felt like for you. What do you think triggered that love? And do you think that love can be stopped? Is it possible to remove someone you once loved from your hearts?"

"Professor we still have about 20 minutes of class left" Kelsey spoke up. I could see from the corner of my eye y/n rolling her eyes. stifling my laughter I nod.

"I'm aware, your dismissed early. I'll see you all on Wednesday have a great rest of your day" I responded trying to sound as nice as I could while looking at my watch. As the classes exited I decided to use this little break to relax. I took off my false glasses and pushed back my hair. God being a professor is so tiring. They're all seniors and about to graduate I doubt the even care about this class.

Leaning on my desk all I could think about was if Gin would be contacting me soon. If he does .. does that mean I wouldnt be able to see her anymore? Do I want that that?

"Sosuke what are you thinking?" I laugh aloud to myself. "You have to stick to the plan"

But that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun right? Pulling out a photo I took of y/n last night. I admired the way she looked taking off her shirt, she had a great body. Too bad that shit head she spent the night with was in the shot. I can't wait to see what Ms L/n submits on Wednesday.

--------

(next Chapter)

#bleach aizen #aizen x reader #aizen sousuke #sosuke aizen #bleach fanfiction #bleach fandom #bleach smut #smut and fluff #angst #Aizen is insane #aizen x you #aizen x y/n #gin ichimaru #bleach

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wifebread · 2 years

Text

Obsessed | Pt.3

Pairing: Stalker!Min Yoongi x Original female character

Tags: Forced relationships, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulations, Mentions of cruelty, Mentions of deaths, Mentions of drugs, Murders, Original female character, Out of character, Stalking, Unhealthy relationships, Violence.

Summary: She wasn't afraid of this man, didn't take threats seriously, blaming everything on the fact that it was just to attract attention. However, she did’t know what he was capable of.

word count: 1,6k

I do not condone the actions described in the story, this is all fiction and does not relate to the real members of the BTS in any way. If you are uncomfortable with tags, please do not read!! Or read at your own risk.

a/n: Thanks to the wonderful author who allowed me to translate this work! Please keep in mind that English is not my native language, so if you notice any mistakes, point them out to me! I can also edit the chapter after I publish it, so don't be surprised if you see some strange moments (it means I haven't corrected them yet). Thank you.

source: https://ficbook.net/readfic/12255891

Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8

"One condition"

It's been a few days since Shin was got to the hospital. Percy didn't dare to visit her friend— you never know what would come into his head — so she made do with care packages. Sometimes, to find out about the condition of Shin, the girl had to call his mother. She kindly replied that everything was fine and the guy would be released soon.

He didn't stop texting Percy, even started doing it too often. The girl decided not to answer anymore, to ignore. If he wants Percy not to hang out with other guys - ok. The girl really did not want anyone else to suffer because of her fault. Therefore, she tried to observe the rules that he told her to follow.

And for the past week, Percy has been doing nothing but carrying parcels to the hospital and staying at home. However, fate decided to fuck her ass.

Song's pen friend is coming today, so the parents' rules - "curfew at 9" and "no partying" — will be broken.

“Kitten!” the girl screamed, throwing her suitcase and rushing at full speed to her friend.

“Brinnie," Percy said, hugging the girl, which literally knocked her off her feet. “You got there, as I see, without incident.”

“Yeah,” Sabrina replied with a nod, rising with Percy.

“Mom and Dad are at work, so we're alone until the evening.”

“Got it. Wait, I'll take the suitcase.”

***

“Well, what did you want to offer me?” sipping some coffee and putting a cup of cocoa on the table in front of her friend, Percy asked, sitting down.

“I suggest recalling the events of three years ago and reviving the old.” Sabrina snapped her fingers.

“Now in a human way?” Percy asked, raising one eyebrow uncomprehendingly.

“Hang out, dummy.” Poking her friend in the nose, Sabrina began. “Remember how we used to rock.”

“Correction, you used to rock," Percy said, nodding.

“Well, right, you were drunk and stoned,” Sabrina said with a snort, rolling her eyes. “But now everything is different.

Percy looked at her friend, a la: "How is that?".

“Now we can both get drunk,” the girl began to enumerate, bending her fingers. "we can both smoke and..." Sabrina said after a pause, thereby intriguing Percy. “There is something to celebrate. You won't believe it; I broke up with this jerk.”

“Really?” Percy was genuinely surprised. "And Felix didn't even protest?"

"Who the hell knows," the girl replied with a shrug. “I texted him that everything was over between us and changed the SIM card.”

“Boy oh boy,” Percy laughed, almost choking. "Don't worry," she continued, calming down. — You're an attractive chic; you'll find a boyfriend quickly.

“Don't mess me about," Sabrina said, shaking her head. “Tell me, how are the things on your love front yourself? Shin is being dismissed, I say right away. He may be a two-meter fella, but even so he could not stand up for himself. Not mentioning your protection.”

Percy wondered if she should tell Sabrina about her watcher. Up to this point, the girl had never mentioned him when talking on the phone. Song knew her friend well. And I understood that if she told her about it, she would certainly want to help get rid of the snoop.

“Hey, why are you frozen?” Snapping her fingers in front of Percy's face, the girl asked.

“Oh, I thought about it and I want to tell you about ...” Percy stopped when she felt the vibration of the phone in her pocket. "One seс," she added, taking her smartphone out of her pocket.

Even before turning on the screen, the girl already guessed who was writing.

From: Psycho

13:16 "Don't involve your friend in this, the sunshine :)"

13:17 "It will be extremely unpleasant if something happens to her, right?"

“What? Is that mom?” Sabrina asked, finishing her cocoa, forcing her friend to look up from the phone.

“No, some ads by e-mail,” turning off the smartphone, Percy replied. —“I wanted to tell you... that no one is even trying to get to know me.”

"And if someone wants to, this fucker will put him down," Percy added, in thought making a sad little pug.

“Oh, my friend," Sabrina began, putting her hand on Percy's shoulder. “Today we both have a great chance to meet someone.”

“I don't even know if they will let me,” the girl hinted at her parents, and the thought of her watcher did not leave her head.

“Calm down, your folks trust me. Let's say we're going to a girls night party with a mutual friend, and her brother will take us home.”

The phone vibrated again, and it wasn't hard to guess that he didn't like the idea.

"I'm going to call Jiwon," Sabrina began, putting the empty mug in the sink. “I'll tell him that we'll come.” The girl looked at Percy expectantly. “We're going, right?”

Percy pursed her lips, doubtful. On the other hand, she can just not approach the guys and have fun with her bestie.

“Yes,” Percy said, giving up, exhaling. “We're going.”

“Great!” Sabrina shouted happily, clapping her hands, hugging her friend.

When the girl came out of the kitchen, Percy grabbed the phone again, turning it on.

From: Psycho

13:22 "You're not going"

Percy stared at the screen for a long time, reading the message over and over again. The girl thought that she could pretend to be a good girl and convince him that she would play by the rules.

To: Psycho

13:24 "I haven't seen my friend for a long time"

13:25 "I have no intention to go in order to pick up someone"

13:26 "These days"

13:27 "You have settled in my thoughts"

Percy had already thought many times that such words would not help her; they would only worsen the situation. After all, he is clearly not stupid; he won’t fall so easily for such a thing.

Only the girl wanted to delete the last two messages, as she received an answer:

From: Psycho

13:27 "I didn't expect you to think about me so often"

13:28 "It's nice to know :)"

Percy closed her eyes, exhaling with relief. She was surprised that the guy believed her. Inside, the girl was triumphant, but visually she tried not to show it. You never know if he’s watching.

From: Psycho

13:30 "One condition"

"Holy shit," Percy thought, batting her eyelashes in surprise. "Now I also have to receive conditions? Just because I want to be an ordinary teenager and go have fun?"

To: Psycho

13:32 "I remember the rules"

From: Psycho

13:33 "That’s cake"

13:34 "You shouldn't forget them anyway :)"

To: Psycho

13:35 "What is the condition?"

And after that, he fell silent. Percy fidgeted with her fingers, looking at the screen in anticipation. But the answer did not come either after 5 minutes or after 10. And as Percy had noticed, it wouldn't do any good.

***

After going up to her room, the girl wanted to put her smartphone on charge and go to the guest room to find out from Sabrina what time it would be necessary to get ready.

Percy was about to leave the room, having looked around the room for the last time, when suddenly her gaze was fixed at a piece of paper glued to the window with something.

Hesitantly coming closer, the girl saw the text. After reading it, Percy almost fell. She frantically opened the window wide open, looking for him among the passers-by.

"Don't close the windows at night, otherwise I'll have to look for another way to visit you ;)"

“What are you doing?” Sabrina, who had just entered the room, asked. “Suicide is not a solution. And jumping from the second floor - this is the maximum to break your legs.”

"I just wanted to get some air," Percy was taking a piece of paper off the glass, drowning out the rustling sounds with her voice. “What time do we move out?” crumpling the paper in her hand behind her back, the girl asked, forcing a smile.

"Jiwon said we can move out right now.” throwing the phone on her friend's bed, Sabrina answered. “So, let's get changed.”

“And you go too. You can't go in your pajamas.” Percy said, laughing. “Shall we put on makeup now as well?” Sabrina nodded and then left the room.

***

By the way, Percy met Jivon a year and a half ago.

It happened during term time. Since he was a librarian's assistant, and Percy was a frequent guest of the reading hut, they were left after school, with a request to help rearrange the books in their places, and to postpone the spoiled ones.

It is remembered, they almost got into a fight then because of the distribution of responsibilities. Jiwon didn't really want to exert himself, so he planned to help the girl only with moral support. But Percy wouldn't have been able to do it all alone, and even with such a height.

The screams of teenagers could be heard all over the library. If Percy tried to keep herself in hand and not swear with a choice obscenity, then Jiwon thought of throwing a book at her. And the first thing the guy heard after that was, "You're such a fucker."

The guy was genuinely surprised that Percy knew such words, so he laughed. And the laughter was so contagious that the girl forgot about what happened a couple of moments ago.

“Yoon Jiwon,” sitting on the floor by the bookcases, the guy said, holding out his hand.

“Song Percy,” the girl shook the guy's hand, as a sign of acquaintance. "For the record," she continued, poking Jiwon in the shoulder. “it was very painful.”

“I kind of figured,” remembering Percy's words, the guy laughed again, and the girl caught it.

“All this, of course, is wonderful. But we never finished.”

“As an apology..." Yoon began thoughtfully. “I can help you reach the upper shelves.”

"Now this thing," Percy began, picking up a thick book. “is going to fly at you.”

“I was just joking," Jiwon said with an innocent smile.

to be continued...

#yandere bts #yandere youngi #yoongi x reader #yandere x reader #bts x reader #stalker yoongi #yandere kpop #bts yandere #btsyandere #yandere bangtan #kpop yandere #yandere #yandere au #bts #bts fanfic

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captnjacksparrow · 3 years

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(Part 1) Hello, I hope I´m not bothering you but I wanted to discuss something that I have just found. I am new to the Naruto fandom and still don´t know much about it but I am fond of the ship between Naruto and Sasuke but what dampers that joy a little bit is all the nonsensical canonical couples that we got. It´s not just that I found them incompatible in terms of their respective personalities but really inconsistent. We have the canonical manga, then we have all the anime fillers and then there are the novels. Yet many of these additional supplementary material contradict previously estabilished facts from the canon and make the characters really OOC to try to poorly explain how they came to be. Not only that but also other informations about the lore are contradictory. For example in one of the novels it is stated that Mikoto wasn´t an Uchiha and that Sasuke and Itachi themselves are only half-bloods, yet in the Boruto manga it is stated by Sarada that Sasuke is the only pure-blooded Uchiha left in the world, which he couldn´t have been if Mikoto also wasn´t Uchiha by blood. Then we have Kishimoto saying in one of his interviews (I think, correct me if I´m wrong) that Sasuke fell for Sakura after the War. Yet in the novels it was stated that he was already in love with her when he was leaving the village for the first time when he was 12. The novel states that the reason why Sakura and Sasuke aren´t wearing wedding rings is beacuse it´s not Konoha´s tradition to do so, yet we saw couples that had wedding rings like Hinata and Naruto and I think Shikamaru and Temari also. Sasuke not being home for 12 years, even before he got his official mission from Naruto, in order to protect his family from his enemies, so the fact that Sakura is his wife has to remain a secret (his own words from the novel), yet she is flaunting and wearing the Uchiha family crest everywhere. She even frames it as a picture. And for how long was he planning to stay away anyway? His wife´s and daughter´s entire lives? Minato also had enemies worldwide but he wasn´t planning to abandon his family. And there is the fact that Sasuke´s official excuse for not being with his family is because of his mission but he didn´t get one until after Naruto already became Hokage when Sarada was already like 7-8 years old. It´s so bizzare. Then we have dinosaurs in the Sasuke Retsuden novel, when it feels like it came out of completely different universe as there is no mention of it anywhere else. Then characters having powers that they didn´t have in the manga nor anime - like Sasuke having medical ninjutsu and crystal release (?) and Sakura suddenly acquiring the ability to cast fireballs despite fire not being her element and eyes faster than Sharingan. She also estabilished with Ino a hospital for mentally ill people, yet we never hear of it anywhere else apart from that one Sakura novel. And then even the novel made her act like a complete creep when she stated that she will confess to Sasuke her feelings as many times as it will take and compares her "convincing" Sasuke to beating an enemy. She is borderline deranged, acting more like a rapist than an innocet selfless girl in love. And yet I am supossed to believe that Sasuke would fall for this, calling her my "one and only wife“, when he hated fangirls and people objectifying him and sexualizing him. Sasuke as we know him didn´t like to be stalked, harassed and molested by neither Karin or Sakura or anyone else. (Also why they need to copy a moment between Sasuke and Naruto once again to justify either Naruhina or Sasusaku? Hinata´s chakra was even changed to purple to resemble Sasuke´s. It wasn´t originally her colour. Then we have Hinata being kidnapped to a moon by aliens in The Last, and Sakura in the novel being called a "sunshine of spring" by Sasuke when the sun symbolism was always associated with Naruto.) I believe that I could eventually make peace with these ships even if they were badly written, if they were at least a little bit consistent, but they are just weird.

(Part 2) What´s more I hate all the hypocricy and double standarts surrounding them. It hinges on guilt-tripping , coercion and emotional manipulation. Especially during The Last it makes Sakura look like a total hypocrite when she says that „when a girl truly falls in love, her feelings don´t change that easily, they can´t change.“ But guy´s feelings have to? What sort of logic is that? And what about her statement that Naruto´s feelings were just born out of a competition with Sasuke over her, when Sasuke wasn´t at that point even interested in her that way, so what competition? And not to mention that´s rich coming from her, when her own feelings for Sasuke were born out of the competition with Ino, her best friend that she stabbed in the back for a boy that didn´t care for either of them back then. Or saying that Naruto is an idiot who does not understand true love, just because he isn´t returning the feelings of a girl. That´s one of the reasons why I don´t like her. Because she acts like she has the right to refuse anyone she is not romantically interested in, yet she deprives other people of that same courtesy. Who is she to dictate with whom should other people be intimate with/sleep with, produce children with, settling down, spend the rest of their lives with? It´s like she is some kind of a pimp selling Naruto to the highest possible bidder, whether he wants to or not. Like it´s not exactly a prostitution, but I still get similar vibes from it by trying to force a guy to have an intimate relations with someone against his will. That´s rape. Like imagine if the genders were reversed and it was Naruto who would be forcing Sakura to give Lee a chance, and shaming her and calling her deregotary names if she doesn´t. Treating her like an idiot who doesn´t know anything about love just because she doesn´t want to screw this guy. And then let her finally fall in love with him when she is literally brainwashed by a genjutsu showing her just how much Lee did for her and therefore how much he „deserves“ her, so she better be grateful because he is just so good. Imagine the backlash if that happened. What adds even more salt to the injury is the implication that Sakura doesn´t do this because she genuinelly feels sorry for this girl and wants to help her out of the sheer goodness of her heart, it´s because she sees herself in her situation and she is projecting. She literally says that „girls in love have to help each other“ when Hinata questions her. So she is basically admitting that she is doing it for herself. Because she wants to vicariously live off her sick fantasies through someone else. Because she thinks that if this one-sided relationship comes to pass despite everything going against it, then it gives her more hope for her own relationship to succeed. After all she recognizes that she and Hinata are right now in the same boat. And the fact that she thinks that they both need „help“ is telling. After all if it all was so consensual and mutual, why would a help be needed in the first place? And where was all this care for Hinata from Sakura, when Hinata just confessed to Naruto during the Pain attack and almost died trying to save his life, yet Sakura had no problem to make a false love confession to Naruto even if she knew at that point how Hinata feels about him. So why the sudden change of heart? Why only now and never before? I hate what message these ships send. That the girl´s feelings always have to be validated, respected and rewarded, but if you are a guy you should just back off and mind your own business if the girl rejects you, because you can´t force feelings on anyone , but only when you are a guy, if you are a girl then the same rules do not apply to you for… reasons. It´s all horribly sexist to me and discriminatory towards men. Like people are so quick to jump on Kishimoto for being a misogynist towards women, but why they do not go into these sort of complains when it´s men who are being screwed?

(Part 3) Not to mention that it is always girls that have to chase after the men, they have to beg them to love them back on their hands and knees, to give them just one more chance to prove how wonderful they would be for them, to humilate themselves before them, to sacrifice their self-worth and dignity for them. Not to mention being petty, competetive and horrible towards every other woman they see as a potential threat. That´s not healthy. It promotes obsession and unhealthy coping mechanisms, not true love. It basically tells young girls that if they don´t get together with the first boy they ever liked, then they are basically worthless and their live is pretty much over. While it also tells boys that if they don´t return the feelings of their admirers, then they are the scums of the earth. The message that they send is incredibly harmful and toxic for both genders. I´m not sure if it was intentional or if it is just a bad writing, but oh boy is it incredibly frustrating and it prevents me to if not at least enjoy it, to at least tolerate it a little bit more. And why I don´t mind that much when it comes to a mature adult audience that watches these sort of things because I hope they know better, but this show is aimed for mostly teenage boys as it is a shonen. It worries me what kind of things they might take from it, because yes this is fiction and it´s not real, but at the same time art does not exist in a vacuum. And I admit that Kishimoto´s ever changing and contradictory interviews also don´t help to fully sell me to the idea either. (Part 4) But back to the original topic at hand. I wanted to show you something that I have found on Kishimoto´s official twitter account from the end of the last year (2020) where he asks the fans what would they like to see happen in the Boruto next. He also shares there pictures of a pregnant Sakura with another Uchiha baby after most people voted for it. Here I send you both links:

https://twitter.com/kishimotomasshi/status/1328281602942791682

https://twitter.com/kishimotomasshi/status/1335321893956628480

Once again I´m sorry if this message was too long or anything, I was just curious what is your take on it considering the recent events that are happening right now. Thank you so much for all the effort and time you always put into your answers. Have a nice and peaceful day.

Woahh!!! Thanks for this lengthy and insightful ask!!!! And many of the points you made here in this Ask were really Fresh and New. And I am pretty sure people who read this post must also have felt the same way.

And that part about Sexist towards Men... IS WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO SAY ALL ALONG IN MANY OF MY POSTS (Btw, I received this ask much before my last misogyny post) I don't know if I can actually do any justice to all of your claims but I'll try my best to ease your mind, A Bit???

I have found on Kishimoto´s official twitter account from the end of the last year (2020)

Firstly, Kishimoto is not in Twitter. That's clearly an SS fan-made troll account... [[These jokers are just going way too overboard]]

So, Please don't believe these nonsense. And these assholes dare to morph Kushina with Sakura, huh??? Geez!!! There's not even a bit of creativity.

We have the canonical manga, then we have all the anime fillers and then there are the novels. Yet many of these additional supplementary material contradict previously estabilished facts from the canon and make the characters really OOC to try to poorly explain how they came to be.

I clearly wrote a post as to what is canon and what is not in this post... [Link]

In Short, Manga is the only true canon. Other than the Manga, You can take the Art, Poster, One-Shot Manga, Movie which was entirely conceived by Kishimoto to be semi-canon i.e, Keep it purely for reference purpose to understand what the Author was conveying to which it mostly have a direct reference to his original material.

For Example, Road to Ninja One Shot Manga. Even though none of those incidents were related to Naruto manga in any way, but you could find many Easter-Eggs which would have direct references with the Original. Which I talked about here [Link]

So, Yes.... Novels, Filler Episodes, movies are not canon.

For example in one of the novels it is stated that Mikoto wasn´t an Uchiha and that Sasuke and Itachi themselves are only half-bloods, yet in the Boruto manga it is stated by Sarada that Sasuke is the only pure-blooded Uchiha left in the world, which he couldn´t have been if Mikoto also wasn´t Uchiha by blood.

This is actually a news to me and no one in this fandom has ever talked about this shit piece of information and I am very sure, Sasuke and Itachi fans would be furious to hear this crap load of garbage.

Mikoto is a Full Blooded Uchiha. And by that logic, Itachi as well as Sasuke too.

And I think you are confusing with Itachi's non-existent girlfriend Izumi. She was the one who was not entirely an Uchiha. But anyways, Novels are not canon. So, It's safe to ignore it.

Then we have Kishimoto saying in one of his interviews (I think, correct me if I´m wrong) that Sasuke fell for Sakura after the War. Yet in the novels it was stated that he was already in love with her when he was leaving the village for the first time when he was 12.

That wasn't Kishimoto, by the way. It was Sasuke's Voice Actor who gave that interview to throw off those SS pests.

Please don't believe these kind of shipping Interviews from Voice Actors or even Kishimoto himself (atleast when it comes to the ships). Whereas his Other general interviews where he talked about the lores and writing process of the story, you can believe it without a doubt.

His contradicting Interviews about SS and NH was something I already wrote about it here... [Link]

In Short, He never fell in love with Sakura at any point. I think it was very clear from the way he wrote Gaiden. You see all these inconsistencies in these materials because those things weren’t written by him or his assistants who have been with his since the very beginning.

The Author of Boruto Manga, Ikemoto... Who was working as Kishimoto’s assistant from chapter 10 of Naruto Manga I guess. And that’s why you won’t see any SS or NH material in that manga. And somewhat consistent in portraying N and S.

Whereas the novels were written by some crappy newbie who got into Naruto manga very recently and then they asked them to write their own fan fiction. It’s almost like you are forcing a baby to be handled by a stranger rather than it’s own mother.

Sasuke not being home for 12 years, even before he got his official mission from Naruto, And for how long was he planning to stay away anyway? His wife´s and daughter´s entire lives? Minato also had enemies worldwide but he wasn´t planning to abandon his family. And there is the fact that Sasuke´s official excuse for not being with his family is because of his mission but he didn´t get one until after Naruto already became Hokage when Sarada was already like 7-8 years old. It´s so bizzare.

The thing is, he was planning to abandon them for as long as he wanted to because he don't like his family, especially Sakura.

Yes, He wanted family. But not from Sakura.

Then we have dinosaurs in the Sasuke Retsuden novel

I don't want to face this trauma again. Because we already got over it??? For now (???). And I know this shitstorm was going to attack someday... So, let's wait and see what happens.

And then even the novel made her act like a complete creep when she stated that she will confess to Sasuke her feelings as many times as it will take and compares her "convincing" Sasuke to beating an enemy.

But, Anon... did you really felt like she is a complete creep only in the Novel??? Not during the War Arc???? Not even that time when she wanted to see the dick of Sasuke???

I am actually surprised that you were so tolerant.

She is borderline deranged, acting more like a rapist than an innocet selfless girl in love. And yet I am supossed to believe that Sasuke would fall for this, calling her my "one and only wife“, when he hated fangirls and people objectifying him and sexualizing him. Sasuke as we know him didn´t like to be stalked, harassed and molested by neither Karin or Sakura or anyone else.

Oh Boy!!! This is the first time I am directly seeing someone referring Sakura's name with the term 'r*pist'. Because, Previously I heard that Japanese people called her such, after the release of Gaiden... But I couldn’t believe it. LOLOL. Probably they are true.

I believe that I could eventually make peace with these ships even if they were badly written, if they were at least a little bit consistent, but they are just weird.

They are badly written, Yes without a doubt. But It was very intentional from the Author's side. Because, he knew how Naruto was going to end back in 2009 itself... And yet knowing that he refuse to give any development for the Main Ships while making side ships to be more rounded and satisfactory.

I've talked about it [Here]... [Here]... [Here].

Especially during The Last it makes Sakura look like a total hypocrite when she says that „when a girl truly falls in love, her feelings don´t change that easily, they can´t change.“ But guy´s feelings have to? What sort of logic is that?

Or saying that Naruto is an idiot who does not understand true love, just because he isn´t returning the feelings of a girl. That´s one of the reasons why I don´t like her. Because she acts like she has the right to refuse anyone she is not romantically interested in, yet she deprives other people of that same courtesy.

Who is she to dictate with whom should other people be intimate with/sleep with, produce children with, settling down, spend the rest of their lives with? It´s like she is some kind of a pimp selling Naruto to the highest possible bidder, whether he wants to or not. Like it´s not exactly a prostitution, but I still get similar vibes from it by trying to force a guy to have an intimate relations with someone against his will. That´s rape. Like imagine if the genders were reversed and it was Naruto who would be forcing Sakura to give Lee a chance, and shaming her and calling her derogatary names if she doesn´t. Treating her like an idiot who doesn´t know anything about love just because she doesn´t want to screw this guy. And then let her finally fall in love with him when she is literally brainwashed by a genjutsu showing her just how much Lee did for her and therefore how much he „deserves“ her, so she better be grateful because he is just so good. Imagine the backlash if that happened.

I hate what message these ships send. That the girl´s feelings always have to be validated, respected and rewarded, but if you are a guy you should just back off and mind your own business if the girl rejects you, because you can´t force feelings on anyone , but only when you are a guy, if you are a girl then the same rules do not apply to you for… reasons. It´s all horribly sexist to me and discriminatory towards men. Like people are so quick to jump on Kishimoto for being a misogynist towards women, but why they do not go into these sort of complains when it´s men who are being screwed?

This!!!! This!!! This!!!

I've been saying this message in many of my posts but in a very different way. I've always been talking From Kishimoto's writing POV but I never wrote about Gender Switching thing even though I touched about it here and there.

But You've summed it up so well.

This is exactly what puzzled me when I stepped into the Fandom. I Love SNS and I Love both of those Idiots. But those boys are the one who actually got the short end of the stick. Whereas those assholes got whatever they wanted and now they are watching TV, Buying Flowers and Blushing and bullshit... At the expense of Naruto and Sasuke’s unhappiness. And now an exclusive Manga even.

But no one actually talked about how horribly sexist the writing was towards Naruto and Sasuke to force these insensitive assholes on their head. Kishi knowingly whored off Naruto in the Last movie.

Imagine we were reading a Lesbian Manga with so much love between 2 lead girls and all of a sudden the writer sold off those girls to spread their legs for some toxic stalkers like some broodmare... (???). How do we feel???. In my opinion, That would be the real misogyny. Whereas, In SNS fandom, People say Kishi made me hate Hinata and Sakura. He is a misogynist. (????). Well, He may very well be a misogynist. But he literally & knowingly fucked up my two favourite MALE characters. And what's more, He fucked Neji to become a literal pimp for NH. Imagine if TenTen was made to sacrifice her life to connect NH!!! And think about the backlash...

Am not saying, Kishimoto is a God with no flaws at all. It's just that while criticizing him for being a misogynist, please look at the other side and see how he fucked up his male characters in a worst possible way. And also, try to gender switch and see if you come to the same conclusion as before. Because in most of the cases, it won't be the same.

Eg, People were okay with Naruto going Feral for Sasuke. But when Obito lost his control for Rin, it's called simping for a girl who didn't return his love.

And that's why I wrote in my first misogyny post to remove their gender lens and enjoy this series. Atleast when it comes to LGBT materials.

It basically tells young girls that if they don´t get together with the first boy they ever liked, then they are basically worthless and their live is pretty much over. While it also tells boys that if they don´t return the feelings of their admirers, then they are the scums of the earth. The message that they send is incredibly harmful and toxic for both genders. I´m not sure if it was intentional or if it is just a bad writing, but oh boy is it incredibly frustrating and it prevents me to if not at least enjoy it, to at least tolerate it a little bit more. And why I don´t mind that much when it comes to a mature adult audience that watches these sort of things because I hope they know better, but this show is aimed for mostly teenage boys as it is a shonen. It worries me what kind of things they might take from it, because yes this is fiction and it´s not real, but at the same time art does not exist in a vacuum.

Hmm, this is a very Good point.

When it comes to the overall message of the story. It's very clear. Try to Love, Forgive and Understand other people before you plan to hurt someone. That's all and he couldn't have said it any better than he already did in his 700 chapters.

Majority of General Audience and Young boys don't care about Ships, If I am being realistic. Boys care more about Power Levels as to who is stronger and who will win. General Audience like to see how the plot advances. Shipping faction amounts to 30-40% of the fandom and most of them ships for Self-Insertion. Like they really don't care about development and all that. Just few days before, I got an ask where an Anon shared their experience about arguing with an SS shipper and said "If only your relationship were like SS..." or something along those lines... For which that SS shipper said, "I don't need any man".

Could you even take these kind of people seriously???? And most of them are like this.

And Still....

Why do we have to focus on NH and SS alone??? Yeah, Yeah, I get it... they are the main characters and hence we pay attention to them more. But hey, can we all please look at the other ships Kishi had created???? What about DanTsu??? It’s one of the ship with positive development and unfortunately it ended up tragic. And what about ShikaTema??? It started out with mutual enmity, then admiration... MinaKushi???. None of these ships promotes any unhealthy obsession or coping mechanisms, forcing a person to become a doormat or anything. All these ships were clearly mutual in all aspects. Can you say, atleast one instance where Tsunade or Kushina or Temari becoming a doormat to Dan or Minato or Shikamaru????

If you logically ask these questions to yourself, you will find the difference. And that difference being Naruto and Sasuke were clearly not interested in these girls. And those girls should have backed off. But then they didn’t.

But even then, if you read Gaiden, the message is very clear. "Don't chase a boy who is not into you... Otherwise you would be left with emptiness just like Sakura". Throughout that manga her face was extremely pathetic and she is not giving off the vibe of an Happy Woman. And readers in Japan collectively hated the fact that Sakura and Sasuke were together.

Shipping part is something which was very personal to him, I guess... Or atleast that's what I feel from his writing and I think he never wanted to be responsible for anyone other than himself (????). He is selfish that way and I think every writers has this own personal thing in their own story and it's entirely unrealistic to ask every writers to write a story and convey a good message... entirely for public. Sometimes people go selfish and want something for themselves. Because who would believe that Naruto manga is a Love Story between 2 boys hiding under the layers of Ninja World, Clan Warfare, Impending threat of War, Chakra, Resurrection and all those themes????

Naruto’s Chapter 1 taught us the importance of Understanding other people. And Chapter 27 or the entire Land of the Waves Arc which covers from Chapter 9 to Chapter 3 taught us ‘Becoming Stronger to protect the important person’. Haku clearly made sure to tell Naruto and Audience about this message. And Guess what happened...???

This panel may look funny and rightfully so. But The Author is known for conveying his story through these little jokes.

Naruto indeed came to Understand how Sasuke felt all along and he became stronger only to stand with him as an equal and mainly to protect Sasuke. Which is basically the entire Part 2 until Chapter 699. When I completed this series, that message about Understanding and Protecting an Important Person was what that stayed in my mind. Definitely not these ugly ships.

And also, Kishi was also not going meek and said “I did this or that or anything”. He let the audience to take whatever they want from this manga.

I completely agree that when it comes to Main characters’ shipping, Kishimoto's message may not be very convincing or responsible to the Readers. It's even insensitive (in Gaiden) to an extent. I accept that. But he wanted to say a beautiful over arching message of the story, Love and Understanding, and he did it in a very convincing way.

So, I think most of those younglings don't even take any of these shipping dynamics into their heart very seriously because Romance is not the main theme of this Manga (Well, It is... But not SS or NH). Atleast not on a plain sight.

#sns #sasunaru #narusasu #antisakura #anti sakura #misogyny #misandry #kishimoto

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17wishbones · 3 years

Photo

Whew! It is now time to post the sequel for this little short series I made. Again, it’ll be no more than 7 chapters with the parts split if it’s a continuation. I’m super ecstatic to post this. I’ve been thinking, editing, and brainstorming ideas for this so I hope it reads well for you all. So please, come and enjoy KIMETSU DAIGAKU: SUNFLOWER’S BLESSING. The name may change in the future. Other than that, enjoy chapter 1! :> SN: All are welcome to read, but this is a POC reader insert, FYI. That is all! SN2: I studied Japanese for a time and studied abroad but that was years ago so excuse me if some of the written dialogue is rough. Wanted to show (reader) learning the language even if it’s real easy, conversational sentences. SN3: Rengoku in a button-up white shirt, khakis and a tie? *slams down credit card* - - - - - - - - Chapter I: RENGOKU-SENSEI, RENGOKU-SENSEI

Everyday, so far, was a surprise when it came to Rengoku.

You honestly didn’t know what to do with yourself. You had thought studying with Rengoku would be an after school sort of thing as you mingled in classes with other students but somehow, he was able to catch you from different periods for almost a whole week!

Mayamoto-sensei encouraged engagement with local students at the university so she allowed you to go with your new teacher everyday. Jealousy riled the others on how you were getting special treatment other than being the only brown-skinned girl on this trip.

It bothered you sometimes, because it wasn’t anything like that! But every greeting from Rengoku was positive and enthusiastic. He greeted you kindly in both English and Japanese. He taught you well, proving that he can be strict, attentive, and instructive. Then, at the end, he’d engage you in short conversations to see how well he was doing teaching you the language and how well you were catching on.

“You did great today, _____! You’ve already made great strides on your flow!”

“That’s because you’re a great teacher, Rengoku-sensei. You did have me sweating bullets the first few days, though. I didn’t think I would catch up.” You closed and put your notebook in your bag. “I feel bad because the others don’t like that I get one-on-one time with you like this.”

“Ah, they’re jealous, I see!” He crossed his arms over his chest, his smile forever wide. It was this pose that had you thinking this was déjà vu, but you don’t know why. “Then it can’t be helped! Don’t worry yourself about what they think!”

“I shouldn’t?”

“Nn!” He locked eyes with you again and spoke proudly with his chest out. “Set your heart ablaze and move onward!” An explosive aura filled the room and warmed your body. “No matter what anyone else says, you do what you think in your heart is right!”

Your heart beat fast and your stomach fluttered with butterflies. ‘Why does he look at me like that? Why does he make me feel this way?’ His burning gaze made you feel like he only saw you in his world, but you shook the thought away.

“Is there something on your mind, _____?”

Your eyes shifted, looking for anything else to say other than what was on your mind. It’d be weird to just be like, ‘hey, I like you and would jump your bones anytime!’ Instead, you found the clock and remembered. “I wanted to visit the flower shop, and see the flower arrangements. I saw one on my way to the girls’ dorm.”

“Let me accompany you!” Rengoku’s open offer made you blush. “I freed myself for the evening just in case!”

This shocked you. “W-what about your schoolwork?”

“I finished it all this morning before meeting with you!”

“And your… colorful friends??” You saw him speak with a few interesting people but he quickly came to you the moment you walked into the fray.

“I have already informed them of my plans this morning!” Your face cracked. He had an answer for everything! “I want to be a good teacher for you and help you as much as I can!”

“Why, Rengoku-sensei?” You asked, curious at what his reason could be.

“Because I like you, _____-chan!”

Your eyes almost popped out. ‘Like me? Like… ‘like me’ like me? Or just like being around me? Whew, boy, you need to stop playing with me because I don’t think my heart can take all of this!’

“Are you ready to go to the flower shop?”

“Y-Yes! Let me get my things, Rengoku-sensei.”

“Kyōjurō.” He corrected you.

“Oh! Kyōjurō…” you circled through the honorifics that he taught you, trying to remember which one was appropriate. “...-kun?”

“Hmm?” He sounded, wanting you to repeat yourself once more.

“Kyōjurō-kun, right?”

A small blush warmed his fair cheeks as he nodded in agreement. “Nn!” He hadn’t expected you to call him that fondly and it ignited his determination to get close to you. A month was not enough time, but he was going to make it work.

You both headed down the slope of the school, crossing a lone shop with beautiful arrangements set everywhere. You ‘ooh’ed and ‘awe’d at each flower that Rengoku named outloud. You repeated, of course. You felt like you were in your own heaven as you gazed at, touched, and smelled the flowers.

You were so happy.

What caught your eyes next were the large, golden blooms held high on long stalks. “Kyōjurō-kun,” he looked over and an overwhelming feeling washed over him when you stood next to the sunflowers, grinning from ear to ear as you asked him, “What’s a sunflower called?”

‘_____, if I could name them after you.’ He walked up next to you, bathing himself in your presence. “Himawari.”

“Himawari. Such a beautiful name for a beautiful flower.”

“I think so, too.” Rengoku wasn’t talking about the sunflower, however.

“Ah, konnichiwa,” you greeted the florist, “Kore wa ikura desu ka?” (How much is this?)

“Go-hyaku-jyuu yen desu.” (500 yen.)

“That’s like… 500 yen, yeah? I think I got it.” As you looked in your bag for the coins instead of breaking the 1000 yen bill.

“Arigatou gozaimasu!” (Thank you so much!) Rengoku bowed and received your wrapped sunflower before handing it to you. “Douzo, _____-chan!” (Here, _____!)

“Ah, Kyōjurō-kun, you didn’t have to buy it for me, but thank you so much!”

“Why wouldn’t I want to buy something for you?” He questioned as you both left the shop. “As I said, I like you, _____-chan! And I want to spend time with you outside of school.”

“Like… together?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, well, honestly, I’d be down for that! Since boys aren’t allowed in the girls dorm, where do you want to go? What do you want to do?”

“I want to kiss you,” he answered shamelessly, “Hold you, and never let you go!” You both made eye contact on the walk back. “Though, I have been holding myself back in case you didn’t like me.”

His words electrified you and he hadn’t even touched you yet in any way whatsoever. “It’s not like you’re handsome or anything…”

“You think I’m handsome?” He beamed suddenly.

You tried playing coy but this kind of mannerism didn’t work for you and, honestly, you liked Rengoku’s straightforwardness. “Yes, I do. When we first met, I liked you instantly. You made me feel so nervous and so excited at the same time.”

“Oh?” He thought for a moment. “Can I hold your hand?” He asked sweetly. “I don’t want you to feel nervous around me, only excited! Happy! Loved!”

“Are you sure that’s okay? Won’t people stare more than they already do at us?”

“I don’t care if they do or don’t! Let them stare! As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.” He gently linked his rough hands with your soft ones, locking them. “I feel I am the luckiest man alive right now because you’re here with me!”

“How many girls have you told that to?”

“Only you, my Sunflower!”

You choked on your own spit. “Your Sunflower? You’re so sure I’m not taken?”

“Yes and yes! I hope to have you for myself as well.”

“For my short time here?”

Rengoku shook his head. “Forever.”

‘Oh my god. Did he just charm his way into my heart?’ You felt the sincerity in his words and saw the genuity in his owlish eyes. “This all really feels like déjà vu.”

“Déjà vu?”

“Like this happened before. It’s… familiar.”

“Nn! It’s fate that we met as we did!”

‘Fate, huh?’ You didn’t notice that you arrived at the girls’ dorm. “Oh, we’re here!” You thought to loosen your hand from his but your arm suddenly didn’t work with you. He wasn’t letting go either. “Our plans tonight are…?”

“Nani o shitai desu ka?” (What do you want to do?)

“Uh!” Always catching you off guard like that kept you on your toes. Besides, practice made perfect. “Karaoke… ni ikitai desu yo!” (I want to go to Karaoke!)

“Nanji ni ikitai desu ka?” (What time do you want to go?)

Your thinking of literally translating what you wanted to say from English to Japanese made each response a little slow. It took time to gain fluency. “Hachiji ii desu ka?” (8 o’clock okay?)

“Close! “Hachiji de ii desu ka” but you did a great job nonetheless! And yes, 8 is fine with me.”

“So…” you felt reluctant to leave him now even if for a few hours, “I’ll see you later?”

“I’ll wait for you to change and pack up some clothes!” You looked at him incredulously. “As I said, I want to kiss you, hold you, and never let you go! At least for a night!” Though he spoke his desire, ‘Am I asking too much from her all of a sudden? I can’t read the cute and twisted expressions on her face yet. It is her choice to—’

“Let’s do it!” Rengoku’s mouth dropped in surprise. “The dorm gates close at 9pm anyway, for whatever reason, while the boys are allowed to go out and do as they please with the gate open.” You huffed, annoyed. “Oh. Where do you live?”

“I live in an apartment 20 minutes down the road.”

“All by yourself?”

“Mhm! I can’t wait to show you! So be quick, Sunflower!” He happily guided you across the gate by the small of your back.

You held in your panic as you got a set of clothes for tomorrow, gathering what you could quickly so you didn’t cross the other students and was out and about with Rengoku as soon as possible.

Honestly, you barely avoided them as you came outside, took him by the hand, and rushed off. They were sure to talk about you, or maybe not at all. You had an over friendly and trusting disposition to a fault, but you were adventurous and open minded. - - - - - - - - - - - Chapters: 1 (Part 1)/ (Part 2)/ (Part 3) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

#rengoku kyojuro x reader #rengoku x reader #rengoku x you #rengoku kyōjurō #kimetsu rengoku #demon slayer #demon slayer fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba #modern au #star-crossed lovers #fate #smut

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crhinge · 4 years

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Breaking Down The Classic Rom-Com

I feel like I haven’t written a fun post in a hot sec so lets talk about one of my favorite subjects: Rom Coms

According to wikipedia, a Rom Com, also known as Romantic Comedy, is “a subgenre of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles.” In the past, Romantic Comedies have also been called “Chick Flicks” but I think this is devaluing of both women and the romantic comedy genre.

The other day, I woke up to find that the most wholesome rom-com couple of all time reunited: Matty & Jenna (Aka Mark Ruffalo & Jennifer Garner). This got me thinking about the beauty of the Rom-Com and how unappreciated they can be. It has been years since we have seen a rom-com with the cultural impact of 13 Going on 30, and I would like to petition for more of them after a sad and painful year.

I can already hear the millions (in my head this blog is extremely popular) of comments “What about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before?!?” “What about The Kissing Booth?!?” And too that I say, "Good Riddance!” If you’re rating your rom coms on a TATBILB scale, or even WORSE The Kissing booth, I feel sorry for you. Truly I do. So let's dive into the best Rom Coms of all time, but first...

What makes a Rom-Com good? Well let's start with a relatable as hell main character. I am talking a girl (sometimes guy), who has many flaws, but the audience can see themselves within her/him. Let's use Jenna Rink from 13 Going On 30 as an example. Well, she's literally a 13 year old in a 30 year olds body, but don’t we all still have a preteen hiding inside of all of us? She is 100% willing to be herself at every step, even if that means dancing thriller all alone. She touches on all of our insecurities, while teaching us how to break down our walls.

Rom-Coms also need characters to make realistic choices. This does not mean that the movie itself is realistic, but rather than you can understand the choices the characters make. Again, 13 going on 30 does a fabulous job of this. Obviously, Jenna traveling in time because of wishing powder is not realistic, but the choices that her and her past self make are. Due to the insecurities of her childhood and a need to feel included, relevant, and powerful Jenna pushes important people out of her life, which happens to so many people in the real world. These decisions force her to miss out on the love of her life, and ultimately, the story ends sadly: the love of her life marries someone else and she is left with tears, wishing powder, and an old doll house. That is until she is able to travel back in time and change the course of her life.

Lastly, Every classic Rom-Com couple needs to have chemistry. There. I said it. Hollywood loves just casting random famous actors without giving them a proper chemistry read. One great example of this is Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel in Safe Haven. Both fun, famous, Hollywood actors who have zero chemistry. Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner had more chemistry throwing back Razzles than those two did during an intimate sex scene.

Alright, now that we have broken down the requirements of a Romantic Comedy, let's jump into the best and worst of all time.

Best: When Harry Met Sally. 9/10. A classic. A tale as old as time. Both Sally & Harry are very flawed, yet relatable characters. Sally is too picky and particular, while Harry is a player. They both suck at relationships, but make rational decisions based on their motivations. We all have friends like these two and their chemistry is on point, both on a friendship and romantic level. They bounce off of one another splendidly.

Worst: Sleepless in Seattle. 1/10 I know, this is a strong take, but this is a terrible movie about a stalker. Meg Ryan (I don’t even remember her character's name) is the stupidest most unrelatable character I have seen in a long time. She is extremely unlovable, cheats on her SO emotionally, and flies across the country to stalk a man that she has never met before. And then you’re telling me that Tom hanks FALLS FOR HER? Nope. No. I refuse to except this. Plus, their chemistry in this is pretty mediocre (You’ve Got Mail is Way Better) and we only get to see them together once.

Best: 10 Things I Hate About You. 8/10. I was tempted to leave all high School Rom-Coms off this list, but Heath Ledger is my exception. Talk about likability. Kat is a strong, powerful, independent woman who learns how to be more vulnerable while still being a feminist badass. We all wanted to be Kat growing up. Meanwhile Heath Ledger is the classic bad boy with a soft side, and who wasn’’t into that? Both characters grow into new people throughout the movie making them relatable, complex, and realistic. Not to mention the angel that is Joseph Gordon Levitt, who keeps the audience up beat and smiling throughout the course of this Shakespeare tale

Best: My Big fat Greek Wedding. 10/10. Have you seen this film recently? Because it is an absolute DELIGHT and so relatable. It dives into the difficulty of family expectation and cultures merging. It also has the cutest proposal of all time with a realistic couple that fights for one another on a daily basis. You laugh. You cry. You get a dynamic cast with wonderful chemistry. You feel invested in the family and the relationship. Just a joyful wonderful film.

Worst: Something Borrowed. 0/10. If you’ve never seen this movie, don’t. Ginnifer Goodwin sleeps with her best friends fiancé and we’re supposed to be okay with it because she liked him first. Hard pass. And she ignores John Krazinski who is right in front of her. She is unlikable, unreliable, and makes dumb decisions that no one else would.

Best: He’s just not that into you. 9/10 I will go to bat for this movie. It follows several realistic storylines in a Love Actually manor, except they actual seem legit. A woman realizing her boyfriend is never going to marry her. A girl facing the fact that maybe some guys just aren’t that into her, and she isn’t an exception to the rule. A man slowly making the decision to cheat on his wife as they are growing apart. A woman realizing that she is worth way more than her bastard husband. A woman realizing that the person she’s sleeping with will never leave his wife for her. It's compelling, has realistic characters that we can relate to, and still warms your heart in the end.

Best: The Big Sick. 8/10. Okay to be fair, this is based on a true story so it automatically has realistic characters and decisions. Maybe I should leave this off of the list, but I wish this film got the recognition it deserves. Two lovable main characters who make mistakes that are understandable. Wonderful chemistry between Kumail and his girlfriend as well as her family.

Best: About Time. 11/10 This is hands down the best Rom-Com of all time and Potentially the best film of all time as well. If you don’t cry in this movie you do not have a heart or soul. The characters are SO insanely likable and adorable.It touches on the importance of family and valuing time and how little of it we have. The chemistry within the whole cast is palpable, and we can all relate to at least one character, whether it is the protagonist Tim, his wife Mary, his sister Kit-Kat, or his father.

Well it is important to point out the obvious here: this list is lacking diversity in a huge way. All but one of these movies follow a cis, straight, white couple, and that is extremely concerning. People have attempted to make more diverse rom-coms over the past few years, but they all seem to be lacking one of the three core components of what makes a rom-com great: Relatable, realistic, and great chemistry. For example. Crazy Rich Asians was a fantastic film, but the high level of wealth that Nick Young comes from, made his character difficult to relate to, and I’m sorry but the chemistry just wasn’t there for me. Always Be My Maybe’s characters fell flat and it’s not a film I would want to watch more than once. Love Simon made some huge waves for LGBTQ representation in the media, but that ending kiss was unrealistic along with his friends reaction to fining out he was lying, which left the movie anti-climactic by the end.

Now, the most recent film on this list was made in 2017. And before that 2013. So where have all the Rom Coms gone? Why don’t we see more of them. There are a few Rom Coms that could be contenders on the “Best” list from the last couple of years that include a small amount of diversity:

Yesterday 7/10. The big question here is does this count as a romantic comedy? The love story isn’t the main plot, but is definitely a large sub-plot. This movie features an interracial couple and is highly re-watchable. The main characters are entertaining, relatable, and have pretty good chemistry. We will see if it stands the test of time.

The Broken Hearts Gallery 7/10. This movie has gotten NO recognition. The main character, Lucy, is an extremely likable 20 something, not unlike our Ginnifer Goodwin in He’s Just not that Into You. The plot is fun and predictable but keeps you watching. I don’t know if this one will stay on my list long, but it’s definitely up there.

But here is my challenge to Hollywood: create some new, beautiful Rom Coms that celebrate diversity but that don’t throw away the relatable, realistic, and high chemistry characters that we are just waiting to fall in love with. It’s got like 16 ideas up my sleeve, so just give me a call Hollywood.

#rom com #romantic comedy #13 going on 30 #when harry met sally #sleepless in seattle #my big fat greek wedding #10 things i hate about you #something borrowed #he's just not that into you #the big sick #about time #yesterday #The broken hearts gallery

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my-emotional-self · 3 years

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Toxic Love Chapter 7

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader, Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes

Summary: Finding out your soulmates were Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes was one thing. But when someone from your past comes back to haunt you, you have to figure out if a relationship with two super soldiers is something you really want to pursue or if you’d rather go back to your comfortable single life.

Series Warnings: 18+, Swearing, Angst, Fluff, past mentions of rape, self-harm, attempted rape, domestic violence, stalking, death threats, possible Dark!Steve?, Steve will be an asshole a LOT in this series but I don’t know how dark it will get, explicit sexual content, mental health issues, kind of A/B/O dynamics but not really (no they are not actual wolves, more like the hierarchy), mentions of suicide, flashbacks of suicide, nightmares

A/N: There will be no taglist for this story! I apologize in advance!

8 Years Ago – Age 17

“Y/N, do you know why you are here?” the shrink asked from across the large desk. You looked down at the typical uniform of a patient at a psychiatric ward. Yes you knew why you were in here. A few months ago you witnessed your father’s dead corpse hanging in your living room. The next thing you knew you were writing a suicide note of your own and your foster parents found it before you could do anything. Now, you were stuck in a psych ward, probably until you at least turned 18.

“Yep,” came your short response.

The shrink glanced down at her papers in front of her, going through all of your notes. “We want to help you as best we can Y/N. You’ve been through some very traumatic experiences in your life and you’ve witnessed a great deal. We are going to get you all the help you need.”

3 Months Later

“Have you heard of Borderline Personality Disorder Y/N?” your psychiatrist, Dr. Wang asked.

That made your head snap in her direction. Here you were, still stuck in the psych ward after three months and you weren’t sure why. “I’ve heard of that, yes. But I thought I was just depressed,” you mumbled, chewing on your fingernail.

You were clinically diagnosed with depression shortly after coming here.

“Well, that’s what we originally thought at first. But the longer you’ve spent time here, the more I and the rest of the staff have discovered it is BPD. You’re intense mood swings, combined with your ongoing feelings of emptiness and the intense bouts of anger you have are all signs of BPD. We are going to switch up your medications and that will really help with your mood swings and anger issues.

~~~

No matter how hard you tried, sleep never came to you that afternoon. You tossed and turned all afternoon in your bed and nothing seemed to be working. Not only that, but you were really starting to get more irritable as the day went on and you knew it was time to change the dosing of your medication. It was like clockwork, every year to year and a half. The only problem was that you couldn’t leave the tower without Steve, Bucky or an anyone else. How were you supposed to get an appointment with your Psychiatrist if you couldn’t leave the tower alone? This only increased your anger and frustration as you got out of bed to get ready.

You brushed your teeth and put on a some jeans and a t-shirt, not really caring what you threw on. All of the specific clothing you wore for work was in the closet of your game room along with your makeup and accessories.

Upon leaving your room, you saw Steve and Bucky sitting at the island in the kitchen of your shared apartment. They both looked deep in thought over some paperwork and you assumed it was for work.

Grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen, you were about to head into the elevator as you didn’t want to disturb them, but Steve spoke up and caught your attention. “Where are you off to?”

“Oh, umm, I’m heading down to my game room. I’m going to work tonight,” you mumbled out as you pressed the button for the elevator. You noticed it was on the ground floor and it would take a few minutes to get to your level.

“What time do you plan on being done?” Steve questioned.

You huffed in annoyance, already irritated as anger began to creep through your bones. “I don’t know. Whenever I get done,” you snapped. Immediately you felt regret, but sometimes your emotions got the better of you when you were in dire need of a medication change.

“Hey, what’s with the attitude?” Steve commanded as he got up from his seat and stalked over to you, hands on his hips. You noticed Bucky looking at you from his seat with furrowed brows. They had never seen you angry like this. You were always so compliant and easy going.

“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just tired is all.”

Steve looked at you sharply, his lips in a thin tight line. “Alright. Just make sure you get to bed at a reasonable time tonight. Promise?”

“I promise,” you answered back.

~~~

In the comfort of your game room, you quickly got to work. Digging through your closet, you decided on a light pink tank top that said ‘Gamer Girl’ in black letters with two gamer controls on it. Since your webcam only showed your top half, you threw on a black pair of cotton shorts to be comfortable.

Next, you put your hair up in space buns, making sure they were situated just right so they wouldn’t be in the way of your headphones. You put on your typical game night makeup: bright pink eyeshadow with dark smoked out liner, some mascara and blush and you were good to go.

Turning on your monitor, you began to power everything up and once that was done, you logged in. Immediately your followers started putting in their messages off to the side and you smiled as you read them. You always tried to read as much of them as you could.

As the night went on, you knew you should pack it up and listen to what Steve said; getting to bed at a descent time and getting rest. But you were having way too much fun tonight and so were your followers. It was one of the best nights you’d had in months and not just money wise.

Ignoring the clock you continued to play and interact with your followers with the microphone that was attached to your headphones. Every so often you would glance to your messages box and see what some of them had said. Most of them were cheering you on but of course you always had some haters in there as well.

It was when you noticed the screen name of one of them that made your blood run cold. JSmith20. ‘It can’t be’ you thought to yourself, trying to keep as composed as possible as hundreds of people were watching you game in this very moment.

John’s last name is Smith and he always told you how his favorite number was 20, because that was how old you were when you met him. No, but he’s still in prison. He hasn’t gotten out. He’ll be in there for many more years to come. It had to be one of his friends right? The same friend that had been delivering those letters to your old apartment. ‘Yes, that’s right. It’s just one of his friends trying to torment you’ you thought to yourself.

Then, the person behind that screen name typed a message into your message box.

Hey babe. Do you miss me yet? I can’t wait to see you – J

Yep, your composure went out the window reading the message. Then another message from him popped up.

I see you are no longer living in that little one bedroom apartment. Did you really think you could up and move and I wouldn’t be able to find you? Oh babe, how cute. I will find you and we will meet again soon. I promise – J

As you stared at the words on your screen, you heard groans from the other players on your team. You had just lost the game.

“Shit,” you swore, anger bubbling up inside of you. “Fucking damnit!” You slammed your fist on the desk.

You rarely lost games. Losing always put you in a foul mood. But because of already being irritable and your emotions on over drive, losing just made everything worse.

Looking at the clock it was just before five in the morning so you logged off and shut everything down.

You took your hair out of the buns, immediately feeling the tension in your head ease. Ever so quietly, you opened the door and poked your head out into the hallway. It was bitch black so you used your phone as a flashlight and tiptoed to the elevator. Before pressing the button on the elevator, you paused. What if the noise of the elevator woke up Steve or Bucky? You had promised Steve that you would get to bed at a descent time and seeing as it was just about five in the morning, well, you kind of figured you’d be in trouble.

Instead, you opened the door to the stairs which was situated right next to the elevator. At least taking the stairs would be much quieter.

You climbed the stairs up a few levels until you reached your living level and you waited on baited breath for a few moments. Nothing. Nothing but silence. As quiet as a mouse, you snuck through the door and dashed to your room, thanking your lucky stars that the palm scanner didn’t make any noise.

You took a nice hot shower, washing off all of your makeup and the stress of the last few hours. As much as you wanted to forget John messaging you, it wasn’t going to happen, neither was any sleep.

Rather than even bothering to get into bed and try to relax, you sent an email to your psychiatrist letting her know that you would more than likely need a dose change on your medications. Frantically typing away at the email, you explained how you were beginning to get irritated and it was harder for you to control your bouts of anger.

Luckily for you, Dr. Wang was an early bird and she emailed you right back. She wanted you to come see her for an appointment and your heart immediately dropped. That wasn’t going to happen as one of your rules was that you weren’t allowed out of the tower by yourself. And as much as you liked Darcy, you couldn’t trust her to go with you and not say anything to Steve or Bucky.

Typing out your reply, you explained that you were unfortunately not able to meet in person and if there was anything else that could be done. After you hit sent, you began to pace in your apartment, clearly on edge with everything going on. You just wanted to feel better; you hated feeling this way. It was as if you weren’t in control of your body and you definitely weren’t in control of your emotions.

A notification came through your laptop and you rushed towards it, almost tripping over your feet. As you read her words, you could have cried right then and there. She had agreed to a phone call appointment and she had time right now to discuss things with you.

Grasping your phone, you dialed her number.

“It’s good to hear from you Y/N,” Dr. Wang stated as she answered the phone.

“Oh Dr. Wang it is so good to hear your voice.”

She let out a soft chuckle. “Yes, it has been a little over six months since we’ve last spoken. How are things going with you?”

“Where to begin,” you started off saying. You let her know that you indeed met your soulmates and had moved in with them. You went over the rules that Steve had given you and she made you feel better as she stated she had seen way worse rules. Hell, she said your rules were like a walk in the park compared to some she has heard.

“Alright, now, let’s get down to business. How are you feeling these past few days?” she asked curiously.

“Ugh, not good. Moving was stressful but I have been feeling really irritated over the last few and I’ve had a few bouts of anger rush through me that makes me want to punch something, but I’ve luckily been able to hold back on that.”

“What about any risky behaviors such as reckless driving, spending sprees, binge eating, drug abuse or sabotaging anything positive in your life?”

“Not yet,” you stated. You knew the routine. She was going over all the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder to see what has changed with you.

“Ok good. How about any intense fears of abandonment or rejection?”

That question always hit you like a punch to the gut. The only reason you had stayed with John for so long was because of that right there. He purposely wouldn’t let you see Dr. Wang or he wouldn’t take you to get your medications refilled and because of that, you were starting to feel those feelings; not wanting to be abandoned no matter what.

“Nope,” you replied.

“Ok then. I am going to increase the dosing on your current medications but I want to warn you. Without you coming in and personally seeing me and without getting some blood work done, I don’t know how well this dosing is going to work, if it will work at all. We might need to discuss changing the medication all together,” she stated.

“I understand Dr. Wang. And do you think maybe you could prescribe some sort of sleep medication for me too?”

“I can prescribe a one week trial of a sleeping medication for you. After that, I really need you to try and come see me in the office and we can discuss that further. Now, did you want me to send these prescriptions into your regular pharmacy?”

“Yes, that would be great. Thank you so much Dr. Wang.”

“No worries at all Y/N. Give the office a call and get an appointment set up.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

Now that you had your medications all taken care of, you had to figure a way to leave the tower so you could get them.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers smut #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes smut #dark!steve rogers #dark! steve rogers

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shuttershocky · 4 years

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If you could make a trigger warning list for Tsukihime, what would be on it? There's a lot of people who are just getting interested in it with the remake (myself included) and I think having a tw list would be a really nice thing for those getting in now. If you can't remember every scene, a general list is good enough!

Oh boy.

Ohhhhhhhh boyyyyyyyyy.

Alright. So. A little bit of explanation: there's a reason why Nasu actually wants to remake this game. Tsukihime is by miles his darkest and most brutal work, and a lot of it is completely unnecessary edginess made by poor and almost literally starving Nasu and Takeuchi. Kara No Kyoukai wasn't exactly making waves, and the two were living on cup noodles and working other jobs to keep themselves afloat. To finish the VN Takeuchi even made Nasu quit his job and worked two in his stead (biking home in-between said jobs to do art) just so Nasu would have time to write. The nastiness of what they felt at the time is everywhere in the script, and it speaks to Nasu's talent that what came out wasn't complete edgelord garbage.

Did you ever read the original Fate/Stay Night? Did you get taken abrupt when Illya and Berserker first attack Shirou, Rin, and Saber, and Illya orders Berserker to behead Saber and rape the corpse so that Saber would rather die than continue to regenerate and fight? Did you think that kinda came out of nowhere and was unnecessary? The Realta Nua rerelease didn't just remove all the bad sex scenes, they removed lines like those entirely.

Tsukihime has waaaaaaaay more of that, and unlike Fate/Stay Night it couldn't easily edit all of them out and get rereleased without changing the story. It needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Personally, I've been so excited for the remake because Nasu has expressed regret before on how misogynistic his writing was before. Specifically he was asked in an interview about his focus on female characters in his works and he something like "I've been told before 'Nasu respects womens rights' because of all the powerful girls in my works, but looking back I can clearly see my own prejudices" especially singling out how Shirou treated Saber in the Fate route and how Tohno Shiki needed to get uppercut by Arcueid. I'm far more excited to see how Nasu will approach Tsukihime with that hindsight in mind more than I am about the visual and music upgrades the VN will get. I don't think Nasu wants to (or even should) remove all the problematic content of the original Tsukihime as this IS a work of horror, but a lot of editing would greatly improve the script.

Releasing Tsukihime R on PS4 isn't just a message of a console release, it's a sign that things will be different this time due to Sony's strict rules (that do not apply to its first party games apparently).

With that being said, a general trigger warning list from memory:

1.) There is a LOT of rape and sexual assault. Mentions of the act, internal narration from characters witnessing or attempting to find someone to rape, Shiki can straight up rape two of the girls on two seperate routes if he makes the wrong choice (he will be killed the day after). There's also a line where Shiki tells Ciel that if she doesn't do what he says, he'll rape her. The context there is that he's extremely weak and she can snap him like a twig so he just shouts the most hurtful thing he can think of, but it's still dumb. If I remember correctly, there's a choice that makes Shiki sexually assault Hisui and it DOESNT lead to a dead end, with most guides recommending that choice to get the CGs. I got annoyed and that's when I made my own guide for the route.

2.) Unknown to Shiki, his family's bloodline carries a powerful violent impulse to kill any non-human they see, strong enough to temporarily take over their wills and delight in murder by conflating it with sexual pleasure. The first time Shiki sees Arcueid, he falls into a trance and stalks her back home before brutally cutting her up into 17 pieces and experiences multiple orgasms while doing so. He then comes to his senses and starts vomiting and crying from what he just did and the shame of how much he enjoyed doing it. They're not taking this scene out (It's in the remake PV) but I'm preeeettyyyy sure Shiki's narration won't suddenly talk about how much his dick is loving this.

3.) Incest. Akiha is Shiki's sister. She's also a romantic interest. Technically they're adopted so it's not incest and they haven't seen each other in 8 years so it's not like they grew up together the whole time, but any tine you got to say "technically it's not incest", it's not great. I heavily doubt this is getting removed from the Remake as it's, you know, a whole route. On the other hand, Akiha has a biological brother, and he is creepy about her so that's 100% guaranteed ick right there, but fortunately he never goes far enough that you can tell if he's a sicko or if he's just really possessive of his sister.

4.) Kohaku's backstory. Koha-Ace once joked that this is the true reason the Remake took so long. It forms the backbone of Tsukihime and one of the main threads that ties everything together, but also Kohaku is the middle link between Fujino and Sakura. You can guess what that means.

5.) Heavy gaslighting, heavier drugs. Both Shiki's past and his present in the far side routes involve an almost hilarious relationship to the truth. Everyfuckingbody is lying to Shiki, and his father literally gaslights him with magic by using hypnosis to conveniently erase some traumatic memories that the old man is responsible for and replace them with falsehoods. Shiki nonchalantly talks about his terrible memory when it comes to his childhood throughout the VN, but the actual reason for that is that he got gaslit to hell and back. In the present, Shiki gets drugged out of his mind by someone in his house, and experiences long and detailed hallucinations, all the while being told by his family that nothing is going on. It becomes difficult to tell what's really going on; if he's really walking around town or if he's in bed babbling at the ceiling. It is terrifying and is a part of what gives the Far Side routes great psychological horror, but it still deserves a TW.

6.) Suicide. At least one character kills themselves onscreen.

7.) Torture. In the Ciel route, Roa tortures someone by repeatedly and slowly stabbing blades into them while Shiki is forced to watch. It goes on for a while.

8.) Grooming. This particular bit isn't a part of the Tsukihime VN itself, but more of a fandom joke thanks to Carnival Phantasm. A big part of Shiki's backstory is meeting the mage Aozaki Aoko as an 8 year old and her teaching him about life in the short time they have together. Due to Shiki's nature he almost certainly would have become an evil person, but meeting Aoko instilled a moral compass in him that is the only thing he has to fight his impulses, which is why Shiki loves his sensei so dearly. Melty Blood later made a joke that Aoko is mad she never got a route in Tsukihime, and Carnival Phantasm later had a whole scene stating the real reason Aoko cared for Shiki was that she was grooming him to be her boyfriend as soon as he turned of age. It's super gross and a perversion of what is literally the sole wholesome relationship Shiki has and the only reason there is any good in him at all. I really fucking hate this joke among all others in the Tsukihime fandom.

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orlissa · 3 years

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Books I’ve translated, ranked worst to best

(Note: in some cases I translated several books in a series, in that case I’m counting those as one)

13, Katy Evans: Mine -- The Book(TM). It was an actual nightmare. A book about a real toxic relationship sold as romance, spiced up with actual, harmful nonsense (e.g.: heroine is pregnant, almost miscarries, ordered to be on bedrest, NO SEX. So they guy fingers her instead).

12, J.A. Redmerski: Killing Sarai -- Also about a toxic romance (in this case of a contract killer and girl whom he liberates after she was basically the sex slave as a drug lord). Full of gratitious and sexualized violence, but it didn’t make me wanna throw my laptop out of the window.

11, K.A. Tucker: Ten Tiny Breaths/In Her Wake/One Tiny Lie -- Once again, kinda toxic NA story, but with psychological depth. Main Character lost her boyfriend, best friend, and parents in a horrific car accidents few years back, and now tries to start a new life with her little sister in Florida, falling for the guy next door--who then turns out to be the only survivor from the other car, who has actually been stalking her and moved there to get into contact with her. Would have been better if they didn’t end up together at the end, and if he was actually the one behind the wheel that night (he “just” let a drunken friend drive). Second book was about from his POV from the night of the accident till he meets the girl, and it was actually pretty decent? Third book is about main character’s little sister starting college, but honestly, I don’t even remember what happens there.

10, P.C. and Kristin Cast: Destined -- Look, I have a lot to thank this series (House of Night), because this series brought me into publishing, and this was the first book I’ve ever translated, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was like the 9th book of an originally decent-ish series, which should have ended at like book 5.

9, Amanda Joy: A River of Royal Blood -- My most recent (finished) one. Decent YA with interesting worldbuilding, but 1, it’s maddening that it being a duology, the book leaves every single question unanswered 2, has some typical YA quirks 3, would have needed a better editor, because damn, there was a lot of stuff I needed to correct. Like, add a sentence to introduce some information a hundred page earlier than the author did to avoid a plothole. (BTW, the publisher pretty much implied that they want me to do the second book, and hell yeah, I wanna see this story through.)

8, Jennifer A. Nielsen: The False Prince/The Runaway King/The Shadow Throne -- YA fantasy (without magical elements) about royal intrigue with a really great, smart, kinda morally grey protagonist. Look, the first book in this series is SPECTACULAR. I absolutely adored it, it had a great twist, and amazing attention to detail, but the quality of the subsequent volumes definitely dwindled.

7, Diana Gabaldon: Voyager -- It’s a good book, it was a challange, I kinda enjoyed working on it, but to be honest, I translated it during a very dark time in my life (when my grandmother was dying), and it left its mark on my memories about this book. (BTW: I hated the changes the show did in the story.)

6, Brit Bennett: The Mothers -- A touching tale of how a secret abortion (and the actions of the people involved in it) affects a small, black church community. It’s a great book, a well-crafted book, and I especially enjoyed the narrative voice (first person plural; the narrators are the old ladies attending the church).

5, Alayah Dawn Johnson: Summer Prince -- A really unique, post-apocalyptic, cyber-punk, queer, YA story set in a futuristic city based on Brasil.

4, Anthony Ryan: Pariah -- Medieval-based fantasy about an outlaw turned sribe, turned soldier. I’m putting it here somewhat reluctantly, because I haven’t finished it yet, but I can tell it’s a great book, with well-crafted and witty language and interesting, diverse characters.

3, Richard Castle: Frozen Heat -- I put this book here not only because it’s good, but also because my relationship to it. Okay, so I’m a big Castle fan. Used to be an even bigger when I was working on this book. And this was the case when I said “I’m the perfect person for this job.” Because, like, this book is continiously making references to the series-which I knew like the back of my hand, so I immediately knew that “yeah, this paragraph refers to this scene in this episode,” and so I could make sure the book used the same phrases as the dubbing of the show.

2, Jeff Zentner: The Serpent King -- Another YA book, but one of the more psychological kind, about three teenagers wanting to free themselves from their small southern town and its mentality. Dill is a musician, living in poverty after his father, a pentacostal preacher, is imprisoned for unspeakable crimes; Travis is a kind, fantasy-loving giant living in an abusive home; and the kinda-famous blogger Lydia is just simply too free-spirited for their hometown. Honestly, this is one of those book I’d make a required reading in school.

1, Morgan Matson: Second Chance Summer -- It’s kinda ironic that I’m putting this on top, because this is the one that has been in “production hell” for like... five years. Anyway, this is the story that made me cry while I was translating it. Taylor, the unremarkable middle child’s family owns a lakehouse, where they used to spend their summers--but a couple of years ago something happened that made Taylor burn some bridges, and she hasn’t been back since. But now her father is dying, so the family decides to spend one last summer together in the lakehouse. So now Taylor must try to amend the mistakes she made in the past, while grappling with the fact that she is about to lose her father.

#personal #books

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marlahey · 4 years

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under the same roof part one: a stickler for the rules

a harry styles rpf ratings/warnings: references to stalking behaviour by a peripheral character, too many longing looks in a space too small to contain them, she’s clueless sometimes but we love her notes: surprise surprise! it’s good to be back my friends. as far as OG openings go, part one of utsr probably underwent the least amount of rewrites. the most notable change is sylvia’s age: she’s four-ish, going on five. just makes our lives a little easier in terms of continuity and logic! (please visit the masterlist to find all our other writing because I forgot tumblr is a BITCH and hates external links now. ugh.) utsr masterlist | part 2 (7.12.2020)

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• tuesday, 1st february 7:48 pm • In spite of the biting chill outside, it’s about a million degrees in this lobby. You wonder if the heater is broken and if it’s always going to be like this here. The hair escaping your ponytail is pressed flat against the back of your neck, and you’re struggling to balance the crate between your chin and the massive box in your arms.

One of the corners is digging into your gut so you raise a knee to adjust it, but the box slips in your grip and you barely manage to hang on. There’s a faint meow from Chowder’s crate. The doors to the elevator whirr open with a ding and you shuffle inside. “Which floor is it again?” India grunts. The box that she’s carrying is lighter but larger—more cumbersome. It obscures half of her face and the way she’s leaning over can’t be any good for her back. “Eight,” you reply, strained. India stretches an arm out to the keypad, struggling to reach the right number. She misses. “Yeah,” you deadpan, “so press four twice.” The sound of a quiet, stifled chuckle turns your head to the back corner of the elevator. A young man leans against the hardwood of the elevator wall with his hands clasped in front of him. He is tall and lean; silver and gold rings adorn his fingers. His hair is wavy and cocoa brown, as though he used to have a businessman’s haircut but has let it grow out. He’s wearing grey tartan tweed pants and black ward lo Vans. Tattoos poke out of the sleeves of his sweater. It’s an arguably strange ensemble, but he pulls it off well. The man pushes his tortoiseshell glasses up his nose with a thumb, gaze trained on the floor. His lips are still pressed together against a smile that flirts with the corners of his mouth. Only then do you realize you’d been staring. You tear your eyes away as heat nips your cheeks and ears. In your tattered converse, mom jeans, and grubby moving flannel, you feel suddenly small. Chowder moews plaintively, like he needs to remind you of his current status in, on, and surrounded by boxes. “Is it just me,” India murmurs to you as the doors ding open on the second floor, “or did that take… is the lift broken?” “It’s the slowest bloody thing,” the man interjects, like it’s the bane of his existence. “You get used to it.” The elevator jolts to a stop on the fourth floor and the doors peel open in silence. Nobody moves. “Sorry, ” India murmurs. The man just shakes his head. The back of the door to the elevator is a mirror so you’re able to privately relish in the invisible threads of your curiosity that reach out to him. “S’ fine, ” he replies softly. By the time you’ve reached the sixth floor, you’re still peering at the man periodically from beneath your eyelashes. He looks up and holds your stare in the reflection of the doors moments before they part, and a ding sounds again through the small space. He smiles at you, poised, before pushing off the wall and stepping carefully between you and India to the hallway. The doors close once again and you are alone with your friend. She drops her box a few inches and bugs her eyes out at you from over the cardboard lid. “Dibs.” You step forward, laughing, and bump your box into hers. Finally, you reach level eight, pile the last two of your boxes by the front door, collapse on the mattress on your bedroom floor still covered in clear plastic packaging, and order pad thai. • friday, 30th march 7:23 am •

“Hold the elevator!” you call mid-jog, and immediately wince. You need to be better about calling it a lift. You make it through the doors of the lift before they close halfway, but not before noticing an arm outstretched to hold them open for you nonetheless. A cross tattoo and the bottom of an anchor poke out from the sleeve of his suit. It’s black velvet that has a navy lustor in the light. You’re in the same company now as virtually every other morning since you’d moved here—the man with the glasses who noticed you on that first day. You’re pretty sure his name is Harry, unless he’s pinning someone else’s name to his chest every day on a badge beneath red emboldened letters reading, The National Gallery, London. It’s surprising to see him as you get on, however, because he lives below you on the sixth floor. Perhaps he’d forgotten something today and needed to go back up… if this were the case, you’re glad to have caught him by chance. Every so often the cast of characters rotates. Sometimes a stout older man with an emerald green briefcase and a mustache rides down with you on weekdays. A slender woman who is almost always on her headset, hovering by the button pad occasionally makes an appearance. They both live above you. Most mornings, however, are like today. It’s just you and Harry together, without fail, if only for those few measured moments of quiet at sunrise. Perhaps you two are on the same tube schedule. For someone you see so often, you know remarkably little about Harry apart from the observable; he’s not one for small talk, has poor eyesight, and boasts impeccable taste in suits. It occurs to you that you still haven’t had a full conversation with him. You absently wonder if he’s single. You’ve even made progress from polite nods of acknowledgment to a consistent “Good morning,” from him and a nearly unflustered, “Morning,” from you (though realistically speaking, a smile before you’ve had your first cup of coffee is only manageable because India would disown you if she knew that you weren’t taking every opportunity to talk to this stupidly handsome stranger). “Thanks,” you murmur, stepping through the doors Harry’s held open for you. “Sure.” The ride down passes in silence. You can’t work up the nerve to speak until the doors part and Harry gestures for you to exit first, and by then it’s too late. You offer a faint parting smile. But, you reason, there’s always tomorrow. • sunday, 8th april 2:42 pm • The lift stops on the sixth floor in its descent as you look up from your phone. Harry’s voice is audible from the hall as the doors open and it startles you because he’s usually alone. You take a sip of your iced coffee as Harry steps inside, wearing a black knit sweater with pink and orange planets across the front, black jeans, worn leather boots, and wayfarers. In one of his hands, he carries an umbrella and rolled-up reusable grocery bag. In the other—most surprisingly—he holds the tiny hand of a little girl. She’s wearing frog rain boots, rainbow leggings, and a t-shirt that proclaims the future is female. Her dense curls are a shade darker than Harry’s, her eyes are closer to brown than hazel, and her skin is a warmer golden hue—but her smile presses a dimple into her cheek, identical to the one you’ve been staring at for months. He has a kid? Harry pulls her gently inside and she seems disappointed that the button for the ground floor is already lit. “This one pumpkin,” he whispers, pointing at the close doors symbol just beneath. She presses it with a firm clack and beams when the familiar mirrors slide across. “Daddy, can we please, please get bananas?” You almost choke on your cold brew. He has a kid. Is there a ring? Do you see a ring? You’d never noticed him in a wedding band before and he certainly isn’t wearing one now. “Shh, we won’t forget bananas… I wrote it down, remember?” With his free hand, Harry fishes out a folded piece of Hello Kitty paper from his back pocket and holds out her, more than happy to let his child snatch it from him. “Daddy, look at the pretty star!” You almost choke on your coffee again as Harry’s gaze follows his daughter’s waving hand, still gripping the pink, polka-dot paper with cat ears, all the way to the golden star dangling from your neck. “Yes, it’s very nice,” Harry nods down at her, agreeing in a voice that could only be used with a child. “Don’t point, angel… s’not very polite.” He smiles at you, almost apologetic, and gently wraps his hand around hers to lower her outstretched arm. “You have a million stars at home.” The lift stops on the ground floor. You gesture for Harry to exit first, a courtesy he always seems to extend to you, and you melt into a smile as he lifts one corner of his mouth in timid gratitude. He hesitates in the doorway on his way out. “Say goodbye, Sylvia,” he says. He has a dad voice. It makes your stomach flip. Sylvia flashes you those sparkling brown eyes once more and waves, suddenly shy. You wiggle your fingers and she buries her face into her father’s leg. “We’re workin’ on it,” Harry says, like it needs an explanation of some kind. He keeps his tender smile when he glances at you over his shoulder before he and Sylvia disappear out the lobby doors and into the rain, hand in hand. • thursday, 7th june 8:24 am • You’re pinning an earring in as you step into the lift. It stops on the sixth floor and then it’s silent as usual between you, Harry, and the mustached emerald briefcase man. You still haven’t had a complete conversation with either of them, but you hardly mind. It’s gratifying to have a few moments of peace before the triathlon that is your final exams, the gym, then straight into your evening shifts at work. Even though you’re looking forward to drinks tonight with India to celebrate the end of term, you’re weary and your body is stiff. Another sleepless night had come and gone and you’d struggled to cover the bags beneath your eyes with makeup this morning. You frown in your recollection of the nightmare, the same icy stare tormenting you. There is an older man with nearly translucent blue eyes, who you see so often around London that you’re beginning to wonder if he’s a figment of your imagination. Yesterday you’d caught a glimpse of him in the reflection of a shop window on your daily walk home from the tube station. He was staring straight at you, but when you’d spun around to look closer, he had vanished. It had unnerved you so much that you hurried straight home without stopping at the shops for kitty litter. London is a crammed metropolis; at this point it’s likely nothing, but that doesn’t stop you from losing sleep over it. “My daughter has that book,” the man with the emerald briefcase says, pulling you back to earth. You let go of your now fastened earring and hold up the book that was pinned under your arm so that the cover is on display. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. “This one?” The man hums, continuing, "I’m ashamed to say I don’t even know what it’s about.” “It’s sweet.” Harry’s eyes flash to the book and then your face as you speak. You flip it over and consider the blurb on the back. “A girl sort of accidentally starts working for this catering company one summer while she’s dealing with the loss of her dad.” The stout man brushes over his mustache with his thumb and index finger. “I never knew you were American!” “Oh, yeah,” you laugh softly through a shrug. Harry looks down to the floor and you catch the last second of his smile. “I am.” “What brings you to London then?” asks the older man. “I’m a student at UCL.” “Impressive. What do you study?” “I’m a third year in Law... um, I have a minor in Art History, though.” You peer over at Harry through the reflection of the doors, but he simply pushes his glasses up his nose. You’re startled by the lift’s ding at the ground floor. “Cheers.” The old man nods at you before exiting. “Cheers,” Harry adds like a reflex, stealing a side glance at you before brushing past into the lobby. You could have sworn you’d seen the dimple forming on his cheek to mask a smile. • thursday, 27th september 8:51 pm • You knead the back of your neck with your fingertips and frown toward the ground as you wait for the lift. You don’t usually get home this late but your research advisor needed you to come in a little earlier to your shift this afternoon, and you hadn’t been able to get in a workout until an hour ago. What’s more, readjusting to London’s time zone after spending the month of August back home is taking a toll on your sleep. You sigh and try to relax your shoulders. The first term in your final year at university seems determined to bury you early. You press the auto-lock button on the set of car keys India had loaned you, then once more for good measure. You managed to finagle a guest spot in the garage beneath the building, though it’s your first time using it. It’s eerie and poorly lit down here; you tread lightly into the lift. You’d seen him again today—the blue-eyed man—and by this point it had just been… too often. You had convinced India to let you borrow her car to pick up some archives for your advisor in Ilford forty-five minutes out of your way. It was the first time you’d been to that part of London, and you were still getting used to driving on the other side of the road, so you were already on edge. You remember crossing the street over to a small brook beside the road and when you glanced over your shoulder, he was there in your wake, watching you. It was the middle of the day but you were alone, so you faked a phone call and took an indirect route to the Ilford Historical Society. It was enough to solidify your suspicions that something more serious is happening. On the drive home, you had mentally worked out a time in your schedule to visit the police department and file a report. The lift stops in the lobby on your way up, and your worries from the day promptly evaporate. You smile at your feet as Harry creeps inside the tiny corridor with a very measured, and even gate. Sylvia is passed out, her arms draped loosely around his neck. He’s in a charcoal grey tuxedo tonight and his usual glasses are switched out for contacts. You reach out to press the sixth-floor button, and Harry thanks you with the beginning of a smile. The two of you are stood at the back of the lift together, shoulder to shoulder facing the mirror, so it’s easy to indulge in your gaze toward the small child in his arms. You don’t try to hide the fact that you’re staring the way you might have a few months ago. Even in sleep, Sylvia’s tiny hand clings to the fabric of Harry’s collar. She nuzzles into his neck when the lift jolts upward. Her cheeks are rosy, and she wears a pyjama set covered in primary-colored dinosaurs. Her dark bob of curls—which have grown longer since you’d seen them last—are spread out across his shoulder, and her bloated toddler belly rises and falls against his chest. You smile absently at the short trail of memories you have of Sylvia, but your reverie is interrupted when you notice that Harry is looking directly into your eyes. It makes you do a double take. Could you have imagined it? Is that a blush? Had you embarrassed him? You’re still staring at each other in the reflection when the lift reaches the sixth floor. Your eyes dart to the floor, and you only allow yourself to look up once Harry is stepping out into the hall, well in front of you. He pauses in the doorway to turn around. “Goodnight,” he whispers. “Night.” You hesitate before adding, “Goodnight, Sylvia.” Harry’s smile only grows wider, as though the two of you had shared some fond inside joke. Something catches your eye when you arrive at your floor. You crouch down and pick up a plush kangaroo toy in the corner, flipping it over in your hands. It’s ratty, and has been washed so many times that the pink cotton on its ears is beading. One of the miniature black buttons for its eyes dangles loose, and the synthetic fur is matted. What was once chestnut has faded into a dull, tawny copper. “S.S.,” you read curiously. The initials are stitched in red to the bottom of the kangaroo’s long feet. The sound of the doors closing catches you off guard. You jump to your feet, tucking the small stuffed animal into your purse as you hurry down the hall and fish around in your bag for your keys. • saturday, 6th october 2:31 pm • You step into the lift, fasten in your earbuds, and tap the button on the keypad for the eighth floor. Today marks your third trip to the Ilford Historical Society this week. Soon you’re going to need to ask your advisor for reimbursement to fill India’s tank, but on the bright side you hadn’t seen the man with blue eyes since the first time you’d made the trip…You just hope that this means he’s retreating and not that he’s getting stealthier. You gnaw on the inside of your cheek and increase the volume of your classical playlist by a few notches. A flash of purple, white, and green bolts into the lift as the doors part at the lobby. Sylvia is in a Buzz Lightyear costume today. Harry’s tattooed arm swings through the half-open doors immediately behind her, going for the jet pack wings, but she squeals and escapes his hold. You watch the scene play out like a Tom and Jerry skit with La Traviata in the background as Sylvia darts around the corners of the lift and her father fails to corral her. Harry lunges for her, misses, lunges, misses again, then catches her by the elbow as she screams in laughter, squirming out of his grip. You silently pause your music and press the button for the sixth floor as Harry spreads his feet apart, catching Sylvia in his arms like a goalie as she tries to bowl through the closing doors. It’s fortunate that nobody else is trying to get in. She kicks her legs before adopting that pose children do when they don’t want to be held, and makes a rigid plank with her body. Hair disheveled and glasses sliding down his nose, Harry lurches for the keypad with his daughter wedged under his arm a few seconds after the doors close. “Oh.” He stops in his tracks once he sees the button for his floor is already illuminated. “Thanks.” You flash a quick smile. Harry sets Sylvia down breathlessly and she finds a hiding place behind him, her little arms wrapped around one of his knees. He leans against the back wall of the lift, the smallest backpack you’ve ever seen swinging from one hand with the initials, S.S. reappearing stitched onto one of the straps. You swallow and tug your earbuds out by their chord before slowly crouching down to eye-level with Sylvia. For a moment you look up at Harry because you feel the instinct to ask for permission for some reason, certain your expression is more serious than necessary. He’s frowning but he’s also smiling at you as though to gauge your next move—so are you, to some degree. You shift your eyes back to Sylvia, and reach cautiously into your purse. Sylvia’s eyes widen at the sight of the small kangaroo you retrieve from your bag, her mouth gaping in a tiny, square-toothed grin. It might just as well be Harry beaming at you himself with such a striking resemblance. Both of the kangaroo’s black button eyes are fastened tightly in place now. You make your voice light and ask, “Is this yours?” The sound of a zipper comes from above your head; you glance up to catch Harry pulling another kangaroo out of the backpack. How many kangaroos does she have? He passes the stuffed animal to Sylvia and you see now that it’s quite a bit larger than the one you’d found last week. It’s also different from yours because it has a long white stripe along its front with a wide, empty pouch halfway down its belly. Oh… perhaps it’s just the two. She cautiously approaches you with the larger toy in tow, until you’re close enough to snuggle the joey back into its mother’s pouch. She stumbles backward into Harry’s legs. You sigh in relief before rising to your feet. “Sylvia, can you say thank you?” Harry folds his arms behind his back and leans over to whisper against the top of his daughter’s head, but loud enough for you to hear. Her curls bounce as she bobbles her head in a bashful nod, wrapping an arm around dad’s leg again. “Thank you.” This child, you have to admit, is devastatingly cute. “We tore the flat apart looking for him this weekend,” Harry intones, shaking his head. “Where did you find him?” “In here,” you reply. He makes a noise, like the possibility had only just occurred to him. “Thank you.” “It was the least I could do.” You lean back against the wall opposite them as the lift reaches the sixth floor with a ding and you wave to the two of them on their way out. “Cheers.” Harry nods to you. “Say goodbye, Sylvia.” She gives you a small wave. Harry gently nudges her forward into the hallway with his foot. There is an interim of about ten seconds of quiet before Sylvia is hurtling back into the lift, making a beeline to you, and wrapping her arms around your legs. She beams up at you for the second time with a smile cut-and-pasted from her father. Bubbling laughter overcomes her, and you uncross your legs, unable to help yourself from joining in her smile. “Hello again!” you say, before it occurs to you that you probably shouldn’t be encouraging this behavior. “Vi,” Harry calls from outside the lift. She just giggles and buries her face into your knee. He appears in the quickly closing doorway, one hand keeping it open as he narrows his eyes. There’s something playful in it though, a practiced pretend serious. Your gazes catch and Harry winks, putting a finger to his lips. “Uh oh,” he says, “I think I hear a tickle monster!” Sylvia shrieks, but she’s not faster than her father, who’s crouched low to catch her by the sides, merciless fingers at work until the child instinctively releases you. She laughs and laughs and laughs as he scoops her up into his arms. “So sorry.” Harry’s apology is much less flustered than you would have expected. Sylvia wiggles in his grip, cracking up, euphorically naughty. You simply let out a breathy laugh as they finally both make it out of the lift together. Down the hall, you hear Sylvia’s giggle melt into a screech against gravity; you lean over to catch a glimpse of Harry flipping her upside down on his chest with her belly out, legs flailing back and forward over his shoulder. “Oh, you’re bad. You’re bad.” He does not show his daughter the mercy of waiting until they’re in the privacy of their apartment before the second round of tickling begins. “You’re gonna get Daddy in trouble.” • monday, 8th october 8:23 am • Riding in the lift alone is nice because you don’t have a full-length mirror in your apartment. You brush the cat hair off of the front of your sweater and fix one of the sleeves that had bunched up beneath all your layers. The yarn is a warm, autumnal bay that compliments your thick scarf and the gold buttons of your roomy black overcoat. You hear a ding and your eyes flash up to the floor indicator above the entrance. You almost lose your balance jumping back from your reflection when you see the illuminated number six. The doors separate and Harry steps in beside you, closer than usual. Today he’s in a forest green, double-breasted jumpsuit with faint pinstripes, and you can’t help but find it fitting that he works in an art museum. “Morning,” he murmurs. “Good morning.” You feel something tense pinned to the air between you two. “Did you fix Jojo’s eyes?” Harry asks after a beat, almost accusatory. Your eyes narrow at his reflection in the doors. It takes you a minute to summon to mind what he’s referring to. “Jojo?” He flushes a little, just enough to warm the tips of his ears. “The um—” Harry clears his throat, shaking his head. “He’s… the baby kangaroo.” If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was embarrassed. But as you’ve come to learn, Harry just loves his daughter immensely. “It was nothing,” you reply evenly. Harry lets out a light, almost defensive scoff. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.” “I know.” Part of you wonders if he’s the type to make a fuss over what you’d consider an innocuous gesture. You could see how an unsolicited favor from a stranger might come off as undermining to a young, single parent, come to think of it. The thought that you’d been the cause of Harry’s ire—or even his mild annoyance—makes your chest feel tight. The lift stops on the second floor. A group of three enters in staccato laughter, pulling your attention forward. Harry’s eyes meet yours in the reflection of the doors—just two seconds that maybe you could pretend were an accident—before you both glance away as though you’d been caught. The group leaves ahead of you into the lobby. “I just wanted to do a nice thing, you know. For her.” You’d been staring resolutely ahead in your admission, but dare yourself to glance sideways and look directly at Harry. “And for you, honestly.” You brush past Harry into the lobby without waiting for his usual beckoning you to go ahead, but sense him turn toward you at the last second. You do not look back. • wednesday, 7th november 8:23 am • “Ouch, shit―” You jerk your hand from your pocket, staring in disbelief at the tiny pinprick of blood welled on the tip of your pinky. Returning your hand carefully into your coat, you pull out the red paper flower just as the lift doors ding on the sixth floor and Harry walks in. Sucking on your finger is helping your wound, but consequently draws his smiling, vaguely concerned eyes. “Alright?” he asks. You nod with a little hapless shrug, holding up the offending fake petals with a black button center and protruding silver pin out the back. “Forgot I had this.” It’s only a slightly embarrassing admission. Commonwealth countries mark the day of the Armistice, November eleventh, in a particular, unfamiliar way; India had explained the Poppy Appeal briefly to you last week when the pins had begun to appear all over the city, and you finally had a spare pound coin for the volunteer offering you one yesterday after class. You have a scant three seconds to look at the poppy pinned smartly to the left lapel of Harry’s trench coat before he turns to face forward, but in looking down at the one in your hand, you realize you have no idea how he’s done it. Surely it can’t be that difficult? You frown down at your own jacket. A tentative stab of the pin into the fabric is met with an audible chuckle from the other side of the lift. You flush; Harry’s smiling gently with one corner of his mouth. You try a second time, going at it from a different angle. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” You haven’t had enough coffee yet to justify how warm you’re getting. You shake your head, accepting defeat. “Best let me help you before you hurt yourself again.” Despite his offer, he makes no move to take the poppy until you sheepishly hold it out to him. Neither the mustached, emerald briefcase man nor the headset lady have appeared today, but the space of the lift seems remarkably smaller when Harry gently takes the flower and shuffles forward to get a grip on your coat. An impressive array of rings on each of his hands catches the light. You have no idea what to do besides stand ramrod straight. “Trick is to put the pin through twice so you’re not poking yourself on it all the time,” he explains, his eyebrows pulling together in focus. You watch his chest move as he breathes; the scent of Harry’s cologne wraps around you like an invisible shroud. It occurs to you that this is the longest interaction you’ve had since he noticed your careful restoration of Sylvia’s tiny treasured kangaroo. You wonder how long she’s had the pair of them. You also wonder if Jojo’s eye had been falling loose for a reason―if perhaps Sylvia preferred him a little rough around the edges, and it leads you again down a strange rabbit hole of is Harry upset that you did that? “I hope it’s okay that I fixed Jojo’s eye,” you venture. Harry pauses a moment, then laughs once, which draws you inadvertently closer together. “You’re funny. Which you shouldn’t be when I’m holding something sharp.” You almost stop breathing altogether. “Course it’s okay,” Harry continues without looking up. His nose is now scrunched as he pinches the tough wool. “She loves that thing, and I’m shit with sewing.” His eyes finally flick up to yours, a self-deprecating tilt to his mouth, and you smile tentatively. “Glad I could help.” With that, you’re quiet until he’s done and his concentrated frown relaxes into satisfaction. You watch Harry consider his handiwork, tracing the side of a petal with one of his fingers. “That should do it,” he says, stepping back. Your eyes meet again. You’ve reached the ground floor, but the doors simply sit open. “Looks nice.” He’s talking about the poppy. Your cheeks warm anyway. “Thank you.” Harry smiles slowly, as though he’s trying to pace the expression. “That’s alright.” He turns and ushers you out of the lift. “Have a good day.” “Same to you.” The edges of your poppy flutter as you turn the corner out of the lobby. Don’t turn around. Don’t ruin the moment. Who are you kidding? A quick glance over your shoulder reveals Harry loitering outside the lift, watching you. He starts a little, lifting a hand like he’s going to wave and dragging it over his hair instead. Harry turns abruptly. You almost feel bad for catching him out. You’re too busy walking faster and failing to smother a stupid grin all the way to campus. • thursday, 20th december. 4:11 pm • You’re thankful that everyone else in the parking garage has ruddy cheeks and runny noses from the storm—nobody would be able to tell by looking at you that you’d been crying all afternoon. Just when you thought you’d never see those blue eyes ever again, you’d felt a hand brush against yours on the crowded tube just hours ago. You turned to see whose pinky was resting atop your knuckles as he clutched onto the pole directly above your hand. The fear was immediate and visceral; every follicle of hair above your shoulders prickled, your lips went cold, and you couldn’t get yourself to start breathing again before stumbling back into the chest of some other unsuspecting passenger. How long had he been standing there? You bolted out of the doors the first chance you got, a good seven stops from home. You didn’t think you were followed but of course you couldn’t be sure, so you ducked into a coffee shop instead of jumping straight onto the next train. You used up all your data to call your parents, hardly able to hold your cell phone steady with the sheen of sweat on your palms. The police had no record of such a man you described. He was middle-aged, taller than you could have imagined so close up, and had a deformity or some sort of scarring on his upper lip. You would have recognized him if you stumbled across his photograph, but you’d gone through every headshot on the books within a ten-kilometer radius of London at the police station. You’d lost sleep combing through the online database of sex offenders in your area without any luck. And since you didn’t have a name or a concrete instance of harassment, they could only add the encounter to the file you’d started in October. Once you’d managed to get a hold of India, she immediately came to rescue you from the coffee shop and dropped you off at home. You insisted she pull into the gated underground garage rather than letting you off by the front doors. With a hand on your shoulder, she offered to stay the night. You had declined. There were some days when you swore you were going crazy, but all it took was one last look into his eyes on the tube today for you to know in your gut that he was real, he was watching you, and you were right to be afraid. You hadn’t heard the ding of the lift but you notice when the people around you begin to huddle on. It’s a tight squeeze inside. You sigh when you see that nearly every floor up to ten is illuminated on the keypad. You sneak into a corner by the doors and try to distract yourself by focusing on the overwhelming smell of rain carried into the lift on everyone’s rubber boots. A faint buzzing noise thrums overhead, and the light seems dimmer than usual—one of the bulbs in here must need replacing. The lift comes to a stop at the lobby. Your eyes are on the carpet, but you recognize a familiar pair of black leather boots ambling through the doors. You look up to catch Harry shaking the rain out of his curls with one hand. He licks his lips and scans the lift briefly, only moving from the entrance once he sees you by the keypad. His eyes change, the corner of his lips quirking up. Harry parts a few people to stand in front of you, chest to chest, carrying a box of Legos almost as tall as you, covered in fire trucks and construction vehicles. They’re the bigger, softer type of plastic blocks that come in lighter shades made for toddlers. You didn’t even know they made sets with so many pieces. It doesn’t seem necessary. The thing could be a column. Harry rests the box on the floor against his hip and even more people pack inside behind him, so many that you have to give up your corner spot which was already tight, and sandwich yourself in between Harry and the wall. And why is the person standing directly behind Harry trying to leave a voicemail? The two of you share a small laugh, looking down at your feet and shifting to get comfortable as the lift vibrates into motion against your back. Ding. Level two. Someone to the rear of the lift needs to get to the entrance. In order to let them through, Harry actually has to press up against you and prop his hand on the wall behind your head to avoid crushing you completely. “Sorry,” he says, strained. “It’s fine.” Ding. Level three. The last thing you need is for your heart to race like this after the mess of a day you’ve endured. To make matters worse (or better), Harry is close enough for you to feel the heat radiating off his body. You’re struck by the most staggering urge to just… lean forward a few inches. It would be so nice to bury your face in his sweatshirt, to be engulfed in the embrace of his arms, and to let yourself cry about your afternoon until you feel empty and full at the same time. Ding. Level four. You choose a button on his open black overcoat to stare at, flustered and humiliated by your own sensitivity. If it were any other afternoon you’d be having a field day with this but you’re too much of a coward to look anywhere near his face in your state. A single drop of rain falls from the end of Harry’s chin and lands on your collar. Ding. Level five. Your eyes are dry and puffy, your breathing is still ragged, and you seriously consider holding your breath altogether until you reach the sixth floor. You’d known since the coffee shop that you were going to cry the moment you stepped foot into your apartment tonight, but you hadn’t considered the possibility that it might happen sooner than that. You shake your head. Ridiculous. You look up idly to find that Harry is watching you. His expression seems serious now, oddly focused. You tilt your chin up incrementally. Harry licks his lips. Is anyone looking? How is nobody looking? You take a small breath and Harry’s gaze flashes again to your lips. Your palm brushes the back of his hand, hidden by the toy box, and he tilts his wrist toward you, spreading his fingers just enough to fit the tips of yours between his knuckles. His hand is cool from the rain and yours is warm from the car. How is someone still leaving the same voicemail? There’s space enough now in the lift for him to give you a few inches of distance so why is Harry drawing closer to you? Why is he leaning in? Ding. “It’s you,” you blurt, and swallow before adding more quietly, “This is your floor.” A few people stuff their cellphones back into their pockets, making their way into the hall. Harry clears his throat and leans over to lift the toy box. Your hands fall apart but he reaches out to gently brush the side of your arm in goodbye—unable, it seems, to meet your eyes. You watch him as he turns on his heel to shuffle out behind someone else, carding a hand through his hair. You close your eyes and exhale without a sound. You only open them in time to catch him glancing over his shoulder at you before rounding the corner. Neither of you had smiled. When the lift reaches the eighth floor, you almost forget to step off. You lean on the back of your door and sigh once you’re in your apartment, dropping your keys to the hardwood with a clatter. Alone in the dark, after one of the single most distressing days of your life, you press two clammy palms to your face and laugh—giddy—like a fool. • tuesday, 1st january 2:33 am • You swing your leg inelegantly out of the cab. Your foot slips on the road’s thin polish of ice. The ankle strap of your stiletto comes undone at the clasp as you only just remember that you began taking them off in the back seat. You laugh at yourself, nearly dropping your half-empty bottle of Prosecco, hobbling to the sidewalk through the rain with one shoe in hand. “Thanks—thank you, goodnight!” You wave your shoe in the air as the cab speeds away after having left a fifty-percent tip—it’s half past two on New Year’s Eve for Christ sake—and turn toward your building. Have the doors to the lobby always been this heavy? Perhaps it isn’t the best idea to try and hop back into your shoe while shouldering through the doorway, because you bang your head against one of the large, protruding handles with a metallic thud. “Fuck.” It hurts a little but the jello shots and bottle of Sangiovese you’d guzzled with India earlier are helping. You squint up because the lobby is spinning, and spy the outline of a man facing away from you with his hands in his pockets. He looks over his shoulder as he waits for the lift, lackadaisical. It’s a familiar profile. The half of his face visible to you is in shadow apart from the crescent moon-shaped hollow of his dimple sinking in as he smiles. “Hi,” Harry drawls with a chuckle. You step into your shoe without bothering to fix the ankle strap and wobble over to the lift. All night you had glided so effortlessly in your four additional inches. Now, you feel as though you’re walking a tightrope in flippers. “Hello.” You enunciate too much in your efforts to sound sober. You and Harry look at each other and smile until you laugh, at absolutely nothing at all. There’s no sign of his specs tonight; his hair is sopping, and the shoulders of his burgundy suit are damp. Harry gives you a once over. “You alright?” He’s slurring a little. You bob your head in a nod. “M’good.” The lift dings and you both lurch forward to step between the doors before Harry stumbles backward and gestures for you to go first. You almost fall forward again in your shoes and have to grip the wall on the way in to steady yourself. These need to come off. Harry moves to his usual corner, leaning against the back wall with a hand on either railing and you do the same in the next corner over. You shimmy off your heels to hold them in one hand while balancing your half empty bottle of Prosecco against your hip with the other. The carpet is coarse beneath your bare feet. You take a gulp of wine and the curled silver ribbon around its neck tickles your chin. You and Harry glance sideways at each other at the exact same moment, both of your heads leaning against the back wall of the lift. You have to lean forward and cover your mouth with the hand holding your shoes so you don’t spit out your drink in laughter. It’s not even funny, really. How many times had you both accidentally caught the other staring over the past year in this very room Harry’s chuckle builds into a laugh and the echo of it reminds you of Sylvia the day she’d clung to your legs. You’ve noticed that Harry’s eyes crinkle like hers, too, if he finds something especially funny. The laughter melts and you stretch the arm holding the bottle out to Harry. He looks down at it, then back up at you before taking it gently from your grasp and helping himself to a swig. “You know wha’s not fair? I’ve—” he hiccups. “I’ve got to wear a badge t’work. With my name on it. And I see you everyday—” “Almost,” you correct automatically. “Almost everyday… so you probably know my name.” Harry’s eyes narrow. “Do you know my name?” You nod, a bit delayed. He passes the bottle back to you and you admire the intricate embroidery on the cuffs of his sleeves. “I’ve got a pretty good guess.” “What’s your name?” Harry asks after a beat, rolling his back off the wall to lean on his shoulder and face you. “Charles doesn’t know either.” You tilt your head, frowning a little. “Who’s that?” Harry rests his pointer finger on top of his upper lip. You grin slowly before answering his question. Harry echoes you with an equally slow smile, his voice italicizing the sound of your name. It sounds like he’s saying someone else’s name—a person you’ve never even met. He says it again, like he needs to introduce himself to each letter. Your heart is about the only part of your body able to move quickly. Harry smiles widely. It’s as though every other one he’s given you before had just been practicing for this moment. “Nice to meet you.” You wedge your shoes and Prosecco beneath one arm, taking a step forward with your free hand outstretched. Harry shuffles to meet you halfway in a handshake and the height difference between you feels staggering barefoot. You remember the feeling of his hand in yours when it was hidden by the Lego box. It would be so easy to just shift a little and clasp them together the way you had before. You can smell the memory of whiskey on his breath and see the flush of his cheeks close up. “You look like a disco ball.” You laugh and he releases you, like the sound had awoken his sense of propriety. His eyes take you in again, almost reflecting the shimmer of sequins scattered across the fabric of your dress before he looks back up at you. “Yeah,” you agree, tugging the hem an inch down your bare legs. “My best friend dragged me to some formal thing the other American students were trying to throw together. Really random.” Harry nods so you go on after a pause. “You’re handcuffed to someone and have to finish a bottle of wine, but India and I didn’t coordinate beforehand so we both brought one.” “Seems like fun.” “It certainly was.” You raise the Prosecco and it sloshes up against the neck of the bottle in tiny waves. “And you,” you raise your eyebrows, “look like a Turkish rug.” Harry grins, inclining his head as if that were the highest compliment. “Where’s Sylvia tonight?” His face is full of mock surprise. Harry pats the breast pocket of his jacket before running his hands over the front and back of his trousers. He looks over his shoulders, comically frantic, scanning each corner of the lift until you begin to laugh. Harry smiles wider, a little too pleased with himself. “She’s with her mum and her mum’s fiancé this week—so I guess her, um… soon-to-be other mum… They were having a little gathering at their new place tonight and we did the countdown a few hours early for her.” “How sweet.” Without a second thought, you inch closer and begin reaching for a stray piece of confetti in his hair. You can tell you’re drunk because you indulge a little in combing your fingertips through one of Harry’s curls, though it’s probably subtle enough for him not to notice. He goes very still. “Did—did you press the thing?” Harry stammers, his attention jerking to the keypad. “I didn’ press the thing.” “Oops,” you laugh, and catch a glimpse of yourself in the reflection of the doors as you turn to watch Harry hit the sixth and eighth floor buttons. Though the rain has offset India’s efforts to tame your hair, what surprises you more is the bright-eyed expression on your face. It’s out of character for you to feel this exhilarated over a simple drunken conversation. But something delightedly nervous hums beneath your skin all the same. “Why are you so wet?” you ask as Harry returns from the keypad. A tad closer, you note, than where he’d been standing before. You lean on your shoulder to face him and he slouches a little to meet your height. “Walked home,” Harry replies. Your jaw drops. “In the pouring rain?” “S’like ten minutes—really not bad.” Harry shrugs. “I didn’t mean to get so pissed tonight. My New Year’s resolution was to go a little easy on the booze.” He shakes his head in a chuckle. “I can’t really handle what I used to since the little one came along. M’not much of a drinker anymore.” The lift jumps as you reach the sixth floor and your arm flies out to balance yourself in the same moment that Harry offers both hands to catch you. You clutch his forearm and then immediately let go. “Sorry,” you murmur, taking one last look at him. “Well, goodnight Harry. Happy New Year’s.” The look he is giving you is peculiar—on the verge of resignation, but not quite letting go of all hope. As though the last sober part of him is leaning forward on its elbows, asking if you agree without telling you first what it wants. Harry cranes his neck around to look down the stretch of hallway, his head falling back against the wall with a gentle thump. “You know, New Year’s isn’t really over until you finish all the champagne,” he declares, and you laugh a little in surprise. “Prosecco.” He waves away the correction. “Fine, all the Prosecco.” “New Year’s isn’t over until you get every last piece of confetti out of your hair,” you challenge. Harry raises his eyebrows, looking back to you. If he doesn’t get off soon, the doors are going to close. “New Year’s isn’t over until your shoes come off in the lift,” he shoots back. You burst out in a laugh. “New Year’s isn’t over until you’ve broken your resolution two hours into January.” Harry rolls his eyes. He smirks a little and it’s annoyingly charming in the dim, golden glow of the lift’s broken light. He’s stalling. All at once, you’re acutely aware of the lingering smell of rain and the faint hum of the light fixture overhead. You swear you can hear the echo of that never-ending voicemail from the day you’d slotted your fingers into his like it was a secret, just an arm’s length away from where the two of you stand now. He had tried to kiss you once before and you had stopped him. But now, in this moment, with your heart in your throat, you desperately want him to try again. Harry starts to speak and you don’t wait for him to finish. “Well, New Year’s isn’t over—” “—until you kiss someone at midnight.” You’re hyper aware of your own breathing in the daunting silence that follows. The lift doors seal closed. Harry is close enough for you to see the flecks of hazel in his eyes like sea glass. He floats his hand up as though he’s going to cup your jaw, but traces the tip of his middle finger in a line up your cheek to push back your hair so lightly it tickles. His jaw flexes and just when you swear he isn’t going to, Harry leans in. It’s gradual, as though he’s waiting for you to change your mind, but your heads are tilting and then the tips of your noses brush. If you turn, even minutely, the corner of your mouth will meet his. You can feel your pulse thumping in the side of your neck. It dawns on you that you’re both simply waiting to see who is going to do it. “It’s not midnight,” Harry breathes. “Don’t tell me you’re a stickler for the rules.” The warmth and dew of his laugh grazes your cheek. With that, Harry brushes his mouth against yours. It feels painstakingly tender, like he’s never kissed anybody before. You’re so spellbound that you’re hardly even sure how to reciprocate something so soft. Harry’s bottom lip hovers over the very tip of your cupid’s bow just before he pulls away. Was that even a kiss? The very edges of your mouths had met, but only just. You still feel the tingle of where his lips had been moments ago. You open your eyes and Harry is a few inches away now, looking down at you. His hand is still ghosting the side of your face, like he’s afraid he might break you. When had your own hand slid flat against his chest beneath the lapel of his suit? “Is this a good idea?” you whisper, sliding your hand out to trace one of the round, fabric buttons with your fingertip. He swallows roughly. “Maybe not.” “Okay.” “Okay,” he yields. But neither of you move away. “Maybe this should just stay between us,” you suggest after a beat, heart sinking in your chest. “Well then if it’s just staying between us…” Before you have the chance to inhale, Harry presses his mouth against yours, harder, like he means it this time. His lips are warm and soft as they move with yours. You’re on your toes as one of his hands slides to the back of your neck, the other snaking around your waist to pull you into him. It still isn’t close enough. It’s surreal to be kissing him after a year. How much time had lapsed in total since you’d seen him that first day you moved in? How many mornings had been spent beside each other in silence? You’d spoken through side glances and subdued smiles from opposite corners of a crowded lift more than you ever truly had with words. But this… this feels like threads made up of every intimacy you’ve ever shared in this tiny room pulling you together at last. You pull apart just before the lift dings on the eighth floor. You’re both somewhat winded as you rest your foreheads together, and you release two unintended fistfuls of his jacket. Harry slides his hands down your bare arms to cup your elbows, his thumbs stroking circles in the soft crook of your forearm. “Have some water before you go to sleep.” “I will,” you chuckle. You’re unsure why either of you are speaking so softly, there’s no need. “Goodnight, Harry.” “Goodnight.” He says your name like a promise—like he’s determined to make up for all the days he didn’t get the chance to use it. You didn’t know it could sound like that. “Happy New Year’s.” You smile over your shoulder before padding barefoot into the hall as he reaches out to push the sixth-floor button for the second time. The last thing you’re able to see through the closing doors of the lift is Harry rubbing a thoughtful hand over his stubble, smiling down at his feet. (part two)

#harry styles #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles fanfiction #utsr redux

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