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letstalkwhump · 1 year

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Let’s Talk Whump No.7

Welcome to Let’s Talk Whump, a series of interviews that spotlight the amazing people in our whump community. I’m Malice and I’ll be your host.

Today we have @kira-the-whump-enthusiast joining us to share his whump story!

Tell us something non-whump related about yourself!

Hi I'm Kira! I'm just a guy on the internet who has something wrong with him (affectionate). Outside of whump I do a lot of regular OC stuff! Though, it always ends up angsty. I draw a shit ton, I watch video essays, and I pet my cat. He's adorable and amazing, by the way!

What does whump mean to you?

God, I don’t know man. It's when the character gets hurt and it makes me smile, I guess. For me it usually ends up being brutal torture of the physical or mental kind!

How did you discover the whump community?

So I found the whump-culture-is blog, and I kinda skirted around the whole idea cuz I wasn't super comfortable with it yet. And then I stumbled upon Hazeshift by @whumpwillow!!! That was the story that got me into whump, it clicked a switch somewhere in my brain. And from there I started following more whump blogs, creating some OCs to whump, and eventually made a blog! Now I’m here.

It seems to be a common thread that everyone has a specific whump story that just clicked! Have you found that your whump tastes have changed over time?

I think my favorite tropes have largely stayed the same, same as my hard preference for OC over fandom. But I've gotten way more into making whumpy art lately! It's mostly on my art blog @kira-does-art-sometimes So, I haven't exactly been writing. I am still doing some though, I'm just really bad at finishing it.

And your favourite whump tropes?

May the devil bless my soul, I am not mentally normal about any of this.

First of all I am an avid whumper-turned-whumpee and villain whump fan. This is the Main Trope I enjoy because it is just so good. Look man, I just need to see the somewhat sympathetic (or not) bad guys get whumped and then maybe get a hug afterwards because even if they did bad shit before, they still don't exactly deserve bad things to happen to them? I dunno know, it's a bit soothing. Also god, there are so many good dynamics you would have. Reluctant caretakers, righteous whumpers, whumpees-turned-whumpers,,,, god, I am insane for this. Also the angst potential is ridiculous and I love it.

I am also a fan of sicko shit like cannibalism and gore and vivisection. Like yes, cut that guy open and eat his organs. I will never not be normal about cannibalism and also I believe it is completely ethical if it's fully consensual. Anyways, fucked-up cannibalism is very good too. I need the people to eat each other. I need blood dripping from mouths and staining smiles. I need the faux-intimacy of feasting on another. Vivisection is also great for similar reasons. It is very Intense and Torture and I think it's fun!! You can also eat the whumpee's organs. Food for thought, pun intended!

Glasgow smiles!I love those. I need to give more of my whumpees those. I just think it's neat and it's an alternative gag. You can't exactly talk without pain when your face has been slit open.

Immortal whump is the best. Because you can just do anything, really stretch a guy past their limits and then do it again!!! The fun never ends because they can't die, at least not permanently. Killing an immortal is underrated. And I don't mean permanently. I mean like bringing them back, again and again, and continuing the murder! Is that not fun?!

Isolation in whump is very underrated. Solitary confinement is a form of torture after all. I think there's something very resonant for me about the simple. Lack of anything to the point that it drives you insane. The only thing making you like this are the walls cutting you off from the world. How do you explain that to people? I also like other fucked up forms of isolation like when the whumpee pretty much only interacts with the whumper or people on their side. The way that it can fuck them up is very intriguing to explore in writing I think.

I realize this is somewhat sicko behavior. I have decided to not apologize for this. Also if the FBI is reading this, I um. I have little to no desire to do this in real life okay don't arrest me.

I think we’re all screwed if the FBI ever decides to look our way…I look forward to sharing a cell with you all! Do you have a favourite piece you've written?

I guess I'd definitely have to say Spirals and Solitaire is one of my better pieces!! Look. I just needed to write about a woman with depression. That's my favorite type of character. It combines a lot of my favorite tropes. A villain with angst for days being trapped in a room and slowly, slowly, going fucking insane. Getting way too attached to the only person that talks to them. And a bystander who doesn't help until it's too late. But better late than never hey?

Also I am still a fan of Midnight Meal which is really surprising since it's like almost a year old I think? I think it holds up! I just like the cannibalism. And the gore. And I have gotten the best comments on it. Thank you to the nice people who left comments on it! Definitely my most sicko piece out of all my writing. Isaac's my favorite whumpee and this is not even the worst thing that happens to him, by the way.

I also have this single series, Diamonds to Dust that I have definitely updated recently. I may or may not actually start writing the seventh chapter. I apologize for the radio silence on this lol. Storm and Zuri and Xavier are my beloveds. Also Lusik and Octavia are fucked up lesbians but I haven't gotten into that yet. My favourite toxic ship!

What's your writing routine like? Is there a must have drink or snack?

My writing schedule fucking insane to be honest. Kinda goes like:

- At a random point in time I get an idea.

- I ruminate on the idea for an extended period of time. From like a week to a year. Average is prolly a couple months.

- After the rumination I finally get some words on the goddamn paper! I write in fucking simplenote cuz I can access it on all my devices.

- The words never get finished on the first day. From then it is three days to two months until I continue the goddamn thing. Or I just don't. Sometimes that happens.

- And then the editing. Oh god. The editing. Suffice to say I hate it, I hate it, I hate it but it's necessary so I do it. Actually this takes like two weeks max cuz again. Hate it to shreds. I send it to my lovely whump friends for beta reading. I love yall!

- And then post. God help me when I do that.

This is why I never post anything sorry about that.

Usually I write in my very comfy bed in the evening. I don't really munch on snacks or drinks when I write.

Is there anything specific that you find easy to write?

I find that it's pretty easy for me to write characters with depression. When the character is just angsting and going through the emotional ringer, it's pretty easy for me to write stuff. Honestly that's probably how I got Spirals and Solitude finished so quickly. It's literally just like three thousand words of Wrenna having depression. I really struggle with writing like pure fluff. I dunno know, I just find it hard to create a good conflict when it's so lighthearted.

And do you have any current projects?

I have like a couple WIPs who are not finished yet. I may finish and post them one day. I am also always drawing. Probably of my OCs or fan art of my friend's OCs!

Bless us with some writing advice please!

You ask me??? For writing advice. Uhhhh I dunno man. Just get a little silly with it. Being Quality is overrated. Someone's probably gonna read it and get something out of it even if it's just like seven words in comic sans or whatever. Or maybe you are the one who reads it and gets something out of it! Self deprecation is overrated too. Your writing is probably fine. It is probably even good. Likely, it is even great and amazing!

Shoutouts?

Huge shout out to @whump-in-the-closet for being extremely cool and having the best OCs and writing. And also listening to my little sicko OC rants!

@whumpcloud has literally some of the best whump stories I've ever read like god! I go feral for their characters.

@zillastar13 has extremely amazing writing and very good taste. Love their art!

Anything you'd like to add? <3

Lowkey I think we as a community need more transgender characters. In any role. I just need to see more guys who are transgender. Who get a little funky with their gender. Who maybe even have their transsexuality impact the story in some way. Same for like, characters of color and female characters. I'd love to see whumpees with lots of different backstories and female characters in lots of different roles in the narrative. I personally don't think that the violence that women and minorities face in real life necessarily has to be analogous to the violence faced by a character in a story. I know it can go very badly but it can get a little tiring sometimes to only find stories with cis white male characters. Variety pls.

It was awesome to have you here, Kira! Thanks for stopping by!

And to all you folks at home, have a whump-derful day!

#whump interviews #whump spotlight #whump community #lets talk whump

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raayllum · 2 years

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So I’ve always thought it was interesting that 2x06 opens and ends with Harrow giving Callum a present, of sorts. The first one we see corresponds to his drawing with Harrow giving Callum his sketchbook. The second one is more of a secret but still very clearly something being passed on / down to him and closes off the letter as well.

Showing that the sketchbook was a gift from Harrow that Callum uses / carries with him all the time is a great way to recontextualize some of their early bond in S1 as well as set up just how emotional Callum is in 2x07 when he 1) knows Harrow is also gone at this point and 2) still angrily throws it on the ground because he’s so worried about Rayla. It also makes his slight hesitance here make a ton of sense as it’s precious to him not just from an artist-sketchbook standpoint, but also a father-son standpoint, yet he turns it over to Rayla anyway.

But wait, there’s more!

We know that TDP likes to repeat episode structures / plot beats not only to reinforce the Cycle and all that (Rayla’s self loathing secrecy duology, the dragon quartet), but also to show character change and growth. Hence why S4 doubles down on this and creates all sorts of parallels throughout the season with all the previous seasons, particularly S1.

Case in point: 1x04 opens with Callum and his sketchbook (his first gift from Harrow) and closes with Rayla (unknowingly) delivering Harrow’s last gift to him. 2x06 is structured the same way, beginning with the sketchbook and ending with the cube. Callum’s dark magic plot line opens and closes the same way, too, with the sketchbook (drawings of Rayla and Claudia respectively) inspiring him to do dark magic, only for the cube to be a symbol of both temptation (2x08) and that he’s found his new path (2x09 to a lesser degree). Finally, 3x08 inverts this system by putting the cube first and sketchbook second. The cube helps Callum realize the moon opal could be used for a memory spell and then he draws Rayla’s parents in his sketchbook in order to help comfort / convince her of what he’s seen.

Now, part of this is surely because Callum only has 3-4 important objects assigned to him (his scarf, primal stone, sketchbook, and rune cube) across the course of the series. Rayla has 1-3 (her blades, binding, and then moon opal necklace) and Ezran noticeably has none until his crown in S3, which remains consistent. Of course the objects that Callum has on him and using all his smart brain power / resources is 1) something he’s always been good and 2) something he has to be good at just from a story standpoint because why give a character something if it’s not going to be useful or leave an impact?

However, the fact that these two objects typically work in tandem with each other (Callum’s sketchbook never has any impact on the brief time he has the primal stone beyond his initial sketch of it for example) and that the ordering is consistent is interesting, to say the least, even down to Rayla’s involvement / as an initiating incident.

We don’t see much of his pattern into S4 as Callum doesn’t use his sketchbook more than twice in S4 and is the first season in which he doesn’t draw in it at all, either. However, the last time we see him use his sketchbook and the last time we see him with the cube are both in 4x07, following in the same sketchbook-cube order we typically see, and both related to Rayla (the wind spell so she / the group won’t be too hot to sleep, her advice causing him to try to let go of the cube).

This also reinforces the consistent Harrow-Rayla parallels running throughout the series, but that could be a meta on its own. For now I just think this is neat and will as always take my little consistent coincidences to heart in hopes it pans out for one of my theories. It’s happened before, after all!

#1x04 #2x06 #the royal family of katolis #paying the price #arc 1 #analysis series #parallels #analysis #mini meta #cube hostage exchange theory #MY ETERNAL BELOVED #multi #arc 2 #tdp #the dragon prince #sketchbook cube pattern

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stygia-n · 4 months

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When Idia walks into his room, he would find it spotless. Where his laundry lay scattered, they were now washed and dried and nearly tucked into his wardrobe. His personal computer was dust-blown, wires bundled up systematically into rows aligned against the walls.

There were only so many students at NRC who were capable of such flawless housekeeping. Aside from Jamil, there were only Trey and the Vice Housewarden of Octavinelle.

Jade had taken off his shoes, arranging them neatly next to Idia's bed. The merman himself was sitting on his bed, leaning against the headboard while his legs crossed over one another. The book in his hand suggested he was reading a comic, perhaps something he found interesting while putting away Idia's things. Upon closer inspection, one may be able to even recognise the familiar art style of a hentai manga produced in the 90s.

Its main storyline took place during the events of the holy wars. The main character was taken prisoner shortly after he'd lost his country to a respectable yet charming commander of the enemy kingdom. As he was the only one spared from the war, the commander had decided to make him his bed warmer. Over the course of four days in the comic they had numerous intercourses, all of them passionate and aggressive. Jade's expression doesn't betray any hint of where he'd reach the story, his brows only raising ever so subtly when he came to the part where the erotic intercourses happened. The Vice Housewarden looked nothing but confused, his expression plagued with disbelief; to think that drawing naked bodies of hot fictional men could allow humans to profit so much off of it - something that required neither intelligence or diligence.

Idia is starting to think he needs to implement Jade-specific security measures on the dorm when he walks in and sees the guy sitting a little too comfortably on his bed. He can't pinpoint when exactly they had fallen into this dynamic where it's somehow okay for Jade to come into his room – which he never lets anyone into by the way! – and do whatever he wants... Idia's room has never been this spotless before and he kind of hates it. All his things have been organised and put into neat little piles, and it totally messes with the system Idia had already had in place.

He should've known, though. He really should've known.

His gaze glosses over the item in Jade's hands at first as he walks into his room proper, assuming that he'd just found one of the manga on his shelf and been intrigued. Then he freezes. And he turns his head agonisingly slowly to look, really look, and the most mortified look dawns on his face.

How? How is this possible? How is this possibly happening to him right now? He had made sure to hide that at the very bottom of the pile, at the bottom of the box, at the bottom of all his boxes, at the very bottom of the shelf! It was symbolic of a dark, dark time in Idia's life. He's graduated to higher quality and more tasteful stuff now, promise!! Stop reading it!!! Jade!!!!!

Whatever happens next, Idia cannot be held accountable for.

His body moves all on its own, desperate to salvage whatever shred of dignity he had left. Idia all but leaps onto the bed and Jade to try to snatch the book away. Unfortunately, Idia's not known for his hand-eye coordination, so it's no surprise when he fails miserably and all that's left is just him basically straddling Jade's lap with nothing to show for it. At least he managed to get Jade to close the book and stop reading it for now.

His words come out at the speed of light, voice tinged with a pleading note, "I'd like to say that I can explain but I really can't so can we just pretend you didn't see anything that'd be really really cool of you please thank you."

#I CANT #( i need a tag for all of idia's loser behaviour at this point )#muraenide #𝐔𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 : answered

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anakinsthesis · 7 months

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mild disclaimer im trying my simpy best to be normal. skip to the second-last paragraph if you dont wanna read my rambling asdsgfd-

hi i just wanna say i spent like. 4 hours trying to figure out ireena / taty's skin color and like. she's having the same problem as me irl with finding exact skin tone on charts- help. also ireena having brown skin is doing wonders for my simping. as a brownie myself, seeing art or merch of her with her brown skin just. oo -chefs kiss- ty artists i love you!! anyways simping aside-

what would her skin color be closest to? Umber? Carob? Sienna? Copper? Bronze?

her skin feels like a mix between cool brown and warm tan skin palette, and the VRGtR art makes her look closer to the warmer-leaning palettes.

her lips seem really melanted (oo!! just like mi-), unless it's makeup. but her entire collection of art (majority) just seem average out to a reddish warm brown in general. i was trying to compare her old art with her newer art as a reference point, and they all seem to have this 'warm autumn/spring' hair/skin theme. kind of makes sense for who she is, but she also lives in a place where she probably cant get a better tan so it's annoying to try to figure it out. im bad with skin tone labels cuz theyre so limited. let alone how skintones irl can change by season/stress/conditions/etc, but i just want a reference point to help with artsies!

either way, i found a neat chart that i think is used for foundation/makeup on skin, but seems to be in ireena's shade/temp range?

also no pressure to answer, i just wanna talk about it in general. what do other artists choose for her? cool, neutral, warm? i personally pick a warm brown for reasons above. hehe- 🧡🧡

also ty for talking about ireena's skintone in general! im in huge denial of her skin tone being brownie just like simpy mine because it feels too good to be true. but anyways ill be normal about having a similar tone to ireena i swear 🙏🏽 njksandsa-

HI HELLO!

i'm not an artist, so i don't have as much insight as i'd like, but it doesn't seem like wotc has a clear style guide for the character since there are some variations between her cos art / vrgtr art and the miniature. HOWEVER, because i'm white, i don't think i can say how to interpret her skintone. @strahdapologist / @strahdvonzarovich can possibly give more insight because i would feel more comfortable leaving that question to people of colour. in spite of that, artists (especially white artists) should still be aware and respect that she is depicted as a person of colour and should strive to draw her as such.

don't apologise for rambling though, sorry i don't have more to add! other than that i think fans should make more of an effort to properly draw poc.

#ask #syrips

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circadianaa · 1 year

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Hi! For the ask game about characters, may we have 27 please?

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

Latest response ever I'm so sorry. Just going to do my main ones!!! Cadaver—

If asked, Cadaver would say he doesn't spend any time thinking about his appearance, but that's not entirely honest. Cadaver definitely prefers to be neat—he cuts his hair regularly while he's in the GAR (mostly done by Knockout while she's alive) and a little less religiously but still consistently when he's a rebel commander, and his lack of care for his appearance is one of the most visible symptoms of his emotional turmoil immediately after Order 66. His appearance is something he cares quite a bit about, but it's one of the first things to go when he's forced into survival mode. Clothes-wise, Cadaver's not picky. His first non-GAR clothing was an incredibly ugly sweater he found for dirt cheap at a thrift store on Coruscant, but after becoming friends with Duke he somehow finds himself in quite a few bespoke suits. His favorite (the one I drew him in here) is inspired by the zoot suit, a style popularized by Black and other men of color and popular jazz artists in the 1940s. He prefers simple gold jewelry and cufflinks and quieter, warmly-colored clothes.

Cadaver's easy to please when it comes to the quality of his clothes—despite Duke's insistence on the importance of quality in fashion, he's perfectly happy in just about anything as long as the texture's bearable (he's definitely a texture guy, that's just about the only dealbreaker for him).

Wishbone—

Wishbone's appearance is pretty important to her. She wears the same bandana and hairstyle every day, but she's got the style down to a science! I'd say her style is pretty quiet but very refined—if ever she looks unkempt, something's seriously wrong.

Wishbone is my cottagecore girlie. She ADORES dresses, especially ones with square necklines and ruffles. It brings her an inordinate amount of joy when her dresses twirl nicely or have deep pockets (something that she'll add if she ever gets a dress that's pocketless). Her accessorizing is pretty minimal; after marrying Isadora, she wears a ring, and will occasionally wear a simple gold necklace. She also looks great in pearls.

Eyre—

Eyre's a mess. No sense of fashion to be found. They don't put all that much thought into their appearance, maybe taking a pair of kitchen scissors to their hair every few months, but beyond that it's just... not a priority. They dress mostly for function and are inclined to wear similar or the same things every day—if they wear different outfits, they prefer them to be the same color. They find the consistency of it comforting.

The only look Eyre draws on when it comes to how they dress are traditional Aldhani clothes. They joined the Jedi when they were around 3 (I'm sorry I've changed this age so much lmfao), so they have little memory of what their home planet was actually like, but their crechemaster Bernie (@/jaigeye) does his best to preserve their knowledge and involvement in the culture they came from and has sourced a few pieces of Aldhani clothing and accessories for them to keep.

#long post #thank you for the question !!!!!!#circaasks #clone medic cadaver #arc trooper wishbone #eyre brraven

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bozo-boy · 2 years

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a retrospective of my art of 2022

i love that you can tell what i’m hyperfixating on judging by the art. more detailed explanations below the cut!

january

i started off 2022 with a redraw of a piece from april of 2021. for christmas of last year, i got an ipad and apple pencil, so this was largely me exploring procreate and the feel of a new way of drawing. there’s a lot about this one that i still like, particular chat noirs cute lil face, but there’s so much i would do differently now that i’m more comfortable with the medium.

february

i was still finding my footing with this one. i was really into fnaf, and naturally, monty. the shine on the ass was using one of the in-app stamp brushes, which was quite fun to play with. honestly, going back, i would just add more depth and complexity to this one. i stand by the bones of this one.

march

this one was done so i could have a fancy new pfp. to be completely honest, i’m not a fan of this one. it’s a redraw of a screenshot from the show itself, and even at the time i was unsatisfied with how this turned out. in retrospect, i would’ve started the sketch small and then scaled it up so it would look a bit more,, normal. i find my art comes out much better when i start small.

april

this drawing is for a worldbuilding project i like to work on when i’m not obsessed with anything else at the time. in this world, there’s a city with a whole festival for phoenixes, and a legend involving a raven falling in love with the sun, but i won’t get into that right now. if i’m remembering correctly, one of my references for this one was a swallow. i still like the way the sun shines through the feathers and the more painterly style. i still stand by this one 100%.

may

oh boy may. this was when my apple pencil broke, and lined up with me getting into sonic, after watching the movie. one of my friends sent me a picrew, birthing this little nameless character. i’m still quite happy with this one, i think i got the style really good while still making it a little bit my own. my short lived sonic hyperfixation is still visible in the way i draw eyes while sketching, which i think it pretty neat. i wonder if, had my apple pencil not broken, i would’ve gotten more into the franchise.

june

AHHHHHH. sorry, this is from when i got back into a set of my ocs, affectionately dubbed “the sin boyz”. they’re all based on the seven deadly sins, and this is asmodeus, embodiment of lust. he’s definitely the most fun to draw because of him being quite high energy, and i’d love to come back to these characters once again. i don’t have much to say about the drawing itself, other than still liking how cartoony it is.

july

i’m not entirely sure what sparked this, but i got really back into the arcana, a game which i’ve been into for years now. this little fella is my character for the game, named zephyr! this piece is actually based on a sketch from i think a few months earlier. i still like this one, with his cute little face. i adore how his eyes turned out, and i’d love to try returning to that style, even just to experiment.

august

this is actually a reference photo for zephyr, but i wanted to fully render it to try to demonstrate some of the fabric textures. i still adore just about everything about this, aside from how his face turned out. i’ve always struggled a little with placing eyebrows too close to the hairline, dating back to my art from when i was like,, 12, where the eyebrows would actually float above the head. aside from that, i still love this.

september

when i made this, i was actually rereading lucio’s route (i’m obsessed with it in a train-wreck way) and found the imagery of the player investigating his abandoned room super compelling. the background from this is actually from the game itself, which is something i had never done before. i even slightly edited the background the reflect some of his magical light! this one is much less colourful and saturated than my other stuff, and i have mixed feelings about it. still though, i’m proud of it, and i think this style of lighting is reflected in what i make today, even if the colours are out of my comfort zone.

october

this is probably one of my favourite pieces of ghost fanart i’ve made. the lighting is a little unpolished in relation to the smoke, but i couldn’t care less cause i just think it looks so freaking cool. i was directly inspired by mummy dust, both in the vision in my head when he growls “duuuuustl, but also in the green stage lighting when it’s performed on stage. i love how swirly the smoke looks, and even now, i’m obsessed with drawing characters lit from below. it’s one of my favourite things i’ve ever made.

november

so uh,, i was a very passionate voter in the american music awards, and the news of ghosts win was so wonderful. i, like many others, was and still am obsessed with the outfit tobias forge wore, and found it super inspiring. i was really worried about this one, cause i basically never draw real people and really wanted it to actually look like him while still being my art style, and i think i did pretty good. this was also new for me because it has two light sources! this presented a really fun challenge and i’m still so proud of this, aside from the lighting on the glass part of the award itself. also, three.

december

i got a new apple pencil for christmas! i immediately had to make something with it and the wonderful pressure sensitivity. i was mostly just playing around with this one, and doing back i’d change a few things, even if it’s only from a few days ago. nonetheless, i had a lot of fun here and really like the colours.

summary

oh boy i sure did draw this year! i think i’ve improved a lot, specifically in shading and rendering. i went outside of my comfort zone a lot with lighting, like things with multiple light sources and coloured light. next year, i wanna go outside of my comfort zone in different ways, particularly with things like backgrounds and character interactions. if you’ve read this far, i hope you enjoyed my self-analysis, and i hope 2023 brings you joy!

#bozo dtawings #bozo babbles #my art #digital art #for future reference #cw assless chaps

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lex-n-weegie · 2 years

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Promise Us.

Pairing(s): Sun/Moon and Evelyn

Warnings: None, but this doubles as an announcement post as well! (A tldr is at the end if you don't have the time to read everything)

"They had this idea in their mind for so long, they just weren't sure if she'd think of it the same way they were."

A lot of things have changed since Evelyn arrived at the PizzaPlex.

Before, the animatronics seemed almost. Stressed. Easy to upset. Sad. They had lost close friends, got excited about new things that'd never come, and was often not told anything by the staff. When Hazel was announced, no one knew she was even supposed to be related to Freddy until they put up the posters.

And God, were they all treated terribly for awhile. Threats of them being scrapped, screaming and yelling, not an even a sliver of understanding was too found for the poor guys.

Now look at them!

More events were happening inside the PizzaPlex, from character takeovers to holidays and even birthdays for the animatronics! Areas were expanded, an old friend came back, along with a new one(Glamrock Bonnie and Foxy from the cartoons), and new permissions and freedoms were given. Everyone was so much happier. They were happier!

All because of her.

Oh how wonderful she was. Their little dewdrop.

"Mmm..." A small noise had snapped Moon out of their shared thought space, directing him to the short women who's head laid in their lap. They had started to stir from her nap.

"Hi Moony." Evelyn yawned, stretching a bit before relaxing again in Moon's lap. His fingers entangled themselves into her hair, lightly scratching her scalp, something that always made her melt in his hands.

"Hello starlight." Moony replied. "Did you dream well?"

"When I have the best dream catcher in the world, of course I do." She smiled. "Though, it was bittersweet."

"Bittersweet?" He leaned down a little more. "Do explain."

"Ah, well.... You remember my old family? The Toys?" Moon nodded.

"Of course, you're always drawing them."

"Well, it was about them. It was nice seeing them all again and hearing them talk, but...I miss them still." He listened silently, his fingers now simply rubbing some of the soft strands of her hair.

"It hurts, especially when everyone keeps reminding me of them."

"How so?" He asked.

"Well, Chica is a lot like Toy Chi, in almost every single way. Monty always reminds me of Toy Bon, though so does Roxy due to her small ego. Funnily enough Freddy, Bonnie, and Foxy remind me the most of the withered versions of the original four." She smiled as she made all of the comparisons. "You and Sun remind me of Mom as well, though I'm sure that's just because of the music box and your body types being the same." She giggled.

"Didn't you put the music box in my chest?" Moon lightly teased, poking her cheek a few time before she laughed and pushed his hand away.

"You love it so shush." She booped his nose, making the creepy jester let out a dark giggle. Silence followed for a bit, but it was a comfortable silence. It felt nice to get those thoughts out.

"How do you feel about jewelry?" The celestial moon asked.

"Hm? That's an odd question coming from you." She lightly teased. "Though I don't know exactly what you mean."

"Jewelry Dewdrop. Bracelets, necklaces, rings...those things."

"Oh, well I don't exactly have a problem with any of them. There's some really pretty jewelry out there, neat patterns and colors. Though I never understood why price mattered some some people." She began. "I've seen posts of people getting upset when they get something that's ''only'' $100 or something. Why be mad about that? Expensive jewelry isn't even that great anyways."

"What would be a good gift then?" He gently asked.

"Honestly? As long as it has meaning and isn't lower then 10 bucks it'd be lovely. It has my favorite color or animal? I'm happy as a clam." She then gave him a little mischievous smirk. "Thinking about getting me a ring buddy?"

"Hmm..." He tapped his chin. "I don't know, would a ring actually make you pretty?" Evelyn scoffed, lightly smacking his chest.

"You jerk! I'm very pretty thank you very much."

"Oh, hitting the Daycare Attendant? Naughty girl..." He scooped her up into a tight hug, making her squeal. "That means punishment 'Nette."

"Hey, you asked for it." She blew a small raspberry at him, to which he responded by beginning to kiss her neck.

"Ah! Moon that tickles haha! Stoooop!!" She laughed, trying to push him away.

"Why should I brat?" He joked.

"Because I hate tickling and you know that." She firmly said. He nodded understandingly and stopped, though he continued to speak.

"That means you'll have to except something later."

"I'll be waiting Moondrop." She gave him a small kiss on his cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark. His cheeks glew a faint red and he let out another small giggle.

Again, oh how wonderful she was.

"THAT'S WHY THIS HAS TO GO PERFECTLY!" Sun yelled himself, pacing back and forth between the daycare floor. "This has to be done exactly right! Perfect! Amazing in every way!"

"Sun-"

"If we don't do this right, she could hate us! Leave us!"

"Sundrop!" Moon yelled in their shared mind space, stopping the worrying robot in his tracks.

"You're giving us a headache, take a moment and relax."

"Oh, but how can I Moony?" He put his face in his hands. "This...this is such a big thing! Huge even! Why can't you do it?!"

"Because" he began "you and her met first, and have shared more things together. It's more...symbolic. The start of our relationship." Sun simply let out an exasperated sigh. Moon was right, he was almost always right. It didn't make it any less hard to do though.

"Sunshine? It's me!"

Oh no. No no no no no why was she here already?! He wasn't ready!!! Nowhere near it!!!

Evelyn had opened the daycare door, her head peeking through and glancing around the room. She saw him, slightly hunched over with his hat turns towards her. Before she could say anything, he had whipped himself around.

"Cloud!! Hi!! You're early!!" He did his best to act normal, though that wasn't accomplished in the slightest.

"Am I?" The short women questioned, bringing out her phone from her jacket pocket and checking the time. "Uh, no, I'm right on time."

"O-Oh!! I-I guess time's just gotten away from me, hahaha!!" His nervous laughter was just the cherry on top, she definitely knew something was up.

"Sunny, you will do things down to the exact minute, there's no way you would have lost track of time unless something was seriously disturbing you. What's going on?" She asked, voice soft and gentle. Why did she have to know them so well?!

"I- Oh well, ya know! All the messes and lost toys and whatnot! J-just a stressful day!"

"Sun." Moon scolded him in their shared head space. "You're prolonging the inevitable."

Evelyn crossed her arms, giving him a "really?" look. "You were never a great lier to me. Seriously, what's going on?" The tall animatronic fidgeted in place, playing with his fingers.

"You can do it Sun." He looked up at her, feeling as if her bright blue eye was burning through him. "Just say the words."

He took a deep breath, despite not needing to breathe. He could do this. He just needed to relax.

"You...mean a lot to us Evie. We weren't exactly content, but we thought we were fine before. We didn't realize something was missing until..." He paused, gently holding her small hands into his own. "You came along."

"Aww, Sunbun-" he gently shushed her, pressing a finger gently against her lips before continuing.

"Before we were simply just...celestial jesters. A Sun and Moon. But you, you are the stars that shine bright in the night sky the clouds in the beautiful blue up above. We were just planets, but together we've made up the whole sky!" It seemed as if his smile grew, even if that wasn't possible.

"We...we want to make a promise with you. Or well, you to promise us." Evelyn silently tilted her head in a curious manner, opting to continue to let him talk instead of questioning anything out loud. He brushed the hair out of her face, letting her black eye with a white pupil free into the light. She was always so self conscious about it, but it was simply another thing they adored about her.

"We want to stay with you forever. Always holding your hand, there to help you and lift you up. We want to love you until the end of time...only if you'll do the same." His speech fumbled a bit there, his voice becoming noticably quieter.

"Forever? Like life partners?" She questioned, to which Sun simply nodded. She couldn't help but smile at him. She gently grabbed his face, placing a kiss on his mouth while saying only one thing.

"Of course."

"YES!!! YOO-HOO!!!" Sun scooped up Evelyn and spun her around, making her laugh as she held onto him herself.

"Oh oh!! I almost forgot!!" Sun set Evelyn down and quickly ran over to one of the kiddie tables, grabbing something before coming and and kneeling down. Gently grabbing her left arm, he slipped on a special bracelet that he and Moon worked on themselves. "We remembered what you said about jewelry and it having meaning, so we made this to celebrate the occasion!"

"Oooh, that's why Moon asked me about jewelry." She giggled, waving her arm around to listen to the bells jingle. "It's perfect." The happy robot clapped his hands, almost jumping up and down.

"Oh! Should we treat it like a wedding and have a party?"

"Sounds fun!! Though when should we throw it?"

"Oh oh!! Why not our anniversary?" He happily suggested. "It'd be perfect, right in the middle of winter!"

"Oh yes! A nice excuse for cuddles." She giggled. Sun then scooped her up into a tight, but comfortable hug.

"Who says ya need an excuse? We'll cuddle you all the time Dewdrop!!" She giggled, hugging him back herself.

"And I'll happily accept Sunnydrop."

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆

Sworn as partners for life: Sun/Moon and Evelyn on December 22nd! Save the date!

#lex writes #lit up my world #singing in the moonlight #evelyn #life partner #self ship #selfship #selfshipping #self shipping #fnaf security breach #fnaf sb #self insert #self insert x canon #life partners #basically it's like a wedding but not really!#been wanting to do this for a heck of a long time

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theres-a-goldensky · 3 years

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30 More The Untamed Fic Recs

Here we go again. Another Wangxian rec list. Are you bored of me yet?

Were these recs helpful to you? If so, you can check out my other Wangxian rec posts:

Part 1 - 40 recs

Part 2 - 23 recs

Part 3 - 23 recs

As ever, feel free to reblog.

You can also head over to my bookmarks on AO3.

(All recs are complete) (I’ve noted pairings, length, and rating, but not any warnings or additional tags.)

** denotes personal favorite

1. say it's here where our pieces fall in place by Lirelyn - ~69,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Lan Zhan meets Wei Wuxian after he adopts a small A-Yuan, because Wei Wuxian also has a past with him. Lots of adorable family feelings and emotional hurt/comfort.

As often happened, Wei Ying’s voice preceded his entrance, calling to his co-worker through the open door, “Frankie, they forgot to order spoons again, can you hold down the fort a little longer while I —”

Lan Wangji was already looking to his entrance, head turning as if magnetized toward the voice, so he saw the moment when Wei Ying’s eyes landed on A-Yuan and the smile fell from his face. He looked stricken, and Lan Wangji immediately looked to his son in alarm. A-Yuan seemed fine. His small eyebrows were pulled together in a small frown as he looked back at Wei Ying, but that wasn’t surprising, given the expression on Wei Ying’s face. Lan Wangji had seen that face beaming, laughing, whining, wheedling, and occasionally angry, but never like this. He looked blank and hollow and it stirred something fierce in Lan Wangji: he wanted to rise up and obliterate whatever was making him look like that. Then his eyes lifted to Lan Wangji and there was a flash of something almost like betrayal, before he pressed his lips together and turned his back.

“I’m going to run out to the store and get spoons,” he said in a flat voice to his co-worker, and left without looking their way again.

2. the breaking of your soul (upon my lips) by sunsandships - ~41,000 words, mature - This is an AU of the novel where Wei Wuxian puts two and two together when Lan Zhan sneaks that kiss from him. It changes a lot of things.

Against his own will, Wei Wuxian found himself glancing at Lan Wangji’s hands. They were… certainly large enough that one of them could wrap around both of his wrists. And Lan Wangji was certainly strong enough, tall enough, broad-shouldered enough to bodily pin him against the trunk of a tree with no chance of him breaking free. Lan Wangji was the first person he’d come across in his slow comb through the vicinity of where he’d been so headily kissed.

Wei Wuxian drew a sharp breath. There was a connection to be made here. He didn’t think he was crazy enough to make it. Perhaps he truly was going slightly insane with demonic cultivation if he could believe Lan Wangji, the paragon of virtue and respectability, who lived unflinchingly under Gusu Lan’s three thousand edicts, who had at best only tolerated his presence as children, would sneak up to him while he was blindfolded, pin him against a tree, and steal a kiss from him in broad daylight.

3. and his wanting grows teeth by yukla - ~25,000 words, teen - This is a very interesting AU where Lan Zhan is a traveling cultivator and runs into Wei Wuxian and the Jiangs looking for shelter during a snowstorm. No spoilers, but this fic goes to a pretty dark place that genuinely shocked me, but I enjoyed. (Still ends well though.)

Without further ado, they are hustled past the entrance and into a smaller greeting area. Huang-bobo approaches the brazier in the center with his hands outstretched, warming his fingers in the heat, but Lan Wangji hangs back. As he carefully brushes the snow free from his shoulders, he feels the burn of a curious gaze trailing up and down his body, lingering at the guqin still strapped to his back; when the sensation pauses at his face and stays there, he lifts his head.

The boy with the ribbon lights up at the eye contact, flashes another dazzling smile, and gives a little wave.

“You must be new here,” he whispers, something like laughter threaded into his voice, eyes scrunching into winking half-moons. “All dressed up in white like that! You might lose yourself in the snowstorm!”

Something stirs to life in Lan Wangji’s chest. It’s—uncomfortable, he decides, and so he steps away. Teasing should not be encouraged with a response.

4. Ghosts Shouldn't by ShanaStoryteller - ~15,000 words, not rated - After Wei Ying's death, his spirit seems to linger. The story is told from Lan Xichen's point of view. I love an outsider point of view. I also love the way the author fleshes out his character as well.

Lan Xichen means to force his way inside, angry ghost of the Yiling Patriarch or no, but then his brother lets out slow breath, settling, the pain easing from his face as he falls back into a more peaceful sleep.

His hair is moving on its own, so subtly Lan Xichen might not have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking at Wangji so intently. It’s like someone’s running their hand through his hair.

The window frosts over suddenly, thick enough that he can’t see through it. Anxiety spikes through him so quickly he’s nauseous with it, but then the frost melts away and the opening notes of Healing start up again.

He can’t tell if it’s a warning or not. Maybe it’s just an acknowledgement. Wei Wuxian knows he’s there.

5. **leading tone by silencemostofall - ~32,000 words, general - This is a modern AU set in a world where people who love you leave a mark of color on you the first time you touch. Wei Wuxian has no color on him. So much emotional hurt/comfort. So much of Wei Wuxian's terrible self-esteem.

He can cover up his palms with his gloves, so that the blankness does not draw stares. But he has no marks on his fingertips, which he cannot easily hide, and none visible on his face or neck, the blankness of which is even more difficult to hide. People look at him and, with a single glance, understand the single most devastating truth that he knows about himself.

They assume that he does not have very many marks. He may be an eccentric, dramatic person, but the likelihood that an individual has all of their marks on, say, their feet or their torso or other places that are not immediately obvious-- that probability goes down as your number of marks increases. He can laugh as much as he wants about how he loves touching people for the first time with odd places, like the knee or the elbow, but it doesn't quite mask the feeling of other that he knows he exudes.

They assume that he does not have a lot of marks. This, while a heavy weight, is not unbearably so. It is okay that they think he is not much loved. It chafes a bit, and feels occasionally like something he has to furiously push down within himself, but it is not unbearable. What would be unbearable is if they knew the truth: that he does not just have very few marks, but none. That he is simply an individual who is not loved at all.

6. **pastel by antebunny - ~7,000 words, gen - This is a remix work of the above fic. It's from Lan Zhan's point of view and just different enough to be interesting. Still lots of emotional hurt/comfort. I love this concept a whole lot, and both of these fics are great.

It’s a simmering day in May, and Wei Ying is wearing long sleeves, long pants, and gloves.

His choice of dress isn’t unusual for many reasons. For one, there’s plenty of people who don’t like strangers seeing their soulmarks. There’s plenty of people who wish to keep them private by covering them up. For another, Wei Ying spends most of his day in various chilly computer science department rooms, He could just be wearing long sleeves for that.

7. one good thing by Yuu_chi - ~27,000 words, teen - Wei Wuxian has died (or did he??) and is haunting his old home. Lan Zhan moves in. This story has a happy ending! And so much yearning!

To the flowers struggling to grow on the other side of the glass, he says, “We’re getting a new roommate. Well, I’m getting a new roommate - you’re getting somebody who might actually be able to water you for a change.” The flowers outside sway a little in the breeze, and Wei Wuxian nods contemplatively. “He can’t be any worse than the last guy who lived here. Remember when I spooked him while he was cooking and he nearly burnt the house down? Of course you don’t. You’re fucking foliage, your memory is worse than mine. I remember though, so it’s cool.”

There’s the sound of shuffling behind him and Wei Wuxian looks up to see the stranger has entered the kitchen, setting the last of the boxes down on the table. Disgustingly neat handwriting declares the box kitchen - homeware. The stranger carefully brushes his hair back from his face and, without so much as a second of hesitation, cracks open the box and begins unpacking.

“Wow, you really don’t waste any time, do you?” Wei Wuxian marvels. “You literally just got here - who cares about unpacking? Sit down for a moment, breathe, have something to eat. It’s not going anywhere.”

8. with you, I am home by tellthemstories - ~47,000 words, mature - Modern AU where Wei Wuxian is being forced to return home to entertain marriage proposals. So naturally instead he "convinces" Lan Zhan to pretend to date him. I love a good fake dating fic, and this one hits all the right beats.

Lan Zhan does that almost-smile thing that Wei Wuxian takes to mean he’s happy, or at the very least not-mad. “You don’t have any money.”

“Not true. I have the money from our last job, when we settled the vengeful spirit for the flower shop girl.” (He doesn’t. They have Lan Zhan’s money. Wei Wuxian spent his on a pack of loquats and three bottles of Emperor’s Smile wine.)

“Fine,” Wei Wuxian says. “Do it for me.”

Thinking back on it two weeks later, standing alone in the middle of Jin Ling’s graduation banquet and watching Lan Zhan walk away from him, Wei Wuxian realises that this, this was the moment when he should have known. He should have realised in the way Lan Zhan doesn’t hesitate or negotiate and just says with that half-fond, half-exasperated tone he gets sometimes, “Fine.”

9. and in the spring i shed my skin by wvlfqveen - ~11,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Wei Ying can't find Lan Zhan, but hey, there happens to be a rabbit here instead. Features a very slow Wei Ying, emotional hurt/comfort and accidental love confessions.

Immediately, his heart settles and he grins down at his new friend. “Oh, hello there,” he coos, reaching out to pet the fluffy ears. The bunny is very, very still under his hand.

“Did Lan Zhan bring you today?,” he continues cooing. “I’m sorry I missed that, but your Dad didn’t tell me he was bringing you.”

Lan Zhan rarely brings his rabbits to work since they are as tolerant of crowds and unnecessary noise as he is. They were probably relevant to today’s lesson but…

Wei Ying frowns. “Why would he leave you alone? And where is your cage?”

10. how, or when, or from where by sarahyyy - ~10,000 words, gen - Wei Ying wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and can't remember the last few years of his life, including his best friend and the guy he's in love with.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes so hard Wei Wuxian is surprised his eyeballs don’t just fall out of his eye sockets. “That’s the worst part. He did. Whatever mating ritual you both have going on is so fucking weird, Wei Wuxian.” He snorts. “If you’d stayed asleep for any longer, I’d have lost my shit and thrown my myself out a window just so I wouldn’t have to talk to Lan Wangji again.”

Wei Wuxian blinks at him. “Is this a good time to ask who Lan Wangji is?”

Jiang Cheng glares at him. “Your Lan Zhan,” he says, annoyed. Wei Wuxian must look as confused as he feels, because Jiang Cheng’s annoyance bleeds out into concern. “Your Lan er-gege? Your soulmate, Lan Wangji?”

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. “No bells are ringing.”

11. ** a shared plate by yukla - ~26,000 words, teen - This is an absolutely gorgeous fic about Wei Wuxian traveling the world post-canon to rediscover himself and restore his faith in humanity and eventually find his way back to Lan Zhan. The whole thing is great, but the last two chapters are just *chef's kiss*

Lan Zhan,

Just as the mountains stand unchanging and the green rivers flow ceaselessly, we will meet again — and between then and now, you cannot hope to avoid my letters, either! Haha! Lan Zhan, I’ve seen so many things and met so many people, and it’s only been a month!

I miss you already

It’s so hot that I find myself missing the wind in Gusu’s mountains. Your poor Wei Ying is I’m melting away, Lan Zhan...

I’m realizing now, sixteen years is a long time to be away — the world is vast, and quite a bit different than I remembered. And in sixteen years, a child can also grow up into a man! It’s your job to catch me up on A-Yuan’s fun childhood stories! I do remember hearing something about a pile of rabbits...

12. with your arms outstretched to me by annemari - ~14,000 words, teen - Lan Zhan finally gets up the nerve to ask Wei Ying on a date, but things don't go as expected. Features emotional hurt/comfort (are we sensing a theme with these recs??) and just regular hurt/comfort.

"Oh, man, I was hoping you had some water with you," Wei Ying says. "I totally forgot to bring any for myself. Stupid of me."

"There is enough for both of us," Lan Wangji says. He has another bigger bottle in the car, as well.

Wei Ying hums but he only takes a few sips. He presses it back into Lan Wangji's hand. "I don't need any more."

Lan Wangji is considering arguing, but then Wei Ying shifts a bit, moving his ankle, and gasps very, very quietly.

13. ** A Lot of Edges Called Perhaps by hansbekhart - ~22,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian has finished traveling and returned to the Cloud Recesses and Lan Zhan. But their lives never do run smoothly.

“Lan Jingyi,” Wei Wuxian says, recognizing him after a moment. His heart slams against his rib cage. “Where is Lan Zhan? What’s happened?”

Lan Jingyi flaps a hand at him, gulping air. Wei Wuxian hands him the water, and leans back against Little Apple’s side as he waits impatiently for the boy to get his breath back.

“I’m so glad I found you,” Jingyi gasps, just as Wei Wuxian is about to throttle a proper answer out of him. “Hanguang Jun was in such a state when he woke up, we didn’t know if you’d come and gone already.”

“Where is he, Jingyi,” Wei Wuxian says, as evenly as he can. “What happened?”

14. So Why Not Crack Your Skull When the Mind Swells by greenteafiend - ~14,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian is cursed to feel extraordinary pain unless he's touching Lan Zhan. Yet more of Wei Wuxian's self-esteem issues and Lan Zhan's steadfast devotion.

“Are you hurt, Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji asks, pressing his hand to Wei Ying’s forehead to feel his temperature. There is no fever, but that doesn’t do much to mitigate Lan Wangji’s worries.

“No—I’m not hurt,” says Wei Ying, sagging forward to lean his weight into Lan Wangji’s hand like he can’t help himself.

It’s so strange—Lan Wangji can feel what Wei Ying is feeling. Although the relief is still very profound, wisps of other things are making themselves known; happiness; wistfulness; guilt. It’s all so fleeting that Lan Wangji can’t even begin to deduce what has provoked those feelings, but he wishes he knew their source.

15. puzzle pieces by Anonymous - ~6,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are roommates, and Wei Ying has started borrowing Lan Zhan's clothes.

“Hm? Oh.” With sleepy eyes that does— things to Lan Zhan’s heart, he blinks and tugs at the lower hem of the shirt, which is riding just above the curve of his thighs. Does Lan Zhan’s mouth water? Maybe. Yes. Absolutely. “Ah, yeah, sorry. Laundry day caught up to me before I could catch up with it. I saw this shirt left in the washer a few days ago, and—“ He blinks up at Lan Zhan through dark eyelashes that Lan Zhan wants to kiss, maybe, and gives him an uncharacteristically hesitant smile. “Do you mind?”

I mind the fact that we are not married, Lan Zhan thinks. But he can’t say that, and his tongue doesn’t know how to say anything else. So he stays silent.

“Oh,” Wei Ying says after a moment. “If you—oh, damn, I should’ve known, this is like real silk, must’ve been super expensive. Fuck. Okay, here, uh, I’ll take it off—“

16. ** Nothing But Trouble by brooklinegirl - ~60,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Wei Ying is trying to be a good brother and get Jiang Cheng laid. Somehow this plan involves pretending to date Lan Zhan.

"I won't!" Wei Ying insists. "I'll ask out someone...high stakes. I'll find someone. I'll...okay, how's this? I swear that I'll ask someone out and keep at it for at least two dates."

"No."

"Three dates."

"Nope."

"Okay, okay, five. That's fair! That's more than fair! One person, five dates." He points at Jiang Cheng. "You have to do it, too. That's how a pact works."

Jiang Cheng stares at him. "Five dates," he says flatly. "Five. And yours can't be Nie Huaisang."

17. i'm the one for your fire by occultings (microcomets) - ~43,000 words, explicit - This is a Modern AU and a Cherry Magic AU! (Side note: GO WATCH CHERRY MAGIC IF YOU HAVEN'T.) But in short, Wei Ying turns 30 without losing his virginity and gets the power to hear people's thoughts when he touches them. He gets more than he bargained for with Lan Zhan. The author does a good job of translating the story to these characters. Wei Ying is not forced to be like Adachi, the main character of Cherry Magic. He's still himself, and the same goes for Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan’s voice is so clear, so sudden that it’s as though it’s spoken, the slice of a sharp object through velvet.

He’s touching me.

Wei Ying startles for a moment, wonders if he’d somehow heard his own thoughts instead, but — no, that had definitely been Lan Zhan’s steady, factual baritone, loud and clear.

God, this is still so weird. It still doesn’t seem totally real. But how else can he account for hearing Lan Zhan’s voice in his head, as clearly as if he’d spoken to Wei Ying directly?

18. like blue flame over my fingertips by tangerinechar - ~37,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are roommates, and Lan Zhan just finds himself wanting to take care of Wei Ying.

Lan Wangji’s roommate. Is a problem.

He doesn’t get an answer to the roommate problem until the next morning, when Lan Xichen texts him telling him that the apartment he’d suggested (and helped pay rent for) to Lan Wangji said in the small text that it’d be two people per apartment, the second bedroom wasn’t actually a guest bedroom, sorry, Wangji, you can move in with me if you want, I have space —

No. Thank you for your kind offer, Brother, but I will be quite fine, Lan Wangji texts back.

19. ** some impulse of delight by handclaps - ~20,000 words, explicit - College AU where Wei Ying decides he needs to help Lan Zhan get used to touching people. Lan Zhan agrees. Wei Ying is dumb and in love. Lan Zhan is less dumb, but still as in love.

Lan Zhan shakes his head and fumbles, tries to push the cotton wool into Wei Wuxian’s hand.

“Sorry,” Wei Wuxian says, realising. “Touching people, I know.”

He feels dumb. He thought he’d worn Lan Zhan down more than this, that they were friends now and that his whole no touching thing was mostly overcome. He took Wei Wuxian’s hand easily, right? He looks down at his belly full of scratches, dabbing at them moodily.

“Sorry,” he says, again.

Lan Zhan makes some kind of noise, but he is busy packing the first aid kit back, placing everything exactly where it was before.

“Lan Zhan, you’re going to have to do something about this,” Wei Wuxian complains. “I know you don’t like touching people and usually it plays as a kind of gentlemanly thing, but what about emergencies?”

20. And I Will Call You Home by Spodumene - ~43,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian returns after a year of traveling and rejoins Lan Zhan in the Cloud Recesses. He's doing a good job of pining and ignoring the obvious. Look, at this point, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm a sucker for stories where Wei Wuxian deals with his ~*~issues~*~ and Lan Zhan takes care of him, whether he asks for it or not. This story has lots of that. I also enjoyed the case fic aspect of it.

“I do, I think,” Wei Wuxian admits. “Would be nice to see his face again after so long. And at least this time, I’m going to show up draped in finery. What do you think, Lan Zhan? I can’t possibly disgrace him—or you—wearing a cloak like that.”

“You could never disgrace me,” Lan Wangji says gently, that soft, affectionate look back on his face.

Wei Wuxian grins, warmed to the tips of his toes.

“I’ll remind you of that later. The next time I’m three jars deep and feeling especially shameless, you’ll have to remember those words, Lan Er-gege.”

“Of course,” Lan Wangji says simply.

Wei Wuxian smiles some more, overwhelmed by fondness.

21. darling, am i a chore? by martyrsdaughter - ~7,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian really, really wants Lan Zhan to call him 'gege'. Lan Zhan knows a trump card when he sees one.

“You know what I want,” Wei Wuxian purrs, reaching up on his tiptoes to throw his arms over Lan Wangji’s shoulders. “Call me gege, won’t you? Call me and I’ll stop.”

Lan Wangji knows he will not stop, regardless of what he calls him. Still, he thinks about it. If there really is a way to make Wei Wuxian stop, should he not consider it? He doesn’t have any real interest in curbing his husband’s insatiable mischievousness, but he does like knowing things about him—everything there is to know.

If there’s something that persuasive in the world, that it can bring Wei Wuxian into submission when no one is under threat, could he stop himself from seeking it?

22. your name, safe in their mouth by astrolesbian - ~11,000 words, gen - Wei Wuxian & Lan Sizhui fic with the Wangxian in the background. Lan Sizhui wants another dad and Wei Wuxian wants a son, they just don't know how to explain that to each other.

“Hush,” Wei Wuxian says, in a low croon, like someone quieting a baby. Then he blinks, and looks away, awkward. “I mean—you shouldn’t speak. You’re tired. Rest if you need to.”

Lan Sizhui tucks his chin into his uncle’s shoulder, and lets his eyes fall closed.

“It doesn’t hurt too much, does it?” Wen Ning whispers to him kindly.

Lan Sizhui takes a deep breath, and takes stock of all his aches, his ringing ear, his hollow chest, the way he had selfishly wanted Wei Wuxian to keep speaking to him in that careful voice, like he was just a child to be soothed and there was no real danger. How dangerous, to pretend. “No,” he lies. “It doesn’t hurt that much at all.”

23. when you're doing all the leaving (then it's never your love lost) by tardigradeschool - ~26,000 words, teen - AU where Lan Zhan with Wei Wuxian to Jin Ling's one-month celebration. Things go down, and it leads to Lan Zhan discovering Wei Wuxian's missing golden core. This obviously will not do, and oh look, the best doctor in the world just happens to be right here.

“How—“ Lan Wangji chokes. “His core —?” He looks at Wen Ning, half accusatory in his shock. “Jin Zixun could not have—“

“No, no!” Wen Ning says, holding out his hands. “He hasn’t had one for years, don’t worry!”

This is not as reassuring as Wen Ning seems to think.

“Please explain,” Lan Wangji says, pained. He feels for Wei Wuxian’s pulse instead; in the absence of a golden core, it will have to do as reassurance that he’s still alive.

Wen Ning is so anxious that the story comes out in a ramble, out of order. Lan Wangji wants him to hurry up, but he’s also not confident in his own ability to speak, so he just keeps quiet and lets him talk. His heart feels as if it’s about to fall from his chest, beating nearly twice as fast as Wei Wuxian’s does under his fingers.

24. A Match in the Making by lareine - ~30,000 words, teen - A Modern AU where Wei Wuxian sees his single and bad ass friend Lan Zhan and his single and bad ass friend Mianmian and gets some very dumb ideas.

To return to the point: Lan Zhan was peak adulting. Mianmian was peak adulting. And if they were both at the peak, then they were on the same level. What level? That mysterious level thing that everyone mentioned when it came to dating.

Whatever level it was, Lan Zhan and Mianmian were on it together. Wei Ying nodded to himself. So, Lan Zhan and Mianmian were allowed to date each other. The next question was: were they compatible? Did they have chemistry or whatever the fuck people called it?

25. Crack me open, pour you out by Tenillypo - ~16,000 words, explicit - Lan Zhan gets cursed to say whatever he's thinking. So his worst nightmare. Mutual pining, first time, all good stuff.

Lan Wangji freezes with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, lifting his eyes to stare at Wei Ying.

"I know! Just completely paralyzed." Wei Ying mimes being still as a board. "I don't know how long I lay there. It must have been two days at least. Good thing for Little Apple. He wandered back to the village when he got hungry, and eventually a few of them got brave enough to come look for me. When they rolled me over, the figure fell out of my hand and I could move again. Cunning little thing." He shakes his head. "I was weak as a kitten for a little while after they took me back to the village, and by the time I recovered, they'd burned the whole place to the ground. Such a waste."

Lan Wangji slowly lowers his chopsticks, heart racing unpleasantly. In his head, a picture of Wei Ying slowly wasting to death alone in the middle of the woods, with Lan Wangji a hundred miles away and none the wiser.

26. Crazy, Rich Cultivators by ShanaStoryteller - 13,000 words, no rating - Lan Zhan wants to bring his boyfriend home to meet his family. There are some things he definitely didn't realize about Wei Ying.

“He has a life here,” he says down the line. He doesn’t say that he has a life here too, one he likes a lot more than the one he had before. He misses home. He’d miss Wei Ying more. But he doesn’t say that, doesn’t say how vibrant he is and how beautiful and how little interest Lan Zhan has at seeing him among the high society he grew up with.

“Well, your life is here, Wangji,” his brother says. “You can’t stay away from home forever. You’re going to have to see how he does with the rest of us sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.”

It might as well be never, as far as he’s concerned. His family can meet Wei Ying at their wedding.

“I’ll ask,” he says.

Wei Ying has no interest in cultivation politics. They’re horrible, the five clans have an iron tight alliance that’s thirty seconds away from collapsing in on itself the moment someone from one sect steps on another sect’s toes. It’s the worst and he hates it. Surely even just the idea of it will be so horrifying to Wei Ying that Lan Zhan will be able to tell his brother no.

27. just our hands clasped so tight by electrum ~4,000 words, teen - Lan Zhan really, really, really just wants to give Wei Ying everything he wants.

“Despite your best efforts,” Wei Wuxian agrees. He shakes his head in mock-dismay. “How much longer do you think that will last if you keep buying everything I look at?” When this, too, fails to soften Lan Zhan’s resolve, he tries a different tactic. “We couldn’t even afford potatoes,” he says. “Back when I was with the Wens, at the Burial Mounds. Only radishes! If I survived that, I can certainly survive without another pretty comb.”

Lan Zhan’s expression is at once unmoved and yet somehow stricken. “I would have bought Wei Ying potatoes,” he says, like Wei Wuxian doesn’t know, by this point, that Lan Zhan would buy him anything. “If I had known…”

28. ** Rotten Work by ShanaStoryteller - ~64,000 words, no rating - Jin Ling & Wei Wuxian with Wangxian in the background. Jin Ling is the best boy! And as he tries to rehabilitate his sect and his family and keep himself alive at the same time, he realizes, horrifyingly, that he has to be the mature one.

29. ** an act too often neglected by Ariaste - Lan Xichen / Meng Yao, ~61,000 words, explicit - The Wangxian is in the background here, but the main story is about Lan Xichen meeting Meng Yao on a dating app and getting immediately dickmatized. Meanwhile. Meng Yao refuses to be won over by Lan Xichen's charm. It goes as well as you'd expect for him.

The caption below is equally sparse: “5’6. Demanding.”

Lan Xichen feels a low simmer of arousal kindle in the pit of his stomach, and he gazes at that word-- demanding --for nearly as long as he’d stared at the photograph. He swipes right.

A few minutes later, a notification pops up: < Hm, the size of your hands is promising.

This is familiar. This is the flirtation stage. Lan Xichen knows the steps to the dance.

30. My Land Beneath Me by longleggedgit - ~30,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Wei Wuxian is cast out of his sect and out of China to America. And Lan Zhan just...follows.

Lan Zhan always waited for his tea to cool before drinking, which meant he had nothing to do but give Wei Wuxian a judgmental look. “No more McDonald’s.”

“You’re just bitter because you get indigestion from anything that actually tastes good,” Wei Wuxian grumbled.

Because Lan Zhan was insufferably mature and patient, he didn’t rise to the bait. “We have time to stop somewhere before class,” he said.

“Fine. But you’re paying this time.”

It was a bad joke, and predictably, fell flat; Lan Zhan was, after all, paying for everything, every time. Wei Wuxian frowned into his mug.

“You know,” he said, after another swallow, “you really don’t have to be here. I’m going to figure something out.”

Interested in 86 more The Untamed fic recs?

Part 1 - 40 recs Part 2 - 23 recs Part 3 - 23 recs

#the untamed fic #the untamed #master of demonic cultivation #wangxian fic recs #wangxian fic #mdzs #lan xichen/jin guangyao #lan zhan #wei wuxian/lan wangji #wei wuxian #jin ling #lan sizhui #mxtx novels

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cno-inbminor · 4 years

Text

domus

a/n: here we have another short drabble dump! i wrote this up very quickly -- i’m still working on that long fic i’ve been talking about! i apologize for taking so long to put it together. pls take this short fic as an apology for now. stay hydrated, wear your masks, and be safe! love you all so dearly <3

plot: when kuroo tetsuro drops the hard-hitting truth that he’s fallen out of love with you, your first thought is to escape. but you find comfort in the least likely person: akaashi keiji, a boy you had grown up with out of forced family interactions, who always seemed so distant from you. yet you probably knew more about him than anyone else.

characters: fem!reader, ex-bf!kuroo, & family friend!akaashi

wc: ~3.7k, will probably have other parts in the future.

genre/warnings: angst with dashes of fluff; mentions of alcohol

pt. 2 | pt. 3

edit: now crossposted to AO3!

When you’re in love, you spend weeks and months wondering why time won’t stop. You sit and ponder over why you’ll have to die someday and leave behind the person you’ve dedicated your entire soul to, or what might happen if your death came early and you didn’t get to say goodbye. You wonder why the seasons seem to pass you by so quickly, that in the blink of an eye, you go from enjoying a cup of iced tea on the porch to holding a mug of hot chocolate inside watching snowflakes swirl in their journeys to the ground.

But when love ceases to exist, time seems to stop. The days drag for longer, the seasons crawl at a turtle’s pace, and the inevitable end feels less terrifying. You no longer fear the eventual sagging of your skin or the spider legs that grow at the corners of your eyes. You no longer cling onto a hope that there will be a lover’s hand holding yours at your bed of eternal sleep. You simply become, just you. Solitary, single, independent you.

It’s no longer you and someone else. The realization stings so badly that it physically hurts you, a whimper leaving your throat. You shakily reach over for the next blouse and fight back the tears, teeth gnawing at your bottom lip. The skin is chapped and broken to the point that you would need layers and layers of chapstick to save any semblance of it, a terrible habit that you wish you hadn’t possessed. It’s muscle memory, the way you fold the blouse in half, fold the sleeves in, bending it over your arm before it lands in a neat stack of other tops in your suitcase. Your eyes take a glance at the clock, and you gather you have about another hour before you needed to leave for the airport and make it on time for your flight.

You ignore the male figure hunched over on the edge of your bed, tuning out his pleas and broken promises. He begs you to give him time, to implore that it’s all his fault and he’ll make it work for the two of you. Tetsuro promises that he didn’t mean to and that it wasn’t anything you did, but you feel so empty inside that you can’t even find the energy to argue, to turn on him and say that he was pretending to take all the blame so it’d be a better explanation to all your friends. A relationship involves both parties, and while there were special exceptions, this wasn’t one of them. Something was clearly wrong with you, and you were okay with that. You were just tired of Testuro attempting to take everything onto himself.

“I thought it’d be best to come clean with you,” he says, throat hoarse from lack of hydration. “I know you would question it and I haven’t done anything, I swear, I know you’re amazing and don’t deserve to live a lie and—”

“Do you want me to say ‘thank you’?” You interjected quietly, morosely. Your hands slide open the underwear drawer and take out a week’s worth of underwear, bras, and bralettes. “Do you want me to express my gratitude in your honesty for telling me that you don’t love me anymore? You can easily buy a trophy online and make the inscription yourself. ‘Most honest man alive’? Is that what you want?” You ask, tone flat and not possessing the least bit of amusement and humor.

“Can’t you give me some time? I’ll try, I’ll try to figure out what went wrong, and I can love you again. We can still get married and everything, but please don’t leave.”

“I’m not leaving forever, Tetsu. I’m just gone for a week, maybe more.”

“Where are you even going?”

“That’s none of your business,” you quickly reply, defenses back up as you make a beeline for the bathroom. You pick up all the toiletries you can, the ones that would be allowed in your carry-on. Strangers won’t care about your missing skincare routine and your complexion not looking its best.

“What if you get lost? Or kidnapped? What if people ask—”

“Easy. Just tell them I had a last minute business trip, family emergency, whatever floats your boat.”

“Can’t you see that I’m trying? I—”

“This isn’t just about you!” You snap, whirling around to look at him for the first time in the last hour or so. Testuro notices with a pang in his heart that your cheeks have sunken in slightly since he broke his revelation to you just last week, the eye circles darker than ever. But your eyes are soulless, dead, no shine or spark that he’d wake up to every morning even muddled with sleep.

“You can’t just expect me to be okay and continue to bend over backwards for you without question. The least you could do is give me my time, give me some space to think about all of it. That’s the bare minimum.”

And with that, you zip your suitcase shut, grab your passport (even though you probably don’t need it), keys, wallet, and phone, and walk as quickly as you can to the front door. The scheduled Uber will arrive in just a few minutes, and as you slip into a pair of flats, you can hear the creak of the bed and Testuro’s padded steps nearing you.

“Just be careful, okay? Call me if you need anything, anything. You’re still one of the most important people to me, so just – text me at some point. Let me know you’re alive at least.”

“You need to rest. You’re on call tomorrow,” you digress while opening the door.

“(Y/n)—”

“I’ll text you. Promise.”

And the door shuts behind you.

Your relationship with Akaashi Keiji is…hard to explain. In fact, you’re not even sure what to refer him as in your life. Anytime you spoke of him or attempted to explain, you’d fumble over words and draw blanks. While it was irritating and aggravating at times, you learned to just accept it.

Akaashi Keiji was the neighbor down the street, two years older, and someone who had known you since you were 8. Your moms were attached at the hip not longer after you moved to Tokyo, and that meant holidays were spent together, impromptu get-togethers and dinners were a common occurrence, and you saw him frequently at school. He was a quiet soul, gentle, but reserved. In fact, most of the things you knew about him were secondhand conversations from your mother talking about the family, because honestly his mom was basically your second mom now, and your mother trusted you with everything. His past, his troubles, his personality all relayed through your mom from his own, and when you saw him in the hallways, he wasn’t much of an enigma to you. Many other girls had found the mysterious air around him to be attractive, that the pretty setter who only ever smiled around his volleyball team and kept a tight circle of friends had something significant beneath the layers.

Keiji grew up with you, playing Smash on the Wii to pass time as your parents gossiped away. Sometimes, you’d play an intense game of Monopoly with him, a game that typically tipped in his favor. He never said much about himself, always relayed more about others that overlapped in your lives. The most he ever spoke to you about was when it came to teachers at school, even giving you some of his old notes and pointers. But even you could tell that he kept his guards up, and you wondered if he even classified you as a friend.

Your go-to explanation of Keiji’s standing in your life was a family friend. But that insinuated you were close with him, which you weren’t at all. No matter how many times he walked home with you (mainly at the pushing from his mother), no matter how many times he was forced to entertain you at dinners and holidays, no matter how many times he gave you a small smile in school, there was such a large gap between the two of you. He always seemed so different around his team, like they had the privilege of knowing the real him, and at times, you felt…jealous.

And the weird thing is that you can rely on him somehow – whether it be because he’d get an earful from his parents if he didn’t help you when you asked it or out of the goodness of his heart, he was simply always there. Sometimes, you were bold enough to text him about a show he talked about in the past, and he would reply quickly as if your unexpected, rare text about something benign didn’t faze him at all.

Yet despite the distance, despite the lack of any semblance of an actual friendship with him, he was the first one you thought of when all this happened. He was the one you wanted to see – maybe it’s because he was the closest thing to home, and you didn’t want to go back to your parents explaining everything. It’s been a while since you’ve been back in Tokyo, ever since you moved to Sapporo for your job and Testuro got matched for a residency at a hospital there.

At 7PM on a Friday afternoon, past the baggage claim with the sunset beaming in through the sliding glass doors, you stare at Keiji’s contact on your phone, thumb hovering hesitantly over the call button. You could count the number of times you’ve called him on one hand, but this was an emergency, right? Is this why your heart is pounding against your chest, so anxious that you feel like you’ll break into a cold sweat any time soon?

You jump into the deep end.

Your hand nervously brings the phone to your ear, waiting with bated breath as the dial tone echoes in the chamber of your brain. Part of you wants him to miss the call so you can avoid this awkward conversation, but another part of you desperately wants him to pick up as if he’ll be able to save you.

Oh god oh god oh god, you panic as the tone stops, there’s a pause, a rustle, and then a hesitant, “—Hello?”

You didn’t plan this out. You’re not ready for this. Shit, what are you supposed to say?

“—hello? (Y/n)?”

“Have you had dinner yet?”

Wow, you’re a terrible conversationalist.

“…um, I haven’t actually. I was about to warm up some leftovers?”

Your eyes focus on the taxis driving by, picking up passengers as they get waved down. Maybe you should just find a cheap hotel nearby, continue this conversation tomorrow.

“Well…I’m in town, actually. I just landed about 30 minutes ago and realized I didn’t have anywhere to go and I don’t really want to call anyone else and I don’t exactly know who else to call so I just, um, thought about calling you and asking if you’ve had dinner? Which if you’re busy and stuff, that’s totally fine, I should’ve texted you beforehand instead of springing this on you and—”

“(Y/n), it’s okay, alright? It’s okay. I’m not busy, so you can stop by. Did my mom ever give you my address?”

Keiji’s brief attempt to calm you down works, surprisingly. You allow yourself to take a deep breath despite the stale airport air, but it was some much-needed oxygen. This is going to be okay, Keiji doesn’t hate you quite yet.

“N-no, she never did.”

“That’s fine, I’ll text it to you. My place is about 30 minutes from the airport, I’d recommend getting a taxi instead of an Uber. I’ll order some delivery—”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“You still like the miso ramen from that shop not far from your house, right? They opened up a second store not far from where I live.”

How did he remember that? You’re pretty sure your own mother had forgotten that fact by now.

“Y-yeah, I do,” you smile to yourself. “I still think about it sometimes.”

“Sounds good then. Get here safely then.”

“Okay. Thank you loads again. I’m sorry for all this—”

“Don’t worry about it. Keep me updated, see you later.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Not 30 seconds later, a text arrives to your phone with an address, a keycode for getting past the main door, and other relevant instructions.

Keiji’s apartment is exactly as you expect it to be – prim, proper, neat almost to a fault, with minimalist decorations. The apartment complex he lives in is rather high-end, if the security guards standing outside the main entrance indicated anything. You almost feel completely out of place or like a bug on the wall as you step in after him, a rather comfortable silence between the two of you. His kitchen is spotless and almost sparkles back at you, and the only thing that seems out of place are the containers of your ramen he so kindly ordered for you.

“Your place is really nice, it’s really…you,” you comment, setting your stuff down at the door. Keiji indulges you with a quiet laugh, making sure that there wasn’t anything that would be in your way. His glasses are perched on his head, an old monochrome t-shirt on his shoulders and sweatpants hung low on his hips, yet in this apartment that almost seems like it should be in an interior design magazine, he looks at home. His ethereal beauty, the softness in his eyes, the gentle up-turned strands of his hair – he belonged here.

“The ramen came not too long ago, so it’s still hot. I’ll go ahead and put it together, you can put your jacket on the couch.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Instead, you fold your jacket over your suitcase and quietly make your way into the apartment. Straight across from you are doors to a balcony – darkness had long taken over the city, so you see nothing but your reflection at first. But as you near the plexiglass, the reflection disappears into the view and you almost gasp from the beauty of it.

Blinking lights, flashing billboards, and the brightly lit Tokyo Skytree peer back at you. It only hits you now how much you’ve missed home, and that even though Sapporo was one of the largest cities in Japan, it still wasn’t Tokyo.

“I never get tired of it,” Keiji chimes in while carrying your bowl of ramen to the dining table.

“It’s an amazing view, I can see why you’d live here,” you reply while moving away from it. The table also has two empty wine glasses, and just as you’re about to ask him why they were there, he returns with a newly opened bottle of chardonnay.

“I haven’t had a lot of time to restock the wine fridge, but I knew I was going to kick myself for not having a bottle of that dessert wine we had before you went off to college,” he said with mirth and amusement. “You remember that one?”

“Yeah,” you nearly splutter, almost flushing that once again, Keiji was remembering details about you that you didn’t even know. “Your mom wanted to throw me a graduation dinner and you made it back in time after finals. And she had a bottle of it and between the two of us, we probably drank most of it. Our parents said it was too sweet.”

He nods and sits across from you, elbows on the table as you mutter, “Itadakimasu,” and start eating. You finish your meal silently for the most part, making small talk here and there. Keiji refills both of your glasses and the two of you sip the wine demurely, and while he seems okay with the lack of an explanation, you’re struggling to find the right words.

“So what’s with the impromptu trip to Tokyo? Are you going to see your parents?”

“Should I try to lie to you?”

“It’s up to you.”

Oh, okay then.

But he looks expectant, as if he knows you wouldn’t lie to him – in fact, you’ve never lied to him before. There was never any need to, but did that just mean neither of you ever cared enough?

“Something happened with me and Testuro. I don’t want to bore you with the details, but at the end of the day…I just needed to get away, as cliché as it sounds,” you laugh brokenly. Keiji continues to carefully observe you with a stare that you can’t escape. “I don’t want to tell my parents – you know them, they’ll ask a million questions. Without thinking, I booked a ticket to Tokyo and…now I’m here.”

That was a lie. How are you supposed to tell Keiji that he was the first person you thought of in an effort to run away? You and Keiji have never gotten personal before, he made sure of that. The last thing you want to do is weird him and scare him off.

“…did he cheat on you?” Keiji asked. His voice is darker in his inquiry, deeper than you’ve ever heard before. He has his hands folded in front of his lips and his eyes harden. Testuro may be an old friend to him, but you were in his life longer.

“Nonononono,” you quickly wave off. This isn’t the time to slander your…boyfriend? Could Tetsuro still even be your boyfriend if he no longer has any feelings for you? “Nothing like that.”

“That’s good to hear. If you want, you can tell me another time then. You’re welcome to stay here until you go back to Sapporo.”

You look up at him, eyes incredulous. Could Keiji really be this comfortable with you?

“I wouldn’t mind staying tonight, but I can stay in a hotel for the rest of the week that I’m here.”

“Nonsense,” Keiji refutes, standing from the table and taking your wine glasses to the sink. You follow with your bowl and he starts washing them before you can even offer. “Mom would kill me if she knew I let you pay for a hotel when I have a perfectly functioning bed you can stay in.”

“I mean, if it’s not a bother…”

“It’s not. The futon’s pretty comfortable, I’ve definitely fallen asleep on it plenty of times.”

“We can switch, I would never let you sleep on the futon for a whole week.”

“If you say so then. But for tonight, you can take my bed. Let me grab you an extra towel so you can shower. I’m sure you’ve had a long day,” he says while drying everything off, folding the kitchen towel neatly before heading off to his room. He returns with a large, soft grey towel and you shyly take it from him with a word of thanks, but he stays there in front of you, waiting for something.

“I’m really glad you picked up the phone,” you whisper softly, feeling the effects of the alcohol. You’re entering uncharted territory for the two of you, and this could either kill or strengthen this odd distant friendship. “I meant it when I said I didn’t know who else to call. You were the first person that came to mind and just…I don’t want to make this weird, like you can kick me out,” you begin to ramble. “Don’t feel like you’re obligated to take me in because your mom would be disappointed if you wouldn’t, you’ve already put up with me for over 15 years and it’s fine, I can be on my own and—”

Smooth, calloused hands delicately hold your face, large palms and nimble fingers cupping your cheeks. Your words die on your tongue as Keiji stares straight into your eyes, holding your gaze until your breathing calms down to a steady, languid pace. “You’re my friend, (y/n). So it’s good that you called me.”

“I’m your…friend?” You ask unsteadily, feeling a sense of disbelief.

“Yeah,” he confirms with the corners of his lips turning up slightly. “We’re friends.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Now go shower.”

“Okay.”

You’re fast asleep before Keiji finishes his own shower, his bedroom door left ajar as the hallway light beams through. He pauses in the midst of drying his hair with a towel, letting it bunch and hang off his neck as he cautiously pushes the door open. Keiji notices your even breathing and how much more relaxed you look in sleep. You’re curled up on your side with the blanket pulled up to your face and he can’t lie: it’s adorable and cute, and he shouldn’t really be thinking these things.

He sits on the edge of the bed in the little space that’s provided, lithe fingers reaching out to brush back a few stray wisps of your hair. Watching you sleep pulls him back into a fond memory he’s kept of the two of you, one that might’ve held very little significance to you but meant something so much more to him. He knows you know him well, he knows how much his mother babbles on about him, and adults were more prone to gossip than the rowdiest of teenagers – he’d be painfully oblivious if he didn’t think you knew that much about him, or more than the average friend.

But it’s comforting to him, sometimes. Knowing you, how kindly you think of others, he might not have to explain what he’s feeling in the moment. You would be able to know, and that soothes him to some degree.

Maybe he had a little bit too much wine as well, but ever so subtly, motions steady and unhurried, he deftly leans closer and closer until his lips brush the apple of your cheek. He lingers for no more than a few seconds and sits back up, gazing at you before standing. His hands adjust the blankets and make sure you’re properly tucked in. He pads away, shutting the door behind him as quietly as possible as to not wake you.

And when he’s found a comfortable position on the futon with his most comfortable throw blanket, he realizes, begrudgingly, that this week will fly by too fast for his liking.

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nothing-but-dreamy · 3 years

Text

GLANCES

Pairing: DBH!Connor x OC!Character

Words: 1.458

Warnings: none; maybe some wet Connor like this

Summary: Three times, Nora catches a glimpse of Connor showing off some skin...

...and one time, it's the other way round.

Detroit was known for its rainfall. Sometimes, it could rain for days with no end. If someone would look closely, they might even spot Noah somewhere who tried to build a new ark.

Usually, Nora liked when it was raining: the smell of wet grass, the refreshing air and the relaxing, drumming sound against the windows.

Usually...

...but not this time. For three days, it was raining and then, the worst happened: water-pipe burst in her apartment.

While workmen were busy repairing Nora’s home, she had to find shelter somewhere else. Luckily, Connor, one of her friends, was running to her help. After the revolution, he had found a cute apartment in the heart of Detroit. And because he was an android who didn’t need to sleep, he offered her the bedroom more than happily. Nora accepted immediately. She liked the android and had fallen for him and his gentleman charme.

As she opened the door of the apartment with the spare key, she noticed that Connor must be at home but she couldn’t spot him. Nora dropped her bag on the floor by the kitchen counter. A vase with fresh flowers stood there to greet her. Next to the vase laid a piece of paper:

Welcome home. Make yourself comfortable, Connor

Nora smiled about this small note and felt welcomed immediately. The crush, she had on the android, was giving her dancing butterflies and a huge smile on her lips as she read his words in the neat handwriting.

She took her bag and walked to the bedroom she would occupy the next five or six days. On her way, Nora already heard sounds of running water coming from the bathroom. The water got turned off and Nora looked curious into the room.

Connor stood in front of the shower just dressed in a towel around his hips. Small droplets of water were running slowly over his back down his spine. As he was turning around, Nora could catch a glance of his bare chest which was sparkling wet. Just before he could notice her, Nora turned around with a racing heart and vanished into the bedroom.

Maybe, she should ask herself: "Why was Connor showering?" or: "Do androids have to shower, anyway?". But instead, Nora had just one question in her mind: "Why was Connor so damn hot?" Whatever the answer was, Nora hoped Conner hadn't seen her staring at him.

But Connor had seen her. And not just how she had ran away but also how her bright eyes had been glued at him. Before she had disappeared, Connor had seen her cheeks blushing in a soft pink. He smiled to himself. He was pleased to have such an effect on her. Obviously, he had understood the signs she gave him right.

Two days later, after work, Nora got back to Connor’s apartment. It had been a busy day and she was tired. The only thing she dreamt of was food and to sleep. With the headphones still on her ears, she walked through the apartment, not paying much attention to her surroundings. As she walked to her room, the door of the bathroom opened and Connor stepped out. Nora wasn’t fast enough and so, she crashed into him.

Connor grabbed her shoulders to prevent her from falling. As she opened her eyes, she looked straight into his brown eyes. A soft smile was playing on his lips. Nora removed her headphones and only then, she noticed that Connor was just dressed in a towel wound around his hips like the other day. Her small hands were lying softly on his bare chest and she felt him slowly breathing underneath her fingertips. From the ends of his brown strands were still a few droplets of water falling on his smooth skin, sparkling like small diamonds in the dim light coming from the bathroom.

One droplet rolled down his temple along his sharp jawline. With her eyes, Nora followed its slow way over his neck, down his collarbone and to his chest. She swallowed thickly as she noticed that she was staring at his naked body.

“Oh, h-hey… Connor.”, Nora whispered shakily. She felt her cheeks reddening under his intense glance and the lopsided smirk that appeared on his lips.

“Good evening, Nora. Welcome back home.”, Connor said with his honey-like voice which shot shivers down her spine. “I hope you’re hungry. I ordered pizza for you.”

“Y-yeah… sounds good. I just have to.. yeah.. uhm… excuse me…”, Nora stammered, stepped around Connor and disappeared in the bedroom. She leant against the closed door with a hammering heart.

Nora had to leave early the next morning and she wasn’t surprised to find Connor awake. Soft ambient music played in the living room. Nora was still half asleep as she walked through the apartment.

“Good morning, Nora. Have you slept, well?”, Connor asked softly and watched amused how Nora jumped a little by surprise.

Nora turned over to the direction of the voice, smiled but her face changed into staring. This time, Connor was dressed... partially. He wore his typical dark jeans and the white suit shirt but … it was completely unbuttoned. The open parts were slightly waving, revealing more of his perfect body, as he walked over to her with a smirk on his lips. “Nora?”

Nora’s eyes switched from his bare chest up to his eyes. “What? Oh, uhm… yeah. Yeah, I have slept well. T-thanks.”, Nora whispered shakily.

Connor saw her cheeks blushing beautifully as he had caught her glance. The way she was staring at him, with this hungry but also timid glance, shot adrenaline through his synthetic veins. "I wish you a great day." Connor whispered low. With the back of his hand, he stroked carefully over her cheek before he brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "See you tonight."

"Y-yeah… ha-have a nice day, as well.", Nora said and had difficulties getting her pulse under control. She had to force herself to leave the spot in front of Connor. As she reached the door, Nora turned around one last time. Connor winked at her which caused her racing heart to skip a beat.

Nora was looking forward to taking a shower after her way home through the rain. Once again, it had started to pour and she was soaked to the bones. Even a thunderstorm was rumbling through the air. A hot shower would fix her mood. As she opened the door, the apartment was empty. So, she was safe for any new encounter with a half naked Connor. Just the thought of it made her nervous...in a good way. The whole day, she was barely able to think about something else than Connor and his perfect chiseled, muscled chest.

Maybe he did it with purpose? Was it his plan that I would run into him all the time?, Nora asked herself while she was shampooing her hair. Nora was deep in her thoughts as she flung her towel around herself to go back into the bedroom. She walked to the room and bumped into something solid. Once again, Nora crashed into Connor who just came from the bedroom.

He caught her easily before she could fall. Because of this, her towel was sliding down a little bit more but Nora was able to catch it before something could get revealed. Connor had noticed it but tried to draw his glance away from her perfect curves.

Nora looked up into Connor's face that was just inches away. A lightning illuminated their faces. The pale light was collecting in his golden-shimmering eyes. Nora's eyes flickered down to his lips before she gnawed on her own.

"I was looking for you.", Connor whispered deeply.

"Why?", Nora whispered. Her heartbeat quickened under his intense glance.

"I wanted to ask you something.", he answered. Watching every move of her very closely. He noticed her increasing pulse. To register what kind of effect he had on her let him smirk.

"W-what is it?", Nora asked breathy. His hands on her bare shoulders were burning on her skin but she loved the feeling already and wanted more.

"Would you like to go out with me? Tonight?", Connor asked hopefully.

"You want to go out? With me?"

"Yes-"

"I would love to!", Nora called out, filled with new energy.

Connor chuckled about her cuteness. "Just one thing…", he said and leant down to her ear what let her shudder, "It’s not that I wouldn’t enjoy this view of you but ... maybe you should dress yourself first.", he whispered with his lips on her ear.

"Right… Good idea. Give me ten minutes.", Nora said smirking, with a nod before she ran into the bedroom.

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starleska · 2 years

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How about Comfortable Doug for the ask game? ^^

YESSSS COMFORTABLE DOUG!!!! i love you so much thank you for sending him in 😭💖 answers for this ask game are under the cut!!

how i feel about this character: ahhhh…Comfortable Doug, how can i really sum up the depth of my love here? he's a delight. he's a freak. he's a certified weirdo. something about his sweaty squishy self fills me with such a sense of contentment…a lovely anon suggested him to me months ago as a potential f/o, and i laughed them off. oh how silly i was 😂💖

i love Comfortable Doug because of how...comfortable he is with himself. he's such a terminally unashamed creature and i loved watching his journey of self-discovery moving up from a simple moletaur night guard to the godlike celebrity we know and worship today. he has such a cute face (and those TEETH oh my god!! 😳), can pull off some seriously fun theatrics and i adore characters with German accents 😉 honestly, i’ve always been a fan of characters who have an unusual, arresting vocal delivery and the way Flula Borg warps his voice to produce this inconsistent, lilting, Euro-lite sound is gorgeous. i could listen to him talk all day!! (on that note, have y’all ever heard this song Flula did with Ninja Sex Party? absolute banger)

there's something so attractive about characters who are…hm, does Comfortable Doug count as a reality breaker? certainly he has the ability of interdimensional travel, and that makes him awesomely powerful!! he's got all these great little quirks that make him simultaneously adorable and threatening. i swear to God, go and watch his scenes in 'Holes: Part 2' and 'My Tummy, Your Hurts' back to back, it's hilarious how he went from this scary creepy dude to a weird, precious goofball. i don't know, i just think he's neat…he's got that unique chaos goblin energy 🥰

all the people i ship romantically with this character: SLAMS THE SELFSHIP BUTTON man i do not care that he's half subterranean mammal i am ready to ride that moletaur at a moment's notice 😳 i’ve been working on a centaursona just for the purpose of selfship and i can’t recommend doing that enough. draw yourself as a centaur, people, it’s good for your soul!!

as for canon, i love Comfortable Doug/Waterbaby!! that little moment where CD flirts with Waterbaby took me so off-guard i had to go hide my face for a while and wait for the blushing to wear off 😭💖 what a smooth-talker!! i would've loved to have seen more interactions between the two…Waterbaby is also an uber-confident, powerful, charming character and this teasing back-and-forth (with CD being an obtuse little shit as always) is so cute and funny 🔥🔥

…also Comfortable Doug/Mouthpiece is a peak ship and i won't apologise for it

my non-romantic OTP for this character: every interaction Comfortable Doug has with our main group is so gut-achingly funny. i love that he ends up being this unknowable, sometimes useful, sometimes unhelpful familiar face for Horse and the gang, and while i don't explicitly ship him with anyone from the group, i adore Comfortable Doug as an unofficial additional member!! so Comfortable Doug with everyone being buddies makes my heart soft 🥰

my unpopular opinion about this character: yknow, Comfortable Doug is an odd one because while i think a good deal of the fandom really likes him, there's this vocal section that is not a fan. this seems to be because by season 2, the writers knew that CD was very popular with the fanbase and gave us a great deal of fanservice with him - and i was very happy about that!! but he did transform into something more of an out-of-story device, almost a deus ex machina with this ability to look at everything from above and act as a chaotic force in an already chaotic universe. as much as i adore Comfortable Doug, i can understand why some people found him to be more of an intrusive distraction than a fun pop-up…

…but i wouldn't trade a second of his screentime away regardless 😖💔

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: i would watch Comfortable Doug do literally anything so i would be ecstatic for ANY more content with him!! 🥺💖 i was equally entertained and delighted by Comfortable Doug delivering two of the best song-and-dance numbers ever performed as i was listening to him trying to describe the Nowhere King's horrifying experiments to Rider and Becky Apples;;;

that said, the wistful part of me does kinda wish we got more of a backstory into Comfortable Doug…i want to know if there is a Glendale, Ched, Durpleton or Wammawink-type situation to Comfortable Doug and his perpetual weirdness. perhaps it's because the moletaurs seem so chill and nice to each other, quite tight-knit, that there was never any need, but Comfortable Doug tells us that he feels his life so far has been less than perfect…he never found a husband or a wife, a thing to love, or something to go after!! i'd love to know more about Comfortable Doug's family and early years, and if there was more than Horse's arrival which prompted him to become such a strange, confident guy. even though all of the moletaurs are as kooky as the rest of the 'taurs in Centaurworld, Comfortable Doug seems uniquely weird and i want to know why!! and those are just a few of my thoughts on Comfortable Doug 🥺💖 thank you so much for sending this ask in anon, and i am always always down to talk about him and any other of the weird characters on my f/o list :3c

#comfortable doug #centaurworld #starleskasks

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kessielrg · 3 years

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[Kingdom Hearts] Old Habits, New Reasons

Summary: Three times in which Namine shies away from social functions just to draw, and the one time someone joined her. [oneshot][character study][NamiXi if you really wanna squint][also Namiku if you squint a little less]

Rating: K

Word Count: 3,469 words

If you liked this story, please reblog!

---

Their question had thrown Namine off slightly. She sheepishly looked down at her small sketchbook as if it could answer the question for her. The white page stared back at her in silence.

A part of Namine knew this would happen eventually. There was always that fear that someone would follow her, ask her what she was doing, and then tell her to rejoin the others. But that wasn't what they were asking, was it? They wanted to know why she was drawing. It was a simple question, and it was a bit odd that someone would have lugged a caboodle of art supplies with them to a banquet.

"Well?" the other girl asked. "Is there someone who would get mad you're drawing, even if you did it around your friends?"

"I don't think so." Namine decided, slowly. "But sometimes... it's just easier to draw without other people around you. And sometimes, when people find out that you're good at something, they make you do that something for them. It's not very fun."

"Do you always leave to draw, though?"

At first, Namine wanted to disagree with all her heart. But in introspection, it was more of a vice than she cared to admit. She loved drawing, but didn't like others watching her as she did it. When did that happen, she wondered. That didn't used to be the case...

"Sometimes." Namine finally said. She held her sketchbook a bit tighter before adding, "But only on certain occasions."

"Like?"

Namine looked over at the other girl with curiosity. She was greeted with a look just as inquisitive as her own. Maybe even more so. There was a genuine interest; that much was certain. Maybe there was a budding artist in their midst?

"Well..." she carefully said, moving her sketchbook a bit to flip through the earlier pages, "There was this one time..."

. . .

It was a small comfort that, while she wasn't a Keyblade wielder herself, the others considered her when they all got together. She still made sure that her presence didn't disturb anyone. Being quiet and observant was Namine's most reliable vice. That, and drawing. There wasn't much else she knew how to do. Her time as a Nobody barely ranged a year, and after that she was placed safely inside Kairi's heart until recently. Being a Somebody was... confusing, to say the least.

Being asked to join in on a slumber party with Kairi and Xion had been a surprise- perhaps even more so because Master Aqua herself gave her the invitation. Namine certainly didn't expect it to take place in the Land of Departure either. The world seemed far too grand to her -far too important in the history of Keyblade wielders- that it could be used for anything beyond a training arena. She was proven wrong after entering the Great Hall with Kairi. Aqua had given them a spot in front of the thrones, already decorated with sleeping bags for all four of them and a small assortment of snacks.

"I've never got to have a proper slumber party before, since it was me and Terra for most of our childhoods." Aqua admitted at some point. "Feels weird having one with you guys now. I feel like a mom."

It was Xion who, without skipping a beat, cheerfully declared, "And you're the best one I'll never have!"

"Xion!" both Aqua and Kairi declared, each with their own level of bewilderment. Namine only offered a stifled laugh. So proud at their reactions, Xion gave them all a smile so big, it almost rivaled Sora's.

After that, they started to talk about various things since they all met together. Apparently everyone's training was going rather well. Kairi was beginning to get a handle of second tier elemental magic, while Xion was working on personal techniques on and off for the past week. It was around this time that Namine politely excused herself from the others. They had been so caught up in their conversation that they didn't even notice.

Namine went to where she and Kairi had placed their personal things to find her caboodle. The caboodle was a neat little box with drawers that opened the same time she opened the lid. She was able to put all her art supplies in it. Most of them, anyway- her normal sketchbook was too large to fit. Instead, she used a smaller pad that was placed where the mirror in the caboodle was. Once Namine made sure she had everything, she carefully found a spot far enough away from the others so she could draw them. It honestly wasn't very far, but it was still far enough away that the other three didn't really notice her. That was fine. If anything, it was perfect.

The sounds of the others almost masked the sound of her pencil against paper. Spending most of her life locked away with nothing but drawing to distract her gave Namine a slight skill in speed drawing. However, she took her time when she started to work on her friends. She wanted as much detail as she could.

But she didn't bother to sketch her own sleeping bag. She tried to tell herself that it was because it ruined the composition. But deep down she knew it was because she didn't fit with the others, and so it didn't need to be included.

Namine finished her drawing without the others ever knowing she was gone. She placed everything back in her caboodle, then went back as Kairi went into a long story about Tidus and Wakka back on the islands. It was nice; the sounds of friendship. Namine had been the first to go to sleep that night.

. . .

At first, the only response she got was a quiet, "Oh..."

"It was a really fun time!" Namine quickly insisted. "And it really was a treat to be included."

"But you drew yourself out."

Namine flinched slightly. "It worked out better that way. From the angle I was at, it would have looked weird because I had the really light sleeping bag, and everything was so dark anyway..."

The other girl only looked more guilty.

"Do you still have the picture?" she wondered.

"I think so." Namine agreed. She adjusted herself so she could better go through her sketchbook before flipping through the earlier pages. "Here," she then offered as she handed it over.

There was a small hum as the other ran her fingers over the drawing. Namine had made deliberate choices in lighting around the three Keyblade wielders- light coming off of them as if they were lighting up the whole room. If you looked ever closer, you could see the detail of the castle's floor, and even make out the silhouettes of the three thrones in the background.

"Does anyone know that you go somewhere away from everyone to draw?" the other girl asked, handing the sketchbook back to Namine.

Namine gave a fond, almost bashful smile.

"There is someone..."

. . .

"There's a lot of people here." Namine noted as she tried to look over the crowd. Riku wasn't making the same amount of effort. Instead, he just casually looked on with a hand at his hip. Curse him being a full head taller than she was.

"Aqua said that Disney Town holds the Dream Festival every year." Riku agreed with a small nod. "Can't be that easy since Queen Minnie has almost been reigning the kingdom alone for the past few years. The effort is definitely amazing though."

Namine agreed with a nod and a small noise of affirmation. Disney Town looked absolutely splendid for the festival. All the colors, and the smells, and the energy was enough to put anyone in a good mood. The grip Namine had on her caboodle tightened slightly. A frown crossed her lips as she considered that there might have been too much commotion. There wasn't a good place to just sit and zone out without some kind of noise maker going off.

Riku must have noticed this. He looked over at her, and quickly saw her firm grip on the caboodle's handle.

"Are you sure you don't want to leave that in the Gummi Ship?" he asked. He even made a mild gesture to the box, which only made Namine hold it closer to her.

"No. I'm going to use it." Namine insisted. "I just... I just need someplace a bit more quiet..."

Riku nodded. He looked up again to see that Queen Minnie had taken the stage. The queen looked as beautiful as always in her formal pink and red ballgown. The jewels on her crown glittered under the multicolored overhead lights. Everyone cheered at seeing her- the love and admiration they had for their leader was enough to be felt from miles away. Minnie was a good queen, there was no contest about that.

As Minnie tried to settle the crowd down so she could speak, Riku bent down a bit to quietly tell Namine something.

"There's a sewage grate somewhere behind us. If you take it, there's a gizmo that will lead you up to one of the buildings overlooking the racetrack. Don't know about you, but a good aerial shot might be something to capture for later."

Namine grinned. "Thank you Riku." she said before giving him a small peck on his cheek. The young Keyblade master's face gleamed with a humble blush as he stood tall again, almost as if he had never moved at all. Namine laughed a bit at it before leaving.

Finding, and getting into, the grate had not been an issue. It did take her awhile to navigate the gizmo, though. But it was all worth it once she got to the top of a particular building. Namine let out a soft 'Oh...' of wonder as she sat down near the edge facing the racetrack. Riku was right- this was a good place to work. If only she was able to use larger sketch paper in her travelling kit.

When she was finished, Namine very quickly tried to find Riku again. She shouted his name after spotting him. He barely had time to turn around before she proudly displayed her new drawing to him.

"Do you think Queen Minnie will like it?" she asked, rather breathlessly.

Riku looked at her before looking down at the drawing. He put on a wide smile before telling her, "She's going to love it. It's perfect."

. . .

That story had brought about a rather brighter mood in the other girl.

"Did Queen Minnie like the drawing?" she asked. "You did give it to her after the festival, right?"

A sense of pride welled in Namine's heart, leading her to sit a bit straighter. "She loved it." she grinned. "She immediately had the brooms take it to the gallery to be expanded and mounted. You should have seen the look on Riku's face. He was as proud as I was, and probably more surprised!"

"I could only imagine." the other girl laughed. "Oh!" she then said, "Have you ever gone someplace with a view so nice that you just couldn't replicate it no matter how hard you tried? It's hard to recreate any atmosphere, in my opinion. I wanna know if you ever tried to as well."

Namine let out a soft hum as she thought about it. She let out a small noise of realization when it came to her.

"I did once before, yes." she agreed. "Since Kairi's parents don't mind me staying with them, I was able to join her, Riku, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie to a beach party they had. It was still summer vacation, if I remember correctly. And Tidus really wanted to have a girls versus boys match..."

. . .

"Head's up!" Tidus shouted before serving the volleyball over the net.

"Cheater!" Selphie shouted back as Kairi managed to spike the ball back. Tidus only gave a rather sinister cackle back. However, at that point, no one was able to break their concentration just to smack talk each other.

Namine watched as Kairi and Selphie worked against Tidus and Riku in a rather well matched volleyball tourney. Wakka wasn't too far away- he had lost a bet earlier and had to make food for everyone. The smell of pineapples and fish hung in the air. It was the warmth of the midday sun that Namine loved the most. The feeling enveloped its way around her like a comforting hug. She let out a soft sigh as she got a bit more comfortable.

The sudden urge to draw made her fingers twitch.

This wasn't a good spot for it, though. She was too close to the others for anything but sand to get onto the paper than color. As much as she loved watching the volleyball match, it was still a bit too distracting. Namine started to get up and casually looked around for a better spot to draw. It didn't take long for her eyes to train to a crow's nest not far from the shore. It was part of a large treehouse that seemed to encompass the island. She looked back at her friends for a moment before quietly leaving them. If anyone noticed she was going, they certainly didn't question her about it.

After getting herself situated at the higher point, Namine found herself gaping at the scene below her. Her friends happily playing on the beach, the light reflections off the water, and even the island holding the paopu tree providing a view so beautiful, so rich, that she wasn't even aware that she was opening her caboodle at first. Seeing the Destiny Islands through Sora's heart was nothing compared to the real thing. Was it possible just to freeze time here and let everything else wash away? She smiled a bit to herself. She did have a way to freeze time, in a way.

The only unfortunate thing was that she wouldn't be able to capture it all. She couldn't encapsulate the smell of the sea, or the sounds of Tidus demanding the girls had leverage over him for some reason. She gave a small smile as she continued to work. Most of her effort was spent trying to reflect the sea around them. A certain impatience came over her as she carefully did each detail. You always had to start with the big stuff, then go down smaller. She was just so eager to capture this moment, anyway she could, that she was always picturing this drawing when it was done.

Namine had to force herself to stop after an hour. Her hands were starting to hurt, and her stomach was growling for food. She cracked her knuckles, barely relieving the tension in them, before putting her stuff away. There would always be time to clean the picture up later. For now, she needed to rejoin her friends.

. . .

And so, we were brought back to our initial setting- the banquet in Radiant Garden.

Namine had thought at first that this would be the perfect opportunity to work on drawing food. But the actual banquet itself had a lot more activity than she was anticipating. There were too many people at the tables to have space to stand at for a few minutes, and she had tried to get a plate for herself to take elsewhere- the allure of delectable aromas wouldn't let her go far without wolfing everything down. So she decided to get a higher view.

To her luck, there was a balcony overlooking the main area. It wasn't blocked off or anything, so Namine quietly crept her way to the top. She found a place to carefully overlook the area and found herself at awe. Even if she was aware that someone was behind her, she probably wouldn't have known it at first.

"Namine!" a voice suddenly said in surprise. Namine jumped a good foot before turning her attention to the newcomer. She relaxed a little when she found it was just Xion.

"Xion..." the blonde girl sighed. "It's just you."

"Am I interrupting you? I'm sorry. I'm not interested in food, and the boys are really going at it, so I really wanted to do this writing exercise where you describe an atmosphere, and..."

"No, no, no. You're fine." Namine insisted. She moved her stuff a bit before gesturing for Xion to sit down next to her. "Here," she offered, "Sit next to me. The view is nice from this area."

Xion smiled in thanks before carefully sitting down. She looked out over the balcony and gasped.

"You're right, this is a good view!" Xion marveled. Her eyes expanding in wonder. "This is the perfect place for Ebba to plant a listening device onto an enemy!"

"Ebba?" Namine wondered. "Who's Ebba?"

At Namine's confusion, Xion's face lit up in a deep scarlet.

"She's my... I think Pence called it 'self-insert.' It's a character that's based on me, but sometimes has a few differences. I've based most of the stories I write on stuff I did in the Organization. It's helped a lot with trying to cope with it. You know?"

Namine shrunk a little. "Yeah..." she agreed in a tiny voice.

"But it's real fun too!" Xion told her, trying to divert the heavy topic a bit. "I base everyone in story with someone in real life! You should see the guy I based on Xemnas... I do a lot of mean things to him."

Namine let out a small chuckle. But then a thought occurred to her.

"You based the characters in your story on us?"

"Of course I did!" she happily declared, her blush growing a bit, besides. "Roxas is Lucas, Master Aqua is head knight Meikai, I even have Pluto as the brave pup Mercury!"

"Do... Do you have someone based on me?"

Xion paused for a moment. Her face going still. However, just as quickly, her smile came back as wide as ever.

"Not yet, but I can!" she decided. She hummed a bit as she thought it over some more. "But I don't have to if you don't want to. I think I'll call her... Syrena."

"Syrena..." Namine hummed in thought. She then gave a bright smile in appreciation. "I like it."

"Great!" Xion beamed. She let out a rather contented sigh before asking, "What about you? Why did you come here?" She looked down at Namine's sketchpad and art supplies for a moment then added, "Did you come all this way just to draw?"

After some hesitation, Namine told her. Carefully, and in her own time. Xion listened intently- only asking questions when Namine was done relating a certain day. When the subject came back around to where they were, Xion seemed to understand much better.

"I get it now." she said.

"You do?" Namine wondered.

Xion gave a thoughtful little nod before explaining, "It's easier for you to draw when it's more quiet. That was how it was before. I think it's great that you're still drawing, even though you started because you were held hostage by the Organization. But the Organization didn't give you the skill you have, Namine. That’s all your own. Kinda like how writing is my special thing. We have ways to just... be ourselves, you know? It's comforting. It's like knowing that, even though we didn't start out in this world with our own goals or ideals, we can make them on our own now. We're free now, Namine. Free to do whatever we want."

Namine absently hugged her sketchbook. "I like that thought." she admitted. "I never really saw it that way before, either. Drawing is something that I know I can do. Something that won't harm others. But you are right- it's what makes me... me. Thank you."

Xion grinned. A wide, bright grin that could have lit up a room. It gave Namine an idea.

"What does Ebba look like?" she questioned, at the same time she pulled out one of her sketching pencils. "Does she look just like you, or are there a lot of differences?"

There was a moment of confusion on Xion's face, then a bright flicker of joy. Not a second after, she burst into a long babble about her character. She even used her arms to illustrate certain concepts and mannerisms. Namine laughed, and did her best to keep up. Xion was so passionate about her characters- it almost made Namine jealous. For the next few hours, Namine did a blend of Xion's idea for Ebba, while Xion herself got to writing about how Ebba got to meet a new acquaintance; a mysterious girl named Syrena, who -while mostly shy- was very well loved.

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flightlessangelwings · 4 years

Text

Comandante Veracruz NSFW Alphabet

(This is smut obviously so do not read if you’re underage)

Word count: 2k

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Veracruz likes to be rough, we all know that, but he always makes sure you're ok afterwards. He’s not the type to carry you to the bath or bring you snacks or anything lavish, but he always checks you over for bruises or anything. Sometimes after a particularly rough session, he’ll kiss the marks he made. He’s silent while he does so and you know better than to break him from his haze until he kisses the top of your head and pulls you close to rest on his chest.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Veracruz likes his hands. They get the job done, be it dealing with someone who thought it was ok to get too handsy with you or pumping his fingers in and out of you. He’ll also never admit it out loud, but he loves to hold you close after you two have sex and run his hands up and down your body.

V is an ass man. He loves to slap your ass while he rails you from behind and he will leave little hickeys just for him to see. He also likes that area at the top of your thighs at your hip, especially when he leaves hickeys there that make you squirm.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Veracruz’s favorite place to cum is inside you, though he also enjoys pairing your body with it too. And of course he loves when you take him in your mouth and swallow every drop.

Although people may like to think otherwise, Veracruz loves to make you cum. He always tries to outdo himself to make your orgasm even more powerful than the last. And he loves when you completely fall apart and lose control at his touch. He’s not satisfied until you've come at least twice too.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

When it comes to dirty secrets, it’s different for Veracruz. His little secrets are that he loves it when you ride him and he actually really wants to make love to you. You rode him once and he found that he loved watching you bounce on top of him, and he liked the way he could hold your hips from that angle. It also gave him the perfect view of his cock sliding in and out of you.

And when it comes to making love, it’s not something that Veracruz usually does. In fact, it’s not something he’s ever really done before. But for you, it’s something Veracruz finds that he really wants to. He would need to admit some things to himself first though and he’s not ready for that just yet.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Comandante Veracruz f u c k s. And he knows what he’s doing. Before you though, he never did the whole relationship thing, and he’d argue he still doesn’t (although he wouldn’t like it if you said that).

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Veracruz is a dom through and through so he loves to be on top of you. There’s no such thing as boring missionary sex with V because he’ll use that position to rail you into next week. Plus, he likes that position so he can watch your face while you fall apart for him.

He also likes to pin you to the wall and hold you up by your ass while he does. The angle drives him even deeper into you and he gets off on how loud you cry out when he rails you that way.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Umm have you seen Veracruz? He wouldn’t know a joke if it hit him on the dick! He’s definitely serious when he’s in the moment.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

It depends. There are times when Veracruz is away for a long time and doesn’t bother to trim his hair down there. Other times, he will trim it down. Nothing extra though, just enough to keep it neat. You’re still getting his cock in your mouth either way though, so be ready for anything.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Veracruz doesn’t do romance. Well, not in the traditional way at least. He’ll never be the type to say “I love you” in the heat of the moment, but he will do anything to keep you safe. He’d kill for you if necessary (and maybe not entirely necessary). He’s hard and rough, but he always makes sure it’s consensual. All you need to do is say your safe word and he’ll stop with no questions asked.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

The Comandante is away from you for weeks at a time sometimes so of course he jacks off. He always thinks of you while he does it too, though he’d never say that out loud. It does the job, but he’s rather it was your hand or mouth or pussy instead. When he’s home tough, he doesn’t feel the need to jerk off since you’re always ready for him and just as eager for sex all the times as he is.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Bondage- Veracruz loves to tie you up, especially with metal chains. He loves the sounds of your struggle against the restraints and the clang when they move against your skin. He loves to see you completely helpless and at his mercy for him.

Overstimulation- Veracruz is the king of multiple orgasms and he won’t be satisfied until you’ve come at least twice. His favorite is when you’ve come so many times that you’re in tears.

Orgasm delay/control- Much like overstimming, Veracruz likes to tease you with your orgasms. Sometimes he simply won’t let you come for a while and pull away just as you’re about to. Other times, he makes it a game to see how long you can hold off your climax hike he pounds into you and rubs your clit.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He prefers the privacy of his or your place or his tent when he’s out in the field. Veracruz likes when people hear you, but he’s too possessive to let anyone one see you. But when you’re at either of your places, no surface is safe, and you’d be hard pressed to find a surface that Veracruz hasn’t fucked you on.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Veracruz is very turned on by sounds. He loves the sounds you make in bed and whenever you moan his name, he’s pretty much done for.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Veracruz doesn’t play well with others. And he doesn’t share. He also won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. And although he likes to push the envelope and mix pleasure with pain, he would never want to harm you. He also wouldn’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, just say the word and he’ll back off no questions asked.

He also doesn’t like to gag you because he loves to hear all the sounds you make.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

With Veracruz, your face is definitely getting fucked. He loves to thrust in your face like he does your pussy, and seeing himself disappear in your mouth gets him off so much. You suck him off better than anyone else before too. He’ll never admit how much he melts for you while you’ve got your tongue swirling around his cock.

And V will happily eat you out for hours too. Sometimes he’ll start slow and tease you, other times he’ll dive right in and devour you like a bowl of ice cream on a hot day. Veracruz is definitely skilled at eating pussy too, he always leaves you trembling when he’s done.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Fast and rough for sure! Veracruz loves to pound into you and hold your hips down while he does. Sometimes though, he’ll slow his pace or just still himself inside you just to tease you.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Veracruz isn’t a big fan of quickies. He likes to take his time with you and draw out both of your pleasure for as long as he can.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Pretty much whatever you’re up for, he’s up for. He likes to push boundaries and try new things. Veracruz isn’t shy about using knives or weapons on you too, and of course he’s extra careful when he does something more risky with you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Oh boy, Veracruz can go all night if he wants to. He is the king of multiple orgasms, and he won’t stop until you’ve both come twice at the very least. Though his favorite game is to see how many he can pull from you in one marathon.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

There is a secret black box that Veracruz keeps under his bed that is filled with toys and different types of restraints. He never lets you look inside because he likes to keep you guessing at what’s in there. So far he’s used a bullet vibe, a hitachi, a dildo, cuffs and a spreader bar. Who knows what else is in there...

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Ok. This man… is the BIGGEST tease. And boy does he love to hear you beg. Sometimes he’ll tease you by just ghosting over your pussy, or even avoiding it all together at first. He’ll just use feather light touches on your clit until you're begging him to touch you. Other times, Veracruz will work you the way you like, but just as you’re about to cum he’ll pull away completely. The most he’s done this was four times and you were in tears as you begged him to make you cum.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Veracruz isn’t super loud. He’s more of a growler than anything else, and you know he’s turned on when he snarls at you. But he does love the sounds you make. To him, the louder you are, the better.

One thing about Veracruz though is he loves to tell you how amazing you feel. And he loves to tell you that you’re his. Whenever you’re not too lost in your own pleasure, you’ll hear a faint “mine” in a low voice and it turns you on so much.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Veracruz loves any type of sensory play. He’ll run ice cubes along your skin and grin in delight as he watches you shiver. Especially when he plays with your nipples or your pussy with the ice and you’re squealing and squirming. Or he’ll use some hot wax and just watch it drip patterns on your body. Sometimes when he’s got you tied down, he’ll add a blindfold as well so everything he does is a surprise to you.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Veracruz is packing, and he knows how to use his equipment well.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Not only can Veracruz go multiple rounds, but he’s ready to go any night of the week.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He tends not to fall asleep right away, even though you do. Veracruz is worn out for sure, but he likes to just lay with you on his chest for a while before he lets himself drift off to sleep. Is it because he actually feels more for you than just sexual desire? Is it because he feels the need to protect you and make sure you’re safe? Veracruz will never tell.

Perm taglist: @the-purity-pen @bisexual-space-slut @paintballkid711 @f0rever15elf @woakiees @mikeisthricedeceased @waatermelon-sugaar @jedi-mando @feelmyroarrrr @giselatropicana

Headcanon taglist: @tintinwrites @ollypopp @thanossexual @thirsty-flygirl @huliabitch @theocatkov @my-super-musical-life @stardust-galaxies

#comandante veracruz #comandante veracruz x reader #comandante Veracruz x you #comandante Veracruz imagine #veracruz #Veracruz x reader

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turtle-steverogers · 3 years

Text

Team Bonding

fr when was the last time i posted like,,, a fic on here. like a tumblr fic. damn. anyway. ummmmmmmm this is just your.... typical steve freaks out and the avengers are awesome um yah ok ok

warnings: panic attack, vomiting (basically steve watches the titanic and doesnt have a very fun time)

word count: 2575

If Steve was being brutally honest with himself, he was fucking tired of hearing about “the classics”. Irrelevant people butting their noses into his business, tipping him off to what movies were, “the best of the best!” and “absolute must sees!” He appreciated what they were trying to do, but after a while, it felt like people were more or less just trying to garner a slice of his 21st century experience, and quite frankly, he liked doing things better by himself. It was much more appealing to park himself in front of his laptop, nothing but his own quietude to keep him company as he combed through different wikipedia rabbit holes and caught up on movies and TV shows that were apparently crucial to his very existence.

Most were subpar and honestly, he preferred the copious amounts of popcorn he treated himself to on these solo date nights, but some things surprised him. Like Indiana Jones. He liked Indiana Jones. He was neat, and Marion reminded him vaguely of Peggy.

Still, he supposed he should have seen it coming when Clint came to collect him from his floor one evening, that sort of eager-puppy energy he carried around with him vaguely prickling the back of Steve’s neck.

“C’mon, man,” he was saying. Steve leaned against the door jamb, tired. He was going to concede, but Clint was rambling and Steve knew better than to interrupt him. “It’s, like, certifiably the best love story ever. You need to watch it--”

And there it was again. That fucking claim. You need to watch this! You haven’t seen that?

No. He hadn’t. He’d been a little busy, you know, being dead.

“--And the acting is all so raw and it’s just-- Leo DiCaprio-- you know who that--”

“--Yes. I saw Blood Diamond--”

“--Oh, you did? Well, anyway, he rocks in this and--”

“Clint,” Steve cut him off smoothly. “I’ll come, don’t sweat it too hard.”

Clint looked positively elated. “You will?” he exclaimed. “Awesome, yeah, it’s gonna be the whole team. I mean, that’s good right? You’re cool with that? You gotta be, you’re the one who mentioned team bonding that one time--”

“Yes,” Steve cut in again. “I’m alright with that. Give me a minute to change, and I’ll be right down?” He was still in his gym clothes from two hours ago. He meant to take a shower, but he’d sort of… ran out of energy. The sweat had cooled by now anyway. He smelled fine.

“Oh! Yeah, no problem.”

Which was how Steve found himself in a pair of sweatpants and an old SHIELD t-shirt, squashed in between Natasha and Bruce on the communal couch. Someone had handed him a huge bowl of popcorn and Steve was pleasantly surprised to find that it was flavored with some sort of cheese powder.

“White cheddar,” Bruce said, holding up a little blue shaker bottle when he heard Steve’s appreciative hum. “They’re, uh, sort of like seasoning, but for popcorn specifically. They come in all different kinds of flavors.”

“Oh, neat,” Steve said, around another handful of popcorn. He liked Bruce. He seemed to get Steve in that quiet, brutally raw sort of way. A quiet kinship. They didn’t talk about it, but he never made him feel condescended, so Steve decided that was okay.

“I think I fixed it!” Tony said, stepping out from behind the ginormous movie screen where, presumably, he’d been fixing a volume problem. The screen had been frozen on the first frame of the movie for nearly ten minutes. “Okay, okay, let’s see…” he pressed play. Music poured through the speakers on either side of the TV, loud enough so that everyone cringed and Steve nearly dropped the popcorn bowl in his haste to cover his ears. He always managed to forget how damn loud the world could be when he let himself get comfortable.

“Sorry, sorry!” Tony hissed, turning the volume down to a much more tolerable level. “Okay, there. Okay, shh everyone. Gotta let Capsicle--”

“--Just Steve, Tony--”

“--Gotta let Just Steve get the full experience.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but settled in to watch.

The film was honestly better than Steve had been expecting, if not a little… itchy in that way period films tended to be for him. The themes of poverty and love were pretty well-rounded, but they hit just close enough that he almost cringed at the far-fetch’d beauty of it.

Still, his fingers itched for a pencil as Jack guided a pencil over the worn sheaf of paper. The dim light, the faint scratch of the pencil, the forbidden love. It was familiar. Steve could almost smell the salty City air, afternoons spent under the dim lights of candles so they could see even with the curtains drawn-- a semblance of privacy amongst the compact vulnerability of his and Bucky’s shitty little tenement.

Draw me like one of your french girls, Rose had said, and Steve’s eyes drifted towards the wall, Bucky’s voice echoing through his head.

“‘Course I want you to draw me. I ain’t denying my vanity, Stevie,” he teased, but his eyes were soft. “Pal, you could draw a stick of butter and I’d still wanna watch. It ain’t about me here.”

There was a soft touch to his arm and Steve blinked out of his reverie. Natasha was watching him, a neutral look on her face that Steve had finally learned to recognize as concern. He shook his head minutely, offering her a smile. She nodded and looked back at the TV.

The rest of the movie passed without much excitement. The acting was pretty good and Steve had even gotten to a point where he could recognize the filmmaking as something like revolutionary for the time it came out. He was quicker on the cultural uptake than people gave him credit for, but that was neither here nor there. He laughed with everyone else, let himself grow somber when the atmosphere lent that mood, and generally, it was a nice time. He hadn’t gone to any movie nights before this, but he thought maybe he’d start going to more.

And then the ship hit the iceberg.

Steve wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. Obviously, he knew of the Titanic-- he knew, historically, what happened to it. But for some reason, it hadn’t quite hit him while watching the movie that he was going to have to see the catastrophe go down.

There was a loud creaking of ice on metal as the collision occurred on screen and Steve felt himself go still-- body rigid and tense as the deafening noise played through the speakers. His heart slammed in his chest and he felt his palms start to sweat. He knew that sound-- he knew that--

--He blinked, shaking his head. Movie. Watch the movie. There was a panicked scramble on screen. Characters rushing to amend the situation, more metal creaking and groaning and breaking as dark, foamy water broke through the sides of the ship and Steve could taste it, he could taste the water flooding into the cabin, hitting him from the left as it took the plane down in a harsh--

--He twitched, shaking his head. He was being silly. There were moments of reconciliation as the scenes rapidly flashed between water flooding the ships cabins and peaceful moments of civility. A calm before the storm. A final dance before death.

I’m gonna need a raincheck on that dance…

There was a sudden crash as water blasted through into the work quarters and Steve jumped, watching transfixed as unforgiving torrents pushed workers over, flooding them, drowning them, and they were falling, slipping, sliding, panicking as certain death met them at the halfway point, and Steve knew it must be cold. So cold. Suffocating and unforgiving as it flooded their lungs, saltier than they probably imagined, heavy and awful and--

“Stark, turn the movie off.”

The room went abruptly silent. Steve realized his eyes were closed, chest heaving as he sat, hunched over his lap, hands fisted in his hair.

The popcorn wasn’t on his lap anymore. When had he moved? He couldn’t breathe and he was so cold and someone needed to save those guys, someone needed to--

“Steve,” a gentle voice cut into the roaring waves crashing in his head. Bruce. That was Bruce speaking. “Can you hear me, Steve?”

Steve nodded, pulling his hair harder. He couldn’t breathe. Was he drowning again? Surely that was impossible. If Bruce was talking to him, he couldn’t be drowning again, but-- but the water-- and-- and the cold--

“Good, that’s good, Steve,” Bruce. Bruce again. It was Bruce. “Can I touch you?”

Touch. Touch. No touch. He was so cold. He wanted to stop being cold, but he was certain if someone touched him right now, he would lose his goddamn mind. More so than he already had.

“That’s alright,” Bruce sounded steady. Calm. So calm. Why couldn’t Steve calm down? “That’s okay. You think you can do something for me?”

Something… for Bruce? Could he? Could he do anything right then? If he couldn’t breathe, how could he do anything-- and he-- he felt sick--

He opened his mouth to answer and vomited between his feet, straight onto the carpet. Someone in the room hissed sympathetically. Steve wanted to crawl somewhere and die.

“Oh, Steve,” Bruce seemed to be talking mostly to himself, but Steve felt his shoulders climb higher towards his ears. “Okay, Steve, I need you to listen to my voice. Just listen. I’m going to count and you’re going to breathe in time with my instruction, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Steve shook his head, choking on a sob. His chest hurt. Like someone had taken all of his ribs and replaced them with weights, flooding his lungs with-- with water-- and fuck, now he was thinking about the plane again. He felt his breathing tick up higher.

“I want you to try,” Bruce said. “With me. In,” he sucked in a breath. “One… two… three… four…”

Steve tried to suck in a breath, but all he managed to do was send himself into a coughing fit. Bruce kept counting. Steve wanted to tell him to wait-- slow down-- shut up--

He braced a hand over his chest.

Bruce was still counting.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but eventually he found himself matching Bruce’s counts, eyes closed and the heels of his palms braced on his temples as he sucked in greedy, measured breaths. His heart was still slamming hard enough to make him tremble and he could smell his own sick wafting up from the ground, but at least he was breathing on his own.

Bruce trailed off. Silence hung thick in the air, the only noise Steve’s slow, shaking breaths. Shame burned around his ears. He didn’t dare look up.

Tony, predictably, was the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry, Steve,” he said, and Steve was surprised to hear honest regret in his voice. “I was the one who suggested we watch Titanic. I should have thought for more than two seconds about that…”

Steve shrugged. Embarrassment climbed from his stomach to his throat, threatening to choke him.

Natasha spoke next. “Why don’t you go wash up?” It was an escape-- a way out-- and Steve took it graciously, keeping his head ducked down as he stood on shaking legs and rushed to the communal bathroom.

Inside, he locked the door and braced himself over the sink, splashing warm water on his face. He drank greedily from the tap. His reflection looked like shit-- he’d burst some blood vessels in his eyes, probably while vomiting, and his skin looked sallow and pale. He was trembling, sweat matting his hair to his forehead. He looked how he looked after a nightmare. This, he supposed, had kind of been like a nightmare. Though, he hadn’t been asleep.

Nightmares, he was finding, weren’t strictly exclusive to the nighttime.

He supposed he’d always known that, though.

He closed his eyes, bowing his head again.

His emotions had been fucked to high hell since waking up from the ice. This hadn’t been the first of those awful… fits, and he was certain it wouldn’t be the last, but to have something like that happen in front of the team was a whole new level of mortifying. Fuck. He’d gotten sick. And he’d left it.

He felt the ceramic counter straining under his grip. Scowling, he let go.

He could slip off to his room, lock himself away until he could find some way to sneak out of the Tower and never talk to any of the others ever again. Even in this state, Steve knew that wasn’t viable in any sense. He sighed. Besides, he couldn’t just damn the others to clean up his mess.

Stowing his pride, he dug some spare mouthwash out from behind the mirror and chugged some straight down, keeping a mouthful and swishing it around before spitting it in the sink. He still felt and looked like shit, but at least his breath would smell like wintergreen.

The others were still gathered in the communal living room, watching what looked like a kid’s cartoon on TV. There was a distinct smell of cleaner in the air and Steve’s eyes landed on the ground where he’d gotten sick. It was clean. He let his eyes drop to the ground, ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. The cartoon paused. He didn’t look at any of them. “I was going to clean up.”

“Nah, man, the only thing worse than freaking out is having to clean up after yourself while you still feel shitty,” Clint said, and Steve looked up. There was no pity in his gaze, only understanding.

“Yeah, we’ve all been there,” Tony said. “Sucks, but hey, least we know now that Titanic is a no-no for you.”

Steve flushed, swallowing a few times. “Um, I guess,” he looked at Bruce. “Thank you.”

Bruce smiled. “No problem,” he said gently. “We’re watching Phineas and Ferb if you’d like to join us, but we understand if you’d like to go rest.”

“Phineas and Ferb?” Steve asked, guilt replaced with genuine confusion.

“Yeah,” Clint said, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “It’s my go-to when I have a bad day. Nothing like some good old platypus drama to cure life’s woes.”

Steve blinked. “I genuinely don’t know what to say to that.”

Clint barked out a laugh. “Join us, man! Don’t gotta talk if you’re not feeling it, but being alone after shit like that sucks.”

And Steve hadn’t had someone there for him after a breakdown-- not since the war. Not since Bucky. Every ounce of him wanted to run. Hide. Smooth out his face and slip on that mask of stoicism. But maybe… maybe he didn’t have to. Maybe he could let himself have this, if only this once.

“Sure,” he said, voice a little hoarse. He awkwardly sat back in between Natasha and Bruce.

Tony pressed play again and Steve smoothed his hands over his thighs, feeling out of place and a little cramped and--

Natasha settled, casually letting her feet rest on his lap. On his other side, Bruce leaned into his shoulder, a subtle, grounding pressure. Clint caught his eye and offered him some more popcorn.

Steve relaxed.

Yeah. He could let himself have this.

thanks for reading, chiefs

yeah this was chatted about in one of the awesome discord groups im in so thanks guyysss lol

#marvel shit #marvel #Steve Rogers #marvel fic #steve rogers fic #Avengers #team bonding #yes #avengers fic #i love them all #dlakjfl #ok #crawling back into my hole #im definitely supposed to be doing homework

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