#i may have lost the plot a bit in the middle of this ask i am so sorry

[phantomoftheorpheum]

a couple of things about 2x05 of summer school, i felt kind of disconnected from the girls for the most part.

first of all, like you pointed out, it seems like the writers wanted as to feel sad about noa and jen? absolutely not. i don’t like shawn’s mom but i understand where she’s coming from. i would’ve said way worse things to noa honestly - as we know the full story and shawn’s mom doesn’t. jen calling her evil or whatever was annoying. she has the right to be pissed. and the fact that jen doesn’t even acknowledge that shawn is the one who helped her out.

and then imogen blowing up at her dad. i like imogen a lot but i thought she totally overreacted as if her father committed some heinous crime. her mother gave back the ring years ago. if they had been together by the time of her death, and he took it and gave it to someone else THEN i’d understand. but to physically grab a knife and threaten to cut off her finger??? hello??? then she says to johnny “you must think im nuts” and he tells her he doesn’t… i do! it feels like the writers brushed that aside too much. i actually thought we were going to get a reveal that she only imagined it (in line with her medication issues) and that imogen would be upset for the rest of the dinner but that obv didn’t happen 😅

mouse was barely involved. i’m glad tabby told off wes. it felt like the writers were ignoring his weirdness from season 1 so at least we’re getting back to that. and i agree that it’s strange how fast henry was… converted.

overall, something about this season feels off to me. i don’t think i’m connecting with it as well as i thought i would but i am still looking forward to seeing where things go mystery wise. but the romance, friendship, and familial drama isn’t doing it for me. and the girls feel so disconnected but that might just be me feeling that.

I have yet again written a really long response to ask, so I have yet again decided to place it under a cut.

Okay. So, yeah, I will definitely stand behind the fact that I really feel the framing of the Noa & Jen breakup felt weirdly out of step with how they've been portraying the rest of that storyline so far. So then I just find myself thinking about what they're trying to tell us with that. Why? The thing that I find the most intriguing about this whole situation is the fact that, most of the time, they don't actually seem to be trying to make the audience like Jen at all. They go out of their way to give us scenes that make us feel bad for Shawn, just tons of him being sweet and oblivious and supportive, while also seemingly going out of their way to make Jen seem shady and like an absolute dick. That's such an interesting choice if they mean for Jen to continue on to possible future seasons of the show. It would have been so much easier to just have Jen be super nice and Shawn and Noa's relationship to be falling apart more organically. But that's not what they've done at all.

So why would you do this if you ultimately want your audience to want Noa and Jen to end up together? The only particularly good explanation I can see for that would be if Shawn's going to be a revealed as an antagonist, or possibly if they're going to try to pull a reframing twist of some kind where we see why Jen has said and done what she has this season and it was genuinely actually the best she could do and it makes us feel differently about those words/actions (but this doesn't really help redeem Noa's behavior, which a lot of people are struggling with). This second thing is pretty hard to pull off, but it can be done (see 1x04 of Queen Charlotte). I'm not sure PLL is the kind of show that wants to devote the time/care needed for that kind of storyline, but it's certainly a thought I've had.

The other answer would be that they don't actually care if the audience likes Jen because she's a temporary character being utilized as a plot device and they have no long term plans to keep her around (either because she's a villain, or because she just leaves once she's completed summer school).

The last option I've got is just that... they didn't mean for it to come off quite as harshly as it has for a lot of viewers (like if they are making Shawn so "perfect" because it's more dramatic for the audience if he's so oblivious and supportive, but they kind of over did it and now a lot of the audience just feels super bad for him to an extent they weren't supposed to?), but this seems less likely because like... how would you not realize the way this is going to come off? I mean, I HAVE seen writer's rooms and showrunners that are so completely out of touch with the audience, so it's not impossible, but in this case, it feels very intentional, imo.

I think one thing that is really common in fandom (or honestly just in humans in general) is letting our first impression or a generally good or bad impression color everything. So, for instance, I will see a lot of people excuse literally any and all of the girls' behavior, seemingly just because... we like them? They aren't always right. You can still root for someone and acknowledge they've handled something poorly or done something wrong. The girls don't need to be morally perfect for us to justify liking them.

So I think a great example of what happens in the opposite direction (we don't like this character, so they are never allowed to be right) is Shawn's mom. Shawn's mom sucks. I mean, I totally agree. She's a dick to Noa, showed a lack of compassion for her difficult situation, the passive aggressive way she spoke to her on multiple occasions was just flat out childish, and my overall opinion of her is that she sucks. But just because I think that overall she's shown more bad than good, and I don't personally like her, that doesn't mean that she's always wrong.

To an extent, I agree with her. She's right to be upset about Shawn pulling 2k out of his bank account for Noa just out of the blue with no explanation. I think it was also totally fair for her to remind Noa of the "house rules" if she's living with them. There is nothing weird about not wanting your teenage (minor) son to have a live in girlfriend who is ignoring your family boundaries. There is nothing weird about being concerned about your teenage son emptying all his savings for his girlfriend. As a mom, I think it's normal for her to be concerned about the things she's been concerned about. Most moms wouldn't be chill with this situation. The way in which she went about addressing all of those things sucked, imo, but the fact that she's upset is very understandable. On the other hand, I get why Noa, Jen, and even Shawn are not happy with his mother, (personally, I'm not sure that Jen really has many feelings about Shawn's mom at all, I think she just sees that conflict as a crack in Noa's relationship with him and she is actively trying to get Noa and Shawn to break up, so of course she was going to take this opportunity). They are teenagers. They feel like they're adults, and this feels overbearing to them. And the show honestly treats them like adults a lot of the time, so it's a weird cognitive dissonance for the audience, too.

I'm not sure where Rebecca & Imogen's dad might fit into the larger plot line, but I think the point of that scene for Imogen was to show that she is really close to snapping. In Dr. Sullivan's files she wrote something about Imogen teetering on the edge of a psychotic break, so I don't think the audience is supposed to think that was a totally normal response (I mean, I do get why she's upset. She clearly has sentimental value attached to the ring, and she feels like her mom is being replaced, regardless of how true that feeling is), and while I do agree that Johnny's response is startlingly chill, when I thought about it, I realized that sort of has been his character so far. He hasn't had much screen time, but his main characterization is being really calm no matter what's thrown at him and just staying kind of level. He's taken everything Imogen has said and done really easily and talked her down when she's upset. I think Imogen's deteriorating mental state will be a major part of the next three episodes. I even talked a bit about this in my breakdown of the trailer (I won't go into details here, because I know some people don't watch the trailers) and where I think that is going. I also definitely think her grabbing the knife is foreshadowing (so possibly this scene got a little over the top because they needed that moment). It's the second time Johnny has gotten her to hand him a knife when she's panicking, and I'd bet just about anything there will be a third time (though I suspect it will be an unsuccessful third time) this scenario comes up. Whether or not that's Johnny maybe failing to talk Imogen out of stabbing someone else, or him, who knows? Depends on if he's good or bad.

I always love seeing Wes get put in his place. He is trash. He just is. Even if he's not going to turn out to be a major antagonist, I'm glad the show is acknowledging that.

I can see where you're coming from with the way the relationships (of all kinds) are dealt with this season. There's just a lot of stuff going on, and I think the show is struggling a bit to balance all of it. Like you've got 3 established main love interests, 3 brand new love interests, Imogen's situation with Estelle, Greg & Kelly's relationship, the Mrs. Beasley/church thing, the BR "tests," the online mystery boards, Chip's lingering legacy & his mom, the online version of the cult, Mouse's grandmother, Faran's job, Tabby's films, Dr. Sullivan's whole plot, actual Rose Waters, and now this stuff with Imogen's dad. It's a ton to try to tie together, and it also means limited screen time for each of these things. I think if the show had even just like 12 or 13 episodes for this season, so there was a little bit of breathing room, it might feel like we get more time for characters to grow, connect, and just be themselves. A ton happens in each of these episodes. I would know, since I type it up every time one releases and it takes ages because there's so many different things going on. Plus, we don't know why any of these things are happening. Last season we had motive and it was more about "who." This season we don't know who or why. So it's just... a lot.

I'm having fun over-analyzing and breaking it down, but I can definitely see why it could be a hard to connect with.

[myownwholewildworld]

wherever you go (a joel miller's ff) - chapter 5

chapter 4 | series masterlist | main masterlist | chapter 6

pairing: outbreak!2003!joel x f!reader. (it's actually 2004 now)

summary: after what happened a couple of months ago, you are ready to move forward. joel? not so much. he might need a little... prodding.

warnings: 18+, mdni. internal and verbal discussions of feelings, trauma and past relationships. some jealousy (if you squint very hard). porn with plot or plot with porn (however you wanna look at it). again, absolutely filthy smut because i don’t know any better (sorry not sorry). fluff. voyeurism (you spy on joel). masturbation (f and m). oral (f and m receiving). finger sucking. unprotected piv. praise kink. sir kink. size kink. cum eating. a bit of cum play. multiple orgasms. overstimulation. squirting. dirty talk. you are very needy in this one and joel is very possessive over you. soft!dom!joel. aftercare. pet names (darlin’, sweetheart, baby, honey). i'm sure i'm forgetting something lol. reader is female, no other description given. reader is mid-late 20s, joel is 36. no use of y/n.  joel’s and reader’s pov.

a/n: hiya! first i want to thank you all for the positive feedback this series has gotten! [: i started writing this for myself mainly, and decided to post it here thinking that if a couple of people liked it, it'd make my heart happy. also, i have taken some licenses with joel's past, as neither the game nor the tv show gives many details (you'll understand what i mean). anyways! after the last chapter, our two protagonists (you!) deserve a bit of calm, peace and quiet... right? 😈 as always, thank you all for engaging. i do appreciate any comments, reblogs and/or likes you may want to leave! even asks/requests/side stories if you want to! take care lovelies <3 x

w/c: ~6.3k (sorry?).

tags (let me know if you want to be added/removed from the list pls!): @yesjazzywazzylove-blog @pedrospurplerain @missladym1981

August came around relatively quickly. Tommy had proposed you got closer to civilisation, which meant long trekking trips while the sunlight was still up. Joel agreed reluctantly, as he still thought that was dangerous. You just went along with it, letting them decide ― you didn’t really care where you ended up as long as the Millers were by your side.

Well, one of them especially.

At daytime you barely had time to yourself. However, the story was completely different at nighttime. The second you closed your eyes, snippets of what had happened two months ago flooded your memory. For the first few weeks, the nightmares were unbearable. You would wake up in the dead of night, sweaty and shaking.

And every time you woke up, Joel was by your side. He would hug you while you both laid on improvised beds, no matter how uncomfortable it was. Neither of you would talk, you would just cry in silence while your panic attack subsided ― Joel holding you throughout the whole episode. He had truly been a rock you could hold onto in the middle of a sea storm.

It got to the point where Tommy had started to realise that something was up between you two. Neither you nor Joel denied nor confirmed anything, although Tommy never asked. He would just look away when his brother would attend to you if you fell behind or would offer to do the first night shifts so Joel could be by your side at bedtime.

You were somewhat sure that Joel really cared about you. The way he would look at you… it sent shivers down your spine. The intensity in his eyes was hypnotising ― sometimes you would find yourself lost in his brown orbs, unable to look away. You also really cared about him.

You didn’t want to put a label to your feelings, mainly because you were not sure how Joel would react. You had come to understand that the man was prone to evade any topic about his feelings in general ― physical, emotional or otherwise. You could still not get him to tell you whenever he felt off. Since the blow to his head a couple of months back, Joel had been suffering with horrible headaches, to the point where he had fainted in a couple of instances.

The man was such a closed book you found out about his deceased wife the same way you knew about Sarah ― through Tommy. You assumed he had one or at least a partner at some point in time before the outbreak. The younger brother didn’t give you many details though, not that you asked either ― some wounds were better left untouched.

You liked Tommy a lot. He was a godsend ― so very different to Joel, but so similar in many ways. He was talkative and filled in long silences with stories about how they would cause mayhem at home when they were kids. You didn’t know if they were true or not, but they were entertaining nonetheless. You were under the impression that Tommy was the one who got into sticky situations and Joel was the one who had to fix them.

“I’m gonna go to the lake for a bit”, Joel told you, derailing your train of thought.

“No worries, I’ll get the fire going. Poor Tommy is always the one setting up camp”, you replied with a slight smile.

“Yeah, poor me, relegated to such unsignificant tasks”, said Tommy with a chuckle.

You smiled back and then looked in Joel’s direction. He was frowning at both of you, but quickly controlled his face expression.

“I’ll be back soon”, Joel crouched to look through his backpack, grabbing a couple of towels.

Something inside of you twisted. But you pushed the thought to the back of your head. You had already volunteered to start the fire.

You really tried to focus on the bonfire. And after a few attempts, you finally got it going. Joel had not come back yet from the lake ― it had only been ten minutes, but you were slightly worried in case he had lost consciousness again while no one was around.

“I’ll go check on him”, you told Tommy.

He looked at you with a sarcastic smile.

“Sure thing”, he replied while he started to skin a rabbit.

You rolled your eyes before you left in the direction Joel had gone.

You walked the hundred metres that separated the camp and the lake. The brothers had ensured the area was completely devoid of human existence before they decided to settle there for the night. You were now in Mark Twain National Forest, near St. Louis. You had checked out Kansas City a week ago, but both Tommy and Joel had deemed it too unsafe. So Chicago was your final destination. None of you knew what you would encounter there, but it was worth a try. The wilderness had not proven to be any safer.

Before you got to the bank of the lake, you spotted Joel in the water. He had his back towards you, your eager eyes checking out his broad shoulders, the water level up to his hips. He ran his fingers through his hair, slicking it back.

You stopped walking, somewhat mesmerised, your head slightly tilted to one side with curiosity. In the last two months, you had discovered a new side to Joel you didn’t know he had.

You guessed that what happened that night also affected him in a different way it did you. After he almost decapitated that man, you saw guilt in his eyes when he looked at you ― you still sometimes caught a glimpse of it to this day. As you found out later, that culpability was because he felt responsible for what those men did to you ― he really thought he could have done more. And he did in a sense, because for the next couple of days he hunted down every man in that group until there was no one left to hurt you. Apparently, that was not enough in his eyes, although it was in yours. But as much as you tried to explain that to him, it just wouldn’t sink in. He was so stubborn it made you go crazy sometimes.

Although Joel had been there for you emotionally, he had not touched you for the last two months. You managed to steal a few kisses from him and that was it. He had been extremely cautious with you in that respect. You were relieved he was as you tried to come to terms with what had happened, but after a few weeks it started to feel… frustrating. You were not broken and despite what he thought, you still had needs.

He suddenly looked over his right shoulder, offering you his side profile ― to you, he was gorgeous. Feeling like a child caught causing mischief, you quickly hid behind a tree. Joel looked around, eyebrows touching in confusion, but then he shook his head as if he was imagining things and proceeded to cup his hands in the water to wet his face.

You couldn’t not watch. You instantly realised that was the first time you saw him naked. The last ―and, regrettably, the only― time you two had sex, he was fully clothed. There was something very intimate about seeing him washing up.

You were so transfixed on the picture in front of you it was like the world had disappeared around you. Joel rubbed his skin with a hand towel ― his strong arms, his chest, his back, his lower stomach… Your breath quickened a bit, your heart picking up a pace. Everything about him invited you in ― it wasn’t only his rugged appearance that appealed to you, but also his character.

You started to feel hot. Had the temperature suddenly gone up? It seemed like it. Joel put the hand towel on his left shoulder. When you saw his right hand disappear below the water in front of him, your mouth went dry wishing it was your hand. You wanted to help him clean his manhood so badly ― memories of his delightful cock rocking you into a trance short-circuited your brain.

Before you could stop yourself, you placed one hand on your belly, biting your bottom lip. You finally gave in to temptation, pushing past the edge of your panties. You dipped two fingers in your slit, doing circular movements around your clit. Your eyes, albeit halfway closed in pleasure, could not leave Joel as he kept on freshening up. You pushed down your fingers a bit more, sliding one of them in your needy hole.

You closed your eyes, a half-smile showing on the corner of your lips. That felt so good. If Joel was going to do nothing about it ― fine, you would. Still behind the tree, out of sight, you held on to the bark with your free hand, upping the rhythm of your wet fingers, your thumb rubbing that tight knot in your fold. Then you slightly opened your eyes again ― you wanted to stare at Joel while you came.

But he wasn’t there anymore. You frowned, confused, but you were too busy to worry about that right now. So you closed your eyes again to fully focus on the task at hand. You leaned your forehead against the tree, feeling your orgasm wash over you with intensity. You pressed your lips, suppressing a moan as to not alert Joel of your presence.

“Am I interrupting?”, his soft voice forced you to glance in his direction with starry eyes.

He was on your righthand side, just half a metre away from you. Entirely naked in all his glory, an erection creeping up on him. You were speechless, partially because you had been caught spying on him and partially because you were still feeling the last remnants of your climax, your inner walls crying for something to choke.

“I―I…”, you really tried to excuse yourself, but your voice faltered when your eyes checked him out from top to bottom.

His body was chiselled, his muscles somewhat defined, especially around his waist. He had a pronounced V line with a hairy, happy trail which you avidly followed with your eyes until you were gifted with the sight of his veiny cock. You unconsciously licked your bottom lip.

Your fingers were still dunked in your warm pussy. Joel grabbed your wrist and took your hand out of your underwear, raising it to eye level. Your digits were sticky, covered in your own cum. You should feel ashamed, but you definitely didn’t. Not with him. Joel looked into your eyes, and, without breaking visual contact, he brought your slick fingers closer to his face. With no hesitation, he opened his mouth and pushed them into it, licking them clean. You felt your cunt gushing, eyelids half closed. You could have easily come again for him, but he released your fingers far too quickly for your liking.

“You naughty girl”, he whispered as he pulled you from the wrist to get you closer to his chest. “You taste even better than what I imagined”.

“I didn’t think you were…”

“Aware of your presence? Always, darlin’”, he finished for you.

Your cheeks blushed when he freed your wrist and lifted your chin up. His thumb caressed your bottom lip, his mouth just an inch away from yours. You bowed to kiss him, but he backed up a little, denying you.

“Are you sure you wanna do this, sweetheart?”, he asked, you could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

You nodded vehemently.

“Yes, please, Joel, I really need to feel you, to have you fuck me senseless”, you emphasized, short-breathed.

He seemed to consider your words for longer than what was acceptable. You saw his eyes flying between yours and your lips.

“Please?”, you begged.

Your prayers might have been heard, because he leaned forward, brushing your mouth with his.

“Then go down on your knees, darlin’”, he whispered against your lips.

You silently gasped as your clit pulsed at his words. You were delighted to follow his command, and so you kneeled compliantly.

When your knees touched the grass, his cock was at eye level. You couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. His dick was as big as you remembered, the memory of it filling you up still haunted you. It was so erected now that the tip touched his belly button. Joel looked so strained you thought he had to be in pain. And you were more than willing to help him alleviate it.

You moved your hand forward, but before you could try to wrap your fingers around him, Joel stopped you.

“No, with your mouth”, was his order.

You intertwined your fingers on your lower back and inclined your heard towards him. You gazed up at him, his jawline very tense. You let your tongue out and shyly tapped his glans with the tip. Joel closed his eyes immediately and grumbled loudly as his cock twitched in front of you.

That was all you needed to spur you on. You widely opened your mouth to house his manhood and sealed your lips around the head, the tip of your tongue trying to push open the slit on his foreskin. You played with him for a bit while your jaw relaxed. Then you started to push him in further and further down your mouth, as far as you could take him. His glans pushed past your uvula, you could barely breathe, just as you had imagined a few months ago ― a dream come true. You bobbed your head back and forth, feeling him in your throat, your eyes watering. But you were still not close to have his dick entirely in your mouth ― he was so damn big.

Joel growled in ecstasy as he looked down to you. The sight of you on your knees with your mouth stuffed, bright beautiful eyes, your tongue maliciously inciting him… He just couldn’t believe how giving you were.

“Look at you with your mouth so full”, he said placing one of his hands under your chin. He could feel his own cock expanding your throat. “You look so damn pretty, baby”.

You leaned back a bit, releasing most of his erection except for the tip. With the help of one hand you started pumping his shaft, the other gently massaging his balls. Joel eyed you intensely while you ate him up like a lollypop. His salty flavour inundated all your senses, your eyes pinned on his.

His fingers clenched in frustration.

“Shit, stop, I’m gonna come”, he mumbled as he pushed back to free his dick from your wicked lips.

No way in hell, you thought. He was not about to deny you that. You had been thinking about this moment for fucking months, you wouldn’t let him take that pleasure away from you.

You grasped him by his ass, your palms firmly pressing on his buttocks to take his cock even deeper. You then gave him head as best as you knew how, fastening the rhythm when you felt the pulsation coming from him.

“Fuck, baby―”, he moaned your name as he came in your hot, wet cavity.

You felt his spent hit the back of your throat. It was so tangy and musky. You swallowed all of it. Ah, delicious, you thought gleefully. You let go of his ass and released his dick from the prison of your lips.

You placed the palms of your hands on your knees, still on the ground, and glanced up at him innocently with a sweet smile painting your face. You then opened your mouth, sticking your tongue out to show Joel you had eaten all his cum ― a bridge of spit connecting the tip of your tongue to his glans.

He dropped one hand to break off the arch of saliva between you and him with his index, and fed it to you ― you gladly accepted, sucking his finger clean.

“Did I do good, sir?”, you asked with a small voice, looking for praise.

“Good? You did fucking splendid, sweetheart”, you beamed with the compliment and got up to your feet when he offered you a hand.

He took your hand, walking behind him as he headed towards the lake. He turned around to face you and kissed you slowly, his tongue caressing your palate. He then took a step back. The sun was setting on his back, the orange and red lighting reflecting off the waterbed. His brown eyes, bearded jaw, hooked nose, his hair curling at the nape of his neck… He looked like a roman God ― Mars, you thought. Joel looked like a man about to fight for his life and yours on the battlefield.

He sat down on a massive flat rock one metre away from the bank of the lake, which was approximately two metres wide in both directions.

“Now undress for me, baby”, he instructed.

You did not hesitate ― all your clothing fell to your feet, piece by piece, while Joel eagerly watched the show you put on. He wetted his bottom lip while he readjusted his cock on his lap. You stood there with dreamy eyes, awaiting. He motioned one hand towards the rock he was sat on, an invitation for you to join him.

Once you were sat on his right, he placed his left hand around the front of your neck ― a very slight touch that forced you to flatten your back against the rock while he positioned himself on top of you. He bit your chin while his left hand put a sweet amount of pressure on your throat. You could tell he was controlling himself.

“My turn”, he whispered, coming off you.

He got off the rock, kneeling on the ground in front of you. You put your elbows down on the rock to lift your torso and be able to look at him, your knees bent, the sole of your feet against the cold surface of the rocky platform. Joel grabbed you by the hips and scooted your ass over to the edge of the rock. Your legs were firmly pressed against each other, trying to hide your quivering cunt ― suddenly you felt shy.

“Spread your legs open for me, darlin’, lemme see”, he commended you with his hands on your knees.

You couldn’t say no to him, you didn’t want to. So you obeyed, dropping your legs to the sides, offering him your dripping fold. He traced your slit with his index, and you moaned.

“You’re so fucking wet already. So receptive, aren’t you?”, he asked looking at you dead in the eye, his finger sinking in between your legs, looking for the entrance. “Who gets your pussy so wet?”, he pushed his fingertip in your hole, and you groaned loudly. “Who, darlin’? Use your words”.

“You, only you, sir”, you gasped.

“This is mine”. He pushed in the second phalange.

You closed your eyes, trying to control your breathing.

“All yours, yes”.

His finger got completely sucked in down to his knuckle, stroking your g-spot. You harshly pressed your lips.

“Exactly, don’t you dare forget that”, his tone was so serious you looked at him enigmatically, not really understanding where that sudden possessiveness came from, but you loved every bit of it. And you were more than happy to put his doubts to rest.

You nodded frantically.

“I would never, sir, I swear my pussy is all yours”, you really meant it.

“As it should be”, he added a second finger as he leaned forward and kissed your mound.

You sighed, eyes teary, and flattened your back against the rock again, as Joel made out with the fatty skin above your clit. He introduced a third finger, all of them rubbing your anterior wall. Then his mouth dropped and sucked in your clit. Your knees trembled while you held both of your breasts, playing with your nipples and biting down your lip to stop your wanton screams. He insisted with his kissing until your wet cunt started fluttering around his fingers, a clear tell you were about to come. He stroked your clit with his teeth, very lightly, sending shivers up your spine. Your legs pressed against his head, tension building up. And then, finally, sweet release. You came so hard on his mouth, and he drank it all.

He unburied his head from in between your legs and glanced at you with a sufficient smile.

“You taste even better directly from your creamy cunt, baby”, you were glad he was so talkative during sex, especially if it was to praise you.

Joel placed the palm of his hand over your mound, his fingers covering your damp pussy, and rubbed with just the right amount of friction. You exhaled slowly.

“I’m gonna make you come again”, he promised.

You pursed your lips, your cunt palpitating at the prospect.

“I don’t know if I can―”, you uttered under your breath.

He raised an eyebrow, almost as if he was offended. Joel grabbed your thighs and pulled towards him; the back of your knees placed on his shoulders.

“Don’t doubt me, of course you can. I said I’ll make you”, his mouth was so close to your moist pussy you felt his cool breath on your damp skin.

You whimpered when his tongue swept your entire slit unhurriedly, from your perineum to your clit, his hand climbing up your body to squeeze one of your breasts firmly. Joel repeated that move a few times ― and your brain chemistry would be changed forever after that. He briefly pinched your nipple while he paid special attention to the core of your pleasure. Joel smothered your clit with his lips ― you closed your eyes while placing a hand over his on your boob.

Joel’s tongue stopped torturing you for a second. He nudged your clit with the tip of his hooked nose and then inhaled your sweet smell. That scent was making him go wild with lust to the point where he started fisting his cock, the tip already leaking with precum. He flattened his tongue against your swollen lips, wiggling it through the slit to touch your needy hole. He could not believe you were this wet for him ― if he had the chance, he would drink from your seeping fold every single day. This was how ambrosia tasted like ― he was damn sure of it.

He placed his hands to each side of your puffy flaps to spread your pussy open, while the tip of his tongue slipped inside of you. Your free hand flew to his head, fisting a handful of hair. Your toes clenched as he started to fuck your hole with his tongue. You felt your whole uterus contracting so hard it was almost painful. Your cum started to ooze out as a new orgasm hit you with full force, yelling his name. Joel did not waste any of it, licking it off you shamelessly.

What just happened ― that felt like sin, the most beautiful sin you had ever experienced. Your breathing was so irregular you thought you were going to have a heart attack. Then you heard Joel snickering as he got back up to his feet.

“See? Told ya”, he said smugly as you placed the elbows on the rock to lift your chest and glance at him.

He was jerking off, his cock ready for you again. You sat back up and leaned forward, your hands on his muscular thighs as you kissed the slippery tip, the shaft, then his balls. You showered pecks all over his manhood, worshipping it.

“S-sorry, sir, can I ask? Is your cock only mine? P-please?”, you asked in between smooches, almost panting, looking at him with puppy eyes.

Joel’s irises were swirling with desire, his hips slightly slanted forward towards your mouth, his dick visibly spasming while he caressed your cheek.

“All yours, yes”, he replicated your exact words, your heart fluttering with contempt.

You smiled at him before licking his testicles again ― your hand pushing his shaft against his lower belly to give you better access. Your eyes never abandoned his as your saliva covered his soft ball sacks.

This time he did step back, and you let him.

“I need you inside me, please”, you murmured.

His jaw was so tight he didn’t dare to speak. Joel could feel his heartbeat on his cock, all because of you and your wanton mouth. You looked so damn beautiful ― on your knees, staring at him through your eyelashes, patiently waiting. He knew you very well by now, fully conscious that as sweet as you were acting now, that was it ― an act. And he loved every bit of it. He liked the way you replied to him when sex wasn’t involved, taking no shit from anyone, your snarky remarks driving him crazy.

Joel sat down on the rock and motioned for you to join him on his lap. You joyfully obliged, sitting atop of him. Your knees to each side of his waist, your bust against his, skin to skin. Your nipples grazed his chest, becoming harder at the electric contact. He cupped both of your boobs and pushed them up, so he could kiss them tenderly. You sighed, your mouth against his ear. Still holding your breasts, he unattached his lips from your nipples to peck your chin.

“Fuck me, darlin’”.

You looked down between you two. His erection was so prominent you knew it was hurting him. And you could ease that pain for him. Heaving, you lifted your hips up and grabbed his dick. It was hard but soft at the same time, velvety, very warm and beating. So sensitive to the touch he groaned ― music to your ears. You hugged his neck with your free arm as you guided his tip to your leaking entrance.

With a sudden drop of your hips, you impaled yourself harshly ― his bollocks kissing your tumid lips. You circled your hips against his, very slowly, which made you both moan in unison. Then you raised your body, his cock slipping out completely. Holding him from the base, you came down on him sharply again.

Joel was close to losing his mind. If you did that one more time, he wasn’t going to be able to hold it for much longer. You seemed to understand that, because you started to rock your hips back and forth, up and down. He kneaded your ass, feeling your rhythm, spurring you on. His fingers squeezed the skin under them while he kissed your collarbone. His mind was completely blank ― he could only focus on your sweet pussy hugging him, choking him. His dick felt so wet, so hot, throbbing for release… You kept on riding him, your movements growing erratic as you both were close to climax.

You surrounded Joel’s neck with both arms, pressing your breasts against his handsome face, your hips flushed with his, as your cunt angrily convulsed around his erection in blissful liberation. Joel held it together while you recovered, his hands still on your ass cheeks, fingers so clutched they were close to dislocating.

“Baby, if you don’t get off, I’m―”, pain smeared his tone. He was really fighting for his life right there and then.

“Oh, sorry”, you said with a small voice, still feeling your own pleasure. You elevated your hips, so his manhood popped out with a squelching sound.

You were not going to leave him hanging, obviously. So you kneeled before him, in between his strong legs, and kissed his tip. Joel sighed loudly when you closed off your lips around him for the second time today and pumped his shaft fast and strong, milking him dry. A minute later, your throat was clogged with his spent. A drop of it trickled down the corner of your mouth.

Joel leaned forward and caught the cum off the corner of your mouth with his thumb before rubbing it on your lips. Then he kissed you wetly, devouring you. He could never have enough of you.

“Thank you, sir”, you whispered with a smile when he was done assaulting your mouth.

He just smiled back. A genuine smile, the first you had seen from him. It tugged at your heart a little.

You were still feeling restless. Although you had orgasmed four times already, your pussy lips were so inflamed you thought you were on your way down to hell. Still on your knees in front of him, you softly massaged your sensitive clit. It was burning ― you suppressed a sob as you glanced up at him, lips slightly parted.

“What is it? Is your tight pussy still gushing, sweetheart?”, he asked you, cupping your chin.

You nodded, tears of frustration blurring your vision.

“I need more, I can’t ― my pussy is on fire, sir”, you muttered, feeling sorry for yourself. You were in a heightened state of sensory overload.

“Let me help you with that then”, you almost cried of relief at his words.

You quickly got up and kneeled on top of his lap again. He slipped a hand in between your bodies to caress your core. Your flesh trembled at the touch. Suddenly you realised you desperately needed to find your own rhythm ― you didn’t have to communicate it, Joel understood it in a second. He stopped and let you do what you had to do. You placed the palm of your hands on his shoulders and started rubbing your pussy against the side of his still hand. You slid your cunt further up to his elbow, and then returned back to his wrist. Your clit greedily welcomed the tingling sensation of the hair on his forearm against your wet slit.

You kept on rocking your hips back and forth on his forearm, pressing hard against it, sliding, rubbing and causing as much friction as you could, the heat in your belly flowing down to your crotch. You buried your fingers in his wet hair and tilted his head backwards so you could rest your forehead against his. Your inner walls contracted extremely hard and then you let go, squirting plentifully for a few never-ending seconds on Joel’s forearm. Your overstimulated cunt was leaking on top of him as if someone had opened the tap of your pleasure and couldn’t close it. When the last wave of your climax abandoned you, you looked down to see how it all trickled down from his forearm onto his lap.

You closed your eyes, content, when he gently tapped your pussy a few times. You breathed in deeply, feeling completely satisfied, finally at peace. Then you pecked his lips with gratitude.

“Better now, baby?”.

“Yes, infinitely better. I―I’m sorry I made a mess”.

“Don’t you apologise for that”.

You both remained in that position for a few minutes ― his now relaxed, wet cock warmly lodged between the flaps of your still dribbling cunt. He hugged your waist to bring you closer to him, his mouth brushing yours in a moment of calmness you had not experienced with him yet.

When his lips released yours, you placed your cheek against his right shoulder, your fingertips tracing the scar on it. Silence ensued, neither of you felt the need to fill it with words.

As much as you fought against yourself, you had feelings for Joel. Although you probably didn’t know all his faces, you knew enough about him to love him. The way he would have you on your tiptoes with his sarcastic comments, his bluntness, his rudeness, the way he would snap back at you when you pressed his buttons ― but also his kindness, his caring side, his softness, how he worried about you making sure you were okay, his demanding sexual needs, the way he made you feel when his hands mapped out your skin.

But you were not sure what he thought about all of this. In some respects, his mind was inscrutable. It was part of his charming personality, you guessed. You kissed the scar on his shoulder as he buried his face in your hair, inhaling your scent.

“I love how you smell”, he murmured.

“Is that the only thing you love about me?”, you couldn’t resist, the words just slipped out of your mouth. You wished you could take them back, but it was too late for that.

Joel slightly froze in place at your question. He couldn’t deny that he had started to develop feelings for you. The way you looked at him made him want to be a better person. Although you drove him crazy sometimes, you made his days bearable, a shining beautiful light amongst so much darkness. You were his lighthouse, guiding him to shore. He just needed to learn how to surf through the violent waves before he could safely approach the coast.

Knowing how close he had been to losing you had opened his eyes to a new, unknown reality. He would literally kill for you if he had to ― he had already done it and would do it all over again without blinking. No regrets whatsoever.

But he had some unresolved trust issues when it came to romantic relationships. Joel married Sarah’s mother, Charlotte, when they were both twenty-one years old, as soon as they knew they were expecting. The first two years were very hard on them both, parenthood was not a piece of cake. Resentment had grown between them, to the point where Charlotte had accused him of robbing her of her fun years, which led her to cheat on him. They tried to salvage their marriage for the sake of Sarah, but they never did ― Charlotte died in a car accident while on a heated, angry phone call with Joel.

He locked away those thoughts ― it wasn’t the time nor the place to dwell on the past. Not when he had you with him.

“I… well, no. I love everything about you, sweetheart”, he conceded.

Your heart skipped a beat with joy. No, it wasn’t a love confession, but it was much more than what you were expecting of him. You turned your face against his neck and placed a kiss on his Adam’s apple.

“C’mon, let’s freshen up, I want to clean my mess off you, I do feel a bit bad”, you said with a chuckle.

You got off his lap, the cool breeze touching your sweaty skin. You offered him a hand, which he took, standing up behind you. Without letting go of his fingers interlaced with yours, you guided him to the water. It was cold, but you ventured inside with Joel following you. When the level was up to your waist, you turned around in Joel’s embrace.

You proceeded to wash off your cum and his off his cock, his lap, his forearm. When you were done, he kissed the top of your head. His left hand did the same to you, his fingers caressing your pussy, cleaning the proof of your shared pleasure. He did so not in a sexual way, but in a caring, intimate way. A minute later, you both disappeared beneath the water to emerge a second later, to wash off all the sweat. You found yourself in his arms again, your cheek against his chest ― you could hear his heart beating loudly but steadily.

“Joel, I―”, you didn’t know where to start. There were thoughts you had been wanting to put into words for a while now. “What happened to me sucks and I still die a bit inside when the memories come back at night. But none of it was your fault, nor mine. I do not want those bastards to win, to ruin my life. And my life with you. And I know it will take time to heal that part of me, or maybe it will never heal, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you. I want you so badly, Joel, but what I do not want is you walking on eggshells around me. I’m not broken, I want to move forward, not get stuck in the past. Do you understand what I mean?”, you asked, your cheek still against his chest, looking up at him.

His eyes were focused on yours. His heart shrunk a bit, sharing your pain. If he could, he would take it away, all of it ― the fear, the panic attacks, the agony, the memories, the nightmares. But he couldn’t change the past. So, he nodded.

“I do, honey”, he whispered as he bowed down to place a gentle kiss on your lips.

You both stood there for a few more minutes, hugging each other in silence. Then Joel grumpily ended the embrace.

“We should get back, Tommy is going to kill us”.

You laughed because it was so true. You both got out of the lake, towelled down and got dressed. You started walking towards the campsite besides him ― your hand in his, fingers entangled. When you saw the tent and Tommy’s outline against the fire, you got ready to release his hand. But he didn’t let go when Tommy turned around to look at both of you.

You tried to hide a soft smile ― and failed.

The younger Miller noticed you holding hands but made no comment about it. But he did smile. A very wide smile.

“Well, about damn time, dinner is almost ready”, he said with amusement, pointing to the rabbit impaled with a stick roasting on top of the fire. “If you took any longer, the rabbit was going to come back to life and run away”.

“Always so theatrical, Tommy”, you chuckled.

[chibinasuu]

Voice Mail | Usopp x Reader

Part of the Thousand Sunny Slice-of-Life Series

Find the other parts with the rest of the Straw Hats here

Summary: Usopp's tone dial keeps you company during your night watch shifts on the Thousand Sunny Word count: 1,147  Tags: one-shot, fluff (maybe the tiniest smidge of angst?), domestic bliss onboard the sunny, platonic straw hat pirates x reader, no use of y/n, GN but written with F!Reader in mind

The crow’s nest went awfully quiet as the tone dial played the final note of the song stored inside it. 

You gazed out the window at the calm night sea. You could see waves lapping at the sides of the Sunny, the sound barely audible from your position on top of the foremast. On a night watch shift, a quiet night is certainly a good night. Yet, you couldn’t help but feel the loneliness of the too quiet night, especially in contrast to the rambunctiousness that was always present whenever the rest of the crew were awake. 

You picked up the dial and clicked its button again, the same song replaying for the umpteenth time that night. 

The first time you saw a tone dial was not long after you joined the Straw Hat Crew. 

You remembered gaping in amazement as an upbeat music flowed from an orange, shell-like thing that sat on the Sunny’s deck. Usopp was softly singing along to the tune as he polished Kuro Kabuto. 

Zoro similarly sat cross-legged nearby, polishing Wado Ichimonji in silence, his other two swords laid out on the ground before him. 

You crouched in the space between them, trying to take a closer look at the curious thingamajig. Usopp noticed your wonder-filled expression and grinned, “Cool, isn’t it?” 

You could only nod excitedly before fully plopping down next to him, “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“It’s called a tone dial, see? You can record and replay sounds with it.” Usopp explained, picking up the item and showing it to you. 

“This one, I bought from a merchant back in Sabaody — that was before you joined us — but whoa, I was so surprised when I saw so many of these “TD”s on sale at the market. Brook even recorded one!” Usopp rambled on, “Tone dials used to be so rare, you know? They somehow became mainstream during the two years that we were away, so someone must’ve figured out how they worked.” 

He took one of your hands and placed the tone dial on top of it, “Here, take it! I still have the one we got from Sky Island, anyway.”

Your mind belatedly caught on to what he just uttered so casually, “H-hold on, did you just say.. Sky Island?!”

“Oh, have I not told you about that one yet?”

You shook your head, and Usopp’s smirk widened.

“Well, I guess today’s your lucky day!” He pointed his thumb towards his chest, “Let the Great Captain Usopp tell you all about his adventures in the marvelous land of Skypiea!”

Knowing the sniper’s lying and exaggerating tendencies, you discreetly glanced at Zoro, your eyes asking a silent question. A low grunt was the only confirmation he gave that Usopp was indeed, telling the truth. 

Your heart pounded in anticipation, eagerly awaiting Usopp’s next words.

“It was the middle of the day. We were sailing in the open ocean, when suddenly, Nami’s log pose pointed straight up to the sky! We were still sailing with the Going Merry then — oh, you would’ve loved her! You see, she was this stunning caravel…”

You hung on to his every word as he recounted impossible tales about the powerful knock-up stream that took them to the sky, about gods and a giant snake, and a lost city of gold. It certainly sounded like a lie, but you could tell from the sparkle in his eye that there is truth behind all those bizarre exploits. Well, at least most of it, anyway. You really doubted the bit where God Enel was ultimately defeated by God Usopp’s 5-ton hammer. 

Oh, but how you loved his stories. More than that, you loved the way Usopp tells his stories. His animated gestures and facial expressions, the sudden plot twists that may or may not be true, and not to mention the way he impersonates your other crew members, which always brings a laugh out of you. Honestly, you could listen to him talk for hours on end. 

The creak of someone climbing up the mast’s ladder pulled you out of your thoughts. Usopp crawled up through the hole on the crow’s nest metal floor, there to relieve you from your night watch shift. 

He called out, “Hey, time to switch!”

The dial was still playing its song, catching Usopp’s attention. He smiled fondly and said, “You still play that during your night shifts? You must be bored of the song by now, no?”

“Honestly, it’s getting old now after listening to it for the millionth time.” You admitted with a laugh, “But I like how it keeps away the silence, you know? It gets real quiet sometimes in the middle of the night.” 

He looked a little somber for a beat, before elbowing you jokingly, “Well, I bet you’d rather listen to my stories rather than that goddamn song, don’t ya?”

You chuckled, “That, I certainly do.” 

You wanted to stay a little bit longer – maybe you could persuade Usopp to tell you one of his stories – but you couldn’t stifle the yawn that came over you. 

Usopp noticed and proceeded to usher you towards the ladder, “Go on you sleepyhead, off to bed now. Careful on your way down!”

You slowly make your way down the mast. Usopp’s face remained visible within the opening of the crow’s nest, his watchful eyes ensuring that you reached the ground safely. 

“Dream of me!” He called down mischievously with a wave once your feet touched the deck.

A laugh bubbled out of you as you playfully blew him a kiss before heading towards your room. 

A dial was waiting for you on your next night watch shift, placed carefully on the bench. It was accompanied by a note with your name on it, written in what you know to be Usopp’s handwriting. The dial looked different from the one Usopp gave to you, so you figured this must be the one he obtained during their adventures in Skypiea. 

You curiously clicked on the button.

“Ahem.. Hey, hey, hey! It’s Captain Usopp speaking, here to indulge you with tales of my daring adventures!”

Your lips tilted up in a smile as Usopp’s lively voice flowed out of the tone dial, filling up the empty room. 

“Um, I don’t think I’ve told you about Little Garden yet, so let’s start there, shall we? Buckle up, cause you’re in for a thrilling ride! We’re going back to prehistoric times with this one. Can you believe there were dinosaurs on that island? There were also giants, and a candle man, and a bomb man…”

You sit on the bench, eyes on the seas, dutifully working as the lookout for the night whilst listening to Usopp’s crazy stories. Maybe from now on, night watches won't be so lonely after all. You may even be starting to look forward to the next one.

a/n: this ended up being longer than expected, but i had tons of fun writing it! fun fact about the tone dials, oda did confirm in an sbs that they became mainstream in the Blue Sea during the 2-year time skip. i thought that was a cool little detail, so i wrote that in :)

Find the other parts with the rest of the Straw Hats here

[diddybok]

May I request a poly skz + reader, or just Minsung or Chanlix/Hyunlix if you want, totally up to you. Reader relatively new to the relationship and is trying their best to be the best partner to all parties, but doesn’t feel like it’s being returned. They feel like skz (or whichever ship you choose) is too into each other and not them, like the shiny new toy isn’t exciting anymore. One night, after everyone goes to sleep, reader gets their things and leaves without saying anything. You can change the plot a bit if you’d like. If you’re not comfortable with writing it, that’s ok!🩵

all characters depicted in my writing are from my own imagination and do NOT in any way represent nor reflect the people in real life :)

➩pairing: minsung x gn!reader

➩genre(s): angst, poly!skz

➩warnings: none

➩wc: 0.6k (655)

➩author’s note: sorry this took so long, i hope it was even a fraction of what you wanted!

➩part(s): next

You are exhausted. To put it plainly. You just don’t know how much more you can take. Of course you love the boys, you really do. However something has shifted, and not for the better.

First you started noticing small changes. When Jisung and Minho would come back late from practice, they would usually bring you a sweet treat followed by kisses and cuddles to make up for the lost time. Now it’s barely even a ‘Sorry we’re home late.”

You aren’t used to this, used to feeling like an afterthought in your own relationship. Then again, you weren’t quite sure how well it was going to go between the three of you. They were already so in tune with each other and then you came along.

They made you feel like the missing piece. The rarest jewel to add to their shiny golden crown. You didn’t think it was possible to be truly loved by two people, nor did you think you could love two people as much as you do them.

The tender care and appreciation that came from the both of them was nothing short of remarkable. The intimacy that was shared between the three of you was never overwhelming.

You love Minho. You love Jisung. They love you.

At least, they loved you.

When it was once you in the middle, being doted on each side by the boys you adored. You now reside on the outside as they cuddle each other, a pity hand resting upon your thigh.

When it was once you who ran you fingers through both of their hair as they melted into your touch. You now get told “You don’t have to do that tonight.” “You seem tired you should get some rest.” “It’s alright, I’ll do it for him.”

When it was once a trio. It now falls back into the familiar routine of when you weren’t even a blimp in their lives. Minho and Jisung against the world, oh and Y/n.

“Do you guys still love me?” You would ask timidly.

“Of course we do Y/n! Why would you think such a thing?”

You thought you had done something wrong. Why were they pushing you away? Even when you increased the amount of love you were giving them, you didn’t get anything back.

You were always at the tail end of the relationship. It only became clear to you now.

You still love them. Of course you do. How could you not?

But you are no fool. You are not one to be strung along like a little pet on a leash. You know when you aren’t wanted. When you, the jewel, were not quite glued in securely and fell out of the crown.

Perhaps it always looked better with only the two jewels. Perhaps you were there as a tester, to see what it would look like.

New and exciting, glamorous and beautiful. It was what they needed…until they didn’t.

As you lay at the edge of the bed, the two of them cuddling beside you, you quietly unwrap yourself from the sheets. You grab your already packed bag that was in the wardrobe.

They didn’t even notice your toothbrush was gone when they came home late and did their nightly routine.

Yes but they didn’t even give you a kiss goodnight.

You shouldn’t cry, but you can’t help the tears that cascade down your cheeks.

You know it is for the best. You need to put yourself first, your feelings first.

Which is why you place the key you had to the house on the kitchen island. You don’t look back as you walk out the door. Walk out of their lives.

Maybe that was what they wanted from you all along?

Maybe you just weren’t ready for something like this?

Or maybe you know your worth. You know you’re worth enough to be loved as much as you love.

ʚ hope you enjoyed ^.^ you can support me by liking, commenting and reblogging! it is heavily appreciated ᵕ̈ ɞ

i do not permit my work to be translated or reposted in any way, thank you.

© 2023 diddybok

taglist: @lyramundana

[revrover]

The Stranger - Pt. 2

Part One: The Stranger

Part Three

Pairing: Namor x Reader

Word Count: 8k (lol whoops)

Warnings: Violence, Blood, Language, PLOT

Summary: Namor isn’t the only one who has been searching for his general. Thanks to you, Namora’s life was saved -- but when your connection to the two strangers brings you face to face with a hostile group of government agents, you find yourself in the crossfire of a much bigger conflict.

A/N: OMG first and foremost thank you for being here, thank your for coming back, and thank you for reading. This has taken me a bit longer to post because I’ve been pouring over it every day for a month, trying to get it just right. Comments, feedback and reblogs mean THE WORLD to me, so feel free to show some love and as always please be kind!

***I do not give permission to copy, plagiarize, or repost my work as your own in any form!

There is a growing unrest inside you.

Days have passed since your encounter with Namor after saving the life of his general, Namora. Two mysterious strangers who have left your mind reeling with questions, unrelenting and unquenchable as a flame that dares to spread like wildfire, consuming your thoughts entirely.

You repeatedly play the memory over in your head with no rational way to explain what you witnessed; her blue skin, his superhuman strength; the curious metal that outfitted both of their armor; how they disappeared into the vast open ocean.

"Something on your mind?" A fruit vendor asks, snapping you back to reality. You stand in the middle of the bustling village marketplace, doing your best to orient yourself quickly.

“Your head is — how you say…? — in the clouds, yes?” The vendor asks in her best English, smiling politely at you as she stands next to her cart, eager for you to buy something.

"Is it that obvious?" You joke with a tired laugh. "Two, please."

You scoop up a pair of fresh mangos and hand the woman some change from your pocket. She kindly accepts it with a nod of appreciation. Carefully sliding the fruit into your bag, you return a nod of your own.

You continue to walk through the market, the damp air carrying an aroma of local cuisine and sweat fills your lungs. Weaving your way in and out of aisles created by vendor carts, you feel a sense of calm as you watch the locals interacting with one another. There's beauty to be found in their sense of community.

Typically, you would gather your needed food and supplies and then be on your way back home, but today as your mind wanders, so do your feet.

Meandering down another aisle, your thoughts drift back to Namor, specifically the morning you found him on your front porch. You can practically feel the warmth of that sunrise as you imagine its light illuminating his dark eyes. You picture the smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth when you asked him if he would come back, a moment you hold onto tightly. The memory gives you optimism that you will see him again someday and hopefully have the opportunity to ask him more questions.

Lost in thought, you hardly notice a small crate sticking out a few inches further than other accompanying carts in the aisle. Tripping your foot as you walk by, it nearly tumbles you to the ground. You manage to catch your balance and your breath before face-planting into the dirt. Immediately turning to apologize, you find an elderly man seated behind the crate, his back leaning against the wagon behind him and his eyes shut.

The man is slender and his head bald, save for a few wisps of hair above his ears. Most of his body is covered by a knitted green poncho, well-worn and fraying along the hem. To both your relief and surprise, he seems completely undisturbed by your clumsy collision with his crate of goods. Unsure if he’s even awake, you reach down to help reset any items on the crate you may have displaced.

Your jaw drops slightly as you see the contents on display. Spread out on a velvet brown tablecloth sits a small assortment of beautiful books, scrolls, and other documents. Admiring them, you reach out and push back one of the scrolls, revealing a gorgeous hand-sketched portrait of the island.

“Did you draw this?” You ask, impressed by the skill of it.

“Mmm,” He hums, shaking his head, "But I made very good trade with the man who did.”

You find his answer odd, though slightly amusing, considering he never opened his eyes to see which piece you were referring to. As you browse the rest of the items, a particular book stands out to you. It’s different from the rest of the collection — small and bound in leather, although the leather itself is worn and brittle-looking. You pick it up and inspect it closer. The binding is loose, the pages aged and tattered.

“Careful with that one. Very old.” The elderly man says, his eyes remaining shut. “Nearly 400 years. Got it in a trade with a visiting merchant from our southeastern sister islands."

How does he even do that? You wonder as you start delicately flipping through the pages of the book. You make it about midway through when you open to a particular page that makes you freeze, your heart nearly jumping out of your throat. Your eyes widen as you bring the page closer to your face.

It’s a crude drawing — basic, two-dimensional, and very old like the man said, but the likeness is undeniable. Depicted is the figure of a man. He dawns a grand snake-like headpiece and is grasping a spear. His body is adorned with jade and other metals. Sharp ears. Winged ankles.

"Excuse me!” you ask the elderly man with an exasperated breath, practically jumping over the crate as you lean forward and shout, “These!" You flip the book around to show him the open page, pointing excessively at the picture and the glyphs below it. "What do these say?!"

Your voice is eager and desperate, emotions you hardly try to hide.

The man's left eye slowly squints open.

“Only few are still legible.” He says, shrugging.

“Okay, yes, but the ones you can read, what do they say?!” You plead.

He sighs, opening his other eye and leaning forward slightly to get a better look. After a moment, he leans back against the wagon and closes his eyes again.

"King. Serpent. God. Monster."

You hang on to each word he tells you. Turning the book back around, you bring it back up to your face for another closer inspection.

"How much?" You ask, ready to make a deal.

The elderly man cracks one eye open to look at you for a moment as he considers his price, then wordlessly points to your arm with a feeble finger. You follow his gaze down to the small beaded bracelet around your wrist — the last reminder of your life before coming to the island. You hold your arm up to him, making sure you understand correctly. He nods politely, and without hesitation, you untie the bracelet and toss it to him.

"Nice doing business!" He says with a wide grin as he holds up the bracelet. You are already nose-deep in the book as you turn on your heels, quickening your pace as you head home where you can study more carefully.

Maneuvering your way out of the market to the outskirts of the village, you hardly need your eyes to guide your feet home. You take advantage of the remaining daylight to examine the pages as you walk, turning page after page and scanning for any information about Namor and his people. There’s little there, the book seeming to be a very old, mingled account of island history and lore. Seeing as you are not a historian and certainly not a linguist, it’s difficult to decipher. Still, you do your best to piece together what you can from the pictures.

King. Serpent. God. Monster.

The sky begins to dim. You can hear the faint roar of waves as you near the coastline. It’s too dark to see much detail on the pages now, so you carefully tuck the book into your bag as you step over the trunks of palm trees. The path beneath your feet gradually turns from brush to sand, and soon you find yourself walking along the familiar stretch of beach that leads you home. You stare out into the darkness, listening to the rhythmic pattern of ocean waves and breathing in the salty evening air. The moon hovers above the water, burning brightly as countless stars paint the sky behind it.

You continue walking in the darkness, but there’s an uneasiness building in your gut the further you go. You should be nearing home by now, but no lanterns have come into view. You always light lanterns before heading into town. They burn for hours in your absence so, by the time you return, you have light to guide you. All you see now are shadows and silhouettes that dance against the tree line, and every sound and indiscernible movement has you on edge.

It’s not until you are nearly a stone's throw away that the bungalow materializes in the night. Your stomach twists as the wind blows by you, rustling your hair and causing the snuffed-out lanterns hanging from your porch to creak as they swing back and forth. You hear shuffling, and small beams of light sporadically shine through the cracks of lumber that make up the walls of your home.

There is someone inside.

An alarm goes off in your head, screaming at you to get out. As quietly as possible, you begin backing away. Eyes fixed on the bungalow, you take one step back. Then another. Then another. Then — thud.

Your stomach flips and your throat tightens. While you pray you’ve miscalculated and miraculously made it to the tree line in three short steps instead of thirty, you feel the unmistakable presence of a body directly behind you.

“Going somewhere?” A deep voice growls menacingly. It belongs to a man, his tone gruff, although you can’t quite make out his accent. You do, however, feel the blood drain from your face as you slowly turn your head, finding what is quite possibly the largest human being you have ever seen. Dressed in black military-grade tactical gear and armed with enough ammo and firepower to take on a small army, you know there is no fucking way you are getting away from this guy.

The man grabs your arm and forcefully drags you toward the bungalow. Once up the stairs, he pushes you inside and releases his grasp. You rub your arm and look up to find another man standing in your kitchen, his back turned away from you as he stands hunched over your table. He’s dressed in similar tactical gear and has a walkie-talkie hooked to his belt. A lantern burns next to him as he seems to be pouring over some sort of map.

“Sir,” the man behind you bellows.

The man at the table straightens his posture and turns around to face you both. His hair is buzzed and his face is stubbly, with a thick prominent mustache that stretches across his upper lip. He seems a bit older, and by the ‘sir’ formality, you are fairly confident he is in charge.

“Ah, we were wondering when you would be back.” He says in a sly tone, his accent American.

“Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?” You respond in anger to the unwelcome visitor.

The man takes a sweeping look around the place, then his eyes come back to you.

“I think we can agree that “house” is a bit of a loose term.” He responds with sarcasm, a knowing look on his face. You continue to stare him down, unresponsive to his quip. The man loosens his shoulders and smiles at you. “Where are my manners? Agent Barrett.” He reaches his hand out, offering to shake yours.

You don’t move a muscle.

There is an awkward moment of silence, then Agent Barrett’s hand retreats. He turns, beginning to pace around your tiny kitchen. The room is in rougher shape than usual, clearly ransacked by whatever search was conducted before your arrival. The agent picks up a small roll of gauze from off the counter and holds it up.

“Tell me,” he says, inspecting the bandage material closely, “have you had any visitors recently?” His gaze quickly flicks over to you, an eyebrow raised.

Your pulse quickens as your blood turns to ice. Your mind immediately flashes to Namora floating wounded in the water; to Namor breaking down your door; to the two of them disappearing into the night. You put on your best poker face and shake your head.

“There’s no one around here for miles,” you explain, trying to be as convincing as possible. “You should try more inland towards the village. Most tourists, if any, stick closer to town or retreat to the far side of the island where—“

“Oh, she’s no tourist.” Agent Barrett chuckles, cutting you off. It feels insulting as if your suggestion were so preposterous it was borderline humorous.

She. He is looking for Namora.

Setting the gauze down next to the sink, Agent Barrett turns and walks over to you.

“You’re certain you haven’t seen anybody unusual around here in the past few days?”

He’s standing much closer now. Something about him makes your skin crawl. You eye the gun strapped to his hip and doubt it is for self-defense. Again, you shake your head.

Barrett sighs and gives you a disappointed smile.

“Okay.” He says softly while nodding his head. He backs away from you as the room lingers in silence. You allow yourself to take a breath, but the relief is short-lived. “Looks like we’re doing this the hard way.”

On Barrett’s cue, the large man behind you grabs your shoulder and kicks the back of your legs, dropping you hard to your knees. With his free hand, he yanks the bag off your other shoulder and tosses it to another man who emerges from the doorway to your bedroom. He catches the bag and immediately starts rummaging through it.

“Hey—HEY!” You shout, “What the hell are you—“

“A woman!” Barrett yells. “Pale blue skin. Very skilled swimmer. Four days ago, she single-handedly took down three UN-sanctioned vessels in the middle of the goddamn Atlantic! Three! Now where I’m from,” he crouches down to your level, aggressively getting in your face as he drops his voice lower, “that’s what we call an act of terrorism.”

Adrenaline overtakes your body as you feel your heart beat so intensely it threatens to break right out of your chest. From the corner of your eye, you watch as Barrett’s henchman searches your bag. He pulls out the mangos and tosses them on the floor. Then, he grabs the old leather-bound book. Turning it over in his hand, he looks at it for a moment and tucks it into his belt.

“She was wounded,” Barrett continues, calling your attention back to him, “and our intelligence indicates she washed up somewhere along this shoreline. That's where her trail goes cold. And as you said, there's no one around here for miles. No one, except you."

His implication is obvious.

“This woman, where is she?” He makes a last-ditch effort to convey a friendly tone, but you can hear his patience dwindling. "And please don't make me ask again."

You stare at him coldly, lips sealed together. You’re not telling this man a damn thing.

"Mmmm," is all he grunts, his eyes dropping to the ground. He heaves a heavy sigh as he pushes against his knees to stand up. Once on his feet, Agent Barrett stares at you for another moment before nodding his head to the agent behind you. The next thing you know, you are suddenly being pulled up by your hair, the man’s grip tight against the back of your neck as he turns and pushes you out the door.

Your hands clamor to his as you struggle against him to relieve the painful tension pulling on your scalp, attempting to release his grip on you. But the man is too strong and drags you down the stairs of your porch with ease. You make it a few meters down the shore when he shoves you down to your knees. Your legs make divots in the sand as your hands catch the rest of your body’s momentum. Hunched over, your knees and palms sting from the sand's friction.  

You immediately tense up as you feel a gun press against your head, the cool metal barrel hungry to fire. Hearing footsteps approaching behind, you quickly swallow your fear to maintain composure. Agent Barrett walks past, turning to position himself directly in front of you again — only this time, he doesn’t crouch down to your level.

“Look at me.” He demands as he towers over you. His body language makes it clear who is in control. In the only act of defiance you have left in your arsenal, you keep your gaze laser-focused on the water straight ahead of you, refusing to give in to his instruction. Growing impatient, Barrett roughly grabs your chin. He clasps it tightly as he yanks your jaw upward, forcing you to make eye contact with him.

“You’re going to tell me about your friend, and you’re going to tell me where she is, right now," he growls.

You stare at him, disdain in your eyes. You momentarily scan your surroundings and count nearly twenty other men on the beach now. It’s enough to make your gaze and your heart sink straight to the ground.

Even if you wanted to tell him, you don't have the answers Barrett is looking for. His face hardens as your lack of cooperation and unwillingness to talk becomes clearer and clearer. Loosening his grip and dropping your chin, Agent Barrett looks at the agent next to you.

“Do it,” he orders, leaving you without another word as he walks back up the beach toward the bungalow.

The gun presses even harder against your temple and you hear the irrefutable sound of it being cocked as a bullet rolls into the chamber. Your heart is heavy as your eyes begin to well with tears. You stare out at the ocean, the night swallowing the horizon save it for the piercing glow of the moon that cuts its way through the sky down to Earth. It’s a better view than most get in their final moments, you suppose. For that, you consider yourself lucky.

Time seems suspended as you feel the ocean breeze blow past you, pouring over your skin and filling your lungs as you deeply inhale these final moments. You savor the way the salty air envelops you like the comforting embrace of an old friend. Squeezing your eyes shut, you try fighting back the tears. Despite your best efforts, one single drop escapes, racing down your cheek as you accept your fate.

Zzzzziiinnng!

Where you expect to hear the split-second ring of a gun firing before getting your brain blasted out the side of your skull, you instead hear a high-pitched whistling through the air and the unmistakable slice of a blade penetrating flesh. The weight of the gun barrel against your head slides limply away, followed by the thud of a body hitting the ground next to you.

Your eyes shoot open. You turn to see your executioner now lying dead on his back with a spear pelted through his chest. Your eyes widen in fear, then settle on the spear itself. A spear you recognize — because it’s the same one that was held to your throat only a few days earlier.

Namor.

He's here. Desperately your eyes search the ocean line, scouring the darkness for him.

"We're under attack!" Someone yells frantically from behind you. It is one of Barrett’s men.

"Open Fire! Open fire!" Another one shouts.

You immediately abandon your search for Namor, hitting the deck and covering your head as dueling bullets and spears fly over you. Hearing anguished cries from both sides, you peek out from over your arm and watch in horror as an agent a few meters away looks down at their dart-ridden chest. They drop to their knees, then fall forward onto their face.

Your head whirls around at the sound of another spear making contact with a body and dropping it to the ground. This agent is about ten meters away from you, and while your first instinct is to get the hell out of there — run as far as you can as fast as you can — you notice your little leather-bound book tucked into the belt of the lifeless body.

You tell yourself to leave it. You plead with yourself to leave it.

“Damn it,” you mutter in frustration to yourself. You are getting that book.

Before you can give it another thought, you are already army-crawling through the sand. The sound of gunfire rings in your ears as more weapons return their fire. You scramble to the body, staying low to the ground on your chest and abdomen. Once there, you reach out and grab the book, wrangling it free from the deceased man's belt. You shove it into your waistband when something behind you explodes, causing you to duck your head and shield yourself with your arms.

The battle is deafening and disorienting. The mix of adrenaline and shock threatens to override your entire system as you try to maintain your focus.

Keep moving, you tell yourself.

You lift your head, ready to run, but your breath catches and you freeze. Mere inches from your face, you find yourself staring at someone’s feet and feel the presence of their body hovering over you. You brush the stinging sand out of your eyes, pleading in your mind that this is not the end. Not now. As your vision sharpens, you feel a surge of hope. There in front of you are two winged ankles.

Your eyes shoot up. Standing above you, illuminated by the light of the moon and the rapid sparks of machine guns firing, is Namor.

He looks down at you, his stare intense as his nostrils flare and his chest rises and falls with each breath. Gripping the hilt of the spear, he effortlessly removes it from the body next to you with one pull, his eyes never leaving yours. The ongoing battle on the beach doesn’t deter his attention from you in the slightest. From behind him, a handful of armed warriors with pale blue skin come storming out of the ocean.

“Namora!” He calls, and one warrior immediately splits off from the group. While the others continue to push the team of agents to the far side of the beach, the general comes to Namor’s side and your eyes widen as you take her in. Almost unrecognizable from when you first met her, Namora is a sight to behold. Instead of weak and wounded, she now stands strong and commanding, fully outfitted in her armor of woven jade and metal. Dazzling lionfish spines adorn her head and neck, and she wears the same mesh apparatus over her nose and mouth as before. You are astounded when you squint and barely see a seam remaining where you had stitched her up.

“K'uk'ulkan.” She answers, standing at attention.

Namor’s eyes are still fixed on you. He hands the retrieved spear to Namora and then nods in your direction.

You become nervous, suddenly uncertain if the pair of them have come to you as friend or foe, watching as Namora tightens her grip around the weapon.

“Go.” Namor urges, and a wave of relief washes over you. Friend.

“Where are my goddamn reinforcements?!!” You hear someone shout into a walkie-talkie. You recognize the voice as Agent Barrett's.

“Go NOW,” Namor commands, his eyes flicking up in Barrett’s direction. The expression on his face becomes menacing as he strides past you, his muscles rigid and his pace purposeful. He pulls his own spear out of the larger agent who nearly executed you as he walks past the body, arming himself.

Without hesitation, Namora strides forward and links her arm under your shoulder, pulling you up to your feet and yanking you quickly toward the trees. Before you can reach them, however, more men dressed in black combat gear come pouring out of the thick foliage, ready to attack.

Three surround you as the others rush to provide relief further down the beach. Instead of guns, these agents come armed with batons and other blunt weapons. Namora whips you back behind her, placing herself between you and the approaching enemy. She walks toward the agents, rotating her spear in her hand. You’re surprised by how relaxed her posture is as she waits for the men, each one at least twice her size, to make the first move.

The agent to her right makes the first advance, lunging forward at Namora. She meets him with speed and ferocity, quickly sidestepping him only to grab hold of his shoulders. She uses them as an anchor to whirl herself around him, gracefully landing and her feet and then lodging her spear into his back. The man cries out in pain, but Namora quickly delivers the final blow as she twists the spear in deeper and shoves it upward toward his lungs.

No sooner does his body hit the ground when the two other men charge at her. Like a beautifully choreographed dance, Namora drops to her knees, sliding across the sand between them to duck under their attacks. As she does so, she nimbly summersaults back onto her feet and turns one hundred and eighty degrees. Back on the attack, she runs hard at them. You watch as Namora delivers a combination of charged punches to one agent, then springs back to avoid the swing of the baton from the other. To counter the move, she kicks the man above the kneecap with so much power it sends his whole leg backward and brings him to his knees. She grabs the sides of his head with both of her hands, thrusting it down hard against her knee. You feel the grisly sound of blunt broken bone deep in your core as his skull makes contact.

As the man’s head reels backward, blood pouring from his face, Namora seamlessly transitions between her two opponents, avoiding another attack from the third agent she had previously deflected with punches. Her attention back on him, she trades blows as they fight in more hand-to-hand combat. Between kicks, punches, and counter-punches, Namora strategically inches herself backward until she’s practically standing on top of the first body she dropped. Baiting her current opponent forward, she taunts him with the tilt of her head, exaggerated by her headpiece. It works like a charm. He charges at her, and swooping under him, she wraps around his chest and pulls him over the top of her, flipping him onto his back. In one calculated motion, she pulls her spear from the body of the first agent which is now easily within reaching distance, and drives it into the second.

It all plays out in front of you so quickly when the third agent with the broken nose — well, broken face, really — groans as he gets himself up, ready to have another go at Namora. She engages, but as she moves towards him you see a fourth man emerge from the trees, raising a gun to shoot.

“LOOK OUT!” You yell to warn her, but pure instinct has your feet sprinting forward to stop him.

You don’t process any thought or consider any tactic, you just hurl yourself at him. The two of you collide, crashing to the ground with all the power and momentum you can muster. You scramble for his gun and manage to knock it away, but he barrels you over him and slams your back against the ground. The impact forces the air out of your lungs, temporarily paralyzing you as you struggle for breath. The agent straddles your body, putting more pressure on your chest as he pulls a knife from his hip. With all your strength, you fight to hold his arm back. He breaks through your grasp and takes a swipe at you, but reflexively you deflect it away with your hand. The knife slices open your palm and you cry out as you try to continue pushing his arms back.

When he raises his blade again, a blur of orange lionfish spines come streaking across as Namora flies over the back of the agent and yanks him off of you. They tumble across the sand, but she quickly gains the upper hand by entangling him in a headlock. Clutching your injured hand and still struggling for oxygen, you look on as she tightens her grip around the man’s neck and then abruptly cracks it to the side.  

The sound makes you sick to your stomach, but you also feel a sense of relief. And gratitude. Your chest heaves as you finally start to catch your breath, your entire body buzzing. You turn to see the dead agents Namora has so quickly disposed of, their bodies dispersed across the sand. She unwraps herself from her most recent kill and makes her way to you with haste.

As she reaches you, you hear the chaos and fighting continue further down the beach. Then, the faint sound of a helicopter approaching. Barrett’s reinforcements.

“There are too many of them,” you say in distress as you witness more agents pour out onto the sand to fight Namor’s warriors. Even if each one had Namora’s four-to-one kill ratio, they are still outnumbered. As the chopper blades get louder, Namora looks at you intensely, reaching out her hand.

“Come,” she insists.

She’s gotten you this far. You grasp her hand without hesitation and she pulls you to your feet. You edge closer to the tree line where you hope safety and concealment await you, but as you reach the lush landscape something pricks your ears. It’s not gunfire. It’s not the chopper.

Namora tugs your arm as she tries to usher you into the trees, but your focus is elsewhere. A faint, melodic breeze moves past you like a ghost, causing your mind to become hazy. As the sound grows louder, an indescribable melody rings in your ears that is both euphoric and dreadful. You don’t even notice the tension of Namora’s grip on your hand increase as your feet redirect you toward the water, compelled by its call.

“No!” Namora yells at you as she yanks your arm. The force of it snaps your attention back for a moment, and you watch as the agents who line the beach suddenly cease fighting and instead walk undeterred paths straight into the water. Terror fills you as they wade further and further out, the water coming up to their knees, then their hips, then their chests, until they are completely submerged underneath.

You shoot a glance to Namora, petrified and confused. Whatever is happening, she seems unaffected. Your thoughts and vision begin to cloud again, and you feel like someone else is controlling your body as the ocean summons you along with the others. Every part of you feels entranced by the chorus of voices in the air as their notes overwhelm your senses and leave you disoriented. Namora grabs you, practically throwing you over her shoulder as she runs into the trees. You become hard to carry, so she pulls you both into the cove of a sheltered root system at the edge of the foliage. Huddling next to you, Namora tightly wraps her arms around your head to cover your ears with her hands.

Pupils dilated, you desperately try to hold onto any shred of active consciousness before giving in entirely to the song. Your mind becomes infiltrated by it and begins to process what you see in pieces; men in the water, drowning themselves; gunfire raining down from the night sky; Namor, spear in hand, leaping into the air, taking impossible strides toward a chopper; the chopper spinning out of control.

You feel the heat against your face as the chopper crashes to the ground, exploding on impact. The last thing you remember seeing is Namor in the distance, standing on the sand. Illuminated by the raging inferno that burns behind him from the destroyed chopper, he is fierce, incredible, and terrifying.

A god. A monster.

The haunting chorus melody continues to consume your mind. Even with Namora’s help, you feel your body shift as it involuntarily attempts to get up. Namora squeezes her palms over your ears with even more strength and restrains your movements.

"No." She whispers fiercely.

You squeeze your eyes shut, covering your hands over Namora's as tightly as possible. Blood pours from your hand down hers, trickling onto your shoulder. The noise is too much, and as you feel yourself begin to scream, everything goes black.

——

Your feet drag through the cool sand.

That’s the first thing you see when you finally become conscious again. Your head hangs low in front of you, pounding as it bobs up and down. It’s still dark out, but you find your home lit up by more lanterns as you approach the pathway to your porch.

You glance to your right and left,  discovering you are being assisted by two people on either side of you — Namora on your right and a much taller blue-skinned man on your left. His shoulders are wide and his head is outfitted with an armored hammerhead skull. Arms slung around both of their necks, your body is in a state of pure exhaustion as they get you up the stairs to the door.

As you start to step with your own feet, they are alerted by your recovered consciousness. Quickly, the man unhooks your arm from around him, steadying you against Namora. He retreats as you find yourself gaining feeling back in your body. Namora patiently waits for you to get your bearings, and when you do she opens the front door for you, ushering you to go inside. You follow her instruction, and there waiting for you in the bungalow is Namor.

Namor stands against your kitchen counter, the same place you stood when he first came crashing into your home. His arms are folded across his broad chest. Although his head is down, his eyes are flicked upward toward you, watching your every move. The flame of a lantern on the table glints off his irises, illuminating the dark stare that hovers just below his furrowed brow.

“Please, sit.” He says with a stern voice, his open palm gesturing toward a chair at the table.

As you sit down, you hear the front door close behind you.

Silence.

"Those men," he finally says, pushing himself away from the counter as he stands up straighter, “they were seeking information?"

You only nod, afraid to say too much.

“It’s safe to speak here. I’ve made sure of it.” He promises, sensing your reluctance to engage in conversation.

“They wanted to know about Namora." You answer cautiously.

Namor's expression grows even more serious. He subtly shifts his weight from side to side before settling back into the center of his powerful stance.

"And even with your life on the line, you said nothing."

You are unsure if he is making a statement or a question.

"Why?" He asks through a clenched jaw.

"Why?" You repeat back to him, caught off guard by the question. "Does it matter why?"

"Yes,” Namor says directly, raising his eyebrows. “Because I need to know if I put my spear through the right person.”

The seriousness of his statement hits you like a brick. Your mind flashes back to the beach, you on your knees with a gun to your head as Namor’s spear plows its way through the man next to you. How easily, you wonder, could he have changed his aim by just a few degrees if you had decided to open your mouth and spill what little information you did know to those men?

As you think about it, you also begin to ask yourself why. Why did you keep your mouth shut? Why did you help Namor and his people?

You take a deep breath as you consider your reasons, then lift your gaze to him.

“You barged into my home, broke down my door, and threatened my life. But even then, the motives behind your actions were clear — the love and concern for your people. These men,” your eyes trail away as you feel a wave of anger build up inside, "these men were driven by self-interest and self-preservation. It wasn’t hard to choose a side.”

His face is stoic as he listens to your answer.

“Plus,” you add, “I promised you I wouldn’t say anything. Twice.”

Namor looks at you the same way he did the night you met him. The look that tells you he is debating whether or not you are telling the truth. You are a witness testifying on the stand, and Namor is your judge and jury.

“Well, that is twice now you have saved my people. Again you have my gratitude." He says with a sigh, his expression softening.

You give a small smile, but it disappears when an unrelenting ache pounds inside your head, pulling you out of the moment. You reach up to rub your temple and suddenly feel a surge of pain coming from your hand, instantly reminding you of the injury you sustained from your face off against one of the agents on the beach.

“Shit,” You exclaim, pulling your cut, bloodied palm away from your face and looking at it.

"Here," Namor says, grabbing the roll of gauze off your kitchen counter as he moves in your direction. Pulling up a chair, he sits down directly in front of you so your knees are practically touching. He gestures for your hand. “May I?"

You consider his offer as you stare at the thick veins protruding from his forearm, binding themselves to his defined muscles like vines around a tree. Eyes darting back up to his, you cautiously nod your head to accept his help while simultaneously extending your arm to him.

Namor takes your injured hand gently in his own, cradling it as if it could shatter into a million pieces. Amazed by how his hand dwarfs yours, you feel a surge of energy in your chest when his thumb begins to rub along your wrist. He takes the roll of gauze and begins carefully wrapping it around your palm.

Calmly maneuvering each layer of the bandage, Namor's brow furrows ever so slightly as he slips deeper into a state of concentration. His grasp is firm but gentle, rotating your hand in tandem with the bandage and you take comfort in his touch.

Studying his face, you admire each feature and detail closely. You see the traces of salt against the rich tones of his skin, and soon your willpower gives way to a desire slowly being coaxed inside you as you allow your eyes to trail from his face to his broad shoulders, down his muscular biceps, and finally to his strong hands as they work to take care of you.

Namor begins humming softly as he continues wrapping your hand. There's a warm timbre in his voice that resonates in your ears, drawing your gaze back up to his face.

"That song..." your voice trails off as you grow more entranced by it, unable to find the words to describe its intoxicating melody. But a surge of fear runs through you as you recall another tune, the one from the beach, its haunting cadence prickling the back of your mind.

"My people have many songs," Namor says in a tone equally rich to his humming, calming you instantly. "Each one with a meaning and purpose."

"What is the purpose of that one?" You ask quietly.

Namor’s hands stop as his eyes wander up to yours.

"It's a lullaby, meant to bring the soul peace." His eyes flutter back down as he resumes wrapping the bandage around your hand. "My mother would sing it to me when I was a child."

"It's beautiful." You say reverently.

A smile spreads across Namor's face, but there's a hint of sadness in it. He leans down to your hand and you can feel your heart beat faster as his mouth hovers mere inches above your skin. The warmth of his breath rushes against your wrist, sending shivers through you. With great care, he tears the gauze with his teeth before tucking the loose end into a fold of the bandage.

"It is," he agrees, staring down at your hand which he now holds carefully between his own. "Especially in a world where peace is scarcely found."

His voice is gentle, but there is a bitterness brewing beneath the statement.

"I have spent my life ensuring peace for my people. Protecting it. Preserving it."

Namor looks back up at you, letting go of your hand as he sits up straighter in his chair. The room is quiet as his words sink in and you drop your gaze to think. As you do so, your good free hand migrates to the leather book still tucked in your waistband, your fingers fiddling with the binding.

“What is it?” Namor asks, snapping your eyes back up to his. You swallow nervously, unsure if you should share what is on your mind. Then again, you may not get another opportunity.

Slowly, you pull the book out from against your side, opening it to its marked page before pushing it across the table to him.

“You say you’ve spent your entire life protecting your people.” You preface, hesitating a moment before asking your question. “Is that... you?"

Namor stares at the book in front of him, tracing the outline of his likeness delicately on the open page with his fingertips.

"A version of me." He answers.

"How...." you rub your temple as you do the unnecessary math in your head, already knowing the hundreds of years difference between the book and the man in front of you doesn't add up. "How is that even possible? That book is centuries old, I mean," you are at a loss trying to wrap your head around it all, coming up short with any logical explanation, “who are you?"

Namor looks up at you, then his gaze descends back onto the open book. He gives a sad smirk.

“You are one of very few to ever ask who I am instead of what I am." He strokes his jaw with his thumb and forefinger. "The answer to neither of which will be found in your book." He says, shutting it and sliding it back toward you. You reach for it, only he doesn’t take his hand off the leather cover right away.

"You must always be weary of your authors.” He warns. “The preservation of one's opinion over time does not make it fact, no matter how long ago it was written."

He relinquishes his hold, you finish sliding the book back to your side of the table. Namor searches your face as his eyebrows pull closer together, a rare look of vulnerability in his eyes.

"I wear the mantle of king and am the protector of my people.” He begins. “They are my responsibility by birthright, a charge I’ve dedicated my entire life to upholding.”

Namor proceeds to tell you the story of his people — how they were driven from their home by Spanish conquistadors, and how their gods provided a remedy for a foreign disease that led them to seek sanctuary in the ocean itself. He explains that his mother was among them, pregnant with Namor at the time, and how the remedy herb altered his very being in the womb. Mutant is the word he uses, the reason for his strength and abilities, as well as his slow aging. He then describes the horrors he had seen upon returning his mother’s body to the surface world after her death, and the vow he took to keep outsiders away from his people and his beloved city he calls Talokan.

"So you see," he says leaning forward as he places his forearms on his knees, his face even closer to yours now, "I am no god. Nor am I a man. What I am is a leader who loves his people. If that makes me a monster, so be it. I will see the world burn before I subject my people to its sins and savagery.”

It’s a lot to take in. You study Namor’s expression as his stare now lingers away from you, his mind somewhere in the past. You can’t even begin to comprehend all that he has seen or experienced, but you do feel a clearer understanding of why he is the way he is. Filled with compassion for him, you cautiously reach up and cradle his face with your non-bandaged hand.

"You're not a monster." You reassure him gently.

This brings Namor’s attention back to you immediately, his dark eyes searching your face earnestly as he takes a deep breath through his nose. The bristles of his scruff are rough against your palm, creating a warm friction when he leans into your touch. Namor closes his eyes and lets out a sigh so deep it's as if he's releasing a weight from his shoulders, one that he has been carrying for far too long. His hand comes up to cover yours, pressing it deeper against his cheek.

“K’uk’ulkan,” a voice calls from behind you. You drop your hand back down to your lap as Namor glances over your shoulder. The man with the metal hammerhead skull stands at attention in the front doorway, his body so large it consumes the space entirely. Namor nods at him, then looks back at you.

"It's time," he says, pushing himself up to his feet. “More men will be coming. Namora is outside — collect what you need quickly, she will take you to a safe place.”

The realization sets in, and your heart sinks. Your home is no longer safe and you can’t stay here.

Namor offers you his hand, helping you out of your chair and onto your feet. In doing so, he pulls you into him and tucks his hand delicately under your chin. He’s impossibly close as he tilts your face upward toward his own.

"I am sorry." He whispers, a soft and apologetic tone in his voice. He gives you a remorseful look, but all you can think about is how little space currently exists between his lips and yours. Namor’s gaze flutters down from your eyes to your mouth, but the moment is fleeting as he drops his hand from your chin and takes a step back.

“Go.” He says, encouraging you to get your things. It’s his last word before walking past you and exiting out the front door.

Left alone in the empty bungalow, you make your way over to your bag still on the floor from earlier that evening. You take it and march into your room, grabbing some clothes, your toothbrush, and other small essentials. You don't have much in terms of possessions in the first place, so it doesn’t take long for you to collect what you need.

As you exit your bedroom, you get ready to leave when you look over at the small book on your table. Namor insisted it held no answers for you, but you go to retrieve it anyway, stuffing it in your bag along with the rest of your belongings.

You take one last look around your home, once an unfamiliar broken place that over time became your haven and sanctuary. It breaks your heart to leave, but you know you must.

“Thank you,” you quietly whisper to the room, hoping in some way its energy or spirit or anything can hear you. You make your final exit, walking out to the front porch just as the dawn is starting to break over the horizon. Warm hues cast shadows of orange and red across the island, and you breathe in the early morning air. As you look out across the beach, you are surprised by what little evidence remains of the night’s events. No bodies. No fires. Just large divots in the sand and some smoke along the tree line from a few singed palms.

Namora is standing at the edge of the pathway leading to your porch, waiting for you. Descending the stairs, nerves prompt you to tighten your grip on the shoulder strap of your bag as you brace yourself for the unknown.

“I’m ready,” you say when you reach her.

Namora looks at you seriously, then nods her head. Reaching up to her face, she carefully removes the apparatus from over her nose and mouth. It is the first time you have seen her whole face, unobstructed by the peculiar covering. She’s just as striking without it, and you notice a beautiful jade ring pierced through her septum, echoing Namor’s. She turns the mask in her hand and guides it onto your face, sealing it against your skin.

“Come,” she tells you, turning toward the ocean.

You take one last look back at your home, then fall into stride behind Namora as the two of you walk into the water.

-- -- -- 

Tag List (I think this is how you do it? Sorry if not, still figuring this whole Tumblr-thing out): @looneylikesbooks @omgsuperstarg @chixkencxrry @vainillasmil157 @demoiseller @sodonuthideout @shoutaaizawas @stany0url0calwh0res111 @hjjks @duckwithsunglasses

[fandom-imagines-stories]

Over Mountains Cold

Kili Durin x Reader

Words: 4931

Summary: On a quest for your family, you and your traveling companion get caught in a winter storm in the Grey Mountains. Your true feelings for your best friend come to light when you struggle to make it through the chilling night. 

Notes: The heater in my room is broken and the image of cuddling with Kili to get warm is just really nice to me, okay? I will use Aidan Turner to dissociate before I contact ever maintenance. (also, why can’t I just write fluff? Why does there have to be the angsty backstory of losing siblings? The world may never know)

Warnings: Kind of a chaotic plot. An ungodly amount of sexual tension. I don’t make the rules. 

-

Fili gave a final wave as he disappeared over the ridge, taking the ponies with him. His brother tried to calm the pit in his stomach. Not only was Fili off to retrieve more supplies alone, but the cold was setting in. If he didn’t make it to the next village by the time the snow started, he would get stuck out here. 

Just like you were. 

“We should go,” You sighed. “We’ll want to set up camp before it gets dark and I want to search the foothills to the east before the sun goes down.”

Kili looked up at the sky. “It’s going to be a cold night.” Already, his breath came out in puffs from his lips. “Maybe we should stay here until morning. It’s lower, so it’ll be warmer and the snow hasn’t reached us yet.” 

You stiffened and turned determined eyes towards him. “I won’t waste any time. If there’s a chance of finding my sisters out here, I’m taking it.” 

You waited for him to argue or tell you how foolish you were. Winter was on the horizon and these mountains would be impassable in the coming weeks. But your friend merely gave you a small smile and put a hand on your shoulder. 

“Then lead the way.” 

You wanted to kiss him. Well, you often wanted to kiss him, but in that moment, with his eyes full of trust and belief in you, no words could express your gratitude. But, coward that you were, you settled for a pat on the arm and an awkward nod. 

“Right. Follow me.” You hurried away from him before you could do something stupid. 

You’d known the dwarven princes for most of your life. Having grown up near the Blue Mountains, you spent a lot of time with Durin’s folk, listening to their stories, celebrating their festivals, and causing a little chaos with your two closest friends. You couldn’t count the times Kili and Fili had gotten you into some kind of trouble, but surely they would say the same thing about you. 

The younger prince walked beside you, telling you legends of ridiculous creatures living in these hills, trying to make you smile. It worked, of course. Between his grin and a bit of theatricality, he never failed to lighten your moods. 

Kili was your best friend. He was there for every prank, every adventure, and every heartbreak. When your village was attacked by raiders three years ago, he spent weeks tending to your injuries and trying to hunt down the people who’d hurt you. 

That’s when they were taken. Your two older sisters, Maryina and Baeriel. Sometime during the battle, those foul men came to your home and stole them away. You were nearly killed trying to defend them. Everyone told you they were dead. Even your parents didn’t have the heart to keep looking after so long, but you wouldn’t give up. You knew they were alive. Kili was the only one who believed you.

“Do you remember what you told me?” You asked suddenly. 

Kili turned his head, hazel-brown eyes bright in the afternoon sun. His brows furrowed with curiosity. 

You elaborated. “When I said I was going to find them. I said I’d search the whole of Middle Earth if I had to. What did you say?” 

Kili beamed. “I said ‘Well, you’re not doing it without me,’” he remembered. “‘You’d get lost.’” 

“Exactly,” you laughed. “And, I do believe that you lead us down more a stray path than I, dear friend.” 

“But we always found our way in the end, didn’t we?” Kili grinned. 

“That we did.” 

The two of you fell back into a comfortable silence with something heavier hanging between you. 

Grass swayed with dying breaths, green turned to dry white. Ahead, towering peaks capped with snow loomed like a massive, foreboding gate. You watched them with growing unrest. Kili’s shoulder brushed against yours as you walked as if just to remind you he was there. 

The afternoon stretched and yawned. The sun began to hover. With every passing hour, the more the light sank, so did your hopes. Your search in the foothills yielded nothing. Not even the remnants of a possible settlement. 

“They aren’t here,” you said. You ran a hand down your tired face, eyes scanning the vast landscape, the mountains at your back. You turned to Kili. “What if…”

You’d come here on a rumor that the raiders who took your sisters had a base in the Grey Mountains. But that’s all you had to go off of- rumors. 

“It’s the first day.” He gave you a reassuring smile. “We’ll keep looking.” Kili scanned the dense woods at the base of the mountains, hoping for some signal of smoke or any other sign of life. There was nothing. But he wasn’t going to give up hope and he certainly wasn’t going to let you. “Come, let’s set up somewhere to sleep. You must be exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” you grumbled. “But if you’re saying you need to rest, then I suppose we can pitch the tent.” 

He rolled his eyes playfully. 

“Last one to the trees gathers firewood,” he challenged. The mischievous dwarf took off before you had the chance to process what he said. 

“Hey!” You called after him and ran as fast as your legs could carry. 

-

Usually, the three of you always camped out under the stars, but knowing how cold it would be, you brought a tent to provide a little shelter. But laying there, so close to him, the fabric barrier between you and the night sky seemed suffocating. 

It wasn’t the closest you’d ever been, of course. There had even been some nights where you found yourself asleep on his shoulder after a long day or he would doze off with his head in your lap. There was just something about this- something about the two of you enclosed together, alone- that felt different. 

You laid completely still, screwing your eyes shut, but your mind refused to rest. The form beside you shifted back and forth, twisting and turning. Kili grunted in frustration and turned onto his back. 

“Y/N?” He whispered. “Are you awake?”

“Unfortunately.” 

He blew out a breath. “We should sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. We’ll have to find some food in case Fili gets holed up somewhere.” 

You hummed and nodded. 

Both of you stared up at the slanted ceiling of the tent, not moving and not speaking. The tension alone chilled you to the bone, making you shudder. 

“Are you cold?” Kili asked. 

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, because I have an extra fur-”

“Kili, go to sleep.” You huffed, shifting to your side away from him so he couldn’t see the painful want in your eyes. 

Kili was more than just your best friend to you. He was your first love, the only person you’d ever loved, really. You’d had suitors in the past ask for your hand, but you declined them all. Your heart was no longer yours to give away. But you could never bring yourself to tell him. He was a prince, after all, and what were you? A nobody. 

You blinked away tears and curled up as close to the tent’s wall as possible. 

So close together and yet you couldn't feel more distant. 

-

The next day yielded even less results. The further you got into the mountains, the less hope you had that you were going in the right direction. The Eastern Pass took you higher in elevation and further away from Fili with the supplies. 

“Wait.” Kili stopped suddenly, putting a hand out in front of you. “Listen.”

You halted, the frostbitten ground shifting beneath your boots. At first, the slight breeze was all you could detect, but as the forest stilled, the subtle yet clear sound of hooves carried on the wind. 

And they were getting closer. 

“Get down.” You grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled. The two of you tumbled into a bush, losing your balance in your haste. Kili hit the ground. You fell onto his chest, knocking the breath out of both of you. 

Kili grimaced. 

“Sorry,” you whispered. Your faces turned a similar shade of pink, both trying to hide it from the other.

The familiar thudding against the forest floor increased in speed and volume. From your position, you could just see through the foliage that kept you hidden.  Kili craned his neck, blindly trying to get a glance. 

“Can you see them?” He asked. 

“Shh.” 

You kept your head low as you stared out. Watching. Waiting. As the horses neared, you decided there couldn’t be more than three. 

“We could take them,” you whispered, looking down. But the sight of Kili lying beneath you, hazel-brown eyes staring up into yours with his hair a mess below him was too much. It sent a burning, twisting feeling through your stomach. You looked back up at the road. “There aren’t many. We could fight and force them to tell us where they took my sisters.”

“Are you mad?” Kili hissed, shifting underneath you. His hips rocked up into yours by accident. He sucked in a breath. “It could be innocent travelers going through the mountains. Or worse, there could be a dozen fighters and we’d be dead in seconds.”

“Since when are you the cautious one?” You scoffed, ignoring his movements and prepping yourself to pounce. 

Kili locked his arms around your middle and rolled. He had you on your back before you could stop him, pinning you to the forest floor with his hands on either side of your head. 

“Since I’m trying to keep you from getting yourself killed,” he growled. 

Relieved that your hips were no longer pressed against his, Kili had put himself in another predicament hovering over your body, his lips mere inches from yours. 

It shamed him to think of how many times he’d imagined you like this.

He waited until the riders were past, counting three, just as you said, but they seemed only to be a father and his two children, both under the age of 16. Kili doubted that these were the raiders who had destroyed your home. One of them mentioned something about getting over the pass before the storm, which made him uneasy. 

Despite the heat of your bodies, the air was indeed growing colder. Clouds were gathering and a crisp, cool scent hung in the air. 

Kili stood and held out a hand to help you up. 

You didn’t take it. 

“We need to keep moving.” 

He swallowed. “We should head back to lower grounds. If we get caught in the pass, who knows how we’ll get out.” 

You didn’t look at him. Instead, you continued up the path. “I wasn’t asking.”

-

Kili walked behind you, neither saying a word. He saw the tension in your back shifting like you were already in battle. He only wished he could relieve at least some of the weight that bore down on your shoulders. Witnessing you in such pain hurt him more than he knew how to express. That, unfortunately, wasn’t the only thing he struggled to put into words. 

It had taken Kili long enough to finally admit his feelings for you to himself, but it was taking even longer for him to admit them to you. Fear wasn’t something that usually stopped him- he’d faced trolls and orc packs a dozen times over- but the idea of jeopardizing his friendship with you frightened him to no end. 

Still, lying there, pressed against you, had drummed all of those feelings up to the front of his mind. They distracted him from the real issue at hand and he tried to remind himself that you need him focused. You needed a warrior, not a love-sick errand boy. 

“If we keep at this pace, we can make it through the pass by morning,” you said grimly. 

Kili exhaled, his voice deep with concern. “Y/N, you need to rest.” 

“I need to find my sisters.” 

You kept walking. 

Kili kept his arguments to himself. Starting a fight now would only make you angrier and he didn’t want to risk you going off alone. 

He let out a low sigh. Being the responsible one was exhausting. 

Kili watched the sun with a concerned eye and discomfort growing in his stomach. His breath appeared in a cloud from his lips. But worse, flecks of white sent panic up his spine. The snow speckled the branches of the pines around them and added to the already thick blanket of frost that coated the ground. The further up, the deeper the snow banks. 

“These flurries won’t be flurries for long,” he warned. 

“We’ll make it.” 

You refused to turn back to look at him. If you did, you knew that one look at his face would make you forget your persistence. You would turn around and head back down the mountain and have to start all over again in the morning. So you kept your eyes ahead, despite the growing shiver down your spine. 

Besides, it was only a little snow. You and the brothers had faced worse on numerous occasions. 

Kili quickened his pace to take his place beside you again. 

“This way,” he said. “I’ve heard a shortcut through this pass.”

You raised a brow. “You’ve heard of one?”

“We’re here based on a rumor, aren’t we?” He retorted. 

You shrugged as if to say ‘fair enough.’ 

Kili took the lead as the air thickened with white flakes. The shortcut, while it existed as far as he knew, was not the true purpose of his change in direction. He’d read journals telling tales of adventures through these mountains and he remembered a checkpoint for many. A cave where they could take shelter from winter storms. He only hoped it was real. 

You began to regret your stubbornness as the cold seeped through your coat, the snow falling thicker and thicker, decreasing your visibility until you could see but a mere few feet in front of you. 

In a blink, the blizzard set in. 

You trudged on. Eyes blinded by white, you walk straight into the mass in front of you. Your companion’s warmth drew you in and you couldn’t help but press yourself against his back. His arm wrapped around, searching for yours. 

“Take my hand!” Kili called back to you. 

You did so without hesitation, wincing at the chilled state of his skin. 

“We’re nearly there!” He shouted over the wind. 

“That’s impossible! We haven’t even made it through the pass!”

“You’ll see.” 

Trust was the only thing you had left, your senses overtaken by the storm. And then suddenly, it stopped. Kili pulled you forward and the choking white curtained the opening of the cave behind you. Wind howled, but no longer deafened. 

“You knew this was here?” You gasped through chattering teeth. 

Kili gulped. “I hoped.” 

“You hoped?” 

“You kept going!” He held out his hands, fingers stretched and shaking with his words. “I didn’t know what else to do!” 

“Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.” You ran a hand down your face, wincing at the freezing surface of your own skin, as well as the exhaustion overtaking your features. You paced back toward the blinding white outside. “We’ll stay here until the storm blows over and then we’ll keep going.” 

Standing at the opening of the cave, the wind still chilled you to the bone. Still, you watched, as if your sisters would magically appear and welcome you into their warm arms. 

As the image passed through your mind, you were gently pulled away from the wind by a hand as cold as yours, and yet it sparked the warmth that you needed. Kili placed a hand on your cheek, turning your face to his. 

“You’re exhausted,” he said. “We cannot afford to be careless. Not out here. We’ll go out again in the morning. You need to rest.” Before you could argue, he added, “We both do.” 

With the fog of determination outweighed by fatigue and frost, you sighed in defeat, hanging your head. 

“Alright,” you conceded. 

Kili put a finger under your chin and lifted your eyes. He gave you a small smile to which you couldn’t help but reciprocate. 

“Come on. We should set up the tent. It might not be much, but it can’t hurt.” 

Your chattering teeth gave no argument. There was no wood for a fire, the smoke would fill the small space anyway, so the thin cloth was your only added defense against the cold. 

Once inside, you both felt the same pull towards each other, your bodies craving the heat of another. But you stayed on the far side, as far as you could get, mind clouded by icy, frozen fear. Kili didn’t say anything, trying to ignore the ache in his chest as he tried to sleep. 

Your eyes couldn’t have been shut for more than a moment when you heard them. 

“Y/N!” 

“Y/N! Where are you?” 

You blinked to clear the tiredness from your eyes and listened. 

“It can’t be,” you whispered. 

“Y/N! Y/N!” 

Maryina and Baeriel. 

You listened again. 

“We’re here! Help us!”

Your sisters. They were out there. They were trapped in the storm. They needed you. 

You sat up, tossing aside the coat you’d been using for a blanket and ignored the bitter air seeping through your tunic. You didn’t feel it. You didn’t see your companion sleeping across from you. You didn’t hear the wind as you stepped out of the tent. You only heard your sisters’ cries…

And stepped out into the blizzard. 

-

Kili twisted and turned. As hard as he tried, sleep never stayed. He dozed off only to drift back, trying not to shiver. 

“I can’t sleep again,” he sighed. Kili flipped onto his other side. Rubbing his tired eyes, he opened them. The bundle of furs beside him took an odd shape. 

Empty. 

“Y/N?” 

He sat up and reached across the tent, feeling nothing but frigid air. Kili lifted his head, panic banishing any exhaustion left in his limbs. 

The untied opening of the tent flapped in the wind. 

“Y/N!” He called out. 

The storm screamed in response. 

He scrambled out of his bedroll and sprinted into the night. Fat, white flakes stuck to his face and eyelashes no matter how much he blinked them away. 

“Y/N!” He shouted again. 

Kili walked, trying to keep the cave in sight. The blizzard raged around him, concealing even the silhouette of the trees. He cried out your name again and again. With every passing second of silence, his chest grew tighter. 

Why would you have gone off alone? 

What if something had taken you?

There was no way for Fili to reach the cave until the storm settled, which meant he was completely and utterly alone. 

“Y/N!” 

It felt like hours before the wind let up and even then, snow continued to fall and the air turned even colder, creeping down Kili’s neck like a thousand icy-legged spiders. 

There, in the distance, he could just make out a shape, wandering and covered in a thick, frozen blanket. 

Kili ran as fast as his aching legs would allow, his boots sliding on the ice-coated ground. No matter how loud he shouted, it was as if you couldn’t hear him. You trudged on, the snow almost reaching your knees. You didn’t even have your coat. If he didn’t get you out of this cold, you would surely be lost to the white nothingness that surrounded you. 

“Y/N, what are you-” Kili moved to grab your arm and found that your eyes were closed. Ice stuck to your face where tears had fallen and your blue lips muttered the same two things over and over again.

“Maryina…. Baeriel….” 

Kili’s heart shattered like an icicle falling to the earth. 

“Y/N, love, wake up,” he pleaded, gently taking hold of your shoulders. He had to stop himself from recoiling. Even through your tunic, you were like a statue, freezing to the touch. “We need to get back to the cave. I need to get you to a fire. I need to get you warm.” 

Already, you looked like a walking corpse. 

But your eyes were starting to open.

“K-Kili?” You muttered through chattering teeth. “What’s going on? I’m so…” You stepped forward, falling against him. “I’m so cold.” 

Kili didn’t hesitate. He scooped you up into his arms, holding you tight against his chest. He followed his own footprints as they were slowly being covered again by the falling snow. By some miracle, he made it back to the cave. He hurried into the tent, wishing he had the material for a fire. For now, all he had was hope. 

“I heard them,” you said, still dazed. “I heard their voices calling to me in the storm.” 

“And you followed it?” He gasped, quickly undoing the fastens of his coat. “Are you mad? Even if they were out there, you’re no good to them frozen to death.” 

Kili shrugged out of his coat and wrapped it around your shoulders. 

“No, Kili.” You tried to push him away, but he was stronger, fueled by panic and determination. “Kili, you’ll freeze.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said harriedly. He tied the entrance of the tent to keep out the frigid wind and laid down, gently pulling you along with him. Kili rubbed his hands up and down your arms, careful to keep the heap of furs wrapped tightly around you. He held you against his chest, his tunic slightly undone so you could feel the heat of his skin against your cheek. 

As his warmth broke through the icy surface that suffocated your entire body, your mind started to clear. It started to wake up.

And when it did all you could see was his wide, golden-brown eyes searching yours with a fire you’d seen a few times before. Once when you’d been separated from him and his brother for a week on a particularly stressful journey and the other when your village was attacked and your sisters were taken. Each time, he looked as though he was looking at the sun for the first time. 

At the time, you didn’t understand, or perhaps you didn’t let yourself understand. You understood now what that fire meant. 

He was, and would always be, your shelter. 

Like magnets, you somehow were drawn together still, despite already being impossibly close. The air between you was hot with your breathing. Everything seemed to stand still, from the raging winds outside to the racing heart inside your chest. 

Neither of you said a word, an entire conversation held simply in the lock of your gazes. 

Kili’s hand cradled the back of your head, laying it against his chest. You felt the soft, sweet warmth of his lips on your forehead. 

Despite the hauntings of your mind, your heart gave you leave to rest in the strength and comfort of Kili’s embrace, allowing both of you to slip back into the persistent reach of slumber. 

-

The storm blocked the pass by morning and, without any equipment, there was no way to get over. It had all been for nothing. 

Fili found you halfway back down the mountain, the pony’s back covered with more supplies. 

“What happened to you two?” He asked.

“We couldn’t find them,” you snapped, hurrying ahead of both of them. 

Fili turned to his brother. 

Kili shook his head. 

Your party of three traveled until you found the nearest tavern and the boys made you stop for the night, watching exhaustion seep into your every step. 

Dinner was had in silence with an air hanging so thick that Fili felt he would choke on it. He could never imagine the two of you fighting- he knew that his brother would never forgive himself if he ever hurt you. But he also knew Kili���s true feelings towards his best friend and Fili couldn’t help but wonder if something had been revealed while he was gone. 

“We’ll start up toward the northern villages in a few days,” Kili said. “It’ll give us some time to rest, regroup, and plan.” 

You stared at your plate. “What’s the point?” 

Both turned to you. 

Kili’s eyes softened. “Y/N, you don’t mean that.”

“They’re gone, Kili.” You blinked back tears. “We could search until the end of time and we still wouldn’t find them.”

“Then to the end of time we will look because I am not giving up,” he insisted. His dark eyes took on that glimmer from last night, igniting something within you. 

Your nightmare wasn’t the only thing that frightened you. 

“I’m going to my room,” you said, pushing away from the table. Your form disappeared up the stairs with the gaze of both princes trailing after you. 

Kili sighed, running his fingers through his long, dark hair. 

“You just going to let her go?” Fili scoffed. 

“What would you have me do?” 

Fili shook his head and took a drink of his ale. 

Kili narrowed his eyes. “What?”

His brother raised a brow. “Y/N is the most stubborn, persistent, devoted woman I’ve ever met. She isn’t giving up on looking for her sisters. She’s worried about continuing the search with us.” 

“What?” Kili exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”

“Kili, brother,” Fili sighed. “I’m saying maybe my absence was exactly the two of you needed and you’re both still avoiding what I’ve seen for as long as we’ve known Y/N.” He finished off his ale and snatched Kili’s away before he could protest. “Now go talk to her.” 

Kili swallowed, staring at the steps. It took one final shove from his brother to actually get him to stand up and move. 

As he ascended the stairs, Kili thought about everything Fili had said. What did he mean, his absence was what you two needed? What did he know that Kili didn’t? 

Of course, the younger prince knew exactly what his brother meant. He’d always known, even when he didn’t know how to admit it. But waking up in that tent, the panicked thoughts of you out in the storm, alone, the terror of losing you to the ice and snow, and holding you in his arms to keep you warm all revealed exactly what had been in his heart all these years. 

He loved you. 

Perhaps Fili was right. 

Maybe it was time to finally tell you. 

Kili found your room and stood before it for a good long while. He tried raising his hand to knock, but he was just… frozen in place. 

What if this was a mistake? 

What if decades of friendship fell apart in this moment?

What if-

The door opened and his heart stopped. 

You startled back at the sight of his big brown eyes. The eyes you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. The ones you wanted to get lost in and never be found. And he was there, waiting for you. 

You both opened your mouths to speak and stopped, waiting for the other person, leaving you both in a tense silence. The same tension from the tent. The one that drew you together, closer and closer. 

“Kili, I-”

His lips caught yours, silencing the words you still weren’t sure how to say. You let your hands tangle in his hair, pulling him closer, closer still if that was even possible. Every moment, every breath from the last few days had been leading to this. And all either of you could think was one word. 

Finally. 

And as Fili watched you pull Kili into your room, kicking the door closed behind him, he was thinking the same thing. 

“Finally,” he muttered, shaking his head as he went to his room, glad to have it to himself for a change. 

-

Kili’s lips brushed against your forehead, the rest of your body completely tangled with his. Your arms wrapped around his bare chest, your legs wound between his, and your head was tucked under his chin. Your naked skin burned against each other but you never wanted it to stop. 

And between every sigh, every pleasured cry or whispered word came one phrase. I love you. 

He said it again, now. “I love you.” 

You turned to look up at him. Into those eyes. The gaze that captured you more and more every time. 

“And I you,” you said, kissing his collarbone, then his jaw, then finally his lips. “I have loved you ever since you taught me to shoot an arrow through the apples on our tree.” 

Kili grinned, deepening the kiss and moving so his face hovered over yours. 

“I’m still not giving up, you know,” he whispered. “We will find your sisters. And we will do it together.”

You wrapped a brown curl around your finger and nodded. 

“I know. Before, I was just… scared.” You turned your head away. “That storm took me to a place I don’t want to go again.”

Kili laid a hand on your cheek, bringing your eyes back to his. “I’ll keep you safe.” He kissed your forehead again. “I promise.” 

After letting the seriousness of your words settle for a moment, you grinned mischievously and rolled so that you straddled him. 

“We should have tried this sooner,” you smirked. 

Kili laughed and rolled again, putting him back above you. “It’s certainly a good way to stay warm.”

[heyiwrotesomethings]

[ene(?)mies to loverS] {FEM demon slayer& assassin reader}

R used to me an assassin that only killed the guilty and protected the inoccent but they quit after becoming a demon slayer.

shinobu is kidnapped by a crazy dude in the middle of the night but the triplets and AOI find out in the morning from a note with the ransom money. They ask reader for help and track her down and turns out the dude that kidnapped her is in a team who kills demon slayers? So R kills the whole group and gets shin out of there. some fluffy stuff pls

idk it just came up sorRy if it's too specific.

thanks byee

Abducted

Shinobu Kochou x She/Her Reader

A/N: Tried putting these two together because they had the same major plot point. And I kind of hinted to past enemies, but they are in the lovers stage for the majority of the fic. Hope you enjoy, thanks for reading! Word Count: 3,335

(Y/n) woke up in bed alone, which was not at all unusual with how busy Shinobu was. What was unusual, was the commotion that had woken her up. In a flurry of footsteps and distressed noise, the butterfly girls came bursting through the door, Kanao frantically waving a piece of paper in (Y/n)’s face.

“Hm? What? What’s going on?” (Y/n) was having a hard time in her groggy state keeping up with everyone speaking over each other with such concerning urgency.

Aoi took the paper from Kanao’s hand and shushed everyone before reading the letter verbatim, voice shaking.

“We have captured the Hashira Kochou Shinobu. She put up quite a fight, to prove we have her, find enclosed a lock of her hair. If you wish to ever see her alive again, you will bring five-hundred-thousand yen and twenty children with Marechi blood to the summit of Natagumo Mountain before sunset tonight, or else!” Aoi flung the paper into (Y/n)’s lap, “Shinobu-sama has been abducted!”

“What?” (Y/n) picked up the letter and re-read it to herself, “This can’t be happening…” she adjusted her hold on the paper and felt something silky on the other side. She flipped the paper around and inhaled sharply when she saw the lock of purple and black hair tapped to the back. She crumpled the paper and bolted to her feet. In a few quick strides, she tore open the closet, throwing a high mobility outfit and an array of sharp and pointy weapons of varying sizes onto the bed.

“What are you doing?” Aoi asked, her and Kanao pulling the younger girls out of the way as (Y/n) continued to toss weapons out of the closet.

“I’m going to get Shinobu back.“ She answered monotonously, a chill ran through the other girls. It was a tone they hadn’t heard (Y/n) use in a very long time.

“How are you going to do that? You aren’t thinking about giving in to their demands, are you?” Aoi asked fretfully.

“Of course not. I won’t need to. Did you see that stupid little wax seal they used on the envelope? I’ve seen it before in my previous line of work. They are humans that work for demons. They provide the quality fodder, and in return they get protection, money, power… whatever they can get their hands on. But there are rare occasions like this where they think they can get more out of us than they could out of the demons they serve. I’ve dealt with people from their group before.”

“In your… old profession?”

“Yeah. Lots of people have lost their loved ones to that group over the years and came to me for justice. Safe to say, they don’t know who they’re messing with or they wouldn’t have even dared to send this letter.” (Y/n) turned to face the girls, eyes full of fire.

She dialed it back a bit when she saw them flinch backward and knelt before them all.

“I’m going to get her back, I promise.“

“I’ll go too.” Kanao spoke up.

“No Kanao, you’ll stay here with everyone else. This isn’t demon slaying. I don’t want to put you in a position where you may have to kill a human, no matter how much they might deserve it. Trust that I will do whatever it takes to bring Shinobu hole safe and sound. Stay here and take care of everyone while I’m gone. Can you do that for me?”

Kanao but the inside of her cheek, but nodded solemnly. (Y/n) squeezed her shoulder then got up and moved over to the bed to equip all of her weapons that she thought wouldn’t see they light of day again. Hopefully Shinobu wouldn’t be too cross with her for not throwing them out when she asked her to.

When the last knife was strapped down, she patted the head of each girl as she exited the room and then the mansion, disappearing quickly over the fence. She only had about ten hours before sunset, so she would need to get to Natagumo quickly to make it in time.

“Hang on, Shinobu. I’m on my way.”

***

Shinobu came to with a throbbing headache. She groaned and tried to cup her head with her hands, keyword tried. Her hands were tightly bound behind her back and upon further inspection, she found her legs to be tightly bound as well.

For as beaten and bruised as she was, nothing hurt her more than having fallen into this damn trap. It had started out so harmlessly. A small child had come running to her for help, his mother supposedly sick. The young boy looked dirty and malnourished. Of course Shinobu didn’t give it a second thought before she let the boy lead her up the mountain. She was so used to fighting demons, that she had forgotten there were humans out there who were just as vile.

She had sensed something off when she followed the boy inside the dingy house. She felt a malicious presence behind her and swiftly pivoted on her feet, dodging the burly arms that had reached out to grab her. With a few precision strikes, he fell to the ground, only for six more to take his place. She got a few good punches in, as well as a few slices from the knives in her shoes, but with an ambush of this scale, with so little space to maneuver or time to think, she was overpowered and knocked unconscious.

“Well look who finally decided to wake up.”

Shinobu winced as her head was pulled up by her hair, but she refused to make any noise that would give her captors any satisfaction.

“You sure cut me up pretty bad, little brat.” The man pulled her head back further so she could see the bloody bandage wrapped around his head. The spot where his left eye would be was particularly saturated with blood. “It hurts like hell.”

“That’s what you get when you sneak up on people. You’re fortunate that’s all you endured.” Shinobu smiled sharply, her teeth pressed together tightly when the man sharply tugged her hair again.

“We sent a message off with that bird that was following you around. If anybody cares about you, they’ll be here with our demands by sundown. If they don’t, I’ll carve you up the same way you carved up me and my buddies before we serve you up to the boss on a silver platter.” He grinned wickedly and made a show of looking up at the sky through the trees, before looking back down at Shinobu smugly.

“Not much time left…”

He promptly let go of Shinobu’s hair and her head fell back to the ground. The man laughed uproariously and his buddies joined in, save for the young boy who had lured Shinobu frantically filling his face. The man kicked Shinobu’s bound legs out of his way before rejoining them at the fire for another bowl of stew.

Shinobu kept her breathing even. Panicking in this situation would do her no good. Besides, those fools all but signed their own death warrants by sending En back to the mansion with whatever poorly written scrap of paper they composed. She hadn’t a doubt in her mind that (Y/n) was well on her way.

Still, she’d be damned if she didn’t at least try to get herself out of this mess before then. She was a Hashira, she killed demons, she wasn’t going to let a group of meat-headed plain, human men continue to get the best of her. Shinobu carefully rubbed her feet together so as not to draw attention to herself and nearly scoffed.

For being so upset with her about her sharp retaliations, they sure didn’t think it necessary to take away her shoes. Idiots. Ever so quietly, she bent her knees as far as she could and carefully removed a shoe. It took a little time to maneuver it into a workable position, but she got the blade end wedged beneath the rope on her hands and began to saw at it, and no one was none the wiser, or so she thought.

A heavy foot came down on her hands and she couldn’t stop the yelp of pain that left her lips, drawing the attention of the men at the campfire.

“You idiots,” the new arrival sighed, a man with much nicer clothes than the rest, “while you were all eating and drinking like pigs, you almost let our guest escape. Need I remind you we are dealing with a Hashira here? What do you think would have happened if we let her escape, hm?”

“The- the boss would totally kill us. Thanks for catching on to that, Hyousuke.” One man whimpered.

“The boss?” Hyousuke tilted his head to the side as he took Shinobu’s shoes and tossed them into the bushes, “You think I’d ever tell the boss if we lost a quality catch like this? No… no, no, no,” his eyes steeled and his voice took on a more dangerous tone, “I would kill you all myself. He doesn’t have time to deal with you useless fools. He needs to become a Kizuki to continue keeping us safe and he’s not going to get there if you can’t take the time to do your damn job!”

“My, to speak of a demon so passionately, is it love?” Shinobu smiled sweetly, then added, “Gross.”

Hyousuke sneered down at her and put more of his weight on her wrists before easing up and turning his attention back to the campfire.

“Where’s the damn rope? I’ll need to re-tie her hands.”

“Uh, Masaru had it last.”

“Where is he?”

“He needed to relieve himself. Went out to the woods like… huh, maybe twenty minutes ago?”

Hyousuke stiffened, then snarled, “Well go find him, now!”

The men scampered into the forest, the young boy reluctantly went to follow, but Hyousuke called him back.

“Goro, you stay. I have a special job for you.” He presented the young boy with a knife and lead him to Shinobu, “This is a big job, boy. You do this well, and your stranding in the group will skyrocket, you understand. Meals everyday, new clothes, an actual bed, all will be yours. All you gotta do is watch this woman and if she tries to escape, you slash her tendons. If that doesn’t work, kill her. Got it?”

Goro shook under Hyousuke’s intense glare, but managed a nod.

“Good. This shouldn’t take long.” Hyousuke glared down at Shinobu, “Behave yourself if you want to live through this.”

Shinobu stayed silent, watching him disappear into the woods before returning her attention to Goro who looked at her with fearful eyes, knife tightly grasped within his hands. It was time Shinobu implement her best defense in this precarious moment, so she began to talk to the boy. Ever so slowly, his grip eased as Shinobu took an interest in his upbringing. Having never known his mother, nor really any experience talking to women, the kind way Shinobu spoke with him felt completely foreign.

A pained shout echoed through the forest, putting them both on edge again. The forest went quiet again, but only for a few moments before to more cries were heard.

“Goro-kun, stay calm.” Shinobu tried to ease the boy’s nerves, but he still looked as scare and desperate as a cornered animal. “If you cut the rope—”

Goro shakily held the knife to Shinobu’s throat, “Stop talking!” He commanded through sharp breaths just as another shout was heard in the distance, though much closer than the previous ones.

Shinobu took the risk to keep talking, “There could be a demon out there. I don’t want you to get hurt, Goro-kun. Please free me and give me my sword so I can protect you.”

Goro looked conflicted, switching his attention between Shinobu and the woods anxiously. He heard another shout and shut his eyes tightly, knife still uncomfortably close to Shinobu’s neck— until a rugged rock came sailing in and knocked the weapon out of his hand and into the bushes.

They both looked over in the direction the rock had come from to see a bloody figure emerge from the woods near the campfire, breathing heavily.

“A demon!” Goro shrieked, skittering back on his behind to put Shinobu between himself and ‘the demon’, but Shinobu was not all that concerned.

“None of that is your blood is it, (Y/n)?” She asked calmly as if she already new the answer.

“Of course not,” (Y/n) huffed, “I may have been persuaded into an early retirement, but I’m still as sharp as ever.” She smirked with pride, before seeing Shinobu’s frown and tacked on an apology at the end.

Once upon a time, (Y/n) and Shinobu hadn’t gotten along all that well and a lot of that stemmed from (Y/n)’s line of work as an assassin for hire. Well, it stemmed from (Y/n) having lied about being an assassin when they had first met. Shinobu found out after they had been dating for awhile and it was not pretty. They had broken up, but after a few months of being miserable without each other, (Y/n) decided to retire and ask Shinobu to take her back with the promise of no more secrets and things had been getting better since.

“Mhmm,” Shinobu hummed as (Y/n) came over to untie her, Goro too scared stiff to move, “I recall telling you to get rid off all those weapons.”

“I did. Well, I got rid of most of them. But, see how handy it is to keep a couple of classics around?”

“I suppose...” Shinobu released a relieved sigh when the last of the rope was cut and then sat up, finding herself engulfed in a tight hug as soon as she did so.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” (Y/n)’s voice was muffled from having her face pressed into Shinobu, but she was heard just fine.

“Sorry to worry you.” Shinobu brought her arms around (Y/n)’s neck to return the hug, despite the blood.

It was really nice for a few moments until they heard a twig snap and looked up to see Goro sticking his hands into the bushes, looking for the knife Hyousuke left with him.

“Hey, kid, just stay put, okay?” (Y/n) put her hand out in warning.

“We aren’t going to hurt you, Goro-kun. Come down the mountain with us, and we will keep you safe.” Shinobu promised.

“I can’t let you go! If you go, Hyousuke-san will kill me!”

“No he won’t. Just look at me,” (Y/n) gestured to herself, “If I didn’t kill him on my way here, then I’ll kill him when he shows up. And if you’re worried about any demons either, Shinobu had it covered, right?”

“Definitely,” Shinobu answered a bit distractedly, her sword back home in her hands, “Help me find my shoes?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll- I’ll—“

(Y/n) gently ruffled Goro’s hair, stunning him.

“You must be tired. What do you say, wanna get off of this dumb old mountain?” She softly asked.

“Stop! You’re Just trying to trick me like I tricked you!” He yelled, pointing a finger at Shinobu.

Shinobu smiled sympathetically and crouched down before the boy, “That was a pretty mean trick, wasn’t it? You feel bad about it, don’t you?”

Goro didn’t say anything, but fresh tears sprung from his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’m not upset with you. It’s hard to be hungry and on your own. I promise if you come with us, you’ll never have to do anything like this again. We will keep you safe.” She held out her pinky and after a short explanation of what a pinky promise was, Goro cautiously wrapped his own pinky around Shinobu’s.

“Well, isn’t that sweet.”

Shinobu and (Y/n) pivoted, shielding Goro from the new arrival. Hyousuke had returned with a few of his men, armed and ready for a fight.

“Damn, I really thought I had taken care of all of you.” (Y/n) groaned in annoyance. “Must’ve been shaking in the bushes as I walked by. Did you think of you regrouped, you’d be able to take me?”

“Hy- Hyousuke! I know this woman, she’s a demon with human blood, an assassin! She’s stolen lives from out faction before.”

“Demon with human blood seems a bit over dramatic,” she scoffed, “But also so, so hypocritical when you consider all you have done to give yourselves a cozy life.”

“Goro, get over here.” Hyousuke ordered through gritted teeth.

“He’s not going anywhere with you.” Shinobu denied, “It’s in your best interest if you let us pass.”

“I cannot return to him empty handed.” Hyousuke pulled a gun from his clothes, “I’ll just have to kill all three—“

In the blink of an eye, (Y/n) and Shinobu were on him. Shinobu’s sword pierced his hand and he dropped the gun in pain. (Y/n) instinctively went in for the kill. Hyousuke staggered before falling into the dirt, whatever was left of the small group scattered and fled into the woods. (Y/n) made a move to go after them, but Shinobu held her wrist.

“I think that they got the message.” She said.

“But they’re going to go back to whatever demon their friendly with and start up all over again with someone less fortunate.”

“En is following them. She’ll report the location back to Oyakata-sama and he will decide how to proceed from there. You already have more blood on your hands than I would like. Besides,” she whispered, flicking her eyes over to Goro, “You’re scaring him.”

“Alright, fine. I guess as long as it gets taken care of eventually, I don’t really care.” (Y/n) went to run her neck, but caught sight of the blood and just clasped her hands behind her back instead. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Goro-kun.”

“I’ve seen worse.” He mumbled quietly, shrugging his shoulders. Shinobu and (Y/n)’s hearts went out to him.

“We’re gonna work like hell so you don’t have to see anything like that ever again.” (Y/n) promised.

“You’ll be safe with us.” Shinobu reached out her hand as an invitation, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Goro hesitated, but he did take her hand.

“Hold my hand too?” (Y/n) batted her eyelashes and held out her bloody hand.

Shinobu’s eyes flickered to (Y/n)’s hand, then back up to her face, “Maybe another time, dear.” The hug they shared earlier was all the blood she wanted to deal with at the moment.

“Booooo.”

“You know what you can do though? Help me find my shoes. It’s a long way down the mountain, and I’d rather not be without them.”

“Yeah, yeah okay. I heard you the first time you asked.”

***

“I really needed that!” (Y/n) flopped onto the bed, her damp head landing in Shinobu’s lap, squeaky clean, “I almost forgot how itchy dried blood is.”

“Such pleasant words you are saying.” Shinobu replied with sarcasm. She put a bookmark between the pages of her book to mark where she had left off and put it aside to give her full attention, absently running her fingers across (Y/n)’s cheeks.

“I know. So is Goro-kun all settled in?”

“As much as he can be, but he’s in good hands. Naho, Sumi and Kiyo are excited to have someone younger than them around and surprisingly he seemed to latch onto Gotou-san quickly. I’m sure everything will get better in due time.”

“That’s good.” (Y/n) yawned and put her hands over Shinobu’s to keep them on her face. “And how are you feeling?”

“It was an unfortunate situation to find myself in, but I’m fine, really. I knew you would come.”

(Y/n) pulled one of Shinobu’s hands to her lips so she could plant a kiss against her palm. “If you ever feel not fine about it, I’ll be here for you then too.”

“I know,” Shinobu smiled warmly and hunched inward to return the kiss, “Thank you.”

[slutforsnow]

His Sunflower

Chapter 3 :3

Cw/TW// Drugs, stalking (for good reason), alcohol, manipulation, taking advantage of, plotting, implied murder, talk of death

"Let me take a bat to his head," Coriolanus stated, sitting at the table of the Plinth residence. Sunni had been charmed by Festus to come study at his place with Arachne and Clemensia, but that didn't relax either of the boys. It was Festus, he could try something without knowing.

"We can't commit murder yet, Coryo," Sej replied, shaking his head no as he threw his satchel on the table.

"You can't, I can and will," the bleach blonde corrected, unbuttoned his blazer and draped it back on the chair he sat on.

"No," Sejanus replied, leaning against the counter.

"Ugh, fine, what do you suppose we do?" He questioned, crossing his arms.

Sejanus pondered his question for a moment before a grin slowly started to appear on his face. "You took photography in middle school, right?"

"Yeah?" Coryo responded, a little puzzled as to where Sejanus was going with this.

"Still got the camera?"

"Grandma'am has it packed somewhere in the apartment, but yeah," He confirmed with a slow nod, beginning to realize what Sejanus was wanting him to do.

"Get it out, and we can pretend we're taking pictures of the scenery around Sunni and Festusnto drive a wedge between them. Sunni may be a little dense, and I say that with love, but if anything, she's loyal to family. So if Festus vents to her about me, she'll drop him faster than you can say supercalifragisticespiallidocious!" Sejanus was red in the face when he said the last word, having started rapid speaking—something he picked up as a kid when he was super excited about an idea he had.

"Never say that word again," He grumbled, glaring into Sejanus' eyes with his icy stare.

"Sorry-"

As the boys were plotting, Sunni was in awe of the Creed mansion. It was bigger than the Plinth one and covered head to toe in marble architecture. She was looking around it, in total shock. It was better than she could've imagined, especially after hearing about how so many families lost wealth after the First Rebellion in History.

"Jeez, Festus, your estate is amazing," She breathed out, looking up at him as he continued to have his arm wrapped around her shoulders as if he was claiming her as his girl. But Sunni thought it was just a nice gesture, a way of comfort as if to say, "It's okay, you'll love it here."

"Ah, this is nothing. You should see Clemensia's and Arachne's—they have the best estates in all of the Academy. Their homes are where we, the Seniors of Panem Academy, have the best parties. All kinds of beers, wines, and even a little bit of drugs to try. Only if you're ballsy enough to try them at least," Festus mused, taking joy in seeing Sunni's eyes light up with excitement.

"That sounds awesome!! Not the underage drugs or drinking, but the parties themselves," She clarified as he led the girls to the library to "study".

"Oh, Sunni, you've never drank?" Arachne inquired, looking at the youngest senior. Sunni shook her head no, a serious look in her eyes. But with how much of an innocent face and look in her eyes she had, no one in the group took her seriously.

"Oh no, never! My auntie always says never to kill your body with that stuff. A little sip here and there for political parties, but never drink it all willy-nilly," Sunni explained, looking at Arachne as everyone sat down at one of the tables. Festus stayed beside her, his arm still around Sunni.

"And does your aunt tell you the same about drugs like cocaine and ecstasy?" Clemensia asked as everyone pulled out their work.

"No, my ma does cause drugs are what took out my pa," Sunni answered.

The group looked at Sunni in shock. They hadn't expected that to fall from her lips but quickly collected themselves.

Then, an idea hit Festus. If Sunni didn't have her dad, she didn't have anyone to really warn her about men who'd taken advantage of her innocence and naivety.

He started to think of how he'd be able to get her to trust him over Sejanus. After all, he had to drive a wedge between the two somehow, and substances were just the answer.

Tags: @etfrin @hearts4court @snows-wife @delusionalbunni @kiraflowersworld @victory-scream0462 @curled-hair-red-lips @morallygrayboys @phoward89 @xoxo-eyeballs @thereeallink @graciouslyc @acidaciruela @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast @firstworldproblemthings @nowitsmissing

[switch-writer]

RAAAA YOU JUST LOST THE GAME ANYWAYS HI WE HAVENT TALKED IN AGES HOW ARE YOU

ALSO I SAW YOUR OP HEADCANNONS SO IF I COULD COULD I REQUEST SOME ACE HCS?

(ALSO IM ONLY ON SKYPIA ARC BUT I MISS THE GREASY BOY ALREADY😭)

Portgas D. Ace Tickle Headcanons

A/N: Ahhhh! Hi Rando 👹 I’m doing okay! And of course! I enjoyed seeing Ace in the Alabasta arc and honestly he’s such a ball of joy. Gotta love him. He has such a cute little smile and I love him so much 😭 But honestly, I can’t wait to see more of him! Thank you for requesting this because MAN I love writing One Piece requests. Especially for my boy Ace. I hope you enjoy!

• Right out of the gate, he’s fifty-fifty. He tickles people and gets tickled the same amount. He may tickles people more but he doesn’t mind either way.

• Very mischievous. Always has a big grin on his face like he’s plotting (which is he) when he’s about to tickle someone or is tickling someone.

• Playful. Constantly joking around and teasing people. Lots of nicknames and childish jokes.

• “You’re so loud! I Can’t hear what you’re saying! Guess I’ll continue tickling you, ‘giggles.’”

• He’d laugh along with whomever he’s tickling, he finds laughter super contagious and he enjoys making others laugh, especially since it’s so easy.

• He’ll chase you around if you try to dodge his tickling. He’s strong willed. So he’d chase someone for however many miles he has to run, then tackle them like he’s a pro wrestler once he catches them.

• Fire Fist makes it a point to match the energy. If he tickles someone more shy and bashful, it’s gentle, silly, and fun. If it’s someone more head strong and prideful, he’s much more fast and all over with it since it becomes a battle of pride. Bunches of pokes every way. And if you’re somewhere in the middle, a little bit of both worlds.

• Luffy + raspberries. That’s happened a lot, and he’ll always do raspberries due to the silliness.

• Ace however is also someone to never stop tickling someone until they surrender. Then he’d cheer and stand right up, probably do a little shimmy dance, stick his tongue out and then go “HAH! I win!” And playfully brag about it.

• At least he did that with Luffy. He’ll sometimes have a more gentle side where he’d ruffle the persons hair and compliment their laugh after they surrender. Maybe even put his hat on them.

• On the flip side, he’s someone to either take the challenge head on(which is the majority) or get slightly bashful and nervously try and back off.

• “Eh? You want to..? I… d-don’t know about that. Come on. Anything else you could do?” He’d ask while nervously scratching his neck or fiddling with his hair.

• Or on the other hand, he’d laugh and basically take on the challenge, and probably make it into a tickle fight. He’s usually physically strong enough to turn the tables and fight it off.

• Nonetheless, Ace’s laugh is loud and hearty. You won’t miss it, you’ll hear it and you’ll hear the joy in it. It’s quite infectious.

• If he happens to be losing during a tickle fight, he’ll often curl up in a ball and start yelling to abort the mission as if he’s some captain.

• Ace is a squirmer when tickling is a thing, so that being said, hair goes everywhere, his hat is across the room, he lost his necklace whenever he lost his pride to embarrassment, and he can’t find it. So he’ll usually spend a moment or two after tickling to try and find where his necklace flew off to since he probably accidentally flung it off.

• Luffy used to tickle him to win fights. He loses a lot of strength and focus when someone tickles him.

• Ace’s weak/worst spot is his tummy, along with his back and underarms. Although he’s quite ticklish everywhere.

• His laugh will randomly get very bubbly and he’ll start practically hiccuping because of how much he’s laughing, and that’s usually when he starts to smack the ground to tab out like how you tab out in wrestling.

• He’ll usually just lay there for a second, he’ll be recovering for the next ten minutes to find his necklace and fix his hair and hat, then just relax while giggling from the ghostly feeling of tingles still all over him.

• Nonetheless, tickling happens to always put Ace in a good mood, he’ll always be smiling after. He’s happy to laugh and happy to smile, while making others smile and laugh along with him.

Hope you enjoyed!

[dearest-painter]

My little girl

summary:When your parents don’t care what you do,what you eat,what you say,what you wear,or how you look or throw you out in the cold with only slippers,a t shirt,and shorts you do anything to survive the world is Gotham especially little old Y/N. She is known to steal just so she can survive the streets of Gotham. Once you run away to New York and still have the same life you gain some attraction especially with hero’s,villain,anti hero’s,and vigilantes.

TW/CW:Yandere behavior, unhealthy behavior, unhealthy relationship,abusive behavior.abusive relationship,being force to grow up,Title from ‘Daddy issues by the neighborhood’,Y/N’s parents fully neglects Y/N to the point their basically homeless,SELF HARM,kidnapping,drugging,sedation,stalking,murder,death,villains being better parents then Y/N’s real parents,threatening,death threats,abuse

The coldness comfort you usually but now your running away from the only home you knew,Gotham city but you knew it was better to leave. Your parents never cared honestly and you knew it as they’ve thrown you out in the middle of the snow with barely any cloths,you had to steal proper clothes for you and the people who gave shelter to you. Sighing as you watched the places go by you saw all the heroes that didn’t do Jack shit for you when in need

It was always the villains that save you,Deadshot would always give you a ceral bar,the sirens would take you around town treating you like a daughter or sister,killer croc would let you sleep on his back while he went through the sewer,bloodsport would make you stay around him while he got you food and clothes. They were the best as they took care of you. Your parents didn’t care about your mental health or physical health but the villains did,they made sure you were always safe.

To you it felt like betraying your family yet you knew it was needed. “New yooork!” It was your area so you got up then walked out taking a look around. Everyone seemed confused at you but said nothing. You understood why because they were dressed for winter while you had a hoodie,shorts,worn out sneakers,fingerless gloves,a bandaged leg,many band aids on you,and a tank top plus your bag. It was like it was autumn to you. “Where do I go…” you thought everything out but you knew one thing,men were going to try and take advantage of you.

You took a deep breath then walked to a woman who looked friendly enough. “E-excuse me ma’am…do you have money you could spare so I can call someone on the pay phone. Sorry for the bother” the women looked at you,short red hair is the first thing you notice of her. “Of course,calling your parents?” You forced a smile. “Mhm! Lost my phone so I gotta tell them where I am” she nodded as she gave you money then you went to the pay phone.

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Ring

Rin-

You hitched your breath. “Hello?” “Thor! You answered thank goodness! Your in New York yes?” “No I am not Y/N! I’m sorry!! Why do you ask?” “Damn it…I was gonna visit you but never mind! I gotta go!” You hung up then walked out plotting how to get by. Walking out the subway you just went with the flow.

New York was a bit safer then Gotham but something caught your eye. ‘Car for sale! Free!’ It’s as if something took pity for you. Running to the area where the car was you smiled wider then usual. “Ma’am! Can I have this car?” She puffed out air then look at you smiling motherly at you. “Of course sugar,I’m Charlotte harlot but may I ask. Where ya from honey?” “Gotham city ma’am” “oh dearie. Here the keys but do you know how to drive or have a job?” “Yes I can drive but no job” she looked at you sadly then took out a paper. “Here,my works hiring. Just say Charlotte gave you it” nodding you head she left and smiled. You got in then drove to a run down but safe parking lot.

You got in the passenger seat laying the chair plus your body down. Looking at the paper it was titled ‘villainously tastey’ it was definitely a restaurant but you sucked ay cooking and didn’t have any history with cooking extravagant food but only food for easy and quick food so being a waitress might be your job. Yawing it was time to sleep so locking the doors,getting protection the putting a sign up saying ‘I am fine! I am just resting as I’ve just moved here so I do not have a home yet!’ Then you brought out your blanket and pillow falling asleep in seconds.

[littlemissaddict]

Hi could I get JATP Luke x reader where the reader is best friends with Julie and she’s part of the band too but behind the scene she gets bullied at school physically (because people are jealous of her voice) Julie and Flynn never noticed that she tried to cover up her bruises

Thank you for the request, I don't really write for jatp anymore but I've whipped up a little something for you. I also may have gone a little off plot with the above request but I hope you still like it.

No-one had ever realised, or so she thought as no-one have ever commented on it, that she only ever wore long sleeves and she never wore short skirts or dresses. Some might say it wasn't a conscious choice, that she that wasn't her style but in truth she would have loved to wear half the outfits that both Julie and Flynn wore without a care.

The truth was that even though she was part of the band, her peers at school seemed to hate her where they adored Julie and the boys, not like she could blame them what wasn't to like about them. She could handle it when it was just funny looks and sharp words but lately it had been physical. It started with kids tripping her in the hallways so she either fell and grazed her knees or bruised herself when she fell against the lockers. Then it had escalated a few days ago, a group of them had cornered her after school as she was heading out from a late study session in the library, one boy had grabbed her wrist so hard she'd had been left with finger shaped bruises encircling her wrist. They were painful and sore when she moved her arm but she'd been able to hide it from her friends, from her parents, from everyone.

Only she hadn't. Flynn had caught sight of it accidently when she reached across the table for something at lunch and only decided not to say anything when she caught sight of the way she quickly tugged her sleeve back down over it. Now Flynn wasn't stupid, she knew something was up and she was worried but in the middle of the cafeteria was not the place to discuss it. So she went to Julie, who was at a loss for words as to why she hadn't come to them for help as they were friends after all. And because they were in the studio when Flynn approached Julie about it, the boys overheard everything.

"Okay back up, what do you mean she's covered in bruises?" Alex had asked, a little confused as to why a couple of bruises were a worry to them.

"Yeah we all know she's clumsy, could it not be because of that?" Reggie piped up.

"I doubt it when the bruises are shaped like fingers" Flynn shot back, the worry for her friend the cause of her rudeness towards Reggie.

"And the way she has been hiding them, if it was just because of her clumsiness then why would she feel the need to hide them" Julie added, her eyes drifting over to Luke who had been way too quiet considering this was his girlfriend they were discussing but when her eyes found him, she found him lost in thought as if he was going back through his memory to try and find anything that could point to what was happening to their friend. Julie didn't blame him as she'd done the same.

"Wait, do you guys think you could follow her just for a little bit, see if you can figure out what's going on" Flynn suggested, perking up at the thought of getting answers so that they could help her.

"But she can see us.." Alex spoke cautiously as if it wasn't already obvious.

"Yeah but no-one else can so you'd have to be close enough to see but far enough away that she doesn't catch you" Flynn explained and she'd barely finished talking before Luke had poofed out of the studio, clearly with a place in mind of finding her.

Luke knew that she like to spend an hour or so after school in the library to catch up on homework so that once she left the schoolgrounds she didn't have to worry about completing it, which meant she could focus on other things like the band or sneaking off with him. When he landed in the library it was quiet, there was a couple of people in there but she wasn't one of them and a glance at the clock told him she had either already left or she didn't come today. Although something was nagging at him, he was sure she'd mentioned this morning that she'd be joining them at Julie's once she'd finished her English Lit essay so he decided just out of curiosity to wander around the halls just to see if he could find her.

A commotion a little further down the hallway drew his attention and when he turned the corner, not only did he come face to face with the source of it but he found her. She was in the middle of a circle of people, kids he'd never seen before but assumed went to school with her, Julie and Flynn only from the looks on their faces he could tell they were anything but friendly and as he got closer he could hear what they were saying which only confirmed that he was right.

"You're not even that good a singer, I don't know why they haven't kicked you out of the band yet"

"Yeah, you don't really fit in with them, they'd be better off finding someone else"

"And that guitarist, Luke was it, god knows what he sees in you I bet he'd be better off with Julie" a final one spoke as they leaned forward to tug on the oversized hoodie she was wearing.

That was enough for Luke, he'd seen enough, heard enough but he couldn't understand how a teacher or anyone else hadn't heard it and at least come to her rescue as it wasn't like he could do much because no-one could see him. He had to do something, couldn't risk them saying or doing anything else but at least he could tell them back at the studio that their fears had been right. Figuring that if he made enough noise that it sounded like someone was heading their way it'd probably get them to back off enough for her to leave he started banging on the lockers closest to him to make it sound like someone was there hearing everything that was being said and when he chanced a look around the corner he saw that his plan had worked for once.

He could see the group giving each other panicked looks, she was also looking in his direction and when she met his eyes he was quick to wave her over. Thankfully they let her go without a word, obviously not wanting to take the chance of being caught out as bullies and she sighed out in relief as she rounded the corner finally away from their torment.

Only her relief was short lived as she realised that she'd now have to explain what had been going on. Embarrassment and guilt flooded though her as she turned back to Luke as she was expecting to be met with a lecture telling her that she should have told them but instead he was quick to sweep her into a hug letting her know she was safe.

Eventually she would have to explain the full extent of what had been going on but at least now it was going to get better and hopefully with the help of her friends she could put a stop to the bullying.

[fandom-trash-xl]

Super-Gen Kiddos Headcanon Handful

Decided to pop out a batch of headcanons for the lovely little kid trio, Pan, Bulla, and Kuriza. Still sticking with Super-Gen Kiddos as their collective name although I do have a few other ideas like using their initials, PBK, then realizing it's sounds like PBJ and coming up with the cute little Peanut Butter and Chestnuts. Always open to hear thoughts and get asks about them.

Also, I'm getting timelining and stuff figured out, so I thought I'd lay out birthday months and stuff too.

(SON) PAN

Birthday: Early May, Age 779 (Taurus)

Pan enjoys going to get her hair cut. She likes her hair fairly short and she gets uncomfortable if her hair is too long for too long. One time, she tried to get Bulla to cut her hair with a pair of craft scissors under the guise of them playing hair salon- both got in trouble.

With Gohan as a father, a lot of big scientific words get thrown around in the house. She'll attempt to use them herself and often mispronounces them with absolute confidence.

Pan inherits her Grandpa Goku's smile.

BULLA (ESCHALOT BRIEF)

Birthday: Early October, Age 780 (Libra)

Bulla's middle name was a consolation for Vegeta not getting his chance at a Saiyan name. If he had gotten his way with the first name, she would've been Eschalot II, the first Eschalot being his late mother, Queen Vegeta. Unfortunately, Bulla doesn't have good associations with the name, as 90% of the time it's used, she's in trouble.

While Bulla is the type to want to keep her pretty little dresses and jumpers free of dirt, she can also be the type to be absolutely rough if she's having enough fun. She's scraped elbows and knees and occasionally chipped or lost teeth from not paying attention to where she's going and tripping over herself. What sets her apart from tomboy Pan is the quarter-Saiyan is mindful of her limits, while Bulla can be plain stubborn.

(YOUNG LORD) KURIZA

Birthday: Late February ("Second Month of the First Galactic Quarter" in space), Age 782 (Pisces)

Technically, Kuriza does have a traditional Arcosian name (in other words, a cold pun) but the once half-serious little nickname of "Kuriza" (chestnut Frieza) became so embedded in even Frieza's mind that the initial name has been practically lost to time and old documents. It's unknown if Kuriza even knows his real name.

Kuriza often has trouble talking at points (losing his voice or going non-verbal), but he knows how to sign to get communication across. Bulla knows how to as well (thank goodness for plot convenience galactic standards) simply as something she learned in schooling, so she can understand and respond back. Pan doesn't however and thinks the two are communicating in some secret code behind her back.

Kuriza is somewhat of a savant in a few regards, not only in terms of his latent ki abilities, but he also reads very well and very quickly from a young age.

Kuriza has a feeling that the Briefs' cat, Scratch, doesn't like him, as the cat quietly growls at him when he passes by. The same thing happens with Frieza, so there may be some connection.

WITH EACH OTHER

Pan can lift Kuriza off the ground a bit to help him see over things as a little height boost. She usually doesn't wait for an answer if he actually wants the help.

Bulla feels bad for Kuriza not having a traditional Earth childhood like she does (ex. for awhile, Kuriza's birthday isn't celebrated with much fanfare back in space; Bulla's sure to help change that), so she often gives him presents when she finds out something she considers sad that he's missing out on- stuff like manga, toys, etc. from her own room, on an absolute whim.

The sets of visual encyclopedias that Gohan bought for Pan have travelled full circle through the friend group. Bulla borrows them because she likes the illustrations of "pretty things" like flowers, butterflies, stars, etc., then they end up lent to Kuriza to sate his little Earth science fascinations. Eventually, they make their way back to the Son household.

[bluegalaxygirl]

Old Friends (Zosan X reader) P3

Plot: Reader is the 9th doctors old assistant but soon moved on to other things, joining the straw hat pirates and falling in love but now their paths cross again (only he has a new face, 10th Doctor) when they go to see an old friend in a strange hospital. Unfortunately there's some one else there that wants to start trouble.

One piece and Doctor who cross over (10th doctor), its based off the new earth episode. i thought since David tenant as the doctor is coming back in November it would be good to get this idea out.

Reader is Female (Sorry), Zoro X Sanji X reader, Poly relationship, established relationship.

Warning: Illness, Death and Bad language.

P1 - P2 - P4 - P5 - P6 - P7 - P8 - P9 - P10 - P11 - P12 - P13 - P14 - P15

It was just after breakfast when Nami called out saying we're close, everyone headed to the deck to either help out or look out into the open ocean "There's nothing here" Luffy pouts looking over the side with Chopper and Usopp. "Remember what i said yesterday Luffy" you called out walking up to Nami as she stands at the front of the ship with the button in hand looking over the hologram coming out of it showing the map. The green dot indicating the sunny is almost on the hospital symbol making you smile a little "We're better off just cursing through" you tell her taking the button off her to set things up, The navigator nods and turns to the rest of the crew down bellow yelling out orders as you place the button on the outside of the ship. Pushing it until the hologram disappears and you hear a click, letting go it stays stuck to the ship a light blue glow now surrounding the button "Everything set up, now we just sail in" you smile walking over to Nami who looks at you a bit nervous not sensing any weather changes even though there supposed to be near an island "Are you sure this is right?" you place a hand on the navigators shoulder and nod giving her some reassurance before turning to look ahead.

As the ship slowly moves forwards the wind blows in a familiar smell, you breathe it in and smile the others heading to the front, so they can see what's going on. "Is that apples?" Sanji asks standing next to you and sniffing the air, you take his hand in yours nodding as Zoro stands behind you wrapping his arm around your waist. A shimmer of different colors ripples in front of the sunny as it pushes through, the shimmer going over the whole ship bringing it in and raveling a small island surrounded by smooth waves. The island has three buildings that all attach through walkways, two long white towers with the hospital symbol stand next to a glass dome in the middle. The area around the buildings is mainly sandy beaches or bright green grassy hills. Down the beach is a long set or docks and an area where strange vehicles are parked, you've seen them before, shuttle crafts that can fly through space. You look over at your crew to see a mix of emotions, surprise, wonder, excitement and disbelief. "We should head to the docks then i can show you around" You smile snapping them out of their trances, they nod as Nami gives them orders.

Stepping onto the white metal docks you look around at the strange ships in the water, none of them made of wood or metals form earth and most of them where smaller than the sunny. You recognized a few knowing what planet they come form but your snapped out of your thoughts by Luffy landed next to you after jumping off the ship "Wow this is so cool" he yells out looking at all the ships as the others walk down the ramp to joining you. "Are they alien?" Franky asks looking over the metal of one ships across form the sunny "Yes. As far as i know where the only humans who have seen this place" you nod walking down the docks as the others follow. Sanji takes your hand with a cigarette in his mouth, his other hand holding onto Zoro, so he doesn't wonder off, it may be a small island, but he still doesn't want the swordsman to get lost. You remember giving Sanji his cigarettes back this morning and the relief on his face as he cried into your legs saying he won't smoke that much again. Making it off the dock and walking along the long white path stretching along the beach you stop after hearing Chopper and Nami gasp "It's so cute" They both yell out walking over to the grass and looking at a strange bug in the grass, it looked like a mix between a butterfly and a dragonfly. You laugh at them before turning to see Luffy, Usopp and Franky running into the nearby parking lot to look over the shuttle crafts while Robin and Brook kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't damage anything. "Oh i almost forgot, wait here" you smile up at Sanji letting go do his hand and walking into the grassy area.

Sanji reluctantly lets you go as Zoro puts an arm around the cook's waist "Hay calm down, she's ok" The swordsman reassures the cook who looks up at the green haired man and nods. Walking up to a large bush made of grass you pull some out and head back over holding it out to Sanji and Zoro who both look at it confused "Its grass" The swordsman comments making you laugh and shake your head "Its apple grass, smells and tastes like apples" you smile taking a strand and eating it, the sweet taste of apples fills your scenes making you hum in delight. Sanji takes the cigarette out of his mouth and grabs a strand smelling it before biting into it, his eyes widening at the strong taste of apple "Wow... how?" he asks looking at you only for you to shrug "Honestly I don't know but its fitting don't you think? An apple a day keep the doctor away" you laugh a little as Zoro rolls his eyes at you but decides to take the last piece of grass you offer him and try it out. Sanji puts his cigarette back and watches Zoro eat the grass trying to see if the swordsman likes it or not. "Oh by the way, you can't smoke in the hospital" you give the cook a sympathetic look but to your surprise Sanji only taking one more puff of his cigarette before putting it out and throwing it into a nearby bin. "Good boy" you step closer letting his arm wrap around your waist as you lean up to kiss him, the cook leans into it rubbing your back a little after you pull away.

Zoro give you two a smug smile "Such a sap" The swordsman squeezes the cook's waist making the blonde blush "Don't know what your smiling about, No weapons are aloud either" your comment makes Sanji snicker and the swordsman's smile fade turning to you with a shocked look "W-What?" Zoro stutters his hand going to his swords attached to his hip "Their aloud in the lobby but if you want to come up with me they can't come." You sigh knowing how much his swords mean to him but you have to follow the rules. Stepping closer to Zoro you place your hand on his thats on top of his swords "I know you don't want too but it's the rules" With a sigh Zoro rests his forehead on your shoulder and takes your hand "Do i have too?" he groans making you chuckle a little "I'm sorry hunk but please, I'd like you both with me" you pull his face to meet yours, seeing your kind smile he nods placing a kiss on your lips as he wraps an arm around your waist "Ok.. where do i leave them?" he asks the words hurting his chest as he talks "Well i can't take everyone up with me so you can leave them with one of the others, or they have lockers but the big ones are expansive" you smile up at him happy he's willing to part with his swords for an hour or so. Sanji leans closer and grabs Zoro's chin "Good boy" he smiles making the swordsman blush a little.

You all make your way into the hospital through the glass dome in the middle, The white walls and floors are beyond clean and the smell of disinfectant lingers in the air. Different aliens walk around talking in their native language, some have translates around their necks, so they can communicate better. A nurse sits at the large round counter facing the door, her gloved hands typing away on a keyboard. She's wearing a white nurses uniform, gloves, hat and sheet covering her face hiding what she looks like, You remember it has something to do with stopping illnesses form passing to the nurses. Her head moves to look up at you "Can i help you?" she asks her voice smooth and slightly high-pitched calls out to you all, somehow seeing you through the sheet. Sanji can't help but smile at her sweet voice leaning on the counter with his hand in yours "Hello, i'm here to see the Face of Boe" you say handing her the letter you revised. Her gloved hand reaches up and takes it while her other hand pulls the sheet up tucking it into her hat, a furry cat like face looks down at the letter, brown short fur, a black nose and green eyes scan over the letter. "Cool your a cat" Luffy jumps up beside you only for Nami and Usopp to grab him and shove their hands over his mouth, the nurse looks up with an amused smile "Your all human i'm guessing... first time here?" she asks typing away on her computer before handing you back the letter. Franky and Robin lean over to look at what she's doing, amazed by the technology "For them it is" you reply the cat lady laughing a little looking at each member of the crew "well welcome, I'll explain the rules to you all, no weapons are aloud anywhere but this floor, the elevators will detect it and send security, the elevators also wash everyone down in disinfectant and dry you off so please don't panic when that happens. The elevator is voice activated so just say the floor you need. We have a canteen on the right thats open all the time. There is no smoking, vaping, alcohol -" as she rambles on most of the crew listens but upon hearing about the canteen, Luffy starts making his way their, Usopp running after him to drag him back.

After she's finally done telling you all everything you need to know you thank her and pull the others away. "That was a lot" Nami sighs as you place an arm around her to comfort her. "If this is all too much you can go back to the ship" You smile at her letting everyone know they don't have to be here if they don't want to be "No way this place is awesome, Lets get some food i'm starving" Luffy yells throwing his arms up heading into the canteen with Usopp in toe "You just had breakfast an hour ago" Sanji yells his hand still in yours while pulling Zoro along "Yea but that was an hour ago Sanji" Luffy groans as you all make it into the large canteen "I can't take you all up to see him so its best if most of you stay here" you comment hoping to calm the situation down as you find a table to sit at. The canteen is surrounded by windows with booths, coffee tables and sofa's neatly lined up and down the room. Luffy flops down on the sofa looking out the large window next to him, it had a very good view of the docks and the parking lot. Nami takes a seat next to him after calming down deciding to stay. You stand behind one of the sofas Sanji's arm now round your waist standing next to you as Zoro sits on the arm of the sofa looking around the room. They both said they would come up with you for support so didn't bother getting comfy like the others. "This place is amazing" Usopp comments sitting in front of you as you take a bag of money out from your pocket and hand it to the sniper "Don't spend it all at once. Berries don't work here so you'll have to use that" Nami stands from her seat and glares at you "Why did you give it to him?" The navigator points at the long nosed man "Because i want it spent wisely and i want the left overs back." The navigator flops back down pouting with her arms over her chest.

"Y/N?" A strange voice calls your name, looking up you see a man with brown thick hair sticking up slightly and a very handsome face with dark brown eyes. His smile shows pure white teeth and cute dimples, he's tall and thin, a long brown jacket hanging on his body along with a white shirt, red tie and brown striped pants and waist coat. You don't know anyone who looks like him but his smile seems so familiar and than it hits you. "Wh-" Zoro looks up at you only for you to rush past him and over to the man "Doctor" you smile wide jumping into the doctors arms with a big smile, both of you laughing as he holds you tight. "It's so good to see you again" The doctor smiles lifting you off the ground as he hugs you tight. Zoro looks over the man, he's nothing like you described but then again you did say he'll change his appearance when he dies. Sanji steps closer to Zoro glaring at the doctor, he's trying not to get jealous but can't help it when your so happy to see the man and jump into him like that. Robin smiles and laughs looking at how happy you are while Nami blushes a little, realizes how handsome the doctor is. The others smile watching you reunite with the man "It's good to see you too, wow you... your not ginger" You pull out of the hug to look at him as you laugh ruffling his thick brown hair "I know, i'm disappointed too" The doctor sighs removing your hand from his hair "You look different too" The man looks you up and down making Sanji growl a little catching the doctor's attention "New friends?" The brown haired man asks as you nod.

Taking the Doctors hand you pull him over to the crew "This the crew i joined, a pirate crew and guy this is the doctor" you state letting go of his hand "Luffy is the captain" Luffy jumps up at you calling his name nodding to the man next to you "Luffy... Monkey D Luffy? Nice to meet you, i've heard of you" The comment doesn't surprise you since the doctor spends quite a bit of time on earth and has probably seen his wanted poster "Yep, thats me" Your captain smiles adjusting his hat, as you introduce the doctor to everyone you leave the best for lest taking Sanji's and Zoro's hands "And this is Zoro our Swordsman and Sanji our cook, my boys" you wink at the doctor letting him know what they are to you. The doctor smiles at the two and holds out his hand to Zoro first who shakes it quite happily before the brown haired man turns to Sanji and offers his hand "It's nice to meet you both" Feeling better about the situation Sanji takes the mans hand and shakes it "It's nice to meet you too" The cook lets go of the mans hand and squeezes your hand as you smile up at him "So I'm guessing your here to see Boa too?" The doctor turns to you turning a little serious now "Yea, although it was addressed to the both of us" you state seeing the man nod "It was the same with mine but I didn't know how to contact you." the Doctor sighs before getting back on topic "I haven't seen Boa yet, you want to head up with me?" You nod at the man before looking at your two boys but lingering on Zoro who sighs taking his swords off his belt and handing them to Chopper while Sanji hands his lighter to Robin "Oh i was hoping to come" The reindeer looks up with big eyes pulling at your heart strings "Of course you can" Chopper smiles up at you and hands the three swords to Brook "I'll guard them with my life, well what's left of it anyway" The skeleton laughs making the swordsman sigh taking your hand.

[missellaneousworks]

Sunny Day Jack Reincarnation AU/Theory - Ella/Meli [Part 1]

I may be a little late on the Reincarnation Theory/AU train, but better late than never, am I right?

This is going to be a little bit different compared to most of my writings.  Half of it is going to simply be me explaining my headcannons for the back story, and then there will be some actual story and dialogue for scenes that popped into my head from a dream I had about this.  I apologize for the odd skips in the narrative or plot holes, as I'm mostly writing what I remember from a dream I had about this AU.  Bear with me and enjoy the ride!

CW: Mentions of unhealthy parental figures, troubingling childhoods, emotional abuse.

____

Melissa Murphy. 

"Meli" to her friends. Only her parents called her by her full name. She hated it.

Physically, she has the same face and body type as Ella, however, in adulthood, Meli dyes her hair dirty blonde and styles it differently from Ella.

Personality-wise, Melissa (aka) Meli is more outspoken than Ella but is just as sweet and creative. But is still a little shy. Surprisingly, she shows less hesitancy when standing up for herself.  Ella does have that same fire inside of her, but it’s deeply suppressed. 

Another main difference between the two are their parents.  Ella’s parents were very loving but imperfect.  Because Ella was their only child, they were a little protective of her, so they were strict during her childhood and early adolescence.  Melissa had several siblings that all moved out of the house before she could finish school, her parents were more… authoritarian, but we’ll get into that soon. 

Joseph and Melissa were schoolmates who eventually became friends.  Meli had both parents living in a dysfunctional home, with her often getting in the middle of their fights.  Her mom wanted her to go to college, as she had to drop out after she got pregnant with Melissa, and her father, who originally wanted a son, pushed Melissa with her studies and image in order to create the perfect child.  “Might as well look good so you can hook a rich boy once you get into college.”  Yeah, he kind of a pig.  Her mother would stand up for Melissa, but the older she got, the more she lost her fire to defend her daughter.  It wasn’t a very healthy environment.

Despite that, Melissa still had plenty of friends but tried to hide how dysfunctional her home life truly was, including her unhappiness.  It was easy to conceal since her parents were good at putting on “masks” to uphold their reputation within the community. 

Joseph came from a broken home, too, and had a reputation for getting into fights.  One day Melissa snuck out of school for a quick smoke behind the gym where Joseph was nursing a wound from a recent scuffle.  He’s suspicious when Melissa asks if he’s all right, and brushes her off at first, then asks for a smoke. Melissa gives him one, on the condition he doesn’t blab that she uses this location to sneak out of her third-period class sometimes.  He agrees and they more or less continue to smoke in silence.  Every once and a while, they’ll both appear at their hiding spot at the same time, and each time, Joseph will ask for a cigarette.  

Eventually… they start talking.  First, it was about music.  Melissa would sometimes bring her favorite cassette tapes for Joseph to borrow, and vice versa.  Eventually, they’d talk about school, mostly what they didn’t like about it.  But other stuff, too.  Things they liked.  Meli tells Joseph she wants to own her own five-star restaurant, he jokes he could taste test her food.  When she does make something yummy, she’ll save a little for Joseph to try. He gobbles it up every time. 

---

"Do you always cook, Melissa?"

"Meli," she corrected him, taking a brush from her bag and fixing her bangs. "I feel like my Dad'll materialize out of nowhere when I hear my full name."

"...right." He glanced back to the homemade chicken pot pie in the ceramic bowl. "Did you really sneak this into school?"

"Nnnnot exactly," Meli flipped her ponytail. "I'm on good terms with the home-ec teacher, Mrs. Billows. Used to stay behind glass to help clean up. Before she cooks something with her class, she shows them a sample. And when she's too lazy to cook it in advance, I make it for her in her classroom since it has a full kitchen."

Joseph wrinkled his nose at that. "And you get free food out of it?"

"If I happen to make a little too much," she winked with a knowing twinkle.

"Heh, I'm not complaining." Joseph shoveled another mouthful, trying to savor every bite, but it was hard on an empty stomach.

"Hey, slow down! You're going to give yourself a stomach ache!"

"Hrmph, yer naht dah bosth ov meh," replied with a full mouth.

"Gross! Swallow your food first, Joey!" Meli wrinkles her nose in mock disgust.

Joseph did so, but then paused a moment. "Joey?" He asked incredulous. "Do I look like a Joey to you?"

Tilting her head ro the side, she thought for a moment before nodding. "I think so, yeah. Joseph sounds a little too serious."

For a long moment, Joseph stared at Meli, as if trying to decide how to react. Looked away, his brows pinched together. "Just don't go spreading it around, sheesh..."

Satisfied, Meli smiled at the stubborn boy as he continued to eat. Joseph partially turned away to hide the blush that started to creep on his face.

---

As the two got closer, Meli formed secret a crush on Joseph. There was… more to him than just a scary troublemaker like she originally thought.  She liked it when he talked about music and wanting to become a musician.  The few times he actually laughed at her sarcastic quips, or when he got his guitar out to play on the few occasions they met outside of school.  Joseph was surprised that Melissa Murphy of all people had more spark in her than most others saw. It was a rebellious ember, just smoldering under the surface but you could feel the warmth of it if you stood close enough. It was… kinda cute. Meli was cute. And the two of them secretly pinned for one another.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be this time. 

At some point, Joseph ran away from home.  The reason is currently unknown, whether it was one big factor or several events that corresponded in Joseph making the decision.  However, after he has a particularly bad fight on school grounds (again), Melissa tries to find Joseph since he’s been cagier than usual.  She has some idea that his home life wasn’t great, but, there were certain details she didn’t know about.  Meli tries and fails to get Joseph to open up to her, to make him understand that he’s her friend and she’ll help in any way she can, but… while the sentiment came from a very good place, it misses the mark ever so slightly.  Joseph retorts back at Meli, saying it’s not like she could understand, that just because they share smokes sometimes doesn’t mean they’re good friends.  That he didn't need her or anyone else and she should just get lost.

That was the last time Melissa saw Joseph Cullman.

The heartbreak doesn’t end for Melissa there.  When she got home, she was met with a scorned look from her father, and her mother wouldn’t even look her in the eyes.  The principal had called to tell them that Melissa’s grades were slipping in a few of her classes and that one of the faculty members had seen her smoking outside with another student.  Her father threw one horrendous accusation at her after another.  Her mother just… sat there, looking away.  In the past, her mom would to stay in Melissa’s corner, but now she was a shell of the woman she used to be.  No matter what Meli said or pleaded, her father wouldn’t have it. 

She is shipped off to a ‘prestigious all-girls boarding school’ that night. Not being able to say goodbye to any of her friends, including Joseph.

The next day, Joseph waited at their usual hang-out spot, he brought a mix tape he spent the night pouring over, trying to find all of Meli's favorite songs that he knew of. But Melissa wasn’t there.  He didn’t really talk with any of Melissa’s friends, but one of them did say that Melissa didn’t show up to school that day. He skipped the rest of the day altogether and went straight to her house, trying to climb up to her window, but… she was gone.  And there were no signs of life in her room at all. He heard shouting from a neighbor who caught him peeking in the window and he ran off.

He left town shortly after that, never getting to apologize to one of the few friends he had in that god forsaken town.

But they’d meet again years later when Joseph just got started in his new role as Sunny Day Jack. 

After receiving her high school diploma, Melissa decided to get into culinary school, much to her parents' continued disapproval, and promptly cut her off from any financial support, quoting that ‘if she wanted to make it, she’d have to pay her own way.’  Being isolated, she eventually met a young man who became her boyfriend.  He was a senior at the school who was going into restaurant management and tended to get his way with his charms and charisma.  And with how isolated and lonely Melissa had grown over the last couple of years, the two started dating just after a few weeks of knowing each other. 

Unfortunately, Melissa was forced to drop out of culinary school just after a year when her finances ran dry and the scholarship money just couldn’t cut it.  Around this time, her boyfriend made the surprising move and… proposed to her out of the blue.  It was a shock to Melissa because they hadn’t even vocally entertained the idea of marriage yet, but boyfriend’s pitch made it sound like it would solve most of their problems.  He’d get a good-paying job managing several restaurants, and help pay for Melissa to get back into culinary school so she could pursue her dream.  As surprising as it was, it sounded… perfect at the time. 

With seemingly no other options or support, Melissa accepted his proposal and moved in with her now fiance.  Finally, things would be okay in the end, she just had to keep working to save up money for the wedding and school, and her fiance would help with the rest!  Sadly, it slowly became evident that it was too good to be true.  

The first year was relatively blissful until tragedy befell them as her fiance  ‘lost his job’ managing his first restaurant due to ‘office politics bullshit.’  Melissa and her fiance traveled a few states, with his lackluster hold on keeping a stable job putting more strain on their relationship.  Eventually, they ended up in El Paso, and Melisa landed a job as a secretary assistant for the LambsWork Studios.  She worked closely with the director and producer on their newest children’s program: The Sunny Time Show.

___

A tentative knock at the door brought Jospeph out of his dozing.  Grumbling, he called out he’d be there in a second, scrubbing the sleep from his face as he opened the door to see a woman around his age, with wavey chestnut hair. Sleep still plagued him, but there was something about he curve of her face that seemed so familiar to him...

A pan of deja vu washed over him when he heard her voice. Even if it was just his name. An odd sense of nostalgia that tugged at the strings of his memories. 

“Joseph Haberdae?”

“Yeah?”  Confusion swept his face when he heard her voice. ‘It couldn’t be…’

“Hi!  The director said you needed a copy of the revised script?”  She shuffled the stack of papers in her arms before pulling out one that was bound by a massive paper clip.  “I’ve also highlighted the portions that were changed, you’ll find them in Scene 6 and Scene 11–”

“...Meli?”

“Huh?”  Her eyes flicked to his face as she handed him the script, and now the woman got a good look at the famous host of the Sunnytime Show. “Yeah, that’s what my friends call me.  Have we–?”

The words died on her lips as she came to face with the boy whom Meli had once known.  Except, he wasn’t a boy anymore.  His short hair was now full mullet that swept to the side and a piercing adorned his left brow, just above his beauty mark. No longer was he the tall, scrappy kid who picked fights, but a man who held a very imposing silhouette adorned with partially covered tattoos across his hard muscles. 

And yet, his eyes still remained the same.  That warm, yet cool brown that held back that fire in his soul. They saw right into her with shock and recognition. 

Her friend.  The one who used to bum smokes off of her. The one who had the most breathtaking smile when he finally allowed himself to laugh.  The boy who traded mixtapes of his favorite songs with her.  The boy who wore his heart on his sleeve, and all the anger and passion that came with it. 

Her old friend.

Her…

TO BE CONTINUED...

[yueisyum]

Jeju’s watering hole chapter one (part one)

genre🌊 summer vacation on jeju island. Action, love, angst!! Friends to lovers/Enemies to lovers

pairings ☀️🌅 reckless Haechan (dongyuck) x reader 🏝 enemy jaemin x reader. (Who does she end up with!? 😱) sorry that was a bit much.

warnings 🌴 mentions of / alcohol consumption, action! Fighting, chasing. Police. Some Obx type stuff!! (Not in this part >>> SMUT groping, sexual tension x100, big dick Hyuck and big duck jaemin 💪🏽😎. Use of nicknames, degrading, and praising. Arguing, probably fights within the friend group. Reader has some metal heath issues, along with her friends.

Note!!! 🪸 I know this is going to be long! And I know a lot of people who read nct fics are looking for something short and simple, but I’ve really been wanting to write a longer fic. With more action. I want to leave the reader interested in more then the people in it, but the plot as well!! So please read thisssss! There isn’t much romance in this part so let’s call it a slow burn series?

Another note: there might be links in this, to show you what things may look like. I also have some song mentioned in there as well. So if you want to understand the vibe a bit more. I would suggest you okay them. Also if this series doesn’t get enough attention I probably won’t continue it. So let’s call this a test run!! 🤭 k bye 😚

You don’t know how you ended up in this situation. But you have a snippet of an idea. Crouched in your friend Yejun’s backyard, along with haechan, and Johnny. Your skin full of goosebumps. Shihyun and yuta aren’t not far behind. Yejun’s dad is outside of his vacation home. His figure is seen clearly, even from this distance. He’s smoking and drinking by himself, seated comfortably on a beach chair.

Loser.

“Are we going around the side?” Mark asks. his presence scared the shit out of you. Guess he’s here too.

Mark

Johnny

Haechan

“Were you not listening to my plan!?” You hear haechan whisper yell to him with a dramatic gesture. “YOU weren’t even listening to YOUR plan, last time I checked YOU forgot the flashlight” mark argues with ‘told you so’ tone.

“I have my phone!”

“Okay shut it!” Johnny finally butts in., ending the little bicker the two had going on. You roll your eyes at the three.

Fucking idiots.

You fight the urge to peak over the bushes and watch Shihyuns dad sip on what you assume is whisky, while his third wife is inside cooking… at 12:37 pm!?. When you do, you laugh when he spills his drink on his white beach shirt, But your are just as drunk as him. You all are.

Why are you doing this!? Why are you sneaking in to kidnap your friend in the middle of the night? Because her dads a bitch, and even though she’s 22, she refuses to ‘disobey him.’

shes ridiculous.

So while your all having a party at the beach, she’s stuck having a ‘family night’ at her beach house.

While lost in your inner dialogue, you accidentally step in a plant full of thorns. You Yelp quietly and the whole group turns to you. Though, undoubtedly, they’ve all been making more noise then you.

“Shhh!” Haechan gestures dramatically and you roll your eyes. the action was much more dramatic and definitely louder then you just were.

Are you sacred? Not really.

Yes, Mr Choi is crazy and your sure he’s on some black list somewhere, and you swear you’ve seen him snort coke in his garage once; you are also almost black out drunk, and all your senses are misplaced. When you near the end of the bushes, Johnny finally speaks up. “There’s a wall that wraps around the house, it starts there. if we run for it we can pass the grass and he won’t-“

“-You want us to run out in the open!?” You ask and peak over at mr Choi once again, his wife had put some plates at the table. “It’s just a couple seconds, he won’t even see us. We got this” Haechan reassures you, and you smile with determination. “It’s dark we’ll be fine” Johnny adds and we get ready to take off.

Right after mark took off, haechan followed. You tensed your body and readied yourself to run. You take a short breath and bolt towards the wall. Your body felt cold, even though you know you’re sweating. Your feet hit the ground only a second apart, as you fly across the lawn. You feel the blood from the thorns drip down your ankles as you run like your life depended on it, until your safely hidden behind the garden wall.

The boys were catching their breath, their chests rising and falling in unison, then you hear giggling. you look up to see marks hands covering his face and Johnny and Haechan are laughing slightly. “Why are you guys laughing?” You whisper. “Mark tripped” Haechan was able to get out through his current state. You want to be upset at their lack of seriousness, but you can just imagine that only mark would trip in a situation like this. You join their silent laughter, steadying yourself against the wall in the mean time.

“Okay you guys can laugh all you want….“ mark starts, he’s trying to be stern and unbothered but his face is full of blush. You can’t touch him but you’re sure he’s burning up. The wind was soft, almost nonexistent, but you feel it picking up. The chills climb up your legs. You start to regret wearing just a shorts, and a oversized t-shirt, over your bathing suit. But in your defence you didn’t think it would be this cold. Your salty hair flys across your face.

“Oh we will” Johnny continues, his hands rested on his knees.

“…But that will only slow us down” he finishes, crossing his arms and lifting his chin towards the full moon.

“It’s okay mark, I’m sure it could’ve happened to anyone” you pat him on the shoulder and move forward. The moon tonight, was actually quite bright. Brighter then usual, it was beautiful.

“Okay we need to climb the wall to get to the roof.” You begin, grabbing at the top of the stone to hoist yourself up. “I’ll go fist because if anyone is fitting through the window.. it’s me” Johnny places his hands on the back if your bare thighs to lift you onto the wall. “Are you calling me fat?” One of then questions, you laugh to yourself, shaking you head in the process. Since you are on the side of the house, mr Choi and his wife can’t see the four of you. Once you’ve steadied yourself onto the wall to reach for the shed roof. When you know the tiles are stiff and not loose, you hop up, placing your knee onto the lower surface to climb up completely.

Your feel like maybe being on a roof while drunk, probably isn’t the bed idea…

Crawling to the first window, you check to see if the room is clear. The lights were on, a desk placed in the centre, surrounded by bookshelves and papers scattered everywhere. Lamps where on, along with the fan.

An office…

Not going in there.

So as you hear the other guys behind you begin to make their way up, you move to the next window. You place your hands on either side of your face to look through, it was dark, but it looked like a kids room. So you move your hands to the latch of the window and lifted it open.

Slipping in with ease. Your feet blindly looking for the floor. Once you’ve made it inside. You turn to face the actual room.

“Hello?”

A small figure with hair covering it’s face was stood in front of you. It was wearing a night gown along with long socks, and it’s hands were placed at its sides. “Holy shit!” You jump back against the windowsill, your back hitting the wood in the process. “Y/n Unnie?” The thing reaches for a bedside lamp and pulls on the string to turn it on. When the light illuminates the room, you realize the monster you thought the Choi family kept in a room was actually Yejun’s little step sister, kimdal.

“Shit kid, what the heck are you doing standing in the dark?!” You place your hand over your chest, and remember your objective. “Sorry Unnie”

“It’s okay, where’s your sister?”

You know kimdal pretty well, she’s quite nosey but what kid isn’t? She’s cute and nice, and the typical younger step sister. You begin looking around her room, bolting to the first door your eyes land on to look for the hallway.

The first door you opened was a closet, the door was decorated with a Disney princess with long yellow hair, it dragged down to the bottom of the wood. Not that one- the second was a bathroom. The bathroom was decorated with lanterns and flowers. Nope- Maybe go for the door that has the light shining under it? Hallway lights?

Yes! Gotcha!

“Are you picking her up? Can I come with you?” Kimdal follows you about her room, when you open the door to the narrow hallway, you make sure to hide behind it, to peak and make sure no one is in the hallway. She does the same, even though this is her home. “Are you old enough to drink alcohol?” You ask her, you not exactly fully focused on the conversation, your mind is sorta preoccupied. “I’m nine!” She giggles and holds onto your shirt with her tiny hands.

When you’ve made sure the hallway was empty you turn back to kimdal, and crouch to her level.

“Then I guess your stuck in your tower repunzle. Listen kimie, I need you to point to which room your sister is in. Okay?” You whisper, holding her small hands in yours. “Is this a secret mission?” She asks. you smile at her while nodding. She nods back in determination, her eyebrows pinched and a bright smile plastered on her face. “Her room is the one right in front of the stars. But she’s in the shower and probably nakie”

“Nakie? I don’t mind seeing Yejun in her birthday suit” You jump at the voice that came from the window. Haechan butted in, one leg inside the room while the rest of his body remained outside. Kimdal knows all of us. In a way we technically raised her. However she never fails to ask the same question each time she sees the boys. “Are you her boyfriend?” She asks the boy who is definitely having a hard time getting into the room quietly. “Hurry up you ass!” mark complains, from outside on the roof. “There’s a kid in here! Don’t curse you fucking idiot!” Haechan argures, but immediately covers his mouth when he hears the words leave his lips.

“Wow… I’m friends with absolutely geniuses” you palm your face and try not to smile. Kim laughs then looks to you and copied your face palm. Cute. “Okay I’m going” you tell the boy whose finally made it inside. Then quickly shift down the hallway, keeping your footsteps as light a possible.

The further down the lit hallway you got, the louder the sound of water running and music playing, got.

‘505 by arctic monkeys’

She has your music taste. You’ve taught her well. You nod smiling to yourself.

When you see the beginning of the stairs, you slip into the room that stood in front of it. Then, you softly close the door behind you. Then, you turn around to see Yejun staring at you in utter disbelief. She was stood right in front of her bathroom door, steam slipping through the cracks. Her hand was holding up A towel that hung around her chest, and one wrapped around her hair.

“Holy shit-“ she smiles, a laugh at the end of her statement.

“-woah, is this one of those ‘everything showers?’ Di-did you shave?” You joke. Eyeing her hair free legs, and a moisturizing face mask in her hand.

“Anything to get out of ‘family time’ you know?.” She starts with a shrug. “Are you fucking crazy!? What are you doing here!?” She drops the packet on the bed and waddles towards you, to engulf you into a huge hug. “You act like it’s been years- it’s been two days-“

“-two very long days!” She hops, with you in her arms. Squealing in excitement. the towel wrapped around her, threatening to slip down her frame.

The door swings open and you both jump away to ready yourself to die at the ripe age of 21, But you only find haechan, mark, and Johnny in the doorway. “Wow the whole parties here? Get out I’m basically naked!” She whisper yells to them. They all immediately look away, as if she isn’t almost fully covered with a towel. “Go go go!” She waves them out of the room, then Turns back to you. A line of questions leave them as they are pressured back into the hallway. “Where are we supposed to go!?” “What?!” “In the middle of the hallway?” The door shuts and you giggle.

“Okay get ready, grab some clothes, you can stay at my place! We might go back to the beach-“ you begin and she pulls the towel from her head, her wet hair falls to her shoulders.

“My dads gonna kill me” she laughs again, but starts looking for clothes none the less. The music changed to the next song before she turned it off.

‘Hell N Back by Bakar’

One of your favourites.

When she finally puts some clothes on, she begins stuffing items in her bag:

A charger

Her laptop

Headphones

Shoes

A couple pairs of shorts

And one bathing suit

That’s it.

Everything else she would need, you have for her. Clothes, her t-shirts, an extra toothbrush, and towels. You two basically live together all the time. She throws the bag over her shoulder and grabs her phone. You push yourself off the wall you had been leaning on while she packed. “Okay let’s go. How’d you get in?” She Questioned, her hand resting on the nob of the door. “Your sisters room” you shrug and she laughs. “That must’ve been fun. Yuta, Shihyun? The girls?” She’s asking ‘where are they?’.

“Yuta is the get away driver, Shihyun is the watch. The others are still at our place. Now let’s go! Clock is ticking-“

“HEY! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS IN MY HOUSE!?”

You both freeze at the sound of Mr Choi yelling from the bottom of the stairs. Loud and quick footsteps could be heard before the boys barge back into Yejun’s room. Then they shut the door and haecahn leans against it. As if holding it closed. “We’ve been made” he informs, out of breath and his eyes are nearly popping out of his head.

“No fucking shit Sherlock” you squint your eyes at him while you and yejun sarcastically respond at the same time.

“Yejun! Why the fuck are your friends here!?”

His voice sounded closer now. You all look to yejun. The silence was loud. Fear evident in all of you. “Okay, Okay,okay” she freaks for a second before turning to her window. You all follow her. One by one climbing out of her room.

Yejun first. She slips out with ease.

“Open the door Yejun!! NOW!” The door handle was shaking violently. “You promised you would spend family time together the next four days! If you don’t come out now I’m calling the police on your friends!”

She’s already made it out the window.

Mark was next, he crawled out as fast a possible, laughing when he heard Yejun yelp at something.

Why can’t we ever take things seriously!?

“Sorry dad, I can’t hear you while in the shower!“ she yells, busy trying to help Johnny steady himself on the roof. “Fucking shit-“ he mutters. No doubt calling the cops now.

God does this guy have anger issues.

“Haechan hurry the hell up!?”

“Hold up! I had too much fucking zebra cakes, my ass is too fat-“ you smack his shoulder as hard as you possibly could. Your eyes focused on the door, and the handle.

This is all normal. And you are not freaking out. One of those statements was a lie. You always freak out when this stuff happens.

“Honey just let her go- we have all summer, let he be with her friends for bit“ you hear Kimdal’s mom try to calm him. “No she needs to learn that there are consequences for everything!” You hear a couple more words exchanged between the two parents on the other side of the door. but you’re the last to leave the room. And you are far too busy to care about their argument. Your focus remained on leaving in one piece.

The door swings open when both your feet meet the tile roof. You turn back and make eye contact with Yejun’s father, his face full of fury. “You too y/n? Come on now-“ you don’t care for his next words, closing the window behind you.

“How did you guys get caught!?”

Yejun asks as the starts slowly heading to the edge of the roof.

“Haechan fucking pushed me down the stairs!”

“No! When we left his office- mark pushed me into Yejun’s stepbrothers room! You know how awkward that is!?”

“Shut up!”

You yell from behind all of them. When you look over the edge, you see only her pool, the garden wall must’ve ended at the side of the house.

Perfect.

You can feel your breath sped up, your hands forming into fist as drenaline shoots through your body. The sound of your heart beat pounds through your ears. All your senses heightened, and a smile spreads across your face at the familiar feeling.

The window opens again. “Yejun! Get back into the house now!” You all turn to her dad then back to the pool in one Swift motion. This wouldn’t be your first time jumping into a pool from the roof.

“Shit! Boy are we lucky!” Johnny laughs, a huge smile plastered on his face before he jumped down into the pool. You all cheer and follow. Of course mark flips into the pool and yejun follows, but not before gently dropping her bag down onto a beach chair, that was situated next to the pool deck. Probably praying the impact on her laptop isn’t too bad. turning to face the house, she swings her arms back then foward while squatting to gain momentum. Then she jumps back, When she’s over the water, her arms wrap around her knees to complete the backflip into the pool. The splash of the water, basically flying through the air in front of you. The sound of water hitting the house excited you even more. You scoot to the very end, until your legs hang off the side. Then you hop in after them, and ready yourself for the water. Squeezing your eyes shut and plugging your nose.

It’s cold but the water feels nice. When you float back to the top you swim towards the wall. The water was splashing manically, naturally. Haechan reaches his hand out to you, you gladly accept his aid, gripping into his forearm as he helps you lift yourself out of the water.

“We are free! Woah!” Yejun jumps around, grabbing her bag, then turning back to you to take your hand. Dragging you to the back yard, she was beaming as she skipped through the grass. The lights around the pool causing the pattern of the water to reflect onto your skin. Johnny’s jumping up and down in excitement. A huge smile plastered across his face, he’s shaking marks shoulder and screaming lines of pure joy. Mark does not look too happy about being swung around.

You all run and follow mark back to the ‘get away car’ where Shihyun stands in the bed of the trunk. As you are running, your eyes stay focused on marks back, flashes of lights from the house are the only things lighting up the big backyard. Still, you have trouble observing your surroundings. None of you bother being secretive anymore, running and cheering as you made your way back to johnny’s white Ram truck 25000. Shihyun yells with a huge smile when she sees yejun. You can also hear daejung laughing in the drivers seat, surly glad to see yejun after such a long weekend. The car engine roars and you hop in the back of the truck along with Shihyun.

“About time! I’m guessing you got caught? Why are you all wet?” She questions, lifting yejun so she can climb in as well. “It rained! What do you think?” She responds sarcastically. Johnny hoped into the passages seat and mark hoped in the back, slamming the door behind him. Haechan joined you and the girls in the bed, sitting down and leaning against the rim to catch his breath.

He was definitely winded. You tried not to laugh when he cries out in agony. “Fuck!”

You want to bring up the fact that you had to run with a bloody, thorn filled ankle, and he’s on the brink of death over a forty yard run.

Then you all take off. The car drifts to the left as the car lunges out of the driveway of their ‘guest house’. The truck revealing itself form behind the trees and bushes. The guest house It was a light green colour and surrounded by palm trees. Different then your aunts, but in your very ‘professional’ opinion; your aunts are better.

The ride was bumpy and the wind flys through your hair. The sounds of sirens in the distance only causes Daejung to speed up. Passing other beach homes and small stores:

Surf shops

Shake bars

Drinking bars

Seafood places

Antic shops

Motels

Your family’s resort (gin mills brewery resort)

Etc

(Yes that’s why your home is called ‘jejus watering hole’)

“They called the cops!?” Shihyun exclaimed, gripping into the sides of the truck to balance herself, as we adventure through the ridged sand roads. Every so often the back wheels will lift off the ground, causing the four of you to be thrown around.

“Noooo that’s an ice cream truck!” Haechan throws his hands in the air with a snarky smile.“Your dad is absolutely ridiculous Junie” Shihyun expresses, ignoring Haechan’s comment. Yejun nods with a laugh, keeping her eyes on the road behind her, her hair flowing in the same direction as yours. You stare at her for a moment… her highlights look so natural, and the hair clip she has holding the upper half of her locks, is hanging for dear life. “What if they follow us?” Shihyun adds when no one fills the silence. “It’s fine, the police will arrive and my dad will just call it off like always” Yejun waves her off, know that hyunie isn’t actually worried.

You don’t regret your mission at all. Risking getting caught, or maybe even possibly DIEING!? All for yejun? Of fucking course! Your Friends come before anything. This summer won’t last forever; August will swing around the corner faster then you want it to. Then your friends will go back to college for another year. And you’ll be stuck on the island by yourself, and you refuse to waist anytime.

You sit back as the truck takes a soft left turn onto the town. The lights from shops are beautiful. Different colours filling the sky, people walking about the town. Women in long bathing suit covers and gowns. Kids on vacation with their families: riding around on scooters and bikes. Dogs roaming free about the streets, begging snow birds for their left overs. It was a feeling you wouldn’t trade for anything.

The stars are still clearly seen, the sounds of the beach and waves can still be heard over music, cars and people. It was euphoric. A feeling you can only enjoy with your family. You look back at the girls and Heachan to find them talking about plans for tomorrow; something about bridge jumping?

You smile at them, watching them argue over silly little things. You feel blessed to be surround by the people you love, even if it is only for two more months.

This is your family, the people you’ve grown up with. The people who leave after every summer to go back to school. The family who always checks up on you; calling, texting, visiting. All of the above. You don’t want them to leave this time. You can’t even remember what you do when they aren’t here… when you’re alone- but you don’t want to either- You don’t want to be alone again.

When the noise of the town fades, the road is dark and the only sounds heard are the car, and the crys of cicadas, the noises creating a calm dark atmosphere. The outline of trees almost blend in with the night sky above them, shapes of tree branches and pole lines ar edge only thing surrounding the road. As you drove past them, even in the dark, you can recognize your favourite climbing tree., the tree you broke your left foot on, the tree you all built a tree house on. And the tree you all swing from to jump into a small lake.

Your favorite tree.

Then, lights approach ahead. Your aunts beach resort was nearing. Everyone sat up to get a good look at the view, as you drove downhill. Buildings filled with families on vacation; staying in nice hotel rooms. Visitors in the pools, that are lit up beautifully. And aunt iseal’s home lays at the side of the resort. Her Exclusive guest houses are stationed next to it. The cost of the beach houses range about 67% more then the original hotel rooms, But it’s always worth it. They are closer to the beach and have more advantages then the normal rooms.

Yours: the ‘watering hole’ was placed right at the end, closest to the beach. It lays right on the edge of the small rocky cliff. Now don’t get me wrong, you aren’t living in one of these luxury guest houses for free. You bought it yourself- with your aunts help of course. The beautiful small building was your home. It was everyone’s home.

Fairy lights lit the entire sunspot, along with the roads leading to it. The grand entrance was decorated astonishingly, But that’s not where you guys where heading. So when the truck took a big left turn towards the guest houses, no one questioned, as usual. this is the way to your house after all. The vehicle slowly nearing the sounds of waves and cheers of the beach party.

When the truck finally comes to a stop at your house, everyone hops out of the truck. Swinging their feet over the wall and landing on the sand. “That was great! Honestly this is why we should stick to my plans more often” Haechan boasts, hes already heading up the sandy wooden steps to your front door. The sound of people near the beach loudens as they cheer. “Right, because getting the cops called, was all a part your plan?” Daejung asked, closing the driver door, and making his way to the trunk. “I created excitement, your telling me you weren’t having fun?” Haechan turned to him, walking backwards towards the now opened door.

Daejung wouldn’t lie, it was fun, so instead of giving haechan what he wants, he chuckled lightly and shakes his head. Refusing to give in to him “Exactly! Alright y/n let’s go, I need to show you something I found” then he’s gone, disappeared inside, probably booking it straight to your room. He didn’t even give you a chance to respond.

“That was crazy! God I missed summer!” Mark announces, wrapping his arms around yejun and lifting her into the air. “You say that like it isn’t summer now?” She giggles, placing her hands on marks shoulders. “It’s only been two weeks and I feel like we are moving too fast-“

“Mr Choi actually scares me! And I didn’t even see him. But I’m telling you- I heard him screaming form the car” Shihyun informs, helping daejung pull some surf boards out of the bed of johnnys truck.

“I think the whole island heard him-“ Johnny joins everyone in laughter at his simple joke. When you all unload the truck, you make your way up the steps of you beach house. The others run down to join the party that’s taking place near the water: Bon fires, fireworks, music, four wheelers, and who knows what else.

•••

When your inside, you find Chaewon passed out on your couch. yunjin is playing karaoke games with Taeyong, and Doyoung. You giggle while they dramatiy sing a sad, depressing songs through your speakers. The smell of alcohol attacks your nose, as you make your way near them. They must be having one hell of a time. When they see you they beam, the whites of their teeth blinding you.

“I’m guessing the mission was a success?” Taeyong asks, his hands form a thumbs up, then the fillip up and down questioning-ly.

“‘Went perfect as always!” You chirp with a smile. Doyoung was too busy singing his heart out to greet you, but yunjin gives you a quick side hug, then continues belting purposely to piss off doyoung. While they argue about her pitch, Taeyong interrupts.

“Wait- your ankle is bleeding, are you okay?” He pushes, standing up from his seat on your couch, to get a better look. You place your hands in front of you, to stop his movements and giggle. “Relax, I’ll go clean it now” you pat his chest reassuringly and make your way to Haechan. “If that gets infected I’m never coming over again!” He yells from his previous place in your living room.

•••

When you open the door to your room, haechan is on his phone, sitting at the end of your bed. His hand is caressing his chin in thought. You can’t help but laugh at how silly he looks. “Are you solving another mystery Sherlock Holmes?” You shut the door behind you, leaning up against it to wait for his response.

He glanced up at you, then around the room. He looked as if he was debating whether or not to reveal some information.

“I took something from Yejun’s place…” he begins, you eye him suspiciously, crossing your arms over your chest. “You have to promise you won’t freak out, okay?” He adds, You push off the wall. “What is it? a gun?” You joke, taking a seat next to him.

He doesn’t respond, he only lifts his shirt to take out an object tucked into his waistband.

It was a fire arm. You jump slightly when he holds it in front of you.

“You stole a gun!!? From Mr Choi?!” You break out. Haechan’s hand immediately flys up to cover your mouth. You wiggle away from his hands. “Lee donghyuvk!“ you ready yourself to scold him. You eyes still wide and mouth held agape.

“What? He had it out in the open, In his office, and it was off safety mode- or whatever it’s called. I couldn’t let him have it!” Haechan lifts his shoulders defensively.

You furrow your brows and glare at him. “So you thought it would be a better idea for YOU to have it!?” He cocks his head back a bit. An almost laughable look on his face. He adjusts himself on your mattress before responding.

“What do you mean!? You don’t trust me?” He points at you. You jump back again and lift your hands in the air. The firearm was pointed at you unintentionally.

“Not when it’s still off safety lock, pointed at me, and you’re fucking finger is rested on the trigger!?” You yell. He looks down at the weapon, then back to you, then back to it once again.

“Oh shit- right my bad-“ he lowers the gun, and fixes the trigger lock. You scoff at his recklessness. Then you take a second think, beads of sweet form on your forehead, and your leg begins to bounce against the ground.

You let out a sigh, staring at the gun in his hand.

“We have to give it back” You nod to your self. Knowing that is the best decision. Then look back to him. “Nononono are you crazy? If I give it back he’ll probably shoot me with it. He’s definitely noticed it’s gone now-“

“-Oh my god- what the hell are we going to do?” You place your hands over your face. He’s right. You don’t exactly like the idea of Yejun’s father having a gun laying around, ready to be used.

“Relax- I have a plan” haechan past your head, foolishly tossing the firearm on the bed.

“Of fucking course you do- maybe- maybe we can clean it off and throw it out on the street somewhere, and someone will find it and return it-“ you begin, thinking and talking at the same time. Your eyes travel between his, anxiously.

“Y/n, what do you think he was planing to do with this gun huh? On his desk.. ready to be shot? We already know he’s fucking crazy- and I mean, you hear how much Yejun talks about how abusive he is right-“ he places both hands on either side of your arms, trying to reason with you. You refuse, only shaking your head.

“Stop Hyuck stop!-“

“She’s always going on about how much he argues with his wife and his step kids- always talking about how her dad always threatens to ‘kill’ them-“

You throw his hands off you and point at his chest. “Haechan! Stop! You know how Yejun feels about how we always talk down about her father- she loves him-“

“What if he’s planing to hurt someone- hurt her“ you hesitate for a moment. The thought of anyone hurting any of your friends was always a soft spot for you. And of course haechan knows that.

“With what evidence!? Huh? A fucking gun? That ridiculous, who’s going to believe us?” You question, crossing your arms, your leg still bouncing against your floorboards.

“That’s why I told you I have a plan”

Great… when have any of those gone wrong?

End note: if you see anything that needs to be spell checked, please lmk. Any questions? PLEASE lmk. Any recommendations? Please let me know!! 😚

[kenzan-kiwami]

i think i need to finally rip those substories apart. going to start with chapter 8 since obviously that comes first

beware, it's long. mentions of a substory in ch.12, but nothing main plot-related beyond ch.8

edit: i'm a bit tired and i'm letting off steam by doing this so i think my wording outside the readmore is a bit aggressive but i assure you this is a 1.6k word lovepost

first thing i did was have a look at nanba's line about kashiwagi being a sweet guy deep down, because i'm told tsuruno's line about him being a "scary-ass bartender" wasn't totally faithful to the intent of the original, but i think it (and all of the other ones i checked here) are, for the most part, close enough. i may get into the others more later. from what i can gather nanba just says, "the bartender is kinda scary, but he's a good person so you'll be alright/don't worry," sort of thing.

but the way kiryu and kashiwagi stop when they see each other is shocking to the core. you get some nice sort of establishing shots of the top of the bar counter and kashiwagi polishing a glass before they show his face (potentially also where kiryu's eyes went first?) and then the next time you see his hands he's paused right in the middle of what he was doing. he's practiced (or seen) enough that his jaw doesn't drop the way kiryu's does, but he has to purse his lips a little in an attempt to stop them from quivering. it takes until nanba asks if they've met before for him to scramble inside his head for something to say, and only then is he able to lead the conversation on (but not without his voice catching in his throat a little bit). the game never says this outright, but the way kashiwagi is as shocked as kiryu is when he walks into survive definitely says to me that he'd also found out kiryu "died" in 2016

kiryu's eyebrows tremble quite visibly after kashiwagi speaks up for the first time to deny they'd met before - how could he say that, with that voice? - but he rolls with it, much to his (what i'm reading as) visible dismay. but then he pulls out this unnecessarily deep bow to kashiwagi?? and i didn't think much of it at the time, but this comment i found on a youtube video recontextualised the entire exchange to me:

literally driving me insane. kiryu's SO choked up over this and trying desperately not to show it. there's simply no other reason for kiryu of all people to be bowing so deeply to someone he's "just met" and "mistaken" the identity of.

kashiwagi's next line (jpn: いいえ、どうかお気になさらず) is a bit contentious to me, but i can't tell at this point if i'm nitpicking too hard or not - it seems to translate fairly literally to "no, please don't worry," but he's subtitled as saying "please. it happens to the best of us," which is (again) close enough but it feels like another one of those strange lines that got edited a bit too hard. i don't think the inferred meaning of "no, it's ok, there's nothing you could have done differently" is totally lost, but you take a slightly different route to get there, kind of thing?

it also doesn't really account for the way bowing to people like that isn't as much of a thing outside east asia. of course, most people with a cursory knowledge of japanese culture are aware of the existence of bowing, but the nuances of its use here i feel could have been made slightly more obvious in localisation to get that point across. absolutely not to the point of making it glaringly obvious, but easier to infer for people who aren't totally immersed in japanese culture.*

kashiwagi, in his infinite wisdom, whips out his next trick: to say he just has one of those faces. with a huge scar running right across the middle. i don't want to say he's pissing about with the tone of the cutscene and his delivery, but it really is an absurd thing to say (and he knows it).

and then they just go back to staring at each other... kiryu's eyebrows are still going and kashiwagi's lip twitches again and i'm so glad they let this game cook for so long because all of the animations have had such thought and care put into them. it's BARELY noticeable and i've been obsessively playing back each close-up of their faces where they're not talking trying to catch any miniscule movements they make.

this next part felt heinous to watch back after seonhee's fifth drink link because who ELSE but her would also know who kashiwagi is? she knows exactly what's happening between the two of them, and swoops in to save them from another awkward staring contest. she's lying through her teeth in front of saeko and nanba, which honestly just makes me wonder what kashiwagi's conditions for hiding his identity are if he's not telling the party. i can't imagine it'd be tojo clan related since the great dissolution had happened four years ago by this point, but the daidoji kashiwagi theories i've seen floating around feel equally ridiculous to me. what use does daidoji have for a guy in (probably) his sixties who's spent the last decade of his life running an empty bar on purpose? (he's still holding the glass and towel still in his hands at this point.)

he perks up again when seonhee railroads them all into getting the karaoke going, and it's really... nice? to see a man like kashiwagi expressing his gratitude for them being there so openly. he mentions it himself in a later conversation, but being a yakuza meant he was never really allowed to show much emotion. the HLA was his side gig kiryu never even found out about until after the helicopter attack, and the other patriarchs in Y3 called him "soft" for working to resolve conflict rather than instigate it, but 7 and 8 are the only times you get to see him wholeheartedly express things like pleasure and joy on screen. it's refreshing to see, and even more so after he says he consciously had to repress himself to get by before. i'd done a whole thing before this game came out about how he IS a deeply caring man under his harsh exterior and i'll tell you now i'm feeling extremely validated by his appearances here.

kiryu bows again as he walks past the bar to sit down - this time just his head - and kashiwagi hangs his head in return. both nanba and seonhee turn and catch him looking down with the glass still held awkwardly in his hands, and i'd imagine seeing him like that is something completely new to everyone in the room at that moment. it cuts away and he finally finds himself again, and he goes back to polishing the glass. he's stood there for the better part of a minute and a half with a glass in his hand not even doing anything with it, just out of pure shock and awe. i'm honestly not sure who handled that exchange worse (comparatively) out of the two of them.

next part doesn't have as much for me to go crazy about, but that look they exchange while kiryu is up singing makes me melt every time. every movement they make says so much. two brothers who each thought the other was dead meeting again for the first time in nearly fifteen years while kiryu ticks one of his favourite pastimes off his bucket list.

what's making me really mad, however, is the choice to use the "singable" english dub lyrics to bakamitai in the subtitles, because when you look at the more literal translation listed on the RGG Fandom wiki (only showing the lines he sings in full here):

Went chasing a dream and got hurt

Poorly disguised behind a joyless smile

"I love you" is hardly ever said

Tongue-tied and downright self-conscious

But even so, even so, why is it

"Goodbye" came so naturally?

It's no use, no use, no use at all

and the line re-recorded for this scene:

So then what are they, these tears—what a fool

bakamitai is vague on purpose. ostensibly and according to the wiki it's about a woman reflecting on her relationship with an ex, but the lyrics omit gendered pronouns at the beginning, and no women actually sing this song in the games... karaoke is one of the few methods kiryu has to really express his feelings, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, here, he's singing about himself, about kashiwagi, to kashiwagi. and the official translated lyrics don't hit anywhere close to the same in this regard.

now i will admit i've been having some difficulty discerning kiryu's tone in this last part i'm going to talk about. he gets annoyed that everyone was chatting through his song, and goes to sit down and lecture them. my first thought as i originally watched this was that he queued judgement himself, but looking back now and thinking about how stuck in his own head kiryu can get, i'm not so sure that was the case.

once again it was a youtube comment that got me thinking (so thanks for that), but he does seem so genuinely annoyed that he wants to sit down and drink again - which he does, but then the song starts up and he drawls out this どうゆう意味だなぁ？and i can't tell if it's meant to be sarcastic (which would line up with him having queued the song himself) or... incensed? exasperated? i can't think of a good word for it, but it's that kind of fake-annoyed only a good friend or sibling can drag out of you, which would imply he really had planned to sit down, and kashiwagi started his favourite song to cheer him up and get everyone going again.

i think i like the second option better.