#he has nothing to do with the aforementioned but i feel like i should give a heads up anyways | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hannieehaee · 8 months ago

Text

DOES HE KNOW ?

18+ / mdi

summary: after being friends with lee chan for a good portion of your life, the boy you considered nothing but your best friend suddenly starts acting different, making you slowly fall for him. problem is, you have a boyfriend.

content: friends2lovers!chan, reader has a bf, almost cheating but not actually, afab reader, smut, oral (f receiving), wet dream (this is actually a huge point in the plot lol), masturbation (f receiving), dry humping, more oral (f receiving), penetrative sex, etc.

wc: 9.8k

a/n: rewrote this so many times but finally finished it!! i love writing channie so i hope u guys enjoy<3

masterlist | kofi/patreon

support me through a one time tip<3

Something was clearly wrong with you.

Was Lee Chan hot?

Nothing made sense anymore, and it had been the case for a while.

You could date it back to a little over a month ago, at one of Soonyoung's usual gatherings. This had been where it all began, or more so, where it all ended.

For some reason unknown to man, that was the day in which Chan began courting you (his words, not yours).

After years of a solid friendship between the two of you, a not-so tipsy Chan cornered you at aforementioned party and began dancing with you. This was a common occurrence between the two of you. Despite having been taken for the past few months, you were still quite liberal about your touchy relationship with your best friend. However, what happened next what was truly out of the ordinary.

"Hey," he had whispered against your ear.

"Yeah?", you giggled, entertained by the boy.

"Wanna know a secret?"

"Sure."

"I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you," and with that, the dam had broken.

You froze against his arms, eyes widening. Though he could not see, as you were holding each other far too close to make eye contact.

Maybe he was drunk?

He interrupted you before you could respond. Chan pulled away from you to look into your eyes with a fully sober look in his face.

"I'm not drunk, and I know you have a boyfriend. And I know you only see me as a friend. But give me a few weeks, and I'll change both those things," was the last thing he said before giving you a peck on the cheek (yet another common thing in your relationship) and walking away with a confident sway in his step.

Ever since then, you had been bombarded by romantic gestures from your former best friend – former because you truly had no idea how you felt about him by this point.

Chan bought you flowers, – even when it was raining – had your favorite beverage at hand any time you so happened to see him, tied your shoelaces should they ever come undone, plucked loose eyelashes from your cheeks, tucked your hair behind your ear, placed his hand at the small of your back before crossing a street, walked you to and from home, looked at you with an indescribable sweetness in his eye, he ... He did everything any girl would need to be completely swooned (and then some).

You were beyond confused as to when this change had come about. As far as you knew, you were nothing more than best friends. When had Chan even begun liking you? What had changed?

"Oh. He's always had a thing for you," was what your mutual friend Soonyoung said when you first brought it up.

"What do you mean? We've been friends for years, he's never-"

"Yeah, duh. You never showed interest, what was he supposed to do? But yeah, he's crazy about you," added Seungkwan, sipping his drink nonchalantly.

You had decided to meet up with some of your mutual friends while Chan was at work. You needed at least five minutes with your other friends without Chan getting in the way with his flirting.

"It's kinda sick, actually," interjected Soonyoung once more.

You remained quiet for a while, thinking back to every interaction you'd ever had with Chan that may have revealed his feelings for you. Unfortunately, you kept drawing blanks all the while Soonyoung stole fries from your plate, disregarding your confusion at the situation.

"But why now?", you finally asked, slapping his meddling hand away from your food.

He shrugged, "Maybe he got fed up of watching you with that guy."

"He has a name, Soonyou-"

"None of us really care enough to learn it."

That much was true. None of your friends were fans of your current boyfriend. Or of any of them, to be quite frank. You had certain lack of skill at picking them, though this time around you felt confident about your current relationship. He was nice and respectful. Maybe a little bit of a square, but you liked to think you brought out the fun in him. This was also the longest relationship you'd ever had, giving you the grand total of three months in a exclusive relationship and a month and a half of a very prolonged talking stage that took place before he ever asked you out officially.

"Is this because I've been taken for longer than usual?", you tried to assert.

"Oh! That might be it, huh?", Soonyoung agreed.

"Well, I guess he didn't want you to break your streak of failed relationships," chuckled Kwan.

With a slap to his chest, you dropped the subject, deciding to ignore the slight acceleration of your heart any time you thought about Chan's crush for too long.

At first you found it to be a bit of a joke, but his affections quickly began to wear you down. It also didn't help how blatant he was about it, constantly flirting up a storm around your friends, not caring for their amused smiles at your flustered half-rejections of his advances. The only times in which he held back were the rare occasions in which your boyfriend would join your friend group in their outings. He could be reserved at times, not really clicking with your loud friends, so his presence was not a common thing.

Being honest, you felt kind of bad at the genuine excitement Chan's crush gave you. Though you weren't sure of your feelings for him at this point, his interest flustered you tremendously. You'd always known him as a pretty and charming guy, despite never really acknowledging such things. You understood why he got so much attention from girls, though you never thought too much of it. He was your best friend, you never had any motive to consider anything further than platonic feelings for him. But now that you were questioning your feelings, you felt as if you were kind of betraying your boyfriend.

Not to misunderstand, you had no desire of pursuing anything with anyone while you were in a committed relationship. You were just not that kind of person. But the mere thought of blushing at the words of a guy who wasn't yours (all while actually having a guy of your own) made you feel ashamed. Specially considering that you already had a very grand preexisting fondness for the guy in question.

God damn you, Lee Chan.

"So, when are you gonna drop this game and finally let me take you to bed?", he whispered cockily against your ear.

He was always so goddamn confident about it; a trait you always liked about him but were beginning to detest.

As per usual, you simply jokingly groaned at him and pushed him away in a manner far too light to be considered serious.

"Fuck off, Lee Chan."

With a giggle, he stepped away, usual pep in his step as present as ever.

"I'll get you another drink, 'kay, pretty?", you lost him in the crowd after that.

You'd gone drinking with your friends yet again, though this time at a distant friend's house party. Your boyfriend was absent once more due to his personal disdain for such outings. He was simply not much of a social drinker, which was fine! It just bothered you at times how often he chose staying in rather than going out with you.

Despite your rejections of Chan, you felt embarrassed to admit that you loved the thrill of his interest in you. Never had you ever had someone so shamelessly after your affections despite your lighthearted refusals. It made you feel wanted and powerful. It felt specially good when it came from a guy as handsome and charismatic as Chan; a guy who could have basically any girl all thanks to his unbelievable charisma.

Yet he wanted you. He was after you.

The guy you knew most was currently infatuated with you.

Yeah, you did need that second drink.

"Where's your guy?"

Your thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice coming from behind you.

You turned around to find Vernon leaning back against the wall, a smirk on his face at having watched your encounter with Chan.

"Shut up," you walked over to recline on the wall next to him, deciding to people-watch alongside him.

"It was a genuine question," he claimed, handing you a sip of the beer he'd been nursing.

"He's working again," you sipped, handing it back to take turns as you waited for Chan to bring you your drink of choice.

"And Channie?"

"What about him?"

"Does your boyfriend know?", he asks, more curious than actually interested.

Men, nosy as usual.

You groan, "Don't ask me that, Non."

"C'mon! Has he not noticed the way Chan's been after you these past few weeks?", he seemed far too entertained by the subject.

"Of course not! Chan's kept his distance around him, but ..."

"But?"

You turned your head to him, back still leaning against the wall, "I don't know!"

"Well, do you like him? Channie, I mean."

"It's- I like the attention."

"And him?", he pressed.

"He's starting to wear me down," you admitted.

Vernon chuckled into his red solo cup, "It's cute."

"What is?"

"The back and forth, the 'will they, won't they.' But if you ask me, I think they will."

"I have a boyfriend, Non," you grumbled, not entirely convincing in your tone.

"Yeah, but are you guys even friends? Wouldn't it be better to date someone who you actually like?"

"Stop doing PR for Chan. It's not like he needs it," you grumbled, already uses to this back and forth with many of your other friends – all of whom were rooting for Chan.

"Fine. But get out of here. Your guy's probably looking for you."

"My guy's not here."

"I meant Channie, now go!"

You grumbled again before walking in the direction in which Chan had left, knowing he'd likely still be in the kitchen attempting to fetch you a drink.

It didn't take you long to find him, nor did it take you long to spot the girl standing next to him, seemingly flirting up a storm. Chan didn't seem too deterred by this either. More than anything, he appeared to he reciprocating.

Maybe this was why you and Chan started off as friends and remained so for the years you'd known each other. He always had a girl clinging onto him one way or another. Though he didn't date much, he sure enjoyed swooning girls whenever he could.

You'd always been very strict about being exclusive with whoever you dated, never wanting to compete for someone's attention or engage in prolonged talking stages. This was something you differed in with Chan. He was quite the opposite, engaging in situationships that never really led anywhere. As his friend, you never really cared much for this. If it worked for him, then that was that. However, now that he was supposedly attempting to pursue you, – despite you being in a relationship – you couldn't help but scoff at the sight of Chan still entertaining any girl that'd show interest in him.

You almost turned around and left, but were promptly stopped by the man himself, who spotted you before you could take one step and disregarded the girl immediately. The girl scoffed in your place, clearly put off by Chan's attention being taken away so easily.

"Babe!", he called out, one drink in each hand, as he approached you, "Sorry I took so long, the line was crazy."

Immaturely enough, you rolled your eyes and grabbed the drink from his hand, ignoring his statement as you sipped it. You really had no right to be jealous of Chan talking to other girls. You were taken, and you weren't even interested in Chan. Were you? Still, you disregarded those thoughts and allowed the bitterness to cloud your mind and began walking away from the boy.

"Huh?", a question mark physically manifested itself above Chan's head as you began walking away from him, "Baby? Wait, where are you going?", his arm managed to reach you before you got far enough and softly turned you around to face him.

The two of you were still standing far too close to the people crowding the kitchen, however, so Chan assessed that it'd be better to move to a quieter spot in order to properly check in on you. With a decisive nod to himself, he grabbed onto your hand and walked you over to an empty hallway before turning to you again.

"What's wrong? Did something happen while I was gone? Did someone-"

The concern in his eyes seemed very genuine, making you feel bad for being such a brat at the mere sight of Chan interacting with another woman. You had never had an issue with your best friend being around other women. Hell, you never even cared whenever he would occasionally ditch you for other girls. The two of you were simply best friends. You had always rooted for him in his romantic life, even encouraging him with it.

But things had drastically changed as soon as he began showing interest in you.

It was like his sudden interest had unlocked a part of you you hadn't known was there. It had given you this brand new possessiveness you had never held over Chan before; a possessiveness you didn't even feel for your current boyfriend.

And it made you feel embarrassed. Tremendously so. It also made you feel like a hypocrite. Here you had a guy who was clearly extremely into you, yet he had made no comment nor expressed any disdain over the fact that you already had a guy. Chan had never expressed any type of jealousy over any of your past relationships. Despite having liked you for the entire duration of your friendship (information you were unsure Chan was aware you knew), Chan always respected your relationships and even tried to befriend any guy you brought along. Yet you couldn't hold back your bitterness at him showing interest in someone else; interest you now felt should be reserved only for you.

The hypocritical nature of your feelings made you look down in embarrassment as you interrupted Chan's inquiries, clarifying that nothing was wrong.

"No, Chan. I'm fine, I swear. Just a little tired. I, uh, thanks for the drink."

"Hey, are you sure?", he lifted your face with a finger to your chin, making you hold eye contact with him.

It was quite insane how this was not even meant as a flirtatious move, but rather a demonstration of his platonic worry for you. Yet your heart sped up anyways.

"I'm fine, Chan! It's just the crowds. You know how I get. Nonnie told me to go look for you and there were so many people in the kitchen, and then I couldn't come up to you because of that girl and-"

Your rambles were interrupted by an exclamation mark practically manifesting itself above Chan's head, with the sudden realization of your jealousy hitting him.

"Oh?", he tilted his head and leaned in a bit closer as a grin began making its way onto his face, "'That girl'?", he repeated.

"Chan-"

He got closer to you, now cornering you against the hallway wall, still giving you space but blocking your view of anything other than him.

"I'm sorry, baby. Did that bother you? Hmm? Me talking to some other girl?"

"It's not like that! I just-"

"It's okay. You can admit it. I won't judge you," except his smirk was nothing but condescending.

"Chan! I-"

"But that's kinda funny, though. Isn't it?", he chuckled to himself.

"W-what is?," you stammered at his sudden shift in mood.

Though he was still far too close for a friend to be, and he was still leaning into your touch, his tone had shifted to one a bit more cynical in nature.

"You're jealous? Baby, you have a boyfriend."

"I do, and-"

"So what's there to be jealous about? You've got your guy. Yet you're looking my way? When you've been rejecting me all this time?", he leaned even closer, almost breathing right against your nose, eyes hooded as they bore into your own, alternating between your eyes and lips in a somewhat teasing manner.

"I-I'm not jealous. Just ... Why flirt with me if you're after other girls too?", you made the mistake of asking.

"Oh, baby. I'm not looking at anyone else. Not my fault you're so possessive you can't even stand other girls looking at me," you knew he was simply teasing you, knowing full well that you were not the possessive type. But his words carried a slight weight of truth behind them.

You had no reason to feel any type of possessiveness over Chan. Yet you still felt uneasy at the thought of Chan's eyes on anyone who wasn't you. Now that you had a taste of his attention you wanted it all to yourself.

"I just have one question," he whispered, far too close to you.

You nodded at him to continue, wide eyes on his own.

"Does he know?"

"Know what?"

"That you like me back," his eyes went down to your lips again.

"Chan. Stop. I-I'm not gonna cheat on my boyfriend," you huffed, avoiding his eyes – which was quite hard at his close proximity.

The two of you stayed like that for a few moments, with your eyes occasionally dropping to his lips. But it was fine, since his own were also on yours – though his expression was more triumphant than anything, while yours revealed your nerves. Had you been in a less restricting position, your thighs would've instinctively pressed together at the thoughts that were suddenly running through your mind at his proximity, but thankfully the situation didn't drag long enough for your lust to reveal itself.

He finally pulled away, smirk still on his face, "I'd never ask you to do that, baby. 's just nice to know my plan's working," he chuckled.

"What plan?"

"I'm wearing you down. You want me."

Unfortunately, you had no rebuttal, knowing that Chan had won this round. Even if you denied his statement (which you had half the mind to do), he had caught you red handed. You had whined about not having his full attention just like a petulant child would. Nothing you said would save you from that.

You managed to move on from that quite quickly, finding Soonyoung and Kwannie just a few moments later and using them as an excuse to move on from the way in which Chan had cornered you. You spent the rest of the party pondering Chan's words. Did you actually want him? Or was it just that you wanted him to want you?

Now you were stuck with embarrassing moisture between your thighs and countless doubts hanging over your head.

"C-Channie! Oh, Channie, fuck!"

Your cries of pleasure were unparalleled as the pretty boy you liked to call your best friend slurped at your cunt like a starved man.

You weren't sure how long he had been at it, nor were you sure how you'd ended up in this situation, but you had no complaints. His tongue between your thighs was pure heaven, especially with the pathetic whines the boy kept letting out at your taste.

"'sso good, princess. Cunt's so tasty ... Been wanting it since I met you ... Been waiting for you for years," he mumbled against your cunt, getting back to licking and sucking immediately.

While your heart was unsure what to make of such a heavy statement, your body responded with desperation. To have a man yearn for you like that for years was doing wonders for your cunt. It made you gush like crazy, beginning to grind against Chan's face in such a depraved way.

"Just like that, fuck. Fuck my face just like that," he groaned, the vibrations of his voice causing you to grind even harder against him.

"C-Channie! It's so good ... So fucking good, oh!"

He seemed to get off on your praise, you realized, as you felt ruckus on the bed beneath you caused by Chan canting his hips against your mattress and moaning incessantly into your cunt. The knowledge of your taste alone making Chan lose himself in such a way was enough to drive you towards your high, getting closer and closer by the second.

"Gonna make me cum, princess. Got such a pretty fucking pussy," he managed to breathe out despite exerting all his efforts into fucking the mattress.

Surprising to no one, Chan claimed your orgasm on his tongue just moments later, somehow managing to talk you through it and make the experience even more swoon-worthy than it already was. Chan had managed to make you feel a way no one had ever before, making you ache for him with just his words.

It had all ended far sooner than you would've liked, but it was fine. You knew that with a few kisses to his ear Chan would give you whatever you wanted without question.

Yet before you could even get to enjoy the entirety of your high, it was abruptly taken from you the moment your alarm began ringing, awakening you from what you hadn't realized was just slumber.

Waking up from a wet dream was already embarrassing enough on its own, but waking up from a wet dream about your best friend whom you swore you weren't into like that was a new level of low.

As much as you tried to brush it off as some sort of fluke or meaningless dream, you knew better. You had never thought of Chan in such a way, much less imagined him in that context, so it was safe to say that Chan had been right. His plan was working.

The following hours were spent on alert (and still incredibly horny). You thought about calling up your boyfriend to help you out, but the thought in itself felt dirty. How could you ask your boyfriend to take care of a problem caused by your best friend? There was that, and the fact that your brain would probably not be satisfied by your boyfriend right now.

You needed to get Chan out of your system.

You knew that if you called up Chan and explained your problem to him he'd come running immediately, no questions asked as he helped you relive your dream. Such a thought had your head spinning and your knees feeling weak. Except you had a moral compass that was preventing you from doing so. So, you spent the next few hours extremely sensitive and attempting to take care of yourself in any way you could think of.

Unfortunately nothing compared to your dream. Nothing felt as warm and loving as Chan had felt. There was not a single thing that could bring back that feeling of want Chan had towards you; a feeling you were so desperate for. This led you to spend the rest of the day sexually frustrated, unable to reach your high as you felt something was thoroughly missing.

Even when your boyfriend stopped by to see you after work, things had gone awry. You'd received him at the door in a desperate manner, dragging him in with you and inciting him into fucking you. You didn't care if you had Chan in mind anymore, you just needed some satisfying release. Sadly, your boyfriend did not match your energy, opting to slow you down and have his way with you in his own way. This led to yet another unsatisfying release to add to today's tally. You were unsure if you could even call it a release, as it felt entirely underwhelming and had been mostly accomplished by your own hand.

Going to sleep, still sexually frustrated, you cursed at yourself for letting Lee Chan get in your head.

Spending time with Chan after your incident was nothing less than incredibly awkward.

Despite Chan being fully unaware of what had gone down in your subconscious, you couldn't help the blush that would take over your face any time the two of you made eye contact. He had all the power at the moment.

You had also made the mistake of discussing the occurrence with your closest friends, Seungkwan and Soonyoung. Purposely, you had not mentioned the name of the culprit behind your wet dream, but it had not been hard for your nosy friends to figure it out on their own.

"You had a sex dream about Channie?!", Soonyoung had all but whispered, causing some old ladies across the diner to look your way in judgment.

Fortunately not too many people were present at the diner you were currently hanging out at, but it didn't really help the embarrassment you felt at the words even being uttered. This was the only time in which you could see your friends without Chan's presence, so you couldn't be too picky about the setting.

"Soonyoung! Shut the hell up!", you whisper-shouted at him, throwing a rolled up napkin at him in punishment, "I never said it was about Chan."

"Please. Who else would it be about? Sure as hell can't be about your vanilla boyfriend. And anyone else like Mingyu or Wonwoo would be too obvious for you to be so embarrassed about it. It has to be Chan," Seungkwan butted in nonchalantly.

"I- It's- my boyfriend is not vanilla!"

"You didn't deny it! It was Channie!", Soonyoung was far too excited at having guessed correctly.

Giving up, and knowing you needed some external input on your predicament, you nodded in shame, admitting to your sin in order to maybe get some advice on the situation.

"What do I do? I ... I can't stop thinking about it. Fuck, I can't even look at Chan in the eye anymore."

"Was it good?"

"Soonyoung, stop! That's not the point."

"He has a point. Not really worth ruining your relationship over some mediocre head," argued Seungkwan.

"Shut up! It- Fuck, it was so good," you groaned into your hands in utter embarrassment.

"Dude I knew Chan would be good at head. It's in his eyes. I'm telling you, people with those big doe eyes are freaks in bed," Soonyoung couldn't seem to stop spewing his headcanon of Chan at you.

"Or at least dream-Chan is," agreed Kwan.

"What do I do?! It won't leave my mind. I- I've already tried fucking it out of my head, but even then-"

"Hold on. You had sex with your boyfriend while thinking about Chan? Does he know?"

"Soonyoung!"

"Man, he'd pass out if he heard that. Do you know how many time's he's walked us through his sex dreams?", cackled Soonyoung.

This obviously caught your attention, making you widen your eyes and fastening the speed of your heartbeat.

Chan had had sex dreams about you too?

I mean, it should've been obvious considering the amount of dirty innuendos and straight-up proposals he's given you these past few weeks, but you had never actually thought about it in depth.

Fuck.

Chan wanted to fuck you.

The thought made you gulp and press your thighs together, actions your friends thankfully did not catch onto.

"He, uh, he's told you about his sex dreams about me?", you asked with a complete lack of confidence in your voice.

"God, don't even get him started," grumbled Seungkwan, slurping his almost empty americano before continuing, "It's Hoshi who keeps instigating him into telling us every excruciating detail."

Soonyoung nodded in confirmation, "Dude, he gets nasty," he whispers as if it was a sin to utter out loud – despite having previously aired your own sex dream to the whole diner.

God, were you interested in knowing more. But you couldn't blow your cover. You were far too horny and pent up already. Hearing about how your sexy (yes, you were at the point of shamelessly admitting it) best friend giving it to you in the nastiest scenarios imaginable would probably make you combust in front of your best friends and every other unsuspecting person in the establishment.

With dry lips and wetness already gathering between your thighs, you simply hummed in acknowledgment and moved on with the conversation, eventually managing to change subjects without giving away your cover.

Never in your life had you ever had such urgency in getting home.

Upon locking your front door, you immediately ran to your bed, undressing yourself in the process and getting ready to rid yourself of the ache between your legs that had been bothering you since that wretched dream.

You knew that you wouldn't be able to satisfy yourself as well as you wanted without Chan's aid (you'd tried endless times just a few days ago), but trying was better than nothing.

Getting yourself started was easy. All you had to do was remember the very vivid image of dream-Chan slobbering between your legs, begging you to use his face however you saw fit and claim your orgasm as if it were a god-given right.

But imagination wasn't enough.

You had half the mind to call up Chan right there and then and crying to him to please come and take care of you. The repeated knowledge that Chan would likely come to you with no question nor judgement made the task of holding back even harder. It made you cry at the frustration your fingers were giving you; they just weren't enough. Not even after the endless attempts these past few days had you been able to calm the fire between your legs. The last time you saw your boyfriend – just after your damned sex dream – had been yet another failed attempt. It seemed like nothing could truly get you there.

That's when you thought of the perfect thing.

Chan always had the tendency of either taking you home himself or sending you a short voice message to ensure you had arrived home safely – always insisting on one in return. This message always contained Chan's raspy voice after a long day of shenanigans, usually calling you one pet name or another as he checked in on you.

No matter how ashamed you felt at it, the burning between your legs did seem to diminish upon turning up the short voice message he had left you just last week. His words, accompanied by his voice, did wonders for your imagination.

"Hey, babe", it had started, "Just wanted to check in on you and make sure you got home okay. Need you to send me a message back as soon as you can, yeah?"

This had been enough to start you up again, the usual 'babe' nickname and the soft command causing an effect on you it never had in all your years of friendship.

"You looked so pretty today," he sighed, "Did I tell you that? Need to be telling you that every day. You're gorgeous. Don't even know how such a pretty girl puts up with us," he chuckled.

Oh, Channie ...

He'd always been so sweet to you. Such a fun friend, but also such a sweet boy who'd always coddle you and treat you better than anyone else. You could almost picture him swooning at you as he reminisced on the pretty dress you'd worn that day.

You couldn't think of anyone else who thought of you that fondly. Yet you were currently too busy using an unsuspecting Chan to get off after days of being pent up due to that same boy.

"Miss you already, gorgeous. Should've taken you home myself, ugh," he groaned at himself, "That way I would've at least gotten a goodnight kiss," he paused, chuckling, "on the cheek, of course."

It was probably just your horny brain talking, but had Chan been in front of you at that moment, you would've done far more than just kiss him. You didn't know where all this sudden lust for Chan had come from, but that dream had come with an epiphany. Maybe you'd been attracted to your best friend all this time.

"'Kay, Imma leave you now, okay, princess? Message me back when you're ready for bed, alright? You know how I worry. Goodnight, beautiful. I love you," he ended the recording with a soft kiss.

The short voice message wasn't enough to work yourself up to an orgasm, so you revisited as many of his old messages as you could, recalling some specially soft ones he'd send you where he'd call you all the petnames known to man and praise you enough to make you blush.

You also thought about what Soonyoung had said, how Chan's dreams about you would get nasty. You thought of every nasty thing the man was probably itching to do to you. You thought of how easily you'd let him if he was here at this moment.

Throughout it all, you pictured Chan and the actions that would accompany his words if he were in the room with you. You imagined the soft touches and the praise he'd spew endlessly at you. The eyes full of genuine love – mixed with a little lust – that would watch you as you came undone.

And come undone you did. It wasn't as good as it would've been with the real Chan present and taking care of you, but it sure beat the multiple unsatisfying orgasms you'd had in the past few days.

"We broke up."

Those were your opening words upon approaching the usual table you shared with your friends.

This time Seokmin had decided to join.

"You what?"

"Because of Chan?"

"Really?!"

All responses were delivered simultaneously, making you groan as you sat down, knowing you were in for a lengthy interrogation from the three nosiest men you knew.

You covered your face in your hands and exhaled before unmasking yourself and facing your friends with seriousness in your demeanor.

"Didn't feel right when I kept thinking about Chan," you started, "He understood, which made it worse. Said he'd been too busy with work lately, was thinking of taking some time apart anyways."

It had been a few days since your wet dream about Chan. After your lonely escapade the night after – the night with the cursed voice memos – you had gone over to your boyfriend's place to end it. You hadn't hung out much in the past few weeks. There had been no spark for a bit. The goodness of your short-lived relationship was probably just the honeymoon period, which ended around the same time Chan decided to make his interest on you known.

It was all too much to deal with, so breaking it off seemed easier.

"Wow," aired Soonyoung.

"Yeah. Wow. How are you feeling?", asked Seokmin.

"I'm fine. Just, you know, feel kinda bad. I didn't want to be with someone if my heart wasn't fully in it," you mumbled, a little solemn.

"Does Channie know?"

"God, no. I've been avoiding him since," you eyed Kwan and Soonyoung, "uh, you know," you didn't want Seokmin to be yet another one of your friends to know about your sexual escapades in your slumber.

"Oh, you mean the sex dream?"

Your stare turned menacing, facing the only two possible culprits, "Who told him?"

"It was Soonie!", Seungkwan revealed immediately.

"Wait! No, I-"

"Did you tell anyone else? Oh my god, does Chan know?!"

"No! I only told Seokmin, I swear! He asked why we were meeting while Chan's working, so I told him."

"Don't worry, I won't tell. Scout's honor."

Seokmin held an innocent pinky towards you. Already done with the situation, you halfheartedly intertwined pinkies and moved on.

"So ... Channie?", Seungkwan asked once more.

"What about him?", you feigned curiosity.

"Playing dumb isn't gonna help things."

"What, do you want me to tell him about my dream?"

"That'd be kinda weird, man, I don't know," added Seokmin.

"I think it'd be hot."

"Soonyoung, shut up!", you told him for the nth time since the subject of your 'crush' on Chan had first come up.

Seungkwan side-eyed them before continuing, "No, but you like him, don't you?"

Did you? Did you actually like Chan?

Before Chan had showed interest in you, you had never considered it. Ever since you'd met him, Chan had always been nothing more than your best friend, your partner in crime. You had never felt as safe and comfortable with anyone as you had with Chan, and that was still the case. No boyfriend had ever made you feel as at ease as Chan always did.

His crush had brought out something in you. Had it been any other friend who suddenly revealed their feelings for you, you would've reacted in horror. But it was different with Chan. For some reason, you didn't feel put off by it, nor did you try to chase him away for his feelings for you. It wasn't one of those situations where the boy suddenly decides to pursue his girl-friend and ruins the friendship altogether. This had opened pandora's box for you, making you realize that Chan's affections would've always been welcomed by you.

Even if you jokingly rejected him or told your friends you had a boyfriend, it was all simply due to your moral compass. You weren't a cheater, so you couldn't take Chan too seriously even if you wanted to. But now you were single, and now you had to figure out if you really wanted Chan in the same way he wanted you.

"I know that I want him, but I need to make sure that I want him, you know? I'd never want to hurt his feelings or jeopardize our friendship just because I was horny one day."

"So you're scared it might just be that you're sexually attracted to him?"

"No, it's just ..."

"You want to know whether or not you like him and not just the attention he gives you."

It was surprisingly Soonyoung who had deciphered it.

"Y-yeah. Fuck. Does that make me a narcissist?"

"Nah. It's better to be sure. You've been friends with Channie since forever. It makes sense for you to wanna be cautious."

"You should probably stop avoiding him, though. He's, uh, starting to notice," revealed Seokmin.

"Yeah, he won't stop whining. Just put him out of his misery already," said Soonie.

"Okay, I guess I'll talk to him next time I see him."

You didn't really feel ready for it, but the time to confront Chan would have to come sooner or later.

Next time you saw Chan was actually far too soon for your liking. Just the following day you found yourself at yet another house party; a small gathering among your friend group and some other people. It wasn't anything too big, so you knew that you'd inevitably bump into Chan.

It had only been about a week since you last spoke to Chan, but that had been a week too long. Throughout the duration of your friendship, the longest you ever went without constant communication had been three days, which had been a total accident on both your parts. The two of you would at least text once a day, even coming to have an unbroken streak of endless texts.

Fuck, you missed him.

Chan obviously must've noticed your lack of communication these past few days. You weren't even sure why you had decided to keep him in the dark. It wasn't just the wet dream (which was still haunting you, but had moved to the back burner for now), and it wasn't your breakup either. You were just confused about your feelings for the boy, but punishing him by icing him out had been far too much. Now you felt guilty.

You felt extra guilty when you finally spotted Chan across the party, sitting alone on a loveseat while he attempted but failed at discreetly looking over at you. He looked like a wounded puppy as he did so, pout on his lips and furrowed brows. It made you want to kiss the pout right off his face.

It was easy to tell that he wanted to approach you, but was simply trying his hardest to respect the boundary you had seemingly put up out of nowhere. This meant that you'd have to be the one to talk to him.

Then you took action, throwing away the drink you had been nursing and walking over to him, ignoring his shocked expression when you wordlessly grabbed his hand and pulled him to an empty room in the shared house. You locked the door and turned to him, unsure on what to say first.

Chan was the now the one to surprise you, immediately trapping you in a bear hug and burying his face in your shoulder, loudly breathing you in.

He didn't let go for a couple of minutes, even nudging you to keep hugging him back when you went to pull away.

When he finally let go, you finally had the chance to look at the boy for a moment.

Yeah, you liked him.

You had missed him far too much to be able to deny it.

You liked Lee Chan, and you were ready to let it be known to the world.

But then he started speaking.

"I'm so sorry," he started, utterly confusing you as to what he could be apologizing for, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I, fuck. I must've crossed a line with my flirting, and I never meant to. You're my best friend, and I need to respect you, an-and I need to respect your relationship. I thought that maybe somehow I could get you to see me as more than a friend, but it was stupid of me to assume you'd drop your boyfriend just because your dumb friend suddenly had a crush on you – which, uh, isn't the case, by the way," he looked down, embarrassed, "I've liked you since we met. So much. I assumed Hoshi must've told you by now. Anyways, I, uh, I'm really sorry. I'll stop. I will never bring it up again, just, fuck, please don't be mad. I'll take anything you give me. If friendship is what you want then I'll be the bestest friend you've ever had, just-"

It was impossible to take his senseless rambles anymore. You were getting too emotional at the thought of having put Chan through this turmoil when you had spent the last few days tending to the ache he had caused between your legs and subsequently breaking up with your boyfriend in order to figure out your feelings. It made you feel equally embarrassed and ridiculous, yet the effects of your silence made you begin to tear up at the apologetic boy in front of you.

Interrupting him, you hugged him again, somehow even tighter this time. This thankfully shut him up, allowing his body to lose its tension and letting himself become limp in your hold.

After some more moments of silent hugging, you were the one to pull away this time, giving him a sympathetic smile as you raised a hand to caress his cheek. It made you soon the way in which he leaned against your palm and gave you the sweetest smile known to man.

"Channie, you did nothing wrong ... I'm sorry for cutting you off like that, that was so wrong of me. I should've talked to you and told you how I was feeling. I wish I was half as confident about my feelings as you are, but I just felt so-" you paused, not knowing what you were even trying to express, "a-and then I just started avoiding you to avoid my feelings all together. I'm sorry."

"No, you have nothing to apologize for," he put his hands on your shoulders to ensure you were understanding his point, "I should've respected your boundaries. I never even should've tried to pursue you when I know you have a boyfriend, it was so-"

"had", you clarified, shy.

"what?"

"I had a boyfriend. We, uh, we broke up a few days ago."

"You ... Fuck, was it because of me?"

His eyes were like saucers, but you could see a small hint of a smile that he quickly wiped off when he realized the context of the situation.

"I want to say no, but ... yeah, I did."

Still feeling unbelievably ashamed at the memory of what had first led you to consider breaking up with your boyfriend, – a stupid wet dream you still couldn't get out of your mind – you avoided eye contact. Now you knew that that had only been the catalyst of realizing your feelings for Chan, but it still didn't help matters much, specially knowing that Chan would find out sooner or later.

"God, I'm so so sorry-"

"Chan! Stop apologizing! It wasn't because of anything you did. I just ... I realized some things these past few weeks and .. I realized we weren't really right for each other," you took a breath, "Not when you were all I could think about."

"Y-you ...?"

"I'm going to be candid, okay? Just, please don't interrupt."

He nodded, giving you the green light.

"A little over a week ago, uh, something happened. And then I couldn't keep you out of my mind. I tried talking to the guys, I even tried using my boyfriend as a distraction, but nothing worked. I started avoiding you because I just felt so awkward realizing I was beginning to develop feelings for you. It was wrong of me, but I needed time. I broke up with him because it didn't feel right to be with someone else while you were the only person I wanted around."

Saying it felt like a breath of fresh air. Not only were you admitting it to Chan, but also to yourself. Your friendship with Chan had never been your average friendship. Even before he had decided to begin shamelessly hitting on you, he had always been the sweetest and most caring boy you'd ever met. Sending you voice memos every time you went home alone, always being in charge of getting your drinks, driving you wherever you wanted, being overly affectionate with you any time he felt you might've needed it. The boy had always been the perfect match for you, you just couldn't grasp it until he began to literally shove it in your face.

"What made you realize it?"

Not expecting him to question you, but rather just accept your sudden change of heart, you hadn't thought of how to explain to him that a sex dream was what had brought you to this epiphany.

But what did you have to lose at this point? Most of your friends already knew, and to be quite frank, you still wanted Chan extremely badly. Telling him wouldn't be the end of the world.

"I, uh, I had a dream about you ..." you muttered, eyes avoiding his own.

His already wide eyes widened even more, a smirk forming itself on his features as he tilted his head in question.

"Uhm, care to repeat that for me?"

"Chan, shut the fuck up. You heard me."

"I didn't! Just tell me. Please?"

With a sigh, you repeated yourself, this time a little more clear, "I had a dream about you."

"Uh-huh. What type of dream?"

"Chan!"

"Princess, please. I embarrassed myself for you for weeks. I pined for you for years. Just give me what I wanna hear," he pleaded, somehow cocky in the way he did so.

"Fuck, fine. I had a wet dream about you. I dreamt about you between my legs, giving me the greatest orgasm I've ever experienced and begging me for more. I dreamt of your pathetic whines while I ground my cunt on your face. And then I woke up before I could cum. I spent the entire day trying to get that feeling back but nothing worked, Chan, nothing. I couldn't look you in the eyes after that so I just avoided you."

Finally giving him the most candid version of the events made you feel a weight leave your shoulders, specially upon realizing that the boy who currently held your heart had been rendered unable to use this as ammunition against you as you watched his cocky expression turn into one of lust.

"Oh," he breathed out. Taking a few moments to regain his composure, he spoke up again, "W-was that it? Or do you, uh, do you also like me back?"

"I like you, Chan. So much. The dream was just what made me realize that I wanted you in every way imaginable."

A decisive expression now took over his face, nodding to himself before moving closer to you, taking up all your personal space.

"That's all I needed to know," he declared before claiming your lips in a heated kiss.

Chan kissed you with everything he had to give. The kiss immediately grew lustful, with Chan licking into your mouth for access the second you made the smallest sound of surprise. And, fuck was Chan a great kisser.

His tongue was practically making love to yours, rendering your legs weak and shaky. Thankfully Chan realized this, pushing you to the nearest wall so that he could continue to take over all your senses.

Scratching and pulling at his hair, you caused Chan to moan against your lips, only making you whine in return. Chan took this as a sign to move forward, beginning to grind his expert hips against your own. Already hard, Chan's clothed cock felt like heaven against your burning cunt. You had begged for a proper release for days, and you were now afraid that some light dry humping would be enough to take you there before you could finally relive your dream.

But did you care? Did you care enough to halt Chan's movements when they were already making your eyes roll back? Your body made the decision for you, pushing your hips against his own and making him release a gruttal groan against your lips.

"N-need you so fucking bad ..." he breathed against your lips, barely able to get a word out as you insisted of licking into his mouth as he spoke. This made him groan again, "Princess, please ... You're gonna kill me."

Pulling away, you grabbed his hands and placed them on your breasts, making eyed at him as you spoke, "Channie, just touch me. Don't care what you do, just ... just take care of the problem you caused."

He whined at the feeling of your body at his palms, immediately groping and feeling up every inch of your body before trapping your mouth in another heated kiss. His hands soon became too desperate to feel you through your clothes, carelessly unwrapping you from every piece of clothing he could. He left you in your underwear, having thrown off your dress and holding onto your hands so you could haphazardly kick off your shoes. Chan's clothes joined soon after, with his own hands throwing off all but his boxers.

Before he could claim your lips in a kiss again, you grabbed him by the hand, leading him to a nearby couch in order to sit him down. Sitting on his lap, you kissed him again and again, thoroughly enjoying how liberal his hands were in the way he touched you.

Finally throwing off your bra, you felt up your tits a bit as Chan watched you with a pained look in his face, mouth open and eyes glued to your breasts. His lips attached to your tits immediately after, going crazy in the way he suckled and bit at them.

"You're so fucking gorgeous," he mumbled against your tit, "Fuck, dreamt about you every night ... This pretty body and all your pretty noises. Can't believe I get to have you now," he kissed his way back up to your neck, hands never halting in their caressing of your body.

He pulled away to look into your eyes – though his eyes kept dropping to your lips, "You're embarrassed about your dream?", he chuckled, "Want me to tell you some of mine? Hmm?", he began to manhandle you, positioning you so that you could lay horizontally on the couch and he could lay above you, "So fucking nasty, baby, it'd make you blush."

"Channie ..."

"Gonna do so many nasty things to you. Want me to whine for your pussy? Oh, baby ... Gonna beg for pussy every day, shit," his hand went down to rub your wet cunt through your panties, "'sso wet," he groaned, "Gonna lick it all up again and again. Need to suffocate between these thighs," he made his way down your body as he said this, eventually coming face to face with your cunt.

Leaving a kiss on your weeping cunt, he licked through your panties, causing you to arch your back for him and throw your head back. The warmth of his tongue could've been enough to claim your orgasm, but somehow you persisted.

Chan became desperate for you quickly after that, removing your panties and lifting your thighs so that he could finally bury himself between your legs the way you'd been wanting him to for so long.

"Channie, fuck!," you cried, pulling at his hair while pushing his head further against you.

"Use me. God, just ... Grind that cunt against me ..."

And so you did. You took advantage of your pretty best friend's desperation for you and employed your own desperation for him. To any outsider, you must've looked like the image of depravity as you used Chan for your pleasure, but Chan was just as depraved. You could feel the couch shake from under you, indicating the way in which Chan ground against it as you claimed your orgasm on his tongue.

Riding your high was an incomparable experience. No one had ever made you feel as much pleasure as Chan had. Not even dream-Chan lived up to reality.

You could've sworn you lost consciousness for a few moments after your high, feeling completely weightless when it had finally died down. Your ability to think only came back by the time Chan had climbed back up your body and kissed at your chest once more, smiling at you when he finally reached your lips.

Instead of sharing a sweet moment with him, you claimed his lips once more and licked every last bit of your essence from his mouth. He groaned and allowed his tongue to mingle with yours in such a nasty manner that it made you blush when you remembered that Chan was nothing more than your best friend less than an hour ago.

"Let me fuck you," Chan pleaded when he finally managed to pull away from your greedy lips.

"How do you want me?", you asked as your lips tried to reclaim his yet again. Fuck, he was such a good kisser.

"Fuck. I get to choose?"

You couldn't help but be endeared by him. Also incredibly turned on by how much he clearly wanted you.

Without another word, he repositioned you so you'd be on your hands and knees, running his hand down your back to press the arch of your back a little deeper. He groaned at the sight of you arching your back as deliciously as you could, wiggling your ass as you looked back at him with a cheeky smile, lip trapped between your teeth.

"I've been waiting for this for years, shit. I'm not gonna last."

That made you giggle, continuing to press yourself up against him to get him to break.

"Just fuck me, Channie. Promise it's gonna feel so good."

"Yeah, baby. Gonna fuck you so good."

His tip then finally made contact with your cunt, being dragged up and down your folds as you whined at the feeling. He finally began to penetrate you after becoming too desperate himself.

"You're so fucking warm ..." he breathed out.

Sighing out at the fullness, you pushed back against him, encouraging him to begin fucking into you. Chan took no time in following your lead, adopting a desperate pace almost immediately.

The sounds of skin slapping took over the room, only accompanied by sighs and moans of pleasure from you or Chan. The occasional whiny praise also left his lips every so often. The needy way in which he fucked you had you reeling. Chan had the ability to make you feel extremely desired and like getting to fuck you was the greatest privilege known to man. The way his hands caressed you and his pleas for you to 'please push it back on him' made the experience all the more dreamy to you.

Dream-Chan truly stood no chance to the real one.

"Princess, gonna- fuck, gonna fucking cum. W-where can I?", he grunted from behind, his thrusts somehow becoming even more animalistic.

There was no moment of hesitation in your voice – though shaky from the way in which Chan rutted against you – when you gave him the green light to cum inside you. His groan upon your confirmation only made your back arch even more. Chan's want for you continued to make you feel lightheaded.

Halfway through his own orgasm, Chan triggered your own through the way his hand dipped under you and toyed with your clit. After only one day with you, your best friend already knew how to get you there immediately. He talked you through your orgasm, giving you endless praise about how beautiful you were, how he didn't deserve such a pretty bestie to fuck so good, how he'd beg for you day after day if necessary.

Upon your highs wearing down, Chan managed to reposition you so you could lay next to him. (though almost entirely on top of him) He held you close to him, soft in the way he ran his fingers up and down the length of your arm, enjoying the goosebumps forming. His hand would eventually go over to your face and caress your cheek while his nose rubbed against your own. Treating you like a doll, Chan made you swoon yet again.

"I love you."

Then the world stopped.

"I'm sorry I didn't say it before. It wasn't just a crush. I'm in love with you. And ... and I want you to be mine. Will you be my girlfriend?"

It was all whispered against you, with a soft smile accompanying the whispered words.

"I love you too," the words left your mouth so naturally you were sure they'd been stuck there forever, "Yes, Channie. I'll be your girlfriend," you couldn't help but smile as you said those words.

"Fuck, thank God," he breathed out, hugging you to him, "I never would've gotten over you if you said no. The guys never would've heard the end of it."

He made you laugh, as per usual.

You knew things would only change for the better, so you weren't scared about the change in dynamic that was to come from letting Chan out of the friendzone. All you felt was excitement to finally be with him without guilt.

support me through a one-time tip! <3

to read short 1.7k word continuation you can go join my monthly tier on kofi or patreon!

content: established relationship, chan's pov, banter, smut, oral (m receiving), mentions of lingerie, teasing, dry humping, riding, etc.

wc: 695 (teaser); 1773 (full drabble)

sneak peak:

Chan had waited for this moment for years. The moment he finally had you all to himself and the moment that would start the rest of his life with you.

Sleeping with you last night had somehow surpassed his craziest of dreams – and he had dreamt about it a lot.

The feeling of your soft skin under his fingertips, the way you moaned against his mouth as his tongue suckled on yours, the sight of your bare body, the feeling of your hands caressing every inch of his body, the taste of your wet cunt ... fuck. He could go on forever reminiscing about you and how obsessed with your touch he had already become.

It had only been a bit over a day since he had woken up next to you on that couch. Granted, the sleep had been slightly uncomfortable, but he had gotten to feel your warm skin against his own as he slept, so it had been worth it.

After some sheepish reaffirmation of your feelings for one another, you had redressed and left the shared house, pinkies intertwined as you went home. Sadly, you had busy days, so you weren't able to see one another at all throughout the following 24 hours. But! You had agreed to see each other tonight for a quiet dinner at Chan's apartment – courtesy of Mingyu's cooking.

Opening the door to his apartment, Chan's chin practically hit the floor when he spotted you in that dress.

Chan had seen you in all types of getups throughout all his years of knowing you. He had obviously seen you in the prettiest of dresses, the tightest and most sinfully tailored pieces. But nothing compared to the pretty little thing you were currently donning.

It was a black slip dress. It wasn't too tight nor too loose. The fabric barely covered his favorite parts of your body, making him reminisce on how they looked without anything covering them at all. You were also shamelessly donning the few hickeys he had left on you just one day ago. Chan was convinced you'd been sent on this Earth to ruin him, to make him a shell of himself and rid him of any ability to act as a functional human being.

The dinner went quite well. You and Chan were far too used to each other for it to go anything but perfect. Your usual banter was present, though Chan now had the privilege of running his hand up and down any sliver of skin he could reach as you teased him about one thing or another. He enjoyed the innocent touches he could give you without any sense of guilt you might be taken by some loser who didn't deserve you. The right to touch you was now entirely reserved by him, just as it should've always been.

It was all perfectly innocent until it wasn't.

Eventually moving to the couch to entertain yourselves with some streaming service, you cuddled against each other. This was an ordinary occurrence between you even as friends. Sure, the cuddling was now a little extra close – with you practically sitting on his lap – but it wasn't anything too intimate so far.

It seemed like this wasn't enough for you, though. It didn't take you too long to move onto his lap, now sitting on top of him while his arms wrapped around your middle. Chan chose to just follow along with whatever position you wanted to cuddle in, just happy to be there at all. Your hands would play with his own, clearly not attentive to the movie at all.

Innocently at first, you rubbed your own hands up and down his arms. This later came to you leading his hands to rub up and down the expanse of your thighs, coming up high enough to lift up most of your skirt. This then evolved into you dipping one of his hands to rub against your panties.

Chan's eyes rolled back when he felt the warmth of your cunt under his hand, already moist and ready for him. You kept pressing his hand against you, so Chan took the hint to play with you.

...

find the 18+ continuation on kofi or patreon!

if you have trouble finding it on there, just let me know!!<3

2K notes · View notes

twisted-wonderland-but-gayer · 1 year ago

Note

May I request Great Seven Yuu with no filter? Maybe the other students are just TESTING THEM that day and with a little prodding from their darling parents, they just say what’s on their mind for the day

Yuu + The Great Seven

Note: This is different from my other great 7 fics as I don't focus on what the 7 say as much here, this also aint the canon unit yuu for this. Anyways enjoy

Cws: Gn!Yuu, Rook is clowned on cause he's French, implications of Crewel/Crowley but in a divorcee way, some cringe ig, minor changes to canon, first years are ur homies, sebek has moments where he yells in all caps cause he's cringe, Lilia knows Maleficent, Trey isn't slandered as much as he should be, Starts off Crack, turns to angst, then fluff. 6k Words

****

Since arriving at NRC, you have been playing your role well, excellent even. You played the role of a magicless, weak, and gullible prefect that knew nothing of the world you were in. The mirror said that you “had too many souls to judge” and that you had no magic, which was technically true as the magic you had was borrowed from the seven sealed within you.

It was going to be perfect. You can finally lay low and research this world to give your dear seven parents and their familiars bodies again, then make your place in this new world… or so you thought.

Right after the disaster that was the entrance ceremony, you ended up being roommates with the cat and crashed it. Fine, you could work with this. Then the very next day, the cat got into a fight with a pathetic bully which caused a statue to get burned, which then caused another person to get involved, which then caused a chandelier to break, and then you had to go off into a hidden mine to fight a monster late into the night, and you get the story.

It has been consistently difficult to pretend you had no magic, or to make the excuse that “someone else must have casted that spell”. When you eventually had to explain that you were a magician, there went the first half of your plan. Now Crowley and everyone seems to expect more from you, at least you were able to pretend it was weak, you guess. And as if it could get any worse, the seven seem to be encouraged to give these brats a taste of their own medicine and stop holding back. Oh how you would love to but putting up with everyone after, especially the number one pain in your ass, Ace, would be so fucking annoying.

The aforementioned pain in your ass poked you, interrupting the mental conversation you were having with the ensemble in your head, and you had to hold back the urge to use Hades’ flames to set him ablaze. You shut your eyes tightly and tense up before slowly turning to him. “What?” Your eyes narrow as Ace looks over at you with the most infuriating neutral expression that turns to a pout.

“Were you even listening to me?” “Look, it’s nothing personal, it’s just how I am.” Ace’s lips pursed as he raised a brow. “Really?” Deuce nudged Ace. “Hey, be nice, you know they don't mean to space off like that, it's their condition.” Deuce was truly a blessing. “Seems to me like Yuu is just a space case,” Grim snickered and Sebek nodded his head. “I completely agree with Grim! Honestly, how could you and Silver be so complacent? Do you lack discipline?”

You mentally groaned with the seven at Sebeks scolding. “They don’t lack discipline,” Jack interrupted, “Yuu says they have a condition that delays their thoughts, they need extra time to process what you said.” “Thank you, Jack.” You smile, and feel Ortho glide right next to you and look up at you. “Having a condition like that must be hard… I can't imagine my processor lagging…” Ortho trails off and frowns, “Oh but I’ll try my best to look for a fix for you!” The child beams. Epel looks over at you.

“That is one hell of an issue huh? Some days you're just as quick as anyone else but then sometimes you take forever, it's a fickle thing.” Epel hums and Ace rolls his eyes at everyone defending you. “Tch, yeah what's that about? Sometimes I even hear you talking to yourself, weirdo.” Ace playfully nudges you and you narrow your eyes at him.

Something within you snaps. Maybe it’s because of all the stress of hiding it. Maybe it's because you have to interact and pretend everything is fine to the students who have bullied, harassed, and tried to kill you resulting in god awful PTSD finally making you snap. Or maybe it's just because you want this damned asshole that has wormed his way into your heart to shut up.

“Because ‘thought processing disorder’ isn’t the best way to actually describe my condition, Ace, but it's sure as hell easier to explain than ‘I have several voices in my head judging me and telling me what to do all the time and no medication cannot stop it no matter what I do and all of your stupid comments and questions makes them erupt in a 10 minute yelling match making it impossible to hear my own thoughts!”

You sneer at them all as they look over with a mix of surprise and pity, Ortho looks like a kicked puppy. You sigh, “I’m sorry, I just…” “Nah that's nothing to apologize for…” Ace sighs, and you know he wants to apologize but pride won't allow him. “Y’know what if you just say what the voices want to say?” Deuce suddenly asks out of the blue.

“O-of course, I don't know what they say so maybe it's not a good idea but…” “Actually, it may give Ace some patience for once.” Jack gives a small smirk. “We all know he needs to learn to think before he speaks.” “Hey!” Ace huffs. “Fine then, bring it! I can take whatever you throw at me.” And the ginger smirks as if he didn't just say some famous last words.

“You're serious?” You blink. “Do you even think you could handle it?” Sebek scoffs, “I can take anything a measly human dishes out, it is nothing compared to fae!” Epel shuts his eyes in annoyance. “Oh you three don’t even know what you’re getting into, yet you’re already signing up for trouble.” Ortho beams. “Actually, this might help me collect some data to help you, Yuu!” “You four don’t even know what you're getting yourselves into…” Epel corrects himself.

“Okay okay.” You sigh. “Tomorrow, I will allow whatever they say, happen… to an extent at least…” You mutter, making Hades and the Queen of Hearts in your head boo you. Last thing you need is an Arson charge….

****

You laid down on your bed later that day as the sun began to set. “Okay guys… there are only a few ground rules. No murder, and no major property damage, small fires are okay, okay?” Before any of the seven and their familiars could respond or complain, you heard Grim.

“Who’re you talking to? Oh wait, you speaking to the guys in your head?” Grim asked, jumping on the bed and cuddling up to you. “First the mouse in the mirror and now you have some voices in your head, what other secrets are you keeping from me, hmm?” 'A lot actually', you think as you stroke Grim’s fluffy head. “You’ll see tomorrow.” You smile and your excitement made it difficult to sleep that night.

****

You got up, did your daily routine that Mama Grimhilde has laid out for you, before exiting the house with Grim in your arms for breakfast. Of course you haven’t forgotten the deal you made today at all. ‘Pssst, hey small sib~’ Flotsam chuckles darkly in your head, ‘Can I bite someone today?’ You chuckle, “Only if they deserve it.” Grim peeked up at you. “Oh yeah, you’re talking out loud today.” Grim smirks, “I wonder how Explodey-Head’s gonna react to that!”

Slinking into the cafeteria, you get into line per usual, getting a tray of whatever was free that you liked, you had to pinch your pennies this week. Sitting down, you notice that your usual squad was there, including Ace and Deuce, who usually took their time to arrive, and Ortho who usually had to deal with his brother. “Good morning.” You say settling down. “Morning, Yuu!” Ortho beams, “I got here early so I can start the data collection! I'll try to record as much as possible!”

‘Oh how precious.’ Ursula purrs in your head, and the seven’s consensus on Ortho, even if they didn’t appreciate anklebiters, is that he wasn’t half bad. “So, today you're going to embrace your issues, I SAY BRING IT ON!” Sebek yells, making everyone wince, and Epel shoots a tired glare. ‘Tell that boy to silence! I am trying to nap!’ Scar huffs.

You nervously sigh, “Well first off all, they said to shut up please, it's not even 7 in the morning.” Sebek looks offended for a moment, but a very familiar voice interrupts, sending shivers down your spine. “Oh Koebi-Chan~” A wry voice purrs, making Grim hop off of you to hide. Everyone in your head went ‘oh no this guy again.’

You honestly didn’t mind Floyd, hell, you dare to consider him a friend, but you really were not in the mood for his antics today. “Hey Floyd,” You sigh, “look dude, I’m not in the mood today, can you please leave me alone?” You ask, and your words just make Floyd beam. The seven seem annoyed, but then you feel their excitement; your first victim. 'Humiliate the boy…' Jafar whispers to you.

Floyd drapes himself over you as you eat, occasionally leaning over to try and steal a bite from whatever was on your fork. “Ehh? Little shrimpy’s feeling bold today!~ How fun! Whatcha gonna do about me?~” His arms wrap around you to squeeze around your rib cage, “Especially when I squeeze…”

“Dude, leave them alone.” Deuce says before freezing at the glare he was shot. "…Please?” He adds. “Look Floyd,” Jack sighs, “we’re trying to get Yuu some help today with an illness, Ortho is trying to get data on them, you aren’t helping.” Jack interrupts, trying to keep your condition vague for your privacy. Seems like Jack forgot that Floyd ignores reason when he finds it funny.

“Ooo~, is the little shrimpy sick?” Floyd says backing off of you slightly and poking you in the ribs. “You know Azul may have a remedy for it, you should come on down.~” “He does not, and for the final time there is nothing he can offer me that would make me want to make a deal with him. Please go away.” You warn one last time and Floyd leans in, pushing his luck in hopes to see you squirm. Ortho glares and prepares to get up and send him away but you hold out your hand to tell him to stop.

“Whatcha gonna do lil shrimpy?~” Floyd smirks. ‘Is it time?’ Hades asks, ‘Please tell me its time.’ You smile and mentally reply, ‘it’s time.’ You keep your calm smile as you look at Floyd. “Probably something my father taught me.” “And what's that?” Floyd says, grabbing the back of your neck.

“This.” Suddenly you erupted in the brightest blue flames the world has ever seen making half of the cafeteria turn to stare. Your friends at the table all jump back and Ortho flashes red as he scans you. As quickly as the flames came to be, they disappeared. Floyd pulled his hands away, waving it off to cool it down. He wasn’t burned, at least nothing major, but the sleeve of his uniform was singed and he stared at it in rapt fascination.

You expected him to get annoyed, or to maybe start a fight, or something, but Floyd was in a good mood, and he laughed. “I didn’t know little shrimpy could do that! I thought you could only summon an ember, eheheh!~ Seems little shrimpy has more secrets than we thoooought~” Floyd muses, and suddenly another familiar face comes in, one that looks exactly like Floyd.

“Floyd, I believe the prefect doesn’t want to play anymore. Come on now, we should go.” “Aww but I wanna keep playing!” “I know brother dearest, but it seems that the cruel and unwavering Prefect doesn't want to,” Jade faked a frown and sighed, “How awful, if only they could have an ounce of compassion for my poor, poor brother… However, ” Jade opened his eyes back up and smirked, staring directly at you with a twinkle in his eye. “I think it’s best to leave them alone for today, especially since whatever ailment they have seems to make them erupt in flames at any given moment…”

The eel’s voice drips with faux concern and Floyd snickers, Azul is gonna have some wonderful intel to ponder over later. You decide to say exactly what all of your fathers thinking. “Go eat shit and die for all I care.” And Jade’s eyes widen ever so slightly before the gleam with amusement, having never seen this side of you. “Of course prefect! If this ah… ailment continues to cause you trouble, please do let us know. We at Octavinelle love to help the poor and unfortunate.”

You watched the two slink off before turning back to your meal as all of your first year friends gawked at you. “What the hell was that! You never said you could do that!” Ace sputtered. “Yeah! You nearly cooked me!” Grim whines, making the audience in your head relish in their surprise. Ursula and The Queen of Hearts seem particularly amused.

“Magic like that requires a lot of skill.” Sebek ponders, “To cast a flame cloak and not burn yourself requires a lot of concentration, furthermore it requires a high amount of magic potential on par with fae. Didn’t you say you have none, Yuu? HAVE YOU BEEN LYING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE? OR PERHAPS YOU WANTED TO HIDE IT TO SKIRT OUT ON EXAMS!” “Volume!” Deuce whines, and Grimhilde mentally thanks him.

“Oh… whoops…” “WHOOPS??” A few of the first years yell and Epel shoots you an ugly-baffled expression. “Whoops?? Whoops?? Is that all you have to say about that? You performed some of the most advanced defensive magic without a second thought and you just say whoops??” Epel’s accent threatens to slip out.

“Hey, Ortho, what's their magic reading, you look concerned.” Deuce asks as Ortho looks at the screens he’s projecting with a calculating expression. “I think there is an error in my system, I have scanned them 5 times and it says they have no traces of magic at all, but there is also no trace of any dampening magic used to hide or change that reading. Furthermore, the technique they used is no longer in use, records show it dates back more than the era of gods! That version of the spell they casted cannot be duplicated at all!” Ortho says in amazement before turning to you.

“Just… what are you?”

You blink as they all stare at you expectedly. “I'm a human.”

****

It was time for class, you said that you were gonna use the bathroom first, so the others should go without you for now, you’ll see them with Crewel. You didn’t think that anything eventful would come from it. You were wrong. This is NRC.

Coming out of the bathroom, a few Savanahclaw chuds cornered you. “Can I help you?” You asked exasperatedly to the NRC equivalents of Beavis and Butthead. “Tch, you know why we're here!” “…No, I don't.” You blink rubbing your eye, which just pissed off the duo even more.

“You made a fool out of our dorm during the spell drive competition!” “Oh god, is that what this about, dude that was nearly a year ago.” “Yeah and we came back to settle the score.” You just raised a brow and a small smile crept to your face.

‘Oh! Oh! Can I bite now? Please please please can I bite now! Come onnnn I’ve been such a good eel!’ Flotsam pleads and you hear the familiars speak. ‘Me want bite!!’ Ed whines. Raven caws, ‘Yeah me too!’ Iago agrees. ‘We wanna join too!’ The imps laugh. ‘I will… stay here…’ Diaval sighs.

You blink. “Sick em.” You say, making the two idiots make a face at you. Flotsam immediately lunges for the ass. “AIIIIEEE!” One yells and you hold back a snort as the others join, Iago and Raven both grabbing onto the members hair and pecking at them. Jetsam basically lassos around one, making him trip so the hyena trio can rough him up. The imps both transform into a blue and red cat respectively and continue to add to the looney tunes violence of it all.

The two run off and the familiars return to you, except for the eels that slither miserably in place on the smooth, frictionless floor. “Help us up.” Jetsam scoffs. “No I think I’ll stay like this a bit longer.” 'Angelfish…' Ursula warns. "... yes mom…"

…

On your way to class you run into Crowley who attempts to stop you and unload another issue for you to deal with. Instead you say what your familiars wanted to say. “You are gay.” You say, making the man just stare at you as you walk off. “And Crewel also has weirdly complicated feelings for you.”

“FEELINGS YOU SAY?? WHICH ONES?? WHICH SORT OF FEELINGS YUU?? YUU!!!” You speed walk off regretting that decision, but you admit it will be funny to see those two get divorced. Crewel deserves better.

****

Animal Linguistics was always a bit of an annoying class, and this time, Trein has invited a few of the more advanced students to the class to help you freshmen. Ace let out a deep sigh when he saw Ruggie, knowing this guy will only do the bare minimum for his grade and charge any lesson extra.

“So when the cat goes ‘mrrrp?’ You're good, usually you should try to respond with a ‘mah Ah’” Ruggie explains to your group. “Do we always have to talk to cats and mice? I feel like we should also practice some other creatures too…” You sigh.

Trein overhears you and responds. “Your birds don’t count, Yuu. They are able to speak.” You sigh. “Okay…” You sigh and Ruggie gives you that stupid shit-eating grin. “Aw, you not satisfied with my lesson?” “No.” You glare, which surprises Ruggie, unused to your assertiveness. “I can speak to animals already and I’ve been teaching these boneheads, we're fine here.”

“Yeah but you say things that don't make sense…” Grim complains. “It doesn’t make sense because you guys are not used to the accents animals have. You know what, hold on, I‘ll get some real good ones to practice on.” “Huh what are you—?” Ruggie gawks when he sees three whole hyenas appear out of nowhere along with two eels around your waist.

“They are not allowed to speak in their human voices. Knock 'em out, guys.” “Yuu! Where did you even…” Trein sighs. “Fine, fine, they can stay as long as they are well behaved…” The hyenas cackle and the eels snicker. Deuce nervously looks into the crossed eyes of Ed who winks in response.

Ace seals his lips to hold back a laugh until Banzai leans where he stares nervously. “Seduce me bro.” “AYO???”

****

Soon history class came, and once again a special guest was brought in, Lilia. The lesson went fine. Your sass wasn't needed. You kept quiet as you took a few notes here and there, and the end bell soon rang out. You stared at a particular note you took.

‘The Thorn Fairy’s wings were leathery and bat-like, much like a dragon.’

You looked down at the note, and Maleficent herself seems to hum. ‘Seems like he is still following orders years later.’ She says and doesn’t elaborate. As students begin to pack up and leave, you wave down Lilia, who puts a hand on his hip and waits for you.

“Oho? What is it, prefect?” Lilia beams as you look at the note you took in your open notebook. “I have a question about what you said about the Thorn Fairy.” Lilia nods, “Well yes, what is it? It always warms my heart to see youngsters value history.”

You look at the note again. “You said that her wings were leathery and bat-like.” Lilia nods his head. “But aren't they feathered?” Lilia’s smile drops. “In fact she lost her wings too but got them back at some point, right? Did they become leathery during those years they were gone? Is that what you mean?”

Lilia looks at you, a bit of shock in his eyes, before he quietly speaks to you. “How do you know that?” “Know what?” “The Thorn Fairy only disclosed that information to two people, her raven, Diaval, and me…” You freeze for a moment and then Diaval appears on your shoulder to caw at him.

Lilia stares at you, then at the raven, then back to you. “Diaval, is that you…? Why are you with… wait does that mean—" Lilia was cut off. “Yo, Yuu!” Deuce calls out from the doorway. “You coming?” You clear your throat and nod. “Yeah, I’m coming!” You look over at Lilia, “Thank you for your time.” He could only stare as you walked off and Diaval cawed an apology

***

Towards the end of the day, you and your first year friends were all going to hang out at Heartslabyul to study together, which you know was code for ‘get distracted halfway and hang out’. You walked down the main path to the mirror chamber when you felt a familiar presence nearby. You were being watched.

“Come out Rook, I know you're there.” You look over at one of the apple trees, and narrow your eyes when you see Rook pop out from behind it all theatric. “Très bien, Trickster! You found me, that is a feat not many can achieve!” The weirdo beams. You nodded. “Yeah, you don't need to stalk me by the way. I am happy to get to know you through talking…”

“Non non, Trickster, you say that however I believe you don’t truly speak your mind!” The French man smiles. “I notice that you are not true to yourself! Always holding back your strength and what you mean to say, when I caught wind you were going to be yourself for a day, I could not help but try to study you!” Okay wow, he has you read.

“You can learn so much more about a person through their actions, but alas, you are so good at concealing those too, mon dieu, you are quite the mystery that I hope to uncover, and the most challenging one to date!” Rook says in awe. “I enjoy a good hunt, and this one has been most enthralling!” “I’ve always been able to sense when you're there, its why I tend to slink off not long after.”

“Merde! Is that so?” Rook smirks, and you sweat, you fucked up. “Aha, I knew you knew of me! Oh how fun! I have never had such good prey before!” You narrow your eyes slightly as he continues. “Would you dare to tell me how you are able to detect me so easily? Ah– but of course, if you don't that makes things much more magnifique!”

“Um… I honestly actually don't know how I do, I just do?” Rook seems pleased, “How effortless! Tres bien! Beauté! I must hone my skills as a hunter more! Until next time, Yuu!” Rook begins to walk off before pausing and his smile drops for a moment.

“And even if it is not me, I do hope you can truly open up to somebody someday. Anyone would be lucky to have that level of trust with a Trickster such as yourself! Holding everything in does you no good! Au revior, little trickster, or perhaps I should call you le Chevalier Mystère?” Rook has that small sparkle in his eye.

“Switch it up now and then, keep it interesting.” You nod at Rook “À bientôt!” He says, and he seems to be muttering some weird French poem about strangers and beauty as you leave.

****

You were stopped yet again on your way to Heartslabyul as you passed the mystery shop. The door was open and you see Trey ponder how he’s going to carry the groceries he brought back to the dorm. “Hey Trey,” you walks in and wave, “you look conflicted, something up?”

“Ah prefect, I am actually,” Trey wears that smiley-wincing expression that Trey has when he’s in deep shit. “I'm sorry to bother you, but could you help me carry some of these bags back to my dorm? It may take a few trips but I promise a treat in return.” “You don’t need to Trey, I’ll help you even without one, you’ve been kind to me.”

Trey’s brows raise slightly and he adjusts his glasses, looking away awkwardly. “Ah, well, thank you, Prefect.” Trey rolls up his sleeves, revealing his forearms as he prepares to grab a bag. "Those bags of flour and sugar are quite heavy, so be careful— wuh?” Trey stared dumbstruck as you lifted 500 pounds worth of dry ingredient bags in one arm. “I- how are you— Is that not heavy?”

“It is, but I’m used to it.” “At least let me help—“ “No, no fine, lets go.” “O… kay…” Trey adjusts his glasses and you both walk off to Heartslabyul, making a lot of people turn their heads as you pass by.

Entering the dorm, you notice Deuce and Grim gawk at you. “Give me a minute, I’m helping Trey!” You shout as you walk everything to the kitchen and set it down on the counter. “There.” Trey stares at the pile you put down, mentally going through all the times before you acted so weak. “Ahem, thank you prefect, Ace told me you would be over in the rose garden to ‘study’ right?” “They never study.” Trey gives that 'Trey sad smile' from earlier. “You got that right.”

****

Exiting the kitchen, you look into one of the mirrors hanging on the walls of the dorm, adjusting your appearance when yet another annoying voice interrupts you. “O-M-G! It's Yuu-Chan!” Cater shouts with his typical manufactured smile. “Heyyyy!” He waves and you feel your brain melting in your skull. “Hey Cater, what's up?”

“I have a questionnn!~” He smiles, pulling up something on his phone. “Are these you?” You sweat and look over to the images he pulled up. There was one of you in flames in the cafeteria, and another of you in the hallway wheezing at the pack of familiars all jumping the two chuds. “Yeah… yeah you caught me…”

“They’re trending locally right now and you know I just have to get in on that! Mind if we take a pic?” “Go ahead.” You sigh and Cater immediately snaps a selfie of him and your exhausted self. “Me and the bestie! #NRCProblemChild #NRCConspiracy #IsekaiProtag #ExtraTerrestrialPrefectConspiracy! Aaannnd post! Thank you, Yuu-Chan, I’m curious though what was that about?”

“Those two assholes were trying to beat me up and don’t worry about the other one.” “Don't worry?” Cater scoffs as you adjust yourself in the mirror again. “Helllooo the magicless prefect, turned slightly magical, turned to god-like mage suddenly does that within a year! That's gotta be something!” Cater beams and then looks over at you and sweats.

You were glaring at him, but the mirror in front of you had several eyes also glaring at him. “… Who’s that?” “Who’s what?” “That!” Cater points to the mirror and when you turn to look it disappears. “That's me, Cater, I know I look a bit different since first arriving, but I don't think I look half bad.” You gave an insincere smile.

“My friends are waiting for me Cate, seeya..."

****

You left the hangout early, not liking all the questions probing into your mind or your past at all, in fact you left pretty upset with some insinuations and accusations of your insincerity. “Are we even friends, Yuu?” Deuce frowned. “Have you been lying to us?” Jack glares. You sigh, and walk randomly, no destination in mind.

“Why aren't you opening up to us?” Ace huffs. “I mean you trust us right?” Ace’s frown turned to offense when he saw you look away. “Dude come on! When have we given you a reason to not trust us?” You snap at him. “Our very first meeting was you insulting me and since then you have been roping me into trouble!”

Ace looked guilty there. “Yuu…” Epel frowned and Ortho shot a glare at Ace. “Human, Ace may have had a rough meeting but what about us?” “What about you? What about you?” You dragged your hands across your face.

“There's a lot about you guys actually! From Mr. Don’t-Be-Friendly-Cause-We’ll-Never-be-Friends over here to Mr.Internalized-Racism-Against-My-Kind here! And let’s not forget I-Cause-Half-Of-Your-Problems-And-Sometimes-Leave-You-WIthout-Food-For-A-Few-Days Grim! Yeah I have no clue! It's almost like I tried opening up to you all before but I was brushed off. It's almost like I have been telling you that I have been having these prophetic dreams since arriving and have been telling you about a man living in my mirror and calling out to me constantly! And everytime— every fucking time its nothing or no big deal!”

You wipe away tears. “I have been trying to talk, but nobody's listening. It’s like I’m made to understand and not be understood! I have been having to put everyone else before myself and solve everyone’s else’s problems without a thank you or someone to lean on since day one! I mean, all these blots have given me fucking scars. Physical fucking scars! All while I was being berated for being a weak little human too! And what? I still am expected to bend over backwards for the people that tried to kill me? Everything’s swept under the rug for everyone else but me, huh? No one ever checks on me, hell, I am not even acknowledged half the time when I’m in the same room as someone, so yeah I also wonder why I don't talk.”

You push yourself up and grab your things. “Wait!” “No, no! Leave me alone, for once will you leave me alone willingly!” “Yuu come on! We’ll listen.” You pause. “Yuu isn’t even my name.” You glare. “It isn't…?” Grim asks. “I have been called ‘You’ this entire time here because no one bothered asking my name and everyone assumed it was ‘Yuu’. I don't even get to introduce myself anyways when I do get asked. I am not my own person, and you never made me feel like my own person.”

You walked off. Looking back now you regret it. You’re embarrassed, you sounded so stupid. You wipe away a few tears and feel a presence appear, Cerberus. The three heads nudge and cuddle you as you sob and you can feel the sevens hands all trying to soothe you. ‘There, there’ one says. Let it out.’ Another responds. ‘Poor thing.’

“Come on, boy, it's been a while since you’ve been on a walk…” You mutter, and think back to what Rook said to you earlier. Opening up to someone was a Herculean task on its own, but someone understanding you was impossible. Even telling people the truth can get you or them in trouble…

You lead the way down to the Ignihyde dorm. No one in that dorm leaves their room anyways, it's safe for your good boy to walk around there.

***

There was in fact a certain dorm leader there, who was just as shocked to see you and a giant dog. Idia punched in the number to a snack at the vending machine, turned around and gawked at the giant dog behind him. He then looked over at you.

“Yuu? Is that-? I mean is he—? Ortho said you—… Is that the real…?” Idia sputtered, not sure what to ask first. “Shut it weeb, no ones gonna believe you.” Idia gawked even more. Since when were you so sassy? No seriously, you were also so overly kind to everyone it unsettled him.

“…Sorry…” you mumble. “You can pet him… he’s… soft…” Idia blinks and offers out a hand. One of the heads sniffs it before nuzzling into him. “Holy shit…” Idia whispers as he immediately starts fawning over the dog.

“Who’s some good boys, who’s some boys? Oh that's a great pupper! Oh yes you all are!” It’s strange to see Idia all smiley to himself, but it’s pleasant. “How did you—“ “I can't answer that.” You respond. “So dont ask…”

Idia goes quiet leaning back from the heads that licked him, his flaming locks dancing behind him. “Ortho said you haven’t been feeling well…” “I haven’t been, not for a while, I guess it finally all came out to the point where it’s noticeable…” “Ah, I feel that…” Idia trails off awkwardly.

“I know we're not friends, but I appreciate you.” Idia mumbles. “You make Ortho very happy, and I love seeing my little brother happy… He says you're like another sibling and insists we would get along. He really wants me to get to know you… and uh.. We don't have to, but… yeah… Thank you, I guess…’ Idia looks like he’s about to die, but he speaks again.

“Ortho says you make him feel human, and that you’ve been helping him learn more about how to find out who he is more than anyone else, more than me, even, probably cause you got out more… He told me you were upset, and he’s worried about you. So uh… please reach out to him?”

“Thank you, Idia…” You sigh. “Yeah I will, I will reach out to him, its not his fault, I just… I just need time to think… I don't even know who I am, or what comforts me…” “Um, I don't know what you like… but uh… actually, give me your number. I know a pretty cool site with a lot of free shows, I think there’s a few you’ll like.” He offers an attempt at a smile. “And also maybe you try a few video games? If you haven’t tried them already… who knows maybe we can play together…” You smile and open up your contacts. “Yeah, I would like that actually…”

A new contact was added: ‘Gremlin.’

****

Walking off to your dorm, you dare not go in. You don't know if your friends are all waiting for you inside, or if Grims there. You sorta don't want to deal with that right now still. The corners of your eyes catch a familiar sight. Fireflies dance through the night, coming out of the grass and surrounding you.

“Hey, Tsunotaro… Heh, maybe I ought to call you ‘Firefly’ or king of the fireflies, maybe.” You wipe your eyes as you turn around and there he is, your Tsunotaro. You both don't know each other's names, but you don't need to. Tsunotaro and Child of Man work just fine.

“Greetings, Child of Man, it’s always good to see you but…” The fae frowns, “are you alright, Child of Man? You seem troubled…” “I… Yeah I am… I just… don’t know what to do…”

Your friend carefully reaches out to you before retracting his hand. “Do you want to talk about it?” “I think I need a distraction…” “I can do that,” Tsunotaro offers his hand. “Come with me.

You have never seen so many pretty colors before as Malleus casts a few spells, making the forest into the most beautiful light show you’ve ever seen. Mushrooms glow from where they sprout, leaves swirl with beautiful patterns, and the fireflies dance through the sky against the stars. You swear you can hear music from them.

“This is… This is beautiful…” “I am glad you enjoy it,” Malleus watches as you watch each step you take, the leaves below you glowing with each step. “Are you feeling better now?” “Yeah, I am… You know…” you pause nervously.

“Yes? What is it?” “It feels like… you're my only true friend…” The lightshow around you flickers for a moment. “Is that so…” Malleus stares wide eyed. “Yeah… Just… I can be kind to everyone… but I can't be friends with anyone. They all don't really get to know the real me, you know?” Malleus stares off.

“I do know that feeling well… You are my only friend…” You pause and look at him. The lights behind you turn to a more pinkish hue. “That's hard to believe, you are a wonderful person.” “Likewise, Child of Man. I would think someone as kind as you would have much more.”

You sniff, “I’ve been helping so many people, but it feels like…” You sigh. “I have seen the hard work you have put into everything. Not a lot of people can say they have gone through what you have gone through and won. You are much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

Malleus takes your hand. “I am sorry that others do not acknowledge that. I hope those around you soon start to realize what a blessing you are.” You squeeze his hand. “Come on, why don’t we both enjoy this light show?”

…

At the very last waltz, your legs feel like jelly, and you cannot tell if it's because of how happy you are or because you've been standing too long. You pull away gently. “Thank you Tsunotaro, for everything.” Malleus nods. “It was nothing. Thank you for being my friend.” He stares off to the sky for a moment. “Farewell, Child of Man, may the night be full of promise for you.”

The fae starts to fade away and you reach out, using a spell of your own. “Wait…” You hold onto Malleus’ arm making him appear again. The fae looks at you with shock. “You overrode my magic…” Malleus whispers, and his shocked face turns to one of awe and his eyes hint towards excitement. “No one has ever been able to do that… Just what else are you hiding, Child of Man?”

“I want to give you my name.” “Your name?” Malleus looks shocked once again. “My real name.” “Don't you know of the stories about giving your name to Fae?” “I know them, but I trust you. I know you would never hurt me.” Your expression and voice is so sure it nearly overwhelms the fae.

“You trust me that much? I could smite you with lightning in an instant.” “Then smite me.” Malleus paused and nothing happened. “See? I know you wouldn’t hurt me. You’ve had opportunities this entire time and you haven’t.” “You really want to tell me Child of Man? When I have not even given you my name?” Malleus' voice nearly shakes.

“You don't need to. But if you do, no matter what name comes out, I won't be afraid.” You take his hand, and for the first time since arriving, you introduce yourself, and you tell him your name, your real name.

“I see, what a wonderful name… I supposed I shall finally tell you mine as well.” The fae smiles, “Draconia. Malleus Draconia…” “Malleus? That's not too bad for yourself…” Malleus lets out a laugh at that. “I suppose not.” He smiles then looks off again. “Well then, friend… Thank you for everything tonight. I have not been this happy in a long time…”

“Good night, Malleus. I hope to see you again soon.”

“Good night, Child of Man…”

He fades out and you hear Maleficent speak to you. ‘He likes you.’ She says, and you hear a few voices teasing you. You chuckle and find the strength in you to go back into your dorm and confront tomorrow. Rook’s words from earlier echoes through your mind. You have found people you can truly open up to.

1K notes · View notes

thehistoriccemetery · 11 months ago

Note

Companions reacting to Tav sleeping completely naked!!!! Please

BG3 Companions Find Out Tav Sleeps Naked (18+)

I really thought I was just gonna start writing this one real quick (I had an idea for Karlach) and three hours later here I am.

This asker was literally the only one to request this one so this is largely self-indulgent, as I do and always have slept naked, even in this -4 degree weather.

Also I’m really trying to incorporate the drow language into Minthara’s portion, but I’m like 70% sure I failed and it just sounds mildly cringy and incredibly ill-informed.

Anyway this is all our favorite ladies (Shadowheart, Lae’zel, Karlach, Minthara, and Jaheira) finding out Tav sleeps naked.

(18+ for possible sexual themes)

Shadowheart

One morning, when she’s feeling particularly mischievous, Shadowheart decides she’s going to drop by your room and wake you up herself.

You’re certainly not the last one up, but Shadowheart, Jaheira, and Minthara have all been up making breakfast for a little while now, and she’s finding their company a little stale.

She sneaks over to your bed, grabbing the blankets and pulling them off of you in one swift move.

She’s typically a lot nicer and gentler when she wakes you up, but her aforementioned mischievousness has her feeling a little playful this morning.

“What the hell?” You groan grumpily, “put it back on I’m cold.”

She stares at you aghast. She was not expecting you to be completely naked, splayed out face down on the mattress.

“Fine, but I’m coming with it,” she says. She wraps the blanket around her shoulders and crawls on top of you.

“Much better,” you smirk, joyed to have such delightful company so early in the morning.

She kisses your bare shoulder. “I suppose I should apologize, I hadn’t expected you to be… unadorned.”

You chuckle. “You gotta problem with me sleeping in the nude?”

“Not a one,” she corrects. “I actually find it oddly… charming, I think. Plus then I can do this.”

She starts to trail slow kisses down your spine. You smirk, trying to turn around and face her, but she pins your wrists down, keeping you splayed out on the mattress.

“Be still for a moment, love,” she kisses the middle of your back before sitting up, astride your hips. “I feel like I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“My back?” You question. She’s certainly seen your bare back before. But she really seems to be enamored with it now. It was nothing special, you thought. Aside from a couple scars, it was just… a back.

She dragged her nails gently up your back. “I like the view. I’d like to see you like this more often.” She bends over until her chest is flush against you and whispers softly in your ear. “Perhaps tonight?”

You feel a rush of heat between your legs, closing your eyes and audibly exhaling.

Before you can even fully enjoy the sensation, she’s off of you, standing next to the bed with her hand out. “Come on, the others will be waiting.”

You take her hand and pull yourself out of bed. She certainly was feeling some type of playful this morning.

Lae’zel

“Hmm. This choice of sleepwear feels… inadequate,” Lae’zel spits.

You nearly jump out of bed with the scare she gives you. You were sleeping and not expecting such abrupt company.

With a simple fire spell, you light the candle on your bedside and point it towards the Githyanki.

“Lae’zel?” You ask, very confused. “What are you doing in here? What time is it? It can’t be morning already.”

You sigh. You were still so tired, you really hoped she was not here to wake you up for the day.

“No,” she growled. “The animal has been scratching at your door. It seems he has tired of Karlach’s snoring and would like to stay in here instead.”

With that, Scratch jumps onto your bed and curls up at your feet. The animals usually slept in Karlach’s room.

“But, back to your choice of sleepwear,” she says. “It seems ill-advised to be covered by do little in your most vulnerable state.”

You cock your head. You had never seen sleeping naked as a safety hazard. “Lae’zel, you’re not sleeping in your armor… are you?”

“Chk, no,” she says, gesturing to her own sleep outfit.

“What more protection does that give you than this?” You gesture at her body and then your own.

“It’s sleek, form fitting, ergonomic, and, most importantly, it covers my most intimate areas.”

You stifle a laugh. The comment sounded ridiculous to you but you would accept her clothes as superior if it meant she’d let you go back to sleep.

“Okay, Lae’zel. Goodnight.” You blow out the candle and close your eyes.

Moments later you feel Lae’zel carefully crawl into bed on top of your blankets.

“What are you doing?” You ask.

“If you insist on sleeping in such a state, I must sleep here too. To ensure your safety.”

Karlach

Lets be honest: Karlach is at most sleeping in her underwear most nights.

But she puts on some trousers at least to pad over to your room and ask for a cuddle.

You wake up in your typical sleeping position: on your stomach with your hair flying all over the place.

You swipe the hair from your eyes to see a sweet little (7ft tall) tiefling holding her teddy bear and anxiously smiling.

“Hey love,” you say, groggy but still soft and sweet. “What can I do for ya?”

“I was just wondering if I could… um… maybe have a cuddle?” She requests, anxiously shifting her weight around.

You giggle, using your arm to lift up on side of the blanket. “Of course, darling. Please it is freezing in here.”

Her eyes go wide as you expose your full chest in lifting the blanket, then she smiles and crawls under.

As she makes contact with your skin, it’s immediately apparent that you truly are wearing nothing.

“Oh so you sleep naked. Like naked naked,” she remarks.

“As the day I was born,” you quip. “Any objections?”

She giggles and twists excitedly. “None at all my darling. In fact, I think I might like to join you.”

“Get those trousers out of here!” You joke. “No trousers allowed in the bed!”She removes what’s left of her clothes and settles into bed.

Karlach sleeps on her back, leaving you sort of half stacked on top of her with her arm swung lazily around your back. Your legs are semi-intertwined, alternating between yours and hers.

You prop your chin up against her chest to look her in the eyes. “I guess it’s kinda inconvenient that neither of us sleep on our side, huh? We’re just kinda stacked chest to chest.”

“I suppose I can be on top and we can try to go back to back,” she teases. “But I’d probably suffocate you, face down into the mattress.”

You laugh at the thought and teasingly mess up her hair. “You’re hilarious. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, darling,” she says, craning up to kiss your forehead.

For as awkward and sloppy as it looks, you both actually find the position quite comfortable.

Naturally, you wake up with your ass fully on display from where you both kicked off the blankets in the middle of the night.

Minthara

Minthara is awake, as usual, when you step into her room. Her red eyes almost glow in the pitch black.

“Can I help you?” She asks passively.

“Can I sleep in here? My room is frigid,” you ask from the doorway, clearly shaking under a blanket.

She sighs, but motions for you to come join her on the bed. “As you wish, ssin.”

Minthara had attempted to teach you a small bit of her language. The words came off unfamiliar and hissy on your tongue. From what you knew, the term she occasionally used for you, “ssin”, wasn’t an actual word. You assumed it was used as a pet name derived from the drow words “ssinssrigg” (passion, lust, greed, love) and “alurissin” (a deep loving connection.)

You close the door softly and crawl into her bed. You get on at the bottom and squirm your way up until your head pokes out the blankets.

She looks at you, both amused and appalled by your abnormal behavior. She supposed that was one way to “crawl” into bed. If you were taking the phrase literally.

“You are terribly odd sometimes, my dear,” she said laying her hand on your back, surprised to find no fabric under the blanket.

“Are you not wearing any clothes?” She asks. This wasn’t the first time the two of you had shared a bed, but the previous times you had fallen asleep naked after sex. She hadn’t thought you did that every night.

You shook your head against her chest.

“Straj, in that case I think I discovered the source of your temperature issue.” She rubbed her forehead, reminding herself of all the reasons she actually valued you at all.

Gods how did the sleeping races ever survive the nights? Did everyone sleep like this or was this just a you thing? She didn’t think she’d be surprised either way.

She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but you were already comfortably asleep against her chest.

She sighed and gently stroked your bare back in defeat. How in the hells had she fallen so hard for this adorable little fool.

Jaheira

After a particularly long day, you decide to skip all the extra steps of running your own bath and decide to just bathe in Jaheira’s room.

Her tub was already full, fresh with herbs and such from her own bath.

You rinse off quickly, eager to crawl into bed. “Can I just stay in here tonight?” You ask politely from the tub.

“That is fine. But don’t get disappointed if I fall asleep immediately,” Jaheira explains. “I’m no, spring chicken, as they say.”

You get out of the tub and dry yourself off. “Oh trust me, after today I could fall asleep on one of those god awful bedrolls again.”

She laughs. “Well then it sounds like we’re on the same page, yes?”

She gets in bed, careful to leave one side fully open to you. You step towards the bed, and lift the blanket to get in.

“Put on your sleeping clothes, it is too cold.” She commands.

You look around. You don’t have any sleeping clothes. You always sleep like this.

As you explain this to her she clicks her tongue. She gets out of bed and starts rooting through her wardrobe.

“This was Khalid’s. It will swallow you up, but it will keep you warm.”

You take the heavy fur robe into your hands. You didn’t know how to feel about being offered her late husband’s clothes.

She could see the weariness on your face and soothed you with a gentle hand on the cheek.

“He would be happy I have you, you know?” She says with a somber chuckle. “I think the two of you would’ve gotten on all too well.”

You rubbed your hand against the soft fur. I was jet black, like a panther. It reminded you of Jaheira. You softly thank her before putting on the robe. It was, indeed, very warm and way too big.

Jaheira made her way back to bed, and you followed shortly thereafter. She wrapped her arms around you, pressing her chest against the warm fur.

You have never felt so safe as you did in that moment: swaddled in a massive robe, wrapped in the arms of your lover.

She kisses the back of your head. “Goodnight, my cub.”

951 notes · View notes

freedomfireflies · 2 years ago

Text

Hurt Me*

Summary: The third part to Teach Me*

You and Harry have struck a deal. You'll help him explore some of his favorite kinks and in return, he'll practice each one on you.

A rather...bloody sweet deal, if you do say so yourself.

Word Count: 5.5k

*Contains Mature and Explicit Content. Take care of yourself first, only consume what you can handle!*

“So…should we start with pegging?”

You blink at him from the hallway. “I…I just walked through the door.”

He laughs, leaning back on his mattress, hands first. “Sorry. Thought we’d just jump right into it.”

“I can see that,” you snort as you walk further into his bedroom. “Did you get the stuff?”

His head jerks toward his nightstand where you find the aforementioned items you’d requested he gather.

And seeing the giant bottle of lube beside his bed is somehow both exhilarating…and startling.

You haven’t changed your mind about the agreement. You’d thought maybe you might, after the heated moment at the restaurant had passed.

But now, here you are, two days later. Still just as eager as you’d been the other night.

And you’re pleased to see that Harry apparently is, too.

He waits patiently for you to slip off your shoes and make your way for him, his eyes following each move you make.

You aren’t sure why you feel so…nervous. None of this is really all that new to you, but Harry has always had this talent for putting you on edge.

Even when he doesn’t mean to.

Like now.

“Okay,” you declare once you’ve reached him, and his eyebrow raises. “I have a list.”

The side of his mouth curls up. “A list?”

“A list,” you repeat with a determined nod. “A checklist. Of things we might wanna try.”

He chuckles as you reach into your back pocket to retrieve your small notepad. “Of course you have a fucking list.”

“Shush.” You flip it open and clear your throat. “All right. There’s edging, overstimulation, bondage, spanking, breath play, thigh riding, blood kinks—oh, and knife kinks. Also pegging, of course, and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he interjects, smirking as he sits up. “I’m sorry…do you mean to tell me that you, the girl who cried when she got a papercut…have a knife kink?”

You give him a cool stare. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

His tongue swipes across his lip as he studies you. “Interesting.”

“…why?”

He shrugs, glancing around the bedroom to hide his amusement. “Nothing. Just…learning some things about you.”

Your eyes narrow. “Well, this isn’t about me, is it? This is about you and what you might like.”

He looks back, fingers tapping against the mattress in thought. “Well…I guess there’s only one way to find out, now, isn’t there?”

With a coy smile, you nod again. “I guess so.”

For a moment, you simply stare at each other. Him sitting below you on the bed and you standing in front of his legs, waiting.

You imagine it’s up to you to get the ball rolling, but despite your eager anticipation, you can’t help wondering what happens if this ruins your friendship with him.

That’s that last thing you could ever want. And sure, he seems more than willing to take this step with you.

But what if he regrets it?

What if he regrets you?

“Bee,” he murmurs, and you refocus your attention in time to see his large hands coming out to latch onto your hips and guide you between his parting thighs. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

He reaches up to tap his finger against the side of your temple. “Overthink.”

Your expression falls flat as you playfully roll your eyes and duck away from his hand. “I’m not, I’m just…planning.”

“Okay, then walk me through your plan,” he instructs. “Out loud. Tell me what you wanna do.”

You glance down at the notepad in your hand, running through each suggestion. “Uh…I don’t know. I’m not sure where to start. I don’t wanna just…jump into something heavy before you’re ready.”

“I am ready,” he insists, palms wrapping around the backs of your legs. “Whatever you wanna do, however you wanna do it. Promise.”

And you appreciate his eager anticipation, but you can’t rush something like this. Because you'd never forgive yourself for introducing him to something he wasn’t prepared to handle. Or for hurting him or scaring him.

You sigh as you look down at the hopeful glimmer in his eye. “We need to start slow, Har. Like I said. Okay, we’ll get there, we just…we need to ease into it.”

He smiles. “Then ease me. Start slow, start fast. I don’t fucking care, just start.”

And you can’t help but laugh as you toss the notebook aside to give him your full attention. “Fine. Let’s go over some rules.”

His response is to groan dramatically and flop down onto his back, lids squeezed shut.

“Come on,” you insist, reaching out to tug on his shirt and attempt to wrangle him back upright. “Harry—”

“You’re killing me, Bee,” he huffs as he lets you pull on him. “I don’t need rules, I just need you—”

“Shush,” you say for a second time once he’s straightened up, and his eyes roll. “Okay, first things first…we need an official safe word. A system, kind of. To make sure everything goes smoothly, and we feel okay.”

You can tell he wants to argue, but even he knows that this is important. So, he nods once. “Okay. You pick.”

You momentarily gnaw on the inside of your cheek. “Okay, how about…I don’t know. Watermelon? Lot of people pick a fruit, I don’t know why.”

His brow raises. “Fine. Watermelon. Can we start now?”

This time, you groan. “Harry, stop. This is serious. I need to make sure you’re gonna be okay.”

“I will be,” he mumbles, hands outstretching for your thighs once again, squeezing them as if to accentuate his point. “I will be if it’s with you. I promise, Bee. But you’re killing me here. Been thinking about this for two fucking days. M’bout to explode.”

“Really? The blue ball argument? That’s what you’re going with?” you tease as he smirks.

“No. Don’t have blue balls. Was fucking my fist the second I got home from the restaurant,” he tells you, and for some reason, the image makes your skin heat up. “It’s the idea of you that kills me. Can’t fucking stand it, so just…end my suffering. Please.”

You hesitate, teeth pulling on the flesh of your bottom lip. He’s too fucking good at this. “You have to promise that you’ll say watermelon whenever you need to stop or talk or slow down. Okay?”

His response is to lift a hand between your bodies and thrust his pinky toward you. “Promise.”

You wrap yours around his and squeeze. “Good…and I mean it, Har. The second you feel uncomfortable—”

“Yes, yes, I got it, I promise,” he interrupts, a slight edge to his tone.

Your expression falls flat but even you feel a little impatient. “Fine, well…tell me how you wanna start. Tell me what you wanna try. Or what you need me to explain.”

He turns to look toward the pad of paper now tossed askew across the floor. “You had thigh riding on there, right?”

You nod, heart beating a little faster.

He looks back. “…do you wanna ride my thigh, Bee?” he whispers, focus dropping to your throat when he notices you swallow.

Truthfully, you wanna do everything with him. There’s nothing on that list you’d shy away from, and just imagining his face alongside some of your darkest fantasies—

Your breath hitches.

“Is that a yes?” he asks, thumbs stroking across the skin of your legs as if to coax the answer out of you. “Come on. Know I need to hear you say it.”

And you appreciate this desire for verbal consent. It’s something you know you’ll need from him, too. But this…habit of his to make you all flustered is so infuriatingly…him that it drives you nuts.

“I wanna do…whatever you want me to do,” you tell him honestly, palms cupping his cheeks as you guide his head back. “Wanna do everything. All of it. You. Me. Us.”

And he smiles almost drunkenly at the callback, undone by your touch as your fingers slip through the curls atop his head. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You dip down, nose brushing his. “Just tell me what to do…and I’ll do it.”

You saw a glimpse of his need for control the other night. Even saw it that day in your bedroom.

Now? Now you’re putting that control in his hands, just to see if he knows what to do with it.

He might need a little help from time to time, but you have a feeling he’ll be able to handle having this sort of power over you.

And you can’t fucking wait.

The grip he has on your legs grows tighter as he whispers, “Ride my thigh.”

You smile, lips gently ghosting over his.

“Ride my fucking thigh, Bee,” he repeats, even more lasciviously than he had before. “Right now. Can’t wait another goddamn minute.”

Then, before you can even reply, he’s tugging on you until you both go toppling down onto the mattress.

You laugh but he doesn’t. He’s too far gone to think about anything else but you and what you’ve promised him.

You feel his palm slip around the back of your neck as he quickly guides your mouth to his.

And you can’t help the way your heart lurches at the taste of him. It’s only been two days yet somehow…you don’t think you’ve been able to breathe until right now. With his kiss.

The room echoes with pants and eager whines as you settle onto your knees, one on either side of his hips.

And you kind of like being on top of him like this, getting to look down and see him all laid out for you.

You’d both agreed to hold off on actually fucking each other until Harry felt more comfortable. He’d tried to argue he was already more than comfortable, but fucking your best friend crosses a completely different line.

And you aren’t sure you’re ready yet.

But this…you could do this forever. Kiss him, and touch him, and grind on him as he groans.

You can hear your heartbeat in your ears as you squirm over his waist, desperate for a little friction.

And the sound he makes—pure, unadulterated desire—nearly has you coming right then and there.

“Okay,” you breathe, leaning back to see him. “Okay, I gotta…gotta take my shorts off—”

“Yes,” he nearly sighs, seemingly turned on by the very idea. “Yes, take them off. Please, for the love of God, take off your shorts.”

You smirk as you climb off his lap to undo the button, and as you do, he pushes up onto his elbows to watch.

And he watches. In that relentlessly focused way that almost makes you go shy. Soft, green eyes somehow sharp as they rake over every inch of your body. Watching your fingers pull the zipper down before the fabric drops to the floor and pools at your ankles.

Once yours are off, it’s time for his. He doesn’t ask for your help, instead quickly standing to rid himself of his own jeans until only his boxers are left.

He then crawls back toward the headboard, large hands motioning for you to follow as you take a deep breath and oblige.

He pats his left thigh, palm smacking against the tattooed tiger ink on his skin. “This one, right here. Come on.”

And you have to smile at the rather lewd idea.

Again, his attention never leaves you as you swing yourself back onto his lap, a knee on either side of his stretched leg.

Your underwear is still on, a choice made only out of hesitation on what he’d prefer. And you suppose you’re long past that, but you don’t want to assume.

He eyes the covering over your cunt as if mesmerized, and you go still a few inches above him, unsure whether or not to lower yourself just yet.

His hands levitate toward your waist, magnetized to your body. Then, he glances up. “Can I…fuck, wanna feel you, Bee.”

You nod quickly, lip between your teeth as he trails those nimble fingers across your skin and toward the band on your hips.

Then…they slip inside.

He’s felt you before. This isn’t new nor is it foreign.

But it’s everything.

A whimper rips from your throat the moment he glides through, a motion made exceedingly easier by the collection of arousal already waiting for him.

His jaw drops ever-so-slightly, as if overcome with lust while his head falls back against the wall.

When he drags his touch back up to your clit, you grasp onto his shoulders, throat going dry.

“There it is,” he murmurs, awestruck. “So fucking good, Bee…s’fucking heaven. You know that? Have to fucking know…could touch you forever.”

And you don’t doubt he means it as he continues to tease you, spreading you open just so before traveling down to dip the tip of his finger inside.

Your forehead finds his as you fist the material of his shirt to brace yourself. “Harry…”

“What?” His other hand slides beneath your underwear to squeeze your ass and help roll you against his fingers. “What? Say it.”

But you can’t speak. He’s not even doing anything, just…touching you to touch you and it feels like everything you’ve ever been missing.

God damn him for being this good on his third try.

His lips move for your neck, teeth zealously grazing a vein just below your ear. And you keen, nails scratching down his chest and strong arms as you work to memorize the feel of his body.

He’s so…beautiful. He’s always been cute. You knew this, but now…now you’re forced to see him and his body in a different light.

He’s strong, and sturdy, and so fucking sexy. If he asked you to spend the evening just…licking up every inch of his skin…you just might.

And you’d be okay with that.

Once a second finger is added, you just about lose it. Clenching around him pitifully as the sounds below you nearly drive you mad.

He takes a deep breath against your collarbone, groaning in the back of his throat at the feel. “Shit, Bee…what are you doing to me?”

You imagine this is more of a rhetorical question, and you wouldn’t be able to answer even if it weren’t.

Suddenly, you whimper, and instantly his touch curls, as if subconsciously affected by the sound.

Then…he pulls out, and you practically wilt as you bury yourself in his arms and try to breathe.

His chest vibrates with a chuckle as his palm smooths up from your ass to your spine, stroking soothingly. “Sorry, just can’t wait any longer.”

And despite the now empty feeling, you nod your understanding and lean back to help him slip your underwear off.

After a bit of struggle, and a few shared laughs, you readjust back onto your knees to settle over his leg.

Again, his eyes glue to the sight before him, watching with near amazement as you lower yourself down.

The second the contact is made, you both turn into incoherent puddles of obsession. It’s like medicine. The way you coat his skin, grinding against it with ease as his fingers now dig into your hips to help guide you.

His jaw goes slack while slumps against the headboard, overcome with longing at the feel. “Fucking shit—”

“Har,” you whisper, nails now in his hair, scratching down his scalp as he groans again.

He nods his chin at you, focus sluggish. “Go on, it’s okay. Keep going, m’right here.”

And you do. You roll your cunt over his thigh repeatedly, desperate for the stimulation. And it’s nothing compared to his fingers, or even your own, but you love it, nonetheless. Love the way he feels beneath you. Love the way his tattoo glistens, illuminated by the soft light of the lamp.

You love…

Your head shakes, clearing the thought before it can form as you return your attention to his face.

He looks so happy. So unbelievably thrilled with what you’re doing to him, and your heart soars.

Most of the men you’ve been with only think about what you can do for them. What giving you pleasure will do to them. What they deserve from you.

And sure, Harry has been a selfish, narcissistic ass for the entirety of your friendship.

But not now. Not here.

No, here…it’s about you. It’s about the other person. Hell, this whole thing started because he wanted to make sure he was good enough for Tina. That he could provide her with everything she deserved. It wasn’t about what she was going to give him in return.

Just like it’s not about the intricate and kinky ways you plan to get him off. He wants to learn what gets you off. Wants to learn what makes you tick.

So watching you soak his thigh as you use him to come is what he really wants.

Your lips roll into your mouth, an attempt at swallowing the rush of adoration for him.

However, he notices. Because of course he notices, and immediately, he reaches up to press his fingers into your cheeks and pop your lips free.

“Don’t,” he warns, frowning a bit as he studies you. “Don’t do that, it scares me.”

Your brows pull together as you work in a deep breath. “Wh…what? Why?”

“’Cause I don’t know what it means,” he says. “I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if you don’t like it, or if you want to stop.”

You almost smile at the way he’s beginning to understand why you were so apprehensive before. Because communication is key, and your chest gets tight at the sound of unease in his voice.

You tug on his curls, head shaking quickly. “I don’t want to stop, Har…god, I don’t wanna stop. Promise, s’just…feels so good.”

His pupils double in size as he looks up at you. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you whisper, nose nuzzling his once again.

He smiles softly, lashes falling shut as he drinks you in. “Good. But don’t do that. If you wanna be loud, then be loud.”

“Okay,” you murmur, kissing the side of his jaw. “Okay, I promise.”

The grip on your hips constricts as he kneads on the flesh to convey his appreciation. “Good girl.”

Your breath hitches.

And when he notices, something flashes behind his eyes. Something…primal.

“What else…was on the list?” he asks, voice heavy and thick. “What else, Bee?”

“I don’t know,” you nearly whine, face nuzzling into his neck. And it’s true. You don’t have the mental capacity right now to remember a goddamn thing outside of him.

Which you aren’t exactly upset about.

He smiles again, his cheek brushing your forehead as his fingers suddenly appear around the back of your neck to pull you out of hiding. “Want you to do something for me.”

Now you do whine, rather impatiently as your thrusts against his leg are forced to slow.

He glances over toward his nightstand. “Open it and grab the red thing.”

You huff at a stray hair that’s fallen across your face before leaning over to slide the drawer open.

After peering inside, you find the aforementioned object, and pluck it free. Then, once you’ve settled back down over his thigh, you hand it to him.

But he doesn’t take it. He simply nods his chin at you with a coy smirk. “Open it.”

Curious, you do as told, studying it carefully as you attempt to figure out just what it is…before you realize.

It’s a pocketknife.

You can feel your lips part and your eyebrows raise as you flick the blade free. It shimmers against the light, taunting you with its power as Harry watches you.

“S’not, you know…a steak knife, but…” He runs his tongue over his lip in anticipation. “Will it…I mean, does it work for you?”

Normally, you’d tease him for something like this, but now…

You clench around nothing as a rush of adrenaline washes over you.

And Harry can tell, because he tenses when he feels the way you drip down his leg, his teeth gritting with possessive infatuation.

“So…yes,” he decides, still smug as he returns his hands to your hips.

You look at him, heart racing beneath your chest. “Har, we don’t…this isn’t everyone’s thing, I don’t wanna push you—”

“Uh-uh,” he quickly scolds, shaking you once. “We made a deal, yeah? If I didn’t think I could handle it, I would tell you. That’s what we’re doing this for, remember? To try. To see.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Have I said watermelon?”

The stern but rather good point makes your jaw clamp shut. “No.”

“No,” he agrees, cradling the back of your neck once again to bring you closer. “So, take that knife…and do whatever…you wanna do with it.”

He kisses you again, hoping to ease whatever doubt you might have, and you want to thank him. Want to wrap your arms around his neck and just…stay there.

He nips at your bottom lip, at your tongue, at your cheek. Distracted by your taste.

So distracted, that he doesn’t seem to notice the way you’ve brought the blade closer to his jaw.

But when the cool edge slides along his skin, he stills, and you feel the hitch in his breath.

You start slow. Gentle. Tentative of his reaction as you pull back to study him.

He doesn’t…seem uncomfortable. Or nervous or panicked. Granted, you haven’t even touched him with the sharp side of the blade yet, but he knows it’s coming.

However, his attention remains on you. Watching you with the same focused determination that you’re watching him.

He wants to see what this does to you.

“Are you sure?” you hear yourself whisper, more timidly than you’d meant.

He nods. So subtle, you almost miss it. “Yes. I trust you.”

I trust you.

There’s a ripple in your chest where your heart lies, and you swallow.

Then…you rotate the knife, and let the cutting edge move across his cheek.

You hardly apply any pressure, a bit too nervous to actually hurt him. But even the sight of the silver metal dancing across his face makes your stomach flutter.

You squirm a bit harder against his thigh before moving the tip of the blade down, watching as it travels across the equally sharp curve of his jaw.

He sucks in a quiet, strained breath, his body rising and falling ever-so-slightly as his eyes flick across your face. “Are you okay?”

It’s your turn to nod, which you do, mutely.

“Bee, come on.” It’s almost a warning, but you don’t look at him. You look at the knife in your hand. You look at the way it slips under his chin. Look at the way goosebumps form in the wake. “Need to hear you say you’re okay.”

“M’okay,” you murmur, still mesmerized. “Just don’t wanna hurt you.”

His fingers instantly press harder into your hips. “Hurt me,” he says, so sincerely that it just about catches you off guard. “Hurt me. It’s okay. I promise. I fucking promise, Bee. Don’t care, just want you to do it. Want you to do whatever you want. Please.”

And now he’s begging you to cause him pain, and while this speaks volumes to his masochistic tendencies, you can’t help but feel pleased.

So, you use the position of the knife under his chin to tilt his head up.

His eyes widen but you can see the desire swimming behind the hopeful expression.

“Are you sure?” you ask again, this time with a more devious undertone. “You sure you want me to hurt you, pretty boy?”

He’d likely laugh at the nickname if it were any other moment. It’s something you used to call him back in high school, and now…now it seems to have found its place once again.

After all, he is pretty. Especially right now, with a blade teasing his skin.

“Yes,” he whispers, and you clench yet again around nothing.

And the need in your stomach has grown as you slowly roll your hips over his leg, now drenched with you.

And this slow, torturous pace that you’ve set so as to not hurt him is biting you in the ass now. Because it’s going to kill you.

And it’s going to kill him, too, if the growing erection in his boxers is any indication.

But not once has he suggested you help him out. Something that almost disappoints you, seeing as one of your favorite pastimes is turning your partner on. Making them feel good. Watching the way they fall apart.

A trait he seems to share.

It makes you smile to see so many similarities, so many kinks in him that mirror your own. Further proof that you made a rather good choice in a best friend.

When the pressure begins to pick up, and the urge to throw caution to the wind and grind against his thigh until you’re screaming overwhelms you, you make a decision.

You toss the knife to the floor, wrap your arms around his neck, and just take.

You suck on his tongue as he groans, his palms sliding down your back before they’re disappearing beneath the hem of your tank top.

Then, he slips around the front to collect your tits in his hands, pushing them together before running his thumb over the nipple just to feel you shudder.

Everything else is disregarded as he works to get you off. To feel you come against his thigh.

And he’s so warm. So feverishly hot that it makes your fingers shake as you trail them down his chest just to mimic him by slipping them under his shirt.

His stomach. You whimper against his mouth at the feel of his abs. The way they bend, and dip, and ripple as he works in desperate breaths. As he snakes an arm around your hip to drag you a bit harder over his leg. As he braces himself from the pleasure.

Struck with new inspiration, you reach for his wrist, tugging it out from beneath your tank top to bring it up to your throat.

Cautiously, you guide his fingers to the sides of your neck, pushing them into your skin just hard enough that he’ll get the hint.

And for a moment, he stills, seemingly unsure of whether or not he’s ready to have this kind of control over you.

But then, he gets a better grip. Touch constricting around your airway until each potential breath dissipates from your lungs and small, floating stars dance behind your eyes.

You give him just a moment to decide if he likes it or not.

And then…everything changes.

So fast, and so sudden, you hardly have time to process.

He growls into the kiss before he’s lifting you off his lap, tossing you onto the other side of the mattress, and placing himself above you.

His hand instantly returns to your throat, making a home on your neck as he squeezes.

And you gasp, back arching off the bed as he dips down to kiss you again.

But not just kiss you.

Take you.

He tugs on the pink fibers of your bottom lip with fervor. Angry enough that you can’t help the whimper that slips from your mouth into his.

And he feeds off it. Presses his bent knee back into your cunt just to tease you, forcing more pleasure to roll over each nerve ending.

A moment later, you taste the metallic, tangy flavor of blood as it drips back into your mouth and down your throat.

He’s made you bleed.

Yet another kink to check off the list, and you squirm against his leg once more as he eagerly sucks the droplets into his mouth.

His lashes flutter, and your heart just about jumps out of your chest.

Breathing harder than you ever have, you watch with awe as he finally uncurls his fingers from your airway to lean back and see you. Study you.

Then, his thumb finds your lip. He swipes it through the blood collecting around your mouth, eyes wide and filled with need.

He pushes it into your mouth, albeit gently, with the unspoken request that you suck.

So…you do.

You suck the ever-loving shit out of his finger as your pussy practically vibrates against his knee, forcing him to inhale in a sharp breath of his own.

He’s happy.

So goddamn proud that you don’t quite know what to do with yourself except keep making him happy.

A second later, he’s dragging his thumb back out just to trail it down your chin. Blood and spit staining your skin exactly the way you love.

Exactly the way he loves.

“Shit,” he mumbles, his other hand smoothing down the side of your ribcage. “Shit, Bee…look at you.”

You say nothing. Can say nothing. Because he is everything, and you aren’t even here anymore. You’re merciless to his intentions. Desperate for each touch, hanging off each word, each thought.

He pushes your top up until it collects just above your chest, thumb returning to your sternum to paint a picture of his obsession.

He drags it between your tits before moving it over to your nipples, smearing the blood over the peak as it hardens.

Then, his eyes meet yours…and he lowers.

His lips wrap around you, licking at the ruby marks over your breast before pulling you into his mouth.

And it’s game over.

It’s sadistic, and cruel, and absolutely perfect. Everything about this—about him—is perfect.

His leg against your cunt, his mouth on your body, his curls tangling in your fingers.

Everything.

Him.

You.

All of it.

Your head rolls back against the mattress, your focus finding the ceiling as you will yourself not to scream.

But you do moan, rather lasciviously, and the sound of it has Harry’s nails pulling at your skin.

And you’re rather excited about the marks you might find tomorrow.

“Fucking killing me, Bee,” he grunts, popping off your tit to nose under your jaw. “M’so goddamn lost on you. Do anything for you…anything.”

Anything.

“Everything,” he adds, squeezing your hip. “Shit…don’t think I can do much more. Might actually kill me.”

And you know what he means. Know exactly the kind of pain mixing deep within his belly at the lack of release.

And suddenly…you’re struck with inspiration. Possessed by an idea you know you’ll come to regret tomorrow.

But you really don’t fucking care.

You grasp onto his face, palms melding with his cheeks as you force his eyes on you. “Harry?”

He seems to steel himself at the sound of his name, the muscles in his shoulders tensing as he presses his knee further into you.

You squirm once more, arching a bit higher as you pout at the unfairness. “Thought of…something else…we could try.”

His brow raises. “Yeah?”

You nod, teeth chewing on the inside of your cheek. “I want you…to fuck me.”

He’s torn between two reactions. Surprise and acceptance.

You can feel just how much he enjoys the idea by how firm his grip on your body becomes. How pointed, how ravenous.

But you both agreed there was no going back after something like that. And you can see the way he considers your proposal.

And you know him. You know he’s asking himself if this is really what you want. If you’re in your right mind. Aware enough to even suggest such a thing.

He’s asking himself if you’ll regret him.

And you want to assure him that you could never…but you can’t. That’s not something you can promise. All you can do is hope he does it anyway.

You sit up just enough to nuzzle your nose against his, exactly the way he had before. “Please, Harry…please…need you. Need to feel you, gotta feel you, Har…hurts so bad—”

He makes another animalistic noise in the back of his throat as he presses his forehead to yours. “Bee—”

“Gimme everything, Har, please,” you continue rather insistently. “Be so good for you. Promise. Just need it. Need you…can’t…can’t fucking take it, Harry—”

“Fuck,” he just about groans, lowering his hips until they can grind against yours.

And the feel of his cock, so close yet so far…nearly does it.

You mewl at the contact, the sound pathetically desperate, but it seems to be the only thing to tip the dominos.

And every fear, every hesitation, every warning is instantly shoved aside as he kisses you once again. “Promise me we won’t change.”

He rolls himself over your cunt a second time, just before you can answer, and you whimper once more as your nails scratch down his shirt. “Har—"

“Fucking promise me,” he repeats, nearly hissing the instruction at you. “If I do this—if we do this—you have to fucking promise me, Bee. Can’t fucking lose you. Can’t do this and then lose you, I can’t—”

“I promise,” you whisper quickly. “I promise, Har, just…please.”

And that’s all he needed to hear, a smile breaking free across his face as the last domino finally falls.

“Good…cause we’ve still got quite a bit of list to go.”

DON'T YELL AT ME, THERE'S ANOTHER PART COMING, I SWEAR!!!

Next Part:

~ Feel Me* (Pt. 4)

Previous Part:

~ Show Me* (Pt. 2)

~ Full Teach Me Masterlist

~ Other Harry Blurbs

~ Full Masterlist

Tags:

@onlystylesss28 @winterrays @jessitpwk @aslugforharry @allthelovehes @straightnogayhs @adoringhrry @harrysxcarolina @lillefroe @avasversion @littlelunamoon @harrysgf01 @indierockgirrl @lexiecamposv @spinningoutwaiting4ya @hs-tpwkrry @vyctorya @b-reads-things @thiyaabs

#harry #harry edward styles #harry styles #harry styles fan #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles concept #harry styles smut #harry styles blurb #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you #blurb #imagine #smut #concept #harry styles best friend #best friends to lovers #harry and bee

3K notes · View notes

sleepy-steve · 4 months ago

Text

@steddieangstyaugust 05/08 // ‘Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ by The Smiths

wc: 2.2k // rating: M // cw: language, negative self talk // tags: YEARNING, post-s4 but vecna dies, eddie has some self-esteem issues, mild references to sexual content

divider credits @steddiecameraroll-graphics

Eddie isn’t sure when it started. When this… obsession took over his life. When he suddenly couldn’t think of anything but Steve Harrington.

It could have been when they started hanging out every day, the threat of otherworldly horrors gone and the Big Evil defeated. When they realised that while they don’t necessarily have much in common, they both care to learn about what the other likes.

It could have started before that, when Steve continually showed up to help him through his physical therapy, never wavering in his kindness despite how many times Eddie snapped in frustration or lashed out at him. Steve always took it in stride, but never patronised him. Or was it even before that? When Steve showed up everyday to his bedside in the hospital, at first appearing to just be chauffeuring Dustin, but then visiting on his own. Spending hours talking with him or letting the silence settle between them, filling the hours where Wayne couldn’t be there.

Shit, if Eddie really thought about it, it went further back than that too. Before Steve carried him out of hell and quite literally saved his life—though that alone was enough to make a guy swoon—and before the moment Eddie flirted with him in the RV (and really, what was he thinking with that?) and even before their little heart to heart in the aforementioned hell after the first bat attack.

No, if Eddie was honest with himself, it all went back to Steve’s surprise appearance in the boathouse, shoved up against the wall with a shard of glass pressed to his neck and fear in his eyes. Eddie remembers feeling Steve tremble as Eddie held tight to his jacket, watching as he swallowed, skin of his throat pressing against the glass. Eddie’s own hands shook around the broken bottle, from exertion and fear, and god help him he was not going down without a fight in that moment. Their all too literal colliding of worlds was not something he could have been prepared for, nevermind the fact that Eddie almost killed him. But it was that brief moment, so miniscule, right before Eddie let him go, that he realised Steve really wouldn’t hurt him. Despite being held up and almost having his throat slashed, Steve had dropped the oar.

It was the first hint he got that all those things Dustin had said about Steve were actually true. That all the ideas he’d previously had about Steve Harrington were undeniably false. And Eddie only continued to be proven wrong by the sheer magnitude of Steve’s kindness, his patience, his unending love for his friends. Which now, by some miracle, Eddie was a part of.

It had grown. Out of something that should have just been a trauma-bond that then dissolved once they were quote-unquote healed and realised they actually had nothing in common besides the shared experience of almost dying in an otherworldly dimension. It had grown into something much more than that, something that Eddie never really had before. He’d had friends before, sure, his little sheepies and his band mates, but nothing quite like this. It was both his fault and also not. When he arrived in middle school and was immediately bullied for daring to be a little bit different—despite the differences having more to do with his class status than anything he had truly picked at that time—the walls came up. People could get somewhat close to him, but ultimately Eddie decided just how much he would give to people, and arms length was always safest. They wouldn’t be able to hurt him at arms length.

And yet. Steve Harrington had somehow wormed himself past the walls, beyond the arms length barrier, and settled himself neatly within Eddie’s rib cage. Not only that, Steve brought along the rest of his little group, a family that knocked down Eddie’s walls and forged a space just for him. It went beyond the trauma bond. It had grown into something that almost felt like Steve cared about him. Actually, that wasn’t fair. Steve absolutely did care about Eddie. He’d shown it time and time again. Shown up and held tight and given his time and space and love, being the kind of best friend Eddie only dreamed of having.

And here he was, greedy. Desperately craving more. More of the connection, more of the love —platonic though it is—more of which he has already been given. Arguably he’s received far more than he ever thought he deserved (despite what his new friends might say). But Eddie can’t help it.

He wants. He craves.

He fucking aches for it.

It grips him in a chokehold, this desperation with which he begs to receive more. To have more. To be more. It wasn’t enough to have Steve’s friendship, Eddie wanted his whole heart. His whole soul, even. Every tiny speck of stardust that came together to create him, Eddie wanted it in his possession. Wanted it all to himself, to hoard like a dragon’s greatest treasure. To lock this man away and keep him safe and shower him with love and devotion every day for the rest of his life. He longed for it to the point of feeling more animal than man, a slave to his own desires. Helpless against his own hunger for a connection that would run bone deep between them, etched into his skull, woven into his blood. Eddie burned to fucking consume Steve Harrington and be consumed by him. To have their souls merge together in a supernova and, and, and…

And nothing. Because it would never happen. Not for Eddie, not the way that he wants it to. He reminds himself constantly that he should just be grateful to have the friendship, to cherish it for the special thing that it is. That guys like Steve Harrington didn’t want guys like Eddie Munson, at least not in that way. Not in the way Eddie wanted, because Eddie never got what he wanted.

Well, not never. But rarely. When he goes down this spiral, he struggles to remember times he has actually gotten what he wanted. In love, in romance? Never. Kisses—too fast, too hard, too scared—shared with boys who met him behind the bleachers and didn’t know what they wanted. Or rather, did know but wished they didn’t. Those that ended in the boys running away, or worse, threatening to hit him—to kill him—if Eddie dared to speak about what happened. Not that anyone would believe a jock would ever turn to Eddie The Freak Munson, even as an experiment. That’s all he ever was when he was younger, an experiment. It was all he thought he deserved, at least until he got a bit older and was able to venture out of Hawkins. Then came other stuff. Quick, filthy hookups in club bathrooms and dark alleyways in Indy. A stranger’s tongue in his mouth and their hands in each other’s pants and maybe their mouths on each other and the flash of a smile before leaving and he’d never see them again. It was fine. He got what he set out for in those moments, but nothing more. He never felt like he was owed more, never felt worthy of more, so why would anyone give him that? At least they didn’t end in threats of violence. At least he felt desired, somewhat. But, if given the chance, he’d trade all those experiences for one night of feeling like he was the prize, like he was the one worth fighting for, like someone wanted his heart.

And the craziest part was… sometimes he did feel that way. Sometimes Steve made him feel that way. Like Eddie was the most special person on the planet. Like no one else could draw his attention away. Like they were the only two people in the world. Like Steve could actually…

No. It wasn’t like that. Eddie had to remind himself endlessly. It wasn’t like that. This love wasn’t reserved just for Eddie, who watched Steve share it with all of them. When he picked up Dustin to take him wherever he wanted to go, despite the squabbling they shared. The way he and Robin seemed to read each other's minds, attached at the hip whenever possible. How he helped Max after she got out of the hospital, ready to drop everything at a second’s notice if she needed him. Spending afternoons training basketball with Lucas, giving him all of his tips and shining with pride at his skills.

Still… there was something. Something in the way Steve’s eyes lit up whenever Eddie arrived. Something in the way he was almost always too close, fingers brushing as beers were passed, arms and legs pressed against each other during movie nights, arms held tight when nightmares returned, and one glorious evening of warm cuddling and dreamless sleep after sharing a joint. Eddie lived in those moments, let them play on an endless loop in his mind, reading deep into each tiny interaction. Thinking about every smile sent his way and was it any different from the smiles anyone else got? God, he wanted to believe Steve had a special one just for him. One that was a little bit softer and sweeter and shyer.

The idea is nice, but it’s washed away by the cold reality of the fact that it would never happen. Even if, by some miracle, Steve was anything other than straight, why would he want Eddie? He could have anyone he wanted. And Eddie wouldn’t get what he wanted because that’s just how life was for him. Though he may beg and plead with invisible entities for it, though he might crave and ache to the point of feeling feral with it, though he might promise—swear on his life—to himself and anyone up there listening that he’d treat Steve so well if given the chance, Eddie knew it just wasn’t on the cards. The sooner he accepted that the better.

His resolve in place—forget about it, or at least bury it until it could be forgotten—Eddie makes his way up the driveway to the Harrington house. He wouldn’t think about it for the entirety of movie night. He absolutely would not.

“Hey, man!” Steve answers the door with a perfect smile and joy in his eyes. Eddie’s resolve wobbles. “Just in time.”

Eddie takes a moment to steel himself, firmly reminding himself of his goal, as he follows Steve into the house. And it lasts for all of two minutes before he’s pulled down onto the sofa, thigh pressed against Steve’s. Was there truly any reason for Eddie to be tortured this way? He tries to remember that Robin is on the other side of Steve, and that there’s limited room on the sofa but fucking hell… Their shoulders brush, the soft grazes through layers of fabric sending Eddie’s mind spinning, until Steve places his arm around behind Eddie on the sofa-back, not quite touching but close enough to feel the heat of his skin. And god, this is so much worse. The desire to lean in and cuddle him, just nestle right in and have Steve’s arm around him, drives him crazy. The idea that they could… that this could be normal for them, domestic even. It went beyond the physical, Eddie wanted to take care of him. To show him the love Steve had so willingly given to him, and give it back ten-fold, hundred-fold. To create a life with him. To be proud of him and show him off and love him endlessly. To go to the ends of the earth to grant Steve his every wish, if he could just have one chance, he was begging—

Get it together! Eddie’s internal voice hisses at him, and he tries to shove all his thoughts back down into a vault, feeling a bit like trying to get water back into a broken hydrant. He does his best, managing to get it back down to a simmer, rather than a rapid boil.

Steve shifts slightly, suddenly a bit closer. It all comes rushing back. The warmth where their thighs are touching becomes burning hot and all the aching, craving, yearning, wanting that Eddie tried to shove down and out of his mind is suddenly front and centre and focused on the way Steve laughs and those glorious moles dotting down his neck. He feels insane with longing, desperate to press his lips to those moles, as if that could ever convey the depth of his feelings for the man beside him. Overcome with the need to drag his fingers through that beautiful hair and maybe even pull on it a little, just to see what kind of noise Steve makes, Eddie hears the tiny voice in his mind telling him off for staring. He just can’t seem to drag his eyes away. Steve throws his head back with a laugh, exposing his throat, and Eddie might as well perish right then and there, distraught with how much he wants to bite it. To just sink his teeth into the skin and feel Steve’s pulse beneath with his tongue. To leave bites and bruises all over his body, everywhere Eddie thinks is beautiful…

Before he can summon enough shame to look away, Steve catches his eye, and just grins, eyes lit up with that same brightness he always seems to have when looking at him.

Eddie’s a fucking goner.

#apologies to anyone i've ever had a crush on lmfao #i listened to the deftones cover of this song on repeat can you tell?#a little lower on the angst today but i had so much fun writing it. real fire elmo energy #i love to yearn ache crave long and pine #it's my favourite way of operating in a creative space #cira writes #cira writes steddieangstyaugust #steddieangstyaugust #music monday #steddie #steddie fic #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things fic

141 notes · View notes

greenduvet · 23 days ago

Text

flowers she gave him pt. 1

A/N: Hi loves!! So excited to finally share this story that has been brewing in my head for what feels like forever. I haven’t posted any of my writing publicly for years! So this is a big step for me, and I just couldn’t keep these thoughts to myself any longer. I want to say the biggest thank you to @luiscarrutherss and @galarian-weezing-on-prep for not only reading the early draft but making me feel excited to write and share my story. Also my girlfriend for helping me edit and watching succession. This will be a friends to lovers slow burn, so if that’s your jam like mine stick around! Anyways, enjoy mwah!

The floor was silent. Most people had gone home hours ago, the lights off in most offices. It was always so odd this time of night — looking out over all the different worlds happening just below, life continued on so vividly yet it felt so stiff and halted here.

It wasn’t the plan to have been here this late. Really he should have picked you up hours ago, the dinner reservation that had been made earlier this week now way past check in.

The reservation was Roman’s idea. Maybe a poor attempt at an apology, the only way a Roy knew how to apologize — dance around it yet never letting it fully resolve. You were used to it by now, a lifetime of Roman had made you well familiar. Yet this time felt different. Roman for once in his life was being distant, independent. He would blame it on work, family, stress, but you knew him better than that.

Tearing your eyes from the window, you look at your phone. Still nothing from Roman, not even a heads up that he would be an hour late to the aforementioned reservation. The thought of sending another ignored text filled you with a sense of irritation. Why wait here when you could see him face to face?

Without a second thought you haphazardly throw your things into your bag, muttering softly to yourself. The lights of your borderline clinical office flick off as you shut the door.

The way to Romans office was nearly tattooed in your brain from years of walking back and forth. Though your office was just down the hall, tonight it felt like a dreadful journey into unfamiliar territory. This wasn't how the night was supposed to go.

Turning the corner you could see him through the thick glass walls. He was staring at his computer, full attention to whatever was on the screen. You swear you had never seen him work so hard in his life… or at least pretend to work this hard. With a soft sigh, you walk into the office and stop in front of his desk, his eyes not once glancing from the screen.

“Late night?” The tone of your voice is dry, maybe a bit sarcastic. You weren’t used to this Roman, the detached, focused type. He had always been clingy, willing to throw his work down as soon as you had walked in.

Even standing directly in front of him, his eyes still never move from the screen. Moving his free hand from the desk to run through his already tousled hair, he hums softly, not bothering to give a full response.

Another sigh leaves your mouth and you turn to take a seat on the piece of foam covered in velvet they called a couch, there more for decor than actual comfort.

~~~

While your back is turned, Roman’s eyes glance quickly to you. The perfect image of a long day, he watched as you slowly dropped your bag without a thought. The whole day he had fought the urge to text you and watched the minutes tick past the planned reservation. He didn’t understand why he was doing this, pushing you away and trying to hurt you. Yet he felt like he was the only one hurting here.

As quick as his eyes lingered on you they were back on the screen, looking at the same report sheet he had been rereading for over an hour now. The sight of you settling on the couch out of the corner of his eye made his brows furrow softly. Why was he doing this again?

“Uh, ya know, Dad had me do some stuff.” He mumbles softly in response, his voice high in octave and almost tense. God, he didn’t even believe himself. He rips the hand in his hair down and begins to rapidly type something on the computer, trying his best to sell his stupid ‘busy’ act. You weren’t buying it, but it was unspoken that you and Roman never really did feelings — maybe that's why you were still so close.

~~~

Sighing, you pull your phone out and slip off the uncomfortable shoes you were wearing. It seems like Roman won’t be finished anytime soon, so neither will you.

The two of you work in a tense but comfortable silence, you clearing old emails and roman rapidly slamming keys. It was routine, though it didn’t keep you from noticing that what was once so familiar was now slowly changing. The silence still comfortable, yet more deafening than before.

“We had a reservation for tonight, did you forget?” Your voice breaks the silence, addressing the elephant in the room. Panning your view to roman, you can tell the question makes him squirm. The vein on his forehead bulged, his eyes widening ever so slightly at the screen.

You wait to hear some poor excuse, something around how it wasn’t his fault or to fuck off… but it never comes. Roman just continues to slam on the keys, the discomfort only growing on his face.

Sitting up, you nearly roll your eyes for what feels like the hundredth time of the night. You didn’t have time to waste sitting twiddling your thumbs to expect a coherent response from Roman when he obviously wasn't interested in giving you one. Slipping on your tight shoes, you grab your bag and rise wordlessly.

You look at Roman, hoping for something. For him to look at you, acknowledge that you were here for him. His eyes remained glued to the screen, though it seems like there is a deeply rooted panic there. 5...10…30 seconds go by and he does nothing.

The voice in your head repeating a mantra of fuck this over and over finally wins, and you turn to the door to leave. Though it hurt, you were tired of this back and forth. That, and your bed sounded much more appealing than the stone couch.

~~~

The second you leave Romans office, his eyes tear from the screen to your disappearing figure. The feeling of panic that had been bubbling in his chest all week started to explode into a deeper fear — you were walking away. He knew he deserved it, but still — what the fuck? Part of him thinks to leave you be and ignore your texts again, but his heart is screaming at him to follow you, chase after you and stop pushing you away like he had been for weeks.

He rises from his desk, leaving his computer unlocked and hastily makes it over to where you’d gone off to.

~~~

It feels like the elevator is taking forever on purpose. Maybe to taunt you for waiting for Roman, or maybe because deep down you had hoped he would come after you. Still, you waited for the doors to open so you could forget about today and the weird feeling in your chest at your best friend ignoring you. Why did it feel like you might actually lose him this time? Roman had seen you through your worst, and you’d seen him through his. But this dynamic was new, and didn’t feel like something you could recover from.

Finally, the high pitched ding breaks you from your thoughts, the doors sliding open to the luxury elevator awaiting you. Stepping in, you scan your badge and wait to be taken to ground level once again. Wine sounded good tonight, lots of it.

The doors begin to close, but before they can shut a hand is shoved between them, forcing them to open. Roman. He was there, face slightly flushed. It was funny, because Roman had never been the one to chase after you originally.

~~~

The sun felt hot – almost scorching. It was the end of June and finally it was starting to feel like summer in the hamptons. The backyard seemed to stretch on forever and was decked in long tables covered in lavish meals. This was a yearly event Logan held for his “partners” and their families — It was for the people who knew where the bodies were hidden. The whole ‘get away’ was to keep them close.

Though the event was mostly filled with adults, a few children were scattered around. A boy almost in his older teens, one a few years younger doing his best to fit in with the adults. An even younger boy with messy hair and big eyes, a young girl with fiery red hair, and lastly another girl who didn’t really fit in with the others. Yet that didn’t stop her from trying.

“Roman! Look at this – it's a worm!” You held out the stick with a worm dangling from it, the soft blue dress hanging on your tiny frame most definitely ruined. The wide grin on your face only grew as Romans eyes widened in disgust as he turned in the opposite direction. You would only start to chase after him again in response, as you had all afternoon.

This was a game between just you and Roman — you bugged, poked, nagged, and in response he would run away, gag, and ignore. For some reason your tiny brain just never got the memo that he couldn’t stand you. Things were easier back then. Innocent.

The sound of a loud bell stops you in your steps, Roman halting ahead of you. Dinner time. Placing the worm gently back to the ground you follow the children you came to know as the Roys.

The feeling of eyes on you from your parents and other bodies burnt like fire on your skin as you approached the dinner table. You hadn’t meant to dirty the dress, but running through the vast yard with the people you called “friends” had made you forget — forget that this was a performance, and that you needed to set a good example so that your family could stand out. Your mother would have words to say about this later.

Each child slid into their assigned seat at their own table away from the adult conversations happening at the other, longer table. You couldn’t help but feel a little relieved — you didn’t fully understand that whole world yet at the ripe age of 5, but you knew enough to be bored. Shiv felt the same way you did, her face more relaxed now than it had been at the sound of the ringing bell.

Roman’s seat was the one next to yours, and it was made obvious by the soft groan that left his mouth when he saw the tag of his name next to yours. Dramatically, he pulled his chair from the table, each action over dramatized and nearly throwing his body into the seat. Though the sour look didn't last long on his face as his eyes panned over to you and your dirty blue dress.

“Mommy and Daddy won’t be very happy with that, now will they?” The sour look fades from his face, a devilish grin replacing it. His tone is teasing and rude. It wasn’t anything new with Roman, though. The only attention he spared to give you was the more unpleasant kind. But it didn’t stop your obsession with trying to break him down and play with you.

You return his comment with a pout and look away from him, your hands finding themselves busy undoing the neatly folded table napkin at your place setting. Gently your fingers pull it apart, corner by corner. Finally you place it gently on your lap, your head high as you reply. “It was an accident. Maybe if you played nice, I wouldn't be messy.”

Roman was almost surprised with the response he was met with, a little smirk filled his lips. He couldn’t help but feel put in his place. He nodded to himself, taking the napkin and ripping the cloth out of its fold. Vastly different from the way you had done it with so much meaning. Maybe you weren’t as annoying as Roman thought.

The dinner was pretty tame. The children made soft conversation about various topics — the summer vacations they had planned, the extracurriculars, the movies they wanted to see. While the adults stuck to business conversation, how it always was and would be. It felt nice though, for once being around other children who somewhat understood your lifestyle. That, and it was a lot better than the company of your au pair.

After dinner, you find yourself with Shiv in the garden playing a game of fairies while running around the well maintained garden of roses. The sound of your feet against the gravel and shared giggles is all that can be heard — a pure moment of childhood innocence. Your dress slowly changed into one more brown than blue, Shiv’s own dress dirtying as well. It didn’t matter though, because for once you were just girls playing.

Logan’s booming voice rips you and Shiv from the moment. You can’t make out anything he is saying, but the both of you know it can't be good. You look to Shiv but her eyes are already on your face, wide and crystal blue. Then you hear it clear as day, the only word that mattered. Roman.

Looking around, you find a flower from one of the many bushes and pluck it gently, making sure to not damage any petals. You didn’t know Roman well yet but you knew well enough that this was normal. The sound of Logan's booming voice most times directed at him, as he seemed to always be the easiest target. Though, there was something about this time that felt worse than the others.

Without a second thought you run off, away from Shiv and the flower garden, carefully cradling the small white flower in your palm. The soft sound of sniffling guiding where to go, eventually leading you to the side of the oversized house.

There he was — sitting on the floor, knees to his chest, and a hand holding his cheek in pain. The spitting image of a kicked puppy.

This was worse than the other times.

Wordlessly you sit next to Roman, eyes not daring to look at him, but glued to the wall with ivy overgrowing. Before Roman can protest or run away, you bring the small white flower into view. A smile fills your lips before placing the flower onto his knee with all the care in the world.

That was the moment everything changed.

~~~

The elevator doors open fully and Roman steps into it with you. Your name falls from his lips as his hands comb through his hair for the umpteenth time that night. “Look– Fuck. Let’s just grab dinner, okay? There’s gotta be someplace still open and half edible around the block.”

You can tell he is trying his best to contain his expression and stay in control of the moment, but he's failing. Miserably.

His hazel eyes watery and nearly pleading, begging you to look at him and forgive him for being a total ass.

Looking him up and down, you hesitate. Maybe to make him sweat or to make him feel how you did all day, you weren’t sure.

“Wherever we go, I want hashbrowns.” You tear your eyes away from roman and click the button that would take you to the lobby. Immediately there is air in the elevator again, Roman’s pleading eyes vanishing. He always seemed to get his way with you.

#roman roy #roman roy x reader #roman roy x you #kieran culkin #Kieran culkin characters #succession #succession hbo #succession fanfiction

65 notes · View notes

sunny-knight · 17 days ago

Text

Oh right. The other one.

CW: Undertale rant/analysis

Ive played Undertale- hundreds of times. and lately ive reflected on how the game is supposed to make you feel IN THE MOMENT- since ive kinda forgotten a lot of that. Because of the aforementioned ✨“hundreds of times”✨

Everything ofc still feels just as captivating, but nothings surprising because im not playing it from the perspective of someone who has absolutely no idea whats going to happen next. Sometimes I overlook and forget how the little details are supposed to make you feel/think about the characters. Like how Undyne is implied to be an abusive boss. After you get to know her, then replay, you hear how Papyrus talks about her at first, and see their interaction as you enter Waterfall, and you completely understand!

But BEFORE- youre like “oooohhh she’s threatening him-“

On this topic, I rewatched some playthroughs, and saw their first reactions to geno papyrus death, and I realized. that this room placement. IS SO COOL!!!!

Normally its like- yep! I just befriended/beat papyrus, time to continue on my way- oo hi sans! sure, ill go to Grillbys with you! Even on replays, you’re not really excepting him in any room hes in, im just like “oh yep, theres the man.”

But when you kill Papyrus for the first time, usually on a geno route. That same thing kicks in. You’re not predicting him to be there cause youre focused on the room youre in currently, but when you GET THERE youre like “oh yeah and thats where Sans is” but he’s NOT THERE and you stop for a millisecond and go “oh, no yeah, that makes sense.”

…the silence doesn’t help either.

Its worse that he’s all over the underground too, not just in the start of Waterfall. Even not seeing him in front of the mtt resort is just a slap in the face 😭

If youve gotten to the phase of killing people on purpose to see what will happen, youve also gotten to the phase of KNOWING theres gonna be consequences, so Sans not being there shoudnt hit as hard as it does BUT IT DOES (at least for me)

The typical reactions to Monster death in general that you cant avoid are Undyne and Sans’ speeches, and neutral run phonecalls. DIALOGUE. things that appear because of what you did. But with Sans its not what he does or says (up until the judgment hall) its what he doesn’t do.

He doesn’t bother to show up, to say anything to you because what is there to say??? Ignoring how personal it is for a sec- Sans knows this isnt your first time playing, but doesn’t comment on it (much). Right now he still believes the anomaly just wants to be happy, so gives the benefit of the doubt.

That is until you kill the dude that is impossible to kill on accident, or argue in self defense.

Now Sans knows the anomaly just wants to know what will happen. Doesn’t care if its bad or not, they’re just curious, so theres no point.

STILL he wants them to reset and do something ELSE so he halfway pleads with them in the judgment hall to rethink what they’ve done. The fact that he asks an answerable question feels important to me, like hes searching for something, ANY reason. But maybe hes trying to make you see that- there was no reason. Youre DUMB and you should RESET because- WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS????

What I also find really powerful even on replays, is the silence after he drops lines like this. Especially the judgment hall question. Sometimes I do sit there and soak in the silence like- “jesus. Yeah, why DID i do that?”

My main point of this entire thing is, I LOVE this game, I LOVE Papyrus and his impact on the game even when he isnt there, and I wish I could play it for the first time again, and fall in love with it all over again, but alas, hitting myself with a rock to screw up my memory only works 17% of the time,

so im happy enough sticking with changing my perspective, and taking a moment to remember what it felt like to accidentally kill toriel and realize your actions have consequences, to beat Undyne the Undying, to hug Asriel, to hear that Undertale was getting a “sequel”, and to hear that dreaded line, “Then why did you kill my brother.” all for the first time again.

#undertale #undertale analysis #undertale rant #undertale hyperfixation

84 notes · View notes

randoimago · 2 years ago

Note

hi there! may i request mondo, hajime, kazuicihi, and kaito reacting to having their crush ask them for help texting someone they like to ask them out, and when they go to show them a picture of the aforementioned person, they turn the phone to them and it's on the camera app? hopefully that makes sense!!

Asked to Help Their Crush Ask Someone Else Out

Fandom: Danganronpa

Character(s): Hajime, Mondo, Kazuichi, Kaito

Type of Request: Headcanons, Slight angst

Note(s): I had to read it a couple times but I get what you mean! Here you go!!

Hajime

At hearing you ask him, he can't help the sadness that he feels. He tries to keep giving you a smile even though it's very difficulty but he wants you to be happy so he'll try his best.

He holds his hand out for your phone, half wanting to just throw it across the room. You do so and he looks down and just stares at his reflection.

It takes him a few seconds before he realizes what happened. He can't help a bit of a laugh as he gives you your phone back.

Hajime does tell you the truth about his own feelings and how he did feel sad at the thought of losing you, but he's glad that things worked out.

Kaito

He feels heartbroken, but he tries to keep smiling and gives a big, if fake, laugh as he "happily" agrees to help you out.

You show him your phone and he just stares at the camera and his face. "You know it's on camera mode, right?" You just give him a smile. It takes him a long moment before he says, "Oh!" as realization hits.

But he doesn't give you your phone back just yet. He instead goes to your messages and begins sending a text. A grin crosses his face as his own phone chimes.

Kaito still doesn't give you your phone back, so you can't see what he sent. Instead, he picks up his phone and reads, "Oh Kaito, you're so cool and handsome and I would be honored to go out with you. There's no way I'd ever ask someone else-" You cut him off by throwing a pillow at him or something.

Kazuichi

Can't help but blurt out, "What? Why?!" when you ask for his help. Sure, it can sound like he doesn't get why you'd ask for his help, but he really means "why would you ask someone else?"

Kazuichi gets really pouty and tells you no, but he also cares for you a lot so he'll ends up giving in, a bit tempted to sabotage the message.

You hand him your phone and he's still conflicted with what to do before he notices you have the camera facing him. He gives you an odd look at that, not really getting it.

You will have to tell him the joke you just pulled, otherwise he stays confused for a long while. Kazuichi gets so red from blushing and stutters about liking you too and that was a mean joke you pulled.

Mondo

He can't help but feel a tad angry at you asking him for this. Why don't you just do it yourself? Hell, why would you even text the person something like that when it should be to their face?

He's not trying to be mad at you, but it's how he feels. He can't help but feel a bit betrayed, even though you really owe him nothing. And he feels hurt.

Mondo will be midrant about it or about to leave and that's when you show him your phone. He starts telling you, "I'm not fucking help-" before he realizes the camera is on and he just sees his angry expression reflected.

Is a tad dumbstruck as his brain has to process what happened before he scoffs and nudges your phone away. Mondo rolls his eyes and calls you an idiot, but you better believe that you're idiot now.

#danganronpa x reader #mondo oowada x reader #mondo x reader #hajime hinata x reader #hajime x reader #kazuichi soda x reader #kazuichi x reader #kaito momota x reader #kaito x reader

468 notes · View notes

hamspamandjamsandwich · 1 year ago

Text

Kurama is such a complex character, god love him. The way I see him is: I mean he’s literally actually only Yoko Kurama.

“Oh he’s here. He’s me.”

So we have three personas here: Kurama, Yoko Kurama, and Shuuichi Minamino. While he has these three identities, he doesn’t have three personalities. That is to say, he’s one being, two different pieces that merged.

That’s where shit gets really interesting. My interpretation of this is that the merger came packaged with a human soul and body, and that the human parts are what gives him a conscience and a heart and a moral compass, and things such as. I doubt this is an original idea I just wanted to muse lol.

Shuuichi doesn’t bring a different personality. I think Shuuichi provided the things that make us human and a body. Those things are part of the human soul. Empathy, guilt, love. Yoko was always still himself, it’s how Kurama remembers everything, it’s literally just him. He’s simply changed as a person due to being plagued with humanity.

And that’s such a fun idea to me. Yoko Kurama, the legendary bandit, king of thieves—having personality rehab via the human experience. I think it just changed him the way anyone can change, sorta. He begins to feel pretty shitty about the things he’s done and feels guilty about everything with regards to his mother. All this comes together and makes him…a better version of himself? A better person? And I like that.

there is no Shuuichi outside of an adopted persona/identity for Kurama—like I don’t think he brought anything outside of what comes with nature, genetics, and a human soul (which I personally don’t think is the sum of someone’s personality, just what gives them spiritual life? If that makes sense).

But man, it makes me love Kurama so much more when I don’t think of Yoko as a different self or something that can be abandoned, it’s simply a previous version of himself. The past. So I think his 15 years as semi-human simply gave Yoko some insane character development.

Experiencing being unconditionally loved—the very idea that a relationship need not be transactional—being loved beyond what you can do for them. Being loved for existing, and nothing else. I truly think that his humanity responded well to being loved during the “early childhood development” stage and it gives him a way more stable sense of self than he should have tbh

And much like actual prison (or maybe more accurately rehab or inpatient etc), he has nothing but time and passes it by taking up interests and hobbies. He got to find stuff he enjoys about being human and ningenkai. He already liked plants obviously, but it’s so sweet to imagine him really developing an interest in botany and gardening and keeping houseplants etc. Learning to cook with Shiori and actually really liking it—I mean hey he gets to use some of those plants he’s been growing.

Big reader, obviously. He wants to know everything, and he knows so much already, yet humans keep inventing new shit to learn about, so that works out well. School and education get to be competitive sports that he’s the best at, again obviously. All manner of puzzles, games (tabletop and video of course), mystery books and films; if you can analyze it or crack a code somehow, he’s good with it. A real people-watcher, the disdain for humanity begins to fade over time and observation—they’re not so bad after all.

I like that he grows very comfortable in his human form. He’s pretty and appears to really own that (he lucked out there, huh? Incubated in a human that will be so attractive in the future lol), and I think that being raised by his mother (and perhaps this is some of that aforementioned Shuuichi nature) has him “in touch with his feminine side.” So I imagine he doesn’t miss his Yoko body too much, until he suddenly gets it back for a moment and is reminded of how good it felt to be himself. Good in a sinful, hedonistic way, that is. He clearly doesn’t want to be that way, but 1000+ year old habits die hard, right?

Idk I love Yoko Kurama that’s all folks that’s one of my headcanons or maybe it’s actually canon who knows. I just wanted to muse about my favorite kitsune.

#kurahi #yu yu hakusho #yoko kurama #musings.txt #kurama #I love the spirit fox #he’s just trying to do better and atone for his crimes #yyh #headcanons

234 notes · View notes

teshadraws · 6 months ago

Text

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 57]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

Tobias, Nia, and Junie travel south to find Will and the human settlement.

“You’ve got food and water for the road, and the map I gave you.”

“Yup and yup!”

“And you know what to do if anyone gives you trouble.”

“Bo, c’mon! Nia and Toby are stronger than they look. They’ll keep me safe.”

“Answer the question, Junebug.”

“Fine, fine. If anyone gives me trouble, I peck out their eyes.”

“Good egg.”

Tobias snorts. He and Nia, well-rested after an admittedly cozy night in Junie and Bolat’s home, lean against one of the tall pines to the side of the flying types’ home as they wait for them to finish saying their goodbyes. Junie seems ready to head out, at least, bouncing in place with the aforementioned map pinned under one of her tiny feet.

Now they just need Bolat to stop being an overbearing blissey.

Tobias looks up at slivers of blue sky as the wind rustles through the pines. It’s not as early as he usually likes to get going, mid-morning rather than dawn, but Junie and Bolat alike had refused to get up sooner. Outvoted three to one once Nia realized she had sleep-in backup, Tobias had settled for resting a bit longer, eventually flipping through Nia’s book about abilities out of boredom.

He’s glad they’re finally getting moving. The day looks nice, only a bit chilled by autumn winds, but he’s feeling restless. Ready to talk to Will and find out if the yamask has any answers. If not, then he’s ready to head back to the guild where they can see if August and the others came up with anything instead.

“Bo, we’ll be fine! Seriously!” Junie complains after another round of questions. “You worry too much.”

The skarmory gives Junie a playful nip with his wickedly sharp beak. “I don’t think you worry enough, for such a tiny thing. I’d prefer to escort you all there myself, but I can’t get someone to fill in for my mail route on such short notice.”

Nia cringes. “Sorry. I debated sending a letter ahead of time, but I thought it’d be a nice surprise for Junie.”

“It was!” Junie assures.

“We’ll be fine,” Tobias says, stepping forward and plucking the map out from under Junie’s foot before she loses it. He ignores her squawk of protest. “Luckily for these two, I can actually read a map.”

Bolat laughs as Junie pecks at Tobias’ leg and gets a light kick in return. “Good to hear. ‘Mon are fairly kind around this area, so just stop someone if you do get off the path and they should be able to guide you back.”

Nia and Tobias nod, and it falls quiet as Junie and Bolat both seem to realize there’s nothing else to be said.

“Bye, Bo,” Junie whispers, hopping forward to rub the top of her head against his metallic leg. “Sorry for ditching so suddenly. I’ll be back soon.”

Bo bends to rest his giant beak on Junie’s body. “Just come back safe, all right? We both know you have a penchant for trouble.”

Junie laughs, hopping back. “But I always find my way out of it!”

“Rarely on your own,” Tobias says. Nia elbows him.

“Oh, just wait and see if I save your butt next time you’re in trouble! You two have no room to talk!” Junie sticks her tongue out at him.

Tobias can’t resist doing the same.

“And on that note,” Nia says, laughter in her voice. “We’d better get going. Thanks again for letting us stay the night, Bo. And for the food! We’ll see you on our way back through, okay?”

“Safe travels, you three. Bring this little troublemaker back in one piece, all right? Too quiet around this place without her.”

Nia assures him that they will. Junie hops onto her shoulder, and the three of them start on the forested path back to Stonebrook, Nia and Junie waving until Bolat is completely out of sight.

Junie is directing Nia where to go, so Tobias lets himself fall back to pull out the map Bolat had lent them.

While the skarmory had pointed out their destination once already, the map is still more detailed than Tobias expects, spanning half the continent and even including some simple drawings to illustrate. He finds Stonebrook in the middle of the forest, then traces the path leading to the main road. From there, he moves south until the road leaves the forest entirely and enters the plains to the south. Eventually, the path hits the ocean at Kaleido Bay.

According to the skarmory, the human settlement is halfway between where the forest ends and the ocean begins, built into the side of a mesa off the main road. If they follow the trail south and stick to it, the mesa should be easy to spot. Bolat guessed that they could even make it there by nightfall, if they kept up a good pace.

Tobias looks up as they break from the pines and into the bright sunlight bathing Stonebrook in warmth. He would love to take a rest on one of the smooth, heated boulders strewn about the little village, but they have places to be. He folds up the map and tucks it into their satchel, then speeds up to match Nia’s stride.

“Marie makes the bestpastries ever,” Junie is saying, swooping around Nia as she points out different areas of the village. “Especially her pies. Ooh, we could stop and get one to eat on the way!”

“We can’t stop every time you get distracted,” Tobias says. “If we want to make it to Will’s by nightfall, we need to keep up a good pace.”

Junie pouts at him. “Spoilsport.”

“We do need to talk to Will as soon as possible,” Nia says, even as she lifts her nose into the air to sniff for pastries. “Maybe when we come back through?”

“Fiiine!”

Tobias takes the lead as they reach the path leading out of town. Junie doesn’t argue, instead diving into a conversation with Nia about what she’s been learning during her mail ‘mon training.

“So even though I’m tiny I could still carry letters and smaller packages. And if I did ever evolve—oh! Nia, have you seen a picture of what my evolution would be?!”

“I don’t think so?”

“I would be huge!” Junie says, swooping past Tobias to splay her wings wide. “Like, bigger than Bo!”

“Really?” Nia asks, eyes wide.

“Guess that’s one upside to the world ending,” Tobias says. “I don’t trust you with the power of a corviknight.”

Junie lands on the satchel looped around Tobias’ shoulder. “Aw, you scared?”

“No. You’d be a steel type. I’d scorch your feathers right off.”

“You wish!”

“You’d be a steel type?” Nia asks, curious.

“Yeah! Like Bo! Isn’t that neat?! Toby, you’re just jealous of how cool I’d be. I’d scare the pants off everyone!”

“Oh, please. I’d be a charizard. You’d be no match.”

“I still don’t think I’ve seen what a charizard actually looks like,” Nia says thoughtfully, head tilted. “You said you’d be big enough to carry me, right?”

“Easily. Charizard are strong flyers.”

“We could be flying buddies!” Junie chirps.

“Not a chance.”

“Flying,” Nia says, voice weak. “Great. How about land buddies instead?”

Tobias snorts, resigning himself to a day of lively conversation.

Their walk to the main road is uneventful. When they arrive, Tobias is a little surprised to see that the new path doesn’t look that different from the little trail to Stonebrook. It’s still a dirt road, just much wider and flattened from countless footsteps, the tall trees on either side a little more open to let in patches of sunlight.

The biggest change is how much busier this road is; they end up passing quite a few Pokemon on their way south. Mostly carts carrying goods between towns, some travelers on foot, and even another Seeker team or two, who give them cordial nods of acknowledgement as they pass.

Maybe an hour in, Nia and Junie take to guessing the names of each unknown species they see, making a game out of it with Tobias as the referee. After a bulky pignite passes by, the two wait until he’s out of sight before conspiring.

“Okay, what do we think?” Junie asks, perched on Nia’s shoulder. “Definitely something with ‘pig,’ right?”

“Hm…could be ‘boar’ instead,” Nia points out. “He had little tusks, right?”

“True. Okay, so ‘pig’ or ‘boar,’ and a fighting type.”

Nia frowns. “I was thinking fire, actually. He was a really bright orange.”

“Yeah, but did you see how jacked he was?! Plus, his fur kinda looked like was wearing a leotard or something. Definitely a fighting type.”

Nia hums doubtfully. “Okay, so fire or fighting? What does that give us?”

“Fire, fire, fire…cinder, maybe? Flame?” “Flame,” Nia murmurs. “Flame, flame…flambé?”

“Nia!” Junie gasps, sounding delighted. “Pork is not a thing here! You cannibal!”

“I-I wasn’t—they have a Pokemon called fidough, Junie! As in D-O-U-G-H! It’s a fair guess!”

Tobias barks a laugh, then quickly schools his expression when Nia and Junie look his way.

“Okay, okay!” Junie says, relenting. “Flambé’s on the table. So what’re our options? Flampig? Flamboar?”

“Flamboar’s not terrible,” Nia says. Then she gasps, paws clapping together. “I’ve got it! Flambabe!”

Tobias and Junie shoot Nia a puzzled look.

Nia shrinks back. “L-Like Babe the pig? From the book..?”

“Nerd,” Tobias and Junie say, in sync.

Junie gives Tobias a thrilled look. He gives her a horrified one in return. It’s not a good sign when they’re on the same wavelength.

“O-Okay, so it’s probably not flambabe!” Nia says, looking embarrassed. “Tobias, what’re they actually called?”

“It’s probably not even a pun this time,” Junie sighs.

“You sure you want to know?”

“Yeah!”

Tobias smirks. “…Pignite.”

A pause. Then Nia and Junie groan, defeated once more by the wordplay of the Ordirune language.

“But he was a fighting type, right?” Junie asks.

“I still think he looked a little fiery.”

Expectant, both of them look to Tobias once again.

“Pignite are fire types.”

“Yes!” Nia fist pumps.

“…And fighting types.”

“Yes!” Junie shouts.

“Wait,” Nia says. “So is that another tie?”

Their fourth tie in a row. Nia and Junie look at each other, then groan again, loud enough to startle a laugh out of Tobias.

______________________________________________________________

It’s early afternoon when they finally reach the edge of the forest, the trees thinning out into wide, flat fields of dry grasses. In the distance sits the faint, blocky shape of the mesa they’re looking for, tall amongst the flat landscape. Bolat wasn’t wrong—it’s certainly easy to spot.

They decide to stop there in the shade for lunch, pulling out the food Bolat had packed for them: mostly leftover berries and nuts from yesterday, as well as some bread that melts deliciously in Tobias mouth.

Maybe they do need to stop by that bakery on the way back.

They’re finishing up their meal food, looking out at the mesa, when conversation turns to Nia’s developing aura abilities.

“You can read minds now?!” Junie asks, beak dropping open to reveal a mouth full of mushed-up bread.

Tobias wrinkles his muzzle and reaches over to snap her beak closed.

Nia laughs, bashful. “Not exactly? It’s still mostly just emotions and, um…vague ideas of what they’re thinking? But they do get easier to understand if I’m really close to whoever I’m reading.”

The riolu glances at Tobias before looking away again. Tobias takes another bite of food and refuses to look at either of his companions, face burning hot.

Junie, unfortunately, catches the brief exchange. “Oh? And how did you find this out?”

“W-Well, I tested it out with some of my—some of ourfriends during training, and on my instructor.”

“And Toby joined in on the fun?”

Tobias glares at the little bird. “Val made me.”

Junie tweets a laugh. “Okay, okay, jeez. If looks could kill. So it doesn’t work if you aren’t really close to someone?”

“Well…” Nia tilts her head, lowering the bread she’d been nibbling on. “No. I can still latch on to their aura and get a vague idea of what they’re feeling. Like I always could. But with Tobias, it was almost like he was talking. It was more…specific.”

Tobias crunches into a chestnut to crack it open with his teeth. He still isn’t fond of that whole deal. Sure, if someone has to be peeking into his head, he’ll take Nia over almost anyone else, but those are his private thoughts and feelings. He doesn’t want someone poking around and judging him for what they find. He’s not a great Pokemon, but no one else needs to know that.

“So you took a little tour inside Toby’s head? Pretty nasty place, I bet,” Junie says.

Case in point.

Tobias reaches over and steals the rookidee’s last bluk berry, popping it into his mouth just to spite her.

“Hey!”

“You deserved it.”

“You kind of did,” Nia says, smiling sympathetically.

Junie huffs, but doesn’t argue. Then she perks up again, and Tobias knows what she’s going to say before the words even leave her mouth. “You should try it again on me! I wanna know if I can feel you rummaging around in my head.”

Nia doesn’t seem all that surprised by the request, either. Still, she looks cautious. “You sure? It’s kind of, uh. Private.”

“You said the same thing the first time you looked at my aura! C’mon, let’s try it!”

Nia laughs. “Okay, okay. I’ll, um, try it from a distance first, then use contact if that doesn’t work.”

Junie doesn’t argue, settling down a foot or so from Nia.

Nia closes her eyes, concentrating. Her paws remain in her lap.

Tobias watches, curious despite himself. Just because he doesn’t want to be the test subject doesn’t mean Nia’s powers aren’t interesting.

“Oh!” Nia’s eyes remain closed, but her brows shoot up. “I got it! And I didn’t even have to make contact first.”

“Does that mean you’re getting better at using your aura?” Junie asks. “Or that we’re besties?”

Nia makes a so-so gesture with her paw. “Probably a bit of column A, bit of column B? Stay there—I want to see how far I can get.”

Nia stands up, eyes still closed, and starts backing up across the grass.

“Rock,” Tobias calls, just in time for Nia to stumble and nearly fall on her tail. She shoots him a grin and a thumbs-up, eyes still closed, before continue to step back, slower this time.

Finally, Nia stops a few yards away from Junie. She’s frowning and tilting her head as if to hear better.

“I think this is my limit right now,” Nia says.

“That’s farther than it was at the guild,” Tobias points out.

“Can you tell what I’m thinking?!” Junie calls.

A moment of quiet. Then, Nia laughs. “Not exactly, but I can tell you’re trying to think of the weirdest things possible to catch me off-guard. You feel…playful?”

Junie laughs. “I’ll show you playful! Here, see if you can feel what flying is like!”

With that, Junie launches herself into the air.

“Oh, this should be good,” Tobias mutters, watching Junie flap higher above their heads. She catches a breeze, then falls backwards and does a loop-de-loop with more agility than Tobias expects. Huh. Maybe her training with the skarmory is helping after all.

Nia groans, sinking to her knees and looking sick. Her eyes crack open. “Ugh. Yup, I felt that.”

“You did?!” Junie calls, stopping to flap in place.

“Unfortunately. I swear I could feel my stomach flip.”

“Yeah, isn’t it awesome?”

Tobias snorts, watching as Junie does more loops and spins overhead, a dark blur against the bright blue of the sky. Her shadow passes over them.

Nia trudges back to Tobias’ side and plops down, still looking vaguely nauseous. “I don’t think I was built for the air.”

Tobias laughs. ��You literally weren’t.”

Nia whines, tucking her head into her knees.

Tobias gives her another patronizing pat on the back before tilting his head back to watch Junie again. The little flying type is whooping with joy as she shows off, and Tobias is torn between envy and a weird sense of peace.

Tobias doesn’t hate having the rookidee around. He likes how happy she makes Nia, for one. And with such a heavy atmosphere hanging over them lately—what with the world ending and all—even Tobias can appreciate a bit of levity.

In some ways, Junie actually reminds him of his sister. Much more annoying, of course, much pushier, but she has a similar kind of wit and playfulness to her as Vivi did. At first the similarity rubbed him the wrong way, but it’s starting to feel familiar now. More entertaining than upsetting.

“Toby! Toby, watch this!”

She even uses the same stupid nickname.

Tobias rolls his eyes. “I’m watching!”

Junie tucks her wings and drops like a stone. Beside him, Nia yelps, tensing as if to jump up. But Junie snaps open her wings just in time and swoops low across the ground to flutter to a stop at their feet.

“Wasn’t that sick?!”

“It looked dangerous!” Nia frets.

“Nah, Bo showed me how to do it safely.”

“Bolat showed you how to do that?!” Nia asks, scandalized.

“Uh, yeah? I told you he has fun uncle energy. He’s not my dad.”

“Still!”

Tobias shakes his head, biting back a smile as he starts cleaning up the remains of their meal. It’s time to get moving again.

_____________________________________________________________

By time they find the fork in the road leading to Will’s settlement, it’s sunset and even Junie has quieted down, fatigued after a long afternoon of travelling the road through open fields under the hot sun. The mesa looms over them, still in the distance but close enough that they can pick out some of the finer details of its stone face and scraggly trees.

Noticing the branching path, Junie perks up from where she’s nestled into Nia’s neck fluff.

“Finally! I feel like we’ve been looking at that stupid rock forever. How much longer do you think we have?”

Tobias doesn’t answer, stepping onto the smaller trail leading in the direction of the mesa. Unlike the main road, this path is made for only one or two ‘mon at a time, dirt trail nearly swallowed by the long, dry grasses swaying gently around them.

“Maybe an hour or two, if I had to guess?” Nia says, squinting.

Junie whines, burying her face into Nia’s fur.

“You aren’t even the one walking,” Tobias grumbles, hopping down a shallow shelf of rock in the path.

“At least we can see where we’re heading,” Nia says, ever the optimist. “And it’s late enough that it’s going to start cooling down soon.”

“I guess.”

With that, they fall silent again. Slowly, the sky bleeds to a lavender gray, only their breaths and the whistle of the wind through rustling grass to keep them company. It’s nearly dusk by time they reach the foot of the mesa, its presence overwhelmingly tall above them. It brings to mind half-remembered sensations from Tobias’ childhood in the mountains.

The trail they’d been following starts to wind its way up a steep, mountainous incline. It’s almost serpentine, snaking through the environment, cobbled with rough stones underfoot and walled in by cliff faces, wiry trees, and foliage. Tobias, already tired from the journey here, is breathing hard within minutes. Junie takes mercy on Nia and hops down to trail along behind them.

Tobias isn’t sure how long they follow the trail, relying more and more on Tobias’ tail flame to light the way as the sky darkens. Nia and Tobias both trip more than once on the rough terrain, and take to skating their hands along the rocks and branches crowding on either side of the path to keep their balance. Junie at least doesn’t have to worry about going slipping into a ravine or sliding off the mountainside.

Tobias is getting close to calling that they stop to rest for the night, the conditions too dangerous to traverse with such low light, when they round a bend and see…lights.

“Oh, look,” Nia says, stopping.

Tobias and Junie stop too, staring across the small canyon they’ve been ascending.

On the other side, tucked under the shelf-like lip of the top of the mesa, sprawls a surprisingly sizeable town, seemingly carved into the side of the cliff itself. The buildings are angular structures made of stone, and there is enough golden light spilling from windows and open doors to illuminate them, an oasis of warmth in the sprawling darkness of night.

“It’s beautiful,” Nia murmurs.

“It almost looks like a human city!” Junie says.

It’s…fine. Tobias doesn’t understand why they’re fussing so much.

“C’mon,” Tobias says, moving forward again. “Almost there.”

Luckily for their sore, tired feet, they wind their way around the canyon and to the entrance of the village relatively quickly.

There, a hulking mass of purple armor and pointed barbs is stationed. A nidoking. Tobias remembers seeing him at the human convention, but he still stops in his tracks as the poison type’s beady eyes lock onto them.

Before anyone can say anything, a high voice speaks up.

“Oh, hey! It’s you three!”

Tobias blinks. Then, movement catches his eye. It’s a tiny yellow blur, hopping down from the nidoking’s shoulder and skittering across the rocky dirt to stop before the trio. A young joltik, his fluffy yellow fur bright against the darkness. He’s barely the size of Tobias’ hand.

Tobias’ brow furrows at the familiar greeting. He glances up at the nidoking to make sure this isn’t some sort of trap, then back at Nia and Junie. They seem just as lost as he is.

“I’m sorry,” Nia says, stepping forward and crouching down. “Um. Have we met?”

The joltik cocks his head, but then looks down at himself and chirps, “Oh, right!”

The little bug type leaps up, tucks into a roll, and in a flash of cool blue light, grows over five times as big before landing on four paws. His coat is orange with black stripes and accented with fluffy cream fur.

“I’m Asher!” The growlithe pup yips, tail wagging proudly. “I ran into you at the convention, remember?”

Tobias stares, still more caught off guard by the haunting coat pattern than anything.

“Whoa!” Junie shoves forward. “How’d you do that?!”

Asher snickers, leaps up again, and in another icy blue flash lands on more delicate paws. They’re a deep red against his dark gray coat, matching the tuft of red fur sitting atop his head beween pointed ears. His golden eyes are bright as sparks.

Tobias breathes again.

“I’m a zorua, duh!”

“Don’t duh me! I’m human. How was I supposed to know that?”

“Humans don’t seem to know a lot of things.”

“Hey!”

While Junie and Asher squabble, Tobias takes another breath to calm himself. It’s better with the growlithe visage gone. Zorua are tricksters, but he can handle a trickster better than a growlithe.

“Can zorua turn into…anything?” Nia whispers to Tobias, eyes wide and ears perked. Tobias can practically see the questions building on her tongue.

“Any Pokemon, yeah.”

He snorts despite himself as Asher morphs into a rookidee, Junie’s mirror image. The real Junie squawks, outraged, and bats at him with a wing. Asher laughs, and for a brief moment Tobias sees a flicker of gray fur and red paws before he perfects the illusion once more.

“They’re more like…illusions, though, rather than actual transformations.”

That doesn’t deter Nia’s obvious fascination. She asks Asher if he can turn into her as well, and the zorua does so in a heartbeat, grinning at Nia’s awestruck expression.

“As fun as this is,” Tobias interrupts, still eyeing the silent mass of nidoking nearby. “Can we go inside?”

“Oh!” Asher morphs again in a flash, changing into another charmander, just without Tobias’ scarf. “Sure! C’mon! I can show you around. I know everything about this place.”

Asher skips towards the nidoking and the light of the town behind him. Junie giggles at the sight while Nia bites back a smile. Tobias huffs, following the cheeky kid with a lash of his tail.

The nidoking is even more intimidating up close. Over four times their height and just as wide, with a variety of scars. Tobias can feel the nidoking’s weight and strength as he shifts, looking over each of them.

“Hi, Slate!” Asher chirps.

The massive nidoking grunts in return. “You know them?”

“Sorta! They were at the human convention in Ghatha.”

Slate nods, stepping aside and shifting his heavy tail out of the way.

“Thanks, Slate! I’ll bring you more gummies tomorrow.”

Slate doesn’t answer, but Asher isn’t fazed. He shifts into a meowth and trots by the nidoking with his tail held high. “You haven’t been here before, right?”

“No,” Tobias answers, looking around as they enter town.

A path leads around the outside of the village, a sturdy wall of stones to their right to prevent anyone from tumbling off the cliff. Periodically, torches are perched atop the stone to provide light. To their left, they pass tall buildings constructed of rocks and mortar, where golden light and laughter spill from open windows into the cooling night air.

“So what do you wanna see first? We’ve got all kinds of cool human stuff here! Like…clothes! You guys like clothes, right? We have someone who makes those!”

“You do?” Nia asks, tail wagging in excitement. She picks up her pace to match Asher. Junie hops onto her shoulder to listen as well. Tobias trails behind.

“Yeah! But they aren’t working right now, since it’s late. Oh! Do you want a bath? We have a soapmaker here, too. All the humans go crazy for soap.”

“You have soap?!” Nia asks, voice cracking. She sound like she’s about to cry.

Asher laughs. “Yeah! I don’t really like it. Too strong for me. But we can get you some to use! I know they’ve been working on new, uh…flavors? Scents!”

“What else do you have?” Junie asks, sounding just as excited as Nia.

“Lotsa stuff! Oh! We have someone who makes games and toys, too! You definitely have to visit him. He’s the best.”

Tobias falls farther back, continuing to look around as the three babble on. Most of the inhabitants seem to be inside as night settles in, but the group passes one or two ‘mon out and about. They’re wearing more cloth than Tobias is used to seeing outside of cold weather. A flaaffy has a billowy transparent shawl around their shoulders and another tied around their hips, and a strangely familiar-looking elekid and sandile wearing lightweight scarves scamper by right after.

One building’s door is propped open, and Tobias glances in as they pass by. While the group of Pokemon inside don’t seem to be related biologically, all different species and types, they laugh comfortably with one another as they play games and chat. They’re sitting around a small firepit in the center space of the home. Tobias catches sight of large alcoves set into the rounded walls behind them, with blankets spilling out. Nests?

There are large jars bordering the empty wall off to the side of the group, likely for water. Plus a table with some chairs, books in a small bookcase, floors covered in rugs, and even a few pieces of art hung on the walls.

It's…cozy-looking, admittedly. Spacious enough, but warm. Lived-in.

“Is that a band?!” Junie asks from up ahead, just a smidge too loud.

Her question snags Tobias’ attention, and he jogs to catch up with the three of them. Nia and Junie are looking expectantly at a small outdoor area, with a little fire pit lit in its belly. A small crowd of Pokemon—of humans—are gathered around its edges, reclined and chatting across tiers of stone steps.

In the center, near the fire, a trio of Pokemon do appear to be preparing for a song. A clobbopus hovers their broad tentacles over a pair of drums. A loudred is holding a delicate wooden flute to his lips with giant hands. The last Pokemon, a brionne, appears to be a singer. She has a flipper held to her throat, her eyes closed as she hums to herself.

Nia, Junie, and even Asher gravitate towards the performers with shining eyes. Tobias sighs, resigning himself to listening too, and stands next to his partner.

The drummer start first, jumping right into a tempo so quick that their tentacles are a blur of movement. The crowd’s chatter slows and quiets. After a moment, the flutist joins in with surprising grace, their sharp notes somehow weaving perfectly around the drumbeats. Finally, a few beats later, the vocalist starts up, raising her chin and closing her eyes to release a high, haunting note.

Tobias feels a chill roll over the skin on his arms, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it. He was hoping these three would be terrible. Instead, as the brionne sings a few more wordless notes, her voice lilting high and low in tandem with the flute, Tobias has to admit they’re…good. Really good. His fingers twitch towards the satchel at his hip, wanting to pull out his guitar and join in.

He chances a glance at Nia and Junie. Both of them are enraptured, and Nia even looks a little emotional. Tobias wonders if she knows the song, or if it’s just his partner being her usual sensitive self.

Tobias huffs and closes his eyes, letting the stupidly beautiful music wash over him. The night breeze drifts by, cool, but it carries some of the warmth and scent of the bonfire with it, too. He should probably be enjoying this.

Eventually, minutes later, the song dies away with a warbling high note. The crowd breaks into applause, whistling and cheering.

“Wasn’t that great?” Nia leans over to whisper, eyes shining. Apparently she remembers that he exists again.

“It was fine,” he grumbles.

Nia gives him a more focused look, smile faltering. “Are you okay?”

“Asher!” A voice calls from behind them, cutting Tobias off before he can respond.

Asher jumps and squeaks at the voice, meowth tail bottlebrushing as he spins around. “H-Hey Dad!”

Tobias turns around to see a jolteon moving towards them at a brisk pace. Tobias can’t tell if his fur is the normal level of spiked for a jolteon, or if it’s pricklier than usual from the worried annoyance Tobias can read on the Pokemon’s face.

The jolteon seems surprised when he notices Tobias, Nia, and Junie, though, slowing to a stop. “Oh! Hello there. I…wasn’t aware we had newcomers.”

“We’re not,” Tobias says.

“We just got in tonight. We were hoping to talk to Will about something,” Nia says. “A-And maybe stay for a night or two to rest afterwards? We ran into Asher at the convention in Ghatha, so he was showing us around.”

“He’s supposed to be cleaning his room,” the jolteon says, giving Asher a dry look.

“Can’t it wait until after I show them around?” Asher whines. “Cerise is singing tonight!”

The jolteon’s stern expression doesn’t falter, but he does sigh. “You can come with me as I show them around, but after that you’re cleaning up your toys.”

“Fiiine,” Asher groans. He transforms back into a zorua and moves to the jolteon’s side, tail held low. “I wasn’t doing anything bad.”

“He’s been really helpful, actually!” Nia assures.

The jolteon’s spines relax a bit more. “Well, that’s good to hear, at least. Did you three want to keep watching the show? I’d imagine you’re likely half-asleep if you traveled here by foot, but Cerise is quite the treasure.”

“Well…” Nia glances longingly over her shoulder at the band as they start up their next song, and then at Tobias.

There’s a sudden loud gurgle, and all of their heads snap down to look at Junie.

For once, the rookidee almost seems embarrassed. Still, she laughs. “Uh. You got any food?”

The jolteon chuckles. “I think that can be arranged. Come with me. We can always show you around more tomorrow.”

The jolteon trots down the path, deeper into town. The rest of them follow as the band’s next song drifts into the air. Their group passes by a few other Pokemon, but Tobias doesn’t pay them any mind until he sees Nia do a double-take, slowing to a stop.

“What?” Tobias asks.

“That Pokemon looked like Seiji. The scientist who helped me with my aura at the convention?”

Tobias turns to look at the group again. Sure enough, there’s a little blue disk of a bronzor bobbing along with the others.

“Oh, have you met before?” The jolteon asks, doubling back.

“Briefly,” Nia answers. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting to see him here.”

“Ah. Well, we had a large surge in numbers after the fire. Lots of humans didn’t feel safe after that, unfortunately.”

Tobias suddenly realizes why that elekid and sandile they’d passed by earlier looked familiar. They’d seen the electric-type at the convention, having trouble containing his electricity, and Tobias had pulled that very sandile out of the building’s rubble himself.

“Is everyone here because of stuff like that?” Junie asks, hopping onto a nearby stone to be closer to eye-level.

“Not everyone, but the majority. With the way the world is breaking down, animosity towards humans has only gotten worse. They come here for sanctuary. For likeminded folks who they can connect to and feel safe with.”

Tobias frowns. On one hand, he gets that—he feels an automatic kinship with other Seekers, after all, and fire types. But something about all of the humans hiding out here still feels…wrong. Nia’s happy at the guild, right? She always gets so excited about meeting new Pokemon and learning new things. Do these humans really want to trade all of that away? Is the world really so scary to them that they have to hide from it entirely?

Tobias glances at Nia and Junie.

Nia’s brow is furrowed, but Tobias isn’t sure exactly what she’s thinking.

Junie tilts her head at the jolteon. “That makes sense, but how did you get here?”

“Pardon?” The jolteon asks, looking surprised.

“Well, you’re the kid’s dad, right?” Junie asks, glancing at Asher. The zorua has transformed into a vulpix and is absentmindedly chasing his own tails. “He told us he wasn’t a human at the convention, so…”

“Junie!” Nia admonishes, looking embarrassed.

“What?! It’s a valid question!”

It is, actually. Tobias had forgotten about that. He narrows his eyes at the jolteon.

…Who he hasn’t gotten the name of yet.

The jolteon doesn’t look cornered by the question. He simply laughs. “Ah, right. Well, I’m close with Will, so I just wanted to help him out. I’m not the only non-human here.”

“Really?” Nia asks.

“Of course.” The jolteon sits back, looking at ease. “We couldn’t have built up this village with just the humans, especially at the beginning.”

“Slate’s not human!” Asher muffled voice chimes in. His fluffy tails are caught in his jaws, and he’s still spinning in a circle. “He helped us build a lot since he’s so strong!”

“Why?” Tobias asks. The humans he gets—they feel safer here, and they’re hoping Will is their ticking to returning home. But natural-born Pokemon?

“Most of them were hired during the building process and just decided to stick around,” the jolteon says, shrugging his shoulders. “Some of them want to go to the human world, too.”

Junie frowns. “How would that work if they don’t have a human body to go back to?”

“Will’s been looking into that. The research team figures that if humans were given a body to fit into this world, then the same should happen for Pokemon going the opposite direction. If not, then they’ll likely just keep their Pokemon forms.”

Tobias exchanges a doubtful look with Nia. They both know the truth, after all, that Nia and Junie were only given their Pokemon forms because Mew created them. Although yamask are formed without any interference, so…

The jolteon catches their look. “You said you wanted to talk to Will, right? Is it about getting back to the human world?”

“To…an extent,” Nia answers. “It’s related, but it’s actually more to do with the natural disasters. We were hoping he could help us with a lead.”

The jolteon hums, glancing down at Asher as his son rolls over with a flash and turns into an eevee, weaving between his legs. “I’m sure he’d be willing to talk, but he’s likely retired for the night. Can it wait until morning?”

Tobias opens his mouth to say no, but Nia beats him to it.

“Sure!” At Tobias’ glare, she adds. “W-We need to rest anyways. One night shouldn’t hurt, right?”

Tobias doesn’t argue, much as he wants to. He is exhausted. And he wants to be in top form when they talk to Will.

“I vote food and sleep!” Junie chirps.

The jolteon smiles. “We can manage that. Come on. Not much farther now.”

The jolteon turns to go, but Tobias steps forward first. “Wait. First—what’s your name?”

Both Nia and Junie look startled, first by the sudden question and then by the realization that they’d made it this far into the conversation without such a basic exchange.

The jolteon looks at them for a moment, then laughs. Tobias doesn’t like it. “Right, my apologies. I forget sometimes, with newcomers. Here. You’re probably more familiar with this face.”

The jolteon doesn’t need to leap up, and simply flashes a bright purple before he transforms into a psychic type ponyta, with a fluffy mane and a small black horn.

Junie gasps and points a wing. “The My Little Pony!”

Nia yelps, “Fidel?!”

Fidel smiles, sidestepping Asher as the kid tries to tackle his legs. “We didn’t get to talk much at the Ghatha convention, with everything that happened. But I remember you three. Nia and Junie, wasn’t it? And…”

“Tobias!” Junie offers up.

Tobias flicks her with his tail, nearly knocking her over.

“Are you a zorua too?” Nia asks. She looks a little embarrassed about the bluntness of her question, but it’s clear she’s been thrown for a loop by this revelation.

“Not quite.” In another quick purple flash, Fidel transforms again. Then he’s twice his previous size, towering over the rest of them. Lanky, powerful arms are covered in deep gray fur and tipped with long red claws. Longer red fur flows from atop his head and around his neck like a mane. Sharp face, sharp ears, sharp smile.

“Dad’s a zoroark!” Asher says proudly, transforming back into a zorua and craning back to look up at Fidel. “If I do stay a Pokemon when we go to the human world, I’m hoping I’ll be able to evolve there! Then I can make illusions for all the big Pokemon that Dad can. Right?”

Fidel leans down to nose his son’s head with a tight smile. “Right.”

Tobias frowns. So Fidel is planning on going to the human world with his son? That feels…off. Even if Fidel and Will are friends. Even taking the natural disasters and mystery dungeons into account. Would that really be enough for Fidel to take his son away from the only world they know?

“Are there other zoroark around?” Junie asks, clearly from a place of curiosity and not the suspicion Tobias is feeling.

“Oh! Right!” Nia says, tail wagging excitedly. “You’re a canine—do zorua and zoroark travel in packs like riolu and lucario do?”

Fidel gives Nia an amused look. “I don’t see much of a pack with you right now.”

“That’s ‘cause she’s got us!” Junie says, hopping up to perch on Nia’s shoulder. “Much more versatile.”

Fidel looks endeared by the idea. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Me and Dad are the only zors around here,” Asher adds. He scrambles up his dad’s back to burrow into the zoroark’s fluffy mane. A moment later, his little face pokes out to look at them. “Sometimes I wish there were more, but it is fun playing pranks since no one here is good at seeing illusions.”

“Which is a habit we’ve been trying to break.”

Asher snickers and burrows back into Fidel’s mane.

Fidel sighs, but the sound is fond. He looks down at the three of them. “How about I finally get you all to the inn?”

Tobias doesn’t argue, trailing behind Nia and Junie as they chat with the zoroark. The dark type leads them to one of the larger structures, near the edge of the settlement. It’s a tall, tan building made of stacked stones and mortar, golden light spilling from its windows.

The door is cracked open, so Fidel nudges his way inside. They follow, finding themselves in a spacious room taking up the entirety of the first floor. A brightly patterned rug circles the floor, a fire pit at its center, providing light and warmth. An assortment of alcoves line the rounded walls. Some are large enough to hold entire Pokemon and have blankets folded up inside, ready to be used as nests. Another section of the wall has much smaller nooks dug into the stone. For storage, likely, considering the wrapped goods and jars Tobias spots there.

There’s a torracat lying in one of the sleeping shelves, a blanket draped over her. She’s using a claw to carefully carve into a chunk of wood, the little alcove lit by the glowing bell at her throat. Her ear twitches, and she glances up at the newcomers.

“We’ve got a few late-night visitors, Clara. Think you can get them settled in with some food and a bed for the night?”

The torracat sighs, setting down her carving and slipping to the ground to stretch. Her black and red striped pelt ripples. “Only for you, Del.”

“Thank you.” Fidel smiles. “I have to get Asher to clean up his room and—”

The zoroark cuts himself off, blinking. He pats at his mane, then looks down around his legs. Asher is gone. They all give the room a quick glance, but the zorua is nowhere to be seen.

Fidel’s expression falls flat. “No desserts for him for a week. You’ve got this, Clara?”

Clara looks amused, whiskers twitching. She gestures him out with a paw. “I can handle ‘em. Go catch your kid.”

“Thank you.” Fidel gives them all a tired smile and a nod. “I’ll come get you tomorrow morning when Will is free. Rest well.”

With that, Fidel slips back out the door.

Clara yawns, showing off sharp teeth. “Well. Let’s get you settled, I guess. You could’ve came a bit earlier, y’know. I was in the middle of something.”

“Sorry,” Nia says, sheepish. “We, uh, came a long way.”

“Isn’t this your job?” Junie asks, much less apologetic.

“Eh, kinda.” The torracat slinks to the side of the room where the smaller alcoves sit in the wall, full of goods. She flicks her tail for them to take a seat on the ground by the fire. “As much of a job as you need here, at least.”

“Which means..?”

“Will takes care of us whether we work or not,” Clara says, pulling down wooden plates and some wrapped goods to throw together a late-night meal. “I just like having a bit of pocket money.”

“That’s kind of him,” Nia says.

“Yeah,” Tobias says, doubtful. “How did he hire the ‘mon to build this place if he’s throwing money around like that?”

“Maybe he found a good job?” Nia suggests.

“Or he found hidden treasure!” Junie chirps.

“Mm. Dunno, don’t care.” Clara unwraps the packages to reveal breads, cheeses, berries, and nuts. Tobias’ stomach growls. “It’s chill here, and that’s all I care about.”

Nia and Junie continue the conversation as Clara puts together a little snack plate for each of them. Tobias crosses his arms and leans back against the wall, unsatisfied. Maybe he is being overly cautious, but he’d argue he’s just compensating for Nia and Junie’s lack of caution. Someone’s gotta make sure they don’t end up dead from trusting the wrong ‘mon.

But at least for tonight, he’ll rest. Tomorrow they can see what Will has to say.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #pmd seekers of soul #tesha writes #tesha draws

132 notes · View notes