#he made a lot more of these faces in 98 i swear
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threegunbrainrot · 2 years ago
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huzzah, a small collection of trimax vash's various silly and funky faces. they are all silly and funky. all of them.
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susandsnell · 3 months ago
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did you see the current US les mis tour? i'm thinking of going (though i haven't bought tickets yet) and i'm curious about what might be in it for valvert enjoyers (including myself)
OH DID I EVER, FRIEND. It came to Canada this past summer and I cannot recommend getting tickets enough; it's possibly the best the show has ever been, and the cast is incredible. I didn't think I'd still be crying at it at this age and bam, Act 2 rolls around and there goes my painstakingly winged eyeliner.
Valvert is imo the most played up it's been, if you want to go in unspoiled I'll leave it at that, but I'll put more details after the cut. Spoilers/me being a cringe parody of myself below.
They've gone with both a lot more physical blocking between the two of them and a much more humanized Javert + book-accurately violent (albeit For Good Reason) Valjean than previous productions, all of which lends itself very well to the ship. Lot of lingering gazes in prison/grabs at each other, a genuine rapport between Maire Madeleine and the Inspector of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and then there's the Champmathieu trial through the Confrontation. Javert actively lunges for Valjean after his confession and the two leads I saw had such an intense chemistry you could see their eyes burning through that part.
As for the Confrontation, it's been choreographed/blocked to be a lot more suggestive violent than previously; there's a barely concealed smirk on Javert's face during "you'll wear a different chain" that I remember made me think "...my 12 year old self is thriving right now." Valjean doesn't snap until Javert tries to shackle him, at which point it goes into the whole "I am warning you, Javert!" bit. He uses that incredible, Brick-accurate Valjean strength to break free, deck Javert, and garrotes him with his own chain at the song's (heh) climax, until the man goes down to his knees, and if I'm not misremembering, he half-straddles his shoulder to keep him down. Before it gets into the "And this I swear to you tonight" bit, there's a good several moments of Javert left rolling on the ground writhing, gagging, and moaning (this would become a persistent thing as the show progressed) while still crawling towards Valjean, half-conscious and half-mad with obsession, reaching towards him. And then Valjean smashes his head into a wall, Liam Neeson in '98 style. I don't know what you go to the theatre for, but personally I do to see old men cry and beat the shit out of each other homoerotically.
Not much more happens in Act 1 (though the Intervention through Stars has as much reverence to it about the sanctity of their chase and their dynamic as it does the very structures Javert cannot fathom Valjean existing outside of - I think he presses his fingers to his lips a little on "Lord, let me find him" after crossing himself), but Act 2 at the Barricades is where things go wild again. There seems to be an Objectifying The Inspector agenda behind the scenes of this new production and I am here for it. Thus, please know that the Valvert barricade scenes take place with the mainstay of Javert having his shirt needlessly torn open/almost off by Les Amis / his ponytail getting dishevelled / him throwing his head back and moaning / panting at some points over the singing because he got his ass kicked again. Heavy, heavy appraisal in Valjean's "give me the spy Javert"/tugging on his bonds as he pulls him away to ostensibly take him out back like Old Yeller (for show for Les Amis, sure but I sensed a bit of spite/something else). And then Valjean's Forgiveness is just. Okay, so I got good enough seats to say that Javert is licking his lips during "How right you should kill with a knife."
What really made my jaw drop was that Javert, being played a lot more emotionally and erratically at this point, actually reaches with both hands once freed of his bonds to grab hold of Valjean's rifle by the mouth and pull it up to his head/press his whole chest into it on "shoot me now, for all I care". Which, yes, Imagery, but then you have them having a legitimate moment where Valjean firmly but gently pulls the gun away/him away from the gun, and holds his face/shoulder in a way I think was? Deliberately meant to echo the blocking of the Bishop during the whole "I have bought your soul for God" in the prologue. "There's nothing that I blame you for" is almost played as a realization despite the anguish Javert has put him through. As for the sewers through the end, each man is played as having increasing realization of how much they are two sides of the same coin, but during the Soliloquy, you have Javert screaming out/sobbing some of his lines about Valjean and how dare he transcend the very structures that gave sense and shape to his world. It has to be seen to be believed.
Outside of this -- there's actually a lot more work done outside their interactions to parallel them. Javert and Gavroche are given a rapport meant to run alongside the Valjean-Cosette relationship where you see a Javert who's a lot more indulgently annoyed towards this cocky gamin than aggressive (they have such a cute, funny moment together after Look Down/Javert's Intervention bit, Javert's not even mad and more 'are you fucking kidding me I lost to an 8 year old' when Gavroche blows his cover). It pays off because they worked in him paying respects when he sees his body during the Bring Him Home instrumental as they did in the movie (albeit more organically, because the scene is staged from Javert's POV seeing all the bodies at the barricade + he stops over Gavroche, kneels to close the boy's still-open eyes, and with a stricken expression, makes the sign of the cross over his body), to the point that you absolutely get the impression Javert is seeing his younger, disadvantaged yet striving self in Gavroche. With the instrumental cue being Valjean's song of paternal feeling for Marius, the staging really drives home that Javert had so many opportunities himself to go through a similar journey of personal growth through fatherhood. And there's power in these parallels when they're not interacting, too!
All in all, they went all in on every character relationship in this production and I cannot recommend it enough. The costumes are beautiful, the sets/effects are phenomenal, and the orchestration reveals just how beautiful the score really is. Go see it!!!
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beanibon · 1 year ago
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Vash x reader where they shower together and they wash his hair and pamper him? Non-sexual intimacy ftw.
I love wholesome shower fics, just enjoying a warm shower together being all cute and shit 💜
Also this can be seen as either Tristamp Vash or 98 Vash
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Vash - Shower Thoughts
Vash loves having showers with you, the way you just massage his head, or gently scrub his body clean made him melt.
You enjoyed it as Vash would act as additional warmth along with the warm water, him hugging you from behind as you washed your hair, complaining when shampoo got in his eye.
You also loved how he'd delicately help you with your shower skincare, which you eventually got him apart of. His hands gently massaging your cleanser into your face, while you did his.
Both of you sing, Vash favouring the more upbeat songs that he'd belt out full volume, earning a fit of laughter from you. While you enjoyed the more gentle soothing songs, one that had Vash wrapping his arms around you and swaying.
You'd both join in whatever the mood was, laughing or humming along with each other.
Vash loved washing your hair, it was therapeutic for him. Plus hearing you sigh in content as he massaged the shampoo into your scalp, made him chuckle.
You also loved how each time you washed Vash's hair he'd lean into you touch, like he was some puppy begging for more attention. He was absolutely adorable, and can't help but press a few kisses to his lips.
Expect lots of kisses, Vash loves you and he can literally shower (ha!) you in them. Showering is no exception, in fact it causes him to go a little overboard until you're playfully shoving him away.
After you two are done with the shower, towels wrapped around each other, you begin pampering Vash with your skincare routine. I mean full exfoliant, face mask, the whole lot, and he'll just melt into your touches.
Has his arms around you while you do yours, asking a bunch of questions, mostly along the lines of "What's that?" At each new thing you use. You swear he's a child, but you love him nonetheless.
Showers are your special time, hardly interrupted and used to just spend time with each other, being close and pampering the other.
You both adored it and would each look forward to the next time you two can shower in each other's arm.
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strvlveera · 2 years ago
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𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥.
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pairing: royalty!oikawa x afab!reader
genre: royal au, angst w/happy ending, fluff
w/c: 10.7k (help me)
warnings: swearing (lmk if there should be more !)
synopsis: sick and tired of the looming castle walls, tooru decides to adventure outwards. somewhere he wasn't allowed to go. dressed as a young 'peasant' boy tooru comes across the delicious smell of fresh baked bread. considering he was starving he marched right in demanding a loaf of bread, forgetting he wasn't in normal attire. you, the daughter of the baker, found him a headache but also amusing. I mean what source of entertainment can you get when you're so poor?
"I am your prince!"
"...then why are you dressed like that?"
(lowercase intended)
slightly based on 'ceilings' by lizzy mcalpine
a/n: this isn't proofread so there may be careless mistakes! the synopsis doesn't comprehend how much angst there will be... I made this fic as an excuse to not sleep...got this idea at 2 am so T_T honestly since hq is coming back(?) soon I just want my home boy back...
I also apologise for not getting this done sooner i don't know why it took me so long.. anyways enjoy!
btw can you spot a manwha reference too?
NOT PROOF READ!
taglist: @tooruchiiscribs @qualitygiantshoepsychic @sillykawa @rukia-uchiha-98 @softcd @misfit-megumi @suzizanne
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"sit here and reminisce about your actions. I have a lot of things to do today," the king calmly demanded tooru as he whined and grumbled, dragging him by the arm to his room.
"I just wanted to play, you're always so busy and nee-san is always holding tea parties with her friends!" tooru exclaimed, crossing arms.
"you'll understand in the future. when you’re king, you'll always be busy."
"what if I don't want to be king? I want to be a knight! I want to be free and keep my friends safe, as well as you and nee-san," tooru proudly said to his father, as if convincing him that taking the throne was what he wasn't destined for.
the king mockingly laughed, not taking tooru's words seriously.
"keep an eye on him, don't let him leave this room until I come back," stated the king to the guard outside who gave a quick nod.
"of course, your highness."
"i'll be off then tooru, behave."
with the creak of the closing door tooru sprawled his arms across the bed as he flumped down, a sour look on his face staring into the ceiling.
"behave tooru! oh, look at me being too busy being a king that I don't even have time for my son!" mocks tooru, reminiscing about his father's stern words rather than his own actions.
i mean, it wasn't his fault that he 'accidentally' hit his great-grandfather's statue. it wasn’t as if he was trying to catch anyone's attention. it wasn't his fault he was alone most of the day, except when the royal tutor came. it wasn’t his fault that the dreams of becoming a knight got disregarded as soon as he even said the word 'knight', as if it wasn’t an option.
tooru had to practically beg his father for swordsmanship lessons, even though he was so young, desperately clinging to his dream of becoming a knight. why? to be free from his fate, his destiny and yet his father still said no.
"king this, king that, why not knight this, knight that?" questioned tooru, still huffing from his father's words.
he doesn't even want to be king anyway. the responsibility of it seemed trapping as if he'd be a bird in a cage with everyone watching his every move.
silently staring at the ceiling with a blank face, tooru decides on an escape plan. except this time he'll escape to the city. the place where his father told him to never go.
"you'll catch a deadly disease! how will you train to be a knight?"
the memory passed through his mind.
"how am I supposed to be a knight anyway whenever I'm always confined in this boring palace?" tooru thought out loud.
knights are daring and dashing and most importantly loved by all. if tooru wanted to be a knight, he'd have to be a little adventurous and brave.
"if mother was here she'd let me go," says tooru, quietly reassuring himself that his decision was beneficial and ethical.
finding old clothes from the back of his wardrobe, he tried his best to make himself an unroyal attire. with a bit of tearing in certain parts tooru proudly stood in front of his mirror with his disguise, ready for operation: escape to town.
"soo original tooru.."
..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.
tooru's ears perked up to the sound of the bustling streets of the city, his eyes lighting up with excitement as crowds of people strolled up and down the street. some frantically buying groceries from the local market, some sitting outside having a beverage of choice whilst talking with the person opposite, laughing at each other's comments.
this is way more fun than the palace thought tooru, as he gazed around.
alas, with the growl of his stomach, tooru then realised how he barely had any food that day as he was having too much fun causing chaos at the palace.
"i should've brought money for food, why am i so dumb?!," tooru whines, whilst ruffling his hair out of frustration.
the feeling of his empty stomach made tooru more impatient until he smelt a whiff of something delicious. following the scent like a delirious zombie, tooru came to a halt when he came across a bakery. as he opened the door a ding came from a bell and his eyes landed upon a girl, which he assumed to be his age, putting some sort of pastry in an oven until she realised the presence of tooru and quickly wiped her floury hands, rushing towards him.
"hello, sir, welcome to shokupan. unfortunately, you're visiting during our closing hours, would you like to leave in an order for tomorrow?" she asks with a click of a pen, smiling at tooru as he processes what she just asked.
"i need that loaf of bread," demanded tooru pointing to the freshly baked milk bread on the counter, ignoring the girl’s question.
following tooru's finger, the girl realised what he was asking for and nervously chuckled.
"o-oh! i'm sorry but that isn't to be bought by anyone except the man that ordered it earlier. may i ask again if you want to order anything for tomorrow?" she asks again.
by now tooru's patience was wearing thin. with an awful combination of an empty stomach and tired legs, he started to grow irritated but so were you. yes, you. the baker's daughter.
with your father off for deliveries, you had to look after the bakery; taking orders everyday, making the dough and baking most of the bread yourself. with a job like this, it can get very tiring easily. especially with ignorant customers but that was rare. until today, where you had the 'fortunate' opportunity to stumble across a hungry and grumpy tooru.
"i don't want or need anything for tomorrow. what i need is that bread - so would you just give it to me?" demanded tooru once again.
you sighed, putting a hand to your forehead being physically and mentally exhausted from the hard work and now him.
"as i've said before, sir, i can't just give you a loaf of bread. if you don't want to order anything i'll have to ask you to leave so that i can close up the bakery," and with that you began to head back to the kitchen.
"you don't understand, i need that bread now! i'm dying of hunger, don't you pity me?" pleaded tooru with furrowed eyebrows, desperate for a bite of that delicious looking bread.
"look, there are many people who wander in and out of the bakery looking for pastries but unfortunately i can't give you it without permission from my boss. it's just how business runs around here," you shrugged, used to the situation.
normally, you'd give him a loaf of free bread, however word got out that you gave out free bread to those who couldn't afford it and an upburst happened causing the bakery to be shut down for a whole week. your father was certainly not happy about what happened but was glad that you were charitable and sympathetic to the people.
of course tooru had no idea this happened, he never read the newspapers anyway as they were too boring to him. he'd rather run around the palace causing chaos.
with tooru in desperate need of food he decided to play his trump card.
he cleared his throat and proudly stated, "although i may not look like it, i am actually prince tooru of the oikawa family, ruler of this city and province. as of now i may not look like the part, because i am on a very special mission, but i can reassure you that this is your dear prince."
with a small hair flip and a smug smile tooru awaited an apology but instead found you laughing hysterically like a hyena.
offended, tooru immediately questions, "w-what's wrong? you should be cowering before me and asking for my forgiveness, why are you laughing like a maniac?"
obviously you couldn't reply, still holding your stomach as you try to catch your breath from laughing too much.
"b-because…." you began but immediately started laughing again.
tooru scoffed, flabbergasted at your behaviour and disrespect to him as a royal. you were just a commoner and he was royalty, how dare you mock him like this?
"i don't know why you think this is hilarious but i am not lying. i am your prince!" proclaimed tooru, tired of your actions.
calming yourself down with a shaky breath out, you look at (a very annoyed) tooru up and down.
"if you really are the prince, which is very unlikely considering that this is the west side of the city, then why are you dressed like that?" you questioned, suspicious of his manner and clothes.
confused, tooru stops glaring at you and begins to analyse his outfit and quickly realises what you meant.
"oh…."
you chuckle in disbelief and maybe even pity, thinking he's gone mad already as a teenager.
"yeah, oh."
embarrassingly, tooru took off the smug look off his face and cleared his throat.
"you're not doing a very good job at convincing me prince tooru," you mocked, cheekily smiling at him.
"maybe i need more time to enhance my skills," tooru replies with an eye roll.
what a pity you thought, he was really entertaining. you wondered if he did acting as a job.
“well, i guess this is the part where i go,” tooru awkwardly began as he slowly turned to walk out the door, mostly out of embarrassment and the need to get home. his father would be furious if he found him dressed like this.
"wait just a second," you frantically said, trying to catch up with him, after grabbing something from the counter.
he anxiously turns, not wanting to be humiliated even more. however, to his delight you handed him a paper bag filled with a loaf of milk bread. you could immediately see how his demeanour changed and how his eyes lit up, almost as if there were stars in them.
"c-can i really have this?" asked tooru, with saliva already threatening to drip from his mouth.
"of course, i'm not that cruel. plus, i saw you eyeing up the milk bread from earlier. you looked like you really couldn't live without it. i’ll just make another batch for the old man," you replied with a small smile, mentally reminding yourself to not tell your father about this. who knows what would happen.
relief spread across tooru's face.
"thank you…?"
"ah - i'm y/n."
"thank you y/n," tooru replies with a wide smile, grateful for the milk bread.
with a bright smile, you waved goodbye to tooru as the bell of the door rang once again, indicating he was leaving to your dismay.
"come back soon!" you called out to tooru, secretly wishing to see him again tomorrow.
happily chewing on the milk bread, tooru smiled to himself filled with content, glad of the encounter and his courage to adventure off.
his father certainly wouldn't be pleased if he found out.
..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.
it was the following day and you couldn't help but secretly wait for a certain someone to come through the door. most of your customers were regulars so it was usually the same people saying the same things that you already knew about even when you'd make conversation asking,"anything new happen?" and with them replying with,"it's always the same old y/n."
it was pretty boring in the west end, except for all the crime that's been lurking around. the ring of the bell came and you turned around, only to be met by the same boy from yesterday. you were ecstatic to see the brown haired boy again. swiftly walking over to him you greet him with another milk bread you made just for him.
"well if it isn't the prince tooru, gracing me with his presence again," you sarcastically say, with a little courtesy.
it wasn't until you got a proper look at him that you realised how he was panting, trying to catch his breath and the plum bruise on his face.
tooru saw how fast your reaction to the bruise was, as your eyes started to fill with worry and concern. with furrowed eyebrows you hesitantly touched his face and he backed away.
"i'm so sorry tooru I didn't mean to-"
"no-no it's fine y/n don't worry, I don't know why I backed up in the first place," he reassuringly said.
although, in reality he backed away because he got nervous when you touched him. it felt comforting, which was a foreign emotion to tooru ever since his mother passed away.
"are you okay? how'd you get the bruise? did something happen?" you asked, bombarding him with questions, wondering how he ended up like this.
tooru found it really heart-warming how you only knew him for less than twenty-four hours and yet you showed so much concern for him. most of the maids in the palace only cared about his safety so that they wouldn't get fired by the king. to have someone genuinely worry about him made him feel as if he was valued as a human being, instead of "the king's son" or "the heir to the throne".
he actually got the bruise by accidently bumping into a gang that didn't look very pleased with him. he ran as fast as he could, screaming his lungs out.
"not very knightly of you tooru," he thought.
he made sure to not tell you about this.
he softly smiled at you as he said, "nothing, don't worry about it,"
not wanting to pry anymore, you let it go although you were still sceptical about the ordeal.
"well, if you say so. how about we enjoy the milk bread i prepared for you? it's a slow day today so we can sit down and have a chat outside," you insisted, leading tooru outside.
..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.
throughout the next few months you both continued to meet each other. with tooru sneaking out the palace more often and you already having freshly baked milk bread just for him. your father would get suspicious, catching you smiling to yourself at random times of the day whenever he was at the bakery but brushed it off as he was glad to see you happy rather than tired from all the work he gave you.
with your father starting to help more at the bakery than doing deliveries, you decided to pick a new meetup spot with tooru so that you two could talk with as much freedom as possible. without your father glaring at tooru as he did with his first encounter with him.
you showed him your hidden gem, a place where you would run to when the world would overwhelm you. your safe haven. urging tooru to go in first, his eyes were blessed with a charming peaceful meadow, secluded from society which was a good thing, as its beauty was preserved for you to see and now tooru. surprisingly you haven't even shown your father this heaven but you willingly led tooru here.
there was something about this milk bread obsessed boy that made you feel as if you could trust him. you've had male friends before but they would always tease you that you were a one trick pony as you could only bake but barely cook to save your life.
“ugh! I keep burning the bacon….” you grumbled, looking over to the pile of burnt bacon on the counter.
"just stick to baking y/n, it's the only thing you're good at," matsukawa slyly said, with the classic smirk of his which resulted in a loud smack to his head. he deserved it.
they never took you seriously. until tooru came along and changed your perspective. yes, he would be very arrogant at some points but alas that was just how he was and without it he wouldn't be as charming. it also brought out a new side of you, where you would make snarky remarks to him which would end in the both of you hugging your stomachs from laughing or tooru pouting.
relaxing down on a light patch of grass, you began talking about the future, a common topic in your conversations to tooru's dismay but it ended up helping him release his bottled up problems.
"i feel bad," you began, in a soft tone.
"why? you've done nothing except give me happiness," he questioned, confused by your sudden statement.
flustered by the choice of words that he used, you averted your eyes. clearing your throat you continued,”i always complain about my life and talk about my problems and yet you never get the chance to talk sometimes, when we talk about the future or anything serious in general.”
realising how insensitive you sound, your eyes widen and turn to tooru to apologise.
“i didn’t mean that-i mean I did but not in that context. of course you don’t have to talk about touchy subjects in your life if you don’t want to,” you paused for a second, trying not to panic and calmly collect your thoughts.
“I guess what i'm trying to say is, you can talk to me. you can talk about anything, other than your love for the milk bread i give you,” that earned a chuckle from tooru.
You grin, pleased that you received a positive reaction from him.
“i know we’ve only been friends for quite a while and i whole-heartedly understand if you feel a bit uncomfortable with all of this. just know I’ll always be here tooru,” you concluded, slightly embarrassed by what you said.
"aww….y/n, you care so much about me huh?" teased tooru, although he secretly soaked up all your words.
you sulked, embarrassed at your actions and mostly how tooru reacted to what you said but also not very surprised by his antics. tooru was busy laughing at your demeanour.
"sorry y/n, i didn't want to ruin the moment by laughing but i am really touched I swear!" tooru explained.
"i poured my heart and soul into that and you're here making fun of me!" you grumbled, purposely exaggerating your words so that he'd apologise soon.
tooru's laugh rang in your ears and he quickly apologised for teasing you.
"don't worry y/n, i listened very carefully. you have no idea how much I appreciate you."
just as you were about to say "thank you", tooru continued.
"mostly because of the milk bread you bake for me but don't worry i also appreciate the company just not as much as the bread," he cheekily said, earning a smack in the back of his head from you.
"ouch! what was that for?" he whined.
"i’m not give you milk bread anymore," you replied with a stone face.
tooru gasped and started pleading for your mercy, trying to flatter you with compliments as you got up from the dented grass and started walking away from him.
"y/n you're an angel, you know that right?"
"yes tooru i know i am. now stop clinging onto my cardigan or else I'll feed you raw dough instead."
you only gave into his pleas when he started bowing down to you in the middle of the street when you were trying to ignore him.
"almighty y/n, i am a sinful man begging for your forgiveness. please give me a loaf of milk bread."
"tooru people are starting to look, please get up," you hurryingly pleaded.
he gave you one last glance and in return you gave him a dirty look, already fed up with his act.
"almighty y/n, please listen to my prayer-"
"fine, fine! i'll give you free milk bread again…"
"oh thank you! almighty-"
"i'm seriously going to punch you."
--- ⁠✧
the day ended with tooru beaming with happiness as he ate his milk bread, and you sat across from him once again with your hand resting against your chin gazing upon his figure. you never understood why your milk bread was so special to him but you were glad that you could make him happy in some sort of way.
"maybe I should start charging you, we might just go bankrupt from all the free bread we've given you," you teased, already knowing what he'd say.
"well it isn't my fault that they taste so good!" tooru whined.
you giggled and went back to staring at him, appreciating his beauty. the way his smooth skin glistened against the withering glows of the sun, the way his lips parted to take a bite of the bread, the way his brown eyes would melt into golden rays as the sunlight hit his face. how on earth could this boy in front of you be a commoner when his looks alone could help him get a job easily?
"you know you're really pretty tooru, even when you have a lot of crumbs on your face," you randomly said as you focused on specific parts of his face.
tooru almost choked on the milk bread, surprised at your sudden statement.
"of course i'm pretty. i am a prince after all," he nervously chuckled trying to cover up his flustered expression.
"are you still acting as if you're a prince?" you questioned, amused that he’s still keeping up the act.
with a smug face, tooru replied,"when the time comes and you see that i am a prince, you will be so shocked and i'd laugh right in your face."
you rolled your eyes as you thought,"yeah right. as if a prince would be sitting right in front me, stuffing his face with the milk bread that i baked. tooru is seriously unbelievable."
it wasn't until a year later that it became believable. specifically, on his eighteenth birthday.
..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.
"be careful with those plates!"
"which colour would you like your highness? celeste or baby blue?"
"would you like chocolate or vanilla frosting on the cake, your highness?"
the palace was clearly bustling with noise and excitement. why? because it’s tooru’s special eighteenth birthday tomorrow.
tooru hadn't realised it until a while ago but his heart started to soften more and more at every encounter you two had.
maybe it was because of the countless amounts of milk bread you would prepare for him which made tooru question if you were making it with the intent of seeing him (probably not). sure, all the chefs and maids in the palace prepared the most luxurious food for him but it just felt the same with every meal but it was somehow different with you.
maybe it was because of the uplifting conversations you would have, where you both could voice your thoughts and opinions on a variety of subjects with no worries of being judged. tooru swore at himself, wondering what he'd gotten himself into and yet he still consciously ventured further, wanting to learn more about you, other than you being a baker's daughter. you didn't know his true identity and yet you were so thoughtful towards him.
although, it felt selfish as he couldn't truthfully tell you his identity, he continued to pursue a growing friendship whilst walking home with a guilty heart each time he saw you. he was addicted. now that he was turning eighteen, tooru couldn’t hide it any longer. he had to tell you, one way or another. before it was too late and before he’d have to go back to the life he had without you. a boring, uneventful life.
--- ⁠✧
“why didn't i sleep early last night?” you questioned yourself, yawning for what felt like the hundredth time.
honestly, you stayed up last night because you knew it was tooru's birthday tomorrow and you were crocheting a scarf for the first time, even though it was the middle of summer. you couldn’t just bring him to the meadow and eat ice cream and milk bread all day like all the other years you spent celebrating his birthday. no, it had to be something different, something that no one else could give him and something that you've never done before especially since he was now getting to the age of marriage.
you were in the middle of putting the classic milk bread that you’d make for tooru in the oven when you heard the ring of the doorbell as it opened. you didn’t recognise the person making his way towards you but he looked oddly familiar.
with another yawn you groggily said,”hello welcome to shokupan, what can i get for you?”
“uh- y/n?” he spoke, as if he was confused.
you lazily smiled and looked up to the man, “yup that’s me, what can i-,” it was only then that you realised that this stranger knew your name and only then you realised who exactly it was.
your tired eyes quickly shot open, as if you got electrocuted. it was tooru, but he was dressed so magnificently. a bright, shining suit adorned his figure; gold shoulder pads showing off his broad shoulders; perfectly combed hair that would usually be messy and unkempt.
"t-tooru?" you whispered, wondering if you were still dreaming. was this really your tooru?
he chuckled,"yes n/n, it's really me," whilst sarcastically posing for you. however, you couldn't respond. you were speechless.
"y/n? are you okay?" tooru asked, concerned but also amused at your unresponsive state.
as tooru's words went in one ear and out the other you got out of your tranced state and started firing questions at tooru, "why are you dressed like that? where'd you get the money? did you loan the money? tooru you can't use all your savings on a suit, what about food?"
tooru couldn't contain his laughter any longer and bursted out laughing.
"what's so funny about spending all your money on something you don't even need?!" you exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed as you tried to make sense of tooru's actions.
as tooru's laugh died down, he gazed at you with a smug smile.
"i told you before that one day i'd show you that i'm a prince and that you'd never believe me. so here i am y/n, prince tooru of the oikawa family, inviting you to attend a ball tomorrow to celebrate my birthday," he gracefully bowed down whilst holding out an envelope towards you which you hesitantly took from him.
carefully, you observed the envelope, wondering if tooru was actually a prince or if he was just playing one of his silly games on you again. you knew your answer as soon as you flipt the envelope to shockingly fix your eyes on the royal seal, a four leaf clover crest. anybody could recognise as the city was adorned with the symbol. in disbelief, you lifted your head to tooru with wide eyes.
“you…” you started, trying to comprehend everything with your already jumbled mind.
“i’m?” tooru replied, anxious to see your reaction.
“you’re a prince,” you whispered, not believing your own words.
slowly, the cogs were starting to work in your brain, the pieces of the puzzle were connecting. why haven't you noticed? tooru always implied it even in your first encounter. there were many other reasons too on why he’d be a prince; he always had to leave early or he was late; the amount of times you’ve patched him up without you knowing that it was because of his swordsmanship lessons last year; the way he was able to read sophisticated words and write with very neat handwriting, which commoners couldn't do simply because they didn't have the money for the education; the way he never showed you where he lived or where he was from; the way he never talked about himself during your conversations. it all made sense and yet you were too dense to even realise it. you were angry and disappointed with yourself.
“why didn’t you tell me sooner?” you questioned, wondering if he thought of you as a person who couldn't be trusted.
“well, i guess i just…” he paused and took a breath in.
“i was scared, y/n. maybe even terrified, that you wouldn't want to talk to me anymore or that you’d hate me, and i completely understand if you do now because i just basically lied to you throughout our whole friendship which is so stupid and idiotic of me and i’m so, so sorry y/n. i cherish you so much and i don't want to lose you, so please don't ever think that i never trusted you because i do, wholeheartedly.”
tooru finished and waited for you to talk or say anything, but you just stared at him in disbelief.
"y/n, please say something," tooru pleaded, his fist tightening against his chest as he grew more anxious.
"does your father know?" you asked.
"what? of course not he'd go crazy if he did-"
"oh my god tooru, you're unbelievable," you muttered, with your fingers pressing on your temple.
"what? y/n i just told you why i didn't want to reveal my identity, you know my father would go crazy if he found out i was sneaking away," tooru reasoned, trying to calm down the situation by reaching out for your hand but you slapped it away, still not comprehending the situation.
"yes tooru, and i understand that, if you weren't a prince. this completely changes everything, you know that right? what if someone saw us and reported it to your father? you'd be in great trouble and don't even get me started on how i'd probably be the talk of the city. a laughing stock. i mean, a commoner being friends with a prince? ha! how ridiculous," you rambled, looking away and staring down at your feet.
"y/n, look at me," tooru softly asked, gently lifting your chin up so you could meet his eyes. your breath hitched as he stared right at you, as if he could read your every thought.
"it doesn't matter if i'm a prince or if you're a commoner. even if my father finds out, I won't let any harm come to you. i'll do everything in my power to make sure you're safe."
"tooru-"
"i'm not done. just because you're a 'commoner' doesn't mean you aren’t worth anything less. you're y/n, my y/n and that's all that matters. i don't care about titles. fuck being a prince, it doesn't matter as long as i'm with you. as long as you're here."
you both became silent as tooru awaited a response and you were still processing what he just confessed to you. tooru sighed and let go of you, turning away and hiding his face from you, embarrassed at himself.
"tooru," you started, still finding the right words to say to him.
"if i have to be honest, i'm disappointed not only in you but for myself. it feels as if you just used me as a way to escape from your own life. i really, really enjoy your company tooru and you made my life so much more exciting and enjoyable, and even thinking about what we’d have in plan to do helped me get out of bed in the morning but now, i do not know what to think anymore. not only that, but the fact that you’ve hinted at it all this time and yet i was too dumb to even realise it. was this all a joke to you?" you questioned, your chest tightening at your own words, hoping he’d contradict with you.
“y/n…none of this was ever a joke and i can’t even truly express my gratitude to your very own existence with just simple minded words. from our first encounter to even now, the only person i’ve wanted to see was you. you’ve never once left my mind,” his eyes softened before his mouth came to a fine line, you could physically see his lips quiver as he awaited your response.
you finally let go of the breath you’ve unconsciously been holding and came face to face with the boy who made you feel an array of emotions that you couldn’t comprehend and simply gave him a gentle hug, with your head resting on his chest hearing his quickened heartbeat drumming in your ear.
with an awkward smile you looked up to him,”you really are scared huh?”
“god y/n, you have no idea how many times i was planning on telling you, but i would just end up getting lost in the moment and keep putting it off, until now, i really thought i screwed things up,” tooru frantically explained, letting out a sigh of relief.
although, to his horror you pierced his ears, saying, "you kind of did."
the atmosphere shifted to a chilling silence, with tooru’s bug eyed expression processing the words that you just announced and you fidgeting nervously with your hands.
“what?” tooru meekly asked, needing affirmation.
”look tooru, even if we remain as friends and keep meeting up, we’ll never go back to normal. you have to understand that. even if titles don't matter to you, they matter to everyone else. in their eyes, i’ll always be a ‘lowly’ commoner and you will always be a prince, hell maybe even king!”
“don’t you dare say that about me, i will never be king nor will i ever want to,” tooru defended, slightly raising his voice over the sensitive subject but that didn’t stop you from continuing.
“come to terms with reality tooru, this isn’t some fairy tale where i randomly get gifted a fairy godmother for christ sake. sure, it was okay when you were younger but now, really? you’re turning eighteen tomorrow, you can’t just keep skipping out on your duties as a prince,” you continued, pleading with him to see your point of view.
tooru scoffed, ”what do you know about being a prince? you’d never understand how shit i felt every time i get told off for every little mistake i made and how i know everyone secretly wished my mother survived instead of me.”
you stood still with a withering expression, your mouth parted and heart clenched with tears pricking your eyes. he never talked about this before.
“tooru, i didn’t know-”
“i was suffocating in there y/n, and you were the only one that made me feel like i wasn’t drowning with responsibilities and yet now i’m getting reminded of it again by the only person i could rely on,” he painfully expressed, solemnly looking at you, catching your watered eyes.
alas you stood your ground,
“well, as the person that you can rely on, i'm only telling you this for your own sake tooru, and yes i’m not a prince and i’m sure as hell not educated enough to understand what a prince does. however, i do know that you’ll have to get married soon now that you’re turning eighteen and i can’t keep distracting you tooru and you can’t keep running away. you’re going to have many people wanting to speak with you and important meetings to attend and you won’t have time to see me. we both know that,” your heart breaks at your own words.
tooru stood still with a pained expression. he couldn't argue with you, knowing that everything you said was true.
“wake up tooru. we aren’t fifteen anymore.”
silently, tooru sets down a wrapped box on an empty table and walks to the door without a word. all you could do was watch his doleful figure. before he stepped out into the street he stared at you without his warm brown eyes with a disappointed smile and said, ”you’re still invited you know? i already booked a carriage for you, so please come.”
The ring of the doorbell came at last, indicating his presence was gone and with that you burst out in tears with you crouching down against the counter recalling the argument between you two. were you too harsh? did you even consider tooru’s side? were you being insensitive? all these questions left your mind swirling like a spinning wheel to the point where you just laid lifeless with stinging eyes from all the salty tears.
finally finding the strength to get up, you dust yourself off the floor and spotted the clean and elegant box tooru left for you. carefully, you raised the lid upwards and you gasped surprised. sitting in the box before you was the most luxurious dress you’ve ever laid your eyes upon. sophisticated patterns adorned the purple gown with numerous delicate jewels stitched on, where if one was sold you’d no longer be a baker but instead living more comfortably.
“i’ve never seen a gown this shade before,” you astonishingly admitted, surveying the gown in your hand gently touching the rich fabric. unbeknownst to you the shade was specifically tyrian purple, a shade only the royal family wore.
peering inside you see a little rectangle note. you delicately placed the gown down on the table and opened the note.
“you’re royalty too.”
slightly grinning at the sentence you let out a light hearted sigh, letting it convince your tender heart.
“i guess i’ll be going to a ball tomorrow.”
..·:*¨༺ ♚ ༻¨*:·.
it was the day that everyone anticipated for and yet tooru wasn’t excited at all. he lost sight of all hope as of yesterday, after the argument he had with you. even his best friend iwaizumi hajime tried comforting him, in his own unique way.
“oi, it’s your own birthday try to lighten up. you look like a rotting zombie,” he pointed out.
tooru gave iwaizumi a sour look at him and miserably said, ”she isn't coming so what’s the point?”
“she? oh, you mean y/n?” iwaizumi asked, tooru gave a small nod.
“she’ll have to come, you prepared a gown and a carriage for her. how could she refuse? won’t most girls like that?”
“maybe the fact that i screwed everything over plays a major part,” tooru explained.
iwaizumi gave a puzzled look to tooru, clearly not informed of the events that happened yesterday morning. with a heavy sigh, tooru began to catch up with iwa on the unfortunate argument that occurred.
“oh i see now.”
“yeah, you’d think she’d still come?”
“after what you did? no way. i reckon it’ll take a miracle for her to attend,” iwaizumi blatantly replied, making tooru hopeless as he let out another heavy sigh with a blank stare at the floor.
“but, you’ll never know tooru. miracles can happen,” with that iwaizumi stood up from the cold cobblestone step and gave tooru a pat in the back, his steps echoing behind tooru as he continued to remain alone with his thoughts.
don’t lose hope, he thought.
it was definitely easier said than done.
--- ⁠✧
thankfully, you weren’t alone while you were getting dolled up. your trusted friend yachi was here to help. you were fortunate enough for her to stumble upon your bakery as a middle class girl visiting the city and you both instantly connected, although you both barely saw each other as she lived outside the city but you both kept in contact with letters. as of now you both were struggling on putting on the corset.
“y/n you have to breathe in just a little bit more so i can tighten the corset fully!” yachi exclaimed, while tugging the strings to the best of her ability.
“i know yachi i’m trying my hardest!” you cried out, in pain from holding your breath in for so long.
“and…done!” yachi cheered, clapping her hands.
“how can girls wear these things everyday? i’m about to pass out,” you said, exhausted already trying to reach for a chair.
“wait y/n we aren’t done yet, you have to put the petticoat on and then the actual gown,” yachi explained, encouraging you to keep standing.
with a groan you got up and yachi assembled the gown with a blink of an eye.
“oh my god y/n you look so pretty!” yachi praised, admiring you with stars in her eyes.
you bashfully smiled at her and asked,”you really think so?”
“you’ve always been pretty y/n, oh i’ve got something for you,” she said, going into her purse to fetch an object of some sort.
“what is it?” you aksed, curious of what she prepared.
yachi hid the object with both her hands behind her back sneakily and began by saying,”well, in the letter you said that you had been given a purple gown…”
“so..?” you questioned, urging her to continue.
“so i thought i’d glamour you even more,” she explained before showing you a white sapphire necklace with a wide smile. you stared at it, mesmerised by the sheer shine it gave.
“what do you think?” yachi asked, lifting up the necklace.
“i-it’s gorgeous yachi. are you sure i’m allowed to wear it? where did you get it in the first place?” you said in disbelief while yachi laughed at you with your gaze transfixed on the necklace.
“of course you can wear it, that’s the whole reason why i brought it anyway and don’t worry about where i got it from, just be excited to wear it,” she said with a mischievous giggle that worried you, and before you could even reject her offer she was already putting it on you.
thinking you were finished you went to sit down but to your dismay yachi was in front of you holding hair pins and a comb with an ecstatic expression.
“we’re only getting started y/n!”
you nervously gulped, getting ready for the amount of pain you were about to go through.
--- ⁠✧
chatter filled the ballroom as it continued to fill up with hundreds of guests from around the nation. tooru was trying his best to answer all the questions from all of the women surrounding him in a polite manner. although, they all were obviously there for two main reasons: status and power, as they wave their fans at him with a leering expression. however, he was solely looking for a certain someone to walk through the grand doors and for a certain someone to apologise to.
“do you have someone already in mind prince tooru?” one of the ladies asked which made the rest of them quiet, anticipating tooru’s answer.
he knew he couldn’t say yes without upsetting them all and causing a scene so he chuckled and declared, ”no, i don’t. not yet,” which caused them to erupt in ‘oohs’ and giggles, clearly glad with tooru’s response and the chance they all had to court him. although he knew in his mind that he definitely had someone he wanted to court himself.
unfortunately, that certain someone was running late. the carriage was already patiently waiting outside the bakery when you were trying to find the invitation tooru gave you yesterday but you somehow lost it. if it wasn’t for yachi’s help you probably wouldn’t have made it out the front door.
“have fun y/n! don’t forget to say yes when the prince asks for your hand in marriage!” yachi shouted to you in a cheery tone.
“oh be quiet yachi,” you jokingly said, your face heating up at her joke, embarrassed.
“i’m so sorry i’m late, i just couldn’t seem to find the invitation,” you explained to the coachman who gave you a small nod whilst helping you into the carriage.
you’ve never been in a carriage before but you’ve seen many travel back and forth from the palace at the city centre. you’ve always been in awe of them and dreamt of being in one someday and here you are now, admiring it in all its beauty. in contrast to the outside it was much smaller than you’d imagine but the seats were very comfortable for your already sore feet as they weren’t used to high-heeled shoes you were wearing.
i wonder what tooru would think.
--- ⁠✧
it was getting further into the night and there was still no sight of you. tooru looked over to iwaizumi who was trying to communicate to tooru.
“is she here yet?” mouthed iwaizumi, as he stared at tooru still being bombarded with women.
tooru gave him a frown and shook his head. were you ever going to show up?
it was time for the first dance as the string orchestra began playing a waltz for the guests and tooru to dance to. he immediately had a line of ladies encouraging him to dance with them until one troublesome women decided to ‘accidentally’ trip into tooru’s arm into a dramatic pose that wasn’t impressive, but before he could ask if she was alright the orchestra suddenly stopped playing at the sound of the grand doors abruptly opening and everyone’s attention was averted.
“y/n, from the l/n family!” declared the attendee.
as you slowly emerged and came into everyone’s view. they all gasped and started murmuring to each other at the site of the colour of your gown.
“does this girl not have any idea what crime she’s committing?”
“she’s clearly mocking the royal family, how disrespectful!”
“who does she think she is?”
“i’ve never seen her before.”
fortunately, you couldn’t hear them as you were trying your best not to trip as you descended down the flight of steps, holding onto the railing for dear life, but you could feel all the judgemental stares they were giving you in the corner of your eye.
tooru’s heart began pounding in his chest as he saw your descending figure. muttering a quick,”i’m sorry,” to the woman he caught and helped her onto her feet and swiftly began to approach you with haste. he couldn’t let this chance slip from his fingers. not when he has a million things on his mind to say to you.
finally, you stepped down onto the polished marble floor and let out a sigh of relief and glanced up to find a pair of familiar brown eyes with a million hues, belonging to the man of the night, growing larger until they were right in front of you. not once did your eyes break contact with his.
“you made it,” he gawked, astonished at your arivial.
“i wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you beamed at him, forgetting how much you’ve wanted to see him again.
he bowed down. “would you grant me the greatest honour of joining me for my first dance of the night? only if you can handle it,” he teases, thrilled to be in the presence of you.
“you may, only if you can handle having your toes stepped on,” you tease back whilst curtseying, causing the both of you to erupt in laughter.
as tooru led you to the dance floor, all eyes were on you both as the orchestra began to play a waltz again. realising how nervous you must be, tooru gently placed his hand on your waist and held your hard reassuringly.
“just focus on me y/n. let me lead you.” you nodded, trusting in tooru to guide your inexperienced self.
tooru was true to his word as you both glided gracefully around the dance floor. he led you effortlessly, not even flinching when you would accidentally step on his foot for a brief moment. he just kept smiling at you with his gaze transfixed on your face. you couldn’t help but feel bashful.
“you look breathtaking,” tooru began, causing your face to heat up from his compliment.
“oh stop it tooru, you don’t have to say things you don’t mean,” you said, smiling down, still grateful for the compliment.
“it’s true y/n,” tooru affirmed, looking at you with a caring gaze that sent your stomach into a whirlwind.
“well, thank you. you don’t look bad yourself,” you admitted, wanting to compliment him too.
“of course, i am a prince after all,” he jokingly said, making you chuckle.
“did you plan this? us wearing matching colours,” you asked, realising the way he had the exact same shade of purple on his suit as your gown.
“and what if i did? it’s all part of my master plan,” he replied.
“your master plan of what?” you wondered, curious on what he was planning.
“you’ll see~” he retorted, causing you to sarcastically roll your eyes.
you both continued to dance in a comfortable silence until tooru abruptly broke it when he cleared his throat, getting ready to speak.
“i’m sorry y/n, for everything. i’m sorry for the lies i’ve told you about why i was always late to our meetups and why i was always getting bruises and cuts. i’m sorry for not opening up about my life sooner like you did, that wasn’t fair for you and i’m truly sorry for being the reason you cried,” he apologised.
“you saw me?” you asked, surprised that he knew.
he smiled and gazed at you,”how could i leave without taking one last glance at you,”
his words had a way of lifting an invisible weight off your chest. it felt surreal. the way he was able to enchant you with a few meek words that anyone could say, but he had his own unique charm that made you euphoric.
with a pause, tooru closed his eyes for a second, getting ready to say something.
“y/n…i-“
“tooru.”
a sudden rough, deep voice caused both of you to stop dancing and turn to see what you assumed to be tooru’s father. his demeanour sent chills down your spine as he looked at you with a stone cold expression. tooru looked irritated and turned around to face the king with a serious face as if he just switched personalities.
“father,” tooru said, in an expectant tone.
“come with me,” he demanded, turning around with his royal cloak following as it fluttered in the air.
tooru gave his father a small nod, his palms starting to become mildly sweaty. before he followed his father, he promptly turned around and held both of your shoulders and whispered,”there’s a side door near the back of the hall, exit from there and you’ll see a small stone shelter. go there and wait for me. i’ll try to be quick.”
the smell of a faint rosemary scent grew stronger as he leaned closer, his breath tickling your skin and an unexpected warmth resided on your cheek. with that he left, with you looking at his figure slowly fading away. you placed a hand to your left cheek where he laid his soft lips and rigidly exhaled. you’re full of surprises tooru, you thought.
you made haste, trying to ignore all the eyes that were on you. to your demise the same girl that tooru caught stood in your way, not moving an inch.
“excuse me ma’am, i have to get through,” you politely asked, starting to become impatient.
"you're not royalty," she accused, looking at you up and down.
"what?" you asked confused, just wanting to get out of the hall.
"you're clearly not royalty. your manners are ridiculous and you certainly don't know when to be on time, you attention seeker," she taunted, causing the crowd around you to gasp and snicker at her accusation.
to say you were peeved was an understatement. she irked you in a way no one has before. her voice was like a nagging child throwing a tantrum. it made your ears bleed. you wanted to grab her fake hair and strangle it around her neck. you would’ve if you had the chance. alas you sadly had to remain calm and collected.
“you’re just being hypocritical, miss. i’m sure everyone here saw the way you desperately threw yourself at the prince,” you retorted with a smile. the woman’s cocky expression quickly dropped to a glare.
“you lowly bitc-”
“i think that’s enough lady ayame,” iwaizumi cut in, his words silencing the crowd as he stepped out into the open.
you turned around to see the owner of the unfamiliar voice walking towards the two of you. he stopped and looked down upon the ayame with cold eyes.
“l-lieutenant iwaizumi,” she cowardly said in fear, curtseying while avoiding his gaze.
he then turned to you. you slightly jumped, scared that he’d glare at you too for causing a commotion. you were frozen in place.
“see lieutenant, she isn’t even showing her manners towards you!” ayame pointed out, trying to justify her actions.
iwaizumi didn’t bother wasting his time by talking to her. instead he raised his hand in a way to silence her in which she immediately stopped talking as he kept his eyes on you. at this point you were sweating bricks, trying to not move an inch. this isn’t what i was signing up for.
“go,” he sternly said, nudging his head to the direction of the door.
all you could reply with was a nod then you grabbed a handful of your gown and ran out, not daring to look back. i’ll have to thank him later, i almost got into a cat fight.
you were amazed at the scenery in front of you when you frantically left the hall. you suspected it to be the royal garden. you stepped down onto the footpath, hearing the therapeutic sound of flowing water from the fountain surrounded by an abundance of radiant flowers. from the dim street lights illuminating the garden, to the warm summer breeze brushing against your skin you felt ethereal and nostalgic at the same time. finally, you entered the stone shelter, still admiring the scenery in front of you as you patiently waited for tooru to arrive.
--- ⁠✧
it must've been more than five minutes now and slowly the rain droplets began pattering against the cobblestone paths and yet it wasn’t cold at all. the summer night prevented it. you hated the humid air as it clung onto your skin, feeling sticky.
you speculated on what kept tooru so back. did his father need to talk to him about an important matter that they had to speak about in private? a thousand questions began to swirl in your mind as you started to worry.
in deep thought, you saw a tall figure approaching through the heavy rain. you stood up, squinting to make out who it was. it was tooru. you immediately started shouting his name whilst waving your hand, encouraging him to run faster. you couldn’t help but beam at his presence, excited to what he was going to tell you. he stood in front of you panting, his hair covering half his face as water dripped from his hair and clothes. he shook his hair like a dog, trying to dry himself. you screamed as you tried to backed away from the water droplets attacking you while tooru evilly laughed trying to get closer to you.
“ugh, tooru get away from me!” you shouted with a light hearted laugh, running around in circles from the small space of the shelter.
tooru laughed in response, catching you from behind with a hug. immediately, your gown started getting wet. you tried hitting his arms so he would let go but he didn’t budge.
“come on tooru, let go of me!” you whined, attempting to pry his arms open.
“hmm, i don’t think i will,” he teased, resting his head on your shoulder.
you huffed and roughly turned yourself around so you could see him, and lifted his damp hair up trying to clearly see his face until you saw a harsh red mark on his cheek. your lips parted at the realisation of why he took so long and cupped his face. this time he didn't flinch or back away.
“tooru…” you painfully started. how could he just stand there and smile at you?
“yes y/n?” he asked, gazing at you with a warm smile, not bothering to hide what you saw.
not finding any words to reply with, you just gave him a warm embrace to which he accepted. you cried deeply inside. why did you always have to see him bruised and battered?
“you don’t deserve this tooru,” you sighed.
“don’t worry about it y/n,” tooru reassuringly replied, stroking your hair.
“ it’s all my fault,” you began.
“if i hadn’t showed up none of this would’ve happened. you would still be in the hall celebrating your birthday, having the time of your life with everyone. but instead you’re stuck with me and now your reputation is most likely ruined. i mean, did you see everyone ogling us? they definitely didn’t enjoy seeing me dance with you,” you concluded with a heavy heart.
“if the world were to suddenly end in the next minute, i wouldn’t regret being stuck with you,” he professed. you couldn’t help but let out a breath of unbelief, marvelled at his statement.
“well tooru, as the next heir wouldn’t you think that you should be spending your time wisely?” you sarcastically asked, eyebrows dramatically raised trying to make him laugh.
“well y/n, i’d be glad to tell you that i’m not the heir to the throne anymore,” he retorted, mocking the same face you made to him.
“yeah sure tooru, nice joke,” you rolled your eyes at him smirking but he kept a straight face.
“that wasn’t a joke y/n,” he claimed, causing you to furrow your eyebrows.
“you’re pulling my leg,” you said dumbfounded.
tooru hysterically laughed at your expression while you stood there wide eyed.
“tooru, please tell me i heard that correctly,” you asked, wanting affirmation on the words you processed.
“what do you think i said?” he teased smirking at you.
“i think you’re lying,” you retorted.
“and why would i ever lie about that?” he asked, enjoying your flabbergasted state.
“y-you’re really not lying?” you questioned, not wanting to fall for another joke. tooru gave you an honest smile. you knew he wasn’t lying anymore.
“holy shit,” you swore out of disbelief. tooru laughed at your reaction.
“is that how you got that?” you pointing to his cheek, looking at him with empathy.
“maybe,” he teased.
“I’m being serious tooru,” you sternly said, having enough with his antics.
he sighed,”well, father called me out to talk about you first and foremost. he scolded me about inviting you and giving you that gown but i didn’t care. that wasn’t the reason why he did this though. i said that i didn’t want to be king and that i was going to leave the palace to join the army like iwaizumi and was the result,” he bashfully said scratching the back of his head.
“does this mean you’re no longer a prince?” you wondered.
“i still am by blood. i'm just not going to be king. i never intended to stay anyway,” he explained.
"then who's going to step up in your place?"
"that's where my sister came in and explained how she's already prepared to be a queen since she's older than me and smarter too. father just never shown her favour because of mother. he wanted her to live a calm and peaceful life. it's quite a twist of events that all came out to my fortune," he smiled to himself, thankful his sister stepped in for him.
"i wish i met your sister," you said, thinking of her as a role model already.
"you really wouldn't. she gets mad at me all the time for the littlest things," he grumbled, remembering all the times he got scolded by her.
"i can understand why, you are like an annoying little pest," you teased with a giggl, to which tooru pouted and whined.
as the two of you died down, a comfortable silence took over as you two listened to the pitter patters of the ongoing rain. i've missed this. what a coincidence that you both thought it at the same time. tooru looked over to your calm figure as you gazed out onto the garden.
"y/n?" tooru called, seeking your attention.
"mhm?" you responded, turning around to face him. he was closer than before.
"remember before i left, I wanted to say something to you?" he asked nervously.
"hmm, oh yeah, you were about to say something to me. what was it?" you recalled, curious onto what he was going to say.
"well, the sole reason i wanted to be a knight was because i couldn't protect my mum. of course no one was able to save her, but the burden and guilt that was left held me accountable from my perspective. it has always been my goal to protect everyone i love," he stopped, catching his breath. you gave him a nod, motioning him to continue.
"y/n, my heart aches everytime we depart. every goodbye you say to me makes me want to come running back to you. every lingering touch made me yearn more from you. i only experience the goodness of life through every second i get with you. truth be told when i say i live now to serve you," he expressed, pouring his heart and soul into every word he said.
"w-what are you getting at tooru?" you hesitantly ask, your heart racing for an answer.
"i love you, y/n. i'm not trying to force you to love me. i just…" he momentarily paused gathering his thoughts before continuing, "i won't ask you to love me, so please just give me permission to love you."
you had the utmost authority right now. he was pleading to you. he loves you. with all these realisations, you stood there, opposite a lovesick tooth, filled to the max with mixed emotions. good ones, where one of which swayed you to leaped into tooru's arms as you held him tightly close.
"is this a yes?" tooru asked with a grin as he gazed at you longingly.
what followed, your weren't entirely too sure. your brain fogged as the proximity between the two of you came to a close. tooru's soft, puckered lips collided gently against yours. you both could exhaled at the contact, releasing all your tensions as the world came to a stop for both of you. sparks of joy leaped from tooru's chest as he cherished the moment. this was his reward for waiting so patiently for you. the strong scent of rosemary intoxicated your lungs as you breathed him in. your hands found its way to his hair, your fingers carding through his locks. you were each others addiction, craving for more, not letting go until you were both satisfied. pulling away, you both took deep breaths whilst gazing at each other fondly. tooru still holding you close.
"that was…" tooru began between small breaths.
"amazing," you finished, a wide smile forming on your heated face.
"of course it was, aren't i a great kisser?" tooru praised, returning back to his charming self.
"oh stop it," you rolled your eyes as you tried to turn away from him.
"look at you becoming shy because of me," he teased, grabbing you by the hand and pulling you towards the rain. you decided to just let him take you, knowing you wouldn't have enough strength to defy him.
"i've always wanted to do this with you," he shouted through the booming sound of rain.
"do what?" you shouted back, trying to block the rain from your view with your hand.
he took your hand and placed it on his shoulder, intertwining his remaining hand with yours. a familiar scene playing out again. instead, this time you both looked ridiculous. clothes soaking wet that whenever tooru would twirl you around your gown would project droplets of water like an umbrella. but you both didn't care. laughing carefree, acting childish, knowing you'd be sick the next day and yet you both had no regrets. the rain began to disperse and you both came to stop, finally tired from all the dancing.
smiling up at him you greeted, "happy birthday tooru," before pulling on his collar and giving him one final peck on his soft pillowy lips, as the summer breeze flowed by and the cicadas buzzed in the trees.
it didn't feel real. it felt heavenly.
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iwritenarrativesandstuff · 1 year ago
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Stampede Wolfwood got Metaphorically Isekai'd (No This is Not a Shitpost)
Oh my god if this winds up being part of my legacy I'll probably cry.
So. Everyone who's watched the new show knows that Wolfwood is introduced by getting hit by Meryl's van in the middle of the desert where he is literally the only thing to get hit for miles around. What an entrance. Welcome to the team buddy.
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[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. At an above view, the van has spun, unfortunately sending the trailer back part crashing directly into Wolfwood. He is starfished face-first into it, rather comically. End ID.]
It's funny as heck, but, since I am deranged, I'm gonna try and convince you that this is not only an isekai joke, but that the basic premise of an isekai actually applies fairly well to Stampede Wolfwood in the first season... but then a lot of the standard tropes are made into notable and tragic subversions. Also please note I have never actually watched an isekai anime so maybe take all this with a grain of salt. Or several. (Also isekai is a really broad genre. I'm talking specifically about the tropiest things to come out of it - please don't take what I'm about to discuss as representative of the entire genre!)
In the manga, and I believe in the 98 anime as well, Wolfwood is spotted by Vash while him and the insurance girls are travelling on a bus. He is out in the middle of the desert, and so thirsty and exhausted he's initially mistaken for dead. Vash and the girls manage to cause enough of a ruckus that he is literally saved (which echoes the influence they, but especially Vash, will have on him later on), and they all end up on the bus as him and Vash become acquainted - the start of their companionship, and the start of their journey together (being quite literally on a moving vehicle). In the 23 anime, it all seems set up to give us the same intro: there is a vehicle, Wolfwood is clearly exhausted from trekking through the desert, Meryl and Vash are there... and then, suddenly -
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[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. In the first, Wolfwood is walking with Punisher across the sand with a bright blue sky background. He does not see the van coming into sharp focus on a direct path towards him. In the second, Meryl, in the driver's seat, looks out with a shocked expression. Roberto's hand has reached over to grab the wheel. End ID.]
Pfft. Sorry I had to rewatch this to get the screenshots and I swear it does not get any less funny. Anyways, Wolfwood gets hit instead of getting rescued, but the end result is the same - he ends up in the vehicle and his journey with them begins.
So. Why the difference?
Well, I can only really speculate, and honestly it was probably just for the humour of it, but I do have another (deranged) suggestion.
See, Wolfwood in the manga is a little different from Stampede's Wolfwood - he's a lot friendlier for one (though no less trying to scam people), and he's got a little bit more self-made purpose (protecting and providing for the orphanage), even if he still lacks true agency. Stampede Wolfwood, by contrast, is a lot more aimless. He's on constant survival mode, which makes him a lot more openly abrasive right from the get-go, more cavalier about his own life (smokes way more than in the manga, takes bullets when there's actually no reason to), and a lot less in control of his outward persona (there have been many observations I've seen on how he's not the best at holding back his emotions - imo I don't think manga Wolfwood is especially good at that either, but in Stampede, it's really obvious).
Stampede Wolfwood also plays up his "monstrousness" a lot more in front of people, which is probably the most significant difference to me. Manga Wolfwood... doesn't exactly try to hide it, but he tends to take a "well, somebody had to do what needed to get done" attitude, like a kind of tired "I know there's no going back and I know I've turned into a monster. This is all I know how to be now. Somebody has to make the hard calls." But he feels shame about it all the same - look at how he puts his sunglasses on whenever he's about to do something he finds reprehensible (well, except the Ninelives fight... but no one was around to witness him there). It's made pretty explicit later that the glasses are a way for him to say "don't look at me. don't see what I've become".
Meanwhile, Stampede Wolfwood never takes the glasses off. He's much more upfront about the threat he poses - calling out Vash for not watching his back, outright saying he could've shot him - not a smart move when trying to earn someone's trust. His teasing, when he does it, isn't quite as playful, and has a bit of a bite to it. It's almost like he wants to be hated; like he's torn between justifying the necessity of his actions and convincing others that he is just as much of a monster as he feels.
I really think the key differences have a lot to do with their respective situations. Wolfwood in the manga... he got out, for a bit. He couldn't go back to the orphanage, but for at least a little bit, he wasn't under the Eye of Michael's thumb, he did get to meet people outside of missions and travel a bit, and was acting on his own intent... until he ended up pulled back into it because of Knives. Stampede Wolfwood has been under their control since he was taken from the orphanage. Everyone he loves is a hostage. He's taken on the name of his weapon and has known nothing else except this world of darkness - there's very little to imply he's travelled or spoken to anyone without it being for some mission. He's under consistent surveillance.
This "babysitting" mission, then, is something very different from his usual. It's not an assassination. Even more so, it's putting him in close contact with people who are not part of the world that he inhabits, the only one he's known since he was taken, which kickstarts significant changes in his life. You could even say he's been... transported to a different world than the one he'd lived in up to this point...
Enter Truck-kun. Or, rather, Van-kun.
Alright, so what is an isekai? Essentially, it's a wide-ranging genre where the protagonist gets transported or reincarnated to another world (usually regular world -> fantasy/sci-fi world), and typically involves an ordinary person becoming important/powerful in this new world - the genre is, a lot of the time, a mix of power fantasy and wish fulfillment.
Obviously, there is no literal transporting to another world here; it is still very much the same world (I'll bring up why this is important later.) But it's notable that Wolfwood remains very much the outlier in their group - he does not blend in, and his methods and approach are very different to that of the rest, who do not come from the same "world" as him. It's the start of a pretty drastic change in situation for him. It's why I really wish there were more episodes showing his dynamic with the group before it all went to hell - I bet he was so awkward.
The next thing I want to mention is that if you thought I was going to be arguing that there is a standard isekai parallel here... well I lied to you. A lot of the common tropes actually get subverted in kinda heartbreaking ways.
Usually the protagonist of an isekai (not always, but often) is some kind of chosen one. They are able to excel in situations that others cannot, and it's usually because they bring some kind of skill or knowledge from their old life that the people in the new world, obviously, don't. They tend to become ultra powerful, well able to take on any of their challenges in this new world, with advantages others don't have.
This doesn't sound like anything to do with Wolfwood after being hit by Meryl's van. But it sure sounds an awful lot like him after being taken by the Eye of Michael.
He is transferred from his comparatively normal life to one straight out of a sci-fi horror. He's a chosen "Child of Blessing", ranked "S+". He was able to survive grievous harm and experimentation, "excelling" where most other hapless kids did not. What did he bring with him from his old life that none of the people in his new life seem to have that allowed him to survive in the way he did? Well... he had something to protect didn't he? That's how he continues to struggle on. This is far from the sentiment shared by people like Conrad and Legato.
And so Wolfwood becomes ultra powerful - his body is fast, strong and resilient; he's efficient and good at what he's been trained to do. But this is far from anything he wanted. The power fantasy is subverted. Wolfwood is powerful enough to handle pretty much any threat that's thrown at him... but all it does is isolate and alienate him, and make him feel like a monster. Another aspect of isekai is that freedom one gets from being able to start over and become someone closer to their ideal self in a new setting - that's the wish fulfillment part. Well, Wolfwood has never been further from free, or less like the person he wishes to be. He hates everything he has become, but can't get out. Unable to change his situation, and increasingly jaded and disillusioned, Wolfwood takes on the moniker of "Punisher" and gives up on his old self. "Wolfwood" has effectively died.
Other than "transfer" isekai, there is also another kind - the "reincarnation" isekai. I'm not going to even touch bringing up the premise of reincarnation with a guy who carries around a giant cross on his back as I am far from qualified (knowing very little about Christianity at all), but I think it's worth noting that Wolfwood's arc (in all iterations) has much to do with his ever-present conflict with Vash over morality, but also just as much about his struggle to reconcile the person he was with the person he was forced to become, and if there is such a thing as forgiveness or redemption for him.
If "Wolfwood" has died before the story started, then he is "reincarnated" over the course of the story as he slowly starts to find himself again, with the kickstarting impetus being him getting hit by Meryl's van.
The changes don't start instantly. He wakes and things seem relatively normal - the plan is working, there's someone obviously suspicious of him - all stuff he's probably very used to. And then Vash goes and completely blindsides him.
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[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. A close up of Vash's face in the dim lighting, with eyes softened and a smile. End ID.]
"I can see it in his eyes."
Okay, so we all kinda giggle a little bit here because who the hell says that to some sketchy guy wearing dark sunglasses in a dark cave-like area when you've only just met, but I really want to stress that this is probably the first truly positive interaction Wolfwood has had in years... and I think Vash is well aware of that.
Wolfwood starts the transition from darkness to light... quite literally.
Almost all of Wolfwood's defining scenes are in the darkness of night, in contrast to the brightly lit desert in the day - think of when he moves away from the fire to speak to Zazie at the end of his intro episode, and assassinates the EoM traitor at the beginning of episode 6. In episode 5, we also get this:
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[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun Stampede Episode 5. In the first, Rollo has Vash pinned to a metal wall by his neck. The sun can be seen between the two of them. In the second, Rollo lies dead on the ground. It is now night, and Vash stands over him, head low. Wolfwood stands a distance away. End ID.]
As Vash tries to speak to Rollo, to talk him down, the sun, though setting, is bright and illuminates both their faces. This all comes crashing down, literally, as Wolfwood takes the shot. Rollo falls, the sun stops shining on him, and by the time they all reach his body, night has fallen and the world is in darkness. The light goes out for Rollo... and in Wolfwood's eyes, for him too. He shot out of mercy, after all. He's living a nightmare he sees no escape from nor feels deserving of escaping from - worse, he feels as though he's a part of that darker setting, dragging it into their journey along with him.
However, we've established the lens of the "reincarnation" isekai for the purposes of this analysis, and along with that usually comes a way to compensate or reconcile for missed opportunities or mistakes made in the past by becoming something closer to one's own original ideal - sometimes this can even be a literal starting over, by being reborn into one's own younger self. And that's the importance of what Vash says to Wolfwood in episode 4 - he sees the potential in Wolfwood; the old self he thought had "died" a long time ago. Vash knows he's not the person he's been made to become and encourages him - not to do as Vash does, but to do as Wolfwood actually wants to do but thought for the longest time as hopeless. After all, what is a blank ticket if not a second chance or a new lease on life?
On the sand steamer in episode 6, the scene starts off in daylight once again, but after Wolfwood realizes the new assailant is Livio and we see their backstory, the snap back to the present scene is at night, and the scene darkens as the situation becomes more dire... and as Wolfwood comes to the conclusion that he will have to kill his brother.
But as Zazie's bug, or "eye", gets shot by Vash deflecting what would have been a fatal blow to Livio... suddenly, Wolfwood is free to act without the EoM's ever present surveillance. This is a serious step to severing the binds to that old life, and, as Wolfwood ultimately does not want any harm to come to Livio, he finds another way. And the sky starts to lighten again.
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[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 7. A close up of Livio's face with a distant, pensive expression. A wisp of smoke trails underneath as the pinkish hue of the sunrise is seen in the background. End ID.]
Of course, while this does succeed in waking him, it doesn't actually save him. But it is enough that Wolfwood decides to try letting a little bit of hope back in - to acclimate, even if just a little, to Vash's ideals, or his "world". Wolfwood's wish, to protect the orphanage, is (temporarily) fulfilled - in broad daylight, and without the death he'd been so accustomed to in his old "world". While he outwardly denies it, angrily telling Vash that he is no longer "Wolfwood" and instead merely "the Punisher", that "I'm not like you", the episode's title card, which appears directly after this exchange, does not agree.
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[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 7. A black background with white text; the title card for the episode that reads "#07 Wolfwood". End ID.]
He's more himself than he's been in a long time.
In that sense, going back to my insane original premise, we can say that he was isekai'd once by transfer, turning him into someone else... then isekai'd again by reincarnation after he thought his old self dead, helping him to start on the path to finding that younger self and that hope he thought he'd lost. It's a double subversion, in a way, as the first is far from wish fulfillment, and the latter is actually a restoration - a realization that as he slowly starts to transition to the light, he actually never left this world at all when he was changed against his will. He's not a monster of the dark. He still has a place in this lighter world.
Heartwarming, in a way, but also kind of heartbreaking, as if he hasn't truly left this world then there are still consequences.
Wolfwood, after this, still has to complete his contract. He didn't actually get out.
And Vash, for all that he appears to be someone "not like" Wolfwood, is actually far more similar than he'd initially suspected - Vash, too, came from darkness. The Big Fall happened at night. And even as Wolfwood's world grows lighter, Vash's grows ever darker as what he has tried to stave off bleeds into the light, culminating in the events of July, which take place entirely at night, and are truly Vash's darkest hours. Rather than Vash being some naïve creature of a lighter world that Wolfwood cannot reach, he is instead another person from darkness who is struggling for the light all his own.
Because of course, there is no "lighter world" or "darker world". No true "travel" between the two. Just one world that is both at once. And what one finds in it is dependent on what one chooses to read into their circumstances. A kinder, brighter world isn't something they can simply get isekai'd to. It's something these characters have to struggle to make a reality - it's what Vash does, it's what Meryl takes a stand for, it's what Wolfwood, deep down, wants to believe is possible. Hope is something you build yourself, etc.
Anyways, I can't believe I just wrote all that. I think I'm losing my mind. If you came out of this going, "Story, what the hell are you talking about?" then... well. Me too. Thanks for reading anyways!
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stefisdoingthings · 8 months ago
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I NEED to rant about the trigun stampede designs in comparison with trigun 1998 because like… they had so much potential and the show threw it out the window or something.
(Edit: i haven’t read the manga so the mole thing doesn’t stand much but, again, this is only compared to ‘98 so plss dont attack me guys i swear i liked stampede)
rant, spoilers (?) + photo evidence under the cut
Tbh Knives/Vash bother me most, esp during their childhood. In tri98, they look almost identical at first, with only difference their hair color (Vash’s is more of a saturated blonde while Knives’ is closer bleach-blonde), and the mole under Vash’s left eye. Later on Vash get his hair cut and styled in spikes by Rem, while Knives takes liberty and cuts his own hair military-style. That’s about when they start to have individuality. This individuality reflects on their actions, with Vash trying to free a butterfly from a spiderweb, and Knives just killing the spider, thinking it's the most rational solution.
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In tristamp, they lack any kind of individuality, with the twins having mirrored haircuts and Knives a mole under his right eye, which really really doesn’t make sense to me; I thought the mole was supposed to represent the flawed, more human nature of Vash (just like his scars), and the absence of it on Knives’ face to be a reminder that he is, for that reason, better, almost perfect and, most definitely, not human. (Edit: guys I’ve been informed it exists in the manga but I’d still like it if it didn’t)
With that they lose every kind of individuality, and it doesn't make sense for them to look so different while they're adults however having similar hairstyles despite not seeing each other for years.
(not even going to mention the fact that they made him dead pale in stampede and instead of increasing his melanin and making his hair lighter they lightened both skin and hair color but it's not relevant to this kind of analysis and just a stylistic choice i guess)
As adults in tri98 they keep their hairstyles and Knives keeps a more military-looking outfit, which looks a whole lot like the SEEDS outfit they wore when abandoning the ship, while Vash has this super over-the-top outfit with the red coat and all. Tristamp keeps the idea of Knives wearing a similar outfit and Vash going crazy with his fit, but by doing so they made both of them look insanely different and inhuman, Vash looking too clean, with technical, expensive-looking, new clothing, and Knives just straight up looking strange. Nothing about his outfit even suggests human.
For Knives I don't think the point is to look human, so it doesn't matter, but Vash is too odd-looking to be considered one of the humans, while his goal is just this; to look super cool but still human enough. In tri98 this communicates well, but not in tristamp.
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(i couldn't find a pic of knives as a kid w the uniform but its the same as vash's)
Also, they're built so differently... Vash looks like a 17 year old kid and Knives looks over 25, their bodies should look the same (they're Plants after all) but with Knives being stronger in terms of power and skill, not having abs.
Basically the main problem is that the designs rely a lot on the aesthetics but not the practicality/lore-accuracy of them. I know tristamp is not meant to follow the original plot line, it just makes me a little insane how little the relationships between the characters were incorporated into these designs.
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marlasomething · 2 years ago
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5
Well, I have finished Dracula ONCE AGAIN...am I crying? Maybe, yeah.
This has been the time I enjoyed most right next to the very first read (because I obviously didn’t expect Dracula to be THAT).
I KNEW, I BLOODY KNEW that the last parragraphs basically put Mina in the status of main hero of the novel and YET, it caught me
21 notas. Fecha de publicación: 7 de noviembre de 2022
4
Zutara Month (Day 23): This Isn't My Idea
Hello there!
As usual, I cannot see a "challenge" and let it go so...Zutara month it is! First time writing for the fandom, I won't be able to do ALL DAYS (today, for example, I wrote this still on the nick of time, but now it is already technically the 25th...eh, sorry @zutaramonth)
I promise to write something Zutara based after this month a bit longer, I swear.
As usual, do please forgive my quick tipper and non-native speaker mistakes, MarlaAllons-y!
Also in AO3
Everyone in every corner of the world agreed: Katara was a Hero, with capital H.
Not only had she helped The Avatar himself to finish off with the worst dictator that humanity had seen in ages, but she was now   sacrificing herself   by marrying off to his son; so the peace with the Fire Nation became even more undeniable and, therefore, unbreakable.
Obviously, everybody knew this was just an arranged marriage for, as much as Prince Zuko (he still insisted he wasn’t ready yet to be   King Zuko  ), he was still the man that once had been every person fighting for freedom’s foe.
Also, she was the best friend of Aang;   it was crystal clear   they ought to have been in love. This was a tale as old as time: best hero-friends always fell in love.
Still, as much as they commented how mad and sad it made them the two heroic figures ending up together, they understood and thanked the now already young woman (no longer a teenager) for taking up such heavy weight over her shoulders.
They just wished Prince Zuko was more as he was trying to be in public lately than the way they all still pictured him in their minds…
~~~~~
As the doors closed behind them, Zuko buried his face in Katara’s shoulder, who just laughed, with relief.
“I guess now we can stop pretending we are just   good friends   without risking demonstrations all around every nation.”
He smirked at her comment and raised his head to look into her eyes. He still remembered the first time those eyes had truly   seen   him, back when they were still rivals and, yet, she had trusted him…
“I guess so…You know, I would have understood, if you hadn’t wanted to keep them. We are still young and now for a lot of people you are going to just be   Zuko’s wife.”  
She punched him in the arm.
“First of all; it is more hat you are going to become   Katara’s husband   and, secondly…I…I mean, we are only in our early twenties, but we have lived so much I feel ready to be a mom…as long as Iroh is around to help.”
Both laughed.
“How could he not be?” he held her hand. “Still…I am sorry so many people are going to think this is just an arranged marriage.”
“Well, I mean, as Toph said…all marriages   need to be   arranged, whatever the reason for said arrangement, that is our personal fucking business.”
                       And theirs was as good as they came.
25 notas. Fecha de publicación: 25 de abril de 2022
3
MARLA’S 2022 AO3 MASTERLIST
Hello there, Marla here!
This year I won’t be as messy as last year with my writing organisation so I am doing a 2022 Masterlist of everything published on AO3 to be updated as new stuff arrives! Yaih! All my nonsense at your disposition!
And, if you want to see what I wrote the previous year, not to worry, here it is my 2021 AO3 Masterlist
Now, with further ado, allons-y!
Long life and prosperity,
Marla
(The) Amelia Project
Amelia Caller: Dawn of the Characters: script I based my phone call recording ON THE AMELIA FEED on
Manage Your Clon-ishgo: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Day 1)
This Could Be Me: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Alternative promp)
Last of the Real Ones: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Day 2)
The Fools Who Dream: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Day 3)
Louder than the Weather: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Alternative promp)
Goodbye To My Life: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Day 4)
It’s the Hitmen’s Life: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Alternative promp)
Fakenniversary: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Day 5)
Everything Just Here All At Once: Cocoa Challenge 2022 (Alternative promp)
ATLA
Go Now:  Zutara Month 2022
This Isn’t My Idea: Zutara Month 2022 
Tea Nation: Zutara Month 2022 
...Let Your Heart Decide?: Zutara Month 2022 
Lonely Nation: High-school AU Zuko-centric
(The) Evil Dead
The Sorta Kinda Winding Road: Original Trilogy + 2013 Film crossover-ish
Good Omens
So Unaware Of My Status: A Visit From Miss Crowley Challenge
The Sound Of Leathered Women!: A Visit From Miss Crowley Challenge 
Girl With A Tongue: A Visit From Miss Crowley Challenge 
Descúbrela
43 notas. Fecha de publicación: 5 de enero de 2022
2
Lucy’s (My) Mom
Ok, a lot of people have already commented this, but from the very first time I read Dracula as a teen (right when I was starting to discover ‘sometimes parents do harmful things and even if the intentions are good there is no compulsory reason to automatically forgive them) I just couldn’t help but being extremely UPSET about Lucy’s mom.
It is not only this whole garlic incident, that is the equivalent of, for example, ‘I don’t understand why you keep going to the psycologist if you are not depressed anymore’: it doesn’t matter wether you have all the data or not, if someone is doing something that is ‘out of the usual norm’ and is very clearly related to a Health issue...let it BE or try to understand it, don’t take matters into your own hands and then BE PROUD OF ACTING OUT OF IGNORANCE.
The worst part, though, it’s all the previous behaviour. The whole not letting her sleep with her when it was clearly something HER DAUGHTER NEEDED, her being upset about Lucy’s FRIEND taking care of her (likely bcs she believed she knew better than her own daughter the people around her and their true intentions -again, been there-)...
...so yeah, I dislike her and, even though it is true more could have been communicated to her:
a) it is a horror story, lack of communitacion is almost a must
b) none of her actions should be done, no matter how much you know about the matter
69 notas. Fecha de publicación: 13 de septiembre de 2022
Mi publicación más popular de 2022
About Dracula Daily..
I know I am constantly saying this but...I am in TEARS about how much people are enjoying Dracula for the first time. It is one of my favourite novels of all times, I have read it three times and a half (I am counting Dracula Daily as the Fourth) and I usually having such a hard time trying to convince people about how AMAZING this(these) story(ies) is(are).
Fuck, whoever began Dracula Daily...I owe you my soul (and, please, we should do this with more classical pieces of literature)
Also, for today’s update:  Farewell dear Captain, you will be remembered
247 notas. Fecha de publicación: 4 de agosto de 2022
Descubre tu resumen del 2022 en Tumblr →
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baeshijima · 4 years ago
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𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫!𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫!𝐲/𝐧
A/N : i have nothing to say other than the fact there will be an excessive amount of twitch slang bc why tf not + just,,, heavy streamer!albedo brainrot ;-;
masterlist
AIGHT
streamer albedo
pog—
so before we get into him being whipped for u, let’s go over the type of strimmer mr Kreideprinz is
fun fact that’s his twitch name—
albedo would be the type to do lots of variety streams of different games, but also the occasional art one if he wants to have a chill stream with his chat !!
speaking of chat… they’re an odd mix of wholesome supporters, KAPPA + POGGERS + catJAM (bc he always has some bangers on in the bg like yes u bless our ears my guy) + KEKW + EZ Clap + his own emotes spammers, mr albedo’s very own shrimps (me, ahEm—), and ppl who just appreciate his voice + gameplay
if there’s a troll he just bans them OMEGALUL
omg he has lots of emotes (which he made in some of his art streams so his viewers could choose some) for every scenario but we’ll get into the popular ones in a bit 👁👁
he’s most definitely one of the bigger, well-known streamers but with a smaller group of friends
his discord server has,,, a lot of ppl,,, 70k+ ppl big,,, rip notifs if ur in it ;-;
he has it muted tho 🐥 like, sir, that’s ur server pay the goddamn price smh
wait i forgot to mention this but he has his webcam on when streaming
so u can bet ur chickens that when ppl come to visit his stream bc of whatever category he has on, they stay for his visuals and voice <33
his twt 🤡 mans gets 1k+ likes, rts, comments within the first 5-10 mins
omg he gets soft when he receives sm support from his community 🥺🥺
gifts so many subs when hitting milestones, chat is wholesome or just whenever really HJKSDHKL 
also doesn’t swear much unless he gets played by his own game and/or someone is being incredibly annoying <//3
he also just,,, eats on stream
albedo straight up takes his webcam with him to show him cooking if his viewers ask for it
or he just orders food then and there and eats while chatting to everyone or watching youtube with his chat 🥺
nOW ONTO HIM BEING WHIPPED FOR U AS A GENSHIN STREAMER
this AR55 man 👩‍🦯
he can literally produce content from anything
from artifact farming, to spiral abyss, to running around mindlessly, to building characters he would normally never build, to him seeing how high up is considered too high to dive
and everyone eats it up bc it’s albedo <3
also !! he’s the type who includes the story quests in his streams so his reaction and thoughts on everything is just,,, there
now when u were first introduced in the prologue (yes ur one of the ogs + involved in the dvalin fight <33) he blanked and all his viewers could see was u on screen with him staring blankly in the bottom right of the screen
this man straight up saw u in a cutscene for one second and fell in love
his chat went wild omfg
he immediately made an emote for u and that’s his most popular one 😌
but i kid u not, the moment u appeared in that cutscene (one in which he will forever treasure in the crevices of his heart) was the moment he asked this exact question ;
“ so (y/n) banner when? ” 
and mihoyo heard his pleas and answered with ur event banner 
except it was like,, 4 months later 
at least ur finally here tho :’)
now he can have his lil science-y moments with ur voicelines ;-;
yes, ur the chief alchemist but ✨ 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 ✨
. . .
shut up
n e who
when he saw the notification from mihoyo’s official forums that u will be a playable character in the new update — along with new characters, region, events & a domain — i shit u not he did a rt, his own tweet, an announcement on the community feature on youtube, and made constant reminders to his viewers on twitch abt how he will be a (y/n) haver no matter what
he even added future (y/n) haver in his twt display name
what a shrimp—
the 1.2 update stream 🐥 he was there waiting for it to go live with like,,, 19k viewers spamming his chat abt predictions and obv ur official release + showcase
and when i say this man fell even more in love while watching ur trailer and character showcase 🥺 he wouldn’t stop smiling or being in awe bc ur just??? so stunning???
mihoyo clearly has a favourite child and it’s u
chat was spamming ur exclusive emote like crazy oml
u can bet it was also flooded with lots of POGs and POGGERS 
overall it was a very fun, chaotic stream filled with lots of (y/n) appreciation and love <33
also a very memorable stream for all his viewers bc of the side of albedo they rarely see unless ur involved
the day ur banner was to go live tho 🐥
the streams leading up to the fateful day consisted of him farming ur mats 
that’s it
boss runs, local specialties, hero wits, talent books, the mats needed for ur weapon he was inevitably going to pull for (only the best for the best, afterall) and many domain runs
many painful domain runs
all of it was worth it tho bc ur worth everything :’)
an actual quote said by him—
at least he can get u and ur weapon to lvl 90 right off the bat with all the artifacts tailored for u ;-;
and get u to that point he did HJSDKJF
once ur banner dropped? immediately started wishing
2 multis in and he gets u 😣
albedo nearly cried and was the literal embodiment of head in hands
wHEN I SAY HIS CHAT BLEW TF UP AND HIS MODS JOINED IN
modCheck has left the chat
everyone’s rooting for him :’)
pulled for ur weapon and got it in 1 multi
sir give me ur luck pls and ty
but yes he nearly choked on the gASP he let out while chat screamed even more
he blanked for a bit, i won’t lie ;-;
but when he realised this was real, he immediately went to his party set up and put u in
can we all get an f in the chat for his lvl 10 tartaglia 😔💔👊
his chat usually rages at him to build him but if he’s being honest, he cba
ur vl when he put u in the party tho <333
now he’s just spent half an hour running around with u, letting u do ur idle animations (will always be grateful for mihoyo creating u like this), reading ur very limited (for now—) character story and going through ur voicelines 
ur morning & about us (when he unlocks it) voiceline >>>>> his heart be running laps rn i swear
eventually he does begin to build u after much admiration on his end and at lvl 1 with lvl 20 artifacts, u already have 1.6k atk 🐥
now after he levels u and ur weapon to lvl 90, u have 2.8k atk 🐥
rip mobs <//3
he now plays u as his main dps 😌
the kit initially designed for u is meant to be more for support?? kinda like the whole ganyu or zhongli debate abt them being a dps or a support/sub dps ;-;
except ur more utility like venti or bennett
and even though the majority said at the beginning (aka, mihoyo, pretty much any other streamer and the larger part of the fanbase) that ur meant for support, he said fuck that and built u as his main dps
and i won’t lie, u do more damage than any of his characters, and ppl who co op with him
ur his pride and joy :’)
he went to take a look at ur consts to see if they were worth the rng suffering and, lo-and-behold,
they were
so now he’s using all his saved primos for u to try and get ur c6 const, along with making ur weapon r5 :’)
his chat gets a free view of him internally suffering when the gold light doesn’t come, and his external suffering when he loses the 50/50
in the end, he decided to whale for u <33
after nearly an hour, he has u to c6 and ur weapon to r5 ;-;
now all he’s been doing the whole stream is running around with u in open world, doing his daily farming, doing more domain and boss runs, exploring the new region (dragonspine) + ur story quest
he’s saving the event quest for another stream bc ✨content✨ 
in ur quest, he had multiple heart attacks and now has many, many screenshots <3
he now has a zoomed in pic of ur face as his twt pfp <33
okay so i also feel like he’s not all that bothered abt getting characters to friendship level 10 immediately and would rather let it happen through time
but obv ur not any other character *proceeds to debby ryan at u*
even if ur not fit for a particular domain or boss, he still puts u in the party so when collecting the blossom/rewards, u can get the friendship exp ;-;
he just wants ur name card so he can show off okay 🥺
when he lets his viewers pick out the playlist, 98% of the songs are from ur character demo theme 
they just know him so well 😩
they also just wanna see the way he smiles when he hears it play but shhhhhh
now he just has his in-game avatar as u, and ur namecard too <33
also his signature is just ;
“ (y/n)’s favourite streamer ”
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alovesongshewrote · 2 years ago
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Nina - 1986 | Eddie Munson x Reader
Plot:  After the hell that Vecna brought to your door, you’re left short one boyfriend, and plus one adopted child. Thing is, Eddie might not be as dead as he seems [Eddie Munson x Gender Neutral!Reader]  Part 1, Part 2,
Word count:  1,178
Warnings:  mentioned talks of potential kids
Disclaimer: Fuck netflix, fuck whoever came up with having a "stranger things experience" in a former n*zi prison where jewish and romani people were exterminated. that's an incredibly fucked up thing to do, and i do not support or endorse it.
A/N: i know how i'm gonna continue this, but rn, the words aren't wording, so take this for the time being
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Life was unpredictable and strange. It was that way for everyone, but some days, you couldn’t help but feel like the universe was targeting you. And honestly, it might have been. How else could you explain how rapidly things around you shifted and changed, for the worse more than for the better?  
How else could you explain the fact that one moment, you’d been lying in bed with your sweetheart of a boyfriend, discussing marriage of all things, and the next, you’d been standing at the edge of a brand new portal to hell, mourning your boyfriend’s death after he’d been falsely accused of murder, with someone else’s baby in your arms?
You couldn’t. There was no other solution. The world had it out for you.
Or maybe, the world just had it out for Hawkins. It would explain a lot, you had to admit. Missing kids, portals to hell, dead teenagers, murdered boyfriends- yeah. Maybe Hawkins was just doomed. Maybe it was time for the town to start throwing babies at young adults without warning.
To be fair, there wasn’t much time to give a warning. The little one in your arms hadn’t been in the world for very long. She was new, unscarred and unbothered, too small to understand that the universe that surrounded her had already collapsed twice over. The baby was the child of a cousin of a cousin, and for one reason or another, no one else in your family would or could take care of her. Since the girl’s mother wanted her daughter to be with family, said daughter had one place to go- home with you.   
Honestly, it was almost funny in some ways. For one thing, there was the way that the government liaison that delivered her scuttled back into their car after placing her into your arms, almost as if they were afraid of you. You couldn’t fault them for that. You were surrounded by panicked friends and anguished mourners. The world had just torn itself asunder. Your face was stained with tears, and your hands and clothes were soaked with blood and despite all of this, they still plopped her into your arms like nothing was wrong. 
Then there was the fact that you and your boyfriend had been discussing kids only a few days before the baby in your arms arrived. The conversation was made up of 98% jokes, dumb little anecdotes about what the two of you were like as children, and hyperbolic sentiments about what a child raised by the two of you would be like (“A devil worshipper, for sure,” he’d said, sarcastically.)  
There was still that 2% of the conversation, though, that had been serious. 2% of the conversation consisted of quiet promises- of him swearing that if a child somehow found their way into your custody, that he wouldn’t leave you to struggle on your own. He promised that he would love and support you both, that he would take care of you both. And now he was dead. Hilarious.
And now, you had a kid. A child had somehow found her way into your custody, and she slept in your arms as your universe came to an end. You knew then and there that she was your world now.
She didn’t have a name when she came to you. No one wanted to try to call her anything other than “the baby” lest they get attached. It stung your heart to think of such a sweet thing going through the world, even briefly, without a name.  
You called her Nina.
You were sitting in someone’s house, on someone’s couch, only hours after your life had fundamentally shifted. Next to you was a long-haired man you had never met, and in your arms was a new baby that didn’t belong to you.
The man turned to you and said, “That’s a righteous baby, dude.”
You couldn’t think of anything to say but, “Yeah. Yeah, she is sort of “righteous,” isn’t she?”
“Absolutely, my dude!” the man took a second, cooing at the sweet thing in your arms. You wondered, briefly, how he could seem so happy in a situation so dire. One look at your eyes spelled out the answer for you- he was high as balls.  You envied him.
The small creature in your arms squirmed slightly as if she could sense your thoughts. You and your new friend cooed at her until she settled back down.
With a lowered voice, the long-haired boy asked, “Does this little brochacho have a name?”
You paused for a moment, trying to come up with something for her. Your mind was a blank void. The only thing you could think to say was, “Not at the moment.”
“Oh, I see,” he reached towards the girl, and in response, she wrapped her little hand around his finger. The three of you sat in silence for a few moments, savouring the peace until he interrupted it with another question.
“Hey, y’know what would be a good name for a small lady?”
“I don’t know. What were you thinking?”
“Nina.”
You took the name in for a moment.  Nina.  It was a good name. Might make a good name for a secret government project- but it would also do for your small lady.
“You’re right,” you whispered, “Nina is perfect.”
“Argyle! Man, we need a hand over here,” Jonathan called your new friend away, teaching you his name in the process. And, with a small pat on Nina’s hand, and a “Catch ya later, man,” Argyle was gone. Once again, you were alone with a small lady in your arms. Nina.
“Hey there, Nina,” you said, voice quiet so only she could hear you, “Nina. What do you think of your name?”
She cooed as if she was responding to you, “I like it, too. We’re gonna have to thank Argyle later, huh?”
She babbled again, wordless and sweet, and you couldn’t help but smile. Placing your forehead against hers, you whispered again, “Yeah. We’re gonna be fine, you and me. Just fine.”
You repeated that sentiment quietly, over and over, not noticing your tears until you felt them on her face.  
You moved out of Hawkins as soon as you could. It hurt- of course, it did. You were leaving your home behind, your loved ones behind, and you were leaving the very memory of Eddie Munson behind, but it had to be done. Hawkins was cursed, just like everyone had always said it was. It was a town full of portals to hell, and evil government labs, and monsters- human and inhuman alike. That town had taken everything from you: your friends, your loved ones, your everything, so you would be damned if it took your kid away from you, too.
You didn’t go too far, and you stayed in contact with your friends, but you were, for all intents and purposes, gone.  Hawkins was officially in your rearview mirror.
That made things really difficult when, six years later, Eddie Munson crawled out of the Upside Down, alive, and not so well.
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rcksmith · 4 years ago
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Just let me love you — Five Hargreeves
Request: “Hi. Could you possibly write about Five and reader taking a shower together and he's like so whipped for her and her body and (if it's not much) #38, #18 e #5 from your fluff prompt and #56 and #98 from your smut prompt (maybe not a too rough smut, just they both doing love and realizing how much in love they're with the other). THANK YOU ❤❤❤❤️ (sorry i'm not a native english speaker)”
Fluff prompts:
5. ”Don’t smile at me like that. You know it drives me crazy.”
18. “Enjoying the view, beautiful?”
38. “You say you hate it but your red face is telling me otherwise.”
Smut prompts:
56. “Do you know how beautiful you are? It’s truly distracting.”
98. “Just let me finish this and I swear I will go down on your and make you cum three times.”
A/N: We not tolerate any pedophilia here !!
I write about Five with their 20s. I write the same about the characters of Harry Potter.
Thank you, love💖. I did not do anything heavy or gross, it's just a cute love, I hope you like.
English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.
Requests are open. Love you ❤️
Couple: Five Hargreeves / Fem! Reader.
Warnings: explicit smut, swearing, but just cute smut and fluff.
— — — — —
Five Hargreeves was not known for being kind, much less sentimental. He had always been acid, ironic and arrogant, he put himself on a pedestal at levels of intelligence, ability, and always had the last word. Five did not belong to the category of men who were influenced by emotions, nor did snatched up when he saw a beautiful woman. He had always had an iron control by imposing on his feelings, like controlling his own breathing.
Then, being known for this exasperating personality, the uproar was Homeric when, for the first time, Five Hargreeves fell to his knees by a woman. In a deep and abysmal drop.
He was frighteningly in love with you. Body and soul. And the Hargreeves brothers were shocked, to say the least, when they realized all the care Five had for you, all the bright and passionate look, the easy smile whenever you also smiled too. They could see that Five saw you as an exorbitantly rare tropical treasure, something he could never miss.
No one had thought Five was the type who needed something to keep breathing, for his world to keep spinning; an object or a person. But everyone saw that if there was something, it would be you. None of the Hargreeves know how Five became so dependent, so addicted, but they were content with the joyful gleam in their brother's eyes whenever you showed up.
Five Hargreeves was not known for being sentimental, but if you asked him to jump, he’ll aks ‘how right?’.
And perhaps it was because of all this, and more, that after a particularly dangerous mission that yielded some scratches, Five went to your apartment, not to his own home.
“Oh my God!” You exclaimed, throwing the book you were reading on the bed and running to where the blue flash left your boyfriend's figure. Bruised and bloody. “Honey, are you okay?”
As soon as your hands, worried and trembling, touched Five's skin to remove the mask, he let out a low, satisfied sigh, as if your touch was the medicine for all him pains. That mission took the best of him, and Five just needed you, to feel better.
Always you.
“Some terrorists insisted on fighting.” Five rolled his eyes, now without the mask “What is it about these motherfuckers wanting to fight even when they know they are going to lose? It's fucking annoying.”
You laughed softly, your hands still working to remove him suit, tie and unbutton stained shirt.
“I was so worried.” You sighed, scanning every bit of it with agitated eyes, seeing if nothing was out of place or worrying.
“Oh, were you?”
You didn't have to look him in the eye to know that Five gave you a smug expression. The whole voice was charged with malice and arrogance, and you contained a little smile.
“Of course. I always stay when you go on these missions.” You came closer, resting your hands on him abdomen, tilting your lips in the direction of him and giving a small and loving kiss.
Five hummed contentedly, bringing his hands to your hips and giving an annoyed sigh when you walked away, clearly wanting more.
“Let's go to the bath, you need to take all that blood and relax a little.”
“Is this an invitation?” He arched his left eyebrow in a suggestive gesture, with a sly smile and a smug look.
You rolled your eyes and laughed, taking you to the bathroom of your apartment. “Not. You need to relax.”
You opened the bathroom door and turned on the shower, while Five started to undress, the blood dripping on the bathroom floor.
“I was thinking that...” Your sentence was lost in the air when you turned around and found Five completely undress.
You looked down at the blood-spattered neck, the broad shoulders that went down to a broad chest. Him skin was prickly from the cold breeze and the blood that was already drying, giving a sinister and exciting tone to the scene. You swallowed, something starting to vibrate in your core, the atmosphere becoming caustic. But your eyes continued to drop, memorizing every inch of skin, making way to his V line and…
“Enjoying the view, beautiful?”
You looked up into the green eyes, finding a smirk.
“I-I j-jus…” Suddenly, you didn't know what to do with your hands, what to say or how to act.
You had seen Five naked several times, but always... always took your breath away. He was frighteningly gorgeous. That left you with not axis, with the rotation of the Earth stopped, with reason itself running away. It was a sin like him beautiful, the blood droplets spattered on the snow-white skin, attracted you even more.
“No... actually, I'm seeing the blood you're leaving on the floor, you know?” You made up an excuse, blinking assiduously “I hate it.”
But it was only logical that he did not believer. The malicious smile widened and gained an arrogant and convinced touch, while Five approached in calm and dangerous steps, like a hunter to its prey.
Him long fingers touched your cheek, while Five leaned over and whispered in your ear:
“You say you hate it but your red face is telling me otherwise.”
You felt the heat build up in your cheeks even more, you let out a nervous little laugh as you rested both hands on him chest and looked up at his.
“Do you know how beautiful you are? It’s truly distracting.” You confessed.
Five laughed, a laugh from one who knows he is beautiful and one who is pleased to please the only person who matters. It was a beautiful, true sound. His touch on your skin became sweeter, and he leaned towards your mouth and captured you in a soft kiss.
This time, it was you who sighed. An involuntary sigh of full satisfaction and delight. As if Five were your oasis in the desert.
You two haven't had that kind of contact in a few days. Five was having missions that demanded a lot of attention and care, and the exam week at your college had arrived. The two of you said on the phone that everything was fine, that you both were going to be fine these days, but the truth was that you missed him so much.
“I missed you.” You sighed on him lips, giving him another chaste kiss just because you could.
“Me too.” Him fingers caressed your cheek, moving away afterwards so you don’t get bloody too.
Suddenly, your whole line of reasoning has so far melted away like sand in the wind, like a broken violin string. You just felt your heart racing, your body heating up and the atmosphere becoming lyrical and stuffy.
“I think...” You sighed, your hands still on him chest. “That this is an invitation yes.” You agreed with his joke from seconds ago.
Hargreeves laughed, shaking his head and leaving a kiss on your neck.
“I was kidding, I don't want you to end up getting soiled with all that blood, too." He pointed to the small blood marks that remained on your cheek because of his touch.
Truth be told, you weren't worried. The longing hit you like a wave that was too strong and dragged you to the sea, drowning you. You wanted to touch it, kiss it, stick to it as if it were able to stop time. Five noticed the feelings in your eyes, and laughed at how you were as addicted to the love of the two of you as he was. Leaning down once more, Five splashed a kiss on your lips:
“Just let me finish this and I swear I will go down on your and make you cum three times.”
You laughed, stunned by a whirlwind of sensation and emotion at the same time. You agreed, and left the bathroom while Five entered the stall.
As soon as you sat on the bed, trying to process your own reactions, the warm autumn night breeze came in through the big window, carrying a caustic expectation on back and hitting you without mercy. Suddenly, everything became flustered, pulsating, the hemisphere seemed more malicious, with a sensual and romantic tone. If you had to describe that moment with the five senses, you would say that the light of the world has gone down to become the flickering flame of a candle, adorning the world with a red veil of romance.
The showering noise and your heartbeat were the only things you could hear. And when the hot mist of steam started to come out of the bathroom door, it was like a mesmerizing invitation, a call you couldn't refuse. You swallowed, noticing that your hands were shaking softly, as if this were your first time. But your whole body and soul screamed for him name. As the only antidote to your disease.
You stood up, pulled your T-shirt over your head, and got rid of your bra and sleeping shorts, taking your panties to the floor as well. Puffing out the chest of something you didn't know what it was, you went to the bathroom door again, opening it gently. The masculine silhouette blurred by the glass in the shower stoked your heartbeat even more, and suddenly you were burning with a caustic and delicious expectation.
When you opened the glass door and stepped into the shower, Five opened his eyes wider at your presence. There had been no need for condescending and malicious words, phrases or smiles. Five's eyes burned in the same desire and need as you, as if he were burning in the same hell. He looked at you as if he had waited all his life for that moment, as if he had cried out for you and you appeared to him, like a muse in the middle of a wild night.
Five held your face with both hands, leaning over and kissing you with all the devotion in the world. At that moment, the world seemed to have reached its highest note, its climax. You put your arms around him neck, sighing a low moan of satisfaction when he pulled you closer, sticking your whole body in his, being hit by the hot water in the bath.
Five Hargreeves was not known for being sentimental. But, in that second, he kissed you and touched you with all the affection and love that existed in the world. He didn't run, he didn't hurry, he didn't eat you like if last meal. No, he slowly ran his hands over your body, letting his tongue caress yours, enveloped in all the longing and love he felt for you.
You let out a sigh much like him name and a plea, more in need than ever. Five dropped his hands to your thighs, propelling you upwards and making you hook your legs on him hips, being held in him lap.
“I missed you.” Five released it in your mouth, seeking air as turned the two of you around, trapping your body between the wall and his body, kissing you again, giving you no time to respond.
You gasped, pressing your fingers to the black strands at the nape of his neck, wiggling hip gently over him, looking for any friction, any stimulation. But Five was as needy as you are, as needy, so he dropped a hand to him own member and positioned it at the entrance to your dripping center.
At that moment, you looked up at him, and Five fixed the green orbs on you, maintaining intense and fiery eye contact. The second he entered you, and you opened your mouth in a silent, aching groan, Five was still nailed to you, and him expression of pleasure when he hit rock bottom was exorbitantly exciting for you. Five clasped his hands on your hips, pursing his lips and frowning at the pleasure he felt, which reverberated through his veins, making him feel infinitely more alive, more intense. He withdrew and sank again, slowly, eliciting a loud moan in you.
“I love you.” You sighed on him lips, and that was the end for Five.
Everything hit Five in a fierce wave. All desire, passion, pleasure and love. Everything smashed under him with such force that Five wrapped his arms around your waist, steadying himself on you as he sank deeper into your hot and wet core, establishing a slow and intense rhythm. You moaned, gasped and sighed loudly, and Five buried his face in the curve of your neck, beating his own hot moans against your skin.
“God, I love you so fucking much!” He groaned, speeding up his movements even more, delighting in how you felt so good, so perfect. So of him.
You screamed his name softly, squeezing him and moving your hips more at the same pace, swallowing his member as much as you could, pulsing around him. Five let out a loud, broken groan, pinning your shoulder against his teeth, trying to stifle groans as he came in and out of you.
Jesus Christ! You were so tight, so wet, so hot and so fucking fucked up. So perfect for him.
Five removed his face from your neck, pulling head back just far enough to look at your body, with a louder groan escaping at the sight he had. You were fucking beautiful! All the curves in the right places, all the wonderful softness of a woman. Another moan escaped, and his eyes fell to the place where him dick disappeared between your smooth folds, leaving and entering more and more luscious, wetter, more swollen with desire and pleasure.
He wasn't going to wait long. Not with so much time without you, not with how much you were fucking hot, not with the overwhelming pleasure he felt. Five tilted his mouth to your breast, capturing a nipple and sucking, keeping his mouth there while hitting that place that drove you the most crazy.
"F-five!"
You groaned, arching your back to him, your legs closing more around hin waist, your chest rising and falling openly, as the hot water cascaded over you two.
“You are so, so much beautiful!” He groaned against your breast, as if in pain, as if everything was too much for him and he felt he could explode.
His suffering tone and totally submerged in pleasure took you to the limit. You came intensely, throwing your head back and arching your body in him arms, letting out a louder cry as you felt Five's hot liquid fill your walls, stocking both of you as deep as possible inside you.
“I love you, I love you.” You stuck your mouth to his, sighing.
Still breathless, Five admitted: “I'm going to marry you someday.”
You opened a smile that Five considered the most wonderful and beautiful thing he has ever seen.
“Don’t smile at me like that. You know it drives me crazy.” He said and you laughed out loud, pulling Five into a passionate kiss.
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bakugosbratx · 4 years ago
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How about this: bakugou and s/o have this teasing friendship dynamic where they compete to outwit eachother. They go out to hang. When bakugou slams s/o into the wall in a fit of lust/annoyance reader is just like ‘um what’s happening wait what’ cuz reader honestly doesn’t think that it’s possible for bakugou to have feelings for her. So reader is super sub. Bakugou teases her the entire time. “Not so tough now huh?”
NSFW 18+ Come Over- Dom! Bakugo x Sub! Reader
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WARNING: 18+ Consentual Characters, size kink, daddy kink, breeding kink, swearing, harsh language, etc.
Check out my other works here
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A/N: Sorry it took me awhile to get to your request, but I hope it meets some of your standards. I had fun writing it. Send me in your request y’all. My inbox is open 💥
Words: 1,841
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You and Bakugo have always had an interesting friendship. You were introduced to the Bakusquad by Mina Ashido. You two met at the record store since you used to work there and bonded instantly. So, Mina wanted you to meet her other friends. Everyone loved you right away except for the ashy blonde. You were at each other's throats the second you met each other.
"Hey, dumbass." Bakugo greeted, not removing the scowl from his face. You were not one to deal with other's bullshit so you refused to let Katsuki talk to you any sorts of way.
"Hello to you too, dipshit."
"Oi! What did you call me? I'll kick your ass!" Bakugo exclaimed.
"Probably can't hear me because of all of your yelling." You shrugged.
"I think we should go-" Mina sighed as she grabbed your arm but you shrugged her off.
"Nah! I want to meet all of your lovely friends. Not just the stupid one." You smiled innocently.
"You're going to regret those words, loser!" Bakugo growled as Kirishima held him back using his hardening quirk.
As stated before, everyone loved you. Except for Bakugo, but overtime, you both learned to tolerate each other. It was never spoken, but a friendship developed overtime between you and the short tempered boy. You always pushed each other's buttons and knew how to make each other go off. It was now a common amusement amongst the others.
You were out shopping with Sero, Kirishima, and Mina when you received a text. You opened it to see that Bakugo messaged you.
Boomer 💥:
Want to hangout?
You:
I'm currently at the mall
Boomer 💥:
Then leave.
You:
Wtf I'm not leaving for you.
Boomer 💥:
Oi! Just come over at some point today shitty woman.
You:
Okay dickhead.
"What are you so smiley about?" Mina teased. You didn't even realize a smile was plastered on your face.
"Probably texting Bakugo." Sero teased.
"Oh fuck off!" You exclaimed as your face heated up.
The group teased you and Bakugo all the time. They claimed you two secretly love each other and you two just didn't know it. You have came to terms that you thought Bakugo was cute in his own special way, but you were not convinced that the feelings were reciprocated. Katsuki was never good at showing his emotions except when he is angry or annoyed which is his attitude 98% of the time.
You didn't tell your friends that you and Bakugo text more than they think. Not consistently since Bakugo is not much of a conversationalist over text, but he will send you random messages when he's annoyed or if something reminds him of you. You tried to hide the stupid grin you get when his name appeared on your phone, but your friends caught on overtime. You seemed to get teased the most about it. At least, that's how it felt.
You kept your word and strolled over to Bakugo's house after the mall. You were not sure what he wanted or why, but you did not question it either. The most he is going to do is piss you off and you storm home in a fit of rage. So, you were a little hesitant on knocking on his door.
You knocked on the door with three hard knocks. Bakugo opened the door moments later. Same scowl on his face as usual.
"Hey dumbass."
You invite yourself in, not saying anything. You were surprised on how well kept his house was considering Katsuki is quick to blow up everything.
"Wow! Your place looks great!" You complement.
"You've never seen nice things before, idiot?"
You shoot a glare at him.
"Why can't you just accept the compliment, dipshit?" You sigh. "Why did you even invite me over here?"
"Because I wanted to."
"That's not a good enough answer, stupid."
"Well it's going to be! And watch your mouth, dumbass."
You get up in Bakugo's face. Your eyes meeting his crimson red ones staring down into you.
"And what if I don't?" You stated firmly.
Without a word, Bakugo pushes you against the nearest wall. He pins your wrist above your head with one of his strong hands while keeping a hard, lustful gaze on you. You tremble so slightly under his firm grip.
"What the fuck, Katsuki? Let me go!" You demanded to no avail. Bakugo just smirked.
"Not so tough are you now, huh? Look at you, so helpless." Katsuki teased.
You tried to squirm, but this only amused Katsuki. It was obvious he was not going to let you go.
"Katsuki, let me go-" You were interrupted by Bakugo's lips smacking into yours. His kisses are aggressive, but you did not expect any less from the short-tempered man.
Bakugo slowly pulls away, looking at your lips then back to your eyes. You can feel his hot breath tickling your plump lips.
"You're much cuter when you're quiet." Katsuki stated softly.
You feel your stomach doing fumbles. You can't believe Bakugo actually kissed you. Even worse, pinning you against the wall. This is not what you have expected to happen. Especially since Bakugo seems to not want to be around people often. You have a huge crush on him and you're hoping that this is him showing you the feeling is mutual.
"And you're much cuter when you let go of me." You scoffed.
"Nah. I don't think I will. Besides," Bakugo's fingers dip into your pants and feel the wet panties, "I would say you're enjoying this."
Your cheeks turn bright pink and you swallowed the imaginary lump in your throat. You did not want Bakugo to know how much he turns you on. Especially since you're in this position. You know he will not let you live this down and he will use your weakness for him as an advantage.
Bakugo's fingers played with your clit through the wet fabric. He enjoyed watching you squirm as he kept you in place. He began sucking on your neck to leave a nice hickey for everyone to see. You knew better than to try to tell him to stop. Bakugo has made it more than perfectly clear he does not give a single damn about your pleas as he gently nibbles on your tender flesh.
"Katsuki." You moan as his fingers speed up inside you.
Bakugo stops to meet your eyes.
"The name is Daddy. Got that, little girl?" Bakugo growls in your ear, sending shivers down your spine.
You nod.
"Say it." Bakugo demands.
"Yes, daddy."
Bakugo smirks.
"Such a good little slut. I know you have been wanting my cock for a long time and I thought I'd be nice enough to invite you over to feed your hunger."
"T-That's not true!" You argued.
"Really? You think I haven't noticed how turned on you get when we argue? You think I haven't noticed you staring at my dick when we all hangout? Lastly," Bakugo rubs your clit roughly to edge you some, "you're about to be fucking soaked again."
"Mm daddy!" You moan, wanting to cum some more.
"Aw, does my precious little girl want to cum? You want daddy to let you release onto his fingers?" Katsuki coo's condescending.
"Yes daddy! Please!" You beg.
"Your wish is my command, princess."
Bakugo rubs you a little more to get you stimulated and you release. He feels the wetness through your panties and he smirks.
"Damn, you came a lot for me. Such a cock hungry slut you are. Don't worry, daddy is going to fuck your precious little cunt so good." Bakugo chuckles before lifting you up and putting you over his shoulder. He carries you to his bedroom and lays you on your back on his California King Bed. He begins taking off your clothes and kissing - along with a few nibbles - on your exposed skin. He throws your bra to the floor and starts to suck on your tender nipples. Moans of pleasure escape your parted lips.
Bakugo gets to your panties and start to take them off. The cold air hitting your wet core made you shiver a bit. Plus, you were a bit nervous and embarrassed. Your vulnerable naked body is on full display for Bakugo's lustful eyes and you could not help but feel insecure. Bakugo noticed how tense your body became and he gave you a reassuring look.
“If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to.”
“I want to. I’m just nervous.”
“Don’t worry. I will not hurt you too bad.” Bakugo teased.
You softly smile and relaxed. He opened your legs so your soaked pussy was ready for him to enter. Bakugo began getting undressed and your eyes widen at his hard dick. Of course, this doesn’t go unnoticed by Bakugo and he smirks as he strokes his huge member.
“Like what you see?”
“T-That’s going in me?” You exclaimed.
“Yep. All of it.”
You were about to close your legs, but Katsuki put his hands on your knees and keep them open. You feel the tip at your entrance and it already felt he was in deeper than he was. You did not even get much time to process as Bakugo kept making his way deeper into you.
“Damn, you are so fucking tight, babe. You can hardly handle all of my huge cock.”
“Daddy, please!” You whine and moan, wanting more of his member in you, though, you don’t think you can handle much more. You were not a virgin, by any means, but you haven’t had sex with a man as big as Bakugo. With each thrust, its pleasurable and a little painful. He isn’t gentle nor is he small in width. He’s not only big in length, he has a nice girth to his dick as well.
“Quit your whining. You’re going to take all of my cock wether you like it or not, slut.”
Katsuki continues thrusting in you, grumbling slurs under his breath as your folds hug his cock. You could feel another orgasm coming as his balls slapped against you. All of his length was in you, hitting all the right spots and then some. You were gripping the satin bed sheets and moaning loud enough to where Japan could hear you.
“Daddy, I am about to cum.” You moan.
“Damn, on your third orgasm. Better beg for it.”
“Please daddy! Please let me cum! Please!” You begged as tears brimmed your eyes.
“Cum on my cock.”
You did as your told and released on Bakugo’s hard dick. This didn’t stop him from going, through. He was still going to meet his high weather you liked it or not. He is close to cumming and he starts to speed up.
“Oh God.” You gasp as he releases himself into you. He makes sure every drop is in your body before pulling out. He gives you soft kisses on the lips and pulls away to meet your gaze.
“Aren’t you glad you came over?”
©bakugosbratx
All Rights Reserved
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creativeashproductions · 4 years ago
Text
A Distant Dream II // Luke Patterson
Summary: In 1994 seventeen year old Luke Patterson had once again tried to ask out the girl that held his heart. With the belief he would see the younger Mercer girl the next morning he decides wait to confess his feelings. Only to have soft music bewitched the reader into an antique wardrobe with lots of history.
Warnings: Swearing, talk of pregnancy, cops, strict parents, and angst 
Words: 3.1k
A/N: I’m thinking maybe four or five more parts following this. I really fell back into a Narnia hole recently.
Part One
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Julie Molina didn't mean to snoop in Luke's things at all, but her elbow had bumped his backpack to the ground. A worn picture had escaped the open bag to float next to her foot. Her deft fingers picked the photo of Alex standing with a girl laughing at something out of frame. The jacket the girl wore was familiar to Julie as she had seen Luke wear it.
Her throws furrowed as she turned the picture to the back to see the writing on the back in legible black sharpie.
Y/N and Alex Mercer, Downtown Los Angeles 1993
Julie's took a guess that the girl was-
"What the hell Julie?" Luke's furious tone took the girl by surprise, but it was the rush to yank the picture from her hand. The guitarist flooded with the familiar grief that was never too far from his mind, it had been one a year to him instead of twenty-six.
The picture was cradled in the guitarist's hands as he pinned a nasty glare on his living friend as if she had kicked his puppy. Behind him stood Alex and Reggie becoming quiet at the picture in Luke's hand. The tears started to fill Alex's eyes as he vividly remembered the night when the picture had been taken.
Alex slung his arm around his sister's shoulders with the identical grin on display as Bobby and Reggie slumped over a paper. You had a feeling it was a song that Reggie had written and Bobby loved being able to give his input on the music. Something he didn't get to do with Luke. With that name in mind, you turned to the guitarist lazing around on a couch.
The band had finished a three-song set for a local club that often turned their cheek to minors walking in. It had taken a lot of manoeuvring, but you had been able to sneak inside to add the band to the list.
"Can you believe this?" Alex gleefully laughed, looking around the packed backstage room they had snagged. They had it for another five minutes, and the band ate it up as if they had already made it in the business.
"I can't believe you guys actually made this happen." You breathed before a laugh escaped your mouth at Reggie, pulling a face at you. The blinding flash bringing your attention to the boy holding the camera you had received as a gift.
"Always a great candid with you!" Luke announced shoving the camera in his backpack with a cheeky grin aimed directly at you, "We better split before security catches us."
"I thought they knew we were here!" Alex exclaimed rushing to grab his things with all bad ideas conjuring in his head. Being in the band annoyed your parents so if he ended up arrested he'd be shipped off to a behavioural boarding school.
He saw himself in a prison cell after being arrested. His mind going to the worst-case scenario instead of only being kicked out instead.
"If you knew the truth, you wouldn't have been able to sit still." Luke retorted as the sound of footsteps sounded outside the room. Luke's eyes scanning the room for any kind of solution to their problem.
 With no safe exit, the five teenagers shuffled into the small bathroom with a big window that opened. Luke was quick to push Bobby and Reggie out first. He went next stationing himself to catch you before Alex was pacing in the bathroom alone.
"C'mon man!" Luke whispered to the blonde drummer glancing between the open window and the door separating him from security.
"If our parents have to pick us up from the cops, we are dead, Luke!" Alex hissed wincing at the loud knock on the door, "They barely condone being a band let alone getting arrested. We'd be in boarding school before you could say Orpheum!"
"Then get your ass down here!" Luke retorted jumping in place as Alex debated his options, but he slipped out the window with a sigh. The group running off with the sound of security hanging out the window screaming at the teenagers. His hand encased in Y/N Mercer's own soft hand.
"That's Y/N." Alex's voice was soft to the Puerto Rican's ears with his eyes a more delicate blue giving Julie the impression he was mostly lost in thought, "My little sister."
Julie's eyes shifted between the three ghostly boys all quieter than anything Julie had ever encountered with them. The only other time Julie had seen Luke so sad was when Alex and Reggie brought her to Luke's childhood home. It was unsettling to see the usual happy go lucky boy drained of energy.
"Did you find her?" Julie asked recalling that Alex had been the only one so far to not attempt to find his family. Reggie had told Julie how his house turned into a bike shack but other than that the subject wasn't brought up.
"She disappeared in 1994." Luke choked out, clenching his eyes tight at the last smile he saw on your face. The one that was seared in his mind with the regret of never taking his chance with you.
Twenty-six years didn't wipe the deep feelings he still held for the girl who had disappeared with his heart. Attempts to find her futile leaving her state just as unknown as back in the '90s. The case had been long cold with the years erasing her memory from people as they moved on.
"Did she-"
"We don't know. One night she just disappeared with no clues." Reggie supplied finding himself to be the only one able to speak. Luke and Alex overtook by the flood of grief and guilt that came every time they grew strong enough to mention her name.
"I can look for her if you want." Julie offered to the trio, "If she's living she may have social media. More likely Facebook with her age but if I can get-"
"No." Luke and Alex spoke at the same time with equal passion in their voices, but it was Luke that continued, "I don't want to know."
Julie's lips parted, but Luke already left with Alex in tow by the grasp on his distressed jean jacket. The Mercer boy sending a smile of gratitude, leaving Reggie alone with her.
"I'd like to know." Reggie softly spoke, meeting the gaze of the living girl, "Maybe that's why we're here too. To find the truth about her disappearance and if we find something, we can tell them."
The shadowed pain in his eyes creating a yearning in Julie's heart, "Of course. Can you tell me about her? I could build a portfolio on possible places she's been."
"Her disappearance was a catalyst for a lot of things that happened." Reggie admitted breaking his usual carefree and clueless demeanour, "Alex and Y/N aren't twins. She was a year younger than us but where one sibling went, so did the other. They understood each other more than the band could ever know."
"Why hasn't Alex talked about her?"
"It's hard. The world in the '90s is very different from this time. We've mentioned bits and pieces of our lives, but you don't know the darker pieces."
Julie listened intently as Reggie was the most serious she had ever seen him, showing her that there was more to Reggie Peters than he let on. Julie felt honoured he trusted her enough to drop his guard that he held up strong.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mercer had certain beliefs that their family should hold and show the rest of the world. Before the band, Alex and Y/N were shells of their real selves laced into designer clothing, perfect grades, charity galas and their futures already written."
"So, they came from money? Galas and designer clothing." Julie rolled her eyes, "What was so bad about that?"
"Just because they had money didn't mean they weren't suffering. Anything less than 98% was a failure to Mr. Mercer. By the time Y/N was thirteen, she was trained on how to be a perfect lady. Alex wasn't supposed to play the drums, both he and Y/N were classically trained on piano and violin." Reggie recalled, "The first time Alex held drumsticks it was like he shattered the glass window of the tank he was drowning in."
"What about Y/N?" Julie questioned, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watched Reggie melted into the memories he fondly held dear in his heart.
"She stayed in her tank drowning, so Alex didn't have to be alone." Reggie simply replied a fond smile reappearing at the days you would dedicate to solely to him.
Reggie didn't like to talk about the things that went on behind the doors of his idyllic beach house. You just knew and gave him days that let him step out of the fear of the unknown. He didn't have to put up his front like he did with the guys, he got to be unapologetically Reginald Peters. The boy that had wished his parents would stop fighting and be that happy family once more, but his wishes never got answered.
"She sounds like a really cool person."
"Luke and she had this unspoken relationship that never evolved into more. Both too scared the other didn't feel the same. The night she disappeared, he was going to tell her he loved her. When it didn't happen, he was going to do it the next morning."
 "But she was never found. What do you think happened?" Julie questioned the Peters boy who's smile dropped. His mind flipping through all the what-ifs that had lived in his brain for the entire year before he died.
"I think she ran into trouble and couldn't find a way out. I only hope if she passed away, it was easy and quick." Reggie finished instantly flipping the switch back to his usual oblivious façade used as his coping mechanism.
"I was thinking we could work on that song?" Luke piped up as he and Alex both poofed back into the studio as if the last hour hadn't happened. Both their pain neatly placed back in that box in their brains the light barely caught a glance at.
As Sunset Curve poured themselves into the song, they worked on together deep in the basement of the Molina's a sound lightly filled the space. The sound of a celebration heard with the backing of upbeat trumpets followed by a laugh. A soft golden glow lighting up the dark basement through a sheet protecting an antique piece of furniture.
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The Golden Age, Cair Paravel, Narnia
The House of Pevensie ruled fairly and justly for a decade and a half together with High King Peter and his Queen, you, by his side. Never one to cower from a battle you were often found by Peter's side holding the sword and the bow strapped over your back. Both items gifts from Father Christmas back during the Winter Rebellion against the White Witch.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. In the year 1015 of the Golden Age, the Kings and Queens of Narnia set out on a hunt. Leaving the daily duties to their court, the Pevensie family decided to hunt the magical White Stag. It was a break from the stress of ruling and failing to provide an heir to the kingdom for you and Peter.
"How are you?" Susan questioned slowly to a trot beside you and your horse Mercer. The question flaring frustration once more in your body.
"I am fine, Susan." You sighed looking ahead to where Peter was speaking with Edmund and Lucy animatedly. His blue eyes raising to meet yours with the fondness that had evolved from the love.
The courtship that turned into marriage had mellowed from the way it had been in your early '20s. At thirty-one, you found that what you had thought was everlasting love was simply just two teenagers with mutual attraction. The only two that understood each other coming from a different place than Narnia.
You still loved Peter, but something made you feel as if he wasn't the first man you had loved and certainly not as much as this nameless person. Overtime Peter and you came to the same conclusion, you ruled as before. You loved each other but not as fiercely as before with the kingdom's responsibilities, placing the relationship on the back burner.
You had years to fix it, however. That's the excuse you always told herself when the guilt of thinking of another.
"The last person to the White Stag has to sit through O'Rielly's draft of his speech," Edmund called out before racing off with his trusted horse Philip taking the lead. Only momentarily as Peter first overtook him.
Mercer swiftly brought you up right behind Peter with a grin on both of your faces.
"Ed, as usual, makes his declaration and can't keep up!" You called over your shoulder at the twenty-eight-year-old King.
His response is a teasing eye roll as he leaned over to caress Philip, "Are you all right, Philip?"
"I'm not as young as I once was." The dashing dark brown horse huffed to his rider as he shifts on his hooves returning to his confident stance—the other royal horses returning to Edmund's side as well. Mercer immediately stepping up on Philip's left flank with a soft sound of acknowledgement.
"Come on, Ed," Susan spoke barely giving Philip a look as she had known for a while that it may be time for Philip to retire. For Philip to choose his successor to serve his King, but it was hard for Edmund to think of Philip retiring.
"Just catching my breath," Edmund informed his cheery older sister patting Philip once more before sitting up straight in the saddle. His brown eyes scanning the surroundings hugging the family in warmth reminiscent of his mother's arms.
"That'll be all we'll catch at this rate." Susan retorted copying Edmund by patting her horse's head earning a thankful neigh in response. The teasing grin lighting up Susan's pretty features that had many a suitor at the castle for her hand in marriage.
"What did he say again, Susan?" Lucy inquired with rosy cheeks from the autumn wind hitting from the exhilaration of riding. Coming to a stop beside the youngest royal, your hand found a home in Peter's calloused one.
"I believe he underestimated us as usual." You inserted sharing a smile with both your sisters-in-laws, "I can't quite recall the words…Susan, would you recall them?"
"' you girls wait in the castle. I'll get the stag myself' were his words with his cheeky smile." Susan replied. Unlike when Edmund was thirteen, he joyfully joined in the laughter filling the woods of Narnia.
Your eyes scanning the area that tickled a faint memory of a girl wearing unusual clothing in the kingdom. A shirt that bared your skin in the dead of winter. The shirt paired with a short skirt of a similar colour to another young woman. Your attention brought Peter's to the landscape as well. So curious the High King dismounted his horse and helped you down. 
 "What's this?" Peter inquired stepping closer to a tall pole with a lamp lit up with a flame. Covered in vines it was nearly invisible to the eye unless you looked up, "It seems familiar. Love, do you know what it is?"
"I don't remember it. I've seen it but how I did evades me." You replied, stepping closer to the lamppost. Susan was quick to step up beside you just as confused.
"As if from a dream?" Susan spoke, earning a mute nod from you as that same faceless man flickered in your memory. The one that haunted your dreams with the odd cameo of a blonde man.
Your eyes returning the horse you named Mercer as the name held an emotional connection you never understood. Often you would have a memory tickle your brain before disappearing with tasks to be done at the castle. When you saw the back of a blonde in crowds, you felt sad and lost. Or feeling Peter's hand in your own fluttering your heart until your e/c eyes found his bright blue and the fluttering died down.
"Of a dream of a dream," Lucy spoke, turning on her heel to the vast trees concealing the beyond. Lucy spoke barely louder than a whisper, "Spare Oom."
With that, the youngest Queen raced off through the woods with her family on her heels. 
"Lucy!" Peter admonished the retreating form of his little sister in her blood-red dress. A deep sigh pulled from your lips as the free-spirited woman ignored their calls.
"Every time. I swear she's still a kid at heart." You spoke jogging alongside Edmund behind Susan and Peter. Your midnight blue dress barely touching the grass of the forest floor.
"You're a kid at heart as well." Edmund merely replied, keeping his eyes on the bright colours of the royal garb his siblings wore.
"Come on!" Lucy's voice called out through the branches that slowly but surely turned softer and the trees tapered smaller.
"These aren't branches!" Peter called out in his deep voice that temporally turned higher before it went back to the gravelly tone. You swore with everything inside his hands became softer and harder to grasp.
"Keen observation there." You retorted taken aback at the attitude you found infused in your voice as if you a teenager once more. Peter's surprise quickly found in his blue eyes that glanced over his shoulder.
"Ow! Ooh!" Edmund hissed as a branch scraped his cheeks and the pain vanished with the soft touch of fur on the scratch. The sudden change of texture startled him almost as the switch of his voice to the high pitch of his thirteen-year-old self.
"They're coats! Fur coats!" Susan gasped startled by the odd shift between the forest and whatever this place was. 
"Mrs. Beaver would throw a fit over th- Ow! Lucy, you elbowed my ribs!" You whined stumbling into Peter's side as the others complained at each other hitting, stepping and kicking as the area became smaller and smaller.
Your eyes raising to meet Peter's blue taken aback by his appearance back when you had fought side by side against the White Witch. The eyes that kept rapt with yours at the coronation fifteen years ago and then your wedding ten years previous. 
Then behind the siblings in front of you, a door opened to a large empty room with windows behind framing a rural countryside. Then your husband and in-laws were gone, and you fell out with memories from a lost life hitting you full force as you tripped out of the wardrobe. 
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drabbles-mc · 4 years ago
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Exceptions (2/2)
Juice Ortiz x F!Reader
Part 1
Warnings: language, mentions of alcohol, light angst/jealousy
Word Count: 2.8k
A/N: Part 2! I’ve re-read this a million times and I’ve gone back and forth on whether I’m happy with it or not lol. But it’s hard to be too upset with a happy Juice haha. Hope you guys enjoyed this! Been a while since I set out to do a quick multi-part story that doesn’t go on indefinitely haha. 
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There was some sort of shift after that night between you and Juice. He always hung around the bar when you worked, but lately he made a point to really check in with you throughout the night. Truthfully, you’d gotten used to it and it had become a part of what felt like your nightly routine, not that you would ever admit that to anyone. But his presence felt much more purposeful than before. You wondered if it was obvious just to you but Opie had pulled you aside at one point to check and make sure that Juice wasn’t bothering you at all, which confirmed your belief that it was more than a little obvious.
“I’ll tell him to leave you alone, you know,” his voice was rough but there was a hint of a smile on his face.
You laughed, shaking your head, “No, no. Don’t. It’s fine, Ope, really. He’s being…sweet.”
The amused grin on his face grew a little wider, “You feelin’ alright?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You actually don’t mind one of the guys hanging around you all the time? That…doesn’t sound right.”
You gave him a light, playful slap to the chest, “Shut up.”
He noticed the way that you weren’t meeting his eyes and he was eating up every second of it, “Want me to tell him to come over more?”
“Opie, I swear to god,” you tried to sound serious but you were too busy laughing, “if you don’t let this drop I’ll—”
“Alright, alright,” he chuckled, “I’ll stop. I’m just saying, though.”
“Mhm,” you gave him a shove, “Now get out from behind my bar.”
Opie laughed as he walked away to join the rest of the guys, pulling Lyla onto his lap once he sat down. He motioned for her to lean closer and even though you couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, you could tell by the way she flashed a quick smile over at you that he was talking to her about the exact thing he said that he’d drop. You knew that neither of them would stick their nose into it in a way that mattered, but you knew you were going to catch grief from them about it nonetheless.
You forced yourself to focus on your job. You mixed drinks and popped caps off of beer bottles as everyone came up and placed their orders. You hadn’t seen Juice for most of the night since he initially showed up and greeted you. You mentally kicked yourself for even noticing it, let along feeling some type of way about it. You didn’t know what exactly the feeling was, but it wasn’t good.
You were about to step outside to take a break for a couple minutes, asking the prospect to hold it together so you could try and catch your breath. However as you looked out over the expanse of the clubhouse you saw Juice sitting on one of the couches, with a girl from Cara Cara straddling his lap. Suddenly it made sense why you hadn’t seen him since he first got there.
He didn’t see you looking, and it was definitely better that way. You pushed down the feeling of disappointment as you grabbed a beer for yourself and made your way towards the door. You sat down on the picnic table, grateful that everyone was inside in the midst of the chaos so you had a couple minutes to yourself. The cool night air ripped through you, causing you to shiver, but you weren’t ready to go back in yet.
Once your beer was finished, you knew that you had to head back inside and finish off your shift. Running your hands down your face, you let out a deep sigh as you got up to head back into the mess. You tried to get your mind right, reminding yourself why you put distance between you and all of your patrons to begin with. You should’ve known better than to make exceptions to the rules, even if the exceptions had pleading brown eyes like Juice.
You got back behind the bar, dismissing the prospect with a good-natured smile, “Back into the wild with you,” you laughed as you gently nudged him out from behind the bar.
“You sure? I-I can still work. It’s really not—”
“Go,” you forced a laugh, “These guys put you through the wringer enough, you should get to enjoy some of the good stuff too. If I need you, I’ll yell.”
The end of his mouth kicked up into a smirk as he nodded, “Thanks. I’ll, I’ll be around.”
You silently shook your head as you watched him scamper off into the throws of the party. You took a few long, slow breaths as you collected up the bottles that had been tossed onto the surface of the bar, giving it a quick wipe-down despite the fact that it would be cluttered again within a matter of minutes.
When you turned back around to see if anyone was waiting to get a drink, you came face-to-face with Juice. He had the same cheery smile on his face that you were used to seeing on him, but you were still too busy beating yourself up to enjoy it. He immediately noticed the way that you wouldn’t meet his eyes and his smile dulled instantly.
“You good?”
You nodded, “Yea, all good. You?” you braced your hands against the bar, “Want a drink?”
He hadn’t heard you use a cold tone with him in a while, and it caught him off-guard, “N-no. I just…I came to see how you’re doing,”
“I’m good,” you nodded, busying yourself with the stacked glasses on your side of the counter.
“You sure?” you could feel that he was waiting for you to look at him.
“So sure,” you chuckled but it was hollow. You popped the tops off two beer bottles and slid them across to him, “Here. One for you and one for your friend,” you nodded towards the girl who had been in his lap, who was now sitting on the arm of the couch and leaning down to whisper something into Chibs’ ear.
He looked back and forth between the two of you, “She’s not—”
“I don’t need t—” you stopped yourself, “I don’t wanna know. Not my business.”
Before he had the chance to say anything else, you walked to the other end of the bar and made yourself look busy while doing a whole lot of nothing. You could do that for as long as it took him to walk away. He hung back and stared at you for a minute, but when he realized that you weren’t going to budge, he grabbed the bottles with a sigh and walked away.
As the night wore on, every now and then you’d feel Juice’s eyes on you. You knew that whatever problem was starting to brew there was one of your own creation. You were the one who was constantly telling the guys not to waste their time and when they decided to listen you let yourself get your feelings hurt. He didn’t do anything to deserve the cold shoulder that you were giving him, but you gave it anyway. It would only take a few shifts to get your mind right again and surely he would survive that without a problem.
“Hey,” Opie’s voice ripped you off your train of thought.
You looked over at him, forcing a smile, “Hey, what’s up?”
“You good?”
You nodded, “Yea, of course, why?”
“I’m used to Juice looking like a kicked puppy,” he chuckled quietly and shook his head, “It’s a new look on you though.”
You rolled your eyes, “Shut the fuck up.”
“What happened?”
“Not that it’s any of your business anyway,” you threw your rag down on the surface of the bar, “But nothing happened.”
“Mhm,” he nodded, lightly trailing his fingers through his beard as he waited for you to crack and say something more.
“Is there something in particular you would like, Opie?” you arched one eyebrow.
He shook his head, “Nope,” he rapped his knuckles against the bar top, “Just figured I’d check in on you. But if you’re alright then—”
“I am. Thank you.”
He knew better than to push his luck. If you really needed something he knew you’d ask. With a slight nod he walked away from the bar and you sighed as you watched him rejoin the rest of his crew. Running your hands down your face, you geared up to finish the rest of your shift. It was about the time that people started to disperse, and you wished that it was like the other bars you’d worked in where you could just start essentially kicking people out. But the clubhouse was more than just a bar—it was also home base for the MC and you didn’t get to kick them out of their own home.
You were sitting on a stool on the customer side of the bar, leaning back against it as you watched the crowd thin out. You’d lost track of Juice earlier in the night and it was probably for the best—he probably left with the girl you’d seen him with before
. And it was honestly better that way, or at least that’s what you were going to tell yourself.
“You want me to clean up tonight?” the prospect materialized in front of you, an expectant look on his face.
You smiled and shook your head, “I got it tonight, thank you though. Go home, get some rest.”
He didn’t wait around for you to possibly change your mind, quickly turning on his heel and making his way towards the door. You chuckled quietly to yourself and shook your head as you watched the door shut behind him as he left. After taking a couple minutes for the last of everyone to clear out, you stood up and set about getting things in order for the night. You shut the music off and started picking up the glasses and bottles that littered the tables throughout the clubhouse.
You were stacking dirty glasses into the dishwasher when you heard heavy footsteps making their way closer to you. You glanced back over your shoulder, expecting to see one of the guys coming out for one last beer to bring to their room or something of the sort, but instead you just saw Juice standing there, hands tucked into his pockets. He looked so different without his kutte on, just a plain white t-shirt with his cargo pants.
“Need something?” you asked without turning to face him.
“Was hoping you’d be in more of a mood to talk,” he stepped closer to the bar.
“About?”
“Did I, did I do something? Say something that upset you?”
You sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before shaking your head, “No, you didn’t.”
“Then why won’t you make eye contact with me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you still didn’t turn around as you poured soap into the dishwasher.
It only took him a couple strides to appear behind you. You weren’t looking at him but you could feel how close he was. It might’ve been in your head, but you could’ve sworn that you felt the heat radiating off of his body. He was more than close enough to reach out and touch you, to try and turn you to face him, but he didn’t.
“C’mon, talk to me,” his voice was quiet, nonconfrontational.
“There’s,” you shook your head, lifting and shutting the door to the dishwasher with more force than necessary, “there’s nothing to talk about. I told you—you didn’t do anything.”
You knew that you could only stand there with your back to him for so long before you had to turn and look him in the eye. Taking one more deep breath you ripped the band-aid off and faced him. His eyes desperately searched yours, looking for answers that you didn’t want to give him.
“What’s going on?”
You forced yourself not to break eye contact, “I told you, it’s nothing. Better not hang out here too long,” you nodded towards the hall that led to the dorms, “your friend will start wondering where you ran off to.”
“My fr—” he stopped, shaking his head, “I’m by myself back there,” he chuckled and gestured with his arm, “You’re more than welcome to go look for yourself.”
You rolled your eyes, grabbing one of the liquor bottles and pouring yourself a drink in one of the few clean glasses that were left, “I’ll just take your word for it.”
“That what’s been bothering you all night? That I was talking with that girl from—”
“Looked like more than just talking,” your tone was more bitter than you wanted it to be.
He chuckled, not amused by the fact that you were hurt, but more out of shock that you even cared at all, “I didn’t think that it would be topping your list of concerns. You made it pretty fuckin’ clear that none of us should waste our time chasing after you.”
“I know,” you leaned forward, bracing yourself on the edge of the bar, “I know. That’s why this is so fucking stupid. I’ve got no right to feel like this.”
He stepped in closer, “Feel like what?”
You downed your drink and all but slammed the glass down on the bar top, “Jealous.”
His eyes grew wide. Deep down he thought that that was what was going on, but it was also difficult for him to picture you being jealous at all, let alone over him. He reached out and gently rested his hand on your shoulder, “There something you wanna talk about?”
“No. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
He couldn’t help but to smile at how stubborn you were being, “C’mon. We’re friends, right? Talk to me.”
“Juice, stop,” your tone was annoyed but you could feel the weight in your chest starting to lighten as he pestered you with a knowing smirk on his face.
“What’s going on? You don’t get to ignore me all night and then tell me you’re jeal—”
“I like you, alright?” you huffed, shaking your head and running your hands over your head, “I like you. And I know it’s dumb and goes against everything I’ve ever said to any of you guys. But you’re sweet and funny and cute and I didn’t think anything of it until I saw you with that girl all over you and I just,” you sighed, “Fuck.”
He gave you a second to get your thoughts in order, leaning his back against the bar next to you. You weren’t looking directly at him but you could see the smile on his face. He gently nudged you, “Hey,” he waited for you to look at him, “I like you too. And, for the record,” he smiled, “you don’t have to be so upset about liking me. I’m not that bad.”
It finally got a laugh out of you, “I never said that.”
“That what this has been all about tonight?” he motioned back and forth between the two of you, “Because of some random girl who wouldn’t leave me alone?”
“You didn’t seem to mind it, Juice,” you shot him a disbelieving look.
He chuckled, “I’m only human, alright?” he turned his body so it was facing yours, “But why didn’t you just say something? Because I mean, I’ve never been subtle. You’ve known how I feel.”
You felt your face heating up, “I know.”
“Then why—”
“Because I didn’t want to admit it,” you turned so that you were finally facing him head-on, “And I’m sorry for that. And…for the rest of it.”
There was a smirk on his face, “It’s alright.”
“Why are you still being so nice to me after I was such a dick to you?”
He laughed, a wave of bravery washed over him and he reached out to rest his hands on your hips, “You weren’t that much of a dick.”
“Well,” you couldn’t help but to laugh, “thank you for that.”
“C’mere,” he chuckled as he pulled you in close and hugged you. You let yourself lean into him and for the first time all night you felt your body relax. His warmth bled over onto you immediately as you loosely draped your arms around him.
You felt him kiss the edge of your forehead and you pulled back to look at him. It was evident in his eyes that he was trying to figure out if he pushed it too far. You smiled as you reached up and rested one hand on his cheek for a moment before pulling him down to you and pressing your lips to his. You felt his lips curl into a smile as he wrapped his arms tighter around you.
When you finally pulled away to catch your breath, you could see the glint in Juice’s eyes, “What?”
He shook his head, smiling, “Nothing. Just, you should’ve done this way sooner.”
You laughed, playfully pushing against his chest, “Easy for you to say.”
He kissed you again, softly, “You wanna stay?”
You shook your head, “No way. I know what goes on back in those dorms,” you laughed for a moment, before continuing, “But, if you’re up for it, I will cash in on that lift home.”
His eyes lit up, “Yea?”
You nodded, “Yea,” you dropped your hands so your fingers interlocked with his as you tugged him towards the door, “C’mon.”
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anime-kia · 3 years ago
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When Were You Gonna Tell Me?
(Fun fact: This story was inspired by a Family Feud question. Also, this was suppose to be a Levi x Reader story, but I decided it would fit Erik more. Enjoy! Warnings: Implied lemon, swearing and arguing. Drug use? Sure. 
Relationship: Boyfriend Erik x Expecting Reader
It was a warm, rainy evening in the Harlem of New York. The only reason why you and Erik were cooped up inside was because you just finished wash day and you couldn't have the rain and humidity messing with your hair. Erik didn't mind, he had more time to play MyCareer on 2K18. He was facing Miami, occasionally cursing virtual Dwayne Wade off. You were finishing your last twist, while watching an anime on your laptop that was recommended to you by Erik. Fairy Tail, you recall him saying; big tits, blue cats and magic. Now how could that keep you away?
Your first thought was, this looks childish. But when the blonde, Lucy, decided to use her "feminine wiles" on an old guy, you decided that this was not something you'd recommend to your younger cousins.
"Come on, bruh!" Erik jumped off the sofa with a scowl on his face, gripping the controller hard.
You looked at him, "It's just a game."
Man, he hated when you would say that.
He scoffed, "Girl, you don't know nothing about 2K."
"I know that it's a damn sports game about basketball."
"Whatever, what episode you on?" He sat back down.
"Mmh..." You moved your finger across the trackpad to bring up the information, "Damn... 98."
He lifted an eyebrow, "It's only been a week, ain't you working?"
"Yeah, but I get off in time to chill."
"Oh, aight."
You both went back to your "isolated" worlds, Erik still yelling at the TV, you, binge watching Fairy Tail. But by the 100th episode, you decided to stop right there. Your eyes trailed onto the TV. Erik wasn't playing against anyone, he was just dribbling around a gym.
"What are you doing?" You asked, taking one of your earbuds out.
"Ranking Lil E up."
"Lil E?"
"Yeah, that's my dude."
"Why Lil E?"
"Cuz I'm the only Big E." He smirked.
"Ew, don't call yourself that." You chuckled.
"Why you hating, baby?"
"Cuz it don't suit you. And it's corny."
"Aight, but you wasn't saying that when I was deep in your guts. Oh, it's so big, Erik!" He joked.
"Shut up." You giggled and rolled your eyes. "Why do y'all like this game so much anyway?"
"Cuz it's fun."
"That's it?"
"Nah, there's a lot more to it, but that's all your girly ass need to know."
"You know I'm not girly."
"That's not what your closet tells me, especially your panty collection."
"You going through my panty drawer?"
"I know every single pair, baby."
"If you weren't my man, I'd report your ass. That's perverted."
"It's not my fault when half your closet takes up a third of mine."
"You want me to pack up my things and stop coming over?"
"Hello no."
"Aight then."
"Watchu mean, aight then?"
"Nothing."
"Oh it means something." The game was now paused.
"It don't."
Erik grabbed your ankles, pulling you underneath him, "It does. And I wanna know." He was trying to intimidate you, in a good way though.
"It's not that serious, you're being extra."
"Do I have to dick that answer out of you?"
You chuckled, "Corny ass nigga."
"I ain't corny."
"Yes you is."
"No."
"Yeah."
"No."
"Yeah."
"Girly girl."
"Boy, shut up!"
"You didn't deny it, so it's true."
"It's not."
"Yes it is, you got pink panties with lace."
"You want me to wear granny panties?"
"Fuck no. I want you to wear the ones you got." He smirked, "Better yet, I'd love to see you without them."
"Well you wo-" You were interrupted by his lips connecting to your neck and sucking on your sensitive spot. "Mmh, Erik stop!"
He ignored you, and continued. He then made his way to your lips, slowly kissing them. He was the best kisser you've ever known. He always knew how to get you on with his slow and precise movements, occasionally biting your bottom lip, and using his tongue to explore your mouth. Everything was perfect, until he pulled away.
You silently pout, missing his lips.
He took off his shirt and began unbuckling his belt. You stared at the scars across his chest, wondering why they were there, but he would never tell you. Not yet... He would say.
"Why don't we spice this up?" Erik suggested.
"How?"
"Did you bring the rolling paper?"
"You know I don't smoke, Erik."
"That's aight, you don't have to."
You were silent for a moment, then gave in with a sigh. "They're in my purse."
"That's my girl." He kissed your cheek and got up, walking towards the bedroom to get them.
You stopped smoking for almost three years now. Your profession wouldn't allow you the time, so kicking the habit was a breeze. When you met Erik in college, he was a cool guy. But he balled up a lot. On Friday nights, you both would go to his homeboy's house just to play Pass the Blunt.
One time when you were going back to your dorm, your RA, a preppy bitch, almost got you in trouble. You convinced her goody-two-shoes ass that you came from a bonfire party, and they were throwing all types of shit into the fire.
Good thing the bitch never smelt loud before, you remember exhaling deeply while crashing on your bed, high as a kite.
Erik was still in the bedroom, you wondered what was taking him so long. Your purse was practically empty with only your wallet, hand cream, a tin of vaseline and napkins from Chick-fil-A, so what could be taking him so long?
He was probably just rolling up out of your sight.
Another ten minutes had passed and you were wondering if he just decided to get high on his own and call it a night. But he left the game on...
You got up, adjusting your oversized t-shirt, which was actually his, and went to the bedroom.
"Erik? I know you're not smoking in the bedroom." You said, pushing the door open.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, head resting in his hands, elbows propped on his knees. The weed laid on the night stand, unrolled.
"Erik?" There was something in his hand...
"When were you gonna tell me?" His voice was hoarse and choppy.
"W-what are you talking about?" You edged closer to him, but kept a safe distance.
He slowly looked up at you, his brown eyes were showing both anger and sadness. "Don't play stupid with me."
"I'm serious, baby. I don't know what you're talking about." You bit the insides of your cheeks.
"What the fuck is this?!" He raised his voice, revealing the white item in his hand. Your heart dropped into your stomach as soon as you saw it... Your pregnancy test...
"Erik, I-I-"
"Nah, don't bullshit. When the fuck was you gon' tell me?" His eyes were dangerous, reminding you to be more cautious around him at the moment.
"I was scared to tell you." Your voice was barely a whisper and tears were threatening to fall from your eyes. "I didn't want you to leave me."
"Why the fuck would I leave, it's mine ain't it?" He stood up from the bed, causing you to step back.
You didn't respond.
"It's mine ain't it?!" He repeated, raising his voice even louder.
"Y-yeah." Dammit, that voice crack just made you look so guilty.
"Nah you lying, it was my boy Jamal wasn't it? I saw the way that nigga was lookin' at you."
Now he was way over his head... Jamal was looking at you?
"I told you not to go to his house alone."
"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"
"You know what the hell goes down in that house."
"Yeah, bu-"
"Nah, I don't wanna hear it. You already knew that nigga ain't loyal to his girl. His eyes were always on you, but I told him I'd kill his ass if he tried anything."
"But we didn-"
"Fuck, man!" He punched the wall hard, causing you to jump. You were really terrified of this side of Erik... "It was when I stepped out to buy y'all pizza, right? Y'all was fuckin' behind my back!"
"Baby, lis-" Tears were falling from your eyes.
"Don't baby me, the only two people you finna call baby is that nigga, Jamal and the one growing inside you now."
You remained silent, watching him pace around the room.
"You so fuckin' lucky that I care about you, I would've knocked you on your ass by now."
You stayed silent, but continued to cry.
"You crying cuz you got caught. I should call Jamal up right now and tell his bitch ass."
"Erik." You quietly said, but he still paced, while saying ignorant shit.
"Lying ass nigga."
"Erik." You sniffled, he still didn't hear.
"Think he could fuck you, hell naw."
"Erik!" You rose your voice a bit more.
"I should-"
"N'JADAKA, FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!"
He immediately stopped and looked at you, shock evident in his eyes. That was the first time you ever used his real name.
He didn't speak, but stared you right in the eyes.
"If you would fucking listen to other people and not yourself for once maybe shit would be better!" You yelled at him, tears violently flowing out your eyes. "I never fucked Jamal, nor would I ever do that. I never told you because I was afraid this is how you would act! And I was fucking right!" You arms flared as you yelled.
"I-"
"No, it's your turn to listen to me! I was scared because I remember when I asked you if you ever wanted kids you laughed and brushed it off. I didn't know what the fuck that meant, you kept me guessing! It's always guessing with you! To answer your fuckin' question, your stupid ass got me pregnant! SO YES NIGGA, IT'S YOURS!"
You stormed out of the room, too afraid to see his reaction. If he cried you would feel terrible, if he lashed out at you, you would be hurt and scared... Sure you guys have argued before, but never like this.
You exited the apartment and briskly trudged down the glum streets, at this point you couldn't care if the weather fucked up your moisturized twists, you just wanted to get home as soon as possible. Away form Erik.
Your feet moved as fast as they could, knowing Erik could catch up to you in seconds. Running wasn't an option because you decided to wear flip flops.
"Baby!" He called out, you could hear his footsteps getting closer.
No, leave me alone... You mentally whined.
"Baby, stop."
You ignored him as he caught up to you.
He stood in front of you, "Stop."
You walked around him.
"Damn girl, can you at least listen to me?"
You continued walking.
"(Y/N)! Please, I know I was wrong!" He grabbed your arm and you tried to pull it away, but he had a vice grip. He pulled you into him, your head meeting his chest. "Let's go home and talk about this."
You sniffled, trying to push away from him, "Talk for what, so you can accuse me of fucking one of your niggas? Boy, bye!"
"I admitted I was wrong, please, listen to me."
"I don't want to hear it." You mocked him from earlier.
"We aint doin' this." He flung you over his shoulder, carrying you in the opposite direction.
"Ahh! Put me down, Erik!"
"Yo ass wanna play stubborn, I'll play stubborn too."
"Let me go!" You beat on his back.
"Nah. I know just what you need." There was a playful tone in his voice.
Before you knew it, you were naked under his bed, cuddling against his chest.
Fuck... He got you every time.
"See, all you needed was some good dick to calm your stubborn ass down."
"You really hurt me though... I can't believe you thought I'd sleep with someone else... Especially a nigga like Jamal." You ran your finger along his chest.
"Look, I was scared too. I thought that would be something you would tell me right away. My friend Trey got his girl's best friend pregnant, so I been scared that, that could happen to you."
"You really think I would sleep with someone else?"
"Nah, I know you loyal... I just been going a little crazy lately."
"I told you to stop smoking."
"Weed don't make you crazy."
"Hah, right." You rolled your eyes.
"You think weed is the problem?"
"Well partially, and also you just need new friends."
He chuckled, "Yeah, you right." His hand rested on your stomach. "So there's really life growing in there?"
"Yup."
"And he's all mine?"
"Yes, she is."
"You know the gender?"
"Nah, I'm just praying for a girl."
"We finna have a boy, watch."
"Girl."
"Boy."
"Girl."
"Boy."
"Whatever, I'm too tired to argue." You yawned, snuggling closer to Erik. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." He kissed your forehead, his hand still resting on your lower abdomen.
So... How was that chapter? Would you consider this angst with a happy ending? I think this was alright, this is the first time that I've written a story that is mainly focused on baby mama drama lol. I hope I did a good job. Also, writing about 2K was a interesting, I'm not into sport video games, they're just not that entertaining to me. Well, thanks for reading! This will be edited tomorrow, as it is 11 at night and I have school tomorrow :)
(Start/Finish) April 18, 2018 (Actually ended up being edited on the 20th)
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As we Lay Dreaming- chapter 4
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chapter warnings- strong sexual situations, implied and otherwise. Nothing explicit but you’ll certainly know why he’s king. Implied violence against female character, stress and worry of a young mother for her children, implied domestic abuse. Comfort, hurt, Dream being both sad and sweet and perfect because he’s a multifaceted being capable of basically wrecking us in more ways than one
summary- Dream in love only knows how to love big and though his face may not show it, his displays of affection are grand. He’s also a bit of a softie (when he's not vengeful and proud but we'll get to that side of him later *foreshadowing* )
an- I wrote 98% of this before the show, I'm excited for a fun little "hmm you look different" moment between Glory and Lucien later, because I love our show version, but for now I've left the last bit as is. The dreaming is fluid, so are the characters and so am I :)
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I never meant to get stuck in this place, in this town where I was born.
It's not uncommon to stick with what you know I suppose-- at least I tried. But having a single suitcase and a car with more attitude than a pissed-off cat does limit a body's chances of breaking free. Add four babies with the worst mistake you've ever made, and it starts to wear a woman down. That old town doesn't seem so bad, and neither do the excuses you make for staying.
That's why I don't want to let go of this...
I take a deep breath. The air in the dreaming smells of my mama's soap and summer lilies. I walk a path of golden pavers through clouds too heavy to float and remind myself that it's not all my fault, that I did try leave, back when there were only two kids and the carburetor wasn't busted. But it didn't take long for him to remind me of where I belonged, and I couldn't argue with such valid threats.
And that is why it will be even harder to keep myself from coming here, to the one place I have finally found refuge.
But to think my child might have been put in harm's way for the sake of my selfish heart is almost too much to bear.
With that ache lingering deep, I tell myself again and again that no matter how innocent my affection is for the lord of this land, I have to stop coming here.
But… how do I keep my sleeping mind from drifting this way? Walking the path to the palace is as easy as breathing. I do it without thinking.
I bite my lip to keep from smiling when I see it ahead. It looks like something from a storybook tonight. Taunting me with the possibility of happily ever after.
No. No, I don't get that. Not yet, not with lines blurring and my baby seeing ghosts.
My son is smart, a hell of a lot smarter than his daddy, but I will not push our luck. I only have a little time— a few visits left at best before he knows. I will teach my feet to stay free of these lands. I will! I swear it. Just not tonight...
Tonight, I sang old lullabies as I tucked the kids in. Tonight I smiled as I left their room and went to my own, knowing he was already a bottle in and not my problem. This late and no fumbling at the front door means he'll be sweating it out on another woman's couch. A woman who doesn't know what it's like when the charm wears thin, and all that's left is misplaced blame.
Tonight I laid down in my bed, alone on sheets that were mercifully cool after a late rain that brought the heat down, and I slept.
I sleep now, free of the waking world and make my way to Morpheus --to Dream.
***
I hide my girlish smiles behind my hand, trying to quiet laughter that bubbles up from my chest like secrets told between friends over soda fountain counters.
I haven't felt excitement like this in a very long time.
I remind myself that this is not forever, but he has something for me, and I can not refuse his gift.
"What is it!" I try again.
"Patience. And, I've already told you, we must go outside." He tries to scold me, but I see him hiding happiness. I had no idea Mr. Prince of Stories could keep secrets, well, not sweet ones like this.
I lay beneath him in bed with Dream on his side, gazing down at me. My heart has slowed back to its steady beat, but my hands still shake after the rush. We've been in his rooms since I got here some, hours, days, quadruplanes, popcorn, windowsills— what is time other than silly words that mean nothing? However long ago, minutes pass as a feeling when I am here, and often, mine are counted in climaxes.
With a very content sigh, I think of how he'd held me around the small of my back with one arm, the other hand binding both my wrists over my head in the soft curls of my hair as he moved over me. He watched my face, taking as much pleasure from every expression as I did every good thing he did to me.
I stop my fingers from tremblings and reach to brush Dream's hair away from his eyes. The stars sparkle, and I am taken aback.
Is that the look of mischief? From him? This ancient and powerful thing, too serious to know when to uncross his arms and laugh at a joke? Too reserved to engage Matthew in a bit of banter or Lucien with a witty remark? Maybe he's just playing a game with us all. Because I think he knows —the corner of Dream's mouth lifts into the subtlest of smiles— oh. He knows. Ass.
"Can you walk?" He asks, ready to show me what it is. (and there's the dry humor I've just accused him of hiding).
I laugh and remind him to be humble. Still, I do have to steady myself at the edge of the bed, but when I stand, he follows and, without me even realizing he's gone and come back, drapes yards of black across my shoulders, and as it always does, that linen and silk and every fine thing becomes what it needs to be.
Tonight it is robe-like, slipping from my shoulders as I go to the little table by the windows. I pour some wine and eat a little food, well aware that he's watching me as he shrugs on his own black, covering that beautiful body of lean, marble white muscle. He looks like the only image of a roman statue I have ever seen. For just a moment, I imagine Dream frozen in place on a pedestal, towering over ancient people, standing just as he is now. I wonder, if I ask would he let me travel there in dreams?
He comes to me quickly, unable to stay away, and I laugh at his affection. The King of Stories likes to touch the curve of my neck; he has since the first time I entered his rooms. The backs of his fingers run down the smooth swan-like shape to my collar bone; it is the shape that makes him follow me around his own halls, not so secretly longing to touch me again.
"Would you like some?" I ask, finishing my wine with his lips on my shoulder.
"No," He says against my skin. "Let us go outside." He eyes me like he might take the robe off but changes his mind and glances out the windows before looking at me again. Dream traces the curve of my ear with the tip of his long finger, making me grin and shrink away.
His voice makes parts of me shiver and tighten, but I just set down the cup and lead the way from his quarters –the tops of my breasts his guiding point whenever he gazes down, not to be outdone by my thighs that break through the slit of my robe flowing behind me like a black flame making room for the rhythm of my walk, which seems to be the place he stares when he inevitably takes charge– until we come down to the grand atrium and go out through the garden doors.
Nothing is ever the same here, but always in its right place, so I let him take me to where we are meant to be.
Over hills and a broken bridge. Through day and night, and space without time. Jungle gardens and rusted-out junk places we walk, talking of everything and nothing. It is so easy with him that I almost forget the reason for our stroll. This is how it is when I come now that we can control ourselves somewhat. I smile, thinking of the dreams that were nothing but bodies wrapped in bliss. Mine small and timid, but only at first. Then I was eager and hungry to learn my way around his until I could move with some confidence. Now we share body and mind in nearly equal parts. Neither of us is complaining.
Sometimes we walk hand in hand; sometimes, I wrap my two around his arm and hold tight, laying my head on his shoulder, well as much as I can reach, he is so very tall. I like the way he feels when we walk that way, he becomes a pillar of protection. I don't need it here, but I try to remember the feeling for when I wake up.
Sometimes we walk hand in hand; sometimes, I wrap my two around his arm and hold tight, laying my head on his shoulder, well as much as I can reach, he is so very tall. I like the way he feels when we walk that way, he becomes a pillar of protection. I don't need it here, but I try to remember the feeling for when I wake up.
We're that way now as he explains the way we've just come. It was long but I trust him fully. So I am surprised when Dream stops and hooks his finger under my chin.
He lifts and looks down at me "I confess, we could have taken a much shorter route." He says and steps back.
As I see now we are still here; the castle is a short walk behind us. "What?" I am stunned; I know my smile and frown melt into the same expression because I truly thought we'd come so far. But how do you scold the King in his own kingdom? I can think of a few ways, I just don't want to. Not at all.
"I-I missed you." Dream says, his face long and weary with the weight of confession. "I got lost in the moment."
My hands are on his chest and I rise to my toes in an attempt to get closer. He is kind enough to meet me halfway, and our mouths meet with a soft urgency that is my answer.
I miss you always.
We part, breath shared as I smile, wondering why he thinks he should ever apologize for walking with me. Dream strokes my face. "Keep your eyes closed," He says, his lips kissing mine briefly before he stands over me again.
Rockets of excitement shoot off in my mind like the fourth of July while he steps behind me and his hands close over my shoulders. He turns me around and tells me to open them.
I blink a few times, even though it is not bright here, and there it is.
A blank slate of open land.
It is a deep emerald green under the sky of pale blue gray. So perfect, so new.
"This is yours. I give it to you freely, but– of the heart."
I do not have words.
"All things that are made in the dreaming are mine, as is written in the first laws that were made long ago. But this is yours to shape as you wish," I feel him hesitate and look at me, not the land, like his words carry more meaning beneath the surface. "Should you ever wish it…"
This is my gift. The Dream Lord has given me a piece of himself.
We stand high up on the hill, looking out at his kingdom and my place in it.
When I close my eyes, the air feels like the relief of a summer breeze without the sweltering heat that comes first.
He is waiting for my reply, but I do not know what to say.
Dreams voice is soft, broken, "You don't have to take it."
I study it, look out and imagine this land is like clay. I could mold things here that people might dream about one day. Something stirs in me, A memory. I think maybe I like the idea of creating.
Looking up at dream, at Morpheus, so severe and stiff in this beautiful place, all I can do is sigh. Poor thing. He doesn't know how kind he is, I think. Or if he does, he is afraid of what it means. He does not want to be too much like us, like humans. Well, too bad, I think, nearly crushed by the feeling of love swallowing my heart. You're as sentimental as we are.
"Will you sit with me?" I ask, and he gives a nod.
We both lower to the short soft grass facing one another, but our attention is on the gift at hand. I am silent as I take this in, but really I want to climb onto him, wrap my arms around him, kiss his strong neck– that beautiful neck that is long and whipped by strands of black hair in this gentle breeze– I want to inhale his scent until I can finally place what it is. I just breathe him in, open my thighs and take him in… never let him go. How can I thank him?
He has made a place for me. Me. A woman with a body that has carried another man's children and the struggle of mortal life. Me, a girl who just wants to know this joy asleep and awake.
I push my palm to my heart, hoping he can't hear how loudly it's beating. The truth is, if I can not come back so often, I don't want him to think it's because of this. Like it's too much or he's scared me off. No, damn him, now I never want to leave when leaving is what I came here to do and now this is everything and more than I would have ever asked for.
Without a word, Dream shows me that he knows.
He reaches over and lets the tear welling in my eye drip onto his finger. One and then the other, he touches me as gently as he would a wounded raven.
"You're welcome." He says so softly I shiver and Dream smiles. He is pleased. I see the way the tension eases just a bit. But as he speaks, I hear the sadness in his voice. It's not the gift. If he knows that I am thankful, he also knows why I worry. Because of who and what he is, he knows everything.
The moment my eyes closed and I stepped into his world, he knew my intentions and hesitations about coming here.
Now we share the sadness in silence.
For better or worse though, I am as good at ignoring the inevitable as he is.
"I would put a lake there, "I finally say, pointing far in the distance.
"A lake?"
I nod. "It's so hot and dry where I live. Until it's not. Then come the rains. Then it's a swamp. Never just a body of water to admire. I would put a lake there and a little place to sit and listen to the ripples."
"A good start…"
"But?" Of course, he has notes.
"Don't limit yourself Glory; this place knows no bounds. You are not like most people. You have a mind full of color and I would see you paint a world with your thoughts."
My heart flutters, and I am reminded that Dream can make anything feel possible.
"You know," I smile up at him. "At first, I thought you only wanted a friend."
"Really?" I can tell by the raised brow he doesn't believe me. He gets up and goes to the lone tree on the hill. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, you didn't touch me."
Dream reaches to take fruit from the tree but stops and looks back. "It was your first time here."
"Not all men would be so polite, my Lord" I fill him in with a look to match my tone. Sometimes I think he forgets that I know things too.
His rebuttal, though, is, as always, enough to make me feel both small and safe, and puts a real smile on my face. "I am not all men." He turns and, with casual ease, plucks a fruit and comes back, handing the large, plum-like thing to me and sits down.
It is dark purple and tastes like the smell of wine. I used to breathe that smell in, hard as I could when my grandma and I would visit her friend Delores. As a woman of the world, Delores always kept a bottle of plum wine in her cellar for the smallest treat after dinner.
I remember the feel of her lace table runner under my fingers as I listened to their stories and gossip.
"Why?" He asks.
"Why what?"
"Why would you think I only wanted a friend?"
"Because you're so alone here," I tell him and reach for his hand. I interlace my fingers through his and smile because they look plump with life compared to his. "There's just the things you've made and your siblings who come and go but never stay."
The breeze knocks the draped gown from my shoulders; my bare leg is bent over his in the black that covers his flesh of white. I can not see what we look like, but I imagine it to be something like a painting in candlelight.
I wait, worried because it will hurt to have his isolation brought up but he can't expect me to hold back everything I say even if he does lack patience at times. His hand slips free.
"A friend." He looks away, sifting through his thoughts like sand. The word has a different meaning for Dream. "Yes." He answers and turns back to me, traces the high outline of my hair with his gaze before looking back down and into my eyes, "I suppose I had hoped for that between us. How fortunate then, that my woman should also be my friend."
I smile as I bite the fruit and chew, trying to wipe the juice, but he catches it with his finger and swipes it from my chin.
"Friend, lover, who would have thought the mighty king could find so many things in a mortal" I tease my own greatness, but Dream seems to agree. He is not amused; I think maybe he is enamored.
"You are much more than that, Glory. It still intrigues me… who and what you really are," He says softly, the expression on his stoic face alternating between curiosity and desire. But as he looks off again, Dream falters. His mask cracks, and I am given a glimpse of every time that he has ever loved, knowing that he has always lost. How many have there been for a being whose life is infinite?
I've never known the stars to look so dim.
"Oh Dream," I sigh and reach for him, wanting nothing more than to promise I'll never go. If only I could make promises like that, he deserves them. I can only hope he doesn't regret the gift.
He takes me by the wrist, the one with the hand that holds the fruit. Juice runs down my arm thick as the tension between us. I can feel how it will end, parts of my body know before my brain does, but we have already done so much-- so much I did not know you could do-- I am tired. And still, when he tightens his hold, leans in closer and we look at one another, it is shocking how quickly my exhaustion begins to fade.
My pupils dilate, my cheeks flush, lips part. I feel my heart race when he grabs me by the leg with the other hand, his touch tickling the sensitive skin behind my knee.
"No!" I laugh despite how easily my draped fabric falls away, leaving my body practically bare for him. "King of my heart." I try in playful vain, the sarcastic tone causing one black brow to lift as though he might be insulted, and that's all the encouragement I need, "Of nightmares and dreams!" I go on, making light of such lofty titles with a wide grin. He gives a low grunt of disapproval that makes me cackle and shriek when he pulls my leg until I fall back into the grass with him on top of me.
It takes my breath away.
"I can not!" I submit, pleading softly, looking up into his eyes, distracted for a moment by his lips. "I can not," I whisper, even as I feel his strong leg push mine aside. "How is it that your kind can have the same needs as a mortal man? Are all things male the same? Are you never satisfied?"
"Are you?"
I look away, bite my own lip that tastes like wine and look back up at him. I swear by both stars I could look at him every day for the rest of my life and still never be able to express what I see.
"Are you satisfied?" He asks again, pressing hard against me whether he means to or not. I shake my head no, perhaps a little too enthusiastically and his low, confident laughter is thunder in my heart. "Then neither am I." He says and pulls the black that is both linen and silk and every fine thing away to let our bodies touch, and when he finds me, I scream my pleasure, dropping the half-eaten fruit, watching as it rolls down the hill.
***
"Eh uh, how long you think she can keep that up?"
The rhythmic moans of the master's guest echoed down the length of the castle hallway.
"Mervyn, that isn't polite." Lucien chastised as they put distance between them and Lord Morpheus' chambers.
"Yeah," the raven agreed from overhead. Mathew cawed and swooped down to hover. "The better question would be, how long can they keep that up." He made the odd but pleasant sound of a bird's laughter and followed his companions with a few flaps before landing on Lucien's shoulder. "But I thought they were out in the new place he made for her."
A few sighs and a moan from a voice— a distinctly male voice— made all three stop in their tracks and turn around to stare towards the sound.
"They have long since come inside," Lucien informed the other two.
"I uh, I ain't never heard the boss make that sound before," Merv said.
"I've never heard him make any sound before," Mathew added somewhere between scandalized and fascinated.
Each of them, in turn, pulled a face as the two voices joined together in what could only be described as a zealous but incredibly enticing duet. Lucien tugged at his necktie; Merv's cigar went to ash, and feathers fell from Matthew like it was molting season. He hadn't molted since he'd been alive.
Lucien cleared his throat. "Don't you have work to get back to?" He asked, pulling Mervyn along.
"Well, I'm not in that big a rush!" The old pumpkin head gawked as she yelped and giggled in the distance.
The master's deep laugh entwined with her explicit moans had Lucien scrambling to regain his dignity. "Alright enough. Enough. Come. Let's not embarrass ourselves any more than we already have."
"Think she'll be the new mistress?" Matthew asked, sounding hopeful as they headed for the library, leaving the couple in raucous peace.
Merv laughed and took a long pull from his cigar, broom tossed over his shoulder. "After that, I think she'll be the new master."
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hobbitsetal · 3 years ago
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(Not OP anon), but can you expand your issue with grmm/GoT’s writing & worldview ?
I would love to! Let me add the caveat that 98% of what I know about GRRM's stuff comes from cultural osmosis. I read an excerpt of the first book and that's been my sole direct exposure to GoT.
But from what I understand about his work through cultural osmosis, he's the poster child for grimdark fantasy: fantasy that puts an emphasis on "gritty realism" and writes without ultimate hope or a sense of ultimate morality. His work is about a dog-eat-dog world, where death happens at any moment, where good doesn't necessarily triumph, and where the strong survive.
On one level, realism is a good thing for art to reflect. On another, and this is the level upon which I take issue with GRRM, art doesn't need to revel in the filthier sides of life.
From what I understand of GoT, both books and series parades the seediness of life in great detail. It wallows in the mud. It holds up filth and sordidness and says, "This is what life is like!" The noble characters die. The scheming, devious, evil characters win out until someone more devious manages to kill them. It's brutal and ruthless and violent in every way.
By way of contrast, let's talk about The Witcher. I've watched and tremendously enjoyed Netflix's show (though it is certainly not for everyone!). On the surface, it contains everything I list when I say I don't want to watch or read GoT: it contains explicit sexual material, lots of swearing, and lots of bloody violence.
But here's the difference: The Witcher also rests on a foundation of good versus evil and on hope. The titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, over and over chooses to do the hard thing, to protect life at personal expense. And he isn't always rewarded for it--in one episode, he saves a monster and turns it back into the human it should have been, and promptly gets bitten for his troubles--but he is always presented as right and heroic for his choices.
This is not to say he is above fault. He hurts others sometimes. He makes bad choices. He's surly and antisocial and can be a jerk. But he's also selfless. He chooses to help others. He chooses to seek the truth of a situation instead of accepting it at face value, even when the truth means he gives up a lucrative bounty and gets himself into trouble.
That's the heart of it, for me: The Witcher is about a man trying to do the good and right thing. GoT is about selfish people scrabbling for power at any cost and good people dying because they won't play that game, and that's presented as How Life Is.
Art should be about Truth, yes. And the truth is that life can be sordid and messy and ugly, yes. But from what I understand, GRRM presents that sordidness as all that life is. Life is all about politics and backstabbing and bloody revenge. And to that I say, no.
Early signs of civilization are the bones of the ancient dead that reveal societies that cared for the sick and injured. They're the grave of a child buried with its head on a pillow, laid to rest as if it were sleeping. They're the ancient myths and fairytales of the couple that's kind to a stranger and receives a reward from the gods.
And those signs and myths and fairytales have no place in GRRM's world. His is an inherently suspicious world, in which kindness is either naive stupidity or a ploy for some deeper nefarious purpose. I have no use for that worldview.
Bad things happen in The Witcher. One brutal event in the season 2 finale left me sick, physically and heartsick. All of the characters, even the heroic ones, have made choices and done things that I find wrong. But the heart of the story, the overall tenor of the story, is that of hope. Good is worth striving for, simply because it is Right.
Life has a lot of brutal and ugly things in it. But it also contains beauty and hope and people who will help strangers out of kindness or give up something they want for something they think is right. Ideals coexist with pragmatism and kindness lives alongside cruelty.
As GK Chesterton so perfectly put it, "Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
GRRM doesn't tell us dragons can be killed. (Ignore plot events and focus on the metaphor.) And I believe dragons can be killed. That's my issue with him.
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