#he mostly avoids it unconsciously

[radiance1]

When the Justice League heard of Phantom, they believed they had to act quickly. Based on what they were told by the GIW, a branch of the government they had no knowledge of previously (Batman is working to correct that), the ghost was dangerous and extremely powerful.

A ghost that terrorized a small town that they GIW have tried-and failed- on numerous occasions to send back to the Ghost Zone. The GIW wouldn't have come to the Justice League for help if it were just that, but based on what they have claimed Phantom has achieved an inexplicable rise in power after having met with the King of ghosts himself.

If what they say is true, then ghosts could potentially invade and cause an all-out war with humanity that the Justice League would rather much avoid thank you.

Negotiations for peace or understanding have been repeatedly rejected and the GIW has been led to believe that Phantom has done something to the Fenton couple. The leading ecto-biologists in the world, years of research suddenly wiped clean off and acting much more cordial towards the ghost.

A complete 180.

So much so that you could even claim them to have been mind controlled. Which isn't outside the realm of possibility due to ghosts having an innate ability to overshadow others and control them.

Perhaps even the entire town has fallen under Phantom's control. Even another ghost, who had just been recently opposed to Phantom, has fallen under his control.

So the Justice League had to act fast.

---

Danny was fucked.

He could tell that very, very well. He still didn't have his entire new... dragon thing... under control very well, mostly sticking a half human like form. His powers were stronger yes but he couldn't really control them well.

Which is kinda why he's fucked.

Danny has never heard about the Justice League before, mostly because he had recently found out that apparently Amity Park was isolated. Like, extremely. Basically it's own little world cut off from the rest.

So when they appeared with the GIW he thought, hey, maybe they were finally changing their white suit shtick.

He didn't expect them to be extremely well-trained, have supernatural abilities or magic. Along with their usual tech well.

Yea.

Danny was fucked.

And he was very, very scared.

He's already died once but that didn't mean he wanted to die again, and he knows that he would probably be heavily experimented on if the GIW actually got their hands on him.

He was alone. He was surrounded. He was outnumbered. And he was oh, so very scared.

His family and friends had already fallen (thankfully not dead, just unconscious he thinks) and Vlad was occupied elsewhere, also fighting.

So Danny was alone.

No one would be coming to help him.

So what did he do?

He opened his mouth and did something he didn't do often. Despite that he could see that they somewhat recognized what he was about to do and tried to find cover.

Danny wasn't aiming at them.

He pulled his head back, mouth aimed at the sky.

Danny wailed.

It was waaaay more powerful than he had originally thought, so he was glad he aimed it at the sky.

As soon as it was over he felt drained, swaying on his feet and trying to use his tail to steady himself and not fall off his own claws.

They didn't know what was happening.

Danny just hoped it worked.

---

Neither the Justice League nor the GIW knew why Phantom shot one of his most powerful attacks up into the sky, but they did see the opportunity it presented.

Phantom was weak. Looking like he would fall off his own feet and fall unconscious.

They had to act quickly.

But before they could, from right where Phantom had wailed into the sky.

It cracked.

And continued to crack.

Until a large hole appeared in the sky, leading into a dimension of endless green.

The Infinite Realms.

They believed Phantom was trying to retreat.

They were wrong.

Two roars came from the portal, forcing everyone to cover their ears.

Then.

Something came out of the portal.

A long, serpentine dragon flowed out, flying around the area of the crack before descending down and around Phantom.

Then.

A giant claw grabbed onto the edge of the crack. Pushing against it until it broke, forcing the hole bigger and bigger as a much, much larger dragon stepped out. Standing protectively over the serpentine dragon and Phantom.

A large crown wrapped in flame floating about its head signified its status.

The Ghost King.

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

Yandere batfam or justice league with a reader who’s afraid of strong people/men due to a past abusive relationship? She never wants to feel that powerless and weak again so she actively avoids interacting with anyone stronger, bigger, taller any more than necessary. She doesn’t hold it against other ppl she just has a lot of trauma that she’d rather not work through and feel safe in her little bubble

Hit me Hard and Soft

Synopsis: You get saved by Robin, but not everything is as it seems.

Pairing: Yandere!Poly!Romantic!Batboys X Gn!Reader

Tw: All characters aged up, of course; Mentions and descriptions of violence, including physical, psychological, sexual and financial abuse, and Damian fighting criminals (I'm particularly proud of the action scene I wrote); Drugging and being unconscious; Mentions of death of minor characters and suicide; Mentions of past grooming (Reader's ex) and age gap (Reader’s ex, Reader X Bruce, and the batboys age is not mentioned); Implied stalking; Mentions of kidnapping; Reader's very traumatized and weary of everyone; Reader doesn't trust the police; Mention of a panic attack and descriptions of actual panic; Guns and knifes; Mention of cigarettes; Implied needles; English isn't my 1st language.

Requested? Yes.

Extra notes: Wish I had more interactions between Reader and the batboys here, but I'm more than willing to make a part 2 with the right idea.

General masterlist | Hit me Hard and Soft - Series masterlist

He's back again. You wish you could say you didn't know why he always came back, but you did. The food wasn't that great and it wasn't that close to where he told you he worked or lived. It also didn't help that he always made sure to be served by you. And that he flirted with you.

— Evening, (N/N)! Is there something as sweet as you on today’s menu? — You gave a small and polite laugh.

— Strawberry pie… As always…

It was kinda sad, but mostly scary. If it wasn't for your ex, you would be thrilled to have gotten the attention of Dick fucking Grayson. The whole city knew he was handsome, rich, talented and charismatic. Gotham's sweetheart, Gotham's golden boy. And from your daily interactions, he lived up to the expectations. He was polite even when flirting with you and asking you out. Yet, something held you back.

— Nice! Since you get out in a few, why don't you bring in two slices? One for me and one for you, it's on me, of course. — You shook your head quickly, with an empty heart, just wanting to get away from him as fast as possible.

You were with your ex since you were 17 to 26. Almost 10 years wasted on a dirtbag. He convinced you to leave your friends, to leave your family, to leave your job. As soon as you started living together, you were completely dependent on him. Sometimes you blamed him, sometimes yourself, sometimes the people you had around you, but back then, where you came from, people weren't questioning the imbalance of powers between a 17 year old highschooler with no job and a 23 year old man with a steady job and living alone.

He convinced you that going to college and ending your relationship was the worst decision you could take. Then, that you didn't need your family, he could take care of you. One day, he decided you couldn't have friends.

He often locked you inside the house, cursed your skills and appearance, neglected your overall health, intimidated you, screamed at you, broke your things that he did and didn't pay for. He hurt you physically, even sexually. You knew both dating him and leaving him was hard, you just expected living with the scars was going to be easier.

And it was! You decided to run away from him and to Gotham when you received the news that your mom died and he didn't even want to let you go to the funeral. The grieving made you reflexive and you realized how shitty your situation was. For years you just thought that it would eventually get better, that you just needed to be strong, that he showed he loved you when he wasn't being an asshole, that you couldn't get anything better, that he made you feel special.

You couldn't even go to the police, he was a cop, you knew the chances that in any scenario you would lose. So you ran.

You knew it was dangerous, but you had nothing to lose. If he didn't kill you, you would do it yourself. You made a plan, drugged him, took some of his money, used his house keys, left everything behind for the second time in your life. You didn't waste time asking for help from the people you knew. You took the bus and went as far away as you could.

Your paranoia was so bad that for almost a year, you would settle in a city, work to save up enough, and leave again, rinse and repeat. Eventually, Gotham seemed big and far enough to go by unnoticed.

Or that's what you thought, until Dick Grayson stopped by the diner you worked to have breakfast before going to work, as a cop, and decided you caught his attention.

Since then, he came back everyday. Either breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just to hang out with some family member, usually one of his brothers, his dad appeared with him sometimes too. Your boss loved the attention Bruce and Tim attracted, the two most media active ones, since they both led Wayne Enterprises.

Eventually, even them started appearing multiple times a week. You thought you were healing, until you found yourself crying for almost four hours at home in a panic attack.

You didn't want their attention. Not only was it weird, but they were just so… Superior to you.

They were all taller, more muscular, faster, smarter, richer. It was like reliving the beginning of your relationship at 17, plus 10 times worse. Five because they were five people mirroring your ex, and more five just because of your trauma, experience, negativity and lack of naiveness.

Also, why were they ALL into you??? And they were aware of it! It was weird! Why??

Bruce Wayne was disarmingly charming in his dilf way. Dick was surprisingly accessible. Jason was soft spoken despite his resting bitch face and leather jacket. Tim was cute in a nerdy way. Damian almost made you laugh with his sarcastic humor.

Either way, you never wanted to feel as little as you felt before, so you just did your job, acted polite, but ultimately kept your distance.

Freedom has its difficulties, one of them being that you need money, and for money, you need a job, which means sometimes you have to stay until closing time, at 11 PM, in Gotham.

You're not the only employee to stay so late, but you and your co-worker live in opposite directions, so walking alone it is. They're taking the bus, but you only live two blocks away, so you gulp down your anxiety and keep walking. One hand on your pocket, holding your taser firmly, and keeping your head up, turning to look at every sound.

It's cold, and the street is empty and dimly lit. Some places are so dark that you wonder why you're even paying taxes if the streetlamps won't work.

Two men turn the corner a few meters in front of you, one at least a foot taller, the other, two inches max. They're wearing hoodies and their hands are on their pockets, the light behind them creates a shadow that doesn't allow you to see their faces, nor where they're looking at, but they are coming in your direction.

There's a car, parked between you both. Some people might think at this point it's just paranoia, but you’ve heard stories of people walking next to cars, getting pulled inside by someone who was hiding in there, and getting kidnapped.

Your first instinct is flight, so you turn around, ready to run, even if you look weird in case those guys weren't planning to do anything with you, just to see other two guys emerging from the other corner, those two almost as tall as that first guy. Aside from the smaller one, they're all broad, even with their thick clothes covering them.

One of them has a cigarette on his mouth, which he throws on the ground when you turn your attention to him. Your fear might have caused you to hallucinate, but you're almost sure he's smirking.

You freeze for a second, your only escape is to run to the side, and pray their long legs don't get to you first. You think you hear one of them start hollering at you.

You only take a step to the side, when a loud crash startles you so hard that you have to look behind, while walking backwards to the street. You take a second to process the sight.

Robin is standing in the middle, just a few steps behind where you were standing a second ago. He's at least half a foot taller than all of them, and a lot broader. He's holding the tall one by his neck with his right hand, repeatedly hitting his head against the car’s window.

You're shell shocked, torn between staying put to watch this disaster, as interesting as a car crash, or running away. Gotham is so big that you never thought you would encounter one of its heroes, you weren't sure if you even wanted to.

When the guy seems to stop moving, Robin throws him against one of the other tall ones, the guy practically flies across 2 meters before hitting him, and when he does, they both fall to the ground. You remember all the times when your ex pushed you to the ground.

Your eyes are wide, horrified, watching the shortest guy take a pocket knife out of his pocket. Your throat locks, even if you want to scream for Robin to turn around, you only manage to stare and stay in place, however, the vigilant turns halfway around just in time to grab the guy by his wrist and his arm, just as he launched to stab him. He uses his body’s impulse to push the guy forward, the knife going to the fourth guy's shoulder, you hadn't even seen him get so close to him.

You look at the man from the car, he's still unconscious, the one who got tackled with him, however, is already standing and walking to the fight.

Everything’s happening too fast, you turn to the side to see the guy with the knife on his back on the ground, groaning and twitching in pain, while Robin is punching the shit out of the other guy, movements faster than you could ever dream of achieving. You remember being on the receiving end of someone's fists before.

With a final elbow to the cheek, the guy stumbles to the ground, you don't know what level of consciousness he’s in, by his posture before, you knew he was already compromised since the first hits he took.

Robin doesn't move, doesn't even turn to look at the guy who just fell, he's just looking forward, and when you notice this, you look at the remaining guy.

He's pointing a gun at him.

You don't think you can watch someone get shot in front of you, and you know if he gets rid of Robin, it's over for you. Logically, you knew these vigilantes somehow never die, still, it's counterintuitive to think he won't.

And he doesn't, in the blink of an eye, Robin's on the air, his right boot kicking the gun away, while still on the air, he wraps his legs around the guy's head, bends backwards, puts his hands on the ground, then launches his whole body to the front, the guy getting thrown over him. He falls to the ground, Robin stands on top of him with perfect balance. You don't even have time to process what just happened, the coolest and scariest thing you saw your whole life, when Robin punches him one last time. Now, he's definitely unconscious.

You’ve felt like a bystander this whole interaction, it felt like ages, but in reality all of this couldn't have taken more than 20 seconds, maybe even less than 15. You don't know what to do now. You're theoretically safe, but Robin’s still too big, too strong, too fast. He knocked out four guys without getting touched a single time. He broke a car's window. He threw around two guys who weighed at least 80kg. He's not even panting. And now he's looking at you.

A whimper gets stuck in your throat. You don't know if you should thank him, stay silent, or yell at him to stay away from you. When he takes a step in your direction, your instincts get the better of you and you turn around, running.

You hear him call your name, although your brain doesn't process it. You see headlights and look towards it. It's a car. You don't trust you’ll get help, but at least you're not alone. You run in it's direction, waving your arms and screaming bloody murder.

The car almost hits you, but you don’t process that until the last minute, but you get tackled to the ground just in time by the hero from before. You scream again, he's too close. Now, he's trying to hold you down. You keep screaming and trying to escape. You look to the side and the car just kept driving away, likely the driver wouldn't stay behind to be another victim to Robin's hands. You know you're not being rational right now, those guys are known for helping people, he just saved you, he's still trying to stop you from getting hurt, but you're scared. You've been scared since you were a teenager.

Your eyes burn, your arms and throat hurt, but adrenaline doesn't let you feel anything. Not even the invasion of a needle on your side.

— Was it really necessary? — Tim deadpans Damian, who growls.

— You would have done the same, Drake.

— No, I wouldn't. You were supposed to use the psychological first aid approach and (Y/N) would've calmed down and trust us more in the future. But of course, you never use your brain. — Damian growls, stepping towards Tim, but he is stopped by Dick’s hand resting on his chest.

— Damian, calm down, Tim’s right. You knew better than to sedate them. You knew of (Y/N)’s trauma and you knew the route we wanted to take. — Damian's brows furrowed and he crossed his arms.

— I knew your feelings toward (Y/N) would make you become impulsive again. — Tim looked at Bruce, who was silent, with hands intertwined and elbows on the table, focused on your vitals on the screen and the sight of you laid on the bed on the medbay. — Will you now consider just letting you, me and Dick keep an eye on them during patrol? — Damian and Jason scoffed.

— Why you aiming at me now? It was the demon who gave that guy brain death! — Jason protested and Tim looked at him.

— Just to be sure you won't freak out like him and kill thrice as many people, on purpose this time. — Jason glared at him.

— B, you better add more security measures around (Y/N), before Timbo tries to clone them or something. — He muttered with snark.

Dick shook his head and sighed, going to stand on Bruce's side, crossing his arms and looking at you through the camera with him.

— What's the plan now, B? They're probably waking up soon. — Bruce hummed, relaxing his stance and resting his back against his chair. The silence lingered for a few seconds, everyone just looking at you, waiting for the oldest’s opinion.

Bruce turned around, looking at them.

— … Damian, Tim's right. You were impulsive today and you killed someone, even if it was an accident. I stopped expecting that from you since you were 12, you're an adult now. You not only broke our trust, but (Y/N)’s already shattered trust. They need to know they're safe with us, and drugging them, instead of puting to use more time and effort to bring the comfort to them, is not going to do that. You weren't much different than the man who hurt them tonight. — His father's words were like a punch to Damian's stomach, leaving him speechless. Dick pursed his lips, not turning around as to make it easier to not comfort his brother just yet. Bruce turned to Tim. — Tim, I understand you want to take measures seriously. But you need to give Jason a chance. That was unasked for. — The mentioned blinked, still unacostummed with the treatment he received from his dad when he followed his rules. Tim looked away. Bruce turned to Damian again. — Damian, no patrolling around (Y/N) until you prove we can trust your temper again. — He waited for a confirmation, which came with a sneered lip.

— Yes, father.

Dick looked back a Bruce.

— What about (Y/N)? — He bit his lips. Bruce hummed, turning to look at the monitor again.

— … What do you all think?

— Well… Damian said their name, they might not remember it, but they can't just wake up at home. They’d try to flee from us. We could bring them home earlier, but our ideal plan was to make them come willingly, in the period of at least two years, in the best case. We could leave them at the hospital, and just keep our plan going. — Dick listed the possible strategies they could take. Bruce hummed.

Tim piped up.

— I already altered their phone's algorithm to send the job application as my assistant at Wayne Enterprises to them. And the Wayne Foundation’s application for the internship at Gotham Uni. — Bruce nodded.

— Damian? What do you understand about that? — It was clearly the beginning of his test.

— The more secure in their independence they feel, the easier it is to heal and open themselves up to new opportunities. — Damian exclaimed with confidence. Bruce nodded.

— Jason, are you still interested in college? — Everyone looked at Jason surprised, he was also surprised, he hadn't talked to Bruce about college since before he died.

It took a few seconds to processes what it would mean.

— Uh… I think so?! — Bruce nodded.

— What about me, father? — Damian spoke inquisitively. — I also want more opportunities to get closer to (Y/N)! — Bruce narrowed his eyes at him.

— We will think about that when you're in the clear.

— But-

— That's final. You reap what you sow. — Damian huffed and nodded begrudgingly. — … Now, since Robin was the one to save them, take the batmobile and leave them in the hospital. Then come straight back home. Understood? — Damian clenched his jaw and nodded silently, leaving to get your unconscious body.

Moments later, when you were both out, on the way to the hospital, Tim fiddled with the computer, the scream showed the batmobile’s tracker, your tracker, Damian's tracker, Damian's contact lenses’s camera and the car’s camera. They all looked at him.

— … It's just to make sure…

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[shocymer]

Want me to teach you?

"Starting off as journalism clubs buddies, you never know how your relationship will take turns after he offered to give you a lesson."

Pairing : Yunho x f!reader

Word counts : 2.3k

Contents & warnings : smut mdni! , college AU, gamer yunho, oral (receiving), size kink, big dick! yunho, slightly pussy edging, overstimulation, semi public sex, unprotected sex, creampie.

“There’s something between you and her. I mean like you’re in relationship or..?” Wooyoung asked him carefully.

Yunho’s eyes goes widen. He never thought of dating you in the first place. After breaking up with his longtime ex lover, he completely avoided the topic of romance. He’d been dating his ex since high school. But at the certain time they’re in college, she became a campus crush and immediately dumped him.

He let out a soft chuckle in response, “How could that be?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The atmosphere.. ehhm kinda heavy around you two.” Seonghwa suddenly chimed in while his finger moved in circle towards Yunho.

He raised his eyebrow, a thin smile form his lips after ridiculed by them.

“Nah we’re not. We’re just friends, that’s all.”

To be honest, he wasn't that surprise when they asked about it. It all started from two months before. You accidentally took a glance on Yunho’s phone. He’s immersed in Detroit: Become Human walkthrough video while waiting for other faculty journalism club’s member to come.

Then you happened to be walking behind him before taking a seat. “Oh you’re into that game too?”

“I want to give it a try.” He turn at you for a moment before his eyes glued back to the screen. “But I still figure it out whether this one worth it or not.”

You crossed your arms then slightly lean towards him in attempt to get a better view of the video. “Hmm.. It’s a shame if you know most of the plot through this. Like I want you to experience the true ending by your own choices.”

“Wait, you ever played this?” Surprised that you’re into gaming stuff.

“I did, but on PC. I don’t know if there’s any differences if you play it on your console.” You lean away from him.

Now, he’s more interested in you and leaving the video played alone in the background. Distracted by your little fingers fidgeting on the back of your phone unconsciously, as both of you deep in talk. He’s wondering why is it so small and weirdly cute. Then he glanced back to you.

“So you’re not used to play with the controller right?”

You nod at him, “yeah, last time I try it when I was in 7th grade or something. The grip was uncomfortable. Right after that, I decided PC is much more easier.” You paused for a second, “but sometimes I would love to try it again.”

He chuckled seems to know the reasons why. Proceed to clear his throat before he answered you back, “Want me to teach you?”

Deep sighed left from your mouth, “I’m pretty sure you’ll be mad at me the second we’re in.”

“No no, definitely not. I got patience as deep as the ocean. You sure know that.”

You rolled your eyes. “Right, definitely a saint in your past life.”

He laughed at your remark and how annoyed you’re right now. You smacked his arm, telling him to stop. Not too long, both of you getting ready for the club’s meeting as everyone already gathered in.

You thought he’d be joking. He never brought that idea again after the last conversation with you. He occasionally texted you only about the club’s activity or college stuff. Until a week after, he slide a brand new box of controller towards you.

“Better started now or never.” He slightly tilted his head, pointing to where the box landed.

“Yunho, you don’t need to buy me this. I- like just tell me when you’re-”

“Shhh.. save that nagging for later.” His delicate hand started to unbox it with care. Then he handed it to you.

It’s mostly dominated with white and soft blue colors on the side. Plus the kitty paw shaped the thumb grip, make it seems like a customized controller. You reach it in fascination. That’s super cute. Both of you think the same way, but completely on different matters.

Yunho kept looking at your fingers which is nicely wrapped the controller. His eyes following the direction of your little thumbs that moving uncoordinatedly, mimicking the way you’re gonna use it in game. Then, his gaze turn to your lips, looking at how cute and plump it is.

He shook his head, after that he explained to you about it’s feature, how to turn it on and how to charge it. You listen to him just like in one of your lectures. Remembering everything that he told you while nodding at the same time.

“Thanks Yunho, that’s so cute.” You looked at him in guilty. “I bet this was expensive right?”

“Well, actually not that much. I just want you to use it more if it looks like that.” He flicked your forehead. “This is my own wish. Don’t ever feel bad about it, okay?”

After that day, you spent almost every weekend playing co-op game with him. He patiently guided you from the voice chat. Dealing with how forgetful you are and a lot of complaints about your sore fingers. With that antics of yours, he only let out small chuckle or teasing you even more.

On the weekday, sometimes you met him in the club’s room. Mostly during the meeting or when you do the project. The moment you asked him to check your works, he’ll lean over from your behind and randomly put his hand on top of yours while the other hand is scrolling the mouse. There’s also a moment he covered the shelf corner with his hand when your head nearly bump it or he’ll immediately fetched the things you needed where it’s difficult for you to reach.

You never realize that, but not with your other two friends. Seonghwa and Wooyoung, they keep exchange glances across the room whenever Yunho and you act like a new pair of lovers. They’re a hundred percent sure sensing something more than platonic relationship, when the actual truth is not. There’s nothing between you two, yet.

⁠✧

It's 3 days before the exam period. The faculty journalism club already in chaos for past few weeks. They’re divided into two teams. First team is responsible with the faculty website news update, and here you are in the second team handling the semester end magazine. Your leader pushed the deadline earlier hoping the only left to do is printed it out at the end of exam day.

Your tired ass have been proofreading for solid three hours non-stop. Flipping through the revision sheet and going back to the laptop. Luckily you don’t have any class today. All of you agreed to finished it today. But alas, there’s only four of you left, and making it worse the other two need to leave too.

“Shit, I forgot to consult my thesis. I’ll be back at evening!” Seonghwa barging out in hurry. No wonder he’s literally your senior a year above you.

Not too long, Wooyoung following around as he got notification with a sudden class at noon. He’s cursing along the way. Of course all of you haunted with the leader’s wrath, considering how strict he is. You still remembered the looks on his face when the last project failed.

There’s only Yunho and you left alone. Silence along the typing sounds are the only sound that filled the room. At this exact time, most of the clubs room are empty. Either everyone still in the class or diving in the library preparing for the exam.

The work flow with him lasted for more than an hour. He’s occasionally sipping his iced coffee while working on it. He took the editing part, after that passed it on to you. But this time, his hand slipped, nudging the cup of his coffee. He could save it, but not with your pile of revision papers. It scattered all over the floor.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry.” He immediately crouched down as you do the same to collect the papers.

While collecting it in a rush, your fingertips brushing the back of his hand. Your face only a few inches from his side, making him shiver from the feeling of your warm breath against his skin. Then he turn to face you, staring deep into your eyes. Your heartbeat increase rapidly as he turning his hand to hold yours. His gaze shifted from your eyes to your small plumped lips.

When the tip of your noses touched, you couldn’t stand it anymore. You crushed his lips, kissing him hungrily. He pulled you in, till his back hit against the wall only to bring you on top of his lap while the kiss still not broken. He peeled off his denim jacket as the temperature keep raising between you two.

Gasping for some air, you pull out from the kiss. His index finger caress your cheek trailing down to you lips. You open your mouth to let it in wrestling around with your tongue. He let out small groaned at the sight of it. “I always curious how it taste like.” He lean in to you, whispering into your ears, “and that’s incredibly sweet.”

He picked you without a warning, gives you a quick kiss before plopping you down to the couch, then closed the curtains in swift motion.

Now he’s back to you, nibbling the nape of your neck, sucking on it, sometimes sunk his teeth beneath your skin. You’re squirming under him, gripping onto his hair as the sensation wash over you. He looked up to you, searching for your permission to go lower.

You nodded at him. He’s devouring your lips again while his hand pushed up your tight knee-length skirt, revealing wet trace over your panties. His fingers caress your clothed clit, moved in circular motion. You moaned between the kisses, you can feel he’s smirking on top of your lips.

He moved the panties to the side, then dip his finger into your folds. He chuckled, “you’re already this wet hmm?” Then he’s slipping in another finger, makes you gasped at how full it is inside. At first, his fingers moved back and forth slowly, but over time it’s moving faster making squelched noises due to how wet your pussy is.

He's amused by looking at the face you make right now, moaning out his name when you almost at the edge. He’s stopped in the middle of it, pulled out his fingers. “It’s not enough if it just like that.” He's immediately going down to yank out your panties, then sticking his third fingers into you, moving abruptly while his tongue flicking your clit, sucking on it hungrily. You grip onto his hair tighter, only strangle moan left out from your mouth before his another hand tried to cover it. You buckled your hip as you reaching out the orgasm, biting the palm of his hand trying to stifle your moan. He flicked his tongue few times makes your body spasm due to overstimulation. When you chasing down from it, he licked clean your pussy, then going back to kiss you, giving the taste of yours.

He take a step back, unbuttoning his jeans then pulled down the zipper, letting his cock sprung out from his brief. You took a peek on it with your half lidded eyes, still recovering from the last orgasm. It looks swollen, the unbelievable girth with it’s veins pop visibly, and the tip is glistening with the pre cum. He's stroking it for few times before lining it on your entrance. The tip is slowly in, you can feel the pain as it bigger than your thought.

He's leaning down to you, holding your hands, then trailing kisses on your neck hoping you to relaxes. “I’m sorry is it hurting that much?” He’s stroking your hair while looking into your eyes. “Not.. that much.” You answered him in teary eyes. He kisses your forehead then to your eyes. “It’s a still little bit more baby, can you take it?” You nodding at him. When it’s all in, he let it still for a moment so you get used to it. Then he start moving slowly while his hand unbuttoned your shirt, cupping your breast and slightly fondle it.

He thrusting it faster after he hear you moan in pleasure. His hand grip your waist, while the other hand busy teasing your clit. Your pussy tightened at every deep thrust, making him groaned at the feels. His hips moved erratically after pressing his hand on your stomach, feeling the bulge whenever his cock in you completely. Your nails digging in his clothed back as you feel the knot in your stomach. You squirted over him, making a mess on his shirt. He didn’t stop while your walls clenching on his cock, “you felt so good baby.” After few thrusts he filled your cunt, milking his balls empty. He pulled it out, then plopping himself beside you. Both of you breathing heavily while staring at each other. After realizing it, both of you laughing at how messy you’re right now.

⁠✧

“I’m baaack!” Wooyoung slammed the door open, his eyes goes widen at the sight of you two.

“Aren’t you guys tired? You didn’t move an inches since I left.” He saw you typing furiously on your laptop, meanwhile Yunho sorting out the papers beside you.

Yunho turned to him, “actually I need some snacks.” He gets up from his chair, then put his arms around Wooyoung’s shoulder.

Before they go, Wooyoung looked at you. “You don’t need anything? Or maybe you need some fresh air, you can go with Yunho instead. I’ll continue the rest.”

“I’m fine.” You paused for a second, “uhm.. well, maybe I want a smoothie.”

“Okay got it!” he gives an okay sign to you, then dragged Yunho along out of the club room. Yunho stopped his step, “wait I think I left something.” He ran back to the clubs room.

When he got there, he whispered something to you, “After this, do you still want me to teach you? My lesson isn’t done yet.” You flinched at his sudden peck on your lips. He smiled cheekily while leaving you speechless alone, squirming on your seat as you feel his juice spilled down over your thigh.

[writergeekrhw]

In the special features for Star Trek, the producers and writers often refer to Trek as a "period piece" in the same vein as Jane Austen or Bonanza, just set in the future instead of the past.

With this in mind, 90's Trek had very distinctive language usage. It is formal, even stilted at times, but it comes off as erudite and evolved. Even Patrick Stewart has commented how he could always tell when Star Trek was on TV because he'd hear the dialogue and recognize that distinctive formalness.

From a narrative perspective, this choice falls in line with the whole "humanity has evolved" theme. But from a technical writing standpoint, it seems to have served a much more important purpose of setting the time period by scrubbing the dialogue of any time-stamped, current slang.

So in this future universe setting, casual, current language (such as F bombs) would be akin to one of us using slang from the 1600's. It's jarring not because it's crass (for some it is), but because it cracks the suspension of disbelief that what we are watching is set in different time period because they are using our language, not theirs.

I apologize for the massive run up to this question (maybe I've completely missed the mark with my musings) but what were the instructions you were given that gave DS9's dialogue that "period piece" feel?

Good observations regarding language use in Star Trek.

There were no specific instructions on how to write "proper" Star Trek dialogue. It was mostly learning by doing. But we adhered to the same unwritten rules as TNG, and that could be gleaned from reading scripts and watching episodes. Once I started on the job, a few things became quickly apparent to me:

Avoid slang.

Avoid religious expressions.

Generally, dialogue between Starfleet characters should be respectful (or even warm), slightly formal, and thoughtful.

Playful is fine, but not too goofy.

Use metric units.

Most aliens don't use contractions or use them minimally.

There are probably plenty more that I learned (and adhered to) unconsciously, but those were the ones that jump out in memory.

[nicarnelian]

tell me when you’re ready.

₊˚⊹ featuring: kaji ren x gn! reader

₊˚⊹ summary: kaji doesn’t like you to see him like this — his animalistic urges taking over him as he fights. but, when the time comes that you catch sight of him in that state, kaji thinks you’re better off without him.

₊˚⊹ word count: 0.9k

₊˚⊹ warnings: mentions of blood and violence! (nothing too explicit though), grammar errors (not proofread!)

₊˚⊹ author’s note: live laugh love kaji ren <333 this is my contribution to the windbreaker fandom 😝 i’m still trying to practice writing him so feedbacks r welcome !

this was a side of kaji that you had mostly heard about in stories of his past, passed from one bofurin member to another. his gray pupils dilated, ends of his platinum blonde hair tainted with crimson red from trickling blood on his forehead cuts, his furin high school jacket and headphones carefully discarded across the warehouse, and a multitude of unconscious bodies and pools of blood surrounding your boyfriend, as he breathed heavily from the fight.

kaji had long suppressed these animalistic urges to take over him, not wanting you to see him like this. he does everything within his capabilities, but the both of you stand motionless at your positions, staring at the unfolding scene.

kusumi and enomoto's rapid footsteps echoed towards you, snapping your head in their direction. they were breathless due to fighting and probably running, as they were trying to shield you from seeing kaji in this state.

you were afraid. you had never seen your boyfriend fight like this before, as you mostly detested violence and tried to avoid it as much as possible. but, you felt kaji's gray eyes bore into yours. his hands dropped to his sides, almost dreadfully, and opened his mouth to speak, "so, what do you think?"

you tilted your head in confusion, "huh?"

kaji continuously looked at you, eyes hovering over your entire body to check if you had accumulated some scratches or such, "you're afraid, aren't you?"

you didn’t answer him, because he was right. you avoided his gaze and looked down towards the floor, tainted with rough marks and splatters of blood. he scoffed at your silence, perceiving it as an answer to his question, "i expected as much. if you can't handle this, maybe we should stop this now. i don't want you to see me like this."

your eyes widened at his statement.

you hesitantly walked towards him, feeling your shoes step into blood, staining them. once you stood in front of kaji, you placed your hand on his tensed shoulder, which relaxed under your touch. you pulled out a handkerchief and began wiping his bloodied face. "i know that we both are aware that i have always hated violence like this,” you began, dabbing at some of the blood.

"then, you don't hafta do this," he tried to pry your hand away from his blood. kaji thought he’s dirty, too disgusting for someone like you to touch. but, you still continued wiping his battered face despite his resistance.

"but, i want you to know that i would never break up over something like this. there are secrets that you have yet to tell me, and perhaps this experience was one of those secrets. which is why, i would patiently wait for you to open up to me, kaji." you said, as you felt his gaze onto your eyes. he, then, felt guilty as he could see them turning red, alongside your wavering voice.

"so, please..." the moment you tried to speak, it came out as a desperate whisper. your tears started to cascade downwards your cheeks. "do not ask me to leave you." you pulled your hand away from his face, finishing up on cleaning him.

your tear-stained eyes locked with his widened gray ones. this was the feeling he hated the most — seeing you cry, seeing that he's nothing but a failure of a boyfriend once again. he wanted to hold your hands, interlace them with his calloused ones, but, he felt as if he would only sully your clean hands if he became selfish with his desires.

as kaji hesitated, he felt your hands move to cup his face. you closed the distance between your faces, and gently pecked him in the lips. the corners of your mouth turned upward as you gazed at your boyfriend's softened features. "you know that i love you, 'kay?" you said, smoothing out random strands of his bangs.

kaji, then, gave into his desires and pulled you into a tight hug. you squeaked at the suddenness of his tight arms wrapped around you. he hummed a quiet ‘sorry’ as he rested his head on your shoulder and delighted himself with your scent. you smiled, as you equally wrapped your hands around his neck and carefully tugged and played with his hair.

"ahem!" while enomoto did not want to interrupt the both of you, patrol hours were coming to an end. kusumi, on the other hand, seemed to grin as he kept taking photos of the scene unfolding in front of him — a rare moment of their usually stoic grade captain being soft.

you could hear kaji rumble in annoyance, as he clicked his tongue. you pressed your lips on the edge of his earlobe, "my apartment?" you offered, as you intended to properly clean his cuts.

he simply hummed in agreement to your offer, reluctantly breaking the hug. kaji preferred to spend his time with you, basking in your scent at your apartment. and like a protective and obedient kitten, he laced his hand with yours and took his headphones and jacket, following your footsteps.

you could hear kusumi and enomoto snickering and laughing, respectively, at their captain's tender gestures — making kaji growl at them. you chuckled at your boyfriend as you watch him bid farewell to his vice-captains.

"i didn’t get to say it earlier, but i love ya too. and, uh… thank you for loving me." he mumbled, feeling himself cringe with his words, since expressing himself was one of the things he struggled with. you giggled at him and squeezed his hand, as his face slightly flushed in a light shade of red.

oh, how much you love him.

[seirindono]

What are Sloth Sans/Demon Sans Powers; relationships; what is he like in the other runs???

Ok, let's talk about Demon! Sans!

The embodiment of idleness, he's the predator of many emotions and states linked to this sin, such as apathy, depression and resignation.

We've already talked about his use of illusions (music/ hypnosis) to charm and disarm his victims, dreams being his preferred hunting ground, and one his unique ability (your personnal sleep paralysis demon), but he's just as much as a threat in real life!

His preferred strategy is to lower the enemy's stats (DEF, ATK, HP, etc) so he can finish them off with a single strike or, better yet, let their body slowly die while he lulls their soul into an endless dream.

He gradually deprives them of the desire to attack or defend themselves, amplifying the fatigue (physical and psychological) and sense of powerlessness, of helplessness hidden deep in their souls.

If he's in a playful mood or if his victim has upset him, he takes great pleasure in awakening their traumas by peering into their unconscious and projecting nightmarish hallucinations. Making them super aware of their situation is also effective: they can't defeat him, and even if they could or if he decided to spare them, only death and more pain awaits them at the end of their journey, by the hand of another Lord or bc they're litteraly in hell. However, his habit of granting a “peaceful death” is viewed as merciful compared to the other Lords (or cruel and messed up by others)

A word of advice, however, to intruders venturing into his Snowdin territory: if you stumble upon his collection of ice statues or a suspicious pile of snow, keep walking and don't touch anything.

----

I'll focus on the relationships showed here

Gluttony - His brother. He practically raised him and supports him to this day, going so far as to share the territory where they grew up (Snowdin). Demons tend to avoid such close ties, as it can become a weakness, but the Skeleton brothers are a rare exception, having proven time and again their ruthlessness.

Lust - They don't usually interact but Lust suspects he's hiding something from the other Lords. + there was the time he teleported in his sleep onto the set of Lust (live broadcast), putting everyone in the audience to sleep. He doesn't remember but Mettaton might hold a ti~ny grudge.

Pride - A combination of distrust and disapproval of some of the King's past decisions. He remains loyal to him, but doesn't mind the distance between their respective territories.

Wrath (former) - Lord from the past generation. He was close to them and received a lot of help from both him and their skeleton friend. Both disappeared overnight, their names erased from the archives as Undyne took on the now vacant role. He can't openly look for them bc of the King's order, but he assumes they must have found a way to hide somewhere…

Frisk - The kid that somehow managed to become friend with his brother and is now cosplaying as an imp. He has no interest in directly harming them, only playing tricks on them and witness how far they can make it with that puny soul.

---

Other runs:

This part is still a WIP since I've mostly worked on a "neutral route" so far lol Also, Demons are, well, "bad", so the genocide run requires more reflection

Neutral:

Mischievous and willfully neglectful, he tolerates Frisk and the player on his territory, but doesn't go out of his way to help them since his brother is already helping.

Pacifist:

Still playful and unbothered, but Papyrus has told him all about Frisk's adventures and how they became friends with other Demons. He is curious and may appear at randoms moments in the run to help the player (tell them about a secret passage in Waterfall or come and play an instrument for Lust's show and put the whole audience to sleep).

.Gives Frisk a bone instrument (a very tiny violon) to celebrate their friendship and shares some secrets with them, like the origin of the bells on his and his brother's horns and how hell used to be before the Queen left.

Genocide:

Same as neutral until he kills Frisk for the first time. He'll trigger a blizzard on the next playthrough to block the door leading to HOME, trapping the player in the empty ruins to observe their reaction. If the player manages to find another way out (or force their way out), Sloth will appear to them only as illusions, asking what they are and mocking them for thinking they can defeat what is already dead, nonetheless sans is willing to watch them try.

.Observes and creates illusions along the way to hinder Frisk. He reveals that sinners can't escape hell until they're freed from their sins, and that the player will undoubtedly end up in the hands of Pride, the King and Demon who rules over those with egos as big as the player's (=that's why he and the other Lords are just toying with the player, they don't see them as a real threat and nobody wants to double-cross the King anyway).

.He's not that bothered by the actions of the player, they're demons and it's hell after all. He might even enjoy watching this more than the pacifist run at first....

edit:

Hm.... Actually, maybe I should rename these. Something like : Redemption or Sinner route idk the expectations are different from canon UT, Demons are USED to killing and stuff. Even if one of them die, a new demon reappear. No, the real surprise would be if someone tried to do good for once, wouldn't it?

As I said, it's a WIP

PHEW, there you go. That was a lot, enjoy!

[ofbatsandballads]

kindness you can’t afford

jason todd x fem!reader

word count: 2.1k

warnings: injured character, multiple descriptions of blood + wounds

a/n: so this is the very first jason fic I’ve written since I was twelve, so forgive me while I find my jay’s voice now that I’m not a preteen. anyways I humbly offer thee my wares.

divider credit: cafekitsune

Gotham’s a shithole. You hadn’t known that when you first moved here. To be honest, you’d kind of thrown a dart at a map and gone where it landed. Alright, maybe it wasn’t literally a dart throw, more so finding the cheapest metropolitan city because New York was tempting but it would bankrupt you. Mostly you just wanted a place to not exist. And so Gotham’s relatively low rent rates and towering skylines were the pick with little to no research.

Gotham’s a shithole. You know that beyond a shadow of a doubt now. It’s surprising, honestly, how little of Gotham’s chaos makes it outside the city limits. One would think a psychotic killer clown that’s prone to gassing a whole city district or a half-plant poison lady or a guy going around dressed like a bat would make national news. And yet, no. You’d known superheroes existed, of course. Superman was the shining jewel in the crown of the country that is Metropolis. Everyone knows about the extraordinary Wonder Woman. It’s not like hyper skilled people working for the greater good aren’t a thing. But Gotham plays her cards close to her chest.

You've lived here almost two years now and you’ve managed to make it through relatively unscathed. An impressive feat especially since you live in the Bowery. The Bowery itself isn’t so bad, but its neighboring district Park Row, more often known as Crime Alley, is about the worst Gotham has to offer. You’ve heard your fair share of gunshots and sirens, and you’ll never forget the time that Scarecrow released fear toxin in the district and you had to shove every towel and blanket you owned against the cracks by the doors and windows to keep it out. However, you’ve avoided being mugged or assaulted or anything like that so far. And you’ve never encountered the vigilantes that run the night here.

But there’s always time for new and exciting experiences.

The loud thunk that sounds outside your living room window makes you jump and starts your heart pounding. You know you should just ignore it. Crawl off the couch and to the bedroom, lock the door. The lights in the apartment are already off, only the television light illuminating the room, so it would be easy to creep unseen. But you can’t. Something pulls you to the window. Maybe it’s the cat killing curiosity, or maybe it’s your own little voice of self destruction, or maybe it’s something else entirely. All you know is that you have to go look.

So you do. And there, out cold on the fire escape, is a man. A very large man. A very large man in a red helmet. A very large man in a red helmet with dual pistols holstered to his thighs. Red Hood. Red Hood is passed out face up on your fire escape. Huh.

You’d heard of him. It was hard not to. The Bat had the most notoriety by far, but it was Red Hood that truly scared the criminals of Gotham. Batman might break your bones, cripple you even, but you’d leave with your life. No such guarantee existed if you crossed Red Hood. Hurt a few innocent people and you might end up with a bullet or three in your skull. Then there was that thing about heads in a duffel bag and Red Hood running crime for a solid year in Gotham, but he’s better now, apparently. None of this is deterring you from unlocking the window, pushing it up, and stepping out into the cold winter air. Not when you see the blood seeping through his body armor start to drip off the fire escape grate.

He needs help and he can’t stay unconscious in the middle of the city. If whoever injured him didn’t find him, the cops would. He’s just as wanted as the actual rogues of Gotham. You think it’s bullshit, which is why you’re trying to find a way to get him inside the safety of your apartment. He’s huge up close. This is going to be very, very difficult. Your mind flashes suddenly to one of your favorite childhood movies and how the princess pulled the dashing rogue around with her hair. You glance down at the street before heading to your bedroom.

You come back out with sheets bundled up in your arms. You’re not even sure if this harebrained idea will work, but you weave the sheets through the gaps in the grates and around Red Hood’s waist nonetheless. You secure a knot and go back into your apartment with the length of the sheets. Your legs are stronger than your arms, so you brace them against the wall and pull. You can feel his body slowly dragging towards you and you pause to check your progress. He’s slumped against the window now. Good. You loop your arms under his, place your feet back against the wall, and pull hard. Your hard work is rewarded with his body breaching the threshold of your window and landing directly on top of you. The air is knocked clean out of your lungs. He is heavy.

It’s a struggle but you manage to roll out from under him and immediately see the massive red stain contrasting against the white of your fluffy pajama pants. A small puddle of blood is emerging on your floor under his left thigh, and droplets of blood have splattered next to his torso. He’s not in great shape. It suddenly hits you what you’ve done. You dragged an injured vigilante, known for shooting first and asking questions later, into your apartment with no plan on what to do after the fact.

What the fuck did I do?

That’s all you can think as you look down at him. Then something snaps into place inside your rattled mind and you run to your bathroom to grab your first aid kit. You’d bought it and learned the basics after Wayne Enterprises ran televised infomercials about the importance of first aid a couple months back. You’re carefully balancing all the supplies in your arms as you head back out to the living room.

The empty living room. No vigilante in sight. Then your world spins. Everything clatters to the floor as you’re yanked backwards by your waist, pinned to something solid and unable to move.

“Who are you?” A growl sounds behind you, modulated to sound semi-mechanical.

Ah. There he is. You think you should be panicking, absolutely losing your shit even. But your brain is moving in slow motion.

“Someone trying to help you,” you breathe out.

“Doesn’t answer the question.”

The grip around your waist tightens. You want to laugh. As if you could’ve made a run for it in the first place. You tell him your name, and explain that you live alone. There’s no one else here but the two of you and you really do want to help.

“You were passed out on my fire escape. I couldn’t just leave you out there,” you explain cautiously.

The two of you stay like that for a minute longer. Then, a mechanical sigh sounds from behind you and the vice grip on your waist goes slack. You turn to him and see that he’s already halfway to your window.

“Hey! Wait! I can help!” you shout, scrambling after him.

“Don’t need it,” he snaps.

“You were bleeding out on my floor!” you exclaim.

You don’t know why you feel so strongly about this. Maybe because he seemed so…mortal. It’s easy to forget that these guys running around at night are people. They’re strong, tough, and capable, but they’re still human. The fact that he stumbles and has to catch himself on the window frame proves your point.

“Please. I promise I won’t take long. Please just let me help,” you beg.

He turns around and even through that unreadable helmet you can tell he’s sizing you up. You’re sure you must be a sight in your fuzzy white cat pajama pants, old Snoopy t-shirt, and fluffy white socks. Honestly, it’s a bit of a ridiculous tableau. Massive armed man in tactical gear opposite a woman in fluffy pajamas, both bloodstained. But either you seem harmless enough or he’s in exceptionally bad shape, because he just slumps against your wall and gives a barely noticeable nod of his head.

You go into autopilot the second you get his consent. A dining room chair is dragged to the center of your living room and Red Hood drops himself into it, the old wood creaking under the force. You go to assess the damage on his torso first. Light slashes litter his waist, none of them are deep enough for stitches. You grab the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls from the floor where you kneel before warning him that it might sting.

“I got slashed. Think that might’ve hurt a bit more,” he deadpans.

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

The torso slashes are light work. It takes all of five minutes to disinfect them and seal them shut with bandages. It’s his thigh that you’re a little more concerned about. There’s enough blood that it’s soaked his tactical pants around where you’re guessing the wound is. You can vaguely make out what appears to be cut fabric, so you’re assuming he was stabbed.

“How deep did the knife go?” you ask.

“Hm. ‘Bout two inches?” he offers.

“Why’d you take it out?” you ask incredulously. Anyone with half a brain knew not to take a knife out of a stab wound.

“No idea. Should’ve just gone runnin’ around the city with a knife wedged in my leg.”

The mask’s modulator does nothing to hide the teasing edge to his voice. Of everything you’d heard about Red Hood, you’d never heard he was such a smartass.

“You know how to do stitches?” he asks.

Great. So he saw the deer-in-headlights look you had while thinking about how to fix his stab wound.

“If you count mending clothing then, uh, sure,” you reply.

The white slits of the helmet stare hard at you before a warped chuckle comes from under it.

“Well, close enough.”

Oh, so he liked to gamble with his health then. Okay. Sure. Great. You could totally do this. Untrained, unlicensed, unsupervised you. You have to stop your hands from shaking as you thread the curved needle. You have to stop yourself from vomiting with anxiety as you push the needle through his skin. He hisses and you immediately feel bad. He’d handled the alcohol without flinching, but the stitches were a different story. You whisper sorry’s with every puncture of his skin you make. Soon enough, his leg is closed up and the whole thing is said and done.

“Okay, should be good to go,” you start, “Well, not good per se, but functional to go.”

A hum and a quick nod of his head are the only response you get before he’s back on his feet. He’s about to climb out your window for the second time tonight when you call out to him again. He turns around and you’d swear he almost seems exasperated.

“Take these with you. You’ll probably need them,” you say as you toss him a water bottle and a small carton of orange juice.

He snatches them easily from the air. But then he just stands there and stares at the drinks in his hands. You think you may have somehow offended him and go to apologize when he speaks.

“Thanks,” he says, mechanical voice catching on the word.

And then he’s gone. Out your window and off into the night. Once you shut and lock the window you feel exhaustion hit you like a freight train. All the adrenaline drains from you and it takes whatever energy you have left to collapse on to your bed and drift off to sleep.

You’ll never know it, but the Red Hood spends the last fifteen minutes of his patrol sipping his orange juice and dutifully watching your apartment window.

You’ll never know it, but Jason Todd lingers across the street to make sure you get home from the grocery store safely, and he scoffs as he sees you feed and pet a stray dog. It’s silly, he thinks.

Don’t you know that now you’ve shown it some kindness, it’ll just keep coming back?

[lcriedlastnight]

Enemies to lovers with Oscar

"i'm sick of playing this game with you." "what game?" "the game where we pretend we don't like each other."

ooo okay anon!

tw: fem!reader, me not knowing anything rlly, swears, me heart rhetorical questions tee hee, lmk if there's anything you want me to add, swears.

w/c: 1.4k

daniel had called you nosy but you really didn't mean to overhear oscar and logan's conversation, honest! you were just walking by where both boys were standing and you just so happened to overhear oscar call you annoying.

ever since you had heard those words fall from oscar's mouth you had avoided him like the plague. and it had worked, for two months.

every time you and daniel met for lunch it was just one of those topics that you just had to bring up. even though there had been no new developments because as you had told the older australian boy "oscar was never getting the time of day from you, ever again." daniel just nodded with a knowing smirk. what he knew? beats you. you did not dwell on it too much because that was just a daniel thing to do, always knowing shit that you had no clue of.

daniel had begged you to come to his next race, which happened to be in italy. you said yes, mostly for the gorgeous scenery in italy but if anyone else asked it was to see daniel and support him during the race.

daniel had ended up doing media with oscar on thursday, so both aussies walked in alongside each other while you managed to wrangle a seat in to watch. (you had promised the VCARB team that you would take notes of the media session and that had in turn convinced their media manager).

you hang back a little as you do not want to walk with oscar, just thinking about his stupid face makes you mad so god knows what would happen if daniel forced you both to talk to each other, which everyone knew that was one hundred percent something he would do, just bring bring some drama to the day.

both boys laugh as they make their way inside. oscar lets daniel go in first as the door is pretty narrow, which means you are left behind him. oscar pauses in the doorway as he hears your footsteps approaching.

"hey!" oscar turns to greet you. he always does this. he acts so nice and greets you any time he sees you around the paddock. it confused you to no end for the first month until you realise that oscar must be really fake. sometimes you wish you never overheard his conversation at all because you did really think, before all this happened, that you both could be very good friends.

you do not even acknowledge at the boy as you push past him. you very rarely entertained him. you refused to make a fool of yourself. once your inside you take a seat up the back and take your notebook out, ready to take notes.

you have no idea why daniel even asked you to come and watch, this was so boring. and the worst part was that you actually had to pay attention because you would for sure get a telling off at the very least by the teams media manager and you did not do well with that.

soon it was finished and the drivers head out before the media personnel. you pack your things up and stand up, ready to meet daniel for the usual media day routine, but oscar has other plans and gets to you before you even had the chance to think about avoiding him.

"can i speak to you?" he asks, a little hushed despite the bustle of the room. you look up surprised he was actually talking to you, you really thought that you had made it clear you did not want to speak to him. you hesitate, eyes unconsciously flitting over to daniel who just wiggles his brows back to you. so he was no help in getting you out of this.

"sure, make it quick." you sigh. your arms cross over each other, wanting to let oscar know that you really did not want to talk to him.

"in private?" the aussie tries again, eyes showing hints of desperation and maybe a little nerves? you were not too sure.

"okay, whatever will get this over with quicker." you reply, following him out the room, letting him lead you to what seemed like an empty hallway halfway across the paddock from where the interviews took place.

once oscar stops you stop behind him and lean up against the wall. oscar repositions himself to make sure he is standing in front of you, wanting to make sure he had your full attention for whatever he was going to do or say next.

"well? why did you drag me all the way across the paddock, oscar?" you press, clearly annoyed with him and you want it to show. oscar only huffs then takes a minute step closer to you. really, you would never have even noticed it if you were not staring at oscar. come to think of it why were you staring at him anyway? you have no time to dwell on it though because oscar is speaking.

"i'm tired of playing this game with you." oscar says, it is as clear as day but it was like he was speaking in riddles. were you supposed to know what he was talking about?

you scoff at him. "what? what game?".

"the one where we pretend we don't like each other." oscar frowns as he speaks and you come to find that you do not like it when he is doing anything but smiling. the unhappy expression does not suit him well.

"well you aren't very good at that game. you're always trying to talk to me." you retort and oscar takes another tiny step forwards, towards you again.

the space between you was still big enough to be considered friendly but you seen him move, twice. he wanted to be near you even when you were being horrible to him. the thought sent a shot of something, you cannot decipher what, through your spine.

oscar laughs. he literally laughs at your words. what is wrong with him, one minute he looks like he could start crying and the next he is laughing? you worry for his mental health for a second, maybe the stress from the races had finally tipped the most level-headed guy on the grid over the edge.

"don't know if you noticed but it's pretty hard to stay away from you." oscar is still smiling from his laughter. can he not just say something that does not confused you to end of the earth? what was it with him and wanting to confused the fuck out of you.

"we haven't had a proper conversation in two months.." you trail off. oscar smirks at you. "you been keeping count, honey?" he teases. it sadly works and bring a light flush of embarrassment to your face. how did call you out, why were you keeping track anyway?

"i could tell you didn't want to speak to me so i tried to stay away." oscar tells you, wide eyed and all pretty looking. it makes you mad a little.

"well.. well you called me annoying to logan, so!" you scramble for a reply because you do not really have a come back and do not know what, or even how, to reply to him. especially when he was getting sweet with his words. you are not good with affection. you would much rather avoid any type of romantic feeling towards anyone than fall head first into them.

"i didn't i said that it was annoying how pretty you were. if you're gonna eavesdrop then at least listen to the whole conversation." oscar is teasing you again. you had never seen this side of oscar before but honestly, you kind of liked it. you groan and oscar laughs.

"we'll take it slow, hm?" he mutters to you, like an after though as he takes that final step that has you both standing toe-to-toe. his hand comes up to hold you jaw in a gentle hold.

"how do you know that i even like you back?" you sass, wanting the upper hand back so desperately. oscar just hums and pulls you up ti meet his lips is a sweet kiss.

you have to pull away earlier than either of you would have liked because daniel's giggles could be heard from a mile away.

"knew it!" he shouts up the hallway to you. oscar's cheeks are matching the red on your own. he pulls your head into his chest as he laughs through the interruption.

[the-ace-with-spades]

(I adore fics where Johnny’s family loves Ghost from day one, but, you know…angst)

Soap and Ghost had been together for almost two years. They never name the relationship, really, but it's serious and they both know it.

Thing is, Johnny's seen Ghost's face a total of four times, counting Las Almas.

Well, he sees parts of it regularly, more than others. Ghost will either roll the balaclava up when they're reading together in bed or when they're eating. Sometimes, when Soap wants to go out and Ghost indulges him, he goes in public in just either a face mask or a gaiter and Soap can see his short wavy blonde hair sticking all over the place and 

The four times he had seen Simon’s face in it’s whole — obviously, Las Almas; one time when he was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound and Johnny had to check; one time when they took a shower together, Simon stayed with his back toward him through most of it, but when they finished, he let Johnny dry off his hair; one time, when Johnny asked him to see him for his birthday presents, a few minutes after midnight.

Johnny wasn’t sure why exactly Simon didn’t want to show him his face. It wasn’t a trust thing — he trusted Johnny with more than his own life — and it wasn’t like he was ugly — he was downright sinful. He never drilled the topic because he didn’t care, if SImon wasn’t ready, then he wasn’t ready, but if he had to guess, it was all to do with identity and being seen. No one knew his face — people could know his name, Simon “Ghost” Riley, but they wouldn’t know the man behind the mask. Wouldn’t know the people behind Simon “Ghost” Riley.

(Johnny wasn’t completely off on the assumption — Simon didn’t want anyone to know his face because faceless people weren’t missed. Faceless graves — like his own — didn’t have people to leave behind, and faceless soldiers didn’t have loved ones to find and he was both. No one could get hurt if he remained faceless. Or at least that’s what he’d been telling himself.)

And Johnny is okay with that — if Simon never showe him his face again, he’d still love him all the same. Johnny’s family? Not so much.

They’re supposed to be in Glasgow for five days total, leaving after Boxing Day. Johnny gives them all a warning, that Ghost is a bit shy and doesn’t like showing his face, he’ll most likely stay covered the whole time, he might be wearing a balaclava, or a mask, he probably won't eat at the table.

When they arrive at his parents house, it almost seems like everyone forgot. Like everyone thought it'd be more mild or that Johnny was exaggerating.

There are looks. There is silence. People can't stop staring.

His mam takes one look at Simon’s balaclava once they enter the living room and looks funny at them. “Ah thooght Ah tauld ye boays tae strip doon.”

“Mam, lea him alane,” he tries but he can tell that Simon is getting tense and his mam is getting tense.

His mam, who is usually the sweetest person ever, is uncharacteristically quiet and curt whenever Simon is around. Simon doesn't really know how to make it better — Johnny's never seen him so silent outside of stealth missions, he just stands there like a sore thumb, not making anything less awkward. He didn't expect him to — Simon's social skills are lacking and he loves him that way — but he expected his own family to not make such a big deal out of that mask.

His da is stern and silent, which is as disapproving as he gets. His sisters are a bit weirded out, but mostly focused on teasing Johnny, even making fun of the mask. With a stupid grin, his older sister asks, “Does he keep it oan in bed?”

Johnny doesn't say anything to that, even though his face feels red. His sisters stop laughing.

“He does?” When Johnny tries to step out of the room and avoid the conversation, his sister’s tone changes. “Hae ye e’en seen his face?”

“O’ coorse Ah hae,” he spits out. He doesn’t specify it was only four times — he doesn’t think it’d help. “And ‘s a bonnie ane, alricht.”

It doesn’t save the situation and his sisters are also weirded out and wary from then on.

 The kids do not care — they ask maybe two questions, tilts their head as Simon explains and that’s it — and Johnny breathes a little easier as soon as his nieces push Simon outside to help them build a snowman.

The judgment doesn’t stop. Johnny’s blood boils any time it shows and even though Simon says it’s all fine, he can’t stop feeling angry about this. They just can’t get past the mask.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are difficult to Simon and Johnny knows it. He’s given him the option to omit the family dinner on both those days if he’s not feeling alright enough to spend those days in crowdy house filled with a flock of loud and cheery people of all ages.

Simon knows this. He also knows that if he says he wants to stay at Johnny’s flat for the time being, Johnny is going to insist he doesn’t have to go either, that he’d prefer to stay in with him and not go for the Christmas dinner. Which he also knows is bullshit — Johnny loves Christmas, loves spenidng time with his family, that was basically why he kept on insisting Simon couldn’t stay alone at the base for Christmas another year in a row. It was the main reason why he agreed to go with Johnny in the first place, he was pretty sure if he didn’t go with him, Johnny would insist he stays, too. 

So Simon stays in for Christmas Eve — or rather goes to a pub while Soap spends the day with his parents — but insists they go to Christmas dinner. 

His family is disappointed to see him there, to the point the usual manuevering around politeness and disapproving go onto a backburner.

“John said yer nae a fan o’ Christmas,” Johnny’s mum says to him pointedly.

“That’s right.”

“And yet ye’r ’ere,” she notes.

Johnny is far away from the earshot and he doesn’t want to lie to her so he admits, “If I didn’t come, Johnny would insist on keepin’ me company.”

“How come ye dinnae try to hae a bit mair cheer fur th' holidays then? Put a bit mair effort in for ma baby.” 

Johnny notices and soon enough, he’s next to him, their arms brushing, Johnny’s hand on the small of his back. “Lea him alane, mam.”

“It’s fine,” he says even though it’s not fine. They deserve an explanation, even just to know what they son is getting himself into. “My family was murdered on Christmas Eve. I’m—I’m trying.”

The silence falls over the room — Johnny’s mum, dad, his sister, all present, not looking at them. Simon closes his eyes, tries to breathe.

Johnny rubs his back. “Let’s gae home.”

“I’m not ruining Christmas for you, Johnny,” he says. Before Johnny can deny it — and he knows he’d try — he tries to placate, “Let’s just have ourselves a minute to calm down.”

Maybe it’s the way his voice is perfectly levelled or the way his hand trembles as he squeezes Johnny’s, but he lets him leave the room.

He steps outside — to the backyard. Sits down on the step to the garden and lets the snow soak through his jeans and the top o his balaclava.

The kids come outside, tripping over Simon’s legs. They were all oblivious to the trails and errors of Simon’s integration into the family, so they approach him as always

“Whit's wrang?”

There’s just something so innocent in having a six-year-old girl covered from head to toe in pink and glitter worry about you. Simon would never admit it in front of Johnny, but he finds the accent cute.

Simon takes off the mask.

The kids all look at him and look at him, a bit unsure maybe a bit fearful — it can be a scary sight, he admits, the elongated, jagged smile that sticks to him no matter the mood, makes him more crazy than he already is — but only one of Johnny’s niece keeps her eyes on Simon’s face. 

Shily, she asks, “Does it hurt?”

“No,” he replies. When she smiles, he smiles back.

Not anymore.

This is Johnny’s family. Simon can deny it all he wants, but Johnny’s seen him as family, as someone he’d leave behind, and it hadn’t been unrequited. He can’t hide behind a mask forever and maybe this was the kick he needed.

He steps back inside when his hands turn numb. He doesn’t put the mask back on.

Johnny’s eyes widen. “Simon?”

Simon just—smiles. He can feel the scars pulling on the corners of his mouth, the stiffer skin, but he’s not faceless. He’s not been faceless for a while.

Edit (29/03/24): This is now a WIP for a minimum 15k fic, titled don't shoot me, santa, that will have 4 chapters and will be posted (hopefully) later in the year

[strawberrymilk-sunshine]

Eternal flame of the heart

Rollo Flamme x reader because it's Glorious Masquerade season!!

Tbh I wasn't even planning on writing this but the idea just hit me out of nowhere so what was I supposed to do?

Warning(s): fainting/unconsciousness, Rollo is a bit of a creep, drugging, this is a short one but I still hope you like it!

Slight disclaimer: I'm very sorry if I mischaraterise Rollo, it has been a while since I actually read through the event, and I have not had time to reread it. As well as this, I'm sorry if I have forgotten or misremembered any important details of the Glorious Masquerade story. Okay, that's all, enjoy!

You climbed the bell tower, you made it through all the firelotuses... everyone has sacrificed for you to get here... everyone is counting on you.

Malleus, Idia, Azul, and you have made it successfully to the top floor, but... but then... then... something goes wrong.

Everyone... everyone except for you and Rollo just collapse... and now, you are alone with him.

You are alone with him.

What do you do.

"Hello, (Y/N)." Rollo greets you simply. You start to panic and grab a small, stray plank of wood off the floor, intending to attack him with it. You don't have magic, so this is the best self-defense you have right now... "Ah, there's no need for that. Put it down."

"Y-you don't tell me what to do." You try your hardest to stay confident, fully intending to whack him with the wood plank.

"You don't truly intend on hurting me, do you?" He smirks at you... so uncomfortable to look at. "Of course you don't. How would you expect yourself, a magicless human with no knowledge of this world, to get rid of all the firelotuses?"

"QUIET!!" You yell, preparing to swing the plank. "You... you, get rid of the flowers! All of them! Now! Y-you're the cause of this, so... you must know how to get rid of them!"

He moves so quick, it's almost like he glides across the floor...

"You are magicless. You are..." He leans in close to you, and whispers in you ear, "beautiful."

You were about to h him with your wood plank, but it very suddenly lit on fire?! You dropped the wood as it burnt your hand and Rollo stomped out the flame, leaning even closer to you... damn it, you should really pick that up again when he gives you the chance.

"So different from everyone else... so... pure..." He takes a deep breath before whispering to you again. "Your hair smells so wonderful."

You push him away from you, disgusted.

"What is wrong with you?! Why the hell would you do something like this, you... DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS WILL DO TO YOUR WORL-!?"

As you begin to yell, something is forced onto your mouth and nose... hang on... wait... what's happening...

"This is known mostly as poor man's sleeping poison, at least here, though I prefer to use the proper name for it." Rollo grabs you by the back of the head as well, in order to keep you from just avoiding what he does to you. That's not to say you don't struggle, you absolutely do, it's just that it doesn't do much for you... "That proper name of course being chloroform."

...shit...

"You'll be okay. The firelotuses won't hurt you. I won't hurt you."

...everything is starting to go dark...

"I'll put you somewhere nobody will find you. You won't have to deal with the troubles of this world, well, not that you would have had to anyways after I succeed."

...

"Good night."

[galaxygirl8880]

@nerdpoe I saw ur krs doesn't get instant au and i wrote something short for it 👉👈

There are no thoughts running through Raon miru's head as he stared at the rubble in front of him.

At his human. Cale, who is inhaling raspy, short breaths. There is blood pouring out of his mouth. He looks like he is in pain.

How-

What just happened?

They were at camp. Everything was peaceful. Choi hah was sharing stories of his homeland, everyone was telling jokes and laughing and singing songs. There was- an earthquake? The mountain must have been unstable. The prince said there was an abandoned mine nearby that needed to be sealed off because of rising bandit activity. Cale had only accepted because Raon, Ohn and Hong wanted to go on a vacation-

It was supposed to be an easy, fun trip. Then they noticed the shaking and the falling rocks and not even Choi han could have helped without making it worse. He had panicked. He was relaxed and happy and wasn't thinking properly when the Boulders started falling.

Cale stumbles the slightest bit and Raon is the first one to get to him. The dragon lowers him down gently with magic as Ron starts checking his vitals, getting him to breath.

Raon miru is ashamed to say that there was a moment of silence where no one could move. Once Cale is cleared for transport, the dragon gets ready to teleport everyone back home.

It feels like his ears are stuffed with cotton, the only thing in his line of sight being Cale covered in his own blood. Cale does not fall unconscious until he is laid back in bed and a healer is called. But he does not speak. And Raon does not know what to think.

---

The dining hall is dead silent. Cale is sleeping and Jack had been called to keep a close eye on him.

Raon would love to be by his human's side and count the seconds until he woke up again but...

Cale saved them.

(Again.)

And he did it using- well. That's what raon wants to know. And he wants to know so he can ban Cale from using it ever again.

Raon miru would do anything to never hear that sound come from Cale Henituse's throat ever again.

Cale is not one to cry. He is known for his levelheadedness. Even in situations where a normal man would break. Its one of the reasons why he is so dependable, trustworthy, the shield of the roan kingdom. (His human hates that nickname but it doesn't mean it's not true in a way.)

In that moment of weakness, cale opened his mouth, let out the most gutteral scream-

and decimated the entire mountain.

'indescribable. Full of anguish and fury and sorrow.' Is what the people that were with Cale that day agreed on when reporting back to Alberu. A scream that wouldn't belong anywhere but the funeral of your most precious person.

A scream that fuels Raon's drive to be stronger. So that Cale will never be in a situation where using that is the only way out.

Raon hears Choi han make the same promise to himself later that day while at Cal's bedside. While Raon, Ohn, and Hong are trying to distract themselves by drawing together (it's not working). He knows that the other two heard it as well by the determined look they all shared and he knows that they are thinking the same thing.

---

When Cale woke up, (A few people cried. Choi han included.) he was banned from talking by Jack and Ron and Eruhaben and raon and Rosalyn and the kids and-

Cale was not allowed to talk.

Meaning he had to listen to everyone lecture him while being unable to retort. He was given a pen and paper that was mostly filled with apologies and attempting to avoid any questions about the mysterious ability. Cale could only eat soup for the time being because of the internal wounds in his throat. Ron stuck to sweet, room temperature tea for fear of the acidity of his usual blend aggravating his throat more.

Eruhaben and Ron drilled it into his head that he could never use that ability ever again. (Cale privately apologized in his head because he would do so in a heartbeat if necessary. The ancient dragon and assassin pretended as if they didn't also know this.) Hong thinks he heard Ron and Cale have a heart-to-heart. Although it was Ron questioning him and fast responses in the form of writing for Cale.

Alberu did not mention the reports of citizens in the nearby town being scared of the scream that came from the forest. The sadness some felt from the sound. His royal highness feels a bit guilty for being thankful that he did not have to hear Cale's ability.

Rosalyn was quick to create a device so Cale can communicate better, something to play the writing outloud. And if she spent a bit of extra time in Cale's room where she braided his hair, sharing new stories about her siblings when asked, then that's between them.

---

I feel like if roan has a version of sign language then everyone would make the effort to learn it. Even though Cale can still technically speak, no one wants him to strain himself. (Vitality of the heart fixed most of it but they weren't hearing it. He still gets phantom pains sometimes so Cale is quietly grateful for their support.)

[nwjws]

who the hell is ni-ki ?! - TWENTY

; SYNOPSIS - school sucks. especially when everyone’s avoiding you like the plague - all because you’re the principal’s daughter. so it comes as a surprise when a strip of paper falls out of your locker one day, with a corny pick up line written on it. now you only have one question on your mind: who the hell is nishimura riki?

TWENTY ...if you don't like it, you can return it 💋 (1.5k words)

once you had realised your feelings for your best friend, all sense seemed to have left you. now, you were an awkward mess around him, always either too close or too far.

through relentless begging, your friends had agreed to accompany you on your hangout with riki as a part of the plan, but made you promise to ask The Question on your own.

the plan was simple:

- get riki to the beach at sun set at 6pm - y/n confesses her feelings (script attached) at 6:10 - have fireworks at exactly 6:18, right at the end of y/n's prepared speech (minji and jungwon in charge of this) - she asks "will you be my boyfriend?" - riki says yes and they get together!

the hangout itself wasn't much different from previous ones between you two (you liked to think of them as dates, but riki didn't have to know that). usually, you two just did whatever, having fun until the sun set, when he'd then walk you home.

the day took a sharp turn however, when you had all been skating at the local skatepark.

you'd been going down a ramp, when riki crossed by on his own skateboard, causing you to roll right into him. as a result, you two had crashed, with him landing on the low-raised platform in the middle. he groaned as his head hit the concrete with a resounding thud, arms wrapped around you to protect you from the fall.

"riki!" you gasped as jay, danielle, and hanni rushed to his side. "oh my god, are you okay?"

"no, i'm riki," he jokes, to which you slap him at.

"not funny."

"that was a really hard hit," jay frowns, helping the boy sit up.

riki winces and grips his forehead. you and the others ask how he feels, but he can't seem to focus or hear you clearly. your panicked heartbeat pounds in your ears, afraid of how badly you hurt him.

jay fished his phone out of his pocket and shone the flashlight around the younger's eyes.

"his pupils have a slow response to the light, he might have a concussion," he concludes. you feel dread run down your spine, blood chilling.

"we have to bring him to the hospital," danielle says so fast you almost don't catch what she says.

hanni and jay help him onto his feet, and you open the door to jay's car, and the five of you rush to the hospital.

you stare out the window, trying to calm your breathing as you wait for riki to wake up.

he'd fallen asleep on the ride, and you prayed that he would wake up faster. you weren't even sure he would at first, but the doctor assured you all that he'd only sustained minor injuries; there was nothing to be worried about.

danielle and hanni had gone down to buy some snacks from the vending machine. you didn't want riki to wake up while you were gone, so you opted to stay.

"he's fine, you know."

you hummed in acknowledgement that you'd heard what jay said, but you don't think you'll really relax until he wakes up.

you should have been more careful, controlled the board away so you wouldn't crash into him. then, he wouldn't have ended up hitting his head, nor would he have found himself unconscious in a hospital.

jay seemed to realise you were overthinking, and put a hand on your shoulder. he bit his lip in uncertainty, not sure how to get you to calm down.

"it was me, you know." you turned to him, confusion lining your face.

"what was you?"

"i'd been the one discouraging his friendship with you. well- mostly me," he confessed. "i was scared you'd turn him in or something, and your dad would expel him, and he'd have to retake the year at another school."

"oh. so it was you who planted those thoughts in his head," you stated lightheartedly with a raised eyebrow.

jay scratched the nape of his neck. "yeah... about that. i'm sorry, y/n. i was so focused on getting him to graduate despite all the things he's done. everyone's always talked about riki as this spectacle, and he's cried to us so many times about it. i guess i got protective over it, and didn't realise that maybe you really did just want to be his friend."

you smiled softly, grateful for his apology. you tried to show your forgiveness with a hug.

"it's alright. he talked to me about it a few times, but i always reassured him. he hasn't brought it up in a while, so i figured he finally got it through his head."

"i hope so."

when you heard the ruffling of sheets, you two quickly turned to your friend, slowly waking up.

"you're okay!" you cried, hugging him tightly.

"ow- yep," he chuckled, patting you on the back. you realised you were hurting him and let go, but he kept a hold on you and rested his chin on your shoulder.

"i'm so sorry," you whispered. "i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry, i'm so so sorry."

"it's alright. don't worry," he laughed. "this isn't the worst thing that's happened to me."

"i don't want to know."

"i'm glad you're okay," jay sighed in relief, and that's when you finally let go. "i'll go call the nurse."

once he left, you turned back to riki, and caught yourself in a staring contest.

your breath caught as his eyes rooted you on the spot. you couldn't look away; neither could he.

and then, you hit him on the arm.

"OW-"

"you idiot, don't scare me like that again!"

"i didn't choose to have a concussion!"

"you scared the shit out of me!"

"i didn't mean to!"

you trapped him in another embrace, almost sobbing into his hospital gown. you could hear him laugh, before wrapping his arms around you and pushing the hair out of your face.

"you totally ruined my plans for today," you teased.

"what plans?"

"i was planning on bringing you to the beach, where i'd tell you all about how much i like you. there was going to be-"

you suddenly stood back up, remembering the original plan of the day.

you grabbed your phone in a haste and checked the time.

6:15pm.

you forgot to tell jungwon and minji that you wouldn't be at the beach because you'd all been so worried over riki. they probably thought everything was still going as planned.

"y/n, what's going on?" riki pressed curiously.

just then, familiar exploding sounds were heard from outside, and you opened the window to see.

even from the view of the hospital building, you could see the fireworks fly into the air, a show for everyone to see. you hadn't realised how big the fireworks jay had gotten were.

you felt riki walk in close behind you, and you looked up to find him staring at the bright lights outside. although the beach was relatively war away, they were still pretty clear from here. the bright colours illuminated his face as he stared in awe, and you had to force yourself to look away.

"...does that say 'thank you, riki'??"

smiling sheepishly, you nodded. "umm, this was the plan that we had. i was supposed to get you to the beach at six and make it all seem natural. and then i had a confessional speech i was going to say - it was all scripted and everything!" you laughed embarrassedly, looking at the floor. "and then, the fireworks were supposed to play at the end of my speech, and i was going to ask-"

he cut you off as his lips crashed down on yours.

you were stunned for a moment, before kissing him back, feeling him sigh into the kiss in relief. this was your first kiss, and it was with the boy you loved so bad. giddiness tickled your stomach, and you prayed that this wouldn't be the last.

when you two parted, riki couldn't keep his smile down, eyes tracing your features.

"i love you," he whispered, barely audible.

"i love you too," you whispered back, afraid that any loud noise would shatter the moment. "will you be my boyfriend?"

"yes!" he giggled, embracing you again and jumping you two around in circles.

but then he paused, and created space between you two. "wait, no."

your jaw dropped. "no?"

"no, i don't want to be your boyfriend - just yet."

"what do you mean?" you pouted.

"we should get together on my birthday," he wore a cheshire smile on his face. "so our anniversaries could be on my birthday. the best day ever."

"but your birthday's in five days," you whined.

"you can wait five days, right?"

"what if i want more kisses?"

"i'll give you as many as you want, but i want to start using labels on my birthday."

"you're so childish," you rolled your eyes. "so what are we for now? just friends who kiss?"

"i do not want to be just friends," he shook his head. "but i definitely want more of this," riki said, pulling you in for another kiss.

"i guess i'll give you some more..."

"i love you, not-friend."

"just shut up and kiss me, not-boyfriend."

— NINETEEN ; MASTERLIST ; EPILOGUE

; AUTHOR'S CORNER ! pretend this is before his birthday 😇 you can tell i wrote this on the spot, no proofreading, not really in the right mood for the scenes but wtv... i love the more than friends less than lovers trope and while this isn't exactly that im practicing for when i do write it also omg i've been neglecting my blog im so sorry yawl its bc ive been preoccupied (read: obsessing over tbosas and pjo)

; TAGLIST - @riziwon @gweoriz @yenqa @miyseung @beomgyusonlywife @luvlee1313 @wildflowermooon @pookikisses @j-wyoung @n0t-kc @chiiiiiiiiis @ghostiiess @mrchweeee @jjongshrts @luvistqrzzz @lilriswife4life @aikoluvssyouu @cholexc @bahngchatsfx @teddywonss @woniewonn @artstaeh @thesassy-mia @moaqong @itsactuallylina @armydrcamers @mowagyu @yumilovesloona @ibsysbsfsunsbs @ashy1um @ahnneyong @jakelux @jaeminri @certified-niki-lover @ririlovesrenjun @sloobydooburmomjungwon @kyanmeai @lazy-miya @bbybearcubbs @hwasfavgf @girlhees @seungified @softieluvsyou @flwoie @y0iy0i @microwvdstrawb3rri3s send an ask or comment on the masterlist to be added .

[aayakashii]

Heyo, I wanted to ask if we could get some Haku, Jin and Leo boyfriend headcanons?

Love your writing! If you do only one then Haku please, he is my boo xD

Thank you🦋

Thank you so much for enjoying what I write!!! ૮₍つ´˘`₎つ₍ ´˘`◌ ₎ა it truly means a lot to me! I am not 100% satisfied with this one hahaha but I hope you guys like it (๑•́ ᎔ ก̀๑)

Dating headcanons – Leo, Jin and Haku

Leo

How did you manage to crack his bitchy exterior is beyond me!

But you did, and now Leo is all yours, which comes with all its quirks.

Leo looks down on most people around him, and when he doesn't, he mostly sees them as interesting or as sources of information.

You are in the interesting category, with a side of romantic and physical interest heavily sprinkled in it.

He'll constantly keep you around him, even if it's unconsciously. He wants you near and will throw a tantrum whenever you need to run your own errands (he needs his parallel play even when he's just listening in to people's conversations)

He's a yapper, so you'll probably end up to date with all the juicy gossip around Darkwick.

Not really the best listener though, but if something is bothering you, he might lend an ear or just straight up tell Sho to beat up whoever upset you.

He is NOT afraid of pda. And he WILL tease you in public because he's a menace.

He hugs you from behind and kisses your neck while you're talking to your friends just to creep them out hehe

Your dates are usually in very aesthetically pleasing places so he can take pictures and post them on instagram

He flaunts you online so freaking much. And simply adores when you get jealous of thirst comments for him, although he's quick to ban people that focus too much on you... (jealousy or envy? He'll never say)

Oh and he's spoiled... expect him to whine and beg for you to do whatever he wants and he will not stop until you concede. But you find it cute, so lucky him!

Jin

Two words: princess treatment. It doesn't matter if you're a woman, a man, or anything in between. If you're with Jin, you're immediately a princess.

Despite his grumpy and cold exterior, Jin is clingy and desperate for your attention, so expect him to text you constantly, demanding that you go visit him asap for some random reason he just made up.

Jin isn't fond of pda, but really likes it when you two have to be in public and you squeeze his hand, reassuringly. Anything beyond that is a no-no.

He buys literally everything you think of getting, to the point that even trying to give him a gift is hard because he doesn't want you to spend a cent on him.

Dates are few and far between because he avoids leaving his room, but doesn't mean you two don't meet. He just prefers to cuddle with you and sleep together most of the time. This way, you two can be comfortable alone.

If a special occasion is coming, he might take you to some hidden vacation spot with one of his helicopters though.

He expresses his love through gifts and little things he does for you.

Memorizes everything about your tastes so he can appease to you as accurately as possible: wants to know you favorite colors, flowers, foods, drinks, scents, hobbies, everything.

He keeps it all noted on a secret small notebook that's tucked deep into his pockets and if you end up finding it, no you didn't.

Very, very jealous and he tells you how he feels very bluntly. You end up having to reassure him of your feelings way more than once, because he's constantly afraid of being betrayed.

And btw, I hope you're thinking of marriage, because dating Jin is most likely a permanent part of your life now!

Haku

I hope you're ready to have the most teasing boyfriend ever because he just loves joking around with you to see your reaction.

Sometimes he might just surprise tickle you as well to hear you yelp...

Always gives you a kiss and headpats to apologize afterwards.

Speaking of kiss, he loves kisses. Anywhere. On the lips, on your cheeks, on your hands, on your pulse, on your neck, all over your body.

Haku also is great when it comes to giving you advice and words of affirmation. He's a great listener and your biggest supporter.

He WILL drag you to countless dates. From fancy restaurants, to an empty hidden park, you two will always be going on adventures together.

Also, I think he might be great at massages, so ask for some when you're too stressed from all the work that is put on your shoulders hehe

Haku doesn't really get jealous. He trusts you a lot when it comes to that, so he doesn't mind when you are talking to other guys because he knows they're your friends.

He might join you and put a hand on your waist, but that's mostly it.

Of course, sometimes he might have his moments of insecurity, in which you will need to reassure him, but he's a very understanding guy (just don't abuse it)

He likes to see you in his clothes when you two are alone, thinks you look absolutely adorable with his hoodies.

Haku is absolutely smitten by you, although he's quite nonchalant about it. All he wants is to live a normal life with you by his side.

[male-us-prison-experience]

THE SPECIAL SHACKLE-SHUFFLE IN PRISON STRIPES (PART II)

A new prisoner who is placed in full restraints for the first time in a way has to learn to walk again, because he is not yet used to wearing leg irons. And walking in leg-irons isn’t easy, regardless of the length of the connecting chain. You have to get used to that. This results in the famous shackle shuffle, which can be admired in many video clips. About that special kind of shackle-enforced shuffling I will talk in this blog another time. In this episode I would like to briefly focus on an aspect that mostly receives less attention. That is the rest of the prisoner's body position, as a result of being forced to wear the special leather restraining-belt with handcuffs.

Take a good look at this photo; I give a detail-view of it below. If you look closely, you will first see that the inmate, already clad in prison stripes, has slumped shoulders and holds his handcuffed hands in the middle of his crotch. That is of course a rather unnatural position, but the cuffs leave him no choice. Thanks to being attached to the belt, his hands not only pull his arms tightly down, but also tightly inwards, where you would normally let them hang relaxed at the side. You can of course hold them up, but that quickly becomes quite tiring. Especially those with relatively short arms have little room for maneuver, their arms will be just stretched from shoulders to belt.

Holding the hands far forward is also not possible due to the D-Ring. You perhaps can bend them a little forward on both its sides until the chain is taut against the arch of the D, but you can't keep that up indefinitely either. Result: you quickly just let them hang down.

However, in that case they will constantly press against your crotch and rub with every footstep. To avoid that, as this can quickly become irritating, you unconsciously adjust your posture. You pull in your stomach to make a bit room for your cuffed hands and you also bend your upper body slightly forward to make even more room below, and therefore you automatically stick your butt out back.

That is what you can see in this photo: as a result of the full restraints, the prisoner walks slightly bent forward all the time, and therefore automatically with his butt clearly pushed back and up. That is a very humiliating position to have to move around in or to enter the courthouse, especially if there are also many spectators or even photographers from the press present during such a prep walk to capture your arrival. Such a constantly visibly raised butt then gives you an extra feeling of great vulnerability, because in that case it is inevitably captured forever for a large audience in their pics too.

The leg-irons obviously will make that gait even more uncomfortable for the prisoner, as they force him to take careful steps and often look at the ground, which of course causes his butt to stick out in this humiliating way even further.

If you pay attention, you can also see it in many other prisoners walking in full restraints, this position that expresses powerlessness: the stomach drawn in, the upper body leaning slightly forward, the butt back and up. Sometimes more, sometimes less - a prisoner will always try to minimize the attention his bottom might attract, but the discomfort of his restraints often leaves him little choice. Here are a few examples, with the same psychologically uncomfortable body position as that of our main hero.

In the pic above, the protruding butt is somewhat hidden by the swinging end of the belt, but you can see from the prisoner's body position that all in all it is sticking out considerably. The triptych of the next photo is actually even more telling. Right from the front, in the right photo, at first sight nothing seems to be 'wrong'.

But in the middle photo, straight from the side, where the shackled inmate is taking long strides (the chain between his ankle cuffs is stretched to its maximum length), you can see, as a result of the tight fastening of the belt, a slightly rounded upper back above that, and below that the prominent arched bulge of his protruding buttocks. The jumpsuit accentuates that extra. The buttocks also look good in the photo on the left, from the back.

When wearing this kind of restraint-belt, the tendency to raise the butt is probably stronger in average than when wearing a belly chain, because the latter allows just a little more freedom of movement. As a rule, it is easier to slide it up a little further, unless it’s applied in an idiotic tight way, but then it will pinch you, and carrying it thus can become very painful and even unhealthy.

That risk is much lower with such a leather belt. It quickly becomes stuck. It can actually always be quite tight without causing any danger, and if it is placed exactly at the narrowest zone of the waist as tight as possible, it is virtually immobile due to its width.

This tightly applied belt also contributes to accentuating the inmates bum itself, because it firmly constricts the prisoner's abdomen and back from all sides. Due to that pressure, it forces the wearer to both hold in his stomach and arch his back slightly, and thus it creates automatically a concave lower back directly above the buttocks, thanks to which the already prominently protruding butt is even further accentuated. In most cases it therefore will be very difficult, or at least fatiguing, for an inmate shackled like this to prevent his bum from extending backward and upward.

You can also study that effect very well in this group photo - all four inmates of course wearing the same prison uniform (a black-and-white striped two-piece, with open plastic sandals, although not all in the same color!), and restrained in the same way , including leg-irons (recognizable in case of the second man from the right).

The enforced protruding butt is clearly visible on the leftmost prisoner, who looks back. The belt with the cuffs clearly pulls in his stomach. His shirt hides the effect a little, because it naturally stands out a bit wider, thereby partly concealing the butt part of the trousers that protrudes towards the back. If he would wear a jumpsuit, his literally outstanding butt would come in full view.

The second guy stands almost still, then it is easier to keep your back straight again. The third struggles to take the step up, and holds his hands very convulsively against his chest, as if he indeed wants to hold his butt at all costs, with that bloody photographer nearby. The fourth also just steps up, automatically straightening his back slightly.

The effect is also visible in this video-clip, during the regrettably rather short moments the inmate going to court is shown from the side. You can see his buttocks moving in a slightly unnatural position.

As mentioned: whether or not there is an effect probably depends largely on the arm length - and possibly also on the prisoner's own choice: to tolerate the discomfort of hands pressing against the crotch rather than the humiliating position of the helplessly pronounced buttocks raised up.

Here is a tableau of a whole series of prisoners who have all been strapped with the belt and the handcuffs. They all struggle with the question of what the best posture is. As a result, they all walk slightly differently than they would without the belt, with their butts further back - some more, some less. Some inmates are better at preventing this than others.

The two outer prisoners in the bottom row, seen from the front, are clearly making an effort to suppress the natural tendency to just stick their butts out in this situation. The two next to it, on either side of the large square detail shot in the middle, are equipped with a belly chain instead of a belt; for them the effect is less strong, but still present.

However in the case of the inmate on the pic we started with, that ass must really stick out very, very humiliatingly far to the rear. Comparing his posture to that of many others, in his case it must result in an extra pronounced upward standing bum. He struggles more than the others with finding the least awkward and embarrassing position while walking. In the photo at the top right, he has just gotten off the car and is still trying to walk upright and not give in to the natural tendency to bend over because of the belt. Walking like that isn't easy, as his concentrated, pained look shows. In the photo above left he therefore actually lets it all go, and his butt promptly shoots back and up.

At the same time he still seems to be trying frantically to suppress this with all force while climbing the steps - his gaze is still very tense - because such an emphatic presentation of your bottom in the context of the homosocial environment of a male prison quickly has a connotation of sexual submissiveness and sexual availability. His deeply felt degrading posture, and this is rather exceptional, for that reason is even noticeable from the front.

Finally: have a look again on the clip i gave a link to at the last entry ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vzE4JSmzLw) . Between 6:00 and 6:15 you see the inmate entering court from the side (see the technically bad, but clear video-still inserted here). This makes his buttocks stand out well - and because his upper body has been pulled forward by the belt and handcuffs, it is now clearly visible how he cannot prevent them from protruding very vulnerable far back, and how he is forced to emphatically present them in this humiliating situation to the already waiting photographer.

To be continued......

[isagrimorie]

Because the whole Tuvix wank is rearing its head every week on Trek forums, I finally decided to rewatch this episode. I mostly avoided it because I am So Tired of the wank and how it's been relitigated for YEARS.

I was over it when it first popped up and I was even more over it with the way it's used as a bludgeon to promote 'psycho Janeway'.

But what's left out in the discussions is Kes's part in all of this, from the jump, Kes was troubled with the merging of Neelix and Tuvok, and anytime Tuvix tried to make advances, she just kept getting more uncomfortable.

(When Tuvix unconsciously touched Kes's shoulder, it looked like she had to consciously not flinch.)

To Tuvix's credit, he did give Kes space and respected her wishes but she was not happy with the whole merge because her relationship with Neelix and Tuvok is different.

We don't see the other people grieve but we see Kes's grief and confusion, which was shared by Janeway. But also, the moment the EMH had a solution to separate the two people in Tuvix, Harry jumped at the chance.

And he's already spent weeks with Tuvix.

The irony is that Janeway was coming around to thinking of Tuvix as an individual but the cure presented itself, but also as the Ship's Captain she has an obligation to care for her crew and absent or not that meant advocating for the two voices who couldn't speak up: Tuvok and Neelix.

Kes was the deciding factor. Kes made her plea to separate Neelix and Tuvok.

Kes was the biggest reason why Janeway decided to separate Tuvok from Neelix.

It was such a cop-out from the Doctor that he refused to do the procedure he made and pioneered. And forced Janeway to execute it instead.

Janeway is clearly not happy about the decision and she's caught between a rock and a hard place.

In Nothing Human Janeway verbalizes it.

"Any consequences of this decision will be my responsibility. Dismissed."

Janeway's constantly put into a wheelhouse of trolley problems, as the only high-ranking Starfleet officer, she is the final authority. In Nothing Human everyone is locked in an endless debate about the morality of using the Cardassians' methods to save B'Elanna's life. Meanwhile, the clock was running down to zero and B'Elanna could have died more.

(Honestly, the story should have been more B'Elanna, Doctor, and Janeway-centric than it was. Nothing Human is a weird episode. Especially since Seven was barely in it and seems to be the Acting Chief Engineer -- amusingly enough because the writers thought they killed Joe Carey between s2 and 3. Alas, poor Vorik, he's not getting any promotions either).

TLDR: Janeway is constantly living through what the Doctor of Doctor Who is living through. Or as the 12th Doctor once said: "Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose."

[smallpwbbles]

Who’s the babysitter here?

Wanted to get a more fluffy fic for the au out, my brain automatically told me to use Cream for such a purpose

————————————————————————

“Why are we here again?” Shadow's voice rumbled out as he turned to the bat on his shoulder, he wasn’t one to let people hitch a ride on his body. Rouge was fine though, she was very respectful of the gigantic hedgehog's boundaries and was kind enough to ask for permission before settling herself on his right shoulder.

Her tiny weight reminded him to trek slowly, at this point it was an unconscious behaviour to be careful with the regular sized people around him.

“Don’t worry it’s not a task from HQ, just doing a favour for Rose and grabbing some stuff she left at Vanillas”

Shadow gave her a look.

“Why did you bring me for this then?”

The bat gave the monstrous hedgehog a sheepish look “I don’t really interact with Vanilla much so I just wanted familiar company”.

That surprised Shadow a little, he honestly considered Rouge an extreme extrovert, the bat had such a way with charming people and swaying them with her charisma.

“Listen I’ve had to participate in a LOT of meetings back at HQ hun, my social battery can only take so many conversations with acquaintances before it depletes completely” Rouge complained, she dramatically raised a hand to her head and feigned fatigue.

Rouge could feel a rumble go through Shadow, he was chuckling, she knew the giant hedgehog could relate as his social battery was practically non existent. The bat really had to fight just to get him to attend the smallest events, be it going for a walk with her through station square or anywhere else in general.

The memory of his rampage after his awakening was but a flickering spot in her head as much time had past, the residents of station square seemed to have forgotten the event as well as Shadow had become quite a small celebrity, it was preferable to people being afraid of the gigantic hedgehog however Shadow hated it all the same.

He would avoid going into the city, even the spaces that could accommodate him just fine. She could only push him to socialise so much. The bat and Omega were just fine for him at the moment she guessed.

They had been trekking towards Floral forest village, the home of Vanilla and her daughter Cream. Rouge could agree the two rabbits lived in a peaceful and lovely outpost, though she much preferred the bustling and loud life of the urban city.

A few residents of the village were alarmed by the bat and giant hedgehog lizard's presence, but Rouge was sure it was mostly Shadows' looming stature and hedgehog body mixed with that lizard that caught the villagers off guard.

The bat glanced at Shadows face, it was hard and steely she knew he was used to people being wary around him but she was sure it never got any easier to deal with.

The bat leaped off the furry shoulder and spread her wings to flap and hover in the air next to Shadows head, she took a moment to look around before spotting a cute little house. The front yard was adorned with bushes covered in beautiful pink tulips and carnations no doubt due to Vanillas' expert gardening skills.

It made Rouge want to buy potted plants to spice up her apartment more, they’d have to be fake though as she wasn’t sure if she’d have the time to take care of them the way Vanilla did with her plants.

The bat flew down to the front door of the cute house, Shadow trailed behind her but kept his distance, he was quite tall compared to the home so Rouge assumed he kept away so as to not accidentally step on Vanillas flowers.

Rouge knocked politely three times on the wooden door, there was a moment of waiting and Rouge began to tap her heel in impatience. Amy said Vanilla was definitely home today so the bat hoped she wouldn’t have to wait too long.

As if the universe was listening to her thoughts the door was opened to a slightly frazzled Vanilla, “oh! Rouge my dear I was expecting you, so sorry for making you wait” she apologised. The rabbit patted down her skirt, it was covered in a white sort of powder “I’ve just been baking some pies for the elderly residents of our village so excuse my appearance”.

“No need to apologise, Vanilla” Rouge felt a little bad for her impatience, making pies for elderly people? That was literally one of the most wholesome things Rouge had ever heard, the rabbit was a saint.

Vanilla looked behind the bat to acknowledge the gigantic hedgehog standing a couple feet away “oh Shadow! It’s so nice to see you, your looking well sweetie”

Shadow's face turned red as he looked down at his feet, it wasn’t like he hadn’t met Vanilla but her kindness was always so foreign to him. Rouge had told him Vanilla contained a maternal aura that she spread to literally anyone and everyone she encountered but the hedgehog was not familiar with the feeling at all.

At Shadows silence Rouge sighed “don’t mind him he’s just shy”

Vanilla brought a hand up to her mouth as she laughed “oh that’s no issue, I remember when Cream used to be just the same, she’d always cling to my leg when I talked to others” she reminisced

Speaking of Cream, the younger rabbit poked her little head out to see who her mother was conversing with, her face brightened when she saw Rouge exchanging pleasantries with Vanilla, and a gigantic hedgehog standing awkwardly behind the two.

“Miss Rouge! Mr Shadow! Hi!” The young rabbit practically jumped out of her home to greet the two. Cream was also adorned with an orange flower crown containing many different plants that Rouge couldn’t identify, It was extremely adorable.

“Hey sweetie, how’ve you been?” Shadow simply waved pathetically behind her, he was even more awkward around children.

“I’m really good, Miss rouge, I’ve been making flower crowns with cheese and helping mom bake!” Rouge was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the two rabbits, they radiated so much good vibes it was gonna give her a heart attack.

“That’s nice hun, hey Vanilla, sorry to rush but I needed to do a favour for Amy, she said she left a some kitchen stuff in here” Rouge didn't mean to speed up the interaction but she could sense Shadow behind her getting antsy

“Oh of course, I’ve kept them in storage for when she next visited, I may need a minute to grab them unfortunately, this weeks been hectic and I’ve just been throwing things all about in there” the elder rabbit explained.

Rouge sighed in her head, that meant she’d be here a bit longer than intended, she didn’t mind that much but she could tell Shadow wanted to get outta there. The bat turned towards the younger bubbly rabbit and felt a little intrusive thought enter her mind.

Maybe she should let Cream play with Shadow until she got the items.

A devilish smile grew on her face, she’d already got Shadow to come out with her today, why not get him to socialise a bit with someone that wasn’t the herself.

“That sounds good, Vanilla. I’ll even help you out, but can Cream watch over Shadow for me? He gets a little anxious by himself.”

Rouge swore she heard something in Shadows neck crack with how fast his head whipped to turn to her.

“Oh that sounds like a fine idea, Cream you don’t mind playing with Shadow while me and Rouge are busy do you?” Vanilla questioned.

Shadow hoped Cream would be put off by the suggestion but her elated expression somehow got even more excited. “Oh yes please! I’d love to play with mr Shadow!”

The gigantic hedgehog had never felt so patronised, was Rouge seriously passing him off like some toddler for a play date, he glared down at the bat who returned it with cheeky grin,

He desperately fought the urge to step on her right then and he didn’t reject the tiny rabbit when she ran up to his paws. It would be too rude to do so now.

Cream managed to hop up and grab at one of Shadows fingers, she pulled at the claw that hung dangerously from the finger with no sign of fear on her little bunny face. “C'mon Mr Shadow! Let's go into the back garden”

Rouge watched as the little rabbit somehow managed to get Shadow to move in her direction, it was a hilarious sight to see as Shadow bent down awkwardly so the rabbit could pull his claw easier, the giant hedgehog turned back to the bat with a look that screamed “help me”.

She felt Vanilla take her arm and gently pull her inside the comfy home. It was very small but so cosy in the kitchen, the entire room smelt of cinnamon and sugar and it made Rouge's mouth salivate.

As the elder rabbit led her to another room in the house, Rouge felt the need to make sure Vanilla was okay with leaving Cream in Shadows care or maybe Shadow in Creams care when she thought about it.

“You're not worried about Shadow squishing Cream on accident or anything are you” it was a blunt way to address it but Rouge did consider herself to be a blunt person when she needed to be.

“No actually, I can see it in the way Shadow treats you, he seems to be a very kind and careful person,” Vanilla explained.

It kind of made Rouge's heart warm, Vanilla was very perceptive of people and the elder rabbit could see Shadow had no malicious intentions.

Though she hoped Cream's bubbly exterior didn’t end up scaring Shadow until he teleported somewhere she couldn’t find him.

————————————————————————

Shadows mind was at a blank, after walking over and into the fenced garden he sat in the middle of the grass yard with his hands laid flat. Cream was in front of him looking not any less excited, he was sure she’d never played with someone like him before and he had no idea how to feel about it.

She was much more observant than he thought as the young rabbit sensed his tension. “Oh don’t be shy mr Shadow! I won’t bite”.

He felt like such a baby, the tiny child was comforting him, the giant monster. The irony was not wasted on him.

“Oh let me give you something!” She exclaimed as she ran to a small patio table that wasn’t too far away, the table was covered in many flowers that Shadow assumed were Cream's early attempts at flower crowns. Her little chao pal, Cheese, was laying in this pile and slept adorably.

The rabbit carefully removed a crown from the pile so as not to disturb Cheese and came back to present it to Shadow.

She held it up high possibly so Shadow could see it better, he had impeccable sight though but he leaned in just to respect the rabbits actions “this is for you! It’s got poppy’s, roses and dahlia in it”.

The rabbit suddenly brought it down when she realised that Shadows head was much too big for the little crown. “Oh… sorry I got so excited to give it to you I forgot how big you were Mr Shadow”

He was about to wave off her lapse of memory, he was too big for a lot of things so the huge hedgehog didn’t take it personally. But she jumped up as an idea popped into her little head “wait! May I have your hand please?”

He didn’t see a reason to not do so so he slowly lifted up a massive claw to her tiny body, the rabbit hopped to his pinky finger and furnished the appendage with her crown. “There! Now it’s a ring”

She looked quite proud of her quick thinking, and the Shadow couldn’t deny the crown turned ring looked really nice. He looked down upon the tiny rabbit and uttered a single thanks.

It made the tiny rabbit immensely happy though so Shadow guessed he was doing this weird little play date right.

“Can I sit in your hand?” Cream suddenly asked, surprising Shadow. It was a very forward question and Shadow really didn’t like picking up people he wasn’t used to. “I’ll be really careful!”.

Shadow wasn’t worried about her being careful, he was worried about himself handling her. The hedgehog really didn’t want Vanilla coming outside to her daughter as flat as a pancake if Shadow ended up squishing her.

But the adorable look on her face was too hard to deny.

Cream watched as a gigantic claw of the giant hedgehog was carefully placed back in front of her, his palm went flat as he invited her to climb it, she readily did so and gripped onto his forefinger for extra measure “lift me up as high as you can!” The rabbit suggested.

Shadow swore the tiny rabbit could fly, she could go as high as she wished herself. He guessed it was just a different feeling when a giant creature was doing all the labour for you.

Creams stomach lurched a bit as the hedgehog did as she commanded, her view went from her garden to the entire village as Shadow even stood up to give her access to more height, she jumped about in his surprisingly bouncy palm as she enjoyed the view

“So cool! Youre so cool Mr Shadow” she exclaimed. Shadows' face turned red again as the little rabbit bounced in his hand. He’d come to expect that for the rest of his life he’d be subject to the rejection and fear from those below himself. He wasn’t like anyone else and was never going to be and he’d come to terms with that.

But people like Rouge, people like Sonic and his friends, even Cream as she bounced in his hand. They were different, he didn’t understand it but no matter what he did they never looked at him in fear.

It felt corny to say but he couldn’t thank them enough for letting him feel just a bit of normalcy in his messed up life.

“Let’s play hide and seek” the tiny rabbit's voice took him out of his thoughts, his face fell flat at the game she proposed considering his stature would make hiding anywhere impossible.

Cream noticed his change of expression rather quickly though “oh it’s okay, you’ll be the seeker and I’ll hide, I have to warn you I’m super good at hiding, I always win at this with Charmy so he doesn’t like playing hide and seek with me anymore”.

Shadow snorted a bit at the warning, it was a bit hysterical coming from Cream but he did love a challenge.

——————————————————————

The giant hedgehog was gripping at his head, the game had gone on for about 15 minutes with Shadow finding the bunny girl in easy places like behind the patio chairs and under a picnic blanket that was chilling on the grass previously. He grew bored of the game after finding her the first time and thought her challenge was just childish exaggeration.

But now he couldn’t find her.

He really truly could not find her and it was taking all the chaos energy within his system not to panic, his thoughts began growing irrational as he wondered if Cream had just left the garden to hide somewhere else. He didn’t think she would do so as the game was kept within the garden.

Where the hell was she then?

It would look so embarrassing if Rouge came out right now for them to leave only for Shadow to have lost Vanillas daughter.

He wanted to disappear in a puff of chaos control when Rouge came outside a second later, she was carrying a large bag full of what was probably Amy’s items.

“C'mon honey let’s jet” the bat pointed a thumb towards the village.

Rouge then noticed Shadow looked downright strung out, his quills were standing up in their ends and he was sweating, she also noticed Cream was not with him.

“Shadow, where's the kid?” she questioned.

His face went beat red as he fumbled for a moment “I… I don’t know” he finally admitted.

Rouge was perplexed “whu- what do you mean you don’t know?”

“We were playing hide and seek and now I can’t find her” Shadow put his hands to his face as his words became muffled “I lost her”.

Rouge stood there for a minute, the guffaw escaped her before she could stop it.

Shadow looked irate by her outburst “don’t laugh, I need to find her! his voice was raised and she felt the yell through her entire body. It didn’t stop her from laughing though.

Rouge wheezed as she wiped a tear from her eye “oh my gosh Shadow how are you that bad at hide and seek that you can’t find her now”.

The giant hedgehog looked a little offended at her teasing, he played many games of hide and seek back in the ARK and happened to be quite good at making himself scarce and finding people.

Rouge calmed herself, she knew Cream was definitely somewhere with them, the bat had to make sure they identified where before Shadow lost his nerve and ended up breaking something.

Before she could offer possible hiding places she was interrupted by Vanilla poking her torso outside “is everything okay out here? Are you two ready to leave?”

Shadow stepped over Rouge, his sudden movement catching her off guard and his footfall making her lose balance “yes everything is just fine” the panic in the giant lizard hedgehog's voice betrayed his words as he tried his best to regain control of the situation.

Rouge moved herself from behind the leg that stood in front of her, if Shadow wasn’t gonna be honest about the hilarious situation she was “actually we can’t find Cream, these two were playing hide and seek and it seems Creams pulled a fast one on Shadow”.

Her voice was full of Mockery, she didn’t turn up to look at the Shadow because she knew the face he was probably giving her could kill her if it was able to.

Vanilla didn’t look affected by the fact her daughter was missing, Shadow was fully expecting to be scolded for losing the younger rabbit but Vanilla simply looked around the garden. She took a moment before making eye contact with Shadow, he saw something like realisation strike her as the elder rabbit's eyes widened.

“Cream dear you can stop hiding now, I know your up there”

Shadow was confused, up there? Up where?

He was immensely startled as he suddenly heard a tiny defeated voice come from in his head, “noooo, I was doing so well!”

The giant lizard hedgehog squirmed as he felt the spines of his upper and middle quills be moved about, Rouge watched as Cream's tiny head popped out of Shadows quills “here I am!” She exclaimed.

That sly little rabbit Rouge thought, she really got in there without Shadow even noticing. The bat had to admire Cream's sneaking skills.

Shadow was flabbergasted. He didn't feel Cream make her way in there, he was usually so sensitive to the touch of others. He attributed his lack of awareness to his earlier tension and apprehensiveness with spending time with the tiny rabbit. If he didn’t then he was sure he’d explode with embarrassment, if Sonic heard about this the blue hedgehog would never let him live it down.

“Cream come down now, you're making Shadow uncomfortable” Vanilla ordered.

“I’m trying but I think my leg is stuck,” the younger rabbit replied.

Rouge flew up to inspect the situation, the little rabbit indeed had a leg stuck in the spines of Shadows quills, she was near dangling and holding onto the spines of Shadows top head spine for support.

“Shadow relax your quills would you, the poor thing is hanging on for dear life” Shadow perked up at that and tried to manually relax himself, it worked too well as Rouge had to quickly catch the bunny girl when the quills smoothed out and her leg was freed.

The giant hedgehog turned to the two of them, his face was etched with concern. Cream was once again very observant to this expression.

“Oh don’t worry Mr Shadow, I’m okay! But I did say I’m really really good at hide and seek” the rabbit reminded him.

He would never underestimate Cream again, he was still standing there trying to work out how she got in there without him realising.

“You sure showed him Cream, it seems he’s not as good at sensing people as he likes to brag” Rouge chided, voice full of ridicule.

She was so lucky she was still holding Cream in her arms because Shadow could have swatted her out the sky.

————————————————————————-

Vanilla had sent them on their way with the items but also a bit of the cinnamon pie she made.

Rouge was glad she didn’t have to worry about what to have for dinner today.

She was perched on Shadows head as they took the scenic route back towards station square, rouge took notice of a little ring of flowers on Shadows pinky finger as he raised his hand to swipe at leaves that had flown too close to his eyes.

“Aww did Cream give that to you, that’s super sweet of her”

Shadow extended his hand out to look at his pinky,

The large hedgehog smiled at the little gift.

“Cream is nice, she and Vanilla are really kind”

“ I know right? It's insanely cute but it’s also suspicious” Rouge hinted.

Shadow was confused by that statement, Rouge couldn’t see his face on top of his gigantic head but she knew he was probably questioning her statement.

“Nice people always have the wildest things to hide, I'd bet you 10 rings that Vanilla has killed someone before”.

Shadows' face turned incredulous, he shook his head “too many crime documentaries Rouge”.

“I’m just saying! Where did Cream learn to be so sneaky and quiet?” She challenged.

Shadow opened his mouth but closed it when he realised he didn’t really have an answer for that “touché”.