#i'm sure they'll start getting along eventually.

[beatcroc]

listen i love these two being besties as much as anyone, but i'd like to also propose the possibly funnier alternative in which the noise Did Not Know about fake peppino before, and is very perturbed at this guy who suddenly isn't nearly as easy or fun to torment. 🔥🔥🔥2024 DISCLAIMER: this was made a whole ass year before we had playable noise do NOT come at me for blatant mischaracterization it didn't exist yet🔥🔥🔥

bonus:

hey! it's a series! fake peppino world tour: [noise]<-u are here [noisette] [peppino] [gustavo] [gerome] [noisette again]

[itsa-not-me]

I'm having a conversation with someone and this idea hit me.

Have a thought, an ask, a burning desire? send me an ask why don't you? It might just spark something

Content warning;

Aliens, tentacles, very under negotiated kink, kind of dub con? maybe IDK?

Alien Konig is sent to Earth to collect human specimen for his planet's research breeding program. He's told that idealistically at least four of siring group and four of the brooding group. Konig is very happy to help his planet. He's a very good alien.

So he finds four siring humans (and how convenient for him that they were in a group together). The brooding humans are a little harder since he's a little pickier. He wants to make sure that he gets good matches. But he's determined and he finds four brooding humans that he thinks will pair well with the sires.

And then he gets some...interesting news.

The program is going to expand to interspecies relations, would Konig mind grabbing another brooding human? They'll still need to find someone of their species willing to participate but-what? Konig you'll do it? Why Konig, who knew you were such a dedicated researcher.

Yes Konig is a very dedicated researcher...He's also a human fucker but his fellow researchers don't need to know that.

So Konig now has the pleasure of looking for a brood human to be his partner in research. He's a bit picky actually. He doesn't want just any brood human, he does have standards. For a second he thinks he's not going to find someone, and then he finds reader.

Reader who seems to be made of all of Konig's fantasies. Like she walked out of one of his dreams. He knows that she has to the one he takes. One quick teleport kidnapping in the middle of the night and everything is all set to go. And reader doesn't even seem to be that scared of him! The hood to cover his face was a great idea. Some species didn't react well to his species facial tentacles or beaks.

Once he's sure she's awake and fully cognizant of what's going on he explains who he is and the mission he's been sent on, and what both their purposes are here. Little does Konig realize that reader is the monster fucker to his human fucker. Really he's such a lucky alien.

He's surprised but very pleased when reader says she'll happily help with research. They spend several Earth evenings discussing human anatomy and mating rituals, Konig making diligent notes and asking what someone might think are invasive questions. Some of them make Reader blush but Konig just thinks it's a pretty look on her and goes to ask about that too. Eventually they get to a point where all the questions he can think of have answers, all that's left is the practicum.

And that's how they end up here. Reader is sat naked in this heavily padded chair, the back set to an angle so she's reclined for it to be comfortable. Each wrist is set in an arm brace, but don't worry Konig makes sure it's not too tight on her. Her ankles are also strapped down, legs spread by what looks like medical stirrups. It looks a little intimidating at first, but Konig goes through so much effort to make sure she's comfortable.

Once she's all set Konig starts from the top, brushing his finger tip against her hairline and over her face, repeating what he thinks the names are. Sometimes reader agrees, or she'll correct him, like when he called her nose a button. The first snag is when he accidentally scratches her cheek with his nail.

He pulls back when she hisses, eyes widening as he sees a small red cut along the curve. He apologizes and goes to get some healing spray. One quick spritz later and it's like the cut is never there. Konig notes that the human flesh is less tough than his own. He's promises to be extra careful as he continues. Reader's lips part when he traces their cupid's bow, and his hood moves with his tentacles in curiosity at the sight of her tongue.

He pushes his finger past her lips to feel the texture of her tongue and he's amazed at how soft it is. He follows the feel of it to the back of reader's throat but pulls his back when he feels her cough. She has to explain what a gag reflex is, and it leads to so many new questions. He learns what the reflex is used for, and is curious to know that not every human has one. He asks what positives can come from such a thing and his interest is piqued when reader says it's a positive during...oral sex? Konig is surprised that humans can reproduce via their mouths.

Reader is blushing again when she explains that humans don't reproduce via their mouths. Konig tilts his head and asks what the point is then. Read explains that it's a way to stimulate and pleasure a partner's sexual organs. Konig is immediately looking between reader's thighs. She wants to close her legs but well...stirrups and bound ankles.

Konig bends down to get a closer look at her cunt, noting how the position of her spread legs cause her lips to open to reveal the rest of her. He notes that there's some shine but decides to ask about it later. Instead, remembering what happened to her cheek, he very carefully traces a finger down one lip. It's fascinating the way it causes her leg muscles to jump.

He asks how a partner is suppose to pleasure her here. He waits as she explains in halting phrases how other humans use their mouths and fingers. He asks if doing such is always pleasurable and she explains that sometimes a partner isn't skilled enough. Konig makes a thoughtful noise as he stares at her cunt. His species doesn't have lips, and he doubts that beaks are particularly pleasant. But his species facial tentacles are rather...dexterous.

He lifts his hood covering enough that a few are revealed and he hears reader squeak. He looks up at her and she's staring at the gentle sway that they do without him thinking to hard about it. She doesn't seem to be so upset about it so...

He rests his hands on her thighs and lean in closer, now operating on feel more than sight. The first swipe of his tentacle makes her jump, he can feel it in his hands and the tip of his tentacle. He gives her a moment before trying it again, gently tracing the shape of her lips and moving inward with each pass. He feels reader moving her hips and pulls back to ask why she's doing so.

He listens intently as she explains, without looking at him now how strange, that his tentacle did feel good, but she was trying to get the touch else where, more inward. In particularly on her clit. Konig looks back at her cunt and notices the little nub towards the top of it, a little puffy and engorged, it does seem to beg his attention. He flicks a tentacle tip against it and is gifted with the sound of reader moaning.

He finds he enjoys the sound. He wants more of it.

He continues the action, trying different speeds and pressure against her clit. He notices that the slow flicks with more pressure makes her whine and squirm her lips again, but the fast ones with the same pressure makes her yelp and pull away. So sensitive her clit seems to be. He eases up the pressure and that seems to please her, moaning again like she did the first time.

As he continues his flicking though Konig notices there's a slickness that's seeping out of her. He pulls back again, stopping his flicking and making reader moan in disappointment. He's torn between asking why she sounds so upset and asking about the slickness. He's so curious though, wants to know if hers is like the kind that their tentacles secrete to keep from drying out.

It's not, she explains in a rush, like she's desperate for something. It's more a lubricant her body makes so it's easier for her to accept a cock for mating. And that catches Konig's attention. Lubricant for mating? He runs a separate tentacle through her wetness and oh, it feels so silky.

For some reason he's struck with the urge to taste it. He brings the tentacle to his beak and takes a hesitant lick of it. Only to discover how divine it tastes. His species can't moan like humans but he hopes the trill that comes from his chest expresses how pleased he is. He wants more of her taste, he craves it.

With a new found urgency his tentacle is back to trace her wetness to it's source, her hole that seems to tighten as soon as one of his tentacles circles the edge of it. Reader's making the same sound she did before when he first flicked her clit, and she's pleading with him, though he isn't really sure what for. But surely if she enjoyed what he's done to her clit, making the same noise means she wants him to continue.

So he does, pushing his tentacle into her cunt and oh, oh this is so new. She's so warm, and wet, and soft. It's nothing like the cloaca of his species. He can already feel his phallus start to push against his vent, and he can only imagine what she would feel like if he used it to fill her instead.

But that can wait for another day.

He's too busy trying to pull more of that natural sweetness from her, tip of his tentacle curving to drag along the walls of her cunt in hopes of rewarding him. It makes her hips jump again, and this time a cry tearing from her lips. Before he can stop though she's begging for the opposite, for him to keep going. Given how her walls are starting to clamp down on his tentacle he can only assume he's doing something right.

So he gives into her pleas and he doesn't stop. He continues the dragging motion of his tentacle, putting more pressure when one particular spot seems to affect her more than the others. The sounds she's making are becoming more high pitched, and it seems like she can't stop herself from begging for more. Silly reader, doesn't she realize Konig is more than happy to give her what she wants?

Between gasps she garbles something about her clit, and Konig takes it as a sign to give it attention again. With a tentacle not busy filling (and honestly deliciously abusing) her cunt, he flicks her clit again and is rewarded with a whine as she clamps down tighter on the tentacle inside of her. It seems she likes when he does that. So he continues to do it, flicking it with the same speed and pressure as he was before. He's glad he learned to be so dexterous with his facial tentacles or else he doesn't know if he'd be able to move the two of them so independently of each other.

Reader is making higher and higher pitched noises more frequently and Konig gets the impression they are working her towards something. Whatever it is, she seems stuck after a few moments, whining and sounding like she is close to crying with the way she is hiccupping. Konig wants to pull away to ask what is wrong but he remembers how fervently she had begged him not to stop earlier. So he doesn't but he suddenly gets an idea. He knows she enjoys him flicking her clit, but what about other clitoral stimuli?

He wraps the tentacle as delicately as he can around her clit, trying not to use too much strength as he squeezes it and gives it pull. It certainly does something. As soon as he was squeezing, reader was screaming, back arching against the exam chair. Konig would have pulled back but the way she squeezes down on the tentacle inside her has Konig wondering if it's actually a good sound.

And then he get's a face full of her wetness. And Konig has found Nirvana. It him just right that he essentially got a beak full, flooding his senses with the taste and smell of her.

It's addicting.

It makes all reason and logic leave his mind.

He's only left with the one raging instinct to do whatever it takes to get more.

Edit

I hope poor reader is in to have her pussy fucking destroyed. Man's gonna be on a sex ban for weeks.

Edit Edit;

is this good to anyone? I had an idea and then kind of rolled with it.

[octuscle]

Hey there! I'm having a debate with my roommate and wondering if you can help settle it. He says that if you gave someone the body of a jock, without any mental changes, they'll eventually start acting like a jock anyway. I don't think that's true. Just because you have muscles and look like a jock doesn't mean you'll start acting like one, right? We were thinking of trying to set up an experiment for our honor's thesis and wanted your input, thanks!

Are you really sure you want to go through with it? We are happy to do it. I'll create a preset for you that only changes your body. But really. 1.90 m tall. 140 kg of pure muscle mass. But everything else stays the same. To be honest, you don't look like you're ready for it. But it's up to you. I can only recommend that you are in a safe and, above all, unobserved place when you activate the preset.

You take a deep breath. You stand naked in the middle of your room. Next to you, you have laid out a pair of tracksuit bottoms, a tank top, a jockstrap, a pair of socks and a pair of sneakers. You can only hope that the clothes will fit your new self. 3. 2. 1. enter!

Wow! Holy shit! Now that was quick and without a transition. You look down at the floor from a slightly greater height. And when you look down, all you see are pecs. Fucking huge pecs. You need a mirror. Phew! Very slowly! The new body works a little differently than the old one… Your center of gravity is much higher up. You stand in front of the mirror. This no longer has anything to do with you. It's more Greek demigod than human. Your cock is getting hard. A huge cock that fits this huge body. You never wank. Especially not in the middle of your room. But now you have to. Not for long. And a huge load lands on the mirror and the floor. Yes, I've changed a few details apart from the height and muscle mass. You've already noticed one thing. You'll notice the others too.

You're convinced that the new body won't change anything. So you act as you always have. First of all, you clean up the mess. You are manically clean and tidy. Then you put on your clothes. The shoes are a bit tight, but otherwise everything fits pretty well. So off you go to the library. After all, your honors thesis isn't going to write itself.

Iris and Rita at the information desk didn't recognize you when you greeted them. They looked at you as if you were an alien when you wished them a good morning. You sat down at your regular place in the library. You like routines. You started working on your thesis outline when Vincent came over. Vincent always sits three tables behind you. Nice guy, similarly obsessive as you. He clears his throat and says that you can't sit here, the seat is taken. Actually, you should have said something along the lines of "Vincent, don't you recognize me, it's me!". But somehow you can't help it. You have to try it out. You cross your muscular arms behind your head, look deep into his eyes and just ask who cares. Vincent retreats like a beaten dog. Three minutes later, you have a WhatsApp message: "There's some stupid musclehead sitting in your seat!" You reply that it's okay, you're not on campus for a few days for empirical studies anyway.

But you're not as productive as usual. Your new body is keeping you busier than you thought. It feels so good to tense your muscles. Your hard cock is constantly leaking precum and is always half stiff. Shit, after an hour you have to jerk off. Fuck, you make quite a mess in the toilet. You try to clean everything up with toilet paper. When you come out of the stall, a student is standing at the urinal, looking at you and wanking. Get out of here quickly, you think to yourself.

The incident is definitely worth recording. After all, you've never experienced this before. But it was hot. As you type out your thoughts, your stomach begins to growl. So loud that Vicent hisses "Pssst". It's actually too early for lunch. But the canteen is about to open. So you're one of the first in the queue. You can hardly wait. And you heap heaps of food onto your tray. You're so hungry.

The weather is good, you sit down at a table in the sun and, ignoring all the table manners, you wolf down your food. Suddenly you hear a voice shouting "Hey, guys, there are empty seats here with the big boy!" You look up. A couple of idiots from the football team are standing at your table. "Dude, okay if we join you?" asks one of the guys, who seems to be some kind of leader. "Sure thing," you say with your mouth full, spitting a bit of your chicken across the table. "Cool," he replies, giving you a fist bump, which you return somewhat hesitantly and also a little awkwardly. And before you know it, you're sitting in a cloud of sweat, testosterone and stupid comments.

You start talking to the boys more for scientific reasons. They ask if you're Fresman because they've never seen you before. You say that you're actually studying somewhere else, but you're here to work on your Honor's thesis. The leader spits his Coke across the table. "Fuck, dude! You already have a degree? In what? Lifting iron?" Everyone laughs. Very loudly. You too. It's actually really funny with the boys…

The boys go to the gym after lunch. I wonder if you're coming too. You don't even think about it. You just say that you haven't got anything to change into. Everyone laughs and asks if anyone is interested. So you go along. It's a field study, you think to yourself. You're observing everything very closely. You don't want to attract negative attention. The processes seem very simple. You copy what you see the boys doing. You even enjoy it. You work up a sweat. You forget the time. The others are gone at some point. You're still here. You look in the mirror. Your long, sweaty hair falls across your forehead. Your friends all have much shorter hair. It's also more practical when working out. You look at your watch. Shit!!!!! You have to get your stuff from the library before it closes. Trevor, sitting at the information desk, doesn't recognize you either. It's already very empty when you pack up your things. Vincent is still there, mumbling something about how antisocial it is to occupy a space you're not using. You don't know why you're doing this now. But you go to him very slowly. You press his face into your armpit. And say that you had more important things to do. Shit, Vincent is seriously licking the sweat out of your armpit hair now? Pathetic little fucker, your new friends would say now. You're far too surprised. By you. By him. Slightly disturbed, you go home. You throw yourself on your bed and think about your first day as a jock. You fall asleep.

You are actually a person who is always well prepared. But you are amazed at how little you have prepared for this experiment. You have a combination to wear. It's still sweaty after yesterday's workout. But you don't have anything else. So this morning you're not going to the library, but to the paint shop. Shopping. A pair of sweatshorts, a few tank tops, socks and jockstraps, sneakers. A bit of compression gear for training. You pass a barbershop. There are a couple of guys inside who are obviously no strangers to the gym either. Fuck it, you think. Down with the long hair!

You haven't been in the library this late in a long time. Vincent has blocked your seat for you. With a few protein bars. Cute! He winks at you when you come in. You raise your arm and smell your armpit. Shit, you haven't showered! Fuck… Well, maybe the little prick will like that even more…

By lunchtime with the boys, you at least want to have logged yesterday and this morning. And you're looking for some literature on the connection between mind and body. Most of it is ancient. Nothing has been published on the subject for a long time. And if there is, it's more about the effect of the state of mind on the body. Less often on the effect of the body on the state of mind. That's obvious, because normally a genius like you doesn't acquire a body overnight…

The lunch break with the boys was cool. The guys are just very chilled, you like that. No highbrow topics. Just sport, fucking and partying. Unfortunately, a lot of football too. You have no idea about that. After lunch, the boys want to throw some balls on the lawn. You have to go to a colloquium later. And Luke said that you should finally replace those nerdy glasses with contact lenses. The visit to the optician was a good excuse not to embarrass yourself at football.

A whole day without going to the gym sucks! That's why you got up early today. You didn't do your thesis assignments yesterday, nor did you get your muscles burning. That has to change. Shit, you're still struggling with your contact lenses. But it looks a thousand times better. You're screaming alpha with every trained muscle fiber. And that's great! You almost feel at home in the gym. And nobody questions your position. In the library, Vincent provides you with everything you need. He fetches books for you and takes them away again. He has also already offered to help you with your work. What a loser! You don't need to order anything in the canteen after just two days. Your extra large portion of extra protein-rich food is prepared especially for you. Twice. You come once when the canteen opens. And once just before it closes. Your body is a machine. And this machine needs fuel. Lots of fuel.

You sit in the library and document the developments of the last few days. It really is only a few days. Reading through the last few lines almost makes you nauseous. Has your body replaced your mind so quickly? You need to get a grip on yourself. You did your Master's with distinction. You're working on your honor's thesis. You have a chance of getting a professorship at your old college. And you suddenly prefer to spend more time in the gym or with the airheads on the football team? You make a plan. Two hours of gym in the morning, two hours break with the bros at lunchtime, two hours of gym in the evening. And in between, focus on your thesis and your studies. It shouldn't be that difficult. You're an intelligent and disciplined man. So let's get going!

You have made every effort. And you actually come to the conclusion in your thesis that the body of a jock does not automatically lead to the mind of a stupid, arrogant and superficial jock. You have fun with both. Training in the gym and hanging out with the bros. And working scientifically and researching the human psyche. But in a lecture you realize that it's not you who changes, it's your environment that changes you. Since you got this body three weeks ago, no one has spoken to you about your studies. Vincent, who you thought was intellectual through and through, just wants you to let him lick your armpits in the evening. Your bros didn't even ask you what you were studying. And then the day comes when you attend your doctoral supervisor's lecture. Since your transformation, you've only spoken or written on the phone. You sit in the front row. You appreciate your doctoral supervisor for his liberal political views, his rhetorical skills and his incredible knowledge. At the end of his lecture, he looks at you. And asks if the young man, who unfortunately was unable to dress appropriately, understood a word of what he had just said. He assumes you were mistaken in the lecture hall. But if you invest your energy in your biceps and not your brain, that's to be expected.

First you think about whether you are saying anything particularly intelligent. To express your indignation at his insolence. To justify yourself. But then you think about what has been really fun in the last few weeks. And who you really had fun with. And you answer "Nah, professor dude! Dat wuz alot of words n stff u sed. I dnt thnk I need all dat for my degree as a personal trainer. wdut, bro?" You make your pecs dance. The lecture hall laughs. You stand up. Fuck the honor's thesis!

You started studying sports economics again. You also work as a trainer in a fitness studio. And you have a pretty successful YouTube fitness channel. You recently received a call from your old doctoral supervisor. He read through the draft of your honor's thesis again. It was all very promising. Why did you drop out? You say that you obviously have to choose between brains and brawn at some point. And you're grateful to him for helping you decide. And with that you hang up.

[just-a-creep-babe]

A Demon’s Ache — Epilogue

Eyeless Jack x Reader

A Demon's Ache Masterlist

With this final part, EJ's POV is finally complete! There are a few one-off bonus chapters I'm thinking about writing, but they'll either come after y/n's POV or randomly scattered about

I'd also like to start up another longer form series soon, so send in some ideas/suggestions if you have any ^^ A select few will be posted up in a poll to decide the final work uwu

Finally, the entirety of this series is dedicated to @cookiereblogss 🖤🖤

I was previously way too intimidated to write a longer series, despite always wanting to, but with cookiereblogss' incredible support, I was able to overcome that fear. In a way, I'd like to dedicate all of my future fic series to them as well, because I wouldn't have taken that first step without them. Thank you truly from the very bottom of my heart 🖤🖤🖤

And without further ado, I hope you enjoy this short lil smutty epilogue to the series!

Requests are closed but commissions are open!

Masterlist: x

It’s quiet, peaceful

Jack doesn’t fall asleep—he can’t, not after everything that’s happened—but he’s perfectly content holding you in his arms for now

Every now and again, he has to squeeze you just slightly harder to make sure this is real

It’s real—you’re safe, and happy, and he gets to hold you, and he’s still unsure about a lot of things, but you let him hold you, so that must mean things are going to be ok

He nuzzles into your hair, breathes in your scent, tries to savor the moment to its fullest

And it almost works, too

Keeping his mind occupied almost lets him forget about his worries

But every time he’s on the verge of letting go, he catches a glimpse of the mark on your neck, and all of the shame, guilt and worry lumps in his throat all over again

You let him hold you, you let him rest by your side—it’s going to be ok

Carefully, as though the wrong motion might break you, he lifts his hand and traces the mark with the back of his knuckle

The contact has you stirring, and before he can pull away, your eyes flutter open and you meet his gaze

A slow, soft smile grows on your lips

You lean into his touch, pressing closer into him

And then he just can’t resist tilting your chin up and stealing a kiss

Compared to the rushed, heated kisses that’d become the norm between you, this is the opposite

Slow and sensual, the warmth of your lips spreads to his chest and fills his body with a pleasant buzz

Your lips are so soft, your body so perfect against his, so warm and wonderfully inviting

You hum against him

Basking in it, basking in the peace of the moment, he cups your face and deepens the contact

He doesn’t expect anything more out of this

He simply wants to enjoy it

But when you make a muffled sound against him, almost like a whimper, something dangerous stirs within him

He tries to take a deep breath, tries to calm his less-than-pure urges, but when he breathes in, the scent of your growing arousal fills his lungs and his head starts spinning

Control it, control it, control yourself

Pushing down the temptation, he brushes his fingers along the slope of your face in an attempt to distract himself by memorizing the curves of your features

He follows an invisible line down your neck with the intention to eventually reach your hips and tug you in closer

But he doesn’t even make it halfway down your throat before you whine and push him off

Shit—he fucked up

Before he can blurt out a rushed apology, you push him onto his back, straddle his hips, and as if that wasn’t enough of a surprise, your lips clash with his, tongue reaching out to taste him like you're insatiable

The combination of it all short-circuits his brain

He doesn't even know what to do with himself; he simply lets you do as you please

It's only when you break the kiss to pull your shirt up over your head that he snaps himself out of his daze

“W-wait, (y/n)—“

He’s already panting, his stomach tensing with a knot of desire, but he manages to gasp the words out before you unclasp your bra

Pausing halfway through the motion, you look down at him questioningly

And at the sight of you, so visibly turned on with your lips freshly swollen from the make-out session—he immediately feels like an absolute idiot for telling you to stop

“Listen, I—“ he stumbles through his words like a horny moron, “I-you don’t need to do this. You know, y-you don’t have to—“

He cuts himself off as you finish undoing your bra, and the material falls away to reveal the perfect swell of your tits

Fuck, how’re you always so gorgeous?

It takes his breath away, and before he can recover, you take his hand and press it to the mark on your neck

The back of his knuckles trace over the bruised skin, slowly, softly, and as it does, you shudder

Your hips buckle, pressing down flush against his own, and a rush of heat has his cock throbbing against your sex

"I-I didn't realize it at first,” you murmur, “but..."

You trail off, and it almost looks like you're holding back a moan as you press his hand harder against your neck

"It's... it's sensitive"

You wriggle your hips for more friction, and he can't help but meet you halfway so that you’re fully grinding against him as you speak

“Whenever there’s any kind of pressure on it, it—it feels warm. Everything feels warm. And it—it aches,” you choke the word out, and fuck, if he didn’t know any better, he’d almost think you’re on the verge of begging for his cock right now

“I need you”

He holds back a groan as the words leave your mouth

And then it finally clicks

You’re in heat

Or, at least, as close as a human can get to a heat, anyways

He remembers reading about fresh marks triggering heats in his research—but he hadn’t realized they could affect humans too

The mere thought sends a surge of arousal—hot, sickly sweet, potent arousal rushing through him, and he has to take another breath to steady himself

But all he can smell is your arousal again, and it takes just about every ounce of his willpower to resist pinning you down and fucking you senseless

A low growl reverberates through his chest before he can hold it back

If touching the mark turns you on, he wonders what would happen if he licked it, if he bit it

With tense fingers, he grabs two fistfuls of your ass and distracts himself by kneading at the supple flesh

He shouldn't use the mark to his advantage—it'd be wrong of him to do so

But fuck if it isn't the most tempting thing ever

You make another sound again, like a sigh and a whine, and he uses his leverage on you to guide your hips over his bulge in impatient circles

You're soaked

He can feel it, even through his pants

He rolls his hips up in tandem with yours again, and he's obsessed with the way your face contorts with need and pleasure as his cock twitches between your thighs

You breathe out a curse, head falling back as you bring your hands up to your tits to toy with your own nipples

“Jack~“ you moan his name like a plea, sounding so needy that all he can do is groan at the sound, at the sight, at the scent of you

His mate

You're his mate—all for him

He wants to brand another mark into you

It's just about the only thing on his mind right now

As if one didn't cause enough trouble as is

But he can't help it; you'd just look so fucking gorgeous covered in his brand

The thought has shivers racing through his body

You yelp, and he realizes it’s because he’s digging his bulge right against your clit while simultaneously thrusting up

Fuck, he wants to ruin you

He wants your clothes off, wants you folded beneath him, wants you gushing around his cock while he abuses your tight little cunt

Long gone are his fears and worries over what happened

He just wants you—he needs you

You squirm on top of him, whining and whimpering as you're guided into riding him

With one particularly sharp thrust, you yelp, jerking forward, and you end up bracing your hands against his chest for balance

Which, in turn, grants him the perfect opportunity to lean up and press his mouth to yours in a heated, messy kiss

God, you taste so fucking sweet

He needs more

It’s all he can think about as his hands busy themselves with the rest of your clothes

And then before he knows it, you’re both naked and he’s on top of you and he’s aching to be inside of you

He barely takes the time to admire your flushed, naked body before throwing your legs over his shoulders, manhandling you without even meaning to, and bringing his length to the sensitive spot between your legs

His cock haphazardly smacks against your wet folds as he pushes his hips forward, and the filthy plea that falls from your lips has him groaning

He can’t wait any longer

Inch by inch, he pushes into you—until he’s almost completely stuffed inside your slick, velvety walls

His breathing’s ragged, his muscles flexed, his cock throbbing incessantly as he waits for you to adjust to his size

The wait, of which, is nothing short of agony

He's almost shaking by the time you relax around him

And as soon as you do, he pushes the few final inches in, and he groans as his tip brushes right up against your cervix

Control himself, control himself, he needs to learn to control himself

He swallows thickly, and then slowly, painfully slowly, he rocks back and forth into you

In and out, the wet sounds you make around him are nothing short of obscene

Your hands reach up to rake your nails down his back, and his grunts of pleasure mix in with your cute little moans and whimpers in a filthy symphony

In and out, in and out

He settles into a rhythm that could almost be described as lovingly fucking into you

But no matter how hard he tries to take things slow and soft, he knows his patience can't last forever

"Jack—n-need more~ Fuck, please!~"

He groans out a curse at the desperation in your voice

How could he possibly resist such a request?

The bed creaks loudly at his change of pace, accompanying the sound of his skin smacking against yours and your sweet, precious little sounds of bliss

He buries his face into your neck, and with the temptation of your flesh right next to his teeth, it suddenly becomes very hard to focus on going easy on you

He can't help it

Pinned beneath his larger, stronger form, you've no choice but to take everything he fucks into you

Your back arches, walls clenching frantically around him like you're trying to suck him in deeper with every thrust

And you're so fucking wet—he can't even tell if you squirted or if you're just that turned on

His thighs are coated in your slick

The pressure keeps building within him until his whole body's tense and all he can think about is filling you with his cum

He realizes he’s murmuring something under his breath, but he doesn’t even know what he’s saying—he doesn’t care

All he cares about is the sheer bliss of fucking you like an animal depraved

“Jack—!“

When you cry his name out again, he takes the opportunity to cram his tongue down your throat

Your eyes widen in surprise, but there's no mistaking the way you clamp so deliciously tightly around his cock when his tongue starts stroking yours haphazardly

If he wasn't in the midst of screwing your brains out, if the whole thing wasn't so fucking depraved, it'd almost be sweet

Your walls flutter, hips buckling weakly beneath his strong thighs like you’re getting overwhelmed, like kissing him while he’s so deep inside of you is too much for you to handle

With every ravenous stroke, every inch of his throbbing cock lovingly fucking into you, he feels you tightening, feels the muffled vibrations of your whimpers growing closer

He's just on the precipice of letting go when you suddenly grip onto him—hard

And he almost thinks fuck, he did something wrong

But then he realizes how loud you’re being, how your eyes are squeezed shut and your face is contorted in ecstasy

And he realizes you’re already cuming around him

He buries his face into your neck, grunting out filthy praises into your skin while you ride out your high

And he’s almost proud of how he’s able to control himself—how he can still manage to offer long, hard steady strokes despite your shaking and squirming and shamelessly loud moaning

But then you moan that you're his—you're all his—and just like that, his precious control finally snaps

He doesn’t realize just how hard and fast he’s fucking into you

He hears the bed creaking, hears the frame slamming against the wall, but it all feels distant—like it’s all just secondary to the way your body feels

You feel so, so incredibly fucking good

He snarls your name, lost in the pleasure, and only then does he realize that you’re shaking beneath him and cuming all over again already

Those sounds—those fucking sounds you make as you're pushed into overstimulation—they're fucking bliss

He knows you’re on the verge of reaching your limit, but he doesn’t want to stop—he can’t

He needs this

Even through the haze of his pleasure, he realizes he’s being selfish, but he’s too far gone to care

His tongue traces over your mark, and he’s seconds away from biting down into it—when your cunt clamps around him so fucking tightly that it immediately overwhelms him

You make the sweetest, filthiest sound he’s ever heard, and all of it combined is too much for him to handle

His hips jerk all the way into you, cock twitching uncontrollably, and harder than he ever has before, he cums

He spills himself as deep inside of you as he possibly can, until it feels like he’s fucking into your cervix and filling you to the absolute brim with his seed

He doesn’t realize he’s holding you there—pinning you down and forcing you to accept every ounce of his cum until you’re squirming and shuddering beneath him

Fuck

He pulls out, flinching at how tight you still feel around him, like your body doesn’t want to release him

And yet, as soon as he’s completely out, you immediately snap your legs shut like you're beyond overstimulated

He ignores the aftershocks of adrenaline and endorphins pumping through his system to make sure that you’re ok, he didn’t hurt you, you're ok

You’re panting, dazed and shaking after getting thoroughly fucked out of your mind, but you still find the strength to laugh as you reassure him that you're fine

Even then, it isn’t until you press a chaste, breathless kiss to his neck that he’s finally comfortable enough to lie down next to you and pull you into his arms to cuddle

The two of you bask in the afterglow of your love-making as you catch your breaths

He can hear your heartbeat, feel the rise and fall of your body against his chest as he hugs you into him

You, in return, nuzzle into Jack, your hair tickling his neck, and his stomach does a few backflips into his chest at the simple gesture

He tries to relax, tries to clear his mind and stop overthinking—if only to enjoy the moment while it lasts, but he just can't

As soon as the high of his climax fades away, he’s right back to worrying

Except this time, he finally bites the bullet and asks the question out loud

“Are you sure you want this?”

You stir in his arms, surprised by his sudden question

“What do you mean?”

His nerves kick up to a ten, and he almost considers backing out of the conversation

But he knows he shouldn’t—he can’t—not again

“Like… you know…" he hesitates, "this. Us. Are you sure you want this?”

It dawns on him that you might not fully understand the implications of the mark yet

Surely, at the very least, Slender explained the basis of it, and everything it entails, right?

“…I do,” you answer with a hum

Still somehow not convinced, as though this is too good to be true, he pushes it further

"And, I… the mark… you know it… it’s permanent, right?”

Another hum of confirmation, this time accompanied by feather-light traces over his ashen skin, the contact absent-minded

“Like… Slender told you the conditions, right? We can try to figure a way out of it, but we might be bound together for—“

He doesn’t finish his sentence before you tug his face into yours in another sudden kiss

Your lips are as addictive as ever, and he finds himself already wanting more—always wanting more—even as you pull away

“I thought about it—for a while,” you admit, “and..."

It's your turn to hesitate this time, and the brief pause in your words has Jack’s stress levels skyrocketing

"And I wasn't sure about it at first"

You stop tracing invisible patterns on his skin, and he immediately misses the contact

He’s hanging off your every word by this point

The anticipation’s just about killing him

"It’s kind of a scary thought,” you eventually continue, “and... I've never been good at this sort of thing, but... I-I want this, Jack. I want you"

Even hearing you say it, hearing the words come out of your mouth, it still doesn't feel real

"And I... I know the mark might be affecting me somehow," you reach up, acting on instinct, to brush near the skin of your neck as you speak, "but I don't think it is. I think I’ve known for some time now, but… but I was too scared to admit it”

You swallow thickly

“I... I want to be with you, Jack”

You take a deep breath

“I… I think I’m in love with you”

Jack's heart seizes

It feels like it stops beating right then and there

A moment passes, and then another

It’s like his brain’s trying to decipher what you just said, like surely that doesn't actually mean what he wishes it means... right?

He realizes that he’s not saying anything, and you're growing nervous at the lack of response

But there’s a lump lodged in his throat and he doesn’t think he’d be able to form a cohesive sentence even if he tried

After what happened that night of his transformation, he never thought anyone would be able to love him again

He never thought he’d be worthy of someone’s love

But here you are

You're in his arms, in his bed, and you trust him enough to be this vulnerable around him

He doesn’t know what to say

He doesn’t know what to say, so he just cups your face and kisses you—hard

He forgets everything else around him

The world melts away until it’s just the two of you

Your scent, your taste, your everything—it's electrifying

When he pulls away, you’re dazed and panting once more, and the euphoria of it all is dizzying

He presses his forehead to yours, and you close your eyes, enjoying the closeness

“I love you,” he finally answers

It feels like a dream

He can’t believe he’s able to say the words out loud

You press your lips to his once more, and he realizes things are going to be ok—and he’s not just thinking that to reassure himself

He has you in his arms, and you’re safe, and you're all his, and everything is going to be ok

[mystmesstolemysoul]

What if MC had no choice but to reset? What if, after enough cycles through each story, they know exactly which night they'll go to sleep next to their love then wake up all alone with a text telling them to go to an address they already know by heart. What if MC was cursed with repeating the same events over and over again, falling in love but never getting to grow beyond a certain point with the love of their life?

(lil drabble below the cut. There's a little bit of reset theory sprinkled in, along with a smidge of reference to a song I think goes with MysMes perfectly)

Which guy I'm talking about is intentionally vague so you can imagine your fave <3

Angst with a happy? bittersweet? ending

Not proofread, I don't have time for that shit, sorry lol

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The first time it happened, it was jarring. A panic setting in as you woke up, back in your old old apartment, no sign of him anywhere. Had it all been a dream? Surely not.

Then came the text, and it all came flooding back. What was happening?

You were less fearful this time as you walked up to Rika's apartment, even knowing all that you did now about the mysterious circumstances that had brough you here.

When they, the RFA, your family, greeted you as a stranger, it stung in a painfully nostalgic way. Had they really forgotten all about you? But it wasn't that; they hadn't known you in the first place.

You did some things differently, this time around. You gave more attention to one of the members that you'd brushed off the first time. Confusion clouded you on day five when everything began to drift away from the story you remembered. Despite this change, your new bachelor managed to sweep you off your feet, though you always felt guilty whenever he, your lover from the first time, called or texted. You felt guilty having to push him away to stay loyal to your new man.

You had almost forgotten about that jarring day when everything had reset. Almost. Until it happened again. You were more prepared this time, but felt almost exceedingly empty as you read the text asking for your help. You wanted to ignore it, to stop this toying with your heart. But you knew you couldn't stay away from the RFA. You were bound, heart and soul. So you did as 'Unknown' asked.

You began to dread it more and more each new route, never knowing when you were going to wake up alone and start the cycle all over again. It became numbing. Heartbreaking. But you could never stay away.

Eventually, you'd seen every possible way it could end. There had been a time you'd hoped to find a road that wouldn't end. A path that wouldn't lead to you waking up alone, forced to greet your closest friends as new strangers. But you'd long since given that up.

You'd seen every success, every possible failure. Felt every swell of new love, every shattering heartbreak. Made friends, made enemies, just for it all to be washed away.

There was a time when you'd begun to intentionally run everything into the ground. It was easier to repeat random 5-day loops than to go months, years, before having it all ripped away from you. But bringing them heartbreak hurt you more.

You were careful now. So careful. Especially with him.

You could never bring yourself to be careless with him. You didn't know why, but after a while, he began to stick out to you more than all the rest. No matter which path you walked, he always caught your eye. The way he said things, his way of thinking, how he tried to look out for you in his own little way.

So you pursued him. You'd won his heart before, many times, but you did it again with a purpose. You knew it wouldn't last. You knew one day, you'd wake up and it would all be over. But you loved him. You really loved him. And when the night came that you knew would be the last, you tried desperately not to sleep. But it was as if some curse took over you, forcing your eyes to close. When you awoke, it was all gone.

But you wouldn't let that stop you. Again, you followed him, your north star, your guiding light. Again, you won his heart. And again, you woke up. It was the third time when you noticed something different. Just a moment. A spark. A faint look in his eyes when you saw him face to face, some wondrous shock, as if he couldn't believe you'd chosen him. More than that usual look in his eyes when he saw you for what you believed to be his first time.

But the look wasn't enough for you to say something. Not yet. But a fourth time, you chose him. Then a fifth. Till finally, on the sixth time through, he gave you a look as if you'd gone insane, and he loved you for it. You'd asked without thinking. "You remember, don't you?"

He hadn't had to speak a word for you to know the answer. You knew him too well. He woke up alone, the same as you. And you loved him fiercer. Again and again and again, determined now to always choose him. No matter how repetitive, no matter how painful, you couldn't choose anyone but him, knowing he'd have to watch you fall in love with another man if you chose any other path.

When the fateful night settled in, wrapped up in each others arms, you were silent. You both knew what this night meant. When the daylight comes I'll have to go. You felt his tears trickle into your hair. "I don't wanna start all over."

And you didn't either. "I know, baby, I know." You held him so close, promising, "I'll choose you. I'll always choose you." And you meant it. You'd never be able to make it through now without him. You had him, now, and you weren't letting go.

And when the daylight comes I'll have to go, but tonight I'm gonna hold you so close, 'cause in the daylight we'll be on our own, but tonight I'm gonna hold you so close.

[fly-sky-high-bug-games]

"New" guy! You might have seen him before hehe

This is Iris, or rather how he used to look like in his younger days. In the current story he's an old retired criminal along with his boyfriend Buckthorn (by @furgemancs ) who was just as into heists as Iris.

I'm not quite sure how to talk about this guy's story yet, since we're kind of working out their past through two old coots remembering the days of their youth and puzzling them together as they do. It's very fun!

I'll toss some random stuff about him bellow

-So Iris and Buck are actually "side" characters that appeared with idea of being briefly just there to help two other characters (Astra and Thorn) but we got too attached lol

-The whole cowboy vibe for Iris is due to me watching Undertale Yellow at the time, sort of wanting to pull of a similar feel as Starlo because I didn't intend this guy to become a whole character like this haha!

-He lives with his boyfriend Buck in the middle of nowhere near some woods. They lie that they have riches due to being royalty that escaped to be free and do what ever they want which is why they hide away in the first place.

-The truth is, they used to work as criminals who stole stuff for themselves (and Iris for his abusive gang), mostly from noble or rich bugs, good or not.

-Iris and Buckthorn used to be heated rivals, competing for the prize of their heists. Buck was so cunning Iris hated his guts but over time they started having fun racing for the items they would steal, ended up getting used to each other and eventually close.

-Both had difficult pasts. Iris also worked for the gang akin to mafia while forcibly dating a girl from it so the two eventually had find a way to get away from all of that and not end up hunted down and murdered. It was hard but they eventually succeed, forcing them into hiding not just from getting away from the law but also the gang.

-Luckily, many many years later, they ended up growing old and safe at their humble home in the woods, with enough (stolen) riches to keep them retired for good~

-Iris can go from calm and collected to easily flared and upset depending on the situation. Both Buck and him are perceptive but Iris is not a smooth talker. He can be deceiving and if Buck is around the two are such a good tandem they'll make you buy any lie or truth they say.

-Iris is very very good with ropes and knots. Good at aiming with his crossbow! As young, he was able to fly well too and it helped him reach places and leave scenes faster.

That's all briefly put at least. Have doodles I have so far!

You've seen this one

First and very rough doodle of old Iris. I now have a proportions I'm happy with thanks to the ref above but he is still kind of slim and lanky like this now! His mustache is also fuzzier haha

Rough of Iris' and Buck's earlier encounters XD

EDIT: OH And the palette I used is from HERE (Metal Goat specifically)

[somewhat-insane]

could I possibly request headcanons for a shadowpeach × gn!reader poly. except reader and wukong are more queer platonic, fused at the hip besties.

im simply delusional and starving 😔 🧡💜❤️

Uh, ABSOLUTELY!!!! Seeing this request genuinely made me so happy you have no idea-

⫘⫘⫘ShadowPeach x GN!Reader (QPR Wukong & Reader)⫘⫘⫘

!!Warnings!!: Implication that reader has kicked the monkey boys in the nuts before, other than that it's mostly just cute sillies

I imagine the start of the relationship definitely wasn't smooth sailing. (But that's not surprising considering they're both experts in rocking the boat.)

Neither or them are the sit down and talk kind of people so you'll probably have to be pretty flexible at first since they're both so used to not defining their own relationship.

Luckily, Macaque is knowledgeable enough to communicate "I'm going to date you, and you don't have to date Wukong too, but he is coming along with us whether you like it or not" (and yes, since Macaque fears rejection, he did not ask you to date him, he demanded it.)

Macaque can definitely be suave and romantic when he wants to be, but don't worry, Wukong will be there to interrupt any romantic tension by throwing peach chips at both of you and going "corny, lame, boo, tomatoes, tomatoes" (and then will promptly demand you buy him more peach chips to replace the ones he threw at you.)

On occasion, Macaque will interrupt the tension himself by being a dork.

You and Wukong will playfully fight over Macaque because it gets him all flustered

Wukong had the idea of doing board game nights but that ended... painfully. For them, not for you.

Totally unrelated, Wukong has dubbed you the "Nutcracker".

Don't wanna talk to someone anymore? Take out a Yu-Gi-Oh card and banish them to the shadow realm. Macaque can take care of the rest. (You can also use this on Wukong. Usually not Macaque himself unless he's in a fun mood in which case he will dramatically fall into one of his own portals.)

You are all insanely protective of each other. (They're definitely more protective of you because of your fragile mortal body, but kicking someone's ass to protect them is a surefire way to make sure their attention is solely on you for the rest of the night.)

Wukong won't stop trying to get you to eat an immortal peach. Luckily, he hasn't stooped low enough to try sneaking immortal peaches into your meals... Yet.

Good luck in the summer, Wukong's a cuddler and not only is he covered in fur, but he also radiates an insane amount of heat. Luckily, Macaque's (super?)natural chill evens it out a bit, but that's only if you can convince him to join the cuddle pile.

Playing a dating sim together for fun and all of you arguing over which character is the hottest. (Careful, Macaque is prone to jealousy. A few kisses should cheer him right up though.)

Macaque is best as showing love through words but physical affection is the quickest way to get him flustered. He'll need his space sometimes though, so be wary of that.

You all have crap sleep schedules

It's hard to cuddle with them sometimes because they both choose the most uncomfortable places to sleep

It's tough when Macaque and Wukong are fighting because they'll both want you to side with them but in reality they're both usually in the wrong

Wukong gets nervous when you and Macaque are fighting because he doesn't want to have to choose between the two of you if you have a big falling out: "... You're going to forgive him, right?" "eventually, yeah." "and you're not going to leave him?" "I'm not going to leave him, Wukong." "... Promise?" "I promise."

When you and Wukong are fighting, Macaque is usually very blunt in what he believes. (Which is usually, "you're both idiots")

They usually have their tails wrapped around a random part of your body. (Wukong does it subconsciously; Macaque is always very conscious when making physical contact.)

You and Wukong hype each other up to go on dates with Macaque; Macaque makes fun of you for it

Wukong likes to tug on your hair and sleeves and stuff; likes to fall asleep while playing with your hair

~

I REALLY liked this request, I hope I did a good job in answering it!

[siilvan]

bloodsport – II

prologue | part one | next

characters: vladimir makarov

summary: you never realized how boring captivity could be. you hate to admit it, but makarov is the only interesting thing around, and perhaps the closest thing you have to an ally in this place.

genre: angst, slowburn, enemies to ?, fem!reader (callsign: petra, no desc.)

warnings: semi-proofread, cursing, canon-typical violence, descriptions of blood/injuries, inaccurate medical procedures, reader gets harassed :/, reader kills a dude, russian written by a non-russian speaker (please correct me if it's wrong!!)

word count: 3.7k

note: the temptation to write the filthiest makarov/reader/yuri fic is slowly taking over my brain. i'm begging activision to reveal my ex-war-criminal husband already bc i have two hands for a reason

true to his word, you don't see makarov for the rest of the day. after you're brought back to your cell and locked away, you take the time to rest and gather your thoughts. the lumpy bed provides little comfort as you try to sleep, but it's better than the cold floor. you manage to drift off eventually, even with every voice and sound in the corridor stirring you awake.

when you finally drag yourself out of bed the next morning, blinking away any lingering exhaustion and gently stretching your sore muscles, the sky is still dark. the storm that was raging all night had subsided for now, and through the single barred window on the back wall, you can see groups of soldiers outside. running drills, training in marksmanship, transporting supplies, patrolling the grounds - it reminds you of the bases you've visited with the team.

the team. you trudge over to the only other furniture in the room, the metal chair that you moved to sit near the window, and plop down onto the seat unceremoniously. with how muddled your mind has been since the conversation with makarov, you've hardly had time to think about them.

they're alive. you just need to keep telling yourself that. they'll come for you as soon as they can. all you can do until then is keep faith and survive.

as a pair of boots stomps down the hall towards your cell, you begin to ponder if taking matters into your own hands is the only way you'll escape. you're just as capable as the rest of your team, surely you can find a way out of this crumbling prison.

you turn your head at the sound of keys jingling. a guard is standing at your door, unlocking it, before looking at you. "let's go," he says, thick accent lacing every word. "you're on a schedule."

with a small wince, you rise from the chair and cross the room. the guard starts down the corridor, heading in the opposite direction that you went yesterday. you follow close behind, clammy palms wringing together. it almost feels like you're restrained again, with metal cuffs digging into your wrists and binding you, keeping you from struggling or defending yourself.

after descending a staircase and passing a few corners, you reach wherever the guard was taking you. he pushes a door open and ushers you inside, revealing a sizeable shower facility. you send him a cursory glance, confused as he motions for you to step further into the space.

"shower." he mutters, standing by the door. you wordlessly turn to the showers, then back to him.

"do you mind?" you ask, nodding towards the door. "i'd like a little privacy. it's not like i can tunnel my way out."

he shakes his head at first, refusing your request, until you decide to do the same, silently staring at him. a beat passes between you until he spins around, grumbling something along the lines of "hurry up," and exits the room. once the door slams shut behind him, you let out a relieved breath and walk over to one of the many stalls.

you scan the area before carefully undressing, paying close attention so as to not mess up your bandages or strain any of your healing injuries. you quickly dive past the thin curtain and toss your clothes over the curtain rod.

a string of curses fall from your lips when you twist the knob and cold water pours out of the shower head, prickling like ice against your skin. cleaning yourself up whilst protecting your bandages is a difficult task, but you manage to keep them relatively dry. you were in need of a fresh set, anyway. grains of sand and dust leftover from al-mazrah is washed down the drain, and as you start to adjust to the freezing temperature, some of your muscle aches follow suit.

a few minutes of relief pass by as you try to relax, though the bliss is short-lived when you remember your conversation from yesterday. you hate the thought of listening to makarov of all people, but did he have a point? are you truly just as bad as him, even with good intentions being your motivation?

you're well aware of what your job entails. as captain price so bluntly puts it: we get dirty, and the world stays clean. you know that some missions leave a sour taste in your mouth and a doubt in your mind. are you truly doing the right thing? can you do better? is there a way to save everyone?

as you shut off the water and attempt to dry off with a clean towel left on a small bench nearby, you realize that you're giving makarov exactly what he wants. he brought up the topic with the intent of messing with your head. he's trying to break you - for whatever reason, you're not sure. all you know is that you can't give up. you have to stay strong for the team.

you pull your clothes back on, nose scrunching at the uncomfortable feeling of damp gauze sticking to your skin. the guards seemed to bounce between civility and cruelty depending on the moment; perhaps you can catch someone in a good mood and request a replacement.

the door swings open and you jolt, spinning around to face the intruder. the man from earlier is standing in the doorway, a look of disinterest evident even through his balaclava. "you are done, yes?"

clearly he isn't the person to ask, you think, following him into the corridor. he leads you back down the same path as earlier, through winding halls and up a set of stairs, stopping once you arrive at the cell you call home. you keep an eye out for anyone along the way who looks to be doing well, searching for a person to seek help from.

no one catches your attention, leaving you only one option: the guard currently locking the door behind you.

"uh– can i ask you a question?" you turn around to look at him, wrapping your hands around the iron bars. he sends a small glare in your direction, but pauses nonetheless.

"what?" he murmurs, standing up straight.

you lift your arms, showing off the damp and gradually loosening bandages. "any chance i can get these changed?"

his eyes flit down to your arms, then back to your face. he sighs, heavy and deep, and grumbles out a reply. "i will get the doctor."

with that, he leaves your sight, lifting a hand to his radio and saying something that you can't understand. "should've agreed to those fucking russian lessons from price," you mumble, staggering across the room and sitting on the bed while picking at your loose gauze.

it feels like an hour passes by before you hear someone coming down the hall again. by this point, you were assuming that the guard had forgotten about you.

you sit up from your slumped position against the metal frame and are immediately greeted by a new person on the other side of the door. an older man, nicely dressed and carrying a heavy bag that you fear will topple him over, regarding you with a grin that feels out of place in this shithole.

"you must be petra," he starts, pushing the door open and letting himself inside. he keeps his distance, both hands visible and wrapped around the handle of the bag in front of his body. "doctor tarkovsky." he continues, introducing himself. you nod, watching closely as he approaches you and places his bag on the bed next to you. the chair is dragged over, much like the other day, and he sits.

"the work you did... you saved my life, doctor." you mutter, allowing him to take one of your arms into his gentle hold. he hums in reply, taking great care in undoing the dressings.

"спасибо, but it was not me that saved you." he chuckles softly, eyes briefly lifting from your arm to meet your gaze. "the commander was responsible for that. by the time you arrived here and into my care, he had managed to stabilize you."

he mumbles something to himself about "his military days" while dropping his gaze back down to your newly exposed skin. your eyes follow his, and you wince at the sight of burn marks and stitched lacerations. a cold breeze enters into the room through the window and stings as it sweeps over you, making you clench your hand into a tight fist.

"the commander? you mean makarov?" you ask, forcing yourself to look away and stare at the wall behind the doctor. the same man that put you here is the one that kept you alive. go figure. you glare holes into a random brick, trying to make sense of it. based on the few interactions that you've had with him, as well as the many things that price had to say, that kindness seems out of character.

the fact that he hasn't tortured you to the brink of insanity is odd enough.

"yes, he demanded that i give you the best treatment. said he wanted you alive and in good condition." the doctor rummages through the bag next to you and begins to clean your wounds and apply new dressings, deft hands making quick work of the process. you remain silent as he wraps your arm in a new set of bandages, waiting for him to finish.

you finally speak once he's halfway through rewrapping your other arm. "is he always so... touchy?" you murmur, almost a whisper.

"touchy?" he repeats the word.

"i think i pissed him off yesterday," you say, tongue darting out to wet your chapped lips. "ended up slammed against a wall. is he always so quick to anger?"

after securing the bandages on your arm, the doctor leans back and shakes his head. "commander makarov is usually the calmest person in a conversation," he replies with a surprised huff. "whatever you said or did must have struck a nerve, made him lose his temper. even the soldiers working under him struggle to do such a thing."

you furrow your brow at him. he waves off your befuddlement and gets started on treating your other injuries - namely, the large gash on your side and the burns on your back. as he's loosely wrapping your back in gauze, he makes another comment.

"it could be that you angered him, rather than what you did."

"i angered him?" you parrot back to him, craning your neck to look at him over your shoulder. the doctor nudges you forward again and hums affirmatively.

yet another thing that doesn't make any sense, you think. besides your affiliation with the one-four-one, there's nothing about you that should stand out to a man like makarov. you don't possess any top secret intel or really hold any importance to anyone outside of your team; so, why is he treating you so strangely? is it a game he's playing, trying to mess with his real enemy, the captain?

are you merely a pawn, a bargaining chip between two forces much bigger than yourself? makarov is dangling your life like bait, hoping to catch a better prize. you squeeze your eyes shut and take in a deep breath, considering your options.

makarov would only hold onto you for one reason. drawing out captain price. that means price is alive, at least to makarov. if you stay here, you might be able to confirm this plan for yourself. however, if you can escape and deliver all the intel you've collected so far, you could prevent the plan from advancing any further. no matter which option you choose, rotting away in this prison cell won't help.

as kind as the doctor is, he's still one of makarov's men. you can't trust him. you're on your own.

"so, is it going to scar?" you inquire with a smile, fixing your shirt after he pulls away. he moves to gather his things, reaching into his bag and handing you a dose of painkillers.

he sighs and sends you another smile of his own. "the burns aren't deep enough, thankfully, and the lacerations shouldn't scar so long as they're properly cared for. you are very lucky."

"guess i am. thank you, again."

you swallow down the pills - dry, much to your chagrin - and give him a small wave as he exits the room, the iron door closing behind him with a soft clunk. the guard from earlier reappears to lock it moments later, leaving you trapped in the cell once more.

⋆⋆⋆

another five days pass by, and you mentally curse whatever higher power put you here. your routine remains largely unchanged: at roughly seven o' clock, one of the guards stops by to take you to the showers. by seven-thirty, the doctor arrives to change your bandages. you're given your only meal around noon and left to your own devices until eight in the evening, when the doctor arrives to change your bandages again.

you are slowly beginning to heal, at least. the lack of nutrition was stunting the process, but according to the doctor, you were still on the mend. it won't be long until you can get the stitches taken out.

you've spent several of these past one-hundred-and-twenty hours wondering if that's what makarov is waiting for. he wants you alive to torture, to indulge in breaking something fixed by his own hand. maybe the doctor is in on the plan. you wouldn't be surprised to discover that he's reporting your healing process to makarov, giving him a countdown of sorts.

as you rest on the cold, hard stone floor, with your back propped up against the side of the bed, tossing a rubber ball that you pocketed at the wall, you question if your paranoia is getting the better of you.

the rubber ball rolls across the ground after you throw it at the wall. it starts to come back to you, before bouncing off the edge of your boot and heading towards the door. you lazily follow it with your eyes, until you notice a person standing at the other side of the bars, their gaze transfixed on you.

it's a man wearing an outfit similar to the doctor's, though you can easily tell that he's substantially younger. in his late thirties to early forties, you estimate. he carefully kicks the ball out of his way after entering the room. you watch him like a hawk, an uneasy feeling washing over you.

"i'll be handling your care today." he announces, plopping his similarly-designed supply bag on the mattress. you pull yourself up to stand and dust yourself off, taking a healthy step back from him.

"something happen with doctor tarkovsky?" you ask as the younger man rummages through his bag and slips on a pair of latex gloves. he shakes his head, not even bothering to look at you, and continues searching through his supplies.

"tarkovsky is busy," he responds, motioning for you to sit. you hesitate for a second, but ultimately decide to shake off the nerves and follow his orders. "i'm going to start with your back today." he adds. you nod, moving to face away from him and lift your shirt up.

he's silent while replacing the gauze, and you're not sure whether you prefer that or talking. his touch is slightly less gentle, which you chalk it up to less experience. eventually, he moves on to the gash on your side, settling in the normal chair with an expression that you find hard to decipher.

your unease is suddenly validated as he cleans the stitches. his unoccupied hand comes to rest on your thigh, just above your knee, catching your attention. your eyes fall from the wall to his hand, then to the open bag at your side. laying near the top of it is a scalpel - small, but lethal in the right hands. you clear your throat and shift, bouncing your knee under his hold, testing the waters.

instead of removing his hand, he slips it just barely higher. you squint, gnawing at the inside of your cheek, debating on acting now or waiting a little longer. maybe he doesn't realize it.

as his hand slides higher, though, gloved fingertips digging into the plush of your thigh, that notion goes out the window. you slowly lower your hand closest to the bag and place it on the mattress next to it. the younger doctor pulls back, examining his work, his thumb rubbing languid circles into your skin. you act while he's distracted.

with trained proficiency, you grab the scalpel from the top of the pile and shove the man forward, slicing across his neck in one swift motion. he stumbles backwards, reaching up to desperately grasp at his throat as he chokes on the blood pouring from the open wound.

"don't fucking touch me again," you seethe, fixing your shirt and holding the scalpel in a white-knuckled grip. the sounds of him tripping over the chair and falling to the ground alerts the guards stationed in the corridor, who immediately rush through the door with their guns drawn and pointed at you.

they're shouting at you, but you can't make out what they're saying over the blood pounding in your ears. you turn away from the dying man and stare them down, unmoving from your spot in the middle of the room.

after a brief standoff, the guards suddenly look over their shoulders and shuffle away from each other, revealing a familiar face. one you haven't seen in almost a week, and assumed you wouldn't see for a while longer.

makarov steps to the front of the small group as the ringing in your ears begins to subside. his eyes dart from you to the man lying on the ground, having choked to death shortly before he arrived at the scene. he chuckles, low and controlled, and turns to the guards.

"убрать этот беспорядок," he mutters, waving towards the corpse. the men holster their guns and move past him, lifting the body up and carrying it out. as the group disappears down the hall, you find yourself alone with makarov. the scalpel slips from your fingers and clatters against the floor, pulling his focus back to you.

"well? are you going to punish me for that?" you ask plainly, the pool of red still visible in your peripheral vision.

"should i?" he counters, casually sauntering across the room. his gaze flits from yours to your cheek, which you soon realize is wet with the man's blood.

you shrug, shoulders drooping. "i killed one of your men. most people would punish a prisoner for less."

he wipes the blood off your cheek with his forefinger and huffs softly, seemingly pleased with the situation. it's only now that you notice his slightly disheveled appearance; his white dress shirt is untucked and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his forearms that are covered in a light layer of dirt. minor cuts and bruises bloom on his skin, resembling self-defense wounds.

"i could never expect a member of the one-four-one to accept capture quietly," makarov remarks, picking the chair up off the floor. "i'm surprised it took you this long, if anything. i was expecting to receive reports by the second day."

he raps his knuckles against the seat twice, urging you to sit. you end up mirroring your first interaction after he sits on the bed across from you, elbows resting on top of his knees.

you grab a set of cleaning wipes from the bag forgotten at the foot of the bed and offer them to him. "so, i'm assuming you're not here to share the fun story behind those obvious self-defense wounds?" you tilt your head to the side, regarding him with a sarcastic smile.

"like i said in our prior conversation," he takes the pack from your outstretched hand and haphazardly wipes his arms clean, the lack of care enough to make you inwardly flinch at the potential pain. "once traitors are found, they are dealt with."

"seems like they got to you first," you snort.

besides a pointed glare, he doesn't dignify your comment with a response. instead, he takes your arm into his hold, removing the old bandages with almost the same level of indifference that he treated his own injuries with.

"ow." you grunt, a bit overdramatic. in truth, his touch isn’t any less gentle than the doctor you just killed.

"stop complaining." he responds bluntly.

"maybe be more careful, then." you snap, tugging your arm back. you're being intentionally difficult, pushing his buttons, but you deserve to be a little shitty to the man holding you hostage.

makarov grabs your elbow, one of the few relatively uninjured parts of your arm, and yanks you forward, until your free hand slams down onto the space next to him to catch yourself from falling. he leans in, your noses nearly touching, and sneers.

"this is the extent of my kindness, petra." he tightens his hold when you try to create some distance, locking you in place. "do not tempt me to withdraw it." he whispers, dark eyes boring into yours.

you swallow back a whimper as his grip tightens again, blunt nails digging into healing skin, nodding in reply. he releases you a moment later and resumes his previous actions, quickly yet effectively rewrapping your arm. you grudgingly decide to cooperate for the other set, making it go by much faster than the last.

"tarkovsky said you're usually pretty calm," you mumble as he secures the bandages in place. "is it the one-four-one that frustrates you so easily? or, am i just a special case, hm?"

makarov, clearly interested in continuing the running theme since your first meeting, does not respond. you really should get used to it. you say nothing more as he stands up and grabs the discarded supply bag, walking towards the door. he pauses, holding the door open, and you nearly miss the words said to you over his shoulder.

"anyone else would be dead already."

translations:

спасибо (spasibo) - thank you

убрать этот беспорядок (ubrat' etot besporyadok) - clean up this mess

taglist: @sofasoap, @roosterr, @rohansregret, @lonesome-doves, @thorrsexual, @miss-nob0dy, @woodeelf, @fbs-fc-ur-mommy, @soap-mactavish, @itsyellow

⋆ feel free to ask to be added to/removed from the taglist! (18+ only please <;3)

[untilwedont]

A Certain Someone

In my head 24/7

Pairings: Ethan Landry x Male!Reader

Summary: In which Ethan falls for the brother of the Carpenter sisters but doesn't know how to express his feelings towards him.

Warnings: Shy Ethan, slightly obsessive Ethan, slight spoilers from movie.

Everyone knew Ethan had a huge crush on you. Well- actually everyone you knew, knew about the crush Ethan had on you. This included both your sisters & your friends Mindy, Chad, Anika, & Quinn. Ethan didn't know he was gay until you came along, "Ooh~ so he's your gay awakening?" Quinn teased her brother, nudging him on his arm.

"I- I don't know. I mean.. I guess so? But- what if he isn't into guys?" Ethan paced around his dorm room, running his hands through his curly hair. "Just ask his sisters. I'm sure they'll tell if you he is or not, calm down." Quinn said, sitting on his bed trying to reassure her obviously very stressed brother, telling him there's plenty of other fish in the sea if you weren't.

"That's the problem. I don't-" He sighed, "There aren't any other fish in the sea. He's the only one I want." His tone became slightly more harsher. "Woah there buddy." Quinn got up from his bed and placed her hand on her brother's shoulder, "Just go ask his sisters, okay? The worst they can say is no." Quinn looked dead in her brother's eyes, "Okay?" She asked.

Ethan nodded, "Do you know where they are?" Quinn nodded, telling him they'd probably be in her dorm. As the two made their way closer to Quinn's dorm, his mind started throwing a bunch of bad thoughts into his head. What if you weren't gay? What if his sisters thought he was weird for liking you? What if you thought he was weird for liking you?

Those thoughts soon faded when they entered Quinn's dorm room. "Tara? Sam?" Quinn yelled out, walking into their living room to see the two sisters on the couch, along with Mindy & Anika. "Yeah, what's up?" Sam asked, looking from her phone to her roomie. "Ethan here has something to ask you both. Also where's M/N?" She questioned before pulling Ethan in front of her. "Oh, he's out for a walk with Chad. He'll be back later." She responded.

"Okay, well.." Quinn looked at Ethan, urging him to ask the question. Ethan gulped and took a deep breath. It was even worse since he didn't expect Mindy & Anika to be with them but there was no backing out now. If he did his sister would just ask the question. "Is uhm-.." He closed for a second, "fuck.." he whispered out. "What?" Tara questioned.

"Oh, you like M/N, don't you?" Mindy asked excitingly, already knowing the answer. "Wait What? No- I... Well- I mean..- i-" His words came fumbling out like a waterfall and his face began to get hot. "You totally do! I mean just look at you, you're like really blushing right now!" Sam smiled at the very embarrased Ethan, "Is it true Ethan? That you like my brother?" She felt like she knew the answer as well just by the look on Ethan's face. "Well- I- yes. I was originally gonna ask if he was gay.." Ethan stuttered, trying to properly get his words out.

"Well luckily for you Ethan, our brother is actually gay (or bi)." Tara spoke and Ethan's face lit up. "Wait, actually? So I actually have a chance with him?" He was hopeful but tried to not get his hopes too high in case they said no. "I mean.. sure. Since he's out with Chad, you can ask him when he gets back." Tara said before switching her focus back to the TV. "Well there's your answer. Now you'll just have to wait a few hours until he gets back." Quinn whispered before walking towards her room.

But those hours soon turned into a day, then days, then a week, and then another until Quinn & your friends finally got fed up with Ethan waiting to ask. He kept telling them he'd ask eventually, but that obviously never happened. "Alright, are you ever gonna ask him or are we gonna have to do it for you?" Mindy asked, barging into Ethan's room with no warning. He jumped and his phone fell out of his hand onto his face. "Jesus Min, don't you know how to knock? And why are you guys even here?" Ethan asked sitting up from his bed. "Because you've yet to ask M/N out! I mean it's literally almost been 3 weeks." Quinn yelled, annoyed that her brother was being such a wimp. "I'll ask him soon, alright? Just not now.." Ethan said, but Mindy nor' Quinn would allow that.

Quinn walked towards her brother and grabbed him, forcing him out of his bed. "Quinn, what're you doing?!" Ethan asked, annoyed that he couldn't be left alone. "We're going to see M/N right now. No buts and no ifs. If he says no then that's his loss. Now come on." Quinn said, dragging Ethan by his hand. He tried pulling away but Mindy just grabbed his other arm, making it harder for him to release their grasps.

Throughout the whole walk towards Quinn's dorm, Ethan tried protesting and pulling away, but to no avail. When they finally made it to her dorm, she called out your name. You opened your door, leaving your room to check what Quinn wanting. "Oh- Hey Ethan." You smiled at him. His heart almost exploded because of your charming smile that could make almost any man fall for you. "What'd you guys need?" You asked, leaning against the wall.

"Ethan here has something to ask you." Mindy said before forcing him to walk close to you. "Oh okay, what is it?" You asked Ethan who was clearly freaking out by being so close to you. He looked back at Quinn and Mindy, slightly swinging his head towards the front door to signal them to leave. They smiled and gave him a thumbs up before heading out.

Ethan looked back at you before taking a deep breath. "Is something wrong, Eth?" You asked him, the nickname making his breathing more unsteady. "Okay look.. I- fuck.. this was a lot harder then I thought." He whispered out. "What? Did I do something wrong?" You asked, worried that you hurt your friend. "What? No- no of course not! I-.. fuck, I like you okay?! I like you a lot! So much that I've had constant dreams about you M/N. You're on my mind, in my head 24/7. I planned on telling you earlier but- but I didn't know how to tell you. How to express my feelings towards you." Ethan completely blurted everything out before finally stopping, worrying that he said too much.

You froze for a second, still taking everything that he just said. He looked at you with hopeful eyes, hoping there was a chance you liked him back. For a second he became worried but that faded away when you smiled at him. "I like you too, Ethan. A lot more than you think." You spoke, a sense of happiness exploding inside your stomach. He smiled and without thinking, placed his lips onto yours. You were taken back for a second but you kissed back, cupping his cheeks with your hands. He placed his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

"Oh my God, finally!" Mindy yelled, interrupting your small make-out session. You both jumped back, startled by her unexpected yelling. "Mindy? I- How long have you been standing there?" You asked, still completely startled. "I just got in here, but I may or may not have been by the door the whole time but that's not important. What's important is that you both are finally dating! Tara and Sam are gonna be so happy!" Mindy squealed before finally leaving. You and Ethan both looked at each other before smiling.

You kissed each other once more, finally happy to be in each other's arms.

[fairyhaos]

seventeen and being in a corn maze

how well i think svt will be able to navigate through a corn maze

notes: tbh i think i'm wonwoo. 'maize maze' is actually hilarious okay.

masterlist

seungcheol:

makes it a competition to see who can come out of the maze the fastest. intentionally booked it during the day, bc there was no way he was going to risk going in the evening and scaring himself to death while surrounded by stalks of corn. zooms through the maze like he's the flash or something, only encounters one member (hansol, who looks extremely lost) before he manages to escape in just under 2 hours. makes sure to greet every member that comes out after him to tell them that he won

jeonghan:

goes in, like, 5 times. he keeps pretending to go in before just walking back out again, and poor junhui has to be the one to eventually walk all the way back to the maze entrance, grab jeonghan's hand, and physically drag him through the first few turns of the maze, bc seungcheol insisted that everyone had to take part in this competition. is terrible at escaping mazes, tells junhui they should just give up. starts singing really obnoxiously about how they're all gonna die here and how this really was a bad idea and he should have just stayed at home. even so, he n junhui end up being the 4th and 5th people to leave the maze, only bc junhui was so excited to escape (and everyone else was so terrible) 

joshua:

probably one of the most chill about the maze. was saddled with seokmin bc the younger man was way too scared to enter the maze by himself. is the one that tells all of them as they're entering the maze that if they just stick together they could make it out of the maze super quickly and all at once… no one listens to him. holds seokmin's hand the entire time; reassures him every few minutes that they will manage to escape the maze eventually n they won't be stuck here forever. strolls super casually through the maze like they're taking a walk in the countryside, which they basically are. that is, until his hay fever starts to be activated (by corn, of all things) and so he has to start hurrying along to get out of the sneeze maze

junhui:

was almost going to beat seungcheol before jeonghan sent them all a photo of him still standing at the entrance. was told to go back to the beginning and retrieve their second eldest member bc apparently escaping a corn maze was an activity in which participation was mandatory. nevertheless, he is Unfazed!! practically skips through the maze, despite jeonghan being the personification of doom and gloom behind him, pats his hyung on the back n tells him not to worry n that they'll get out soon :D

hoshi:

competitive for all of half an hour before his vision starts blurring and all he can see are giant green walls. gets lost, tells himself that he'll be great at living the rest of his life as a Nature Man in the maze. sits in the dead end for a good hour or so. somehow manages to make friends with five sparrows in the maze. is considering whether he should begin his tiger transformation in the middle of the corn maze when he's found by one of the workers who apparently was watching him talk to the sparrows for an hour straight. ends up being escorted out of the maze by them

wonwoo:

has to go really slowly bc mingyu refuses to let go of his shirt. could have definitely beaten seungcheol if he wanted to, bc he's a nerd and actually studied how to escape corn mazes during the drive there. keeps saying "maize maze" over and over again to himself. doesn't get lost, but does run into many dead ends bc mingyu keeps tugging him into a path that he thinks is safer. almost walks straight into the hedge at one point. demands that mingyu let him climb onto his back, is almost able to see over the top of the maze with their combined height. manages to drag mingyu out of the maze eventually

woozi:

walks really leisurely. he knows he's not going to win the competition that seungcheol set up, so he takes his time. he might not enjoy socialising and going out of his studio, but being in a blissfully quiet maze (punctuated occasionally by the members' screams) helps relax him and clear his mind. runs into dead ends half of the time, but that's okay bc it only prolongs his walks. composes the hook of five different songs in his head as he's staring up at the blue sky. gets told off by seungcheol at the end for not having any sort of competitive spirit at all. had a good time, but probably wouldn't go again bc the soles of his feet hurt and his cheeks were a little bit irritated from being brushed against the leaves of corn constantly

minghao:

is somehow super speedy at finishing the maze. ditches mingyu with wonwoo as soon as he sees the elder, then has disappeared round the corner before wonwoo can even start voicing a complaint. is grinning the entire time, practically skipping through the maze. almost runs over a mother with her daughter, stops for a few minutes to say hello and has a really sweet exchange with the girl who won't stop telling him how handsome he looks. gets really shy and blushes afterwards, spends a whole five minutes collecting himself before he's back on track towards his goal again. is the 3rd to leave the maze

mingyu:

coward. tries to hold onto minghao the entire time, is then dumped onto wonwoo. subsequently spends the entire maze gripping onto wonwoo's shirt tightly so that he can't saddle him with another member like that traitor minghao did. shakes so badly the whole time, even though it's daylight and actually kind of hot in the maze. insists that he has The Best intuition and keeps on leading him and wonwoo down dead ends. screams every time the leaves brush against his arm. practically crawls out of the exit of the maze, still clinging to wonwoo's shirt, and vows to never ever go into one of those things again

dokyeom:

isn't really scared like mingyu, but is very much worried that he'll get lost and never ever be able to come out. holds joshua's hand the entire time. wanted to backhug the guy and practically hang off him the entire time, but shua said no bc it would be difficult to walk. has an almost panic attack four times. is worriedly rambling to himself about how they'll survive if they get stuck during nightfall when it's cold. thankfully managed to somehow have a packet of tissues in his pocket, constantly gives them to his hyung whose nose is suddenly running like crazy

seungkwan:

super competitive, is sure that he'll be the one to leave the maze the fastest. was originally in a three with the other maknaes, before hansol mysteriously disappeared into thin air. chan pushed him into the hedge at one point, and when he emerged, sputtering leaves and outrage, he'd found the youngest had bolted and left him alone. stormed through the maze, simmering with anger the entire time. every dead end he encountered made him angrier, and he probably ended up encountering all the dead ends possible. was one of the last to exit the maze, and was so exhausted that he let himself rest for a few hours during the drive back before promptly recharging in the restaurant and tackling chan to the floor. they ended up getting kicked out of the restaurant. 

vernon:

was originally in a group of three with seungkwan and chan, managed to somehow lose both of them and end up wandering through the maze by himself. tries to yell for them, hears nothing back. his phone is dead too, so he gives up and lets himself walk round in circles in the maze. encounters one (1) other person and that's seungcheol, who barely glances at him before zooming off again. has to be escorted out of the maze by a worker like hoshi, but it takes him way longer to be found bc he keeps on moving around so it looks like he knows where he's going. even though he really, really doesn't.

chan:

second to exit the maze. originally had a plan for all three of the maknaes to stick together and leave as quickly as possible, but then everything kinda fell apart when hansol disappeared so he decided to make seungkwan disappear too by pushing him into the corn and running away. did the whole 'keep your hand on the right wall' thing, was amazed to find out it worked when he left the maze to find only seungcheol standing there. begged the eldest to buy him ice cream while they waited for the others to come out. ended up falling asleep on a nearby bench with the half-eaten ice cream, was almost forgotten at the maze by seungcheol when they were leaving

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[stripedstarsblueflags]

i didn't win the wheel: episode 2

much shorter episode this week! probably because it consisted mostly of golf so they decided between this and team torque they would have mercy on us and cut most of it. still lots to work with though. obviously. because it's them.

love a little throwback to episode one, we've got "genuinely trying to go along with the program and introduce the gist of the show" and "so completely zoned out you'd have better luck getting the attention of a cat chasing a laser" except this time it's switched up. i'm pretty sure alex does like a maximum of three introductions out of the whole series, if that, so you just know they said, "Logan, do you want to go first?" and he put on the most nonchalant amiable expression and said "Hmm... I think Alex should go first since I did it the last time" and then alex just glares daggers at him but knows he can't throw a fit about it in front of the crew and logan's smiling ear-to-ear like "what you gonna do about it?" oh, and also, last week they were even leaning back on the same couch and literally giving "two bros chillin in a hot tub five inches apart cause they're not sure if the other is gay" BUT here we are standing up no couch no excuse and logan's just "you're my new center of gravity now". okay. okay sure.

Alex (already done with this, looking GENUINELY distressed): "It's windy out here, we don't have real golfballs so it's gonna go everywhere..."

Logan: "You're a lot better at golf than me, so I expect you to do well."

WHOA alright. first of all from everything we got so far (not a lot) the main dynamic seems to be: logan acting confident and cocky and arrogant just to annoy alex and also gazing at him with the most endearing/loving/shit-eating expressions, and alex being awkward and out of his comfort zone and taking it too seriously but eventually losing his focus because he can't help but smile back at logan. which i LOVE. but alex is already getting frustrated before the challenge begins and logan is like what... comforting him? reassuring him? boosting his confidence? "i expect you to do well" whole body turned completely to face him. like dammmn alright breaking the theme a little but that's honestly so sweet... also should i mention that we are literally less than thirty seconds into the video and they're already facing AWAY from the camera and TOWARDS each other. and in a few seconds they'll literally turn around to talk to each other looking at the game setup like this is not how you do media you guys know this and yet

(Golf session ends, Logan wins because Alex spent the whole time grappling with the wind)

Logan: "Alright, well... as you saw, little bit of a dominant display there..."

and then he has to abandon that sentence immediately because they both start laughing, like straight up giggling almost breathless like "wait did i really just say that out loud" "did he really just say that out loud" and logan turns RIGHT into alex AGAIN because he's watching every possible reaction plain on alex's face 😂 like alex is both startled and amused and endeared and very incredulous. at one point he straight-up looks at the camera and raises his eyebrows like "oh yeah? WAS it though? can you BELIEVE this guy look at him he doesn't even believe himself" like I CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP. honestly i'm just gonna have to make a gif of it because it's so- it's just so obvious.

oh my god, that's just– this is just adorable. this is gonna be my lockscreen i swear because look at them. alex is still laughing trying not to but that earlier comment just threw him off and logan is leaning into him purposely pushing his arm against alex's (he does it twice) and he's just so happy he 1) made alex laugh 2) made alex FLUSTERED jesus christ get that boy some water and 3) got away with it. this is what i meant about logan being alex's turnaround point. he literally lost at the golf game just like he was worried he would and yet here he's the most happy and comfortable he's been all video

okay let's round it off with– alex what the FUCK is this posture. i was going to take a ss already because of how close he leaned into logan (we know you can see the goddamn ipad alex you aint slick) and THEN he did this. shoulders slanted. hand on the hip. face like the gay best friend about to judge the shit out of the guy you're falling for. what in the actual fuck is going on here i mean i was so not ready for the amount of cunt that was served in a literal shift of position. also can we talk about how alex is literally built like a spaghetti noodle and the height difference is very very obvious but here he's throwing out ✨that hip✨ and they're definitely closer to the same height? that is both adorable and just absolutely ridiculous and i'm loving every second of it. the fact that logan is entirely oblivious just makes it funnier.

the smiles, guys. the smiles. i'm breaking my own heart rewatching these but god fucking dammit james vowels i'll take what i can get.

episode 3

[lucagray813]

Shadow - Chapter 7

Title: Moving Together

Rating: M (M rated section is marked with the line break --M-- and can be skipped)

Word Count: ~10,000

Characters: Wukong, Macaque

Minor Characters: MK, DBK, PIF, Bǎi Hé, Red Son, Mei

Relationships: Macaque/Wukong

Minor Relationships: DBK/PIF

Summary: Macaque fears not being enough, Wukong fears being selfish. But between addressing those fears, they find time to dance.

Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Acquired Disability, Slice of Life, DBK is called Niú, PIF is called Gōngzhǔ

CW: brief mentions of alcohol, struggling with an acquired disability, abandonment issues, social anxiety, sex talk, impotence

Link to AO3 Version

Chapter Navigation: First | Prev | Next

----

It was the next day when Wukong discovered the leftover bottle of wine in the fridge and holding it up to the light revealed roughly enough left for about two glasses. Well, waste not, want not. A glass of wine with dinner sounded fine by him.

He held it up as he called over to Macaque, "You want a glass of wine to go with dinner?"

He patiently waited for a response as Macaque nodded along to the gossiping monkeys perched on the arm of the couch beside him. Macaque only gave him half his attention for a split second to say no before turning back to them, apparently quite invested in the most recent troupe drama.

Wukong just shrugged and poured himself a glass before putting the bottle away. He supposed one glass of wine was sort of wasted on Macaque - he couldn't taste it and he was unlikely to even feel the effects of the alcohol with that amount.

When he finally made his way over to join Macaque, the gossiping seemed to have given away to idle one sided chatter as one monkey curled up on his lap while the other sat on the backrest to groom Macaque's fur. It was amusing to see Macaque play keep away after he was handed his bowl but eventually he had shooed them both away so he could eat in peace.

Macaque shook his head, "We've got to start locking up anything with a screen - if it can play a soap opera they'll find a way to watch it and it's warping their little brains. Did you hear what they were saying?"

He ate absentmindedly, bizarrely invested in the story Macaque was re-telling. He interjected every once in a while to question what on earth they were watching that they knew what half of this even was but for as ludicrous as the plot was it was so strangely engaging. No wonder Macaque hadn't been able to pull himself away.

By the time the story was finished he felt like he'd marathoned a full telenovela season, he was almost speechless, "Wow."

Macaque was equally incredulous about the whole thing, "Right?"

"Honestly, I'm sort of torn on whether I don't want them watching any more TV or not. That was something else."

"No, c'mon, you know what they're like. This only escalates until someone gets hurt. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already pretending to get into car accidents."

He had a point and between them they agreed not to leave anything lying around a monkey could get more drama material from. It was at about this point he finished his wine and he silently cursed himself for not just bringing the rest of the bottle over to finish. He held up his glass, "Hey, would you mind-? Ah, thanks."

He held the glass steady as the shadows poured the remainder of the wine before disappearing the empty bottle. He took a sip before commenting, "Sorry, you missed out the other day by the way. Next time I'll be the designated driver."

Macaque snorted, "That'll be a first but don't worry about it. I think it's best I do it, I'm not sure I should be drinking anyway."

"How come?"

Macaque looked a little uncomfortable as he tried to explain, "Being totally honest, I was always planning to be pretty sober but I wasn't planning to be that sober. Something was just really not starting to feel right after that second drink."

He frowned, "What do you mean? This a shadow thing?"

Macaque nodded, "I think it might be. I remember what it used to be like to get tipsy and it definitely didn't feel like that. And I'm really not keen to figure out what it would be like if I was actually drunk."

"Can you describe it?"

"Not really? I just... I didn't feel right. A touch too shadow. Like I was in the Void."

He didn't like the sound of that, "Alright, no alcohol it is then! We don't need to drink to have fun with friends."

Macaque looked at him strangely, "We? What are you talking about? You can still drink."

"Nah, it's no fun being the only sober person at a party. I'll keep you company!"

Macaque's tail gave an irritated flick, but his voice remained level, "I had plenty of fun the other day. Just because I can't do something doesn't mean you need to miss out."

He waved his hand dismissively, "It's no skin off my nose. I'll have a great time either way. Maybe even better sober since I'll be able to remember it all."

Something about this really seemed to displease Macaque, "If you don't want to drink then fine but if you're doing it because you think I need or want you to then you need to get a grip."

Ok, he'd clearly touched some sort of nerve but he wasn't quite sure where this was coming from, "What's the problem here? I just thought it would be nice, a bit of solidarity, y'know?"

A little too sharply, Macaque responded, "It's not nice, it's idiotic. Don't just give things up for me when you don't need to."

"You're making this out to be much a much bigger deal than it is - not drinking is really not a hardship. But if it makes you feel better, fine, I'll drink next time too. Happy?"

He snapped, "Ecstatic."

"Ok, seriously, what's this actually about?"

"Nothing."

"It's clearly not nothing. Wh-! Hey, where are you going?"

Macaque stopped on his way to the door to bite out, "For a walk."

Wukong let him go but as soon as he was out of sight he made an aggrieved noise and glared at his glass of wine, "This is all your fault."

It obviously wasn't but it made him feel slightly better to say it. As annoyed as he was by Macaque's oh-so mature handling of the situation, he realised it'd been awhile since they'd had something that remotely bordered on a proper argument. But he was cautiously optimistic Macaque would return with a cooler head and a willingness to talk about it. He might even get an apology.

Sure enough about thirty minutes later Macaque returned and sat heavily on his side of the couch before offering a gruff sorry. Wukong just watched him warily as he asked, "You ready to tell me what that was about?"

He exercised patience as Macaque sighed before glaring at his own hands. Eventually he said, "It's just one more thing I can't do. One more normal thing that I used to be able to do and now I can't."

He waited with bated breath for him to continue. This had to be the first time that Macaque had ever really acknowledged that he was at all upset about the situation he was in. Frustrations had made themselves known occasionally but it was usually aimed at a specific difficulty in the present rather than a comparison to the past.

"And it's stupid. So what if I can't drink? It's not like I was a big drinker before, not like I need it to have a good time. But it's just... It's just such a normal thing people can just do and I can't." He took a breath to steady himself before addressing Wukong, "But you can and I don't want this to be another thing that you have to do for me."

He frowned, "Another thing? You make it sound as if it's difficult having you around. And that couldn't be further from the truth."

Clearly getting a little worked up, Macaque exclaimed, "We can never just do things, Wukong. There's always something. Oh, you want to go for a walk? Oh,wait, sorry it's mid day - the sun's too bright for me to be out in it. You want to go see this show? Sorry but if I don't go to the Void now I'm going to stop being able to see in colour."

He kept going before Wukong could respond, "And if it's not something like that, it's that you've found something you want to do but you pass it up because I won't be able to experience it properly. Art? Food? Wasted on me, right? And it's not like I could ever just want to do something with you for you. No, it's always about me and what I can't do."

This had to have been brewing for quite a while and he cursed himself for not somehow realising. "Hold on, let's slow down a minute - there's a lot to unpack there. First of all, I want to make it one hundred percent clear that I'd be missing out on way more without you than I ever could with you. I was literally doing nothing until you came back into my life."

And while that confession made him want to cringe it wasn't much of an exaggeration. Especially not when you compared it to now, there had been days before Macaque's return when all he had looked forward to was going to bed at night - sleep the only place he could escape the reality of his eternity.

As ever, Macaque was not easily convinced, "So you needed a good kick in the tail to get moving but now you've got a taste for life again why would you be satisfied with less? How long until you get bored of someone that can't keep up?"

Incredulous he responded, "Bored? Of you? You can't be serious? You really think that's possible?"

Macaque held himself tightly as he looked away, "You did before."

His breath caught and for a moment all he could do was stare as remorse consumed him. Macaque looked so small all of a sudden, so vulnerable, and almost unthinkingly reached a hand out, "Macaque..."

He dropped it when the other only seemed to turn himself further away. He hesitated before trying to find the words, "I... That's... That's not what happened. I was never bored of you. I just..."

He looked down as he tried to explain, "I was thoughtless. Selfish. I never stopped to think about how what I was doing affected you. I never stopped to think about anything. I just kept moving forward, doing whatever I pleased. And I..." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly as he admitted, "I liked that no-one was beside me. That no-one could keep up with me. But I still expected to be able to look back and see you waiting for me."

He couldn't bring himself to look up to see Macaque's reaction as he continued, "There was no future I envisioned that didn't have you in it but it wasn't like this. We weren't... We weren't equals. I was always the king. Your king."

He swallowed, "Macaque, I'm not proud of who I used to be, I'm especially not proud of how I used to treat you. But I promise I'm not that person anymore. Please, you have to believe me when I say there's nothing I want more now than to stand by your side as equals - no titles, no rank... Just us, however that looks."

When they had first reconciled, Macaque's feelings about being left behind had been made abundantly clear but Wukong hadn't realised that he'd feared that time would repeat itself and it would happen again. It hurt but how could he blame him?

The last few years together had been amazing but compared to their long lives it was like a blink of an eye. They'd lived together for centuries before he had set his sights on ever greater heights.

He felt Macaque's tail tentatively wrap around his and it was almost enough to reduce him to tears. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve this second chance. And yet he couldn't stop himself from intertwining his tail with Macaque's.

Macaque almost sounded slightly wistful as he said, "Deep down, I always knew that you never felt the same way about me as I did about you. You used to look at me like I was yours and I let myself believe I was something special. That it wasn't just the same look you gave everything you felt belonged to you."

He forced himself to look over at Macaque, to see a small sad smile on his face, "I would have my doubts but then you would give me a moment where all your attention was on me and it would be enough that I could keep fooling myself into thinking that I mattered to you. That once your newest ambition was achieved then you'd be by my side for good."

He fought back the knee jerk reaction to tell him that he had mattered to him, he had always mattered, and waited for Macaque to continue.

"That didn't mean I was content just to wait. But there was nothing I could do that kept you with me for long enough and then your adventures took you places I couldn't go..." He sighed and looked over at him, "I know that you're not the same person. Neither am I. But there's a part of me that just refuses to believe it. And it tells me if I wasn't enough then how could I possibly be enough now?"

Wukong turned to face him and took hold of one of his hands in both of his, "Macaque, there is no part of me that thinks you are any less than you were before. You're different there's no denying that but that hasn't stopped you living life to the fullest. If anything I think you're doing a better job of that now than ever."

He squeezed his hand for a moment before continuing, "I can't imagine how frustrating it must be sometimes to not have the same capabilities as before but it's not a burden to me to help you or work around that. You don't need to "keep up", I want to meet you where you are."

Macaque's eyes looked a little wet as he responded, "Don't feed me lines, Wukong."

"I'm not. I promise. I know I've got a long way to go to prove that. But Macaque, I'll tell you as many times as you need to hear it - I love being with you exactly as you are now."

He didn't know what to make of the emotion he could see in Macaque's eyes but when Macaque brought up his free hand to gently guide his forehead to rest against his he was powerless but to close his own eyes and go with the motion.

Macaque pulled back to place a light kiss on his forehead before pulling back properly and scoffing a little wetly, "Yeah, I guess you're alright too."

He huffed a laugh, unable to stop himself from feeling fond as he dragged Macaque over to his side to hold him closely, "Why are you like this?"

Macaque rested his head on his shoulder as he responded, "I can only handle so much soppiness at once."

He hummed, "Well, that's unfortunate because I've still got at least one more soppy thing to say."

"Just one? I should count myself lucky. You're becoming real soft in your old age, y'know?"

He squeezed him in retaliation before letting a more serious mood settle again, "You never talk about how you feel about what you can't do anymore..."

Macaque sighed, "You worry about what I can't do too much as is."

He frowned, "That's not a good reason not to talk to me about it. I want to know if you're upset. And I worry about it way less than I used to. I get you've got new ways of experiencing things."

Macaque said nothing for a moment before a little defeatedly saying, "You still work on those artefacts."

He was a little taken aback, "Hardly! You weren't subtle, I know you're not interested in them. I just like messing around with the seals. Did you seriously think I was still trying to work on it behind your back?"

"Well, you were!"

"No, I-! Ok, y'know what? I was working on them when you weren't around but only because that's the only time I could mess about with them without you trying to distract me, not because I didn't want you to know about it. And can I just say, at no point did you actually use your words and tell me you wanted me to stop. Which, y'know, would have been the best way to get me to actually stop."

He couldn't help but feel a little exasperated. Had he been stressing out about this and was just not going to talk to him about it?

Macaque seemed to curl into himself slightly, probably embarrassed at being called out for causing unnecessary stress for himself. They had gotten a lot better at talking to each other but given the conversation they'd just had he thought he could understand why this might have been something Macaque had been reluctant to talk about. For that reason he decided not to labour the point about communication.

Macaque sounded a little embarrassed as he tried to explain, "Look, I... It wasn't just that I thought you were going to ditch me, or whatever, if I didn't work right. I..." He brought a hand to his face and groaned, "I want to do things for you. I wanted to be able to give you what you wanted. You wanted me to be able to feel things properly and I couldn't bring myself not to try. But then I really started to get the hang of feeling with magic and I thought that it might be enough to make up for what I was lacking and I just... I dunno. What I can't do doesn't bother me so much when I'm just thinking about myself but when I think about how it affects you and us - I get a little messed up over it."

He frowned and jostled Macaque slightly, "You need to tell me when things are messing you up, especially things that involve me and us. I can't do anything if I don't know. I had no idea you'd been stressing out so much about what I thought or what you "bring to the table", or whatever."

"I'm not stressing out about it. I just... I just want this to work."

"And you think I don't? C'mon we've been over this - we work way better when we talk to each other. I want to know if I'm doing something that's seriously upsetting you and I want to know what's going on in your head. I'm not a mind-reader you know."

He felt Macaque sag against him, "I know. It's just one of those things where logic and feelings refuse to see eye to eye. Logically, I know everything is fine but every once in a while my brain decides it doesn't give a damn about what's logical."

He huffed, "Yeah, trust me, I know the feeling. Just... Talk to me, alright?"

Macaque just nodded, "I'll try."

He kissed the side of Macaque's head, "That's all I can ask for. Also, just for absolute clarity - do you want me to stop messing around with those artefacts? Even if I'm not actually trying to workshop them into an accessibility aid for you?"

"Nah, it's fine. What have you been using them for then?"

"Oh, well one of the pairs of glasses has this really obscure character in the middle of the seal and it's honestly been driving me crazy figuring out what it does. Like, it's personal now. I need to know."

A shadow-y pencil materialized in the air in front of him, "Draw it for me?"

He knew the damned thing forwards and backwards at this point and he let himself fall into seals researcher mode as he caught Macaque up to speed.

----

He looked up from setting up the tablet to play music as per Macaque's request to question him, "Remind me why we're doing this again? Doesn't this sort of defeat the whole point of going to dance lessons?"

Macaque continued to stretch as he responded, "You really want to show up and have Niú and Gōngzhǔ tear you to shreds for not knowing how to dance?"

"Surely they don't know how to dance either? That's the whole point of this practice session, isn't it?"

Macaque shook his head, "Nah, they've been going to classes together for a few months. I join them every once in a while - it's good fun. This session they've got planned is to make sure everyone else attending the ball doesn't embarrass them."

Well, that explained how Macaque apparently knew western ballroom dancing. He asked, "Why are they having a ball again?"

"Long story short, they're trying to get in the good books of some neighbouring demon lord who apparently goes nuts for this kind of thing."

Wukong, thankfully, wasn't actually invited to the ball itself, he'd only been invited to come to the dance practice session. And while puzzled by this, he wasn't necessarily against it - MK would be there and Macaque seemed pretty convinced it could be a lot of fun.

"Ok, that all checks out but why am I going to the practice session?"

Macaque rolled his eyes, "Because Niú and Gōngzhǔ invited you and you don't have a good enough reason not to go."

"No, see this is the tripping point - Gōngzhǔ wants me to be there? Really? Are you sure I'm not being set up?"

Actually, if he was, it wouldn't surprise him if Macaque was in on it.

"If you were, why would I be offering to dance with you now?"

"To lure me into a false sense of security?"

Apparently done with this conversation Macaque just dragged him towards the space they had cleared for this exercise and positioned them so Wukong was in the lead position. That didn't surprise him at all - the follow position was often the exciting one and Macaque loved to have all eyes on him.

He felt the need to point out, "Also, you know I could pick this up in, like, two minutes. There isn't actually any need to practice beforehand."

"Wukong, shut up and dance with me."

He grinned, "Ah, so that's what this is about, huh?"

As it would transpire, Macaque wanting to dance with him had in fact been a tactical move on his part. This wasn't about romance or being close or anything remotely sweet, this was about getting the need to make everything a competition out of their system before they had to behave in front of a crowd.

At least half of their attempts to dance had ended in, what he personally thought, were much more exciting fight sequences - they even managed to time it to the music for the most part! And at least another quarter of the dances had felt more like a battle of wits as they tried to psych each other out.

They were sweating by the time they finally called it quits and he had to admit he wouldn't mind doing this again sometime. Just the two of them that was. If they had to dance properly the whole time he wouldn't have been able to stand it and as such he couldn't say he was super excited about this upcoming practice session.

But it was only for a couple of hours and MK would be there so he'd live. He also had his suspicions that perhaps this invite had actually been Macaque's doing and that he just really wanted him to come with.

He said as much, "You know you could have just asked me yourself if you wanted me to be your dance partner at this thing."

Macaque laughed, "I know you don't believe me but this genuinely wasn't my idea. Niú and Gōngzhǔ invited you, I swear. Although if I had to guess I'm going to say Niú was the instigator - I think he really wants to build upon the success of our get together a few weeks back."

He was perhaps a little too pleased by this revelation, as he preened, "Really?"

Macaque laughed at him, "Yeah, really. He had a good time and, though she won't admit it, so did Gōngzhǔ. I think he likes the idea of having some friends without any politics attached."

He felt embarrassingly giddy - his party had been an indisputable success and Niú wanted to be friends? Wow, this day had already been going well but he felt like he was practically glowing now.

Macaque just shook his head fondly.

----

The day of the event saw him in a large hall filled with close to a hundred people and he wasn't at all stressed out about it. Nope. Not even when people he didn't know gawked or pointed in his direction. He was totally cool and collected.

He sort of wished he hadn't let Macaque convince him not to wear his official Monkey King get up though. Obviously people recognised him without it and if he was going to have to be the Monkey King, then he wanted to be the Monkey King.

Safe behind his armour.

He tried to focus on the people right in front of him, the people he knew, MK and his friends, but he'd feel a lot better if Macaque would hurry up and get back here.

They had developed a system a while back for social events to help him with his anxiety. Invisible to everyone, that didn't have golden vision or something similar, was a thin layer of Macaque's magic over his hand - all he had to do was flex it a particular way or make a certain gesture and Macaque would respond accordingly.

He'd come stand by his side, or help him escape from a conversation or from the whole event if he really needed it. For the most part however it just gave him a little more confidence by letting him feel as if he was holding his hand, Macaque had gotten pretty good at manipulating the pressure so it really felt like he was holding on to him.

Wukong closed his hand slightly and he felt Macaque squeeze it lightly in reassurance. He'd be back soon, he just had to go get Bǎi Hé and then he'd be back. Just focus on MK and what he was saying - something about their outfits for the ball?

Thankfully, it only took another few minutes before a shadow portal opened beside Mei and Macaque and Bǎi Hé stepped out. He hoped his relief wasn't obvious but just being able to see Macaque did so much for his nerves.

Macaque had warned him he wasn't going to be able to be by his side throughout the entire event. He wasn't the only one who might occasionally look to Macaque for a bit of reassurance after all. Bǎi Hé had come on leaps and bounds since her time as the Lady Bone Demon's host but this sort of thing could be a bit much for anyone.

It probably didn't help that Wukong was here. She no longer seemed to be outright terrified of him but she always seemed at least a little uncomfortable around him. Which is no doubt why Macaque had opened the portal a decent distance away from him with a number of people in between.

She was greeted with enthusiasm by MK and the others and he didn't doubt they would all be keeping an eye out for her while she was here. She was the youngest person here by a good ten years at least. Macaque gave her shoulder a squeeze and then left her talking to Red Son and Mei to head over to him.

He resisted the urge to reach for him and instead lowered his voice so that only Macaque would hear him, "Everything alright?"

He nodded, and equally quietly explained, "Some last minute nerves was all. You holding up ok?"

He'd barely gotten out a "Yeah. I'm-" before Gōngzhǔ's authoritative voice was carried throughout the hall with a gust of wind as she started to explain the proceedings for the day. While Macaque had turned in order to appear to be paying her attention, he still kept an eye on him waiting for a response. Wukong tried to communicate silently that he was fine and after half a second of scrutiny he felt Macaque's magic squeeze his hand before they both gave Gōngzhǔ their full attention.

Wukong was not afraid of Gōngzhǔ but he could easily understand why at least half those gathered here clearly were. She didn't mince words when she promised there would be no swift end for those that did not perform as expected at this ball. And knowing her, it was no idle threat.

But in short order, they had been split off into smaller groups, each with their own instructors and he couldn't be more grateful to finally have his hands on Macaque. It also helped that their little group consisted largely of MK and his friends and while there was an amusing disparity in skill, it was Macaque's running commentary on everything in the room that helped put him most at ease.

It got to the point where he even felt comfortable bantering occasionally with some of the other dancers from time to time. If he just focused on his immediate surroundings he found he was beginning to enjoy himself.

Macaque suddenly snorted and Wukong grinned, "What is it?"

"Mei and MK are trying to figure out how Niú and Gōngzhǔ dance together."

Niú and Gōngzhǔ were observing the procedures and so were not dancing themselves, and currently Niú was towering over their group and assessing their performance. He could easily understand the confusion - Niú was a giant of a man. Dancing with someone their height was no easy task.

Macaque had a mischievous look on his face as he asked, "You mind if I show 'em how it's done?"

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime without a partner?"

Macaque grinned and quite deliberately steered them towards MK and Mei who were quite honestly terrible dance partners - they couldn't seem to stop laughing every time they so much as looked at each other. With some fancy turns, and a little bit of shadow magic, he suddenly found himself in Mei's place in front of MK.

A quick glance around revealed a number of couples had been swapped around while a rather relieved looking demon stood on the outskirts, clearly grateful for the chance to have a break and grab a drink. Much to Mei's delight and Red Son's consternation, the two of them were now partnered up.

MK, long since used to such antics, just looked pleased to see him, and Wukong felt equally happy to spend some time with him, "Hey, kid. You having a good time?"

MK beamed, "A great time! Although I don't think I've actually managed to learn anything yet but maybe with you here I'll finally get it! You up for teaching me one more lesson?"

Wukong laughed, "For you? Always!"

"You want to lead?"

"Nah. You lead, I'll follow. I've been leading all day - Macaque always wants the flashy role."

MK eyed up where Macaque was talking to Niú, "Don't I know it. Is he going to...?"

He looked over to see Macaque put on an overly formal act to ask Niú to dance which, to the apparent shock of a number of people present, Niú accepted equally formally.

The floor tripped over itself to clear a space for them. They bowed to one another and then almost immediately they were identifiable as the most graceful partners in the room.

He and MK were jostled as Mei deliberately bumped into them with Red Son and she hissed at MK, "How are they doing that? That's not possible."

Red Son scoffed at her as MK, equally curious, investigated with his golden vision, "Ah! I think it's like a mix of DBK stooping down a bit, Mac lifting himself with his shadows and a glamour to make it all look natural?"

He looked to him for confirmation and he happily obliged, "You got it, kid. There's loads of different ways to do it but this way, if you don't think too hard about it, looks the most natural, like you said."

MK looked around clearly trying to spot anyone else using this trick, "Oh hey, yeah now that I'm looking there's a couple of different spells at play around the room. Some shapeshifting, some glamours... Are they wearing stilts under their dress? Wow! That's actually super impressive!"

It was then his eyes seemed to catch on where they were holding hands and he could see how MK was going to unthinkingly expose him. He quickly drew his attention by tripping him slightly and when he had MK's eyes he shook his head minutely, desperately trying to communicate with him not to say anything.

Thankfully he got the hint, and even better the whole interaction seemed to have been missed by anyone else. Still focused on Niú and Macaque. Mei grinned slyly all of a sudden, and she aimed it at both him and Red Son, "Hey, those two are looking awful cosy, don't you think? A bit more than is proper I would say."

They were certainly toe-ing the line as to what would be considered appropriate in terms of closeness and demeanour. Niú tended to have quite a stoic expression when he was expected to embody his title as King but his facade was clearly cracking under whatever jokes or comments Macaque was making.

If Mei thought he was remotely bothered by their closeness however she was going to be sorely disappointed. They were monkeys - close physical contact with your friends was the done thing. They didn't have nearly the same hangups as humans did.

Red Son however was silently seething, although he could imagine it was less to do with the sight before him and everything to do with the fact that Mei would dare imply there was something going on.

Red Son kept it together remarkably well as he shoved Mei's face away from him and rather smoothly cut in between him and MK to steal the latter away as his new partner. Undeterred, Mei just followed along, trying to fit herself into a dance for two. MK shouted out an apology to him but he clearly wasn't getting out of this easily.

Welp, he was down a partner. Standing on the sidelines it was then. He'd only been there long enough to see Macaque now chatting with a very amused Gōngzhǔ before Niú came and stood beside him, "Wukong."

He smiled cheekily, "You here to ask me for a dance?"

A sharp gust of wind almost knocked him over as Niú laughed quietly before shooting a fond look over at his wife, "I think that would have dire consequences for us both."

He huffed as he straightened out his clothes and hair, before conversationally he commented, "Mac was telling me you and Gōngzhǔ have been at this whole dancing shtick for a while?"

"Cháng'é had a crossover episode with a professional ballroom dancer. We thought it looked entertaining enough to be a worthwhile endeavour."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of Cooking with Cháng'é - he really didn't see the appeal. Although admittedly he had gotten a bit more into cooking himself in the past few years, so maybe it was worth giving it another shot? It could be something to bond with Niú over too. He'd think about it.

He gestured to the room, "I'll say. Now you're using it for some lucrative networking. Bet you didn't see that coming."

All he got was a short, "Hm." Before Niú changed the subject, "I see Macaque prepared you for today."

"What? Nah, I'm just a naturally talented dancer."

Niú raised an eyebrow, unimpressed, "So talented you know all the steps before you've been instructed."

"Yup. It's a gift."

Niú rolled his eyes before he postured, "Clearly not that gifted, if Macaque left you to dance with me at the first opportunity."

He was being baited but he found himself powerless not to engage with a bit of friendly ribbing, "That's just because you were looking all sad and broody and tall all by yourself, he just felt sorry for you."

Niú huffed in amusement, "Believe what you will but what is indisputable is that he enjoyed our dance more."

He gaped in offense, "No, he didn't! We were in perfect sync - every move was flawless!"

"We had all that and more. We commanded the room - he loves nothing more than a captive audience. I am clearly the superior dance partner."

His rebuttal was cut off by a familiar voice, "Not to contradict you, your majesty. But I think you might find you're both wrong." They both looked over to see Mián pointing into the crowd and following their directions - they could see a very fond looking Macaque dancing with Bǎi Hé.

It was admittedly a very sweet sight and Niú huffed before standing tall, "A fine adversary to come in second to."

He nodded, "Yeah, I can accept- Hey! Wait! You're not second! I am!"

Their silly argument was interrupted again by the appearance of Chóu, who cooed, "Oh, what a lovely little lady. And just look at Macaque - what a wonderful father he would make!"

Mián was incredulous enough for the three of them, "Macaque!?"

Wukong had long since suspected that Chóu was delusional but he was absolutely sure of it now. Had she seen how he behaved around literally anyone that wasn't Bǎi Hé? He was an actual terror.

She simply nodded blithely, "Oh yes, I can see it. And in this unprecedented time of peace? Why, there's no greater time to start a family. So what are you two waiting for?"

"What are we...? We're not having kids, Chóu!"

Niú was beside himself, his booming laughter drawing far too many eyes for his liking. But he still couldn't get over the horror such an idea instilled in him.

She frowned, "Why not? Children are a blessing."

He looked at her a little helplessly, not even sure where to begin. He was sure she would find a way to counter anything he said - the impossibility of them having children? Where there's a will there's a way! We already have an island of monkeys to take care of? Oh, well you'll have plenty of company for the little ones then. We would be the worst parents imaginable? Nonsense, you'll have Auntie Chóu to keep you right!

Thankfully Mián answered for him, looking a little annoyed, "Chóu, we've been over this - not everyone wants to get married and have kids. You need to stop telling couples to "get a move on"."

Chóu huffed clearly getting wound up and Mián just physically turned her and started pushing her towards the exit, "Oh, would you look at the time? Sorry to have to leave so soon but ball gowns don't make themselves, you know? Ta-ta!"

That demon was worth their weight in gold. He'd have to find a way to properly thank them for saving him from that hellish conversation. He griped at Niú, "It wasn't that funny! C'mon, knock it off!"

Niú was wiping actual tears from his eyes and Wukong felt his own eye twitch as his tail flicked irritably. He glanced over at Macaque to gauge his reaction and saw an amused grin staring back at him for only a moment before he focused back on Bǎi Hé. Ugh, great. He couldn't wait for this to become a running gag.

After a truly unbecoming amount of time Niú calmed down and gave him a hearty pat on the back before going back to his duties. His parting words about how funny he was not at all a boost to his ego, not when he was being laughed at, not with.

This unfortunately left him on his own and a few brave souls looked like they wanted to take the chance of coming over and speaking to him and he silently begged Macaque to come back already. He didn't want to pull him away from Bǎi Hé but he would really prefer not to make small talk with strangers.

He was saved by MK coming over to see him, finally freed from Mei and Red Son's clutches - the pair of whom seemed to be having some sort of competition that involved innocent bystanders.

He questioned MK, "What are they...?"

MK shook his head, "I don't know and I don't want to know but either way I need a break. You want to go grab a drink?"

"Lead the way."

It was too much to expect MK to have forgotten about Macaque's magic on his person and his impish expression suggested he thought he already had the answer as he asked, "So, what's with your hand?"

He decided to play it cool, "Oh that? Just a little system Macaque and I came up with to communicate with each other in case things go sideways. Not to be a downer but this crowd is just a magnet for trouble. We're just being cautious."

MK clearly didn't believe him, "Uh-huh. Right. And not at all because you just want to hold Macaque's hand?"

"Pfft. As if. We're responsible immortals, not love-struck teenagers!"

He would just have to accept that his reputation had long been besmirched in his student's eyes, "Hm-mm. Don't worry, Wukong. Your secret is safe with me." The wink really wasn't necessary but at least the conversation could move on to less embarrassing topics.

It was nice having a moment to catch up with MK, it didn't last long enough for his liking but once Gōngzhǔ had straightened out the troublemakers the look she sent their way told them they better get back on the floor or suffer unimaginable hardship. MK couldn't scamper fast enough but Wukong refused to let himself be hurried and while he did make his way back, it was at a lax pace that had Gōngzhǔ narrowing her eyes.

It really was a lose-lose with her - if he'd scrambled to obey her she would have been equally unhappy by the show of "cowardliness" that she no doubt thought unbecoming of Macaque's chosen partner.

He was slightly worried as to who he was going to dance with but he was delighted to have Macaque meet him there. Wukong teased, "Just can't resist me, huh?"

"Thought I'd give you a chance to prove yourself my second favourite dance partner."

"I don't need to prove it! It's a fact!"

Macaque hummed, "My second favourite would rise to the challenge..."

If he'd said that on the island, Wukong would have taken the bait and pulled out all the stops to rise to the occasion but here? If he did anything remotely flashy they'd have every pair of eyes on them. Which honestly made him want to throw up but... Well, he knew Macaque would love it.

He fought with himself for a moment before trying to push down his fear as far as it would go in order to propose a deal, "Alright, I will prove it! But only if you promise that as soon as the dance is finished you get us out of here. Like immediately. Deal?"

He withstood Macaque's scrutiny for a long moment and he'd be lying if he said that the excited grin that slowly spread over Macaque's face didn't make his heart beat faster, "Deal. But I need to sort out one or two things first. I was Bǎi Hé's ride home."

"Ah, shoot. I forgot about that. You can't just ditch her... Just get me out of here then."

Macaque shook his head and took a step away, leaving a shadow clone in his place, "Oh no. You keep your end of the bargain and I already know I won't want to take my hands off you. Just give me a second."

He danced with the clone unthinkingly as he watched Macaque interrupt Bǎi Hé's dance in order to speak to her. Macaque wasn't going to tell her they were leaving because of him, right? He really would not like to move any further down the list of her not so favourite people.

But she didn't look upset - instead she looked quite excited and somehow that didn't make him feel better.

He thought he should be using this opportunity to figure out what he was going to do to impress Macaque but he knew if he started to think about it he would start to overthink it. He'd be fine. He was great at improvising - better to be in the moment.

He was slightly alarmed to watch Bǎi Hé take off in the opposite direction but Macaque wasn't at all concerned as he made his way back, dispelling the clone as he stepped into it, "Alright, Wukong. Last chance to back out. You ready?"

He took a deep breath. Just focus on the two of them. He was the master of focus - he could do this. He looked into Macaque's eyes and saw nothing but love and excitement and he stood tall as he postured, "As if I'd back down from a challenge. How do you feel about a costume change?"

Macaque's tail swayed happily behind him, "What do you have in mind?"

He had just enough time to fill him in on what outfits to grab with his shadows when Bǎi Hé's role in this became apparent. She had been sent to commandeer the music so that the next song that played was one that was definitely not on Gōngzhǔ's approved list but it was one Wukong knew well and was just a touch livelier to allow for him to really dazzle.

He pulled Macaque closer to them as shadows transformed their clothes. He sent up a silent prayer that Gōngzhǔ wouldn't be too mad and then he didn't give a second thought to anything other than Macaque.

--M--

As promised, barely a second after the song had ended, and an uproar of applause had started, he had felt the welcome swooping of falling through a shadow portal. His heart was pounding as his feet landed on solid ground but he was undeniably pleased with his performance, "Ha! How was that? I told you-!"

He was cut off as Macaque pulled him into an enthusiastic and passionate kiss and he was powerless not to respond in kind. The adrenaline still pumping through him urging him on and he just couldn't pull Macaque close enough to him.

He almost wasn't aware of the fact Macaque had started to walk him backwards until the back of his knees hit the couch and at Macaque's firm push he sat gracelessly but he was given no time to dwell on it when Macaque was suddenly in his lap and had picked up right from where they left off.

He was immensely pleased that he'd done such a good job that Macaque intended to kiss him senseless as a reward and he couldn't help but break the kiss briefly to preen, "That good, huh?"

Macaque's hands came to either side of his face, and all he got was a painfully fond, "That good." Before he was swept back up in a toe curling kiss. Damn, no sarcastic comment or quip? He really had impressed. Oh, he was going to relish in this victory for days to come.

He couldn't recall Macaque ever being quite this handsy anytime they'd made out before, not that he was complaining, but when his hands found his way under his shirt and all but groped him he broke off their kiss once more intending to ask where the fire was. However, this only prompted Macaque to duck his head and lavish his neck with attention, surprising a sharp gasp from him.

Admittedly, a little distracted by Macaque's hands and lips, it took him a moment to find his words again. For as much as he was enjoying the attention, this was unfamiliar territory and he was honestly a little unsure how to reciprocate. Did he just copy Macaque? He obviously couldn't kiss him like this, was he supposed to wait his turn or something?

"Mac...?"

Macaque hummed in response, not stopping in his ministrations, so he tried again, "Mac? Can we, uh, have a time out?"

Thankfully Macaque did sit up, albeit looking a little amused, "A time out?"

A little awkwardly, he explained, "Uh, yeah. Just to, y'know, check in?"

Still somewhat bemused by this, Macaque removed his hands from under his shirt to loosely wrap his arms around Wukong's shoulders, "Alright. How you doing then?"

He cleared his throat, "I'm great! Peachy, even! I'm just, er, maybe not a hundred percent sure on what the plan is here?"

Macaque grinned, kissing his cheek before answering, "The plan is you sit back and reap the reward for that spectacular performance."

"And that sounds awesome but just so we're on the same page here... What exactly are you planning to do?"

Because he had his suspicions things were going in a direction that he had been pretty confident they were never going to go in - seeing as Macaque couldn't fully participate - and as such he really wasn't sure what to make of it.

Macaque chuckled lowly, and there really was no mistaking that suggestive tone, "What would you like me to do?"

Nervously, he asked, "Go back to kissing me? Er, just kissing me?"

"You do realise I'm offering to do a lot more than kiss you, right?"

"No, yeah, I was picking up on that but, y'know, maybe I just want to kiss you?"

Macaque leaned back slightly and looked at him oddly, "There a reason for that?"

"I just like kissing you?"

He almost winced at how unsure that had sounded and Macaque just couldn't seem to comprehend what was wrong with him until it seemed to click, "Wait. Are you nervous?"

Immediately he refuted, "No! I mean, it's just that I- We haven't- You can't-"

Macaque was looking far too pleased with this turn of events, "Isn't this just precious? You want me to walk you through what I was planning to do to you? Do a Q&A to help put those first time jitters to rest?"

He could already feel his face getting warm, "No, you ass! I'm not nervous! That's not the problem!"

Ok, he was a little nervous but that wasn't the real issue here. Macaque clearly didn't believe him if that smug grin was anything to go by but still he said, "Let's hear it then. What is the problem?"

He faltered on how to elegantly word it, and his fingers started tapping nervously where they lay on Macaque's hips, "You can't... I mean, I can't return the favour?"

He was sure Macaque understood what he had meant but chose to deliberately avoid the issue, "You don't need to "return the favour" this is about me showing my appreciation, you've already done your part."

"Well, I think you've already done that - that make out session has more than shown how much you appreciated it."

Macaque leaned back and crossed his arms, an annoyed expression on his face, "Are you seriously turning me down just because I can't get it up? We talked about this - me not being able to do something doesn't mean you need to miss out."

"This is so not the same as not being able to drink!"

"How?"

"Because it's not fair! You won't get anything out of it!"

Macaque tsked, "You really think I won't get anything out of it? I want to do this. It feels good to make you feel good. And not just through our magic, I like doing things for you."

He crossed his own arms and glared up at him, "Doing things like using artefacts that made you feel bad?"

He would be lying if he said thoughts of their conversation about Macaque's concerns over Wukong growing bored of him weren't echoing in his head. This was absolutely not something he was going to allow Macaque to do if that was a factor.

"That's not the same!"

"How?"

"At what point did I seem like I wasn't enjoying what I was doing?"

Well... He had him there. Macaque had never been enthusiastic about the artefacts but he had seemed very much in his element before Wukong had interrupted him for this conversation.

Petulantly he responded, "Well, you're supposed to be the actor here, you could be faking it."

Macaque wasn't impressed, "You really think that's what I was doing?"

Reluctantly he replied, "No..."

He hadn't believed it even as he had said it. Macaque asked, "So what's the problem here?"

"It just... Doesn't feel right."

Him being the only one getting off reeked of the sort of selfishness he had tried to put well behind him. He didn't want a repeat of what sex between them used to be like when they were younger.

After a long moment, Macaque sighed and he looked a little more understanding, "Alright, look, it's fair to say your experience of what sex can be is pretty limited, right? So let me let you in on something - you don't always have to get off to have a good time. It's like fishing - you don't have to have caught a fish to have enjoyed it."

He mulled this over, he did understand the logic but still, "It's one thing to go fishing and not catch anything but why would you go fishing if you knew there was no fish to be caught?"

"Now, you're just being obtuse. In this example, it's all about the company. Although, you really are making me doubt my choice in company."

He lowered his arms and rested his hands on Macaque's thighs as he thought it over. No denying the company made all the difference, sex with someone else had never been a consideration but at the same time when he had imagined sleeping with Macaque it hadn't looked like this.

He couldn't quite meet Macaque's eyes as he tried to explain, "Even if I can wrap my head around that. I... I don't want sex just about getting off, or whatever, I..." He could feel his face growing steadily redder as he admitted, "I want it to mean something, for it to be... Special, I guess."

Macaque brought a hand to his cheek and directed his face up in order to give him quite possibly the most breathtaking kiss he'd ever received. It lacked the urgency of their earlier kissing but it somehow felt more intense.

It didn't last nearly long enough and when Macaque pulled back he felt dazed, although he was sure his expression was something awed and adoring. Macaque's face was close to his when he all but whispered, "Special enough for you?"

He swallowed thickly and nodded mutely. Macaque started to place a trail of gentle kisses along his cheek towards his ear, using them to punctuate his sentences, "I can make this special. I can be gentle. Tender. Loving. Let me show you. Let me worship every inch of you."

Worship...?

Such an ugly word was enough to snap him out of the haziness he had been falling prey to. He didn't want this one-sided devotion that Macaque was offering him. It evoked this awful image of a king being lavished by his subject. He didn't want to be Macaque's king, he wanted to be his equal.

He brought his hand up to take hold of Macaque's and bring it down to his lap, he looked down as he quietly admitted, "I can't. I'm sorry."

He felt no small amount of relief as he watched Macaque take hold of his hand properly, before he asked, "What's going on?"

He cringed shamefully, as he tried to explain, "I just can't get over how selfish it feels. I want to do everything for you that you want to do for me. I don't- I don't want to be worshipped, not if I can't do the same. I just... I'm sorry. I know you want to do this but I just..."

Macaque was quiet for a moment before he let out a gentle sigh, and kissed his forehead, "It's ok. If you don't want to do this then that's all there is to it."

He looked up a little wary, "You're not upset or mad?" Then slightly more panicked he asked, "You're not going to be all messed up over this, right? Fuck, I know you stress out about our relationship and then I went and... It's not your fault. I'm not upset we can't do this, I mean, I am upset I can't do this for you but I'm- I-"

Macaque hushed him, "Alright. Calm down. You're fine. We're fine. I'm fine. Stop freaking out. Just give me a minute to think..."

He pulled Wukong close to him as he did so and Wukong held him close as he focused on trying to breathe.

Slowly Macaque tried to put his thoughts into words, "Ok, if this isn't a thing that can ever happen then that's fine... But your problem is not being able to reciprocate, right? Well, what if you could? It wouldn't be the same but, I don't know, maybe it's something we can work on."

He looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

Macaque admitted a little awkwardly, "If I'm being honest, the thought of you touching me and me not responding to it sort of stresses me out. Maybe that's something to explore first? Like, I really, really don't want you touching my dick but that doesn't mean there aren't other things we can try. Maybe a slightly more handsy make out session is a good starting point? Figure out how my magic and everything responds? I think we could still make this work if we can work on both our hang ups."

Handsy make out sessions definitely felt within their wheelhouse and he felt a bit more optimistic about this whole thing if the plan was to take their time with it.

He nodded, "I think I can get behind that." He stared at Macaque searchingly for a moment before stating, "You really wanted this, didn't you?"

Macaque sighed heavily, "Yeah, I guess I did. I just... I know this is something I can still do, and that it could be good. That we could both get something out of, even if it's not the same thing... But we'll figure it out. We always do. Besides, what's the rush? We've got time, right?"

Enamoured, Wukong wrapped his arms around him, "All the time in the world."

----

It was several hours later, as he was doing the dishes, that a much less important detail from today came to mind and he paused and looked over at Macaque, "Er, by the way, about what Chóu-"

"No, I don't want kids."

"Oh, thank god." Despite being almost a hundred percent sure that would be his answer, he couldn't deny the relief he felt. He shook his head, "Can you honestly believe she thought we'd make good parents?"

Macaque grimaced, "I don't like to think of the ways we would mess up a kid. Also, imagine if they had powers like we have? I think we have an obligation to the world to never find a way to reproduce."

He whole heartedly agreed.

--Chapter End--

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LMK Fanfic Masterlist

[kenjakusbraincum]

I need more headcannons about sukunas pet and uraumes relationship

Like do they get along? Do they tolerate each other for sukuna

Would uraume mourn vows!reader 😭

I feel like Uraume is mostly inconvenienced by pet's presence. Especially as Sukuna grows closer to them, Uraume is tasked with more and more things relating to pet that Sukuna expects them to do personally, because he doesn't trust lesser servants with someone so precious. So they have to manage the other servants, cook, and be Sukuna's messenger when he's too lazy to get pet himself (aka. always. always). Their workload doubles, and it's all because of this weird little human that somehow managed to capture Sukuna's attention.

I think reader wants to have a good relationship with Uraume, and they try really hard to strike up conversation and appear likeable to them. For a while Uraume is the only person other than Sukuna that reader has interactions with, and they really wish it could be something deeper. But Uraume is distant and dismissive, for one out of resentment for having another obligation, and two because they're not sure how Sukuna would feel about the two of them getting close. His pet is his only, anything could be considered stepping out of line. And we all know Uraume really cares about what Sukuna thinks 👀

So they definitely tolerate reader, read: Uraume tolerates reader. Reader strikes up conversation, asks tons of questions, begs to help in the kitchen and Uraume has to try their best to let them down gently, so they don't go complaining to Sukuna about Uraume being rude to them. I can imagine the conversation going something like this:

''Can I help you in the kitchen?''

''Master wouldn't allow that.''

''What if I ask him?''

''If you must.''

And then...

''Master, may I please help Uraume in the kitchen?''

''What do you say Uraume?''

''Master, I'm most efficient on my own.''

''Please!" *insert the most practiced puppy eyes a human can possibly make*

''Ah, I'll allow it.''

*camera pans to Uraume fuming*

Uraume warms up to reader eventually. They see that Sukuna really cares about them and honestly? It's kind of cute seeing Sukuna in love. He is not very chatty about reader, but when he sends them off and stays alone with Uraume, he will comment something like ''How cute was that?''. Sukuna even tones down the violence, and for a while it feels like a new era has started.

And then reader gets sick. And then they stay sick.. for months, until it's obvious that it won't be long until they're gone. All of Uraume's feelings for reader stem from Sukuna. So when they see Sukuna in pain, trying everything he can to save them, it starts to hurt them too. They too start to ask you how you're doing, they help you around and comfort you when Sukuna is away for long.

No one notifies Uraume that reader is dying. They only get the message when they're already gone. And they know they cared, when they realize they're angry. That it's unfair they didn't even get a chance to say goodbye, even if it would be as constricted as any conversation they've had with you.

Uraume may not be as old as Sukuna, but their lifetime will be as long as his. And they think that for as long as they live, they won't forget the scene they saw in reader's room. Sukuna next to reader's bed, with his head on their cold chest, holding their hand in his hair, emulating soft strokes. A scene more intimate than any of the ones Uraume has had the chance to glimpse upon.

''I'll let you mourn.'', they say, as they back out of the room.

''Stay.'', Sukuna says.

And Uraume stays. For years they accompany Sukuna, watching him descend back into the darkness he occupied before. They had forgotten what it felt like to shoulder all of Sukuna's meltdowns on their own. Years after reader's death they'll revere them for handling the worst of Sukuna by themselves. For calming him down, taming him. God knows Uraume could never do it, not before, now or ever.

[jayujus]

JOAH (I LIKE YOU) - CHAPTER 17

— 17 : new best fran

written ~ 0.4k + smau

y/n and wonyoung were on their way to their school's campus for the dance event. it was a bit awkward since the two never spoke in person before, but wonyoung tried her best to keep a conversation the whole time.

"are you sure they'll be okay with modeling for me?" y/n nods, feeling a sense of nervousness in wonyoung's voice. "i think you'll be fine. a few of them have experience in modeling..." she smiles at y/n's reassurance. "thank you, y/n."

"of course!"

once they'd arrived, riki had immediately taken notice of the two girls, surprised that she was here with someone new. the girls looked around in hoping to spot someone they knew, but riki was already making their way to them.

"hi,"

"hi," the girls say in unison. "uhh so what do you need me to get started on?" y/n asks, feeling extremely awkward with riki's presence.

it didn't make much sense to her as to why he would talk to her out of the blue and ask for her help when he passed every opportunity he had before.

"umm can you help me and taki with the lights? if it's not too hard,"

"that's fine. can wonyoung help too?" riki hums.

__

wonyoung finishes her job, excusing herself to go to the bathroom, leaving y/n with riki and taki.

y/n smiles at wonyoung and goes back to setting up the lights. riki stops and looks at her, seeing her focused on finishing up, he's unsure of whether he should say something.

taki cringes at riki, quickly finishing up and leaving to go help jongseob and soul.

riki bites his lip, sending a glare at taki's way for leaving them alone before finishing up himself.

"i'm done.. is there anything else for me to do?" riki looks around, "umm i'm not sure. i think everything else is already being taken care of. the lights were the main thing." she nods, "are you leaving now?"

"i can't, wonyoung needs to scout people for her magazine. that's why i invited her to come."

__

it was about 7pm, wonyoung and y/n were sitting on the bleachers, listening to the dance team talk to the audience.

"did something happen with you and riki? it's so awkward with you both..." y/n shrugs, not really sure how to answer. "i don't know,, i liked him for a while but he never liked me back... and he was awfully mean about it too so eventually i realized it's better for me to move on, but for some reason he chose to text me for help on this event."

"and you moved on?" y/n hesitates, but she hums after a few seconds. "he must've developed feelings for you because he missed your attention, then."

"that's not true."

"mhmm.... you keep telling yourself that." y/n playfully smacks wonyoung's arm. "whatever! let's talk about you... i see you got along well with jungwon today." she playfully winks, resulting in a smack by wonyoung as well.

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a/n ❀ : written part is not that good and detailed as i was hoping im so sorry T_T also if u have a username change and are on the taglist you can lmk and ill change it!

taglist ❀ : @forever-in-the-sky2 @wonqr @strwberrydinosaur @j-wyoung @alicesolengg @rikimylove @hehet-ateez @dneltrise @ifearjwn @ocyeanicc @yumilovesloona @baekxo07 @yourmyst4r @suvgs @telengraph @cha0thicpisces @maybemiko @str4wb3rryc0ww @kaizny @noascats @captivq @calkai @rikizm @chaechae-23 @blehblehbleh20122007 @iea-tsand @beomgyusonlywife @starz4hyunz @viagumi @lunavixia @neeneee @sullyoonooc @im-yn-suckers @b1ndignity @samvagejkflxhrt @darly6n @astrae4 @wonyoungsvirus @deadgirlwalking3 @kissezfornamjoon @lilacri @rikibsf @yanagisprettygf @luvalee @sxftiell @heeheesang @tswisal1 @sloobydooburmomjungwon @pkjay @yizhoutv @brrrkdslek @y0iy0i @shigamiryuk @231engene4ever @luvistqrzzz

[littlebluentebook]

Alastor x Sewing!Reader

Hi everyone! This is my first ever fic but I have read far more than anyone should in a lifetime! Please let me know if theres any criticism. Im open to other ideas and fandoms (that I will eventually make a list for.) I'm merging some chapters I have just because they're short or make better sense that way and tried tot keep things gender neutral. If I slipped let me know and I will go back and edit! This is probably super out of character but I did my best! Hope you all enjoy :)

Chapter 1 <3

You and your husband had always gotten along like a house on fire.

Every other week a client would come in asking for costumes and repairs for a speakeasy she sung and danced at.

"-just say Anne invited you love n' they'll be bound ta let you in!" she exclaimed while picking up her newest order for the night ahead.

"Well darling I'll just have to see if I've got any sort of plans." You said knowing full well you were going to come up with new patterns until eventually falling asleep.

"Come on Y/N, Ive been coming to you for months! Don't you want to see where all your heard work goes to?" Anne was definitely pulling your strings taking advantage of your curiosity. She had a point.

"I suppose you've gotta point Anne. What time are you starting tonight?"

"Nine!" She was bouncing up and down in excitement. " I've got to get going now doll! See you tonight!"

The jingle of the bells on the door signified she was gone. You started to realize what you agreed to and panicking.

"Oh my goodness gracious!" you stressed out loud, "what even am I going to wear! Im going to look ridiculous- I don't know a single soul there! What if I make a fool of myself?!"

Your thoughts battles for longer than you would like them to eventually grabbing a paper riddled with measurements no longer needed and started writing pros and cons of visiting Anne.

Pros: Cons:

Meeting new people! Showing up alone

Can make friends Looking like a buffoon!

New possible clients

Deducting that embarrassment is temporary, your cons list could easily be eradicated by breaking out of your shell and talking to others. Plus, Anne would be there and she was your friend... kinda? You considered her a friend but was unsure if she felt the same way. Well, she did invite you to visit her tonight, at the very least she will introduce you to her friends! There shouldn't be a worry.

With your mind finally set you heard the clock strikes four. Ashamed of how long you let your thoughts get the better of you, you got back to work. The task was to complete a keepsake blanket from a wedding. You created the dress for the newlywed, sitting for hours with her finding the perfect materials and creating patterns and designs for her. In the family, it was a tradition to create a quilt from the dress of the bride using the grooms suit as a border. All the pieces were cut and you could not wait to sew them together and create a stunning memento.

Chapter 2 <3

you knocked on a door two streets over from your shop. A short lady opened the door raising an eyebrow.

"And who might you be?"

"Im Annes... friend," you tried. "She comes to me for her outfits and graciously offered me the opportunity to come a view her performance tonight."

The lady's gaze hardened, staring at you intensely.

"It looks like I have got the wrong place then, I am so sorry to waste your time," you stammered taking a step back away from the door.

"Oh Mimzy! You mustn't be giving anyone trying to see me a hard time now!" Anne's bubbly voice spoke from behind the short lady who must be Mimzy. "Y/N is a good friend of mine! Works far too hard for me and deserves a break, plenty of time to relax!"

Mimzy bursted into a smile and reached for a hug. "of course! Welcome! Sorry for being all prude- just had to makee sure you weren't anyone coming tottery and ruin what I've got going for me here" she drawled.

"No ma'am of course not! Im just here to watch my friends performance then I'll be outta your hair, away from your 'do," you explained to Mimzy while she dragged you from the door to the bar.

"Nonsense my dear! Please have a drink and stay awhile!" you sat at the bar with Mimzy talking about how difficult it was to be a female business owner. No one takes you lot seriously!

The lights dimming and shinning on stage caught the room's attention effectively hushing all conversation. Anne sauntered to the center of the stage, dress shimmering. You recognized it as the most recent dress that you crafted for Anne. It was stunning on her.

"My oh my! Look at the handiwork that went into making that dress. Must of taken days!" a familiar voice chipped. You were unable to put a name to the voice but luckily Mimzy did it for you.

"Alastor," Goodness! The radio broadcaster! You had always loved his voice, you would have his station playing while sewing- waiting patiently for songs to end just to hear him speak. "Our dear friend Y/N made that specifically for our lovely Anne!" Mimzy exclaimed.

She admired your work while Anne sung and waltzed around the stage. You were incredibly proud of your work. Every detail of that dress took so much time and effort and turned out beautifully. The fringe was all hand cut, the lace took countless hours of stitching for the perfect design and finally the beads. Each bead had to be placed individually in the right spot on the dress to shimmer. It was a fine dress indeed.

"Y/N, how would you like to make dresses and suits for the rest of those who preform for me?" As soon as the song ended Mimzy had dropped the question, ensuring she wouldn't tale any attention away from Anne.

"Oh my! Why I would be honored and ecstatic to! Thank you so much for the opportunity Mimzy!" You were so excited! Sure the flapper dresses were hard work and time consuming, but now, seeing how they looked on a stage, in front of an audience, made you realize you didn't mind all the time and effort it took into making them.

Mimzy left her seat in an excited hurry to go get paperwork for you.

"You know," the broadcaster- Alastor leaned over Mimzy's now empty seat, "she goes on and on about how beautiful Annes dresses on stage are." The comment caused you to blush but he continued, grabbing your hand gently. "I must agree with her, although the lady behind the creation of this wonderful attire is much more beautiful than what she creates."

With that Alastor kissed the back of your hand with his lips. You were speechless.

Mimzy came back with paperwork and Alastor smiled at you. The three of you spent hours conversing, telling both jokes and stories.

"Oh my!" You glanced at the nearest clock- almost one in the morning. "I have got to get going! I have to open the shop in the morning."

"Do you ever take days off darling?" Alastor asked softly.

"Only Sundays. No one is out on Sundays!"

"Goodness! -at least let me walk you home. You know its not safe for a lovely person such as yourself to be out alone this late."

"Are you sure? I don't want to inconvenience you at all Alastor."

"Of course I'm sure dear, its not an inconvenience if its you." The words were rolling off his tongue and you blushed so hard it could have matched his vest.

"Your performance was amazing Anne! You are so talented, I have definitely been missing out, I am going to come back to watch you! " Enthusiasm and pride towards your friend took over. You wanted to let her know what you thought before you suddenly ran off.

"Thank you for coming out tonight for me. Sure was nice seeing a friend in the crowd!" A jittery wave of happiness washed through you at her last statement.

"Im so glad to hear you enjoyed yourself!" Mimzy gushed to you giving a farewell hug. "Blessed to know you'll be coming back doll."

"Of course! You have an amazing place Mimzy. This is a pleasant change of scenery compared to what I'm used to!"

With your goodbyes concluded you walked out the door arm in arm with Alastor.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not reversing?

I mean, the answer is yes it was petty but here's a low stakes one you can argue about.

Here's is the scene:

I (F) am driving home from work. Like many people I live in a place where there are many houses where lots of people live and in this case the main parking is on street. This is fine- there's a bit of alternating sides at one end, a few gaps for the odd driveway, mostly if someone comes along and it's their right of way but you're already heading past the parked cars they'll wait, it's almost always fine.

It's a Saturday. I work weekends. It has been a long day at work. I can almost see my front door. I am moving along, there's parked cars on the other side, lots because it is a weekend and most people have not been to work, but it's my right of way. I'm over halfway.

There's a small junction at the end of this line of parked cars. Sometimes people pull out, but they mostly creep past the cars, and if they do pull too far most people will pull back in to wait for like 20 extra seconds while the person who is already there goes past.

This time someone pulls out and puts her foot down and pushes onto my side of the road next to the parked cars.

I brake.

She sits there. We cannot go anywhere until someone reverses.

She inches forward.

I do not move.

She sits there.

I sit there. I could just reverse. Normally I would. But she pulled out, she definitely saw me because she sped up to I guess make me who had clearly seen her pull out think she'd been there the whole time? Ma'am it's a straight bit of road obviously I could see it was clear before I started moving past the cars. I would have to reverse back ten car lengths and almost pull into a small driveway. She has to reverse two and pull back into the large gap she just pulled out of.

So we sit there.

She glares and starts reversing.

She proceeds to do the single shittiest job reversing I have ever seen. She keeps turning to basically full lock, almost hits three cars somehow, and just keeps making it worse.

I could have reversed and been home by now, I think. But also that's clearly what she wants, me to give up and reverse.

So I sit there.

She eventually does just pull back into the gap she pulled out of, I drive past, put my hand up to say thank you, and she gives me a dirty look, she goes off down the road and I go home, get out my work clothes, and make a cheese sandwich.

I could have just reversed, but I stubbornly sat there, and I'm pretty sure reversing like that was also her being petty because no one could possibly be that bad at it and have a drivers license still. In theory I could have been making her late to go somewhere by not moving, whereas I was just going home, but if she had reversed properly it would have been faster than me reversing five times the distance, it's just then she would still be heading forwards, and the fastest thing would have been for her to not pull out on me and wait like 20 seconds for me to drive past the junction anyway.

So how much of a dick move was this I guess

What are these acronyms?