#i reopened my asks (felt so lonely without them)

[feefal]

I had this vivid mental image of a moldy Miku and I could've sworn you drew it! Imagine my surprise when all I found was Miku mitosis. I thought for sure you drew her with mold spores all over :(

I haven't but now I think I have to... Miku must be hit with the Mold beam™

[dreamingcloudie]

im sorry for immediately jumping into requests but i see dottore content and i immediately go gdusabjnkdsa

HI HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY <33 IMMA BINGE READ THROUGH YOUR STUFF BUT LEMME JUST DROP THIS RQ

reader, feeling a bit bored and lonely, gathered a bunch of segments and asked if they could just cuddle with them OF COURSE they'd agree... prime comes back from a mission to see the tasks he'd assign them half done but before he could get too angry, sees you all snuggled up in a pile with the most relaxed expression on your face he'd seen in a while.......... he tells the segments to leave and hugs you himself instead (jealous perhaps? HHEHEHE)

HAVE A GREAT DAY, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS NO PRESSUVE <3 !!

❛❛ In My (Our) Arms You Go ❜❜

✎ ❛❛ Dog pile!— Oof! ❜❜

Pairing(s): Dottore (& segments) x GN!Reader

Genre/Format: Fluff (oneshot)

wc: ~1.1k

Notes: Back to our regularly scheduled fluff :D This is so cute istg 😫✋️✋️Dottore and his skrunkly segments are just ANAKSHDIEJEFIS 💕💕💕 I'm sorry this is short! ^^;

You sighed as you threw your head backwards and stared at the ceiling, the pencil that you were holding dropped onto the desk.

"I give up." You groaned into your hands.

It has only been fifteen minutes since you started to sketch random objects in the room. You thought having your mind run wild with imaginations by adding some twists to them would be the cure to your boredom. 

But it clearly backfired, it required too much thinking.

If anything, it made you feel even more bored than before, if that was even possible.

Heck, you even tried to watch the raindrops sliding down the window pane, pretending that they were racing against each other! 

No matter how much effort you put into distracting your bored out mind, you were too occupied with thoughts of your lover. 

A week ago, the Tsrista had sent out an order to Dottore, there was a mission that required his assistance in the far lands of Sumeru. And since this was an order from the Cryo Archon herself, there was no way he could decline even if he wanted to. 

So reluctantly, you had to let him go for you didn't even know how long. 

Without his goofy laughs and your daily dose of kisses, you felt lonely…

Especially with how your work schedule has been pretty hectic lately. Just as you thought you could have some peaceful moments with Dottore, he had to leave.

What kind of cruel joke was this?

What to do now… You thought as you closed your eyes.

Reading… Cooking... Beating Delta's ass up—

Wait, what?

Where did that come from? 

Reopening your eyes again, you focused on your hearing and could make out faint footsteps walking past your room along with a grumpy voice.

"I can't believe Delta messed all of this up! More work for me, ugh."

So it was a segment.

The segments…

You gasped a bit when a sudden idea came to mind. 

How fun would it be if you cuddled all of them at once?

You were getting a little giddy about your genius idea but then a realization made you doubt your plan.

They are probably busy though… You let out a huff.

Before Dottore left, he had given out a task for each of them to complete. He expected them to finish everything he asked of them by the time he returned.

But a fifteen minute break for them wouldn't hurt, right? You reasoned.

---

As you slammed the laboratory doors open, you slightly cringed at the loud noise it made when it hit the wall, startling some of the segments.

"(Y/n), my dear. You could've just knocked next time," Omega lightly scolded you.

Smiling at him sheepishly, you lightly scratched your neck.

"Haha, sorry."

He shook his head, chuckling at how adorable you were.

"Well, what brings you here?"

Right. 

"So I was thinking… if we could all cuddle together?" You asked. 

Your voice wasn't loud enough to reach the other segments, but they could still make out the words "we" and "cuddle". All of them instantly dropped what they were doing and surrounded you.

Getting affection from their darling? And with no Prime around? Who would pass up such a great offer?

"Are we gonna cuddle?!"

"Can we really?"

"Cuddling? I wanna join!"

Well, that was a lot easier than you thought it'd be. 

---

Oh, how you loved their happy little faces as they trailed behind you, with you leading them to your room.

The moment you got into your room, you laid down onto your bed and sprawled your limbs out, inviting them to come join you.

One by one, each of them plopped themselves down onto the bed with you. 

Some of them held onto your arms while some intertwined their legs with yours, and a head was laid against your torso.

Though, even with this king-sized bed, it could barely fit all of them. 

Theta moved around a little to find a comfortable position when he accidentally kicked someone.

"Ow! Who kicked me?!" Delta yelped.

"Deserved, you gave me more work to do by spilling the serum everywhere!"

"Oh my— Whoever has their feet near my face, please move. It smells of rotten flesh." Omega covered his nose from… whoever feet that was.

Well, this was definitely a bit hard to get used to with how much weight was laying on top of you. 

You weren't complaining though, the weather was a bit colder than usual and they made such a great heat source.

Their bickerings died down and silence soon took over the room, only to be occasionally broken with some light snores and the soft sounds of rain hitting the window.

Ah, life was good.

---

After a week of being away from the comfort of the palace, he was finally back from the mission and he felt like he would pass out any moment.

The mission he came back from was hell even though it was a success in the end. Nonetheless, he was now back and he had missed you dearly.

Though before going to your room, he was looking forward to seeing how his personal project was coming along. He had calculated that by the time he came back, it would've been completed by his segments.

However, all he saw was an empty lab. What's even stranger was that the work was half-done.

Where did they go? They wouldn't abandon their work like this unless it was an emergency…

Dottore turned back and walked to your room, afraid that something might have happened.

The sight he was greeted with made his blood boil. His segments were slacking off, hugging you as they slept. But when he got closer and took a glance at you, he noticed how peaceful you looked, and it's been a long time since he had seen you this relaxed.

You were complaining about how your work was stressing you out and you weren't able to get some proper rest.

Well, he supposed he'd let his segments off the hook this time for helping you to relax.

Though, his chest tightened at the realization that he wasn't the one who was holding you.

It was his turn now.

He nudged one of the segments awake, and soon the others began to wake up as well at the movement. Miraculously, you were still sound asleep.

All of them stiffened at the sight of Prime glaring at them, oh boy, they could already hear the mouthful lecture they'd get later.

"All of you get back to work, now."

The segments scurried to get out of the room, a little down that they had to leave you so soon.

Changing out of his work clothes and taking off his mask, he slowly got into the spot beside you. Chuckling lightly when his thumb cleaned the drool that left your mouth.

His arm wrapped around you, sighing in content that he finally got to hold you again.

All to himself.

[geordikisser]

brat taming | tanner | 18+

epilogue: you have a horrible potty mouth and tanner doesn’t necessarily miiiiind that, or at all ever! until it’s towards him and he loves a power struggle soo ^_^ he doesn’t mind proving you wrong.

content contains! biting/marking, degrading, power struggle, jealous! tanner ..

⤷ afab anatomy used but gender isn’t specified! sorry ..

petnames used: sugar, honey, babe, baby, hunnybunny, slut, whore

you were live and playing some overwatch on tanners set up. he was downstairs, watching on his laptop. you were on dps and played tracer. you weren’t doing entirely horrible but your team was horrible. ☹️

“yall say hear me out and it’s on a conventionally attractive character bruh shut up.” you say mid laugh as you see the big fat ‘defeat’ on your screen. you felt so tempted to explode something. you join team chat and immediately shit on your team with every diabolical and tos friendly insults you can think of.

something you said made tanners stomach knot up. in a negative way .. the way your other teammate endorsed it sexually made him extremely like .. jealous?? is what he would call it.

bigTstreamingservice: WOAH!!!!!! ❌❌ BAD!!!! DONT SAYTHAT!!!!! 👎

“tanner shut your yap!! i say what i want. bitch.” you imitate a spit sound as you enter the practice range, now bored.

bigTstreamingservice: oh word 🤨

he types in chat as you snort. “on lone. tuh.” you emphasize you smacking your lips.

tanner finds himself getting up and walking to his room shortly after. you were searching on youtube for a subway surfers game footage to entertain your chat as you tell them a story. you’re laughing your ass off as you tell some random ass story.

“my name is larry ‘jamal’ croft winston.. i’m 17 years old.. —“ you quickly were cut off by an unsettling noise behind you.

you hear the door crack behind you, slowly spinning around in the chair. “hellou.” you say calmly. tanner can’t help but laugh his ass off. “THE ENERGY SWITCH??” he screams as you scoff. “WHAT ENERGY SWITCH? I NEVER SWITCH UP.” you say in a specific tone that just adds fuel to the flame of his laughter. “YES YOU DO?” he smiles, exhaling heavily.

he pulls a chair and sits besides you, towering over you slightly. “how’s it cooking, good lookin’.” he smiles at you all goofy. “you tryna find out?” you grumble. “100%. are you muted?” he asks as you double check quickly before giving him a ‘no’.

“bye.” he replied, smiling a bit. “i forgor..” you drool as he takes the mouse and reopens overwatch. “overwatch time!! i’ll coach you.” he huffs confidently. “girl there’s footage of you playing overwatch, i think i’ll be good.” you side eye him as he gives you a dimly look back.

“dude. shut up.” you stammer as he lets out a laugh. you queue up for a game and tanners hand ends up on your inner thigh, squeezing it comfortably. “DON’T TOUCH ME CREEP!!” you exclaim, loud enough for someone next door to hear it. he jumped and slowly turned to you, unhappy.

you begin to get frustrated at overwatch slowly and started slamming your hands on the desk like a little toddler and trying to reason with tanner each time you died or did a terrible play, him smiling and nodding.

“i hate you omg, I HATE FLASHBANG.” you whine as you squirm in your chair. he huffs out a breathy laugh as he fixes his hair, pulling it back. “who could hate this?” he says comically. “ME!” you retort almost instantly.

eventually, stream ends. you wrap it up due to tanners unsettling aura at the moment, you hope what you said didn’t actually upset him.

you turn to him and smile, “hai.” you coo out as he smiles in return. “hey hunnybunny, how are you?” he asks as he reaches for your thigh again, holding it gently. “i’m alright. overwatch sucks without friends..” you sigh out. he grimaced slightly.

tanner recently developed jealously problems that he was self aware of. he never saw himself as a jealous person, he’s really goofy and silly! until he got with you, he never realized how jealous he got over small things anyway, it was mild at the moment. he wishes he could’ve played with you instead of issac. (the person you played with)

“you could’ve played with me y’know.” he grumbled, attempting to hide this feeling. he trusted you and isaac equally, he had no reason not to. but it’s inevitable for him he feels.

you look up at him with a raised brow. he analyzes your expression and scratches the back of his neck. “cuz.. i can carry you.” he smiles awkwardly, his gaze leaving yours. “you sound a little green-eyed there tanner.” you grin.

“stop.” he groans softly as he turns away entirely. “you jealous, baby?” you lean forward. he sits there in a resentful silence.

his brows remain furrowed. “you upset isaac is better at overwatch than you?” you egg on. he slowly turns to you. “the same guy who screams when he isn’t healed in one second. that isaac is better than me.” he said more as a statement that question, laughing slightly.

“does 10-10 ring a bell.” you look away like you’re thinking. he sits up and looks at you with bitterness in his eyes, a cocky grin smeared on his face. “baby.” he started. you hum in response. “don’t start this with me.” his breathing hitched. “what are you gonna do about it, hm?” you raise your brow with a grin.

within a instance, tanners hands were on your waist and pulled you into him, kissing you gently on the lips. his tongue exploding down your throat.

you were taken aback from the sudden action and melted slightly into the kiss. realizing his plan.

you pull away quickly, your hands on his chest. “wait.” you scowl. “i see what you’re doing!!” you jump up, his hands slide down off your waist. he raised his brow confused. “what am i doing, sugar.” his tone laced with confidence. your lip quivers as you feel your face heat up. “tanner..” you huff, quietly. he stands up, towering over you once again. he slowly begins to back you up to the bed as you stumble back onto the bed.

your eyes examine his body, the bulge dented in his pants and the pattern his chest heaved up and down in. he was pent up.

“did you want this, tanner?” you grin as he rolls his eyes. “you can cut this act cuz we both know ill shut it down real quick, honey.” he sits down besides you, turns to face you and leans over. kissing you sweetly. you begin to straddle on top of him and holding his face as the kiss gets more passionate and passionate. the bulge in his pants evident against your own crotch.

tanners breath hitches as you grind against his bulge. he leans back slightly as you continue to grind against him. you smile cockily at him as you kiss his jaw. “you’re so sweet for me, tanner.” you say between kisses on his jaw, lowering to his neck. he lets out a little whimper as he begins to grip your hips slightly after. helping you grind against him.

“fuck..” he pants as you caress his cheek. he tugs at the rim of your sweats and you kiss him one final time and begin slip off your own pants, your underwear remaining.

“good..” he smirks as he pushes your back against the bed, taking you aback. you gasp as he is on top of you. “don’t act cute, such a slut.” he giggles as he slips off your undies. “i’m gonna make you forget your name, sweetheart. :3” he kisses your neck, leaving a very prominent mark on it. he lowers his head & begins to tease your hole. his tongue tickling you perfectly. you gulp and let out a heavy sigh, coming out in a shaky tone.

his hands gripping your things as he licks around your clit. you practically chew down onto your lip as your back arches into his mouth. “tanner..” you pant as you told the back of his head and begin grinding into his mouth. he stops.

“nuh uh, sorry baby.” he lifts his head and removes his hold from your thighs and holds your wrists. “you want me to abuse your sweet clit, right?” he hums. you look away, pride slipping down the drain. “y—yeah..” you huff, your eyes shut tightly. “look. don’t touch.” he removes his grab he had on your wrists previously & slaps the side of your thigh. you yelp, growling lowkey afterwards. he giggles as he begins to tongue fuck you. his attention being to your clit and then fucking you with his tongue simultaneously.

“you like that? you like when i fuck your sweet hole with my tongue?” he drags out as you can only whimper in response. “fuck… you—..” you manage to squeeze out as he pulls away to bite your thigh. “keep it cute, slut.” he spits on your abused cunt and sits up, taking off his pants. you flinch at the impact of the spit.

his hard cock flings out & he begins to stroke himself. he lets a string of spit fall to the tip of his cock and covers his cock with his spit. “you ready, baby?” he smiles at you. you nod in response. “no? awww that’s a shame.. you can watch me stroke my hard cock infront of you then.” he pouts slightly. you furrow your brows. “tanner..” you murmur. he raises his brow, humming as he acknowledges you.

“stop being a dick.” you spat in response. he smacks his lips and shakes his head. “no no no baby, that’s not how you answer.” he lowers down to your collar bone and bites down. you exclaim and he covers your mouth.

”tell me you want this dick, like a good whore would.” he pants as he continues to bite down on you. he lifts his hand from your mouth, “i-i want your cock, tanner.” you sob out as the bite marks begin to hurt more. “such a masochist.” he lifts his head and kisses you gently on the lips. “good slut.”

he puts his tip in slowly as his cock melts inside you completely. he groans out as he begins to thrust immediately, giving you zero time to adjust. you didn’t deserve it in his eyes.

you begin to drool and tear up. tanners thrusting pattern is ingrained into your hole. he begins to tend to your nipples and suck on one and tease the other one with his hand. you were already pretty close due to him teasing your clit previously. “m’close..” you whine out, pathetically. he gives you a cute smile in return. making your stomach knot up. “i love you, t—tanner..” you coo out, drunkenly. your tears staining your cheeks. “love so much..” he cries out, squeezing your eyes shut.

“i love you more, baby.” he smiled at you, kissing your cheek, now your lips. you reach your climax, moaning into the kiss. he smiles into the kiss as he pulls away. panting slightly. he pulls out and places his cock on top of your crotch and his cum drips out all over your stomach.

he lies besides you and kisses your shoulders. cuddling you as you feel woozy, recovering slowly but surely. “my sweet baby, took my cock so good for me.” he mumbles between kisses as you try to cuddle into him. he stops you immediately. “wait wait!! i don’t want my jizz on my bed.. let’s get you cleaned, ‘kay?” he grins awkwardly as you whine. “okay..”you huff as you sit up. your belly covered in cum. “my pretty pretty baby. so gorgeous.” he smiled ear to ear, as he leads you to his bedroom.

[sawyerconfort]

Hi can you write Fiona Goode x fem reader using prompts #4, #8 and #19? Thank you <3

Sorry for the inactivity and request delay, anon, here it is!

and for other interested readers, yes, I'm back!

Hope you like it!

requests are currently closed, but news is coming and I hope to be able to reopen them soon!

enjoy!

I was really looking forward to write something about Fiona Goode (she's mother, she solos, she is the supreme and she's in charge everywhere!)

*fem!reader but you can change if you feel comfortable too!*

----------------------------------------------

4. "you okay?" 8. "yes, you can hold my hand, sweetie." 19. "yes, you can cry."

Fiona wasn't a patient person, nor was she very sentimental, but oddly enough, there was something about her that woke up when she was with you. Maybe it was the age gap and the constant worry of having someone who wasn't a witch in the middle of so much violence, magic and power. Maybe it was, who knows, the idea of being able to start over, of being able to create a successor like she had never created Cordelia, maybe a way for Fiona to redeem herself from previous sins and guarantee a place in Heaven.

Or maybe it was just a good feeling, a genuine love that someone like Fiona Goode probably never felt. Not with such intensity.

But she was, when you stopped to look at her, extremely tough, cold and cautious. She didn't smile at you, she didn't even show that she loved you back, while you only knew how to admire that woman, the Supreme, the most powerful witch in the entire coven.

It was late at night and for some reason you couldn't sleep. Maybe the shock of having a ghost of the LaLauries alive and working as a servant in the house got to you. Deciding to go back to sleep, you just went down to the kitchen to get some water, taking advantage of the fact that Delphine was sleeping peacefully, and, when you were almost finished emptying the glass, the door opened and scared you more than it should have.

Suddenly, when you least expected it, Fiona was passing through the room, and was about to go upstairs when she saw you, turning those piercing eyes right in your direction.

"What the hell are you doing up at this hour, (Y\N)?" she asked, her voice altered but low, with a surprised intonation.

"I could ask you the same thing," you replied, bluntly.

She raised an eyebrow. "It's none of your business, you moron."

You waited for Fiona to turn and go to her big, beautiful room, and she did. But before you hit the stairs together, one after the other, she let out a huge sniff, which startled you.

"You okay?" you asked, not expecting her to answer. And Fiona didn't answer until you were in her room, standing in the doorway. "What were you doing out there, Fiona? I care about you, I need answers."

She sighed. "Don't tell Cordelia, she couldn't stand it. I went… well, I went to the hospital, had chemo. I can only go out at night, which is when I'm sure you, and she, are asleep."

You widened your eyes, taken by surprise. Not entirely impressed, of course, because without even knowing it, Fiona had already hinted to you that she was running out of time. And honestly, it was either you or Myrtle Snow - and Fiona would kind of do anything not to tell Myrtle Snow -.

"I'm sorry, Fiona," you said, opening her bedroom door for good and letting her sit on the bed. Left with no choice, and feeling compassion for the Supreme, you sat down beside her and sighed. "Want company? I'm not very sleepy…"

She nodded and sighed too, letting you sit closer to the side, letting your bodies almost stick together. She looked tired and sad and lonely, and again, your pity for her was greater than any hatred and indignation at the Supreme's indifference.

"Please (Y\N), promise me this will stay between us…"

"How much time do you have left?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But what worries me isn't even the disease. I know I can lessen its effects, and it has helped me, even if it doesn't seem like it. What worries me is, in reality, the time that will pass, time is short for me. I will not die of common causes, I will be forced to leave because a Supreme will be in power after me… And you know who she is."

You looked at her. "Why don't you tell her the truth? Why do you keep all these mysteries to yourself?"

"Cordelia is more fragile than she looks, darling. If I tell her, she might internalize the powers, and everything will be even more ruined for me."

Her eyes were getting smaller and smaller, lowered, dilated, almost closed. Fiona really was fading away, little by little, and if you didn't do something, you'd have less time than you wanted.

"Could I just…"

"Yes, you can hold my hand, sweetie." She replied, smiling, as if she read your mind. Automatically, Fiona's hands sought out and reached for hers. She was looking into her eyes when she whispered, in a thin voice. "You are special to me, (Y\N). I'm a terrible person to you and I don't deserve someone like that…"

"You're not a bad person, Fiona. You just don't know how to show feelings, but I know all that even without you saying it out loud…", you smiled, squeezing her hand even tighter. "You'll never be alone again. This is just between us, and I promise you'll have me until the end, right?"

"I definitely don't deserve you, sweetie…", she laughed, hugging you and letting your head rest on her chest. "You're unlike anything I've seen before, and that intrigues me so much…"

Her voice was suddenly shaky, and you could tell she was holding in her tears. Fiona sniffed again and you looked up, smiling.

"Yes, you can cry." You whispered, still looking at her, and just as two tears fell, you used your fingers to wipe them away.

Fiona smiled, closing her eyes, and then gently leaned in to kiss you. A quick but meaningful peck.

"What was that?", you whispered, confused, laughing.

"I don't know. But I felt like it. And I wanted to try this before something happened to me."

You laughed and patted her arm lightly. "Nothing is going to happen, shut your mouth. We still have a lot more time to explore and experience other things…"

She laughed and then used her advanced strength to throw you onto the bed, getting on top of you.

"Oh really? Does that mean I can try again?"

You laughed, and kissed Fiona harder now, letting the rest of the night become history. And, well, to be honest, all you guys did least was sleep that night…

[ailendolin]

Hey! Can you please do 11 (home) for Gabriel/Ian please? Thanks 🥰

P.S. I love your works with my whole heart, thanks sm for fuelling my six idiots obsession <3

Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you have been enjoying my fics so far and I hope you'll enjoy your little prompt ficlet just as much.

List of prompts is here. Filled prompts are here, here, here and here on AO3.

Prompts are closed.

————

Home

“Do you miss your home?”

It was an innocent question, one children asked without thinking, and even though it wasn’t directed at him, Ian still felt the sting of it. He watched as Gabriel smiled and lowered her fork, all calm and without a hint of distress, before she gave Hamnet her full attention. “Why would I miss my home when I have one right here?”

The answer seemed to please young Hamnet since he went happily back to his dinner but Ian couldn’t help but glance anxiously at Gabriel, looking for any signs that the question had troubled her more than she let on. For a brief moment, their eyes met across the table. Gabriel’s smile widened a fraction. “I meant to say: you’ve outdone yourself with dinner once again, Ian.”

Ian, as he was known to do when anyone, but Gabriel especially, complimented him, blushed and averted his eyes. It didn’t help that Anne and Bill immediately joined in on the praise.

“I’m glad you like it,” he mumbled down at his plate, missing the fond looks the others shared over his head.

Yet after dinner was finished and everything was cleared away and washed up, he still couldn’t shake the worry that Hamnet’s question might have reopened old wounds that had only barely begun to heal. So after he’d blown out all the candles in the kitchen and made sure the front door was locked, he went upstairs and quietly knocked on Gabriel’s door.

“I’m sorry,” he said after she’d called him inside. “I don’t mean to disturb you at such a late hour but I was wondering – are you all right?”

Gabriel gave him a bemused look. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, with what Hamnet said at dinner–“

“Oh Ian,” Gabriel breathed and tugged at his hands so he would sit down next to her on the bed. She didn’t let go, Ian noticed faintly, as he waited for her to go on. “You can’t really miss something you haven’t lost, now can you?”

“But–“ Ian began, not quite understanding what she meant. “You left your country behind, your whole life!”

Gabriel’s face softened. “My life was a lie, Ian. Carefully crafted, full of illusions and very lonely. Bill was the first person who made me feel like I didn’t have to hide.” She smiled. “Spain might be the country I grew up in but this house, Bill, Anne, the children, you – oh Ian, especially you – that’s my home.”

Ian looked down at their entwined hands, feeling a lump form in his throat. “Really?”

“Really,” Gabriel said. She raised their hands to her lips to press a kiss against his fingers that was so gentle, so loving it took his breath away. “I did not mean to tell you like this and it’s all right if you don’t feel the same–”

“I do,” Ian blurted out before his brain could catch up with his mouth. Seeing the astonished look on her face, he took a deep breath and tried again, more quietly, “I do, Gabriel. Have for a very long time.”

He wished he could paint whole scenes with words like Bill could or turn the slightest touch into something meaningful like Anne was so effortlessly capable of to let Gabriel know how lost he’d been in a world that only ever saw him as a workforce, not a person, before he’d known her warm smile and gentle touch. But he wasn’t like Bill or Anne. He was just plain, old Ian.

Somehow, that seemed to be enough for Gabriel. She let go of his hand to cradle the left side of his face. She hesitated for a moment, making that sure this was truly what they both wanted, before she closed the distance between them and their lips met for the first time in the warm glow of the candles in her room. That restlessness Ian had felt in his bones his whole life slowly settled and turned into something else, something that felt a lot like–

“Home,” Gabriel whispered against his lips. She smiled. “See?” “Home,” Ian echoed breathlessly before he kissed her again. 

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Autumn Air, Season Fair

The cold autumn air catches the noses and fingers of many as the leafs, dead and colorful, fall to the waters and ground of dried grass. Stone walls are cold and standing still. It's peaceful and quiet.

"WHAT?!"

Well almost-

"Young Master, what are you sayin???" Barked Bard, his blue eyes widen in shock as the other four servants are the same expression. Ciel sits at a chair drinking his tea as he looks at them unphased, "I'm saying you lot are free to marry. It's a silly rule that the master controls what his servants want. You four deserve someone to care for."

The news came a shock to the four, each one different than the other, who simply came over to help clean up the manor that was left untouched for a while and now are told they are free to marry if they so wish?!

Before more protest happen, the sound from down stairs catches their ears.

Ciel's lone eye widen. "She did not-" He stands fast and hurries out the room with the servants following after.

And what a sight to behold!

There in the mansion's entrance hall is Doll and Soma side by side giving away bowls of soup and plates of bread to many children of all sizes and ages and shapes, dirty and clean, a smile full of pearly whites and missing gaps, loud chatter and children squeals erupting as it goes on.

The Earl grabbed the stair rail and called out in a beckon of a mighty voice, "What have I told you about doing things without asking me first, Doll!?" The brunette turned and looked up at him, instantly her freckles face once so cherry turns so sour and cold she looks nearly sick. "Last I check you're just a boy not the blood Queen!" Ciel's eyebrow twitch hard in annoyance as he feels a fire burning in his chest in high volume.

Sebastian was luckily there to calm him before he dare pops off like a kettle screaming for tea, "Miss Doll, Prince Soma, as much as the young master and I are grateful for your actions we do need some sort of warning before hand to help prepare." Soma, who has no adopted a more mature sense of fashion, who's golden eyes of beauty has no recently finally brighten back in light after the lose of his dear friend and butler Agni, turned to Ciel and smile. No longer does he cling onto the boy while talking loudly, he is a mature man now after all, "Sorry about that, just that Doll was telling me about the F.O.L. Orphanage and I just felt they deserved some food with some of my new friends!" Said he in joy.

Doll smiles to the prince but looks back to Ciel and gave him a stick of her tongue.

"Find a ground to stand with her" he says, "It'll be easy" he said... Ciel grimace when staring at the street of London to the very brunette he's been having issue dealing with for the last month. Easy my bloody ass! She is an absolute terrible lady!

He cringes from all the examples he can name the times she was indecent. The way she so casual tried to strip him nude on their first day together. The fact she made him feel her chest. The many times she swore out a word that makes even a sailor of the army blush mad like a virgin in a brothel. The way she ate like a starved piglet in a barn. Her walking around so freely in bloomers and top. Her constant disrespect to the very Earl who has let her live in his manor since the very end of reopening old wounds!

From the distance stands Lizzie who simply sighs in pout, "Honestly, this outing was meant for fun not so people can glare at each other with wire shut jaws."

Not far from her are stalls of fruit where Finny walks rather simple with a hum of his lips. The gardener reached out to a cart of apples and accidentally brushed the hand of another. He jumps and looks to the figure. "I'm sorry-" He stops when he sees who it is, a petite woman with long curly dark brown hair dressed in a red gown with white lace, her eyes big and a beautiful shade of light brown, her skin a warm flush of a darker tone. "Lo siento, ¿puedo ver las manzanas?" Her voice was sweet, like warm honey.

Finny blinks fast as he tries to process what she said. "She apologize and asked if she would like to see the apples Finny." Said Sebastian from behind. He jumped back as he stammers, "O-Oh of course!" The girl giggles, causing the poor boy to blush, and looks at the stall. His green eyes instantly flash to Sebastian, "You understand what she said Sebastian?" The butler chuckles, "Yes. It's quiet easy." "U-Um could you maybe ask her her name?"

Sebastian thought for a moment before going to the woman and the two talk, "Mi amigo pregunta por tu nombre." "¿El rubio?" "Si." The woman look at Finny and smiles bashfully before speaking, "Mi nombre es Valentina, acabo de llegar de Puerto Rico." "Puerto Rico, eso está lejos."

Finny waited patiently until his much older friend comes back, "She says her name is Valentina. She's from Puerto Rico." The blond tilted his head. "Puerto Rico? Where's that?" "It's just by America, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Sea." His green eyes shine in wonder, pausing when Sebastian handed him a paper as the girl walks away, "She has also inform me she works as a maid from a family of a singer, and if you would like you can see a show coming up and see Valentina again." Sebastian's poor ears weren't ready for the level of excitement bawl that Finny's voice created upon hearing that and his many many "Yes of course"s.

From the side lines Lizzie giggles upon watching the scene, her spot seated between Paula and Mey-Rin who sits enjoying the air. "Looks like Finnian might've been nipped by Cupid." She giggles, the two maids giggling along side her. Suddenly, the girl with pig tails turned her head fast to Mey-Rin, "What about you? Do you think you might fall in love?" The way Mey-Rin blushed you could've sworn her face morphed into her hair so fast. With a crack of her pitch and stutters galore she croaked, "O-Oh my- I-I never really believed I would, no I didn't! I'm no where near are pretty as you Lady Elizabeth, no I'm not!" Lizzie pouts, "Don't say that Mey-Rin, you're very pretty!"

The conversation was soon interrupted with Ciel walking over with a angry look on his face, his face flustered and puffy in emotion. "What happened young master?" Asked his maid in worry before glancing behind him with Doll who walks pass purposely kicking his leg as she does.

Doll sits on the floor of her new room, knees held tight to her chest as she dressed in only her undergarments and soft wool grey socks, her eye puffy and damp while her nose is wrinkled and snotty. It doesn't take a genius to show she has been feeling distress lately, in fact it increased since February of this year. That night was a lot like this one, nippy and cold, cold enough to reveal your breath, and much like that night she feels so...empty.

Yes, she has the orphans who care for her and she cares for them. Yes, she made fast friends with Lady Elizabeth Prince Soma and Alois Trancy. And yes, she still has Snake. But nothing truly shapes the feeling of whole again as back then...

Back when she was young and free from all the pains of life throws at you with each inch you grow. Back when she could run bare footed across the grass and creeks. Back when the very aches of growing up never affected her. Back when it was just her in that work house with the other children and her family...the only ones who could understand her fully.

Numb, Doll slowly grabbed forth a sheet from the best she was resting against and lazily wrapped it around her frame as she stands upright like a puppet being pulled up by a string. Cold, she slowly made her way to the bedroom window as voices speak forth her hearing, "Come on Doll, let's play!" Her shaking fingers unlatched the hook of the window and slowly pushed it open, her face instantly chilling with the effects of a gush of the wind and the scent of dirt and dried plants that carry through the wind.

As water begin to flow in the corners of her eyes, Doll looked to the grey sky to see her family eagerly waiting for her to join them, open eyes and bright smiles. She doesn't see them in those outfits the circus made nor does she see them as the dirty children she met them as, but as the real them all happy and good. Peter and Wendy are bigger and looked their age, Beast, Dagger, and Joker all have their missing limbs healed, No blood no scars no burns no pain just them...

For a very small moment she felt guilt build, guilt of making them wait for so long and so the quick image of the white roses being splattered red when her head hits the ground, and as quickly as it came the guilt disappeared as she carefully reached a hand out. Out the window to the sky. Out reaching for the family she longs for more than anything in the world. Preying to be set free from this cage of misery and leave this pained empty body behind with all it's cracks and cob webs of trapped wonders.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door and the door opens.

Doll turned her head to see Ciel stepping into the room with a shy expression. "I'm sorry to intrude this afternoon Doll, I simply have something." Curiosity arose within her tender chest as he stepped closer. Soon Ciel presented what he apparently came by to show, a box of many candy goods of colorful wrappings and ribbons, a familiar shadow of a bunny catching her eye as her nose catches the scent of sweet. Ciel looked away from her undressed self as he spoke in a soft tone, "Erm... I figured you'd like this since you talked about them back then. I just finished giving Alois some products as well so it isn't like you were the soul gifter so..."

As her gentle hands slowly took the box, her heart felt light. He...remembers...All this time... With a soft smile she carefully knelt down to his height more in a scooped dip and lightly kisses his cheek and whispered, "Thank you Smile. They're lovely..."

As the seasons change so does everything else.

Church bells ring out and echos across the sky as large doors opened to show a blond lad dressed all nice and formal beside a beautiful girl in a white gown and a bouquet of lilies and sunflowers, both matching in tears in eyes and bright smiles. No one was the least surprised when Finny and Valentina, his new apple of his eye, were getting married. The two simply just had that strong bond authors can call "love-at-first-sight". Finny has long sense grew to learn her language as she does the same back, even learning some German, and the two haven't dare not speak or see each other since that one concert he was so graciously invited to.

As the two ran off the steps of the chapel, their friends toss rice and flower petals in their way until they made it to the horse drawn carriage, many smiles were tossed and gifted and given back as cheers echo out the crowds. Valentina stops once she gets to the carriage's step and throws her flowers in the air with a smile. Many eyes were on the bouquet and watched as it falls into the hands of Mey-Rin who quickly blushes as her friends cheer. "You know the rule Mey-Rin!" Called out Bard as he chuckles.

As the air grows a touch warmer and less harsh, new chapters have continued to grow.

"Are you serious??" Bard's voice echoed the Midford manor as his eyes grow misty and fast as he stands before his beautiful wife Paula who smiles back. "Yes, I am." She said as she rubs her stomach. The chef and maid have recently tied the knot after much back and forth fluttering lashes and beating hearts of will they, won't they hell everyone witness.

Bard quickly scooped his wife in his arms and spun around. "I'm gonna be a father!" The two laughed as the summer sun shimmers in the air.

Across the way of the forest by a stream of cold water, pass the trees and right pass the beautiful green grass that shine under the sun and flow in the wind, is a wooden swing and a picnic blanket where three people laze about in each other's company. Different shades of blues and different tones of skin mix together as soft kisses come from each lips. Ciel hummed at the taste of honey and peaches from one and strawberries and cream from the other as he laid on the blanket simple minded in calm and peace.

Their bodies have molded and grown over time like clay dolls being shaped by life's invisible hands. No longer are they boys and a girl but a woman and two men.

As many seasons change, so does the people.

As a smooth fire burns it's heart out in the fire place, a shadow of a man walks back and forth across the carpet. In the room with him are many faces of different forms dressed in different colors and styles like a odd box of paints.

Suddenly, a loud scream of a female echoes the hall, causing a lot of people to pause and some to shutter. "I somehow feel the urge to apologize to my mother giving birth to me..." Mumbled Alois as his face pales.

A figure dressed in red look to the pacing man and softly tap him with the tip of a boot and sooth of a voice, "Due calm down Will, she's a tough girl I'll have to remind you."

Since the first spring after the Earl of Phantomhive's 15th birthday celebration, it seems demons, angels, and even reapers have found some sort of common ground. Buried the hatchet some human mortals say. Since then on a very important call some reapers would come by and help on cases much like how Undertaker had before the incidences. And since then a certain stern reaper fell in love and courted a lovely assassin turned maid who accepts his ways and the fact he's a reaper.

Another scream happens which resulted in William running down the halls faster than a very breath, cold sweat fall from his forehead as he reached the room he was searching for. With a hot chest and cold stomach he grabbed hold the knob of the door and swung it open. He blinks as he felt his knees grow weak faster than a melting ice block in the summer heat and sun and his eyes burned with tears as he stared at the bed where his tired dove rests with a freshly cleaned and coddled infant laid gently in her arms crying as tears stream her red face.

After a moment, people came into the room after him to see the scene and quickly offer their congratulations.

William fell to his knees the moment he reached to Mey Rin, tears staining his cheeks like a form of fashion, his finger slowly reach out to the small pink being in soft fabric crying their little lungs out to the world. "My nose...they have my nose..." He chocked when a small hand grabbed hold of his finger and squeezes, his body shaking with this whirl-wind of emotions invading his body. Paula whipped a tear from her eye as she speaks up, "Do you have a name planned for him?" The reaper sniff when hearing the gender. His son, his little boy.

"Xiu and Bella and Brair seemed to have tuckered themselves out."

Indeed, three children lay on the floor of the Midford manor's play room all cuddled together, crayons and papers scattered around, each dressed in their finest little ruffles and ribbons of style like precious gems they are to many, two of them wear a form of glasses perched perfectly on their noses or dangling halfway off their sweet adorable faces and the two are one with soft lavender curls and dark skin while the other is dark hair of ebony black and softer flush pale skin.

The three children's parents smile and softly gathered their respect child into their arms, Hannah and Mey Rin having to silence their giggles as they trade glasses. Sebastian stands tall and softly rubs the back of Bella, admiring how small she is in his arms.

As the rain falls to the window and the soft wind howls, he began to walk down the halls and sing so softly as warmth covers his heart, "Hush little baby don't say a word, papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing, papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring turns brass, papa's gonna buy you a looking glass..."

"And if that looking glass gets broke, mama's gonna buy you a billy goat..."

Sebastian smiled at the sweeter voice that joins his tune as he undoes the ribbon tangled in Bella's dark hair. As both he and Lizzie sing they help each other get their little princess to bed. "And if that billy goat won't pull, papa's gonna buy you a cart and bull. And if that cart and bull fall down, you'll still be the sweetest little baby in town..."

Lizzie leaned down after the covers of silk consumed the small girl and lightly pressed a kissed upon her head. As she rises Sebastian leans down and mimics the motion, but stays still as he whispers, "You have no idea, my dear, but I will do all those things and more if you so wish it...My dear light of my darkness."

This is yet another prequel of my two previous fics:

1-

2-

This fic is still dedicated to @annoyinglyshinycherryblossom, @sebalizzie, @nullb1rdbones, and now @onehellofashadynerd and @docmartensanddietcoke

[broken--stardust]

let me take care of you - j.t.k.

a/n: this is a fic requested from an ask about self-harm. i am placing the cut before the warnings, because i will be detailed with them. i am understanding that this is a triggering topic, and i was explicit in my writing. please, please understand that you do not have to read this just because it's a jake fic! i do not want this to bring you any negative energy in any way. also, this is written with a very gender neutral reader. love you all so much!

summary: this is a request from this sweet ask; Ok you do not have to write this, but I was thinking about a Jake fic where he finds out the reader has been self harming and he helps her through it? Again you don’t have to write this, I’ve just struggled a lot with self harm and it makes me feel seen when I read it in stories.

pairing: jake x gn reader

word count: 2.3k

warnings: GRAPHIC, EXPLICIT DECRIPTIONS OF SELF-HARM, angst, depression, poor mental health, poor self-care (PLEASE take care of yourself and your wounds if you self-harm. you need to prevent infection and what the reader does by ignoring it is NOT good) descriptions of blood and wounds, racing thoughts, anxiety, poor self-image, cussing, let me know if there are any others i should add.

"Fuck" you sighed under your breath as you took your first step after putting jeans on. As soon as your thighs rubbed together you could feel the after-effects of what you wrote off as "a moment of weakness" from the night before. The wounds were still raw, and you’d have much rather simply gone without pants, but seeing as you had previously committed to your boyfriend to meeting up with some friends and his brothers at a local bar, forgoing bottoms wasn’t really an option.

“Babe?” the door swung open at the sound of Jake’s voice. He smiled at the sight of you in your outfit, something that at its core was truly very simple, but very you. He was in front of you in one stride and placed a peck on your nose. “Are you almost ready?”

You smiled as well as you could through the pain, taking everything in you not to let on that anything was amiss. “Yeah, I’m ready.” You took his hand as he led you out to the car.

As the night went on, you tried to ignore how you were feeling. The nagging guilt, shame, embarrassment, and the sting every time you shifted your legs the wrong way plagued you as the night went on. As your company would ask you questions in an attempt to include you in their conversations, you’d hide your grimace with a grin. You should have known your ever-the-attentive boyfriend would see right through you, though.

He squeezed your forearm and you turned to face him. “Hey, everything okay?” he whispered in a tone only you could hear, his eyes filled with concern. “Yes, fine, I just need to go to the bathroom” you answered as you slid out of the booth. Once in the stall, you pushed your jeans down to your ankles, and saw red droplets staining the inside where your thighs met the fabric. You spread your legs and saw the wounds had reopened. Fuck. Why the fuck didn’t I cover these? Now that your brain was a bit more clear, thinking rationally, the weight of what you had done again, crashed down upon you, right there in the dingy, dimly-lit stall of the bar bathroom.

[explicit, graphic details in following italics]

The previous evening had been a mostly uneventful one. Jake had informed you he would be home late from the studio, late enough that you needn’t wait up. He didn’t have any idea how anxious and lonely you had been feeling all day, and that the last thing you wanted was to sleep alone. But, I can do this. I am an adult, I don’t need my boyfriend every minute, especially not to fall asleep, is what you told yourself. But, God, the way you felt was almost indescribable. You had so much negative energy built-up inside, you wouldn’t be surprised if you could see it radiating from your fingertips. The thoughts of self-hatred, anxiety, loneliness, and utter depression were cyclical, almost like a bunch of little voices repeating everything that was wrong with you. And then came the worst thought of all, no one deserves to have to deal with someone like me. Fuck, that hurt. Being a constant burden to the people you love and being completely undeserving of the love they shower you with in return. You didn’t even realize that auto-pilot has taken over your actions, and you were sitting on the side of the bathtub, skirt hiked up over your thighs, and blade in hand. What the fuck am I doing? Was all you could think, but as each tear left your eyes and hit the floor, a red droplet fell to match it. Your brain was suddenly a barren wasteland, as your body seemed to function on its own accord. After a few minutes, with no other thoughts behind your eyes, you quickly rinsed off in the shower, hid the blade, slipped on some sleep shorts, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

You barely awoke as you felt a warm body press up against your back. Jake placed a kiss to your hair and slung an arm over your shoulder. The only indication you gave him of your semi-conscious state, was grabbing his hand firmly with your own and bringing your intertwined fingers to your chest. Jake thought this was an involuntary reaction, a result of being in a state between dreaming and awake, but really it was a result of the guilt and shame you felt as tears slowly crept down your cheeks as you remembered your earlier actions, hidden from his view as he spooned you.

Now, you were sobbing in a bar bathroom. As the coughs and hiccups overtook you, you didn’t hear the door swing open, or the voice alerting you of someone’s presence. No, you didn’t realize you were no longer alone until you saw a familiar pair of slip-on white vans peeking out from under the stall door. You hurriedly tried to quiet yourself, though you knew the actions were in vain as he clearly heard you.

“Baby, shhh, it’s okay, it’s me. Can you please open the door?” his soothing, deep voice failed to have it’s normal calming effect on you, as anxiety began to overtake your body at the thought of him discovering what you had done. You knew it was inevitable, he’d find out eventually, but you thought perhaps you could keep it from him until the wounds were merely scars. “Babe, please?”

You coughed out a quick, “no.”

“Okay, baby, that’s fine. Can you at least talk to me? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, everything is fine.” Of course, you knew he would know that wasn’t true, but perhaps you could play dumb long enough to clean up the blood on your thighs before he was the wiser.

“Honey. Please.” He pleaded as you scrambled to rub toilet paper over the cuts. It hurt, and the paper just tore and got stuck to the wet parts.

“It’s really fine, I’m fine” you repeated as your voice cracked and shook, riddled with anxiety.

“Y/N, I will just crawl under this stall door if you don’t open up. You’re worrying me.” You were out of time. You yanked your jeans up from your ankles and buttoned them hurriedly.

You let out a quiet sob and took a shaky breath as you opened the door. He took in your tear-stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes and enveloped you in a tight embrace. You held your breath to try to keep the sobs at bay as they threatened you from your throat.

He had his eyes open as he held you in his arms and took in the bloody toilet paper in the toilet bowl. “Baby,” he began, “did you start your period?” You shook your head against his shoulder. “Did you get hurt?”

He didn’t realize the weight that question carried. He knew of your self-harming habits you had dealt with since middle school. However, you and he had been dating for three years, and in that time, you hadn’t had a relapse. You waited a few moments. “Kinda,” you answered shakily.

“Baby,” he said slowly, beginning to realize. “Did you hurt yourself?” when you didn’t answer, he pulled away from you and placed his hands on either side of your face and took in the tears silently streaming down.

“Please don’t be mad.” You whispered. He began to tear up too, at that. He didn’t say anything, he just held you close to his chest again.

“Let’s get you home, okay?” he said after a few moments.

“No, no, your brothers are out there-“

“Shhh it’s okay, there’s a side door right outside the bathroom and I’ll just text Josh and tell him I’m feeling sick.” He left the stall first, and you began to follow, but the stinging between your legs made you grimace again.

“Honey, does it hurt to walk?” he questioned, his voice laced with concern. You shook your head vigorously, but the look in your eyes said everything he needed to know. He picked you up bridal style and held you close, your face nuzzled into his neck and arms tightly clinging to him.

The ride home was quiet, but he never let go of your hand, occasionally bringing it to his lips and kissing your knuckles gently.

He carried you into your shared home, and to your bathroom, and gently set you down on the sink. He stared into your eyes for a few moments before taking a deep breath.

“I love you, Y/N. So much. You said something at the bar, and I thought about it the whole way home. I could never be mad at you for this. Not ever. It hurts me, yes, but I would never be mad at you for getting to the point that this is the only way you felt like you could find comfort. I can’t even begin to understand what must be going through your brain to make you feel like this is the only answer, but I just wanna help you any way I can. Is that okay with you? If I help you?” You nodded in response, too worried you would cry again if you spoke. “Okay, can I take off your pants?” You nodded again.

He kissed the tip of your nose and began slipping your jeans down and off your ankles. You quickly pushed your thighs together out of habit, hiding your wounds from him. “Baby. It’s okay. It’s just me.” He placed a chaste kiss on each of your knees as he knelt down in front of you. You slowly spread your legs for him, feeling the most vulnerable and exposed in front of him you ever have. Of course, he had seen everything down there countless times, but never marred by your own hand this way. You heard him take a deep breath, as you tilted your head towards the ceiling in an effort to keep the tears from spilling down your cheeks.

You felt his hand graze yours before he grabbed it. “Hey,” he began, causing you to look down to him. A couple of tears escaped from the corners of your eyes then, your face red with embarrassment. He smiled softly at you. “It’s okay, baby. It’s alright. Just let me take care of you, okay?” You nodded at him and he kissed your forehead as he stood up from the floor. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

He returned with a clean washcloth from the linen closet, some bandages, antiseptic spray, and a jar of something you couldn’t see. He wet the washcloth in the sink next to you and knelt back down in front of you. He began cleaning and dressing the wounds, using the lightest and gentlest touches possible. When he used the antiseptic spray, he instantly blew on the wounds where he sprayed to relieve some of the stinging he knew you would feel. Once the bandages were placed, he grabbed the jar.

“I got out some cocoa butter. I know it’s good for scars. So, when these start to heal and they aren’t open anymore, I’ll rub this on the scars for you, okay?” He was looking up into your eyes, his own full of so much care and adoration. It brought tears to your eyes again, having never been loved in this way.

You could only nod again, but you reached forward and caressed his cheek. He smiled into your touch, and turned to place a kiss to your palm as he stood.

“Jake,” you began, but it was all you could get out before you started to cry, throwing your arms around his waist and pulling him to you. He held you tightly to his chest, letting you cry it all out.

After several moments, your sobs had much lessened, you pulled away from his chest and looked up into his face. You could see the remnants of some of his own tears. “Thank you, Jake. So much. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, no, do not be sorry. This is how you coped last night. As much as I don’t understand it, I love you and I’m here to help you through this, if you let me. People relapse. It’s okay, it happens. But if you’re okay with it, I wanna help you find other outlets, okay?”

You nodded. “Thank you, Jake. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, baby. Let’s watch something and go to bed, does that sound okay with you?”

He knew you could walk now, with the wounds no longer exposed, but that didn’t stop him from picking you up from the counter and carrying you to your shared bed.

Once you were sat atop the covers, he brought you some of your favorite fuzzy pajama pants and one of his tshirts, and leaned you back to pull the pants on for you. When you were changed, he undressed to his boxers and pulled back the sheets to enter the bed. You quickly curled up to him and laid your head on his chest. He turned on a show you both knew you’d fall asleep before you’d finish, and he began tangling his fingers through your hair and playing with it. He absolutely radiated love and comfort.

Before you could drift off to sleep, you placed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Thank you again, Jakey. I love you so much.”

He laced his free hand with yours that was on his chest. “I love you so much, baby. So so much.” -fin.

[folklorebae]

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐀 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

Cast(s)/Genre: GN!Reader & Bokuto Koutaro/Hurt and comfort (College!AU)

Wc: 0.5k

A/n: Hi I'm sorry if you could relate to this story, no one deserves to feel lonely like this. If you want to talk, feel free to reach me anytime<3

You didn't know who's to blame right now. The pandemic or the lack of your social skills? Maybe the pandemic, it made you become a different person. You didn't know how to interact with people you never met. So how did you make a friend? It was pathetic seeing everyone had already got friends and made their own circle. While you on the other hand, didn't have a single friend that was actually a real friend.

"So for our next meeting, I will inform you more about a project for mid-term test. So please make a group of two or three people. Class dismissed, good afternoon everyone!" Those were the last words from your lecturer before he left the class.

Right now, you wanted to blame the government because they decided to reopen schools and universities. While the class was chaotic, full of chatter about "Hey let's be a partner!" And "Sorry, this group is full."

You didn't know what to do, you really wanted to leave the class. But you just can't leave the class without having a partner or being in anyone's group. You felt your heart raced and palms was covered in sweat. You wished you could stand up from your chair and ask someone if you could join them. However, there were always buts in your head that stopped you. Like, "But I'm a stranger to them." "But, would they accept me?" "But, what if they reject me?"

While you were drowning in your hell of thoughts. Someone waved their hand in front of you, snapping you back to reality. You jolted up from your chair and turned your gaze to the boy who was standing in front of you. You could only see his light brown eyes, since half of his face was covered in medical mask, and his black and grey spiky hair, eccentric you could say.

"Hey! I tried to call you but it seemed you were zoning out."

"Oh? Yeah... sorry."

He offered you some spray of hand sanitizer and you just nodded, letting him gave some spray on your palms. He then did the same for himself.

"Hi, I'm Bokuto Koutaro!" He introduced himself, hand sticking out for you to shake.

You gently shook his hand and smiled, even it was hidden behind your mask. "Oh, hi! I'm (L/N) (Y/N)."

Both of you let go of each other's hand. For a few seconds, you were waiting for him to tell you his intention. Some part of you wished he wanted to ask you to be part of his group.

"I'm wondering if you want to be my partner." He started.

You blinked a few times and nodded in excitement. "Yes, I'd love to. Thank you!"

He exhaled in relief. "Okay, cool."

"Okay." You weren't sure what to say.

"Oh by the way, do you have any class after lunch break?" He asked. It seemed the boy was hesitant to leave you alone.

You nodded. "Yeah, I got a global security class after lunch."

Bokuto's eyes slightly widened. "That's great! Me too! We could get lunch together if you want!"

You didn't know what you did but you thanked God for sending you a friend like Bokuto. You couldn't help but smile under your mask. "Sure!"

[bittermuire]

a nightlight and a bottle of wine

recently I’ve really loved nezriel and wanted to write a lil thing for them. this will be two parts, this is the first. modern au

---

It’s not like Nesta really knew what she was doing when she moved out. All she knows is that there is a rift between her and Feyre; a scar splitting their shared skin, a wound opening and reopening, never to heal.

And so she’s away. They’ve made their mistakes and let them be. They’ve hurt each other and even tried to love, but sisters love each other too much for love—and so she’s away. The guilt is still there, but farther from her, now. Nesta stirs it into her morning coffee and drinks the sleep, wiping it from beneath her eyes and the lines around her mouth.

Every so often Cassian will text her, inviting her out to dinner or to a work party, and Nesta resists the urge to throttle him. He’s a very smart, thirty-five year old man. He should know what cutting off someone means.

(He knows, of course he knows. She guesses he just thinks it doesn’t apply to him.)

His roguish charm, his smirk, his low voice, all inviting her to one thing—sex—was beginning to exhaust her. It’s a surprising relief to be away from him. She feels like she can wear tank tops and let her hair down and go out without a bra, relieved he won’t be there to stare.

(Was she really so afraid of him?)

So Nesta lives her life and drinks her coffee, wears her tank tops and sleeps in her underwear, finally a woman in the way she’s always wanted to be; she feels discrete from the rest of the world but in a near comforting way. She has no one to disappoint, no one to miss. Her world is confined to very few people and her mind allows for one.

•

But there are things that trip her up. Remaining ties.

One such: the nightlight clipped to her bed. It’s cheap, a gaudy silver. She’s sure Azriel bought it for no more than two dollars.

But she uses it every night.

(This trips her up.)

It’s a routine she’s given to herself, written into the margins of her life; she climbs into bed, smooths the blankets over her legs, grabs her book, opens it on her lap, then twists and switches on the light. It illuminates the page with a pretty, golden sun. She uses it religiously. She thinks that if she lost it, some intrinsic part of her might be lost as well, and this frightens her.

Remaining ties should be snipped. These last threads should be spooled up, put away, hidden in the bottom drawer.

She switches it on anyway, watches the light trace the letters.

(Sometimes she thinks she is the black stamp of letters. The utter bleakness of them on the smooth page. Sometimes she thinks she is what ruins the paper. She is what ruined the paper. There’s a reason she is here and they are there.)

•

November 19th.

Happy birthday to me.

She buys a cake from the supermarket and blows out the candle.

There’s a knock at the door, late at night. Not thinking to check, she goes to open it, and there stands Azriel, still in the doorway, bottle of wine in hand.

“Happy birthday,” he says bluntly.

She lets him in for some reason she still doesn’t understand, and they end up drinking a glass together. It’s from Cassian, the wine—his favorite. Azriel tells her that Cassian didn’t think she’d take it from him.

“So he asked you,” she says.

He smiles. “Because you like me.”

1:00 AM, and they’re still drinking. They barely talk. They just sit; they sit on the kitchen stools, then the rickety chairs, then the floor, then the couch, then back to the floor. His cheeks are pink, his words slurred.

“Why’d you come?” she asks, peering down at where he lays, splayed out, on the carpet.

(He’s not the kind for favors, she knows that.)

Opening his eyes, he fixes his gaze on her. He smiles sleepily.

“Happy birthday, Nesta.”

•

She doesn’t really celebrate for the holidays. Her apartment is bare, save a pair of twinkling bells on the kitchen counter, tied with a red ribbon. Sometimes when she’s cooking she’ll give them a little ring.

The letter comes in the mail—from Feyre, clearly put there by her own hand. It’s an invitation to dinner, for the winter solstice. They’re celebrating early this year because they’re going out of town for a few weeks.

(Please don’t feel pressured to come. We were going to leave you be but Az, since he’s so considerate, thought you might appreciate an invite.)

Nesta picks up her phone and texts Feyre a simple no thanks.

•

The next morning, she opens her door to a bottle of wine. Its neck is tied with a cherry red ribbon, and there’s a note—“If you’re ever lonely, give me a call. It’s my favorite.”

She doesn’t need to see who it’s from to know.

She smiles and picks it up, taking it inside.

•

It bites, the loneliness.

She wasn’t prepared for the quiet.

She traded in insults and jabs and sweaty hands at dinner tables for nothing, nothing, nothing. Silence in the shower, silence over breakfast. Over time, it’s begun to grate on her skin, sift between the strands of her hair, and she feels like she’s swimming a meter below the surface, ears clogged, vision blurred.

And slowly, she’s started to cry; she cries when the silence is too loud, when her aloneness is real, when she realizes the ugly truth of it all. She’s alone, she has nobody, she’s alone.

She picks up her phone and dials his number. “Let’s drink your wine.”

A small quiet. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

“I know, Nesta,” he laughs. “I’ll be there.”

•

They don’t drink at all, actually. She starts crying again the minute she sees his face.

“Nesta?”

•

“I’m fine, really.”

They’re walking down the aisle of the grocery store, weeks later.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m doing better, I am.”

He shrugs. “I don’t care. Pick a flavor. We’ll eat it, we’ll watch a movie.” He looks her up and down, brow creased. “You need two things—no, make that three things.”

She huffs a laugh, sticking her hand into the freezer and pulling out a carton. “What?”

“Sleep, ice cream, and company.” He grins. “And now you’ve got me.”

“Lucky me.”

“Lucky you.”

•

He’s seen her beautiful; he’s seen her ugly. He’s seen her in her rattiest apron with flour crusted into her fingernails. He’s seen her laugh so hard she cries, watched her slam her head into an open cupboard door, driven her to the hospital when she sliced her hand open with a knife. They’re together a lot, she realizes. They’re not halves; they’re one and one, and one and one make two, and they stand as two together on sidewalks, squinting at menus in the windows of restaurants, and they pet dogs in the park (Nesta always asks, because Az gets shy), and they take walks at midnight, and they live their lives contentedly next to each other’s. She starts to wonder if he splits his life into two—into Cassian and Rhys and Mor and Feyre, and into her, the girl who walked away. She’d like to know why he followed her.

Sometimes she’ll catch herself staring. Even before Cassian, she’d thought Azriel was the most beautiful of the three; all graceful, sloping shadows, soft and deep eyes, curling black hair. Her heart doesn’t know what to do anymore. It skips a beat when she sees him, but calms when she’s near him. It races when he leans close, falls to steadiness when he slings his arm over her shoulders. She can’t decide if she loves him like this or loves him like that. He means so much to her, means so many different things, that to give him a singular word wouldn’t fit.

She calls him Azriel, Az, Steve, Steven Shadow, Mr. Shadow, Ralph, Ron, He of the Candied Pecans, You. He responds to all of it. Recently he told her that it wasn’t because of the name, but because of the voice—(of course I don’t know who Ralph is, Nesta, but your voice, it’s your voice you use for me)—and she felt warm for reasons she couldn’t understand.

She shows up unannounced at his apartment when it’s a bad night. He does the same.

•

“Tell me the truth,” she begins, tipsy. “Did you like me before?”

“What?”

“Did you like me before?”

He frowns. “Elaborate.”

“Before you learned I’m a nice person. Back at the townhouse. When I hated everyone and was rude to you.”

“Oh.” He laughs a little. “I always liked you,” he says, and then his face settles into something like sadness. Nesta watches him closely. “I didn’t like… the way you made me feel, though. I’d see you down the hall, tired and everything, a stick of a person, and Rhys would make some joke, and I’d hate him.”

She blinks.

He looks down. “I’d never hated him before.”

There’s a tension between them. It’s common enough to be recognizable, but not enough to be familiar. She’s on edge, unsure.

The silence seeps in.

“And I hated myself, too,” he says. His eyes flick back up to hers.

Her breath catches in her chest. “I hated myself because I didn’t do anything. So I stayed away.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, overwhelmed. Everything is building; everything is quiet. His eyes are deep and dark and swirling. He shakes his head slightly, leaning closer, slowly, slowly, and she sees it all happen—he takes her face in his hands. She can see the stray strand of hair on his forehead, the one eyelash resting by his nose, the mole right above his mouth.

“I watched you fade,” he breathes. “I watched them pull you around.”

She twines one finger into his hair, trying to bring him closer, trying to have him closer. Come here, Azriel. Come with me. Be with me, love me, because I love you.

“I’m sorry,” she says again, because it’s all she can say.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he murmurs, and kisses her.

•

“Wait,” he says, reaching up.

“What?”

He touches the nightlight. “You kept this?”

She laughs, curled into his side, and says, “Of course I did.” He drops a kiss to her hair. “They all bought me books. You made it easy to read them.”

—-

@acosfisfeysandpropaganda I finally wrote it!!

[chaoslynx]

hi! i hope you're doing great and drinking enough water. could you do angst prompt #19 or #15 for asheiji? sorry hehe, but thank you so much!

19. “Why did you wait until I moved on?”

15. “What gives you the right to just waltz back into my life after all the pain you’ve caused.”

hi! I'm SO sorry this took thirteen million years. I really struggled with finding a way to incorporate these two lines into an asheiji fic that still felt in character to me, and also was still drabble-ish length. (This ended up being oneshot-ish length anyway, but honestly I just ... don't want to put it on ao3? I think it fits better with my drabbles here.) I hope this is okay despite everything!

Ash faked his own death.

It was a difficult decision to make, that's for sure. And honestly ... he really did nearly die that day, bleeding out in the Rose Reading Room of the New York Public Library.

He nearly wanted to die.

But he made it. He made it, and he made it out.

And he spent the next six months trying to make sure that no one found out that he did.

He knew that if he told anyone, anyone at all, that they would tell Eiji. There was ... no one he could trust in this, really. Because Eiji finding out? That couldn't happen. Ash couldn't let that happen.

For Eiji's sake.

It's been ... lonely.

But Ash is used to loneliness, in a way. In other ways, he's been about as far from lonely as it gets. But this kind of isolation? These emotional walls, this solitude? He's fine with it. It's how he should be. And that's okay.

Until six months after that faked death, when he really just can't take it anymore.

And he boards a plane to Japan.

— — —

"I never believed that you died," is the first thing that Eiji says.

Which is ... not what Ash was expecting.

"You knew?" Ash asks, incredulous. He covered all his bases, didn't he? Cleaned up all the loose ends? Eiji stares at him, and Ash can't read his emotions. He's not crying, and his voice is calm, but there's an edge to it. A hardness in his eyes. Eiji's always been an open book—and Ash would like to think that he understands Eiji better than most. But here, Ash is ... confused.

"It happened before, no?" Eiji replies. "This is not the first time that you have 'died' and left me. But it is the first time that you stayed away for so long."

"I ..." Ash isn't even sure where to begin.

"So why now?" Eiji asks. He huffs, crossing his legs on the couch. Ash tracked down Max through his newspaper articles, and he gave Ash the address to Eiji's tiny Tokyo apartment.

"What do you mean?" Ash asks. "I couldn't stay away from you. I couldn't bring myself to." He clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably. "You understand that, right?"

Eiji closes his eyes for a moment. When he reopens them, he asks, "Why did you wait until I moved on?"

Ash's heart stops. "M-moved on?" Is there someone else? Not that they were ever technically together or anything, and it's not like Ash ever deserved Eiji anyway. So it's fine, really. But ... moved on?

But Eiji shakes his head. "Not in the way that you think. I moved on in that ... Ash, I finally accepted that—alive or not—you would not return to me."

"But I'm here now," Ash tries, heart sinking. "I'm here now, and I want ..." what? What does he want? Fuck.

"What gives you the right to just waltz back into my life after all the pain you've caused?"

Oh. That look in Eiji's eyes—that edge to his voice.

It's anger.

Anger, and pain.

"I know I've hurt you," Ash whispers. "I know I've done a hundred things wrong, and hurt you a thousand ways, and I'm sorry. That's why I stayed away—to try to stop that from happening again. And if that's what you want—"

"You do not understand," Eiji says shortly. He quickly stands and turns on Ash, walking the short distance to his small kitchen. "You never do."

"I'm trying to!" Ash insists. He hesitates; should he follow? He stands up, but pauses awkwardly without stepping toward Eiji. "What don't I understand?"

"You don't understand what you have done that hurts me." At his kitchen counter now, Eiji spins back around to face Ash, resting his weight on the counter behind him with both of his hands. "You have never understood that you leaving hurts far more than anything that has ever happened when we are together."

Ash's brain short circuits, struggling to keep up with Eiji. These accusations seem ... different than anything Ash could have prepared himself for. "But I—I've done so much wrong—I thought that it was only right for me to stay away from now on. And if—"

"Ash!" Eiji all but yells. His knuckles are white with his grip on the edge of the counter. "I want you to stay!" He shakes his head, and a sob escapes as he does. "Please, Ash. Listen to me. Stay."

"I ..." Ash does step toward him now, eyes wide. "I will, if you think that I should? If you really, truly ..."

"It's all I want," Eiji confirms. "But Ash, you—" He laughs, or maybe sobs again—Ash isn't quite sure how to tell the difference right now. "You can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Ash asks. He tries for another hesitant step forward, heart in his throat. "I'll—I'll do anything, Eiji, or stop anything—"

"Stop leaving," Eiji says, looking up at Ash with a thousand emotions in his eyes. "Stop leaving, and start wanting to stay."

"I do want to stay." A whisper. "I'm just afraid to hurt you."

"Then never leave my side, Ash. Because that hurts worst of all." Eiji smiles, but his eyes are still sad. "Do you want to hug me?"

"Yeah," Ash admits. "If it's okay."

Eiji crosses the distance between them, and Ash throws himself into his arms.

"Fuck, Eiji, I'm sorry! It's so hard for me to—understand—"

"Then we'll work on that, Ash. Love," Eiji murmurs. "Because I trust that you do not want to hurt me. I do not want to hurt you, and—"

"You would never!" Ash says quickly. "You've never hurt me, and you never could hurt me, and—"

"Ash," Eiji chides softly. "It is okay. I understand what you mean, but I wish that you did not have so much ... I don't know." He sighs. "I love that you have such faith in me, but I am afraid that you idolize me a bit. And it makes me afraid that if—when—I do make a mistake, it will hurt you far worse than it would have otherwise."

"... Oh," Ash breathes. He hadn't thought about it that way. "I'm sorry."

"Something else to work on," Eiji says gently. He rubs circles into Ash's shoulders. "To work on together."

"Yeah," Ash whispers. "Together. I like that."

"Then let's do it." Eiji pulls back, and brushes a bit of Ash's hair behind his ear. "Okay?"

Nodding, Ash swallows. He looks down. "I love you."

"I love you too. And—"

"This'll be hard," Ash blurts. "Loving me, and—staying with me, and—"

"Ash," Eiji says. His voice is soft. "We've been through a lot, and the future—together or apart—will be hard for both of us. But we will have each other, and we will be okay."

"... Okay."

"Can you trust me on that?"

And fuck, Ash could trust Eiji with anything. With his life, with his soul, with his heart. He does trust Eiji, with everything he is. And he wants Eiji to know that. But instead, he just nods, and says again, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Kiss me?" Ash asks. His eyes widen a little as he registers what he said, but he doesn't go back on it. "Uh—properly, this time. The way a kiss should be." Because he trusts Eiji to know what a kiss should be like. To show him what a kiss should be like.

"That's what you want?" Eiji asks. He reaches up with a hand and brushes his finger along Ash's lower lip. Ash nearly shivers at the contact.

"Please," he whispers.

So they kiss, and—shit. Fuck.

If Eiji feels a fraction of what Ash feels right now, then maybe they can make this work, after all. Maybe Ash doesn't have to leave.

[teawaffles]

The Fugitives from the Fire: Chapter 8 / End

——It had been an absolutely bizarre day.

After Sherlock Holmes and the others had solved the case, that was what the man known to them as Jerry Dorff thought.

Presently, he was walking along a thoroughfare in the city, a piece of paper in hand. He still wore the bandages that had made him a suspect in the arson-and-murder case; as people walked past, his unusual appearance sent them casting dubious and uncomfortable glances openly in his direction.

However, he’d already grown used to such negative reactions. Paying no mind, he continued walking towards his destination, and thought back to the events that had resulted in this curious appearance of his.

——Originally, he’d been a capable businessman: one who had expanded a retail shop into a major commercial establishment. But one day, he was betrayed by a noble he’d thought of as a close friend. He was kidnapped abruptly in the dead of night, shot in a deserted area of London, burned all over while still alive, and thrown into the River Thames.

Yet he survived. After being swept downstream, he regained consciousness; somehow, he managed to climb out the river and save himself. At this point, he thought of returning home, and telling his child and his friend that he was alright—— but the moment he considered that, he stopped.

The man who’d tried to kill him was part of the nobility: an institution which wielded absolute power in this country. If that man knew he’d survived, he would attempt to eliminate him once and for all. On top of that, he could even be placing the people important to him in harm’s way.

As such, the man relinquished everything. He gave up proving that he’d survived, a life of peace, as well as the chance to see his family and friends again. From then on, he never revealed his true identity to anyone, and led a solitary life in the slums under the false name Jerry.

However, just the other day, a mysterious letter had arrived at the inn where he was staying. Written on it was his real name, and some simple instructions.

To summarise its contents: an incident would break out at a nearby inn; he was to get himself involved as one of the suspects; after which, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes would solve the case. Then, once the man had seen that the case was resolved, he was to go to this address.

And in reality, in the case involving the famous detective, the man had indeed been caught up as a suspect.

At first, when he read the letter, he was wrought with unease that his survival had finally been discovered. But if that had been the case, it would’ve been an assassin rather than a letter that arrived on his doorstep. As such, he surmised that at the very least, the author of the letter meant him no harm.

Moreover, the occurrence and resolution of the incident had happened exactly as the letter said it would; from that, it was apparent that this person had considerable foresight. Hence, powerless as he was right now, it would be mean nothing for him to disobey those instructions anyway. Having arrived at that conclusion, the man resolved to head to that address, even as apprehension took root within him.

“……Only being able to go with the flow — just like a puppet on strings, huh.”

He murmured self-abasingly, then stopped. He had reached the address written on the letter.

He was in the heart of one of London’s shopping districts. It was dusk, and the street lamps were lined up like candles on a birthday cake, casting a gentle glow all around. As usual, the passers-by cast strange looks in his direction, but the man didn’t care a whit.

Amidst the stream of people, he stood stock-still, his gaze fixed on the enormous building before him.

This was the department store he had, in the past, guided to success together with his friend. It seemed that a big incident a while back had forced the business to close. But as he soaked in its majestic atmosphere, a sense of nostalgia surged into his chest.

Nevertheless, at this point, he was no better than a recluse. No matter what end awaited this department store — the very one he had watched grow like his own child — that had nothing to do with him anymore. How was his precious family spending their days? That was immaterial to him too.

A firm resolve; and within it, an inexorable sorrow and regret. Perhaps the one who’d sent this letter was hoping to dredge up these emotions within him. If that were the case, then although he didn’t know who they were, he was certain they had rather bad taste.

Carrying a faint indignation, as well as an emptiness in his heart, the man made to leave.

Then, a little further down the street, a carriage caught his eye as it slowed to a stop.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“——Hey, William. You came to my house all of a sudden, picked me up in this carriage, then brought me all the way here — what on earth are you doing?”

As they rode together in a carriage, that was what Helena Curtis asked William James Moriarty seated across her. His elder brother Albert was seated next to him, and their youngest brother Louis held the reins in the driver’s seat.

However, both William and Albert simply responded with meaningful smiles.

“You’ll know it when you alight……. Since everything up till now, has been part of my plan.”

“………?”

She still couldn’t grasp the meaning behind his words; but for the time being, she did as he said and descended from the carriage.

Then, she found herself standing before the place where that brutal occupation had occurred several days earlier, and where she had ended up making William’s acquaintance: that very department store.

“……Maybe they’re going to unfurl a banner saying ‘Congratulations on your reopening!’ or something like that?”

Helena murmured as she gazed up at the building before her. Now, its enormity seemed almost hollow. She had thought of this store as her second home; part of her had been reluctant to see it fade away, but she also understood that there had been no other choice. For better or for worse, she was an intelligent girl.

What on earth was their purpose in bringing her here?

With that question on the tip of her tongue, Helena was just about to turn back to the carriage, when a voice came calling out to her from the side.

“……Helena?”

“——Eh?”

Her gaze shot toward the direction of the voice; there, stood a man whose face was wrapped all over in bandages. As the evening sun shone on him from behind, he looked almost like a demon from a child’s picture book.

Helena was shocked.

But it wasn’t because this suspicious-looking man had suddenly called her by name. What had taken her by surprise, was that ‘colour’.

——A warm, and slightly lonely colour, like clouds drenched in the evening sun.

It was dusk now: perhaps she had simply confused it with the sky? No, definitely not. That colour had certainly come from this man.

Then, the man seemed to have realised something all of a sudden, and turned his face away.

“Apologies. It seems I was mistaken. You reminded me of an acquaintance’s child.”

He said that as if making excuses to someone else, then turned away and tried to leave.

But Helena stared right at his back and shouted.

“Dad! It’s you, isn’t it!?”

Her voice had been clear, and imbued with a strong conviction. The girl’s plea washed over him, and the man looked down.

“……You’re mistaken. I’m not related to you.”

“That’s a lie! Your colour is the same as my dad’s! I’m absolutely sure on that!”

At this point, her voice was already trembling. With all her strength, she dashed toward him. He’d stood there with his fists clenched, and his back still turned; but finally, as if tearing himself free from everything, he spun around and knelt on one knee, hugging his daughter in his arms.

“I missed you so much……”

Helena spoke, her face buried in the front of his tattered, worn-out shirt. Even without looking at her, the man knew tears were flowing freely down her cheeks.

“……It’s been so long. And you’ve gotten so big.”

He too smiled at his daughter, no longer caring about the gazes of the people around him. Just for a moment, it was as if the bustle of the city had faded away, and the evening sun bathed the reunion of this long-separated family in its tender glow.

If only time could stop at this moment, they wouldn’t have to suffer the anguish of the impending tragedy. With that thought in mind, even as he felt a pang of regret, he pulled his daughter away from his chest.

“Helena. I’m glad I got to see you again. But, it’s no use: if he finds out I’m still alive——”

“——You need not worry about that anymore.”

Right then, William called out to him as he got off the carriage.

“……You are?”

“My name is William James Moriarty. I was fortunate enough to have made friends with Miss Helena.”

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Helena spread out her arms in joy.

“Thanks to William, I also saved Mr Kevin’s life, you know. Also, that noble, Andy — he can’t lay a hand on us anymore.”

“Is that…… true?”

From within the depths of his bandages, the man’s eyes widened, and he looked in William’s direction once again. At that, William responded with a smile full of warmth.

“This may be a bit too sudden, and perhaps you will need some time to process it, but that will not be an issue. We have completely eliminated that which has been tormenting all of you.”

“That…… How?”

“About that, please speak with your daughter in your own time after this.”

The man was more bewildered than overjoyed; but William left only those words with him, and stepped into the carriage once again. Her face brimming with smiles, Helena looked at William in the carriage, as well as Albert seated inside, and Louis in the driver’s seat.

“To everyone in the Moriarty family: truly, thank you. No matter how many times I say that, it will never be enough.”

William bowed respectfully, and then the carriage set off. As he watched the man stand there blankly, and the young girl waving at them as hard as she could, a gentle smile rose to his face.

Seeing that, Albert chuckled.

“So, is this the finishing touch?”

William nodded.

“That’s right, Albert nii-san.”

——Searching for Helena’s father, and reuniting them. That had been William’s plan this time around.

In order to pronounce judgement on Andy at the survival game, they had been looking into what the man did to Helena’s father, when William landed on the possibility that he was still alive and in hiding somewhere.

They had commenced their search right away, but it seemed the man was leading a rather inconspicuous life — his whereabouts were a mystery. Hence, William took advantage of the department store attackers who had fled from the police.

Those men were born and raised in the slums; having committed numerous petty crimes for a long time, they were well-versed in the art of escaping from the Yard. Of course, among the streets they’d grown up in, they were also familiar with the best places to evade detection. Putting it another way, one could take it that wherever these men had chosen to lay low, that same place would be perfect for Helena’s father to hide himself, seeing as he wanted to mask his existence. Hence, as soon as the fugitives holed up in one place, William would probe the surrounding area, and when he’d determined that Helena’s father was not there, he would let the fugitives catch wind of the Yard’s presence, and drive them on to their next hiding spot.

After repeating this a few times, as William had predicted, they finally discovered a man who appeared to fit the bill. He stayed at a certain inn, calling himself Jerry Dorff; but having laid low for such a long time, the man had become extremely distrustful — it would be no mean feat to call him out to meet Helena. Forcibly abducting him was out of the question, and even if they had brought Helena to meet him, he might mistake it as a trap set by the noble who’d betrayed him.

After exploring various methods, William chose to send him a single letter. Written on it was a full description of the incident that would occur — serving as a prophecy of sorts, to show that he meant him no harm, as well as a final notice: hinting that he couldn’t escape the net William had cast. After which, all that was left was to send an anonymous tip-off to the police regarding the fugitives’ location.

Then the detective and the Yard moved to hunt down the two fugitives, and Helena’s father was led to this place. Everything had unfurled from atop the palm of the “Lord of Crime” — and all of it occurred without the slightest deviation from his plan.

As a modest reward, William had been able to witness a beautiful love between parent and child. Sharing a meaningful look with Albert, he called out to his younger brother.

“Shall we, Louis?”

“Yes, William nii-san.”

With that, Louis urged their horse on a little faster.

Now that their twilight-coloured plan had been accomplished, they were headed in the opposite direction from the sunset sky, still radiant with the sun’s last rays — and towards one which was already dyed pitch-black.

When the sun went down, this city would once again be ruled by the darkness of the night. They would continue to race through its darkest parts, and work towards their goal. Finally, dawn would arrive. All the darkness would be dispelled, and a new day would begin: one that would bring people hope.

The carriage continued racing forward in a straight line. As it disappeared into the streets that had begun to dissolve into the gloom, William James Moriarty smiled.

One day, the morning sun would shine upon this world, and the ideals they created would come to life — that, was what he believed.

T/N: …When Helena’s father was revealed to be alive, I was oh my god what if—— and then they did get reunited and I was about to cry… It’s a better end than I could’ve imagined! (tears of joy)

[eijie-cavies]

Wen Kexing and the great divide.

So as we all know Episode 32 and 33 has left us with a plethora of questions and the fans are divided in terms of their view on Wen Kexing's plan. Tbh that is to be expected if you look at it. It was an asshole move to hide everything from A-Xu and leave him to find his soulmate's dead body only to find holy shit this motherfucker is alive still what the hell. And so a lot of the fans sided with the argument that Wen Kexing never learned and was acting like a selfish lone wolf. But today i am here to try to analyze the plan between Scorpion king, Wen Kexing and Ye bai Ye.

Please keep in mind i haven't watched the entirety of the show yet and so some theories here might not fit in with the rest of Kexing's explanation for the next episode.

Also thid will contain spoilers so please be warned.

Alright let's start. I will be dividing this analysis into parts. 1st part is the show's script and budgeting and why they chose the route that the went with.

2nd part is my theories on the heroes conference and why it was rushed as well as the timeline.

And lastly Wen Kexing's POV and the analysis for his plan and why he did what he did keeping A-Xu in mind as well.

A few extra bonuses is the romeo and juliet plot and why i think it had to be in the plot somehow.

So lets start, sit down and grab a drink for this you will need it.

1st part.

Scriptwriting and budgeting.

This show was supposed to have 45 episode and so the plot would have had more time to marinate and kick in if it weren't for the shortening of the epsiode.

With this in mind the scriptwriter had originally planned for this 45 episode and sadly we won't probably know what was supposed to happen if it weren't cut to 36 episode. But we do have Wolong nuts to thank for giving the drama sponsorship and making the drama into 36 rather than 32. If we had only 32 episodes in this drama everything would have felt too rushed and fast paced. And so to have to cut 9 episodes worth of plot the screewriter was put in a tight spot on how to cram three different events. Namely the kidnapping, the exposing of Zhao Jing and of course the wedding plot as well.

Thus the Romeo and Juliet plot was born. We will be discussing this plot in depth later on in the analysis. Nonetheless if they have had all the freedom and budget it would have been nice to see a plot of Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing and The Scorpion King all work together to bring Zhao Jing down. For now let us work on the plot given to us.

2.) Timeline.

The heroes conference is a huge deal, this is where EVERYONE of big sects and names gather in the martial arts world, its the equivalent of the whole world witnessing everything. This event is a big part of the plan that the three accomplices had, if they didn't act right away Wen Kexing and Xie'er (Scorpion King) wouldn't have had the chance to expose Zhao Jing in the future, because like what the beauty ghost relayed, once the heroes conference is over Zhao Jing planned on killing Xie'er and eradicating the ghost valley. There would have been no other time to take him down, no time to wait for another heroes conference as Zhao Jing would have risen in power already, they would have been too powerful to stop and the merits he would have gained by then would be multiplies, the people wouldnt see him as evil anymore. Therefore it was crucial to strike at the time where they are most vulnerable and the seed of doubt was still fresh, if they had waited, everyone would have disregarded Wen Kexing as a mad man and praised Zhao Jing for saving them from the purges of the ghost valley.

And scorpion king? Who would believe him if he was the only one to take a stand? His Godfather no doubt would have acted as if he didnt know what Scorpion was saying and act innocent. Even if he was spared Scorpion had no allies other than Wen Kexing who's allies was also born out of the same hatred they had for Zhao Jing. Everyone was forced to act swiftly, it was an all or none kind of situation. Now if we backtrack to the previous episodes, not two episode ago Zhou Zishu was heavily injured because of the kidnapping and was given no time to properly heal before everything needed to be set. As you can see in episode 31 Wen Kexing was in a hurry to meet Xie'er, don't you think it was iffy that he would leave A-Xu like that if he was still injured? The Wen Kexing that we all know would not have moved a single inch from Zhou Zishu's side if he were injured. And this is because of a lot of things which we will be getting to in the third part of the analysis.

Now on the subject of the plan and how Chengling had somehow gotten a hold of it. Simple, Ye bai Yi. He is free to roam around, sending messages and talking to people behind the scenes, we never really knew what he did after he left Wen kexing at four seasons manor and the reason why he had agreed on the rushed reopening of the heroes conference. but if you think about it it fits with the timeline. Zhao Jing wanted to reopen the heroes conference and Ye Bai Yi was sure that they were out to hunt down the chief of the ghost valley. If you remember the letter in episode 27 you will understand.

Why did they get that letter in the first place when the four seasons manor wasnt even fully restored yet? The martial arts world didnt even know that Zishu was on the road to reopening it and yet he got an invitation. This is Ye Bai Yi's first clue and a nudge for Wen Kexing to take action. This leads us to part 3. Wen Kexing's plan.

3. Wen Kexing's plan.

Now the question is why didn't Wen Kexing think to tell Zhou Zishu his plan? Simple. He is heavily injured. Now i was stuck here as well because i would have thought, why couldnt he just trust Zishu of his plan? BUT you all have forgotten this.

Wen Kexing has asked this two times, he wanted tell Chengling already so the kid could process it before he could stage his plan and possibly even tell Zhou Zishu on how he can use the heroes conference as an event where he can expose Zhao Jing. But Zhou Zishu was kidnapped, tortured and injured. There was no time to tell him of the plan without him having to stop Wen Kexing from doing it. At first i thought this didnt make sense, Wen should have trusted Zishu enough to carry on without distrubance right? Well a very nice person in Youtube provided some very interesting and eye opening points for me.

And they are right, if i were Wen kexing i wouldn't want to burden Zishu of having to wait around thinking where i went off to, why do you think he told A-Xiang to take care of Zishu and promised to go back in one piece?

A-Xiang was also kept in the dark of the plan, the only plan she knew was that Wen Kexing is planning to have an alliance with the scorpion king and thats it. He didnt fully disclose everything either.

Wen Kexing's plan was simple, after he was regarded as "Dead" he probably would have went home to tell Zhou Zishu he was completely fine and it was all a ruse to trap Zhao Jing. BUT the problem was that Zishu set out to find him, Bei Yuan and Da Wu couldn't stop him either as they had no time to explain everything without Zishu panicking. Like i said this was all too rushed of a plan for Zishu to comprehend specially when he needed to heal as fast as possible.

What they could only do is give Zishu a medicine to ensure that if he ever did take out the nails he would still be okay. And that was the downfall of Kexing's plan. He didnt expect Zishu to have escaped his friends watchful eyes and go to the siege, ever wonder why Kexing said this when Zishu arrived?

He was trying to convince Zishu to leave, make him believe that Wen Kexing is out for blood. But Zishu didn't fall for it, instead he stayed which was NOT a part of the plan at all. There was nothing Kexing could have done now, the siege was happening and he could only play along and move forward. And if you look closely again just as they were about to attack Kexing, Ye Ba Yi came to fight Kexing at the VERY right time, and who fought Zhou Zishu?

The three ghosts WuChang, his subordinate and Happy ghost. Why didn't anyone else go for Zishu? They could have had the scorpions attack him but they chose the Ghosts who are a part of Wen Kexing's valley, mind you these three ghosts were there when they rescued Zishu wouldn't it just sound stupid if they were fighting Zishu to kill him? No. What they tried to do is separate Zishu from Wen Kexing. Ye Bai ye could have eliminated Wen in 10 moves, he said this himself. But they had this complicated dance that somehow landed Wen Kexing at the edge of the cliff and left Chengling to do the rest.

And so he fell and Zishu followed. If you look closely even Ye Bai Yi was surprised that Zhishu jumped. NONE of it was part of the plan. From the moment Zishu entered to the moment he jumped no one planned for it.

And if you are upset of Zishu having to see Kexing's dead body and breaking his heart, this again was NOT A part of the plan. Beauty ghost was there to protect the corpse, if the corpse had not been burned it would have been presented to the martial art world and Kexing would come back as a different person and telling them "They got it wrong. That corpse is the chief of the ghost valley, i am Wen Kexing the disciple of four seasons manor" and it would have been more belieavable. But plans went south, Zishu found the corpse further solidfying that Kexing (in his mind) is dead and so he took out the nails. Ke xing couldn't show himself to stop Zishu either, there was so little time and he couldn't risk himself be seen.

Some others had been in the dark of the plan as well, not just Zishu, and the reason Wen Kexing didn't dare tell him was not because he didn't trust Zishu to stay away and let the plan carry out, instead he know EXACTLY what this will do to Zishu. Wen Kexing's plan was to HIDE Zishu away until the conference ended. Because with Da Wu and Bei Yuan, there would have been no news about Ke Xing dying that would have reached their place and Zishu would have had all the time to recover as Ke Xing took revenge and finally come back home as a new person.

He NEEDED Zishu to stay away from the fight to help himself heal just enough to get the nails out.

His revenge done and his new goal to be with Zishu for the rest of their lives. But unfortunate events happened, Zishu found out and there was other way to go but forward.

Ever wonder why Kexing had this look on his face on episode 33?

He wanted so bad to explain everything but the spotlight was on him and this was the only time he will be given the chance to take a stand. This is now between him and the Zhao Jing. Like everything there was nothing to do but move forward.

Now for bonus part.

Romeo and Juliet plot.

Romeo and Juliet plot is basically person A percieved as "Dead" and person B endagering their life to the brink of death only to find person A was alive and well but Person B is for real dying.

Now tbh i wasn't a big fan of the Romeo and Juliet plot, this was the reason why fans became so divided and saying Kexing didn't learn his lesson therefore lossing their faith in Kexing and Zishu's relationship. He was pervieved as childish and selfish, And tbh they would have had so many plot devices that they can use to maximize full on plotting and bringing down Zhao Jing. But going back to my first point of the budgeting im guessing the scriptwriter had struggled to cram it all in. It was already episode 33 and they still had two more plots to cram in (the wedding and curing Zishu) so im not as upset as much. In the end the whole staff gave their best and poured their heart and soul into the drama. On an ending note i'll just let this nice person do the talking for me

Thank you for reading! If you guys have your own theories feel free to discuss or voice them out.

[ddarker-dreams]

Puppet Strings. Yan Ghost Josuke x Reader [COMM]

Warnings: Josuke’s temper flaring, typical yandere elements, brief alcohol mention. Word count: 3.1k

i.

You didn’t think much of it when you saw your window wide open. 

No, it wasn’t that particular moment that sent alarm bells ringing. It’s remarkable what the human mind is capable of scrounging up to justify an otherwise horrifying situation. Moving from one place to another is an exhausting effort -- you reasoned to yourself -- maybe you reopened it and forgot. That sounds perfectly plausible. Sleep came easily to you that night and all was forgotten the next morning. There were some other minor occurrences, cabinets being open, the television flickering. Nothing incriminating, nothing to worry about. 

For a time, this logic worked in your best interest. The last straw was when your personal belongings started going missing. Lip glosses, shirts, and even some sketchbooks. Contacting the police served to be no help. When they asked who could hold a vendetta against you, you had no solid leads. You’d only been in Morioh a little over a month. Earning an adversary in that short a time felt unlikely, if not impossible. Classmates were interviewed, their alibis clearing them of possible suspects, the investigation stagnant. Your neighbors hadn’t seen questionable figures lurking around your home. Days went by, and a few patrols later, the police claimed there wasn’t much else they could do. There were no signs of breaking and entering, no fingerprints, no leads. 

No peace of mind.

You’ve explored every logical avenue. Not knowing what to do next is the worst part, it’s what serves to frustrate you the most. Sighing, you dry your hands off, mulling over what to do next. Now that you’ve finished washing the dishes, there are no other chores to procrastinate with. Guess I better get started on that project, you think. God, but it’s so hard to focus anymore. 

Without noticing it, you felt drawn to the living room. Anyone would understand, that from the stress you’ve suffered, it’s fine to take a break. A distraction from reality sounds great right about now. Your PlayStation 2, which has been collecting dust, can finally get used. The multiplayer games are bugged -- a Player 2 shows up even when you play it with yourself -- so you haven’t used it in some time. Scanning over the various game choices, you never get a chance to pick one out. 

“Huh, so they released a sequel to that?” An unknown voice, masculine and lighthearted, chimes in behind you. Your immediate reaction is to whip your head back, searching for the source. Heart pounding, you realize this is exactly what you feared. That whoever was stalking you would eventually come to settle things for seeking help from law enforcement. You don’t see him, even though the voice had been close enough to assume he’s behind you. There’s no way you imagined it. Where is he? 

That’s when you see him. 

Whether or not it was intentional, he stands blocking your path to the kitchen, where your phone is. A young man of imposing size, easily dwarfing you. His style throws you off, it’s like he was ripped from another time. That hair… a pompadour? Narrowing your eyes, you stand from your kneeling position, preparing to hold your ground. He might be blocking your ability to call the police, but there’s still the option of running out the front door to alert your neighbors. It’ll be fine, you tell yourself, not entirely convinced. Just don’t panic. 

“Who are you?” Is the first question that slips past your lips. There’s unfiltered hostility in the words, despite your hesitation to aggravate him. Your eyebrows furrow when he puts his hands up in defense. It gives an impression of mockery in an otherwise grave scenario.

“Woah, calm down there,” he lets out a nervous chuckle that further irks you. “You can call me Higashikata Josuke.”

This person -- Josuke -- is acting too casual about this. There’s no doubt in your mind that he’s the source of your torment these past few weeks. How else could he be standing in your home, acting in such a deplorable manner? For your own best interest, you bite your tongue, that’s dying to hurl numerous insults his way. In contrast to his polite speech, he’s dressed like a stereotypical delinquent. Who knows what Josuke would do should you provoke him. You’ve heard rumors of rambunctious youths in the area and don’t want to test the validity of those claims. 

“Alright, Higashikata-san, I’m going to ask you to leave. This is my house. If you just… leave me alone, I won’t contact the police. Alright?” You feel like your proposal is a considerate one, even if you don’t intend to follow through. Once you get to safety, like hell you’re going to let this punk get away with it, he just doesn’t need to know that yet. Josuke shifts weight from one leg to another, contemplating your words.

“I can’t do that. Besides, the same way you feel this is your house, I equally feel like it’s mine.” Josuke replies, scratching his cheek. His tone almost sounds… apologetic. As if it isn’t completely within his control to leave. You gulp when you realize your approach might not work. Maybe he’s not mentally sound? That’s the most plausible solution. Taking a deep breath, you shift to a less combative posture, still hoping to talk him down.

“Is there someone I could call? A guardian, a friend? Let’s figure this out.” You will yourself to keep each word steady to lure him in. The innocent inquiry doesn’t have the intended effect, Josuke frowning as soon as the word guardian left your lips. Shit. Was that a sensitive topic? The scowl is gone in a split second like it never existed. He takes a step closer to you and you take a step back.

“There’s not much to figure out. I’ll be honest then since I’m sure you’re freaking out right now. Which makes sense. I’d be freaking out too…” he trails off, going deep into thought. Finally, Josuke manages to choose the proper words. “How do I go about this? Alright, I’ll just come out and say it.” 

“Well, to put it in simple terms, I’m dead.” 

You blink. Tilting your head, you conclude that this Higashikata Josuke is not mentally well. Getting in contact with a professional is your new top priority. Josuke picks up on your hesitant body language and rushes to give credence to his claim.

“I know, crazy, isn’t it? I’m sorry about your stuff, by the way. Felt like the best way to understand my new housemate without sending you running right away. I’ll return it now,” Josuke’s demeanor doesn’t give you the impression of a liar. Still, a spirit? You don’t know what to think anymore. He sighs at the sour expression on your face. “How to prove this to you… ah, I know. Hey, check this out.” 

Josuke points to the controller sitting on your couch. Not a second later, it starts levitating in the air, your jaw-dropping at the unfeasible spectacle. Josuke lets out an airy chuckle at your bewilderment. “Sorry, that was pretty lame. I didn’t know what else to do.” 

“There’s… really a spirit, in my house.” You struggle to say it aloud. The people living in Morioh could be superstitious, a view you attributed to living out in the country. This paranoia, or sometimes reverence, never fell in line with your beliefs. There was no solid proof that the supernatural existed. It made for riveting local stories, for youths to gossip and movies to adapt, but the line was drawn there. A timeline plays in your head of the past few weeks. It would explain how no one in this active community spotted an intruder, or how the police never found physical evidence. 

“Our house, actually.” He corrects with a beaming smile.

ii. 

Maybe it’s not so bad. 

Josuke, with whom you have an unusual relationship, makes for decent company in your otherwise uneventful life. You still can’t help but feel on guard around him for his earlier behavior. As he explained it, borrowing your belongings was just a way to get to know you. He apologized wholeheartedly for the stress he put on your life. It felt genuine, but an apology doesn’t make everything go away at once. Little by little, Josuke’s grown on you, worming his way into your heart. Memories and feelings fade, your first few weeks after the move are no different. 

“Have you seen my red scarf anywhere?” You call out, peeking underneath your pillow. Josuke appears from thin air -- an element that took some getting used to -- helping to look around your room. One of your conditions for remaining here was that he’d show up in your room only when invited, a condition Josuke was more than happy to agree to. You guess everyone is lonely in their own way.

“It’s not over here,” Josuke yells from beneath your desk. “What do you need it for, anyway? Can’t you just turn the heater on?” 

“Well, I could, but that wouldn’t do me much good. Some friends invited me to karaoke tonight, and the weather report said it’ll drop to four degrees celsius.” Feeling defeated, you plop onto your bed, staring at the ceiling. Josuke leans over, popping into your line of sight. He’s lacking the trademark smile you’ve grown used to seeing. For such a minor change, it packs a punch. Josuke sulks like a kicked puppy.

“Karaoke, huh?” He mutters, more to himself than you. “My old classmates used to do stuff like that. Sounds fun.” 

You sit up and cross your legs. Josuke’s tone is a longing one, wishing to fulfill a dream that can never be, visage painfully bleak. Guilt bubbles up in your stomach for the insensitive comment, not realizing he has a lot on his mind too. Josuke’s bubbly personality stood on a thin sheet of ice, ready to plunge into the depths at any moment. You wrack your mind to try and appease him. 

“It really isn’t anything that exciting. I was going to say no, but they insisted. Just imagine it as a bunch of tone-deaf people drunkards belting, that’s all it is.” You console. Josuke doesn’t light up at your joke, his eyes hollow. From what you know about spirits, if they linger in this realm instead of moving onto the next, that means an obligation is holding them here. You’ve never asked Josuke why he hasn’t passed on. That leaves room for speculation, numerous hours spent ruminating over theories. Maybe he’ll tell you one day, or maybe he won’t. Either way, it’s still tragic he never got to live his life.

“Mm… guess so, yeah.” He isn’t paying attention to your words. Guilt as sharp as knives slices through you at Josuke’s gloomy mood. For a split second, you consider canceling with your friends, to stay home and cheer him up. He always loves playing games with you or just speaking over trivial matters for hours. You push the idea away. Fraternizing with a spirit on the daily isn’t enough to supply your social needs, only friends of flesh and blood can fill that role. 

“Hey, I’m sorry for mentioning it. If you want to talk about--” 

“No,” he cuts you off, shaking his head. “Go ahead. Go live life.” 

You don’t offer a rebuttal. Josuke probably needs time to think, you decide. We can talk about it later.

iii. 

“What’s up?” 

You lean against the wall, payphone pressed against one ear and your hand covering the other. Music blares in the background, terrible acoustics of the crowded bar making it difficult to hear the other line. One of the workers grabbed you, saying you had a call, your guesses of who it could be next to nonexistent. You scrunch your nose up when you hear Josuke’s distinct voice on the other side.

“It’s late,” you hear him say. His voice is muffled, but the exasperated tone is hard to miss. “Shouldn’t you be back by now?” 

Sighing, you struggle to rationalize why Josuke’s pestering you like this. You never gave a time when you’d be home, not thinking it was necessary. “I was going to leave soon. I don’t have class in the next few days, so it’s fine.” 

“It’s dangerous to be out on your own--” 

“Josuke,” you deadpan, rubbing your temples. “I appreciate the concern, really, I do. But I used to live in Tokyo, remember? If I could survive the city at night, I can survive here.” 

“That’s not the point here,” Josuke counters, voice dropping dangerously low. Your patience is wearing thin at his attempts to police your autonomy. It’s not his place to enforce a curfew on you. “You don’t know what kinds of danger lurks in Morioh.” 

Josuke’s statement is full of bone-chilling conviction. Almost like he was speaking from firsthand experience. You take a deep breath, remembering that you’re speaking to someone who likely died in a traumatizing manner here. Maybe extending a little grace wouldn’t hurt. It’s a shame to cut the night short, but it’s not that big a deal.  

“Okay, I get it. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk back home. I’ll see you soon, alright?” 

Softening your voice seems to have the effect you intended. Josuke takes a second to consider, the two of you waiting in tense silence. This is the first time you’ve gone out with friends, maybe he just wasn’t sure what to make of it. You hold no intention of bending to his every whim, but this one time, you’ll offer him peace of mind. There’ll be major boundaries set up in the future. 

He sighs begrudgingly. “... Right.” 

iv. 

This is getting ridiculous. 

Josuke’s behaving no better than an entitled child, your paper-thin patience starting to give way. The circumstances you’ve been placed into were unusual enough, to begin with, but they never felt malicious, not until Josuke’s personality seemed to switch in the blink of an eye. What you can only describe as sabotage has become a regular occurrence. It perfectly parallels the problems you had upon first moving into this house, only now you know the one responsible. He’ll act none the wiser, claiming innocence in what has to be his doing.

Cut phone lines, missing shoes, personal journals disappearing into thin air, nothing has been spared. Maybe you were foolish for trusting a spirit. You’d like to have thought you were on solid terms with Josuke, your mortal mind doing its best to wrap around the otherworldly events. You’re at your wit’s end, now fully prepared to confront him on this unacceptable display. It’s a shame it came to this, you think. Confrontation is the worst.

“Josuke.” 

“[First].” 

The two of you sit in the living room, on opposite sides of the couch. Ever since the karaoke disaster a few weeks ago, Josuke’s attitude has taken an undesirable turn, as evidenced by how he’s acting now. Never did you imagine he could be so petty. You straighten out your posture, squaring your shoulders, and placing your hands on your lap. He stares at you with faint interest, cerulean eyes shining at your attention. 

“I’ve tried my best to be understanding,” you wince at how dramatic your words are. It almost sounds like you’re breaking up with a partner. “If I did something that upset you, please just be honest about it.” 

Josuke gives a nonchalant wave. “Nah, it’s not that important anymore. I recently made up my mind, so I don’t feel too concerned about it.” 

There weren’t many expectations in place for this talk, but Josuke dismissing you this fast wasn’t an outcome you envisioned. It feels like a slap to the face after you spent days dreading this talk. What did “recently making up his mind” even mean? Irritation rises in your throat like bile, words snapping out before you can stop them.

“You don’t just get to be that dismissive,” you point out with a scowl. “I know what you’ve been doing. Taking my stuff again, right, Higashikata? I’m fed up with this shit. Maybe I should just move out--” 

Your sentence gets cut off by the coffee table’s glass shattering. The high pitched noise makes you jump, shards flying in multiple directions on the floor. Glancing from the mess back to Josuke, you find the sight of him as a stronger cause for worry. He looks thoroughly unimpressed with your emotional outburst. Thick eyebrows knit together, his face contorting from friendly to enraged. You gulp when a sudden chill in the air sending shivers down your spine. With how friendly your relationship with him had been up to this point, you forgot to watch your tongue, the initial reverence wearing off long ago. 

Josuke stands up, flaunting his towering build. Looking down at you through lidded eyes, he reaches down, and you catch a glimpse of light blue and pink. Huh? What was that? A trick of the lights, maybe? As fast as it was destroyed, you watch in awe as the pieces return to their original place. Broken glass, chips of wood, screws and all, become whole as if it was a movie playing in reverse. Is this something else a spirit can do? 

“Y’know, [First],” Josuke begins with a humorless laugh. “This is great. I wasn’t sure how to do this part. Now I don’t have to worry about that, so let me cut right to the chase.” 

You feel the blood draining from your face, goosebumps dotting your skin. This is wrong. Whatever he’s doing now, you can’t stand another second of it. “Josuke, you’re scaring me.” 

“That’s fine by me.” He smiles. There’s a palpable thickness in the air, tension elevating as each second crawls by. Your mind trips over itself in search of a solution to this, but deep down inside, you’re filled with dread. A dread that this damage is beyond repair and that you’ve made a fatal mistake. Would screaming even help you? Could you outrun a ghost? Your heart pounders against your ribcage and you pray it isn’t Josuke who’s trying to rip it out. 

“You saw that table,” Josuke points to the once destroyed furniture, now neatly put back together. He frowns at your lack of confirmation, pressing further, voice increasing in volume. “Right?” 

You somehow manage to nod. Your throat and tongue are too dry to use and the room feels like it’s spinning. 

“That makes this simple then,” Josuke sits back down to his spot from before and stretches his arms. “There’s a lot I’m capable of. Way more than I’ve shown you. Breaking things apart and fixing them is my specialty, but… that last part can easily be omitted.” 

Josuke turns to face you, eyes peering into the depths of your soul.

“Threaten to leave me again and I won’t even bother to put you back together.” 

[that-good-trash]

Trust Me?

Bakugou x reader / Shinsou x reader

Warning: Hurt/comfort, Angst, Mentions of cheating, Happy Ending?

Word Count: 6.5k

Summary: You love your boyfriend more than anything but it seems he might not feel the same way anymore. When the same friend that planted the seed of doubt ends up your shoulder to cry on where do you go from there. 

Authors note: I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff and this was kind of my self indulgence fic. Please Enjoy!

P.S: I was thinking about jumping on the kinktober bandwagon but I’m worried I can’t do kink justice. Maybe look out for some quick one shots if I do. I am also having to rewrite the fourth chapter of Burn Away With Me because the original file somehow ended up freaking deleted (note to self and others always back up files or make a copy). 

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Saturdays were meant for relaxation, for hanging out with friends without a worry. The weekend was meant to provide a chance to shed your hero uniform and trade it for a cute comfy outfit. Well that’s how weekends should be, that’s what you wish you were able to do. Instead you sat on your couch scrolling through your phone watching your friends have fun without you. Pictures of dancing and drinking continuously pass as your fingers move absentmindedly. A picture of Mina taking shots followed by photos of Kaminari on a tabletop. This always happened, you had been missing out for weeks now. However, this problem went deeper than missing a few weekend hangouts. Your boyfriend, whom you had been with for almost three years, had been canceling plans with you for the last few months. Every time you both had a day off, he always got called in or he had made previous plans. It was starting to get old. Had he always been so flaky? Had you just not noticed before or was this new. Either way you were now fully aware of his behavior and how little attention you received from him. Your screen lit up with messages from friends telling you to ‘get your ass to the club’ immediately. Oh, how you wanted too. You wished you were wearing a skimpy outfit grinding against your besties laughing and enjoying yourself. Instead of getting into your club attire you put your phone onto the coffee table. Your back hits the cushions behind you as you fall backward. A sigh slips out and you’re ready to reevaluate your life. What kind of relationship was this? You felt like you were alone, and it was starting to seep into your conscious letting that little voice grow louder and louder with doubt and self-deprivation. It took every ounce of your being to reject the thoughts, to lull yourself back into a false sense of security. Your phone ringing disrupted your thoughts good or bad.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you! I miss-” You didn’t get to finish your sentence before the deep grouchy voice of Katsuki Bakugou interrupted you.

“I won’t be home tonight. Don’t wait up for me, just eat dinner and go to bed.” He sounded like he had been sounding. He sounded tired with a swirl of irritation and it took a lot to convince yourself that it wasn’t toward you. You had to bite your bottom lip to prevent yourself from screaming at him for doing this again. You loved him, did so much for him, that it hurt for him to just blow you off. What was even worse was he didn’t even tell you why he wasn’t coming home. He just expected you to turn in early without even an explanation. You wanted to cuddle or go out with friends and he wanted you to spend the night alone.

“Suki… Why aren’t you coming home? You said last week that you were going to try to come home early.” A growl of frustration could be heard on the other side causing you to tense up. You knew you were upsetting him but that wasn’t fair. He had no right to be upset with you since you were only asking him a simple question and stating a fact. He had promised you that he would start coming home early to spend time with you. You knew that being a hero was hard, you were one. However, you also knew when someone was just making excuses and that’s what this was becoming.

“Christ woman! I have work to do! I said I would try, and I have tried. Obviously, I couldn’t make it home tonight so just listen for once and don’t wait up.” No chance of rebuttal, he had hung up immediately after snapping. That was it. The last straw. You let the tears you had been suppressing fall freely. Your phone was aggressively tossed to the ground and unfortunately your body followed it. Your knees hit the ground first before your clenched fist dug into the carpet. Your head buried itself into the carpet before a scream escaped. It was one of filled so much pent up emotion. A scream that needed to be freed, to help release you from this torture he was putting you through. You sat back on the balls of your feet, your hands swiping at your eyes rubbing the tears into your skin. You cried more causing your hands to rub harder, your skin stung and burned from the aggressive motion. Your phone chimed bring your attention back to it. Your hand held the device hoping for an apology but instead read the newest text from Mina. It was another invite, but the party had moved from the club to Yaoyorozu’s house. A smirk replaced your previous forlorn look. You stood up from the floor letting all sadness be hidden away by pettiness. If he could ditch you like that, go back on a promise so easily then you could go against him. He wanted you to stay home like a good girl, but you didn’t feel like being that good girl. You had never changed so fast in your life. Your pajamas were traded in for a formfitting outfit, one your kept for special Mina party occasions. You looked at yourself in the mirror with gleaming confidence. You outfit accentuated all your nooks and crannies. You looked smoking hot and with some simple yet stunning makeup you were ready to go. A quick text to Mina and you left the cold lonely apartment

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The party wasn’t over the top and thankfully everyone there was a former classmate. You waved as a few people turned to look at you. Sero had to do a double take to make sure he was witnessing reality and not a ghost. You rolled your eyes as his tape grabbed your wrist before a swift yank had you in his arms. A soft chuckle escaped from your lips that were buried in his chest. He smelled like cedar and felt warm. You let your body relax against his as he let you go but kept his hand on your waist. Kaminari had abandoned his post next to Jiro and rushed over. Before he could try and snatch you away from Sero a new pair of arms circled you. Mina was smiling against you neck as she stuck his tongue out at a now pouting Kaminari.

“I’m so glad you actually decided to make it tonight. We were starting to think you hated us.” You shook your head at the fake hurt in her voice. The boys weren’t helping since they nodded along with Mina. You pulled out his grasp backing away so you could see all three of them. They really had changed in the short span of time since you had seen them. Sero was rocking a cool new undercut while Kaminari seemed a little more built. Mina had also cut her hair, but you knew that since you basically stalked your friends.

“I’m so sorry guys. It’s been crazy, work and home have been a little hectic.” A scoff could be heard behind you. Everyone’s eyes shifted to Uraraka who had her arms crossed. Midoriya stood behind her awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. Uraraka’s puffed out cheeks mimicked that of a chipmunk. You raised a brow at her strange behavior. “Did I say something to offend you.”

“No but why lie? We all know that the reason we don’t see you anymore is because of Bakugou.” Your eyes widened at her straightforward accusation. You looked at Midoriya waiting for him to comment but he remained silent, probably in fear of getting involved. You narrow your eyes trying to hold some dignity. “Bakugou and I are fine okay. I just haven’t had the time to make it to any hang outs because I spend time with him.”

Now everyone was looking at you. For being the only sober person in the room you were sounding like the drunk one. Everyone knew that Bakugou had been blowing off plans with you. It was inevitably that they found out since most everyone talks, and things get around. A sigh that matched the one back at your apartment came out. You looked defeated as you returned to Sero’s side. He rubbed your side while Mina shooed everyone’s attention off you. “You don’t have to talk about it but we’re here for you.”

“Thanks guys…” You closed your eyes trying to let your emotions settle before returning to the fun party you had yet to enjoy and partake in. When you reopened your eyes, a smile followed. You were going to have fun even if it killed you. Mina squealed when you asked for a drink and before you knew it one turned to three. Uraraka had ditched her sour attitude and replaced it with giggles as the two of you danced together. You broke free from Uraraka as you watched Kirishima walk through the front door. You didn’t even give the boy a chance to take off his coat before you were tackling him. He was shocked to see you at the party just like the others had been.

“What are you doing out so late? Isn’t Bakubro’s bedtime at 8pm.” Kirishima was able to get a laugh out of you along with the other members of the Bakusquad.

“Yeah his bedtime would be 8pm if he ever came home. He’s always working late. I never see him anymore.” As the words left your lips you felt the air grow cold. Tension was evident. You froze as you felt your blood run cold. There was an unspoken understanding, but you knew that Kirishima wasn’t going to remain silent. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly which was accompanied by a shaky laugh that turned into him clearing his throat.

“I might be wrong but Bakugou hasn’t been working late… I was one of the last people to leave the office. Bakugou left at his usual time…” You wanted to pretend to be ignorant, but this couldn’t be swept under the rug. You couldn’t act like you hadn’t just been told that your boyfriend had been lying to you for months. Oh god your stomach began to churn, and you pushed passed him and through the front door. You ran into someone before turning and throwing up into one of the planters. Sero and Mina ran after you. Kirishima stood in the doorway feeling guilty but also pissed knowing that the person at fault was his best friend. You felt a comforting hand on your back rubbing it gently. You assumed Mina but when you finally turned around your eyes met with lavender ones. A broken smile cracked across your face. He held his arms open and you ran into them without hesitation. Shinsou had always been there for you when you were both attending UA, but time was cruel, and you couldn’t remember the last time you felt secure in his tight embrace. You sobbed and he just let you. Your friends stood by watching with conflicting emotions.

“What the hell did that asshole do now.” Shinsou was never one to speak to you like you were fragile; he was always blunt and honest. He also never approved of your relationship so of course he’d blame your current state on Bakugou. You wanted to tell Shinsou but couldn’t get the words out. Thankfully you had friends who could speak for you. Sero was the one who spoke up. “She found out that Bakugou hasn’t been staying at work late. She is obviously thinking the worst but he’s probably training or visiting his parents.”

“Bakugou? I just saw him at that fancy restaurant that we went to for Midoriya’s birthday. He was there with some busty bimbo. They seemed pretty interested in the conversation they were sharing. She must be a client or some woman after an interview.” Shinso knew exactly what he was doing when he told you about the mystery woman. He hated hurting you, but it was a necessary evil. Shinsou had always had feelings for you even before he understood them. You were always by his side cheering him on and now he was going to do the same for you. Before he could build you back up, he’s having to let you crumble under the lies Bakugou told you. Your eyes shimmered with unshed tears and a storm was brewing. Your fists were clenched, and your friends hesitated to approach you. You swiftly turned around walking passed everyone back inside before grabbing your keys and leaving. You could hear your friends yelling for you, but you never stopped. Shinsou watched your car drive off into the distance. He knew this was going to end terribly but he would be there to catch you. Thankfully since the ground was already starting to give out.

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“Where the hell have you been!” Bakugou almost dropped his keys as you tried to quietly enter your shared apartment. He turned growling at your accusatory tone. He slammed the door before turning to you. In the light that was cast from the hallway you could see his hair was disheveled, his shirt was wrinkled, and you could swear he smelled a little sweeter than usual. The signs all shone brightly in front of you. Bakugou approached you ready to start an argument over your attitude but stopped when he saw your eyes. They were sunken in, bloodshot, and lifeless. He had never seen you like this. His expression softened before he reached up to cup your cheek. His hand never got to touch you before it was smacked away. “What the fuck Y/n!”

“Who is she… Actually, I don’t want to know. I just want to know why.” Bakugou wasn’t expecting your accusation so he couldn’t help but look shocked. Guilt seemed to creep over him before it was covered up with denial and anger. He scoffed and walked past you toward the bedroom. He didn’t make it before you had spun him around yelling this time. “WHY THE HELL DID YOU CHEAT!”

“SHUT THE HELL UP WOMAN! I DIDN’T DO SHIT! Who the fuck filled your head with such idiotic thoughts? Did you go out with those idiots again? Was it raccoon eyes or maybe that shitty Deku. Whoever told you that is a liar and needs a fucking hobby?” Bakugou yanked his arm away before heading into the bathroom to shower, no doubt to hide the evidence of his infidelity. You wanted to keep shouting and accusing him, but you knew it was pointless. If Bakugou thought he was innocent then he was no matter what kind of proof you had, which was none. Giving up was not an option and as much as this was your home you had to leave. Your chest tightened as you packed your bags. The only sound keeping you company was the shower Bakugou was currently occupying. You wrote a note and gently placed it onto your pillow before turning to leave. You felt your heart stop as Bakugou stared at you wide eyed. You felt like a deer in the headlight. He walked toward you, his hand reaching behind you to grab the note. He read it to himself before burning it in his grip. You flinched at the heat the radiated directly to your left. Bakugou growled as he loomed over you. “So, you’re leaving huh. You think you can just write a fucking note and disappear into the night. You aren’t going anywhere.”

A scream escaped as he grabbed you pushing you into the bed. His hands holding your arms above your head. He smirked as his towel fell at his feet. His grip tightened when you resisted. His knee pushing your legs apart. He shifted onto the bed never letting go of you and never moving his knee which was painfully pressed against you. “What the fuck are you doing Bakugou!”

“You think I’m cheating? Then I’ll just give you the attention you seem to be so deprived of to come up with such bullshit accusations.” You didn’t want this. You didn’t want his hand aggressively holding you down, you didn’t want his knee pushing against your crotch, you didn’t want his teeth biting into your neck like some kind of feral animal. You needed to get away. Your head smashed into his face allowing you the time you needed to get out from underneath him. He cursed while holding his bleeding nose. You grabbed your bags bolting to the front door but before you could open it, he caught you. His arms holding your waist from behind. You let out another scream of fear and agony before the back of your head smashed into his nose, again. A growl slipped out and you finally got the door open. Before you could make your escape Bakugou’s fingers slipped into your hair yanking you back. His lips touched your ear and you could smell the blood flowing freely down his lips. “She felt a million times better than you.”

No words came out instead a choked sob and a whimper as you felt him let you go. You didn’t even hear the door slam you were already out of the apartment complex and in your car. Your hands shook as you called the only person you could think to be awake. “Hey Y/n, what’s wrong?

“Shinsou, I need you.”

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Bakugou tried to call you a million times after you left but to no avail. You had even blocked his number. He tried to find out where you had gone but no one would share that information with him. He had even gone to your agency but all they could tell him was that you were on a leave of absence. Bakugou truly had fucked up with no sign of reconciliation. It had been a week of trying to find you and failing. Mina, Sero, Kaminari, and Kirishima claimed that they hadn’t heard from you which wasn’t really a lie. They knew that you left Bakugou and that you were crashing at Shinsou’s, but they had yet to visit. Everyone was worried about you, but they didn’t know the truth. They knew you had some kind of falling out but that was it. They had no idea what had actually happened.

“Are you going to lay in bed all day or are you going to actually get up.” Shinsou was teasing you as he slipped on his hoodie that he had to steal back from you. The day that you called him he was ready to break Bakugou’s jaw. He couldn’t believe what you had gone through and he partially felt like he was to blame for telling you about the girl, however you had the right to know that your boyfriend had been cheating on you. Shinsou had tried to make you as comfortable as he could but you were starting to get stir crazy.

“Why am I hiding when he’s the jerk who hurt me!” Shinsou shrugged as you threw his blanket off your body. You rolled out of his bed and stood in front of him pouting. He ruffled your hair while rolling his eyes at your outburst. He had dealt with multiple versions of you over the last few days. Sad, angry, regretful, spiteful, and any emotion in-between.

“Y/n, you don’t have to hide. You are safe with me, but you shouldn’t feel like you aren’t safe out there either. You can go back to your normal life. He won’t hurt you. I promise.” You knew that Shinsou was right and it was time to return to your normal life. Your arms wrap around him before you kiss his cheek thanking him. Before he can respond you run off to shower. He smiles to himself before calling out to you that he’s leaving and will see you later. After you shower you spend some time laying in bed texting Mina that you needed a girl’s day. She was in no way against it and told you she would meet you at her favorite coffee shop downtown. You changed into a cute skirt and one of Shinsou’s shirts that was a little baggy, that you tucked into the skirt. It was a casual and comfy outfit. You grabbed your purse and your phone before leaving the comfort of Shinsou’s apartment.

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“Y/N!” Mina had trapped you in her hug eliciting a laugh from you. She pulled away and grabbed your face looking you over for any sign or marks that you could have possibly obtained from Bakugou. “You’re okay right?”

“Yes Mina. I’m… I’m not really that okay. I’m still coping with Bakugou using me, cheating on me, just overall destroying me. I’m mad at myself for trusting him for as long as I had.” You leaned your head into Mina’s hand feeling shitty once again. Mina pinched the cheek against her palm causing you to groan in slight pain. She looked sad; she was sad. She cared so much about you and it broke her heart knowing that you were still suffering. She was still missing details of what happened, but she was able to piece some things together after Bakugou drunk called her apologizing for what he had done to you. She was sick to her stomach and wanted nothing more than to call you and apologize herself. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there for you.”

“Mina you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m a big girl, I’ll be okay. And I haven’t been dealing with it alone. I’ve been staying at Shinsou’s.” That once sad look was quick to change into one of cat like curiosity. You had said the magic words.

“Shinsou hm.” You shoved Mina as the two of you entered the shop to actually get coffee. “I NEED ALL THE DETAILS.”

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“Bakugou you can’t be serious.” Kirishima had been following Bakugou after they ended an all-nighter at work. Bakugou was ignoring Kirishima while heading to his destination. He had gotten a text from Kaminari that you were meeting with Mina. Kaminari hadn’t meant to send that information, he didn’t even remember sending it until Kirishima called him screaming about it. Bakugou already made up his mind, he needed to see you. To tell you how much he fucked up. He needed you back, for you to understand how much he loved you. He regretted everything he had said, he had done. Kirishima had tried to talk some sense into him but he failed. Bakugou thought what he was doing was right and stopping him meant nothing. No one gets in his way.

“Mina wait up you are walking to fast.” Mina had run ahead after seeing something in the widow of a shop that she thought would look amazing on you. You had to stop and let a few cars pass before trying to cross to meet your overly excited friend. The moment your foot moved forward your arm was yanked backward. You gasped before trying to pull it away from whoever grabbed you. As you turned to free yourself you came face to face with something worse than a stranger harassing you. Bakugou’s piercing red eyes were staring into yours, a jolt of fear rushed through you causing hair to stand up and your muscles to tense. People walked by with curiosity since neither of you tried hard to hide your identity. What was ground zero doing with Hero/Name? You didn’t care what random people on the streets were saying or thinking. What mattered right now was getting the hell away him. You yanked harder but his grip just tightened.

“Please, Y/n I need to talk to you.” His voice came out pleading. He was begging you to stay and listen but every fiber in your body told you to run or fight. You let your arm go limp like you were giving in. “Thank you.”

Bakugou smiled but that was literally smacked off his face when you swung your free arm back before delivering a swift punch. Bakugou grunted in pain letting you go so he could touch his hand to his nose. You hadn’t meant to hit him that hard but technically he shouldn’t have touched you, so it was justified. “Y/N!”

“Don’t Bakugou!” Bakugou had reached for you again while Kirishima ran at him trying to prevent this from escalating. Mina had realized what was going on by now and was running toward you. Her and Kirishima were trying to prevent exactly what was about to happen. Bakugou caught you before you could run. His hands held your arms tightly, the fingers digging aggressively into them. You could feel how hot they were, and you were scared that he would use his quirk. You didn’t want to show fear to him. Instead you mustered up a face of pure disgust. “You don’t get to touch me. LET GO OF ME!”

“Will you shut the hell up for a fucking second. I just wanted to talk to you. You disappeared and I had no idea where you went, and I was worried believe it or not. I’ve been kicking my own ass over the shit I said to you.” You stood there letting a man who cheated on you, a man who used you and hurt you, tell you that he was worried that he was regretful. He held you like you owed him this. That was all bullshit. Your shoulders shook as you dropped your head biting back tears that you felt he didn’t deserve. “I love you Y/n.”

The world had been moving just a moment ago and yet now everything seemed to stop. Time stood still but the words echoed. Mina and Kirishima faded out of existence leaving only you and Bakugou. If this was a romance movie it would be followed by you throwing your arms around Bakugou before kissing him. This was real life and you felt no positive emotions. Bakugou’s grip never loosened and his eyes remained staring intensely into your own. He wasn’t going to let you go till you responded. However, no matter how you responded if it wasn’t in favor to what he said then you may as well have remained silent. You felt your heart race from the stress he was forcing onto you. The regret reflected in the crimson orbs almost made you feel guilty. You had loved him. You had given him years of your love and he shattered in along with your trust. You had spend the week crying till your eyes were swollen, screaming until your lungs begged for a break, pleading with some other worldly being to help you get over this pain, and wondering what you could have done to prevent this from ever happening. To say you didn’t love Bakugou would be a lie. You loved him more than some stupid romance. You loved the way he growled in response when he was bothered, you loved the way he never gives up, you loved his honest laugh in which he truly thought something was funny or enjoyable, you loved the way he would kiss you and run his hand through your hair when he thought you were asleep. You loved and still love so much of him but as you look at him those feelings twist like gnarled tree branches and you feel yourself choking back vomit. When you closed your eyes you could picture a woman running her hands along Bakugou’s exposed body, you could hear them panting and moaning, you could hear the secretive whispers, and you could smell the sweet and salty after sex scent they would leave behind. These things were what you dealt with, they hallucinations that haunted you after his cruel revelation. The cheating wasn’t the only thing haunting you. His hands holding you against your will, his teeth biting into you with no consent, and the fingers that entangled into your hair pulling with enough force to bruise. You had experienced fights before, but this was had been different, you were afraid and disgusted with that version of Bakugou. This Bakugou in front of you was the same one just using sad eyes and words of endearment to trap you so he could lock you up properly and punish you for leaving.

“Y/n… please say something.” The world was moving or at least is seemed like you were a part of the rotation once again. People were watching the two of you, but you didn’t notice. You couldn’t break eye contact. Your lips were pressed so tightly together that you were afraid if you tried to open them, they would be glued shut. A dry mouth and cracking lips prompted you to have to unseal your lips as your drying tongue attempted to rehydrate your lips. What could you say that would make any of this better? Was there anything that could even be said anymore. You wanted this to just stop but didn’t know how to make that happen.

“Pro hero Mind Control has everybody on edge with the news of this important somebody he’s been hiding from us.” The moment you heard Shinsou’s hero name the world was back to normal. Your eyes broke from Bakugou’s turning to look directly at the large screen across the street. Shinsou’s figure stood proudly on the screen before it changed to an interview. You watched the woman across from him ask questions. “So, who is this mystery person that you claim means the world to you. Someone so important that you have taken off a week of hero duties to be with them. “

You were the only person on the street watching this interview play. Mina’s voice once again crossed your ears as she yelled at Bakugou to let you go. Kirishima was going to grab his friend but stopped when you gasped. Bakugou had harshly shook you to return your attention to him. His eyes held a little anger and he seemed to have lost patience. “Y/n –“

“This person is someone I love deeply; someone I’d do anything for. I want her to know what love truly is. I love Y/n L/n. Many of you know her as Hero/name…” The rest of the words faded off as you cried. Bakugou had you at the brink of them but hearing this message broadcast to the world had them freely spilling over. A laugh broke beyond your splitting lips. Your fingers dug into Bakugou’s hands yanking them off you. He looked co conflicted, anger and fear blended. You didn’t care about what he was feeling because you finally felt like something was okay. Your hands covered your mouth as you tried so badly not to squeal. You felt the happiness fade as your wrist was trapped in Bakugou’s grip. He wasn’t going to let you go without a proper answer especially now that the world knew what Shinsou thought of you. “Bakugou please let go of me. This… this is crazy. You need to let me go because I… I’m letting you go.”

Bakugou watched you pull your wrist free. He watched you look up at the screen as it played the end of the interview. A smiling Shinsou stood on the screen giving you the confidence you needed. Bakugou wanted to let you leave but he couldn’t. When he looked at your smile, he couldn’t help remembering the times it was for him. You were his everything and now you were slipping from his fingers and into the arms of another man. You turned away from Bakugou smiling at Mina who was also shedding tears. Kirishima finally moved forward and caught his best friend’s arm. Bakugou looked back at Kirishima who mouthed for him to stop. He quickly looked back at you. You were now wrapped safely in Mina’s arms. The two of you sharing a moment that would live with you forever. He let his shoulders drop before turning around. He shoved off Kirishima’s arm before his hands found a home in his jacket pockets. He left you under the screen, now playing an advertisement for some useless product, hugging your best friend while crying over a happiness that you deserved. He walked away, one million regrets coursing through his veins. The one thing he wouldn’t regret was you.

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“Where the hell are the rest of the guests.” You rolled your eyes while Momo held your face still. You could hear Mina bitching in the background about the missing members of your former class. She had made sure that everyone had been invited and was keeping tabs of who had arrived. You could hear Uraraka enter the room with an excited scream. She could see your refection in the large mirror in front of you. Mina grabbed onto the girl so they could be over excited together. You felt so much joy watching them feel this happy for you. Momo had been doing you hair and makeup for what felt like hours and you needed to get into the dress hidden behind the bag hanging on the door. You felt a million things; nervousness, excitement, utterly in love. Not once did you feel regret. You could never regret this. You were about to spend the rest of your life with the person that you loved and truly loved you. It had only been six months since the day you and Bakugou had the confrontation in the middle of a busy street, the same one that broadcast the life changing news.

“Y/n!” You turned after the third time your name was yelled. Mina was pouting holding up the dress. She had a shimmer in her eyes and you almost told her not to cry or she’d ruin her makeup. She’d just tell you to shut up. “Yes Mina.”

“It’s time.” All three girls in the room with you had that glossiness to their eyes as they watched you slip the dress on. It fit perfectly, like it was meant to. You were a different person as you stared at your reflection. This was something you had always dreamed about and here you were living a fantasy, but it wasn’t. It was reality. A knock on the door was followed by the voice of Sero. “Let’s get this show on the road ladies.”

The girls opened the door shoving through the waiting boys who were cackling until they saw you. Kaminari pretended to faint while Sero whistled. Both boys admired you and they honestly thought you looked beyond stunning. You were a single star in an almost pitch-black sky, you just needed to walk down an aisle to find another star so you wouldn’t be so lonely. The music started up and you nodded at your best friends. They smiled back leading the way to your destiny.

“Nervous?” Midoriya had whispered to Shinsou as he stood next to him. He looked over the crowd or friends and former classmates. They all watched with bated breath. You were the star of this event. Of course, Shinsou was nervous. He was marrying the girl of his dreams, the person that gave him purpose. Shinsou watched and when you arrived at the end of the aisle, he felt everything disappear. The guests were gone, his friends gone, the whole world meant nothing. It was black and you were the only light he could see. The way your hair was styled held together by pins and clips hidden underneath a white veil. You were a mystery that he already knew everything about. Like a child who still waited for gifts on Christmas but knew Santa wasn’t real. The way your skin shimmered like rare and brilliant gemstones made Shinsou feel like he wasn’t worthy. Your dress moved so smoothly around and against every curve and bump your body had. Your body made the dress gorgeous, gave it value. He couldn’t see your eyes behind the veil, but he could imagine them. They held stars in them, creating galaxies that he had gotten lost in so many times. Your eyes had depth to them, they told a story and its cliché but its his favorite story. Shinsou hadn’t realized he was crying until your hand gently touched his cheek. Your veil had been flipped over your head revealing your own tears. Shinsou leaned into your touch his own hand moving to cup your face as well. If it hadn’t been for the vows, he would have kissed you right then. You both shared a silent moment of unconditional love before the wedding continued.

The vows could have been skipped because anything you both had to say then you had already said before. No words could ever truly describe how you felt about each other because it was more than just words. Your relationship was based on actions, words, looks, gestures; everything and anything you both did for and around the other mattered as an expression of love. He had tried so hard to make up for everything you had to suffer, and he knew that you might have moments where you questioned him, but he always made sure to have answers or words of reassurance. He never wanted to hurt you and he swore on his life that he wouldn’t.

“I do.” You had spoken the binding words and Shinsou followed. The kiss was simple and yet it held so much meaning. It meant more than the rings. It was something Shinsou would never forget. Everyone cheered and some people cried. Mina was holding onto Uraraka both girls sobbing, Midoriya squeezed Shinsou’s shoulder giving him a thumbs up while his own ducts betrayed him.

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“You look so god damn beautiful.” A drunk Kaminari was hanging off you while you chatted away with guests. Mina yanked him off scolding him for his behavior before shooing him away. You laughed not minding at all. While you stood amongst friends who showered you with congratulations and compliments, Shinsou stood leaning against one of the walls near the bar. He had watched you cherishing these moments. He turned when he heard a familiar voice enter his vicinity. He turned in time to see Kirishima and Bakugou walking toward you. He was quick to make his way back to your side in case of any bad blood. Bakugou scoffed when Shinsou appeared but didn’t give him any attention. You smiled at the blonde and red head. Kirishima told you how happy he was for you before leaving the three of you alone.

“Are you happy?”

“Yes.” It was the simplest exchange you had ever had with Bakugou, but it meant a lot to you both. He needed to know that you had finally found the love and happiness you desired and deserved. You needed to know that he was able to let you go without fight. He nodded and hugged you whispering his congratulations. You thanked him before Momo’s voice came over the speakers announcing the first dance starting. Shinsou waved you to the dance floor promising to join you in a moment. He waited for you to leave before looking at Bakugou. Bakugou waited for a threat or some kind of scolding but nothing came. Shinsou remained silent. Bakugou took this opportunity to speak.

“Thank you for taking care of her. I can tell you make her happy and that’s what really matters.” Shinsou still remained silent and Bakugou continued. “I do have a question though. Y/n said I had been cheating and in an angry moment I basically said I was even though I hadn’t done so. Shitty hair told me you told her you had seen me with some woman. I don’t remember going to that restaurant with anyone other than coworkers or interviewers.”

“I lied.” Bakugou stood there frozen with wide eyes. He slowly turned to catch a glimpse of Shinsou’s smirk and a slight darkness behind his eyes. “I lied to Y/n about seeing you with some broad. I knew she would believe me, and I had my doubts about your faithfulness. I should be thanking you for verifying my lie. You made a single lie into an irrefutable truth all because you wanted to hurt her”

Shinsou walked away heading toward you. He never spared Bakugou a second glance as he grabbed your hands kissing them. You giggled before the music began. Bakugou stood with Shinsou’s reveal on his shoulders. In the end he was the one who destroyed your trust but Shinsou admitted to planting the seed of doubt. But all that mattered now was your happiness, right?

[simp-ly-in-love]

Bummer Summer

Step 3 (18 y/o)

Summary: Jamie is having a hard day mentally and Cove is eager to help them out 

Words: 2100

Trigger Warning: I am basing this off of what a less severe depressive episode may look like. In this, Jamie is on medication and has been seeing a therapist for years. Cove is privy to their lows prior to this episode. If you are easily triggered by mentions of depression/ vague descriptions of dissociation please read at your own risk. And if you are feeling low and can access help, please do :)

You couldn’t quite put your finger on what had felt off when you woke up, besides the extra strong desire to stay nestled comfortably in bed. You had thought that perhaps you had just had a bit of morning laziness, that surely would pass after an hour or so of browsing on your phone. Doubt started to creep in around the 45 minute mark, and after the morning slowly crept into the afternoon, you realized that perhaps that wasn’t going to be the case after all.

The slightly bad taste in your mouth from morning breath did nothing to persuade you to get up, nor did the low rumble of your stomach or the dryness of your mouth. The idea leaving bed simply seemed like an increasingly impossible task for today.

Wanting to block out this uncomfortable realization, you pulled your covers over your head and willed yourself to fall back asleep. Mom and Ma must have been out for the day since they hadn’t been up to check on you by now. And you vaguely remembered Liz mentioning she was leaving for the day to meet up with some friends. On any other day, having the house to yourself might have been nice, but now it just felt lonely.

The staccato buzzing of your phone cut through the silence, and begrudgingly you checked to see who had texted you.

Cove:  Jamie Are you home? I haven’t seen any sign of you all day

You felt mildly bad that you didn’t have the energy to respond. But even that bit of remorse felt muted, far away somehow. With a sigh, you turned your phone off, not wanting any more potential interruptions. You closed your eyes once more, hoping to drift out of consciousness…

…

“Jamie?” A soft voice called out to you, accompanied by a series of light shakes to your shoulder, pulling you from your second nap of the day. A mop of green hair greeted you as you blearily blinked the sleep from your eyes. You felt your eyebrows pinch together in confusion, and the voice spoke again before you could ask what Cove was doing there.

“You read my messages, but didn’t reply. You never do that” Cove explained, sheepishly. It was true, you had always made time for a quick reply whenever you had gotten a message. “I got a bit anxious, so I figured I’d check on you…”

For a moment, silence filled the air once more, as you stared at one another. You could see the concern pooled in Cove’s eyes as he stared back at you. Still you found yourself at a loss and couldn’t find the words to reply.

“Did you take your meds today?” Cove asked, determined to figure out what was going on with you. His head swung to look at your desk as he spoke, searching to see if you’d taken your daily dose. His eyebrows raised slightly in alarm when he saw the day’s portion still occupied. Without a thought, he quickly crossed the room and grabbed your meds and a half open bottle of water that had been on your desk. He offered them to you, looking at you with a mixture of pleading and expectancy.

Using all of your strength, you sat up for the first time all day, gingerly taking the pills and open bottle from him. Cove smiled softly as he watched you take your meds and drain the rest of the water. He took it from you once empty and threw it in your trash can with ease before joining you on your bed

“Are you having a hard day?” He asked, and you replied with a nod. Cove’s lips parted, presumably to ask you another question, when he was cut off by a much louder groan from your stomach. After a moment of surprise he let out a little chuckle then said, “I guess that answers my next question”

You felt your face flush with embarrassment at the exchange, but were relieved to see nothing but a soft smile on Cove’s face. Of course he never would have laughed at you for something like this, but seeing him still look at you like he always had in your current state really helped any lingering unease.

“Tell you what; How about if you go get ready for the day, and I’ll go get us something to eat?” Cove suggested cheerfully. Though still muted, you felt your heart fill a bit. You could always count on him to take care of you at times like this. When you agreed, his smile grew wide.

“Up and at ‘em” he declared, hopping out of bed and offering you both of his hands to take. Allowing yourself to stretch your back first, you placed both of your hands in his and allowed him to help you out of bed. As you slowly shuffled around your room, grabbing clothes from here and there to change into, Cove offered some words of encouragement and praise. “Take as long as you need,” He said with a smile after dropping you off at the bathroom. You nodded in acknowledgement to him before closing the door.

…

You could feel a change in yourself as soon as you stepped out of the bathroom. You definitely felt lighter after cleaning up, without the feelings of shame and slight disgust weighing you down. Feeling fresh even gave you the energy to discard your old clothes in the hamper and make your bed before heading downstairs.

As promised, Cove was sitting at the kitchen table with two bags from your favorite fast food place and some tall water glasses. When he heard your padding over, he looked up from his phone and smiled. “You look great, Jamie!” he stated, with the same enthusiasm he had the night of the ORCA fundraiser. His enthusiasm brought a sheepish curve to your lips as you joined him at the table.

“I know it’s not the healthiest, but I figured you’d enjoy some comfort food” Cove rambled as he handed you your meal and one glass of water.

“Thanks” You said gratefully before digging in, not quite catching the proud expression Cove was wearing. You ate together in comfortable silence, and you had to admit it felt incredibly good to finally have a full stomach and some water in you.

The orange hue of evening sun was the first thing you had noticed once you had finally tuned into your surroundings. Your mouth opened in awe when you checked the clock in the kitchen and it read almost 7 pm.

“I can’t believe I spent the whole day in bed…” You mumbled with a mixture of disappointment and sadness. While your mental health was something that you had actively been working on improving for years, there were still days like today. Sometimes, it made you feel like all of the progress you had made had been thrown out the window.

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself” Cove offered, his hand reaching across the table to capture one of yours. “I’m so proud of you for getting out of bed and getting ready,” he added, determined to re-inflate your mood. He let go only to clean up after you both and refill your waters.

Having only been satisfied after watching you drink two more full glasses of water, Cove suggested you go on a walk together. Truthfully, you weren’t quite feeling up to it, but you’d felt bad rejecting the idea when you knew he was only trying to help.

The sun was almost fully set by the time you’d arrived at the beach, adding a coolness to the air and the sand. Kicking off both of your shoes, Cove offered you a hand once more. You took it, allowing him to guide you to the shore. The coolness of the water was more shocking than you thought it’d be, causing you to jump a bit at the contact. A light laugh escaped from Cove, who seemed to be enjoying himself well enough as he watched you begin regrounding with the world.

You stood still, letting your eyes close as you focused on your surroundings. Taking a deep breath, you smelled the patent saltiness of the sea. The cool waves still washed over your ankles, though their chill was less shocking to you now. The distant cries of seagulls and chirps of crickets could be heard. A light wind gently stirred your hair, slightly tickling you. And the warm hand in yours offered a calming, comfortable presence.

When you reopened your eyes, the sky had changed from hues of orange to purples and blues. You turned to Cove, your rock for the day, and drew him in for a hug. He happily accepted, giving you a tight squeeze in return, his cheek resting on the top of your head. The two of you stayed like that until you were ready to let go, and to Cove’s delight, you were beaming at him.

“Thanks for taking care of me today, Cove”

“Thank you for going along with it,” he replied cheekily, flashing you a broad smile of his own. He knew you well enough to know that sometimes it took you more than one try to accept help when it was offered to you, especially on days like today. He was genuinely thrilled that you had allowed yourself to be vulnerable with him enough to let him take care of you. “Should we head back?”

“Sure” you agreed easily, this time offering him your hand to hold as you led the way home. You walked together, hand in hand, in silence until about halfway home when a thought suddenly occurred to you.”Hey Cove… How did you get in?”

A deep flush fell over Cove’s cheeks at the question. His free hand scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck, his eyes averted from yours as he awkwardly replied, “I… may or may not have picked the lock at your window…”

“WHAT?!” You exclaimed, more surprised than upset really.

Flustered by your reaction, Cove panickily tried to explain, “The front door was locked- and I tried calling you but your phone was going straight to voicemail. Then I saw you in bed and tried to wake you but you didn’t hear me… So i just-” Cove fished out his utility knife and mimed picking your window lock.

“Sorry… Please don’t be mad” Cove pleaded, puppy dog eyes aimed straight at you. You could only shake your head ruefully at his antics.

“Maybe I should just leave my windows unlocked from now on…” you mused aloud, bringing a smile back to Cove’s. You weren’t quite sure if it was due to his lack of a punishment or because he genuinely found the idea appealing.

“Honestly, why didn’t we think of that years ago?” Cove huffed out in a laugh.

“True, it would have saved me from you waking me up in the middle of the night all the time” You teased back. By the time your joint laughter died down, you had reached the street between your houses.

“Thanks again, Cove” You said, simultaneously pulling him in for another hug.

“Anytime Jamie… I hope tomorrow’s a better day. And even if it’s not, I’ll always be right across the street” You felt your heart melt a bit at his offer, and you gave him an extra tight squeeze in response. You really had been blessed with the sweetest, and most wonderfully attentive neighbor.

“Goodnight, Jamie” Cove bid you. You did the same, finally releasing him from your embrace and made your way to your respective front doors. Of course you both looked back at another before heading inside, offering each other a smile and a wave before finally letting the door close shut.

***

Only when you were ready for bed did you recover your cell phone that you had accidentally left in bed when you made it earlier. After waiting a few minutes for it to turn back on, a series of buzzes went off in rapid succession.

Cove:  Helllooooo Earth to Jamieeeee Why didn’t you respond ? I’m going to try calling you…

Conveniently, you also had 3 missed calls

Cove:  That’s it, I’m coming over Reply if you don’t want me to Or if you do … On my way

You couldn’t help but laugh at his unreturned messages. If there was one thing you could always count on, it was definitely Cove cheering you up, you thought as you settled into bed, a smile resting firmly on your face.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Rose Red’s All Hallows Eve: Shall We Go Inside?

Summary- 5.3k Charles Blackwood x You. You were sent a ticket to the exclusive fund raiser at Rose Red on Halloween Night. You are to visit the character Charles Blackwood, played by your forever crush Sebastian Stan. He supposed to take you on a tour of the famous haunted manor, claiming it to be the home of his Aunt Ellen Rimbauer and Uncle Wilford Rimbauer. What a once in a life time opportunity! You might just never want to leave. 

Warnings- its a ghost story, creepy descriptions, mentions of suicide, death. 

A/N- written as my last submission to @jtargaryen18​ Haunted House 2020. This will be the final piece I write for Rose Red’s All Hallows Eve, and I hope you all enjoy a glimpse and some back story of Rose Red that wasn’t given in the Curtis chapters. The story is from Stephen King’s Rose Red which was a TV mini series. Excellent Halloween movie if you can find it. Its hard to locate now. Dividers made by @firefly-graphics​ Happy Reading and Haunting. 😈🎃🌹

Masterlist

You couldn’t get over your good fortune when you checked your mailbox that morning. Inside was an envelope, with wispy handwriting with no return address. When you opened it, there was a ticket, an exclusive ticket to the Rose Red All Hallows Eve charity function. 

Your jaw dropped, cause even though you had been trying everything to secure a ticket for months, no one would sell you one. And you tried finding scalped tickets, willing to take a chance for one, only to be turned down. It was an invite-only, only the elite were getting to tour the mansion and meet some of their favorite movie actors in their darker roles. 

Your hands trembled as you brought the ticket closer, reading the fine print to see which person you were getting to meet. Not that you were picky, you would take the chance to meet anyone. Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Frank Grillo, Scarlett Johnson, or Chris Hemsworth. Just being able to get into the mansion was worth all the months of begging and trying just about anything for tickets. 

Your eyes roved back and forth, trying to pick up a name when you saw the fine print announcing that you would be escorted around Rose Red by Charles Blackwood from We Have Always Lived In The Castle. You gave a little squee of excitement, having really wanted to meet Sebastian Stan. What a better character on Halloween night then the devious cousin Charles. Your plans for tonight went from working on a project for your boss to getting red wine drunk and watching the movie on Netflix to get reacquainted with Charles Blackwood. Research, of course, you didn’t want to be meeting the famous “Charles” without having done your research after all. Happy in a way you haven’t been in a while, you went to pour your wine and binge, wishing you had someone to call to tell your news to. But you were a bit of a loner and didn’t tend to connect with people. 

But whatever, this well this was going to be the best Halloween yet for you. No getting sloppy drunk in a bar to bring home some wanna be cowboy or that one time you brought home a clown. A disgusted shudder went through you at the memory. That wasn’t a Halloween you were particularly proud of. Not this year though, this time you were going to one of the most haunted places in New York and seeing Sebastian Stan. Wonder what it would take to bring him home? Making yourself grin like an idiot, as your major fan girl crush made your heart race. You poured almost the entire bottle of red wine in the goblet. 

“How did the saying go? Treat Yo Self.” Lifting the glass you took a rather large swallow.

Charles stood at the entrance, waiting for the next patron he was to bring through the mansion. They should be arriving soon, the time on the ticket said 11 pm sharp. Waiting at the gate, his back leaned against the cold stone of the wall and his gaze fell upwards to see a bit of green creeping over the wall, sprouting thorns sharper than any dagger. Charles hummed softly with a bit of a smirk to see the creeping vine, a small bud twisted as it grew in size. The bigger it got, the more it tinted from green to blood red, and it spiraled open to a single rose. Reaching up, he pinched the stem, clipping it off and bringing it down to admire it. The perfect petals are just as soft as a woman's lips when he brushed his fingertip along one, and when a thorn bit into his palm, he hissed at the sting, that too just like a woman. Don’t respect her, and she will cut you down. Blood welled up and spilled towards the ground before he brought his palm to his mouth and sucked it clean, inspecting to make sure there wasn’t any of the thorn left in his palm. Snipping off the thorns, he let them scatter into the gravel under his feet. 

Charles was fixing the rose into his shirt pocket, when you started to come out from between parked cars, your hands smoothing against your thighs with a bit of nerve and you just looked so innocently sweet. The corner of his mouth quirked up while he inspected you. She’s a perfect choice, he thought maliciously as his features shifted to warm and welcoming. “Welcome Dear to Rose Red, my family's Manor. My name is Charles Blackwood.” Plucking out that flower from his shirt pocket, he gave a slight bow and held it out for you. Your giggle went right through him, making his toes curl in his shiny black Louboutin’s all the way to the base of his neck where his expensive Tom Ford collar rubbed. You looked up at him with a touch of innocence that should make him feel bad, but it didn’t. 

You dug out your ticket and showed them to Charles Blackwood, which he inspected closely and pulled out his wallet to pocket it. You bubbled with excitement and lifted the rose he had just given you to your nose, letting the tip brush against the edges of the petals. “Thank you. I shall press it to dry it when I get home Sebastian. But I have no place to put it.” You started to figure out a way to hold onto it and not get it ruined when he took it back and wedged it into the stone wall behind him. 

“It will be safe here Dear, and Charles, please. I don’t know this Sebastian you call me.” He gave a wink and you nod in understanding. It was supposed to be just the characters showing you around. So it made sense that you were supposed to call him Charles, not Sebastian. You bit your lip and nodded. 

“Of course, Sorry Charles.” you loved how well he fell into character, offering his arm to you that you curled your hand around his forearm, falling into step together once you two went through the iron-wrought gate. 

“No harm is done, Dear. I’m very excited to show you around my Uncle and Aunts family home for the evening. It’s not often I have such a lovely woman on my arm.” He leads you up the stairs and opens the massive door to the mansion. “After You. There are a few groups inside, but we won’t be running into them.”

Your head tips back to look all around, taken in by the deep wooden double staircase sweeping up to the upper floors, gleaming marble floors and a crystal chandelier that as you and Charles walked underneath it, you couldn't help but tip your head back, mesmerized by the glinting of the crystalline shards. “One of Ellen's nicer finds. She had the chandelier shipped from France, each crystal carefully wrapped.” 

“This whole place, it looks completely restored. I thought it was condemned, banned from the public?” You question as he leads you into what looks like a sitting room, another room that spoke of decadence, with plush chairs around a large fireplace that seemed to take up half the wall, large vibrant persian rugs sat atop rich wooden floors, and in the glow of the lamps light up around the room showed carvings in the wall, cherubs dancing amongst vines and roses. You shuddered a bit looking at them high above you in the molding. The innocence of them felt wrong in this place, malicious. 

Charles directed you towards a small staircase that went halfway up the room, climbing while answering your question. “Ahh yes. Well it is technically. But I have been told that Rose Red might be reopening soon to the public. For tours, the occasional overnight ghost investigations.” 

Once you two reached the landing, you saw the ornate dollhouse. Charles was able to turn it around on a turnstyle stand, and flicked a switch, lighting up the inside. Leaning down, you peeked inside in awe. It was a perfect replica of the house, the lower levels showed a large massive kitchen, sitting rooms, library, offices. Then up the stairs a ballroom of sorts, another library, bedrooms, and other odd rooms that seemed to serve no purpose. 

“This is beautiful.” You muttered and straightened, clasping your hands behind your back to keep from picking up the matching furniture to look closer. 

“My Great Aunt Ellen had this made for her daughter April, who was confined to Rose Red due to her bad health. She was a lonely child, her father sending her older brother off to boarding school. Wilford wanted little to do with his daughter. She had a deformity to her arm from birth. Withered. He would have disowned April, but Ellen wouldn't allow that. Upstairs, is a whole play room dedicated to her.” He pointed to a corner of the upstairs, which you peeked in to see a soft pink rose colored room filled with toys and dolls for a little girl. 

“What was wrong with April, to cause her to have a withered arm?” you asked and Charles shrugged. 

“It's said that Wilford wasn't faithful during his and Ellen's honeymoon, passed on a exotic disease to Ellen. She was ravaged in the years following their return to Rose Red. Which was also a honeymoon gift. He promised her anything she wanted. So the two years they were gone Rose Red was being built by one of the largest crew of men seen at the time. They even installed a train to bring in supplies from the harbor.” 

Charles directed you down the stairs to go look out a window, and far off beyond what looked like a greenhouse was a large train, like a black ghost of the past, rusting away under the vines wrapped around the engine. Squinting you could have sworn you saw a couple of women following a lantern down the path. “Rose Red experienced the first deaths with that crew. The train was derailed, killing hundreds of men on the grounds at once.” 

You shuddered while pulling away your gaze from the train. “How awful.” 

“How awful indeed.” Charles nodded, and tilted his head. “Some believe that such a massive tragedy stains the land, maybe what brought the house to life. Come, some of the more interesting rooms are upstairs.” 

Crossing the room for the massive grand staircase. “Do you actually believe that Charles?” 

“No, no I believe something else powers this house. I have my theories.” Charles gave a secretive smile, the two of you started up the many flights of stairs. He gave a bit more history of the house, including the most recent events that officially shut the doors for good to all further investigations till now. “A team of psychics led by a college professor came in. There were four men and five women with varying abilities. One woman disappeared, one died when she refused to leave, and two men died on the property during that weekend.” 

You pulled up a bit hearing this, closing your arms around yourself as if to protect you, like that could protect you. “Wait, should anyone even be here?” You said fearfully, and Charles looked back at you with a reassuring smile. 

“I assure you the house is dormant. The state of New York wouldn't allow us to have a charity here unless it was perfectly safe. I myself have been here many times.” His voice was smooth and confident, letting you relax a bit. Giving a nervous chuckle, you eased back into holding onto the crook of his arm, his other hand patting yours. He dropped a gentle kiss on your cheek. “I will keep you safe, this is my family's home.” 

After several flights of stairs, Charles led you into a massive hallway, doors lining each side. The symmetry while looking down the hall gave the illusion of it going on forever, you could just barely see the end of the hallway, or maybe it was getting smaller the further along it went. “This place is trippy.” You muttered to yourself but Charles happened to hear you. 

“Yes, it was purposely designed by Ellen this way. She had her own way of doing things that didn't necessarily make sense to anyone else.” He studied doors as you two went along, your eyes kept roving up to see what looked like the ceiling slowly getting lower when he turned you towards a door. “Ahh, the first room on our tour of interest. As I said, Aunt Ellen, well she got creative when designing rooms.”  

Opening a door, you went in and quickly paused as you weren’t entirely sure what you were looking at. Before you were upside down lights, standing upright, and covered in dust and cobwebs. What bothered you looking at them was that they should be hanging above you and that's when you tilted your head up to look above. Unlike any room you've been in before, desks were hanging above you, each one set up to have someone sitting at it as a chair was tucked in. Trays for papers, cups with pencils. It was just what you would expect to see in an office above you. Out of instinct you jumped back, half expecting it all to come crashing down, just to have yourself bmp into Charles' chest, making him chuckle as he embraced you gently. “Easy Dear, it's all safe.” 

You took a few steps away from him with an apology, your head tilted back to look around. “What in the world?” 

Charles, strolled along next to you, hands in his slacks, as he looked up at it all, chuckling. “Aunt Ellen's idea of a joke to her husband. He didn't seem to appreciate it as much as she did. Really it was just another room to show off to guests who came to visit.” You couldn't stop gaping at the details, wandering away from Charles who remained at the door. Even the walls had bookshelves filled with books, reading chairs above your head. 

“I will be right outside, take your time.” Charles slipped out, leaving the door open while you paced over to get a better look. A lamp clicked on to your surprise right above your head, and what your eyes saw made you jump back and yelp. Sitting in the chair on the ceiling looked to be a woman in a cocktail dress, her head tilted back. Decaying grey skin peeling and black hollow sockets where eyes should be was matched with a gaping smile. “Come now dear, don't be shy. You are the newest guest right?” Her head tilted and creaked, giving you what was once probably a seductive smile, but now the lips were stretched too tight and split to show decayed teeth beyond them. You stumbled back into a chandelier that was on the floor, and fell to your backside. Looking back up, the lamp above you was back off, and the chair empty. “CHARLES!” You push off the floor and run to the door, wrenching it open to stumble back into the hallway that Charles catches you as you fall into him. “What's wrong?” 

“I just saw- well I think I saw- there was a person, a woman sitting up there. But not a woman, she was rotting, old clothes.” Your words stumbled out as Charles straightened you back up. 

“Sounds like you ran into one of Rose Reds resident ghosts, Deanna. A famous actress who went missing while freshening up during one of Ellen’s parties.” 

You looked over your shoulder at the door and moved away from it. “Why is she here?” 

Charles rubbed on your arm, to calm you a bit. “She never returned to the party that night. Local police came out and searched the entire grounds for days. But she never recovered. You're pretty shaken, do you wish to continue?” 

You gave a chuckle and rubbed at your hands against your thighs to dispel the nervous energy. You should go, hell your heart was hammering so bad that you might just keel over any minute. No one was ever to see any actual ghosts on these things. Then that's when it occurred to you, side eyeing ‘Charles’. Sebastian was perfectly staying in character, that all this was. Actors, all of it. You almost laughed at yourself for getting caught up in the whole Halloween spook.  

“Yes… I just. I cant believe there are actual ghosts here.” you played along with a shrug, brushing yourself off where you fell in the dusty room. 

“Rose Red is full of many surprises.” Charles smiled in that charming way of his and offered his arm to yours. “Aunt Ellen, well she had a taste for the macabre. Holding frequent seances without her husband's knowledge, as he was away often. It's bound to attract some… interesting energy in a place like this.” 

He seemed to be counting doors, and you were right at his side, willing your hammering heart to calm down. “You're not going to leave me alone again, right?” you worried your fingers into his sleeve, as if weaving him closer, to not let him go. Sure they were just actors playing a part, really good actors. You couldn't begin to guess how they got her to sit upside down like that on the ceiling, but there was nothing to be scared of. 

“No, I'm surprised that the house is actually this active tonight. Maybe it's all the people passing through for the charity. But you're perfectly safe. I assure you.” Another door opened and you hesitated while stepping in. 

The floor shimmered oddly to you at first, till you looked down and went stock still. You were standing on a mirror, the whole floor stretched out in a mirror, and all you could do was picture you stepping on it, and it shattered. Charles took several strides forward, and chuckled softly. “It's perfectly safe. This glass is made to be walked on.” 

You take a few precautionary steps and chuckle. “Another one of Ellen's jokes?” 

“Yes, she took great pleasure trying to come up with oddities to fill the house.” 

You continue being mesmerized with the mirrored floor, watching as you walk across it. “Why? Why so many odd rooms?” 

Charles hummed a bit, tipping back and forth on his heels to toes, watching as you sweep across the floor, grinning to yourself in such an innocent moment. “Well, after April disappeared, Ellen is said to have lost her mind. She claimed that Rose Red must never stop growing. It's in fact true that no one really knows how many rooms Rose Red has. At this point there are rooms like these, staircases that go to nowhere, hallways that narrow to where you have to crawl through. Doors that lead to the outside on these upper floors. It is easy to get turned around here. Rooms seemingly from nowhere appear still. They are not on any official floor plans.” 

You gulp and shake your head. “It all sounds… so unreal. Rooms building themselves? Impossible.” 

“One would think.” Charles chuckles. “But every time it is attempted to be documented, and then when it's double checked, nothing adds up. There’s missing rooms that seemed to have disappeared, only to have reappeared elsewhere, another staircase, the halls won't match up.” 

You paused, still looking down at yourself in the mirror. “You said April disappeared?” 

“Oh yes, she was playing in the main kitchen under the watch of one of the staff. The woman walked from the kitchen to collect something for just a moment. When she came back, April was gone, her beloved doll abandoned on the floor. After a search, again, the staff was brought to the police barracks. She was unable to leave after the questioning.” 

“So they arrested her?” You start to feel cold, chills creeping up the back of your neck like a light touch, sweeping up your back and to the base of your hairline. You reached behind to rub at your neck uneasily. 

Charles seemed to not notice your discomfort, sliding his gaze from you and around the room. “Oh no, they didn't arrest her. No, she was beaten to get a confession as to what she had done with April. Ellen swore her innocence, but Uncle Wilford… oh he paid them to get it out, by whatever means necessary. Her injuries were too severe. She ended up dying here once they finished with her and brought her back, another victim of Rose Red in a way, I suppose.” 

You couldn't help the sadness that seemed to overwhelm you hearing the story. 

“In fact this room also has its own tragedy. Wilford’s brother who also happened to be his business partner hung himself here. From… that light fixture actually.” Charles pointed up at it, but you were looking at its reflection, and the light fixture swayed, a rope tied around it. A heavy set man all blue colored hung at the end of the creaking rope, his feet twitching and his tongue bulging from his mouth. Your eyes shoot up to see nothing above Charles. 

Charles himself gives you an odd look, and you look back in the mirror, he's still there, a swollen hand reaching out as if to grasp you. 

Your own hand was shaking as you pointed down at the mirrored floor. “Right there! You don't see it Charles?!” Your finger points near his feet, in which he looks down and it all seems to disappear. At the same moment, it felt like a heavy rope slid around your neck, and tightened all in a second making you gasp. Your hands fly to your neck, trying to pry at the noose that isn't actually there. When you collapse to your knees, trying to drag in a breath, you happen to see a little girl, in various stages of decay, a withered arm clutching a doll against her chest waved at you from across the room near the door, and an older woman in the same state standing next to her with an arm around her shoulders, merely watching you struggle for air. Your vision started to go in and out, the burning in your lungs now first and foremost in your mind. Charles stepped into your view, kneeling down next to you and you focused on him. 

“Hey! Hey! Y/N, what's wrong.” He yanked your hands away to check your neck, and you were suddenly able to take a gasp of air with a frightened sob, curling yourself in closer to him, and your arms going around his neck. 

“Get me outta here please! I don't want to be in this house anymore.” 

Charles moved to a stand, his hands grasping yours and pulled you to a stand. “Okay, we will end the tour here.” Hurrying you along, you both shoot into the hallway and turn to head back to the main stairway when at the end of the hallway, when the woman you had seen in the upside down room beckoned you two to her. “Come child, the parties this way, I just need to go freshen up, get you dressed for the party.” 

You pulled up sharply in fear with a panicked scream, and Charles spun you around. “This way, there's another staircase at the end of the hall.” 

Now your running with Charles to get away, every door and corner you two ran into became a blur. Once in a while a door would open, some nightmare of a person beckoning you to step in and join them, child like giggles echoes around you or hisses of your name just out of sight made you try to run faster, gasping for air as your lungs burned from running through the endless hallway. Charles was getting winded as well when he came to a staircase but that too was also blocked. This time with a wailing woman, her eyes rolled back to just the whites and clutching her purse to her chest, a dress looked like it had been shredded. Her skin was wrinkled and paper thin looking, what remained of her clothing something from a decade earlier. “I was just here to tour the house, can you show me the way out?” she screamed at you two, below her on the stairs were others, begging to be shown the way out. Now you froze, your mind in shock. 

Charles yanked on your wrist to pull you away as you teetered on the edge of the stairs, continuing to another hallway. 

“The servant's stairs are this way. They lead through the kitchen.” Charles rattled a door knob trying to get it to open, and you looked over his shoulder when there was a flash in your peripheral vision. The carpet in the hallway rolled as if something was racing underneath it, and of course, it was coming right for the two of you. 

“Oh fuck, Charles, Hurry it up” Your hand grasps the handle to, yanking on it. “CHARLES IT'S COMING.” You scream, feeling the weight of panic crushing your chest whenever you looked up, whatever was coming for you was speeding up, flapping dust up from the carpet into the air and you screamed when it was almost on you. The door yanked open for you both to fall in, and slam it behind you, leaving you and Charles in the pitch dark. 

“Oh god, fuck, get us out of here Sebastian.” dropping his characters name, you were over this fun house of hell crap they had made for the charity. 

“What do you think I'm doing?!” He snapped, losing his cool control as he fisted his hand through his hair, taking deep dragging breaths. “Once you hit the kitchen, the door is to your left.” You both start racing down the stairs, trying to be as quick as possible without falling and when you reached that door, you yanked it open and sprinted into the room, expecting to see a stove, cupboards, tables, anything. 

But that's not what you came into, you crashed into a whole other room. Confusion blurs your mind when you take in the attic like dusty interior. Spinning around, a couple times trying to make sense of it. 

“AN ATTIC? WE WERE RUNNING DOWNSTAIRS, NOT UP!” You twist to go back out the door, but Charles slams it shut, and throws a bolt. 

“Oh no Dear, were just where we need to be.” Charles smoothed his hair back, the panicked demeanor completely gone as he fixed his appearance. You backed away from him, licking your lips and panting with a wheeze. 

“I d-d-d-don't understand why we are up here, how we got up here. I want to leave.” Your foot comes down as if you're about to throw a tantrum. “Now. I demand you to take me out of this, keep my money. I don't care Sebastian, I'm all done with this game.” 

Charles crooks a brow, and smirks, striding in close in which you panic and back up further. 

“As I told you before Sweetheart, I don't know who Sebastian is. And there is no leaving. Rose Red needs you, needs you to grow.” 

“To grow? Your fucking crazy.” You start to look for another way out, and your back comes up to a large stained glass window. The famous stained glass Rose that adorned the front of the Manor. 

“Yes, Ellen is still building, don't you see. She needs to feed, and as her great nephew it's my duty to keep her alive.” 

He’s fucking lost it. Hollywood has snapped Sebastian's mind. 

“Just let me go, I swear Seb-” His eyes snapped at you. “Charles… I won't say anything.” 

“Auntie, do you want to let her go?” he asked with a cold grin. “You want to keep building Rose Red right? Keep building for April?” 

Your eyes darted around trying to figure out who he was talking to. But there was seemingly no one there. 

“I will donate more, give you money to keep building.” You felt around your pockets and pulled out your wallet, yanking out your billfold. “See a card.” tossing it at him in the delirious hopes that would appease him. He simply stepped over it. 

“That won't work darling. Auntie Ellen, she needs other materials.” That cold touch you felt before in the mirror room, made you jolt, and you spun away from Charles to see the decaying little girl with her withered arm folded up against her chest. 

“Play with me and baby?” the girl asked, her withered decayed hand shaking as she reached out to touch you.

You reared back and stumbled away to keep her from touching you, momentarily forgetting about Charles till you landed smack into his chest and a forearm locked around your neck. “Why are you scared of cousin April. She just wants to play?” He sneered into your ear, and you started clawing at his arm and trying to kick at him. 

How did you get here, and maybe this was some crazy dream. Your gasping the more his arms tighten, giving one hard clawing motion on his face  when you reach back and kick backwards to cause you both to tumble. 

“You little bitch.” Charles twists to grab at you while you're crawling away, and you kick back one more time, catching him in the shoulder hard enough for him to let go of your foot. 

“Fuck off Prick.” you scream, and yank yourself up, about to run towards the door. You're so close to going back into that hellish fun house when you are stopped right in your tracks, like hitting a wall. 

The lady of the manor stood before you, long off white gown clinging to a corpse. She would have been beautiful once upon a time as your eyes roved her up and down, like all those pictures you saw when you googled Rose Red before your trip, but now she was a nightmare, you stuttering before her with a whimper. “Please... please let me go.” 

“But Dear, Rose Red needs you.” Her voice had a tinkling sound to it, meant to soothe.  

Her brown leathery skin that clung to a skeletal frame creaked when her bony clawed hands cupped your face in a loving gesture, and your terror filled eyes lifted to see her lip less mouth showed what appeared to be fangs. Pale dead eyes softened for a moment, until her claws sunk into your face, tearing through skin and muscle, piercing your skull and her mouth widened to a fang filled gaping rotten hole. 

This is it, this is how I die. Your mind screamed in terror as she descended on you, your vision going dark, and your life just draining away. The pain fades, and your eyes roll back to see nothing. The last thing you will experience in your life, the overwhelming scent of fresh roses. 

Charles wiped at his face when he came to, looking around the attic and seeing nothing more than your still body. Moving to get himself up, muttering to himself. “Fucking bitch, got my suit all dirty.” He walked past your body, and looked to see his aunt picking up a hammer, April standing next to her playing with her doll. 

“I know, more souls for you to feed on Auntie.” He opened the door and made to go back down the stairs, his decaying aunt giving a slight nod in agreement. 

Whistling as he safely strolled through Rose Red, he made his way out the front door, and down the walkway back towards the iron wrought gate. Once he returned, he leaned back against that stone wall, feet crossing at the angle and reaching up to pluck that red rose he had placed there earlier, twirling it back and forth. 

Within ten minutes a couple young women strolled up to him, and he gave them a flirtatious smile, and held out the rose to one of them. “Ladies, welcome to Rose Red Manor, my family home and one of the most haunted sites in New York. My name is Charles Blackwood. Can I have your tickets please?”