#if he won't give me his cape i'll simply have to use it as a blanket

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

im the one who requested the matching outfits and omg ！！thank you so much 🥹 i really enjoyed it ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

aaaaa i'm glad you liked it!!! Foul Legacy has impeccable drip and i wish he would share some with me,,, i want to look cool too!!!!

[fantastic-nonsense]

Wasn’t it Alfred who’d made Damian Robin in Battle for the Cowl? Dick must have agreed after the fact, but Alfred was the one who set it in motion.

Nominally yes, in the sense that Alfred is the person who first put the cape in Damian's hands:

"You can't keep me here." "I'll do no such thing. But understand that you've been injured. Severely so." ......."What the hell are you pulling here, Al?" "It's time to earn your keep. If you're up for it." "So long as I'm not wasting any more time in here, whatever." -Battle for the Cowl #3

However, the reality is "not really." Three things to note about this:

One: no one in the story who actually knows what Damian's gotten up to while Dick was tracking down Tim and fighting Jason actually treats Damian as Robin. For the purposes of the narrative and everyone in it, Tim is still Robin, as Squire points out:

"I'm sure Nightwing could use a hand finding Robin. This way, then." -Battle for the Cowl #3

We don't really see anyone else's reaction to Damian wearing the cape in BftC. Even when Damian saves Tim while wearing the symbol, Tim has no actual reaction besides a single exclamation of Damian's name, and he seems more bewildered that Damian is there at all than he is about Damian wearing the Robin tunic. But the people we do see? Don't treat him as Robin. They treat him as an ally who happens to be wearing the Robin tunic for convenience.

Two: within the bounds of BftC, Damian is explicitly framed as being "Dick's responsibility" with Bruce gone. After Jason shoots Damian, Dick has the same conversation with Alfred that Bruce often did whenever one of his Robins was hurt, framed in a way that made it obvious where things were heading:

"Damian...this child...I could have gotten him killed tonight. I have a responsibility to him now. I let him down, Alfred." "Bruce also said the same of you...and Master Timothy, many times over the years." "And of Jason Todd." "Him as well." -Battle for the Cowl #2

Dick has already implicitly accepted Damian as his Robin at this point. And though Dick and Tim have not explicitly discussed it (as we see via their argument in Red Robin #1), it was also fairly clear that Tim would not be Dick's Robin based on how Dick thought of Tim by that point (as his brother, as his equal, as someone who should not be taking orders from him full-time). Tim had already spent time as the Robin to Dick's Batman back in Prodigal, and both boys had come a long way since then. Once Dick decided to take up the cowl at the end of BftC #2, it was inevitable that Damian would be his Robin rather than Tim (for a whole host of reasons I won't get into here). Alfred just hastened that inevitability.

Three: simply wearing the cape does not make you Robin. You are Robin if and only if two things happen: you have been explicitly accepted by Batman as his partner and Dick Grayson has given his blessing. You are a potential Robin. You are an ally wearing a Robin costume. But you are not Robin until those things happen.

Tim was not Robin in A Lonely Place of Dying even though he stole the costume with Alfred's help to save Bruce and Dick. Tim did not become Robin until after both Bruce and Dick had accepted him as such and he went through a training period (he was known as "Little Bat" until then, btw). The same is true of Damian, who wore the Robin tunic at least three times prior to actually becoming Robin (Bruce briefly took him out while wearing it in Batman and Son and he famously wore it during the events of Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul); he was no more Robin then than he was in BtfC.

The costume isn't what makes you Robin. Batman saying you're Robin and Dick giving the blessing of his parents' legacy to you makes you Robin (which. I will freely admit that's a loaded, complicated topic given the history of how the Robin mantle has been passed down over the years. but it generally holds true). Damian properly becoming Robin after BftC was clearly Dick's choice; Alfred can't "make" anyone Robin if Batman doesn't agree.

The core conceptual problem with Battle for the Cowl (well. there's about 5000 problems with BtfC. but you know what I mean) is that it tries to deal with about fifty different things at once, most of which all ordinarily would have gotten their own dedicated space across multiple books or tie-in comics to deal with. Instead, all of these things are smushed into a single massive threeshot event comic with awful characterization and a near-incomprehensible chain of events. In a perfect world, we would have gotten the same kind of build-up and transition between Tim and Damian that we did in the 90s when Tim became Robin after Jason's death. Unfortunately that's not what we got, so we're left to fill in the gaps ourselves.

But textually, Alfred did not make Damian Robin. Alfred handed an ally to the cause a Robin tunic during a crisis specifically for the purpose of rescuing Robin. After that crisis was over, Batman chose to make that same ally his Robin for reasons entirely unrelated to his wearing the symbol during that specific crisis. Dick chose Damian to be his Robin, and that choice should not be looked over just because removing it conveniently lifts some of the hurt feelings and messiness of that transition off of Dick's shoulders.

Dick handled his own legacy, as he should have. And while he did not handle it with as much communication and grace as he should have or probably would have liked to, it was his mantle and legacy to handle at the end of the day. For once, he had complete agency over choosing a successor to his heroing legacy (and his parents' legacy), not Bruce or Alfred or anyone who self-appointed themselves as a successor, and we should acknowledge and respect that.

He didn't pick Damian because Alfred unilaterally gave him a battlefield promotion; he picked Damian because he thought Tim was grown and independent enough to thrive without taking his orders every day and believed Damian needed his direct oversight and the growth opportunity being Robin would provide more than Tim did. Allow Dick the dignity of his choices instead of acting like he had no input or say in the matter of who his Robin was going to be.

[osleeplessflowero]

if it's okay can you do a cross x reader oneshot with fluff. where the reader is from underswap with swap sans and she knows ink and dream as well and swap papyrus and swap sans are like brothers to the reader cause they did free the underground in their universe. They have the soul of kindness and plays the guitar and their personality is chill, kind and Tomboy.

ooh, a specific request! i'll do my best to interpret y/n how you wish, anon. :]

Crushing

"Saaans! I'm ready to go now!" You call out, currently standing in the middle of your living room of the house you've been sharing with the skeleton brothers for quite some time. Sitting patiently on the couch behind you is Stretch, who's been scrolling on his phone for nearly half an hour and occasionally showing you something funny he stumbles across. After a few crashes and thuds and what you think sounds like the squeak of a dog toy, you spot Blue popping his head out from upstairs.

"Alright, I'm Ready As Well! Thank You For Being Patient With Me, I Had To Find My Cape. Papyrus, Can You Maaaybe.." He looks at his younger brother, pleading and silently asking a question to which he deadpans to.

"sans, i am not watching over berry today. i'm not in the mood." He crosses his arms, remembering the little delinquent's last shenanigans when he'd stayed in your home. The last thing he needs is to have to put up with that childish little brat again.

"Please, Just This Once! I Have To Have A Meeting With Dream And Ink And Possibly Go On A Mission! And If He's There In The Line Of Fire, Should Nightmare And The Others Show Up.." "doesn't he have a comically large knife? he'll be fine."

"Please, Paps? Just for today, then you can have the whole rest of the month without having to put up with him." You offer, Blue smiling hopefully at your offer. Stretch contemplates, before sighing.

"okay fine, but JUST for today. you owe me." He points at you both, earning a nod as Blue opens up a portal for you both to enter.

"Thank You, Paps! I'll Make It Up To You, Promise. Okay..You Remember The Nickname, Right?" He turns to you with the friendly smile you've always known. "Yep, call you Blue in front of the others. I won't forget." You give him a thumbs up, and he gives you a pat on the back before you both walk inside, watching as the portal closes behind you.

You both walk along a pure white hallway, the light causing your eyes to squint so you focus your attention on Blue, who's simply humming a familiar tune as you both move quickly along.

"Um, so..do you maybe think that.." You trail off, your face warming a little. Blue perks up at this, smiling slyly as he turns to you.

"That Cross Is Here? I'm Sure He Is, He's Been Spending A Lot Of Time With Us Since He Escaped Nightmare's Castle. Whyyy, You Excited To See Him?" He teases, grinning as you furrow your brows as you look at him, giving him a nudge in the shoulder.

"Sans! Don't be so loud, you jerk-" You cross your arms as you walk, earning a chuckle from the skeleton beside you.

"I Think It's Cute That You Like Him. You Should Tell Him!" He offers, perking up a little. You stammer over your words for a second before you reply coherently.

"No way! I couldn't do that! He- I.. I wouldn't want to ruin things between us, okay? I'm content with just..being friends." You hold one of your arms as Blue comes to a stop, putting both his hands on your shoulders so you look into his eyelights.

"You And I Both Know That's Bullshit." He deadpans, earning a scoff and slight laugh from you.

"Blue! What would Paps say?" "I'm A Grown Ass Man, I Can Swear From Time To Time! And I Need You To Come To Terms With Your Feelings For A Certain Angsty Guy." "Never telling him." "Hmmm. We'll See." He lets go of you as you both finally reach the Star Headquarters, Dream running up to you both as he notices you and giving you a quick hug. You smile at his warmth, feeling his positivity overtake your body and soul.. he smells like vanilla today, it's nice.

"Hello, you two! I'm so happy to see you again! Blue, Ink's waiting in the meeting room for you with some hot chocolate." He smiles, the skeleton beside you cheering before walking inside to chat with him.

"How've you been, Dream? I've been wondering what you've been up to." You walk beside him, watching as he fidgets with his gloves.

"Ah, I've been wonderful! Mainly practicing with my new camera. I've realized I absolutely love photography! Being able to appreciate nature's gifts by capturing them forever..it's so wonderful! I've even got some pictures from battles, if you'd like to see them. A personal favorite of mine is Blue being launched out of a cannon Fresh!Ink created. He moved so fast!"

"You have got to send me a digital copy of that, I'll show it to Papyrus." You snicker, Dream letting out a little chuckle in return as he assures you he will. When you finally enter, his words begin to somewhat muffle as your attention is brought to Cross, who's simply sitting on a couch in the living room and looking at the new phone Dream had got him a few weeks ago, a few stickers having been slapped onto the case by Ink.

He doesn't seem to notice you're there until he hears Dream's voice, snapping out of a trance almost as his eyelights slowly rise to you. You feel your breath catch as you come to a loss for words, face heating up a little at his acknowledgement of you. He averts his eyes when he realizes he'd been staring too long, cheekbones dusting with a light shade of purple. You decide to do the same, oblivious to Dream smiling smugly at the both of you as he excuses himself for the "Meeting".

It's quiet for a little bit. You find yourself unable to speak up, and Cross finds himself unable to look you directly in the eye. Every time you open your mouth you just find yourself closing it again, before you let out a huff and just walk over to sit a good distance from him. He seems a little startled by this, but he doesn't say anything.

Your focus is shifted slightly when you hear Blue send Berry off to your home 'verse, smiling a little at the idea of him running around everywhere to Stretch's dismay. Well, at least there'll be some peace here.. You shift your focus back to Cross.

Your eyes go wide in surprise when you realize he's been staring at you, his face flushing at being caught. He quickly looks away, clearing his throat.

"Um..hey there. ..Haven't seen you in a while. Been busy?"

Oh, he's initiating the conversation this time. That's a first. Well don't just sit there, answer him!

"OH! Uh-" You clear your throat. You've got this. "Not really, just been kinda hanging out at home and practicing my music. You um..you wanna hear something? I could play for you, if you're uhh..if you're cool with that."

"..Yeah. Play something you like." He relaxes his posture a bit, resting his arms over his lap. Wow, does he look handsome right now..you shake your head at the thought, opening up your Inventory.

*You equip the Old Guitar. Still in perfect condition.

Your guitar manifests in your hands, and you adjust its positioning so it's more comfortable to play. You try to think of a song you both happen to like, beginning to play the notes you're thankful you memorized. He recognizes the melody almost immediately, smiling a little in reply. You almost slip up at the sight of it, internally swearing and hoping he didn't notice.

While distracted by your thoughts, you don't seem to notice the way his eyes have softened as he watches you. His smile is fond and warm, almost as much as Dream's usually is, but with so much more..meaning behind it. He raises an arm, resting his elbow on one of his legs and resting his cheek on his palm as he begins humming along to the tune.

You find yourself joining in without even realizing it, the sound seeming to drown out any other noises around. Dream shuts Ink up mid sentence as the three skeletons listen in via the door to the Meeting Room, grinning at the fact you both are spending time together.

When you finish the song, you slowly open your eyes, freezing when you realize just how close the both of you had gotten to each other. His hand is resting at your side, his face mere inches from yours. Your eyes both go wide at the revelation, and he backs up quickly. Were you both about to-?!

You put your hands over your flushed face, blindly feeling around for your guitar as you put it back in your inventory. Cross coughs a few times, a hand over his teeth as he composes himself. He can't believe his own boldness..

The peace is interrupted when you hear the sound of crashing outside, Ink and the others running to attention. The two of you simply get up and take action as well, going through a portal Ink hastily paints to go confront your opponents.

The fight goes like they normally do, both parties do some damage and are sent right back to their respective home bases. However, the whole time you found yourself slipping a bit, watching Cross fight and thinking about the moment you'd shared a little bit ago..which earns a few shouts from Blue to get your attention again. You're their best defense after all, gotta prioritize your shield!

It's fairly dark out by the time you return to the Doodlesphere, Ink having set up a day/night cycle for the base for more immersive purposes. ..Plus he'd been forgetting to sleep, so it's good for his schedule. The Star Trio stands inside, laughing and talking to themselves about something for a bit. You slowly slip back outside after a moment, unaware of the narrowed eyelights watching as you go.

You climb up a ladder Ink had painted for you, standing on the roof of the massive building. Ink had truly designed it with creativity in mind, various rooms, tunnels and random exits anywhere you look. You can even spot a slide coming out of one of his room's windows that he'd often use to sneak out and prank the others before they woke up. You can spot Cross' new room near the guest room, customized to his liking. It suits him..

You sit on the edge, dangling your legs and looking up at the simulated stars. Not quite as good as the real thing from back home, but you can work with this. You reach your hand up, closing it around a heart locket dangling from your neck. Letting out a frustrated sigh, you abruptly lie back, arms resting at your sides and spread out.

"This is such a pain! Why is it so hard to tell Cross how I feel? Why can't I just tell him the truth? I mean, yeah, I'm not a Bravery soul. But still, why is it so hard to just say that I like him?" You groan, putting your hands over your face. You freeze when you hear the sound of footsteps moving across the rooftop, slowly pulling your hands down. Cross stands over you with a smile, a browbone raised as he looks over your state.

"..Cross. How much did you hear?" Your heart quickens. Oh stars-

"Just the end part, so I don't..really have context, but you seem to be stressed about something. ..Maybe you could talk about it with me?" He offers, shrugging a bit. You sit up and pat the spot beside you, him sitting with you in an awkward silence.

You fidget with your hands, trying to figure out how to approach this topic. It's the perfect opportunity. You just have to figure out when to..ease into it.

"It's gorgeous out tonight, isn't it?" That's a good start, a simple topic.

He looks over at you, focusing on your face as you spot a constellation. His hand slowly slides over to yours, fingers brushing lightly against your own.

"..Yeah, it is."

You look over as his fingers intertwine with yours, slowly looking up at his eyelights. He gives you that same fond smile you'd missed earlier, leaving you breathless. Your face darkens deeply as he chuckles, his own face dusted with a beautiful shade of purple.

"Cross, I um.." Go on, you can do this. You take a deep breath as he reaches his other hand up to your shoulder reassuringly.

"..I really like you, Cross. I have for a really long time, and I haven't been able to figure out how to tell you because I was scared it would mess things up, especially if you didn't feel the same, and I just- fuck, this is NOT easy-" You let out a little laugh, tears staring to prick at the corners of your eyes as you brace for rejection, but..it never comes. Instead, you get a much more precious reaction.

The way his eyes seem to light up at the words to match the stars above you both. The way he has that shocked expression, mouth slightly parted to say something and him struggling to find the right words. The way that look slowly melts back into fondness as he reaches up to wipe your tears away..

"Oh, thank the stars. I thought I was on my own here." He whispers with relief, leaving you gaping at him. He felt the same?! How long has he?-

He pulls you close, giving you a warm hug. You rest your head on his shoulder, letting out a breath you hadn't realized you were holding.

"So..what..are we now?" You ask, voice quiet. "Well..what do you want to be?" "..Together, if..that's okay with you."

You both break apart, and shift a little so you can rest your head on his shoulder. You smile as you feel his arm go around your shoulders, relaxing in what might be your new favorite spot. You both don't say anything for a good while, until Dream calls for you both from the front door. Before you both have to part for the night, you give him a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving his skull a bright shade of purple as you run away with a laugh, the other skeletons almost immediately choosing to tease him about it.

[slightlyhopefulromantic]

i was gonna wait until i finished the bitd and deadlands line-ups before posting these, but i'm not gonna get those done before the final season starts, so might as well bite the bullet now XD woohoo, oxventure d&d designs! i'll go into further detail below the cut for all of my thoughts on these designs and reasoning for smaller details, but for now, just know that i will never draw a cape. i simply cannot do it. hoods and weird draped fabric or nothing XD

okay i put like. waaay too many thoughts into a lot of these small details so im gonna allow myself to geek out here X3 firstly - though they're way too small to read properly, i did the little symbol eye shines i used in my first art for them! dob gets music notes, prudence gets fire, corazón gets hearts, and merilwen gets flowers. i usually draw egbert's pupils pretty thin to resemble a reptile, so he just gets normal eye shines, but i probably could have given him some here... he would get suns if i thought of that

dob - muscular in a wiry and dehydrated way, lol, hence having a more defined stomach/hips despite not being as strong as prudence or egbert. he has sad/down-turned puppy dog eyes at all times because i think the big-eyed endearing look is fitting for him, though i do make them darker blue than his canonical baby blues because i just... like how dark blue eyes look, lol. i'm pretty sure he canonically has the stomach scar, and obviously his facial scar has always been there, but i gave him a couple other ones just to show that hes pretty reckless. and he gets freckles because even though they arent mentioned in the dragon dogma's video, i noticed luke added some and. i like freckles a lot

prudence - i've said this before, but i love the thought of pru getting muscular after the werebear bite <3 i just think she should be a little bit hench. as a treat. once again, the heavy stomach scarring comes from the dragon dogma's video, because i found their design choices in that really fun. i change prudence's outfit the most out of any of the characters, just because her canonical outfit confuses me. i'm really bad at understanding/drawing fantasy wear as is, but her fit... i'm lost entirely XD so i free-balled a bit. her inner sleeves that hook around her fingers are based on jane's various prudence looks, and then the looser outer sleeve is just because i love prudence with a dramatic sleeve. originally the colors were closer to her canon outfit, but it just looked messy without all the details of the original, and then i tried red like jane's prudence looks but it didn't contrast enough with her skin. so i restricted them to just deep purples and black with pops of gold and dark magenta!

corazón - what can i say besides. transgender. LMAO honestly though, besides adding the top surgery scars, i just really like his canon look. i simplified the details, obviously, but i really love his big coat and his tall boots and the earrings and the black-on-black-on-black of it all. i didn't particularly feel like drawing hats when i was doing this, lol, so i stuck with a red bandana instead. the beads that are strung from it are black, red, purple, green, and yellow to match their guild's canonical color associations/the colored name plates they get in later seasons :] because corazón is the sentimental sort, even when he won't say it. also he gets a little cateye for his eyeliner, i dunno if i've ever said why i do that before haha

egbert - egbert my dearly beloved. literally just his canon look except he has la vache mauve on his tunic instead of fire! and the nose spikes i give him, i guess, but i forget those aren't canon. i actually usually draw him in mike's egbert get up, with the black robes and the golden dragon sigil, but i kinda wanted to move away from that to lean more into the end of legacy of dragons, where egbert fully commits to never going back to the dragon d'or. also i just love drawing little cow heads <3 also! i like the idea that rather than typical scar tissue, dragonborns grow thicker scales over places where they've been injured. so the thicker patches of small scales on egbert's body are meant to be scars! including his kidney scar, lol. the larger scales and the ones on his face were always there though, that's just dragonborn biology baby

merilwen - if i said i based merilwen's body on cartoon bears, would you forgive me... i just think it's cute LOL tummy <3 for the final dragon dogma's video reference, that's where her freckles and tattoos come from. ellen was right, merilwen with floral tattoos fucking rules. who am i to deny it. as a hairy woman myself, i also like making merilwen a hairy woman. she's a hippie, she would NOT shave. i also really love the red earrings she wears in her canon art, so i tried to carry that through to some other small parts of my drawing for her, and landed on the bands she has on her pants as well as the odd feather for her arrows. fun archery fact, for those who may not know - in modern archery at least, you usually will have a differently colored feather (or for my arrows, rubber fins lol) that indicate how youre meant to string the arrow! so i took advantage of that to give merilwen some more red, hehe

[princesssszzzz]

Combustion

Pairing: Rhaemond Word Count: 2.5K Warnings: Incest, Smut, Violence, Horror ~ Dark!Aemond & Dark!Rhaena

Summary: TheBoys!AU Unlike the rest of their family, Rhaena and Aemond grew up without Compound V working on them – They grow an unhealthy codependency and when they're older with power to explode heads with their eyes, they’re supervillains who just want to see the world burn A03

@avidreader73 @neocil

Inspired by these pics

The dark green cape flapped uncontrollably as Aemond flew down and landed on his feet. The cowering bank robber whimpered, looking around and realizing he had nowhere to run.   

“Howdy ho buckaroo.” An evil smirk grew on Aemond’s face when he saw the man frozen in fear.  

The terror he could bring others motivated him every day. He turned and looked up, watching as his smiling Rhaena gracefully glided down and her maroon-colored boots quietly met the pavement. 

"A bank robber?" 

Aemond nodded his head, taking off the black mask so the man would be able to fully see his wicked smile before speaking. “What were you thinking, robbing a bank in this city?” The man looked confused but stammered out an answer. 

“I don't know, I'm so sorry. I’ll give the money back. Please let me go and I'll never do anything like this again." 

He was shaking hard, bringing up his hands in surrender. Turning up her full lips into a half smile, Rhaena sauntered over to the man grabbing the back of his hair so she could look him right in her eyes.  

"You won't have another chance to do it."  

He sobbed louder, realizing now that the "heroes" that had caught him were not who he thought they were. This was no Superman or Wonder Woman that would take him in and give a lecture. Instead, they had other plans.  

The thought terrified him, but he kept quiet. There was no hope for forgiveness and no amount of pleading would save him. 

Aemond circled him as Rhaena leaned closer to his ear, letting her breath fan across his neck, "Don't worry, I'll make it quick." 

Unbeknownst to the bank robber, he was simply practice. Aemond had plenty of practice effortlessly using his eyes whenever he felt like taking a life, which happened to be often. They had both grown up with no superhuman powers, being the only kids in their family to be without powers. Compound V being injected into each Targaryen baby for generations, they were expected to be special in some way. For Aemond and Rhaena, they were as normal as normal could get. 

Growing up being mocked and feeling different, it changed them. Their older siblings and parents were famous where they lived, and the family was known for saving lives. Entire events were held in celebration of the latest school bus full of children being held up with one hand, and they hated it. Months ago, they both knew killing was wrong. 

 They were supposed to be happy for the safety of civilians, the lowered crime rates, and success of their family. But they hated it. Through all the exclusion, they grew up bitter and stood in the corner whispering amongst themselves.  

"I could've done that to if I had powers." 

"My father wouldn't ignore me if I could glow like that." 

Aemond found himself turning darker, and it hit a peak when he snatched a new batch of Compound V. He took it first, being the elder and in the initial 10 minutes he had no reaction. Rhaena had lost her excitement and left him to go back home. Later that night, Aemond felt it. His blood boiled and his eyes tingled. He was a new man, a superhuman, and he wasted no time jumped out the window looking for his first victims.  

He'd only told Rhaena after a week, when he already had a couple hundred victims. The skinny girl stood over the TV in his apartment, watching the newscasters tell a tale about a serial killer on the loose. 

"You did this?" 

She turned around with wide eyes, looking up at Aemond's broad figure. Rhaena stared at him, feeling something swell in her chest as she gazed up at him. Something warm and fuzzy and wonderful. She looked back down at the television, trying to keep calm, but a grin broke through. Aemond smiled fondly at her, proud of his "achievement" and brought a vial of the new batch out from behind his back. 

He presented it to her as a gift and they were in this together now. Instead of asking him about it, she grabbed it and placed the V down on the coffee table. 

Her thank you came in the form of herself. They had always had feelings for each other having never acted on it, but this was something better. It was the aphrodisiac. 

She threw herself onto him, or at least tried to, and they ended up on his couch. They were each other's first, second, and third and it all grew more chaotic after that.  

She took the vial post coital, when Aemond still had his naked body draped around her and she didn't bother staying awake to see if it would work. Rhaena just knew it would. No one knew they had powers, or had been responsible for the deaths, and they loved it.  

Now they found themselves standing over a bank robber, ready to take his life. 

"Again, just like I showed you last time. Focus your eyes on him." 

The bank robber screamed, knowing his end was coming soon and Aemond went to stand behind Rhaena. 

This had become their foreplay, and he moved behind her grabbed her waist and moving his lips to her neck.  

"Kill him." He placed a soft slow kiss on her when she widened her eyes and Aemond heard a pop. 

A burst of laughter flew out of Rhaena's chest, "I got blood all over me, you should've seen his face!" 

She giggled harder when she wiped off a small stream running from under her eyebrow. 

"I did it, Aemond," she exclaimed happily as she hugged him. Aemond grinned widely and pulled her close, holding her tightly. Her warmth felt amazing to him. "We can do whatever we want." He whispered, ignoring the brain matter scattered all over them. 

Although they both knew it, they had never discussed it out loud. A piece of them hated their family, and they wanted them to suffer. Meetings had been held and Aemond and Rhaena stood silently in the background, watching the rest of the Targaryen’s try to figure out what was going on. They desperately wanted to find who it was running around like a madman murdering people, how they had the ability to explode heads, and why they were doing it. 

The adrenaline rush. That's the answer Aemond and Rhaena would give if they were caught and asked.But for now, they flew about freely and landed on a Aemond’s patio in the neighboring city of Pentos. 

It was late and they decided to rest for the night. The high from the kill made them reckless, and knowing they hadn't been caught made it even more exciting. Enjoying the cool breeze caressing her skin, Rhaena waltzed out the patio door after they both showered and ate. The sky was purple, the clouds scattered lazily. For them it was perfect.  

Aemond's long silver had been pulled back, he grew tired of having to wash blood out of it. He lounged on the patio shirtless, relaxing as if he’d just had a long day at work. Rhaena walked toward the pillows he sat on, plopping herself down and resting her head on his chest. For half an hour, they admired the moonlit stars quietly before Aemond spoke. 

"Nothing bad would ever happen here. No one can ever make us feel less than again." He paused, reaching down to peck her forehead. "We have the power now." 

Aemond was a bad guy, but in his own mind he did good deeds too. A hero to himself. He’d saved them from their mental anguish and taught Rhaena how to murder criminals. They never went after what he considered innocent people. He even went as far as hacking into police stations software to get a list of local thieves, kidnappers, rapist, and other murderers. Aware he was the biggest hypocrite in the world, he just didn’t care. 

"I'm glad we have each other." Rhaena whispered into his chest, hugging him gently. Looking up at him, a warm smile crept onto her face as she kissed his chin. 

"Me too." He replied lazily smiling as well, pressing his lips against hers gently.  

She was always sweet and gentle, quietly being the good girl of the family according to her father and sister. Aemond was well known as disturbed, but they would never think he would go this far. There was shock enough to their relatives that the two of them ever got along, let alone grew close. Her father being a troublemaker himself, had no idea how much his youngest daughter had been influenced by his nephew. 

They were two sides of a different coin now, and they were going to change the world together. That much was true. The excitement from earlier in the day lingered, and a mischievous energy grew in between them. Aemond's hand came around to rest behind her head, stroking through her long silver locs. Her fingers curled onto his pants, tugging slightly on it.  

His hand slid down to rest at her waist and he pulled her closer, leaning his forehead against hers. Rhaena giggled and pulled back just a bit. "You know you still smell like blood right?" She said with a playful roll of her eyes and a smirk. A grin spread across his face, and he leaned forward again to capture her lips once more.  

Rhaena's breath hitched when Aemond ran his tongue across her bottom lip, asking for entrance. Without hesitation, she obliged, allowing him access to her mouth. He groaned lightly, pushing her onto her back and deepening the kiss. His hands trailed lower, cupping her soft breasts under her dress. She moaned and arched into him as she pressed herself further against him, her legs wrapping around him as their tongues tangled together.  

Rhaena felt heat begin to pool inside her belly, as if she were about to start bleeding. Aemond's hands wandered over her thighs, slowly moving upward until he reached her hips. One of his hands rested on her left leg while the other moved to caress her thigh, tracing the outline of her panties. Rhaena pushed against his chest, feeling desperate. He looked up into her lust filled eyes and smirked before bending down to take her nipple in his mouth. It made Rhaena cry out, and Aemond laughed as he licked a line across the top of her breast and bit. 

She gasped and pulled away from him. "Oh my God! Aemond!" She moaned, trying not to sound too loud so no one beneath the patio would hear them. Aemond chuckled lightly against her neck and continued trailing kisses along her collarbone, taking note of all the marks there. She whimpered softly, running her hands through his hair. 

Her nails scratched gently against his scalp causing Aemond to shiver. "What is it, baby?" She heard him whisper huskily. She could feel his hard erection pressed against her and couldn't help the moan slipping past her lips.   

He teased, "You're really enjoying yourself..." Rhaena shook her head, biting down on her lower lip anxiously as his tongue traced an unbroken trail down her stomach towards her underwear. He grinned devilishly as his finger continued grazing the lace of her panties. 

He paused there briefly, glancing up at her with hooded eyes and a crooked smile. She nodded, urging him on. He laughed, brushing the lace aside and sliding his fingers down between her folds.  

She gasped loudly as he began to thrust his fingers inside her. Aemond teased her with slow movements, adding to her arousal, until she was practically begging for him to fuck her already. As if he understood what she needed, he pulled out and grabbed the hem of her dress, pulling it off roughly and throwing it to the side. His lips hovered near her neck as he sucked a mark onto her shoulder blade. Rhaena cried out, arching into him, trying to move her hips upwards. 

He took that as a cue and positioned himself between her legs. Rhaena whimpered, unable to help the noise as he began to fill her. Aemond moved slowly, giving her plenty of room to adjust to the new position. 

He grunted softly as his cock rubbed inside her, but he stayed still as he held his weight firmly against her. Rhaena's fingers dug into his broad shoulders, pulling him closer to her, wanting to feel him more. She wanted to know every inch of him, to touch every part of him. 

Rhaena' eyes fluttered shut and a low moan escaped her lips, as Aemond sped up his thrusts. She wrapped her legs tightly around him tighter, trying to get closer to him, as she felt a wave of pleasure course through her.   

Her breathing picked up as she clenched her inner walls, letting Aemond thrust inside her, feeling as if he was driving her mad. He growled in frustration, his teeth nipping at her shoulder. "Shit, Rhaena" He muttered hoarsely. He pulled himself out of her, not wanting to finish too quickly. 

"Just...fuck me." She gave him a breathy command. 

With that he plunged back into her, his hands gripping her ass, pushing her hard against the pillows.   He pounded into her mercilessly, grunting with each powerful thrust. Rhaena moaned louder than any time before and her entire body started shaking in orgasmic response. Her breathing sped up, and Aemond smiled as he watched her expression morph into one of ecstasy. 

 Her nails raked across his back, digging deep. He released a string of expletives and collapsed on top of her, burying his face in her neck and kissing her deeply. Rhaena returned the favor, nuzzling his neck, leaving small kisses. They stayed intertwined in a tight embrace until Aemond finally fell asleep, holding her tightly. After a moment, she drifted off too.  

The next morning, Rhaena opened her eyes blearily and found herself laying on his bed inside. Her dress was back on and rumpled, and her hair was a mess, but she had never felt better. Her heart raced with joy and anticipation.  

She smiled, thinking of yesterday and everything they'd gotten up to. Aemond walked into the room, carrying a tray of orange juice and pancakes and Rhaena blushed. She sat up on her knees, smoothing her hair back to make herself presentable. When she was done, Rhaena glanced at her phone that suddenly started blaring her ring tone, and she saw her father was calling.  With a sigh, she accepted the call.  

"Hello father," She said casually. 

"Rhaena!" Her father yelled through the phone. "Where are you? I've been calling you for hours!" 

Rhaena's brow wrinkled. She looked to Aemond, who arched one brow in confusion.  He didn't say anything though, instead he poured her some orange juice, which she gratefully accepted. Again, she thought back to their last night together and blushed.  

"I went out for dinner last night with Aemond, sorry I must have had my phone off," She told her father. "Is something wrong?" 

"Well, I want you to come home right now and stay away from him" He scolded sternly. Rhaena could hear his disapproving tone and see his frown over the phone. 

"Why?"  

"I think Aemond may have stolen Compound V from the lab. He's dangerous, don't let him near you." 

[leam1983]

Mentalor hadn't abandoned a dying world and then spent forty-six years integrating a new one to immediately cast aspersions on the Coast City Paragons' newest member. Redshift and Terminus were variably shocked and annoyed - they'd never had kids, they wouldn't have understood - but Mentalor also went by the alias of Martin Loren, mild-mannered school librarian and proud father of two secretly human-alien hybrid children. This kind of slip-up was nothing to be surprised about; even his outwardly inflappable and phlegmatic gray-skinned self now knew kids inside and out.

Rhapsody had more or less blown the doors of the Paragons' headquarters with a self-styled heist attempt that had really been more of an unprompted audition, and her Candy Kid-inspired audiovisual barrage had proven to be an effective deterrent against older superheroes more used to thrown gadget traps or cunning displays of martial skill. To Loren, however, it hadn't been much more than a teenage outburst - the exact thing to expect out of Rachel Weaver, daughter of Amanda Weaver - alias Arachne, Coast City's most infamous professional thief.

What had to happen, over the next several weeks, eventually happened. All it took was a few too-tense volleys, Arachne trying to intimidate the plucky young upstart with a few well-placed insults - and then the entire assembly froze.

That was it for Arachne's latest steal, then. One climactic fight, turning into a tense awkward silence.

"I'll give you this one, gentlemen," Amanda then said, retracting her bolas and stowing away her gadgets. "As for you, young lady - we'll have words over dinner."

Redshift removed his cowl now that the atmosphere had cooled somewhat, and audibly exhaled. "So... Teenage rebellion, huh?"

Rachel offered Mentalor a pleading glance, the telepath's living metallic cape billowing and partially enveloping the girl's ankles. She stood there, effectively thwarted at her own game.

"I guess I was sick of letting Mom steal everything for me. I wanted a shot at finding myself. On my own, you know."

Mentalor glanced at his colleagues, one of them a marathoner-turned-science experiment, the other a playboy billionnaire playing vigilante at several million dollars per outing.

"I understand," he then said. "You reach Earth alone, finding yourself takes time. Probability seems to suggest that your being Arachne's daughter must be... unenviable, on a day-to-day basis."

The girl scoffed in return, but her body language remained clear to the alien. There was gratitude in there, if the sort of gratitude that teenagers weren't always wiling to express.

"It's alright," he said. "You don't have to explain yourself to us. Not for this, at least."

Terminus had moved on to the obligatory Forensics pass, his multitool bathing the now-trashed museum lobby in laser points. "Bringing the kid out was a mistake. Now Arachne's going to have leverage on us through her," he said, which made the alien give him a disappointed stare.

"If anything, Damian Wells, Arachne's love will give Coast City a chance for peace, through Rhapsody. She knows her daughter will not simply honor her requests to stop assisting us. The easiest way to keep her out of danger is to seek out riches elsewhere, or not at all."

Mentalor then glanced down at the girl. "That said, I expect the rest of the city's ne'er-do-wells won't have received this important update. You'll still have ample opportunity to prove yourself, Rhapsody."

Rachel Weaver gave the alien a sidelong glance that turned into a smirk. "You're not so bad for a space freak, mister Loren. You've been a good father, too."

Mentalor wasn't much for chuckling, but he did allow himself a few as his cape further enveloped the girl.

"Come, now. Let's get ourselves patched up; I gather you're famished, by now."

The teen superhero accidentally just called the supervillain “Mom”.

[books-and-catears]

"I'm afraid...I'm afraid they'll kill me again."

He noticed when you left the ballroom early, to hide in some corner, you think noone will find you. He follows you and finds you near the balcony.

You slump to the ground, your knees curling to your chest, your head leaning sideways against the railing. You're trembling. He can't hold back anymore.

He gently rushes to your side, on his knees like it's nothing.

"MC...what's wrong?" He cups your face. He looks so worried. When was the last time someone looked that way at you?

Your eyes widen in shock. "I...I am..."

But you can't pretend anymore, you can't hold back the rush of emotions. Especially not when his hand feels so warm and soft, as if asking you to let go of that heaviness in your heart. And just this once, you really want to.

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid they'll kill me again."

You said out loud, making it more real than it ever was. And that's all you can do before your eyes overflow onto his shoulder.

Solomon

Solomon's hands grip your trembling form tight to his own. It takes him all his strength not to storm back into the ballroom and curse those seven demons who did this to you.

The sounds of your cries ripped his heart into shreds. His happy go lucky MC was hiding so much pain, and for so long. He simply couldn't take it.

"MC...I'm here now. I'll protect you. I'll protect you, you don't need to be afraid. You're not alone. Not anymore." He tries to say, his voice contains vindictive resolve.

He palms your head and presses small kisses on the top of your head. You are protected, you are loved.

"Come on MC, let's get away from them. I'll handle what happens tomorrow." Solomon holds out his open hand. You take it without hesitation.

He twirls you around as you dance among the stars. You're laughing again, oh how much he loves the sound of it. He's so relieved. He intends to keep it that way.

Simeon

Simeon drapes his cape around you and pulls you into a soft embrace. You're so cold from waiting out here so long. If you glanced at his eyes, you'd see the fire raging behind those usually calm eyes.

Your cries, he decided, was his least favourite sound in all three realms. Angels protect the kind and the innocent, and he had clearly failed you.

"You don't have to go back there ever again. You can stay with Luke, Solomon and me. Would you like that? We won't let those demon brothers in." He asks, wiping away your tears.

Your gentle nod is all it takes for him to pull you up to stand. Putting an arm around your shoulder he leads you to their home.

He tells you not to worry about anything. He'll bring your things by morning. He wraps you in his blankets as he makes you sit on his bed. Noone will hurt his MC again.

Diavolo

Diavolo could swear he heard something inside him break as he felt how small and helpless you felt in his arms. "They...you mean even the others along with Belphie...?"

Without a second thought, he hoists you up in his lap, palming your head and back as you grab onto his jacket and cry into the crook of his neck. Your shaky nods bring him out of his shock.

"I'm going to ask Barabtos to fetch your things from HoL. You'll live here in the castle with us. They'll never dare to hurt you again. I cannot believe Lucifer let this happen." His voice was cold and unforgiving.

He waits to see if you offer resistance to his idea but when he sees none, he promptly stands up, carrying you princess style through the ballroom into your new quarters.

As he passes by the suprised looking brothers, he gives them all cold death stares, shielding your form from their gaze. He's going to look over their penalty personally.

Barbatos

To Barbatos, you had become someone as precious to Diavolo himself. He was so taken by your joyful, fearless spirit that this side of you felt like a far fetched nightmare. And yet here you were, cold and fearful against his touch.

He rubbed his gloved hands over your arms and shoulders. You need to be warm immediately. He wipes off the stray tears on your cheeks and pulls you flush against his chest.

"I will speak to Young Master and have you housed here immediately. You no longer have to be afraid. Noone will dare to lay a finger on you, on our watch."

Without another word, he put an arm around you and helped you to your feet. He guided you tactfully through the ballroom so the brothers couldn't see you.

He was aiready guilty about the whole Belphie incident, he couldn't allow any more of this. He set you down in his quarters, brews you fresh tea until you feel calm again. He glances over at the keys to his dungeon - maybe the brothers deserve a visit there.

[mrpenguinpants]

Spider’s Thread [Reverse AU]

Possessive Red Xiao x Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Commissioned for: @profoundwitchsalad

Art Credit: @ruoyeahs

Warning: Unhealthy relationships.

Prompt:

“You’ve ruined my life because I have a warped idea of what love is and I can’t live without you. But now you’re trying to leave me and I won’t allow that. You left me alive. You have a duty to live for me and by me. I’m not letting you go.”

---

Xiao Semi Series

[ Friendship ] [ Falling in Love ] [ Cuddles ] [ Protective ] [ Affection ] [ Jealously ] [ Opposites Attract ] [ String Of Fate (Soulmate) ] [ Fainting ]

Link to original posts:  [Red! Xiao.] [Reverse AU]

[Masterlist]

Alatus was once told a story by his Master. A sinner who falls into hell is rewarded for his only good deed, choosing not to kill a spider. As his reward, a thread is lowered down for him to climb out of Hell. In the end, the sinner remains in Hell because he kicks aside others and the thread breaks. Alatus doesn't remember why his Master told him this story but he still empathizes with the sinner. He would have done the same or asked for this 'saviour' to extend their hand down instead. That way he could pull them down.

"Xiao? Are you okay?"

He slowly opens his jade eyes to see you hunch over, peering down above him, eyebrows furrowed together in concern as you reach down and softly tap his temple. He allows you to take a moment to do whatever you want with his face before he reaches up to grasp at your wrist gently, holding back on his want to rub circles into your skin. His reminiscing can wait for now.

"What is it?" he asks curtly, sitting up and resting his elbow on his raised knee. You pout at his curt tone but shrug it off as you take a seat next to him and lean your shoulder against his. You dig into your bag and pull out slips of commission papers and hand it over to him to read through what needed to be done today. A few Hilichurl camps needed to be taken care of, sabotaging a slime balloon, all tasks that seem mundane to someone who fought in a war. As he's preoccupied, you take a moment to look at Xiao's face. He's just the slightest bit unnerved whenever you do this because you always seem to know what's bothering someone.

"Were you dreaming of her again?" you ask quietly. The silence is a good enough answer but you nod understandingly. You never knew his Master personally but you did fight a long strenuous battle against her. From one look you could tell she was a manipulative and cruel woman. While it may not be very kind to say, you were glad that with her passing, Xiao would be free from her physically. But mentally...there were still some things to work out. But Xiao was a very reclusive person, especially with his emotions, so pushing him any further would only make him irritated and closed off.

"Venti and Zhongli are joining our party for a bit if that’s alright. They'll help out a lot with our commissions and travelling. I like Liyue a lot but climbing mountains stresses my shoulders out," you laugh as you change the subject to something less depressing. Standing up as you dust your clothes off before turning to Xiao and holding your hand out for him to take. He stares at it hard for a few moments before huffing and reaching over to clasp your hands together.

It has been so frustratingly peaceful since the war ended. He's not used to it and he can still feel the lick of cutting winds and the heavy pressure of rocks against his body when he sees the bard and funeral parlor consultant just on the horizon. If it were up to him, he wouldn't play nice with these two Archons but they're important to you so he bites his tongue until he tastes blood. He knows the Archons do the same. As soon as the two of them spot you both, Venti is already rushing and tackling you to the ground in his excitement.

"Traveler! I haven't seen you in ages. You need to come and visit Mondstadt more," Venti cried into your shoulder as you awkwardly patted him on his back. Always with the dramatics but you cared about Venti all the same. Xiao scoffed before flicking his jade eyes to meet gold as Zhongli stared down at him cautiously. Since the war ended, everyone seemed to have this warped idea that Alatus had some vendetta against the Gods and Celestia but he was fighting because he was told to.

"Xiao. It's good to see you again," Zhongli said to him. Xiao just nodded in acknowledgement. Even with this new mortal form, Morax never bothered to change his eyes. His gaze alone held the weight of the mountains he had thrown. If Xiao hadn’t been under one of them before, he might have crumbled under the pressure.

"Alright alright, Venti. I promise I'll drop by sometime this month but we still have commissions to do!" you laugh as you haul the bard onto his feet and swat his cape down from the speckles of dirt. He grins cheekily at you, linking pinkies with you to seal your promise, before suddenly lighting up as if he just remembered something.

"Actually! Before we start anything, I need to speak to Mr. Zhongli and Xiao. Super important archon things, you know?" Venti nodded to himself as the two mentioned people stared at him with varying levels of confusion. But Venti just waved their worries off and linked his arms with both men as he dragged them off to a more secluded corner with a surprising amount of strength, “We’ll be right back!”

"Do what you need to do but don't take too long," you called after the trio as you trailed off to the side, messing with your bag of commission papers and gear. Xiao hated that. He knows that these two Archons are your...friends.. but shouldn't you be a bit more cautious? Just because they have mortal forms doesn’t make them human, it doesn’t make him human either.

"Hey, there's no need to look so scary. There really is something important I wanted to talk to the two of you about," Venti speaks up as soon as you're out of earshot. It still gives Xiao whiplash whenever he drops the persona and switches back to Barbatos. "Since Morax is the only Archon I trust with this information and, while I don't trust you one bit, you're the one that's with her all the time you should also know. She's ascending to Celestia."

Barbatos gauges both of their reactions. Morax seems visibly surprised, his eyes slightly widened a fraction, while Xiao has no idea what that means. His Master didn’t exactly give him a history lesson on Celestia or Archons, just pointed to who was his enemy and dealt punishments when he failed.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Xiao asks as he crosses his arms. Venti appears for a second as the bard pouts before continuing.

"It's like I said. A mortal who performs great, heroic feats can ascend to Celestia and achieve godhood. Where they will watch over their people from above. I've only seen this once before so it took me a while to recognize the signs. But 1000 years ago, I helped a woman named Vennessa with her ascension and with the traveler's recent actions with winning the war. Well, you don't need me to explain the rest," Barbatos finishes. Zhongli simply hums as he cups his chin and absorbs what's just been heard. He doesn’t seem troubled by the news at all.

"Have you told her about this?" Zhongli questions as he looks towards the direction that you left. Venti shakes his head. “That would mean that she would vanish from this world."

“I know she loves this world. Whether she wishes to ascend or not isn’t my choice but I want her to continue her travels with that beloved smile on her face. But if she does choose to ascend, she will need our help," Venti stares at the two of them in a mix of pride, sadness, and determination. "Can I count on you two for your help?"

It's a complete white noise in Xiao's ears as his surroundings fade out. He thinks he can see Zhongli nod to Venti wishes, the ever calm smile on his face to match the cheery grin on Venti’s. What, now you want to become a God? Leave this world behind? That’s not funny. You made him give up everything. While in your eyes, your blinded hero syndrome, you think you've liberated him from a soulless conquest but he still has nothing. You still took everything away from him and your only compensation was to have him by your side until he left himself. But now you want to leave without a warning? That’s not fair. You don’t get to take back what you owe. He won't allow you to leave him behind.

“Did something happen? Did Venti say something unnecessary again?” you ask out of the blue. Zhongli and Venti had returned to their respective regions once your commissions were all finished. Since the three of them disappeared to talk Archon business, Xiao had seemed even more tense and aloof than usual. As if he was out of it? You knew that everyone was still suspicious of Xiao and they were angsty to leave you alone with him, but you knew Xiao would never do anything to hurt you. When he doesn't answer, you slowly reach over and you subtly nudge his head up onto your lap and look at him curiously. Before reaching down and cupping his cheek. He leans into your touch before turning his face into your palm and leaving a soft kiss. It makes you giggle at the ticklish feeling as you look at him so softly. It annoys him.

"You were never connected to the war and yet you fought against us anyways. Even when I killed so many people, why did you choose to spare me?" he asked as you blinked at him before giving it some serious thought. He went on a rampage and almost destroyed the world. It was fun. He doesn't have any regrets at all because he hated humanity. His own Master was human after all. But then you appeared and stopped him. A random outsider that wanted to play the hero. He thought it was cute. Perhaps he had underestimated the lengths someone would go to to save the world they loved but when he fell defeated at your feet. He said that this wouldn't change a single thing. He would still scorn humanity and what they did to him. He was so sure he would die there but you chose to extend your hand down to him instead despite what your companions felt. Even when the war ended and he had nowhere else to go, you offered him to travel with you. Nothing changed about his mentality, every person that chose to talk to him was quickly scared away with piercing eyes. Every conversation started would end in silence. Every touch would be met by the tip of his spear. But you would link your hands together with his and smile brightly, and he would always end up forgetting his trauma for a moment. You’ve... become precious to him.

"I love this world and everyone in it. You are a part of that world even if you tried to destroy it. It...didn't seem fair to leave you behind when you've suffered just as much," you finish but it only seemed to spark a wave of deep anger inside of Xiao. He quickly lurched up, almost knocking your forehead with his, before grabbing the scruff of your shirt collar and yanking you forward.

"Cut it out with that "love of everything" crap. It's revolting. So you're saying the people I killed weren't worth avenging? Do you think I'm so weak that I need protection? It's one thing to try and please everyone but at least have some awareness would you?" he snarled as he pushed you to the ground. He knew he was being harsh on you and you had every right to walk out and abandon him but you didn't. Of course, you wouldn't. You needed him as much as he needed you. You just reached over and tenderly reached your hand and placed it next to his. Damn it, why is he always the one stuck worrying about you.

"Then you want to protect me, right? Then don't break your promise. You left me alive which means you have a duty to live for me," he takes your hand in his and squeezes hard. Digging his nails into your own until crescents appear and tiny specks of blood appear so you know he's serious. He doesn't care how you interpret his words, just so long as you never leave him.

"Don't die on me, Hero."

It's been a few hours since the conversation so it's pitch black outside but Xiao was never one to sleep. Even if he could, his mind is too loud to fall asleep too. He's startled when you melt against him fully asleep. Honey smooth as you curl up to his warmth and cling to him like moss to a rock. He can feel his cheeks start to flush as his heart begins to pound against his chest. He can't breathe as his world is filtered through each beat that drums against his ears. He's not sure if there's actually something wrong with him or if it's just been a while since someone got so close and his instincts haven't left.

He's just realized it. He's feeling pain. The feeling in his chest is black but he can't claw it away. It's strange in a way that he can't explain it, that he's never felt before, that he's never felt the need to experience. His life had been warped by battle and a constant push to submit to his Master. They are all things he knows but the gentle words that come from your mouth, the bright eyes that hold the world, the horrible ice-hot feeling inside of him is so foreign yet too easy. He doesn't like it.

It makes him feel...clean in a way. Enlightened perhaps? His Master is long gone and it's like you said. He's free now. Free to make his own decisions and live his life how he wants to. He carefully turns over so as to not startle you away as he really looks at you. You look so peaceful in his arms, eyelids shut without worry, face slack without nightmares, breathing so softly against him. If you weren't so close to him that he couldn't feel the rise of your chest, he wonders if he would think you were dead. He stares at the lock of hair swaying back and forth with each breath like a starved man. The strange feeling doesn't stop. He hates it. It's everything that goes against him and what he knows and everything he should want. He's supposed to be the villain in your story, he should kill you right now-

"Xiao..." he hears you mumble beside him as you lean further into his arm. Damn it. How low is he going to go?

“What are you thinking about now? You just need to think about me. Don’t think about anything else...but me” Xiao sighs before he wraps his arms around you and pulls you into him until you're snug against his chest. Close to him, where he can touch you, where you belong. Not with Morax or Barbatos. Not with humans but beside him. He closes his eyes and nuzzles his head into your hair and he stares off into the distance. The feeling never leaves him for the remainder of the night.

"Ah! There you are. I was running around crazy looking for you," he turns his hair to see your flushed form pulling yourself up onto the mountain cliff, "When I woke up I couldn’t find you anywhere! You gave me a scare there."

He hates you. He hates you.

Words of his previous master ring in his ears, almost as if her very soul is wrapping around him as she whispers in his ear how weak he is. Ones with power that refuse to take what they want because they rather live in the comfort of nothing. Be greedier, take what belongs to you.

"Xiao?" you say as his piercing eyes stare directly through you. His Master always told him that she loved him. Even if he hated her he still clung to that false love. Of being wanted. Isn't love for a single person vile? Would feeling such emotions for one person instead of "everyone" bring you down to reality? It's not fair that you've crawled your way into his heart while you walk along in bliss. Now that he thinks about it. It was so simple. He just needs to monopolize your thoughts and love. This time it won't be as friends.

"I love you."

He'll pull you down to where he is. You extended your hand down to hell so it's your fault. He'll drag you down kicking and screaming if he has to. You left him alive. You have to live for him and by him. He's not letting go.

Reblogged for extra notes

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[ch3rrysmutt]

I had an idea for a summit for Viktor x reader (Arcane)

Why not have the reader be a friend from the past that went their separate ways from Viktor but magically comes back ( with a glow up of the century like the female reader is like war ready and sexy as shit ) to help when shits all loose, they kinda rekindle then FUCKIN WRECK EACHOTHER *cough* sorry 🤣 I’ve had an idea like that for a fanfic but I can’t write for shit.

I think that's a really interesting idea for a one-shot, so here's my take on it! Hope you enjoy it!

Warning - This story contains NSFW content, please don't read if you're under 18.

The Noxian Lieutenant

Viktor x Reader (One-shot)

"I broke a tooth today, besides, I now have a cool scar," said Y/N swinging her feet looking down at the river "You got into a fight again didn't you?" said Viktor looking at his friend. Y/N was poorly taken care of, her clothes were often dirtier and patched up than everyone he saw, her face was now adorned with a large scar that went from her top lip crossing her nose and ending under her left eye. He almost felt sorry for her lack of every basic care.

"Oh come on Viktor," she said punching him playfully "It's just a milk tooth, there won't be a difference once I'm grown" she smiled, she had lost a canine. "I guess it won't," he said holding his cane closer to him "Why did you call me again?" "I wanted to give you something"

She opened a small pocket on her coat, pulling a small box out of it. "Open it tomorrow ok?" she said standing up, "Oh, and please remember, I'll never forget you".

Viktor waited until the next morning to open the box, a small bunny pin was inside it with a letter attached to it.

"Viktor, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this sooner. Father got a job offer in Noxus, I probably already left once you read this, but I'll come back, I promise"

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

A noxian ship docked at Piltover, people quickly surrounded it curious about why someone would choose this over the new hexportals. Some soldiers left the ship, as some defenders made room for the small professor Heimerdinger.

A smaller figure stepped out of the ship, she wore a long black and red clothes, that covered her body. The coat she wore was long, falling over her knees, the back of it was longer like a cape, with a hoodie covering her head. "You must be professor Heimerdinger am I right?" she asked looking down "Oh yes yes, I am. You are miss L/N?" he said a bit nervously.

The girl smiled at him, handing out her hand so that he could shake it "No need for formalities, it's a pleasure finally meeting you in person" "I can say the same" he replied shaking her hand. They exchanged a few words with him, waving the soldiers to leave them be "I'd like to give you a tour of the academy before the party tonight miss Y/N, would you mind accompanying me?" "Not at all professor," she said fixing her clothes, Heimerdinger noticed she had a sword on her waist, but didn't bring attention to it.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Viktor and Jayce were polishing some pieces they were working on when they heard professor Heimerdinger talking to someone. "I'm glad inside is cooler than outside don't you think?" "I'm used to the heat Heimerdinger, no worries. I'm more impressed by how lit this place is..." they heard a female voice say "Who is he talking to?" said Jayce to Viktor, just before the doors of their room open up

"Here's the room of the inventors of the hexportals, I'm a little sad you couldn't use them to get here" "Oh," she said looking around, her arms crossed behind her back "I like doing things the old fashion way" the girl ignored the boys simply staring at the chalkboard full of calculus, "I think hexportals are far too hard for me to understand" she joked looking over her shoulder at Heimerdinger

Jayce was stunned by the boldness of the noxian walking around their room, clearly not interested in anything they were working on, just trying to understand the calculus. "Oh well, I understand just a bit too, the boys are the mind behind them"

"Hello, I'm Jayce," he said pulling his hand out, the noxian finally seemed to notice them, she stared at his hand, not really moving to pull out her hand "I'm Y/N, former noxian first lieutenant, currently representing the Noxian Academy," she said. That name sounded familiar to Viktor.

He was a little happy seeing Jayce's little ego be shattered a bit, watching him blush at the lieutenant's response, he finally took a good look at her, something was familiar about her. "What about you?" she said looking at Viktor their gaze finally meeting, her eyes were sharp like a fox, attentive, almost like a predator looking at its prey "I'm Viktor"

Her mouth opened "That's a nice pin you got there, where did you get it?" she asked "Oh, an old friend of mine gave me" "Is there something wrong miss Y/N?" asked Heimerdinger, putting a hand on her elbow, but he didn't have time to react to what happened next.

The noxian rushed to Viktor, holding him close, her hands wrapping around his hair "I've missed you old friend" he heard, looking at her, her hoodie had slipped off and now he could see her, her hair was now shining, she exhaled health and power, her once thin cheeks were now red and were not mere skin covering her bones, her clothes were made to fit her perfectly, her scent was strong and inviting to anyone that might pass by, mysterious and sensual.

"I'm sorry," she said with a cough "Professor would you please show me the rest of the department?" she asked, putting back on her hoodie. Professor Heimerdinger soon left alongside the Y/N, Viktor's clothes now were stained by her scent "What was that?" asked Jayce baffled "What?" asked Viktor

"Don't what me! The girl! How do you know her?" Jayce questioned surprised, still flushed in shame "Oh, it's a long story..."

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Needless to say, Viktor had shown up to the party the academy held to symbolize their partnership with the noxian academy, he did without complaints. "Now, we may continue with the noxian academy representant, lieutenant Y/N!" the claps made Viktor's thoughts get mixed up as he stared at his childhood going up the stage.

Her hair was arranged in fancy braids, highlighted by some golden pieces. She did not wear any jewelry, despite her many medals that adorned a dark furry cape she wore over a blood-red dress. She rose a hand asking for silence "People of Piltover, I am very happy to be here tonight" she said, her eyes were now sharper than ever, being highlighted by golden and black eyeshadow, lips plump in red lipstick, people cheered hearing the name of Piltover

"Your city has been very welcoming to me, as well as my soldiers, I've seen many of the projects the students here are working on" Viktor felt her eyes fall on him, making his stomach flutter "You are definitely a city that deserves the name of the city of progress, I hope Noxus and Piltover can unite their students further by our academy's partnership" she continued her speech, but her words were merely a blur to him, he wanted her all for himself.

Once she stepped down, a few students surrounded her, asking questions about the noxian academy, some even went as further to ask her about her weapons, which she gladly showed. Viktor stared far away from her, her gaze met his across the room, she marched towards him, waving the students goodbye.

Viktor looked away, but still straightened his back "I didn't think someone would be so quick to straighten their posture once they saw me" she joked, calmly pushing her back on the wall beside him "I just wanted to show respect for the respectable noxian lieutenant" he smirked

"Hey I'm still your friend," she said pushing him a bit "but if I would ask for respect from you, you would get yourself a good punch for that attitude" she added "You're still a fighter I see," he said looking her head to toe "I never forgot my roots," she said tipping her head "I hate this parties too, wanna get out?" she asked quickly pointing at the door

"Won't they find it weird you went out with me?" Viktor asked carefully "Even if they do, they won't say a thing for the respectable noxian general" she answered with a wink, making him blush "Let's go"

Y/N kept her pace slow accompanying Viktor's, once they started heading to the docks she started talking "I liked your project, for real" "Really?" Viktor's eyes widened, as his friend nodded "Yeah, I didn't say so because your friend sounded a little too skippy in my opinion" she scoffed, making Viktor laugh a bit

"Well I guess you have this effect on people," he said "Do I?" she asked, stopping in front of him, even on heels, she was a bit shorter than him "And how is that?" she held her chin high at him, it was clear for her he was nervous "You have military power at your feet, you are clearly stronger than any regular person and..." he stammered, thinking about he was going to say "You're really beautiful too," he said

Y/N stared back at him, she was blushing, but a small smile formed on her face "Well you have grown to a handsome young man too" she said already walking away, waiting for him to follow "Last time I remembered, you were younger than me" "Maybe you're right" she smiled

"Well this is my ship," she said standing up next to the platform "Umm, would you like to come in?" she asked awkwardly "Won't the soldiers find it weird?" "Why do you care so much about others?" Y/N asked raising an eyebrow "Don't worry, if they say anything, I'll personally hang them by their ankles in a chandelier. Besides, by now they're probably off in a brothel anyway"

Viktor climbed up, Y/N seemed excited to show the ship to him, every part of it, showing how it worked. He paid no attention to the explanations, he wanted to take her, to claim her his. "And this is where I sleep," she said opening up a door.

The room was spacious, a large bed in the middle, a big table with some papers that were clearly letters, some books on a shelf. "Not much, but it's pretty comfortable," she said sitting on the edge of her bed "So that's the whole ship, I hope you enjoyed the tour by me," she said laughing

Y/N noticed that her friend was awfully quiet "Is there something bothering you Viktor?" she asked, he held his cane tighter after the mention of his name, approaching the girl, pushing her down into the bed, climbing on top of her. Y/N did not say anything, only staring up at the golden-eyed man on top of her, as she held her body up with her elbows.

**Sexual content ahead**

Viktor kissed Y/N deeply, holding the back of her neck. He could clearly feel her breath hitch by his action, but she only grabbed his face gently pulling him closer. "I want to take you, lieutenant Y/N," he said, between kisses, his lips soon left hers, going to her cheek, slowly at her neck. He pushed a bit of her cape away so that he could have better access at her, only enjoying the soft moans that sometimes left her lips, as she played with his brown hair. "Let me at least lock the door," she said, holding his arm.

He set on the bed, getting off her, as she stood up. A few braids were loose now, he watched her lock the door, as she took off her cape, revealing her dress that wrapped around her body gently, featuring perfectly her athletic body. "See something you like?" she asked, watching him nod, she walked back into her bed, crawling on top of him, but stopping close to his lips, allowing him to come to her.

The kiss was passionate, he held her strongly, not afraid of hurting her, as she started to flip over so that he would return to be on top of her once again. His hands soon found her breasts, gently rubbing them, before he sat up, pulling the dress off her shoulders, exposing her bare top.

He blushed at the sight, looking at Y/N's face, which was seemingly only hypnotized by his boldness. She swallowed, rubbing his cheek, her palm being kissed by the man, that soon started kissing her shoulder, slowly moving to her collarbone, then to her chest.

His lips wrapped around one of her breasts sucking it delicately, as his other hand played with the other one. He looked up, Y/N was quiet, but he could feel she curl beneath him, he pinched gently her breast, making her moan out.

Y/N could also feel his hard bulge on her tight, deciding to raise her leg a bit to feel him better. Viktor let out a breath, quickly catching what she was trying to do, he grabbed her hand putting it on his hard bulge "I think that's what you were trying to do lieutenant" he said kissing her other breast.

His hand found its way into her underwear, moving them aside starting to slowly finger her, looking up only to see her flushed face at him. "Are you enjoying this?" Viktor asked without breaking his gaze, seeing her nod at him, too shy to answer "I might have something even better for you..."

He moved away from her making her sigh, he took off her remaining clothes, tossing them aside so that he could fully see her. It was much better without it, she had a lot of scars, clearly made in military campaigns. Viktor traced them with his hand, Y/N didn't seem to be ashamed by them, in fact, she seemed proud of them, breathing out once he touched them.

Y/N was a little surprised by his head diving between her legs, taking a deep breath once she felt his breath on her core "I think the war has made you far too weak for normal interactions" he said kissing her clit, "Viktor I..." she stuttered gripping the sheets and closing her eyes as he gave her a long lick

The noxian lieutenant was trying to keep her mind working, but it failed miserably. Her hands found their way into his brown hair, gripping it, Viktor stared up at her just wanting to see her messy blushed face as he worked his tongue around her entrance. He kissed her tights between licks so that she could catch up her breath. "Viktor..." she said a bit louder making him raise his head at her "Can I at least repay your kindness?" she asked, trying to keep her shaking body from falling limp underneath him

Viktor smirked and nodded, sitting on his knees to strip off his clothes. His thin hands were met with Y/N's "No no... Let me do this please..." she said sitting up, unbuttoning his shirt, removing it from his shoulders slowly, tracing his thin body with her hands, like he did with her. She seemed to have a little trouble getting his trousers off "Can you help me out a bit?" Y/N asked looking up a little embarrassed

The man smirked, taking them off without a word, seeing her a bit surprised by his size, already soaked in precum "It's big isn't it?" she said looking up at him once again, gently wrapping her hand around it, their chests touching at that moment "I'm sure it won't be a problem for you, right lieutenant?" their lips met for a hungry kiss, she could taste herself in his lips, and that made her moan a bit, as she shifted to lay on her belly.

"You won't mind if I gave you more intimate kisses will you?" she asked giving him a kiss on his tight. Viktor shook his head "Good to know" she added with a giggle. Y/N kissed the base of his cock, looking up at him, mouth slightly open in a silent gasp. She kept kissing until she reached the tip, giving it a last kiss with a pop before she slowly started sucking him.

She could taste his salty precum, as she bobbed her head, enjoying the soft groans that escaped his lips. Y/N leaned closer, grabbing one of Viktor's hands and putting on her head, telling him it was ok for him to destroy her braids if he wished to, as the other hand moved in circles on his tight, creasing him a bit.

"Oh god..." he groaned feeling her start to deep throat him with a small gag, pushing her even closer to his sex, moving slowly so that he could enjoy her attention as well. Now he moved a bit, alongside her pace, saying sweet things for her, praising her as he moved some strands of hair out of her face.

Y/N leaned back, sitting up so that she could properly kiss Viktor, now was his turn to get a taste of himself in her. It felt amazing how he had her right in his hand, ready to do anything he wished to, he was in complete control of something for the first time in his life, everything was going like he wanted to.

He pulled her closer, feeling her body press against his thin one "You'll allow me to have a nice time in Piltover right lieutenant?" Y/N nodded quickly at him, the desperation in her eyes already said it all "Great" he smirked, pushing her gently against the bed, playing with his tip against her clit.

Y/N head was racing, she had done this kind of stuff before, but it seemed so right with Viktor, safe but intoxicating, making her shiver at every move he made. She rose her gaze to his face, nodding a bit slower showing that he could go ahead. He did so gladly, shoving himself slowly, making her moan lowly.

"Ha... I was afraid it wouldn't fit" she half-joked, opening one of her eyes to look up at him, his smirk widened, as he slowly went out of her and pushed back in quickly "Oh, dear..." she said curling her hands a bit.

Viktor said nothing, keeping his pace stable but strong against her cervix, but it became increasingly harder for him to keep it down, soon, he started pounding desperately. "Y/N..." he grunted looking down at the girl, who was a blushing mess, holding her hand, their fingers tangled tightly, as he buried his head on her neck, inhaling her sweet scent.

"God, you're amazing..." she heard him say, kissing her neck. Y/N held his thin fluffy hair, petting him, kissing his shoulder in return "V-Viktor..." she moaned out "I'm close..." "Go ahead, I wanna listen to you" he moaned back, his pace awfully fast now, making her toes curl, a clear sight that he wouldn't last much longer as well.

He felt her body tremble beneath him, bringing her face to him for a lustful kiss. Her walls held him still, as Viktor came coating her insides. They stayed in a quiet embrace for a bit, before he moved, taking a good look at the mess he made. "You know..." said Y/N making Viktor flinch, she was still a bit shaky "Piltover does know how to treat its guests"

Viktor smiled at her, wondering what to do next, he did one of the most intimate acts a human could do with another with his friend... "Should I leave...?" he asked, a bit worried with the answer he would get "Only if you want to, my bed is big enough for two" she answered petting a spot beside her.

The golden-eyed boy crawled closer to her, embracing her. "It is good to see you again Viktor," Y/N said, before falling asleep on his chest.

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I hope you enjoyed this one shot! It was a lot of fun writing it!

♡ Masterlist

[oneofthosesimps]

Freak like Me

pairing: levi x fem!reader I nsfw

word count: 6230

summary: as soon as the reader enters levi's life, something changes in him. reader's madness spills over and he slowly changes

warnings: mention of blood (not yours), rough sex, dirtytalk, daddy kink, swearing, dom x dom, fight scene

authors note: although i wanted to write shorter stories again, this one somehow got longer again. i tried my hand at an action scene, but i still have to practice a lot. somehow i had strong harley x joker vibes and they had to come out, sorry.

all credits to the artist of this pic:

Lensar on DeviantArt

-----

Your gaze falls into the depths of the forest before you close your eyes. Bright rays of sunlight fall through the branches above you and warm your face. You hear birds chirping around you, the crackling of the wood beneath you, the rustling of leaves swirling in a gust of wind. You breathe deeply as your open hair blows back. You hear your heart beating quietly in your chest as the silence embraces you like an old friend. What does freedom mean? What does life mean? You are sure that this is pretty close to the source. The people behind the wall, who go about their lives every day hoping to see the next day, would never get to see this world. Especially not the people you left behind in the underground.

A grin plays around your lips as you hear the hissing far off in the distance. The trees groan behind you under the force with which the hooks bore into their bark. That took a long time, you think to yourself, as ropes speed past you. You hear the chatter and shouts of your comrades in fragments, shattering the silence around you. Blurred faces shoot past you one after the other.

You spread your arms and stretch them away from you. One last deep breath fills your lungs before you hold your breath. Slowly your body falls backwards before you lose your footing beneath you and plunge headlong into the depths. The air hisses loudly past your ears, your body spins around itself. You are weightless, the green blurs around you before your whole body is pressed full force into your harness and you are yanked back up. You hear the gas sweep around you as you fly through the air, trailing the others. Your hooks bore further away into the trunk of a thick, old tree. You take momentum, flying high into the treetops, letting the ropes come back to you. Unsecured, you fall through space. Your body does a backward roll, allowing you to observe the forest floor for a brief moment. The moss nestles around the roots of the trees, single brown leaves cover the forest path, bodies move forward beneath you, you can still see a squirrel quickly making its way to safety before your body returns to its normal position and you dig your hooks into a tree again. You zip between the trees, your cape flying behind you, your face brushing some branches that bore into your tender skin. You hear the pop of a cannon being fired and see red smoke in the sky northwest of you.

Immediately you change direction, sprinting forward, leaving behind other cadets who still haven't processed what is happening. Arriving in a clearing, you find your place on a thick branch high above. Further in the distance, you see the shaking of trees, the earth shaking slightly, making the grass dance on the ground. You hear heavy footsteps, still moving slowly.

The branch below you moves and you look to your right. Silver eyes stare at you from beneath tousled black hair, eyeing your small body.

"You really do have to keep pushing forward." You hear more bodies land on the trees behind you and the wood weighs down slightly. The rest of your squad waits for instruction from your captain.

"I guess this is why I'll never get my own Squad, sir."

You turn your gaze back to the direction the titan is coming at you from and grin.

"What do you think, fifteen seconds?"

"Mmm, more like ten," Levi guesses, and the tremor intensifies. A huge hand grips around a tree trunk, pulling out from between the trees, and big eyes stare at you. Nearly ten-metres high, abnormal.

"Let's see what you can do then, humanity's strongest soldier." He snorts and rolls his eyes before his whole body moves forward with a jerk. He pulls his swords from their holsters and places them close to his body. With an ease and without the titan even noticing him, he cuts a chunk out of his neck. Before Levi even gets back beside you, the giant falls to the ground and starts to steam.

That wasn't even seven. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, the blood on his face slowly disappears and he looks at you. A small smirk curls his lips, "Brat."

You snort and slam your fist against his shoulder.

Special.

That's the word everyone would use to describe your relationship.

Special.

The first time Levi laid his eyes on you, when he saw you among all the new, shitty cadets, his foot hit your stomach area shortly after. You lacked respect and you lacked punctuality and discipline too. Another pile of shit he had to deal with - or work on until it headed home in tears.

The day after that, he hit your face with his fist. Kneeling on the floor in front of him, panting, you looked up at him. Wiping blood from your lips, you grinned at him and looked at him with wide eyes, your pupils exploding. "That's all you got, sir." Just as he was about to grit his teeth and lunge with his foot to beat the living daylights out of you, Hange stopped him. He tore himself away from her and knelt down to you, looking at you with dead eyes, "I'm going to make your fucking life a living hell." Your tongue licked over your lower lip, wiping away the remaining blood and your grin widened, "Try me."

He kept his word, always picking you out, giving you more tasks, making you run round after round, cleaning the whole headquarters, beating up your little body several times, but to his displeasure you did it all flawlessly. Yes, you lacked respect and also punctuality and discipline, but your performance was amazing, almost close to his. And when he finally saw the potential in you that Erwin had been talking about all along, it suddenly stopped - he left you alone, saw you with different eyes. Something changed in him, as if a plug had been pulled. You watched each other across the field during training, in mess hall at dinner, every spare minute your eyes spent on each other and gradually butterflies crept into the pit of your stomach. And you had the feeling that behind the cold silver there was something deep and dark that you wanted to bring to the surface. Your exchanges were still kept to a minimum, however, until there was another bang.

"That's the stupidest plan I've heard in a long time," you snort, raising an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, brat?" You roll your eyes and stare at him just as coldly as it hits you. The temperature in the room drops noticeably and the others at the table hold their breath. No one dares to say anything. No one would dare say anything. The moonlight from outside shines in, the candles in the room flicker slightly and trace sharp edges on your faces.

"That's the stupidest plan I've heard in a long time," you repeat louder, "Better, sir?"

Levi's eyes blaze and he stares at you. His eyebrows draw together, the corners of his mouth drop. You see Armin open his mouth speechlessly to your right.

Your hairs stand up, the electricity rises and you bite your lower lip, grinning.

"You doubt my plan?" says Levi low and monotone. Jean's hand lands on your shoulder and he grips it, pressing you into your seat to save you from your own stupidity, but it wasn't you who was stupid, it was the whole plan Levi had just explained to you.

"Not only do I doubt it, but I also have a better one," your grin widens as Levi's liquid silver darkens. "Let me fight on the front lines. Mikasa is good, but I'm better".

"For that, you're an incorrigible little bitch who won't listen to my orders".

"Yes, because my plans usually make more sense".

"You're not ready for that. Your cluelessness only makes you run from one titan to another. That statement alone shows me how small your brain is if you're not even aware of it and now shut your mouth."

Jean's grip tightens, but you just push his hand away from you. After your next blink, your heart jumps a tiny bit as you see Levi's annoyed face. He is always good at holding back his anger and it never shows. In fact, he almost never shows any emotion, but you see right through him. He has it bubbling up inside him. Never contradicts him and if he does, the person suffers a thousand deaths afterwards. But between you it is somehow different, tingling. It gives you the greatest pleasure to see him like this and you know, deep inside him, a voice is telling him that he enjoys it too. Others would describe you as crazy and full of the courage to live, but that's what makes it all so appealing.

"Maybe we can find a compromise?" suggests Armin and you see the sweat on his brow as he almost shits himself at the words. You roll your eyes and look back at Levi.

"I thought you wanted to make my life hell. So that's a good start," you remind him of the first words he ever said to you.

"Your plans are bullshit. If I let you keep fighting up front, you'll probably get yourself killed by your insanity, " he growls, almost at his limit. But only almost.

You lean over slightly, look at him, smile slightly, grin, bite your lip again, breathe, "I have a feeling you like this madness, Levi."

He tenses slightly, draws his eyebrows together again as his name passes your lips. Connie coughs and tries to draw attention to himself, but everyone ignores him. It seems like everyone is in a state of shock because you simply addressed him by his first name. Everyone watches spellbound as you literally eye-fuck each other. Do they like the show? Almost at his limit.

"Tch, what did you just call me, brat?" his voice gets louder and his hands form into fists. You lean back in your chair again and look at him, bored.

"Oh, I didn't know you had such bad hearing. Don't you like Levi? That's your name, isn't it? Do you prefer Sir? Or Captain? Or maybe," your eyes looked up at him, burning into him, "Daddy?" At his limit. Pathetic.

A deep dark sound comes from his throat and the others hold their breath again. His whole posture grows stronger and wider. You see the muscles working under his clothes, see veins popping on his hand and you feel butterflies in your stomach. His eyes are black. You all sit like that for a few seconds. You watch his gestures and his face change emotions. Without warning, his right hand hits the table flat, "Fuck off."

The sound cuts through the silence and the weaklings among you flinch. Confused, no one moves, while your eyes do not leave each other's. Armin is about to open his mouth and Jean is about to put his hand on your shoulder again when Levi stands up with a jerk, his chair tipping backwards and hitting the wooden floor with a thud.

"I said fuck off," he roars, looking around with a death glare.

Chairs squeak, footsteps run across the wooden floor, making it creak.

"What have you done now?" whispers Jean in your ear and you give him a look before he walks behind the others and the door closes.

The scene stops again and you stare at Levi. Both hands flat on the table in front of him, leaning on his arms and looking down, he stands there. You can no longer see his eyes as his long black strands fall into his face, but you notice his tense jaw. Your heart leaps again. He was so handsome. Especially when he was angry. Finally, you break the silence.

"Great, now you've scared everyone," you sigh and roll your eyes.

"What are you doing?", Levi hisses back at you, spitting venom and bile, finally raising his head. His eyes blaze again and your core drips.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know your place, so start acting like it, you piece of shit."

"I wish my place was naked in front of you." Before Levi has taken in what you've said, you stand up, pushing the chair back a little as you do so, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go to sleep too. The day was exhausting and I need to rest to be fit for the expedition. So, I can sit my ass off nicely in midfield."

You turn away from him and your heart slips slightly into your pants. Never turn your back on the enemy. "But of course, it makes much more sense for Mikasa to fight in front and me in the back. Makes sense."

You can take two steps as his hand wraps firmly around your wrist. He squeezes too tightly, hurting you, and you grin again.

"Repeat what you said." His voice is so low it sends a shiver down your spine. Your expression changes and, playfully annoyed, you turn to face him.

"Do you mean the part where I explained that I was going to sit my ass off." He growls and you almost groan. The tension was heavy and hot.

"Stop playing games. My patience is running out."

You lick your lower lip again, wetting it before biting down on it. "I know this isn't about the fucking mission," Levi looks at your mouth. You take a step closer to him, looking up at him from below. "I wish my place was naked in front of you, Daddy," you breathe.

In that split second, his lips land on yours. Two forces of nature collide and you almost topple backwards. His arm wraps tightly around your waist, pulling you against him, and you finally moan. He bites your lower lip hard and you open your mouth in pain. He takes the opportunity to dig his tongue deep between your lips. He presses himself against your body and you slam into the wall behind you. A pain runs through your head as your tongues circle each other, fighting to see who has the upper hand. Your hands go into his hair, reaching deep into his mane, and you pull his head closer to you. Big hands grip your waist and he lifts you up with ease so you can wrap your legs around him. His hands travel under your thighs, squeezing the flesh before he drills them into the fat of your ass. Your teeth collide as you drill your tongue deeper into his mouth, exploring his mouth cavity. He releases the kiss and a thread of spit connects you. You lay your head back and lick over your swollen, sore lips as he places his mouth on your vein, kissing your pulse before licking along it.

"Took you long enough to finally decide to fuck me."

"Shut your mouth, brat," he breathes against your neck before biting into it and sucking on it.

"I swear, if you leave hickeys ..." you groan.

"What then? Are you going to hit me with your little fists?"

"You mean like you did to me all those times? Nah, I'm not an asshole like you. But you probably secretly get off on it."

He bites your neck, just above your pulse, and your head slams back against the wall behind you, making you see stars. He smirks as his nails dig into you and you claw into his shirt. Your panties are completely wet and your juice leaks out of you incessantly. You moan loudly as his teeth dig deeper into your flesh. This was far too good to be true. Your left hand goes into his hair again, you pull at the strands and tear him away from you. He makes a face and you press your lips to his again, biting his lower lip until you taste blood. He gasps and pushes your head away from him, "You're crazy."

You grin broadly at him. "We've been over this," you lick his lower lip apologetically, "and I can see you like it." His gaze is on your face as you wrap your arms around him. "You like crazy, you will stick your dick in crazy." A dark sound escapes him and your nails run over his neck. "You can't even argue with me, you want to fuck this crazy bitch so badly."

His lips land on yours again and you grin against him before moaning into his mouth as he presses you tighter against the wall. His hands leave your ass, skimming up the sides of your waist before moving forward to your chest. Two of his fingers find their way along between the buttons, stroking the sensitive skin. Your belly grows warm with the butterflies inside him. You wrap your legs tighter around his waist and run your hand under the fabric of his shirt at the nape of his neck, running it over the muscles of his shoulders and it shakes you with pleasure.

His strong hands grip the fabric of your blouse and without warning, he rips the front apart, sending the buttons flying across the room. You bite your lip as his arms fall around your waist to hold you in place. "You shouldn't have taken your anger out on my blouse," you moan as he kisses the bulge above your right collarbone and licks along it.

"Would you rather I took it out on you?" he murmurs as he bites into that thin skin too, sucking on it and sure to leave a hickey.

"Yes, I don't know you any different."

He continues to lick forward, kissing the ridge at the end of your neck, licking over a mole at the beginning of the mound of your breast. His right hand comes away from your waist, grips your left breast and kneads it. You claw into his shoulders, leaving marks as he pushes the cup off it and you feel his hand skin on skin. Almost painfully, he rolls your nipple between his thumb and forefinger and you push your back through, coming to meet him.

"Mmm, you like that?" he murmurs and you can hear his grin.

"I never thought you'd be this good at it," you mock, before you make a grimace and groan. Pain runs through you as he bites down on your nipple and then his lips wrap around it and he sucks on it. The sensation extends to your fingertips and your toes, coursing through your whole body. You close your eyes, savouring and moaning his name as he bites into it again. He sucks harder on it, lifting his head slightly and releasing it with a plop. He circles your nipple with his tongue and licks it slowly and pleasurably. The knot in your stomach tightens and your head is fogged.

"More," you moan into the room. You tug at the piece of fabric covering him and press your core tighter against him.

"Don't be so impatient, idiot."

"I'm not impatient, you're just slow."

He pulls your whole body down a bit, pressing his bulge into your centre. You curse because the fabric between you is annoying and rub against him greedily.

"Slowly then?" he purrs against your ear and comes towards you, rubbing against you too, "I'll keep that in mind." He grips you again and lifts you away from the wall. You let yourself fall against him and moan against his neck, licking it as you continue to try and build pressure.

Shortly after, your bottom touches the table and he releases your weight. You seize the opportunity and do the same to him, yanking him out of his shirt.

"Tch, but I'm venting my anger," he leans over you, capturing your lips again. Immediately your tongues meet. Greedily your fingers touch his body, stroking his soft skin beneath your fingers, feeling individual scars over, which you let your thumb wander. You caress each and every muscle and gape at his well-built body. He surpasses every single one of your fantasies that you imagined while he was training or just cleaning. You follow his muscles down to the V of his pelvis and a deep moan comes over him as you undo the buckle of his belt. His hands also find their way to your trousers, undoing them, and he releases the kiss. He goes to the floor, kneels in front of the table where you are still sitting and looks up at you. Slowly he takes off your boots without taking his eyes off you. You watch him spellbound, a grin falling on your lips again. He pulls at your trouser legs and you lift your bottom, helping a little so that he can brush the fabric off your legs.

His hands run over your feet and you shake yourself slightly before he kisses them.

"Mmm," you moan, "I could see you like this more often, Captain." You bite your lower lip as his hands slide along your legs. Again, and again his lip or tongue hits your skin, caressing it and you are sure you would leave a stain on the neatly cleaned table. At the latest, when his lips lick the insides of your thighs, your hands clasp the edge of the table. You groan and your right hand goes into his hair, claws into it. His hands settle on your legs, pushing them apart, and his warm breath touches your core. He looks at the dark fabric separating his face from your lower lips and licks his lips. How will you taste? There is a distinct stain, your juice colours the fabric a shade blacker and his hard cock presses against his still closed trousers. He draws in the air around him and he groans. You smell so incredibly good, how much he'd like to taste you. How much he would like to fuck you.

When you notice his fingers gently stroking your pussy and he grips the fabric to pull it aside, you moan again and pull on his head.

Painfully he is pulled back and you close your legs.

"What are you doing, idiot?" he gasps in annoyance, his face contorting at the sting.

"I don't feel like playing this time," you murmur, grinning. "My patience is wearing thin," you repeat his words from earlier, "I don't feel like waiting anymore."

You press your toes against his chest and push him backwards. He is slightly off balance, staggers and falls into the chair behind him.

"Unzip your pants already", you stand up and your hands each rest on the back of the chair next to his head, your breasts dangling in his face, "Go ahead".

Completely caught off guard, he undoes the button and then the zip. You grin again and lean forward towards him. Your lips meet his jaw, kissing along it to his ear and you put your mouth to the shell of his ear, "And now you take out your big cock."

He growls slightly and does as you command. Your gaze falls briefly on his hard erection and a shiver comes over you, your butterflies dancing inside you.

"That's much better, isn't it, Daddy?" you see his Adam's apple dangle as he swallows hard and you look into his eyes. You place one leg on each side of his body. Your hands slide from the back of the chair to his shoulders and you claw into them. Still covered with a piece of cloth, you rub your cunt over his hard cock, which presses against it. You moan and he does the same, putting his hands on your waist and squeezing. His eyes close and he puts his head back in his neck, "Do it already."

"Anything my daddy wants," your hand grips the thin fabric and pulls it aside. Drops of your juice hit him, mixing with his precum and you rub it along your slit before gripping his shaft and sliding his thick tip inside you.

Never would you have expected him to be so big. Your walls press tightly against him as he slides inch by inch into you. Your eyebrows draw together because it feels so good. Levi gasps slightly beneath you as you swallow him slowly.

"You're huge," you sigh contentedly as he's fully inside you, and you twitch your walls, his fingers buried deep in the flesh of your waist. His jaw seems tense, but his eyes look at you half-closed. His irises are no longer visible. "God, so fucking huge. We should have done this so much sooner. I think it's tearing me apart," you grin wide and happy as you feel a slight burn.

"If I had known how good you looked doing that, I would have fucked you sooner."

"Yeah, would you have?" you look deep into his eyes as you move upwards, his cock sliding completely out of you and you lower yourself back down onto him, "Do you like the way I ride your cock?" Your movements slowly quicken and you hear the smacking of your cunt as it swallows his cock again and again.

"Do you like the way your thick cock keeps digging deep into me?" He growls out and starts to come towards you. His hips thrust upwards, hitting you hard. As he does, you don't part your gaze for a second and it feels like you can glimpse his soul.

"Do you like the way my cunt milks you?" Levi digs one hand into the fat of your ass, pulling on it and baring his teeth. You dig your nails into his back as he changes the angle and bumps against your G-spot. The sounds of his balls hitting your ass and the mixing of your fluids grow louder. You become incredibly hot and start to sweat.

"Do you like the way I moan your name?" you add a long Levi at the last word and he stares at you like you're a goddess. His goddess.

"Fuck, you're so hot," he murmurs in a dry, heavy voice.

"That you ever thought otherwise hurts my heart." You ram your fingernails deeper into his back and pull at the skin, leaving deep marks.

"I'll never think anything else again," he groans up at you. By now you are no longer riding him. Instead, he holds you in place above him, your feet no longer even touching the ground, and he thrusts into you with a brutality that leaves you breathless. The knot in your stomach gets tighter and tighter and you bite his shoulder to stifle a scream. He fucks you like a madman, pressing his body hard against yours and enjoying the feel of your hard nipples against his chest. He tries to get even deeper, to push against your cervix, but the position is too shitty for that.

"That won't do," he groans, suddenly lifting you up. With his pants at his ankles and you in his arms, he walks back to the table, lays you down on it ungently and buries himself in you again. He grips your legs with his hands, rests them on his shoulders and increases his speed further. He fucks you into the hard wood of the table and puts his head back, moaning your name loudly. He comes so far inside you, you feel pain deep inside you. Such good pain.

"God, your cunt is so tight. I never want to feel anything else ever again." You open your mouth to say something but nothing comes out. Your breath has long left your lungs and your brain can't make anything up. Your little body is concentrating solely on how his fat cock is being pushed into you, how he is tearing your little hole in two and how incredible this feeling is. Because of this, you just mumble something to yourself, which makes him grin, "Suddenly I guess your mouth isn't so big anymore." Again, you try to say something, but it is in vain. Your head is full of fog and all you can think about is how he should thrust harder, even deeper, which is no longer possible, and how he should take you. You want him to ruin you, for everything and everyone. Every night he should do this to you so that you can never stand or sit again. You just want to be his little plaything.

"Good to know I can shut you up like this." His cock hits your G-spot hard and makes you see stars. You moan loudly and reach for something to claw into, but there's nothing. "Alright, I guess silent isn't quite the right word".

He's fucking you so well and you glare at him as he stares at you and you bite your lip, your breathing becoming more uncontrolled and you nod slightly at him to signal how close you are. He grins and you push your back through as he thrusts into you one last time and you explode, screaming his name and losing your grip on the earth.

That was probably the beginning of your death - and probably that of every other - but who knows for sure. The two of you were quite a force on your own, but as a duo you were invincible. Soon, word got out about what had happened. You could have tried to deny it, but it wasn't difficult to guess, since you were ever the only person allowed to disobey Levi and get away alive. Moreover, your loud moans could be heard throughout the building. Everyone should know that you now belong to each other. Your madness spilled over onto him. You had nothing left to lose - except each other and you swore you would only leave this hell together.

"Listen up, shitheads," Levi turns his attention to the people behind you and you follow his gaze, "we're going to do another round and secure the perimeter before we set up camp here for the night."

"Yes, sir," everyone but you shouts in unison and salutes. You roll your eyes.

Your gaze, on the other hand, averts and you direct it to the trees around you. The birdsong has died down and the wind has receded. The branch beneath you sways slightly again as Armin lands on it and turns to talk to Levi. You ignore them both and continue to look around. No wind, but the leaves sway back and forth. You close your eyes and concentrate. Far in the distance you can hear a river making its way through the ground. There is a faint smell of wet moss and it is all so peaceful. Far away you hear the tapping of a woodpecker looking for its food before it suddenly stops. You tear your eyes open and clutch the handles of your equipment. A moment later you see the bird fluttering overhead with a loud bird song. Your eyes fall on Levi and over Armin's shoulder he looks at you. He raises an eyebrow before your typical grin falls to your lips and his expression slips.

You shoot your hooks, which bore into a tree and you fly away. Behind you, you hear the shouting of others and more gas being consumed as you make your way through the forest. You build up speed and zoom past the many trees. You race in the direction from which you just heard the woodpecker. You hear a stomping sound that gets louder and louder the closer you get to it, before you see two huge figures running past you on your left. You didn't expect two, but that only means one more point on your kill scale. Your hands grip the handles of your 3DMG tighter and adrenaline rushes through your bloodstream. You draw in a deep breath through your nose as you suddenly change direction and race towards them. In the distance, you catch sight of your squad and see Levi racing ahead of them after you. He is stronger than you, but you are faster. He has left the squad behind with ease and does not look happy. His rage-filled face makes you feel like you're on fire and a shiver runs down your spine.

"Sorry," you shout loudly to them as you fly through the air and your hook bores into a titan's shoulder. You hear Levi yell your name, but you ignore him. Unfortunately, this distracts the two titans and they notice you. They stop and look around before spotting Levi.

The smaller titan is just under eight metres tall, the other about two metres taller, both of course abnormal. You whirl around the larger one and draw your swords, placing them against your small body, ready for battle. You hiss at his neck, but while he has not yet set his sights on you, the smaller one turns his attention to you and looks at you with wide eyes. He reaches out his hand to you. You curse loudly and drill your hook into a tree above you to get away from him quickly. It is just enough that when he closes his hand, you are not caught in it. Instead, your sole touches his huge finger and you push off against him in addition to putting more land between him and you. On the other side of the field, you see Levi whirling through the air, attracting the little titan's attention. He puts up his swords ready to fight, but you are quicker, get in his way and cut the titan's neck with a smooth slice. The first titan goes down, begins to steam and you are left with the larger one. As you fly through the air, you drill your hooks into his arm and pull yourself towards him. Just before you get on top of him you change direction and fly towards his shoulder. The titan looks around and tries to spot you again, but you are too fast. The next time your hooks hit a tree in the distance. You fly towards his neck, your swords just setting when your ropes suddenly loosen. The titan has lashed out, ripping them out of the tree. You tear open your eyes, more adrenaline finding its way into your bloodstream, your heart pounding against your chest. For the moment, your course is not altered, so your cut glides through him perfectly and he falls slowly to the ground. But you fall with him. You try to drill your hooks back into a tree, but apparently, he has damaged your equipment, so nothing happens. Panic shoots into your head as you get closer and closer to the ground. You close your eyes and brace yourself for impact before you hit the ground. Your air is ripped from your lungs, your body aches under the contact and the wind flies around your ears. You cling to the body against you and rest your head against its neck. Black tea and lemon. As soon as your feet touch ground, he sets you down and pushes you off him. You stagger back and see the faces of the rest of your comrades, who look at you in horror.

"What was that about, you retard?!" snarls Levi at you, and you see his tense jaw and the deep creases on his forehead, his lips pressed hatefully into a line, as he presses his eyebrows together.

"I don't know what you're upset about. I had the situation under control." You pat the dirt off your clothes, hoping he doesn't see your slightly wobbly legs. You take a deep breath and look up at him. That was more action than you planned. To be honest, the situation got out of hand, but you would never admit that - especially not in front of Levi.

"Under control?! You call that under control! You disobeyed my order!" he yells at the whole forest and you see Krista wince.

"I killed them, what more do you want? If you hadn't come, I would have finished faster."

"He almost killed you!"

"Right, almost," you grin at him and undo the straps of your equipment, letting it fall to the floor. It is no longer of any use and simply means more burden that you would have to carry around with you. You kick it lightly and it rattles. Everyone seems shocked, and Levi clenches his hands into fists. You bite your lower lip, "You were there, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm not always, maron!"

"Yeah, and I'm good at taking care of myself in those moments," you stride towards him and place your hands on his tense chest, "Daddy."

You wink at him and the others almost skin it at your words. Eren is probably already thinking about running away before Levi takes his anger out on him. You stroke his shirt and he stares at you. His anger is immeasurable, but you can see something else mingling in his gaze and he relaxes slightly.

"You'll pay for that later," he murmurs and you lick your lips.

"I expected nothing less."

[stillness-in-green]

Part 2 of the response to this ask:

Part 1 was about where I think Geten’s story is going, and if I think it’s likely that Dabi will kill him; it dealt mainly with how those characters are set up in canon. Part 2 is far more about the fandom, and the assumptions people make that lead them to theories like the one above--specifically, the assumption that the League was always planning on bailing on the PLF. Hit the jump below with me and I'll go over why I think the common arguments for that are misguided at best, and willfully misreading the text at worst.

WARNING: Contains some generalizations about parts of the fandom that I have mostly taken steps to avoid seeing on my dash, so some of my characterizations may be out of date. I’ve tried to desalinate this post as much as possible, but as an unapologetic fan of the MLA and of Spinner (who I do not bring up incidentally), this is a topic I feel particularly strongly about. Apologies, but I Have Seen Things.

DISCLAIMER: I like Geten better than Dabi. I don't think he's better developed; I don't think he's a better character--I just like him better. This is largely down to the fact that I find the MLA fascinating from a worldbuilding perspective and its members compelling personally, whereas I’m less interested in Dabi personally than I am the Todoroki Drama on the whole, and have been tired of Fanon Dabi for approximately 83 years. I’ll also be the first to admit that my take on Dabi is pretty mercenary--hardly the irredeemable psychopath the Hero Stans on Twitter see, but nothing close to Secretly Soft Big Brother Touya, either. If that’s not your bag, you may want to skip this one.

So, here's a bullet point list of the reasons I have personally seen on why the League was always planning to turn on the MLA:

Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them.

Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

[Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

So, let's go over those, shall we? Note that a lot of what I'm going to lay out below isn't conclusive. What I want to establish is simply that the canonical evidence isn't conclusive, certainly not as much so as the people who support this view espouse.

|| Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

In responses to my recent Overhaul post, I defended Viz’s official translation as an accurate rendering of the dialogue in question. In general, I feel like Caleb Cook is pretty reliable in his translations, if sometimes kind of stiff or dry in localization. However, there are times he makes assumptions about lines--as indeed a translator for a currently-running series will sometimes have to--and sometimes, those assumptions don’t pan out. This is one of those times.

Dabi's line, "Shall we get started early?" is based on an assumption Cook made about a line that doesn't have an actual subject. In the original dialogue--Hayame ni hajimaru ka--there is no “we,” not even in the form of some implicit collective in Dabi’s grammatical inflection, nor is there a question of "should." All Dabi’s doing is musing that the start (again, there’s no subject, and so no indication of the start of what, or the start as initiated by who) is happening early.

Toga's line communicates much the same, save that she does specify that the schedule/plan/arrangement is happening earlier than expected--which is totally true, since her line is in response to Dabi observing that Machia moving must mean Shigaraki's awake, and Shigaraki was supposed to be down for another month.

Shigaraki's line, like Dabi's, lacks a subject to describe what exactly is supposed to start as soon as Shigaraki wakes. He's saying something that would, in a more stilted way, be, "I wake up and then it's the start, right?"

None of these lines suggest that the characters are necessarily talking about any plan other than the one the PLF laid out. Yes, it looks somewhat damning that Shigaraki's first action (after getting himself a cape, anyway) is to have Machia bring him the League, but heck, maybe that was always the plan. Just because Shigaraki wants to rejoin his comrades doesn't mean the rest of the PLF didn't already have machinations that they were supposed to set into motion the moment Machia left. After all, the plan as Hawks understood it did involve simultaneous attacks on major cities--maybe the League was going to be spearheading one of those attacks. Further, Shigaraki knew something was wrong from the moment he regained consciousness, and we don’t know how that knowledge affected the call he made. Hell, maybe the original plan was for the League to be brought to meet him somewhere in a chartered limo; we don’t know.

It's telling that this idea that the League had a Secret Plan to screw over the MLA rarely seems to account for Mr. Compress and Spinner being confused over the suddenness of events. The response to questions about this seems to be that the "villain trio" knew about it, so the ignorance of the rest of the League can just be handwaved--the important members knew, and that's enough. This is ungenerous towards both Twice and Mr. Compress, but I have got particularly little time for Spinner, the narrator of MVA and guy who decided to devote his all to Shigaraki, being disrespected in this fashion. More on that later.

|| Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

Shigaraki does say he won't forgive the MLA, but consider what he did to the MLA and its leader. He destroyed most of their stronghold, killed scores of them, is directly responsible for Re-Destro losing his legs, and saw that vaunted descendant of Destro about six inches shy of full forehead-on-the-ground dogeza. The League Shigaraki commands killed a great many more of them, including one of their inner circle. He commandeered the Liberation Army, its resources, and its grand cause. I think it’s safe to say he’s more than responded in kind!

I'm not saying Shigaraki feels for the MLA the same way he does about the League, far from it, but I do think he's practical enough after two hundred chapters of character development not to throw them away out of spite. In Chapter 246, he tells Ujiko explicitly, "When someone offers me something, I take it," and, "I'm done taking the heroes lightly. I'll use everything I've got to obliterate the dregs All Might left behind." From a purely practical standpoint, if he intends to throw everything he has at the heroes, he has no reason to throw the MLA under the bus, and 116,000 reasons to keep them around. I'm altogether sure that, so long as they stood to be useful to his plans, he would have kept them around.

|| The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them. + || Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

I hadn’t seen the second point in the wild, but I suppose it must be how the “The League will betray the MLA” theorists are getting around Dabi and Skeptic’s clear collaboration and how that collaboration totally scuttles the first point, huh? Hilarious.

Anyway, setting aside the fact that Dabi showed up to the one planning session we were shown when even Geten didn’t, there’s evidence in the canon that Dabi was working with Skeptic since even before the raid. Consider that Dabi’s video was filmed at the villa (the wall paneling and the style of the couch both match) and ask yourself where the camera he used came from. Once the filming was complete, where was the video stored such that Skeptic could access it from his laptop? If Dabi’d had it on an SD card and Skeptic was seeing it for the first time, why didn’t Spinner, Compress and Toga watch it alongside him? Surely Skeptic would need to watch it through at least once to know when to splice in the footage of Jin’s death for maximum dramatic impact? On that note, by far the most telling piece of evidence is this: if Dabi wasn't already working with Skeptic, then why was he wearing one of Skeptic's body cameras during his confrontation with Hawks?

Further, Skeptic's protest when he’s pulled onto Machia isn't that he doesn’t want to be with the League; it’s that he doesn’t want to leave Re-Destro behind. Once he's resigned that it's going to happen, though, he's cocky about his talents and complimentary of Dabi's big reveal, even if he is exasperated about the League's antics. It's ambiguous, I admit, but given that Dabi's wearing his cameras, he had to have known Dabi had a reason for them--and given that he is both abrasive and mouthy, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have demanded to know what that reason was.

Hell, Dabi even thanks Skeptic for his editing work, which is more direct positive approval than he's ever shown anyone in the League (give or take the high-five with Twice, which, genuine or not, he would have known he was doing on camera). That much-vaunted panel of Spinner telling Toga to come back to the League? Dabi's grinning, which in isolation you could read as a certain rueful affection, but with the full context of the chapter, it becomes apparent that Dabi is grinning at Skeptic's laptop, seconds after telling Skeptic to "hurry up." Skeptic is, at that moment, probably gearing up the video to project nationwide, and Dabi’s more focused on that than he is Toga’s crisis, even when Compress directly appeals to him for aid. He tells Compress he doesn’t care, the same way he told Hawks he doesn't give a damn about the League.

Let me be clear here: I'm inclined to take Dabi at his word. I think Dabi hangs around the League because, for all that he says one man's conviction can shake the world, he also knows his own limits, and the League offers safety in numbers and an avenue to pursue his revenge. Maybe he finds them acceptable enough company, maybe he even does like them a bit despite himself, but I think any affection he might have for them is entirely incidental to his views on their usefulness. In the same way, while he's willing to bail on the MLA when the heroes attack, I don't think it was his plan to do so, especially not given his apparent immediate regard for Skeptic, as seen in the deleted scene here. Sure, he dislikes Geten, but ultimately, Geten is a stupid kid too tied up in his care for Re-Destro--who's now worshipping the ground Shigaraki walks on--to really be getting in Dabi's way.

Maybe if the MLA really were as quirk supremacist as Geten makes them out to be, Dabi would be actively looking for a way to see ‘em burn, but as I’ve said countless times before, Geten is not a reliable narrator vis a vis the MLA's doctrine. Now, obviously I don't expect Dabi to give them an unearned benefit of the doubt,(1) not after what he heard Geten say, but if Dabi has been working with Skeptic, it doesn't take a genius to realize that while Anthropomorph is a perfectly good quirk, it is categorically not what primarily defines Skeptic’s "worth" in the MLA societal microcosm.

Nothing that Skeptic does reflects the way Geten talks about "elevating one's ability" or "sheer strength" in the way that HeroAca fandom tends to understand as referring to flashy and offensive quirks. And yet, Skeptic is a ranked advisor warranting an introductory panel with RD's inner circle and Geten is not. Perhaps, just perhaps, this might have led Dabi to reevaluating his initial assessment just slightly?

|| Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

So, this one's pretty wild, because, in the same chapter that had people crowing about Mr. Compress's dialogue, Mr. Compress's actions show the exact opposite of the conclusion this theory would demand. Specifically, if it was always the League's plan to ditch the MLA, Mr. Compress would have darted right past Skeptic, ignoring the man's cries for help. He doesn't--he picks Skeptic up on the way past and (at least in the volume corrections) deposits him safe with Dabi in Spinner's scarf. Of course, Skeptic still stands to be useful, but if one acknowledges that Skeptic's usefulness is reason enough not to abandon him, then what exactly is the argument for leaving 116,000 perfectly useful warm bodies behind?

But let's set aside Compress rescuing Skeptic and focus on the actual point, because that point in itself is still flawed. Mr. Compress's thoughts on the PLF in the specific talk bubble in question are somewhat ambiguous. It's another case of the Viz translation making a couple of assumptions that are just that--assumptions.

Compress's words in the Japanese are as follows:

Chōjō Kaihō Sensen.… Viran rengo no Shigaraki Tomura ga…

Viz then renders the line like so:

The Paranormal Liberation Front's… No, the League of Villain's Shigaraki…

Note that in the Japanese, the possessive no is only included once, to indicate Shigaraki's association with the League. Further, the original doesn't indicate any negation in Compress's thoughts. Yes, he could be rejecting the PLF association for Shigaraki, but he could as easily be narrowing his scope to Shigaraki as the figure he represents to the League, rather than the figure he represents to the PLF--not rejecting wholesale, but rather becoming more specific. Compress might also be thinking first of the PLF as a general organization, then narrowing down to Shigaraki specifically.

Rather than reading this line as an indication that Compress regards the PLF as temporary, I was heartened by the fact that Compress thought about the PLF at all! If the League really had been planning to discard them this entire time, then there's no reason for Compress to have ever taken the Front seriously enough to have thought about them in that moment of crisis. You can carry this back further, too. In Chapter 258, when Twice is asking Hawks for help, he says that Spinner and Compress have been in meetings for days. Coupled with Compress's first thought about the entity that will carry out Harima's desired reformation being the Liberation Front (or possibly "the Liberation Front's Shigaraki"), this indicates to me that Compress was taking it seriously, not just gorging himself on sushi on the MLA's dime.

Indeed, back in Ujiko's lab, when it was just Shigaraki talking about his backstory and his dreams of destruction, Compress looks the opposite of impressed; we know from his narration in 294 that he liked the League because they didn't place any importance on one another’s pasts. Yet, at some point, his view shifted to believing that fulfilling his ancestor's ambition, his bloodline’s duty, really might be back on the table. We as readers don't quite know when that shift happened, but given, again, his initial mental invocation of the PLF, I think we can assume that it's tied to that alliance, those resources. And sure, when the moment of crisis happens and he's really defining who and what Shigaraki is to him, and where his values and priorities lie, it's with the League and Shigaraki as the leader of the League. But that doesn't mean he never had his hopes for the PLF at all, or was partaking in plans to ditch them.

Also too, this is a man who was lamenting the loss of their partnership with Overhaul, a man who personally maimed him, on top of killing a comrade. You're telling me the guy who shrugged off his animosity towards Overhaul would willingly allow the League to plot sabotage against even wealthier collaborators against whom he has even less reason to hold a grudge? Come on, guys.

|| Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

This one's easy: Toga pretty explicitly hated Curious, but she's even more explicit that she likes the MLA because she thinks the world they want to create is wonderful. She says this verbatim at the end of 225, after Curious has spent the entire chapter hounding her with explosions and intrusive questions. What turns her animosity on Curious is not some reveal that the MLA's world would be terrible after all, but Curious calling Toga's "normal" miserable and tragic. Essentially, she doesn't object to the world the MLA wants to bring about; she objects to being turned into a martyr for that world, especially when that martyrdom requires that the things that make Toga happy be characterized as horrific misfortunes.

Toga doesn't like Curious; she kills Curious. And then she comes into a position of leadership, and we don't know a lot about how that position takes her, but she seems delighted to be walking out onto the stage to be announced as such, and she makes active contributions to the discussion of the PLF's plans in Chapter 245. We are, again, given no indication that her lethal response to Curious means that she's planning to ditch the MLA on the whole.

Incidentally, Curious asserts what she does about Toga only in the context of the world as it stands. The world's rejection of Toga's normal, and the extremes that rejection drove Toga to, are what Curious considers tragic and miserable, not Toga's fascination with blood in and of itself. She clearly believes that, in the world the MLA envisions, Toga's life would not be so miserable because she would never have been oppressed to the degree that she snapped. And frankly, Curious isn't wrong. The only reason she is a villain in that scene is that she's willing to murder Toga to project that tragedy to the world. If she'd been willing to sit down and have a civil interview with Toga to print it in a relevant magazine, she would have been fine.

|| Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

You know, this is a totally fair point. It is, however, somewhat complicated by the fact that Giran himself never left the PLF. Now, there’s almost certainly something to be said about Giran’s whole information broker shtick being terminally compromised by his capture, his maiming, his client list being hacked, etc. He had a bunch of identifying items strewn all over the country that were covered in the national news, items that people who associated with him closely certainly would have recognized. Maybe he’s laying low for a while?

I don’t know why Giran was still around by the time of the raid. I can theorize about his pragmatism or what have you, but the canon really doesn’t give us anything to go on. Still, if he really hated the MLA all that much, as he would be totally justified in doing, it’s pretty bizarre that Horikoshi showed him twice in PLF crowd scenes post-Deika looking nothing worse than kind of confused and uneasy. Heck, you’d think he would at least have merited a better seat in the crowd for the big merger announcement.

Giran aside, the fact that Twice never does hit it off with anyone in his regiment is, I think, telling. If there’s anyone in the League that intentionally kept himself at a distance from the MLA because of hard feelings, it’s likely Twice. After all, if he had befriended anyone, he presumably wouldn’t have needed to go to Hawks for tutoring almost an entire month after Deika. That said, the fact that Twice does go running to Hawks for tutoring shows that he’s at least doing his best to act in accordance with what he thinks Shigaraki and the rest want. That doesn’t preclude the League having a secret plan that he’s either in on and playing along with, or hasn’t been told about because he might not be able to stop himself from vocalizing about it. Still, while absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, obviously absence of evidence is not evidence of presence. So, lacking any sign that the rest of the League is planning treachery, I’m not inclined to assume Twice’s lack of forgiveness is indicative of anything other than his own feelings.

|| [Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

:: INCOMING SALT WARNING :: INCOMING SALT WARNING ::

This is the one that really gets to me. I have never seen an argument that the League is planning to betray the PLF that convincingly explains the fact that Spinner, to all available evidence, threw himself wholeheartedly into trying to make the PLF succeed. To be more precise, I have seen one explanation, and that explanation is that the plan to ditch the MLA was a secret that only Shigaraki, Dabi and sometimes Toga knew about, and to reiterate, that is bullshit.

In my experience, this is an explanation proposed by people who care about Spinner only insofar as he can be a Soft Gaymer Boyfriend or score them rhetorical points, but have little to no interest in his ongoing--and, indeed, increasing--importance to the League generally and Shigaraki’s arc specifically. The dude who talked about how Twice’s home was the League, who got through to Toga while still respecting her choice when no one else could, the guy who recognized the hollowness within Shigaraki but also bonded with him over video games, the man who Mr. Compress said was Shigaraki’s most devoted follower(2)--this man did not do all of that for people in this fandom to say, “Oh, well, the others probably just kept it a secret from him because they thought he’d be bad at lying.”

Really? “Bad at lying?” And that’s an adequate justification, is it, for Shigaraki letting Spinner toil for months under false pretenses? For lying to the man who adores him the most? Of course it isn’t, but the people who theorize this don’t really care about Spinner’s adoration for Shigaraki, or the fact that Shigaraki rewarding Spinner’s feelings by allowing him to dedicate himself unstintingly to something Shigaraki was planning to discard from the beginning would be a blatant abuse of Spinner’s trust.

I have never seen anyone try to argue that Spinner was in on a plan to betray the MLA all along. That’s because it’s patently obvious that Spinner--forthright, direct Spinner, who named the merged organization with Re-Destro, spends all his time in meetings, has a direct exchange with Re-Destro about the state of their plans, and is probably the reason RD started wearing polka dots--went all-in on the PLF. But for the people who propose the “the League was always going to bail” theory, Spinner and his labors are an afterthought.

Spinner is not an afterthought. Where Mr. Compress has been captured, Toga could hypothetically be peeled away from the League via Uraraka, and Dabi almost certainly will be peeled away via the Todoroki plot, Spinner’s driving motivation at this point is Shigaraki himself. He connected to Shigaraki’s nihilism, his hatred, but also his humanity--the humanity in Shigaraki Tomura, not in Shimura Tenko. His empathy didn’t spring from contrived psychic glimpses of crying 5-year-olds, but from long months of observation, doubt, and gradually deepening wonder. He’s the only person currently with Shigaraki that I can see caring enough about Shigaraki’s welfare that he might sacrifice his own goals and desires to help Deku save him.

Spinner is not an afterthought, and I refuse to build or entertain theories that treat him that way. So as to his opinions on the MLA? Despite having his own reasons to be leery of them based on how shabbily Trumpet treated him, he was obviously trying to make the Paranormal Liberation Front succeed, which means he must have believed that Shigaraki wanted it to succeed. Therefore, unless you’re prepared to assert that Shigaraki (and everyone else who was in on it!) was cruel enough to lie to Spinner about something he was devoting so much time and energy to, the inescapable conclusion is that Shigaraki also wanted the Front to succeed.

(Note: After letting a friend pre-read this, I have been informed that there is, in fact, one explanation offered for Spinner knowing the League was going to abandon the PLF but working his ass off on the venture anyway, and that explanation is, “Something something wants to prove himself because low self-esteem.” This is so ridiculous I can’t even bring myself to edit this post accordingly. Low self-esteem! Because nothing would alleviate Spinner's low self-esteem like toiling for months over something that holds no worth to the people he actually cares about, right? Right?? Bah. Humbug!)

And but so, to wrap all that up: I fundamentally disagree that the League viewed the Paranormal Liberation Front as a temporary arrangement, at least to the extent that they were actively planning to betray their newfound--new won--allies. The fact that I don't think the League intended to discard the MLA out of hand does, thus, influence my opinion that, whatever Geten's fate will be, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be, "He gets murdered in a way that resembles nothing so much as a sick revenge fantasy dozens of chapters after the last point when such a death would have been remotely tonally appropriate."

Thanks for the ask, anon! Sorry about-- *waves at all of this*

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

(1) Not that Mr. “Burns Random Delinquents Alive For Not Measuring Up To His Standards For Villainy” has any moral standing to criticize others for how they determine the value of peoples’ lives, mind.

(2) Other translations for the verb in Mr. Compress’s Japanese line of, “You are the one who ____s Shigaraki the most,” include yearn for, long for, pine for, miss, love dearly, adore, idolize, and revere. “Most devoted follower” is accurate enough, but considerably less homo than some of the things we could have gotten there.

[theklaapologist]

Nobody really knew where the monocubs where hiding throughout the day. Whenever they made themselves seen it was like they appeared out of thin air and after informing the students they would leave using the same method as well.

It was a mystery to korekiyo, who had spent the whole day checking every classroom and every ultimate lab in hopes of finding some sort of secret passage, maybe a monitor different than the others that would let him communicate with them. Korekiyo had already deemed his monopad useless since it didn't have any messaging function and with a sigh he closed his room's door after entering and sat on his bed.

He wasn't stupid like some of the other ultimates and unlike them he knew the signs of pregnancy, from the small mood changes to the increased neediness. He was observant, and his sister could confirm that indeed, the monocubs were all acting very suspiciously. After eyeing them closely every time they would appear, he could confirm that something was up.

Monophanie was a lot more sensitive than usual, trying to avoid gore and blood at all costs, monokid was kinder, quieter towards monodam who also was more talkative. Monosuke seemed snappier than normal and monotaro acted a lot more protectively towards all of them. In general, his sister could confirm him that all the signs were literally under their noses, about their secret relationship and the slight possibility than everyone except monosuke was pregnant.

It wasn't confirmed, after all it was just an idea, but korekiyo knew how to get what he wanted. That's why he was searching for a way to talk to them as soon as possible. It was late now, but he knew that he could probably manage to talk to monotaro in the morning during the podcast. If they could hear them through the speakers the monitors had then he could probably set his plan into motion.

Korekiyo closed his eyes and smiled.

"Soon dear, soon" he whispered to himself and fell into a peaceful slumber.

~~

The next morning, during the podcast he simply uttered "I want to speak to you" while making eye contact with monotaro. The oldest sibling had tried a little too hard to keep his composure while nodding to korekiyo agreeing with what he asked. The rest of the cubs also seemed nervous over this sudden request as well. Monokid almost yelled and ruined their cover but monodam (!) softly nudged him and just before the screen blacked out with the characteristic 'so long bear well' korekiyo could see the green bear hold monokid's hand.

The ultimate anthropologist patiently waited for monotaro to visit him which happened right after he returned in his room from the cafeteria. The oldest cub was standing in the middle of his room acting like usual, a facade that korekiyo could easily see through now that he knew about their secret.

"What do you want? I'll have you know that you must consider yourself lucky that I agreed to privately visit you! This is against the rules"

Korekiyo chuckled and with a swift motion he sat on his bed while crossing his legs. Monotaro could be cute when he tried to seem scary, but no that was monosuke's job.

"I know about what's going on between you and the rest of the cubs" he started getting right to the point and he could see the exact moment that monotaro's soul left his body - if he even had a soul. "And before you try to deny it, don't. I'm not here about this because simply I do not care about your personal life just like you don't care about mine. I have a request to make"

Monotaro was speechless, his masked feelings slowly coming to the surface as he nervously squeezed his cape in his hands. He was trying not to completely lose control and not kill him on the spot despite being against the rules. Nobody was supposed to know, especially not these damn brats.

"And?! Did you call me here to tell me that? Will you use it against me- against us to let y'all leave? Don't bother. It won't work" the cub spat out with a huff and almost turned to leave, but korekiyo was faster and he quickly scrambled to the floor to catch him by his wrist.

"Wh- let me go you brat-" monotaro screeched. Fuck fuck fuck what was he going to do? Without the exisals he was weak, he couldn't die now, he couldn't leave the others waiting for him to come back only to get killed like this. But was korekiyo going to kill him? He couldn't read his facial expression like he did with the others.

"Don't be so nervous, I'm not going to harm you. I need you to do something for me" korekiyo's eyes shined mischievously.

"W-what do you want me to do...?" the bear gulped and looked up to make eye contact with him.

Korekiyo brought down his face mask indicating that his sister's tulpa would be the one speaking right now. Whether or not monotaro knew about this he didn't show it, he just stayed quiet for them to finish talking.

"My request is simple really." her smile was gentle and her eyes begged silently for monotaro to comply. "My brother's body is peculiar as he has both genital organs, an interesex if you'd like to call him. What I've always wanted to have is a family, a child of my own to take care of and raise. You must realise that with us being here in this killing game of yours takes away from me the opportunity to achieve this dream of mine" she paused to look at monosuke, trying to see if he has realised what they're trying to ask him or not.

"You and I aren't so different after all" korekiyo nodded agreeing and monosuke could only furrow his brows to show his confusion.

"Incest dear, you and I aren't that different, after all we both are attracted to our siblings aren't we? But oh, this is exactly why I'm asking you this and not nobody else from the ultimates. Because nobody else would understand my feelings, and because I simply do not want to give this piece of information to them"

Korekiyo brought his mask up and monosuke managed to breathe again. Were they asking him what he thought they did or was this just a fever dream?

"Ah- so you're... You're asking me? To... um" he didn't dare to utter these words and he hated how korekiyo was quick enough to finish the sentence for him.

"Yes. I want you to let me- her, pregnant"

Αχ γιατί είμαι τόσο ταλαντούχα 😍😍😍🤩🤩🤩

Ok αλλά;;;;; Μη ειρωνικά με κέρδισες στο soon dear, soon και στο incest dear,,,,, γελαω και ταυτόχρονα το κοιτάω με δέος γιατί λετζιτ είναι κάτι που θα διάβαζα Ι-

[aint-no-highschool-au]

The Repressed Nerd And The Anxious Prep:

"I debated Logan Picani in lit class today!!!!! and he debated back!!!!!!!"

That was the text Virgil got Immediately as the lesson ended.

"r u OK?"

He sent right back. Knowing his excitable friend, he wouldn't be surprised if Patton was about to faint right now. Which might sound a little harsh but it was simply out of concern.

"not really, I feel like I'm gonna faint!"

Yep, it was as bad as Virgil had feared.

"he stared right at me Vee! He looked directly into my eyes, I couldn't fucking breath!!!!!!"

Oh no, it was worse than Virgil had feared.

"it's okay, where are you?"

"I'll be there with cookies and a water bottle in 2 minutes."

"im walking to my locker."

"great."

"Jesus Christ Logan Picani could step on me and I would thank him"

"that's nice but if you text me anything else that you want him to do to you you're paying for the eye bleach that I'll have to use afterwards."

"how are you the prude between the two of us again?"

"not a prude, just demisexual. Sorry pat, we can't all be horny 24/7"

"more like 22/7, you can't be horny when you're doing homework it's physically impossible. Instant mood killer."

Virgil reached the locker and saw Patton leaning against it as if his body was too heavy for him to stay upright. He shoved a bag of cookies and a bottle of water in his direction and Patton accepted both greatfuly.

Patton drank the water bottle nearly to the end, and then started happily, if still a bit nervously eating the cookies.

"what's your next class?" Virgil asked

"P.E." Patton replied with a defeated tone.

"yikes."

"yeah, exactly. Well at least I have Roman to keep me company on the bench..."

"Roman Sanders? Since when does he even bother to show up to gym class?"

"since he found out I like Logan. We've been using that class to talk about him. Well we talk about other things too but you know me, I talk about Logan a lot."

"seriously? How long has this been going on?"

"the past two weeks I think? Why?"

"why? Really Pat?? At no point in these two weeks did it occur to you that I might want to know about the fact that you're suddenly friends with my enemy???" Virgil was more shocked than he was angry, but he was still a little angry, which made Patton tremble in his place.

Immediately recognizing his mistake Virgil took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"sorry Pat, that was too harsh. I'm not mad at you I just, wish you would have told me sooner is all. I don't know how I feel about you and Roman being friends but it's not my call anyway so, it doesn't really matter."

Patton calmed down as well and blinked in surprise.

"wow, Picani has really been helping you deal with your anxiety huh?"

"yeah, I think him being friends with my dad is the best thing that ever happened to my mental health."

"well, I forgive you. You were overwhelmed and I suppose I could've told you sooner or at least not drop the information on you out of nowhere."

"it's alright, just as long as you don't force me to tolerate the edgy bitch."

"hehe... Well actually, it's funny that you mention it-"

"oh God Pat what did you do?" Virgil asked, more reluctantly accepting of his fate now than angry and aggressive like he was before.

"I invited him to sit with us at lunch today? And before you say anything you should know that I did it for two very good reasons! One, he's bringing Logan with him and because there's four of us to carry a conversation, I'll never have the chance to make a fool of myself in front of him. Hopefully. And two, you know how Dezi and Remus always try to get you to join their table?"

"and have sucseeded a few times, yes. It's only what i dread every lunch period, why do you bring it up?"

"well, when you're sitting with just me I don't really have the guts to say anything, those two already don't like me and they run the whole school. But if you were sitting with all three of us, we could back you up together! It's the perfect plan!"

"...you've really put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"

"pleeeeease Virgil?? I really want us to all just get along for once. Is it really such a bad thing if I have more than one friend for the first time in my life?"

"well no, of course not! But does it have to be Roman?"

"you know, you and Roman have a lot in common. You'd get along really well if you just gave each other a chance."

"fine! But only for you pop star. And don't expect me and the prince of darkness to go skipping around in a field of flowers together afterwards, this is the only chance I'm willing to give that drama nerd."

"the feeling's mutual, you preppy pest-al prick." Roman said as he appeared behind the conversing friends. He turned his head to Patton and his entire demeanor changed, his face lighting up and, was that a smile?

Virgil couldn't believe his eyes but Roman seemed...happy. and if he was happy to see Patton maybe they did have something in common, at least enough to tolerate each other for one lunch period.

"hello, puffball! Here's that bow tie I promised you, it would look much better on you anyway."

The Goth held out a sparkly grey bow tie for Patton to take, smiling with a kind of charm Virgil had never seen in him before. Is this what he was like around the people he genuinely cared for? Virgil had to admit, it was rather endearing, maybe even cute...

Wait what?

"well, I'll see you two at lunch!" Roman stepped back and turned around with a dramatic flourish.

Just then, Virgil saw that someone had stuck a "kick me" sign on Roman's back, a dumb prank. He had half a mind to just let him walk around with it, but having seen this softer side to him, he felt sympathetic towards the dramatic Goth for once.

"wait!" Virgil called to him.

"oh? Is the prince of darkness wanted in the company of a his royal shyness?" Roman snarked, turning his head slightly to look at him but not his whole body.

"you wish, princey. Just thought we should get rid of this dumb sign on your back, seeing as you're not wearing your cape today to hide it." Virgil snarked right back as he ripped the sign from his shirt.

"oh. um, alright then." Roman blushed, feeling like a clumsy fool, but also greatful. Gratitude? To his arch nemesis?? The mere thought was enough to make him blush even harder, but he swallowed his pride and did the polite and honorable thing.

"thank you, Virgil. Any lesser man would have let me walk around with that sign all day. Amd now I know why I've been kicked five times on my way here."

"yikes, humans are trash." Virgil said without really thinking much of it, but it made Roman giggle. ~he giggles?!?~ Virgil thought in amazement.

"yes, they are. Which is why it was very noble of you to help me without being asked."

"don't mention it. Anyway, you better get to class you dork, or eles Patton won't have anyone to talk to."

Just as he said that, the bell rang for the next class.

"right! Well, I'll see you two later." he made his dramatic exit a more humble one this time, shyly smiling at Virgil.

Virgil found himself staring off in the distance to where Roman was heading.

"somebody's got a cruuuuuush~" Patton teased him cheerily, smiling wide.

"what? No I don't! He's my enemy, I barely even tolerate him. I just... I just thought it wasn't fair that he got pranked like that. As a matter of fact, I'm the only one who should get to prank him because he's my enemy!"

Patton snorted, entirely unconvinced.

"okay, whatever helps you sleep at night." Patton said as he walked away to his class with Roman.

"see you at lunch, Vee!"

Virgil was so screwed.

[boricuacherry-blog]

As much as Marvin fought his father, he also sought the man's love; he sought to reconcile the friction in his family by buying homes and cars for his parents, by keeping his sisters and brother close, by trying to re-create the very thing he lacked as a child - a happy home life.

And yet a happy home life is exactly what eluded him. When he felt that his sister Zeola was pressing him too hard to employ her as a dancer or his brother Frankie was pressing him too hard to sponsor his career as a singer, he ran back to his sprawling suburban home in the Hidden Hills.

He also had another house he had bought for his parents on Gramercy Place in Mid-City L.A. On any given day in the house on Gramercy Place, I might see Bishop Simon Peter Rawlings, a fellow minister of Marvin's father, who had come all the way from Kentucky to read Scripture to Marvin. Marvin loved the man. I witnessed their prayer sessions, which went on for hours.

I saw how he wanted to spread the love that he saw at the heart of the teachings of the God he called Jesus. Yet for all his noble efforts and valiant attempts to live the life of a man of goodwill, he trapped himself in a battle between good and evil. He didn't want to be a hypocrite. He didn't like people who were duplicitous and lied, even though he sometimes displayed those actions. He was complex, but he strove to live by higher moral principles when it came to his treatment of others.

"There is the devil," he told me. "And the devil is real."

"But isn't God greater?" I asked. "Isn't God stronger? Didn't God defeat the devil?"

"The devil can't be defeated," said Marvin on one of his many dark days. "The devil simply changes form."

"You don't actually believe in a demonic figure who's running around with horns and a red cape, do you, dear?"

"I believe in a devil that is already inside us. We each have a devil of our own making. That devil is designed to destroy all the joy in our life."

"But can't the devil be confronted? If you know the potential for destruction is there, can't you do something to avoid it - like pray?"

"The devil is tricky," Marvin insisted. "The devil is sly. The devil knows to offer us temptations we can't resist. The devil knows our weakness. The devil is our weakness."

"I'm not sure," I said skeptically. "I think that if we really believe the devil is all that powerful, we're contributing to his power. We're building him up. In truth, the devil may not even exist."

"You don't believe in negative energy?" asked Marvin. "You don't see evidence of evil in the world?"

"I do, but that's different from subscribing to some superstition that has you fearing a demon who's out to get you. Maybe im wrong, Marvin, but I have a feeling that superstition comes from way back in your childhood. Didn't your father's church give you all these ideas about the devil?"

"Do you believe my father's the devil?"

"Now you're asking a different question."

"I've heard you call him the Beast."

"I've heard you call him worse."

"I've heard him preach," said Marvin, his demeanor changing as he conjured up memories. "That was when I was a boy. He preached beautifully. Have I told you that, dear?"

"You have."

"He sang beautifully. He understood God's Word beautifully. He understood that there was a devil in him that had to be defeated."

"And did he?" I asked.

"No. The devil prevails - in him, in you, in me. The devil prevails the world over. And just when we think we have his number, he comes at you in another clever form with another sweet temptation, and just like that, you're back in his arms."

The words frightened me. I wouldn't accept the premise. "That won't happen," I insisted.

"You say that now," said Marvin, "but you will fall. We all will."

"I hate it when you talk like this. It's depressing. Please stop."

Marvin sensed my fear and put his arm around me. "I'll do all I can to protect our little family."

-Janis Hunter

[books-and-catears]

The Things We Do for Love

Trigger warning: Angst, Mentions of death

"The Maze of Tempatations is the ultimate test of will, they say." Satan said, "It is so strong that even some Angels have succumbed to it."

"Indeed, the maze pulls you in, recites your darkest desires and turmoils." Solomon continued. "And if you can't resist...it turns you into your worst self. There have barely been any who came out of it alive and sane."

"Isn't it all the more reason we should find another way?! So what if we're delayed? How many of us do you think will survive in there?" Mammon countered.

"Well only of us has to make it through to clear the path for all of us." Solomon said, "And we have two very strong angels with us don't we?"

"You can't be seriously considering sending Luke in!" You retort, holding the little angel close. You could tell he was trying to pull a brave face, because his trembling form relaxed under your touch.

"Of course not, MC. If anyone shall go in, it should be me. It's because of me Michael could get his hands on Lucifer again." Simeon said, "I know Michael won't harm Lucifer in any way, but I know Lucifer desperately wants to escape. And the rest of the brothers are worried sick at home."

"Yes indeed, it was so hard to get them to stay at home. But if we take too long, they might just start looking for us and get themselves in danger. So let's make haste." Satan looking ahead.

Simeon sighed, straightening his form and standing taller. He was about to take the first step when Luke grabbed onto his Cape.

"DON'T GO SIMEON PLEASE!" Luke cried out hugging his waist. "PLEASE SIMEON I KNOW IT WILL TAKE YOU. MY INSTINCTS ARE SCREAMING AT ME NOT TO LET YOU GO! Please stay for my sake!"

The others sighed and glanced at each other and then you. "Simeon's not going." The finality in your voice left no room for objection. Simeon tried to speak up but one glare at him shut him down.

"Take him home, Simeon." You said after giving them both a hug. "And Luke stay awake tonight and make sure Simeon doesn't escape to come here."

Luke nodded, "You be careful MC!" Simeon shook his head at you and begrudgingly sprouted wings to take off. "Please don't do something reckless MC." He said before he left.

"I'll go then." Mammon said, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm the eldest after Lucifer, so it's my responsibility after all. Big brother Mammon will help you cross!"

You could see the scared twitch in his eyes, and erratic hand movements. "Absolutely not."

"MC, don't be ridiculous, it has to be me-" Mammon tried to talk back. You simply shook your head and stood your ground.

"Well that's a wise decision on MC's part. I'm most suitable to go after Simeon. I'm beyond worldly temptations as it is. I shall be out before you know it." Satan scoffed and walked ahead.

You held and yanked his arm back. "You're not going anywhere. I know exactly what you're thinking, Satan."

Satan smirked unamused, "Is that so, MC? What is it then? What is it I'm thinking?"

"That you're not actually part of this family and your loss won't actually count. It's the most logical and lossless sacrifice." You say, tightening your grip. "Well you're dead wrong."

His eyes widened in shock. How did you know- how? It's like you read his heart like a page. Before he could say anything, Mammon started lecturing him.

"All of stay!" You commanded and moved ahead adamantly without a word.

Solomon noiselessly walked beside you. You stopped to glare at him too. He merely laughed his hearty laugh, "Did you think you could command me too , MC? Well in less dangerous situations I wouldn't mind, but I obviously won't let you go through this alone."

"Two sacrifices instead of one? That's hardly wise, Solomon." You try to reason. "And I have the ring you gave me, it will let you see where I am and what I'm doing. I'll be safe."

Solomon shook his head and kept walking. You gritted your teeth, "Mammon, Satan grab and hold Solomon and donot let him get in there with me."

"MC what did you just-" Solomon's words were cut off as the two demons pounced on him at once, pinning him to the ground. "This won't work MC, you know I'm just as strong as Lucifer. They can't hold me down for long."

"Oh I don't need long." You said standing at the entrance of the maze, the door opening for you. "Just long enough for me to go alone."

And with that you left, shutting the door behind you, their voices screaming at you to stop trailing off.

Instead you were greeted by a new voice, surprisingly close to your own. A sick sense of dread entered your heart. All the emotions you had concealed away, you had a feeling they might leak out today.

"Well well well, who do we have here?! It's the human who conquered ALL SEVEN SINS?! Welcome welcome, favoured one! Tell me what's your name?"

"MC. And who might you be?"

"I am the Test. I'm the Test of Temptations and the judge of your fickle morals! Nice to have you here MC! Today shall be fun!"

"I suppose that depends on the test. I never liked those very much."

"Well then let's get over it as soon as we can, yes? Let's start with your darkest memories! Oh what do we have here? This is your second life? You were killed once before?"

"That was two years ago. I barely remember anything. And I'm sure I have worse memories of school."

"Oh but your heart tells a different tale. Your dreams are haunted by those brothers. Especially the youngest. His arms which were supposed to embrace you, betrayed you. Snatched up your heart and turned it to dust. Oh you poor thing..."

"Like I said it was years ago and I have long forgiven him for it. He did what he had to do."

"Oh he had to? He had to win over your trust and then use you to his will and then betray you for no fault of your own? He HAD TO?"

"He's a demon and he acted like one. It was my foolishness that allowed me to take his every word. My stupidity to think demons and humans could be friends is my fault not his."

"Oh so you agree? The brothers are not your friends?"

".....I- I don't know."

"Is it perhaps because they all stood by and watched you die? Even the angels and Sorceror you befriended? Noone came to save you, noone cared huh?"

"....."

"And yet you're off to save the first-born? Merely because an old friend took him for a visit?"

"We don't know Michael's intentions!"

"And they let you enter here knowing full well how dangerous it might be?"

"I forced them. I used my pacts."

"Oh honey, bravo! The pacts! That's the key to everything! That's your key to revenge!"

"I don't want revenge. I only use it at times when it's necessary and things get out of hand."

"It doesn't make any sense MC! You have them in the palm of your hands! All the pacts - they've given you willingly - you are free to use it against them!"

"I know the power I hold and it's a betrayal of trust to use it willy nilly against them."

"And what about how many times you were almost killed? And the time that you actually DIED?"

"People do silly things for love. They threatened me out of protection of their brothers. And Belphie killed me because he was heartbroken about Lucifer moving on from Lilith. Because he loved her."

"So you forgive them? You keep on forgiving the abuse and hurt they've caused you? When you know your heart is slowly withering away?"

"...Perhaps that's a stupid act for the sake of love too."

"You are still protective over those demons? Even after everything they did?? Oh you foolish thing..."

"If I did to them, what they did to me, that makes me just as evil as them. And I'm not that."

"Oh is that resentment I hear? Is that a feeling of hurt I've uncovered? Tell me more, MC! What is it you plan to do to them?"

"I have no ulterior motive. I will simply do what I can for them and expect nothing in return."

"And yet you will not accept help will you? You will shut them out? Oh wait, perhaps you already have! Oh MC! How brilliant! You will take away all the comfort and happiness you once brought!? Oh that's brilliant!"

"....."

"Oh how deliciously cruel are your methods MC! Looks like your need for revenge manifested in a different way than I thought. You will hurt them with unending guilt!"

"I'm not hurting anyone. I'm merely protecting myself. Demons don't feel guilt."

"Oh looks like my job here is done! Looks like I didn't have to bring out your worst self. They already did that by betraying you, didn't they?Your tempation was never revenge through violence! It was always revenge through self-destruction wasn't it? Hahahahahah.."

You smiled. And the whole maze split in the middle and opened up.

Solomon, Satan and Mammon stared open mouthed as the maze parted to make way for all of them. You smiled back at them and pointed forwards not knowing they'd heard every word of you and the voice exchanged. So did the brothers back home somehow....and they were all terrified at what you'd become, what THEY had turned you into.

There was no telling if you'd be who they once used to know. The smiles and the endless energy and joy you used to bring - they did wonder why you changed so suddenly but the answer with was far more severe than they could comprehend.