#now i'm just waiting for him to drag dunk into this as well

[airenyah]

awww not joong getting the entire cast of ploy's yearbook to dance to ฉ่ำ with him lol

[strawberries-and-summer-days]

"Shells and Secrets"

Pairing: Show!Luke Castellan x posideion!fem!reader

Summary: you and your best friend luke take your daily walk together but this time its different

Contains: kisses (making out), fluff, swearing, angst

Word Count: 1180

A/N: im back again! And in case you can't tell im obsessed with luke and the beach so here we are!

"Come on Starfish," Luke's voice reaches you before he does, grabbing your arm and dragging you along to the beach. "I don't care that you want to sleep, it's five o'clock in the afternoon you can sleep later."

You mumble your disagreement. Nothing should stand in the way of a girl and her sleep - especially not her needy best friend. Even if she's in love with him. A girl and her sleep should never be separated. A conversation you've had with Luke many times - not the in love part though - that is just for you to keep for yourself.

"I'm going to jump you in the middle of the night," you grumble to him, ignoring the grin that spreads across his face.

"Hmm, a beautiful girl jumping on me sounds pretty damn good," Luke smirks.

"But you're forgetting the best part," you say as your feet hit the sand - you're now on the beach. "The best part is her jumping you with a shiv or smothering you with a pillow."

Luke's grin grows even wider. "Yeah but see I'll fight back so you'll need to be in a place of control and you know what that means? A beautiful girl jumping on me and straddling me."

You fight the urge to blush because he just called you beautiful twice. Ignoring the butterflies in your stomach you take off in a run down the beach. Luke yells after you and starts to chase you.

"You can't escape me, Starfish!" he cries, wrapping his arms around your waist and tugging you to a stop. You try and wriggle free but end up just tripping over and pulling him down onto the sand.

You're flat on your back and Luke is braced above you, his hands on either side of your head, his mouth inches from your own. The moment freezes between you two and your breaths mingle.

Why isn't he moving? Luke has never shown interest in you before, he's always had girls lining up to date him - sure he's never dated any of them - but he's never looked at you the way he looks at them.

But now, now that he's inches on top of you, his mouth inches away from your own, his dark curls tickling your forehead. He's looking at you in a way he's never looked at anybody.

You clear your throat and that seems to snap the bubble that has surrounded you. Luke clears his own throat and stands up helping you up as well. "You uh, you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah I'm fine!" you smile and start to walk ahead again trying furiously to cover the blush that's spread across your cheeks.

Luke watches you walk ahead with a soft look on his face. He's been desperately in love with you since the day you had accidentally dunked him in water when you were learning to control your powers. You had instantly cracked a joke and quickly apologised when you noticed the way he was staring at you. In that moment all other people had fallen out of Luke's head so he was staring at you for much different reasons than you thought.

Up ahead, you stop to look at a shell and your hair falls in a curtain around your face. Luke stops and watches as you pick the shell up and walk to the water washing it off to get a better look. He smiles at you admiring shells and not worrying about training, or other people just being yourself.

Eventually you sit down on a log, and wait for Luke to catch up to you. "Hurry up you slow shit," you call out to him and he shakes his head jogging over to the log you're sitting on. He sits down next to you and rests his arm- Your arms are touching. Every thought falls out of your head. Your arms are touching after literally lying on top of each other before - whether it's intentional or not it still sends tingles up your arm.

"How are we going to celebrate your new half-brother Starfish?" Luke asks, nudging your shoulder with his own. You hum in thought resting your head on his shoulder, not noticing how he's slowed his breathing down to make you more comfortable.

"Maybe we could dunk him in the ocean, oooh or we could get Annabeth to do something!" you say laughing.

Luke chuckles, his laughter rumbling through you. "I think we could get her on board." You lean further into Luke unconsciously and he basically stills - this you notice.

"Luke?" you pull back and look at him with concern. "What's wrong?"

He starts to mumble under his breath but at your insistent look he clears his throat. "Uh, nothing."

"Luke?"

He avoids your gaze, dropping his head to look at the sand. "Luke?" you say placing a hand on his thigh. He tenses up again so you instantly rip your hand away worried that he's hurt. "Shit sorry, are you hurt." Luke's hand whips out and grabs yours.

"No! Its, its not that," he says as his gaze settles on your mouth. He rubs his thumb in circles on the back of your hand.

"Then what is it?" you say placing a soft hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me y'know? I'm your starfish." You run your hand over his shoulder and up his neck.

Luke seems to ease into your touch. "Luke?" You lean forward hoping he will tell you. Instead he just stares at you with the same look from earlier. Sighing you slip your hand into his hair and run your hands there a few times. "Alright, take your time. I'm here when you're ready to talk." You stand up and let go of his hand walking to the shore letting the waves lap gently at your ankles.

"Y/n," Luke's voice is soft when he stops at your side. You twist to look at him but are met with the soft press of his lips. You pull back stunned and Luke starts to swear.

"Shit sorry, Starfish I- I don't know why I did tha-'' You shut him up by basically launching yourself on him. Your lips smashing onto his own, hungrily kissing his mouth.

It takes Luke a few seconds to realise what's happening and then all at once it's like a leash snaps and he wraps his arms around your waist pulling you impeccably closer. He parts your lips letting his tongue explore your mouth with heartbreaking softness.

Your hands slip into his hair and you stumble backwards tripping over each other's legs until your back hits the sand and once again Luke is on top of you.

You pull back slightly, catching your breath. "Well, that was well said."

Luke smirks and looks at you with such adoration your heart melts. "Right back at you Starfish," he winks and fights the urge to kiss you again, instead a large smile grows on his face.

"We should probably talk about this, hey?" you say grinning back up at him.

"Yeah let's talk..."

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

a little fluffy snippet for @medecineformelancholy in which trent has a bad day and gets cuddles and a warm shower for it

admittedly not my bestest work as it was all done in the like the past hour and i'm literally on the verge of falling asleep but i wanted to write you something fluffy and sweet <3 i hope everything gets better soon 💗

Ted knew Trent had had a bad day when he came home soaked to the bone, hair plastered to his skull and dripping cold, expression tight and closed-off, and generally giving off the impression of a miserable kitten that had been dunked in a cold bath and was adorably, furiously grumpy about it.

Well, actually, he’d known Trent probably wasn’t having a great day when he’d not kept up his usual jitterhop stream of texts, chattering and clustered in places, telling Ted about his day or whatever he thought might make Ted laugh. Ted did the same in return, and with little to none today, Trent must have been busy, for better or worse.

Going by his miserable expression, worse.

The door closes behind him and his eyes catch Ted’s—who’d come to meet him when he heard the shuffling of the key in the lock—and his tense shoulders relax, slumping along with his expression.

“Bad day?” says Ted sympathetically, and he opens his arms, and without even pausing Trent takes a few steps forward, posture already loosening.

But then he falters, stopping in his tracks, and says, “Wait, I’m dripping wet. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinki—”

Ted easily closed the distance between them and pulled Trent into his arms, snug into his chest. Cold water be damned.

Trent freezes for a moment, then melts, slowly and hesitantly bringing his arms up to hug Ted back. He leans in, shivering a little. His nose is cold against Ted’s throat, his wet hair chilly on Ted’s shoulder, his whole body cold and shivery against Ted’s chest and in his arms.

But already, Ted can feel the warm leeching through his wet clothes, feel the blood pumping under his damp skin. He brings a hand up to rub fingertips gently against the nape of Trent’s neck, gently dragging his nails up and down there, making Trent shiver for a new reason.

He turns his head to press a kiss into Trent’s hair, hand coming up to cup the back of his head warmly.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he murmurs, “How about we take a warm shower?”

Trent shivers again, and Ted thinks it’s just the cold, but still, Trent burrows closer, clinging a little tighter.

“You don’t have to do that,” he says softly, and Ted squeezes him gently, strokes his hair—the thick curls plastered together in cold, wet cords, smooth with still-dripping water.  

“You know I want to,” Ted says, and Trent gives a pleased little sigh—not exasperated, but affectionate. Resigned, but not in a way that spoke of tolerance—Trent never simply tolerated Ted, but actually enjoyed is company in a way that made Ted feel warm and fuzzy—but of a sort of amusedly reluctant acceptance, acceptance of love he thought he didn’t deserve.

 “I know,” Trent says, almost a whisper, and Ted rocks them back and forth for a moment before finally pulling away, if only barely, hands still lingering on Trent’s body.

“Let’s peel you outta these clothes,” he says, Trent smiles, a weaker smile than his dorkiest, most radiant grin, but a real smile all the same.

Admittedly, undressing Trent is a little bit of a guilty pleasure of Ted’s.

It’s not even a sexual sort of thrill; the intimacy just gets to him in a way not much else can.

Ted’s hands on his body, tender and careful, undoing each button and tugging away cloth, slowly revealing more and more of Trent’s skin, his bare body. Often kissing along the newly exposed flesh as he did, to make Trent shiver happily or giggle or smile, depending on how, exactly, he was kissing. And where, for that matter.

And Trent, trusting and plaint under his touch, tipping into it and smiling at him and letting Ted peel him open, baring his throat for buttons.

Now, especially, feels intimate. Trent’s clothes are cold and sticking to him uncomfortably; his shirt thin and almost transparent under his blazer. He’s clearly cold, even feels cold to the touch, but trying to stay still. Ted wonders if his hands feel hot on Trent’s skin.

(However they feel,  though, Trent leans into them.)

Ted makes quick work of his own clothes and then Trent lets Ted guide him to the shower and under the stream of water he’s had running since before he undid Trent’s first button, and lets out a full body sigh of relief when the warm water crashes over his bare back.

Ted follows him in, and Trent reaches forward to tug Ted a little closer. He leans into his chest, head resting on his shoulder, sandwiched between Ted and the water, warmth flooding him on both sides.

Trent’s breathing is deep and even as he just stands there a moment in Ted’s arms.

“This oughtta warm you up a bit, huh?” Ted says, and Trent gives a laughing little hum, not pulling away. He nods, still no words, just savoring the heat.

“…Tell me about your day,” says Ted gently, and Trent groans a little into his shoulder.

“Just—” Trent mumbles something into his shoulder, more grumble than words, about his publisher and idiots and irksome before he takes a breath and says, quietly, “…tell me about yours instead? Please?”

“…nothing much happened,” Ted warns him. “Won’t be that interestin’.”

“I’m always interested in you,” says Trent, with the kind of honesty that hit you over the head, the sort of truth he’d used as a baseball bat in the early days that was now relegated to a sweetly oblivious and warmly casual wallop. “I wanna know everything.”

Ted pauses, a little taken aback, and then after a moment begins, “Well, the team’s doin’ pretty well, not that it’s a surprise…”

....

Ted mercifully takes a while to actually start doing anything other than just letting Trent stand there uselessly in the water, trying to get warm.

He’s cold, and he’d been miserable and annoyed and busy and lonely all day, so stepping into the shower with Ted—just this intimate little bubble, just them, Ted undressing him and warming him up, basically spoiling him, and Trent shouldn’t love being spoiled so damn much.

But here’s Ted, telling him about his day, his voice warm and soothing, going off on tangents and making Trent giggle despite himself, even as he pulls back enough to get the showerhead and shampoo and begin gently soaking Trent’s hair properly.

Ted’s broad, warm hands and careful fingers pushing through his hair. Working shampoo in, massaging his scalp, being so gentle and firm and perfect. It’s utterly relaxing, Ted talking to him and insisting on washing his hair just because he knew it felt nice. Ted taking care of him, just because.

Ted waves off attempts to return the favor—another time, he insists, and he can take his own shower later, this was about Trent—and for once, Trent’s too weak to do anything but accept without protest.

He had truly had such an awful day. And here was Ted, gently pulling him into a kiss, helping him dry his hair, leaving little kisses under his ear and down his throat and along his jaw.

He would do the same for Ted—has done the same for Ted—but it still feels revolutionary every time. How on earth can he possibly deserve this?

Deserving or not, soon, Trent’s in soft, clean pajamas, crawling into bed alongside Ted. Relaxed, hair dry and fluffy, no longer cold and wet but dry and warm.

Ted pulls Trent into his arms, lets Trent snuggle into his broad chest, arm curled over his soft stomach. He’s not cold at all anymore; the warmth has leeched into his bones, cozy and safe and curled around his heart like a dragon around gold.

“Thank you,” he mumbles into Ted’s skin. “I know—this couldn’t have been your plan for tonight.”

“Hey, I had fun,” says Ted, and Trent feels a hand in his hair, stroking gently through it. “I don’t mind a lazy night in. We can order some takeout if you like.”

“Maybe later,” says Trent, or tries to. He thinks he may have slurred the words, as sleepy as he feels, content and dozing on Ted’s chest. Ted’s arms are warm and heavy around him, and he feels safe and loved. The cold can’t touch him; everything upsetting from his day melted into mist. None of it can touch him now. Ted has him, and nothing else. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” whispers Ted into his hair, and Trent just drifts away, smile still on his lips.

[drgngutz]

5 - Coast - Luffy x f!soulmate!reader

Chapter Five

Taglist: @mystic60 , @louisechec , @pinksh1t

Masterlist!

Happy reading!

Bit of angst in this bad boy.

I don't love making things so back and forth, but trust that it's for a good reason. We need that character development yk yk.

Also, the story takes place right after Alabasta. 

---

It's a gorgeous day out on the sea. The skies are clear, with the rippling water shining and glittering in the sunlight, calm as can be as the wind brushed softly against my skin. 

Nami was looking out at sea with the spyglass, ensuring that the weather wouldn't change on us, as well as keeping an eye on the horizon for any ships or islands we might be approaching. After all, the Log Pose had been pointing in this direction for a little while now. 

Zoro was exercising at the top of the flagpole, using only his thumb to do some kind of upright push-up. I had sat there and watched in amazement as he never faltered, up until he had reached the eighteen-hundred-sixty-eighth push-up; by then I was just bored. 

The three teenage boys all stood next to each other with their fishing poles in the water, still having yet to pull up any fish for dinner. I stood beside Chopper, watching the little bobber float in the water as we lazed over the railing, waiting for something to happen. Robin sat reading the second book in her series, not far from us. 

Finally, it dunked beneath the water, Chopper and I perking up. 

"I got one!" He shouted, before yanking the stick backwards and nearly smacking me in the face with it. The fish wriggled in the air as it was plucked from the water, before Chopper dragged it on board and carried it by the lip. 

"Look!" He showed it off to Luffy, who was all smiles in return. Crouched next to Chopper to observe the first catch, I peered around the reindeer up towards my soulmate, who seemed to vibrate with excitement. I could feel the blush creep up my neck by just looking at him, still dressed in the white cloth from the crew's previous adventure. He never looked at me, though. 

"Amazing!" He praised Chopper, who giggled happily in response. Snapping my attention back to the youngest, I smiled and praised him as well. 

"Good job, Chopper. That's a big one!" He grinned with pink cheeks, before trotting away to put it in a bucket that Sanji had placed for each catch. He was planning on making some sort of fish stew, or chowder, which I was pretty excited for. 

In a moment, Chopper's line was baited and back in the water, waiting patiently for the next fish to bite with excitement. A minute passed, and then another... then five, then ten. I was wilting with boredom. 

"Um... Hey, Usopp?" I asked timidly, twiddling my thumbs as their lines lay vacant in the ocean. 

"Yeah?" 

"Any chance you have another rod?" I turned to look at him as he perked up, "I kinda' wanna' try it. I've never gone fishing before." 

"Really?" Chopper asked, sounding surprised.

"Here you go!" The rod was shoved in my face and I took it into my hands. Looking back up at Usopp, he had a proud grin on his face, his eyebrows furrowed in confidence. 

"You're in luck, missy; It just so happens that I'm an expert fisherman, and an excellent fishing instructor! In fact, I was the greatest fisherman on my island! I even held the record for a five-hundred ton Sea King!" He boasted. Chopper and Luffy looked at him in awe, stunned words like 'awesome' and 'so cool' from their lips. I was not so easily swayed, though. One thing I had learned was that Usopp loved to make up stories.

Surprisingly, just in time for his show, Usopp's rod began to bend and creak as something big tugged on the other end. 

"This is big! This could be the guardian fish of the sea!" He grunted, pulling back against the weight of the fish on his line. 

All three of us looked over the edge with baited breath, excited to see what he was going to pull up. The sight had me doubting my previous thoughts. Maybe he actually was a good fisherman, and this wasn't just one of his exaggerated stories...

"Really?" Chopper delightedly asked. 

"That's amazing!" Luffy was thrilled as well. 

Usopp wrangled the creature from the water with a great splash, yelling in excitement once he finally felt it lose the fight. The boys yelled with him, not yet seeing what was on the other end of the line as I had. I pursed my lips, waiting for the disappointment to ensue when they saw the fish. 

The smiles did indeed fade after seeing the baby swordfish, no larger than the size of a finger, squirming like a worm on the hook. 

"'Guardian fish?'" Chopper deadpanned. 

"It's not even a good snack." Luffy sighed, dissatisfied. 

I shook my head with a grin. I should've known that Usopp was only talking big game. Still, he looked pretty upset. 

"It's... cute." I shrugged honestly at him, meaning it as a compliment. He didn't see it that way, apparently. 

"That's real nice coming from you guys!" He barked at me and Luffy, who stared at him in shock as I backed away at his abruptness. 

"Have you two ever even caught anything?" 

"Woah," I tried to defend, "I didn't mean it like that--" 

"You'll see!" Luffy shouted back, tossing his line into the water with confidence. 

"Watch this!" 

Again, a few minutes pass, and nothing happens. Usopp begins cackling at his captain while Chopper stands there and pouts at the water, standing on tiptoes to look over the edge. Luffy begins bickering with Usopp about how his fish wasn't any better, before an argument starts to ensue. 

Throughout this, I had managed to sloppily put some of the bait on the end of the hook, struggling not to pierce myself in the process. They still hadn't stopped yelling at each other even as I put my own line in the water. 

"You sure you can even get one?" Usopp taunts. 

"Course’ I can." Luffy grunts back, eyes furrowed in concentration. 

My bobber stayed floating gently in the water, ripples bouncing from its surfaces and reflecting the white color with each movement. I kept my eyes locked on every sway, not sure when I would know if a fish was on the line. 

A while passes, and the bickering has mostly subsided, save for the few times it swells back up again as Luffy still hasn't caught anything. As Usopp teases the boy that he should 'just give up,' a dark shadow begins to form in the water beneath me. The rod jerks for a moment, before stilling again. 

"Um... guys?" The two fighting with each other don't hear my words, but Chopper does. 

"What's the matter?" His concern matches my own, seeing my wrinkled brow and beginning to trot over. 

"I think there's something on my--'' The bobber shoots beneath the surface so quickly that I don't have time to finish my sentence, nearly losing the rod from my hands as the line goes taut with a drawn-out twang. Gripping as tight as I can, I felt my knuckles ache from the pressure. Whatever was on the other end of the line tugged hard, nearly sending me overboard as I’m yanked forward and slam my ribs against the guardrail. The spot aches and I choke on a whine at the pain, then pull backwards as forcefully as I can, arms shaking. I don’t get very far, practically hanging over the edge of the ship. 

"Oi... oi!" Sanji shouts from somewhere behind me, Nami joining him and yelling my name in shock as I brace myself as best I can, but it's not really working. The rod bends harshly, and I can't muster the strength to pull it up any farther. Chopper is at my leg, holding on and doing his best to help, but his small form wasn't doing much help. 

"Do you have one?" Luffy asks, excited, and apparently not paying much attention. 

"Let go!" Nami screams before I can answer, "Or it'll pull you overboard!" 

"But what about the rod?" I cry back at her, voice strained, "I-I don't want to lose it!" 

My palms burned, feeling the wood beginning to slip from my grasp; but I couldn't let it go yet, not after Usopp had let me borrow it. We used them to get food, after all. 

"Just let the damn thing go!" Sanji shouts angrily, "We can get another rod; you can't pull that up on your own!" 

"Hold on!" Usopp begins to make his way over, but is ultimately shoved out of the way by Luffy, rod clattering to the ground and laying forgotten as he bounds over. 

"Lemme' help!" It's swift, but I can feel the warmth of his arms wrap around me, leaning so close I can feel the muscle of his chest pressed against my back. He reaches down and grabs the rod with his own hands, skimming over mine before clenching his strong fingers around the pole. 

Feeling goosebumps rush down my skin from his closeness, I nearly let the rod go as his arms squeeze at my sides; then he’s backing both of us up and away from the guardrail, and I go willingly, limbs weak from the feeling of him all around me. Safe and away from the edge, I hear him grunt in my ear as he gives the rod a harsh yank, and the giant thing comes out of the water with an enormous splash. 

Both of us fall backward onto the deck as it flies over us and slams on the floor. I’m laying with my back on his chest, feeling dazed as the mist spreads over my heated skin. 

I tilt my head backwards, matching Luffy as we both look at the creature he had fished up; some kind of shellfish-squid-looking-thing, which landed a few feet from our heads. 

"What the heck is that?" He says, the words rumbling beneath my head that, and the sound seems to soothe my aching muscles. For once, I feel fine. It's... comfortable. 

Then, he rises, and I go with him as he tilts his head to look down at me. I feel my cheeks burn bright red, head still angled backwards, looking up at him. He's smiling, for some reason. 

As soon as that fact registers, my face lights on fire. I scramble up and away from the boy, every nerve alight with the realization that I had just been laying on top of him. 

In the background, the rest of the crew begins to gather around the strange object, voicing similar concerns to Luffy's earlier question. I put my hand down to get up from the floor trying to properly hoist myself up, but stop and hiss at the burn that follows. Quickly flipping it over, I find that they're raw and red; skin peeling and blistering, with a few splinters dotted along my skin that sting every time I move my fingers. The other doesn't look much different. 

"You're pretty weak, huh?" I wince at his condescending tone, before glancing behind me. He's grinning, hands propping himself up from behind as his legs lazily sprawl around me. 

"Yeah. I guess I'm just... not cut out for fishing." I respond quietly, eyes tracing over the frayed skin of my hands and deflating. 

Once again, I wasn't up to par. At least for the person who mattered most. 

"Huh?" He sounds bewildered, and I look back at him. His brow is creased with a frown, coal eyes looking at me like I was crazy. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Well, I--" I began to stutter out, trying to look anywhere but at him. I hated when he looked at me like this. 

"You got the biggest catch of the day!" He leans forward, pointing at the creature behind us, which topples over with a metallic clang. I blinked at it, then back at him. I could tell there was a pained expression on my face when his frown deepened. 

"But... you caught it," I started, looking away again, "I wasn't even strong enough to pull it out of the water." 

Suddenly, he's in my face, a big smile splitting his cheeks. Merely inches away, I barely registered that he must've leaned forward to make eye-contact again. I could feel his body heat radiating from his chest against my arm. 

"Whatever! So what?" He started, scanning both my eyes as I did the same. My brows were still cinched, confused if I should be upset or happy about this scenario. 

"Huh?" Was the only thing that could form in my stupid mouth. He laughed. 

"So what if you weren't strong enough?" He continued, pointing a thumb toward the squid-thing, which seemed to begin opening via a hatch on its side. 

"As long as you can get them on the hook, I can just pull 'em out of the water for you!" So... he wasn't annoyed, or disappointed, then. At least, that's what it seemed like. Why did this boy give me such whiplash? 

"Oh." Is all I can muster, softly. He snickers as I look all over his expression for some sort of fault, some sort of trick. Maybe he was just playing with me? That didn't seem like something he would do, though. Then why was he so back and forth? 

It's like he liked me one minute and then didn't the next. 

"Well," I sighed out, sounding more disheartened than I would've liked.

"If you say so." 

"Yep!" He grins, satisfied to have 'won' the conversation, "I say so, now lets do it again!" 

"Wait--" I falter, putting my hands in between us as he stretches to grab the rod he had previously left forgotten. His arms whips back, fishing rod retrieved and smacking into place as his face falls into a neutral stare. 

"Woah, what happened?" He's looking down at my splayed hands, wounded and ruined, but it's like there isn't a single thought behind his eyes. 

"...I messed up my hands trying to keep the rod on board." I spoke dimly, pulling them back into myself as his continued stares made me uncomfortable. At their removal, his eyes snapped back up to mine. 

"Oh." His tone is one that I can't place, and I feel something flip uncomfortably in my gut. His face was still blank. Had I ruined his mood? Probably. He didn't look excited anymore, so obviously his mood was ruined. But, what was that expression? Why was he so passive about my hands being wood-burned? Why did he look so... bored?

The panic button in my brain was going off. 

"Chopper!" He had turned to shout across the ship, "Come fix her hands so we can fish again!" 

"Right!" The little deer came rushing over to me, still sitting, as Luffy got to his feet and walked away. No goodbye, no wave, not even a glance. It was like I was useless to him now because I couldn't contribute to the one thing that he was set on doing. 

I felt the twinge of annoyance begin to stick to my skin, but I didn't bother trying to quell it at that moment. After all my efforts, shared food and all, I was back to square one. 

God. It was like taking one step forward and two steps back. 

My hands were swiftly wrapped in a salve and bandages, Choppers medicinal abilities would have them healed in about a day or two. Then, he trotted back over to the others who were talking to a mysterious man in an orange suit. With each object each crew member had plucked from his stash, he went on a long-drawn-out speech about it being their top-product, before naming some ridiculous price. A con-man, or a salesman, working to get the highest pitch he could get; either way, I had seen many of these crooks in the city. I wasn't interested in seeing anymore of them. 

I made my way towards the nearest door on deck, the storage room, for some peace and quiet. Anywhere that didn't involve my soulmate trying to talk to me for the moment. 

---

I perked up from where I had my head rested on my arms on the table, hearing the door opening after some commotion outside. 

It was Nami, carrying an assortment of parchment, quills, inks, maps and books. She looked just as interested to see me there as I was to see her. 

"Hey, (Y/n)." She made her way over to the small table, and I moved my arms so that she could place her things down. She put the parchment paper, ink and quills there, but the books and maps were laid on a barrel nearby. 

"Hey." I said softly, playing with the bandages on my fingers, which were falling off from the constant fiddling. Chopper wouldn't be happy. 

"What's up?" She asked, but only after giving me a once over, obviously noticing my down-trodden appearance. I shrug, before clenching my fingers and forcing them onto my lap. I needed to stop messing with them, anyways. 

"Nothing. What are you doing?" Avoiding the topic, I didn’t want to bother her so much with my soulmate-problems. We had little talks here and there about the topic, and I wasn’t about to disrupt her focus.  

"I was gonna' start working," Nami replies, sitting on the other stool, "that salesman ran off and left some paper that I think will be perfect for my map." 

"He ran off?" I asked, tilting my head as she grabbed her quill and began sketching. 

"Yeah, after he found out who Luffy was." She grinned, before continuing. 

"Sanji threatened to give him to the marines so that we could cash in his bounty and buy the paper for me." I snorted. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. 

My gut twisted uncomfortably as soon as the thought ran through my mind, and my skin vibrated in disapproval; a physical reaction that I assumed was from the soulmate bond. Inwardly, I wondered if Luffy could feel it, too. 

I shook it off, watching as Nami continued to scratch notes and vague images of past islands onto ragged sheets of paper. When she decidedly moved onto the white, clean surface of her new parchment, I spoke up again. 

"Your dream is to make a map of the world, right?" Nami hums a confirmation. Analyzing her finely drawn lines, I find myself impressed. 

"I think your map is going to be really well-done," I start, "You pay such attention to detail, it's insane." 

"Aw, don't make me blush!" Nami coos, and I grin a little at her mock-bashful tone, listening to the soft scrape of ink on paper. She was making the grid lines of her next map, now. 

"In all seriousness, it's been my dream ever since I was little. It makes me happy to hear you say that." I give her a little 'mhm,' for a response, feeling a little bashful myself to hear her so gratified. 

Some time passes as she begins to sketch out the bulk of the island, before she speaks up once more. 

"Well, what about you?" 

"Hm?" I blink, drawn from my haze, "Me?" 

"Yes, silly. Don't you have a dream?" She laughs, still drawing. 

The question makes me stop. I knew the answer. I had always known the answer, but to voice it out loud? Not once had I been asked what my dreams were, what my goals were. 

It was quiet, save for the scratch of the quill. 

"For a long time..." Voice quiet, Nami stopped moving. The air suddenly shifted to something less carefree.

"I just wanted a family. But, after a while, I realized what I really wanted was a place where I belonged. Where I would be loved, cherished, accepted... all that corny stuff." I chuckled, though it lacked a lot of emotion. Annoyance plumed in my chest once again. 

"Then, my soulmate-mark appeared, and that was that." I sighed, feeling despondent, and Nami held a regretful look in her eyes. That made me feel worse. 

"That's just it… Yeah, my dream was to find my soulmate. I guess it came true, right?" I gave her a comforting look, though I'm sure the smile didn't reach my eyes, and I couldn’t help the irritation that seeped into my words. 

"Right." Nami confirmed, though she didn't sound confident in her words.

Then it was quiet again. We both stared at the paper in a reflective silence. 

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make it so serious." I said, sincerely. 

"...did you not have a family?" She finally squeezed out after a moment, seeming hesitant. My heart clenched in my chest. 

"No.” A deep breath, and then I continued. 

“I lived in an orphanage for a long time and helped take care of the other kids once I was old enough. I did have one... for a while. But…” I stopped. Speaking the words out loud was difficult. Speaking the words only reinforced what had happened. They served as a reminder. 

“They didn't want me." I bit back the tears, stubbornly refusing to let my sadness free. The words weighed heavily in the room as the past reared its ugly head within them. 

"Oh." She whispered quietly. 

"It's fine," I quickly tried to remedy, shaking my head to get rid of the bad. 

"I have you guys now. I have you, I have the crew, and I do have Luffy." She must've been able to see through the mask of a smile splayed on my face, because hers reflected that she didn't believe me. 

I didn't blame her, it was hard to believe myself; I had just laid out one of my biggest insecurities and pretended I was fine. 

"It's fine, really, Nami. Everybody moves on at some point or another." I shrugged, twirling a quill in my fingers at her silence. 

“Have you told Luffy, yet?” She asked, eyes squinted in disbelief. 

“No,” I rebutted quickly, “I don’t want to.” 

"...I could talk to him, y'know." She said slowly.

"I know." I started, "And I appreciate that you would... But, that's not what I want. It shouldn't come from anybody else other than him; if he changed because you talked to him, it wouldn't feel real... You know what I mean?" 

"I understand." Nami looks at me, "But, you should talk to him.” 

"...I know I should, I do. I just... I'm honestly scared, Nami." 

"What?" She's taken aback, palms flat against the paper as her quill is dropped. 

"I'm just-- Think about it like this," I turn fully towards her, "What if I do talk to him? I say what I want; be honest about how I feel, tell him about my past, all that jazz… and he just thinks I'm annoying or boring. And then, what if he loses interest? Just like he did today after we spoke for like, not even two minutes..." 

“He’s just so… uninterested.” I sigh, tracing over the soulmate mark and biting my lip, feeling my throat clog at the words that I want to say. I just needed a moment to say them. The mark tingled uncomfortably.

"Nami, what if he just doesn't want me?" I frown, feeling like I could vomit at the idea. I was just feeding into the unending spiral that grew each time me and Luffy had interacted in the past few days. 

"Then my dream is ruined." I finish, feeling defeated and empty at the ideas running rampant in my head. 

It’s quiet, so I decide to risk a look at Nami, and nearly jump back as I look over. The woman is seething, fire nearly replacing the bright-orange of her hair as flames dance in her irises. 

"How about I kick his ass for you, huh?" Nami snarls, "Treating his soulmate like that, making you feel like this... He's an idiot. Who needs boys, anyways?" 

I sweat a little at how scary she had become in under a minute, a stark difference from the melancholic state she was in before. 

"I'll kill him." 

"...You can't, then I'll probably die, too." 

"I'll almost kill him, then." She looks rearing to go, practically rolling up her sleeves. 

The sight has me smiling, and then giggling. 

"Sure, I won't stop you," I'm still laughing, and it's contagious as Nami joins soon, "Maybe it'll make me feel better or something." 

We just sit there, giggling at each other by ourselves in the storage room. We chuckle until I wipe tears from my eyes, feeling a lot lighter after ending the conversation on a good note. Then, it's quiet again. A comfortable quiet, this time. 

"He does want you, y'know..." Nami tries to comfort, and I find myself not believing her, this time around. 

"Before you showed up, he would talk about his mark, from time to time, and about how 'cool it was to have somebody that matched him.'" She sighed, putting a hand on her head, probably remembering the scene and thinking about how dumb he sounded at the time. 

"He just... doesn't know how lucky he is to have you, yet." 

"I'll try to take your word for it." I ended, not wanting to think about it anymore. 

"Okay." Nami responded, before she picked up her quill. 

"Anyways, you told me a little bit about your story, so I'll tell you mine! Sound fair?" 

"Sure, but you don't have to." I was just happy that the topic had changed. 

"Oh, please. It's my turn to guilt trip you now!" 

"Nami! I wasn't trying to--" 

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and listen to my sob story, girl." 

Chapter Six (Coming soon)...

[angelic-writer]

Whumpcember Day 13 - Restraints (Alt 3. Drowning)

CW: Aftermath of torture, Drowning

"Please... Please stop this..." Mark pleaded as he looked up at O'Brien.

"Why? I've only just gotten started." O'Brien drawled.

"Stop it, please!! Don't hurt him!!" Bill screamed as he struggled against his restraints.

The blonde man simply smiled and pulled out his knife. He laid the blade against Mark's cheek, reveling in his flinches as blood slowly trickled down. "Well, aren't you adorable? You're just like a bunch of little lambs."

"Don't fucking touch me!! You won't get away with this!" Mark screamed.

O'Brien chuckled. "Still got that fiery spunk in you! I like that!"

"W-Why are you doing this?! We haven't done anything to you!" Jonah cried.

The blonde cocked his head to him, his neck almost bending at a horrific angle. "Why? Because you two got too nosey. You were trying to free the little sinners when I'm just trying to cleanse them of their wickedness."

"You think this is gonna help them?! You've been torturing them for days!! The police are gonna find them and they're gonna throw your ass in jail!!" Mark shouted.

"Now why would you be defending them? They're nothing but witches. They're just blemishes on this perfect town. You two didn't have to get involved, but you just had to stick your noses in where it doesn't belong." He sighs. "Y'know what? I'm getting tired of this. I was waiting until Jesus' birth to get rid of all of you, but it's become obvious that you guys won't listen, so..." He pointed his knife at them one by one like some sick game of Eeny Meeny Miney Mo.

"Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Catch the tiger by the toe. If he hollers, kill them all. My mom knows the very best and you..."

Tick

"Are."

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick

"It."

His knife hand landed on Mark. "Let's start with you first. Cause you've been such a good, but feisty boy." He pulled out the key and unlocked Mark from his restraints. He could've ran, but O'Brien already grabbed his by the hair. Everyone began shouting, crying and struggling to get out of their binds as Mark was dragged out of the room.

He dragged him downstairs to a metal tub that was filled with water. He looked at him with that same crescent moon smile. "It's time for your baptism, Mark~"

Before he could get any air in, O'Brien threw the boy into the tub, holding his head down, causing him to struggle. He scratched at his arms, trying to fight back against the pastor, but he was too strong.

He pulled his head out, allowing him to cough and gasp before he was dunked in again. It happened again and again, Mark trying his best to hold his breath. He wouldn't let this man, this absolute monster, be the death of him. Cesar, his friends and the police are coming. They will save his cousins. They will know what O'Brien has done.

Suddenly, O'Brien bashed his head against the tub, causing him to wince. He planted his knee on Mark's stomach, squeezing the air out of his lungs. He started flailing and hitting him, clawing at his legs, but his grip remained firm. He started to spasm as the water started to fill his lungs. There was something so exhilarating about seeing O'Brien's prey struggle like this. To look at him with absolute fear in their eyes, knowing they're staring at the face of death. He was like a wolf staring at his prey struggling against his maw.

There is no hope for this boy. He will be forgotten soon. He will be nothing more than a fleeting memory.

His struggles grew weaker and weaker until eventually, he became still. He tilted his head, scanning his work. A shame. He was on his way to leading the next generation of Mandela citizens. Why did he have to throw it away for some sinners?

He left the kitchen, leaving behind the drowned husk of Mark Heathcliff.

When the priest came back, one look at his soaked robe told the other hostages all they need to know.

"So..." He widely smiled. "Who's next?"

[love-killed-the-superstar]

Since you’re doing a 03 rewatch. What’s your opinion on the main four characters

i love them!! They're my sons and I care about them so much.

Leo: Watching with a vague recollection of the series in its entirety is a lot of fun - for instance spotting early signs of Leo pinning his self worth to his role as leader/protector and how quickly he crumbles when that is thrown into chaos. I keep seeing little things jump out and thinking, "ooh, that's foreshadowing!" I value his character so much more than I did the last time I did a full watch. I used to find him annoying when I was younger but now I feel like I understand his character better, and I love him and want him to be happy. He's just such a dork!!! A clueless dork who never knows what's going on and says "grinditude" unironically while riding a scooter. This is our fearless leader everybody. I haven't made it to the battle nexus arc yet but I'm very excited to watch Leo have a romantic awakening in real time. 🙏🙏🏳️‍🌈

Raph: I forgot how FUNNY Raph is. His sense of humour is so dry and just roasting his brothers constantly and it really makes me laugh. I think I relate to Raph the most because I too have a short temper 😔😔 and my little sister manages to get under my skin the EXACT way that Mikey does to Raph so I understand the need to just whack him in the head 😭 I feel like he lays on the Mikey roasts a little thick though lol. I really love the twin energy he and Donnie give off in 2k3 as well, they're so fundamentally different but have a really natural dynamic that I love. To this day, I still don't understand how Raph immediately knows how to ride a motorcycle though!! One last thing: lone raph and cub was an amazing episode, easily one of my favourites from season 1. Really enjoyed him getting to be a mentor figure to a kid even brattier than him lmao.

Donnie: He's so gentle!!! Having just recently finished Rise, it's super jarring. Even when he shouts his voice is soft 😭 I'll admit it's really funny when the plot calls for an invention and he's immediately like "check out what I made earlier you guys!" Like Donnie. My guy. You have an insane amount of plot armour and it's hilarious to me. His dynamic with Splinter is really sweet - I love how Splinter praises his accomplishments and in the next breath is like Keep It Out Of My Fucking House. Also watching him try to do that stunt with the bo staff and just swinging around and falling was painful to watch but it made me laugh SO hard. Finally, the Kirby episode was really fun. I agree with Donnie, why can't the other guys learn to do basic things like flip a breaker switch or fix a sink? Someone teach all of them basic mechanic skills so Donnie isn't always having to pick up the slack 😭

Mikey: oh, my baby boy. I adore him. Mikey was my favourite turtle when I was younger and I remember him being my favourite the last time I rewatched. I'm in a place now where it physically pains me to choose a favourite turtle, it's like choosing between your kids 😭😭 but I do have a soft spot for Mikey because his natural talent coupled with no focus or drive is SO me when I was a teenager. I hope he doesn't ever develop gifted kid burnout because it will hit him like a train. I love how artsy and idealistic he is. It broke my heart when the other three were making fun of him in the turtle titan episode of s1. Like, why are yall bullying him for having a dream???? As I said before I haven't reached the battle nexus yet but I can't wait to see my angel take the crown. HE DESERVED TO WIN. END OF DISCUSSION. Lastly, he is Extremely Gender. I love that for him so much. From fully embracing drag to Donatello saying "gentlemen... and mikey"... 2k3 look me in the eye and tell me this wasn't for jokes I KNOW he's genderqueer!!! I know he is!!!!

Didn't meant for this to get so long but I just love them all so much!!! Besides the fact that I feel like they dunk on Mikey disproportionately, I adore their dynamic. They care for each other so much and it shows 😭😭

[nagipops]

hii I love your blogs sooo much you're really talented (I just needed to say it sorry) so straight to the point, I already made 2 requests to you and I really enjoyed your writing so I would like to make another again. As I'm clueless about what to request I'll just ask for random hcs for konoha 11, idk if it's too much but if so then you can do with Neji (I love him so much), Kakashi and Naruto. Thank you in advance and sorry anything ^^

RANDOM KONOHA 11 HEADCANONS!

FEATURING: naruto, sakura, shikamaru, ino, choji, neji, rock lee, tenten, kiba, hinata, and shino

WARNINGS: mentions alcohol, drugs, food, bugs, and the tiniest nsfw mention if you get the joke. hehe

A/N: AHHHH ANONN this seriously made my day, im so so glad you enjoy my work!! 💖

NARUTO

you know how we all have “the chair”, where we throw all of our dirty clothes onto?

yeah, imagine that, but from the seat to the fricking ceiling

its just a GINORMOUS MOUND of clothes, you wonder how he even goes through that many clothes so quickly???

definitely shoves it under his bed whenever guests come over (somehow)

holds chopsticks really weirdly. but it works.

asked tenten to put his hair into space buns to mimic his sexy jutsu and went around flirting with the village

jiraiya was so proud of him T-T

comes up with the WORST pickup lines

they’re so bad, its almost charming. almost

has gone AWOL multiple times, disappearing from everywhere, just everywhere

it scared you a little, so you searched the entire village for him

you finally found him sitting on the ledge of a cliff, gazing out at the vast sea

concerned and panicked, you cried out to ask him what was wrong

he turned to you with a crestfallen, devastated look on his face and said,

“i bought shrimp ramen instead of chicken ramen.”

you’ve never searched for him after his disappearance ever again.

SAKURA

100% makes origami shurikens and chucks them at you

they are deathly precise and deathly sharp. seriously, how are these not illegal weapons yet???

writes threatening motivational notes to herself on the mirror

“u got this!” “make sure to smack naruto today!” “ino sucks!”

her backpack would always be way too high up on her back. idk why but. it would

does her hair all nice and pretty before she goes out but once she arrives to her destination SHE KEEP. TAKING. IT OUT. and redoing it over and over and over again

like it’s impossible to make eye contact with her because she’s holding a bobby pin between her teeth while braiding her hair

her guilty pleasure would be hostess treats

ding dongs are her favorite. don’t ask me how i know, i just know.

eats the yellow starbursts just to spite naruto and all her haters

loves small lap dogs, she think’s they’re so cute and cuddly

but she especially loves chihuahuas

they’re so feisty and naruto HATES them, so of course she had to go and get one for herself

dresses the poor dog up in little bonnets and jackets and ties its tiny fuzzy hairs into pigtails

she and the chihuahua are not that much unlike <3

SHIKAMARU

this man is a god at shogi but he absolutely SUCKSSSS at cup pong.

is this an ick? idk. but he is absolute trash at this game.

it gets even worse when he’s got a couple drinks in him

tries to calculate the velocity and acceleration and angle and shit but his shot is always a good two feet off BYE 😭

just mutters an “aw, shit” before awaiting his turn again

hates checkers, loves chess

“checkers is for WUSSIES” - shikamaru nara

i said this in another post, but he is Very Good at whistling

like that’s his hidden talent

can copy any tune with the perfect pitch and rhythm

speaking of, he can do really cool tricks with his tongue

like making a four leaf clover, touching the bridge of his nose with it, flipping it upside down, you name it

he has slanted, scrawled handwriting, to the point where it’s almost illegible

wbk he cheats in school SO OFTEN. but he never gets caught. he’s not stupid, he just couldn’t care less about his classes.

thinks weed and e-cigs are stupid, cigarettes are where it’s at

you just can’t replicate the feeling of taking a drag from a cig after a long, tiring day

plus he looks hella cool while doing it B)

INO

teaches the boyz™️ how to braid their hair

like they all gather in a circle around this feisty fashionista and fail attempt to braid their hair

sakura was just fuming in the sidelines

“OI, INO-PIG, THAT’S A DUTCH BRAID, NOT A FRENCH BRAID!!”

yeah, ino 🙄

the only one that can actually do it is neji because a) this man is talented af and b) he’s got the long hairrr

ino probably envies his thick, sleek hair because hE’S a bOy

also asks everyone for their blood type and zodiac signs and tells them if they’re compatible with her or not

and definitely judges you for your sign 😣

“oh, you’re a gemini? hmm, what a shame...”

makes bouquets for her favorite people and kin assigns everyone a flower

only assigns the pretty nice ones to the people she likes (sorry sakura, you’re out of luck)

one of her favorite hobbies is crafting! she’s really good with details and small things so she loves making those miniature dollhouses and stuff

also really good at watercoloring. especially painting flowers and landscapes

also i feel like she would be really good at playing any instrument because of her skilled hands

can play a badass flute solo. period.

CHOJI

would honestly rather die than get anywhere NEAR an asparagus

he just thinks they’re so gross and bitter and NOT SALTY

he always eats his yakiniku a little bit undercooked because he’s way too impatient to wait for it to cook fully. who do you think he is??

whenever he cloud gazes with shikamaru, when asked what he thinks a cloud looks like, he just says some sort of food

“oi, choji, what does that one look like to you?”

“a... yakiniku grill... with... pineapple rings on it! ooh, and a wagyu steak right there!”

he thinks pringles are an abomination to society. where’s the crisp? where’s the grease? where’s the saltiness?!!!

asks ino to teach him how to do his hair all fancy and the two of them devote an entire day learning different hairstyles

it’s his new favorite thing to do now :D

he really likes crayons!!!!

like he’ll write with them, draw with them, color with them, do everything with them

he’s even tried to eat them. he said they tasted good.

definitely had the 128 crayon pack WITH THE BUILT-IN SHARPENER, and everyone thought he was the coolest kid in town

he ate it UP, he even scored some bbq dates with the ladies

i also feel like he loves basketball, and he has a MEAN slam dunk

like his vertical isn’t that high, but the man can REACH

he loves when people laugh at him when he challenges them to a 1v1 and then proceeds to absolutely destroy them <3

NEJI

he seems like a cucumber kind of guy.

just cucumber

like i feel like he puts it in everything; soba, salads, sandwiches, his face, yeah

it’s mellow and cool, just like him!

speaking of, i feel like he lives for spa days and facials

it just lets him be alone in his little cucumber scented world for an hour or two and he gets damn clear skin from it as well

seriously he has PERFECT skin. flawless. not a single blemish. his cheeks feel like baby butts they’re so smooth.

i feel like he’d be a god at solving rubik’s cubes, don’t ask me why

like if anyone scrambled theirs on accident they would just take it to neji and he’d solve it in the blink of an eye

CAT PERSON!!! loves the little meow meows

who are we kidding, neji basically is a cat; agile, aloof, does silly things without trying to, very cute

he just feels akin to the little fuzzballs and he thinks petting cats are extremely therapeutic. good for the soul

he is a golf man. he would take his juniors golfing and everyone thinks he’s uncool. cmon neji let them go to the skate park at least T-T

also very good at karaoke, definitely surprised everyone once he got a few drinks in him since he started serenading you

LIGHTWEIGHT!!! do not get more than one shot of alcohol in him. he will go berserk.

i also feel like he’d really love photography; not taking pictures of people, but of nature

he loves taking a quiet stroll through a pretty forest and snapping pictures of all the unique flora and fauna

it’s so serene ︶ ‿ ︶

ROCK LEE

100% milly rocks everywhere

gai got in on it too once he asked what lee was doing

“is that what all the youthful cool kids do these days!”

they also dab together. a lot

DO NOT BE SEEN WITH THESE TWO!!! you are not associated with them.

definitely is the one breakdancing in the middle of the dance circle at a high school party

he’s mad skilled at it too

headspins and windmills galore

challenged naruto to a dance-off and completely OBLITERATED him

lee then asked if naruto wanted a rematch, this time with one hand tied behind lee’s back

naruto obliged, and he STILL lost

RIP naruto and his fangirls, they all scrambled to lee afterwards T-T

i feel like his favorite subject is science

not the boring physics equations and laws and theories but the fun EXPERIMENTS

definitely has singed all of his hair off one time and he went to gai blubbering to help him grow back his precious hair

but he loves experimenting with different combinations and chemicals to get different reactions each time

created a potent love potion and carried it around with him all day one day

and it was actually working

girls were flocking to him left and right, staring at his lips and his face

he was so abashed at the sudden attention

heck, it even worked on sakura

“oi, lee-san!”

“hehe, yes, sakura-san?”

her eyes shifted downwards to his lips and his heart thumped harder

“hey... lee-san?”

“what is it?”

“you have something on your lip. we’ve been trying to tell you all day but you just winked and blew kisses at us.”

legend has it lee has still not recovered to this day.

TENTEN

has THE prettiest handwriting. and she can write SUPER fast

it’s like a superpower

like she transcribed five pages of a report in less than two minutes with perfect handwriting

naruto is so jealous.

she is also super good at origami! those diligent, accurate hands aren’t just for throwing things

taught sakura how to make shurikens but does NOT endorse any violent uses of them

she can replicate all of her weapons with paper and they can actually function, it’s so cool

made paper kunai knives one day and the wholeee village wanted to get their hands on them

i feel like she’d listen to mitski. idk i just get those vibes

LOVES BIG DOGS!! especially fluffy wuffy samoyeds

like man’s best friend?? no, GIRL’S BEST FRIEND!!

hugs and cuddles and squishes all the big dogs

she thinks small dogs are spawns of satan

sakura and her have definitely quarreled over this

but at the end of the day, all dogs are adorable fur babies, so she lets it slide :,)

KIBA

kiba always looks SO GOOD in photos you take of him, candid or not

like you could just whip out a camera and snap a photo of him at any given moment and he would look perfect

you framed a picture of him yelling at akamaru for peeing inside the house

it’s pure artwork

i feel like he tries to swagger around with his hands shoved in his pockets but it fails MISERABLY and the girls are wondering if he broke his leg or something 😭

kiba just walk normally. for the love of god please just walk normally.

he tries to slump back in his chair really low but one time he slouched way too low so he slipped off of his chair and onto the ground LMFAOOOO

he just wallowed there... in shame...

also.. he LOVES when the girls put makeup on him!!

he tries to act like he hates it. but it secretly gives him so much confidence

not to mention the girls hyping him up are a huge ego boost

okay the inside of his jacket hood is the warmest. thing. EVER!!!

seriously, no wonder this dude is so happy-go-lucky all the time, he’s living in literal heaven 24/7

it’s like you’re sleeping on a cloud inside a warm, cozy bed during a cold winter morning

10/10 would recommend letting him give you his sweatshirt when you’re chillin with a hair tie ❤️

HINATA

always smells like lavender soap. always

also has the cutest pencil pouches with little puppy faces and kawaii things

oH and she has those mini yoobi highlighters, she thinks they’re so cute (and functional!)

everyone flocks to her to try them out and marvel at the cute tiny highlighters

and they try to steal them from her but she doesn’t even stop them because she’s too timid to 😭

naruto goes BALLISTIC over them

she lets him have all of them <3

tennis girl!!! tennis girl.

all of her opponents always underestimate her because she’s so timid and shy and quiet

but she has a KILLER serve

and then she takes her opponents to the slaughterhouse with a complete shutout ;)

she’s really athletic believe it or not, she can beat most of the boys in a mile run and she has incredible endurance

i feel like she really loves velvet scrunchies

she just thinks they’re so pretty and they keep her hair soft so they’re cute and functional

also takes the PRETTIEST notes!!

color codes, dividers, headers, you name it, it’s all super readable too its insane

everyone asks her for her notes, not to study but just to appreciate the pure artwork that it is ^w^

SHINO

shino is SO easy to prank

“how do you catch an eyemaster?” *cue naruto and kiba snickering*

“eyemaster bait. that is because—”

even when everyone’s laughing their asses off, he still continues to explain his answer since he does NOT GET THE JOKE

tried his hand at writing haikus

here’s his best one so far:

“Bugs are amazing. That is because they are bugs. Bugs are very nice.” - Shino Aburame

VERY proud of it, since it took him weeks to perfect

praise it, pls

had one of those ant farms and bug-catching kits as a kid

and he would fill the kit TO THE BRIM. LIKE IT WAS HEAVY BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BUGS.

he loves the little chitters of the different bugs

he had jars of different bugs all lined up on a wall shelf in his room

collects silkworms off of trees and sticks them into his pockets (no i definitely did not do this as a kid...)

HELP I FEEL LIKE he would record a timelapse of his ant farm growing and upload it to youtube with a movie maker title screen that says

“my ants”

if you enjoyed this post, likes and reblogs are much appreciated :) feel free to request here, and make sure to read the rules first! have a lovely day everyone <3

[hope-of-virgo]

everything old is new again

well, it happened. twexit is upon us.

It's been a while since I've written anything longform that wasn't in a uni assignment, so it might take a while to get back on the horse. For the last 10 years or so my "contributions" on social media have been in the format of 140/280 characters or less. This is both a good and a bad thing; I tend to fuck around a lot less when I have a character constraint, but equally it means a more complex discussion gets more arduous due to Tweet Threading.

Can't wait to read back on this in another 10 years being like "what the fuck happened here?", or maybe we'll all have been fed into an industrial woodchipper to appease the rich. Who knows? But here's the context, mostly for my own reference.

Elon Musk, richest man in the world (although not for long at this rate), bought microblogging site Twitter. This was at the end of a long Legal Thing where he basically fucked around and found out. He tweeted a thing where he was like "I'm buying Twitter" without doing a legal disclosure to a government body that he already owned part of it. If he didn't actually pull the trigger on it, he would be investigated for securities manipulation, so he basically had to. Problem is, Twitter was (but again, not for much longer), worth $44B at the time, and even Phoney Stark isn't that rich, so he had to finance it with loans against Tesla and SpaceX.

Within like a week of the close of sale, which already basically had to be dragged out of him under threat of deposition over Other Stuff, things had already gone to shit. A bunch of advertisers pulled out, he fired literally half of the staff who promptly filed a class action under Californian law, and he formed a Bold and Ambitious Plan to charge people $8 a month for a "verification tick". Previously the mark had been to denote that this is the Actual New York Times rather than an account pretending to be them, but would now be used to denote people who had paid for Twitter Premium.

Now, this sounds fucking great on paper. The problem is, the users are the product, not the customer.

Like it or not, Twitter kind of had the market cornered on "drop a line to a person". As I found out when forming an exit strategy that let me still talk to the people I care about (hello Madboards alumni!), we took the ease of access for granted a bit. The simplicity of the site meant that you had to be laconic about what you wrote, which lead to great headlines in newspapers. Equally it meant that instead of having to repeat "jobs and growth" a thousand times in a political campaign, if you're someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you can just dunk on people you don't agree with, which does a bit of your work for you.

That's the power of ~*branding*~: name recognition, especially in politics, is king. That's a lot of the reason people use(d) it tbh, politicians liked interacting with their audience and the press, and if you were a member of the press or the public, it was easy to drop someone a line for a comment, or contact your local member of Parliament to talk about an issue you felt strongly about.

When you buy a business without really understanding what that business sells, though, you're doing something a little bit stupid. When you buy a business and then upend the entire thing, you're doing something *very* stupid. Likewise, when you have a site that's a) free to use, b) has low barriers to engagement, and c) has such a broad appeal and audience selection that it gets a huge variety of users, doing anything to upset that very delicate status quo is a tenuous prospect at best. So here we are. For clarity, I'm still On There because I have a great list of people that I love talking to, and it never hurts to keep extra channels of contact open.

On the one hand, it'll be great to not wake up every morning and feel the compulsion to scroll through the worst takes by the worst people. On the other, I'm going to miss the unique blend of stuff and people I had going on. I broadly credit this as getting me through the COVID lockdowns; 95% of my IRL friends fucking vanished at literally the exact same time as my ex and I broke up (no coincidence), and while I still had to go to work through Original Recipe and also Delta Strain, I was on the receiving end of pretty much relentless bullying from my boss, dealing with atypical anorexia, and having to manage the realisation that being transgender is a major reason that I've been so unhappy over the last 30 or so years. All that while broadly locked indoors for 2 years and dealing with the stress of working in healthcare during a pandemic by ~*consuming cannabis*~, putting shit up my nose, and listening to the same 1500 songs on repeat.

So here we are. 12000 tweets, 13 years, 85-ish carefully curated followers. Very little of substance communicated in that time. The nature of everything is that everything has its time, and no matter what happens after this point, I'll always remember that I was a Twitter user.

But hey, it was fun while it lasted.

[astro-rain]

delicate; b. barnes

chapter nine- “to have or not to have indoor plumbing”

delicate masterlist

word count: 2.3k

synopsis: no fallout shelter is perfect. sometimes you need to think outside the box... or outside the bunker, that is.

pairings: bucky barnes x fem!reader

[A/N]: what did you think of this chapter? what do you want to see next? PLS let me know! :))

Light did not shine through the windows and cast a bronze glow on the floor like it did in the castle quarters. He didn't hear the soft buzz of the cicadas like he usually did in the morning. He didn't wake to an empty room with familiar beautiful Wakandan tapestries.

This was because Bucky Barnes awoke in an underground shelter with no windows, stone reinforced walls, and a sleeping psychologist in the bed next to him. Somehow... this wasn't that bad.

He woke up before her, as to be expected. His body was pretty much programmed to be up in the early morning. That, and any time he slept for too long his mind conjured up remnants of horrors from the past.

The super soldier stood up from the bed and stretched his back and arm. It was quiet. A relaxed, enjoyable quiet. Y/N was still sleeping. He wondered what time it was. He didn't have a watch, and he didn't see any clocks in the bunker. He assumed she probably had her phone, but he wouldn't wake her just to ask the time.

He glanced around the room, and his eyes landed on the panther key. Perhaps he could go outside for a bit, gauge the time, scope out the area, get some sun. He never was overly enthusiastic about the sun, but since being in Wakanda, he had grown to love the warmth.

Warmth was a welcome change from the brutalizing cold Hydra put in his bones. Cold was past agony and torment, but warmth. Warmth was the rich, golden promise of remedy that gleamed on his skin.

Just thinking about it made him yearn for the outside sun and the way it enveloped his skin in amber rays. It felt safe here.

Usually, he couldn't stop his mind from worrying and expecting all the good in his life to somehow crash down around him. However, he couldn’t help but feel safe in Wakanda, no matter what he did. He felt safe in Wakanda and with Y/N, even though they were in a bunker hiding from a country's takeover-

"Bucky?" A raspy voice called out.

He turned around, not realizing he had walked over to the table, where the panther key was sitting. It looked just as regal and ferocious as it did before.

"G'Morning," he smiled.

She sat up on her elbows, avoiding hitting her head on the top bunk.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked. "Nightmares still?"

"Last night wasn't bad," he shrugged. "Still... there, but I got some decent hours in."

"That's good," Y/N yawned. "I'd like to work more on the nightmares soon. See if we can find any improvement. But don't worry, no 'Interpretation of Dreams' shit because I refuse to dignify most Freudian theories."

He let out a breathy chuckle. Sometimes Y/N would go into what he, in his head, called her silly psychologist speech. She would momentarily forget that Bucky wasn't an academic, and use big words to talk about things he'd never even heard of. Sometimes she would slip into psychologist mode when she wasn't "on duty."

"Are we movin' the sessions out here now?" he joked.

"Damn," she snickered. "My bad. No more psych talk in here, I promise."

"It's alright, I don't mind," he shrugged. "S'just you bein' you."

"I guess. I don't know to be anyone else, so."

“I would expect nothing less of you.”

Y/N then moved the blanket off of her legs to stand up out of the bed, just before stopping short, staring at the bed she was sitting on. He could almost see the gears turning in her head.

"Did I make the bed last night in a frenzy of exhaustion and not remember it?"

He laughed. "No."

She furrowed her brows and cocked her head to the side, confused and waiting for an explanation.

"I made it - well, as best as I could... all things considered."

Her face changed, melting into an endearing look of gratitude.

"Thank you Buck," she smiled. "Way better than sleeping on the floor."

She didn't say anything else regarding it, and he was glad. What she didn't know was that he put her in the bed after he made it. She was so exhausted, he didn't want to wake her. The task proved itself exceptionally challenging with one arm. However, super soldier strength and determination was a worthy advantage.

"Do you know what time it is?" he asked.

"Umm," she dragged out, finally standing up from the bed. "Not sure, I'll have to find my phone and- oh shit"

"What?"

"I don't have a charger."

"Oh. I'll uh look around and see if there's one stored down here."

Y/N stood still and looked around the room. Her eyes landed on the space heater and her expression dropped.

"Bucky..."

"What's wrong?"

"Do you remember what I said yesterday about the heater?"

"Not... really. Jog my memory?"

She quoted herself. "I doubt they could get electric or plumbing out here."

"Oh yeah," he still wasn't following.

"There's no shower down here... or toilet..."

He looked around and it hit him. "Oh."

"That's..." she trailed off, "a bit inconvenient."

He saw her begin to fidget with her hands.

"What are we supposed to do?" she asked. "We can't like... pee in buckets or something."

Bucky scratched the stubble on his face, about to suggest something he knew she wouldn't like.

"Well, before you woke up, I was thinkin' about going outside to get an idea of the time and maybe get some sun. We can go out and see if we can find a fresh water source or something. It's not perfect, but it's better than buckets."

"Outside? Is that not dangerous?"

"Danger is a possibility, but we're pretty far out from the castle grounds. I doubt anyone comes out this far or even knows about the shelter."

She took a deep breathe in. "I don't know..."

He could hear the uncertainty and weariness in her voice.

"If you're not comfortable, I can just go look and come back, tell you if it's safe, if there's water nearby," he offered.

"No. I'm going with you."

"I thought-"

"You’re not going alone. I'll grab my shoes and we can go."

Well then.

"As you wish, oh wise one."

"Smartass."

He grabbed the panther key and tossed it to her with a smile.

-

"So... how does one locate a water source?" Y/N asked, her footsteps beside Bucky's.

The Wakandan sun beat down on them. They'd only been walking for a few minutes, and they were already sweating.

"Keep an eye out for mud. If the ground is wet, chances are there's water nearby."

She nodded.

"Hey," she smirked, "Have you ever heard of Bear Grylls?"

He could hear the smile in her voice.

"No, but I have a feeling whatever that is is being used to poke fun at me?"

She huffed in a fake gasp, feigning over-exaggerated shock. "I'd never do such a thing!"

"Hey! I'm doing this so we don't have to pee in buckets. A teeny tiny bit of gratitude would go a long way."

"Apologies. Please accept my most heartfelt thanks, my dear old friend."

"Who you callin' old?"

"I don't know, does a hundred seem old to you?"

"You know, it’s disrespectful to mock the elderly,” he fake scolded.

"Yeah, well don't disrespect your mental healthcare provider."

"I didn't! You started-"

"Water!" she shouted, cutting him off. “Look!”

In front of Y/N's pointed finger was the end of a tiny stream. The source was somewhere ahead of them. And so they followed, continuing their trek beneath the sun's sweltering rays. It really was oppressively hot.

-

"Holy..." Bucky muttered.

"Shit," Y/N finished.

He gave her a look and he she shrugged, fighting off a laugh.

They stood facing a beautiful scene: a modest waterfall flowed over mossy stone and poured out into a little pool of crystal clear water. It was quaint and secluded, surrounded by rocks and trees. This was wonderfully fortuitous for the two of them as they were still technically in hiding. The pool of water was relatively shallow; he could see the bottom, but it was still deep enough to submerge his whole body and them some. The pressure from the waterfall looked mild enough to go under; perhaps it could act as a makeshift shower.

"This definitely works. Much better than buckets," Y/N commented.

Then she began to untie her boots, take off her socks, and sit with her feet in the water.

"Holy hell it's hot," she groaned, wiping a hand across her forehead. He noticed that she had been squinting for the last couple of minutes. "Buck, do you know if the water is clean to drink or swim in?"

"Why don't you taste test it? Then we'll know for sure."

She turned her head to him, an emotionless expression on her face.

"I don't give a damn about the super serum, I can and will drown you, Barnes."

A laugh came from deep in his chest. "I'm just playin'. The water looks fine, you should be good."

She cupped her hands to scoop up some of the water and threw it at him.

"Hey!"

"Aw, you look so refreshed now," she cooed sarcastically.

"That was uncalled for."

"Perhaps. Hey, how long until we have to go back?"

"We're not really on a set schedule. Whenever you're ready, I guess. It's not like we have things to do."

"Do I have time to like dunk real quick? It's deathly hot and I don't wanna walk back in this heat."

Dunk in the water? There are no swim suits here...

"Oh-uh... uh y-yeah, do you want me to like... wait over there-or-“

"I’m goin’ in with my clothes on,” she deadpanned. Straight and to the point, like she didn’t want any type of confusion about the situation.

“Oh,” he breathed. “You’d rather walk back in soaked clothes?”

“Yes.”

"I mean sure, knock yourself out. But be careful, some parts look pretty deep."

"I'm know how to swim, Buck,” she smiled. “Don’t fret.”

He hummed an "okay," before looking around the entire waterfall area. Instinctively, he started walking the perimeter, making sure they would be safe. He didn't know how he hadn't done it sooner. He must've been distracted.

The soldier made his way through trees and over rocks until he returned to the spot facing the center of the waterfall pool. He watched as Y/N's head slowly ascended from the water. She opened her eyes, and as her gaze found him, confusion washed over her face.

"Bucky, aren't you hot?"

"I mean, it’s warm, but I think I'm more useful out keepin' watch."

"Are you sure?" she laughed, tossing more water at him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, clumsily trying to jump and dodge out of the way of the water flinging at him.

Y/N shamelessly continued. "The water's just fine! It's so refreshing and cooooool!"

Bucky's attempts at dodging the water were very much in vain. Soon enough his grey shirt had splatters of Wakandan waterfall water all over it.

He only laughed some more. "Come on! You're comprising our security!"

She stopped.

"Wait- I'm sorry. Am I actually?"

His breathing slowed, but his smile remained. "No, it's okay. I just think it's safer for at least one of us to stay out and be aware. I can go in next time."

"Okay," she frowned.

At the edge of the water, closest to grass, the ground descended into layers, creating a sort of makeshift staircase that sloped into the pool. Y/N floated over to the stairs, and leaned her elbows on the second highest step so that the water settled just below her shoulders. He watched as her legs floated straight up behind her, and each edge of her clothing moved up and down languidly in the water as if they were breathing with its movement.

In response, Bucky sat down at the waters edge, removing his own shoes and socks, rolling up his pant legs and resting his feet in the pool.

"There, now we're meetin' in the middle."

Y/N spared a gentle smile.

"Buck," she asked softly, "can I ask you a question?"

His brows furrowed at the sudden change in tone. "Mm hm."

He was expecting some kind of serious question, but instead, he watched yet another mischievous smirk grow across her face.

"Don't you have to pee?"

He rolled his eyes, and splashed her with as much water as he could cup in his hand. Y/N let out a burst of loud, boisterous laughter, wiping the water from her eyes.

"Why, do you?! Do I have to worry about feeling some warm water!!"

"No! I already went..."

"Oh, ew!" he howled with laughter.

"Not like that! I did it behind a tree while you were makin' your rounds."

"Well thank you for not christening our only clean water source."

"You are quite welcome, James Buchanan Barnes."

His brain slowed at the sound of his full name. He almost didn't feel the barely-there smile that turned the sides of his mouth up ever so slightly. Time became lazy, and his line of sight came to a leisurely stop directly at Y/N's face.

He got a good look at the reflective water droplets all over her skin, and the way some were falling off while others stayed perfectly still. He got a good look at how her waterlogged eye lashes stuck together in bigger clumps, making darker shades of black that contrasted her eye color, and how her wet hair was slicked back and flowed down her neck. He got a good look at the teeny tiny drops of waterfall that settled in her eyebrows, and how he had only been this close to her very few times before.

He couldn't tell why, but he wanted to take a mental snapshot of this moment. The charming imperfection of her was so genuine, so endearing, so alluring. He found himself having a hard time finding the motivation to look away. He must be tired or something.

He hadn’t noticed how still she was as well. But then, gradually, her smile went away, and her face was replaced with a neutral but poised expression. She slowly floated back from him, putting space between them.

"Can we go back now?" she asked. "I think the sun is giving me a headache."

"Y-Yeah, 'fcourse," he said, unprepared to do anything but fulfill her request.

[sapituscanpvp]

Follow the Leader

Tw/Cw : torture, death/murder, blood, violence,suffocation, Neck injury, gore, manipulation/dehumanization. Tread lightly!

[@maskedprisoner ]

[Context thread here]

When they were children,Dream was always sort of...weird. Off, even. He didn't like when Sapnap would play with the other kids. Didn't like when plans didn't go exactly how Dream wanted them. When things weren't his way, it wasn't the right way. He didn't like when he couldn't be the leader.

But Sapnap. Sapnap was always there. He was reliable. He was always going to be on Dream's side. He was always his obedient little follower. Dream had been thinking it over, in his young state. That if he couldn't be the leader forever, then what exactly was the point? But he knew Sapnap was reliable. He knew Sapnap would listen. So he'd proposed a game to his friend. Mask slid to the side,smiling down at the nether hybrid. 

"Sapnap! Let's play follow the leader. I'm the leader…"

Sapnap woke up shivering. Freezing cold, like he'd been dunked in an ice bath. There was a dull ache in the back of his head. That ache started to catch his brain up to speed, groggy as he recalled the nights events. He was...relaxing? He'd been in bed. Checking his comm,dicking around. Then Dream, of all people, had contacted him. And then..

Gods. Gods. Dream. Right! He'd been..revived. He'd shown up with a stick of dynamite and the blunt end of his axe connecting with Sapnaps head. He'd hunted his best friend down, dragged him here, and..and now? Now he was..strapped to a standing table?

Flexing his arms proved to be worthless, the leather digging into his forearms and kept him pinned. It was..ridiculously cold in this weird chamber. Cold and impersonal iron pressing into his back. His legs were strapped down to the table as well, stripped of his weapons and any hidden daggers of his. Dream must have memorized where they lay hidden. Speaking of the bastard, he was sitting at some stupid large table, a map of the smp spread across it. He was marking things, like they were places to hit. His gauntlets were hovered over Kinoko Kingdom. 

"D-Dream? Dream."

Sapnaps voice was rough. But it didn't seem to catch Dreams attention. Atleast, he didn't let on that it had. He knew Sapnap could be patient. He would teach him to be, if he got out of hand.

"Dream. Hey! Dream! What are you–what are you doing? Let me out of this shit!"

His teeth were gritting together, hating to be ignored. The least he could do was spare him a glance. But it wasn't enough to get Dream’s attention. Snarling, the netherborn started to thrash in his restraints. His nerves felt fried, shooting little bolts of pain up and down his body as he tried to rip out of the leather. It was so, so cold though. And that only made it harder to focus. It must have been on purpose, judging from how many layers Dream had on. When he finally did get a reaction out of him, it was a glance up. Mask moved to the side so he could focus on that map.

"You're really loud y'know, Sap. Be good, and wait for me. You can do that can't you? Hey, do, do you think that Kinoko is more susceptible tooooo, fire orrrr...tnt? I mean the stick I used was pretty good wasn't it? Blew a whole chunk of your lawn up! It must be because the place is so soft. Admittedly, it's so new and unused that maybe the stone will keep up better but uh, hey, only one way to find out huh?"

Dream seems amused by the horror playing out on his friends face. Laughing when he yells and tugs the straps.

"Calm down! Calm down. You know, we don't need to let it come to this Sapnap. We can do this the easy way! We can. You just...need to listen to me. You can do that can't you? You've always been really good at taking orders Sap."

Dream drops his drafting pencil, moving around the table to walk the tied down dog. He was in need of correction. He'd snapped at his owner's merciless hand far too many times for his taste. Standing in front of him now, Dream folded his hands behind his back. Leaning in, he flashed his teeth at Sapnap.

"You know, you're my best friend. This uh, this is why I'm giving you a second chance. So how about..we take this real nice and easy, huh? We don't need to do this the hard way, even though you're just so fucking hard headed. You can just agree to be on my side again. The right side! And we can all work on that big happy family. Doesn’t that sound nice, Pandas?"

He waits a beat for Sapnap to respond. He seems to be thinking. But then his kindness, his mercy, is returned with hot spit in his face. If Sapnap wasn't so freezing cold, the spit would've been scalding. But losing blood, and getting stuck in this temperature saved Dream a new burn scar on his face.

Laughing, full of mirth and contained rage, Dream wiped the spit off. Then he was sliding the mask back onto his face. Empty ceramic smile, staring down a shivering mess. Sapnap hated that stupid mask.

"I'm not–I’m not helping you with SHIT! You can–you can fuck off, Dream! I killed you once and–and when I get outta this I'll kill you again. Just for stepping foot in Kinoko–you fucking fre–"

His words were cut off with a harsh slap. Rattling his head and making his face ache. But it would take far worse to make him break. Physical pain only did so much to him. Not with how much he's endured already.

Dream didn't speak again. He didn't allow Sapnap that privilege. It was just like when he visited the prison. Absolute silence. This would be his way of repentance, Dream thought. To take what I deal, as always.I alone hold the cards, and he's going to listen to his dealer. No more pleaing and begging and fucking nonesense- he’s supposed to follow. Isn’t this for the best? 

It was really all Sapnap could do, in the end. Sit there and take the correction. Even as Dream amped up his praises. In his eyes, he was the god, punishing a sinner for their mortal failings. If anything, this was Dream’s sacrifice. To watch and listen as he broke Sapnap to bits. Silent, allowing his friends shrieks of pain to fill the room. He wasn't kind. He was all powerful. And the book scrawled across his brain was proof of that. The book he transferred to paper, as a threat to Sapnap. Watching his eyes blow wide with fear.

"You–you’re not going to use–use it on me, are you?"

The fallen angel's voice came out cracked, spitting blood as he spoke, since the red coated his lips. A broken nose came as one of his forms of worship, along with various tests of Sapnap’s ability to handle enchanted weapons. Under normal circumstances, the tazing wouldn't have hurt so bad. If he hadn't died to electricity at some point. But Dream either didn't know, or didn't care.

The book was held up, along with a weapon. Something like a nail file. He'd already used it to "smooth" out the jagged edges of a broken horn. Sapnap didn't seem to be thankful for Dream’s kindness. He'd whined and complained the whole time. Cried even. But it was alright if he cried! That didn't matter. What mattered was that they were together again. Any pain he felt would be temporary. He just needed to get it out of his system, before he could really be a holy knight of Dream’s again. Then he’d be perfect.

The worn leather was a threat and a promise. Dream’s wide grin could be seen even behind his mask, with how his scarred skin pulled with a sick joy.

"I don't know. Do you want me to use it? You mean a lot to me. I wouldn't mind reviving you, after all of this. After all ,aren't I helping you see? Sapnap. I just want you see where I'm coming from. That's all! It really is."

"How is–how is torturing me...making me see..anything? Why would I join you again after–after you've kept me here for–for what? A day? Longer? Just–just going in on me like I'm some sort of science experiment! Is–is that all I am to you!? Just some toy you can break, over and over and over again?!"

He’s screaming. Sapnaps screaming, tears burning down his bloody cheeks. He's given up trying to fight back at this point. There's no use in thrashing around, or trying to will his body to survive it all. He's dizzy, he's dehydrated, and he's worn to the bone. He's raw. Stripped bare to whatever fun new exercise Dream can think of. He's got a sneaking suspicion that this is less about getting revenge for killing Dream, and more so a form of entertainment. 

It's quiet, all but for a moment where Dream sighs. And he sounds disappointed. As if he can't possibly see why Sapnap would think this way. The book is set down, along with the file. Then he's right up close to Sapnap, reaching out to hold his face. Like a concerned friend would. Ignoring the smears of blood, and the way his supposed friend flinches away. Ignores how his breath hitches and picks up, frozen in place.

"Sapnap, of course not! You're my Sapnap–! If you weren't so stubborn, we wouldn't have to be doing all of this. We could've stopped hours ago," the gentle cupping turns into one hand gripping his jaw. Squeezing, forcing Sapnap to look at him. Letting smoke huff from Sapnaps scrunched nose, obviously pained. "I just want you back. Don't you want it back? Back to when we ran around, just us, having fun–you were my friend! You were my best friend." His nails are digging into Sapnaps cheeks, dragging tears to the corners of his squeezed shut eyes. "We could be friends again. And I'd even leave your silly little kingdom alone! I would, I trust you."

The touch turns soft, grip loose now. He's holding Sapnaps chin up, like he's an injured animal. And he is, in a way. Panting, shaking, crying like some baby all over again. The crescent nail marks in his jaw and cheek fit right into the scars. They won't leave any mark besides a phantom pain.

"Wouldn't that be nice, Pandas?"

When Sapnap gains his breath back,when he can drag in a normal breath, he's finally opening his eyes. Watering, sure, but hard as steel. He sniffs to stave off any new sobs.

"Someone's gonna come for me. I’ve–I’ve got people who are gonna notice I'm gone. Karl–"

"You think he even remembers you?--"

"Quackity–"

"Ohhh, I heard all about that one. He hates you. Hates your guts, really."

"George."

"Hah! It'd be a miracle if he woke up for you."

"Foolish–"

"He's a harmless builder. A pacifist! Sword’s off fighting. Don't think you're worth his time."

"Punz."

Oh and that gets a kick out of Dream. He smiles, lightly tugging the hairs on Sapnaps chin as he giggles. Then he laughs, cooing in a mocking way while he brushes sweat sticky hair from Sapnaps forehead.

"Ohh, Punz. Yeah, Punz? I'm sure he's coming for yoooou."

"The point–the point is I don't fucking need you."

Dreams smile drops. Quick as a dime. His expression goes cold, like Sapnaps just stabbed him. Nostrils flare with a contained rage, before he's baring his teeth and laughing at Sapnap. Forced. He doesn't reach out to strike him again. But he does turn away, striding over to the comm on the table.

"Don't need me? Yeah. Sure! Sure. Hey, how about Bad? You didn't even mention him. Come to think of it, your list is pretty short, Sapnap! It's almost like.."

His tone is mocking, sweet sing song, picking up his comm as he punches a message into it.

"It's almost like,there's not many people around who stay around. Besides Me. I'm always here. It's almost like you're made just for me. Nobody else wants you.”

His grin stays the same as he speaks, green eyes burning like Greek fire. Undying. All consuming. The God calls for his messenger. Maybe Sapnap could stand to be a bit more like Punz- so obedient, so willing. It’s a thought. Then he just waits, arms and legs crossed. Staring down his unruly angel. 

"You're just saying all this to try and–and get me on your side all over again Dream. I'm not an idiot. I've changed. So have you. Maybe it's for the worse. Either way, I'm not going to help you hurt anyone ever AGAIN you fucking moron!"

Dream’s calm demeanor wears thin, picking up one of the blades he snagged off Sap. Then he's standing over him, pushing the table down by shoving at Sapnap's shoulder. He presses the blade against his throat, sliding that damn mask on again. He's keeping the dog right where he wants him, despite it baring its fangs and snarling at him.

Then Punz is pushing the doors open,entering with his back facing them, slamming it shut behind him. When he turns, the color drains from his face, eyes wide like a deer in headlights. He's trying to process the scene in front of him. Between the way Sapnap is covered in blood, and Dream’s knuckles are stained red, he's not sure what to make of it all.

"PUNZ! PUNZ!"

Sapnap doesn't give him time to process it all, not with how he hollers to his supposed friend. Punz is cringing, hurrying over and directing all his attention to Dream. Not his very obviously injured friend. That confuses the hell out of Sap. For a second he thinks maybe Punz just isn't grasping the reality of this situation. 

"Dream!" Punz hisses, grabbing the half written revivebook and starting to tear the pages out, "what are you doing! If you kill Sapnap people will notice! He has connections! And now he knows–knows about all this! Fucking- you can’t, we’ve talked about this!”

It's then, after hearing his friend, that he realizes maybe there aren’t so many people on his side. And that he’s going to need to save himself. So he starts to struggle. It's not the smartest move. He picks up on that mistake when he can suddenly taste metal. When his airway seems to stop working. When there's a splitting pain in his neck. His arms go up to cover the large gash there out of reflex, but he's strapped down. And it seems the other two are momentarily distracted arguing to notice how Dream’s blade has quite literally slit his neck open. It's an accident. A stupid, wreckless accident. But it's intentions are true, and his head is spinning. It feels like when he was zapped under the water, choking, desperate for air. But there's only blood, blood, and more blood. 

"Shit! Dream! What the fuck did you do! Oh my god,do something! You fucking idiot! Is his spawn set here–?!"

Punz is yelling, rushing over and trying to stop whatever bleeding is happening. And Dream? He's stock still,watching as his best friend chokes on his own blood. Punz bloody hand reaches out, swiping his mask away and yelling at Dream to "fucking pay attention!" 

But he can't. He's got Sapnap’s blood on his mask,and against his hands, and his cheek, and smeared across his soul. He's staring into his eyes as that last defiant snarl passes through Sap’s fangs, and the only thing rising in his throat as he pulls the mask back is a laugh. A horrible, cackling, wide eyed laugh, and his shoulders are shaking and he thinks, somewhere, there might have been a Dream that would’ve cried about this, once.

And then Sapnap’s dead. And so is that Dream. And maybe he should have calculated how fragile he was. Or maybe moved the blade away from his neck. Regardless of the maybes, a fact stands true. He did not control this death, and the mask is back on as quickly as it was taken away. Maybe Sapnap–just maybe, was a lost cause. Maybe this angel was simply too far gone for the god to reel in.

Maybe the game was over. 

"...And you’ll be the follower!" Dream’s grinning,watching Sapnap stand to brush the dirt off his jeans. He loves his best friend. They're going to stay together till the end of time. Taking each others hands, Pandas grips it tight. "Okay! When do we stop playing?" He's worried about his curfew. It's the most important thing in his young life, being good for his father. Dream tugs him in a direction,Tapping at his chin.

"Hmm. I don't know! Whenever I get bored I guess."

"Well,hopefully it's before sundown. Dad's got muffins and he said if we go home before it gets dark, you can have some too."

[Sapnap withered away whilst fighting Dream]

{art that the flashbacks are based off here!!}

[kerie-prince]

We're Worlds Apart (5)

Draco Malfoy x American No-Maj!reader

series m.list | general m.list | previous chp

warnings: cursing, mom being a dick :/, accidental peeping eyes, jealous draco

summary: Draco Malfoy is a pureblood wizard. Magic runs through his veins and has been since his birth. You're a Wiccan No-Maj; a non-magical being with ordinary blood through your veins, but practices what you call magick. And this very practice upsets your neighbor.

a/n: omg, i had to rewrite this WHOLE THING again. but now i know to write things in my google docs first

(gif cred)

Everyone at the table was silent. Your mother sat processing what had just occurred moments ago. I practice, too. You always wondered why your brother never talked too much about her whenever you were on long phone calls with him. He was pretty vague about Stephanie, and now you knew why.

Actually, it made complete sense as to why he didn't tell your mom about Stephanie being a practicing witch, but you? That was what really confused you.

“So,” you decided to break the silence, “how long have you practiced?”

Stephanie had an excited glimmer in her eyes when you asked. “I'm still a baby, I started earlier this year.” Something about her aura was soothing and pure. You scooted your chair closer to her and continued your conversation. “So you’re a Wiccan? Or do you practice something else?”

“I practice Gardnerian Wicca,” she declared. From the corner of your eyes, you could see your mother holding back a scoff. Surely she was thinking Why the hell is she encouraging this?

The ding of the oven sounded like church bells to her as it gave her an excuse to leave the room and focus on anything else. The situation was quite hysterical. But questions were in order. As Stephanie left to use your bathroom, you pulled your brother aside. “Dude, why the hell didn’t you tell me anything?”

He flinched away from your hand and started massaging the pain away from your grip, “I didn’t think it was my business to tell.”

“But you told her about me?” You asked with crossed arms. Your brother’s logic was lacking. “It… might’ve slipped, but I only told her after she told me that she’s a witch. I don’t go around campus saying ‘Hey, I’m Y/B/N Y/L/N. I’m a communications major and y’know what? My sister’s a witch.’” You weren’t upset that he told his girlfriend about you. You weren’t ashamed at all. And you weren’t really upset that he didn’t talk to you about her. Because, in a sense, he’s right.

But you like being dramatic, so you figured that while you've got your brother in your house you’d act like a petty sister. “Whatever, man. But you could’ve told Mom beforehand,” you scolded with your arms crossed. He had a scoff in his laugh, “Tell Mom? We’re thinking of the same person, right? You know she would freak.”

“She’s freaking out right now! I’d have rather her freak out earlier before she made my house look like some stupid picture in a Martha Stewart kitchen advertisement,” you whisper yelled. To think that your house could have looked as it normally did annoyed you. Grandma’s tapestry you whined internally.

Stephanie found you two in your hallway and froze in an awkward stance, “Is everything okay?” You and your brother put on your best smiles. “Yeah, just wanted to see how my baby bro is doing,” you reached up to pinch his cheeks to which he swatted you hand away. It started a playful fight that made your guest laugh in amusement. The sound of your mother announcing that dinner was ready brought the little fight to a halt. “I’ll beat your ass later,” you challenged him, fingers doing an ‘I’ve got my eyes on you’ movement.

—

He couldn't believe it.

Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini stood at his doorstep with their bags. Theo had his wand pointed out with confetti spurting out the tip. “Surprise!” he yelled.

Draco pulled them in quickly and nearly sprained his neck as he looked around to make sure no one saw his friend. “What part of 'muggle neighbors’ did you not understand” he scolded.

“Oh shit, sorry mate. I forgot.” Theo scratched the back of his head. He then glared at Blaise knowing that with his brilliant memory, he let Theo make a big mess of things. Theoretically and literally. An enchanted broom swept up the confetti on the floor.

“What are you guys doing here, I wasn’t expecting you two for another week?” Draco asked as he pulled each wizard in for a welcoming hug.

“Merlin, mate. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re disappointed to see us,” Blaise teased.

“That's not what I meant and you know that. I’m happy… just surprised.” The blond wasn't isn't used to showing this kind of side to himself. “What brings you two here early?”

“Have you ever known Theo to be patient for anything? Bloody git nearly dragged me out in the middle of work,” Blaise expressed. The Slytherin trio laughed as the two friends followed Draco through his new home. “Well, here’s the guest room. Set your things down and I’ll grab some drinks.”

For the first time since getting his phone and learning about take-out, Draco had ordered a couple pizzas to be delivered. Blaise and Theo were genuinely impressed by the whole thing. “Muggles sure do think of everything,” Theo observed.

“Almost shocked that Malfoy here adapted pretty well to them,” Blaise had a smirk on his lips before stuffing his mouth with his first ever slice. “Salazar, this is amazing.” Draco raised his eyebrows in agreement. The three men sat in the living room eating and caught up with each other.

The night was filled with laughter and tipsy hiccups. It was arguably Draco’s best night since he first moved to America. He hadn’t realized how much he missed their shenanigans since Hogwarts before it all went to shit thanks to a certain Dark Lord. He was ecstatic and couldn’t wait for them to meet his new friends.

In the middle of their laughter, Theo was seen squinting his eyes in a direction, “Oi mate, who’s that?” The two others followed his eyes which looked out a window. Sort of blurry due to the alcohol, Draco leaned forward to focus on what it was Theo was talking about.

When his vision cleared, he saw some heads moving around. And… arms flinging about? The sight was strange to say the least. Draco didn't exactly know what was going on, he watched as you stood in your living room in front of who he recognized as your mother. Sitting on your couch was some woman, and in between you and your mother was some guy.

“Is that the muggle neighbor you told me about?” Blaise observed.

“Yeah, and her mum. Don’t know the others, though.” Draco stated. He shrugged his shoulders and sat in a comfortable position. Blaise continued to look at the weird scene next door. The only pieces he could put together was that you definitely weren’t happy and neither was your mother. “She’s kinda fit, don’t you think?”

“No,” Draco didn’t hesitate to answer. His irritated voice was indication enough to not press on the matter more. And seeing as it was their first night in America, Blaise didn’t want to risk getting hexed before bed.

Draco looked at the clock on the wall which read 10:57 pm. “Shit,” he whispered. “I’m turning in. I have a meeting in the morning.” Theo was already passed out on the soft couch and Blaise walked himself to the guest room to claim the bigger bed. Once in his room, Draco chugged a bottle of water that was on his nightstand and went to sleep.

—

She finally went home. After the huge fight that broke out after dinner, your mother grabbed her things and left. Poor Stephanie had witnessed the mess and regretted coming. As much as she was glad to finally meet a fellow practicing witch, she underestimated your mother entirely.

It actually surprised you that your mother acted in such ways. Growing up, your mom never really made too much of a fuss of your Craft. But just out of nowhere, she’s making comments of this and making complaints of that. You wanted to forget Thanksgiving night all together.

Currently, you were pacing in your kitchen debating on whether or not to call Stephanie and make sure she was alright. She was nothing but sweet and kind. Didn't deserve to come home with your brother and have some woman blow up. Your mother hit some random nerve in the middle of your conversation that you carried on about what Steph’s practice consisted of and yelled about her whole family getting full of ‘damn weirdos’.

The best thing to come out of it was that you were able to bring back all your original decorations and stored all the stuff your mother bought in the garage.

Thinking about it started to give you a migraine. You walked to your bathroom and started to fill the tub with the hottest water you could take. As it filled, you went to the comfort of your room and undressed. You opted out on bath salts and oils; just the warmth of the water would be enough to settle your nerves.

Before you could remove your bra, you felt a weird shiver up your spine. Something in the air made you feel tense. You wanted to assume that it was negative energy that your mother left behind, but it felt different than that. No, you felt a presence in your home. Or worse, from somewhere else.

You turned around and widened your eyes in horror. A man that you didn’t know nor have ever seen before looks at you from the window of your neighbor, Draco’s room. As soon as it processed to him that you were looking back, he quickly shut the curtains again. At that moment, you wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. You were so caught up in your thoughts that you forgot to shut your blinds.

You sat in your bathtub still shocked that a complete stranger almost saw you naked. Had you even gone further a couple seconds or ignored your instincts, he could have seen everything. You dunk your head into the water and scream under it. This day can’t get worse you thought.

But oh, how it can. You performed your house cleansing spell and as soon as you set the censor dish down, the doorbell rang. You opened the door and was face to face with the same man who saw you. “Hello,’ he said. You recognized the accent, how it sounded like Draco’s.

Shyly, you nodded your head and said a soft ‘hi’.

“Listen, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry for… for what happened,” presumably Draco’s friend apologized.You stood there a bit shocked and flustered. “I swear I’m not a bloody pervert. Mate doesn't have any light in his room so I’d thought I’d do him a favor. Guess that didn't turn out so well,” he sheepishly chuckled. It made you laugh as well. It was decided that it was just an honest mistake.

“It’s okay. I should’ve closed my curtains so I guess it goes both ways,” a blush was spread across your cheeks. The more you looked at him, the more you studied his gorgeous features. “I’m Y/N. You must be Draco’s friend,” you extended your hand out for him to shake. He took it in his and you nearly melted into his smooth skin.

“Yes, I am. I’m Blaise.”

—

Draco returned home with a pounding headache and stiff neck. He had never felt more tired than he did in this moment. He saw Theo sitting on his couch reading the Daily Prophet with one hand and holding a cup of tea in the other. It was funny to Draco because he explicitly remembers Theo promising that he would never become his father who did this exact thing.

Looking around his surroundings, he noticed how his other best friend wasn’t around. “Where’s Zabini?”

“I think he went out for a walk,” Theo guessed. “Think he’s been gone for about an hour now that I think about it.” He put his paper down and mirrored the look of curiosity that was also on Draco’s face. Seconds later, the devil himself walked into Draco’s home. The look on his face was the same he had back in Hogwarts. A look Draco and Theo knew all too well.

“How? Actually no, scratch that. Who?” Theo pressed on instantly. Draco was also interested as to how Blaise somehow seduced a woman a day into his vacation in the foreign country. “You gits really want to know who?” They both nodded. He stood hesitantly but kept the smirk on his face, “Your muggle neighbor, Y/N.”

Theo stood up and gave Blaise a high-five, “You still got the magic touch I see.”

“Please never say that again,” Blaise sighed. He went on to explain everything that just happened, how he accidentally saw you, how he went over and how you invited him in for coffee and talked for about an hour. Well, mainly flirted. Then he talked about how he acted coy and wanted to know whatever was nice in town and when you told him about a French restaurant uptown, he used it as a way to ask you on a date.

Blaise was explaining everything, but it all sounded quiet to Draco. He couldn’t hear a word out of his friends mouth after he said your name.

“Mate, you alright? You look pale,” Blaise looked concerned.

Draco snapped out of it and lied through his teeth, “I’m fine. Just tired and slightly hungover is all.” Lie? Why would I be lying about this? Wait… why am I lying about this?

“Oh, well I can make the thing my mum makes for hangovers if you’d like,” Theo offered.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just get some rest.” Draco walked to his bedroom and removed the necktie around his collar. As he walked in, he saw how his curtain wasn’t fully closed. He opened it slightly and as he looked across, he saw you sitting in a chair in your bedroom. You seemed to have been in a haze before you looked up and met your eyes with his. You waved gently and Draco, as he always does now, nodded his head and closed the curtains.

This can’t be real.

—

next chp

(っ◔◡◔)っ taglist: @beiahadid @malfoy-styles-wife @fivenightslaughter @juneballoon999 @leydileyla @fangirlanotherjust @originalsoulcollector @opiomancy @lipstickandloveletters @ninacotte @daedric-sorceress @frecklesandfirecrackers @hahee154hq @disartrous @oh-those-barricade-boys @bornforfangirling

[sweetleaf-cafe]

Hi would it be alright to get a cake for aot and obey me? Pronouns are she/her. I'm 18 and 5,2'. I have brown hair to my shoulders and I'm fairly lean cause I workout quite a lot. I don't wear makeup or dress up I just kindof wear dark casual clothes like all my jumpers and leggings are black.

My personality type is ISTJ. I'm brave, loyal and I love to laugh. I'm a slytherin. I'm only like this when I open up to you and let you in my life tho and I don't do that with most people I'm very closed off. I'm cautious of everyone and just try to go about unnoticed (if I have to go out in public). I hate most people and just like to be alone. I love nature, wildlife, indie music and psychological horror.

My hobbies include figure skating, gymnastics and roller skating. I used to do competitive gymnastics and have won several medals.

My love languages are quality time mainly but also physical touch but I wouldn't be caught dead asking for it too embarrassing lol.

sorry if that's too long hope it's okay :)

Don't worry about the length, the more information you give us, the easier and more we're able to write! And thank you so much for sending us your request!!!! We hope that you continue to enjoy our work! If there is something here that does not meet your satisfaction, please let us know, we would be happy to work with you!

For Attack on Titan, I match you with Levi! First off, appearance wise, Levi would be glad to have someone who is fit. He likes that you're capable enough to protect yourself in such a dangerous world.  Secondly, he may not particularly care about height too much, but may occasionally tease you about it. Usually an off-handed comment that may be followed by a smile. However, this is unlikely to happen in front of other people, specifically Hange. Yet despite his attempts to not let Hange get involved, they do anyways. While Levi hadn't gone out of his way to keep your relationship a secret, he hadn't really mentioned it to anyone other than Erwin. (Who had probably set you two up in the first place.) Still, as soon as Hange catches wind of what's up (if they hadn't been the one helping Erwin, lol), the teasing will begin. And it WILL be blatant. If people didn't know about your relationship, by now, they will have. It started with Hange catching a glimpse of Levi smiling around you. They instantly knew what was up. Before you know it, the both of you get stuck in a locked room together, and the only people with the key out is Erwin and Hange! Lucky you, Erwin is incredibly busy with meetings. And the latter is currently on a mission and will likely not return until the next day. (R.I.P. Hange when he gets out.) Still, Levi would fall for you for several reasons. The first of which, he'll find your honesty and directness as an ISTJ quite refreshing. Your opinion is one of the few he actually values and is prefers you being honest with him. Then, he'll find your responsibility to be another trait that he very much likes in you. Levi is someone who would put a lot of trust into his s/o, and so having someone he knows he can rely on to get the job done is important to him. He'll also respect your practical nature, though he may not often mention it specifically, it'll show in the way that he treats you and puts his trust in you. Your bravery is something he'll respect you for, but also causes an inkling of worry for him. He doesn't want you to get hurt because of it. However, he'll come to the conclusion that you're already quite capable. Still, his worries won't ever really fade, because more than anything, he fears losing you too. When it comes to your loyalty, you can count on that loyalty being returned as well. Once Levi has fallen for you, he won't ever betray you. On the other hand, this loyalty can also make him consider leaving you. It's simply that he's used to those around him getting hurt or killed, and he doesn't want to lose you too. Still, each time he sees you walk in the door, perfectly safe, all thoughts of breaking up dissipate. Following that, he loves your laugh. Levi likely won't outright and say it, but the way he softens, even just a bit, when he hears you laugh. There will be many moments of just soft moments of enjoying each other's company. There won't really be all that much talking, you're just together. He understands not wanting to open up to people, and will respect that. He'll wait for you to open up to him when you're ready, if you want to. Levi will also make sure to give you space when you need it. While Levi is not especially fond of nature and wildlife, he feels himself more drawn to you because of it. There's just something about it that feels right. Levi may also find himself intrigued by psychological horror, and would converse with you about it. It likely becomes a common source of conversation. He is also glad that you're athletic, but often worries about you getting hurt through such things. Despite that, he'll support you, but be prepared for several comments regarding your safety and the importance of keeping your head. Should Levi actually see you doing gymnastics or figure skating, you'll be able to see that he's proud of you. Also, should you ever go roller skating around him, it will likely be you skating circles around him as he goes shopping for cleaning supplies. Levi will often be away from you, due to work, but what time he does have with you won't be taken

for granted. He understands your wish for quality time, and shares in that. So you won't lack fond memories of each other even when you're apart. As far as physical affection, Levi is also partial to it. Though another that isn't really one to openly ask for it. Still, given time, he'll start giving you physical affection, it will likely start small. Like him brushing your hand with his own, or touching your hair. Eventually, he'll start cuddling with you, and will enjoy holding you. He'll probably laugh a bit when he finds out about your lack of inclination to ask for affection. Overall, your relationship is one of trust and respect, but also of worry and care. It's sweet, but not overly so, just the right amount.

For Obey Me!, I match you with Diavolo! First off, Diavolo thinks you're straight up adorable. There's no getting out of it, your appearance and height is very cute to him. He'll enjoy giving you bear hugs and lightly teasing you about it. He's proud of you for your fitness and will let you know that too. He doesn't mind that you don't wear make up or anything, and is rather fond of your personal style. Your braveness and loyalty are certainly values in you. When it comes to your bravery, Diavolo will certainly be happy with you. Though he'll also worry about you getting hurt, and so might be a bit overprotective. When he really sees how loyal you are, his heart might just burst. He really really cares already, but knowing that that care is returned makes him elated. When Diavolo sees your ambition as a Slytherin, he'll get this wide, happy smile. He understands wanting to accomplish something and will encourage you to follow your dreams. If he can, he'll try to help you, if you let him. He'll respect your honesty and integrity, and will certainly return such treatment. Diavolo will certainly do his best to not lie to you, but he still has his secrets that he will mostly keep to himself. He's glad that you're also very responsible, (well, at least Barbatos will be.) and another thing he'll respect you for. But might pout if you stop him from trying to get out of work. Still, such "transgressions", are easily forgiven and not really taken seriously. He'll understand being cautious around others, as he IS the Prince of Devildom. And will encourage you to remain cautious, especially when around demons. Still, he'll want you to be open with him. Despite that, he's also quite patient and wants you to open up to him naturally, if you want to at all. If you really seem like you want nothing to do with him, given some effort, he'll back off. When you show him how you like nature and wildlife, he'll be enamored. He's certainly the type to really get into it too. By this point, it's pretty common to see Diavolo running up to you talking to you about something he read about that's related. (Of course, with Barbatos briskly walking with slightly murderous intent in his eyes after him and Lucifer getting a breakout from how chaotic it is.) He's also intrigued by psychological horror, it's something he'll likely already be kinda into. Diavolo will often try to talk to you about such topics, and isn't one to be easily creeped out, so makes a great person to talk to about such things. Diavolo will be very excited the first time he sees you figure skate. He's incredibly impressed, he'll easily become your biggest supporter. If you teach him and do it together, then he'll be over the moon about it. (Lucifer and Barbatos definitely get dragged into watching you guys.) And when he finds about about you doing gymnastics? His respect for you went up by 100%. He's seen how difficult it can be, and is really proud of you already. And once he's seen you were in competitive gymnastics and won several medals, he's dumbstruck. But in a good way, just purely amazed by how he's managed to meet someone so awesome. If you guys do roller skating together, it will be pure adorableness. He might struggle a bit when he first starts, but once he gets a hang of it, don't be surprised when you randomly see the Prince of Devildom randomly roller skating around everywhere. (He may or may not be fleeing Barbatos.) Though you may have to convince him to not use them to run away from Barbatos, lest they get taken away. Still, when you roller skate together, it will be very fluffy. (You've probably ended up dunked in a fountain at least once.) For Diavolo, he'll often buy elaborate, expensive gifts, as he certainly doesn't lack the funds. It's just one of the ways he tends to show he cares, however, if such things make you uncomfortable, you can get him to back off a bit. But if you wear something or he sees you using something he got for you, it will certainly brighten his day. (It's a major boost to his pride.) And he's happy to spend time with you,

will honestly want to spend time together whenever possible. Still, Diavolo will also understand your need for personal space and will do his very best to respect your boundaries.   When it comes to physical touch, count him in. Even if you don't outright ask for it, he'll be the sort to want to be close to you. So expect plenty of hugs, headpats, handholding, he can be very touchy. There are many moments where you just spend time cuddling, these moments can be full of giggles and bits of chatter, but are also often quiet and calming. In general, being in a relationship with Diavolo is extremely sweet, and more often than not, chaotic.

[themadauthorshatter]

Toppat!Charles Part 5!!

GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH TOPPAT!CHARLES!?

Thank you all so much for your patience with this one, like I said, I've been going through a lot in my personal life, though things are getting better. 

If you haven’t read the previous parts you can find them HERE: 

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

ENOUGH ABOUT ME! TIME FOR THE RECAP:

Henry has taken the CCC's offer, despite opposition from Galeforce, Ellie, and even Daddy Dearest Terrence Suave.

Meanwhile, Right has polished up Charles and set him up in an actual room for a change of pace.

Not really a headcanon this time but a MASSIVE, MASSIVE trigger warning for torture, violence, and a trauma truck load of angst; we're focusing more on Charles this part since he was more of a cameo in Part 4.

Got that? GREAT!

LET'S BEGIN!

Like before we pick up where Part 4 left off, but with Charles in his new room across from Right, who has taken his position at a desk chair and is calmly talking to Charles. If this were a movie, we would only hear the music score before getting a close up of Right saying something to Charles, who reacts by raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes.

"What?"

Right sighs as he rubs the non-cybernetic half of his head. "Do I got to repeat everything to everyone?" He recomposes himself and meets Charles once more, the pilot shaking his head as he curls his knees into his chest and holds his hands on either side of his head.

"No. No, no, no, nononono. I can't do that. You can't make me."

"So you'd rather go back to rotting in your cell?" Right asks as he raises an eyebrow. "I'm offering you the chance to have some form of freedom and you're willing to throw it away for your stupid government?"

Charles keeps his head down, but clenches a fist. "They'll get me out of here. Just wait and see."

Right grabs Charles's ankles and throws them down before grabbing his jaw, forcing his to look up. Thhe two are inches away from each other and Charles's instincts are telling him to run since fighting hasn't exactly worked out for him.

"Look at where you are and what's been happening. Any time the government tried sending a destroyer, it didn't work. You were left alone in that cell with nothing but your shadow on the wall to talk to. You have a chance to get out and not have to deal with that anymore. You're seriously going to turn it down because you think the government's coming to rescue you? Taking my offer would get you out a lot quicker. "

Charles only glares into Right's human eye before doing a very ungentlemanly and dumb thing by spitting in his eye. (Unsanitary as well, I might add. Really, Charles, get with the program!)

Right backs away slightly, though it's more like an angry flinch because he recoils and then freezes.

Charles, however, keeps his glare as his wipes his mouth off with his sleeve. "Never."

Right is still for a moment before backhanding Charles with his cybernetic hand, not enough to seriously injure him, i.e. a broken jaw or knocking him unconscious, but it does leave him seeing stars and in a good state of, 'that hurt a lot more than it should.'

Right stands back, takes out a handkerchief, wipes his face off, and then pockets said handkerchief before folding his hands behind his back.

"You'll come to your senses. If you can wait, so can I."

With that, Right leaves the room just as Charles picks himself up, rubbing his cheek.

"See you tomorrow, Charles."

As the door closes behind Right, Charles's face and the room's temperature drop.

Cut to Right, who is leaving the hall and going to that room we saw in the Free Man ending, that cafeteria- like room with the big window overlooking Earth.

JUMP TO THE NEXT "MORNING"

Charles is sound asleep in his bed when a pair of toppats come in. One stays by the door and the other wakes up Charles.

The pilot, due to being out-strengthed and delirious from sleep, is pulled out of his room and can barely keep up with the toppats as they drag him to a different room.

In Charles's perspective, the world is dark and he keeps drifting in and out of sleep. He eventually opens his eyes to see he's back in the jungle, by the crashed helicopter. Right is nowhere to be seen, but Charles does see someone else, someone that he ACTUALLY happy to see. As in he smiles and tears up.

"Henry?"

Henry stands still as he stares at a growingly flustered Charles, who races toward him.

"Henry! Man, are you a sight for sore eyes! You have no idea what these guys've done. C'mon, let's go-"

Just as Charles is about to hug Henry, he holds a hand and stops Charles in his tracks.

"Hen... Henry?"

Henry's face turns from blank to angry or annoyed and he shakes his head, backing away.

Charles tries to follow him, but he can't. When he looks, he sees his feet are sunken into the ground and panics.

"Henry! Help! I-I think I stepped in quicksand!"

Henry only backs away further, now glaring at Charles.

"HENRY, PLEASE! SAY SOMETHING!"

Henry finally approaches him and leans close to his his face.

Before he can say anything, Charles's breath catches and he quickly finds he can no longer breathe. 

Charles tries gasping and exhaling, but only blows bubbles out of his mouth. 

The jungle fades away into a very dim grey, almost falling. Henry falls away with it, much to Charles’s fear. 

The pilot tries reaching for Henry and is pulled away, seeing as Henry swims further away from him.

Charles gasps for real this time as he is pulled out of a tub of water and focuses his gaze on Right, who is standing over him with his arms folded behind his back. 

“Good morning. Sleep well?’” 

Charles tries to push himself away the tub only to find his hands are either tied or handcuffed behind his back, I’m noting an ‘either’ here because while I can see Right using handcuffs or restraints like the ones we see in the Free Man ending, to save on resources and because Charles is already pretty weak, he’d probably just use a rope.

The toppats that woke him up and dragged him here both hold his shoulders, one holding the back of his collar. 

Charles glares at Right and struggles against his bonds, but he stays quiet. 

Right sniffs and nods at the two holding Charles. “Give ‘im a wash.” 

The one holding his collar grips his hair, yanking it and making Charles follow his movement before dunking him back into the water. 

Right watches as Charles struggles both above and below the water, mildly impressed that he’s still strong enough to the point that the two toppats are having a hard time holding him under. If this were a movie or a game cutscene, the camera would hold on Right’s face, resolute and expressionless, and all we would here would be the score and Charles struggling. Right blinks and an icon appears on his cybernetic eye, a solid circle with a ring around it. 

A camera. 

After a while, Charles’s movements slow and nearly stop completely, bubbles leaving his mouth and nose. 

Right nods at the toppats pull him up.

If that first dunk didn’t wake up and alarm Charles, this certainly did. 

Charles gives one of those loud gasps and coughs up water as he catches his breath. 

Once his breathing goes at least to where he’s not huffing and puffing, he feels one of the toppats grip his hair again. He fights against him, but is ultimately pushed back into the water. 

The partner repeats itself for a while. 

Dunk his head in the water, wait for him to stop struggling, pull him out and wait for him to just about get his breathing normal, rinse and repeat. 

After maybe a half an hour of this, Right notices Charles has started shivering after his last dunk and is having a hard time getting his breathing even. 

“Enough. Get ‘ im to a medic.”

They do so, and Charles follows with barely any strength to keep up.

The next day isn't any better. 

The toppats are ordered to sit Charles in a chair, his hands on the rests, his head in a restraint, and his eyes held open with something like reverse clamps; if you’ve seen or read A Clockwork Orange, you’ll know what I’m talking about. 

Right takes a seat next to him, a medic on his other side to keep his eyes hydrated, and the two watch a simple movie. 

Just a nice, sit down, home cinema night 😁😊

JUST KIDDING! NO THEY DON’T! 

“You seem too confident your government’s gonna save you.” Right turns his head to the screen and folds one leg over the other. “Let me remind you what they’ve done to us.” 

Charles follows his gaze as the film begins. 

I’m guessing the Toppat Clan has been around for a while, based on how many paintings/pictures of the leaders we see in Completing the Mission, so there would be PLENTY of news footage of the government using any means necessary to arrest any toppats they can get their hands on. 

The film Charles watches is nothing short of horrifying. I won’t go into detail, but just know that it’s pretty disturbing. Like, psychologically messed up. 

Charles is forced to watch as members of the government, something HE WORKS FOR, arrest, torture, and execute Toppat Clan members in extremely violent ways. 

Right is quiet as he watches because he’s seen this tape on more than one occasion; he also watches as a reminder as to why he joined the toppats to begin with. 

Charles, however, isn’t exactly that. After watching a clip of seeing a government official gun down a group of new toppat recruits, he finally snaps. 

“STOP IT!” Charles cries as he struggles in his chair and restraint, much to the annoyance of the medic. “PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!” 

Right’s attention is now on the pilot as he continues screaming and crying, watching quietly as he takes note of his work. 

Charles screams as loudly as he can as the film keeps rolling, unable to look away as the government is practically used against him. 

Right uses this pattern for a LONG while. One day, Charles is physically tortured and the next he is shown more footage of the government hunting down toppats. 

This cycle is continued until, after maybe three months(it doesn’t seem like it’d be that long, BUT TRUST ME, IT CAN BE), when the toppats come for Charles, they find him standing, waiting for them. 

This time is different, though. 

Right is with them and approaches the empty eyed, silent Charles. 

“Learned your lesson?” 

Charles nods. 

Right holds out his hand, a smirk on his face. 

“Whaddaya say, kid? You want in?” 

CUT TO HENRY

Our multilived friend is lying in bed, having a very fitful sleep. I keep jumping to what we would see if we were watching a movie, but trust me on this, I think you'll really like this one.

In this dream, Henry stands in the middle of four mirrors, a different "ending" of him in the side mirrors and the ine behind him. In front of him is himself, on his left is the Toppat King ending of himself(I'm just calling him Toppat Henry), on his right is the Toppat Recruit endimg of himslef(Recruit Henry), and behind him is his Revenged self.

"You should've taken that offer," Toppat Haenry chides.

"Charles would've been safe, if you did," Recruit Henry adds with a shrug.

Henry hears his Revenged self cough behind him and hears his augmentations whirring. "We wouldn't be friends, if that happend."

"And that bothers you?" Toppat Henry laughs.

"Think about it," Recruit Henry says very smugly. "Since when have you needed friends?"

"Escaping the wall-"

"You got out alone before," Toppat Henry says with a tap to his hat.

Henry jumps when he hears glass shattering and turns to see his Revenged self has punched his mirror and cracked it.

"King, recruit, theif, it doesn't matter," he gurgles as blood oozes out if his mouth. "A toppat never keeps his word."

Revenged Henry hits hus mirror again and causes it to shatter, forcing our Henry to jump back and crash into his own mirror-

Henry wakes up and looks around his room, shaken and stirred. He checks his arm and back before sighing and hugging his knees to his chest.

"I hate when that happens."

Man, that was a psychedelic ending!

BUT THAT’S A WRAP ON TOPPAT!CHARLES PART 5!!!! 

This took a very, very, very, very, very, very, VEEEEERY long time, but here it is! 

Thank you all so much for your patience and following this series. I am having such a blast writing this, you have no idea. 

Thank you all for reading! Stay safe out there! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!🦃🦃🦃

[stoopsbookstore]

Kinktober Day 17 (10/17/19)

Kinks - Aquaphilia (Fetish for water or having sex near water)

"Why are you so scared to sneak into the pool?"

Y/N held Yuta's shirt in her hand, waving the fabric in the air before throwing it over the fence, landing in the pool.

"I just don't think it's a good idea," Yuta shrugged at the troublemaker, not wanting to accidentally reveal his secret, "I love you, honey, but I don't want to get arrested."

He had been cursed when he was younger. Him, Doyoung and Jaehyun had found a necklace belonging to a sea witch. The trio was visited that night by Ursula, who made it so every time they touched water, they would sprout fins, turning into mermen. They've tried to break the curse, cure them of the travesty, but nothing worked.

"It's just water, come on," Y/N took a key out of her bathing suit top, unlocking the entrance and pulling Yuta in with her, "I promise there's no sharks in here."

"That's not the problem," Yuta watched Y/N take off her shorts, diving into the deep end almost immediately after walking in.

The splash from Y/N soaked Yuta's feet, the liquid soaking his flip-flops as he kicked them off. He panicked, looking around for an exit, instead opting for a bathroom.

"Hey, are you okay?" Y/N pushed herself out of the pool to follow her boyfriend, worried about his sudden ailment.

"Don't come in here, I'm fine," Yuta ran to one of the stalls, falling to the floor, his feet now fins, the rattling of the dolr shaking him up, "babe, I promise I'm fine."

Yuta squirmed on the dirty floor, gills erupting from his neck as he gasped for water.

"I'm coming in, Yuta!"

"P-pl-please don't," Yuta struggled on the tile, flopping his tail around to go further in the bathroom.

It was too late, Y/N was standing there, her eyes fixated on Yuta's vibrant teal tail. His body grew pale, using the rest of his strength to point at the sink. Y/N instantly knew what he wanted, so she ran, turning on the faucet and flinging water at Yuta.

"More, please," Yuta moved to his back, the gills on his abdomen pulsating.

Y/N grabbed paper towels, soaking them and plastering them on Yuta's newly grown scales.

"I'm gonna try to get you to the pool, okay?"

Yuta shook his head before Y/N started to drag him towards the door, "No, when I d-dry, I'll go ba-back to normal."

"Yuta, you're dying right now, I'm not going to let you suffer," Y/N dragged him past the bathroom's threshold, Yuta attempting to force himself out of Y/N's grip.

Yuta saw the water being lit by the full moon above, relaxing in Y/N's arms. She struggled pulling him to the poolside, his hand just barely touching the water when a small stream met his hand, pulling his weak body in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When were you going to tell me?"

Y/N swung her feet in the pool, wearing Yuta's damp shirt and watching hin swim happily around, his tail glistening under the moonlight.

"I was hoping I was cured by the time I had to tell you," Yuta swam to Y/N, resting his hands on the side and laying his head down.

"Can you tell me more about it?"

Yuta sadly smiled, Y/N's face full of hopefulness, "well, it's me, Jaehyun and Doyoung. There was a cursed necklace and we're all still trying to figure it out. But I do have a surprise for you."

Yuta pointed to the sky, not a cloud in sight, "we did find out that on full moons, we can share our powers and even change back to human form, but if the other person isn't changed back before the sun hits them, they die."

Yuta saw Y/N stare lovingly at his fins.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Yuta reached for Y/N's hand, pulling her in, his shirt clinging to her body.

"Let me show my power, hold your breath."

Y/N held her breath, Yuta dunking the both of them. Yuta held Y/N close to him and when they broke the surface, they were in a cave.

Yuta had his legs back, Y/N seeing them when he pulled himself out of the cave's water. Yuta extended his hand, helping Y/N onto the rocky surface, looking around at all of the paintings.

"I figured if you knew a piece, you should know everything. If you think I'm a monster, I'll let you go, but I wanted a chance to expl-"

Y/N squished Yuta's cheeks, kissing him as tears fell from both of them.

"Nakamoto Yuta, I never want you to say that ever again, I will love you no matter what," Y/N saw the doubtfulness in his eyes, worrying her when he turned away, "I'm telling you the truth. Do you think i would've helped you if I didn't? Don't you think I would've screamed in terror if I thought you were a monster?"

Y/N bought Yuta in for another kiss, this time one full of passion and reassurance. Yuta peeled his shirt off of Y/N's body before untying her bathing suit top.

Yuta laid Y/N down on the flatest surface he found in the cave system, "I know it's not a soft be-"

"It could be a bed of nails and I would still be haply with you," Y/N shimmied out of her bottoms, placing them next to her.

Yuta massaged his fingers against Y/N's entrance, rubbing her clit as he thrusted in one finger.

"Yuta, please, I just need you," Y/N spread her legs more.

"No, I want to do this right," Yuta kissed down her thighs as he landed right between her legs, "you're gorgeous."

Yuta licked and nipped all around Y/N's lower lips, avoiding her clit. He pressed another finger in as moans and groans filled the cave, wet noises being made by his fingers.

Yuta waited until Y/N was about to cum, removing his mouth and fingers, replacing them with his cock.

"I never want this to end," Yuta bottomed out, Y/N gripping his biceps as he began rolling his hips in a sensual manner.

The full moon made everything feel more romantic, Y/N and Yuta basking in each other's emotions and auras, the pool starting to emit glowing.

Everything was running high between the couple, their love for one another fluttering in their hearts. Yuta came with a breathy groan, filling Y/N up.

Yuta's hand slithered down between their bodies, rubbing Y/N's clit. Her legs started shaking, wrapping them around Yuta's waist to bring him even closer, her high crashing like waves.

"You look so beautiful," Yuta rested his forehead against Y/N's, pulling out of her, "but you look even more beautiful in the glow of the moon."

Yuta sat up, bringing Y/N with him, resting her head on his shoulder as he hummed to her, an old sea shanty him and his friends learned when they were researching about their powers.

Yuta looked at the cave pool, light shining on it, Y/N's face full of temptation. Yuta knew what it would mean for Y/N if she jumped in, her life would change, she would have to re-learn how to do so many normal things if she wished to lived as a human.

"Before you stand up and jump in, I want you to be sure. This is a huge change."

Y/N squeezed his hand, giving him a kiss on the cheek, Yuta hugging her before letting her go, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. He closed his eyes, still holding Y/N's hands when he felt the warmth of her hands and body disappear.

The silence between them was broken by a splash.

[imagine-loki]

I'm still breathing, Chapter 13

TITLE: I’m still breathing CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 13 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine a mutant has been living on the streets for years, until she is picked up by the Avengers. She’s taken to live with them so they can help her to discover what her powers are. Loki especially, takes an interest in her. The two become very fond of one another as they discover what her power is. RATING: M 

The following few days Loki and Sophie were both riding high on cloud nine. They were even more touchy feely than before, if that was possible. Constantly holding hands, hugging or playing with one another’s hair. It was almost sickening to the others, if they didn’t find it so cute for the two misfits.

One morning, Sophie had been talked into playing some basketball with some of the team instead of training that day. So she went along with Natasha, Wanda, Pepper, Loki, Steve, Thor, Tony and Clint to the gym hall.

‘Have you played basketball before?’ Steve asked Sophie.

‘I have actually, just a few times. Never in a team though.’ She shrugged.

‘What are we doing for teams?’ Natasha asked.

‘Women against men sounds good to me.’ Tony said as he got the basketball out of the cupboard, pressed a button that caused a gap in the wall at either end to open up, the hoops coming out.

‘I’ll be coach.’ Steve volunteered.

Everyone agreed with the team ideas.

‘How do you expect to play in that armour?’ Tony patted Loki on the back, earning a glare.

‘I don’t.’ Loki said and in a green shimmer he changed from his armour into something lighter.

‘We are going to whip your ass, guys!’ Wanda teased as she went to one side of the hall with Sophie, Pepper and Natasha.

Sophie was slightly distracted by the fact that Loki changed into a Nike t shirt and black shorts that were rather, tight… And highly distracting. She’d always found him attractive and handsome, but since their first date she had really taken to looking at him twice now. Noticing the muscles on his biceps, nice toned chest and thighs. Beautiful features on his face with those sharp cheekbones…

‘Heads up!’ Wanda called as the ball went hurtling towards Sophie.

She snapped out of her day dream, to catch Loki smirking at her. She caught the ball before it hit her face and started dribbling it up the hall. Everyone was quite surprised with how good she was as she passed it to Natasha.

Natasha then dunked the ball in the hoop. Scoring the girls first point in record time.

‘YASS!’ The girls all cheered and high-fived one another.

‘Come on lads! We can’t let them beat us.’ Thor bellowed.

The game very quickly became a heated match instead of a friendly game. Steve couldn’t even keep track of what was going on.

But it was when they started to play dirty that it got completely out of hand.

Thor had the ball down one end and he flew over the top of everyone to score.

‘God of thunder strikes again!’ He cheered, landing on the floor and grabbing the ball.

Natasha ran straight at him and elbowed him right in the family jewels, he dropped the ball and covered himself as he let out a painful groan. ‘God… Of… Thunder… Going down…’ He fell down to the floor in pain, the girls just laughed as they got the upper hand again.

But that didn’t last for long. Tony managed to tackle the ball from Natasha and started to dribble it back down the court. Wanda and Sophie tried to get it back from him but failed, until Pepper moved directly on front of Tony’s line of sight and flashed him her boobs. It worked. Tony’s jaw fell open and the ball went rolling to the side, allowing Sophie to grab it.

Sophie went down the court, dodging out from Clint’s reach. But then suddenly she was surrounded by ten Loki’s. They all moved in for her and she had to make a panic throw of the ball, missing the hoop just by an inch.

Loki laughed wickedly as his illusions all melded back into one.  

‘Don’t make me stab you again!’ She threatened.

‘I’d like to see you try, poppet.’ He winked at her and vanished, to end up at the other side of the court to tackle the ball from Natasha who’d managed to get it again.

Bruce, Vision and Peter walked in to see Thor and Wanda flying around when they had the ball, Loki using his illusions to trick everyone and tickling Sophie whenever she had the ball so he could get it from her with ease, Pepper and Tony getting dirty by grabbing at one another’s genitals at every opportunity they could and Natasha’s thighs had Clint in a headlock. Poor Steve was stood at the side, with his head in his hands.

‘Can’t we just have one normal game for a change?’ He cried out at the team, but they carried on ignoring him.

‘Is this how every game ends up?’ Peter asked.

‘Pretty much. Yep.’ Bruce nodded, folding his arms over his chest to watch the scene unfolding.

‘Cool. I need to play next time.’

Steve walked over to the three and looked at Peter. ‘Can you grab the ball to stop this? It’s gotten way out of hand and I can’t get them to stop.’ He begged.

‘Sure thing Mr Captain.’ Peter pulled his sleeve up and aimed for the basketball, he whipped out some web and captured the ball straight out of Wanda’s hands. He pulled it in and gave it to Steve.

‘Oi! What’s going on?’ Clint asked, disappointed as the team went over to them, no one looking amused.

‘Don’t you think it was all getting a bit out of hand?’ Steve said as he hid the ball behind his back.

The team all looked at one another and grumbled. Grudgingly acknowledging that perhaps it had. They all split ways to do their own thing. Loki and Sophie walked together to the kitchen to get a drink.

‘I totally kicked your ass.’ She grinned.

‘Pfft. If that’s what you think, then fair enough, darling. You can think that.’ He said in a playfully patronising tone as he patted her head, making her stop in her tracks and he turned to face her.

‘You totally cheated!’ She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to look angry.

‘Did not.’

‘Did so!’

‘Did not!’

‘Did so and you know it.’ Sophie poked him in the chest.

‘You know, you are so cute when trying to look angry.’ Loki chuckled and grabbed her wrist. He brought it up to his mouth and kissed her inner wrist softly, making her breathing hitch. He smirked against her skin, enjoying that reaction.

‘You’re such an ass sometimes.’ She blushed.

‘Only sometimes?’ He grinned.

Sophie shook her head and laughed. Loki couldn’t resist stroking her cheek, he did love the colour of her cheeks when she was being a little shy. She looked up at him, under her long lashes. He could sense her heart beat racing from the way he was looking at her so intently.

‘Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?’ He spoke softly, trailing the tips of his fingers up and down her cheek.

‘Mm, only a few times.’ She smiled.

‘Well, I am going to keep telling you it.’ Loki slid his fingers down and gently held her chin as he leaned down to softly press his lips against hers, both of them closing their eyes.

It was like time froze for them both as they moved their lips together gently. Loki had wanted to kiss her for so long, he just hadn’t wanted to move too fast or spook her. But he was so relieved and happy to find her willing and not running away from him.

Both of them smiled when they leaned back slightly, opening their eyes. Sophie was breathing heavy, not quite believing just how amazing her first kiss was.

‘That was… Nice.’ She grinned.

‘Just, nice?’ Loki cocked an eyebrow up.

‘Maybe I need another kiss. You know, for research reasons.’ Sophie shrugged.

Loki laughed and cupped her face in both hands this time when he kissed her again. The second kiss was slightly more heated, their lips moving together like a dance. Sophie let out a squeak when she felt his tongue lick across her lower lip. She parted her lips slightly, allowing him the access he was asking for.

‘Geez, get a room you two!’ Clint said as he walked by.

Sophie, startled, went to move back but Loki kept her in place and kept kissing her. He simply flipped his middle finger up at Clint, making him laugh.

After Loki had stolen Sophie’s kissing virginity, they couldn’t keep their lips off each other. They kissed at every opportunity possible. Their favourite over the following week was to cuddle on the sofa, with Sophie on Loki’s lap while they had a make out session. Sophie was Loki’s new favourite taste, he couldn’t get enough of her.

He also liked teasing her. Because of their rather drastic height difference, she couldn’t reach his lips when he was standing unless he leaned down for her. She could only reach below his collarbone, and that was even when she went up on her tiptoes and stretched up. So when she was the one initiating the kiss, Loki would tease her and have her trying to climb him or pull him down to her level. He would always eventually give in for her, but he liked to drag it out for a while. Have her begging. It amused him greatly.

‘You’re such an asshole of a giant!’ Was the usual retort she had for him.

‘Oh I know. But I also know that you love it.’ He grinned.

‘I need to go and get ready for the party. Meet you down there?’

‘Nope. I’ll come with you. I’m ready now.’ Loki stepped back slightly from her and opened his arms out, his clothing he’d been wearing shimmered away to reveal his favoured black suit instead.

‘Cheat… You do look handsome in this suit though.’ Sophie admitted with a blush as she walked back over to him and slid her arms around him.

‘Glad you think so. I am rather partial to this suit.’ Loki smiled and kissed the top of her head. ‘Come on then, let’s get you party ready.’

The two went to Sophie’s room where she grabbed a dress and went into her en-suite to get ready. Loki made himself comfortable on her bed while he waited, arms behind his head as he lay back. He enjoyed spending time in her room, her bed smelled of her. A lovely aroma of lavender and vanilla. He kept meaning to ask if it was the body wash she used or perhaps perfume.

When Sophie emerged from the bathroom, Loki was swirling his fingers around with little bursts of energy spurting from his fingertips.

‘So it doesn’t hurt when you do that?’ She asked, taking him from his concentration as he stopped to look over at her. His breath was taken away by her beauty once again. She was wearing a new dress she’d bought, in his colour of course.

‘I… No, it doesn’t. Come here, I’ll show you.’ He motioned her to him as he swivelled round on the bed and swung his legs down.

Sophie walked over to him and he spread his legs open so she could stand between them. He grinned mischievously up at her as he slid his hands under her dress slightly, just to place his fingers on the back of her knees. She gave him a look, wondering what he was up to.

He never took his eyes off of hers as he sent short, non-harming energy bursts from his fingers against her skin. She let out a screech as it tickled and made her knees buckle. She fell forwards onto him, he wrapped his arms around her and laughed in her ear.

‘That is how it feels.’ He whispered, sending trembles straight down her spine.

‘You planned that.’ She grinned as she got her legs to work again and stood up, straightening her dress out.

‘Maybe. That is why I am called the God of mischief.’ He winked at her.

They went along to the party that Stark was throwing. He had thrown one near enough every weekend for the past few months, just because he could.

Sophie still hadn’t had another drink since the first party. But she decided to change that this night. So she got very drunk with the others. Then like the first time, Loki escorted her back to her room.

They were walking down the corridor towards her room. She was skipping ahead, singing a song that was played at the party just before they decided to call it a night.

Loki turned around because Thor had followed them, but then he diverted down another corridor. So Loki bid him goodnight.

‘Wooooooooah!’ He heard from Sophie. But when he turned back around, there was no sign of her.

‘Sophie?’ He called out and rushed to where she had just been.

‘Sophie?’

The door just ahead of him opened and Sophie popped out. Loki looked utterly confused as that was the arms room and was always locked.

‘Well, that was weird.’ Sophie giggled.

Loki rushed up to her and grabbed her hands. ‘Are you alright? What happened?’

‘I… I think I fell through the wall.’

[imagine-darksiders]

Sorry to bother you,but I'm gonna be stuck in the hospital overnight with a super swollen face :( could I get Draven trying to cheer up a sick friend?

Oh no! That sucks! Well, I hope this makes you feel a little better. But if it doesn’t, treat yourself to some ice cream. Good for swollen faces, or so I’m told x

—

It had been Ostegoth that told Draven of your condition, one uneventful day in the Eternal Throne. The old goat didn’t seem too urgent though, which set Draven’s mind at rest, though he was still anxious to see you after hearing the news. 

When he took his request to the Lord of Bones, the king was so taken aback by it’s nature, he actually considered granting it. 

“In all the years you’ve served me,” he wheezes suspiciously, tapping his long, claw-like nails against the throne’s armrests, “you’ve never once expressed a desire to return to Earth….So, why now?” 

Impatiently gritting his teeth, the Blademaster crosses his arms and gives a defensive sniff, swiping a hand quickly beneath his nasal bone. “Y/n’s sick,” he mutters. 

Almost immediately, the king’s cold, dead eyes light up with recognition. “Ahh! I see,” he chuckles darkly, stroking his thin, pale-green beard thoughtfully, “Then, perhaps desire does play a role here…” 

Draven stiffens and scowls deeply but he refuses to give the Lord of Bones any more ammunition - he gets enough grief from the other guards about his friendship with you - so he holds his tongue. For a long time, the throne room is perfectly silent, save for the stale desert wind that moans through the large, open archways set into the far wall. 

At long last, the Lord of Bones peels himself from the throne, dislodging centuries of dust with a sickening crackle of old, skeletal remains. He leans forward to level a long, gnarled finger at the Blademaster warningly. “You have one day,” he growls, “just one. So make it count. And don’t forget to whom you belong…..” 

Stiffly, Draven bows, backing towards the door. As he turns to stalk past the guards, he hears the king call after him. “Oh, and Blademaster?” 

With an elaborate roll of his pale eyes, Draven peers over his shoulder, half turning to face the undead ruler. “Yes, my Lord?”

Sneering, the Lord of Bones reclines back into his seat with a contented grunt. “Do give my best to Y/n, won’t you? And be sure to mention that, should this sickness prove……fatal-” Draven’s fists clench violently at the barely concealed hopefulness in his tone “- there is always room for one more soul in my Dead Court.” 

‘Over my rotting body,’ Draven wants to growl. Instead, he nods sharply, turns and throws the doors open a little too aggressively. Infuriated as he is with the king’s remark, he’s equally glad that he’d been given leave to visit Earth. A whole day to spend with you. He just hopes Ostegoth is right and whatever illness has afflicted you, it isn’t too serious. 

—

Draven stands in front of the enormous, concrete building, jaw slack and eyes wide in unashamed wonder. 

When Ostegoth described where and how to find you, he mentioned that this place was called a ‘hospital’, and as Draven walks hesitantly through the strange, glass doors that seem to have a mind of their own, he can’t help but to feel a little out of his element. 

Earth really has changed since he was alive. 

It’d been only a few years since humanity was resurrected and already the resourceful little species has rebuilt itself nearly to its former glory. It seemed that the eradication of their whole planet had put some things into perspective and people decided that restoration takes precedence. A lot of humans had become Wicked after their passing, leaving behind the far purer, ultimately good-hearted souls to populate the Earth. 

It soon becomes clear to Draven that despite humans now being both aware and used to other species walking around their planet - angels, makers, constructs and even the horsemen - something gives him the impression that Earth isn’t frequented by undead. Any human that’s seen him so far has either stopped in their tracks, mouths agape, whipped out a phone to take a picture of him, or they’ve simply turned around to scurry off in the opposite direction. One poor woman had turned a corner, took one look at his semi-exposed intestines and promptly dunked her head into a nearby bin and started heaving. 

That one stung a little…

He’s made painfully aware that his image is probably made even stranger by the bunch of flowers that Ostegoth had hastily stuffed into his hands, informing a clueless Blademaster that ‘one simply cannot visit a friend in hospital without bringing them a gift.’

Suddenly feeling very self conscious, he finds himself standing in the centre of a busy room filled with green chairs and sickly-looking humans until a young man who’s stood behind a stark-white counter clears his throat and beckons Draven over. 

“Can I help you?” he asks, eyeing the undead up and down suspiciously, though his face is the picture of exhaustion and his eyes keep flicking down to the flowers clenched in a large fist. 

Drawing himself up, Draven matches the other tired glare with a fierce one of his own. “Y/n,” he grunts, “I’m here to see Y/n L/n.” 

He’s surprised when the man sighs heavily, dropping his pen onto the desk and starts to furiously rub his temples. “Another one, wonderful,” he mutters to himself dismally before glancing back up at Draven and saying, more loudly, “Fine, why not? We’ve already let one of those horsemen and a maker in….I’m gonna go ahead and guess you’re not a relative?”

“N-no,” the blademaster stammers, put off by the man’s rather irritated reaction and informal way of speaking. In Draven’s time, a man as clean-cut and sharp as this one would have been almost insufferably prim and proper. “Just a friend.” 

“Your name?” 

 Proudly, he crosses his arms over each other and brings them up to his chest, announcing, “I am Draven. Master of blades. A warrior from the-”

“Just ‘Draven’ will do, thanks.”  

“…oh.” 

The undead stands there awkwardly, watching the man tap his fingers against an odd contraption he’d never seen before. Just as he’s about to lean further over the desk to get a better look, the man suddenly snatches up the discarded pen and points it down a long, crisp white hall. “Follow that red line on the wall to a ward called ‘Inpatients.’ Y/n’s in ward 51. I’ll go ahead and let them know you’re coming so nobody-” He gives Draven a quick once over, lips pursed “-freaks out.”

The warrior nods, grunting out a quick word of thanks as an afterthought before he turns to whisk off down the hallway, his green, hooded cape billowing behind him regally as he goes.

— 

“Remember that time I got to watch you get your ass handed to you by an old man?” 

“Ah, no. Eideard was an old man. Thane - despite what he says - is a maker who’s still in his prime. It was an honourable loss.” 

“It was a funny loss. My favourite part was when he dumped you in the water trough.” 

Death rolls his eyes, letting his head loll back against the uncomfortable, plastic chair by the side of your hospital bed. “I’m glad to see this illness hasn’t dampened your sense of humour.” 

A laugh catches in your throat, causing you to lurch forwards off the pillow and break into a fit of weak, painful coughs that sound haggard, wretched and rife with sickness. Death’s large hand finds your back and he gives it a few pats to clear your airway. You shoot him a grateful look, managing to chuckle softly,  “Nothing short of an apocalypse could ruin my hilarious repartee….Oh wait-”

Your conversation is abruptly interrupted by a soft knock on the door. 

Instantly, Death’s head snaps towards it and you stifle a snort when his hand twitches to Harvester’s hilt. 

“Really, Death? They’d have to be a pretty shitty bad guy to knock first.” 

The horseman grumbles at you but allows his hand to fall to his side as a doctor pokes her head around the door. “Y/n?” she sighs, “You’ve another guest. Honestly, I don’t want to know where you keep finding these…People. But listen, everyone’s getting nervous about Death being in the hospital.” Her exhausted gaze drags itself over to him and she shrugs apologetically, “I’m sorry Sir, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. You can come back and see Y/n tomorrow, but somebody’s head is gonna roll if our Chief of Medicine finds out you’re still here today.”

Stretching, Death catches your eye, sending you a questioning look. When you make a shooing motion with your hand, he nods at the doctor. “Fine. I’ll take my leave then.” 

Her expression lifts into one of relief and she steps back, ushering in your next visitor before trotting off down the hall, the sound of her heels clicking classily against the rubber floor and disappearing down the corridor. 

Standing to leave, Death’s attention remains fixed on the doorway, in which looms a tall, decaying figure with haunting blue eyes and a permanent, skeletal grin to put even the jolliest of rogers to shame. 

“Draven?” Death blinks, astonished to see the large undead here, on Earth and not in the court of his king. 

At the sound of the Blademaster’s name, you perk up and push yourself upright in the bed, straining to see over Death’s shoulder. “Draven?” you echo excitedly as your old friend steps into the harsh light of the private room. 

What’s left of his stomach churns nervously when he sees you and he begins to knead the stems of the flowers between his large, sinewy hands. You look so different from when he last saw you six months ago. If it’s at all possible, you actually appear even smaller than you already were, laying in the hospital bed, surrounded by bizarre machines and beeping instruments. Your eyes look shattered, heavy-lidded and your skin is several shades paler than it usually is. But your smile is still the same as ever when you send it his way. Even without a heart beating in his chest, Draven feels the telltale rush of warmth spread through his corpse at the sight of you.  

“Y/n,” he breathes, “I…I heard you haven’t been yourself lately.” 

As if on cue, you grimace at an unseen pain that races up your spine and into your head and you moan, massaging your temples tenderly. “Ugh, yep. Just a bit under the weather, nothing major.” 

Raising a skeptical brow ridge, Draven glances over at the horseman, who nods his head at him, almost imperceptibly. “It’s nothing Y/n can’t handle,” he confirms, “Though, I would try not to cause too much….excitement.” The horseman raises himself from the chair, resting his hand on yours for the briefest moment whilst Draven hovers uncertainly. “I’ll be returning to Earth in a week or so.“ 

You take hold of his fingers and squeeze them amicably. “I’ll be out by then. Come by my house when you’re back?” 

He nods once then turns to the Blademaster. “Take care of our mutual friend,” he warns, angling his mask away from your line of sight so you don’t catch the challenging glare he’s boring into him.

The undead simply smirks and lifts a hand to put it on Death’s shoulder, revelling in the way the horseman bristles noticeably under the touch. “Now where’s the fun in that,” he winks. 

Obviously deciding that an argument in a hospital room is beneath him, Death scoffs, bids you a quiet farewell, then vanishes out of the door, leaving you both alone in each other’s company. 

The easy atmosphere in the room dissipates slowly, leaving it cloaked in a thick silence that you’re dying to break. Meanwhile, Draven continues to stare down at you, his bright eyes wide and unsure. Finally, roving your eyes up and down his sword-punctured body, you find a topic of conversation to focus on. Gesturing to the flowers hanging from his grasp, you ask, “So. Those for your mum? Or do you just like the smell?”

He almost drops them, embarrassed that he’s lost his suavity in your presence. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he berates himself, ‘you used to be good at courting.’

You wait patiently, smiling as the undead suddenly stumbles forwards to your bed, glancing several times between you and the flowers before he pushes them into your hands. “They’re for you,” he explains needlessly, frowning when you let out a bark of laughter. 

“Well I didn’t think you brought them for Death!” Grinning widely, you shove your face between the petals, mostly to hide the giddiness evident in your expression. Giving someone flowers is a regular enough occurrence amongst humans. And sure, Draven used to be a human himself, but for whatever reason, the act of your zombified friend giving you this bouquet sends your mind in a tizzy. 

“They smell lovely,” you say once you’ve taken a good whiff. 

Draven shrugs. “Ostegoth chose em.” 

“Oh come on,” you laugh gleefully, “You know, you could have just lied!”

Leaning across the bedside table next to your bed, you try to reach the empty vase sitting on the far side of it. 

“Oh! Let me.” Draven jumps forward and grabs the vase, nearly sloshing water all over himself in his haste to help you. You thank him, placing the flowers in the proffered vase and laying back whilst he puts it on the table again. 

Satisfied, he gathers his cloak under one arm and plonks himself down in the flimsy chair, wincing when it creaks in protest. He looks up at you then, startled to find you shuffling down the bed and leaning towards him, resulting in the Blademaster lifting his hands to steady you as you collapse heavily against him with a happy huff and snake your arms beneath the hood, looping them around his sturdy neck. In return, he allows himself to relax into the hug with a quiet sigh, bury his nasal ridge in your hair and nuzzle his face against the side of your head. 

“It’s so good to see you,” you chirp into his hood, “I’ve missed you.” 

Draven’s throat constricts at those words. He’d forgotten what it was like to have people care about him - to have friends who wouldn’t stab him in the back and who sends his spirit soaring with a phrase so simple as ‘I miss you.’ 

Hesitantly, the words feeling foreign and strange as they leave his tongue, he whispers, “I’ve missed you too,” and tightens his rawboned fingers into your hospital gown. 

You both remain like that for some time, just enjoying the physical contact, though something tells you Draven is garnering far more happiness from the simple hug than you are. Eventually, you have let go and pull back, letting his hands slide down your arms and land in his lap. 

“So, what are you doing here?” you ask, rubbing at the bags under your eyes self-consciously. 

“I came to see you.” 

“Well, yeah. But why are you on Earth? Are you on a mission?” 

Draven blinks, tilting his head to the side. “No? I’m on Earth to see you.”

“I……oh.” 

He sits forward in the chair, resting his forearms over his knees and quirks his brow bone at you, sharp teeth gleaming grotesquely in the bright light whilst you try to formulate a response. ‘He’s here. Just to see me?’ After a brief moment of uncomfortably trying to respond, you settle on taking a sip of water from the plastic cup on your night-stand and swallowing thickly. “How - uh - how did you get the king to agree to that?” 

Draven shrugs, “he likes you.��� 

When you snort obnoxiously, he reaches onto the bed to give your knee a playful shove. “S’true! Y’know he wants you in his court.” 

“He’s still going on about that?” you gripe, “Why?” 

“Well….He likes you.” 

“Again. Why?” 

For a fraction of a second, Draven’s eyes glimmer and his voice dips low, husky and soft as he murmurs, “What’s not to like?”

When you don’t respond except to blink tiredly up at him, the undead ducks his head, shadowing his face beneath the green, tattered hood and scratches at a patch of rotting skin on his wrist. “Y/n…I-” 

Suddenly, there’s another knock on the door and the same doctor steps into the room. “Visiting hours are almost over, you have ten minutes.” 

“What?” you whine, clutching your chest, “But he just got here! We’ve barely had time to talk!” 

Suddenly, Draven scowls and stands up from his chair, towering easily over the doctor and rolling his shoulders in an unnecessary display of power. “M’not leavin’ if Y/n wants me to stay,” he states gruffly. 

To her credit, the doctor merely adjusts her grip on the clipboard and draws herself up to seem taller than she is, not that it makes much difference when she only reaches the top of Draven’s chest. “My patient needs rest, sir. Besides the fact that my superiors will have my head if I let you st-” 

“Then send your superiors to me,” he pounds a fist against his chest twice, “I’ll deal with them. I’ve got twenty four hours on Earth before I have to go back to my realm and I plan spending that time with the only friend I’ve got.” He indicates to you with a wild wave of his hand, although he quickly realises that he’s revealed too much weakness to this stranger. Distractedly, Draven begins to fiddle with one of the blades sticking out of his forearm, ignorant of the disgust that flashes across the doctor’s face at the sound of his paper-dry skin tearing slightly with the gentle back and forth pulling motion. He slinks backwards to the headboard and glances down at you, pulling his teeth into a soft smile before looking back at her. “Please Doc?” 

The doctor seems more than ready to put up a fight, but eventually she just peers around Draven’s broad shoulders to stare down at you in the bed. “Are you okay with this?” she asks. You nod, reaching out unconsciously to weakly wrap your small fingers around the Blademaster’s wrist, sending a jolt of electricity straight up his arm. 

Rubbing the bridge of her nose exasperatedly, she gives a breathless laugh and flaps her hands out to the side. “Why the Hell not. Screw it, right? I’ve already died in an apocalypse, what’s the worst those pencil-pushers up top could do?” Turning on her heel, she stalks to the door, swinging it open and shaking her head. Before she leaves though, she glances over her shoulder at the Blademaster and shoots him a cool stare. “Just….just don’t leave this room tonight, okay? I don’t want people in a panic because they’ve seen a ghost walking around the ward at night.” Her eyes dart to you. “Y/n, surgery tomorrow is at ten. A nurse’ll be by to give you breakfast around eight. Use the call button if you need anything.” She raises a trimmed eyebrow at Draven. “Although I doubt much could go wrong with tall, dark and ghoulish here watching over you.”  And with that, she’s gone. 

Draven deflates visibly and drops back down into the chair, studying your face worriedly. “Surgery?” he asks uncertainly. 

You wave your hand reassuringly, “S’nothing major, don’t worry about it.” 

His eyes bore into you, trying to sniff out any hint of deception. “You’d tell me if it was serious.” It’s not a question or a request, it’s a demand. 

Rolling your eyes, you laugh quietly at the sober look on his face. “Yes, Draven. I’d tell you if it was serious,” you promise, leaning back into the pillow and turning onto your side with a grunt of minor pain. You stare up at him underneath his hood, blowing air out through your nose as you scrutinise the way his jaw is shifting every so often, a clear sign that he’s thinking of something to say. Deciding to help him out, you voice the thought that had been on your mind since the doctor came in. 

“So.. you’re only here for a day?” you ask. 

Nodding, he returns to picking the loose skin on his wrist. “S’right.

“Seriously?” You abruptly prop your head up on one arm and give him an incredulous scoff. “You’ve only got one day on Earth and you want to spend it inside a hospital room?”

“What else would I be doing?” 

“Um! Anything? You could be exploring. Finding out what’s changed. You could visit the place you used to live! I bet someone would help you find it. Hey, you haven’t even discovered television yet, or had a glass of wine. You said how much you missed wine.” 

Draven,” you furrow your brow and gaze at him sincerely, “I don’t want you to stay if you’d rather spend your time out there.” 

“I want to spend it with you,” he mumbles, avoiding your eyes entirely now. 

You find yourself lost for words.. Again and again the master of blades does something heartfelt, reminding you that he wasn’t always an undead servant to the Lord of Bones. He may be a dead man, yet the spirit of humanity is still very much alive in him. It’s humbling when you get to see it. Draven, similarly, is grateful that you make him forget what he is - just a ghost. A ghost with a serious attachment to a living human. 

“Well,” you break the heavy silence in a reticent voice, “Thanks. I guess this means you’ll just have to ask the king for another day off, hmm? Maybe when I’m out of hospital.” 

Hopeful, he scratches behind his ear and has to stop himself from removing the hood altogether. He’s not sure you’re ready to see the grey matter showing through the large hole in the back of his skull. “Guess there’s no harm in tryin’.” He leans forward and taps a cold, sharp finger against your forehead. “But you need to get better first.” 

“Alright, alright,” you smirk, brushing his hand away. 

The light filtering in through the window diminishes slowly as the conversation turns to more jovial topics. He asks what you’ve been doing since the resurrection, you inquire after affairs in the Dead Plains. You fall into the conversation easily, as though you hadn’t been apart for six months. 

When you start to yawn, Draven asks if there’s a way to ‘extinguish that bloody, bright torch on the ceiling,’ which gets a hearty but weak chuckle out of you and you have to walk him through the proper use of a light-switch. He flicks it on and off several times, fascinated by his first interaction with technology before at last turning the light off as you reach over to switch on the lamp, casting the room in a much more pleasant, warm glow. You continue to talk softly well into the night, keeping laughs hushed and secretive so as not to draw any night orderlies to your room. 

Inevitably, your words trail off into a sleepy drawl and Draven’s wide, spectral grin softens at the sight of you fighting to stay awake. The last thing you feel before you fall asleep, is a large, ashen hand slipping beneath your fingers that rest on the bed and a cold thumb pressing gently into your palm.