#he says every time he tries to take a nap he gets sleep paralysis and I dont really believe in curses....but shes definitely capable
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trahoalai · 7 months ago
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never gonna experience the "gay kid finds safety and solace in their english class" bc all my teachers have been incredibly racist to me
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yuusishi · 2 years ago
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Hiiii :D
Can I request Leona, Malleus, and either Lilia or Idia(I love them both and I cannot choose) with an s/o who frequently has nightmares and so they're constantly tired from the lack of proper sleep?
. . . NOT SO SWEET DREAMS
pairings : Leona Kingscholar , Malleus Draconia , Idia Shroud x gn!reader
genre : fluff , established relationships
cws/tws : none
a/n : I hope this got through well, I rarely have dreams but I have frequent sleep paralysis which feels nightmarish enough 💀 also new divider <3 this one is so cute
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Leona Kingscholar !!
He didn't really care until both of you became close, he knew college students were tired all the time so he thought you were just one of them.
He always noticed how your eyes were always drooping in every class except PE, shoulders always relaxed and your head tilting and then snapping up.
But when you two became friends and eventually partners, that's when the concern and curiosity started.
He would be blunt, "Oi Herbivore, you're starting to look like a racoon with those bags under your eyes, anything going on?"
He's mean, but that's just how he shows he's worried for you.
You were nervous telling Leona, thinking that he might find your reason for lack of sleep childish.
He blinked a few times, then asked if you wanted to sleep in his room in hopes it can relax you.
If he feels the space next to him shift harshly he'd wake up in a heartbeat, he won't say anything, instead slowly dragging you back down to lay down next to him again, this time his arms protectively around you.
He'd try to attend your classes to keep an eye on you since half the time you're in class you look like you're on the verge of passing out.
The teachers are thanking the stars that Leona’s finally attending class, but they notice that if you’re not there then he isn’t either…
You sleep in his room 99% of the time now, even if your nightmares have lessened already.
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Malleus Draconia !!
Before you explained to him your predicament he often thought you were deathly sick. He tried to get the specialist doctor for the royal family to go to NRC just to take care of you 💀
After you told him that nightmares are causing your lack of sleep, he put down his quill that was about to call the doctor over.
Now you have a new sleeping buddy!
Malleus decided that he will now be sleeping in your room until you both figure out how to solve your nightmare problem.
At first Malleus was confused how nightmares are able to affect a person this much, but chalked it up to the mentality of humans being weaker than faes.
While you sleep he secretly uses magic on you, nothing that can permanently change your state of mind but one that can hopefully give you a pleasant sleep.
He wants to use a spell on you to dispel all the thoughts that cause your nightmares, he really does, but the dangers of using a spell like that on a mere human scares him. He'd never be able to forgive himself if it harmed you instead.
He tries to get you to have small power naps between classes to give you more energy, the only exception is during lunch breaks since you need to use that for eating.
He's surprisingly strict with you getting sleep between classes, if you have to do homework he'll sit next to you to make sure you focus and finish it within the break.
Once you're done expect to be gently pulled down for your little morning/afternoon nap.
You remind him of Silver sometimes when he sees you've fallen asleep in the classroom or under a tree in the botanical garden.
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Idia Shroud !!
"[NAME]-SHI, A-ARE YOU ALIVE?"
Thought you were kind of dead when you were having a particularly more sleep deprived day than usual.
After you told him of your current condition, he secretly went to work on a device.
A device that can release soothing soundwaves that you can't even hear from a naked ear! It's small too so you can carry it with you if you're going out of town.
Tries to say that it wasn't much trouble when you thank him, he definitely didn't spend the entire week trying to figure out how to make it quiet enough and how to make it tiny and lightweight.
Poor boy's hair is completely pink and flaming when you tell him you finally got a semi-good night's sleep thanks to his invention.
If you tell him that you want to sleep next to him to relax and be more comfortable, he actually died and ascended on the spot, that's why he's staring at you like he just saw a ghost.
"Idia...? Are you okay?" he realizes that he was staring and holding his breath "YES! I'm o-okay...and! You can sleep in my room..."
Usually people would sleep next to their partners at night, but Idia needed some more time to ready himself and that was time you were willing to give.
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pops-exe · 2 years ago
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Hey, you mentioned you got diagnosed with a sleep disorder this year and I was wondering which one and how you ended up getting diagnosed with it? Asking for me lol, I think I might have a sleep disorder
Yeah so I got diagnosed with something called idiopathic hypersomnia (IH). It was a very long process. For years I was sooo sleepy throughout school and college. Everyone says they're tired so I thought it was just normal. Plus I was diagnosed with depression so my doc and I assumed it was a leftover symptom. Switched meds several times, used caffeine pills, even put on stims for a while. I would sleep perfectly at night and would take 2+hr naps during the day. I would regularly doze off during class and work no matter how hard I tried to stay alert Like I'd think I was awake and realize I was typing gibberish on my computer.
And so last year my therapist said, go see a sleep doctor. So my primary doctor referred me to a neurologist.
The testing part is pretty complex. You have to stop mental health meds for 2 weeks before the test. The 1st part is called a polysomnogram and it's to see how you sleep at night and to rule out any possible causes for the sleepiness (sleep apnea, sleep walking, etc). You get hooked up to a bunch of electrodes to measure your brain waves and then you sleep for the night.
Then if the polysomnogram is normal (sleep apnea or not sleeping at all would make the next part inaccurate) they do the mslt, multiple sleep latency test. Basically you, or try to, nap every 2hrs. You get a certain amount of time to fall sleep, and they measure how fast you do and if you enter rem (dream sleep).
For narcolepsy type 2 (NT2) and IH you have to fall asleep on average in less than 5-10min(I can't remember the exact number). You take 4 or 5 naps depending on the results. For narcolepsy you have to enter rem during at least 2 naps. Basically, being able to fall asleep quickly after a full night's sleep every two hours isn't normal lmao.
It takes a few weeks for the results. For mine, I fell asleep in all 4 naps. I can't remember how fast but they said it met the criteria. Didn't enter rem so not enough for NT2. Although, the doc said a lot of research points to NT2 and IH being a spectrum and not really two different things. And I did have a cataplexy like attack at one point so he just says narcolepsy spectrum disorder cause it could end up being narcolepsy type 1. On paper it's just idiopathic hypersomnia. But the medications to treat it are exactly the same.
I'm currently on armodafinil and it definitely takes the edge off the sleepiness. Like instead of dozing off 3x a day at work every day, it's like once a day, every other day. I still do take long naps on the weekends or any chance I get. But my brain always feels somewhat foggy and my limbs tend to feel heavy (like a really mild sleep paralysis).
This site has a lot of information about IH and similar sleep disorders. They do a lot of advocating for research and have tons of helpful info:
https://www.hypersomniafoundation.org/ih/
I hope this helps even a little bit. Feel free to ask me anything else or message me for advice. Hope everything turns out for the best for you!
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barbenheimer-core · 3 years ago
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AUDERE EST FACERE !
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하나. chanel : part one — 1.3k words
Ahyeong stared at the green wormhole outside the restaurant window that looked like it had ripped through the walls of reality itself, tuning out the low hum of the piano and the incessant chatterings of her parents discussing stock prices with the company investors over glasses of fine wine and impeccable dining.
She blinked.
It was gone.
Maybe she shouldn't have pulled an all-nighter binging True Beauty on webtoon as a reward for finishing the end-of-term exams. Lack of sleep was leading her to have vivid hallucinations.
She set her sights on her waiting dish of panna cotta instead, picking up the gold dessert spoon and scooping up an acceptable amount of the cold dish before putting it in her mouth.
"Noona," her brother, Gilyeong nudged her side, briefly scrolling his phone's screen before turning it at her direction under the table, away from the eyes of the adults.
Ahyeong, slightly confused, looked down at his phone screen, only to snap her neck as fast she could the other way.
Aish, that kid, the girl cursed under her breath, always up to ruining her mind.
Gilyeong lowly chuckled at his sister's agitated state and continued reading his horror manhwa on a mobile-reading app.
She couldn't exactly remember when, but it had become a tradition of sorts among the siblings to share the most gruesome stills of creepy images they could find to incite a satisfactory — and sometimes, rather laughable — reaction from the other.
They had a whole rating system where the degree of their flinches would determine the amount of money they had to pay to each other. Though she had to add, Ahyeong was winning in that department.
While Gilyeong found such material more often than not as he was an avid reader of any and every horror comic he could get his hands on, Ahyeong was more partial to the films and movies, only occasionally dipping her toes into physical pages.
Although she found clips and images at a slower pace than he did due to mountains of schoolwork, her contributions were usually the most disturbing (and mentally scarring) of all the others, which three times out of ten resulted in Gilyeong damaging his voice box by the magnitude of his screams.
(The neighbor had to check in once because he had thought it was Ahyeong screaming bloody murder.)
It wasn't like Gilyeong held back either. Despite being twelve, the guy had a lot of nerve in him reading all sorts of body horror. She supposed it was their mum's fault for leaving him unsupervised in the comics section at the library and Ahyeong's own for not stopping the seven-year-old from tainting his eyes. He had looked genuinely fascinated with the grotesque drawings and she had thought that it would have been nice to have someone to discuss her interests with. Her friends were hesitant to delve into "nightmare fodder" as they had called it.
She sighed, blinking away the drowsiness in her eyes as she tried to focus on eating her dessert. She couldn't wait to go back to reading True Beauty.
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The restaurant lobby was as extravagant as it could've been, with rich, dark colors and gold-silver accents on every corner.
Her parents were outside, seeing the investors off while Ahyeong and Gilyeong waited for them to pick her up.
It had been over twenty minutes and they still hadn't returned. She could've rested a bit. Ahyeong tapped her foot impatiently, wincing at the sting in her foot. Standing in her stilettos for so long was doing her no good other than causing pain to her toes.
"Yah, dongsaeng, I'm gonna take a power nap, wake me up when mum and dad arrive."
She got no sign of confirmation other than a slight glance her way, and with that, she finally sunk into the couch and removed her heels.
The couch felt like a cloud, and Ahyeong couldn't help the heavy feeling behind her eyelids as exhaustion finally took over her consciousness and her eyes slowly fluttered shut, unbeknownst to the green hole in reality that formed in front of her as soon as she did.
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Turn.
Turn.
Turn.
Someone was reading a book. That was what she first thought as her sleepiness faded, waking up from her nap but still keeping her eyes closed.
Maybe her brother had sneaked a copy of a comic under their parents' noses and was reading it while they were away.
Why didn't he wake her up yet? They still hadn't returned?
She was feeling more refreshed than ever and that was only possible with a full eight hours of sleep. Had a power nap finally lived up to its name?
It also smelled different. Compared to the faint scent of lavender and roses that glided through the air in the restaurant lobby, the only thing Ahyeong could register now was the steaming smell of convenience store ramen as if it was right in front of her and a rather strange note of musk from someone sitting across from her.
She furrowed her brows.
Gilyeong never put on cologne or perfume, who was it?
Snapping her eyes open, Ahyeong stilled, looking at the Gucci-clad person reading a manhwa in front of her.
She blinked.
Huh? Lee Dongmin?
Looking down at herself, she noticed her obvious change in attire, wearing Chanel trainers instead of stilettos and wide-legged pants and a cream turtleneck in place of her grey chiffon dress.
Where was she?
Awareness flooded her system, and her eyes zoomed over her surroundings to see a place she never thought she would.
Prince Comics.
The haven of horror enthusiasts.
Ahyeong contemplated. So was she in a drama? True Beauty, no less.
. . . wow, she really had been sleep-deprived, hadn't she? So much so that her obsession with True Beauty ended up with her having this extremely realistic fantasy.
Smiling faintly, she got up, alerting Cha Eu— no, Lee Suho, who went back to reading when she went to browse the collections available in the store.
So, a character from the main cast and an almost endless collection of her favorite pastime hobby?
She never thought she'd thank sleep deprivation for giving her such a wonderful lucid dream.
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Suho glanced over his book to look at the girl peering at the various volumes of Uzumaki on the Junji Ito shelves.
Judging by her appearance, which screamed wealthy, she was most definitely not from around here.
He didn't recall seeing her around school or the neighborhood either.
Strange, he thought as she pulled out a copy of Shiver and sifted through it, face completely straight and not flinching in the slightest, rather, an amused smile played on her lips.
"Oh? Ahyeong! Is that you?"
His mental analysis of the new girl broke when the bookstore owner entered the lounge with a face of vague recognition, and Suho hastily returned his eyes back to reading his comic as the girl — Ahyeong, as the owner had called her, turned around with equal startlement.
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TURN.
What the-?
"Wangja-ssi, it's been a while," Ahyeong smiled at the shop owner, slipping the book back into the shelf.
"Wah, you've gotten even more pretty from the last time I saw you!" Wangja exclaimed, face alight with elation at the sight of one of his favorite customers back at his shop.
She'd never seen him aside from behind a screen, what'd he mean?
Ahyeong looked abashed at the sudden compliment why was she doing that? and smiled awkwardly.
"Well, I'm here now. Our family moved to Gangnam a few days ago." She had been living in Gangnam since she'd been born, what was she saying? Why couldn't she control her actions?
"Daebak, what about your schooling? It's the middle of the year, have you found a place?"
"Oh, yeah, about that," Ahyeong grinned. She looked at Suho, who was gulping down red ginseng and not paying attention to their conversation at all, trying to signal him of the weird situation of paralysis that she was in. Was this what usually happened in a lucid dream? Her gaze locked onto Wangja's.
"I'm transferring to Saebom."
HUH!?
Suho choked on his drink.
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masterlist
© 2021 Alfia Sheikh, All Rights Reserved
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heyitsyn · 4 years ago
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Manager!Seijoh Part 4
a/n: I LIVE FOR THESE MANAGER SEIJOH ASKS LIKE BLS TAKE OVER MY LIFE
(i originally planned to write the other schools for the manager scenario like theyre already in my drafts with plans and partly written out but like seijoh is my TOP PRIORITY (sorry pls dont hate me) BC THEY ARE MY BOIS)
also, most of my ask box is all for a kyoken ending and kyoken fluff and aoba johsai fluff and im quaking bc this is spurring me to create more aoba johsai imagines and my love for the other schools is just like being overshadowed by our little plant babies :’)
for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!
anon request: Im the anon who mentioned the chaos about the dating and can I say I love it!!! 🙏🙏 i kinda have this hc for the boys that they fight whenever they go on bus rides, just because they want yn to sit next to them. But she usually sits next to the calmer members?? The reason the boys fight?? She may or may not have fallen asleep a few times, her head on kyo/iwa shoulder. 🥺🥺
LMAO THAT PART JUST REEKED CHAOTIC ENERGY AND SHE WOULD TOTALLY SIT NEXT TO THEM JUST TO SPITE THE OTHERS AND I LOVE THE IRONY LIKE THE MOST AGGRESSIVE LOOKING ARE THE SOFTEST AND CALMEST TOWARDS HER LIKE PLEASE KYOKEN AND IWA ARE JUST LITTLE SOFT BEANS AND DESERVE THE WORLD
(bruh im so soft for iwa and kyo like my best bois and i must write them out IMMEDIATELY bc theyre so uggghhhhhh!!!!!!!)
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MY TWO MEN IN ONE GIF GOD HAS BLESSED ME-
oh dear
bus rides,,,,, yep here we go
the team is usually peaceful and civil w each other (minus iwa literally beating oiks up but thats irrelevant information)
like they dont really have fights or have any arguments bc they meet up every saturday to talk about the week and if anybody had any concerns or anything they were mad about since it was like a family meeting
but boy oh boy
when you entered this family,,, arguments and misunderstandings happened once a week
‘no! y/n-chan said she was going to go shopping with me!’
‘um, she already agreed to go to to the arcade w me’
‘wait, she told me we were going to go visit that cafe!’
yes you agreed to do those things w them but you never assigned a date
your attention was something that these boys were always wanting since they only see you during club hours and practices
their jealousy gets really ugly sometimes and the two first years actually get all smug about it 
‘hm, y/n, we still up for studying later?’
you ruffled his hair and smiled up at him
‘yep! we need to set an alarm though or else i’d end up staying after 1 in the morning again’
‘great. cant wait’
kunimi rarely shows any emotion towards his senpais but they couldnt miss the smug smirk that made oikawa grip the volleyball and mattsun holding him back
god hes such a little shite
everyone knows that the first years have a upperhand than them bc of your same grade so the upperclassmen were much more sensitive to spending time with you outside of practice
and they liked to spend that time wisely
when the time for away games come, you weren’t that worried about it
i mean,, why would you when boarding the bus is going to be so early in the morning at like 4 in the morning and theyd be sleeping the whole time so you get peace and quiet
in fact, you were looking forward!
but nope!
jesus took the wheel and said no
instead, you were watching the team members shouting and yelling at each other at the asscrack of dawn
say sike rn
the 2 coaches were actually not there yet so they werent able to help you and whip the boys to order so here you were, bleary eyed and clearly still tired, sighing and rolling your eyes at the fight
‘SHE SITS WITH ME! IM TEAM CAPTAIN! I GET DIBS!’
‘NO! YOU DROOL ON HER AND MESS UP HER CLOTHES! YOU LIKE MAKKI-SENPAI MORE, RIGHT, Y/N-CHAN?!’
now you might be asking me, ‘author-chan, why are they fighting so hard for something as simple as a bus ride?’
well, my young grasshoppers, this is not just a simple bus ride
you are infamous in the team to be a sleeper
no matter what form of transportation, bus, car, any surface, you found yourself in dream land
yall i wish i was like that
the sleep paralysis demon beside my bed says otherwise
they freak out and fight over even a simple touch of affection from you, do you really think they wouldnt fight tooth and nail to being your pillow and freely watching your adorable sleeping face?
these men are fighting as if they were fighting something serious like a world war
lmao with how intensely theyre fighting, it practically is
but there were two players who actually didnt care either way since they only wanted you to be the most comfortable and they werent exactly the most squishiest members
in fact, they were basically all muscle and probably not the most comfortable
NOPE I BELIEVE THAT IWA IS IN FACT ONE OF THE MOST COMFIEST AND BEST PILLOWS IN THE ENTIRE HAIKYUU UNIVERSE
totally not my bias talking or anything
so it was no surprise when they didnt get themselves involved
iwa was already done w them and goes in the bus because mom deserves a nap
naturally, kyo follows the leader and boards the bus after him, leaving the others to fight it out in the school parking lot
you were happy that they were too distracted that they wouldnt notice you sneaking away into the bus and you were slightly disappointed that out of all the seats, kyo had to sit in the one-seater by the front
so you immediately went over to the other person, who was iwa-san, and he was just settling in, pulling out his teal blanket
you blinked at him when he caught you stare but he gently smiled before opening the blanket
‘i was never a fan of window seats anyways’
you happily bounced over to him and you placed your bag at the overhead compartment bc seijoh is bougee and can afford everything before you climbed over him to the seat next to the window
iwaizumi tried to make you as comfortable as he can so he kept the seat divider thing yanno what im talking about? between you
but his eyes widened when you casually pulled it up and snuggled closer to him
youve done this before so he opened his right arm for you to cuddle closer but he was still surprised 
meanwhile,,,
you just closed your eyes with a smile as you pulled the blanket to your chin and practically glomped yourself to iwa
ugh im so jealous of you!!!!!!!!!!
‘hmmmm, youre so warm iwa-san. youre like,,,,, jacob from twilight’
his eyebrow quirked and he smiled, wrapping his arm around you and tightly holding you close
‘oh? the werewolf?’
he felt your head nod
‘mhm. so warm, and strong, yet so gentle and soft’
by now, both your legs were already swung over his lap and head on his chest as you sat sideways
his fingers traced circles around your middle as his other hand was fiddling with your fingers
‘didnt he like mark a little girl?’
‘iwa-san dont talk about that!’
his laugh grumbled his chest and you giggled, trying to become even closer towards his naturally warm chest and inhale his scent
lavender mixed with peppermint
it was such an odd combination from the people you knew and you were immediately drawn to it
thats why you usually wore his jacket rather than your own
he always gets confused as to where it is but you steal it and watch him look for it
you didnt hear that from me though
it didnt take a long time for you to fall asleep and by the time the 2 coaches finally arrived and yelled at the players, they were already late
‘oikawa, i thought youd handle this properly!’
oiks whimpered from the coach’s scolding but apologized then pushed everyone in
the sight in front of them made them both boil in jealousy and squeal in uwus
you, the softest and sweetest and kindest little flower human being, being cuddled up to iwaizumi, the brute and bara arms and the ultra macho strong man, who had his head on top of you
KYAAAAAAAA
even though they knew you were a heavy sleeper and iwa slept like a rock, they still quieted down and silently walked over to their seats, hissing and shushing at anyone who even made the slightest bit of noise
rustle of the bags?
SSSSHHHHHH
seat creaking as they sit down?
SSSHHHHHHHH
they only let this slide bc your sleeping face was just so cute and they didnt have the heart to wake you up
and also face the wrath of titan iwa and be thrown into the atlantic ocean like oikawa did one time
when you finally arrived at the stadium, they waited for a rough 10 minutes just to figure out how to wake you up
they didnt want to wake up iwa first and have him yell at them but they didnt want to wake you up first either
but kyo didnt understand the dilemma and instead just goes to the back where yall were at and he goes to the seat behind you so he could reach you easily and tickles your cheek
the team is just like 👁️👄👁️
your nose scrunches at this tingling sensation until it continues so you open your eyes and finds kyo just smiling down at you
oiks is literally shaking bc he could see the smallest smile on kyo’s face
‘wake up’
with his gruff voice, it sounded like he was ordering you around but you knew he couldnt help it and blinked tiredly at him, giving him a smile of your own
‘hm, hi kyo-san’
you winced at the sudden appearance of the sunlight and that made you fully wake up before flinched at the eyes of the other players
‘hello, everyone’
you said slowly and you sat up, noticing iwa still sleeping
oiks held his breath bc hes been friends w iwa since he was still a baby and he knows that its like waking up a sleeping dragon
‘wait y/n-chan-’
but you didnt listen and poked his nose
‘iwa-san? iwa-san, we’re here’
you cooed and the poking made his eyes flutter open and with his head still tilted to the side, he swore he saw an angel by the way the sunlight hit the back of your head giving you a smiling angel effect
hm, i could get used to seeing this when i wake up
you grinned and when he finally stretched, you sat up stright, waiting for iwa to get up so you could slide out
but kyo was an impatient little bean and just hoisted you out of there and towards him behind the seat
‘come on. i got your bag’
he mumbled and you nodded, letting him hold your hand
lmao wait i forgot the time this is set
this is set during the 2nd inter-high okay? okay
oiks was still complaining at kyo and iwa hogging you but you didnt listen and continued walking towards the entrance, glancing around at the other teams
as usual, oiks and iwa were walking to the front bc yanno, captain and vice-captain, while you and kyo walked at the back, mainly bc you didnt want any player to stray off like kindaichi did last time and look for him for hours
kyo gripped your hand and you turned your head to look at him to see his eyes glaring at anything
you chuckled which made him look down at you, the glare slowly disappearing
‘hm, kyo-san, you should really invest in contacts. it doesnt matter if wearing glasses makes you feel like a nerd bc you still need it to see’
he scrunched his nose when you scolded him and he was about to retort when him and the team caught the whisperings of the nearby teams
‘oh my god, seijoh and the beautiful manager’
‘how old is she? i hope shes at least a second year’
‘ngh id tap that’
IM BLEEHHHHH
‘is he her boyfriend? if so, the competition isnt that hard then’
kyo growled and was about to lunge at the yellow jacketed boy but you held him back, also worriedly looking at your boys
‘seijoh, down’
you ordered and they shrunk back, opting to just glaring heatedly at the other teams
you could still feel kyo shaking at rage to them sexualizing you but your hands squeezing him and the other hand rubbing his arm helped him control it
‘dont make a scene, kyo-san. its your first competition since your suspension, right? and you love volleyball so please keep it in. i can protect myself’
you whispered but he let go of your hand and wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close and continuing to glare at everyone as if he was asserting dominance
‘if they touch you-’
‘ill kick them between the legs, i know. you told me already’
you teased and he hummed in agreement
when they played, they were at ease bc the two coaches were there and they were also protective of you like their own so they wouldnt have to worry about someone to go after you
however,,
as they were warming up for the second game, you had to quickly fill up their water bottles bc they were already tired and dehydrated so you needed to fill them up
and they were all busy and you didnt want to bother them and you were going to be quick anyways so you just took the case of bottles and ran to the nearby water fountain
you were hurriedly filling them up and at your last bottle, you were about to cap it when you felt a presence behind you
he stood close and his arms snaked around your waist but you hurriedly tightened the lid and whacked him at the head with the heavy bottle
you continuously hit him and kicked him between the legs before hitting him again
‘DONT TOUCH ME AGAIN!’
you shouted and iwa and kyo were watching from the end of the hallway, panting from running so fast since they heard your shouts
okay a little flashback,
kyo was watching you from his perepharal vision and when he went up to spike, he took his eyes off of you for ONE DAMN SECOND and you nyoomed out of there
when he didnt see you anywhere, he wildly looked around and this caught the attention of the vice-captain
‘oi! kyotani! whats wrong?’
‘y/n. where is she?’
they took off running and the team was just like what
then they heard shouts and kyo knew it was you
his mad dog senses
hehe get it
he as about to tackle the guy but he saw you beat him with a water bottle and eventually taking another bottle and kicking him and hitting him with the two waters
the player cowered and scrambled to get away bc wow this girl was psycho
um no sir, she was protecting herself from hormonal testosterone filled children like you
‘YEA GO RUNNING! COME TO ME AGAIN AND ILL BEAT YOU UP HARDER! DISGUSTING! TRASH! GROSS! SCUM!’
maybe it was because the last time you were touched without consent was when you got bullied but you were definitely fighting harder and more aggressive at protecting yourself
you turned around and the rage from your eyes disappeared when you saw the two boys there
‘hey iwa-san! kyo-san! sorry, i needed to fill the water bottles!’
you grinned and placed the bottles back to the case before lugging it up
my god their eyes were shining
yep, thats my girl
when their games were over for the day, they made their way to the exit where the bus was at and you and kyo stayed behind again
you caught the eye of the guy and his team and you and kyo glared at him, both wearing a sadistic smile
UGH YALL ARE COUPLE GOALS I SWEAR
kyo even went up to him and the team shrunk leaving the guy standing there in fear at the look on his face
‘listen, i dont like it when my baby girl gets touched by filthy shite like you. so do it again, and ill chop those damn fingers of yours, got it?’
lmao he’ll come for your ankles
the guy just nodded in fear while his team were cowering at the back
you chuckled and pulled kyo to go bc as much as you liked watching this, you needed to go to the bus to go home
‘cmon, kyo, i want to go. im getting a headache from the smell of garbage’
he shifted his gaze to you and sent you a soft smile
‘okay. lets go’
hah you thought it ends there?
kyo is a dramatic little shite so he made a show of grabbing your waist and kissing your temple before flashing them a finger
oiks was tapping his foot impatiently at the bus and when you and kyo emerged from the entrace, he was about to snatch you up but kyo stood in front of you
‘EH?! KYOKEN-CHAN, I WANT TO SIT WITH Y/N-CHAN!’
‘no’
he said and didnt say anything else as he pulled you to the bus and into a two seater where you sat at the window again and he sat on the outside
‘hah? you want to sit next to me, kyo-san?’
you teased but he flushed red, hurriedly hiding in your neck
you laughed and brought a hand up to caress his nape
‘mhm’
he mumbled and you pursed your lips to hide the squeal
‘youre so cute, kyo-san’
‘not cute’
‘very cute’
‘no’
‘AM I CUTE Y/N-CHAN?’
‘SHUT UP SHITTYKAWA’
kyoken got away from your neck and went to hit the captain 
oikawa screamed
a/n: my first week of school was so weird bc we only have like 2 days and the other days are just free days bc we havent really done anything except talk about our classes but im just hating this system like ugh i actually want to go to school bc ya girl is going to a tech school and this 2-day a week is not the vibe
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kaito-is-baby · 4 years ago
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Can I request the THH cast and a reader who has sleep paralysis often?
Ohhh I love this so much!!! Just today I was watching a lot of videos about sleep paralysis so I hope I get it right. This idea and how many different opportunities it gives... I love it! Plus it's the THH cast and that's always great
DR1 CAST WITH AN S/O WHO HAS SLEEP PARALYSIS P.1
The second part is here
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Man, looking for this pic made me very very sad
Makoto Naegi
• It came out as a normal topic while you were talking one day, you didn't even gave it any importance but he did find it pretty concerning
• He didn't want to make you uncomfortable by asking about it so he investigated by his own
• And tried to find a way to stop them or at least notice when you are having one and wake you up then
• He found someone talking about how they always managed to move a feet on a sleep paralysis and their boyfriend knew that that gesture meant that they needed to be awaken
• So he told you about it
•Wow, Makoto, how much have you been investigating about it?
• And since then you tried to find that part of your body you could move while he watched you sleep
• And when you two find out he was very happy
•Now he can wake you up whenever you are having a sleep paralysis!
Sayaka Maizono
•Sayaka has a very light sleep so when you wake up from your paralysis she wakes up with you
•"Is everything okay, honey?"
•Now that you have heard her voice yes, she has such a relaxing voice, you feel totally restored now even if you were about to have a heart attack out of fear no longer than a minute ago
•You tell her about your sleeping problem and she listens to every one of your words, nodding at you
•And when you are done she asks you to curl up on her arms until you fall sleep again
•You feel a little ignored, almost as if she had said that your problem wasn't a real problem and just a little nightmare but you don't really care, you fall asleep like a baby on your girlfriend arms
•And the next day she tells you a lot of ideas to try and help you stop the sleep paralysis, she has been all night awake not only caressing you but also searching for a way to help you
•She wasn't ignoring you, she was trying to make you get a good sleep
• And now that she knows about it when you wake up after a paralysis, and wake her up too on the process, she sings you to comfort you. It always work, you feel a lot better after hearing her angelical voice
• And if you are taking a nap she will try to mumble some songs during all your nap to try and make a sweeter environment for you to sleep
• Incredibly it works and whenever she sings while you sleep your sleep paralysis doesn't attack you
•Of course it is probably just a coincidence but you two don't want to risk it and she always sings while you sleep, it is good for her too, she can write new songs or practice the old ones
•And she doesn't have to worry for you, it's a win-win for the both of you
Leon Kuwata
•You were quite used to the sleep paralysis but you had never had one sleeping with him
•The first time it happens you try to call his name or touch him but, of course, you can't move or talk
•Your sleep paralysis are horrible and even if you know they aren't true you feel like you are going to die
•Luckily Leon can't sleep on the same position for more than 10 minutes so he moves on your bed, moving you too and waking you up
•You wake up with him cuddling onto you and it really does make you feel better
•You don't even need to tell him about your sleep paralysis, he is just your perfect company while sleeping, his impossibility to stay still always saves you from your sleep paralysis
• Since then you always want to sleep with him and even if he loves it and won't complain he does ask if something happened
•Maybe something happened and you are afraid to sleep alone? He doesn't want that, he wants to help and to make sure you are calm
•When you tell him about the sleep paralysis he is very interested and kind of want to have one too even if you try to explain him that it is a lot worse than nightmares and he really doesn't want to have one
•Even if he doesn't take it seriously he knows that it scares you and tries to be even more agitated while sleeping to make sure he wakes you up
• He doesn't want to be sleeping while you are suffering, he is actually kinda worried for you
Chihiro Fujisaki
•You were just taking a nap when the sleep paralysis appeared
•Chihiro was there too, working on some computer program
•You could see him just in front of you, sitting on a chair and, at his side, a big man staring at you with no face or eyes but still you knew he was looking at you
•And you couldn't move of course
•You tried to relax and remember that it was just a sleep paralysis
•And after some seconds you woke up
•Chihiro didn't even notice that something was wrong, he turned to you with a happy smile on his face
•"Good morning! Have you slept well?"
•You don't want to worry him, he is too cute and sensitive to scare him with that kind of things
•And his bright smile is more than enough to make you forget about the horrible things you see on your paralysis
•Luckily he only needs to see your face to smile that way so you always receive it when you wake up
Kiyotaka Ishimaru
•On one of your usual study dates you can't really focus, you had a very bad sleep yesterday, with your sleep paralysis attacking you it was impossible to get any rest
•And Taka notices it, you are usually very hard working, that's what he likes the most of you, but today you are really absent. What happened?
•You explain to him that you had a bad sleep and the reason to it
•And now he is giving you a lecture about why you can't let those sleeping problems affect your energy during the day
•Usually you wouldn't mind to hear him say that kind of... inspiring things, is a part of him, but today you are too tired to put up with him
•So you explode, you've been tired all week for your sleep paralysis, now is stronger than ever and you are a little scared to go to sleep because it will attack again
•You tell him how weary you feel and he seems to understand it
•He reprimands you about your bad habits, claiming that your sleep paralysis is caused because of your lack of a good sleep schedule
•You know perfectly that that's not the reason, you have tried everything to stop them already, but you find a good opportunity on this
•Taka never wants you to sleep with him, that's not an appropriate behaviour for two young teens like you
•But you make a deal with him, you will follow his sleep schedule as long as you two sleep together
•That way whenever he goes to bed you will go too and, according to him, your sleep paralysis will stop
•It, of course, doesn't stop but sleeping with Taka makes you feel capable of endure it
Mondo Owada
•You are used to your sleep paralysis, nothing you can't control
•But this one is really horrifying, some black silhouette is trying to strangle you and you really feel like you can't breathe
•With the blanket over your face you can't really see what is going on, you can only feel an amazing pressure on your chest
•Why is your face covered on the first place?
• "Oh, baby, sorry!"
•Thanks god Mondo's voice get you out of the sleep paralysis
•And when you wake up he is taking the blanket of your face
•"Damn, I was cold and wrap up, sorry, I didn't count with you"
•So... you were under the blanket because... he forgot you were there?
•You had no time to think about how Mondo could be so forgetful while sleeping, you were still having problems to breath properly, afterall you had just been choked
•"Fuck, babe, are you alright?"
•Now the two of you are panicking, Mondo won't use a blanket ever again in his life
•Once you manage to breath again you explain him everything about your sleep paralysis
•And he is amazed, if he had to deal with all of that while sleeping he would wake up very upset and would probably punch everyone on the face during the day
•You were very strong and determined
•Even if he admires you he wants to help you get out of those paralysis
•He doesn't really know how to help you and ends up spending almost all if the nights awake, ready to comfort you once you wake up from your sleep paralysis
•And even if he does not find a way to help you you feel a bit better having him at your side when you wake up
•His main thing to say while comforting you is that you don't have anything to fear, he would beat up anything attacking you
•And it helps, you know that your boyfriend is amazingly strong, if one of those monsters attacking you were real they wouldn't stand a chance against Mondo
•And he would do anything to keep his S/O save
Celestia Ludenberg
•Another one who secretely wants to have one
•She is a freak of the whole oneiric world and specially the sleep paralysis. You are seeing demons! Doesn't it make you feel special? She finds it very special, she finds YOU very special
•But once you explain her that you hate them she knows perfectly how to end them
• Don't sleep face up, don't do any exercise 4 hours before going to sleep, try to get at least 6 hours of sleep....
•Now you have a long list of things to not do while/before sleeping
•And your girlfriend has another with the same things but instead she will try to do them all
•Now she has another reason to try and have an sleep paralysis, she will win against the deamons and also understand you better, your sleep paralysis is a signal that she should try to have one
•Poor Celes didn't expected what she was going to see
•You two wake up on a horrible state, your list didn't work and you had another sleep paralysis
•Her list, on the other hand, did work making her have a horrible sleep paralysis
•What woke you up from your paralysis was Celestia's face hiding on your neck
•Your girlfriend, the girl with the expressionless poker face, was crying on your shoulder
•She had a horrible time and you can't stand to see her like that, you spend all night cuddling, trying to comfort her
•And now you two have sleep paralysis every once in a while
•And you have to take care of her and comfort her
•Afterall she isn't as used to them as you are
•But you have absolutely forbidden to tell anyone that the Liar-Queen has to be holded like a baby to sleep because she is too afraid of the sleep paralysis she herself forced her into
•That's something only you are allowed to know and it's because she loves you and trusts you
•And you would never break that trust
Kyoko Kirigiri
•You tell her about it the first day you two sleep together, you don't want her to get very surprised if you wake up suddenly on the middle of the night
•And now your plan for the night has changed
•Eating a pizza watching a movie and cuddling on the couch? I think no
•You spend all day on libraries looking for books about sleep paralysis
•And once the libraries are closed and night is falling you think maybe your original plan will be restored
•Well, it isn't, the same research but with her computer instead
•When you are too tired to keep reading weird articles about how to stop the paralysis Kyoko agrees to go to sleep
•Even if she wants to stay a little longer investigating about it, she had just found a page full of people experiences
•While you two brush your teeth and get ready to sleep she is remembering you everything you have to do and everything you can't do
•And once in the bed Kyoko convinces you to spoon sleep
•Doesn't really matter who is the big and who is the small spoon, she just want to make sure that you sleep sideways and are holded in case the paralysis attacks anyways
Okay, I will stop here and make a part 2 in a couple of days because I'm running out of ideas and I think this post is growing too long
But don't worry anon, I promise I will finish your request! And I hope you like what I have until now, I personally love it
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thetomorrowshow · 3 years ago
Text
unless you take your army back ch. 4
First  -  Previous  -  Next  -  Read on AO3!
okay so I’m moving to college this week!!! My updates will probably be delayed or sporadic until I figure out my schedule, but I will definitely not stop writing :)
cw: temporary paralysis, blood, injuries
~
Crutchie twitched into wakefulness when he heard noise, and was almost instantly annoyed. Had he slept right through the whole day? He’d wanted to practice walking some more before anyone got back, had only been planning on napping for a few minutes. With the commotion around him, it sounded like everyone was already returning.
Crutchie cracked open his eyes to see Jack, sitting in that chair that he’d taken over for the past week. He was drawing something, the tip of his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth.
Around the room were a few of the guys--Mush, Blink, Buttons, Henry, Romeo. Romeo had been returning home earlier than normal, falling right into bed and lying there until Jack made him leave so Crutchie could redress his wounds. In moments of quiet, when Jack was dozing in his chair, Romeo would creep over to Crutchie’s side and whisper about how badly his head was pounding, how he felt dizzy and tired. His head had been hit pretty hard in the riot, so it wasn’t exactly surprising. The others were all still nursing various bruises and scrapes.
Jack looked up now, dropping his art as he saw Crutchie was awake. He looked bad, to be honest--his hair was sticking up awkwardly under his cap, eyes swollen and face grimy. Crutchie didn’t ask about it, just nodded to him.
“Hey, Crutchie,” Jack sighed, rubbing at his eyes. “How ya feelin’?”
Crutchie shoved away the irritation at being asked that again. Did Jack expect his answer to change just because he took a nap? He ignored the question, stretching out a little bit, relieved to find that stretching almost felt good.
“Romeo,” Crutchie called past Jack. A hand lifted from Romeo’s bunk. “How’s ya head?”
“Better ‘n better,” Romeo called back. “Think I’s just about good as new!”
Crutchie wished he could say the same. He felt like he was going to fall apart every moment he was awake, and even some of those when he was asleep. He hadn’t been having nightmares, exactly--just a vague sense of fear, death around the corner. Exactly like how the Refuge had felt. Maybe that did count as a nightmare, even if he never saw anything.
“Crutchie, I gotta have a meetin’ with the boys,” Jack interrupted his thoughts. “I didn’t wanna leave afore you woke, or wake you up. I brought ya a sandwich, here.” Jack handed him a small bundle of paper, presumably wrapping a sandwich. Then he left the room, beckoning for the other boys to follow without even letting Crutchie thank him. Romeo groaned, but rolled out of bed and followed.
They were going to have a newsies meeting . . . without him?
Crutchie frowned as he unwrapped the sandwich. He really wasn’t all that hungry, despite the only thing he’d ingested being the coffee from this morning. He was still a newsie, even if he couldn’t do the job lately. Wasn’t he?
This . . . this hurt, more than the stinging lashes on his back, more than the sharp pain in his chest when he breathed, more than the sickly aching of his bad leg. He’d been present for every newsie meeting ever since he started living here, and they were just going to have one without him?
Jack had always made sure to include him in everything. Even when some of the other guys didn’t make the effort, Jack did. And now Jack was purposefully excluding him. Just because--because, what, he couldn’t walk? That had never changed anything.
He really had to get back to work. Soon. They had to be leaving him out of it because he wasn’t technically a newsie, right? He felt bad even thinking that. Of course he was a newsie, he always would be. Newsie meant more than a career--at least, it did to him. Maybe none of the others thought of it the same way.
Crutchie morosely picked at his sandwich, putting tiny, manageable pieces into his mouth. The swelling of his face had almost completely gone down, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to move his jaw. Nor did it mean he wanted to eat at all.
Maybe they just didn’t want to disturb him? That was decent of them, he supposed, but not at all what he wanted. He wanted to be involved, prove he was getting better, see the guys and laugh with them again.
Unbidden, an image of the Refuge on that calm day popped into his head. All those boys, worked to death for no purpose, celebrating in what ways they possibly could while Snyder was out of the building. They included the sick, the hurt, the broken.
Now Crutchie was actually getting a bit annoyed. They weren’t even going to try to hide their meeting, or ask if he wanted to participate? He wasn’t a child. He could assess his own limits and make good choices. In fact, if Jack had just told him straight out that they were going to have a meeting and what it was about, and invited Crutchie to join them, he probably would have turned him down in favor of rest.
Jack hadn’t said that, though. Jack had left, taken everyone else with him, had mentioned it offhand like it wasn’t important at all. What kind of friend--brother--did that?
Crutchie rewrapped the sandwich as well as he could manage, his fingers trembling as usual. He was so sick of this. Sick of barely being capable of any fine motor skills, sick of not wanting to eat, sick of sleeping the day away. He hated feeling so weak. He hated the others seeing him so weak.
Mind made up, Crutchie sat up the rest of the way from his reclining position. His entire body ached, and for the first time in a long time, Crutchie wished he had a drink to numb it. He shook the thought away after contemplating it for a moment. He didn’t need another problem to deal with, another expense to owe. Not to mention, there was no way he’d get it past Jack.
His crutch was still within easy reach, but placing it under his arm reminded him uncomfortably of the cut there that was now stiff with dried blood. He probably shouldn’t irritate it anymore, should probably take the empty room as a chance to clean the wound and rewrap it.
Crutchie didn’t do that. Instead, he stood up.
He almost doubled over immediately. How was the pain that much worse than it was this morning? He hadn’t been doing anything, just sleeping. Wasn’t he supposed to be feeling at least a bit better?
He didn’t back down, though. Crutchie straightened his back, breathed in and out for a few moments, then swung forward.
His bad leg dragging against the floorboards shot needles of pain up through his body, but his knee trembled and gave out when he tried to lift it up. Dragged on the floor it was.
Just the one step had made his entire body break out in a light sweat, but still he hobbled forward. This step was easier than the last. His back stung with the stretch of his shoulder, fingers trembled around the grip of his crutch. He could do this. He hadn’t survived the Refuge just to not be able to cross a room. The next step was going to be easier still.
It wasn’t, but it wasn’t necessarily worse. Crutchie’s good leg wobbled from lack of use and fatigue, his breathing so heavy that he imagined he could feel his ribs scraping together. That would explain the pain, right?
The door seemed to be forever away. Crutchie took another hop toward it, then another, then a third in quick succession, almost trying to outrun the exhaustion that was beginning to fill his bones. He dimly registered that under his right arm, up against where his crutch chafed, was sticky. That was probably not very good.
Crutchie paused for a moment, his head pounding in time with his pulse. He could do this. He looked around, trying to distract himself from what felt like his body failing. The room wasn’t all that dark, even though the sun had completely set outside. Only one of the windows was still open, the one that led out to the fire escape right next to the bed that Crutchie had been spending the week in. A few candles or lanterns were scattered around, giving the room a familiar nighttime ambience.
Crutchie took another step, breathing in short gasps--the smooth wood felt like spikes underneath his bum leg, his chest was tearing apart from the inside out, his back had to be on fire, every single part of his body was aching and trembling.
One more step sent his legs collapsing from under him, his body slamming into the floor. Crutchie cried out quietly, shoving his fist into his mouth to muffle the sound. Not that it really mattered. There was no way that fall went unheard. The bedframe closest to him was still shaking from the impact.
He wasn’t sure that he was going to be awake in time for anyone to find him, though. Black was encroaching on the edge of his vision, increasing with every agonizing thrum of his injuries. Something sticky was dripping down his back, sticking it to his shirt, but Crutchie didn’t have the time to consider it before the world was completely black.
He wasn’t quite . . . asleep, though. He couldn’t surrender to the darkness yet, some hidden reserve of energy fighting for any thread of consciousness. The pain of his body was distant, something separated from his current state.
There was a crashing sound--the door?--then a sea of gasps and shouts and bangs and so, so much noise. Crutchie couldn’t move a muscle--not that he’d really want to, that would hurt. Still, he wished he could’ve given some sign to Jack that he wasn’t asleep. Jack, who was now brushing his hair away from his eyes.
“Crutchie,” came Jack’s frantic voice, “Crutch, can you hear me? C’mon, bud. It’s okay.”
“What happened?”
“Whaddya think?”
“Well I dunno, or I wouldn’ta asked!”
“Shuddup, Jack’s tryna focus!”
“Crutchie, please wake up. What were ya tryna do?”
I am awake, Jack, Crutchie desperately wanted to say. I’m fine. But his mouth wouldn’t respond to anything he tried. He was limp, yet frozen in place.
“Should I get a doctor?”
“See anyone here what can afford one?”
“He’s breathin’,” Jack said, so close that Crutchie could feel his breath on his cheek. A fist wrapped around Crutchie’s wrist and he panicked, tried to wriggle away from whoever it was about to drag him to his next torture session. He didn’t move at all, though, and the hand was gentle and pressed against one spot of his arm for several seconds before pulling away.
“Pulse is sorta quick I think, but his skin’s too warm. Albert, he--” Jack’s voice broke-- “help me get ‘im ta bed?”
Strong arms scooped him up, and once again Crutchie tried to throw himself away from them, his heart racing with fear. Once again, he could not move. He was half aware of who was touching him, and why, but the other half of his brain was too far in the shadow to realize that it was safe, that they were helping him.
Soon enough, he was laying on something soft and Crutchie almost let it overtake him, almost gave in to the darkness pulling at him. A feeling of--shame?--rose up, though, making it impossible to let go.
He hadn’t even made it across the room. Maybe not even halfway. He’d wanted to go to their stupid meeting, surprise them by being functional, insist that he could go out and sell at least for a little while tomorrow. Jack would never let him now, not after this stunt. Not after this failure.
“He’s bleedin’ through ‘is shirt, Jack, see?”
“I see, Blink, no need to call it to the world.”
“I’ll get the bandages, where they at?”
Crutchie’s heart seized. He couldn’t let them fix him up, they’d see! They’d see everything, all the lashes and cuts and marks from beatings. He’d seen how upset and uncomfortable just his visible ones made them, he couldn’t--he didn’t want--
Jack’s voice cut through his thoughts. “No, he wouldn’t want that. He’d be real mad if he woke up ta see we’d done exactly what he said not to.”
“So what we gonna do, Jack?”
“Jackie, somebody’s got to help Crutchie. If none of us can afford a doctor, somebody will have to do it. Who do you think Crutchie would want to do it?”
“No one, he ain’t wantin’ no one! He ain’t even let me do it, Davey, he don’t want us seein’!”
Jack sounded unbearably upset. Crutchie tried for what felt like the thousandth time to open his eyes, but his lids were just so heavy. Why was Davey here? Wait, Les was here too, he’d heard his voice earlier. They were included in the newsies meeting, when Crutchie himself wasn’t?
“Isn’t there anyone--”
“Katherine. But she’s--wait--Race--”
“Yeah?”
“Head down ta Medda’s, see if Kath’s there for a show. Bring ‘er back if she is, got that?”
“No problem, Jack!”
A door slammed distantly. Crutchie took a break from trying to force his body to move. It would hurt a lot if he succeeded, anyway. Maybe he should just sleep.
Someone was holding his hand, gently, rubbing his knuckles, and Crutchie wished he could squeeze their hand. Anything to show he was okay.
He wasn’t okay, though, was he? As he thought about it, the pain that had been distant and disconnected mere moments ago was becoming clearer and sharper. Why? Couldn’t he have a moment’s reprieve? Couldn’t he just get better already?
“Crutchie, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?”
He wanted to, couldn’t Jack see that?
“Did he move?”
“Yeah, a little. His face, y’know?”
His face had moved? How had he managed that? Nothing had seemed to change--maybe his eyelids had twitched from his ceaseless attempts to open them.
The pain was spreading, bringing back every memory of how it came. Crutchie didn’t want to cope with it right now. He didn’t want to feel. He didn’t want to hear Jack pleading with him to wake up. He just wanted darkness.
Finally, Crutchie surrendered to the sleep pulling on his bones. He could rest for a minute, before trying to open his eyes again. Jack would understand.
-
It felt like forever until Crutchie could hear their voices again, but he still couldn’t move. In his mind it felt like he was drowning, thrashing about just under the surface. Each time he struggled to move, he just sank lower and lower, until he was full-on panicking, freaking out entirely while never outwardly moving a muscle.
It was mentally exhausting, and after some time, Crutchie had to take a moment to rest or risk losing this little taste of consciousness. He wasn’t quitting, he told himself, trying to placate his mind. He just needed a rest. As he did, though, it felt as if he rose, just a tiny bit, closer to the surface.
It took a few tries, but Crutchie forced himself to stop struggling. He relaxed as much as he could, and the longer he waited, the faster he rose--until--
With a release of air that almost sounded like a groan, Crutchie opened his eyes. Immediately the talking ceased, and Crutchie registered that there were several faces crowding around him. He blinked a few times: Jack, closest. Then Albert, Davey, and Henry, a little further down. Crutchie opened his mouth a few times, swallowing away the dry feeling as well as he could, then spoke.
“Hey?”
There were sighs; Jack’s head dropped to his hands, Albert rolled his eyes, Davey stepped away.
When Jack looked back up, there were tears in his eyes. Crutchie shifted uncomfortably, then gritted his teeth when his injuries all reminded him of their existence. Davey returned with two glasses of water, one of which he handed to Jack, the other he pushed against Crutchie’s mouth. Crutchie accepted it without complaint--he wasn’t sure that he could make his fingers grip the glass right now.
After he finished drinking and Davey had placed the glass somewhere on the floor, Crutchie met Jack’s red-rimmed eyes. Jack stared at him for a moment.
“What in Manhattan was you thinkin’?”
Crutchie cringed. What had he been thinking? Well, he’d wanted to be a part of the meeting, but now he wished he’d gotten over his anger. How was Jack ever going to believe that he was good enough to be a newsie now? Shame rose, bile-like, in his throat, as he opened his mouth to speak.
Jack cut him off before he could even say anything. “D’you know how much you scared the guys? What made ya think you could walk, ‘specially without help? How did ya get the idea into your pointy little head that it was somehow okay? Tell me what you was thinkin’. Tell me ‘xactly what thoughts led to ya doin’ somethin’ so stupid.”
Maybe he would, Crutchie thought with a prickle of irritation, if Jack would shut up. Jack kept on talking, though.
“Ya know ya made Elmer cry, right? You coulda been dead, for all we knew. We was so scared and you wouldn’t even wake up!”
“Jack--” Davey started, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder, but Jack shrugged him off. Other than the three of them, the room was empty. Albert and Henry must have left at some point.
“It ain’t been a week since you was in the Refuge--” Crutchie flinched, Jack didn’t seem to notice, too caught up in his gesticulating hands and beginning to pace in the small space beside the bed-- “and here you is, tryin’ ta walk like it ain’t happened. Ya can’t even walk normally, how the he--”
“I was tryin’ ta go to the meeting,” Crutchie burst out, face red. Yes, he was ashamed of it. No, he did not need Jack jumping down his throat like that. “I-I miss seein’ everyone,” he added. It wasn't a lie, not exactly. He did miss the guys, a lot.
Jack paused in his short pacings, looking down at Crutchie with his mouth wide open. “Why didn’t ya say nothin’?” he asked loudly, as if Crutchie was slow. “I coulda brought everyone up for a few.”
Crutchie snorted, his face still burning. “Not like you gave me any time ta say anythin’. And I don’t want everyone up here, I wanted ta go to the meeting.”
Jack waved him off. “You don’t really wanna go to it, y’ain’t even workin’ right now, it woulda put ya ta sleep.”
Who was Jack to tell him what he did and didn’t want to do? And yes, Crutchie wasn’t working right now--he was still a newsie, he still got to go to newsies meetings! Right? Did Jack not see him as a newsie anymore?
“I still wanted ta be there,” Crutchie said stubbornly, trying not to show that anger was steadily overtaking his embarrassment. “I wanna know how the sellin’s been goin’ after the strike, wanna know if they’s seen any o’ my regulars, wanna know how the Delanceys are treatin’ everyone--”
Jack’s face went white. “Yeah, well, ya don’t need ta know,” he said brusquely. “You’s in bed all day. There’s nothin’ you can do about it.”
Crutchie’s fingers twisted in the blanket laying over him. The aches were vanishing as anger pumped through his body. What was Jack’s problem? Everything he was saying was just confirming Crutchie’s fears, that they no longer wanted him to be a newsie, only saw him as a burden. It couldn’t be true, right? Clearly Jack was thinking it.
“Ain’t everyone you, Jack,” Crutchie argued, shifting so that he was sitting up more. “I can decide for myself what I want, I don’t need you to tell me--”
“Oh, so you don’t need my help?” Jack cut in, disbelief written all over his face. “Ya’d be a-okay if I just stopped bringin’ ya food? Stopped payin’ rent for ya? Kicked you outta my bed?”
“Well, since you clearly don’t want me here--”
“Okay, can we maybe--” Davey tried to interject.
“This don’t concern you, Davey,” Jack spat. “Brothers only.”
Davey looked a little hurt, but instead took the glass from Jack’s hand, which he had been waving around for emphasis.
“One’d think you was tired of everything I sacrifice ta keep ya safe,” Jack continued. “Maybe you should try doin’ it all yourself--”
“Maybe I want to,” Crutchie interrupted, his face going red as his anger grew. “Didja ever think about that?”
“Yeah, well, ya can’t, so get over yourself and--”
“Yes I can! I’s perfectly capable of--”
“No ya ain’t, ya just--ya just collapsed while tryin’ ta cross the fu--”
“I’m not a child, Jack--”
“Yes you are!” Jack yelled, his face redder than ever. “You’s just a kid! You don’t deserve none o’ this, you oughtta be in school and with parents, and no bum leg and no Snyder, and someone who can actually take care of ya, someone who can stop freaks from attackin’ ya--”
Jack broke down, his knees buckling as he fell into the chair beside the bed. Loud sobs tore from his throat as he hid his face in his hands.
Crutchie ran a hand across his own face, shocked to discover tears of his own. He was fuming, madder at Jack than he had ever been. Even looking at him made him want to scream in frustration. The only other option was Davey, though, and Davey looked so uncomfortable Crutchie thought he might die from it. So Crutchie stared at Jack, wishing his eyes could set fire to Jack’s newsboy cap through the heat of his glare alone.
Crutchie swallowed repeatedly, trying to get his voice to a place where he wouldn’t yell at Jack. Finally he spoke, voice shaking. “You’s always said I’m just as capable as anyone else. Why is that suddenly not true?”
Jack drew in a shuddering breath, but didn’t say anything. Crutchie waited for a moment, before huffing and turning his head to look out the window. It was too dark to really see anything, what with the candle on the post of the bed shining right against the glass. Still, though, he stared at the glass. The adrenaline from the shouting match had begun to exit his system, leaving him very sore all over.
“I jus’--I don’ want you gettin’ hurt,” Jack choked out. Crutchie remained resolute in not looking at him. He hated it when Jack got protective like this, but usually it only lasted for two days or so after Crutchie had been sick or pushed around by one of the Delanceys. And sure, maybe the Refuge was on a bit of a larger scale than either of those, but that didn’t give Jack any right to treat him like--like a kid, like Les, or Elmer, or Boots, or any of the other littles. Come to think of it, actually, Jack would probably treat them just normal-like. Jack was still letting them sell, even after the riot. It was only Crutchie, only the kid with the crippled leg. When was that stupid leg going to stop defining his capabilities in Jack’s eyes?
Crutchie decided to try a different angle. “Why didn’tcha even ask me if I wanted to go ta the meeting?”
“Crutchie, I couldn’t--”
“No, Jack,” Crutchie interrupted. “I’s been doin’ nothing but lie in bed all day. I can handle a newsies meeting!”
“It ain’t that I think you can’t--”
“News ta me, it certainly sounds like--”
“You couldn’t come because the meeting was about you,” Davey burst in. He gave Jack an apologetic glance before turning his focus on Crutchie. “Jack didn’t want ta hurt your feelings by talking about you in front of you.”
Crutchie’s heart felt like it stopped. So this was it, wasn’t it? The decision on whether or not he was going to be able to work. Whether or not they would need to kick him out. Crutchie couldn’t decide what was worse--being thrown out onto the street in his condition, or knowing that he was just so pitiful that they couldn’t bear to do anything but keep him inside all the time. “Oh, so you was gonna save my feelings by talkin’ about me behind my back?” said Crutchie dumbly, his mouth moving of its own accord. “Real smart, Jack Kelly. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you bein’ so considerate-like.”
“Ya don’t understand,” Jack managed, running a hand under his nose. “It ain’t like that, it ain’t--”
“Oh, well feel free to jus’ tell me what it was like,” Crutchie said, gesturing with a wince as he noticed that under his arm was sticky and pulled painfully. “Go ahead.”
“I can’t--”
“Oh, I’m too weak ta know, huh? Just a kid, like you said--”
“Crutchie, I don’t--”
“Which makes it so much better, huh, makes it all--”
“It was the Delanceys!” Jack shouted, spit flying. He took a deep breath and pulled at his hair, knocking his cap to the floor, tension in every line of his body. “They was--they was bein’ rude.”
Crutchie scoffed. “The Delanceys? I can handle them. I can take them any day.” He didn’t mention the sick feeling that lined his stomach at the mention of them. The last time he’d seen them, they’d practically bashed his head in and dragged him off to the Refuge. Still, he’d never known the Delanceys to be particularly kind. He could deal with their insults.
“They . . . were bein’ a bit worse than rude, Crutchie,” Davey said quietly. Davey glanced at Jack, whose face was in his hands again. Jack shook so badly that Crutchie thought he was crying again for a moment. When his face reappeared, though, it was clear that it was barely-restrained anger.
“They said they was gonna kill you,” Jack growled. A tear rolled down his cheek, unnoticed. “They--they was gonna hunt you down, and get you, and--” Again, Jack couldn’t seem to go on. Davey laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Crutchie, we’re scared for you, that’s all,” Davey said placatingly. “At the meeting, we were trying to work out a way for you to keep selling papes but stay safe. We should’ve invited you, that’s for sure, Jack just thought you’d be too tired.”
Crutchie didn’t speak. The sick feeling in his stomach had spread to his head, making it feel gross and backwards and like he was going to throw up. He was fine, he was alive, but for the first time in a very long time, the Delanceys actually struck fear into his heart.
Luckily, he was spared from having to say anything by a knock at the door. Race poked his head around the corner, an apologetic look on his face.
“No sign of her,” Race called to Jack. “Need anythin’ else?”
Davey walked away to talk to Race, leaving Jack and Crutchie alone. Crutchie tried to swallow away the bad feeling, but Jack took his hand, completely distracting him. For a moment, Crutchie considered shaking him off, the embers of anger that had been left when the mention of the Delanceys had doused his chest flaming up, but it was clearly an olive branch of sorts. Jack wanted to forget the argument for now. Crutchie could at least do that.
“I-I’m sorry,” Jack muttered. “For goin’ all--y’know. A minute ago. You don’t deserve that. It was just . . . so, so--hard, and wrong, ta--ta come in here and find ya out, and on the floor--” Jack turned away, his voice choking up.
“I was awake,” Crutchie said, gripping Jack’s hand as hard as he could. Jack looked back at him, confused. Crutchie wasn’t entirely sure why he’d said it--had he been awake? He hadn’t been able to move or open his eyes. And yet, he was certain that he could remember almost everything that happened before he slipped away. Maybe he was just trying to make Jack feel a bit better. “Yeah,” he added self-consciously. “I sorta . . . heard everything? I jus’ couldn’t move, right? I’m better now, just . . . felt a bit like I was all wrapped up in a blanket an’ couldn’t escape,” he finished, blushing a bit. That was a stupid comparison.
Jack watched him carefully for a few moments, his thumb running along Crutchie’s knuckles. “Heard o’ that, didn’t know it was real. Sorry about that. That’s--real bad. Terrible, that feeling. I’ve heard, I mean. I haven’t--yeah.”
Crutchie nodded. He could guess where Jack might have seen or heard about that. He tried to swallow past the sick feeling in his throat, only succeeding in making it drier than ever.
“How d’ya feel about finishing that sandwich, huh?”
Crutchie blanched, shaking his head with jerky movements. Literally anything would be better. Jack frowned at him, but nodded.
“All right, I trust you,” Jack said. Crutchie looked him in the eyes, trying to forget about the apple he’d tossed out the window just this morning. “But Katherine ain’t around, so either I or you is gonna have ta fix you up.”
Maybe literally anything wouldn’t be better. Crutchie sighed. “I got it,” he replied, feeling weariness settle into his bones right alongside the pain. “I’ll let ya know when you can come back in.”
He was still mad at Jack, though not nearly as mad as he was at himself. What kind of idiot went and got himself all bloodied up trying to cross a room when he knows he’s hurt? Crutchie just took a shallow breath and allowed Jack to help him into a sitting position. Whatever kind of idiot that was, Crutchie was stuck with him for a while.
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honeypirate · 4 years ago
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Day off part two
Toshinori x pro!hero y/n. Hero name: Manta
Part one part three
After a pretty uneventful patrol, the best nights are uneventful to you, that meant no one was being hurt or needed a hero, you head home buzzing with excitement. You get home around 6:30 and shower and get ready. Doing your hair and makeup before you get dressed, you wear your favorite pair of skinny jeans and you French tuck a simple black shirt. It’s 7:30 and you’re ready to go, your skin was buzzing as you sat on your couch watching the clock run down until it was ready to leave, it was only a five minute walk and you didn’t want to be there 25 minutes early. You belly growled and you decided to hell with it. You’ll be there when you be there. You end up getting there with 22 minutes to spare but your heart lights up when you see him sitting at a table outside, he looked nervous but incredibly handsome. You’re practically bouncing as you cross the street and make his eye as you approach, he stands too quick and the table shakes and you smile even brighter “Yagi” “y/n” you both said at the same time and you laugh and embrace him hugging him to you tight, his arms holding you back and he sighs into you “I’m glad you’re early I.. I couldn’t wait” you say and pull back smiling, the amount you will smile with him will make your cheeks hurt all day, “me either. You look so beautiful.” He says back as you pull away, he pulls out a chair for you and blush “Thank you! You look really handsome as well Yagi” you notice his blush as he sits across from you “Thank you. How was patrol?” “It was good! Slow. But those are the best nights. Means no one is getting hurt. The best nights are those when I’m not needed” you say he falls deeper, this man is whipped already for you. He loves your kindness and care for people. “I agree. Every night should be a peaceful night for the citizens, those peaceful nights that families and people get are worth the times we have to fight to keep the villains off the street” you get goosebumps “yes exactly! I hear some complain about being bored but in this case I love it.” You smile at each other for a few seconds before the waiter comes over, you order your favorite breakfast and have nice small talk for a while as you eat.
When the waiter comes to clear the plates youre laughing so hard at a story from Toshinori’s past you can’t even say thanks to them at all, when they leave you reach out and take his hands in yours across the table. He makes you so comfortable, you feel like you’ve done this your whole life. He brushes his thumbs across your fingers and when you’re calm again and smiling at him in a way that made his stomach flip, he says “I remember you from the train. I remember your beautiful face. I tried to find out who you were after that but I couldn’t find anything about you. There were so many people that night” You blush and take a drink of your water “I remember seeing you for a split second before I passed out. I remember your smile and your blonde hair. My last thought was how does his hair look so soft?” You laugh quietly once “I used my quirk to save another bystander and unfortunately I took the blunt of the damage.” There you go again, making his heart flutter feom your kindness and care for others.
��How does your quirk work exactly? I’ve always wondered but I’ve never seen it in action” “I’ll show you” you smile at him and his heart flutters. You take your hands away and hold them up “I didn’t choose my name, my sibling did, when we were younger they said it looked like a manta ray which they loved. Prepare yourself it kind of scares people. It’s a reason why I wear a mask.” Your face turns to what looks like moving dark colored thick smoke with similar markings to a manta ray. Your fingers stretch out in the air and turn grey, you use them to pick up and set down your glass. you turn back to normal and he notices a shy blush on your cheeks. You never really liked to show off too much. his jaw has dropped. “That is so amazing! Why does your face get like that?” He reaches out and touches your cheek softly, you lean your face into his palm and reach up placing your hand over his. “It’s like thick smoke, I can send it out and it’s a poison. It’s swirls together with an antidote, that’s what gives the pattern. I can separate them and use one or the other. The dark smoke causes paralysis and pain, the white is the antidote but if I mix them it causes a sort of sleeping potion. I only use the poison as a last resort. I wear a mask to contain it better as well as control it’s direction and intensity. My fingers are like tentacles that I can grow as long as I need to, that I can control easily, and that can take any shape I need them to be. Plus they’re super strong and can’t be cut.”
He takes your hands and is playing with your fingers again in the middle of the table, looking into your eyes as you speak, he’s enamored. “That’s so amazing. How many people know your identity?” You yawn big and laugh apologizing “my parents, teachers at UA, and everyone at Gunhead’s agency” he smiles “Don’t apologize you’ve been up all night. Should we get going? We can continue talking as I walk you home” you were finally feeling the exhaustion now and you nod with a smile.
You both stand and you grab his arm holding it and resting your head on his shoulder as you begin to walk together. “Was keeping your identity a secret your original plan?” He keeps asking you about your quirk and you loved his attention. It felt like he was your number one fan. (He is) “It wasn’t at first, but I like being able to go out and do what I need without people swarming me. So I only tell the people that I trust now. You’re making me feel cooler than I really am, asking me questions like you’re my biggest fan” he is still softly playing and rubbing your fingers. Loving being close to you “Ask the other teachers! I am your biggest fan. I’ve been following you and wondering about your secrets for years now.” You stop at your door and look up at him shocked “really?! I feel so special. You’re my favorite hero and now you’re telling me I’m one of your favorites too. I could die of happiness now” he laughs and tucks your hair behind your ear “you are special. You’re a pro hero and you save people. You’re so many people’s favorite hero.” You hug him and lay your head on his chest. “Thank you. For saying that. For breakfast. I’ve had such a lovely morning I don’t want it to be over” he’s started to run his fingers through your hair as he holds you to his chest “I dont want it to be over either” he says softly.
You can’t seem to pull yourself away from him, his warm chest against your cheek, the sound of his heart beat in your ear, the way he’s softly playing with your hair. It’s so comforting, you stay there for a few minutes unwilling to break the connection. You have an idea, and part of you thinks it’s a stupid idea, but the other part is like hey you’ve seen him 96% naked so what the hell this can’t be that weird. So you ask “I know this might sound weird because we just met yeastersag and say no if you feel like it is weird. But.... I really don’t want to let you go so....Do you want to come upstairs and mayybeeee take a nap with me?” You keep your head on his chest waiting for his response.
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zenithlux · 4 years ago
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Cadence Update - 28
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Catch up on the full story here!
Now and again we try To just stay alive Maybe we’ll turn it all around ‘Cause it’s not too late It’s never too late
Never Too Late - Three Days Grace
---------
Over the next few days, things fell into something akin to a schedule. Nero and Nico would arrive in the morning before Dante had even rolled out of bed. Then, Nero would carry Roxy to the backseat of the van, give her the blade Kuro had blessed, and wait for Vergil to hop in after. It had only taken a day for the devil-hunting duo to lapse back into what Vergil assumed was normality. Nero and Nico fought more with each other than they did demons, but Vergil could sense a certain underneath all the arguing. When they did encounter any demons, Nero would let Vergil out and the two would fight them off together. 
There was just one, glaring problem: Vergil couldn’t kill anything on his own. 
He had been worried something like this might happen. It didn’t matter how strong he was on his own; he was still a familiar. And, for reasons he still hadn’t figured out, familiars couldn’t kill other demons. Every time he tried, he failed miserably. His most vicious attacks would do nothing, leaving Nero to kill them himself. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the demonic energy always shot straight at Nero, no matter how much damage Vergil had done. Nero had apologized, but they hadn’t figured out how to fix it. And the less energy Vergil had, the more pain Roxy was in. Every day put Vergil further from figuring out how to fix her paralysis, and there was nothing he could do about it.  
Nico had tried to solve it. Nero had used their blade instead of Yamato, but it didn’t do anything. Nico had offered to drag Roxy out, but she could barely raise her arms, much less stab a demon. She’d been too weak to summon Aki, much less hand him off to anyone else, so that was out. Vergil tried everything he could think of. He’d dragged a few demonic bodies back to the van, but both had spurred back to life before they reached her. Nero had done the same, even holding her hand to kill them, but the energy still flocked to him. Vergil had even slipped back into his corporeal form to try and direct more energy at her. But nothing happened, and he had a sinking feeling that nothing ever would. 
How had Kuro managed this? Aki mentioned that it had taken the dragon a few years to even manifest himself, much less reveal his existence to her. Another lie that, unfortunately, Roxy hadn’t been aware of. Vergil had learned through her thoughts that Kuro had revealed himself to her as some kind of passing demon with interest. She hadn’t had a clue that he’d already existed within her and had just waited until he could show himself to let her in on it. But no matter how much Vergil cared for her, they didn’t have years. They all knew that Mundus would be back. The former (or current?) Demon King would find his way out in due time. And if Roxy was this week, both her and Vergil would be dead in a heartbeat. 
Or enslaved, the thought of which was much, much worse than a quick death. 
After four days of no luck, Vergil could tell that even Nero was getting upset. “How long do you think this will take?” He said even though his present company had no hope of answering him. “I can’t stay away from Fortuna forever, even with Dante’s constant visits.” He sighed, rubbing his fingers aggressively through his hair. Vergil didn’t blame his son for being so close to a breaking point. Vergil himself felt positively miserable, as his only contribution to the last few days had been almost-demon-kills and long, fitful naps beside his summoner. 
He could feel Roxy’s frustration as strongly as his own, even though she was rarely lucid enough to express it. 
Nero stabbed through another demon, wincing as the energy swarmed him. “Sorry, Pops. I’m not doing it on purpose.” Vergil shrugged, prowling around Nero impatiently, before pouncing on another demon, biting its neck for good measure. It didn’t bleed out - of course not - and Nero shot it without about as much gusto as a snail. “Is she close to standing at least? Surely she’s getting stronger.”
Vergil sighed, but it came out as nothing more than a huff. ‘No’, was the easy answer, as ‘I don’t know’ made him uncomfortable. Luckily, he didn’t have to say anything as Nero plopped himself on the ground, spinning Blue Rose in his hand. Vergil sat beside him, glancing at the van behind them. Nico was missing from the front seat, probably checking on Roxy. She was fine if a bit tired. Vergil could feel her in the back of his mind no matter how far away he got. She was mildly more awake today - thankfully, as she’d been in and out of sleep for a few days now - but her back still hadn’t healed. Vergil could still see the strings connecting them; small, fragile things that still didn’t show any signs of improvement. 
Finally, Vergil sighed and tapped the ground. Nero glanced at him, and he drew a circle in the dirt with a claw, before drawing a line through it. Nero snorted, but Blue Rose stopped spinning. “I can’t stay here much longer.” Vergil drew a question mark and Nero sighed. “Nico will stay behind to help, but Kyrie needs me.” Vergil nodded, even though his heart sunk at the thought. Nico could only do so much. He hoped that Roxy would at least be walking before Nero left, but it wasn’t fair of him to expect that. 
So, he drew a single word in the dirt, “Go.” 
Nero nodded. “Don’t worry, pops. It’ll all work out.”
A rumble pulsed around them. Vergil’s ears flattened on his head as he searched for the source. A quiet dream laugh echoed from beneath him. He slammed his head into Nero’s side. The younger hunter swore as he rolled to his feet and darted to the side, giving Vergil just enough time to leap out of the way. A massive demon burst through the ground, sending chunks of concrete in all directions. Vergil’s gaze jerked to the van, but he was forced to dodge away as a giant fist slammed down where he’d been standing. “Wonderful,” Nero said as he propped Red Queen on his shoulder. “I swore I killed you months ago.”
Vergil had never seen this creature before. It towered over them with lava swirling through its rocky body. Two, massive horns curled off the top of its head, but Vergil’s attention was drawn to the massive, shark-toothed mouth in place of its stomach. “Human!” The creature roared. “You were the one who fought my brother?”
“Guess so,” Nero said. “And he was just as ugly as you.”
Vergil wanted to roll his eyes, but his gaze kept shifting to the van. They needed to pull the beast away before it crushed the helpless women inside. But Nero wasn’t moving, and the last thing Vergil wanted was to draw attention to them. The creature roared again before his stomach snapped open. A ball of fire shot at Nero, but he simply hopped out of the way before Vergil could react. Nero clicked his tongue as he shook his head. “And now I’ll just have to take care of you too.” He slammed Red Queen into the ground, revving it with a wink. That time, Vergil did roll his eyes; Nero was acting far too much like Dante for his liking. 
The creature roared again. Another fireball shot at Nero. Vergil backed away, glancing at the van again. Nico was in the front seat now but had yet to move. But with a building at her back and the demon in front of her, Vergil knew she wouldn’t have a chance. He considered going back to the van himself. There wasn’t exactly much he could do to the monster. 
Unless. 
He closed his eyes as Nero continued to run the Goliath around. Vergil wasn’t sure why he and Dante spent so much time playing with their prey, but it didn’t matter. Instead, Vergil focused on his memories of Shadow. The way her body moved and twisted in whatever way she wanted. She could have fought a creature of this size, and he couldn’t rely on Nero any longer. 
My tail…
His eyes snapped open. Of course. He’d spent hours working on summoning his demon tail. Surely that could use that now. And as Nero continued fighting, Vergil focused on his tail. After a few moments of nothing, it snaked out around him, sharpening in a form similar to his demon tail. More tendrils seeped off his body in response, and he was satisfied when he found he could recall them at will. Perfect. As Nero slashed across the demon’s chest, Vergil leaped forward, slamming his tail into its leg. The creature howled, surprised as he swung at Vergil. But Vergil sunk into the ground surprised to find that it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. He slipped back out on the other side, stabbing his tail into the opposite leg. The demon swung to the side and his stomach-mouth widened. But as the fireball launched, Nero appeared and knocked it back into him. 
“Not bad,” Nero said. “But you need a lot more practice.” Vergil glared at him, but Nero’s wings appeared and the man was gone, launching into the air. Nero kicked the Goliath in the head, leaping off of it with a whoop of delight. The monster stumbled. Tendrils shot from Vergil’s tail, wrapping around the creature’s legs. He yanked back as hard as he could. Goliath went down in a heap. Vergil backed away, snarling as Nero moved to take its head off. “You ugly piece of…”
“Wait!” Nico said. 
Nero froze, Red Queen inches from the beast’s neck. Alarm swept through Vergil as he realized that Roxy was standing, arm over Nico’s shoulder. The frozen blade was in her other hand as they limped toward them. “What are you…?” Nero’s voice trailed off as Roxy shakily extricated herself from Nico’s arms and stumbled slowly forward. Vergil moved to her side, uncertain what he could do if she fell. And while the pain was obvious between them - Vergil could feel it in his own back - her determination was as strong in her eyes as it was in her heart. The strings between them pulsed with energy, though it was far less than Vergil wanted. She unsheathed the blade as she approached the dying demon. Its eyes rolled up toward her. 
“You,” It whispered. “My master wants you.”
“Well,” She said, out of breath as she dropped the sheathe. “He can’t have me.”
Then, with both hands on the hilt, she stabbed the creature straight through the eye. Blood pooled at her feet as it screamed; a shrill, terrible sounding thing. Then everything went ominously silent. His body vanished, leaving behind trails of red orbs and demonic essence. It all cascaded into Roxy, nearly overwhelming her. Vergil moved first, leaping to her as she clumsily dropped to her knees. He propped his body against her back as the sword fell from her hand. She took a deep breath as her head fell back toward the sky. “There,” She said quietly. “I did it.” 
Then she slumped forward, her eyes closed, and she said nothing more. 
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jungle321jungle · 5 years ago
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Forms of Family 3
Part Three
Dee’s nerves were shot.
He had spent so much time- he didn’t even know how much anymore- talking to doctors who asked him the same questions so many times he wasn’t sure he knew the answer to them anymore.
On top of big general worry over Virgil’s condition, Patton would sporadically start to cry out of worry (in any other situation Dee would find it adorable), the twins were antsy as they began to rough house with one another, and finally Logan paced insistently as he kept trying to call their father (using Dee’s phone) to no avail.
Virgil was paler than he usually was, and his small chest heaved as he took short shallow breaths. His dark eyes were closed tightly, as if he was pain- and it only pained Dee more.
“Daddy?” Dee looked away from Virgil at the sound of Patton’s voice as he looked up to see the doctor had returned.
Patton climbed out his arms allowing him to stand slowly before he followed the doctor further away from the boys to speak.
“Based on the tests run and what you explained to us we believe he has a virus most likely caught for your other son, which led to an infection.”
Dee nodded digesting the information, “So he’ll be okay?”
“He will, but we will need to stay here for possibly a few days so he can have antibiotics, and monitoring. I’ll have him transferred out of the ER and into a more permanent room in a different part of the hospital.”
Weight fell from Dee’s chest as he gave a sigh of relief. No he didn’t want to be there longer, but long as Virgil was going to be okay that’s what mattered.
~~~~
Dee was thankful for his friends.
Despite his telling them that things were fine Brenda, Miranda, and more had come to offer well wishes. They brought him a change of clothes from the house and activities for the boys to do, and they had even offered to let the boys sleep in their homes as Dee was rooted to the spot.
Everyone was there to offer support.
Everyone but his husband.
“Daddy?” Patton asked pulling on his shirt.
Dee nodded and stood up and after making sure the other boys were fine he headed out the room to the bathroom.
He was gone for less than five minutes.
Less than five minutes.
And yet when he got back what did he find?
Virgil crying, Logan holding back a kicking and screaming Roman, and Remus- Remus had sunk his teeth into the nurses hand.
Dee was frozen and shock for half a moment until he noticed the nurse’s hand rise up to strike. But Dee’s fingers curled around her wrist before she could dare.
At his sudden appearance Remus released the woman and she wrenched her hand back. She tried to move back so Dee let her go.
“Do everyone a favor and watch your kids,” she snapped.
Dee held back a retort, he wasn’t going to piss off someone watching Virgil. “Remus apologize, now.”
Remus looked smug, but he gave an apology anyways, “Sorry.”
She hurried from the room then leaving Dee alone with his sons. The first thing he did was take a breath before he picked up Virgil and bounced him a few times to get the baby to calm down a bit. When he had quieted slightly he turned the others, “What happened?”
Logan let go of Roman, who then took up post beside Remus before he spoke. “Vee was crying and Remus wanted to help, but she came in and said we couldn’t touch him!”
“He’s our brother not hers!” Remus added in. “I know how to hold him! So she tried to pull me away, so I bit her! And she tried to hit me!”
“So I kicked her! Until Logan became a buzzkill!”
“She didn’t want you to touch him because it’s a matter of being sanitary, not familial ties,” Logan explained.
“So?”
“Yeah so?”
Dee gave a sigh, “You can’t bite people Remus. And I need you guys to listen to what the doctors and nurses say, alright? It’s what’s best for Virgil, okay?”
“Okay...”
“Fine... But if she’s mean to him, I’ll kick her again.”
Dee held back an eye roll (Logan didn’t), “Fine. Whatever, just sit and quiet down.”
“Fine parenting,” Logan muttered.
“Logan, I’m not in the mood.”
“Noted.”
~~~~
It took two nurses, one doctor‍, and his friend Miranda to pull him away from the hospital room. But the furthest he would go is the first floor to get a coffee.
“So glad I pried you from that room,” Miranda commented as they stepped out of the elevator onto their floor.
Dee sipped at his coffee, “Yeah, the bad coffee is totally worth it.”
She rolled her eyes and was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “Have you heard from...?”
Dee gave a sigh as his fingers involuntarily clenched and unclenched into fists. “No. I left half a million messages and sent twice that in texts... and I got nothing.”
Miranda paused in thought, before she stopped in her walk and turned to face him with a serious look. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but personally I think you’re better off without him.”
“Miranda I-”
“I’m not going to overstep more than that. But if you are still set on trying to contact him, maybe you could try using someone else’s phone? He might have you blocked.”
Dee opened and closed his mouth unsure of how to proceed, but she nodded slowly.
“If you need a phone feel free to use mine.”
He watched as she pulled out the device and held it out to him, but he shook his head and turned. He couldn’t be blocked... right?
“We should head back,” were the only words he could force out as he turned to walk the way they had come.
The walk back was silent, until he slid open the door and was greeted with the scene inside.
“I win!”
The shout came from Roman and Remus playing some game on their iPad in the corner. Apparently Remus had won whatever it was. Beside them Logan was nose deep in a book while Patton lay on the floor with a coloring book. It was a scene so normal he almost wished he could pick the whole thing up and drop it in his house. That Virgil would be healthy and things could be back to normal.
When he entered the room they all looked up at him, but he said nothing making his way back to Virgil.
“When can V come home?” Patton asked him.
Dee gave a sigh as he sat in his seat, “Hopefully soon Patt. Tomorrow or the day after.”
“That’s far away.”
“I know, but it’s to make sure Virgil is feeling his best, alright?”
“He needs to feel better faster then.”
Dee nodded, “I agree.”
~~~~
“Pacific.”
“Pacific. P-A-C-I-F-I-C. Pacific.”
“Paralysis.”
“Paralysis. P-A-R-A-L-Y-S-I-S. Paralysis. Come on give me something harder.”
“Fine, sorry, I thought we starting easy and building up. Um so... exasperation.”
“What’s the point?” Roman interjected. “Logan wins every year. He doesn’t need to practice. He’s the best speller! ...Er...”
“Speller. And why do you go to soccer practice then?” Logan asked him. “You guys won the last three games.”
“We don’t play soccer anymore,” Remus put in. “We’re gonna do karate.”
Dee sighed, “That’s not confirmed yet.”
“We can’t do karate?” Roman asked. God the kid sounded like Dee had done something terrible. He grimaced,
“I’m not saying that either. I need to look into some things first.”
“So that’s a yes?”
“It’s a maybe.”
"Maybes are yeses!"
Dee gave a sigh as Logan frowned, “They are not. Do- do you know the definition of both words?”
“It’s not a yes right now,” Patton threw in. “He has to talk to Dad first!”
Dee felt a pain in his chest as he gave the boy a smile, “E-exactly Patt.”
“What’s the next word again?” Logan asked changing the subject.
Dee nodded thankful for it, “Um... we were on exasperation.”
“Exasperation. R-O-M-A-N-A-N-D-R-E-M-U-S. Exasperation.”
Dee just shook his head, “I need a nap.”
~~~~
When the name flashed on his screen Dee swore his heart stopped beating.
His eyes flickered to his sons to find Logan watching him curiously. He gave a hard swallow as he grabbed his phone tightly and walked out into the hallway. The nothingness in his heart was suddenly replaced by a jackhammer as he finally answered the call.
“Hello?” His voice shaky, quiet, and weaker than he wanted it to be.
“You always take forever to pick up,” grunted the voice on the other side.
“Virgil he-”
“Where’s your watch?”
Dee felt himself deflate, “What?”
“Where’s you watch?” He asked again. “The one I gave you on our honeymoon? I need it.”
“What? W-why?”
“Does it matter? Where is it?”
“I don’t know. But why-”
“Of course,” there was a banging and shuffling on the other side. “You fucking lose everything. I already checked your side table and the safe, do you have any ideas on where it could be?”
“Virgil is in the hospital,” Dee stated bluntly. “He has been for two nights now.”
“What does that have to do with a watch?”
Dee gave a laugh of disbelief as his anger began to rise, “Nothing at all. But he’s your son too, so shouldn’t that be where your concern lie? With your son? Or with a fucking watch?”
“...Don’t swear around the kids.”
“Oh now you’re concerned?” Dee shouted. “You hate that I swear, but you can’t fucking come to the hospital see your son? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Don’t raise your-“
“Don’t! Don't you even try to tell me what to do anymore. I’m done with you and all this bullshit. So listen up, you have two choices. You come here now and be with your children, or you get the fuck out of our lives and never contact us again.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Yes I can! I’m done lying to the boys! I’m done lying to myself! I gave you your choices. Come and be a father or get out of our lives.”
“Damien,” his voice was slow and angry, but Dee couldn’t bring himself to care.
“What?”
“You are aware that I pay for everything right?”
“...I guess you made your choice.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“If your money is more important that your children then you made your choice. So feel free to take your money with you. I’ll keep my kids.”
“Damien I-”
Dee cut him off by hanging up the phone. He stared down at it for a moment before he took a deep breath to stop the tears burning at his eyes.
“Dad?”
The soft call came from behind him and Dee turned to see Logan and the twins standing in the doorway. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. He moved back into the room and sat in his chair before he felt small arms pull him into a hug.
He lost his battle against the tears as he hugged Roman back. There was a short pause before the other three joined and Dee held his children tightly to his chest.
“Daddy’s not coming back?” Patton asked quietly.
Dee forced himself to take a deep breath as he pulled back enough to look them all in the eye. “Our family is going to be a bit different now,” he started slowly. “But it’s okay. There’s many forms of families, and now ours is just us. But it’s okay, we’ll be okay. Can you guys trust me on that?”
Logan nodded and adjusted his glasses, “One hundred percent.”
“Good, I’m gonna need your help Logan.”
“You needed my help even when he was around.”
Dee smiled ignoring the way his tears still fell, “Glad I can count on you.”
“We thought he wasn’t coming back anyway,” Roman admitted.
Remus nodded solemnly, “Dad’s never been gone this long... Does he really not care anymore?”
“I’m sorry,” Dee told them both. “I want to think he does, but I don’t know. But I’ll be here for you guys regardless okay?”
Dee looked to Patton and it pained him to find tears in the young boy’s eyes. He pulled him close mumbling apologies as he was unsure what else to do. But Patton held him back saying that he loved him. And that was good enough.
Because even without him, they were still a family. And while some could try to cause rifts and difficulties to break them up, Dee would always be there for them as their father- as their dad who asked for nothing in return.
~~~~~
Thank you so much for reading!!!!
Part One • Part Two (1/2) • Part Two (2/2) • Part Three
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wyvern-moon · 5 years ago
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Of Crests and Battle Cries (Chapter 2)
Summary: The war for Fódlan's fate has ended, leaving the country united under a new king. Aftermath comes in many forms and brings with it new struggles both on and off the field of battle. For Linhardt it comes with difficultly sleeping at night, his dreams haunted by deeds committed in the name of peace. The solace he finds in Caspar never wavers, though he knows better than to wish too desperately for more.
Read below or on ao3 at inkberrry | chapter 1 |
cw: violence, nightmares, disturbing imagery
The sizzle and pop of burning bodies was loudest here at their feet. It filled Linhardt’s ears, pushing out all other noise of battle. Somewhere not so distant was muffled screaming cut short, and the clang of metal on metal following by the screeching, hair raising sliding of one sword down another. But here, standing above the burning corpses, all Linhardt heard was their flesh cooking and melting away. He felt the heat, too. Rising and curling around him, filling his nostrils and forcing its way into his throat and lungs. It burned, searing and sharp. When he tried to cough nothing came out, and the sound was lost amidst the flames. He doubled over, clutching his stomach as he struggled to get a full pull of air, but each intake of breath was lined with fire and ash and death. When he thought he couldn’t possibly cough anymore he stopped. He wiped his lips and when he pulled his hand away something black and tarry clung to it. Frantic, he rubbed it on his robe but the stain remained. It was part of his skin now, and the more he tried to rub it off the more of his hand the tar covered. “Help me…” A voice rose above the buzz in Linhardt’s mind, snapping him away from scrubbing his skin on his quickly fraying clothes. He looked around, his neck aching from the sudden and sharp movements. The voice called out again, weaker and distant. Falling to his knees, Linhardt pushed through the pile of bodies. Each one he touched turned to ash under his palms, yet the mound only grew. It towered above him, stacks of lifeless eyes all focused on him. “Please,” the voice called out, and there it was — a man, younger than Linhardt himself, his face half covered with blisters and crackling skin, the muscle of his neck and shoulders exposed and angry. “I can help,” Linhardt’s own voice was raspy and painful, the coughing tearing up his throat. He hurried to place his hands on the man’s wounds, ignoring the black stain now covering him to the wrists. He conjured his magic, the gentle flow of healing power moving through his body like soothing, clear water. Except the water began to bubble and roil, and the mist of healing energy started to fizzle and steam. “No, no wait,” he gasped, and looked down at his hands to see smoke rising from them, tendrils wispy and long. “Stop!” Even as he watched flame licked his fingers, spreading down to caress his palms and finally engulf his hands. Instead of healing they burned and destroyed and hurt. The man under his care screamed, louder now than the flames and cutting through Linhardt’s mind until it was all there was. He couldn’t take his hands away; couldn’t change the things he had done. All around him bodies burned and the fire came from him, originated inside him. His eyes refused to shut as he watched the black tar and flames consume his arms, his shoulders, his chest. It burned him too and he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t — Linhardt’s eyes snapped open to the dim light of his room. The rest of his body was frozen in place, the only motion the rapid beating of his heart. The first gasping breath he took broke the paralysis, then all at once he was taking lungful after lungful of air until he felt lightheaded and dizzy. He pushed down the nausea, trying to forget the images of his dream in the same way. They held tight though, and the lingering smell of something burning took the longest to fade. By the time he was breathing easy again a sliver of morning sun shone through the crack of the room’s door, rosy and bright. A knock startled him just as his eyes were threatening to close again. Reaching above him, Linhardt gripped one of the many pillows and laid it over his face, blocking the light he knew was coming when the door opened. “Linhardt?” Caspar’s voice was sweet compared to the ones Linhardt heard in his dreams. With it came the scent of coffee and grass and warm metal, and a breeze of air from outside. “Hey, Lin! Time to wake up.” “Mmph,” he mumbled, pillow solidly covering his face. “No thank you.” “Hey come on.” Caspar’s footsteps drew close and without further warning Linhardt’s body shook with the force of Caspar nudging him. “Wake up. I brought you coffee!” After another muffled complaint Linhardt removed the pillow and blinked up at Caspar, spotting the stone mug in his hand. It was a welcome sight and the aroma of the fresh coffee woke him up more than the sunlight now streaming into the room. “A good offering,” he conceded, and eagerly took the drink and grumbled his way to a seated position on the bed. “There we go,” Caspar said, laughing while Linhardt blew the steam away from the mug. “Good morning, sunshine.” Heat rose in Linhardt’s body again, though this time the source was no dream. Caspar’s gentle teasing hit him in a way it probably shouldn’t, and in way he knew wasn’t intended. Still, he long since tried to deny the way he was affected by the offhand comments Caspar made. “Hey, you feeling okay? Your cheeks are a little red.” Linhardt buried his face into the mug, hiding away the flush of his cheeks at being caught. After a few sips he emerged and looked at Caspar hopefully. “If I say I’m sick do I get to stay here?” “Not a chance,” Caspar replied with a smile Linhardt thought might rival morning sunlight. He let his weight shift from one leg to the other, then looked around and gave a short sigh. “I haven’t been in here for a while. You gotta clean a little more, Linhardt. There’s nowhere to sit.” Linhardt followed his gaze, noting the books stacked and open on almost every surface. Spare clothes were draped over the chairs and a collection of empty cups cluttered among the parchment on his desk. He really hadn’t thought it was that bad until Caspar pointed it out. Now he could see it though; nothing had been taken care of in his recent memory. “Sure there is,” he said anyway, and kicked away a pile of blankets from the foot of the bed. “Here you go.” Caspar just shook his head and laughed again, the sound filling the room and banishing the last of Linhardt’s dream. For now at least, he thought. That was all he could count on.
-- The contingent of knights left Garreg Mach just as the sun hit the courtyard. There were near thirty of them: two battalions formed neat marching lines, one lead by Caspar and the other by Leonie. Linhardt spared her a few minutes of meaningless chatter before both grew bored by it and walked in silence. Soon she and Caspar were talking though, and the conversation drew in a group of knights. They laughed and joked, filling the morning air with something less dreary than the looming battle. Linhardt opted to borrow one of the free horses and ride ahead with a small group, leaving the noise behind. He didn’t feel any of the buzzing excitement that swept through the rest of them. He just felt tired. The day went on and nightfall found the band of knights camping just outside the remnants of a battlefield. It was the ideal place to set up and by then everyone was ready for a meal and rest. Linhardt joined in as much as he could stand, then made himself comfortable in his bedroll away from any of the fires. He had a tent to set up, as most of the higher ranking soldiers and commanders did, but right then it felt too much of a hassle to arrange. Sleep came easily, though it didn’t stay long. It was broken by his usual dreams, stronger here in the midst of campfire and thinly veiled bloodlust. Each time he woke Linhardt pushed his face further into the bundle of robes that served as his pillow, and each time he attempted sleep again it took longer to settle in. When the noise of camp all but vanished, left only with the crackle of embers and the occasional shuffle of the late watch, he gave up on any more rest. Instead he squirmed out of his bedroll and rubbed at his eyes, the sallow bags beneath them growing darker each day. There were times he longed for the sleep of his school days — long, comforting naps in the sun and unbroken nights of peace. He felt that way now as he tread softly through the maze of sleeping bodies, wishing he could be as blissfully unaware as they were. He reached an opening in the trees looking over the field in the valley below. Signs of battle from as recent as six months ago were still clear, seen in the scorched earth and fallen trees and detritus of war. Sighing, Linhardt sat down with his back against a large stone. This was as good a spot as any to waste the rest of the night. He reached into the inner pocket of his robe and pulled out a book, propped it open against his knees and started to read. Some time later, Linhardt couldn’t be sure how much, he heard twigs snap behind him and the rustle of bushes. It wasn’t unusual, considering the size of their group. He only hoped whoever it was would pass him by without noticing. “Whoa, hey,” the voice behind him called out, and of course it was Caspar. “Linhardt?” “Yes, it’s me.” Linhardt closed his book and looked over his shoulder to see Caspar step through the trees and make right for him. He was out of his armor, wearing only soft doeskin pants and a thin tunic. Just looking at him made Linhardt shiver and pull his own clothes tight around his body. “What are you doing out here?” “Well, you know…had to take a leak and all,” Caspar answered with a quiet chuckle. “What are you doing out here?” “I couldn’t sleep.” Linhardt’s admittance made Caspar cock his head and raise his brows, like it was something he couldn’t quite make sense of. He supposed it did sound odd, coming from him. But there was no reason not to tell Caspar, and right then Linhardt hadn’t the energy to make up some excuse. “You? Couldn’t sleep? Now that’s weird.” Resting his head back against the stone, Linhardt burrowed a little deeper into his robe. “Not really,” he said, and his words came out with a puff of white in the chill air. “Huh? What do you mean?” Caspar’s voice took on a concerned note and Linhardt took a brief moment to appreciate the way Caspar could pick up on the subtle changes in the way he spoke. Maybe it was just from being friends for so long, but he could dream a little that it was more. “Nothing,” he said finally, and motioned to the patch of dirt next to him. “Sit down for a while?” “Oh, yeah, of course.” Caspar leaned his back against the rock and slumped down next to Linhardt, his knee brushing up against his. The sudden memory of scraped knees and grass stained leggings flashed in Linhardt’s mind, along with the sound of Caspar’s childish laughter and missing front teeth. He had always been there in Linhardt’s life, offering this same warm comfort he gave off now. He wondered if he was aware of it, or the way Linhardt’s heart slow down when he was around. “Sure is pretty,” Caspar said after a while, interrupting the otherwise quiet moment. Linhardt noticed then the sun was beginning to rise. It started beyond the battlefield, coming up from the horizon like fire. The dirt below was bathed in red and orange, streaks of it extending and reaching for the trees. A few pieces of metal — discarded armor, broken weapons — caught the light and glimmered, sending sharp, bright pain into Linhardt’s eyes when he saw it.   “It’s a battlefield,” he said, and shook his head so his hair slipped off his shoulder and hid a portion of his face. He didn’t want Caspar to see him squeeze his eyes shut against the sight spread out in the valley. “People died out there. Their lives just ended. In pain. And blood. It’s not pretty. It’s grotesque.” “Well sure.” Caspar shifted next to him, pushing his legs out in front of him. Linhardt could almost hear the thoughts moving in his head as he pieced them together and tried to find a characteristically optimistic way to spin what Linhardt said. “People died there. But thing’s are better because of it, right? Look at everything that’s happening now. The country’s united. Big battles like the one here won’t happen again. Its like, they didn’t die for nothing. They died so less people will die now.” Linhardt knew Caspar believed what he said. He could hear it in the way his voice rose half an octave and banished a bit of the cold. He held so tight to what he believed it almost made Linhardt want to feel that confidence too. But he couldn’t. Not when his dreams still lingered. “We’re on our way to kill people right now,” he added softly, the dawn nearly snuffing out his words. “Ah, yeah…” Caspar’s shoulders slumped and he let out a long breath, the white cloud of heat coalescing then dispersing around his lips. Linhardt watched it through a break in his hair, aching at the way he knowingly poked a hole in Caspar’s enthusiasm. He should be happy Casapr had his own way of dealing with the reality of war. He should be happy his friend could be happy. But sometimes it wasn’t enough. Sometimes he wanted company in the shadows that never seemed to leave him for long. It wasn’t fair. He knew it wasn’t fair. “Hey, Linhardt,” Caspar’s voice was soft again, and this time Linhart tucked his hair behind his ear so he could face him. “I know you don’t wanna fight. So just stick close to me, okay? I’ll do it for you.” The ache in Linhardt’s chest grew, filling every bit and piece of him. “I don’t want you to fight either,” he answered, and instead of arguing or moving away he laid his head on Caspar’s shoulder. The sun was above the horizon now, the red light painting both of them just like it did the valley. He closed his eyes, the pull of sleep as strong as Caspar’s steady breathing.
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nihilismdan · 6 years ago
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sweet dreams are made of this (who am i to disagree?)
pairing: Dan/Phil rating: G word count: 1216 summary: When Phil moves his eyes to the corner there’s something standing there. There’s no face to it. If you were to ask him what the defining features are he wouldn’t be able to tell you. He knows that it isn’t welcoming. or Phil has sleep paralysis. a/n: written for the halloween flash fest @phandomficfests
[ AO3 LINK. ]
It’s 3:00am when Phil wakes up and it’s to the sound of whispers. There’s a bright light in the corner where the window is located, and the whispers get louder. Phil tries to move, but he can’t. His body is angled in a weird way and he’s not sure if he’s awake or asleep. So, he moves his fingers. He tries to touch Dan but he can’t. The extent of his movement is limited and he’s trying not to freak out but he’s pretty sure that there’s someone in his house.
He can hear loud banging in the kitchen, laughs that just get louder and louder.
Phil can’t yell, “Dan,” he can’t really even say it. It’s like his voice has gone mute.
The light in the corner gets brighter. The voices get louder and whatever they’re saying doesn’t make any sense to Phil but he completely understands every single word.
I’m going to kill his entire family. Knives!
Another laugh.
Phil is helpless.
He can’t close his eyes and he can’t move his body, he can’t scream at Dan to wake up. He can’t do anything.
He feels like he’s being watched. It’s the kind of feeling that he’s used to, but not so much in this sense—the way he’s being watched isn’t a welcoming feeling. He feels exposed in ways that he’s never felt before. The loud footsteps from the kitchen get louder, and the ringing in his ears is getting hard for him to hear anything that anyone in his house is saying.
When Phil moves his eyes to the corner there’s something standing there. There’s no face to it. If you were to ask him what the defining features are he wouldn’t be able to tell you. He knows that it isn’t welcoming but it isn’t making any movement to get closer to him. When Phil blinks it’s gone.
Until it’s standing over him.
If Phil were able to scream he would. Instead it’s him fighting whatever is on top of him but he can’t move his arms it feels like there’s hundred pounds weights on him and the ringing in his ear intensifies and when his eyes flash to Dan he’s still asleep, completely unaware of the trauma happening in their room and in their house right now.
The last thing Phil hears is a laugh in his right ear and then he wakes up.
The feeling comes back in his fingers and his heart is beating fast when he gets up from bed. He reaches out to turn the light on and look over to the window that’s had the curtain over it the entire time.
“Phil what the fuck—” Dan groans, moving in their bed covering his face with his arm. “Turn off the fucking light.” His voice is groggy.
Phil can’t even pay attention to him right now. Dan’s safer in their room than he is in the kitchen. Phil grabs his pyjama bottoms and pulls them on grabbing something he can hit whatever could possibly be in their house. He opens the door and he feels like he’s got his heart in his throat. He can vaguely hear Dan asking him what he’s doing when he leaves.
Phil turns on every light, his hands shaking.
When he finally reaches the kitchen there’s nothing there except the plates they didn’t wash and the mess that Phil left on the table.
“I don’t understand.” Phil whispers. He sets down his weapon of mass destruction down and grips the counter top.
He can hear Dan with his not so subtle footsteps, he’s pissed that Phil woke him up probably.
Phil looks at the time and it’s 3:15am.
Witching hour, he could hear his mum say.
“Phil, what the hell just happened?” Dan’s hair is sticking up in various of places, he’s got one eye half open and just in a t-shirt and pants.
“I—I don’t know.”
Dan walks over to the cupboard and grabs a glass and pours water into it. Despite being pissed that he was woken up his first priority is to make sure Phil is okay. He slides the water to him, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes and he looks at Phil again.
“It felt like I was dreaming, but it was also so real. Like there was this bright light in the corner and voices that I could hear from the kitchen, they were talking in a language I didn’t recognise and they said they wanted to kill my family and I heard them like… grabbing knives? And the laugh….” It makes Phil shiver remembering the way the laugh felt against his ear. “It just didn’t sound human.”
Dan’s about to say something but then he stops.
“I know. I know it sounds crazy but it felt real. It was a nightmare but it was…. Real. I could move my fingers and I could see you but I couldn’t move. Or yell. Or do anything.”
“Do you want me to check the rest of the flat?” Dan asks with a yawn. He’s getting closer to Phil, reaching out to grab his hand.
“No. It’s fine.” Phil says, squeezing his fingers.
Dan looks at Phil, like he sees right through him. He smiles gently.
“I’ll check the rest of the flat. Go back to bed and grab the laptop and we can watch something before falling back asleep.”
Phil grabs Dan’s head again as he tries to go and Dan squeezes it.
“It’ll be okay.” Dan smiles, reaching out to grab whatever Phil brought down with him.
Phil rolls his eyes, shaking his head with his first smile of the night.
He watches as Dan turns on the lights checking each room before he braves heading back to their room. He finds himself peeping out the curtain of the window and nothing has changed. There’s still streetlights and the sound of ambulances in the distance, normally it’s a nuisance but tonight he finds it a comfort. He tucks himself back into the covers and grabbing his laptop from underneath the bed and turns it on from it’s slumber. He thinks about searching what he thought it was but decides against it and instead types in Netflix into the search bar.
When Dan gets back he looks fully awake and Phil feels bad.
“All clear.” He says, pulling his shirt off and getting underneath the covers.
Phil wants to say thank you instead he just gets closer to Dan.
*
“It was sleep paralysis,” Dan says over lunch.
“What?” Phil asks, looking up at Dan.
“Whatever happened last night it was sleep paralysis. I looked it up when you fell back asleep. It happens when you wake up before REM is finished. I was reading people’s stories and they say they’ve seen whatever you saw but—it’s different for everyone. I can send you the link if you want.”
Phil takes another bite of his lunch, thinking about it before nodding. “I’d like that.” Phil just wanted to know what he could do to prevent it from happening again. It was like his worst fears in one horrible vivid dream.
“Thank you.” Phil says.
Dan smiles gently again and shrugs. “You’re welcome.”
“I think I’m going to nap now,” Dan yawns.
“I’ll join you.”
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mvnikin-blog · 6 years ago
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alden ehrenreich + cis male + he/him.┊ ❛ ━ hey, is it just me or do you hear all i want by walk the moon playing in the distance ? oh, thats just manikin, a neutral good member of the LEAGUE OF HEROES. i suspect they might be brayden “ray” gray, a twenty-five year old bouncer at no angels nightclub with the ability of self-manipulative puppetry. according to my sources, he can be stoic, but also facetious which is probably why they remind everyone of the slightest falter of a practiced grin and freshly fallen cigarette ashes so much. anyway, a superhero or not, crystalline city is keeping a close eye on them! (logan, 18, est, she/her )
hey, howdy, hey  ! i’m logan, and this is my dude brayden gray. basically, he’s a former syndicate member who found the errors of his ways but doesn’t really know where to go now that he’s apparently a hero and working a somewhat normal job again. if you want to find out more, take a gander down below here. and, if you’re so inclined, send me a lil IM to plot ! i’ve been actually trying to find an excuse to play alden and this power so i’m kind of super excited right now.
POWER
SELF-MANIPULATIVE PUPPETRY the power to control the user's own motor functions regardless of what state their body is in. user can control their own body like a marionette, allowing them to move freely even if they possess injuries or ailments that would normally impede normal movement such as paralysis, broken limbs or dislocated joints. - superpower wiki
how i’m interpreting this is he can pick up anything just like that. ballet, football, martial arts... you name it and he can do it after a few hours of watching or listening to people do it. the problem is that around the age of 21/22, he had gotten an injury that cost him the use and feeling of his body below the neck until his power kicked in yet again. his once fluid and somewhat perfect movements began to look forced and jerky. he still can’t get to those natural movements down, but he has total control over his body so he can’t fight against his power anymore. he also can’t feel anything below his neck, so things like breaking his thumbs to get out of handcuffs and fighting got a whole lot easier after.
PERSONALITY
ray is a good kid. generally speaking, he tries his best to be a good person for his family and friends but sometimes he doesn’t know the best way to do it so he slides into situations most good people avoid because it’s all he can figure out.
he’s also a very, very, very closed off individual. that jelly jar you can’t open ? it’s him. not to say he’s not friendly with people (because that’s entirely the opposite of true), but he hates talking about himself and his issues. he’d rather die of a splinter than ask someone to take it out for him. instead of talking about real problems he makes jokes and changes the subject if it’s about him. if someone else needs help and they’re apart of his friend/family group, you better bet he’s there in minutes to help or to at least make them laugh. very heavy dad friend vibes because he basically was a dad for so long at so young.
honestly ? he hates fighting, but he attracts it like a light to moths... but, he’s also really good at it ? ever since he was 16 he had been working at bars and clubs as a bouncer because fighting just came easily to him and every time he got into one he hated it but it was what it was. and when he became a villain it kind of just was what it was. it was part of the trade off to him but don’t think for a second he didn’t have long nights trying to forget all the things he did.
he’s way more mature than a 25 year old should be. granted, he’s made mistakes and he seems like that one annoying kid singing offkey in a starbucks to make someone laugh, but he’s really not. he has wrinkles in places he shouldn’t and hands rougher than they should be, he’s seen the side of people that are typically very well hidden, and he’s skipped over the whole being a kid phase to grow up quick. so when he says “i understand,” he almost always genuinely means it.
BACKGROUND ( death, paralysis tw )
from the second ray was born, he laughed and it took a whole lot to make him finally cry. he had a mother who loved him, a father who couldn’t care any less, and a whole world waiting to take him in. when he got home, he was safely secured in his mother’s arms until the next year when he started walking and running around the house causing a little bit of chaos for his stay-at-home mother and his father who, after coming home from long days working, just went to bed and left his wife to deal with the energy he had.
just as he was starting out kindergarten, his family changed very rapidly. his baby brother, noah, was born and their father left the family for another woman the same month. his mother had to get a job and ray had no choice but to help take care of his brother while doing school and trying to continue being a kid at the same time.
his life started to become a pattern. he had school, some sort of free after school thing, walking home to his brother, cook dinner, start the coffee for his mother when she came back for her two hour nap, sleep, repeat. after he turned 16 however, when his brother was about 11, he made the decision to drop out of school and begin working in at a nightclub that gave him some slack for his age if they could pay him in cash. he agreed immediately and the extra income and time during the day helped out with the family a lot more than going to school would have helped him and it gave his brother a chance to not have to do the same.
a year into this brand new job, ray found out that the reason he was getting paid in cash wasn’t just so that he could work the long hours at his age and not have someone on payroll... it was instead because they weren’t just a club. they had an illegal business in the back that they wanted to protect as well. there they sold objects you wouldn’t want people to know you have like guns, drugs, high tech, and more... when he found this out they called him into the office and offered him a lot more money if he took care of security for the club and started going out with them on deals for safety. there was hesitation, but it came down to how much good he could do for his family when he told them yes. they were in too much debt and their house was on the verge of foreclosure for him to say no.
from there he continued to stay home to help his family and their debt, but he also spiraled into a lot more criminal acts. he started getting more involved in this organization and as he got older, he got more useful to them and more stuck in the cycle. he never stopped raising his brother, in fact he worked harder to make sure he was better than himself, but his time home became less and less. he didn’t know anything else to do so he kept with it for the next five years when he thought his brother had ran away.
the moment his mother called him freaking out, he quit working with these people and drove home as fast as he could. part of him worried it was the line of work he was in, but the reality was that it was a hard environment to live in and he figured he tried to run away. there was a few nights calling around and praying someone would know something before he decided to pack up his things, leave most of his savings to their mother, and look in the city in case he could find his brother or someone who could find him.
a few weeks into the investigation, his mother had come down to visit him in a ragtag little apartment and while the two were talking the building came down. nobody really knows what happened, but within seconds the building started to crumble and lives were lost... including his mother’s. on top of that, ray was severely injured and at the hospital he was told that his spine had been damaged and he wouldn’t be able to move below his neck. it was so much devastating news, but what made it worse was that something was off with what the doc said. when she left, he tried to scratch his nose and instead of realizing what she actually said and going “oh,” he actually did it. that’s when he knew that he had some sort of ability and he sort of freaked out. during that night, he left the hospital so he didn’t have to explain anything and then he sat down and tried to come up with some sort of plan to avoid thinking about his mother.
somehow his plans led to him meeting someone from this syndicate who promised him that they'd find his brother if he helped them out. he's done some bad things in his time to help out his family, so what would have made this different? he agreed with only a thimble of hesitation and put in the same work effort he had had oh so long ago.
after being with this organization of supervillains for so long, he lost hope that he'd fine his brother. he figured that if he hadn't found him in these three years that he'd never do so. his conscience began to weigh on him and when the first of the year came around, he took a chance to leave the organization and use his gift for good instead of being selfish and these past few months have been a trial period for him because who would trust a guy with his background ?
CONNECTIONS
the person who vouched for him to the league. maybe they knew him for a while and then found out who/what he was ? maybe they were the one he got into contact with when he wanted to change sides ? maybe they were fighting and suddenly he goes “i want to be good again” ? we can talk about this and figure it out because this is a biggie.
a genuine friend at the syndicate. someone who he still keeps in contact with despite now being on opposite sides. they get coffee together in secret, and just are good friends. maybe they’re both set in their paths and while he would like them to come with him, he’d rather them both to be friends... or maybe they want to change too ?
an ex because honestly ? an old s/o would really be sweet and there’s so many connections you could do with it.
i don’t know, more to come !
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welovekpopscenarios · 7 years ago
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Encounter (Daehyun x Reader)
Admin: Candi Request/Idea: How can Daehyun resist going back to the woods after encountering the most beautiful thing he has ever seen? Fandom: B.A.P Member/reader: Daehyun x Reader Genre: Angst, Horror, Smut Warnings: Gore Words: 2k Authors note: I finally did it, please go easy on me since I am a bit rusty but I still hope you enjoy it! I decided to write for B.A.P finally.
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           When Daehyun first stepped foot into the forest he didn’t know what powers it held, he didn’t know that he’ll be drawn to it like a moth to a flame and he would have no clue as to why he wanted to go in deeper into it. The first time he visited the forest was with his friends, Yongguk had the great idea of letting loose and having a few drinks in the forest with a fire. Everyone seemed to be into the idea, so they drove deep into it where no one could find them, there was no phone service, they completely disappeared.
           “What if we get attacked?” Jongup played with his fingers and looked down.
           “By who?” Daehyun scoffed.
           “Or by what?” Youngjae added, trying to scare Jongup.
           Yongguk laughed and reassured Jongup that they’ll be fine. As time went on and the drinks were starting to take away every bit of sensibility that the boys have left they decided to call it a night. Camping wasn’t on the agenda, but everyone was quite intoxicated, so they slept in the truck. As they got in, Daehyun couldn’t shake the feeling of someone staring at him, he kept looking around but eventually he blamed it on the alcohol. He got into the truck and got the window seat, he rested his head on the window and admired the shadows that the moon painted on the soil. His eyes shifted and caught a glimpse of something between the trees.
           “Guys! Look there, between the trees!” He screamed out and pointed.
           “What?” Himchan scrunched his eyebrows. “You’re just drunk, you’re fine.”
           Daehyun could have sworn he saw something, it appeared to be a human figure. His mind was racing with questions, but he calmed himself down and ended up convincing himself it was just his imagination. Throughout the night Daehyun kept waking up, he felt like he was being watched but he promised himself he won’t freak out. He got out of the car quietly, looked at his phone, still no service.
           “It’s only 4am, I just want to go home.” He whispered to himself. He took a short stroll around the woods, not straying too far from the car. He looked up and could see the sky full of stars and the moon shining through the branches of the old trees. He was breathing in the fresh air, the smell of the fire still lingered in the air.
           “Hello?” Daehyun left his trance as he heard a branch break on the floor, as if someone stepped on it. “Probably some animal.” He breathed out and turned back around. He froze, he could clearly see a human standing right between the trees. The person got closer to him until he could make out that it was indeed a woman. She was wearing fur that covered her most intimate areas and had strange marks on her face but she was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Daehyun still couldn’t move, it was like someone cast a spell on him, he was in a state of complete paralysis. She got close and caressed his face, his heart was racing, he wanted to scream and run but it was no use. Her mouth opened wide, tearing the sides of it to the point of blood gushing out, her teeth were sharp and stained with blood.
           “Daehyun! Daehyun!” Yongguk shouts out. Daehyun wakes up, sweating and panting. “What the fuck happened? What did you dream about?”            “What?” Daehyun wiped his forehead, sweat dripping down his cheek. “I-I swear it was not…” The dream felt so real he didn’t know whether it happened or not but after thinking about what happened he presumed it was only a nightmare.
           “Are we ready to go home?” Yongguk asks and everyone hums in agreement.
           On the way home, Daehyun was pretty quiet, he couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that it was only a dream yet it all felt so real. The group stopped to grab some food but Daehyun couldn’t stomach anything at that moment, his mind was invaded with thoughts of the witch from the forest.
           They arrived back home by afternoon, everyone dropped their bags and found the nearest spot to rest and all sighed out in unison, the lack of sleep was getting to them and they were all hungover on top of that.
           “I’m gonna go for a nap, don’t know about you guys.” Zelo announced. Everyone seemed to scatter off but Daehyun, he stayed on the couch and fell asleep there.
He was walking through the forest, searching for the beautiful witch he encountered last night. The air was so fresh, wind so warm and trees so vibrantly green.
“Yo wake up it’s 9am we have practice.” Yongguk wakes up Daehyun.
“I slept here all night?”
“Looks like it. Come on, the management is going to kill us if we’re not there practicing.”
They hurried down and spent most of the day practicing for their upcoming concert.
“Man what’s wrong with you?” Himchan sits down next to Daehyun and asks. Daehyun has been pretty distracted all day, he wasn’t managing to follow the new routine like he always did.
“I just, I can’t stop thinking about my dream. It felt so real, I’m almost sure it was real.” Daehyun answered to Himchan and unfortunately Himchan didn’t know how to help him.
After about a week Daehyun was slowly starting to go insane, all he could think of was the being he saw in the forest. He sat down on the couch and searched for his phone in his pocket, he felt something and took it out, it looked like pieces of wood with weird markings on them. Those were the same jeans he wore during the camping trip. He needed to go back and prove to himself that what he saw wasn’t real but how was he going to explain it to the guys? “I’m going to the woods by myself to prove that the witch I saw wasn’t real!” That’s insane. He needed a plan and needed to come up with it fast before he went insane.
“Hey guys so I was thinking, the camping trip was really fun right?” He starts.
“Right.” The group responds.
“Why don’t we go again this weekend? The weather is meant to be really nice and we need to relax before our show.” He stands there for a minute before the group all agree and decide that it’s a good idea.
Finally, the weekend is here after what it felt like forever. Daehyun wakes everyone up and hurries them to get to the car. They took off quite early in the morning, he’d have plenty of time to explore the woods and look for the breathtaking woman he knew he saw. Once they got there he dropped all of his stuff and legged it into the woods while he told the others he’s gone exploring. Hours went by and he found nothing, he finally gave up and started heading back to their site. When he finally came back everyone was relieved to see he was safe, he was gone for hours and they started to get worried about him. Daehyun sat down looking disappointed as ever and accepted the fact that everything was just a dream. For the rest of the night they all sat around the fire, sipping beer and singing songs, eventually everyone fell asleep.
Daehyun woke up and looked around, everyone was still asleep, he checked his phone and it said it was 4am. He went to the car to get some water.
“Guys?” He heard the rustling of leaves behind him. “Is anyone there?”
“You came back.” A soft voice spoke to him, he instantly froze and told himself it was just a dream. He felt a hand on his back, it travelled to his chest and turned him around.
“I’m Y/N. I haven’t stopped thinking about you ever since you came into the forest the first time.”
“Who are you?”
“Do you not remember me?”
Of course, Daehyun remembered you, he couldn’t stop thinking about you.
“You came back because of me, didn’t you?”
“What’s going on?” Daehyun stood there breathless, confused as to whether it was a dream or not.
“Come with me.” You dragged him deep into the woods, not saying a word. He had a lot of questions, but he didn’t know which one to ask first, it’s like the lost his tongue. The deeper he went in the more his anxiety went up, he was being dragged by a stranger deep into the woods but for some reason, he couldn’t stop. It was like he was under a spell and he enjoyed every minute of it, he didn’t want this trance to end. The woods got so thick it was hard to avoid trees but after walking for a while he noticed a little cave which he assumed was where you were all this time. You both went in and he sat down on one of the chairs in the cave.
“Why am I so attracted to you? Why did I feel the need to come back here?” He asked and you made your way over to him, put your hand in his pocket and took out the wooden pieces with marks on them.
“This lured you back to me. I needed you to come back.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.” You smile at him and make him feel at home while you go off into a room that was separated by hanging leaves and feathers.
“What did I just get myself into? I should leave” Daehyun was scared and wanted to go back to the group but no matter how much he tried to convince himself to leave he just couldn’t. He sat in the chair until you came out, his jaw dropped, and he was instantly drawn to you. You stood naked right in front of him, waiting for him to get closer.
“See, I’m a witch and I lure people in.” You whisper in his ear while his fingers get tangled in your hair.
“Oh yeah?” He says breathlessly, standing over you. You can feel his warmth on your skin. You press his lips against his and push into him, he lifts you up and brings you into the other room where he slowly lies you down on the bed that was covered in different furs. He kisses your neck and nibbles on it while his hand massages your breast and plays with your nipple. You moan out his name and he lowers himself to your folds and runs his tongue through them. He slipped two fingers into you and started pumping bringing you closer to an orgasm, you pulled him up before you got the chance to cum. You got on top of him and slipped his throbbing cock into you making both of you moan. He kissed your chest while you bounced up and down his dick edging both of you closer and closer.
“I lure people in here because I feed off them.” You moan out.
“What?” Daehyun stopped and fear clearly made an appearance in his eyes. You kept moving your hips making it hard for him to concentrate. Before he got the chance to react you grabbed the dagger that was on the table next to the bed and stabbed him straight through the chest. Blood splattered everywhere, it wasn’t long before you were covered in it and he was taking his last breaths.
“I’m sorry sweetheart, you were one of the prettier ones.” You rest your hand on his cheek and kiss him while he was on his last breath.
“We need to go back and report this to the police.” Jongup panics.
“We can’t just leave without him.”
The whole group starts arguing about what to do. Daehyun has been missing since this morning and it was 3pm already, they needed to go back to their dorms and inform the agency of Daehyuns disappearance.
“Idol Jung Dae hyun missing since last weekend, the group went to the woods to camp and he went missing that night. There have been no leads so far and no one knows his whereabouts. His bandmates decided to cancel all of their upcoming shows until he’s found. If anyone has any information, please contact your local police station.”
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nom-the-skel · 7 years ago
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[vore] Squirrels, chapter 6
After the short chapter, a long chapter. It’s mostly flashback though.
3.2k words! aftermath of soft safe willing vore, threats of presumably fatal vore, keeping squirrels as pets, crossdressing...?
[chapter 1][chapter 5][read on AO3][chapter 7]
Stretch followed Sans home. Sans kept seeing him jump from branch to branch out of the corner of his eye. It was just as well, since he wanted to ask all Papyrus’s squirrel friends what they knew about Razz. That didn’t mean he couldn’t give Stretch a hard time.
“What are you followin’ me for?” he said as they neared the edge of the forest. “Gonna come all the way into town? I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“You know why I’m following you. You still have my brother.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Sans smirked at the outraged chitter this drew from Stretch. “Relax, he’s fine. But if you wanna make it to our house in one piece, maybe you should come ride in my pocket.”
“I’d rather—”
“Die? Because if you trot along behind me like that, you’re likely to get pounced on.”
“Blueberry made it.”
“Yeah, he got lucky. You shouldn’t really let him do that.”
“I’m just sayin’, it’d be a shame if I got home and coughed him up and had to tell him you got yourself eaten by some random fox. He’ll prob’ly blame himself, since you were here in town tryin’ to make sure he was okay.” Sans looked away casually at the sky, hiding his amusement. Stretch probably had no way of knowing how dangerous the town really was, and with his ability to teleport, there was little real risk so long as he stayed alert and out in the open.
Stretch grumbled. “Ugh, fine! You know, you could just let him out here in the forest instead!”
“Yeah, but I want to talk to him in the comfort of my own home.”
Stretch continued grumbling, but he climbed down a tree trunk, head first, and then scrambled up Sans’s leg.
“Not that one,” said Sans, putting a paw over the opening to his pocket. “Slim’s in there. You get the other side.”
Stretch glared at him and climbed across his stomach to dive into his other pocket. A squirrel on each side. Plus Blueberry in the middle. Nice and balanced. He grinned with satisfaction as he made his way into the house.
Papyrus was already home. “Where have you been? Dinner will be ready soon.”
“I already ate.”
“What did I tell you about sneaking off to Grillby’s and spoiling your appetite for—”
“Not Grillby’s. I still want dinner.”
“It’s a squirrel, isn’t it?” Papyrus asked flatly. “Which one? And give him back, please.”
“Okay, just a sec.”
Papyrus got a small towel ready while Sans regurgitated Blueberry into his paws.
“Here you go.” Sans handed him over and Papyrus dried him off. Papyrus clearly disapproved, but Blueberry grinned up at them, as if he’d just been having a refreshing nap. “I’ve got one more,” said Sans, digging into his pocket for Stretch. The orange squirrel looked distinctly nervous while dangling from Sans’s paw.
“Is there a particular reason you brought home all the squirrels?” Papyrus asked, as Stretch pulled himself up onto Sans’s arm and then made a leap for the safety of Papyrus’s towel.
“Yeah, I wanna ask them about something Alphys said.”
“Oh!” Blueberry perked up, tail twitching. “The squirrel she was looking for! I didn’t hear how that ended because you ate me. I see you got my brother back from her, though. Thank you, Sans, I knew you wouldn’t let us down!”
“What did Alphys say?” Papyrus seemed at a loss to think of anything Alphys would want with squirrels.
“She’s looking for a particular squirrel,” Sans said, a little apprehensive. He felt like the whole thing was kind of silly, but he’d said he would help.
“Yes? Which squirrel is she looking for? Maybe Blueberry and Stretch know him.”
“Or Slim,” said Stretch.
“Yes, or Slim. Where is he?”
Sans rested his paw over his pocket, lightly. “He’s sleepin’.”
“Well, you’d better wake him up. He sleeps too much anyway.”
Sans sighed and pulled the squirrel out of his pocket. Slim didn’t wake up, only cuddling into Sans’s paw pads.
Blueberry jumped over to Sans’s arm. “Slim, wake up! We want to ask you something!”
“Let him rest,” said Sans, covering the curled-up squirrel with his other hand.
“But for all you know, he could be the squirrel that wolf was lookin’ for,” Stretch pointed out. “Orange fur and tall, right? You mistook him for me once, so maybe she mistook me for him.” Sans bared a single fang at him.
“Did she say the name of the squirrel she was looking for?” Blue asked, leaning against Sans’s protective paw.
“She didn’t know.”
“But she told you his brother’s name,” Stretch reminded him, climbing up to sit on Papyrus’s shoulder. “What was it again? Sounded kinda familiar.”
Sans sighed. “It was Razz.”
Slim stirred.
“Where have I heard that name before?” Stretch pondered. Sans was sure he was doing this on purpose.
“That’s what Slim said when he first saw me, after Sans caught him!” Blueberry squeaked, loud and triumphant at having solved the mystery.
“Oh, right,” said Stretch. “And she said he was small and cute—like you, Blue—but with purple fur.”
“That sounds like the squirrel I saw Slim hanging out with before!” Blueberry hopped on Sans’s arm with delight.
Slim pulled himself out from between Sans’s paws, groggy and confused. “What did you say about Razz?”
“He’s alive! Your brother!” Blueberry just kept getting more excited.
“What?” Slim scrambled up Sans’s arm. “Where is he?”
“The wolves have him,” Stretch said. “They didn’t eat him. They kept him for a pet.”
“Wow, Slim, just like you!” Blueberry found every aspect of this increasingly delightful.
Slim looked up hesitantly at Sans, who was showing much less enthusiasm. “Can I—can we go see him?”
Sans hesitated for a moment, then answered breezily. “Of course. You think I’d keep you from your brother?”
***
Razz found himself waking up in darkness. Had he fainted? It couldn’t be. He was too tough to react like that, no matter what danger he faced. The last thing he remembered was teasing a big blue-green wolf that thought it could catch him. There was no way—he was too fast—so why was he someplace dark that reeked of wolf scent? And why couldn’t he move? Was this—had he been eaten, and was this dark, tight place the inside of the wolf’s stomach? He shivered at the thought, but dismissed it. It wasn’t wet and close like he’d imagine a stomach to be; the surface under him was hard and flat and smooth, and the reason he couldn’t move much was that his wrists and ankles were bound together behind his back.
“Where am I? How dare you!” His voice echoed back at him in the small enclosed space.
Nobody answered. He wriggled sideways until he found the wall, a smooth metallic surface curved like the inside of a half sphere, not much bigger than required to hold him, bisected by the floor. It was likely uniform all the way around, but he didn’t have anything better to do than explore it. But just as he started pushing himself along the edge, he heard voices. At first they were too quiet to make out, but they quickly grew closer.
“Bon appetit!” said one, and the wall lifted away. Razz blinked in the sudden light, making out the forms of two wolves. The blue one must be the same one he remembered. What had she done to him? She must have cheated somehow to catch him and leave him here like this.
“You cheater! Untie me and I’ll teach you a lesson!” he snarled at the blue wolf. If only his wrists had been bound in front he could have chewed through the ropes.
“Wow, he’s feisty.” The yellow wolf peered at him uncertainly.
“The feisty ones taste the best!” The blue one was proud of her catch.
The yellow one licked her lips, encouraged, and reached out for Razz. He snapped at her, and her hand hovered over him, as she tried to figure out how to pick him up without getting bitten.
“Here,” said the blue one, expertly snatching him up and dangling him by the tail. He writhed and twisted, trying to reach her paw, but he couldn’t touch her. “Say ‘aaah’!”
The yellow wolf giggled, and when Razz looked in her direction he got a face full of her tongue, bordered by sharp white teeth, leading back toward—well, he’d rather not think about that. The momentary paralysis brought on by surprise—certainly not fear—was enough that he missed his chance to resist further before finding himself lying face-down on her tongue, her jaws closing around him, wolf saliva and definitely not tears wetting his cheek bones, and if he failed to hold back a terrified-sounding squeak, well, it wasn’t as if Slim or anyone else he actually knew would find out about it. He squeezed his eyes shut. Slim was a grown squirrel and could take care of himself. He would be fine without his brother to look after him. He had to be…
“What’s wrong? Is it not good? I knew I shoulda tasted—”
The blue wolf’s voice penetrated his despair as the yellow wolf’s tongue and jaws fell away.
“Oh, no, no, it’s really good! I just—would it be bad if I—wanted to keep it?”
Razz found himself lying in the yellow wolf’s paws. It would have been pretty comfortable if he hadn’t been tied up. Blinking the liquid from his eyes, he looked up at the wolf.
“You know what they say about having your cake and eating it too,” the blue wolf was saying.
“Y-yeah, I mean, maybe I’d rather—have it, than eat it.”
The wolves looked at each other, the yellow one blushing awkwardly, the blue one taken aback. Razz couldn’t pass up this chance to attempt escape and tried to roll out of the yellow wolf’s paws, but she just caged him in with her other paw as he rolled toward the edge of the one he was on.
“Well, I guess—” said the blue wolf.
Razz bit one of the enclosing fingers. The yellow wolf yelped and pulled her paw away.
“—but not if it’s gonna bite you.” The blue wolf frowned at him. Her fangs were long, visible even with her mouth closed. Razz involuntarily shrank back, pressing against the yellow wolf’s paw pads.
“No, no, it’s okay. It’s just scared. Look, it didn’t even draw blood.” The yellow wolf cradled him to her chest, the wolf scent even more overpowering with her fur in his face. “It’s just a squirrel; what harm can it do?”
“I’ll show you what harm a squirrel can do!” Razz growled, but if the wolves heard him they didn’t show any sign.
“I know! Stick it in that old bird cage.” The blue wolf grinned, warming up to the idea of keeping him. “Then it can’t cause trouble. And if you get hungry sometime and don’t wanna go out and hunt, you can always eat it after all.”
***
“Here you go, Kiyo-chan.” The yellow wolf—her name was Alphys, or at least that’s what the other one had called her—shoved some peanuts through the bars of the cage, without opening the door.
“Don’t call me that.” Razz reached through the bars to swipe at her hand, but it was far out of reach. At least she’d untied him when she’d put him in here. He definitely wasn’t intimidated by the way the much-larger wolf could easily snap the ropes that had held him helpless.
“That’s your name, though! You’re named after one of the side characters from Mew Mew K—”
“No it’s not! How dare you? You can’t just go around handing out new names, without even asking, and especially not horrible nerdy names like that!”
“It’s a good name! It’s really cute. And Kiyosada is a great character! He starts off seeming like just comic relief, but as the show goes on—”
Razz covered his ears. “I don’t care! There’s no way some cartoon character is cool enough to share a name with me.” Especially if Razz was named after him and not the other way around. “It’s insulting!”
The wolf huffed, crossing her arms. “Well what kind of name do you want then?”
“I already have a name!”
“Oh, really?” Alphys’s ears perked up in surprise. “I suppose I never thought about squirrels having names before.”
“Of course I do! And it’s Razz. So you’d better call me by it, or else.”
“Oh, like a raspberry! That’s adorable!”
“No! I’m not adorable, I’m fierce!”
“Okay, I’ll call you Razz, if you promise not to bite me anymore.”
Razz growled, tail flicking in irritation. “Fine, I won’t bite you. Unless you manhandle me.”
“See, we’re gonna have a great time. Can you see the screen from there? I’ll show you the episodes with Kiyosada. Maybe you’ll change your mind about the name!”
“No I won’t,” said Razz, but he sat down and nibbled on the peanuts as she started up the video.
***
“Wow, he’s really tame,” said Undyne, the blue wolf, the first time she saw Razz sitting docilely on Alphys’s shoulder.
“He’s a good boy. Mostly,” said Alphys, with a nervous laugh. “He just has to stay on the leash.”
Of course, the first time Alphys had fallen asleep with him out of the cage, he’d explored her room for escape routes, and then hidden, hoping to get out when she eventually opened the door, or perhaps gnaw a hole in it if that proved impossible. But she’d been so worried and upset, he hadn’t run fast enough when she’d found him under a pile of clothes and plush anime characters. Since then she’d made sure to put a leash on him whenever he was out of the cage, and whatever it was made of, it was too tough for him to chew through.
“Well, he looks really cute.”
“I don’t look cute,” Razz protested. “I look handsome! Or dapper! But not cute!” He couldn’t reach the bow in the light blue ribbon around his neck, but he straightened the one on his tail. If it was crooked that might make it look more ‘cute’ and less sharp.
“Okay, okay. You don’t look cute. You look adorable!” The blue wolf laughed at him, and he glared at her until Alphys distracted him with a peanut.
***
“I don’t know why you’re so attached to that bandanna,” Alphys complained. “Sure, it matches your fur, but that just makes it blend in too much. These ribbons are much c—cooler. And it’s got all these rips and tears in it.”
Razz glared, suspecting she’d just herself from saying ‘cuter.’ “I had a life before I met you, you know. This is all I have left.”
Alphys paused, as if she hadn’t considered that before. “Well, you’re better off here, though, aren’t you? You’ve got a warm place to sleep, plenty of food and entertainment and clothes—once I finish adding the tail holes—and you’re safe from predators. Except us, ha ha. And we wouldn’t eat you—unless we were really starving. What does the forest have to compare to that?”
Razz looked away. He couldn’t tell her about Slim. What if she went after him? He wouldn’t put his brother’s freedom at risk like that. Besides, he didn’t really want Slim to see him like this, no matter how good he looked in these ribbons.
“Here, try this one on.” She pulled something from the box of doll clothes Undyne had brought, and placed it inside Razz’s cage. The door was open; he couldn’t try on clothes while wearing a leash, but by now she trusted him not to bolt out. “It’s a dress so it will fit over your tail without a hole.” She waited while he pulled it on and pushed his arms out the sleeves. “You look fabulous!” She held up a hand mirror so he could see.
“Of course I do!” He straightened out the skirt. “I still think I could just wear the bandanna over it.”
“No, no, the colors clash.”
“If it doesn’t clash with my fur, it won’t clash with my bandanna!”
“That’s different!” Alphys bared her teeth, but he didn’t back down, glaring at her defiantly through the bars of his cage. She sighed in defeat. “All right, fine. Wear the bandanna. But not when anyone’s gonna see you.”
“Who’s going to see me?”
“Actually, I was thinking of making a window box, so you can see outside, and monsters walking by could see how cu—cool you look.”
“No—no, please, I don’t want anyone to see me like this!” It was unlikely Slim would happen to walk by the wolves’ house. Razz wasn’t even really sure how far it was from the forest; he’d only seen Alphys’s room since the first day when she’d decided not to eat him. But word might get out, and if Slim did somehow find out, he’d either get himself killed trying to get here, or actually make it here and see what Razz had been reduced to.
“Oh, is the dress too frilly? Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you look good and not overly cute.”
“No, the dress is fine. I just—remember, I’m—I’m a pet now.” Razz looked away. “I don’t want anyone to know how—how far I’ve fallen. Especially not…”
“What are you talking about? Any squirrel would be lucky to be our pet.”
He turned back to her, grimacing. “Sometimes I wish you’d just eaten me.”
“What? Why? I thought you were happy here!”
His tail flicked nervously. “I—I am, but—I’m still a prisoner.”
“Well, what would you do if I let you go?”
“I would try to get back to—” No, he wouldn’t just try. He would succeed! He rephrased it: “I would go back to the forest where I lived before you caught me.”
“But why? Why not just stay here? We have a lot of anime to watch still, and you have everything you need!”
“Not everything.”
“What is it? What’s so important that you’d give up a cushy life and trek all the way back to the forest, dodging wolves and foxes and hawks?”
He looked away again. She reached into the cage and pulled him out. The way she stroked his skull told him she didn’t mean it to be intimidating, but being held right in front of a wolf’s muzzle couldn’t help but make him a little nervous. He glimpsed the white of her teeth as she spoke. “Come on, Razz. We’re friends now, aren’t we? You can tell me.”
He twisted around to try and climb off her paw and back into his cage, but she blocked him with her other paw. He climbed up the second paw, only to encounter the first again, and gave up, sitting down on her paw pad. “It’s—it’s my brother,” he finally admitted.
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kiwisfics · 7 years ago
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Vampires and Assassins - Chapter 2
A/N - With my renewed passion for becoming a published writer, these past few days have been a trip. Allowing my grandma to read the beginning of my original novel, deciding that this is how I plan to support myself or at least attempt to. Anyway, throughout my editing I’ve begun adding a lot more plot and I hope everyone will enjoy it.
Summary: Kady Lason wasn’t brave, not that she was going to let anyone other than herself know that. Her actions far from reflect her internal dilemma, leading her on escapades in the middle of the night, far from her turmoil-fueled family life. Which is exactly how she ends up kidnapped and sold into a world that few know exist: a world of vampires. If the shock and fear isn’t enough, she ends up with a target on her back, just her luck. The past is easy to forget when facing threats most saw as myths, but, somehow, everything always ends up connected, doesn’t it?
  The scalding hot water raining down from the shower head received no response, its attempts to be a distraction doing little to nothing to draw my attention from the yelling on the other side of the door. They'd been at it all day. Medication could only do so much to soothe the sickness of anxiety—even with double the prescription—not that the burns on my arms were solving the problem either.   As I stood and exited the shower, the red marks on my body began to sting, the cool air overpowering the numbness. I jumped, breath catching in my throat and chest clenching in the beginning stages of an attack, as the sound of glass shattering reached my ears.   My clothes were on in an instant and the bathroom window opened. I didn’t hesitate.   I never hesitated.
  Unlike the other women, still standing in wait for their new owners, I was instantly approached by the silent guards that had stood watch throughout the violent bidding war.   Comparatively to me, they were giants.   But I wasn't going without a fight.   The moment my feet were released, I swiveled, jumping and slamming my forehead into one of the men's noses. The dull pain in my skull did nothing to lessen my fury and I turned once again, charging the auctioneer with all the furiosity of a threatened beast.   The strain on my wrists when the rope was grabbed tore a hiss from my throat. The pain was just as quickly forgotten as I spun on my heel and aimed my head toward another face.   Before I made contact I was jerked away, my target taking hold of one of my arms while another kept me from attacking once again by taking hold of my other arm.   As they pulled me after the retreating form of the man who had bought me, I began kicking and dragging my feet. Muffled shouts tore from my throat, but I was paid no mind.   Behind the tape, I muttered and whimpered as I fought to get loose, my attempts made all the stronger by the fear brought by the gender of those restraining me. Though I knew my attempts were useless, I refused to go without a fight.   I hadn't learned how to defend myself just to tuck tail the moment the need for defense arose.   I wasn't getting thrown into a man's possession without hurting someone and I didn't care who.   The man in front of us walked leisurely, as if he had no cares in the world, and it brought my burning anger to the forefront of my mind, bypassing any and all remaining fear, where it peaked, pushing my blind panic into submission.   I jammed an elbow into each of the men behind me, satisfaction flooding my chest from just the bruising contact. To my shock, I successfully sent them falling back, bringing a proud grin to rest on my face.   Thank God my distrust of men made me paranoid enough to ensure that I could at least make a quick getaway if ever needed.   I shot off toward the wooded area that enclosed the auction, thanking God again for the flats I'd been given in contrast of the heels most of the women wore. Still, I had only taken a few steps before one of the men tackled me, his aggressiveness making clear the rage he felt at being bested by one of his products.   I slammed against the ground with no way to break my fall, rocks slicing cuts into my face and legs. The man jerked me to my feet with no concern for the now bleeding cuts, not that I had expected any.   Had I been able to use my words, I would have commented on damaging the merchandise, even as my legs began to shake and pressure built behind my eyes.   I had been bought.   Who knew what this man was going to do to me, but I had my reasonable assumptions and they made me sick.   I found myself wishing he had left me to die.   I continued my earlier attempts to escape by thrashing, but as it became clear that my attempts weren't working, I brought one leg forward before slamming it back into the crotch of the man holding my right arm. His already bruising grip on my arm tightened and resulted in a loud cry from my throat, the sound muffled, but audible even through the duct tape.   When I was shoved into an expensive looking limo-like vehicle, I was momentarily stunned into paralysis. Clearly, this man had money.   Of course, rich people weren't rare enough to shock me on their, but we were still close to my small town—and all the other small towns around us—as far as I knew, and there were no rich people anywhere in our rural area, none with a limo. They could spend all the money they wanted on a kidnapped person, but a limo? No way would that, or a convention of "richies" go unnoticed. Now that I thought about it, I could almost swear I had seen some of the people in the crowd before.   Was I even in my town anymore?   I stayed frozen for only a few moments. There was no time to waste on pointless thoughts. I had to get out of this situation.   I pulled my knees to my chest. In my position, alone in the back of this vehicle, I had no reason to hold back when I began slamming my feet against the limo door as hard as I could. Grunting as the pressure shot pain up my calves, I grew more and more frantic as a dent appeared around the door's handle.   Just as I was about to slam my feet against the window, hesitating only in fear of the glass getting in my eyes—a stupid reason in reflection—the limo jerked to a stop, sending me rolling to the floor.   I shook my head as I sat up, already feeling a growing bump where my head had hit, as I wondered what was going on. It was only a few seconds later that the door opened and a man climbed in beside me.   He was taller than the man who had bought me. Taller by at least three inches and broader, bigger than even the men who had dragged me to the vehicle, and he didn't look like he was amused with my pathetic attempt at escape. I scooted as close as I could to the other side of the car, remaining on the floor as I trembled and tried not to let tears fall.   My legs burned and the cuts from the harsh tackle stung, but nothing hurt as much as the pain of fear clutching its icy claws into my heart.   I was shaking. Fear and the obvious burning out of my adrenaline both equal culprits.   I thought a nap sounded like heaven before.   The man didn't say a word, he hardly even glanced at me, while I didn't dare glance away, and he barely moved at all until the limo once again came to a stop.   I peeked out the window to see a large mansion, surrounded by thick trees. The trees would be an easy way to escape, however, getting past the tall fence, which was identifiable as electrified by the caution sign, would be the exact opposite.   An electrified fence?   How extra can these guys get?   The man who had sat in the back with me walked around the car and jerked open the door before he grabbed and lifted me almost effortlessly. I immediately began thrashing as best I could, banging my bound fists against his back—it was easy enough to slip my hands in front of me without much movement, and it was a welcome distraction—and knees against his chest, a well-aimed knee to the face caused him to drop me. Despite the pain—did my wrist just break?—and loss of breath from the fall with no chance to soften it, I immediately shot up and ran toward the trees. Exhaustion had nothing on my will to live.   Though death was a secondary fear at this point.   God men were terrifying.     My path was blocked by yet another man. Unlike the hooded men with fancy leather and metal - something I only begun to question upon his appearance - he was wearing a simple white hoodie and jeans and it took his clothing to remind me that I wasn't in some alternate time or dimension. "Look, just relax." I paused in my fleeing, but hadn't the slightest intention of relaxing; I wouldn't have paused at all if he hadn't bee in front of me. "Just let us explain."   I let a huff out of my nose, glaring at him with all the hate I could muster with my eyes—both for this situation and the fact that I'd been proven right. I knew every bad experience in my life led to dying at the hands of some psychotic man—or men, as it was.   Let them explain? Let them explain why I was kidnapped, or why I was treated like an animal? Or maybe why they thought they had the right to buy me, or anyone for that matter? I tried to convey all the anger I felt through my glare, but it wasn't nearly enough.   Not even a fraction of enough.   And the fear, that was surely peeking through.   My eyes were focused on him so intently and my blood was pounding so loud in my ears, I didn't notice someone else coming up behind me.   A blade pressed itself against my throat as a rough voice spoke against my ear, "Keep running and we'll have to put you down." My panting stopped as I held my breath, lest that blade find its way under my skin.   Explain. Yeah, right.   I tensed, from the presence of the blade, yes, but farther from the way he had phrased that—even farther from how close he was. What gave him the right to talk to me like an animal? I'd never once regretted dropping out of the fighting classes I had been enrolled in before, convinced I knew enough to keep myself safe. I'd much rather spend my time sleeping or being lazy when I wasn't working—save when I needed to get out—but I regretted it now. I regretted it more than I would have ever thought possible.   Tears finally escaped my eyes, running down and hitting the duct tape. The man behind me immediately pulled his blade away and lifted me, as my chest began to heave with my sobs, the day's events finally ushering tears from my eyes.   He shushed me.   The action was so juxtaposed to the situation, so foreign to what I knew, that it threw me for a loop, halting my tears for a moment as my brain struggled to regain some sense of reality.   Because this man, that had been holding a knife to my throat seconds before, did not shush me with all the gentleness someone would award a crying child.   And, more urgently, I was not wanting to relax. I did not want to trust them.   I was so tired. I was so drained. I was so terrified.   I was sobbing again, but I'd grabbed his shirt, fists tight in the fabric.   "Relax," he muttered under his breath as he attempted to get the duct tape off my mouth while continuing to restrain me. I wasn't running now. I was hesitating. "I'm guessing he over-estimated how much of a fighter you are, hm?"   When he finally managed to get the tape off—muttering an almost silent apology as I let out a yelp—he shoved the crumpled piece in his pocket. "There we are, now you can yell all the profanities you want."      I didn't respond, sobs still coming from my throat as he lifted me, bridal style, with ease that I momentarily questioned  Like I was a feather.   Even if I had answered, I wasn't much for cursing, I just didn't do it; it didn't line up with my beliefs and far be it from me to start now when I needed that lifeline the most, not that I'd dare yell at the man who just held a knife to my throat at all.   Finally, I sobbed my first unhindered words against his chest,  "Please don't hurt me."   "Wouldn't dream of it, love."
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