#i will be. doing that collab thing ive been putting off. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

stonyponyofficial · 2 years ago

Text

aw sweet! see what it says on the calendar?summer has sprung, it seems! some might say its time to show u sillies some songs for the season!

spotify link :3 :: yt link :3

full list + notes under the cut ^w^

Aluralura - Sweet Trip: this somg is soooooo fucking smooth. and cool. using the strictest definition of cool i can. perhaps cooler than cool. dk what ud even call that but this is it. sounds like i should be cruisin down the information highway to this straight up. feels like im being hit with a million little lightning bolts in. a good way? that doesnt sound good but it is. ull get it just listen pls just li

Babe of the Abyss - Girls Rituals: UGH devi.. i was so sad when this was pulled from streaming for a bit like some of the other singles from the upcoming girls rituals, but thankfully it did return :3 unlike the rest of those songs :/ eh this one is good enough to make up for it! so glittery and clicky and kinda unlike a lot of other songs devis done but it's v unique like that :3 the cover is interesting to me too bc it looks ai generated and it reminds me of a video devi made explaining her songwriting process a bit and after setting an arpeggiater (dk if i spelled that right lmao) to random she said she likes the collaboration between her and her computer and letting the computer decide some things like that :3 idk just a neat little factoid for ya

BALD! - JPEGMAFIA: was gonna put one of the tracks off scaring the hoes in this spot but, after deciding to go through peggys solo stuff a bit i liked this one even more than those ones :3 he has a very interesting and wide ranging sound tho so im really excitied to listen to more. uhh nothing else to say really. juts good song 👍

Cops and robbers - underscores: new underscores era hello anyone rockin wit it???? ME im rocking with jt thank u very much!! that one song count of three (you can eat $#@!), which ive heard is very good :3, was the end of the fishmonger era for them, where the "thing" was apparently that underscores wanted guitar on each track. still trying to find The thing about this eras sound, and maybe its the deeming it "the Wallsocket era", but to me everything just feels very buzzy, very electrically alive idk. like theres just this CRT/fluorescent light hum that backs the bass at the beginning. and the middle section just sounds like im listening to a fucking tesla coil make a pop song. shit Rocks. and Fucks. i give this one the Makes Violet Sing And Dance Around In Her Room Alone award this season, which is something i will absolutely be doing from now on and will not forget for the fall hehe :3

Dariacore Song Tutorial - leroy/Jane Remover: wait i thought there was YEAH there was dariacore on the last one, but as ive seen it so elegantly explained, this is a jane song more than a dariacore song. i mean obviously sonically right, no memey hyperpop mash up font, just some loud ass guitars n drums, but its good!!! jane literally incapable of missing.

Dress Down - Kaoru Akimoto: one of my many music moments recently has been getting into city pop more! i kiiinda only know the hits, of which this is definitely one of them, but ive seen my way around a bit B) (my cool sunglasses guy do not steal.) and even after my journey round the city.. pop, this is still one of my faves.

FELL - Varg^2™️ (im toolazy to make it superscript sowwy) & Bladee: since i began my drain journey i thought id listened to most if not all of bladees stuff besides like really old stuff that actually isnt good. like, bladee isnt good, but u get used to it as the saying goes and u kinda get to see his artistic vision unfold as he releases new stuff. but old bladee really isnt good. anyway imagine my delight and splendor when i see theres another Varg^2TM, Bladee collab... besides ecco and the rest of drain gang varg is probably my favorite bladee collaborator. in fact i almost put SHINIE, another collab from them, on some spring songs but it didnt make the cut unfortch. glad i could find something new from them to dig into mm yummy bladee :3

!¡! find the answer ¡!¡ - six impala: holy FUCK i am listening to six impala!

光の中へ (hikari no naka e)- Kessoku Band: yeah yeah i know there was kessoku band on the last one BUT THEY MADE MORE SO I LISTENED TO IT. they have such good push and pull with their tunes. like the moments of silence/slowing down before going all out. the quick drum interjections to pick things back up again. like nijikas fuckin getting it!!!! actually i read something recently about the critical reception to kessoku band, the self titled album, that makes a similar point. they were saying that although the album is just good j-rock on its own, the strength of the individual instruments and the texture of the songs themselves embodies the characters in your mind. like i listened to the beginning a bit closer one time and heard the little shreds the guitar was giving at the top and it instantly made me think like "oh shit bocchis fucking tearing it up!" soooo good instantly one of my faves from them.

It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube: fuuuuuuck i cant fucking find it i wasngonna put it here bc its the reason i added it to my playlist and have been listening to it so mch recently but. i cant find it. it was a top text bottom text cat meme edit of this song, in the same vein as that one of death grips' hacker. a very good morning walk song btw, cuz even tho it would be very easy for that situation to feel trite, im like shit. mama cooked the breakfast with no hog! todays gonna be a good day. it usually isnt with where im heading on my morning walk but. eventually itll be a good day! and the iced cube told me that.

Les Os - The Unicorns: sooooo this song is extremely horny to me sorry. also very kinda toxic t4t core but thats juts meeeeeee :3... + the singers voice is very similar in register to mine when in singing so it makes it v easy to project who daid that.... uhh anywag in the ol violet amv machine (what i call my brain) i imagine the singer with the mic stand tilted back between their legs, perhaps a cheeky little leg wrap around like sexy singers tend to do, as they stare down from the stage into yuor eyes specifically. asking u directly, out of everyone. tell me bout ur love affairs.. tell me bout ur moral resignations... so then u meet after the show and [transmission lost]

LOU - whoTF (Folie & Forget Basement), Fraxiom: [transmission regained] and from the production stylings of new hyperpop ish duo whoTF comes another lyrical miracle from the mind and pen of fraxiom music!!! includes such bangers as "I’m blowing up your car/I see Mercedes boom/I’m off four drinks of alcohol/Pissing in the ladies room!" rhyming "you can watch a youtube video" with "get your fitted tutu biddie hoe" (LIKE?) and also the amazing outro from which i could just paste the whole thing but this part resonates especially "I need to become alive, in the morning, like a rooster!/Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee and foodstuffs"..."Estradiol, finasteride, adderall, and thc im juiced up!" making rooster rhyme with foodstuff and juiced up and also everything else in that part god. they dont call them fraxiom fucking music for nothing. um but also whoTF is v good, for one without frax that is still good listen to cigs up as well :3

Natural Disasters - Enon: love me a song with a strange guitar hook! ive heard this bands like top 2 songs (which include this one) bc it was just a night of spotify surfing, but those two songs are quite good. very boucy, good energy. makes me wanna do the bounce in place dance and flail my arms as i sing only the chorus and maybe try to approximate the sounds of the lyrics i dont know. sounds like a good time to me!

Overflow - Een Glish, Tyfty, Ben Glish: eek! so ai voiced songs specifically rap is very good to me. that family ties edit with spongebob and patrick is probably one of my favorite pieces of music. but this artist is v interesting to me :3 een glish is a vocaloid (? not sure if entirely correct but u get what im getting at) made from the google translate ladys voice. and its GOOD this one specifically is very catchy but she has bars too!!! check out rap game bob ross too, and also the remix with bars from SONIC HELLO? im giving this one the Sound of the Summer distinction bc not only is it a very summery jam, but it is the one im really telling u to check out if u get the chance. lots of good jams here.

Scatman - Scatman John (DJ Kadozer 2003 Remix): (why did i accidentally type out 'evil remix' at first?) sooooo i was having a bit of a scatman moment recently, as was documented in THIS other epic music post u should go check out if u havent already hihhii :3 tho she TOTALLY STOLE the one i was gonna do, Scatman's World, cuz everyone knows scatman right? skabadaba bweebopbopbadop bop? bopbop badop bop? yeah that one! but.... have u ever heard scatman. like this???? probably not... all im sayin... scat vocals/eurobeat foundation translated to this stabbing edm remix.. its quite good. good enough that the first few seconds alone get me to smile big like this :)

Shop - Toby Fox: songs to order a You. Pick. 2... to...... haha but seriously guys this ones just a really chill one :3 i can alwasy hear the you. pick. 2. part in the song bc theyre punctuated exactly the same way its kinda hell. im chillin. like usual. listenin to undertale musicand then how boutta You. Pick. 2. with some brawwwcolli cheddah. onsecond th... and then were done with that and back to the normal undertale song! like an angle in the knight.. or tiers in the reign...... here and then gone forever. truly, ephemeral..............................

The Flag Is Raised - Asian Glow: in case we couldn't drain enough this summer, asian glow put out this really neat interpretation of one of my faves off bladee and ecco2k's recent masterpiece, Crest. follows in the footsteps of many a bladee cover for me where the cover often plays over the actual song in my head. like i expect certain isntrumentation when i listen to the original that is only present in the cover but that just means theyre both good ! the guitars and the cymbals all over this make this version feel so shiny... aww and they use the little sigil ring from Crest on the cover for it too :"3

THE FLIES - Operation Sodasteal: think i mentioned this in the tags of a post that im sure uve all read before coming to class today, but ive been listening to a lot of these guys recently! just some furry emo nightcore rock that sounds plucked right out of 2007. the one vocalist, slaney(in)famous i think? im not confident which is which, has such a good voice for it too like they have all the good vocal inflections of ur typical lead pop punk vocalist, and i usually just end up singing the lyrics like them bc im just a silly little mirror huh?

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads: ooobh i got plany off time....... yeag ive been getting down with this jam recently :3 another good morning walk tune. been trying to get into talking heads a bit more too bc every song i hear is soooo good. like i almost put the girl wants to be with the girls here bc of that OTHER meme edit i actually dont remember if it was lolcats again. it was specifically the "girls are getting into.. abstract analysis!" OHHBB it was a rose homestuck thing bc i memba her sitting at her lappytop :3 doin some fuckin abstract analysis i suppose..

Tin Man - feeble little horse: this is another single turned favorite-song-on-the-full-album-bc-i-took-too-long-making-this-list-again-lol. i love what theyre doin to these guitars maan theyre really fuckin em up in there..... also i love that this band just calls its music guitar music. its fuckin true.

Vicinity of Obscenity - System Of A Down: songs that have done irreversible damage to my psyche and syntax. i will bust out a banana banana banana terracotta banana terracotta terracotta pie when the fuck ever just let me know the time and place my man. it is such a vocal stim for me. this whole song is honestly. some of the silliest nu metal u can get ur paws on i checked (she is lying to u again tho it is quite silly with it 😳) + had to go with the 2008 youtube editor lyric video for the youtube playlist obviously.

ahmmmmm so thanks u all once again for enjoying some more songs with me (summer edition)!!!!! <3333 see yall...... in the fall.. with some more songs hehe (or perhaps for summer......2! who knowce :3 the summers still got plany off time as some might say)

#violet originals #some songs #sorry i keep telling u the song is good over and over they just ARE #catch me putting a song in here 'now this one just sucks. no embellishments here.'

16 notes · View notes

pikawarrior · 1 year ago

Text

Welp welcome back to my random rambles im just gonna talk bout alot of random stuff mainly my stories so here for go lets hope this is understandable

Story/maybe comic stuff

Turning of the orange | The Strawberry Patch - Old soon to be remade/written stop motion strawberry shortcake zombie movie me and my dad were making when i was in elementary schoolish. We unfortunately didnt make it that far since he had to leave often and for long times cuz work, but recently i found my old tablet with all the pics and my notes so rework time baby. Im about to use all my years of angst/horror writing to fuck these bitches up even more

The Butterfly Effect and It's Consequences | The Phoenix Effect -

The Butterfly Effect is my main rottmnt fanfic series. About my little rottmnt oc's (Ame) life and how the gang adopting them into the family changed everything mostly for the better but the bad things kinda got alot worse. Idk been focusing on the phoenix effect more

The Phoenix Effect is kinda an extension of that. Its basically the same thing but adds the cass apocalypse series into it. Basically how future Ame being there also changes things and how oopies mystics powers are hard to control after being half dead in stasis for about 12 years hope Ame does trys to leave to protect everyone from himself only to get kidnapped putting everyone in worse danger also oopies isnt that the super dangerous alien someone accidentally freed awhile ago

The Future Diary - So i watched The Hot Box's video on the anime future diary and well here we are

Another rottmnt oc thing. Ame obtains a diary from his future self being like "hey so the world is gonna end soon here's how i think you could possibly stop that. Pls dont do this all alone ur like 5" and ame decides to do it all by himself.

Got all eight chapters planned out already with two already at stage two (aka fully written out just needs to be edited and stuff). I just dont know how to use ao3 in this sense or how to tag stuff plus i got anxiety so its just sitting in my notes app

Video stuff cuz yes

Currently working on a few more special videos. On my channel ive technically reached 100 videos (i unlisted alot of old ones/never posted a bunch more so technically i reached that months ago but shhh let me have this) plus i got 135 subs now so celebrations are in order. Idk what to say bout this, am making a video using the ok ko ending song idk the name, one is a fake collab a friend made and another is an original meme a youtube mutual/friend by association made. Plus like so mant mini things for my ocs, Dimension and Watcher are gonna get so much development and cute couple moments.

Also everyone else is gonna go through so much trauma my gods its gonna amazing.

Also ive been trying to like voice things, audio quality sucks cuz im working off of my tablet but like ive voice a few of my own videos (only one posted) and like its so fun i wish i had proper stuff to do this so i can do it more

Other art stuff

I got a toyhou.se (its EnviousDeath), pls enjoy these characters and stuff

Im trying to make my art more mess and chaotic while staying clean? If that makes any sense. Still a lover of doing gacha stuff but am trying to branch out more.

Also btw how do people just idk do social stuff like trade characters, comment, and just aaaa idk what am doing i forgot how to do social stuff and also i never understood how to do this type without being awkward as hell

Character stuff

Watcher - *slaps religious trauma onto them* bitch gets sacrificed. Okay okay so Watcher, wasnt always Watcher. Before they used to be Ena a simple kid who was sent away for reasons i havent thought of yet to a church. Blah blah corruption, Watcher gets sacrificed for not falling in line blah blah they were saved and given a second chance.

Dimension - *slaps alot of anxiety and identity issues onto her* bitch got issues. Same as Watcher, Dimension wasnt always Dimension. Before she was Ellie a poor girl hated by her whole town because of the lies their mother spread about them and their father who had left years ago. She only had one friend, Watcher. Somehow they managed to make contact with each other despite being in different universes. Eventually Dimension snapped and went on a killing spree, slowly ripping apart her world in the process because this wasnt supposed to happen (think spiderverse canon events but different ill explain later) with her world crumbling around her, Dimension messages Ena one last time, not knowing Ena was already long gone, and accepts what they assume to be death only to fall into whats basically the anti void from utmv, gets corrupted and became a villain technically more of a multiversal criminal.

(For time and length reasons im cutting this segment short)

Multiverse stuff

OKAY TIME FOR WORLD BUILDING

How does what happened to Dimension's universe work? The way i explained it is like spiderverse canon events but different, but heres the details. Idk how to explain this but bare with me

Imagine each universe as a game in a folder on a computer. Each game has different code, story, art assets basically all are mostly different.

Most games are coded to have very specific story events and when something goes wrong everything breaks. Like take a spaghetti thing of code that shatters the moment you try to do something like trying to talk with an npc while having a status effect and thats how some of these worlds are like. And Dimension's was very much one of those worlds, and her breaking down like that shattered the code of their world and everything fell apart.

Im too tired to continue but my main multiverse is like one big computer own by a game creator who only sometimes knows how to make a stable game

Feel free to ask about any of what ive just ramblef about am always willing to ramble bout my stuff

#reaperspeaks

1 note · View note

a-s-levynn · 1 month ago

Note

Okay i'm gonna say it. And i genuinly do not mean this as a personal attack on anyone, simply as something to consider.

If what any given band decides to provide as content to their audience is not enough for you, try to get a hobby. Seriously. You are way too focused on one thing. We joke about being obsessed with stuff here but there is a fine line between fixation and unhealthy dependance.

Go read a book, watch a movie, pick up a series, start writing, learn to draw, start playing an instrument, go start skating, play a video game. Start collecting stamps if that's your thing. Anything. Literally anything. If you can't fill out your time with anything else but what one single band/artist/whatever gives you, you need to expand your horizon.

You can't expect literal strangers to give you anything they don't want to give, just because you are bored. And just think for a second, how much would you be willing to give up to entertain an audience, half of which can't even understand "please don't focus on our persons, listen to our music. all we have to give is in there." How much of your privacy would you be willing to sacrefice on the long run for people who don't even listen to what you say?

We've seen so many negative outcomes. Musicians literally been driven off of the internet by fans who couldn't get enough. Yes, Sleep Token is officially anonymous, but they already had so many breaches of their personal space even like this. They really do not need to give more ground to the so called "fans" who cannot respect and accept them as regular human beings.

The Sleep Token camp established from the get go what they give is what you get. Nothing more nothing less. And the crew and background people give exactly the behind the scenes content that the first anon says they would like to get. For example Thom Pike gave a lengthy interview on the FOH engineering. The techs of both IV and III gave rig rundowns. George Lever spoke a little about working with the Sleep Token project on multiple occasions. There have been collabs already, you just need to look for it. Live collabs by IV's with BMTH and Issues. Vessel tracking piano for BFMV years ago.

If this "side content" that the very much existing collabs or the crew provides is not filling that need for behind the scenes content, then again, it is something to think on why. Is it because it's "only" the crew and not the guys directly? Because if it is the reason, again, maybe rethink what you are saying.

Sleep Token is not a boyband. They are here to give their audience music not to be celebrities. They do not owe you, me or anyone anything. As musicians they only supposed to put out music to their best ability. Giving interviews and filming random videos for your or anyone's entertainment would take away time from what they could use for refining their next song or album.

I don't know about you, but i'd rather not hear an other word from any of them, if the next album is on the same level of quality as the previous was. And i'm saying that as someone who thoroughly enjoyes the Drumeo content II gave us. But he gave it because Drumeo is, at the end of the day, an educational platform. That interview mainly was not an entertainment piece. Because there is a difference.

I already feel like i talk about these things to much lately, but alas..

Idk if this will be controversial but the band’s secrecy makes me antsy sometimes.

I’m absolutely not implying anything about identities or the people behind the masks, but I wish to high heaven we got more content from them sometimes. BTS videos on the production process or live performances, magazine or video interviews, more covers or collabs or even solo performances like II did. Yknow, the stuff that other bands tend to do. I know there’s never going to be an increase in content like this but I can dream </3

It honestly has me conflicted. On the one hand I appreciate that it links to their concept and that in itself is something I love a lot, but on the other I just need MORE from them cause I love them too much T_T

#sleep token

49 notes · View notes

anime-nymph · 3 years ago

Text

About this collab

↳ There are many reasons I’m putting this collab together. I hit another milestone (4.7k), I’m taking a hiatus soon so I can comfortably work on my many upcoming series, I want more spicy series to read... the list goes on. Please take a look below!

Theme — Series

↳ Writers: Have you had a series idea waiting in the wings that you need an excuse to finally begin, or are you already writing a series? Maybe you even started one a ways back and took a break, but you think it’s time to pick it up again. Well alright then.

Rules

i. You must of course be 18+ to participate and your age must be easily visible somewhere on your blog.

ii. As my blog is 18+ with a majority focus on N-SFW/DC content in what I write and read, I am limiting entries to those categories.

With that said, nothing is off limits (except the obvious no pedophilia/bestiality) but you must make sure everything is tagged correctly!

iii. One entry per person/blog.

iv. Preferred Fandoms are AoT, BNHA, HQ, and JJK, but if you have an idea or existing series for another fandom, I will include an “Others” category.

v. Art/Fanart is still acceptable if that's your creation of choice! Just like any other series, if you have or are planning 3 parts or more, you're welcome to join.

vi. There will be no limit on character entries, so whoever you want to write for is accessible!

vii. To enter, send in an ask with the below included. Please state writing or art!

Fandom

Character x [type]!reader (OC's welcome!)

Genre (n-sfw/dc)

Main theme(s)

And (if you have it) a title & short summary/synopsis, if not a TBA will be noted. Try to keep it in the 100 word range.

viii. Upcoming and ongoing series only!

ix. Reblog the collab post after acceptance!

x. Since series are a little more in depth, if at any point you need to change or add any details to the masterlist, just dm me and I'll be happy to do so!

xi. The whole series does not need to be completed before tagging the collab! A single chapter submission is enough!

xii. There is no due date! But for those of you who need structure, let's say June 31st. Simply tag me in your first/next work and use #onceuponatimecollab in the tags.

▪︎ Submissions will be linked over the series title which will be bolded ▪︎ If you have/will have a masterlist, those will be linked and clearly indicated if you would like ▪︎

AoT

↳ @erenyaygirl writing ▪︎ Eren x f!reader ▪︎ One Day the Only Butterflies Left ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ apocalypse, themes of life and death ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Year: 2,854. Following the destruction of the walls, (833) years and after this present day. At the precipice of autumn, y/n sets out on a seasonal foraging and fishing trip only to get lost. Their predicament does not go unnoticed by the local mountain spirit.

↳ @tinydiors writing ▪︎ Levi x f!reader; Zeke x f!reader ▪︎ Strangers Stay Buried ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ undercover, enemies to lovers, romance, betrayal ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ After four of the nine titans were sent to paradis, the island of the devils, and never returned, commander magath decides to send you, one of their highest ranking strategists and researchers, to infiltrate the scouts regiment and eldian forces to uncover the truth behind their motives. Hellbent on taking down king fritz' reign of terror, you have no trouble infiltrating their military, their homes, their lives to bring an end to the titans, once and for all. But you never expected one dark haired man, armed with two blades at his sides, to make your job so difficult, nor to steal your heart.

BNHA

↳ @anime-nymph writing ▪︎ Pro Hero!Bakugou x f!reader ▪︎ Guilty as Charged ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ unplanned romance, angst, manipulation/betrayal ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Your life has never been easy. After the death of your parents, you’ve been left to take care of your little sister all on your own. You did everything in your power to protect her. There's nothing easy about being a kid, and nothing harder than keeping a couple of kids off the streets. There were things you had to do, things you had to sacrifice. Some things you wish you could take back. Years down the road, your sister is grown up and starting college. Many things are different now, but one thing will never change: you’re still going to do whatever you can to keep her safe, to make sure she lives the happy life she deserves. But when the demons you sold your soul to come back and threaten to destroy the one thing you wish to protect, will you remain the victim? Or become the villain in order to keep her safe?

↳ @tomurasprincess writing ▪︎ Shigaraki x f!reader ▪︎ Kalopsia ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ Stockholm, Pregnancy ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Kalopsia [kā lō p sēa] Noun: Delusion where things appear more beautiful than they really are.

↳ @meiansmistress writing ▪︎ Ceo!Meian x f!reader ▪︎ TBA ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ dom/sub dynamics ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ 50 Shades retelling

↳ @tetsurousharlot writing ▪︎ Kuroo x f!reader; Daishou x f!reader ▪︎ Playing Fiction ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ angst, romance and betrayal ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Falling in love with an older man wasn’t always the easiest option so when you sense things aren’t working out in your favor, you stray to another; but your heart still isn’t satisfied. It knows who it belongs to. Whether you call it fate or destiny—the universe steps in with a tiny miracle to save the relationship you were always meant to be in.

↳ @sweetsbysatori writing ▪︎ Kageyama x reader ▪︎ Kageyama Tobio vs the World ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ love octagram ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Everyone's got baggage—hell, so does Kageyama. But when your evil exes come marching back into your life, Tobio is forced to fight and defeat them all if he wants to continue to date you. (Based on Scott Pilgrim)

↳ @mxonigirimiya writing ▪︎ Kuroo x Black!f!reader ▪︎ Title TBA ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ themes TBA ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Sugar daddy au

JJK

↳ @tetsukentona writing ▪︎ Nanami x f!reader ▪︎ No Body, No Crime ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ Detective/PI AU, Crime, Suspense, Slowburn, angst ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Kento Nanami’s a renowned private investigator in Japan, who’s known to deal with cases that deal with paranormal activity or what’s known to him as “cursed energy.” When Ijichi, the assistant manager of his PI firm gets a call to look into another case, Kento recognizes that this case was earlier declared an open-and-shut case by (F/N) (L/N), another renowned PI who was known to have solved cases within days of receiving them. Initially irked with her methods of solving the cases, especially since she’s not like him, he decides that he has to approach her for help, else this will remain a cold case yet to be solved. As time passes by, secrets slowly unravel, the distance between them decreases, and the outcome would come out as a surprise to them. (Based on a Taylor Swift Song with the same name.)

↳ @touyasghosty writing ▪︎ Toji x f!reader ▪︎ Atlantis ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ forbidden love, angst ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ You've always been warned not to go messing with the gods. You had always listened until you came face to face with the God of carnal love.

↳ @oneoftheextras writing ▪︎ Toji x f!reader ▪︎ Saints and Sinners ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ assassin au, slowburn, violence ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ You accept a job from your employer: kill the black haired man with the blue eyes. But when his dad discovers that your plan to take out his son, your new job is to evade the elder Fushiguro as best you can to survive, but he’s as persistent as you are stubborn.

OTHERS

↳ @kxkyuu writing ▪︎ KNY ▪︎ Kyoujuro Rengoku x f!reader ▪︎ Deadly Games We Play ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ mafia, assassin, seduction ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ You are a top assassin, the best of your class. Skilled with all types of blades and poision, you're hired by Muzan to kill the Rengoku Mafia Family. You target the oldest son, Rengoku Kyoujuro, not knowing that he is the Boss. However after a failed attempt, Kyoujuro takes a liking to you. Thus the game begins to see if you can kill him before he seduces you. Who will win?

↳ @cherrykamado writing ▪︎ KNY ▪︎ Tanjiro Kamado x reader ▪︎ Sweet Like Honey ▪︎ nsfw/dc ▪︎ yandere themes, toxic behavior/relationships ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ "It’s your smell — your honey-like smell. Intoxicating from beginning to end, the first time he breathes it in, he can’t help but get addicted. And now, he doesn’t just yearn for your sweet scent — he craves for you."

↳ @tsukishimas-shortcake writing ▪︎ Tokyo Rev ▪︎ Draken x f!reader ▪︎ Ticket to Happiness ▪︎ nsfw ▪︎ prostitution, violence, angst ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Walking through the Tokyo red light district at night was anything but peaceful. Fake laughs from working women and salary men chasing pleasure fill the air, along with cigarette smoke that covers the street like a thick fog covers a lake. It may seem relatively harmless for those just passing through, but if you look past the groups of men stumbling out of the bar, the women waving goodbye to the men they’ve entertained for hours while wearing a fraudulent smile, girls handing out fliers to come “eat” at their establishment, you realize patrons getting beaten in back alleys due to late payments on their loans or leaving a visible bruise on a working woman, drug deals, and the like. But you can pay your way out of any pain and suffering you may have to go through here because everything has a price, including the people. Men can be sold for many services, most of which revolve around violence or “protection”, and women can be sold for one thing and one thing only: sex.

↳ @bajiyaki writing ▪︎ Tokyo Rev ▪︎ Mikey x f!reader ▪︎ Your Faithless Love's the Only Hoax I Believe In ▪︎ dc/nsfw ▪︎ themes TBA ▪︎ Masterlist

▪︎ Mikey was never the overprotective type. He was the baby. The ray of sunshine. He was someone that needed to be taken care of, not the other way around. But after losing so many of his family members and friends, he’s tired of losing people. So when a sudden step-sister emerges from the shadows to watch over his sick grandpa, Mikey vows to do anything to make sure you stay in his life forever.

#onceuponatimecollab #aot x reader #bnha x reader #hq x reader #jjk x reader #attack on titan x reader #my hero academia x reader #haikyuu x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #trying this again

220 notes · View notes

illegal-spiegel · 4 years ago

Text

The Selection

Pairing: Prince!Shoto Todoroki x f!reader Genre: angst, fluff, royal au Warnings: bullying, mentions of blood, scratches, and bruising. I think that’s it?? Summary: Prince Shoto is coming upon the age to marry one lucky lady, and to choose said lady, a contest is held. A woman from each district is chosen by the prince himself to compete to become his bride and the future queen. You, a woman from district nine, a poor district, are chosen and sent to the castle to compete against nine other women. ✨Drama ensues ✨ Word Count: 10k words. THIS IS LITERALLY THE MOST IVE EVER DONE BEFORE RGVIOSGNIAN A/N: This piece is for @awilddreamerwrites‘s collab!! I had so much fun writing this because this is based off of the book series The Selection by Kiera Cass and I’ve been wanting to write smth like this for a LONG time. There is also Hunger Games themes going on in this fic. The song at the end is I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry!! I hope you all enjoy!!

You can’t believe you won.

And no, this isn’t the good kind of winning. You don’t get a thousand dollars or a nice, shiny trophy. No. You can’t even fathom why out of all the girls in district nine why Prince Shoto would choose you.

He’s coming of age to marry so all women eighteen to twenty-four, who aren’t married yet, are required by law to submit an ‘application’ to become Prince Shoto’s wife. He will then go through all of the forms and choose one ‘lucky’ girl from each district, one through ten.

You can remember filling out the form like it was yesterday.

“I don’t know what to put,” you groan from the table, wracking through your brain for something you like to do in your free time. There are plenty of things, but none of them sound good enough. Then again, you don’t know why you’re trying so hard to impress Mr. Stick-Up-His-Butt.

“Put that you like to burp your ABCs,” your little brother jokes, making you roll your eyes at him.

“As if I would ever write such a thing. They would come here as soon as they saw that and chop my head off in front of everyone!” you screech, starting to nervously tap your pencil on the table.

“How about reading? That makes you sound smart,” your father offers, his hands covered in paint from where he stands by the window. You glance over at him, finding that he’s painting your mother playing at her piano. It’ll never cease to amaze you that your father can draw and paint your mother’s face from memory. God, they’re so in love it’s gross.

“Doesn’t that sound too snobbish though? ‘Hey, look at me. I’m so smart because I like to read.’ They don’t want smart women dad, they want pretty ones that will obey orders,” you snidely remark. Yeah, it’s no surprise to anyone that you hate all the members of district one. They’re just a bunch of queens, kings, dukes, duchesses, princes, princesses, and everyone else who doesn’t like sharing their wealth amongst the poorer districts. Like yours.

“Why do you care? I think that they will take one look at your ugly mug and throw yours in the trash,” your brother cackles. You huff out a breath and bring your eyes back to the paper. He’s right. You shouldn’t care. You don’t care.

“You’re right,” you announce as you begin writing down the answer your dad suggested. Maybe if you make yourself sound really smart, Prince Shoto will lose interest right away.

You go through the other basic questions, what was your favorite toy growing up, what talents do you have, how is your relationship with your family, etc. After a mind-numbing experience of filling out all the questions, you slide the papers into an envelope. “Alright, done!”

“Good, go put it in the mailbox before it gets dark,” your father says with a smile, watching you fill out your name and address on the envelope since the castle’s is already printed in the top left.

That was a month ago and now you’re here, staring down at your empty suitcase laid out in front of you on your bed. You can’t even begin to imagine what you would need to pack to go to a castle to try and win the heart of a prince. You leave your empty luggage where it is and pick up the acceptance letter that you had received. You hadn’t even bothered reading all of it earlier.

You read through all the rules, regulations, and requirements, trying not to break down as you sit there reading it. This just had to happen to you. Why couldn’t it be that one lovely girl down the road who has always dreamed of one day living in the castle? Or another girl a couple blocks away who dreams to be a chef in the castle’s kitchen?

One sentence has you pausing, your shoulders gaining weight to them and causing you to slump. Contestants must not wear pants of any kind. All women must wear appropriate skirts or dresses. Oh, hell no.

You set the papers down again and take a deep breath, standing from your bed to move to your window. You stare outside into the tall, green grass as you let your mind wander. What if you just ran away? Yeah, you could pack up your bag and on move-in day, you leave without a trace. That plan sounds nice for a second before you suddenly feel guilt.

Your family would be worried about you.

God, you need to stop acting like it’s the end of the world!

You clench your hands into fists and give a single nod before snatching the papers back up, breezing through the rest of the words now that you’ve made up your mind. You once again freeze though when you come across something towards the end. All participants will get a weekly check of one hundred dollars that they may either use themselves or send home to their families.

What?

Why wouldn’t they lead with that? This is good news though! Seeing as how you’re in district nine and a family of four, making it through the week can be quite hard. It helped that you were leaving and they would only have to worry about three mouths to feed, but now they can get some money too!

You pause for a third time and reread that sentence. Every week. Being there for a month alone would give your family five hundred dollars! That would be enough for all of you to live semi-comfortably while you search for a job to help your parents out.

You finish with the papers and then set them down, starting to pack your things away now. You don’t want to go or stay in the castle, but you’ll be damned if you didn’t give it your all to stay as long as possible to help your family.

Move-in day comes faster than you’d like. Suddenly, a car is waiting for you in front of your house and your mother has tears in her eyes. “Mom, don’t cry. I won’t even be gone that long. I’ll be home before you know it,” you reassure softly as you pull her into a hug. She sniffles and holds you tight, her eyes closing and causing those tears to cascade down her face.

“I know. I just...I love you, honey. I appreciate what you do for this family.” You pull back and smile at her, wiping her tears away before giving her cheek a kiss. You bid your father and brother farewell, playfully teasing your brother for crying before giving him the longest hug of all, and then leave with your suitcase in tow.

“Is that it?” a knight questions you once you reach him, his eyes focused on your singular suitcase.

“Um, yes?” you reply, but it comes out shaky and unsure. Why would you need more than one?

“Okay, get in,” he says in a bored tone as he takes your baggage from you and places it in the back while you crawl inside the expensive car. He closes the door behind you and then crawls into the front, turning the car on. You stare out the window at your family, smiling at them while you wave. They wave back and even blow you kisses, a smile stretching across your face as you catch them.

You won’t be gone long. You won’t be gone long.

First day at the castle you don’t even get to see the prince. You briefly meet the other girls but otherwise remain cooped up in your very fancy new room. Meals are brought to you and you have your own personal bathroom, so there’s no reason to leave.

Not that you really want to anyway.

At the end of the first day, your reading is interrupted by a loud knock. You just begin standing up from your seat by the window when the door swings open and a woman with deep bronze skin comes in. “Hi there,” she teases, closing the door behind her. You close your book and set it on the table, raising your brow at her as you stand up.

“Um, hi? What are you doing here?” you ask before realizing that probably sounded rude. She just chuckles at you though and starts walking towards you, removing a soft measuring tape up from around her shoulders which causes her dark, curly hair to drag up with it before dropping back down with a bounce.

“I’m here for your measurements, of course.”

“My what?” you ask, cautiously watching her as she gets closer.

“You know, for your dresses. We already have dresses of all shapes and sizes prepared and ready for adjustments, so we just need to see what your measurements are.”

“Oh, okay,” you agree, lifting your arms to allow her to measure your waist and chest. She measures everything from your shoulders to your ankles before wrapping the measuring tape back around her neck.

“Alright, all done. I’ll bring you your dresses either later today or tomorrow.”

“Okay. Thank you,” you say softly as you watch her go.

The second day is when you finally meet the prince himself. The same lady as before, which you found out her name is Iris, comes back the next day to help you get ready. After suiting you up, figuratively speaking since you’re in a dress, she leads you out of your room and to a dining room. The only thing that sits in the room is a long, mahogany table and chairs to match. She tells you to pick a seat before wishing you luck. You smile at her and walk towards the middle of the table, sitting there since most of the other girls are sitting towards the end, which you’re assuming is because they want to try and be closer to the prince.

You look up from your porcelain plate when someone sits across from you, your eyes meeting wild, red hair first. You smile at her when she looks at you, her own smile coming to her face as she sits down. The second thing you notice about her is her bright, blue eyes and the hundreds of freckles dusting her cheeks. You start to wonder what class she is from when the grand doors open. You quickly stand up when you see the other girls do so, your hands squeezing the sides of your dress. You eye the prince as he walks towards the table with his father and his sister, Princess Fuyumi. They get to their spots and the king looks you all over before saying, “Welcome, ladies, to my castle. My family and I are eager to meet with all of you. For now though, let us eat.”

After this, he and his two children sit down before the rest of you do, and you don’t begin eating until they start. You decide then to strike up a conversation with the redhead as you begin to eat, starting with asking her what her name was. Ironically enough, her name is Ruby. You shared a good laugh with her as she told you the story of her parents deciding her name.

After breakfast, the king announces that he is hosting a ball at the end of the week for his son’s birthday. You almost just decide to go ahead and pack up now at this news when he continues his announcement by reassuring you all that you’ll be given dance lessons. Joy.

After that day, you only see the prince again at meals like that. After the third day of dance lessons, you begin to wonder how exactly he plans on eliminating some of you and choosing a bride if he doesn’t even talk to you.

The day of the ball arrives before you know it and you’re just a little bit happy about it since that means no more horrid dance lessons. You’re still not the best, but you won’t be stepping on anyone’s toes. Iris helps you get ready in a purple gown that reminds you of her name. She helps you with your hair as well and slides your shoes on for you, despite you telling her that you can do it yourself, and then leads you to the ballroom. At the moment, only the other girls are here. You thank Iris one last time for her hard work before gravitating towards your newfound friend.

“Hey,” you greet Ruby, admiring her forest green dress.

“Hi!” her chipper voice greets back. You smile at that and look around at the other women, pausing when you notice something.

“Hey, are we down one?” you ask.

“What?”

You count all the girls twice before confirming what you thought and repeating your words. “Are we down one? There’s only nine here now, including you and me.” She pauses and looks around at the other girls too, discovering that your words are true.

“Oh. Maybe one of the girls is running late?” she offers. You shake your head at this though.

“They never let us be late to anything. I think the prince kicked someone out already,” you say softly to her.

“What? Really? Already?” she nervously asks, starting to fix her dress and hair.

“I guess so. Strange, seeing as how I haven’t even had a conversation with him yet. I doubt she got the chance to either.” You two go quiet after that until Ruby interrupts that silence.

“Gosh, I’m so nervous now. I think I might sweat through my dress,” she groans. You chuckle at her words while looking around at the decorated ballroom.

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t be surprised if the prince stayed by the punch bowl all night,” you giggle, watching her smile come back to her face.

“I don’t know, I heard some of the others girls saying that—”

She’s cut off by a pair of big doors opening to reveal guests trickling inside. “Oh, I guess it’s starting.” You two move to the side of the room as you watch men, women, and people alike dressed in expensive clothes filter inside. Just when you think the room is going to be too packed for any of you to even move, the doors close and everyone grows quiet.

You turn to see the royal family at the railing of the double staircase looking down on everyone from their vantage point. “Greetings friends, family, and contestants. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come here tonight. We celebrate my son’s birthday tonight and that he’s on his way to finding a bride! Let us drink and be merry!” Everyone claps when he finishes and as soon as they start moving downstairs, ball music starts. You take a deep breath and turn to look at Ruby to start up another conversation with her. Except you can’t since a knight is asking her to dance. She blushes as red as her hair as she agrees, gently taking ahold of his hand and letting him whisk her away.

You sigh as you watch her go, ignoring the urge to lean against the wall. You already know that if you did, you’d get scolded for not appearing lady-like. You can’t help but roll your eyes at the thought of one of the king’s or prince’s advisors scurrying over to you just to tell you to stand up tall.

You sigh a second time and leave the edge of the room to go to the other side of the room where the finger food and punch bowls are. You glance around you as you pick up something that looks like a yellow flower and shove it whole into your mouth.

“Wow, you must be hungry.” You almost choke as you whip your head around to find the prince standing next to you, a small, amused smile on his lips. Oh my god. You quickly cover your mouth and begin chewing at the speed of light, swallowing it despite the fact that you didn’t get to finish chewing it.

“No! I mean, yes! I mean—”

“Will you dance with me?” Your fumbling comes to a stop when he asks you to dance with him, all the air suddenly leaving your lungs.

“Oh, um, sure,” you wheeze, gently taking his outstretched hand. He leads you away from the table towards the middle of the dance floor, your cheeks growing warm at the thought of how many eyes are going to be on you. He brings his other hand to your waist while you bring your hand to his shoulder, your eyes staring down at your feet once you start moving.

“You’re (Y/n), right?” he asks softly.

“Yeah. I mean, yes, Your Highness,” you correct, mentally cursing yourself as you stare down at your feet.

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” he informs.

“What?” you ask, finally tilting your head back to look up at him.

“Refer to me as that. The same goes for Your Majesty and Prince Shoto.” You blow air past your lips and make a pfft sound, smiling at him.

“You’re kidding, right? Your advisor just about bit my head off the other day when I accidentally referred to you as just Shoto.”

“Yes, everyone is quite strict about that. I’m not though. When it’s just the two of us, please refer to me as Shoto, okay?” You lick your lips and press them together, slowly nodding your head. You bring your head back down to look at your feet, trying to make sure you don’t mess up. “Don’t do that either,” he commands.

“Don’t do what?” you ask, still looking down, afraid you had done something to upset him. His hand suddenly leaves your waist and is placed underneath your chin, his fingers gently applying pressure to bring your head back up.

“Stare down like that. I want to see your face.” You can feel the heat crawl up your chest and spread across your face, your whole body feeling too warm now.

“Sorry,” you stutter out, your grip tightening a bit on his shoulder. You spend the rest of your time in peaceful silence, both of you listening to the music and dancing away. You also use this time to actually get a good look at him. The first thing you noticed was his eyes. His eyes are heterochromia, one grey and one blue. The second thing you notice is the scar around his blue eye, but you make sure not to look at it for too long. You continue to admire his handsome features for the rest of the dance, finding the song is coming to an end quite soon.

To your surprise though, he doesn’t let you go. He continues to dance with you until the end of the second song. You’re not sure if he would’ve stopped on his own or not since someone cut in and asked for a dance with him. He bows while you curtsy, your eyes remaining glued to each other. “Save me another dance,” he says softly before turning to the next person and beginning to dance with them.

After having that one on one moment with the prince, you find your eyes always wandering to him when he’s in the same room as you, and, more often than not, he catches you staring at him. You, oddly enough, go about two days without seeing him again, other than when you’re in the dining hall. It still doesn’t make sense to you that he doesn’t try making an effort to meet any of the girls that could potentially become his bride.

You blink a couple of times and realize that you just read an entire page of your book and didn’t actually process any of it since you were too busy thinking about the prince. Again. You sigh and look up from the book to look out the window that’s sill you are currently perched on. Your eyes widen when you find the prince down in the garden, taking a leisurely stroll around the hundreds of flowers. You watch him for a long moment, a soft smile finding its way to your lips as he stops to smell some flowers that you don’t know the name of. They’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

You gasp when his eyes suddenly flit up to yours, your entire head turning away from the window in embarrassment. You really need to stop getting caught staring at the handsome man. You take a deep breath and bring your eyes back to your book, determined to finish this chapter before dinner.

As you’re sitting there flipping page after page, you get the odd feeling you’re being watched. You look back out the window but find that the prince isn’t in the garden anymore, at least not the part that you can see from your spot. You turn your head the other way towards the library only to find the prince himself leaning against a bookshelf.

“Ah, I’ve been caught,” he says playfully, giving you a small smile that, despite its small size, almost blinds you.

“Your Highness,” you greet, clambering to get up to curtsey.

“Ah ah, we talked about this,” Shoto warns with a single palm facing you. You stop halfway out of your seat, your cheeks growing warm.

“Sorry, Prin—I mean, Shoto!” you stutter, feeling your ears get hot now with embarrassment. He chuckles and walks over to you, taking a seat beside you on the window sill.

“What are you reading?” he asks, thankfully deciding to ignore your fumbling words. You stare at him for a moment before quickly looking down at the book in your hands. You flip it over onto it’s back to show the front to him, the title written in big, cursive letters. “Scarlet? I don’t think I’ve ever read it. What’s it about?” he says as he reads the title, leaning back against the wall. You stare down at the book, trying to calm your racing heart and shaky hands.

“Oh, um, I haven’t finished it yet. But it’s basically another Robin Hood tale, but it focuses on the story of one of his merry men who is actually a woman pretending to be a man. She has a dark past she’s trying to get away from and she slowly begins to fall in love with Robin Hood. It’s actually a really good book,” you explain, turning your eyes back to him only to find him intently watching you. “Uh, then again, I don’t know what kind of books you like to read. Oh! Or if you like to read at all! Not that I’m saying I’m assuming you do or don’t! I’m sure you have plenty of hobbies—” You cut yourself off when Shoto begins to laugh, his eyes lighting up with his laughter. You take a deep breath and then begin to giggle right alongside him.

“I love to read, actually. No one else in the castle seems to care about books though. I’m really the only one who ever comes in here.” He pauses for a moment to study you before continuing, “And it does indeed sound like a good book. Thank you for telling me about it. Mind if I read it when you’re done?”

You start nodding your head rapidly before your brain can even process what he’s asked you. “Yes! Of course! I should be done with it by tomorrow or so!” you reply faster than your mouth can move. He chuckles at your garbled speech but seems to understand what you’ve said.

“Great. Why don’t you bring it by my quarters when you’re through?” he offers as he stands up from the window sill. You nod your head with a dumb grin, watching him chuckle softly as he heads for the door. “Alright, thank you. See you around, Miss (Y/n).”

You don’t process what you’ve agreed to until he’s out of the room and you can finally get oxygen into your lungs and to your brain. Wait, his quarters? As in, his chambers? As in, his bedroom? You suck in a shallow breath and hold it, trying to keep your brain from wandering into dangerous territory.

You don’t even realize you don’t know where his quarters are until you’re done with the book.

There you are wandering around the halls trying to figure out where his quarters would be. It isn’t until you come across dozens of guards in one hallway that you figure it out.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a knight calls, pointing his very pointy staff in your direction.

“Uh, (Y/n)?” you answer, cringing when it comes out more like a question. “I’m, um, one of the contestants,” you inform.

“Turn back now. Contestants are not allowed to be in this side of the castle after the first incident.”

First incident?

“Oh, um, okay. That’s fine. I was just told by Sh—the prince! To come and bring this book to him when I was done with it,” you explain, holding up said book.

“Then I shall deliver it for you,” the knight announces and begins walking towards you. You take a step back though.

“Uh, no, that’s alright. I’ll just give it to him the next time I see him,” you say softly as you turn to leave.

“Just give it here,” the knight demands as he takes hold of your wrist.

“No, just let go of me! You’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be!” you shout a little louder than what you meant.

“Stop being a whiny little brat and jus—”

“Release her this instant!” you hear someone boom from behind the knight. The guard freezes and turns to look over his shoulder to find a glaring Shoto looking right at him.

“Your Highness, she was—”

“I will bet every last penny I own that she, in fact, has done nothing wrong. Miss (Y/n) is not Miss Cecilia. Now, let her go,” Shoto says with an ice to his tone that you’ve never heard from him. The knight does indeed let you go though and takes a step away from you as well. “Now, apologize to her,” he commands.

“I apologize, Miss (Y/n),” the knight says as he bows to you. You can’t tell if it’s genuine or not but you honestly don’t care. You just want to get everyone’s eyes off of your flustered self.

“It’s fine. Really,” you reassure, gripping the book to your chest with your arm while your now free hand goes to the wrist that was held by the guard.

Shoto’s eyes catch this.

“Miss (Y/n), please come in,” Shoto says as he starts to walk back towards his chambers. “Miss (Y/n) is always allowed into my chambers, no matter what the scenario may be. Understood?” he says to his personal guards.

“Yes sir!” they all reply in sync, placing their right fist over their heart.

“Good. Make sure to spread the word to the other guards.” And with that, you scurry after him to follow him into his room. You honestly felt a little too hot in this big dress of yours, your eyes shifting this way and that in nervousness.

“I’m sorry about that. They’re just trying to do their job. Are you alright?” Shoto speaks softly as he closes the door behind you both, gently taking your hand in his to look over your wrist.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. It’s not a big deal, really,” you brush off, trying to ignore the heat that ignites where he touches you with his left hand.

“Alright, if you’re sure. I still am sorry though,” he whispers, bringing your hand up to his lips only to kiss the inside of your wrist. You might actually burst into flames from how high your body temperature is getting.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault, but, um, what did you mean by Miss Cecilia?” you meekly reply, deciding now is a good time to look away from him and at his spotless room instead.

“Do you not know? Miss Cecilia was a contestant, just like you. She was from District Seven. I’m not sure what came over her, but she somehow snuck past the two guards that are always posted at my door and came into my room. She tried to seduce me and when I turned her down, she got violent.” You gape up at him as he tells you this story, not believing that someone had the audacity to do something like this. “I knew that if I were to tell my father, she would have been beheaded, so I just told them that I had no interest in her and to send her home.” You gulp at this, it all coming together now why one of the girls was missing during the ball.

“I’m sorry that happened,” you mumble. He smiles at you and moves to his plush loveseat that sits in one of the corners of his room.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault,” he repeats your words, making you hum and smile softly at him. “So, you brought the book? How was it?” With the subject changed, you hand him the book and start ranting about how much you loved the book. You made sure not to reveal any major spoilers for him though.

You two ended up talking until the moon was high in the dark sky, your laughter soft and your yawns eventually becoming more persistent. Once you two decide to call it a night, he leads you out of his room to escort you to yours. When you reach your door, he lifts your hand to his lips once more and kisses the back of your hand this time. “I hope you have sweet dreams,” he whispers before letting your hand go and walking back the way he came.

You hope your dreams are all filled with him.

Your nightly chats end up bringing you much closer than any of the other contestants ever thought possible. While they dreamed and fantasized about possibly being his wife and future queen, you two have become more than just a possibility. You both end up making a habit out of secretly seeing each other every night, whether it be in the library, the garden, wherever. A month later though, it’s ruined by the talk show that you’ve been informed will happen each month until a single contestant has won.

“Stop fussing, I look great,” you laugh at Iris who is fixing your hair for the second time.

“You need to look better than great, sweetheart. You need to look perfect. All eyes are gonna be on you tonight at some point, so we need to make sure you look your absolute best.” You simply smile at her words and let her do as she pleases. Iris has honestly become your best friend here, Ruby coming in at a close second. You even ended up telling Iris that you have a crush on the prince only for her to respond with, “You and everyone else, plus their mama’s.” You love her sense of humor and her sense of style. She always makes you look like the princess that you hope to become.

Wow, you can’t believe you’re saying stuff like this now. Just a month ago you were dreading coming here and being forced to be around the royals. Now, you’re hoping you never leave if only to be with the prince.

You both turn when there’s a knock on the door, an advisor poking their head in to let you know that cameras will start rolling in ten minutes and that you need to be ready backstage in five. You take a deep breath when they close the door, your eyes finding Iris’ deep brown ones. “I’m nervous,” you admit to her.

“Awe, don’t be, sugar plum. The whole staff knows that you’re the prince’s favorite. I love bragging that my girl is the prince’s number one,” she coos, finally finishing the final touches on your hair. Your face bursts into flames at her words though.

“What? I am not his favorite!” you splutter out, watching her laugh as she sprays your neck, chest, and wrists in perfume.

“Yes, you are. Now, let’s get going!” She doesn’t give you time to argue since she’s tugging you out of the chair and towards the stage. She puts you last in the line of contestants, seeing as how you’re from District Nine and the girl from Ten has already been disqualified. There are only seven girls left now when just a couple of weeks ago there were nine.

You listen as someone counts down from three and someone, who you’re assuming is the host, begins laughing. “Welcome, welcome! It is I, Caesar Flickerman, your lovely host for this evening! Right beside me is the even lovelier Prince Shoto!” At the mention of the prince, the crowd erupts into cheers, mainly full of fans screaming. “Wowza! It seems you have some fans, Your Highness!” the host teases the prince, knowing good and well the crowd is always like this when Shoto is on set, or when he goes anywhere, really.

“I’m honored,” Shoto states simply, making the crowd roar with how humble he is. They’re both angled towards the crowd and a single chair and all of the contestants are to sit to the right of them which is slightly behind their chairs.

“Alright, I guess we should get to the good stuff then, yes? Let’s bring out the contestants!” At this, the first girl, who is from District One, begins walking out in which the rest of you follow. People clap as you all walk out, sitting in chairs behind where Caesar and Shoto sit. “Welcome, ladies! My oh my, you all are sure pretty! I don’t know how Prince Shoto here will ever choose just one of you!” he says playfully with a big smile, making the rest of the crowd laugh. “Alright then! Lucky lady number one, please join us down here!” The girl from District One stands and walks towards the empty chair before them, her white dress and tall heels glittering in the studio lights.

After she sits down, Caesar flashes her a big smile as he crosses one leg over the other, just like she did. “Why don’t you start by introducing yourself?” he offers.

“You don’t know who I am?” she asks, raising a light, blonde brow at him.

“Well, of course I do, Princess Tina!” he reassures with a wink. She gives a low hum as she turns to look at one of the cameras now.

“My name is Princess Tina Renoli of the Renoli Kingdom. I’m from District One,” she introduces, giving the camera a sparkling smile.

“My, what a mouthful!” Caesar jokes, making everyone laugh, but she just gives him a slight scowl. “Well, let’s get to the questions!” He then asks her and all the other ladies after her simple questions like what did you dream of doing growing up? and What would you do if you won a million dollars?

When it’s finally your turn though, you feel like you’re going to puke all over Caesar’s nice shoes. “My, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Caesar teases, seeming to sense your nervousness. You bark out a laugh before quickly covering your mouth, scared to sound unlady-like or to make Shoto think you have an ugly laugh.

“Ah, thank you,” you say softly, trying to force the heat away from your cheeks.

“You’re very welcome! Please, introduce yourself!”

“Oh, right! Um, my name is (Y/n) (L/n) and I’m from District Nine,” you introduce, shyly smiling at the crowd and camera.

“Awe, you’re just the sweetest thing!” Caesar coos. He then chuckles and leans back into his seat. “So, (Y/n), living in the castle must be quite different than living in District Nine. Tell us, what do you like most about being in the castle?”

You nibble your lip as he asks his question, taking a moment to process it before answering. “What, besides the huge bed and glorious food?” you joke. “I love the library,” you answer seriously. Caesar’s eyes widen at this though as he gapes at you a bit.

“Oh, really? I didn’t think…” he trails off. He didn’t have to finish his words for you to know what he was going to say. I didn’t think people, especially women, from District Nine knew how to read. He clears his throat and quickly corrects himself, “How interesting! Tell me, what’s your favorite book?”

If someone would’ve asked you this question before, there would’ve been no way you would’ve been able to narrow it down to just one book. Now, you look to Shoto with a shy smile and quietly supply, “Scarlet. It’s an action and adventure book with a dash of romance.”

“Ooh! Sounds exciting! I know all of us here love us some romance! Don’t we?” he says excitedly as he turns to the crowd for confirmation, who just screech and holler in response to confirm that he is indeed right. “Ha! That’s what I thought!” You chuckle now that you’ve calmed down some, your body finally relaxing.

“Let’s move on with the questions! So, (Y/n), what would be your ideal first date?” Caesar asks with a grin. You blush a bit at the question as you try to think of an answer.

“Oh, um, I suppose having a picnic in the castle’s large garden would be lovely. Maybe even being able to read a book in comfortable silence or even to each other,” you sheepishly reply. Caesar, and everyone else for that matter, awes at your answer.

“That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!” Caesar gushes, playfully bringing his hands to his cheeks and kicking his legs in the air. You outright laugh at his silly behavior, feeling the vice-like grip your nerves have on your chest loosen more.

“Okay, last question before we move onto Prince Shoto!” he announces, smiling when the crowd cheers. “So, I’m curious to hear your answer for this one. If you were queen, what would you change? We’ve never had someone from a District lower than five become royalty, after all.” What would you do if you became queen?

The answer almost comes to you instantly.

“I would get rid of the districts,” you answer confidently. At your words though, the crowd gasps and instantly bursts into worried and angered murmurs. Caesar gapes at you in shock, surprised you would say such a thing on live television.

“You would do what now?” is all that Caesar can come up with to say. Your face sets into determination as you stare back at him.

“I would get rid of the Districts once and for all. There is no reason to have all of us divided this way. All it does is separate us and make the higher districts believe they’re better than the lower districts, when they’re not.” As soon as you finish, Caesar is awkwardly laughing and turning to the cameras.

“And that’s all the time we have for the contestants, folks! Thank you ladies for answering all of our questions!” Caesar rushes through to move onto Shoto’s question time. You frown at the fact that you are once again being silenced, your eyes moving to Shoto’s, who isn’t really showing you any emotion right now.

Great. He’s probably angry at you and disgusted by your beliefs. So much for winning this thing and being by his side.

You stand and move back to your seat, finding that the first three girls are giving you nasty looks as you pass by them to get back to your chair. Shoto stands and takes the place you were once in so that he can be across from Caesar.

“You have quite the tough decision to make, Your Highness! Tell me, how have you eliminated the three girls that are no longer in the competition?”

“Well, it’s simple really. I’m just like anyone else when it comes to dating. You can tell almost right away if you click with someone or not. I simply didn’t click with the three girls that are no longer here,” he explains calmly. Caesar hums and nods his head in understanding.

“Well, may I just say that you are very humble! I would’ve tried keeping all these pretty girls for myself!” he jokes, trying to get the crowd to laugh in which he succeeds in. Shoto politely chuckles along with them at his joke. “So, I must ask if you have a favorite,” Caesar fake whispers to Shoto.

“No, I don’t,” Shoto replies immediately, but that doesn’t stop his eyes from flickering over to you which causes your breathing to stop.

“Ah! I saw that! Who did you just look at?” Caesar squeals, turning more to his right to see who is at the end of the line. His eyes meet yours and instantly move away to the other girls next to you. “Oh, I bet it’s lucky girl number six, isn’t it?” Ruby.

“I’m assuming she’s your favorite then?” Shoto teasingly asks with a raise of his brow. Caesar fakes bashfulness as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Well, I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty girl in the color purple,” he jokes, causing Ruby to giggle and playfully blow a kiss at Caesar, to which Caesar catches and tucks it away into his pocket.

“Miss (Y/n) actually wore a beautiful lavender dress the night I met her,” Shoto informs and, if you didn’t know any better, you’d say that he let that slip without thinking. Caesar’s smile goes tight at the mention of you though.

“Oh? Did she? Well, I’m sure she looked very nice!” After this is said, he quickly changes the subject and begins shooting question after question at Shoto. After ten questions or so, Caesar finally ends the show and bids farewell to all the watchers back home. The cameras then shut off and you feel like you can finally breathe again. You don’t bother waiting around here though as you quickly stand, pick up your dress, and swiftly leave the stage.

Your previous words from the show didn’t sit well with some of the contestants, most of whom are a part of the upper divisions. One morning, it was decided that all of the contestants were required to go to the royal classroom to begin learning about the nation’s history. You went there every day from eight in the morning to right before dinner time. By this point, there are only six contestants left from Districts One, Two, Three, Five, Six, and Nine, which is you. You honestly don’t know how you’ve made it this long, especially since the king makes it his mission to glare at you whenever you’re within eyesight. You’re not sure why Prince Shoto is keeping you around at this point.

One particular day, your teacher had decided to let you all go an hour earlier than usual, for which you all were thankful for. You were one of the last ones to leave, which turned out to be a mistake since contestants from Districts One through Three were outside the classroom waiting for you.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. It’s the dirty little girl from District Poor,” Princess Tina taunts, her two sidekicks, Sandy and Cindy, snickering at her words. You roll your eyes and go to move past her when she snatches your book out of your hand.

“Hey!” you shout, moving to grab it only for the girl from District Three to shove you away and come between you two.

“Aww, does the little nerd want her book back?” she sneers, starting to flip through it with boredom clearly etched into her pretty features. “Ugh, hopeless romantic much?” she groans as she finds a kissing scene. “God, you’re so pathetic. You can’t get the romance you so desperately crave in real life so you read it in fairytales.”

You remain quiet, clenching your jaw to help you remain silent. “What? Brainiac has nothing to say?” the girl from District Two teases. Your eyes move to her as you cross your arms over your chest, taking a deep, calming breath as you raise your brow at the three of them.

“You do realize that the prince can only choose one of us, right? Why are you three banding together when, in the end, you’re just going to have to fight for the prince?” Cindy and Sandy pause at this, sharing a worried look.

“Don’t listen to her, girls! She’s just trying to put us against each other!” Tina shouts, throwing your book at you and hitting your cheek. You let out a small cry and cradle the spot, feeling it throb. “Maybe if we make her ugly enough, the prince will want nothing to do with her!” Tina suggests, convincing her minions that you’re the enemy, not her.

Before you can react, you’re being shoved to the wall by Tina. If it was just her, you probably could’ve taken her. Seeing as how it was three against one though, you didn’t stand a chance. That doesn’t mean you didn’t go down without a fight though. You kick and hit at them as they all swarm you, scratching at your skin, slapping and punching other marks into your skin.

Once they had enough, they back up and let you fall to the ground. Sandy and Cindy stare down at you, what seems to be sympathy and regret in their eyes. That disappears though when Tina loops her arms through theirs and smugly smiles down at you. “You might as well just go home now. The prince has never wanted you and never will. He’s only kept you around for as long as he has because he felt bad and needed the votes of all the rest of the losers like you.” Once she finishes her spiel, she spits at you before turning with her minions and walking away with giggles escaping her.

You didn’t let a single tear fall the entire time they tormented you but as soon as she walked away, you couldn’t help the tears that swarm your vision. You can’t believe you’re even going to listen to her, but what if she’s right? Shoto hasn’t spoken to you or visited you in the library since what you said on the talk show. He probably thinks you’re a joke and only keeps you around to gain the acceptance and love of the lower districts who are rooting for you to win.

What a joke.

You sniffle and wipe at your teary and bloody face before pushing yourself to stand, only having stumbled and fallen down two times on the way to your room. Once you reach your room, you curl up in the bed and let the sobs flow freely. You miss home. You miss hearing your mother play the piano. You miss your father getting yelled at by your mother for showing up at the dinner table still covered in paint. You miss your brother teasing you about liking to read, despite the fact that he was the one begging you to teach him how. You even miss the dumb leak in the corner of your room that could fill up an entire bucket after a storm. You end up crying yourself to sleep, ruining the satin covers and sheets with your blood and tears.

You wake up from a knock at your door, hearing Iris’ comforting voice. “Sweetie? Are you awake yet? You’re going to miss breakfast!” she calls through the door.

“Yes,” you croak, much too quietly for her to hear. You clear your throat and try again, “Yes, I’m awake. I don’t feel well though. I’m just going to go back to sleep.”

“What? You know you can’t miss a meal. Are you sick?” she calls, trying to open the door only to find it locked. Oh, good. At least you had the mind to lock it last night.

“Yes, I feel sick,” you inform. It wasn’t a complete lie.

“Alright, I’ll let them know that you will be absent,” she says softly before you hear her footsteps fade away. You slowly sit up and feel your head pound as you do, a grimace taking over your features. You slowly slide off the bed and frown when you see the mess you left on the lovely covers. You can’t find it in yourself to feel guilty though as you move to your personal bathroom to clean up. You make the shower’s water lukewarm before slowly stepping under the spray, biting back a hiss when the water hits your open wounds. They aren’t that bad, mainly just scratch marks, but your mother always used to tell you it’s the smaller wounds that hurt the most. You know she was just trying to make you feel better when you felt embarrassed by balling like a baby when you skid your knee, but it comforts you now.

You clean yourself up and then get out of the shower, standing before the mirror with sad eyes. Your cheek is bruising from where she threw the book at your face. You’re just glad it wasn’t your eye. Scratch marks litter your face, neck, chest, and arms along with small bruises. Your eyes start to sting again, surprised just how far people will go to get what they want. It never mattered who they put down to get what they wanted.

You leave the bathroom to go to your wardrobe, pulling out one of the few dresses you owned from back home. This dress is a light sundress that should be open and loose enough not to disturb any of your wounds. You let out a heavy sigh as you pull out your suitcase underneath your bed, setting it on the grand mattress before starting to place all of your things back inside of it. You can’t believe you’re going to quit after all this time, letting Tina and the others get to you and get their wish.

You sniffle and wipe at your eyes when your vision starts to blur again with tears. You really did love Shoto. God, you’re even using the L-word now. Could you get any more pathetic? Tina is right. You’ll always be some dumb loser who won’t amount to anything.

You jump out of your skin when there’s a knock at the door. “Iris, I already told you that I’m not hungry,” you weakly call, quickly rubbing at your eyes since she is probably going to want to come in anyway. She’s going to lose it when she sees the state you’re in. She doesn’t verbally answer though, simply giving another knock. You sigh and walk over to the door, unlocking it as you say, “Fine, you can come in. Don’t start nagging me abou—”

Your heart beats so hard against your chest that you’re pretty sure it just flew right out of your chest and into the tray of food that Shoto is holding. He stares at you with widened eyes, his beautiful heterochromia eyes moving this way and that across your upper body, no doubt gawking at the marks on you. You quickly start to swing the door shut, gasping when he sticks his foot out and stops you from closing the door.

“Let me in,” he commands, his voice getting the icy tone it had when regarding that one guard.

“Your Highne—”

“I said open the door!” he shouts, making your body quiver at his demanding tone. You quickly move away from the door and put your back to him, listening to him rush in and close the door behind himself. He sets the tray down somewhere, you’re assuming on the small table in front of your sofa by the door, before you hear his footsteps come towards you. You tense up when he stops right behind you, the warmth of his body radiating against yours.

You almost start to believe you’ve imagined the whole encounter when nothing happens right away. You jump a bit when fingers gently brush over your arm, ghosting over scratches that lay there. “Please turn around,” he whispers, his voice sounding...broken? You shake your head despite his worry though, pulling your arm away from his hand. “Please,” he shakily whispers again, placing his hand on your upper arm but not forcing you to turn around.

If you were stronger, you wouldn’t have turned around, but you’re a desperate woman who wants the attention of the one she loves. You slowly turn around but keep your eyes downcast, hearing Shoto suck in a breath when you’re fully facing him. “What happened?” he mumbles, gently placing both hands onto your upper arms now. You cross your arms over your chest, shaking your head as you continue to stare down at your feet. His hands leave your arms to go up to your cheeks, cupping them and tilting your head up to face him. Your teary eyes widen when you find his eyes are moist as well.

“Who did this to you?” he asks so softly that you wouldn’t have heard him if he were any farther away. You shake your head again, closing your eyes and letting tears cascade down your face. He’s quick to catch them though, gently wiping them away. With your eyes closed, you don’t see him look over your shoulder to your bed that has your half-packed luggage sitting there.

“Please don’t go,” he croaks, making your eyes fly open to find him crying now as well. You gawk at this, at the fact that he doesn’t want you to leave and that he’s crying. Crying.

“I don’t belong here, Sho,” you whisper, using the nickname that you gave him one of the many nights you two laid under the stars, talking the night away.

“Who put that thought into your head? Caesar? My father? One of the other contestants?” he asks, moving his hands to your shoulders now. “It doesn’t matter who because whoever it is, they’re wrong. You belong here, with me. No. I belong wherever you are. Do you wish to go home? I can come with you.” Shoto speaks fast as he tries to make you happy, his worried frown and jumbled words only succeeding in bringing a smile to your face.

“Sho, calm down. You need to stay here, for your kingdom. Your...your older brother has already died in war and your sister will one day be married off to another kingdom. You must remain here and take care of your people,” you say softly, lightly knocking your head against his.

“Stay by my side then. Become my wife and the future queen,” he whispers, the words being mouthed against your lips from how close he’s gotten to you. His words make you rear back and stare at him as if he’d grown another head.

“Are you mad? No one wants me to be princess, let alone queen!”

“I do! The lower districts do! God, just saying that angers me. You’re right, I want to be rid of the stupid districts just as much as you do.” You’re not sure why those words specifically have your gut churning in pleasure, but the next thing you know, your lips are smashed against his.

It’s a very messy kiss, filled with teeth, spit, and too much tongue, and you can tell he’s inexperienced, but God, you’ve never experienced anything hotter in your life. His hands gently cup the side of your neck, keeping you in place as he passionately kisses you back. It didn’t take long for you both to run out of air, pulling away almost at the same time to gasp for the oxygen that you lack.

You stare into each other’s eyes with half-lidded ones, your breaths mingling with how close you two remain together. “Marry me,” he begs between pants, looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“Fine,” you grumpily agree despite the fact that your heart is currently soaring. He smiles brighter than you’ve ever seen as he smashes his lips back against yours.

I used to hear a simple song That was until you came along Now in its place is something new I hear it when I look at you

Shoto doesn’t really know what came over him. You agreed to marry him all those years ago and with his father passed, you and he are the new king and queen. He swears that he feels like a completely different person, his subjects have definitely taken notice as well. He used to be quiet and polite, only speaking when spoken to. Now, with you by his side, he can laugh as loudly as he wants to and let his smile go from ear to ear without a care in the world.

He doesn’t think he’ll ever tell you this, but he swears that every time he looks at you, it’s like angels are singing, letting him know that he made the right choice choosing you as his bride. He, honest to God, has never been happier in his life.

With simple songs I wanted more Perfection is so quick to bore You are more beautiful by far Our flaws are who we really are

Growing up, all around him he had people telling him how to look, how to dress, how to eat, how to do everything. He found that hiding his emotions and what he was truly thinking became easier than having to put up with rulers to his hands every time he rolled his eyes or made a snide comment. It was hard for a kid his age to be perfect in the eyes of everyone around him. It was boring and he hated his life for the longest. When he used to ride through the districts to get to other kingdoms as a child, his face would be solemn as he watched through the windows at other kids his age running around screaming as they kicked a ball or played some sort of game where they touched the others before quickly scrambling away with loud laughs and screeches. He wasn’t allowed to have flaws, despite the fact that he had many of them, just like everyone else.

He had to be perfect.

You never had to worry about such things before though. In his eyes, you’re already perfect, despite all of your flaws. You always get so flustered when you catch him staring and he just compliments you no matter how you look or what you’re doing. He couldn’t ask for anyone better.

I used to hear a simple song That was until you came along You took my broken melody And now I hear a symphony

Now, the kingdom you two share is a completely different place. The districts were removed as soon as he was announced king and he had never felt happier in his life when you hugged him and thanked him. It was a dream come true for you. Finally, all your friends and family back home could move to better places and earn more money. Your instant family came to live in the castle with you though and he watched with tearful eyes as you reunited with your family at long last. Your parents were iffy around him at first, since he was still learning how to show emotion around others, but after a little while of being around him, they came to love him just as you did.

Every night when you two go to sleep cuddled up in your bed, he gently runs his hands over your arm, your hip, everywhere he could touch you. You didn’t feel real to him. It was like you were too good to be true. He never once thought that his required marriage and the stupid competition would lead him to finding the love of his life. He also figured his marriage would end up like his parent’s. Loveless. Sad. Boring. Seeing the worry in his eyes, you passionately kissed all his worries away and he swears that the angels singing turned to many angels singing, pianos, violins, harps, a whole symphony would play.

He wants to hear that sound every day.

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

MASTERLIST

More with Todoroki!!

Join my discord: https://discord.gg/qnDxJ6rr67

Tag List: @nojamsss03, @katsuhera, and @katsulovee ✦ if you would like to be added or removed, comment or send an ask. Also, remember to tell me if you ever change your username so I can continue to tag you :)

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

1K notes · View notes

datingdonovan · 3 years ago

Text

a/n: I finally sat down and wrote this the other day and ive lost the will to edit it any more :) you get it. anyhow have approx 2.25k cece calm down bro, stop going so hard????!!!?!?! for the wonderful @hinatawa's can I get your name to go? collab <3

ps. @mimi-cee-hq, the gemini™️, and all other futakuchi lovers. come get ur food <3

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t nervous for your first day. You know you should be grateful to your friend for putting in a good word for you when they quit, but honestly, working in the coffee shop just off campus was never an idea you’d found particularly alluring, or even really considered before they’d brought it up.

It’s turning out to be even more stressful than you thought it would be, now, in the back room at 6:30AM, with this dorky shift manager standing in front of you explaining all the ins and outs of what to do. You thought he would set you free after he finished his spiel on how to make all the different kinds of coffee, but now he’s on to the part where he describes—in great detail—every type of customer. Which you’ve conveniently been spacing out for.

“Hey! Did you get that last one?”

The poor man eyes you a little warily, like he’s finally getting the sense that trying to teach you everything at once is a woeful waste of time.

You don’t know what to do but tell him the truth. “Kogane, look, I’m sorry. This is just a lot to take in—.”

“I know. I know.” He holds his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry, I’m rushing you. It’s just, I know these people better than you do and I want to make sure you’re prepared.”

“I mean, is it really that bad?”

Kogane’s eyebrows pull together immediately. “No, no! Being a barista is great. I love it.” Of course he does. He’s a social butterfly and a ball of boundless energy, bouncing from foot to foot even now. “I just think there are some people who won’t go easy on you just because you’re new.” All of a sudden, he stands still and fixes you with a grave stare. “Some people need their coffee now.”

“But you know them. You can help me, right?”

“Not this afternoon. We’re gonna be short-staffed. Just me and you. And I’m gonna have to help unload some new stuff getting delivered. That’s why this is so important.”

You take a deep breath. You barely even remember how to work that machine that does frappes. How you’re going to hold down the entire shop for half an hour while he unloads the truck is beyond you. “Okay, Koganegawa. Tell me again.”

His eyes flick up to the ceiling and dance around like he’s searching the depths of his brain, trying to figure out the key things to emphasize to you. When he meets your eyes again, he’s determined. “The most important person to watch out for is Futakuchi. I mean, he’s a great guy, really. Just hates his midday classes. He always skips lunch and then winds up in here acting like a total grouch, but he knows I’ll give him a discount so—.”

“Wait. I’m confused. If he’s rude, why are we giving him discounts?”

Kogane stares at you, dumbfounded. “Because we’re friends.”

“The scary guy I have to watch out for is your friend?”

The man in front of you stays quiet for a moment, mouth hanging open as he thinks. “Well, yeah. He can just be kinda intense sometimes and you don’t know him like I do so I don’t want you to get offend—.”

The bell on the door dings and Kogane turns on his heel toward the sound. “First customer!” He smiles back at you. “I’ll explain the rest to you later.”

He did not, in fact, explain the rest to you later, so here you are, standing behind the counter, counting down the minutes until he gets back. You know you shouldn’t be nervous—apparently the guy you’re supposed to be afraid of is a college student. How terrible could he possibly be?

Still, your palms start to sweat a little every time someone new steps into the cafe. Kogane didn’t even give you a description of his friend, so you have no clue what you’re supposed to be watching out for. At this point, it’s been twenty minutes that you’ve been manning the counter by yourself, and you’ve heaved a sigh of relief every time the person entering the shop looks older than twenty-five.

And when someone your age does come in? Oh, hell. Earlier, a blonde kid had stepped up to the counter and said his order a little bit too fast. You’d immediately assumed the worst, completely clamming up and embarrassing yourself, only to leave the guy stuttering apologies as you almost spilled his drink all over him. You honestly wish Kogane hadn’t given you a warning at all. It’s freaking you out, maybe even more than being taken by surprise would.

You’re sure your shift manager will be back any minute, though. All you have to do is hold out for another customer or two, and then he’ll come save you from having to deal with the notorious Futakuchi.

The bell on the door jingles, pulling you out of your thoughts, and an unassuming tall guy walks in. You can't help but tense a little at the fact that he looks your age, and you wonder if this is the moment you've been stressing about all afternoon. But as this guy walks closer, you realize he doesn’t look angry, just bored, staring down at his phone with his brown hair flopping in his face.

The man steps up to the register, not even sparing you a glance. “I’ll have my usual.”

And you just stand there. Not only is the man in front of you asking for something you have no clue how to give him, he’s standing close enough to you that you can see his sharp jaw, the way his eyes track the game he’s playing, the soft slope of his nose, and you can just faintly smell his cologne, and he’s… well, he’s hot.

“Um.” Your brain feels like it’s working at half-speed as you try to formulate an acceptable answer. “I don’t actually know—.”

“Come on.” He groans softly, but it’s noncommittal, no bite to it. “Don’t mess with me.” The man glances up at you, just long enough for you to get a glimpse of his eyes. They still look more bored than anything, maybe a little bit annoyed, and then they flick back to the phone in his hand as he continues. “I have somewhere to… be…” The sentence dies in his throat and he lifts his gaze again, eyes fully open now, examining your face more closely for the first time. “Oh.” He locks his phone and tucks it into his back pocket. “Sorry. You’re new.”

“I’m new,” you repeat dumbly, unable to look away.

The man in front of you smiles a little. His tongue peeks out to wet his lips before he speaks and you don’t know what you did to deserve good luck like this. “So, my usual… is… a caramel latte, but a little extra caramel in the whip cream on top.”

“A latte.” Thank God. You could make a latte at home in your sleep. “Okay. Great. Easy.”

You gingerly punch the order into the register, careful not to skip a step and have to go back to repeat it. Your eyes are focused, trained on the machine in front of you, but you can feel the way the man on the other side of the counter is watching you.

“Do you like it so far?” When you shoot him a confused look, he elaborates. “The job, I mean. Do you think you’ll stay?”

You laugh a little, feeling like you’re being interviewed all of a sudden. “I mean, this is my first day, so hopefully I’ll stay for a little while, I think. Although.” You shouldn’t continue to ramble on, but you do. “I guess I am kind of nervous. Seems like some customers are less than understanding.”

“Who?” The man in front of you looks around at the patrons of the little shop as though he’s offended for you. “Tell me, and I’ll have a polite conversation with them.” He glares jokingly, this little glint of mischief in his eyes, and the two of you both laugh. When he speaks again, he’s more serious, like he’s trying to be suave. “This is the best customer service I’ve had in years.”

You really hope he can’t see how hard you’re sweating right now. “Um. Thank you. Uh, you can put your card in now.” You reach around to show him where to insert it. “Tap or swipe or…” Holy hell. He presses cash directly into your palm, his cold fingers dancing along yours when he pulls his hand away. You gulp down the lump in your throat, just trying to think straight enough to put the money in the register and make change.

“How much, um…” He’s suddenly scratching the back of his neck, like he contracted your nervousness from the skin-on-skin contact. “How much do people usually tip... when the barista is as cute—as good as you. When the barista is as good as you. I didn’t mean to say—.”

“No, you meant to say it.” You laugh.

The man in front of you glances down at his feet and you catch sight of his ears, tipped red from blushing. When he meets your eye again, you can't help but bite your lip, partially because this hot guy is hitting on you and partially because you're... successfully hitting on him back? You honestly have no clue where this is going, but you decide you’re not going to miss your chance to keep the momentum. “Um, usually people don’t have to leave a tip. If they’re going to take me on a date afterward.” You make sure your hand touches his smooth skin when you hand him his change.

“Gonna need your number.”

“Gonna need a name,” you retort. He smirks, and both of you are this perfect mix of coy and bashful. You grab a cup for his drink and prepare to write.

“Futakuchi.”

You drop the pen, mouth hanging open. “You’re—.”

“Futakuchi!” Kogane barges in from the back room, looking between his friend and you. “I see you’ve met our resident grump. Hope he hasn’t given you too much trouble—.”

“Aw, would you shut up?” The dark haired man shoots Kogane a glare and you take the opportunity to scramble for the pen on the floor, allowing yourself to fall into a fit of laughter as the two men talk over the counter above you. You hear the voice of the man you’d been flirting with, a distinct bite to his tone that he hadn’t used with you. “We were actually having a nice conversation.”

“A nice conversation? You? What?” Kogane teases. “Did I miss something?” He looks over at you when you rise from the ground, pen in hand, and something about the way you smile makes him raise his eyebrows. “Oh… Oh.” He flashes Futakuchi a taunting grin, hooking his thumb over at you. “Didn’t know they were your type.”

“Shut up,” the man in front of you mutters.

“You’re so into them, aren’t you? It’s written all over your fac—.”

“I will climb over this counter and strangle you.”

Kogane lifts his hands in defeat, creeping toward the back room. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it.” Before he steps out, he turns to you. “This guy gives you any trouble, you call me, ASAP.” You nod, unable to contain your small huff of laughter. On another day, you’d probably be embarrassed, maybe even upset about the entire conversation that just transpired. Who could blame you? Your shift manager had just joked about whatever feelings this guy had as if you weren’t standing right there in front of the two of them. But the fact that Kogane so obviously meant for it to embarrass his friend—and the fact that it had worked—has you feeling more amused than anything else when you turn back to Futakuchi, whose face is still beet red.

“Did he... say anything about me?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that you’re a really rude, angry customer who can’t stand to wait and always needs to have a discount and—.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” The man laughs, covering his face with an exaggerated groan. The bell chimes on the front door behind him and he barely looks up at you as he moves away from the counter to wait for his drink.

Kogane slips out from the back room to take care of the next customer, and you write Futakuchi’s name on the cup in your hand. You finally make the simple drink, remembering the extra caramel on top, and when you finish snapping the lid on, he’s there waiting.

“Futakuchi.” You call his name quietly, looking up at him, and the way it sounds coming off your tongue is the sweetest he’s ever heard it. His fingertips brush yours again as he takes the cup from you, the man’s dark eyes earnest as he holds your gaze.

“Guess you aren’t going to want that date after all, huh?”

You smile wide and roll your eyes, shaking your head in disbelief. “I think I can handle your grumpiness. Especially since it seems like it’s literally only directed at Kogane.” The man in front of you laughs. “Just call me whenever.”

Futakuchi rotates the warm cup in his hands and sure enough, there’s your number scrawled beneath his name (which, by the way, is the prettiest he’s ever seen it written, too). He gives a small, timid nod, lifting the cup to his face to hide his smile. Then he holds his hand up to you in a little wave, and he’s leaving through the front door. You don’t miss the fact that when he passes Kogane, he casually throws him the finger.

#the stuff of cece #futakuchi kenji #haikyuu!!#futakuchi x you #futakuchi x y/n #futakuchi x reader #futakuchi x gender neutral reader #futakuchi x gn!reader #hq x you #hq x gender neutral reader #hq x y/n #haikyuu x reader #hq fanfic #haikyuu x you #haikyuu fic #haikyuu x y/n #you all were not lying his tag is so deceased he doesn't even show up automatically when I type in 'futakuchi x' lol #brother I spent so long on this im sorry #I love my grumpulous version of him sorry everyone I dont even know that much ab him I just feel like hes such a deliberate annoyance #so jabby with people on purpose idk does this make sense #I feel like he is that way #and I could just see him being such a GRUMP tho it makes me laugh to think of it omg #idk if this is even well written but. heart eye. cute man.#my grump version of futakuchi lives in my heart. the passive aggression and pot stirring this young man is capable of #the frustrated miffed face he would make. sweet young man dont argue with me bc I'll cry but please tease me and let me kiss u #ok shut uP CECE chill bro lol #anyhow. enjoy frinds <3 I spent way too long on this and need to sweep lol

121 notes · View notes

narsh-poptarts · 3 years ago

Note

if this isnt relevant to you then feel free to ignore it but this is the first time ive literally ever seen someone make Megaman fanart so: 1) where can i find more of this community? and 2) have you ever listened to The Protomen? they're my favourite band and their original music is a (currently 2 and a bit act long) rock opera loosely based on the Megaman world!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED YOU HAVE MADE ME!!!!!!!!!

meeting another megaman fan!!!! out in the wild!!!!! aaaaa!!!!! you have no idea how exciting this is!!!!!!! OMGGG

ok first of all!!! the megaman community is incredibly small alsdfjhasdlf especially in comparison to l/o/z or even L/U but!!!!

i can point you in the direction of @willows-arts and @theletterwsartflap and both of their wonderful arts!!! they very much make more megaman fanart than i do and just have WONDERFUL styles that i absolutely adore!!!!! they're wonderful people as well, I adore them.

also check out @/ rustedmonkeyking-blog (tumblr) amazing amazing art over there

honestly there's a lot of stuff that is over on twt more than tumblr but there's also whitmoon (twt) / whitmoon (tumblr)

please please please go ask @willows-arts for more, she is already in the know, i've been gushing to her, please go ask her for more people in the community cuz i am just not confident in my knowledge >//////<

There's also a pretty active Megaman rp community as well!!! that may not be your thing but I love being a part of it!!!

willow has a couple blogs, @magnetiix being one, and then there's people like @machinesandman (WONDERFUL world building and lore) and i've got one over at @red-made-the-choice and honestly you reach out to one, you can very easily get yourself to the others, so so so many wonderful people there

really sorry for the @ spam and the fact that this is getting long so i'll put the rest of my gushing under a cut

to answer your second question: YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they have been part of my brainrot since I was in middle school and that was YEARS ago!!!!! over the past couple days I have been listening to them on loop cuz it's just SO SO GOOD!!!!!!! It's??? honestly really rare to meet someone who also is deep into it like I am but I have so many theories!!!!! so much brainrot!!!!!! so so so much love for the characters and the setting and the style and the music and AAAA GOD EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to see them live so bad and they're pretty much finishing tour now and i'm SO SAD i didn't get to see them!!!!!! i can't wait until i can someday aaaaa ;-;

yes i really really love them please feel free to come into my DMs to talk about it with me cuz it's just SO AMAZING!!! i will LITERALLY talk your ears off. please tell me you have done the thing where you read the lyrics with the song just cuz!!!!! there's other shit in there!!! flavor text!!! there's lore and story and character movements like a whole book!!!!!!! it's awesome!!!!!

If you haven't already, please listen to The Megas, they've got a similar concept to The Protomen (as in, they're a band based off the megaman games) with a very wonderful interpretation that I have spent literal hours dissecting and analyzing and making my own world and lore for, bouncing off of the foundation they put down (that's what my rp blog is, it's a Protoman based off The Megas) and I can and will talk your ear off about it!! it has music for mm2 and mm3 and teeeechnically mm1? that one doesn't have all the robot masters tho. it's a collab of Entertainment System and the Megas :0

Megas has other stuff as well, but when i talk about their megaman music I am talking about their albums Get Equipped (and by extent, Get Acoustic), and History Repeating: Red and Blue

so so much to get from there, honestly wonderful music, sometimes i just listen to Red and Blue straight through cuz!!!! story!!!!! characters!!!!! wonderful world building!!!!!

Megas really does a great job of capturing the feeling of how?? sad MegaMan the game is supposed to be. It's a child sent into war fighting for a people that,, don't care for his existence. it's brutal and SO wonderful and soooooo amazing and I'm beginning to sound like a broken record

if you haven't already, please check out the Megaman Megamix/Gigamix manga made by Hitoshi Ariga because THAT is awesome, then there's also archie comics Megaman and many many more interpretations to be found everywhere, but archie and ariga are the biggest ones (in terms of comics)

and.

also.

did you know there's a cartoon? A Ruby Spears Cartoon? that is so bad it's amazing? oh my god that too

(there's also another cartoon that i have not watched, Megaman Fully Charged i think, i cannot give a review on that but that too!!!)

gosh this is getting very long but yeah!!!! yes i love megaman and yes i love the protomen and yes i love the megas and yes i love love love everything about megaman

again, please go to the inbox of willows-arts and ask her for getting more into the community, she knows much more than I and also is more confident in giving out that information about who to find

i love you and thank you for giving me this chance to ramble, please please please if you ever want to talk about megas or protomen or what have you, please do not feel afraid to come into my DMs

#asks #god this got long #essek-apologist #megaman #Mega Man #The Protomen #The Megas

21 notes · View notes

dashielldeveron · 4 years ago

Text

and i’ve gotta crow | takami keigo

hawks x pro-hero! reader. quirk unspecified.

summary: “You’re suffering from amnesia,” says Hawks to you, in your hospital bed.

No, you are not.

“We’re engaged to be married.”

No, you are not.

After an accident that was that bastard Hawks’s fault, you decide to play along with your diagnosis of amnesia, among other things, because how far can you make your former bully bend over backwards for you?

fluff/trickery??? completely avoidable angst, bc reader is a little shit. hawks is a scumbag bully at first. reader is honestly kind of violent. dealing with acne in a scene.

When the first things you saw after groggily blinking your eyes open were multiple IVs in the back of your hand, you flipped over and snuggled farther into your hospital bed to deal with it later, but against your will you were forced to lie flat on your back to stare into the hospital fluorescents.

When the nurse fiddling with your IVs came into focus, he said, “You need to lie on your back. You have deep gashes on your lower abdomen, and tossing about too much could open the stitches.”

That sounded like bullshit, but you were too out of it to care. “Yeah, okay,” you said through a croak, “Oh, fuck.” You wrestled a hand to your throat, massaging it. “Am I waking up from a coma? Don’t let anyone see me until I’ve done my eyebrows.”

The nurse laughed through his nose. “No, don’t worry. You’ve barely been—” He cut himself off and frowned. “The news should probably be broken to you when you have emotional support. I’ll be back soon.”

He left.

Emotional support? Wouldn’t that fucking gash on your stomach be—ooh, ouch, don’t move.

Where’s your phone? Where’s your goddamn phone; where’s any of your personal belongings? If they got crushed, you’re killing Hawks on sight.

Hawks, oh, my God. Where is he? He’s dead. If he still has the audacity to bully you professionally—fuck.

He’d cornered you on patrol earlier—whenever that was—and cut into you in that casually, negging-type way that wasn’t enough to report but enough to make you stay up late and freak out about being good enough. It hurt your chest whenever you thought about it.

But this was the first time he’d gotten seriously physical.

He’d alit on the top of the warehouse next to you, landing what would have been haphazardly for anyone else (the arch of his feet against the edge, his toes barely touching roof) and had crouched next to you, his scarlet wings completely blowing your cover as they stretched and shuddered.

“What’s a little girl like you doing in this part of town?” Hawks had propped his chin on both his fists. “Thought shoplifters were more your calibre.”

“Hawks, this is actually really important to me, so please, please leave,” you’d said, keeping your eyes on the group you could barely make out through the skylight. They’d already been partially concealed by crates, so they were hard to see.

“Someone else give you a tip for their location?” He’d tapped your opposite shoulder with the end of his wing, but you hadn’t even flinched.

“Bruh, you know I’ve been on this for weeks,” you’d said, shifting away from him, “I even shared intel at your last briefing.”

“Is that what you were talking about?” Hawks had scratched his chin. “I zoned out. Usually the little cases female heroes present aren’t in my circle, and I like to unwind when brain power isn’t needed.”

You’d planned to rip his wings out feather by feather while you’d gritted your teeth. “You can’t talk to me like that, Hawks.”

He’d laughed, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. “C’mon, babygirl, have a slice of chill, won’t you? I thought you were one of the cool girls. Relax. I don’t mean anything by it.”

“Leave me alone, Hawks. You’re not gonna bully me into joining your agency. You’re not gonna bully me into quitting being a hero,” you’d said, inwardly screaming, “I’d tell you to go talk to someone who’d fall for your shit, but then, she’d have to suffer, too. So, fuck off into a sewer, jackass.”

“Oof,” Hawks had said, placing a hand over his heart and shaking his head, “You don’t have to be such a bitch, sweetheart. I’m only looking for my better half. Didn’t think it could be you, but I’d thought I’d give you a chance to prove me wrong. Don’t take yourself too seriously; just be along for the ride like the rest of us.”

“Huh,” you had said, and you’d stood and strode to the edge of the warehouse to your harness and rope, and you rappelled down the side of it as stealthily as you came up.

“I’ve been watching you all these years, sweetness, and I know you by now; I know how you really feel,” Hawks had said a bit too loudly while he flew downwards at your speed (braggart). “Strip away all of your busy work, your so-called hero trappings, and we’d mesh together just fine. We may be rough around the edges, but we clean up really nicely, don’t we?”

You’d unclipped your carabiner and stepped out of your harness, stashing it in your pack. “Fuck off.”

You’d moved towards the back entrance, but Hawks had slammed a hand against the concrete wall in front of you. You’d ducked under it and carried on, and he’d grabbed the back of your shirt.

“C’mon, if we didn’t know each other, and our eyes met from across the room at some hero gala, you’d be all over me, wouldn’t you?”

You had swiped his hand away. “I’d be putting a lid on my drink.”

His arms behind his back, Hawks had followed you through the door and behind the exposed pipes and closer to your targets. “Saw you coming onto Todoroki at the last one. You looked fine in his colours, but you would’ve looked better in mine.”

Don’t grace him with an answer; don’t grace him with an ans— “I wasn’t coming onto Shoto,” you’d said, pulling yourself up a couple of pipes for a better view—and you’d hit him when he flapped his wings to hover the few feet you’d ascended, because the noise might alert them.

“Yeah, you just simp for him, right? Then you didn’t step outside your comfortable ice queen act?” Hawks had gripped onto a pipe just underneath your ass. “You’re too much of a natural tease for that.”

How can you report him when he’s the head of his own agency? You guess the commission might listen, but what can they do besides slap his wrist? There’s really no one who can stop him, is there?

You hadn’t replied but instead crawled onto the iron catwalk. If you could position yourself about three-quarters of the way across, you’d be able to effectively activate your quirk and get this over with—wait, why would you think like that? You’d been waiting for this for ages.

A hand spreading across the small of your back had reminded you.

You’d flipped over with fire in your eyes and kicked him away as quietly as you could, but all he’d done was sit back on his knees to grin down at you, army-crawling your way through a dirty warehouse.

Would he take credit for your work again?

You’d shaken yourself. Eat my entire ass, Hawks. And with that, you’d continued inching towards your targets. When you’d gotten into position to watch them, Hawks had merely watched you.

You had scowled. “I’m gonna tear you a—”

“You had a hard childhood, didn’t you?”

A chill had unfurled up your spine, simple as that. Hawks now not only had the annoying air of an arrogant pick-up artist but also gave you an intense sense of danger. You’d moved away from him, regrettably away from your target, but Hawks had followed you, getting closer until his body heat had seeped into yours, a self-satisfied smirk plastered across his dumb face.

“I could take suuuuch good care of you, little girl,” he’d said under his breath, “if only you’d let me. No one else is crazy enough to call me out or want more than the bare minimum.” His wings had folded in on his back, making themselves as small as possible to get closer to you. “If you give in, tell me yes, say please, you wouldn’t have to let any worries cross your pretty little mind. All you have to do is let me in.”

“Yikes,” you had said, sucking in through your teeth, “God, you’re a creep.”

Hawks had slammed you down onto the catwalk, iron reverberating through the warehouse as it struck your head, and your targets had looked up by the time the catwalk hinges had loosened and had come crashing down in the midst of their meeting.

You’re really not supposed to shoot guns inside. Don’t they know that’ll ruin their ears? No matter, really. You had fought them anyway, amidst crates splintering open from whatever they were shooting at you—fuck, that was a big hole. What’s oozing out of that? Gross, don’t step in it.

One with a normal revolver—his arm had given a woody crack when you’d bent it backwards—God, that was nice. Good sounds. If you could sample them into a rap track, you would.

You’d been planning a collab with a popular rapper while you’d hurled yourself at another villain, sawdust flying—just to keep your mind busy, really, but fucking—fucking Hawks had bested whoever he’d half-assed to the ground and had shouted your way.

“C’mere, you little shit—”

He’d scooped you up while you’d been taking care of it by yourself, and he had pinned you down behind a stack of crates that reached the remains of the catwalk, straddling you but keeping most of his weight off, his wings outstretched yet still hidden from the cloud of sawdust rising with deep gurgling on the far side.

“What the fuck is wrong with you,” he’d said over the chaos, spit flying, “You can’t handle this; you’re gonna get fucking killed. I can’t babysit you all the time.”

“Get fucked; I’m the number fourteen hero,” you’d said, deadly still, but twitching in fury, “I can handle anyth—”

“Aww, fourteen. And one day babygirl might reach the single digits.” Hawks had sneered in your face. “If she manages to fuck her way through them.”

Your jaw had dropped, and you pretended to cough on sawdust and kicked him off in the confusion. Hawks had grabbed a hold of your calf, grappling for your thigh, while you’d scrambled to climb over crates to the gurgling mess on the other side; you could handle it, and you would.

You’d slapped his hands away, wrestled out of his grasp again and again, and you’d launched yourself into the dust—

Yeah.

While the fluorescent lights flickered overhead, you picked at a hangnail. You hadn’t braced yourself for the explosion, so, you guessed you deserved whatever was wrong with you now. Big-ass gashes on your stomach. Probably broken ribs. Something felt off in your left leg, besides—oh, ho, what had the doctors thought when they’d seen Hawks’s scratches?

What an idiot.

When the door creaked open, the nurse returned with a mug of water for you, but—what? Who’s that bitch following him?

You blinked, twice. With his hands in his pockets and his nasty little wings tucked in behind him, Hawks meandered to your bedside, his gaze on your throat as you swallowed down water.

God, you’re too tired to deal with him. Let’s get this over with.

The nurse glanced over his clipboard. “I’ve already told your partner this, but I thought you would want him here.”

Maybe if you ignore Hawks, he’ll leave.

“You were very brave today,” said the nurse, “Your work as a hero is greatly appreciated. You’re on temporary leave to heal, though. Like I said, you’ve got three, major gashes on your stomach, and your leg’s broken—the fibula split, if you want to know. You’ll be on crutches for a while. You have four broken ribs, and—” The nurse bit his lip and softened his voice. “You hit your head pretty hard. Nothing’s broken, but you should have amnesia, with the trauma you’ve endured.”

Should have? They don’t know? You sure as hell don’t fucking have amnesia. It barely happens in real life, and it definitely hasn’t happened to you. You remembered every fucking infuriating thing Hawks did to ruin your mission, and if he doesn’t square up—

“I’m so sorry, baby,” said Hawks, grabbing your hand. He stroked the back of it with his thumb, and then he took his glove off to hold you skin-to-skin. “You remember who I am?”

You just stared at him.

“Your fiancé’s been a real presence in the waiting room,” said the nurse, “He hardly stopped pacing the entire time you were in surgery. He wouldn’t even talk to fans.”

Oh, my God.

Holy fucking shit.

“Oops, sorry,” said the nurse, covering his mouth, “I know you were keeping it a secret. Don’t blame him, please; he only told me to be able to see you immediately.”

Shutting your eyes, you took a deep, deep breath. You have been handed a golden opportunity on a fucking Hawks-shaped platter, holy fuck, and by God are you going to take advantage of it. Imagine how much you can fucking humiliate him, how far you can take it. How much you can make him pay for how he treated you, and now, if he says he’s your fiancé, then he’s gonna fucking worship you. You’re going to mould him into your little bitch, and he’s going to thank you for it. And you’ll get endless dirt on him just by seeing his place.

Don’t fuck this up.

Exhaling, you opened your eyes, blinking a bit. You curled your lips into your mouth, biting the lower one. “I remember you’re Hawks,” you said in a nervous voice, “and I remember, uh.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, sweetheart.” Hawks squeezed your hand, his tone kind. “It’ll come back in time.”

You clutched Hawks’s hand while the nurse rattled off instructions and gave you your crutches, and Hawks squeezed your hand back, softly smiling at you.

When the nurse left, you turned to Hawks and said, “I’m so, so sorry, but I—I feel like there’s something big missing that I can’t remember.” You scratched your forehead with your free hand, dragging the IVs with you.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Hawks tilted his head, still gazing decidedly down at you.

“Oh, God,” you said, “Oh, fuck. I don’t know. Um.” Take it back. Take it way back. That way he’ll dig himself into a deeper hole. The more lies he has to create, the funnier it’ll be. “Let’s see, I, hm.” You already weren’t speaking like yourself, but you looked upward as you faked combing through memories. “I don’t know how things work chronologically, but the most recent memory I have of you is—it’s after a press conference, and I’ve never been in the building before,” you said slowly, “And I can’t find the bathroom, but some press keeps following me, and I—I faceplant in between your shoulder blades, right between your wings. You—” You lowered your voice, shrinking a little in the hospital bed, “You got rid of them so easily, with just a gesture, and you put your arm around me. You were—” You shook your head, staring at both of your hands. “—so warm.”

Was that too thick? That was too thick, wasn’t it?

His free hand shot to his mouth, and he bit his knuckle. “But sweetheart, that’s,” said Hawks, his eyes watering, “That’s only around the third time we met.”

You know.

“Shit,” you said, widening your eyes, “How long ago was that?”

“Three years.” Hawks squeezed your hand and kept the pressure longer than was necessary. “Three fucking years. You don’t remember anything past that?”

You pretended to be scared to look at him. “I’m sorry; I’m so sorry—”

“No, no, you don’t have to be,” said Hawks, and he leant towards you to lift your chin, rubbing his thumb against it, “It’s not your fault.”

You had to hand it to him: Hawks was a good actor.

But so were you.

***

Hawks disappeared for a while after that, but he manifested the day you were loosed from the hospital, more than giddy to carry all of your shit all the way to your flat. He was probably getting some sick pleasure from watching you hobble on your crutches.

“I can help you, if you lean on me,” said Hawks, giving you an easy grin, “I don’t want you to be in any more pain than you have to.”

“This is something I should do myself,” you said in what was hopefully a tough-it-out voice, “I’d like to be able to walk without depending on anyone.”

“I honestly think you ought to be in a wheelchair.” His wings bristled. “But what do I know? I could fly us to your place, if you like.”

“I don’t like. I’ve gotta concentrate on limping. Stop talking, Hawks.”

You got to your flat, and Hawks had guessed which key opened the door on the first try. Drat! He was already doing a good job of acting like he’d been here before, like he’s not surprised that the number fourteen hero lives in a pretty shitty apartment (you started living here as a student and got too damn comfortable for your own good—plus, you didn’t want your cat to endure the trauma of moving).

Hawks plopped your keys in the bowl by the door with a clatter, and he shut the front door behind you, flipping one of the locks.

He set your stuff neatly on the kitchen table—your purse, your tactical pack, your ropes—and lay your dry-cleaned hero suit over the back of a kitchen chair, and his hands were on you the next moment to guide you to your tacky, sunflower couch. Removing one crutch, he put your arm over his shoulder instead, one hand planted on your lower back above your bandages, and he eased you down onto the cushions.

Hawks then stepped over your legs to sit on your opposite side, and he brought your legs to rest in his lap, his hand gripping your non-casted leg. “Gotta keep it elevated, chickadee.”

You let yourself giggle. Time to get this shitshow started. “Thank you so much for helping me, Hawks; I know I’ve been a real hassle these past few days, and you shouldn’t have to deal with that sort of stress. You’re already under so much. I don’t understand how the commission would let you date anyone, let alone propose.”

“Oh, I know,” said Hawks, spreading himself out on the couch. He shifted himself to face you in addition to accommodate his wings—he was now positioned so that they’d drape over the arm of the couch instead of being squished against the back cushions. That bitch, he probably wasn’t used to couches that weren’t custom made to his special body requirements. Spoiled fuck.

“The commission was really pissed when they found out. Do you remember how, sweetness? Right, I’ll tell you,” said Hawks, running an ungloved hand through his hair before shaking it loose. “You remember up to the press conference with the faceplant. Short version is that you hated me for a good year before something clicked. You started acting awkward whenever I was around, avoiding me, and stuff. Sometimes getting red. I thought it was cute.”

You ducked your head. Flustered. He probably likes easily flustered women.

Wait. That’s not who you are. And he’d like you for who you are, if you’re engaged.

But at the same time, if you’re (gag) in love with him, wouldn’t you be flustered by some of the things he says?

Easy, baby. Take it as it comes. Pick your battles. Go with your gut.

And gut says make Hawks eat shit.

“You think I’m cute?”

“I know you’re cute.”

You’re going to stuff his own feathers down his throat.

“We got together at that dinner Endeavor’s agency sponsored. Do you remember that at all? That place with the purple lights. You’d gotten nervous from the crowd and had gone to take some of your anxiety meds. I caught you in the hall back from the bathroom and talked you down before going back out there.” He grinned sheepishly. “I’d like to say I’m the one who kissed you, but you took initiative before I had the guts.”

Funny. Hilarious, in fact. That was the night Hawks had solidified himself as the Biggest Dick in the World, because yeah, he’d caught you in the purple-lit hallway, but he’d caught you on the way to take your meds, not on the way back. You were talking yourself down from a panic attack and couldn’t argue him away, so he’d followed you into the bathroom, running his mouth and acting like it was an accident when the tip of his wing had knocked your two capsules down the sink.

He’d told you that if you’re a big girl, you’d be able to handle the rest of the night. Or you could leave at any time with him, and he’d make excuses that everyone would have to accept.

Honestly, you’d love to let his fake memory be true, because then, you’d be able to wear purple again without feeling queasy.

Cocking your head, you smiled. “That doesn’t sound like something I would do.”

Hawks let out a light laugh, craning his neck to rest his head on the back of the sofa. “That’s what you said that night, too. About how it felt out of character.”

“Was I good?”

Lifting his head, he raised an eyebrow at you: probably the first genuine emotion he’s shown you the whole time he’s been here. “Hm?”

“When I kissed you. Was it good,” you asked flatly.

“Oh,” Hawks said, his wings puffing out just barely, “Oh, sweetheart, you were amazing. Groundbreaking. Show-stopping.” His tongue flicked over his lower lip, and he shifted underneath your legs, leaning slightly towards you but holding eye contact before carrying on.

You shook your head. “I don’t have the energy to give you the makeout session you deserve,” you said, envisioning drowning him in the bathtub, “I’m exhausted. Forgive me.”

“Always,” said Hawks, “Want me to keep going?”

“You can hardly eat me out when we haven’t kissed yet.”

“I meant,” said Hawks, pausing to visibly swallow (was it real?), “about our relationship, but if you wanna eat—”

“Nah, keep going. So, I started the relationship? I must be crazy. Neither of us have fucking time to sleep, let alone be in a relationship.”

Hawks never shut up about how he was taking time out of his endlessly packed days to spend time with you, how time was precious to him, and if he’s spending time with you, why, then, you’d better pay up, bitch (always accompanied with his hands on his belt, subtly pointing his thumbs towards his cock).

Hawks shrugged with his wings instead of his shoulders. Interesting. Has he ever done that before? “The commission said that, but after I insisted we’d make time, they relented. Eventually,” said Hawks, jerking his head to the side, “Our quirks don’t exactly fit well, so we haven’t worked with each other professionally too often, and, of course, we’ve had to hide our relationship so that we can’t be a public weak spot to each other. Plus, we’re more marketable as eligible, young heroes.”

“Fuck the market,” you said, slumping into the pillows.

“There’s my girl,” said Hawks, grinning with his tongue caught between his teeth, “There’s her spark. I know, baby. I feel the same way, but being made into libidinous body pillows pays the bills, y’know?”

Nodding, you brought one of the couch pillows around for you to hug, and you smushed your chin into it. “Hawks,” you said, so quietly you almost couldn’t be heard over the A/C kicking on, “How long have we been engaged?”

“Four months,” he said, his grin unconsciously fading until he was essentially baring his teeth, “Since the twentieth.”

Taking a moment, you said, “I can’t remember anything at all.”

“That’s okay. It’ll come back.”

“No, I can’t—” You slid your hands through your hair, pulling at it, and you heaved a sigh. “Goddammit, Hawks. I wish I could—fuck. I’m missing something huge. I know I am.” Make him nervous. Make him lie awake at night. “I’m sorry, Hawks. It’s probably something really important, and I—”

“Shh, shh, shh, shh, it’s all right,” said Hawks, and he stood to lean over you, his hands rising to cup your face, and holy shit, his hands cover so much of your skin; is that legal? He’s got hands. “Don’t worry, baby. You’ve had a big day. Turn your brain off. I’ll take care of you.”

Red flag! Big, red flag! Creep! He’s a creep!

Your gaze fell to his jacket pockets. Does he carry date rape drugs on his person?

“Hawks, I don’t wanna inconvenience you any more than I have.”

“I’m your fiancé,” said Hawks, actually looking you straight in the eyes and not breaking, “I want to take care of you.”

“Sure, in the way the mob takes care of people.”

Hawks’s mouth opened slightly, and his eyes narrowed.

Cover it up. “I’m not sorry. I don’t trust your cooking. You’ll poison my spaghetti!” You made a dumb gesture, pinching your fingers together. “Have you seen The Godfather? There’s actually a pretty legit spaghetti recipe in it; it’s not too bad, but it’s kind of watery—”

Hawks brought your hand to his mouth to kiss your knuckles and let his lips linger. “Watch it with me?”

You shook your head. “I’m too tired. I’m going to bed.”

“I’ll join you.”

“No,” you said, “My bed’s not made with your wings in mind.” Fuck off to your own little sex next, Hawks. Get out of here. “If they got hurt, it’d be my fault. Go sleep in your own bed, all right?” Go home. Get mugged on the way.

Hawks sighed, blowing his hair out of his eyes. “If you insist. But you’ve gotta reach out to me for anything you have trouble with, yeah? Memories, opening jars, orgasms, you know.”

“I’m leaving,” you said, reaching for your crutches, “Ten minutes ago.”

***

“You didn’t tell me how you proposed.”

Hawks froze mid-bite of his ramen, but after a quick beat, he slurped the rest of the noodle up. “I was hoping you’d recall that on your own, baby. Get your own feelings about it, instead of me telling you how to feel.”

If you weren’t faking amnesia, you’d fucking break his nose for that. Bastard.

“I imagine once you tell me, the feelings will rush in,” you said, clicking your chopsticks twice for emphasis, “I want to remember everything, and if I don’t, well, I want to fall in love with you again.”

Hawks’s gaze glazed over for an infinitesimal moment. Score.

“It’ll sound goofy once I describe it.” With his wings cramped against the back of the booth, Hawks scratched the back of his neck—a classic move for pretending to be embarrassed. “I’m not exactly known for being romantic.”

Yeah, he’s known for fooling around with anyone who’s glittery, like a goddamn crow. If you’re paying attention.

“Aw, but Hawks, you’ve been nothing but so effortlessly romantic to me since I’ve been convalescing,” you said, rolling up the paper wrapper of your straw and soaking it in the ring your cup left on the table.

“Right, well. I flew us out to the countryside, to this overlook halfway up a mountain. You liked going rappelling there a lot. To practise for missions.” Hawks had some of your habits down, at least. Bet he gets the location wrong, though. “We watched the sunrise. We shared a thermos of tea. I asked you once the sun had risen, but you didn’t say yes right away,” said Hawks, “You jumped off the overlook without your gear, and I caught you. You were furious about it—you didn’t want me to see you overwhelmed. But you said yes.”

Ugh. That sounded about right. That sounded pretty realistic. Hawks was a fucking stalker.

“Fuck,” you said, burying your face in your hands, “That’s cute.” You stretched the skin of your cheeks before releasing, and you returned to your ramen. “Question: did we put the ring into storage, or something? I don’t have the little indent on my ring finger from wearing a ring too long, and I haven’t found anything at home.” Make him sweat. Make him stumble. Where’s the ring, Hawks?

With a flash of his eyebrows, Hawks maneuvered his straw to his mouth using only his lips, looking quite stupid, in your opinion. “Figured you’d ask that at some point. I’m so overjoyed to see you every time that I forget to bring it up. The ring’s been sent off to a high-level, government-backed, support company. I’ve pulled in a favour from the higher-ups. I wanted to turn your ring into something a little more personal and incorporate one of my feathers into it,” said Hawks, taking a moment to slurp his drink noisily, “Depending on how well it goes, I’d be able to help you if we’re separated and know where you are. At the very least—” Hawks ducked his head to give the illusion of staring up at you with wide eyes, his blond eyelashes light against his skin. “—I’d be able to feel your heartbeat. It would bring me great comfort.”

Great, so he’d have a GPS on you at all times, knowing whether or not you went somewhere he didn’t want you to. He’d be able to tell if you went somewhere your non-amnesia self would know about. Great. Phenomenal.

“Hawks, that’s very sweet,” you said, fiddling with the remnants of your straw wrapper, now fizzled out of its snake shape, “Wouldn’t the process hurt you, though? Since you can feel it.”

“Nothing more than a twinge, sweetheart,” said Hawks, holding up his hands, “And I’d bear any amount of pain for your sake.”

You fantasised about beating his head in with the back end of a rifle.

***

When you were told Hawks was waiting for you outside of the recording booth, you told the messenger that Hawks could wait until you were finished with five more takes. You could picture Hawks’s little pout at the news, his feathers bristling despite the closed space, and resigning himself to sit in one of those clangy, metal chairs out front, having to hunch forward so that he didn’t crush his wings.

The idol group adored the ingenuity of bone-crunching as percussion in a song, and along with that and some other combat foley, you were singing the bridge with the rapper of the group (the dance captain would sing your part for live shows). It’d be a good promo for the girl group and for you, and the song, “Spine,” was going to be released as a single as soon as it was polished.

Hawks perked up the moment you stepped through the secondary door to the booth, his eyes brightening and wings spreading to take up more space. “I didn’t think I’d catch you,” said Hawks, standing to take your hands (the cold leather gloves sucked the heat out of your hands), “I’ve got to fly, soon, but I wanted to tell you personally.”

“You’re not pregnant,” you said, fighting the urge to break his goggles/visor/hat thing.

His lopsided grin widened. “Not yet, baby. There’s gonna be a heroes’ gala held at the end of the month, and I wanted to let you know that I’m doing everything in my power to make it a positive experience for you. Here, I’ve got this woman’s phone number,” he said, fishing a slip of paper out of his jacket, “She’ll help accommodate the venue for your leg.”

Stupid fucking bastard man. He probably wanted to pick out your clothes himself, infantilise you and dress you up like a goddamn doll. Deny you your personhood. “I’ll be out of the cast by then.” You slid the paper into your back pocket.

“I know,” Hawks said in a way that was a fucking lie, “I just don’t want there to be any accidents. I can’t have my babygirl any more hurt than she is.” Hawks placed his cold, gloved hand against your cheek, and you, shutting your eyes, made yourself lean into it. “But contact her. She’ll make it the safest place it can be for you, even when I have to leave your side.”

God, galas were great. Big events for villains to ruin. You licked your lips thinking about using a new move you’ve learnt to take a villain down (involving clamping your legs around the villain’s neck to choke him as he crumpled to the floor—your combat coach had banned you from the move after you made her pass out). “Are we announcing our engagement, then? If we’re going together?”

“I’d love to,” said Hawks, “but only if you want to. The ring could be ready by then, if I ask them to rush it—”

“Let’s do it.” If you plunged the ring into icy water, would he start to shiver? Ooh, your ring’s going to act as a fucking bay leaf in your soups for a while.

“Oh,” said Hawks, sighing lightly with his eyes fluttering shut. He pressed his forehead to yours and rubbed his thumb over your cheek. “You have no idea how much that means to me, sweetheart. You are so dear to me, and I want everyone to know it. The best damn thing in my life. Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you said, placing your hand on his face to push him away, “Don’t you have work to do, screw boy?”

***

“Did we have a date?” you asked from the edge of the bathtub.

Hawks dipped the razor in the water, washing off the hair and shaving cream. “We’ve gone on so many, darling; you’ll have to specify.”

“No, I meant for the wedding.” Let’s once again play: Can Hawks Cover His Own Ass?

Hawks dragged the razor down your freshly exfoliated, freshly-un-casted, freshly not-broken leg, starting at your knee. “Nope!”

“No explanation?”

“You wanna get married tomorrow? A six-month engagement is rather short, don’t you think?” His nose twitched. He’d said the scent of your shaving cream irritated his nose. Good.

“I don’t. Why didn’t we have a date for the wedding?” You eyed the actual and literal pile of your dead skin on the towel. Maybe you should make Hawks snort it.

“We were too busy working; you’d said you didn’t mind having a long engagement, so long as I was yours. Then, uh, you know. The accident,” Hawks said with a shrug—with his shoulders this time, because if he moved his wings while he was crouched in your bathtub, he’d soak them, and they were a bitch to dry, apparently. Suffer, you rat bastard.

“The commission isn’t involved in that decision?”

“I thought that was implied,” said Hawks, gripping your ankle to turn your calf to the side, “They don’t want it to be a huge spectacle, so even I don’t know how much of a wedding wedding they’d let us have.”

He’s too damn good at this. If he weren’t a pro-hero, he’d fit right along in a theatre troupe.

You’re going to wring his neck.

You caught him staring at the crotch of your underwear (bone-dry, you might add) while he shaved your thighs, and he spent more time rubbing lotion into your inner thighs than anywhere else. He tossed your dead skin before you could make him eat it, and he scooped you up against your protestations about your weight and capability, humming while he carried you to your bed.

The fucker tucked you in and rounded up your cat to place in your arms (your cat disagreed with him and promptly leapt off the bed).

“Let me stay with you,” said Hawks, kissing each of your fingertips. It’s an order.

Yet you shook your head.

***

“The doctors said you shouldn’t drink,” Hawks said under his breath, taking the champagne flute gently from your grasp.

“But I want to,” you said, sticking out your lower lip, “I’m wearing goddamn heels and a fucking dress. I’ve got on makeup, for Christ’s sake. I’ve done my time; let me drink.”

“Baby, you’ve got to stay safe,” he said, and he set the glass next to some 40s-level hero’s place at the long, white tablecloth. “There’s already press paying more attention to us than usual. You wanna make a fool of yourself?”

“Yes,” you said, lifting another champagne flute from a passing gala waiter, “Who gives a shit about the press.”

Hawks laughed too loudly to be natural before lowering his voice. “Baby, you are gonna be the death of me.”

“Promise?”

***

When “Spine” was released on a cool, spring morning to an excitable audience, you were lurking in alleyways by the docks, searching for a fight. When the music video dropped, you were smashing some guy’s face into a concrete wall. While more and more citizens recognised you and your talent, your work for the community, your connections, your popularity—with your rank steadily rising—you were rappelling down a port sewer to pummel a slime villain into dust.

You wiped his blood off on your pants, hands devoid of anything that could taint. You’d left the ring at home.

***

“You tricked me,” you said, scowling as Hawks pushed you forward, “This isn’t the rock climbing park.”

Once you deliberately smashed your face into the glass door and crossed your arms, Hawks held the door open for you. “Would you have dressed up so nicely for rock climbing?”

“A meta-game challenge,” you said, “to rock-climb in a long skirt.”

You glowered about the restaurant while you and Hawks stood in the lobby, his hand low on your back, suspiciously respectfully. You made no effort to hide your distaste: it was the place with the purple lights.

Over there at the absurdly long bar, Endeavor had drunk flat whisky without so much of a growl at anyone, despite it being his event. Hexagonal tables with lilac tablecloths dotted the floor—you’d hidden in one of the few booths, up against the exposed brick wall—but your hiding place had been ruined once a violet disco ball had emerged from the ceiling. Shiny, wooden floor that had reflected your post-panic attack face right back at you and let every shoe strike it with a clatter. No silence allowed.

The whole restaurant had lavender LED lights running around the walls, swathing the place in a distorted sort of purple haze, and any candles lit on the centre tables had indigo flames—you’d focused on how those might have been made in the process of coming down from your panic attack.

God. You’re going to throw up.

The hostess escorted you and Hawks to a farther back room, this one with booths separated by small, brick walls that didn’t reach the ceiling yet concealed the booths’ occupants from each other—unless you were passing directly in front of one.

Hawks made you sit in the booth first, trapping you in as he settled. He had to be on the edge, anyway, he told you, because of his wings. You’re going to rip them off and boil them in the soup.

The two of you ordered. You don’t remember what. You can only channel so much of your nerves into jostling your leg. This is not cool. This place is not cool. You need to get out.

“Hey, let me through,” you said, nudging Hawks, “Bathroom.”

Once there, you lightly slapped your cheeks a couple of times, trying to ground yourself through physical sensation. No use. Can’t they fucking use normal lights in this place?

You didn’t have your panic meds, because you’ve never needed them rock climbing. You can do it. You’re fine. You’re fine. Your tongue is too big for your mouth.

You took your time meandering back to the booth, coming to a halt at the end of the narrow hallway and ducking behind the corner.

Endeavor stood by your booth, his arms crossed over a flaming chest. You caught your breath at the sight of his orange fire, a comforting contrast to all the damn purple, but still—Endeavor. Talking to your (gag) fiancé.

Without the courage to interact with Endeavor, you listened at the corner for his departure.

“Nah, she can handle her bladder just fine. It’s her nerves,” Hawks was saying, hidden by the bricks, “She likes hiding. She doesn’t necessarily like being in the spotlight.”

“Yet she hasn’t completely withdrawn as Eraserhead has. You’ve picked a strange one to marry.”

From the angle Endeavor glared at him, Hawks must be slumping in his seat. “But that’s what so great about her. And it’s hard to process, y’know, like, she’s finally mine. You follow?”

“Regrettably,” said Endeavor, “Regardless, I offer my congratulations that your courtship finally worked out in your favour. You should have told me sooner.”

Courtship. That’s a funny way to pronounce bullying.

“Eh, I’ve gotta have some secrets, don’t I? Can’t betray my otherwise cool exterior.” Hawks laughed. “I can’t believe I’ve been allowed such happiness. The woman I’ve loved for years is gonna be waking up to me every day soon, y’know?”

Hawks has got to know you can hear him, otherwise he wouldn’t be saying those things. Endeavor must be in on Hawks’s ruse, since Endeavor is Hawks’s closest—actually, Endeavor isn’t the type to revel in romantic shit. Endeavor straight-up isn’t the type to revel. To the best of your knowledge, Endeavor doesn’t genuinely like Hawks as so much as tolerates him; when did they get so close? It must have taken a long time—

Time.

You could feel your IQ dropping as you actually considered: had you been in a legitimate coma? Had you (fuck) genuinely had amnesia?

No, no. You don’t live in Crazytown. Your eyebrows hadn’t been overgrown when you’d woken up in the hospital. You’d only been there a day.

Of course, Hawks is a vain piece of shit and does his own eyebrows, so he might have considered that yours were a piece of pride/insecurity for you and may have done them while you were—did Hawks do his own eyebrows? That spoiled fuck probably had someone else to do them for him. If they were naturally like that, you were going to throttle his ass.

You didn’t fucking have amnesia. Hawks is and always has been a stupid, clammy birdbrain. He’s always been cruel to you. He didn’t fucking like you.

He sure as hell wasn’t in fucking love with you.

Oh, my fuck, what if your memories of Hawks have been fabricated by a coma-addled mind and that—

“Hey, there,” said—said someone, some pale-ass, sleep-deprived freak who startled you out of your head, “Are you all right? You look—I mean, do you need some water? A chair?”

You blinked, yet he wouldn’t come into focus—you were taking in details about him, ones that didn’t fucking matter (chain on his wallet, three rings all on the left hand, a button-down missing the last button, a cloud of axe body spray), but he didn’t register as a human person. He couldn’t; you hadn’t grounded yourself yet. You yourself still had a frazzled, cartoon scribble buzzing inside of your chest, and until you vomited it up, a panic attack may yet still happen.

You can’t deal with anyone new right now.

A spark of recognition crossed the new guy’s face, and he, through a smirk, asked if you were your hero name.

Oh god oh fuck not now

“Sweetheart,” came Hawks’s melodious drawl (registering first his voice, then bodily warmth, then the wingtip covering your ass), “You were taking so long that I came to check on you.” He pulled you by the waist towards him, blocking the guy from seeing your face by pressing it into his chest. “Who’s this?”

Who cares. All you could focus on (sharp and overwhelming, nothing else but) was how fucking incredible Hawks smelled, and at this point, you’d use anything to bring yourself back down to earth. A small voice in the back of your head told you that freaking out to this degree in this particular situation was leaning towards pathetic, since basically nothing happened, besides being in an uncomfortable environment and being accosted by a fan at the wrong time, but you? You did not control the rate at which your brain panicked.

And really, no rhyme or reason played into why your grabby little hands itched for human contact once safe in the booth again, why Hawks’s scent lay on your tongue more heavily than your soup, why the overwhelming sensation of being so fucking spaced out of it threw its entire weight upon your shoulders—you couldn’t find yourself. You were lost.

And in this horrible, purple place, the only thing that’s familiar was Hawks.

When you scooted as closely as you could to him in the booth, keeping your glare towards your lap while you looped your arm under his to snuggle into it, Hawks cleared his throat to say, “What’s this?”

You scowled into his jacket, both hands gripping his forearm.

He set his chopsticks down. “How can I help, darling?”

Growling, you bonked your forehead against his shoulder, dragging your hands down to his.

“Hey,” said Hawks, and he guided your face towards his and stroked your cheek with his thumb, “Did that guy bother you too much before I got there?”

Turning your mouth towards the hand cupping your cheek, you kissed his palm, bit the leather, and kissed it again before burying yourself in his shoulder again.

He rested his hand on the crown of your head. “What’s the matter? Can you tell me?”

“Not sure I can put it into words,” you said, “I think I wanna go home.” You bit the fabric of his jacket and gnashed it between your teeth.

“I can handle that,” said Hawks, “Gimme a moment to get takeaway boxes, yeah? Then we’ll leave, and you’ll be safe. Don’t worry.”

Unfortunately, you were still clutching onto his arm by the time he unlocked his darkened penthouse (because you’re not gonna hold his hand. God), but you slapped his hand away from the light switches.

“Turning them on would be too much stimulation,” you said, “Please don’t.”

Hawks hummed against the top of your head, placing keys and both of your phones on the kitchen counter. “Bed or couch?”

“Window,” you said.

“Window?”

“I’m assuming you’ve got one.”

“I do,” said Hawks, guiding you through his dark apartment, probably past scarily expensive, posh shit. He led you to what was most likely his living room, with the cool, dim light of the night sky through a vast, single-frame, wall-to-floor window illuminating furniture custom built for his wings, but he eased you down onto the carpet, tugging your shirt upwards so that the window would be touching your bare skin on the small of your back.

Hawks yanked his boots off, late, instead of at the door, and he tossed them over his shoulder. He took yours off, too, and once he’d set them aside, he sat next to you against the window, a hand on your thigh.

“Better?”

“Probably,” you said, staring at the triangle of light beige carpet between your crossed legs.

“Need me to talk? You need to talk?”

“Not right now.”

Hawks was a dumbass. He’s such a fucking dumbass. But he’s a dumbass who’s here right now, and he’s interested (?) in you, interested in helping you. And good golly, you have to be touched. Hawks’s offering warmth, freely, potentially lovingly, and all you had to do was reach out to take it, even if you didn’t reciprocate whatever sentiment was motivating him yourself.

Do you really want to take what you have no feelings for?

Hawks lies a lot to Endeavor. To everyone. He might not have been lying earlier. What reason had he to lie?

Guess it didn’t matter, because you were lying.

But good God, you haven’t been kissed in a long time. Haven’t felt safe or loved. You could…you could indulge for a few hours in order to calm down. You could pretend.

The last ten months had proved that.

“Hey,” you said idly, reaching out to grab the inner fleece lining of his jacket to rub it between your fingers, “Hawks, I’m gonna—I’m gonna put my mouth on your mouth. Okay?”

Hawks’s wings ruffled and constricted themselves so that he could move closer to you, and his hand has migrated from your thigh to grip your hip—how could anyone’s hands encompass that much of you? Your fucking hands couldn’t, not in the way his does.

(Bird man big and safe.)

([No, fuck you, don’t think that.])

(BIRD MAN SAFE—)

Shoved is how you’d describe the first few seconds of the kiss, followed closely by wet and you’d think his teeth would be sharper. Your lips didn’t line up with his completely until he adjusted your chin with two of his fingers, guiding it open just barely, as well, so that his tongue could graze your teeth—it took you a moment of processing before parting them, with a final don’t think! shouted to your neocortex.

Birds have a higher body temperature than other animals, on average having a body temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The colour of their feathers, of course, affects how much light and heat they absorb, with the lighter coloured feathers—say, red—reflecting more, rejecting outside heat sources.

Yet Hawks gripped you like he’d fucking freeze if he weren’t clutching you, if he weren’t straddling your legs, one palm flat against the cool of the window by your head. The other snaked around you, his forearm lying almost vertically up your back to press down between your shoulder blades, keeping you as near to his chest (he probably didn’t realise it, but his fingers ran across the curve of your shoulder blades where his wings were on his own body.

For some reason, the thought crossed your mind that you weren’t enough for him, because you were too dissimilar.)

Don’t think!

When he massaged your tongue with his, applying pressure sporadically, you returned the action—have you ever seen a bird tongue up close? They’re fucking nasty little things, looking more like a grub than anything else. Thank God Hawks had a normal, human tongue that performed particularly delightful, normal things, like drag across the roof of your mouth and aid in sucking phenomenal hickeys onto your jawline, licking over where he’s bitten and kissed.

Stop thinking about bird anatomy. Hawks has no discernible bird traits except for his fucking wings. He’s not a fucking bird man. He’s just some dude with wings. And not all birds have functional wings; for example, the ostrich and the penguin do not have wings to be used in flight—

Oh, my fuck. Turn your brain off.

Your stomach lurched. That had been something Hawks had told you too often, back before your accident.

It’s what he wants.

Hawks fucking whimpered when you pulled the shorter hairs at the back of his neck, prying him away from your skin with great difficulty—he kept trying to touch you with his mouth and tongue in the process.

“Let me have more,” he said, panting, his breath heavy and just below your ear, “Please.” He pressed his lips to the spot in front of your ear in a weak kiss, having spent himself for the most part. “I’ve missed you so much, baby. I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me for so long.”

“I don’t—” You fake-stuttered, but it turned out you needed the time to put your thoughts into words. “I don’t think I’m back yet. I’m,” you said, taking as deep a breath as you could with Hawks smushed against your chest, “Something’s missing. Something big.” That’s right. Steer it back in his direction. Make the bird man sweat. “I don’t—something doesn’t feel right.”

It took a moment, but Hawks nodded fervently, shutting his eyes. “Of course. Yeah. Yeah, I get it, sweetheart. Can’t do anything when your heart’s not in it.”

Your heart’s not the problem. “Thank you for being so understanding, Hawks,” you said, untangling yourself from underneath him, “Would you just, uh, hold me for a while?”

His wings wrapped around the both of you on his enormous bed, still fluttering with each slow breath he took. Hawks almost looked genuine while he slept, and probably for the best—at least he was getting rest; at least his guard might be down.

You couldn’t sleep. Your mind was racing.

***

“Rank speculation is out,” you said, scrubbing the pumice stone over a patch of dry skin on Hawks’s back and scrolling through the twitter with your other hand, “Take a look.”

He opened the link you sent once he’d safely removed a dead feather that had been lodged in an odd spot in a wing. “Huh. Think I could truly take on Endeavor?”

“Well, he’s got that abusive-to-his-family thing, while you’re rocking the preparing-for-my-wedding look, and he can’t network non-aggressively to save his life.”

“Nor can you.” Hawks shot you a smirk over his shoulder.

“Zoom in on my speculated nine, baby,” you said, flicking away some dead skin with a satisfied/disgusted sneer, “And I didn’t have to sleep my way there.”

“Ah, ha, ha,” said Hawks, “Knew you could do it. Whoever’s told you that is gonna have to deal with my foot up their ass. You’re more than capable of getting there on your own.”

“Which I did. I have.” Wait. Hawks told you that. No, it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s a commonly said, misogynistic comment towards women heroes. Hawks isn’t special. “But having your foot up someone’s ass wouldn’t be good for PR, unless you wanted to advertise that you’re a kinky son of a bitch who’s cheating on his fiancée.”

“I would never,” said Hawks, and, contorting his arm, he grabbed your hand with the pumice stone to kiss the back of it, “But my PR is solid, regardless.”

“If the public knew how much time you had to spend preening these fucking wings, they’d probably appreciate you more. Or call you conceited.”

Hawks hummed. “It’s a necessary evil,” he said, returning to his wingtip to search for dead feathers. “Thank you for helping.”

“No problem. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t get to see how—Hawks, holy fuck. Do you feel that?” You ran a finger near the base of a wing.

“It’s your finger?”

“No, this,” you said, tapping the spot.

“No?”

“My God. It’s a dilated pore of a winer,” you said, already reaching for the tweezers, “Right at the base of your wing. It’s basically an enormous fucking blackhead. I’m popping it. Oh, my God. I’ve never seen one in real life.”

“You’re popping it?”

“You didn’t have a problem with my getting the ones where your costume sits.”

“No,” said Hawks, rolling back his shoulders, his wings spreading with them, “Gotcha. Get on with it.”

“Can I film it?”

“What? No,” said Hawks, “No one can see me preening, let alone dealing with acne.”

“There’s sure to be another hero out there with a wing quirk, right? I don’t know how you can’t feel it.”

“Yeah,” Hawks said slowly, “Since my feathers can feel—I suppose where the wings merge with my skin is pretty numb. I haven’t ever had to think about it.” He licked his lips. “Funny.”

He continued to scroll through his feed and tend to his feathers while you worked at his back. “Bad news: the tabloids got a hold of our grocery list from the last time we went to the shops. I must have dropped it at some point in the store.”

“Oh, so do they know what kind of ice cream we prefer? The horror.”

“No, but they’ve brought in some hack handwriting analyst. Talking about our annotations for each other on the list. Something about how you’re logical and I’m a romantic. The writer of the article is practically swooning.” Hawks pulled out a clot of feathers with his teeth and spat them aside. “With good reason, though. The trashy pictures they snapped of us are hot.”

“Describe them to me.”

“I can show you—”

“No,” you said, concentrating on your work, “I don’t want the image imprinted on my brain. Describe them in your own words.”

“All right,” said Hawks, crossing his legs and placing his phone on the coffee table in front of him, “To start, the flash is on.”

“Oh, fuck.”

“Yeah. We’ve got that distantly surprised look going on. It looks like we’re near the eggs and cheese. You’re not looking at the camera, but I believe it’s in the moment I caught it.” Hawks flicked away a feather and let it fall to the carpet. “My hand’s on your waist. The other’s on the cart. You’ve scrunched your face up in concentration; it’s really cute.”

“Aw, we should get it framed,” you said, wiping away the gunk with a tissue and wadding it up so that no one will ever have to see or touch it ever again.

“Never,” said Hawks, “The first picture of us I wanna get framed should be on our wedding day.”

“It’s coming along quickly,” you said, setting aside the tweezers, “Bit more quickly than I’d thought it would.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait,” said Hawks with a light laugh, and you ducked to rest your head against his shoulder, straining your neck to reach him over his wing.

Hawks clicked his non-nasty, non-bird tongue. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

Sighing, you said, “Turn your head this way.”

He did you one better, since he anticipated your plan. He twisted around, keeping his legs crossed as he pulled you into his lap. His wings initially bristled but wrapped around you when his arms did, and Hawks kissed your cheek, once, twice, until he arrived at your mouth, where he barely grazed your lips, rather letting his hot breath spread over your face—and he grinned up at you with half-lidded eyes (he’d left off his eyeliner today, but the natural marks below his waterline kept his eyes sharp, anyway).

“Kiss me, you fucking idiot,” you said, overriding whatever he was about to do by kissing him yourself, hard and open-mouthed, almost violent in its fervent. Yet Hawks held you lightly, delicately, but still close enough to freeze.

You ran your cold, cold hands over his bare abdomen, pressing your thumb down with considerable force to trace his muscles (he grunted at that, and that’s it; that’s right—make him squirm; make him sweat; make him yours). His finger only toyed with the hem of his shirt that you were wearing, as if waiting for you, which didn’t line up with what you had garnered about Hawks at all, but c’mon, man, come on; didn’t you want this all those months ago? Almost a year, now? Years, if what he said to Endeavor is true? But when he flinched away with a shaky breath once your cold fingers circled his nipple, you knew this was where you were supposed to be: right here, in Hawks’s lap, completely destroying him with hardly anything at all. Nothing but light touches and a strategic flick of your tongue. Idiot man. He must really like you if this is doing it for him.

You slowed and opened your eyes at that thought, frowning, and you pulled away. With the back of his hand, Hawks wiped saliva off of both of your mouths, yours first.

He waited for you.

“If you can’t take all of me, then what’s the point?”

He tilted his head. “I’ll take whatever part of you you’re willing to share.”

“I’m missing something.”

“I know.”

“I want to find it before we get married.” You laid your palm flat on his chest, and he grinned at the cold.

“You can find it,” he said, “I know you can.”

“I don’t know what I’m blocking out,” you said, lying—or maybe you weren’t? Fuck it. “Whatever I’m repressing is really fucking with me.”

“Take your time,” said Hawks, running his tongue over his lower lip. “I’m here for—”

“Hawks,” you said, faking the light of realisation in your eyes, accompanied with a sharp inhale, “I can’t remember your name.”

Hawks’s mouth snapped shut.

“You told me once. I know you did,” you said, moving to cup his cheek after tapping the mark underneath his eye, “but the memory—there’s a blur where you spoke. I—” You cut yourself off, biting your lip. “That, that might be it. I don’t know. Everything else about the scene is in perfect detail. I remember what fucking socks I was wearing, for Christ’s sake. But you. What you said. Maybe it’s something so personal, so intimate, that I’ve repressed it. Maybe it was too much for me to handle.” You cupped his face with both hands now, forcing him to look at you. If you hadn’t been scrutinising him for some evidence of breaking character, you wouldn’t’ve seen the minute quivering of his upper lip. Hardly there, but it was there. “It’s a part of you that I want. Even if I couldn’t handle it before, I want to try now.”

Hawks averted his gaze, even though he couldn’t move his head. And bang, you’ve got him. Hawks’s name was still strictly secret, hidden by the commission, but if he’s genuinely in this dumbass situation for the long haul, if he’s truly in it for you, then he would have told you. Even if he wanted you to continue to call him Hawks, your own fiancé would have told you his damn name.

So, this is it. The way out.

Hawks was going to feel so stupid when he found out you’ve been faking all this time. Good. Let each feather burn.

“Keigo,” he said, staring into your eyes with a newfound determination, “My name is Takami Keigo.”

Oh, shit—you clapped a hand over your heart, your eyes widening. Maybe you could play this off as memory recovery instead of absolute shock? But you hadn’t any memories to recover, probably. Holy fuck.

Where do you go from here?

You tried to say his name but ended up simply mouthing it, and after clearing your throat and coughing a bit, you managed to say it aloud. “Keigo,” you said softly, reaching for his hand, “Keigo, I fucking love you.”

You’d only been kissing him for a few moments before his wings shuddered in a muscle spasm and flung you off to the side.

***

Only a commission higher-up witnessed your wedding. She stood silently to the side the entire ceremony in the courthouse and only shook Hawks’s hand afterwards.

You and your cat essentially moved into his penthouse and adjusted. Your mostly empty apartment stayed leased under your name.

Sometimes, you’d note that you turned your brain off and instantly be hit with a lightning strike of self-loathing—but you didn’t have to consciously decide to be affectionate with Hawks. Being with him came naturally and easily. Probably for the best, since if you had to think about it, you’d screw it up.

You stayed together. Supported each other. Sneaked out to see the other on patrol. Took care, listened to each other. Defended each other. Worked it out.

And now, you stared up at the ceiling fan whirling in your darkened bedroom, Keigo lying on his stomach next to you in the bed as he slept. Your cat catloafed between his wings and nestled into them, rising and falling with each breath he took. Hawks was perfect, always saving the day, working up a routine to mesh with your fighting style and quirk, always charming and easygoing with the people he rescued, indulging you in your ferocity, and Keigo, Keigo whispered sweet and dirty things into your ear when he spotted you in public, made you laugh, worked wonders with his cock, helped you clean up before he even thought of preening himself, held you, and made you feel held. He’s got it bad.

And maybe you do, too.

Hawks was going to feel so stupid when he found out.

#bnha #mha #hawks #keigo takami #takami keigo #hawks x reader #hawks/reader #hawks imagine #hawks fic #hawks headcanons #hawks fanfic #hawks fanfiction #takami keigo x reader #takami keigo/reader #takami keigo imagine #takami keigo fic #takami keigo headcanons #takami keigo fanfiction #takami keigo fanfic

347 notes · View notes

hitoshisbabygirl · 4 years ago

Text

Author's Notes ♡: Hello hello! Welcome to my first JJK fic for our free for all Valentine’s Day collab! I had fun with this free idea , I always wanted to do an AU like this so it gave me a bases for future ideas! Enjoy~ bunny ❥

Warnings : None! Some heavy kissing and such but nothing too explicit , Yuuji and Sukuna are twins ♡

Word count : 3.8k

Paring(s) : Tattooist!Sukuna x F! Reader

Enjoy ♡

———————————————————————

Sukuna couldn't stand it, the girl his brother brought over to his shop plagued his mind. Wide eyed and just as happy as Yuuji it was infuriating how energetic the pair was in the tattoo shop. He was used to the sound of his brother asking for him but once he hear a second voice his hand twitches , eyes moving from the drawing in front of him as his appointment in front of him practically was begging fro his attention, occasionally trying spark up a conversation as he drew out a rose, planned for her collarbone “So, did all of you tattoos hurt?” The girl asked, pushing herself closer as he continued to stech, not paying her much mind. “No, I guess i've always had tough skin though.” He said as the girl hummed and giggled continuing her talking “I've been afraid of needles for as long as I could’ve remembered, but maybe this'll get me over my fear huh?” she questioned as all he did was hum, finishing the small design. “Maybe. Is this okay?” He asked her as she gasped, her giggling increasing to his dismay

“Omg i love it! You're a good worker with your hands” She said as he started to get ready, popping off his rings as he put on gloves, running up red and black inks for the rose to be. “Your right shoulder, right?” Sukuna asked as she confirmed, moving her shirt a bit too low to try to entice him. Pushing more of it back up, Sukuna placed and got the stencil ready, finally looking up to the girl “Tell me if there's anything wrong okay ?” He said as she gave him an almost hungry look “oh please i sure will” And with that he started the tattoo, the girl he was tattooing letting out small cries and gaps. Every one of the sounds made him stop, checking on her as the girl tried to act differently but he knew she was in pain. Once the girl stopped in a crying spell and was able to calm down from the help of the giant tattooist “s-sorry i didn't know my collar bone was so sensitive” she said as he said she was okay, starting to go back to her tattoo once everything was better with the girl. Once finished , she started to pay when she started to hit on him again “ I'm still sorry for that whole thing , how about I get you a drink for the troubles huh?” She threw at him as he gave her a small smile “I have more clients later, and i'd rather not drink, don't really like to unless its special'' Sukuna responded as the girl admired her new rose that covered a small portion of her chest and collarbone “ How about we go celebrate my new tattoo? And the fact you helped me through it huh?” She suggested. Before he could respond he heard the high pitched sounds of laughter. Looking up to his door he saw his annoying brother but with one of the most beautiful girls he ever saw. Once finishing the payment with his client and her sliding her number on a piece of paper his brother came up with his friend “Hey Su! I want you to meet my bestfriend [ ]!” his hyper twin brother Yuuji said as Sukuna looked at the girl in front of them. She looked to be their age , shorter than him with a few tattoos and dyed hair herself. “Nice to meet you young lady”

Sukuna said as he took her hand, giving it a kiss. [ ] giggled as Yuuji fake choked, his brother rolling his eyes at him “ What? Not my fault you've never brought her around me, she's a lady, gotta give her a proper introduction right?” Sukuna teased as Yuuji grumbled causing [ ] to laugh “Well nice to properly meet you Sukuna , ive heard so much about the woman lure bad boy whos the polar opposite of his sweet and innocent twin” She teased as he gave her his own smirk “ Yet i know nothing of the cute little girl standing in front of me” Sukuna lashed back as [ ] felt her face heat up, a laugh coming from her. His brother pouted he stood in front of his brother , giving him a knowing look. “I brought her here for a tattoo, idiot” He said as Sukuna gave him a raised eyebrow, looking at the girl beside him “Is that right doll? Came here for a tattoo?” He asked as she gave him a shy smile back “Well erm, i kinda wanted to start a sleeve with you if that's alright?” with widened eyes Sukuna and Yuuji were surprised together, the strawberry blondes both looking as the girl gave them a confused look back “What? Is that bad?” She asked as sukuna kicked in “Nah, i'm surprised that you'd choose me ,i'm not the usual girly tattoo sleeve maker” He said as she gave him a smile, “And i'm not your usual girly girl who just wants flowers and shit as my tattoo” She retorted back as he gave her an impressed smirk, ushering her to the back of his studio room “You can come too twerp” he said to his brother as yuuji ran to join them, headed to the back room.

This became a recurring theme as over the next few days and even weeks , Sukuna and [ ] met to talk about her new additions, adding and removing elements as they started to get a good picture of what they both thought looked the best together, some ideas being saved for other single tattoos. “So how do you like it so far sweetheart?” Sukuna asked as [ ] gave him an enthusiastic squeal, moving over the turned drawing desk as she fell forward to hug the tattooed covered man. Shocked by her random falling grasp he chuckled, catching her so she wouldn't hit her hip on the swerving table and half giving her a hug back as they laughed together. [ ] pulled back some as she started to notice more differences between the twins. Starting with Sukunas face ; it was more clear and sunkissed, small freckles adorned his cheeks from the sunshine. Unlike his twin, she noticed how more stocky and strong his body and face was compared to Yuuji. The twins were pretty much identical , except for how they acted, the fact that Sukuna had tattoos and the sometimes usual differences between twins, like style and other small discrepancies. Unlike the bright and colorful yet athletic look Yuuji had , Sukuna tended to be more of a dark artsy look, usually black clothes , ripped jeans , rings and chains. He tended to give off the usual bad boy vibes, someone who you wouldn't want your parents to meet.

But under his hard exterior he was very personable , just as sweet as his twin. As she was lost in her own thoughts , her hands pushing off his chest he snapped her back to reality, a finger going under her chin as he gave her a gentle smile , catching the girl in midthought of her tattooist “Aren't you something….what's on your mind [ ]” He rasped out as her eyes widened, realizing how close they were. From the standing mirror she could really see it ; one of her thighs was in between his spreaded ones, the other in his right arm. From her arms wrapped around his neck her face was close to his, the two of them slightly chest to chest. Her body felt hot as the male in front of her smirked, meeting her eyes in the mirror as he looked at the scene in front of him too. Eyeing her in the mirror he could imagine the work to be put atop her skin, and how pretty she'd be in his work, the thought gave him a sense of protectiveness and overall close bond with the girl he was around for more than he'd had before. Spending hours a day , almost everyday except his super packed days had gotten him a closer bond with her and even with his twin brother, the group of them and their other friends relaxing and enjoying time together. The little things that they all did together made him realize how much he enjoyed taking a break. And how much he'd fallen for his new client.

Coming from his own thoughts he pulled her right leg higher onto his lap, causing her to fall forward as she gasped, their faces impossibly closer. “Hm...youre pretty when youre flustered..” he said absentmindedly as he looked back to them in the mirror ,wrapping an arm around her waist as he gave her a sly smile, moving back into the chair he sat in “S-sukuna?” [ ] questioned as he hummed, sliding his eyes from the mirror to her questioning ones. Tracing the hand on his chest he rose a brow, a silent sign to continue. “I-I can get down. I'm sorry i was a little excited-” She continued as she started to move. With quick ease Sukuna kept her in place, rubbing the back of her thigh as he leaned in, pulling her closer by the backs of her thighs “I like you here. You don't have to move unless you're uncomfortable” He said as she ran a hand through his messy hair, sliding it to his cheek as he laid his head in it, kissing her palm. With the small caring action she squeaked , making the male chuckle “Am i...moving too fast” He said , his voice barely a whisper as he tightened his grasp on her waist, eyes searching hers.

“N-no i'm just...surprised?” She half questioned as he gave a knowing smile, shifting her weight to completely have her in his lap. With a high pitched squeal and giggles [ ] landed comfortably , her calves hanging off as her thighs tightened around his waist. “See, isn't this more comfortable?” He asked as she shyly hid in his neck, overwhelmed by his random acts of affection “Sukuna...are you trying to just make me embarrassed” She whined as he stroked her back, putting her face deeper in his neck “Mh..no not particularly..kinda just...thinking” He said as he pulled his phone out. Facing the mirror he took a silent picture, a smirk on his lips as he looked it over. her body was perfectly flushed with his , her arms around his neck as the tattoo down her side was more prominent in the picture. From the way it looked was just a couple taking a handsy photo but for Sukuna, it was a seal for how he felt. He wanted to take more pictures like this, but with them being together. Mirror selfies, clothes or even more explicit for his own gallery ; he loved the way they looked together. Noticing how quiet he was [ ] sat up looking at the male as he set his phone up facing the mirror before squishing her face “Everything okay?” She asked with a squished face as he laughed , releasing her cheeks “I love this..” He admitted as she gave him a wide eyed look , his warm ones looking away from hers

“I know..all of this could be seen as a very lewd way to admit my feelings but..honestly i'm used to just having women want me for free tattoos and well..yknow..my talents'' Sukuna said as he gave her a crooked smile, a laugh coming from [ ] as she understood what he meant, but the fact that he's admitting feelings for her made her heart flutter “S-so you like me?” She asked warily as he let out a light sigh, leaning up to put their faces close again “Hey [ ]...i know this is awkward and embarrassing...for me at least...but..may i kiss you?” He whispered over her lips as she silently shook her head, letting her eyes feel heavy as he got closer, rubbing their lips faintly together. As soon as she tighten her arms around his neck he pushed his record on his phone, sealing their lips together. As the two started to make out he tightened his hands around her waist, a low hum coming from his throat as he bit her bottom lip, sliding his tongue in. the more heated it got the more she whimpered, pulling her kiss plumped lips away from his. Groaning he chased her lips, crashing them against his as they started to kiss again. Letting her nimble fingers move up from his neck she tugged at his hair at the back of his nape, making the male growl as he rocked her closer to him, his larger arms wrapping over her waist.

Once again she whined and pulled away, putting her head against his “Sukuna...I..geez you-” trying to catch her breath he gave an airsh laugh. Ending his video. Catching him touch his phone [ ] reached for it “What did you do?” She asked as he held the phone above his head, watching them kiss again as he grinned “Oh nothing..just wanted my confession is all” He said as she gave him a look “[ ]..i really do like you...god i could say i'm almost in love…” “Almost?” She whispered as he kissed her lips again “More like i am but..i dunno how you feel about me” He said as she gave him a soft look, kissing his cheek “I love the time we've spent together, and well, if you'll have me i'll be yours” She responded. A wide smile on his face as he leaned back in to kiss her, the new couple giggling through the sessions as they finalized the rest, starting on the masterpiece they had crafted together.

Starting on her sleeve was one of the most enjoyable things she had done. Every few weeks to a month depending on the healing time she was adding her next piece. As she finished all of her linework it came to coloring her colorful bits. For the next few months again she finished it, all while spending time with her tattooist boyfriend and friends. As she was to the final stretch of heer coloring she knew valentines day was coming up more and more. Her and Sukuna had been dating for around a year now, just a few weeks shy of it. As she came to the shop she waved to the receptionist, giving him a smile “Hey Megs, how are you?” Megumi, the inky haired boy looked up from his journal and gave [ ] a rare smile, “Hey [ ]! I'm good ,how are you today? Sukunas is in the back if youre ready for him” He said as she gave him smile “That's good! I'm so excited my tattoo should be done just in time for valentines day! Speaking of, do you have an idea of your valentine this year?” She teased as he gave her a shy look “Ah...not particularly but maybe once it came i would” He said as she gave him a nod in understanding. Hearing his girlfriend talking Sukuna came out, a grin on his lips “Hey babe” He said as he gave her a kiss to her neck, causing Megumi to groan as she giggled “Cmon dont make him uncomfortable with your affection, lets go big boy” She joked as she took her strawberry blonde to his room “Ah okay babe let me see your arm” Sukuna started as she took of his jacket, revealing her sleeveless crop top and work of art on her left arm. Turning her arm some he looked over her lines and color deposits , making sure everything looked right. “Its coming along nicely [ ]..i just have this little pieces on your forearm and we'd be done with piece” He said happily as she gave him a soft smile “I love it...just as much as i love you” She said as he looked up from her arm , giving her a shy smile “I love you more [ ]”

Sukuna said as he leaned up, kissing her lips as he set up his inks and machine, snapping his gloves as he started to finish her last pieces. As the buzzing of the machine lulled her comfortingly she caught the determined and concentrated look on his face as he tattooed away “Where do you wanna go on valentine's day...hypothetically speaking” Sukuna asked randomly as she started to fill in lines. Blinking comically, she looked down at her boyfriend. “Anything youd come up with” She said as he hummed, finishing up the last color as he wiped it clean, starting to clean up the ink and smaller tears in her skin hidden by the fresh ink. “Princess...thank you for letting me be the one that did your art…” He said as he traced her hand , kissing her fingertips as he flashed her a smile. “I love you more Su..” [ ] whispered back as she leaned forward, kissing his forehead.

As the two sat there in his studio and talked [ ] drew up a heart with their names in it , giggling as she showed her boyfriend “Look babe!” She said as he stopped cleaning his desk, analyzing her work “I like it, a lot. You did a great job sizing wise, and i always loved your cursive” he said as he ran a finger over the art again “You said you wanted to get better at tattooing, right?” Sukuna asked as he still looked over the design “Yeah i did, what about it?” [ ] asked as he stretched , reaching over as he pulled out his darkest black ink and vibrant red. Soon he picked up two pairs of gloves and one of his various machines “Ill let you do this on me, and i can do it on you if youd like” He said as she gave him a happy screech, starting to make the transfers “Really Sukuna, youd let me do that?” She asked as he nodded, prepping an empty space on his arm “Ill help you, make sure its deep enough but i trust you, you did a good job with the smaller ones on yourself. Youre good sweetheart im here “ And thats what he says the whole time she tattoos him, her lines were straight but she felt like her red names were lacking. Tracing them again the darken, showing up beautifully as she focused, holding his skin apart as she smiled at her work, wiping the access ink and covering it in ointment like he did earlier “I did it!” She jumped happily as he gave a satisfied grin, looking at her energetic girlfriend. ‘I love her’ he thought to himself as he thought of what hed do for her in the coming weeks for the day filled of love

On valentines day [ ] was at home, talking to Nobara as she heard a knock on her door. Telling the girl she'd call back, [ ] started at the door and opened it, seeing a giant bouquet of flowers as she took them nicely from the delivery boy “Uhhh miss [ ] correct? The sender also wanted you to have this” The boy fumbled with a note, handing it to the girl as she thanked him , watching him leave as she let out a happy squeal, reading it.

‘Dollface, I hope you're ready for tonight, I have a lot in store for us tonight. How about you wear that cute little black dress you got last time we went to the mall hm? I'll be over at four-SKR”

Giggling at his note she looked at the time, noting it was 2:00, she went to the back, starting to get dressed as she was excited to see what her boyfriend had planned for them. She took the time to curl her hair, setting them as she worked on her makeup. After taking the time she saw it was around 3:45. She smiled as she got a text from him, saying he was on his way. As she happily ran around her apartment , trying to get rid of the jitters she had for the night planned with her boyfriend. Soon she heard a knock on the door. Skipping to the dor she opened it to her tall boyfriend leaning against the frame, looking down at his girlfriend “Hi darling” Sukuna said as she stood on her toes , giving him a peck against his lips as she giggled “Hi” She responded as he wrapped his arms around her waist , kissing the crook of her neck. “Missed you..” He whispered as she hummed, rocking with him as they stumbled into her living room, Sukuna shutting her door behind him as he picked her up. Laughing , [ ] held onto him, looking down to her well dressed partner. He was in a black vest, adorned with red decals and black pants. Despite him wearing nicer clothes it had the same grudge feel to it, ringed fingers and pierced ears filled with glistening metals very promedent in his attire. As she gave him a glance over from being held in his arms he rose a brow and placed her down, giving her an uncharacteristic shy look “Do i look alright?....tried something new since ill be taking you out” He asked as she kissed his cheek, giving him a content smile “I love it. You still have that edge I fell in love with laced through and through” [ ] said as Sukuna felt his heart jump, a warmth creeping up his neck and face as he kissed her face, taking her hand “Well then...i'm very thankful with a woman like you in my life...thank you [ ]..you ready to go?” Sukuna softly asked as he outstretched a hand to her, making [ ] playfully laugh. Taking her ringed at tattooed lovers hand the duo set off, starting their first Valentines Day together.

Once night rolled around most had been finished [ ] and Sukuna found themselves on a hilltop, overlooking a city as they ate a snack basket that Sukuna prepared. Not only was he a tattooist but he could cook, and cook very well. “If I didn't have the urge to tattoo every square inch of my body with art maybe i'd be a cook” He laughed as she constantly complimented his cooking, laying her head on his shoulders. “This is wonderful Sukuna..ive really enjoyed today” [ ] said as he gave her a look before peering back at the city “I know how much you hated today so...I wanted to do something for you to love it” Sukuna said as she moved up, looking in his warm eyes as he reached out of his pocket, his phone showing their first accidental mirror picture they took together evident as his lockscreen. As he pulled the next thing to it, a shiny ring filed with her birthstone “This is for you, a promise to you” Tilting her head she took the beautiful ring and placed it on her finger, watching it glisten in the moonlight “A promise for what?” she asked “Ill never leave you, and one day...maybe...we could make that promise permanent” He said as he took her hand in his , pulling her in his lap as he sealed that promise with a kiss.

#ryomen sukuna #sukuna x reader #tattoo artist sukuna!#f!reader #jjk au #ryomen sukuna x reader #circus dome collab!#the circus dome collab

288 notes · View notes