#let it be known that i did make a real attempt at keeping this short

[talismns]

𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴:/// 𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗛. 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: alive.

(  kathryn newton  .  cis woman  .  she/her  )  .    ⸻  wendy walsh  ,  a  twenty-six  year  old  ,  has  survived  another  day  in  red  creek  where  they  have  lived  for  her entire life, until college  .  the  gregarious  is  known  for  being  energetic  and  dramatic  and  is  often  associated  with  smiling at strangers, pink lipstick kisses on a napkin with your phone number, and wild, unruly hair  .  in  a  small  town  where  they  work  as  a volunteer at red creek library,  word  travels  fast  .  it’s  hard  to  keep  a  secret  ,  and  it  looks  like  the  boogeyman  knows  that  [SIRENS BLARING].

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦.

full name. wendy lillian walsh age & birthday. 26 & september 28 astrology. libra sun, leo moon, aquarius rising sexuality. bisexual hometown. red creek, mi current residence. san francisco, ca traits. charming, energetic, sharp, dramatic, apprehensive, sensitive mbti. enfj-a, the protagonist alignment. neutral good temperament. sanguine references. erin quinn ( derry girls ), rachel green ( friends ), sutton brady ( the bold type ), andie anderson ( how to lose a guy in 10 days )

𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬.

finn’s intro did a good job summarizing some of this stuff but if you want the long-winded version, then you came to the right place <3

wendy and finn are the luckiest mfers on the planet with the parents they got. henry and thea are kind, patient, generous, supportive, and about every other adjective you could think of when you’re trying to describe the world’s most perfect parents. like must be nice 😐 naturally, wendy grows up pretty fearless. she’s not afraid to ask questions, not afraid of laughing too loud — not afraid of being annoying, i mean. you can imagine what happens when she starts school :/

kids are mean! and wendy’s teeth are a little too big for her mouth, and her hair’s a little too big for her head, and she wants the gold star in every lesson every day forever, so she’s an easy target if i’ve ever seen one :/ the bullying is pretty severe, and wendy doesn’t have thick skin the way finn does. it doesn’t slide off of her. for most of her elementary school years, she comes home crying at least once a week. her parents try their best to console her, and even offer to speak to her teachers for her, but wendy knows that it’ll just be more ammunition to be used against her. so she just deals. she can fight her own battles! ( she cried on the grass every day during recess </3 )

middle school is probably the seventh circle of hell, and wendy is no exception. to make things worse, she got braces 😐 all this to say, despite the bullying, and despite how much of it wendy took to heart, she still never really backs down from being herself. she’s still the most eager student in every class, still the first to raise their hand at a question. and you bet your ass people hated her for reminding the teacher about the project presentations everyone was supposed to do. she spent all weekend researching her topic and making models! of course she wants to present! her room can’t have looked like a glitter bomb exploded in there for nothing

and now we get to high school where we really start cooking with gas. it’s a classic summer transformation. wendy hits puberty, her braces come off, she figures out how to manage her curly hair— it’s still curly, it just doesn’t look like a rat’s nest anymore. the teasing stops almost instantaneously. she gets asked on a date for the first time and wendy is so surprised, she says no. after the initial shock though, wendy begins to lean into it. she joins the cheerleading team, and begins to run around with that crowd. it isn’t her only focus though. she’s still her. so she’s in a million extracurriculars on top of juggling her now flourishing social life. her calendar’s a nightmare of sticky notes and color coded events. even her naps are planned. once she said “pencil you in” to finn and he flipped her off

all of it pays off though because she graduates with a near flawless gpa and is accepted into the university of san francisco with a full ride <3 she’s been in sf ever since because a year after graduating, she was offered her dream job with her dream company yay <3

( cancer tw ) wendy comes back to red creek frequently enough, usually at least the holidays and then she tends to try and make a few trips throughout the year but only for a week at a time. with her mom sick though, wendy’s taken a leave of absence at her job to be with her family and her beloved apartment is currently being subleased. so that’s why she’s back womp womp

terrible timing too because even though finn is happy to use the murders as a distraction, wendy is absolutely not like that. she LIKES her boring small town where nothing happens. she wants nothing to happen everywhere forever!!!!

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬.

wendy’s full of a lot of life. she’s charming and bright and eager; one could argue that as a first impression, it can be a bit much. despite how extroverted she is though, she’s not too quick to trust people. she rarely trusts her first impression, having been all too familiar with a kind gesture or a smile being used as bait for something more sinister. she’ll trust her second though, and wendy doesn’t do anything without putting her whole heart into it. still, she’s the type who puts her career first— who lets everything fall to second position in her pursuit for success. she’s not really a #girlboss by any means, it’s just her favorite type of validation.

i think wendy tries as hard as she can to be kind to people and most of the time she does succeed! my sweet girl <3 she does have a bit of a superiority complex though and can think of herself as better than others and sometimes it rly shows :/ but for the most part wendy is never really mean spirited, she can just come off a bit arrogant sometimes. which, can you blame her. she tries harder than anyone else and literally always busts her ass

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗡𝗦.

songs. rock with you ( michael jackson ), you're so vain ( carly simon ), vintage ( niki ) movie. notting hill show. sex and the city book. black swan, eve babitz season. summer color. pink

she has a little beagle named blue ☹️ and she brought her with him to red creek. he is not well behaved <3

funny combination of incredibly high standards but also desperate for love. she'll go on a date with anyone who gives her even the slightest bit of validation but it takes her soooo much to actually commit bc she's too picky lmao

very much an article girly 🫶 she has a subscription to the ny times, and i’m not joking she starts her day off with matcha and an article she’s also always sending articles to people, it’s her love language!!!

terrible terrible lightweight. will be under the table two shots in. but also an aggressive drunk who wants to fight everyone even though she's tiny and HAS gotten kicked out of bars for her behavior. also very prone to getting hurt while drinking. because she’s aggressive while drunk

sorority girl 😭 she joined during her second year of college and it’s where she met a lot of her closest college friends. the connections she made in it also helped her secure her current job !!

gets white coat syndrome. she’s still pretty good about getting a check up once a year but she dreads doing it and cannot stand the sight of blood or gore. it makes her queasy

wendy’s all time favorite show is sex and the city!!! she loves the girls, and she always tells people she can’t wait for her thirties when she can be in her satc era. and carrie bradshaw is the one who inspired her to embrace her natural curls <3

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦.

playlist. / pinterest.

[inbabylontheywept]

bad dating stories time: the shoe incident

so in highschool, my best friend wasnt allowed to go on dates unless there was another couple there to keep an eye on him. part of this was his parents being insane, but also, part of it was him being insane. in a problem with no reasonable parties, there are no reasonable solutions.

at some point in my junior year, my sorta-gf broke up with me, and i just wasnt feeling dating, which was bad for my friend, because he had a good thing going with a girl he met in court.

he kind of hounded me about it. kept pushing me to just put me feet back in the dating pool and i wasnt real thrilled about it, because i knew he was pushing me for his own benefit, not mine, so i kept telling him to fuck off, and after a few weeks of being told that i would date when i was damn well ready, he eventually said: okay. what if i paid for the date AND found you a blind date AND all you had to do was show up?

and i shouldve said no, i know, but i let him wear me down, and i will own my fault in that. a date starting on such a stupid premise could never have gone well.

but he still managed to find a way to make it worse.

i dont know how long he tried to set a blind date up. it couldve been multiple attempts. he couldve stooped to this immediately. but what happened in the end was that he called a girl from the ward he attended - a girl that he knew had a giant, mushy crush on him - and he said: hey! how would you feel about going on a date this weekend?

(you know, implying it was with him, but never actually saying it.)

and she said YES WOW I WOULD LOVE TO and he said great! and then he called me up and said he found me a date.

i did not learn about his crimes until several weeks later. i will die swearing before god almighty that i would never have allowed this travesty to happen if i had known.

that was on a monday. the date of the date rolled around that friday evening, and im sorry to confess, i really phoned the whole thing in. i showed up in my favorite comfy outfit, which was also a fashion crime: basketball shorts and flipflops and a baja hoodie. it was super comfy but it made me look kind of crazy. i picked him up first, and then i picked up his date next, and then we went to pick up my date, and thats where you're gonna get the play by play.

i arrived, walked across the yard, and knocked on the front door. she opened it almost immediately, like shed been waiting right by it, and i could see her expression go from OMG IM SO EXCITED to super disappointed, then disgusted and finally pissed. and because i didn't know about my friends sins, i thought it was from my outfit. which seemed... harsh. like, hey, im allowed to be quirky, fuck you. also its a blind date, i thought the deal was that we were both going to be sad broken sacks of mortality.

anyway, we looked at each other for several seconds before she slammed the door in my face.

i looked back at my friend. he was sweating bullets. i dont know what he expected from this, but there was this big long pause where we both tried to figure out what to do, and then the door opened up, and her dad invited me in, and he said she was gonna need a few minutes to finish getting ready, and that in the meantime we could sit and talk.

we did not talk. we did sit. i sat down on the couch, and he sat down in a chair across the couch, and then instead of talking he cleaned his pistol on the coffee table. i wasnt actually sure if it was a threat, or if it was just a fidget thing for 40+ year old republican men, but when i tried to help he got snappy so i just watched him put a pistol back together.

he was okay at it.

eventually my date came downstairs, still mad as hell for reasons beyond my ken, and i felt pretty guilty for being such a mess because i thought that was why she was so angry. i tried to make up for by walking her to the car and getting the door for her, just generally trying to be extra polite, but before i could make it back to the drivers side, her dad called me back to the door. so i flipped around, went to the door, and immediately regreted my decision.

soon as i was within range, her dad got waaaay too close to me, leaned in, and said "whatever you do to her, i will do to you," and my brain went into overdrive making three consecutive realizations.

realization one was, damn, the pistol thing was a threat. that sucks. what an asshole. realization two was, wait, im autistic and even i know theres a 0% chance me and my date even hold hands, least of all boink. does this guy actually think there's even a 1% chance of anyone in that car getting laid tonight? is he an idiot? and then realization three went through, which was wait, is this guy threatening to fuck me? and unfortunately, with my brain doing so much processing, my mouth was left to run amok, so somewhere between realization 2 and 3, i said:

"i can't get pregnant"

which, i swear, wasn't actually me trying to be a smartass, it was just me pointing out that he couldn't actually follow up on that threat. it just wasn't possible. we do not live in the omegaverse and im not scared of you.

still, it was an insanely catastrophic thing to say, and the moment we both heard it, we bluescreened. that single sentence obliterated both of our momentary streams of consciousness like a saltine in front of a sand blaster. problem was, he'd probably gone his whole life not even realizing someone could say something that stupid, and making that realization was going to cost him a lot of thinking time. me though? i had been saying shit like that for 17 years, i didnt have to rewrite my expectations of human nature, i just had to plan an exit and start striding. so i was already halfway back to the car before i heard "hey. hey come back. Hey. Hey. HEY. HEY WAIT. HEY GET BACK HERE. HEY-"

and then i was in my car, and i drove away.

if this happened today, he'd have called her, and the whole thing wouldve imploded then and there, but back then, there were still a decent number of teenagers without cell phones. especially the teenagers of insane, gun toting parents. so she just said: whoa what was that all about? and i said: dont worry about it, he'll tell you about it when you get home.

and she said: ok and went back to staring daggers at me and my friend.

WHICH SURPRISINGLY isnt even how the story ends.

we went to an improv comedy show, and it was a disaster. it shouldve been like, 7/10 tops, but between my date being mad, and my friend having a good time, and me having the existential terror of knowing that a guy with a pistol was probably waiting outside his house for me to come back, it was easily 11/10. i laughed way too hard at everything. especially the jokes that flopped. id sit there in this mostly silent room and laugh until i dry heaved a little, and my date was absolutely disgusted, and even my friend was a little embarrassed, which would just make me laugh harder. i laughed so hard that night i could barely talk the next day. and then the show ended, and my friend said, you know, that was a good time, but i think we should maybe do something a little chiller? who wants to walk around the park? and his date said yeah, and my date said no, and i finally had mercy on the poor woman so i said, look, im gonna drop you off. and i am so, so sorry about this, but im dropping you off like a block away. super duper sorry.

do talk to your dad about the pistols thing if you dont want this happening more in the future tho.

and she said: okay. so i dropped her off, and she walked a block down, and that was that.

then i drove my friend and his date to a park that was good for wandering. i figured they wanted something more private, so instead of following them around point blank, i chose a park with this 30 foot rope tower, and i climbed to the top and i said: hey i can see you anywhere from up here, you are officially chaperoned from a distance. get panopticoned idiot. except my friend really is an idiot, and he didnt really get the whole 'now i dont have to third wheel so insanely hard with you guys' thing so he climbed up the tower too, and then his date followed behind him, so there are three people basically sitting together on top of a telephone pole.

and then they started making out.

i was close enough to hear it.

i didnt really know what to do so i was just kind of sitting there, dissociating, when some college kids came around and started shaking the tower. my friend's date went aaaaaaaaaa im afraid of heights :( and my friend went oh, dont worry, ill hold you tight ;) and i went hey, im gonna climb down and ask them to stop.

so i did climb down, and i did ask them to stop, and they flipped me off, which i wasnt even mad about. at that point i was i was like yeah, it would be weirder if this wasnt a mess. gods plan has been to fly this day like a 747 into my metaphorical twin towers and brother he is close enough for me to see him grinning through the cockpit window. still, eventually the college students got bored, so they climbed up the tower, which gave my friend and his date a window to climb down, and together we walked back to my car.

now, i cant explain why this is, but sitting back in the drivers seat was my carriage-back-into-a-pumpkin moment. i'd been chill about all the chaos, just rolling with the punches, but sitting down made me realize how much of a shitshow the day had been, and while i couldnt go back and fix all of it, i could go back and fix one thing.

so i told my friend and his date, hey, you two, stay here and don't do anything weird. don't. then i walked back to the rope tower, and i started picking up the shoes the college students had left at the base in order to climb.

about halfway through this, i realized that if i took all their shoes, they might think i was in it for the money, and i actually wanted them to know i was in it specifically to spite them. fuck those guys. so i put all the right shoes back, gave myself a 100 foot headstart, yelled "nice shoes, assholes", did a little jig, and started running.

my advice to everyone is that college students are faster than you think. even with the headstart, and the whole climb down the tower thing, i was still only fivish seconds ahead of them by the time i got to my car. i flung the door open, looked in the backseat, didnt see anyone, flung the stolen shoes in the backseat, heard two "ow"s, took that as proof of presence, jumped in and pealed out of the lot.

my friend and his date popped up a few seconds later. they were, uh, doing something weird in the back seat. my one request - obliterated.

they climbed up to ask where the hell all the shoes had come from, and i was like yeah i stole them from the college students, and they were like oh. cool. hope you had fun. and i was like, i did. i did. but speaking of fun, what were you doing back there?

and for the first time in my buddies life, i think he was actually embarassed.

[princessbellecerise]

Court Shenanigans

Summary ✩ Missing their father, your children decide it’s a good idea to interrupt him in the middle of court

Warnings ✩ Mentions of pregnancy

Authors Notes ✩ Everyday I cry cause this man isn’t real but at least I have fanfic

You tried to stop them, you really did.

But being almost nine moons pregnant and having the most swollen feet known to man, it was almost impossible to chase after and keep up with two rowdy tots.

Usually, their nursemaids would have them by now and would be helping to assist you, but Aliza was sick and Joanna was with her family. Both of them would have scolded you for trying to run when you couldn’t even see your feet, but your kids were a mischievous bunch and you had a sinking feeling on where they were headed.

Aemma, the eldest of the two twins, had been complaining all day about not being able to see her father, as Jace had missed out on breakfast and lunch with her in order to hear a few extra petitions.

It seemed as if the Kingdom was more unruly than usual, and Lords had come from all over the realm to plead their cases.

Wanting to be a good King and make sure that he could adhere to all of his subjects, Jace had opted to spend a little extra time on the throne and a less with his family.

This of course didn’t sit well with Aemma, and as her shadow Jaelin followed right on along with her.

Try as you might have, you weren’t fast enough to catch up to them and your protests for them to stop didn’t do much good, either.

Before you could even blink, your twins were flying past the Kingsguard and bursting into the throne room, with little Aemma’s excited shouting making you want to crawl into a hole right there and then.

“Kepa!”

In no time your baby girl ran across the room, interrupting some poor Lord under a pink banner. You thought that he might’ve been from White Harbor, or maybe he was from Maidenpool.

Whatever it was, you didn’t pay much attention as suddenly, all chatter stopped, and you were the center of attention as you wobbled towards Jacaerys and fixed Aemma with a stern glare.

“Aemma! Come back here!” You shouted after her sternly, and thankfully Jaelin was too afraid of your ��motherly voice’ to get any closer.

He stopped just short of the Iron Throne, choosing to remain by Ser Darklyn’s side rather than follow his sister up the steps. With horror, you realized that Aemma was headed straight to Jacaerys, exclaiming happily as she threw herself in her father’s open arms.

“Kepa!”

She bounced excitedly as Jace pulled her on his lap, looking amused while you struggled to catch your breath.

Running at your size was no joke, and you ached to sit down somewhere and rest. You couldn’t do that though while your two year old twins were causing mayhem.

It was unbefitting of a Queen, you knew that, but desperation had you hiking up your dress, climbing the the steps, and holding your arms out expectantly while Jace chuckled.

“Aemma. It’s time to say goodbye to Kepa and go back to our chambers. Now,” You told her, but that only resulted in the toddler shaking her head and burying herself even deeper into Jacaerys’ arms.

“No! I want to stay with Kepa!” Her defiant little voice shouted, and you winced as a few murmurs echoed through the court.

You were painfully aware that everybody was staring at the scene, which made it even more embarrassing when you reached out again and failed to grab Aemma.

After about the third attempt to pull her away with no avail, your husband seemed to finally take pity on you and sighed.

“It’s alright my love. She can stay,” Jacaerys said, and upon hearing this Aemma beamed. “It’ll be her seat one day after all. Let her gain some experience; even if it is during the middle of a petition.”

You gave him an apologetic look, and you made a mental note to apologize to Lord…well, whoever you were currently interrupting. You had to admit, the sight of Aemma babbling broken phrases to Jace while she tried to grab his crown was adorable.

You sighed reluctantly.

“Alright,” You said, willing to leave Aemma where she was. At the very least you could persuade Jaelin to follow you and take him away, but as you turned to go back down the stairs you suddenly paused.

Had there always been that many, you wondered?

You hadn’t really paid attention that much, but now that your feet were practically screaming at you to sit down, the idea of going down so many steps didn’t seem so appealing.

Of course, you could’ve just asked one of the Kingsguard to help you down, but you didn’t want to be a bother—as silly as it sounded. You also didn’t want to risk your knees giving out and falling, either.

You were in a dilemma, but before you could even decide, Jace did it for you. Your husband, ever attentive, noticed your hesitation and immediately got up.

“Here, my love. Why don’t you rest and I’ll stand for now,” He suggested.

Even more whispers broke out at this. What Jacaerys was proposing was sweet, but it had never happened before and the idea of the Queen sitting on the throne in the presence of the King was…well it was simply unheard of.

You were sure a few people would call the action scandalous, but at the moment though, you didn’t really care what they thought. Your feet were aching and you needed a place to sit down before your knees decided where for you, so you nodded and accepted his offer.

“Thank you, my love.”

You sighed in relief as you sat on the throne. Albeit, it wasn’t the most comfortable of seats with all the swords and points, and you would’ve much rather been in your cushioned chair in your chambers, but it was better than nothing and the pressure on your feet was gone.

Nodding his head, Jacaerys gave you a small kiss on the side of your head and then he stood with Aemma in his arms, and gestured for Lord whoever to keep speaking.

Had you not been out of breath, you would have laughed at his face and the face of many others as they not only witnessed their King give the most powerful seat in the realm to his pregnant wife, but also witnessed him stand up while bouncing his baby daughter in his arms.

It was an unusual sight, but an adorable one that you cherished.

Motioning to Ser Darklyn to bring Jaelin up so that your family would complete, you smiled in content and Jacaerys once again motioned for the man who had been interrupted to continue his petition.

“Lord Mooton. Please, do continue,” He said with a large smile.

You giggled.

Ah, so that was his name.

[wisecura]

Sheets

megumi fushiguro x fem-reader

p.1

p.8  ( ⸝⸝꩜ ᯅ ꩜⸝⸝;) p.10??

p.9

AN: this took a minute, but I was finishing the outline for a few of the other chapters and a few other works I've been doing. I was off from work for a bit, went back, had a set of traumatic back to back days. and well, writers block is one hell of a thing, y'know? aaaand with the seasonal changes I'm just tired maybe a bit down. but thank you guys for your love and support!

warnings: this story may cover sensitive and uncomfortable topics. please read at your own risk, violence, lashings, blood, mental breakdowns, yandere, obsessive behavior, possessiveness, mommy kinks, mommy issues, arranged marriages, forced marriages, angst, eventual smut, clan politics, age gap (5 years from meg, and a little over 10 with toji), toji aint the best dad, mentions of child abuse, slowww build.

Short summary: Your arranged marriage to Toji Fushiguro had been sudden and unexpected, but now you found yourself living under his roof alongside your moody stepson. Your only directive from your clan head before moving in was clear: keep a close eye on Toji, the notorious Sorcerer Killer, and his son, a potential sorcerer prodigy.

threats and cwuddles

an: i said what i said

How utterly pointless.

There he was, standing before the pathetic excuse for a man—the one you called uncle, the so-called leader of your disgraceful clan. The ridiculous get up had him holding back a joke, as the man seemed to sneer down at him. His expression oozing disdain—as if he wasn't even worth the effort of a proper glance.

Toji nearly laughed at the sheer audacity.

This man, puffed up with self-importance and brimming with hollow authority, presumed to have the upper hand?

Absolutely comedic.

Toji let his eyes drift over the man slowly, deliberately, as if assessing a weak opponent in a fight he knew he’d already won. Everything about him screamed mediocrity wrapped in false power—his carefully pressed robes, the practiced tilt of his chin, the way he held his hands behind his back as if it really added weight to his presence.

But Toji saw through it all. He always did.

Authority like this was a farce. A staged act meant to instill fear in those who’d never known freedom. And Toji? He was already a foot out the door. And he didn’t play by their rules. Not now. Not ever.

He could kill him in seconds...if he really wanted to. 

"So," Toji said, his voice dripping with derision. "This is the man in charge, huh? Can’t say I’m impressed. You look more like an angry little chihuahua guarding a bone that isn’t even yours."

Your clan leader's sneer faltered for a second at his blatant disrespect. It wasn't often someone so ill-mannered showed their face in his estate, let alone had the audacity to open their mouth in front of him.

But they were all the same to Toji—weak, predictable, and utterly worthless.

Toji wasn’t the type to be a hero—never had been, never would be. Kindness just wasn’t in his nature, and every decision he made came with a price. He didn’t hand out favors for free, and he certainly didn’t involve himself in someone else’s mess out of the goodness of his heart.

So why was he here?

The answer was annoyingly simple.

you.

Maybe it was because, technically, he was your husband. Sure, it was only in name, but the fact remained. Or maybe it was because of Megumi—his dumb, lovesick son—whose actions, if not his words, made it painfully clear just how deeply his affections for you ran. 

From the surface, Toji could make excuses, just how he may have when he first picked you up from this clan. But deep down, way below—in the dark recesses of his mind, Toji understood the real reason.

It wasn’t about obligation or some half-hearted attempt to help Megumi.

It was the moment you'd broken down in his arms.

Sobbing, so uncharacteristically vulnerable, your back covered in those deep, fresh lashes—five if he counted correctly. Clinging onto him, in a way you hadn't ever done before, even when Megumi had been ignoring you. And he could see the scars from previous lashings. Some faint, a light pink indention, and others a solid light purple.

He wasn’t good at comforting people—really. And what good was an assassin in that situation?—but something in that moment had made his head snap. And a mix of different memories and bottled-up emotions compelled him forward. He'd never made impulsive decisions. And Toji Fushiguro was never one for kindness.

But now, here he was. Standing in front of your uncle, the so-called leader of your clan, ready to do something he knew was reckless. Something that could potentially mess things up for both you and his son. A defensive action like this could easily hint at a deeper relationship between the two of you, which was not something he really wanted. These geezers weren't brand new to mind games, but neither was he. And, sure, he could just kill the guy, but that seemed like way too much effort. A few choice words should handle it.

"So, tell me...why is the Toji Fushiguro bothering to grace me with his presence? I can’t imagine you're here to meet the in-laws?" He was fishing, hoping he would rise to the occasion, hint at any personal glimpse into the killer before him.

Toji didn’t take the bait. He just stood there, calm as ever, his face giving nothing away. God, did he hate these clan politics. His dark eyes casually swept the room, clearly bored—not impressed by the fancy decor, not intimidated by the guards at the doors, and definitely not by your uncle. Honestly, he'd rather be back home, digging into some of your homemade yakitori. This whole thing was turning out to be a real drag.

"What’s the matter? Are you just here to puff your chest and waste my time?" He's getting antsy now,

Toji’s lips twitched into an almost imperceptible smirk. His gaze razor-sharp, locking onto the older man. There was a pause as your uncle locked eyes on Toji's. Unmoving, unflinching, before Toji took a deliberate step forward, closing the distance just enough to make the clan leader stiffen. "You know," Toji said, his voice casual, almost conversational, "it’s funny. For a guy so full of himself, you’re awfully quiet about those welts you sent her home with."

Your uncle's eyes widened—but only for a moment, leaning back with mock nonchalance. "Welts? I have no idea what you're talking about. And what's it to you anyway? Don't tell me you've actually caught feelings for her?"

"Feelings? Don’t kid yourself. I’m not here to play hero, and I’m definitely not here for her." Toji shrugged casually, tossing his head to the side and leaning back to give him some room, his eyes flicking over the clan leader, as if taking his question seriously. "But let’s be honest—she doesn’t look as hot in bed when she’s got all those welts. Kinda ruins the mood, you know?"

Stunned, the clan leader chuckled uneasily, trying to regain some semblance of control. He shouldn't have been too surprised given the Sorcerer Killers stellar reputation for the debauched lifestyle. You were technically his wife afterall, "Ah, well—that makes more sense. Using the whore for what she's worth, I guess." Toji could practically hear your resale value dropping by the second, as the clan leader processed this thought before continuing in an almost thoughtful murmur. "Just here to make sure your toy stays intact."

"Call it whatever you want. I don’t care. But if you think I’ll let you mark her skin up again, then you’re even dumber than you look."

The clan leader’s sneer returned, though his eyes betrayed a flicker of uncertainty. Much like a petulant child, not getting his way. "And if I don’t? What then, Fushiguro? You’ll kill me?" Now lets not go putting ideas into his head...

Toji let out a low chuckle, shaking back in laughter at the fear creeping into his voice. "Kill you? Nah. You’re not worth the effort." He paused, feigning a change of heart as his voice dropped, leaning in again for the kill, his words a hefty weight. "Actually, maybe I’ll stick around. Tear this whole place apart just for fun. I hate this sorcerer bullshit anyway. Watching your precious clan crumble might actually make my day."

The clan leader’s face twitched, his bravado faltering again under Toji’s unrelenting gaze, his words hanging in the air-message loud and clear.

"Fine," he muttered, waving a hand dismissively. "If it means that much to you, no more marks. No need to make this a bigger deal than it is."

Toji smirked, satisfied. He stepped back as he turned toward the door. "Good. Glad we could see eye to eye," he said oh so smoothly.

With that, he strode out, leaving your uncle in an uncomfortable silence. Toji knew the man wouldn’t see him as anything but a threat, and that was exactly what he wanted. As long as they kept their grubby hands off you, he didn’t care what they thought—or what he had to say to make them believe it. And hopefully your home clan wouldn't go around making decisions on this calculated move alone.

Now, it was time for some well-deserved meat.

Thankfully, your clan visits were few and far between.

The trip home that day had been nothing short of brutal, and your clan head’s disdainful disregard for how you might explain the aftermath to your husband lingered in your mind like a bitter aftertaste.

The weeks dragged on, and before you knew it, the seasons had shifted. Fall gave way to winter, winter melted into spring, and eventually, summer arrived again. Yet, Megumi’s absence remained a constant despite the seasonal changes. 

Determined to stay connected despite the distance, you’d picked up a cell phone not long after Megumi left. Toji had handed over both his and Megumi's numbers with his usual air of indifference. “In case of emergencies,” he’d said, tossing the paper onto the table like it was no big deal. But to you, it was. Your focus had been on one number only: Megumi’s. He was the hardest to reach anyways. 

What would you even say? Hi, how are you? Too formal. I miss you already. Too much. The hesitation gnawed at you. After a few moments, you settled on something simple and sent it off, heart pounding in the silence that followed.

Megumi’s replies, however, had been scarce—short, distant, and frustratingly neutral. You tried not to let it sting, reasoning that he was busy adjusting to his new life at Jujutsu Tech. He had training, studies, and an entirely new world to navigate. But the lack of insight into his world left you feeling unmoored and oh so helpless.

Did he eat well? Was he overworking himself? Did he even want to hear from you? The unanswered questions piled up, an invisible weight pressing on your chest.

When his birthday came, you’d agonized over whether to call, but the fear of interrupting—or worse, being brushed off—kept your fingers from dialing. Instead, you texted him, wishing him a happy birthday in a message that felt far too impersonal. Hours later, his reply came: a simple thank you.

It was polite, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t tell you if he was happy, if he’d smiled at your message, if he’d even thought of you beyond that brief acknowledgment. The distance between you felt larger than ever, and you couldn’t help but wonder if he was slipping further away—or if you were.

You hoped—prayed—that he’d found some happiness at school. That maybe the time away had helped him grow, helped him heal in ways you couldn’t. You wondered if his sharp tongue and stubborn attitude had softened enough to allow for real friendships. Did he smile more? Did he laugh? You pictured him in that new world, surrounded by people who might understand him better.

As summer approached, anticipation and unease twisted in your chest, a slow, suffocating knot that tightened with each passing day. The thought of seeing him again stirred a mix of emotions—excitement, yes, but also a quiet fear that plagued you. Would he still look at you with that same guarded expression? Would the distance he’d created remain? Would he persist with questions you couldn't answer?

His parting words haunted you, echoing in the quiet moments when your mind wandered too far. You replayed that last conversation over and over, dissecting every syllable, every pause, every look. The unspoken questions lingered like ghosts: Had you done enough? Said enough? You’d wished, countless times, that you’d found the right words to ease the tension before he left.

Now, with the summer sun creeping closer, you could only wonder if it was too late to mend what had been broken—or if it had been broken at all.

And then, one quiet afternoon, he came home.

The sound of the door creaking open sent a jolt through you. Without thinking, you found yourself halfway down the hallway, your heart pounding in your chest.

When you saw him, you froze—and so did he.

He stood in the doorway, his tall frame outlined by the golden glow of the late afternoon sun. A faint breeze followed him in, tousling his hair and leaving it slightly messy, adding to the disheveled charm he carried so effortlessly. His piercing eyes locked onto yours, and for a moment, the world seemed to fall away.

Neither of you spoke. The silence stretched, laden but charged, his gaze lingering on your face as if he were trying to memorize every detail. He looked different—older, his features sharper, his presence more commanding. You still found yourself struggling to recognize him each time you saw him—such a common occurrence now that it was almost expected. There was something in his eyes, something softer, more vulnerable. He looked like he wanted to say something.

“Megumi,” you whispered, full of hesitance. Your voice almost broke under the weight of the moment, a flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm you.

He didn’t move, his hands still gripping the straps of the bag slung over his shoulder. For a second, you thought he wouldn’t respond. Then he exhaled, his shoulders relaxing just a fraction as he stepped further inside.

“Hey,” he said softly, the warmth in his voice wrapping around you like a balm. It was a simple word, but it carried so much—a mixture of relief, uncertainty, and something deeper—something unfamiliar, that made your chest well up.

You’d missed him more than you dared to admit. More than you’d allowed yourself to feel during the long months of silence. And now, standing here, the space between you felt both impossibly vast and achingly small.

For a moment, neither of you moved. Then, without a second thought, you closed the space between you and wrapped your arms around him in a tight hug. He stiffened, caught off guard, before slowly, his arms came up to hold you, and to your surprise, he hugged you back. Not hesitantly or awkwardly, but fully, his arms wrapping securely around you and pulling you close, almost flush to him. His head dipped down, his nose brushing against your hair as he held you firmly against his chest.

“Welcome home,” you murmured, unable to keep the brittleness from your tone, your cheek pressed against him. The words felt fragile, as though the moment might shatter if you spoke too loudly.

He didn’t respond immediately, but you felt him exhale, a deep, contented sigh that seemed to come from somewhere buried deep inside. His nose pushed further into your hair, and his grip tightened just enough to knock the breath out of you.

“I missed you,” his voice so quiet it was almost lost in the stillness. You hadn't expected it, the sentiment not lost on you. It'd been too long, the texts too short, and the emptiness of the house too loud. But the way his arms enveloped you, strong and protective, took away all of those negative feelings.

Your arms tightened around him in return, head still laying on his chest. The words slipping from your lips, practically dripping with affection. “I missed you too.”

Finally, after what felt like both seconds and forever, he shifted slightly, loosening his hold just enough for you to pull back. When your eyes met his again, you couldn't help the small smile plastered on your face. He looked at you like you were the only thing in the world that mattered, and it sent a bittersweet ache through your chest, a feeling you didn’t quite know how to name.

The corner of his mouth twitched, “You text a lot, you know that?”

A soft laugh bubbled out of you. “And you’re terrible at replying.”

“Dinner’s already started,” remembering the pan still on the stove. “You’re probably starving.”

He didn’t let go immediately, his hands lingering on your arms as if reluctant to let the moment end. “Yeah,” his voice low, as a faint flush crept up his cheeks, he finally stepped back. “Starving.”

You gave him a warm smile, brushing your hand lightly against his arm before turning toward the kitchen. Even as you moved away, you could feel his gaze lingering on you from behind—heavy, unrelenting, and more present that he previously was. Whatever walls had been between you before—whatever distance he’d tried to create—seemed to crumble in that quiet, intimate moment. Just what happened while he was at school?

Dinner that night was warm and comforting, a feeling you hadn’t experienced in what felt like forever.

“So, how was school? Are you making any friends?” you chirp, pacing around the kitchen, so aware of his eyes tracing your every movement. The excitement in your tone was impossible to miss, a lightness that hadn’t been there in months. After so many quiet dinners with only Toji for company, the thought of someone else at the table made you relieved. Even if the two of you had been getting along better recently.

Megumi glanced up from his plate, pausing for a moment before answering. “It’s...fine,” he said, his tone clipped but not unkind. “I’m focused on my training. That’s what matters.”

You hummed, a small smile tugging at your lips. You don't miss the evasiveness of his answer. “Still, I hope you’re finding time to enjoy yourself, even just a little.”

He didn’t respond right away, fiddling with his food, his gaze briefly dropping to his plate.

“Make any friends?” you try again, gently.

“A few,” he admitted, his tone reluctant but not dismissive.

“Really?” you hum out again, glancing over your shoulder at him. You wanted him to open up to you, but with his nature it wasn't exaclty going to be easy to get him to talk. “Anyone special?”

He shrugged, eyes still downcast. “Not really,” he replied, his voice neutral but you saw the way he trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.

You paused, raising an eyebrow at him, deciding to press a little more. “C’mon, Megumi,” you teased lightly, turning back to the stove. Your tone intentionally unserious. “I know you’re not that antisocial. You’ve got to be opening up a little, right?”

His lips twitched, almost forming a smile, but the expression didn’t quite land. “It’s fine,” he groaned, though his tone softened slightly, as if the question hadn’t entirely annoyed him. “I’ve been busy.”

You hummed again in acknowledgment, not pushing him further, but your smile lingered. You were just glad to have him here, back where he belonged. Actually talking to you. Even if he wasn’t saying much, his presence spoke volumes.

Your questions continued easily—about school, his classes, his life outside of the house—and though his answers were typically grumpy and brief, you didn’t mind. It was the fact that he was answering at all, the fact that he wasn’t shutting you out, that made it all feel worthwhile. You didn’t dare bring up the tension from last summer, not wanting to risk spoiling the fragile good mood.

Toji was out for the night, leaving the house blissfully quiet, and Megumi made no comment on the food, though he cleaned his plate for the second time. It was a small victory, but it still left you smiling as you settled onto the couch afterward.

Megumi surprised you by sitting beside you. He didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms and leaned back, his expression neutral as you put on a movie. Sure, he'd sat near you before, but the long months that followed his absence made you tense a bit. He didn’t seem particularly interested in the movie you put on, but you heard no complaints.

At some point, exhaustion crept up on you. The day had been long, and the warmth of the room, combined with Megumi’s quiet, steady presence, lulled you into sleep. Without realizing it, you shifted slightly, leaning toward him, your head eventually coming to rest against his shoulder.

Megumi, of course, noticed immediately.

He stiffened at first, his entire body going rigid as he felt the soft weight of you curling against him. His breath hitched, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would break out of his chest. His mind screamed at him to stay still, to not move or make a sound.

But then he glanced down.

You looked so peaceful, so utterly at ease with him, and it sent a surge of emotions through him that he could barely contain. Warmth, nervousness, longing—it all tangled together, leaving him frozen in place. The faint light from the television cast soft shadows across your face, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

You trusted him so much, leaned into him so easily, and it made him ache with something deep and primal. He didn’t know if he deserved this—if he deserved you—but he couldn’t stop himself from savoring the moment.

Tentatively, he allowed himself to relax, his shoulder shifting slightly to give you more room. His fingers twitched in his lap, aching to reach out and brush a stray strand of hair from your face, but he held himself back. He couldn’t ruin this.

He stayed like that, unmoving, as you curled closer, your breathing soft and even against him. Every part of him burned with the overwhelming need to keep you like this, to hold you, to never let you go. 

When the movie ended, and the room fell into quiet stillness, he carefully reached for the blanket draped over the back of the couch. Gently, he pulled it over you, his hand brushing your arm as he tucked it around you. The brief contact sent a shiver down his spine, but he forced himself to pull away.

He refused to leave, wanting to be with you like this as long as possible. 

p.1

p.10

come home

[evansonlylove]

id share my power with you forever

-kai anderson x female reader

CW: Smut 18+, slapping, choking, toxic relationship, rough, p n v, abuse? body marking, jealousy. kai being kai. mentions of murder, gun. exhibition. . !!Loving kai!!

Summary: Kai had been getting closer to his members but you noticed one girl in particular. She always touched kai and flaunted herself in front of him for you to see until you finally had enough as he wasn’t stopping it. He shows you just how much he really loves you♥️(other woman is h/n)

“It’s time for a revolution, a revolution i want you all to be a part of. i’ll give you purpose” Kai said as he walked around the room, looking at all of us sitting down. He’d talked to you about the type of people he wanted, the power he wanted and such yet it surprised you every time he talked. “Real power is having people loyal enough to you that, if you ask them to, they will kill themselves. they will override their natural survival instinct in service for your needs and will.” He turns to a girl sitting infront and looks down at her, seeing her admiration as easy target. “I’ll give you.. give you all something to be a part of. someone to serve for the best”

It was all for a cause right? you shouldn’t be jealous, he’s just doing his job. You remembered when you were that girl, the innocent girl he longed for that opened his cold heart. But he loved you you just need to be secure in that, and you were until she did everything possible to have him. She wasn’t even threatened or cared to do it infront of you and it drove you crazy.

“Hey h/n I need to talk to you, meet me in my room when you’re done with that will you?” being the leaders girlfriend came the perk of the members listening to you as well, you were going to put an end to her one way or another. Finally she walks in, but of course wearing the shortest shorts known to man kind and skimpiest shirt. “Lock the door please and sit down” You pulled out a chair for her as you stayed standing up. “So I see what you keep doing, wearing these clothes infront of MY boyfriend. What are you looking to get?”

“What do you think? I obviously want him, i could easily take him for you” She said and looked up at you with teasing eyes and a laugh.

“Oh? you really think so?” Your hand goes up to her neck choking and pushing it back. “Id love to see you actually try, because all you’ve done is dress like a whore and it’s done nothing” Reaching into your back pocket you pull out a gun Kai had given you for protection and put it right up to her head. “But try it, try it and i’ll fucking kill you. After all I am Kai’s girlfriend, I know a thing or two” Suddenly you hear the door open, turning around you see Kai shirtless with his beautiful blue hair half up in a bun.

“What the fuck is happening here?” He questioned as he walked closer and sees who’s in the chair.

“Just telling this stupid whore she should stop trying to take you from me… or i’ll kill her” You whisper into her ear and feel kai’s hand around your waist making a smile appear on your lips.

“Pfft, her attempts have be pathetic but i’ll tell you something” He turns its body to you while you still have the gun pointed to her head “You can kill her, or I can show you how much I ONLY love you” His head leans down and in to kiss you.

“Get the fuck out of here, try again and i’ll kill you for real” You look at her and point to the door but kai has other plans.

“No no let her stay, let her see how much i love you. Make her watch what she’ll never have” He gave you a smirk before locking the door with a key this time. “And you sit the fuck down, don’t talk” Letting you go he leaned down to her face level. “All you ever were was a easy target to serve me, if you thought anything else than you really are a stupid whore” he practically spit his words at her.

You put your gun down on your drawer and got down on your knees infront of kai, his fingers ran through your hair as he looked down at you. “What a pretty girl you are” You really were the prettiest girl he had ever seen, always especially pretty when you looked up at him on your knees ready to serve him. Reaching your hands up you undo his jeans and bring them down, seeing his hard cock in his underwear you bit your lip and slowly jerked him off as he pulled them down. Holding his cock in your hands you slid it on your lips before kissing his tip and taking him into your mouth fully. “Fuck, you’d never be able to take this cock like her”.

You looked over at her as he ran his hands to the back of your head and fucked your mouth, the groans coming out of his mouth was the cherry on top, It felt like electricity through your body. Once he was close he pulled out of your mouth and pulled you up by the back of your head, he placed a kiss on your lips before turning you around and slapping your ass. Slowly he pulled your pants off along with your panties, you took your shirt off and threw it to the side. “Look at these fucking ass and tits, you think you can compete with my pretty little slut?” Her face ran red when he showed you off. “I asked you a question bitch” He walked over to her and slapped her across the face before she answered.

“No- no i can’t compete with her”

“That’s fucking right” he says before laying you down on the bed, kissing down your body and licking a stripe up your pussy. “This cunt is all I need” He lays a kiss on your clit and spits on your already wet pussy, suddenly he flips you on all fours and holds onto your hips as he pulls you onto his cock.

“Fuck, kai you feel so good” you moan out while he pounds your pussy from the back, reaching down he lifts your upper body towards him holding you up by your neck. He lays kisses on your neck still thrusting into you. You turn your head around leading into a passionate kiss between you two, his groans going into your lips making you throb around his cock.

“Show her how good you ride me” He whispers into your ear as he lays down. You straddle him in reverse cowgirl so you can look at her face while you do so, kai leads his cock to your entrance as you slide down. “Tell her how good this divine cock feels in you, show her it’s all yours”

Holding in your moans you look at her while still going up and down on him. “His divine fucking cock feels so good in my pussy, and it’s all fucking mine” Kai held onto your ass and gave you a slap showing how proud he was. His cock hit the perfect spot in you every time you went down.

“Don’t hold back your moans, show that bitch the pleasure i’ll never give her” And just like that you let go, moans coming out of your mouth and filling the room along with the sounds of your ass hitting his hips with each move you made. “Yeah just like that, so fucking hot for me” His hands holding onto your hips so hard you felt the bruises forming.

“Divine ruler I need to cum, im so close please” He lifted you off his cock and put you on your back

“Not just yet, you’re cumming with me” Sliding his cock back into your wet cunt. Your orgasm building up again with his hand cupping your breast as he leaned down kissing and sucking on your breasts leaving hickeys and marks all over you. Your head rolled back in pleasure feeling his hands all over your and his cock thrusting deep into you.

“God I love you and your cock my divine ruler” You moaned out before his hand reached your chin pulling your head to look at him.

“Yeah baby? look at me while I fuck you and this perfect wet little cunt” His hands squeezed your cheeks causing your mouth to open as he spit down your throat. You swallowed immediately looking into his eyes with a slutty smile on your face. “I fucking love you ” Your legs shook around him as your orgasm came close to you again, you felt his thrusts get harder as he groaned into your ear. “I’m gonna cum inside this cunt while that stupid bitch watches, you ready to cum with me my little lamb?”

“Fuck yes, give my cunt your seed my God” He held your hands at your side as he let out his final thrust pushing you over the edge screaming his name while you came all over his cock, milking his cum into your desperate pussy. It was all unreal, he gave you unreal pleasure. You leaned up and pulled him into a kiss while he was still inside of you he pulled you up to sit.

“Let’s go finish her off” He whispered into your ear as you stood up with him and walked towards her with his cum dripping down your pussy.

“Oh look at how flustered you look, you dumb bitch you’ll never have him, I hope you were able to learn that. I don’t want to have to lose a bullet on you.” You laughed and held kai’s hand.

“I wouldnt even pitty fuck you, keep that shit up and i’ll kill you myself” He pulls her hair back as she screeches in pain from his force. “What you just saw, that’s how I fuck the woman I love”

“Get out of my face and go do something useful with yourself” Right as she stood up you pulled her down on her knees, humiliating her once again. “Actually, thank him for letting you watch. He was being nice don’t you think?”

“yes, yes thank you divine ruler for letting me see how- how much you only love her” She stuttered out making a laugh come out of both of you.

“What a pathetic bitch. All you do here is obey me and y/n and that’s it, don’t walk around like a slut trying to get me to pitty fuck you. Seriously get out now.” She walks out leaving you and kai alone, picking you up with your legs around him he kisses you.

“You’re the only one I want, i’d share my power with you forever”.

You look at him with confusion, you he loved having power and even deep inside you “knew” you were only a special follower to him. “I thought today had shown you i want us to be two, in this together. I want you to be the divine queen to these people, alongside me”

“Of course i will kai, you won’t regret this. I know how much trust you’re putting in me and i’ll never get out of my place, you’re still the divine ruler, i don’t mind ruling these people beside you but never above you” You lean in and leave kisses down his neck, all of what you thought before was wrong. He was genuine, you were different to him and opened a different side of him.

“You know it was hot to see you take charge of someone in the group, And you were right. Being with me has taught you a few things, i bet you even got a rush out of putting her in her place.”. You felt your heartbeat get faster as these words came out of his mouth, slowly he laid you down and laid beside you as you thought about everything. Kai changed you, made you realize the deepest parts of yourself and being entirely true to who you really are and desire.

“I did, I feel like i’ve been chasing a high like that. The only other time i feel it is when you take control and ruin me while loving me” You turned your body over and cupped his face with your hand, you were never a religious person but seeing him made you question that maybe God was real and took form in him. “But i have been craving something more…”

“Tell me” His hands wrapped around your waist to pull you closer to him leaving your head on his chest. Before you answered you lifted your hand up to his rising and falling chest, his heartbeat not only gave him life but it did to you too.

“I’d kill for you and i know you’d kill for me. I’ve been in the group while you kill people with other members, I always see how your face changes as if something takes over you and you feel truly alive. I want that with you, I want that high with you.” His eyes almost lit up with your response, as if he has been waiting for this very moment.

“I knew you were fucking perfect for me” A almost sadistic smile spread on his face as he picked you up and placed you in his lap, immediately your lips crash together like they had many times before except this time there was a hunger for more and you knew you’d get that certain high soon enough. Everything felt as if it went into place, you knew how kai truly felt abiut you, you knew you weren’t just another member and you knew you had changed him somehow. Kai was still kai, but with love, love for you and only you forever.

part 2?

thank you all for reading, this was kinda quick and i’m thinking about writing a different version of this where they actually kill the other girl, or just a part two to this. not sure if you’ll like that so if you’re interested pls comment it lolll. all likes and reposts are so appreciated and make my day. i’m trying to grow my account and such but i’ve just started writing and i’m not sure what to do to grow it but thank you for your support ♥️- rain

[maxislvt]

Sink Your Teeth In

pairing(s): vampire!natasha romanoff x werewolf!reader

summary: Vampires and werewolves were known enemies, but Natasha is more than willing to change that. Even if it's just for one night.

warning: amab!reader, blowjobs, sub!reader, slight dubcon

a/n: ummm nat gives the best head case closed

Event Masterlist

Werewolves and vampires were always at odds with each other. Not a thousand years could go by without vampires attacking werewolves or werewolves attacking vampires. It was all the same bloodline ending bullshit. 'Your father killed mine and now I must kill you!' over and over again. Some of those fathers weren't even worth killing anyone over. It was truly a shame that no one could see how compatible the two factions were. Vampires were strict, organized people that valued loyalty above all else. Werewolves were nothing short of loyal and obedient, you just had to train them. Natasha was so close to finding the perfect werewolf for her to prove that. 

Natasha had tried many times to tame a werewolf, but she'd run into a number of problems. They could be taught, but not many of them were willing to learn— especially not from a vampire. As disappointing as it was, it wasn't exactly a shock. A millennium long feuds were rarely ever one sided. Her previous attempts were also foiled by pride, shame, and simply being too boring to have any real fun.

So, Natasha spent another Friday night on the prowl.

Club Sonar was a rather interesting place. A tall building in the middle of nowhere buzzing with all forms of life. Monsters from all over the globe came together under the moon just to party. It was a messy place. The music was loud, bodies grinded against each other without a care, and secrets of all kinds were shared over the strongest alcohol. Though cultures mixed, money did not. 

Each floor of the bar was more expensive than the last. The alcohol got smoother, the music got slower, and the floors actually got cleaned. Upper floors were for people who supported the cause but had no interest in getting dirty. Natasha had more than enough money to sit at the top floor, but that wasn't any fun. She'd never find what she was looking for if she stayed up there. 

Werewolves were just as wealthy as vampires, but they were rowdy. They liked to play rough and get dirty. Big fancy houses just didn't appeal to them as much. Fancy clubs appealed to them even less. Natasha wasn't looking to tame someone — not to say her hand couldn't be forced — she was looking for someone soft and easy to mold. 

You weren't the easiest to find. Despite your size, the people on the dancefloor had no trouble pushing you around. You kept your head down no matter where you went. Natasha could tell you weren't there on your own, which made it harder to take you home. Not too hard though.

"This really isn't your scene," she said when she took the bar stool next to you. It was hard to keep her eyes in the right place. Your shyness was adorable, but there was no denying what she was really feeling. 

You looked around to make sure she was actually talking to you.  Though you weren't opposed to the conversation, it was hard to believe such a pretty woman had approached you. "Um, no. My friends wanted to come here. I mean it's cool just…couldn't we have a library or something? There's no point in intermingling if you're too drunk to remember what you're kissing."

Natasha laughed and scooted closer to you. "I guess you're right, but there's no shame in being curious. Right?" She looked at the glass in front of you. "Oh, that just won't do." Before you could interject, she tapped the countertop twice and brought over the bartender. It was a quick exchange, you didn't even see Natasha pull out any cash. Despite your confusion, you didn't put up a fight. You were exactly what Natasha was looking for. 

Guilt filled your eyes when you looked down at the fresh cocktail in front of you. Was it more rude to let it go to waste or ask the bartender for a refund? "Oh, you really didn't have to do that." Your hands hesitantly wrapped around the glass before taking a sip of the alcohol. The burn hit you immediately, but you tried to play it off. You tensed up to hold in the coughing fit building up in your chest. "It's…great, thanks," you forced out through a tight chest. 

Natasha gave you a firm pat on the back to force you to cough. She took away the glass and slid this towards you. "I would expect a werewolf to have a stronger alcohol tolerance," she said teasingly. Her hand stayed on your back even after your coughing had subsided. 

You shook your head. "A lot of us have sensitive pallets. I can taste whatever crappy oak barrel they made this in." There was an unexpected comfort in the way she touched you. "I should have asked this earlier, but what's your name?" You sat up straight as her hand moved down your back. You never really paid attention to your posture, but you had the strange urge to be better around her. 

"My name's Natasha, but you can call me Nat if you want. What's yours?"

"My name is Y/N. I don't really have a nickname, but whatever you come up with is fine." 

The conversation continued without trouble. Natasha seemed so enamored with how strong your pallet was. At the expense of Natasha's wallet and your sobriety, you had tasted just about every drink the bar had to offer. Eventually, you settled on just drinking strawberry daiquiris while you two talked. 

Natasha pulled your seat closer to her and she leaned down to whisper in your ear. "So how many more of those little smoothies do I have to buy to take you home with me?" Her hand slid up your thigh and gave it a firm squeeze. She could feel your dick twitching already. "I promise I'll only bite where it feels good."

You practically jumped out of your skin when Natasha kissed your neck. It was quick, but you could feel the pointed tips of her fangs brush against your skin. "Um..Can I finish this one first?" Before Natasha could say anything else you pulled out your phone and texted your friends. 'Leaving with a hot lady, ttyl!' was all you sent before cutting off your phone and downing the last of your drink. 

Natasha adored your enthusiasm. "I promise I'll get you home safe in the morning." She kissed your neck one last time before dragging you outside to her car. It was a good thing she brought her chauffeur along because there was no way she'd be able to keep her hands off you the entire ride home. 

You stumbled behind Natasha as best you could. Vampires were usually weaker than werewolves, but you were a little too tipsy to show your strength. You let Wanda push you into the backseat of her car. One sniff of the air and you could tell someone else was in the car. "You have a chauffeur?" Natasha covered your mouth and pushed you further into the backseat. 

"Home," was all she told the driver before closing the partition and focusing her attention on you. "Yes, but I promise the back of the car is soundproof." It certainly wasn't, but she needed to hear how whiny you could get. Natasha practically pounced on you after she closed the door. The kiss was hot and passionate. Your fangs bumped against hers every time your lips collided. "Can you taste what I drank earlier?" She asked with a giggle. 

A whine escaped your lips when Natasha pulled away. "Um…a lot of vodka and cooper..?" Your answer earned you another kiss. Natasha's lips felt like heaven against yours. She overwhelmed all your senses in the most delicious way possible. You didn't even notice how hard you'd gotten. "You smell…really good." You mumbled in the handful of seconds between kisses. 

She chuckled but didn't respond. You were too cute. "I'm going to make you feel so good tonight." Natasha's kisses moved down the side of your jaw until she reached the base of your neck. Her hands wasted no time undoing your belt and tossing it on the car's floor. One of her fingers circled around the tip of the tent in your pants while she watched you squirm. "You're so sensitive."

You opened your mouth to speak only to be interrupted by a string of cursing and desperate whimpering. "Sorry, I'm just new to all of this," you confessed. It was a little hard to imagine your first time going to a bar would take such a turn. 

"Don't tell me someone as cute as you is still a virgin." Your silence was enough. It was as arousing as it was disappointing. Natasha didn't want to go slow by any means, but the thought of getting to corrupt that innocent little mind of yours was exhilarating. "I promise I'll be extra gentle with your little friend." 

The car parked before Natasha could pull down your boxers. Natasha's lust-driven craze left you in quite an awkward position while waiting for her to unlock the door. Holding your pants up only made your bulge stand out more and there was an obscene amount of lipstick covering your neck. You hoped Natasha wasn't secretly vampire famous or else you'd be in real trouble. 

Natasha pulled you into her home and wasted no time undressing you. Your shoes, shorts, sweater, and T-shirt littered the soft carpet. Natasha had you completely naked by the time she pushed you onto the bed. "You're making a mess already," she whispered seductively as she crawled onto the bed. Her eyes focused on the way your member throbbed and leaked precum. 

Your eyes followed Natasha's as she began stroking your member. It was tortuously slow, but it felt good. A near-pornographic moan fell from your lips as your head tilted back. "Your hands are so soft," you whimpered pathetically. All your willpower went into staying still. You didn't know what to do with yourself. "C-can I touch you too?" You blindly reached out and grabbed the first thing you could feel. Mindlessly, you groped the soft flesh in hopes that it would make Natasha feel good too. Your face burned bright red as she moved your hand to where her breast actually was. “Sorry…I wasn’t looking,” you mumbled. 

Natasha kissed up the underside of your cock before licking all the way down to the base. “A good pup would pay attention to someone making them feel this good.” She waited until you looked down at her. Once she was sure you wouldn’t look away, she swallowed you down to the base. Her cheeks hallowed out as she began sucking you off.

Your hips twitched and your eyelids fluttered, but you tried your best to keep your eyes open. As your orgasm got closer, you found it harder to control yourself. An animalistic growl ripped through your throat as you tried to control yourself. Your fangs forced themselves out of your mouth and your claws had nearly ripped Natasha’s sheets. “W-wait, slow down,” were the only words you could get out before it happened. 

Hot white cum painted the inside of Natasha’s throat as she swallowed down everything you gave her. Natasha didn’t give you a break and continued until you pushed her away. “Is that all you have left?” She blew on your bulbous tip before giving it a kiss.

“N-no, I just…I need a second. That’s all.”

[atydblack]

"demure"

best friends dad! james potter x reader

masterlist

requests are open!

MDNI

word count: 1.2k

warnings: age gap, smut, cheating, ovb everyone is of age!

i know this is starting off a bit similar to my show you series for sirius but its gonna go in a diff direction in the next parts &lt;3

i cant stop thinking about dilf james potter

You were struggling to sleep as your boyfriend, Ron, lay unconscious next to you snoring loudly. You had been staying at the Potters for the past few days as it was summer break and everyone seemed to circle between there and the Burrow for the past few weeks.

You'd expect Ron to be filled with glee at the fact you can share a bed at the Potters, where as at his family home they are made to sleep in separate beds. However, it seemed he couldn't be less bothered.

Desperation began to overtake you as despite your best efforts, he barely wanted to sleep with you. Of course you did, occasionally, but even then it didn't satisfy you.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, you crawled out of bed to grab a glass of water as it didn't seem like you were sleeping anytime soon. Standing to your feet, you caught yourself in the mirror. A short black lacy night dress clung to your hips causing you to cringe at yourself. An attempt to spice things up with Ron only to go unnoticed as he simply poked fun at your pyjama choice.

You quietly made your way to the bathroom to grab some water, not too worried about your choice in clothes as you doubted anyone would be up at this hour.

The only noise in the hallway was your bare-feet padding down the stairs. Once you reached the dim-lit kitchen, you realised you were not alone.

James Potter was resting against the kitchen counter with a glass of red wine in has hand, wearing only a white vest and his boxer shorts.

"Y/N." He smirked, it seemed like this wasn't his first drink.

"Mr Potter," You stumbled. "I was just grabbing a glass of water."

"Can't sleep?" He chuckled. "You don't want a real drink?"

Before letting you answer, he grabbed another glass from the cupboard and poured a hefty amount of red wine into it.

"Plus, it's James." He added, passing you the glass. As he did so, you felt his eyes wander down your body causing your cheeks to grow red.

"Thank you, James."

"Sit with me." He strolled over to the lounge, placing himself down on the sofa.

You wandered over towards him, sitting down on the sofa but as far away as possible. You had never been alone with him before.

"So what's got you up at this hour?"

"I- um, I'm not sure." You mumbled. You were unsure why you were so nervous, you had known James since you and Harry became friends, but you could feel like eyes on your body.

"Ron not help you get to sleep?"

You were speechless - he was clearly intoxicated but every word he spoke shocked you more and more.

"Oh come on." He took out a box of cigarettes and lit one. You knew he smoked but had witnessed how angry Lily gets when he lights one inside. "Pretty girl like you, surely he can't keep his hands off of you."

"Not quite." You chuckled, taking a big sip.

"What do you mean?" He pushed, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"I- You know what I mean." The wine was making you feel more relaxed.

"He doesn't satisfy you?"

There was a pause as you struggled with how to reply, this was such a strange situation and you didn't want to tell him everything that you had never even spoken about to your closest friends.

"Of course he does." You responded, but it came out a bit too defensive.

James laughed as your cheeks grew red again.

You didn't want anyone to know about your sex life - it was embarrassing. But now you'd somehow given it away to your best friends dad.

"You don't sound too convincing, darling." James smirked. "Has he made you cum?"

You looked at him, confused. Made you cum? Of course you'd made him cum time and time again but you didn't think it was possible the other way round.

"He hasn't?" James raised his eyebrows. "Fuck, he's wasting you."

"What do you mean?" You almost groaned, this whole conversation was both confusing and frustrating.

"I mean look at you." He put out his cigarette and took a big swig from his glass. "Such a sexy little princess and he can't even make you cum."

Heat grew between your legs as you locked eyes. You had never seen this side of James before, and although guilt was desperately trying to come to the forefront of your emotions, you pushed at back.

"Come here." He spread his legs and patted in between them.

You obliged, moving shakily towards him.

As you sat down in his lap, back facing his chest, goosebumps covered your skin as you made contact with him.

"Want me to show you how it's supposed to be, pretty girl?"

You nodded.

"Use your words."

"Yes, James." You almost choked.

He placed a soft kiss on the back of your neck causing you to stifle a soft moan.

James' hand travelled down to your thigh, using his thumb to brush circled edging closer and closer to you.

You wanted to scream, you had never felt this intense neediness before and you could feel yourself growing wetter and wetter.

"Tell me what you want." He whispered in your ear.

"You." You let out desperately.

"Tell me."

"I want you to make me cum." You moaned out.

At your demand, his fingers moved towards your lace panties, rubbing circles through them.

"Fuck, princess, you're already wet for me?"

You couldn't let out anything other than a moan. He continued to rub circles, his pace growing quicker and quicker. You were already close to your high and he hadn't even removed your underwear yet.

The combination of his wet kisses on your neck and his big hands circling your clit caused you to reach your high, legs shaking at the sheer ecstacy.

"You came already, baby?" James chuckled. "I haven't even started yet."

Before you had the chance to catch your breath, he ripped your underwear off of you and pushed a finger inside you.

You couldn't stop moaning, he were worried at the amount of noise you were making but that thought quickly passed once James gripped your throat, restricted both noise and your breathing.

Somehow this turned you on even more, worried you would cum for a second time in only a few minutes.

He pushed two more fingers inside you, fucking you with force at an unnatural pace.

"Your pussy is so tight, sweet girl." He groaned. "I wanna feel you cum around my fingers this time"

You couldn't believe how good he made you feel, giving you just the right amount of pleasure and pain as he continued to choke you.

Your head flew back, resting on his chest as you reached your high for a second time. Your pussy clenched around his fingers as you continued to moan.

Once you'd finished your climax, he pulled his fingers from you and brought them up to his mouth, sucking your cum from them.

Your brain was still hazy and you wanted him more than anything you'd ever wanted in your life.

Sliding off of him onto the floor in front, you turned to him. You tried to pull down his boxers but he gently grabbed your wrists.

"As much as I'd like to fuck you until we both can't walk, Y/N." James chuckled. "I fear we might wake my wife."

---

part two

there will be many parts to this !!! aiming to do part two tomorrow

let me know if you liked it and remember my requests are open :)

[theyluvlyss]

Can I request if you can Hcs of all the ghost boys + Finney being in love ? ( Feel free to not add Finney since you wrote something similar before )

Xoxo 💋

𝐨𝐟𝐜 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧😌...

it's what I'm here for🫡♡. I really like the idea of writing about them being in love/having a crush rather than being with reader right off the bat !! very cool and unique idea (imo), and it definitely harbors that little difference in feelings/slight nuances that I'm very happy to expand on !

although it took me a bit, I've actually gotten most of the boys done already, and that's around when I gained the bright idea to just ... instead of making you wait, I remembered there's this thing called free-will, and I can quite literally post whatever and whenever I want lol😆 ...

meaning I can just post each boy for you one at a time as I finish them instead of waiting until they're all done and then making one long post :D !

on that note, here's finney's hehe...

𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬

《 ♡ 》 headcannons

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 :

while it's always fun to imagine (haha, get it💀) what it'd be like for him to be your best friend or your boyfriend, there's times when you yearn for that tension. that something in between that's more than a platonic relationship, but just short of being a lover. and I'm here to revive that feeling of what it'd be like for finney blake to have a crush on you...

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 :

fem!reader x finney blake - she/her/hers pronouns!

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞 :

70s-80s - the grabber doesn't exist

𝐓𝐖/𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 :

cursing, as usual - small mentions of anxiety/nerves - finney being super cute lol - overall super duper fluffy and pretty much everything the prompt describes lmao.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

I know you said I didn't have to do him since I already have, but *adds that mf in anyway because he deserves round two of some lovins😆🫧💙🪩*.

Finney liking somebody/finding someone attractive is usually a dead-end deal. He keeps it to himself - buried deep down within the depths of his gentle soul, never to breach the light of day, because he knows good and well that even if it did arise, all it would lead to is rejection and - if he's extra unlucky - a teasing+beat-down combo attack from some known bullies of his (should they find out or be witness to these nonexistent attempts of confession).

A little depressing, I know, but bffr ... if you were Finney, would you do anything different🤨?

Althoughhhh....

Him having a crush on you, specifically, is very,,, confusing. Think of when you have a crush in real life, but you actually have a little bit more of a chance with them than usual. It's realistic. There's a sliver of hope. A light down in the depths of that depressing darkness.

It's like that.

And dare I say, he's fairly obvious about his liking towards you, but only if you're paying close attention.

If you're in a totally different clique, especially a popular one, just kind of in your own little bubble (which might as well be a whole new world to him), then the chances of you noticing/realizing his infatuation with you is very slim. Even in Finney's own case, he'd view you way out of his league, no chance whatsoever, so don't expect him to make any moves of any kind.

And on top of that (as I mentioned first thing), he'd do his damn best to not let ANYONE find out, ESPECIALLY Robin, Gwen, or Bruce, because the last thing he wants is for them to get overconfident on his behalf and try to set y'all up. What if you reject him?

Or worse, what if you end up liking Robin or Bruce instead of him? He wouldn't be able to take it. And lord knows he keeps his crush hidden from his bullies for highly good reasons. An even worse scenario in his mind than the last one is if they publicly teased him (or the both of you) about it, made a mockery of his feelings for you to witness and either join in or pity him - neither an outcome his ego and self-esteem were built to handle.

Now, the opposite - actually knowing him and/or being his friend - the case would probably still remain the same with only slight differences. He'd still find you out of his league, probably wouldn't make any bold moves. But, being his friend, closer to you, a little more comfortable around you, there may be times where he'd make the SLIGHTEST of nods to MAYBE, POSSIBLY liking you in a romantic fashion. JUST A LITTLE BIT.

BUT, he'd also be so worried and absorbed in his own head about all the different little things - am I impressing her? am I making her uncomfy? Does she already know? Does she not know and thinks I'm weird? Did she already think I was weird before I did that thing? Did she even catch onto that thing I did? Is she ignoring it? Is she ignoring me? Oh my god, she fucking hates me - that he lowkey wouldn't even consider the fact that you've been making more obvious moves on him this whole time.

He would probably end up liking you because of something you said or did. Like, depending on the situation, you said/did something that really resonated with him, or he found himself thinking about a lot. Which would then lead to him thinking about you a lot, and it's a spiral from there. Or, if already friends, it's probably something you did/said that had him now seeing you a new/different light, which, again, spirals from there.

Should anyone that's not you uncover the feelings he harbors, he's so the type to deny it. Gwen could be studying your behavior and body language up and down, and then report back to Finney with WRITTEN, PICTURE, PHYSICAL FUCKING EVIDENCE of you liking him/reciprocating the crush, and Finney would just be like, "...Nahhhh, you're just delusional, she wouldn't even notice if I disappeared the next day." And Gwen would just be like, "This bitch here😐..."

Either way tho, what I meant way earlier by "confusing" is that his version of (just barely) letting you know he likes you romantically is him just being,,, himself/friendly but a little bit more than usual LMFAO. Like, if y'all are friends and he always walked you to and from school, what he would do to further insinuate that he 💙likes💙 you is to just,,, walk you everywhere else🥴💀. Essentially be your moral support wherever you go lmfao.

Or like, besides doing stuff he really doesn't need to do that confuses you, he'd do things that kinda give the OPPOSITE of, "I'm literally in love with you." Avoid/not talk to you, avoid eye contact, stuff that just leaves you like, "...I don't think he wants to be my friend anymore🥲💔." LIKE BOY-!😭

But it's not intentional. It's just his nerves and doubts getting the better of him, y'know? Overthinkin, which leads to overreacting, etcetc., you know how it goes/what that's like lol.

So yeah, basic point, if the feelings aren't already made VERY CLEAR from the jump, don't expect things to get any clearer😻.

BUT, if after a while should he either gain a little more confidence (prolly from Robin) or you grow a pair and make the first bold move yourself (which would confirm it for him to be more comfy getting bolder himself as well), I feel like he'd still remain a little shy and mildly confusing, but very berry cute nonetheless.

I'm telling you, he'd put those crafting skills to work, hon👏🏽!! Just any chance he gets/has to either make you something or just impress you with something he's made, he's putting 1000% percent into it. I'm talking he's going broke, losing sleep, practicing what he's gonna say and how he says it - it's all going into whatever little (or big??) craft he knows you're going to see/he's gifting to you.

He'd also compliment you a lot, along with being more himself, which HELLO, he's so silly when he wants to be. I feel like he'd have you laughing a lot without exactly meaning/trying to, but HE'D FS CHERISH THAT like,,, every time he'd make you laugh, he'd just feel like he was on cloud nine - 'I made her laugh, I did that, me, she thinks I'm funny, she likes me, she's literally in love with me like I am her, otherwise she wouldn't be laughing so hard-'

...😃...Yeah, he takes what he can get and RUNS with it (which is why I think he'd love and is in need of lots of reassuring, plz take care of my baby😭🙏🏽).

On the topic of such, actually, it's kinda funny because it doesn't really affect his envy levels.

I don't think he'd get all that jealous if he saw you with other ppl; it would just be the thing of like,,, "That's what I get for getting my hopes up."/"It could be worse ngl." lmao which is sad on one hand but kind of mature on the other, yk?

Mature that'd he'd just leave it alone, not be pushy. But sad because wdym you think you're not worthy of some love/what you want out of life :( ? Luckily for him, though, I don't think he's able to hide disappointment/sadness very well.

Not that he's going around telling people, but he's just one of those "face/tone of voice says it all" kind of guys. So, depending on your thought process and if you can put two and two together, you're quick to squash any doubts of you being interested in someone else romantically.

"I'm not really into *state another persons features lol idk*. Not my type of guy..." which may or may not be you trying to guide him into asking your type, and he may or may not take the bait🤭.

No, but seriously, he literally may or may not catch on. There's definitely been a few times where he's missed the social cue, and on the inside, you're just like "😔🙄..."

He gets SUPPPPER flattered if/when you get jealous, tho. Like, I'd imagine it's a pretty rare occurrence (surprisingly to you, don't nobody be hitting on Finney Blake, okay💀✋🏽), but when it does happen, you're very quick to make it known you're hardcore crushing and liked him first, even going as far as to make it appear as if he's already taken.

You're hanging off of his arm more than usual or playing with his hand to keep him from fidgeting, you're staring at him with such a strong look of love-sickness in your eyes that might even cause the other girl to throw up, and should she even get as far as asking him out...? Oh boy...

"Actually, Finn, we were gonna hang out today, weren't we? I wanted to help you paint that rocket you're working on, I have the perfect colors in mind already...!"

"You...You do?"

"Yes, I do😃😐."

And the other girl just has to be like, "...I'll um,,,, Nevermind, Finney, I'll see you around."

"Maybe...!" You'll call after her cheekily, smile growing wider and wider as she trails away with Finney yet to even process the entire interaction at all. And while he might not catch on right away, the second he does, he's BEET red💀😭.

He doesn't know whether to admit he's smitten by your hostility or to let you know you don't have to be😭✋🏽. And more often than not, he'll opt for saying nothing at all, smiling to himself all shy while you're back to normal, talking as if you hadn't thwarted off a foe.

Confessing... That's not fucking happening, ever at all💀. And if he did, it would be on his death bed (I'm joking). But srsly, if he can avoid it for as long as possible, he will. The type to tell you on the last day of school, I'm talking GRADUATION DAY, right as one of y'all are leaving FOREVER, on some "I've always liked you..." type shit, and you would just have to be like, "WHYDIDYOUWAITSOLONGWHATTHEFUCK😭💔💔‼️‼️" Which is why I think it'd truly be up to you to confess (hopefully) way sooner😭💀✋🏽.

And if/when you did, he'd probably forget how to,,, exist lmao. Like, one of those moments where the information has to process in his head so he's just standing there looking at you like, "🧍🏻‍♂️:0" for a second before he's like, "o-OH!...I...I like you, too! And I have for- I mean... Like, it's been long. A long time. I've liked you a long time :D."

YOU KNOW WHAT?? If he felt he, himself, absolutely had to confess, he'd write you something. He's not Shakespeare or anything, but it would be much easier and less nerve-wracking for him to just write it all down. He'd hand it to you in person, apologize for the length of the letter that YOU HAVEN'T EVEN OPENED YET😭, and then practically teleport from the scene because he doesn't even wanna stay for your reaction. The fear of rejection is genuinely too much for him.

He'd be better off never hearing from you again if you didn't like him back rather than have you tell him to his face. ALSO, he'd give it to you in private. Wouldn't want to put you or himself on the spot, nor would he want to risk somebody catching him or you with the paper that has him pouring his heart out to you on it.

But, of course (because why else would you be reading this if you weren't expecting The Good Ending™), you're confused while opening and reading it until those feelings gradually begin to swell into a mixture of flatter, adoration, and just flat out love because not only had he FINALLY confessed to you...

But you had found it to be written quite beautifully, and it was overall the cutest thing that had ever happened to you, so now you have to return the favor - scribbling your response in some colorful pen color on the back of his own confession note, doodled with hearts and squiggly lines and all of that nonsense, leaving it in his locker - and letting the events take off from there.

Letting the relationship blossom from there🫧🥹🪩💙✨️.

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 !!

ik I say this literally every time I post something, but I really loved writing this, and it's because I LOVE WRITING; I love doing this shit, idcidc✋🏽😭✋🏽. if I could make a living off of this, I would, and I love seeing your guys' requests every day and reading through them over and over again.

and guys, let me tell ya', there isn't a better feeling in the world than completing and posting one, because whew...!! it's like having an endless supply of inspiration fr, I love it.

anyways, robin's will be posted soon after this one, so be on the lookout🫡😼 !!

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 :

@in3rci4

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 :

2,103 words

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 :

none :(

[creepsterdreams]

“Til Death Do Us Part” Leander x MC

Leander x gn!MC

Summary: During a heated argument with Leander regarding his increasing over possessiveness that results in you walking out, he decides to make a last-minute decision that he knows for sure will make you stay. 

Warnings: slight manipulation, Leander being Leander, peer pressure by a crowd of people, forced engagement?, arguing, could count as dark content 

Word count: 1.4k

Author’s note: This one is a bit short 

“Come on sweetheart, let's act like adults and talk this out.” You hear Leander repeat for the hundredth time since the entire conflict has started, you barely even remember what you two were fighting about by this point.

“I have nothing to say to you Leander.” You say firmly while grabbing your bag that was sitting against the wall right next to the door “All you’ve been doing is mindlessly preaching to me about the dangers of Eridia and how you're the one that can help me. When all you’ve done is try and isolate me from the others! You don’t want to help me, you want to own me!” 

Leander stares back at you with a conflicted expression, obviously trying to choose his next words carefully. “I’m not isolating you. I’m trying to keep you safe.” 

“And your definition of keeping me safe is hovering over me all the time like some damn overbearing mother? What’s next you're going to lock me in here?” You continue on as you keep rushing to grab everything you reach, the last thing being the cloak that was gifted to you by Mhin a few weeks ago. 

After securing the cloak around your neck, you quickly yank the door open, hurrying down the hallway and the flight of stairs, making your way towards the loud masses of the wet wick, most of them being bloodhounds.

You can hear the sound of Leander’s boots quickly trailing behind you, with the desperate yell of “where are you going?” coming from him, doing his best to keep up with the fast pace. But by the time he managed to catch up, you were already walking down the busy streets of Lowtown. 

You did your best to ignore him, keeping a steady pace along the stone roads. And although a small part of you felt bad for walking away from him, the feeling of being sheltered like a caged bird was truly too much to handle. 

But before you could even consider where you could even go after storming out, Ais honestly being one of your better options, a rough hand takes hold of your wrist. 

“Please….come on….don’t leave me like this.” Leander’s voice behind you pleads, you almost felt bad for him.

“....It’s for the best. I can’t continue being coddled by you any longer, I’m sorry Leander, I love you, but you left me with no choice.” Your voice slightly quivers as you speak, your lips trembling as you do your best to hold back any tears. No other choice.

But as you twist your wrist in an attempt to free yourself from his hold, sudden gasps from the massive crowd of people catches your attention. But before you could even question it, the feeling of Leander’s arm getting lower paints the picture for you. 

“You do have a choice.” 

No.

“Honestly I was planning on holding this off for a while but…now just seems like a better time.”

No…

“MC, I know we haven’t been..together as long as I would’ve wanted. And our relationship has been a little rocky but that doesn’t change the way I feel for you at all.”

He can’t be serious…

“I’ve loved you since the day I set my eyes on you, and that’s also been how long I’ve known…that I wanted to be by your side forever. So with that, MC…will you do me the honors..”

As you whip your head around you are greeted with the very sight you had prayed to whatever god that existed that what was happening wasn’t real. Leander was currently crouched on one knee while still having a tight hold on your wrist, while in his free hand held a small silver ring, with an emerald resting on top.

The crowd around you continues to stare in awe, with some fawning over his public profession of love, and others scowling in jealousy as they watch one of the most sought out men in Eridia get on one knee. While you could only stare in what you assumed is fear and utter shock. 

“...Of marrying me?” The words come out in a tone that sounds almost too sweet. As if it was blatantly obvious that he was putting all of this on for show, but the crowd wasn’t aware of that, they never would be aware of what monster lies behind that heroic attitude. 

 You couldn’t even speak, every word that wanted to leave your throat coming out in a heavy breath, while to you it might seem like you're currently riddled with pure terror, to other’s it just seemed like surprise caused by your bold lover. That’s probably why as you were still caught in a fear induced trance, the crowd around you began cheering and whistling. 

“Say yes!” You hear from somewhere in the back of the suffocating mob. 

Somehow that alone managed to trigger a multitude of people all damn near screaming at you to say yes, in all honestly it would’ve made you question, was it you getting proposed too or them?

But in the midst of the yelling, you continued staring down at Leander, still being completely silent and hoping that this was all just a nightmare that you will wake up from soon.

“Well…what do you say MC?” You hear Leander asked in an almost taunting voice. You had a feeling that even if he was asking you for an answer, you weren’t going to like what would happen if you even muttered anything along the lines of “no”. And looking back at his face, although his smile was soft and loving, his eyes held a darker intention, as if he was daring you to reject him.

Fighting against every thought in your body that was screaming at you to run, you fix your poster and stare the man down. Although he was pretty much forcing you into a bad spot, he was right about one thing. 

You did have another choice. A choice to stay by his side forever.

With as much courage as you can muster, you take a deep breath before looking Leander in the eye. A small, fake smile plastering your face as you say with quickness..

“Yes”

Leander’s expression shifts fast, going from a mocking grin to a satisfied smile, he had gotten what he wanted yet again.

Quickly slipping the ring onto your bandaged ring finger, he leaps up, trapping you in his arms and landing a deep kiss on your lips. But this wasn’t a kiss out of love, or passion, it was out of possession and control. 

Pulling away, Leander wraps his arm around your shoulder, before turning to the crowd and lifting his arm up, as if he had won a prized trophy.

“They said yes!” 

The horde of people erupt into loud cheers and shouts, some yelling congratulations and others just simply yelling in joy for the two of you. Leander standing at the center of it all doing his own cheers of self proclaimed victory. But as he turns down the yelling, he turns towards you again, a soft smile grazing his lips. 

He lifts his other hand to gently cup your face, pulling you close into yet another kiss, but this time, it was soft, it made you believe that everything was okay for the moment.

But as you were still caught up in trying your best to revel in the gentleness of the short time, Leander’s hand that was resting on your face dips down a little, allowing his fingers to settle against your neck, but before you can ask what he was doing, a soft squeeze on your throat catches your words, rendering you speechless once again. 

Looking up at him, the same daring look in his eyes has returned again, but there was no smile, just a blank stare where that usual welcoming expression should’ve been. 

As the roaring of the crowd began to quiet down again, returning back to its usual chatter as people started walking down the busy streets again, Leander wraps his hand around your own, all but gently pulling you back towards the wet wick. As your eyes catch sight of the bar’s massive sign once again, the feeling of calmness and familiarity that was once there was gone, now replaced with a feeling of terror and dread.

There was truly no escaping him. 

Author’s note: Leander is lucky his tiddies are enough to distract us from his red flags 

[sonotpattismith]

lord knows it would be the first time | just say when (chapter six)

chapter five.

playlist | masterlist

song inspo for chapter: please please please let me get what I want by the smiths

chapter specific warnings: mentions of depression, hopelessness/worthlessness, suggestive content

warnings: this story contains explicit mentions of depression and suicide. if these are topic that are triggering for you, please refrain from reading. I will be putting a warning on the chapters that may be particularly triggering. please enjoy otherwise xo <3

The situation was looking grave. Well, they’d certainly seen worse in terms of mission prognoses, but the real problem, aside from the curse that had outsmarted Megumi and Nobara one too many times, was this thing was making him start to sweat about making it to Zumi on time that night. Of course, he knew they’d make it out alive, but fuck, this thing was wasting his time. He had known it would be cutting it short when he and Kugisaki were sent on a last minute mission just an hour outside of Tokyo, but he quickly assured Gojo, who offered to ask Nanami to come stay with Zumi that night instead, that they’d have everything taken care of in time. 

That was five hours and three curses ago though, and the duo was now staring down the final curse that had been haunting this chilling funeral home for the past few weeks. Multiple morticians and directors had been claiming that the corpses had been… whispering to them during their late hours. Little did they know, it wasn’t the corpses that had suddenly gained consciousness, but instead the curses that had manifested in the wake of the mourning family member’s of said corpses. 

The first couple had manifested together, being the weaker of the bunch. They weeped mockingly at the pair, likely imitating the loved ones that had created them. Megumi hadn’t even had the chance to summon any of his shikigami before Nobara sliced evenly through the trio of monsters. She landed on her knees with a thud, groaning softly at the impact. The boy, after confirming they had truly been finished off, sped over to help her up, to which she brushed him off with a claim that this was mere child’s play. 

And to that effect, she was right, because what came after definitely made up for the previous lack of challenge. It was located in the morgue. As soon as they’d kicked the door open, it grotesquely squeezed its way out of one of the freezers. Its face, what could be made out from it at least, was painted stark white, dramatic blush littered its supposed cheeks. It was mimicking the makeup a mortician would typically apply to a corpse to make it appear presentable for it’s funeral, but seeing it so unnaturally on the uncanny face of this curse was almost nauseating. 

Above all else, it reeked. The stench had gotten so putrid once its full form had exited the freezer that the pair had a hard time keeping their lunches down. 

 “God— I can barely concentrate with that smell!” Nobara shrieked as they caught their breaths, backs pressed against a wall and invisible to the curse. Truth be told, they were both exhausted already. The creature was relentless— the mocking cries of the previous curses was only amplified in this one. It rang in their ears, pulsating in their ear drums until they were forced to clamp their hands over them in an attempt to stop the ambush. 

Despite the upturned gravity of the situation, Megumi’s shaky hand slid his phone from his pocket to check the time, a drop of blood falling from the cut on his brow bone and splattering across his screen. 

“Shit.” He cursed as he slid his phone back into his pocket and stood up, squaring his shoulders. It was getting late, and he knew it would be a drive to get back to Tokyo as well. This needed to end now. He looked down at the red head who was already stumbling back up to her feet. Nodding toward her, he formulated a plan while keeping a careful eye on the curse that was inching closer and closer toward them. “Kugisaki, if I distract it while Demon Dog gets a piece of it, can you take care of it?”

By take care of it, she knew he meant her resonance. She nodded affirmatively, and he was already summoning his dog. Kneeling down to place a hand on his head, Megumi instructed it to tear a piece off for me, and he ran ahead of the animal who was growling viciously behind him at the grotesque curse. 

With the running start, he hopped on the sturdy, tall enough trash bin leaned against the wall before expertly flipping mid-air, landing a forceful kick against the curse’s oddly painted cheek. Of course, he didn’t expect the kick to do much other than distract it from the animal that was stealthily charging at it. So, it was expected when the thing grappled at his abdomen as if he was a mere rag doll and screeched its cursed wallow into his face. 

Between the aggressive tightening against his ribs, the stench that was now unbearable with such proximity, and the hot blood that began to drip slowly from his ears, Megumi felt as though all his senses were ablaze— violated. This was all part of the strategy though, so he couldn’t fight it off just yet. He’d allow the thing to keep its focus on him until Demon Dog retrieved what he was called for. Maybe it wasn’t the safest option he could have chosen to fight this thing, but Nobara’s resonance would certainly be the quickest way. That’s all he needed— to get out of here on time.

Through the undeniable pain ringing in his weeping ear drums, he thought he heard Nobara call out to him. The boy was too focused on not retching as bits of spit and what he presumed to be flesh hurled from the curse’s mouth and onto him. A growl sounded below him, and on cue, there was a grotesque squelching as Demon Dog tore off a chunk of— finger? Toe? Okay, an appendage off the thing. 

It dropped Megumi in an instant, the impact on the concrete floor pushing up the bile he had been holding in. Rolling over, he spilled the contents of his stomach at the creature’s now mangled feet. There was no time to waste gagging as his body was instinctually doing to rid itself of the rest of its waste. In one, quick and dizzying motion, he staggered up to his feet and retrieved the grimy body part from his dog’s awaiting mouth. With a quick hand to his now matted fur, he released the dog just before the curse could get its hands on him. 

“Kugisaki!” Megumi hollered, prompting the girl to slide out from her spot behind the wall, her hand already outstretched for the item the mangled boy was hurling her way. He wasn’t able to see if she caught it or not, because the peculiarly large hand that had been attempting to come down on his dog landed on him instead. The air whipped through his raven locks as his body was flung across the hall, and his back slammed forcefully against the unforgiving concrete wall. His head lolled to the side in a daze as he watched the curse bludgeon toward him once again. He had to move, he had to get up. The pain shooting through his ribs and back wouldn’t allow for any such movement though. 

Hazily, his hands came up to summon his rabbits— anything that would distract the damn thing until the air came back to his lungs and he could help Kugisaki. 

Please, he thought to himself— to any higher being that would listen— please just let me get out in time. For a moment, he thought about the unfairness of fate, how it had a way of ripping each moment of ease and tranquility from his grip mercilessly. He thought about how he’d never been selfish in his life, never asking for a thing that wasn’t for the betterment of someone else. God, please, just give me this one thing. His fingers trembled against one another. Let me make it to her, please. 

Before he could complete the motion, the red head’s piercing voice sliced through the moaning and squelching of the beast.

“Resonance!” 

The injured boy barely had enough time to shield his eyes from the pieces of flesh— if you could even call it that— that flew toward him, splattering the walls and floor around him. The pain in his abdomen radiated with each harsh rise and fall of his chest. The shrieking had ceased, and he allowed his hands to fall limply to his sides. 

“Is it gone?” Megumi called out hazily, slipping a bit as he rose up weakly to his feet. Kugisaki was hunched over with her hands on her knees, dry heaving due to the stench of the damned thing now spread across the entire hallway. 

“Jesus, it’s gonna take like twenty rinse and repeats to get that stench out of my hair.” She groaned indignantly before making her way over to the wavering boy. 

He could recall her telling him how busted up he appeared. Ijichi, who had been awaiting them outside the facility, anxiously called Shoko upon seeing the state of the boy stumbling out of the building. The ticking time on the car’s display taunted him as he stared at it with bleary eyes the entire drive back to the school. At one point, he even gritted out a demand for Ijichi to speed it up a little, but the supervisor assumed his pain was getting the best of him. 

Shoko was in the middle of placing a final stitch on the deep cut that had been made on his eyebrow. 

“Sit still, Fushiguro,” the healer muttered in frustration. His bouncing leg was making it increasingly difficult for her to do her job. She had already done what she could with the injury to his ribs, which were thankfully not fractured, but thoroughly bruised. “You’re almost done.”

As soon as her needle equipped fingers left his face, he was hopping off of the table to grab his discarded top. Urgent hands on his shoulder halted his movements. 

“Slow down!” Shoko scolded, softly dragging him back to place the small bandage over his fresh stitches. “You can’t run around like that so fast. They're not broken, but your ribs still need a chance to rest. And so do you. The painkillers haven’t kicked in yet either.”

“I have somewhere to be.” Megumi explained dryly, scowling irritably as she lifted his dirty shirt once again to inspect the bruising skin. The woman glanced knowingly up at him. She was the only other person, other than Nanami (who refused to partake in the gossip Gojo so desperately wanted to spill) that knew about Zumi. So, naturally, she had already received an earful from the man about the ‘blinding waves of young love’ that has been supposedly budding between the two. 

“I’m sure she’d prefer you in one piece as well.” She muttered under her breath before slipping the soiled, latex gloves from her hands. 

Now, Megumi knew his eardrums had taken more than a bit of a beating that night, but he was sure he heard exactly what she’d just uttered. His dark eyes shot up to her in shock, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. How did Shoko know about Zumi as well? He thought it had just been him and Nanami. At least in the case of the blond sorcerer, there was a reason for his knowledge of the secret girl. Why did Shoko know? 

Pretending to busy herself with cleaning up the aftermath of his care, she quipped casually over her shoulder. 

“I thought you had somewhere to be, Fushiguro.”

The pain searing into his abdomen went ignored as Megumi raced to his dorm to scrub the remnants of the curse off of himself and change into clean clothes. He didn’t bother to dry his sopping hair before flying out the door. A soft groan slipped past his lips as he collapsed against the unforgiving seat of the train. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, and he wasn’t racing against the clock, the events of the night slammed him like a truck. Exhausted— he was exhausted, but he was almost there. 

Amidst his almost nap with his head leaned back against the hard seat, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He peaked one eye open to read the message before him. 

Gojo: hey kid, I’m gonna call Nanami to come. I heard you got your ass beat. Send pics! 🥳🥳🥳

His tired eyes widened at the message, and he quickly sat up to type up a quick, desperate response. 

         Megumi: I’m already on the way. 

         When he didn’t get a response, he sent another message. 

          Megumi: I’m five minutes away. I feel fine.

Maybe his ETA was a bit of an exaggeration, but he’d be damned if he had endured this hellish night for nothing. It ended up being twelve minutes later that Megumi finally made it to Gojo’s door, attempting to knock as firmly as he could on the door. 

“Woah,” The white haired man whistled as he glanced over the state of the boy before him. Though he was clearly trying to appear nonchalant, the slight hunch in his usually pristine posture, redness in his tired eyes, and rapid panting in his chest were all telltale signs that Megumi Fushiguro had seen better days. “Did it at least buy you dinner first?”

The boy huffed indignantly before pushing past his sensei. His eyes squinted shut as the impact of Gojo’s shoulder radiated down his chest and into his injured ribs. He fixed his face quickly, looking around the seemingly empty apartment. The door shut with a click behind him. 

“Did you see Shoko?” The blindfolded man questioned, though he already knew the answer. The woman had texted him about the boy’s state just twenty minutes prior. 

“Yeah. Like I said, I’m fine.” Megumi stated dryly as he turned back to look at Gojo. “Where’s Zumi?” The girl was usually waiting for him in the living room when he arrived, or at the very least she would bound out from her room upon hearing his arrival. 

The small smirk on Gojo’s face seemed to go unnoticed by the distracted boy. “She already fell asleep.” He informed. A very, very small part of him felt bad that his little prodigy rushed all the way over here in such a state, only to have not made it in time to see the object of his attraction. A much larger part of him though couldn’t have found the situation more amusing. He could swear he saw Megumi deflate just a hair. “Which you should probably be doing too. Take my bed if you want.” 

Fushiguro, dejected in every sense of the word, sighed with furrowed brows as he slumped down on the couch. He shook his head. 

“I’m fine.” He claimed for the third time that night. 

“Suit yourself.” Gojo shrugged, picking up his bag from beside the door. His covered eyes lingered on the shadow user for a tad longer than they normally would, as if assessing if he was really okay enough for him to leave. A small smile graced his lips. His pride would take him out before any injury could. “My room is open.” 

The reminder fell on deaf ears, because the boy was already slumped against the couch, his eyes drifting shut against his will. The soft click of the door stirred him. He looked around abruptly before settling against the plush cushions once again. His gaze drifted to Zumi’s bedroom door dejectedly. Would she wake up before Gojo got back? Would it be selfish of him to knock on her door, or inconspicuously knock something over out here so she’d wake up? He grumbled at his own selfish thoughts and instead opted to lay down across the heavenly soft sofa, a moan of relief slipping past his lips that he blamed on whatever medication Shoko had given him, he allowed himself to succumb to his exhaustion. 

It was dark outside when Zumi woke from her impromptu nap. The moonlight against her window settled across her room like a blanket, enveloping her in tranquility. The book, which she had been desperately rushing to finish before Megumi arrived, lay forgotten beside her with only a chapter or two remaining. With the recollection of her expected visitor, she sat up frantically in bed and scrambled for her phone. It was tangled within the sheets and fell to her carpeted floor with a soft thud at her frantic movements. Hopping down from the solace of her warm bed, she snatched the device up and checked the time. 

        2:38 AM

“What?” She muttered breathlessly, running a hand through her messy hair. With a haphazard glance in her mirror, she attempted to adjust the tank top across her frame so it didn’t appear so skimpy. After a minute of this, she opted to throw a crewneck on instead. Her fingers, which were still tingling with the remnants of sleep, rubbed aggressively at her tired, puffy eyes. 

Zumi grumbled a quiet fuck this before grabbing her discarded book (she was fully prepared to berate him for his depressing choice in literature again) and swinging the door of her room open, ignoring the onslaught of nerves that filled her at the thought of what was awaiting behind it. A soft sigh fell from her lips at the sight before her. 

The very boy she had been anticipating seeing all week had shown up after all, sprawled carelessly across the large sofa. Despite his clearly unconscious state, his brows were still set in their almost permanent furrow, as if perpetually displeased by the world. One arm hung loosely off the side of the couch, the other placed softly against his chest. The awkward position his neck was in was giving her a cramp just looking at it. Sparing one last glance at him, she placed the book silently against the arm of the couch before she retreated to her room to retrieve a pillow. 

Now as she stood, hovering over his comatose figure on the couch with a plush pillow clutched in her hands, she was unsure of her next move. If he woke up to her ministrations, would he be weirded out that she had placed her hands on him so casually in his sleep? Not wanting him to continue the remainder of his night sleep in such discomfort, she bit the bullet and kneeled down beside the couch. Her breath hitched as she carefully slid her finger under his head to angle it up and slide the pillow under. The soft, still damp locked of his raven hair felt like silk under the pads of her fingers, and she had to resist the urge to drag the digits down the nape of his neck. The pounding of her heart could be felt in her throat as she gently placed his head back down against the pillow. 

With bated breath, she watched as the furrow of his brow softened just a hair, and he sighed almost silently. A fond smile spread across her lips at the sight. Looking around the living room, she grabbed a fluffy, cream colored blanket from atop the ottoman and draped it across his sleeping form. As she assessed her handiwork, she noticed the new bandage that graced his brow bone. There was a small, barely noticeable patch of blood beginning to seep through it. She instinctively leaned forward to brush her fingers against it. Megumi hissed softly in his sleep, causing her to retract her hand quickly as if she’d just placed it into a blazing fire. That aggressive furrow was smacked right back onto his face, and he attempted to turn over on the couch. A sharp, guttural groan left him at this movement. 

“Megumi?” Zumi called out, now concerned as his forehead broke out into a cold sweat. His hand subconsciously clutched at his abdomen, and, without much thought, she peeled the freshly placed blanket back and lifted both the hoodie and tshirt that he had layered on. A sharp gasp shook her as her eyes fell upon the large expanse of blue-black, bruising skin that traversed up the right side of his ribs and across his back. The moment her frigid hand met the skin left hot by the bruise, he shot up like a corpse in a shitty, 80s zombie movie. 

Zumi shrieked as his hand shot out to clutch her wrist anxiously. He yanked her down in time with his tired eyes batting frantically open. Upon seeing the familiar, long white locks cascading around him and the timid, wide blue eyes, Megumi’s fight or flight slowly deactivated. Holding herself up with a hand on his chest to prevent her from embarrassingly falling straight on him, she stared incredulously down at him. His breathing was still evening out from the scare, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a tight swallow.

“Zumi,” he murmured in an almost drunken haze, his navy eyes scanning her startled expression. Having been ripped out of REM sleep so abruptly, he barely had time to gather his thoughts. All he knew was that the girl he had been waiting all week to speak to was right before him, moonlight casting an ethereal glow over her soft features. There was only one thing he had rehearsed to say to her when he saw her again, so it spilled from his lips in spite of the ridiculous circumstances they were currently under. “Did— Did you like the book?” 

“You fucking idiot, what happened to you?” She angrily whispered, moving to push his shirt further up his chest to get a better look. He wanted to swat her hands away, tell her he was fine as he’d been repeating all night, but as her delicate touch trailed up his chest and shoulders, he couldn’t find the willpower in him. Instead, he leaned forward and allowed her to pull the layers over his head. A chill ran down his spine as she grazed over the portion of the bruising that extended toward his back. 

“Nothing’s broken.” He stated simply, staring down intently at his blanket covered lap as she inspected him from behind. His back arched uncomfortably as she unknowingly pressed too firmly on a particularly dark spot, and a hiss escaped him. 

“Sorry! I’m sorry, Megs.” She gasped. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder she jumped up from the couch to rummage through the kitchen cabinets. Seemingly retrieving what she had been searching for, she plopped down behind him once again with her legs crossed. “Here, this might help. It’s a heating patch.”

There was a rustling of the wrapper that sounded unbearably loud in contrast to the silent apartment. After a moment, he felt a sticky cloth being placed against the more abused part of his back. She rubbed over the fabric softly as if she could make it work faster by pure will alone. It only took a moment for the chemical reaction to start, and flashes of heat began to penetrate his sore muscles. Unable to keep upright any longer, he fell back limply, his head falling haphazardly against her lap. To her surprise, he made no move to shift from the position. 

She hesitantly brought her hand down to brush the hairs away from where they stuck against the sweat on his forehead. Indulgently, she allowed the tips of her nails to graze softly against his scalp on its way back. 

Selfish— he was being so selfish, he thought as he leaned into her touch. Had he been more conscious, he would have been more embarrassed of the soft moan that fell from his lips at the feeling. Luckily, she didn’t mention it. Instead, a warm smile befell her at his boyish reaction, and it encouraged her to pick up her hand and repeat the motion, slower this time around so he could savor it. 

“Why didn’t you stay home, Megumi?” Zumi asked softly. His head’s soft push against her hand was the only indication she had that he was still awake. Fushiguro had never experienced a touch so delicate— so intimate— solely for his own pleasure. The soft scrapes of her fingernails against his scalp were setting him ablaze in ways that would likely scare her if she could take a glimpse into his mind. “Why did you come over here like this?”

“You were supposed to tell me what you thought about the book.” He mumbled mindlessly, growing sleepier against her soft touch. Still, he popped his eyes open to look up at her. “Did you hate it?”

Zumi laughed softly at his irrelevant concern and shook her head. 

“Well,” She began, a slight blush covering her cheeks as he stared expectantly at her. “I… didn’t finish it. I fell asleep.” 

Somehow in the midst of his countless injuries and unwavering exhaustion, he still managed to roll his eyes in a very Fushiguro fashion. 

“Finish it.” He demanded softly, his eyes fluttering shut once again as he adjusted the blanket over his bare chest. The warmth of the patch she’d placed on his back was helping ease the tension in his muscles, even if just a fraction. Between the sudden relief, and her absentminded hand threaded through his hair, Megumi could feel himself slipping away once again. “I’m gonna… close my eyes for a second.”

She waited until his breathing had evened out, which didn’t take long at all, before removing her hand from his hair to retrieve the book beside her. With his soft breaths beneath her, she fell back into the damned book that prompted more questions than it did answers, and raised more concerns than it comforted— much like the complicated boy sleeping soundly against her. 

This time around, it didn’t take her as long to finish the remaining two chapters of the book. In between paragraphs, she would anxiously glance down at him as if he was going to pop up and ask if she was done yet. But as she turned the last page, he was still sound asleep. Sighing softly, she placed the book down on the arm of the couch and settled against the cushion. Her fingers once again found themselves tucked into his soft locks of hair, and she too fell asleep. 

When she awoke again, it was due to a familiar moan of pain falling from Megumi’s lips. The sound made her shoot awake deliriously, taking in her surroundings with a start. The source of the offending noise was also stirring awake, likely from the pain shooting across his back. With her eyes barely open, her hands shot out to feel around for the heating patch, finding it had already lost its previous warmth. 

“I’ll get you another patch.” Zumi mumbled sleepily as she carefully stood up, allowing his head to fall back against the cushion. On her trek to the kitchen, she didn’t see how he staggered up from the couch to follow her. It wasn’t until she turned around, fresh patch in hand, that she was faced with the sight of him just inches away. The sudden appearance made her jump back in shock. 

Now that he wasn’t hidden under the covers, his chest was completely bare to her. What she hadn’t noticed before when she carelessly threw his clothes off of him was how toned Megumi was. Sure, she had suspected he was packing some punch under all those baggy clothes given the nature of his job, but Jesus. He wasn’t completely bulked by any means, but he was lean and defined all the way from his broad shoulders, to his slim waist, and tense arms. Daring to peer down farther, she was graced by the sight of his delicate yet firm abs. Her cheeks flushed as she followed the prominent veins of his abdomen as they cascaded down into the waistband of his black sweatpants. 

Fuck, did it suddenly get really hot in this apartment or is this heating patch radiating from the packaging? 

Quickly averting her gaze from the direction it had been unintentionally going down, she placed a hand on his firm shoulder to turn him around. Hopping up on the counter to have a better view, she carefully peeled the old patch off his skin. Glancing at the time on the microwave, she noted that three hours had already passed since they’d fallen asleep. 

Megumi turned back around once she finished smoothing the fresh patch onto his back. Truthfully, he already was feeling significantly better following the peaceful nap he had been able to take, but the warmth did feel nice against his bruised ribs. He hummed softly, moving to stand between her legs. The sudden boldness was unlike him. His movements were always calculated, almost over thought, but he assumed the opioid coursing through his blood wasn’t just calming his pain. 

“Did you finish the book like I told you to?” He questioned softly, unconsciously leaning in just a hair closer to her. 

She hummed in response, nodding so softly he wouldn’t have seen it had he not had such a laser focus on her at the moment. Zumi was worried that if she opened her mouth to speak, all that would come out was a squeak. 

“And?” He prompted.

“It was ass.” 

His head fell against her shoulder in defeat, a soft chuckle delicately shaking his shoulders. Zumi’s eyes widened just a hair at his uncharacteristic behavior. 

“Straight dog shit.” She laughed, aware of the way her heart was ready to beat out of her chest at his proximity. As her laughter died down, her eyes skimmed his abused back, and she reached a hand back to touch it softly. “So, are you gonna tell me what fucked you up so bad?” 

He was silent against her. So, she tried a different way. 

“Can you give me one?” Zumi asked quietly, almost uncharacteristically shy as her fingers trailed up his back and to his shoulder, unaware of the fire she was fanning within him. “One Megumi thought?”

It was slow— so slow how he lifted his head from her shoulder to stare into her eyes. She tried to swallow back her rapid, shallow breaths. In an instant, his hand came up to grip her cheeks in a motion she’d performed on him countless times now. His fingers were delicate but firm against her jaw as they squished at the fat of her face. There was a calculated gaze in his dark eyes, one that she’d be lying if she said didn’t intimidate her just a bit. 

“How about you give me one for once.” Megumi suggested lowly, searching her face for a moment. “Hm? One thought from the mind of Azumi.”

Her breath hitched as he leaned in impossibly closer, his other hand clenched in a fist and holding himself up on the counter beside her hip. There were so many thoughts running through Zumi’s head right now— none that she would dare say out loud to him though. She’d never been put in a position like this before, where something she wanted so badly was right there in front of her. All she would have to do was take it. She’d never felt anything like this before— this heat that was pooling in her stomach and threatening to burst out of her chest. She wanted him to swallow her whole. Still, he was expecting his answer. 

“Maybe you can start with the woman that comes to your house for appointments.” The sun was just beginning to peek up from the horizon, casting a low light on his harrowing face as he stared into her soul. How could she do it? Expect him to spill his heart out to her all the time when he knew virtually nothing about her. He wasn’t trying to pry the information out of her with malicious intent. No, he just wanted to know her, to understand her for a change instead of being constantly left in the dark. “Or maybe…” he mumbled, his eyes flickering up to the medicine cabinet above her before falling back on her wide eyes. “With the pills in your cabinet.”

She gasped softly, brows furrowing at his meticulous tearing down of her walls. Her lip trembled just a hair, and his eyes quickly fell to them. It was almost instinctual, her urge to smack him back and tell him she was fine. There were enough people in her life tiptoeing around her, afraid that she might break if they expose her to too much of the harsh world around her. Megumi couldn’t end up like Satoru— shielding her from his world and cocooning her in glass enclosing under the false pretenses of safety. 

“What does it matter to you, Fushiguro?” It was an attempt to sound firm, to protect her secrets from him, but it was a game he too was a master at. He saw right through it. His fingers flexed ever so slightly against her cheeks. 

“I just want to understand you. I don’t… I won’t see you any differently.” 

Her azul eyes searched him, as if assessing for danger, but found nothing but raw sincerity and curiosity. Would it be worth it for her to test the waters? To see how he’d take it? After all, he’d been the only one to take a chance on her, give her a chance at life and experiences. She wanted to hold onto that and hold onto him. 

“I was… raised in the shadow of my brother.” Zumi whispered, unsure of how far she was willing to take this story. He stayed silent, willing her to continue. “I was always told how my life would look like— what it didn’t have to look like because of him. He freed those in the clan from the obligations of upholding the name, but they’d been doing it their entire lives. Of course they were fine waiting on him the rest of their lives if it meant not having to concern themselves with the politics of it all or… put their lives on the line again.”

“But you wanted a choice.” Megumi assumed. Zumi nodded softly, her leg settling comfortably around the sides of his hips. 

“It’s privileged.” She automatically shut her own feelings down. “But I have lived my entire life as just Satoru’s achilles heel.” Tears threatened to spring from her eyes, making her turn her gaze down and away from him as best she could with her face still gripped between his fingers. “I don’t blame him— I never have. He’s just done the best he can all his life, but… even when he took me from the clan, he still saw me as just that—”

“His weak point.” He finished for her. His thumb reached up to swipe the stray tear that fell down her smushed up cheek. 

“I just couldn’t do it anymore— living with no idea of how my life would end up, if it’d even be worth—” She stopped herself. Maybe that’s where she should draw the line for now. Judging by his now tensed shoulders, Zumi assumed he had caught enough of what she was inferring. He didn’t need to know everything. “So yeah, Satoru’s gotten me some help. That’s… that’s what all that was.” 

The air around them was thick with the implications of her words. Megumi pondered on them silently. She didn’t know if it’d be worth… seeing how her life played out? He wanted to sit in her words, to absorb how she must have felt all these years— how lonely it must have been— how worthless she must have felt. There was no purpose in her life, no light at the end of the tunnel. He wanted to fault Gojo for it. He thought it would be easier to blame him for sheltering her away from her potential than to face the fact that the world they were apart of truly could be at risk because of her. Megumi wished he didn’t understand his sensei— but he did. 

Painfully aware of how she was staring apprehensively at him, trying to gauge his reaction to her dark words, he looked up at her. 

“So… do you think it was the pills or the mental health yoga that did it for you?” 

It was silent, and he feared she wouldn’t have found his dry attempt at a joke as amusing as he would. All he wanted was to prove to her that things didn’t have to change between them, that he wouldn’t subject her to the same treatment her brother had. It was quiet for a beat longer before her boisterous laughter filled the air around them. A breath of relief escaped him, and he found himself smiling along with her, the hand on her jaw pulling her that much closer. He wanted to see her smile up close, to feel the vibrations of her laughter against him. As his nose grazed her, he wondered briefly if he was treading on ice that was all too thin— because her laughter slowly died out. 

“Give me another one?” Megumi prompted, his voice just barely above a whisper. “Another Zumi thought?” 

She wished he’d release the grip he had on her just so she could think straight at all, but it had been there for damn near ten minutes now without any signs of dropping. His breath fanned against her cheeks shakily as she reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. It was meant to push him back just a bit, but she couldn’t— opting to grip onto the deliciously defined muscle of his arm instead. 

“I was thinking of how much it scared me to see you bruised up like that.” She whispered breathlessly, trailing her hand down to his chest— god she just couldn’t help herself. Her hand was small and cold against his hard chest, and for the second time that night, Megumi was struck by the intimacy of her touch. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before— someone wanting to explore him like this, to study and map him out. Leaning into her touch, a soft groan bubbled in the back of his throat. 

“Another one.” He gasped, the hand that had been idle on the counter reaching up to tentatively grip her waist, sliding up the fabric of her sweater oh so subtly. The shaky breath that escaped her nearly drove him insane, making the fingers that had found her waist squeeze down on the soft flesh.

“I’m thinking about how nervous you’re making me right now.” 

This made him pause, and the hand that was gripping his pectoral drifted down to the ridges of his abs. They were quivering under her fingertips. The sensitivity he had to her touch was making her mind reel, wondering what he’d do if she continued her timid exploration across his body. He quickly moved his hips away from her just an inch lest she feel the consequences her wandering hands were wreaking on him. 

So close now, she could see the flecks of near black in his navy eyes as they stared half-lidded at her. His fingers tightened once more on her cheeks before he leaned in to her, prepared for once in his life to take something just for himself. 

But outside the apartment door, they heard a bag fall to the ground— keys rustling. For the first time in what felt like ages, his hand fell from her face. Their gazes shot across each other's faces in panic. Megumi, in record timing for someone with severely bruised ribs, flew across the kitchen and hopped over the back of the couch. In one quick motion, he pulled his hoodie back over his head, yanking it down slightly to cover his groin and shoving his discarded tshirt under the couch. Zumi hopped down from the counter and opened the fridge, pretending to stare thoughtfully into it as the door creaked open. Honestly, she was hoping the cool air of the fridge would do anything to calm her burning cheeks. 

“You all are up early.” Satoru remarked as he locked the door behind him. Pulling out a carton of strawberry milk as to not look suspicious, Zumi felt brave enough to face her brother with a tired smile. 

“You’re back early.” She stated simply, shakily stabbing the straw into her milk. Though he still donned his typical, black blindfold, Zumi knew her brother well enough to tell he was squinting at her from behind his cover. A tiny, amused smile tugged at his lips.

“Ended up being a grade two, easy peasy.” The man waved off, pulling the covers from his eyes upon noticing the dim lighting in the apartment. He looked around for a moment, gaze landing on Megumi, who had since been silent on the couch, trying to calm his racing heart and think of anything else that would get his blood rushing anywhere else in his body. “Feeling better, Fushiguro?”

The boy simply nodded with a soft hum. 

“Just… staring at the wall?” Gojo pressed, noticing that the television was off. The pair mentally cursed at themselves for forgetting that detail. 

“I… I just woke up.” Megumi explained, staring off to watch the sun rising outside the balcony window. Gone was his previous, wonder struck and dumbfounded gaze, and in its place was his familiar, flatline expression. Zumi thought it was impressive, yet a little concerning how fast he was able to switch it up. 

“Right,” Satoru drawled, picking up his bag and making his way to his room. He’d likely only sleep a short two or three hours before waking up to get his day started once again. His sister never understood how he could function at such a rate. “Feel free to crash on the couch until you’re… feeling better.” With a subtle wink to his sister, who paled slightly at the gesture, the man retreated for the morning. 

It was comically timed, the way the pair’s gazes shot to meet each other as soon as the door shut. Their eyes both held a similar, unspoken understanding— Satoru was most definitely onto their asses.         

What they didn’t know though, was that the man in question had heard the tail end of their conversation as he was making his way up the hallway. So, maybe he dropped his bag a little too roughly on the ground and jingled his keys a little louder than necessary before entering the apartment that morning. He was a considerate brother, after all.

chapter seven.

[twinki3zs]

Unlucky Encounter

A Masha One-Shot

[For you :) @chrzannekk ]

This one shot shows the more rivalry side of Masha :))

_______________________

Max walked through the forest as the moon lit up his path. He did this almost every night. With all the counselors and other campers bothering him, Max needed a little alone time. Especially now that the Flower Scouts were back.

Miss Priss and Mr. Campbell were gone on a cruise for nearly a month. But Campbell wasn’t allowed to stay any longer, so they cut their trip short. Meaning that the Flower Scouts came back sooner than anyone expected.

Max sighed as he tried not to think about it. He took in the atmosphere of the forest as he sat down against a tree. It was quiet and peaceful, unlike Camp Campbell. Max didn’t hate spending time with the others, but his social battery was dead. Max took out the book he brought with him. He shifted into a more comfortable position as the moon light allowed him to see the cover.

“The Charming Mr Drickton”

It was a known detective romance book and cooed over by mainly girls. Of course, there was nothing wrong with a guy reading a romance book… right? Max read page 102 with a smirk, it would’ve looked weird to anyone else, but if they were reading the same thing, they’d understand.

Max would never admit it, but he was amazed by John Drickton, the main male protagonist. He could flatter someone in a second and never stumbled with his words. He was so confident and cool, but showed it in a way that didn’t make him seem like a try hard. Max studied the way Drickton approaches and speaks to women.

“I wonder if this would work in real life…” Max quietly asked himself.

Max kept reading, letting his world drift into the one of the book. It was so peaceful in the quiet forest. Max was so lost in his book, he didn’t notice a person walking toward him. Max read down the page, adjusting his position.

He had no idea how he ended up so hooked to this book, but deep down, he didn’t regret it. Of course, Max wouldn’t dare read it in public, but it didn’t stop him from loving it. He swore to himself he wouldn’t end up like Gwen, so he kept his interest in romance books to a minimum. TCMD was the only romance book series he allowed himself to enjoy.

Max brought the book closer to his face, it was getting interesting.

“He tucked his cuffs into his blazer, looking deep into Isla’s eyes. His deep brown eyes narrowed as he leaned over the desk. Drickton didn’t dare break eye contact, but Isla thought differently. She looked away as she blushed red. His confident demeanor over powering her calm façade.”

“She gulped down her nerves, “Must you stare me down with such tensity?” Isla said gripping her skirt. If Drickton was nervous, he wasn’t showing it. He stood up straight, hands behind his back as he walked around the table. “I’d just like to know the truth,” Drickton says with a grin. “And I’m sure you do too. So, do us both a favor and don’t make this difficult. Alright, princess?”

“Hey!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice snapped him out of his daydream. Max jumped in surprise, letting out a yelp. He looked up to see a girl standing in front of him. A girl he knew all too well. She had a pale complexion and peach pink hair. Her eyes were a deep rose and her bangs draped over her forehead. Max hid the words in his book, pressing the pages to his chest.

“What are you doing here?” Sasha hissed. Max’s shocked face turned into a more annoyed one as his heartbeat began to slow down to its regular pace. “None of your business. What are you doing here? Looking for a stick to stir your cauldron?” Max smirked.

Sasha wasn’t very impressed with his comeback, but she answered his question anyway. “Actually, I’m looking for some Chickweed. Tabii’s starting to break out and I will not be seen hanging out with a blonde Pikeman.” She said looking down at Max sitting against the tree. “Great. Now go away, I came here to be alone.” Max said sounding uninterested. He attempted to keep his book hidden as he tried to get her to leave.

Sasha looked down at Max’s book and raised an eyebrow. Max didn’t have time to blink before she snatched his book from his hand. Max yelped as he witnessed his book getting ripped out of his grip. “What are you reading? Some kind of stupid spy book like The Salzburg Connection? I wouldn’t be surprised, it’s pretty popular among guys right now-“ Sasha paused as she looked at the title, “The Charming Mr Drickton.” Max’s eyes widened as he pressed his knees together, gripping the brim of his hoodie.

“No way…” Sasha said as she looked at the back of the book. She read the plot with wide eyes. She looked down at Max, who sat uncomfortably on the ground. The silence flowed through the air with strong tension when suddenly, Sasha burst out laughing. “A romance book? Are you serious?” She said with a grin. Max jumped up off the ground, grinding his teeth as he tried to snatch his book back. Sasha kept it away from him as she skimmed through the pages he’s already read.

“Damn it, Sasha! Give that back!” Max squirmed as he tried to reach his book. “No way! This is too good!” Sasha said pushing Max away. She laughed at every little sentence she read from the book, it was all so cheesy. Max’s heart pounded in his chest. He tried to get the book but Sasha kept pushing him away or moving, so he couldn’t reach it. “Give that back a**hole! It’s not yours!” Max protested.

Sasha slammed the book shut, holding it in her hand and baiting it. She put a hand on her hip as she held the book up with a smirk. “Oh, yeah? It shouldn’t be yours either! Wow, a guy like you reading a romance book, now that’s interesting.” She taunted. Max let out a frustrated growl as he stood in place. There was no point in trying to get it back, she had already read the pages.

“Ha! Is this what you’ve been so glued to? You were so into it, you didn’t even notice me standing in front of you before!” Sasha laughed. Max clenched his fists as Sasha teased him. “I’m not that into it. I just didn’t have anything else to do!” Max tried to make up an excuse but Sasha clearly wasn’t buying it.

She narrowed her eyes and grinned as she began to walk toward him, “Oh, really? Then I guess you wouldn’t mind if I told everyone about this “passing-time” book you’re so hooked too.” Sasha grinned as she watched Max’s eyes widen. “I’m sure they’d find you reading a romance book, very interesting.” She said with a smirk.

Max narrowed his eyes, trying to hide the embarrassment behind them. “I swear to god I will reign hell on your camp if you do.” Max threatened as he looked up at her. Sasha smirked at Max’s response. “Oh, I don’t know about that. If anything, I have the upper hand here.” Sasha said with a hand on her hip.

She then raised her hand and hovered it over her, then Max’s head. “Generally and physically. Now quit whining before I actually do tell everyone.” She said looking down at him. Max clenched his fists and stared down at the ground. “I’m not whining!” Max said as his cheeks started to turn a light shade of pink.

“…”

“Are you blushing?” Sasha chuckled as she leaned in to get a closer look. “No, damn it! Leave me the hell alone!” Max quickly backed away as he let out another frustrated growl. He didn’t know why he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Sasha grinned, finding amusement in the whole situation.

She held Max’s book behind her as she stared down at him. “Come on, why the blush? Am I embarrassing you?” Sasha snickered as Max clenched his jaw. This seemed too familiar, it was just like the page he was reading in his book. The bad part is, he’s Isla in this situation. Sasha let out a satisfied sigh as she took in Max’s expression.

“Here.” Sasha said holding out the book and giving it to him.

“You can have your book back. I have to get that Chickweed for Tabii before it gets too dark.” Sasha said as she began to walk away as if nothing happened. “I’ll keep your little “passing time” book a secret, but don’t expect me to not make fun of you for it.” Sasha added, looking back at him with a smirk as she walked away.

Soon she was out of sight. Max let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he tried to return to his normal complexion. He groaned as he began to walk back to camp. What was supposed to be a relaxing night of reading turned out to be the perfect amo for Sasha to tease him with. One thing was for certain though, Max wasn’t going to let Sasha have the last laugh.

This means war.

[ijustliketoreadstuff]

Why Sabine and Tom couldn’t do anything for Marinette

Over the course of the series, most notably in “Were dad” and “Dearest family”, its been made clear that Sabine and Tom are very protective of their daughter, but after we realized the full extent of what Marinette had to go through at school in the years prior, we discover that much like how Marinette had trouble living her day to day life being bullied by Chloe, it was Marinette's parents, Sabine and Tom, who also had the unbearable struggle of not being able to protect their daughter. Sabine and Tom knew Chloe was giving their daughter a hard time, but odds are, this was all Marinette would let them know. Kids tend to live completely different lives at school and outside of home( Lila being the biggest and most extreme example), and although Marinette knows her parents only ever had the best interest for her and would want to help, she couldn’t afford to let them so long as Chloe had the power to not only threaten and fire the teachers at school by using Andre’s power as mayor to her own advantage, but also interfere with other peoples careers and businesses outside of school, just as we saw her do with Clara in “Frightingale”, and Veronique in “Determination”.

For her families sake, Marinette understood that what she was going through, was something she could not afford to let her parents get involved in to much, as it would only risk worsening the situation for all of them. Her only solution to her problem at the time, was to somehow make it to the end of the school year and hope Chloe was not in her class next year.

If and when  Marinette is seen on screen talking about Chloe with her parents, the conversation ends up being short and moments before she has to leave for school, with Marinette only saying simple things such as “I bet you anything Chloe will be in my class again”, but nothing more. 

(Sabine attempting to lift Marinette’s spirits to help her make it through the day)

Anytime Sabine was with Marinette during breakfast, both in “Origins” and the “Derision” flashback, Sabine is never seen pressuring Marinette to tell her more about Chloe as she knew it was a conversation her daughter did not feel comfortable talking about. As a result, Sabine could only do what she could and gave her daughter a few little words of encouragement to help her make it through the day, but just to be sure, she resorted to asking the one person she knew to rely on and look after Marinette, Socqueline, who would attempt to do what she could to help Marinette realize she needed to find and build the confidence necessary to stand up to Chloe in order to change things. 

(Socqueline explains to Marinette she would not be around forever to help protect her.)

Now, given who they are, Sabine and Tom would of course have already made attempts to confront the school long ago, the moment they realized their daughter was struggling, but even if Sabine and Tom attempted to confront the principle about the situation revolving around their daughter, their attempts would have proven useless as there was no real proof of what Chloe was doing to Marinette. Had Sabine and Tom gone to the principle, the staff would have either simply set aside their claims as nothing more than a common personal matter between two students that they could not keep track of, as there are numerous students all having their own individual problems, or simply a bunch of accusations, just as they had  falsely believed Marinette was known for doing, year after year. And although Sabine and Tom could have taken more extreme action against this, any attempts would have proven futile so long as their daughters situation revolved around the Mayors daughter. Justice was not on the Dupain’s side, it was for Andre to control, and that control was primarily decided on by his daughter. 

(Chloe sitting in Andre’s Mayoral seat back in “Determination”, signifies the control she has over her father and his powers as Mayor)

In the end, no matter who was willing to help and no matter who was willing to protect her, it was always left to Marinette to change things by learning to protect herself and defy the injustices around her.

(Marinette finds the confidence to stand up to Chloe in “Origins”)

[the-mountain-flower]

The Exiled and The Outcast

Chapter Six: What Are You Reading?

The sun was setting by the time Dainix went back inside.

He collapsed onto the sitting room sofa he’d been using as a bed, the biggest smile on his face. He was appropriately tired, and knew he was going to wake up as sore as he was used to with regular training. His heartbeat had slowed down and his adrenaline wearing off, and he was more than ready to make something to satisfy the appetite he’d built up, and pass out for the night.

For a few minutes he sat there, letting himself relax for the first time in too long.

“Feeling better?”

Mildly surprised not by the presence, but by the apparent attempt at conversation, Dainix smiled at the appearance of a now-familiar orange-haired ferin.

“Much better. I spent too much time inside.” Dainix took out his bag of food and started making his way to the fireplace.

“Yeah, you didn’t seem like the type to sit at a desk all day.” Falst said in a snarky tone.

Dainix started lighting the firewood, left over from that morning. “I saw you outside today.”

“I noticed.”

“You like drawing?”

“Eh, it’s just something to do.”

Dainix thought back to the collage in the dirt surrounding Falst. He had the strong feeling it was more than just something he did to pass the time. Then again, Falst was more walled-off emotionally than anyone Dainix had met before. Perhaps he didn’t want Dainix to know what he held close to his heart, like with the library.

“I didn’t see any of it up close, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Whatever.”

Neither or them said anything for a while after that, sitting in an awkward silence while Dainix put together something from the ingredients he had, before he asked the question that he’d been considering over the past few days.

“I noticed you never asked about the fire thing.”

“Huh?”

“I mean,” Dainix paused in his food prep, “You almost certainly know I’m an Ignan, but you never asked why I can’t just light the fire myself. I just expected you to question it.”

“Not my business, so I don’t care.”

“Gotcha.”

“That a problem?”

“No, I don’t mind either way, just curious.”

“Ashamed of it or something?”

“Not for a long time.”

“That’s good.”

A short pause. Dainix himself really didn’t mind one way or another, but worried he had poked at Falst’s curiosity when he hadn’t wanted Dainix to.

“I get the feeling you like your privacy.” Dainix handed him half of the finished meal. “Don’t worry, I won’t pry.”

“You expect me to thank you for that?”

“No, just letting you know.”

“Hm.” Falst took the food and began to leave again. Dainix sat back down with his own.

“Actually,” Falst spoke up, taking Dainix by surprise. “Can I ask something else?”

“Go ahead.”

Falst turned back to look at Dainix. “What’re you looking for?”

“Oh.” Dainix probably should’ve expected that one.

“In the library, I mean. It’s clearly important, but basically no one comes here. So, why did you?”

Dainix sighed. “I’m… I’m hunting something. Sort of.”

“Sort of? And what does it have to do with this place?”

“I hunt monsters. In order to do that, you have to understand them first. And there’s very little known about this one. Usually we keep track of every monsters’ resistances, weaknesses, where they frequent, and most importantly,” Dainix looked down at his hands. Solid, physical, human hands, “how to keep people safe from them.

“The one I’m hunting, it’s called a demon. It’s something my people only have legends about. Those legends became real for my settlement when we… encountered, one. It… it destroyed a lot.” He tried not to look at the fireplace to his left. “We’re lucky to have survived. We know so little, we had no way to stop it.

“But somewhere there has to be some information on it. That’s what I looking for. This place is my best lead right now.”

“Huh,” Falst commented, “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.”

Dainix laughed a little. “None of us were.”

“What is a demon? Or at least what you do know.”

Dainix paused again. Lately, he’d have every reason to turn everything he’d heard about Demons over and over in his head. Hyperanalysing every detail in every story- which wasn’t much to go off of in the first place. It was a bit different to say it out loud now.

“We know they have physical forms. It contains the Demon for a time, but not forever. They’re made of an intense inner fire that, if it becomes too strong, burns away at the body and leaves a mindless being of pure instinct and emotion. You know how the part of souls made of Fire soul energy have to do with emotion? It’s like that, but it leaves room for nothing else. Once it becomes too strong for their physical form to contain, it becomes uncontrollable and volatile.”

Dainix decided to leave out the part where some stories described a Demon’s physical form being that of an Ignan. Or the more heroic parts that describe abilities that, if harnessed, could take out entire nests of monsters on their own. One legend described a demon saving their people by single-handedly fighting off not one, but three invading armies in her lifetime. Historical context meant that one might not even be exaggerated.

It wasn't really a monster, but maybe he had to prove that part to himself. Until he gained control of it, it was more dangerous than anything else he'd fought. Plus, as a Ravvan, it was the most plausible explanation if he was going to tell someone what he was looking for, without giving some of his more… personal reasons.

“I… can’t say I’ve heard of anything like that.”

“I’d be surprised if you had.”

“Well, it’s a big library. Good luck.” Then, Falst was gone again.

Leaving Dainix alone with his thoughts, and the lit fireplace.

He put it out early this time, long before the wood had burned away.

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

They're conversation-ing! As far as awkward first conversations go, this one wasn't so bad, all things considered :)

This one was surprisingly hard to write, because it was difficult to make this conversation balance natural dialogue and the awkwardness of the interaction. I'm still not super proud of how it turned out, but I think I did okay.

Remember to drink water, eat food, take your meds (if applicable), and get enough sleep. Love you all, and have a great [insert time here]! <3

[slavemoron]

The visitors

it had all happened so fast. I was sleeping, locked in tormenting dreams of violent men. The cage had been driving me crazy for more than a week now, impotently grinding on toys only fit for a fag. I had gotten hungrier and hungrier up until when I went to bed last night, hole still lubed up from hole training, and chose to only wear my tight little jock and short little fag shorts.

I dreamed of being taken in the night, beaten and used up so when I woke up with my lights on and heavy mass on top of me I thought I was dreaming.

I could feel the warm breath on the back of my neck, the soft chuckle of a predator who has won to easily rang in my ears. It was then I realized it was all real. I panicked and attempted to fight but was easily pushed down, feeling the cold barrel of a gun pushed into my neck.

“Sit tight little faggot, this isn’t the load you want”

My heart was beating in my chest but something else was happening too, the gun clarified that for me.

“Me and my buddies are here to clean you out….but that’s gonna take a while. Think I might pass the time with you.”

the cage ached, my cock squeezing hopelessly as I raged at myself for leaving the door unlocked. the Man strokes the gun on the back of my neck.

“I’ve been watching you for months, waiting to get in, but to think you’d leave yourself so….open for me.” He pressed the barrel harder into my neck, “when im done with you, well…”

Another voice cut him off, “what the fuck man!! We’re here to rob the fag not play with it.”

The voice behind me laughed, “clearin out this middle class bitch will take a bit, we can all take turns. By the time we’re done the fag will help us Rob it for fuck sake.”

“Oh please, you just wanna go first.”

the man leaned back and grinded into my loosened pussy and, as I whimpered, he said, “I cased the place, so I get first taste. Now go and get started and I’ll do the same.”

I heard boots walk off and we were left alone. He whispered into my ear, “now let’s get this clear, you wanna survive this holes intact, you’re gonna put your hands behind your back and arch that pussy for me.” He slid off me and I lay there, terrified. I could run, or at least try, reach for my phone, or I could do as he asked. My mind said phone, my heart said run, but my cage said submit.

Tears in my eyes, I crossed my arms behind me and arched my pussy up and displayed.

“Gooood faggot,” the man crooned and he used the barrel of the gun to pull my little shorts down. I moaned like a bitch and he laughed, playing with my locked cock.

“If I had known you were a faggot earlier I would have robbed you months ago,” he snickered, pressing the gun barrel to my exposed pussy, “just think about it faggot. You could have been sucking my cock for the past 4 months but here you were playing with toys.” I envisioned it alright and before I could regret it, he shoved the gun up my pussy. I moaned louder and he cackled, fucking me with the gun.

“Careful faggot,” he growled, “don’t make me blow my load.” I knew what he meant but my cock was in control now, i thrusted my pussy on to the gun over and over again.

He pulled the gun out and kneeled onto me, right up against my face. He held the gun up to my mouth and said, “lick it faggot.” i did and he lightly whipped me with it.

“Now where are your toys, cuffs, gags, hoods whatever faggot.” Still terrified but still locking the gun i nodded to the drawer to my left. He got off me and went it the drawer. I could have run, i could have gotten help but I only arched my pussy up again. He returned quickly locked my arms together, then tightening a ball gag and locking an old collar on me.

“Now that’s a proper faggot,” he said and i moaned through the gag. Lastly he clipped a leash onto the collar and moved in behind me.

“By the time im done with you fag, you’ll rob yourself and then beg me to keep you.” He said and i felt the tip of his cock against my hole. He didn’t push in but pulled on my collar, He wanted the fag to lower itself. i complied and pushed my pussy onto the cock.

“That’s it faggot,” he crooned and slammed his cock up until the hilt. the lain was sharp and hard but I couldn’t recover before he pulled out and slammed in again. Again and again, he slammed my pussy and my brain turned into mush, beaten into submission my this Man. After five minutes of getting broken in the man gave three almighty thrusts and gasped, as his load flooded into my pussy. He collapsed onto me, gasping. After a minute of recovery, he grabbed my hair and pulled it back and whispered in my ear, “im going to take all you own now faggot. Be a good bitch and stay here and one of my boys is gonna fuck that pussy. Give me a good show for Me.” He pushed himself up and draped the leash over my back where it rested against my bruised hole. I stayed there, alone for a few minutes, waiting for the next violation.

It finally came, signaled by the sound of footsteps. They crossed into my room followed by a long whistle.

“He really knows how to pick ‘em, huh?”

I did not respond and he kicked me in the cage, “what did I say faggot!?”

“Yes sir!,” I said, barely making it audible through the gag. The man laughed and kneeled closer, “now beg me to fuck you faggot.”

i did, my only recourse now or ever was to

Submit so i begged through the gag. Moaned and whispered as one of my new owners loomed over me. I heard him walking around me as i kept begging until I felt him slam something over my face and mouth. It was one of my shoes, work shoes, with the smell of a weeks shifts in them. But that wasn’t all, he had poured the contents of the poppers i had left out in them aswell. He ties the shoes over my head and laughed as my begs became barely coherent moaning and groaning. Then he got behind me, grabbed my legs, yanked me back, so my legs hung off the bed.

“I ain’t gotta a lot of time to fuck you up fag, so let’s make this quick,” he sneered and slammed his cock into my pussy. The combination of the impact, the taste of sweat and poppers in my brain, and brutal assault on my brain wore me down more and more. Every time he pulled out I put my pussy back, begging to be violated again. And he did, again and again until he too slammed a load into my pussy. After he did, he grabbed the leash and pulled hard. As i choked on sweat and chemicals, he said, “you might be worth keeping after all, but that’s later. Stay here faggot and think about what’s coming next.”

think…think…think….i could barely do that, only arch my pussy and present for who was next. the cage hurt so much, the cock between my legs desperate to be free. But i was a faggot and faggots are never free.

what came next was more bootsteps, slow and methodically crossing into my room. The violation did not come just yet, instead the boots walked over to my left and started digging around. They approached me from behind and yanked on the leash. I’d gag and then the leash would loosen and then tighten again, this time shorter than before. The man wrapped the leash around his palm and pulled me up into a kneeling position, choking and sputtering. As i felt like i was gonna pass, he grabbed my hair and let the leash slacken.

“Stay,” growled the voice and i did, recognizing the voice as the friend of my first assailant i had heard earlier. A small leather strap crossed around my neck and tightened, sharp metal studs poking into my neck. The fag collar a Man, so long ago, had bullied me into buying. I had never used it, was too scared, but I left it charged and now it was around my neck.

“This is your fault faggot,” the man growled into my ear, pushing the tip of his cock into my abused hole. He didn’t jack hammer me like the others, instead slowly shoving just up into the tip and whispering again, “i was just here to make money, to steal bullshit that your ass didn’t need.” He shoved his cock all the way in and then pressed the collars remote, sending a sharp jolt throughout my body. I whimpered through the gag but he ignored me, relaxing his cock and continuing, “instead you had to tease my friends with that worthless little hole and now they want to keep you,” shoving his cock all the way in again and shocking me again.

“Now im in a bind, after this you’re a loose end but I don’t keep fags for free,” he said slowly and rhythmically grinding into my hole, shocking me at each apogee.

“So here, is how, it’s gonna, go,” he said, staggering his words with each thrust and shocking me harder each time.

He held all the way in me, lowered the setting and held the button. As the current fucked my brain he continued, “when im done here, you’re gonna come down with us and give us everything, your cards, your bank account, any hidden cash, and then maybe we might keep you”

“Other wise,” he said and the collar powered on again, at a much higher setting, “we won’t need you.”

It really was too late for me, I had gone too far and now all I could do was submit.

“What’s the answer faggot?” He demanded and as I went to mumble “yes master” through the gag and show he shocked me again, even higher than before.

“Good faggot,” he snarled and then shoved the sole of my face show into the bed, held me down, and fucked me harder than anyone had. The stimuli would have been enough to kill a normal person but the shocks, smells, and abuse left this fag floating in a void of pure contempt. it didn’t take long for Master #3 to cum and Master removed the shoe, gag, and handcuffs, tossing them aside.

Master pulled me to my knees and threatened, “you’re coming down with me and if you so much as look at any of us, we’ll see how high and how long this collar can go.”

I just nodded, eyes fixed on the cum soaked mattress I had been gang raped on.

Master led me down the stairs and i founf the other masters lounging on my….no Their couch. i dutifully looked down and avoided all contact with Them.

i was told to kneel before all three of them and had my phone thrown at my down turned face.

“Unlock it faggot,” Master demanded and i did, still looking down.

“Now unlock that banking app and give to Me.”

faggot complied, holding out the all it had owned to Master. A hand took the phone and a sharp hard shock rippled through its neck. No longer double gagged, the fag yelped and fell down in pain. One the Masters laughed and said, “I think that’s faggot for ‘thank you sir, please shock me again”

The same voice turned to me, “right faggot?”

the faggot pushed itself up to its knees and, eyes down cast, said “yes master, please shock this faggot again harder please master.”

Master complied brutally and the fag spent 30 seconds twitching in pain.

one of the Masters approached the crumpled up faggot and put His bare foot in front of the fags face, “kiss my foot bitch, then you’ll belong to us.”

The faggot complied. it would spend the next couple hours hogtied on the back of the Masters car, periodically being shocked on its balls where the collar had moved. it’s former belongings were thrown into the trunk and after 3 hours of waiting it was freed from bondage.

it was told to choke on its Masters cock, and it did as They drove it away never to be seen again.

[wordsbyrian]

Short: Portland - Adriana Leon x Reader

Summary: a short fic about Dri being loaned to Portland

A/N: I wrote this weeks ago for an anon request and in true me fashion, I forgot about it. And there are like no Adriana Leon gifs on this site which is odd.

You’re not shocked by the news.

You had already known it was going to happen, you and Adriana had been discussing it a few weeks ago.

You knew it was going to happen but having Evie read it out to you while you were giving someone made it feel real.

“@LeonAdriana9 will spend the remainder of 2022/23 on loan at Portland Thorns,” the receptionist reads, standing in the entrance of your booth. “Did you know about this?”

“Yup.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” “Didn’t know I needed to,” you respond, attention still on the tattoo in front of you. “You still doing good, bro,” you ask the client.

Getting a nod in the affirmative, you continue your task, no longer paying any attention to Evie or the way she’s glaring at you.

“You’re insufferable.”

“Thank you.”

Yourfriend and coworker stands and stares at you for a moment longer before she shakes her head and leaves, giving you the peace you’ve wanted since she’s walked into the room.

That night when you return home, you’re unsurprised to see the living room in a state of disarray with clothes and suitcases all over the place.

 And somewhere in there, amongst the mess, is your girlfriend. Folding clothes and panicking over which shoes to bring.

Stepping more fully into the space, you can make out her figure sitting on the couch.

Carefully traversing the space, you make your way to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey Dri,” you say, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, “I see you’ve been busy.”

Leaning into your embrace she responds, “Well I tried. How was your day?”

“Same as always, put some ink under people’s skin, and tried to ignore Evie’s antics.”

That gets a small laugh out of your girlfriend, the woman leaning even further into you as her exhaustion becomes clear.

Pulling her as close as possible, you let her take a moment, running a hand gently up and down her back until you feel her all but melt into you.

“So,” you say after some time has passed. “I think that you should figure out what you’d like to order for dinner. And in the meantime I can finish up your packing.”

You feel Dri nod and mumble her agreement into your chest although she makes no attempt to move.

“You’ll have to let me up for that, of course.”

A headshake.

“So we’re just gonna waste away here on the couch?”

A nod.

“If that’s what you wish, then I guess it would be an acceptable way to die: here with you in my arms,” you say, pulling her practically on top of you. “Although I had kind of hoped it would be many many years from now, not you know, today or tomorrow.”

“You’re an idiot,” Dri says, leaning away from you so she can sit up.

“I’m fine with that,” you respond with a laugh, “mostly because I know that you also think that I’m very attractive and good in bed.”

“And insufferable.”

“That too,” you agree, sliding off the couch to sit on the ground, surrounded on all sides by suitcases, clothes and shoes. “Go order something to eat, I’ve got this under control.”

And you really meant that because 25 minutes later when the food arrives, you’ve managed to mostly clear up the space, having pushed two full suitcases off to the side.

Dinner is mostly eaten in silence, the two of you content to just be in each other’s presence with the tv providing background noise.

The conversation after that is kept light, neither of you wanting to address the fact that in less than 24 hours, Adriana will be on a plane back to the United States without you.

So you talk about anything and everything else. How things are going at the shop, the latest family drama provided to you by your mothers, everything but the inevitable.

Later that night, after you’ve both crawled into bed, the topic seems to be keeping you both awake so you can’t help but say what’s on your mind.

“Do you remember a few months ago, when we had all of your teammates over her and you kept telling me that I was worried for nothing,” you ask, but you continue before she can answer your rhetorical question. “I think that you’re overthinking this whole Portland thing, especially since we’ve already talked this over.”

“Babe…”

“No, hear me out Dri,” you interrupt. “You’ll go to POrtland and You’ll get the minutes you need before this summer. Meanwhile, I’ll be back here doing what I do best, everything will be fine.”

“I’m not worried about that. Last time we were an ocean apart, you and your brother crashed into the back of an 18-wheeler.”

“Luckily for us, my brother is back in Canada.”

“You’re not funny,” she says, and you can just make out the glare she’s sending you through the tiny bit of light creeping in from the window. “At all.”

“Will it make you feel better if I told you that I’ve accepted a guest artist spot at Chico’s new shop in Portland?” Adriana sits up suddenly turning to face you.

“You waited until now to tell me this? After letting me sulk all day?”

“It seemed to be very important sulking,” you try to explain but it comes out more as a question.

“You’re the worst.”

“And you love me for it,” you remind her, pulling her to lay back down against you.

[mehmetminded]

White and Black and Gold

(Part 2)

By: MehmetMinded

Potential spoilers for Beware of Chicken and Cradle!

[Iteration 873 Scale]

Lindon was very confused as he sat at the broad table laden with food. The thing this “Jin” had told him had pushed what little composure he had managed to maintain to its breaking point. Was this man just casually admitting to a violation of fate? Or was he really not aware? Question after question whirled in his mind as he sat. He could feel his madra tremble in his channels, ever so slightly. A non-ascended being would never notice, but it was a bad sign.

[For someone with a reputation as a ‘strong silent type’ you sure do worry a lot.]

Worrying is what’s kept us alive so far, Lindon thought, I’d rather not lose the habit now.

[Sure! Sure! Just so long as you can keep that ever present anxiety from swallowing your every waking thought! You can do that right? How hard could it be? I can’t wait to find out!]

Dross wasn’t helping, but he was trying and that on its own helped center him just a little. Heavens, Lindon had even lost his breathing technique. It wasn’t as though he needed to breathe at this point, but the rhythm was so ingrained into him it took a real shock to knock him out of it. If this man had truly come from another world then that would be a violation of fate. While it wasn’t exactly Lindon’s job to correct such deviations, NOT doing so when presented with the opportunity would raise some eyebrows among the court. The last thing The Reapers needed right now was MORE suspicion-

Lindon’s thoughts were interrupted when another presence made itself known. Down the stairs came a small woman with short greenish hair and amethyst eyes that reminded Lindon of Mercy. Though, where Mercy’s eyes were bright and filled with joy, this woman’s gaze was sharp, her not insignificant willpower honed to a wicked edge. Jin’s will had been a large, diffuse thing. Heavy as a mountain, but spread out across the surrounding lands. This woman’s willpower was dense. Honed into a scalpel that lanced into him, attempting to peel open his soul as a soulsmith did a remnant. A few years ago, Lindon would have been pinned to the spot by her gaze alone, but he had grown since then. Her razor sharp will found no purchase. Lindon was as wintersteel before her, even weakened as he was. He stood calmly from his seat and bowed to her in the manner of his homeland.

“Greetings, my name is Lindon. I was invited in by the master of the house.”

The woman glanced at his dreadgod arm and sniffed once, before meeting his gaze a moment longer. Her willpower faded away like a dream as she sighed.

“Meiling.” The woman said as she seemed to let go of her tension, “If my husband trusts you, then I suppose that’s endorsement enough. Can I get you some tea?”

Though he wasn’t much of a tea drinker he was not so uncouth as to decline.

“Gratitude. Tea sounds lovely.”

_________________________________________

Honestly I had no idea what to make of this Lindon guy. Given how shit I was at qi sensing I couldn’t nail down his power exactly, but it reminded me of gramps. His intent spanned the horizon and the heavens themselves seemed to still in his presence. Long story short, he was strong. Really strong. Like stronger than me, gramps, and the Cloudy Sword Sect put together. But he seemed nice enough. He was polite to a fault and carried himself with the slight awkwardness of someone who hadn’t had a lot of friends as a kid.

“So,” I said, setting down the last of the food and taking a seat next to Meimei, across from our guest, “You’re one tough cookie, bud. That can’t have come from nowhere, what’s your story?”

Lindon looked taken aback by the question.

“You don’t want to know why I’m here?”

I shrugged. “None of my business what a man does with his time.”

The indifference was an act of course, I was dying to know what this guy was doing here, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t want to talk about it in front of a bunch of people.

“Very well,” Lindon said, “I was born in a distant land known as Sacred Valley…”

The story we were treated to was as xianxia as you could get. A boy cast off by his culture, defying his fate with the help of the heavens, eventually destroying the tyrants and monsters that ruled his homeland and ascending a hero.

Lindon seemed to relax more and more as he told his story, speaking with fondness of experiences that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I mean seriously, his description of what he did to refine his body was downright disturbing. From what he told us, his whole existence is centered around cultivation. He lives and breathes self-improvement like some kind of gym-bro from hell.

There was clearly something deeply wrong with this guy, but he seemed like a good egg. A bit thick headed, but he seemed to mean well.

“…and after excavating the last of The Labyrinth, Blue, Orthos, and I narrowly managed to ascend. The state of The Heavens being what it is, it's a miracle we made it in one piece.”

By now the rest of the house had moved on to start the day’s work, so Lindon and I sat alone at the table. As he finished his tale he seemed to be judging my reaction. I said just about the only thing I could after hearing that.

“Holy shit…”

____________________________________________

Do you have anything for me Dross?

Lindon hadn’t been idle as he told Jin his story. He had Dross rifling through The Way, searching for anything in the past, present or even any potential futures that might explain who or what this man was. Dross could read his fate simply enough. The man was still a mortal after all.

Rou Jin, born Jin Rou in Crimson Crucible City, trained by a wandering expert and admitted to The Cloudy Sword Sect. There he was nearly killed in a duel and left to become a farmer. It was all there for him to see.

And yet.

His mannerisms were odd. He had a way of speaking unlike anything Dross could find on this iteration. And he had known. He knew Lindon wasn’t a native immortal, returned to the world.

And he had implied that he was the same.

[I have literally everything for you Lindon. Every detail of his entire life down to the second. Unless you meant in regards to why his spirit is like that. In that case, I’ve got nothing.]

Dross had drawn Lindon’s attention to it almost immediately. There was a nearly imperceptible flaw in Jin’s soul, a tiny thread of gold that bound the two halves together.

Keep working on it, Lindon sent.

“Jin,” Lindon said aloud, “may I ask you a question?”

The man shook himself out of his stupor at Lindon's question, “Huh? Oh! Sure, ask away!”

“Why farming? Someone with your obvious talent could have gone far. You may have even ascended to the heavens. Even if you wanted to give up cultivation, why settle for such a humble life?”

Lindon had a guess, but seeing how the man responded would help Dross build his model.

“Well, to be honest, I kind of did give up on cultivation. I was fully ready to pack it in and be a farmer for the rest of my life. The fact that I got this strong was more or less an accident…”

The man repaid Lindon’s story with his own. It wasn’t the facts that Lindon was interested in, he had those already. He wanted to see what mattered to Rou Jin, what events were important to him. He spoke with a detached fondness about his birth family, their deaths were old scars now and he had made his peace with them. He talked for a long time about his adoptive grandfather, the wandering expert Shen Yu. He spoke of his adoption by the old man, the beginnings of his training. He complained only half seriously about the “old bastard” abandoning him to the sect that nearly let him be killed. He spoke little of his actual time in the sect save for the time he had spent refining his plant bolstering technique. He glossed over the duel that had almost ended him, mentioning only that a senior disciple Lu Ri had returned his exit fee. From there his tale grew stranger. There were spirit beast attacks and a desperate trek north to be away from it all. He spoke of the Azure Hills and of his new home. He talked with pride about each and every member of his odd family, as though their achievements were his own.

The sun was high by the time Rou Jin finished his story and Lindon held a newfound respect for the man along with a more complicated emotion.

[Is that the beginnings of jealousy I’m detecting? Need I remind you that you can crack planets in half with a punch?]

He’s content Dross, Lindon thought, he’s genuinely happy where he is. I’m not made of stone.

[No, you’re much much tougher than stone. I can feel you about to correct me but I got it. Just don’t forget about what you have while you pine after what you don’t.]

Dross was probably right, but Lindon couldn’t deny the small thread of envy that wormed its way into his heart. Some part of him longed for the peace Rou Jin had found on his small farm. He took a sip of the now cold tea to try and drown the feeling.

“So,” Jin said, “how long before your boss comes down here and drags you back to work?”

Lindon spat tea everywhere.

_______________________________________

Part 2 is finally done! I totally didn’t completely forget about this project for half a year! Part 3 soon! (I hope)