#i'm sure some of my takes are a bit weak since it's been awhile since i've seen some of these episodes

[tan1shere]

Baby I could slow down

Ellie Williams x female reader !

A/n: this has been sitting in my drafts for far too long and I had no idea what to do until I was talking with a friend and she helped a bit, so enjoy !!

Summary: Ellie had been your tattoo artist for a bit, you hadn't gotten many tattoos in the past and if you did it wasn't anything huge. But you decided you wanted to get a tramp stamp, til things get heated.

Warnings: smut, mdni. Mirror sex, glove fixation ??? Bit filthy 😇 soft dom Ellie DUH this is me, I'm a soft dom Ellie fanatic. And sub, but kinda confident reader-? Ok that's all 😁

Masterlist

It was becoming an addiction. One tattoo was leading to 3, 6. So on and so on. You had a few tattoos already, but you decided today was the day you got a tramp stamp, you had been wanting one for some time. Only now were you going through with it. You have been going to the same artist since your first tattoo ever. She was your favorite not only was she good at her job but she was hot. And I mean hot. Everyone who knew of her thought the same thing. But she never would look at them like you. You were thankfully a tad blinded by it. Ofcourse you felt slight tension whenever you'd go, but you'd never think much of it. Until today.

You were wearing a white shirt that was tight to your skin, thin. Alongside some black jeans. It was later in the evening and you were her last for the day, which was usually the case, you would always go in the afternoon. You step through the doors, everything was quiet and it was just Ellie there. "Knock knock." You say, soon after seeing her come into the room. "Hey you." She grins slightly. You set your things down going over to the long flat table. "So a tramp stamp huh?" You nod. "Been wanting one for awhile actually." She grabs her black gloves. And you don't know what comes over you but the way she snaps it onto her hands makes you weak in the knees. You swallow, beginning to lay on your stomach on the black leather. "Haven't been in for awhile." She states, grabbing her supplies. You look infront of you, realizing the mirror was right there.

None of the tats youd get involved laying on your stomach. Ellie comes over, taking a moment looking at your curves, the way your lower back dipped as you prompted yourself on your forearms. Her gloved hands come to your sides slowly running along them, lifting your shirt in the process. Only a tiny bit before she goes to your jeans pulling them down just a smidge as you had high rise on, to get to your lower back. "This is going to look so good on you." She compliments. You felt heat rise to your cheeks. You had been just getting yourself sorted that you hadn't noticed there was quiet music going on in the background. Ellie places the stencil on your skin, making sure it was placed good. Once that was all sorted.

She begins to start the pen up, you hear the vibrations. Getting ready for the slight pinchy sting. But in all honesty, it wasn't that painful usually. Her lingering touches on your sides felt nice, in a way almost teasing. "The butterfly suits you." You bit your lip slightly. And this woman looks up for a second, into the mirror. Noticing the action. You didn't dare look back. Everything was quiet in the room, the air filled with something flirty. It was starting to drive you insane.

Eventually there was some small talk, she'd ask about life recently and you did the same. Catching up from the last time you had come in. Her hands softly touch your skin, bringing the needle into your skin. It stung a tiny bit but by now you were use to it. "Comfortable?" She asks. You nod slightly. "Yeah it's easing up the more I come." You look up and in the mirror to see her smiling, yet still focusing on the tattoo. "Glad you come back to me so often." You bit your lip a little. "Yeah course, you're the best at what you do." Her smile turns into a slight grin. "Oh yeah?" That made your heart skip a beat, the way her voice was right now. You wanted to squirm but you knew you had to stay still. Which made Ellie want to tease you even more, knowing you could do nothing. The thought rolled around her brain driving her a little crazy. Her fingers lightly brush your side as she gets a different angle.

Things were quiet, you could feel the slight tension tho. The hand that was on your side now Moves to rest on the curve of your ass. Your eyes go wide at how casually she does the action. It was hot regardless. "Don't mind my hand love, just trying to find the right position." You swallow. "No thats- fine." She lets out a slight chuckle at how rushed that came out. "Just gotta get myself comfortable y'know?" You bit your lip, harder this time. You had to stay calm you couldn't make any movements. But it's as if she was testing you. You peer at her through the mirror infront of you, until you realized the needle had stopped for a second. She was looking right back at you. Your eyes locked for a good minute, when you let out a breath. "Nervous?" She blurts out. You're silent. You're afraid if you open your mouth you might moan. That just makes you shake your head out of that thought. You needed to be the one to focus because Jesus Christ.

"No, just-" But you had no idea how to cover that breath up. Fuck fuck fuck. Was this embarrassing or what. "Going too fast?" That confused you slightly, almost making you choke on your own spit. "With the tattoo darling." Oh. Your eyes blink a few time. "Uhm, yeah just a little.." Great save. She noticed how silent you were all of a sudden. "Baby, I could slow down if that's what you need me to do?" Your eyes meet in the mirror again. "Since this is bigger than you're use to." There was a slight smirk evident on her face. She knew exactly what she was doing. Wording things in such a way. "Uhm, it's ok just new to this, yeah- bigger than what I'm uhm. Use to." She just chuckles again, looking back down at the tattoo. But her focus was more on the way your back was arched. Her brain let it travel to all these thoughts. What it'd be like to see her fucking you from behind, especially with this tattoo. But that wasn't professional, was it Ellie? You let your eyes go away from the mirror, looking down at your hands.

Fuck it. She thought. She was almost done with it anyways. "Well. Whoever gets to be the one seeing this from behind is lucky. Very lucky." - "All done." She then says, to which you move sitting up. "Too bad no one gets to." You say. Ellie was sly, making sure you weren't involved with anyone by that statement. "Huh.. Shame." Your eyes meet yet again, but not before you turn your ass slightly to get a better look at it. You smile wide. "Oh my God I love it!" You beam. "Good good." She goes to clean up, about to take her gloves off when you stop her. "Wait- keep them on." She was a little shocked at the sudden request but did so anyway. You felt bold all of a sudden. "Maybe there's one person who could enjoy looking at it.. From behind." Her smirk grew. "Oh yeah? Who might that be?" You slowly stride closer. "Maybe the one who did it." She looks up at you from her seat, lust peeking through her green eyes.

Was she really going to go through with this. I mean this is her place, she could do what she liked. And it's not like she didn't know you at all. She was still looking at you. So were you, but your eyes traveled to her hands, her own tattoo. Good lord. She soon noticed making her smirk a bit with pride. She liked the way she affected you. She subtly moves her fingers around, she had it resting on her thigh. But since you were watching why not have a little fun. Her arm shortly flexes, making her slight veins stick out. You could feel your breathing getting heavier, you needed it. Needed her. Your eyes meet hers again, when suddenly she's reaching out. Grabbing the back of your thighs and swiftly pulling you onto her lap. Your breath got caught in your throat as you weren't expecting it. Her lips were immediately on yours. This kiss was well needed and hungry.

"Ever since you first came in here I've been wanting to do that." You bit your lip again, looking down at hers. "I think you should totally do it again." And she did instantly. Keeping her hands gently on your waist. "Get back on the table." She says slightly out of breath. "Only if you keep those gloves on." You smirk a lil, making her smirk too. "Yes ma'am." You try not to giggle like a pathetic little looser as she says that, getting back on the table. Her hand came in contact with your jeans before you do, yanking them down. You turn your head to look at her. She examines your body fully. "This will be fun." You smile more getting on the cushion table again. "Everytime I come for a tattoo I always wish we could do something.." You admit.

It boosts her ego crazily. She wastes no time taking your underwear off, gently pulling your legs so you're closer to her. "Mmmm." She let's out lowly. Your head lifts, looking at her in the mirror. "Want you to keep looking into it, want you to watch your face as I fuck you." You felt yourself clench around nothing, getting incredibly desperate for this now. You watch as she undoes her pants, getting out what you've been craving. "Matches the gloves, huh." Her voice made you wetter, and the thought made you close your eyes. She moves over your body grabbing a fistful of your hair, making you reopen your eyes. "What'd I say." Her voice was soft, laced with demand. "You bit your lip even harder. "To look in the mirror as you fuck me." She hums. "Good." You could feel the tip waiting to be slipped in. She does, shortly. Painfully slow if you might add. But once it was all in, you arch your back. Begging for more of it. "Haven't even moved yet babe." But you didn't care at all. You needed this. Now.

"Please." You breath, and it makes Ellie go crazy. She begins to move and not slowly either. In fact it was faster than you had anticipated. She was just as eager as you tho, the way your back arched, the way the tattoo looked. Your curves. She was loving this all too much. You look at her through the mirror, her eyes were looking at your body until then she met yours in the mirror. "Hear how wet you are? You had been wanting this huh?" You finally let out a moan, trying not to be too loud. "God you're so fine, glad you wanted this tat you look so hot with it. Especially in this position." It was her turn to bite her lip, watching as you moved on the strap too. It was intoxicating how this was all making you feel. "I'm so close." You blab, which made her speed up. Your eyes roll back, Ellie swears she could just cum at the sight of you in the mirror. The strap moving in a way that it gets her clit nice, making her groan and speed up again. "You look so good, shit."

Moans, grunts. Whines, were all that could be heard as you both come closer to your release. "Ellie i-" you were cut off by yet another moan. "I know, feel you clenching, mph. You're getting tighter." Your eyes never leave the mirror, and now so do hers. The latex of the gloves come in contact with your hips, sending you into overdrive as this gives her a better chance at slamming into you. You let out a cry of her name as you finally cum around her, Ellie looses it at the sight, the speed hitting her clit still making her cum along with you. All to be heard was heavy breaths. "It's free." She breathes out huskily.

[romirola]

Teaser Tuesday

Hiya, Redacted Fandom! The most wonderful @ejunkiet and @pinksparkl tagged me to share a snippet of a WIP awhile ago, but due to some scheduling difficulties coupled with a surprise power outage, my brother's wedding, and then a rough migraine attack (all one after the other), I had to wait to share something. Thank you for the tag! Because this is so late, I'll say that this is an open invitation for anyone to share a snippet of any kind of WIP.

Below is an excerpt from a oneshot I'm working on written in David's POV. The story chronicles David helping Angel through their mother's recent death, reflecting on the similarities and differences of their experiences losing a parent.

The days since had been a bit of a blur. I helped Angel handle the arrangements and affairs, fighting the flashbacks of how haphazard and confused I had been when I had done the same thing for my father. I wanted to support them as much as I could, though I knew it was important that they feel in control, or at least as in control as possible, when it came to the details of their mother’s final resting place and the way they marked the end of her life.  The whole ordeal echoed my father’s death, but at the same time, it was so different.  I knew what it was to grieve a parent’s death. I had no idea what it was like to watch a parent die.  I was too young to ever remember my father taking care of my mother when she had gotten sick. My dad must’ve done all of this, though. And he did it all while taking care of an infant son, too. As I thought back on the memories of Mom he shared with me over the years, I realized none of them took place during the time of her illness. I wish I had thought to ask him about how he handled that whole experience. Had it made him too sad to talk about with me? Or was he sparing me the details of the truth?  Dad always tried to shield me from darkness and to find the light in everything. I wished he were here now. He’d know what to say to Angel.  I didn’t.  Not for the first time since learning of Angel’s caretaking, I wondered what it might’ve been like to see my dad decline from old age. To see him lose his sense of self to dementia and frailty. I imagined how my dad might’ve morphed from the strong, solid alpha I’d always known him to be into a weak, confused old man. I would watch helplessly as he aged, note how both his wolf and human form would betray him.  Would I have had it in me to learn how to help him shower and shave? Would I have been able to balance my responsibility to the pack with my responsibility of counting out my father’s pills for the week? Would I have patiently endured my father screaming awful things at me, simply because he was confused and frustrated and unable to express himself any other way? Would I have had the strength to tell my father that it was okay to die?  I hoped so, but I supposed I’d never really know for sure.  Angel did all of those things for their mom. And more. 

[allthatyouknow]

Hey, been trying to start a game of beam Saber with pals (super inspired by the enthusiasm you guys give it) I've never GM'd before and I'm not sure how to make enemies, do I just re-use pilot/class's and give them random loads and quirks just like pilots do at the start of the game??

Thanks for the help, been enjoying you guys while I'm painting mini's or at work.

Hey there!

Thanks for writing in.

So unlike a game like DnD, enemies don't use any of the same rules that players do. They don't roll any dice, they don't typically have 'moves' the same way players do (though in some cases they could.).

FiTD games (which beamsaber is part of) has much more of a focus on the narrative than things like stats.

It's also much more fluid. In many ways this makes it easier to run than other games which are more stat focused, but it also relies more on the GM having a 'feel' for the story, with less mechanics to rely on.

To make things the simplest possible, we can frame any opposition as Clocks (page 38 of the beamsaber rulebook).

A single, weak enemy (or a group of weak enemies) probably wouldn't have a clock at all. If you imagine a show or a movie, and think of something that is handled quickly, or enemies who die without much opposition - those sorts of obstacles might not have clocks. A single successful roll would be enough to handle them.

(More below)

On the other hand, a more substantial obstacle (an enemy frame, destroying a dam, evacuating civilians) would have a multi-step clock which would be filled over multiple players actions. When you make a clock, you are saying "this is going to take some time, or a coordinated effort to take care of."

There's a lot more to take into account than just clocks though. Tier (the general strength of your player characters, and their opposition), fictional positioning (are the characters well equipped? Are their actions effective against the enemy?) and so on.

Going back to the original question:

At the most basic level - the answer is that enemies don't follow any of the same rules players do. They exist purely in a story sense. Sure they might have weaponry, or special abilities - but they don't have a character sheet - and their weapons and abilities just inform how difficult they'll be in the story, and how they'll be responded to.

Retribution, for instance. Doesn't have any equipment laid out. My notes about him are that:

He's a tier 4 enemy, meaning an isolated tier 1 pilot would probably have limited effect against him from the get go.

He can form weapons out of thin air, so he can use whatever weapon I think is coolest in the moment (lol)

He can teleport, meaning he can jump around the battlefield, or even leave entirely when defeated.

He fucking hates Geist!

(It's also noting that since Retribution is a Rival he has special rules and actions he can take: see page 77)

Brighter minds than I have written a ton on running these systems. And it's worth noting that I definitely bend the rules sometimes during our podcast.

Learning them can take a bit but I'd recommend a couple things:

Read the book thoroughly, and multiple times.

Look up any questions you have about the system, in most cases there will be more information on resources for Blades in the Dark or Forged in the Dark which is the parent system to beamsaber. Seriously, there's a TON of resources out there for this stuff.

If you have system specific questions, the creator of the game @austinramsaygames has a blog here on tumblr! You can submit system-specific questions to him at beamsaberrpg@gmail.com. He's always been very patient and kind with any of the questions I've sent, even when they were sometimes a bit self-evident :).

Okay I've rambled on for awhile, anyways THANK you again for writing in (and leaving comments on our youtube videos :), it's always great to hear from a listener.)

[p5x-theories]

Now that Messa my beloved tumblr sexyman is out

Can you give us what you believe is going to happen with Cherish?

As in like what type of character do you think he's going to be what type of damage,what personality traits, how you think he'll interact with wonder and friends all that jazz

And things like what type of weapons he'll use

just your personal theory/what you'd like to see from Cherish since it'll probably be awhile until we get more on him

(sorry for the longer question)

Haha, well, we really don't have much to go off of! I'm assuming you're asking about the new teammate coming in 2.3.2, who's suspected to be Cherish, but we don't know for sure yet?

If the upcoming teammate is Cherish, then we know he's an Ice type Defense teammate, much like Soy, although probably more powerful, since he's a 5-star. I'm expecting him to have more medieval/historical weapons, given his appearance? But who really knows, haha. He just seems to have a sort of knight/paladin vibe to me, so I'm making vague guesses based on that.

We only have two Defense teammates right now (Soy and Yuki), so I'm really curious to see how he'll work. Soy boosts the max health of his teammates and draws enemy fire, while Yuki gives shields to the team, but I have no idea if Cherish will operate similarly to one of them, or do something completely new. I'm trying to think of what new things he could even do; buffing dodge chance, maybe...? Or lowering enemy accuracy or damage...? Helping cover the weaknesses of teammates...?

The most interesting thing if Cherish is the new ice teammate is the implications. The announcement described the new ice teammate as “What kind of different story will this elegant and generous senior have?”, which doesn't match with what we previously knew about Cherish, which is that he's supposed to be the character that appears in Kiyoshi's Confidant (and a first year, like Kiyoshi). If the new ice teammate is Cherish, it means that they repurposed the character, and Cherish is no longer Kiyoshi's friend Take-kun.

Which would be a bit of a shame, but not a complete surprise, since it sounds like the Chinese fandom has complained about Confidants focusing on the character's relationship with another character (and not just Wonder), as is the case with Yaoling and Yukimi, Kayo and Reo, Tomoko and Kotone, etc. and the developers have been moving away from doing that. If they no longer wanted Kiyoshi's Confidant to focus on his relationship with Take-kun as much, it makes sense to repurpose Take-kun's model into a different character entirely.

(Not to get slightly off-topic, but that does then have concerning implications for whether Narumi Nashimoto (from Merope's Confidant), Tamayo Yoshida (from Motoha's Confidant), and Takumi Serizawa (from Shun's Confidant) will ever become Phantom Idols, though it's really hard to say for sure when things are this flexible.)

From such a little snippet of information about Cherish in the post, it's really hard for me to speculate what he might be like, but I do wonder about the word "generous". What's he generous with? Money would be the obvious one, but it could also be his time (helping people), or some kind of item (food, school supplies, etc.?), or it could even be a misleading mistranslation courtesy of Google Translate, haha. I suspect his Confidant might revolve around why he's generous, though, and/or the potential drawbacks of generosity. But that's a bit of a shot in the dark, when we literally have one sentence to base this off of!

Of course, it's also possible that the new ice teammate isn't Cherish, since they only used a real world name for the character, and didn't give the codename yet. In that case, it could be Lume instead, since that codename has been sitting in the files for a bit, or someone new entirely. If it isn't Cherish, that basically overwrites everything I just said about the implications for other characters, haha. But it also means I have virtually nothing to go off of, other than the speculation about what kind of abilities he might have that I did earlier, and my guessing about what "generous" might mean here, so I don't have much else to add.

I hope that's at least sort of the response you were hoping for, though, anon!

[thessalian]

Faerun!Alisaie vs Familiars

Astarion: Explain to me why you're taking me down here. This is not the kind of killing I like. It's too ... dry.

Alisaie: I take you along on a looting raid, effectively breaking and entering, and this is the thanks I get.

Astarion: I mean, fair enough, but this is a small-town herbalist--

Gale: A small town herbalist ... with ... a bunch of corpses in the basement, Astarion.

Alisaie: And a whole lot of documentation about powerful bullshit. You like powerful bullshit.

Astarion: ...Oh, fine. But there'd better be something for me to lockpick or I am going to be very annoyed.

Gale: I'm sure there'll be-- Alisaie, what are you doing?

Alisaie: Trying to figure out what this scroll is and why it's in a coffin with a really shitty shovel, a knife that's an open invitation to infection, a rock, some alchemist's fire and ... a ... skull someone painted up like a porcelain doll?

Astarion: You know, I call this particular group a bunch of weirdos on a regular basis, but this? This puts us to shame, weirdness-wise.

Alisaie: Welp, here goes. *reads from scroll*

Shovel: *appears*

Shadowheart; Astarion: Whaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuuuuck?

Gale; Alisaie: A quasit? SERIOUSLY?!?

Shovel: So you're Shovel's new master? Are you going to remember to feed me?!?

Alisaie: ...If only to keep you from eating Scratch's food, yes?

Shovel: Good! Then if you're horny for the book like my old master? You go talk to the mirror. And pack burn salve.

Astarion: Fire traps? Been awhile since I've seen those.

Alisaie: Thanks, Shovel, but I don't think we'll need it. *steps up to the mirror* HEY. OPEN UP OR I WILL SMASH THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU.

Mirror: But ... the curse... Seven years bad lu--

Alisaie: Given my current situation, it's already happening so I don't give a shit.

Mirror: *quietly vanishes*

Shovel: Aww. No burning time.

Astarion: Ah, but it's lovely when she gets threatening.

Alisaie: Right. Okay. Shadowheart, want to bring Wyll down here? He's our expert on Dark Magic Shit We Should Not Touch.

Astarion: These traps are weak sauce!

Shovel: Illy figured hiding the doors, the burning time and the friends would keep people out! Illy couldn't do locks worth shit!

Gale: I suppose that's fair. Not that Arcane Lock isn't a wonderful spell, but--

Alisaie: Creepy book.

Astarion: Gimme?

Alisaie: ...It's not like you can open it anyway.

Astarion: ...Boo.

Alisaie: Look, we'll make camp once we're out of here and get some rest. And some food. You look a bit peaky. ...More than usual, I mean.

And, of course, later that night...

Alisaie: *wakes up*

Astarion: *is hovering over her*

Alisaie: So either you reeeeeeeally want that book, or you're finally admitting you're a vampire.

Astarion: I am not a vampire! ...I am a vampire spawn. There is a difference. And I'm too weak to hunt right now, so I thought a little nibble might at least get me to a point where I could stalk a boar or something.

Alisaie: And the fact that I'm an aasimar and you have no idea what drinking my blood would do to you never crossed your mind?

Astarion: Honestly, it was risk assessment. Karlach would probably be alright with it but then my face would be on fire, which entirely defeats the purpose, wouldn't you say? As for the others, they simply wouldn't stand for it, and they all would likely kill me soon as look at me if I tried.

Alisaie: There's a spectrum there, with Lae'zel at one end and ... ironically probably Gale on the other, because he's just a different kind of vampire if you think about it, but yeah. And yet you think I wouldn't?

Astarion: Well ... I did guess you wouldn't immediately attack me, and I was right about that, so...

Alisaie: *sigh* Fine, but a) it is only a nibble, b) you will restrain yourself to feeding on enemies from here on in, and c) if you get a belly full of radiant energy, it's on you.

Astarion: ...What, really? Gods, you are too good for this world.

Alisaie: I expect you to not give me dirty looks next time I'm altruistic in your presence, okay?

Astarion: ...Fiiiine. I suppose it benefits me as well, the altruism. Now. Hold still. *NYARMF*

The next morning

Shadowheart: You look terrible. Here; I learned a new trick. *Lesser Restoration*

Alisaie: Thank you; that is so much better. Hey, guys? Just to flag up? He finally fessed up.

Rest of the party: *various noises indicating 'it's about time'*

Astarion: ...Did everyone know?

Alisaie: White hair, red eyes, two scars from puncture wounds on your neck, and the fangs, Astarion. We are not blind.

Astarion: But ... I walk in the sun! I cross running water! I--

Alisaie: Have a tadpole in your brain which changes the rules. Now, anything else anyone wants a chat about?

Astarion: Can I just state for the record that you taste amazing?

Alisaie: No, but since you just did, not like I can stop you.

Astarion: *grin*

Karlach: Why is there a fucking quasit hanging around my tent?

Alisaie: Oh, that's Shovel. He has a foul mouth and a nasty sense of humour. And I think he's my familiar now. Why he's hanging out with you, I have no idea.

Karlach: Eh, demons always wanted out of the Lower Planes and into the Nine Hells. This is as close as this jackass is going to get.

Shovel: No, Shovel likes you because you left! Hell is weaker without you! Yay!

Karlach: Is this little bugger going to do anything useful?

Awhile later, in the Whispering Depths

Shovel: *gets the killing blow on the Phase Spider Matriarch*

Karlach: ...............

Alisaie: That useful enough for you?

Karlach: All right, fine. ...But I wanted to kill it.

Shovel: NYAH!

[casspurrjoybell-33]

Unlikely Places - Chapter 8 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Chapter: 8 - Nosy Curiosity

Not much had been said since Nurse Rosie interrupted our conversation.

I still wasn't quite sure why Pierce was putting most of the blame for my health on my friends but since it seemed to be such a sore subject to him, I didn't bring it back up.

I just wanted to go home.

A few hours later, once the IV solution bag had been emptied and a few more tests run, I finally got my wish.

Checking out took a little longer than checking in but I was pretty sure the process was still speedier than average.

Nurse Rosie insisted on pushing me out to the car in a wheelchair.

It was something I could have done without but one look at Pierce and I had decided not to argue.

As we approached, I saw Cicero's large head sticking outside the car window and the sight of his happy face was just what I needed.

I was able to give him a loving nuzzle before I slipped into the backseat.

Pierce climbed in across from me and in seconds we were in motion.

I sat stiffly, staring out the window at the blurs of color on the other side. I was tired and famished.

I was also very much aware of the man who sat next to me.

"How long have you been taking medication for anxiety?" Pierce murmured from his side of the car.

My head swiveled toward him.

He wasn't looking at me but out the window.

He sounded calm, maybe even bored.

Was this his way of making small talk?

A bit personal I thought but mentally shrugged.

It was Pierce after all, boundary crossing was probably one of his hobbies.

"Awhile," I answered.

He didn't turn to look at me but I saw his mouth compress.

He obviously hadn't liked my answer.

"How long is awhile?" he persisted.

I sighed out loud.

He was a like a bulldozer.

"Since before high school," I gave in and answered.

It wasn't as if I was trying to hide it and it was nothing to be ashamed of.

Some people had difficulty coping with certain things in life and needed a little help.

I just happened to be one of those people.

Story over.

I watched him nod with his face still turned away from me.

Even though I could only see half of his expression, I could easily tell he still wasn't happy.

That kind of made me mad.

"Taking anxiety medication doesn't make me weak," I said into the continuing silence.

Pierce swiftly turned to look at me as I spoke with a look of surprise.

"I didn't say it did," he replied.

"Well your expression seemed to be implying it," I retorted, turning away from him to stare out my own window.

"Jackson, seriously," he said.

"I don't think it makes you weak."

I grimaced.

I didn't know why but I didn't believe him.

It was probably because he seemed so strong and dominant and very much in charge.

He hadn't hesitated provoking me last night despite my being surrounded by a third of a football team.

I'm sure I looked and acted like a puny weakling in comparison to someone like him.

As I stared out the window, I began to explain to him what had been explained to me and my parents so many years ago when the topic of me starting a prescription medication came up.

"Anxiety doesn't mean I am mentally unstable. It doesn't mean I am not intelligent and it doesn't mean I can't live a normal life. It just means sometimes I get a little more stressed, for lack of a better word, than others. The medication helps to alleviate that stress."

I turned to look at Pierce then, who was quietly watching me.

"If you were sick and had diabetes that required insulin, would you take it?" I asked.

He nodded his head.

"If the doctor said that was my only alternative to stay healthy then, of course."

"Well, think of anxiety medication the same way. It's something I need so I experience less excessive worry and therefore fewer panic attacks like I did today. Though I don't have panic attacks often I really only suffer from anxiety,but when I am overly stressed or overly tired, a panic attack can work its way into my day if I'm not careful," I explained.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked defensively.

I noticed he had started smiling halfway through my explanation.

It hurt to think he was laughing at me.

"Do I overwhelm you?" he asked, side eyeing me with a devilish grin.

I flushed.

From that long explanation; that was what he had taken from it?

"Were y-you even listening to me?" I grumbled, hating the stutter that seemed to have returned.

He chuckled.

"I was and that's what I heard and by the way," he added his tone becoming more serious as he turned to look at me.

"I really don't think you're weak for taking the medicine. I didn't before your explanation and I certainly don't after it."

I looked back out the window after studying his sincere face for a few moments.

"Okay," I mumbled.

I wasn't used to him being soft or sincere.

He was usually mocking me or teasing me or being angry at me.

The gentleness threw me into a state of flux that I didn't know how to react to.

I prayed we would reach my house sooner rather than later.

Thankfully sooner arrived in no time.

The bodyguard, Marcus, also known as Cicero's new best friend pulled into my driveway five minutes later and turned off the engine.

I turned to Pierce to thank him for all he had done but was surprised to find he was already opening his car door and stepping out into the late afternoon sun.

What time was it?

My stomach growled.

I was starving.

The IV had helped with my blood sugar but I needed real food soon, very soon.

Cicero did, too.

I was about to open my car door when Marcus did it for me and red faced, I stepped out apologizing for having taken so long.

Pierce was standing nearby with Cicero on his leash.

He was frowning at me.

"I bet you're hungry," he said with what sounded like concern.

"We should have stopped for something on the way home."

"It's o-okay," I assured him, putting my hand over my stomach as it screamed at me again to nourish it.

I didn't think Pierce had heard but Marcus's knowing chuckle and glance down at my belly clued him in.

I quickly withdrew my hand and walked with determined steps towards Pierce to grab Cicero's leash.

If I acted like I was fine then he would think I was fine and he would leave.

At least that is what I hoped.

I should have known Pierce had other plans.

[purgatoryandme]

What was the theme of S3 of Miraculous Ladybug even meant to be? Was it that Marinette takes on too much alone, therefore struggles and eventually falls? Because in her civilian life, all of her attempts to reach out for help have been rejected or simply ignored re: Lila. Is it that Marinette needs to focus less on helping other people and more on helping herself? Because her attempts to help herself in previous seasons (and this one) have consistently been displayed as selfish and have resulted in disasters that she then needs to expend even more energy cleaning up. Is it that you can’t trust your friends with responsibility just because they’re your friends? Because that’s...a weird message to send in a show like this and originally trusting her friends went pretty well re: other heroes. Maybe there isn’t a theme. Maybe there are only character arcs. Or character arc, singular, since nobody made much progress this season in a tangible way. The only arc that actually stretched through the entire season is the LoveSquare. Marinette’s arc with Adrien, seemingly the most cohesive one of the season, starts with him betraying her trust re: Chameleon and ending with him moving on with Kagami. This arc could reasonably be seen as her giving up on her crush on Adrien, though it’s a little...off since it contains at least one episode with her and Adrien falling in love and it’s still obvious based on previous seasons that they are ultimately going to get together. So, this arc could perhaps instead be about her getting over her crush on Adrien as somebody she’s put on a pedestal/feels she can’t reach, though that’s very out of sync with previous seasons and is somewhat out of sync with her actual attempts to confess and her successes in getting closer in S3. Oblivio seems to imply that Marinette won’t be allowed to be with Adrien until she forgets her nerves around him - it’s her behaviour that is notably different instead of hers. Which is hilarious because what could reasonably be seen as the biggest roadblock in their relationship, him being in love with Ladybug, is treated as lesser than her getting nervous around a crush...which somehow doesn’t happen in front of him once she forgets everything (implying that the crush isn’t what makes her nervous, but rather her constantly being embarrassed in front of him is). Additionally, in an arc meant to be about her learning how to have a crush better (I guess???), why has Luka (a boy who is interested in her openly and who doesn’t make her as nervous, who she was previously established as being attracted to) featured in so few episodes where he is actually compared and contrasted with Adrien? Why has Marinette somehow forgotten about his crush, confession, and her confidence in him liking her (since she’d been willing to ask him on a date previously) in some episodes? Why does his confession have so little impact? It seems to be that this arc isn’t actually about Marinette getting over her embarrassing crush on Adrien at all/learning more about love, but is instead about opening Ladybug to having a crush on Chat Noir instead. Viperion isn’t treated as a romantic rival in the slightest, but Adrien is. Adrien is treated as Ladybug’s biggest problem - she becomes forgetful and her performance as a hero suffers around him (Adrien’s crush on Ladybug notably isn’t treated the same way - his experience as Aspik is more geared towards him sticking with his strengths instead of his crush distracting him, and all of his “moving on” content is more geared towards him finally realizing how amazing Kagami is than it is about him losing something by crushing on Ladybug the way that he is. The biggest ‘failure’ he has in loving Ladybug is in Weredad, where it results in Tom getting akumatized, but he’s notably told in the episode it isn’t his fault, so...). Her mistakes as Marinette, revolving around her crush on Adrien, also affect Ladybug in this season (Puppeteer 2.0, Animaestro, Backwarder, Desperada, Reflekdoll, Ikari Gozen, every Lila episode is somewhat related to this too). No single other person manages to affect Ladybug negatively like this. Meanwhile, she is placed in a position to be jealous over Chat Noir’s attention several times re: Kagami/Ryuuko, with her lack of interest in him being punished through being ignored or through others pushing them together / her suffering the consequences of not taking his feelings seriously (re: Weredad, OniChan). Additionally, Chat shows her “other sides of himself” repeatedly this season that imply he should be taken more seriously and that his feelings for her are real/wonderful/good for them both (Weredad, Gamer 2.0, Miraculer, Desperada). Despite her turning towards Luka in the finale, there is /still/ emphasis on one last chance of her feeling jealous over Chat Noir moving on and her “losing” him in some sense...and that’s without two Chat-centric episodes even being out yet. She pays no mind at all to Viperion being exposed or losing him as a hero partner and honestly pays next to no attention to Luka either outside of his place in the plot as comfort, though Chat is allowed to be interested in Ryuuko lol. I’d say that the strongest argument for “what is Marinette’s romance arc” in S3 is “Ladybug, not necessarily Marinette, falling out of love with Adrien and opening up to falling for Chat Noir”. Marinette’s crush on Adrien is being treated as the only roadblock between Ladybug and Chat Noir at the end of the day - it’s even emphasized in Desperada where she finds Adrien acting like Chat charming.  What does this mean for the show? IMHO, a whole lot of nothing. It doesn’t do anything to “change the status quo”. It continues to put Marinette beneath Adrien, since she’ll be “realizing too late what she had” and it treats her rejection of him as a mistake despite him taking the same actions towards her. It doesn’t allow her to move on, either, which feels like a punishment for a perfectly reasonable rejection that used to stretch beyond just the issue of Adrien (re: not being able to reveal themselves so how would they ever be a thing). It also continues to warp the core themes of the show around romance and, ultimately, around Adrien, and how Marinette will only get to be with him once she grows up and idk sees the light or something.

[quillsandtypos]

Ski Trip

Summary: when the reader agrees to go on the annual ski trip up to the mountains with her boyfriend, Luke, and her friends she expected to go looking at mountains. But what she ends up doing doesn't require much hiking

Pairings: alive!Luke Patterson x reader

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: THIS IS NSFW FOREPLAY SMUT PEOPLE

If any of you have ever had a conversation with me and you read this fic, no you didn't

...........................................

"What are you two doing tomorrow?" Julie asked you.

You rolled into your stomach and propped your head up in your hands. “I’m not sure, but I know what we're doing next weekend, unfortunately.”

That peaked Julie’s interest, you weren’t usually much of a complainer. “Why unfortunately?” she questioned.

“Because I'm going on the Ski trip with him,” you whined. You wanted to spend time with Luke, you just didn't wanna go on the trip.

“Oh my god, you get to go?” she excitedly asked.

“Not helping,” you commented.

Julie smirked. “Sorry not sorry, I’ve been trying to get you to go for the past two years. And the first year, I couldn’t even go,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, so why would I have gone if you and Flynn weren’t even gonna be there?” you asked. As if on cue, Flynn walked down the stairs.

“Heard you guys were talking about me, all good things I hope?” she spoke as she walked down the stairs.

“Always,” you said, somewhat sarcastically.

She motioned for you to scoot over so she could have some space on the couch.

“So, if we’re done talking about me, did I hear someone say something about the ski trip?” Flynn questioned.

Before you could open your mouth Julie was already telling Flynn about how you were coming on the trip.

“You are?” Flynn squealed.

You tried to not get excited from their joy, but it was impossible; they were contagious.

You shyly smiled. “Yes, I’m going.”

“Yayyy!” Flynn yelled. The girl was practically jumping up and down.

“Oh who are you sharing a room with?” Flynn asked.

“Luke and I are,” you answered.

The girls exchanged a look you knew all too well.

“Shut up!” You covered your face with a pillow.

“We didn’t say anything!” they protested in almost complete unison.

You could feel your cheeks burning up. “Yeah, but you thought it,” you argued.

“Well whether we thought it or said it, you’re sharing a room with your boyyyyyyyfriend,” Flynn sang.

“If you guys start sing teasing me, I will leave,” you threatened.

“Don’t you need us to pick out your outfits?” Julie remembered.

“Oh, shit, yeah.”

“So in other words you have no leverage?” Flynn realized.

“I’m your ride home,” you reminded her.

“Outfits it is, but do not think we will be forgetting about this!” Flynn cried as she walked up to your bedroom.

“Whatever Flynn!” you yelled back.

“She’s right you know,” Julie slyly commented.

You just huffed in response.

The two of them did a very good job at helping maximize your california wardrobe for the mountains. Granted you had to go buy a couple things in advance, but overall, you felt confident that you could bear the cold of the mountains.

“Alright, I think you’ll survive,” Flynn proclaimed.

You closed your suitcase, and surprisingly you didn’t even have to sit on it.

“Thank you guys, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, it was our pleasure, especially since you’re actually coming this year,” Julie said.

You dropped them both back off their houses and they were nice enough to spare you from embarrassing you in the car ride.

...........

You heard someone creeping up behind you as you grabbed your stuff to head to your second class, and as you felt arms wrap around your waist you knew it was Luke.

You turned to face him. “So I was thinking if we get one of the window rooms then we can see the snow when it falls,” he proposed.

Your face lit up. “Wait, it’s gonna snow when we’re up there?” you excitedly asked.

He happily watched your beaming face “I mean that’s what the weather said.”

“Oh my god! I haven’t seen snow since-” you paused, “actually I don’t remember, but it’s been awhile.”

“Well there’s a good chance that’s gonna happen,” he said.

“You know you’re actually required to show up to school for them to allow you to come right?” you teased. Though originally it had been a legitimate concern.

He licked his lips. “I’ve been coming everyday so I could come on this trip,” he defended himself.

“Coming to school and staying in school are two very different things Patterson,” you playfully reminded him.

He leaned in closer and his voice got quieter. “And what’s that?”

You resisted the urge to swallow and pulled away from him. “One is what I’m doing right now, because I need to go to class.”

He pulled his lips tightly before sighing. “You got me there,” he admitted.

“I always do,” you said, as you started walking off. You turned around to see him still standing there, you would be lying if you said it didn’t bring you joy.

“Go to class Luke!” you yelled back at him.

“You got it!” he saluted you and walked the other way.

You playfully rolled your eyes. That boy would be the death of you, but you supposed there were worse ways to go.

That Friday you didn’t have any school since the school board figured it was pointless to send a bunch of kids to school the day before they went on a ski trip. There wasn’t going to be any actual learning anyway. You usually would’ve spent some of the day at Julie’s; which you did, but today it wasn’t in the studio for practice. You figured since she had helped you pack, you could at least keep her company as she packed.

“So who are you sharing a room with?” you asked her, as she sorted through her jeans.

“Me and Flynn just figured we’d share one,” Julie said offhandedly.

You chose to not comment on how she was obviously forcing herself to be casual.

“Ah I see, do you know if Alex and Reg are coming?”

“Yeah, and get this Alex and Willie are sharing a room,” she gossiped.

“I’m calling it right now, they're gonna start dating by the end of the weekend,” you hypothesized.

“I 100% agree.”

The two of you spent the next hour or so just discussing what sort of things you wanted to do while you were there over the weekend, and of course how much Flynn was running around her house frantically changing outfits. You actually were excited about going, not necessarily about the actual trip, and about dealing with certain classmates, but you were looking forward to being with Luke and hanging out with your friends.

For some reason when you woke up the next morning you were a little nervous, you supposed it was because you had never been skiing or snowboarding for that matter.

You got ready pretty minimally considering you were soon to be on a five hour bus ride. None of your family was up yet so when Luke pulled into your driveway you slipped out the door.

“You got everything?” Luke asked.

“Everything except my chill,” you responded with a smile.

“You’re gonna be alright, and you don’t have to do anything there you don’t wanna do, so if you don’t wanna risk a broken leg, then don’t.”

Despite your anxieties, you knew he was still right.

“Thanks Luke.”

“Anything for you.”

When the two of you got to the bus everyone else in your group had already gotten there. You, the rest of the band, Flynn, and Willie had made a plan for the bus.

“We have arrived,” you announced to your friends as you and Luke took your spots.

“And just in time too, people kept trying to take your seats,” Willie reported.

“Thanks for saving them,” Luke responded.

The two of you continued chatting with the rest of your friends until the bus driver instructed everyone to take their seats. The majority of everyone slept on the way up there but you were too anxious to get there to sleep. Instead you watched youtube as Luke napped on your shoulder.

“Luke, Luuuuuuuuuuuke, Luooooooooooooooke,” you spoke. You were trying to wake him up quietly but you were starting to realize that wasn’t going to work.

Luckily Reggie was awake. “Oh he’s a heavy sleeper, that’s not gonna work.”

Reggie basically got himself so he was dangling off both sides of his chair before yelling in his ear.

Luke awakened with a jolt, looking fairly startled.

You weren’t entirely sure whether you should laugh, throw Reggie under the bus, or maybe both.

“What happened?” Luke asked.

“I woke you up,” Reggie answered innocently.

“By yelling in my ear?” Luke groggily questioned.

Reggie quickly tried to backpedal himself out of this situation. “I mean I don’t think the method is relevant, the important thing is that you’re up.”

Luke wasn’t awake enough to deal with the situation at hand. He just chose to lay his head back on your shoulder.

By the time you had made it to the hotel you were ready to collapse. Luke laughed when you flung yourself onto one the beds.

“Should I be worried?” he asked, mostly as a joke.

“No,” you smiled and rubbed your face, “I’m just really tired.”

“You couldn’t sleep on the bus?” he guessed.

“Yeah,” you groaned.

“You know what would help?” he asked.

“Do tell,” you inquired, from your face down position.

“This,” he said, before he jumped on the bed beside you. He curled his warm body around you and pulled you in.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yes,” you responded. You attempted to melt further into him. You laid there in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes.

“Luke we should probably go do things,” you suggested. You attempted to get up but he pulled you back down.

You stayed with him but you turned around so you were facing him. “Luke?”

“Yes, y/n?”

You bit your lip, you had to admit, it was pretty cute. “Are you going to let me get up?” you asked.

He looked into your eyes lovingly. “Well if you’re trying to leave then no.”

“So that would be a no.”

“Well if you look at it that way then yeah,” he admitted with a mischievous smile on his face.

“Luke come o-” the rest of your sentence didn’t quite make it out. Your smart boyfriend decided to use your weak spot on your back against you.

“You wanna go now?” he teased.

“Not necessarily,” you lazily responded.

You could feel your willpower fading as the light stokes up and down your back sent a calm wave of chills through your body. But you knew if you didn’t use your chance now there was a good chance you weren’t getting out of that bed today.

“Luke come on we gotta go,” you whined. It’s not like you weren’t enjoying yourself, you most definitely were, but your friends had to be wondering where the two of you were.

“Alright, alright, fine,” he gave in.

“Can I have a kiss though?” he sweetly pleaded.

You gladly agreed, but you realized his plan of not leaving the room hadn’t quite ended when the kiss started leading down to your jaw.

“Luke you’re not sly,” you laughed.

“Oh is that so?” he asked, as he moved down to your jawline.

You nodded your head.

“Then why aren’t you moving?” he purred.

Okay, so he maybe had a point.

“You can tell me to stop,” he reminded you. He looked into your eyes for any sign of you wanting him to stop and waited.

“Unless of course, you don’t want me to stop?” he asked, with the biggest smirk you had ever seen on his face.

“Not necessarily,” you said, completely avoiding his eye contact.

He crawled over top of you, “What was that princess?” he asked.

You forced yourself to look into those beautiful blue eyes, and that devilish smile. “No, I don’t want you to stop Luke.”

“That’s what I needed to hear.” He bent his head down at your jawline, this time starting on the side of your jaw bone. He sucked at the skin and you bit your cheek down on a moan. He moved down from your neck pressing harder and making it harder for you to control yourself.

“Luke,” you moaned.

“Yes?”

“No marks.”

He smirked. “It’s a little late for that one.”

You rolled your eyes at his antics. “You suck.”

“I don’t think you're exactly in the position to be saying those sort of things,” he warned.

You raised your eyebrows. As if he thought you would back down that easily. “Really?”

He licked his lips and shrugged.

“Make me,” you insisted.

“Bad choice of words,” he threatened. In a second his shirt was off and one of his arms held your’s down and above you.

This time he noticed when you swallowed. “Nervous?” he asked, his lips quirked up.

He might’ve been starting to get to you, but you weren’t going to admit to it. “You wish Patterson,” you tested.

His head dipped down towards your collarbone. He lightly sucked on it and gradually increased his intensity until your body unwillingly gave you away and you gutturally moaned.

He jutted his chin out, the fire in his eyes on stage was nothing in comparison to this. “What about now?”

“Yes, Luke,” you groaned out.

He somehow managed to pull your shirt off with you laying down, and managed to unhook your bra with minimal difficulties.

His mouth softly sucked on the very top of your nipple.

“Fuck,” you moaned.

As he continued sucking at a rapid rate you felt the knot in your stomach twisting further, just as you thought it was going to release Luke stopped.

“How much do you want it?” he asked as he slowly pulled your pants down.

You were not going to give him the satisfaction of begging.

You felt a finger glide across your clit ever so slightly and back and forth he kept going, ever so slowly.

A whimper escaped your lips.

“Beg for me, that’s all you have to do,” he promised. He was most definitely enjoying himself.

He moved back up to your nipples but instead he moved as slow as he could, he was trying to break you.

“Come on princess, you know you want it,” he taunted.

A sole finger swiped down your pussy and your breath hitched.

“Luke please,” you moaned.

“What please? I think it has something to do with fucking you silly,” he hinted. He once again crawled over top of you to be able to see your face. Like a predator stalking prey.

“Please rail the shit out of me Luke,” you whined.

“That was all you had to say princess.”

[eternalstargazer]

Back when episode 53 aired in Japan, a lot of people (on forums, YouTube, etc...) weren't happy with what they saw (Suicune being portrayed as weak, Goh capturing a legendary, and so on...), but for me, episode 53 is one of my favorite episodes of Pokémon Journeys because it's a really great episode for Goh's character and it also happens to have some standout Ash/Goh moments. With the dub episode having aired recently in some countries, now seems like as good of a time as any for me to give my thoughts on what makes this episode so memorable - at least for me! 🙂

Episodes that feature legendary Pokémon have the potential to be something special and this story surrounding Suicune doesn't disappoint. The stakes may not be as high as in some of the Pokémon movies involving legendaries, but that's fine - there isn't anything inherently wrong with stories that have a smaller scope. Not only do we get to see some of the lore surrounding Suicune explored, but we also get to see it in action, as well as how it cares for weaker, more vulnerable Pokémon, and how they, in turn, care for it.

Suicune is shown to be no more different than any other Pokémon. In the context of the anime, it's just another living, breathing creature with emotions. Yes, it's stronger than a lot of other Pokémon, but just because it's stronger and it's seen as a legendary doesn't mean it's an unstoppable force. I don't see its power having been purposely "nerfed" here by the Journeys writers just to give Goh an "easy catch" or handled in a manner to push a narrative that everything comes easy for Goh.

The episode establishes that the Pokémon hunters have been purposely polluting the lake for a period of time. Suicune having to repeatedly purify the lake (and remember, Suicune supposedly travels the world doing this, so we don't even know its energy level at the time the hunters are polluting this one lake), is going to weaken it. Goh points this out in dialogue, too. Suicune is already in a weakened state, but then it gets attacked by three different Pokémon and sustains multiple hits - and on top of that, is visibly poisoned. Legendary or not, if you're playing a Pokémon game and attack a Pokémon this much, its HP is going to drop, and inflicting a status condition - like poison - makes it easier to catch.

If Goh had just happened to stumble upon a seemingly healthy and strong Suicune and chucked a Poké Ball at it, capturing it without any resistance, then I could understand the arguments that Goh gets everything handed to him. That's not what happened though. Also, Goh is shown here to only catch Suicune as a means of saving it from the hunters. He wants to help it, and doesn't see any other option. He sees Suicune as a living creature that needs help, not just as another object for his collection or stepping stone toward his goal of capturing Mew.

A quick observation on character growth here - by the time events in this episode happen, Goh's attitude toward helping Pokémon had already changed, but just think how differently the Goh from episode 3 would've reacted here. Ash has had a very real impact on how Goh has grown as a character and that's one of the many reasons I love the pairing.

So Goh captures Suicune in a way and for reasons that I think makes sense and doesn't feel forced. It's obvious too that Suicune didn't "let" itself be captured willingly because later, when Goh trips and Suicune is accidentally released from the Poké Ball, it's visibly angry. The only reason the capture had been successful was because Suicune had been weakened sufficiently. Again, for all the complaints surrounding Goh capturing Pokémon without weakening them, everything that has happened here is in line with the core game mechanics. I'm sure plenty of players captured Suicune as far back as the Generation II games...

Moving on, as I said, this is a great episode for Goh's character. It reinforces how far he has come since episode 3, and now, much like Ash, he's not willing to just give up when things get tough. He won't abandoned Suicune, and it's his compassion and sincerity that wins over the forest Pokémon, and helps Suicune see that maybe, just maybe, he can be trusted. He sends out his Pokémon to keep a watchful eye on Suicune while he goes to collect berries - some of which are good for treating poison, and he has medicine on hand, all of which show just how knowledgeable and good at analyzing/being prepared for a situation he is. This isn't Goh being some Gary Stu type of character - these are established character traits that go back to episode 2.

Goh does all this because he wants to help and protect Suicune. Him doing this all the while not having any intention of keeping it, to me, is proof that Goh cares just as much about the wellbeing and happiness of Pokémon as any other character in the anime and when people try to frame him as being something else, I simply don't see that as being fair. When Suicune does make it clear to Goh - who is trying to release it at the end of the episode - that it wants to be his Pokémon, I feel it's because of everything Goh has done for Suicune. Suicune can see how pure Goh's heart and soul are and senses that he is genuinely a good person. This isn't handing Goh Suicune on a silver platter - Goh earned Suicune's trust. He cared for and healed Suicune and literally put himself in harms way to protect it. I don't at all see this as a cheap/ridiculous capture.

As I said (er... kinda awhile ago at this point...😅), this episode is not only a favorite of mine because of Suicune and Goh, but also because it really shows just how much Ash and Goh have come to trust/care about each other. Ash trusts Goh to take Suicune someplace safe (though Goh at first doesn't want to leave Ash behind). Goh worries about Ash's safety while running away. Later on, Ash yelling out Goh's name as he rushes to help him after the hunters overpower him. The two battling back to back (Goh's come a long way when it comes to battling, hasn't he? Some more character growth right there)... and then, this scene:

Goh chooses to push Ash out of the way, leaving himself and Cinderace open to Houndoom's attack. It's visible, imo, in how Goh's face is animated that he seemingly, for a split-second, thinks about what to do... and decides to go with trying to protect Ash over himself and/or Cinderace. It's obvious what conclusion I'm gonna draw since I love the pairing, but I do think it's interesting how this saga of the anime has shifted a bit more toward the human/human relationships. Here, I would've expected Goh to try and protect Cinderace over Ash, just like in this clip from episode 72, I would've expected Ash to call out Pikachu's name first/hug Pikachu after being separated from him, yet he says Goh's name first and they lock hands/eyes and smile at each other while Pikachu is kinda just... there, on Ash's shoulder. Just an observation!

As I'm sure you can see, I had a few thoughts on episode 53. 😄

[troublesomeshika]

After all this time, I'm still into you  (2)

shikamaru nara x reader word count: 3.4k warnings: swearing

You were nervous. You didn’t wanna have this conversation, but you knew you couldn’t let anymore time go by or else it might be too late. Dragging your feet, you turned down the street the Nara head house sat on. The lights were on, he was probably home. You grimaced before raising your hand to knock on the front door. After a few seconds it flew open, “Y/N!” You weren’t sure what you had been expecting but it certainly was not Yoshino pulling you into a hug.

“Oh, we haven’t seen you in forever! Come in come in!” You were thrown, you’d been ready to bare your soul and grovel, you’d screwed up all your courage and now you were being pulled inside Shikamaru’s house by his mom? You slid off your shoes, mumbling something about not making a fuss before Yoshino waved her hand at you. “Nonsense. I’m just finishing up making dinner! It would be wonderful if you’d join us.” She looked at you expectantly before you simply nodded, eyes wide, still trying to comprehend everything that was happening. You rounded the corner, being led by Yoshino, to see Shikamaru and Shikaku sitting together playing Shogi, a site not unfamiliar to you. Yoshino ushered you over to the two where you sat down, examining the board. “I’ll be done soon, just give me a few minutes.”

“Haven’t seen you in awhile,” Shikaku said lightly, “what’s my move here, Y/N?” You stared at the board. You weren’t good at Shogi, and he knew that. He’d tried to get you and Shikamaru to learn, but it was such a long winded game that you’d always found it quite boring.

“Sir, you know I’m terrible at this game. Please don’t make me.” He chuckled before moving a piece himself.

“It’s good to see you around again. Shikamaru’s quite boring company,” he laughed as Shikamaru scoffed and moved his own piece on the board. The three of you sat in silence, the awkwardness growing bit by bit until Yoshino called out for her husband. He stood, still looking at the board, “I’m sure I can trust that you’ll beat him, Y/N. I’ve already gotten you most of the way there, all that’s left is to finish out the game. I’m off to help with dinner.” He walked away, glancing back at you as you shifted to take his place. He was right, he had gotten you most of the way there. You felt a soft smile grace your lips as you moved a piece. You didn’t speak a word, waiting for Shikamaru to move. It was agony. The silence was thick and you couldn’t keep your knee from bouncing as you picked up one of his captured pieces, turning it over in your fingers. Hearing the sound of a piece moving on the board made your eyes snap to the game again. You picked up another piece and moved again. Back to sitting in silence. You watched Shikamaru’s face as he studied the board before rolling your eyes and tracing the writing on the piece in your hand. You took a deep breath looking around, wondering if you could leave before dinner started. A chuckle brought you back to reality and you looked at the board. He’d maneuvered you into checkmate.

“Guess you owe me lunch, loser pays right?” Shikamaru said looking up at you.

You simply rolled your eyes. “Fine.... I guess.”

He cocked an eyebrow, “You guess? Do you need me to explain how you lost? I thought you would’ve remembered that at the very least.”

“Whatever.” you shook your head, a small smile ghosting your lips. You both sat in silence for a moment more. Breathing deeply, you tried to calm your shot nerves. You opened your mouth, ready to apologize, and Shikaku returned.

“No. How could you let him win, Y/N?” he sounded angry, but his grin told you otherwise. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to start your training again. You must be rusty after all this time not playing.” You felt your cheeks go red from embarrassment.

“Is dinner ready?” Shikamaru cut in.

“Yes, your mother sent me to get you two.” He tilted his head, motioning for the two of you to follow him.

You stood, extending a hand to Shikamaru, who stood and looked at it. “You won.” He nodded and shook your hand before turning and following his father. Walking into the dining area, you saw the table set for four with gyoza and dumplings. Yoshino smiled from her seat. You took your place across from Shikamaru before the meal began. You’d been here before, eating over wasn’t uncommon when you and Shikamaru were younger, but just like all the things you’d shared as children, it had been awhile. At some point the conversation turned to relationships.

Yoshino looked towards you, “So, Shikamaru mentioned that you were dating Kiba?”

“Mom I said-”

“How are you two?” She smiled.

Swallowing your mouthful of food, you nodded. “Uh, yeah. I was dating Kiba for awhile, but we recently ended up calling it quits. Just wasn’t working out you know?”

Her face morphed into one of sympathy, “Aw that’s too bad.”

You smiled sadly, “It’s alright, it was mutual.”

Shikaku looked up, “Don’t worry, you kids have lots of time to find someone. I had loads of girlfriends before I met Yoshino here.”

“Mhmm, and I had lots of men asking for my hand before Shikaku finally got around to asking me,” Yoshino said, holding his gaze across the table with a tight lipped smile.

“And how lucky I am that you chose me.” He raised his drink to her.

“Yes well, anyways, I’m sure you’ll find someone.” She said looking back at you. You smiled, looking down at your food. Before you could stop yourself, your eyes flickered up to Shikamaru. He looked bored and before you could look away, his eyes met yours. You immediately dropped your gaze again, feeling your ears heat slightly. It had been years since you’d felt like this. You took another bite, determined to drown the butterflies in your stomach with food. The conversation moved onto missions and you recounted your most recent B rank mission. Part way through, you’d mentioned a fighting style you’d recently learned and Shikaku launched into an explanation of why it was dangerous, and its weaknesses. You listened respectfully, knowing he meant well. Once dinner was finished, you helped Yoshino clean up before excusing yourself, mentioning some paperwork you had to get done back at home.

“Alright well, I’ll have Shikamaru walk you home,” she offered.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, ma’am. I don’t want to trouble him, he’d probably think it’s a drag.” You laughed.

“No, no. He needs to be more active. A walk will do him good.” she brushed her hands off on her apron, glancing out into the living room where Shikamaru laid, asleep. “Shikamaru!” she called. “Wake up and walk our guest home will you?” He muttered something under his breath and Yoshino narrowed her eyes, “What was that?”

“Nothing nothing,” he sat up, looking at you. “Ready to go?” You nodded, giving Yoshino a hug and thanking her for dinner. You waved and said goodbye to Shikaku before walking to the door and sliding on your shoes. Shikamaru appeared beside you and opened the front door.

“Thanks.” you said, stepping outside. The two of you walked in silence for a bit before you turned to him and spoke up. “Really, I can walk myself home, it’s not a big deal. I won’t tell your mom you ditched me, it’s fine.”

“Tch, she knows how long it takes to get to your place and back. And besides, we’re already halfway there, it’d be a drag to go home just to get yelled at.” You nodded and a silence fell over the two of you again, this time more comfortable and familiar. You found your mind wandering back to the day you’d first kissed. You knew you were romanticizing it from nostalgia, but you couldn’t help that little bit of you that wanted to believe what Ino had said earlier. There were only a few more blocks to your apartment and you decided to say something when you got there, that way you had an easy out if it got too awkward. Once you’d decided that, your nerves began firing, causing you to pull out your keys just so you could fiddle with them. “I can’t believe you’re still so hyperactive. Thought you would’ve mellowed out by now,” Shikamaru’s voice pulled you from your thoughts.

“Always commenting on my energy. Is it because you’re jealous I have so much of it?”

“God no, I’m glad you have it. Better you than me.”

“Would it really be all that bad if you were a little more active?” You poked him with your keys.

“Uhh yeah. It most definitely would. Somebody’s gotta watch the clouds go by and that’s my job in this world. Can’t do that if I’m always going like you.”

You laughed, rolling your eyes. “Of course you’d say something like that.” You chuckled, gazing at him as you walked, a smile on your lips.

“What?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring. What is it?”

“Oh nothing, just glad we’re back to normal.” You said, turning to look ahead again.

His jaw tightened. “Oh.”

One word and your stomach dropped onto the road. You kept walking but you’d definitely left it behind in the dirt. Shit. What had you said wrong? Did he not think the two of you were back to normal? You wanted to hit yourself over the head. You took a deep breath, but as you opened your mouth you rounded the corner, coming straight up on your apartment building. You and Shikamaru both stopped and stood still. “Would you like to come up?” You asked hopefully.

“I should get back-”

“Please?” You stared directly into his eyes. You had to talk to him, otherwise what was the point of the night.

He gave in, shrugging. “Alright, fine. But it needs to be quick.”

You smiled, leading the way up the stairs. “Don’t worry, I just”-- you paused, ready to say it but unable to--”I have some paperwork issues and I need a genius to solve them.”

“Troublesome, roping me into doing your work for you.”

You scoffed, “As if. No see, I actually want my work to be done, not just half completed.”

“Okay, do you want my help or not?” You glanced back and saw the corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk.

“Yes please, c’mon in.” You unlocked the door and held it open for him. Slipping your shoes off inside the door, you flicked on the light, immediately noticing the mess. It wasn’t bad.... but you hadn’t gotten around to those errands earlier today- one of which was cleaning up your apartment. You immediately hurried to grab some of the jackets and trash, blushing out of embarrassment. “Heh, sorry for the mess. I was a little busy today.”

He waved a hand dismissively, “Y/N I’ve known you how long? It’s not surprising or weird to me, I really couldn’t care less.” He sat down on your couch, stretching out his legs. “So, the paperwork?” Just when your stomach had finally crawled its way back into place, it dropped to your feet again. Paperwork. Your eyes shot all over the room before landing on your recent packet that you had yet to fix. Thank god. You grabbed it and walked over to the couch. Staring at him, you stood waiting.

“Well?” he raised an eyebrow at you.

Rolling your eyes you shoved his legs off your couch and sat down. He raised his legs and threw them across your lap causing your heart rate to spike.

“It’s this packet,” you tossed the packet into his lap before putting your own feet up on the coffee table in front of you and leaning back, “they gave it back and told me I did it wrong, but I don’t know which part of it is wrong and I’ve stared at it so much that it all looks wrong at this point.” He hummed in response, reading over the pages.

“Here,” he pointed it out and you leaned over, looking at the page. “You shouldn’t have put that there,” he proceeded to explain the error, but you couldn’t stop yourself from looking at his lips. Every time you caught yourself you forced your eyes back to the paper in his hands, but it continued happening. “There, now you can fix your paperwork.” He handed it back, putting his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. You reached forward and grabbed a pen, beginning to fix your mistakes. You glanced over at him. Back to the paper in front of you. Scribbling a bit, you snuck a look at his face again. And back to the paper. When you looked at him again, one of his eyes was cracked open watching you. Your ears began heating again, just as they had earlier that night as you forced yourself back to the task at hand.

“Would you just spit it out already?”

You stared at the paper, trying to focus on the words in front of you. Scribbling you asked as nonchalantly as you could manage, “Spit what out?”

“Whatever it is that’s making you act so weird. You were like this at lunch too. If it’s that time of month I’ll gladly leave you be.”

You reached out and slapped the side of his head. “Man, fuck you.” you couldn’t help but laugh. “I hate you so much, you know?” You threw the paperwork on the table in front of you, shaking your head.

“Mhmm. The feeling is mutual.”

You let the silence hang again. For the third time that night, you screwed up your courage, intent on saying something, anything. “Alright, cards on the table, there is something I’ve been wanting to say. As much as I love your mom’s cooking, that wasn’t why I showed up at your house tonight.”

“So I was right.”

You rolled your eyes, “Not the point.”

“Ah ah. Say it.”

“No, it’s irrelevant.”

He lifted his legs and dropped them back into your lap.

“Uhf. Ok, jeez, you were right.”

“Thank you, you may continue.”

You sighed. “I just....” pausing again, you began subconsciously tracing small circles on his leg.

“If you’re gonna go soft on me just get it over with.”

You glared at him. “Fine. What I wanted to say was, I’m sorry.” You let the phrase hang in between you, letting him decide the route of the conversation.

“What for?”

“For getting us here.”

“I’m still confused. I think we both walked here with our own legs, and aside from that, I’m pretty content right now.”

“Shikamaru. That’s not what I mean. I let our friendship die. And then I turned to you expecting you to be there for me after I’d willingly pulled away. And now it’s weird and awkward between us.”

“Ehh you were with Kiba. It wasn’t that surprising. And it’s only awkward if you make it awkward.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it was okay. Ino told me about how it wasn’t a good time for you, and I’m sorry because it was my fault.”

He groaned beside you. “Troublesome Ino. Can’t trust her to keep her mouth shut. What exactly did she say to you?”

“Well, she said that it wasn’t a good time for you, and....” you stopped, trying to decide how to phrase your next words, “she may or may not have thought you had feelings for me.” His leg twitched almost imperceptibly under your hand. “But I told her she was wrong. Neither of us has felt that way about each other, we were always just best friends.”

He sighed. “I’m gonna kill that woman the next time I see her. Well, she didn’t lie to you.” Your heart stopped and your hand faltered on Shikamaru’s leg. “But don’t worry I’m over it now. It was a temporary thing, so no need to feel uncomfortable.”

“Oh, alright.” You said, trying to hide the hurt in your voice. “Well anyways, I wanted to say I’m sorry for breaking our friendship and I just want us to go back to how we were before. Are you.... good with that?”

He opened his eyes. “Of course. You women and your need to have a conversation about everything. Anyways, does this mean you’ll take tomorrow off to cloud watch with me?”

You sighed, “If I must. Although, I have to turn in this paperwork first, and I really do need to go grocery shopping, and I have-”

“Ah ah. Meet me at noon at Ichiraku and you can buy that lunch you owe me. Afterwards you’re taking the day off to watch some clouds. I don’t care what you have to do, get it done beforehand.” He pulled his legs to the floor and stood up. “Please don’t make me come looking for you, I don’t have the energy to chase you around the village, but I will if I have to.” He extended a hand which you gladly took before he pulled you up off the couch, his hand lingering in yours for what felt like a year.

“Alright alright. Noon tomorrow. See you then.” You walked him to the door before pulling him into a hug. He seemed startled, but hugged you back, albeit awkwardly. “Thank you Shikamaru. I really did miss our friendship.” It was the truth, although you were also starting to realize you’d missed quite a bit more about the boy as well.

“Are you sure it’s not that time?”

You pushed him away as he chuckled. “Get out of here, pineapple head.” He raised a hand in farewell and made his way down the stairs as you closed the door. You sighed and walked back to the couch flopping down. You could still smell the slight scent of trees and grass that seemed to follow Shikamaru everywhere. Groaning, you stood up and stared at where he’d lay minutes before. “Shikamaru Nara, you are going to be the death of me.” You shook your head before walking to your room and laying face down on your bed. It was a weird feeling, to be back in the same position you’d been in as children. Except now you knew for sure that the feeling wasn’t mutual, and that you’d missed your chance. All you could do was hope you got over your resurfacing feelings quickly and quietly. You weren’t going to screw up this friendship for a second time and if that meant quietly shoving down your feelings, well then, that’s just what you’d do.

Bonus:

As he walked down the stairs of your apartment complex, Shikamaru paused. He turned back towards the top of the stairs. Raising his hand to his face, he squeezed the bridge of his nose before continuing the way he’d been going. He made his way back to his house, mulling over the night in his head. You’d seemed so shocked about him ever having feelings for you, what choice did he have but to tell you he’d gotten over it? Besides, he hadn’t lied. His feelings had been temporary. They had to be. He had only felt that way because he was jealous seeing you with Kiba when you were meant to be his best friend. And that had somehow morphed into what he had thought were feelings for a brief time. That was all. That had to be all. Because if he had feelings for you, he was going to end up losing your friendship again, only this time it would be his fault. You didn’t feel the same, that was clear enough from your reaction. So platonic was what it was going to have to be. He sighed, opening the door to his house. Walking into the living room, he faced his parents who were sitting together.

“Y/N got home safe?”

“Yeah, it’s not like there’re murderers just casually walking around Konoha, Mom.”

Yoshino rolled her eyes as Shikaku spoke up, “It was nice to have her back over. Haven’t seen her in awhile, I was missing all that energy.”

“And she’s recently single, that’s interesting.” Yoshino looked at her son who simply rolled his eyes and turned to walk towards his room.

“Oh leave him alone,” Shikaku scolded as Shikamaru wandered out of earshot and slid the door to his room closed. He sat down on his bed and laid back to stare at the ceiling.

“I’m just excited to be friends again, that’s all.” He lied to the empty room. “God, why did I insist she come cloud watch with me?” He groaned and turned onto his side, not bothering to change out of his clothes. “What a drag.”

[xpeachesncream]

acquainted | eight

> series masterlist | series playlist <

summary: the biggest goal of a grad student is to get through school in one piece - no petty drama involved, no sweating over the little things. however, that plan almost always never follows through. sometimes, you can’t help but fall into the most unthinkable, unexpected traps and learn the hard way. like, exhibit a: being unable to resist your engaged, substitute teacher, kim seokjin.

pairing: jungkook x reader x engaged!teacher!seokjin

genre: grad school au, student life au | fluff, angst, smut

words: 3.6k

warnings: cussing, mature language/implied sexual content, jealousy and slight possessiveness, making out

tags: @laurynne5 @yiyi4657 @miinoongi @teamtardis-notdead @bluesharksandfish @photographic-girl @yonkoghan @moonchild1​ @thebeebi​ (pls msg me if you would like to be added to the taglist!)

"Should we go to that charity event the school is holding on Friday? It sounds kind of fun." Ryujin sipped on her drink, while you went through your closet, showing her different outfits over the facetime call.

"What's it for again?"

"I don't remember, but the Golden State Warriors dj is going to be dj'ing. He's pretty good."

"Yeah he is. I mean, I'm down, especially if it's for a good cause."

"Okay, I'll grab us tickets when I head to campus."

"You're not even gonna ask Jimin or Tae?" You chuckle.

"Why would I? They do everything we do, they don't know anything outside of us." You shake your head.

"Cut them a little slack."

"Boohoo, they'll say yes regardless. Bring Jungkook!"

"I mean, I'll ask, but I'm not gonna force him."

"Oh quit, I'm sure he'd be happy to spend time with you." She looked at you through the camera. "K, let me see that outfit."

"He said casual." You showed her your outfit in the full length mirror.

"Absolutely, yes! You're fucking hot." She squeals, automatically solidifying your outfit for tonight. It, thankfully, wasn't too cold in the Bay today, so you throw on a grey distressed denim mini skirt, a low-cut light grey longsleeve, a belt and some heeled combat boots. You ruffled and fixed your hair a bit until you were satisfied with your look, picking up the phone once more to turn your attention back to Ryujin.

"Thank you."

"No problem, babe. I hope you have fun! Did he say where you two were going?"

"Nope, it's apparently a surprise."

"Ugh, I love him already." She gushes, causing you to shake your head. You dabbed a bit of lip gloss and pressed your lips together to spread it out before spraying a perfume cloud for you to walk through. Sooner or later, knocks came at the door.

"Okay, I think that's him. I'll talk to you later?"

"Call me as soon as you get home. I want to know how big his dick actually is."

"You're sick. You sound exactly like Tae, you know that?"

"We're not talking about him."

"Love you, bye!" You abruptly hang up on her, unsure of why the hell you deal with her and Taehyung's crude comments. You grab your bag and open the door to see Jungkook standing there with a small bouquet of flowers. He peeks his head over the bouquet with the cutest smile you have ever seen.

"Hi." He slightly scrunches his nose and pulls you into a hug. Goddamn, does he smell good. "These are for you." He hands you the bouquet.

"Jungkook, they're beautiful. Thank you." You take it into your kitchen and place it into a vase really quickly before stepping out. You eye him from head to toe, and boy is looking like a whole ass meal in the denim outfit he has on. Like, who in the world could pull off this outfit like that?

"You look amazing." You blush. "If you ever get cold, just let me know, alright? I can spare my jacket."

"You're so sweet."

"Just want to make sure you're comfortable." He shrugs. "You ready?"

"Depends on what you have up your sleeve."

"Nothing extreme, if that's what you're thinking." He laughed. "I hope you enjoy it, though."

"Thanks for planning all of this, by the way."

"No biggie. I'm just glad to finally spend some time with you." He does a little run to open the passenger car door for you before hopping into the driver's seat. Immediately, he gets the car started and turns up the heat to make sure you're comfortable. The radio is softly playing Zayn's sHe, with Jungkook softly singing along.

"Wait a minute," You chuckle. "Do you sing?" He smirked.

"Maybe."

"Hey, that's not fair. Sing louder."

"No, now I'm shy." He chuckled.

"Why? It's just me."

"Yeah and I just wanna impress you and not make a fool out of myself."

"You won't! Please." You pouted, making him shake his head.

"Ugh, Y/N. That's going to easily become a weakness for me if you keep pulling that pout." You keep pouting. Eventually, he gets over himself and starts to sing a little louder than earlier, causing your heart to flutter at how angelic he sounds. He ends up laughing towards the end and shrugging it off, his cheeks tinted with a rosy tint as you shower him in compliments. Swoon. You were so into the moment that you didn't even realize Jungkook was taking you across the bridge to San Francisco. You and your friends don't come to the city much, strictly because there's too many goddamn hills, parking is expensive as fuck, there's too many one way streets and people just get crazy as hell [like crossing the street when it's not time to walk?!]. It was a little calmer back home and that's all you guys needed. You watch as he parks the car effortlessly on a steep hill before coming over to your side to open the door for you.

"Whew, that's gonna be a workout later." You look back at the steep hill that you're gonna have to climb after eating dinner, you assume.

"Don't worry, I got you." He laughs. There's actually a lot of people out for a Tuesday evening that you end up hanging onto his arm to get navigate the random sea of people. He walks into Brenda's French Soul Food - nothing too fancy, but nothing too casual. The waitress brings you both towards the back end of the restaurant and out into the patio, where there are christmas lights hung around the fence and outdoor heaters posted. He pulls out your chair before sitting himself down, the waitress putting down your menus and cups of water.

"Ohhhhh, my god." You say with heart eyes looking at the menu. You had heard about this place from so many people, and you were impressed that Jungkook was able to score reservations being that it's always so busy due to its popularity. "I'm so excited! I've been wanting to try this place."

"Goodjob, Jungkook." He says, patting himself on the back. "If you're happy, that's all I could ask for." The waitress comes back to offer recommendations, which you both include in your orders in one way or another. Although packed, the restaurant was able to pump out orders quickly and efficiently so you and Jungkook weren't sitting around for too long without food.

"So, how's Jin in class?" You almost choke on your food even though this is something you should have expected. You really wanted to avoid speaking about him tonight, but you knew it was inevitable being that you were out with his brother.

"Um, he's alright."

"Just alright?" He rose his eyebrow and chuckled.

"No, sorry. I mean, he's a really good teacher. Definitely better than our last professor. Everyone in class loves him."

"That's cool. Yeah, he's really smart and wise. I've always looked up to him."

"How long has it been?" You weren't sure how to ask the question, but Jungkook understood what you were asking.

"I was a sophomore in high school when my mom met his dad." You're silent for a moment, allowing him to continue on if needed. "I had a really hard time at first, you know? The whole stepfather thing. My anger was moreso directed towards my mom and my stepdad for awhile. But Jin helped me out a lot. He helped me come to terms with my feelings about everything and he stuck by my side, always had my back whenever I got into arguments or bickered with one of our parents." You nodded, suddenly feeling guilty even though you and Jungkook weren't a couple.

"So, you two are really close." He nodded.

"Yeah, we are. I really don't know what I'd do without him. He's taught me a lot and helped me grow. Plus, Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi have been around too. They treat me like their own little brother.”

"That's sweet. It's nice to have that kind of relationship with your sibling and their friends." You chuckle.

"It is." He nods. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Ryujin, Taehyung and Jimin." He laughs.

"From the club, right? I met your friends, they're fun people."

"They're too much, honestly. I'm the only child, but we've all been stuck to the hip since freshman year in college."

"That's cool that you guys have been together since then." You give him a toothless smile. "I think it's pretty awesome that you guys are tackling grad school together too."

"Initially, we all had different plans, but Jimin had some big goals for himself including grad school, and it played a huge role in my decision to do grad school, too. Then Ryujin followed, then Taehyung."

"Cute."

"Speaking of friends, there's this charity event at school on Friday." You look up at him, a small smirk growing on his face.

"Uh huh?"

"And I was wondering if you wanted to come along with us. They really want you there."

"That's sweet. But, what matters the most is that you want me there."

"I wouldn't be inviting you if I didn't, right?" You bit your bottom lip.

"Touché. Of course I'll go with you, beautiful." He does a small nod before sipping his water. "Should we show up in matching outfits?" He joked, causing you to snort.

"Honestly, that seems pretty entertaining. Cute, and entertaining."

"I'm down if you are." You stuck your tongue out playfully.

"I'm game too."

"Let me know what you're wearing then."

"I will, whenever I figure that out."

"Take your time. Just know you'll look good in anything." You blushed. You both continue to talk over the remaining bits of your food before Jungkook calls for the check. You watch as he scribbles his signature onto the receipt before standing and sticking his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. While exiting the small and crowded restaurant, you hold onto his hand, feeling him grip it tighter as you both successfully make it out. The night isn't too cold, and you sure as hell knew it wouldn't be after you conquered the hill that Jungkook parked on.

"Fuck." You say as you stand on the street, eyeing the steep hill in front of you.

"Come on." He says, slightly bending down for you to hop onto his back.

"Ouu, I don't know if that's a good idea--"

"Y/N, I promise it's okay. Come on." He laughed. Hey, if he was willing to do this, then why not? You hop onto his back, his arms wrapping your legs tightly around his waist, while you clung onto his neck. "See, not so bad, right?" He says, sprinting up the hill, making you laugh and hold onto him tighter.

"Shit, I am so sorry. That was probably a workout. Right after we ate, too."

"Nah. It wasn't anything." He scrunched his nose. On the way back over the bridge, Jungkook is heading towards Lake Merritt. You both are singing along to songs and joking around about topics that pop up here and there. When he parks his car, you notice a whole crowd of people gathered by the lake, which was a little unusual for this time of night. He grabs your hand and gently caresses the top with his thumb as he walks you over towards the crowd. To your surprise, you realize people are gathered here for a water lantern festival. Your eyes light up, making Jungkook smile at how excited you look.

"Jungkook, what the hell! How did you know about this and I didn't?" He shrugs.

"I have my ways." He says, his voice low and deep. You playfully shove him before you make your way over to grab lanterns to decorate. You and Jungkook sit off in a more quiet, calmer part of the lake, silently decorating your lanterns and writing your wishes along with it. What exactly did you want to wish for?

Happy friends, happy family. Happy you.

Whatever happiness meant to you.

To have Chance look over you.

Jungkook is done pretty quickly, but he waits for you to finish, not questioning what you've written since he figures it's a private matter. He shows you his lantern and his cute little stick figure drawing of his family and friends. You giggle, watching him gently lay his lantern in the water, giving you leverage to do the same with yours. You stand closely to him, his body providing you some warmth as you watch your lanterns float off into the lake and illuminate the night along with the others.

"Ready? We have one more thing to catch." He snakes his arm around your waist and gives your side a gentle squeeze. You simply nod, following him back to his car. He takes you about 30 minutes away, exiting and pulling right into a lot two street lights down from the exit. He pulls up to the ticket booth, buying 2 tickets for Tenet at the drive-in movie. You squeal and clap in your seat excitedly, also not knowing this was still around.

"Did you really do your research to plan this date?"

"Yes and no? I've been here before, and I thought it would be fun to take you. The restaurant and the lantern festival though, yes." He parks his car as instructed, turning the radio to the correct channel in order to hear the audio. "Wanna hop in the back so we have more room?" You nod, getting out of your seat just to hop into the back. He leans over into his trunk, grabbing water bottles and assorted gummy candies for you to snack on in case you wanted some. "I hope you're having fun so far."

"I am." You respond softly.

"Okay, beautiful. If you say so." He chuckles. He moves the driver and passenger seats forward so that you both have room to spread your legs a bit. At first, Jungkook made sure to give you enough space so he wouldn't make you uncomfortable, but over time, you felt yourself sinking closer and closer to his body until he had his arm draped around your shoulder, while part of your body rested on his. His hand gently caressed your arm, occasionally sending goosebumps through your body at how soft his touch his. You glanced over, admiring at how focused he was on the movie. He must have felt you looking at him because he quickly looks over and blushes as he nibbles on a gummy worm. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just cute how focused you are."

"Damn, are you not into it?"

"I am, but it's kind of hard to follow sometimes."

"Yeah, it's definitely one of those movies." This time, his gaze on you is a little longer than before. You don't know what takes over you, but you plant a kiss on him, making him smile into the kiss. He doesn't say anything, but proceeds to rest his free hand on your neck, pulling you close and into another deep kiss. Your hand grips onto the side of his shirt, your tongues slowly fighting for dominance. The sounds of wet kisses fills the car and tunes out the movie audio. You can feel the moment intensifying, both you and Jungkook letting out breathy moans in between kisses. Suddenly, the thought of Seokjin quickly flashes in your mind, the past nights you've spent with him and the nasty shit you both have done to each other.

You lightly gasp as you pull away, but it wasn't obvious to Jungkook that something had disturbed your peace.

"Sorry, I—" He tries to save face just in case he was in the wrong about something.

"No, I just— I wasn't expecting it to get that intense." You lied. You knew damn well.

"It's okay." He chuckled. "I would never rush you into anything, Y/N. Okay? We can take this slow." He gives you a genuine, warm, reassuring smile that causes you to swoon. Why the fuck was he so good? Just why? How was this even fair right now?

All you do is simply smile and lean back onto him. He's back to caressing your arm and shoulder, giving you small pecks on the top of your head every now and then to reassure you. Part of you wondered if this is what Seokjin had taught him over the years - how to properly love a woman and be a gentleman. But then, that quickly fades when you remember the situation you're in with him.

Well no, you're not in anything with him. You needed to stop doing this to yourself.

When the movie ends, you both climb back into the front seats to make your way back home. You feel the exhaustion hit you, all the fun and adrenaline you felt today slowly come crashing down. Jungkook parks in the passenger loading zone, throwing on his hazard lights before walking you up to your apartment.

"Jungkook, thank you for tonight. I really enjoyed it and had a ton of fun with you."

"I'm glad." He cups your face and gently places a kiss on your forehead. You weren't satisfied with it though, so you tippy toe as you hold onto his hand and kiss him on the lips. He leans into the kiss, deepening it for a quick second before pulling away. "Let me know the details about Friday, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll call you tomorrow. Sleep tight, beautiful." He smiles and licks his lips as he watches you walk in, feeling utterly content with how the day went. You feel the same way, smiling to yourself as you throw your bag onto the floor and prance into the bathroom to get ready for bed. You felt the butterflies in your stomach every time you thought about Jungkook and his smile, or his soft lips against yours.

Butterflies that kept your mind off of—

[jin] 10:04pm: Are you still with Jungkook?

You roll your eyes at the text. You hadn't pulled out your phone all night, so you're also seeing the numerous messages from your friends in the group chat, too.

[jimin] 7:45pm: have fun tonight, Y/N!

[taehyung] 7:50pm: ^ ditto. use protection, young lady

[taehyung] 7:50pm: think about mr. kim's feelings

[ryujin] 7:56pm: taehyung kim, shut the hell up. do you have anything better to do?

[jimin] 8:01pm: i really hope she doesn't pull out her phone during the date -__-

[taehyung] 8:05pm: lmfao you guys, chill out

[taehyung] 8:06pm: i'm sorry y/n, im just kidding. have fun tonight and be safe, love you

[ryujin] 8:10pm: CALL ME WHEN YOU GET HOME Y/N! i wanna know deets, remember! and ask him if he wants to join us on friday!

Unbelievable. Your friends were unbelievable, and that was an understatement. You don't respond to the group because you figured you'd call Ryujin in a bit and update the boys over the week. But to Jin's text - fuck.

You were literally just tucking him away in the far, far, far dark, deep depths of your mind.

[y/n] 11:38pm: I was, but now I'm home.

[jin] 11:39pm: Yeah, he just texted me back. Sorry.

[y/n] 11:40pm: It's okay.

[jin] 11:43pm: Okay. Have a good night.

He hates this. Why the hell would you do this to him? Grace is upstairs sleeping while Jin is trying to clean the kitchen up like he promised. Suddenly, his phone goes off, signaling a call coming in.

Jungkook.

"Hello?"

"Oh shit, yes! You're awake!" Jin chuckles a bit.

"How was the date?" Not only was he asking out of curiosity, but wanted to know how you were doing during the night. Completely none of his business but he couldn't help himself.

"God, she's fucking amazing. A-and-and beautiful." He yells into the phone excitedly. "She's so exciting. I can't wait to take her out again. I just wanna keep spending time with her." Jin is pretty unamused on the other line. Thank God he isn't on Facetime so he didn't have to fake this facial expressions hearing about Jungkook's feelings for you. "S-she- I mean, we kissed."

"Oh?" Jin asks, tongue pressed against his cheek. What the fuck.

"Yeah, we were making out during the movie. It got pretty intense, but it didn't get any further than that. I didn't wanna rush her into anything."

"You think it could have escalated?"

"Yeah honestly, but I wanna do right by her, you know?" Jin can tell how serious Jungkook was starting to become about pursuing you, and he had never felt more competitive until this day. He just wanted you to himself, and he wanted to be the one to kiss you and make you feel things you've only dreamed about.

Not his brother.

He, too, wanted you just as bad. If anything, more.

"It sounds like it was a pretty successful first date." Jungkook is beaming through the phone, he didn't have to see his face to know that.

"It was. It was such a good night." Jungkook chuckles. "By the way, I'm going to that charity event on campus on Friday. Are you and Grace going?"

"Probably not."

"Well, if you both are free, you should swing by. It'll be nice to see Grace."

"Yeah, I'll ask and see what's up." Jin sighs. "I should probably get to bed, I'm pretty tired. I'm happy to hear the date went well, kid."

"Thanks, dude. I'll talk to you later, get some rest."

"You too." Jin hangs up the call, silently hitting his fist against the kitchen counter as he lets out a deep sigh. More than ever, he wanted to keep you wrapped around his finger. He wanted to keep you there, no matter how selfish that sounded. There was no way he was going to let you unravel.

[vkookjamz]

⋆☽Kitten☾⋆

|| Prologue. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

| 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑥 𝐶𝑎𝑡-𝐻𝑦𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑 𝐹𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 |

"𝘉-𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭..?"

𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘬'𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯. 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦..

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

Y/n's POV

"What the hell hyung-" Jungkook hissed at the older.

Taehyung rose up, moving to stand aside as the younger replaced his previous spot kneeling down beside you.

"What happened?? Why is y/n in here like this??" The males brows knitted together as he rolled up the sleeves of his dark grey sweater, reaching down to pull the drain emptying the tub.

You were weak, you could still feel a slight dizziness in your head, and your cheeks were flushed.

The white cream colored baggy long sleeve you wore stuck clinging to your body, your black shorts dripped with excess water that had soaked into the now heavy material.

Surely you couldn't tell either of them or anyone else what had really happened just yet- you wouldn't even know how to explain it yourself.

Sighing at the continued silence that followed after his questioning, Jungkook then lifted you into his strong arms with ease, holding you only for a moment before he grabbed a towel to dry you off.

"Well?"

Hearing the tone in Jungkook's voice, you couldn't help but feel a little worried since he was the overly jealous type.

And after all, you and Tae probably looked a little too close for comfort without a proper explanation in his eyes..

"She was overheating- and her head was in pain so I had to cool her down"

Tae spoke smoothly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slightly oversized pale-tan khaki pants.

"Why didn't you call for me. I could've helped her" Jungkook said lowly, earning a slight eye roll from the older.

Sensing the tension, you let your hand cup Jungkook's cheek to make him face you. "I said not to- I didn't want to worry you.."

You felt bad having to lie, but you would've felt worse if your current state had caused any more friction between the two older males.

After all, Taehyung was one of Jungkook's closest hyungs-

Feeling your touch seemed to put the worried male at ease as he gave a slight smile your way, to which you returned.

Taehyung cleared his throat with a hum, running a hand through his hair as he let himself slowly back out of the bathroom.

"You should get her changed into something comfy, maybe one of my silk shirts, she does love rolling around in them" he chuckled with a slight smirk before disappearing out of the room.

Your eyes widened slightly and you already felt the familiar heat rise to face.

'Aish Taehyung..'

"Oh really?"

You glanced back to Jungkook, feeling his arms that held you somehow pull you in closer against his firm warm chest.

"I- That was when I was a kitten of course-" you laughed nervously trying to avoid any further talk on the matter.

"Well, you're still my kitten"

Yoongi's POV

"Hyung are you sure this is the place?" I looked to Jin as he stepped out of the passenger side of my car.

We had to drive nearly to Incheon to get here, we were basically at the western edge of Seoul.

"Yoongi, I may be old but I'm pretty sure I know where I got my car towed" Jin retorted as he stepped out shortly after me.

Locking the vehicle, I put my keys into my coat pocket and stepped forward looking up at the small, worn out building.

"G.E.- "

Huh, their signs missing a letter- this place looks like it hasn't had any business in years-

"This doesn't look like a place were they keep towed cars"

The other let out a sigh, once again taking out the small crumpled piece of paper to show me.

"Yah, I'm aware of that, but this is the address on the receipt they gave me so wether it 'looks' like a place where they keep cars or not this better be where my car is" Jin huffed shoving the paper that he had previously been waving in my face back into his pocket.

I knew I should've let Jimin drive him here instead of me-

Without any further complaints, I followed the older up the short flight of steps and walked inside the establishment.

It was cold inside, slightly dim but the flickering of a single light on the ceiling provided some light.

At least the sun was still up by the time we got here, already I got the sense I definitely wouldn't wanna be in this place at night-

The interior was painted a dull white that probably only became dull with age, along with matching marble tiled floors.

Potted plants were neatly placed at each corner of what appeared to be a waiting area, with only two black leather furnished chairs against the right side wall from the entrance.

"I guess we just wait here-" I spoke taking a seat as Jin gave me a glance after he himself finished eyeing around the room.

"Wait hell, I want my car and I'm not waiting in this creepy room for longer than I need to-"

"Ah, you're finally here. And you've brought a friend excellent"

The both of us looked forward to the front of the room where a large desk counter was placed, watching as a slightly smiling man stepped out from the door behind it.

"Hyung you know this guy?" I mumbled under my breath, getting up from my seat as I kept my eyes on the stranger as he headed towards us.

"No-" Jin replied quickly tugging on my coat sleeve, as if to help me get up quicker.

The man looked older than us, his hair was black and appeared to be gelled, no grey hairs so maybe in his late thirties or early forties.

Oddly he was dressed nice, despite his outfit being all black.

He wore a dark black dress shirt, black pants, and some nice matching leather shoes of which I'm sure were from an expensive name brand.

One wouldn't get the impression this guy worked at a place that handles cars- more of an office type place.

"Kim Seokjin I presume? You're car is out all ready to go, and you are?"

I narrowed my eyes and looked down at the mans hand that extended to me, finally deciding to reach out, I gave it a shake.

"I'm with him" I responded vaguely before clearing my throat.

"And you are?" I repeated the mans words to him causing him to chuckle.

"Hanseong"

It sounds familiar but I couldn't imagine anyone else having that name.

"My father was into historical figures so I'm sure if you know anything about the Joseon dynasty you'll understand its meaning" he responded after seeming to notice my thinking.

He sounded almost prideful.

Guess I'll have to do some digging on that with Jungkook later.

"If you don't mind, we've got a bit of a drive back so, my car?" Jin bowed his head respectfully and took out his wallet.

"Oh there won't be any need for that it's already taken care of" Hanseong waved his hand as he started walking right towards the way we entered.

"But-"

Quickly, I smacked Jin in the chest with the back of my hand, causing him to stare at me with his eyes wide and mouth agape as if he was about to snap.

"If this weirdo says you don't have to pay then you DON'T HAVE TO PAY" I  whisper yelled raising my brows at the other before I followed behind the stranger.

As we all exited, there was Jin's car, parked perfectly right beside mine.

I looked over at Hanseong, who stood outside the doors of the building watching as Jin inspected his car, who then nodded at me signalling everything was alright.

"Everything in order Mr. Kim?" The older man questioned tucking his hands into his pants pockets.

He nodded getting into his car and closing the door.

"Yes- thank you- you were very quick and professional, I'll be sure to give you 10 stars on yelp" Jin chuckled nervously to which I just rolled my eyes.

Following Jin, I got into my own car and gave him an annoyed glance as I started the engine after he did.

Raising my head, I looked one last time to the smiling older male through my windshield before he spoke.

"Sounds good, have a safe drive back. Mr. Kim, Mr. Min."

He waved turning on his heel only to disappear into the building as we pulled out of the buildings driveway, and began to head back home.

As I drove following shortly behind Jin, it took me maybe thirty minutes after going through all that had happened for me to realize.

The last thing Hanseong actually said.

"Mr. Min"

I never told him my name.

A/n: Please excuse my late update, they will be that way for awhile due to health reasons, I was supposed post this back in September but unfortunately I had to go to the hospital. Please be assured I'm recovering and it's hopefully nothing too serious. As always I hope you enjoyed~

-ⓙ

[thedemisedroyal]

Dangerous Betrayal | TVD/TO

The Vampire Diaries & The Originals

AU Story

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝙾𝙽 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴!

• E S M E •

"Please, just make it stop!" The princess yelled in agony as she held her head. All the memories rushing through her mind, all the pain, all the hurt, everything bad she had done in her life ran through her head. But it was intensified by a trillion, this was on purpose, they wanted her in be pain.

Adara and Eila laughed manically, "Oh poor little baby, is something wrong?" Adara baby talked, chuckling in between. The princess yelled out, closing her eyes, trying to fight it, but she can't, she couldn't. The girl was consumed with guilt, making her walls around her mind tremble, they were weak, ready to fall down at the slightest of touch.

She had been tortured for years and years, after her mother banished her from the Void, they had sent her to Heaven. Her parents left her there as they hadn't finished their final punishment for their youngest daughter and child for her crimes. Until then, she would be tortured, just for laughs, just for entertainment.

"You know, for the Goddess of All Creation, you are weaker then I thought you would b-"

"Esme!" The Gilbert broke out of her thoughts, she fell into her head and she looked at the mirror in a weird angle, making her eyes shine like a golden-yellow. Making her the olden days, the years that started all of this. "Esme come on, we're gonna be late!" Elena shouted once more, the two, had school, as always, and were back into cheerleading, the younger twin seemed more willing to go then the oldest. But it made sense, things were different now.

Esme grabbed her bag and water,"Coming!" The middle child yelled, running out of her room and downstairs. "Let's get this show on the road." Esme mumbled under her breath, seeing her sister, not in her cheerleading costume.

• A U T H O R •

As time went on, Elena and Stefan had gotten much closer, dating now, which led to Esme of course threatening him if he didn't anything back to her sister. But all in all, Esme liked Stefan, trying to get close to figure out what he wanted in the end.

But days went by and she had met Damon as well, sensing he was also a vampire. But Jordan also noticed Damon looked at her with some sort of admiration, or maybe some sort of love. She had no idea was this was about, but she would definitely find out soon. As it was all too weird, now that her best friend, Caroline Forbes, was dating this Damon, who was eyeing her.

Right away she didn't exactly like him, he was a cocky and arrogant man who liked to stir up trouble. For instance, when Elena had a little dinner party with Bonnie and Stefan, Caroline and Damon had arrive unannounced, soon the blonde pulled the younger twin downstairs to join the fun. Which was a very awkward introduction between the raven haired and brunette.

It was even more awkward when the oldest Salvatore brother talked about their past live affair. Who was named Katherine, Elena had informed her sister on the love triangle, whilst the two watched and dried dishes when everyone else was in the living room. Then he walked in, and then Elena left the two alone, awkwardly.

During the time, Damon and Esme got to talk a bit, trying to get to know each other, but the girl felt very uncomfortable as Damon had this weird look in his eyes, a softness, with a genuine smile on his face which was rare for him in his case. Luckily, Bonnie had came in to ask if she needed more help, as Esme was taking quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

But that was awhile ago, and now it is the day of the football game. And the girl needed to be on her game for the cheerleaders and her best friends. Though it didn't help with the Tyler and Jeremy fight, and Stefans cover nearly blown with the cut on his hand, with Elena as witness.

• E S M E •

"God guys, I'll be back, I left my jacket and water in the car." Esme rubbed her forehead, Caroline and Bonnie nodded, the Gilbert quickly ran out the field and into the parking lot. The game was to start soon, and if she wasn't present soon the Forbes girl would have her ass. Esme quickly opened up the trunk, grabbing her maroon colored jacket and her big water bottle, that's as surprisingly still cool after being left in the car.

She swiftly turned around, gasping as she was face to face with Damon Salvatore. "You scared me. W-What are you doing here?" The Gilbert questioned, Damon looked over his shoulder quickly, then putting his hand to the side of his mouth,"I'm hiding from Caroline." He whispered. Esme quirked a brow,"And why is that?" She playfully whispered as well.

"I needed a break. She talks more then I can listen." Damon widened his eyes for a second. "That could be a sign." Esme nodded her head, kind of uncomfortable. "Well, she's awfully young".

Esme narrowed her eyes at the Salvatore,"Not much younger than you are." She responded back, Damon chuckled a bit. "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she's drive me crazy." Damon spoke, Esme rose her brows and tilted her head a bit. "Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been best friend since the first grade and that means something to me." The Gilbert defensively spoke, sternness in her manner.

The girl watched as something switched in the raven haired man,"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention." Damon talked in the soothing voice, as if he was trying to persuade her. But the girl didn't fall for it, Damon was already on her bad side,"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

Damon smiled, shaking his head,"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you." Esme folded her arms across chest,"Really?" She questioned, wanting to see where he was going with this. Damon hummed as a response,"I seem 'em. You want me." Esme scoffed, feeling offended,"Excuse me?"

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me." Damon looked straight into Esme's eyes, the girl immediately knew what he was trying to do. "Compulsion." The voice in the back of her head reappeared for her once again. The girl was confused, what was this little voice, and most importantly, what the hell was Damon trying to play at here.

She snapped back into reality when she heard his voice once again speak,"And right now.. You want to kiss me." Esme had this emotionless look on her face, though it was pure anger, Damon smiled as he succeeded or he thought. He slowly leaned in with a smirk, Esme looked at his lip, before her face was painted with a scowl, and without thinking, Esme raised her hand and slapped him hard.

"What the hell?" Esme scoffed, glaring at him,"I don't know what game your trying to play here. Maybe trying to mess with Stefan, I don't know. But I don't want to be a part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight." Damon was in complete shock, Esme locked eyes with the man, who was holding his cheek,"I am not a pawn." Esme glared once more before tightly holding her water and jacket and walking away.

She didn't even realize what she had just done, she had blown her own cover...

• S T E F A N •

The blonde haired vampire watched as Matt walked away, feeling slightly more happy and comfortable with the complicated situation between him, Elena and Matt, but it was short-lived as he heard someone clapping behind him. He swiftly turned around, to see his older brother leaning against the brick wall.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins the team, makes a friend." Damon announced, pure sarcasm out of his tone of voice. "It's all so,'Rah, Rah, Go Team, Yeah'!" Damon raised his arm in a fist bump, clearly mocking his brother. Stefan shook his head, turning his body to leave,"Not tonight. I'm done with you." As he turned he was met face to face with Damon, who used his vampire-speed. Damon tilted his head, "Nice trick with Esme. Let me guess— vervain in her bracket? Necklace or ring maybe?"

Stefan was confused, he never gave the girl any vervain, only Elena. But he made sure to not show any unsureness, as he didn't even know why he couldn't compel her. "I admit, I was a bit surprised. It been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." Damon lifted his eyes, throwing a innuendo in there. Stefan kept a cold, and stern face, unfazed,"Where'd you get it?" The older brother asked, "Does it matter?" Stefan started to walk away, going around his brother.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just..eat her." Damon cockily spoke, knowing that caught his brothers attention. Stefan stopped, turning around, confidence in his body,"No, you're not gonna hurt her." He slowly walked towards him as Damon turned around to face him.

"No?" Damon arrogantly asked,"Because deep down inside there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you; that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be." Stefan with confidence, knowing he wouldn't hurt her, not if she looks the way she is.

Damon squinted his eyes,"Who's pretending?" Stefan looking him in the eyes,"Then kill me." Damon smiled,"Well I'm— I'm tempted." He looked up, shaking his head as he looked as if he was deciding. "No, you're of. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After one hundred and forty five years. Katherine is dead, and so is Natasha. And you hate me because you love her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity." The two had a tense stare off, but it was quickly interrupted by the annoying douche, Mr. Tanner.

"Salvatore!" The blonde haired man turned around with a stern expression, the teacher walked towards him with open arms,"What the hell? We've got a game to play!" He yelled, frustrated, Damon looked at the teacher with an idea popping in her head. "If that's my humanity..the. What's this?" He gulped, flashing a quick and sarcastic smile towards Stefan.

Then using his vampire-speed to Mr. Tanner, his vampire fad slowly unraveling, his fangs then digging themself into Mr. Tanner's neck. He yelled in pain,"No!" Stefan yelled, seeing as his brother slowly drained the teacher for all he was worth. Then just like that, he was dead, Damon turned around, blood all over his mouth, dripping to his chin, his vampire face still out,"Anyone, any time, any place." Stefan blinked in shock, this was going to be a lot more tougher.

• E S M E •

Dread...that's what filled the Gilbert body as she was in the field with the rest of the cheerleader, practicing. Until that emotion she knew all to well filled her body, it nearly paralyzed her when she felt the sense of death. She could smell it in the air, feel it in her finger tips, taste it on her tongue.

She held her head as a pain rushed through her body, she walked away from the group, though no one noticed, luckily. Then aloud ringing filled her head, making her groan, she opened her eyes, but shut them immediately when the lights hit her. "Fuck!" Jordan clenched her eyes in pain, she then moved further away from her group, feeling a sudden breeze of wind hit her face and body. She opened her eyes as she heard no one, and felt no light on her.

"What in the?" Jordan looked around her new surrounding, seeing she wasn't even on school soil anymore. No, she was in the empty park of Mystic Falls, far away from the school. She then felt a rush of power surge through her veins, Jordan gasped as she lifted up her hands to see scarlet red flares dancing around her hand.

"What's happening to me?"

[thechangeling]

Night blooming

Ok so remember when I said I was gonna write another wlw one shot about my OC and Thais Pedroso? Well I finally finished it. This is a sequel to Only Love. I reccomend you read that one first. It's on my Ao3. Also there are two Buffy references in here. If you catch them you get a cookie.

She was beautiful. Utterly stunning. Like a shining becon of angelic radiance and power. But what honestly made Thais so alluring was her kindness and selflessness. She was the kind if girl who held her heart out before her for everyone to see. You could see it in her smile, hear it in her laugh, you could see it reflected in her paintings.

Janessa was the kind of girl who had thought she had given up on the goodness of humanity a very long time ago. She had seen how cruel people could be first hand during her human life and even now as a vampire. Only now she had power to protect her and a dangerous appetite that was never full.

In theory maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe in theory a lot of Nessie's ideas were bad ideas. But after that kiss in her room. After Thais had slept in her bed and asked Janessa to sing to her. Nessie couldn't lie to herself anymore.

"So where are we exactly?" Thais asked, stepping of Janessa's motorcycle, eager to be done riding it. Janessa hadn't had a helmet available since she never road with one. Thais was shocked when she told her.

"Don't you need one?" She had asked her.

"Nope I'm dead remember? Plus vampires are pretty much indestructible unless-"

"Unless you get them in the heart," Thais had chimed in. She sounded as if she was reciting something taken directly from a textbook.

She probably was.

It was a little unsettling.

They had pulled up to what looked to be an abandoned building. It was dark and worn down, with crumbling broken edges.

"It's a surprise," Janessa answered playfully. Thais rolled her eyes good naturedly. Janessa laughed.

"Come on angel, dont you trust me?"

Thais deliberated this for awhile then finally nodded. "Ok fine, lead me to my death." She held out her hand for Janessa to take.

If Nessie was alive, her heart would probably be racing. She smiled in spite if herself and took Thais's hand.

Thais instantly tensed up. "By the angel you're cold!" She complained. Janessa rolled her eyes fondly.

"I am once again, reminding you that I'm a vampire," she pointed out. "Come on."

She led Thais towards the entrance of the building. Thais seemed to notice something of to the side and gasped excitedly.

"Look!" She pulled Nessie towards what appeared to be a patch of flowers. "Jasmines! They're night blooming!" Thais let go of Janessa's hand to pick one and handed it to her.

"Just like you."

A shadowhunter had just given Janessa a flower. A pretty girl had just given her a flower. Janessa needed oxygen. She didnt need to breathe but somehow she felt like she was suffocating.

Janessa felt really strange. She had been for weeks whenever she was around Thais. There were all kinds of new emotions that she wasn't really prepared to deal with. Nor did she want to.

Janessa shook it off. She reached forward and took the flower from Thais. Nessie felt her shiver slightly when their fingers touched. Thais was smiling at her, her expression was open and warm the same way it always was. Janessa wished she could be the same way.

She wished she knew how.

Janessa made an effort to stop gaping and smiled. "Thanks angel. It's beautiful." Thais shrugged.

"I know your probably not a flowers type of person-" she started, ducking her gaze shyly. Nessie shook her head adamantly.

"No shut up, I like my flower!" She protested jokingly. "And I actually am a flowers person, it's just that no one's ever given me them before." Thais smiled at her shyly, lifting her hand to push Janessa's hair back behind her ear.

"Me neither," she admitted. Nessie found herself instinctively leaning into her touch.

She was warm. Janessa grinned unselfconsciously for a moment before realizing she was showing her fangs. "Sorry!" Janessa exclaimed. But Thais appeared to be unfazed.

She shook her head smiling. Thais's eyes were shining like bright beautiful obsidian stones. Her fingertips felt soft against Nessie's skin. She gulped.

"I didn't even notice," Thais whispered.

Janessa held her gaze for a moment then remembered why they were there in the first place. She shook herself out of her stupor.

"Come on let's go inside." She took Thais's hand again and guided her towards the building. Thais groaned reluctantly, but still followed.

"I swear this is how horror movies start Nessie," she grumbled. Janessa laughed.

"Well if there's anything big and bad lurking in the shadows angel I promise to protect you," she teased.

"Oh please I'll be the one protecting you. I'm the one with combat training."

"Yeah but I'm the one with the scary teeth," Janessa countered playfully. Thais rolled her eyes and allowed Nessie to lead her into the building.

It was crumbled and run down with weeds growing out in every direction, but when they finally made it down to the center wall, Thais gasped.

The entire wall was covered in street art. More specifically street art like looked like it belonged in Brazil. At least according to pictures Janessa had seen.

"Oh by the angel, it's beautiful!" Thais exclaimed. "It looks just like the stuff in São Paulo!" She traced her fingers across the bumpy cement. "I used to paint like this sometimes."

Janessa raised an eyebrow. "You mean spray paint?" She asked skeptically. "I have a hard time picturing a shadowhunter doing graffiti art for some reason." Thais laughed and it made Janessa want to laugh as well.

"Yes I could see why you would think that," Thais admitted, the smile leaving her face. Shadowhunters usually aren't encouraged to pursue the arts. But I love it." Thais turned away from Thais and continued tracing the outline of one of the drawings. Nessie followed her as she walked.

"When I was a kid, everytime I would be super excited and happy and have a ton of energy, I used to run around and destroy the house by drawing all over the walls. At the time the consequences, or the concept of right and wrong, wouldn't faze me," Thais explained. She sounded a little nervous to be telling Janessa this.

Janessa carefully walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently spinning Thais around to face her. "Why not?" She asked.

Thais looked haunted. "Because I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I didn't know and I don't know why. Sometimes I have these moments where I just get really depressed and heavy for no reason and I dont leave my bed for days and other times it's like I'm on top of the world and I feel like I'm floating on clouds until I run out into traffic and nearly get run over," she murmered. She was avoiding Janessa's gaze.

Thais shook her head as if she was clearing dust from it. "Anyways the point is, spraying and painting has always helped me feel better. More human. One of the things I hate about shadowhunters is there's so much focus on death and violence and war," she said bitterly. "We're trained that our emotions are distractions. To feel is to be weak, and stuff like art, music or dancing, they're made from feelings. I think that's why shadowhinters are persuaded not to pursue them."

Thais sighed, glancing back over to the wall of street art. Janessa stayed silent, allowing Thais time to think.

Thais turned back to look at Janessa her eyes were shining again as she smiled slightly. "But I mean, who wants to live in a world without feelings?" She asked, stepping closer to Janessa.

Nessie was suddenly hyper aware of Thais's proximity to her. Her lips were curved and full and soft looking. She could remember their first kiss quite vividly, the way Thais tasted, the feeling of her warm body pressed against Janessa's.

The smell of Thais's blood overwhelming her.

Nessie reached out and cradled the sides of her face, rubbing her thumb against the edge of Thais's cheekbone. "You're right," she whispered in response to Thais's earlier statement. "There's nothing without feelings." Janessa lowered her head so that their lips were almost touching, paused for a moment to see if Thais would back out, and when she didn't, Nessie kissed her slowly.

Janessa heard Thais's heart sped up the same way it did the first time they kissed. She smiled slightly and deepened the kiss, pushing her tounge against Thais's as she felt Thais grip her arms tighter, pulling against the buckles on Nessie's leather jacket. She continued to kiss her feverishly pushing Thais's hair back. It was incredibly thick and curly, so Janessa couldn't really run in fingers through it very well.

Nessie ran her arms down Thais's shoulders to her waist and Thais made a squeaking type noise and jumped back.

"Cold Nessie!" She cried out. Janessa laughed.

"Aw I'm sorry angel. You're just gonna have to get used to it," she cooed. Thais playfully rolled her eyes.

She was silent for a moment then, studying Janessa carefully with her dark eyes. "You know it's interesting," she mused. "I used to believe that vampires couldn't feel things like love and compassion." Janessa narrowed her eyes.

This was a strange thing to be admitting on their first date but sure, why not?

"But then I heard you sing," Thais continued. "I heard you sing and it was so beautiful. Not just because you're good, because you are very good. But because you sing with so much passion and emotion," Thais exclaimed. "And that's when I knew that I was wrong, and that I care about you."

Janessa couldn't help but grin. "God you are so cute," she giggled.

Thais shrugged. "I'm not that cute. Also another thing happened that night when I saw you perform that I thought you should know about," she said innocently.

Nessie was curious. "What?"

Thais smirked in a way that was very not angel like. "I'll tell you once we get back to the institute." Janessa bit her lip to avoid letting out a moan.

"Well fuck then snap some pictures of the wall and let's get out of here," Nessie exclaimed, rushing towards the exit. Thais laughed and raced after her.

"Its fine. We can always come back," she pointed out. "Maybe this could be our special place."

Janessa felt another overwhelming rush of feeling overtake her. She tried not to let it show.

'Yeah," she answered, feeling light and fluffy and on top of the world, just like Thais had described before.

Just be careful, a voice inside her said. Make sure you don't go running out into traffic.

Keep your guard up Nessie.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just for frame of reference, this is my idea of Janessa.

@eutony-in-whisper @swordwifes @ti-bae-rius @dianasarrow @stxr-thxif @thelandunderthehilll @magnus-the-fabulous-entp-bane @talia-lightwood

[lovenona]

LONG ask ahead, sorry T^T

*arrives in a hurry after 2-3 days* *slow, appreciative clap at the ted talk* sweetie, have you got any idea how much i adore hearing you ramble about the creation process??? seeing the whole love and dedication you hold for the odyssey makes my day! (and nooo, i'm totally not reading it again bc i want to have all of it in mind for tomorrow and bc it inspires me to no end hahaha what do you mean :) )

here comes yet another question: what kind of powers do you possess to write so beautifully. your writing literally punches me in the gut every single time, even the simplest of things!! it's hauntingly beautiful and i'm living for it!

(and another one) how did you find out how the odyssey was going to end?

also, it's rambling time because i've been thinking. (i do that sometimes.) each chapter title is a reference to a greek myth, and, in particular, odysseus' myth (no clue if i've written his name right, i've always knew him as "ulysse" in my mother tongue ^^;). and so my brain went: oooh nice, greek lore ^^ and then: yo wait. hold up. which brings me here: analysing the chapter titles. (bear with me please, and feel free to ignore my enthusiastic rambling/correct me if i'm wrong which i probs will)

so first, we have the prelude. david and calypso. while i'm sure david has his importance it's almost 1 am as i'm typing this so i'm going to focus on calypso. poor nymph is stuck in an island because of the will of gods for a reason i've forgotten. but here's the catch: while she cannot leave, others can come to her (good ol' odysseus for instance) until they leave her all alone again. and the cycle unfolds again and again. which brings us to a nice parallel with reader's situation at the beginnig. she, after all, is stuck on an island with no way out but stories. comes the dilf supreme toji aka an odysseus of sorts, until he leaves her. so she's alone again. calypso there illustrates a passive state of sorts. she cannot leave, or so she thinks: while she wants to, we don't see her try per se until sukuna comes in.

ah yes. sukuna’s arrival. chapter title: neptune’s hands. Neptune, god of the seas, all powerful, also known as Poseidon absolutely terrifying if provoked — which is something Odysseus did! well, man is smart enough not to do it to his face. but he did stab a cyclope, which happened to be neptune’s son. son who swore to a haughty Odysseus that he’d pay for it. in consequence: instead of going back to Ithaca without that much of trouble, Neptune goes: nope mate, and promptly sabotage his return (with a storm who leads his ship astray if my memory is correct). Neptune serves as a catalyst in here, to properly start the action. and it so happens to be sukuna’s role! he is, as well, the one who starts reader’s journey — well, odyssey in this case ;) — by making her this offer. plus, if we consider reader as being calypso, a nymph, and sukuna as being Neptune, a god, it shows their difference in power. sukuna is a fearsome curse, captain whose name is enough to strike fear in the cruellest pirate, who can and will kill reader should he get bored of her. reader is but a printer’s apprentice, so weak compared to him it hurts.

ah, yes. the narcissus pool aka siren gojo, aka me simping so hard for this man I might squirt with the mere mention of him. yes, siren gojo is that powerful, feel free to lure me in with them baby blues sweetie *blows him a kiss* hem. anyway. long story short, an oracle said: if narcissus sees his reflection, he’ll die. people prevent him from seeing himself. ofc man is so handsome it hurts and has women and men alike running after him, including a nymph named echo. he rejects her. hera is somehow involved in the mess and makes it so that he stumbles upon a river and sees himself. entranced by his beauty, he desperately tries to reach himself and stays near the river until he dies. this one is a bit trickier (especially considering I’m writing this as I go with no coherent preparation whatsoever but damn if I’m not having fun). but. *proceeds to read it again* *sighs in ‘why the hell ain’t siren!gojo real pls sir take me’* anyway. it’s never mentioned in narcissus’ myth, but I’m pretty sure he was tempted to look at himself. at least once, considering he could wonder why on earth all those people kept falling for his looks. (or he could be pretty dumb. let’s say he isn’t) so he’s tempted by his own reflection. just like reader’s tempted to follow segsy siren gojo. he doesn’t up until hera is involved and ends up seeing his reflection. he falls. not literally, but in love — with his own self. here it’s different (and the reason why i’m strugglingTM to gather coherent thoughts). gojo is the very embodiment of this temptation — so he acts as narcissus’ reflection here. he’s the one seducing reader, the one luring her until she falls in the waters, just like narcissus did. she didn’t die though, unlike him. (thank you sukuna. I guess. yes I would’ve given my life for gojo to consume me in both ways and??) now, this is very simp-tainted (sorry bout that ^^;) and the thing I’ve noticed is this: narcissus isn’t a character in the og odyssey. could it be bc to my absolute despair, gojo’s not as much of an important character as sukuna and toji? only you know!

(the hades, psyche analysis comes in tomorrow *looks @ time* *sees it's 1 AM* well, later on! have a lovely night/day!)

- the LRE (who's very happy tumblr allowed her to do paragraph breaks/to have a pirate history book recommandation! thanks about that one btw, it'll come in handy for a ff of mine (yeah it involves pirate gojo))

wait this is so precious n thoughtful oh my gosh 😭 thoughts n vibes under the cut :’) 

first of all THANK U!!!??? ur making me blush out here omg my hEART 😭 

as for ur first question, ur SO SWEET n IM LOSING IT bye i genuinely don’t know i just scream and throw a bunch of commas and metaphors everywhere and somehow things happen 💀 i read a lot (english major vibes) and it’s very helpful because i tend to imitate writers/phrases/books that inspire me while i'm figuring out how i want to write !! 

secondly: how did i figure out the ending of the odyssey??

answer: i think i just stumbled across this one 😭 i was brainstorming w my bestie (@/suedebunn) n she originally suggested a different version of the ending that i was like “oh wait” and then i played with it for awhile until i arrived at the version i have now ! i want to tell u more about how i arrived from point A to point B and what the process was but i will withhold because i am not giving anything away >:)

onto ur TITLE ANALYSIS!! this is SPECTACULAR! ur pretty much on the nose for all of them god damn i don’t have much to add :’) i’ll give u some of my takes tho!!

david and calypso – ur absolutely on the nose for the calypso aspect; david’s just a passing nod to the pirates of the caribbean portrayal of davy jones and the doomed relationship between him and calypso (mirroring the doomed relationship between toji and reader since he leaves them) 

neptune’s hands – yes! yeah! sexy! pirate sukuna is being compared to a sea god!! also a minor teaser but sukuna’s hands are important symbolically ;-) 

narcissus pool – ur brain is so big here god damn 🤲 narcissus is more of a loose reference to the idea of pride/ temptation and also hollowness/mirages (the emptiness of a reflection versus the tangibility of the real thing) so it’s not immediately a reference to the odyssey itself or even the myth (i'm taking creative liberties bye homer) but probably the best entity to use when describing gojo – the dichotomy between pride/emptiness is a lot more apparent in part 5 

gosh thank u sm for this!! excited to see what u have next!!!!!!

[iplaymatchmaker]

Hi there, me again, if I read the rules correctlyyou said we could do a separate ask for a separate game. If I read incorrectlyplease just ignore this, if not if my first ask wasn't to much I'd love to ask for an ikerev matchup as well! I'm bi, female (she/her) sagittarius sun, virgo rising, libra moon, ENFT. I'm 5'2, chubby/curvy w/ great boobs, I have longer  brunette hair w/ peekaboo highlights (they've been every color, but currently pink), brown eyes, glasses/contacts, 7 piercings & 26 tattoos. I'm very empathetic (sometimes to a fault) and have sever anxiety and depression. It takes me awhile to warm up around new people and be myself. I often feel intimidated in big social settings, such as parties, and often use alcohol for some liquid courage to help me let loose and be me in those situations. I've suffered some emotional and mental abuse at the hands of a step parent which has left me with some trauma and triggers; people raising their voice at me or making quick movements toward me or in my direction usually result in me crying and secluding myself for awhile. Oh and I have daddy issues, thanks absent father. That said I also don't do great with authority, I hate being told what to do, and I hate being told no. I can put up with a lot of shit, but eventually it usually becomes a 'straw that broke the camels back' situation and I fly off the handle and then break down. I am also extremely generous and do all I can to help my friends and family when they need it. I have some self confidence issues from weight gain, and I usually feel my best when I'm dolled up with my makeup on and hair done, usually with a dress and heels. I'm a Ravenclaw thats hates to read, but I love learning & know tons of trivia; like I know so many random facts about so many things from history, to movies, to graveyards, and much more. I often correct people on things, which some perceive as me belittling them, but its never my intention I'm just trying to share my knowledge and trying to help them. I am very creative I love crafting; resin art, macrame, cross stich, those are just some of my favorite things to do art wise, I also enjoy coloring books. I love to laugh and think I'm pretty funny, I usually have a dark sense of humor, if you don't like humor we won't vibe together, and if you can't make me laugh we will not be a good relationship match. I like to go to the bar and do karaoke, it's one thing I've learned I'mvery good at. It took me about 2 years, but I've since learned to be confident with my singing and now its one of my favorite things to do. I drink, obviously, gin and tonic is my favorite. I also smoke, I love my hookah, and I've had my medical card for about a year and it's done wonders for my insomnia and cramps. For about 2 years I've been getting severe cramps and stomach pains, and after 5 er trips in a month they didn't find anything, its still a mystery but at least the bud helps the pain. l'm very into the witchy aesthetic; my style is either very Stevie Nicks, pinup, or 2009 emo/scene depending on the day. I collect animal skulls and bone, taxidermy, crystals, and plants; I also practice the craft & love to make spell jars for people. I love tarot and really enjoy doing it. I live for Halloween & enjoy all things macabre! My favorite show is That 70's Show and if I could live in a replica of the Forman's house that would be my dream. I am also very sex positive and rather adventurous in bed. I'm a brat and a voyeur, I'll get down with just about anything. My love language is giving and receiving gifts. I put alot of thought into holidays like Christmas, I plan months in advance to make sure I get everyone the perfect gift; but I also will sometimes see something that just reminds me of someone and have to get it for them. That is all I can think of right now to add about myself. I'd love 4 and/or 10 for the prompt part. And again thank you for doing these, I'm such a ho for them, and again I'm sorry its long.

I match you with

Edgar!

Thank you so much for requesting 🥰🥰! I’m sorry this took so long, but here it is! I hope you enjoy it ❤️! I Hope you don’t mind the sprinkle of angst in the second ask.😅

I was thinking Ray at first, but I ended up going with Mr smooth, since Ray is too predictable after Nap.

Edgar is known among the red army officers as the person who will make you feel safe, especially during your first encounters with them, before you find out they’re all dorks.  What he doesn’t expect is how at home he feels when the two of you are together. He never feels like he’s being judged when he’s around you and he lets himself go, despite the indoctrination by Claudius that he should always keep people at a distance to avoid being viewed as weak.

Not long after the two of you met, he decides to take you out along with Kyle for a drink, to help you get more accustomed to Cradle and its people. When you realize how much Kyle loves to drink, you follow suite, the two of you very quickly getting tipsy. Edgar laughs at the two of you for a bit, happy to see a new side of you as you allow yourself to grow more comfortable with them. Eventually he leads the two of you outside of the pub and arranges for a carriage to take you all back to headquarters, trying his hardest to tame the both of you.

He absolutely loves it when you sing to him, especially after a particularly hard day of work. He relaxes at the sound of your voice, often drifting off. It touches him more than he would like to admit when he finds you’re still there when he wakes up.

You are a light in his life and he wants to give back in kind, often dedicating his days off entirely to you. He loves giving you gifts, or surprising you with a romantic dinner to show his appreciation to you, for being there and understanding him.

While he doesn’t have the creativity to participate in most of your hobbies, he loves to watch you do it. The amount of passion you show for your art, the way your eyes light up when you’re working, is a picture perfect moment that he could look at for hours.

Prompt 4: Meet cute:

You couldn’t stop fidgeting as you stood outside the Red Army Headquarters, waiting for Kyle to fetch someone to help you. After you told him about burglars breaking into your house he insisted he get one of the officers to help you, despite you doubts. It was hard not to worry as you considered the prospect of having to turn to Jonah for help, knowing how hard he could be to communicate with, capable officer or not.  

When Kyle finally emerged, it wasn’t Jonah walking next to him, but a man you didn’t recognize.  

“Sorry for the wait. He’s not easy to find.” The man stood a few heads higher than you but his softer features and aura helped to make him quite welcoming. You begun to relax at his presence, wondering if he was as smooth as he seemed.

“Edgar Bright, at your service.” He offered you a gloved hand, a soft smile playing on his lips. His grip was soft but secure. He was smooth.

“Kyle filled me on the details but I’ll need a statement from you as well.” You tensed up, the idea of an interrogation being especially daunting considering you didn’t know much more than they did.

“No need to worry, it’s simply protocol. You can trust we will find whoever did this without any turbulence.” There was something very reassuring about him. Something that makes you think everything will be all right.

“Thank you.”

 The two of you left Kyle behind, retreating to Edar’s room to discuss the details of the investigation. After he poured two cups of tea he took the seat opposite you, as if the two of you were about to chat about the weather.

“Could you give me the details of what happened? It would be very helpful to hear it straight from the source.” You took a sip before starting with your statement, hoping to calm your nerves.

“I don’t know much more than you do. I was out for work most of the day and when I came back the place was a mess and many valuables were missing.” he seemed to have switched to work mode, completely focused on you.

“What time did you leave for work that day? And when did you return” he scribbled down on a piece of paper, his hand practically moving on its own.

“I left around 8 and came back around 6, I think.” When he put the pen down his attitude returned to relaxed gentleman status.

“I will start with asking the people who might have been present at the scene. I’ll get back to you once I’ve made some progress.” The conversation was over but you found it hard to leave. It didn’t feel right letting one man do the investigation on his own, despite it being his job. It was your house that had been rambled after all.

“I want to help as well. I know my way around the area, I can get in touch with some people.” His eyes widened, seemingly taken aback for the first time that day. He quickly composed himself, smiling again. You noticed something different about it now. Something in his expression told you he was more interested than before.

“I wouldn’t say no to a lady.” You smiled for the first time after the incident.

“Let’s get going then.”

 Prompt 10: Admission Of Feelings.

You continued working on the investigation for the next few weeks, the two of you growing closer by the day.

“There don’t seem to be any witnesses, but it’s unlikely no one was present. The break in happened in the middle of the day.” He rested his head on his chin, not touching the parfait sitting in front of him.

“Maybe they were there but didn’t notice anything. It’s not hard for a professional to pick a lock discreetly.” They two of you sat in silence for some time, both lost in your own theories of what happened that day.

He must have realized your worries, turning on his comfort face.

“We’ll find them. Don’t worry.” Usually you found his words comforting, but you couldn’t keep the frustration from your voice when you looked up at him.

“Realistically speaking, it’s probably not going to happen. They made a clean escape and left nothing behind. You don’t need to baby me, I can put two and two together.” Despite the harshness of your tone, you found him smiling, after the initial surprise wore off.

“You never cease to amaze me.” He opened his mouth to say something, but the words never left him, his eyes turning to the window. He was up and out of the café before you could ask what he had seen.

“What the-“when you looked in the direction of the culprit, you shot up, following after him.  

A man stood outside your door, seemingly fighting with the door. When he noticed the two of you approaching him, he dropped his bags, taking off before you could reach him.

“Stop!” Edgar run after him, his speed taking you by surprise, making it hard to catch up.

The man took a sudden turn, heading towards the narrow alleys of Central Quarter, giving you an important disadvantage in the chase.

Your legs ached and your heart was threatening to burst out of your chest. When you thought you couldn’t keep going, you rounded a corner to find Edgar, sitting on top of the man, pinning him in place. If he was tired from the chase, it didn’t show.

“I suppose I don’t need to ask if it was you who broke in a few weeks ago?” his gaze was cold and his grip was tight on the man’s shoulders.

“I- I just- I-it wasn’t me!” Edgar ignored him, turning towards you. Something flickered in his eyes, but loud footsteps coming your way didn’t let him act on whatever it was.

“The Jack? Sir, what happened? We heard the commotion and came to investigate.” A handful of Red Army soldiers stood in front of you, their eyes switching between Edgar and the man under him.  

“Take this man back to headquarters. I will interrogate him later.” Edgar pulled the man up, pinning his hands behind his back.

“Yes sir!” when the men led the thief away there was silence. Edgar’ kept his head low, not looking you in the eye as he tried to calm his breathing, the adrenaline of the chase slowly fading away. You knew you should be happy the man had been caught, but something was wrong in the atmosphere. You weren’t sure if you should speak up, or let him ride whatever it was out. He didn’t give you time to think on it, finally walking toward you. His hands were shaking when he reached out to touch your shoulders, a mixture of frustration and worry in his eyes.

“You…. Why…” you weren’t sure what to say, so you put your arms around him instead, hoping it would offer him some comfort. You stayed like that for some time, until his hands stopped shaking.

“I didn’t want you to see me like this.” His words were muffled by the fabric of your shirt. When he lifted his head again, something inside him seemed to snap.

“You shouldn’t have followed me. What if something happened? You could have gotten hurt.” He looked away, his eyes shut tight. You wondered what image was going through his head to cause him so much pain. You cupped his face, forcing him to face you.

“Edgar, look at me.” And he did. The sight of you seemed to calm him down.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m right here.” It took some time for the words to register, but when they did his face moved closer to you. You encouraged him, pulling him closer, your lips connected in a brief kiss. When he pulled away he took a step back, as if scared he had hurt you.

“I-I’m sorry.” You moved closer, smiling up at him.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. Except maybe pulling away.” You laughed. When he realized you might feel the same way he took your hands in his.

“You’re an amazing woman.” He paused to gather his breath before meeting your gaze again.

“If the thought wouldn’t be appalling, could I see more of you, outside of work?” you couldn’t keep the laughter inside.

“Appalling? Edgar, do you think I would kiss someone I find appalling?” you pulled him back in, hoping to get your point across.

“I’ll never get enough of this.” His smile was brighter than you’d ever seen it.

“I’ll hold you to that. Because we’re just getting started.” The moon was bright above you as you laughed, your happiness overflowing.