#if this doesn’t make any sense yes it does. I’m very sleepy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

razorblade180-heated · 6 days ago

Text

Trapped ch2

[smut! Look away!]

Whoever said lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice is in fact a liar. Blake Belladonna found herself opening her eyes from her old Beacon bed once again. She was unclear how long it has been since her first appearance in this pseudo familiar world, but memories came flooding back.

“Oh, this again.” She was quick on the uptake. Not only was she back in her pajamas, but felt strangely more comfortable than the last time. Whatever happened last time didn’t cause any problems after her and Jaune left. That was a plus in her book.

Speaking of Jaune, Blake looked around to see if the boy had returned like she did. She found no knight waiting this time. Instead, a reaper sat on her bed in pajamas while double fisting two sandwiches.

“Ruby?” Blake blinked twice, genuinely surprised to see her leader.

“Hey, sleepy head…” Ruby said slowly, dragging out each word. “So uh, this place is weird. Kinda reminds me of Jinn.”

“Oh yeah. Never really thought of that. How long have you been hanging around?”

“Not long. Maybe five minutes. Tried to wake you but it wasn’t happening. Now I’m eating.”

Blake could see the girl’s hands trembling from where she sat. “Were you freaking out in those five minutes?”

“That may have happened.” She inhaled the sandwich in her left hand. “There’s an interesting sign on the door.”

Blake turned her head and once again read it aloud. “Requirements unfulfilled. Achieve Ruby’s satisfaction and calmness.” How interesting. The objective had nothing to do with Blake specifically this time.

“Weird sign, right?” Ruby chuckled awkwardly. “Hehe, it's almost like this place is like those spaces found in naughty manga.”

“That’s exactly what this is.”

Blake watched her leader go nonverbal as her nostrils flared from a deep breath. Ruby slowly inhaled the second sandwich. It was clear to Blake the girl was stress eating from refusing what she knew to be the truth.

“Cool.” Ruby finally said after a couple minutes. “Why not? The rest of my life should make this feel normal.”

“So I can see you still need a second.”

“How are you so calm about this!?” Ruby blurted out. “I get you’re cool, but this cool!?”

“It’s my second time here.”

“You’re what!!? Who was here last time!?”

“I…don’t think that’s my business to tell.” No need to make the rabbit hole deeper than it was getting. “From what I can tell, you lose your memories after leaving, but gain it all back if you return. You definitely would’ve known about this place otherwise.”

“Because I would’ve remembered, or because you would’ve told me?”

“Yes and probably. I don’t see it staying a secret.” Jaune definitely would’ve acted off and frankly, Blake knew she wouldn’t be better. “And before you ask, there’s no other way out.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ruby jumped down to the floor.” I was kicking and yanking the door like a psycho. You’re a very heavy sleeper.”

“Or the room thought you should get that all out of your system in private? I wouldn’t be surprised. What kind of sandwich were those?”

“I don’t know. A mix of beef and turkey I think? The cheese was definitely cheddar.”

“I didn’t eat one last time but I definitely smelled tuna before.”

“So what? We want for nothing here? Ya know, except for escaping?” Ruby tapped her foot anxiously.

Blake was starting to sense a pattern. “First Jaune, and now Ruby. It could’ve been any combination of our group, but I’m here again for another first time experience. If this room considers who’s in it, am I the best choice to help them get used to this?”

Thinking about it, Blake couldn’t see anyone else taking this well enough while handling two of the most anxious people in the group. Anyone else might come off too strong or out of their depth.

“Ruby, it’s okay. We’re gonna get through this. I promise. Take a breath, then take a seat right next to me.

The silver eyed warrior does exactly that. After a slow and measured breath that raises her shoulder, Ruby exhales like a deflating balloon before taking a seat to Blake’s right.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright. You’re nervous. I take it Yang’s never really talked to you about this stuff, has she?”

“Nope. Not that she wouldn’t. It uhh, always felt embarrassing for me. I’ve read some intriguing books.” Ruby blushed deeply. “I’ve even done some self exploration whenever I could find the time. Not as much as I would’ve liked though.”

“Yeah, finding privacy isn’t the easiest. You could’ve told me. I will cover for you.”

“R-Really?”

Blake smiled and gave a nod. “Of course! Everyone needs to take the edge off from time to time. Trust me, you wouldn’t be the only one. So, I take it you like girls if I’m here?”

“To be honest, I’m a little surprised to see you.”

“Oh?” Blake’s head tilted.

“Not that you aren’t beautiful or anything! You definitely are! I actually really don’t care, all things considered. It’s more about a vibe for me. If that makes any sort of sense.”

“Hahaha! Ruby, that makes total sense.” Blake wished they were having this conversation outside of this place. “You have yourself figured out more than you know. That’s good.”

“Ya think so?” Hearing that took a little weight off Ruby's shoulders. “Thanks. It never stressed me out but I definitely haven’t put in the time to sort it all out. Maybe that’s why I’m so anxious? Feels like I'm going in the deep end.”

Her hands were still fidgeting. The warm and soft feeling of Blake’s hand rested on top of her knuckles, gently rubbing them for comfort.

“Don’t worry. We aren’t going as deep as you might fear. Can you get fully on the bed for me?”

Ruby nodded, scooting backwards until her legs and feet were completely on the mattress. Blake moved behind her and put one leg on each side of the girl’s body. Both arms hugged Ruby’s waist while Blake rested her chin on Ruby’s shoulder. Findings cautiously pulled up the cute night shirt on the reaper to feel her stomach directly, earning a jolt.

“Ticklish?” Blake whispered.

“A little.” Ruby squeaked. She turned her head to see her teammate looking calm and caringly into her eyes. “Can I…kiss you?” Why was her heart racing already!?

Blake leaned in and pressed her lips against Ruby’s. A certain tension must’ve subsided, because Ruby’s body trembled a little less than before. The leader had the courage to kiss Blake back. The Faunus kept her own intensity well within reason. Ruby was always an ambitious person, much like Jaune. The difference being Ruby often did find herself in the deeper end of things before realizing. It was what made her the leader after all. Her boldness was always inspiring and a guiding light, but it had its drawbacks. Not this time. Not if Blake could help it.

She pressed her tongue lightly against Ruby’s lips, seeking an initiation inside. Ruby welcomed it by opening her mouth more and greeting it with her own. She didn’t try to take the lead and instead mimicked the way Blake traced the tip of her tongue, sliding it side to side as if to inspect the area. Ruby found it interesting; pleasant even. Her body sunk more into Blake’s embrace and once again she found the courage to kiss deeper.

“Mmmm.” She moaned softly, happy when Blake matched the same effort. Like smacking happens each time their lips briefly separated before reuniting. Kissing must’ve been a spell. Ruby found herself in a light trance, slipping more and more into the state of mind. A warmth trailed up her ribs and cuffed her left breast. One squeeze was all it took to make the girl quiver and take a breath. “Aaa~”

Blake’s eyes widened. Ruby’s face was so flushed already. A pretty strong reaction from the start. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” Her voice cracked. “My… nipples are really sensitive. They’ve always kinda been that way.”

Understatement of the century. Blake watched Ruby fidget, going as far to rub her thighs together after another gentle squeeze. “How have you survived wearing bras? I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Sports bras.” Ruby sighed with pleasure. “The fabric isn’t so bad. Depending on the corset, I can get away with no bra or just use pasties.”

“Huh, the more you know.” Blake placed two of her fingers between Ruby’s nipples and closed them gently. Blake was rewarded with another moan and the sight of Ruby’s back arching slowly.

“Blake~” Ruby whimpered, her hands reaching up to hold the girl behind her.

Now Blake couldn’t help but blush. She wasn’t expecting such strong reactions. Her hands gave Ruby a quick break as they left to pull up the girl’s shirt. Ruby’s boobs weren’t only soft, but perfect for her body. Looks like she is somewhere in the C range. The nipples that caused so much pleasure were pale pink in color. Not to mention stiff as of now. Blake traced Ruby’s areolas to see the response. More whimpers dribbled out from quivering lips as Ruby did her best to keep still.

“You said you’ve done some self exploring before?”

“Y-Yes.” Even talking was challenging. “This didn’t feel as crazy with my own hands though.”

“Is that right? So, you’ve never had an orgasm from doing this?” Blake’s question was meant with loud silence and red ears. All the confirmation she needed. Without a second thought, she held Ruby’s boobs fully in her hands to massage. The reaction was immediate.

The red haired girl acted like someone quickly tased her. Fingers left an impression against her skin as they pressed and separated her chest. Her legs clenched again as Blake lightly pinched both nipples. Not only that, but her mouth became infatuated with the crook of Ruby’s neck.

“Blake!” Ruby whined. The feeling of a wet and meticulous tongue running across her skin made her swoon. Blake wasn’t afraid to add a little pressure either with small bites as her nails dared to flick her nipples. “Ghaah!”

She didn’t let out. Blake kept this pace and watched Ruby melt. Each flick brought a yelp while a squeeze caused restless fidgeting. The hold Ruby had around her neck grew tighter with each passing second as Blake left marks on the girl’s pale neck. The idea came to pull on Ruby’s nipples just enough for them to bounce when Blake let go. Again and again, she pulled, watching the poor girl’s toes curl up. Blake whispered in her ears again.

“Are you close~” Blake teased.

“Y-Yes.” Ruby had never felt this hot before. “I’m really close, Blake.”

“Close to what?”

“Cumming.” Even the word brought its own pleasure. “I’m gonna cum.” Her voice was cracking again.

Blake kissed Ruby’s ear. “That’s good. I wanna see that. Let it aaallll out.”

She twisted Ruby’s nipples suddenly. The reaper’s nails dug into Blake’s clothes while her body became stunned with pleasure. Ruby could feel something in her squeeze tightly like never before, trapping her legs together and actively ruining her cotton panties. How long has she been trembling? Better yet, when would it stop? Ruby’s head couldn’t find these answers. She only knew that eventually her voice came back in the form of heavy breathing as her body rested against Blake who gently rubbed one of Ruby’s cheeks.

“Good job. You did wonderfully.”

The praise felt good, but it was third compared to the tingling between her thighs and buzzing sensation from her nipples. Ruby bit her lip. “Are we done?” She asked hesitantly.

Her body was probably laid down on Blake’s bed while the girl in question stood up to reach under her bed and pull out a box. Ruby’s eyes turned to the size of dinner plates as she saw various dildos. Some blue, others pink. One looked rather smooth and generic while another had deep grooves in a spiraling shape.

“Has that always been there?”

“I took a gamble. Looks like this place knew what I was hiding. Plus a few extra. I told you we all need to take the edge off. Don’t worry though. I meant it when I say we aren’t diving off the deep end”

Blake found what she was looking for. A small dark purple toy no longer than her own hand, and some lube for it.

“What’s that do?” Ruby asked, gaining an immediate answer when Black pressed the button of the base. The entire thing let out a low buzz as it vibrated. “Oh…”

“It’s on the lowest setting. No different than one of those cheap massage devices for shoulders. Now then, are you up for trying this? It’s okay to say no.”

A real funny thing to say while already holding a vibrating toy. She could tell Blake was being genuine though. She didn’t even seem like she wanted to use it personally.

“We’ve gone this far. I trust you. Plus… I am still pretty in the mood.” Ruby blushed.

With that said, Blake returned to bed. Only now she was at the end of it. Ruby watched bashfully as her friend removed her robe before focusing on Ruby’s pants. Her hips raised to help Blake, who had no problems removing them and slipping up pink, damp underwear. Ruby chose to ignore the smirk on Blake’s face.

“Gotta admit, I’m jealous. Wish my nipples were that sensitive.”

“I promise you don’t.” Ruby deadpanned. She watched as Blake lathered up the toy in lube. “Umm, please don’t go too deep. I’ve never actually…”

“I promise.” Blake finished. “Wasn’t planning on it. Okay, I need you to spread your legs for me; also bend your right knee.”

Despite her embarrassment, Ruby silently did what was asked of her, revealing herself completely. Flushed pink lips leaked of Ruby’s arousal. Blake also spotted just how swollen the girl’s clit had become. Her body was more than ready. A small patch or red hair rested on top of her mound. Looks like Ruby actually kept herself well groomed. Blake just noticed there wasn’t even hair on Ruby’s legs. Maybe it was genetics? As someone with a hairy father, Blake really hoped it wasn’t Ruby’s genetics. Sensitive nipples and less shaving would be so unfair.

“Umm, you’re staring a lot.” Ruby chirped.

“Hmm? Oh, my bad.” Blake smiled sheepishly. She refocused her attention.

Ruby couldn’t see Blake’s movements perfectly, but she could watch a hand move closer. Vibrations on the bed grew closer and closer until the toy pressed against her slit. Another gasp faintly left Ruby’s lips. Slowly, the toy slid up and along her, barely touching her clit but making its presence known before hanging around the entrance of her body. No more than an inch was put in to let Ruby feel its power; the constant movement that alerted her senses and caused her eyes to flicker. The focus on Blake’s face was captivating. Their eyes locked as Blake laid down with her head between Ruby’s thighs. Not a word was spoken. Blake’s left arm snuck under Ruby’s bent knee before her hand held a hip for leverage. That same tongue that asked for an invitation and caused a red mark on Ruby’s neck, now took the pleasure in exploring another new area as Blake kissed another pair of lips.

Ruby’s jaw went slack. Only gasps flew out as she felt her clit become captured in bliss. The toy pushed in a little again before leaving, maintaining its position right at the entrance as it drew out more desire for Blake to taste. Fingers held onto the sheets for dear life. Ruby couldn’t look away from the alluring sight of Blake’s eyes staring back as she dined. The pleasure would’ve made Ruby’s hips pull away, but they are trapped in place now, leaving Ruby to endure every tongue lash of the girl who made sure to slurp up every drop.

“Bl-ake. This is…wow.” Her chest was rising high and falling low.

She felt her clit get sucked harder, making her teeth sink into her bottom lip. Ruby had to close her eyes for her own sanity, but that made the experience feel so much more intense. Where would Blake strike next? Ruby was always wrong, and she was happy about it every time “Aaa~ Aaaaagnh!”

Blake knew she could hold this position well past Ruby’s breaking point, but that wouldn’t be fun. The toy was nice and she genuinely believed Ruby could handle an extra inch; yet that didn’t interest Blake much. What did draw her in was Ruby herself. The taste her leader had might as well be nectar. Not only was there a subtle sweetness thanks to her natural scent, but also a creaminess that coated Blake’s tongue and felt right when it went down her throat. A little self indulgence is fine, right? Ruby didn’t seem to mind going with the flow.

Succumbing to her own ideas, Blake pulled the dildo out of Ruby. Now that her right hand gained its freedom again, it mimicked the left in bending Ruby’s left leg before slipping under the girl’s knee and grabbing her waist.

Ruby couldn’t form a thought quick enough as she felt her waist get lifted off the bed slightly. The vibrations she had been powering through was replaced by the ravenous tongue she was quickly becoming fond of. It dared to borrow deeper than the toy and be twice as unruly.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Yeah, Ruby didn’t mind at all. Blake happily indulged in the stronger, more addictive taste. She didn’t care at all how tightly the walls around her squeezed. She wasn’t giving up this flavor until it was spilling out. Dripping down her chin wasn’t enough.

“So much for impulse control.” Blake chastised herself. Not enough to feel bad about it though. She turned her gaze upward to check on Ruby. Poor girl was redder than her favorite cloak and had her eyes shut tightly. One hand remained an anchor of stability by clutching the sheets while the other gave into stimulation by playing with her left tit. “Hehehe~”

Blake let her mind wander off. No Bneed to change positions anymore. She wanted Ruby cumming just like this; deep in the throes of pleasure and excitement. It wasn’t gonna take long at all.

Ruby panted as if she was Ty on the final stretch of a marathon. The pressure underneath her navel grew more intensely while inside became so hot she could feel the warmth spread. It was impossible not to know exactly where Blake’s tongue was. Its motions became frustratingly slow and more dramatic. It pushed up on the roof before dragging itself in a dreadfully long circle around its surroundings. Tears began welling up in Ruby’s eyes as the tip returned to the starting point, pushing up again as it took its time curling its way out; maintaining the pressure all the way until it found a nice, evil little spot where it could disturb her clit from the inside. Just like that, Ruby found and lost her voice all at once.

“BLAKE!!” She howled. The tongue finally left, flicking her clit abruptly on the way out.

The older woman watched Ruby’s spoiled flower convulse, its nectar squirting out onto the sheets and Blake’s body while the girl shook like she was possessed. She couldn’t hide her personal satisfaction in watching her work bear fruit. It might be vain to think, but in her opinion, she couldn’t think of a time Ruby looked prettier than right now. Blake got on all fours right over Ruby and gently kissed her flushed face all over while she went through the waves of the orgasm. Ruby tried to hide her face but it was no use.

“You okay?” Blake hummed

“Th- ungh.” She stammered repeatedly. “I- that was….crazy. Really crazy.” Ruby finally said after finding her voice again. Her body was still trembling uncontrollably.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you're freezing.”

“Shut uuuup!” Ruby groaned, attempting to hide a smile from Blake’s smug face. “I didn’t know orgasms could get that intense!”

“I did give you plenty of foreplay. Not to mention you were sensitive already. Let’s not forget, lots of new experiences for you today.”

“Trying to downplay your achievements now?”

“Nope. Giving you notes is all.” Blake was riding a wonderful high right now. Something about giving that kind of pleasure was deeply gratifying.

“It’s not like I’m taking that advice out of here. Although- wait, nah. I don’t wanna think about what could happen if I show up here again!”

Neither said it, but the likelihood of returning felt very real. Blake wasn’t going to worry about that right now though. She turned her attention to the exit. Blake would be lying if she said she wasn’t expecting a bright green light. To her surprise, once again, it was only half green!

“What the-” Her head turned back to her still recovering leader. Flushed skin, damp thighs, and ruined sheets. How was this not calm and satisfied!? The requirements said nothing about her personality, so what was going on!?

“Ruby? Would you say you’re pretty calm and satisfied right about now?”

“I am pretty sure I have experienced three moments of immense clarity here, yes.”

“Well I need you to keep that clarity as I tell you the door isn’t unlocked.”

“Why would it be?” Ruby said lazily. “You have had a single orgasm this entire time.”

“I know, but the requirements didn’t say anything about me.”

Finding the willpower, Ruby sat up and looked her dumbfounded friend in the face. “Blake, I like to think we know each other incredibly well.”

“I…do too?” Blake said. She could feel the judgment coming from Ruby.

“Okay, so do I look like the type of person who would walk out of here without you feeling good?”

In hindsight, this was Blake’s fault. She had forgotten who she was dealing with. Deep end or not, Ruby was always going to try her best in all aspects. Blake was almost speechless.

“The love of your life is gonna be one lucky person.” Blake said with utter amazement.

“Huh? Not exactly the response I was expecting. Thank you though!” Ruby grinned. “Soooo, I’ll follow your lead. What are you up for?”

“Frankly I didn’t think this far in advance.” Blake admitted. As willing as Ruby was, it was easy to see the exhaustion her body had. No way her legs were moving any time soon. “Lay down. I have an idea.”

“Roger that!” Ruby flopped back down on the pillow.

“Hehe, we can take a break.”

“Nah, I’m good. I really can’t believe you didn’t want a turn. You even took off your clothes.”

“It’s not like I didn't. It just wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. I opened my eyes to you freaking out. I know my priorities.” She slipped off her underwear.

“Okay, fair enough.” Ruby had mildly forgotten about her stress eating earlier. “I’m better now! This has been fun. I might not be as good as you but I’d like to try and-”

Her view of the bed above them became blocked by toned abs and boobs that might as well be mountains from this perspective. Blake’s knees rested on each side of Ruby’s head, and if the reaper dared to let her eyes drift down, she’d be faced with lush pink lips surrounded by short silky black hair. Slender fingers ran through Ruby’s hair, tugging gently to pull her head back to see Blake staring down at her. To say Blake looked gorgeous from this angle would be an understatement. Ruby was in awe.

“I don’t think it’s said enough how pretty you are.” Ruby said, blushing wildly again.

Blake let out a soft giggle. Honestly, sometimes Ruby was so adorable without even trying. “Thanks. Now then, tap my leg three times if you need air. Got it?”

“Yeah, sure thing.” Her words drifted. Ruby already brought her hands up to hold Blake’s hips, eagerly pulling the woman down until she properly sat down.

Blake’s cat ears twitched. She didn’t expect Ruby to immediately get work. Her tongue was ambitious yet careful. Blake felt it trace the outline of her folds before slithering down the middle. She used her grip on Ruby’s hair to hold both of them steady as Blake began to ride her leader’s face properly to help. Blake was making sure to be extra careful but Ruby seemed to have other plans. Cat ears twitched again thanks to Ruby pulling Blake’s body further down, really allowing Ruby’s tongue to bury itself.

Even Blake couldn’t help but sigh blissfully. She could tell the girl was trying to imitate a few moves. Ruby wasn’t half bad. Blake continued rocking her hips.

“I can’t help but feel like you’re trying to get a little revenge on me.” Blake teased. Her body was slowly but surely getting into it. “Go counter clockwise. I like that.”

Ruby did as she was told, switching directions and paying close attention to how the walls around her flinched. There were brief moments Blake’s grip on her hair tightened, or thighs tensed. Ruby recalled silly little tips about spelling letters with your tongue could help find weak spots. Might as well give it a shot. A pity victory from Blake was out of the question.

“A, B, C, D, E, F, G-”

“Nngh~” Blake hunched forward.

“And we have a winner!” Ruby repeats the letter slowly, feeling Blake’s body respond with a stronger taste to drink. She wasn’t kidding about going counter clockwise. Ruby reaffirmed her grip on Blake’s hips. Good thing too. Blake started being active in her riding. “Looks like she likes it. That’s a relief.”

Blake braced herself with her right hand pressing against the wall as she leaned forward to ride faster. Fingers dragged down her hips and moved to hold her ass tightly. This was so much better than that toy she grabbed earlier. With the way Ruby’s tongue nearly slips out before sliding back in with each arch of Blake’s back, Blake might as well have been riding a dick. She allowed herself to shut her eyes and just enjoy the feeling of getting eaten so eagerly. Ruby wasn’t tapping out, so Blake wasn’t going to think twice about this ride.

“You’re doing such a good job.” She panted, grinding Ruby’s tongue in a specific spot until the girl actively played with it. “Uunngh, yeah. Right there, Ruby~”

It was so strange hearing her name with such desire. Ruby never thought too hard about her future love life, but between this and Blake’s comment earlier, it was hard not to think about it! There were a few people that came to mind, and the idea that they might moan her name like this was a danger to her own heart.

“Maybe I do want to come back here?”

Her internal conflict continued, but it never distracted her enough to leave Blake unsatisfied. Probably because she was doing part of the work by moving her own hips. Ruby wasn’t sure how long she’s been underneath Blake, but she really didn’t care. She found time to breathe through her nose each time she licked upwards, and the weight on her felt calming. The taste of the Belladonna freedom fighter was rather subtle and not that different from filtered water going down Ruby’s throat. In truth, if Blake wanted to sit here for a while, Ruby couldn’t find a reason to complain yet. Her tongue might get tired, but that’s a pretty fair trade off for this stunning view.

“Ruby, just a little longer. Okay?” Blake’s heads up was responded with hands pulling her down again. “Haha, oh you’re so cute~”

The sultriness in Blake’s voice might as well be honey for the ears. Ruby continued using her winning strategy. Each G that was carved with her tongue brought Blake’s ass sitting with a little more pressure after every buck of her hips until it remained planted, now squirming side to side. A twinge of pain came from Ruby’s scalp as Blake’s grip on her hair started matching the intensity of her walls, but it was okay. Ruby focused on her friend’s pleasure all the way until thighs squished the sides of her head and her mouth finally had Blake dripping down the corners of it.

“Fuck! Ruby~” Blake gasped, feeling her orgasm take her at least. “Ruby!!!!”

Yeah, she would definitely be interested in hearing her name like this a few more times. Ruby watched Blake’s climax closely. Her stomach was tensing up a lot along with her triceps. She didn’t look nearly as wrecked as when Ruby felt her own orgasm. As expected, and probably for the best. While it would be awesome to be a natural at this, Ruby feared her head would be in jeopardy if she pulled off that miracle. Blake still had the strength to remove herself, giving Ruby back the ability to breathe normally. Never has fresh air felt so good yet so disappointing. She didn’t even realize how heavy her own breathing was at first. Ruby looked over to see Blake’s flushed, glowing face as she let her body recover.

“S-So…a passing grade?” Ruby asked genuinely. Blake only rolled her eyes and smiled before bending down and giving a kiss that wasn’t shy at all about getting a taste of itself. As if Ruby didn’t have more reasons to blush.

Blake sat back up, poking the girl in the forehead. “Solid B+ with an A for effort.”

“Hell yeah. Honor Roll.” Ruby let her body go limp in satisfaction.

“Haha! Ruby, never change.” Blake looked over to see a fully green sign, then joined Ruby in laying down. “Final lesson, after care. I have a feeling you’ll be great at it.”

Ruby didn’t even get to ask what Blake meant before an arm was placed over her body to pull her in to cuddle. Ruby grinned at the resting face on her shoulder before closing her own eyes. Blake was absolutely correct. She was a pro at this part! Tried and true!

#rwby #ruby rose #blake belladonna #rwby ladybug

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eli0004 · 1 year ago

Note

Any Levi headcanons you’d like to share with the audience 🥹

Whew😮‍💨 Anon, as a dedicated Levi stan of multiple years, you know i do!

Pairing: Levi x GN! Reader

Synopsis: Random relationship hcs!!! Woohoo!

Warnings: Levi struggling with emotions, gossiping, mentions of substance use, very slight nsfw implication

Levi isn’t really someone who cares too much about what music he listens to. He’ll listen to whatever you put on, even if it’s like…loud angry metal, he’ll sit there like 😬 Yes this is great i love it and i’m absolutely not horribly overstimulated right now. He just likes to see you happy.

This man is made of 100% husband material. He thrives living the quiet married life, and feeling appreciated and loved for doing the simplest, most menial household chores.

For the most part, if you were to ask him if he wants children i think he would say no, but then he watches you interact with children and it patches up this broken place inside of him, and suddenly he’s dreaming of little feet pattering around the house.

If he accidentally hurts your feelings with some dumb joke he made, he will feel intensely guilty. It will eat him alive, he can’t believe himself. But he also has no idea how to say that, so he’ll just make you tea and torture himself over it.

Even if you’re years into your relationship with him and living together, he still gets butterflies when he sees you again after a long day. You’re his solitude, his safe place, his home isn’t a home without you there in it.

He likes to listen to you gossip with your friends. Every once in a while he’ll pipe in and share his thoughts on something, and you’re like…? Since when did you start paying attention to this?

He has a high tolerance for alcohol, but half an edible has him absolutely faded. It’s actually ridiculous. And high Levi is so soft and sleepy, and he seems so genuinely relaxed, it’s a blessing to be able to witness him in that state.

Levi is hardly interested in status symbols, and values practicality over luxury. In a modern AU he probably drives a slightly beat up older classic car, but has no idea it’s a classic, so when car people compliment it he’s like ??? Tf

He’s a slightly picky eater, but if you make dinner one night and it doesn’t look appetizing to him, he’ll gather every ounce of courage in his body to take a bite and try it for you, since you went out of your way to make him something.

He has a keen sense of smell, and he loves fresh, fragrant aromas. He definitely stops in the candle aisle in the grocery store to smell all of them, and then gives himself a massive headache.

When you get out of the shower and smell all nice and clean, that shit gets him so bricked up.

I mentioned this before in another post, but if you ask him to pick something up from the store and it’s on a shelf he can’t reach, he will literally leave that store and go to a different one. He’s not going to ask the 16 year old cashier girl to help him reach it, and he’s definitely not climbing the shelves like a mad man. You’ll just have to wait a while longer.

Literally blushes from ear to ear when you call him pretty, or cute. If he gets compliments on his physical appearance, it’s usually said that he’s “sexy” or “handsome” which are still great things to hear, but it’s about the loving adoration in your eyes and the gentleness with which you touch his face. The genuine honesty behind your compliments, and the way it feels like you see something in him that nobody else does.

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j4y-jay · 3 months ago

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this is ororon to me also 🫣

yesyesyyesyes ❤️‍🔥 i think his tummy would also peek out when he does his flight/superjump ability too 🙂‍↕️

i’m so glad i’m not alone on that one i love him so bad.

AND YES OMG

ororon ramble below, i couldn’t stop myself LOL

he’s THE definition of well fed like just look at that boy?? he was so the kind of person that grew up always being told to eat a little more in a caring way. especially bc (if i remember correctly) he was raised by his tribe as a collective. along with the whole incomplete soul thing too, him at some point having an eat more get stronger type of mindset possibly ??

warm filling home cooked meals everyday and he took that into adulthood. and when he started living alone he instinctively kept making enough for two people and leftovers at least and since he hates waste he ends up eating extra to try and get through it all. he says he won’t forget again but he absolutely does.

outside of gifting people the vegetables he grows he also loves to cook for people and loves when people cook for him. the care that goes into nourishing another person by making a home cooked meal for them means a lot to him. and making them at the very least two plates worth is what makes the most sense to him, one plate just isn’t enough to express genuine care. i’m so thinking ab him and ifa 🫣

he’s also the type that gets sleepy after a meal ESPECIALLY when he’s stuffed properly with something comforting. he will curl up and knock out with his tummy grumbling softly.

ororon NEEDS to be put in a sweater, be fed a warm heavy meal, and have his tummy rubbed.

his tummy noises also, mostly the low quiet kind, not very deep or long.

when he’s hungry it starts out as low short grumbles that are hardly audible and if he stays hungry they become more frequent and louder, and if it’s been too long they become high pitched and he hates when people hear those specifically because it’s so squeally sounding. and his stomach will fake him out A LOT like clench up a bunch and he’s ready to have his stomach embarrass him but then it’s just super quiet and the loud actually audible ones have no build up no clenching or any warning, it’s just random and he hates it so bad. especially because he’s literally a bat he’s more sensitive to sound so it always feels so much louder to him and it’s so much worse when they get squeally. poor guy gets embarrassed over it so fast.

when he’s full it’s pretty similar, mostly hardly audible grumbles but if he’s stuffed or ate something that makes his stomach a bit noisier they can get a bit loud and occasionally a bit high pitched.

with him i don’t feel like he burps very much or very loudly, short and low. but when he feels it moving up in his chest and throat he tends to try and suppress it but it never works.

he’s always so understanding towards others in these situations and he will always say something about how it’s your body just reacting or telling g you what it needs but he’s just so embarrassed at how even the thought of it happening to him. he doesn’t have a real “reason” to be embarrassed, he’s just very respectful and has such good manners that something like a bodily sound he can’t control is just so embarrassing, but it’s not necessarily something that makes him feel shame either.

#i haven’t finished the natlan quest line and im pretty far behind sadly so im sure there’s a lot i don’t know about him #but god i love him so bad. genuinely my favorite natlan character #i finally got him from the event and omg i love hissos bad #highkey a LOT of this is based off me and it’s not even intentional #i genuinely thought this was gonna be a short post oops #i don’t think i’ve said this much about a character before omg #j4ys rambles #j4ys hcs

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fromrory · 2 months ago

Text

Lazy Mornings !

(with Chaos Included)

POV: Percy Jackson Pairing: Percy Jackson x fem!reader Word Count: 2.9K words Genre: Romance, humor, tension, flirting, +18 (suggestive comments), established relationship, fluff Taglist🏷️ : @shootingstargirl2001 , @simpingmyassoff (if you want to be added,comment down below!) A/N: English isn't my frist lenguage,enjoy! ! ! A/N 2: Btw,this may have no sense,I'm about to fall asleep on my feet (it's 22:25)

You know you’re completely in love when you wake up with a leg draped over your back and it doesn’t even bother you.

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is my girlfriends hair, scattered across the pillow like some god painted it there with oil paints. She’s half on top of me, like a cat who’s decided I’m her designated human mattress, and she softly exhales every few seconds with a little huff.

I’m comfortable.

Too comfortable.

Which is concerning coming from someone who’s slept in spider-infested cabins, drifting ships, and a few magical tombs—not necessarily in that order.

But this…

This is something else.

This is peace.

Or it would be, if my stomach hadn’t just betrayed me.

Grrrrr.

“Seriously, Percy?” Rory mumbles without opening her eyes.

“That wasn’t me. It was the Kraken within,” I reply, lightly tracing my fingers down her back. “It demands sacrifices.”

She chuckles softly. That sound I love more than crashing waves.

“What kind of sacrifices are we talking about? Pancakes? My dignity? Your favorite t-shirt?”

“Yes.”

“To all of it?”

“Exactly.”

She stretches like a lazy cat, revealing part of her back where I may or may not have left a couple of archaeological-grade love marks last night.

“We went to bed at two in the morning, Seaweed Brain,” she says, her voice still groggy.

“And that was entirely your fault,” I say, carefully rolling onto her. “I wasn’t the one who suggested the ‘kiss-in-every-room’ challenge.”

“Technically, that was your ego. I just fed it.”

“You fed it like someone tossing virgins to a sea monster.”

She smiles without opening her eyes and presses her hand to my chest to push me away.

“Five more minutes, then coffee. Or I’ll die.”

“I accept both options if you give me a kiss first.”

Rory finally opens her eyes, golden and drowsy, still dangerous like any celestial blade.

“You’re so dramatic.”

“And you’re a goddess. Literally. Give me a kiss and stop complaining.”

And she does.

Slow. Sleepy. Warm. One of those kisses that doesn’t promise immediate action, but something better: permanence.

When she pulls away, she murmurs:

“Give me ten minutes. I’m going to put on one of your shirts and claim your kitchen like I’m the rightful heir of Olympus.”

“You already are the rightful heir to my kitchen.”

“And your bed.”

“And my patience.”

“And your ass,” she adds mischievously, hopping up and walking toward the wardrobe with only my old CHB shirt in hand.

I keep staring. Because I have eyes, not self-control.

“Stop staring at my ass, Jackson,” she says without turning around.

“Stop walking like you know I’m going to stare.”

“What if I do know?”

“Then I’m defenseless.”

She laughs again. Gods, that laugh. It’s the only weapon that defeats me and makes me grateful for it.

Chapter II: Attacks by Toaster and Wounded Pride

Seventeen minutes later, my girlfriend is waging war against the toaster.

“Percy! This thing hates me! This is technological betrayal!”

“It’s a toaster from the 90s, Rory. The only thing it hates is existing.”

“It just launched a burnt toast at my face!”

I peek from the bathroom, still drying my hair with a towel.

“Do you surrender and let me make breakfast?”

“Never. Not after all I’ve suffered. This war is personal.”

“You know you can seduce toasters if you talk sweet to them, right?”

“Are you implying I should use my Aphrodite powers to flirt with appliances?”

“I’m saying if anyone can get a toaster to work with one sexy glance, it’s you.”

She throws a broken piece of toast at my head.

Of course, I catch it like a divine frisbee.

“That was a very weak assassination attempt,” I say, biting into it.

“That was a warning,” she replies, pointing a butter knife at me like a dagger.

I step behind her, wrapping my arms around her and resting my chin on her shoulder.

“You smell like vanilla and chaos.”

“And if you touch me with cold hands again, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

“Then I’ll use my Poseidon blood to warm up.”

“That’s not how that works, sweetheart.”

“Then I’ll warm up with kisses.”

She turns just enough to glance at me sideways.

“If you keep this up, we’ll never have breakfast.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Not if you’re the breakfast,” she answers with a dangerous smile.

And that’s it.

I’ve lost. Again.

Chapter III: Crumbs, Confessions, and DemiGod Drama

We’re sprawled on the couch, sharing a blanket and a bowl of cereal. No pancakes. There was war. Then peace.

Her cold feet are pressed against my legs and her eyes are glowing with satisfaction as she feeds me a spoonful of cereal like we’re in a low-budget rom-com.

“Do you think Chiron knows?”

“That we’re dating? He knew before we did.”

“That we’re dating and breaking beds?”

“Then yes. He knows. Chiron knows everything. He's probably spying on us through a drone hidden in the lamp.”

“Gods.”

“I love and fear him equally.”

“As you should.”

“And yet, I’m not afraid. Because I have this.”

“Me in your old t-shirt?”

“Your eternal love. And your ability to pour cereal without burning it.”

We laugh.

And just when I think the moment’s perfect, my phone vibrates.

I ignore it.

It buzzes again.

“What if it’s the oracle saying the world ends today?”

“Then I have plenty of time to keep cuddling you,” I say, burying my face in her neck.

She sighs, content.

“This is perfect.”

“This is real,” I say.

“I know.”

She’s quiet for a second.

“Percy.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m in love with you.”

My heart stops. Then it surges, like a ship catching the wind after drifting too long.

“Think?”

She laughs, a little nervous.

“I am. Completely. Totally.”

I kiss her. Not one of the playful ones from earlier. A real kiss. One that says “me too.”

When we part, her eyes are shimmering.

“Hope that doesn’t ruin the flirting-with-toasters dynamic,” she whispers.

“On the contrary. Now we have an excuse to buy a better one.”

“Together?”

“Forever, if you’ll let me.”

She smiles.

And I already know.

I’m done for. In the best way possible.

#girlblog #girl blogging!#roryspeaks!#curly haired thoughts #silly teen #writing in the floor of my room #sillyposting #send reqs #authors

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grayskies2525 · 7 months ago

Text

An Admirable Denial |M/M| Part 8

Word Count: 4,324 Words

Link to all parts: An Admirable Denial (14 parts)

Connor’s surprised to wake up inside of his car, reclined back in the passenger seat. He wonders if he’s ever fallen asleep in a car before; he doesn’t think so. He also wonders why every part of his body is aching. Simply the contact from his clothes pressed against his skin is causing discomfort. Even his eyelids hurt.

Scattered bits of thoughts flit through his mind out of order as he tries to slowly come out of his sleepy state. He’s sick — very sick — that’s the first thing of note he remembers. Then, other things start trickling in.

The expo, the snakes, the … tarantula?

Connor furrows his brows as he tries to conjure more vivid memories so everything will start making more sense.

Yes, Felix adopted a tarantula. At a Reptile Expo. Because, of course he did. If Connor had realized there were going to be spiders at the expo, he may have reconsidered taking Felix to it. In hindsight, even as hazy and disordered as it may currently be, he realizes that it does make sense for arachnids to be at the expo — since the same insane people who are interested in reptiles would also, naturally, be interested in tarantulas. He internally groans as he realizes he’s going to now have to coexist with the world’s most terrifying creature.

“How are you feeling?” a voice asks from the driver’s seat.

Connor, still unable to muster the immense effort it will take to open his eyes, just murmurs something he’s sure is unintelligible. He decides going back to sleep is the best course of action. Going back to sleep means he won’t have to talk, and most importantly, won’t have to open his eyes. The problem with this, though, is that his incessant shivering is keeping him from falling back into the gentle lull sleep promises. Also, he feels a burgeoning tickle in his sinuses.

He’s too tired and too achy to sneeze. Eyelids tightly shut, he tries to ignore the tickle.

“Hhhhh hhhh hh HEH-MPF’SHUUUUH!”

He aims the unwelcomed sneeze at the door, feeling too weak to raise an arm to cover it. The sneeze irritates both his throat and chest, and he finds himself lost in a fit of coughing.

“That good, huh?” Felix asks, and Connor realizes he’d forgotten Felix was still there — which is silly because of course Felix would still be there. He’s the one driving the car. The car. That’s right — he’s in a car, and Felix is driving and they’re going… he can’t hold onto the thought long enough to figure it out. His cough is back and he can’t stop shivering.

“B-b-b-blanket?” Connor asks through his chattering teeth.

There’s some hesitation, which frustrates Connor because he’s sure he’s never been so cold in his entire life and he needs a blanket. “There’s no blanket in the car,” Felix’s soft, gentle voice finally says. “But I can turn the heat up a little, though it’s already pretty high…. You’re that cold?”

“C-c-c-can’t s-stop sh-sh-shivering.”

“Okay, then. I’ll turn up the heat,” Felix says.

Connor remains quiet, with the exception of his chattering teeth.

“Hehh-p’tshooo! Hmp’shooo! Hmp-shuuh!”

And his sneezing. They come out weak, his body seeming to lack the energy to make them any more forceful.

“Shit,” he hears Felix say. “You never took anything to bring your fever down, did you? I meant to give you a couple after I came back with Edna, but… I forgot. Shit,” he says again. “I’m so bad at this,” Felix says, sounding disappointed. Connor doesn’t know what Felix thinks he’s bad at. He wants to reassure Felix that he can’t possibly be bad at anything, but that would take a lot of words and his energy is being quickly depleted by all the sneezing, coughing, and shivering.

“Ep-shuuh! H’ptshuuh! P’shhh! P’shhh!”

These sneezes come out fast and wet. He didn’t bother turning his head, letting them mist the air in front of him.

“Okay,” he hears Felix say. “Okay, it’s fine. I’ll just give you some now. I know there’s a bottle somewhere around in the console.”

Connor manages to drift off, somewhat, but his eyes open slightly when he hears Felix’s voice again, sounding… frantic.

“How the hell is it empty? Who puts an empty bottle back instead of throwing it away?”

“Ep-shoo! Ep-shoo! Ep-shoo! Ep-shhhhh!” The sneezes are weak but they just keep coming. He wants them to stop so he can go back to sleep.

“Okay, so new plan. I’ve got to make a stop somewhere. We’ll get some Tylenol in you and you’ll start feeling better soon. I promise,” Felix says.

Connor keeps his arms tightened around himself as shiver after shiver wracks his body.

__________

He frowns as he feels a hand on his forehead that quickly moves to his cheeks, then his neck. The hand must be Felix’s, but isn’t Felix driving the car? This is when he realizes the car is no longer moving. They must be stopped somewhere. Had he fallen asleep?

Felix is cussing to himself, voice low. Connor wants to reach out a hand to comfort him, but he can’t even open his eyes, let alone move an entire limb.

“Here, keep this under your tongue,” Felix says as Connor feels something against his lips. He, instinctively, opens his mouth. Felix slides something under Connor’s tongue. The still functioning part of Connor’s brain finally identifies it as a thermometer. Felix must be checking his temperature. Connor thinks the gesture is pointless, given that Connor already knows he's running a fever.

But, still, while still keeping his eyes closed, he lets the thermometer stay in his mouth while Felix holds it in place.

Finally, it beeps. Felix removes the thermometer, then mutters something under his breath that Connor can’t discern. As he’s drifting back off to sleep, he’s stirred awake, again. This time, Connor does finally open his eyes, but only halfway. He sees Felix holding his hand out, as if Connor’s supposed to take something from it, but Connor just lets his eyes fall shut again.

A moment later, Felix is pressing something else to his lips. “You need to take these so you can get better. Your fever’s really high and I… I don’t know what to do, Connor. How high can a fever be until you have to take someone to the hospital?” Felix asks. Connor doesn’t know the answer to the question — at least not at the moment. Connor imagines the list of questions he is capable of answering right now could fit on a sticky note — one of the small ones that people use for aesthetic reasons that don’t seem to serve any real purpose.

His body’s wracked with another shiver. Then, his nose decides to chime in with its own problems.

“Hep-t’shoo! Hep-t’shoo! HEP-shooo! Ep’shhhhhh!”

He doesn’t know where the sneezes land, but he never stood a chance at being able to cover them.

He hears a sigh from Felix. “Okay, please, Connor, please take these pills. Just open your mouth so I can give you the medicine. Then you can have a sip of water. After the medicine you can go back to sleep.”

So, Connor takes the pills, swallows them, then closes his eyes. Felix is putting something over him — a blanket? He suddenly starts shivering even harder until he maneuvers the blanket tightly around himself. He sneezes, weakly, three more times before closing his eyes again.

__________

“Yeah, Mom, I know. I just… I’m not used to this and I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m literally at a pet store right now, which I feel is the last place I’d be if I were a good boyfriend. But I just adopted a tarantula and I can’t take it home without having anything to put it in.

Connor realizes Felix must be talking to his mom on the phone through the car’s Bluetooth because he hears Felix’s mom’s voice next.

“You adopted a what?” Melissa Brown asks.

“A… a tarantula. Connor took me to a reptile expo and they had different kinds of arachnids there too… it was a whole thing. But anyway, that is very much so not the point. I need help.”

Connor hears Melissa sigh over the phone. “Fevers always seem scarier than they actually are. It’s just Connor’s body attempting to fight off the virus. I doubt he’s in any actual danger. You gave him some Tylenol, right?”

“Yes, but… He’s still fast asleep. The few moments he’s been awake, he’s barely talked and won’t even lift his hand to cover a sneeze. It’s like his body’s just given up on him.” Connor tries to remember if he’s ever heard Felix’s voice sound this way before.

Melissa lets out a chuckle. “Felix, I’m sure that’s not what’s happening. Probably the opposite, actually. His body is doing its job by forcing him to rest so it can heal. It’s normal, honey. I went through the same thing when you were a baby. I remember rushing you to the emergency room the first time you spiked a fever. It’ll be okay is what I’m saying, all right?”

Felix is silent.

His mom sighs again. “Just keep an eye on it. If it doesn’t start going down soon, then you can take him to the hospital. You can take him now if that’ll make you feel better, honey. I’m just trying to tell you that from my many years of experience, these things turn out just fine. Didn’t you say when you had this nasty flu, yourself, that you also spiked a temperature of 104?”

“Yeah, but… This is Connor. He’s not… He’s not supposed to get sick like this. He’s not supposed to get sick at all.”

Before Connor even feels the tickle, he’s snapping forward. “HAAAAP-TSHOOOOOOOO!” His weak sneezes from before seem to have retreated, for the moment. This sneeze scrapes his throat and mists out in front of him in a dense cloud. It’s disgusting in such a complete and objective way that it makes his cheeks burn.

“Oh my! Bless you!” calls out Melissa’s voice from the car speakers.

“Th-thank ET-CHOO! ET-CHOO! ET-CHOO!” Each sneeze is, of course, launched straight out in front of him since his arms are still firmly tucked under his blanket.

“Felix wasn’t exaggerating, huh? You sound awful,” Melissa says.

Connor knows he sounds awful, knows he looks awful, and knows that his entire current state of being can be easily summed up as awful. Hearing it said aloud, though, brings back the same sense of failure he had in high school after losing a football game— when he’d see the unmistakable disappointment etched across his father's face. He’s surprised to feel his throat tighten and his eyes sting. Felix reaches out a hand and gently squeezes Connor’s blanket covered thigh.

“Well, now that he’s awake, I’m going to let you go, Mom, all right? I need to get into the pet store. Thanks for listening to me freak out,” Felix says.

“Any time, honey. Text or call if you need anything. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom. Bye,” Felix says, hanging up after his mom gives her goodbye.

Felix turns to face Connor, biting his lip. “I know you probably hate this question, but due to how I’ve spent the last hour convinced you were literally dying, I have to ask,” Felix says, a faint tremble to his voice. “How are you feeling?”

Connor does, indeed, hate that question. He feels the words “I’m fine,” attempt their escape from his lips — a response that feels as natural to him as breathing — but he’s decidedly not fine. He’s undeniably sick, but also… there’s something else simmering beneath the surface that he attempts to push down. There was something about hearing Felix’s mom on the phone, voice full of warmth, telling her son she loves him — as though it were the most basic and easy to admit fact in the world. With effort, he does push the inexplicable feeling away, but he’s left with a sense of foreboding, as though that’s not its last appearance.

Connor manages to… well, not quite smile, but he thinks he succeeds at not looking as miserable as he feels. “I’m… not at my best,” he answers honestly, not feeling equipped to be more detailed.

Felix, with knitted brows, reaches forward and, in what’s becoming an all-too familiar gesture, places the back of his hand on Connor’s forehead. He pulls it back and breathes out a sigh. “Okay, I think you’re finally starting to cool down. A little, at least.” Felix settles back into his own seat. “And you’re actually speaking now, which is a vast improvement. So, yeah, I think you’re doing better.”

Connor, finally pulling his weak and tired arms out from under the blanket, catches three sneezes into the crook of his elbow.

“Hep’shhhhew! Hh’pshew! Ep’sheew!”

Felix laughs a little. “Still really sneezy, though.”

Connor goes to speak, but instead has to duck back down for another “Hep’shew!”

“God, Connor, I get it. You’re sick. You don’t have to keep trying to prove it,” Felix jokes.

“Hep-t’choo!”

Felix sighs, dramatically. “You’re doing this for attention aren’t you? Be honest” he says. Connor wants to laugh at the joke because obviously attention is the last thing Connor is looking for. But, once again, he’s ducking back into his arm.

“Oh my god,” Connor finally manages to say. “Why do they just keep coming hh hhhh hiih’tchoo!”

“Hmm…” Felix hums. “My guess is you're so congested that you can’t get the big sneeze you need, so your body is giving you all these little baby ones.”

“Felix,” Connor starts, but doesn’t know how he’ll finish the sentence. He’s feeling…whiny — like he just wants to moan about how awful he feels to Felix and have Felix sympathize with him. This is extremely unfamiliar territory. He becomes distracted from this uncharacteristic urge to complain, however, when he looks down and finally gets a good look at the blanket splayed across him. “Felix, is this… is this Anna and Elsa from Frozen?”

Felix winces a bit, but nods. “Yeah… uh, you kept talking about how cold you were and you wouldn’t stop shivering. So when I stopped at a store to pick up the Tylenol, and I saw that blanket on clearance at only three bucks, I had to get it right?”

Connor stares at the pink and purple blanket and the cheerful faces of Anna and Elsa smiling up at him. He starts to laugh, but the laughter quickly devolves into coughing, and he slumps back down into his seat. He pulls the blanket up higher.

Felix frowns and chews his lip. “Okay, you just stay put and rest. I’ve got to go and… uh, get some stuff,” he says.

Connor’s eyes are already closed before Felix gets the sentence out.

__________

After his third car nap of the day, they finally made it back to Felix’s house. Connor had wanted to demand that Felix take him back to his own apartment so he could recover alone. He’d imagine what that would look like — lying in his own bed, coughing and sneezing without restraint. He could shiver and whine and fall apart all he wanted no one would notice. Or care. Which was exactly what he wanted — what he’s been craving this entire time. So, why then, didn’t he put up more of a fight? He could attribute this easy surrender to his exhaustion. But… he was so sick, and the mere thought of having to take care of himself, though he knew he could, made him feel weary right down to his bones.

Unexpected thoughts of Felix started coursing through his mind — Felix bringing him food, water, and medicine while Connor just relaxed, letting his body get the rest it was clearly desperately craving. Connor’s initial reaction to these unwelcome thoughts was to flinch at the intrinsic discomfort they elicited, but still, Connor couldn’t stop them. What surprised him the most was how he imagined Felix wearing his sloppy grin the entire time, as though he didn’t mind in the slightest. Would that be the actual reality, though? Somehow, Connor found himself thinking maybe it actually could be. The idea of allowing himself to just be sick was starting to sound enticing in a way he’d never expected.

The mere act of getting into the house had been a nearly impossible endeavor — dizzy and weak, he had reluctantly held onto Felix as they made their way to the bedroom, having to stop multiple times to rest against the wall. By the time they reached the bedroom, all previous qualms about whose place it was had entirely vanished.

Now, he sits propped up against the headboard with a tissue pressed firmly around his nose. He slowly blows, emptying his nose’s thick contents. He looks at the tissue, winces at the color, then disposes it into the trash can that’s close to overflowing with all the other tissues he’s discarded in the last hour. His nose is in constant distress. If Connor isn’t blowing into tissues, he’s sneezing into them. He’s seen plenty of people get sick before, and knows sneezing is a normal part of illness, but surely it’s not normal to sneeze this much. As he has the thought, he’s already snapping forward into yet another sneeze.

“IHHH-P’tCHuuuUH!”

It sprays out along his comforter since he didn’t have time to grab a tissue. His constant nasal dilemma has caused more than just a simple mist this time, so he holds his hand over his face as he grabs another tissue to clean up.

He’s heartily blowing his nose when Felix walks into the bedroom. He waits for the feelings of shame and mortification to arise at Felix hearing his gurgling, slurpy attempt to dispel his endless supply of snot, but… they don’t. In their place is an almost sense of safety — knowing he can lie in bed and sneeze and blow his nose and hack up his lungs as much as his body necessitates. And that it’s okay. It’s never been okay before, so why is it okay now?

He considers this as he watches Felix make his way toward the bed. Felix climbs onto it and sits cross-legged at the foot of the bed. “Okay, so, I’m trying to figure out boundaries,” Felix begins, expression serious. “Here’s what I want to do. I want to crawl underneath the covers and curl against you. But… you mentioned something about us needing to take things more slowly… And, I don’t know how much of that stemmed from honest feelings you were having, or if you said it just to keep me from seeing you sick.”

Connor has a lot he wants to say in response to this concern, but instead, yawns so forcefully his jaw cracks.

Felix snorts. “Okay, admittedly, this may not be the best time to discuss this, huh? You look all nice and cozy tucked into bed, and I guess I just wanted to join you. But I don’t want to violate any of your boundaries.”

“Felix… I really do worry that I’m taking advantage of you, of how easy you offer forgiveness. I wasn’t lying when I said that. And, I want to make sure I earn that forgiveness, okay? I mean, I hardly think I’m there yet. All I’ve been doing, after all, is sleeping. Well that, and sneezing,” Connor explains before jerking forward to sneeze into yet another tissue, as if he needed to illustrate the point.

Felix stares at him, his eyes wide, and mouth slightly open. “Connor — are you serious? You… you took me to a reptile expo that you spent hours researching. You let a snake wrap itself around your arm just because I asked you. And it peed on you! And, like, you barely even complained. And, oh my god, not to mention, you didn’t so much as bat an eye when I adopted a tarantula.”

At this, Connor jolts up in bed, his eyes growing wide. “I forgot about the tarantula. Did that actually happen? I was hoping that was a fever-induced hallucination.”

Felix’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “Like I was saying, you were super cool with the tarantula thing and —”

Connor shakes his head. “No, no, no. I am not cool with the tarantula thing, Felix. I am as opposite as cool as one can be about the tarantula thing! Felix, you have to… you have to give it back. Oh my god, or find someone else to take it, or hap’tshooo! Heh heh hap’tshoo!” The sneezes snuck up on him and the mist sprays out in front of him. He wipes his nose with a tissue while still glaring at Felix. “You can’t keep that thing. Holy shit… Where is it? Is it here?” he asks, growing frantic. Hazy memories of the furry, multi-eyed creature come back to him. “It escaped, Felix! It ran all around the expo hall, and you… you want to keep it?” Connor sneezes once more, but makes it into his tissue. It’s becoming apparent he needs to hold a tissue in his hand at all times.

Felix hums, looking down at his lap. “Her,” he mutters, sheepishly.

Connor narrows his watery, aching eyes at Felix. “What?”

Felix shrugs his shoulders, still not meeting Connor’s gaze. “Her. She’s a girl. Her name is Edna. If she were male, then her lifespan would only be a few years long. But, since she’s female, she can easily make it to twenty years.”

“Twenty years?” Connor asks, incredulously. The increase in pitch must be too much for his lungs because he starts coughing. He makes sure to catch all the coughs in his tissue.

“Yep,” Felix says after Connor’s fit winds down. “Anyway, yeah, like I was saying…. You’ve just been so nice about me adopting Edna. So, I’d say you’re pretty committed to repairing our relationship, right? Since you’ve acquiesced so easily to my new pet?”

Connor stares in astonishment at Felix, his mouth open. “I know what you’re doing, Felix. And… fuck. Fine. Fine. If it will help you realize how important you are to me… then, just…fine. I won’t criticize your decision to bring such a vile creature into our lives.” Still incredibly uncomfortable with this thought, he adds “But it stays away from me, Felix. You need to treat that thing like it's a prisoner in a maximum security prison. Do you understand?”

Felix’s face lights up with a huge, happy smile, and Connor’s frustration instantly wanes. “See? Like I said, my forgiveness is totally earned because you are so unconditionally supportive of the amazing decisions I make.” Felix’s expression sobers as his smile falls. “But, Connor, in all seriousness…. Do you want to know how I actually know you're committed?”

Connor frowns, but eventually nods. Felix scoots closer up in the bed to Connor, settling back into a cross-legged position. He takes Connor’s hand in his. “It’s because you’re finally letting yourself be soft around me,” he says, squeezing Connor’s hand. “I mean, I saw you slumped against a wall, nearly passed out and here you still are.”

Connor feels the color drain from his face. “Fuck,” he says, as the unwelcomed memories start pouring in.

Felix winces. “Uh-oh. You forget that, too? Your fever was crazy high, so I guess I’m not surprised you don’t remember much about the expo. But, okay, maybe you haven’t exactly been letting yourself be soft around me so much as your body’s given you no choice.,” he says, scratching the back of his neck.

Connor is still being barraged by the mental images of everyone at the expo crowded around him, staring as he lay against the wall, too weak to even hold up a water bottle.

Felix winces again. “I can see you’re still bothered by this. Okay, just think of it as exposure therapy. I mean, what better way to face your fear of vulnerability than by lying helplessly against a wall as your body fights to remain conscious?”

Connor blinks at him. Then, he shuts his eyes and slumps back farther into bed. “This has been a hard day,” he says, eyes still closed, feeling insurmountable levels of fatigue settling in.

Felix climbs up onto the bed and maneuvers himself close to Connor, pressing against his side. Connor shifts slightly, wrapping an arm around Felix’s smaller frame, while Felix nestles in, tucking himself comfortably against Connor's chest. “Is this okay?” Felix asks, looking up to meet Connor’s gaze.

Connor lowers his head so he can press a gentle kiss against Felix’s hair. “Yes, sweetie, I think it is.”

They eventually settle down into the bed with Felix curled into Connor, his head resting against Connor’s chest. Connor absently twirls his fingers through Felix’s mess of waves in a sleepy daze as he tries to contemplate why it does all feel so okay with Felix, until a gentle whisper of a thought says does it even matter? And with that question left unanswered, he allows himself to drift off.

Part 9

#snz #snz kink #snzblr

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emmy-and-the-tieflings · 8 months ago

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Heart of the Weave - chapter 43

I woke up the following morning to the sound of Karlach shouting “HELLO?!” outside our front door, which is more than enough to startle the hells out of me. Damn, it’s already morning? I turn to face Gale, who is smiling at me in admiration and gazing at me with his sleepy eyes.

“Are you ready to get this all over with?” he questions, and suddenly a sense of dread flows through my immortal veins. I inhale as I close my eyes, then exhale the tension built up inside me. We need to save Rolan. He needs our help. The thought of him losing his life because of me aches me in a way I can’t describe, and I wish they would’ve found another way to convince me to come.

“Yes. We need to leave. The quicker, the better. We can’t allow anything to happen to Rolan.” Part of me is wondering what would happen if Gortash does end up spotting us somehow, and what he would say to me. I’d at least want some sort of apology or explanation from him, not that I’d forgive the manipulative bastard. I don’t think I could ever forgive him.

“Alright, Jenevelle. Are you ready for your first adventure? Though…I feel very negative about the entire journey,” I mumble as I button up her onesie. “It will be alright. You’re here with momma and daddy, and we won’t let anyone touch you.” I pick her up and hold her close, burping her before placing her in her stroller.

“Tara, don’t cause any trouble around the house please,” Gale alerts her. “There will be consequences.”

“Why Gale, I’d never!” He opens up the front door, letting me out first before shutting it behind him. I inhale the morning air that smells of lemongrass and lavender, which tempts me to bake a pie; I’m guilty of spoiling Gale with my desserts. The soothing sound of the chimes above our door also helps keep me at ease, even just mildly. The refreshing area of Waterdeep makes it easy to forget that I’m about to go on an adventure with a mysterious outcome.

“I tried telling Karlach you guys have a baby, so you’d be taking your time. Unfortunately, she doesn’t quite understand that patience is a virtue,” Wyll teases. “I love her anyway.”

“Well, yeah. True. My husband calling me out like it means nothing, pssssht. Get a load of this guy. Anyway! How’s my favorite baby in the world? Sssh, Don’t tell Shadowheart and Astarion I said that.” She leans in to look at Jenevelle and plays with her tiny hands, causing our baby to smile with pure joy. Despite the horrors, looking at our baby smile does help; as long as she’s happy, I’ll be okay.

“We’re outside and that’s good enough for her. The glistening sun warming her baby skin, the sound of birds singing, the exquisite and various aromas of the forests,” Gale says, smiling down at Jenevelle.

“Ha! Can’t say I blame her,” Halsin responds, his face lighting up. “She has great taste.”

It’s rather early in the morning, so hopefully we can make it to Moonrise without having to camp, though we will need to make a few stops to eat and attend to our daughter’s needs. Off we go, strolling upon the road that will lead us to a fate we aren’t sure of, but hoping we save Rolan in the process. Today I’ll make a choice that will rid my life of the evil that’s been stuck to me like a parasite; at least it’s not a damn illithid tadpole.

I’m so on edge, believing Fanden has his bloodthirsty eyes on us wherever we go. As I imagine him, Gortash, and Ketheric, I feel an unusual tingling sensation within me that I’m not familiar with, almost like an urge or a strange power building up inside my body. Is this the same peculiar feeling Gale had when he released his power at the Bhaal temple?

It’s been so long since I’ve been adventuring, I almost forgot what it even felt like and it’s more strange as a druid. I love nature, but am I really dedicated enough to be a druid? Once this is all over, I may pursue my dreams as a bard and perform at the local circus. Hells, maybe play at a few restaurants around town.

After roughly five miles, we stop to eat and so I may feed Jenevelle, who is starting to become just a little fussy. I sit down on a nearby log to feed her a bottle while our friends get the campfire going for lunch.

“You know, on the bright side, I’ll get to destroy Gortash for the second time. Nothing like kicking someone’s ass and handing them a plate of karma, served by Karlach Cliffgate.” I’m honestly looking forward to her handing it straight with him, but hopefully Ketheric won’t be a huge problem.

As we sit down to eat, I feel yet again another unsettling presence, but can’t seem to locate it anywhere no matter how hard I try to investigate the area around us. Sigh. Karlach and Wyll sit across from me, while Halsin is out somewhere picking some fruits and vegetables to roast on the fire. Gale sits down next to me and gently takes Jenevelle from my arms.

“My love, go ahead and eat. I’ll change the baby and hold her while you do so,” he says ever so sweetly, being his wonderful and considerate self as usual.

“Also, mate, are you doing alright? You’re awfully quiet.” Karlach’s right; I really haven’t said much this entire time, but I was hoping no one would notice. I smile nervously, trying to mask my anxiousness but I don’t think anyone is buying it.

“Of course, I’m just ready for it all to be over.”

“And it will be soon enough. When it’s all done and in the past, we will all enjoy life again. We just have to stay positive and assume Gortash, Ketheric, and Fanden can’t come back from their graves,” Wyll assures me. “Didn’t one of them mention Orin couldn’t come back because she was much weaker after being resurrected? I’m sure that applies to Ketheric and Gortash as well.”

“I’m almost certain Bane and Myrkul won’t give those bastards a third chance. Fanden on the other hand, well, that’s uncertain,” I mutter. Gale sits back down next to me, holding our now happy baby who is fully fed, cleaned, and ready to party. I stare down at my sandwich and sigh, forcing myself to eat. “Also, I keep thinking Fanden has his eyes on us somehow; he is sneaky as hell after all. I could be overthinking it.”

“Now that you mention it, we probably should have some sort of backup plan in case all-else fails,” Halsin mentions, and boy I didn’t think of that. I lack in the intelligence department. He’s right. Should the situation arise that I do come face-to-face with my father, I need to make sure he stays the hell away from Jenevelle.

“Gale, my love –”

“Oh no, you aren’t thinking of confronting him if our plan fails, are you?” Worry stirs in his voice like a spoon with a cup of tea. “He wants your immortality and if he takes you, I’m not sure how far we’ll get. I’m not sure how we can save you. I can fight them, but Jenevelle would be with our mortal friends, and it just… It could end badly. They want either you or her. Or both.”

“Gale, honey, I need you to stay back with Jenevelle. I don’t want to say out loud what my plan is in case we’re being spied on, but…trust me. Please.” His dreary brown eyes are filled with fear, pleading that I don’t do anything rash. As I gaze into those eyes, I feel the intense power again continuously getting stronger, which could be our savior through this dire predicament.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale x tav #ao3 #wizard of waterdeep #archive of our own

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kimium · 2 months ago

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Hello, I’m the anon that asked about the platonic yan!au semi recently. You won’t believe how thrilled I was to see that update! Unfortunately I didn’t get to read it until my afternoon classes were over:/

But now I’ve read it and boy do I have thoughts!

The threads are unwinding. Yuu is slowly realizing that something is wrong. No matter how much they don’t want to. It’s fun seeing them put the pieces together only to reject the image coming into focus. Like if they just believe in their friends hard enough the dots will stop connecting. It really does remind me of someone caught up in a toxic relationship. Which, they are so, makes sense.

They say the first stage is grief is denial for a reason, after all.

Like, even when directly told that they’re being betrayed, validating their own burgeoning suspicions, they just… refuse. But less convincingly each time. It’s so sad;v;

But!

It is nice that they finally have someone in their corner that wants to see them succeed and will actively help them do so. Mickey’s a real pal, which Yuu certainly needs right now.

But on the other hand it seems that the NRC gang have gained some new allies of their own in Crewel and maybe Vargas. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! No but seriously it was surprising to see Crewel be a more active participant in Yuu’s captivity. What changed I wonder?

I’ll be honest I’m having a hard time placing Grim’s intentions. He’s lying to Yuu but then he also does things that are too obvious to be brushed off so easily. He can be quite foolish but even he’s a better liar than that. But perhaps I misunderstood, he could be fully on board the keep Yuu hostage train. I’ll have to reread it to determine my position. But I like thinking that while he doesn’t yet have the courage to tell Yuu outright, he’s still trying to help in his own way.

And the sleepwalking happening earlier and earlier seems to be having some interesting consequences. It was simple enough to keep track of Yuu before, but now things are getting more complicated. The boys have to be on guard at all times. And that’s an exhausting way to live. Let’s see how long they can keep it up:)

Even Yuu seems to be getting worn out. I wonder if their sleepiness is the result of the mirror’s pull growing in strength or if this endless chase is wearing them down.

Also, this is more of a side note, but was Rook’s claim that the fireman’s carry is considered romantic in the Sunset Savanah legit? Cause if he’s serious that has some fun implications. Leona has been portrayed as especially possessive of Yuu in this series. And this is a yan au so that’s saying something. Not to mention Rook’s own comment that Pomefiore can’t be as blunt with their affections. I suppose everyone not named Malleus has to be subtle with their ship tease<3

In conclusion, thank you so much for another wonderful addition to my favorite series! It made my day:D

PS: Could I be yanon?

Hello Anon! I remember you and your lovely ask about my Platonic Yandere AU! I’m so happy to hear you were thrilled by my update! I completely understand the struggle of life responsibilities getting in the way of doing fandom stuff! Very tragic!

Finally, the threads are unwinding. It was so challenging for me to figure out how to unwind each thread and where to show the cracks. I’m happy to hear you like the pieces I’ve broken apart for Yuu to find and to see the true image underneath. It’s definitely sad that Yuu wants to believe in their friends so badly that they almost want to turn a blind eye. Yes, this has a bit of toxic relationship elements sprinkled in, but thankfully rather light because I don’t want the story too heavy.

Denial is the starting point, yes! Poor Yuu once they cannot linger in denial any longer and will be forced to deal with their emotions.

Yes! It’s about time to have someone in their corner! Technically Yuu kind of has two many three people, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Mickey was an exciting element for me to introduce into the story! Works both for the game’s canon and for me to throw some self-indulgence here and there.

Crewel was always going to be someone in the corner of the NRC gang! I think it’s because I can see Crewel being a man who goes for what he wants and likes possessing things he desires. Vargas is also someone I think can rationalize horrible actions with his own logic that is a little skewed. I think that’s in the spirit of the characters both were twisted from.

So, I don’t think anything really “changed” in Crewel. When I wrote his perspective in part three, I wanted him to be someone who “sees the horrible, knows it is horrible, and proceeds to feel the horrible sink into his body until he believes it’s normal and fine”.

That’s the point of Grim actually: I want his intentions murky. I purposefully wrote him ambiguous. I think Grim has many facets to himself that fandom often wants to overlook because of his childish, a bit rude, nature. If there is any party in this AU that is truly conflicted, it’s Grim.

Yes! The sleepwalking was always going to grow more intense as time went on. The boys are finding the situation more complicated than expected and you’re right that it’s an exhausting way to live. Definitely a challenge for them.

The mirror’s pull is definitely contributing to Yuu’s sleepiness. The mirror is now trying everything in its power to bring Yuu to it and let them go home. That kind of strain has to wear on the body eventually.

Oh, the part about the fireman’s carry being romantic to Sunset Savanna is actually my headcanon. It’s a joke I made up in my story Just a Normal Citizen (Not a Dimension Traveler). I just thought it would be funny as hell for Yuu to be carried like a potato sack and that is somehow a romantic gesture. I should probably add this note into my end notes… oops. I forgot.

It isn’t that the other dorms can’t be as overt as Malleus with their ship tease in my stories (though in canon that’s the case for sure LOL). It’s just I think Pomefiore goes about many things with a careful, subtly to their actions. I think that suits the dorm. Other characters like Malleus and Leona are far more forward because they’re confident characters. That’s why I like writing Leona as possessive. I think he’s the kind of character to display those tendencies more overtly than others.

Thank you so much! I’m so happy you like this series and I was happy to answer this ask!

PS: Yanon? As in my Platonic Yandere AU Anon? You are the only one so far, so I guess if that’s what you mean the answer is yes.

#personal #replies #twisted wonderland #platonic yandere au

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thehandwitch · 3 years ago

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thinking about ford calling shermie shortly after coming through the portal because he hasn’t spoken to his older brother in thirty-something years — he was kind of bad at keeping contact, okay — and he misses him. (and also, yk, as far as ford’s aware shermie thinks stan is dead and that ford owns a kitschy tourist trap, and he really needs to rectify that.)

and it’s probably like 5am when he calls but shermie picks up a few rings in with a sleepy “hello?”

and ford’s heart stops because he can barely believe he’s hearing his big brother’s voice again, and it takes a few long seconds before he finally says “shermie, it’s stanford.”

“stan? hi! what’s going on? are the kids okay?”

“the kids— yes, yes, they’re okay. they’re great, actually.”

“so why are you calling? i’m not complaining, i wish you’d call more, but it’s a little out of character.”

“… speaking of that.” and ford pauses because he didn’t exactly plan on how he was going to broach the whole ‘hey stan is alive and has been pretending to be me this entire time’ thing.

he settles on asking: “did you ever find it strange that i started wanting to go by stan after— after stan passed?”

he expects shermie to say something like ‘no, i figured you were just grieving’ but instead the pause on the other end of the line stretches out until shermie says, slowly and tearfully, “ford? is that you?”

and ford breaks. “yes,” he whispers because if he speaks at a normal volume he’s certain his voice will crack under the weight of his emotions. “yes, it’s me. shermie, how did you…?”

“you think stan could fool me? i grew up babysitting you punks. the two of you switching places tricked me maybe three times before i got smart. and then you got me a few more times when stan realized he could wear your gloves with an stuffed extra finger, but i ended up developing a sense for it. i knew from the second he called to tell me about his death.” shermie scoffs, and then quiets. “stanford… what happened?”

“it’s a long story.”

“i’ve got time.”

“i’m afraid you don’t understand. it’s… an exceedingly long story.”

“well, i’ll make time,” shermie says and then pauses. “is stan still around? is he okay?”

“yes, he’s … he’s here.”

“and you’re not still mad at him, are you?”

“well—”

“after forty years, ford?”

“it’s complicated!”

“then explain it!”

and ford does, he explains, he fills in the gaps of his own side with what stan told to the kids and that gopher-looking man and lays most everything out in the open (except for bill, he’ll never, ever tell anyone about bill) and at the end shermie is dead silent.

eventually he says, “if you weren’t you, and stan weren’t stan… i don’t think i’d believe any of that.”

and ford sighs and says “yes, that’s understandable.”

and shermie says “well, you know what i’m going to tell you now” and gives ford this excellent monologue about how he needs to mend things with stan, and ford knows he’s right but he’s still just so bitter and all he says is “i’ll consider it.”

the conservation wraps up with shermie telling ford to tell stan to expect a call from him very soon and then they hang up. and ford just. leans his head against the wall.

and from the end of the hallway, stan says “yeesh, i was really not looking forward to having that conversation. thanks for handling it for me, sixer.”

and ford can’t even find it in himself to be mad at that because he knows shermie is going to unleash the world’s wisest and most annoyed three hour rant upon stan the next time they speak.

(ford doesn’t warn stan about the phone call either, even though shermie asked him to. he thinks stan deserves it.)

anyways. yeah. thinking about that.

#this is like. a half-baked fic i swear my actual writing is more coherent than this #ford pines #stan pines #shermie pines #gravity falls #a tale of two stans #i don’t rly know what to tag because i don’t remember how the tagging system works / what the tagging system standards are on here #so i hope these are acceptable and don’t break any kind of. unspoken etiquette or something lol #boy am i scared to post this but who’s gonna see it besides my one follower which is literally a bot?#rome rambles #rome writes

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stargazer-sims · 2 years ago

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Beyond the Broken Parts

Eden: Everything okay?

Haru: Yeah.

Eden: Sorry for invading your privacy, but you were in here a really long time, and you didn't answer when I knocked and called your name. I got worried.

Haru: Sorry about that. I didn't even hear you knocking. I guess I zoned out for a few minutes. It happens sometimes.

Eden: Are you sure you're all right?

Haru: I'm okay. Just a little tired. I figured I'd take my medication while I was in here, so I wouldn't forget before bed. You know, 'cause my routine is different with you here. But then, uh... I kinda forgot what I was doing anyway.

Eden: I didn't know you have to take medication.

Haru: It's for my brain.

Eden: I shouldn't want to laugh at that, but...

Haru: Yeah... that came out wrong. Remember, I explained how I have problems because of all the alcohol and drugs and stuff my mother was using?

Eden: I remember.

Haru: I need something to regulate all my brain chemicals and calm me down. Otherwise, I'd be so hyper that I'd probably be flying off the walls, and I wouldn't be able to think or focus long enough to have an intelligent conversation or learn anything. Or even basically take care of myself, I guess.

Eden: I'm sorry.

Haru: You shouldn't be. This is my everyday life. It's not a bad thing. It's just... you know. A thing. It's not something I really talk about with anyone, but it's always been a part of who I am.

Eden: I won't tell anybody.

Haru: I appreciate that. It's not something I'd want the whole world to know.

Eden: That's totally understandable. Your friends know, though, right?

Haru: They all know I take medication, but only Ryu and Taiji know exactly what it's for. Keigo might know too, but not from me telling him. I'd never tell him or Senjirō, unless I absolutely had to. I only tell my private stuff to people I trust.

Eden: Are you saying you trust me? Even though we've only known each other for a short time? You've known those guys for like, five or six years, haven’t you?

Haru: About five years, yeah. Sometimes, the longer you know somebody, the less you trust them, though. I mean, I trust Keigo to a point. Like, he's a good person and he'd never intentionally hurt anyone, and I like him, but I'm just not comfortable sharing some stuff with him.

Eden: And Senjirō?

Haru: I think we can say we're friends, but not great friends. He doesn’t take me seriously, and we have too many differences to be really close. And to answer your other question, yes I trust you.

Eden: Thank you. That means a lot.

Haru: You already mean a lot to me.

Eden: Same. I honestly didn't know it was possible to fall for somebody this fast, but I'm glad to be discovering it with you.

Haru: Me too.

Eden: If you're really tired, maybe we should go to bed now. There's no reason to stay up any later, especially if you need to rest your brain.

Haru: My brain could use some rest. The problem is, I’m tired but I’m not sleepy, if that makes sense.

Eden: It does. If you’re not sleepy, we can cuddle in bed. That’ll be easy on your brain.

Haru: I like this plan.

Eden: Good, because I really want to cuddle with you.

Haru: Shirtless?

Eden: Apparently, skin-to-skin contact is very therapeutic.

Haru: You think it works on brains, too?

Eden: *smiling* There’s only one way to find out. We can get a good night’s rest, and maybe you’ll feel better in the morning

Haru: I usually feel great in the mornings. It’s once the day gets going that it sometimes goes all to hell. I don't know why changes in my routine are so hard, but whenever there's the smallest difference, it's like I'm using up three times as much energy just to deal with simple, normal things.

Eden: That must make travelling and being on tour really difficult and stressful for you.

Haru: Yeah, but it's worth it. I always get really energized from the audience. I might have to sleep for most of the next day, or the day after if we have back-to-back shows, but I'm totally willing to do it for that big crowd energy.

Eden: I wish there was something I could do to help you. To make everything better somehow.

Haru: You know what? You're already doing it.

Eden: How? What am I doing?

Haru: Supporting me. Taking me seriously. Being somebody who knows I'm broken and who sees past the broken pieces.

Eden: Haru—

Haru: What?

Eden: You're so much more than your 'broken pieces' as you call them. Maybe you've got issues most people don't have, and like you said, it's part of who you are, but you're a whole person with a million different parts. An amazing person with a million amazing parts. That's what I see.

Haru: How'd you get to be so beautiful? On the inside as well as the outside, I mean.

Eden: I credit my mother, mostly. She says acceptance is the most important thing when it comes to other people. Like, everybody matters, without having to qualify it.

Haru: I think I already like your mother.

Eden: When you feel ready for it, we can FaceTime with her and my dad, and I'll introduce you. I think Mommy will really like you, too.

#ts4 #sims 4 #eagames #snowy escape #sugar valentine #Eden Seong #Sakuharu Abe #wearesugarvalentine #tw medication #tw intellectual disability #stargazersims

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echo-bleu · 2 years ago

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3x01 coda, so spoilers ahead. Also on AO3.

Jaskier ascribes his lack of sleep to the action of the day, at first. He did, after all, get shot. Yes, alright, the arrow only left him with an impressive set of bruises around his shoulder blades, and a broken lute (it’s only the fourth lute he’s gone through in the last six months, and he’s forced to admit that none of Cyssiel’s lutes are quite as good as Filavandrel’s, but still, they don’t come cheap). His back aches and so does most of his body. He’s surrounded by soft breathing and the more distant snorts coming from the horses. He’s not used to this any more.

But no, it’s more than that. He’s grown stronger, tougher outside of Geralt’s zone of action. Today wasn’t even in the top five worst dangers of the last year. He barely had time to be properly afraid for himself – only for Ciri, for the dwarves, for Geralt and Yennefer, until he heard a swish and a thud and felt himself falling. He’s fine.

It’s something else.

He’s not the only one awake. Geralt is sitting in meditation, on watch as always, his eyes closes but his senses on alert. Yennefer and Ciri are snuggled against each other, but neither of their breathings has the regularity of sleep. Are they bothered by the day, too?

There’s Rience, of course. His continued existence sends a shiver down Jaskier’s spine. That day in Oxenfurt, now, that ranks as one of his worst. Top one, possibly. He’s never quite got it out of his head, the flame burning his fingers, the sheer terror of the moment.

He’s after Ciri. Jaskier can’t imagine how terrifying this must all be for her, running and running with half the Continent after her. She’s the only reason he came and faced this. He’s not the brave type, but she is.

As if reading his thoughts, Ciri makes a small, sleepy noise and climbs over Yennefer to curl up against him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m alright,” Jaskier murmurs.

“No, you’re not.”

Yennefer sits up, perfectly composed, like she was never lying down at all. Geralt opens his eyes and catches Jaskier’s gaze, shaking his head.

No lying, then. Alright.

“I don’t know,” he sighs. “Something’s rubbing me the wrong way.”

“Rience?” Yennefer asks, and of course, she saw just how shaken he was, afterwards.

Jaskier shakes his head. “You did save me, in Oxenfurt.”

“Only after you risked yourself to get me and a bunch of elves on a ship.”

“Yeah.”

Silence falls uneasily. Ciri embraces Jaskier’s waist tighter. Jaskier sits up – groaning softly as the ache moves down his back – and gathers her into his lap like a much smaller child.

“We’re going to get him,” Geralt says, with all the quiet confidence that he usually deploys for Ciri.

Jaskier doesn’t particularly believe him.

“It’s not just him,” he says, unconsciously rubbing his fingertips. “The Scoia’tael.”

“What about them?”

“They attacked us.”

He doesn’t even know how to express it, how to explain almost two years of working with the elves in a few words, how to explain that…

That sense of betrayal.

The elves have been betrayed first, of course, and over and over. Jaskier has gained quite the perspective on that, recently. They’re doing the best with the scraps they have left, and they’re rightfully angry.

Jaskier has no right to feel betrayed.

“Their commander,” he says carefully. “Gallatin. He saved my life, once.”

“What?” Geralt frowns.

“Stormed a Temerian army camp. It’s a very long story.” Jaskier avoids everyone’s eyes. Ciri half sits up to look at him, but he looks away. “My point is, the Scoia’tael don’t attack dwarven caravans, not unprovoked. And Gallatin knows me. Half of these elves were my friends. Why would they do this?”

“It’s Francesca,” Yennefer says quietly. “Their queen. She’s the only fully elven mage I know of, and she’s… driven. She said Ciri is Hen Ichaer.”

“Their queen? Don’t they have a king? Filavandrel…”

“Is more of a King Consort, really. At least, from what I saw when they had me prisoner.”

“Right.”

“Can we go back to the Scoia’tael saving your life?” Geralt asks.

Jaskier would really rather ask about the Hen Ichaer thing – it rings a bell that he can’t quite put his finger on – but both Geralt and Yennefer are staring at him and he can’t escape them.

“Erm,” he says. He starts fiddling with Ciri’s braid, if only to stop himself from rubbing at his fingers until they hurt. “I kind of got captured by Temerian soldiers?”

“Captured?” Yennefer echoes, just as Geralt growls, “When?”

“Uh, like three months ago? It was after the… before the… yeah. But not for long! I was only there for two days!”

He’s not helping his case, apparently.

“Gallatin and his commando got me out,” he says hurriedly. “I wasn’t even hurt! Just a few bruises and scrapes and, you know, all fine.”

Dammit. Now they look downright furious. Even Ciri, looking up at him from his lap, has wide eyes.

“Why were you captured by Temerians,” Geralt asks, his voice dangerously low.

“Because I’m the Sandpiper?”

Geralt blinks. Yennefer winces. Jaskier suddenly remembers why he never told Geralt about that, back at Kaer Morhen.

Well, to be fair, there were many reasons. They were busy. There was the whole business with the Deathless Mother, whatever that was, and trips to other spheres, and various witchers not really liking Jaskier’s presence. It’s not like he meant to keep it from Geralt, really.

He just found it easier to let him assume whatever he wanted.

“You’re the Sandpiper?” Ciri pipes up. “We heard about that! That’s so cool! So you help all the elves get out of the places where they’re being persecuted?”

“I try,” Jaskier smiles shakily at her.

She smiles back and hugs him tight.

Geralt is still silent. Jaskier doesn’t like that at all.

“The Sandpiper,” he says eventually, slowly, staring at Jaskier.

“Yes?”

“You’ve chosen a side, then.”

The silence is deafening. Jaskier holds Geralt’s gaze the best he can – not very well. But this isn’t something he’s going to defer to him on.

“I’ve chosen to help those who need it,” he says, lifting his chin.

“And here I thought I was putting you in too much danger asking for your help.”

It’s Jaskier’s turn to fall silent. He swallows, goes back to rubbing his fingertips.

“I won’t lie, I’m not in a hurry to face Rience again,” he says. “But I am also currently wanted in three countries. So as far as danger goes, today was rather… tame.”

Geralt sighs. “This isn’t what I wanted for you.”

“I know.” Jaskier swallows. “I know you never wanted me to follow you. I know you never thought I had it in me, and I still wonder daily if I really do. But this is my choice, Geralt.”

“You’ve come a long way from that vapid singing twat I first met,” Yennefer says quietly, a smirk on her lips. Ciri snorts.

“Excuse you?” Jaskier splutters. “I have never in my life been vapid!”

“Nevertheless, I’m proud of you, Pankratz.”

Jaskier flashes her a smile, before turning back to Geralt and biting his lip.

“This isn’t about you, Geralt. Don’t get me wrong, I love you all, but not everything revolves around you. I just saw people who needed help I could give, and… it’s been rewarding, even though it’s sometimes scary.”

“You mean dangerous.”

“Well, yes. But I’m here, aren’t I? Not dead yet. I might just be a squishy human, but I’ve made it work so far.”

Geralt considers him for a moment more, then finally nods.

“Dara was one of them,” Ciri says suddenly. “The Scoia’tael.”

Jaskier runs his fingers through her hair, above the braid. “Dara?”

“He was my friend. I think. I met him after I ran from Cintra, we were together for weeks. He left, but… I saw the look in his eyes. He was ready to kill me.”

“They didn’t want you dead,” Yennefer says.

“Still. He… I almost didn’t recognize him.”

“I’m sorry,” Jaskier whispers to her.

She has that same feeling of betrayal in her voice, the one that they probably shouldn’t feel – aren’t they, in some way, the traitors? The humans, the oppressors?

But the elves’ oppressed status are doesn’t give them a right to Ciri. Jaskier doesn’t know how to reconcile that – he’d happy to see King Vizimir overturned (to see his head on a pike? maybe not) for all he’s done, to see the royalty pay for their actions. Yet, Ciri is a princess too – worse, Calanthe’s granddaughter.

She’s a kid, who’s already shed a childhood of prejudice and sworn to do better. She deserves a life. She deserves the world.

So what are they supposed to do, facing friends on the other side of a battleground? Is that what war always is?

He settles for hugging Ciri a while longer.

He thinks of Gallatin and his anger, Cyssiel and her fears, Dermain guiding people through the tunnels, and even Filavandrel, so many years ago, when Jaskier was naive and so privileged that he didn’t get it. Of Yarpen, of Holma and the other dwarves in the network. Are they fighting each other too, now? The threat of Philippa and Dijkstra cutting them off was bad enough, but this? How are they supposed to keep going?

His back aches. He longs for Vespula’s soft bed, and yet he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Ciri snuggles her head against his belly, halfway to falling asleep. Maybe it’s just too late for complicated thoughts.

“Goodnight, princess,” he murmurs.

“Night, Jask,” Ciri whispers back.

Without dislodging her, Jaskier carefully lies back down on his side. After a moment, he feels a weight settle against his back, careful of his bruises. “Night, Geralt,” he says. “And Yen,” when another form curls around Ciri’s.

He’s missed them.

He closes his eyes. Maybe things will seem better in the morning light.

#the witcher #the witcher season 3 #the witcher spoilers #jaskier #cirilla of cintra #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #the witcher fanfiction #echo's fanfiction

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 4 years ago

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Imagine being Azula’s friend but secretly dating Zuko behind her back

One of the first things you and Azula bonded over was your annoying brothers. Azula told you how her brother had stolen one of her best friends away from her and you related to that. Your twin brother was none other than Sokka of the water tribe, who was also very popular with women. Most of the women you knew liked him, from Yue to Toph to Suki to Ty lee! It sometimes felt like you were the second attraction in a friendship and so you and Azula quickly became close over your shared frustrations.

Then....you betrayed her.

Well, betrayal is a bit dramatic but maybe not given how upset she'd been when Mai and Zuko started dating. You knew that had been hard for Azula to process. How difficult it had been wondering if her friends really liked her or just wanted access to her brother. So when you started liking Zuko you didn’t plan on acting on it at all. Then Mai broke up with him.

Zuko was around at yours quite often, whenever he visited the water tribe he stayed in your home and when you visited the fire nation he extended the same hospitality. So throughout the years, you just naturally got closer and closer until....it happened. You started hanging out just the two of you and these occasions felt very date-like until Zuko just outright asked you out. You liked him and told yourself one date was fine, what harm could a single date do? But then as you kept seeing each other and one date soon progressed into many many more you knew your time to do the right thing and tell Azula you were dating her brother was approaching.

However the idea of doing that idea terrified you. You guessed Azula wouldn’t take it well and didn’t want to lose your friendship with her because of your relationship with Zuko. You wouldn’t break up with Zuko just to make her happy but you also didn’t want to lose Azula’s friendship, so when Katara’s birthday arose you were fairly nervous. There was going to be a large party and all of Katara’s friends were coming...which included Zuko and Azula. You hadn’t been together with everyone since you and Zuko started dating so you had no idea how it would feel. The whole time you and Zuko would have to convincingly act like you weren’t a couple and not make anyone at the party suspicious of the two of you. So when Zuko’s ship got in you fixed your eyes on Azula and tried not to stare at him any more than usual. You greeted him formally and didn’t admire him as you usually would. You fell in step with Azula and decided just to focus on her. It wasn’t hard, you were best friends and very close...however fate was not on your side. You got seated across from him at dinner which felt like some sick punishment and struggled not to get lulled into conversation with him. It didn’t help that Zuko was in a playful mood. He kept making comments about the things you’d done on your date and then sending you sly looks across the table. When you met his eye he smirked blatantly and you lightly kicked him under the table. That only made Zuko chuckled and look adorable so you sighed and decided to just keep your eyes down the whole time to survive dinner.

However, Zuko had no intention of stopping his teasing. After dinner you set about preparing the party for Katara tomorrow and having sent Sokka, Aang, Suki, Azula and Toph on their assigned jobs turned to your job of decorating. You were hanging streamers in the living room when you felt a hand curl around your waist. “Need some help there?” Zuko asked moving closer and he leaned up over you to hang it. “I could have done that myself” you smiled turning to face him and Zuko shrugged “I know you could’ve, but then I wouldn’t have been able to do this”. Zuko gently kissed your neck trailing down to your collar bone making you sigh. “Zuko...stop” you said faint heartedly and Zuko sensed that smirking "I don’t want to and you don’t want me to either, I can tell by how softly you said my name" he smiled "it’s been so long since we’ve had any time together". Your skin erupted in goosebumps and a shiver went down your spine as Zuko pressed closer against you. But you knew how badly this could end if literally anyone walked in. So swiftly you grabbed Zuko’s hands and twisted your way out of them. You held them tightly in one hand so he couldn’t try and slink around you again and used the other to make him look at you "Zuko we can’t okay, not on this trip. God knows i want to, i’ve missed you too but there’s too much that could go wrong i’m sorry". Zuko sighed but nodded his head "don’t worry i understand". Zuko’s shoulders sagged and you knew your insistance on keeping this quiet was difficult for him. "Thank you for understanding" you said hugging him quickly "i know it can’t be easy for you and I appreciate the effort you're going to for me". Zuko smiled resting his head on top of yours "it’s fine, i’d do a lot more for you if you asked but promise me it won’t always be like this....we will tell everyone soon?". You gulped but nodded pulling away "i promise, i will tell Azula...soon!". Zuko nodded “I believe you” and let his hands drop away from you. Not a moment later Sokka and Aang appeared in the room making the two of you jump. “Zuko just the man we need! We were thinking of making an ice sculpture, fancy some fire bending?”. Zuko nodded “sure” and with a last glance to you left the room.

Hours later the party preparations finished you returned to your room which you were sharing with Azula for her visit. “Sokka made me blow up balloons” she said angrily “something about fire benders being full of hot air”. You smirked at your brother’s nerve when Azula’s next sentence wiped it off your face. "Also I think Zuko’s dating someone again" Azula said softly and you paused. "Ow really?" you asked and she nodded "he’s been spending a suspicious amount of time in the southern water tribe lately. Lots of visits which he claims are diplomatic but I can’t work out what he actually does here! He doesn’t know that many people and so it got me thinking, y/n do you think your brother and mine....". "No Sokka's still with Suki" you said shaking your head. Azula sighed “and it’s obviously not Katara, she and Aang are basically married, have you seen him hanging around anyone else? He doesn’t know many people so it should be easy to spot". You paused pretending to think but were really just trying to buy yourself time. "Honestly i don’t pay much attention to him when he visits" you said cleverly covering your back "but i will from now on and let you know". "Thank you y/n" Azula smiled. You smiled back relieved Azula didn’t suspect anything and let out a large breath you’d been holding for this entire conversation. You were now more than ready for sleep and got into bed hurriedly. You laid your head on your pillow and closed your eyes utterly exhausted.

"Goodnight y/n" Azula called and you nodded. You were very sleepy and after a long yawn smiled "good night Zuko".

You realised the name you’d said seconds after it came out of your mouth.

You froze

As did azula.

"Did you just call me Zuko...". You blinked "did i? I’m sure i said Azula". Azula was quiet for 2 seconds before she shot up "it’s you!" she cried "you're the one my brother’s dating!". "No Azula that’s crazy!!! We'd just been discussing Zuko, that’s why he was on my mind!". Azula shook her head "you're lying! I can tell by the tone of your voice! You’re the new girlfriend aren’t you?". You sighed "Azula i’m sorry i was going to tell you...". "I can’t believe you" Azula yelled and suddenly the door opened. "What’s wrong?" Sokka and Zuko asked bursting in “we heard yelling” and Azula glared. "You! Couldn't just have Mai huh? Had to take another one of my friends? How about when you’re done with y/n you try things with Ty lee?". "Ow she told you...." Zuko frowned awkwardly. "No i worked it out!” Azula spat “Y/n accidentally uttered your name because she’s so lovesick" Azula cried "you both make me sick" and she strode away slamming the front door hard as she exited the house.

After Azula left you all looked at one another unsure what to do or say next. "So...you two are a thing?" Sokka asked and Zuko paused "yes...is your reaction going to be as bad as Azula’s or can i go deal with her?". Sokka shook his head "go deal with her before she burns the village down”. Zuko went to move past Sokka when your brother put a hand to his chest "but come back and see me after, me and Katara will want to talk to you about dating our sister". Zuko surprisingly looked intimidated and nodded "I'll be right back". "Zuko wait i should come too" you called "this is as much my fault as yours". Zuko nodded "let’s go" and led you outside into the cold night after Azula.

You found Azula trekking in the snow and as she wasn’t in proper shoes you gained on her quickly. “Azula!” you called and she jumped. She looked around and glared “ow look the happy couple, how nice of you to grace me with your presence”. Zuko rolled his eyes “only you’d be so attention-seeking to make this about you”. “Attention seeking? Who’s the person who can’t form his own friendships or respect boundaries? No always have to date my friends, is it some weird way for you to gain power over me? A sad way to boost your ego?”. As Zuko and Azula went to square up to each other you stepped between them. “Alright enough the both of you! Zuko please go back to the house, i’ll handle this”. “But she...”. “Zuko please” you said sharply and he nodded “fine” and with a glare left. You watched him go before turning back to Azula. You’d been about to suggest you go home given that Azula was surely freezing out here in the middle of the night but Azula broke into a rant. "Everyone leaves me for him" she cried "Mai! My uncle! Mother! Even my father...after i was smarter, a better fire bender, more loyal and younger he still gave Zuko every little chance and only crowned me after Zuko literally ran away! When will i be good enough people don’t just choose him without a second thought for me?". "Azula i didn’t choose Zuko over you! Just because i like Zuko doesn’t mean i don’t like you still". "That may be true but this changes our friendship completely, it did with Mai! People always prioritise their partners over their friends so i’ll be second best once again". "Are you kidding?" you asked "Azula now i need you more than ever! Relationships aren’t when you ditch your friends, they’re when you need them the most! Who else are you going to go to for a break or a nice getaway? Who else is going to support and love you in only the platonic way a friend can? Who else can i complain about Zuko to when he annoys me or we fight?" you asked "they’re all things you need your friends for! Desperately and that’s going to be the same for me". "But when Mai dated him...". "But i’m not Mai" you smiled softly "Azula we are good friends, i won’t sideline you because of this. You mean just as much to me now as before i started dating Zuko". Azula huffed but you could see her melting. "So...how about we go inside, get some warm milk and talk a bit more about this huh?". You offered Azula your hand and she took it but she didn’t stop there. Azula threw her arms around you and hugged you tightly. "I’m partly doing this for the cold but thank you" she said softly "nobodies ever tried to make me feel supported when they've chosen Zuko, they just tell me to deal with it but you’re the first to try and reassure me and so i know you mean it, to still be my friend". "Of course" you smiled "you're my best friend!". Azula smiled and linked her arm through yours "i like that!”.

Zuko stared in awe as you and Azula returned grinning. "How did it go is everything okay?". You nodded "your extremely cool sister is fine with it". "Yes i thought this would be a great way to have an inside scoop on you zuzu". "She’s kidding i won’t talk to her about you...a lot". Zuko blinked "okay if everything's okay then i should go speak to Sokka and Katara, they’re waiting for me in the kitchen". Azula smiled "that’s a good idea, when you come back zuzu find me, i have some threats about what will happen if you hurt my best friend". You smiled at Azula and stepped to Zuko "good luck but don’t worry Sokka’s all bite, Katara’s the one to look out for but she has a big heart, just tell her how good a time we’ve had and you’ll be fine". "Good tips, any for my sister?". You smiled "Azula is one i have not worked out yet" you grinned "but i’m sure you’ll manage, you are the firelord after all". Zuko smirked and you patted his shoulder "after your appointment with my brother and sister and then your sister....you could always come find me in your room?". Zuko smiled "is that my motivation for surviving this?". You shrugged "you can think of it as that" and stepped away from him. Zuko watched you before sighing "alright let’s get this over with” he said loudly and strode towards the kitchen.

You turned back to Azula who raised an eyebrow at Zuko’s sudden confidence and she frowned. "Do i even want to know?" Azula asked and you shook your head "no". “Ow and don’t worry if I’m not in our room tonight”. “Euch Y/n!” Azula cried and you shrugged “what? I didn’t say why”. “I know why” she sighed before she smiled “at least I can have your bigger bed”. “Be my guest” you smiled, you had a firelord to get reacquainted with.

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iyumeu · 4 years ago

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What are the demon brothers really, especially good at when it comes to their obsession/possessive nature over their darling? Like, who’s really good at setting up an escape proof room, who’s the best at gaslighting their darling to hell and back, who’s got the most roofies they can slip into drinks and food so they can cuddle a sleepy darling. I hope any of this makes sense…

I'd like to think that in an ideal horrible world, they would realize that they all have to work together to keep MC with them, so as you've said each of them would be good at different things.

Lucifer would definitely 100% be the one to set up an escape proof room. In fact, I'm in the midst of writing a sequel to spirit guardian and in it Lucifer traps you in a special room he's prepared for you. From one of the in-game chats it's mentioned that Lucifer is the possessive type while Diavolo is the stalker type and Barbatos is... well-adjusted?! and with his tendency to prepare in advance, he'd be done with a specialized, well-hidden room even before anyone else had the idea of making you stay with them, permanently.

After all, didn't he keep Belphegor, one of the strongest demons in hell, up in the attic with little to no trouble? His enchantments are top notch; say hello to your new attic room, MC. Don't worry, it's comfortable and people can still visit you, and it's decorated almost the same as your kitchen room! And, if you're good, you might get let out!

Asmodeus would be good at charming and gaslighting to make things seem like they aren't as bad as they are. At first he seems like he's listening to you, as you scream and shout, he really does look like he's empathizing! And then once you're tired, he'd hold you and shush you and say, yes, Lucifer really is too much, yes, how could his brothers just lock you up like this, yes, you deserve to go out, he'll take you for a walk tomorrow! He'll ask Lucifer for permission, and Lucifer's bound to say yes especially if he realizes how sad you are! He's just a little frustrated now, you know that the Devildom is a dangerous place and we don't want you to get hurt! We only want you to be safe, you know that right? We love you, so we just want the best for you. I'm sure you can understand that! Can't you? So just stay in this room, alright? We're doing this for you, after all.

Leviathan's pretty good at guilt-tripping you as well. He just throws a big pity fest and you'll just rush to try and placate him, telling him no, he's not trash, you don't hate him. And he'll ask you if it's something he did, that made you want to leave them all so badly? Or if it's something they did in general. They can change, please, as long as you stay. MC, they can't live without you. MC, what are they going to do when you're gone? They can barely function without you. Besides, did people in the human world even realize that you were gone? They didn't even leave one message for you (didn't get a chance to, all communications were removed before they could even send anything), but the demon brothers would! They think about you every single day, the human world doesn't know what they have, they don't appreciate you, they don't care about you, but we do, MC. We're the only ones who care about you.

Apart from that he also installs cameras all over the House of Lamentations, especially near the exits and in your room, as well as bug your phone. He'll always be watching your every move, oftentimes even forgoing anime to just stare at you through the screen hours on end.

Satan is in charge of security. It's a responsibility he shares with Lucifer and he hates it, but he understands the importance of it. It's essential that no one can get into the house and, more importantly, that you can't get out. He has everything from tracking to sedation spells on you, ready to be activated at a moment's notice. He also took the liberty to enter the human world to track down everyone who ever knew you, private investigator style, and erase their memory of your existence. It's a subtle erase, too, like you're aware that the person exists, but they don't seem to be very important to you. You have better things to do than think about them. Once he's managed to manipulate the memories of everyone, then maybe you'll be allowed a little trip to the human world... just for you to see that the only place you truly belong is with them.

Beelzebub is the one in charge of physically restraining you if you ever get strange ideas in your head. You thought that he was a softie, that he would be the one you could break through to, to let you go, but he and his family were united in this particular decision to keep you by their side. You were, after all, a lot safer here in the Devildom than you were in the human world. What if you fell ill? Or someone attacked you? They wouldn't be able to reach you in time! Beel wouldn't be able to reach you in time, and he doesn't think he would be able to live with himself if he lost another person he loved. His family wouldn't be able to take it either. So he is quiet even though you scream and thrash in his grip, thrown over his shoulder, mouth gagged so that you were unable to command anyone to let you go. Your resistance hurts, but he knew it would be worth it in the end, and soon you'll realize that too.

Belphegor was another person you thought you could negotiate with, having been trapped in the attic himself. However, like Beelzebub, you could not be further from the truth. After millenniums of hurt and hatred, here you were, a ray of light into their world, a little piece of heaven just for them. He'd be damned he he were to let you go. You made Beel happy too, so you really were a fool to think that you could have convinced him otherwise.

He was in charge of dreams. The sleeping mind is malleable to suggestion and your dreams are no different. Most of the time he'll give you nice dreams. Warm memories from the past to remind you why you should stay, digging into your fantasies to play them out (the ones that involve the Devildom anyway) to give you incentive to stick around, and sometimes even raunchy dreams to ease you into the future... But sometimes he would give nightmares and all of the nightmares have one thing in common: they begin with you successfully running away from them. Different things will go wrong in your nightmare, from your family members not recognizing you or caring about you and being painfully alone, to being murdered or being kidnapped. All he needed to do was to plant a seed in your mind, that would take root and sprout...

Mammon was the last one to be on board with this plan. To the very end he still cared about your well-being above all else and when he realized that his brothers were never going to let you go, he stopped bargaining for your freedom. In the end, he was still selfish enough to want you to stay with him and, well, it's not like you'd be able to hide from his brothers anyway. So why not just give in and make life easier for yourself? And somehow, he would be the one to break you, even if he doesn't know it. His nonchalant attitude to the whole thing... He had been on your side at first but then he just... gave up?

He'd end up as another gaslighter, telling himself that he was doing it out of good intentions just like the rest of them. He would try to convince you to take it easy, take one day at a time. If you were good, then Lucifer would tell the brothers to give you more freedom! No one knew Lucifer's bottom line like Mammon, so just listen and do as he says! Life doesn't have to be miserable, it's all up to you!

Days pass, and then years... and you realize that you aren't aging. In a manner similar to Solomon, your pacts were keeping you alive and immortal. You would not die.

And, at the very end of the line, all you would have left would be those demon brothers you once called friends.

#obey me #obey me x reader #yandere obey me #ask #anon #iyumeu asks #lucifer x reader #beelzebub x reader #asmodeus x reader #satan x reader #leviathan x reader #mammon x reader

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cno-inbminor · 4 years ago

Text

iterum vivere (childe/tartaglia)

a/n: wow, it’s been fucking forever. first genshin fic featuring childe/tartaglia!!! a very huge thank you to @suspensin for reading this over and being my rock and support, and i love her so fucking much. I couldn’t have finished this without her!

plot: reincarnation and modern/uni!au ft. afab reader!traveler with she/they pronouns x childe/tartaglia

-- in which meeting childe is a bit of a dangerous game of push and pull

wc: 12.1k; angst + fluff

warnings: DOES CONTAIN IN-GAME SPOILERS (1.5? 1.6? + story quest and idek) and NSFW MENTIONS (mdni to be safe). there’s no explicit smut but thoughts do run a bit wild here and there

EDIT: Altered ChiLumi version now posted on AO3 here!

“Haven’t we met before?”

The shine in your eyes does nothing to hide your curiosity, head even tilting a little in observation. He watches them scan his face for any recognizable features, but attempts to focus on the strange, taut string of déjà vu that pulls him toward you. In a moment of absentmindedness, he had heard a faint voice call out his name from your direction. Confusion overtook him as you weren’t looking at him, but something inside his brain said that it had to be from you. And so his feet redirected his path towards your figure in the student union building, as if on a mission.

“A fucking whale, Childe?”

Oh.

“I don’t think so…?” You trail off, curiosity now replaced by perplexed feelings. “Do we have a class together?”

I think I would’ve noticed you by now if you were.

“Ah, what’s your major?” Childe asks quickly to avoid listening to the little voice in his head.

“History and anthropology, you?”

“Economics, but I’ve taken a history course for core credits. Maybe it was then?”

“With Dr. Zhong?”

“Yes!” He snaps his fingers. Part of his brain decides to usefully function and scan his memories to see if he remembers your face or head of hair in the lecture hall then. “Last year? Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11:20?”

“Actually, yeah,” you affirm in surprise. You think you would remember the relatively attractive ginger in your class, but honestly, it had all been such a blur and you were often pretty sleepy during class. Dr. Zhong didn’t quite appreciate it, but you made up for it with your exam and essay grades, as well as paying better attention in some of his other courses.

“Did you need me for anything?”

“I’d like for you to come visit and meet my family.”

He’s really not appreciating this extra voice speaking for him.

“Well…uh…” Childe stammers and looks away sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck. He honestly had no reason for approaching you, and now, he just looks like a desperate idiot. Think quick, he tells himself, floundering for some shitty excuse.

“I wanted to, uh, take another history course as an elective and um, wanted to know if you had any recommendations?”

“Oh,” you blink. That’s a first. When he meets your gaze, the swirling shades of sapphire strike something deep within you. Flashes of events you can’t make out go by in the blink of an eye, but then you realize you’ve been staring for too long. Blood rushes to your cheeks because you don’t exactly want this guy to get the wrong idea from you, because how are you supposed to explain, “I’m sorry, but I think we have met before, but just a really, really long time ago, and we might’ve been more than just acquaintances because that’s what it feels like?”

“I think you’d like Teyvat Mythology,” your voice wavers on the verge of cracking. “Dr. Zhong might have a TA this time around, but Xiao’s a great teacher. Doesn’t have long, rambling anecdotes, but explains things well and gets straight to the point.”

“C-cool, I’ll look into it,” Childe replies and smiles brightly. “I’ll head out then,” jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, where he just realized he left a grouchy Scaramouche waiting by a vending machine, newly purchased Starbucks Tripleshot drink in hand. “Nice seeing you, (y/n).”

He scurries off before you both realize that you never told him your name.

“Who’s that?” Scaramouche asks, jutting his chin in your vague direction.

“Someone from my Intro to Liyuean History course last year,” Childe waves off. “Come on, let’s go before the line at the pasta bar gets too long.”

The next time you see Childe is by accident, traversing across an open field of grass that many students like to sit out on to relax with friends, sunbathe, hold events, or play casual team sports if room permits.

You had your earbuds in and were scrolling through social media when laughter rang above all other sound, causing your head to snap up and swivel around to find the source. And while it might’ve been strange to an outsider, your steps immediately slowed as you watched the man of your tiring, vivid dreams sprint in your direction, eyes pinned on a frisbee heading towards him.

He’s wearing a grey sports tank and basketball shorts, headband holding back his bangs as he makes a slight jump in the air to catch the plastic disc between his palms. His feet plant into the grass as he looks for someone to pass it to, and you watch (with embarrassment) the muscles in his throwing arm relax and tighten with practice, frisbee steadily soaring through the air in a beautiful arc towards a teammate. He then lightly jogs to get closer to his group, but then his back stiffens.

Before your instincts kick in for you to turn and bail, he looks over his shoulder and stares straight at your now stunned self.

The sole ruby earring that glints in the sunlight catches your attention, and you recall your dreams of terrifyingly dark, violet electric power, blades of water rushing toward you, and then the stomach-churning sensation of falling from great heights pours concrete into your veins—

Childe looks a little amused for having your sole focus, hand lifting up for a quick wave. And as you numbly return the greeting, your heart beats out, “Run from him.”

And so with the flight response pulsing and firing from your synapses, you abruptly speed walk away, almost breaking out into a sprint towards your dorm. You ignore his pointed, confused look, and pretend you don’t feel the two holes of imaginary fire searing into your back. It isn’t until you’re laying back in bed that you release a huge sigh of relief and pray to a deity you don’t believe in that those eyes of mirth will not haunt you tonight.

But of course, with a deity that doesn’t exist, the prayers go unanswered.

“Do you believe in any of the mythology you teach?” You ask Xiao about a few days later when you stop by his cubicle. Luckily, no one else is around for this conversation, and Xiao has always been kind enough to humor your thoughts. Granted, he might feel obligated because you had asked Dr. Zhong to be your advisor for your undergraduate Honors thesis, and Xiao was directed to be your receiver of some general questions and source of information if he wasn’t around.

A quick scan of your complexion tells Xiao everything he needs to know. Your eyes are overtaken with rumination and exhaustion, haziness clouding them as you seem to ponder over your own question. It’s not often that you ask him anything not related to your thesis or coursework.

“Perhaps there’s some sense and truth to the tales passed down,” he softly muses. “What makes you ask?”

You lift yourself to sit on the clean area next to his computer, legs slowly swaying back and forth. “It might sound crazy but...I’ve been having dreams lately. They feel too real, too natural to be anything that my mind would make up. I’ve never had the most creative imagination by any means, which is why there’s some comfort to me being a history major, but I can’t shake these.”

“So why ask me about the mythology?”

“...the Archons are there. I even dreamt that I met the Geo and Anemo Archons. And they controlled various elements, just like we were taught.”

You don’t notice that Xiao has ceased his rapid typing, fingers hovering over the keyboard before one hand removes his glasses from his face. He uses the other to rub his eyes and softly pinch the bridge of his nose before sliding the frames back on. Dark, golden amber eyes survey you as you grapple with the unfathomable possibilities of your nightly visions, at least until you shake your head in disbelief at yourself and lightly scoff.

“Who am I kidding?” You ask no one in particular. “Maybe I’ve been doing too much research and everything’s mixing together.”

“You’re ahead of schedule, if that provides any consolation.”

“Some.”

It takes Childe a grand total of one minutes and 53 seconds to sign up for Teyvat Mythology for the spring semester.

WInter in Liyue is only slightly miserable, being so close to the ocean. It’s chillier than usual on this dreary day, yet something compelled you to exit your dorm and shakily make your way to the campus coffee shop for a warm drink. Coffee, hot chocolate, you haven’t quite decided yet, but just as you let yourself bask in the warm building, familiar ginger hair and blue eyes wash away the comfort.

Or do they douse you in security?

They remind you of your recent dreams that now have shifted away from stress and violence to easygoing summer days by the oceanside, running barefoot in the sand while collecting beautifully patterned azure starconches. Sometimes, you thrust a hand towards an oversized four-leaf clover on a wooden stake with the power of wind and catch yourself in the air, soaring and looking around to find more of the little shells. Other nights, they consist of climbing steep cliffs, only to sit at the edge in the clouds with fatigue wracking through your system and marvel at the view before you.

Someone’s always with you though, ruby earring and maroon mask and cobalt blue gem hanging from the waist, sprinting with you, playfully tackling you down, pulling you up towards mountain peaks, laying their head on your shoulders, brushing their lips against your cheek--

You welcome the change of peace in those dreams, but only because they don’t leave you quite as tired the next day, as if you’d been avoiding an inescapable dark force.

Part of you wants the burning question of why this person, this man, in all his glory and brightness, affects you so fucking much when you barely even know the guy -- why looking at him sends your heart to lodge itself in your esophagus, why your lungs feel like they’re so close to being completely collapsed under the weight of his stare, why feeling like you’re trapped and caught between wanting to run towards yet away from him. It makes no sense, and you’re tired of trying to make sense of anything you don’t exactly want to remember from your dreams for some, once again, inexplicable reason.

But there’s no time to think as he quickly ambles towards you, your own feet shuffling forward to meet him in a warped reference of a distance that constitutes to “the middle” before you can stop yourself. Your shivering hasn’t quite stopped yet, and Childe seems to take notice of it.

“Pretty cold out there,” he softly states. It’s cute, the way you’re curling in on yourself to retain some warmth.

“Y-yeah, not sure why I decided I really needed something warm to drink right now,” you reply and avoid his gaze. He watches you peer over his shoulder to squint at the menu display hanging from the ceiling, seemingly contemplating on what you should get.

“How about I get yours today? My treat for your class recommendation last time.” Anything to keep you here longer. Childe doesn’t realize how much he’s missed you, which confuses him, and chooses to ignore the fact that he’d been camping himself at the study tables in the building where the history department is located in hopes of even just catching a quick glimpse of you.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” you immediately attempt to subvert his generous offer, hands shooting out from your jacket pockets and waving in rejection. “It was nothing.”

“Please?” Childe puts on his best puppy eyes before reaching for one of your wrists, gently tugging you to the register. “Just this once?”

You want so badly to squash the tiny flare of disappointment that erupts in your chest from the newly acquired knowledge that this was just a one time thing. Do econ majors hate to feel in debt? That they must be even with everyone, or would rather have people indebted to them than the other way around?

There’s no time to think when Childe gives the cashier his order before turning to you, and without wanting to waste anyone’s time, you rattle off your usual beverage. He’s quick in fishing out his student ID to spend some of his campus currency, shooting you a boyish grin when you pout at your half-opened wallet.

“Go take that table over there,” he says, pointing to one in the corner by some windows. “I’m gonna tell my friends to go on without me.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude or pull you away from them,” you slightly panic. The sooner you can leave, the better. Right? “You don’t need to sit with me, I was just gonna head back to my dorm.”

“I insist. Go ahead, I’ll be right there.”

Why your brain takes his orders over your own is a mystery in and of itself, because before you know it, you’re plopped down in one of the lounge seats and staring off into space, mind reeling over the last two minutes. You pretend you can’t hear the way Childe’s friends nudge his arm playfully with their shoulders, wiggling their eyebrows suggestively as Childe tries to get them to stop being nonsensical.

“You’re gonna scare them off,” he hisses at them, hands pushing at their backs so they could finally leave him to his devices.

“Not before you do!” One of them laughs and Childe groans at their antics. “All right, all right, we’ll go. They’re cute though, might steal them if you don’t make a move.”

The darkening of the aura surrounding Childe is too quick for them to fully process, not before he dampens any of their fleeting hopes with a, “Don’t even fucking think about it.”

But it disappears just as fast when his and your drinks are called out, and he gives them one last shove before retrieving your to-go cups. Childe directs all his focus towards the seat diagonally from yours as opposed to the one that’s straight across, and you’re sharply ripped away from whatever reverie you let yourself slip into.

“Thank you,” you murmur, hands cupping the drink and feeling the heat seep into your fingertips. “You really didn’t have to, it was nothing big.”

“Can you blame me for just trying to find an excuse to finally talk to you?” He asks without a skip and you can’t tell if the quickening of your heartbeat is from a looming sense of doom or excitement. Those eyes, the tiny swirls of the ocean, blue like those shells buried in the sand--

It takes three seconds too long for you to understand where he was going with in his words, and part of you feels unamused at his smooth talking. You’ve always guarded yourself against guys like Childe, devilishly handsome who know their way around language semantics, ready to pull you in and just as ready to push you away. That (possibly unfair) bias, coupled with everything else you’ve been feeling for him, sounded the alarms and set the walls up around your heart. Perhaps you need to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve, because Childe immediately retracts his forwardness.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I promise I’m not looking for anything in return and you don’t owe me anything, but I really did just...want to sit and talk and...get to know you?” Childe trails off a little towards the end. Your body loosens up and relaxes just a tiny bit, feeling bad for your snap judgment. Let the guy do something nice, don’t look into it too much, you tell yourself. It’s a coffee, not a five-course dinner.

You reach out a hand towards him, small smile across your lips, ready for his to join yours in a quick handshake. “I’m (y/n), senior history and anthropology double major. It’s nice to meet you.”

The pounding of your heart against your ribcage has nothing to do with the shimmering of his eyes, nothing to do with the fact that his hand fits with yours just right, and nothing to do with the fact that an eerily similar voice from your dreams whispers, “I love you.”

You learn a number of things about Tartaglia in the four hours, like his family members and their respective interests, which classes he did and didn’t enjoy taking, certain takes on Schnezhnayan politics, his own various hobbies, crazy accidents from the occasional college parties, and more. He’s a bit of an open book, probably telling you way more than any regular person would, and definitely more than anything you revealed during all this time. Everything you tell him seems surface level, nothing too deep. The walls are still there to protect you from the unexplainable, profound feelings his presence seems to elicit, and luckily, he doesn’t prod any further. Childe feels the resistance and respects it, which just adds more brownie points in your book, and you almost feel bad for having given so little in return.

“I wish we were taking Teyvat Myth together,” he sighs when walking you back to your dorm, hands stuffed in his pockets. His ruby earring catches the light from the sunset, the shade almost complimentary to the golden amber rays that streak across the sky. “Would’ve helped having a history major in there.”

“Is that all I am to you, an answer bank?” You jokingly ask, but he watches concerningly as you shoot your gaze to the ground, mindfully stepping over the cracks between concrete slabs.

“Of course not,” a gentle sincerity reaches you, giving you the confidence to make eye contact with him. “I’m sorry for making it sound like that, it wasn’t my intention. I really just meant it as a way of saying if the professor or TA ended up being a total bore, then well, having you would make it more fun.”

“I’m sure I’d bore you even more,” chuckling, speeding up to get away. You’re growing too comfortable in whatever atmosphere Childe has created, like an enclosed air bubble bobbing gently in the depths of the sea and letting the waves carry you both to whichever ends of the earth.

“Hey,” he interjects, hand reaching out to stop you with a soft yank of your wrist. There is no resisting force from you, feet stepping backward until he meets you eye to eye. It’s unfair in the way that he can render you motionless by standing just an inch from you, arms brushing with his head tilted closer to your own. “Seriously, I’m glad we did this today. Are you?”

No, because now I don’t know what to think, I don’t know who you are, I’m not any closer to figuring out why you terrify yet leave me so enamoured with you, I’m torn between punching and kissing you and--

“Yes,” you subconsciously answer, brain immediately short-circuiting to scold yourself. “I had fun.”

His grin, charming, devilish, is so so bright, bright enough to rival the Liyue sun that sits on the pier, on the edge of the ocean, bright enough to rival the love that your fraternal twin showers you with on a daily basis. You want time to stop right here because you’re almost sick of the voice settled deep within your heart that screams, “Don’t get comfortable, you must run from him!”

“Good. Let’s do this again?” And you nod, of course you do. Foolish you. “Don’t be a stranger!” He calls out as he turns on his heel and waves over his shoulder, hand raised in the air, and you’re suddenly transported to another scene, a less refined version of the Liyue Harbor, watching as the head of ginger hair with a red mask in a flashier attire of grey and maroon walks away from you and onto a roaring, magnificent ship; big, ivory sails only seen in books and museums. It’s the same gesture of “see you later”, and just before he turns, you blink, and you’re back to seeing your campus again.

But Childe does look back once, warm and content that you’re still standing there, watching over him, and he can’t help but think about when he can spend time with you again, because suddenly, it truly feels like there’s not enough of it anymore.

“Excuse me, what’s a Red Bull?”

The last thing, or person rather, you expect to see on the last day of finals for the fall semester, is a small boy who looks way too young to be here, tugging on the sleeve of your windbreaker. He’s at most eleven, ten maybe, but he has eerily similar characteristics, as well as an accent that doesn’t quite belong to most Liyue natives. Still gathering your bearings from your own perusing of the fridges that hold all the possible beverages a college student could consume, you kneel down until you’re at eye level with the child.

“Repeat that for me? Are you looking for a Red Bull, you say?”

“Yes!” He beams and holds out a student ID that most definitely doesn’t belong to him. “My brother asked me to grab him one because he was busy with something.”

Your eyes flit over to the top shelves where the aforementioned cans of caffeine are located, and definitely too high for someone of his height to reach. “I’ll grab one for you. Did he ask for a specific flavor?”

“Nope, he said regular. Thanks, you’re really nice! Do you know my brother?” He asks, waving the ID at you so you can get a better look at the name. That’s definitely a face you recognize, but the name leaves you confused.

“Yeah, um,” glance over again, “I know...Ajax…”

“He’s the best toy seller in the whole world!”

Somehow, it suits him much better than Childe or Tartaglia, and you’re not quite sure what toys have anything to do with the matter at hand. Speaking of hands, the little boy grabs yours in sheer delight. “Can you take me back to his room? I kinda forgot the directions he told me, and everything’s so big around here.”

“Sure, just let me buy something, too, and I’ll take you.”

“Okay!”

The cashier isn’t the least bit fazed by the little brunette at your side -- it’s always common for family members to come in around the end of semesters to pick up kids or visit, and being an open building with snacks and drinks and a stopping point of most tours, they’ve seen it all. You even let him pick out a bag of chips and a candy bar for himself for being so polite and not a complete menace, paying with your own campus currency.

Teucer, as you’ve learned in the last two minutes, likes to point out things and ask you questions. Luckily, you have answers to most of them and do your best to pad the time, enjoying the feeling of a tiny hand wrapped around three of your fingers. It’s sweet to any normal passerby, believing they’re witnessing an older sister doting on their little brother around the holidays, but to Childe, seeing the tender sweetness on your face as you nod along to whatever Teucer is rambling about to you, sets his heart aflame. He’s already constantly on the verge of wanting to hug and kiss you and never let go, but you haven’t made any indication that you could potentially like him back, and this is just torture.

“Look what they bought me!” Teucer shoves his rewards in Childe’s face as if he had extremely poor eyesight, and you can’t help but laugh a little as you set his Red Bull down on his desk, clutching your own preferred beverage while looking around his room. Finals must have gotten to him with the unusual lack of tidiness in the small space, some laundry strewn here and there, a couple boxes of eaten microwave dinners in the metal wire trash can, some textbooks left open and marked with more sticky notes than you’ve ever seen. You’d only been here once before to drop off some food that he desperately messaged you about, stuck doing a project that he just couldn’t step away from.

“Pretend you don’t see the mess,” Childe pleads, handing a kid tablet to his brother but holding on before Teucer can take it. “What do you say to our nice friend here for buying you these snacks?”

“Thank you!”

“It was nothing,” you shyly smile, ruffling his hair. “I enjoyed meeting you.”

“Wait, what’s your name again?”

“It’s (Y/n).”

“Okay, (y/n)! Wait…(y/n)..as in…”

Teucer trails off and gives a look to his brother, one that spells curiosity and trouble, before he grabs your hand and pulls you into a corner. Any movement Childe makes to leave his desk chair is immediately squashed by Teucer’s disapproval, and the older man is left to helplessly worry when you’re told to squat down so secrets can be whispered into your ear.

“He talks about you a lot whenever he calls home,” and you want to laugh at Tecuer’s attempt to sound as scandalous as possible. “All the time! I think he likes you, like, like like.”

Oh. Oh dear.

“What makes you say that?” You whisper back, indulging both yourself and him, yet also internally snickering at how troubled Childe looks.

“Sometimes, he video calls mama, but we’ll all sit around and talk, and whenever he’s talking about how he saw you or something, he just looks...happy. Really happy.”

The surprise on your face does nothing to settle Childe’s nerves and he’s about to start wringing his hands together. Whatever Teucer was telling you couldn’t be good, probably embarrassing, like the one time he unceremoniously fell on his ass while ice skating over a frozen lake, or when he tried fitting fifteen marshmallows in his mouth and nearly choked on them when their mother caught them in the act, or--

“I think he just thinks of me as a good friend,” you try to inform Teucer, not letting yourself get any semblance of hope. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“If you say so,” Teucer pouts. But then he stops whispering and bounds over back to his brother, grabbing the tablet before plopping down on the half-made bed.

“Look, I was overconfident and thought I could execute a perfect single loop on the ice, but there was a rock and I lost balance and--”

“I wasn’t being told any stories about you falling on ice, but do tell me more,” you chuckle and take some joy in watching the blush spread across his cheeks. It’s easy to tell that he’s mentally berating himself for jumping to conclusions.

“Well, first off, thanks for buying him all that, and my drink, too,” he sighs. “I spoil him enough as it is.”

“I can see why it’s hard not to,” you smile knowingly. “So is it just him here? Where’s the rest of your family?”

“Funny story, he somehow managed to convince my parents to let him come here on his own as his first ever plane flight, so I had to pick him up yesterday from the airport. He’s flying back with me tomorrow.”

“And the RA?” You ask with an eyebrow raised.

“Ah...well...what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him? Speaking of, what was Teucer whispering to you about?”

There’s a pensiveness that overtakes you when you look at Teucer again, who’s happily playing some sort of game and completely oblivious to the rest of his surroundings. You won’t, can’t, take his words to heart, and will take them with a grain of salt at most.

“Nothing important. Although I did learn something new...Ajax?”

“Say my name -- fuck, say it, please--”

“I guess cat’s out of the bag,” he chuckles and looks away, absolutely unaware of the flare of heat that swirls in your stomach from the fleeting vision just now. “I came up with other nicknames as a kid to seem cooler, and they just stuck with me. Plus, the business world is full of people who just want something from you, or just a transactional relationship. I’d rather not give my real name to them, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s fair,” you nod and lean to sit on the edge of his desk. A thought pops into your head and you turn the words over in your head like a washing machine on the spin setting, teeth gnawing on the flesh of your bottom lip. If Teucer hadn’t been in the room, he would’ve been this close to kissing you.

“But if it’s worth anything,” your voice slowly, softly starts, cautious and wary of your thoughts. “I think...Ajax suits you best.”

Curse fate. Curse the legendary Archons. Curse karma and deities and spirits because all he wants to do right now is stand and tower over you, trap you between himself and his desk so you can’t escape, take those pretty lips between his until they’re bruised and swollen because of him, hear you call out his name in the throes of pleasure so he can finally replace his fantasies with tangible memories. The unnatural, magnetic pull that draws him to you is unbearable now -- he feels like he’ll lose the last tendrils of his sanity if he doesn’t do something.

You can’t stop him from slowly reaching out to grab one of your hands, lifting it towards him until he’s close enough for you to feel his breath ghost over your knuckles. It sends a shiver down your spine and blood is pounding in your ears because you can’t begin to fathom what he’s thinking about while doing this, even more so when his lips make contact with your skin and your breath hitches, stuck in your throat as he languidly peeks at you beneath his eyelashes with a heated gaze, then lowly confessing, “My name sounds best when you say it.”

Good heavens.

It’s difficult to swallow and keep your composure, especially when Teucer yells out in glee over, what you can assume, beating something in his game, and Childe drops your hand. But his dilated pupils don’t retract in the slightest, refusing to let you look away so that maybe, you can understand what he’s trying to convey to you. He’s taking the first step because he’s terrible and can’t contain his self-control anymore, pushing the ball into your court, ready for you to either play or exit into the sidelines.

When you do blink, there’s a vision of your naked body wrapped around another, limbs clinging desperately to a sturdy and panting frame. Lips, much like the ones that have seared themselves onto your knuckles, are at your neck and sucking, biting, before moving to your ear and laying filthy words into them that drive you closer to the edge. It all happens so fast that you feel you’ve just experienced whiplash, yet also feeling secondhand embarrassment at how lewd some of these thoughts have been.

You can’t stay here any longer.

“I-I have to go,” spills off your tongue before you can really think about it. The way the haze shatters in his eyes is heartbreaking in its own way, but there’s no time for you to explain. Your brain is in overdrive and eager to run, run, run. It detects danger on all fronts, but you muster out a, “H-have a good break, come find me next semester, mmk?”

And you’re out the door with inhuman speed. When the door clicks shut, only then does Teucer look up from his screen and frown at the lack of your presence. “Where’d they go?”

Chlide doesn’t seem to hear him, and Teucer has never seen his big brother look so sad and confused before.

He holds on to that last tendril of hope, because mark his words, he will find you come January.

After about a week at home, enjoying the festive time with his family and mildly unconcerned about next year’s courses because that was a problem for another day, Childe has his first, crazy, nonsensical dream.

At least, that’s what he tells himself when he snaps awake and his body aches with exhaustion. Not only are his joints in agony, he also feels like he’s sporting unforeseen bruises, which makes absolutely no sense because he hasn’t done anything that would warrant them, no matter how much he and his brothers do some rough-housing. His night of sleep was all consumed by flashes and scenes of weapon fighting, lucid enough to remember feeling his arms flex and wield bows and double-headed polearms and being cognizant of all the enemies??? surrounding him. They ranged from deranged looking monsters, floating beings with soulless masks, and large humans in electricity-padded armor, to behemoth machines in the sky that could leave you within an inch of your life thanks to a drill for a hand?!

But what’s even worse is that you seem to have managed a deal with Morpheus himself and infiltrated his dreams. You were there, too, sometimes fighting with him, sometimes against him, much to his dismay, and while it was nice, he just didn’t get it. Why the friendliness and hostility? Why was there an anger that overtook him when looking directly at you, parrying your blade and sending harmful arcs of water toward your figure?

Why did he relish the fear in your eyes when he darted towards you with electricity cracking through the air?

There’s an overwhelming sensation now to grab his phone to text you and apologize -- for what, he can’t fathom and there are no words to accurately convey what he’s thinking. “Hey, sorry for wanting to kill you in my dream :( “? Or “Sorry for being a friend but then stabbing you in the back, but then being nice to you again”?

And the only thing that really made sense was the serenity and contentment that would course through his veins as the two of you danced around on ivory sandy beaches, picking up shiny blue starconches and taking down more weird creatures; the breathlessness when you would fall back into the water and re-emerge to reconfirm his beliefs that you were one of the most beautiful humans he’d ever laid his eyes on; the love--

Hold the fuck up.

He doesn’t love you. He likes you a whole lot and he’s severely and deathly attracted to you, but he doesn’t love you. Your existence has only been made known to him for about two months, and he didn’t really start talking to you until three weeks in. So no matter how comfortable he feels with you, no matter how much he wishes that you were sleeping peacefully next to him so his nights wouldn’t feel so lonely, it was too early, too hasty, to say that he loves you.

“I’ve been wondering, why didn’t you bring them home?” His mother asks him out of nowhere during breakfast, all to add to this extremely tumultuous roller-coaster morning he’s been having. All he wants to do is eat his bowl of milk and cereal, then potentially go back to sleep before fulfilling his promise to go with his siblings to the nearby skating rink. It takes everything in him to not choke on his spoon of grains.

“Agreed, didn’t you mention they didn’t really have any family to go back to and that the move to Liyue was semi-permanent?” His father chimes in, laying a quick peck on his wife’s temple. “It’s never fun to spend the holidays alone.”

“They would’ve felt like they were intruding,” Childe replies quietly, stabbing his bowl a few times before scooping up another spoonful of cereal to his mouth. “I know we’re friends, but we haven’t known each other for that long, and maybe they’d be uncomfortable because that’s a lot honestly…”

“You don’t know until you try,” his mother sings and pats him on the shoulder. “We do have a guest room after all.”

“For them and their twin?”

“And quite a comfortable futon with enough blankets.”

Childe smiles fondly at his parents’ kindness. He can only imagine what this winter break would’ve been like now -- you and your twin floating around, trying to help out with certain chores, sitting by the fireplace and watching TV, huddled up with mugs of hot chocolate, playing board games with everyone and engaging in all the shenanigans…

Laughing. Loving. Grinning. Basking.

Handing over one of his hoodies to you as a sick way of torturing yet blessing himself for seeing how lovely you look in his clothes, standing silently in the doorway as you attempt to help out with mealtimes next to his mother, watching you run around in the backyard and dodging his siblings’ snowballs while lodging a few of your own -- how wonderful it all would be.

But he squashes it down as quickly as possible, because you escaped his grasp. You ran away from his advances temporarily and even though you gave him permission to seek you out come the spring semester, he worries that you might take it back. Something will wake up inside of you to keep him out of your heart and your life, and he’s not confident enough at this point to believe there’s a good chance you will come spend the holidays with him and his family next year.

“Maybe next year, ma,” he sends her a hesitant, yet somewhat broken purse of his lips that’s just the least bit curved. It tells her everything he’s thinking, and the quick patting of his cheek lets him know she understands.

Half an hour later, Childe finds himself curled up on his side under the sheets, phone in hand as he stares at a blinking cursor. It shouldn’t be so hard to send a text to convey his holiday greetings, because that’s all it is -- part of him is becoming desperate and aching for some interaction with you, even if it’s just a text sent back for conventional social pleasantries. He’ll take it for now, right?

Before he can totally chicken out, his thumbs quickly type a, “Happy Holidays, (y/n) :)”, and it’s a little embarrassing how quickly after he hits the ‘send’ button that he tosses it over his shoulder so he’s not directly looking at it anymore. His heartbeat is too quick and he prays for no phantom vibrations or phantom sound notifications to avoid any disappointment of thinking he got a reply. It was a harmless text, yet he’s treating it like he just got assigned on a mission to go and murder someone for the first time. What will he do if you never text him back? Does that mean you really don’t want to talk to him? Are you dead in a ditch somewhere? Did you change numbers and not tell him? Did your twin get all the details and make the executive decision to block his number? Will he never get a chance to talk to you again, even if it’s about something in the Teyvat Mythology class next semester? Will you--

His shoulder screams in protest when he quickly flips himself over at the text notification sound, hands shakily unlocking his phone and opening up your conversation again. His heart rate significantly decreases, reaching back to its normal pace, especially as he reads the little words on his screen.

“Happy Holidays, Ajax ^^”

There is hope.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

You’re huddled under the comforter of your twin’s bed, phone just peeking above the edge as you stare at it with a brightness in your eyes. For the most part, you had been sulking there, apart from meals and going back to your own room to sleep, and mentally berating yourself for the way you reacted to Childe the week before.

“He just texted me to say happy holidays,” shrugging to put on a facade of indifference. It’s stupid that you’re trying to hide your feelings from your twin of all people, who could pick apart and identify your emotions in a heartbeat. A roll of his eyes lets you know that you haven’t fooled him at all.

“So you think that whatever comment he made, which was very suggestive and indicative of clearly non-platonic feelings, was just something...friendly? Remind me again how you came to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking!” You whine, looking around to see if there was anything you could toss at him. “It’s just, with everything, all the dreams and stupid gut feelings, I just -- I don’t know, okay?? I can’t tell you enough how much I wish I had just kissed his stupid face and see where it goes from there.”

“Okay, gross, but don’t beat yourself up. Though...I do have a good idea on how to maybe get a good reaction out of him. You wanna go to the New Years’ celebration at Xiangling’s?”

“I think she’d threaten me with a knife if I didn’t. She wanted to go shopping at some point, too.”

“I’ll drop the overprotective brother act for one night, okay? One night, just to let this happen, and for your peace of mind.”

He does a fair amount of conspiring with Xiangling, a friend they met one time at a restaurant a couple years ago, even tagging along on the shopping trip. Together, the three of you find yourself a dress that Xiangling swears would make any person drool over you, including Childe, because at the end of the day, he was a person with the possibility of being attracted to you.

You think it’s a bit silly, but honestly, what do you have to lose at this point?

At 11:57PM on New Years’ Eve, Childe is standing outside in the freezing cold with his family, arms lifting up bags of sparklers and fireworks. They’ve driven out closer to the wild like they do every year, and everybody excitedly gets lighters ready, making sure someone’s got a clock out there that tells the seconds. As the younger kids open up the packaging and argue over which one to set off first, Childe’s phone vibrates in his coat pocket.

It’s 11:58PM when he manages to fish the device out and thank himself for buying gloves that are touch-screen friendly, excited to see that there are two texts from you, the latter reading, “Happy New Year!”. It doesn’t matter that you’re a little early, but he’s mainly intrigued by the fact a photo came before it. In his mind, you’re probably curled up with your twin brother, hopefully a selfie because wow, he misses your face.

He gets something else instead, and he is so glad that it’s dark outside and the electric lamp they have is too far away from him to draw any attention.

You have your arm around your brother’s waist and another girl’s that he doesn’t recognize, but it’s a full frontal view of your outfit, one that hugs your curves beautifully and shows more cleavage than he’s ever seen from you, sophisticated and elegant, yet fun and leaving enough to the imagination. There’s a bright smile coming from all of you, and you look like you’re at someone’s house or apartment with plenty of other people milling around in the back, but they don’t matter, not when all he can focus on is you.

Gorgeous, breathtaking, arousing, mind blowing, and gods, he wishes he could teleport to Liyue at this moment, find you, and kiss you right at midnight. Fuck the fact that he doesn’t exactly believe in superstitions like, “Kissing your significant other at midnight means you’ll last forever!” but he’s willing to take the chance with it on this night and the ones after, if he’s allowed. He tries not to think too much about pinning you against the wall and letting the world dissolve -- wants to be the one with the privilege to drag down that zipper and feel his bare skin on yours, and --

As Teucer starts yelling there’s only a minute left, he instinctively locks his phone and shoves it away out of anyone’s view. The last thing he needs is his family teasing him about ogling at your photo for a straight 50 seconds, wide-eyed and pupils on the verge of dilating, the visible breath leaving his mouth just a smudge more dense and prominent than usual.

The only thing he can do to distract himself from popping a boner in front of his parents is to join in on the countdown, making sure all the fireworks are set up correctly and grabbing a sparkler for himself. He waves it around with Tonia and promises to fulfill her wishes of taking one of those pictures right as she draws a pattern in the air. Their excitement is palpable and addicting, and even though the larger fireworks set off a few seconds after midnight hits, the nostalgia fills his lungs with fond memories and future wishes that they only continue this tradition for as long as possible, and hopefully, with you at his side.

When it’s 12:04AM, you get a picture message back of Childe bundled up in a black paletot coat, matching beanie and all, a gloved hand holding a sparkler and lips curved upwards, with a caption that says, “Happy New Year’s! See you soon :)”. You show it to Xiangling and your brother, both taking it as a win in their books, although the former does tipsily protest that there should be a better indicator of Childe’s brain breaking at how amazing you look right now. Maybe she’s prophetic, because another text chimes in and the words set you aflame, as well as suggestive whoops into your ears.

It’s a simple, “You look incredible btw”.

If you didn’t want to properly savor this moment, you would’ve found the nearest shot of the strongest liquor and tossed it back with abandon. But you want to remember the warmth in your veins that wasn’t from the alcohol or the heating, the fluttering of your heartbeat, the teeth-baring grin that you couldn’t fight off, the constant re-reading of those four words -- because they’re so different from everything you had been feeling before with him, the need for protection, the need to escape. Instead, you’d like to be in his arms right now and see for yourself how he’d look at you in this moment, and if he would take any action.

You want him to. So, so bad.

Childe spends his last week at home hating the fact that you’re just sitting around somewhere in Liyue, doing whatever you’re doing, probably doing some light preparation for your last semester of classes, and he’s not there to take advantage of all this free time and hang out with you. When classes start, it’ll be busy and hectic. You still have your thesis to finish and revise, and while that won’t eat up all your time, it’s still some that he’d want to fill in with his presence if he could. He debates whether or not he should ask for your schedule and compare it with his, maybe set up meetings every other day or propose that they all eat one meal together every day. Childe’s not quite sure of what you plan to do after graduation, as it hasn’t come up in conversation yet, but either way, he’s determined to stay in contact and make things work out. Long distance isn’t ideal, but with technology now, he’ll take it.

He feels a little bad for how excited he probably looked to be leaving home, uncharacteristic for the most part. His older siblings have already gone back to their respective homes, and it’s mainly Teucer and Tonia that worry and tear up when he starts packing his belongings. Tonia finds it unfair that Teucer got to meet you first and the latter makes sure to rub it into everyone’s faces. It’s hard for Childe to sleep on the plane because he’s thrumming with excitement, yet somehow even more nervous than usual when the plane hits small bouts of turbulence, and he doesn’t seem to relax until he sets foot back on campus.

He’s here. It’s January, and you’re physically closer to him than ever in the last two weeks.

“Found you.”

On the first day of classes, you’re sitting alone with some salad greens in a bowl, poking your fork at some scraps while you watch something on your phone, earbuds in and back towards the entrance of the canteen. It would explain the unannounced entrance of the very person who’s been at the forefront of nearly every thought in the last 96 hours, his fingers gingerly removing an earbud to surprise you as best as possible, and you startle in your seat.

Your heart kicks into overdrive when he hands you back your earbud and pulls out the seat next to you, setting his own plate of food down as he plops down in his chair. But then he says nothing afterwards, instead choosing to send you a cheeky grin before digging in. You’re left to slowly phase out of your state of shock, stuck between either running away or frantically texting your twin to come and save you even though he was off on a date with Keqing.

It’s not that you weren’t elated at the fact that Childe had done exactly as you told him last month, you just weren’t...prepared? It’s a shitty excuse and a cop out -- you’re mainly just having trouble with racking your brain to find the right words. What are you supposed to say? What should you do? Is it socially acceptable to lean over and kiss him on the cheek because that’s what you’d like to impulsively do at this very second??

“So you did,” you settle and steal a roasted potato wedge from his plate. It’s his turn to be taken by surprise, but he gets over it much quicker than you do. In fact, he spears two wedges and drops them in your bowl, smiling at you as best as he can with a mouth full of food. You give them your thanks before the silence settles in again.

“Did you have a good break?” He asks before his next bite.

“I did. You?”

“It was nice. My parents said I should’ve brought you and your twin home to spend the holidays with us. Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind before finals.”

Holy shit, what? “We couldn’t intrude like that, but that’s really nice of you guys.”

“That’s okay, there’s plenty of chances to visit later.”

You tilt your head and furrow your eyebrows. “But we graduate this semester?”

Childe challenges you with one of his own eyebrows raised. “And? Are we never gonna see each other again?”

Honestly, the possibility had occurred to you. You aren’t entirely sure of Childe’s plans after graduation, and if that meant he was staying in Liyue or going back to Snezhnaya or even moving to Inazuma or Mondstat. While people preach on and on about how lasting friendships and relationships are often formed during college, you believe it’s more common to slowly drift apart as life gets busier. And if Childe moved away, or if you did, it’d be hard to consistently keep in touch with 10 hour workdays.

The thought saddens you, regardless. You like him so much and you’re glad that he was even in your life to begin with, because as unbelievable as it sounds, seeing him was almost akin to the feeling of coming home. Amidst all your nerves, your confusion, your spiraling thoughts, something deeply sated in your heart was a comfort that you found with very few people in your life whenever in his presence.

The thought of leaving and never looking back somehow doesn’t feel new -- it’s bittersweet, but the air in your lungs feels like it’s surrendered to something, like it was to be expected.

“You can’t just leave without telling me--”

“It was last minute! I had no choice!”

“You could’ve written up a message, anything--”

“Can you imagine the position you’d be in if the message got intercepted? I wouldn’t have been safe, she’d make you come after me--”

“As if you’d be any safer in Inazuma of all places! That’s the one place I can’t easily get to!”

“I can take care of myself, Childe, I don’t need you to protect me.”

“This isn’t about me protecting you, (y/n) and -- stop walking, will you?!”

“Then what is this about?” You spin on your wheel with eyes aflame. “Why are you so angry with me? It’s normal for me to disappear for weeks at a time, why was this any different?”

“Because you could’ve died!” He yells back in despair, chest heaving. Your silence is his cue to continue. “You could’ve died and I wouldn’t have known until much later. You could’ve died and all I’d ever think about were the things I never got to say to you, and how I wish I had treated every day with you like it was our last.”

It isn’t hard to tell that you’re stunned and at a complete loss for words. Childe often hides behind facades of charm and wit, and only when he is truly weak does he choose to be this vulnerable, baring his heart for you to see.

“I only have two nightmares in this world. One, my family being harmed in any way. Two, reading in a report or hearing from an agent that you’ve been captured and killed.”

“I like to think that we will.”

His hand reaches out to lay on top of yours, giving it a quick squeeze. “Well, let’s make the most of it this semester.”

Conversation afterwards is easy, filling each other in on holiday activities. Childe speaks extensively about several family traditions and you listen with rapt attention, basking in how fond he is of all of them. Even as you both bring your dishes to the return belt and leave, he immediately offers to drive you both somewhere to get boba, noticing your reluctance to part ways. But boba shops have to close, and you both have class tomorrow morning, and you’re both finding any excuse to keep talking, even if that means sitting outside your dorm building on a nearby bench.

You eventually bid each other good night’s and see you later’s, him refusing to walk away until the heavy door locks shut behind you after you swipe your student ID, and you looking over your shoulder to watch his figure disappear into the night.

True to his intentions, Childe makes great efforts to meet you at least once a day, and he can’t get enough. Each parting from you tugs and tugs at his heart, as if there’s a high possibility you’ll never want to see him again the next day, and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Your twin and Childe get along well for the most part, and he even meets Xiangling on one of her shifts at her regular restaurant, who sends you a salacious wink and an eyebrow wiggle over his shoulder that nearly causes you to burst from embarrassment.

February rolls over without a hitch, even if you’re a little disappointed that Childe didn’t make a move for Valentine’s Day. Granted, you two still spent time with each other and he’s so darn physically affectionate and he bought you a carnation from the event his dorm held, but you wish you had the guts to fess up and just kiss the man.

It’ll happen some day, you tell yourself. You have time before graduation.

Two days before the end of the Friday that would signal the start of Spring Break, you wake up in a cold sweat, mind reeling and head splitting, heart so so heavy, as a connection is made between your present and your dreams. Not long after, there are tears streaming silently down your face and into your open palms placed in your lap, and you sit in shock as everything comes back to you. Memories are such treasured burdens, you realize.

For the most part, you had gotten used to the dreams, choosing to take charge of what you know and feel now with Childe over succumbing to some strange neurological premonitions. Especially in your dreams when many people’s faces were blurred over and hazy, and the only things you could rely on were voices, touch, and other physical features. You thought that maybe your mind was just playing tricks by transposing Childe’s hair onto a body that was also strikingly similar to his, but for the first time last night, you could see each defining feature on his face as clear as day.

The sight of his figure arching gracefully over yours, the water arrows that appeared out of thin air, the back that protected you from some military men, the voice that said, “Hey girlie, hold still.”

And that was when you had snapped awake to your current state.

Past the initial shock and uncontrollable tears, you soon bent over as sobs wracked your chest, overwhelmed by all the emotions and the pain the memories brought you; losing your twin, finding him to only be left with even more questions after roaming for decades and decades, meeting all your loved ones throughout Mondstat and Liyue, fighting yet falling so hard for Childe, feeling the fear when facing his Foul Legacy form, hating him for Osial, loving him, breathing heavily as the tip of your blade was pointed at his neck and his own just centimeters from yours, tendrils of water inching closer and closer--

Everything makes sense now.

When you meet your twin for lunch at the cafeteria, you pay no mind to the fact that you’re in public and hug him harder than you ever have in years. He’s already a little alarmed that your eyes seem swollen and you look like finals came two months early, but when he asks what’s wrong, all he gets is a shake of your head and nothing more than, “Just a bad nightmare. I love you, y’know that?”

“I love you too?”

“Don’t sound so unsure, now let’s go and get in line before they run out of Jueyun Chili Chicken.”

Even when you meet Xiao later in the early evening to talk about your thesis, you find yourself holding back more tears just two minutes in, reminded of his past and his own life, and he’s moderately concerned, hesitantly handing you a tissue from the corner of his desk when a stray tear escapes. “Is everything okay?” He hesitantly asks, really hoping that he didn’t do anything to make you cry.

“No,” you almost wail and sniffle while dabbing at your eyes. “Sorry, it’s just been a really long day.”

Xiao’s inquisitive gaze softens, remembering how hard undergraduate life could be sometimes. Graduate school was a whole other level, but that shouldn’t discount your own personal difficulties. Plus, in all of the year and a half that he’s known you, you’ve never broken down like this before in front of him.

“You work really hard, Xiao,” you continue, and he’s not sure where this is coming from. “You’re always so helpful and willing to work with me and answer my stupid questions and like-- you practice self-care, right?”

Xiao nods as a white lie, but it seems to comfort you. Maybe too much because you pull him in for a quick and unexpected hug, and you both decide to reschedule this meeting for tomorrow.

As per usual, you wait for Childe to join you for dinner since you finished up earlier than expected. It gives you more time to think about everyone from Mondstat -- Kaeya, Diluc, Lisa, Jean, Amber...funny to think that some things never changed as you compared their past version to the ones you know now.

“Mora for your thoughts?”

There’s a peace that warms your heart when you hear Childe’s voice, one that forces you to smile at him as he sits down next to you. “Just thinking about old friends.”

“I have to admit, I’ll be a little jealous if it’s another guy taking up more space than me in that pretty brain of yours.”

What a flirt. This man isn’t good for your heart. “Who said you had any to begin with?”

He dramatically places a hand over his heart. “You wound me, (y/n). How will I ever recover?”

“You’re ridiculous,” you snicker. Childe reaches over to pinch your cheek and you bat at him in protest. Easily, he grabs one of your hands and simply pulls you towards the food lines, knowing that you’ll stop fighting back soon.

Part of it feels strange now to feel and see his hands with no leather gloves on.

“Childe,” you start halfway through your meal, continuing after he hums back in reply. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

He freezes briefly, but recovers so quickly that if you hadn’t been watching so closely, you wouldn’t have noticed. “I think it’s neat, the idea of having past lives. Why do you ask?”

What he really wants to ask is if you’ve been having those dreams, too; if he’s starring in your nights like you have been in his.

“Just a thought, especially since you’re taking Teyvat Myth now, too.”

“Do you...do you think if there was a past life, that we knew each other?”

There’s something about the look of content on your face before you meet his gaze -- he thinks that you know more than you’re letting on but you’re holding back for some reason. He wants to know what’s going through your brain right now, why the fondness in your eyes sends a jolt through him like he’s been searching for it all his life, if you know anything about this magnetic pull between you two.

“I like to think that we knew each other well.”

Even though the first day of your returned memories was somewhat eventful, you couldn’t help but feel yourself wanting to pull back from Childe -- at least, until you can successfully compartmentalize which emotions belonged to you past self and which ones belonged to your current mindset. You didn’t quite agree with his duties and his affiliation with the Fatui back then, even if he had his reasons that did make sense, to some degree.

The killing, the threatening, so intent on stealing Rex Lapis’s Gnosis in the name of the Tsaritsa, summoning Osial as a mean to an end -- and you definitely can’t forget how stubborn he was in not listening to your protests, so caught up in his brain that you had betrayed him and sent you plummeting to a near-death experience despite his earlier promise of no intention of killing you specifically.

Everything had been toeing a faint, thin line with Childe then. Undeniable chemistry and tension, guarding yourself for yours and Paimon’s safety, slashing at Fatui agents, whispering out pleas and affirmations of “I’m yours” while riding him, sometimes having to sneak out in the mornings…

The only thing you don’t remember is how everything ends -- maybe it’ll come back to you eventually, but for now, you think you’re okay not knowing.

If Childe still doesn’t remember anything from back then, you think it’d be unfair to spend time with him in all your conflicting emotions, even when it’s spring break, where you have so much more hours in the day to be with each other than normal. Fun plans around Liyue had been made, like a two-day one-night trip to Yaoguang Shoal, and you’re this close to cancelling on him.

But he had been looking forward to it so much, even made most of the preparations for it. Who are you to rob that joy from him when it was you who couldn’t figure out your own shit? Are you self-destructing?

Perhaps.

Before you know it, you’re sitting in the passenger seat of his car, staring out the window at the scenery. Somehow, it pleased you to see that the nature of Liyue had been carefully preserved over the many centuries despite its development into the modern age. You get lost in picking apart the differences between then and now that you don’t notice how quiet you’ve fallen and Childe looks over worriedly when you show no reaction to your favorite songs playing on the stereo.

Even when he calls your name once, twice, nothing gives as you clearly have tuned everything out. So he leaves you be until there’s about half an hour left on the drive, unable to hold back and succumbing to reach over for your hand. You startle so strongly that he almost feels bad for having done it unannounced. But what’s even more disturbing is that this isn’t really the first time.

You’ve been talking to him less, often sitting quietly and staring off into another world that he can’t seem to reach. His texts are answered less frequently and with less wit and enthusiasm, so much so that he just appreciates you still show up to see him. Each time he asks if you’re okay, you always affirm that you are. He’s had a hard time believing you, but Childe believes you’ll tell him when you’re ready, surely.

It’s a little ironic yet fateful that Childe planned to bring you here, of all places. In the past, you had spent many days and nights running around in the sand with him, fighting slimes and hilichurls and collecting starconches for him. You remember laying on a large towel next to him as you both looked up into the sky, pointing out stars and constellations while sharing endless kisses away from prying, spying eyes.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve zoned out,” you sincerely apologize.

“It’s okay, I just wanna make sure you relax while we’re here. This is supposed to be a vacation.”

“You’re right,” you agree and squeeze his hand. “Let’s make the most of it before we become adults who are too busy to have fun like this again.”

And you do. Childe rented a small beach cabin (rich boys) closer to one end of the shoreline, just big enough with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen with a dining table. You help him bring in your bags and some groceries bought the night before, setting them down quickly so you can peer out the window again to take in the view. Childe picked a good time, too. Although it’d be a little chilly at night, the day was still warm and mainly overcast with clouds.

“What do you say we change into our swimsuits and head down to the water?”

“Sure.”

Childe hadn’t really been expecting for you to step out in a large, casual tee and gym shorts, one shoulder exposed. He might have been hoping to see a little more skin, but his mother didn’t raise a chauvinistic pervert for a son.

The light in your eyes as you both approach the water is everything he had been missing the last few days, your excitement and joy contagious. As soon as you place everything down on the sand, you kick off your flip flops and leave him behind to step into the water, giggling at feeling the waves crash over your ankles and bring sand between your toes. Childe approaches you from behind and starts smearing sunblock on the back of your neck, to which you just grin beautifully at him in thanks and he has to fight off the desire to kiss you right then and there.

You’re too caught up in embracing the ocean afterwards to feel the shrinking distance between you two, mistaking his warmth for the general spring air. It isn’t until he’s done with your shoulders that he hands you the bottle to leave you to do the rest of your body, and when you turn to thank him, he’s much closer than you remember. His eyes are gentle, holding your gaze and almost daring you to look away first.

But if there’s one thing you can place without a shred of doubt, it is the unmistakable look of love, because you had seen it many, many times before without knowing until later what it meant.

How so incredibly lucky you were to have Childe back in your life now, loving you all the same, and with no life-threatening barriers. Fate or the Archons have given you a second chance, and you’d be damned to take it for granted.

Childe welcomes your lips against his, wasting no time to bring you into his arms so you’re pressed against him as much as possible. He can’t care for the overt public display of affection because this is everything he’s wanted for months now, waiting patiently for you to give him permission to make you his. Your lips are incredibly soft and pliant against his as you first kiss him patiently, then applying more force and desperation to taste more of him. He mirrors you, one hand cradling the back of your head and the other on your neck with a thumb extended to your jawline, teeth moving to nip at your bottom lip. It’s dangerous, the way you smile against his lips, and when he sinks his teeth in deeper before pulling back, your quiet mewl nearly drives him over the edge.

But you’re in public, and this was an amazing first kiss. You two have a beach to enjoy and a fun night planned, and now that he doesn’t have to hold back on his affections, it’ll be even better.

His lips part from yours regretfully, his eyes languidly opening to meet yours. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a blue starconch in the sand and freezes.

It’s not that he’s never seen one before, but something clicks. You. The shore. Starconches. Starry nights. His dreams. Monsters. Gods. Fighting. So much fighting. Training. His family. Dragons. You. Falling. You falling. You fighting him. Yelling. Kissing. Loving. Chasing. Him chasing you before you disappear at a teleport waypoint that somehow you only can operate. The abyss. Your twin.

Oh, Archons.

“ -ou okay, Ajax? Ajax?”

He snaps to look at you again. How does he go about this? How does he ask?

“(Y/n)...have you ever heard of the Fatui Harbingers?”

He has to admit that it’s a bit amazing to be able to identify all the emotions that cross your complexion, from curiosity to realization to conflicted. You’re actively trying to piece everything together without revealing too much on the off-chance that you’re wrong, that Childe hasn’t regained his memories and is just asking about something from class randomly and completely out of the blue.

Wait.

“You haven’t reached that material yet in class,” you whisper, heart in your throat at the realization. Could it really be…

“I was once Tartaglia, eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, who possessed a Delusion and used my Foul Legacy Transformation with you several times,” he murmurs back, tucking a stray tendril behind your ear. “Is it too late to apologize again for summoning an ancient god and letting you fall about five floors with no warning?”

He should’ve been prepared for you wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him in for a tight embrace. “No, never, but I spent weeks after kicking your ass so you’ve been long forgiven.”

Childe burrows his face into your neck, breathing in your scent and basking in this moment. There was so much to talk about, but you two arguably had more time in the world than ever with nothing holding you back. There was no impending war looming over, no one on the run, no opposing forces. His silent wish for a different life with you seems to have been answered finally. If running into you had been the event to set everything in motion, he only wishes he’d done so earlier.

All that matters now is you’re here together in this plane of existence, given a chance to love again, and experience everything you couldn't before.

As written in the stars, take my soul for it is forever yours.

fin

#childe x reader #tartaglia x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin scenarios #genshin impact scenarios #genshin imagines #childe #tartaglia #childe angst #genshin impact #genshin angst #genshin impact angst #this fic maybe took two years off my life

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