#having so much drive and ambition....wanting to leave everything on the table....

[danthropologie]

Daniel for GQ Australia (x)

[formulapierre]

Timezone | Charles Leclerc

pairing: charles leclerc x y/n!reader

prompt: based off my favourite song at the moment; Timezone by Maneskin. Where Charles is fed up with being so far away from you at a time where both of your lives are changing, not that he knows that.

warnings: 18+ as brief mentions of sex

word count: 4.6k

Song:

“You're wearing my old clothes, but you, you wear it better And every time I see your face, the moon should be jealous”

“Bonsoir Amour,” Charles says as his face pops up on your screen. “You look tired,” He quickly adds, as you make yourself comfortable on the bed you usually share.

“I am, work was a nightmare…all I want is to go to sleep and your shirts just don’t cut it anymore darling,” You joke as you show him the shirt you were wearing, it was one of his favourite linen button-ups; the one he likes to wear when you go driving down the Monegasque coastline together. 

You had sprayed it with the few drops of his cologne that were left in the bottle…but that was starting to fade, seeing how long he’d been gone. Nothing was the same as when you fell asleep in his arms; his warm chest pressing against your back, arm around your waist as he told you how much he loved you. “Stay with me?” You ask, turning off the bedside lamp as you prop your phone on the side table.

“Of course, I’ve got tons of emails to go through so I will probably still be here when you wake up,” He jokes as he sets his phone against the wall, atop the makeshift desk in his foreign hotel room. He continued to talk as you rested your head on the pillow below, wanting to listen to how Pierre ended up locking himself inside his hotel room; knowing that this was about as good as time-together got at the moment but also knowing that you had to be up early for work tomorrow. 

The latter finally proved to be more important.

“And I keep talking to the wall 'til he's a friend of mine”

Charles continued to talk for an hour until he broke eye-contact with the laptop in front of him to find the peaceful image of you fast asleep. He starts to question how worth it all is. Is his job, His dream worth more than you? Shouldn’t he be home with you, letting you rant about your day as he made dinner? But then He supposes once he met you, his dreams changed.

Growing up, Charles’ dreams were about one thing. Becoming world champion. But since meeting you he can't help dreaming of you, and everything you could become together. He would imagine the chateau you would have in the south of France in which you would raise your children (He knew you wanted children as you had expressed it before when He asked…but only at a time that suited you both, you didn’t want to be raising them yourself, and Charles didn’t want that either. Or at least…that was the plan)

“I would sacrifice it all for you…” He said quietly as he admired your sleeping figure. “Every last bit, every race, every win…if it meant I didn’t have to leave you like this amour, I don’t know how much longer I can be apart from you” He continues, ignoring the sole tear threatening to roll down his face. His mood quickly changed when He imagined your response. How you would tell him ‘don’t worry about me’ and how ‘I’ll still be here when you get back’

But what you wouldn’t tell him was that you selfishly wished for nothing more, if only you had fallen for the guy next door. Why did he have to have such lofty dreams and ambitions…but also the ability to make them come true? You wished nothing but the world for him, and his happiness was yours; so why when you spoke to him over the phone did he always seem so…sad?

“I call you every hour just to tell you that I'm losing my mind”

“If not for you-” You sang as you swept the apartment, your daily Saturday routine nearly over and you were excited as Qualifying was only a few hours away. The music quieted by the incoming call you were receiving. You quickly hurried to the kitchen where your phone lay on charge next to the speaker. You disconnected both before answering.

“Charles? Is everything ok?” You ask, you knew with only a few hours until Quali he needed pure focus so this was unexpected.

“N-No…I-” He tries to say but you shush him as you move over onto the couch.

“Turn on your camera,” You say, revealing a tear-stained Charles. Your heart shattering into a million pieces to see him like this. “Hey, look at me…you are ok, take some deep breaths,” You say and he quickly does as he’s told, collapsing down onto the couch in his drivers room.

“I can’t do this anymore,” He says quietly, probably not wanting to alert anyone else in the hospitality to the situation. 

“What can’t you do?” You ask confused.

“This…you and me-. The pressure I-” He starts to say before he realises what he said. “N-Not like that Amour. This distance between us. I haven’t seen you in nearly two months, I’m not myself without you, I’m losing my mind not being able to kiss you or hold you. I don’t know how much longer I can do this? Questions are being raised within the team, the media are saying I’m off my game.” He questions, his voice wavering at the end.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about. You are at the top of your game, Ferrari are performing as well as they have ever been and there are only two more races before you get to come back home…you’ll see me in just over two weeks darling. I know it’s hard, I feel it too. I walk around our apartment, remembering everything that's happened here and then I go to sleep alone, just waiting to see you again… But they are the sacrifices we have to make.” You tell him honestly as he wipes his face. He moved to the bathroom connected and you hear the tap running, assuming he is splashing his face with water. He returns to you much more calm and collected than before.

“T-Thank you Amour, I need to go but I will call you later,” He promises with a soft smile spread across his face.

“Good luck Darling,” You say before blowing him a kiss. You sit down to watch qualifying with baited breath, unaware of the toll your relationship was taking on your love.

“Now I know you're sleeping Where I'm supposed to be in”

*CALL NOT RECEIVED*

*CALL NOT RECEIVED*

*CALL NOT RECEIVED*

“Merde,” Charles swore as he threw his phone on the bed, he had finally gotten back to the hotel; only eight hours after the chequered flag. After celebrations, after media duties, after strategy debriefings, after engineering debriefings, after the awful traffic leaving the track, after everything…then, came you. But He had forgotten the time difference. You no doubt would have stayed up late to watch the race live, quickly sending him a congratulations text before falling asleep.

This was the part Charles hated the most, the loneliness. The empty hotel room, devoid of any emotion; leaving him with only his own thoughts for company. He longed for life to be different, for the days when he wasn’t under the spotlight. As much as Formula 1 was a team sport, he was the driver, so everything was done for him. He never had a chance to make many connections within the team.

Pierre was the exception, he was the childhood friend in the corner, always cheering him on. But even He had seen recently the shift in Charles’ mood. The change in how he interacted with others; shorter answers with the media, less patience for fans, sometimes borderline reckless driving on track. Pierre knew his reasons and how much Charles was struggling…that's why Pierre was the way He was. No long-term girlfriends, strenuous relationships with friends and his ‘fear’ of commitment. He saw what it was doing to his best-friend and didn’t like where it was headed.

“Wish I could've stayed”

“Have you got everything?” You ask your boyfriend as he wheels his three massive silver suitcases into the hallway.

“I think so, are you sure you’re alright to stay here by yourself? I could always ask Maman…you know she wouldn't say ‘no’ to staying a few weeks,” He offers again.

“Darling, I promise you, I will be fine. Eight weeks is only four-two week breaks. And I know I can do two weeks.” I assure him, taking his face in my hands as I do, slowly rubbing my thumb over his cheek. “I’ll still be here when you get back, and then you have a few weeks off where it can be just the two of us. We can do everything and Nothing if you want.” I remind him before pressing a kiss to his soft lips.

“I love you Ma Belle,” He mutters as he pulls away, resting his forehead against yours. You spend a few minutes just taking in each other, knowing this would be the last time you would be in the same room as him for a few months.

“Je t’aime Chérie,” You reply, both of you knowing that was the extent of your French vocabulary, somehow making it even sweeter.

“Only thing that keeps us apart Is seven thousand miles, running like a mad dog”

“This won’t take long, I promise,” Charles is told as he sits down at the table, around which sits his team. His lead Engineer, His PR officer, His Trainer and His Team principal. “We just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page with what's going on over the coming weeks,”

“Ok, has anything changed?” He asks, looking over the calendar on his Ipad.

“After your performance in the last few races we think it would be beneficial to get in some extra SIM work once we return from China…a week maybe two will be more than en-” His Engineer says tentatively.

“No, absolutely not,” Charles says adamantly, his fists balling as the device thuds on the table. “I haven’t been home in over 6 weeks…I-I’m not waiting another month-” He says getting up. “I’m not doing this now…we focus on these two races,” He tells them before walking out the same door he had walked through not 10 minutes before.

“Only thing that keeps us apart Is a different timezone”

CURRENT TIME — 17:36

HOME TIME —--- 02:36 

The icon on his home screen taunted him as he watched the minutes tick by, the drive from the track to his hotel seeming even longer than usual. His mind goes back to that meeting, how dare they ask him to go to Maranello for another two weeks, he was there only a few days before he flew out for the first of the 6 races he was away for. 

Did they understand that you were waiting on him? Did they care? Charles was beginning to think they didn't. If they did they would have at least offered him a week or two at home first. He sighed in frustration as thoughts swirled in his head, the usual thoughts when He was left alone…

“So fuck what I'm dreaming, this fame has no meaning”

“I want to come home Maman, I want to see her. It is unbearable to be without her any longer,” Charles said to his mother as they spoke, ironically mirroring your words from when you spoke to her a few days ago…’It’s unbearable to see him like this’.

“I know it is Cherie, it's the same feeling I felt when you and your Papa were travelling the world for your karting…you have wanted this for so long, I can see how much your racing means to you. But as your Mother I just want you to be happy, so if she makes you happier than you could ever be, then go for it. You’ve won races, you’ve won championships but you have to ask yourself if this particular one is worth all the pain I can see you’re in?” She asked as she sat on her balcony in Monaco. Unbeknownst to him however, that the exact person he was talking about, was sitting on his Mothers couch, listening to the conversation and reading a book.

“-I know, I know…she said the same thing. It would be slightly more bearable if the time-difference wasn’t so big. I called her 3 times last week and only then did I realise she would be fast asleep,” He complained. Your heart had sunk when you got back into bed and realised you had three missed calls from him; you had to very quickly run to the bathroom out of fear of vomiting on the floor, so didn’t even think about grabbing your phone and messaging him back.

“Only a few more weeks and you will be back in her arms, I promise,” She says before ending the call. The clouds covering the sun forced her inside as the wind picked up. “How are you feeling?” She asks, pressing her ice cold hand to your forehead.

“Honestly?” You ask and she nods. “Like shit, I can't get rid of this nausea, and every time it feels like it’ll pass, it comes straight back,” You admit as you take a sip of the steaming tea she had made you only minutes before you were interrupted.

“The first few months are like that. It was the same with Lorenzo and Arthur…don’t tell Charles though but he was a dream, no sickness, no nothing and labour was a breeze,” She says causing you to laugh, Mr Charles ‘Perfect’ Leclerc struck again.

“I'm coming home”

*CONFIRM FLIGHT MA1611 TO NICE*

    [CONFIRM]    [CHECK BOOKING]

Charles pressed the confirm button instantly, without hesitation. Without thought of the consequences of what would happen with his team; He would be at least a week early. He didn’t care about this last race, He didn’t care how close his rival was to him in terms of points. He didn’t care about anything…except getting home to you. He asked his Maman to collect him from the airport and drop him at home. He also swore her to secrecy but that seemed like the least important part. 

“I wouldn’t have the balls…” Pierre said from across the table.

“You know how I feel about it, and Her,” He simply replied. But it was true, Pierre did know as they had talked about it for hours. Charles felt like Pierre was the only one who truly understood what it took and continued to take.

“I didn’t mean it like that…just make sure I’m the best man at the wedding alright?” He joked, neither of you had really discussed getting married. It just didn’t seem important at the time, but now, Pierre’s comment had planted a seed.

“Only thing that keeps us apart  Is a different timezone” “Tomorrow I got another plane,”

“How are you feeling about this last race?” His trainer asked as they walked through the international airport, only minutes away from boarding the flight to the final race.

“I’m feeling good, -I’m just going to go to the bathroom, you guys board without me…I’ll only be a few minutes,” Charles smoothly lied; He knew that the bathroom had two entrances in front of two different sides of the terminal. 

“I'm not gonna take it”

He checked his watch and saw that his other flight was about to depart so He started to run. He shouted ‘sorry’ as he brushed past someone, others choosing to move out the way as He ran through the airport. He looked at the gate numbers as he ran. 35…..34…..33…..32…..31…..30. He sighed as he finally reached it. The last few people started to board as he took a minute to compose himself before approaching. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself as the Stewardess checked his boarding pass.

“Welcome onboard Mr. Leclerc,” She said politely to him before showing him behind the curtain to his left. He relaxed as He settled into his seat. Only 12 more hours until He would be with you.

“Instead, I'm gonna fly straight to you, I paid double for the tickets” “And I don't give a shit about the contracts that I signed”

*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

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*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

*MISSED CALL*

*SHOW [128] OTHER MISSED CALLS*

He didn’t even manage to put his seatbelt on before the calls started flooding in, he quickly silenced his phone and tucked it into the bottom of his bag. He really hoped he was making the right decision. 

Charles was so exhausted from the past two months that He slept almost the whole way home, something very unusual for him. He was finally woken by the Stewardess telling him they were about to start their descent into Nice. At that news He woke up almost instantly, eager to be reunited with his Maman and see a familial face.

He made sure he was one of the first off the plane and was glad that his celebrity afforded him to be escorted through the airport and straight into arrivals. He didn’t have any bags to collect as they would be in the Middle East by now, probably with a group of very confused Ferrari employees. Pascale spotted her son almost immediately as He walked into the Arrivals hall, arms wrapping around him and pulling him into her.

“I’m proud of you, Cherie,” She says, kissing him on the cheek. “Let’s get you home,” His Maman adds as they start to walk out of the airport, a place Charles wished to not see for a very long time.

“And they can say whatever,”

“I’ll just drop you here,” Pascale says as she arrives outside your apartment building.

“Thank you Maman, for everything,” Charles says as he kisses her on the cheek before getting out of the car. He rifles through his bag looking for his swipe pass that would allow him access to the building. As annoying as it was having to have the card, you couldn’t get into the building or up the elevators without it. He swung his bag over his shoulder before shutting the door. Charles went onto autopilot as he swiped into the building, swiped to open the elevator, pressed the button for the top floor, and walked towards your door. It was only until he reached your door that the gravity of the situation dawned on him. He had just deserted his team and travelled 12 hours across the globe to see you.

He raised his hand to knock. Should he knock? Technically he lived here too…He twisted the handle and walked into your shared apartment. He could see you out on the balcony, eyes shut and enjoying the fresh-air. Charles tried to be as quiet as He could, He took his shoes off and dumped his bag before slowly walking towards you. 

The double doors were wide open as Charles approached and found you sleeping. He sunk down onto his knees next to the lounger you lay in and took your hand in his.

“Amour,” He whispered as He brought the back of your hand up to his lips and pressed a firm kiss to it. You muttered something under your breath. “Mon Ange,” He cooed as he tried to rouse you from your sleep. 

“Mmh, want to sleep,” You groan as you try to swat his hand away.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me Amour,” He said, only now His voice registering in your head.

“Charlie?” You asked in utter disbelief as your eyes widened and you sat bolt upright. “You! You’re here!” 

“I am, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise,” He assures you as you scramble to get up, tugging your shirt over your growing stomach before throwing your arms around him.

“Why- what-. Charles?” You ask, hoping he’d know what you were asking him.

“They don’t know I’m here. I’m tired and so fucking fed up of having to be away from you,” He admits and you sigh pulling him into your chest.

“I know you are Darling,” You tell him as you stroke the top of his head and fiddle with the tips of his hair. You fall into a comfortable silence as you just hold each other.

“I’m-,” You say.

“Ma-,” He says at the same time. “Sorry Amour, you go first,” Charles says with a smile on his face.

“I-I’m pregnant,” You admit taking his hand and placing it on your stomach.

“You’re what?” He asks with wide eyes.

“Pregnant, We’re having a baby Charles,” You tell him again with a wide smile on your face as you place your other hand on his cheek and rub it softly.

“We’re going to have a baby” He repeats in disbelief and I just nod. “How far along are you?” He asks, lifting your shirt up to see your slightly swollen stomach.

“The doctors think about three-and-a-half to four months. So I was pregnant before you left but with everything going on, I guess I just forgot,” You say but it seems like he’s daydreaming.

“Marry me,”

“What Ch-,”

“That's what I was going to say before. Marry me Amour, I haven’t bought a ring yet but I’m down on my knees so I’m halfway there. I don’t know what to tell you that you don’t know already. You are my reason; you are why I get up in the morning, why I try so hard at work, why I’m here right now. It’s all for you, and now our growing family…so marry me” He says, putting both hands on your stomach. 

“You already know my answer Darling, you are my everything Charles,” You tell him, pulling him off of his knees and into your arms.

“I need you to say it,” He pleads.

“we'll be making love,” “ I'm fucking you tonight”

“Yes, I will marry you Mr Leclerc,” You say with a laugh as he picks you up and spins you around. “Charles, be careful. Morning sickness is not a joke,” You warn him and upon realisation he stops spinning you but picks you up, ironically, bridal style and carries you to your bedroom. “What are you-,”

“I want to fuck my fiancée, is that alright with her?” He asks teasingly as He places you down onto your bed gently.

“Let me check…,” You say, pretending to think. “She says she’s been waiting months for you to say that,” You say pulling him on top of you and letting yourself savour every moment of it.

“So fuck what I’m dreaming,  this fame has no meaning,”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Abu Dhabi and to the final race of the season!” The commentator announces as the camera pans down the pitlane. “It all comes down to today. With only 5 points in it, who will be crowned World Champion?” He asks. “Will it be double world champion Max Verstappen with RedBull? Or will it be reigning three-time world champion Charles Leclerc with Ferrari? Well, todays the day. Stay tuned for the duel in the desert!” He announces over the TV screen in Ferrari’s hospitality suite. You were sitting next to Charles' family. Both of his brothers and their girlfriends, His mum and some of his extended family that were able to make it.

“In a shock week for Ferrari, well…more like Charles Leclerc; the grid will say goodbye to one of its most talented today. After arriving here two days later than scheduled, Charles posted onto his social media and announced in the press conference that He is retiring and Yas Marina would be his last race. He is joined this weekend by his whole family as we celebrate a very accomplished driver; and most especially He is joined by long-term girlfriend and as of a few days ago; Fiancée, Y/N who is a very well-known face within the paddock. We also send the Leclerc family our biggest congratulations at the news of their impending arrival,” The commentator said as He walked the grid in preparation for today's race. You all started to make your way into the garage, Arthur offering to carry your bag as you were taken aside and onto the track. Ferrari wanted to take a few photos with the team and Charles refused to take them unless you were there.

“Thank you for being here Amour,” He said, taking you by the hand and escorting you over to where his car lined up on pole position.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world Darling,” You say, pressing a kiss to the side of his face. Charles’ PR manager took the photos they wanted before He was ushered off for the national anthem. Whilst you stood next to His car the same commentator from earlier approached you.

“I am joined now by Y/N Y/L/N, How are you?” He asks, pointing the microphone at you.

“I’m feeling amazing Martin. Nervous for today but Excited for the party that will no doubt ensue tonight,” You answer.

“So your money is on Charles for the win?” He asks and you scoff.

“I think it has to be, doesn't it?” You joke causing him to laugh.

“Probably wouldn’t be a great start to your marriage if you didn’t,”

“Your words not mine Martin,” You playfully remind him.

“Well congratulations to you and Charles on your recent engagement-” He says before he is spoken to via his earpiece. “Jenson would like me to remind you not to forget his invitation,” Martin Brundle explains.

“Jenson I promise you will be the first to get an invite, and I will hand deliver it myself If I have to,” I promised him whilst looking directly at the camera.

“-and finally before I have to head off. Another congratulations to you and Charles, upon the announcement of your baby.” He says causing you to blush at all the attention you were receiving.

“Thank you Martin, it really means a lot,” You reply with a smile.

“If you are open to name suggestions…might I suggest Martin? It’s a great name!” He asks in true Martin Brundle style.

“I will have to consult with my husband-to-be, but I’m sure we’ll work something out. You assure him before the National Anthem starts to play.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Charles_Leclerc

Liked by Pierre_Gasly and 1,406,356 others

Charles_Leclerc Nothing in my life compares to today.

Juliette Elise Leclerc and Leo MartÍn Leclerc; I cannot even begin to tell you how much my heart fills with joy every time I see you; your Maman and I are so unbelievably happy to introduce you to the world.

Y/N and I thank everyone for their kind words and messages over the past few days; we will however be taking some time away from the media whilst we adjust to our new lives as parents to our wonderful twins.

The birth of our children marks the start of a new chapter in both of our lives, one we have both been looking forward to for months. Before I take my leave I would like to dispel any rumours of my return to racing; I have no plan to return to racing in the foreseeable future as I plan to spend my time with my soon to be wife learning what it means to be a father.

Lastly, I just want to say how proud I am of Y/N, And how thankful I am to her for bringing our beautiful little girl and boy into the world.

Charles x

I hope you enjoyed reading, this is my first F1 oneshot I've published on tumblr so if you did enjoy it, please dont hesitate to let me know by dropping a comment. Thank you xxx

[bkdk-art]

Okay. I need to get this out because this idea is literally haunting me.

So, welcome to my brainrot on how the fight between Izuku and Shigaraki / OFA and OFA will play out and how Katsuki could play a part in it 🙌🏼 Even though I know it's never gonna happen like this but anyways, let me dream a little.

[Edit: I wrote this before chapter 403 came out and our beloved returned 🧡]

I always come back to imagining the final, crucial confrontation would somehow end up happening in the vestige realm with Izuku und Shigaraki being on opposite sites and AFO trying to steal OFA from Izuku, just like in the Paranormal Liberation War Arc.

And I feel like this time the battle of emotions might be more challening for Izuku and the former OFA holders. Because, yes, they are still seven people and All Might's vestige has even more to bring to the table after his fight against AFO but so has AFO himself and Shigaraki as well. I mean, the LOV has been defeated, all his friends are in critical states, he's feeling used by AFO etc. etc.

So imagine, the forces collide and it seems to look not so well for our heroes, doom hanging not just over them but over all of Japan.

But that's when Katsuki steps in.

And in my head it plays out like this: Katsuki is entering the scene, maybe only a panel of his shoulders (him being in his UA uniform) is shown, the his feet, the drawing just hinting on him and suddenly the OFA side gets brighter and stronger and all sorts of emotions fill the space.

Namely, Katsuki's confidence, his anger, his ambition, his insecurities, his determination - with every step there're more emotions.

And then he stops, right next to Izuku. The greenhead is just shellshocked, not understanding how Katsuki is in the vestige realm to begin with and he's also so overwhelmed to see Katsuki looking like himself and not like the corpse Izuku had to witness earlier.

Katsuki, now standing next to his nerd, looks at Izuku with that soft expression that has been driving us all crazy lately and a new wave of Katsuki's emotions starts filling the realm: Tenderness, deep regret about his past behaviour, the frustration he used to feel towards Izuku when they were little and a new frustration about Izuku being too reckless, mixed with gut wrenching worry and fear, pride about Izuku's development and so, so, so much more, but all of this is nothing compared to when Katsuki holds out his hand to Izuku and-

Love. The love-kanji becomes dominant, taking up a full panel or even a full page, boosting OFA's fight against AFO's grip.

Izuku is still too stunned to think or understand anything but he would never reject Katsuki, so his hand moves on its own, wanting go grap the blond's but then he staggers, the thought of "control your heart" paralyzing him.

Because how can Izuku control his heart when it comes to Kacchan? Suddenly he's way too scared to take Katsuki's hand because everything could blow up in their faces and they can't risk one single slip against their opponents.

Daigoro, the fifth holder, who said those words all those months ago, is the one to snap Izuku out of his spiraling by saying: "Don't worry, kid, following your heart is important too."

That's all Izuku needs. He launches forward, intertwining his fingers with Katsuki's and slinging his other arm around the blond's shoulders.

Izuku lets all his suppressed feelings for Katsuki come to the surface, a storm of emotions rages through the realm and that's when AFO is hurled out of the domain, maybe even Shigaraki but leaving little scared Tenko there.

And there they are, Izuku and Katsuki, clinging to each other for a heartfelt moment until Katsuki mumbles something like "Don't you still have an ass to kick out there?"

Izuku leans back, tears in his eyes and makes Katsuki promise that they'll see each other again in the real word, that Katsuki has to come back to him. Katsuki makes the promise with a smirk, asking Izuku where else he was supposed to go.

Sharing a last, calm eyecontact in all of this chaos, Izuku gets back to end things with what's left of AFO and maybe even Shigaraki and the final fight is over, Edgeshot and Jeanist manage to save Katsuki, hero society needs to be rebuilt and all of that stuff and ~ the end.

And I'm very aware of the fact that it's not gonna play out like this but storywise it would work! Balancing the "control your heart"-theme in a more healthy way because up until now, it only has lead Izuku to supress stuff. And it would also resolve Katsuki's presence in the vestige realm and would make him the key to winning against AFO.

Because we all agree he has to play some part in it, right? But in my eyes, there's no way Katsuki could return to the real live battle field. I mean, half of his face and his dominant arm have been crushed, not to mention his heart (!) exploded (!!).

So. Yeah, that's it, that's the brainrot living rentfree in my head.

Okaythankyouforreadingthisbye ♡

[astranne]

— i love you to eternity but you never will.

fandom. genshin impact

pairing. kaedehara kazuha x fem!reader

content warnings. angstish, unrequited love, reader is younger!sister of alhaitham, written several months ago, not edited nor proofread because i’m lazy

word count. 726 words

notes. scrolled through my tumblr drafts and found this. idk why it was never posted, i completely forgot about it… yeah, have this and maybe i will return back to genshin

As the younger sister of Alhaitham, many expectations were demanded from you. Your brother was smart, shouldn’t you be too? Your brother was a student and scholar of the most esteemed Akademiya in whole Teyvat, shouldn’t you be too?

And you were. But you weren’t exactly happy with it. You wanted to be an adventurer, someone who wandered from one nation to the other, taking commissions to get food on the table and just enjoy life, being free of all responsibility. 

For the longest time, it seemed nothing but a dream. This is why you decided to take up the sword, but even there Alhaitham bested you. So you choose to learn the bow, then the spear, and in the end, you finally mastered the Claymore. And still… it seemed nothing but a dream.

Until you've received a vision. An electro vision- a vision, people haven't received for a long time. Why were you the honored one, why did you receive one?

Ambition and drive filled your heart again, you were determined to master your vision and maybe, maybe you could finally do whatever you wanted. Be free of your brother's shadow and the expectations of your family.

But you still went to Alhaitham to ask him for guidance. He owned a vision after all, and this much longer than you. And he knew how to use said vision with a sword, something you thought would be the best for an electro vision.

And the moment you mastered your vision, you left. You left everything behind, with nothing but a small note to your family, with your packed things in a bag swung across your back, leaving everything you've known your whole life behind.

Everything you dreamed yourself together in a life of adventurer was true and yet you weren’t prepared. Most commissions you took were easily done, but some of them were the most ridiculous things you’ve ever heard. Still, you completed them without any complaints and earned your money. 

And so you traveled from nation to nation, from Sumeru to Natlan, then a short stop in Snezhnaya only to leave for Mondstadt and then Liyue. 

Years passed, you collected scars and memories alike, hardening yourself as a true adventurer and even creating a name for yourself. And while sometimes were hard, money just barely enough to buy food and shelter, you were finally free and happy. 

You made friends with merchants, simple people, soldiers and sellswords, creating memories and stories with them. It was a simple life you lived, but it was a fulfilling one. 

When you heard concerning rumors about Inazuma, you first wanted to travel to the islands. But getting there was already complicated and by the time you finally made it to Liyue Harbor, the nation was already in a Civil War. 

It made you worry and nervous. You didn’t know what to do with yourself and so you just took commissions in Liyue Harbor, trying to get the news always at the closest source. 

Captain Beidou. The fellow electro vision owner was a fearsome woman and travelled with her ship and crew to the Nation of Eternity more often than enough. 

But she brought back nothing but bad news and only a few fleeing people. The war continued and Beidou was once again weeks away, until she finally returned back to Liyue Harbor. 

This time with another vision holder, a man you met and lost your heart to the first time you saw him. Kaedehara Kazuha. 

He was somber, silent and yet full of poetic words, carrying himself with an elegance unknown to most. His way with words and his sword was something would’ve never encountered. He fascinated you, kept you in a magic spell with his sad looking eyes and soft hair. 

You never told him how you felt, how you lost your heart to him, how you fell hard and fast for him. Instead, you cherished his presence, his stories and poems, and got to know him better as a friend. 

Now it was a common sight seeing Kazuha with you, the two of you wandering around in Liyue Harbor and beyond. Side by side but not truly together as you wished. But it was alright, even if it pained you, because you were together with him, just not as near enough as you dreamed it to be.

taglist. @keyz-writes , @obsidianjewel , @keqism , @stellumi , @wanderersbell , @k-zu

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ASTRANNE 2023

[sorayah2]

Sensory Lovers| Neteyam x oc FF

@Sorayahluvs on Wattpad

✠ ━━━━━━━ Chapter 1

✠ ┏━━━━━━━━

✩°̥࿐୨୧

When is it going to end?

They are forced to leave. Again. Their village, their people, and their way of life to start all over again.

Neteyam is enraged by this to his core. They had already lost their beautiful hometree. The Omatikaya hometree which served as the ancestral home of the Omatikaya clan; it was honeycombed with natural hollows and alcoves in which the Na'vi slept, ate, wove, danced, and celebrated their ties to Eywa. Regrettably, it was obliterated by the RDA's security forces using high-explosive missiles after driving the Na'vi out with tear gas, forcing the remaining inhabitants to relocate. During the attack and collapse of the tree, many of the Omaticaya perished.

His own bow is made from the wood of the fallen hometree. And Neteyam never got the chance to witness it in its prime, when it stood proud and was exalted by the people. He only heard the heartbreaking tales from his grandmother and those who were fortunate enough to survive. The people who are still mourning their lost loved ones, are gradually recovering.

Then it was their second home, destroyed again. Gone with all of his childhood memories.

The thing he is certain of is that the man will stop at nothing to get his hands on Jake's skull. He is capable of and willing to destroy anything in his path to accomplish that ambition.

His parents are under stress without a firm plan. His father only cares about keeping their family safe. He cannot afford to endanger any more lives because of him yet again. Jake suffers from guilt that refuses to go away, not even with time. He can still recall. Everything. He recalls every detail vividly, as though it all happened yesterday.

The screams.

The blood.

The gunfire.

The sorrow.

Everything.

He wants to—no, he needs to change that. And the solution he came up with is to resettle his family far away as possible. So, no more innocent blood will need to be shed. Will that work? He's uncertain of the possibility, but he has hope. He begs for the small miracle.

Jake only asks that they cooperate with him on this and understand. Even though he'd never intended for them to be in this situation, things do happen.

Neteyam is trying to. It's unfair, nonetheless.

He's not just leaving his home; he's also abandoning his special someone. For 4 months and a half, they've been dating. He was in love with her ever since they were little and had been hesitant to ask her out as they grow up. Eventually he grew a pair and confessed to her at her birthday celebration; to his surprise and delight, she accepted and also admitted her secret feelings for him.

Neteyam had a few crushes here and there but none of them compared to his feelings for Yayìu.

She's his first and hopefully last.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the knock on the door until the repeated attempts and the voice of his mother calling out his name. Startled, he cussed under his breath and set the bags down.

"Uh—yes, come in!"

Neytiri entered the room with strays of food, while maintaining a straight facial expression. Her eyes swiftly scanned the space.

"I wonder why it took you that long to answer." She asked suspiciously. He's a teenager, and the very fact that his girlfriend hangs around here didn't go unnoticed. Neytiri is supportive of their relationship, but by no means will she tolerate any sort of inappropriate behavior in her home.

"Nothing! I guess I was zooming out..." He defends himself. "Sorry about that, mom."

"Have you started packing yet?" She placed the strays on his nearby table (crafted by Jake).

He nodded. "I already have, and I packed Tuk's too."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you, thank you, darling!" She gives him a smile and ruffles his hair before squeezing the tall boy into her embrace. Neytiri appreciates that her son assisted with one of the tasks that needed to be done because a lot is taking up much of her time. Truth be told, she can always rely on Neteyam for these things. He's a very helpful child.

Neytiri eventually noticed Neteyam's foul mood when he simply hummed instead of giving her the traditional bear embrace.

In order to gain a better look at his face, she gently drew him back by his shoulders. "What's wrong, Teyam?"

"I don't wanna leave home, mom. This is where we belong. We should fight for it. Do you think whatever clan Dad has in mind will just accept us? We're outsiders with different cultures." He finally voices out the words that had been gnawing at him from the inside after keeping them to himself for days.

"Listen, I feel the same way you do. I don't want to leave our village either—our whole lives here. However, as your father said, we really have no other choice."

"Another war is not what we should bring upon our clan right now. We've lost many, many over the years." She gulped to hold back the tears, as her beloved father crossed her mind. Before he died, he handed Neytiri his bow and told her to protect the clan, leaving her devastated with a purpose she holds dear in her heart.

Neteyam still with his eyes glued to the floor, nodded. "Okay, mom."

Neytiri smile sadly and caress his hair. Her identity is tied to her clan; the daughter of their former leader, she has grown into a leader in her own right.

While Jake Sully found a new world and home in Pandora, Neytiri broke many traditions to be with the man she loves. Along with the loss of her father, her home on sacred Na'vi land, and many of her people in the war with RDA. This has continued with Neytiri and Jake starting their precious family between the events. Happiness didn't last long enough with the return of the humans and RDA, now they must find a new safe haven, which will pull Neytiri even further away from her roots.

This is mainly about their safety; sacrifices will be made.

"We're going to be together, we'll get through it together like we always do because us Sullys?"

"Stick together." Neteyam chuckled dryly.

"Exactly. Now promise me you'll look after your siblings please, especially Lo'ak." Knowing about her youngest son's behavioral issues, she stresses the term to make herself clear; she will need to worry about Lo'ak in a new unfamiliar environment. Great mother eywa.

"I promise. Also, did you made the food or Dad?" Neteyam gave her the gaze, eyes pleading with his mother to rescue him from the dreadful mess that is his dad's cooking.

Jake's recent occupation has been trying out different ingredients that the kids are absolutely not so pleased with. Neteyam and Tuk try to be nice, meanwhile Kiri and Lo'ak go haunt by themselves to make their own food or eat at home when it's Neytiri who cooks. Hell no will they let that man kill them from food poisoning.

Neytiri muffled a laugh. "No, I made it, don't worry. It's all your favorites, go eat." She assured him and started walking away.

"Not yet, I have to go find Yayìu."

"Eat first then do that." His mother said sternly, shutting the door behind her. She needed to prepare Lo'ak and Kiri's meals before they return from wherever they are.

—༚༅༚˳✿˳༚༅༚—

After eating, Neteyam immediately headed to Yayìu's house. Neytiri would've surely strangle him if he wasted the meal, plus he had barely eaten since this morning due to lack of appetite. He manages to eat everything, though. Your stomach has to be fed; it doesn't care about your problems.

He didn't find her there, then again, it's rare for Yayìu to stay home and not go outside to enjoy the forest.

As he was walking, he spotted Nan'ti, his girlfriend's best friend. She was weaving alone while singing one of the folk tones. They only interact in Yayìu's presence to avoid any possible misunderstandings. Nan'ti herself knew better; she knows her friend and the grave consequences of upsetting her.

Regarding Nan'ti's character, he didn't really give it much thought. She has a calm demeanor and seems genuinely uninterested in life. She doesn't speak unless spoken to, and she responds if she feels like it.

"Hey Nan'ti, where's Yayìu? She wasn't at home, I've looked for her."

Nan'ti slightly shrugged. She prepared to reply something like, 'I don't know,' or any other excuse she could master, but she paused to give Neteyam a long look before saying, "She's by the river."

Neteyam thanked her and headed further into the forest, having an idea of which river she was referring to.

He noticed the eclipse has begun. And Neteyam defines it as an entirely new experience each and every time. The beauty of the forest is absolutely breathtaking, especially at 'sun-down' as the scientists and his dad sometimes call it. Transforming the forest into something even more exotic, the bioluminescent plants emerge as animals' rustle through the brush, calling out to one another, and disappear into the darkness.

A world truly ablaze with ethereal light. Everything native to Pandora glows, including trees, seeds, moss, waterways, and even the creatures. The peculiar luminosity is celestial; the lichens become like a carpet of stars. The organisms' function like a neural network, all connected to each other symbiotically. This aesthetics of joy are ultimately what makes their world so alluring, valuable, and desperately worth saving.

Neteyam soon arrived by the river and could hear noises. As Nan'ti said, his girlfriend was there laughing with one of the village boys, Zakum, and her friend, Suki. He rolled his eyes and slowed down his step. For some reason he never got along well with Zakum, so he doesn't like to stick around him.

"That little bastard should learn his lesson now." Zakum said with pride, feeling a sense of victory from the fight he had just won against a much weaker opponent. The youngster, who was in front of a group of other teenagers, kept his ground despite knowing he couldn't defeat a fighter like Zakum.

"Sad thing, he lost miserably after all that talking," Suki snickers.

"Yeah, you kind of went too hard on him." Yayìu said, not that she cared. A fight is a fight.

Zakum smirked. Winning brings him satisfaction, beating up lesser beings is what a guy like him enjoys. His strength was witnessed and applaud.

He stood up, yawning. "I have practice tomorrow, I'm out."

Yayìu and Suki waved him goodbye.

Thank goodness he left, Neteyam waits to see if Suki will do the same then he can be alone with Yayìu.

"So, I heard the Sully family is moving soon?" Suki spoke, twirling a piece of her braid between her fingers while casting a few quick glances Yayìu's way. Of course, that's not news to her, who's dating a Sully, and if she's being honest, Suki's not even sure why she started like that. She had to somehow start this conversation; that's what popped up.

Yayìu chuckles, a soft smile appearing on her lips as she questionably looks back at Suki. "Unless you literally live under a rock, everyone in the village knows that. They're all discussing it."

Suki nodded. "Right, uhm what about you and Neteyam? Have you talk to him?"

Yayìu tenses a little at her question. She cleared her throat, "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I mean."

"Well, we haven't seen each other that much since he told me about his family plans. I understand he has a lot on his plate to worry about. He is needed by his parents and siblings during this time. And I've been busy with stuffs also." She explained.

"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it, Yayìu. You're only telling yourself those excuses for your own comfort. I think it's best to just tell him what happened." Suki tells her honestly.

"Why are you pressing me? What's your deal?" Yayìu's eyes snap to her face, features hardening because she doesn't want to hear any of this. Suki's interrogations are starting to irritate her. Why is she so engrossed in her business? Nan'ti is far less annoying.

"I'm your friend, Yayìu. I don't want to sound as if I'm judging you...I feel like he deserves the truth. You got what you wanted."

"And I feel like you should mind your own business, stop being comfortable butting in mine. Just shut your mouth, you're—" Before Yayìu could even begin cursing Suki out, she noticed a movement out of the corner of her eyes and turned to see Neteyam approaching them.

She hardly registers the frightened gasp that escapes her lungs, thoughts of him overhearing this stupid convo which was never supposed to happen fills her insides with rising anguish.

Her heart sinks as soon as she meets his gaze; his expression is practically unreadable, but clear enough to tell her he heard them. All thanks to that annoying girl. She should've silenced Suki earlier. Why didn't she simply ignore the pest? This is a whole forest, damn it; anyone could've stumbled upon them here, and the only person she dreads of hearing and finding out this way is standing right in front of her with an empty face.

She panicked, "Neteyam—w-what are you doing here?"

When 'tell me what' makes it out of his mouth, she swallows and tries to move closer to him, but he instantly stops her, keeping a considerable distance between them.

"It's nothing important. W-we were just talking and--" She stutters, struggling to form her words.

Suki quickly left. She earned her ticket to go meet eywa for sure, Yayìu will kill her. But she didn't think she's at fault. This is Yayìu's problem.

As Yayìu takes long, deep breaths, he notices her trembling hands and realizes her state screams nothing but a person who's been caught for their wrongdoings. She's making him very nervous, and he's not even sure what secret she's hiding from him. It must be related to their relationship based on the way she is acting; it can't be a good one. He's so confused.

Their eyes meet, sharing a similar discomfort and he swears, he can't stand the tension any longer.

"Since it's a rude thing, I'd Normally apologize for eavesdropping, but I'm not gonna do that, because I wouldn't have found out you're keeping secrets from me, Yayìu." He sighs, "Whatever you're hiding, get on with it."

The smallest intervals of time seem to last an eternity. Neteyam who's impatiently staring at his girlfriend, is completely unconscious of the internal struggle she's experiencing. This isn't how she imagined the outcomes. Things were going along smoothly, then all of a sudden, they flipped. No doubt she'll lose him, and she must accept the consequences that came back to bite her in the ass.

Yayìu blinks a few times, she has no choice but to tell him since there's no point beating around the bush. "I, uh, after we confessed to each other and broke the news to everyone...someone in particular didn't like it."

Neteyam carefully listens to what she was saying.

Someone. Who could that someone possibly be? Her parents? They barely acknowledged Neteyam and Yayìu's relationship. All they wanted was for him to treat their daughter right and make her happy as he should.

"Please understand that I do care about you. I really do, Neteyam. It was something that happened in the heat of the moment, and I.." Yayìu paused, biting her lip. He frowns at that and casts her a disapproving glare, fighting to maintain his composure.

"You cheated on me," Neteyam doesn't ask, he bitterly uttered it as he lets his anxious sentiments that have been consuming him ever since he overheard her and her friend's conversation flow.

There's a beat of silence.

"He kissed me first..and I kissed him back..." She mumbles, gaining the courage to look at him again with guilty features.

Neteyam felt a ping hit his chest. He's speechless for a minute, staring at her completely dumbfounded with parted lips as his brows furrowed, too shock to speak.

She kissed another man yet always avoided any physical touch during their relationship. Not that he ever pressured her to do things with him that she didn't feel comfortable with. They weren't dating for that long, and he himself wanted to take things slow till they were both ready to go deeper in it. Truthfully, he'd never make a move. Was he not interested in her physical? he didn't have the answer to that. He hugged her once, she quickly retreated, he assumed she was scared, and he apologized.

"Like I said, it was in the heat of the moment. I had feelings for you two, and you confessed to me first. I was okay with that, thinking that I'd be happy with you. A part of me resisted when he made a move out of jealousy over us, but the other part gave in. I guess despite my effort, my feelings for him remained."

"Who is it? Who'd you cheat on me with?" He finally whispers, taking a short and shaky breath.

Yayìu close her eyes and shook her head. "Zakum..."

How fucking hilarious. She betrayed him in favor of a dude who's obsessed with competing against him at any given opportunity. Zakum despises Neteyam for all that he stands for. He has his reasons. Neteyam is the eldest son of well-known heroes who led the clans against the Sky People and successfully defeated the human invaders. Even the entire tribe gathered to celebrate his birth, and he's favored for his strong and confident demeanor. He's a great natural athlete and excels at all things, being nearly unmatched in hunting prowess among the other young members of the Omatikaya clan. He's an expert at archery and the youngest of the clan to make a clean kill on a sturmbeest hunt.

Zakum is undeniably popular with girls for his appearance and his own athletic abilities, but Neteyam still holds the upperhand. He was more irritated by Neteyam's lack of effort to recognize him as a rival.

"Why?" He swallowed.

"If he's who you wanted why did you have to bring me into it? You could've just rejected me. I wouldn't hate you for it. Instead, you fucking used me for such bullshit. What kind of fucked up game is that?!"

"Uhm..." Yayìu slowly trailed.

Because he was necessary to her. The priceless piece of her puzzle. Dating Mr. Perfect skyrocketed Yayìu's popularity, as it would for any girl in the clan. She gained lots of attention from said girls, who dreamed of being in her place. She'd listen to people praising her and telling her how lucky she was. She watched as girls (whom she'd dealt with later on) threw themselves at him, desperate to catch his attention.

Girls gush over him, and other guys aspire to be him. Those qualities are what attracted her to him. Basically, he's a catch and having what many desired made her feel powerful.

They were an attractive couple, she's pretty and he's an eye candy.

As for Zakum, he wasn't any different. She has no actual hope for their fling relationship either. She's using him as well. Afterall, he's a playboy, from whom she holds zero expectations. She had her eyes on them both. Now that Neteyam is practically out of the picture, she luckily fetched herself a rebound in advance. It doesn't matter how long that'll last, as long as she's on top of having to date those two guys.

"I'm sorry." There's no sign of sincerity or falseness in her apology. Two plain words that she simply felt the need to say, to look humane.

Neteyam scoffed, "I bet."

"Oh whatever! We were going to be separated anyways, you're leaving and might not come back. I'd move on someday." Yayìu shouted, swaying her arms in the air.

"Are you serious? You cheated way before that, Yayìu. What the hell is wrong with you!" He exclaims, running his hand through his hair as he tugs on the braids in frustration.

She pursed her lips, staring at him. She can't change anything. What's done is done.

He sighs, "Nevermind, just forgot it. Let's pretend nothing ever happened between us."

Does he honestly want to stay with a girl who has it in her to be so selfish and heartless? Heck no. Then, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise which she shown her true colors and not much later when they are bounded with kids. He'll take this as a learning experience.

"I hope you can have it in your heart to forgive me. You were actually a great boyfriend, so thank you."

Neteyam cringed. What was he supposed to say to that?

"Witch!" Lo'ak suddenly jumped out from atop of a big tree, yelling while throwing fruits directly at Yayìu. Kiri accompanying him.

Yayìu gasped and quickly stretched her arms in attempts to protect herself. "Stop it! Are you crazy, you brats?!"

Poor Neteyam barely reacted to the outburst, he was holding himself back from crying. Not in front her, and his siblings. She's not worth his tears, he tried to convince himself.

"Keep 'em coming-" Kiri was told by Lo'ak. She continued to give him the fruits, grinning.

"Ow! Ow—How dare you, four fingered freaks! You'll pay for this!" Yayìu screams in pain.

"How dare you cheat on my brother, bitch! I always thought he lowered his standards for you, you're not even all that." He yells back.

Yayìu couldn't believe those offensive remarks. If he wasn't hitting her with those fruits, she would've grabbed the brat by his ears and taught him how to speak to a lady. An outcast like him should grasp his place in this world. How dare he!

When Lo'ak purposefully increased the strength of his aims, she had no choice but to hastily flee and shouted that she won't forgive their disrespect.

Laugher erupted from the two siblings as they high fived each other.

"I guess we Sullys have a thing for eavesdropping." Neteyam mumbled to no one in particular.

"A creature was chasing us after we accidentally stepped on its tail; we ended up here, and Lo'ak decided to be nosy when he heard that cheater and her friend. He wanted dirt on her, and honestly, same." Kiri explained in details. She shifted to be by his side, soothingly rubbing his back.

"You alright, bro?" Lo'ak asked his older brother, a tone full of earnest concern.

"It's her loss. You're way better off without her, Teyam. You deserve better."

"Kiri's right, plus you have us."

"I think that's more of a curse than a blessing." Neteyam groaned, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Bro what?? We're awesome and we're here for you! Nothing's stronger than family."

Neteyam would be lying if he said he wasn't affected by this. It hurts. It's a huge blow to the ego. He trusted her. That's why he never questioned her relationships with other guys she called her friends. She took him for granted, his feelings, his heart. No one with real love for a person would betray them like this. She was the girl he saw a loving future with. Maybe they might split up at some point, but that was another day's worry. This is too soon and damn painful.

Well, it all did become clear. It had little to do with him. She preferred another guy. It didn't mean he did anything wrong or wasn't good enough. It was her choice. Instead of being a good and honest person, she lied to save her own face. He knew he had kept his integrity throughout their brief relationship. He knew he was good enough. He knew he had plenty to offer someone else. And he knew he'd rather be by himself than with a she-wolf who would lie and use him.

He shrugged, "Let's go, mom cooked."

"Okay, c'mon." Both Kiri and Lo'ak's arms were securely wrapped around their older brother's slender waist as they swung their bodies to escort him back home. They granted him a moment of peace to himself.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A/n: Helloo. First chapter, finally~ I'm actually looking forward to a lot of things.

Check it out on Wattpad and vote! Thank youu

Enjoy꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡

[angstyavocado]

Updated table of contents for my Nanowrimo project, the backstory for my DND campaign 2 barbarian. Each chapter has the title of a song from her playlist, and I just added the most relevant lyrics from each one as a quote. I wish this indicated these are completed chapters, but hey, this was a fun exercise.

CHAPTER ONE: Second Child, Restless Child

“I was born the second child,

With a spirit running wild, running free[...]

You’ve got to go on further than you’ve ever gone,

You’ve got to run far from all you’ve ever known.”

CHAPTER TWO: The Fine Print

“You should have read the fine print, my friend.

Here, just fill out the paperwork and you can look around.

We work to earn the right to work to earn the right to buy ourselves the right to live to earn the right to die.”

CHAPTER THREE: Spent Gladiator 1

“Do every stupid thing that makes you feel alive

Do every stupid thing to try to drive the dark away.”

CHAPTER FOUR: Chemical Worker’s Song

“They’ll time your every breath

And every day you’re in this place

You’re two days nearer death.”

CHAPTER FIVE: Machine

“I’ve been wondering when you’re gonna see I’m not for sale,

When you’re gonna see I’m not part of your machine.

Fill my cup with endless ambition

And paint this town with my very own vision.”

CHAPTER SIX: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

“There's a room where the light won't find you

Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down

When they do I'll be right behind you

Everybody wants to rule the world.”

CHAPTER SEVEN: Eight

“I was just a kid who grew up strong enough to pick this armor up

And suddenly it fit.

I want to break these bones ‘til they’re better

I want to break them right and feel alive

You were wrong, you were wrong, you were wrong–

My healing needed more than time.”

CHAPTER EIGHT: Feed the Machine

“Hey, you, poison the well,

Watch it all burn, take them straight to hell.”

CHAPTER NINE: Steal Smoked Fish

“The joys that the lesser days bring

Make you throw back your heads and sing

Feels so good to have you here

Some of you will be dead next year

God bless all petty thieves with tins of oysters up their sleeves

Feast when you can and dream when there’s nothing to feast on.”

CHAPTER TEN: Go Get Your Gun

“Imposing penance one by one, you’ve got a virtue in a vice [...]

When this is over, then we’ll raise a glass straight up to the sun

With our one foot in the grave while the other one’s kicking its way right down to hell.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Black Sheep

“I should've known one day you would betray my trust

I’ll tell you now, I never liked you all that much

You’ve always been and you will always be

Nothing more than a memory

And nothing at all to me.”

CHAPTER TWELVE: Daniel in the Den

“You thought the lions were bad,

Well, they tried to kill my brothers

And felled in the night by the ones you think you love

They will come for you.

Go, go, go, go, go, go.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Training Montage

“I’m doing this for revenge

I’m doing this to try and stay true

I’m doing this for the ones we had to leave behind

I’m doing this for you.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Werewolf Gimmick

“Empty out the locker room, let me find my space

Let him who thinks he knows no fear look well upon my face.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Getting into Knives

“Loaded up my toolkit with every hateful instrument

Now here we are thirty years later

Met up with some guys who wouldn’t tell me their last names

They specialize in non-conventional munitions

You can’t give me back what you’ve taken

But you can give me something that’s almost as good.

I’m getting into knives.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Abandon Ship

“Everything you thought you knew

Like no one being there for you

Just trust me that it isn’t true

This is our ship, and we’re your crew

Abandon everything you know

Sail with us

And we’ll show you what it means to be alive.

The best is yet to come.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Riverboat Shanty

“I’m standing guard, I’m falling apart

And all I want is to trust you [...]

Here’s a map, here’s a shovel, here’s my Achilles heel

I’m all in, palms out

I’m at your mercy now and I’m ready to begin

I am strong, I am strong, I am strong enough to let you in.”

“The river knows my sorrows and it flows to safer shores

On the water I’m nobody’s daughter anymore

And there’s no room for baggage we cannot trade for goods

So let the river flow fast as it can go

Oarsmen row the boat, I’m not going home

Let the river flow now.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

“We can live forever if you’ve got the time

You’re the broken glass in the morning light

Be a burning star if it take all night

So just save yourself and I’ll hold them back tonight.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Oh the Places You’ll Go

“I can’t promise you’ll be safe. I can’t promise you won’t lose your way.

But I promise you now, you’ll get through it somehow

And you'll laugh about today

You’ll know how I love you so, and find a way to stay strong.

Oh the places you'll go, with your eyes so wide

With your heart in your hand and your sword at your side

Oh the mountains you’ll move, oh the tears you’ll cry

Oh the places you'll go, little love of mine."

CHAPTER TWENTY: Red

“Close this wound, alight my bones;

I’m going away for a long time.”

[dearyvicious]

she had never understood how, for some, that wasteland could be a paradise, while for her it was just a tangle of cages, big pretences and pageant queens. no matter how big her dream, in every way, the furthest she could go there was to become the trophy wife, to have white fences and fashionable dogs, beautiful children and travel photos framing the walls of the home. she could never be content with that. and, perhaps, she had realised that too late. andrew was a sunshine, all the golden hues in one person. and, god, for too long, she had tried to be the wife he wanted her to be, that he deserved to have.

the retrograde anamnesis of that moment, of when she'd left, was still so vivid in her mind that sometimes she had that silly fear that, when she blinked, it might still be there. the fights were constant, the mutual discontent, the difficulty of staying in the same room, loud voices, tears and the constant slamming of doors. yes, she knew she had broken him. that she had shattered his heart just because drew loved her too much to let her go. she had always wondered if he had noticed the bags stacked in the guest room, if he already knew she was leaving that night. the dining table lay untouched in front of her, everything they had said to each other still hanging in the air, guilt consuming her for shouting that she would never be happy with him in a house like that. her eyes were still pressed to the garage door, where he always hid after arguments. and while he worked there, she requested a taxicab, being cowardly enough to disappear while he wasn't looking.

through the rear-view mirror she'd watched the house drive away. she'd left behind her home, her dreams and the man she'd sworn to love. for a few years, she stayed out of the news, using her maiden name, investing in her career as a journalist, publishing a few books and making her own name, quickly gaining promotions that led her to become an anchor for one of new york's biggest newspapers. when she'd been in the aristocratic milieu, it had been hard not to get carried away, especially when she'd met a senator, he had the ambition that drew could never have, and when the proposal had been made, she'd known that not accepting it would be a mistake, although it would require divorcing andrew. heavens, she had tried in a friendly way for two long years, never wishing for this moment to occur when she stood in front of him as lost and tiny as the girl he had known in high school.

" miller… " the name zipped across her plump, pink lips like a prayer, a kind of secret that could not be told to anyone. " how long. " guilty brown eyes scrutinised him only to scold herself, knowing the years had been kind to him. " can we talk? please... " the folder was in hand containing the papers, but it wasn't that that caught the eye, it was the bag next to her and those pompous city girl robes. she was still unable to drive and, she was still fighting with her parents since she had run away. some things didn't change. she was still that little mess.

Muse: Andrew ‘Drew’ Miller. Late Twenties/Early Thirties.

Connections: Females, Wife (Been separated for years.)

Plot: Based off the movie ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Your muse is from some small town, USA. Tight knit community, everybody knows everybody sort of ordeal. Your muse, and Drew were high school sweethearts totally in love. Got hitch when they were young, and dumb. Things didn’t work out, so your muse left to make a better life for themselves. Now for years your muse has been trying to get Drew to sign the divorce papers, but what happens after getting engaged to someone else having to go back to your hometown to get him to sign the papers? Will you two reconcile? Is there absolutely no feelings there anymore? Who knows.

(Go crazy, with how your muse feels, and what happened between them to make them split! ) @indiestarter

Andrew was the definition of a rough around the edges sort of guy. Especially back in day, didn’t really have anything going for him, a high school football career that didn’t take off. He cared though, that man cared more about her than anyone he ever had. Loved her, did the whole get hitched thing, but you know young love either works or it doesn’t. Well for Andrew he thought it was working, but she wanted more than he could offer.

He didn’t blame her for leaving, but he sure as hell didn’t want her too. Maybe that was why he been making her like a living hell for the last couple of years not signing those papers her lawyer sent over constantly. When they were together he was just working some construction job that his dad managed to score him. After she left, well even if it might’ve been too late now he wanted to improve himself for her. Bought the local bar in town, but never got around to winning her back as she made a new life for herself.

“Shit murph, I told you man. Can’t be giving out free drinks.” His voice full of annoyance, as he tried speaking over the dozens of people that crowded the bar. “Nah, man it’s fine just don’t do it anymore.” He consoled his bartender Murphy who was begging for forgiveness instantly. A hand draped over his face as he walked around the bar, groaning to himself over the situation. Before turning the corner, and there she was. In the flesh after all these years.

[sabine-leo]

Always been you... (FINAL) Chapter 6

Author:@sabine-leo

Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Friends to lovers

Chapter: 6 / 6

Link to Chapter 1 / Link to Chapter 2 / Link to Chapter 3 / Link to Chapter 4 / Link to Chapter 5

Summary: Since Toms´ sister Emma has been your friend since childhood, Tom was a part of your life for about 25 years now. Forming a deep and trusting friendship had been easy. You could count on each other no matter what. SO, when your flat got flooded Tom was the first to offer help and take you in.

But what will living together stir up?

Note: Tags are open!

Comments and reblogs are very much appreciated!

That is a wrap on this story. Thank you for reading and commenting... AND for paitently waiting for me to get through a tough time to finaly finish this one :) I do hope to be back with more stories and with finishing another WIP

Chapter 6

Tom smiled back and walked towards the door, held it open.

“Nobody is leaving until we have confronted our feelings!”

Walking past him he stopped you with one hand in the frame.

“Actually…” He spoke. “I am not going to let you leave ever again.”

Grinning he added. “See, I´m being very clear.”

There he stood. This contradicting man. Opening the door like a gentleman but also blocking the way with his arm. His words, though tenderly spoken, held an innuendo that made your belly do somersaults. You looked up into his eyes and the sparkle in them reminded you of a young Thomas accompanying you to the school dance. Tom tilted his head and smiled while slowly letting his arm fall down to his side. “After you…”

“Thank you very much.” You said with a nervous voice and walked inside.

There were too much feelings inside of you. The kiss had awakened everything that had been buried deep. Tom dropped of his jacket and walked towards you, taking the cakebox out of your hands he put it onto the table and said “You´ve been very quiet on the drive home…”

Slowly he walked back towards you and took your hand to guide you to the sofa.

When you sat down next to him, he turned sideways.

“What is going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

“Nothing…everything at once. I don´t know!”

Tom smiled softly and took in a deep breath.

“Ok, let me ask you this. Why did you keep my green shirt all those years?”

Your head shot up and your gaze locked with his. A soft smile spread on Tom’s face.

“I wrecked my brain for 3 days but I now remember the day I gave it to you.”

He took your hand in his. “And I remember why I gave it to you.”

“Why?” You asked, still overwhelmed by all those feelings.

Tom entwined your linked hands anew and lifted them to breath a kiss onto yours. For a second he closed his beautiful eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I wanted you to wear my shirt so that it would carry your scent when I got I back…” Tom grinned sweetly “…Problem is.. I never got it back.”

You laughed softly and spoke quietly. “And I kept it so that I would have something of you when you would head back to Eton.”

Toms’ eyes welled up. “After that day…life just got in the way. My ambition got in the way. Every time I saw you there was this pang of regret hitting me. But after some years I told myself that it was too late. That I´d ruin a friendship…so I tried my best to…”

You softly interrupted “…To tell yourself that it was just a phase, a crush that´d go away some day.”

Tom nodded. “Yes. And for a while it did…even though it was you I´d talk to, call, go for whenever I needed consolation, a shoulder to cry on or just share my sparse time with.”

Tom blinked rapidly for a few times.

“I´ve been blind and foolish and just plain stupid…but that ends now.”

He came closer and his hand touched your cheek. His eyes searched yours while he searched for words that would do his feelings justice. When those words finaly came, they wear spoken hoarse but with a deep felt meaning that touched your soul and your heart.

“Its always been you!”

His words hung in the air like mist on a foggy morning. Toms blue orbs searched yours, he held his breath for a second. It went out on a puff when he saw your eyes fill with tears.

"Oh Thomas..." you croaked and gulped down the feelings he had pulled from the far ends of your beeing. Tom grinned and grabbed your face with both his hands.

"It has always been you! And it only ever will be you!"

Then he silenced the whole world around the both of you with a kiss that was longing, willing and liberating all at once.

When he had to come up for air he chuckled "Mother was right...I really have been blind to the things right in front of me...till now. I think, I do see very clearly what is in front of me just now."

Grinning you leaned back a little and said.

"Are you sure... you look a little cross-eyed to me."

Tom lifted one eyebrow and answered deadpan

"Must be the build up sexual tension from all those years wanting you but beeing to foolish to accept it."

Then that ridiculously handsome man really looked cross-eyed at you and tackled you with another kiss. Bringing you flat onto your back with him on top. When he lifted his head again he grinned and looked gloriously disheveled from your roaming hands.

"Care to join me in my bed tonight?"

THE END

@delightfulheartdream @huntress-artemismiss @chezagness @donaweasley @kiliskywalker666 @catsladen @hawksugarbaby @lots-of-lok i@traceyaudette @ellaenchanted91 @dr-kayleigh-dh @mrsstyles033 @usedtobegoodfriend96 @hiddles-thomas-blogomas-blog @noplacelikehome77 @ladyblablabla @myoxiisbroken @lumoswinchesterkazy2y5 @viviandarkbloom06 @snoopy3000@alexakeyloveloki@archy3001 @itscalledfandomsweetielookitup @faeriedelalune-blog@lil-mewlingquim07 @amazinggraces-world@tanishahka @coniumalces @emomemelordesss @devilbat @usedtobegoodfriend96end96 @cest-le-temps-de-lamour @adefectivedetective@karnita-mexicana@marvelc00kie35 @stressedoutsteph @maggiefollows@bi-spider-noir @klbates22 @my-fuckin-problem@deathofmissjackson @vesper-lou@bluefrenchfries604​@maybell88 @moonstar86@lokilvrr@wiczer @thisismysecrethappyplace ​@wiczer @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore @geekwritersworld @kthemarsiann @donaweasley @alexakeyloveloki @9osloki @tinchentitri @augustsnape @delightfulheartdream @loukisbuck @frabi776 @cabingrlandrandomcrap @pandareesstuff @1-lamentis@charmedbysarge @lotus-eyedindiangoddess@raven-reyes-wife @not-anotha-loki-fanart-acc @lulubelle81414 @hiraiders16 @melisad1974 @cabingrlandrandomcrap @millennialanxieties @hayden429 @midnights-ramblings

[dauntless-gothamite]

Prove Them Wrong [3/?]

Fandom: Divergent Pairing: Eric Coulter x Fem! Reader Summary: Y/N is a Dauntless transfer from Erudite, and she has a drive, an ambition that sets her apart--it always has, even back in Erudite. She brings her perseverance (and need to prove others wrong) to Dauntless when she transfers, and she uses her mind to make her way through the initiation process. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and she finds herself comfortable around the man most people in Dauntless avoid at all costs: Eric Coulter. A/N: I like what I did with the end of this one, putting a (hopefully) comedic/unique twist on a trope and adding something original :) feedback is very much appreciated, happy reading

When you walked into the training room the next morning, everyone avoided looking at your face, specifically, your neck. Instead, people looked at the ground. You knew you had bruises around your neck from where Peter had grabbed you, but you hadn’t expected a group of dauntless to be so touchy about it; bruises were common here. 

“Alright, listen up!” Four yelled. “We are doing some target practice today, so line up and get throwing,” he said, pointing to the line of targets against the wall. At least you weren’t fighting today; your body could use a break. That fight with Peter really had worn you out, and since you guys had thrown knives a couple times already, you were starting to get familiar with the technique. 

You walked up to a free target and looked over the knives positioned on the table before you, holding one and turning it over in your hand. “Well? Are you going to throw that knife or just stare at it all day?” the gruff, aggressive voice of Eric asked. You turned to look at him, and a part of you was pleased to notice that he was looking you in the face, not avoiding your eyes and neck like everyone else around here. 

One side of your mouth quirked up in the beginning of a smile before you replied, “I’m about to throw it.”

“Then get on with it!” Without hesitation, you turned your body to the target, and you positioned your feet similar to how you would if you were throwing punches instead of knives. Gripping the handle, you drew the knife back, aimed, and twisted forward, releasing the knife as you traced an invisible arc over your head. The knife stuck to the target with a thud, but it was a little lower than you’d hoped it would be. Eric nodded and said “Get that figured out before I get back, and maybe I won’t yell at you,” before walking away to stand behind some other initiate, most likely to stress them out so much that they’d miss the target completely. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t yell at me very much, you thought to yourself. Because I don’t break under the pressure of his judgemental stare. After taking many math tests with teachers walking around the room, looking over each student’s shoulder as they frantically scribbled down answers, you were used to being watched and assessed. 

Picking up the next knife, you lined yourself up just like you did before and repeated the motion, letting go of the knife a bit earlier this time. The knife landed at the height you wanted it to, but it was a little far to the side. Grabbing for the next knife, you made sure that this time you didn’t twist as much, but you did everything the same way you did before, and the third knife landed just a few millimeters from where you’d aimed, but you were satisfied. Smirking to yourself, you looked to either side before walking forward cautiously to grab the knives from the target. As you grabbed the first knife’s handle and pulled it out of the target, you heard the sound of a knife flying through the air near your head, and in an instant, said knife embedded itself just a centimeter above your head in the target. 

“What the fuck!” you yelled. Whipping around to glare at whichever person’s knife had gone so far off course, you saw Eric standing where you had been standing to throw the knives with a smirk on his face. 

“Just testing you,” he said nonchalantly. You scowled in response, eyeing the knife he still held in his hands. You locked eyes with him, and his smirk grew wider as you backed up against the target, knowing what would come next, right before Eric’s second knife landed between your arm and your torso. You turned back around to grab your knives, and Eric said “Grab mine too, initiate.” While you were turned around, you rolled your eyes, but you did retrieve his knives for him, passing them back to him curtly. He grabbed them out of your hands, fingers brushing ever so slightly in the process, before turning around to torment someone else. 

--

At dinner, just as you were about to take a bite of your hamburger, Will asked, “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get Eric not to hate you!”

“He doesn’t like me,” you scoffed.

“At the very least, he doesn’t yell at you every five minutes,” Tris butted in, to which Will and Christina nodded fervently. 

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “Luck, I guess?”

“No way, luck could not possibly get that man to be even a little bit nice to anybody,” Christina countered. 

“Ok, maybe not, but like I said, I don’t know! Maybe it’s because I don’t crack under pressure or something.”

“Something like that,” Will conceded with a sigh before turning on Tris. “Your turn; what’s going on with you and Four?”

“Nothing!” Tris replied. 

“Come on, don’t lie to us,” Christina said. You badly wanted to say something to try and get more information out of Tris, but you refrained just in case they decided to turn back on you and start asking about Eric again. 

“I don’t know,” Tris said. “He’s cute, though,” she admitted with flushed cheeks. 

The banter between you all went on like that for a little while as everyone ate their dinner, until Will got up and said, “I’ll see you guys back at the dorm; I want to get there early and hit the showers while everyone is still at dinner. Get a little privacy for once,” and stood up with a smile. 

As soon as Will was out of earshot, you leaned across the table to Christina and said “So, when are you finally going to tell Will you like him?” you smirked. 

“What? No,” Christina said.

“Come on, Tris, back me up here,” you said.

“She has a point,” Tris said with a nod. 

“You guys are unbelievable!” Christina said and stood up, prompting you and Tris to do the same, and then you all headed out of the dining area together to stroll through dauntless for a little while before going back to the dorm so as to give Will some privacy. 

“You know, I think I’m going to try and shower early as well,” Tris said as the three of you walked. “But don’t worry, Christina, I won’t look at Will,” she winked and laughed before peeling off towards the dorm.

“Hey!” Christina yelled after her as you stood next to her, doubled over in laughter. 

“Will, can you calculate the speed at which my fist hits the punching bag? Can you--” you teased Christina.

“Stop it!” she shrieked, her blush deepening.

“Just admit that you like him, it should be easy for an ex-Candor!”

“Fuck off!” she said, but there was no malice in her tone. You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, and that was the last straw before Christina gave you a hard shove, making you stumble as you laughed at her expense. Then your body collided with something solid. You heard whomever you had just crashed into growl in frustration as you stared at their black boots. Eric’s black boots. Your laughter died in your throat as you stood, taking note of the numerous pages and folders that were undoubtedly full of important files in them scattered across the floor. You made eye contact with Christina’s, who at least had the decency to look guilty as she retreated down the hallway, as Eric said “Well, initiate. I don’t know what you were doing, nor do I care, but the rest of your evening will be spent reorganizing the files you just scattered everywhere.” 

You nodded as you made eye contact with him before bending over to pick up the pages on the floor. Once you had picked everything up, Eric started walking and you followed up three flights of stairs and down a hallway, eventually coming to a stop outside a door which he unlocked. You followed him inside as he turned on the lights, and looking around, you knew this was his office. “You will sort these pages by category and date, then leave them on my desk when you’re finished, understood?”

“Actually, I have a question,” you asked as an idea occurred to you. He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“What?”

“Wouldn’t something physical be a better punishment? Just because I happen to be good at sorting, this feels like it’s--”

“No,” Eric said. “I know what you’re doing. Trying to get an advantage by extra training and building it into something you already have to do. I’m not an idiot, Y/N.”

Nervous to push him any further, you decided to throw one more thing out there, and if he didn’t take it well you would shut it and sort the files. “Well, of course not, you are from Erudite originally, so--”

“Who told you that,” Eric asked, annoyed. You weren’t sure, but you thought you saw a glimpse of something else in his eyes for a moment. 

“No one, it’s just that Ms. McKimmerer talked about you all the time.”

“That old math teacher? He asked incredulously”

“Yeah, she always said ‘Eric Coulter memorized more digits of pi than any other student in his year, try to be more like him’ and ‘It’s a shame he left Erudite’ when she taught us about pi.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Eric scoffed. “And don’t mention that to anyone, initiate!”

“I won’t!” you said, slightly amused. After a brief pause, you said,  “But you should know, there is even a picture of you from that year on her desk, with your hair combed back and a blue collared shirt.”

Eric paused for a moment, and you did your best not to break, but eventually you howled in laughter; his wide-eyed reaction was just too funny.

Scowl in place, Eric schooled his face into a calm, if annoyed mask, and said “get to work on those files. I will check back in a bit to see if you’re done sorting them.” Then, he walked out and shut the door behind him. Chuckling to yourself, you got to work on the large stack of paper before you.

--

The door opened loudly and you woke up to the sound of Eric Coulter clearing his throat. “Did you finish sorting the files before falling asleep at my desk, initiate?” 

Sitting up, slightly embarrassed, you nodded. “Good. Now get out of my office and go eat dinner.”

You stood from the desk, hesitating for a minute. “I actually wanted to ask you something,” you said, turning to face Eric. 

“Yes?”

“Well, I noticed you have a few books in here, and I was wondering if I could borrow Mental Conditioning: Getting Your Mind and Body On the Same Page. I wasn’t looking through your stuff, it’s just on the self over there--”

“I know where my own damn book is,” he said, walking over to it and grabbing the book off the shelf. “Here,” he said, handing it to you. “Return it when you're done, and it better be in the same condition it is now when I get it back, understood?”

“Yes, thank you!” you smiled at him, pleasantly surprised that he was letting you borrow the book.

--

That night, when you got back to the dorm room, you read a few pages of Eric’s book before going to bed. It was a little hard to focus with all the noise--you’d find a better spot to read tomorrow--but you were happy nonetheless; while dauntless was great, you had missed all the books that were available to you at Erudite. As your eyes grew tired, you reached into your bag under your bed, which held your few belongings--every initiate got one--and pulled out a napkin you had been doodling some tattoo ideas on during lunch, placed it between the pages to act as a bookmark, and put the book away in the bag. You closed your eyes, surrounded by your friends, mind calm from reading, and for a moment, despite the lingering pain around your neck, you were completely at peace as you drifted off to sleep. 

Tag List: @shykoolaid, @taina-eny​, @parabatai-winchester​, @marvel-ousnesss​

[akaashisupremacy]

Ambition

Summary: As you fall deeper in love with him, where do you fit into among Atsumu’s ambitions? 

Atsumu x reader  || HQ Masterlist

genre: angst to fluff (wc: 1k)

“So are you two together or what?” Osamu Miya squints at you expectantly with his hands on his waist.

He is much like his brother. They both have little subtlety.

After a reunion in Onigiri Miya, everybody except the twins finally leave. You’re left alone with Osamu, who is cleaning up the tables and Atsumu who is in the loo.  

Osamu’s been seeing the two of you around enough that his curiosity is piqued. You look left and right, making sure Atsumu isn’t eavesdropping anywhere nearby.

“Ahhmm, don’t think so. To be honest, I’m not sure this is going to last once he heads back to Osaka.” you shrug.

You try to do it as casually as you can. You don’t want to look affected by your decision.

“Oh, really now?” Osamu tries not to give away his surprise, but from the slight raise of his brows you can tell that isn’t what he expected.

Atsumu comes out of the bathroom just as the awkward silence settles between the two of you.

“Did I miss anything?” he asks.

You and Osamu shake your heads in unison. This is a conversation to be had between you and Atsumu only.

Atsumu’s eyes flicker back and forth in suspicion.

“Let’s get you home. I’ll walk you to the intersection.” he nods.

————————————————————————————————

Atsumu is disconcerted by what he witnessed between you and Samu. He thought you and he are at a point where you can be honest with each other. Apparently not.

As your feet crunched beneath Hyogo’s pavement, he subtly turns to you.

Atsumu is one for intense romantic relationships. He is not shy about his passion. He doesn’t shy away from physical intimacy in the early stages. He is unafraid to argue and air his opinions. He likes getting in what sprints of time he can get with his partners.

And so he finds it disconcerting that despite being un-immune to his charms, you’ve been keeping him at arm’s length where he is unable to relish in the usual emotional intensity he expects out of his relationships.

“You don’t have to walk me home. I can go alone.” you insist.

“I want to.” he quickly follows you and grabs his coat. In the corner of his eye, Osamu nods as if to wish him good luck.

You remembered earlier this evening when the alcohol was really setting in, you exchanged a series of long glances at Atsumu. Your cheeks were both flushed, eyes hazy with lust and intoxication. You couldn’t help looking at him and he at you.

You looked at him through your lashes, tracing your eyes over the bridge of his nose and the curve of his cheeks. And nothing thrilled you more than when you caught him looking at you the same way, except maybe when he would smirk or wink at you from where he was.

Even though you were seated apart, these gestures obliterated the distance.

It’s not that you haven’t been attracted to him before. But something about his impassioned ways tempered by time and a tinge of melancholy adds a layer of charm to the Atsumu you know.

“When I get back to Osaka—“ he begins. Before this year, Atsumu’s never been to your side of town. Now he knows your address like the back of his hand.

“I don’t think you’ll hear much from me.” you interrupt.

The crisp in the air turns to chill.

“Hai? Excuse me?” he swivels his entire body towards you, hands buried deep in his pockets. “Aren’t you moving there?”

“I think we should stop, whatever this is.” you try to replicate the shrug you gave to Osamu.

Your impending move to Osaka was the catalyst of your increasingly frequent meetings with Atsumu this past few months. At first it was strictly business. You asked about the logistics and the house-hunting.

Soon after, Osaka was just an excuse. Whenever Atsumu came back to Kobe, you hung out because you wanted to.

You were surprised at how much you liked spending time with Atsumu. He has an irresistible zest for life and sport that was contagious. Although he’s not as frank as he used to be, you appreciated his candor and his single-handed determination not to give a shit for those who didn’t like him.

However the more time you spent with him, the more evident it is that his life revolved around his work.

Atsumu blinks hard and furrows his brow, “Was I…reading some signs…wrong?”

You hate it that he’s standing so close enough that you can feel some warmth from his body. It’s difficult not to fantasise what his skin is like on yours once you’re both alone in an apartment.

When you gaze up to his eyes, they are wide, confused and hurt.

“I-I know you were offered to play in a league abroad…” you organize your feelings, “and I…don’t want to move to Osaka just so our goodbyes can be difficult. I don’t want to have to compete with volleyball.”

“Oh that,” he murmurs swiftly, “I’m turning it down.”

Your head whiplashes, “WHAT?!”

Atsumu is one to be defined almost exclusively by his ambition and drive for volleyball. It’s such a huge part of his identity.

“I’ve made up my mind that I’m not going to play for a foreign league. I’m going to spend the rest of my professional career here in Japan.” he says steadfastly. It’s his turn to shrug.

He looks so calm. You can tell he’s made this decision for a while now.

“I’m not injured,” he reads into your expression, “I like my life right now and I’ve hit the point that I want to maintain my work-life balance. If those offers came when I was younger, I’d totally grab it. Burn myself to the ground to improve my game and everything. But that’s just not me anymore. I want to settle down in Japan.”

“Is that bad? That I’m not the ambitious, blazing athlete you thought I’d be?” he smiles. There’s a tinge of sadness as if he’s expecting inevitable disappointment.

“No, I respect that. It’s just that…” You’re not sure what to say.

“I’m closer to my family, to you and I don’t want to be ashamed that I admit that.” he continues, ”My drive has gotten me to where I am today. That doesn’t mean I need to keep this up for the rest of my life.”

He looks wistfully at the sky. You’re not sure if you’ve ever seen him so serene.

You both stop walking. You’ve arrived at the intersection. His gaze returns to you.

“So can I invite you to my game next month? Tickets will be on me.” he smiles.

He reaches out to hold your hand. Your fingers instinctively interlace with his.

“Of course, I’d love to see you play again.”

You lean in to plant a kiss on his cheek. Instead his hands cup your face and kisses your lips. Although his lips are warm and soft, the easy contentment in his eyes is replaced by longing.

When you began spending time with Atsumu, you wondered why you hadn’t been more attracted to him when you were both in Inarizaki. But now it doesn’t matter.

You feel lucky to fall for him at this stage in his life. Where his life isn’t centered completely around his career anymore. Where his ambition is to build a life with you.

-------------------------------------------------

Read more Atsumu here (one shot) or here (mini series). 

Taglist: @itstheee-ha-chan @kaizumi @holaaaf @glxar

Comment or message to be added to the taglist! :D

[buffintruder]

for the wip ask meme Greed sub vs dub (*all chanting* fight! fight! fight!) and/or DNG au bc i tried googling that one to see if it was anything i knew and apparently it's a type of image file lol

Greed sub vs dub:

So basically at one point i noticed that Greed's dialogue in English vs Japanese is VERY different and I started writing an essay about it. I'm not going to post an excerpt because it's boring, but tldr is that Greed in Japanese is a) less sexual b) more admiring of others (or is more explicit about it) c) cares more openly about people and is cared about in turn.

The biggest example I can see is when Greed is trying to stop people from fighting during the Promised Day. For the same bit of dialogue here is what he says in each version.

Dub: Let’s go! We’ll need anyone who can still fight

Sub: At this point, we should leave behind anyone who can’t fight anymore

DNG au:

This stands for Devil's Nest Gang au haha, not a common acronym as far as i know

This is basically an au where the Xingese squad don't go to Amestris but things still turn out fine for both of them. Ling becomes heir anyway, except then he speaks up against the Emperor and is forced to flee the country (sort of Zuko style) and ends up working for the Devil's Nest Gang (who have not been killed by Bradley in this au)

Excerpt under the cut:

“How does a country even lose their prince?” Greed laughed from the next table over. Ling froze, his attention fully on his new boss. “They misplace him or what?”

“Newspaper doesn’t say,” Roa said with a shrug. “I’m guessing they’d know by now if it was a ransom situation, and makes no sense to capture a prince when you could kill him otherwise. So maybe he ran away?”

Ling had, though that was not the full story. Fled for his life would be a more apt description.

“Who’d run away from being emperor?” Greed asked.

“I thought you were over your whole ‘becoming ruler of the world’ thing,” Martel called from the hallway as she passed by.

“I’m Greed, I want everything!” Greed said.

Judging by how Martel rolled her eyes and Roa snorted, Ling had a feeling that this was something Greed insisted on often. Was Greed a name he had chosen for himself then, some point of pride? It seemed like an odd name to choose, but then again, Ling had only learned the more formal end of Amestrian culture. Xingese gangsters often took intimidating names or were given them by others, and Amestrians likely did the same, though Ling couldn’t say he was particularly frightened or awed by the concept of greed.

“And hey,” Greed continued. “You’re telling me that if your shitty dad was about to take over the world, you wouldn’t be at least a little tempted to take it all from him.”

That certainly sounded like there was a story behind that. It was also rather uncomfortably relatable. Perhaps Ling’s father hadn’t set his sights on the whole world, but he did rule a quite significant chunk of it, and Ling had done his best to take it all for himself. Look where that had gotten him.

“I wouldn’t,” Roa said, his tone flat but amused. “Ruling the world sounds like a big pain. Way too much work.”

Greed sighed loudly. “This is why I’m the leader. The rest of you have no ambition.” He turned around behind him. “Hey, Yao, tell me you have more drive than the rest of these here.”

Ling was too well trained to jump at the sound of his name, but he did look up a little faster than was perhaps entirely natural. The last thing he wanted was to get involved in this conversation, to draw any lines between himself and this missing prince. Still, at least the conversation had moved somewhat away from that.

“I’d steal my shitty dad’s power if I could,” Ling said with a grin. “Though that might be because I hate my dad more than because I want the power.”

“Hear, hear!” Greed said.

“You don’t want to rule the world any more?” Ling asked, curious. Power was the driving force of most gangs, he had assumed.

“I mean I wouldn’t pass it up if it was offered,” Greed said.

“Not exactly going out of your way to get it either?”

“Nah.” Greed waved a hand vaguely. “I’d spend all my time trying to get more, and what’s the point of wanting possessions if you don’t get to enjoy what you have? I’m living my life in hedonistic glory.”

“Makes sense,” Ling said, and he could sort of see what Greed was saying. He had studied history enough to know the fallings of those who overreached themselves, how the greatest of conquerers often had their empire fall apart a generation or two down the line. Ling had never wanted to expand the borders of Xing, only to control what already existed within it. He had never been one to let limits stop him, but even so, it seemed like protecting his clan and trying to improve the Xingese system of governance was already more than enough for one man. 

But ruling had never been about enjoyment, only duty, perhaps even destiny. Putting it in terms of desire like this felt strange to him.

“Plus they’d have to want to be mine,” Greed said, which felt even more nonsensical than anything else he had said.

“You say all that about seizing the opportunity to rule if you got the chance,” Roa said. Ling had almost forgotten that he was part of this conversation. “But you ran away from home too.”

“Ruling the world means nothing if you’re doing it under someone else’s thumb,” Greed snapped.

Roa shrugged. “Well, maybe that prince’s reasoning isn’t as incomprehensible to you as you might think.”

[curiousconch]

Chase You / Chase Me (Pt. 3)

Part 3: Remember when everything was different

Catch up here: Series Masterlist

Chapter Summary: Aislinn, Gigi and Alex find friendship in the midst of the competition. One discussion led to another, pushing Alex to take a trip down memory lane, revealing the moment in her past where she and Gabe's paths crossed for the first time.

Book/Pairing: Choices - Laws of Attraction / Gabe Ricci x MC (Alex Keating)

Words: 1.7k+

Rating/Warnings: Mature (16+) / alcohol consumption, language. Scenes/themes may trigger trauma for some, reader discretion advised.

Disclaimer: Most of the characters as well as some dialogue belong to Pixelberry. I am merely borrowing them.

Sunday, downtown New York

"Wait, can you back up for a moment," Aislinn said across Alex, who was scooping the remains of her melted banana split. Gigi was sipping her ice-cold mimosa, their brunch table full of plates with scrapes of leftovers. The sun was out and so were they, dining al fresco under the shade of a huge white parasol and the gentle breeze cooling them every now and then. It was a perfect day so far.

The trio has agreed to meet up that Sunday to discuss what went down with the Rothswell case as well as to prep for the conference Sadie had invited them to. They were on some kind of a peace pact, all of them sharing the view that pitting women against women in the corporate world is just shitty business.

Alex has enjoyed their company. They exchanged imaginary one-liners that would have made Martin frown his heart out or Beau McGraw chortle his head off. And speaking of McGraw, they all concluded that the best strategic course of action was to let Beau enjoy his moment in the sun. One day, Alex would make sure to remind him that he tried to rain on her parade.

It was a refreshing and enlightening discussion, though she will forever be traumatized with how many swears Gigi can cram in a single sentence. But the sight of a flustered Aislinn while Alex and Gigi engaged in a battle of pick-up lines with their waiter was a strong second contender.

As their drinks flowed, the conversation naturally led to rhetorical questions, now settling at why they became a lawyer. Aislinn shared first, surprisingly, stating that her knack for analysis was just a natural fit to the demands of a career in law. Gigi's answer was simple - she can leverage her eidetic memory to earn herself some serious dough, allowing her to live it up and take impromptu vacations to Bali.

Alex tried to dodge the question. She had never needed to discuss her reason of leaving pre-med behind to attend law school. It wasn't a pleasant memory, and she doubted it will ever be.

The two ladies were quick to see her attempts of evasion. But together, they finally wore her down, Alex left laughing with their shenanigans as they cornered her to tell her story. So she told them that she knew Gabe Ricci. And that it was because of him why she was a lawyer. Alex decided that revealing the truth was worth it, seeing how their jaws just dropped to the floor.

"Girl, you have to explain yourself right now," Gigi demanded, to which Aislinn seconded.

Alex snorted as she went back to skimming what was left of her dessert. "It's a boring sob story, and I don't want to turn this lovely morning into a snooze fest."

"We're not going anywhere, right Gi?" Aislinn turned to Gigi beside her, who nodded whilst sipping another glass of cocktail.

"Fine, but only if you swear this won't leave this table," she said. The two held up their hands invoking a half-smiling Alex, sensing nothing but sincerity. So she drank down her glass of bloody mary and took a deep breath, composing her tale.

"Buckle up, ladies, you're in for a ride."

**

10 years ago, in a town near Boston

Alessandra Keating had never felt more alone than she did that day.

They said she needed to just move forward. But how can she, when every day since the crash, she felt nothing but emptiness? How can she feel alright, when the only life that she knew was suddenly taken away from her?

It wasn't long before she found out that the car accident was caused by someone being reckless, by someone who thought they were above the law. Then, she imploded. No way could she let her parent's deaths be forgotten. No fucking way.

For the past three years, she invested all of herself into this endeavor. Researching, studying, choosing the right counsel, even raising funds. It was what kept her breathing, what gave her purpose. Ultimately, it was what kept her sane.

From filing the lawsuit to attending mediations, to numerous settlement meetings and colliding with every legal roadblock possible - Alex made sure to see them through. Only for everything to be decided that day - the bench trial.

One sweltering summer morning in her hometown's courthouse, Alex sat on the side of the plaintiff, with her long brunette hair tangled in waves. She let her senses wander, taking in the dark wooden panels and pews, her sense of smell invaded by the scent of old mahogany. She sealed her lips into silence, hiding her nerves by straightening the bargain khaki suit that she borrowed.

She barely held it in as her eyes travelled to the table beside them, catching a glimpse of the man that caused her immeasurable pain. With jet black hair and looking as young as her, he sat with an almost mocking expression. He was wearing a crisper set of suit, creating an illusion of trustworthiness that Alex can easily see through.

Maximilian K. Cornell. The green-eyed teenager who swerved his sports car onto the same slippery road Alex and her parents were passing through. The very same boy who got out unharmed, but left Alex's family to die in the snow. Her opponent was a slithery snake who managed to screw the justice system so many times over, just because his parents had the grease to do so.

But after the crash, the town decided they can no longer turn the other cheek. Alex's decision to sue was propelled by the support of the countless friends and families whom her parents have helped in their hour of need. But that still proved not enough.

Her mind whirled back to the proceedings, and to how every strategy, every plan of attack was being thrown out. With every whip from the defense, she started to grow impatient. As another traffic expert from her camp was dismissed, Alex just snapped inside. She leaned to Mr. Leroy, a withering man on the brink of retirement who was her lawyer, asking for them to convene outside.

"I'm sorry Mr. Leroy, but your strategies were just scrutinized and torn into pieces," Alex said in a low voice the moment they stepped out into the hallway.

"Alex, I am doing my best here. We clearly don't have the upper hand, lacking the incriminating evidence that we need," the man replied, exasperated.

"Have we dug up his previous records? I mean, why on earth would he have a sealed history? Doesn't that mean something?" she continued.

She continued to dictate her litany of better-positioned moves, but even Alex knew she wasn't getting through. So she excused herself from the conversation, hoping a cup of iced coffee will somehow mitigate her frustrations.

As soon as she came back, she found Mr. Leroy convening with a much younger man in a dark navy suit. His aura screamed "big city hotshot", albeit the exhausted look in his brown eyes. Not wanting to interrupt, she held off from approaching. However, her curiosity didn't stop her from eavesdropping.

What she heard the charismatic man say was a legal precedent that would have opened the sealed records in question. And with all the mind-boggling legal jargon, that's just about what she understood.

"Gabriel Ricci? I'm looking for an attorney named Gabriel Ricci?" a female voice from a nearby window called out, which made the young man raise his head. She saw him end the conversation abruptly, where a flustered Mr. Leroy hastily thanked him. Alex took that as her queue to approach her lawyer.

"Alex, we might be able to turn things around," she heard Leroy say.

And by some miracle, things did turn around. With her lawyer using the precedent offered by the young attorney earlier, their side gained the needed momentum to tip the scales in their favor. By the end of the trial, the verdict was out - Cornell will never be able to drive another vehicle, along with paying her a hefty amount of damages and fees.

They won.

Alex had to pinch herself before the victory sunk in. When it did, she felt an immense burden lifted from her shoulders.

After a long, long time, Alex can finally breathe.

Broken free from her nightmares, she asked herself what's next? The answer came to her almost immediately. Right there and then, she decided what she wanted to be. Like that man from the courthouse, she will become a lawyer.

Fueled by this new sense of mission, she saw a future for herself. No longer held by the past, she finally was able to move forward.

Indeed, Alex became what she set out to do - a lawyer who took on hopeless, even impossible cases and won them. A lawyer her parents would be proud of.

A damn good lawyer, just like Gabriel Ricci.

**

Present Day, at a New York Penthouse

Gabe sat in his home office clad in nothing but his white bath robe, holding a worn manila folder.

Five years ago, Gabe saw this case as his opportunity to make Robbie proud. The defendant had all the parallels with his brother - a teenager, incarcerated young, where the punishment had presumed to be too harsh. He now knew it was rightfully just.

But at that time, he was blinded by passion and ambition. He wanted to prove to himself and to Sadie what he can do. Taking on this case that was practically unwinnable would give him more power, more control over the pro bono cases he wanted to take. Actually winning this though, that proved to be his fatal mistake.

Your cockiness got the better of you again, Ricci.

His mind went to Alex. That was the direction his every waking moment drifted to nowadays. Whether he liked it or not, he'd answer some other day.

He had to let her know. If he didn't, Alex would eventually find out herself. Once she discovers that he was the one who had set this man free, she would hate him.

Gabe can't bring himself to think of that happening, of losing that chance with her, or of losing Alex's trust.

Hell, I'm going to lose her entirely if she finds out.

These realizations devastated him.

But how can they both escape the looming shadows of the past unscathed? Even he couldn't figure that out.

Sighing, he rubbed his hand on his face, reeling at his lack of options. He then stood up, slamming the open folder on his desk as he turned to face the window, simmering in his own regrets. Papers slipped out to the carpeted floor, including a full-page mugshot of the defendant.

It was Maximilian Cornell.

Author's Notes: With Sadie being shady AF, I feel like we all need some dose of female friendship right? Also, this is my HC why Gabe constantly pulls away from MC, not only because of their working relationship. Did the reveal live up to the cliffhanger? Let me know in the comments! 👇👇👇

Tag list: @adiehardfan @pixelnutrookie @starryjieun @latinagiraffe @sarcastic01lily   @spookycolorpeanut @ophrookie @suitfer @thegreentwin @mkatschoicesblog @made-of-roses

@choicesficwriterscreations

Thank you for your continued reading!

Want to be added or removed to the tag list? No problem - just let me know 😊. Reblogs are also much appreciated! 💕

[gyll-yee-haw]

The Assistant

Quentin Beck smut

Prompt (requested): Quentin finds out that his cute new assistant (the one who loves to tease and be a little brat to him) is a virgin... and he's got plans for her.

Warnings: lots of teasing and dirty talk, idk if it has more degradation or praising, I like to mix it lol.... mentions of losing your virginity, unprotected sex and a surprisingly soft daddy Quentin

Like 3k words

---

From the minute you stepped into that lab, you had Quentin's attention.

He thought you were the prettiest little thing he had ever seen, but he couldn't allow distractions, so he never really gave you too much attention, just left you there doing your job.

The thing is that you were brilliant at it. There was no way he could ignore your presence.

As time passed, you kept impressing him… And he became kinda obsessed with you.

He thought about you more than he should.

He got jealous whenever he saw another employee talking to you (maybe they mysteriously got fired after).

So he asked one of your coworkers to get really close to you., and find out as many information as possible from you. Like what you liked to do on your free time, what were your ambitions… or if you were single. If he found out you weren't, there's nothing he wouldn't do for you to be.

But he didn't have to waste any time on planning something against your partner's life cause you didn't have one, and he was relieved to hear that.

But those aren't even the best news he got that day

He also heard from your coworker after a small party you attended to that weekend (with a little drinking and a few games) that you were still a virgin. He lost his mind at the thought of you being his and ONLY his. No other man had ever had the privilege to touch you.

Now he had to make you his.

So you were promoted to his personal assistant.

You were thrilled. Not only because you got a better job, but you had this HUGE admiration for Quentin, and being able to get closer to him was amazing.

On the first days, he just showered you in questions. And the better he knew you, the more fascinated he grew.

But you were a little confused. Didn't seem right for your boss to be asking so many personal questions. Sometimes, his questions seemed to have a double meaning. And you knew Quentin was way too smart to not notice that. So the only way you had to find out what he really wanted was playing his game.

One day, you were at his office, and both of you were minding your own business, but you decided that the teasing would start that day.

So your eyes focused on him until he noticed it, and when he looked back at you, they would quickly go back to your computer.

One time was enough to make him suspicious, but after the third one, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Do you need anything?" He asked, making your heart race.

Pissing him off was exciting, but you knew it was also very dangerous.

"No, sir, I'm sorry." You lied, without taking your eyes off your computer screen.

You started slowly. That was only the first day. On the next ones, you started going a little further. Like smiling at him when he caught you staring. Or asking your own suggestive questions.

Like this one time, when you walked into his office and walked towards his desk, standing beside it until he finally acknowledged your presence.

"Can I help you?" He sighed, looking at you. He was getting tired of your games. He was so confused. You looked pretty innocent by the way you answered to his questions, but there was something in your eyes that made him doubt that.

"Yes, Mr. Beck." You bit your lip, trying to control your smirk as you carefully planned your next words. "I was wondering if I look okay to you."

He raised his eyebrows and waited for you to explain yourself, so you continued:

"I mean… now that I'm your assistant, people will see me next to you all the time. I know you never mentioned anything, sir, but do you think the way I dress is okay?"

That was the first time in a while someone left him speechless like that.

"I appreciate how much you care about your job, Y/N." He finally replied. "If you're worried about that, I could get you some money to buy new clothes."

You didn't expect that at all, you were just teasing him.

"Thank you, sir… but does that mean you don't think I'm pretty now?" You used a sweet, sad tone.

"No, I think you're so fucking pretty." He looked at your body in a way that made you a little shy. "And I don't really care what you're wearing. If you want my sincere opinion, honey, you should wear a lot less than that."

You pressed your thighs together at those words. This was all about driving HIM crazy, but he always found a way to be on control. And he noticed how he made you feel, of course he did.

"You look so eager to be a great assistant." He chuckled darkly. "You would do anything I asked you to, wouldn't you?"

You nodded with no hesitation.

"Good girl." He smiled and caressed you cheek with his finger. "Go back to work, then."

You were in shock. You were frozen beside him trying to process everything. You wanted him so bad, you wouldn't be able to focus on work now. But you walked back to your desk, cause what other choice did you have?

Well, you weren't giving up now.

On the very next day, every single pair of eyes landed on you when you walked into that building.

You were wearing the shortest skirt you could find. And one of those shirts that were a little transparent, with a cute little lace bra under it. Red lipstick. It was impossible not to look.

Quentin was furious. He was possessive, and now everyone was talking about "his girl".

5 minutes after you arrived you were already yelled at. He wanted you in his office. Immediately.

When you walked in, you shivered at his state. He was so angry, and he always looked so hot like that. Sitting on his chair, a hand closed on a fist on his table, his eyes looking at a distant spot… you could almost see that inside his head there was nothing but madness.

"What do you think you're doing?" He sighed, trying to control his anger. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Well, sir… yesterday you said that you wanted me to wear less clothes. I just wanted to please you."

"Please me?" He thought for a second. "Come closer."

Seemed like a pretty dangerous thing to do, but there was no turning back now.

When you got close enough, he pulled you by the arm, forcing you to sit on his lap, which made you gasp.

"I know you're not stupid, Y/N. I wouldn't be interested in you if you were." He said, running his hand through your thigh. "So why are you doing this? Do you want attention?"

"Yes, sir." You bit your lip as his hand travelled now between your thighs.

"You wanted my attention?" He chuckled. "Well, but I don't want other people looking at my things. Wanting my things…"

He was treating you like just another prize he won and you couldn't understand why you were okay with that. Or why you would be anything he wanted you to be.

"Maybe I should fire you." He said, placing a kiss on the back of your neck.

"No, sir, please… I can be useful to you." You begged.

"I know you can. And you will." He said as his hand got closer and closer to where you needed it, but never actually there.

You were on fire, you just wanted to rub yourself on his thigh, but you were afraid to move unless he asked you to.

"Now come on." He said, forcing you to stand up. "Let's go to your place. We'll get you changed."

"I don't want to go." You muttered.

"Excuse me?" He raised his eyebrows.

"We have work to do." You explained. "And there is nothing wrong with the way I am dressed."

He immediately grabbed you by the neck and said: "We are going to your place right now."

---

You were thrilled. One more time. Life beside Quentin was never boring.

The drive back to your place was silent. Your eyes were glued to the way he was holding the wheel a lot tighter than he had to. His forearms were so tense. Absolutely beautiful.

The moment you walked into your place, you went directly to your bedroom and he followed you.

"Do I have to change in front of you?" You asked sarcastically. "To make sure you'll approve it?"

"Enough." He sighed. "Why are you acting like a fucking brat? You used to be such a good girl for me…"

You didn't have an answer to give him. Cause you wanted attention? Not really, you had that already. You were doing that simply because it was fun.

"You know what? You don't have to go back with me. You're fired."

"No, sir, don't do that, please!" Your eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, just give me a chance, I will be good again, I promise…"

"I don't usually give people a second chance, you know that." He shrugged. "But it would be a shame to lose you, I have to admit that."

His eyes traveled your body as he walked in circles, trying to make up his mind. You were paralyzed. Not that you were obsessed with your job, but you kinda were with your boss. You knew he wouldn't want to see you ever again.

"I will give you one last chance…" He decided. "If you prove that you're loyal to me. Not to the company, to me. You know you're over qualified to be only an assistant… and I have bigger plans for you."

"I would do anything for you, sir." You nodded eagerly.

"Now that's my good girl." He chuckled and stood in front of you. He leaned closer and placed his hand on your cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb. "My pretty girl."

That man had some kind of power over you that didn't allow you to think straight. Even when you thought you could play him, he found a way to be on control. All you knew was that you wanted him as bad as he wanted you. And before you could think twice, you enjoyed the proximity to kiss him.

You thought he would push you away and leave you there alone and needy, but the fact was that he was holding himself back since the minute you walked into his office that day. So he kissed you back. It was a hungry, messy kiss. His hands quickly went to your waist and pulled you against his body.

He guided you towards your bed without breaking the kiss.

"Not exactly what I had in mind." He chuckled. "But you never fooled me. I always knew you weren't innocent."

You lay on your bed and he climbed on top of you.

"Mr. Beck…" You got a little nervous when you realized how far things had gone. "I have never done this before."

"I know, baby." He said on his sweetest tone. "But I'm gonna take care of you, okay? I'll be good for you. There's no need to be scared. Also, there's no need to call me Mr. Beck here. Call me whatever you want, okay?"

You hesitated for a second, then you whispered the most innocent "daddy" he had ever heard in his entire life.

"Fuck, what did you just say?" He grabbed your chin and forced you to repeat it right to his face, to make sure it was real.

"Can I call you daddy?" You asked nervously.

"God fucking damnit, Y/N." He visibly lost his mind. "Now you can't call me anything else ever again."

"Daddy." You smiled at the effect that little word had on him.

"Yes, babygirl." He slid his hand under your skirt, but this time he didn't tease as much as before, stroking you over your underwear. "Now daddy's gonna make you feel so good."

You bit your lip and nodded. That could be considered a permission for him to do whatever he wanted to you.

So he helped you remove all of your clothes. He removed his shirt too, but he had to stop and take a moment to admire you. No man in the world had ever looked at you like that. With that much lust. That look on his eyes alone would be enough to make you want him, but the sigh of his shirtless chest was something else too.

His hands travelled your body and ended up on your chest, and he decided to dedicate a few minutes to your boobs.

You were starting to think that he planned on fucking you back in his office, but he changed his mind cause he wanted to take his time with you. So ending up in your bedroom had absolutely nothing to do with the clothes you were wearing. Actually, Quentin would love to show you off. He was only mad cause you turned him on that much at the wrong place and time.

But part of you wished he would have finished this at his office, because you couldn't stand this anymore. He played with your nipples until you were desperate for him to fuck you.

"Daddy, please." You begged, pressing your thighs together.

"Please, what?" He smirked at your state.

"Need you inside me so bad." You admitted.

"Do you, honey?" His hands left your boobs and went to your thighs, forcing them open. His fingers started to stroke your folds and you gasped. "Fuck, babygirl. You really do. Look at how fucking wet you are. All for me."

He shoved two fingers inside you at once, making you moan loudly.

"So thigh, princess. Can't wait to stretch you open with my cock. Is that what you want?" He asked, and you nodded eagerly. "Beg for it just a little more. You wouldn't have to if you weren't such a little brat earlier... now you have to earn it."

"I'm sorry, daddy." Your hips bucked as he rubbed your clit so hard. "I won't be a brat anymore, I will be good now."

"Hm." He muttered uninterested and kept rubbing you.

"Daddy… I'm gonna-" You started to feel your orgasm building in your belly because of how good he was touching you and the things he was saying.

"No, you're not." He stopped everything. The look of betrayal on your face was hilarious to him. "Not until you beg."

"Please, daddy, please." You obeyed. "I need your cock, I promise I'll be loyal to you forever, but please…"

He didn't want to give up so soon. Maybe it was because of the tears in your eyes, or that fact that he was painfully hard that made him break.

But you were relieved when you saw him taking off the rest of his clothes. And you couldn't even describe how you felt when you saw his cock.

He placed it on your entrance and started to kiss you again, before he finally entered you. You cried out from pain and pleasure. He started to move slowly.

"Daddy is always gonna give you what you need, as long as you deserve it, honey." He told you as he kissed your neck. "Tell me how you're feeling."

"So big, daddy, so good." You smiled at him. "So good."

"You sound so dumb right now, you little slut." He chuckled.

That was definitely the last thing you expected sex with Quentin to be like. So smiley. Sweet on it's own way. Maybe because it was your first time. Maybe he had a heart after all.

After he was sure you were ready, he started going faster and harder. It was heaven. Didn't take too long for your to feel your orgasm building from where it was brutally interrupted before.

"Daddy, please… can I cum now?" You begged, which pleased him very much. He didn't even have to ask this time.

"Yes, babygirl, cum on daddy's cock before I fill you up, come on." He told you.

The thought of him coming inside you was enough to bring you to the edge. You came so hard, because you needed that for so long. Quentin couldn't decide what was hotter: your face, your moans or the way you held him tightly while your walls clenched around him.

And he kept his promise, spilling himself inside of you a few seconds later.

He kept his cock inside you and brought his hand to your face, caressing it slowly.

"I'm your first and the only man you'll ever have." He whispered. "You're mine now. You were mine since the day you walked into that office for the first time."

"I'm yours." You agreed. "And you're my daddy."

"Right, I'm your daddy." He chuckled. "I have huge plans for you, babygirl…"

[linorangge]

Falling | Friends to Lovers ! Felix AU

You had always seen Felix as your adorable friend. Now for some reason after years of dormant feelings, you realize maybe you have a tiny, crush on him. (CW: cursing, slight angst.) Word Count: 1896 | Part 2

You’ve known Felix for a hot minute. You were best friends and you were actually his first friend when he got to Korea. You were special to him in many ways and he wouldn’t want anyone else as his best friend. On days he wasn’t studying or at the library being a hardworking student, he was hanging out with you.

Which is what he was doing at this very moment. You were both out buying ingredients for him to use so he could bake brownies for Chan’s birthday. He’d bake the brownies at your place later and then bring them to Chan’s dorm.

You watched as he picked up some eggs, opening them a little to check if any were cracked, before he put them in the cart you were pushing.

“Do you have flour?” He asked as he walked next to you.

“I think so, you should bring some just in case.” You said before abruptly stopping. He made a confused face before following your line of vision. Ice cream. You speed walked towards the refrigerated section and you reached up to grab the neapolitan ice cream.

You were too short to reach and you turned to Felix for help. A small smile crept onto his face as he walked up behind you and reached the ice cream for you. You turned, and realized you were incredibly close to him. Your breath hitched the slightest bit, and you found yourself admiring his face.

That day, on that particularly warm October afternoon, you realized you had a crush on your best friend. Your best friend Felix, who giggled at everything you did. Your best friend Felix, who would watch movies with you, and would do face masks at 3am with you and cuddle you platonically. Your best friend Felix who you’d put makeup on and who was comfortable enough with you to poop with the door open. Your best friend Felix who told you all his secrets and his every desire and ambition.

Your best friend Felix, who you now, undoubtedly, inevitably had a crush on.

You didn’t completely acknowledge this though. And you refused to in order to keep the friendship pure.

So after he put the ice cream in the cart and you paid for the ingredients and got in the car, you ignored the adrenaline that filled your veins every time you thought of that moment.

That moment that made you wonder what he would’ve done if you’d just leaned in a little more to kiss him.

“What are you so quiet for Y/n?” Felix asked as he gently nudged your shoulder.

You playfully rolled your eyes, “I’m just thinking.”

“You’re finally using your brain for once.” Felix teased as you pushed him playfully.

“Shut up I’m trying to drive.” You said swerving the car to scare him.

He let out a small scream, holding onto the cieling handle. “Oh my god, you’re gonna kill us.”

“Keep manifesting and it just might come true.” You said, swerving the car again, making him yell.

“Y/n do that one more time and I’ll never let you drive again.” Felix said holding onto anything he could for dear life.

“Really? Promise?” You looked at him and let go of the steering wheel.

Felix was now screaming, “Please Y/n keep driving, no- PUT YOUR HANDS BACK ON THE WHEEL YOU IDIOT.”

You smirked at him before crossing your arms.

“Oh for fucks sake!” he grabbed the wheel himself before you put your hands back on the wheel.

He let out a sigh of relief.

“I hate you.” He said crossing his arms and turning his body towards the window.

His demeanor reminded you that of an angry girlfriend. When you got to your little apartment, he was still mad. He grabbed most of the groceries and went inside without a word. You followed after him in silence. As he walked in front of you, you realized his hair had gotten longer, and was almost long enough to put into a ponytail.

Lixie with a ponytail? A dream come true you’d say.

After you unlocked the door and let him in, he was still silent, as he took out the different ingredients and put them on the counter.

“You’re not really mad are you?” You said as you took the flour out of your pantry, considering you ended up not buying any.

He looked at you, his lips pressed into a thin line. Oh yeah, pixie lixie was annoyed.

He stayed quiet and shook his head before continuing to unpack what he’d bought.

You got closer to him and scratched under his chin, “Come onnn, you’re not really mad are you Lixie?”

Felix tried to keep his expression steady, but he quickly broke into a smile before leaning in to be nose to nose with you.

Your stomach turned, anticipating what would only ever occur in your dreams. He’d never kiss you.

“You know I could never be mad at you forever.” He leaned in closer for a moment, hesitating, before standing up straight.

You smiled nervously before grabbing your phone, “What music?”

Lixie took out some measuring cups as he thought carefully, “Sam Smith.” he finally answered.

You played Sam Smith’s earliest album before joining Felix in taking out utensils and ingredients. When you baked together, you didn’t talk much, mainly because Felix was too concentrated to say much.

When he did speak it was just him asking you to mix something or melt butter, or change the song. He’d sing along occasionally. You loved his voice when he sang, it was an effortless, sweet sound. You liked that he was comfortable enough to sing around you.

Soon, the brownies were baking and all that was left to do was wait. You and Felix settled onto your couch and turned on a movie after turning the music off.

“How old is Chan turning?” You asked turning to Felix.

“23 I think.”

“Oh he’s old compared to us.” You replied.

Felix laughed, a sound that made you feel warm and nervous. God were you whipped for this guy.

“He’s leaving soon to visit his family actually.”

Your eyes widened, “Really? You should go with him.”

Felix hesitated, “I don’t know, I feel like I’d be intruding.”

”Well you don’t have to stay with his family, you could take the plane together so neither of you would travel alone.”

He shrugged in response, it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about the subject much. You left the idea alone for the moment and decided it was better if you talked more about it later.

The timer went off and Felix stood to take the brownies out of the oven. You helped cut and divide them into squares before putting them into a small tupperware container.

“Can you help me wrap his gift?” You asked. Felix nodded in response and you asked him to take the wrapping paper out as you went to grab Chan’s gift.

You went into your room and took out a sealed cologne before making your way back to the kitchen.  

“Fancy,” Felix said as he eyed the box.

“You think he’ll like it?” You asked as you laid out the wrapping paper.

“Of course, he’ll like anything you give him.” He said, sounding a tad bit annoyed.

You turned to him, taken aback a bit, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He waved you away before putting the box in the middle of the wrapping paper before cutting it. He wrapped the box for you as you watched in silence.

What did he even mean by that? Chan wouldn’t have a crush on you right? Even if he did, you weren’t interested, you were too busy trying to figure out how to deal with your feelings towards Felix.

After he wrapped the gift, you both made your way back outside to your car. Felix drove considering he didn’t trust you, and he knew the way to Chan’s dorm.

He let the radio play as you both sat in silence.

The drive to Chan’s dorm was short lived but nonetheless, there was a sort of tension you couldn’t put your finger on. Felix had been especially quiet today, and you came to realize he wasn’t usually like this. You were worried for his well being, and what exactly was pestering his thoughts so much.

You got out of the car in silence, your gift in hand and Felix with his brownies.

“Is he on the east or west side?” You asked as you walked down the sidewalk.

“West, so he’s a bit closer to us.” He replied. You nodded in response and you continued your walk in silence. Soon, you were at Chan’s door, knocking.

You heard a muffled, “Coming!” along with footsteps. The doorknob shook a little before the door opened to reveal chan in a muscle shirt. He looked surprised to see the both of you.

“Hey guys, I wasn’t expecting you until later.” He said as he widened the door to let you in.

You walked inside and handed him the gift, “Happy birthday Chan.” You gave him a warm smile. He smiled back at you, his dimples seeing light.

“Thanks y/n,” He took the gift and closed the door behind Felix. Felix walked further into the dorm to set the brownies on the coffee table as you and Chan talked about cakes and birthday parties.

Meanwhile, Felix was a bit grumpy, despite it being one of his closest friend’s birthdays. Chan sat next to Felix as you continued your conversation. Felix wasn’t listening though, his grumpiness wasn't justified and even he questioned his sour mood. You hadn’t noticed the change in his demeanor yet, and that somehow fueled his attitude. When you had noticed though, it was because he’d scoffed at something you’d said.

Chan had lost your full attention, and now you realized Felix’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed. This surprised you considering Felix was almost never angry or sad. You understood that maybe perhaps the reason behind his mood was far deeper than you would’ve anticipated. Eventually, Chan left for the bathroom, leaving Felix and you alone.

“What’s wrong?” You asked scooting closer toward your friend.

He shook his head and looked at his hands.

“Lixie.” You used this nickname to your advantage, specifically the few times he wasn’t in a good mood.

He looked at you, “I should be happy, it’s Chan’s birthday, but I don't know.” A small frown formed on his adorable face. You sighed and held your arms out. He looked at you before closing the gap and hugging you. He rested his cheek on your shoulder as you rubbed his back

“Sometimes you just have an off day, and that’s okay.” You said.

“You’re right.” He mumbled.

You stayed like that for a moment before you tapped his back to gesture for him to raise his head. You stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before you cupped his cheek. You rubbed your thumb over his freckled cheek before giving him a kiss on his forehead.

“I love you Lixie.”

“I love you too Y/n.”

And this time when he said it, you felt different. Your ears burned red and your heart fluttered. For a moment, you let yourself imagine what it would’ve been like if you’d perhaps kissed him.

[southslates]

like an angry god

@kanejweek day four: darkness (corrupted ambition) / kanej / canon divergence - soulmates - one-shot - rated T / read on ao3! / 2007 words

Inej Ghafa comes to Ketterdam as part of a traveling circus. She doesn’t mean to enjoy the city, with its sharp architecture and cold edges, with its people who pray to kruge, but she does. There is something haunting in its corridors, something which whispers to her in its alleys. Inej is a gravity-defying girl, she is an acrobat and nothing more, but these late-night Kerch streets set fire to her bones. It is as if Ghezen has come alive to speak to her and tell her she could be more.

It's strange because she thinks she has everything. She also feels like she is missing something—not something that needs to be there, but some defining feature of her. She feels like she is spinning a wheel with a loose axel.

Ironically, she stumbles upon the Crow Club when Malik takes her in, wanting to try his hand at Makker’s Wheel. She indulges her cousin and lets him drag her into the lively business in the darkest hours of the night, knowing that they’re on break tomorrow. The Suli do not forbid fun, and they drink, Inej has drunk, but she does not want to in this strange city.

She ends up drinking anyway. She is caught up in the moment, caught up in the lights above the table, the large, large gambling hall, and almost in Salim, the friend Malik had brought with him to the club. Inej likes him, has always liked him, and the sight of him loosens her inhibitions. They loosen her inhibitions so far that she forgets him.

Inej wanders off across the hall, stopping to see the sheer variety of people who habit it: a white splatter of the upper-middle class of the Kerch, lazing away a Saturday; a collection of young children from Novyi Zem, laughing away in the corner; even a splashing of Fjerdans, staying away from alcohol and looking distrustfully at the numbers in front of them. It’s an experience, she can admit even halfway down her glass, eyes shining.

At some point she wanders over to a setting of Kerch men and women playing a game she doesn’t quite understand; they’re holding chips and laughing, cards dancing in front of their eyes. Inej has always been a quick study with these gambling games, though she detests playing; it’s something else the city has whispered into her mind, perhaps. It is the Ketterdam in her blood, though she’s certain she has never been here before. She has never been here before.

She sits at the table and picks up another glass. She will be fine; Malik and Salim are truly not that far away, she can see them from here. A women smiles at her with shark-teeth, daring her to down the cup in accented Kerch. Something in Inej does it, and then when she’s slid another one, she downs it again. Her eyes are uncharacteristically bright at the table, her head muddy.

It's only a moment later she’s in someone’s lap, between two people. It is the Kerch woman and another man, fitting her in the space between them. The woman’s hair is a rusty gold and the man has black hair and a gold tooth.

Inej may have drank too much, but she isn’t stupid. She blinks and sees that Malik and Salim are gone from her line of sight—then she promptly sits up, a bit more aware of her surroundings. This is not a situation she is new to; she’s almost been taken by slavers as a child. They had ransacked her family’s caravan near the Ravkan shore and would have stolen her away from her family had she not woken up early. She has learned to be suspicious of people, and she let her guard down. It’s this saints-forsaken city, she thinks briefly. It is affecting some part of me.

“Hey, sweetheart,” the man whispers with whiskey breath, and Inej pulls herself into the space between the bodies she is caged in, ready to pull one of her acrobatic feats—twist her body, do the unimaginable. But before she does and the woman’s vodka-laced breath rushes across her face, something hard clangs down on the table in front of her.

Inej is only human, so the sound makes her lurch. The tablecloth moves forward, and something shatters and then leaks onto her on the bench. She groans, because alcohol will not go well with the cottons she’d donned for a night out.

“Peter,” a voice says crisply. “Lotte. You are not welcome here. Did I not make that clear enough last time?”

The bodies next to Inej scramble away from her, and she looks up in her disorientation to see a man who can’t be much older than her, a cane in his hand bisecting the table and separating her from Lotte on her left. On her right, Peter has shifted away from her and is now standing up, raising his hands above him. “We didn’t mean nothin’, I promise—”

“I don’t give second chances,” the man says, and his voice is cold, so cold it almost crawls into Inej’s spine and then leaves her body, but icy enough that it wants to make a place there. His voice is the city’s whispers in her ears, the biddings of greed. She is buzzed, but she still looks at his sharp suit and glaring eyes and thinks: Who are you?

Or perhaps she voiced that thought out loud. No matter; the man ignores her, watching as Peter and Lotte stand up and try to leave the premises. Inej lets the whiskey on the table, cold as it is, leak into her shirt as she watches two large men grab the two vermin by their collars and drag them away to some corner.

“Wow,” she says out loud at the brief spectacle—some patrons have turned to see the two get carted off, but more seem unsurprised. “I was fine.”

“Who said anything about you?” the man bites. “There are no games here. There is no place for cheats.”

Inej is straightforward, and her filters are off as she wrings out her shirt. “You could at least pretend to be chivalrous.”

The man glares at her, his gaze dark and intense and dangerous—but for whatever reason, Inej doesn’t feel like it will cut through her. Maybe that is just the stupidity of being drunk. The longer he stares at her, the more she wants to laugh. “You cannot kill me by looking at me, you know.”

He says nothing, just takes his cane off the table and begins to limp away from her. Inej bites her lip and stares at his receding back—that moment had felt strangely powerful.

“Yer brave,” the girl next to her says after he has disappeared from sight, into a door at the club’s side. “To talk to Kaz Brekker like that.”

“Who?” Inej asks, and the boy next to her, keeping his distance after what had happened to the woman in his previous position, looks almost affronted.

“He is Kaz Brekker, Ja. They say he has played cards with the devil and won,” he says, like he is speaking of a myth, and not the twenty-year-old man with a ridiculous glare Inej had faced just moments ago. “He used to be better, ja, growing up on the streets. But he culled his boss right las’ week, he did. Hung his body from the lighthouse by First Harbor. They say he will commit any sin, without a price. Bloodthirsty.”

Inej leans in close to him, feels something lock into place, the gears of her heart. “Really?” she asks. “He just seems like a man.”

“He is no man, he is a demon. A quick thief, too,” the girl nods to her, and Inej grasps at her pockets. Her coinpurse is missing.

“An immature demon,” she says, stepping up, her head spinning just a bit. “Cheap tricks, for shevrati.”

Inej Ghafa leaves them there and takes the path that the man with the cane had followed; he couldn’t have gotten too far from her, with his disability. Ostensibly, she knows she should not be trying to pick a fight in the middle of the night with a man who just hung another in a public display, but the city is speaking to her; the club is, as though it has a heart. Inej believes in saints, and they are leading her a certain way, giving her the want to get her coinpurse back. It had a sizeable amount of kruge, and she refuses to be made a fool of.

The hallway is dark and she follows its walls to a set of stairs, and then walks up them. At the end there is a door, and to its side, when she moves her hand a certain way, another small alley; a trick alley. She follows that aisle to another door, wooden and locked and in the pitch dark. She shoves her body weight against it.

She doesn’t know what she is planning on doing. Do demons give you back your money if you ask them nicely? What is inserting this drive into her veins?

“What?” a voice roars from inside the room, and then a moment later, as Inej pushes herself against it, it opens. She almost trips onto a cold metal floor, but she doesn’t—she is an acrobat, even sheets to the wind. So she rights herself and turns to the man with the cane—Kaz Brekker.

“You,” he says, distaste coating his mouth. There is no good intent hidden in that word, nor in the hard lines of his face. Whoever this man is, he is not good.

“Me,” Inej agrees, then holds out her hand. “My coinpurse, please.”

“Your . . . coinpurse,” the man says, her face twitching. He is wearing a hat and a suit perfectly tailored to all his edges, a glass man. Inej wonders if she could break him. “Why would I have such a thing?”

“You do,” Inej insists. Of this, she is certain. She’s had it until he was just a foot behind her. “Give it back.”

“You’re very demanding,” he says. Inej wonders if he can feel a pull towards her, like she does for him. His face is surely not giving anything away. “You must be new.”

“I’m visiting,” Inej says, some sort of fear starting to creep into her voice. Perhaps the liquid courage has left her soul in a flush—perhaps the city is no longer with her. She can feel it drifting around her bones, maybe leaving. It is as though it has filled the strange place in her soul with something, not left her empty.

He leans into her—he doesn’t leer, not in a way that is lewd, but in a way that is certainly dangerous. “Well, then, my dear visitor,” he says the word like a curse, “you would do well to leave now, before I break your legs for coming to my office without permission.” His eyes scan her, perfunctorily, and Inej can only dream she sees something below the surface. “You need your legs. Or perhaps you can walk a rope with your hands,” he sneers.

Then he slams the door in Inej’s face. The city escapes her, returns back for its sins, disturbs her edges. I have shown you a story, she can feel it whisper, from the wrong end, wrong beginning.

She slides out of the secret corridor and down into the busy club. The Crow Club, it’s called. The largest building in the Stave. She wonders if the foundation was built on a demon’s work. She wonders why she feels like she should know, why there is a haunting space in her mind.

Inej wonders who Kaz Brekker is. She wonders why her saints guided her towards a demon, what they were trying to tell her.

She wonders how he knows she performs on the rope.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Never enough time

Taken from the information scroll “Humans: Sages of our Time” by Rivrind Pios.

The often excepted portrayal of humanity is one of greedy bipeds with no sense of reasoning beyond their own personal wants and needs. I must confess that this notion is rather fitting for most humans as many I have encountered in my travels had been in the process of pursuing their own dreams and ambitions at the time and appeared almost blindsided to the world around them. 

Their seemingly endless need for excess seems to be their key driving factor. More food, more wealth, more power, more clothing, more hair, more muscles, more and more and more on and on for an eternity. Nothing ever appears to satisfying the teeming throngs of manlings until they are buried deep beneath the soil where they want no more. Countless worlds have been left in ruin by this rabid hunger for more to the point many species consider humans to be nothing more than a blight upon the very stars themselves. I myself began harboring such ideas of humans for some time as nothing I had seen in my journeys had shown me otherwise. It wasn’t until I came across one of the strangest humans I’ve ever met in the city of Shanghai on the human home world that finally gave me greater clarity to the inner workings of humans. 

I had been exploring the south eastern hemisphere of the world and found myself wandering the streets of Shanghai. It’s history of a rich trade city was clearly visible as it had been upgraded into a massive star port taking hundreds of craft in daily. While waiting for a layover to the north western hemisphere I found myself wandering the streets of the bustling city. 

The city was a maze of catwalks, boulevards, parks, back alleys, side streets, and market places. Several times I found myself accosted by other humans while wandering the avenues, though many soon lost heart and fled after I revealed my many rows of teeth. It seemed humans were not fond of many mouths and many teeth for some reason. 

While exploring I smelled something so delicious it had me enthralled from the moment I inhaled that delectable scent. Keenly I tracked down the aroma through several alleys and back streets, down three sub levels, and passed four cordoned checks before arriving at a neat little hole in the wall food dispensary called “Athens of the East” 

The inside was dimly lit with assorted rows of tables and chairs lining the walls. In the center of the room was a massive sandbox like ring where two humans were currently punching each other violently while the humans at the tables cheering and whooped. 

At first I found myself deeply confused as to why such a barbaric establishment would have such divine food smells coming from it until I noticed the tables with plates of food still on them. to say the morsels looked delicious was an understatement so I put aside my confusion about the entertainment and waved a waitress to sit me. 

To my displeasure it appeared that every table was occupied and I would have to wait as the crowds cheered again as one of the fighters took a punch to the face and went sprawling to the sand. I was just about to leave when one of the patrons at a table waved to me. They kicked a chair opposite them from beneath the table and waved for me to come join them. 

I had heard tales of humans luring unsuspecting fools to their graves and was first hesitant to accept the offer, but the human sitting at the table merely explained it was bad taste to eat alone and wanted to have some company. I was still cautious but the smell of the foods made it impossible to pass on such a chance and so I joined the human at their table. 

They were an elderly human going on some 80-90 years if I was to guess; nothing but a younger species considering I lived to be roughly 3000 years old before my species passed on. Their clothes were of a fine material but i could see that they had been worn regularly and their hairs had turns a shade of greyish white. The elderly human was of the talking variety and seemed rather happy to be having company and chatted up a storm. I was not in as much of a talkative mode yet felt it rude after they had shared their table so I joined the conversations when I had something to say. 

It turned out that we were more alike then I had first imagined as they too were a traveler seeking new destinations, They had been to most of the human cities on their homeworld and now were waiting to catch a flight to the Hive homeworld thirty three systems over. Their flight had been delayed for several days now due to gravitational storms and they had come to here to let off some steam. I was going to inquire as to what exactly that meant when one of the fighters in the ring had been knocked down and was unable to get up. The cheers of the crowd were silenced as another human stepped forwarded and asked if there was anyone brave enough to challenge the surviving champion. 

To my complete surprise the elderly human I had been sharing the table with rose up and unbuttoned his shirt. He left it on his chair and stepped forward into the ring. The announcer backed away and rang the bell and the two fought each other. The elderly man was not what one would call in the prime of his life, what with his belly sagging forward like a sack of lumpa berries, but his muscles were toned well enough to keep the fight far from being one sided. The bout lasted about twenty minutes before the elderly man, now covered in bruises, threw a hard right and knocked his opponent to the ground and won. He returned to his chair shortly after the crowds cheers had died down and resume his drinking and food consumption. 

I asked him why would committing combat let off steam to which he replied that he was angry that his flight had been delayed so long and that fighting a stranger in some back alley dive had always been a wish he’d had since he was a young scrapper. Perplexed I inquired again how a delayed flight transitions to brutal combat. The Hive world wasn’t going anywhere and would still be there when the flights resumed. 

The elderly man sat in silence for some time, his stare focused on the swirling ice cubes of his drink as he rocked it back and forth. He told me that he was dying and that his time among the living was dwindling day by day. He had a disease called “cancer” that was slowly devouring his body from the inside out like rot and soon he would be too ill even to lift himself out of a bed let alone fight someone in a back alley fighting ring. 

It was unusual to feel sad for someone you have just met and yet I felt pain knowing my new companion would soon pass off their physical remains. I apologized to him and gave him my well wishes too which they oddly laughed and waved me away like I had just knocked over their glass and thought it was the end of the world. 

He thanked me but said he did not want my pity nor my sorrow. I asked him why then if he was dying that he would take such a journey off world with such little time remaining. He took a swish of his drink and waved for another as he told me it had always been one of his wishes to see another world. 

He looked up at the ceiling for a moment and his eyes narrowed out. He spoke of many things he had wanted to do when he was younger. Buy a boat, go fishing every day, ask his schooling crush out for a dance, traverse the globe with friends. He told me of how something would always come up at the last second that would hold him back and his chance would pass him by. How many missed opportunities had passed him by that only now in his old age did he see. 

He chuckled to himself and said how he wished he could live forever, or at the very least a few more years, so he could finally check everything off his list as he took another sim of his drink. 

Now that he was old it seemed like all he had was time until he found out his clock was ticking faster to his demise then he had planned. Now he wished to achieve what dreams he could before his clock finally stopped. 

To this day I’m not sure if it was their words or the combination of drink and food I had been having but in an instant my entire perspective of humanity had shifted. 

We spoke for some time more together until my notifier alerted me that my flight was now on schedule. I stood up and shook the hand of the strange human as they turned their back to me and entered the ring once more. I pondered what I had learned from the odd man as I took the streets back upwards to the space port.

Humans apparent greed and carelessness was not in a self centered manner for some, but rather born from a fear of knowing constantly that their existence would eventually come to an end.

For a being such as myself with an extended lifetime I do not feel this need as much, but with short lived species like humans it must be a constant cloud circling them ever reminding them that what they miss today may be missed forever.

It was only after I reached the the top level of the city with my mind circling with ideas of missed opportunities that I realized something. For all the stranger had shared to me, for all the stories and laugh had in that dimly lit food dispensary, for all the kindness they had shown me I had made a fatal mistake. 

I had never asked them their name.

I had missed my opportunity......