#its under a cut because it accidentally got long

[neonovember]

bucky barnes as a husband headcanon!

heavily inspired by my steve headcanons here, I wanna try my hand at writing more of james. he is the epitome of devotion, he falls first and falls hard.

this kind of takes part in an alternative au (think avengers are still together but its post the falcon and the winter soldier)

he is canonically good at cunnilingus

you think I’m joking? This man divulges into a rabid animal the second he gets close to your thighs. He is on his knees whilst your pressed up against the counter rubbing his face against your clothed crotch moaning and grinding in the air

he says if he could have gotten a taste of you while he was the winter soldier it would've required his brain and reversed the brainwashing

’to be alone with you’ - hozier is bucky’s song

like steve, he feels the isolation and ghost-like feeling of being lost in time. Brooklyn doesn't feel like home anymore, he constantly reaches for you, even in sleep because you are the thing he now belongs to.

you can never get used to how intense bucky just..stares at you. Every single moment of the day you'll just catch him watching you silently not saying a word. It wasn't creepy, no it had this protective almost darkness to it that was all consuming. At one of Tony’s parties, he’s watching you across the room with a glass in his hand or mysterious and shit. (probably thinking about when is a polite time to leave)

which is never because bucky just drags you both out of every gathering. Every goodbye is an Irish one

man bun bucky. That’s it.

lets you cut his hair when it gets to the point of covering his eyes. Sometimes his stubble too, thumb circling and grazes your thigh as you lean over him with a scalpel.

most of the team are still gobsmacked at how bucky justs..trusts you. Whether it be with a shaving, or jumping out of a corner. If any of the team tried to pull a knife on bucky he would probably (not) accidentally break their jaw

after missions all the Avengers know he’ll be offline for at least a couple days to be with you. What they don’t discuss is half of those days are fucking you bruised. He gets all pent up and irritated when he isn’t around you, it’s like you recalibrate his mood back to baseline regular bucky when he can finally sink into you.

doll, darlin’, honey

if you think steve is possessive…just exponentiate that to the power of 10 and you have husband bucky. Are we forgetting this man used to be the winter soldier? he's cute and adorable but also can be fucking horrifying. I’m talking blank face breaking a mans jaw cause he looked at you funny

very casual in his superhuman abilities to protect you. 

silky dulcet notes of etta james, the album sam had gifted you both playing as you cut up some root vegetables. It’s summer and the night is long and warm, and you and bucky are humming as you prepare dinner. You're twirling your hips, Bucky is leaning against the countertop, half trussing the chicken and the other watching you when he suddenly stops. You don't notice it at first, until he cocks his head to the side, kind of blinks and moves to turn the saucepan on low. You turn to him, and he grabs for one of the kitchen knives on the bench before reaching for you.

"there's someone in the backyard"

all nonchalant, like it had been a burrowing animal stuck under the floorboards. he motions for you to continue, turns up the record player a bit and walks into the backyard without a sound.

this man is touch starved, of course he is cock warming after. each and every time.

one of the things bucky loved about you is at ease he felt, he could talk to you and spill everything out in a way he never could with dr raynor or even steve.

there was a bit of distance from him when he first met you, he was awestruck, even more silent than he usually was. Just stared at you longingly, standing off to the side. he didn’t think he could be anything but feared, it genuinely got to the point where you thought he didn't like you or that you had done something wrong. when steve had told him this, he nearly died. no, i'd like to think he's heart stopped for a couple seconds seriously. than got up from fainting, took you aside, and kissed you against the back of sarah's backyard door on the fourth of july.

stations a few target practice posts in your backyard. teaches you how to shoot, chest pressed up against your back as he helps move your body in the right position. always make sure you know where the weapons are in the house

singing to records whilst he's cleaning said weapons at the table

takes you to all the places still standing he remembers in Brooklyn, you hold his hand and let him rest against your shoulder when the past gets caught in his throat.

Steve finds a place in the city with actual good music, where people actually dance, and it becomes your spot every Friday.

yeah, one thing bucky remembers would be his muscle memory of the dance floor, he’s goooood. Teaches you everything he knows in your kitchen of course, always ends up with you making out on top of each other though

dry humping like teenagers, bucky with his low hanging jeans, not wearing boxes and making a mess just from the taste of your mouth

actually, sometimes breaks down in tears when he realises you’re his wife. Like forever.

always thinking about you, what you're doing, if you've eaten. even if hes in the middle of recon you will be in the back of his mind.

leans over and loops his dog tags around your neck whenever he leaves for missions. kisses your eyelids when your sleeping and the fight calls him

the second time you and bucky visited Wakanda he had Shuri craft the ring to be fused into his vibranium finger..yeah I know.

bucky isn’t the extroverted talking type, but with you he is constantly just yapping..about anything and everything. Following you around the house like a puppy, coming to you for the answers about the new world and questions he always harboured even before the ice

bucky is hilarious, he's already an adonis, but he could laugh you of your pants

can’t bear fighting with you, he never yells. He just kind of goes quiet and takes a walk

you guys live in a house with a huge backyard and a wraparound porch

loves cooking, lets him turn his mind off sometimes and make you something hearty and warm. he has a frilly gingham patterned apron he wears and his curls are wrapped into a bun with your scrunchie. floor always ends up on his cheek, and you always end up on the kitchen bench with his mouth on you

night terrors had him sleeping in a sleeping bag next to the bed, he refused despite your attempts. Sometimes he'd wait till you fell asleep against him and make the heartbreaking quiet separation and sleep on the floor

sometimes likes to take of his arm around the house, especially sleeping. Keeps it near in case though, for you.

he’s thick everywhere…took an hour of foreplay minimum to get you ready for him. You both will never get used to each other, needing to take a moment of hushed gasps and groans when he first sinks in

the wedding was in Sams backyard in Delacroix, just Sam, Sarah, the kids and Yoshi and the team

fairylights wrapped around the spanish moss of hanging trees, soft jazz and hard liquor. Sarah’s seafood boil and a dance floor where bucky spends half the night with you there

dad!bucky on the other hand..now that is a different ballpark. wait no actually, just him when you're both expecting. let's not forgot when he stormed into the tower and broke through the office doors to ask why on earth tony had scheduled him a mission so close to the birth of your baby, tossing him his phone which was now crumbled heap of metal in the shape of his fists....(you were two weeks along)

[lyvhie]

★ ˙ ̟ ─── . “fell for you”.

| summary | Mark didn't know that being clumsy had its advantages. | cw | fluff, strangers to something else, meet-cute?, kiiinda of love at first sight, mark is downnn bad, mark is shy but HE GOT THIS!!| | a/n | my beautiful @peterm4rker, feliz cumpleeee!! i hope you have an amazing day, thank you for being alive, i only exist on your cellphone, so all i can do for u is a silly fic, but i did it with love 😔 TUMBLR SABOTAGED ME AND DIDN'T POST, I CAN'T BELIEVE I FAILED I HAD ONE JOB 😭😭😭 i hope u like it EVERYONE SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCI WE LOVE YOU!!!

Mark hadn’t been able to tear his eyes off you since the moment you stepped onto the dance floor. Actually, it started even earlier, when you accidentally bumped into him, nearly causing him to spill his drink all over himself.

He’d only caught a brief glimpse of you then, but it was enough. The image of you had carved itself into his mind like a permanent imprint—your eyes, framed by just the right touch of color, glowing with a playful spark. Your lips, glossy and shining, curved into a polite little smile as you muttered a quick apology.

He barely managed to say “it’s okay” in return, too stunned to form anything more coherent. He was usually the type to get flustered easily, yes, but something about you completely disarmed him.

From that moment on, his attention was glued to you for the rest of the night. He watched the way you moved so effortlessly with the rhythm, the sway of your body in perfect sync with the music, the way you tossed your head back when you laughed, bright and carefree. You leaned in to say something to a friend, smiling as they nudged you playfully, and he couldn’t help the way his eyes followed every motion like a magnet.

He wasn't completely sure, but he could’ve sworn you glanced his way a few times too—just quick flickers of your eyes in his direction, barely enough to be sure, but enough to set his nerves on fire.

Watching you from across the room, radiant and completely in your element, Mark stood frozen in place, drink hanging loosely from his fingers, heart pounding in a way he hadn't felt in a long time.

“Is that a new flirting technique?” Chenle’s voice cut through the music, amused and sharp, but Mark’s eyes remained glued to you.

“What?” Mark replied absently, not tearing his gaze away. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Chenle huffed, reaching out to nudge Mark’s chin up with two fingers, “are you trying to send telepathic signals until she magically develop the ability to receive them?” He gave Mark a pointed look. “Because you’ve been standing here with your mouth open drooling like a golden retriever for the past thirty minutes.”

“I’m not doing that,” Mark grumbled, frowning as he crossed his arms, voice defensive like a kid caught red-handed.

“Yeah, sure you’re not,” Chenle snorted, the sarcasm practically dripping. He took a sip of his drink, raising a brow at his friend. “Seriously, just go talk to her. Is it really that difficult? You’re acting like she’s gonna bite.”

Mark shot him a side-eye. “What if she does?”

“You’re right, she might,” Chenle replied, casually glancing in your direction—just in time to catch the not-so-subtle way you were watching Mark from across the room, nibbling on your lower lip with your eyes slightly narrowed. “She definitely looks like she wants to,” he added with a smirk. “But I don’t think it’s the kind of bite you’re worried about.”

Mark’s brows rose slightly, caught off guard by Chenle’s words. His gaze flicked toward you instinctively—and, oh.

You were looking right at him. No mistaking it this time. Eyes locked, lip between your teeth in a way that made his brain short-circuit for a split second.

“…Shit,” he muttered under his breath.

Chenle let out a laugh, elbowing him. “See? Told you. She’s just waiting for you to stop being a coward.”

Mark groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “I don't even know what to say to her.”

“You're talking like a fucking loser, Mark,” Chenle deadpanned, already on the move. He grabbed Mark by the shoulders and started to shove him forward, away from the bar and toward the dance floor. “You’ve done all kind of stuff and now you're scared of a pretty girl?”

“I wasn’t mentally prepared for a goddess tonight,” Mark hissed under his breath, feet dragging against the floor.

Chenle rolled his eyes. “You’ll survive. Just say hi. Or smile. Or blink in Morse code if that’s easier.”

He wanted to protest, to resist his friend's insistence, maybe even run back to the safety of the bar stool, but before he knew it, his feet had betrayed him. There he was, standing just a few steps behind you, frozen in place, staring at the back of your figure illuminated by the flashing lights.

He glanced at Chenle, who was grinning like the absolute menace he was, waving mockingly from the distance, mouthing something like “Good luck.”

Mark inhaled deeply, trying to steady the wild rhythm of his heartbeat. Okay. No turning back now.

He took one slow step forward, then another, using the few seconds he had before reaching you to rehearse every possible conversation in his head—witty lines, casual compliments, charming openers. He even prepared for rejection in all its brutal forms, from polite smiles to awkward laughs.

But he was so absorbed in the panic of how not to embarrass himself and how to maybe, somehow impress you, that he completely missed the fact that his shoelaces were undone.

And just like that, two seconds later, he was tripping over his own feet and stumbling straight into your direction, at the exact moment you turned around.

“Woah!” you gasped, instinctively catching him as he practically collapsed into your arms.

Mark was pretty sure this was how people died of embarrassment. His hands instinctively gripped your arms to steady himself, eyes wide as he looked up at you from his not-so-elegant lean.

"I—uh—hi," he stammered, frozen for a beat. "That wasn't... That wasn't part of the plan."

A soft laugh slipped from your lips, light and melodic, and even with the music pulsing loudly around you, he heard it clearly. The sound clung to his ears like a favorite song, and Mark was pretty sure it was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever heard.

“I’ll give you points for impact,” you teased, a playful smile tugging at your lips as you watched him clumsily pull away, trying to regain some composure.

“Thank you,” he replied, sheepish, one hand instinctively reaching to rub the back of his neck. He was silently grateful for the club’s low lighting and the swirl of neon colors around you, hiding the fierce red blooming across his cheeks.

“That wasn’t exactly how I planned to come talk to you, but…” he let out a nervous chuckle, stealing a quick glance at your face, still surprised you hadn’t just walked away. "I'm Mark, by the way.”

He extended his hand—like an idiot, he thought—but couldn’t help the flicker of relief that crossed his face when you took it without hesitation, your fingers warm against his. You said your name, and it echoed in his head like a melody. God, what a beautiful name.

“Nice to meet you, Mark,” you replied, his name rolling off your tongue so smoothly it made his heart skip.

Was his name always this nice to hear, or was it just your voice?

“Do you go around falling into every girl’s arms you're interested in, or...?” your tone were playful, your eyes filled with amusement.

“That was actually only for you,” he said, flashing a smile so charming it made your stomach twist in the best way.

“Oh, so I'm the lucky one?” you teased, tilting your head as a grin tugged at your lips.

“I’m the lucky one, actually,” he replied without missing a beat, brows raising slightly as if the words had just slipped out. “Can I, um, get you a drink?”

His nervous look was absolutely adorable, you could never deny it, not that you were planning to. “Of course, lead the way.”

To say Mark was in disbelief over how well things were going—especially after that mortifying entrance—would be an understatement. But here you were, smiling at him, saying yes. He wasn’t about to question his luck.

As the two of you made your way to the bar and shared drinks, the atmosphere gradually relaxed. The alcohol helped a little, sure, but it was mostly you. You made things easy. You were attentive, engaged, and just… so genuinely interesting. Every new thing you said made him want to know more.

He was pretty sure he could get addicted to you.

“Oh, so you’re a singer, a songwriter, and you dance?” you asked, a playful eyebrow raised as your chin rested on your palm, eyes locked on his. “Can’t believe I’m talking to a celebrity right now.”

“Ah, come on,” he rolled his eyes, but couldn’t fight the grin tugging at his lip, which only widened when your laughter followed. “I just have a lot of hobbies, that’s all.”

You let out a low whistle. “Wow. Hobbies? What happened to being humble?” you teased, giving his shoulder a light push. “Next thing you’ll say is you’re only kind of good at them.”

He chuckled, tilting his head. “I mean… I’m decent,” he said, feigning modesty.

That made you laugh even harder, the sound bubbling out effortlessly. “Okay, okay then…” you said, glancing around the lively club for a beat before turning your eyes back to him—your gaze bright with amusement, excitement gleaming in your irises. “Since I can’t exactly fact-check the singing and songwriting right now, how about we test the dancing?”

Mark blinked, caught slightly off guard by the sudden switch, but your smile was too contagious, too inviting for him to say no.

“You want to dance?” he asked, a flicker of nervousness playing at the edge of his voice.

“Yes, let’s go!” you beamed, and before Mark could even get another word out, you were already grabbing his hand, tugging him with you toward the dance floor with that same infectious energy that had him hooked from the start.

The lights spun wildly above, the bass of the music thumping through the floor and right into his chest, but nothing felt as loud or electric as the warmth of your hand in his.

You turned to him once you found a spot, your fingers still loosely wrapped around his, your smile mischievous. “C’mon, don’t be shy now,” you teased, already swaying to the rhythm, tugging him gently by the hands to encourage him.

Mark chuckled, eyes glinting as he let himself be pulled into your orbit. At first, his movements were a bit hesitant, his usual confidence caught somewhere between the thump of the music and the closeness of you. But your energy was infectious—your laughter, the way you danced so freely, it all made him forget about being shy.

Soon enough, he was matching your pace, still a little clumsy, sure, but no longer holding back. And God, he was having fun. He couldn’t stop smiling. Not when you were so close, not when your body brushed against his in rhythm, not when he could smell your perfume each time you twirled back into him. It was dizzying. It was perfect.

Especially because it was you.

“You weren’t lying about being a dancer, huh?” you teased, voice softer now with the mellow change in music.

The two of you swayed gently, pressed close. Your arms hung loosely around his neck, while his hands rested on your hips—though only after you had guided them there, because he was adorably awkward about it at first.

“Can’t wait to know more about your other ‘hobbies’,” you added, flashing him a knowing smile.

“Oh, so you want to know more about me?” he asked, brows lifting, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“I thought that was obvious since we sat down to talk and have a drink?” you shot back, raising your brows with the same playful energy.

Mark laughed, that kind of breathy, boyish laugh that warmed your chest. “Okay, okay… I was too nervous to notice that.”

His confession had you laughing, your head tipping forward until your forehead rested gently on his shoulder. Mark stood perfectly still, caught in the quiet moment, letting himself inhale the soft, warm scent of your hair.

“Then, I guess I’ll have to be more direct with you?” you asked, pulling back slightly to meet his eyes, your own twinkling with mischief.

“Well…” he gave a sheepish smile, his head swaying side to side. “It might help me out a little.”

That made you chuckle again, the sound curling around his ribs like sunshine.

“Alright then…” you paused, humming as if in deep thought, your gaze flicking down to his lips for a beat too long. “Can I kiss you?”

His heart practically leapt into his throat.

He blinked once. Then twice. “God, yes,” he breathed, the words escaping before he could even try to play it cool.

His endearing reaction had you chuckling and giving him a soft, warm gaze that completely melted him. You moved closer, and he followed without hesitation, as if pulled by some invisible string, completely enchanted.

Your lips hovered just a breath away from his, and his heart thundered in his chest. Then you leaned in, nibbling gently on his lower lip, teasing him with the kind of ease that made his knees threaten to give out.

“You are so cute,” you giggled softly, your voice brushing against his lips like velvet.

Was that even legal? He swore you were trying to kill him.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered back, voice low and reverent. Then, finally, he closed the remaining space between you.

His hands slid up to your neck, holding you tenderly as if you were something precious—because to him, you already were. His thumbs drew slow, soothing circles just under your ears, grounding him as your lips met fully.

The kiss was soft at first, exploratory, almost shy, but full of feeling. It deepened gradually, growing warmer, more certain, as your fingers curled lightly into the fabric of his shirt.

He only pulled away because, unfortunately, he needed to breathe if he didn’t want to literally die from kissing you (though, honestly, he wouldn’t mind if that were how he went).

“I think I like you,” he murmured, voice soft as he pressed a featherlight kiss to your lips again, his cheeks tinged with the sweetest shade of pink.

“Already?” you teased, giggling. “I think I like you too,” you replied before pressing a quick kiss of your own.

“Can I have your number?” he asked, a little coyly, his eyes glinting with both nerves and hope.

”You laughed again (your ninth time tonight, not that anyone was counting) and nodded. “Yes, Mark, you can.”

“Do you wanna go out tomorrow?” The words escaped him before his brain could catch up, like his mouth had given his heart the reins for good.

“Our official first date?” you asked, smile softening as you tilted your head.

“If you’ll let me,” he replied, hopeful, eyes never leaving yours.

You leaned in once more, lips brushing his in a promise. “I will.”

His lips were pressed into a thin line as he processed everything, eyes wide with disbelief, like he was still waiting to wake up from some wild dream. It was kind of adorable, actually, how unaware he was of his own charm. You couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Gorgeous, sweet, a little clueless… people like him were everyone’s weakness.

“Can I kiss you again?” he asked, his big, brown eyes flicking over every inch of your face like he was truly admiring you.

“You don’t have to ask.”

And he didn’t hesitate after that. He leaned in, lips meeting yours with more certainty this time, melting into the kiss like it was exactly where he was supposed to be. And as he kissed you, one hand still resting at your neck, the other finding your waist, he swore—whatever this feeling was, it tasted a lot like heaven.

“Is it too soon to say I kinda love you already and would absolutely marry you today if you let me?” he asked with a grin, the kind that made your stomach do somersaults. His tone was playful, but his fingers were gentle as he tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear like you were something delicate and precious.

You snorted, raising a brow. “Let’s calm down a little, lover boy,” you said, pinching his ear gently. “You fall into my arms one time and suddenly we’re planning a wedding?”

He winced playfully, leaning away. “Ouch, noted. Too soon. I’ll dial it back.”

↝ taglist: @nebularsung, @spacejip, @peterm4rker, @sinisxtea

[last-words-ofashootingstar]

Allure

Part One:Sunshine

❥MATZ x fem reader

Kim Hongjoong and Park Seonghwa. The most known and feared alphas of the new generation. It took two dozen elder alphas to subdue them and stick them in the world's most secluded prison- hidden away in the mountains. The prison that sweet little omega (Y/n)'s works at.

Knuckle Velvet (Part Two)

Smoke (Part Three)

➯a/n: i've always wanted to write a story i would like to see as a movie or show, and i very much enjoy supernatural and dark romance, so i made this ! it does get very dark so please read the warnings and take care of yourself first and foremost. i am very proud of this, i hope you enjoy 💕

✃ "Because you're... alluring."

✫彡wordcount: 9.3k

♫"Hey, you should leave that young thing alone, ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday." - Flower Face (original by Bill Withers) ♫ Allure Sountrack

(>ᴗ•)♡´･ᴗ･`♡genre: smut, YANDERE, a/b/o au

ಠ_ಠWARNING/content: DEAD DOVE I MURDERED THAT BIH

chapter specific: literally what have i done, not beta read(ironically), criminal MATZ, alpha MATZ/omega reader, forget everything you know about werewolves, so much world building, extremely yandere behavior, talk of attempted child murder, class division of werewolves, panic attacks, vulgar language, mind control, lots of scent stuff, unhealthy relationships, ptsd, flashbacks and nightmares, physical violence, manipulation of others dreams, supporting character death, forced soul bonding, forced marking, reader implied to have mental health issues, murder, gore, violence- all that good stuff. THIS IS NOT A NON CON FIC ALL EVENTUAL SMUT WILL BE CONSENSUAL.

⁂perm taglist: @stvrfir3 @tunaasan @marievllr-abg

⁂fic taglist: @potatomountain @spooo00oky

MATURE UNDER CUT MDNI

˚➶ ｡˚ PART ONE ˚➶ ｡˚

You hate weekdays. That much is true for a lot of people. You like to think your reasoning is especially valid.

Every Monday through Friday like clockwork, 6:30AM you walk into the prison. That on its own wasn't so bad. You lived only ten minutes away; the gothic building looked over your village in tandem with the mountains. You could see it when the weather was clear, even from your bedroom on the edge of town. You were no longer afraid of it like when you were a child.

You are, however, afraid of the newest prisoners.

New arrivals didn't usually rock you. This is the only prison in the country fit to hold lycans, after all. They all got transferred here eventually. From beta's who were just stealing to eat, to alphas who used their powers on humans, to those who believed in the old ways and fed on humans.

You had to interact with them all face to face.

You weren't excited for that particular aspect of your job this week.

You made your way through the double doors and greeted the security guard, your friend Hyolyn, as you went through the metal detector. It went off on account of the scent blocker that was embedded in your neck. She chuckled and switched it off so it stopped its incessant beeping.

"Don't laugh at me!" You threw a smile her way as you got your small purse from the plastic bucket she slid towards you. She doesn't bother to check your bag. She knows you well enough to know you wouldn't bring in any "fuck shit", as she would say. "You alpha's don't have to worry about accidentally spewing scent everywhere."

"Thank goodness for that, this place would stink to high heaven." Her unintentional reference to the new arrivals makes the air turn stiff. She could tell you were on edge immediately. "They aren't all that scary," she lays a comforting hand to your shoulder as you fiddle with the long strap on your crossbody bag.

"I heard one of them killed Alpha Greene... you think that's true? That guy was huge, I saw him at The Thing last year, I almost peed myself cause he looked at me-" You stop your own rambling, taking a deep breath and letting it out as a shaking sigh. "I don't want to go in there. Honestly, why can't we install a laundry chute or something, fuck."

"I'll follow you up, I c-"

"No, no, it's visiting day. You need to be down here. You know Chungha? Her daughter is visiting today. Don't want you to miss her." You offer a sad, tight lipped smile, but that doesn't trick her instincts to protect her weaker pack member. She knows you too well to be tricked.

"You just scream and I'll be there. Either of those cocky fucks lift a pinky in your direction and I'll gut them. They don't deserve to see a trial anyway."

A small exhale in the form of a chuckle lightens her protective instincts, she can tell you feel more at ease with her promise to be right there at the slightest hint of trouble.

"See you, Hyolyn."

"Later, babes."

You wave your fingers with a smile as the elevator doors slides shut. As soon as they clunk together, you let it fall and crouch with your head in your hands, taking in deep and slow breaths as you try and force all of the rumors you've heard about the two newest inmates away from your head.

The older alpha of the duo was the first born in this generation. They're always powerful. But he was born to two bloodthirsty rouges. Born in sin and blood lust.

The younger alpha was born just some months after, to an arranged marriage that was purposefully formed to make powerful children. They surely regret that now. Some say the man has the strongest, sharpest claws since the first lycan in Talbot Castle.

When the elevator dings, you're already upright and have that strong facade on that you put on when you're clocked in.

˚➶ ｡˚

You start with the familiar. "Hey, Chungha," you tap on the silver bars of her cell, "hand 'em over." She smiles as she stands, stripping the sheets from her cot and holding them through the bars for you. "Thank you," you draw on with a tug on your lips that matches hers.

"Yunnie in town?"

"Mhm," you hum as you fold the blanket before dropping it in the large basket on wheels, "she came over for stew, I made sure to feed her good and well, don't worry."

You know it was probably problematic, but you couldn't help it. Chungha came here three years ago on a charge for battery, and over those three years you became sort of friends with her.

The battered in her case was her grandfather. When her five year old daughter, Jiyun, started to show signs of being an omega- he left her in the snow to wither away. She managed to survive until her mother came home, and said mother was furious.

She was lucky she didn't charged with attempted manslaughter.

"She said she'll be here first thing."

"Thank you," she had a heavy pull on her voice. You don't have the emotional connection to other wolves like an alpha or beta did. But it was clear to anyone she was being sincere. "You're a good woman."

"Don't mention it, Yunnie is good company. Oh," you start to wheel the basket away when you remember something. You reach into the purse that you had set on the handles. "She made this at art class, asked me to give it to you so it didn't have to wait in processing."

It was a small, cruelly made ceramic bowl in the vague shape of a heart. It was clearly made by an eight year old, but made with love.

"I owe you."

"Just keep working on that parol work." You said lightly and blew a kiss as you moved to the next cell.

    The rest of your work nearly cleared your mind as you went from cell to cell, floor to floor. Omega's were on the second floor. Beta's on the third. Alphas on the fourth. High security on the fifth.

     It's on the fourth level that you begin to feel those nerves that you had just worked away. The scent was becoming stronger. They didn't put them on blockers? Maybe they didn't think it would be worth it. Everyone knew that they were the worst of the worst, they didn't even try to hide it. They would undoubtedly be put to death. Why waste two perfectly good, expensive, blockers?

     The basket of used sheets is nearly full, accumulating into a weight that makes you put your back into it as you push it into the elevator.

    Your index finger reaches out, and before you can stop yourself you've pressed the button to the fifth floor.

       You blank out until the door opens again. Your teeth are eternally grateful for the gum between them so they don't grind themselves into dust. The mint flavor does little to calm your nerves.

     The only thing that makes you come back to your own head is Changbin. He's a big, buff beta with a gun full of silver bullets on his work belt. He won't let them hurt you. His smile washes away a lot of the nerves.

    But the growl that rumbles against the walls makes them return ten, one hundred, one thousand fold. You don't dare say a word. A deer in headlights until Changbin places his hand on the small of your back. "Go on, don't give them the satisfaction of scaring you. They aren't going nowhere no time soon. Take a look."

     He motions you deeper into the hall, florescent lights buzzing above you, matching the jittering feeling in the deepest pit of your stomach. It smells too strong. Too much. You're about to fall to your knees from the weight and you haven't even come face to face with the near feral criminals.

    Changbin opens the doors at the end of the hall.

     They've definitely gone all out to keep them in place. Two large cages placed next to each other in the middle of the enormous room. Made of pure silver and wrapped in wolfsbane. The unpleasant smell of the plant makes your nose twitch. A ring of blood ash surrounds it. Only omegas can pass through blood ash, and now you start to realize why they sent you.

    You want to curse the warden, but the second you open your mouth, a loud cackle sounds out from one of the cages.

     Changbin's hand twitches at the gun attached to his side.

    "Oh wow," the smaller alpha chuckles, eyes closed, head tilted back, as he sniffs the air. "I didn't expect that." More manic giggles slip past his lips.

    You haven't even looked up to see them and you want to cave in on yourself.

    "What are you rambling about, huh?" The guard next to you shouts, making you flinch instinctively.

     "That sweet... sweet, smell," he moans. You can hear him shuffling. "From a peppy little spit fuck omega."

   You gasp abashedly, and now two laughs ring out. You want to wonder how they can smell you. Your insurance provides the best scent blocker in the country. But you're too scared to breathe, let alone think.

      "Shut up," Changbin groans, he can feel you tense next to him, "don't piss me off, Kim."

    "Awe," a new, rumbling voice makes you cower the second it reaches your ears, "this your mate? Hm, no... you wouldn't bring your mate here. You're not an idiot. Then, say... omega." You don't make a move to look when he addresses you, you stay looking at Changbins grip on his gun, silently.

     "Omega, come!" Your feet move for you, and that manic laugh almost makes you wet yourself as you realize that your wolf is making you move toward them without your consent. You stop just outside of the blood ash, where you know you're safe.

     "Changb-"

     "No. I'm the one you're speaking to."

   Changbin seems to be weighing his options, eyeing the men as they eye you.

    "Why are you here? You a shrink?"

    You shake your head.

   "You a lawyer?"

    Again.

   "She works here, dumbass, look at her scrubs," the younger speaks, and you nod subconsciously, to which he giggles, "what can we do for a pretty little thing like you?"

    When you refuse to speak, the guard does it for you. "She's here for your sheets today. Get used to her."

     You hated that this was your job, but it was easy and accessible, and available for omegas. Werewolves are clean freaks. Every day you had a different cleaning task, but you didn't complain. Not until right now- you wanted to rip out the throat of whoever's idea it was to not shoot these criminals on sight.

     "Ah," he hums, and you can feel his eyes raking your body. You can feel both of their eyes. "Not too bad of a sight to get used to. Huh, Hwa?"

     "Mh, that's right... can't wait to get my hands on her."

Your head snaps back to Changbin.

"Awn, she thinks he's gonna help her!" The high pitched giggles bounce around in your head. "Oh, little omega~"

The saccharine coo finally pulls your eyes to the men in the cages.

If you thought you knew what fear was before this moment, you were wrong.

The two strongest criminals in the country, staring you down like a piece of meat. It doesn't matter that they are the ones in cages of silver and wolfsbane. You are the one who feels cornered.

You can immediately feel out their dynamics. The taller one is the older one, quiet and still in his cage as he sits in the center. Shaggy, shining hair framing his face and neck like an elegant piece of lace over a brides face. He has a sleeve of tattoos on one forearm, a thick tattoo on his neck. Eyes glowing a deep, blood red, as he tries to read your entire story with only a look in your direction.

The giggling one is less intimidating, only by a hair. Chemically lightened locks pushed back messily, letting his entrancing features shine in the light from the narrow windows high on the walls. He has tattoos as well, but they seem few and far between. His eyes are human for a moment before they meet yours. Instantaneously, they flick black.

The knot drops from your throat and you let out a small, pathetic, squeak.

Changbin breaks your staring contest with the alpha, shouting orders at them. "Take the sheets off your cot and set them outside of your cage. Do not attempt to touch her, I will shoot you."

    Neither criminal makes a move to follow his orders, both simply staring at you.

A low growl is emitted when the older alpha finally snaps up, tearing the sheet off the sorry excuse for a bed in one fell swoop. The younger follows his lead, shoving their sheets through the bars that are wrapped in the poisonous flower.

You look to the guard, and he nods, "go." With his finger twitching at the gun ready to pull it, you jump over the dark red ashes and into the wolves den, snatching the sheets up as quick as possible and dashing away, out the door before they even get a chance to lock in your scent up close.

The giggles follow you all the way to the elevator and ring in your head even as the thick metal thunks shut.

As you take a deep breath, you notice the sheets are gripped to your chest, your claws drawn subconsciously in your panic and ripping them up. "Shit!" You let out a curse and shove them into the bottom of the basket so you don't have to smell it as closely on the long ride to the basement.

˚➶ ｡˚

The lingering wafts of your fresh scent are long gone, nothing to distract the alpha's from their caged boredom and bubbling rage over being caught. "I'll have that runts heart in my hands by the end of the month." Hongjoong groaned, to no one in particular- he knew Seonghwa was too deep in thought from their recent revelations. "Fucking back stabbers. They're more pathetic than a bitch in heat trying to get off with a dildo."

The thought hit his mind as soon as the words left his lips.

The thought of you, legs spread with your hand dipped low, trying to satisfy your primal urges and-

"Stop that." Seonghwa growls, kicking the bars of their shared 'wall'.

"Settle down!"

"Oh, like you weren't thinking it!" Hongjoong rolls his eyes, a scowl on his face as he crosses his arms. "Your ruts coming and you don't want your-"

"I said stop," he nearly roars, grabbing Hongjoong's state issued orange top and ripping it with his claws as he pulls him forward.

"I know you want her because I want her too." He whispers, smirking at the telltale signs of desire and bloodlust in his mates eyes. Red swirling around the brown of his human eyes. "Imagine how good she'll smell when we take out that stupid blocker. We'll be drowning in her scent." He moans, grabbing his wrist, "I get the honors, my claws are sharper, anyways," he draws them quickly, digging them into his skin as if to prove a point.

"I can use my teeth, mark h-"

"Oh, will you two stop? Love of God..." The guard in the large room slaps his book down on the rickety table. "What is there possibly for you to be fighting about? You're about to be executed, you know that right? No jury in the world will let you walk, especially the human half."

Their frustrations turn to the man, letting each other go. "Ah, you think so?" The older croons, dragging his index over his bleeding wrist and bringing it to his lips, sucking it clean before he continues. "We won't be around these parts long enough to meet the jury."

"What do you mean by that?"

Hongjoong covers his mouth when a laugh slips past. Seonghwa simply smirks as he sits cross legged, eyes locked with the guard as he licks his wound.

"What do you mean by that?!"

The blonde man breaks out in a fit of laughter. The brunette simply flashes his bloody canines in a twisted smile.

˚➶ ｡˚

You spent the whole time doing your daily tasks trying to hype yourself up to go back up to the fifth floor.

You usually went top down, four to one. Nobody has ever been on five before.

You go bottom up today, starting at Chungha with a full basket of freshly washed sheets. She prattles on about her visit with Jiyun, and how she's so thankful for you.

You choose that as your focus point for the rest of the work day, even as you press the button to the fifth floor.

You think back to the first time you spoke to Chungha, she was a crying mess, unable to sense that you were an omega like herself. She cried and cried and cried as you held her hand through the bars of temporary holding. She cried for her daughter, for cursing her with the shame of being the weakest link of any pack. When she looked up and saw your eyes, barely glowing, she cried more.

She apologized profusely, but you reassured her that her words were true, and you hadn't been offended. You told her that, in fact, she was the first to ever share your feelings of what being an omega really meant. It meant loneliness beside anyone but other omegas. Fake relationships born with people who only stuck around because of their primal instincts to either prey on you or protect you. It meant facing the fact that you were outcasts from both of the world's dominant societies. Outcasted from humans for being a werewolf. Outcasted from werewolves for being weak. So weak, in fact, that blood ash didn't even think of you as a wolf.

That night, you drove four hours to the next village over and looked after her daughter until her aunt had room. You remember the first thing the girl said to you. She didn't speak that whole day, surely in shock from the past few days events. But when you tucked her into the motel bed, she spoke as soft as a ghost, "sing me a song?"

You hum it to yourself now, the soft sound reverberating through the metal around you until the door opened.

You wheel the basket with you this time, like it will protect you as you approach the open doors, already feeling the unwavering gaze of the criminals.

"Hey, dolly~" Hongjoong, you had learned when you took a peek into their files, purred your way.

You didn't give him the satisfaction of responding verbally, but he saw the goosebumps on your arm as you reached into the basket, stretching on your tip toes to get the last two sheets.

"You never shut up do you, Kim?" The guard sighed with an exhausted tone, making you smile as you slowly made your way to the ring of red dust.

The throaty rumble from Seonghwa, the older, taller wolf, makes that smile drop to the depths of Hell.

The new guard seems to notice your anxiety, eyeing you up- in a much less predatory manner than the caged men. "Go on, 'mega. I'm watching them."

A bang on the metal bars makes you glue your foot right back where it came from. It's the blonde one, "you shut the fuck up!"

"No, you shut the fuck up! I'm the one with the silver bullets!"

All of the yelling is making you tremble, Hongjoong and the guard going back and forth. "She isn't your omega!"

"She ain't yours!"

Seonghwa watches with a sinister smile as you back away from the ash and the guard, calling to you quietly, "hey."

The soft tone of his voice makes you raise your eyes, but not your head. His eyes don't hold that threatening and dominating red from before. They're a soft brown color that reminds you of a beautiful dark oak in the morning sunshine. "What's your name?"

"(Y/n)..." your tongue moves without your consent, fresh blankets held to your work scrubs.

You desperately want the guard to notice this trance you're in, and grab you out of it. You want to do it yourself, but you can't do anything but admire the beauty of the criminal who has you hypnotized.

"You're a pretty omega, y'know? What color is your wolf?"

"Black..." It's a slur off your lips, barely registering in his sharply tuned ears over the yelling that continues to fill the room.

"Mine too. What's her name? His is Akma."

"Solis."

"Very pretty. Is she fast?"

"Yes."

"Does she want an alpha? A mate?"

"Yes."

The guard finally notices your raised gaze, affixed to the infamous, unlawful, man. He puts his gun back in the holster quickly before gripping your shoulder and forcing you to turn around. "You idiot, didn't anyone ever tell you not to look a first born in the eyes?"

"Sorry. I'm sorry." No one had ever told you that, actually.

Both of the criminals share a smirk as the man from your pack attempts to calm you. It wasn't hard for them to figure out you were an alpha-less village. They could smell every single wolf in five miles, and not a single stench from a wolf even nearly as strong as them.

There was, however, you. A honeyed smell that filled their guts with the primal need to rip out the eyes of anyone who dared look at you.

The guard couldn't be more wrong. You are their omega. You just don't know yet.

"Go and give these fucks their sheets, then get the hell out of here." The man shoved you, making you jump clumsily over the ash so you didn't break the seal.

He yells at them to back up, and they do so without a fight.

You shove them both in at the same time before running back out quickly, grabbing the empty basket and dragging it with you, the sound of the wheels scraping with the force of your panic echoing in the near empty room.

"You guys get off on scaring defenseless girls?" The guard scoffs, not expecting an answer as he drags the chair out of the room and slams the doors behind him.

Seonghwa lets his facade fall the second the door shuts, falling to his knees and grappling at the sheet like he's a starving man with the last piece of food on Earth. Hongjoong watches for a moment in confusion until the scent catches up with his weaker nose. Then he's quickly falling in the same position.

"It worked, the guard was so easy to distract," Hongjoong chuckles, face buried into the sheet that smells vaguely like you from your time spent holding it. "What did you learn?"

"(Y/n), a black wolf named Solis," he pauses, eyes rolled back as he takes a deep breath. They're red when they re-open. "No mate. It's really her."

"You think we should have told her?" Hongjoong inquires, looking through the bars.

He's never seen Seonghwa on his knees for anyone but him or the moon.

"No," he shakes his head, turning to lock eyes with him. "She'll figure it out when I mark her."

"When I mark her."

He rolls his eyes at his defiant nature, knowing full well he won't disobey his orders no matter how badly he wants to do something.

In a dog eat dog world, the strongest was the most powerful. Unlike their human neighbors, werewolves don't decide political or social standing by money or family name. They decide based on who comes out on top in a battle of the body and of the wits.

It had been determined years ago, when they were just young rebellious pups, that Seonghwa was the alpha. A fight in the woods under the moon had set it in stone between the two.

He could have ripped Hongjoongs throat out right then and there, but now, 13 years later in the present; they're bonded for life.

Sometimes he still sees Hongjoong as that 12 year old boy under his teeth, still snapping and growling even as he bled out with tears in his dark eyes, fighting to survive purely out of spite.

"You can mark her first," Seonghwa speaks quickly, turning his back as he puts the sweet smelling sheet on his cot.

He smiles at the man, a quiet thanks spoken through their bonded souls.

˚➶ ｡˚

Tuesday, they don't see you until much later in the day, but they bask in the sight of you opening the door with a broom and tray in hand, smiling at Changbin. You'll be here for a while, it's a big room.

"Hey, Binnie," you whisper to the beta, and Seonghwa has to bite his tongue.

Binnie? Ugh.

Hongjoong isn't so polite, "hey, Dolly! We don't get a hello?" You barely peek at him, eyes flicked from him right back to the floor in a millisecond. He knows you noticed his pout when he hears the smallest 'hello' tremble by your lips.

You start in the corner, headphones attached to your walkman with your favorite song on repeat to try and soothe yourself. Bill Withers calming voice blocks out every word of the teasing alphas, but you can still feel them mocking you and picking at you.

You don't dare sweep anywhere near the blood ash on the floor. One less precaution in place was one more thing to worry about.

"Bye, Binnie."

He does growl that time, eyes narrowed on your back until the door shuts.

˚➶ ｡˚

Wednesday, you have a frown on your face. "Three days in a row?" The guard Hongjoong got in a yelling match with, Merle, greets you as you come into the cavernous room, "bad schedule huh?"

"No kidding," you sigh, feet slightly hesitant to pass the dust border, "I'm here to fix your shirt. It's state property." You don't look at them, but they know who you're referring to.

They act like they don't, though. Just to hear more of your voice. To make you wriggle under their attention. "Sorry? What do you mean?"

You look and point to Hongjoong, his collar ripped from Seonghwas grasp. "State property."

"Ah, of course." He grins like a jackal, pulling it over his head and sticking his hand out of the bars just in the slightest. "On one condition."

You pout, eyes on the shirt which is just far enough away that you'd have to step closer. And it's the cutest fucking thing they've ever seen.

You look back up at him, silently asking. "Sit and talk with us. The guards here are no fun!" His laugh makes you jump back further, he sounds like a mad pirate.

You look over to Merle, who just shrugs, "just get it over with so these guys will shut up. They're only talkative around you, they need an audience for their antics."

"We won't bite," Seonghwa chuckles with his teeth exposed, making you shiver.

"Fine, give it here." You take a single step forward, palm out infront of the blonde.

When you grab it and go to race away like always, his claws wrapping all the way around your wrist stops you, sharp edges threatening to slice your skin down to the bone. You scream your head off, silenced when Seonghwa coos softly, "sit with us, and talk."

"Let me go..." you plead, eyes frantically flicking to Merle, whose gun is drawn to Hongjoongs head from the border of the ash, waiting for him to take one more wrong move so he can rid the world of one of its greatest criminals.

"Sit, omega." You do so, slowly lowering to the floor with your wrist and life still in Hongjoongs hand. "You have your sewing kit with you, I can hear the buttons hitting the needle. So sit, stay, and talk while you fix it."

Once again, they're the ones caged in. But you're the one who's stuck.

     One look to Merle tells you he probably wouldn't help you even if he could get to you. He lowers his gun as your tailbone hits the concrete floor.

     Your thin work scrubs do little to fight the cold of the old flooring, one reason of many that you shake as you reach into your purse and get the small tin box.

     Hongjoong releases your wrist and sits mirrored to you, hands perched on the bars in the gaps of the purple vine flower wrapped on them. Seonghwa comes to the corner of his side of the split cage and breathes in deeply through his nose, eyes locked in on your every movement. "So you're essentially the errand lady? Maid?"

      "Yes..." You murmur under your breath as your fingers work to thread the needle, slowly backing away until you're out of reach, but still stuck in the blood ash with no one to rescue should the men infront of you decide to rip their cages open. You only stop backing away when you hear a warning growl.

     You don't care to see which it came from, you just want to do this as quickly as possible and get far, far, away. They could have chose anyone to focus their annoying efforts on. Changbin, Merle, the warden. But no, just your luck.

      "You live in the village, right? Were you born here?" Seonghwa continues to do the talking as you carefully fix the shirt.

      "Yes. And no."

     A small hum from the one in front of you is a sign they want you to continue. "I was born to an overpopulated pack. They kicked me out when I turned eighteen. Our old alpha took me in." The hitch in your voice is a clear sign that it's a sore topic. And Hongjoong continues to poke the wound.

      "How did they find you?"

       "Woods."

       "Woods?"

     You can't help the small growl of frustration, lip curling as you look up. "Woods."

     The reaction is one you wouldn't have expected from a normal person, but then- they aren't normal.

     They laugh, cooing over your gesture of anger. Compared to them, you seem like a teacup puppy. "My, my," the brunette chuckles breathily, "is that Solis coming to play?"

     "At least she can," you snap, sent to the back of your own head as your wolf tries to defend you, "she isn't a caged mutt."

    Hongjoong breaks out into a manic fit of laughter, while his paramour is the opposite: his eyes flick red before your own, sharp teeth on display in a show of dominance over your smaller ones that are subconsciously bared at him. "Watch it, omega." He spits his words with venom, "I won't be so nice when I get out of here."

     You rip the extra thread with your claw, kicking the shirt across the floor so it sits at the bottom bar of Hongjoongs cage. His chest still wracks with laughter, watching as you sit up in a low squat so you're still level with the alpha.

      It's clear that you aren't currently you. Your wolf has control of your mouth and body, crouched in a position akin to that of a dog ready to pounce as you hiss your words, "I'm going to laugh in your face as you hang."

     "Aw, is that how dear old alpha died?"

     "Cut it out!" Merle screams disinterested, eyes glued to his flimsy magazine.

      "I heard he got gutted~" Hongjoong giggles, watching the color flicking in your eyes.

     "I'll gut you!" Your threat only makes him laugh more.

      "(Y/n)!" The voice of Hylyon breaks your wolf away from you immediately, falling to your bottom and crawling to the sound unwittingly. "You fucking idiot, Merle!" 

     She reaches over the blood ash and pulls you over the ring, letting you collapse into her as she drags you away, still throwing profanities at the incompetent guard. Hongjoong is laughing loudly. Seonghwa yelling at you to come back. The elevator cuts of his roar, the last thing you see through your blurry vision is his fist making a dent in the silver cage.

You fall onto the floor of the metal box. Thoughts flood your head too quickly for you to swim though them, making you drown and try to escape by releasing the pain with tears. You don't even notice when your friend turns her key in the elevator to make it stop in its tracks, you only see her when she sits right infront of you.

"Babes, calm down, I've got you," she reaches out slowly and places a hand on your leg, slowly rubbing her thumb over your knee.

"I can't go back up there... they're too strong, they make me feel like I'm suffocating," you splutter through gasps, "I'm too weak!"

"Hey, hey, you're spiraling!" She opens her arms and pulls you into her, letting you sob into her uniform. "In and out, girl," she holds the back of your neck securely, almost instantaneously making you calm. "I got you... I got you..."

You sit there for a good while, crying into her shoulder as you sort through your wracked brains.

Your alpha was gutted. Right in front of you. Because of you.

Unbeknownst to you, their tuned ears are still listening in, the elevator stuck within their ear shot as you begin mumbling your favorite song to yourself through tears.

˚➶ ｡˚

The sound of claws slicing through the skin on your back rings in your ears. Though, you can't feel it. Your eyes are locked in on your own claws, dug into the hardwood floor of your humble home to keep yourself from being dragged.

     You've been here a million times before.

     Blood pooling off of your body and onto the frigid surface below you. Teeth sharp and bared to the moon though the open window, begging that she might let you survive. Eyes aglow with your instincts as your wolf tries with every fiber of her being to turn, but she knows it's no use.

     The distorted voice above you drips with mocking venom, a chuckle as its owner realizes you can't even fight back like other wolves might: by letting your wolf fully transform.

     The wind blows through your curtains, washes your body in the artic breeze. The snowflakes on your windowsill are so delicate, all of their features fade into a blurry mush as they make contact. They melt, dripping down your wall.

     This time it's different.

      You're turned over, gaping wounds slammed into the floor as always, but when you look up to your aggressor it's different.

      His eyes aren't the yellow of a rouge, but the red of an alpha. His hair isn't that unruly blonde curl that you pulled at frantically, that you can still feel on your finger tips when your hands are unoccupied. It's long, shining, soft looking dark locks.

       You fall through the floor into another time, another place.

     Face first into the snow: your hands, shaking with adrenaline, do little to catch you.

       You don't remember this.

       This isn't right.

       This isn't your nightmare.

       You find yourself in a clearing in a forrest, the densely packed trees creating a bubble of nature around you. "(Y/n)?"

      You whip around, coming face to face with an unfamiliar man. Almost face to face. If he weren't floating a few feet in the air.

     His legs are crossed under him, hands facing palms up on his knees.

      "Don't worry. You're only dreaming." He speaks calmly as he floats around you in a circle, like a shark examining its potential prey.

     You follow him with your feral gaze, that familiar feeling of an adrenaline crash quickly approaching.

You know you're only dreaming. You've had that last dream more times than you can count in the past three years. It always plays the same. But not this time. You're only slightly thankful that you don't have to witness your alphas death again, but the gratefulness is overshadowed by confusion.

"Are you an angel?" You whisper, watching the man's soft and rounded features as he comes to a stop in the air in front of you and gracefully lowers to his feet.

"I can be, if that's what you want me to be. I'm only here to watch your dreams, fight off the nightmares."

"Why?" You feel distant from your body, watching powerlessly as your hand takes his, letting him lead you out of the clearing and into the darkness of the woods.

It disappears around you, warping into a spring day on a familiar path.

"A favor for a friend."

With the snow gone, you're in your spot, your old towel on the dewy grass with a book laid atop of it and the soil beneath your feet as you approach.

"Enjoy."

The hand vanishes from your own, leaving you alone on the side of the path. You look for him. But he's just an eidolon, watching you from the sky where you can't see him.

You warily take a seat and pick up the book.

˚➶ ｡˚

They don't see you again through the week. And when the next Monday comes by, their sheets are removed while they're in the showers.

Hongjoong sighs from his place on the floor, for the tenth time in the past half hour.

"Hong-"

"I miss our omega!" He whines, cutting him off.

Seonghwa stands from his cot, slowly lowering to the floor next to their shared bars. He lays flat on his back, mirroring Hongjoong as he tilts his head to look at him. "Soon." Is the only word he utters.

He reaches through the silver bars, ignoring the sting as the fresh wolfsbane brushes his wrist, and takes his hand.

The both of them look up at the ceiling through the bars of their enclosure.

Your scent is long gone from the room, and their noses can barely pick up on it through the rest of the village and prison.

"I want out of here," Hongjoong whispers, so lowly that the guard can't hear him from outside of the door, "when are they coming? Your bond with them is stronger, I can barely feel them..."

"Soon." He repeats, "very soon, Joong."

˚➶ ｡˚

Tuesday you manage to talk your coworker into sweeping the top floor, and you rejoice in the freedom of not being under the alpha's gazes. You've worked out a good schedule to completely avoid seeing them, and it's made your job feel like it's back to normal.

You can still smell their power wafting through the AC, but it's bearable. You distract yourself in your free time by making excuses to be on the second floor with Chungha and the other omegas.

Today, that excuse is 'omegas need physical outlets too', and the warden let you bring up buckets and brushes so you could all scrub the base boards.

"Oh, I've got one!" The omega to your left speaks, lifting his brush in the air in a eureka moment, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre or... Halloween?"

Chungha scoffs with a smile as she scrubs away to your right, "are we including sequels? There's like a billion!"

"No, stand alone original," Beomhan goes back to scrubbing as he continues, "both of them are classics but which one is a better classic?"

"Halloween is the classic slasher, Texas Chainsaw is like psychological horror," you chime in as you dip your brush into the bucket, sitting on your calves as you take a breather. "I think it's not fair to compare them... but Texas Chainsaw, definitely."

They laugh along with you, and Chungha shakes her head, "Halloween has more rewatchablity. You don't want to see Sally go through that more than once, but Laurie Strode fights harder and it's more like, yeah I'll watch her kick ass again."

"Cinematography in both is so beaut-"

The lights above you flicker before they shut down completely. People start muttering their concerns, quite a few of them looking your way. "Don't worry!" You hop up and get your keys from your pocket as you make your way to the locked stairwell. "I'll go and see what's going on, keep scrub-"

A loud siren echoes in the brick walls, shocking you all to cover your ears.

Everyone looks to you for answers, and you don't have any as your brain starts throwing theory after theory at you.

"It's okay, go back to your cells! Shut them behind you!"

They listened, however grumpy about it. The cell doors locked automatically when they were closed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Chungha asked over the clanging of the cell doors. The two of you, along with Beomhan, were the only ones left after a moment.

"Go back to your cell, Beomhan, hurry."

"No, what's happening?"

     The sirens cut off and leave you in a pregnant pause for a moment as you simply try to calm yourself.

A deafening scream ricochets through the air vent next to you, scaring you into their arms as you all stare at it.

Usually, the air flow covered the echoes throughout the floors. But with no power, you could hear everything- albeit muffled.

Yells and shouts. Gunshots. Growls. Unidentifiable chaos. And above all, your ears tuned in on a rumbling, calm voice through it all.

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone... It's not warm when she's away..."

Your eyes widen as theres a bang at the stairwell door. "Go, go!" You grab each of their wrists, dragging them into Chungha's cell. You slam it behind you and let down the sheet she has over it, backing away and staring at it as you hear the door hit the wall behind it with the force it's slammed open.

"(Y/n), what the hells happening?!"

     You slap your hand over his mouth and bring a finger to your lips. The other omegas on the floor are all making a ruckus, and you can only hope that it will confuse that unfortunately familiar voice so he can't find you.

˚➶ ｡˚

The beta in the large room ignores Hongjoong as he continuously asks after 'the pretty omega'.

He just sweeps and sweeps, finally understanding why you hate coming up here. He has his back turned to the cage, and consequently, to the windows.

High on the tall walls, the narrow glass is opened from the outside. Seonghwa smirks, and gestures his head to it. Hongjoongs gaze follows, and he has to slap a hand over his mouth so he doesn't laugh.

A skinny figure is sliding its way in through the window sideways.

He drops to the floor as silent as a mouse, landing on his knees and grinning wildly up at his alphas.

Hongjoong throws his head back in preemptive relief, while Seonghwa is watching with a similarly wide smile as the man walks straight through the blood ash, breaking the circle with the tip of his shoe.

The worker still has his back turned as the lock on Seonghwas cage is picked with a long claw. He doesn't even know what's happening as the next thing he knows, he's thrown across the floor.

      Blood ash knocks up around him, coughs wracking his body as he looks up to his assailant.

      Park Seonghwa, newly freed from his cage, looks down at the worker with his eyes glowing red.

     "Now usually..." He begins, crouching to be face to face with him, "I'd go through this whole place just for the fuck of it and cause some beautiful chaos. But I'm looking for someone."

     "(Y/n)?" He stutters out, backing away only to knock into Hongjoongs legs. Stuck between the two criminals, he chooses his own head over yours. "The second floor! Sh-she's on the second floor!"

     "Let's go get our omega, Joong."

      Nonchalantly, Hongjoong draws his claws and slices the neck of the worker. He hops over the gurgling body and follows his mate with an ecstatic giggle.

      He wraps his arm around the skinny man's shoulder, "Wooyoung! Our savior~" He ruffles his hair and laughs as he groans.

     "You guys know I've got your back. Seonghwa told me about your new omega, you seem excited," he mimics the alphas smile as the eldest of the trio opens the doors.

     The guard on duty, who happens to be Merle, looks back with wide eyes.

"Yes, oh yes!" His eyes roll to the back of his head, touching the stitches you made on his shirt. "Oh, you'll love her, she's a feisty omega just like you."

He makes a run for the fire alarm at the end of the hall, but Seonghwa is faster. The beta is tackled to the floor.

"I'm glad you both will have a buffer, tired of you always at each other's throats during ruts," Wooyoung laughs, looking down at the guard as they pass.

Seonghwa had simply torn out his throat with his bare hand and made his way to the elevator, holding it open with an impatient glare.

The door closes behind them and the only sound is Seonghwa's heavy breathing.

"You're real eager, huh?" The omega breaks the silence, "San should be coming in any second to block the main door. No one will get past him. The rest are in the village, just as we planned."

"Good, she'll need somewhere to rest before we take off....Fucking idiots, thinking they can cage us." He groans, eyes flicking to the number above the doors as it dings.

       3? "Fuck."

     The door opens and the woman on the other side takes a moment, nearly walking in before she notices the crimson liquid dripping from Segonhwa's hand.

      She makes it halfway through the hall before Hongjoong pounces on her, fighting her effortlessly as if she's a rag doll. The guards run to try and save her, but it's too late for the unfortunate woman, and they just signed their own death certificate as well.

       Seonghwa and Wooyoung make quick work of them, but their plan is already foiled as the lights flicker to a halt and leave them bathed in dim light of the setting sun in the few windows.

      The alphas fall to their knees as their sensitive ears are bombarded with a loud, incessant siren.

      "Wooyoung!" Hongjoong screams over it, "go turn that shit off!"

      He nods, taking the keys off a mauled guard and dashing to the stair well, leaving it unlocked behind him.

     Hongjoong crawls to Seonghwa, collapsing into his chest with his teeth clenched and palms over his ears. His ears were always more sensitive.

     His partner places his hands over his, thumb running over his own. He looks down with his eyes glowing red, meeting pure black.

He leans and kisses him deeply, all teeth and bloodlust, trying to merge their souls until the sirens cuts off.

Their foreheads rest together, ignoring the chaos of the beta's around them yelling to be released.

"Are you ready?" Seonghwa whispers, gathering another set of keys from the fallen workers. He throws it to one of the locked in prisoners, a smirk on his face. So much for not creating chaos.

"Let's go," Hongjoong holds the door to the staircase open and lets him go first with a dramatic bow.

It takes one scream to start the havoc. The entire prison is filled with the sickly sweet sounds of caged animals with a taste of freedom. Gunfire and howls bring a smile to Seonghwa's lips as he sings out,

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone... it's not warm when she's away..."

He hums the song with a wide grin as Hongjoong kicks the door. It takes only one more kick before it slams open and bangs against the cement wall.

The omegas in their cells are all yelling at them, at one another, in general.

Hongjoong kicks one of the many buckets on the floor over and groans, "here I was thinking she'd make it easy. I guess we'll have to go cell to cell!" A small spike of a heartbeat in his ears makes him smirk, following the sound that he memorized the first time he'd heard it.

Seonghwa follows him, immediately zeroing in on the same cell. He comes to stand infront of it, his breath making the blanket behind the bars sway slightly.

You see both pairs of orange slip on shoes and you feel your heart stop in your chest.

You cower further into the corner with Beomhan as Chungha stands in front of you. The sheet is grabbed from the outside and ripped away, making you all shriek.

"Were you playing hide and seek?" Hongjoong giggles, throwing the blanket to the side with his eyes never leaving you, a scowl growing on his features as he notices the way you're curling into another wolf. "You should know better than to hide from your alphas. Come on out."

You shake your head, gaze lowered as you hold onto the back of Chungha's uniform.

"(Y/n)," the saturnine man speaks, "come here."

"No, leave us alone! Leave me alone," your voice cracks despite how strong you want to appear.

"If I have to drag you out of here I will be very angry. Just come on, do us all a solid."

"No-"

"Open the fucking door!"

"No!"

The cells were built to hold lycans, which means lycans shouldn't be able to get in... right?

"Fucking-" Seonghwa hits the bars, leaving a dent and making the three of you jump.

Hongjoong leans on his tiptoes and whispers into his ear, and whatever he says makes his eyes begin glowing a murderous red.

He slowly wraps his clawed fingers around the bars, and the way Hongjoong backs up makes your stomach churn in anxiety of what's about to come.

And it was warranted anxiety.

With a loud growl and a single tug, he rips the silver bars from their cemented place in the wall, causing a large crack to form.

"Holy shit!" Beomhan screams, arms wrapping around you tightly.

Chungha is ripped from the small room and tossed all the way across the room, back colliding with the wall and leaving her unconscious.

You yelp as Beomhan meets a similar fate, torn from your grasp and out into the rec room like he's a mere bag of trash. You see Hongjoong approaching him with his long black claws out and proud, but your vision is blocked by the large alpha infront of you.

     Your hips back into Chungha's small desk, and your hands clamber around, landing on something small and solid.

     You swing it at his head and he ducks, grabbing your wrist and dragging you out of the small cell. You manage to swing again, making contact with his head. The small ceramic bowl shatters into pieces and leaves him only temporarily stunned, glaring down at you.

      "Fucking stop," he growls quietly, shoving you to the floor.

       He lets you shuffle away, only because Hongjoong is right behind you.

     The blonde chuckles, pulling you back up by your collar and crashing you face first into one of the round steel tables bolted into the floor. "Ow!" You yell out as your head makes contact, fighting against him with all your might, but it's fruitless.

     He kicks your feet apart and stands between them, leaning his chest over your back. You can feel his nose against your neck, over the healed skin above your scent blocker. You snap your eyes shut and do the only thing you can thing of.

     You can't fight. Begging to these men would be useless. You can't disappear into the floor like you wish you could.

     "Please, Selene," you pray to the moon, tears slipping past your shut eyes as you feel the claws of the mad man on your neck.

       You cry out as the other worldly sharp nails slice into your neck, slowly and almost surgically. His other hand is cupped on the back of your head, keeping your head pushed into the cold metal. "Shhhh," he gushes above you, "it's okay."

      Seonghwa sits at one of the bolted stools and rests his head to mimic yours, cheek on the table. "We'd've been more gentle if you listened, omega."

       Between the tips of his claws, Hongjoong holds your small alloy scent blocker. Almost instantaneously, your natural scent floods their senses.

     Their deep rumbles of pleasure make you snap your eyes back shut, missing the way Hongjoong stomps on the device.

     "Fuck," the wolf behind you curses, body pressed close to yours like he wants to fuse together, he places his hands in yours and tells you, "you might want to squeeze."

    "Wh- ah!" Your scream echoes over all of the other chaos as his teeth sink into your left shoulder, and you do just that. Your clawed hands squeeze around his, sharp nails knocking together as you hold on like his hands are the only thing keeping you from slipping to the underworld.

       It feels like a million pins and needles washing over you, leaving you paralyzed in place as he purrs into the wound, making your bones vibrate.

     A warm, comforting hand on your cheek makes you force your eyes open. Seonghwa smiles sweetly, like he isn't witnessing one of the biggest crimes in the lycan community.

      Forcing someone to be your mate for the rest of your mortal lives.

     "Breathe, omega," his words make you realize you're holding your breath, and you let it out as a sob. "That's it," he hums, rubbing his hand down your head with all the gentleness he's capable of.

        Hongjoong pulls away with a moan, resting his head between your shoulder blades as he catches his breath.

     Your wolf is already calling for her mate, howling in the back of your mind as you cry.

       "Don't worry, we'll take good care of you." Seonghwas words have little time to register in your adrenaline filled head as he turns your head the other way and climbs up on the table.

     It hits you when he moves your ruffled shirt away from your right shoulder. "No! No!" You find yourself with two million pins and needles in your body now, squeezing Hongjoongs hands all over again as Seonghwa sinks his teeth into you at an excruciatingly slow pace.

They're bigger, or maybe they only feel that way because your body is on fire. You sob freely, feet stomping pathetically to cope with the pain.

What little comfort you find in Hongjoong squeezing your hands back is washed away by the simple fact that it's him. That blood from his claws drips onto your skin.

It feels like a century later that the older alpha finally pulls away, a bellow of pleasure as he runs his thumb over the wound: making you jump.

"Your turn, omega."

The weight of their bodies is gone, but you can't bring yourself to move. Out of fear, maybe. Pain, perhaps.

"You know what happens to wolves who don't finish the bond." Hongjoong purrs teasingly, knowing full well that you will have to mark them back least you want to suffer at the hands of the moon herself.

A life with them was better than being turned inside out and left to the elements. Just barely.

You lift yourself on shaking arms and nearly fall as you turn. You would have if not for Hongjoong catching you. He lifts you back to the table much gentler, letting your legs dangle as you sit on the table top.

"Why... why me?"

"... Have you heard of Harry Talbot?"

"Harry Talbots a myth... what's he got to do with your fuck shit?"

"Harry Talbot was the first wolf that could smell his mate. He could tell just by her smell, they were meant to be." Hongjoong slots his way between your legs, smiling down at you with his bloody teeth, "her smell called to him. It wasn't just good. It wasn't a normal scent. It was...alluring."

You were growing dizzy, head spinning.

"Strong alphas can sniff out their true mate. And, baby, we're the strongest that there is."

You have to force yourself to swallow. Have to remember to breathe.

"Why? Because you're... alluring."

That's the last thing you can register before your world turns dark.

˚➶ ｡˚ PART ONE END ˚➶ ｡˚

[eunandonly]

✧ ─── enhypen when you break a glass

enhypen hyungline x fem. reader | what they do when you accidentally break a glass

genre: fluff, est. relationship | warnings: mentions of blood and small injuries from glass | wc. 0.9k ♡ a/n: i got this idea after i accidentally dropped a plate on the floor LMAO

lee heeseung

the glass cup you were holding in your hands slipped and fell to the wooden floor of the apartment, shattering into a million pieces with a clatter. heeseung ran into the kitchen soon after.

“i’m so sorry,” you said, crouching down to pick up the larger shards of glass from the floor. “i-i don’t know what happened. my hand slipped. i’ll clean it up.” — more under cut!!

heeseung quickly pulled you up from the floor where you were crouched, eyebrows pulled together in worry. “y/n, you think i’m worried about the glass or cleaning up? did you hurt yourself? the glass didn’t hurt you, right?”

you shook your head, but heeseung still checked your hands and legs for any cuts and scratches. his touch on your skin was gentle, scouring every inch of your body before finally letting out a relieved breath and letting you go.

“i’m so sorry hee.” you whispered, eyeing the glass on the floor in remorse, tears in your eyes.

heeseung pulled you away from the sharp mess and into his arms.

“there’s nothing to apologise for,” he said, giving you a peck on the forehead. “it was just a small accident.”

park jongseong

you watched the vase on the shelf topple over and fall to the marble floor, bracing yourself for the loud crash to come. the vase broke into small pieces, straying the floor with sharp shards of china.

shit.

that was a very expensive china vase. and now it was on the floor, broken.

it wasn’t long before jay rushed into the living room to find you trying your best to pick up the pieces from the floor with tears in your eyes.

“jay, i’m so sorry,” you murmured, placing yet another piece of what used to be a beautiful china vase into a bag. “i was dusting the shelves and i knocked it over because i was being so careless.”

jay immediately helped you pick up the shards as you said apologies over and over.

“baby, you’re okay right?” he asked, grabbing hold of your hands and checking for any stuck shards.

you nodded, pulling your hand away to continue cleaning. “yeah, i’m okay, but your vase jay… i know it was one you really liked. i’m so sorry.”

when you two finished with the cleaning, he gave you a big hug, peppering your face with soft kisses.

“it’s fine, y/n. you’re not hurt and that’s all that matters. what if you knocked over a vase? we can always just buy another one.

sim jaeyun

you had been picking up the tiny broken pieces of a coffee mug for a while now. whilst preparing to drink some tea, you had accidentally dropped the mug and it had smashed into micro pieces, covering the floor with its shards.

you heard the door of the house open- jake was back from work- and you shouted a quick “hello” before continuing cleaning.

“baby, i’ve missed you so-“

jake halted in his track, standing in front of the dining room, watching you pick up bits of porcelain from the ground.

“i broke the mug,” you said sheepishly, stating the obvious. “sorry jake. i’m such a klutz.”

jake quickly put down his bag on the floor and knelt down next to you, an amused smile on his lips.

“it’s fine y/n. let me help you.” he said, helping you clean.

when you two were both done, jake gave you a kiss on the cheek.

“you’re so clumsy, just like me.” he giggled.

you pulled back from him, grinning. “am i now?”

“yeah you are,” he said, giving you another kiss, this time on your nose. “i think this is the world telling us we’re meant for each other.”

you rolled your eyes, batting his hands away. “you think everything is the world telling us we’re meant together, jake.”

park sunghoon

before you could even comprehend what was happening, your grip on the glass had slipped, and the cup went hurtling to the kitchen floor. it broke into a big shattered mess of glass, some of the shards finding its way to your legs and leaving small cuts on your shins.

“shit,” you muttered, not even noticing the cuts on your legs and bending down to start picking up the larger pieces from the cold floor.

“you okay, princess?” sunghoon asked, walking into the kitchen to see what was going on. when he saw you kneeling on the floor as you cleaned up the endless array of glass that glittered in the light, he rushed forward.

“y/n, are you okay? did you hurt yourself anywhere?” he asked, his eyes scanning your body. when he noticed the bleeding cuts on your leg, he immediately pulled you up to your feet.

“shit, you’re hurt.” he said, crouching down to examine the scratches.

you hadn’t even noticed the pain until now. “it’s fine hoon. i’m sorry i broke the glass. i don’t know what got into me.”

sunghoon didn’t reply for a moment as he cleaned up your injuries.

“hoon? are you mad?”

he looked startled by the question, his face frowning. “no y/n. why would i be mad? i’m just worried for you. the cup can be replaced.”

he stood up to give you a soft kiss on your lips.

“go rest. i’ll clean this up.”

[cinder-stella]

𝐉𝐉𝐊 𝐌𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐲𝐲𝐲 ૮₍•᷄ ࡇ •᷅₎ა

suggestive, domestic, slice of life

<18+ NSFW>toji, sukuna, nanami, gojo, geto<18+ NSFW>

There comes a time in every relationship where the man in your life gets a little...antsy, so to speak. Maybe a little too helpful. A little too, “you look so good when you're angry.”

You got it: he’s horny. And bless his heart, he’s trying to hint at it.

So I present to you *drumroll*:

“What JJK Men Do When They’re Horny and Trying to Hint at It”

(In other words: how to spot the world’s most transparent mating rituals.)

➽───────────────❥

TOJI

He’s laid-back—at least, on the surface. Reclined in a chair, hand behind his head just enough to expose the edge of that deep, carved hipbone that should be illegal. He talks like nothing’s going on. Like you’re just hanging out. But his eyes…Oh, his eyes give him away. They drag over you like a predator. Just unhurried, lazy and oh so possessive.

And then he shifts just a bit. His hand grazes your exposed thigh and his gaze tilts up at you like he’s already imagined how you’d look in his lap. He licks his bottom lip without thinking then huffs a low laugh like he knows he shouldn’t be staring.

But he doesn’t stop. “You look good in those shorts.” The words are casual and loose. But his voice drops a full octave when he says it . Slow and low, skimming right down your spine.

“You mean the one i wear all the time?” You raise an eyebrow and shift to hide to way your skin reacts to his touch.

“Hm, I don’t recall.” Then, he leans back again. Opens his legs. Spreads them wide like a silent dare and rests one arm along the back of the couch behind you. (holy frick)

Ok, now you’re hot. Too hot. You feel your face flushing. Why did he have to be so sexy????

You’re watching his throat now. The way it moves when he swallows. The flex of muscle under skin.“I know what you’re doing, Toji.” You huff finally.

He just smiles like he knows exactly what kind of thoughts you’re having. And he’s in no rush. He’s going to make you stew in them.

RYOMEN

He smells you before he even registers that you walked in. Warm skin, soap, and a hint of something floral. He grins like a cat who’s about to pounce.

There you are, towel wrapped just tight enough to make his eyes literally devour you and he’s already plotting how to ruin your day in the best way possible.

“Oh? Playing dress-up with the towel? Trying to get a rise out of me?” he says, voice dripping with wicked amusement.

You give him a “really?” look and keep walking. Big mistake. Because suddenly he’s behind you, his heat pressing against your back, and holy shit his pants are definitely doing the cha-cha. They are really, going at it. I mean you knew he was a grower but damn.

He leans in close, voice rough. “You have any idea what you do to me just by standing there?”

Your eyes dart down and yep. There it is. The shameless hard-on. In all its glory. In all it’s sexy…girthy…long…delicious glory. (i’m sorry he’s just really hot.)

You bite your lip, trying to keep a straight face, but inside you’re thinking, “Okay, damn. I see you. And frankly? I’m impressed.”

KENTO

One thing about Kento, is that he stares.

Nanami’s just trying to mow the lawn like a responsible adult, minding his own business, when he catches you squatting down to pull weeds.

It’s innocent, right? Wrong.

Your shorts are cut so high that the curve of your ass is basically waving at him like a neon sign. And when you bend forward, your top shifts just enough to reveal the soft swell of your breasts almost right there in his line of sight.

He doesn’t mean to stare. Really. He’s just… caught off guard. He tries to look anywhere but there but the second his eyes catch that perfect view, everything goes south. Literally.

His jaw tightens, lawn mower suddenly sounds like way too loud to focus, and now…he’s definitely sporting an accidental hard-on. It’s almost as if he has to turn the lawn mower off completely to see properly.

Obviously you spot him, hands gripping the lawn mower a little too tightly, looking like he just swallowed a lemon. How could you not notice him. He’s just standing menacingly. And he looks really good doing it. Your eyes trail down his hot, muscular body. You stare at how sexy and golden the hairs on his arms look in the sunlight. Then you take a little peak at his package just cause. Oh, yeah. Smack. Right in your face. (i’m really trying to be civil here)

It takes a lot out of you not to bend over and present your whole being to him then and there so you settle for smirking and you call out, “If you’re gonna stare, at least help me pull weeds.”

He coughs, cheeks flaming behind those glasses. “I was, uh, inspecting the grass.”

You raise a brow. “Mhm. Suuuure.”

And the way his gaze flickers back down well, let’s just say you won’t be letting him off easy anytime soon.

GOJO

Gojo’s got a PhD in Testing Your Limits with a Minor in ‘Bothering You Until You Climb Him Like a Tree.’ He’s touchy at baseline but when he’s horny? Every single graze, every wink, every casually suggestive comment is an audition for what he really wants to do.

He’s behind you in the kitchen, doing absolutely nothing to help with his arms wrapped around your waist as he sways you side to side like you’re slow dancing in the middle of making eggs. His hands shamelessly roamed your body but not in a sweet boyfriend way. This says “I’m imagining bending you over the counter.”

You elbow him lightly. “Can I help you?”

“Just admiring the view,” he hums, leaning in to kiss your neck. “And imagining what kind of sound you’d make if I bit right here.”

You roll your eyes. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Yeah,” he says, spinning you around and cupping your face like he’s about to say something profound. “Inside you.”

You choke on your own breath. “Why are you feral.”

He pulls you in for a kiss but it’s soft and misleading. His hand trails down, over your back, until it settles on your ass. He gives it a firm squeeze then a playful smack. You flinch, laughing in surprise.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he whispers, voice low and hot against your ear. “You’re quite tempting you know.”

And then his hand makes its way to your neck. He applies just enough pressure to make your breath hitch. His lips brush yours again and the kiss deepens like he’s daring you to lose your grip first. (i just knowww he knows every single thing that gets you going…my goodness…im sweating)

You pull back, flushed with your eyes wide. “Are you trying to seduce me or start something you can’t finish?”

He grins. “Baby, if I start something, I’m finishing. Twice.”

SUGURU

You wake up from a nap like the embodiment of coziness—hair messy, cheeks warm and blanket still half-draped over your thigh. You’re radiating that soft, sleepy heat. That sleepy, warm, clean scent is just taking over the atmosphere.

When Suguru walks into the bedroom he smells it before he even sees you.

He stops dead in his tracks like he’s been hit by a tranquilizer dart. His eyes go wide, pupils blown and his chest rises a little too fast.

“Holy shit,” he mutters under his breath like he’s in pain.

You blink at him, all squinty and half-conscious, still stretching with a yawn. What the heck was he on about?

He’s on you in two steps, crouching beside the bed like you’re some kind of relic. His nose brushes your shoulder, inhaling deeply like you’re a bath&body works candle.

“That smell…fuck, you’re so warm,” he murmurs, eyes practically rolling back. “I swear, I could sink into you and die happy.”

You blink at him again, a slow, sleepy smirk tugging at your lips. “You’re being so dramatic.”

But he’s not listening. His hand slides along your thigh, fingertips ghosting over the edge of your shorts like he was about to call a locksmith for your panties.

“You don’t get it,” he says, jaw clenching. “You smell like sleep and heat and…fuck—do you even know what that does to me?”

You giggle, which only makes it worse. His eyes flutter shut like he’s overwhelmed.

And when you shift, just slightly, he groans quiet and deep, like he’s physically holding himself back from just. sinking. it. in. (hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah—)

➽───────────────❥

In conclusion:

Men are not subtle. Especially not JJK men.

And if one more of them gets hard just because you walked past them in a towel or smelled like a nap…honestly that’s just hot asf, I can’t lie.

Ryomen’s pitching a tent like it’s a camping trip.

Toji’s staring like your shorts* are gonna evaporate if he concentrates hard enough.

Kento’s trying to pretend he's just “admiring the landscaping.”

Geto’s just one whiff away from dining on the kat like it’s a Michelin-star buffet.

And Gojo…That man touches you like he’s trying to trigger a sprinkler in your pants.

Anyway, hydrate. Stretch. Lock your door if Gojo’s anywhere within a 10-mile radius and you’re in anything less than a track suit.

And remember, just because he grabbed your ass and whispered “just admiring the view” doesn’t mean you owe him anything.

But you can laugh. Loudly. Preferably right before you make him beg. Cause it’s always better when they beg ;).

♡´ˎ˗✎

* means edit was made. this ain’t proofread 0~o

[fawnme1]

BETWEEN TAKES AND GLANCES || ARTHURTV

summary; you were never meant to be apart of arthur’s videos — you were the friend behind the camera.

──★ ˙🧷 ̟ !!

The first time you met Arthur, it wasn’t cute.

It was chaotic, awkward, and involved you accidentally walking into his shot while he was mid-rant about a “90 Day Fiancé” character who had, quote, “the emotional range of a cardboard box.” You’d been invited by a mutual friend to a small creator gathering, and you weren’t even planning to talk to him — he’d always felt slightly intimidating through the screen, all dry wit and sharp commentary.

But in person? He was more flustered than fierce. A bit clumsy. Sweater slightly wrinkled. Hair doing its own thing. Less of a Youtube persona and more of a real person who tripped over his own words when you asked what he did full-time.

That should’ve been your first clue.

It’s been more months since then. Now, Arthur’s flat feels like your second home. You’ve been there enough to know which cupboard hides the decent mugs and which one he always forgets to restock. You’ve sat through enough edits to recongise his sighs — the good ones, when a cut lands perfectly, and the bad ones, when he’s spiraling into self-doubt again.

You don’t talk about how often you stay late. How often he finds a reason to keep you around.

Tonight, he’s struggling with a camera angle, standing precariously on a chair because he insists on doing everything himself, even the tripod setup. You’re lying on the floor with your phone, recording his struggle purely for blackmail purposes.

“If you fall, I’m keeping this footage for your funeral montage,” you say, deadpan.

Arthur snorts. “You’re morbid.”

“Just efficient.”

He adjusts the mic one last time and hops down, barely catching his balance. “Right. You sitting in for this one or just watching me embarrass myself?”

You glance at the messy makeshift set: his usual corner, a ring light already making his forehead glisten slightly, the infamous background wall filled with chaotic thumbnails and odd podcards.

“I’ll sit in. Only to make fun of you, though.”

“You always say that.”

And you always mean it. Until the camera starts rolling, and you find yourself watching him — not mocking, not teasing. Just… watching.

There’s something magnetic about the way he slips into his commentary voice. Still him, but polished. You notice how his hands move when he’s passionate about a point. How his eyes flick toward you after a joke, checking to see if you laughed. Like your reaction is the only one that matters.

You don’t say anything. Not yet.

The shoot runs long. It always does, because he either talks too much or rewatches clips a dozen times “just to be sure.” You sit beside him while he edits, chewing on cold takeway and humming the outro music under your breath. He’s wearing an oversized hoodiee you’ve claimed as your favourite, even if he hasn’t noticed.

“You should be charging me for your company,” he says around a mouthful of noodles.

“I accept payment in oat milk and validation.”

“I’m fresh out of both.”

You nudge his leg with yours. “Liar. You’ve got loads of validation stored up in those YouTube comments.”

Arthur rolls his eyes. “Ah yes, nothing fuels the soul quite like strangers telling me I’m their parasocial boyfriend.”

“Could be worse,” you tease. “They could be calling you Daddy again.”

He groans, dropping his head into his hands. “I will never forgive you for bringing that up.”

You grin. But the smile doesn’t fully reach your eyes — because beneath all the laughter, something lingers. You’ve gotten used to this rhythm: close but never quite touching. Joking, always. Admitting nothing.

You wonder how long you can live in this in-between before it breaks you.

Later, long after the video’s uploaded and the leftovers are cleared, you find yourselves on his tiny balcony. The London air is cool and slightly damp, the way it always is at night. Arthur hands you a mug of tea and leans on the railing beside you, both of you silent.

You sip, let the quiet settle.

Then he says it.

“I think I’m scared I’m not good enough.”

You turn to look at him.

He doesn’t meet your eyes. Just stares out at the city like he’s talking to the skyline. “Like… people watch the videos and think they know me. And sometimes I wonder if they’d like the actual version. The one who overthinks texts and burns pasta and needs three hours to film a ten-minute video.”

You don’t answer right away.

Instead, you reach out and link your pinky with his. It’s small. Barely a touch. But his breath catches like it means everything.

“They’d be lucky to know you,” you say. “I already am.”

The next morning, he edits that episode down to twenty-two minutes. Somewhere in the background, your laugh slips in while he’s mid-rant. He considers cutting it. But he doesn’t.

Because you’re a part of this now. Not just behind the scenes, not just as a casual friend who sticks around too long. You’re woven into it. Into him.

The comments clock it instantly.

“why does arthur look happier??? like… softly happy??”

“was that HER laugh?? again???”

“blink twice if you’re dating the camera assistant.”

You both laugh it off. Pretend it’s nothing. You joke about soft launches and private relationships and how you’d never date a man who owns three half-broken tripods.

But your pinky still finds his every time you sit beside him.

And you wonder how much longer you’ll pretend.

The day it starts to change is a filming day, like any other. Arthur’s filming a reaction video with you sitting just off-camera, as usual — on the floor with a hoodie two sizes too big and a mug of tea you stole from his kitchen.

He keeps glancing at you while filming, barely noticeable if you don’t know him. But you do. You know that half-second flick of his eyes, that corner-of-the-mouth smirk he doesn’t give to the camera. It’s yours.

You’re mid-sip when he says something so ridiculous that tea comes out your nose.

“Oh my god,” he says, turning fully to look at you. “Are you twelve?”

“You made a sponge bath joke?” you wheeze, grabbing a tissue.

He breaks into laughter that derails the entire video. And it’s not the amused chuckle he usually gives for camera. It’s real. Loud and messy. Warm.

He cuts the camera.

“Sorry,” he says breathlessly, wiping his eyes. “Can’t use any of that now.”

You wipe your face, snorting. “Worth it.”

He looks at you then, properly. His face softens, and something unspoken sits between you. For a second, neither of you say anything.

But then you hear the sound of the camera still running.

The audio. The whole moment.

“Arthur—”

“I cut it.”

You pause. “No, you didn’t.”

His cheeks flush. “Okay, I meant to cut it.”

He reaches over and hits stop, dragging a hand down his face with a groan.

You start laughing again. “Your subscribers are about to see me snort tea and nearly die.”

“They’ll fall more in love with you than they already are,” he mumbles, almost too quiet to catch.

Your breath hitches. “What?”

But he’s already standing. “Nothing. I’ll… I’ll edit it. Don’t worry.”

You let it go — for now.

The video goes up two days later. The tea-snorting clip stays in.

It’s the most commented-on moment.

“the way he looks at her after she almost dies.”

“soft arthurtv is not something i was emotionally prepared for.”

“y’all see that little smile?? that wasn’t for us. that was for her.”

You want to laugh it off like you always do. But it’s harder this time. Because they’re right.

And you don’t know what to do with that.

Things feel different after that. Not bad, just… heavier.

Arthur gets quiet sometimes. Like he wants to say something but doesn’t know how. You try to fill the gaps with jokes, comfort, anything — but the weight’s still there.

And then it breaks.

It’s a late night. You’re helping him edit again. The audio isn’t syncing properly and he’s exhausted, shadows under his eyes, shoulders tense. You reach over to fix the timeline and he snaps.

“Can you not, please? I know what I’m doing.”

You freeze. He never talks to you like that.

“I was just—”

“I know what I’m doing.”

Silencce.

You sit back, suddenly cold.

“Cool,” you say quietly. “You don’t need me, then.”

You get up. Grab your jacket. His expression shifts instantly.

“Wait, I didn’t mean—”

“I know,” you say. “That’s the problem. You only say the real stuff when you don’t mean to.”

He stands. “Please don’t go like this.”

You pause at the door. Your voice comes out softer than you want.

“I’ve been here for everything, Arthur. Every 3 a.m. edit, every panic spiral, every time you needed someone. And I’m still the person sitting just off camera.”

He doesn’t answer.

You leave.

You don’t talk for two days.

He doesn’t text. You don’t reach out.

You tell yourself you’re being dramatic. That between a tea-stained laugh and a look he didn’t mean to give you on camera.

And you think maybe he did too.

On the third day, your phone lights up.

Arthur: Can you come over? Please.

You stare at the message for a minute. Then another. Then you go.

He opens the door looking like he hasn’t slept. Hair a mess. Hoodie inside out. He doesn’t say anything at first — just stands there, eyes flicking over your face like he’s checking if you’re really here.

Then, softly: “You were right.”

You say nothing, waiting.

“I do say the real stuff when I don’t mean to. Because if I meant to say it, I’d have to admit I feel things that scare the hell out of me.”

Your chest tightens.

“I don’t know how to do this properly,” he says, voice cracking. “But I’ve been falling for you for months. And I think I just kept pretending it was nothing so I wouldn’t lose you.”

You take a step forward. “You never had to pretend.”

He blinks. “You…?”

“I’ve been in love with you this whole time, Arthur.”

His mouth opens. Then closes. Then he does the only thing that makes ense — he pulls you in.

The kiss is soft. A little clumsy. Years of tension melting into one perfect, shaky exhale. He holds you like he’s afraid you’ll disappear, and you kiss him like you’ve been waiting a lifetime.

You don’t film that night.

You sit on the couch, wrapped in the same hoodie, knees tucked under his, and for the first time — he lets the world wait.

Later, he uploads a video with a title that reads:

“The One Where I Almost Ruined Everything (but didn’t).”

You’re in the background again. Not just your laugh or your hand this time. You. Sitting next to him. Soft smile. Real.

And the top comment?

“oh. we’re not in the soft launch era anymore. this is the full release.”

[gloriansshieldheart]

Jaehaera Targaryen, the last Green Queen.

Unnecessary ramblings below the cut !!

Ohhhkay so, it is officially the one year anniversary of me posting my drawings here, so this is kind of a redraw in a sense, of my first ever drawing posted here !!

I wanted to put all the ramblings under the cut, bc its not all that important, but still, if youre reading this and ever liked anything ive made im sos so so so happy, its immesurable actually ‼️

(Also btw the reason theres no Morghul here, its purely because i got tangled up in the timeline and forgot she dies at like age 10 so i accidentally made her look way older here, then i forgot that by the time shes queen Morghuls dead so it cannot be an exact redraw if i want to represent the passage of time accurately, so please just have this as it is i have been staring at it too long)

[ay4tou]

Hello, can you write that the reader is a foreigner and a normal person, first met Gun on the street and asked him to chase the dog away, because the reader accidentally poked the dog so he got chased away, reader instead of paying attention to the scary level Gun, they only noticed how scary the dog was, after Gun chased it away for the reader, they apologized to him (for bothering him) and thanked him (for chasing the dog away), then the reader left as if nothing had happened. ..

wrong threat | gun park w/ reader

summary: you survived a dog attack with the help of a man who looks like he's the one who starts dog attacks. you didn’t even notice, now gun park's rethinking his whole vibe.

author's note: sorry for the late requests, everyone! i just updated tumblr and my requests started showing up again. hope u enjoy! also i rewatched twinkling watermelon while finishing this 😞👊

You didn't mean to poke it.

You really didn't.

But there was a massive, grumpy-looking dog, all teeth and tension, growling low in its throat. And there you were, a stupid little being with an even stupider reflex to “boop” something you should’ve just walked past.

Now you’re backing up against a vending machine, heart in your throat, clutching your bag like it’s about to sprout wings and fly you away.

“Uh... excuse me! Sir?”

The man turns. He’s tall. Dark hair. Sunglasses on even though the sun’s already dipping. And… terrifying. Like if a cigarette could grow legs and punch someone.

But you’re focused on the dog. The dog, not the man. Because the dog is lunging, and the man is there, and you’re out of options.

“Can you- uh- can you maybe scare that thing away?” you ask, pointing at the dog, voice pitching up embarrassingly high. “I think I accidentally offended it.”

There’s a pause.

A long one.

Gun Park doesn’t speak. He doesn’t need to. He just shifts his weight slightly, turns his face towards the growling dog, and the thing immediately backs off like it just saw the grim reaper.

You exhale. Loudly. Maybe a little dramatically.

“Whoa. That worked.”

The dog bolts down the alley and disappears. You place one of your hands at the back of your neck, heart still hammering.

Then you look at Gun.

And this is where a normal person might shrink under the weight of his presence. The kind of presence that feels like a blade under your skin, like something sharp that doesn’t cut yet, but could. The kind of guy you cross the street to avoid, just in case.

But you just blink up at him and say:

“Sorry for bothering you. And thanks a lot, man!”

He doesn’t respond.

“Okay... have a nice day... then..?"

And you walk away. Like nothing happened. Like you didn’t just ask one of the most dangerous men in Korea to do you a favor like it was a casual Monday.

Gun watches you go, still and unreadable.

You didn’t even flinch.

Weird.

[caramel-maive-chiato]

Accidental pregnancy and rivals to lovers with Viktor, with some “They hate each other, but now they have to co-parent a kid” vibes too?

Stuck with you - Viktor ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Summary: You and Viktor had been rivals for a long time, until one day after an argument, you both get tangled in the sheets, and one time is enough to cause a nightmare for both of you.

masterlist | Part 2.

✦ genre: drama/hurt-comfort

✦ pairing: fem!reader (afab)

✦ tw!: mild cursing, mentions of s3xual relations (no actual explicit content), Viktor being kind of an asshole to you.

✦ author`s note: hit me up in the comments or my dms if you want a part 2, I really want to do it cause I couldn't reach the 'to lovers' part of the trope without this being extremely long. Hope you like it!

It was stupid.

It was so stupid that now you had a 2-month bump under your belly, that your pants didn’t fit, that you were craving strawberries because of him.

If you had ever asked yourself a year ago if you would become pregnant with your rival's baby, you would have just scratched it as nonsense.

So why were you now? You always wanted kids, but you never thought you were getting a kid as white as paper, peppered with moles in its face, curly brown hair? golden eyes? His golden eyes.

Viktor, how do you start to describe Viktor? He was the most snappy bitch you ever met and he wasn’t even a woman, he was determined to be better than you, to be smarter than you, to handle Heimmerdinger his reports at 7 am to make you look like a mess when you showed up at 10 with yours, he was making sure his whole hextech deal was a ‘Jayce and Viktor dream’ when you were there too.

You were always Heimmerdinger's most well-protected students, scholarships covered, gifted new uniforms and library passes to enter the whole day and even night. You two were always head to head, actually really good acquaintances and late-night study partners.

Until he stomped on you to be Heimmer's assistant, he purposely made you fall on his bait and then bit like the most experienced shark any small fish had ever feared.

Since then, you two will always share side-eyed glances and bumped shoulders in the hallways like immature kids.

Until Jayce and the professor asked you to join the hextech production, you were great at energy stabilizers, one of the things they were lacking. Then years passed, and you always had a new chore to help with; you found yourself immersed in Hextech more than you realized, and he didn’t like that.

More than once, you two got caught in long ethical debates about progress, meritocracy, and calculations. And the answer in your brain was always the same.

'He is so hot I want to punch that stupid smirk out of him or kiss it deeper into his asshole face'

You never thought those thoughts would end up somewhere in reality until that night. And you didn’t though he felt the same way about you.

“You can't just go around pointing your hexclaw thing everywhere in the lab, Viktor!” you sighed, and your tone was the closest it had ever gotten to scolding a child, hands gripping your notebook, imagining it was that thick, attractive and smart, square head of his.

“Sorry" he said not even looking at you while taking the gemstone out of the leather glove

You slammed your notebook onto the table, the sharp crack of paper against wood cutting through the silence. “You never listen, do you? You just charge ahead like you’re the only genius in the room.”

Viktor scoffed, crossing his arms. “And you never stopped questioning everything I did. If you were so certain of your ideas, perhaps you should have been Heimerdinger’s assistant instead of me. Oh, wait—you weren’t.”

Your jaw tightened. "Right. Because you made sure of that. You took half of my research, paraded it around like it was yours to fix, and left me sunk in the dust."

Viktor stepped closer, his voice cold. “I did what I had to do. If you weren’t prepared for competition, then maybe you shouldn’t be here now.”

You laughed bitterly. “Competition? Is that what you call backstabbing? You used me, Viktor. You saw an easy way to climb higher, and you took it.”

His jaw clenched, his eyes dark with something unreadable. “I improved on what you had. Something you clearly weren’t capable of doing yourself.” you were now trapped between him and the desk.

Fury surged in your chest as you stepped into his space, close enough to see the flicker of challenge in his gaze. "You arrogant, self-righteous—!"

You felt his breath on your face, and when you focused, you actually focused, your faces were inches away

“-asshole” you whispered, his eyes shifting between your own and your lips

And then you kissed, and then you ended up on the couch, kissing aggressively, clothes pulled aside, moans stifled for your own pride. And then your period was late. And then you wanted to throw up at the smell of expresso coffee.

He didn’t even look up when you walked in the lab. “If this is about the new project, I already—”

“I’m pregnant.”

The words left your mouth before you lost your nerve. No buildup. No soft approach. Just the truth, slicing through the lab’s quiet like a knife.

Viktor froze. The pen in his hand hovered over his notes, ink pooling in place. For a long moment, he just stared at the page as if he could pretend he misheard you.

Then, finally, he set the pen down. Slowly. Carefully. “…What?”

Your arms crossed, tension coiling in your stomach. “You heard me.”

His eyes snapped up to yours, searching for any trace of a joke. When he found none, his expression cracked into something sharp and disbelieving.

“This—” He exhaled harshly, dragging a hand through his hair. “This cannot be happening.”

“Oh, trust me, I wish it wasn’t” you shot back.

Viktor pushed back from his desk, standing too fast, gripping the edge like he needed it to keep upright. His mind was already spinning—calculating, fixing, solving—because that’s what he did. Except this wasn’t an equation. This wasn’t something he could just engineer his way out of.

His mouth opened, then shut. Then, in a voice that was entirely too high-strung for him, he let out a humorless chuckle.

“Oh, this is rich.” He rubbed his temple. “Out of all possible disasters… Of course, it had to be this one. With you.”

You scoffed. “Yeah, well, if it helps, you weren’t exactly my first pick for co-parent of the year either.”

He shot you a glare. “Forgive me if I do not find this particularly funny.”

“Yeah? Well, neither did I, but that didn’t stop me from laughing for ten minutes straight in absolute horror when I saw the test.” You leaned against the desk, giving him a dry smile. “I think I actually went a little insane.”

Viktor didn’t return the smile. He pressed his fingers to his temples, muttering something in Czech under his breath. Then, after a long pause, his fingers twitched in a vague, frustrated gesture. “But we—we only did it once.”

You deadpanned. “Wow, really? I totally forgot about that.”

“I am serious.”

“So am I.” You shrugged. “Turns out once was more than enough. Congrats, genius, you somehow managed to succeed at the one thing you probably weren’t even trying to do.”

Viktor let out an exasperated breath, dragging a hand down his face. “Oh, do not act as if I am the sole contributor to this catastrophe.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of my involvement, thank you.” You crossed your arms. “And let’s be real, it wasn’t exactly a stellar performance from either of us. I should’ve known nothing good would come from two people who hate each other trying to one-up each other in bed.”

Viktor let out a short, bitter laugh. “Yes, well, congratulations. You have won.”

“Great. My prize is morning sickness and your company. What a dream.”

Viktor groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose like this was physically causing him pain. “This is a nightmare.”

“Tell me about it.”

Silence stretched between you, thick and suffocating.

Finally, Viktor let out a slow breath, the initial shock dulling into something heavier. He looked at you properly this time—his sharp gaze, for once, uncertain.

“What… are you going to do?” His voice was quieter now, more careful.

You swallowed hard. “We, Viktor. What are we going to do?”

His fingers curled into a fist at his side, his jaw tight. “You assume I have an answer.”

“You always have an answer.”

“Not this time.”

For the first time since you’d met him, Viktor—the man who always had something to say—was speechless. And for the first time, you weren’t sure what to do with that.

The next morning, you walked into the lab expecting awkward silence, a few glares, and maybe even a full-blown argument if Viktor was feeling particularly irritable. What you didn’t expect was to find a cup of tea sitting next to your workstation.

You frowned. “What’s this?”

Viktor, hunched over his notes, didn’t even look up. “Tea.”

You picked it up, suspicious. It was still warm, a gentle herby scent rising from it. Definitely not the usual acidic bitterness of black coffee that always clung to the lab.

You glanced at him, narrowing your eyes. “You poisoned this, didn’t you?”

He sighed, rubbing his temple. “Yes, clearly I am the type to commit murder via tea. So sorry, should have gone with something more dramatic.”

You smirked, but then realization hit—oh.

He’d noticed. He must’ve realized before that the smell of black coffee sent you gagging and rushing to the nearest bathroom, though he hadn’t put the pieces together at the time.

“You noticed?” you asked, watching him carefully.

“I am observant,” he said, still scribbling. “I simply assumed you had bad taste. But no, turns out you were just harboring my child.”

You snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

Viktor finally glanced up, and there was something unreadable in his gaze. Something careful, like he was still feeling his way through this whole thing. Then he exhaled through his nose, tapping his pen against the desk.

“I thought about it.”

You raised an eyebrow. “About what?”

He gave you a flat look. “Do not make me say it.”

You just sipped your tea, waiting.

Viktor rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers against the armrest. “I will parent the child with you.”

You blinked. "oh.”

“That is all you have to say?”

You shrugged. “I mean, I figured you weren’t going to run off to some secret second lab and pretend this never happened.”

“Tch. You overestimate my options.” He tilted his head, a sharp smirk tugging at his lips. “Besides, I would hate to give you the satisfaction of complaining about how I ruined your life and abandoned you.”

You snorted. “Oh, please. I was already planning my ‘tragic single mother’ era. Could’ve milked so much sympathy from it.”

“Cynical and manipulative. Remind me, how did I ever end up in bed with you?”

You smirked over your tea. “Burnout and an argument.”

He made a thoughtful noise, then muttered, “Should have stuck to arguing.”

You kicked his chair. “Too late.”

Viktor shook his head, sighing dramatically. Then, quieter, he added, “You are fucking insufferable.”

There was no venom in it, though. If anything, it almost sounded… affectionate.

You hummed, cradling the tea between your hands. “Yeah, well, at least I have an excuse now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

You let out a short, dry chuckle, shaking your head. “Yeah. Can’t be that insufferable if someone’s gonna call me mom.”

The words hung in the air, heavier than they had any right to be.

Your smirk faltered.

Your throat tightened.

Someone’s going to call you mom.

It wasn’t just a snide remark anymore. It was real. A real person. A real child, who was going to depend on you for everything.

The realization hit like a gut punch, and before you could stop yourself, your breath hitched. Your eyes burned.

Shit.

You curled in on yourself, gripping the edge of the desk, blinking rapidly. No, no, not here, not in front of him—

But Viktor noticed.

His smirk faded. His hands stilled on the desk. For a second, he just watched you, his brows furrowing the way they did when he encountered a problem he couldn’t immediately solve.

Then, awkwardly, hesitantly, he shifted closer.

Not much—just a slight lean forward, his hand twitching as if he wanted to reach out but thought better of it. Instead, his knee bumped against yours under the desk.

You stiffened at the contact, but Viktor didn’t move away.

“…It is terrifying,” he admitted, voice quieter now. “Is it not?”

You swallowed hard. “You think?”

“I know.” His lips twitched something dry and self-deprecating passing through his expression. “It is you I am trapped with, after all.”

You let out a breathy, wet laugh. “Wow. Romance is dead.”

“Mm. And yet, somehow, it seems like you are the one who killed it.”

You rolled your eyes, biting back a shaky smile. God, you hated him. You hated how he knew exactly what to say to stop you from spiraling.

Your fingers curled around the edge of the desk, steadying yourself. “We’re really doing this, huh?”

Viktor exhaled slowly, then gave you the smallest, barest nod.

“It seems so.”

You closed your eyes for a moment, letting it sink in. Then, with a deep breath, you opened them and met his gaze.

“Okay,” you murmured.

Viktor nodded again. And though he still looked thoroughly exasperated, there was something else there now—something steadier.

“…Okay.”

Part 2? @forlornghosts

[prettyflyshyguy]

Hey hey hey it's me again I'm here to talk about my favourite fucked up guy

OK. I'm sick, maybe slightly delirious because of it, but in honor of EP7 dropping tomorrow (and hopefully his backstory with it) I need to get my theory crafting out into the wild now so we can all check in tomorrow and see what changes/what I double down on.

During my viewing of E2 I made the comment: "Was he augmented without his consent?" and I'm willing to put money down that I'm right.

Before I dive into my extensive E1-6 Gurathin thoughts, theories and observational commentary, a quick housekeeping: This is 95% based off my personal observations of the show (just the released episodes, no outside source media), with the remaining 5% me looking at a small amount of other peoples meta thoughts and commentary - I haven't read the books yet and I plan to once S1 is wrapped up!

If you have thoughts and opinions on my thoughts and opinions, please feel free to chuck a comment on this post but PLEASE do not spoil the books or reference book Gurathin on this post - I'm enjoying the show being 100% an unknown to me and how it's unfolding, so I'm trying to just experience it that way so every new piece of information is an exciting revelation for me!!! I promise I'll read the books haha. This entire post is 100% show only Gurathin content, no book allowed.

Let's dive in. This'll be a long post, so all the meat is under the cut. I fucking love this guy so, so, so much. And I have a lot I wanna say about him.

INTRODUCTION:

When we first see him he's deeply uncomfortable in the dealership room and really doesn't want the team to get a secunit. All the body language and the way he looks at mensah screams that he thinks its a bad idea. He's asked to join the group communion and doesn't at first, but the gang pull him in which immediately shows they're used to his self isolating behaviour but they accept its a quirk and will nudge him when necessary. In a number of other scenes he's with the group but maintaining a distance when they're huddled, little things imply he's involved and definitely socially a part of the group but he also is at times more separate (dancing scene E1 he's clearly involved and a part of it and enjoying himself) vs E4 when they're trying to contact deltfall (everyone is huddled and touching each other and he's distinctly pacing behind them).

E1 also has a fun moment where Ratthi is painting the base and Gura comments "does this wash off?" which knowing he never grew up on preservation alliance, I thought that was a nice touch. I'm in this picture and I don't like it sorta character. Not so much a rules stickler but maybe a worry-er, someone who's conscious or concerned about things that others aren't as fussed by.

The hopper secret meeting scene - he's clearly cared for, the team talk to him and say his feelings are valid but they're not necessarily hearing him, and he's frustrated by it. He operates slightly differently to them and this clearly isolates him from certain group discussions. From day 1 he's uncomfortable about having a secunit on board, at all, and the second something weird happens he's immediately on the full scale defensive - whereas everyone else is more immediately forgiving, less concerned. The way he references how much he cares about his friends to MB during the Eye Contact scene emphasises how important their lives and their safety are to him.

Now he's obviously got some trauma, possibly relating to the company or a mix of things.

After the initial sandworm attack someone (I think it was Mensah from memory) comment's that "(he) has good reason not to trust the company."

After Bharadwaj has physically recovered from the sandworm attack, he accidentally scares her when he approaches her and apologises, saying "it's an old habit, being quiet." It's a quick line that I think carries a lot more weight than it initially seems to have.

He mentions having joined preservation alliance 6 years ago but we don't know where he was at prior. He's clearly not all about how presaux operate but he still feels at home with them and they deeply respect and love him in their own way, despite differences in perspective. He's valued with them. Despite this I firmly believe he deeply feels a sense of disconnection - with the crew, especially in how they treat MB as more of a person at first (pre reveal) and with himself. Bear with me, I'll explain as I go.

He's insistent on the depersonalisation of their secunit - reminding the team that it's not a person, it's not a man or a human, it's an it in the sense that it's a tool, an object, and serves a function the same way any other piece of technology they use does. And it runs the risk of not working properly. Machines aren't supposed to think or feel, they're supposed to execute a task. It being controlled by the company leaves them with a lack of agency over this thing that's highly dangerous, that's supposed to protect them. He seems incredibly, personally, fearfull - directly telling Mensah at one point about how secunits "don't go through things!" and then commenting on what, in his mind, it is that they do. Kill things. Maim things. The language use here is broad - their job is to kill things. Their job is to maim things. Perhaps he's simply referring to things like aggressive fauna. Maybe he's referring to something else.

We know he doesn't know much about how secunits specifically work (he tells us this directly in E2), but we also as an audience don't know how much he knows about constructs, and AI in general (in this fictional setting). He didn't know secunit's have faces. The whole team object to the idea of a machine that seemingly could have some form of 'autonomy' being shackled by something like the governor module - they talk about this in the early eps, but it feels like they don't quite understand the entire picture at the same time - and neither does Gurathin. None of them quite realise what a construct is, how it operates, and the gravity of is existence and circumstance. When MB reveals its face, this starts to sink in with them. Gura's no exception here.

Let's move onto his RELATIONSHIPS.

MENSAH:

He obviously deeply cares about the crew (eye contact ep - I firmly believe when he threatened MB he didn't just mean Mensah when he said "I care about my friends" - he goes and holds Bharadwaj's hand when she wakes up- the one thing Medbay couldn't do was human connection)

It's strongly established that he really meant it with his whole chest when he said "I trust you" referring to the presaux team. But it's also clear in his behaviour that he cares about Mensah more.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room first - the pillow scene.

Not to defend him sneaking into her room - but I've seen a few takes on this scene that just paint him with a brush as being A Creep(tm) with no further consideration, and I don't think this is fair to his character. The act of him sneaking in, and then comforting himself with her pillow (MB is an unreliable narrator. I don't know if he was sniffing it, or just embracing it, and frankly the details don't matter - it cuts right as he starts to appear to cry) - the act of doing whatever it was, was creepy, and innapropriate boundary crossing. Absolutely. However - everyone of the humans in the presaux team have some kind of issue or problem with their behavior.

None of these people is without significant character fault.

So while his behaviour in this one scene was weird, I feel it speaks volumes about something unrequitted between him and Mensah, and his inability to express this to her. He deeply desires connection, but can't bring himself to bring it up.

He attempts to apologise to her after he insists she doesn't take the secunit with her on a trip, he feels intense guilt over that decision and his insistency impacting her safety in E2. He's conflicted about it because he genuinely is concerned it's a danger to the crew, but he deeply cares for and respects her and her almost getting seriously hurt absolutely terriffied him. Her subsequent blowing off of him - "I just need a shower.", rejecting his attempt at comfort, closeness and connection when she physically closes the door (and metaphorically closes a door) in his face - she likely has no idea how much of a mental sledgehammer it is to him.

She has every right to want and to ask for space - but it's this critical miscommunication (or lack of communication) between them that is clearly a long running and on-going thing.

In E5 it's also very clear he's cut up when Mensah tells him Pin-Lee is the 2nd in charge if anything goes wrong - he accepts it because he respects her but you can tell he's hurt by it.

They've been long time friends, I'm going to guess their friendship pre-dates him joining Pres Alliance based on how he brings it up in E2, and maybe there's an imbalance of how each other views their relationship, in their own heads. Again: emphasis on miscommunication, something unrequited because it's left unspoken, maybe there's that classic fear of "I don't wanna fuck this all up by being honest" - they have a good thing going and maybe he doesn't wanna ruin it. He briefly looks at the photo of her family with fondness (going off memory here, correct me if I'm wrong)

Just to clarify: I think at times his behavior is:

-definitively creepy in action (pillow)

-occasionally miss-read as creepy, especially when viewed through MB's unreliable narration and personal bias (he's just weird and different sometimes, much like many normal people are)

-he's not a Creep, but the pillow scene was inappropriate/a bit creepy

Ironic for MB to call him a Creep when it can access full security feeds and chose to brain blast him with his coworkers going at it - a great shift in framing because to MB it doesn't care/views the voyeurism differently because its a construct and security is its job (not to mention its personal distaste/lack of interest in copulation as it were)

but that's really the joke of it all, ain't it!

Slight tangent aside, let's move onto his other pivotal relationship in the show.

MURDERBOT (AND HOW GURATHIN'S NOT ENTIRELY HUMAN HIMSELF):

Not-fully-human Human and partially-human NonHuman. Name a more iconic duo. I'll wait.

So far, we don't know much about his augments and how he feels about them, or how anyone else feels about them. It all seems very matter of fact and straight forward. MB just describes the augments as 'fancy' in a sarcastic tone (I have more to say on MB's thoughts on augments however), so this could imply augmentation is a rarity or something reserved. He's immediately othered by MB's introductions of the crew as being the only augmented human.

It's all very pragmatic and function based. But it inevitably means he can do things no one else can, and the way he interacts with the world and tech is different to the other members of presaux. Having something robotic sticking out of your neck also immediately signposts yourself but that's an entire other can of worms (Shy what's with you and mechanical components in peoples necks huh?? HUH???)

In E1 he's abrasive towards MB after the face reveal and is frustrated, he's harsh and insistive - very rudely and firmly telling it that it can't leave the room yet for instance. However in E2 he has a different tone when he says "SecUnit can you please come and see me."

Yeah it's a real human thing to say, but it's a useless platitude to a robot that's only there to obey commands, right? This feels like the first subtle shift to me. It felt like a choice.

The Eye Contact scene - let's unpack it.

Gurathin "It's not a person its a tool" asks it politely to visit him, does a very uncomfortable (failed) dramatic chair spin, insists it sits on a chair, and then asks it a very personal question.

"I guess I don't know much about SecUnits.

What's it like, to be you?"

Rent free inside my head, chat.

Anyway - him asking for it to unmask itself - he knows what it looks like, he's got the video feed to look back at, but he wants to face it like a person would. Sitting also puts them both at eye level. It's a humanising thing. Suddenly, maybe, it's harder for Gura to separate it as a tool as much as he could before. Anthropomorphizing is something humans are already very good at. You put a real flesh and blood face on something? Oh No. Oh Boy.

The way he asks it "what's it like to be you?" felt really, really raw and genuine. It didn't feel like hate, or resentment, it felt like genuine curiosity and a desire for connection.

MB responds in kind - and it's such a beautifully short lived moment. But Gurathin is clearly conflicted in his position. He came in ready, and SWINGING, and now he has to reconcile with something he was thoroughly unprepared for.

He's testing the water when he insists on eye contact and is likely suspicious because MB doesn't seem to be acting how a secunit was likely pitched to him off-screen, and the way MB clearly is reluctant adds to this. With future episode context I think Gurathin clocked that there was something deeply wrong very early, but he was trying to genuinely suss out if it was a threat or not. He's not an idiot, he saw how it helped the crew, it's not done anything that's directly put the team in danger. But it's still wrong.

Later in the conversation he opens up about how differently Pres Alliance treat AI and constructs, compared to the corporation rim. He follows this up with "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

It's played off as a joke in relation to MB's inner monologue - but I genuinely think part of him was once again fishing for some kind of connection.

"Yeah I know. It's... weird to think about."

For Gurathin, he's not entirely human. His augments make him less human, they form a point of detachment.

Murderbot is not human, but it's behaviour seems slightly more human than what Gurathin expects of it.

Not to mention the myriad of small behavioural traits they share in common - but neither seem to have consciously recognised or clocked in each other yet.

My point being: the entire eye contact interrogation was as much Gurathin reaching for a connection as it was a warning and cautious appeal to reason and a hopeful connection point and it's all coming from a place of deep internal conflict. He's warmed up to it slightly now, part of him seeks something. If he was that concerned about it, he wouldn't have invited it into a room with him in private where he was vulnerable. He's of course unaware of how dangerous MB is, but if he really felt like he couldn't trust it to not kill him, he wouldn't have engaged with it all in that way I feel.

"If a secunit was malfunctioning in any way, it would be extremely dangerous for anyone involved--"

Gurathin looks intensely and deeply into it's face as he says "AND the secunit!"

This feels like a very direct personal appeal to a sense of self preservation. He's starting to pick up that this thing isn't just a normal robot. It doesn't just execute a task with no thought process. It does think and feel. And part of him is drawn to that fact.

All this is to say, I feel like this strongly signals to him being augmented against his will.

MB is a victim of circumstance in a lot of ways - it never asked to be created, it never asked to be sentient and it certainly never agreed to become an effective slave. I think Gurathin recognises this, initially, and is drawn to this fact because a part of him perhaps recognises it within himself (not consciouslly)

Now this all might be a huge projection - I'm writing a story and one of the characters, O'Byrne, is not-quite-human anymore after having something change her irreparably too and it's tech related.

But I really do feel like there's something to this. It'd make a lot of sense with Gurathin's deep comfortability with the company, his clear confliction around wanting to connect with MB but struggling to and being unsure of his feelings towards it.

I really loved episode 6 - so let's quickly talk about that before we wrap up.

MURDERBOT, UNMASKED:

I've avoided as many future episode clips as I can, but in one of the trailers I watched there's a line where Gurathin reveals to the crew that it calls itself Murderbot (self assigned name)

NOTABLY - he has not revealed this information to the crew in E6. Isn't that funny. Isn't that interesting.

He jacks into this thing, has a very intimate look inside it's head and memories, discloses a bunch of information to Bharadwaj but clearly doesn't disclose everything. During the E6 interrogation it's obvious Gurathin feels the most in control he's ever been - he's strutting around with full confidence, he's being purposefully antagonistic despite MB's attempts at showing it genuinely is on the teams side, and Gurathin believes its immobilised and that he has full power.

We all know that he had absolutely no power, at all, however.

MB at any point in time could have gotten out of that chair. It chose when to very carefully.

Given Gurathin believed he was in full control - why didn't he disclose more information about what he found in MB's head?

It would have certainly helped him argue his case. It certainly was a choice to not bring it up.

Again I think this comes down to his internal conflict. There are two wolves inside of you and one hates and distrusts the company and anything associated and one wants to believe the fucked up secunit might actually, genuinely, be something you can come to trust.

I think he's a deeply conflicted person seeking connection while feeling disconnected, and that he never had a choice in getting augments installed in him but he's dealing with it and has just accepted his lot in life - and being around people who love, respect and embrace him has helped with this, but he's still lacking something - and he's tip toeing around what that is in his attempts at reaching out to Mensah, and MB (and through these relationships he's perhaps seeking different things to help him feel more complete and less alone in a number of different ways.)

Anyway. I love him very dearly, Dastmalchian has done an absolutely killer performance in the role and I'm frothing at the mouth over what we're about to find out this coming ep drop.

Anyway - I hope this all makes sense. I've tried to proofread, but my brain is kind of fried from the seasonal flu right now (I'll be fine. Its just the middle of winter in australia and it's been really fucking cold where I live) - I hope I havent talked myself in circles. I'm really excited to come back to this when more information on his character has dropped in-episodes!

And if I'm wrong on my theory. Well. Guess I gotta just. Post something to Ao3 about it.

[medlilove]

(Edited to add headshots because tumblr hates detail) I've etched away at this is a lovely few weeks, so click for full res and all the little details, okay? It's my love letter to the journey I've found myself on

This is long-ish, so its under the cut (but worth reading...)

I had been thinking a lot recently about that double feature episode, you know the one? I half remembered it then, when they chased a bunch of alien spies so fast through the solar system they all got thrown back in time. Half the crew went on a little undercover adventure in Toronto in 2024. It was great because they got completely cut off from the Enterprise, so half of them, well mostly Uhura and Spock if I recall correctly, spent their time collecting as many radios as possible and worked on building their own communications. Uhura and Spock were basically taking turns constantly tweaking radios by the window with wires everywhere. Oh yeah, their base of operations was the whole top floor of a worn out old building looking over a big square. They ended up in the really arty/queer part of town full of art galleries and thrift stores.....??

Chapel and Chekov were sent out to those shops to find disguises for everyone. I loved the joke that Chekov was puzzled and slightly alarmed that Christine just knew everyone's clothes sizes and measurements with no explanation. Later on, they ended up getting separated from the rest of the group and getting held up by B story shenanigans, mostly getting lost and running into culture shocks. It was fun to see them having their own adventures and made for a pretty interesting combo. Spock and Uhura spent most of their time with the tech, accidentally listening to the times most popular music while changing frequencies. Jim and Sulu paired off to search for clues, and getting supplies and spent a lot of time talking to the locals setting up for a Pride parade. McCoy, feeling paranoid and irritable that he had practically no equipment, wandered around with Dr Alfred Nahdi, the Botanist, who kept picking random weeds and talking about how extraordinary the little dandelions were. Oh and together they stole a whole medical bag out of an ambulance?? It was pretty funny.  Anyway, the main issue was they couldn’t risk leaving the area because all these alien spies had assimilated into the population and they had to track them all down and bring them back with them so as not to disrupt the timeline or something. They had to track down the aliens while making sure the aliens didn't pick up on who they were or that they were also out of place. They ended up being there for around two whole ass months, I think. The spies were spread out all over and there were about 30 of them, but it ended up being the Botanist, Alfred (Alfie) Nahdi who found the enemy base of operations by complete accident. Alfred, who had spent most of the time studying all the common flowers and weeds that were so ordinary at that time but were extinct in their time, figured out where the aliens' base of operations was because the big plant shop at the end of the square had a few succulents that could not have existed in 2024. It was a big "woah" moment. And there was this whole thing where he had to act like he hadn’t just figured it out because the florist, who was almost certainly a spy, was watching him and McCoy. But soon after, it all went to hell anyway when a fight broke out and Sulu was straight up shot with the aliens' weapon that had bullets made from alien metal. So then Bones had to perform old school surgery on him in their HQ, with only 2024 equipment. Jim, Spock, and Uhura were out fighting and ran into Chapel and Chekov and were able to finish them off, but it got really crazy because there was a Pride parade in the square at the same time so they had to make sure no one noticed them. While Bones was pulling bullets out of Sulu, with the botanist assisting him until Chapel (who had been sent by Jim) appeared and took over. McCoy said something like, “Christine, I’ve never been so glad to see you in my life,” and they sewed him up all old school. And it worked out! But Bones was a mess because he had to do messy surgery with none of his kit, and so much pressure, and more blood than he was used to... Chapel stayed with Sulu, and Bones and Nahdi went to sit on the fire escape stairwell and had a sweet scene of Bones just full of adrenaline, his hands couldn't stop shaking. They sat hand in hand for a while listening to all the people on the streets below. Then Spock, Jim, Uhura, and Chekov appeared at the stairwell and they all had a happy, albeit exhausted reunion. After a day of everyone recovering from all the excitement, Uhura and Spock used some extra tech they got from the aliens and finally made contact with poor Scotty who was up on the Enterprise losing the will to live. Anyway, their outfits were iconic tbh.

I invented this whole thing to draw Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in a sweater. I lost control of the situation. I spent a lovely two weeks etching away at this with the support of my lovely ST server, I love you guys. This ones for you.

[zosan-secondchances]

The Pirate King of the North: Part 24

I made the art specifically for -that- scene in Part 22 but I fell in love with so I might work on a full coloured version with Sanji as a pre-timeskip Straw Hats shot to be uploaded to my art blog. Stay tuned!

Warning: Long post ahead and some One Piece spoilers. Contains strong language and explicit content.

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 (Special) | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

Luffy

SANJIIIII!!!

Sanji

For the tenth time, I am not your cook.

Luffy

But how else are we going to eat?!

Sanji

I don't know. Eat leftovers. Or go fish and cook it yourself. I don't care.

Luffy

But you make them so much better!! And there's no leftovers anymore because I had them for morning snack!

Sanji

Food is food. It shouldn't matter who makes them. Eat or starve–I’m not obligated to help you because, again, I'm not your damn cook.

Luffy

Sanjiiiii!!! Why are you so mean all of the sudden?!

In a far world unknown to our heroes (but very much familiar to you and me), there sailed a ship on the clear day waters of the Grand Line. Coincidentally, this vessel is called the Thousand Sunny. On its grassy deck, seven Straw Hats settled around one of their nakama who seemed to have been transformed into an older version of himself. According to the all-truther and mightiest warrior of the sea with an army of eight thousand strong, Usopp the Brave, the very heavens itself had opened and embraced him, raising him with the angels above to return him in this new form.

Robin

Luffy, I wasn't sure before but I'm quite certain now. This is not our Sanji.

Luffy

What do you mean, Robin? The old man looks just like him, doesn't he?

Sanji

I'm not that old…. Am I?

Shit.

Robin

Well, he does act… differently…. For one, his attitude towards food is different compared to Cook-san.

Nami

I think you're right, Robin. And he hasn't…you know, done the thing.

Sanji

What thing?

Nami

You know the err… when you… you know, the… thing. Whenever me and Robin are around you.

Sanji

I have no idea what you're talking about. Saying it twice doesn't help.

The last of the Straw Hats finally joins the gathering, emerging from the infirmary and making his way down the steps.

Zoro

Hey Chopper, I got bandages for the shitty cook like you asked–

Sanji

GWAAHHH MARIMO-KUN!!!

In a blink of an eye, Sanji's legs zoom around and his heart-shaped eyes bulge out of skull. He circles around excitedly around the young version of his favourite swordsman as soon as he reaches the bottom of the floor. Unable to contain himself, he blows him multitudinous kisses in the air.

Nami

Err… that thing.

Sanji

YOU'RE. SO. CUTE. MELLORIIIIINE!!!

Shocked, Zoro accidentally drops the bag of medical equipment that Chopper had asked for. He recoils as his face reddens brightly. He holds his hands out in an attempt to keep Sanji’s kissy face away from him.

Zoro

ACK–!! Cut it out, you perverted old man!!!

Luffy bursts out laughing, pointing a mocking finger at the two.

Brook

Yohohoho! Love is in the air, it seems~

Chopper

That's interesting! Sanji, do you like boys?

Zoro forcefully pushes Sanji's face away to block an unwanted smooch. When the blonde hears the reindeer's question, he straightens up instantly, fishes out a cigarette from his pockets and lights it.

Sanji

I love men and women equally. But I do have an inclination towards individuals with…

Sanji trails his eyes up and down the young swordsman who crosses his arms and throws him an irritated frown in return.

Sanji

…domineering… qualities. Especially under the sheets….

Zoro

Ugh….

Slowly, the blonde takes a step forward towards him and another, forcing Zoro to walk backwards to maintain distance.

Sanji

My, my. But you are a delicious sight, little Marimo.

The swordsman didn't notice how hot the sun was but he quickly realises that it’s just his own skin. He's not used to seeing both of Sanji's bright blue eyes bear down on him at the same time which completely throws him off. Young Zoro hates the fucker but his scars and piercings are doing a number to his soul. He staggers and falls back against the steps.

Zoro

Little?! H–hey! What are you doing?! Back off!

Sanji

Tell me…does your Sanji see you the same way that I do?

Zoro

O–of course not!! You–

Sanji leans in and slams both of his hands against the steps, caging the shaken swordsman under him. Zoro bares his teeth and grips his sword to swipe the man away, but he freezes when the blonde flutters his eyelids and gazes down to his lips. He looks famished.

Sanji

Because, knowing myself, I would be.

I've stolen a lot of Beri and gold in my life, raided vaults of the wealthiest kings and queens across the world, but none compares to the treasure that I see before me.

Zoro's jaw drops agape, too speechless and stunned to move.

Zoro

I… I don't…

Sanji drags his own tongue over the top of his lips hungrily, lowering himself closer.

Sanji

Hmm… and I do like your eyes. Both of them.

Zoro

I…

Zoro can feel the blonde's breath over his lips when suddenly, the older man straightens up and moves away.

Sanji

It's a shame. My moral compass is unsure that I'd be cheating if I have my way with another version of you. Especially since we've just confessed our undying love to each other.

They all stare at him in bewilderment then look back and forth at him and the fallen swordsman who still lay motionless on the steps.

Usopp

Wait, wait, wait–you and Zoro are dating in the future?!

Sanji

I guess you can call it that. Though we've been romantically involved for months now.

Franky

Maybe we can meet this future Zoro ourselves when we get you home! I wonder if such technology exists to travel through time.

Sanji turns his heel to him swiftly.

Sanji

Would you have any idea if it can?

Franky

Uh…not to my knowledge. Sorry.

Robin

Actually, I don't think it's just time travel…. It does seem that you have numerous differences.

Chopper

Now that I think about it, he hasn't had a single nosebleed since he arrived. And that's for being around Nami and Robin for almost half an hour now!

Robin

Sanji-san, in your world, what are we like?

Sanji hops to sit on the wooden railing of the deck and crosses his legs. He plays with his goatee, deep in thought.

Sanji

Long nose, if what you say is true and me and your Sanji swapped, it means that my other self was right here. Travelling with you, Straw Hats.

Usopp

Well, yeah! Like Luffy said, you're our cook! You're one of us. You're nakama!

Sanji

Where I come from, I am none of those things. I'm a king.

Except for Zoro and Robin, the entire crew jumps onto their feet and gathers around him in an instant.

Straw Hats

WHAT?!

Sanji blinks at them curiously.

Sanji

They call me the Pirate King of the North. I am the crown king and ruler of Germa Kingdom.

Nami’s eyes practically transform into Beri signs. She swoons, hands clasped tightly under her chin as she forces herself through the crowd to be in front of him.

Nami

You didn't tell me that! Are you rich, Sanji-kun?!?

Sanji

Well…yeah. We do well enough for ourselves. I make an effort to make sure that people are happy and well fed.

Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Brook’s eyes sparkle in amazement.

Chopper

That's so cool!!

Usopp

Do you have a big army?!

Franky

Do you have your own fleet of warships?!?

Brook

Do you live in a giant castle?!?!?

Luffy

Sanji, why didn't you tell us that you're a king?!?!?!?

Sanji cocks his head to the side, confused with the bombardment of questions.

Sanji

I was born into royalty. Your Sanji didn't tell you?

Luffy

Nah-uh! You never told us where you were born. When we met you, you lived with old man Zeff in a restaurant called Baratie in the East Blue!

Sanji

Zeff from Baratie? Interesting…. I've never heard of this man in my life.

He can't help but look at Zoro to observe his reaction. The young swordsman seemed to have gained his composure and was quietly listening under the shade of one of the trees on the lawn. He'd somehow acquired a tankard to drink with which he uses to hide his face behind.

Sanji sighs and shifts his legs over, crossing them the other way. He takes a long drag or his smoke and blows it out slowly. A devilish smirk forms on his face.

Sanji

Would you like to know more?

Straw Hats

YES!!!

Luffy

Tell us more about being king! Do they call you Pirate King because you found the One Piece?!

Sanji

Not exactly. I didn't make the title myself. They just–

Chopper

Do you go on many adventures?!

Sanji

Yes! Actually, I was just in–

Nami

Have you discovered rare and priceless treasures? DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE CAN FIND SOME?!

Sanji

We have this surgeon friend who–

Franky

I want to know if you have any suuuuppppeeerrrr weapons in your army!

Sanji

Oh! My brother made me this–

Usopp

Do you have righteous knights in metal armour under your command?!

Sanji

Of course! Helmets and all. And they can fly too~ They're also my si–

Usopp

AHHH!! SO UNBELIEVABLY COOL!!!

Robin

I'd like to hear more details about how you got here, Sanji-san. Maybe we'll get a better idea of how to turn things back to the way they were.

Sanji

I'm happy to–

Brook

Can you tell us how you and Zoro-san started dating? Yohohoho!

Zoro

BROOK!!! I WILL POUND YOU TO THE GROUND!

Brook

NOOOO!!!

The blonde grins playfully at them, enjoying every bit of attention that they give him. He remembers Law's advice for him not to take his favourite Marimo's offer to join the Straw Hats. While unsure on what the crew is like in his own world, he gets a glimpse of why they're too chaotic for the doctor's tastes. He can't help but find it hilarious that, in this place, he's a part of their family.

He sucks in another lungful of smoke and finally speaks after a pregnant pause.

Sanji

You might want to sit down. I can answer all of those questions but it's a bit of a long story. I'm going to need a bottle of wine or two. And you need to listen.

----------

Oh my gaaaaad the circle is finally complete!! We've caught up to Chapter 1

[bandgie]

stray kids as tattoo artists? I read a fic on AO3 once where Jisung Chan and Felix all owned a tattoo parlour (called Red Lights hehe) and reader worked there and got brought into their OT8 poly relationship and it lives rent free in my brain.

But anyway, what do you think they would be like as tattoo artists? Who would tattoo what body parts? Who would fuck you in the chair, who would give you head/let you suck them off, and who would force themselves to remain professional even though you can see they're hard?

wait I so need the fic if you have it plzzz

MDNI 18+ under the cut

fucking you

lee know - you have such a shy yet aroused look the moment you're in the chair. he'd touch you lightly at first, knuckles bumping against your breasts to clean the skin for the tattoo. your breath would hitch, your eyes would stare into his and you'd bite your lip. all it takes is a little nod from your end and he's undoing his belt

hyunjin - no because he never really does this. he's usually so professional, even with the hungry eyes staring at him, but there's just something so sexy about you. maybe it's the tattoos you already have, slightly faded and in need of a touch up. once he establishes that you are, in fact, wanting him the same way he wants you, he'd go to the front door of his shop and flip the sign to 'closed'

Seungmin - you'd have to beg him for it ngl. you're a regular at his parlor and he just loves how flustered you get. Seungmin doesn't mind teasing you for your session, but you just cant take it anymore. you'd make him move the stencil over and over again just under your boobs because 'its just not right' and you'd offer to take off your shirt so it's easier for him. that's the last straw for him and he'd waste no time in getting you on his cock

oral sex

changbin - he's giving you head, no questions asked. he's shaving the inner part of your thigh and your legs just look so good in shorts. he's gulping, eyes wide and briefly looking at your crotch. you notice though, and you'd gently place your hand over his and push the razor away, opening your legs so he can get a better look. he might panic at first, claiming he didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, but you shush him and grab the back of his head to guide him to your cunt.

han - you're on your tummy, feeling han prep you for a back tattoo. honestly, if he wasn't so nervous he'd fuck you just like that, but you start giving him innocent compliments that lead to you not-so-innocently sitting him on the laid out chair and getting on your knees. he's just so cute whimpering and biting into his hand while his thighs tremble around your face

professional

chan - this honestly shouldn't be a surprise. he takes his job very seriously, and no matter how many times your hand accidentally brushes against his cock or how prettily you bat your eyelashes, he will not do anything out of line. but ofc you can see the strain, and tent in his jeans that must be so uncomfortable. he's got a red blush on his ears, but he's so keen on making sure he's professional throughout the session. maybe you just need to make another appointment

felix - I think he likes knowing that you know he's horny, if that makes sense. it's the yearning that really turns him on, the longing stares, the lip bite he does when his touches linger. even if it makes his cock throb, he just loves teasing you too much to do anything. still, I do think he'd grind his front against your body 'accidentally' and he wouldn't say no if you start palming him while he shaves your arm to clean to area

jeongin - is just nervous. he really isn't sure if you're flirting with him or not. a lot of girls try to do favors in getting out of paying, but you're just so persistent you tip very good after each session. he's thought about taking things a step further, but he really isn't sure how to. if he's doing a chest tattoo, his hand will find purchase on your tit, a small blush on his face saying it helps in keeping him anchored. you don't push him, a sweet smile on your face as you tell him you don't mind, that it feels good. he gulps, cock hardening in his sweats and he prays he doesn't have to stand for a while

not proofread lmao

[aventurineswife]

I have a request, what if the reader was a shapeshifting creature called a basalisc, she has to eat residual elemental energy in order to use her abilities to change her appearance. She escaped from Dottore and ended up in Natlan, she was using her human appearance when she accidentally got caught in a wire trap and revealed her true appearance, luckily Ororon was nearby, but the reader wasn't able to transform back into her human appearance completely because they hadn't eaten any type of elemental energy for a while. https://youtu.be/1etdx9-BbQU?si=SMQcwZ0JcWZ63VP5

To Be Named, To Be Known

Summary: After escaping from Dottore, you—a shapeshifting basalisc—find yourself in Natlan, struggling to maintain your human form due to a lack of elemental energy. When you accidentally trigger a wire trap, your true form is revealed, leaving you vulnerable. Fortunately, Ororon, a mysterious outcast from the Masters of the Night-Wind tribe, finds you. Instead of reacting with fear or hostility, he offers you his understanding—and the energy you need to regain your form.

Tags: Ororon x Reader, Shapeshifter!Reader, Hurt/Comfort, Soft Introspection, Kind Stranger Vibes, Found Family Themes (Implied).

Warnings: Mild Body Horror (Reader's shifting form), Mentions of Past Experimentation & Abuse (Dottore’s involvement), Themes of Identity & Acceptance, Mild Injury (Reader caught in a trap).

[Header credits]

The wire trap snapped around your ankle, its metallic twang cutting through the dense jungle silence. You barely had time to react before you lost your footing, the undergrowth beneath you giving way. Your body twisted midair, instincts screaming, but there was nothing to hold on to—nothing to stop the inevitable. The wind rushed past as you crashed onto the damp earth below, leaves crunching under your weight.

And then, something worse happened.

Your human form flickered.

A shudder ran through your body as the illusion wavered, like ripples on water, before finally breaking apart. Your skin darkened, shifting into the textured scales of your true form. Your limbs lengthened slightly, talons peeking from your fingers, and your pupils turned slit-like, glowing faintly with a residual, hungry energy. The shift was incomplete—stuck between forms—because you hadn’t fed on elemental energy in too long.

Panic shot through you. You reached for the trap, tugging at the wire, but your strength wasn’t what it should have been. If anyone saw you like this—

A rustling sound. Someone was nearby.

You froze, heart pounding. Then, from the thick shadows between the trees, a voice—smooth, even, and laced with something unreadable.

"Ah. A name misplaced in the wind, a shape caught between dreams. How strange. How... fitting."

A figure stepped into the clearing.

He was tall, his presence neither imposing nor soft—just there, like a shadow moving with the night breeze. His navy-blue hair, streaked with pale highlights, shimmered faintly under the filtered sunlight. One magenta eye, one cyan/dark blue. A deep blue marking under his left eye, and capeq—black, bat-like, shifting slightly as if adjusting to some unseen current in the air.

Ororon.

You had heard whispers of him—a recluse from the Masters of the Night-Wind tribe, a man who named things as easily as others breathed. And yet, here he was, watching you with the patience of someone who had seen strange things before and had never feared them.

You struggled again, your breath uneven. “Don’t—” you managed, voice hoarse, but you weren’t sure what you were asking of him. Don’t look? Don’t come closer? Don’t see?

Ororon tilted his head slightly. Then, he crouched down in front of you, one hand resting on his knee, the other tracing a vague shape in the dirt.

"Trapped," he mused, as if testing the word on his tongue. "But not caught. No, not caught at all. The wind still moves, even when tangled in branches."

You blinked, struggling to make sense of his words.

He reached out, and for a moment, you flinched. But he didn’t touch you. Instead, his fingers brushed the wire, inspecting it.

"This is a name, too, in its own way," he murmured. "A thing that calls out, a thing that binds. But it is not your name. No, yours is something else."

Your breathing was still ragged, but you forced yourself to speak. “I—I need elemental energy,” you admitted, ashamed of your weakness. “I can’t… shift back until I get some.”

Ororon’s gaze lingered on you for a moment longer before he closed his eyes, as if listening to something only he could hear. When he spoke again, his voice was softer.

"Names need sustenance, just as bodies do."

Then, without another word, he stood and turned, cape shifting as he moved toward the trees.

For a moment, you thought he was leaving, but then he raised a hand. A moment later, a faint pulse of energy flickered in his palm—a harmless wisp of air, but filled with enough residual energy that you felt it hum against your senses.

He turned back to you.

"Eat," he said simply. "Or do you prefer a different kind of offering?"

You hesitated. You weren’t used to kindness. Certainly not from strangers. Certainly not after Dottore.

But Ororon—he wasn’t looking at you with fear. Not with disgust, nor curiosity, nor pity. Just… patience. As if he had already accepted the shape you had taken, the shape you would take, and any you might be in between.

Slowly, you reached for the offered energy. The moment it entered your system, warmth spread through your limbs, and you felt the shift begin again—scales retreating, talons withdrawing, skin smoothing into human form once more.

Ororon watched, expression unreadable.

"Ah," he said finally, once you were fully changed. "And now the wind moves freely again."

You exhaled, steadying yourself, before looking up at him. “…Thank you.”

He gave you a long look, then nodded.

"Your name," he said suddenly, "what is it?"

You hesitated. The name you had once been given by Dottore was not one you wished to keep. The name you had called yourself since your escape was one that still felt foreign on your tongue.

And yet, Ororon asked not with ownership, but with understanding. As if he knew the weight names could carry.

“…I don’t know,” you admitted.

He considered that.

Then, after a moment, he turned his gaze to the sky, as if consulting the wind itself.

"Then perhaps it will find you," he murmured, "when it is ready."

And somehow, that was enough.

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

Idea: Apocalypse Averted AU, Five gets his paper work updated and is officially his age of 58. Luther suggests they could all go to Vegas for the weekend now that Five can't be thrown out for being a minor.

Five is surprised by the suggestion but then Luther is saying "Well I'm sure you could win a lot of money by counting cards, you could probably pick it up real quick, knowing you". And well, he loves a challenge. And there's alcohol. So why not

Diego joins too because no way will he be lamer than Luther and Allison goes with them, officially because "You idiots can't be left alone in Vegas" but actually she just wants to see how it goes.

(more under the cut, this got kinda long)

Klaus has had enough of bright colors and loud noises for a while, the club was already enough, he doesn't need another flashback, thank you very much

Viktor also stays because his hearing is so sensitive now and it'd be hell he imagines

So the first group goes to Vegas, at first it's fun, even if some of them won't admit it. They drive limousine, have some fancy drinks, explore the Las Vegas strip, go to some restaurants.

And then they actually go to a casino and all hell breaks loose.

Diego had been studying a gambling book and Luther had bet $10 on roulette and won. Diego urged him to go again, it's a 50/50 chance anyway.

Luther did and-

-lost.

Luther gets up at Diego about it and Five says "Of course you shouldn't have listened to him, it's Diego"

Then they get into a fight with each other and get kicked out of that casino.

Allison then banned them from games involving actual people for the next hour.

They go to the slot machines a bit and Luther accidentally rips off the handle of one of them.

Overall, they lose A LOT

Five tries a virtual Blackjack game loses twice, then wins, almost cashes out, before he thinks 'I am in a flow right now and the winnings wouldn't even out my losses right now' and goes again.

He loses and screams at the thing

Meanwhile Diego found one that has a mini Jackpot and a Big Jackpot (why are there two Jackpots?!!) and right as he put money in, he broke the mini jackpot. Then he saw the Big Jackpot is almost at its limit too, so he spends like half an hour on that game

Only to lose all of his earnings.

He screams at the thing

The three guys get kicked out of that one too

Then they realize "WHERE IS ALLISON?!"

They obviously can't go back...

...except they can because they are trained child soldiers, so back in again it is.

Luther was sadly caught, but that helped Diego sneak back in again

Five simply blinked.

So, where was Allison during all of that?

In a secret area for A-list celebrities playing Blackjack of course.

Both Diego and Five get there, are caught right as Allison spotted them, getting increasingly frustrated and cashes out.

They get out and realize "Where the fuck is Luther?!"

Luther is actually on a party bus, but they just go back to the hotel. Allison goes to the spa, Diego and Five back to their rooms, expecting to find Luther, but he isn't there.

Both of them groan but since they don't even have an idea where he is they think that he'll probably get back to the hotel at some point.

And he does, except he's blackout drunk. They lay him to bed, Five says he's had enough and gets another drink. And another. And then he just gets the bottle.

None of them can sleep. It's way too hot and it's way too loud. What are these walls made out of, paper?!

They had a reservation for lunch the next day but they all overslept way past noon

They go walk the Strip again only to find cosplayers dressed as Umbrella Academy members.

So they decide "actually this is awful, let's go" and just do not think about all the money they lost

So, what did Klaus and Viktor do during all of this?

Well, they went to brunch, then they visited a butterfly house, afterwards they took a stroll through the park, eating ice cream, while ending the day by watching 'But I'm a cheerleader' with pizza that they ordered.

[distort-opia]

I’m begging, pleading if you will for some longer batjokes fic recommendations that are less mainstream (as I’ve read most of the popular ones) because I just finished your timeloop fic and OH MY GOD IT WAS SO GOOD IM GONNA CRY WOWOW YOU CAN WRITE THEM SO WELL.

so now I guess I thought who better to find more fics from that my fav batjokes fic writer!

First of all, thank you for the kind words! I'm really glad you enjoyed REMS, and I'm flattered you think of me as your favorite writer. I hope I can recommend some multi-chaptered, longer fics you don't already know of... but bear in mind, I haven't been able to keep up with recent fanfic a lot-- real life and a PhD are kicking my ass.

Maybe you already know of the #48 verse, The Eternal Batman Universe, City Goblins, matchjokes, Two sided blade soul mate theory, Enemies With Benefits and the jaxverse series? I assume fics over 1k kudos might be considered mainstream... So I tried to go for stories with a lower number of kudos that are relatively recent, or older fics that might not be well known by newer fans. Either way, they're a mix of Universes, with a bias for comicverse because that's my jam. Some of these I haven't managed to read fully, but I am reccing either because I liked what I did read or I heard very good things from friends.

Needless to say, check the tags carefully before reading! I am only including some short summaries and word counts. Do leave the authors some love if you like the story, and check out their other stuff. The list got pretty long, so I'm putting the recs (in no particular order) under the cut.

Ghosts of a Future Lost by messageredacted (15k+, complete)

Wayne Manor has been rebuilt, but things just aren’t the same as they used to be. Something is stirring old memories, and not just Bruce’s…

Strange Comradery in Arkham by Vampowerment (series, 45k+ words)

Bruce Wayne checks himself into Arkham because he considers himself a danger to himself and others, but only Joker seems to understand why.

Blood of the Covenant by batjokesinlove (28k+ words, WIP)

When Bruce is attacked by a horrifying monster, he finds himself turned into a creature of the night with a thirst for human blood. Although he retains his humanity, he wrestles with his need for blood and his desire to maintain his code. That is until an unlikely person offers up himself up to Batman as his own personal blood bank.

Inside the Music Box by MargueritePoretesDefenseAttorney (series, 116k+ words)

A dark comedy where the Batkids are very suspicious of Bruce's new boyfriend, a strange man who looks oddly familiar . . .

Bygone Boy by Masterofceremonies (25k+ words, WIP)

Bruce is millionaire in the public eye. His husband, Jack, is a widely known, largely mysterious artist, famous for his borderline illegal exhibitions. Their marriage has been a happy one. Mostly. Until Jack goes missing, and Bruce becomes suspect #1.

Induced Labor by fractualized (29k+ words, WIP)

After a fight in an illegal magic shop results in Bruce impregnating Joker, at least things can't get any more bizarre— except of course they can.

A Rule for A Rule by Severus_divides_into_H (34k+ words, WIP)

When Bruce walks into his new elementary school classroom, the first thing he sees is green. Green hair, green eyes, green sweater with a clown on it, green pants that look way too big. A decade later, he looks at the Joker, and all he sees is a person he once loved.

This Strange Effect by battybrownboo (19k+ words, WIP)

Batman and the Justice League are forced to harbor Joker when he accidentally gets beamed up to the Watchtower. But a clown in space will be the least of their problems.

Life is so much better when you're dead by toluenesister (167k+ words, complete)

During the two years following the Joker's escape from Arkham, Gotham gradually becomes rid of its criminal element in a particularly ghastly way. The appearances of Batman and the Joker become more and more scarce as well to the point of vanishing from the public eye, leaving the city's crime rate at an all time low. At the same time, Carmine's daughter, Sofia Falcone, decides to rebuild her father's organization, but in the course of gathering resources she accidentally finds out what both Batman and the Joker have been preoccupied with while they were away from the streets.

Dissolve & Absolve by toluenesister (63k+ words, complete)

One day the Joker decides to lay his mark on what is his, but he doesn't anticipate the magnitude of what is about to unravel.

through a glass, darkly by itallstartedwithdefenestration (series, 156k+ words)

Three months after Batman effectively disappears from society, Bruce Wayne goes to work for the Joker.

Blank Canvas by Vampowerment (21k+ words, WIP)

When Eric Border, an orderly at Arkham and an ally to Batman, tries to build a life outside of his work, he somehow keeps running into Gotham's darling, Bruce Wayne.

Hope We Can Again by blackbatsx (22k+ words, WIP)

Their original counterparts are long gone but what do you do when the universe (or multiverse for that matter) presents you with another opportunity to try again?

a world with love by railroadman, slaapkat (48k+ words, series)

A canon-divergent universe where Bruce and Joker really do love each other.

In the claws of the Owl by orphan_account (27k+ words, complete)

The Owlman, the Great bird of Sorrows, White King of Gotham, is barely human any more. There is something terrifying about the secret tyrant of Gotham who is watching all the time. The Red Hood wishes he didn't love him. The Owl had tried to drown him in chemicals, murdered his family, broken him again and again with torture, but this time Owlman has something worse in mind for his favorite pet enemy.

Kintsugi Elseworld by a_stands_for (20k+ words, complete)

A suspiciously insistent Zatanna reads Bruce's fortune, which somehow leads to an adventure in a parallel universe--one where the Joker wears a mask and cape and fights at Batman's side.

The Heart by slire (20k+ words, complete)

The Joker, sick and heartbroken, plans to recreate himself. Another scheme is in motion; one that'll shake his darling to the core and break the Bat like no one else can.

I'll Tell You No Lies by TheMidnightOwl (29k+ words, complete)

Earth-22. One mistake was all it took. In the months that pass after Bruce accidentally kills a hired gun, he must reevaluate his life, his methods, and his mission. He remembers everything the Joker has ever said to him, every taunt he ever made, every similarity they share, and this time he's listening. This time he gets the joke.

Acts of Agression by vojavodun (series, 30k+ words)

Batman confronts the Joker in a skyscraper and the night's events get physical.

Bring Down The House by ArgentNoelle (53k+ words, complete)

The Joker is the greatest performance of Jack’s life.

Madness, Domesticated by thatsnotfunny (56k+, WIP)

Bruce Wayne offers to rehabilitate Joker at the manor for the holidays. But which of them needed socialization the most?

Love isn't brains, it's blood by cutting_capers (27k+ words, complete)

He was speaking before even choosing to. “But, so many lives. If you care about Gotham, how can you end so many lives?” Bruce shook his head but was then startled out of his own daze by the raised voice of Joker across from him. “I don’t care about their lives. I care about yours!” Joker stabbed a finger in his direction, his other hand balled in a fist and his entire body rigid. After just a few moments, though, the tension broke, a high pitch of laughter bubbling out of Joker. His eyes drifted about. “They do say I’m crazy. I must be.”

Arkham by AnonGrimm (74k+ words, complete)

The Joker has landed in Arkham again with a long sentence ahead of him in solitary. While plotting his next escape, he gets a visit from the Batman. Two-Face has been wreaking havoc and Batman wants Joker to divulge clues in how to stop him or cure his madness. Joker pretends to listen as a new game begins to bloom in his fractured mind. Can he crack that cold strength and find a weakness, find a way to warp the Bat?

The Bliss of Ignorance by Crashingthisbane (Sitarsitar) (34k+ words, complete)

After getting a concussion, Bruce loses his memory. Joker crafts a new past for him. He tells Bruce that the two of them are crime-fighting partners, weaving a tangled web of half-truths and plain lies. Complex feelings ensue, for both Joker and Bruce.

Yes And by limeta (41k+ words, complete)

The Joker "yes ands" his way into having a mental breakdown. Kidnapping Tim Drake and a bunch of Rogues isn't helping. Especially because he isn't the Joker, of course, but Bruce Wayne's newest secretary. Cut him some slack, he's just trying to run some errands!