#it also counts if only one of them instantly dislikes the other

[love-me-love-my-weirdness]

Any two people who first meet and instantly dislike each other but are forced to work together so that they can save the world are going to end up gay for each other. No criticism accepted.

[lgbtlunaverse]

I've seen a good number of people ask a question along the lines of "why do characters like Falin and hate Laios when they're so similar?" and i've also seen good analysis on the differences in how the touden siblings carry themselves that would, despite their shared traits, make a person gravitate to one more than the other.

But i feel like we've overseen one very central thing here.

People don't like Falin

Like... the average person in dungeon meshi doesn't like Falin. She was deeply ostrasized by her home village, in magic school she had zero friends before Marcille and the others generally saw her as strange and a bit offputting.

Characters like Namari and Chilchuck like her well enough but not necessarily more than any other member of their party, including Laios. Neither Kabru nor his party think much of her. The canaries don't give a fuck about her. Toshiro's retainers don't see her as anything else than the weird foreign girl their boss has a crush on.

The reason we think everyone loves Falin is because, despite all the indifferent side characters, the 2 most important and central characters of the story are Laios and Marcille. Who are NOT representative of the average attitudes to Falin! But necromancy georg number 1 and 2 are our main eyes into the story and they love Falin so much that it colours our perspective of the whole world.

The only side character who qualifies as liking Falin and not Laios is Toshiro (at least at first, as he ends the story on much better terms with Laios) and that says a lot about his character, with him drifting to the quiet Falin precisely because of her oddness but being both uncomfortable with and deeply jealous of Laios' much more open expression of that oddness. Because he's a repressed guy from a culture where etiquette is incredibly important.

But like I said, that's a specific aspect of him, not to the world at large.

Because there's also people that click more with laios than with Falin.

Kabru, for one, who is initially distrustful of laios but clearly also deeply fascinated by him and drawn to him.

Minor spoilers, and you don't have to read too deeply into this, because I don't think Kabru particularly dislikes Falin or anything. But it's interesting that when he talks about his distrust of the toudens in ch.32 he's talking about them both. But his big friendship declaration in chapter 76 is aimed squarely at Laios, he doesn't say "you and your sister" he says "you"

And Senshi!! He instantly clicks with Laios, well before he does so with anyone else in the party– who he also becomes friends with, it just takes a bit longer– specifically because they bond over their shared special interest in monsters!! Senshi is kind towards Falin and cares for her wellbeing, but he also... doesn't know her. The reason he is even here, helping to save her, is because he and Laios bonded over monsters and he wants to help his new friends out!

Of course, the theme of neurodivergent isolation is very present in Laios' story. I'm not denying that. He does turn people off, without meaning to and unable to fully understand why! But so does Falin. And just like there are people who like her despite of or even because of those traits, there are people who do the same with him.

In conclusion: "Average person loves Falin and hates Laios" factoid actually statistical error. Average person is neutral on both Falin and Laios. Georcille, Laiorg and Geoshiro, who live in the dungeon and think over 10,000 Falin-loving thoughts a day, are statistical outliers adn should not have been counted.

[reginaphalange2403]

Never Again

Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Summary: Despite an intense dislike for one another, you and Bucky begrudgingly get paired together for a mission. You’re forced to look past your differences when things so south.

Warnings: Canon level violence, asshole Bucky (at first), enemies to lovers vibes, other mcu characters make appearances. Word count: 6.1k

a/n: AHHHH my first fic in like 6 months! this is also the first time I've ever written for Bucky or written anything like this. It was a lot of fun and I hope I did him justice lol. Enjoy!

The loud hissing of the Keurig was a rude awakening to your 7am start to the day. Unfortunately, Steve had decided to hold a team conference meeting at 8. Why he chose to annoy you all like this, you weren’t sure. 

“Are you fucking done yet?” You instantly recognized the deep, rough voice muttering under his breath behind you. Bucky had his arms folded and was impatiently waiting for you to finish up at the machine so he could make his own cup.

“Already have a stick up your ass today, huh Barnes?” You spit back at him before moving to let him use the Keurig.

“Well, I wouldn’t have one if you weren’t the first thing I saw when I came down the stairs.” 

Damn. That stung. “Have you ever been nice for once in your life? Or is being a dick just a permanent part of your personality?” 

At your words, Bucky looked up at you and feigned offense “Oh, I’m nice” He assured you in an almost sweet tone, before turning cold again “…to people that deserve it.”

You rolled your eyes at him, muttering a ‘whatever’, and left the kitchen to go take a seat in the conference room. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an atypical conversation for you to have with Bucky. Ever since you had joined the team almost a year ago - at Natasha Romanoff’s request - Bucky had been anything but welcoming. At first, you thought it was just friendly banter, him trying to sarcastically intimidate you, but it was clear by now that he genuinely had a deep distaste for you. 

Soon enough, everyone else started to file in for the meeting. Nat smiled as she took the seat next to you, her regular spot, and quietly started asking you about your morning. Bucky was the last one to enter the room, and by that point the only seat left was the one on your other side. 

He glared at you as he sat down. 

“It’s not my fault you’re always late to these things” You quipped under your breath.

“Don’t push it, sweetheart” Bucky frustratingly muttered, and you quickly opened your mouth to reply before Natasha interrupted,

“Don’t bother with him, Y/N. He’s always a grump in the mornings” 

‘No, he’s always a grump to me’ you thought to yourself, but kept your mouth shut. 

“Good Morning, everyone” Steve finally got started with the meeting, a cheery grin on his face that was all too happy for 8am, in your opinion.

“As you all know, for months now we’ve been trying to track down where exactly Ian Haverford and his men have been setting up camp and operating their illegal activities” Most recently, the team had been working on taking down a group of rouge scientists. They had somehow been creating and using a serum that was similar to the super soldier serum. A antidote that made them have increased strength, speed and agility. They then used their new enhancements to rob and kill storeowners, evade the police, and then subsequently sell the drugs and weapons that they had stolen. 

“We’ve finally located their compound, up in rural Virginia, we-“

“What he meant to say was I located their compound in Virginia” Tony cheekily butt in. 

Steve sighed, having to stop his own eye roll, “Fine, yes, Tony located the compound. Anyway, as I was saying…We believe that that’s where they’re making the serum. The sooner we go in, the less time they have to continue using the serum and giving it to more people. Now, I didn’t necessarily think this was a task we all needed to partake in. It really only requires two people to take down Haverford and gather intel on what chemicals they’ve been using”

Steve took a big breath before revealing who he had assigned to the mission, knowing he’d have hell to pay, “Y/N and Bucky will be heading to Virginia tomorrow morning-“

“Are you serious Rogers?!” You immediately confronted Steve’s decision as you heard Bucky next you,

“You’ve got to be kidding me” He mumbled, clearly as annoyed as you were.

Steve put his hands up defensively, “I know the two of you don’t always get along, but I was hoping this assignment would allow you to work together and actually have to interact beyond your bickering” 

You had never been on a mission with just Bucky before. Of course, the two of you had been on missions with the rest of the avengers together, but never just the two of you. 

Steve continued, “Besides, we need someone who’s a super soldier to infiltrate the compound. Bucky has the strength and speed to match that of Haverford’s people. And Y/N, you also have enhancements, it makes sense to send the both of you in together.” He concluded by basically saying his decision was final, and that you and Buck would be leaving on a quinjet first thing tomorrow.

During your years in the red room, you had been injected with various substances and drugs that over time had enhanced your agility, flexibility, reflexes and even your sight. But you didn’t see how that made you a necessary aspect to this assignment. You were sure Steve was just using that as an excuse, he really just wanted you to get along better with Bucky. 

Speaking of which, Buck stood up from his chair as you looked over at him, he glowered at you for a moment before scoffing, “Guess I’ll just have to grin and bear it” and with that he left the room. 

You stayed, waiting for everyone else to file out so that you could speak with Steve privately. Natasha gave you a sympathetic look and squeezed your shoulder, as she was the last one to head out after talking to Steve for a while herself. You were always sort of jealous of their friendship. Of course, you had Nat. Who was your closest confidant in the group. But you also wanted to be close with the guys as well. You supposed Steve was your friend, but sometimes it felt like he looked at you as more of a younger sister. 

Finally, it was just you and Steve alone in the room and you were still sitting in your same seat, Steve standing at the head of the table. He tilted his head towards you and quirked his eyebrows, waiting for you to say something. 

“Why does he hate me?” You asked quietly. You had always wanted to go to Steve for advice on how to handle Bucky, but never wished to cause a rift in their friendship or make Steve feel like he was put in the middle of something.

His eyes went soft and he sighed, “Oh Y/N” He began gently “I know it may come off that way, but Buck doesn’t hate you. He just…” Steve looked to find the right words, “has a hard time handling his emotions and how he feels about people… especially people that bring up past trauma for him” 

Steve’s little hint helped you clue in to what he was trying to imply. You knew that Bucky had a history with the red room, long before you ever did, but you never really knew the details of it or how he was involved. You were saved from Dreykov almost a year ago when Natasha returned to destroy him. You were one of Yelena’s closest friends and she had introduced you to Nat, who then saw how skilled you were and decided to invite you to join the avengers, since you really had no other home to go to. Yelena meanwhile, had wanted to enjoy her freedom a little more and chose to see the world a bit before deciding to join any sort of vigilante team. Though Natasha always held out hope that she would finally join one day when she felt ready. 

“But Nat’s from the red room too!” You defended yourself, “And Bucky treats her perfectly fine! It’s not my fault that my past is what it is. I can’t help the fact that I was raised there, why does he have to hold that against me?” You started to get emotional and Steve could tell, so he began to try and explain his friends behavior.

“Well, he’s gotten to know Natasha for a few years now, so I think they’re on better terms. Plus he kinda owes her one for how she saved both our asses during the whole…sokovia accords thing” Steve said the last part quietly while sort of shamefully looking down. Despite the fact that it was worked out now, that whole incident with him, Tony and Bucky still deeply bothered Steve to even bring up.

He continued after a moment, “He doesn’t hold it against you Y/N, it’s not your fault. He just doesn’t like the memories you bring up for him, the things you remind him of. And he doesn’t know how to properly process and work through them, so instead he just takes out that pent up anger and self hatred on you. It’s not fair to you, but it’s also not your fault.”

“Get him to see a therapist then” you muttered.

Steve scoffed, “Believe me, I’ve tried.” 

He then walked around the length of the table to where you were sitting and gave you a pleading look, “Just give him a chance. Hopefully this mission will be the thing that finally gets him to see you in a different light. I know it’s hard to believe, but he really does have a sweet, soft side under all that brooding, if you dig deep enough” And that was what Steve left you with as he walked out, leaving you alone to mull over what he had said. 

———————

For the rest of that day, you and Bucky both avoided each other. You spent most of the afternoon locked up in your room or in the gym, perfecting a few moves with Nat’s help in preparation for your assignment. You didn’t see Bucky all day, you assumed he also was doing his best to not run into you.

Now, you were seated across from him on the quinjet, an awkward silence taking up the majority of the ride to a rural part of Virginia. He barely even looked at you for the entire 2 hour flight. Mostly staring down at his hands with airpods in, or having his head tilted back and eyes closed. As you neared the end of your trip, jet about to touch down, you noticed Bucky finally didn’t have headphones in, so you decided it would be a good time to set some things straight before you literally went into battle with him.

Cautiously, you spoke up, “Look, I know we don’t necessarily see eye to eye but we really need to-“

He cut you off sharply “Once we touch down I’ll take the northeast side of the compound and you can take the south side. They apparently keep their lab in a big room on the south side, so you head that way and ransack the lab while I take down Haverford, who’s quarters are up in the north end. Got it?” Not even listening to what you had tried to say, Bucky simply started barking out a game plan at you.

“Sure, but I was saying that we-“

Bucky sighed dramatically, “Look Y/N, we just need to do our damn jobs and get this over with. Alright?”

“But Steve said-“

“I don’t care what Steve said.” He snapped, “I’m not here to make nice.”

And with that, you sat in silence again for the last few minutes of the flight. The quinjet landed in an open forrest area, roughly a 10 minute walk away from where Haverford’s compound was supposed to be. Of course, you couldn’t land right next to it without risking them hearing and giving yourselves away. So, you and Bucky began the short trek to the complex, once again in complete silence the whole way there. 

Finally, you arrived upon a large monster of a building. It took up almost the entirety of the empty field that it occupied, with no windows around it whatsoever. To anyone else, it looked like from the outside to be just an eery abandoned building. You and Buck snuck around to the backside where a hatch door was used to get into the lower level of the building. 

“When we’re done,” Bucky finally spoke for the first time in over 15 minutes “How about we meet up back here at this door, so that we can leave asap and not waste time trying to find each other in this fucking maze. Good?”

You swallowed, remembering the “plan” Bucky had laid out earlier on the jet. You really didn’t feel right about splitting up with him. The compound was massive and neither of you had ever navigated it before. Sure, Steve had shown you a basic floor plan of it and talked about where he believed they were making the serum, but that was it. You didn’t know your way around this territory, and you didn’t know what Haverford’s men were like.  And on this mission, it was just you and Buck. You didn’t have the other avengers around to look out for you, or be your eyes and ears over the comms. 

“Bucky, I don’t know if we should separate. This place is big.” You finally admitted.

“It’s nothing you can’t handle” He grumbled out, which should have sounded like a compliment but came out as more of something to shut you up and get on with it.

“But what if one of us gets injured or can’t find our way back to the door?” You asked, embarrassed to be admitting your nerves to him. Bucky could see for a moment that you were genuinely anxious about this.

“We have the comms in our ears,” He began in a slightly softer tone than he had ever spoken to you before, “If you need help, just talk to me. I’ll be in your ear the whole time” 

You nodded, still a little worried but trying not to show it.

“Splitting up is the fastest way to do this. And the faster we get this done, the less time we have to spend together.” Ah, there was the Bucky you knew. Back to making jabs at you. That was the last you spoke before he broke the door open and you were in.

—————————

As discreetly as possible, you made your way through the compound, quietly trying to get to the south wing without being heard or seen. Steve said that they most likely were keeping their lab in the largest room in the building, which supposedly should be through the last door on the south side. As long as you could find it, get the records and evidence that you needed, and get back to the exit in time to meet Bucky, you’d be fine. 

You could hear Bucky through the comms, sounds of grunting and punching obviously coming from him fighting Ian Haverford’s men that he had come into contact with. 

“Looking for something princess?” You immediately stopped in your tracks at the sound of a deep sinister voice snarling at you. Whipping around, you saw one of Ian’s goonies standing just a few feet from you. 

Instantly he charged at you, but it was nothing you hadn’t ever dealt with. Before he could grab you, you took hold of his arm and twisted it behind his back, affectively turning his entire body away from you. Then, using the Widow’s Bite armor that were around your wrists, you tased him in the neck, causing him to fall completely unconscious.

It was then that you realized you had made it to the end of the hallway, and thus the last door which was supposed to be their lab. Prepared for men to potentially be in there, you unholstered one of your firearms, and promptly kicked down the door.

To your shock, the room had no occupants. You quickly reached over to find a light switch, and what you saw next was infuriating. It indeed was Ian Haverford’s lab. Full of tables and stations that held different mixed drugs and chemicals that he was using to create his own super soldier serum, one that he then used on himself and his accomplices. You also saw a station that was entirely made up of a large desktop connected to multiple computers. 

You started to make your way towards the computers so that you could plug in your hard-drive and collect the data that would supply the team with how Haverford had been making the serums. But before you could get there, a white, powdery substance started to sprits down from what looked like emergency sprinklers that were on the ceiling. The substance reeked like chemicals, similar to that of bleach but not as strong. You began to cough a little, trying to wipe the shit out of your face and eyes. You had no idea what the fuck it was or what it might possibly do to you. 

“Bucky” you half coughed half called his name into the comms, “Bucky something happened”

“What?” He grunted out, clearly still in the middle of fighting someone.

“I just got sprayed with some kind of white powder stuff. I don’t know what it was. It must have been part of some kind of booby-trap that they had on the lab, since I kicked their door in, it went off.”

“Are you okay?” Bucky immediately asked, seeming genuinely worried. 

“Yeah I mean, nothings happened yet, I’m still fine. But-“

“I’m a little busy Y/N, if you’re fine for now, just get the data from the lab and head out fast. I don’t have time to keep talking” he quickly rattled off to you, and you heard a loud scream coming from a guy that Bucky obviously just injured. 

You swallowed, still very nervous about whatever the hell just happened to you, but you didn’t want to distract Bucky any further and potentially get him hurt, “Alright. On it.” 

Plugging the hard-drive into the main desktop, you waited patiently as thousands of files started to download from Haverford’s database. As you stood there and waited, an annoying, high pitched ringing began to go off in your ears. At the same time, your vision slowly started to blur slightly, as if you were wearing the wrong prescription glasses. A lump formed in your throat and your heart practically dropped into your stomach, you hated to admit it, but this was deeply scaring you. You’d never been poisoned before. 

You rubbed your eyes, hoping maybe it would help, but nothing happened, the blurriness just got worse. On top of that, your head started to pound, most likely due to the loud obnoxious ringing. It was the powder, you knew it had to be. What else would just suddenly start causing all this? 

“Y/N? You still good?” You heard Bucky ask through the comms, clearly still preoccupied with something else but wanting to check on you. 

You debated telling him about your symptoms. You were teammates, he should know. But on the other hand, It was just a few mostly mild symptoms, and the files were almost finished downloading anyway. You’d grab the hard-drive, run out of the compound and meet him in just a few minutes. You could make it until then. Plus, you didn’t wish to further annoy or distract him from fighting. 

“Yeah. Still good!” You tried to sound as enthusiastic and convincing as possible. It must have worked, because he didn’t question you further. 

Standing over the counter, still waiting for the files to be done, you leaned over the table a bit and made the idiotic decision to close your eyes for just a second, trying to relieve the headache. 

A moment later, you felt a sharp, intense fiery pain in your abdomen as someone reached from behind you choking your neck and thrusting a knife into your stomach. You were paralyzed for just a second with fear, not even able to cry out. The ringing in your ears was so bad, you must not have heard anyone come in. 

Trying to ignore the pain, you instinctively kicked your right leg back hard, hitting the man in the groin and causing him to fall to the ground. However, on his way down, he didn’t miss the chance to slash you in the calve with the knife he had been holding. The stab was so quick you could only gasp in pain. A gasp Bucky must not have heard as he was fighting his own battles. 

Turning around, you fumbled for your firearm for a moment before finally getting it out and being able to pull the trigger, sending a bullet right through his chest. Stumbling backwards a bit, you started to feel lightheaded and you were reminded of the red hot pain in your stomach. You placed a hand over the side the feeling was coming from, and immediately felt a sticky hot liquid coat your fingers. 

You didn’t have time however to investigate the stab wound, because as you glanced up, you could see through your blurry vision that 3 more men were walking in through the kicked down door. 

Lazily raising your gun again, gripping the table to keep from toppling over, you aimed as best you could, with ringing ears, blurred vision and now two stab wounds. Thankfully, your training in the red room had taught you how to aim with even a blindfold on, and with a few quick shots, the men were taken down, now lying limply on the ground in front of you. 

Bucky heard the gunshots through the comm, but since you never called his name or made a noise that would indicate you needed help, he assumed you had it under control. 

You let the gun fall from your hand, now that you were alone and for now, out of danger, you were finally able to feel the extent of your injuries as the adrenaline wore off. Ever so slowly, you peered down at your stomach and saw that the hand you’d been holding there was almost entirely now coated in blood. Without meaning to, you fell to your knees, which then painfully reminded you of the other deep wound in your calve. However, you were so tired, and the loss of blood was making it hard to do anything other than focus on breathing.  

You knew you needed to alert Bucky. You couldn’t just lie here and wait, you didn’t have that kind of time. 

“Bu-Buck” you whimpered, trying to be loud enough that the comm would pick it up. But even just trying to talk was proving to be exhausting. You knew you were losing what was probably a lot of blood. Wet hot tears started to roll down your face, you were dangerously close to just giving in to the blood loss induced exhaustion and closing your eyes.

——————

Bucky, meanwhile, had finished taking down the men on the other half of the facility and was waiting for you outside at the spot you’d both agreed you would meet. He spoke over the comms, “I took down Haverford and his men. I’m out here now. Hurry up.” Short and to the point. How he always was with you. 

Immediately, more tears welled in your eyes at hearing his voice. You were desperate, in pain, and exhausted. Despite having a deep distaste for Bucky, you knew you needed him. You needed him to come and find you. You didn’t have enough strength to speak, but luckily the sound of his voice finally brought your own voice back and you mustered up a deep, pathetic and painful whine from the back of your throat…and it was enough to be caught over your ear piece. 

He stood there for a few minutes, getting antsy. Especially since he didn’t hear fighting noises over comms, he assumed you were just taking your sweet time making it back to him.

After a bit of waiting he sighed, grumbling “C’mon Y/N, what the fuck could you possibly-“

His complaining ceased as soon as he heard your one singular cry through the comm. Bucky’s eyes went wide, heart dropping into his stomach. He’d never heard a sound like that come out of you before. 

“Y/N?” He called your name in an almost scared tone, “Are you okay?”

No response.

Bucky swore under his breath, “I’m coming, just hang on” he made that promise to you like it was an oath, and raced back inside the building. 

Sprinting to the side of the compound that you were tasked with handling, Bucky searched frantically through the hallways, popping his head into every room trying to find you….until he did.

You laid there, blood seeping across your shirt and a pool of it surrounding your one injured leg. The men that you had disarmed and killed were sprawled out around you. 

After his initial shock wore off, Bucky ran to you, kicking one of the dead arms dealers out of the way to get to you. He dropped to his knees, eyes scanning your wounds.

“Oh, Y/N” He whispered with guilt and sorrow dripping from his tone. A million emotions flashed across his face. Including anger at the men who had attacked you, but mostly at himself for allowing this to happen. 

You looked up at him, meeting his eyes, and the tears finally flowed freely now. Aside from the pain, you were relieved. Despite you’re not getting along, in this moment you wanted nothing more than for Bucky to hold you, and tell you everything was going to be just fine.

“Okay” he whispered in a stunned tone, trying to calm both you and himself down. His hands hovered over your body as he took in your wounds and decided what he needed to do. 

 “Okay, alright.” That time, it came out more sure, “It’s alright, doll. Just keep breathing for me.”  He tried to comfort you as he whipped out his phone and let Tony and the team know they needed medical there immediately.

Bucky then swallowed, giving you a remorseful look for what he was about to do. 

“Okay sweetheart,” he began tenderly, as he took off the black jacket he had on, and then promptly ripped the sleeve of it off with his metal arm. 

“I’m gonna have to tie this around your leg to stop the bleeding. It might hurt a bit, but I gotta do it” He gently explained what he needed to do, waiting to see a sign in your eyes that at least you understood. You gave him a very weak nod, and that was all he needed to then wrap the sleeve tightly around your upper calf. 

He was right, it did hurt. But it wasn’t anything you hadn’t expected or weren’t prepared for. However, you believe Bucky only told you about having to wrap your leg, in order to half distract you from what he did next. 

A blinding, nauseating pain quickly overcame you as he took the rest of the jacket he had, and with his metal arm and half his body weight, pressed it over your abdominal wound.

You immediately cried out and instinctively reached for Bucky’s arm, trying to push him away. 

“Shhh, I know, I know baby” Bucky, who almost sounded pain-stricken himself with guilt, began to hush you, “I know it hurts, but I have to, I have to” He grabbed your hand that had tried to push him away, and let you squeeze the life out of his own as he continued applying pressure. His thumb softly grazed your knuckles, trying to soothe you. 

While continuing to comfort you, Bucky began to look around as if he expected someone else to also come to your aid. It was then that he realized he’d need to get you out of the building in order to get you onto the quinjet. There was no way the medical team would be able to find their way around in here to get to you in time. And he could see that you’d already lost a lot of blood, and even with the tourniquet and pressure he applied, you were still losing some. 

He took a breath, staring into your eyes with a serious yet remorseful look on his face, “Ok doll, I’m gonna have to pick you up and carry you out, but we can’t let up pressure on your wound” he explained, “So, I’m gonna need your help.”

Bucky then took the hand of yours that he was holding and gently guided it over to your abdomen. Lifting the jacket, he placed your hand over your own wound, you whimpered a little at the contact. Bucky swallowed, “I know doll, but I need you to put pressure on it like I was, okay? Can you do that for me?” He looked at you pleadingly, praying that you understood what he was saying.

Having to bite your own lip to keep from crying out again, you started to press down on your stomach with the little strength you still had. Bucky could tell you were trying by your obvious change in facial expression, “That’s it. Just like that, that’s my girl” he praised, quickly swiping one of your tears away. It wasn’t a lot of pressure, but it would do. 

Ever so gently, trying to avoid hurting your injured leg, Bucky gracefully slipped his arms underneath you and scooped you up, holding you close to his chest. You moaned a little at the shift in movement, “Shhh, I got you doll. I got you” he whispered into your hair as you shoved your face in the crook of his neck. 

He quickly made his way back out of the compound with you in his arms, thanking god when he saw the medevac quinjet was already out there waiting for you guys. Bucky tenderly laid you down on the stretcher, taking hold of your hand again as soon as he was able. 

“She was poisoned with something and then stabbed in her lower left calve and left quadrant of her abdomen” He immediately started rambling off what had happened to the medical team and Dr. Cho. 

“Poisoned with what?” Someone asked, he didn’t see who it was cause he wasn’t taking his eyes off of you. 

“I- I don’t know.” Bucky admitted, “I think she said it was white and powdery, I can’t remember.” Internally, he was kicking himself so hard for not having immediately ran to you when you told him about the poison. He shouldn’t have just written you off and told you to deal with it. He shouldn’t have done a lot of things. 

Bucky sat on the little bench in the quinjet right next you, still holding your hand, while the team got to work on your injuries. Technically, he should have been sitting at the front of the jet, out of their way, but no one was going to tell an upset Bucky Barnes what to do. 

As they began working your leg, removing the tourniquet and getting a shot of lidocaine ready to numb the area, you saw them preparing the syringe out of the corner of your eye. You begin to hyperventilate, letting out a small whimper of fear. You hated all things medical, which stemmed from a deep rooted fear that dated back to your red room days. After years of being practically experimented on and shot up with god knows what, you didn’t particularly love the sight of needles. Even if you knew you were in a safe environment. 

Bucky, who was still diligently sitting right beside you, immediately recognized your anxious reaction. He too knew that fear all too well. While he didn’t like to admit it, his time as the winter solider and being left at the hands of hydra often caused him to have visceral reactions to medical paraphernalia. 

“Hey, hey” he softly called to you as he gently held your chin and brought your face to meet his, “It’s alright doll, you don’t have to look down there. Just look at me. Right at me.” He held your eyes, squeezing your hand a little tighter to let you know he was there. “That’s it. Just keep looking at me, Y/N. I’m right here” And that’s how you eventually went unconscious, staring into Bucky’s eyes as he quietly shushed you and ran his hand through your hair.

——————

The harsh lights of the medical wing practically blinded you as you tried to let your eyes slowly adjust to your surroundings. 

“Hey hon” you heard a soft voice coming from your right side, whom you instantly recognized as Natasha. 

“Well there she is” another voice, coming from your left who you thought was Steve, spoke up, sounding relieved at the fact you were awake. Your suspicions were proven correct when Steve leaned over slightly into your line of view. 

“Welcome back, Y/N” he smiled, clearly exhausted but delighted by your opened eyes. 

Your voice came out raspy and weak as you spoke for the first time, “H-how long have I been out?”

Natasha grabbed a cup from off your bedside table and offered you some water as Steve answered you,

“About three days. They had to get the bleeding under control and repair a portion of your stomach that was perforated. They also gave you some antibiotics to combat whatever the hell it was you were poisoned with,” he explained, “they seem to be working though. Doc says as soon as you’re strong enough, you can finish recuperating in your own room” He ended his spiel with a smile, but there was still one question he hadn’t answered that you were desperate for.

“W-Where’s Bucky?” You wondered why he wasn’t here, as you didn’t see him next to Steve or Nat. 

“He’s right here, Y/N” Steve motioned to the back of the room where you couldn’t see, but Bucky was standing in the corner, eyes red and sunken in like he’d been crying. He immediately picked his head up when he heard you mention him. 

“He hasn’t left this room in three days” Steve whispered to you in a hushed tone, hoping Bucky couldn’t hear him.

Nat cleared her throat, “We’re just gonna go get some coffee” she looked at Steve and jerked her head towards the door, beckoning him to follow her. They both left, leaving you and Bucky to yourselves. 

Slowly, Buck made his way over to your bed, taking the seat that Steve was just in. 

He was almost fearful of what to say, surprised that you had even asked for him in the first place. He blamed himself entirely for what happened, and was positive that when you woke up, you’d want nothing to do with him. And he wouldn’t blame you.

“Hey doll” he croaked out, voice sounding strained, “How’re you feeling?”

You swallowed, “My stomach hurts, and I have a headache” you admitted, still in a bit of pain from your wound healing. 

Bucky nodded, “Do you want me to get the doctor? They might be able to give you more pain meds.” He asked, wanting to make sure you were as comfortable as possible. You didn’t know, but for the past three days Bucky had remained diligently at your bedside, alerting medical staff of any slight change in vital signs or if he thought you were cold and needed more blankets. He’d only left a few brief times when Steve had to force him to go eat or use the bathroom. 

You shook your head, “no, no I’m okay. Promise” You offered him a slight smile. 

Bucky stared down at his hands for a moment before he spoke up again, “Y/N, I am so so so sorry. This never would’ve happened if I had just listened to you and not had us split up.” He spoke with such guilt and shame you almost felt bad for him, “I was so focused on my own agenda and being a dick to you, that I completely ignored when you needed help. I can’t even-“

“Buck,” you interrupted him, reaching over and grabbing his hand with the little strength you had, “this isn’t your fault. It’s the fault of the men who stabbed me. That’s it. No one else’s” As much as you knew he fucked up with the way he treated you, you certainly didn’t think he should have to take responsibility for you getting hurt. 

“But if I had come as soon as you said you were poisoned, if I had just listened to you instead of choosing to be an asshole, you probably wouldn’t be in this hospital bed” he insisted, eyes getting watery. 

“Well, you were an asshole, I’ll give you that.” You smirked at him, trying to get him to relax, “but you also saved my life.” Bucky looked up at you, “You tied the tourniquet which kept me from losing more blood, and then made sure I didn’t have a panic attack on the quinjet. You might have fucked up a little Bucky, but you certainly made up for it” you gave his hand a little squeeze. 

For the first time since you went under surgery, Bucky smiled, “All the same, I’m never separating from you during missions ever again.” 

You playfully rolled your eyes, “that sounds a little suffocating, don’t you think?”

He shook his head, “Nope. Not to me. Nothings ever happening to you while you’re under my watch again”

“Well if that’s the case,” you scooted over a little in the bed, “will you keep me warm before I freeze to death in here?” You were genuinely very cold and were hoping for someone to bring you another blanket, but you supposed having Bucky there would do.

He chuckled softly, “you got it.” Lowering the hospital bed rail, Bucky climbed in and laid down next you, pulling you up close to him with his arm around your shoulders. 

He placed a brief kiss along your hairline, “get some rest, doll. I’ll be right here.” 

————-

Taglist: @patzammit @dpaccione @fdl305 @gh0stgurl

[nofingjustaninchident]

⛧° i hate you more. episode 1

⛧° Beginning. Sort of.

content: jason grace x fem!reader

warnings: cursing, 3rd person writing.

a/n: look who's spoiling you today? so, be welcomed to the first episode of my first ever series! i honestly hope you like it.

word count: +6.6k

She didn’t know why she hated Jason. She just had that feeling deep in her gut ever since they “met” in that stupid bus to the Wilderness School, when she couldn’t remember her own name nor where she came from.   

The only thing her stupid mind remembered is that she really didn’t like the boy sitting beside her. He seemed so… perfect. Like, the annoying type of perfect. The type of perfect that makes anyone fawn over you.   

With that stupid messy blond hair, that stupid tanned skin and stupid strong arms, she just knew she disliked him, a very lot.   

When he opened his eyes, the first thing they saw was her sea green gaze analyzing him. He grimaced immediately, as if realizing that he hated you too.   

And suddenly, something came to her. Jason. That’s his name?   

“Finally the sleeping beauties are up, huh?” A boy that looked like a latino gremlin with pointy ears teased. The girl beside him slapped him playfully on the arm.   

“Shut up, Leo. Let the couple.” The girl in the front seat said, giggling ever so slightly.   

‘Couple’? She and blondie were a couple? When she heard those words, she finally realized the position they were in.   

Her head was laid on his shoulder, and it seemed like they had fallen asleep like that. He had a small wet stain on the sleeve of his shirt, that looked a lot like drool, probably hers. But the weirdest part of it all was that they were holding hands. Like, intertwined level.   

She immediately let go and pulled away from him, her mind still dizzy and groggy from the slumber she was in.   

“What the-“ She mumbled, trying to pull herself from that sleepy state she was in, but the boy beside her reacted first  

“Y/n?” He asked, staring right into her eyes. He also seemed to instantly dislike her.   

“Listen here, cupcakes!” A squeaky voice yelled out from the front of the bus. She drifted her eyes towards where the sound came from.   

It was clearly the baseball coach. He wore a cap pulled low in his hair. Had a weird stubble and sour face, as if he had eaten something rotten. A whistle hung from his neck and there was a megaphone clipped to his belt. He’d be fairly scary if he wasn’t five foot zero.   

“Stand up, Coach Hedge!” A student jeered.   

“I hear that!” His eyes scanned over the bus as if looking for the culprit, but his eyes locked at Jason and Y/n. His scowl deepened, and she realized that the tiny man knew that they shouldn’t be there. She got scared for a few seconds if he was going to call them and ask how the hell did they got there. She had no idea what she would answer in that case.    

The man looked away, clearing his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way." He mimed hitting a homerun with a wooden baseball bat.  

“Can he talk to us like that?” The blond boy - Jason - asked, but this time directed to the other two people sitting in front of him.   

The pretty girl just shrugged him off. “Always does. This is the Wilderness School. ‘Where kids are the animals’.” She said, grinning as if this was some sort of joke that the pair was supposed to be on.   

“This is some kind of mistake.” Y/n said, finally sitting up straight. “I… I shouldn’t be here.”  

“Yeah, right.” Latino Gremlin - Leo - spoke up again. “We’ve all been framed. I didn’t run away six times. You didn’t blow up a gas station. Piper didn’t steal a BMW.”   

That last one earned him a harder slap, but this time with no hint of playfulness, from the pretty girl named Piper. “I didn’t steal that car, Leo!”   

Piper and Leo, Y/n thought. Are we friends?  

"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised an eyebrow at Jason, as if to say can you believe her?  

Piper looked at Y/n with hopeful eyes, as if she was supposed to believe her or back her up, but as far as she knew, she'd never met the girl before today. Still, Piper looked at her and talked to her and Jason as if they'd been friends long enough to share an inside joke and maybe a few secrets.  

What the hell is going on?  

"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, Jason, cause I used mine for spit wads days ago." He looked up from fidgeting with the buttons of his army jacket, frowning at Jason's confused stare. "Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again? Piper, I swear -"  

"I don't know you," Jason said.  

“As much as I hate to agree with blondie here,” Y/n said, grimacing at the boy beside her as he rolled his eyes. “but I don’t know you either.”   

Leo rolled his eyes with an amused grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend, I'm his evil twin," he joked.  

"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"  

Leo winked at Jason and Y/n. "Watch this." He turned back toward the front of the bus. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"  

The coach unclipped his megaphone and continued calling out instructions, but his voice was distorted.  

The students cracked up, growing louder as the coach tried again and the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"  

"Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled.  

Piper stifled a laugh. "How did you do that?"  

Leo flashed a tiny screwdriver at them before returning it to his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."  

"Guys, seriously," Jason said, his tone pleading. "What are we doing here? Where are we going?" 

Y/n looked expectantly at the two students in front of them, hoping whatever answer they gave would jog her memory, though those hopes weren't particularly high.  

"Are you guys joking?" Piper asked, her eyebrows furrowed in vague concern.  

“No! I have no idea who you- “Y/n began, but Leo cut her off almost immediately.   

“Of course they’re joking, Pipes. They’re trying to get me back on interrupting they make out sesh last year, aren’t ya’? I already said sorry, guys. I’d never walk in on you two on my own accord, trust. Don’t wanna be traumatized.”   

Y/n immediately felt her cheeks heat up, but she didn’t know if it was from anger or embarrassment. She grimaced again as if she tasted something sour out of nowhere.   

“Uhm, I'm sorry to disappoint but, uh…” She hesitated a bit before glancing at the blond boy beside her. He didn’t seem too bad, but she still had that feeling deep in her gut that she hated him. “I’d never make out with him.”  

The boy just scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Like I'm the worst option between me and you.”   

Piper and Leo glanced at each other with confused expressions. They couldn’t understand what was happening between their friends.   

“Uh… okay… what’s going on here? Why are you two bickering as if you aren’t completely in love with each other?” Leo asked.   

“In what?” Y/n asked, her voice laced with disgust and disbelief. 

“Not possible. At all.” He added, shaking his head eagerly.  

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Y/n said, exasperatedly.  

“Leo. I think they’re serious.” Piper said, as if you two weren’t right in front of her and listening to every bit of conversation they had.  

“We are!” Jason insisted. “Well, at least I am. Don’t know ‘bout her.” He said, pointing discretely at Y/n, who hissed and elbowed him on the ribs. “Ow!”  

“Oh, please-”   

“That’s it!” Coach Hedge yelled from the front. “The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!”  

The rest of the kids cheered as Leo muttered, "There's a shocker." 

Piper's concerned gaze flickered between Jason and Y/n. "Did you guys hit your heads or something? You really don't know who we are?" 

Y/n shook her head, Jason following suit. 

Helplessly, he muttered, "I don't even know who I am." 

Piper frowned. "Do you remember each other?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Y/n met Jason's eyes with disgust. She knew that she knew him, but she didn't have any memories of him besides the sound of his name and the feeling that they hated each other. Quietly, she said, "Maybe?" 

Jason nodded, reluctantly. 

"Huh," Piper said, her brows furrowed together in a picture of deep thought. “Let’s figure this out later, we’re already here.” 

༺♱༻ 

The bus dropped them off in front of a large red museum, which sat in the middle of nowhere. All Yn could see was desert everywhere she looked. A cold wind blew over them, making her shiver. She wasn't dressed for the cold weather - she had on a pair of dark-wash blue jeans, worn black combat boots, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt that was about two sizes too big for her. Despite how comfortable it was, though, it wasn't nearly warm enough for the biting cold nipping at her fingers. 

"Alright, crash course for the amnesiacs," Leo said. 

"We go to the Wilderness School, which means we're the ‘bad kids.' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison - sorry, 'boarding school' - in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you guys?" 

Y/n shook her head and muttered a small “No.” 

She looked at the kids around them, wondering what they'd all done to be sentenced to a school for delinquents - and what she had done to get sent there, too. 

Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. Jason does everything I say, gives me his dessert, does my chores -" 

"Leo!" Piper scolded. 

"Fine, ignore that last part. But we are friends - and we have fun, at least when you two aren't busy sucking face or having those intense-looking, deep talks where you talk about life and the future and whether those children's books with the bears are called Berenstein or Berenstain-" 

"Leo, stop it!" Piper said. "I think they have amnesia or something. We've got to tell someone." 

Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix them by whacking them with his baseball bat." 

The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line. Every few minutes he'd glance back at Jason and Y/n and scowl. 

"Leo, they need help," Piper insisted. "They could be concussed or-" 

"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys in their group dropped back to join the four teenagers as they headed into the museum. He wedged himself between Piper and Y/n, throwing an arm around Piper's shoulders. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?" 

"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "Y/n/n's my partner, not you." 

The new guy looked at Y/n, something strange flashing over his face before he replaced it with a blinding grin. "Coach said there'll have to be a group of three, what with the odd number, so it's both of your lucky days!" He threw his other arm around Y/n's shoulders, and she bristled immediately, something like dread settling heavily in her stomach. As he dragged Piper and Y/n away from Jason and Leo, she glanced back at them one last time, meeting Jason's eyes for a moment and rolling her own before Dylan was walking her and Piper deeper into the museum. 

༺♱༻ 

Y/n didn't need her memories to know she hated guys like Dylan. She met him barely five minutes ago and she already wanted to punch him to unconsciousness for several different reasons, and she didn’t think she was a violent person. Then again, she didn’t remember even who she was, so her opinion of herself wasn’t truthful. The boy kept his attention focused on Piper, which shouldn’t bother Y/n. But she saw the look of discomfort in Piper’s face every time he spoke with her and touched her. 

Everything, without exception, that came out of the guy's mouth was either a flirty remark or something cocky about himself that neither of the girls really wanted to hear. Less than five minutes around him and she already knew everything there was to know about him – he was cocky, egocentric, an asshole and rude.  

Y/ noticed some of the other girls in their group kept looking in their direction and snickering. One of them called out, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?" 

The other girls giggled, and even Dylan suppressed a smile. Y/n’s fists clenched at her sides as she glared at him. She was beginning to think that maybe she got sent into that damned school because of fighting, since she was this close to knocking Dylan’s perfect teeth out of his face. Or punch those racists bitches right on the face. Both were tempting options.  

"My dad's Cherokee," Piper said through her teeth. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel." 

Isabel feigned a look of surprise. "Oh, sorry. Was it your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom." 

Y/n had to dig her nails deep in her hand, so she didn’t punch that Isabel girl right in the face. For some reason that, like everything in her life right now, she didn’t know why, she knew the perfect spot and strength to punch Isabel and knock her out. 

Really useful knowledge you decided to keep, brain.  

Piper charged at Isabel and y/n was right behind her, but before a fight could break out, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!" 

The teenage racists kept calling out little comments to Piper as they made their way through the museum. Y/n quickly flipped them off and muttered something in a language she recognized but didn’t know which one was it.  

Sooner rather than later, Y/n snapped, "Are you going to shut your mouths voluntarily or am I going to have to break each of your fragile little jaws to get you to shut up?" 

The gaggle of girls rolled their eyes at Y/n’s threat, as if they doubted she'd follow through with it. Piper grabbed Y/n’s arm before she could make good on her threat. "Where'd that come from?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"They're a bunch of little bitches." she muttered. "They deserve to get more than just their jaws broken."  

Piper gave her a small smile, hooking her arm around Y/n's. "Thanks for defending my honor," she said. "But I’m sure I can take care of myself, babes." 

Despite her lack of memories, Y/n didn't doubt that for a second. 

After more walking, the group of students stopped in front of a set of large glass doors that led out to a terrace. "Alright, cupcakes," Coach Hedge said loudly. 

"You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork." 

They all stepped outside onto the skywalk. The Grand Canyon spread out before them, huge and unforgiving in its depth. Y/n glanced over the side of the skywalk railing, flinching and quickly stepping back when she felt the flip of her stomach.  

Thunder rumbled overhead, and a cold wind washed over the skywalk, making Y/n shiver. Piper, turning away from Dylan, asked with a teasing smile, 

"Jason's sweatshirt not warm enough for you?" 

“What?!” Y/n glanced down, her cheeks burning as she realized why the sweatshirt was too big for her. Annoyedly, she took it off and said, "Me and Jason, we're... dating?" 

Piper raised her eyebrows at her once again. "You seriously don't remember? You guys have been together since before me and Leo even met you - you guys came here together at the start of the semester." 

Y/n frowned, beyond frustrated by the fact that she was dating the only person that she remembered both the name and how annoying he was.  

Piper's eyes were concerned as she looked Y/n over. "How about Leo and I take you to the nurse when we get back to campus?" she offered. "She might be able to... I don't know, figure it out?" 

She felt, deep in her gut, that the school nurse wouldn’t be able to figure out what was going on with her lack of memories, but she nodded anyway. "Thanks," she said quietly. She couldn't remember Piper at all, but she wished she could - Piper seemed like a good friend. 

Piper worked on the worksheet they'd apparently been assigned to complete during their field trip. Neither Dylan nor Y/n helped her, but Y/n felt like her excuse - namely not even remembering her own last name, much less what the definition of mechanical erosion was - was a lot better than Dylan's, which seemed to be that he was simply a fucking bastard. 

Instead of helping with the worksheet, Dylan was hitting on Piper, touching her shoulder and flashing her that stupid smile. After the fifth time Piper pushed him away, Y/n shoved her way between them, her head barely reaching his shoulder.  

"Quit," she snapped. 

Dylan rolled his eyes, but that something from before flashed through his eyes again. It made her skin prickle with goosebumps and filled her with anxiety. And, again, that stupid feeling told her that lots of things filled her with anxiety. 

Something told her Dylan's worst quality wasn't his inability to take no for an answer, and that made the dread in her stomach grow heavier. 

She saw Jason talking to the coach, and she noted the look of relief on his face as the two spoke. She would have gone over to join them, but she didn't want to leave Piper alone with Dylan or to be near Jason voluntarily, so she stayed where she was, glancing over the worksheet in Piper's hands and wincing at the headache trying to read it triggered. 

Lightning crackled loudly overhead, the cold wind picking up speed and strength. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, theirs practically being torn out of Piper's hands by a gust of wind. The bridge underneath their feet shuddered and kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails on either side of the skywalk. 

Ophelia held the railing so tightly, her knuckles turned white, and she purposefully kept her eyes forward, not letting them stray toward the bottom of the canyon thousands of feet below them. 

She almost immediately felt the tears forming in the corners of her eyelids when she looked down – not on purpose – and made a quick realization that if she fell, she’d die.  

The coach yelled for them to go back inside. The storm clouds that had been lingering overhead churned like a miniature hurricane. The students around her screamed and ran for the building, which was only a few feet away from Y/n and her group. Piper and Dylan ran for the doors, holding them open and herding the crowd of teenagers inside. Y/n stood frozen on the skywalk, fingers tight around the railing. 

She reached into her front pocket, not sure what she was reaching for. But what she did find was a small, cold hard metal. She pulled it from her jeans.  

It was a key, made of what looked like solid gold. 

Why did she have a gold key in her pocket? 

What did it open? 

Apparently, she was in a school for delinquents - had she stolen it? 

Y/n looked up at the sound of the doors slamming shut, Piper and Dylan having lost their grips. Aside from her and the two of them, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge were the only other people on the skywalk. Great. A jackass, a jock, a little latino gremlin, a five-foot male, a beauty queen and a girl who wasn’t even sure her name was Y/n. Couldn’t be better.  

Piper struggled with the doors, trying to open them back up, but they seemed to be stuck. "Dylan, help!" Piper shouted over the raging winds. 

"Sorry, Piper," he said, standing there with a malicious grin like he was enjoying the sudden storm. "I'm done helping." He flicked his wrist and Piper went flying backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the floor. Y/n tried to run toward her, but the wind was fighting against her. Dylan looked at her, smirking at her struggle, and flicked his wrist again, sending her backward toward Jason, Leo, and the coach. 

Jason caught her around the waist before she could fall all the way to the ground, steadying her. She immediately got away from his touch, glaring daggers at him – who just rolled his eyes.  

"Stay behind me," Coach Hedge ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster." 

"Monster?" Y/n questioned. 

"What?" Leo demanded. A flying worksheet smacked him in the face and he swatted it away. "What monster?" 

Coach Hedge's cap blew off, and Y/n was beyond shocked to see two horns sticking up above his curly hair. He lifted his baseball bat, but it was different. It had somehow changed into a tree-branch club, with a few twigs and leaves still attached. “What the fu-” 

Dylan grinned like a psycho. "Oh, come on, Coach, let the boy attack me!" he mocked. "After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa." 

Coach Hedge let out a sound that was like a goat bleating angrily. "That's it, cupcake - you're going down." 

"You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck." 

Uh- What?! Half-bloods? 

Dylan pointed at Leo and Y/n watched in horror as a funnel cloud materialized around the curly-haired boy. He flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed, somehow managing to twist in midair and slam sideways into the canyon wall. He skids, clawing furiously for a handhold, finally grabbing a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk. "Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?" 

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy" — he stabbed a thump in Dylan's direction-"while I get Leo." 

"Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You going to fly?" 

"Not fly. Climb." The coach kicked off his tennis shoes, revealing hooves instead of feet. That settled it – Y/n had officially lost her mind. 

"You're a faun," she said, not sure where the knowledge came but sure it was the truth. 

Coach Hedge looked at her with a suspicious glint in his eye. "Satyr!" he snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later." He leaped over the railing, sailing toward the canyon wall and hitting it hooves first. 

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy." 

Jason threw the coach's club, which seemed kind of useless with the winds raging around them, but it flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge it, and it smacked him in the head hard enough to bring him to his knees. 

She didn't even feel sorry for the satisfaction that flooded her at the sight. Maybe a little, but that was because Jason is a prick.  

Y/n noticed Piper feigning a dazed appearance, her fingers closing around the club when it reached her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood-gold blood-trickled from the wound on his forehead. 

"Nice try, boy," he said, glaring at Jason. "But you'll have to do better." 

His body dissolved into smoke, which was a decidedly freaky sight. He rose like an evil angel made entirely of smoke. The sight gave Y/n the strangest sense of déjà vu. 

"You're a ventus," Jason said. "A storm spirit." 

Dylan laughed. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them any time. But my mistress said two more were coming, said they were special. She'll reward me greatly for your deaths." 

Four funnel clouds touched down, two on either side of Dylan, each of them turning into venti-ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning. 

“Oh great,” Y/n muttered to herself, clutching the key in her hand. “just fucking great. It wasn’t enough one wind-man, it had to come four more, because life is already great.”  

Piper was still down, pretending to be incapacitated, but she looked determined to fight. Jason stood tall, like a warrior, staring at the five venti without a shred of fear in his eyes. But he was unarmed - there was no way he could take on the storm spirits without a weapon. 

A weapon. 

Y/n frowned, looking down at the key that was still in her hand. She took a closer look, and it had something that looked a lot like an insignia. She didn’t know what it meant, but she swiped her thumb over the inscriptions on the metal. She blinked, and the key was gone.  

In its place was a sword made entirely of gold. 

Dylan frowned, a look of angry confusion flashing through his stormy eyes. "Where did you get that?" he demanded. 

Who knows, Y/n thought. But I'm definitely not complaining. 

She moved into a familiar stance, her eyes settled on Dylan's smoky form. Just as she was about to charge toward him, Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers. Y/n barely had time to be scared before Jason was pushing her out of the way, the lightning bolt meant for her blasting through his chest. 

Y/n watched in horror as the blond boy she'd woken up next to barely an hour ago flew backward, taking a hit that had been meant for her. A single spot on her chest blazed like she'd been branded, filling her with fury. She looked back at Dylan, releasing a furious shout as she charged toward him and his storm spirit companions, vengeance moving her limbs forward. 

She met the closest storm spirit head-on, her body agile as she thrust her sword at the spirit, the thing in question just barely getting out of the way. Y/n feigned right, then moved left and stabbed her sword through the smoky mass in front of her. To her amazement, the storm spirit dissolved into some kind of golden powder. 

Dylan shouted something, his tone furious. Y/n ignored him as another ventus charged her. She planted her feet and brought her arms close to her chest, gritting her teeth as she felt the cold wind wash over her. It only pushed her back a foot before the gust passed her, and she charged at the spirit again, moving like she was a dancer performing a piece she'd done so many times it was muscle memory. Her sword pierced through the spirit and it, too, turned into gold dust. 

“Suck it!” She shouted excitedly.  

A few feet away, Piper was trying to fend off the other two storm spirits, but they were dancing around her, toying with her. Y/n moved to go help her, but a voice stopped her in her tracks. 

"Stop." Y/n looked back in shock to see Jason rising unsteadily to his feet. His shirt was covered in soot, and he was missing a shoe, but all in all, he looked pretty good for a guy who'd just been struck by lightning. 

“What the fu-” Y/n began, for the second time. And, for the second time, Dylan interrupted her.  

"How are you alive?" Dylan demanded, his form flickering. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!" 

"My turn," Jason said, a lethal look in his eyes. Y/n watched him reach into his pocket, taking out a gold coin and flipping it in the air. It transformed into a gold sword, not too different from the one Y/n’s key had turned into. 

Dylan snarled in agitation, backing up. He looked at the two remaining spirits and yelled, "Well? Kill him!" 

The spirits left Piper alone, flying at Jason with their fingers crackling with electricity. He took the first one out within seconds, his gold sword turning it into dust. 

The second let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's sword absorbed the charge. With one quick thrust, the second spirit was reduced to dust as well. 

Dylan wailed in outrage. "Impossible!" he shouted over the wind. His glare flickered from Jason to Y/n, settling on Jason. "Who are you, half-bloods?" 

“Who cares? I’m better than you.” Y/n said, smirking, proposedly cutting Jason off the sentence.  

Piper looked stunned. "Y/n, Jason, how...?" 

Coach Hedge leaped onto the skywalk, dumping Leo before bellowing, "Spirits, fear me!" Then he looked around and realized Dylan was the only one left. 

"Curse it, boy," he snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!" 

Y/n frowned, a little peeved the faun thought Jason killed all four of the storm spirits by himself. 

"Hey, I took out just as many as he did," she muttered. 

Leo got to his feet, breathing heavily. "Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are - I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!" 

Dylan hissed at him, but there was fear in his eyes. Or whatever those were.  

"You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win." 

Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. 

Cracks expanded in the skywalk, sheets of rain pouring down on them. If Y/n hadn't been cold before, she was fucking freezing now. Especially because she was too proud to wear Jason’s purple sweatshirt. 

A hole opened up in the clouds, and Dylan looked up at it. "The mistress calls me back!" he shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!" 

He lunged at Jason, but Y/n moved fast, pushing Jason to the side and raising her sword to attack. The spirit yelled with rage, letting loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. The worst of it hit Y/n. The wind knocked her sword out of her hand, and she watched it clatter noisily to the glass floor of the skywalk. Her back hit the railing and she lost her balance, tumbling over. She managed to grab the railing with her left hand as she hung over the abyss below her. 

Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, she chanted internally. 

She closed her eyes tightly, the tears rapidly making their way into her eyelids.  

She could hear her name being screamed, could hear the unmistakable grunts and shouting of a fight, but she was a little busy trying to keep her faltering grip on the railing to pay her surroundings much attention. 

Her fingers slipped, and with a shout in a language that did not sound like English, she was plummeting to her death.  

She couldn’t move. She just accepted her fate, the upcoming death. Her clothes and hair were flying in the opposite direction, and she could only hope that, maybe, dying wouldn’t hurt as much as she thought it did. She didn’t scream. She just... let it happen.  

She wondered briefly if she was hallucinating when she saw Jason diving off the skywalk after her, rocketing down to her. She wasn’t. He tackled Y/n’s waist and pulled her close to his chest. 

Great, he’s stupid enough and now we're both gonna die, she thought. 

But to her astonishment, the wind suddenly died around them. She opened her eyes, the tears still flowing down her face, seeing Jason's face a few inches above hers, his eyes shut tightly. They were hovering in the air about fifty feet above the river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. 

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Y/n breathed. His eyes opened, and he looked around them, taking in their position with wide blue eyes. 

"Whoa," he whispered, his gaze moving to meet Y/n’s. She wanted to hug him, even if the only thing she remembered was hating him. Y/didn't remember ever meeting Jason, but she knew him. She couldn't explain how, but she did. And she did not like him.  

Jason looked up. The rain had stopped, and the storm clouds seemed to have calmed a little. He looked back at Y/n. "Hold onto me," he told her, repositioning himself so he was hugging her to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to ignore how inexplicably right the closeness with him felt. 

Jason looked up again, and they suddenly surged toward the sky. He held her tight as they flew back up to the skywalk. As soon as their feet touched the skywalk, they ran to Piper and Leo. 

Piper stared at Y/n and Jason as if they'd turned into horrifying mutants during their trip into the Grand Canyon. "How did you...?" 

"Apparently, I can fly," Jason said quietly. 

“And I'm afraid of heights.” Y/n muttered. "Is he okay?" She asked Piper, looking at Leo, whose curly hair was covered in gold dust. 

Before Piper could answer, Leo muttered, "Stupid... ugly... goat." 

"Where did he go?" Jason asked. 

Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life." 

"Twice," Jason told him. 

Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, those gold swords... I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?" 

The look on Piper's expression seemed like she wanted to agree. 

Jason walked over to where his sword was, picking it up and flipping it. Mid-spin, it shrank back into a gold coin and landed in his palm. 

Jason picked up Y/n’s sword. He handed it to her, and she took it, not gratefully, looking at it for a moment. She took a closer look at the hilt, and the same insignia that was in the key was in her sword. She slipped the pad of her thumb over it, and it turned back to a key.  

"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating." 

Piper looked at Y/n as if she'd never seen her before - so not much different to how Ophelia had looked at her when she first woke up. "Those things-" 

"Venti," Ophelia said. "Storm spirits." 

"Okay. You acted like... like you'd seen them before." 

She looked from Y/n to Jason. "Who are you guys?" 

Jason shook his head. "That's what we've been trying to tell you. We don't know." 

The storm dissipated above them. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror as security guards worked on the locks. It didn't look like they were having much luck. 

"Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people," Jason said. "I think he meant us." 

"And that thing Dylan turned into..." Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me. He called us... what, demigods?" 

Leo laid down, staring up at the sky. "I don't know what demi means, but I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?" 

"Not particularly," Ophelia admitted. 

There was a sound like twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen. 

"We need to get off this thing," Jason said. "Maybe if we—" 

"Ooo-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up and tell me if those are flying horses." 

Y/n looked up to see a dark shape descending from the east. As it got closer, she saw a pair of winged horses, with massive wingspans. They pulled a brightly colored chariot behind them, and there were two figures inside of it. 

“What the fuck?” Y/n said, finally concluding her thought.  

"Reinforcements," Jason said, meeting Y/n’s eyes. For the first time, she didn’t pull away. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us." 

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet with Piper's help. "That sounds painful." 

"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked. 

The chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses seemed uneasy as they stepped on the glass, as if they knew it was about to break. Two teenagers stood in the chariot - a tall blonde girl and a bulky guy with a buzzcut. They both wore jeans and obnoxious orange T-shirts with some kind of logo on the front. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving, pulling a knife and running toward their group as the guy reined in the horses. 

"Where is he?" the girl demanded, her gray eyes fierce and intimidating. 

"Where's who?" Jason asked. 

She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. She turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" 

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some... tornado things." 

"Venti," Y/n said. "Storm spirits." 

The blonde girl arched an eyebrow at her. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term." Her gaze flickered from Y/n to Jason. "Who are you, and what happened?" 

Y/n let Jason explain. When he was done, the blondie didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer." 

"Annabeth," the guy with the buzzeut grumbled, having joined them halfway through Jason's explanation. He pointed at Jason's feet. "Check it out." 

Jason's left shoe was still missing, having been blown off by the lightning bolt he took to the chest. 

"The guy with one shoe," the guy said. "He's the answer." 

"No, Butch," the girl – Annabeth - insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as if it had personally offended her. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?" 

The skywalk beneath them shuddered. 

"Annabeth," Butch said, "we gotta leave. Let's get these guys to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back." 

"Fine," Annabeth muttered. She fixed Jason with a resentful glare, and Y/n bristled, moving to clutch her key in her pocket. 

The girl turned on her heel and marched back to the chariot. 

"What's her problem?" Piper asked. "What's going on?" 

"Seriously," Leo agreed. 

"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way." 

"That girl looks like she wants to kill Jason," Y/n muttered, eyeing the girl's distant figure with distrustful eyes. “Don’t really judge. I’d want to do that too.”  

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay," he assured them. "You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem." 

"What problem?" Piper asked. 

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Butch said, his expression grim. 

"She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here." 

"Who?" Jason asked. 

"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Percy Jackson." 

[monodreamin]

Rated: M (18+)

Genre: smut, fluff, one shot

Synopsis: after a bad break up you meet a handsome man in a dog park.  

Warnings: one ass smack, protected sex, cute nicknames and penetrative sex. 

Words: 3,049

Author’s note: I wanted to write something more soft and with autumn vibes. I just haven’t written in so long and wanted to put this out before winter. I mean it hasn’t snowed for me yet so I don't count it as winter yet lmao.

It was a cold crisp early autumn morning and you were walking your dog Jax, a Shiba Inu breed. Your ex boyfriend got you while on a trip to Japan. Your ex boyfriend left you with the dog he was yours anyway. The break up was a nasty one with your ex boyfriend. Ever made time with you he was either busy with work or hanging out with his loser friends you disliked so much.

Things weren’t always like this you once both loved each other very much after dating for 2 years decided to love in and build a life together you always wanted a dog so on a business trip to Japan your boyfriend got you Jax for your birthday you cried holding the small puppy in your arms the best birthday gift ever. 

Let’s be real, you felt like shit your boyfriend came over last night to pick up his stuff. He was moving in with his best friend, the one you hated because he was so far up your boyfriend’s ass honestly he should have dated him instead. 

When you and your ex boyfriend would get into heated fights  and he was anywhere nearby he was always picking a side and it was always his best friends of course even when he couldn’t be anymore wrong that was the bro code shit these men spoke of because it just didn’t make any sense to you. 

You were holding Jax's red leash as you entered the dog park. You could hear the fall leaves underneath your shoes crunch as you walked on the leaves that have fallen from the trees. 

You had a hand holding a hot coffee while the other held your dog’s leash tightly when suddenly a small black dog a mini pinscher breed it  jumped on top of your dog and it scared you a bit not knowing if they were playing or not you were paying to much attention to the two dogs in front of you that your hot coffee spilled all over your jeans. 

“FUCK” you yelled out feeling the coffeee seep through your pants burning your thigh. “I’m so sorry, is everything ok?” You heard a deep Aussie accent and as you looked up you saw the most beautiful man you ever came across. 

“Let me help you, I'm so sorry about that.” He rushed over with a stack of napkins handing them to you. You pressed the napkins to your thigh on the wet spot but your eyes never left his. 

“Lori come here” he lifted the dog up in his arms. Something about a man with a dog since your ex boyfriend wasn’t a dog person he just got you the dog because he thought it would keep you company and leave him be with his friends. 

“It’s ok I just got burned a bit by the coffee but I’ll be ok.” He opened his mouth in a gasp. 

“That is not ok let me make it up to you  I’ll get you a coffee. I’ll also get Lori here a new leash here since hers snapped. 

You watched the man be all lovey woth hos dog and it warned your heart instantly. “I can come with you if you don’t mind Jax here needs a new bowl.”

“Really? Well then let’s head over there now if you don’t mind” 

“So I know your dog’s name Lori and you know my dog Jax bit that is your name? My name is YN by the way.”

“My name is Christian I usually don’t let my dog loose I’m a responsible pet owner I promise but her leash unexpectedly broke and well she’s a playful dog and so when she saw the only other dog at the dog park she got a bit excited.”

“I see that it’s ok really.” You self consciously put a strand of your hair over your ear. 

“Well I’m a bit glad things happened the way they did I mean minus the hot coffee spilling on you.”

“So to the pet store then to the cafe to get my coffee? You owe me.” You joked.

“I’m a man of my word YN.” The both of you walked out the dog park making your way to the pet store. 

Christian looked through the dog leashes and decided on a black one you could see him testing out its strength. 

“I’m sure you’re good with that one.” You teased walking toward another aisle full of all types of pet bowls they had: stainless steel, ceramic, plastic, double bowls, elevated dog bowls the list went on and on.  

“Having a hard time picking one?” It was now Christian’s turn to tease you. 

“Well it’s much harder than picking from leashes I’ll tell you that.” 

“Ppft I digress.” Christian picked up a stainless steel double bowl and walked to the counter. 

You followed behind him “you needed a bowl too?”

“No, since I saw you having a difficult time I picked one.”

“That was nice of you thanks.” 

You both walk out and this time Lori is on her leash. Christian is still holding the brown paper bag with the bowl in it. 

“So the next stop is the cafe?” 

“Yes the cafe it is but let’s do outdoor seating since we have the dogs with us.”

“I mean that makes a lot of sense to me.” Christian smiles. 

The both of you walk two blocks down from the pet store and there is the cafe.

“Two… or should I say an outdoor table for four since we have our furry friends.” Christian says and we are seated by an older woman outside. 

“Are you ready to order?” The cute older lady says. 

“One iced americano and….” He looks at you for your order. 

���Hot coffee light and sweet three sugars please.” 

“Ok and I’ll bring some treats for the furry friends too.” The lady leaves. 

“She’s nice.” You say. 

“I feel like dog people are usually nice people.” Christian looks under the table at the two dogs who are lying peacefully on the ground. 

“I think we tired them out today.” Christians head pops back up from underneath the table. 

“I mean we walked everywhere maybe that’s why.”

“So tell me about yourself, where do you work? Do you have a boyfriend?” 

“ I work in marketing and no I don't. I had one but not anymore. You?” 

“ I work in the arts so painting and sculptures mostly. I don’t have a girlfriend I haven’t in a year.” 

“Oh that sounds so cool and why not? You’re very good looking and with that accent I’m sure you have no problems.” 

 Christian laughs when the older lady returns this time with a tray and two drinks she places the drinks on the table and gives the dogs treats. 

“Enjoy the drinks, anything else I can get you?” 

“No, we're done for now thank you so much .” You say. You both are sipping from your hot drinks. 

“When you truly love someone and have your heart broken it takes time to heal.” Christian continues the conversation. 

“I get it well I just got out of a serious relationship “

The both of you continue to talk about life and other things. You looked at your phone and you have been at the cafe for an hour now. 

“I should get going now, you know shower from the coffee that spilled on me earlier.”

“Let’s exchange phone numbers.” So the both of you did and you were on your way “I’ll walk you home if you don’t mind” Christian still held on to the paper bag he was such a gentleman. 

You and Christian walk along with your dogs. “Ok well this is me right here thank you for walking with me.” You say as you stand in front of your apartment building. 

“Let’s stay in touch.” He simply says and with that Lori  leads the way. You watch him for a bit then head upstairs to your apartment with Jax. 

When you reach your apartment you use the key to open your door to your surprise you see your ex boyfriend on the couch. 

“What are you doing here?” You were highly annoyed by his presence. 

“I got the last of my stuff and to return the key.” 

“Ok well thanks I won’t live here long anyway.” 

“Why not? And where were you?” Why did he care about you and what you were doing? He just needed to be on his way. 

Jax stood in front of you very protectively. 

“What does it matter to you? We aren’t even dating anymore.” 

“Are you seeing someone else?”

“You have no right to ask me that it’s none of your business.” You raised your voice and Jax started to bark at him. 

How dare this man be back at your apartment without a heads up and he had the nerve to be jealous when you broke up with him 2 weeks ago. 

“If you aren’t seeing someone it would be a simple question to answer but you can’t because you’re with someone else already I know it just tell me.” 

“You are sick and twisted, you know that? It is none of your concern what I do, who I say or who I don’t see now, get out of my apartment right now.” 

Jax barks got louder and your ex boyfriend got up from the couch throwing the key over your head. What a dick and he just reassured you that breaking up with him was the right thing to do. You wouldn’t ever go back to that. 

A month has passed since your break with your ex boyfriend and you had been texting Christian daily. It was cute flirty texts and getting to know each other better. Mostly you haven’t seen each other since the cafe date your break up felt so fresh you couldn’t move on just yet. 

You have been looking for new apartments because you thought moving from this old space you shared with your ex boyfriend would help in the moving on process. You reached out to a few realtors on some properties and waited for them to contact you for a viewing. 

You were getting ready for bed when Christian texted you again. You smiled as you read his text. He couldn't wait to see you tomorrow you replied and put your phone on the nightstand smiling to yourself you couldn’t wait to spend time with him again soon. 

You went to sleep and were awakened in the morning by your alarm clock. You hit the stop button getting up from your bed and you start to get ready for work where you will be counting down the minutes for when you’ll see Christian again. The day hasn’t even begun and you knew you would be dreading it. 

You finished your work for the day but acted as if you were busy with someone before you were given an extra task you didn’t want not today you had plans and you were excited for those plans you kept looking at the time hoping it would pass faster. 

It was 5:30 PM and you were clocking out. You had to rush to the train to get home to shower and get dressed for your… well not date you didn’t know what it was you and Christian haven’t discussed that yet and you both were just enjoying each other's company. Sometimes you would make out but before it got too intense, always stop yourself. You weren’t fully healed from your breakup and it didn’t feel right to have sex with another man in the apartment you once shared. 

Lucky you the train pulled up on the platform as soon as you finished climbing the stairs. You got on the train and saw a seat so you sat down. Today was your lucky day. Indeed, you checked your phone to see Christian had sent you a photo of him at his art studio. The man was gorgeous. He was so focused on his sculpture donning black frames to get a better look of his work. 

You almost missed your stop because you were  too enthralled with the photo. You grabbed your purse and rushed out before the doors could close. You had 3 blocks to walk before you were home to get ready and you were speed walking. You had a lot to do and you didn’t want to keep him waiting. You reach your building and let out a sigh of relief time to get pretty, you thought to yourself. You laid your clothes on the bed and stepped in the shower. You knew exactly what makeup and hair style you wanted. You got out the shower in your towel and started to prepare for… whatever this is. 

You took one last look at yourself in the mirror making sure everything was looking right then headed quickly out the door. You met up with Christian at the bowling alley and then after had sushi for dinner. You weren’t talkative and Christian seem to pick up on it. 

“Is everything alright?” He asked, popping some sushi into his mouth. 

“I’m sorry I’m so quiet, I'm just in my mind too much.”

“We’ll talk to me, what's on your mind right now darling?” 

Your heart thumped harder at the nickname. 

“Well…” you blushed, picking at your California roll with the chopsticks.

“Are you not into the date?”

There it goes he said it a date this is a date all your worries and headache went away with one simple word date you smiled 

“No, I love it and thanks for the date.” You drank the rest of the sake and started to eat and become more engaged with Christian now that he put your worries at ease. 

The date was done and you both had a great time and decided to head back to your place. Jax eagerly greeted Christian since they have become very much acquainted. 

“Hey Jax, did you miss Y/N? I’m sorry I kept her from you but she’s here now.” 

Jax jumped on your lap and you started to scratch his head. The both of you sat on the couch talking and taking turns petting Jax.  After a while Jax was asleep and you put him on the couch next to you. 

“I bet Lori misses you too.”

“My mom is taking care of her now.”

“Really why?”

“I’m leaving this weekend I have an art show. I was wondering if you would like to attend with me?”

“Of course I’m sure my mom won’t mind dog sitting for me.”

Christian leaned over kissing you unexpectedly but you reacted by kissing him back. The both of you were all each other on the sofa. 

“Let’s take this to my bedroom.” You said leading the way. The both of you went straight to the bed clothes were being removed and thrown on the floor. 

The both of you were naked and you laid in the middle of the bed Christian’s hands caressing your body. Something caught Christian’s eyes on your nightstand and you quickly knew what it was your vibrator that you had used earlier in the day you forgot to put it away. 

“Oh babe I see you were having fun without me.” He grabbed the vibrator turning it on. 

“I think I’ll have more fun with you now.”  You spread your legs giving him access to you. Christian smirked as he pressed the vibrator over your clit. 

“Is that ok?” He moved the vibrator in a circular motion. 

“Put it higher.” You bit your lip watching him work the vibrator on you. 

“I think you need more than a vibrator.” He said and you looked down at him and saw his erected cock. 

“You’re right about that I’m tired of my hands and vibrator.” 

“Well I can be of some assistance to you.” Christian got his pants from the floor and went in his pants pockets pulling out a condom. 

“I know you can.” You watched as he put the condom on then picked up the vibrator again placing it back on your clit this time with higher speed. 

You moaned at the high speed vibrating perfectly against your clit. Soon after Christian entered you slowly as he kept the vibrator pressed against you , the sensation of him in you stretching his walls and the vibrator would have you cumming in no time. 

“That feels so good Christian oh my God.” You threw your head back moaning louder. Christian picked up the pace, his hips slamming against yours as he put the vibrator on the highest speed. 

Your body felt like an explosion of sensation, a wave of relaxation and peace taking over your entire body shortly after. You couldn’t believe how quickly you orgasmed . I mean he was hot and extremely talented in bed. You have been deprived by a man for so long your body responded quickly to his. 

“Darling I know you didn’t cum that quick did you?” A very cocky grin played on his lips. 

“I’m I’m I’m so sorry I…. I…” you sounded like a broken toy repeated itself. 

“Oh no it’s ok I’m not done with you just yet babe. Now lay face down for me.” You did as you were told and he smacked your ass. Your legs were straight and hips slightly raised off the bed. Christian entered you from behind. He felt bigger than before in this position. 

Christian stroked deeper in you as he nibbled on your ear then softly bit your shoulder and proceeded to your neck. 

The passion filled through your veins as his pace quickened. Your pussy pulsating in his cock adding even more pleasure you both were close to reaching your high. 

“Fuck I need to get on the pill again so you can fuck me raw.” You looked back at him as you both reached your climax and he pulled the condom out tying it up and threw it in the trash can. 

“Well luckily you are my girlfriend now and  we have a lot more time to do more of that on our trip.”  He grabbed your face kissing your lips and you both cuddled on the bed. 

[sanccharine]

blueberry muffins | sn

single parent au, christmas au

pairing: babysitter!sana x single parent!reader

genre: fluff

word count: 7.2k

warning: so sweet it'll rot your teeth ! ew that ryhmed, i'm sorry

summary: when your own life becomes a b-rated hallmark holiday movie (not that you're complaining)

a/n: finally, what was supposed to be last year's christmas fic and the sequel to pizza party! is here !! all thanks to this request !! this was co-written by @eternallyghosting (she wrote three (very important) sentences and the summary, which is easily the hardest part of writing fics) strangely, it was nice writing domestic fluff again and also i gave up on the banner :D also is this happy belated christmas bc this was for last year or is it early bc christmas is in five days ?? anygays, happy holidays !!

The moment the car stopped, a door was being shoved open. You didn’t have to check the rearview mirror to know that your son had sprinted out. Shaking your head, you shifted the gear to park before turning your gaze at your girlfriend. 

Minatozaki Sana was a confident woman. Or at least that is what you’ve gathered over the last year. She was never one to hide how she felt; it was she who had made the first move. So to see her eyes glazed over, trained on the raindrops collecting at the edge of the windshield was concerning, to say the least. 

“Hey,” was all you uttered, even quiet to your own ears. But Sana was attuned to your voice so she straightened before she turned to meet your gaze.

In the many years that make up a life, a year may be inconsequential. Between those three hundred and sixty-five days many things can happen. You can meet new people, spend time with them and get to really know their likes and dislikes, understand what truly makes and motivates them. During this time, you could gain lifelong friends, whom you instantly sync with only to lose them by the end of the year. Twelve months is enough time to drive you away from your family, to uproot your life and start anew, or perhaps return home to loving arms where everything remains unchanged. A year is a million moments of frustration and tears and happiness, a combination of beginning and endings, and gain and loss. But many years later, those instances would be fleeting at best. 

A whole year; a passing moment. 

Perhaps that’s why you were pleasantly surprised with how well things were with Sana. Having known each other for almost two years, from kind greetings building up to genuine conversations. The slow build of your relationship, from when you first asked her about her bad day to when she finally asked you out for a coffee date. There was not a moment you regretted, and to think that this was all the result of your son, the last shove the pair of you needed. 

Now Sana has moved in, you wake up to her running around your home alongside your son. She’d gone from his babysitter to someone who takes an active role in his life, someone who shapes him to be better. Someone he can learn from, grow with, and rely on, especially when you weren’t there for him. 

Simply put, you couldn't be more sure of your decision to be with her. Now, there were only a few more steps. 

Without saying a word, you reached for her hand, her fingers interlocking with yours instinctively. “I’m not worried, I just need a moment,” Sana said, the frozen glaze slowly dissipating from her eyes. 

Exhaling, you reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. Silky soft to the touch, even with her constant dyeing. How she managed to maintain the texture remained a mystery. From her natural brown to blinding orange to auburn to back to her brown, you’ve seen Sana’s hair shift faster than the seasons. Though in the dark of the night, your car was only illuminated by the lamppost a meter away, her hair seemed so depthless it was inky black.  

Sana leaned into your touch, her eyes fluttering shut as you held her. Just as you were about to assure her, a loud thump on the glass startled you both apart. 

“Aren’t you coming?” Your son asked loudly, though it sounded muffled since he had the side of his face and palms pressed flat against the glass. With another slap to the glass, he moved away but not before saying. “Open the trunk, I need to show grandma my chef’s hat and cookbook.” 

Sana had gone from clutching her heart to clutching her stomach as she doubled over with laughter. You, on the other hand, had to rest your forehead on the steering wheel to let out a long and exaggerated groan. 

“He will be the—”

Your son hit the car twice, yelling. “Trunk, please!” 

“Okay, okay, I’m opening it! It’s opening,” you stumbled to find the button. With a huff, you took out your car keys while Sana was still giggling as she got out to help with the suitcase. 

Your son had catapulted himself into your father’s arms as you headed up the porch, luggage in hand. Sana followed behind you, not necessarily hiding, but slightly obscuring herself from your parents. Smiling, you extended your free hand to take hers as you reached the door. 

“Oh, look who’s home!” your father exclaimed, as he swiftly lifted your son up and placed him on his hip. 

“Don’t do that! Who’s going to pay for another surgery?” you said, scowling while your mother slapped at his arm, trying to pry your son away. 

“With all that hard work, it will be you, of course,” your father said, before whispering at your son who then burst into giggles after peeking at you. 

“Well, if it's all the same, help me out with our bags—”

“Not happening,” your father said before walking into the house. 

“Here, let me,” your mother passed right by you and attempted to take the bag Sana was shouldering. Sana tried to decline politely, but your mother wasn’t having it. Soon the bag was in her hands and she took Sana’s hand in hers. Your mother gave you a smile as she guided Sana into the house. “She’s beautiful.” 

“I know, Mom,” you groaned, the smile hard to suppress. 

Home felt familiar. There was a smell, something you couldn’t pinpoint exactly. Of course, there were notes you recognised. A blend of your mother’s baking and your father’s obnoxious perfumes against the smell of rain. Something you’ve experienced so many times before and have long yearned to return to. As for furniture, nothing seemed to have changed. You spotted a few new frames, photos of your son now competing with numerous photos of yourself. Then one that really stopped you in your tracks. 

Your mother, artistic in all of her endeavours, had a growing collage of her favourite photos on a pinboard. You don’t come home often to notice all the small edits she makes, but this one was glaringly obvious. It was a picture that was clearly printed out recently. On normal paper it seemed, it lacked the gloss. It was cut to the shape of the three people in the photo, bordered with orange craft paper and stuck on at the very edge of the board. 

It was a picture of you, your son… and Sana. 

One night, when Sana decided it was time for her classic bright orange to return, she asked whether you wanted to dye your hair as well. 

Of course, in an instant, you answered no. Unfortunately, your son had overheard the question and practically begged you to let him dye his hair. So that night, both you and your son earned a few strands of orange hair that matched Sana. 

Almost on instinct, your hand drifted to the spot behind your neck, hiding a few stray strands of fading bright orange hair. When you had sent the image to your mother, you’d laughed at it because your face was barely in it to your mother’s disappointment. In fact, you were showing your back and looking over your shoulder so the orange was peeking through. Sana wore a blinding grin that also matched your son’s, who was pointing at the streak of orange in his fringe. But here it was, printed and cut out and pasted. 

The sight invoked a feeling you couldn’t place. 

Someone stepped to your right to observe the same picture. 

And then Sana turned to look at you, her eyes glassy. 

Even if it wasn’t said, you know what this means. 

The words were in your mouth when your mother spoke from your left. “I hope you don’t mind me putting up that picture there,” she said with scrunched eyebrows. “I really liked it.” 

Sana’s lips twitched upward as she shook her head. “I don’t mind at all.”

Introductions were quite brief, having heard each other quite a bit from you. Besides, you knew once your son tired himself out and was asleep, your parents could really get to know Sana. So, you decided to move your bags up to your scheduled room. 

Unfortunately for you, Sana stopped by another door. 

Gasping, Sana pushed the door open and took in every corner of your childhood room. 

The room was exactly as you left it. Except less messy. No furniture was moved, no posters torn down, no trinkets replaced—it was as if you had never even left. 

Sana moved to your study desk, her finger brushing the spines of textbooks that had made your high school years a living hell. 

“Did you study a lot?” Sana asked, her voice light as if she were absent-minded. 

“Not really, just enough to pass I guess,” Sana sent you a look over her shoulder, head slightly tilted in suspicion before turning her attention back to the desk. 

She poked the trophies and participation awards, smiling at your photos crammed to a side before picking one up. 

“Someone looks awfully upset here,” she brandished a photo of you standing on a podium, glaring holes at the person in front of you while you gripped your smaller award. “Sore loser much?” 

“I deserved first place! You weren’t there, alright?” you rolled your eyes, plucking the photo away from her while she moved towards your bed.

“I can’t imagine you’d ever have such a tidy room,” she chuckled as she took a seat by the foot of the bed, bouncing a little on the comfortable mattress. 

“Yeah, well, you have my mother to thank for that,” you smiled, as you leaned on your desk, facing Sana. Watching her. 

Perhaps, it was nostalgia. Or exhaustion. Who knows, maybe even the holiday spirit. But you liked staying here, being in your old room, surrounded by things you’ve long forgotten, from a time you don’t particularly miss, but now, with Sana. Someone who promised a new start. 

Sana watched you in turn, her lips pressed thin as she suppressed a knowing smile. 

Leaning back, she asked. “So, is this where we’ll be sleeping? In your old room?” 

Chuckling, you shook your head. “Not a chance,” you jutted your chin at the single bed, “you feel like being crammed into that?”

Sana shook her head as she turned around to feel the quilt, lips quirked up at the shark pattern.

“No, we’re taking the guest room,” you said, walking to your door. From here, you could just about see over the stairway railing and into the kitchen. Both your parents buzzed around your son like moths to a flame, grins on all of their faces. With a soft sigh, you said. “The one that will be coddled, pampered, and spoiled for the next week will be sleeping in here.” 

Content for the moment, you turned your attention back to Sana but she was already looking at you. An expression akin to worry was on her features. 

“They’ll like me right?” 

Sana closed in on herself, hands dragging down the quilt to feel it one more time before folding in front of her stomach. Her eyes darted around the room before settling back on you. You hated seeing Sana like this. 

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” you pushed away from your place at the door and took Sana’s face in your hands, helping her to look up at you. “They’ll love you.”

You leaned down, your nose brushing against hers as a chuckle escaped her. 

“Just like you do,” she giggled cheekily. 

You kissed her to stop her teasing. 

“Hmm, sure,” but still, you admitted. “Just like I do.”  

Once your son had tired himself out and you had unpacked your things, you decided it was time to put him to bed. With his blue set of pyjamas that matched your ancient shark-patterned bed sheets, he clambered and got under the sheets, tucking himself in neatly. You took a seat by him on the bed, hand reaching out to comb his unruly hair out of his face. 

“How are you feeling?” you asked, a bit slowly. 

“Good,” your son admitted, “it’s nice to see grandma and grandpa again.” 

The muscle in your jaw tensed. 

You wished you could visit home often, a long drive or not, it wasn’t too hard to come back home. However, work dragged you away and you didn’t even have time to consider a plan for the weekend. Even now, your ‘long’ weekend as an excuse for a holiday was extended into a week of freedom after you’d lined up your leave days and practically begged for the holidays. There was no shame in it, the end of this year was important. There were big changes ahead. 

“Good,” you parroted. 

“Grandma loved my hat and said we can bake some treats from the cookbook,” he exclaimed. You nodded as he continued. “I asked her if we could make a cake—a blue one!—like Percy!”

“Like Percy,” you scoffed as you completed the sentence with him. 

“She said she knows a trick so the food doesn’t come out green,” he added and you didn’t doubt him. 

Ever since his class was given free rein over the library, your son has been reading quite a lot. On top of his fascination with cooking, of course. This was the longest he’s stuck with a hobby or interest, and reading that his favourite character managed to eat special blue food, catered to him by his loving mother, only spurred your son more to mimic it. 

With your help, and Sana’s… mostly Sana’s, your son has mastered green pastries, desserts and sweets. Or ogre food, as you lovingly call it. For reasons that you couldn’t guess, no dye seemed to do the trick, perhaps you were buying cheap brands?

“Yeah, I’m sure she does,” you rolled your eyes before pinching his nose, at which he swatted your hand away. 

“So which book are we reading tonight?” Sana asked, walking into your childhood home with a book in her hand. You could guess which one it was. 

“The Lightning Thief!” your son squealed when Sana held the book up. 

“Don’t you get tired of reading the same one again and again?” you asked, watching Sana as she took a seat on the other side of the bed. 

“Nope!” your son said, popping the ‘p’ for emphasis. 

“Okay, but aren’t you curious about what happens next—?”

“Oh, don’t start this again,” Sana said, as she conspirately shook her head with your son, clearly over your grumbling. 

“I’m just saying—!”

“Oh look at the time,” your son pulled up his empty wrist. “It’s bedtime, we only have time to read a few pages, let's get started!” 

Scowling, you pinched your son’s cheek and he had the audacity to giggle. 

Sana had started reading the chapter you’d stopped on. Her voice was soothing to listen to, even if the story wasn’t too uplifting. Getting comfortable, you curled up next to your son over his quilt and watched his drooping eyes struggle to stay open. 

As Sana finished the chapter, she glanced over. A smile tugged on her lips when she found that your son was deep asleep. 

With a nod, you kissed him on the forehead and made sure he was comfortable. Following suit, Sana placed a kiss of her own on his temple. The pair of you exited the room on your tiptoes and slowly closed the door behind you. 

“I’ll take the book back,” you said, extending your hand out. 

Instead, Sana placed a kiss on your cheek, her eyes lidded. 

“What was that for?” you asked, surprised but you weren’t complaining. 

“Just because,” she shrugged and then handed the book over to you. 

“Are you stalling seeing my parents?” you asked with a smirk as your hand came to rest by her neck, your thumb tipping her jaw to face you. 

“Not at all,” Sana said with such conviction that if you didn’t know her better, you’d have believed her. 

“They won’t take much time, I won’t let them interrogate you. I can tell them we’re tired and we need rest,” you said tilting your head to the side. “Which we do, honestly.” 

Sana nodded with a sigh, her eyes shuttered close as she leaned into the warmth of your palm. 

You pulled yourself in for a kiss, a gentle one, on her lips. Sana hummed before pushing away. 

“I’ll see you in a second,” you whispered. “You got this.”

She nodded and turned towards the stairs. You waited till she reached the bottom of the stairs before making your way to the guest room. Staying for such a short time, there was no need to unpack completely, and for that, you were slightly grateful. That meant you could hide things without anyone being the wiser. 

Dropping the book down on the open suitcase, you kneeled to rummage through the clothes. Making sure to lift layers of clothes as it is, you find a small velvet box at the very bottom. The sight of it brought a smile to your face. It can only mean so many things, though you still have some things to complete. 

Leaving it in the same room would be a gamble. The guest room was basically empty, anyone would be able to find it. Every other room in this house had someone staying in it or had them frequent it often. Anything moved out of its place would ring the alarm bells, no, you needed to hide this somewhere no one was likely to check. 

So you walked back to your childhood room and entered as quietly as you could. Your son was sound asleep. The left door on your cupboard creaked when it opened, but if you applied pressure on the hinges as you opened, it made barely any sound. Locating the bottommost drawer, you pulled up your old clothes and shoved the box at the very back before hiding it under the clothes. 

Happy with your task, you exited the room just as stealthily and made your way down to join your family as if nothing were amiss. 

Even with the help of your mother, it seems your son had difficulty mastering blue food. 

Somehow your mother managed to convince your son from an elaborate tiered cake to a classic sponge cake to plain old blueberry muffins. You’d hoped that maybe you could escape for the day, maybe with Sana, around your old neighbourhood. Unfortunately, you’d been roped in as assistant chefs and taste-testers instead. 

Seated on the couch, you watched three of the most important people in your family take a crack at making blueberry muffins which were actually blue in colour. Sana had been assigned mixing duty, which made no sense to you because you knew for a fact your mother had an ancient stand mixer lying around somewhere in the house. Though Sana didn’t seem to share your sense of justice as she was happy to do so. 

Your mother was taking her time going through the recipe book and teaching your son her own techniques. The sight helped you recall some of your own moments under her wing in the kitchen, though you were neither as interested nor skilled to be there. Oh but your son, he was completely enraptured. You’ve never seen him in school and struggled to attend parent-teacher meetings, but you guessed this is how he was in class as well. The swell of pride on your chest was an indescribable feeling. 

When Sana said that the batter was ready, your head perked up. Leaving your place on the couch, you made your way to the kitchen. Making sure your mother and son were distracted by the oven, you moved behind Sana. You had to be quick!

Rounding one hand on her waist, you placed your chin over her shoulder and at that, she chuckled while snuggling into your side. And then, you struck. 

Your free hand’s index finger dipped into the bowl to carry a dollop of aqua-blue batter straight into your mouth. 

By the time Sana had realized what you’d just done, you were already out of her reach. Her indignant shriek altered the other two chefs of your crime, though even they couldn’t do much now. 

When the muffins had been completed, you were surprised to see they were properly blue. Not some horrid inedible shade of green. 

Your first question after inhaling a few muffins alongside your father was to your mother. 

“How did you get them so blue?” you asked, staring at the dishes in the sink, looking as if a smurf had been murdered. “We never managed.”

“Well, depends if you bothered to buy the brand I told you to,” your mother showed an empty tube on the counter and you rolled your eyes at the dig.

“I did buy that brand!” you said, moving to pick up and examine the tube… only to find two more tubes hidden, flattened beyond recognition. 

“Well, then it depends on quantity,” your mother said as you turned on the balls of your feet, incredulous. 

“Is this much dye even healthy?” you asked, already reading the ingredients on the tube. 

“Guess we’ll find out,” your mother only shrugged as she looked at her husband, still scarfing down the muffins. You sent your mother another incredulous look but she just laughed at her own silly joke.

As the holiday came to an end, you finally got your chance to spend some time alone with Sana. 

Your father claimed he barely got any time to spend with his grandson. Of course, that was a complete lie. With how much time and money he spent, you’d even debated getting your son a gift at all. Though that was out of the question, you and Sana had already set your mind on what it was and had it ordered beforehand. You just had to go collect it. 

So your father said he’d take you all to the park. Once there, you let them go their own way. One moment, your son was accompanying your father and the next he was running at the nearest dog, eager to pet it. 

Holding hands, you and Sana watched as you made your way through the park. With every step, you were getting further away until you could see your son no more. Suddenly, the velvet box in your jacket pocket weighed you down, as if it had materialized into your jacket out of thin air. 

“Not going to lie,” Sana started, “I thought you’d show me more of your old home.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“I don’t know, something like your old friends? Your old school? Old hang-out spots?” Sana drew on. “Maybe how that high school enemy of yours and how they work at a general store, having never escaped this small town?”

“I don’t know what winter budget film you watched, but that’s not happening here,” you rolled your eyes at her imagination. “Also, what enemy?” 

“The first-place winner,” Sana said with a cheeky smile. 

“Oh please, I’m not that petty to be thinking about something that happened so long ago,” Sana watched you intently, nodding along almost in a mocking manner. “And besides, they’re a professor at the university across the city, I believe.”

Sana’s grin widened as you just realised what you admitted.  

“I wasn’t keeping tabs on them! I just saw a post of theirs recently, alright!” you cried, though it fell on deaf ears. 

The most important thing to come out of the walk was your destination. To and back, it was mostly filled with Sana’s inane questions (filled with imaginative scenarios to paint you as some egregious husk of a human, might you add) and you answering them with proper facts and maybe some anecdotes. Sana stopped by the crafts store to collect wrapping paper while you collected your son’s gift. 

It was the following series of his favourite books; Heroes of Olympus. 

Yes, he has yet to finish the last two books of the current series. And yes, you’d only just berated (teased) him about rereading the first book. But you could just imagine how his face would light up when he sees these books. In fact… you don’t even know if you’ll be reading these books to him by the time he gets to them, which was strange to think about but really, there wasn’t a better gift for your son. 

When you arrived back home, your son was taking a nap on the couch, which made it all the more easier to wrap the present for him and get dinner ready.

When your son woke up the table was already set and the first thing he did was take his seat. All eyes were on him, everyone was wearing smiles watching him practically bounce on his seat. He gets to have his dinner, the muffins that he made, and then open his gifts early. Your father, chuckling, ruffled his hair and took a seat beside him. 

Dinner, for the most part, was uneventful as usual. That's not to say you didn’t have any fun. You did, you really did. As you ate your meal, you took a backseat in the conversation, observing just how comfortable Sana was alongside your family. She had absolutely nothing to be worried about. Your parents adored her. Almost as much as how much you and your son did. 

“So when is it?” your father’s question filtered in and you looked away from your nearly clean plate. 

“When is what?” you asked before taking your final bite. 

“I asked when are you two getting married?” 

Sana had to rub your back so you didn’t choke on your food, or worse, spit it across the table. 

“What?” you tip a sip of water. “What do you mean?” 

“It’s a valid question, really,” your mother admitted, not really looking at you, but you could see the smile toying at the edge of her lips. 

“Yeah, when is it happening?” your son looked up at you, eyes wide and shiny. 

“Um…” you turned to Sana for some help. Instead, she took her hand from your back and placed her chin on it, leaning in and expecting your answer as well. 

The velvet box seemed to burn in your jacket pocket.

Somehow, you’d managed to get out of that dreadful situation. 

Once the plates were cleared and blueberry muffins disappeared. It was time for presents. 

As if aware of what he might get, your son gravitated toward the large box set you’d gotten. And you were right. 

Nothing could compare to the expression on his face when he realized what he’d gotten. 

Without hesitation, he jumped into your arms and thanked you a thousand times. You reminded him that Sana had pitched in as well and he was flying at her to give her the same treatment. 

Perhaps, you were petty. 

Because you took pride that no other gift earned the same amount of excitement. 

The night settled down and your family received one last gift from your mother. 

When all of you were out, she’d tidied up the backyard and made hot chocolate.

All throughout this holiday, every moment seemed to be building up to this one. 

Under the twinkling fairy lights, you joined your son on the steps to the backyard. He was sitting with his knees up, his hands toying with a small figurine of Poseidon. Sana had bought it for him the moment she laid eyes on it, having thrifted it from some store, you couldn’t help but smile at the memory. 

Seeming to be in deep thought, your son watched the sight before him. With steaming cups of hot chocolate in their hands, your parents conversed with Sana. You didn’t know what she said, but it had your father throwing his head back and letting loose a loud snort. Your mother’s eyes crinkled in amusement as she flitted her attention back and forth between them. 

Clearing your throat, you began to speak. “Your hot chocolate is turning into cold chocolate, you know.” 

You were sure that comment would earn a look from him, but instead, your son moved a hand towards his cup, the figurine still in the other. He sighed and brought the cup to his mouth anyway. But before he could take a sip, you switched out his for your own cup. 

“Here, have mine,” you said, carefully placing the warm cup in his hands. 

Your son mumbled his thanks and sipped the drink silently, his eyes back on Sana. There was something he wanted to say. You had something you wanted to ask him too. But you decided to wait him out, let him come to you first because you surmised both of you wanted to discuss the same thing. 

And so for a moment, on Christmas day, you sat in silence with your son, on the steps to your childhood backyard, sipping warm (and yours, cold) chocolate. 

When he was done halfway with his hot chocolate, he placed the cup back down. You followed him. His hands were fidgeting with the figurine again, spinning it round and round, only stopping from time to time to run his index finger over the trident. 

“Grandpa was right, you know,” you’ve never heard your son’s voice so small. Wavering, as if he were confused, nervous even. “Why haven’t you asked Sana to marry you?” 

He paused to bite his lip while his eyes flitted to the figurine, thumb caressing the figurine’s armour. 

“Is it because of me?” he asked. The utterance is almost like an exhale, light but onerous. 

It would be so easy to provide empty consolation, that no, it wasn’t anything to do with him. But he knows you too well for that to pass, he’d see right through your attempt. Your son is already quite wise beyond his years, especially at the most inopportune times for you, and was only getting older. For as long as you can remember, it's only ever been the two of you. 

Your dates, however rare, come and go. His babysitters, much to his distaste in the beginning, come and go. Having a partner at the start seemed so important, if not to share the burden of caring for a child, then to at least have another figure for your son to look up to. And when you questioned that sort of thinking, you’d figured that all that really mattered was that you were there for your son. With little time as you did have with him in your day, you fought to make time for him. You hadn’t even entertained the idea, that perhaps, you’d date just for yourself. When it came to your son or some romantic dalliance that would never amount to anything real, the choice was easy. 

Because at the end of the day, it's only ever been the two of you. 

But all of that changed when Sana arrived at your doorstep. 

You doubted that neither of you, all three of you even, expected this outcome. 

So you understood where your son was coming from, asking this question. 

And you decided to be honest with your son, as you always have. 

“Yes, in a way.” 

Finally, your son turned his full attention to you. His hands were still holding the figurine, but they weren’t fidgeting anymore. 

You also turned to face him. 

Round eyes had turned sharp, searching for something. Yet his face was a little less expressive, more difficult to read. There were lines of worry decorating his forehead, he seemed older. He’s always by your side, it’s so easy to miss. But this close, on this night, it was obvious. He had grown up. 

“Before I asked her, I wanted to ask you,” you confessed. The velvet box that was previously hidden underneath your old clothes in the third drawer of your cupboard was now heavy in your pocket. Your son tilted his head in question. “For as long as I can remember, it has been just you and me.”

You sighed. These words were harder to get out than you’d expected. 

“I know you like Sana, and I know she already stays with us, and I know you know how much I love her,” the corner of your son’s lips twitched up a bit. “But there’s a difference between being together and being married. I think it’s a big step. And I don’t want to take that step with your blessing.” 

It only took your son a fraction of a second to react. He nodded, eager to say yes. 

“Of course, I want this for you,” he said, grinning. “She makes you happy. You make her happy too. And that makes me happy!” 

And he was back. 

He was giggling to himself as he poked your side with a finger. You rolled your eyes as you tried to brave the tickling sensation. 

“But seriously, I want this,” he nodded before turning his attention back to his cup of hot chocolate. He was going to take a sip, but stopped and looked at you. “And… and thanks for asking me.” 

“Of course,” was all you could say as both of you went to take a sip from your mugs. 

“Ugh!” your son let out an ugly bleh! and frowned. Your parents and Sana turned to look over at you. “This is so cold! Is yours too?” 

Your mother chuckled and nodded. From across the yard, she asked. “Shall we go heat them up?” 

“Yes, please!” your son stood up and pocketed his figurine. He extended a hand for your cup as well. When you gave it up, he whispered conspiraterly before your mother could whisk him away. “Good luck! You got this!”

And then with a giggle, he’d skipped off into the house. 

Your mother stopped at the steps just as you got up and dusted yourself up. 

“What were you two whispering about?” she asked with an uptick of her brow as if she hadn’t had her guesses. You shrugged. 

“What were you laughing about?” you asked. Your mother glanced back at your father and Sana, then back to you. She shrugged. 

“Okay, be like that then,” you said and your mother only chuckled. 

Then, she turned back again and called out to your father. “Did you take your tablets?” 

“Shit, no!” your father excused himself and rushed over. 

“Language!” your mother said as your father zoomed past, though he was more hobbling. Then your mother looked back at you. “She’ll say yes.”

And with that, she followed your father in and closed the balcony door to shut away the cold air. 

You turned to Sana. She was already looking at you. 

Without a mug, she had nothing to fidget with, so she had her hands steepled in front of her stomach. Her eyes were wide, expectant, as you made your way over. 

“Hey,” you said, both your hands finding their place in your pockets. Of course, it was only a front to find the box they were hiding. 

“Hi,” she said, the corner of her lips twitching up. 

There was nothing left to do. Nothing more you were so sure of. 

So instead of stuffing up the moment with unprepared words and emotion, you pulled out the box. 

Sana didn’t gasp or squeal or tear up. She just raised her steepled hands to her lips, her cheeks pushed up so high, elated crinkles forming beside her eyes. 

You weren't a grand person either. No big dinner, no big celebration, no build-up. You’d considered it, you really had, merely for the sake of Sana. But everything else just felt so unlike you, well, unlike the pair of you. Your start had been so simple, so unassuming, only because there was already so much between you. And everything that had followed, with her, and her with your son, had been the same. Everything just made sense. 

But you did think, perhaps, you should get down on one knee. 

So you started lowering yourself to the ground as you opened the box. But before you could complete the pose, Sana grabbed you by your collar and pulled you into a crushing kiss. 

You surmised that was a yes and smiled into the kiss.

“Come on, come on,” your son was ecstatic, practically shooting off from his seat on the couch. Sana only smiled to herself as she set up the laptop on the coffee table, making sure the camera showed everyone and that she looked all right. “We’re in!”

Handing Sana the mugs in your hands, you seated yourself down and lifted your son onto your lap. Just as you were taking back your mug, a shrill voice shrieked. “Sana!”

Your son giggled while your eyes widened. Because Sana returned the greeting with the same energy. “Nayeon!”

You’ve heard of that one before, Nayeon, and seen photos of her too. Well, you couldn’t remember exactly, Sana had quite the group of friends but when Nayeon’s face appeared along with another person, you just smiled and waved awkwardly. 

“Hi! It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Nayeon said politely to you just as another screen popped up. You knew them, the newlyweds!

You parroted her greeting as more screens popped up with familiar faces, but none close. You’ve only heard stories or seen photos. The laptop erupted with voices, none of which you recognized, it was quite overwhelming. Though, Sana had no trouble at all catching the flow of the conversation and laughing along. Your son seemed to follow her, although silently. Someone with the name of Choi Tzuyu housed two people on their screen, they both waved at your son, who responded eagerly. 

“I think everyone is here!” one of the women said, her profile name read Jihyo. She was clearly wearing a suit, though her tie had been undone. “Yup, headcount done, everyone is here. How are we moving forward with this?” 

“Well, that depends on Sana, really,” a woman from Nayeon’s screen said, she’d just joined the pair that was already there. She was wearing a smug smile, and in response, Sana rolled her eyes. 

Both you and your son turned to Sana, expectant. 

Grinning at the ground, feigning bashfulness, Sana held up her left hand. And there it was, glinting in the light, your engagement ring. 

The audio lagged from how much volume erupted. Someone wolf-whistled, while the others laughed and clapped. You knew people were congratulating you, but you were too busy fending off Sana burying her forehead into your shoulder. Only your son seemed to delight in the revelry. 

And then, to your horror, someone yelled. “Show us your ring too!” 

Before you could even lift your hand, your son had taken your left hand and held it above his head, showcasing the matching ring!

Someone shrieked again, although this time around the celebration was a bit more subdued. 

“Damn, I thought we were all gonna scream again but okay,” the one with the profile name Hirai Momo said, while the person next to them swatted their arm. “What? It’s—”

“Please ignore Momo, congrats on your engagement,” Jihyo said, leaning forward, trying to look right at you. “I know Sana has been excited about this for quite a while.” 

“Oh,” was all you could say, as Sana pulled away from you, a blush coating her cheeks. 

“We knew this was coming,” the profile Dahyun said, “but I think this is the first child in our little group—hello!”

Your son perked up as all attention was on him. “Hello!” 

He was readying himself to be asked questions, to share his interest in cooking with a whole new group of people, though the conversation switched again. 

“He’s not the first child, we have children too,” Momo whined. “Look, Boo and Dobby are here.” 

And then she continued to make the most obnoxious noise to call over her dogs. 

“You did not just compare an adorable kid to your feral dogs,” said the person next to Momo, even though they reached out to a dog themself and picked one up. “I’m sorry for this one, kid.” 

Your son didn’t seem to mind, instead, he was absolutely taken with the two dogs in the hands of the couple. 

“Then, I guess I have children too,” someone from the profile Choi Tzuyu said and called over another dog too. 

“Oh, Tzuyu, you’re back home?” someone asked and once again, the conversation changed. 

Smiling at the sight, you were content with just seeing Sana interact with her friends. She’d been pretty adamant about staying with you for this Christmas, and she’d mentioned how horrid the one before had been. It was the reason this group had decided to call this time around. 

Then out of the blue, Jihyo asked. “So when is the wedding?”

“Why are you asking? So you can bring that plus-one of yours from last time?” 

The call erupted again. 

“Right, right, how long are you just going to be attending weddings? When are you going—”

“Jeongyeon, I’m going to stop you right there, you’re giving me traumatic flashbacks to my mom,” Jihyo said, holding up her hands. “And, that plus-one was a one-time thing, I’ll probably never see them again.” 

“They’ll probably be there for Sana’s wedding, let's be honest,” even the slightest mention of your wedding had you sweating. Sana seemed to notice. 

Muting yourself, Sana turned to you. “They’re going to go at this for a while, thanks for agreeing to meet them… they’re basically family to me.” 

“Yeah, no, of course,” you said, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. You ignored the one who whistled again. You were muted, not off-camera. You tried not to display your embarrassment. “I’ll get this one ready for bed then.” 

Your son was pouting, but Sana just nodded. “I’ll finish up this call, and we can finish up your favourite chapter.” 

At that, your son’s smile returned. 

“Come on,” you said, picking him up and giving him a boost to land across the couch. You took the empty mug from Sana’s hand and left as she re-entered the conversation as if her little pause never occurred. 

“Mina! Ask Mina, she’s single too—!”

“But we’re here to talk about you, Jihyo—!”

“What do you mean? You just got engaged!”

Their voices faded with every step you took away from Sana, your son in tow. 

Maybe it was the end of the year, maybe it was the communal holiday spirit, but every Christmas, you found yourself reminiscing about past memories. Watching your son take his first steps, to watching him become confident in his own skin, you were glad he was surrounded by people who loved him as much as you did. And now, that permanently included Sana. These holidays have changed so many things, all of which you were so deeply grateful for. 

Surged with a wave of emotion upon reaching the threshold of your childhood bedroom,  and unable to suppress your elation, you grabbed your son by the hips and lifted him into the air. You were sure the sound of his surprised giggles would stay imprinted in your mind for many more Christmases to come.

any feedback is much appreciated.

a/n: first and foremost, i am so very sorry dear anon for getting this to you almost two fucking years later ;-; and second, happy percy jackson day !!

tagging: @someone-who-likes-broccoli

[idkwhatimdoinghere1655]

New Years Resolutions - Carlos Sainz

<word count - 1345>

warnings - not proof read

If it were any normal New Years Eve, you'd be at home by yourself, with the comfort of instant noodles and the talk shows that were on TV with singers and everything like that. But, this year was different. 

Your parents had loosely known the Sainz family, so you were among the many on the list invited to their New Years party. You decided saying no was a slightly stupid idea, so you said you'd be going and got all dressed up. 

When you walked in, you instantly realised that you didn't know a single person there. Before you had the chance to slip back out the front door unnoticed, you heard someone call out your name. Looking around the space, you didn't see anyone but crowds of unfamiliar people. 

You figured that there was another Y/N there, and the person was looking for someone else. You began to back out of the door a second time, but then you saw who the calls were coming from. "Y/N, hey! I didn't think you'd be coming," a familiar voice said, parting through the crowds. 

"Hey, Carlos. I thought I might as well show my face," you smiled at your old friend. Seen as your parents were friends, you and Carlos had interacted a few times over the years. You liked him, he was nice towards you and hadn't given you any reason to dislike him. 

It would also be pointless to deny that he was very handsome and easy on the eyes. "I'm glad you're here, I can finally have some fun. It's been pretty boring, I must admit," he grinned, taking your coat from off your shoulders. "We ran out of room on the coat rack, so would you mind if I put it in my room? I don't want it getting lost," he said. 

"Yeah, that'd be fine, thank you," you nodded as the two of you walked into the packed living room. I mean, you looked around and the room felt bigger than the entirety of your house, and there were definitely a couple hundred people here.

"You wait here, I'll be back," he said, disappearing through the crowd with your coat. There were a couple of people you recognised, but you didn't know any of them. You stood, rooted to the spot so that you didn't have to spend a second more than necessary without Carlos. 

"You wanna get a drink?" he asked, reappearing right next to you. 

"Yeah please," you nodded, and he placed a soft hand on the small of your back as he gently guided you through the crowds of people towards the bar that they just casually had in their house. 

"What can I get for you?" he chuckled, rounding the bar and acting like a bartender. "Whatever you want, I can do it for you," he smiled.

"I'll take a tequila sunrise then, please," you said as Carlos instantly got to work. He found all the ingredients he needed, and poured the grenadine into your glass before shaking the tequila, orange juice and triple sec in the cocktail shaker. 

Pouring it out into the glass, he topped it with ice and a mini umbrella to complete the drink. "Thank you very much," you smiled, sipping away at it. The measurements were absolutely perfect, and it was a very good tequila sunrise. 

"No problem, it's my pleasure. How about we go somewhere a little less crowded? We can catch up," he asked, coming back around to your side of the bar. 

"Yeah, sounds good," you said, picking your drink up and following him where he he was taking you. The room you went into only had a couple of people, all crowded around a pool table as they played. 

"So, how've you been? It's been ages since I last saw you," he sincerely asked, sitting down next to you on one of the plush couches in the room. 

"I've been good, yeah. I mean, we probably haven't seen each other because you've been off being Carlos Sainz, and I've been working and stuff," you said, as he intently watched you. You didn't have to see him all the time to know that the two of you were friends. 

"Yeah, I guess Carlos Sainz is a pretty full time thing," he lightly chuckled, his smile instantly putting one on your face. He had a certain quality about him, something that allowed you to calm down and relax. "Tell me, what's your New Years resolution?" he quizzed.

"Right, don't laugh at me if it's corny, OK?" you asked, and he simply raised an eyebrow at you out of curiosity. 

"I say the same thing every single year, but I want to find someone, you know? I've been single for long enough, I want a relationship, I want to be loved," you told him, and he wasn't going to laugh any time soon. He found it endearing, even if it was one of the last things he expected to come out of your mouth. 

"Well I'm sure you will, you're a good person, and to top it all off you're stunning, so I don't see why you won't get a boyfriend," he said without missing a beat, as if it were a normal thing he said to everyone. You blushed lightly as his comment, your cheeks heating up. 

"Thanks Carlos, I really appreciate it," you blushed, unable to make eye contact with him.

"I'm serious, someone would be very lucky to have you," he continued, noticing the red flush to your face. "I'm just saying what someone else should have told you a long time ago," he finished, checking his watch as he noticed people filtering back into the living room. 

"God, you're such a flirt," you laughed, nudging him. You also noticed that people were leaving the room, and you figured it was because you were getting close to midnight. 

"Come on, let's go into the living room, it's nearly midnight," Carlos said, standing and holding his hand out for you. You took it and let him lead you into the crowded living room, both of you having to stand closely in the corner. 

You were squashed between this random guy and Carlos, and you could barely breathe because of how tight the space was. Carlos noticed the slight discomfort on your face, and pulled you in front of him by the shoulders. You were now stood so your back was lightly brushing against his chest whenever either of you breathed. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks," you smiled, looking up at him over your shoulder. Looking around, you saw that all of the boyfriends and girlfriends, fiances, partners, husbands and wives, were all stood together, undoubtedly getting ready for their New Years kiss. Maybe next year you'd get yours.  

The people who could see the TV started counting down, and before you knew it, it was 2024. Somewhere outside, you could hear the fireworks booming, as the couples around you embraced with a kiss and others cheersed. 

You turned around, shouting a 'Happy new year Carlos!' over the noise. The smile on your face was absolutely priceless, and the lack of space between you was causing him to sweat. He bit the bullet and went for it, "Can I kiss you?" he shouted back, and you just looked at him for a moment.

A kiss wouldn't hurt, right? There was nothing for you to lose by kissing Carlos, so you replied with a simple 'yes'. That was all the confirmation he needed, as he closed the small gap between you and captured your lips with his. 

It felt like the sparks between you were bigger than those of the fireworks outside as neither of you pulled away. He realised that everyone else was just celebrating now, while the two of you were practically making out in the corner, so he begrudgingly pulled away from you.

"I think you'll fulfill your New Years resolution earlier than expected," he smiled chuckled, the euphoria that was surging through his veins not wearing off in the slightest. Now this was the perfect way to start the new year, no doubts about it. 

A/N - Happy new year my loves! Here's to a 2024 of more writing, and hopefully less Ferrari pain... :). Thank you for sticking with me this year, and I'll see you all next year! Have a wonderful day/night, and I love y'all 💖🍾

|masterlist|

[youatemylollipop]

Feral alpha Mikey sano x omega reader where Mikey knocked reader up? Make it dark! And could you end it with reader being forced to marry him? Could you also make fem reader? It’s okay if you chose to not specify gender. It’s just that I have fad this idea for a while, and I liked the way you wrote for yandere Mikey! I understand if you don’t want. You can write when ur request are open again, not pressure !

A/N: I'm sorry if this one-shot turned out to be too dark!😖 For some reason, when I read your request, it was the first thing that came to mind. Additionally, English is not my first language, so please forgive any grammatical errors. They are more likely to occur in a longer piece of writing like this. There’s also this fact that I have never written anything close to being this explicit before, so it might not be the best, just so you are aware.

Synopsis: Manjirō had always been your guiding light, protecting you from the darkest of nights. But now, you're not so sure anymore.

Fandom: Tokyo Revengers

Characters: Sano Manjirō X Female Reader

⚠️ WARNING: Forced marriage, a/b/o dynamics, feral alpha Mikey, dark themes, non-con/dub-con, forced orgasm, forced pregnancy, breeding kink, knotting, marking, nipple play, fingering, oral sex (f.receiving), vaginal sex, loss of virginity, forced heat cycles, signs of manipulation, mentions of death, Kisaki Tetta is his own warning, MDNI!!

Word Count: 4.2K

You still fail to understand how things have turned out the way they did. Back then, you had always seen Manjirō as your knight in shining armor, your protector. He was always there when you needed him, and if not, he would make sure to keep his calling device close, in his pocket, one call away. Then he would dismiss any meeting, no matter how important it was, speeding through the busy streets of Tokyo to your aid.

The two of you first met in your second year of middle school as you browsed through the bookshelves in the school library, trying to find something that would fit your taste. That's when you spotted Manjirō, a 3rd-year student who was commonly known as the commander of the Tokyo Manji Gang, sleeping in the corner of the library with his head resting on the table.

You felt instantly drawn to the sleeping boy and were inclined to approach him, which was new to you. Your inner omega had always been quite picky when it came to attraction, and so far, not one alpha had managed to gain its affection. If the immediate reaction had not been repulsion, indifference would be the most positive response that they would achieve.

Manjirō shone like the sun, radiating brightness that required sunglasses to behold, lest you risk blindness. His smile was always radiant, a stark contrast to his onyx eyes that resembled a starless sky at its darkest hour. Gazing into them was like staring into the abyss, without the glimmer of stars to light the way.

He was like spring, full of life and childish wonder that fueled him to do the most rash yet exciting things. You, on the other hand, were autumn, more calm and collected, but still filled with various warm colors that would not let you turn into winter. Two opposites, drawn to one another like missing pieces of a puzzle.

Manjirō was not like other alphas. He respected omegas and believed that they deserved a better standing in today's society. Sure, they could go to school, but only if their alpha parent allowed it. Once an omega reached the age of eighteen, they were typically married off to the alpha chosen by their family. These arrangements were often made during adolescence, and you were no exception to this rule.

Kisaki Tetta, was the man your father had chosen as your future husband. However, Kisaki was not an alpha but a beta. You did not particularly dislike Tetta-kun, however, there was a certain amount of unease whenever the two of you were together. Your inner omega would always whimper in his presence, telling you that he was best to avoid. But you ignored it in favor of your marriage. Unfortunately there was nothing you could do, and the best way to approach this dilemma was to stay civil with your future husband.

You understood the reason behind your father's actions. Due to your omega's pickiness, it was hard to find a perfect match for it. However, a small part of you would have preferred for your father to let you marry the older Haitian brother at the time. Sure, he was four years older, but the marriage would have only happened once you had stepped into adulthood.

If it were up to you, you wouldn't mind marrying Ran. Unlike Tetta-kun, Ran clearly loved you. You could tell by how heartbroken he was when he found out about the arranged marriage. However, you knew that your father would never agree to marry off his daughter to someone with a notorious reputation within the delinquent world.

Although you did not love Ran in that sense, you were content with letting him love you. At the time, the perfect scenario did not exist in your mind. The chance of falling in love with someone equally fiercely as they have with you seemed like a far away dream.

But then you met Manjirō and the world around you soon ceased to exist. There was only you and him, and for the first time you felt truly happy.

Manjirō was always gentle with you. Sometimes, when you spoke about an interesting book you had recently read or a movie you recently watched, you would catch him staring at you with a look of pure adoration, while smiling dreamily. Whenever this happened, you would suddenly become a stuttering mess, which would cause him to tease you endlessly over how 'cute' he thought it was.

However, as time passed, Manjirō grew more distant. He still took you on rides with his Babu in the middle of the night when the whole neighborhood was off to dreamland. He waited for you near the school gates, but without his bike, knowing how strict your parents were about your associations. Yet the constant shine he once radiated began to fade.

You understood him, of course. Constantly being trailed by death after death would most likely make you emotionally exhausted. A part of you felt like crying every single time the blond would give you one of his now constant melancholic smiles, trying to mask the void that began to spread through his entire being.

But he was not alone. You grieved together. Sure, you did not know his friends for as long as Manjirō did. However, you had still formed a certain bond with a few of them. You still remember how sad Manjirō looked when he had suddenly called you one night, asking you if you could meet him at the hospital. His body shook tremendously as he replayed the scene of his stabbed, and now dead friend. They never even got the chance to reconcile.

You only knew Ryūguji for a few months, but during the time you spent together you began to see him as an older brother. You always felt a certain amount of amazement over the way he managed to deal with Manjirō on a daily basis. And Draken would always turn to you with a kind smile and tell you how it was nothing compared to the way you had managed to handle him.

Then it was Keisuke’s turn, and unlike the rest of the Tokyo Manji Gang, Keisuke was the one you had known the longest. Even before Manjirō. And it broke your heart when the blond had one day broken the news of his sudden death. The rash and brute boy that was the exact opposite of you but somehow became your most reliable confidant had left this world without any goodbye.

You remembered the day you first met vividly. It was raining cats and dogs outside, and you were unfortunate enough to forget your umbrella at home. As you walked down the main road, you suddenly stumbled upon a box lying near the dumpsters. You could hear meows coming from it, which compelled you to open it.

Keisuke must have seen you from the other side of the road, because while you were too busy examining the small kittens inside the box the rain had stopped hitting you. This was something that you realized was rather odd, since you could still hear the aggressive downpours around you. And that was when you had met Baji Keisuke, first division commander of the Tokyo Manji Gang—and surprisingly a big cat lover—holding an umbrella over your head whilst sending you a cheeky grin.

However, what you assumed had become the snapping point was the death of Sano Emma, the younger sister of Sano Manjirō but also your close friend and classmate. It was a truly heartbreaking moment - one second, you were having a normal conversation, and the next, she was lying cold and motionless on the pavement, completely unaware of the world surrounding her. And you honestly did not understand how somebody could be so cruel, that they were willing to kill an innocent teenage girl.

After that day, Manjirō had become a shell of his former self. But you still loved him because, as cold as he was with others, he remained tender with you. He would still smile, even though those smiles were now completely empty. Sometimes the two of you would sit near the river, and he would talk about your future together, how he could not bear to lose you to the hands of the Grim Reaper.

You were skeptical, but could not help but hope that the two of you would indeed have your happy ending. The happy ending where you were married and had a family together. Where you were not forcefully married to another man. To the man that you did not love.

Sometimes you imagined scenarios where you and Manjriō would run away together. Away from your parents. Away from his grief and constant feeling of emptiness. Away from these burdens that were clutching onto the both of you like a goddamn parasite.

“[Name]-chin.”

Manjirō suddenly spoke up, gaining your attention. A few hours prior your boyfriend had decided to take you to your shared favorite place near the river, where you have been sitting next to each other in silence enjoying the romantic atmosphere.

It was quite common for you and Manjirō to enjoy each other's company like this. You did not need to hold a conversation to feel content. Most often, you would sit with your back against a tree trunk, while Manjirō's head lay in your lap and you read a book. Sometimes, during school hours, Draken would find you in the same position on the rooftop.

“Yes?”

You sent him a quizzical look, but he did not return your gaze. Instead, he continued to stare blankly at the river, silently watching as the water slowly continued to flow.

“Kisaki had approached me a few days ago. Said that he knows about our relationship and that he wants to help us.” You hummed in response, taking a hold of Manjirō’s hand and intertwining your fingers.

Truth be told, you still felt a bit skeptical, and now that Tetta-kun was involved it made you grow more uneasy. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Kisaki’s intellect. But you weren’t stupid enough to see past his sometimes unethical ways to deal with things. Even though Tetta-kun had expressed his disinterest in your marriage, claiming that he already was in love with another beta girl, Tachibana Hinata, you couldn’t help but feel unsure.

At that time, the male claimed that he would have interfered with his parents' plans if he had the authority, but neither his opinion nor yours seemed to matter. Although he sounded sincere, a part of you sensed that he might not have been entirely truthful and could have had a hidden agenda. Besides, his parents didn't appear to be excessively controlling.

"Are you sure about this, Manjirō?" You asked, furrowing your eyebrows with concern as you pressed your chin onto his broad shoulder. It was the first time during your conversation that the blond had looked at you, but his expression was unreadable. You couldn't help but worry about him.

Manjirō carefully wrapped his right arm around your waist, bringing your body closer to his. He kissed your forehead softly, lips remaining there for a few more seconds before pulling away. But only enough to press his forehead against your own. His expression was still unreadable, but seemed to have softened up a bit.

Lost within the depths of the starless nights that were his eyes, you didn’t notice how his left hand had got up and cupped your cheek until you felt the coolness of his fingertips make contact with your skin. His thumb began to draw small circles across the surface as he continued to look at you with the same dead expression that held only a tiny bit of the usual warmth it did back in the old days.

“Do you still want me, [Name]-chin?” You furrowed your eyebrows at his question, not understanding where this was coming from. Carefully wrapping your arms around his neck, you sent him a look that expressed nothing but worry for him.

“Of course Manjirō, I love you.” The male seemed to visibly relax at your reassurance. He nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, left arm wrapping around your waist where his other had been. His hot breath fanning over your sensitive skin.

You couldn’t help but feel flustered by this sort of intimacy. Sure, this was far from the first time and Manjirō had always been very affectionate with you, but it still never failed to increase the erratic beating of your heart. Sometimes it made you worry that it would just stop, not having enough stamina to keep up with his advances.

“I love you too.” He whispered, arms unwrapping from your waist as he placed the palms of his hands on your hips before squeezing on the clothed flesh.

“I promise that I will make it work out in the end.” Manjirō’s voice was low as he spoke the last part, finally pulling away from your neck to make eye contact. His gaze was unwavering and you couldn’t help but feel slightly dazed by this whole situation. And it was only then that you were able to pick up on a strange aroma that you’ve never smelled on him before. It was sweet and reminded you of the lavender flower.

Nodding dumbly, you let Manjirō take a hold of your hand as he led you towards his Babu. Everything seemed to go on autopilot afterwards. You did not even notice at what point you had arrived at his place. It felt as if you had been charmed with a serenade that kept your body completely at his mercy.

The blond led you towards his bedroom, and you followed numbly, your mind growing dizzier with each passing second. You thought you could hear the sound of someone locking the door, but you weren't sure. Your body started to heat up, and the sensation was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Before long, a pair of muscular arms wrapped around your waist, jolting you back to reality. Manjirō was holding your body tightly against his own, and you could feel his body heat against your back. He was peppering your neck with small kisses, causing your body to heat up even more.

Your breathing was turning increasingly erratic and you were starting to feel uncomfortable. But as you were trying to squeeze yourself out of his grip it only became tighter.

“M-Manjirō, what a-are you doing?” The eighteen year old groaned into your neck as his hands went higher up to knead your breasts.

“This is the only solution we have, [Name]-chin.”

“H-Huh?” He swiftly turned you around so that you would now stand face to face with him, before tearing your shirt into pieces. More pieces of clothing soon followed, until he had you lying completely bare for his predatory gaze to take in. Manjirō growled, feeling cock twitch at the sight of his omega presenting for him.

Puffs of air left your mouth as you watched the alpha undress right in front of you. The sight of his muscular and well trained body, making your cheeks flush in the process. Your head was still spinning, and you had a hard time comprehending what was going on. All you could tell was that your omega’s neediness was growing at an alarming rate.

Not even once in your life had you experienced something like this. Sure, you were aware that at some point you would most likely want to become more intimate with your boyfriend, but not like this. Not this suddenly. You didn’t feel ready. However, your inner omega seemed to disagree as you noticed that Manjirō had already finished undressing.

For the first time in your life did you feel truly small, especially in your boyfriend's presence. Manjrō was hovering over you, his blond hair falling down his handsome face like curtains. His thick scent was growing stronger, which made you question if there was even any oxygen left in the air.

The smell was intoxicating and held a mixture of citrus and spice combined with a sense of earthiness that made you feel grounded. It was a strange fusion that made you both float in the sky whilst a feeling of stability still remained. Yet the control over your body remained nonexistent.

Manjirō tapped your cheek gently, snapping you out from your dazed state. Then proceeded by pressing a tender kiss against the corner of your mouth before going down to your neglected breasts. He enclosed your nipples with his soft lips and started sucking, while his right hand started to play with the other one. This action made you arch your back in pleasure.

Then he pulled away from the left breast in favor of tending the other. His warm and wet tongue encircled it before he once again started to suck. Nipping on the places surrounding it from time to time, leaving purple bruises in that area. He was acting like a starved animal, devouring your breast in a desperate kind of frenzy.

Manjirō then began to descend your body, leaving a trail of kisses down its wake. The lower he got, however, the less comfortable you began to feel. You didn’t want him there. You wanted Manjirō to stop, but something was restraining you from voicing your feelings. Tears began to pour down your cheeks, until a gasp suddenly left your lips.

Manjirō had spread your legs open, leaving your dripping pussy completely exposed. You could feel the amount of slick that had already been produced, dripping down on the bed sheets, which made the streams of air that the blond blew hit far more sensitively than it should have. He groaned as the smell of your sweet essence reached his nostrils, placing his tongue flatly against your sensitive pearl before licking in long and agonizing strokes.

“You taste so good, baby.” You unconsciously moaned, his words causing your womanhood clench around nothing. It was beginning to feel painfully empty and you had no idea what to do.

You bucked your hips against his face, craving more of the pleasure that his tongue was providing you. Noticing your increasing desperation, Manjirō placed his thumb on your clitoris and caressed it while peppering your sex with small sloppy kisses before plunging one finger into your needy little hole.

Clenching around the foreign thing that had entered you, your boyfriend simply continued to caress the outer part of your sex as you got used to the intruder. Once you relaxed a second finger was introduced, which was later followed by a third. His fingers were hitting you so goodly, causing each moan that you were producing to turn into screams of pleasure.

Manjirō let out an animalistic growl, each thrust becoming more forceful than the previous one. The pleasure hit you in increasingly powerful shockwaves as you began to approach your first orgasm. And just as you were about to topple over the edge, your pussy was suddenly left completely empty. However, you did not get to ponder over it for long, as Manjirō’s wet lips were suddenly pressing aggressively against your cunt.

Another moan escaped your lips as he started to tongue fuck you. Your hands flew up, taking a harsh hold of his blond locks as you pressed his face further into your dripping pussy. His grip on your plush thighs was tight, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care, far too gone in the immense pleasure that your alpha was giving you.

Manjirō was groaning, humping onto the mattress, desperate to reach his own orgasm. He was beginning to lose patience, however, the taste of your sweet pussy was too intoxicating to ignore. Then he took a small, barely noticeable bite of your sex, which caused you to spasm all over his face as he continued to eat you out through your orgasm. Letting you ride it out against his face.

Not giving you much time to bask in the afterglow, the alpha pounced on you, kissing you feverishly once your face was close enough for him to reach your delicious lips. You tried to break away in desperate need for air, but the male wouldn’t let go until he was satisfied.

“Need more,” he mumbled, finally pushing himself off of you. His cheeks were flushed and the sultry look that he was giving you made your inner omega preen. Manjirō took once again a hold of your thighs, before he wrapped your legs around his waist. That’s when you finally noticed his engorged cock. It was thick and veiny and a part of you was wondering how that thing was going to fit inside you.

“W-Wait!” You stuttered as his red and angry looking tip began to press against your entrance, heart rate picking up as panic began to flood your system. You didn’t want this.

“Shh…” The male hushed you, pressing his forehead against yours as he began to introduce his tip into your warm and inviting hole. “This is the only way, [Name]-chin.”

The words that were supposed to be encouraging, sounded more like a feral growl. He pushed into you with one single thrust, forcing a loud moan out of you in the process. The sensation felt so foreign, but not unwelcome. Despite the initial state of fear, your inner omega began to purr with content at the feeling of being filled by its alpha.

You, on the other hand, were trembling at the newfound sensation. It felt so weird and uncomfortable to have such a big, warm and throbbing thing inside of you. But Manjirō didn’t give you much time to get used to it as he began to thrust. The first two strokes were lazy and more testing before he began to increase his pace.

Groans and incoherent words were escaping his lips as he continued to fuck into you with intense force. The bed creaked and the headboard slammed into the wall with each of Manjirō’s thrusts. Your moans were increasing in volume, which urged the blond to fuck you harder.

“Fuck, pussy s’tight.”

Soon his thrusts began to slow down and you could feel his dick begin to grow in size. This caused your eyes to widen in realization as you began to trash around trying to push him off of you.

“M-Manjirō please!” But the male ignored you, wrapping his arms around you tightly, immobilizing you completely as he continued to pound into you. Moan after moan escaped your lips as suddenly a wave of pure ecstasy forced its way through your body, causing it to shake aggressively with the force of your second orgasm. It didn’t matter how much you didn't want this to happen. It was obvious that you stood no chance against a strong alpha like Manjirō, especially when your own inner omega seemed to welcome this kind of treatment.

Manjirō, on the other hand, was too far gone to register any of your pleas. His mind clouded by the thought of finally being able to mark you, to knotting you. Thoughts clouded by the images of you walking around in your shared house with a round belly filled with his puppies. Heavy tits bouncing with every step that you take while milk oozes out of your painfully hard nipples.

You feel the male sinking his teeth into your neck, earning yet another purr of contentment from your omega. At this point Manjiō’s knot had grown so large, it was only a matter of seconds before you’d be filled with it. And as if on cue, hot streams of his fertile semen suddenly began to spurt into your womb.

Everything went hazy after that. You still remember the way he would fuck his cum into you through vasts of the night, each time his dick would be ready for another round. You remember lying in your boyfriend’s embrace, his arms keeping you in a possessive hold with his knot buried deep inside of you. Only to fall asleep and wake up with him pounding into you yet again.

Only after six weeks did you find out that you're pregnant, which caused an uproar at home. Your father appeared to be more worried for your well-being, than angry. Your mother, on the other hand, expressed nothing but utter disappointment.

The wedding was held a few months later during your second month of pregnancy. Manjirō did whatever he could to help you during the process. He made sure to be patient with you and didn’t make any advances, remaining completely respectful of your boundaries. But no matter how tender and understanding he was, it couldn’t erase what he had done.

No matter how many times he tried to apologize and express how sorry he was, you began to drift away from him. You felt betrayed and nothing he did would change that. This time, it was you who had become a shell of your former self. Like one of those porcelain dolls that people would put on their shelves as a decor. Pretty in every aspect…

…except for the dead eyes that were now representing every dimension of your soul.

[wambsgansshoelaces]

heyy love, i love your fics so muchhh!! if ur requests are open, i was wondering if you could write this fun lil oneshot i thought of<3

(didn't really think much of the details but i imagined something like the episode with the pierce family, or u could change to what feels nice to u)

reader is like super hot/crazy attractive and the siblings are instantly interested. kendall and roman, being their idiot selves, start competing for her attention and trying to get her to accept going out etc. turns out, at the end of the day, shiv gets the girl, as she was the one reader wanted all along (gagged them)

Girls Get Girls

Siobhan Roy x fem!Reader

not gonna lie anon I feel like I didn’t do this too well so I’m so so sorry :( I still hope you enjoy even though I don’t really deliver x

btw I literally love you anon keep requesting

im so gay

Word Count: 2.893k

Mergers, acquisitions, stock, trade, liquidation. You couldn’t give a shit about any of it.

You’re not in the financial field at all, much to your parents’ disappointment. It’d brought you out of favor with them, brought your siblings closer to each other.

You usually don’t come to these things, but tonight it talk of selling the entire company. Leaving it all behind, cashing in the lotto, and fucking off. Your family had convinced you to come- despite your clear dislike for everything finance and business, you still hold stock and stake in the company. You were also going to get a pretty penny from your inheritance, so it would be wise to judge your potential buyer alongside your family.

You’re getting ready in your childhood bedroom, pacing the carpet as you put the finishing touches on your outfit. Your father had made it very clear: your job was to root out intention, then act accordingly. Regardless of whether you thought the Roys were worthy of the company or not is irrelevant at this moment. You need to be intimidating.

Intimidating, but also hot. Just for yourself.

A soft knock sounds at your door. “It’s me,” your cousin calls from the hall.

“Come in,” you call back.

She waltzes in, her blouse billowing behind her as she deposits herself on your bed. “Dad’s going to have an aneurysm.”

Even though you already know the answer, you ask, “Why?” You lean against your desk, facing her.

She snorts, knowing you’re trying to push her buttons. “He wants the company, dipshit. I still think all if this is to get on our nerves.”

“A chimp would do better as CEO than any of you,” you say, scoffing. What had started out as what you thought was joking was turning into something else.

“So why won’t you do it, then?” she asks, bitterly. “I don’t see why it has to be either you or someone out of the family entirely.”

“I’m not doing it because I don’t want to. My siblings also just… have no interest. We’re all off to bigger, better things.”

The two of you stare at each other until your father’s yelling draws you both from your trance.

“Up and at ’em,” he’s saying, pretty much to himself, once you’re downstairs. You brush imaginary dust from your sleeves as you make the awkward walk to the helipad. You and your brother share an exasperated look. Despite the fact that you’d been wedged apart over the years, you and your siblings share a lot of the same views and opinions.

“All this peacocking is fucking insane,” he mutters to you once you’re stopped a safe distance away from the pad.

“Just wait until you see them,” you mutter back.

Even though you weren’t involved in the business side of the company, you’d still been involved. You’d gone to dinners, conferences, galas. You were a bit of an outside source, as you held no real position in the company, but you knew you were vital.

At almost every event where someone with your last name was required to attend, there was also a Roy. You’d only ever seen them, never spoken to them

You hear the helicopter before you see it. Sunglasses perched on your nose, you look up. As it descends, your hair and jacket are blown vigorously back, and your hand goes to your scalp. The generated wind is aggressive, slicing over your skin, your clothing. The sound is now deafening, and you notice your sister clamping her hands over her ears. Your father gives her a look, something along the lines of don’t look weak, and your sister rolls her eyes in response, mouthing fuck you.

You have to suppress your smile. The helicopter’s landed, and people are starting to pile out.

“Logan, old friend,” your dad bellows jovially. While the two families had never met, never been close, you know your father and Logan Roy were actually the best of friends. You don’t know how they met. Your father spoke of Logan from as far back as undergrad university.

Your father steps forward, meeting Logan halfway as he leads the rest of his family towards yours. They envelope each other in a hug, and your brother snorts. He’s the only one who’s ever interacted with the Roys.

“It’s like he has a multiple personality disorder,” he’d told you the other day, talking about the enigma that was the head of the other family. “One second he’s laughing, then the minute Dad’s out the room, the guy’s raging over his kids or the people not doing enough work or whatever the fuck else is wrong with that stupid fucking company.”

He turns from your father to your mother, murmuring a warm greeting, then to the row of you, your sister, and your brother.

“Oh, look at the three of you! All grown and radiant,” he says heartily. So far, he doesn’t seem like the demon your younger brother had described him to be. But you know well enough that looks can be deceiving. He opens his arms out to you first, since you’re the eldest of the three. You give him an awkward hug, his hand clapping over your back in a friendly manner. “If only any of my children had the sense to get with you,” he mutters conspiratorially, earning a chuckle from you. He pats your shoulder, before moving on to your brother.

Logan’s wife is next. “Marcia,” she murmurs softly to you, taking you by the shoulders and air-kissing both your cheeks. You return the gesture as she does it, making sure to stay smiling. It’s all a flurry of names you’re sure you’re going to forget the second you need them. Connor, Gerri, Willa, Frank, Rhea. It’s really all just a bunch of letters bouncing around in your head.

Who you’re sure you will remember, though, are the siblings. The younger three. The important ones, your dad liked to call them.

As all of the ‘adults’ convened to chat amongst themselves, like they did when you were children, you and your sister are having a quiet conversation about your work. She’s in the middle of asking you to come out to her office to help you with something when you feel a hand settle on your shoulder. You turn, coming eye to eye with Kendall Roy.

“Hi,” he says carefully, small smile playing on his lips. “I don’t think we’ve met?”

“No, we haven’t,” you say back. “Y/N.” You offer him your hand to shake, like your father expects you to do with everyone.

“Kendall.”

“Yeah, I know,” you say awkwardly. He manages a laugh, withdrawing his hand, his eyes flitting over your face.

“I’m sorry it’s taken me this long, then, to, uh, put your name to your face.”

You’re not really sure what he means, but you don’t think you care that much.

“Move over, Kendall, you’re boring the shit out of her.” His brother comes over, bumping him with his hip. You have to stifle a laugh. “Roman.” You shake hands, offering him a polite smile. “He’s right, though. You’re a bit of a mystery to everyone.”

“Am I?” you ask, laughter seeping into your voice.

“Not to me.” Her voice is firm, clear. “I’m Shiv. I was at the conference you gave the Ethics presentation to. I know your work. My brothers are just stupid.”

You laugh for real this time. “Nice to meet you, Shiv. I’m familiar with your work, too. I’m just not so deep into the political sphere like you are.”

“I can help with that, you know,” she says, expression surprisingly soft. “I’ve been looking for someone that shares my opinions and… moral compass to work with. You need your rock, you know?”

The conglomerate of people slowly transitions inside. Roman and Kendall get roped into other conversations, your sister disappearing off to who knows where. You mill about in the dimly lit sitting room, watching everyone interact. Shiv’s still by your side.

“No offense, but I hate these things,” she says quietly, coming closer to you so you can hear.

You laugh lightly. “None taken.” You glance over at her to find that her eyes are already glued to you. You feel your face heat, her gaze flickering down your body before coming back up to your face. She has a sly smile on, but it’s quickly melting into one of real, soft emotion. You open your mouth to offer her something you’ll probably regret later, but are interrupted by your father clapping his hands together and waving everyone into the dining room. Instead, you give her an exasperated smile and follow the crowd.

Your father eyes you and your siblings as you all slip into your strategically chosen seats, making it so you’d all be surrounded by Roys. Your brother makes a face at you from the other side of the table. You ignore him, instead looking up at Shiv, who hovers by the chair at your left hand.

Almost shyly, she asks, “May I?”

“Please.”

A giddy smile spreads across her face as she sits, and you can’t help but mirror her expression. You look down into your plate, catching your sister’s gaze on you. Kendall takes the seat on your other side, Logan sitting directly across from you, right by your dad.

Roman and your brother are laughing over something as you get served the appetizer, your sister staring off into space while Connor talks at her rather than to her. Your mother speaks quietly with Marcia, and of course, your father and Logan are the loudest at the table, laughing and gesturing around.

Your cousin is on Kendall’s other side, overly-focused on her food. The conversation suddenly involves the entire table, Logan leaving forward. “What is it you do again, Y/N?”

You shrug lightly. “I work in media and risk analysis. Dabble a bit in economics.”

“So like Shiv?”

“Not really,” you and her say at the same time. You gesture with your fork, letting her continue.

“Our work certainly overlaps, and I’m glad it does,” she says, “but I’m more… political, she’s more… corporate.”

“If you dabbled in economics,” your cousin manages through gritted teeth, “we wouldn’t be here.”

“Neither would we if you did,” you retort calmly.

She scoffs. “I still don’t see why all of this is happening,” she says back, barely loud enough for everyone to hear. You look to your father, praying he’ll deal with it himself before she goes on some tirade, scaring off the buyer, but he makes no move. He simply glances at you, his gaze loaded.

Do it yourself.

You wait for a few moments, letting the tension strain the room. Maybe she’ll back off.

She doesn’t.

“The company is leaving family hands because of you, Y/N. It’s going to crash and burn because you refuse to fucking see what’s sitting in front of you.”

Logan’s lips press together into a thin line, and you know you have to recover. “I don’t want the company. Neither of my siblings want it. Don’t you think it’s a little telling you’re the only one lusting after it so loudly?”

“I don’t see what that has to say about me.”

“You want it, and you’re not getting it,” you say firmly. “You’re incompetent. The Roy name is not.”

Dinner is only silent for so much longer. Your brother, at his breaking point, asks loudly, “Why are you even here? You blew the Pierce deal. Fuck off.” Your father hisses something into your brother’s ear. He scoffs in response. “I’m sick of it, Dad. The three of us bust our asses to get this to go well for you and she gets to waltz in, do whatever the fuck she wants whenever the fuck she wants.” He quickly pushes back his chair from the table and makes his way out of the dining room.

Clearly, this is deeper than one stupid comment made at the dinner table. You throw a questioning glance at your sister. She gives a minute shake of her head. She doesn’t know.

Dramatically, your cousin follows your brother out. Roman is trying not to laugh, and all of a sudden, your father and Logan aren’t in the mood they were before.

You turn to Shiv, exasperated. She’s also stuffing a laugh down, and it’s contagious. “Is my juvenile family drama amusing to you?” you murmur to her questioningly, the soft clink of silverware and terse chatter filling the room.

“Yeah,” she says, nearly choking on a laugh. “This is so fucking stupid. How do you deal with it?”

“I never stay home.” You down the rest of the water in your glass.

“Hey, uh, Y/N,” Kendall begins, leaning towards you as you turn to face him. “I just wanted to say, I get how it feels.” He gestures vaguely around. “So if you want to, um, get some air after, I’d love to join you.”

You thank him sincerely, giving him a soft smile. Dessert finally comes out. You’re almost there. You turn back to Shiv, but she’s conversing with whoever’s on her other side, to your disappointment. You eat your cheesecake in silence, Roman catching your eye and giving you a wink. You didn’t know people actually did that, but he pulled it off nicely, you think.

When your father finally gets up, ushering everyone into the sitting room for drinks and chatter, you heave a sigh of relief. You trail behind the crowd, hoping to be able to slip away on your own.

You succeed. You sigh up at the high vaulted ceiling, padding towards the grand staircase up to your room.

“Hey, where’re you going?” comes a soft voice. You turn, Shiv, hurrying after you.

“Escaping,” you say jokingly, pausing on the stairs, letting her catch up to you.

“Can I come?”

“Yeah. You can.”

The sight of her sitting cross-legged on your bed does something to you. It sucks all the air from your body. But maybe that was just the sight of her.

"Your brother okay?" she asks, looking up at you.

"He'll be fine. Everyone's just a bit tense."

"Just so you know, your cousin's temper tantrum doesn't change anything."

"I'd hope it didn't."

"What would change things though," she tells you, "is whether you want to come on once we buy the company."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I was serious when I was talking about how I need someone in my corner."

"What do you mean?"

"It's me. The company gets handed to me."

"Congratulations, Shiv. But really, I want nothing to do with it."

"I'd be running things. You'd just be my right hand woman. The very attractive right hand woman that I see every day."

You laugh, unable to suppress the grin splitting your face.

“My cousin’ll murder me,” you manage to say.

“So? Let her try. Not like you’ll go down or anything.” She smiles up at you. “I think that’s hot. You’re hot.”

Silence stretches between the two of you, both of you grinning at each other.

“You’re really pretty,” you breathe, believing she followed you for a reason.

“I’m glad you think so.” Her hands come to cup your jaw in the few instances it takes you to cross the room, slide onto your bed, and kiss her. “God, you’re so… so fucking gorgeous.”

“Yeah?” you ask against her lips, peppering gentle kisses onto them. “Stay the night.”

“I told everyone I went home,” she says, giggling.

Your hand flits to her hip, rubbing soothingly. Your kisses are slow, tender. You’re both enjoying yourselves. It feels so real. It feels like something more.

You slide off of her, off the bed, eliciting a whine from her pretty mouth. “Just locking the door, baby.”

You wake up, head buried in her chest. She’d borrowed some pajamas of yours, the shirt a soft cotton. Her breathing is light and airy, and it’s music to your ears. Her fingers are threaded in the hair at your scalp, her arm thrown over your back.

You drift in and out of consciousness until she wakes up, pressing kisses along your forehead. Shiv sits up, letting you stay settled in her lap. You press a hot kiss to her bare thigh, shorts hiked up her legs.

“You know,” she says, after a short while of silence, “Ken and Roman were drooling over you all night.”

You snort. “Were they?”

“I know them. They were. And here I am,” she says, satisfied with herself.

You let out an airy laugh. “Here you are.”

“I was drooling, too,” she admits.

“Can we stop talking about saliva?”

She pinches your ass, to which you don’t dignify with a reaction, instead smiling into her thigh. “I wanna keep seeing you.”

“I have to fly out to Italy for some work. Maybe I want you to come with me.”

“God, I love women.” Her hand cards through your hair. “Mind if I take a picture? I want to send it to my brothers.”

“Perv,” you mutter, but nod anyway. You smile at the camera from her thigh, pressing a searing kiss to the place where her leg meets her hip the moment she hits the button.

It captures her beautiful face in an ecstatic smile, yours in soft affection as you look up at her, not the camera.

[pillow-anime-talk]

cheerful and talkative reader.

request: hi, can i make a request? casically it’s some headcanon of how the kamaboko squad, genya and kanao are with a reader who is a very cheerful and talkative person but one day they becomes quieter since another person (maybe another demon hunter) told them that they’re annoying and that they should shut up very rudely, perhaps some headcanon of how they are dealing with that situation when seeing that the reader no longer speaks as much as they learned to love, i hope it is not a bother! have a nice day~

# tags: headcanons; current relationships; romance; fluff; but also a little bit of angst; cute!reader; protective!lovers; frogs mention (in inosuke part); sfw

includes: gender neutral reader ft. genya shinazugawa, inosuke hashibira, kanao tsuyuri, tanjirou kamado, zenitsu agatsuma {kny}

author’s note: love uuuu! 

— GENYA

↘ You are definitely the opposite of your boyfriend – you are cheerful, smiling, always willing to help other peers, you love closeness, you love jokes and you really enjoy spending time with your closed ones. Genya is rather aloof but also short-tempered and is not afraid to raise his voice at someone, dislikes being surrounded by many people and tries to avoid anything that might have to do with human interaction.

↘ It was a sunny afternoon, you had some free time for the first time in weeks; some focused on training like Tanjirou, some went to the nearest city to buy a few things like Nezuko, Kanao or Aoi, some slept for several hours like Zenitsu, and some ran around the forest and chased animals like Inosuke. You also had many things planned; you wanted to clean up, rest a bit and bake cookies with your boyfriend, but you didn’t show up at the appointed place the day before. So Genya went to the Mitsuri residence, who was your master and you her tsuguko.

↘ There he found you sitting on a wooden engawa with a cup of steaming herbal tea and a sad expression on your face. And although your partner has not shown much affection in your relationship, this time without the slightest comment he sat right behind you and hugged you from behind, resting his head on your shoulder.

↘ “We'll talk about it later, okay?” He asked, and you just nodded, slightly tilting the right corner of your mouth upwards.

↘ You knew that the stupid comments thrown at you were just to destroy your day off, but you were still very sad that day – luckily you could count on support from the person closest to your heart and you appreciated it very much.

— INOSUKE

↘ You ran to your boyfriend, showing him a tiny green frog. She looked sick – her delicate skin was dry, but there was nothing strange about it, the valley had been extremely hot for several days, and there was still no sign of rain. Scared, you started asking him questions one after another, hoping that your lover would help you with the sad-looking amphibian.

↘ You’ve always had a loud voice, so your monologue was heard by several people walking towards the pool. You never caused anyone a problem, you were really kind and helpful, but that day one of the Demon Slayer Corps members had a very bad headache, so your voice spreading between the wind noise was definitely not on hand.

↘ “Ey, will you shut up finally? It’s just a stupid frog that doesn’t even know you want to help it.” The teenager looked at you pissed, and you instantly fell silent, looking at the little frog again.

↘ “I-I’ll take her to the pond.” You whispered towards Inosuke and he just nodded towards you. At the same moment you walked away a few steps, your partner approached the boy sitting on the bench.

↘ “Want to make your head hurt even more, huh?!” He screamed, almost immediately causing another attack of health ailments in the young man and, by the way, fear visible in his eyes.

— KANAO

↘ Kanao has almost never been in public and has also never raised her voice before because of her emotions. She shunned large groups of people and the only people she had a very close relationship with were you, the Butterfly Mansion girls and Mrs. Shinobu, as well as Tanjirou, Zenitsu and Inosuke and sometimes Genya.

↘ You and Kanao have been dating for a while; it was a very calm and understanding relationship. You understood her way of being and she understood yours. You two were extremely different, but you had a really good time and you weren’t bothered by her silence at certain moments, and she was never bothered by your cheerful attitude and perpetually smiling face. She considered it an asset and an extremely cute quality.

↘ And she was sure everyone thought the same; you were a really good person and surrounded yourself with a bright aura of love and understanding every day. You were always the first to help someone, you always tried to make everyone around you happy, you often sacrificed your health for work and other people. That's why Kanao was surprised to hear two boys talking, laughing at your childish and carefree behavior. Plus, they called you ‘stupid’ and ‘fake’.

↘ That day, Kanao had a serious conversation with Oyakata-sama, who admonished her not to use the katana if there were no demons around... But he also praised her for standing up for you.

— TANJIROU

↘ Tanjirou was not a person who was drawn to conflict – quite the opposite. He is the calmest and most understanding guy you know; he is always honest and tries to make each party happy.

↘ However, there are two exceptions that cause Tanjiro to release a huge amount of anger, and these are situations when someone hurts his beloved sister and his dearest partner, i.e. you.

↘ The young demon hunter has an excellent sense of smell, so he immediately sensed the salty taste of tears wafting in your little house. He immediately dropped the katana, the basket full of fresh strawberries and mint, and the blanket he had bought especially for you, which you had been dreaming about for a long time. Within seconds he was in your bedroom and immediately turned his gaze to the bed where you were curled up sniffling.

↘ It took him several long minutes to calm you down and talk about how you were treated today by three members of the Corps.

↘ Until you fell asleep, Tanjirou was calm and composed. Until you closed your eyes, he kept stroking your head and telling you about the nice things you’d do together whenever you got more than a couple of hours off.

↘ However, as soon as you fell asleep, Tanjirou got up and left the house – no one had the right to hurt you and the young man was going to make the three people you mentioned aware of it.

— ZENITSU

↘ You and Zenitsu look alike! You are both walking balls of happiness, as long as there are no demons and scary people around. You love to joke with each other, you are always full of ideas and you love spending time together. Since you became close and became a couple, Tanjirou has to guard not two, but three people (and Nezuko, but she is really good and loves her wooden box).

↘ Usually when you’re walking downtown and talking, a lot of people pay attention to you - they usually don’t have a problem with your laugh and even consider you two really cute teenagers in love, however today a little incident happened.

↘ You walked hand in hand along the main street where huge tables with various delicacies and crafts were spread out. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t buy a little snack for the two of you, and in the process made a joke about something that didn’t even make sense at the moment. Your silly joke, however, didn’t sit well with the man at the stall next door, who just muttered something unintelligible under his breath and then glanced at you.

↘ “Just shut up, you’re scaring my clients away.”

↘ “I... I’m sorry?”

↘ “What did you say?” Before you registered exactly what the man said in your direction, Zenitsu immediately hid you behind his body and measured the man in his forties with his eyes. The teenager grabbed the katana, but didn’t take it out. This made it clear to the stranger that there was no point in messing with you, much less the golden haired boy.

[missbubblesoda]

early in the morning, especially when it rains, and a little before noon. (25)

erwin x fem!reader

chapters: (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | (10) | (11) | (12) | (13) | (14) | (15) | (16) | (17) | (18) | (19) | (20) | (21) | (22) | (23) | (24) | (26) | (27)

summary: I basically took Isayama’s work, forced it into a romance story, and made Erwin the love interest. Commander meets cadet and they fall in love (not instantly though)

notes: very berry canonverse (but some events were modified to fit my narrative), wasn’t intended to be this long, but it all is in the details right?

content warnings: smut where it fits (or where I make it fit. Also, reader is NOT underage, so likewise, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, please.) slow burn (I really mean it. I’m not olympic diving into any form of smut for the first chapters.) no angst. I dislike angst. I would never. I could never. (Although angst can be somewhat subjective so take it with a grain of salt?)

wc: 6.6k

Lord Koch started to prove you wrong the moment you walked through the ivy-covered gates of his suburban estate, early-blooming wisterias cascading down the fence and conspiring with the honeysuckles to conceal the impassable iron wall, making it look more like the secret back door to some fairytale garden than the main entrance to a wealthy family’s homestead. You had expected dozens of solicitous footmen, perhaps some even hired for the occasion only, busily striding around the gardens, flocking towards the guests with fizzy drinks on their trays and welcoming smiles on their faces, politely offering to help with their frock coats and dainty parasols. Just as it was expected at any other Sunday gathering in Mitras. Or Saturday, in this case.

Instead, the only ones greeting the guests at their arrival were the imposing cedars flanking the sunlit path that led to the placid, flawlessly circular pond in the middle of the main garden. After that, guests were on their own, left to figure out, or finger guess depending on each individual’s personal approach, which one of the sprawling paths before them could possibly take them to the place where distant violins, faint laughters and the soft clinking of glasses could be heard coming from.

It was clear that whoever got invited to the celebration should’ve been there previously, perhaps numerous times, and therefore, well-acquainted with the Kochs. Acquainted enough to know their way around the property and the complex system of azalea shrubs spreading in all sorts of confusing directions, flowering under the sun as their glossy leaves danced in the wind, something more like a maze than a garden. And you couldn’t help but feel that a map should’ve been provided with the invitation, or at the entrance at the very least, because there was no way a stranger like you could find the courtyard mentioned in the invitation all by themselves. And for a moment, a silly idea crossed your mind, maybe this was some sort of task Lord Koch had designed so the guests could prove themselves worthy of attending his party. It seemed like he wanted only his true friends there on that special day. But luckily for you, your father was there to lead the way.

Amidst the excitement leading up to that special day, you had forgotten about your father, your head completely monopolized by the thought of your first date with the Commander, because… yes, that’s right, in your head, this was about you and him, and not about Lord Koch and his birthday. He already had forty nine of those for heaven’s sake, but this…this was a first for you and the Commander; the charity ball clearly not counting because, one, you hadn’t been together in that sense back then, and two, you had attended as his assistant and not his ‘princess’. So it was no wonder that, between choosing your dress, the right underwear, and daydreaming about dancing head-on-his-chest all afternoon, you had been unable to reach the obvious conclusion that your parents would most likely be attending the reception too. And it was not until you arrived home the previous night, completely unannounced and looking to surprise them, that you ended up surprised instead when your mother excitedly broke out the news during dinner.

And your father was particularly thrilled about finally getting to meet the Commander of the Survey Corps, ‘the man who saved my daughter’s life’ in his own words. He was arguably more thrilled about it than about the apple toddies, and that was a huge claim to make considering how many of those he was known to chug down on a single evening. And you would be lying if you said you weren’t excited yourself, not about the toddies, which by the way you weren’t sure they would be serving when it was barely ten in the morning, but about everything else. Sleep had evaded you for the most part of the previous night, your stomach swarmed with colorful butterflies that resembled the ones now fluttering above the Koch’s blooming azaleas, and your heart gleefully springing inside your chest at the thought of him meeting your parents.

You knew it was not like he would be asking for your hand in marriage right there in the middle of Lord Koch’s courtyard. They would probably shake hands, maybe share a drink or two while your father expressed his gratitude, and then walk separate ways without asking your parents for their blessing. But, it’s just that… you couldn’t help it…it all felt so official all of a sudden.

Yes, admittedly, no one else in this world, besides Hitch, knew about the things the two of you would do behind the closed doors of his office, but…What did he think people would say once they saw you together at the party? This was not work-related, this was not some formal event he was required to attend as the Commander of the Survey Corps. It was just his friend’s birthday lunch, an occasion that didn’t call for the presence of his assistant. And, once your favorite ballad came on and you found yourselves slow dancing under some wisteria pergola, your hand resting in his, and your head, on his shoulder…did he think people would just shrug their shoulders and look the other way thinking ‘yep, that’s his assistant’?

Before asking you to come, had he considered the possibility that once they saw him pull your chair out, helping you in like the gentleman he is, possessive hand resting on the small of your back and your lips smiling lovingly at the gesture…people would undoubtedly start asking questions about the nature of your relationship?

Like you knew your parents were.

You didn’t know what they were thinking, but you knew they were thinking something. Your mother was too well-versed and frighteningly skilled at concealing her thoughts, she was too proficient in the occult arts of vanishing any trace of emotion from her face within seconds, before anybody noticed anything, no matter how shocking or scandalous the news were. However, you saw the look of surprise in her eyes when you told her who you’d be attending the reception with. It was brief and you had almost missed it, but it was there nonetheless. She hadn’t said anything, but there were signs. She hadn’t asked questions, but you knew she wondered. You knew she did, just like many at the party would.

So, all things considered, how could you blame yourself for feeling this was official? How could you get mad at yourself for believing this was some sort of announcement? Yes, subtle and silent, but an announcement regardless. And you were loving every second of it. As evidenced by the beaming smile you wore as you stepped into Lord Koch’s courtyard, the pistachio-colored tulle of your dress joyfully dancing in the balmy spring breeze.

You had chosen open shoulders for the occasion, a symmetrical hemline falling all the way down to your ankles, and dainty flower embroidery to harmoniously blend in with all the pansies and forget-me-nots of the garden. Oh, and no open slits this time because your mother was also coming.

The top was narrow and fitted, gradually widening out from the waist into a relaxed skirt, and you had skipped the puffy petticoat because you didn’t want Lord Koch to think you were trying to steal attention from him.

Your favorite part of the dress was undoubtedly the long puffy sleeves that fell all the way down to your wrists, made of semitransparent tulle and adorned with small, pretty butterflies that perfectly matched the blue ones on the pin your mother had kindly placed on your hair before leaving the house.

Considering the carriage he had driven to the base last winter, you could be forgiven for expecting nothing less than an equally opulent and effusive display of wealth on Lord Koch’s end, and make no mistake, the courtyard of his manor was a display of wealth in every sense of the word, just not the extravagant type. Somehow, it managed to be well-mannered and even unassuming at times.

His house was more like a castle than anything else, yet there was a comforting sincerity in the clear crystal windows and the way they would reflect the gentle morning sun; a graceful spontaneity in the wildflowers and the way they would grow in the most unexpected of places, whether it was a crack on the wall or inside the stone fountain at the entrance of the garden.

The wise willow, towering over the pond at the far end of the meadow, brought effortless elegance into an already gracious scene, and the glasshouse keeping it company looked like the type of place you’d love to spend a whole summer in, with a cold lemonade and a good book in hand, even if you didn’t enjoy reading that much.

It was there in the courtyard where you understood why there was no staff positioned at the estate’s entrance. Turns out they were all here, in the inner garden, one hand tucked behind their back and the other skillfully balancing silver plates, as they gracefully dodged the puffy skirts of the ladies and the walking canes that the gentlemen loved to sway around when gesticulating.

And you had to give it to the waiters, the feat they were pulling was almost acrobatic, considering how packed the garden was. The number of guests before your eyes, throwing their heads back laughing while joyfully toasting to each other’s prosperity, convincingly attested to Lord Koch’s remarkable popularity. He surely had a lot of people he could call friends, and you knew it was going to be pretty challenging to locate the one specific friend you were looking for.

You glanced around on your tiptoes and off into the multitude, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was going to take some time to find him, so you figured you’d better start now. You turned around to let your parents know, only to realize the crowd had swallowed them too. Figuring you’d run into them sooner or later when lunch was served, you took a deep breath and ventured into the sea of people, trying to stay out of the waiters’ way and making it past smiling faces you’d seen at multiple other parties throughout the years, albeit now they looked slightly different, and older, than they did back then.

As you politely nodded back to a friendly-looking lady whose eyes seemed unable to leave your dress, it hit you that you hadn’t mingled like this in a while. After spending what some would call ‘the better years of your life’ in training camp, and right after that, moving to the middle of the forest for the Survey Corps, you hadn’t attended a birthday party in like forever.

Not much had changed though, at least not when it came to the way you felt about events like this one, and certainly not when it came to the way they made you feel. The anxious drumming in your chest was still ever-present, and the uncontrollable need to fiddle with your hair whenever you felt a stranger’s eyes on you was very much still a reflex action. You didn’t know if it was because of the same reasons as you, but you felt like you understood Captain Levi and why he disliked such gatherings. You weren’t close with him at all, but maybe someday you could bond over this and your appreciation for good tea, who knows?

You grabbed a tantalizingly golden tartlet from a nearby waiter as he walked past you. As expected, only the food made these kind of experiences worth it. The food and, in this particular occasion, him, of course.

You nodded in delight as the caramelized pear melted in your mouth, simultaneously satisfying both your sweet tooth and all the butterflies in your stomach in a single bite. Buttery, flaky and unexpectedly rich. Once you moved to the cabin in the woods, you would prepare pear tartlets like this one for him too. The comforting smell of home-baked love escaping through the open kitchen window, riding on the gentle spring breeze as it caressed your cheeks just the way it was right now in the middle of the courtyard garden.

Our little cabin. You smiled, looking around to find the man you dreamed to share it with.

And you saw Leon, standing under the shade of the breezeway not too far from you, back resting against a pillar and a rose-colored liquid in his glass as he conversed with a tall, auburn-haired lady.

You waved at him from afar when his eyes accidentally met yours, and, not wanting to interrupt the conversation, limited your interaction to a smile. However, being the welcoming soul you’d known him to be, he invited you to join him and his companion by mouthing a silent ‘Do you have time?’

As you made your way to him, you exchanged smiles with the lady he was with. She was young, very young, as suggested by her round face and the plump, dewy cheeks that came with it, which you were certain would bounce like jelly under your finger. She appeared to be in her twenties too, although her small, button-like nose and other angelic features made you suspect she was a little younger than you.

Her fitted, velvet dress hugged her body in ways only custom-made dresses could, and the hunter green skirt, flawlessly accentuating the reddish-browns of her hair, reminded you of the winged cloak you would wear every day back at the base. The dark color, as well as the narrow, tight maturity of the dress contrasted the innocence present in her soft features. Features that were just as warm as Leon’s, especially when coupled with the welcoming smile she was gifting you with.

“My lady.” Leon’s soft lips greeted the back of your hand as it was quickly becoming tradition whenever you met. “I fail to identify the nature of the spell you cast on us, and forgive me if talks of witchcraft and sorcery come off as wicked or impudent in any way, but supernatural powers are the only acceptable explanation as to why your beauty seems to intensify with every passing season.”

You were only able to giggle, his convoluted compliment reaching your ears and pleasantly tickling your confidence.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Leon, and you happen to own the kind of eyes that only see the good in everyone and everything. But thank you, I’m flattered.” You admitted as he let go of your hand. “And I believe we agreed to use each other’s given names?”

“He completely refused to use my given name until, I believe… the seventh year into our relationship was it?” The angelic-looking lady turned to Leon, her head adorably tilting to the side in thought, and you couldn’t help but find it satisfying: The way her honey voice was just as melodious as you’d imagined the sounds made by those beautiful lips would be.

“My lady, this is my good friend Angelika.” Leon said, gracefully signaling to his left. “Perhaps you are already acquainted with each other, since you both live in the same ward.”

Angelika. You couldn’t help but smile at the gratifyingly fitting name. The leaf-shaped brooch on her hair looked a lot like a family crest, and the diamonds embedded all around it, as well as the ‘double-u’ engraved in the center, told you that she descended from a noble lineage, as you suspected at least half of the partygoers did. But what really called your attention was the prismatic moonstone decorating her delicate beauty bones, perfectly shaped like a raindrop, and making you wonder if the occult was among her interests.

“Oh please, Leon, the northern ward is just as big as my father’s ego.” She joked, taking your hand into hers, dainty and covered in satin all the way down to her elbows. “Truly a pleasure, my lady.”

“The pleasure is mine, Lady Angelika.” You returned the gorgeous smile she was offering.

Lady Angelika was endearing in a dignified, elegant way; and you couldn’t help but notice that her expressive hazel eyes went well together with the enchanted forest Leon had in his, much like the honey pistachio loaf your mother would bake every year in the fall.

And it was not only their eyes that complemented each other, but the atmosphere surrounding them as well. Much like the sparkling stream running down the meadow behind them, and the horses leisurely grazing along its waters, there was a natural authenticity to them. One you would have undoubtedly remembered had you been around it before, especially considering Lady Angelika’s remarkable grace.

“My lady, you ought to stop looking at me like that or I might start questioning my personal preferences.” She joked, a smile on her lips and your hand still on hers. “And I’m afraid ten in the morning on a Saturday is too early to have that type of conversation.”

“Oh, please forgive me.” You chuckled lightly, letting go of her hand. “I was just wondering if you were aware of the power that moonstone holds.”

She reached for the gemstone hanging around her neck “Oh this? Of course, Leon gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday.” She explained as her fingers caressed it fondly. “He bought it from a witch down south. Apparently she found it right in the center of the footprint left by that gigantic titan who destroyed Wall Maria.” You felt your whole body tensing up at her words. “You know, the first time it appeared. She believes it used this moonstone to make itself invisible, that’s the only logical explanation as to how a creature of such colossal measures managed to appear and disappear into thin air without anyone seeing it coming.”

Your throat felt impossibly tighter all of a sudden, all incoming air failing to reach your lungs. You didn’t necessarily believe moonstones granted anyone the power of invisibility, neither the ability to wander around only in spirit, and you had meant the question as a lighthearted joke, never considering it could backfire, and definitely not expecting Lady Angelika’s answer to make you reminisce about Bertolt’s genuine smile and Reiner’s sweet disposition.

“Are you, perhaps, also interested in gemstones and their magical properties, my lady?” Leon suddenly asked, prompting you to blink away the bittersweet melancholy and the confusion that usually followed any train of thought that led to your ex-classmates.

“I- my father- It’s one of his favorite topics to discuss at the dinner table.” You explained, chuckling nervously in an attempt to compose yourself. “Did you perhaps attend Orvud Academy, Lady Angelika?”

“Oh my, are you a diviner?!” She jumped excitedly. “Yes, I did! Until the eighth grade, before Father decided to move me and my sisters to another institute in Ehrmich.”

“Then maybe we coincided in the corridors a few times.” You suggested, feeling your chest lightening up the farther away you walked from the uncomfortable topics discussed a few sentences ago. “I also went to Orvud.”

“Maybe we did! Oh my, Leon, this world is so small!” She turned to her friend, the delight present in her voice, and the gleeful way in which she started tugging at his hand, made you think of a little kid trying to lead their favorite parent to the candy store. “Although I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t remember me.” She suddenly turned her head towards you. “I looked very different back then. I was so…outlandish.” She concluded, sporting the face of someone who’d just smelled the food that had caused them indigestion.

“Sometimes, in moments of dejection or self-doubt, I find reassurance in knowing that I no longer look, nor act, like I did back in eighth grade.” You said, her smile instantly evolving into a soft, silvery laugh that was as delicate and angelic as you expected hers to be.

“Next time I’m feeling down, I’ll give it a try.” She promised.

“Is there a reason why you changed schools, my lady?” You asked, feeling comfortable enough to let your curiosity wonder and wander.

“Father believed the institutes at Ehrmich taught better chess. I wanted to stay in Orvud because all my friends were there. Not to mention Ehrmich is in the literal opposite side of town, and even to this day, I still grieve the precious minutes that the long ride home took away from my youth.” She complained dramatically. “But I can’t complain. And neither can Leon.” Lady Angelika smiled mischievously at her friend. “That’s where he first laid eyes on me, and also where I became the inspiration for his first book.”

Leon smiled back, and it was the type of smile that told you this was a conversation he already had way too many times, yet somehow, still wasn’t tired of.

“Your beauty is indeed of remarkable proportions, my dearest Angelika.” He said, lightly raising his glass as if making a toast to his friend’s comeliness. “However, as we have discussed several times in the past, the source of inspiration for my first published work, or muse, if the casual scribbling I do from time to time were to be considered a form of art, was the cloudless sky I had the providential fortune to exist under during the summer I spent in Karanes.”

“Leon fell in love with a married woman, and she had the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. Quite scandalous. Isn’t it?”

Lady Angelika’s opportune translation painted a smirk on your face as you raised a probing eyebrow at Leon. And you expected his ears, as well as his cheeks maybe, to turn red the moment his friend’s words reached them, but you should’ve known better than to expect that from someone of such poised, elegant bearing. Instead, he allowed a relaxed, graceful laugh to escape his lips before a reply could.

“She was indeed married, but I didn’t fall in love with her.” He explained calmly, the easiness in his demeanor evidencing that he was already used to be teased by his friend. “Her loving husband and sweetheart of many years stands in this very courtyard as we speak, so I would sincerely appreciate it if we could keep away from distasteful misunderstandings.” He took another sip of his drink as his eyes scanned the room. “Ending the day with a black eye is certainly not one of the goals I set for myself this morning when I sat down with my diary and my favorite breakfast tea.”

“Oh, is she around then?” Lady Angelika asked excitedly, giggles decorating her voice as she tried her best to find an unknown face in the crowd.

“She is not. If you’d studied the poems with the careful perusal they demanded, maybe you’d know that such elusive beauty tends to evade congested occasions like today’s.” He teased, and his friend dramatically placed a hand over her chest in response, pretending to take offense.

“May I ask what the book's title is?” You smiled mischievously, curiosity tickling your mind. “I’ll admit I’m not the avid reader myself, but I’m willing to give poetry my undivided attention if it promises to uncover the mysterious identity of Leon’s first love.”

“Walking artwork. Talking poetry.” He replied, shaking his head in amused disapproval. “That’s the name of the book.” Your eyes widened in realization, suddenly remembering the blue book with faded golden letters that the Commander kept in his office, surely one of his favorite reads, and after today, one you’d definitely be borrowing sometime soon. “And as I said, my lady, she wasn’t a love of mine, but even if she was, I can assure you that by the time serendipitous fate brought our paths together, the title of ‘first’ had already been long claimed.”

Lady Angelika gave Leon a complicit smile that told you she knew exactly who that title belonged to. “Leon’s lust and uncontrollable desire for this married woman really comes to life in vivid colors thanks to all those forbidden words he so artistically painted her with.” She said giggling, looking at Leon as if trying to elicit a reaction from him, but all he had for her was an uninterested eye roll. “I would have given anything, even this very moonstone on my neck, only to see Aunt Freya’s flustered face once she reached chapter nineteen.” And the sultry way in which she sank her teeth on her bottom lip made you desperately want to know what exactly went down in chapter nineteen.

“I would consider it a miracle if Mother ever so much as touches one of my books.” He joked before bringing the glass to his lips, and you couldn’t help but wonder if he was using the pink sparkly liquid to hide something that wasn’t as rosy.

“Of course she reads your books!” Lady Angelika exclaimed confidently, and you wondered if she too had noticed the same shift you had. “If I had a son as talented as you, I would never shut up about him.” She said proudly before turning to you. “Father used to get so annoyed at Uncle Hansel because he would never stop talking about Leon’s books whenever they played chess together.” Lady Angelika giggled, her eyes traveling briefly to the sky as if it was there where she kept all her memories. “Father felt that Uncle Hansel would just brag about ‘that gifted little nephew of his’ all evening and never focus on the game, which… even if we were to say that was the case… how come Father never managed to win a single one?” She chuckled before turning to Leon to clarify. “Nothing personal, you know how Father is. But I always understood Uncle Hansel and why he couldn’t stop gushing about his nephew. I was just as captivated by him.” She said fondly, and there was a hint of nostalgia in the sweet smile she was offering her friend. “And his work, of course!” She added rather abruptly.

“You praise me too much, my dearest Angelika. But my writing isn’t the slightest bit as impressive as your abilities in chess are.”

“Nonsense.” She said before turning to you, dismissing the compliment with a flick of her hand, a gesture that told you that her skills were probably every bit as impressive as Leon had implied. “My lady, I know you said reading is not among your interests but, by any chance, do you happen to enjoy ghost stories? In my humble, and probably very biased yet still fairly accurate opinion, there’s nothing like sitting by the fire on a blustery night, Leon’s horror anthology in one hand and something warm in the other, the wind ominously knocking at your window while his writing transports you to macabre dimensions.” She said, shuddering as a result of the goosebumps she had so willfully self-induced.

You chuckled, the lightness in you heart making you realize how rare days like these were. Since you had joined the Training Corps, and especially after becoming a Scout, it was as if the stakes were always high, in everything you did. It felt as if there was no normalcy in your life, or at least not like you once knew it. And, although you wouldn’t trade your life at the base for anything, you couldn’t deny that it was nice to enjoy ordinary moments like this every now and then. “That sounds frightfully enticing indeed, a perfect night made possible only by the comfort of knowing that, in the end, it’s all folktales and fiction.”

“Oh, but they are not fictional.” She was quick to clarify, shaking her hand promptly as if to make you understand how important it was for you to know this before proceeding any further. “Most of Leon’s stories are based off real life experiences, and that makes them all the more exciting! ‘Distant Cries from a Childless Town’ is based on the sinister events of that summer Leon spent traveling around Wall Rose.” She explained enthusiastically. “The second story, which is also my sister’s favorite, is about a priest who kept a human-sized titan locked in his basement. I won’t tell you how it ends, or how the titan got there in the first place, but from the title of the book you can pretty much guess, can’t you? What I will tell you, however, is that you’ll fall for the main character just as everyone does!” She made the face your father always did when daydreaming about your mother’s green tomato pie. “He’s loosely based off one of Leon’s closest friends, a super cute boy from the Trost countryside.” She tugged at Leon’s sleeve as if trying to get him to gush together with her. “His name was Jean. I met him one summer when he came to stay with Leon. Come to think of it, Leon is always friends with the dreamiest, most fascinating people.”

The way her eyes sparkled as she gazed into the sunlit fields, lips curved into a soft smile and fingers absentmindedly playing with the moonstone around her neck, told you that she was probably reminiscing about the happiest summer of her adolescent years. And you couldn’t help but chuckle, wondering if the Jean of Leon’s story was the same one you knew. He was from Trost too and, from your understanding, also childhood friends with Leon. And if it was him, you would have no option but to laugh at how comedic it all was. To think he had a secret admirer in Mitras, and not only that, but the fact that she was a member of the nobility… Heaven forbid he ever found out, because the one you knew, your Jean, his ego definitely did not need another boost.

Although, in all fairness, you kind of understood where Lady Angelika was coming from. Him and Reiner had always been the most popular among the ladies back at Training Camp. In fact, when you first met Jean, you had also thought he was really cool. It was the very first day of ODM practice, and although everyone else was struggling, he seemed to be a natural at it. However, you also remembered how quickly all form of curiosity and wonder had vanished, that same night at dinner to be more specific, when you saw him engage in one of those embarrassing fights him and Eren loved to have.

“He was so well-mannered and smelled so good all the time.” Lady Angelika continued her recollection of the events of that summer, just as your mind started to get flooded by memories of a very different summer, one where Eren and Jean never stopped throwing scrambled eggs and baked tomatoes at each other. “His hair was so soft and he was so manly we both fell in love with him.”

It was so sudden and unexpected, that you couldn’t stop your eyes from opening as wide and as inappropriately as your eyelids allowed them to.

“Leon and I didn’t talk to one another for weeks after that, until we finally waved our little white flags and agreed neither of us would pursue him. After that, we hugged and decided to go for chocolate pastries. We were so silly back then. Do you remember, Leon?”

“I would argue we still are.” He responded amusedly, bringing the glass to his lips and swirling the contents lightly before taking a sip.

Lady Angelika chuckled as she leaned over the handrail, her hair playing with the wind as she gazed at the pasturing horses, and you wondered if the longing smile present on her lips meant that she was still reminiscing about Jean. Leon, on the other hand, was looking at no one and nothing in particular, taking occasional sips from his glass until it was completely empty. And something, probably the wistful smile he was wearing, told you that he we was most likely thinking about those days too.

And about Jean, perhaps.

“I absolutely enjoy horror stories.” You blurted unprovoked after some uncomfortable seconds of silence, fearing it might escalate into something even more awkward. You weren’t sure if Leon was comfortable with you knowing such personal details about him, especially when you were acquainted with Jean yourself. “And I greatly appreciate the personalized recommendation, Lady Angelika. However, I think I’ll start with Walking Artwork and leave the sinister stories for bolder times, you know… for the sake of chronological order. I’m also curious to see how Leon’s writing evolved over the years.”

Leon let his head fall to the side both in suspicion and disbelief, squinting his eyes as if asking you to get it over with.

“And of course, because I’m interested in uncovering the married lady’s mysterious identity as well as what became of her.” You finally confessed, a giggle escaping your lips when you saw him roll his eyes and shake his head in disapproval. You had to admit that there was a very particular type of pleasure to be derived from teasing Leon, and you were beginning to understand why Lady Angelika seemed to enjoy it so much. “The Commander has that book in his personal collection. I might just borrow it on Monday and begin my research as soon as we go back to the office.”

“Even if you succeed in uncovering her identity, little does it matter, my lady; given the fact that my interest in her was purely artistic and never romantic.” He replied, shrugging his shoulders as if he was sorry to disappoint you. “As of what became of her, I’m happy to report that I’m still very much welcomed with warm geniality by both her and her darling daughters whenever I find myself in Karanes.” He signaled with a shake of his glass. “With that said, I’m truly honored and delighted, if I may allow myself such pleasures, to know that someone with Commander Smith’s intellect and literary knowledge found something of value in my dull first work. I have never been able to bring myself to read it again.”

“Huh? You work with Commander Smith?” Lady Angelika asked, the newfound piece of information lighting some sort of spark in her eyes, and you weren’t sure you could call it simple curiosity.

Nodding proudly, you looked around the garden, eyes surveying the room and a comfortable type of excitement bubbling inside you at the thought of finding his blue eyes in the crowd any time now.

“I had the pleasure of starting my rounds conversing with him by the central pavilion. Maybe he’s still there.” Leon looked in the direction of the marble-columned structure, as if trying to find him too. And you caught yourself trying to guess what the nature of their exchange was, something that admittedly troubled you more than a little, given the misunderstanding from a few weeks prior. “He must be looking for you too.”

You turned to Leon and were surprised to discover a smile full of understanding shining your way. And you sincerely hoped the nervous laugh that escaped your lips as a response could act as some sort of distraction so your burning cheeks and tomato ears could go unnoticed.

But you knew that he had been there that night, at the castle, in the dining hall, just a few rooms away from your office and all the wonderful things the Commander had been making you feel on top of his desk. And you also knew that, if he’d happened to hear something then, no amount of damage control you did now would be enough to erase it from his memory.

And like so, before you started acting more like a tomato and less like a person, you decided it was the perfect moment to start exchanging closing nods and parting smiles with Leon and Lady Angelika, which you did before heading in the direction he had pointed you to. Lady Angelika looked like she wanted to say something, and had it been any other moment, you would’ve waited. But, right now, all you wanted was to take your flustered face away and hide it in the Commander’s welcoming chest while you danced to a slow song or two.

“My Lady.” Leon’s sudden call of your name made you turn around abruptly. “Just one more thing.” He said as he approached you, putting some distance between Lady Angelika and him, and lowering his voice as if to ensure nobody else could hear what he was going to say. “I had a conversation with my dear uncle the other day, and I explained to him about the nature of our budding relationship.” He smiled mid-sentence as if to let you know it was okay, and you had to admit that any form of reassurance was very much welcome at the moment, especially when you had no clue where all this was heading. “I was very specific in my request, and by ‘very specific’ I mean I carefully treaded through all the poetical trap my tongue usually falls into, and sincerely asked him to stop hindering the growth of our blossoming friendship with the shadows his well-intended efforts are casting.”

His eyes lingered in the central pavilion’s direction for a while, seemingly taking his time organizing the words inside his head before saying them out loud. “Although very little use it has, I apologize if his remarks resulted in any kind of misunderstanding or inconvenience for you.”

You stared at his apologetic smile in silence, trying to make sense of the words that had just left his mouth. And maybe it was the tinge of remorse in his eyes or the way their attention would shift between you and the central pavilion, but something told you that he probably held the answer to the question you had been trying to get the Commander to respond.

No. Not probably.

He definitely did.

Did Lord Koch talk about you and Leon in a way that made the Commander think you were involved romantically? You didn’t know for sure, yet you knew two other things: One, if he had indeed said something, Leon would absolutely know what it was; and two, he would totally tell you if you asked.

But before you could do so much as open your mouth, Lady Angelika’s melodious voice called his name and he smiled apologetically before turning to her, leaving you there, stranded in the middle of the crowd, with nothing but questions to hold on to.

And you would have remained there for longer, had a flurried waiter not bumped into you, knocking the butterfly pin off your hair and making it bounce on the glossy marble tiles.

You looked down just in time to see it slide under a crystal table, and bent down to reach it, only to find that a gentle hand had gotten there first.

“Thank you, but it’s fine. I got it.” You said as your hand brushed past warm, manly fingers.

“I know you do, but let me.” Replied a rich, velvety voice you had only heard on your happiest moments.

You rose up as fast as your faltering legs allowed, your heartbeat like the frenzied flapping of hummingbird wings, and the reason for that, standing right in front of you, holding the blue butterfly in his welcoming hand, the sun sparkling on the metal pin in the same mesmerizing way it did on the sapphires he had on his face.

-

next chapter

taglist: @mysticalnightbeliever @aliasrising @elnyrae @mchlist @apts2000 @angelaevangelion @depitaangeline @ynackerman9499 @afatalheat @pumpkin-toffee @velouria17 @gassytritis @goddessinsweats @nube55 @jeanboyjean @crazychaoticizzy @braunsbabe @erwinawesomeness @lucifers-nipple-piercing @karmabyfernando @thicc101q @shittyprofilebutfuckit @dilfenthusiast-union

[strawhbrrries]

All That Matters, ii.

pairing: cocky!tattoo artist!frank castle x afab!reader

summary: working with a world renowned tattoo artist who knows his own beauty has more cons than pros. the main one being that he's infuriating and it turns you on.

warnings: general banter between frank and reader, jealous reader??, jealous frank?, mutual pining but they're both idiots, cocky frank duh!, tattooed frank with long hair!!, no use of y/n or descriptions of reader, not proofread

word count: 883 words

authors note: it wouldn't be a series if there wasn't some sort of trouble, theo my beloved don't get hurt!! if you want to be added to the tag list just drop a comment! as always, enjoy!

find the masterlist here!

read the first part here!

You waited at the reception desk until the girl from Frank’s booth left before marching yourself right in and leaning against the wall, waiting for him to acknowledge you. He was busy putting away all the machinery he used, throwing away all the single use products and checking his notifications to notice you standing there. It made you feel a bit invisible, you’d unpack this feeling later in the shower.

“I wasn’t staring.” You stated, watching his hair fall around his face when he looked up at you from his chair.

“So what were you doing then? Did you think he was cute? Good thing you already have his number.” He responded, going back to whatever he was doing on his phone before he realized you were there. It almost sounded like he was jealous, but you pushed that thought aside. He had no interest in you.

“Jesus, Frank. Go fuck someone and get rid of the attitude.” You scrunched your nose at his attitude and turned around, instantly regretting whatever voice convinced you to come back here and speak to him. 

“Are you offering?” You heard him call after you, your eyes were practically in the back of your head at his words.

Frank allowed himself to eye your ass the entire time you walked away from him, watching how it moved when you walked and imagining it grinding up against him in a club. If he was drunk would he know it was you? Would you know it was him? He put the image in the back of his mind for later when he showered and needed some help reaching that high only you could give, and you didn’t know you did. 

You spent the entire rest of your shift ignoring him, only speaking to the other artists and telling them to pass on a message for you if you ever needed to talk to him. He spent that entire time trying to figure out what crime he committed, besides being so devilishly handsome, to earn the cold shoulder from you. One of the other artists had finished all his scheduled appointments for the day and decided to sit at the desk with you, generally you got along with everyone you worked with. Except for Frank, the literal guy who owns the place.

In a heated argument towards the beginning of your career as the receptionist, he’d told you he only kept you because he couldn’t find anyone better to do your job. You were proud that you were the best at it, also upset that he disliked you that much he was actively searching to replace you. The resentment for the statement sat at the bottom of your stomach, threatening to spill out every single time he irritated you. Frank paid you well, it wasn’t even a question in your mind if it was worth working there. The jo was easy, the pay was amazing, but your fucking boss.

“Do you wanna go out for some drinks later? Some of the other people wanna go out and I wanted to extend the offer to you.” Theo, the other artist sat next to you, offered. 

“I mean, as long as I’m not a bother.” You smiled, handing him your phone to input his number and then switching to put your number in his phone.

“Never, I’ll shoot you a text with the place and all that shit later.” He shot a smile your way, it almost rivaled Frank’s smile. You rarely saw it though.

Theo had only been there a few months when you got hired, he’d been friends with Frank during their internships and only felt right working next to him. He’d welcomed you with open arms and never made you feel any lesser for your position, in fact he always made his appreciation for you obvious. On most days he picked up some coffee for you when he picked up his breakfast, always making sure to give you a few napkins just in case you spilled. It was a surprise to everyone, but yourself, that you didn’t have his number yet. You knew that the second you let him into your life like that, you wouldn’t keep your hands to yourself.

He almost looked like a blonde version of Frank, way less arrogant about his looks. If they told you they were secretly twins who were separated at birth you would’ve believed in an instant, your mind was blown when you found out they didn’t know each other until they were twenty. His voice wasn’t as deep or rough, just as loud though. You never could see an ink of skin that wasn’t covered in tattoos, on either of them, except Theo’s face. He had this weird thing about never tattooing his face, he’d do other people’s but never his own.

Frank rounded the corner to your desk and frowned the second he saw you two together, laughing. He’d been the one to bring up going out for drinks, he however had no intention of inviting you, he’d look like an even bigger asshole if he told you not to come after his best friend invited you. Theo being so close to you was irritating, Frank. He knew he was attracted to you but jesus, this was a problem.

tag list: @elsvrse

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Welcome to Monster Fucker Confessions!

~ This is a place where you may submit anonymous monster related confessions to our ask box.

~ This blog is for adults only, please! No minors!

~ "Confessions" can mean many things here. It can be just thoughts you have on the subject of monsters. It can be sharing your experiences as a monster enthusiast. It can be story ideas and concepts. Really anything goes.

~ "Monster" also can mean many things. I do not gatekeep what counts as a monster. In fact, even confessions that are regarding human fictional characters with "monster vibes" are acceptable. There is no judgement here in regards to the type of monster you enjoy.

~ In addition, confessions submitted here do NOT have to be sexual. They can be sexual, but that isn't a requirement. This is a place for monster enthusiasts of all kinds to freely shout anonymously into the void. Whether you're into monsterfucking, monster-cuddling, or you just think they're neat, you're welcome here.

~ Confessions are added to the queue as they are received. The frequency of the queue is constantly adjusted to insure that posts never wait to long to be posted but also that the queue does not run out too quickly. ~ Posts are not tagged with any sort of warnings. Please browse with caution.

Guidelines:

~ Please only follow this blog and submit confessions if you are a legal adult. There is a lot of sexual content on this blog. ~ Please avoid giving any identifiable information in the submission. ~ Do not sign your confession with a username. You may sign it with emojis if you wish. Any confessions that contain a username will be deleted. [New Rule] ~ All confessions will be anonymous. If you submit something without making it anonymous, it will be made anonymous by me when I add it to the queue. [New Rule] ~ Please be kind about the types of monsters others enjoy. Let's stay positive about each other's monster preferences! ~ Website URLs or images are NOT allowed in submissions. They will be deleted instantly and the sender is at risk of being blocked. ~ If you want to submit something that is too long to go in one ask, you may send it in multiple parts. Please be clear that you are doing so by marking them as 1/2, 2/2, etc. ~ ~ Please ONLY do this if the submission is too long to fit in a single message. Doing this for short submissions will result in your submission getting deleted. ~ If you are sending something that is not a confession, such as a question directed towards the person running this blog, please say "not a confession" somewhere in the body of the message. Otherwise, it will be queued with the rest of the confessions and not responded to by the owner of this blog. ~ "Not a confession" type messages should exclusively be about this blog and the running of it. Any "not a confession" messages asking questions that are not directed at the person running this blog will not be posted. ~ "Not a confession" messages will be posted publicly and will not be made anonymous if they are not submitted anonymously. [New Rule] ~ Do not include language that is harmful towards marginalized groups. ~ Do not insult other people's bodies or preferences. It's okay to voice your own dislike for things, but please word it in a way so it is clear that it's your preference and not a statement of fact. Statements such as "__ are gross and disgusting" are not allowed. ~ Do not send threats of violence towards real people. It is understood that some of these fantasies may include violence, but please do not direct it towards a real life person. ~ The owner of this blog is one single human and may miss certain aspects of submissions. If you see a confession that contains harmful or offensive text, please kindly send a message so that the situation may be resolved. Please be clear about what the issue is. Vague messages will not help.

New guidelines will be added as needed.

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Gorum: The First Blade

CR 15

Chaotic Neutral Large Outsider

Inner Sea Gods, pg. 288

Whoof. This poor guy is going to have a rough time of it in a few years, won't he? And unfortunately, it has a direct, tangible connection to Gorum, being a chip of sword knocked free by one of the Lord in Iron's clashes with a great god-beast and given life by the energy of the battle. At the time of writing (6/1/2024) we have little idea of what will happen to Gorum's divine servants come the Godsrain, so the looming future of the First Blade is a dark and swirling cloud for it as well as for us.

So we're going to ignore it! And focus on the Now, much like we did for the Hand.

The First Blade is, perhaps, as straightforward as Heralds get. Gorum is a god of war who dislikes diplomacy and underhanded tactics, and as such the First Blade is a warrior with zero ranks in any skill which doesn't directly benefit its ability to initiate or maintain a combat and zero utility or ability to do anything but fight, fight, fight, and make sure everyone else fights, fights, fights as well. Unlike most Heralds whom often have multiple duties, the purpose of the First Blade is exclusively battle, and the book outright states "no accounts exist of the First Blade responding to a summons for a task other than combat;" whether or not it would be willing to train warriors is left unsaid, but it's fully willing to join in whatever fight presents itself... just be wary that disappointing it may see it killing (or at least terrifically maiming) everyone on every side out of disgust or even boredom.

Fittingly enough for one of the most combat-oriented Heralds in existence, getting into a one-on-one with the First Blade typically only ends in one way: a messy, painful death. Let's see how!

First thing's first: That weapon in the art? That's decorative at best, and an insult at worst. The First Blade is the Lord of Battle, proficient with ALL weapons and capable of instantly summoning any mundane weapon made of any material it desires in a single standard action to overcome whatever DR it encounters... but every weapon it could potentially summon is actually weaker than its Bladed Slams which, damage-wise, are usually more than enough to deal with whatever foe has presented itself.

Indeed, if the Blade is wielding an actual weapon against you, it's either because it believes you don't deserve to die by its hand, or because it's testing your mettle. It may even be showing you mercy by using a weapon, for whatever reason Gorum may have decreed. There IS a third option, in which it has determined that using a weapon with a property its slams don't have (such as Reach, Trip, Disarm, or being made of a specific material), or if it would, for the fun of it, like to make four weaker and less accurate attacks rather than two powerful and accurate ones. For the most part, the Blade will be using its two slams to devastate anything that enters its threat radius (10ft space + 10ft reach) with 2d10+16 damage while also tacking on 1d10 bleed. It's also to Great Cleave to slice through an entire squadron of foes at once, lacerating them all at once with its bladed arms so it doesn't lose as much DPS when it focuses a single enemy down.

The Blade's slams also count as magical, chaotic, adamantine weapons for the purposes of piercing DR and hardness, meaning there are few impediments the Blade cannot cleave through just by hitting it enough times. Even the iron and steel its god loves so much are shorn like paper by the Blade's hands, though this Herald DOES have some meaningful connection to iron; it's got Ironsense, letting it detect any iron coming within 60ft of it, which helps it negate ambushes and the sneak attacks of any foes it may face. And speaking of Sneak Attacks, as a hater of all forms of underhanded tactics, the First Blade is immune to poison and has 75% Fortification, meaning critical hits and Sneak Attacks have a 3 in 4 chance of simply not affecting it.

You know what else doesn't affect it? Most magic. See, the First Blade has the same Immunity to Magic as an Iron Automata, meaning that a good 80% of the spells in the game simply cannot affect it in a meaningful way! Electricity damage will slow it, but the far more common Fire damage will heal it, and most attempts to debuff it directly will just not work, assuring a good, clean battle between it and its enemies without magic getting in the wa--

oh you've made a wall surrounding it. Fair enough. It'll just do that right back, having Wall of Iron available to it 3/day to trap its foes in an arena with it (it's got Blade Barrier 1/day for a similar reason!). I say "without magic getting in the way," but the First Blade has a unique array of spell-likes which I have a difficult time envisioning the uses of. Well, I mean, I know how I'd use Chill Metal and Heat Metal (which it can do 3/day each), but it's hard knowing why the First Blade would ever bother using them... except, perhaps, to "gently" discourage unworthy foes of taking up arms against it, to scare off warriors who could not possibly survive an upcoming battle, or... well, as part of one of its crusades to slaughter an entire battlefield which disappointed it.

I'd imagine it uses its 3/day Repel Metal or Stone for a similar reason. Some creatures simply aren't worth battling, and dismissing someone so hard that them and all their compatriots are blasted 60ft backwards is a hell of a way to make that statement. RMoS also gives the First Blade an emergency disengage button on the chance someone manages to pierce its DR 15/Adamantine and Lawful and outpace its Regeneration 5 (suppressed by adamantine weapons only; magical substitutions will not work) enough to finally put it on the back foot.

While Gorum expects his worshipers and even his Herald to battle to the bitter end, he isn't so bloodthirsty that he expects them to die in a fight they would have a chance of winning were they better prepared (unlike his rival Szuriel), so a tactical retreat can be fully justified even by the vicious Herald. RMoS is an extremely powerful tool in that regard, as there is no way to resist the effects aside from dropping all the metal on your body. Amusingly, given that it's almost wholly metal, the First Blade can aim RMoS at itself to blast itself 60ft backwards to relative safety. This is, perhaps fittingly, the only true escape tool the Herald has if it must retreat.

It has no fly speed and no teleportation magic, relying solely on a 30ft movespeed to get it where it needs to go; a humble Create Pit spell takes the Herald out of the fight for several rounds until it clambers back up. Even its Swarm Form, which turns it into four squares of whirling death (4d6 damage at a time) can't fly! It's got no immunity to paralysis, stunning, or sleep, meaning nonmagical means of inflicting those status ailments have a chance of working... provided they can contend with the Blade's +20 Fort save or +12 Reflex save. Its meager +8 Will save seems like a weakness one could easily pounce on, but most effects which could take advantage of it are blocked by its Immunity to Magic, rendering that point moot. Even still, indirect ways of attacking it or containing it which don't rely on it making saving throws still work like a charm.

It can even make its enemies stronger, as it projects a 100ft aura of Rage that gives any creature which willingly accepts the effect--ally OR enemy--the spell's benefits and downsides! It cannot turn this aura off. When the First Blade joins a battle, oftentimes the only way it's walking away is by killing or demoralizing the enemy to the point they can no longer fight; it simply has few other ways to retreat from a battle it, for whatever reason, cannot or does not want to win. It's quite fitting that the First Blade is basically incapable of retreat on its own, but this relies on you being capable of putting it in enough danger that it feels the need to... and, quite simply, there are very few level-appropriate parties that can do that before it's got half of them facedown on the floor and the other half imprisoned in Walls of Iron, waiting their turn.

At the very least, dropping your weapons and surrendering will often get you mercy; Gorum grants mercy to those wise enough to realize when they're outclassed. Just don't even think about picking your weapons back up until the First Blade has fully departed, because going against the sacred rules of war by attacking it after you've surrendered is a sure way to earn its eternal ire against your companions and a swift, messy decapitation for you, personally.

You can read more about it here.

[tanith-rhea]

Only Pretending #8

Word count: 3k Author's note: Just one more to go! Oh, wow, we're almost there, aren't we? My first long, multi-chapter fic for any of Gwen's characters. I'm so grateful to @anti-bright-places (@pro-weems-places) for requesting this one. Thank you so much <3 Also, special thanks for @alder-saan and their much-needed advice, and for reminding me of greek fire ;)

Well, maybe kissing wasn’t the correct description. Rather, she was being kissed, quite enthusiastically, by Morticia Addams.

You were shocked into motionless; the air in your lungs disappeared and left you feeling faint. Then, in a sure, rapid movement, Larissa shoved the woman away.

“What do think you are doing?” her voice was thunderous, dark and threatening like clouds amounting to a storm.

“I could ask the same,” yours was much weaker as you leant against the door frame, legs suddenly wobbly.

“Argh, you again? Why must you always be around?” for the first time you heard annoyance from Morticia. It was oddly refreshing, if utterly confusing.

“What do you mean? I’m almost never-“

“Because she’s my partner, Morticia, stop acting like she’s anything else,” Larissa cut you off. Rude… but you could forgive it since your belly fluttered with her calling you her partner — and it being true.

“Oh, please, we both know she is little more than another one of your mistakes, Larissa. Stop being stubborn and give us another chance,” the fire with which Morticia started died down into a tired plead.

What did she mean by “another chance”? Were they an item any time before? Was this why Morticia instantly disliked you and kept trying to break you apart?

“I wasn’t the one that made this impossible, Morticia,” Larissa sounded almost as tired and walked towards you with light dimming in her eyes. When she was next to you, her arm came around your shoulders and helped you up from the doorframe and into a half embrace. There was the tiniest sparkle when she looked at you from above and pressed a small smile to your forehead. “You ruined this for all of us. It is more than time for you to understand it and move on.”

Larissa only gestured with her head to the side before you were leaving. Her arm still around your shoulder calmed you and helped you breathe again normally and walk with her. For a moment, you thought you’d go upstairs, but as she made her way through the outskirts of the festivities, you found yourself being led to the back garden.

It was a bright night. The crescent moon bathed everything in dull blue light, and you could make out white stone paths through the several rows of probably deadly plants. To the side, in a clearing, sat an iron table and chairs, much like the set from the front, but a few meters after there was a double swing, and it seemed to be Larissa’s destination.

“Are we going to talk about it?” you chanced, following her as she let go of your shoulders to hold your hand.

“Sit with me,” she said simply; there was a quietness to her that felt comforting, but it also reminded you of a soft breeze bringing tempest.

You sat beside her on the plush loveseat. You thought it would feel weirder to swing on it, but it was almost a lull. Larissa slid her arm around your back and pulled you closer, leaning to kiss your temple before resting her chin atop your head.

“I used to love Morticia when I was younger.”

The solemness of her voice gave you pause. You wanted to comment, to question but felt it was best to let her tell you on her own.

“We were easily drawn to each other when we first met at Nevermore. She was quit-witted and stimulating, different from everyone I knew growing up. So unapologetically herself… so alien to me. I think I saw in her someone I wanted to be like. Outspoken, proud, and unafraid of how others perceived me.”

“You were in a relationship?” you began stroking Larissa’s hand, resting on her lap, but her small voice made you weave your fingers between hers and bring them to your lips. Although she seemed fond of the memories, you could almost feel the lump in her throat.

“Anyway…” she shook herself from whatever thoughts danced on her mind, “I met a boy, in our second year. Until then Morticia had been with Gomez for a few months and I didn’t mind sharing. Gomez is a very funny man, and it wasn’t different back then.

“But this other boy used to watch me when I visited Jericho for books or a coffee. Garret Gates. He had a horrible family, and his father hated outcasts. I thought that befriending him would make him see that we were not as different as his father told him, and was surprised when it worked out.”

You chuckled a bit at that, earning an arched brow, “Nothing, just you’re an outcast ambassador ‘since 1989’.”

“Oh, hell,” she let her head fall back onto the backrest, “How old were you by then?”

“Ham… I was due a few years in the future…”

She only groaned, murmuring “I choose not to comment on that.”

“Excellent, because you have some explaining to finish.”

“Oh, do I?” And what makes you think that?”

“Hm, I don’t know…” your eyes travelled the expanse of her neck and couldn’t contain your impish smile before leaving small, chaste kisses along, leading up to her jaw and ear, “You’re right, maybe I should just go inside and get a head start on packing…”

Her rough, “You little minx,” had you chucking against her skin, and you could feel her goosebumps at the touch of your lips. She continued with an affected tone:

“We became very close friends, and after a few months, I started having feelings for him. Morticia and I had been together for over a year by that point and Gomez and I were discussing if it wouldn’t be better and simply more fun if we all went out together.

“She… didn’t agree. Morticia was very protective of me, has always been I think, but now it’s just stubborn unwillingness to let go. She thought Garret was conspiring with his father to hurt me. It was nonsense, we had been friends for so long that he would have done something by that point. But she insisted and started seeing him behind my back.”

You were silent for a while, contemplating the information. You felt Larissa watching you from above, taking in your nervous playing with her fingers.

“Ugh, this sounds so delicate. I understand her trying to look out for you, he was from a complicated family, wasn’t he?” of course, she had been prejudiced and selfish, but you could imagine Morticia meaning well in her own distorted and overbearing way — Wednesday had a few good examples of how manipulative her dear mother could be in the name love.

“I can see your point, and maybe if things turned out differently I could forget about it, but,” Larissa’s chuckle seemed more born of habit than mirth, and she turned a bit and brought your legs to her lap to hug you closer.

She didn’t seek contact too much, apart from last evening, so for her to be so blatantly trying to have as much of you next to her made your chest clench with worry.

“After a while, he lost interest in me and became obsessed with Morticia. I never knew what she did, but at the time I was too hurt and furious to just accept he simply preferred her over me, even if she was playing him. So, I never spoke to him again…

“He was almost admitting his father might have been mistaken at our last interactions, but after Morticia, it all went downhill. He would appear at the school calling her a witch for having ‘charmed him into wanting her’, dramatic teen, he was just horny-“ you snorted at that, and only got a raised brow from Larissa and the smallest of smirks, “And became violent when she stopped entertaining him after accomplishing her goal.

“Then, in the second year’s Rave’N, he tried to poison all of us with a vial of deadly nightshade his father gave him but ended up being run throw with a sword by Morticia.”

“She killed him?!” you straightened to look into Larissa’s eyes.

“At the time we thought Gomez did it, I blamed Morticia for it but have since changed my mind and no longer think it worth blaming anyone. But last year Wednesday proved neither of her parents killed Garrett because he was poisoned by the nightshade he carried around his neck.”

“Oh… wow, this is so much drama, what in the… but why does Morticia still think you should be together?”

At that, Larissa released a long sigh, “She tried to convince me everything she did was to protect me, and while it may be true in her mind, it still doesn’t change all the scheming and plotting to drive Garrett away from me. It might sound egocentric, but I do think if we had spent just a little more time together, he would have come around. Maybe even Laurel would have learned from him since she was younger and still learning.”

“Laurel?” you recognized the name, and Larissa must have seen the moment the lightbulb flicked on above your head because she almost laughed at your dumbstruck expression, “The woman who tried to destroy the school last year? She was his relative?”

“His sister,” she nodded with a sad smile, “But I can’t keep thinking about all this and trying to piece things together into what could have been, or I’ll go mad. I’m quite satisfied leaving it all in the past.”

You nodded as well, the torrent of information making you dizzy.

“What do you want to do then? Maybe speak to her and explain where you stand?”

Larissa snorted faintly, “I have been doing it for the past two years and a few occasions before that. What do you think I was talking with her about before she threw herself at me? ‘If you want me so much come and get me’?”

“Oh, shut up…” you groaned and hid your face on her neck at her chuckles.

She laughed a bit more and you felt her shoulders relax underneath your head. It was getting colder every day, but you still heard a lone grasshopper somewhere around. You felt suddenly exhausted from your previously rapidly beating heart and the rollercoaster of emotions all this put you through, and the night sounds and Larissa’s hand softly caressing your shoulder almost had you sleeping.

It was oddly touching how she knew you wanted nothing more than your bed, and when she offered you two retire for the evening, you couldn’t be bothered to think the party would continue for probably hours still.

It was almost over. When you woke up the next morning to a dead arm aching under Larissa’s ribs you could only hug her tighter. You had no idea how things would be when you got back, but having her at that moment, with no responsibilities knocking at your door was too precious a thing to waste.

“Morning,” you heard her grumbling voice against your chest.

“Good morning, beautiful,” you smiled, refusing to let her go while she mock-fought you for her freedom.

In a few seconds, you were giggling uncontrollably. She had rolled on her back, bringing you with her and your arm seemed to be on fire when more blood started running through its veins.

With a slightly panicked “Oh, fuck” you fell onto her, and the giggling turned into laughter. “You- haha, you murdered my arm… my p- hahaha my poor arm!”

“Aww, poor baby, do you want me to kiss it better?”

“Your… cruel condescendence… wounds me,” you controlled your breathing with long intakes of breath, finally resting calmly on Larissa’s chest.

“Oh, so kisses and praises?” one could say the rough quality to her voice was due to recent slumber, but the shift of her leg underneath you told another story.

Things shouldn’t shift this fast. They never did, but with Larissa, nothing was how it was supposed to be. Her fingers slowly travelling up and down your arm suddenly weren’t absentminded, the quiet calmness turned into still air, charged with waves of electricity.

You raised yourself from her just enough to loom over her face, arm not hurting as much with the quickening pace of your heart. She looked so familiar, not like a lover you had just found, but one you’d kept for all your life. Her messy hair made her beautiful in a comforting way, reminding you of cloudy skies after many days of heat.

She was magnificent. You had no idea how someone like her could praise you when she was simply perfect. What good could you be compared to her?

You hoped she was able to see how you felt in your eyes, but to make sure, you leant down and kissed her vehemently, you tried to translate the tenderness you felt but the year boiling inside you rendered you unable to do anything other than take and take and demand for more, you only hoped she could understand the emotions behind it all.

Her hands held you firmly by the waist, thumbs reaching underneath your top and caressing the skin over your ribs.

You were grateful for your decision of only stripping off your trousers and jacket last night because now the chilly air from the stone room created an incredible contrast with the heat of Larissa’s body, and her warm hands travelling the expanse of your back as you slowly started grinding against her left goosebumps on their wake.

She grabbed your arse and pulled you forcefully against her hipbone, earning a low growl as you had to stop kissing her from lack of brain power and air. Try as you might, you didn’t have the capacity to kiss her properly while she made your insides feel like Greek fire.

It was incomprehensible how she managed to turn your body into a teenager’s, alight in a way that felt like the briefest touch could finish you if only she wanted to.

“So sweet of you to think you could have your way,” she breathed in your ear, and the warm breath seemed to melt your muscles while her thigh against the heat between your legs made them tense.

How could she remember that while you couldn’t say for sure if one plus one was two or ten or a thousand? Oh… right. You could fix that.

Staring defiantly into her eyes, you moved your knee to rest between her own thighs, pressing vindictively against her. Her sharp intake of breath bloomed an impish smile on your face and for a second you could concentrate enough to mutter:

“Let’s see whose way it will be, then,” before lunging yourself into her.

Your mouths clashed together. A battle of will, but also a harmonious dance of taking as much as possible and giving the most you could. You trailed down her face with desperation, leaving urgent kisses along her jaw and long, well-savoured love bites right above her pulse.

Larissa’s sounds were a symphony. She gasped and groaned and fought off whimpers, only making them sound more desperate by trying to mask them when you grabbed her hips to help you grind your thigh to her. Through her sheer nightdress, her wetness warmed your skin, and you realized the slippery fabric was severely decreasing the amount of friction you intended to provide her.

You urgently grasped at the hem of the dress, only managing not to rip it away from her by going down to kiss every inch of exposed skin revealed by the fabric.

You trailed up her stomach, revelling in its soft, milky skin. You wanted to paint it red, then blue, then purple with your mouth. Her body was the perfect canvas and you longed to mark how much you loved it everywhere possible.

“You took… such… good care of me yesterday…” you murmured as you pressed kisses up her ribs and between her breasts, “I can only hope to return the favour in kind.”

You emerged from underneath the cloth where you’d been giving her right nipple some well-deserved attention when you heard her muffled whine. Her lips were sealed in a thin line, eyes shut tight.

“Oh, no, no, no, none of that,” you whispered, planting soft kisses on her cheek and lips, “I want to listen to you-“

“But what if someone hears us?” well, that was an inspiring thought.

“If someone does, I’ll have to myself a pat on the back, because these walls are literal stone.”

Her rumbling chuckle grew into both of you lightly laughing and you couldn’t believe how much you wanted her then. You wanted that laugh, to wake up like this every day, to see her soft and happy but also panting and moaning. You wanted it all. And as you realized it, you leaned down again to kiss her deeply and slowly. Your hand left her waist to reach for her face, hold her and caress her cheek as you drowned in that feeling of being so utterly, unfathomably, helplessly in love. Of course you were, maybe for weeks, maybe months, maybe you fell just like from a cliff to the sea, ungracefully and suddenly, destined to certain destruction or a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it all depended on the impact.

You felt breathless when you parted, but looking into Larissa’s eyes, blown to the point you nearly couldn’t see the blue, managed to knock even the idea of air out of your lungs.

She was otherworldly. You wanted to worship her like divinity.

Without breaking eye contact, you began to make your way down her body again, kissing a path to the pit of her stomach, leaving goosebumps in your wake.

Instinctively, her fingers weaved through your hair, and she held your gaze for half a second more, waiting for your next step. You had to taste her or you’d die. Patience and build-up could be exercised another time.

She didn’t fight her cries. Not this time, not with much more to feel than think about.

“Do you think they’re waiting for us for breakfast?” you mused while massaging Larissa’s scalp with expensive shampoo (her own) for white-silver hair.

“Maybe the girls. For some reason, I don’t think Morticia is too keen on seeing us very soon.”

Tags are as follows: @anti-bright-places, @pro-weems-places, @the-bagel24, @regalbootie, @tundra1029, @thoroughly-confused-kiwi-blog, @lilsmeaux, @poorwritingandstalecoffee, @alder-saan, @jelly-frogss, @enchantressb, @imean-its-just-me, @lvinhs, @iloveyall-18, @kimiinou, @jeweleegrey, @a-queen-and-her-throne, @one-pining-queer, @paulsonwifey, @winterfireblond and @bobia13

Chapter Nine

[mirasantidotes]

Dance With Me

Summary: You've known Pedro since you were teenagers, and you two have grown up into adulthood together. He's always liked you, but never said anything to you about it until one day, he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and finally confesses to you.

Content Warnings: self-doubt, fear of rejection, interrupted make-out sessions, fluff

Word Count: 1.8K

A/N: I think this is going to be the last fic I write about Pedro himself, I don't want to make him uncomfortable if he were to ever read it, so I will only be doing fanfics of his characters, either with them in character or slightly ooc! Also, sorry for any grammar / spelling / or Spanish mistakes I may have missed when proofreading!

All of my posts with an * in the title contains smut or at least mentions of it.

—

You met Pedro when you were both teens, and you hit it off instantly. The two of you had met when you and your parents had moved to NYC; you both had so much in common— you listened to the same music, liked the same shows, and both were active in wanting to make it in the arts; you singing, and him acting. You would sing him songs, and he would practice his lines for you. Your friendship blossomed unlike any other you had before. It was apparent to you throughout your friendship he may have liked you, but after some time, he seemed to have moved on, or so you thought— he just became better at hiding it. Even as teens, he would compliment you every day, and say you were beautiful, as you would say to him back. 

He was so afraid of rejection, he’s never said anything to you about his crush, even after all these years. You two have now lived together for 5 years; both of your careers have become successful, he’s been in several big-hit HBO projects, which you knew he grew up on and meant so much to him. You, a successful singer with a Grammy trophy for album of the year sitting on a shelf in your room. 

As you do once per week, you wake up earlier than the sleeping birds outside to cook him some breakfast in bed; he loved your cooking— he always complimented it, and never disliked anything you made, even if he was picky with what he ate. You couldn’t find your earbuds to listen to music, so you opted to just play your playlist on the radio on the lowest volume. Though, once your favorite song came on, you came a little too excited to dance around your kitchen while cooking and had turned it up just a tad too loud for sleeping Pedro’s comfort. 

While you’re lost in your thoughts, cooking a large breakfast for the two of you and swaying around your kitchen, you don’t even hear Pedro walk up behind you until you feel his hands on your hips, spooking you. You yelp in surprise, “What the hell, Pedro!” you raise your voice through soft chuckles, hitting his chest playfully, as he smiles brightly and his rich laugh escaping his lips at your reaction; he was always good at sneaking up behind you when you didn’t realize it, making your bones jump out of your skin. The sun through the window lightly illuminated his bed hair and scruffy beard— his strong nose casting a shadow on his face; you get lost in his features, before clearing your throat and turning back around to continue cooking, with a small smile on your face. 

A few minutes pass, and you’re still cooking, but causing small shenanigans to get back at Pedro; when he isn’t looking, you grab the whipped cream from your fridge, you ask him to look at you, and spray some of it on his nose, letting your laughs escape your mouth, as he starts smiling. He takes his finger and cleans his nose off with it, before shoving it in your face, getting some on your nose too, before he licks the remaining of it off of his finger and cleans the rest off his nose with a paper towel. Laughter fills your early morning home, the sun beaming through your curtains, to cast rainbow lights into your shared apartment, the smell of bacon, pancakes, and the making of scrambled eggs in the pan below you as you’re back at the stove, trying to focus on cooking through Pedro’s nonsensical actions, trying to make you laugh. How he loved that sound more than anything and would do anything to hear it— and he always knew how, no matter what you were going through, he was able to be the light that would shine through your darkest times. 

As he leans on the kitchen counter next to you, watching you cook, arms crossed. He stares at your face, your features causing him to almost fall into a trance. He opens his mouth to speak, “You look beautiful today, querida (darling),” he murmurs, still looking at your face, shifting his focus from your eyes to your nose, and your soft, rosy lips. Your eyes slightly widen at his words— sure, he compliments you often, but he never calls you nicknames like that, so it took you by a slight surprise. 

“Thank you, querido (darling),” you giggled back at him, sneaking a small smile in his direction before returning your gaze to the eggs below you, continuing to cook. You don’t see it until it’s happening, he steps closer to you, and strings some of your hair behind your ear, so he can see your soft features. You glance up at him, once more— his hand laying softly on your jaw. Once more, he scans your face, for any sign of discomfort. His smokey, kind eyes look into yours, then to your nose and lips, and finally back up to your eyes. A light flush of pink creeps up his neck and into his cheeks, as does yours. He steps closer slightly, still worried he’s going too far— but you don’t move back, and he takes it as an initiation to move even closer.

He leans in and rests his forehead on yours, both of your eyes closed, and just before his lips touch yours, a soft “Can I?” escapes his mouth, and you just slowly nod, granting his permission. And with that, he lifts his hand to your cheek, slightly tangled in your hair— he presses his lips against your own. You kiss him back, tasting the bitterness of his coffee from earlier on his lips. He lifts his other hand to hold your neck, pulling you closer to him. Sparks fly all over your body with the way he touches you. 

Though you didn’t want this moment to end, you pull away abruptly when you smell the scent of burning eggs and light smoke filling your lungs. You two start laughing as he quickly opens up a window to let some of the smoke out the window before turning back around swiftly to start chuckling at your panicked face. You turn off the stove, and once you finish throwing out the now unrecognizable eggs into the trash can and airing out as much of the smoke as you can, you press your back against the counter, crossing your arms, looking at Pedro— “So what was that kiss about?” you say gently, looking into his eyes, the corners of your lips upturning slightly at the thought of it. 

“Are you that oblivious?” he asks, smiling at you while stepping forward a few steps in your direction before finally leaning next to you on the countertop, his eyes never leaving the sight of you as he crosses his arms.

“Possibly, or maybe I just want to hear you say it,” you speak softly, the smile growing on your face before you turn toward him. 

He pauses for a moment, before finally speaking— “I like you, I always have,” he replies quietly, as he looks down at your feet, pinching his lips together, his cheeks glistening a sheer pink in embarrassment. You catch him off guard when he’s lost in thought, you step in front of him, and you reach your hand up to his face and cup his cheek— his light stubble prickling you in your hand, your other hand pressing lightly on his broad chest— the heat rushing to your cheeks as you lean in to kiss him once more; his arms uncrossing, and wrapping around your waist, pulling you closer to his body.

Before you realized it, he was turning you both around and lifting your body, and setting you on the counter, still not breaking the kiss. He pulls away soon after however, and looks you in your eyes before lifting his hands to your cheeks— “This okay?” he whispers, scanning your face with his soft eyes, as he lifts his hands back up to cup your cheeks. You nod, and you glance at his lips and back to his eyes, full of love, as always. You wrap your hands around his neck, pulling him closer to you— his body between your legs that dangle off the edge of the counter. 

Just before your lips touch, foreheads resting against each other once more, you whisper sweetly to him, “I like you too, siempre lo hice (I always have),” both yours and Pedro’s lips are lightly brushing against each other as you feel him smile slightly. He runs his hands down your sides and finally lets them rest on your hips. He leans back in and places another soft kiss on your lips— but before too long into your next kissing session, the two of you feel a fluffy feeling separating the two of you from each other, and you both look down simultaneously after breaking the kiss— you see your cat finally awake from his early morning nap, only to cause another disruption between you and Pedro. 

The sight makes the two of you burst into giggles before Pedro rests his head into the crook of your neck before mumbling a gentle “We keep getting interrupted, huh?” into your ear, sending a slight chill up your spine. 

A light chuckle escapes your swollen lips, “Guess so,” you say before tangling one hand in his salt and peppered hair, the other still wrapped around his neck, hugging him closer to you. Though he doesn’t want to, he pulls back from your gasp and picks up your cat— giving him a few kisses before finally setting him down, causing him to run back, presumably to take a nap once more. He looks back up at you, giving you a small smile before walking back between your legs, with his honey-toned eyes full of kindness,  he cups your jaw sweetly, while brushing a few lost strands of your hair behind your ear once more. He kisses your forehead, making you blush for the millionth time today. 

In one swift motion, he picks you back up off the counter and lays one hand on your waist, and the other reaches for the radio to play your favorite playlist, which had ended hours ago. His hands slide down your body, to reach for your hands. He holds your hands gently in his— he starts dancing slowly to the sound of the music, “Dance with me, mi amor (my love),” he grins at you. You chuckle at his not-so-impressive dance moves, before finally giving in and swaying your hips with his, beginning to slow dance. 

The two of you spend the day listening to the sweet sounds of the radio, sharing kisses once and a while, and dancing throughout your apartment, forgetting about the cold food you cooked earlier that morning.