#nobody messes with his child of man and gets away with it lol

[cosmicjoke]

Love seeing people trying to downplay the damage Kenny caused Levi growing up.

In what world would anyone call Kenny a good guardian or father-figure?

The only reason anyone would do that is if they have some ulterior agenda of wanting to downplay the overall horror of Levi's childhood. And the only reason anyone would want to do that is either because they're trying to push this notion that some other character had it worse, or because they're trying to be intentionally argumentative against blogs they've decided to target.

Why can't they just admit Levi's childhood was hell, and that Kenny actively contributed to that hell? There's a reason Levi was okay with dying when he went to confront those men in "Bad Boy".

Also, this idea that Kenny wasn't physically violent with Levi... lol, okay. How do people think Kenny taught Levi to fight? Where do people think Levi got the idea that physical violence is a good way to get people to comply? That it's an effective form of discipline? I guess we're supposed to just assume the man who made a sport of murdering people was super gentle and sweet with the child in his care? The same man who clearly thought nothing of murdering other children. The same man who tried in earnest to kill Levi during the Uprising arc. Anyone who doesn't get why that's messed up, or doesn't see how that shows Kenny's abusive behavior toward Levi, is a fool and morally bankrupt. Thinking it's appropriate to test your pet projects skills by trying in earnest to murder them, shows that Kenny also thought Levi would have deserved to die if he wasn't able to properly defend himself. That is the height of abusive treatment. That's like a parent that refuses to provide food to their child, insisting to them that if they can't get it for themselves, then they deserve to starve. Honestly, fuck anyone who tries to defend Kenny trying to kill Levi, or tries to frame it as some act of love or caring on his part.

Kenny was a serial killer, and a man who's entire philosophy in life centered around this idea of power and strength, and who saw that generally in physical terms. And it's plainly implied, from the scene when he abandons Levi, that he used to test Levi's skills by throwing him into fights against grown men. There's a crowd gathered, meaning it was in some way an advertised event, and Kenny is part of that crowd, standing by and watching, and at the end of the fight, Levi looks to Kenny for approval, which all indicates this was something Kenny regularly put him through to test his skill, to see if Levi was ready to be left on his own, yet. Levi looks at him as if to ask "Did I do good?". Which, again, heavily implies Kenny regularly put Levi through fights like this to test his skill. When Levi finally won a fight, that's when Kenny walked away, which is what led Levi to believing he'd disappointed Kenny somehow, or was somehow at fault for his abandonment.

To assume Kenny never attempted to test Levi's skills before then is absurd. Kenny wasn't going to let himself be saddled with Levi and the responsibility of raising Levi forever. He wouldn't have been able to just assume his Ackerman power would awaken, since we know from Kuchel and Mikasa's father that it didn't awaken for every Ackerman. So he taught Levi to fight, and would have needed to test those skills of Levi's somehow. You can't teach someone to fight through demonstration alone. You need to actually either match yourself against them physically, or match them against someone else physically, meaning actual, physical altercation. That's also how Annie learned to fight.

Like I said, it's pretty clear to me that certain people are just trying to downplay what Levi went through growing up, and there can only be some ulterior agenda fueling that, because nobody in their right mind would try to claim Kenny wasn't abusive. He was the definition of abusive. Physically, mentally, verbally, emotionally. And he clearly neglected the shit out of Levi, too, because we know from "Bad Boy" that Kenny regularly just fucked off to wherever and left Levi on his own long enough for Levi to be able to find the kind of trouble he did in that story.

Using Levi's good nature as proof, also, that Kenny didn't treat him badly? Or the fact Levi doesn't hate Kenny as proof of that? Levi doesn't hate anyone in the series (except Zeke, for good reason). One of his defining qualities is how nonjudgmental he is. His ability to empathize and understand other people and their perspectives. He isn't at all given to bitterness or resentment. People constantly insult him, and he never even reacts. He never tries to defend himself against other people's mistreatment of him. He isn't petty. He doesn't hold grudges, or seek out revenge (don't talk to me about Zeke. If you don't get by now that that wasn't about revenge, then I can't help you.). That isn't the kind of person Levi is. His real anger at Kenny at the beginning of their confrontation in the Uprising arc is because Kenny blew Nifa's head off right in front of him. So this idea that it must be proof of Kenny's good treatment of Levi growing up, because Levi doesn't despise Kenny, or want to make him pay for what he did to him, is nothing but bullshit. It also doesn't take into account that Levi undoubtedly internalized Kenny's treatment of him growing up and thought he somehow deserved it. Just like he thought the reason Kenny left him had to be because of something he'd done, or failed to be.

Also, Kenny saved Levi in his darkest moment, when Levi was starving to death, after watching his mother succumb to disease and die right in front of him. Similar to how Mikasa ended up imprinting onto and falling in love with Eren for saving her in her darkest moment, you know the same happened to Levi with Kenny. And yet we all know how abusive Eren was toward Mikasa, how he mistreated her. She still loved him, despite that. It's normal for people who associate someone with their salvation to view them in a more idealized light than they deserve, and it isn't at all indicative of a lack of abuse on that person's part.

Again, this absurd tendency on these people's parts to try and give credit for the way Levi turned out to anyone but Levi himself. That's so damned insulting to Levi as a person. Levi turned out the way he did in spite of the way he was treated by the people in his life growing up, not because of it. When you try to give the credit for Levi's kindness and compassion to Kenny, or anyone else, that's the same as saying "you're trauma makes you stronger", or "I'm as good and strong as I am because I was put through hard times". It's such bullshit.

I'm sick of the clowns I keep seeing who want to push this idea that Levi didn't have it so bad. By ignoring what happens in "Bad Boy", by acting like what Levi went through, and the way those men treated him, wasn't as bad as all that, by downplaying the ways in which Kenny fucked Levi up, by acting like Levi wasn't plainly displaying suicidal ideation, by ignoring the implications of that realization, by ignoring Levi's passivity and non-reaction to those men's treatment of him, also dismissing all of the implications of that.

You people are exposing yourselves for the insensitive and agenda drive jokes you are by insisting that Levi's childhood was anything less than horrifically traumatizing and damaging to him as a person, or by trying to claim that childhood didn't leave a permanent mark on Levi as a person.

You're also denying Levi the credit he deserves for coming through the shitshow that was his childhood, not unscathed, but still a good man. You're denying him the admiration he's entitled to for being able to retain his goodness in the face of his trauma, loss, grief and pain.

I deeply resent anyone who does that. I really, really do.

[latimeria-fell-from-heaven]

#𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄.

𓆩♡𓆪 being the doctor of rhodes island is no easy task, given all of the operators and missions you are to oversee. and now your lover is feeling rather hurt by the lack of attention.

cw. fem!reader, reader is the doctor, established relationship, size kink, breeding kink, possessive sex, possessive behaviors, cervical stimulation, rough sex, implied multiple rounds, reader being a workaholic & silverash being a jealous soggy cat man.

lati. thank you once again to the lovely @lucienbarkbark for commissioning me!! i had a lot of fun writing for the pathetic wet cat that is silverash lol <33

art credit.

Enciodes is not jealous. Not one bit.

He is not jealous of all of the operators that effortlessly steal your attention away so easily and efficiently whenever he is by your side. He is not jealous of how quickly you switch your attention from him to somebody else when he had worked rather hard to squeeze himself into your busy schedule. And he is most certainly not jealous when you put your work before him, choosing to drown yourself in papers that your designated assistants could certainly help with if you weren’t so stubborn.

So no, Enciodes is not jealous.

Though, he supposes that he does have something that none of your other operators that adore you so will ever have even the chance of witnessing. At the end of the day, it was he who was so intimately tangled in your sheets, keeping your bed warm at night, and would drink up the sight of your nude body. His name would be the one that would leave your lips as you lay everything of yours bare before him—your secrets, your troubles, your body—all of it was his to treasure, nobody else.

“Enciodes,” You mewl, arching your back forwards as he pounded into your slippery cunt. His hand grips your chin firmly, never loosening even as your walls clamp down onto his shaft. Your belly is all full, overflowing with Enciodes’ seed that was pumped inside continuously. “S’too much, I-I can’t--wait—!”

“They can’t make you feel like this, can they?” He chuckles lowly into your ear with mirth as you squeal, eyes rolled back in ecstasy as the volatile movements of his hips nearly knock you forward. “Those operators of yours seem to quite like hogging all your attention lately. You can’t even spare a moment for me?” Your forearms quiver and your shoulders curve forward, aching from having carried the weight of your entire upper body. If you’re kept like this, you’ll end up clumsily faceplanting into the bed. And given Enciodes’ current temperament, that was likely to happen quite soon.

You gasp out, toes curling in almost painfully as a particularly sharp roll of his hips pushes too deep. “E..nciodes..m’sorry, sorry—” A noise that you consider far too lewd and embarrassing escapes your glossy lips as he brushes against that spot again. And again.

“Apologies will not get you anywhere, darling,” he cooed sweetly in a rather sickening tone as if he were mocking you with his favorite pet names. “Though I suppose I could humor forgiveness if you can make it up to me.”

All you can answer him with is a choked cry, but Enciodes doesn’t seem to mind—finding it rather adorable that he’s reduced you to a squirming, whimpering mess. He retreats the hand that gripped your chin, and without the firm stability that was the only thing keeping you upright, you bonelessly face-plant into the mattress. Enciodes grunts in surprise, your body having sunken at such an angle that sinks his throbbing cock against your cervix again.

“Oh dear, was it too much for you?” He muses as if he hadn’t just given your body such immense stimulation from just a single shift of his hips. “If you’re this feeble now, then how could I possibly give you a child at this rate? I’m almost disappointed.”

“Shut up,” You gasp, eyes clenched so tight that your tears are forced to spill out from where they’d been tucked in your eyes. “Don’t tease me like that. You know I’m busy with work and missions.”

“And yet you graciously preferred to keep me on the back burner in favor of your work and everyone else.” That weighted pressure against that spot deep inside of your sopping walls grows more prevalent, and even if it causes a sort of discomfort within your belly, a part of you finds that discomfort to teeter on the slopes of pleasure. “You truly know how to wound a man’s heart, (name). I’m feeling quite heartbroken right now.”

As if to torture you further, he adjusts the angle of his hips, ensuring that the spines of his cock scrape oh so deliciously against your g-spot through every grind and thrust. Despite all of your incessant sobs and pleas for mercy, your (self-proclaimed) heartbroken lover ignores each of your warbled noises in favor of stimulating you further—he’s rather fond of the melodious song that leaves your lips when your body melts against his touch.

“Enciodes, enciodes, enciodes..”

He takes in the sound of your voice, the way your back arches forward and your shoulder blades hunch up, and he thinks about how perfect you are at this moment, pliant and putty beneath him.

He thinks you’d be a wonderful wife, as well as a mother.

© latimeriafellfromheaven

[littlestarbigsky]

inflicting paul with an older sister (who i have named penelope) to further my peril angst potential in my foster ponyboy au

- so i absolutely see penelope and paul as age gap siblings, so paul was born when penny was 16 and a junior in high school

(a bunch more under the cut ;)

- penelope was 100% the golden child for her whole life. the whole nine yards, she did track, swimming, and cheerleading, she was valedictorian, truly every parent’s dream child

- she had such a good relationship with her parents, too, man they ADORED her, mr. holden was always bragging on the golf course about his brilliant baby girl was gonna go to stanford or columbia (bc she had the grades to get in anywhere and tbh they could afford to send her anywhere she wanted to go) and mrs. holden was constantly taking her on little girls dates and just spoiling the hell out of her

- not gonna lie, her parents having paul her junior year kinda messed with her.. she was well on her way to a full ride to whatever college she wanted with her grades and her athletics but she really took it hard when paul was born and she lost her relationship with both of her parents

- all this is NOT to say that she didn’t like paul bc man she loved this baby boy SO MUCH and she was seriously the best big sister… but paul doesn’t remember that, just growing up in her shadow but never even really knowing her *tear*

- with nobody really pushing her to go to college on a scholarship or pressuring her into going to law school, she kinda figured out that she really.. hated the idea?

- she eventually decided to start saving up her allowance (which let’s be honest, it’s probably way too much) and after she graduated, she took her car and headed west until she hit the ocean and just,, never came back

- she def kept in contact with the family, only really came back to visit for christmas and maybe once in the summer if california was realllly hot (tulsa wasn’t much better but at least it rained god damn) but other than that she doesn’t really ever see them

- paul does NOT like to admit it,, but he misses her :( obviously his parents are very supportive of him in football and whatever else, but he wishes she wanted to see him more, especially because their mom talks ALL THE TIME about how great of a big sister was when he was little before she left

- penny and paul have a lot of unresolved resentment towards each other (penny bc when paul was born he ruined her relationship with her parents and paul bc he’s been compared to her for his whole life) which SUCKS bc they really kinda need each other bc they’re not really mad at each other their parents just didn’t know how to have two kids

- so naturally, when ponyboy comes into the picture and paul is already trying to navigate *this* dynamic change and how he feels about it (*cough* darry *cough*) of fucking course that’s when penelope decides to come back home for a couple of months

- she bonds with ponyboy pretty much right away, even though she’s like almost 30 and pony is still 13, they just get each other. don’t ask him about it bc he might punch a wall but paul is SO jealous of it

- not that hippies are a thing in tulsa but my god she’s well on her way lol which i think blends realllllly well with pony’s sunset-poetry-head-in-the-clouds vibe

- on the hippie note: she absolutely gives pony a blunt at some point thinking he’s older than 13 and he tells her EVERYTHING, literally nothing is off the table; his parents, his brothers, HIS BROTHER AND HER BROTHER

- so yea that’s how penny found out about paul and darry lol

- and like the big sister that she is, she obviously is gonna invite darry and soda over for dinner one night just to watch the two of them go insane (and also pony gets to see his brothers so, win-win)

[mermaidsirennikita]

Top romance novel moments that live rent free in your mind.

(I take it back include derek this time I want to read that wild mf again and I need the inspo)

OH HOW THE TURN TABLES

Dreaming of You: obviously, the scene where Sara is all "oh no don't!!!" because she's breastfeeding at the end and he's like "OH YES" and purposefully drinks it because he's a real man; the scene where he thinks she's a ghost and is a blubbering mess of emotions; the "sometimes I want to punish you a little" scene; the "YOU'VE HAD ME LIKE A DRAWN DOG" scene... Like.... That shit.... is so nasty. And I. Live. For It.

The Duke's Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley: there's this scene where Hart fucks Eleanor when she literally has her arm in a sling and he's like "Iiiiiiii don't know if we should be--" and she's all "UM YES PUT IT IN ME" and I love her a lot; there's a scene where after they fuck for the first time in years they're on a boat and he pulls the whole yOU COULD BE WITH CHILD!!!! thing and she's trying to turn down his proposal but then she looks in his eyes and realizes he like, super wants a baby, his womb is EMPTY, and she's like *sigh* yes I will marry you; of COURSE the whole *Eleanor straddles Hart while he scowls and growls at her and she boops him* moment

When the Duke Was Wicked: Rum! On! Lips! Obviously! But I also really love the moment when Lovingdon is like "well we must get married now that we've had sex and I think it'll be great because we're really good buddies and do sex good" and Grace is like "... what" before gathering the blankets up around her being all "GET OUT" in a very dignified manner. He was flabbergasted

The Bride Goes Rogue: lol similarly Preston Clarke doing a "BUT WHAT ELSE IS THERE?" proposal and Katherine politely turning him down, to which he reacts by stumbling to her dad, who he hATES, all she *sob* won't *sob* marry *sob* me!!!!

The Duke Gets Even: the entire book but especially--"I'm going to cover you in bite marks, darling"; Nellie finding out Lockwood's Secret and clearly falling for him in that moment and him being like "pls calm the fuck down I'm only like dying basically"; the pool scene; the scene where he gets trashed to impress her cousins and they're all lmao Nellie isn't a virgin and he goes "THANK CHRIST FOR THAT"; "I'm keeping you, Eleanor" both times; the scene where he finds out nobody in law enforcement cares about him being a duke, like, at all; the scene where he manfully walks away from her and you can tell he's thisclose to bursting into tears the entire time

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli: when Gia bites Enzo right before they have penetrative sex for the first time, like fully bites into his bicep so that it's dripping blood and his response is "stop, you'll make me come"; him returning to her after slaughtering like 20 people to save her sister, covered in bled, being all "suck my dick in the shower while I tell you about all the people I killed" and he looks down during and realizes she's touching herself and is all "THIS IS THE IDEAL WOMAN"; the scene where he keeps her chained to his bed and fingers her while his home reno employees work like six feet away; the scene where he's having a panic attack and she teaches him how to breathe through it and then they have emotional cowgirl eye contact sex and she says "make me your good girl" because... lmao.... the grovel... THE BOOK, basically

Mafia Target: this is one of the only books that has ever pulled off love at first sight so jot that part down; Alessio blowing Giulio in the club and then Giulio getting sent a pic of the guy who's been sent to murder him and realizing it's Alessio lmao; when Giulio finds Alessio chopping wood on the tiny island where they first fell in love, barehanded because he's angsty following a failed grovel, and Giulio is all "oh my god you're fucking up your murder hands you IDIOT" and takes him inside and makes him pasta

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin: the tattoo scene. that is all

Waking Up with the Duke: Ainsley and Jayne's parting and him telling her that he lied before and he'd rather be in her husband's place than in his own; Jayne feeling the baby kick and impulsively taking Ainsley's hand to put it on her belly and him being like "it CAN'T be mine" and freaking out because he wants the entire marriage baby thing with her now

Shadowheart: Allegreto telling Elena to take confession and Elena refusing because she can't handle the idea of going to Heaven if he's not allowed in; conversely lol, a scene where she visits him in prison and like... mouths his dick through his clothes.... and it's reeeeeally hot, especially because they have something of a femdom dynamic lol

New Camelot Trilogy: obviously, every threesome scene; the scene where Greer asks Embry to do CNC with her so she can work through some shit and also, if we are being VERY REAL about that series, CNC is absolutely Greer and Embry's Deal Together; Ash and Embry's Last First Time (and also their first first time tbh); there's this scene where Greer is all "WELCOME HOME CHEATER" because she thinks Embry cheated on them! with her cousin! and I think she like confronts him and is all does she taste sweeter than me is she prettier than me is she softer than me super meanly and he's like "NONE OF THE ABOVE" and goes down on her and it's GREAT

The (ongoing) Lyonesse Trilogy: uhhh in an extra scene there's a moment where Tristan goes "sir?" and Mark replies "Yes, puppy?" and I literally can't stop thinking about that shit. I also really love the face sitting scene in Salt Kiss. More m/m face sitting in romance novels plsthx.

Heated Rivalry: when Shane is on the phone with Ilya after Ilya's dad died and he's like "well just tell me everything that's bothering you in Russian, I don't speak it, just vent" and Ilya vents for five minutes about how he thinks he's in love with Shane and he doesn't know what to do about it and then switches to English all "ANYWAY"

The Kingmaker: the sweatshirt scene. GIRL.

Thief of Shadows: Winter taking the pins out of Isabel's hair; Winter going down on Isabel for the first time and being like "I'm sure I can figure it out somehow" lmao; Winter holding Isabel after she tells him she can't have children and just letting her cry and admitting that he would've loved to have had biological children with her but he wants her above all else oh my HEART

Duke of Midnight: TAKE MY COME FOR IT'S ALL I CAN GIVE YOU.... that whole sex scene is.... insane

Kingdom of Dreams: Royce calling Jennifer a bitch and grumpily dragging her bodily to the altar because he doesn't wanna be there any more than she does!!!

Scandal's Bride: Richard coming back to rescue Catriona from a fire only for her to yell at him after to which he basically says "WHAT. YOU CRAZY BITCH". Also, Catriona going "nobody will believe we had sex Richard" and Richard immediately sketching a pic of her ass and going "lmao well how do I know about your ASS BIRTHMARK" then because of course, he'd just been fucking her from behind like six hours prior.

[turvuren]

cAN I CAN I CANICANICANIIIII

CAN I ASK YOU TO WRITE SOMETHING #WHUMP ABOUT MOON!PHOSPHOPHYLLITE/LITTLE VERS!PHOSPHOPHYLLITE????

and at the same time I’ll share my thoughts on this topic, like, you can ignore them but I just wanted to share so yeah

Maybe Moon / Phos M/F uhoh

I think Phos barely knows Moon...Like, she saw him a couple of times but that was all🤔

Moon is damn tall. Imean...5'8-5'9"??????? And Phos, on the contrary, is a rather short huh, small cute and fragile >:з

I think they would have a small age difference, about a year..

In general, that's all I would like to say, lol, bro. You don’t have to include thoughts in general in the post if you do write something, but it would be great if they were in the post :0

lol i usually write rutile centric stuff 😭😭 I'm pretty indifferent towards phos but I'll try OK SO ive had this idea for a while... sibling phoses. i couldnt think of a way to write them with diff names without it sounding corny in eng, i liked genki phos anyways. like imagine his literal name being winter or moon... or by god, joy. lol

name should be self explanatory. genki - happy, so its the og phos. tsuki - winter. winter phos. tsuki - moon. thats it

cw incest sorry not sorry.

"What the hell is that fucker's problem?..." "What?" Phos shakes her head, gesturing at the man with the weird bucket hair and that weird prosthetic eye. Because no way in hell there's anyone with a natural white iris, right? And heterochromia doesn't work that way. Never does. Her roommate, some weird girl Phos doesn't even bother remembering the name of, just shrugs. "That's just how he usually acts. I think he's a third year." "Still a goddamn weirdo." Phos is messing with the vending machine when he comes across her again, and she just about screams in shock - until she gets a nice, long look at that stupid face. "...brother..?" "Hiya. Long time no see?"

There are 3 Phos's - at least in this small little town. The youngest, Genki, the middle child, Fuyuki, and the eldest half brother to Genki and Fuyuki - Tsuki.

See, Tsuki was a little bit of a brat. And a troublemaker. Genki had never met him, only told stories of him - don't ever turn out like your brother, yadayada, he had been a little bit more than just a handful after - "You're a murderer," Genki says, getting a bit scared now. "How...? Aren't you supposed to be in prison?" Tsuki laughs. "Parole, kid. Anyways, never really seen you in person. What's your name again...? Gen...?" "Genki. You're..." "Tsuki. Your beloved big brother-" "Hell no!" Genki backs away. "Look. Get the hell away from me. I've seen you, watching me these past few... everything! What do you want?" Tsuki laughs again, grating, grating sound against her ears. "What? Can't even look at my own little sister?" "Absolutely not. Go fuck yourself." "What? We just met and you're telling me off?" Genki shakes her head. "You're a damn criminal. I will NOT associate myself with the likes of you - now if you'll excuse me, I have CLASS-" He grabs her by the shoulder and presses his lips against hers. For a moment, Genki is a stunned, unable to react, but as her thoughts return she pushes him away. "What the fuck-?" "I'll make this quick," Tsuki cuts her off. "I'm single. Lonely. You don't wanna see your big brother-" "Cut it out with that big brother crap! You're not my brother, I only have one, and that's-" "Fuyuki? Oh, he's much more pliant compared to you, isn't he? But that's what makes me... endear you. You're so much more feisty, more personality." "I-" "Back to the point. Nobody likes me around here." "And what makes you think I do?!" "Well? We're family. You share my blood. My dirty, murderer blood." "That's not true. We're not even-" "Fully related? That's true. I guess you're only half murderer." "Cut it out!" "No." Genki grits her teeth. What an infuriating bastard. Not even anyone else comes close to this level of... of... "Look, Gen," Tsuki sighs. "I just want someone to spend time with little ol me. Don't you pity me?" Genki narrows her eyes. Maybe... maybe. He's... kind of making her feel bad. "Fine. What do you want?" Oh, but how wrong a decision that is.

Genki buries her face in her hands as Tsuki pulls away, cigarette smoke filling the hotel room. Bite marks over her exposed shoulders where the covers can't hide her shame. "Well? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Dirty. So dirty. This murderer ... and her. "You did a great job there, sis. Don't mope about it. Poison isn't so bad. At least he died quickly. Painlessly." "Painlessly? Really?" They're not so different, are they?

[snailcubezz]

tell us more about jim and his ex pls

YAYAY OK so this might be long sorry

BIG TW for religious trauma, child abuse, internalized homophobia(?) and the fucked up ways it affects these characters that idk how to describe to be very honest with u

for starters, jim and bettie (his ex-wife) both grew up very sheltered in violently strict families who were obsessed with their public image as a Perfect Nuclear Family TM, especially at the church they both went to (which is also how they met)

and for a while, they were odd friends. neither knew how to socialize that well but they understood eachother in a way nobody else did. but later as they grew up and as their situations worsened, they had a really bad falling out (jim became more quiet, obedient and sensitive while bettie just got more fed up and aggressive, even to jim, because of their clashing trauma responses and some extreme dysphoria stuff she didn't have the words for yet) and not long after, jim hears that she ran away from home at age 12 and was never found.

jim's home life got BAD to the point of legal intervention when he was 11, and for a while after he was tossed around between other relatives (who weren't much better, although he got a bit more freedom to leave the house as he got older)

they found eachother again around their mid-teens, when jim moved way out of their hometown to live with one of his relatives (bettie recognized jim pretty easily bc he still dressed and looked nearly the same as he did as a kid LOL) and they got to catch up and reconcile <:]c she got help and support of her own after running away, and became a Lot happier after starting her transition !!

bettie became sort of his only support and escape from everything during that time, and as they grew closer and hung out again more, they started to date. this was a HUGE step in jim getting further away from the constant fear of judgement his family left on him, and pushing back on the "what would my parents think, what would god think" etc. paranoia/guilt he was stuck with for so long.

and while he still has that, and a whole lot of self worth issues and disgust with himself resurfacing from being genuinely loved for the first time (+ since he was still an egg at the time, and viewed their relationship as wlw, theres That factor there too in the "i'm a disgusting unlovable sinner and any second they'll find out and i'll get my punishment" view of himself and any time he let himself be happy) he at least had her, and her friend groups to help him

not long later, jim fully moved in with bettie and the people she was staying with, and he got therapy for a while too ! and in doing so, and processing more of his trauma and feelings better, he realized that he's a trans man and came out to bettie. (and of course, she was ecstatic for him and was So Ready to help him with any steps that he wanted to take with transitioning. she cut his hair for him bc he couldn't bring himself to do it and he was an overjoyed sobbing mess on her when she was done hehsjbdg)

around the same time, they found out they were gonna have al and their life sorta shifted to preparing for that (jim got an easy office job for the psychonauts and has been working there since then, they saved money towards being able to take care of her etc.)

they were married for a solid few years (and only divorced because jim realized that he's gay,) and they still keep close contact and care for eachother and their daughter a lot !!! and al loves her parents :)c

[deadqueernoldor]

what do you think about their brothers pisses off each of the feanorians the most? like a specific pet peeve like CELEGORM IF YOU CARVE ANOTHER BIRD WHISTLE YOU WILL BE WORSE OFF THAN THE TELERI FAMILIAL RELATIONS BE DAMNED

That is literally the perfect reply I could see for curufin. Ok i could go into so much details about what annoyed each brother about each brother but that'd be too much so I'll limit to the most annoying brother lol

Maedhros – Curufin → peeved bc curufin asks him on the opinion on a current project, only to completely ignore any input maedhros has given. Hates hates hates it, but also cant not give input because that will anger curufin.

Maglor – Amras and Amrod → they always come to him while he's composing which, fine, he's ok with briefly being interrupted, but they keep pestering him until they have his undivided attention aka youngest child syndrome and Maglor HATES it

Celegorm – Caranthir → caranthir's so goddamn peculiar with his preferred ink and wax seals. He will simply not write a letter when he is out of either, which means sometimes nobody gets any messages from Caranthir for decades and Celevorm is always the one who's ordered to check up on him.

Caranthir – Maglor → they're close, but by god Maglor is always late with letters. ALWAYS. Especially when Caranthir needs to do the ledgers bc Maglor hates doing it.

Curufin – Celegorm → those fucking goddamn bird whistles make him want to start a one-man-kinslaying every time. Maedhros said no to that, unfortunately

Amrod & Amras – Maedhros → party pooper. He spoils them bc they are the youngest, but he also keeps them on the shortest leash bc he doesnt need another brother to mess with his perfectly laid plans. They're happy when they're far away from Himring bc that means maedhros nagging is contained to letters

[lavellane]

spare some facts about cillian? 👐 i think "retconning" ocs and making new ones is such a fascinating process

oh anon im so sorry i didnt see this wth !!! thank u so much for asking abt my mans ive been so excited to introduce him and talk abt him over the last couple days !

like i said before cillian is heavily inspired by my last hawke, emeraude, mainly in that they're both half elven. cillian is technically bethany & carver's half brother, and not related to leandra by blood. he was malcolm's first child with an antivan elf who ran away to ferelden (disclaimer i havent played mota and im a lil rusty on the lore so this could still be up for changing lol). she died when cillian was about 2, so he doesn't remember her much and as far as he's concerned leandra is his real mother

all he has of his mother is an old green onyx pendant of hers which he wears under his clothes. he doesn't like letting people seeing it including his fam bc he doesn't want them to think they aren't "enough" for him if that makes sense

he's a rogue! tossing up between shadow & assassin but def another dual wielder like elspeth.

he's a very talented painter as well! though he doesn't do it a lot because after his father's death he became the main breadwinner and he felt obligated to put his energy into more practical stuff. so when he was doing crimes he mainly worked whatever capentry jobs he could find. after act 1 when he comes into the amell wealth he begins painting again.

he and carver both fought at ostagar, and cillian nearly died. the iconic red slash hawke usually has is, in cillian's case, a keloid scar from a darkspawn blade that nearly took his damn nose off :/ that, plus carver's death, plus just the horror of the blight itself and losing his home, TRULY traumatized tf out of him and when he does begin painting again, the blight is a strong inspiration for him. he finds a new appreciate for nature, flowers and plantlife, untainted by the blight. he also misses the forests of ferelden and it takes him a while to get acquainted with city life.

he's always had the lifelong nickname ciller like. like killer lol. it started innocently enough but when he got into his shadier line of work it really stuck. ironically varric is the ONLY person (with anders later) who doesn't use that name, because he notices straight away how uncomfortable and unhappy it makes him. varric just calls him hawke :)

he's very self conscious of his elven heritage. for most of his life he hides the tips of his ears under his hair, until about act 3 when he's accumulated enough power and cynicism confidence to not really gaf anymore.

he's primarily a blue!hawke, although it's a bit murky especially as he becomes more of a mythical figure to kirkwall and less of a person. he's also very reserved and likes hiding vulnerability behind humor. so with a few exceptions most of his friends think of him as a purple hawke, whereas the city sees him as red. at his core though, he's very gentle, thoughtful and selfless to a fault. he can be a complete pushover and really doesn't know how to say no to people, because he's so desperate for love and approval and acceptance. being a half-brother and also being half elven has always made him feel a bit like an outsider everywhere he went, and he compensates by doing the MOST for people who arguably dont deserve it.

speaking of that, cillian is an anders-mancer like i said the other day. after the chantry mess cillian is so broken up over it, but he forgives anders anyway and continues to protect him. he does that by lying and telling everybody that he killed anders so that nobody will look for him. varric and isabela are the only two who know the truth, and subsequently the name "ciller" inevitably sticks even though its. literally not true :(

sorry this was so lengthy but i have so much to say abt him and im thankful that you asked! i havent played da2 in years and this is actually gonna be my first full replay, so if there are any lore issues i'll get around to adjusting them eventually

[reveseke]

Please I can just imagine the Spider-people meeting Black Widow!Reader-

Imagine Hotch say that it's okay for the Reader to go with Miguel but only for one day or a week (he won't let Miguel or any others Spider-people take away his child for more than a week), and the spider-people have to meet a Spiderman that can save but kill at the same time, and that want to kill in a way.

I just know that most of the Spider people will have scared because what do you mean there a spider man that can kill by biting ? And their instincts want them to bite ?? AND THEY HAVE KILL AND WORK WITH THE FBI ???

I know some of them will be in the denial, like living in the delulu until they see the Reader with Miguel and Peter who tries to teach them not to bite, to resist their spider instincts.

IMAGINE DURING THE SPIDER VERSE, WHEN MILES IS HERE, THE READER DECIDED TO GO ON HIS SIDE AND SAY THAT THEY CAN AND WILL BITE- *End of the fight because nobody wants to be killed, especially by one of them.*

Yeah, I just love to think that Black Widow!Reader is like, THE spider-person nobody wants to mess with.

-🕷anon

I feel like I'm a bit slow at answering your asks, don't mind that, holy shit lmao.

The way black widow! Reader would possibly get swarmed with questions from the spider folk specifically the teen group when they come in at first !! Also the way Peter would try to crack jokes about the situation and possibly be there when it comes to the "handovers" with Hotch to make it known/assure that there isn't going to be any harm done to the kid at all and they'll be returned safe and sound to him. (The only reason I think Peter would possibly be with Miguel on that handover thing is because while both are (or was) dad's, they also wanna reassure that the kid's going to be safe. Knowing the worry that there is for any parent about their kid in this case biological or not.)

I can imagine how wild the teen group would get at least; Hobie, Pavrit, Gwen & Miles. (Honestly, Hobie's going to be skeptic due to affiliation with the FBI, but in Black widow!reader's defense he had little to no say in what happened with him when he was caught and out in custody of an agent lol !!) And the way they'd probably drag them around the HQ.

And absolutely, Black widow! Reader would be on Miles side bc while his canon event was also about a close one dying but Miles has already gone through his canon event and doesn't need "another one" with his dad dying!! I believe they would understand that to the point of thinking it's not fair that Mile's dad should be dead (I believe it was his dad at the risk of dying in the second movie, I haven't actually watched it yet lol. Correct me if I'm wrong by any means.) — but like still, they'd help Miles escape. Absolutely with the threat of biting some folks, but I also think that it would get them dog piled for it due to the threat (looking how many of the spider folk there are in that scene, I think it's not impossible to dog pile and subdue them but it would give Miles time to run out of there by Reader being difficult for/to them lol)

Also stupid idea? Possibly not! But I think as a precaution Miguel and the older spider folk would most likely make a mouth guard for them to make sure they can't bite anyone in case there are accidents or something alike. (Possibly making two so one could be brought to Hotch??)

[thelazyhermits]

I’ve got another Fortune (Yuu) in Twisted Wonderland post cause I finished watching videos of the Halloween event with the Magicam Monsters yesterday and I wanted to do my version of that event.

First off, I wanna say that I realize this event should technically happen not long after Yuu arrives at NRC since school started in Aug/Sept, but since Twst events seem to have a timeline of their own, considering the character interactions imply that more than just a few months have transpired, I’m gonna ignore the timeline and just say that Yuu is on friendly terms with all the dorms in this event after having gone through all or the majority of the canon story events with them.

This way Yuu can have plenty of fun times with everyone before the Magicam Monsters arrive and because I like the thought of everyone being displeased with the Ramshackle dorm’s treatment during this incident.

Anyway, I see things starting off with one of Yuu’s & Malleus’s usual nightly strolls/chats over tea. At random, he asks her if she is familiar with Halloween.

While Yuu is familiar with the holiday, she has never actually celebrated it. The closest she came would be participating in masked cage fights which involved the fighters and the audience members wearing masquerade masks, although oftentimes the spectators would dress up for Halloween for fun too.

She, of course, doesn’t actually tell Malleus that last tidbit since she prefers to keep her past a secret. 

Upon hearing that Yuu has never gotten to enjoy Halloween, Malleus promises her that she will get that experience this year, and his way of fulfilling that promise is by choosing Ramshackle dorm as his dorm’s stamp station.

He doesn’t actually tell her about his plans, but Yuu is smart enough to figure things out when she and Grim come home one day to find Diasomnia decorating Ramshackle for Halloween.

This makes Yuu happy and excited since she’ll finally get to celebrate Halloween, with actual friends, something she has always wanted to do.

Now, like in all my other stories, Yuu has a fear of horror due to Mumei sometimes punishing her by forcing her to watch countless horror movies since he enjoyed scaring her and laughing at how easily scared she got.

Considering that, you’d think Halloween would be her least favorite day, but that’s actually not quite true.

Yuu honestly really likes the idea of dressing up in costumes and giving/receiving candy. She thinks the whole concept of the holiday is very interesting and fun.

The only time she would be really scared is if someone tried to scare her by surprising her since she is easily startled. Jump scares will get her every time, which is why haunted houses are a no go lol

Also, if costumes are scary, then that will have an effect on her too, but if someone she knows is wearing them, then she’ll eventually get used to it. It’s mostly just that initial exposure that scares her.

Plus, I personally didn’t think any of the costumes from the Halloween event were all that scary, so I think Yuu would be fine with them.

Kalim, for sure, she wouldn’t be afraid of because he looks so cute as a werewolf. When he tries to scare her when she first visits Scarabia’s stamp station, he succeeds in startling her, but once she gets over that initial surprise, all she can think is how cute he is so she ends up hugging him without thinking lol

(Yuu is weak towards anything she finds cute. More often than not, she has zero impulse control, which is why her hugging Grim is per the norm and how he can get away with so much stuff, even though she does get plenty exasperated with him.)

Kalim would probably complain a little since she’s supposed to be scared, but considering how he is, he’d probably be happy just to see her happy so he just goes along with it in the end.

(Hugging is completely normal for these two since Kalim is very physically affectionate, and Yuu is touch starved so she naturally gravitates toward this ball of sunshine.)

Speaking of costumes, it was never mentioned what kind Yuu was given in canon, but I’m just gonna say that Yuu gets a witch costume since that would match well with Grim’s costume.

In canon, the ghosts said they made the costumes using scraps they found in the house, but I figure it would take more than just that to make a full costume for Yuu so I like the idea of them getting help from Sam who charges the supplies to Crowley cause it’s Crowley’s fault that Ramshackle never got a heads up about Halloween and Sam thinks he should at least make sure they get proper costumes lol

So, once they get their costumes, Yuu & Grim enjoy the first day of Halloween Week like in canon, and she gets to see everyone in their costumes and enjoy all the festivities. 

During her visit to Pomefiore’s stamp station, Vil takes notice of the fact that Yuu’s not wearing any makeup which he disapproves of since a good Halloween costume isn’t complete without makeup. 

Since he can’t leave the stamp station, Vil orders Rook to take care of getting some makeup put on Yuu, and Rook is all too happy to comply. Yuu is also given some makeup to take home with her, so she can do it herself for any other day she decides to walk around in her costume. 

The first few days of Halloween week are fun, making Yuu & Grim believe their first Halloween will be a great one, but then, things eventually start to go downhill.

The morning of the fourth day of Halloween week, Yuu gets a vision, showing her some of the incidents that will be happening that day with the Magicam Monsters.

Obviously, Yuu needs to warn Crowley about what’s going to happen. While there really isn’t anything they can do to prevent the Magicam Monsters from appearing, everyone at least can prepare themselves for what’s going to happen.

After she has the vision, Yuu quickly seeks out Cater since her vision showed her that he was clearly the most knowledgeable about the Magicam Monsters, so she figured bringing him along to meet with Crowley would be the wisest choice of action since Cater would understand what’s going on better than she could explain.

Thankfully, this isn’t like her Overblot visions where she’ll feel immense pain thanks to her Quirk’s drawback if she reveals the contents of her vision. As a result, she’s able to tell them about what’s going to happen in the near future.

Regrettably, since it’s such short notice, nothing can really be done to stop the Magicam Monsters except for the methods that were used in canon. However, things at least are slightly less chaotic because everyone knew ahead of time that things were about to get crazy.

Things only get worse from there when the Magicam Monsters start breaking and entering into Ramshackle, which keeps Yuu and Grim preoccupied for the rest of the day and the following day.

The Magicam Monsters even start showing up in the middle of the night, resulting in Yuu/Grim losing sleep. Yuu also starts eating less due to the stress of the situation causing her to lose her appetite and get stomach cramps. Plus, there were also times when the Magicam Monsters would show up just as she was about to eat, so she’d forget about eating in favor of stopping the intruders.

Since the use of physical force would result in the police getting involved, Yuu can’t just beat up the home invaders despite how much she’d like to as her patience gets progressively thinner. 

Instead, she just has to do whatever else she can to get them out of the dorm with various levels of success. As a result, Yuu ends up with plenty of bruises and scratches due to being knocked around by the Magicam Monsters when they come stampeding into the dorm. Poor girl even gets stepped on by a girl wearing heels at one point. 

However, on the night of the fifth day of Halloween week, close to midnight, Yuu, who’s barely slept the night prior and has been dealing with this nonsense for two full days now, finally reaches her limit.

(Normally, it takes a lot for her to really lose her cool since she’s a pretty patient person. The main exception to that rule is when she’s dealing with perverts since, due to having to deal with a lot of them in the underworld and not being able to fight back since they were a source of income for Mumei, Yuu absolutely can’t stand them and will lash out if a guy ever tries anything untoward with her.)

On this night, Yuu reaches the end of her patience due to the umpteenth home/dorm invasion which consists of a group of guys’ refusing to listen to her requests to leave and because one of them suggests a new Magicam challenge where people come by and get a friendly picture with the Ramshackle’s security guard, which is the title Yuu has earned for herself over the last two days.

The guy has the nerve to throw an arm around Yuu’s shoulders, claiming that a cheek kiss picture will be super popular and be hard for anyone else to beat.

Of course, Yuu doesn’t let him get very far with his plans since she has finally had enough.

In a blink, she has him by the collar and brings his face close to hers, glaring all the while. “If you don’t leave here in the next ten seconds, I’ll not only make it so that none of you will ever be able to have children but also ensure that the pain I inflict upon you will be felt in your very bones for the rest of your entire life.”

Normally, Yuu isn’t considered a “scary” individual thanks to her motherly personality. However, when she’s mad, like really mad, she can be just as scary as the most intimidating NRC students.

Of course, it also helps that she chooses to activate her Quirk while she’s making her threat, which causes her eyes to start glowing a bright red since that’s what happens when she uses her Quirk while angry. 

Naturally, anyone would find the sight of someone’s eyes suddenly turning red to be frightening especially when that person is wearing the kind of scary expression that Yuu is wearing. 

Jumping to the conclusion that Yuu is actually a demon or a human possessed by a demon, all the Magicam Monsters promptly vacate the premises. As they’re leaving, she yells that they better not be so disrespectful toward women ever again or trespass on other people’s property. 

Thanks to her using her Quirk, Yuu doesn’t have to worry about facing any backlash for threatening the Magicam Monsters because they truly thought they had a dangerous supernatural encounter, which is why they have no intention to ever return to Ramshackle.

After the Magicam Monsters leave, Yuu suddenly starts laughing which makes Grim cautiously back away from her because he thinks she has finally lost it lol

Fortunately, Yuu has not lost her mind due to recentful stressful events. The reason she’s laughing is because she finally knows how to get rid of the Magicam Monsters thanks to what just happened.

The only way to get rid of the intruders is to make it so that they don’t want to be here. They have to make it so that the Magicam Monsters want to leave.

And the only suitable way to do that is by scaring them since that’s what Halloween is all about. 

“If those Magicam Monsters want a haunted house, I’ll give them a haunted house, one that will be in their nightmares for many weeks to come. Hehe~”

After enlisting Grim and the Ramshackle ghosts’ help, Yuu comes up with a plan that involves the use of her Quirk, Grim’s blue fire which can look like will-o’-the-wisps, and the ghosts’ ability to move things without being detected.

Making uses of the makeup Rook gave her and one of the old fashioned nightgowns that came with the dorm, Yuu makes herself appear like the typical ghost girls you’d see in horror movies.

Yuu uses all the knowledge she has on horror movies to put together the scariest setup for the dorm, which includes the typical scary sounds, unusual movement from an undetectable source, and a sudden decrease in temperature which is doable thanks to the ghosts’/Grim’s magic.

After midnight, the next group of Magicam Monsters arrive, eager to visit the haunted Ramshackle dorm at such a spooky hour. 

Once the Magicam Monsters are inside, the ghosts slam the front door closed and lock it without being noticed. The Magicam Monsters get excited since they think this is all a part of the spooky experience.

That excitement slowly dwindles, however, when the Ramshackle ghosts never appear before them like they were expecting. Instead, lots of spooky things start to happen, and the temperature suddenly drops to the point they can see their breath.

After the will-o’-the-wisps appear, Yuu finally makes her debut by suddenly dropping down from the ceiling which is where she had been hiding thanks to the ghosts’ magic.  

Her sudden appearance startles the Magicam Monsters, and they only get more frightened when Yuu creepily smiles and expresses how happy she is to see humans in her new home.

A demon like her can only come out at night because she used up so much of her power traveling to Ramshackle which she has made into her new home, so Yuu was sad that she had been missing out on feasting on everyone who’s been hanging around Ramshackle so she can regain her lost energy. 

Since there have been so many rule breakers, Yuu had hopes that just as people sneaked into Ramshackle when they weren’t supposed to during the day there would also be people who might try to sneak into the dorm after hours despite the school being closed to the public.

Yuu is soooooo happy that she was right! Now, she doesn’t have to go out and hunt for her next meal since they came straight to her. 

Eyes glowing a sinister red, Yuu grins as she licks her lips. “Thank you for the meal~”

Just as she hoped, the Magicam Monsters are utterly terrified and don’t hesitate to run away from her. With the help of the ghosts’ magic, Yuu flies after the intruders. Meanwhile, Grim fires off some fireballs, making it look like they’re coming from Yuu.

Because the front door is locked, the Magicam Monsters have to escape through a conveniently opened window. All the while, Yuu yells at them to come back and that she won’t allow them to escape.

Once the Magicam Monsters are out of the area, Yuu and the others start laughing and celebrating over a successful scare. While Yuu hates being scared, she must admit it’s pretty fun being the one doing the scaring. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the last of the Magicam Monsters, so most of the rest of the night is spent with Yuu remaining awake, scaring them away from Ramshackle.

As a result, Yuu is totally exhausted when morning finally arrives. Not only that, she’s battling a headache and a slight fever due to how often she used her Quirk last night. 

Even though they were successful in scaring away the Magicam Monsters, Grim is still fed up with their situation. That’s why he goes to the Halloween Committee meeting to complain like he does in the game.

Yuu had tried to stop him since she knows it’s not their fault, but since there was no reasoning with him, she just ended up tagging along to ensure Grim didn’t cause too much trouble for everyone. 

Obviously, Yuu isn’t really in a very good mood either, but she’s at least rational enough that she knows complaining to the committee won’t accomplish anything. Plus, she knows they’ve been working hard these last few days like her, which is why she had refrained from making any complaints to them up until this point.

Like in canon, the meeting gets cut short due to what happens to the Great Seven statues. After everyone sees what happens with the statues, the teachers start to consider cancelling the party and leave to have a staff meeting on the matter, with Yuu making sure to ask if the party could still happen if the Magicam Monsters problem is solved before they leave like in canon.

Things diverge from canon when, as the students are trying to think of what to do to get rid of the Magicam Monsters that doesn’t involve using magic/brute force, Yuu bluntly tells them to just scare the Magicam Monsters away.

“Halloween is all about scaring, right? Just do that with them. It worked with me and Grim last night, so I’m sure it’ll work again if you play your cards right.”

(So she basically steals the Octotrio’s thunder which probably disappoints them lol)

This leads to the guys questioning Yuu about what happened last night, so she gives a quick summary about what happened, with Grim throwing in his own two cents.

The guys’ reactions are a variation of impressed, amused, awed, and slightly intimidated after hearing what she did since it’s obviously no small feat to get rid of those Magicam Monsters. Plus, her threat, which she repeated for them, was pretty scary from a guy’s POV lol

They’re also impressed that Yuu was able to come up with a way to scare off all the other Magicam Monsters that came last night considering she didn’t have a lot to work with or a lot of time to plan.

I could see Floyd wishing that he had gotten invited to help cause he would’ve loved helping scare all the Magicam Monsters lol Meanwhile, Ace is wondering how someone like Yuu who’s so bad with horror can be so good at scaring people haha

Someone makes the comment that this would explain why Yuu has been yawning a lot this morning, but Grim quickly explains it isn’t just because of last night. It’s because they’ve both barely gotten any sleep the last two days due to all the dorm invasions.

Some of the guys start to get a little worried on Yuu’s behalf when they hear that since they realize she does look pale. 

After looking her over, Ruggie, who’s eyeing her suspiciously, asks when was the last time she ate, and she tells him she had breakfast to which Grim argues that all she had was a piece of toast which she only took a few bites of.

When Grim proceeds to reveal that Yuu has hardly eaten anything since the Magicam Monsters showed up, Yuu tries to stop him but because she turns toward him too quickly she ends up getting dizzy and almost falls over.

Fortunately, Ruggie grabs onto her, preventing her from falling. Yuu thanks him and tells him she’s okay now, but he doesn’t believe that for a second.

Which is why Ruggie proceeds to scoop her up into a bridal carry and announces that she’s going to Savanaclaw where he’ll make sure she’ll sleep and eat.

Yuu tries to protest since she still needs to go to class, but Ruggie ignores her and tells Leona and Jack to give him an update when everyone figures out what the plan is for dealing with the Magicam Monsters.

When Ruggie runs off with Yuu, Grim goes after them since that’s his henchman Ruggie is running off with and like hell he’s going to class if she’s not lol

(I feel like Ruggie would be the best person for doing this since Savanaclaw has a spare room that Yuu has used before. Plus, he’s the type who can’t just see a girl, who’s in bad shape, and not do something, especially if it’s a girl he’s friends with. Plus, Leona would’ve given him the order to do this anyway, even if Ruggie hadn’t taken action.)

After Yuu has left, the guys realize just how bad the Ramshackle situation has been. Because they’ve been so caught up in dealing with the Magicam Monsters on their end, they didn’t realize just what Yuu/Grim had been going through these last two days.

Sure, the Diasomnia guys knew to an extent, but they didn’t realize there were Magicam Monsters sneaking in at night to break into the dorm. If they did, Malleus would be even more pissed than he already is, which is why no one is looking forward to breaking the news to him lol

This was the main reason I wanted this AU where the timeline is different since I wanted all the guys to be upset on Yuu’s behalf, even if it doesn’t noticeably change anything that happens in canon as far as their plans to scare off the Magicam monsters are concerned, although I guess some of the guys might be even scarier since they’re mad haha

While the guys are getting ready to make their move at the end of the day, Yuu spends the day at Savanaclaw mostly sleeping. She was so exhausted she ended up falling asleep in Ruggie’s arms shortly after he took off with her.

When she’s not sleeping, Ruggie is making sure she eats, and she doesn’t argue with him since she knows he’s just worried about her. Plus, she does feel better after having finally gotten some good sleep.

I like the idea of, during this time, Trey/Jade/Jamil bringing some food over to Savanaclaw for Yuu since they wanna check on her/make sure she’s eating and resting. Plus, it’d be like a dorm pride thing since they can’t just let Savanaclaw take all the glory lol

Which is why I could see Rook, Ortho, and Sebek dropping by, with Sebek being the one responsible for bringing notes from the classes that Yuu/Grim missed. Lilia probably gave him the idea since Malleus would be even more sad if his dear friend’s studies suffered because of recent events.

(Most of these guys I picked since they aren’t on the Halloween Committee. Jade is the exception, but I figured Azul would want him to go rather than Floyd since Jade is less likely to cause trouble in enemy territory lol)

Aside from this, everything goes the same as canon. When it comes time for everyone to enact their plans to scare the Magicam Monsters, Yuu decides to watch Savanaclaw have their fun with the Magicam Monsters while Grim joins in on the scaring in other areas on campus like he did in the game since he wanted some more revenge. 

Yuu/Grim end up staying the night at the Savanaclaw dorm since nobody wanted to take the risk of someone breaking and entering Ramshackle that night and leaving Yuu/Grim forced to deal with it.

Thankfully, when Halloween Day arrives, no Magicam Monsters show up, so the party isn’t cancelled just like in canon.

When Yuu/Grim, who are back at Ramshackle by this point in time, get this good news, Vil/Cater/Jade surprise them when they get pulled into the parade they planned for today and end up riding on the float with the three upperclassmen.

This really helps turn things around for Yuu/Grim when it comes to their perception of Halloween since they have a great time on the parade float, and they have even more fun during the big party that follows after it.

For the most part, nothing is different about the party, although I could see some of the guys checking in on Yuu to make sure she’s doing alright/having fun. Meanwhile, Ruggie is just shoving food at her whenever he sees her lol

Maybe Yuu would also be given a break from being on constant Grim monitoring duty since she definitely deserves it haha

One thing I would want to change is how Leona gets in a bad mood following Cheka’s phone call. Before he can leave the party, Yuu notices his sour mood and immediately approaches him to help cheer him up since she doesn’t like seeing him in the kinds of moods that usually follow anything related to his family.

Yuu tries to distract him from his bad mood by scaring him, but she’s not scary at all so he just finds her attempt amusing, which is what she was hoping for. 

However, she was not hoping for all the cheek pulling he proceeds to do as he makes fun of her for her poor excuse of a roar. (which for some reason was something everyone was doing in that event no matter what they were dressed as. The “Gao~” was more adorable than scary 😂) Plus, he’s gotta get back at her for daring to try to scare someone like him, especially with such a pitiful attempt.

Normally, this is how Yuu’s attempts to cheer Leona go. He just ends up messing with her for a while since he enjoys bullying her, affectionately 😂Obviously, Yuu enjoys seeing a grin on Leona’s face, but she wishes it wouldn’t always come at her expense lol

Ruggie eventually comes to Yuu’s rescue, telling Leona to knock it off because Yuu won’t be able to eat if her cheeks are sore. 

Upon realizing that Ruggie wants her to eat even more, Yuu is comically horrified because she has already eaten so much at his insistence. Vil is going to kill her if he finds out how many calories she has consumed at such a late hour lol

When Yuu comments that she’ll need to run a marathon to burn off all the calories she’s consumed, Jack joins the conversation since talks about exercise always get his attention haha

It’s around this time that Yuu finds out that Jack’s been feeling guilty about what happened to her, because he feels like he could’ve prevented it. The reason he feels that way is because for the last few mornings Yuu hasn’t joined Jack for their usual morning run.

After that first sleepless night, Yuu had texted Jack that she wouldn’t be able to join him for the next few days. She did this because she didn’t want him to notice how exhausted she was or the bruises/scratches she ended up with thanks to the Magicam Monsters. 

Jack knows that Yuu isn’t the type to cancel things for no good reason, so he should’ve known that something was wrong. However, because he was so caught up on what to do with the Magicam Monsters on his end, he never gave her situation the consideration he should have.

Yuu is quick to assure him that she’s the one at fault because she wanted to avoid people noticing that something was wrong. She especially didn’t want to trouble Jack when he already had so much on his plate. 

Since she feels bad for worrying him, Yuu promises not to keep secrets like that from Jack anymore, and he promises to do the same since it’s only fair. 

Later on, Yuu ends up alone with Malleus who sought her out since he wanted to apologize for what Yuu went through since he feels responsible, but Yuu is quick to assure him that she doesn’t blame him and tells him that she appreciated him wanting to help her enjoy Halloween.

She makes sure he knows that she had a wonderful first Halloween and is grateful to him for the role he played in ensuring this happened.

However, it will be even more fun if she gets to properly hang out with Malleus so she makes sure he doesn’t disappear on her like he does in the game. 

It was a crazy Halloween to say the least, but in the end, Yuu will look back on it fondly since she made way more good memories than bad ones thanks to all the great friends she has made.

[healinghyunjin]

Wolfsbane

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader (fem)

Genre: romance, angst, fluff, smut; historical!AU, arranged marriage!AU, strangers-to-lovers, 18+

Word Count: 16.7k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of warfare/violence, mentions of blood, explicit sexual content, unprotected sex, outdated sexual norms/attitudes

Author’s Note: Feedback and reblogs are what keep me going - so any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated!! This is unedited because I just wanted to get it out lol; I will be doing a read-through tomorrow for errors, but if you guys find any in the meantime, please let me know!!

Summary: You took a deep breath before lifting your head, staring right at Chan. “I can be your collateral – as your wife.”

As you trudged up the stone stairway, heavy buckets of water swinging from your arms, you stopped to wipe the sweat off your forehead – and curse the day your father had ever been born. 

One of the captains, a tall, built archer overseeing the supply stockpile, caught sight of you, and, aghast, rushed down to help. 

“Milady, you shouldn’t be carrying loads like that all this way by yourself!” 

“I appreciate the sentiment, Captain Jeong, but – if I don’t, who’s going to?”

You’d been under siege now for weeks, and morale inside was wearing very, very thin. Everyone knew that you were fighting a losing battle. 

Once the two of you had lugged the water buckets up to the ramparts, you quickly got to work distributing water to the hot, tired archers and pulling aside those that needed medical attention. There were only a few, luckily, with mild injuries, but you couldn’t take care of them until Jeongin came up with your bandages and salves and more water.

As the two of you herded the injured men into some shade, you turned to the captain, wanting to assuage your guilt in some way. 

“I know words don’t mean much right now, but I’m sorry that you all are having to go through all of this…” you trailed off, not knowing what else you could say. 

He leaned against the parapet, looking down at you with a wry half-smile. “Yunho. You can call me Yunho, milady…It’s really not that bad, compared to things we’ve gone through before…the boys down there seem like they want to wait us out more than anything. We haven’t lost any men since the first day they showed up.”

“Thankfully,” you said grimly. “If they threw everything they had at us, we wouldn’t last a day.”

For you had no ordinary enemy waiting outside your gates right now. The Bangs were only spoken of in hushed whispers in these parts, the collective memory of their ruthless might and devastating tactics stretching back for centuries. While your grandfather had painstakingly managed to wrangle together a careful peace, allowing an entire generation to grow up without the fear of war looming over their heads, your father – with his heavy-handedness, his hubris and sheer stupidity – had torn it all apart in  a few simple, greedy strokes. Then, when the Bangs rightfully demanded their fair due, he’d turned tail and fled in the middle of the night, leaving you and Jeongin behind to clean up his mess. 

And now, you had the scion of that nefarious family camped out just a stone’s throw away from you: Bang Chan. There wasn’t a child in the eight realms who hadn’t heard of his name, his frightening skill as a warrior, or his fiery hair - dyed in the blood of his enemies, as the rumors had it. You knew they were ridiculous - but you still couldn’t help the slight shiver that ran down your spine. 

Given the events of the past weeks however, you were more skeptical of the man’s reputation. Bang Chan was clearly formidable, an impressive combination of intelligence and might and masterful leadership. But if he was truly the bloodthirsty monster the stories made him out to be, he would have just smashed his way through your small kingdom in days, enslaving and pillaging your people for all their worth. This careful siege was the sign of a man with great restraint – and enough forethought to realize this was a war nobody here wanted to fight. 

At the sound of a shout behind you, you shook off your somber thoughts, turning to see Jeongin running at you like a madman, frantically waving a letter. 

“Innie, where have you been? And did you not bring any wa-”

“No, stop, this is important! It’s a message from the southern borders – and the messenger said that it’s urgent.”

The southern borders? That was the direction your father and his men had headed in when they’d left, and you hadn’t had any word from him since. 

You hastily took the scroll from him, breaking the seal and unrolling it so that both you and Jeongin, peering over your shoulder, could read it. 

And what you found there took your breath away. 

My lord and lady…

I write with somber tidings. At your command, we were scouting in search of His Majesty, The King’s party at our southern borderlands this morning when we found the remains of five men. Their clothing, height and weight all corresponds with them being His Majesty, The King along with his four knights, and I myself, along with three other men, were able to positively identify each of their identities. 

We are currently en route to the castle with the remains, which we have done our best to preserve. I am writing you this missive in strict confidence so that you may take the necessary actions in the meantime. 

“The king is dead, long live the King…” you whispered, turning to look at your brother with wide, shocked eyes. Jeongin was pale, swallowing nervously as the weight of what had just happened truly hit him. 

“The king is dead, long live the King!” The two of you turned to see Yunho, new fire blazing in his eyes, bending a knee to Jeongin and bellowing out the proclamation. 

Across the ramparts, men stopped what they were doing in shock, dropped their weapons and took a knee as the chant spread like wildfire. In a matter of seconds, you and Jeongin were the only people left standing amid the din; fierce pride and love in your heart, you reached up to cup his face, pressing a stately kiss to his forehead. 

There was hope. 

It had to end – now. Jeongin and you both agreed that the first and most immediate course of action needed to be ending the siege; you had no interest prolonging a war neither of you had wanted to fight in the first place. 

The very next morning, Jeongin ordered your defenders to stand down, leaving a single company of archers on the ramparts. A conspicuously blunted arrow, a thick scroll wrapped around its shaft, was expertly shot to land right in from of the enemy standard. 

Observing from the walls, you saw Bang Chan himself, the red glint of his hair unmistakeable, step out of his tent. As one of his men untied the message, Chan looked thoughtfully up at your defenses, clearly lost in thought. 

Somehow, some way, almost as if it was meant to be, you watched as Chan’s eyes slowly came to land on you. Even from so far away, the intensity of his gaze seared through you. Within the blink of an eye however, Chan’s attention was drawn away to the scroll, leaving you wondering if you’d just imagined the moment. 

While a lesser man would have gloated, reveled in his victory, Chan was made of better stuff. As he read through the letter, you saw his features slightly relax; he granted himself a moment to briefly close his eyes before turning back to his commanders. Before he disappeared into his tent however, he looked up your way yet again; when his eyes finally found yours, he gave you a gentle, but regal nod.

The reply came back quickly. Chan agreed to a cease-fire and convene a council in the castle with your advisors and his to negotiate terms. For his own safety, he would additionally bring his personal guard in with him; he didn’t need to spell out what the consequences of any betrayal would be.

For the first time in weeks, the great drawbridge was lowered. As the church bells tolled in sonorous joy, you watched your sweet Jeongin, the royal diadem awkwardly perched on his head, ride out with your knights to welcome Chan – your new overlord, you realized suddenly with a pang in your heart – and his party. The two men formally clasped hands, exchanging the customary greetings; as they turned to head inside the castle, you hastily jumped down from your perch. You were already an unwanted invitee for this council meeting – you shouldn’t make it worse by being late. 

While your father had been a stickler for traditional norms, it was Jeongin who called the shots now. He’d made it very clear that it was your choice to come to the council or not, and if you did, he would make sure that your opinion was respected. You wouldn’t miss it for the world. 

You arrived just in time, running up to Jeongin’s side just as everyone was about to enter the chamber. Your brother flashed you a quick, heartfelt smile before discreetly squeezing your hand, giving - and receiving - strength before this first, perhaps biggest, test of his kingship. 

“Your sister, I presume?” You turned to see the man, the legend – Bang Chan himself – walking up to the two of you, studying you with intelligent, thoughtful eyes. 

While you’d caught glimpses of him here and there from the ramparts, you were not prepared for the sight of the man that stood in front of you now – Chan was handsome. While he may not have been tall, he was still physically imposing, with broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a strong, masculine jaw. For someone who spent so much time on campaign, his skin was still somehow milky pale, a trait that only set off his dark, almond eyes and full, pouty lips to full effect. 

You realized that you should probably be scared of him; after all, this was a man whose supposed bloodlust was the stuff of scary bedtime stories. But - as you watched the way he carried himself, the way he looked at your and Jeongin’s still entwined hands with gentle understanding in his eyes - something told you that Bang Chan was a man you could trust. 

At the sound of his voice for a second time, you snapped your gaze back down to the ground, flushing slightly as you realized you’d ended up staring at him. 

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Princess – about your intelligence and bravery and skill as a healer. It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

You were taken aback a little by the sincerity of his praise, the warmth in his gaze as he gave you a small bow, let alone the fact that he even acknowledged your presence, something that – judging by the disapproving glances of his advisors – was a courtesy that you, a princess of a defeated nation, didn’t deserve. 

 Not really knowing how to respond, you merely murmured your thanks, sinking into a deep curtsy in front of him. 

There was just something about him – something magnetic – that sucked you in, rendered you almost mute in front of him – and you needed your wits about you for what was about to go down. Therefore, you quickly made your excuses and slunk back to hide behind Jeongin. So much for your so-called bravery. 

As the heralds announced the formalities necessary to begin the meeting, the disappointed advisors from before now looked outright shocked as you took the seat right next to Jeongin. For Chan’s part, he kept his expression carefully neutral – though you could swear that you saw an amused smile flash across his face when you raised a challenging eyebrow at a particularly belligerent-looking general of his. 

As both sides presented their initial terms, the tension in the air was almost suffocating. It was clear that Chan and his advisors were engaged in a tug-of-war of their own to decide how to deal with your little nation. In characteristic fashion, Chan had championed diplomacy – a peaceful, bloodless annexation of your city that would keep most of its existing power structures and rules intact. 

The advisors, however, were baying for blood. Chan’s penchant for even-handedness had become a major point of contention with his generals, who didn’t take too kindly to having their influence and power snatched away from them. It was obvious that they didn’t want to be having these negotiations in the first place – they would have preferred to just crush you in battle and conquer you completely – but, since talks were happening, they were now pushing for punitive, harsh terms. 

What to do with Jeongin – and by extension, you – was another major point of contention. Chan typically allowed rulers who negotiated with him in his initial overtures to remain in power, treating them as loyal vassals but keeping a watchful eye on them. Those who fought him, however – if they weren’t killed in the fighting, they were typically relieved of their titles and estates, sent away to be a governor of another province far, far away from their own. 

Jeongin, however, was in the awkward position of having surrendered after fighting a war started by his father. Given the strength of his ties to the land and general popularity amongst the people – which greatly outweighed your father’s – the logistically simplest choice would be to leave him as King. But – could he be trusted?

It was this point that the generals zeroed in on to launch their attacks. 

“Your Majesty, you cannot rely on these people and their loyalty. The Yangs have shown again and again that they are backstabbers and cowards – they have no honor.”

Next to you, you felt Jeongin bristle, tensing at the blatant insult. Tamping your own emotions down, you laid a calming hand on Jeongin’s arm; pride was a luxury the defeated didn’t have. And, more to the point – your father’s actions had only proved what the man was saying.

Seeing the lack of resistance from your camp, the man pushed forward. “And not just them - this entire court must be rounded up and forced to pay for their actions. I would suggest, Your Majesty, that the deposed Yangs are removed to a place far, far away,” the smug, greasy lord turned to address Chan directly, a serpentine smile on his face, “and that one of us be placed in charge of overseeing this integration process.”

So you can raid and fill your own coffers at the expense of my people, you thought to yourself, lip curling in disgust at his cruel greed. 

“Lord Cho.” Chan’s voice rang out loud and clear, cutting the man off. “Your…enthusiasm for our cause is appreciated, but such flagrant disrespect will not be tolerated.” With a wave of Chan’s hand, the man had no choice but to sit down, still spluttering; your lips couldn’t help but quirk slightly at the sharp dismissal. 

What he said next though took your breath away.

“The lord general does raise a valid point.” You and Jeongin both sucked in a sharp breath; your hand immediately clutched at Jeongin’s thigh. 

“I still insist on a peaceful annexation,” Chan gave his advisors a meaningful look; they had no option but to duck their heads, simmering in resentment. 

“I am also still heavily inclined towards leaving my lord Yang here as my lieutenant and the governor in charge. But…” he trailed off for a second; you held your breath, knowing your future would hang on whatever came out of his mouth next. 

Chan lifted his head, surveying your side of the room before locking eyes with you; they were still the warm, inviting brown they’d been before – just with a harder edge to them. 

“I would need collateral.” You bit your lower lip in thought – and you could almost swear that Chan’s gaze strayed down to your lips for just a second before flitting back to your eyes. “I need something to convince me that you won’t just turn around and start plotting against me the second we leave your lands.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. What in God’s name did you have left to give? Your men, your lands, your treasury was all forfeit; all Chan’s to do what he wanted with. And anyways, the best collateral was always human. Your parents were both dead now, and there was no second or third-born son to give up as a hostage. It was just Jeongin…and you.

“Me.” 

You didn’t even consciously mean to speak up. Before you knew it though, all eyes in the room were boring into you, including Chan’s. As you looked back at him – you knew that this was what you had to do. 

“What do you mean, Princess?” Chan was still staring at you, a curious, contemplative look on his face. Moving to face Jeongin, who was staring at you with a horrified expression, you gave him a reassuring glance. As you turned back to address the full room, you reached under the table to discreetly squeeze Jeongin’s hand, trying to show him that you were confident with this decision. 

You took a deep breath before lifting your head, staring right at Chan. “I can be your collateral – as your wife.”

It was almost as if you launched fireworks in the room. Voices exploded from everywhere: muttering about your audacity, begging you to reconsider, exhorting Chan to shut you down and throw you out for your insolence – and whispering about how, in reality, it might just work as a solution. 

Once Chan’s aides had got a handle on the volume, you let Jeongin take over the talking – it was crucial for him to project a strong presence, especially given your earlier outburst. As the two of you had hurriedly discussed during the hubbub, he proposed a marriage between your two families, formally ending your enmity. Your state would come under the hegemony of the Bangs; you would be human collateral to ensure Jeongin’s loyalty, and your dowry would serve as material recompense for the fighting and damages that had been incurred. 

In the ensuing rumble of murmurs as both sides mulled over the proposition, your eyes found Chan, who was studying you with an unreadable expression on his face. This time, you openly held his gaze, trying to project more confidence than you actually had. You thought you saw Chan’s expression soften – just a little bit – before he closed his eyes, seeming to take a moment to think for himself. When he opened them again, they were looking straight at you, warm and clear. 

“I accept.”

The wedding was a quick, rushed affair. No one had any pretenses about what it represented – a hasty, expedient marriage of convenience – and Chan was eager to get back to his capital after weeks of being away. Ultimately, all you ended up taking away from the ceremony was the warm strength of Chan’s hand as he held yours in front of the altar, and the delicate brush of his soft lips against yours to seal the deal. 

The feast afterwards was also shorter and more subdued than typical. Chan’s reputation preceded him, and a good number of your people were still scared stiff just at the sight of him - the flashes of his blood-red hair in the firelight serving as a reminder of just who he was in case someone managed to forget. Despite Chan’s efforts to be as kindly and welcoming as possible, the only person who really talked to him was Jeongin, who, to your surprise, had seemed to warm up to his new brother-in-law considerably. As for you…not knowing where you stood, you just chose to stay quiet, answering Jeongin’s worried glances with hopefully reassuring smiles – and avoiding your husband’s curious eyes. 

Before you knew it, you were posed in the royal chambers, ripe for the taking. Shivering in your thin nightgown, you curled up on the carpet in front of the fire, hugging your knees to your chest as you stared off into the flames. The heat, while soothing, did nothing to quell the thoughts within you. 

You weren’t nervous about what was expected of you tonight, you told yourself. As a healer, you had ample experience with both the good and bad of what could happen – you’d made up sachets of moon tea for blushing girls who were only too excited to share stories with you, and you’d made up salves and poultices to heal women cursed with cruel, selfish husbands. 

As for your husband…despite what the rumors said, despite what everyone else thought, you knew somehow, deep down, that you didn’t need to be worried. Chan had only treated you with respect and kindness until now, even when he didn’t need to. Even if your night wouldn’t be spectacular, you figured that it wouldn’t be dreadful - hopefully. 

What you were thinking about was what came after. What would happen when you went to Chan’s court – when you arrived as his wife, as his consort. Here, you were used to a simple life – you spent your days growing herbs, making medicine, and saving Jeongin from whatever scrapes he got himself into. You barely had any official, royal duties to carry out. Now…you had no idea what you were signing up for.

At the sound of a knock behind you, you shook your head, trying to clear the thoughts out of your head, before getting up to go face your husband. 

When Chan walked in, still clad in his wedding finery, you were struck again by just how gorgeous your new husband was. You’d never seen him from this close before, in this intimate of a setting, and, as he softly smiled at you, all you could see were his dimples, the glow of his creamy skin in the candlelight, and the warm pools of his brown eyes. 

“W-Welcome, my lord,” you opened lamely. What was it about this man that made you so tongue-tied every time? You self-consciously walked over to him, aware that your nightgown, long and high-necked though it might be, clung to your skin – a fact that Chan, judging from the slight flush to his cheeks, seemed to be trying his best not to appreciate. 

“They really didn’t dress you with practicality in mind, did they?” He gestured to your nightgown disapprovingly, keeping his eyes fixed carefully on yours. “Here – take this, at least until you’re under the covers.” 

Before you could reach out to stop him, he unclasped his heavy cloak and draped it over your shoulders. As he leaned in to fasten it around your neck, the slight passes of his fingers over your sensitive skin and the faint whiffs of his heady, intoxicating perfume sent shivers down your back. 

Not knowing what to do now – and desperately needing to clear your head – you stood awkwardly in front of him, watching him move to take a seat on the settee and lean down to unlace his boots. 

“I can hel-”

“No,” he stopped you with a laugh. “I’ve been dressing and undressing myself for years. I’ll be fine; you should go try to warm up.”

Not knowing what else to do, you perched yourself gingerly on the mattress, clutching his cloak tightly around you. As you realized that Chan was slowly starting to peel off more and more layers, now tugging at the ties of his overcoat, you couldn’t help but still, pulling yourself to sit up ramrod straight. You weren’t scared, you repeated to yourself. You refused to be scared. 

“You look like a lamb going to the slaughter,” Chan remarked with a chuckle tinged with – regret? sadness? You weren’t sure – you just kept your eyes trained on your feet as he continued disrobing. “A proud, brave lamb, but a lamb nonetheless,” he murmured, seemingly to himself. 

You soon felt the mattress sinking under his weight as he sat next to you, soft fingers under your chin tilting your head up. “Look at me, wife,” Chan asked in a gentler tone than before. You slowly raised your eyes to his, unsure of what you would find there. As always, the man was hard to read – you could tell he buried his true self behind thick, heavy walls. Still, you thought you saw a gleam of tenderness peeking through. 

“I give you my word that I will not take your virtue until it is freely, willingly offered.” His sincerity shone through in his eyes, just as his words sent a shiver down your spine. “Don’t be scared, please – I respect you too much to let any harm come to you.” 

He turned away from you abruptly, as if he’d accidentally said more than he’d intended to. 

“We should, however, pretend like I did bed you tonight – we don’t want anyone questioning the validity of this marriage.” The two of you knew very well that Chan’s generals were itching for an excuse to resume hostilities – and there would be nothing better than an unconsummated marriage for them to force Chan to put you aside and thus destroy the treaty you’d sacrificed yourself for. 

“What will we do about the blood then, my lord?” Being a healer yourself, you of course knew that not all women bled their first time. However, antiquated norms still dictated that, the morning after the wedding, courtiers would barge into the royal bedroom, both to tease the newlyweds and check the bedsheets for blood, “proof” that the marriage had been consummated. You’d basically created a secret, anonymous business dealing vials of fresh animal blood to noblewomen who couldn’t procure their own before their wedding night – but, with the chaos of the preceding days, you hadn’t been able to get one for yourself. 

Chan gave you a wry smile. “Well, it doesn’t matter whose blood it is, does it?” Within the blink of an eye, he’d pulled a small dagger out of his waistband, slashed a cut across his palm, and smeared his blood onto the sheets – irrefutable evidence. 

You stared up at him in disbelief, frozen as he simply cleaned the blade off, ignoring his wound. The sound of the dagger sliding home into its scabbard, however, startled you out of your daze. 

As Chan looked at you in surprise, you snatched the dagger from his hand, deftly cutting off a strip of your nightgown to serve as a clean bandage. Hastily rising from your position on the bed, you sought out a small cubbyhole hidden in the corner of the room. You had made it your responsibility to keep all of your family members well-stocked with healing salves, and there should still be some left in this room. Seizing upon the jar you were looking for with a small cry of satisfaction, you turned back to your bemused husband, who had been following your movements with intrigued eyes. 

Taking him by the uninjured hand, you led him to sit by the washbasin, immediately setting yourself to the task of cleaning and dressing the cut. While you could feel your husband’s gaze intently studying you, you shied away from looking at him, choosing to focus on your task instead. Wrapping the cloth securely around his hand, you dripped candle wax to secure the bandage, taking care to not burn him or yourself. 

You were just checking to make sure the bandage was firmly bound when you heard Chan’s voice softly addressing you. 

“Did you make that salve yourself?” 

Now that your initial wave of adrenaline had worn off, you felt yourself becoming a little hesitant again. What would Chan think of you, of your skills? So, you nodded timidly, fiddling with the edges of the bandage to avoid looking into his eyes. 

“Wow.” You looked up to find Chan with a warm smile on his face, eyes looking at you with admiration. “Where did you learn to do all of this, pet?”

Tendrils of warmth shot through you. Chan was clearly impressed with your skills - and for some reason, his approval made you feel really good. Also…you didn’t know why, but him addressing you like that – affectionately, almost…lovingly – made you feel good inside, made you want to open up to him. 

“I-I’ve always really liked flowers and plants, even when I was a child. I got in the habit of collecting herbs for our castle physician; as I got older, I went from watching him make salves and poultices to learning how to make them myself. I got myself a formal apprenticeship with him, and it just grew naturally from there, I guess.” You shrugged it off with a sheepish, but proud grin. 

 “Ah yes, without any hard work or discipline or talent on your part, I imagine?” You could hear the laughter, the teasing note in his voice, and you couldn’t help but giggle yourself, letting yourself look back into Chan’s face - only to find him already staring at you, a hint of something like…longing in his expression. 

Chan gazed into your eyes for an extra beat before breaking away, standing up and clearing his throat. “For tonight at least, I’ll need to sleep in this room with you. I’ll be taking the floor, so don’t w-”

“No,” you blurt out, flushing as Chan quirked an eyebrow at you. “We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow, my lord, and you need your rest too…I really don’t mind if you want to sleep here with me.”

Without waiting for a response, you tossed his cloak off and jumped into bed, burrowing yourself into your half of the sheets. After a brief pause, you heard Chan stand up and walk around to the other side of the bed. Stealthily peeking out from the covers, you felt heat burn through you as your husband took his undershirt off, exposing the creamy, muscular expanse of his back to your suddenly hungry eyes. Mercifully (or not – you couldn’t decide), he chose to leave his pants on before blowing out the candles and climbing into bed. Leaving a good amount of space between the two of you, Chan sank into his side of the mattress with a tired groan – you’d clearly made the right choice by letting him get quality sleep. 

You dithered on whether you should say anything - whether you’d make it feel awkward or weird or anything. But after a moment of hesitation…

“Sleep well, my lord.”

You heard a muffled, but mournful chuckle in response. “Sleep has never been my friend, unfortunately.” Chan paused, seeming to weigh his words for a second before continuing. “Now that you’re here though…maybe that will change.”

After a second or two of silence in the dark, you felt the sheets rustling with motion – followed by the weight of a warm hand on your shoulder. 

“Good night – and thank you for taking care of me.” Warmth blooming through you, you reached up to squeeze his hand back, unexpectedly savoring the feeling of his skin under your fingertips. 

“Good night,” you whispered back. You went off into dreamland with a smile on your face, the heat of his touch still radiating through your skin. 

It seemed that your unconscious self lacked the inhibitions you normally did - for when you woke up, roused by the soft rays of morning light streaming into the room, you found that your body had clearly decided its feelings about your husband. 

Over the course of the night, you’d somehow plastered yourself to Chan’s bare back, throwing an arm around his waist and wedging your calf between his. You were dwarfed by his shoulders, but one of your arms had wound itself around his trim waist, placed securely on his tight abdominal muscles. 

You gulped. 

Just one feel wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Listening carefully to the sound of his breathing, making sure it was steady and even, you let your hand trace over your husband’s toned torso before carefully bringing it back…and letting it trail down to his bottom. As you snuck in a light, barely-there squeeze, you couldn’t help but frown – how was it fair that your husband had a perkier ass than you did?

Little did you know that Chan had already been awake for a while, unable to force himself to leave the warmth of your embrace, and was now desperately trying to stay quiet, not knowing whether he wanted to laugh or moan at your wandering hands. 

Chan was nothing if not a pragmatic man. He’d been looking to take a wife for a while, and while his ministers back home might chew his head off for not finding a foreign princess with a massive dowry or trade deal to back her up, he had successfully managed with this marriage to end a war without significant bloodshed – always, always a win for him. 

However, he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that you were the real reason he’d agreed to the marriage. You’d caught his eye from the very moment he’d seen you, standing so proudly, bravely on your castle defenses, then again in the council meeting. 

The final twist of the knife in his heart, however, came last night. As you were prettily bent over his hand in your torn gown, the candlelight illuminating your face, carefully bandaging his cut – he knew that he was starting to fall for you. 

Now, all he had to do was convince you to believe him and trust him, and hope that, in the process, your heart would begin warming to him as his had done to you – easy, right?

Muffling a sigh, Chan decided that he had let himself indulge in your arms for too long. 

“I can feel you blinking against my back, you know,” your eyes widened as you heard your husband’s lazy drawl. Snatching yourself away from him, you watched as Chan rolled over to face you, propping his head on his arm. When did he wake up? You flushed at the knowing smirk on his face. 

“I trust you slept well, pet?”  

You just nodded, still embarrassed at getting caught. “And you, my lord?”

“Yes – better than I have in a long time.” Chan sat up, lazily stretching; the satisfied groan he let out in response – combined with the sinful view of his back and arm muscles flexing – traveled right to places it didn’t need to go. 

You swallowed hard, averting your eyes quickly so Chan wouldn’t pick up on your staring. You normally considered yourself to have good self-control, but…when it came to your husband, you just fell apart. 

You needed to extricate yourself from the situation before you positively imploded from desire. “Uh, my lord – should we get up? It seems like it’s already getting late, and we probably really need to get on the road an-”

But your husband, perceptive almost to a fault, had missed nothing. As you scrambled off the bed, Chan merely leaned back against the headboard, eyeing you slyly. Arms crossed behind his head and sheets pooled around his waist, he looked like some sort of Greek god, tempting you into sin. 

Watching you with a dark, almost wild glint in his eyes, Chan just laughed. “Sweetheart, if I let you get up now, looking like that, no one will believe that I made you mine last night.” 

Your breath hitched. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is – you still look too pure, too innocent. Untouched. Unmarked.” He reached an arm out, taking your hand in his. He gently but smoothly tugged you back down to kneel next to him, his grip loose enough for you to pull away if you wanted to. 

He brought his other hand up to your face, softly tracing your cheek with the back of his fingers. 

“If we want to make this charade convincing, there’s other evidence we need to fake, right? Your hair, your skin, your dress.” He trailed his fingers over each as he named it, goosebumps following in their wake.

“What I said last night still stands – and will stand.” And looking into those warm brown eyes - you had no doubt about it. “But, just for this morning… can I mess you up a little bit, pet?”

Yes, please. Your body knew its answer immediately, and the vehemence of your nod made Chan chuckle as he lifted you into his lap, settling you over his legs to protect his sanity – and your own. 

He started off tame, much to your relief. Reaching around you, he grabbed the end of your plait, which you’d dutifully done up as was your routine last night, and pulled off the tie in one smooth motion. He carefully worked his way through separating the strands of hair, tenderly shushing your whimpers when his fingers accidentally caught on a snag. When he finally reached the top of your head, he worked his fingers into your scalp, softly tugging and pulling and running his hands through until your hair was wild, forming a sinful halo around your head. 

You found yourself feeling almost lightheaded, falling into a trance like none that you’d ever experienced. The feeling of Chan’s strong, calloused fingers suffused warmth through your whole body, and you could feel yourself starting to go limp against him – fully submitting yourself to him, to do with as he pleased.  

“Don’t you think you’re enjoying this a little too much, sweetheart?” The sound of Chan’s amused voice roused you from your stupor, and you looked up at him with hazy eyes. His expression showcased so many different emotions – protectiveness, awe, enjoyment, desire – and you were entranced. The two of you just gazed into each other’s eyes, locked in a charged moment, before Chan cupped your face, tilting your face down so he could give you a sweet forehead kiss. Sparks, warmth blossomed in you at his duality: his teasingly careful, tender treatment of you – and the dark, powerful desires clearly lurking beneath.

“So…what do I get in return, hmm?” He gently teased you, softly chucking your chin on his way to the neckline of your nightgown, thoroughly searching your eyes for any hint of reluctance. When he found none, his fingers sought out the laces holding your gown closed, carefully starting to unravel them. 

“I’m just going to undo enough that it starts hanging off you, okay?” You agreed quietly, mind still lingering on his question from before. How could you reward your husband? As you studied his face, you couldn’t help but be mesmerized by his beauty – his expressive, dark brown eyes; his oversized, masculine nose that you just wanted to tug at; and those sinfully pillowy lips. The soft brushes of his fingertips against the sensitive skin of your chest were slowly starting to kindle a fire within you – and you suddenly realized that there was only one thing you wanted to do. 

“Alright – this should be go-” 

You cut him off by softly, sweetly pressing your lips to his. 

Chan froze under you for a split second, mouth tense with surprise. Before you could pull away however, afraid that you’d read his body language wrong – he relaxed into you, opening his mouth under yours and allowing your tongue to tentatively delve in. 

While his lips were just as soft, just as plush as you remembered, this kiss was nothing like the perfunctory one from yesterday. Chan – his taste, his heat, his essence – washed over you like a heady wave of warmth, casting you out into a sea of passion and sensation as your lips worshipped each other. 

Ever so slowly, Chan started to dominate the kiss, swallowing your moans and claiming your mouth with intense fervor. His fingers, still tangled in the ties of your gown, pulled you closer as he leaned back, bringing your chest flush against his – and your core into the cradle of his hips. As he suckled at your lips, the sound of your soft, muffled whimpers, and the sensation of your hands shyly inching over the hard planes of his chest and shoulders all seemed to infuriate him. Abruptly breaking the kiss, he dived headfirst into your neck, licking and sucking and physically marking his lust onto your skin. The little pinpricks of exquisite pain, dancing on that ever-thinning line with pleasure, sent sparks shooting down your spine, traveling straight to the place that was aching for him most. 

You jumped as you felt strong arms wrap around you, pulling you impossibly closer. As he ground you down onto him with seductive, enticing strength, fingers bruising the skin of your hips, Chan ghosted his mouth over the delicate shell of your ear. “Naughty, naughty girl.” At the powerful thrust of his hips into yours, you threw your head back, gasping in shock as pure heat flooded your body. 

However, the sound was enough to break through the lusty daze Chan was trapped in; pulling away from you and breathing heavily, his eyes roved over you: taking in your wide, blown-out pupils, hazily staring down at him; your swollen and puffy lips; your bruised and marked neck and chest.

“Fuck, babygirl…” you flushed harder – if that was even possible – at his dark, appraising eyes, at the barely suppressed hunger in his voice. “I really messed you up, didn’t I?” 

You just nodded mutely, hanging your head, still speechless and utterly out of it.

There was a beat of silence, and Chan hesitated. You realized too late that your lack of response, your whimpers, your silence could all have been easily misinterpreted as you watched the desire clouding his eyes give way to hints of concern, confusion. 

“Did I…I hope I didn’t go too fa-”

The rest of what he had to say was interrupted, in dramatic fashion, by the blasts of a trumpet from down the hall. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Chan swore under his breath, hands unconsciously tightening on your sides. As his fingers unwittingly clawed into the sensitive skin of your waist, you couldn’t help but flinch away from him, letting out a sharp whimper of pain. 

Chan went stiff, hands startling away from your body. “I-I’m so sorry…” he whispered, his eyes wide in shock. “I didn’t realiz- I didn’t mean to force my-”

What? Force himself? Oh no, no…Chan had drastically misunderstood what was going on, and you rushed to cut him off. “No, no, not all - you weren’t do-”

It wasn’t meant to be. At that moment, the doors to your bedchamber were flung open, and the courtiers and servants all flooded in, ready to heckle the newlyweds out of bed. At the sight of you still perched on Chan’s lap, the hubbub only increased. Your maids rushed in to haul you away, aiming to bundle you up before half of Chan’s court got an eyeful of you. Chan didn’t resist as they pulled you away from him, his arms dropping loosely to his sides, almost as if in defeat. 

You stumbled as they stood you up, thighs sore from being spread over Chan’s legs for so long. “Milady!” One of your more innocent maids gasped, eyes riveted to your exposed skin. “Y-your neck…it’s ruined,” she blurted out, tracing her fingers over your mottled chest and neck in horror. Comforting arms wrapped around you, supporting your weight as you were tucked into a warm blanket; but you could see the hostile glares your maids were directing at your husband, hear the barely muffled whispers of “violent” and “vicious” and “monster” that were being throwing around. 

You saw red. How dare they play on those rumors, say such awful things about Chan when he hadn’t done anything wrong? You angrily commanded them to hush, visibly upset enough that they quieted down immediately.  

But the damage was done. Looking over your shoulder for one last glimpse of Chan, you found him staring after you, pain, hurt and sorrow radiating out from his eyes. As your maids almost frogmarched you back to your rooms, you told yourself that you could just talk things through with Chan the first opportunity you got - tell him that he hadn’t forced his affections onto you in any way; that you knew he hadn’t meant to hurt you. You could fix this, and you could fix this soon. 

As you settled into your new life however, you came to realize just how wrong you had been. 

For not just days, but several weeks had passed by – and your husband was doing his very best to avoid you as much as possible. 

Upon your arrival, Chan had taken good care to set you up well. To your absolute delight, one of the very first things that he’d done was to have you introduced to Gaius, the castle healer and herbalist, and have you installed as an informal apprentice. You were given a lavish suite of rooms for yourself, directly adjoining Chan’s, along with a small retinue of attendants – all chosen with care to be familiar with your habits and tastes from home. Chan had also appointed a tall, clever man named Seungmin to be your chief aide, giving the two of you free rein to try your hand at whatever problems you saw fit to tackle. With Seungmin’s help, you’d already been able to start a few projects to improve the running of the household as well as to expand the castle infirmary, and in the time you had left over, you made your way down to Gaius, helping him prepare his concoctions and arguing with him about new formulations. You were busy, and you were mentally, intellectually satisfied with everything you were accomplishing. 

Emotionally, however? You were lonely. Yes, you had Seungmin at your side everyday, and he was masterful at keeping you on your toes. You’d also become fairly close to Chan’s younger brother, Felix, who’d made it a point to bring you treats from the kitchen and help you with your gardening whenever he could. But…there was only one man you truly wanted to see – and of him, all you had were glimpses. 

Most often, you ran into your husband in the halls or in the courtyard, in the few moments where he wasn’t parked behind his desk or training or caught up in meetings and audiences - it hadn’t taken you long to realize that your husband was an absolute workaholic. In those settings, he was always serious and professional, even down to the dark colors he wore, his heat-ironed, straight hair and the light kohl that was the only makeup he permitted. While he always, always had a small, but kindly smile for you when you saw him in public, he never pushed any further – though you could always feel the heat of his dark gaze on you, following you in and out of his sight. 

There were a few instances, however, where you’d gotten hints at what lay beneath that hard exterior – and what you’d seen had taken your breath away. The way his eyes crinkled, his dimples on prominent display as he tussled with his dogs, his creamy skin glowing in the sunlight. The soft pout of his plush lips, the wild tussle to his curls when he had to drag himself out of bed far too early– a heavenly vision you’d only gotten to see by chance one morning, but one that you would pay dearly to see again.  

You wondered what you and Chan would have been like – if you had been a wife he’d loved, rather than a wife he’d been handed.

Your thoughts often drifted back to that one night, that one morning where you did have him in your arms. To your surprise – and shame – those thoughts typically found you most often at night, leaving you tangled up in the sheets, a desperate ache between your thighs – one that you knew only he could truly relieve. 

You’d tried, in one of the rare moments you’d gotten him alone, to talk to him, to tell him firmly that he didn’t do anything wrong that morning. Chan had just looked at you with another gentle smile that didn’t reach his eyes, telling you that he understood before making his excuses to walk away, leaving you behind knowing that - no, he didn’t understand.

And the one door separating you from the object of your desires, your own husband – it stayed locked. 

It was your fault. At the end of the day, yours was an arranged marriage – one contracted for politics and practicality, not for love and partnership. Yes, from the way Chan had looked at you the day of the treaty, from the way he’d treated you in bed – you’d thought that there might be something there, the tenuous glimmers of a connection starting to build between the two of you.

But maybe you’d mistook mere interest, casual lust for something more.

You should have known better, you scolded yourself. Chan had no obligations to you emotionally or romantically. You were just the fool who wanted too much. 

And that was that. 

Until…

One serendipitous session of eavesdropping changed everything.

You’d set the afternoon aside to head down to the infirmary, itching to put your hands to good work. To your delight, Gaius didn’t disappoint, giving you a list of herbs to prepare for him. 

“Belladonna, Gaius? And foxglove? Who are you trying to poison now, huh?” You joked, nudging the old man as you passed behind him. 

Rather than taking the bait however, Gaius merely waved you off with a short laugh – and a smile that seemed just a touch tighter than it should be. You shook your head, cringing at yourself as you headed back out into the warm sunlight; you were the lady of the house, and new at that - you couldn’t just go around joking with people like that just yet. 

But soon, all thoughts were pushed out of mind as you knelt down in the dirt, slipping your gloves on before starting the routine you knew like the back of your hand - checking that the plants were healthy, brushing through the leaves to find the darkest, healthiest ones to snip off, and dousing them with spirits to let them sit before you took them back to your workroom. The methodical nature of the work; the ability to do something hands-on, to get your hands dirty - you never felt more at peace than when you were practicing your craft. 

Just as you were finishing up, about to head back to your the workshop, you were startled by the sound of footsteps - a rarity in this part of the garden. Without even thinking about it, you quickly ducked behind a bush, wanting to get a peek at who was invading your territory like this. 

To your surprise, it was Chan and Felix, engrossed in a seemingly heated conversation as they walked out into the courtyard. Chan was dressed simply in a loose dark robe and pants, his hair mussed from his fingers running through it all morning, but you could feel your heart beat just a little faster, as it always did, at the first sight of your husband.

You debated whether you should go say hello. Chan would probably run away as soon as he saw you - you sighed to yourself yet again at the thought - but Felix would make for good company as you went about your tasks. 

Your decision was made for you, however, when you realized that the topic of their conversation was you. 

“I’m your brother, so I’m going to say this plainly. You need to stop being an idiot, hyung.” 

Your eyebrows shot up almost on their own; Lixie was always the peacemaker - you’d never heard him be so forceful before. 

You listened in as he continued, voice only increasing in pitch. “You aren’t doing any favors for yourself or your wife if you keep ignoring her!”

Chan, the most agitated you’d seen him yet, scoffed at Felix’s words. “Don’t oversell it, Lix. She’s definitely happier not having me around.”

“And how could you possibly know that if you don’t spend any time with her?”

Chan exploded. “Because the first time I had her alone, I hurt her, Felix! You didn’t see what I did to her neck, her waist...” He turned away, wrapping his arms around himself defensively. “Her maids looked at me like…like I was the monster everyone thinks I am.”

Pain coursed through you at his words. You should have anticipated that Chan would know of the rumors about him…that he could easily be hurt by the rumors about him. And you had just played into letting him internalize them all again. 

Your head sank down to your chest with feelings of self-reproach, with guilt. Yes, Chan’s insecurities weren’t your responsibility to fight for him; but at the same time, you could have done more to help him open up - to show him the way you truly felt about him, to help him feel comfortable enough with you to actually talk about what happened. 

By the time you looked back up, Felix had walked up closer to Chan and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. When Felix spoke again, his voice was much softer. “Did she say you hurt her?”

“No…”

“Has she tried to talk to you about it?”

“Yeah-” 

“And what did she say?”

“I-I didn’t really give her a chance to talk about it fully but…she said something about how I didn’t do anything wrong, but…”

“But what?” 

“I’m her husband, Felix…she probably feels obligated to give herself to me, whether she truly wants to or not.” 

“But you won’t know what she wants unless you ask her right?”

And at that, Chan had nothing to say. Felix went in for the kill. 

 “I’ve seen the way she looks at you – the way she lights up when you walk into a room, the way her eyes follow you around wherever you go.” 

At Chan’s disbelieving gaze, Felix merely raised an eyebrow, standing his ground. “It’s obvious to me that she likes you – a lot. So, please…” You watched as Felix’s fingers tightened on Chan’s shoulders, showing just how important he thought this was. “Don’t cheat yourself out of your happiness, hyung - you deserve to be loved.”

And there was nothing you agreed with more, you realized as you watched them walk off together, Felix’s arms wrapped around his brother. 

Chan deserved your love, and you deserved his - and you weren’t going to back off any longer. This was your chance, your opportunity to show Chan that his fears were unfounded – that you cared for him, that you wanted him around – that you wanted him to be yours and you to be his. If there was ever a time for you to sit up and take some initiative – it was now. 

You set your plan in motion for the very next morning. Chan was a creature of habit, and you knew that he typically took breakfast by himself in his solar before his meetings for the day. It was the perfect opportunity to get uninterrupted time with him, time where you could finally sit down and have it out with him.

Of course, that was much easier said than done. You spent most of the night tossing and turning and woke up a full two hours in advance of breakfast, spending the entire time agonizing over what to say, how to say it, what to wear, what to do when you finally saw him. 

All the fretting was helpful in a way. By the time you were outside the room, ready to knock on the door, you’d spent up your nervous energy, and you felt your mind clearing. You could do this. And you were going to do this. For Chan.

Chan was already at the table when you walked in, swallowed up in a cozy couch while working through his daily reports. Giving him a quick once-over before he caught sight of you, you smiled to yourself – Chan had clearly rolled out of bed mere minutes ago. He’d tucked his nightshirt, clearly wrinkled from a night of tossing and turning of his own, into a random pair of pants, and he kept having to brush his unruly curls out of his eyes as he bent over the parchment. 

“You’re very early today, Seung-” Lifting his head to see, Chan froze at the sight of you in the doorway, hastily scrambling to his feet. 

“My lady…” he trailed off, momentarily at a loss for what to do. But Felix’s words had clearly left their mark on him, and you watched as newfound resolve washed over him, straightening his shoulders out and lifting his gaze to yours. “Welcome,” he matched your smile with a careful, hopeful one of his own, before gesturing to the chair next to him.

As you both sat down at the table, Chan guiltily raked his fingers through his messy hair. “I’m sorry that I look like such a mess,” he admitted sheepishly. “I’m terrible at waking up in the morning, so I never get ready in time for breakfast.”

“I see you dressed up all the time,” you blurted out. “So actually…it’s really n-nice to see you like this.” Your cheeks were burning in self-consciousness - but the look of surprised happiness, of renewed confidence on Chan’s face was reward enough for you to be even more bold. 

“My lord, I - I’m here because I overheard your conversation with Felix yesterday.” 

You watched apprehensively as Chan stiffened the slightest bit at your words - but you knew you needed to do this.

“I can see why you might have thought the way that you did, but…everything you did that day, I wanted. You didn’t force yourself on me, you didn’t misuse me, and-” You seized his hands in one of yours and let the other smooth over his fiery curls, looking deep into his eyes. “You’re not a monster. The way you handled the war, the way you treated Jeongin, the way you look after everyone here…everything that you’ve done for me…” You ended in a near whisper, pausing to keep your voice from quavering. “I’d never thought that I’d have a husband who’d treat me as kindly as you have, with as much respect, as much care - I didn’t even let myself dream of a husband who’d let me work with my herbs. My lord, you…you’re everything I could have ever wanted.”

By the end of your little speech, Chan’s eyes were shining, brimming with barely controlled emotion. Slowly, hesitantly, almost as if he were handling a forbidden treasure, he lifted his hand to your face, thumb tracing gentle circles over the soft skin of your cheek. You leaned into his palm, reveling in the touch that you’d longed for for so long, and words spilled past your lips unbidden.

“I’m sorry - I should have cleared this up a long time ago, but I convinced myself that you didn’t want me…that you didn’t care for me the way I’d started to care for you.”

His fingers stilled. Chan’s head snapped up abruptly, eyes wide in surprise.

“What?” His voice came out in a whisper, in disbelief. Now that it was out in the open, you met him straight on, lips upturned in a gentle smile. 

“Yes,” you confirmed. “I don’t know exactly when or how it happened, but I - I like you. I like you a lot,” you said with a little, embarrassed giggle. You might even love him a little, you thought to yourself - but there were some things you still wanted to keep close to your heart for now. 

Chan was utterly still for a second, just looking at you with those warm, brown pools of light that were his eyes. You let yourself just look back, staying calm and confident, just wanting to show him how serious, how sincere you were. 

When he spoke again, his voice was gruff, husky with emotion. “Come here, pet,” he murmured, reaching an arm out for you. Your heart soared as you let him tug you out of your chair, easily pulling you over to his couch. You squeezed in next to him - and immediately took a deep breath. While the couch was roomy for one, it was definitely a bit tight for two - you were fully pushed up into Chan, half on his lap; his hard, muscular form pressing into you delightfully as he held you against him; the pale V of skin exposed by his nightshirt mere inches away from your lips. 

Chan took a moment to just take you in, running his palms over your arms, your back with a featherlight touch, as if he were just confirming that you were real, that you were indeed here. His touch lulled you into a pleasant haze, eyes half-closed, when he softly started speaking. 

“Did you know, love, that I wanted you even before I first saw you?” Now, it was your turn to be surprised, but Chan laughed off your look of confusion. “I first heard the rumors about you when we started out on our campaign – the fiercely intelligent, bold princess of the East, who could set bones and run a kingdom, all in one breath. And I just remember thinking to myself – a woman like that, a woman exactly like that is who I want to be my Lady. And then, when I saw you running around on those ramparts, working day and night to take care of your men…” He trailed off, sliding his hand up to cup, caress your cheek. “That might have been the first time I realized I never wanted to take my eyes off you.”

You felt your cheeks starting to burn, that shyness you always felt around him rearing its head. 

“I know I messed things up-” he laid a hand on your arm even before you opened your mouth, anticipating your protest. “I might not have hurt you, pet, but I did mess things up by making the assumptions I did and not talking to you about it. Felix showed me that yesterday, and what you’ve told me today just confirms it - I should have taken better care of you, and I shouldn’t have left you to be so alone these past weeks. I’m sorry, love, I’m sorry too.” 

And, watching you carefully, making sure you were okay with what he was doing, he slowly leaned in to seal his apology with a gentle, tender kiss, one that sent warmth spiraling through your body - that made you feel whole, complete in the ways you’d been lacking since you first experienced what it was like to be in your husband’s arms. 

But the two of you were clearly hungry for more, having been starved of contact for so long. The kiss soon started to devolve, quickly morphing from something purely affectionate to something more…charged. You moaned as Chan’s lips started nibbling at yours, demanding entrance that you were all too happy to grant. His hands had just started to migrate south, inching towards the source of your pain and pleasure and ache, when…

“Breakfast, sire!” A heavy knock sounded from outside the door, followed by the low murmur of voices gathering. You let out an involuntary whine as you realized your alone time was up, Chan’s entourage of servants waiting outside to serve him. 

“We never have good timing, do we?” In contrast to you, Chan looked rather amused, the barest hint of a smirk on his face as he took in the sight of your swollen lips, of your thighs clenching together hopelessly in search of relief. 

“Just a second!” He called out, before turning his attention back to you. “Tonight,” he whispered, the intensity of his gaze only worsening the ache between your legs, before softly pressing his lips in a placating kiss to your forehead. “You’ll be mine tonight.”

And with that, he gracefully deposited you back in your chair and called for the servants, forcing you to snap out of your daze. 

Tonight. You couldn’t wait. 

The two of you spent the rest of the morning together, working side-by-side in amiable, affectionate companionship. Ignoring the curious glances from his staff, Chan had settled you in with a massive plate of food and a small stack of papers of your own, saying that he wanted your advice on requests related to medical supplies and budgets. You smiled inwardly as you bent over your work, surreptitiously inching your chair closer and closer to Chan’s; you could see yourself starting every day like this - you and your husband, side by side. 

“Mhmm, just what I need…” 

You’d just gotten up to snag seconds from the sideboard - after all, keeping your hands off your husband was hard work - and glanced back over to see a servant bringing Chan tea. At first, you didn’t think too much of it - it seemed like the poor man was just sick, sweaty maybe from a light fever. However, something, some odd feeling that something was off about the situation, made you take a second look at him. 

That was when you noticed it. The red rash speckling across his hands, marring his right hand especially. His fingers were starting to blanch white, and he was clenching and unclenching them sluggishly - as if they were falling asleep, starting to loose all sensation.   

Your worst fears were confirmed when you saw, just barely clinging to the back of his tunic, a stray flower petal, colored that beautiful, distinctive shade of vivid blue-purple – wolfsbane.

Your blood turned to ice. 

Someone was trying to poison your husband. 

A cold sweat broke out on your forehead, your heart starting to race with adrenaline. Seeing that Chan was engrossed in his reading and not reaching for the tea just yet, you urgently took stock of everyone in the room. You knew you could trust Changbin and Seungmin, but there was no way you could inform them in time without potentially tipping off the conspirators. There were half a dozen servants milling around the room, and you had absolutely no idea who was in on the plot or not. 

You had to act, and you had to act quickly. 

Chan started to blindly grope around for the teacup, still immersed in his reading. Trying to be as nonchalant, as natural as possible, you slowly ran your fingers over his outreached hand. As his eyes snapped to you in surprise, you leaned in, stage-whispering breathily into his ear. 

“Let me serve you your tea, my lord.”

Snatching the cup out of his reach, you tried to unobtrusively pinch him, trying your best to signal with your eyes that something was up. After blinking for a second in confusion, Chan seemed to understand that you were up to something; he relaxed into his role, painting a lascivious smirk on his face and lounging back in his chair as he watched you sashay over to him.

Taking a deep breath, you draped yourself over his lap. Swirling the cup of tea in your left hand carefully – you were determined to keep Chan from touching even a drop of the poison – you leaned into his chest. As you brought your lips to his ear, Chan wrapped an arm around you to pull you close, hand smoothing along your side, temptingly close to your breast. In any other circumstance, you were sure you would have been putty in his hands. With the gravity of the current situation however – you were only focused on one thing. 

“My lord,” you whispered. “Can you look over my shoulder and watch the servants carefully for a second? See if any of them react to what I do next.”

Confusion swirling in his eyes, Chan softly nodded his agreement – and if your blood wasn’t already starting to run cold from what you were about to do, you would have found his trust in you heartwarming. 

Indulging in the sight of your husband for just a second longer, you forced yourself to turn away from him, steeling yourself to your task. 

Bringing the cup of tea to your lips, you downed its contents in one, dramatic gulp. 

At the sound of gasps behind you, Chan’s eyes widened. As he put everything together, eyes flitting back and forth between you and the servants, you watched the blood drain out of his face. 

“What have you done?” Chan’s fingers dug into your flesh, almost to the point of breaking skin; horror and anger and desperate fear all warring in his eyes as he shook you. “What the fuck have you done?” 

Without even waiting for a response, Chan sprung into action. Sweeping you up into his arms, he roared at Changbin and the other guards to seize the guilty servants – “Throw them into the dungeons; I’ll deal with them later myself” – before rushing out the door, breaking into a near run as he beelined for Gaius’ chambers. 

“Why…why would you do that?” Chan couldn’t meet your eyes, staring fixedly, almost blankly ahead as he rushed through the hallways. The slight tremble to his lip, however, and the haunted, stricken look in his eyes gave him away. “I’m a goddamn fool – I robbed us of so much time – and now…” he trailed off, unable and unwilling to finish the thought. 

You needed to conserve your strength – you knew that was imperative, if you wanted any chance of surviving the struggle you were about to be facing. But you desperately wanted to reassure your husband, to take away his pain in some way. Your arms were beginning to feel weak, but you had the energy to loop them loosely around Chan’s neck, surprising him into staring down at you. 

“I’ll be okay, my lord…” you eked out as you buried your head into his neck, lips and tongue ever so slowly starting to go numb. 

“You will.” The heat in Chan’s voice startled you into looking up at him, a newfound fire blazing in his eyes. “I refuse to let anything happen to you, love – I promise.”

You arrived at the workshop to find Gaius strangely, conspicuously absent – but he had left you a miraculous present in his place. When Chan set you down at your bench, you were stunned to find everything you could have needed – charcoal powder, the belladonna and foxglove he’d had you prepare, magnesium salts, even fresh water – all readily laid out for you. While Gaius himself was gone, he’d somehow anticipated exactly what would happen…but you didn’t have time to dwell on that now. 

Grabbing an empty bucket, you forced your fingers down your throat, trying to make yourself gag. When you finally succeeded, the reaction was violent; you fell to your knees as you retched up everything that you’d had to eat that day and more. 

Warm fingers brushed through your hair, holding it back out of your face. Chan. With soft murmurs of apology and concern, he bodily supported you until the spasms had passed and watched on intently as, with all the energy you could muster, you rushed to mix some charcoal powder with water and down it as fast as you could. 

Once you were done, you sighed in relief. “That…will help.” Talking was becoming more and more difficult as time passed, and you could feel yourself getting weaker and weaker. While you had everything that could help you in front of you, you couldn’t do it on your own; you needed someone to nurse you, watch over like a baby for the next several hours – if you even made it that long. 

“I’m glad.” You felt Chan’s warm, strong arms surrounding you from behind, willingly supporting your weight as you sank into him. “Here,” Chan closed your hands around two objects: a piece of parchment and a quill. “Write down what I need to do to take care of you – I’ll be here for as long as you need, love.” He pressed a soft kiss to the side of your head, and your heart still fluttered, weakly, at the casual, loving affection you’d craved for so long. 

With increasingly shaky handwriting, you wrote down basic instructions for him: keep you regularly drinking water; for every few glasses of regular water, give you a glass of magnesium water; every hour, give you a glass of charcoal water; check your three pulse points regularly, and if they were weak or slow, give you a little belladonna; and, if your heart started beating erratically – give you the foxglove and pray. 

It was a lot, especially for someone who’d only ever been in an infirmary as a patient before. But – this was Chan. 

With the intensity and energy blazing in his eyes as you did your best to teach him – you knew there was no one else who you could trust more to save you. 

The next several hours were a daze of pain, discomfort and exhaustion, your mind slipping in and out of awareness. The one constant, the one presence that you felt with you the whole time, however – was Chan. 

Wiping away your sweat and tears with soft, cool cloths. Carrying you back and forth without complaint to the garderobe. Religiously taking your pulses and listening to your heart, just how you’d showed him. Coaxing you so gently, so patiently to drink your water and take your medicine. Cuddling you in his arms, rocking you back and forth and rubbing soothing circles into your back. 

Through your delirium, you thought you picked up on snatches of different voices conversing with Chan: Felix’s slow, low tones; Changbin’s raspy, quick bursts; and Seungmin’s measured, steady words. It seemed that Chan had been running his investigation of the incident from the infirmary, resting in a cot with you held tightly against his chest. 

It was during one such conversation that you woke up, feeling the most lucid that you had until now. Still, you kept your eyes closed and squirmed back into Chan, not wanting to lose the peace of resting in his arms. 

“How is she doing?” It was Felix this time, his voice pitched low to keep from potentially disturbing you. 

Chan brought his hand up to your head, softly smoothing his fingers over your tangled hair. “I think she’s doing a lot better. She hasn’t thrown up in a long while now, and her heartbeat seems a lot steadier.” 

He leaned his head down on yours, taking a deep breath. When he finally spoke, undercurrents of barely suppressed emotions swirled plainly in his voice. “I was really worried there for a while, Lix. In the beginning, she was having such an awful time that…I seriously thought I was going to lose her.”

You heard Felix shuffle closer to the cot, a dip in the mattress suggesting he’d sat down next to Chan. “Well, looks like we thankfully don’t have to worry about that anymore…” Felix trailed off with a humph, shoving himself off the bed. “And you don’t need to worry about your bullshit idea that she hates you anymore.”

Chan let out a rueful chuckle. “You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“No, and for good reason.” You heard the sound of footsteps as Felix started walking away, but he soon came to a stop again. 

“Take good care of her, hyung – and of yourself.” 

As the sound of Felix’s steps grew fainter and fainter, you felt your husband’s arms wrap around your shoulders in a solid hug. “I know you’re up, love,” Chan pressed a tender kiss to your forehead, letting out a soft, fond laugh. “I’ve been watching over you for so long, I feel like I can do a better job of telling when you’re awake than you can right now.” 

You reluctantly cracked an eye open, peeved at being caught. Scrunching your face and fists up in a massive yawn, you didn’t see how Chan was looking down at you, like you were the most adorable little thing in the world. 

“How are you feeling, babygirl?” 

“A lot better.” You smiled up at him with soft eyes, enjoying the view of your husband from up close like this. 

Chan looked down at you hopefully. “Do you think it’s over then?”

“Yes,” you confirmed, grinning at the bright smile on Chan’s face, his dimples out in full force. “Feeling better means the poison’s out of my system now, thankfully. It’ll probably take me a while to get my full energy back, of course, but…” You heaved yourself up enough to bury your head into his neck, curling your fingers into his shirt; your husband was finally giving you cuddles and affection, and you were going to milk it for all its worth.

“You don’t have to worry about me dying on you anymore.” 

Chan said nothing in response to that, just choosing to pull you in tighter to his chest. 

As the blanket covering the two of you dropped to your waists, you noticed to your surprise that Chan was still wearing his night clothes, the same outfit he’d had on at breakfast. 

“Wait…how long was I out for?”

“It’s almost dark now, so…most of the day.”

“And you haven’t changed? You didn’t leave at all?” You’d been sure that you’d just dreamed up some of what you’d remembered up in your deliriousness, fixating on Chan’s scent and seeing him instead of someone else. But…

“Pretty much, yeah,” Chan admitted with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, I got up a few times to use the bathroom, and Min brought me a bite to eat so I got out of bed for that, but otherwise…I was here the whole time.”

He loved you. The way he’d taken care of you; the way he was holding you against him; the way he looked at you, his heart laid bare in his eyes – you wondered how you could have been oblivious for so long. 

You startled him – and yourself – by snatching him up in a fierce hug, crushing yourself into him as powerfully as you can manage. 

“Thank you.” Your voice wobbled with effort. “For not giving up. For being so strong. For saving me. Without you, I don’t know if…”

“No.” Chan firmly cut you off, tilting your head up to look him straight in the eyes. 

“It was nothing, my love,” his voice cracked a little. “Nothing compared to what you were willing to give up for me.” He dropped his head forward onto your shoulder, burying his head into the curve of your neck – breathing your scent in and reminding himself that you were indeed still there. 

“I have so much I need to make up to you, pet.” You shivered at the promise in his voice, his breath dancing along your sensitive skin. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you, and it still won’t be enough.” 

Cupping your face in his hands, Chan leaned his forehead against yours, just barely brushing his lips to your nose before straightening up. “But for now…get some more rest, okay? You need to recover your strength.” Overwhelmed by emotion – and tired from the talking and shifting around – you nodded, wanting nothing more than to curl up with your husband again. Chan helped slide you down to a comfortable position on his chest, strong hands holding you carefully against him. 

You drifted off to the image of warm, limpid brown eyes and a feeling of safety, stability like nothing you’d ever experienced before. 

It was only after several days that you found out what had actually happened. 

Your marriage had been the breaking point for Chan’s generals, already stretched to their limits with Chan’s penchant for diplomacy and reform, his repeated undermining of their authority and influence. So, they’d hatched a plot that could bring both of you down - murder their lord using poison taken from the herbs in his lady’s garden, setting you perfectly to take the fall for treason. You learned that Gaius had been blackmailed into extracting the poison for them; you realized that he’d known full well that they wouldn’t let him live to spill their secrets, and that was why he’d had you prepare the belladonna and foxglove - as a hint of what was coming, but also as antidotes for you to try and save Chan’s life with. You wept until you couldn’t weep anymore. 

You also learned that, for all the warmth and care he’d shown you, Chan had ice-cold metal running through his core. After that first night in the infirmary, Chan wasn’t the same. While the plot and its conspirators were slowly being unraveled, Chan always had a haunted, distracted look in his eyes - like he didn’t deserve to be in your presence, to take you in his arms until he’d avenged the wrong done to you. So when, almost a week after the incident, Chan entered your rooms with his shoulders thrown back, his gaze clear and calm and resolute once again - you knew that he’d exacted his justice, showing everyone exactly what would happen to those who mistook his kindness for weakness. That night, he finally let you pull him into your bed, let you settle against his chest and drift off to sleep, your limbs entwined, bodies curled around one another.

For the rest of your recovery, you never slept alone again. Of course, Chan insisted that the two of you would do nothing but just sleep until you were back in full health – he was Chan after all – but you were satisfied nonetheless. You finally knew what it was like to fall asleep and wake up in your husband’s warm, muscular arms every day – what it felt like to have his plush lips pressing sweet kisses into your sleep-warmed skin, what it felt like to run your fingers through his glorious crop of curls. You were happy. 

A few weeks after the incident, when your loving, only slightly overprotective husband was ready to let you go, you made your jubilant return to public life at the autumn harvest feast. While you hadn’t cared too much either way, your maids had insisted on dolling you up for the event; dressing you in a beautiful new gown that set off your eyes, your hair, all of your assets to great display. 

And as you walked down the grand staircase and caught sight of Chan, waiting for you by the door, you were incredibly, profoundly glad that you had listened to them. 

While a day didn’t go by where you weren’t mesmerized by your husband, you found that he looked absolutely lethal tonight: tight, molded leather pants, and a short black silk robe with gold detailing, tied just loosely enough to leave wide swathes of pale skin open for your perusal; his fiery hair parted to the side, smoothed up and off his forehead, smoky eyes regarding you with the lightest touch of fire in his gaze as you came up to his side, ready to enter the hall. 

“You look breathtaking,” he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead before taking your arm in his. 

“I think that’s my line, my lord,” you giggled. “You’re lighting my very heart on fire,” you quipped, tugging at a lock of his hair with a sheepish grin on your face. But the flush on Chan’s cheeks, the wide curve of his lips as he beamed down at you - you didn’t mind a little humiliation if that was your reward.  

The feast was the most enjoyable evening you’d ever had in your life. The food, the music, the company - with Felix and Seungmin at your side, you laughed more than you’d laughed in years. But best of all was Chan’s strong arm wrapped around your waist, tucking you safely, warmly into his side. The heat suffusing your cheeks was basically permanent at this point. 

As the sips of honeyed wine you’d taken kicked in, you relaxed even more into Chan’s side, dropping your head onto his shoulder. You looked around, taking in the sights of all the laughing, smiling, merry faces around you. In a way, it almost felt as if this were your wedding feast. It fit perfectly - you as the giddy, blushing bride; Chan as the loving, doting groom; and everyone around you celebrating your union, making merry over the good fortune in front of them. And in that vein…maybe tonight would be the night that you would truly become a wife. 

Suddenly, the way your husband was pressed against your body - the feeling of Chan’s warm hand curled around your hip, his bulk pressing firmly into your side - took on a new meaning. Moisture began to pool between your thighs, and you began to shift uncomfortably in your seat as the barest hints of a desperate, profound ache settled in the pit of your belly. You wanted him - you wanted Chan more than anything you could imagine, and you had no idea how you were supposed to last for the rest of the evening in a state like this. 

However, you didn’t count on your husband’s observation skills. You jumped as the arm wrapped around your body tightened, and Chan himself leaned in to whisper in your ear. 

“You never can hide it, can you, pet?” It was all you could do to hold back a gasp at the heat of his breath against your ear, at the feeling of his fingers dancing teasingly over the sensitive flesh of your hip. “Sitting there worrying your lip, rubbing your legs together like that’s going to do anything,” he drawled, your mind going blank at the teasing lilt coloring his words. You turned your head to look at him and almost wished you hadn’t - the arch of his eyebrow, the slow, sinful curve of his lips only sent another wave of desire rippling through you. 

You couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Can we…can we please leave?”

Chan’s smile turned positively predatory. 

“Anything for you, my love.”

Smoothly, with effortless poise, Chan pulled you to your feet and made your excuses, giving the two of you the chance to escape with nary a soul the wiser. You’d barely shut the two of you into his rooms before he pounced. 

“Needy baby,” Chan murmured, backing you into the door until you could feel every inch of his warmth pressed up into your front. “You want me that bad, hmm?”

“So much,” you squeezed out, shivering as Chan’s lips brushed the softness of your earlobe, tongue darting out to trace the delicate shell of your ear, before moving to your cheek, your forehead. Ignoring the wood digging into your back, you wrapped your arms around him, holding him to you so tightly that you imagined the two of you could almost melt into one. It felt so right to be in his embrace like this - so warm, so loving - that you felt your shyness melting away. This man was yours - and you were his. 

“Chan,” you whispered, your husband’s gaze turning molten as he heard his name on your lips for the first time. “Please.” 

And with that, his lips crashed down onto yours. Heat exploded throughout your body, making your very toes curl with pleasure as Chan tasted his fill of you, hands sliding up your throat to hold your head still for him as his mouth ravaged yours. Your hands, finally granted the freedom to explore, roved wildly over his body, mapping out the dips and valleys of hard muscle and soft skin that you’d craved to touch for so long. As your fingernails dragged against the taut muscles of his abs, Chan groaned into your mouth, pulling his lips away with difficulty. 

“We didn’t wait this long just for me to fuck you against a door, pet,” he rasped out. “And that’s exactly what’s going to happen if you keep teasing me like that.” 

Sparks shot straight to your core - and you found yourself aching to see what would happen if you pushed him even more. So, keeping your eyes wide and innocent, gaze fixed on Chan’s, you let your hands wander further back, drifting lower until your fingers found the tempting swell of his ass - and squeezed. 

“Minx,” he hissed, eyes narrowing playfully. And suddenly, you felt the ground falling away from under your feet as Chan snatched you up in his arms, walking the few steps to the bed before tossing you on. You were still bouncing from the impact of the landing when he crawled onto the mattress, caging you under him as his lips descended on yours, fingers entangling themselves into the ties of your bodice. Eagerly, with soft kisses and moans and words of praise, the two of you worked each other out of your clothing, sending garments flying from the bed until your bodies finally met, skin-to-skin, flush against one another for the very first time. Your eyes fluttered shut, overcome by just how warm, how sinfully good Chan felt against your body.

Soft lips brushed your forehead, then your cheeks. “How are you feeling?” You opened your eyes to find Chan looking down at you, his hair tousled, cheeks ruddy with the first hints of a blush, and eyes glowing - clearly just as enraptured as you were.

“Blissful,” you murmured, lifting your hand up to thumb at Chan’s cheek - before arching an eyebrow at him. “And a little impatient.”

Chan blinked for a second, then threw his head back in a delighted laugh. “I should have known,” he mused, gaze sharpening as he let the toughened skin of his palms drag up your torso, goosebumps trailing in their wake. You gasped as he cupped your breasts, squeezing the soft flesh with just the right level of roughness. 

“I’m sorry I’m not doing enough for you, sweetheart,” he teased darkly, lips curving into a smirk as he watched you squirm under his hands, mewling as his fingers moved to tweak your nipples. “Let me make it up to you now, hmm?”

And in one easy, fluid motion, he flipped you onto your stomach, keeping you prone and flat against the bed as he positioned himself on top of you. “I want you to relax for me,” he whispered into your ear. “Just close your eyes and let me take care of you, okay?” With your head buried in the pillows, eyes squeezed shut, you let yourself embrace the darkness - for your senses were now purely reduced to him. The weight of his body pressing you down into the mattress. The scent of his musky perfume enveloping you, the sound of his voice murmuring into your ear. You were his - and he was all you knew. 

So, you nodded yes. 

Nuzzling into the crook of your neck, Chan twisted his hand into your hair, gathering it out of the way with delicious pressure on your scalp, before laving his tongue over the soft skin under your ear, grazing the tender flesh with just a hint of teeth. Your hands fisted into the sheets as you cried out in sensitivity, overwhelmed at the sensation. 

As he continued to suckle dark, tender bruises into your neck, his free hand roamed your body, mapping out all of the spots that made you shiver and whimper - the undersides of your breasts, the dip of your waist, the crease where your bottom meets your thigh. You moaned as he palmed the flesh of your ass, dancing dangerously close to your now leaking core. And when his fingers finally found your folds…

“Fuck, babygirl…you’re so wet,” he purred. “I could probably just slip right in like this, don’t you think?” 

You could feel the bulbous head of his cock teasing your entrance, and you clenched at the thought of how well it would fill you up, how good it would make you feel. 

And as if that wasn’t enough, he slowly started to grind his hips into yours, his hardening length catching on your folds in the most maddening way. 

“Chan,” you whispered. “P-please…,” you choked out, frantic for something. Some pressure, some friction, anything to take the edge off at least even a little.

“Hmm?” He leaned his head back into the crook of your necks, so close that you could feel his lips moving against the shell of your ear. “Did you need something, sweetheart?” 

You could feel him smirking against your skin, so pleased with himself. Smug bastard. But you were desperate – and you weren’t above begging at this point. 

“Fingers, Chan…please, I need something,” you moaned. 

Once again, you found yourself flipped over. But this time, your husband was looming over you, eyes dark and dangerous. “My angel just needs something to fill her up, doesn’t she?” And you let your head fall back, groaning in pleasure, as you felt not just one, but two fingers slotting into your entrance. 

You’d been ready for it to burn, hurt even - but you were so aroused, so desperate for relief that his fingers slid right into you, your walls sucking them in as Chan scissored you open. 

“Good girl,” Chan hissed. “Taking my fingers so well, like you were made for me.” 

“Because I was,” you whispered. “Because I’m yours, Chan…please, make me yours.” 

Chan’s fingers stilled, sliding out of you as he looked down at you with an unreadable expression. But then – in the span of a millisecond – he’d caught your lips up in a searing, toe-curling kiss, one that you knew you’d never forget as long as you lived. 

“There’s nothing else in the world that I want to do more, my love,” he breathed back, voice thick with emotion. And as he settled his hips in the cradle of yours; as he pressed into you, filling you up with one powerful, breathtaking push – you felt a sense of completeness, of rightness that settled in all the way down to your bones. 

You were already far gone from his previous ministrations, from the sensuality, the emotion of it all. So, with just a few well-placed thrusts, the weight of his pelvis grinding down with delicious friction onto your clit, you felt yourself climbing and climbing higher, could feel that cord twisting tighter, just about to snap – and when it did, you felt a veritable wave of pleasure crash over you, sending warmth furling through your body from head to toe. Slowing down to let you ride out your peak, Chan cursed, mouth dropping open in a moan as your walls clamped down on his length, their rhythmic pulsing driving him nearly to distraction. 

“I’m a goddamn fool,” he rasped out, watching with hungry eyes as you trembled at the touch of his fingertips, tracing softly over your oversensitive clit. “Imagine – I could have had you like this every night, every morning, every spare moment I could get my hands on you, love.” 

You groaned weakly, futilely trying to meet Chan’s thrusts - your sensitivity be damned - but he pinned your hips down. “It’s okay, babygirl,” he cooed. “Just let me do all the work, okay?”

And work he did - Chan drove into you with powerful, deep strokes, your breasts bouncing almost painfully from the force of his thrusts. You couldn’t hear anything over the sound of your heart beating in your ears and the slap of skin on skin as your husband claimed your body, took you as his. In your hazy, fucked-out state, you couldn’t focus on anything but him - how gorgeous, how beautiful he looked above you: lips swollen, bruised from your kisses; sweat beading on his forehead; veins popping and muscles tense as he exerted himself. 

“Y-you’re doing so well for me,” he stuttered out, hands roughly dragging over your body. You could tell he was approaching his own high from the way he was biting at his lip, eyes screwed up in concentration. So, you dragged your nails over his skin again, feeling his abs contracting in response, and with the little strength you had left in you, clenched down on his length. 

That was enough to tip Chan over the edge. With one final, harsh thrust and the wildest moan you’d ever heard from him, he exploded - his dick throbbing in you as hot, thick cum flooded your pussy, your walls fluttering weakly in response. You cradled him into your neck as he collapsed onto you, drained but satiated.

Of course, Chan being Chan, he only let himself catch his breath for a few seconds. Shoving himself up out of your arms, he carefully pulled out of you before standing up, grabbing a discarded blanket to tie around himself as a makeshift sarong. Leaning back down over you, he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. “Try to relax, love - I’ll be right back,” he murmured, brushing a few loose strands of hair off your forehead, before venturing out. 

You had absolutely no idea how he managed it so quickly at this odd of an hour, but Chan was soon back with a bowl of warm, fragrant water and a fresh towel. He swiftly cleaned you and himself up with careful hands and soft apologies every time he grazed an area that was a little too sensitive. But your winces of discomfort, the burgeoning soreness between your legs were all forgotten when he slid under the covers with you once again, body bare and warm against yours. The two of you laid there snug in each other’s arms, legs entangled, in a comfortable, cozy silence. You were almost about to drift off, lulled to sleep by the rhythm of Chan’s heart, when he suddenly spoke up. 

“I…I wasn’t too rough with you again, right?” While his voice remained calm, heartbeat still steady under your ear, you looked up to find hints of vulnerability flickering in his gaze. 

“I enjoyed every second of it,” you smiled up at him, letting your hand drift up to smooth over his head. “Besides, I like it when you…do all of that. Use me like that.” You felt yourself start to flush, heat rising to your cheeks. “It feels really good.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up, relief and amusement shining from his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.” In one confident motion, his hand slid down the curve of your back, giving your ass an experimental, possessive smack; at your answering moan, the automatic thrust of your hips into his, he broke into a full on grin, laughing and pulling you even more tightly into his arms. For a second, he just held you against him. Then - 

“I love you.” His voice was quiet, but resolute. And this time, you could feel his heart pounding just a little faster. 

You wriggled up his body, planting yourself right at face level - eye to eye, lips to lips. You tenderly cupped his face in your hands, watching as his eyes fluttered shut for just a second before opening again, looking back at you with clear, unguarded eyes. 

“I love you too,” you whispered back, lips trembling the slightest bit with emotion. And this time, when your lips met his - you knew you were home. 

Fin. 

[natewriteslol]

Hey! Could i request the dorm leaders with an esper MC? Kinda like Mob psycho or Saiki k :) and maybe they don't really use this ability of theirs that much since in their world they're literally a teen who's trying to live a normal life(like Mob basically), so nobody knew about their psychic powers except Grim since the mirror said that he couldnt sense any magic in them(i'm pretty sure that psychic powers don't really count as magic but idk lol).

Feel free to ignore if you don't wanna write it! :)

 A/N: Ooh this was a fun one! I haven't watched Mob Psycho (I know about that fine ass blonde man-) but I have watched Saiki k and I loved it, still need to finish it tho jlafljhdas 

Characters: Kalim Al-Asim, Riddle Rosehearts, Leona Kingscholar, Vil Schoenheit, Azul Ashengrotto, Idia Shroud, Malleus Draconia

P.S: I’m so sorry this is so long omg but I guess this is a strong comeback-

Warnings: none except for language

Riddle:

-You wanted to stay as far away as possible from him

-Riddle was part of the trio of people you wanted to stay away from: Riddle, Vil, and Azul

-Riddle paid so much attention to fine details that if something was up, he'd definitely notice it

-But unfortunately you were best friends with the two goobers of Heartslabyul: Ace and Deuce

-And Riddle had started to pay attention to you and your habits, and something was off with you

-It's almost as though you tried too hard to be normal, like Jamil

-And he could never let something like that happen again, so yes he was watching you

-One day you accidently slipped up and was irresponsible with your powers

-Grim was bothering you since he got into a deal with Azul for tuna and they were standing outside with the twins, since Grim lost

-You told him to fend for himself and teleported, however you didn’t plan where you would go

-And you teleported into the Heartslabyul dorm

-What sucks is that your teleportation power was literally flashy with a bright ass green light every time you popped in somewhere

-Just when you thought you were lucky since the whole dorm was uninhabited...except for Riddle who watched the whole thing

-He was completely shocked, he didn’t know what to say other than “What did you just do?!” 

-You explained to him, and that just pieced everything together

-How you solved overblots with such ease, and that one day you had a “strength potion to test for Azul” was such bs!

-Riddle ends up keeping your secret, since he values your privacy but if you do something major and mess up then he will tell!

-”I understand but please be more careful with your powers. I need to institute discipline and you are no exception, Y/N.”

-He really does care about you and doesn’t want you to be found out 

-Goes the extra mile to cover for you often, and in exchange you help him out with things :)

Leona:

-He didn't really care about you at first but as you started to hang Jack and Ruggie, Leona started to get more suspicious

-Your scent had proven that you had some trace of magic, but Leona just couldn't put his finger on it

-So he sent Ruggie after you for a couple of days

-If you were a threat to Savanaclaw, Leona would crush you

-But Ruggie had only reported back that everything with you was perfectly normal

-"Just give it up Leona, they're just an ordinary human. The scent is probably weird because they're from a completely different world."

-But Leona still had that feeling, so he was keeping an eye on you

-You had made a deal with Crowley to keep your powers secret to solve problems on campus (it did cut repair costs and handymen costs in half so-)

-Your new quest was to rid the forest of the Angolo fungus that was manifesting into living fungus blobs 

-The one thing that gave you away was Grim, as you both had to stop by the Greenhouse to read some info about the fungus

-The cat beast was being far too loud, not understanding why he had to go and mess around with the icky fungus

-You simply replied “It’ll be quick, I’ll just use Hydrokinesis and dry out the fungus since they’re mainly filled with water. They become fertilizer once dried so we can just leave them there.”

-And there Leona was, ears perked up once he heard your voice

-Hydrokinesis? What are you talking about?

-So he set off, following you to the forest

-You started to fly, turning the once green and lively fungus to brown dust while Grim napped against a tree

-Leona for the first time in the while, was left speechless

-Once you noticed him, you realized you had to talk to him

-Confronting him later on, luckily Leona didn’t spill to anyone 

-He promised to never tell anyone about what he saw, and had no clapbacks for what you had to say 

- Leona doesn’t even benefit from this secret...besides mayyybee one day asking for your help if his pride lets him

-By the Great Seven why does everything have to not be in his favor-

Azul:

-Another one who you have got to be careful around, since he’s incredibly observant

-More observant than Riddle

-Azul noticed that you’re an incredibly average person, and were incredibly relaxed even during the most stressful situations

-And almost every single time whenever you were in a tight spot, it works in your favor

-Just how is that possible? Solving overblots left and right? Every single time you disappeared the infestation of magical beasts are gone? 

-One day, you were getting picked on by a three guys, their stature far above yours and incredibly strong. How could you possibly win?

-Just as he was about to scoop in a save you, you slammed one of the men into the concrete, taking on the other two by electrocuting them, the blue lightning buzzing in your palms

-They were completely knocked out, dusting off your palms and picking up your things only to face Azul’s eyes

-After giving an explanation of what that was, he was still speechless

-Azul at first was incredibly shocked and then since Azul is Azul... later on realized this had benefits

-He could just blackmail you to be his new bodyguard!

-Oh how he always manages to bend life to his will-!

-So you could just wipe his memory... or turn him into stone...nvm

-You’re now Azul’s arch nemesis since you end up saving people from his scamming and you’re basically untouchable and there’s nothing he can do about it

-But he does find your great strength admirable (and a lil hot, I mean what can u say seeing someone floating in the air with electricity flowing through them is a nice look okay Nate shut up)

Kalim: 

-Oh Kalim my beloved

-He just thinks that you’re incredibly talented and a little mysterious

-You have your little quirks and he has his! Who is he to judge?

-Until one day you wanted to make the load lighter on Jamil, since the berries that Kalim had requested for were only in season in one country

-You decided to just teleport and then come back with the berries so Kalim wouldn’t be pouty 

-You were outside the door ready to teleport when last minute you felt a hand on your shoulder

- “Oh Y/N you forgot-!”

-And there both you and Kalim were, in a berry field thousands of miles away from the Scarabia dorm

-Kalim screams, falling to the lush green of the field

-What happened?! Where are we?! How did you do that?!

-You quickly gathered all the berries at light speed, making sure that you got back before Jamil realized that you were gone

-Kalim wasn’t scared of you, rather impressed that you were able to keep a secret for that long, he could never!

-You’re already super cool, and on top of this you have otherwordly powers!

- “It must’ve been stressful living your life like this! But don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret!”

-Yes he sometimes asks you to perform some of your powers for him, sorry Y/N-

Vil:

-While you were his friend, he was incredibly suspicious of you

-Even though you wiped everyone’s memory, he still had the faint memory of when he was in overblot mode of you blasting him with a beam of light

-Vil was incredibly upset as one of his assistants had mixed up his items, and left one of his vital skincare items on the set of where they were filming a new commercial

-It was being shipped and would take 3 days to reach NRC

-His mood was horrible and you had to do something about it to give grace to the Pomefiore dorm

-So you went to the second story of the Pomefiore dorm, ready to use Apport (the power to pull anything before you) 

-However, Vil felt incredibly guilty

-He was acting like a child and he shouldn’t have taken it out on the people who he loves and values

- “Y/N, how I was acting was incredibly inappropriate and- is that my moisturizer? How did you get it?”

-Starts freaking out as this was impossible as it was on it’s way from being shipped from another country

-This was the last straw for him ther was no justification for this that wasn't done by some form of magic

-He takes you to his room to make you sit down and give him an explanation for this

-Once you finished, Vil understood but was still freaked out

-He cares alot about keeping your powers a secret and will cover for you

-"So my aport powers need to exchange something of equal value so... I exchanged it with that Scucci purse over there-

-"MY LIMITED EDITION SCUCCI PURSE?!"

-He loves you, but you're dead to him, Y/N dear

Idia:

-Before he knew you, he didn't really notice anything off with you

-A little quiet sure but he minded his own business, he had bigger things to focus on

-Until you hung around Ignihyde more often for a project, fixing a huge generator by yourself for one of your partners for a project

-They took a break only after you told them that they could and apprehensive went to go get food and water

-Anyone with eyes could see that there's an overbearing amount of energy flowing through the fairly large sized cube

-Wait, you were wearing no gloves, you could get electrocuted! Why would have your bare hands on something like that?!

-Just as he was able to yell, it was too late, your whole body was flowing with the bright blue energy... and then you let go

-You were walking completely fine, you went and held a random wire on the ground, placing the electricity inside

-The static from your hair was gone, and you looked completely normal. . .

-Just what the hell are you?

-He did hours of research trying to figure you out, even sending Ortho to monitor you

-Yet there was nothing, you were just a “regular teen” 

-Was ready to get S.T.Y.X.S on your ass- (is that too soon to joke abt my bad overblot boys-)

-Until one day he caught you again bending electricity to your will

-Is incredibly impressed with your power (lowkey wanting to experiment on you)

-After he realizes that you can read minds Idia is so damn frightened

- “O-Okay I promise not to say anything, just don’t tell anyone what I’m thinking a-alright?!”

Malleus:

-You were one of the only people who he trusted

-Malleus had always detected some form of magical aura that was otherworldly from you and it never seemed to fade

-And it wasn’t often, but it was almost like you knew what he was thinking

-Whenever he was deeply upset he felt a twinge of energy from you, and then you would insist and help him out with his problems

-And he flat out says “Are you reading my mind, Y/N?”

-You had never been directly outed like this before, you felt horrible 

-You never read people’s minds unless it was very necessary

-whenever Malleus felt deeply gloomy you felt like it was important to just read his mind and help him with the problem

-You explained it to him and apologized, but he wasn’t upset

-In fact, he was smiling?

- “It seems like we have alot of things that we’re hiding from each other. But... you always had the best intentions whenever you used your abilities”

-He let out a sigh and reluctantly admitted, “And, I know that I’m quite stubborn with revealing my feelings.” 

- “I will keep your secret as long as you keep mine, Child of Man,” the dragon fae said, you both shaking on it

- “I always had a feeling that you were special, but I never thought it would be something of this caliber...” 

[slasherhaven]

Hello it’s me again could you please do Jesse Cromeans x single mother with a child whose deaf and the father of the child is abusive and trying to make the reader’s life horrible then Jesse crimes to the rescue lol hope it’s not too bothersome or confusing

-🖤

Warnings: abusive past relationship

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) X Single Mother with a Deaf Child and Abusive Partner:

You had been working for Jesse’s organisation for a little while but he never really noticed you, since you didn’t work that close to him.

His assistant had been off sick for about a week, and you had been assigned to take over her role until she got back.

That was the first time he truly took notice of you, instantly becoming a little intrigued.

He recognised the signs soon after. The way you acted around him and others despite nobody giving you any direct reason to fear them. How you apologised too quickly, worried about messing up, how quiet you were. You were good at your job, though.

When you had first headed to his office, to introduce yourself and explain you would be his assistant for a little while, he had gone to communicate through text to speech. You were quick to assure him that you understood sign language if he preferred to use that, your hands moving along with your words as if to prove it. 

It had made him smile. 

Placing down his phone, he used his hands to ask how you knew sign language.

“My son in deaf, sir” you explained with a small smile.

A son? Jesse knew he hadn’t spotted a ring on your hand, so you mustn’t have been married.

Over the week you spend together, he quickly learnt how to act around you. How to keep his distance as to not intimidate you, how to alert you to his presence so not to scare you.

But you quickly became comfortable around him. You knew he was a dangerous man but he had never been anything but kind to you.

Eventually you wondered when his usual assistant would be returning, only for him to tell you that you would be taking on the position permanently. A part of you wanted to argue, to ask more about the woman who’s job you were taking, but the pay raise just couldn’t be overlooked. Not when you had a son to think about.

So, you took to your new role easily. You worked closely to Jesse, the two of you hitting it off with a surprising ease. Perhaps it was because you could communicate so easily? He found talking to you less bothersome? You weren’t sure, but you enjoyed his company.

Normally you would greet him with a smile, two coffees in your hand. This morning was a little different.

When Jesse got to the office, his coffee was already sitting on his desk. Still warm. He found you at your desk, hanging your head, hair forming curtains around your face, scribbling something down.

He approached your desk with purposeful footsteps. He knew that you had heard him but you didn’t look up. 

He used the text to speech to say you name. You pause for a moment before looking up at him. 

Even through the make-up you had applied, he could see the bruise that had formed along your cheek. You knew he had seen it, you saw the anger in his eyes and how his shoulders tensed.

“What happened?” he asked simply, getting no response. “Come into my office” some people found it difficult to decipher tone in sign language but you had become an expert, his body language was tense but you knew the order held some gentleness.

You followed him to his office, he closed the door behind you both before guiding you over to his desk. You sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk, and he sat in the other, not putting the desk between the two of you.

He once again asked what happened, who had hurt you.

You had been working with him for a while now, months, and you had noticed how much safer you felt with him. You could smile and laugh without a care when you were with him, you had fallen asleep in his office once while working on some paperwork with him, and you had woken up to a blanket draped over you.

He had even met your son once. It was after work hours, he had called you asking for a file that he couldn’t find. When you realised you had accidently taken it home with you, you offered to bring it in. He hadn’t expected to see you step into the office with a young boy trailing behind you. You handed him the file and he thanked you for it before looking down at your son. He seemed a little timid, standing just behind you cautiously. 

From what Jesse had assumed, the boy didn’t have great male role models in his life and he knew he was an intimidating man anyway. You couldn’t help but smile when Jesse gave your son a small wave, which he politely returned. But when Jessed signed “what’s your name?” your son’s face lit up in a smile before telling him his name. Jesse also introduced himself. 

All of that just to say that you felt that you could trust him.

So, you told him everything. How you had broken up with your boyfriend, your son’s father, a long time ago because of how abusive he could be, you didn’t want your child to be put through that. How, for a while, the father stayed out of your life, seemingly disappearing. How he recently started calling and showing up at your door, demanding to be a part of your son’s life. How he had harshly slapped you for denying him access to your home only the night before.

You weren’t sure when you started crying, but you weren’t surprised that you had. Jesse moved out of his chair, kneeling down in front of you as you lifted your head to look at him.

“Is he still bothering you?” you nodded. “Has he called you today?” you told him that he had been blowing up your phone so you blocked the number but that wouldn’t stop him from coming to your home again. “Are you sure you’re safe at home?” he asked and you paused before giving him an unconvincing nod.

Of course you weren’t safe at home, but you didn’t want to burden Jesse, your boss, with your personal life.

But he knew you were lying, and he wasn’t about to send you back home to deal with him. 

“You can stay with me for a while” he offered as he stood up, your eyes widening as you looked up at him.

“No, I can’t do that. I’m fine really” you didn’t want to be any trouble, even if his offer was very tempting. You would be safe, your ex would never guess you were staying there.

You argued and protested some more but Jesse kept insisting, and you eventually gave in. The offer was generous.

He let you use his bathroom to wash your face and clean up in. The two of you finished work early that day and, since you usually take public transport to work, Jesse opened his car door for you.

He took you to your home, where you packed two bags. One for you and once for your son.

He then took you to pick your son up from school once the school day was finished. Your son seemed excited to see Jesse again, running up and hugging you hello before signing his greeting to the well dressed man beside you.

“We’re going to stay with Jesse for a little while” you knelt down to your son’s height, a little surprised but glad to see his bright smile.

Jesse also smiled, this being one of the few times you had called him ‘Jesse’ despite how many times he had told you to do so.

Jesse’s home is grand and modern and impressive, it managed to stun you a little. But your son was nearly jumping up and down with excitement.

“Do I get my own room?” your son signed up to you. You looked to Jesse for an answer, and he nodded.

Jesse didn’t have a kid’s room in his home but he did have some guest rooms, one of which he gave to your son. “It’s the biggest room” he had told the young boy, making his smile grow even more.

That night, your son went to bed with ease, having worn himself out, and you returned to the lounge where Jesse was sitting with a drink.

“Thank you, Jesse. You really didn’t need to do all of this, it’s very generous” you sat down beside him.

He told you that he considered you to be a friend, that he refused to sit by and let your ex harass you. He wanted to look out for you and your son, you were his assistant after all.

For a while everything was going well. You and your son were still staying with Jesse, the three of you getting along well and adjusting easily to your new living situation. 

Jesse found that he enjoyed having you both there. He was aware that he had developed some feelings for you and was fond of your son, so he really didn’t mind you staying with him. In a way, he was getting what he wanted.

Things got a little worse when you went to pick your son up from school one day, finding your ex waiting for you both. You had instantly called Jesse, waiting by the school for him to arrive so that your ex couldn’t bother you too much, it was too public.

When Jesse’s car pulled up in front of you, your ex was talking to you. Your son clinging to your hand, both of you clearly afraid.

As soon as your son saw Jesse stepping out of the car, his face lit up. He released your hand and ran over to the man, who gently guided the child to stand behind him. Jesse’s stance protective.

“Are you ready to go?” Jesse signed and you nodded, quickly walking over to him. 

Of course, your ex had never bothered to learn sign language, so he didn’t understand any of it. He was quick to start snapping at Jesse, asking who he was and to leave you all alone, to mind his business, he was just trying to talk to his son. Your ex has always been foolish and hot-headed, trying to pick a fight with a man so much larger than him.

As your ex got closer, Jesse placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back harshly. He looked over his shoulder and nodded at you, you quickly ushered your son into the car, getting in with him. Using the text to speech on his phone, Jesse threatened your ex. You couldn’t hear, you could only see that he was using the device, but he was threatening your ex to stay away from you and your son.

Your ex backed off and Jesse got into the car, driving the three of you home where you could comfort your son and he could comfort you.

It wasn’t too long after that when Jesse went on his first business trip since you started living with him. It felt strange to be living in his home without him but it had started to feel like your own home. Jesse made sure the two of you stayed in touch, talking everyday.

He returned home after about two weeks. As soon as he stepped through the door, your son had run up to him with a huge smile to greet him with a hug. The two had become close. Your heart warmed when Jesse lifted the young boy up into an embrace, flashing you a proud smile as he kicked the door shut behind him. 

So domestic, how a child should react to his father returning after two weeks away.

That night your son had asked if he could stay up late because Jesse was home, you couldn’t convince him to go to bed, but Jesse convinced him by promising to do something special on the weekend. It had you smiling again.

You and Jesse did stay up a little longer that night, talking and catching up. He asked if your ex had given you any trouble, you told him that he hadn’t. What you didn’t know was that your ex would never be bothering you again, Jesse had made sure of it.

That night you confessed that you had missed him, that your son had as well, and Jesse confessed that he had missed the two of you too.

That night was the night that Jesse finally kissed you, finally feeling that you had become comfortable enough around him, that you returned his feelings and didn’t think you owed him anything for his help. And you had returned the kiss instantly, glad that he finally made the move.

Jesse had already proven to be the best partner you had ever had, the best father figure that your son had ever had, and he seemed to want to be those things. You truly believed that the three of you could make this work, that this could be good for all three of you. 

You had fallen hard for Jesse and as he pulled you closer to him on the couch, deepening the kiss, you were sure that you had never felt this way about somebody before.

[cynettic]

Hey so I just read the Laser Tag AU and maaaan, now I really want to play Splatoon smh aksksjjdjs

Anywayyy my point is: may I request more hcs but with the other boyos (Childe, Albedo, Bennett, Razor, Chongyun, Xingqiu and maybe Aether if you do him too xD)

Laser Tag ( genshin x reader )

Summary - Genshin characters playing laser tag with you their s/o.

Pairings - Reader x Childe/Bennett/Razor/Chongyun/Albedo/Scaramouche

Warnings - Mention of guns and shooting.

A/N - Added in Scaramouche- But I couldn’t think of anything for Xingqiu. I can surprisingly see the majority of the Genshin boys being good at wielding guns, even though they’d probably suck lol

Laser Tag

Childe

Childe is a beast.

Whether it’s in the terrain of his battlefield, or the streets of Liyue playing laser tag, Childe plays to win. He’s always been the competitive type, enjoying the thrill of battle, or in this case, laser tag.

He loves the game.

And of course, you just have to end up on the opposite team as him.

This game is the perfect setup for an enemies to lovers kind of vibe btw. With him shooting at your comrades and eliminating them from left to right, and you doing the same for his team. Very few people stand against him in this game, and his accuracy and sense of battle.

The two of you will spend the entirety of the game playing cat and mouse. Childe chasing after you while you simply escape his sights every time, taking down his teammates while you’re at it.

Childe isn’t as interested in winning, and once you prove to be worthy of a decent laser tag battle, he tries his best to force you to confront him.

Of course you on the other hand take his reckless behaviour to your advantage to turn the game in your favour and strike down his team. You know it’ll piss him off later when you win.

However, it Childe does manage to catch you…

The two of you will fight, that much is obvious. Dodging and attacking him, he will get very into it. Maybe a little too much, but you don’t give in, not until the very end.

Not until he’s on top of you, the two of you toppled over a bunch of hay that cushions your fall when he crashes into you. Not until he’s holding the plastic revolver against your temple, staring straight into your eyes with his signature smirk.

He might sneak a little kiss in there just to throw you off.

But in the end he will make sure he wins, or rather, he eliminates you. He doesn’t care if he doesn’t win the entirety of the game, taking you down was satisfactory enough, and he feels well accomplished and content after.

Would definitely rub it in your face.

If you brush it off as something you didn’t really try in, be prepared to be pinned against the wall and kissed until you admit that you were in fact, doing your best. And yes, he won fair and square.

Bennett

Omg this precious boy-

Bennett will try his hardest, stick by your side and shoot at any approaching target. Considering that the two of you are on the same team, he will promise to protect you.

With one problem.

No matter how well he aims, whether it is going to hit his target or not, the lazer disagrees. Rather, his terrible luck absolutely ruins it and somehow his lazer point ends up somewhere completely else.

“It changed its direction completely!”

Well… you never know, maybe it’s the gun that sends the lazers ray so far off, but considering it’s Bennett, you know it’s no coincidence.

So you end up protecting him.

Dragging him from place to place and shooting down your opponents, the two of you spend your time tripping over random large ass rocks ( with only Bennett’s terrible luck to blame ) and attacking opponents.

You make sure that Bennett is not shot, no matter what. And you give everyone else a terrible glare that basically screams that if they shoot him, they’ll face your wrath.

Nobody shoots Bennett.

By the end of the game, he’ll be grinning ear to ear. And even if he didn’t manage to eliminate anyone, he’ll boast about how his amazing dodging skills pulled him through the game. You’ll agree, lacing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him to the good Hunter to get a good meal.

Just to buy one though, the poor boy can’t cook for his life.

Razor

“Razor… very confused.”

The wolf boy has difficulty with the rules of the game, but the concept of pointing the gun at an opponent and shooting them with a lazer isn’t too hard to grasp.

You find out very quickly that Razor is actually pretty good with aim.

His hands don’t shake for one, and he is so adept to his surroundings that people struggle finding the source of their depleting health. Despite being overall confused at how to play, Razor easily becomes one of the main players taking opponents down.

As someone on his team, he makes sure to keep you by his side the entire time. He understands the elimination part, and he doesn’t want his lupical to get taken out, even if it’s a game.

He can be oddly affectionate at certain times, pushing your face against his chest as he takes out the remaining players in the field you both are in. He will carry you, and take no hesitation when pulling you out of the way, even if it’s a little too rough.

When the game ends, it might take a while to explain to the poor boy that your team won. And that it was a good thing.

Razor will begin to smile when he notices how content you are with it.

Chongyun

This man has the audacity to wield a gun while licking his ‘popsicle.’

Like goddamnit Chongyun, being good at shooting is already a flex, you don’t have to nibble at your popsicle while you’re at it.

You can’t really blame him though, it’s hot outside, and with the sun beaming down on the poor boy's head you know he can’t stand it. Especially with all the adrenaline and yells from opposing teams.

As someone on the same team as him, you take on the job of Chongyun’s personal popsicle restocker, and shooting anyone down once he gets tired. As good as the boy is at shooting, he sucks at keeping himself unknown to the other players.

So you take on the job to make sure they don’t shoot him down.

The two of you are a good team, and if it gets too hot, Chongyun might even let you have one of his popsicles. Of course you don’t have his talent of being able to shoot while having a popsicle in your mouth-

Your team will end up losing though, and even though Chongyun isn’t bothered, he will be slightly worried if you care. The two of you were obviously trying your best, and as long as you both had fun that’s all that matters to him.

But if it really bothers you that much…

He knows you feel comforted by physical contact, so he’ll hold your hand and offer a comforting smile. Tell you that you played well, and that he had fun.

That cheers you up right away.

Kiss him on the cheek please, even though he will flinch at the contact, his cheeks are flushed red and he won’t admit it. But he likes it.

Albedo

Why is it so easy to picture Albedo as a hot sexy stoic mafioso wielding a gun?

Anyways, Albedo is terribly good at wielding a gun. So good at that he only holds the plastic revolver with one hand, never missing a shot as he walks down the streets of Monstadt.

He knows the area well, so good luck trying to sneak up on him. The way his eyes so carelessly sweep the buildings, it hardly looks like he’s trying. Eliminating players with his lasers as he mindlessly strides past the fountain.

Of course, you’re against him.

Albedo isn’t really motivated to play, he’d rather be in his lab experimenting or recording down his discoveries. But he was dragged into this mess, he might as well play his part and support his team.

Albedo won’t hesitate to shoot at you and take you down.

As much as you may be important to you, he plays this game fair and square. He will take you down, or rather, he will try, because you get creative :)

He knows Monstadt well, but he can’t possibly keep his eye on all angles around him. So you’ll aim for his blind spots, throw yourself at him and tackle him to the ground. Simply eliminating him isnt satisfying enough, you need more.

So you turn this into a little game to fluster him.

Tackle him and pin him down, watch him scramble for the gun and then give him a peck on the lips. Watch as his grip loosens, and one of his hands instinctively come to nestle against your hair to pull you closer, and then you pull away.

Watching his idle confusement turn into a light blush on his cheeks is just too good, and how he grows even redder when you start laughing is even better.

Of course his team wins, not that he cares.

The minute the game ends he’s back in his office, conducting experiments. You can go interrupt him though, sneak into his office and press a kiss against his neck. He doesn’t often react or do much to it, but after your linger kiss at the game, he will pull you close and sit you on his lap. Have a proper make out session after you left him hanging with that peck earlier ;)

Scaramouche

This little man is ‘terrifying’.

It’s scary enough that whether you’re against him or on the same team as him, you keep your distance.

“Are you avoiding me Y/n?”

You play on the same team, and even if he’s your boyfriend, you know better than to stay too close when it comes to battle. He shows his cruelty, and you really weren’t looking forward to be put in the middle of that.

‘Unfortunately you didn’t have a choice-‘

Scaramouche will literally drag you, a hand looped around your waist to tug you to his side and take you along with him as he takes down opponents after opponents. He doesn’t ask for your praise, but you still give him it knowing he appreciates it. Mentally.

When he’s tired or bored, he will lean his head on your shoulder, wait there for a bit before jumping back up and shooting a random straggler on the sides. Heavens knows how the boy knows he was there, it’s like he has some sixth sense.

We don’t even want to get into his accuracy and precision, Scaramouche is born a mafioso.

At the end when your team wins, no surprise, give him a hug. Tell him he did well and even if he tries to push away, hold him tight. Even though he could easily pull your arms away if he wanted to, he’ll just pretend to give a little struggle and then give in to your warmth.

[mxvladdy]

I would like to request! Can I request? Well I wish for you to consider what type of person/what kind of situation would cause the brothers to make a pact with someone. Maybe even what they would request in exchange? This can be before or after they met MC. With that out of the way, I totally binge read all of your works after my sister gushed to me about the True Form series, and just thank you??? It made me really happy reading them and it's always impressively detailed and well thought out.

Awww thank you! I’m glad it’s rave-worthy! I plan to add to it soon bc it was an absolute riot to write and research for lol

And wow this one is a toughie! I’ve actually never thought of what would make them want a pact! Hope ya like it!

Lucifer- Pact of Success

Absolutely the hardest brother to do business with, but that is probably a good thing. He is incredibly selfish with his contracts. Sure, they’ll benefit from his pact mark, but he will get the most out of it. Aside from MC he only takes requests for contracts from the human “elite”. They make wonderful feathers in his cap.

But also he takes some enjoyment in breaking them. They always get so cocky with his contracts thinking that they have him on the ropes and at their beck and call. It gives him a good chuckle, humans are so brazen considering their very short lifespan.

He destroys them slowly over time- all the little minutia he peppers in his legal bindings adds up. Not that his normal clientele ever read the fine print. But he designed it that way to make sure they don’t. All their requests are the same and so simplistic. Big boats, fancy cars, climbing the proverbial ladder faster than their friends or enemies - blah-blah-blah. At least the paperwork is easy to complete.

Very rarely does he find a contract he is excited to make. Those contracts are given to artists and craftsmen he sees potential in. He loves good art, and every artist should take pride in their work.

When it comes to the “price” of his pact it is worryingly simple. All he wants is some of their time. It sounds simple, and it is. Which is why it’s dangerous. The contract doesn’t specifically say how or the rules of it. How he takes your time is completely up to him.

Sometimes he simply comes for a drink and to ask how business is going. Or with the pacts he gives a damn about- he pops in to see progress on their artist visions or listen to their latest musings.    

Other times if he grows tired of his pact holders’ ever-growing demands or ludicrous requests he comes and takes time right out of their lifespan. His visits leave them weak and fatigued though they can’t place why. He is a slow siphon of death and they are too foolhardy to notice. If he is feeling especially cruel, or sentimental he takes memories, things that a demon generally wouldn’t want.

Time with family, the first time they met the love of their life, a child’s birthday. He takes them all and leaves them with only a blurry recollection in his wake

When MC crosses his path though he is very apprehensive. He doesn’t want a pact or anything that could jeopardize Diavolo’s upcoming plans. But they make his skin itch with want. He doesn’t want them to be another trophy on his wall. He wants a mutually beneficial pact, one that almost leans in their favor and it grates him. Should/ when a pact is made he won’t use his powers on you as then he would have to take something in return. Instead, he takes his time and coaches them to be successful by their own right, though if he has to eliminate some obstacles- well they don’t need to know that.

Mammon- Pact of Riches

I love his man with all my heart, but even when he isn’t losing bets or getting tricked into pacts he still isn’t the most selective with who he conducts business with. He is the avatar of greed, after all. I guess it comes with the territory.

He scouts for already wealthy humans or people with a good head for numbers and is money smart. Some are too smart to deal with him, knowing that whatever monetary gain they are granted from him will backfire in the end (or their mama’s taught them not to make deals with strange demons). But a sucker is born every minute, and he has nothing but time on his hands.

His pacts are pretty simple and upfront. Sign on the dotted line and they get some of his wicked gamblers’ luck and more riches than one human life span could do much with. While he gets a glorified accountant and a nice percentage of their profits. It’s a win-win… for him.

See he forgets to mention that there are two sides to every coin, and his flip side is particularly detrimental to one’s health. He just so conveniently glosses over that his luck will wear out over time depending on how frequently the pact holder uses it.

But the hunger for more doesn’t. If anything that particular sensation grows into an all-consuming fire in the pit of their pitiful guts. It forces them back into the seedy basements or griming gambling halls. One more roll, one more stack of bills, just one more time and they will hit pay dirt surly! But the losses just keep coming. If one of his pact holders ends up face down in a ditch after one too many bad hands and uncontrollable greed… well ain’t nobody’s fault but their own.

He has a softer spot for humans that seek him out and treat him like a living being instead of some tool to be tossed around at will. It’s refreshing. He will actually take some care with these pacts and tell them to temper their use of his magic so they can get the most out of it in the long run. They still might run into misfortune and he is genuinely sorry for that but there is only so much he can do in the end.

With MC he doesn’t even tell them about what his pact can do or how to use it. He doesn’t want anything bad happening to his human. If they want something tell him he will do it himself no magic or pact summoning required. He wants to keep them happy and healthy for as long as his lifespan will allow.

If MC should find how to use his pact mark he will get pissed. Not so much at them but the situation in general. He’ll be upfront about the whole thing, judge him how they want but he refuses to let greed consume them too. He focuses a lot of time and energy on learning how to reel in his magic with them so they get some of the perks but none of the major downsides. Unlike with his other pacts where he lets it all just run wild (just means they use up their contact faster and he can move on to even bigger fish).

Leviathan- Pact of Wisdom and Skill

Surprisingly, despite his antisocial tendencies with “normies”, he gets around when it comes to contracts. Perhaps it’s jealousy at his other brothers or perhaps he finds collecting contracts a bit of a game on its own.

He has a small niche of people interested in his pacts. Pacts with him give people a strategic advantage in nearly any situation. Seemingly overnight his humans turn into near tactical geniuses. Because of that, he is very popular with military leaders and humans with dangerous careers.

He also makes mini contracts with foot soldiers and humans with dangerous oceanic jobs. They just want to make it out alive and he gets that. With contracts like these, he is more lenient and doesn’t ask for much. Make an offering of fancy food to Henry 2.0 or wait in line for a rare human figuring he wants. Wam-bam thank you ma’am kinda business.

This is completely different from his larger contracts. With the military contracts, he expects them to continue with their duties until they die in the field. Simple as that, he doesn’t mince words in his contract. It’s what he would do as General so he expects it from them. Should they try to define him he will get rid of them.

He takes delight in defiant contract holders. They think they are as clever as he is now. But they forget that they are using his magic. He could take his magic away right after they defy him sure...but he won’t. He lets them stew for a bit, thinking they have had the last laugh on envy. If they wish to play games with a General then he will make sure it’s good.

With MC he plays on easy mode, granting them insight and little touches of his magic during exam week or when playing a game against his brothers. He wants nothing in return from them but some quality hangout time.

Satan- The Pact of Retribution

As the only pure-blooded demon out of the seven, he does these pacts out of necessity like most other demons. While the others do it more so out of monetary gain and an obligation to the crown. Or if you’re Belphie, sheer enjoyment.

He does it because he hungers, it a hole in his very self that he is trying to fill. He hunts for one reason only- relief from his cardinal sin. He will never feel the calm after a storm of rage naturally. Patience and tranquility are the antitheses of his very creation. So he gets it artificially through his contracts.

He looks for the downtrodden, angry, and the most bitterly despondent humans he can find and gives them the chance to seek vengeance. He is very upfront with what his pact entails. Once the vengeance is complete his rage will consume them and they will become another soul for him to consume.

He isn’t cruel about the process or tries to trick a human into a mark. Very few of the ones he approaches turn him down even after hearing the details. It is possible that humans once shot to get even and he gets to feel bliss, to feel calm. He finds out that the longer or more obscure the plan for retribution is the sweeter the outcome is for Satan.

If he is feeling super ornery he will go after people affected by the outcomes of Lucifer’s pacts. They are easy prey and almost as wrathful as Satan himself. Bonus it aggravates Lucifer to no end when he has to go out of his way to clean up the mess Satan’s contract made of his own.  Anything to piss him off makes Satan feel all the better.

With MC he doesn’t need to use his pact magic. Mostly because they are always around him in the Devildom, and no one is stupid enough to mess with someone Satan favors. If someone or something does irritate his MC he will take it out before it can fester into something his magic will try to latch onto. Keeping you calm and happy makes him feel almost tranquil as well.

Asmodeus- Pact of Gratification

Another very popular pact to try to get, and how could it not? He is fabulous~ But as much as people try to find him, he only goes for a certain type of contract. He has his perfectly manicured fingers on the pulse of the fashion and beauty industry.

His name is a whisper among the up and comers in the business. Many-while not looking for a pact - at least want to see him at least once. Many never will, they get cut from their agency or quit before they could get a foothold. It happens, and he hates to see it. Everyone deserves to feel gorgeous, or at least get a chance to be in the same room as him!

But for the ones the perceiver and climb the ranks get invited to one of his many parties. They can only get invited by someone wearing his mark. He trusts them to know who would be amenable to his contract.

His pact grants its bearer a glamor that can’t be broken by any meer mortal or mage. It makes them absolutely irresistible. How they wield that power is completely up to the user, he won’t judge or intervene.

Once they sign the contract all his holders see him frequently. He absolutely loves dropping in on their shoots or fancy dinners to say hi or get a recap on how they are fairing. Not because he is a nice demon or just super friendly (though they would like to think so). No, he just likes to watch.  

His payment is slow, methodical and no one sees it happen until it is already complete. In exchange for beauty and the graduation of getting whatever their little hearts could as for he gets their ability to love, whether that be familiar or sexual. Asmo loves the feeling of being loved; he wants it in all ways possible.

Some pact holders don’t have an issue with this. They got their looks, a successful career, and people to manipulate to their heart’s content. Not having strong contentions with anyone works in their favor. But others don’t and while they search for him to try and get that little slice of humanity back he is long gone. He got what he wanted anyway.

MC is his darling. He can and will make a special contract just for them (reviewed by Lucifer). A beautiful new contract for a beautiful soul! He wants you as unchanged as possible because this MC is the one he fell for.

Beelzebub- Pact of Prowess

His pact is a very elusive one as he isn’t keen on going and looking for one. Beel isn’t a big fan of these trades, but he needs them every once and a while. Nothing is more filling than a contracted soul.

His trade is basic, make a pact and you get his strength. He, like Satan, is upfront about what his payment is and what side effects will plague them. He sees no reason to lie about it. The more they draw on his power the more the host's body gorges itself. Their bones will collapse in on themselves from the stress of it- the magic feeds on anything in the host bodies. It will deplete the iron in the blood, go after the calcium in the bones, sink its teeth in their muscle system.  

It’s all rather gruesome and Beel does feel bad about it. He tells though who are still adamant about binding with him ways they can negate some of the side effects by taking supplements and augmenting their diets.

But it is like patching a deep cut with a bandaid, it just won’t work. His stomach is near bottomless- humans most certainly aren’t. They simply can’t eat enough to sustain their body like he can.

It surprises him that people still seek him out. To some, the pros outweigh that very huge cons. Some really do believe that they can find a loophole or find the right mix of medication to offset it.

He doesn’t get beaten up about it anymore but it gets on his nerves how obstinate humans can be about his very clear warnings. When his magic finally consumes them he takes both the body and soul back down with him and feasts on both.

With MC he keeps an eye out on them. Consistently checking in, making sure they don’t skip a meal, and join him at the gym often. He wants them to be strong and healthy enough to not ever want to use his pact. Though he does speculate that their angelic bloodline buffers both his and his brother’s magic a good bit.

Belphegor- Pact of the Visionary

Dreamers come in every shape and size and from different walks of life. But they are are all suckers to Belphie. He is known as the Lord of Decet for a reason.

He will promise them everything and anything their heart desires. That invention that will change the world? Done. A patent that is long overdue. Easy enough. A sudden rush of ingenuity to complete that nagging project. He is a devil of his word, it will be done. It- just won’t be done in the way they would want it.  

See manipulating the physical realm is hard work. Like a lot of hard work. More than he would ever do for some stupid little human. It’s a lot easier to control outcomes in his realm.

The moment the contract is signed his hosts fall under his control and he takes it from there building a perfect little dream world for them to frolic in and believe they are getting what they want. He feeds off of them here, taking little sips from their energy and exploring these new fresh dream worlds. His dreamscapes get boring every once and a while, so having a new human under his influence is always refreshing.

While his humans thrive inside their minds their bodies waste away in bed as his magic draws them further and further into an endless sleep.

He doesn’t see anything wrong with his contracts. Who would argue with him that the dream realms aren’t real in their own sense? Did his humans not accomplish their goals in the end? He doesn’t think of the outside effects of his magic and pacts. Belphie really doesn’t care about what families he broke apart or lives he inadvertently affected.  

MC is different to him though. He doesn’t keep them under his spell hardly ever (maybe if they are spending too much time with Dia or Lucifer. But he doesn’t push it with them.).He still walks into their dreams whenever he feels but he comes just to visit, not to change. He simply just enjoys keeping you company and relaxing in the little mini paradise you always seem to create in your dreams.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 296: Ngl, This One Pissed Me Off

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all, “p.s. I actually activated yet another quirk several chapters ago when Kacchan got stabbed.” Compress was all, “[gets captured and passes out].” Spinner was all “[rifles through Tomura’s pockets and slaps a random Charbroiled Hand onto his friend’s unconscious face].” Tomura was all, “SOMEHOW THAT ACTUALLY WORKED” and woke up again, except it wasn’t really him, it was everyone’s favorite Final Villain, AFO. AFO was all, “time to escape finally” and summoned a bunch of Noumu and Absconded with Spinner and the DabiMarble in tow. Skeptic was all, “Horikoshi forgot I existed, but I’m actually Absconding in marble-form as well.” Deku was all, “ATTENTION WORLD, I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT I OFFICIALLY WANT TO SAVE SHIGARAKI TOMURA.” And then the arc just sort of ended lol.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all, “but when you think about it, do we really need literally any female teachers at U.A. at all?” and for whatever reason doesn’t stop to wait for an answer. Midnight, who absolutely did not need to die, Dies, and I’m pissed about it. Ochako wanders the ruins of Jakku for what feels like hours, rescuing small children while her adult hero compatriots fall to pieces around her, because apparently the U.A. kids really are the only people who have their shit together. The citizens of Japan are all “damn that’s wild, wonder how fucked we are now,” but are actually super casual and chill about it which is oddly realistic. The chapter ends with AFO in Tartarus being all “lol time for the prison break arc,” without giving us so much as a chance to catch our breath, like holy shit. Are we on the clock or something now, goddamn.

lmao it’s like 7pm on a Sunday night and this is out already. this is like the worst possible timing lol. there goes my nice, relaxed evening. unless of course this turns out to be a nice, restful, soothing chapter, as chapters coming on the heels of traumatic, earth-shattering battles so often are. yeah, break out the Pina Colada song and the little drink umbrellas, I got a good feeling about this one

(ETA: I mean, I was obviously being sarcastic here but damn, Horikoshi.)

-- fff why did I laugh

it’s the crumbling city ruins in the background that really does it, I think. JUST LOOK AT THIS MESS THAT YOU HAVE MADE, EVERYONE. FOR SHAME

also, the title is dramatic af and I am so fucking excited you guys, like holy shit. BnHA’s In-Between arcs have always been my favorite part of the series, because it’s when all the character development and angst and/or catharsis happens. just, those little breathing spaces in between the action when everyone gathers to recuperate and compartmentalize their fresh new traumas lmao. bring on that angst!! but also, let’s please have some Comfort to offset all of this Hurt too, please and thanks

blah blah blah so the survivors were evacuated, good good, can you actually show us though?

AHHHHHHH

PIXIE BOB SURVIVED!!!! WASH IS STILL ALIVE LMAO HOW. THIRTEEN’S FACE, OMG SHOULD I LOOK AWAY. IS IT LIKE MANDALORIAN RULES. IDK HOW IT WORKS

HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY ALIVE. LOLS ANYWAY I’M HERE FOR IT. FEEL FREE NOT TO KILL ANYONE ELSE HERE HORIKOSHI, I THINK WE’RE GOOD

(ETA: it’s like talking to a brick wall.)

oh my god do we really need exposition about how the heroes tried to stop TomurAFO from escaping and OF COURSE failed completely because they suck lmao. oh my god I am shocked, that is such shocking news

wow they only managed to defeat three of the Noumus. holy shit. again, all of the Not-Kid Heroes are only slightly more useful than cardboard cutouts of heroes at this point, MORE AT ELEVEN

so Tomura may have lost the PLF, but he still more or less has an army then, huh. I really don’t know how anyone could expect a timeskip with that threat looming over everyone’s heads

oh nvm lol there are only seven Noumus left. wait so you’re telling me there were only ten Nearly High Ends in that last chapter?? felt more like fifty but whatever lol I’ll take your word for it

COMPRESS YAY YOU’RE ALIVE TOO

MAYBE THEY CAN EVEN REATTACH HIS ASS. I’M SERIOUS LOL, BECAUSE HE STILL HAS IT, DOESN’T HE? OR IF NOT, THEY CAN REBUILD HIM WITH A PROSTHETIC ASS. he’ll be more powerful than ever

WHAAAAAAT YEAH BOIIIII

WOOO, EDGESHOT, WOOOOO. THAT’S HIS WAY OF THE NINJA

YEAHHHHH SUCK IT, PLF

(ETA: for the record I don’t think Cementoss is dead here, just badly wounded. if he had died he would have been included in the forthcoming In Memoriam page along with the others.)

GET BENT LOL. TRUMPET I FOR REAL FORGOT YOU EVEN EXISTED. I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANY OF YOU LOSERS AGAIN PLEASE. ONLY INTERESTING CHARACTERS MAY PROCEED PAST THIS POINT

dsflksaldkh;l

that’s... holy shit. that’s a bigass mansion, that’s what that is. also so does this mean there are still eighty thousand PLF members still at large, because that’s a plot line I very much do not care about in any way whatsoever lol. can’t we just retcon to say that Re-Destro was exaggerating? I mean hell, a CEO criminal pulling some Enron-type bullshit is pretty believable, isn’t it? those poor bamboozled shareholders

“makeste, here’s an idea, what if you scrolled down to read the rest of the page” lol gtfo of here with your logic and your sense

well those 132 people have made it onto my enemies list, but at least it sounds like they more or less took care of the rest. good riddance

and Toga escaped, as we knew already, and is now on the lam. hopefully she reunites with the League again at some point. although her doing her own thing could also be very interesting. idk what I want lol

anyway so there’s another big panel showing how fucked up the city is, just in case it hadn’t already been hammered into our skulls yet. there’s a car dangling off a roof somehow. how does that even happen. did Machia pick it up and put it there or

NOOO OMG RANDOM SMALL CHILDREN IN PERIL WHAT IS THIS

OCHAKO PLEASE SAVE THEM OMG

“if it falls on me, I want you to have my Endeavor pouch” OH MY STARS. HIS MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION. NO MY CHILD YOU CAN’T GIVE UP HOPE YET

LMAO

“FOR THE LAST TIME NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR DUSTY-ASS POUCH, KYLE” fffff these children are dying and I am cracking up so hard my eyes are tearing up what is wrong with me

YAY THEY SAVED THEM

but listen. not that I don’t love seeing the girls kick ass, because you know I do. but I also really, REALLY need to know what’s going down with the Musketeers, and I’m not looking forward to waiting three whole weeks for that so please Horikoshi. please hurry this along so we can get to them

goddamn it Tsuyu is saying she’ll take the boy to the shelter to get first aid, and I was all “okay great because that’s probably where Kacchan and the others are too”, but now someone else is shouting for help and Ochako’s all “I’ll go” and it’s like OKAY BUT PLEASE? this chapter is already more than half over omfg. ‘bout to start wringing some hands here

oh my god

is this Toga again??? WHAT THE HELL, THIS CREEPYASS HALF-DEAD DUDE BETTER BE LEADING UP TO SOMETHING INTERESTING, I AM REALLY GETTING IMPATIENT

OR, I GUESS, WE COULD DO THIS INSTEAD

“SO AS IT TURNS OUT, NOT EVERY CHARACTER WHO NEEDS HELP SAVING THEIR SPOUSE FROM FALLEN RUBBLE IS ACTUALLY TOGA IN DISGUISE” HUH, OKAY. DULY NOTED. FILED AWAY FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

but fucking... okay, look. I love Ochako, I do. but I like her a whole lot more when she’s interacting with other characters I actually care about, as opposed to running around in the rubble rescuing random people while the fate of my other children is still up in the air. like okay, I get it, shit’s bad, now if you don’t mind we really don’t have to spend all day here though

...anyways but nope, we’re still staying with her. she’s bouncing around rescuing all of these other people. omg. I literally have no patience here at all and it’s terrible, I know, but oh my god

omg finally something interesting is happening!!

look at that, an adult hero standing around being useless while the kids are busy getting shit done. why is this becoming a recurring theme

MY DUDE, THIS IS SERIOUSLY NOT THE TIME THOUGH

I GET THAT IT’S OVERWHELMING AND THAT YOU’RE TRAUMATIZED AND SHIT, BUT GUESS WHAT, SO IS EVERYONE ELSE. THAT’S WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR. JUST LOOK AT OCHAKO! SHE’S SO EXHAUSTED HER HAIR HAS EVEN LOST ITS FLOOF, AND YET SHE’S STILL OUT HERE DOING HER BEST. ONE SAVE AT A TIME MY MAN. GET IT DONE. LITERALLY A SMALL CHILD IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CALLING FOR THEIR MOMMY AND YOU’RE JUST STANDING THERE ALL “WAHH IT’S TOO MUCH” LIKE COULD YOU PLEASE POSTPONE YOUR CRISIS UNTIL AFTER YOU SAVE THEM PLEASE

OH MY GOD

MAYBE YOU SHOULD!! oh my god I really cannot, like wow. oh no I actually have to save people and do my job, god forbid. jesus christ, at least the other heroes tried. but Moping Hero: Bellyache here is just throwing in the towel and fuck everyone who still needs his help I guess. you are like the anti-Deku my dude

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD NO OH FUCK

THAT’S MIDNIGHT’S HAND OH FU -- SHE BETTER NOT -- HORIKOSHI I SWEAR TO GOD --

I’M GONNA LOSE IT I REALLY AM!!!!

HOLY SHIT HOW INTENSE OF A RAGE DO I NEED TO BRACE MYSELF TO BE FEELING HERE. THIS CHAPTER WAS ALREADY TRENDING TOWARDS DISAPPOINTMENT, DO WE REALLY NEED TO GO AND COMPOUND THAT

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

you’re telling me Tomura wasn’t brought back by that electric shock, but by his “fuck you” attitude? why are you explaining this to us now, again??

......

HEY, SO UM, FUCK ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS, THOUGH. (: OH MAN. OHHHHHH MAN. I HAVE... I HAVE GOT A LOT OF WORDS FOR THIS AND HERE ARE SOME OF THEM

FUCK

THINGS THAT SHOULD BE IN THE DICTIONARY NEXT TO “SOME BULLSHIT”: THIS

FUCK

GET FUCKED HORIKOSHI

AND ALSO PLEASE FUCK RIGHT OFF!!

AND SERIOUSLY THOUGH FUCK YOU

NO BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THOUGH!! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED OFF ANYONE. LITERALLY ANY CHARACTER. YOU HAD TWELVE FEMALE PROS. TWELVE. YOU COULD HAVE MADE MORE OF THEM. PROBABLY, IF THERE ACTUALLY WERE SUPERHEROES IN REAL LIFE, THERE WOULD BE MORE THAN TWELVE OF THEM IN AN ENTIRE NATION. BUT NO, YOU WERE ALL “TWELVE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.” AND THEN WHEN IT CAME TIME TO KILL PEOPLE OFF, YOU WERE ALL “WELL ALL RIGHT THEN, LET’S SEE, I PICK... THESE 18 RANDOM SIDE CHARACTERS WITH LITTLE TO NO DIALOGUE, PLUS THE ONE SINGLE FEMALE U.A. STAFF MEMBER WE ACTUALLY HAD. YEAH THAT OUGHTA DO IT”

AND BY THE WAY, HORIKOSHI, I PICKED SOMETHING UP FOR YOU ON MY WAY HOME, HERE IT IS, ┌П┐(・＿・) do you like it it was on sale. I saw it and was like, “Horikoshi would really like that.” so there you go. sorry it wasn’t gift-wrapped

p.s. I hope y’all can tell that that’s supposed to be a middle finger and not... something else lmao. er. anyway

(ETA: so I got a few asks from people who were really put off by this part of the reaction post, and so I’m just adding an extra note here to make it clear that I do not actually wish harm on Horikoshi in any way or even particularly dislike him. I wasn’t happy about Midnight’s death and I wanted to convey that, and so I went with my usual LOUD CAPSLOCK REACTION tone, but looking back on it I can see that it’s kind of a lot, lol. 

so just to be clear, the “fuck you” stuff is almost entirely tongue-in-cheek. that’s on me, I forget sometimes that there are people who share these sentiments unironically and so I didn’t think to make sure my intended meaning here was clear. anyways, killing Midnight was still a really problematic decision for numerous reasons but it is what it is. Horikoshi is not perfect, the story isn’t perfect, and I’m not gonna pretend like it is, but again just to be clear, I don’t harbor any actual ill will toward Horikoshi here.)

shit. and wow this man really went and killed off fucking Mystic too on top of that. have you ever seen a character fail so spectacularly at living up to their hype. r.i.p. Mystic you were like the Star Wars sequel of characters

(ETA: I have no fucking idea why I keep thinking Majestic’s name is Mystic lol. rest in peace you old scarecrowy bastard.)

and poor Momo, though. fuck. lost two mentors in a single day. and do not even get me started on Aizawa holy shit

so now we’re cutting to some random townspeople who are gossiping about the Todoroki drama. this is actually interesting in spite of my newfound determination to hate this chapter lol

ngl I am kind of heartened to see that not everyone fell for Dabi’s bs hook line and sinker though. Jeanist returning from the dead literally two seconds after Dabi was all “I SWEAR ON MY HONOR AS A VILLAIN THAT HAWKS MURDERED HIM” probably helped with that a bit! but there will doubtless be many other people who do believe him, or are at least still inclined to side-eye the heroes in general either way given how much they sucked in this arc. very, very interesting

so it seems though that even more than the whole Endeavor reveal, at the end of the day it’s going to be the heroes failing to live up to their end of the “put your faith in us and let us use our quirks and in return we’ll protect everyone and keep them safe” implied social contract that’s going to have the biggest impact on people’s opinions moving forward. basically this was always going to be a disaster no matter what

OH MY GOD FINALLY AHHHHH

Horikoshi really tapped into some of the real-life political energy of the past few years huh. Fuck Him Still for killing off Midnight, but I will admit that so far this is hella intriguing and I am really, really curious to see where things go from here

OH MY GOD THE LITTLE KIDS FROM THE BABYSITTING ARC

“FIVE PEEPEE MAN WOULDN’T LIE TO US” YES CHILDREN YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. at least the little ones still have faith

UM

 ( •̀ へ •́  )

that’s great. that’s really keen. all we need right now, amirite

GOOD FOR YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT

let’s just wait for him to explain what he feels. you know he likes to drag it out

is that Dabi crouched down there next to Spinner? looks like they got him out of the marble after all. but why has his hair changed colors again lol what

anyways. your turn to what??

:’) excuse me what

hahahaha are you fucking kidding me. and that’s where we’re going to end the chapter then. lol okay

so let’s recap. Midnight died. we spent ten hours watching Ochako dig people out of rubble for no apparent reason and were then introduced to my new least favorite character, and because Ochako is so nice she didn’t even punch him in the face even though she really should have. we did not get any Kacchan or Shouto. we got one panel of Deku, who is Finally Asleep. and the chapter ended with AFO ordering his Noumus to go set free, AND I QUOTE, HIS “MAIN BODY.” and now I gotta wait an entire week for Caleb’s translation to confirm that last part. omg

but it sounds like a prison break is imminent, which is very, very interesting. ...and actually, is it weird that I’m actually rooting for it to be a success? I have no idea what this guy is planning, but I do know that as long as the main part of his soul is still residing in Tomura’s body, Tomura’s chance of surviving the series is close to zero. and villain though he may be, I’m still rooting for his redemption (nice to have Deku on my side now too), and so yeah. so like if AFO feels like using some latent Exorcism Quirk or something that he’s been saving for just such an occasion, be my guest lol

meanwhile this doesn’t bode well for All Might though. or anyone else aside from Tomura, really. shiiiit

anyway. [slaps roof of chapter] this baby can fit so much bullshit in it