#it always bugged me they just ran at him with no tools?

[theflyingkipper]

Traintober Day 8: The Ferry/Impact

Some deckhands try in vain to secure Victor before he falls.

[retiredteabag]

An Uninformed Narrative

Synopsis: You had lived in Stardew Valley for a year before you met the hunter from the adventures guild, Sukuna Itadori. It did not take long for him to catch your attention but you couldn't help feeling as if his affection resided anywhere but you.

Pairing: Sukuna x Reader

This is a Sukuna stardew valley au, heavily inspired by @tearzintheclub's similar series with butcher!sukuna, I highly recommend reading their work, they are super kind and were a big motivation for me to make this!

〰・♡・〰〰・♡・〰〰・♡・〰〰・♡・〰〰・♡・〰

You had been dying for a decade before coming to the valley, still, unmercifully, alive. The bitter years you spent milling away on a computer, endless days blurring onto the next. A monotonous cycle of tireless work for a corporation that left you unfulfilled, complacent, and depressed. Holed up in a city you did not even like.

It was corrosive, only now, a year later, could you look back and realize that life didn't begin for you until you moved to your grandfather's farm.

It had been hard work. You knew it would be. Still, the labor it took to keep up with crops and farm animals had been more than you anticipated. But you had friends now, and goals. And that was more valuable than anything.

One year ago, when you came to the valley, romance was quite possibly the last thing occupying your mind. Only now, being able to comfortably settle into your home, could you allow yourself to think about things other than the prosperity of your land and the health of your animals.

That brings us to now.

You had read books about the Stardew Valley mines back in the mountains north of town. Harvey, the village doctor, had warned you of its treacherous depths. Having focused most of your efforts on farm/house maintenance, you had not traversed into dangerous territory beyond upgrading your tools and acquiring bug meat.

This is why, after a whole year of living in the valley, you were surprised to receive a notice in your mailbox from "The Adventurers Guild", an initiation of sorts, requesting you to slay 10 slimes to be granted entry.

You had thought about it all evening. By the next morning, you felt up for the challenge. After taking care of the chores you left you made your way up past the carpenter's shop, dropped off a fish you caught the night before to your friend Linus, and entered the mines.

It had been scary but you protected yourself well and acquired some gems and geodes to show for it. It was late when you made the trek home, but you were determined to enter the adventurers guild the next day.

It had been a delight to meet Gil and Marlon, the two men who ran the guild. They sold weapons and protective gear, offered rewards for monster slaying, and purchased monster loot. Still having some on you, you traded them in for the cash. With a smile on your face, you decided to go into town to buy some icecream for Yuuji, Jas, and Vincent.

Penny, the town's teacher, had the kids in the museum for lessons until 2 PM, so you traveled quickly to meet them in time.

Penny was always a delight. Kind to everyone, even if they did not deserve it. She was so good with the kids as well, and dedicated much of her time to their education.

You had met Penny just a few days after moving to the town at the local flower shop in the Cidersap Forest. You had learned she was quite fond of Poppy flowers and the owner of the little place, Jin Itadori, was unbelievably generous, always interested in hearing about your farm, and always willing to give out a flower or two.

Yuuji, being the florist's son and Penny's student, became a quick friend of yours and always wanted to talk whenever you came by the shop. Of course, you never minded and listened intently whenever the boy felt like sharing a fun fact about the flora in his home.

--

Time passed with the changing of the seasons and it wasn't long before fall was upon you.

Ever since entering the mines and joining the Adventures guild, you have been thinking about the quests Marlon and Gil have sent you on. Though it is dangerous, scouring the mines for the flesh of monsters, it brings you a thrill to know you are doing something good for the community.

A post had gone up on the community board in town about collecting bat wings and bringing the population down to a manageable level the other day, and in your spare time, you had been working on completing the quest.

It was late one night when you began to make your way back up to the mountains from the mine's elevator, you had quite the collection and enough time to sell it at the Guild before making your way home.

"You've been keepin' busy." Marlon greeted you as the wind pushed the door open along with your arm.

You smile at the man, unloading the backpack of your finds. "Well there's always something to do around here." you reply.

"True as the day is long...." Gil rocked back and forth in his chair, pretending to hear your conversation.

"I must say I'm glad to have you 'round. The quest board in town seems to be worked through much faster now." Marlon takes the post you handed him and the 200 bat wings, he was just about to hand you the payment when the door to the Guild swung open.

The hinges seemed to rattle with the shock of the large man's blow of it. He's huffing, yanking a balaclava up and over his face.

He has thick, pink hair and bright red eyes, he's enormous, having to duck just a bit so as not to hit his head on the door frame.

You looked at him, a bit shocked at his garish entrance. He looks so familiar, but his face is covered in tattoos. A unique style you've never seen before, certainly not in Stardew Valley

Despite being at the counter yourself, the lumbering man strides right up next to you, a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. And just then, you have a thought.

Was he doing town board requests too? He was clearly not from the village, you would have met him by now. But Marlon does not spare him much of a glace, even when a stack of bones and a collection of rings is placed on his counter.

"Those damn haunted skulls are somethin' else." The man looks at Marlon with a gaze of distaste but the Guild leader just laughs. The large man doesn't look at you once.

Despite the chill of fall present in the air, he has sweat glistening on his exposed neck, he runs a hand through his hair and you can't help but notice how handsome this man is. The only thing, who was he? And why was he monster hunting in the Valley's mines?

"You got a problem?" Shocked from your thoughts, you look up. You hadn't meant to stare but upon his antagonized question your eyes bulge a bit.

"No! No, no, sorry..." You turn away, collecting the gold Marlon left out for you, ready to turn and leave when the man behind the counter made a gesture with his hand.

He called your name, "This is Sukuna, likely haven't met em' have ya? He's real reserved and all."

So he lives here? How could that be? "Oh, it's nice to meet you!" You go to shake his hand but he just looks you up and down, effectively dissuading that desire.

"So you're the rookie taking all the board requests in town, hmm?" He looks so domineering, still, even having just met him, you can reasonably assume that's just what his face looks like.

You shuffle where you stand, "Er... maybe so, yes... I'm sorry, I didn't know that was your area..." You wave your hand to the array of loot he had seemingly just acquired. He scoffs.

Marlon looks to you, "Sukuna is our most tenured monster hunter-"

Gil interjects from his rocking chair, "If ever there's a board request this here man can't handle, I know hell's right about frozen over."

The man before them did not crack a smile. A shiver went down your spine.

"I see, well, I live on the farm behind the Cidersap Forest-"

He cuts you off, looking almost annoyed, "I know who you are."

Oh.

Okay...

"Gotcha, sorry, well... it was nice meeting you." Sukuna stares at you for a moment before turning back to the Adventurers Guild leaders.

The awkwardness of the moment was painful, you already know youll be obsessing over this first impression for the next month or so and your shaking leg is telling you it is time to escape the embaressment before this man shuts down any more small talk.

You wonder if perhaps Sukuna is upset with you for "taking his job". Or maybe he had a bad day. If he really had been hunting Haunted Skulls, he had probably been dangerously deep in the mines.

Even though his gaze had been piercing, his frown looked permanent, and his tattoos gave off a highly intimidating look. You could tell there had been no malice behind his demeanor. And that, would be a small comfort as you mulled your way through the darkness.

You spent the whole walk home thinking about the large man. You had been everywhere in Stardew Valley yet had never met him.

He must live out of town, you thought as you checked the weather for tomorrow.

Rain. That meant another day in the mines. You needed an upgrade on your equipment if you were going to continue supplying for your growing crops' demands. That meant plunging deeper into the depths of the mine.

Sleep pulled at you even still, just as your eyes fell shut the memory of the pink-haired man popped back up into your brain.

His shirt stuck nauseatingly to his toned chest, his neck glimmering in the firelight of the guild, and those eyes. The red, sharp eyes he had looked you up and down with.

"I know who you are."

It was a small town. Even if you were from the outskirts. It was a shame though... having not met the man before... he certainly seemed interesting.

You shook the man from your thoughts as your dog climbed into the bed and the two of you began to doze off.

Unknown to you, a long and unexpected day awaited you at dawn.

[romione-trope-fest]

Title: The Bug Who Lived

Author: Edie K

Trope: Cockblocker Harry

Summary: Ron and Hermione escape to Arthur’s shed and finally spend some uninterrupted time together. Sort of.

Author’s Note: Thanks to adenei for her beta help as always. This is dedicated to her and the hardworking mod team for the trope fest who field our asks with love and humor.

“Oh,” gasped Hermione as Ron ran his tongue along the shell of her ear. Her head fell back against the rough wooden wall of the tool shed.

“Good?”

“Very,” she whispered, pressing closer to him. He was sure she could feel how hard he was against her thigh but she wasn’t shying away.

While the two of them were fully sorted as boyfriend and girlfriend, they hadn’t had much time to do this since the end of the war, although not for lack of trying. He still wasn’t completely sure how to approach this physical stuff with Hermione. Were they supposed to talk about it ahead of time? Or was it okay that he just sort of…slowly moved things along until she seemed uncomfortable? That’s what he had been doing and to his delight, she seemed just as committed to pushing the boundaries along.

Except his family seemed set on making sure he and Hermione remained virgins forever.

After the last year he had spent in the woods, he never thought that he would resent having food prepared by his mother. But Merlin, did every meal have to be ready just seconds before he got his hand into Hermione’s knickers?

Plus both of them had needy roommates. Harry had told him that Ginny and he were “slowly resuming their relationship”. To Ron, that seemed to mean that for every thirty minutes Harry and Ginny spent together, Ginny had to spend two hours discussing it with his girlfriend.

Today, though, things were looking up. Harry was with Ginny and he swore they were going to spend a whole hour together today. Dad was at work. Mum was off visiting Mrs. Tonks and Teddy. For some reason, Bill and Fleur were at The Burrow, working on something. He didn’t know what it was but as long as they weren’t bothering him, he couldn’t care less.

He and Hermione had escaped to Dad’s shed and they were finally spending some uninterrupted time together.

Their lips met again, slow and unhurried. He was running his hands up and down her sides, gently edging her shirt up her body. Maybe, just maybe, she would take the hint and pull it off like she had two days ago in his bedroom. Before they were interrupted by his mother yelling for them to come eat lunch.

Without pulling her lips away from his, Ron felt her hands move from his back to her stomach. Her fingers met his at the bottom of her shirt and she was starting to pull—

“FUCK!”

Hermione pulled away from him in shock. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Something just bit me!”

Ron looked at his arm to discover a small black ant had somehow crawled on him undetected.

“Bloody little menace,” he muttered as he grabbed it.

“Don’t hurt him!”

Ron looked at her, momentarily stunned. Seriously? A fucking ant? House elves, yes. He was all for that. But every damn insect?

He opened his mouth to tell her how insane she was but stopped.

Hermione was standing there in front of him, lips swollen, hair mussed, shirt up over her belly, all alone with him.

Was this really a fight worth having?

For a spider? Definitely. But not for an ant.

Ron turned away from her and spotted half of a biscuit dropped in the dirt on the ground. He walked over to it, stooped down and gently flicked the ant off his arm and onto the biscuit.

Ron came back over to her, dusting off his hands. “There. Safe and now with a feast to take to his friends.”

“Thank you. I know you think I’m being silly.”

Yes.

“Nah, I think you’re gorgeous. C’mere.”

Ron stepped back to her but before he could lean in, Hermione bit her lip and pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor.

Definitely the right choice to avoid the argument.

Ron pulled her toward him so fast that she let out a little squeak before pressing her lips to his. His tongue traced her lips and she eagerly opened her mouth.

There was now a lot of exposed skin for his hands to cover while they snogged. He allowed himself to trace the smooth skin of her back and feel the goosebumps appear under his fingertips before allowing his right hand to move back to her stomach.

Hermione gave what he thought sounded like a happy sigh into his mouth.

Emboldened, he slowly allowed his fingers to creep upwards.

No objection.

He splayed his hands over the cup of her bra.

Still no objection.

And then just a small squeeze.

“OW!”

Ron lurched back. “Shit, shit, I thought that was gentle!”

“No, that was—that was good. But something bit me in the back of my knee.”

Ron bent down to examine her leg and growled. “Ruddy ant again!”

“Maybe take him outside?” Hermione suggested.

Ron took a deep breath and nodded. He forced the little bug from Hermione’s leg to his finger and marched to the door.

As he walked across the grass, he brought the ant up near his face. “Listen mate. You don’t get it because it’s probably really easy to be an ant. There are spots all over the place to be alone with girl ants. Plus they’re already naked so you’re only putting in about a quarter of the effort.

“But human girls? Much more difficult. And in this house, it’s bloody impossible to get any privacy. So do me a favor and leave us alone, okay?”

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Hermione wasn’t watching, then put the ant on the highest tree branch he could reach. She would definitely have wanted Ron to place him on the ground but he wasn’t taking his chances with the persistent bugger.

“All taken care of,” Ron announced, closing the shed door behind him.

“Safely outside?”

“In the shade of the big tree.”

Hermione smiled. “Thank you.”

“Now where were we?” Ron asked, resting on his hands on her hips.

“I think we were right here.”Hermione grabbed his right wrist and moved his hand up her body to cup her again.

I will never so much as swat a mosquito again.

This time when he gently squeezed her, he was greeted with a low moan. His lips captured hers and they snogged while he experimented with different pressures. He broke away from her mouth and started to work his lips down her neck and along her shoulders.

Could he dare to go a little lower? The sounds she was making and the way she was running her fingers through his hair made him think that he could.

He kissed just under her collarbone.

“Ron,” she breathed, in a way he thought sounded encouraging.

He moved his lips a little lower.

“RON! RON! HERMIONE!” And with that, Ginny’s yell broke the spell.

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” Ron roared.

“Harry’s missing!”

Ron and Hermione locked eyes, his own horror reflecting back to him. Hermione grabbed her shirt off the floor and yanked it on as Ron wrenched open the shed and stepped into the grass.

“Don’t move!” screamed Ginny. She was zipping toward them, hovering low on her broom with a second broom in her hand and Bill following close behind on his own.

“What the hell is going on?”

“No one move! Bill turned Harry into a bug! You could squish him and never even know it!”

“He what?”

“Yeah, he waved his wand and Harry shrunk down to a little tiny bug and then Bill flicked him right out the window!”

“Merlin Bill, you’re almost thirty. Why are you playing dangerous pranks on teenagers?” Hermione scolded, hands on her hips.

“First of all, I’m not almost thirty. I've got multiple years left in my twenties. And second, I don’t know how he got outside! I only meant for him to be shrunk down in your room. Which, by the way, he shouldn’t have been in!”

“We were barely even snogging! And I’m almost 17!”

“And I know that in theory, but when I’m confronted with the reality, I can’t control my reaction.”

“Bill, what the fuck is wrong with you?” said Ron, gritting his teeth.

Bill rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought it would be funny! He wasn’t supposed to get lost. And it’s not like I made him a cockroach. He’s a hard working little ant.”

Ron let out a sigh of relief as he walked back to the tree.

“Just wait until I tell Mum! And Fleur! Hermione, what’s a locator spell—Ron! Be careful!”

“Don’t bother. I imagine Harry’s the little bugger that bit us.” Ron bent down to the bottom of the tree, spotting the black ant who had already made his way down the trunk.

Hermione’s eyes went wide and her hand flew over her mouth. “Harry was in the shed when—!”

Her cheeks turned scarlet as she retreated back to the shed, slamming the door behind her.

Fuck, it’s going to be weeks before I get her top off again.

Bill gave Ron an amused smirk. “What’s this now?”

Ginny’s jaw dropped. “You sexist hypocrite! If I kiss my boyfriend, he gets turned into an insect but Ron can feel up Hermione and you throw a parade!”

Ron felt his ears heat. Even when you do get alone time, everyone knows your business!

Ignoring his bickering siblings, Ron pointed his wand at the ant and said the counter spell. The ant quickly grew into the shape of his best friend.

Harry shook his head as though to clear it. “Thanks mate. Being an ant is not as easy as you made it sound.”

“And thanks for not letting him kill me, Hermione!” Harry yelled through the shed door.

“You’re welcome,” Hermione’s muffled voice said through the door.

Ron pulled back his arm and slugged Harry in the shoulder.

“Ow, what was that for?!”

“Because you know exactly how hard it is to get time alone in this house!”

[detroitbecomeonline]

DBH MODDING (6) - TOOL PROBLEM SOLVING

Hello everyone and

Dear Diary

Here is another mod diary entry because I don't know how to stop myself. It's 29/01/2023 and I took a little break from modding since my brain was about to snap in half like a crab leg. In case you missed it, here is my last entry. To see all my entries, go here.

I was working a lot on my DBH fan comic (Zeno) and I ran into a few modding problems along the way, which resulted in me putting off my learning progress. (It also delayed the release of the next part of Zeno, but I digress.)

In the latest block for Zeno, I have introduced Connor's new look as seen below. (These are some bonus shots, so enjoy hehe, please don't save and post this elsewhere, it's a treat just for you:)

If you would like to edit your own designs for Connor, you can get up to all sorts of things. Keep reading to see my first tie edit. :)

I started with editing Connor's tie, and this was my first test:

I gave him stars... Because he's a star. <3 I won't go into how to edit Connor's suit, because it's actually all the same stuff as what I talked about in my last entry.

Here's how to make shapes on GIMP.

The following text-based information was provided by Jamie in order to help me out of the crashing pit I threw myself into. Thank you SO much.

I was having trouble with my Tool that kept bugging out and crashing. I LEARNED THAT I HAD TO GO INTO THE GAME FILES AND DELETE THE .MODS FILE EVERY TIME. I can't believe this LMAOOO

However, if you run into any problems like your game crashing when you try to load it up (that isn't helped by deleting the .mods file), it's most likely because you have extracted a QD file, made it into a DDS, imported it, but not edited any other QD files that it's attached to.

There's a byte in every container for each texture entry that tells the game whether or not it's going to be QD format or DDS. Aaron's Detroit Tool always adds textures in DDS format and gets around that by changing the byte in the container to tell the game to read it as DDS instead of QD. Therefore, the container is successfully loaded because that specific byte in the container has been updated. However, if you go to load another container that tries to access that texture, that byte is unmodified, so it goes to read the (now DDS) texture file as if it were still a QD file and that results in a crash.

If you mod any QD texture in a container, you must also mod those textures in other containers that share that same texture. Attempting to load a container that shares the same texture that hasn't been modified will crash the game.

After my time in the modding community, I've learned a few of the big names and leading modders, so here is a list of who I have found.

LeonX - Basically the Kamski of the modding community who got everyone started - YouTube

Otis_Inf - The free cam legend - Twitter - Patreon

Speclizer - The first map swaps - YouTube

dragonbane0 - The King himself, basically Markus - YouTube - Twitter

aaron1a12 - He made the texture Tool - Twitter

vrtuellereality - Basically rA9 because everyone's seen her work but where the hell is she? - At least used to have Twitter and Instagram? Very popular accreditation on Pinterest/Instagram

Reicito - As seen in the model swapper credits

Kayla1507 (@kayla1507) - Tumblr - YouTube

Jamie (jamsied, @jamdbh) - My biggest help - Tumblr - YouTube - Twitter

Ami (@connorinabeanie) - Tumblr

I hope your modding adventures are going well! Next on my agenda is SWAT Connor, which you all know I'm absolutely feral to do.

~ Trinity

[yourlocalzombie]

(Should i just start @'ing people for this now)

Cleo rested well the rest of the night, when the exhibit was closed.

They had a lot of physical work planned, and on a hot day no less, so they put on a simple tank top, worn shorts, and some work boots.

She wasn't too worried about an injury, given she can just piece herself back together.

She found herself low on usable wood, and in need of string, leather, and materials for paint again.

First she gathered a variety of flowers, berries, resin and solvent. Dandelions, sunflowers, tulips, roses so on and so forth. She removed bugs from the ground to be crushed into pigment as well. She went to taps she had set on pine trees and harvested their resin. Lastly she found some oranges, which their peels would be used to make the needed solvent.

Cleo flew home on fake wings and went through her various processes to make the paint. She crushed the petals and bugs and berries. She got the citrus squeezed from the peels. She mixed these, as well as alcohol and resin, using a machine to finish the job.

As the machine ran with its timer, she went out yet again: this time for sticks and wood.

She flew deep into the forests, finding a spot not yet left barren by the hermits' constant demands.

She walked around, gathering along the way using a bag she had brought.

She had come a ways into this forest before finding another set of gathering hermits: keralis and gem.

Keralis was in charge of gigalogs, so of course, he needed logs.

But it seems gem was here to inspect a tree.

Cleo approached, "tree troubles?"

Keralis was surprised. He hadn't seen the massive zombie in weeks, "cleo! Bonjour!"

"Hey there keralis!" Cleo smiled warmly at him, then turned, "hey gem!"

Gem seemed to be her happy self again, "hi cleo!"

Keralis answered cleo's opening question, "about the tree, yes, something about this tree is off. Nothing cuts it down!"

Cleo nodded, Gem spoke up, "I determined the tree is magical, but the magic is beyond me."

Cleo answered, "its...complicated. I can cut it down, though, I've encounter these before."

Keralis was more familiar with cleo's travels than others by virtue of simply being around longer than most other hermits. But he didn't know to what extent she had traveled and what she had seen.

"Is there a simple answer, then, if you won't tell us the whole story?" Keralis inquired.

"Err...what's important to know is that the magic in these trees comes from things....otherworldly. it hardens them, and odds are... this tree is unbelievably ancient despite its looks..."

Keralis nodded, "then how can you cut it?"

"I'm a little otherworldly myself."

Cleo summoned to hand an odd axe, looking as if insects and worms grouped together into a metal shell of the tool. The tool itself provided an aura of...exhaustion. Keralis and Gem were far from crippled, but they did feel weak, tired, and slightly more hungry.

Cleo's hands had rotted further, exposing muscle and bone that held onto the 'wooden' handle.

She took a firm stance next to the tree, and began swinging.

The bark relented into the essence within, and soon enough, the tree fell with the cracking orlf branches and crunching of leaves.

Cleo dismissed the ace, though her hands hadn't healed fully.

Cldo looked at her rotted hands, mumbling, "hopefully this doesn't take too long to grow back."

Keralis looked at her puzzled.

"Its fine!" Cleo shrugged.

"...sure, well, spank you very much!"

Cleo chortled, "of course, keralis."

Cleo looked at gem, who was inspecting the felled tree. She seemed interested in something that neither cleo nor keralis could see within it. The magical essence was likely something gem hadn't seen before, and was very interested in studying at her own castle.

Gem took some of the broken sticks at the end of the tree, and cleo noticed a blush on the fae woman's cheeks.

Cleo and keralis did some small catching up. Mostly about how cleo was feeling.. mostly better and keralis saying that he's always here to talk when they need to.

As cleo thanked him, Gem returned from her gathering, "hope you don't mind if I take some of samples?"

Keralis waved his hand, "go for it, my friend!"

"Thank you! And thank you for cutting it down for us, cleo!"

Cleo nodded, a wolfish grin forming; showing her jagged teeth, "of course, Gem. By the way, something on your mind? You seem nervous."

"Er..what?"

Cleo spoke, "Well, you've this hue all over your face!" Cleo chuckled, "feeling ill down there?"

Gem blushed some more, mostly out of embarrassment.

"Cleo! I-its nothing! Nope, nothing!" Gem put on a brave stance in the face of embarrassment.

Cleo shrugged, with wink, "if you say so. Bye!"

Cleo left the two off to continue her work, and as she walked away she snickered at keralis's laughter.

"I don't want to hear a word out of you-" gem jabbed, a blushing mess.

Keralis kept laughing louder, and gem slapped him, feeling quite embarrassed by the situation.

Cleo spent the rest of the day cutting trees, determining that cloth and string gathering would be done tomorrow.

....

Aa cleo flew home, leaving behind logs on a tarp to be transported later on, she unfortunately found herself in thought.

While the plan of work keeping her...more unsavory thoughts at bay had worked, It unfortunately wouldn't continue into the night, even as she put the paint in containers and stored the sticks.

She cursed herself for being so open with her influences. And her flirting. Well, it was more like teasing, but that's how cleo is.

She shouldn't have, she really shouldn't have when surely she would be gone soon. In one way or another.

Looking for some distraction, they returned to the exhibit to lock it up, once again looking inside.

This time it was scar pondering the main attraction.

Cleo didn't bother to walk silently, trudging over to stand next to him.

He turned without a word, silently going to cleo and tightly hugging her.

Scar had his own host of issues from the life games. His readiness for chaos and the collateral damage that came from it had always left him troubled.

The anger it aimed onto him always reminded him.

Maybe he thought cleo was mad at him.

He moved back and looked up at the tired creature before him and asked:

"Are you mad, cleo?"

"No. Why would I be, scar?"

"I don't know. That's how this usually works."

The man leaned against hist cane, and the zombie wrapped an arm around his back as the two faced the skeleton.

The paint had long dried, loosing its dripping affect. The rust may have gotten worse, but cleo couldn't really tell. Some of the splintered wood had fallen off completely.

It was as if the skeleton was decaying.

"Do you still feel it? The eyes of the watchers?" Scar asked in hushed voice.

"All the time. I was made by one."

Scar had known this since some time ago.

Something about cleo was always off, and through his time with grian, scar had pinpointed this to be true.

Scar stood in contemplative silence, looking at the piece before him.

"I feel this, somehow. Like, y'know...it's like, betrayal obviously, but...i feel like ive only betrayed myself."

Scar could be smart when he wanted to be, and art was meant to be interpreted.

Cleo spoke with a rare softness, "all you can do is learn, scar. That's the best any of us can do."

Scar nodded silently.

The two stood in each other's comfort for a while longer. The game made them close.

Scar yawned, and acknowledged he must sleep.

"Goodnight, cleo"

He left the exhibit, cane clicking on the ground as he walked.

Cleo stood a while longer.

She spoke, "what do you think of it?"

She didn't turn to face anyone.

"I think you're blind to your beauty."

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Prologue

Figured I should try to give this old place some new material, and since a friend suggested I start a journal of my latest obsessionhobby, what better place than tumblr? So here’s a needlessly long and overly indulgent history of how I got into model aircrafts, with a record of each project, their individual challenges and the tools I learned to use to overcome them.

Or at least, the prologue to that:

The year is 199X, and I say that not out of privacy but because I can’t remember the exact year I built my first model. My brother and I had gotten into war toys at a young age, ably aided and abetted by our ex-military dad, who made sure we were always well-stocked on little plastic soldiers and tanks and ships and, of course, planes. Our budding fascination with that last one received a big boost thanks to PC games like Jane’s US Navy Fighters ‘97 and F22 Raptor (the Novalogic one), with their digitized English voices we barely understood and their amazing two-dimensional trees dotting the barely textured landscapes. And at some point, model kits entered the scene.

My memory’s pretty hazy on how exactly that happened. It’s possible that we just saw a couple of boxes sitting at the toy aisle next to GI Joe Extreme and Spider-Man TAS toys, and dad or mom indulged us. Another alternative is this models catalogue we ran into at our dad’s one time, a thick full-color volume absolutely brimming with cars and tanks and, yes, planes of every year, model and size. I remember that catalogue fondly. My brother and I divided it up in our imaginations, each one picking and choosing which models were theirs, even if we never actually held them in our hands. Good times, but again, hard to say if that was the catalyst.

What I do remember are the models themselves. My brother built a Saab Draken, an F-16, a big fat F-15 and a few others. I remember building a Concorde, an F-18 (one of those glueless snap-tite models), a Spitfire and a P-51 Mustang. I think there may have been an F-4 Phantom in there as well. Point is, we were fiending. Our fingers glued together so many times, it’s a small miracle that I still have fingerprints. But there was a not small wrinkle in our approach to the hobby: for whatever reason, neither my brother nor I ever actually painted the models.

Memory fails me again on the whys of this decision. It’s possible that we just didn’t know where to buy paints, since we got all our models at toy shops or supermarkets. It’s also possible that we simply figured out paints were too expensive, and were more than willing to settle for just gluing the models and calling it a day instead of bugging mom or dad for a surefire mess-creator. It’s even possible that we were simply intimidated by the herculean task of painting. I know I tried doing decals once and swore to never do it again. But for whatever reason, our room was slowly littered with gray plastic airplanes haphazardly put together with cheap glue, treated more like puzzles than models, toyed with until tailfins snapped and Sidewinder missiles were lost.

Years passed. Interests shifted. We got a PlayStation 1 to replace our venerable Sega Genesis, and since this was at the peak of games piracy in our country, we could buy four or five games with the money of a single plane kit. So after I was done with that P-51 (which I remember was the first time I’d tried doing the landing gears, a massive feat of courage for the time), I quietly hung up my glues and never built a model again for over two decades. I’d still walk past the occasional hobby shop along the way to school and looked at the flawless shiny Sabres on display, but I never felt an urge to jump back in.

And then Ace Combat happened.

My first contact with long-running arcade dogfight series Ace Combat had been watching my brother play AC3 on the PS1 ages ago. Years later, I bought him Ace Combat: Assault Horizon on the PS3 for his birthday. Plane games, I’d decided, were one of His Things, and just like with the models on the shop windows, I never felt the desire to intrude on his territory.

That all changed dramatically in August of this year. I’d been living alone for a good couple of years now and managed to upgrade my PC far beyond anything either of us had ever owned. I was (and still am) living large, buying games on a whim with no fear of system requirements or even price. Having long gotten everything I wanted, now I was happy to just grab things on sale whenever they popped up, curious new gems or old classics I’d never given a chance before. Then, on August 8th, Steam took me to a sale on Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, the latest entry in the series. It’d come out back in 2019 but had recently received a Top Gun-themed DLC pack. And funny enough, I’d just seen Top Gun: Maverick that week and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I figured, sure, why not?

I enjoyed Ace Combat 7 a lot more than Top Gun: Maverick. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot more than pretty much any other game I’d played so far in 2022. Call it a happy surprise, a revelation, a blast, whatever word you can think of, I promise it’s understating how deeply I vibed with this game. Everything from the gameplay to the story to the cool ass missions (Stealth infiltration ON A JET FIGHTER!) to the characters to the music, I was feeling it. I finished that game twice, then a third time to get all the hidden Aces, then a fourth time using a bright red MiG-21 armed only with machineguns because I was having THAT much fun.

And while I was playing through the campaign over and over, gleefully splashing bandits and dog-fighting thirty drones at the same time, something happened. One at a time, I found myself back in the cockpit of all those old planes from our creaky PC games and unpainted model kits. Falcons, Hornets, Raptors, they were all there, like old buddies I’d lost contact with, each one filled with hazy yet warm memories of sticky fingers and clicky keyboards. It felt like a reunion of sorts.

As I machine-gunned my way through giant airships like a time-displaced WWII fighter, a thought reached my head all the way up in the clouds it now lived in. A sudden desire to complete the circle.

I wanted to build models again. But this time, I wanted to do it right.

[sappygentlemen]

Part four to basement dweller

This series will probably have 3-4 more parts, just so everyone prepared to be EVISCERATED.

TW: DARK, GORE DESCRIPTIONS, TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS/ATTACHMENTS/BEHAVIORS. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION ☝️‼️

Its been 7 days since i locked Declan in the basement... I'm not as cruel as he was. On the first day, once i was sure he was asleep, i carefully and quietly entered the basement and treated his leg. Every morning i was kind enough to give him three meals, with a choice of what to eat and drink. I was much kinder, much softer, and maybe, that's what made me so angry. The longer i kept Declan down there, the angrier i became.. I've never been mad at Declan before, but i guess there's a first time for everything... even the most perfect of soulmates fight sometimes, i'm sure ill get over it, and forgive my perfect boy. Though, the idea continued to bug me, constantly repeating my head, along with the image of those green eyes, the appearance of his first whore, and then, the striking resemblance Austin wore to that slut. Declan was not kind to me, and though i did not deserve anything Declan doesn't give me. I still cant shake the feeling, the weight of his cruelty weighing heavy on me... more importantly.. his softness..not with me, but with others instead.

I had never known a kind Declan..a soft, sweet Declan. I did not recognize the man Austin knew. The man Austin saw. From the start, I had to prove myself to Declan.. make myself worthy of his presence, his bitter sweetness, his kind words, his touch.. everything was earned.. i changed for him. i did everything. for him.

Any-who!! I love my dear boy, my perfect soulmate.. my one and only... i think..

Right now, i'm walking down the steps, to let Declan out, eager to release him from his very short punishment. though i'm sure he learned his lesson. Walking down the steps was harder now, considering my missing leg.. speaking of which, hasn't been doing too well....I've done my best to keep it clean and fix it.. but i haven't been too mindful, as the only though in my mind is Declan. Quincy makes sure to check up on me, and bring me the proper tools to care for it as best as possible. He tries his best to help me as i climb down these steps, even making small talk, as always.

Once we reached the bottom, he scurried upstairs. Quincy was usually in charge of cleaning the basement, but since it currently house his older brother, i felt too cruel letting him see it, and decided to temporarily relieve him of that duty. Taking it upon myself instead. I opened the door, maneuvering around my crutches, a smile on my face as i slowly opened it, moving to stand at the door way, preparing to help Declan get out, so he could finally be with me. But instead, i was tackled.

Violent, strong, rough hands gripped my throat as i was shoved to the ground suddenly, before i could speak.

my eyes opening immediately, not wanting to believe it was Declan, wanting to fool myself once more. But as i looked into his eyes. his harsh... unwavering.. angry eyes... they were always angry weren't they..... i was forced to come to these realities, as i gasped and struggled for air, though it was of no use, no matter how much i ran, struggled, fought, kicked. it was no use. he got hold of me every time, choking me with a violent dedication. i knew i would die by his hands.

and i had only myself to blame....

Just as i had begun to accept death, a darkness clouding my vision as i took my final gasps, I heard shouting?....Quincy?... i had hoped Quincy was playing music and hadn't heard this.. i didn't want him to hate his only brother, because of my foolish actions. but i underestimated his nosiness, and i cursed myself for it. of course. i had ruined another person.. maybe Declan was doing what was best.. of course, that's what he always did... right?

For the first time in my life.. i didn't believe so.. i wanted to live... i had never tried to kill him.. so why was he so hell bent on my death? what had i done? was i not enough?

Before i could think any deeper in the few seconds of gasping, i felt, myself taking a large inhale of air, my eyes glued shut. expecting nothing to come through. a pitiful final attempt.. and this time, i felt.. air? in my lungs?.... as i tried to blink, I realized i was laying limp on the floor now, the heavy weight of Declans body had been lifted, and i could still hear screaming.. I still couldn't manage to move... or focus my vision for that matter. my body felt weak. i felt a strong stabbing pain in my left and right side, every time my body took desperate gasps..... ah..... id broken some ribs. The pain was all too familiar. easy to recognize by now.

What wasnt familar was the feeling og gentle.. soft.. comforting. warm hands, wrapping around my upper back and knees, as a figure, much smaller then Declan, attempted successfully to carry me. I felt his body move quickly, i could hear blurred speech as i think he atttempted speaking to me. Though with the malnourishment, dehydration, broke ribs, and earlier choking session. It was deemed unsuccesful. I didnt know hwere Quincy was taking me, but after a few minutes, i could hear another voice?

That voice... it was so gentle... much lighter then Quincys, kinder.... soft. Hearing it made me doubt my state of life? was i really here... or had i gone to heaven? was that an angel? their voice defiently made it seem so.

I felt more gentle, though shaky hands, taking me from Quincys arms, as i felt a huge surge of tickling in my throat, along with... liquid? it tasted like brass on my tounge as i leaned away from the persons chest, coughing up the thick, brassy liquid coating my throat. I had hoped i avoided their clothing and body with my spray of fluids. Suddenly, after a short run in the arms of thi mystery angel, i felt the soft, plush cushioning of a seat? and then a buckle over my chest... ah... i was in a car now, going god knows where. I heard both voices speak, each having an inflexion at the end that sounded more like a question... i think they were trying to keep me awake. And by god, i was trying... the urge to sleep, heavy on my shoulders. It was easy to seperate the two voices.. the unfamilar voice sounded, confident, but unsure. Leading blindly... and Quincys.. Quincys voice sounded shaky.. blurred..cracking at the end.. though i couldnt recognize their words, the nonsstop ringing in my ears made it very difficult, though i could still hear their tones.. blurred, slurry of words.. but i did my best to stay awake. telling myself to do it for Quincy..

For myself

stay awake

"SAM. SAM."

Quincy....i can hear him... i can hear him...

stay awake

"PLEASE. PLEASE"

......his hands... i feel them... so soft... so warm.. so shaky

stay awake

"I'M HERE...PLEASE HANG ON."

my dear Quincy..... always so good to me... so kind..

.....i'm sorry that in the end... i couldn't be strong for you..couldn't hold on when you need me most..... please forgive me.....

......stay....awake-

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

[likeastarstar]

1:02 AM - Hoseok

You knew this guy.

He lived across from you, used to be all colorful and vibrant. He was always smiling and dancing and singing- he was a bit annoying actually.

You weren't really the most sunshiney person yourself actually, more of a black cat instead. People weren't interesting and you couldn't find yourself trying to relate to most men, let alone this one with his obnoxious laugh and constant need to have people over at his apartment.

There was this one time he practically broke into your apartment while you were clothed in nothing but a small towel on your way out of the shower- okay, granted, he had barged in because he heard your scream and thought something had happened to you- but it wasn't any of his business anyway!

It was embarrassing enough that you had let out a blood curdling scream all because of a cockroach, let alone that someone caught you at your worst. You forced him to kill the bug and shoved him out the door, your hair so wet it flung droplets of water onto his shirt and seeped through the material, making it stick to his chest and reveal-

Huh, maybe he's a little interesting at all.

You eyes barely lingered on the piercing pushing through sheer white material over his pec and you tilted your head, making eye contact with him for a brief moment before regaining the shield of annoyance you always wore and slammed the door in his face.

Ever since then, you've hated that guy so much you look for him just to glare at him, stare at his front door just a little bit longer when you walk out of your place just to make sure he stays in there. You rolled your eyes at him when he was in the elevator at the same time as you, flipped him off when you crossed paths at the grocery store one time.

Now, you make sure to go at that very same time every week just to get another chance to see him tell him off.

Except for now you never see him at all.

There was mail collecting in front of his door and flooding the mailbox and you never ran into him at all.

"Did that tool move? The one in apartment 924? The one who's always smiling? Brown hair, wide set eyes- he's kind of...like noodley?"

"Noodley?" The man at the front desk asked, raising his eyes, "You mean Hobi?"

"What kind of a name is Hobi?" You scoffed, rolling your eyes.

"Well, his real name is Hoseok."

Hoseok.

You felt your heart thud and your hands tingle, taking a step back as your eyes widened slightly. Hoseok. That was...that was a good name.

You wanted to wrap your tongue around it, push the sound from side to side in your mouth and chew up the syllables. You breathed it out, allowing yourself to whisper his name just once, just quietly.

"Yeah, that asshole- is he gone? I mean, did he move or something?" You repeated.

"No, not that I'm aware of. Next time I see him, do you want me to mention that you asked about him?"

"Do you want me to move?" You asked sarcastically, "No, absolutely not. Don't say jack shit."

You frowned and went back up to your apartment, wondering if you could let yourself say his name just one more time.

The next time you saw him, his hair was white and he looked tired, lugging a black duffle on his shoulder with a pissed off look on his face. You were stumbling on your way back from a club, slightly drunk but not drunk enough to forget that you absolutely had to order food right this minute, shuffling into the elevator staring at a menu on your phone.

You were staring so hard that you didn't realize anyone else was in the elevator, bumping directly into Hobi's chest when you walked in.

He grunted, looking down at you with a frown and an expression that said 'what is wrong with you?'.

You let out a squeak of surprise and backed up, eyes wide as your ass hit the wall opposite to him, staring at his appearance. You hadn't ever seen his hair like this- all short and spiked up and he was exhausted and annoyed by you and it was sexy.

"You're forgetting something," He grumbled quietly, cutting through the silence between you two with a voice barely louder than a whisper, deep in tone and gravelly with sleep.

Maybe it's because you were drunk, but it made you squeeze your thighs a little closer together.

You frowned and tilted your head, too focused on the adam's apple bobbing against his throat to respond verbally. Silently, Hobi picked up a manicured hand- black nail polish, sexy. Sexy- sexy- and flipped you off, his long middle finger paired with a bored expression on his face.

Your mouth fell open and the elevator dinged perfectly on time.

"Have a good night, nice dress." Hoseok said with a smirk, leaving you alone in the elevator without so much as a word.

You saw him more after that but something had shifted. He wasn't smiling as much, keeping to himself or always glued to his phone and a large pair of headphones that warded off any attempt at conversation.

Not that you'd attempt to talk to him either way- you weren't friendly, you hated him, remember?

It didn't make a difference to you until one day it did and the two of you were the only ones in the mail room, rifling through your three bills while he had about thirty unopened packages and a million more letters in his hand. He seemed annoyed by it all, shoving his headphones off of his head and driving a fist into his now jet black, short cropped hair. You eyed the way it stuck up straight and matted down in other spots where the strap of the headphones had been sitting, wondering what on earth he was always listening to.

You stared at him long enough for Hoseok to notice, a steely eyed look meeting yours out of the corner of his eyes, "You need something?"

"You're wearing black."

He frowned, staring down at the black painter style jumpsuit he had on, "Okay?"

"What's wrong with you?" You barked, frowning at him.

"Am I not allowed to wear black?" He asked, tilting his head in a confused way. He looked at you for the first time in awhile and you watched his eyes widen, wondering what that meant.

"You're wearing black and you don't do that annoying smile anymore and you dyed your hair. It's back to normal now but it's dirty and you're wearing black. You don't even try to make Mrs. Choi on the fourth floor laugh anymore when you see her and you're wearing black- what's wrong with you?" You ranted, pouting stubbornly.

Hoseok's face screwed up in frustration, hands balling into fists before he cursed under his breath, falling into an exhausted puddle on the ground. He sat amongst his piles of mail with his head between his knees, groaning in annoyance.

Oops.

"I'm fucking tired- I've been working on something and I don't have the time to focus on anything else." He said quietly, "I'm just tired."

"You're so dramatic," You laughed, taking a step closer to him, "Get over it, Hobi. It's just work, don't be such a cog. Take a break, find something to distract you."

"You really don't get it," He grumbled, shaking his head. He froze, peering up at you with a curious expression before rising to his full height.

He was a significant amount taller than you and you hadn't realized how close he was so when he stood, you gasped audibly, taken aback by how intimidating he was up close. Hoseok's eyes were trained on you, narrowed slightly in suspicion. You noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the smoothness of his skin, wanting to reach out and touch him- just to see what it would be like.

"I thought you hated me but now you seem to know all about me- I don't even know yours and yet you're calling me by my nickname, no honorifics, no manners?" He asked.

You wondered how his voice could be so soft and yet be the only thing worth focusing on, the tone of it making you lean in and want to listen to him all the time.

"Well, barging into other people's apartments when they're naked doesn't exactly scream mr.manners either," You pointed out, taking a step back.

Hoseok smiled for the first time in months and you felt pride blossom in your chest. He took you in for a moment before sighing, "You definitely weren't naked- I'd remember that."

You blushed and forced yourself to look away from him, gathering your mail before rushing past him, "Yeah, well- whatever, just stop being so emo, Mrs. Choi needs a friend or whatever."

"Mrs. Choi said that, huh?" Hobi smirked, watching you avoid eye contact with him.

You flipped him off and his laugh boomed off the walls, staying with you long after you had returned back to your apartment.

You went through the rest of your evening, unable to shake the very annoying, incessant, incredibly frustrating boy off your mind.

You showered wondering if whether you screamed right now, Hoseok would come bounding in again. You brushed your teeth wondering what his lips felt like, stared at your reflection and wondered why his eyes got so wide when he looked at you earlier.

More importantly, what did he do for work that had him so stressed?

You thought he was a dancer or something- that's what Mrs. Choi had told you at least. Not that you asked, she just talked a lot and the elevator was so slow sometimes.

But anyway, she told you that he was a dancer, that's why he was always getting noise complaints and was up at odd hours. You wondered what kind of dancing he was doing, whether it was something stupid like ballet or something. You snorted, imagining him in tights and pointe shoes until you got to his thighs suddenly it wasn't so stupid anymore.

"Damn," You mumbled to yourself, wondering if Mrs. Choi could get you a video of him dancing or something.

You dressed yourself quickly, pulling a large shirt over your head and foregoing panties because....you were looking for your vibrator instead. You cursed your own hormones, wishing you weren't so damn turned on by that stupid fucking sunshine boy who isn't so sunshiny anymore- this wouldn't have happened if he wasn't going through an emo phase.

"Where the hell is it?" You mumbled to yourself, hunting in your bedside table.

You dove underneath your bed, hunting in the random pile of junk shoved under there until there was a knock at your front door. You squeaked in surprise, the top of your head hitting the bed frame. You winced and hurried to answer the door.

You swung it open, still clutching the top of your head. Hoseok appeared, without his headphones for the first time in months and a shiny smile back on his face. You felt your cheeks redden and immediately remembered that you didn't have anything but a shirt on- shrieking immediately.

"What?" Hoseok screamed back, looking behind him wildly with a fearful look on his face.

"I don't- Uh, nothing," You stammered, thinking maybe your shirt was big enough to hide your indecency. "W-What are you doing? Here, I mean- What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, I know it's late, were you asleep?" He asked, taking in your appearance and stopping at the top of your thighs. His lips parted, falling open in a cute little heart shape that you'd be able to better admire if you weren't so focused on the violent horniness coursing through your body.

You squeezed your legs together, hoping he wouldn't notice, "I wasn't asleep- what are you doing here?"

Hoseok tilted his head over and looked at you, eye contact so consistent it intimidated the shit out of you.

"I'm, uh," He said awkwardly, a slow smile growing on his face, "I'm trying to take someone's advice. You know, stop being a cog, find something to distract myself."

"Sounds like good advice," You nodded, "So what'd you find to distract you?"

He grinned, stepping towards you. You leaned in instinctively, scanning his face carefully. He smirked, humming lightly in a way that reminded you of a cat.

"You."

to be continued...?

masterlist.

[feelin-woozy]

Title: Stoke The Fire

Word Count: 1984

Pairing: Bo Sinclair x female!reader

Warnings: Daddy kink, breeding, degradation, dumbification

Thanks @slasherrabbitmadness for the inspiration and the absolute brain rot that she has given me with the idea of dilf!Bo :) go check out her dilf Bo stuff because it's,,, chefs kiss.

It wasn’t uncommon for you to spend time over at Bo’s house; it became almost like a second home over the years. Your father and Bo have a relationship that bloomed from the moment they entered business together a few years back. It wasn’t easy to imagine what life was like before Bo became so close to your family.

A warm summer breeze blows past you, ruffling the soft saffron colored cotton of your dress against your thighs. Of course, you don’t miss the way Bo’s blue eyes dart to the newly exposed flesh of your thigh, but beyond that, he doesn’t make a move, just sips the beer in his hand and takes another easy drag off the cigarette.

Your dad is prattling on about this and that, talking about some jackoff who tried to rip him off the other day at work claiming that his rate was ludacris and that there were a dozen other mechanics that could do it for cheaper. And sure, that may have been true, but the quality wasn’t there. It wasn’t biased, perhaps a little, but it was still a well known fact that your dad and Bo ran the best mechanic shop in town; it’s why they got away with the rates they charged. And there was always a sense of taking care of the community, their community, that had the townsfolk whipped and willing to shell out the money.

The lively strumming of guitars swirled around you, and you bounced your leg to the steady beat of the Seether song that played over the speakers. It was heavier than the usual stuff that your dad played around the house, but then there were many things about Bo that were heavier. Perhaps that’s why they worked so well together.

Your attention is drawn away from the melodic beat and easy going conversation between Bo and your dad when a small hand tugs at the hem of your dress. You turn your head to look down at the young girl, blue eyes staring up at you with a smile that lacked a few teeth. You return the smile to her, waiting for her to speak and voice whatever thoughts swirled around in that head of hers.

You had nearly forgotten that Oliva was here with the three of you. Bo’s time with her split with his ex-girlfriend, who he had some choice words about every time she was brought up. The young girl was undeniably Bo’s child through unruly brown hair bouncing with every shift she made and blue eyes that were carbon copies of her father’s. You couldn’t help but wonder what she got from her mother; Bo didn’t have any photos of her around the house.

“Will you come play with me?” She reaches for your hands, her skin slightly sticky from God knows what, but you don’t pull away; you just give her hand a small squeeze in return.

“Olive, sweetie, don’t bug her. Go play by yourself okay?” Bo says softly, a sort of sternness shining through his words. You lift your gaze to look at Bo, and you catch a glimpse of fondness that softens the lines of his face. Olivia whines, eyebrows furrowing as if she’s about to pitch a fit at Bo’s words.

“It’s okay Bo,” You smile at him, wide and radiant as you get to your feet without letting go of Olivia’s hand. “I don’t mind.”

Bo just nods his head with a bit of a shrug before turning his attention to your dad again. However, you don’t miss the way his eyes surveil you as Olivia drags you to the small backyard park that Bo and your dad had built together the previous summer.

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

It’s almost two weeks later when you find yourself bent over the laminate countertop, hands scrambling for purchase as you’re pushed forward again and again. You hadn’t even been here for five minutes, coming by only to grab some tools for your dad to borrow, wearing that same saffron dyed dress you had worn last time that you were over here. Bo’s worn trucker hat lost to the linoleum, jeans pushed only half way down his thighs, leaving his belt to jangle incessantly with every movement. The edge of the countertop digs into your hip bones saved only for the dress that’s bunched up over the curve of your ass. It does little to pad and protect you against the vicious rocking of Bo’s hips, but it’s better than nothing.

“Been thinkin’ about this sweet pussy every fuckin’ day,” Bo groans, grimey fingers curling into your hips and dragging you back against himself. He stays put for a moment, keeping your bodies pressed flushed together. “Been thinkin’ about knocking you up.”

The way your pussy flutters around his length is indecorous, the whimper you let out even more so. But it can’t be helped; hearing the filth that dripped from Bo’s lips always had that effect on you, but there was something about the way he said it that made your insides churn. The serious edge to his words that wasn’t there the times you had fucked prior, the way his words turned from a pipe dream to something that could be a reality.

“Does my baby like that idea?” Bo titters, the noise breathless and broken. A testament to the effect that this was having on him as well. “Like the thought of me fuckin’ a baby into you?”

“Fuck, Bo.” Your head drops, cheeks pressing into the chilled countertop. You don’t even pretend like this wasn’t doing it for you, hips rocking back against his to tempt him into staying true to your word. “Yeah, yeah fuck.”

He leans over you, the thin cotton t-shirt dragging along your sweat-slicked back as he pressed his lips to your neck, teeth catching the rosy skin. For a moment, you think that he was about to leave a mark to bloom against your skin, a small sign over ownership that would have you avoiding your parents’ home till the skin healed, and you could look them in the eyes once more.

“Gunna have to get you off that birth control of yours,” Bo murmurs, pressing a wet kiss to your cheek before he pulls away again, looming over you and admiring the way he has you splayed out like a wrecked mess in his kitchen. The windows open, and the back sliding door cracked so neighbors would be able to hear every little indecent noise that passed your lips like a mantra. You were glad for the arborvitae that lined the fence. It gave you some privacy, even if it wasn’t much, and it did ease your nerves considerably. “After that, maybe I’ll just keep you on my cock day ‘n night till I know it took.”

Your hands curl into fists at the thought, knuckles blanching under the force. The idea has your mind melting; nothing has ever sounded so perfect to you. It was almost insane how easily Bo got you cockdrunk, how easily he bent you to every whim that crossed his mind. But there was something about his smile, his scent, the way he could play you as if the two of you were made for each other that left you a strung out fanatic.

“Tell me how badly you want it,” Bo growls, nails cutting crescent shaped moons into your hips. If he wasn’t dragging you so perfectly through the trenches of pleasures, the pain might have brought you from the lust addled fog, but instead, it only shoves you down further. It made you feel like you were drowning, drowning in his words, the scent of sex that hung headily around you, the obscene noises that sounded like your own but were so far away, the way skin slapped against each other and the wet noises of your pussy dripping around his thick cock. It was all too much, and you knew it would only be a matter of time before your orgasm swept you pitilessly under the current. “Come on baby, if you wanna cum you gotta tell Daddy how badly you want it.”

A sob tears through your chest, thighs shaking as you’re forced onto the points of your toes with each thrust. Bo laughs above you cruelly, not once slowing down and allowing you a moment of reprieve to find your words. There was a satisfaction in seeing the way he strung you along, bringing you so close to the edge, and you knew that if you didn’t give in, give him what he wanted, he would pull away.

It wouldn’t have been the first time. There had been many times he’d pull out only to jerk himself off to completion and paint your pussy, or your panties, only to force you to wear his cum as a reminder. So you try with a renewed desperation, to try and formulate anything of sense before Bo had the chance to pull out of you.

“I-I fuck,” You stutter, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Every time the words were cocked and loaded on your tongue, the way he brushed against that spot within you had them rolling off your tongue in the form of drool. If it didn’t feel so fucking good, it would’ve been beyond humiliating.

“You look fuckin’ pathetic like this,” Bo sneers, hips stuttering. You knew he was close, his words coming out a sharp rasp as each thrust was punctuated with a guttural growl. “Just an empty headed slut made to be knocked up. S’okay baby, Daddy will take care of you.”

That’s what sends you over the edge, cunt clenching down like a vice around the cock plowing into you. It must have been good because you’re distantly aware of the sound of Bo choking on a noise within his throat. And God, do you wish that you were more aware and not floating listlessly through the waves of pleasure so you could see just how wrecked Bo was. You wanted to acknowledge the way graying brown hair clung to his forehead, cheeks flushed as he gritted his teeth. It was always one of your favorite sights. A low moan tumbles from the two of you at the feeling of warmth filling you, the gentle pulsing of his cock as he empties himself within you.

The two of you remained like that for a moment, and you silently wished it would never end as you tried to quell your racing heart and the rapid movement of your chest. Then, when Bo begins to pull out, you whine, but he only snickers, fingers moving from your hips to dance along your folds, running through the slick and cum that dripped out.

“Ya mean it?” You whine softly, pressing back as he pushes cum back inside of you.

“Mean what, baby?” Bo muses, fingers moving at a taunting pace. You crane your neck a bit to stare up at Bo, catching the post sex bliss that overlays his face, the smug look that only makes your stomach twist, thighs clenching.

“Are you going to knock me up?” Your tongue flicks out over your lower lip, eyes fluttering at the feeling of his thick fingers stretching you open once more. Bo groans low in his throat at the thought, and you peek your eye open to catch sight of the twisted grin on his face and the dark intent that swirled within blue eyes.

“Course I am,” Bo says matter of factly as he pulls his fingers out of you, reaching down to grab the lace panties you wore and pull them back up over you. With a pat on your ass, he begins to tuck himself back into his pants, walking over to the fridge. “Would be a shame to let that pretty pussy a’ yours to go to waste.”

[datawyrms]

snap

It is The Day I post my Invisobang fic! it was a wild ride to write everything and not post. This is actually the second fic I did, as the first fell into my pit of ‘i hate it now’ and will sit in limbo for the rest of eternity. I teamed up with Spirit ( @ghostportals ), who has done some accompanying art! That, and Red @redead-red saved my bacon by doing some betaing last moment, so tell em they’re great too. Hope you’re all enjoying the flood of finished fics and art this week! Only the first chapter is here, the rest is posted on my Ao3 and complete. hope you enjoy!

One careless fall changed Danny's life forever. He was kind of hoping one fall like that was enough for any lifetime. Clearly fate disagreed.

It's fine though! He's got this. He's fine. He can totally explain why he ran off with his own body to mom and dad.

The stairs had always been a little too steep, a titch too narrow, but he was used to them. Jazz worried too much- the whole Fenton family knew how to take them two steps at a time. He wasn’t going to admit she might have a point just because he’d slipped one time. He wished there was a railing to catch himself with- it would have spared him some of the pain of his head knocking on the stair.

It didn’t hurt that much. Plenty of ghosts hit harder, and far more frequently.

“Took a bit of a spill eh, Danno?”

Great, dad saw him slip like he was three again. He wanted to speak, wave his behemoth of a father off before he got tangled up in some long lecture about whatever they were working on down here. Just had to sit up.

He was a little stunned or something. All those late nights made his limbs rebel when he wanted them to hurry up. Come on, before he tries to help and accidentally shaves his hair off with some anti-ghost stepladder or something.

His arms stubbornly rejected his internal horror story. His attempt to say ‘I’m fine’ was more a gurgle than anything. Way to go, Fenton. Do everything to get dad to worry! Really using those genius genes. Jazz probably stole his anyway, or they got fried in the accident. Come on! A bit of self berating should have him sitting bolt upright by now. Maybe his arm twitched. He felt something move, anyway. More like a muscle spasm.

“Danny? You okay?” The large man came closer, his usual jog slowed.

Of course he’s fine. He could see dad, sort of. He totally moved his eyes to see him better, even. Stupid ghost powers were just acting up.  It’s okay,  just give me a second to stand up. You’re worrying over nothing.

 Jack had already made it over, crouching to get a better look at his fallen son. Like he was trying to look smaller or something with how carefully he was moving. Where was all that slow, ginger movement when he was driving? Or trying to tell them about some new invention that might burn off your eyebrows?

 I’m fine, dad. He couldn’t get the words to come out, but he was just fine. He really didn’t like the strange look on his father’s face. After all, ‘Jack Fenton doesn’t know the meaning of the word fear’ or whatever random thing he felt like shouting when chasing after entities from another dimension. Come on dad, stop looking like that. It was creeping him out. Moving should be easy, a snap, but part of him didn’t feel like doing it. Apparently an important part? He could visualize exactly what to do, but he wasn’t sitting up. He swore he could feel his muscles clenching but not finishing the movement. Maybe they were testing something down here that just made all the ectoplasm hiding inside him take a nap. His ectoplasm was so fired after this.

 “Can you look at me kiddo?”

 Coaxing him. This was weird. Why wasn’t he just hauling him off the floor and laughing about how clumsy he was at his age too? Looking at him was easy. Pretty hard to miss him, with all the bright orange.

 “Maddie? Can you come over here?” His question was strangely stilted, not much of a bellow.

 Dad was going to get the wrong idea because his body didn’t want to cooperate. Great. Fantastic. He could feel the warmth in his chest, the sign his heart was still going. He was just fine, just a bit inconvenienced at the moment. Why couldn’t dad just be  dad  and do something dumb like pick him up with one hand while sounding way too excited about some new tool that he built?

 “What’s wrong?” His mom said, her footsteps doing the same thing dad’s had. Speed that suddenly cut down to almost nothing. “Danny, did you hit your head?”

 “I think he might have, he’s not responding. I didn’t want to try to move him-“

 “You did great Jack, it’s okay.”

 Gross. He hoped they didn’t get caught up in one of their lovey dovey circles while he was stuck trying to get his stupid legs to remember how to do things. He was responding! He groaned, and he definitely twitched a bit. Weren’t they paying attention? He tried again, a bit more forcefully and ignoring the pang in his neck. More of a jolt from someone with too much static cling than actual pain, really.

 “Should I call 911? He isn’t moving! He just stayed there- didn’t even act all tough for his old man!”

 Jack was panicking.  Dad was panicking. Over nothing! Why wasn’t mom distracting him with fudge or some random study? No one was being normal today. Danny shuddered, he knew he did, it went with the pulse under his skin.

 “That’d be great sweetie, just stay close.”

 “In case you need my big strong arms to help carry him, right?”

 “Just in case.” She wasn’t wearing the hood of her jumpsuit, at least.

 It didn’t make it more comfortable when she crouched down, biting her lip and staring at him. Like this was concerning. It was the opposite of that, he was a klutz, a gangly teenager, it was normal for him to be a bit banged up. This shouldn’t concern her, or anyone. The only reason it bugged him was the not being able to move right now nonsense.

 “You aware in there sweetie?” she said, rather loudly and clapping near his ear.

  Yes I am, but I can’t tell you. Maybe he could focus on taking a breath and it would kick off whatever turned off his mind to body connection. Had he done anything strange before coming down here? Not really. He could absolutely feel her digging her nails into his earlobe though, ow! More motivation to move, but something wasn’t getting across. Maybe he was getting a bit freaked out about it too. Only because of his parents being weird. He was fine, he had to be fine. It was nothing, less than nothing.

 “I’m just going to make sure he’s still breathing Jack, do you have anyone on the line yet?”

 A loud response, but not to her question. “No it’s not a ghost emergency! It’s a human emergency!”

 Of course he was breathing. He couldn’t look that bad from such a small fall. Just breathe out the words ‘Hey mom, personal space’ and they’d laugh and it’d be nothing. All this fussing was making his skin crawl but of course he had to have ‘special ghost freezing up’. Was it his ice powers? Like he could get his powers being snarky like that, appreciated it in a twisted sort of way- but it would be better around people who wouldn’t assume the worst? Like anyone else. Even Dash.

 “Tell the operator he isn’t breathing.” Maddie’s voice was cold and controlled, even as she went back to biting her lip right after.

 He was totally breathing. He could feel the air that ran in and out of his lungs, the swell and fall that other ghosts knew as a weak point, a way to slow him down. He knew what being doubled over, air shoved right out of him from a harsh blow felt like, how it felt like the portal again. Throat twitching, body heaving and trying to regain what it lost. The darkness that bit at the edges of his vision as every nerve went screaming  You’re Dying . Hated that feeling, shook the ghosts who did that hard once they were in a thermos. This was nothing like that.

 “He isn’t breathing, you need to hurry! My wife knows CPR- just tell them to hurry this is my  son , please”

 Yelling to hide the quaver in his voice. Like a kicked puppy yelping. It sounded so wrong. This was going to be so awkward after. They’d just...pretend this never happened, right? That’d be for the best. No, he was going to get grounded forever for some ‘dumb prank’, since he was fine and worried them so much. Which didn’t seem too bad if it stopped all of...this.

 He moved a little. A toe, he was pretty sure. More notably was his mother, carefully getting him off the uneven stair to be flat on his back. Trying to keep his head from moving, and she couldn’t see he was looking at her? When she was this close? Too busy trying to be calm. Who could be busy enough to think he wasn’t breathing or tracking with his eyes? Another twitch, another inward curse that he couldn’t get back in control.

 “Just hold on, help is coming.” She said, but the half ghost couldn’t tell who she meant, exactly. Him, dad or herself? Either way the quiet remark did not prepare him for the sheer force slammed into his crest. Like she wanted to slam right through him! Was it so much to ask that his parents stop nearly killing him by trying to help? Just try moving again and everything will be fine.

 He couldn’t keep the mental mantra up when he heard- when he felt his ribs crack from the pointless force. She was killing him, he didn’t need help breathing, he had to get it through to them no matter how much his body buzzed and resisted his need to move. He had to focus and push through it, ignoring how cold and wrong it felt, how it seemed like he was squirming free of something that didn’t want him to go.

 Her bone crushing assault stopped once he got his arm up, not even needing to touch her before she froze. The fear was wrong, out of place so he redoubled his efforts, twisting and struggling against himself, the sticky mass that wasn’t letting him act or speak to calm them down.

 The phone hit the floor. He heard it. So why didn’t dad say anything? Danny twisted, wanting to make sure he was okay. Still stuck. At least he had a hand free and most of an arm, the edges of his fingers tracing the tiles of the floor. He could brace himself that way, pushing down hard to try and jar his shoulder loose. He could hear air moving, like a harsh breath out. Good- breathing was good. Even when it sounded so harsh and low. 

 “Jack- are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Maddie moved back, giving him the space he wanted ever since she’d cracked his ribs. They still stung under his skin, hissing at him to keep his parents away before he managed to get even more injuries over something so silly.

 “I’m not sure what we’re seeing.” The phone remained on the floor.

 That didn’t seem right. He’d sat up, mostly. Half sat up, propped up with an arm. Still mostly stuck and uncomfortable, the snapping and crackling sensation still clinging to his free shoulder. Really, he felt worse than how he started. at least there wasn’t pain in ‘hah my body is playing freeze tag without me’ land. The pulling sensation made his head ache and vision swim to the point he wasn’t actually sure if he was still looking at the ceiling or not. He couldn’t go back to just being frozen though, that’d suck. So just convince the rest of himself to get up. No problem!

Were lies in his head always this unconvincing? It felt like yanking himself free of a too sticky slime, strands clinging and tugging back until they finally snapped, parts still stuck but free of the main mass. At least ectoplasm had the decency not to stretch when you got drenched in it most of the time.  Come on, focus and keep it together.  He let out a wheeze as the last stubborn strands snapped, ignoring how loud it sounded to properly reorient himself.

 Sitting up, properly, good! Parents staring with weird, half horrified expressions: bad. Very, very bad. 

“I’m okay, I just fell.” Danny spoke, he could speak properly again. So why? “Sorry for scaring you guys?” He tried again, trying to ignore the first thought across his mind.

 They kept staring. Maddie seemed to be recovering, shoulders starting to relax, but she seemed to be reaching for her belt.

 He didn’t sound right. No, that wasn’t quite right, he just sounded wrong for Danny  Fenton. Who he should be right now, he hadn’t been able to talk, let alone go ghost. This probably looked really, really bad. How had he switched, anyway?

Mom was reaching for a gun, wasn’t she? Crud. Now he regretted talking at all, how was he going to explain why Danny Phantom was treating two ghost hunters like his parents? Or how he managed to look like their kid. Maybe he could change back and convince them they were seeing things?

Yeah no, that was way too dumb.

 “Wait.” Jack rested a hand on his wife’s shoulder, causing her to stop pulling the weapon. He wasn’t looking at the ghost at all, just her. Maddie remained stiff, not able to ignore the glowing kid on her floor.

 Okay...dad was usually the gung ho one. Maybe he could get away with this? Danny tried to get a better grip on the situation. Felt a new pain, sharp and cold in his throat. Deep green scars clashed against his white gloves and ran all across his jumpsuit,  glow intensifying as the panic choked him into silence. Fresh and angry like back- back before he managed to stumble out of the portal when he died when the accident happened.

With his human arms just as scared below them, still against the tile. The damage looked old, half scabbed over with only a dull glow deep in the death marks wounds. His arms attached to the rest of his body- that he was half out of. 

 Why? How was his body still and silent while he was sitting and looking at it. He’s cold. His body is cold. It isn’t  breathing  there isn’t some other facet of his personality sitting behind the dull blue eyes. This isn’t how it works! If he splits, it’s just temporary, he can fix it but his other half- corpse is wrong.

The pulling and clinging at his legs doesn’t feel like slime anymore. Rotting flesh that wants to drag him back, smother him in a cloying warmth that will only remind him why it burned, how it hurt. He had to move, he couldn’t stay half like this, it would get better once it wasn’t like this.

It didn’t want to let go as he tried to pull away, ectoplasm getting snagged on every nerve and muscle fiber, each pause a reminder of the shock and pain of his end that day.

He knew he screamed when he pulled free and slammed into the wall, furious green scars still marring his jumpsuit where there should be none.

 What would Mom and Dad think?

 No no no no no. He spotted movement from them and acted. He couldn’t let his mom break his body more, or look at it too closely. Dad couldn’t see what happened! This was fine, he could fix this!

 He grabbed his corpse and fled through the wall.

[alby-rei]

[Arthur Week, Day 3] Midnight Snacks

a/n: in which MC (ft. accomplice Dazai) wants to make the resident flirt, Arthur Conan Doyle, jealous. Why? Who knows! But what I do know is that it ends up working in his favor rather than MC’s... wait, what?

a/n 2: changed the title cuz it was bothering me xD nothing else changed.

My entry for @scummy-writes​‘s Arthur Week! 

Day 3: Coffee and Fudge || Writer’s Block

[Pairing]: Arthur x You/gn!MC, (pre-relationship)

[Characters]: You, Arthur, Dazai, Sebastian

[Word count]: ~2300 words

[Rating]: T

[POV]: 2nd Person 

“...and all of a sudden, I hear Mozart yell ‘stop releasing chickens in my music room!’ but Dazai didn’t even flinch!” You brought a foam-covered hand up to your mouth to cover your laughter.

You and Sebastian were cleaning the dishes together after lunch time. You’ve made it a habit to catch up on your day and share observations with Sebas, as pretty much no one steps into the kitchen around this time.

Well, that is except—

“_____~!”

Except Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, naturally. He must’ve finished his writing session and been wandering around the mansion, as is his trademark since your arrival.

You closed your eyes, hoping the man would walk past the kitchen without checking. You weren’t exactly in the mood for flirty games with the mystery writer, especially not after dealing with a haughty music teacher in Mozart. Sadly, luck was not on your side, today.

“I’ll tell you the rest later,” you wipe your hands with a towel. Picking up the tray of plates and cups to put them in their rightful places, you didn’t pay the writer any mind.

“After this I gotta find Dazai,” you said as you opened a cupboard. Your turned around to find Arthur leaning on the door frame, and your tone shifted dramatically, “Oh! Arthur, funny to see you here.”

Sebastian knew that tone very well. It was your sickeningly sweet voice that you dedicated to either (a) dodging conversation, or (b) planning something against that person.

“I’d say the same to you, ___, but you’re always in the kitchen. I couldn’t help dropping in to check on my favorite bird,” Arthur leaned against the door frame, flashing you a grin and a wink.

“Oh please, don’t talk about birds after what happened this morning,”  You caught sight of your target at the end of the hallway, “aaaand I have to go, see ya!” 

You duck under Arthur’s arm while his guard was down. He twirled around to follow you, but you evaded him, calling out to Dazai. Arthur stood in his tracks, as he watched the japanese author stop for you, and you beamed up at him.

“Dazai-san, I’ve been wanting to ask you for something, if you’re… free,” you noticed mid-sentence that the chicken that was still nestled in his arms.

“Hm?” His piercing yellow eyes brightened, “I’ll always have time for you, Toshiko-san.”

“Bawk!” The chicken… agreed, supposedly.

You laughed sheepishly, “That’s very sweet of you, I was actually interested in learning about your writing style and get some advice. I’ve been going through some terrible writer’s block.”

“I was working on a short story earlier, it’s in my room. Want to come with me?” He began to lead her towards his room.      

“I’m honored! I’d love to, Dazai-san.”

Oh yes, you were definitely planning something, Sebastian noted.

As the two of them walked away, Arthur stood glued watching the scene. Sebastian had been poking his arm the whole time, but he didn’t budge. Even shaking his entire arm didn’t spur any sudden movement from him.

“Sir Arthur. Earth to Sir Arthur,” Sebas continued tapping his shoulder and pinching his arm.

“Huh? Oh…” His gaze held an odd expression, one that Sebastian hadn’t seen from him before—a hint of sadness, maybe even frustration. But it was quickly replaced by his signature grin as he finally took notice of me, “Sorry, Sebas, I must’ve been blocking your path, got to go!”

And just like that, he scurried off.

After a moment’s pause, and after making sure the hallway was clear of esteemed residents, Sebastian did much the same, but in the opposite direction. He has notes to take, pronto. 

~*~

You and Dazai sat in the lounge room, having passed by his room, and Dazai collected his writing material.

“You have really pretty hands, Toshiko-san. I’ve heard you playing in Mo-kun’s piano room, you’re a wonderful pianist,” Dazai held your hand delicately in his, as he ran his thumb over your knuckles.

“Thank you, it’s something I take a lot of pride in,” your heart swelled from the warmth of his compliment, “but I’ve been much more interested with writing as of late. Actually, I’ve always wanted to write a novel.”

“Oh? I admire your ambition. How can I help?”      

“Well well well, what do we have here?” A third voice chimed in.

Right on time, as you expected.

“Have I interrupted your little rendezvous?” Arthur walked slowly and purposefully, as if he had caught them red-handed doing something they shouldn’t.

Internally, he was trying his best not to jump to conclusions. That would be uncharacteristic of him, after all. You weren’t tied to him in anyway, so there was no reason to feel so jealous that you went to Dazai for writing help instead of him. He didn’t even know about it!

So why was his heart pounding so loudly in his head while his eyes were fixated on their linked hands?

Dazai withdrew his hand, occupying it with his writing pen instead. He shot Arthur a smile with closed eyes.

“Of course not, we were just talking, Arty.”

“…Don’t call me that,” Arthur narrowed his eyes, “and second, I’d like to steal ____ now.”

“I’m sorry, Arthur, but I want to talk with Dazai a bit to improve my writing.”

Being shot down so directly caught Arthur off-guard; his insecurities getting a hold of him. For the first time, he found himself at a loss for ways to turn the conversation in his favor. At the moment, if he persisted, and you kept turning him down, he wouldn’t be able to let it down for the rest of the day.

Instead, Arthur straightened himself, fixing his tie, “Well then, I’m heading to the pub soon enough to find me a pretty skirt for the evening. Have fun, you two, I know I will.”

He huffed childishly, going out with a wave. Dazai turned to you with a polite smile.

“Do you think it worked?”

“Oh, he is definitely salty, thanks for agreeing to this, Dazai-san.”

“Any time, Yoshie-san, what are housemates for?” He smiled fondly at you.

“You’re a great actor, didn’t even flinch!”

“Ah, but who said I was acting?”

He got up with his writing tools and stepped out of the lounge before you registered what he said.

“Wait… what?!”

~*~

Later that evening…

…Well, more like around midnight, you just happened to catch the insomnia bug and were heading to the kitchen, as all people naturally do when they’re insomniac. You switched on the lights, thankful for the dimness of the lanterns in the kitchen. Scanning your options, your eyes settled on the coffee pot that sat quietly in the corner. Thoughts of a certain mystery writer gnawed at you, but you darted them away and walked past the coffee pot to get a glass of water instead. You leaned forward, filling her glass with bleary eyes that refused to slumber but also refused to open properly.  

Suddenly, you felt a touch to your backside. Eyes cracking wide open, you spun around and swung your makeshift weapon of glass at your offender. The offending mop of ash blue hair felt the full force of the blow, and the glass shattered across the floor.

Well crap.

“Ow… If I’m not mistaken, I’d say you were trying to kill me there, ____.”

For the love—.

“Arthur what the hell were you trying to pull?! Bloody hell! You made my heart drop.”

In a flash, his body was pressed against yours, caging you between his arms and the kitchen counter. The crunch of the glass under his shoes was the only sound in the room. You saw a small stream of blood start to fall by his ear.

“I was going to prepare myself a midnight snack with my coffee, but it seems I already found one ready for a taste test,” he licked the back of his fangs.

“At this hour??” It was well past midnight by now, and caffeine was the last thing you’d recommend anyone at this time. 

You felt his breath on your ear before he inhaled your scent. It was comforting to him as much as it was intoxicating to his senses.

He sighed, “____… I can’t get you out of my mind, no matter what I do.”

His arms circled around your waist, pulling you away from the countertop and flush against him, instead. All sorts of alarms were going off in your mind despite the drowsiness, with your instincts telling you to push him off.

“But then, you started avoiding me. And then… Sebastian and Mozart and even Dazai took you away from me,” he sniffled.

You pushed him off gently but still within his arms, as you stared at his face. There was a pink dust across his cheeks and a redness in the corners of his eyes.

“Arthur, are you… drunk?”

His frown flipped into a grin as he nuzzled his nose into your disheveled hair.

“Oh, don’t be silly, dear. I may have been out drinking, but I can bloody well hold my liquor. Theo can vouch for me on that.”

(a/n: no, he can’t lmao)

The sight of him in a somewhat vulnerable state, as well as the smell of his cologne, made it hard for you to properly fight him. Plus, you felt bad for crushing a glass cup on his head. Speaking of which…

“Is your head okay?”

“Hm…” He brought a gloved hand to his forehead, feeling a dull pounding in its wake, “I must say, you got me good, even the most daring fools never landed a hit on me yet.”

Just how thick is his skull to endure that?! You were both dazzled and frightened by their realization. 

With one of his arms off of you, you took this chance to escape, but you slid on a shard of glass and would have fallen face first onto the floor had Arthur not pulled you against him and taken the impact of the floor to his own shoulder. He laid on his back, clutching you protectively against his chest. He groaned with pain, but he pushed it aside to check on you first.

“Clumsy tonight, are we, or are you seriously trying to kill me?” He chuckled wryly.

Before you could even blink, you felt your vision do a 180-flip, and you were suddenly beneath him, away from the glass shards that littered the floor. The scent of his cologne flooded your senses again, as he smirked down on you with a drunken lopsided grin.

“I was absolutely livid when I saw Dazai hold your hand. Was that part of your plan, darling? Well, I’ve taken the bait.”

You flinched, your body wide awake to every touch and caress of this man. You bit your lip to avoid playing into his hands. You were still in control of the situation, you thought. His lips descended to your jaw, barely brushing your skin, like he’s testing your limits. Instinctively, you sighed, unaware of the breath you’d been holding.

Ok, maybe you weren’t entirely in control, either.

“Arthur…” You commanded, trying to regain some semblance of control back.

This was not part of your plan, however, and you were quickly losing grip of all reason and logic. You needed to get him off and away from you before you acquiesced to his ministrations.

“But don’t worry, ____. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

He drew back from you, staring down at you with an uncharacteristic tender look. He continued.

“The effect you have on me is not one I’ve felt with any woman I’ve ever encountered before. It’s confusing—maddening, even— and I can’t escape it… because I don’t want to,” he sighed in surrender, “I want you, ___.” 

It was a look of pure love and affection that shone in his eyes. His half-opened shirt invited your gaze to roam his body, and his thick-rimmed glasses framed his features in such an alluring glow that outshone the dimness of the kitchen. His hair looked softer than usual, too. Your hand twitched at the thought of running your fingers through those ash blue locks. Your mind was thrown into a whirlwind with the influx of new information, one that dented your rationality. Your desire to get closer to him wrestled against your impartial stoicism, threatening to crack the armor around the stone gates to your heart.

“Hey Arthur,” you started, twirling a lock of his hair with your hand. It was ever-so-slightly damp; he must’ve bathed in le thermae earlier.

“Yes, ____?”

Damn that seductive voice of his, you shooed away that thought as soon as it entered. You chose to focus on something much more pressing at the moment. 

“We need to get you bandaged up. You’re bleeding terribly from your head.”

~*~

It took a lot of convincing, but Arthur finally acquiesced to your persistent request.

“There, all done,” you stepped back from Arthur, who was sitting hunched over on his bed.

You were both settled in his room with his medical bag open on the desk and his equipment strewn all around. You didn’t exactly know what to do to treat Arthur’s wound, but you insisted on doing it for him… with copious amounts of instructions from him.

“I brought you some fresh coffee and fudge, as an apology.”

“At this hour?” He mimicked your tone from earlier. You rolled your eyes at his childishness.

“And here I am trying to make it up to you, and this is how you show gratitude?”

You huffed indignantly, ready to head out and leave the unappreciative writer to his own devices.

“Hold on, now,” he gripped your wrist before you could fully turn away, “you’re the one who smashed glass on my head, so you owe me a favor.”

“…a favor on top of tending to your wounds and bringing you coffee?”

“Oh, indulge me, won’t you? You did those of your own volition.”

You sigh, “Depends on the request, then.”

“Feed me,” he perked up with no hesitation or embarrassment in his tone.

You wanted to turn him down, to tease him about his child-like excitement, but you couldn’t resist his puppy dog eyes. Those eyes held a very powerful hold over you though you blame it on your own tiredness outweighing your better judgment.

“Alright…” You moved aside his things to sit next to him, leaning towards the table to drag the tray closer to yourself.

“Open wide, you incorrigible baby.”

[moonlessnight125]

The incorrect quotes of metal gear rising revengeance part 2 sentence starters

"This blood loss has made me delirious, tell me a story."

"Holy shit."

"[Name] I'm playing another gacha game. Please destroy all records of my credit card debt before the police come."

"I guess you could say a good _____ never dies [name]."

"Well well well if it ain't the feds."

"Unhand these brains."

"Kids are cruel [name]. They lose touch with it at the ripe old age of twelve."

"Warcrime this, can't eat the drywall that, microwaving mice is wrong they said."

"What the fuck."

"Kids love video games, that's why I have them spinning the wheel on all my favorite gacha games."

"You refrigerated a preschool for fucking jpegs?!"

"Like every casino is one big conspiracy? Bullshit!"

"Demand for my products are about to skyrocket, like the good old days after the 9/11!"

"Wait a minute 9/11 is bad."

"Speak for yourself, lets debate this on the roof."

"Looks like you're a gacha player at heart."

"Is that because of my brain damage?"

"Now activating woman deflectors."

"Like I said [name] kids are cruel."

"I'm fucking invincible!"

"[Name] how did you get an aircraft?"

"By the way [name], do you remember that bank you sent to the past tense?"

"I'm gonna not see you in a second."

"Not today I guess."

"Oh shit free bike."

"There are rumors that the nords are attempting to capture the whole of solstheim."

"Anyone looking for work should consider the fighter's guild."

"[Name] you ran over the child 9 miles back what are you going to do?"

"Good day."

"Oh so now you decide to stop."

"I'm running late."

"Oh don't worry [name] the clown college is closer than you think."

"Yeah it's right in front of me."

"You're ass will always be cringe and my ass will always be thicc."

"Oh good, you're getting more based by the day."

"Hey [name] look at this cool bug I found!"

"Guess I don't have a choice. I challenge you to a debate."

"What the fuck? No."

"Dies of cringe."

"Zamn dog give me some of that."

"I have kept them alive by the miracle of child sacrifices."

"Well that sure made everything easier to understand."

"Oh my god it's my dad."

"Oh fuck, I've returned! With a puppy."

"Last time you got those you disappeared for 10 years."

"No! I wanted to feed you that chocolate."

"Well if it isn't saucy [name]."

"Bro are you high?"

"Let me check. Yes."

"High on American spirit, and there's nothing more American than shooting a man in this walmart of a world."

"What is ______?"

"It's heaven [name]"

"Check the internet lately?"

"[Name] hop onto _____ you need to see this."

"Fuck I hate this website."

"It's all fucking weeb shit [name] it doesn't make any sense."

"These baboons don't even know were at war with _____"

"This one is calling me a redditor"

"Memes, gacha, e-girls, all petty distractions so real men can get down to business."

"Amogus."

"That's a nice argument [name], why don't you back it up with a source?!"

"My source is that I made it thr fuck up!"

"I've got my own to debate online."

"Check it out [name] - I just got vaccinated."

"Oh god he's hot."

"Time to hit the gym."

"It's funny because thousands of people die."

"Don't fuck with this senator!"

"Snap into a slim jim."

"Read a fucking book."

"I was wrong about you, you're not cringe. Your just fucking _____

"We're making the mother of all omletes here, can't fret over every egg!"

"You need to work on your fitness."

"My blood is red white and blue [name]. I wonder what color yours is."

"You can't give up yet! Think about every mentally deranged moron you've fought up until this point!"

"You are the best chia pet."

"Even in death he's on crack."

"I always said that my sword wasn't a weapon but a tool. But this isn't my sword. It's a fucking mistake."

"You know I'm starting to have a change of heart."

"Yeah I can tell."

"If I hear another god damn pun-"

"Oh shit, my black berry."

"Well, the police might be after him for that vehicle manslaughter."

[robinsdearest]

Alien

Clark Kent x Reader

// // : means beginning and end of a flashback or memory

You try to open your eyes as best as you could. Your right eye is incredibly swollen, somewhere above it is bleeding, and you can't help but think about how terrible you look right now. The amount of hours you've spent in this room is a blur right now- you can't remember when exactly they took you. Trying to run through your memories, you're cut short by the door opening again. You hear footsteps before you see the polished shoes. Who else would wear thousand dollar shoes to a torture room?

"Y/N, sweetie. How are you doing?" He kneels to take your chin in his hand. You're too weak to say or do anything against the man. He chuckles. "Surely Superman's identity isn't that important. Is it? He's just an alien." His clutch on your cheeks and chin tighten as he brings your good eye level with his. "Don't make me be the mean guy here. I mean, does Lexxie have to beg?" He throws your head down so you can once again stare at the floor. You slowly fade out of consciousness as Lex Luther walks out of your cell.

// //

"Come on, Clark!" You ran ahead of your boyfriend as he carried the picnic basket. At the top of the hill, you slumped onto the ground and waited for him. Once he caught up, he picked you up to sling you over his shoulder with one hand while he set the picnic with the other. You were squealing the whole time. With everything in place, Clark put you back down onto the blanket. He hovered over you, his face inches from yours. 

"I'm glad we got to take this day off, Y/N. It means a lot to me." He kissed your lips gently before pulling you into his chest in a tight hug. 

You simply sighed before leaning to kiss the bottom of his chin. 

"It's good to just be the two of us, again. Especially after everything with your dad." His grip around you tightened. "I know you still miss him. I do, too, but everything will be alright." Clark kissed your forehead and sighed in response. 

The peaceful moment was soon shattered by Clark's phone ringing. Even with his super speed, you checked the screen to see her name. You handed the phone to him as the happy features on your face began to fade. 

"Hey, what's up Lois? No, this isn't a bad time." You blocked out their voices as you took out the food from the basket.

// //

The bloody wrench was dropped onto the table with the other tools. Your head hung low, and your hands were shaking. Every inch of you hurt. Every inch of you wanted this to end. Every inch of you wanted to be rescued. 

"Who is Superman?" You heard the man pick up something from the table when you didn't answer. "This could all end if you would just tell me. Mr. Luther will take care of you if you just give me a name." It was a crowbar. "Come on. Just a name." As he scraped it against your bare shoulders, you could only smack your dry lips together in response. He brought the crowbar above his head and yanked it back down onto your shoulder. An inhumane noise escaped your lips- you couldn't even scream at this point. As he threw the instrument back, you finally found your voice to speak up. 

"Superman is..." the man pulled up a stool to sit in front of you. He pulled your head back by your hair so he could hear you better. "Superman is.."

"Who? What? Come on!" He shook your head. 

"Superman is... going to kill you." You grinned, flashing your blood stained teeth. He threw your head against the wall behind you. Everything went black again.

// //

"How come it's always her?" Your shouting at that hour in the night probably woke the neighbors. You didn't care at that point. It was suppose to be your day today anyway.

"Y/N," Clark pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know why. We work together." He turned away from you to pack a few more things into his bag. 

"But a week long trip, just the two of you? It's not right, Clark. I know Perry didn't approve of this." He turned on his heel to point an accusing finger at you. 

"If you're so jealous, Y/N, why don't you just leave?" The octave of his voice shook the glass around you. You staggered a step back. Apparently, the look on your face was enough to calm the angry superhero. "Y/N, no, that's not what I meant."

Your lip quivered while you rushed to cover your glossy eyes. Turning your head into your shoulder, you tried to muffle the sob that escaped your lips. Clark took a quick step towards you, but you took one away from him. 

"Fine." Tears rolled down your face when you looked up at him. "When you get back, I won't be here." A look of horror and, what you assumed was disappointment, froze across the man's features. "If she's so important to miss my birthday, then I'll leave you two alone." With that, you snatched your phone and keys from the table to run out the door. 

Once in your car, you knew you shouldn't, but against your better judgement, you looked up from the driver seat to see Superman fly out of your bedroom window. What a great birthday present.

After the Man of Steel was out of sight, something pricked you in the neck; what at first felt like a bug bite, soon turned into feelings of terror as your surroundings began to fade into darkness.

// //

You could still see the symbol for hope leaving you window, even though you have forgotten how long ago that was. All you knew was that you had been through three different men who tortured you differently. Each came twice, but never a third time. Luther would come the third time in between all of them.  And here he was again.

You were laid out on a metallic table- your arms and legs strapped down and only your underwear on. Luther trailed a finger across your broken and bruised body. 

"Come on, love. It shouldn't be this hard." He cupped your chin with his hand and forced you to look into his eyes. "I'll reward you if you just tell me. This has gone on long enough. The other girl still hasn't cracked either." 

His eyes swirled with something of disgust and amusement, a sharp contradiction that you never wished to see again. You stared into his eyes before sighing. Lex dropped your chin and unstrapped your arms and went down to do the same to your legs. Finally free, you still couldn't move. Everything hurt. Lex calmly walked back towards your head. 

"The other girl, Lois, I believe, was seen with Superman just like you were." His expensive shoes made more noise than they needed to. "One of you will tell me." The echo of the clicks rang through your ears. But something else was there, too. A loud thumping. It wasn't your heart, you could at least tell that.

Luther appeared to continue talking, you just couldn't hear him. You focused all of your energy on that thumping. It sounded like waves crashing against a rocky shore, or an avalanche crashing into thousands of trees. What could it be?

Your question was answered by the wall behind Luther smashing open. Several body guards ran through the smoke, only to be thrown out a second later. Your heart rate picked up, and this time you could tell it was your heart. A massive figure sped past your table and threw Lex against the wall. You tried to sit up, but your body failed you. You heard more fighting and yelling. Eventually, all the noises faded together. Your eyes became heavy, and you could feel yourself slipping out of consciousness.

A large pair of arms wrapped around your body to pick you up. You were cradled against their chest. In a last attempt to move, your eyes strained towards your savior's chest and then face. The symbol was of hope, and the face was correct, but the feeling you got was wrong.

"Stay with me, Y/N." Wrong. So wrong. "I will get you out of here and to the Watchtower." A moan escaped your lips, and your savior looked down at you. You saw his eyes. 

"Y-you're not S-Superman." Your voice was weak and strained, but you assumed he-whatever he was- heard you. The symbol of hope then morphed into something familiar, yet still so alien to you.

[polpoka]

Neighbor Au

Characters- Kim Rok Soo, Alberu Crossman, Lee Soo Hyuk, Choi  Jung Soo, Tasha

Ratings- K+

Shippings- Kimrokberu

Type- (Fluff)

Part 5

((CW. mentioned racism))

The tray made a harsh clink as Alberu set it in front of Taerang, who was sitting on the lignum vitae chair, on the coffee table which formed a complete set with the said chair.

“So, sir, in the end,” Taerang took a pause to sip on the tea the host had provided, though he was the junior, “Did you tell him your name?”

Alberu averted his eyes, before answering in a low voice, “...Yes.”

Taerang sighed. He cared about his employer a lot, especially because of the fact that they had known each other for quite some time, and in that time, he had come to realize rather early on, that Alberu was rather soft on the inside, despite his harsh mannerisms and stern appearance. He cared far too deeply for people and always hesitated to let a connection go. It would be bad in their line of work, but well, sometimes it was necessary. 

He remembered the way the younger college student had always shook his hand rather than barking at him and treating him like a meagre guard. Even though he was one, who had been given to him as a present for his achievements by his former ‘owner’, Angelica and right before Choi Jung Gun, and before that his guardian, Ahn Mon Ran. 

He was always viewed as a tool, almost always at least, Ahn Mon Ran had no other option but to give him to Choi Jung Gun because of the hand the man had on him.

He asked once again, “Did you say anything that even remotely points out the fact that made the person think that you’re part of the elite Crossman family, and not your average joe?”

Alberu still didn’t meet Taerang’s eyes. Taerang knew what that meant and unfortunately Alberu did too. 

Alberu struggled to meet Taerang’s eyes, “I’m sorry, hyung-”

“Don’t call me that right now, sir. You know you’re in trouble. Big time.”

Taerang took a sip of his lavender tea which had been poured til the brim of the teacup, “You were the one who originally asked for these rules to be made, and we can’t break them, since you specifically gave us instructions not to. No matter what you say at the time.”

Taerang looked at the man who was fidgeting anxiously. He knew why these rules were a safety precaution, and he didn’t want Alberu to go through that experience again. Well, technically speaking, he wasn’t there but he was told the story, and he didn’t like it either way, not one bit. 

Alberu also knew the reasons, and the repercussions, and yet it felt horrible. He knew why this had happened, and he didn’t want it to happen again but still. He looked at the table silently for a moment, thinking about the various possibilities which seemed to end with his heartbreak. 

Kim Rok Soo didn’t seem like the guy who would take advantage of him, he just didn’t. Not to mention, the connection- the connection felt as if he was a gust of wind that had finally found his tree, but he knew that in the end, this was the best move he could play. If he stayed, he had no idea what to do. 

Would he confront Kim Rok Soo? 

Would he pretend never to see him again, despite knowing that his heart longed for the other? 

That would just be running away, but Alberu wasn’t even sure what Kim Rok Soo would want. He thought that Kim Rok Soo was free, and that he, a caged bird could never compare, even if he liquidised all his assets he couldn’t compare with that man, and so, he might as well not trouble the other. 

Alberu was determined, yet this time he felt like he couldn’t win. A feeling he hadn’t felt for a long time. It reminded him of the time he had to deal with his dad, and those were memories he would rather not recall, but he was sure a broken person like him didn’t deserve Kim Rok Soo. 

After this short exchange with himself, he looked at Taerang, his eyes looked soulless, and his voice was brittle as he spoke, “So let’s go through with it.”

Taerang felt something inside of him break, he couldn’t do anything but agree, “...Yes, let’s go through, sir.”

Alberu took a short sip of the liquid that had been sitting in front of him untouched, “Ah look, it’s gone cold.”

***

Kim Rok Soo’s apartment was in an overly pristine condition, despite it normally being clean, Choi Jung Soo could tell that he had cleaned the place intensely a couple of hours earlier. The yellow evening lights had been switched on a few hours ago and the three men were sitting on the floor on a neatly maintained rug, with more than an average number of bottles that three men should consume in a single night being kept on the table. It seemed that they had all acknowledged that the only function of the table right now was to act as storage. 

“Rok Soo-ya?” Choi Jung Soo asked, waving his hand over the other’s face.

“Ah,” Kim Rok Soo blinked, adjusting his eyes to the light, before replying to the call of this man, “Yes?”

Choi Jung Soo took a seat next to him and could easily notice a couple of things that were odd off the bat. For example, the eyebags were deeper, he wasn’t paying attention at all, which even when separated from these discrepancies was odd. Not to mention he was drinking a lot, almost as if he was trying to get drunk. Even though Choi Jung Soo knew that Kim Rok Soo was aware of his own tolerance, which was inhumanly high, something must have happened and it was definitely not a good thing, seeing as the way Kim Rok Soo looked and acted. 

Choi Jung Soo patted the other’s head gently, you could hear the tease in his tone, “What’s wrong?” 

“Don’t really want to talk about it…Could you pour another one?” the other responded with a burnt out tone, letting the hand rest there. 

‘I guess it didn’t go well.’ Choi Jung Soo poured another cup for himself, using the nearest half filled bottle, before filling Kim Rok Soo’s cup. 

Lee Soo Hyuk on the other hand, was drinking a little too much than what a forty year old liver could take. He’d drunk two bottles. Downing them like they’re soup, well not like his dongsaeng hadn’t drunk about three bottles of the same type of strong alcohol in one sitting. 

‘Really, the people around me really don’t take care of themselves,’ thought Choi Jung Soo drinking down his seventh cup of scotch. He sighed and looked at Kim Rok Soo, he was sure it was a rejection. 

Kim Rok Soo felt like throwing up. He wanted to throw up all his feelings related to his former neighbor. It had only been a day, he wasn’t that close- So it wouldn’t be hard at all, if that was the case, right? 

“Who am I kidding, of course not.” he murmured. 

“Hmm?” the one beside him asked, “Is something wron-” Before Choi Jung Soo could finish his question, he was tackled with  a hug from the one he had presumed to be on the other end of the table. 

“Rok Soo yaaaaa~ Don’t worry, these kinds of things will always happen.” 

Choi Jung Soo struggled to escape the bear hug he had, without his knowledge, stepped into. “Hyung- Kim Rok Soo is there- There-” he tried to point to the clearly dispirited Kim Rok Soo, failing and being pinned to the floor, while Lee Soo Hyuk fell asleep on him. 

Gradually, Choi Jung Soo too, started losing consciousness, albeit something he did not sign up for, and drifting to sleep, while Kim Rok Soo was sitting in the end of the line of drunkards, well two pass outs and one drunk. 

Kim Rok Soo shuffled to get the two blankets to cover his hyungs before getting his own to join in on the pile of corpses. He shifted the table a bit, and tucked himself to make the rug a little more comfortable to lie on.  He tried to close his eyes, but he simply couldn’t. His mind was haunted by the brunette, and not in a good way. He turned to a couch, which brought back the incident that occured day before yesterday. He shifted once more, this time to look at the faces of his hyungs, this again reminded him of the time they were so excited about the whole soulmate jamboree. 

Everything reminded Kim Rok Soo of Alberu, and he didn’t like it. No matter how hard he tried he could simply not forget the man. He had a striking appearance and a discernable mark on his life, despite them knowing each other for a day. 

They hadn’t met each other since Kim Rok Soo had moved here, which was 6 years ago. Well, that was partly Kim Rok Soo’s fault for thinking that it was too much work to meet his neighbours, and he just ended it with seeing his then 24-year-old neighbour, who was too busy with his work once. 

Now, he regretted his decision. If only he had met him earlier. If only he hadn’t ignored his neighbour. These thoughts were the only ones going through his head that night, as he kept on twisting and turning, before finally finding a comfortable position to sleep in.

***

Alberu got up to an undesired nostalgia of mahogany furniture and neatly lined bookshelves along with the scent of cookies permeating the room. It wasn’t dense but rather a soft scent, being accompanied by a denser scent of black coffee. 

What was strange, was the fact that there was no coffee in the vicinity, and he knew his aunt, much like him, leaned towards tea. He was a bit curious about the fragrance but didn’t want to give it much thought as his brain was more preoccupied with other means- Kim Rok Soo. 

How would he deal with him? 

Alberu was fully aware of what a jerk he was being. He knew that it had been very unfair of him to just straight up leave.

“Aunt Tasha-” he called out to the similar looking black haired woman, her eyes glistened. Her hair was cut short which gave her a gentle look. 

“Yes?” she answered with a hum.

“So…” he couldn’t help but fidget in worry, was he allowed to ask such a thing in the first place? He knew fully well that what his aunt was doing was for his best interests, for his sake. 

Yet, it bugged him. 

He wanted to see the other man desperately. 

It nagged at him. 

Like a gnawing frostbite that never seemed to go away. 

“Speak up, Alberu. You know I’m willing to listen so take your time.” 

Alberu looked at her, always supportive of him no matter what he wanted to do. Always watching, and he felt guilty about that.

Alberu gripped his arm, he told himself that he had to remain firm. This was just a simple and easy task, so what was he getting all anxious about?

“I think I found my soulmate,” Alberu blurted out, wanting to get it over with. It made him feel a bit too bizarre, a feeling he didn't enjoy. He thought a little about the man, his calming, and sarcastic attitude. It made him smile lovingly and softly, it was almost invisible.

When he saw Tasha’s eyes, his smile fell apart, she didn’t meet his eyes with the same gaze he did. Her face was instead painted with a base of shock, and another which was an even more unfavourable expression on it; outrage. 

One glance is all it took for Tasha to assess the situation. She had already been informed by Taerang about his leaked identity, which in itself had been surprising. Tasha could smell the coffee and cookies off her nephew. She didn’t know how it got there since they had no coffee at home, and she knew her nephew didn’t drink coffee, and buttered chocolate cookies. It would have been plausible if he hadn’t come out of the bedroom.

She knew what this meant, the boy had found his soulmate, but she also knew one thing– you could have problems with your past lover. It was like any relationship, simply adding in the strong connection. It wasn’t that big of a deal as people made it up to be.

After all, her sister had also been in a similar kind of relationship and she easily got replaced. Zed had simply thrown her away when he realized that his soul mark had appeared again. It was plausible that the bad luck might have carried from the mother to the son. Even though deep down, she was sure that wasn’t the case. She was worried, and terribly, terribly protective of her nephew, for he was the only one part of her sister that had remained in the world of the living. Being a soulmate had led to her sister’s heartbreak and eventual death, and perhaps it wouldn’t be as severe in Alberu’s case, but he had suffered enough after his mother’s death, she concluded. 

“You found a soulmate?” she asked, her expression now a bit less animated than her previous one, but Alberu could tell that she was not pleased one bit. 

He had a rough idea why but he wasn’t all that into the details. He was young when his mother and ‘father’ divorced, and he knew how his mother had committed suicide after a weeks of the unusual event. After that, he knew how his life had spiralled down to. She died without gaining custody of her child because Alberu’s talents had been noteworthy and rather eye-catching and Zed thought the boy would fetch a pretty price as a showpiece. 

He wasn’t wrong per se, but the exposure to the life of adults had dimmed his young eyes that had been previously filled with life. He had gotten used to going days without proper food and water, and that he wasn’t allowed anything as an emotional support. He wasn’t allowed to have a weakness, if he wanted to stay with his worth.

He had been locked, neglected, even abused if his scores or position went a bit under than perfect. Well, that was at first, then it escalated to him being the outsider of the ‘family’. 

Alberu had noted at the ripe age of eighteen, the people he lived with were hypocrites. In private they would always say the opposite of what they said under the public eye.

‘The shame of this house.’

‘The joy of our family.’

‘You dirty leech. Shouldn’t you be working non-stop? You live here rent free anyway.’

‘He’s always such a darling brother of mine. I simply worry that he works too hard for his own good.’

‘Disgusting. That skin of yours looks so ugly, maybe it’d be better if we got rid of it’

‘He looks so handsome too! He looks just like father, well his skin tone doesn’t matter.’

‘Don’t you get it? You don’t have a place here.’

‘Even though he looks different, he fits right in. Exactly, it's petty to not care about someone who shares the same blood as your sons just because they have a different skin tone.’

They weren’t memories he would want to remember at all, even though they constantly played on his mind like a broken record player. Constantly. 

That’s why he trusted his Aunt’s judgement, for she was the only one who had helped him get out of that hellhole. It was her acceptance that Alberu wanted the most.

Alberu nodded, in return to which Tasha’s unamusement became even more apparent with a long sigh. She was very reluctant to entrust her nephew in anyone’s hand, and the thought of him getting used made her boil over with rage, and so she simply cut off the communication between the two, by a few words, “Alberu, I don’t approve.”

***

Kim Rok Soo grumbled at the white noise that was playing on repeat in the background. He could hear the chattering that was going on between the two other men in the house. He laid on the makeshift bed until he heard a ringtone. A particular ringtone which made him sure of the person on the other line. 

‘Basen.’

He stretched his hand out to reach his phone, still remaining tucked in his blanket and refusing to move. By the third ring of the phone, he had successfully maneuvered himself in a way that he could stay comfortable and pick up the phone. He finally received it.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end greeted Kim Rok Soo. 

Kim Rok Soo, still groggy and voice still unsettled, spoke in a lower tone than his usual. It sounded synonymous to the croak of a frog, “Good morning Basen. What makes you call this early?”

Basen knew that tone belonged to his uncle, and he also knew that this was the tone of voice he had in the morning before he had even gotten up from bed. He’d found out so from the several sleepovers he had with him. Still it was odd to hear his voice this deep. Had his Ahjussi been drinking? “Uncle Rok Soo, how much did you drink last night?”

“Why do you ask?” Kim Rok Soo said, shuffling in the sheets, shifting his movements ever so slightly to stay within the warmth of the blanket that covered him up completely like a cocoon.

“Have you still not gotten up?” Basen asked, his tone a bit shocked.

Kim Rok Soo hummed to give an affirmative response.

Basen sighed, “Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s...” He slurred while reordering his position to face the clock. “Three.”

Basen sighed, his voice then went low as he turned his face away from his phone “Haaaa... What’s that Pen?” 

Kim Rok Soo’s ears perked up, “Pen’s there?”

He could hear Basen crack up a bit, “Uncle Rok Soo, you attended the wedding, didn’t you? We’re married, so of course we’re living together.”

Kim Rok Soo relaxed again remembering the joyous event that had taken place a month ago, “Ah, yeah yeah.”

Basen slid the phone between his ear and shoulder, “Uncle, are you still out of it?”

Kim Rok Soo twisted his head, cocking it out of the blanket. “Maybe,” he yawned. 

“Rok Soo-ya? You’re finally up?” Kim Rok Soo saw Lee Soo Hyuk standing in front of him. 

“Um, yeah.” Kim Rok Soo lazily replied. 

“Ah,” Basen said from the other end, “If Lee Soo Hyuk Ahjussi is there, why not give him the phone, and probably freshen up.”

Kim Rok Soo nodded and handed the phone to Lee Soo Hyuk, while informing the other person about his nephew, “It’s Basen, he wants to talk to you.”

Lee Soo Hyuk’s face quirked up to form a grin, “It’s been a long time since he’s talked to me, has he been busy with his lover?”

Kim Rok Soo looked over and casually answered,“Their honeymoon did get over a few weeks earlier. So it is a  possibility.”

Lee Soo Hyuk sighed while taking the phone from Kim Rok Soo, “Aiya, I really am getting old. Everyone around me is getting married or starting to date someone. Ah, the woes of an old man.”

He heard an annoyed voice from the far side of the kitchen, “Did you forget that you’ve been with your lover for over 15 years, Mr. old man?”

The mention of Lee Soo Hyuk’s lover made Kim Rok Soo think about his friend, “Ah, I need to talk about the details about the meeting with Beacrox.”

Lee Soo Hyuk turned to him, his head tilted to the right, “He has been talking about that too. Do you have something in mind for the day?”

Kim Rok Soo could feel the headache rushing over him like a tidal wave, “I'll talk later, I need to wash my face and brush.” 

“Oh wait, before you go-” Lee Soo Hyuk stopped him, causing Kim Rok Soo to turn, “You kinda smell like aloe vera? I didn’t know you kept any plants here?”

Kim Rok Soo pulled his t-shirt to sniff it, indeed, it smelled like the said succulent. He furrowed his eyebrows. It was odd, but it was too much for his woozy head to think about. 

He pulled himself out of the mattress and walked to the bathroom, lazily scratching his hay-like hair. His eyes lazily lolled around, scanning the surroundings of his own apartment as if it was something foreign. He sighed, standing there for a moment facing his reflection in the mirror. 

He ran his fingers through the messy strands that gently lay on the shoulder, remembering Alberu’s fingers cold touch. They were hardened and felt like they had been holding a pen their entire life, never wanting to try anything else, though Kim Rok Soo thought that Alberu merely never got the time to engage in hobbies. 

‘That’s not how hair gel works, hyung.’ 

He remembered the annoyed tone the man could endlessly fill his voice with. He splashed some water on his eyes, still wondering where the other had gone. It would be quite foolish to disappear if he were fearing rejection, if that is the reason the dark man had disappeared, he would think of the said man to be quite dense to not recognize Kim Rok Soo’s feelings towards himself.

***

Alberu tried to keep the volume down as he washed the dishes in the empty and eerily huge villa’s secluded kitchen. To be fair, it wasn’t empty, there were servants and Aunt Tasha was lounging in the living room. 

His mind was currently occupied with his aunt’s reaction.

He didn’t expect such a strong rejection since he believed his aunt would be a little more liberal towards this aspect. 

However, Alberu knew the reason why his aunt was overprotective since he was well aware of what happened to his mother. Sure, he understood why she didn’t want him to date Kim Rok Soo, but she also refused to acknowledge that his soulmate was different than his mother’s and it wasn’t fair to not give him a chance. Or at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

‘Bitten once, twice as shy, I guess.’ He thought, sighing. 

He simply wanted to meet Kim Rok Soo, simply wanted to check something, a simple gut feeling. 

An instinct. 

Normally, he would have ignored it, but it was a sensation that he couldn’t help but dwell upon. It wasn’t gripping, more like a mild fever that had come over him. He thought that it was something that would easily go away and not bother him anymore, yet it stuck persistently, that it can’t help but get noticed no matter how much he tried to look the other way. 

It felt real and that scared Alberu. 

He didn’t hate the feeling of love. 

It was just that, he was so scared of being involved with it, that it felt like he couldn’t breathe. 

The so-called love he knew was only based on the last sole affection he’s gotten from his mother. 

He believed that Kim Rok Soo wouldn’t be the kind of person to ‘love’ him. Alberu wasn’t the type to have gotten everything in his life in a neatly packaged bow, and that included his relationships all the more. 

Love? He couldn't trust it nor did he have the guts to risk letting the feeling take over him.

Any relationship he tried to maintain didn’t end on a good note, for numerous reasons. Even though his face wasn’t shown and he had a fake surname, his previous partners always knew he was rich. His arranged marriage partners thought of him as a mere money milking tool or someone who would just settle for just a crumb of bread. 

The idea of that appalled Alberu. Somehow he couldn’t think of it in a good light. He didn’t want to be the sort of person who would force someone to be with him just for his money.

If that was the case he was better off without anyone. 

But why was it that he couldn’t forget about him?

That man, who had seen him in his most vulnerable state had simply accepted it. Had waved off the thought that he was odd or unbelonging. He had given him the chance to feel these new sets of emotions he thought he would never experience in his lifetime.

Unbeknownst to Alberu, his hands were working fast and intensely out of all the stress. Only when he heard a loud clang was he snapped back to reality. His eyes immediately darted to the cause of the noise, which was a plate that had slipped from his hands and had fallen into the sink. 

Alberu stared at it for a bit, sighed and washed it. 

It was a good thing it didn’t break.

After neatly placing it in the dryer, he walked out of the kitchen and took a seat in the hall on the coach facing his aunt’s. 

She tore her eyes away from the book she was reading to face him. Tasha noticed the lost look in his eyes, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Alberu blinked, turning his gaze away from the table and meeting his aunt’s, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” He said, picking up a book lying on the Pacini e Cappellini coffee table to read. 

Tasha sighed, sticking a bookmark between her copy of ‘War and Peace’, marking her progress in rereading the classic, “Are you still bothered by it?”

Alberu tried to feign ignorance, “By what?”

“We both know what you’re thinking about.” Tasha knew that he wouldn’t outright address the topic. He was far too self constricted with her for that.

Alberu met her eyes, but still had his eyes glazed over, it was as if he actually had no idea of what his aunt was talking about, “Like I said, what?”

Tasha however, was having none of that, she knew Alberu since he was a baby albeit she was young during those turbulent times. She motioned her hand as if she was pointing to the person in question, “Your soulmate, whoever that may be.” 

“Huh.” Alberu mused, making it painfully obvious for Tasha to tell he was unimpressed, “What about my soulmate?” 

Tasha, also aware of his current ‘yearnings’ spoke without batting an eye, “You want to meet them.”

“I sure do, but there’s someone who's preventing that, isn’t there?” He said, finally keeping his book down and sending his aunt a glare that was trying very hard not to reveal its true intentions.

Tasha got annoyed at the misconception Alberu had of her. She was doing this for him. How couldn’t he not get it?“ You know that I’m doing this for your sake. Your mother died because–”

“–Of her soulmate.” Alberu completed her sentence. He had heard it for so many times he was sure that was what the next few words entailed. He sighed.

“Aunt,” He said in a chilling voice, he was the closest to his aunt but there was definitely a line that shouldn’t be crossed. 

Not everything was about his mother. He was well aware how his mother’s death had unfolded but not everyone was like his father, not everyone was as egregious as that man. 

“I understand your concerns but do remember.” He paused to take a good look at his aunt, “I am not my mother,” he took another pause “and I never will be.” 

Alberu could never be his mother. His mother was pure, and charismatic, not to mention she was the incarnation of beauty itself. Never attempting any foul means, she tried hard. She died protecting him. 

And he could never be, not even an inch close to being as great as her. Or so he believed.

Tasha looked the other way, “I know that…but it still scares me. What if they lose interest in you and desert you–”

Alberu sighed again. The next few words he had said out of the simple motivation to prove Tasha wrong about soulmates, and snag a lover in one quick move. “Alright, since you are so bothered by the fact that they’ll cheat on me or lose interest. Let me put forward the idea of a bet. I’ll not visit my soulmate for two months and after those two months, let’s see whether they get over me in that period of time.” ‘–well formally, I won’t be meeting him.’

Alberu thought about it for a moment. He would use himself and Kim Rok Soo as an experiment. He set a bet like that out of impulse to prove her wrong. Even though he wouldn’t mind if he had really moved on, a part of him wanted to know the outcome to all this as well.

If fate would really allow them to be together, or would it be another curse that had befallen since his mother’s time? 

Would things be different?

He didn’t know the answer to that. That was why he did this. That was why he made this stupid bet to at least convince himself that it was alright for him to love, or just have believed in his Aunt’s words in the first place.

Alberu was not the type to easily trust people but this time he wanted to try.

He wanted to try and place a bit of his faith on that man.  

Tasha, who was also right at the end of her wits from this conversation, agreed in a fit of confusion and annoyance with the flow of the conversation, wanting it to end, “Ok, fine. Let’s do just that. When should we start?”

Alberu asked, also getting riled up, “How about right this second?”

Tasha leaned back, “Alright then. For 2 months which start at 5pm December 8th, 2XXX until 5pm February 8th, 2XXX(+1). Deal?”

“Deal.” 

“Ok then. Taerang, write this down.” Tasha crossed her arms together, her eyes still lingering at her nephew who broke eye contact.

“Yes ma’am.” The mostly stationary man, who had been sitting on the chair beside Alberu finally spoke.

‘Now that this was sorted,’ thought Alberu, ‘I have to contact him, I guess. Hoo boy, this is gonna be a whole different game to play.’

[eyayah-oya]

Return to Me

Clone Ship Week | Day 6 | Post-Battle - @cloneshipweek

Cody/Rex

Rating: G

Warnings: mentions of Point Rain, canon typical violence, disgustingly cute happy ending

Ao3 link

           Geonosis was just as awful as every vod had ever described. It was hot and dusty, of course, but Cody didn’t really care about any of that.  It was the number of brothers he’d lost on the way to Point Rain, the hundreds more killed by the bugs and their weaponry, on top of all the droids that seemed to come in never-ending waves.

           Cody and the rest of the 212th were going to join General Mundi and the 21st Nova Marine Corps on the other side of the planet while Rex and his men worked with Gree and the 41st under General Unduli.  They would be taking on the enormous droid factory the next day, and Cody would not be able to help any of them.  He would have his own mission to run.

           There were hundreds of vod’e all over the fortified base they’d managed to find and set up camp in.  Brothers from all four battalions mingled and shared increasingly exaggerated stories.  Cody had spotted Corporals Fives and Echo talking to some boys from the 21st, and he’d seen the medics fussing over the injured vod’e and generals.  But there was no sign of Cody’s cyare.

           “Lieutenant!” Cody called to 2nd Lieutenant Jesse of the 501st.

           Jesse snapped off a sharp salute.  “Sir!”

           “At ease, Lt.  Have you seen Rex around recently?” Cody asked.

           Thinking for a moment, Jesse slowly nodded.  “I think I saw him over by the remaining gunships, sir. He was talking to General Skywalker about half an hour ago.”

           Cody nodded and clapped the trooper on his shoulder. “Thanks.  Make sure you take some time to rest, Lt.  We’re in for a rough campaign.”

           “Of course, sir.  You do the same and see if you can get Rex to sleep, too.”

           As Cody walked away, he chuckled to himself.  Little brothers were getting uppity.  At the start of the war, there was no way any trooper, let alone one from a different battalion, would have talked to him so casually.  It was a testament to how well the men of the 501st were relaxing around their Jedi and learning how to be something besides soldiers.  It was nice.

           Cody prayed to whatever gods watched over clones bred for war that Rex hadn’t gone back up to the Resolute already.  He needed to see Rex and make sure his cyare was alright. Too many vod’e were walking wounded, and even more were severely injured or dead.  As much as he knew it was a real possibility, Cody did not want to ever consider a reality where Rex marched on ahead of him.

           “Hey, Commander!” Commander Tano chirped from out of nowhere.  She smiled up at him with bright eyes that hadn’t been weighed down by war yet.  She still had hope and Cody prayed that she would never lose that.  Yet another thing he prayed for to unknown gods.

           “Hello, Commander.”  Cody dodged a pair of vod’e carrying a crate full of supplies and glanced down at Commander Tano.  “Can I help you with something?”

           “Jesse said you’re looking for Rex?  I know where he is!  But we have to hurry before my Master pulls him away again.”

           If Commander Tano was willing to help him find Rex, Cody was definitely not going to say no.  Especially after the massacre they’d just faced.  “Thank you, Commander,” he said, warm affection warming his chest briefly. “I appreciate it.”

           Commander Tano waved away his thanks.  “It’s no problem.  I get it.  Master Skywalker practically ran to Master Kenobi’s side as soon as we got here, and I know Jesse went to go find a batchmate of his from the 41st. Sometimes, you just need to make sure everyone’s alive.”

           “That is very wise, Commander,” Cody said.  He really shouldn’t be surprised, but in his mind, the Commander was just so young.  She shouldn’t have insights into how war worked, and why they needed time to recuperate after a bad battle, if only to reassure themselves that their loved ones made it out alive or to mourn the ones that hadn’t.

           There were far too many mourning vod’e.

           “I have a great teacher,” Commander Tano said with a warm smile.  “Rex said you taught him a lot of what he knows and he’s been passing some of that down to me.  It’s helped me in some tough situations, so I should be thanking you, Commander.”

           “No thanks necessary, Commander,” Cody managed to say without choking or giving away his emotions.  Not that it probably mattered since Jedi were attuned to the people around them.  Only General Kenobi had ever thanked him for anything, and Cody was convinced that his General would thank Ventress after she stabbed him with her saber.  Karking di’kutla jetti.

           “Anyway, Rex is over in that tent, hopefully taking a nap. Coric was threatening him earlier with sedation, so he might have followed through on that threat.”

           And with that, Commander Tano skipped away, most likely to terrorize some poor shiny who wouldn’t know how to deal with an overly friendly shiny Jedi Commander. Cody privately wished he had a holo of their flailing.  It would provide some good laughs in the future.

           Cody strode over to the tent Commander Tano had pointed out, and knocked on the frame.

           “Come in,” Rex called and something inside of Cody’s chest loosened.

           He undid the fastenings and stepped inside, taking his bucket off immediately.  Rex was sitting on the cot, a datapad in his hands, likely going over the initial casualty reports for the battle.  Most importantly, he was very much alive.

           “Rex,” Cody gasped out with a strangled breath.

           Rex jerked at his voice and then a second later, Cody had his arms wrapped around his cyare, breathing him in as he held on as tight as he could.

           “Cody!  You’re okay!” Rex said.  He pulled back to give Cody a sharp look.  “You are okay, right?”

           “Yes, I am.  I didn’t end up getting injured.  That was purely my General,” Cody said, trying for some dry humor but it fell flat in the face of their combined relief.  “What about you?  I heard you got thrown off a wall?”

           “Karking Fives and Echo,” Rex growled.  “General Skywalker and Ahsoka caught me, so I wasn’t hurt.  Nothing beyond a few bumps and bruises.”

           Cody ran his eyes over Rex’s body, as though that would tell him if Rex was hiding any injuries with the armor in the way.  Once he verified that there wasn’t any gaping hole or crack in Rex’s armor, Cody dropped his helmet to the ground and pulled Rex into a bruising kiss.  His cyare responded eagerly, clinging desperately to the hard, sharp planes of Cody’s armor.  There was no finesse, no sweetness in the kiss.  Just pure, heady relief and a desperation to prove that they really survived.

           Rex gripped Cody’s hair tightly with one hand, the other wrapping around his waist to pull him as close as their armor would allow. He sucked on Cody’s bottom lip and gently nibbled before letting go and pressing his head against Cody’s in a soft keldabe.

           “I was so worried when we heard that most of your gunships went down, including General Kenobi’s.  You’re usually flying with him.”

           “We decided to split our forces.  It was a really close call a few times, but we made it.  We both made it,” Cody answered.  He was shaking from relief at having Rex in his arms, alive and unharmed.  Nothing would ever be able to beat that heady feeling of overwhelming gratitude to whatever gods were listening.  They’d listened to at least one of his prayers today.

           “Stay alive tomorrow,” Cody demanded after a moment of just breathing each other in.  “That factory is going to be really dangerous.”

           “I know.  Gree is a solid vod, though.  He’ll have my back and I’ll have his.  Plus, we have the Jedi to help keep us safe.”

           Cody very carefully didn’t think about the many times General Skywalker had gotten men killed by doing something reckless or stupid. The R2 droid was not important enough to sacrifice his padawan, Rex, and three other men to General Grievous.  Out of four, only Rex and Denal had made it back, and Commander Tano had nearly been killed by Grievous when she kept Grievous from killing Rex, all for a droid.  Cody was skeptical, but he also had faith in Commander Tano and General Unduli and her padawan.  They’d protect the men while Skywalker handled whatever crazy idea he had.

           “We will be safe,” Rex said, giving Cody a shake. “While you’re off with the Marines, you should talk to Bacara.  They’re out of contact with most of the GAR.  Only Neyo and Jet can get through the blockades to deliver supplies and intelligence to Nova.”

           A frown carved the worry lines on his face deeper as Cody absorbed that information.  “I’ll talk to him.  See what we can do,” Cody swore.

           Rex nodded.  “Good.  He’ll keep you alive.  Bacara already told me he’s planning on sharing all of my embarrassing ARC training stories to you while you’re on campaign together.”

           Cody grinned.  “I’ve been trying to pull those out of Neyo, Keeli, Thorn, and Thire for ages now.  And Bacara’s the one to spill the beans?”

           Rex grumbled and buried his face against the crook of Cody’s neck.  “He said I don’t have enough blackmail material on him to keep him from blabbing. He also said I don’t scare him because, and I quote, “I’m as terrifying as a sleepy baby nexu cub buried in a pile of nip”.”

           “That—is strangely accurate,” Cody choked out, laughing at Rex’s offended growl.  “You’re a little prickly, but everyone knows you’re just a softy.  I mean, you’ve been teaching Commander Tano what I taught you?”

           His cyare shrugged.  “She’s in the middle of a war, and she doesn’t have the training we do. I don’t want to see her die when I could have prevented it.  Nor do I want to see my vod’e die because she makes a bad decision.  I’m giving her all the tools she’ll need to be successful and survive this war.”

           “You’ve adopted her.”  Cody couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.  Rex had always loved with all his heart, as evidenced by the numerous vod’e who loved him unconditionally.  Of course, Commander Tano would have made the list.  “If she’s yours, then she’s mine, too,” Cody said. “We’re in this together.”

           Rex finally peeked his head back out from where he’d hidden it against the small sliver of skin on Cody’s neck.  “Really?”

           Cody didn’t hesitate.  He nodded and bumped their foreheads together.  “I promise.”

           For the first time since their first kiss, Cody had the amazing opportunity to see Rex completely and totally flustered.  He blushed bright red, sputtering and coughing as he tried to find something to say.

           It took a few minutes for Rex to completely compose himself and then it was Cody’s turn to be flustered.  “Are you asking me to be your riduur?”

           “What?” Cody spluttered.

           For a second, Rex faltered.  But then he squared his jaw and firmed his spine as if he was facing the worst of odds in a battle.  “We are one when together.  We already do that, and have done that since we were cadets.  We are one when apart.  At this point, I don’t think there’s anything that could separate us, even when we’re fighting on opposite ends of the galaxy.  We share all.  We tell each other everything.  You said it yourself.  What’s mine is yours, too.  We will raise warriors.  We are raising Ahsoka together, since we share all.  Not to mention all of our men that we’ve both trained since this war started. If that doesn’t count, I don’t know what would.

           “So, are you asking me to be your riduur?”

           As Rex laid out each point, Cody found himself agreeing. He and Rex were already married, they just hadn’t said the vows to each other yet.  And honestly, there wasn’t a better time than now.  Cody would rather be married to the love of his life for a few hours, then never have married him and watched him die in battle.

           “Yes, Rex of Torrent.  I am asking you to be my riduur,” Cody said, determination in every cell of his body.

           Rex lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Cody, bringing their foreheads together.  “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde,” Rex swore fervently, his whole heart bared for Cody to see.

           “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde,” Cody echoed the vow, offering Rex his heart with every breath.

           They shared the same space for a moment, pressing into the keldabe more firmly before their lips brushed together.  Like a firework had been set off in his bones, Cody tugged Rex into a passionate, over-whelming kiss that stole their breath away.  He could feel his heart swelling with the amount of love he felt for Rex, bursting out from behind the dam he kept on his emotions most days.  It rolled over him until the only thing he could think of was that Rex was alive, in his arms, and that they were now married.  What more could Cody care for in that moment?

           Eventually, air became a necessity, and they broke away from each other to breathe.  Rex gave a soft chuckle.  “You do realize that means you’re going to have to adopt Ahsoka, too, right?”

           “YES!  I get two dads AND Cody has to call me by my name now!”

           “Shh, they can hear you, Soka.”

           “Oops!  Everyone scatter!”

           Cody laughed.  His heart couldn’t contain the joy he felt, and he would carry that joy throughout the war as a hopeful flame for when they could all have peace again. But in that moment, he had all night with his riduur, and Cody planned on making the most of it.

[frostedfaves]

Repercussions (12)

Masterlist

Pairing: dark!Natasha Romanoff x dark!Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Summary: Your girlfriends meet your cousin before they leave, and you explain everything to him over a game of Go Fish.

Warnings: dark themes, manipulation

A/N: I truly hope this was worth the long ass wait! although, I’m glad I didn’t rush it, because it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to. please feel free to share your thoughts, and I hope to have the next part out in the next couple days!

Previous part

-

“He’s here!”

You were on your feet and dragging your girlfriends to the door before the security gate bell even finished going off, letting go for a moment to open the front door and pulling them with you onto the porch.

“Printsessa, slow down!” Wanda slightly scolded with a laugh. “He can only drive so fast.”

The car approached the house quickly as it passed through the gate, and it was barely in park for two seconds before your cousin Wesley was climbing out and running to you. Running to meet him halfway, you jumped into his waiting arms and laughed when he lifted you as high as he could.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!”

“I know, me either!” Wesley agreed as he put you down. “I was starting to think you were too busy for widdle ol’ me.”

“Oh, whatever.” You hit his arm with a playful roll of your eyes. “Come meet my two reasons for being busy.”

Natasha and Wanda greeted your cousin with outstretched hands and surprised smiles when he hugged them instead. You watched with an appreciative grin as the three exchanged names and pleasantries before Wesley went back to the car to get his things, and Wanda pulled you back before you could move to help.

“Let Tash handle it, okay?” she instructed gently as Natasha stepped off the porch. “We don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

You nodded and laced your fingers through hers, following the pair as Natasha led Wesley to his room on the main level.

“Wow. This room is bigger than my first apartment after college,” he commented as he placed his suitcase by the bed, observing every inch of the space.

“I’m glad you like it,” Wanda replied sweetly, still holding your hand. “We were just about to serve lunch, so feel free to join us once you’re settled.”

“Oh, and there’s a bathroom just next door,” Natasha added as she grabbed your other hand, the two pulling you out of the room and closing the door behind you.

“So...what do you think?” you asked once the three of you made it to the kitchen table.

“I think…” Wanda began, and you raised your eyebrows hopefully. “I see why you like him.”

-

For the rest of the day, you were careful to keep Natasha and Wanda with you under the guise that you wanted them to get to know Wesley, as well as your increasing need to cling to them before they left. Really, you knew they were planning to bug the two bedrooms that you and your cousin would be occupying because the cameras they planted around the house after your ‘suicide attempt’ didn’t record audio. They were far too sneaky to do it in your presence.

Leaving Wesley in the backyard, you followed your girlfriends to your shared room, working hard on building tears as you watched them grab their bags for the mission.

“Okay, printsessa,” Natasha started as she faced you, sighing at the sight of your watery eyes and pouting lips. “Baby, please don’t cry. I promise that we’ll be back before you even have time to miss us.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” you whined as you hugged yourself, averting your gaze to your feet.

“I know, sweet baby, I know.” Wanda hummed comfortingly as she wrapped her arms around you, Natasha joining on the other side. “But your cousin is here, and you’re going to have a really fun week! And I promise we will make it up to you when we get back.”

She pecked your cheek once, then twice, and suddenly the two of them were attacking you with cheek kisses until you playfully begged for mercy between giggles. You then took the time to give each of them a real kiss, once that hopefully conveyed how much you’d miss them in the upcoming days.

“Alright, printsessa, we really do have to go now.”

“Okay,” you sighed and grabbed their free hands in yours, walking them downstairs and to the front door in silence. You gave each of them one more prolonged hug before pulling away completely. “Get outta here before I cry again. And don’t forget to call me when you land.”

“Of course, and don’t forget your rules. We love you,” Wanda told you after a prolonged look with Natasha, and you took a shaky, deep breath.

“I love you, too.”

They squeezed your hands with tears in their eyes before grabbing their bags, and you watched from the porch as they got in the car, waving until they were past the gate. Once you were back inside, you went to the camera blind spot in the hallway and pulled the device from your pocket, turning it on to listen in from the bugs in their bags.

“Were you at least able to get a bug on his suitcase?”

“I thought you were going to!”

“I couldn’t. Printsessa’s eyes got all teary if I even stood too far away from her, and it broke my heart.”

“Well hopefully the cameras will be enough. I want to trust her more.”

“Me too...Can you believe she finally said it? I almost didn’t leave.”

You turned the device off after that, tucking it away again as you went toward the back door just as Wesley came back in.

“Are they gone?”

“Yeah.” You nodded toward the kitchen table. “Sit on the side facing the window so you can block my lips from the camera.”

He moved to take a seat while you grabbed a deck of cards, sitting on the opposite side of him with a wide smile. You shuffled the cards quickly and met his eyes again as you began to deal them out.

“I know you get into some wild situations, but I never expected that the next time I saw you would be to help you escape two Avengers.”

“Trust me, I didn’t see it coming either.” You sighed as you looked at the cards in your hand. “I appreciate you so much for coming though.”

“Of course...but how did you manage to get me here without them knowing it was your idea? They seem pretty detail oriented.”

“Pure observation, Wes.” The two of you played a silent game of Go Fish as you explained. “The plan kind of came together the day Wanda gave me the iPad. I’d taken some money in case I had a small chance to escape at any point and didn’t have a car to use, but I decided to use it for a cab ride when I got the message from Brittani.”

“But why meet with her if you knew you’d get caught with the tracker? You said so yourself that they found you pretty fast the first time.”

“I wanted to get caught, because I knew meeting with my ex-girlfriend would--at the very least--piss Natasha off enough to want to punish me. With the two of them knowing my mental health history, I knew I could use that as a tipping point for a downward spiral, leave little hints as the days passed that my mood was really dropping.”

“Okay…” Wesley paused to take the card you handed him and pair it off with the one in his hand. “So how did you know that Brittani would be at the store and have a phone for you?”

“She has an incredible memory, which is why I made it a point to drop a hint that I was only working with an iPad at the moment, and that I needed to run to the bodega across the street from the cafe to get a burner when I left.”

The two of you counted your pairs when you ran out of cards and you made sure to cheer with exaggeration when you realized you won. Wesley slid all of his cards toward you as you gathered them all to shuffle and deal again.

“I also told her the grocery store we go to is the best one in the city, and may have mentioned the day and time the three of us usually shop because it’s the least busiest time.”

“So when you got caught in front of her, she knew exactly how to help you!” he realized and you nodded. “Guess it only took one gun to the head to guilt them into letting you have a visitor. How are you feeling after that, by the way?”

“It was...nerve-wracking at first, but I was quick to remind myself that it was to help, not hurt.” You took the card from him and added it to yours. “You brought the tools, right?”

“Yeah. You want to do it tonight?” he asked, and you quickly shook your head.

“Absolutely not. They’re going to call in the morning when they get to the safe house, and then I’m going to listen in on the bug until they fall asleep. There’s a camera in the game room downstairs that can also see part of the TV room, but only the part of the couch near the doorway. We’re gonna sneak the tools down there and I’ll sit on that side while you remove the tracker from my ankle on the other side.”

“Good thing I paid attention in those surgical courses,” he joked and you laughed, drawing a card as your smile dropped.

“Listen, Wes...I know you agreed to this and already came out here, but I just want to give you one more chance to back out. If this whole plan works, we’re going to have to work hard to hide from them, and the consequences will be even more dire if we fail.”

“Despite how much time we spend apart, you’re always going to be my favorite person in the world. You have been since the day you were born, when your tiny middle finger flipped up at the doctor. I’m here until the finish line, no matter what that looks like.”

You offered him a grateful smile in return as the two of you moved to count your cards again, playfully rolling his eyes when he celebrated his win. As you gathered the pile for a tie-breaking game, you squeezed his hand across the table, grinning when he shifted into your childhood handshake. Every fiber of your being hoped everything went according to plan, for his sake more than anything. You refused to let him fall when he’d been catching you all your life.

-

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