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deadqueenz · 1 year ago

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Eddie Gluskin x Female Reader: My Everything

Part Three: The Lady And The Tailor.

Spring. You stare up at the cherry blossom trees blooming with a dull, uninterested glare. It'll be troublesome to clean up the blossoms everytime they fell. How annoying... You sigh, heavier than you expected as you turn on your heel and walk back towards your place of work.

You'll admit, it wasn't your first choice, but at least you had something to do. Your boss had their good and bad traits, but at least they cared for their employees; giving you all a proper place to have your breaks.

Business was slow at the moment, giving you the opportunity to check around and see what needed to be done. On the TV, you hear about a young man being found brutally murdered in his lover's house. "Damn, wonder what he did to make her so mad?"

Your co-worker voiced as they watched the screen with peaked interest. "Cheating." It whispered from the darkness inside your mind, it sounded amused, of course it did. It was your ex's body they found. And by the looks of it, their lover was their main suspect.

Wonder how that happened....

You shudder, looking away from the screen and continue working. Your co-worker looking over at you with a teasing smile on their face. "She took his heart out? That's...." You trail off shuddering again, your co-worker laughs, teasing on how you are (supposedly) squeamish.

Behind closed doors and when you were alone, you didn't have to fake your emotions. But out in the public eye, you did to avoid drawing attention and being called a freak and weirdo. Whenever your lovers or those they knew end up on the news, you played the faint of heart role.

It worked in your favor, everytime. The rest of your shift passed in a blur, and you were more than ready to return home. As you walk down the sidewalk, looking at all the different shops of many varieties; desserts, coffee, flowers, etc.

You see a dress out of the corner of your eye. You freeze, turning towards the large glass window to get a closer look at the wedding dress on display. In awe, you lift your hand to the glass, touching the slightly warm hard surface. In the reflection, you see yourself, it was as if you were really wearing the dress.

The mannequins of the bride and groom were standing side by side holding hands. In the bride's left hand she was holding a small bouquet of white roses. The groom's suit had a small white rose over his left breast.

Marriage...Have you ever thought about getting married to either of your past lovers? You don't remember. Would you wanna get married? You never felt that urge to do so, only the need to keep the person you loved dearly close to you, no matter the cost.

But they never stayed with you long, something always went wrong. "Monster." "Quiet, I wasn't speaking to you." You grumble, pulling your hand away from the glass as if it suddenly caught ablaze.

It was then you notice him, your eyes widen in brief monetary shock when you see him standing beside the groom mannequin fixing the cuffs of the suit. His hands continue to work, but his blue eyes stared directly at you.

Your breath catches in your throat, your heart beats fast in your ears. The sounds of the city and it's people fade into the background, you were only focused on him. Your eyes roam over his frame, taking in every detail that you could through the glass.

He was tall, very tall. His black hair was neatly slicked back and combed down with an undercut, very fit from what you can tell from your position. The sleeves of the white dress shirt were rolled up a bit above his wrists, a dark colored vest with five buttons dark colored pants to match, and a small bowtie.

Your eyes travel up his body to his face, a heart stopping smirk brightened his handsome features. He motions to the right with his large hand, your eyes focusing on his entire face instead of his lips now. He was looking at you, motioning for you to step into his shop.

Your mouth becomes dry, he wants you to come in? How could you show yourself to him looking like this?! You were still dressed in your work clothes! You clutch your purse close to your body, quickly turning away and walking fast away from the Tailor shop.

No, no, no. This couldn't be happening, this never ever happened to you before. You were so damn unprepared. Damn it, you knew you should've wore something nicer. Why didn't you just keep walking?! You could've came back any other day, why did you have to stop today of all days, straight out of work?

You didn't stop until you got home, hands shaking as you crumble to the floor in agony. No words could explain how embarrassed you were....

It was a normal day for Eddie, he woke up around six this morning alone, took a shower alone and got dressed, ate breakfast alone, and finished the formal dress he was tasked to complete. His work day was the same, people coming in requesting their clothes to be fixed, looking around his shop to admire his work, and make requests for tailored clothes.

Sometime in the afternoon he took a break, eating a quick lunch before doing some light cleaning, as he was working on the groom mannequin in the window, he felt eyes staring at him. It wasn't odd for people to stop and stare through the windows at his displays or shop, he welcomes anyone inside with his gentleman charismatic charm.

And that's when he saw you, staring through the window at the wedding dress, there was a small glimmer of light in your dull eyes. It was different, but at the same time not. It was like a bride to be picking out a wedding gown, how he loved to see that look in their eyes, how they wanted the dress but wasn't sure it was the dress. And with his hands, he would tailor it to fit them, for it to be the one they were looking for.

If they liked the length but not the style, he would fix it, the color but not the design? Fixed. He just wanted to see them smile, enjoying what his hands created. He smiles, getting your attention, and motions for you to step inside, only for you to run away.

He watches you run away, confused before smiling softly and going back to work, you'll come back. They always do.

#outlast #whistle blower #eddie gluskin #outlast eddie #the groom

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wardenred · 1 year ago

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Flufftober 7: Porch Swing

One of those random freewriting things, except now it's giving me more ideas. Maybe I'll write more about these two sisters reconecting, or maybe I'll use those ideas to rework an old WIP that kind of fell apart... 🤔💭

The porch swing creaks on and on while I cook. I choose to perceive the sound as soothing rather than annoying. In truth, I kind of envy my sister’s energy. I would’ve been dizzy thirty minutes ago, but she just keeps swinging. Sometimes, she slows down, and I start wondering if she’s going to stop after all. Quickly enough, she picks up the pace again.

The kitchen around me is exactly the way Grandma left it, except cleaner. I spent most of the morning getting rid of the dust and old grease spots. The surfaces are clean enough to operate on; if they don’t look like that, it’s only because their age is showing. It would make sense to get rid of some of the useless knick-knacks taking up space: framed embroideries on the walls, chipped vases and candle holders lurking in the cabinets. I don’t have the heart for it. Not yet.

I find myself wondering how much effort it will take to keep the place just as pristine in the long run. Camilla and I haven’t really been under the same roof for a decade, but I remember her uncanny talent for creating messes whenever she went, like a hurricane of misplaced objects and stray sandwich wrappings. People change, of course. Maybe she has, too.

I stomp down the sudden urge to go up to her room and assess its state in the name of testing this theory. This entire thing will only work if we respect each other’s boundaries.

My hopes for that are slim, but there.

I fill two bowls with hot soup, grip two spoons tight in my fist, and nudge the door with my shoulder. The backyard greets me with a gust of cold breeze. I should have grabbed a hoodie. Oh well.

“Hey,” I call from the worn wooden stairs. There’s moss growing in the cracks, and at least one tiny, weird red-capped mushroom. A line of aunts marches around my sandal. “I’m not going to make you come inside, but you might have worked up an appetite. So.” I hold up one of the bowls, suddenly self-conscious. “Want some?”

Camilla digs her hills hard into the gravel and dust, bringing the swing to a halt. She blinks owlishly at me, and I’m once again caught off guard by the sight of her without her glasses. I got the same feeling every time I pulled up her Instagram account in moments of nostalgia. In person, it’s even stranger.

I wonder how strange she finds me now.

“Um, yeah. Thanks,Nat,” she says after a small delay. Her breathing is heavy, like she’s holding back tears. Probably just exhaustion. “Can I ask you to bring it down here though? I think if I get up, the world will tilt.”

“Sure.” I briefly debate putting my own bowl somewhere while I do that, but there are too many insects in the air. A lizard crawls down the porch railing. A frog croaks from somewhere uncomfortably close, and I swear the chuffing sounds in the tall grass come from a pair of hedgehogs. How is everything here so brimming with wildlife? Grandma’s house stands in the middle of a regular street in a regular small town, not even on the outskirts. Cars are driving past our fence this very instant.

Camilla gingerly takes a bowl from me and balances it between her knees. Good thing I waited until it was steaming hot, not scalding. She frowns at the contents. “Is that chicken soup?”

I shrug. “I didn’t know what to make. This seemed fitting.” Grandma always insisted on making us soup whenever she thought we were sick or upset. The latter definitely applies.

On the back porch, there are two mismatched chairs. I pick the smaller one for a seat and the taller one for a makeshift table, but only after a thorough inspections for any cobwebs, insects, or snails. My arms are covered in goosebumps, even though the wind is settling down. Definitely should have put on a hoodie. How did I even let the weather fool me into wearing a sundress? Have I forgotten how quickly it changes here in autumn once the clock ticks past noon?

“It’s good!” Camilla announces from the swing, and I roll my eyes lightly at the surprise in her voice. She studies her spoon like it has all the answers to the most complicated problems of the universe. “Grandma always used to overcook the noodles.”

“I like to think I’ve improved on her recipe.”

She smiles. “You definitely have.”

Wow. For our first conversation in almost ten years, we’re unironically doing great.

For a while, we both eat in silence. I survey the overgrown flower beds nestled against the fence—more like weed beds at this point. The last time I tried gardening I was still in high school, and I can’t call it a rousing success. I wonder if we can get someone to help us turn this place into something less decrepit. Perhaps some of the neighbors have kids looking for weekend jobs. Not that I’m looking forward to mingling with the locals, but it’s not like I’ll be able to avoid that. Today has already been full of interactions, between the grocery store and the home supplies one and random people approaching me in the street with out-of-the-blue greetings.

“So,” Camilla says eventually. “A year here, before we can sell the property. Seems...” She scrunches up her nose, looking around the yard, as well. “I don’t even know. What was Grandma thinking?”

“Something about family and legacy and embracing the secrets of life, according to her letter,” I reply. A twinge of uncertainty pulls at my mind. “You got one, too, right?”

It’s a relief to see her nod. “Probably a copy of the same one you got.” She drops her spoon and tugs at the single green strand in her otherwise pastel-pink hair. “Well. This is going to be an adjustment.” She hesitates before adding, “I’ll probably want to invite friends over now and then. I’ll start climbing walls otherwise.”

Camilla having friends over never meant anything good for me when we were kids. But people change. I’ve changed. She clearly has, too.

“It’s fine,” I say. “Just as long as you warn me beforehand so I can stay out of the way or whatever.” And as long as you don’t make too bad of a mess, I don’t say. I really have to give her the benefit of a doubt. “Hey, speaking of ‘out of the way,’ do you have any plans for the basement? I was thinking of setting up a studio there.”

“I don’t mind,” she says with a shrug. “Though don’t artists usually need plenty of natural light?”

I laugh. “Yeah, well, with all the trees growing right by the windows, I think I’m better off investing in a bunch of lamps.”

“Makes sense.”

She gives me a long look I can’t quite decipher, then twists down and around to place her bowl by the swing post. The next thing I know, she’s tugging off her studded suede jacket.

“Here.” She tosses it my way. It lands in a heap over the railing, right on top of a fiendishly big bug that buzzes in indignation. “I’m getting cold just looking at you.”

I could tell her I was going to head inside and find my own clothes anyway.

Sticking around feels like a better idea.

#warden's random scribbles #writeblr #original fiction #flash fiction #flufftober2023 #day 07 #my writing #writers on tumblr #snippet #sisters #siblings #family #on one condition trope

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twisted-tales-of-all · 1 year ago

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Elucidated Eventuality

Visiting the ATEEZ universe, we find unlikely friends Camryn and Jongho meeting via magicks. Although unable to physically meet, the witch and vampire become fast friends and help each other. However, their mutual urge to meet leads them down a tricky path of forbidden research. Be wary of angst throughout this 4.9k word fantasy-based tale, including occasional cursing and yelling, and some moments of self-doubt and lack of confidence. This tale also references lands from a previously recounted story, which can be read here, but no context is necessary to enjoy this piece. In addition, Ryn is gender-ambiguous and left without much description to allow for reading similar to Y/N fics, but total immersion may not be possible for everyone due to the sparse use of their full name.

As he'd done every other sunny day, Jongho stayed home with curtains shut and background music echoing. He'd just finished pouring himself a drink and was on his way back to his reading nook when he suddenly caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

Setting his drink on the coffee table, he abandons any plans of reading as he searches the house for any signs of an intruder. Confused when the search ends fruitlessly, he returns to the spot in the hall where he saw the movement. Seeing the mirror in its usual place, he turns around to see what might've reflected along it. Once again, he finds nothing, so he turns back to the mirror with an insane thought.

"Had I seen myself?" He asks himself aloud as he leans closer to the gold-framed ornament.

As he examines the reflection, he finds an entirely different room being shown to him. Rather than his clean, dark hall, he sees a brightly lit room covered in loose papers and open books. As he moves his head, different angles of the room beam back, and he finds one wall lined with books, the bookshelf disorganized and slightly disheveled. Checking the other side reveals an old unbalanced wooden work desk, with a simple wooden stool in the middle of it.

Looking a bit further, he sees movement once again. Although he can't make out any features of the individual, he can see them dancing around that corner of the room in a celebratory fashion, humming to themselves.

He shakes his head as he makes up an excuse for everything he's seeing, "This is crazy. That's it. Summer's been too long this year. I must simply be going insane."

As he begins walking towards the safety of his books and alcohol, he hears shuffling in the mirror, followed by someone calling out in an unusual language. Intrigued, he looks back to see someone directly up front in the mirror, looking straight at him.

"What are you?" He asks, almost instinctively. As the person tilts their head, he sighs, "Ah, you can't understand me."

Holding out both hands, palms towards the mirror, the stranger gestures for Jongho to wait before rushing back towards the desk. Grabbing a book and what looks like a simple drumstick, they rush back to chant lines from the book while tracing the frame of the mirror with the stick. Jongho leans back against the wall, confused by their actions and intrigued to see the outcome.

Once finished, they look at Jongho with a cheeky grin, "Can you understand me now?"

Shocked, he stumbles over his response, "Oh, I- how'd you... Yeah, yeah I can."

"Perfect! I'm so glad things seem to finally be working for me! It took so long! Oh, hold on, let me introduce myself. My name is Camryn - you can call me Ryn - and I'm a trainee witch." The cheery witch scratches their head as they continue, "I've been a level-one trainee for years now; up until now, it seemed like I didn't actually have any magic in me. The instructors told me to level up this year or they'd kick me out."

With a nervous chuckle, they finish and ask Jongho to introduce himself. Plopping down on the floor, Ryn gives their full attention to their mirror friend.

"Uh, I'm Jongho. I'm a vampire, so I've been stuck in my house thanks to the summer sun again. I don't even really know why I have this mirror, honestly; it's not like I can see myself in it."

"Well, I'm glad you have it. Now, I have a friend to talk to!" Ryn beams, making Jongho laugh.

They're right, though. Now, Jongho has company, the luxury of which he rarely gets. Far too often, it's just him alone with his books and alcohol for warmth. Ryn, as high-energy as they may be, proves to be a welcome change as they spout off question after question about the vampire.

After what feels like ten minutes but is closer to a full hour, Jongho thinks of a question to ask his new friend. Even with people he's met prior, he can't ask this, as they're mostly humans who would fear him or believe he's lying as a joke.

"Hey, Ryn?" He hesitates, instinct stopping him from asking as it usually does, "What do I look like? I've never been able to see my face, so I haven't the slightest clue."

Shocked, Ryn stares at him with squinting eyes and scrunched nose, trying hard to find the proper descriptors. It takes a few awkward seconds before they find the words, but the moment their face lights up, Jongho knows to strap in for another long ramble.

"Well, to start, you look soft but very masculine. You don't smile much, but when you do, your whole face smiles, even if you're only giving a small smile. It's really nice to see. Your eyes are big and expressive, especially with your thicker eyebrows. Every feature compliments your face shape very well. I think a lot of people probably find you intimidating when you're just reserved, not scary. It probably has to do with your dark ete color. They look almost black, but I'm sure they'd shine brightly in the sun. Oh wait, I guess they can't, huh? I'm sorry, I forgot. Anyway, you have full lips, too. Everything fits so nicely; you're quite handsome, really."

As Ryn finishes, Jongho can't help but smirk at their description. He doesn't know whether they're embellishing anything for him, but he chooses to trust them based on their innocent demeanor thus far, so he jokes at them.

"Aw, you think I'm handsome? Thanks, Ryn~!" He makes sure to beam his full-face smile at them in an attempt to flirt, a skill he's picked up to have fun with humans.

However, they don't seem to react, stuck in an observatory mode, "Yes, I think you're pretty attractive. Most people would probably fall for you fairly quickly. You're someone who looks like that."

Cracking up into a fit of laughter, Jongho thanks Ryn, for both the compliment and the laugh. The clueless young witch smiles back, glad to be helpful, and asks whether he can help them in return. As he finishes laughing, he asks what they'd like help with.

"Could you..." Ryn pauses, racking their head for the best way to ask, and sighs before asking fearlessly, "Could you be my friend? Could you keep me company and talk with me and all that? I'm pretty lonely thanks to how long it's taken me to find my powers properly."

The last sentence makes a pit form in Jongho's chest. Knowing how lonely it can be when you're unlike your peers, he instantly relates to the comment. Because of this, he enthusiastically agrees to remain friends and then asks whether it'd be safe to move the mirror to a better location - somewhere he can be more comfortable and show more of his home and interests. Before responding, Camryn flips through some of the books and papers on the floor.

"I'm pretty sure it's safe. At the very least, I'm not finding any recordings saying not to. Plus, it's acting like a window, so I shouldn't think moving it would do anything to it. Just don't break it!"

Carefully, Jongho moves the mirror into his lounge, leaning it against some cabinets for its temporary placement. Jokingly asking if his friend had a good trip, he sits down, grabbing the glass he set on the coffee table earlier. Although he finds most of the ice melted into the alcohol, he isn't one to waste and downs it regardless. Thanks to the dilution, it goes down smoother than usual. Ryn scolds him, ranting about enjoying things in moderation, but he acts like he can't hear them anymore.

"Damned vampire, I should curse you for ignoring me. You're lucky I'm nice." They huff, pouting, and tapping their foot repeatedly.

"Since when do baby witches get taught curses?" Jongho bites back, almost certain they wouldn't know any.

"School doesn't teach curses in general, but do you really think I haven't found any?"

As Jongho watches his friend gesture around the mess of papers, he sees a sense of confidence that borders cockiness. He simply shrugs in response, actually shocked by the possibility. Soon after this exchange, however, Jongho excuses himself, claiming that his drowsiness wasn't letting him focus on the conversation anymore. After promising to return when they both have time, they wish each other a good night and head off, even if it's earlier for Ryn. Ryn quickly scrambles to cover the mirror, throwing a dusty cloth over it.

When Jongho returns the next day, all he can see is the underside of that cloth, so he assumes Ryn is too busy. The vampire doesn't mind, and he spends his day reading while periodically looking up at the mirror for any signs of life.

A few days go by in this same fashion, and eventually, Jongho stops checking the mirror and returns to drinking heavily to pass the time faster. When Ryn finally pulls the cloth away, they find Jongho with a nearly empty bottle in front of him. As he sways along to whatever song plays in his head, Ryn rustles through the pages of the book in their hand to find a spell that amplifies one's voice.

"YA- JONGHO!"

Nearly falling out of the chair, Jongho finally looks back at the mirror. As if nothing happened, he smiles and greets Ryn with a strong sense of giddiness in his voice.

"You're so drunk, Jongho. I thought we agreed to moderation. What happened?"

"You left for a while. Where'd you go?" He responds, entirely ignoring the question and directing attention away from him.

Ryn's posture drops a bit, clearly not happy to mention it, but they admit, "It's exam week, so I've been busy. I have to impress them starting from this week, or I'll get kicked out."

Surprised that it happened so fast, Jongho grows concerned for his friend, quickly beginning to fight the alcohol and sober up fast.

"Are you doing okay? You'll be able to keep up, right?"

"I sure hope so. I did okay this time around. They're glad I'm finally showing some power, even if it isn't much, so they let me pass this time."

"What happens if you can't keep up? You're just kicked out of the school? Would that be that bad if it isn't really helping you much?"

With a nervous laugh and a quick brush of their hair, Ryn admits, "I wish. If that's all, I think I would've let them kick me out. But no, if you fail at the school, they have to wipe your memory from attending. They can't have witches that failed just living with the knowledge they learned; it's a safety hazard."

Moving to the edge of his seat, Jongho can see their teary eyes over the situation, so he quickly changes tune despite the pain in his chest where his heart would be.

"Then we gotta make sure you keep passing!" He stands up, fist in the air, with a determined expression painting his face.

Ryn perks up a bit, but remains slightly confused, "We? Are you going to help me? How so?"

"Uh, I'm not quite sure, but I'll help however I can. Even if it's just watching you practice or helping you study. You're not allowed to forget me."

Laughing at his false selfishness, Ryn agrees to let him help, hoping he'll be able to bring out the magic from wherever it rests inside them.

The rest of the week continues with Ryn practicing spells in view of the mirror, and Jongho giving tips and pointers on how to improve. Many of his observations show that Ryn lacks confidence, so he believes that it's hindering them from being able to procure the magic at all. When he mentions this to Ryn, they look utterly defeated.

"I guess I can't fake it, huh? My instructors told us that if we aren't confident in ourselves, we should be able to fake it until it becomes real." They flop down into the chair behind them, feeling hopeless and ready to give up.

"Confidence is good, but it's something you have to build within yourself. Maybe you can use something else to power it? Is there anything you thoroughly enjoy doing, or anything you do find yourself having confidence in? It could be anything, really."

After sitting with the thought for a moment, the witch perks up, "My classmates love my baking! Does that count?"

"Absolutely! Anything thst brings you joy and makes you feel confident. Do you think there's anyway to incorporate baking into your magic? Is there a way to make it feel like you're making desserts instead of performing spells?"

"I can try changing up the hand movements. Do you think it'll work?"

"I think it's worth a shot." Jongho expresses, hoping for the best, "Maybe its easier if you adjust the magic to your specialties instead of trying to adapt - make it more personal, y'know?"

Watching his friend happily try spells while using baking techniques, Jongho can see the progress build so much quicker than before. On top of that, Ryn genuinely has so much fun that the stress is rolling away as if it's nothing. With a showcase coming up in the following week, this is the first time the duo feels confident that Ryn will pass.

The showcase creeps up quickly, but Ryn masters a good handful of spells just in time. On the night of the showcase, Jongho anxiously waits for Ryn's return.

"Jongho! Jongho! Jongho!"

He hears their voice before they even enter the room, much less the mirror's view, and it makes him sit up at full attention. The joy in their voice puts him at ease, and the bright smile warms his otherwise cold body from the moment they come into view.

"Jongho, I did it!"

"Good job, Ryn! See, I told you that incorporating your strengths would help!"

With a quick solid nod, Ryn adds, "I didn't just pass, either. They're bumping my status up, too!"

"Congrats, Camryn! proud of you! So does that make you level two, officially? Or is there some in between level?"

"I'm a level two witch now!" They rejoice with a bright smile, "The instructors were very impressed to see that I not only learned but mastered all those level-one spells we practiced. I got the level-two spellbook and everything!"

Ryn spends an hour going through their new spellbook with Jongho, picking out spells they'd prefer to learn and explaining how many they need to master to move on to level three. Although they escape the threat of failing, they don't want to stop at level two, which makes Jongho happy. It feels as though he's watching a flower blossom for the first time in his life; he's so happy to be there for his friend through such a great moment.

When summer turns to autumn and the leaves begin to fall, Jongho spends more time out of the house. This time, Ryn feels the loneliness that their vampire friend felt during their exam week. Although they try to practice without him there, the progress slows to a near standstill, so they try to find other ways to pass the time when he's busy.

As a result, Jongho comes back one afternoon to find Ryn passed out on the floor, surrounded by a small group of restless scurrying animals circling them. He tries to hide his laughter as he sits there in quiet admiration, but even the subtle noise alerts his friend, who sits up quickly and scares a few of the nearby critters.

"You're back! I couldn't focus on the spells, so I took up some hobbies to keep busy while you're gone." Ryn starts defending themselves before Jongho even says a word to them, which makes Jongho laugh wholeheartedly.

"Are you training them? Pet-sitting? If you're lonely, you just need one, Ryn, not twenty." He jokes, knowing that they felt the same emptiness he felt once before.

"Twenty?! Are there that many now?!" Distressed, Ryn looks around and roughly attempts to count the quick-moving creatures, "There's no way they cloned that much! I only see like 8, maybe 10."

"I was exaggerating, Ryn, chill. But cloned? How many did you start with? What even are they if they can clone themselves?"

To help explain, Ryn attempts to grab one. However, their hand goes straight through, and the creature disappears into a cloud of colorful smoke. Almost instantly, however, Jongho watches a different one spin around and turn into two.

"I started with two. There's only two, but the clone themselves if they get excited. It's hard to balance when I want to be good at sitting them, but if they get bored, they scream. Loudly."

"So, you need them distracted. Not excited, but not bored." Jongho suggests it calmly as if he's an expert.

"Distracted? I tried to keep them calm before, but I haven't thought of that. How do I keep them distracted without getting bored, though?"

After talking about the creatures for a while, Jongho suggests playing tricks on them. For Ryn, this will help get some magic practice in, all while keeping the picky creatures busy by watching floating objects or seeing things pop in and out of sight. When they start this, the creatures begin to curiously watch from afar, slowly stopping themselves from playing around. After a while, the clones begin fading into the air, until only the original two remain.

"Thanks, Jongho." Ryn sighs with relief, "Is there anything you can't do?"

"See myself, stay in sunlight for very long, go vegetarian." He jokes about himself, gaining a laugh out of his friend.

"Okay, okay. Smartass." As the two creatures yawn and begin nodding off, Ryn adds, "They're falling asleep, thank goodness. I'll probably join soon, too. They've drained me. Thanks again for your help."

After the chaos, both friends decide to turn in for the night. First thing in the morning, Jongho brings a cup of coffee to sit in front of the mirror. Before Ryn arrives, he finds himself deep in thought, wondering about this friendship and what will happen when they get too busy to sit in front of the mirror. Stuck in his mind, he doesn't see Ryn lay down in front of him, chin on their palms as they watch his face wrinkle from his thoughts.

"Jongho, what's got you like that? You seem angry at the world."

Blinking quickly to ground himself out of his thoughts, he momentarily lifts the corner of his mouth before deciding not to hide, "How long are we going to be able to stay friends like this?"

Shocked, Ryn repositions themself, sitting up with legs crossed and hands in their lap. They sit in silence for a moment as they consider why Jongho asked this question and how to answer.

Breaking the silence, Jongho adds, "We can't sit in front of a mirror forever, right? Is there any way for us to meet? Are we stuck confined to this piece of decor if we want to remain friends?"

Hearing the frustration fester towards the end of his questioning, Ryn feels a lump form in their throat, "I... I haven't thought about it. I don't think there's a way to connect our worlds that would be safe to travel between. I-"

"Can you research it? Ask your instructors? Something?"

"I can't."

"Why not?" The bark in his voice causes Ryn to flinch.

"If instructors know about the mirror, they'd likely take it away and reverse the spell."

"What about research? Do you think there's anything about it in the books you have?"

Shaking their head and looking down, Ryn fiddles with their fingers and lowers their voice, "Everything is gone."

"What does that even mean?"

"Jongho, please don't get mad at me. I'd love to find a way for us to travel to each other. Believe me. I've tried, but every book on the topic of parallel universes has been removed from the catalogue. There's nothing other than this mirror to suggest that another universe exists."

Suddenly, the anger washes away. Hearing the apologetic tone in their voice, Jongho realizes that he's been pushing too roughly. He apologizes for reacting that way and explains that he just wants to be able to do more with Ryn.

"I know, Jongho. I'm sorry. I wish we could, but I've looked multiple times and found nothing. Even in the resources in the private library, everything is gone. I don't know why they got rid of everything or how this one spell for the mirror made it through the cracks, but something massive must've happened to cause this."

Defeated, Jongho admits, "We can't keep this up. I know you feel it, too. It's too much of a hassle to meet here all the time, only to do the same things over and over again."

Sighing, Ryn agrees. As they express their desire to figure out more about the magicks involved in crossing that blockage, they pause before suggesting a tactic, "Should I just ask? Should I continue researching and see if I can get any answers, even if it means risking our connection? Would you be okay if the connection is severed, or if my memory of you is wiped while trying to get to you?"

Jongho doesn't respond. Although he knows how hard it would be to reach one another, he desperately wants to do it, but he also doesn't want Ryn risking themself in the process when he can't do anything from his end. Suddenly, it hits him that they don't know whether he can do anything to help.

"Should I do it?"

"Wait a bit. There might not be anything in your library, but I haven't looked at all here." He claims, a new-found hope beaming through his voice.

"I thought there weren't witches in your world?"

"Not that I know of. But I'm a vampire, so there's always a possibility, right? Like clearly magic of some kind exists here. Maybe I can use magic on my side so you don't risk anything."

With that thought in mind, Jongho has a spark of determination. He rushes off, barely saying goodbye to his friend, in hopes of finding a solution. However, after hours in the nearest library, nothing helpful reared its head. When the library closed, he wondered if there were any creature-specific libraries separated from their human-built counterparts. Although he didn't know many other vampires, he asked them for help. He even reached out to his fae friend in hopes that they have records of magicks that could help him.

Although all his efforts of the past 24 hours ended fruitlessly, Jongho doesn't lose hope. In addition to his occasional check-ins with Ryn, he spends the better part of the next three weeks searching and slowly losing hope. Even when finding potential in the forms of old grimoires or fae magick texts, the spells he finds seem to hold no power in his hands. He tries to have Ryn do them, but they don't translate into proper magic in their world.

"I don't know anymore, Ryn. I really don't want to risk you losing memory, but there's nothing here that'll help either." Defeated, Jongho slumps into his armchair.

"But you tried, Jongho. Don't feel bad. There may not even be a way to do what we're trying to do, so don't beat yourself up over it. I'll try on my end. I promise I'll be as careful as possible. I'll check in on Saturday, okay? Hopefully, I'll find something by then."

After that meeting, Jongho grows more anxious as the sun rises and falls each day without hearing from Ryn. When Saturday finally arrives, Jongho sits in front of the mirror with bated breath. He doesn't eat. He doesn't even consider alcohol. For once, his sole purpose focuses on the screen that currently only reflects himself against the blackness of the sheet Ryn uses to cover the mirror.

Hearing the sheet ruffle and seeing the light slowly pouring into his room from Ryn's, he sits at attention. If anybody were to see, he'd look like a puppy waiting for his owner, he notes. Good thing nobody can see him. Seeing a figure emerge between the rays of sunshine, however, Jongho feels himself slump back down. Ryn looks different in a way that he can't quite pinpoint. Did they lose sleep? Were they not eating properly? How did they look so different after only five days?

Putting on a fake smile that only makes Jongho feel worse as the words fall through their lips, Ryn speaks, "Jongho, I'm so sorry."

Before Jongho has a chance to refute their apology and explain why it isn't their fault, another figure walks into view, looming about a foot above Ryn. With a book tucked under their shoulder, this stranger leans towards the frame, sparking a fiery anger in Jongho.

"So, this is the bat?" Her sharp accent is a stark contrast to Ryn's usual carefree and whimsy voice, and she studies Jongho as if he's an experiment.

"Don't call him that."

Ryn's voice now much stronger and stricter than he'd heard before, Jongho can tell that they aren't fond of this new character.

"Apologies." Lifting her hand to her chest, she introduces herself, "Greetings, vampire. My name is Anais, and I am head librarian here at the esteemed Ataraxia Academy for Upcoming Witches. What may you call yourself?"

"Why should I tell you, exactly? What are you doing here? You don't seem like you wish to help." Jongho stonewalls her, hands balled into fists at his side.

With a snotty-sounding laugh, Anais turns to Ryn, "Camryn, would you like to tell him, or shall I?"

"Ryn, what happened? Are you okay? What's going on with this overly-pompous witch?"

Sighing and refusing to lift their head, Ryn explains, "Miss Anais found me searching through spellbooks above my level. As a librarian at the school, the headmaster gifted her with a passive spell that forces students to answer truthfully when asked about going-ons at the library."

"Therefore, how exactly this interaction proceeds is entirely based on you, vampire. Shall I get your name now?"

Although Anais' voice stings his ears like her pretentiousness comes barbed, Jongho plays along in hopes that nothing will happen to Ryn, "My name is Jongho."

"What is your world called, Jongho? It seems that you do not reside within the realm of Uherus. Are you from a neighboring kingdom?"

"I haven't heard of that realm. I live simply in the country of Cyunth. We border along Scroy, which is more known to outsiders."

Jongho watches her reaction to these names closely as her mouth curls up in a wicked smile. Even without knowing why, Jongho can see the acknowledgment behind her eyes as it mixes with a feeling he can only recognize by the dread it gives him.

"Ah." For a woman of high speech, this simple answer irks Jongho. It even warrants a comment from Ryn, who finally lifts their head with a confused expression.

"'Ah?' Do you recognize these names?"

With a nod and a giggle, Anais shows her hand, "These were kingdoms of the past. You must remember learning of the tale of the great ruler Youngkyun when you were a child."

"The insane prince who rejected rule before coming back decades later to bring the kingdom down as revenge for his partner's death? I remember it, but what do you mean kingdoms of the past? Jongho is right here."

Waving her hand towards the mess of books and papers, Anais finds the spell used on the mirror. The page floats over to her hand and she examines it to figure out how Ryn speaks to someone from centuries prior. Upon finding the line, Anais taps the paper and nods, "I see."

"You're telling me Jongho is from the Scroy from 2400 years ago?" Ryn, still unable to process the information, asks for clarification.

"Indeed, I am. As a vampire, he might still be around now, but the chances of him remembering you from that long ago are near zero. As it stands now, you should be ending your contact with this person now. Who knows what chaos it has caused to connect with the past."

"What year is it?" Jongho asks with a flat tone as he finally understands what nonsense the other two are talking about.

"That is information we should not be admitting to you."

"3958." Ryn refuses to listen to Anais' warning, hoping that maybe he will find them if he knows when to search.

"Camryn!" The librarian scolds, "That's it. I will not let you reveal any more information to this immortal beast."

With a simple wave of a hand, the mirror reverts to its original form. Suddenly, Ryn and Anais are gone. Left staring at his own reflection, Jongho etches the numbers on the top portion of the glass with his nail.

"2638 years."

#kpoparchives #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop angst #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez angst #ateez #ateez jongho #choi jongho #jongho scenarios #jongho imagines #jongho angst #vampire!jongho

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thomabrainrot · 2 years ago

Text

Teach me how to cook, please?

Thoma has always stayed loyal to the Kamisato Family. Always prioritizing them at any time of the day.

But there were still days where Thoma would feel a little bit rebellious. On days where he knew he wasn't too busy, he would go to a little house just right outside Inazuma City. S

He would knock lightly on the door before hearing a voice saying

"Come in, Thoma!"

She didn't need to turn or take a peak behind her, the housekeeper had his own special knock that Y/N already knew it was him immediately.

Without tearing her eyes from the canvas, Y/N continues to paint in detail with different colors. Thoma sits wordlessly beside her, trying his best not to make a single sound as to not break her concentration.

Being one of Inazuma's prominent painters, Y/N has stayed focus on her brush strokes. Thoma doesn't mind, he understands how people have certain moods where they're concentrated and absolutely nothing could break it. Instead, he takes this time to observe her. Hair a little bit messy, tied in a loose ponytail while splotches of paint decorated her arms, hands and apron. It was nothing out of the ordinary, though Thoma's house keeping instinct gave him the urge to clean up, he respected that artists' just work in different ways.

It hasn't been long until Y/N huffs and stands from her seat, taking a few steps back she looks at the painting in different angle before clapping her hands together. Thoma knew that it meant she was satisfied, at least for today.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Thoma. What brings you here today?" Y/N cleans her hands with a rag cloth.

"Nothing. I had some free time before returning to the estate" That was a lie. Thoma basically rushed all his errands today just to see you, even if it's for a little bit. That was all he needed, he was satisfied.

"Well, I'm feeling kind of famished. I haven't really eaten much lately..." Y/N gestured to the bowls of cup noodles on her sink.

Thoma gasps and springs up from his seat "You should always eat your meals!"

"I mean.. Other than not having the time.. I just really don't know how to cook other things..." Y/N shyly rubs the back of her neck

"You could've told me! I would love to cook for you" Thoma exclaims

"N-no! I couldn't possibly take up your time. Your busy as you are.. but maybe you can teach me? So I can cook on my own?"

"Hmm.. That sounds like a good idea" Thoma then proceeds to open her cabinets and sees that she has enough decent ingredients to actually make egg fried rice. He prepares it diligently on the table before explaining to her what she needs to do.

"Plus, I would really need to learn how to cook for my future spouse.." Y/N jokes suddenly

But the dear housekeeper was too surprised at the thought. The thought of Y/N marrying.

"You don't need to.." he says in a serious voice

"Oh come on! We all know a woman's way to a man's heart is his stomach. No one will ever want to marry me if I can't cook.."

"I would"

"Huh?"

"I said.. T-that's not true. There are a lot of men who could cook for the family now!"

"Like you?" Y/N teases him

"Y-yeah. I could cook an entire feast!" Thoma boasts as his ears blush

"Well I'd envy them. Whoever you marry and cook for in the future would be so lucky.." Y/N giggles to herself and sigh "So lucky.."

As Y/N gets lost in her thoughts, she accidentally cuts her finger while chopping some onions. Thoma immediately drops everything and comes to her aid.

"S-sorry.. I'm so clumsy, aren't I? Can't even chop onions.. I-I'll probably just die single haha"

"Don't say that!" Thoma immediately puts a band aid over her cut "You're a great woman! Any guy would be lucky to have you. They'd be foolish to not want you!"

"Y-you think so?"

"I know so!"

Y/N couldn't help but laugh "You're always so kind Thoma. But it's fine, I'm fine with just being with myself and eating ramen for the rest of my life!"

"No!"

"Eh?"

"I wouldn't let that happen to you. I'd cook for you. Everyday. You won't even need to chop anything. I'd do everything for you" Thoma says as his emerald eyes shine in seriousness.

"T-Thoma are you.. are you-"

"I'll become your spouse so you won't need to worry at all!"

A silence falls between you two and Thoma suddenly steps back and covers his mouth as soon as he realizes what he said. While you were like a red gaping fish with your mouth hanging open.

"Ah.. ahaha.. haha" Y/N awkwardly laughs "That's a funny joke Thoma"

The housekeeper pouts and approach Y/N "I'm not joking.. I would marry you. I would want to be the luckiest guy to receive your love. I would want nothing else"

Y/N couldn't hold back anymore and stands up on her tiptoes to give Thoma a kiss on the lips. Thoma doesn't let this chance slip as his hands grasp her waist and the back of her neck to kiss her better. There was instant fireworks as they kissed each other lovingly.

When they part, both of their lips were swollen as they catch their breath.

"Maybe we could.. date first before marrying?"

Thoma couldn't help but chuckle "Of course. But just know that I already have plans for our marriage already"

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

hello everyone! I'm Tsuki, a new writer for Thoma!

I love my husband / malewife dearly. To the point that I have to write scenarios / imagines because I have read almost everything here and in ao3 xD

please do not hesitate to send me an ask for requests (though i cant promise i cant write everything immediately) or just send me a message so we can bond over our malewife!

#genshin impact #genshin thoma #thoma x reader #thoma x you #thoma x y/n #thoma #thoma scenarios #thoma imagines

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six40seven · 2 years ago

Text

September 16-18th

I didnt go to school. I told Niki i was feeling too sick to and she just nodded and said it was fine. Just by her body language i could tell she was distracted by something else and i didnt want to bother her more then necessary. I wanted to say thanks to all the people on here sending kind messages and concerned asks. I am okay. I was just a little rattled these last few days and well, of course today. I havent slept in almost 32 hours. There is no way in hell im closing my eyes and waking up somewhere strange again with no recollection of how i got there.

This doesnt make sense, and i can tell youre telling me in your head “Ran you need to sleep.” And i know you’re right but it was just horrifying. I have a hard enough time remembering what i do when im awake. Why would this suddenly start happening to me. Its unfair. I was doing fine. Now im not, and i dread falling asleep again. Im too afriad to ask Niki to instal a lock of sorts so last night and the night before and really any time I’ve been feeling the urge to sleep.. well I’ve began to tie my foot to my post. ITS NOT TIGHT. I just dont want to wander off again.

Fall break is soon. I mean sorta. I attempted to attend school online the second day home after the ordeal but my connection was too shit. I guess its the trees blocking the signal. Or maybe the mountains. Speaking of trees, i havent left my house since that day. I dont want to risk whatever happened happening again, worse while im awak. Not that i think it will but the way the trees just… tempt me sometimes. I cant risk walking to the bus or walking even out of my house. WHEERE i use to consider it a blessing to not live in the town houses, i now regret never moving closer. Fuck. Its been so long since I’ve been outside im worried my skin will fall off my body and ill die if i spend one more day barred in my room.

Its okay, for the most part. besides the natural (?) urge i have to be outside all the time. Ive sort of forgotten to document much these o past few days. But i dont think anything else significant happened. As far as related to me. Niki didnt come back the first night and i spent all that time in ym room with the blind drawn and the lights on. I was afriad if i turned the lights off i would nod off. I ended up watching YouTube and Netflix on my laptop as well as cleaning my entire room.

Usually my room is a trash heap, i like it that way, its like having my own nest. But that first night. I couldn’t stand all the things and i pretty much Ed cleaned everything top to bottom in less then 3 hours. I found a few interested things while i was doing that, including but not limited to: a box full of my old Polaroids and camera, a stuffed animal i thought i had lost which went back onto my bed, and a total of 20 spare dollars made mostly out of 1 Dollar bills and quarters.

The only thing of real interest was the Polaroid camera. I thought i lost that thing years and years ago. I only know i had one at all because i have some older pictures pinned places and tucked into my phone case. Theyre all of people i dont really know but i like to think i do so i can carry some part of them with me. They must have been important to me at some point yk. So i decided to look through and sort out any of the Polaroids i remeber or anything like that. These are my findings. I’ll explain them after i show them to you.

starting at the left top and going left to right. It reads Nov 1st 20##. all of these are from when i was a kid. maybe when i was in 4th or 5th grade? Im not entirely sure the exact age i was. The photo shown is a picture i must have taken of some sort of important journal entry, i cant really read it but at least if i ever needed to remeber taking a picture.. I remember, thanks past me.

The next one, in order, is a picture of two shadows. Maybe three. Probably me. Maybe Niki… or Eryn. we were close when we were kids and hes in two of these already. So ill just mention him. idk if he will be okay with me talking about him on here. I dont think he knows i have this account. hopefully he doesnt find it. Not that i would care very much. He just doesnt like me. The caption is just a date. oct 3rd. no year. I wonder when it happened? sometime in my childhood probably. I havent used this camera in years and years. I lost it so long ago.

The third is a weirdly saturated picture of a park in my town. The bigger town. Its just weird. And the caption says… evacuating or something. Its sorta weird. also Niki might have taken this picture because her name is on it too. Seems like her type of thing. from what i remeber as a kid, when we still lived in the big town, she was into weird saturated pictures. Something about scene. I dont know really.

The fourth is on the second line of pictures i found in the Box. On the bottom left. It says July 20## again sometime in my childhood. It shows aforementioned Eryn crouching ont he ground showing something to everyone. Or the viewer. I can see myself, or younger me. Younger me off to the side. Someone else took this picture. I dont remeber this happening. But it was important enough to keep so there it is. Thats pretty much it.

The fifth, wow thats a lot of numbers. Its got a smiley face :) on it. and its a picture of the lake. Yk the one bordering the left side of the bigger town. Its one of the smaller more muddy parts so its all gross. Probably from a hike that i wanted to remeber with Niki or something. I loved the lake when i was a kid. It was fun to swim in but after… after awhile i stopped going and then it closed because of something weird and now you can only go hiking near and around it.

The sixth. A picture of me and ****** hugging. Eryn in the background. It reads Eryn & ##### July. Its a cute picture. I dont know… who ****** is? Yeah i dont know. but i must have known them at one point because thats them. Yeah. They look familiar in the worse way and i pretty much threw that one back in the box as soon as I could. I dont like lookign at it. My stomach hurts when i do.

The seventh. And last a picture of a cat. Even when i was a kid i also apparently liked cats. It reads Spring 20##.

So yeah. I just wanted to say im glad i was able to find them and document them somewhere. I also thought while im explaing photos and stuff ill go into a little detail about what i discovered from that night. Posted on here.

The first piece is clearly a path somewhere in the forest. If i were to say, somewhere further in the mountains, near where the older remains of mines are. The only thing wrong about this piece is that…. When i posted it, theres no wya for there to have been snow. So either the photo is altered in some way, which is unlikely, because from what i can tell it was posted in the middle of the night. Or it was actually snowing wherever i was. even though all the previous days it had been raining.

The next picture looks like some sort of underground tunnel, lined with bricks and ending in step leading up to a barred and maybe locked? I dont know, barred iron gate. I have never seen that place before. Ive been in a lot of abandoned buildings that I’ve found near here but I’ve never seen something like this. The only explaination i can give for the location is possibly a sewer enterance somewhere in the basement of one of the older buildings, not from the big town but rather from the smaller town nearer to my house. Again, it looks like its snowing. Which makes no sense in any context, since it was snowing when i woke up (even though i said i thought it was) and because if this was underground where would snow be coming from? The title says… I heard you. Im here. I dont remeber this. Obviously. and i dont know who i would have.. heard? It doesnt make any sense.

The third picture… i dont have much to say. It looks dark. Maybe its related to the second picture, maybe its on the otherside of the gate. But I’ve never seen a place that dark before. Especially if it has walls. which I think it does. so it must be in a building somewhere out in the forest. Sorta supports my abandoned building theory. Or abandoned mine shaft? I have no idea. But the capture is clearly a long hallway. the caption says something is wrong. No duh. I am clearly self aware even if i dont remeber. I wonder if i act different..

Anyway, thats all for the last few days. I probably will end up attending school tomorrow. Niki isnt home yet, its near the end of the day so if she isnt home by now im assuming shes staying overnight at the office. wouldn’t be the first, wont be the last. I might get a snack before trying not to fall asleep a third night in a row. If anyone wants to chat with me, ill be open to the distractions.

#sleepyspeaking

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ohwellyk · 2 months ago

Text

I feel like I would get more appreciation and criticism on my writing on here than anywhere else.

This is the rough draft/starting, of a Madara Uchiha fan fiction. I have more chapters but I’m still cleaning things up!!!

Please let me know what you think I should add or what I can do make this flow better. I haven’t written in awhile so bare with me!

Starting of Chapter 1

The sun gradually pushes through my window, gently illuminating my face and rousing me from slumber. My eyelids resist the urge to open as I push out a prolonged yawn. The brightness of the sun overwhelms my senses.

Pushing aside my comforter, the warmth dissipates, cascading to the foot of the bed. I extend my arms upward, relishing the sensation of my muscles elongating and the satisfying pops of my shoulders, a delightful morning ritual. Swinging my feet over the edge of the bed, allowing them to stretch as well.

The sound of my brother's footsteps resonated throughout the house, accompanied by their playful laughter.

With a smile gracing my lips, I stroll over to my large white vanity. The towering mirror captures my entire form. I execute a slow spin, watching the fabric elegantly flow and wrap around my figure. A light giggle escapes me as I take a seat.

A gentle knock at the door captures my attention, and as it creaks open, my mother, Mizuno, appears. She is a remarkably beautiful woman with a fair complexion and long, dark hair that flows down past her hips.

Although her face is now marked by wrinkles, her beauty remains unchanged.

Her expression brightens as she steps further into my room. I see that she’s holding two small bowls, one of which emitted steam.

“Are you ready for today?” she asks, setting the bowls down on my vanity.

Looking at her, I quietly questioned, “Should I be?”

Taking a cloth from one of my drawers and dipping it into the hot water, the heat biting into my fingers.

As I press the warm cloth against my face, the delightful warmth travels down my spine. Then suddenly, a sharp tug on my hair startles me, causing the towel to fall from my hands.

“You are on the verge of becoming the head of our clan, Takamoto. You must behave accordingly.” Her voice slices through the air.

Grumbling to myself, I retrieve the rag from the floor, acutely aware of my mother’s intense gaze upon me.

Turning to meet her eyes, I realize she’s already turned away and is nearly out the door, her dark hair trailing behind her like a flowing river. Sighing and contemplating the predicament I’ve entered. I grab another cloth to dry my face, and approach my wardrobe. Navigating through the vibrant colors, I pause at a lavender yukata embellished with soft yellow flowers at the hem.

A sudden crash and the yelps of my brothers disrupt the moment.

I quickly dress and exit my room, only to find three of them piled up near the front door. Kenshin, Yukio, and Rikuto in a tangled mess, each groaning softly.

Kenshin, who is at the bottom, turns crimson and retaliates with a punch directly at Yukio, who is on top of him.

A brawl erupts among the three, as the young children wrestle and yank at each other's hair in a chaotic display.

Mother approaches the trio, causing their playful behavior to cease immediately and they lower their heads.

I can sense the palpable fear emanating from them. "Gomen!" The three of them bow their heads even further, hoping to evade any punishment.

"Haha," one of my brothers mockingly chuckles at their predicament. "You never seem to learn, do you?"

Mother scolds the boys and swiftly delivers a sharp smack to each of their heads. "Gah!" they exclaim, crouching in pain and rolling about while clutching their injured heads.

I turn away from the lively gathering, retreating to the familiar sanctuary of my room to prepare for the day ahead. Today is more than just another day; it marks a pivotal moment in my life—I am to be appointed as the head of the clan. The weight of this responsibility both thrilled and terrified me.

#madara uchiha #madara #fanfiction #writing prompts #writing #Naruto #madara x oc #in the need of criticism and love

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lissielives · 6 months ago

Text

The rape joke is that you were nineteen years old.

The rape joke is that he was your boyfriend.

The rape joke it wore a goatee. A goatee.

Imagine the rape joke looking in the mirror, perfectly reflecting back itself, and grooming itself to look more like a rape joke. "Ahhhh," it thinks. "Yes. A goatee."

No offense.

The rape joke is that he was seven years older. The rape joke is that you had known him for years, since you were too young to be interesting to him. You liked that use of the word interesting, as if you were a piece of knowledge that someone could be desperate to acquire, to assimilate, and to spit back out in different form through his goateed mouth.

Then suddenly you were older, but not very old at all.

The rape joke is that you had been drinking wine coolers.

Wine coolers! Who drinks wine coolers? People who get raped, according to the rape joke.

The rape joke is he was a bouncer, and kept people out for a living.

Not you!

The rape joke is that he carried a knife, and would show it to you, and would turn it over and over in his hands as if it were a book.

He wasn't threatening you, you understood. He just really liked his knife.

The rape joke is he almost murdered a dude by throwing him through a plate-glass window. The next day he told you and he was trembling, which you took as evidence of his sensitivity.

How can a piece of knowledge be stupid? But of course you were so stupid.

The rape joke is that sometimes he would tell you you were going on a date and then take you over to his best friend Peewee's house and make you watch wrestling while they all got high.

The rape joke is that his best friend was named Peewee.

OK, the rape joke is that he worshipped The Rock.

Like the dude was completely in love with The Rock. He thought it was so great what he could do with his eyebrow.

The rape joke is that he called wrestling "a soap opera for men." Men love dram too, he assured you.

The rape joke is that his bookshelf was just a row of paperbacks about serial killers. You mistook this for an interest in history, and laboring under his misapprehension you once gave him a copy of Gunter Grass's My Century, which he never even tried to read.

It gets funnier.

The rape joke is that he kept a diary. I wonder if he wrote about the rape in it. The rape joke is that you read it once, and he talked about another girl. He called her Miss Geography, and said "he didn't have those urges when he looked at her anymore," not since he met you. Close call, Miss Geography!

The rape joke is that he was your father's high school student--your father taught World Religion. You helped him clean out his classroom at the end of the year, and he let you take home the most beat-up textbooks.

The rape joke is that he knew you when you were twelve years old. He once helped your family move two states over, and you drove from Cincinnati to St. Louis with him, all by yourselves, and he was kind to you, and you talked the whole way. He had chaw in his mouth the entire time, and you told him he was disgusting and he laughed, and spat the juice through his goatee into a Mountain Dew bottle.

The rape joke is that come on, you should have seen it coming. This rape joke is practically writing itself.

The rape joke is that you were facedown. The rape joke is you were wearing a pretty green necklace that your sister had made for you. Later you cut that necklace up. The mattress felt a specific way, as if you were speaking, but you know you were not. As if your mouth were open ten years into the future, reciting a poem called Rape Joke.

The rape joke is that time is different, becomes more horrible and more habitable, and accommodates your need to go deeper into it.

Just like the body, which more than a concrete form is a capacity.

You know the body of time is elastic, can take almost anything you give it, and heals quickly.

The rape joke is that of course there was blood, which in human beings is so close to the surface.

The rape joke is you went home like nothing happened, and laughed about it the next day and the day after that, and when you told people you laughed, and that was the rape joke.

It was a year before you told your parents, because he was like a son to them. The rape joke is that when you told your father, he made the sign of the cross over you and said, "I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," which even in its total wrongheadedness, was so completely sweet.

The rape joke is that you were crazy for the next five years, and had to move cities, and had to move states, and whole days went down into the sinkhole of thinking about why it happened. Like you went to look at your backyard and suddenly it wasn't there, and you were looking down into the center of the earth, which played the same red event perpetually.

The rape joke is that after a while you weren't crazy anymore, but close call, Miss Geography.

The rape joke is that for the next five years all you did was write, and never about yourself, about anything else, about apples on the tree, about islands, dead poets and the worms that aerated them, and there was no warm body in what you wrote, it was elsewhere.

The rape joke is this his finally artless. The rape joke is that you do not write artlessly.

The rape joke is if you write a poem called Rape Joke, you're asking for it to become the only thing people remember about you.

The rape joke is that you asked why he did it. The rape joke is he said he didn't know, like what else would a rape joke say? The rape joke said YOU were the one who was drunk, and the rape joke said you remembered it wrong, which made you laugh out loud for one long split-open second. The wine coolers weren't Bartles & Jaymes, but it would be funnier for the rape joke if they were. It was some pussy flavor, like Passionate Mango or Destroyed Strawberry, which you drank down without question and trustingly in the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Can rape jokes be funny at all, is the question.

Can any part of the rape joke be funny. The part where it ends--haha, just kidding! Though you did dream of killing the rape joke for years, spilling all of its blood out, and telling it that way.

The rape joke cries out for the right to be told.

The rape joke is that this is just how it happened.

The rape joke is that the next day he gave you Pet Sounds. No really. Pet Sounds. He said he was sorry and then he gave you Pet Sounds. Come on, that's a little bit funny.

Admit it. Rape Joke Patricia Lockwood

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transgirlhoshizorarin · 1 year ago

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Second Stroke in 8 Months

I don't think anyone reads this anymore but I should provide an update on life and stuff.

Last night I cooked some chili garlic noodles and followed the ingredients (but not their amounts) from Yeung Man Cooking. His recipes look really good, so I tried making one, but I doubled the recipe without really measuring my soy sauce and oyster sauce but went by look and compared it by how it looked/tasted as I cooked it. Unfortunately, you probably shouldn't cook while you're hungry, but the problem is that you end up not eating it right away and you end up eating cold food later on. But cooking while hungry makes things taste way better than they really should, and that's where the problem was.

I put way too much soy sauce in.

I didn't realize it, but after having 2 bowls of noodles total, I sat down and started watching some videos to let the food settle, and I started feeling weird. Like something was off. And I started feeling lightheaded and my vision was starting to deteriorate, first at the peripherals and then eventually down to the center of my vision, where I had almost entirely lost my eyesight within about 30 seconds. I had the urge to vomit. It was like when you stand up too fast and need to sit back down to let the blood flow back into your brain, but I was still sitting. I got up and somehow managed to push my chair into my desk, and hobbled over to the bathroom door that's connected to my bedroom. I had fallen at some point, and the thud alerted one of my housemates to come and check on me.

The first time I had a stroke was in the shower, I think just before christmas of 2022, approximately 8 months ago. I had just woken up in the morning, it was cold, so I did some 250 squats and got into the shower to warm myself up while also maintaining my leg muscles. The experience was the same: it was a sudden realization that something wasn't right, I suddenly started feeling lightheaded, my vision deteriorated, and I collapsed in the shower. I regained consciousness on the shower floor, the water running over me, and while I still had very impaired vision, I had physical control over my body. I shut the water off and dried off as best I could, then immediately went back into my bedroom to cool off, and my vision slowly returned over a few minutes. I told my roommates what happened and one came up to check on me, doing some basic tests to see if I still had full physical capability. I was able to force a symmetrical smile and could follow his finger back and forth with my eyes, so things seemed fine. There were no further incidents, but this event alerted my other housemates that if they hear a loud thud coming from my area of the house, they should probably check on me.

My housemate came into my dark room, and I could hear him, asking me if I was okay. I said, "I can't see." He asked if I had a light, but my phone was at my desk and I kept the lights off in my room as well as the AC to help save on electric bills. I was pointing to the light switch on the wall and saying, "It's right there," but according to him, I was entirely unresponsive. A few seconds later, I had a tiny burst of energy where I could see one of my computer monitors and based on where it was in my field of vision, I could guess where I was in my room. I looked up and saw the faint silhouette of the bathroom door knob, so I grabbed it and pulled myself up, opened the door to the bathroom, and flipped on the light switch. I said, "I can finally see," then I blacked out completely.

I woke up in a pool of my own vomit, mostly cleaned up, and with an ice bag on my head. My housemate told me to stay on my side, presumably to keep me from inhaling my own vomit, which I think I inhaled just a little, since the entire night I was exhaling some black razzberry la croix, which is what I had drank just before my vision started to deteriorate.

My head was throbbing with pain, my glasses were off, and I was on the bathroom floor. My head on the stone tile. My legs were wet. My clothes were wet. My throat was burning. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. My vision started returning. I could tell that all I needed to do was vomit. But it turned out that I fell face-first into the stone tile, and fell so hard that I bruised my right eyelid and the frames for my glasses had bent so much that they no longer sit relatively balanced on my face anymore. Both of my housemates were in the bathroom with me, cleaning up and making sure I stayed conscious. I felt terrible. My head hurt. One of them gave me a glass of water with a little sugar and iodine. It was cold, and it tasted good. He recommended that I just keep my AC on, but I said that I can't afford the upcoming electric bill if I keep it on all the time. I seriously can't. If it costs $500, I barely make that much in a month, and I still have to pay the internet bill ($170), water bill ($100), and gas bill (usually around $20 or less). And I still owe rent, which I definitely cannot afford so I haven't been paying it.

I managed to regain full control of my body and took all my clothes off and threw them and the bathroom rug into the washer, took a lukewarm shower, and went to sleep. I woke up with a dull, persistent headache and a lightly bruised but noticeably swollen right eyelid. I had planned to visit a coffee shop today in the morning to see if they were still hiring, but there would definitely be questions about my black eye. So I sent in an application anyway and hopefully the swelling will go down within the week and I can check on my application later.

I've been streaming a few times a week on twitch, mostly Overwatch, but sometimes GoldenEye 007 on an emulator. I've been out of work since June 8, 2021, so I did swagbucks for a while, getting $50 per month on surveys, then going back to Rubios so I can make around $500/month.

#personal

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mixelation · 1 year ago

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the problem with posting as you write is that some of this information definitely should have been introduced earlier lol

Iwa was nestled on a tiny plateau at the base of a mountain range, where one side of the village plunged upward to the sky and the other side suddenly dropped off as a cliff. They’d taken the only even remotely flat approach, a narrow strip of land that connected the plateau to a pine forest. Their guides then led them partway down the cliffside to a side-access entrance, presumably to avoid them actually seeing the village before their security screening. The building opened into Iwa’s tunnel system, after which they were funneled outside and into one of the shitty half-abandoned neighborhoods at the base of the cliff.

The dorms were part of the Iwa outskirts, a little cluster of low-rent homes and Iwa-funded shinobi housing that had popped up when the Second War churned out a bunch of orphans and disabled shinobi who could no longer afford the high rents generated by lack of space in Iwa proper. Their civilian population had failed to follow the expansion down the cliff with shops or services. There was only one steep, poorly maintained staircase up to Iwa, carved into the cliff and then ducking underground about half way up to join the network of tunnels throughout the village. The entire commute to do even the most basic chore or grab a bite to eat was therefore absolutely abysmal if you weren’t a trained shinobi, or if you lost your leg to being a shinobi. No one moved to the outskirts because they wanted to.

The little neighborhood was now mostly abandoned, with the Third Shinobi War doing a decent job of cleaning out housing in Iwa-proper (tanks, Minato), and someone on Oonoki’s advisory council realizing they could increase their army by subsidizing rent to shinobi or civilians who pledged their children to be shinobi. The outskirts had been mostly empty buildings for his living memory.

Deidara had passed through this area frequently, because he’d needed access to more remote training grounds to practice his art, but he’d barely spent any time actually in the neighborhood. He’d never looked twice at the cluster of squat buildings that were their housing for the exams.

The dorms were just as shitty as Deidara expected. Someone– probably some underpaid genin team– had at least cleaned the place up, taping plastic over cracked windows and leaving all the lightbulbs bare but functional. The walls were dense stone-and-mud mixtures that a group of chunin with decent doulton could sculpt with relatively low effort, which trapped heat inside and made the rooms stuffy even as the late spring air was pleasant. There was a main building with an area to socialize, the kitchen, and a dining area lined with long, metal tables. Both their teams were assigned one room each in the same building, and they’d be sharing their bathroom with two other teams.

“This is kind of shit,” Mangetsu observed once their guide had left them alone. Their rooms were identical, outfitted with two narrow bunk beds each that barely fit.

Perversely, Deidara had the sudden urge to point out that Iwa proper had all sorts of extremely attractive and interesting examples of architecture.

“What did you expect, a five-star hotel?” Tori asked. “Is that what they give you oh-so-important swordsmen in training in Kiri?”

“Please,” Mangetsu replied, flashing his ugly teeth. “Even our least famous guests would get a three star hotel.”

“And you’d know all about least famous guests,” Tori said, flashing her teeth right back. “Does anyone actually know all seven swordsmen?”

“Tori,” Kushina-sensei chided. “Don’t just insult shinobi when they’re standing right next to you, you know. With a sword, I might add.”

Kisame laughed, although it was obviously extremely strained. “Yeah, kid, they let me keep my weapons.”

The smile Kisame shot her was dangerous, the type Deidara had seen on his face right before dismembering someone. Tori just held his gaze, unimpressed.

“Did they really confiscate all your weapons?” Kisame added, turning to Kushina.

Kushina-sensei rolled her eyes. “Ugh, it’s a long story. Ask me over dinner.”

Kisame herded Mangetsu into their room, even as Mangetsu opened his mouth to try baiting Tori again. Kushina likewise shooed them into their horrible uncomfortable room, and Deidara immediately tossed his travel pack up to claim one of the top bunks.

“Why are you antagonizing people you just met?” Kushina-sensei demanded of Tori. “I said be annoying to Iwa-nin, not start beef with everyone you meet, you know.”

Tori sat on the bed beneath Deidara’s, and Deidara took three steps up the wall to collapse on the mattress above her.

“I wasn’t antagonizing them,” Tori defended. “They’re Kiri-nin. I was making friends.”

“That’s a stereotype,” Itachi told her, as if he didn’t just talk to everyone he met in nothing but insults.

“Wait,” Deidara said, a second smile of the day tugging at his lips. He leaned over the edge of his bed to look at Tori. “Were you flirting?”

“Ew, no,” Tori replied, looking horrified even as Kushina let out a tiny, excited gasp. “No. He’s like thirteen.”

“Good,” Kushina-sensei said, pointing accusingly at Tori. “No looking at boys until you’re at least fifteen. Especially not boys from other villages!”

The pained, embarrassed face Tori made was extremely funny, actually. Deidara laughed so hard he risked falling off the bed.

(“Why fifteen?” Itachi asked.)

xXx

Kisame had heard of Uzumaki Kushina, of course. Kiri had her down as a person of interest, due to her heritage and her marriage to the Yellow Flash. She hadn’t been on the frontlines of the Third Shinobi War, so her actual skills were largely unknown. Like many shinobi, she wasn’t actually very impressive when she was just standing there: eye-catching red hair but otherwise physically unremarkable. She trailed after her team with the silent, dangerous gait of any Jounin, raking her fingers through her hair to tie it up as she went.

And how was Kisame supposed to focus on her, when that was her team? Whose insane idea was this? His head hurt just looking at Itachi and Deidara standing next to each other, even if both of them were still kids.

At least Tori still walked like a civilian. That was… good? But she had a hitai-ate. What?

Via a genjutsu, Itachi had told him he’d come find him later. The act had almost made Kisame hysterical. He’d met Kakuzu years ago, so he knew it was possible other people might also be reincarnated souls. It just hadn’t occurred to him he might have to deal with the catastrophic disaster that was Konoha getting hands on Deidara and Tori.

“That’s okay,” Kisame heard Tori say to the brat he was currently babysitting. “Iwa has, which is why they didn’t let us bring in any of our own weapons. Excuse me, Shinobi-san…”

Her stride transitioned seamlessly into one more suited to a young shinobi. Kisame didn’t like that. He didn’t like that at all. He especially didn’t like the way that Mangetsu slowed his walk, eyes fixed on Tori as she strolled off to bother their guide next. That was a look that spelled trouble.

“She’s not worth it,” Kisame called to him. Whatever Mangetsu was thinking right now, getting involved with Tori was a bad idea.

He caught Uzumaki Kushina’s eye. She winked at him. Great.

This wasn’t the first genin Kisame had babysat for an exam, but it was his first time in Iwa. Their housing situation was significantly worse than the normal hotel Kumo had offered. He listened half-heartedly as his charge and Tori bantered, eyeing their cramped little room with trepidation. He’d be annoyed with just Mangetsu, but were Itachi and Deidara going to be able to not kill each other…? Should he warn Mangetsu the building could go up in flames at any moment?

(How was Konoha still standing?)

Tori’s banter switched to him. He grinned down at her; he was pretty sure she was as tall now as she’d be as an adult. This made her the same height as Itachi, which was… hysterical. Kisame had to bring that up when they met in private.

After he closed the door to their room behind them, Mangetsu unclasped his sword and dropped it on a bed. He stared thoughtfully at it for a few moments while Kisame mimicked his actions, planning to take a quick nap before dinner.

“Hey, Kisame-san,” Mangetsu said. “That girl… she’s sort of cute, isn’t she?”

No, Kisame thought, feeling the urge to bash his head into the wall. Tori, what have you done?

reborn au, deidara POV. start of the chunin exams

Deidara sat across the desk from the Hokage, wedged between Itachi and Tori. Oonoki, and any commanding officer below him, would have made him stand, even if he was bleeding out.

Minato, meanwhile, tended to make meetings feel more like a conversation. Brief communications were done standing, but for their longer meetings he’d gesture for them to pull up chairs and then lean back casually in his own seat. He usually didn’t even complain if someone interrupted him with questions.

(Which Team 4 did. A lot. Because Itachi and Tori were both assholes who thought they were smarter than they were. Deidara, meanwhile, only had the most salient of interruptions.)

MInato did this even with super serious missions, like his insane plot to have them enter the Iwa Chunin Exam as cover to extract a Konoha prisoner.

Deidara wasn’t sure if Minato was so casual for all his shinobi, or if being on his wife’s team got them special privileges. Kushina-sensei had, in fact, chosen to sit on the desk rather than a chair, the backs of her sandals clunking against the wood. But even if it was just a perk of being on Kushina-sensei’s team, Deidara would take this lax style over anything Iwa ever put him through.

“Iwa sent their finalized list of contraband,” Minato said, voice cheerful. He held up a stack of papers. “I’ll read them to you. It’s pretty intense.”

The list was… lengthy. And sort of insane. They banned them from bringing in their own weapons, promising to provide adequate replacements upon arrival. They also banned all fuinjutsu related material, including any type of paper or writing utensil, and then an increasingly unhinged list of items which seem to pose no real danger to Deidara.

Minato’s voice cracked at reading the phrase “nectars and other viscous juices,” and then he turned and coughed a couple times to cover up laughter.

Kushina-sensei was also covering a smile with one hand.

“Did they put an insane person in charge of communications?” Deidara asked.

“No, they…” Minato had to pause a moment to get ahold of himself again. “They really, really don’t want you sneaking in a Hiraishin marker. Or making a new one.”

“Sorry,” Kushina-sensei told them, not looking the least bit sorry. “They’re probably only this paranoid because I’m your sensei.”

This did make sense to Deidara. The Iwa he’d grown up in, in the other timeline, had been one in which the Yellow Flash was dead and gone, and the man was still haunting old people’s nightmares. Some of Deidara’s older Academy texts had been from before his death, and they’d included insane protocols for what to do if he showed up on the field. Not a Konoha ninja, not a ninja with a specific technique– just him. No other Kage had such an honor.

He could only imagine the sort of cultural anxiety Minato was inflicting on Iwa just by existing.

The idea was sort of exiting, actually. All that fear and anxiety building up for years, just waiting for someone to come along and end it all in one glorious moment–

Tori elbowed him. To Minato, she asked, “Will they give us fuinjutsu supplies too, or do we have to get creative?”

Minato’s lips quirked upwards.

“They will give you fuinjutsu supplies,” he said. “A village only makes money off an exam if they can show off promising genin, and I convinced them it would be necessary for you to give a good show.”

“But I don’t get any?” Kushina-sensei clarified.

Any Iwa-nin who’d done two seconds of research on Uzumaki Kushina would want to ban her from even touching a brush forever. Even if she hadn’t gotten famous off of murder like he had, she and Minato came as a set: half his techniques were from her, and if anyone was going to be making Hiraishin markers and spreading them around, it would be her.

“I don’t know how they’ll enforce Tori having access but not you,” Minato admitted. “Supervision, maybe.”

Itachi cleared his throat. “You're sure this isn’t an ambush?” he asked.

This seemed like a good point to Deidara. They were basically just agreeing to waltz into Iwa completely weaponless and submit to whatever asshole demands Iwa might make. And like, someone like Deidara could do it, but it would be super annoying.

Minato took a moment to answer, gathering his thoughts.

“It might be,” he said, tone suddenly deadly serious. “But their doors will be open to plenty of foreign powers, and they’ve already advertised a team from Konoha. A move against us would be very, very stupid of them.” He let a humorless smile cross his lips. “Besides, I intentionally picked a team that could still function even with every disadvantage they might give you.”

Next to him, Tori shifted uneasily. Deidara didn’t think she was nervous for herself, because Tori had wandered into worse with no ninja skills whatsoever and came out on top. It was that there was no way Minato knew that, because Tori liked to downplay her talents at every turn. She had worked her way into the mission plan as a competent fuinjutsu user, but he probably wasn’t including her in his super special hand-picked team.

(And also, if you evaluated Tori the way you would in a classroom– throw this knife here, use this type of kick, demonstrate this particular move– she was pretty mediocre, even for a twelve year old. Tori only seemed intimidating after she’d tricked into doing something deeply stupid and then was waving some insane seal in your face.)

Deidara wasn’t even sure Minato was including him, even though he ranked right up there with Kushina-sensei and Itachi in terms of “has an absurd bloodline limit, good luck taking THAT away.” It seemed more likely he and Tori got signed up to be semi-expendable benchwarmers, and any talents they ended up displaying were just a nice perk.

The thought made him angry. Minato might seem way cooler than Oonoki, but they were all the same, weren’t they? Minato would definitely abandon him and Tori to save his precious Konoha-born shinobi.

Tori must be putting thought into what she would do without weapons, because she remarked, “It’s such overkill to ban all paper, though. If I already wasn’t using sealing paper, I wouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, no regular paper either? Guess I’ll just give up.’”

Deidara attempted to reel in his temper. This was Tori probing the waters of what she could get away with. She was infuriatingly cautious about it, in Deidara’s opinion, but her paranoid little brain would be better attuned to when they might have to jump ship. He should let her take lead on this and not upset himself.

Kushina-sensei flashed her teeth at Tori. “No, obviously if you’re good enough, you can make any flat surface work. I assume that’s why they banned…. hand mirrors.”

There was a long pause while Kushina-sensei and Tori stared at each other, presumably contemplating what chaos they could cause with a hand mirror.

Minato’s swivel chair groaned as he leaned back, dropping his papers on his desk.

“It’s a moot point,” he said. “Tori, we don’t use untested seals in the field, and you can’t count on any seal that works on paper to work anywhere else. There’s a reason we use sealing paper. No hand mirror seals, okay?”

Hand mirrors were only the tip of the iceberg of insane shit Tori might try, but she plastered a meek smile on her face and agreed anyway.

Disgusting, Deidara thought. He trusted this version of Tori to save his ass if they suddenly had to abandon ship, but she was also the worst possible version of herself. Unartistic.

Itachi changed the subject again. “The overall mission is getting convoluted. How will Kushina get to Morino with fuinjutsu supplies if we may be supervised so closely? What are we going to do about Deidara’s explosion release?”

Tori opened her mouth, perhaps to suggest her own plan, only to close it and glance at Kushina-sensei. Ugh.

“We’ll just wing it,” Kushina-sensei said with full confidence.

Deidara turned to confirm that yes, Itachi did look like his brain had just exploded. Also seeing this, Tori said to him, “It’s okay. You can’t actually keep a fuinjutsu master from smuggling things wherever they want.”

Now Minato looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t quite sure where to start.

“I have an idea on how to distract them from Deidara,” Kushina-sensei said, twisting her torso to face Minato. “But they’ll eventually, uh… notice some things.”

Deidara clenched his fists, his nails digging into the bottom lips of his hand-mouths. Minato drummed his fingers on the desk.

“It’s tricky, but they don’t have a verifiable claim on him,” Minato replied. He eyed Deidara. “Do you have a preferred cover-up story?”

“...no,” Deidara admitted.

He didn’t like that Iwa thought they owned him, but he’d never had strong feelings about his family origins. They were assholes that treated him like shit, and he’d left. That was it.

They kicked around a few ideas, ranging from gaslighting everyone that Deidara’s explosions had nothing to do with Iwa’s only bloodline limit, to claiming he was an old experiment of Orochimaru. They didn’t come to any sort of real conclusion, and eventually Minato said he’d sleep on it and dismissed them.

“Deidara, can I talk to you for a moment?” Minato asked. Deidara narrowed his eyes at him, and from his peripheral vision he saw Tori flash a hand sign which was almost definitely Behave.

He crossed his arm and remained sitting while everyone else filed out. Kushina-sensei twirled in her seat so she could duck down and give Minato a peck on the cheek first. Gross.

When they were alone, Minato asked, “How do you feel about this mission?”

“It’s a mission, yeah,” Deidara replied slowly, trying to parse what he was actually being asked. Loyalty, maybe. His father was an Iwa-nin, even if he’d never met him. He added, “I don’t really like undercover missions, but it’s fine if I get to do some art. If I get a promotion and a nice paycheck out of it, all the better.”

Deidara still wasn’t sure he wanted to stay in Konoha, but the prospect of a steady income after being a child wandering-nin no one wanted to hire was incredibly alluring. Income meant he could have a bed, maybe even rent an art studio if Konoha Jounin got paid well. These fantasies weren’t enough to make him even consider going back to a hellhole that was Iwa, but if all Konoha had to torture him was a pushy sensei who got him in good with the Hokage, he’d take it.

“I know you intentionally fled Iwa,” Minato said, his voice… soft for some reason. Weird. “I understand going back might be uncomfortable.”

“I’ve never been to Iwa,” Deidara defended immediately. He’d made damn sure to leave Earth Country as soon as he could, and they hadn’t even been able to put him through any of their stupid ninja aptitude tests in this timeline.

Minato put up both hands as a calming gesture.

“I know, I know,” he replied. “But you have their bloodline limit. You grew up outside of a village, so this might not be obvious to you yet, but your art is going to link you Iwa permanently. I don’t want to send you into Iwa unprepared.”

Deidara had to spend a few moments grinding his teeth to hold back rude words. Of course he knew. Iwa had bred him to be their perfect little killing machine.

“It’s not Iwa’s bloodline limit,” Deidara replied eventually. “It’s mine, yeah. I decide what it’s for and what I do with it. That’s the whole point of my art, yeah.”

Minato raised both eyebrows. “Alright,” he said. “Good. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

He dismissed him, leaving him with a strange promise that his door was always open if Deidara wanted to “talk.” Whatever.

As he hopped down the stairs of Hokage tower two at a time, Deidara found himself surprised Minato had agreed that his bloodline limit was his own, separate from a village’s control. Probably a manipulation to keep Deidara away from any temptations to join Iwa. There was no way Minato would say Itachi’s eyeballs were for himself only and not Konoha, or that Kushina should use her chakra chains for anything but Konoha’s wellbeing. Villages just didn’t work like that.

Not that Deidara would complain about special treatment…

Tori was waiting for him outside, leaning against an outside wall. They started the walk back to the genin dorms.

“What’d he want?” she asked.

Deidara rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “He wanted to know how I felt, yeah. Stupid.”

Tori frowned. “And how do you feel?” she asked.

“Like you and him are both annoying, yeah,” Deidara replied. “Also, what the hell is with you twiddling your thumbs and acting stupid whenever anyone asks about fuinjutsu–”

Tori rolled her eyes right back at him. This was an ongoing argument. Deidara understood her reasoning for downplaying her talents; he just thought it was stupid. Just because Orochimaru was a manipulative scumbag didn’t mean every ninja wanted to push and push until she had a screaming breakdown. Most villages did this very slowly and steadily in a very predictable, soul-crushing kind of way.

Somehow, Tori looped his rant at her back around. “I mean, if you have feelings about me and Oto, you definitely have some feelings about you and Iwa,” she said. “Are you going to be able to keep it together, seeing it?”

Deidara scowled at her. She’d worded it ambiguously because they were in public, but there was a definite seeing it AGAIN implied in there. And obviously Deidara didn’t want to go to Iwa, but that was the mission she and Itachi had signed him up for. He was an adult, if not physically. He could handle being annoyed by Iwa-nin for a month.

“Obviously,” he told Tori. Then he grabbed her arm and yanked her down a side street, changing the subject entirely. “There’s a new take-out place down here. We should get dinner, yeah.”

#reborn au #my writing

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married2myphone · 2 years ago

Text

Chapter Four: Sleepover

Life As The Avengers' House Keeper

Pairings: Platonic! Avengers x Female Reader

Tags & Warnings: humour, fluff

Chapter Summary: Y/n was ready to spend the night alone and get some well needed me-time at the compound when she's greeted by a few guests she forgot were supposed to be there.

Word Count: 4.1k

Tag List: @olsensnpm, @natasha-belova, @caroldanvers2, @matchat3a, @venomsvl, @glxwingrxse

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

—

Y/n hummed along to the music she was playing on her phone as she put on the face mask that May gifted her the last time she saw her. The rest of the house was incredibly silent and Y/n was making the most of it.

She had spent the entire day doing a whole load of chores, and normally she wouldn’t mind. But the Avengers decided to be especially messy today, so after getting tired of cleaning one room, cleaning the other, and going back to see that the room she just cleaned was messed up again, she had kicked them out of the compound so she could get things done in peace.

Now, she was done and the others weren’t set to come back for around two or three more hours like she asked, and Y/n had the house for herself. So, she decided to take some time to relax and have some leisure time.

She was wearing one of those huge, puffy, and soft robes that were so long that they hit the floor. She was also doing some skin care even though she didn’t actually know what she was doing, she just wanted to wear the mask cause it felt fun.

Once she was done, Y/n suddenly felt the urge to drink some alcohol. But not any hard liquor. She was feeling classy today because of how productive she had been. There was always champagne in the house somewhere, and she might even cook herself a nice meal.

No, scratch that. She had done chores all day, she wasn’t going to ruin her leisure by cooking. She was gonna order shitty fast food instead. Y/n had put a ban on any fast food in the compound because Tony and the Twins kept ordering burgers and it wasn’t good for them.

But the rules didn’t apply to Y/n, and what nobody knew wouldn’t hurt them. Y/n grinned to herself in the mirror and grabbed her phone, pausing the music and pulling up the McDonald’s app. She walked out of her bathroom and made her way out into the living room, still humming the tune that was now stuck in her head.

“Ooh, nuggets.” Y/n said to herself as she walked into the kitchen and took out one of the wine glasses before looking through the bar and deciding what she wanted to drink. She gasped loudly and grinned at the bottle in front of her.

“I’m sure Tony wouldn’t mind me drinking this five hundred dollar bottle of Rosé all for myself, right?” Y/n mumbled as she took off the wax and started taking off the cork.

She was struggling a bit. Y/n turned around and tried pressing the cork against the counter. Sudden movement caught her eyes, and she looked up to see three figures sitting in the living room watching her.

“Oh my god!” Y/n yelped in shock just as the cork popped off, causing the champagne to explode and shoot out.

Y/n stood in shock as she looked back to the living room to see Peter, Ned, and MJ watching her with confused looks on their faces.

“Do you normally talk to yourself while you’re alone?” MJ asked casually and Y/n let out a huff, placing the bottle on the counter before resting her hands on her hips, sending a narrowed look to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

“Peter, what the hell are you doing here?” Y/n asked. How did she not hear them come in, and why didn’t Friday inform her?

“It’s Wednesday. I told you a week ago that me and my friends were coming here for a study group because we couldn’t hang out at mine.” Peter said and Y/n paused before grabbing her phone and checking the date, letting out a sigh once she realized the boy was right.

“Oh, Peter, I’m so sorry, I forgot. It completely left my mind.” Y/n apologized.

“No, no, no, it’s totally okay. We can leave if you’re busy and-” Peter said as he started packing his things.

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t doing anything anyway, you guys can stay for as long as you want to.” Y/n said and Peter stopped what he was doing.

“Are you sure?” He asked and Y/n smiled at the boy.

“Yeah, of course. I was about to order some McDonald’s, do you guys want anything?” Y/n asked, pulling up the McDonald’s app once more as she leaned against the counter.

“Oh, it’s fine, Y/n. We just ate and-”

“Could I get a Big Mac and large fries? Oh, and a sundae too.” MJ spoke up, cutting off Peter.

“Sure thing! Ned, do you want anything?” Y/n asked and Peter let out a sigh once he realized he was ignored.

“I’ll just have some nuggets and a chocolate shake. I’m already a bit full because I already ate before coming here.” Ned said and Y/n nodded.

“Peter?” She asked, raising her head to look at the boy who looked between Y/n and his friends before shrugging.

“I’ll have a double quarter pounder with cheese and a large diet coke.” Peter said as he sat back down.

“Ooh, I’ll get the same as you.” Y/n said as she put the order in, setting it to Tony’s card before laying her phone back down on the counter.

“I like your outfit by the way, Y/n.” Ned said and Y/n sent the boy a smile.

“Thank you, Ned. I worked really hard on it.” Y/n said, giving them a twirl as the bottom of the robe flared up a bit.

“You look relaxed.” MJ said and the three watched as Y/n grabbed the bottle of champagne and her wine glass (Tony would say she was being a disgrace which was even more of a reason for Y/n to do it), making her way over to the other side of the couch.

“I was going to spend the next few hours getting some well needed r&r before everyone came back, but I don’t mind the company.” Y/n said as she poured herself some Rosé before leaning back, raising her legs so they could rest on the table.

“Can I have a sip of that?” MJ asked as she watched Y/n drink.

“Sure, but don’t go too crazy. Wouldn’t want your parents blaming me for getting a bunch of teenagers drunk.” Y/n said as she handed the glass to MJ who took a sip. She seemed pleased, taking another one before returning the glass to Y/n.

“So, what are you guys studying?” Y/n asked as she leaned back against the couch.

“Oh we’re studying chemical compounds for a test coming up next week. It’s basically all about how-” And that’s when Y/n tuned out whatever Peter was saying.

“I don’t think she’s listening anymore.” MJ spoke up after Peter continued for two minutes.

“You lost me a chemical.” Y/n admitted honestly before letting out a groan.

“God, that reminded me of Dr. Kepler. Not a fun man, slowest talker I know.” Y/n said with an eye roll as she took another sip of her rosé.

“Who’s Dr. Kepler?” Peter asked and Y/n let out a huff in response.

“This creepy old scientist dude I used to work with when I was still in HYDRA. He’d supply me with these bombs and serums and stuff whenever I went out on mission and he would debrief me for hours and hours about how I should be careful with them. He had this nasally ass voice and he would not stop getting on my ass about how I was misusing his creations and stuff.” Y/n said, remembering all those times she had to sit and listen to that man talk about every single thing that went into making his serums, and not a single time did she listen.

“You used to work at HYDRA? Isn’t that, like, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s arch nemesis or something?” MJ asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“Y/n used to be one of the best agents in HYDRA and she went undercover as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Avenger, but she was really trying to get information and stuff that HYDRA could use against them. But after becoming friends with everyone, she realized what she was doing wrong and helped them snuff out all the HYDRA agents pretending to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.” Peter explained happily, recalling the time Y/n told her the same story.

“That’s so cool! You got a whole redemption arc!” Ned said excitedly and Y/n shrugged nonchalantly, but she had a smug smile on her face.

“What can I say, I work better with the good guys.” She said, playfully brushing her shoulder and taking a sip from her rosé.

“As a housekeeper?” MJ asked with a raised eyebrow and Y/n scoffed.

“I’m telling you, kid, the Avengers can kick ass all they want and be the greatest heroes in the world, but without me, they wouldn’t last a day in this compound. You know how messy it gets in here when they’re left alone? Absolute chaos, and cleaning this entire compound after a party is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve seen some shit.” Y/n said and MJ smiled at Y/n, greatly impressed with her.

“Can you tell us some more stories about your time in HYDRA?” Peter asked with an eager look on his face.

“Aren’t you three supposed to be studying?” Y/n asked with a smile on her face, gesturing to all the books and notebooks they had laid out on the table.

“Yeah, but we can do that any day. Listening to you is way cooler.” Ned said, an equally excited look on her face. Y/n couldn’t help but feel incredibly flattered at this, grinning at the three in front of her and shifting in her seat.

“So there I was, trapped in a locked metal box that was sinking all the way to the bottom of the ocean, about to do some Houdini shit to keep myself alive.” Y/n started and the three shifted closer to hear Y/n’s story better.

The three of them spent the next few minutes listening to Y/n’s stories, raising their hands whenever they had questions which Y/n gladly answered. When the food arrived, they all ate and continued to tell stories and just hung out like any regular group of friends.

“Alert. Unauthorized guests are making their way into the premises.” Friday suddenly said and the four of them froze where they were after processing the information.

“Friday, where are they and how many are they?” Y/n asked as she quickly got up.

“There are two of them, and they are currently entering from Ms. Romanoff’s balcony.” Y/n’s eyes hardened as she turned to the three.

“Peter, get Ned and MJ somewhere safe, I’ll handle it. I’ll call you if things go wrong.” Y/n said and Peter nodded, urging the other two to stand.

“Should I call Mr. Stark?” Tony asked and Y/n shook her head.

“There’s only two of them, so we should be fine. I wasn’t HYDRA’s best for nothing, after all.” Y/n said, giving the three of them a reassuring smile.

“Can we watch you fight?” Ned asked with bright eyes.

“As much as I’d love to show off my skills, I’m not risking you guys getting hurt. Now go on, I’ll take care of it.” Y/n said.

The three didn’t wait another second longer as they left the room. Y/n took a deep breath and downed the rest of her Rosé before carefully making her way over to Nat’s room.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard two voices approaching from around the corner. Y/n pressed herself back against the wall and carefully listened to the sound of them speaking. Right when they made the corner, Y/n stepped out and attempted to elbow one of them in the face.

“They always have a full bar, it’ll be fun, I- Woah!” Y/n felt her elbow be pushed off and Y/n used that momentum to spin and kick at the intruder, but they stepped away and grabbed her leg.

Y/n felt someone grab her shoulders and she quickly twisted her leg out of its hold before turning around and shoving the person behind her against the wall. She reeled her fist back, about to sock whoever the person was, but her eyes widened when she saw the face in front of her.

“Kate?” Y/n asked in confusion and Kate opened her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief when she realized they weren’t really getting attacked.

“Oh, look out!” Kate exclaimed, grabbing Y/n’s shoulder and pushing her down, ducking in time as the other person aimed a punch at the back of Y/n’s head, but their fist met the wall.

“Yelena?” Y/n asked once she saw the blonde hair above her, standing up so she was face to face with her.

“Y/n?” Yelena asked in shock before furrowing her eyebrows and looking the woman up and down.

“What are you wearing?” She asked, touching the soft fabric of Y/n’s robe.

“It’s my leisure suit.” Y/n answered and Yelena nodded her head with an impressed look on her face.

“It’s really soft, where did you buy it? I want one.” Yelena said, continuing to run her hands up and down the material.

“Oh, I have tons of them in my closet. I got this one as a gift, but I wanted more in different colors. You could borrow one if you’d like.” Y/n said and Yelena opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Kate.

“Sorry to interrupt, but what the hell? Why did you just attack us like that?” Kate asked in an exasperated tone.

“I thought you guys were intruders! Why were you guys sneaking through Nat’s balcony instead of taking the front door like normal people!” Y/n retorted.

“My sister told us that everyone was out, we assumed the door would be locked and we don’t have a key. We told Friday we were friendly.” Yelena said as if the answer was obvious.

“Friday, why didn’t you tell me the “unauthorized guests” were just Yelena and Kate this whole time?” Y/n asked while looking up.

“I was told by Yelena not to inform any of the Avengers of her arrival, but I thought it would be appropriate to tell you that someone else had entered the compound.” Friday answered and Y/n let out a sigh.

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Yelena said and only now did it process in Y/n’s head that Yelena and Kate were in the compound.

“Oh my god, I’ve missed you two so much!” Y/n said, pulling Yelena into a quick hug before pulling away and doing the same for Kate.

“It was only really supposed to be Yelena, but she dragged me out here to join her at the last minute.” Kate said sheepishly and Yelena let out a scoff.

“Always such a party pooper, Kate Bishop. We were supposed to just get drunk while waiting for everyone to come back, but apparently you’re here, so the three of us can get drunk together!” Yelena said while raising her arms up in excitement.

“Oh, I’d love to, but Peter and his friends are here.” Y/n said and Yelena let out a scoff.

“The more the merrier! They can get drunk with us.” Yelena said as she started walking to the main area.

“Yelena, they’re minors. We can’t get them drunk, that’s irresponsible.” Kate said and Yelena rolled her eyes.

“Are you trying to tell me you never drank alcohol before you turned eighteen?” Yelena asked.

“No, and I didn’t drink until I was twenty-one because the age limit here is different from where you’re from.” Kate said.

“Boo, you’re so boring. I had my first drink when I was fourteen.” Yelena said and Kate gaped at the blonde woman before turning to Y/n who shrugged at her reaction.

“I had my first drink when I was sixteen.” Y/n said before walking forward.

“Peter, come out, it’s safe!” Y/n called out once they made it back into the living room and Peter quickly stepped out of the broom closet with Ned and MJ, each of them wielding a broom in their hands as a makeshift weapon.

“Hey, spider.” Yelena said with a lazy wave as she jumped over the couch and rested her legs on the table after landing.

“Oh, Ms. Romanoff!” Peter said with a sigh of relief as he put the broom back into the closet.

“Kate’s here too.” Y/n said as she went over to the cabinet and took out two more wine glasses for Kate and Yelena.

“Hi, Peter.” Kate greeted as she went around the couch and sat next to Yelena.

“Nice to see you, Kate! Uh, these are my friends, Ned and MJ. Guys, that’s Yelena, Black Widow’s sister, and Kate, Hawkeye’s protégé.” Peter introduced as the three stepped back to their original seats.

“Oh, what, you ate McDonald’s without us?” Yelena complained when she saw all the wrappers on the table.

“If I had known you guys were coming, I would’ve ordered more food.” Y/n said as she set the glasses on the table while Kate pulled out her phone.

“What do you want, I’ll order for us.” Kate said, showing Yelena her phone and the woman hummed in thought.

“Get me the biggest burger they have. Oh, I also want one of those leisure suits of yours and whatever is on your face.” Yelena said and Y/n nodded.

“Sure thing. Do you guys want one of these robes and facemasks too? I probably have enough for everyone.” Y/n said, knowing full well she had more than enough, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Oh, I want a red one!” Peter said, raising his arm.

“I’ll take blue!” Ned said, raising his hand as well.

“I’ll take black.” MJ said, raising her hand lazily and Y/n smiled at them before turning to Kate.

“I’ll have a purple one.” She said as she poured herself some of the Rosé on the table.

“What about you, Yelena? Pick a color.” Y/n said and Yelena hummed.

“I want a nice, soft velvet one.” Yelena said and Y/n grinned.

“I’ll be right back.” Y/n said as she went to her room.

It didn’t take that long for Y/n to come back with everything she needed, but to her surprise, the five of them were sitting around the table playing a round of Uno. Y/n guesses Peter was the one who took it from the board game cabinet.

“Parker, I will snap your neck off if you skip my turn one more time.” Yelena threatened the boy who gulped in fear.

“Y/n, we set aside some cards for you so you can join in.” Ned said, pointing to the seven cards laying face down on the table.

“Yelena peeked.” Kate said as she placed her card down causing Yelena to let out a gasp.

“I did not!” She exclaimed.

“She did, we all watched her do it.” MJ said and Y/n rolled her eyes playfully as she started handing out everyone’s robes and face masks.

“So how do we put this on?” Peter asked when he opened the pack, scrunching his face when he pulled out the gooey mask from inside.

“Just peel off the thing and put it on your face. Here, wear this so your hair doesn’t get in the way.” Y/n said, tossing a familiar bunny headband to Peter before tossing a simple headband to Ned.

“Thanks, Y/n.” Ned said and the two boys put the headbands on as they helped each other put their face masks on.

“Oh, how did you do that?” Kate asked as she watched MJ put her hair into a braid.

“Do what?” MJ asked in confusion.

“Your hair. I could never figure out how to do a braid.” Kate said and Yelena whipped her head over to Kate with furrowed eyebrows.

“You don’t know how to do a braid?” She asked in shock and Kate shook her head.

“I was always more of a ponytail girl.” Kate said and Yelena gaped at the girl beside her.

“You can shoot a target better than Cint Barton, but you can’t do a simple braid?” Yelena questioned.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I could shoot better than him, but-”

“It’s a braid, Kate Bishop.” Yelena said.

“Hey, no, it’s fine. Here, I’ll teach you. Y/n, come here, I’ll demonstrate.” MJ said, waving over Y/n who went over to next to MJ before turning around and facing her back towards her.

“Here, watch, You divide her hair into three strands. Hold two in your dominant hand, and one in the other. Let’s call them a, b, and c. You cross c over b, a over c, then b over a. Then you just keep going until you have no hair left to cross over.” MJ said, demonstrating slowly before letting Y/n’s hair drop.

“Yelena, turn around, I want to try and braid your hair.” Kate said to Yelena who was putting her face mask on for her.

“My hair is already in a braid, braid your own hair.” Yelena said as she started putting her own face mask on.

“But it looks so much more complicated when you do it on yourself.” Kate said and Yelena let out a groan.

“Fine.” She said as she turned around, undoing her braid and letting her hair fall.

“Here, Kate, I’ll braid your hair.” Y/n said as she started running her hair through Kate’s hair seeing as she was already seated in front of her.

“Peter, could you put my face mask on for me?” MJ asked as she started braiding Y/n’s hair again, but this time, she did two.

“Sure.” Peter said as he grabbed one of the face masks and carefully put them on his girlfriend’s face.

“Can I braid your hair too?” Peter asked and MJ sent the boy a smile.

“Go for it, but do it properly this time.” MJ said.

“Yes!” Peter cheered as she hopped over and sat behind her, pulling out her unfinished braid and started braiding her hair like she taught him.

“Oh, I want to braid your hair too! I’m gonna make a bunch of mini ones.” Ned said as he went to sit behind Peter, reaching up and starting to braid as well.

“There should be a bunch of hair ties in the box with all the face masks. Just grab one of those if you’re done.” Y/n said and they all started braiding each other’s hair while Yelena told some story about a mission she had just come home from.

Natasha let out a sigh as she made her way up the stairs while grabbing her keys out from her pocket. She had spent the first hour of being kicked out by Y/n by having a drink with everyone else, but eventually she just went driving around the city because she had nothing else to do.

By now, Y/n should be calm enough to not kick anyone out at the first sound of the door opening.

When she made it to the door, she stuck her key inside the keyhole, but was surprised to see that the door had already been unlocked. With a shrug, Natasha walked into the compound and shut the door behind her.

“Y/n?” She called out, placing her keys on the rack before walking into the main area.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the egregious sight of Y/n, her sister, Kate Bishop, Peter Parker, and his friends all lined up on the couch in long robes and face masks on, braiding each others hair and giggling as they told each other stories,

When they heard Natasha approach from behind them, they all turned to face her at the same time and Natasha would be lying if she said she didn’t almost get chills at the sight.

“I’m not even gonna ask.” She said with a sigh as she walked past them, pretending she didn’t see them in the first place.

#avengers fanfiction #avengers x reader #avengers x you #mcu x reader #peter parker x reader #kate bishop x reader #yelena belova x reader #peter parker #mj watson #ned leeds #kate bishop #yelena belova

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helpimhyperfixating · 3 years ago

Note

Merman Jotaro living in Y/N's house. He stays in either the tub or in the backyard pool, or in an inflatable kiddie pool in the living room where's he's mesmerized by the TV

Stay - Mer! Jotaro x Reader

Word Count: 3589

Never in a million years did you expect your life to take a turn like this. You met and befriended a Merman a few months ago. He demanded that you return to him regularly - which you did. All in all, it was already crazy to think about. But then fall came and going to the beach was starting to get colder and colder. The merman - Jotaro - he didn’t seem fazed by the chill, you however, didn’t much like the cold water and breeze that accompanied visiting your local sea shark.

So, you explained that it was getting a bit cold for you to come this often and stay so long, saying you would come a little less but when spring and summer came around, you would gladly come every other day maybe even every day again.

Little did you know, a certain merman was not happy with that.

So here you now stood, in your garage, with a fucking massive Mer in the back of your pickup truck.

“Jotaro what the fuck!?” You nearly screamed when you saw him casually sitting in the back.

“Don’t be noisy.” Jotaro snarled back and you slapped his tail that was within your reach.

“I’ll be as noisy as I want! What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Good grief, isn’t it obvious?” He questioned and you splayed your arms out in disbelief, clearly stating that- no it wasn’t!

This ticked him off a little cause, were you really that dumb? Could you not see Jotaro had been trying to court you for weeks? And then you had the gal to say you were going to leave him and then get mad when he followed?! The fucking nerve.

When you didn’t get an answer and only had a silent death stare directed at you (as if that was supposed to explain things) you sighed loudly.

“Okay. Guess this is a thing now. You’re looking dry, so we need to get you in some water, come on.” Walking over to the back of your pick up, you unhooked the latches and opened the back, allowing for a flat surface for Jotaro to slip off.

After getting off with a loud smack, Jotaro started tiger crawling into your house. Looking around curiously as to all the new things he was seeing. So this is where you lived whenever you went away from him?

“C’mon keep going, you have to get up the stairs.” You spoke from behind him and he looked back at you with an eyebrow raised.

“Stairs?”

“Yeah. That, right there.” You pointed at the staircase leading to your second floor that sat to the right. “I’ve got to get you into the bath, mister.”

“Bath? You said you had a pool.” Jotaro spoke in confusion but you sighed.

“Did you really figure out that you could- oh my god.” You dragged a hand over your face and muttered to yourself ‘smart fucking fish’ before clearing your throat. “Any other day, yes. Today? No. It’s the last good and sunny day today so people are outside. It’s been forecasted to rain and get colder soon so people are outside en masse to enjoy the last bit of sun and I don’t want them to see you.”

“Of course.” Jotaro grumbled, a faint annoyed growl leaving him as he rested his chin on his arms. He simply sat like that for a few seconds, looking around before he remarked, “Your floor is dirty.”

At that you made an offended noise. “Excuse me, I clean my floors very well, thank you very much. I just didn’t expect a giant fucking merman to act as a duster and health inspection in one today.”

At that he huffed out a chuckle that made you crack a bit as well before you twice lightly slapped his tail, to both get his attention and urge him to go. “You’re really looking dry, let’s get you up those stairs.”

Easier said than done.

Jotaro was about a third of the way up the stairs now, but crawling up when you have a massive and heavy tail behind yourself that you cannot use to help yourself, is quite difficult.

Each move of his arm was met with an annoyed or angry grumble about having to do this. Why couldn’t your neighbours just be indoors then? Why did he have to do all bloody this? (Not once did the thought of going back to the sea cross his mind though.) as he was yet again lifting his arm to place it on the next step higher, his eyes suddenly widened in shock when he felt two hands be put on his tail. With a light pink blush on his face he looked backwards, seeing you with closed eyes and straining to lift his tail to try and help him.

“Jesus, why is this so heavy.” You spoke out through grunts, still barely managing to lift it.

“It’s twice your size, why do you think?” Jotaro answered with his usual gruff tone, but the redness of his cheeks flared out all the way to his ears when you wrapped your arms around it, pressing your chest to the back of it as you tried to lift it once more. “I-I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.” Jotaro cleared his throat before turning his head forward again to get the image of you holding his tail out of his head.

Once he found himself calmed down enough, he continued his slow trek upwards.

- - - -

It took a bit, but Jotaro was in your tub. And by god did he not fit. Even with folding his tail, half of it was still hanging out.

“I- we’ll work on it.” You sighed before leaning over him, turning the knob that regulated heat all the way down to about 18°C to 19°C since you did a quick search as to what the ocean temperature was like during this time of year.

With that set, you turned on the tap. The water splashed onto his tail and Jotaro jolted for a second, curiously looking down at how the water flowed out afterwards.

Going to quickly grab a large measuring cup from the sink in your kitchen downstairs, you returned to your bathroom to sit beside the tub and briefly held it under the running water until it was filled, turning and pouring it further down his tail. A small, barely noticeable sigh of relief left Jotaro when you did that and you smiled a bit to yourself before starting to repeat the motion.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” You spoke between pouring cups, also pouring it over the part of his tail that was hanging out. You had put a towel on the floor by the crack of the door, already accepting that this entire room was gonna be flooded, so you had no qualms with doing it.

“I see it differently.” Was his cryptic response and you deadpanned.

“Of course you do.”

The tub was now filled for two thirds and just to get back at him a little, you filled your cup once more, before abruptly turning and pouring it straight over his head.

Jotaro didn’t flinch but he did turn his eyes to you, sending you a look, to which you giggled. Bringing your arm back under the tap, you filled the measuring bucket again, a sly grin on your face as you moved it back to his face.

Jotaro was faster though, as he grabbed onto your wrist before you could angle it over his head. “Y/N, don’t.” He warned, sending you a stern look. Your surprised ‘o’ face turned into a smirk however, as you simply tilted your wrist forward and splashed the water directly in his face.

An evil giggle left you but it was stifled when Jotaro used his free hand to grab the cup from you and throw it across the room, using his grip on your wrist not a second later to pull you towards himself.

Your balance tipped over the bathtub but you managed to catch yourself with your free hand, slinging your arm around Jotaro’s shoulder to stop yourself while the arm stuck in his grip now touched the tiles of the wall.

He had attempted to pull you into the bathtub but you managed to catch yourself as your upper body now hovered over it.

Or, at least, that’s what you thought.

Jotaro never intended to pull you into the bath. Releasing your wrist, Jotaro instead placed his hand on the side of your neck and jaw, putting his other on your side to pull you closer towards himself and lock you in place. All of this happened in less than a second and a surprised squeak left you.

Jotaro found the sound absolutely adorable and when his teeth nipped at the skin of your neck, you did it again, just much louder this time, making the merman chuckle.

“I warned you.” You heard the smugness in his voice, making you take a shuddering breath.

“O-Okay, I get it. Can you let go now?” You were starting to get very flustered, feeling Jotaro’s breath against your neck as well as an occasional brush of his lips on your skin.

Your question earned you another nip however, this time a little closer to your shoulder, Jotaro having pulled your shirt away a bit to expose it. “Not what I want to hear.”

“You want to hear something?!” You exclaimed, making Jotaro let out a ‘mhm.’ Him shifting his face, almost as if he was looking for another place to playfully bite at you. “I- I-“ You started rambling out things but Jotaro was no longer focused on that.

It was like you put a spell on him. Jotaro had never before felt the urge to court someone before. And then you stepped into his life, being so kind yet always ready with a witty retort whenever he shot you one. And now, he had you so close, almost pressed into his chest, breathing in your intoxicating scent.

Without pause, Jotaro opened his mouth and locked his jaw onto the spot where your neck met your shoulder, a little further down.

Oh how he wanted to claim you. He wouldn’t! But the thought of how he simply had to just clamp down and bite a little harder, marking you as his, was way too tempting to not at least tease. Just get a small taste. The tips of his teeth ever so slightly punctured through your skin and Jotaro closed his eyes in bliss.

All the while, you froze and swallowed, because, that was not just a little nip from his front few teeth, this was a lot of them. A slight pain flared up where he bit and you squeezed his shoulder that you were leaning onto. “Jotaro?” You meekly let out and he then started making a noise that he- was that purring? You didn’t even know he could.

You didn’t dare move nor speak a word, not knowing what was going on and just listening to the calming sound coming from him for the next minute.

Finally Jotaro figured that was enough, lifting his teeth away and silently admiring the very light and small mark he made. It wouldn’t scar or stay, but Jotaro already loved the look of it. He leaned his head down and ran his tongue over it, tasting the faintest bit of your blood as he licked it away, treating your wound with utmost care.

This you allowed, a bit more relaxed by the familiar behaviour, for he had done this as well when you had cut yourself on some broken glass someone had left half buried in the sand.

Finally he let go and you quickly shot up, standing straight as an arrow next to the bathtub.

Jotaro was being forward. He knew that. Maybe even a bit too much so. But he felt he could risk it. Now that he was literally in your house, he didn’t have to worry about his forwardness scaring you away. You literally couldn’t run and avoid him. If you hadn’t picked up on his signs up until now, he had to make them more obvious; marking where the mating mark would come being one of the most obvious things he could think of.

“That’s for not listening to me.” He remarked and you opened and closed your mouth like a guppy, staring wide eyed at your tiled wall before shaking your head and snapping out of your state, slapping your hand onto your shoulder, briefly forgetting he had just licked you there and scrunching up your nose a bit cause- ew.

Lifting your hand back off you wiped it on your pants before walking to the cup Jotaro had thrown on the floor, picking it up and walking back over, nearly slipping as you did. This made Jotaro flinch to try and catch you but you already steadied yourself, meaning all that accomplished was throwing more water on the floor, the reason you nearly slipped.

After returning to his side, you continued trying to completely wet him; neither of you really saying anything, just staying in a comfortable silence.

After another ten minutes however, you figured that was good enough.

“Alright!” Slapping the edge of the tub, you smiled at the Mer. “I think that’s good enough. In about three hours the sun will go down, then we can get you from here to the pool.”

With that you stood up, but before anything else, your wrist was grabbed. “Where are you going?”

“I have to do some things.” You smiled, only for the hand around your wrist to tighten.

Jotaro held a somewhat sad and somewhat angry look on his face as he held on. “Stay?”

“Jotaro, I’ve got to do stuff.” You shook your head but Jotaro didn’t like that.

“Stay.” He growled it this time, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“No, I have to go do things. You stay here fish boy, I’ll come check on you after I’m done.” With that, you went to turn away, trying to pull your wrist from his hold as you moved to take a step.

Yet you yelped loudly as you were suddenly tugged sideways, falling towards your bath before a pair of arms caught you. You were spun around and pulled down, the sensation of cold water flooding over and enveloping your lower half making your breath hitch.

The water sloshed dangerously, threatening to spill over the edge of the tub as Jotaro settled down, tightly holding you against himself and basically on his lap, his arms like chains around your middle and barely even giving you enough room to breathe, definitely not leaving you any room to squirm.

“Stay.” Jotaro’s voice was low, a faint, deep, rumbling growl from the back of his throat accompanying his words as he spoke almost directly into your ear.

Almost immediately you starred, instinctively doing as he said as you sat still, your eyes staring wide in surprise. Your chest was going up and down fast with deep breaths. It wasn’t that you were afraid of Jotaro, he wouldn’t hurt you, you knew that. It was more that it made you realise how large and dangerous Jotaro actually could be if he so chose to be.

Taking in a deep breath to calm down, you tried to ignore the coming stress of not being able to complete that task for work today (it was fine, you could do it tomorrow, right?), as well as trying to not make your teeth clack thanks to sitting in the cold water. Cause while Jotaro was made for it, you definitely weren’t.

Seeing as you weren’t trying to squirm out of his hold, Jotaro happily started purring, his chest pressed directly into your back while he placed his chin on your shoulder. Shifting his tail, he turned the end around until it was splayed out over your lap in front of you, allowing you to play with the fins.

You gently grabbed hold, starting to stroke over them and Jotaro revelled in your soft touch. You guessed this was gonna be your life for the next three hours. Freezing your butt off in water while in the hold of a grumpy Merman who would not let go.

- - - -

“Jotaro, please don’t splash!” You called out from the kitchen.

“I’m not!” Was the response you got, making you look over at your living room. There, past your dining table, in front of the couch, sat the ginormous Mer ...in a kids pool.

You had bought it about two days ago after Jotaro kept complaining that you weren’t coming outside to see him. He loved to ignore the fact that it was bloody cold and raining so hard that you only had to stand outside for a second to be drenched. So, to solve this and not have Jotaro forced to sit in the bathroom on his own, you bought a kiddie pool. One of the bigger ones you could find yet was still able to fit there where your coffee table once stood.

Right now, you were just making something to snack on while Jotaro sat and ‘patiently’ waited for you. He had discovered the television yesterday and was absolutely enamoured. Just now coaxing and urging you to turn it on again. You had agreed and were thus now getting some snacks ready to eat and drink during the marathon.

Marathon of what? No clue.

Walking over to the couch area, you placed the different snacks down on the pushed aside coffee table, walking back to the kitchen to grab the drinks as well before returning.

“Here, drink something first.” You offered the glass in your hand to Jotaro and he scrunched up his nose, as if a kid who has just been asked to take his vitamins. “You haven’t been in the bathtub in a bit and you know chlorine can’t be the best thirst clencher.” You sighed. “So unless you plan to faceplant in the kiddie pool, drink up, Jojo.” You used the nickname he had asked you to call him on purpose, knowing he loved it when you did that.

And it proved true, for he took the tall glass from your hand and threw it back as if it was a shot without any more complaint.

Happy that he did it, you quickly refilled the glass before placing it down on the table by his side, stepping over the furniture with a bit of a wobble (you had to put the table in the walkway or else the pool wouldn’t fit) and walking to the front of your tv.

“So, what do you want to watch?” You asked as you sat crouched down.

A wet hand suddenly got placed on your lower back and right thigh, Jotaro having pulled himself up to you as he was now curiously looking over your shoulder.

“What’s that?” Jotaro asked, lifting his hand from your thigh as he pointed to a certain dvd case sitting at the bottom of the pile in your hand.

“This? It’s a Barbie film. I have it for when my niece comes over.” You raised a brow and turned your head to look back at Jotaro. His eyes were transfixed on the box and you couldn’t help but silently giggle at his cute look. For him, it was the colours. The vibrant pink and silver sparkles just drew his attention and curiosity, having not a clue about anything else. “You wanna watch it?” You asked but didn’t get a clear answer.

And so, you just decided for the both of you. “Fuck it, let’s watch it.” You chuckled, putting all the other DVD’s away and taking the Barbie disc out of its case and into the player.

Standing up, Jotaro finally took his hand off your lower back - where now sat a wet spot - and slinked back to the other side of the pool, patiently waiting for you and for the movie to start.

Snorting softly, you shook your head as you grabbed the remote and walked around the pool, climbing onto the couch and to the middle of it, taking your fluffy socks off as you sat behind Jotaro in your short summer pyjamas, choosing the language of the Barbie film like they always asked before putting your feet in the pool.

A happy rumble left Jotaro as you did that, your legs running under his arms and at his side, the Mer now grabbing your ankles as he made you lock your legs around his torso, leaning back into the bottom of the couch as if it was a backrest. His elbows pointed down, he held onto your legs around his torso, making you keep them there as he petted and lightly scratched them. A content rumbling sigh leaving him as you pressed play on the movie.

You just looked at the back of his head for a bit, feeling his hands glide over your legs. It was a strange, the direction your life decided to take you on, sure. But you had to admit that you did not mind per se.

Leaning forward, you patted the top of Jotaro’s head twice, making him start a bit and look at you wide eyed while you leaned over and grabbed your bowl of snacks, leaning back into the couch cushions afterwards, ready for the movie.

In the end, Jotaro didn’t like it. Barbie was annoying. But the colours were pretty!

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