#really had nothing to do with the location other than ''i guess the story needed a rocket to be there because they wanted to go to space''

[loveletterworm]

Why did the underground apocalypse shelter for humans  have tests that were implied to be for humans but clearly could only possibly be completed by squid that had not even evolved yet...

[nanpecan]

₊✩‧₊˚once more to see you˚₊✩‧₊

{nanami x f!reader}

˚₊✩‧₊summary: You're a manager at Jujutsu Kaisen and happen to get assigned to driving a rank 1 sorcerer you've had a crush on for a while. Everything seems to be going as normal until an interaction with a curse leaves him a little hot and bothered.

˚₊✩‧₊tags: nanami x fem!reader, explicit smut (mdni) !!

˚₊✩‧₊ word count: 5.6k

˚₊✩‧₊author's note: this has been in my head for so long and I guess its part one to a longer story but who knows if I'll ever get around to writing it, yet alone posting it. anyways first time, kinda nervous; this is super self indulgent and i'm not even sorry about it.

˚₊✩‧₊this is also kind of inspired by this Mitski song, hence the title. I love this song, I think it's very Nanami coded<3

˚₊✩‧₊all parts here! pt 2. pt 3. pt 4. pt 5.

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An obsession. 

That’s what it was. 

A rush of emotion when you caught even the smallest glance of him. 

Always in a hurry. 

Always somewhere to be. 

Never paying any mind to you. 

This lifestyle was a rushed one and you hardly ever found time for yourself, but your mind always seemed to have a second to wonder about him. 

Was he safe? Was he injured?

You had heard about him through others. 

You had really only seen him in action from a distance, once, and very briefly. But that had been enough to develop this stupid crush. 

You were a busy body, nothing but a cushion to the real missions of importance. 

You had come to accept that you would never really matter past making it from point A to point B, with whatever message you had to deliver, or whoever you had to transport for the day. 

You were secretly content with the position. You had started because you wanted to make a difference. 

But you knew you were a coward. 

You had the spirit but lacked the physical strength to back it. And that made you afraid. 

“Nanami Kento.” 

Your hand stopped mid air as you reached for your phone. 

“I’m sorry?” You must have misheard. 

“You owe me one.” Akari said with a smirk. The head manager had been one of your closest friends since you had begun working as an assistant. You had similar pasts and were around the same age, so you had instantly clicked. She was very much aware of your infatuation even if you hadn’t directly expressed it. She could see right through you every time you tried to feign indifference whenever the topic of Nanami was brought up. 

“Nanami needs transportation to his next mission. He usually goes on his own, but the client insisted he gets driven to this location specifically.”  There was something suspicious about that last statement, but you dismissed it as she kept talking.  “Ijichi is busy dealing with something so it was passed down to me.” She smiled again and shrugged. “But I have some very important business to take care of so I’m passing it on to someone I trust is more than qualified to drive a sorcerer of his class.”  She winked at you. “Don’t worry about the briefing he’s been sent all the information. All you have to do is drive him there and back.” 

You looked down at your phone and tried to act nonchalant. Until you saw the details. “Today?” 

She nodded. “Sorry for the last minute switch up, I figured you’d get in your own head if you had too much time to think about it. Make a good first impression. I’m rooting for you!” She gave you two thumbs up and laughed. 

You tapped your finger against the wheel nervously. You had never been more nervous to drive. It’s okay, you thought to yourself, nothing is going to happen, I doubt he’ll even speak to me. He’s not much of a talker, and besides, he always carries around a newspaper or a book. He won’t be paying attention to me. Just focus on-

You flinched as you heard the passenger door open. You had expected him to sit behind you. 

You felt your stomach drop as Nanami was suddenly next to you. It was almost overwhelming, his size, his smell, his warmth. 

You stared ahead awkwardly and felt his gaze on you. You turned to look at him trying not to seem too flustered. 

“Ah, good afternoon.” You smiled warmly at him. “Um, I’m y/n.” You said. 

He nodded and didn’t say anything back. 

“Right, it should take us around 36 minutes to get to your location.” 

He nodded again, his glasses turning to his watch. He suddenly looked up and stared ahead, as to signal that he was ready to head out.

This was so awkward. It was kind of making it easier to be around him. You didn’t know what else you expected. You’d actually preferred the silence rather than trying to carry a conversation with him. At least that’s what you were telling yourself. 

“Feel free to mess with the radio. I don’t have any preferences.” 

“I prefer to sit in silence before missions.” His voice sent a chill up your spine. Wait a minute, in silence? Weird. You thought to yourself. “Is that okay?” 

“Yes, that’s fine too.” Really weird. Most sorcerers would listen to something to amp them up before a mission. For Kusabe that was smooth Jazz, Yuki would put on 80’s Japanese Rock Classics, Ino would put on Ska and you couldn’t help but laugh the first time he requested it. You smirked at the memory and felt his eyes on you again. You dropped the smile and clenched your jaw. “Alright, we’ll be off then.” He hadn’t stopped staring. You quickly turned to look at him and smiled warmly. He turned away, seeming flustered. You quickly made a note of his reaction and you felt your stomach flutter a bit. You let your eyes linger on him for a bit longer, as he tugged at an invisible string on his suit, before turning away and driving off. 

-

You arrived at your location and looked up at the old building. You bit your lip to hold back a laugh. The crooked neon sign over the door was no longer lit up but you could still read out what it said, ‘Paradise X Massage.’ You curiously looked over to see Nanami’s reaction. As usual, he was stoic. 

He has to know what that means, right? You went around the car to stand next to him and the moment you took a step closer you felt the aura of the building. A shiver went up your spine and your stomach felt tingly. You couldn’t help but smile. A curse born from a place of sex was bound to have this kind of aura. 

Things started to click. Of course Nanami was the best sorcerer for the job. He would take this very seriously. You doubted he ever let his emotions get ahead of him. You thought back to a story Ijichi had told you a long time ago about a group of male sorcerers that had been sent to exorcise a type of Kejoro, only for them to return unsuccessful, unable to carry out the mission, as well as being hot and bothered for a week. 

You felt Nanami’s eyes on you again. You looked at him before turning back at the sign and scrunching your face. “Nanami, I wouldn’t have taken you for this type of man, but don’t worry I won’t tell.” You winked at him and cringed at your stupid joke. You didn’t know him like that. He probably thought you were insane. 

“Thank you, I try not to make it a habit.” He said back with a small smile. 

You looked at him a little surprised and laughed. 

“There you are, hello!” A sweaty man with beady eyes came your way and beelined to Nanami. “My name is Gonji, I was the one who sent for you.” He glanced at your direction before turning his back to you to speak with Nanami. You blinked and grimaced. “I bought this location five months ago, I should have known there was something wrong for the price I paid, but hey! That’s business! I’m planning on fixing her up and turning it into a real refined establishment if you know what I mean. I already have the clientele, and the girls but this damn thing keeps scaring the girls away and-“ he whispered the next words. “-killed three of my guys. But hey, that’s business!” He laughed nervously. He was talking a mile a minute, becoming more and more sweaty. The air had to be getting to him. “Anyway I’ve already called a bunch of weirdos to go in there and kill the damn thing but they were all useless. Scammers all of them.” He spat at the ground. “Hey if ya help me out, I’m sure we can work out some sort of discount for you once we’re up and running. What do you say, your choice of girl-“ 

“Has it taken any hostages?” Nanami cut him off. 

“No it only scares off the girls, but lets them out. The men on the other hand…If they do manage to make it out they act like wild animals. I have to keep them away from my girls.” He laughed and then erupted into a coughing fit. “That’s why I recommend you bring a driver. Even if you do kill this thing, the tent in your pants won’t let you focus on anything else for another two hours.” He cackled and elbowed Nanami in a playful manner. Nanami’s jaw clenched and he stared down at the man. Gonji didn’t seem to notice. He finally turned towards you. “Well at least you brought yourself a cute mouse to play with if it gets to be too much.” You couldn’t hide the look of disgust on your face when he finally looked at you. “Hey there little lady, a smile might help.” He rolled his eyes and turned back to Nanami. “Women these days. Can’t take a joke.” He tried elbowing Nanami again and was stopped by Nanami’s large hand grabbing his forearm. 

“We’ll get started. Did you want to go inside with me?” Nanami asked the man. 

Gonji pulled his arm out of Nanami’s grasp and swore at him under his breath. “No, I’m taking off. I have places to go, people to see, although I’d pay god knows what to see that bitch’s blood spilled on the floor.” He looked around and picked up a rock before weakly throwing it at the sign. He missed, it didn’t even hit the wall. He messed with his jacket, embarrassed. “I’ll be leaving now. I’ll send the payment tomorrow when I come and see the place again.” He waddled off. 

“What a fucking dickhead.” You said. “We shouldn’t even exorcise this curse. He shouldn’t be allowed to run a place like that. I’m willing to bet-“ 

“Will you put up the barrier?” You turned back to Nanami and nodded before muttering the incantation. Nanami awkwardly placed a hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.” He turned towards the barrier. “For the record I agree. Scum like him are a scourge to society and should be dealt with accordingly. For now let’s bring this curse some peace.”

“Let’s.” You said in agreement. You watched him disappear into the veil.  

-

You leaned back against the car and checked the time on your watch. He had been gone for 20 minutes now. You sighed. Was it an insult to worry about him? He was one of the best - in your heavily biased opinion. 

   You heard your phone ding from inside the car as you received a message and you quickly went around to check it.  

    -So when’s the wedding? 

Akari was checking in on you. 

   -answer me this, what does it mean when someone doesn’t want to listen to any music on a 30 minute drive. 

   -No music? Like at all?     -none.    -weird. 

   -that’s what I was thinking! he must be fighting demons in his head.     -or he just wanted to savor every minute with you<3     -shut up.     -how’s it going anyway?     -don’t you have “important” business to take care of?     -:p boooo     -it’s fine, it’s some sort of sex cu-

You jumped as the back passenger door to your right was suddenly being opened. You felt the car shake as Nanami collapsed into the seats.  

“Shit, Nanami? Are you okay.” You should have been out there to greet him. You exited out of the car and dropped the veil. The building was a pile of rubble. You made your way around the car and yanked open the door. 

You felt blood rush to your face and your jaw dropped as you looked at what lay in front of you. 

Nanami had taken off his suit jacket, and was no longer wearing his glasses. He was suddenly desperately undoing his tie and fumbling with the buttons on his shirt, all the while breathing heavily. He turned away from you as you looked in.  

“What’s wrong, are you injured? How can I help?” Your face felt hot as you watched him struggle with his clothes. You hesitated to move forward, unsure what to do. 

He moved around a bit more, still struggling with his shirt, and you got a better look at him. His face was flush red and there was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was panting, basically gasping for air. You stared at him feeling a burning in your chest as your heart beat in your ears. 

You snapped out of your trance, this was not the time. He might be hurt. He had backed up enough to be leaning on the opposite car door so you moved forward and let the door shut behind you. “Let me help you with that.” You said softly, moving your hands closer to help him with the buttons. “Are you hurt?” You asked as he let out a soft grunt. “Let me take a look.” His hands fell to his side and you noticed he was gripping the seats. He winced away from your touch, hissing as your knee touched his thigh. 

You froze. Your hands still on his shirt. He shuddered away from you but you felt him move his thigh forward, slightly, to touch your knee again. He let out a deep exhale and a muffled grunt. He repeated the movement again and again. You stayed there staring at him, face burning as you realized he was basically humping you. His breaths got faster and you felt the ghost of his hand on your back slowly pulling you closer. His inner thigh was now pushing into your knee repeatedly and you felt him slightly buckle his hips as his hand finally landed on your neck and pulled you forward. Your hands, still on his shirt buttons, pushed lightly against his chest and your head fell into the space above his shoulder, cheeks now next to each other. He pushed hard against your knee one more time and then you heard him moan deeply into your ear. 

“Fuck.” You heard him mutter. His voice was full of frustration. “Fuck.” He said again. 

You slowly pulled back, looking at him, completely in shock. He wasn’t meeting your gaze. He just kept muttering “fuck” and “sorry” under his breath. 

You looked down and once again felt blood rush to your face as you realized what had happened. 

Since his body was leaned back against the door, you had crawled closer to him and were now on your knees between his legs. You guessed at some point he had managed to undo his belt, the button to his trousers, and pulled down the zipper because you were staring at his erection through the fabric of his underwear. It was soaked. 

You quickly pulled back away from him, somewhat losing your balance and placing your hands back down to steady yourself. Nanami lurched up as you placed your hands on his thighs and you watched as he came again. This time seeing the white liquid bleed through the fabric and drip down. 

“I- I am so sorry.” You said quickly and started to back away. You needed to leave him alone. One of his hands grabbed onto your arm keeping you in place. You looked at him confused. 

“No, stop,” he said, panting. “I’m sorry,” he said, finally looking into your eyes. “I’m sorry. Fuck, I apologize. This is bad. I can't control-“ he squeezed your arm a little as his eyes shut and his brows knit together. “I need...” he looked into your eyes and slowly moved closer to you. His face was inches away and you felt the warmth radiating off of him. He looked directly at you now and seemed to be looking for some sort of sign. His eyes were beautiful. You realized this was the first time you had seen them. “Please…” You continued to stare at him, in shock. He wriggled beneath you and let out a soft moan. “I need you.” 

You understood. 

You quickly moved closer to him, crashing your lips into his. He moaned into your mouth and desperately pressed his lips to yours. You pushed your tongue through his closed lips and he slightly opened his mouth meeting you with his own tongue. You let him slither his in yours before closing your mouth and tugging at his lips slightly. When you finally pulled back you were both panting heavily, a string of saliva connecting you. You looked down and saw he had come again. 

“Y/N, please,” he took your hand and pulled it towards him. “I want…” you looked at him and smirked. Your eyes wandered down as he groaned again. 

“What do you want?” You said mischievously. You looked back up. 

“Please.” You had intended to tease him, but he looked so distraught and frazzled, you felt it would be too mean spirited. You nodded and let his hand guide you to his pants. You laid your hand down gently over him and felt him twitch underneath you. He groaned and you felt your face burn up again. This was happening. 

“I’ll-I’ll help you out, don’t worry.” You said nervously. You pressed down and his hips jutted into your hand. Your chest felt fluttery as your eyes were glued down to your hand and his member twitching beneath it. You smiled a little and clenched your thighs together. Focus. You were all talk. You tried to hide your nerves as you slowly wrapped your fingers around his clothed cock. He tried to suppress a moan as he shuddered underneath you. You watched the discoloration in his underwear spread as more fluid leaked out. “Wow.” 

He suddenly pulled your face closer to him and kissed you. He was desperate for contact, moaning into your mouth as he used his free hand to pull down the band of his underwear and you gasped as you felt his hot skin in your hand. 

You opened your eyes to try to sneak a peek but his right hand was buried in your hair, keeping you in place to make out with him. You kept your fingers together and wrapped around him as he thrust his hips forward, sliding between your curled fingers easily. He tugged at your bottom lip with his teeth as you felt him wrap a hand around yours, guiding you to stroke him. His breath shuddered at the feeling and he pulled you closer again. You moved your free hand to steady yourself as you leaned over him. 

He looked up at you and you saw fire burning in his eyes. He suddenly moved your hand away from his dick and placed his hands on your hips lifting you slightly so he could readjust himself under you. You were straddling him. He watched you carefully as he gently rocked his hips up between your legs and moved his hands up to go under your shirt. He waited patiently for your approval. You nodded and his hands slithered up your shirt to cup your breasts. You gasped as he roughly kneaded you and you started to undo the buttons on your shirt. Nanami decided you weren’t fast enough and ripped the shirt off of you. You didn’t have time to process past the sound of fabric ripping because he sat up and kissed you again. 

His hands moved impatiently all over your body as he pulled you closer. He was rough, but not in an aggressive way, he was impatient. You suddenly felt his fingers work their way into the waistband of your pants and you moved your hands to stop him. He looked up at you and stopped moving. He stared silently, still breathing heavily. “Would you like me… to stop?” He asked. 

You looked down at him and took a moment to assess the situation. Nanami was half naked laying under you. His shirt was now off revealing his toned chest and abdomen. You finally looked down and saw his dick. Wide and long, the bright red tip was leaning right and radiating heat. Your mouth watered. And you lightly moved your hips forward to feel it push against your core. 

“Is there a problem?” He asked. 

You hesitated to answer him. How embarrassing, you thought to yourself, this is probably going to hurt. Would he stop if you told him you were a virgin? Maybe it would be for the best. You could feel yourself soaking through your underwear, but would that be enough? He was big. You looked back up at him and opened your mouth to speak. You met his eyes and you blushed. His hair was tousled, skin pink and flush and of course he was breathing deeply. You noticed something on the side of his neck. A cut. It was a puncture wound, no bigger than your pinky nail, but it looked deep. 

“You’re injured.” You put your hand up to it and carefully examined it. It was emoting cursed energy and everything clicked. He might have defeated the curse in the building but she had gotten a good lick in. You put your hand over it to heal him. 

You weren’t good at much, but your ability to use a tiny amount of RCT had been your saving grace. Not that you were very good at it. You could really only handle superficial wounds like this one. 

Suddenly his hand grabbed your wrist and pulled it away. “Later,” he said. You stared at him confused. “I want to finish you first.” His hips thrust upwards against your pants and you couldn’t help but smile. You nodded and brought your hands down to undo the button to your pants. Nanami hissed under you as you shifted your weight around trying to pull your pants down. You were able to get one leg out and began pulling them down the other when he grabbed you quickly and settled you on top of him again. He looked up at you and you watched his eyes move down to take in your body. “Are you ready?”

You looked back at him nervously. “I-you’re so big.” You were too embarrassed to tell him it was your first time. He sat up and was suddenly inches from your face. 

He smiled coyly and nodded. “It’s okay, I can help you.” You felt one of his hands grip your waist and the other moved down to rub your clit. Your breath shuddered and you automatically buckled your hips against his hand. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders for support. He smiled wider, amused. His fingers moved lower and he slid them between your folds to collect your arousal. You were breathing heavily, your face buried into his chest. You felt him slip a finger inside of you, slowly, you felt him push up against you as far as he could go before there was a slight pop. 

A moan escaped your lips as he pushed his finger deeper. “Fuck,” he muttered. “You’re so tight.” You felt him drag his finger out, “I’m adding another one, okay?” You nodded lost in bliss. You bit your lip as you felt his fingers stretch you out again, this time sliding in a bit easier. His hands were large and his fingers long, but you knew this was easy to take compared to the real thing. Your ability to think was damped as he sped up his thrusts and his other hand slid down to rub your clit again with his thumb. You gasped and felt yourself clench onto him. You moved your hips forward desperate to feel friction. You were panting wildly and felt yourself getting close. You moved your arm down and wrapped a hand around his cock. Roughly stroking it, to repay the favor. 

“Wait-I’m close, I-I want you inside of me.” You whispered into his ear. You could feel his heartbeat quicken as his lips crashed down on yours again. 

“Whatever you want.” He said. He removed his fingers and you winced at the new empty feeling. Still rubbing your clit with one hand, he moved his now free hand to stop your strokes and guided himself between your legs. He thrust slowly against your folds running his cock between your thighs and your mound and you buckled your hips against him.

You smiled happily. Even if you couldn’t take him, you’re sure you could come from just this. He suddenly stopped and pulled back, you looked down at his cock now gleaming, covered in your fluids. He lay back against the seat and put his hands on your hips. “Now it’s up to you,” he lifted your hips and positioned you so your cunt was hovering over him. “Take your time, if you don’t think you can do it, let me know.” You felt embarrassment rush through you. Did he know? 

“Thank you.” You said meekly. 

“I’m not trying to embarrass you,” he said softly. His hand came up and caressed your cheek. “I just don’t want to hurt you.” The kindness in his eyes made your heart flutter. You nodded with new determination. You placed a hand on his chest to balance yourself as you reached down with your other one to position him in place. You thrust your hips against his tip and pushed it into your folds, watching as his jaw clenched from the feeling. You found your opening and slowly lowered yourself to allow him inside. You winced as the tip entered you and you pushed down as far as you could go. You looked down in disappointment as you realized he wasn’t even half way in. You moved your hips back and forth just on his tip and he moved his hands onto your hips digging his fingers into you. He hissed and closed his eyes from the feeling. 

“Sorry.” You apologized. 

   He opened his eyes and furrowed his brows. “Don’t apologize. If that’s all you can do, I’ll take it.” He slowly thrust his hips and you moaned. You wished you could take him further. You bit your lip, you could do it. You reached down to lead his cock further into you and you braced yourself as you pushed him in deeper. You whimpered as you felt him stretch you out and after a little resistance he slid right in with a plop. He pulled you closer and bucked his hips slightly as he felt you wrapped around him. Pulsing from the new feeling. You winced as he moved. He was so big. You looked up at him and his face was pure bliss. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes closed, brows furrowed. “Shit,” he muttered. “You’re so tight around me.” He looked up at you. “Is this your first-“ you cut him off with a kiss. You winced at the sensation of him inside of you but suddenly moaned as he pushed up and you felt him reach a spot deep inside of you. You gasped as he thrust and hit it again. 

“There, right there, please.” You said desperately. He smiled and began thrusting his hips upwards satisfied every time he saw your face scrunch when he hit that spot. His hands moved back to your ass and he spread your cheeks out allowing himself to go just a little bit deeper. You let out a yelp as he now directly hit that spot inside of you. 

“Good girl, you’re taking me so well”. He said. You smiled lazily and kissed him. He slowed his pace a bit as he moved his hand down to rub your clit again. He had seen how much you had liked it and wanted you to finish soon. The feeling of you clamping down on him was going to make him cum soon, too. You let out a heavenly moan as he started to rub you. 

Your hips moved down on their own as you rode him. “Nanami! Fuck!” You whined as you bounced over him. You pulled him closer to you to make out and he began to move his hips in opposition to yours. You gasped as you felt him reach deep inside of you, and you wanted more, you felt your climax building up as you desperately pushed against him. Wanting to keep him deeper. He understood and thrust sharply and rubbed your clit harder. Loud moans of his name and ungodly noises left your lips as you felt it all become too much and you suddenly felt your whole body shake vigorously as you came. You felt tears come to your eyes. 

You had never felt this good, you felt radiant, like a blinding fire took your body and left you refreshed. You shook over him a couple of times, enjoying the feeling of your cunt pulsing on him. He had stopped moving, still buried deep inside of you so you could ride out your high. Your eyes fluttered as you looked up at him and you smiled, happier than you’d ever been. He planted a kiss on your lips. 

“You’re beautiful.” He said. You felt heat weld up in your stomach, he wiped your tears away softly. 

You looked down at him and furrowed your brows. “You didn’t come.” You lifted your hips slightly and winced. “Keep going.” You blushed as you saw the white ring that had formed at the base of his cock. The opening of his pants was also covered in your slick. 

He nodded and put a hand over your waist, quickly flipping you over and laying you down across the back seats. You were now under him and watched as he backed up, pulling his pants further down. You watched him through the V frame of your legs. Your cunt was sore and you felt like you looked a mess but when he looked back up at you, all your insecurities vanished. He took the sight of you in and you saw his dick twitch with anticipation. He came closer and while you expected him to just go in you gasped as his face went between your thighs and his lips latched onto your clit. You let out a moan. It was too much, you were still so sensitive. You grabbed his head and ran your fingers through his blonde locks. He looked up at you as he ran a stiff tongue against your folds and you shuddered. He smirked and went to town. 

He threw your legs over his shoulders and devoured you. Your toes curled and you had to stop yourself from closing your thighs, afraid to crush him. You suddenly felt his fingers curl deep inside you as his tongue played with your bud and you yelled out, your climax hitting again. You held his head against you as you rode out your high; thrusting your hips forward, and rubbing your cunt over his entire face, his nose in particular hitting your clit and making you shudder. You let your head fall back and looked up at him. He smiled at you before backing up and lining himself up to your entrance. “Are you still okay?” 

You nodded, exhausted but ready for more. This had to be a dream. “Whatever you want.” You repeated back to him with a smile.

“Good girl.” He pushed himself easily into you and you watched his face form a scowl as he went past your tightest part. You clenched down on him and he opened an eye and smirked at you. “Tell me if it gets to be too much.” You couldn’t even answer him before he was thrusting into you quickly, his hands on your hips holding you down and pulling you against him. He was desperate to fuck you. His hips bucked wildly against you, going in and out at a sickening pace. You could only stare at him in bliss, your mouth open and deep moans escaping everytime he moved. He grunted and pulled you closer, feeling himself coming to his limit. “You’re so good. You’re taking me so well, Princess. Fuck.” He muttered. 

“Nanami-” you moaned his name as you felt another high wash over you. You yelped and shut your eyes, arching your back with a cry. You wrapped your legs around him, locking him in place as you felt him growing more desperate with each thrust. You hummed as you noticed him looking at you, once again looking like he was looking for a sign. You smiled, exhausted and nodded. That’s all he needed. 

He grunted again and thrust his hips into you one last time, roughly, as he came. You felt him shooting hot ropes of cum inside of you and you brought his head down to kiss him. He smiled against your lips. You felt his cock pulsing inside of you and your eyes closed sleepily. 

“Thank you, y/n.” 

You nodded as you felt exhaustion come over you. “You can go again if you want.” You said barely keeping your eyes open. 

“What?” 

“You made me come three times just now. I think I owe you two more rounds.” He smiled and shook his head. 

“Rest, I’ll clean you up.” You furrowed your brows and frowned. “Do you trust me?” 

“Yes, but,” your eyes closed again. “It’s not fair. Go again, I don’t mind. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long I-“ you fell asleep.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

pt. 2 pt 3. pt 4. pt 5.

˚₊✩‧₊nana here: if you made it this far bless you. if you saw a typo...no you didn't. idk if i'll ever post pt 2...i guess it depends on how this does or if a certain someone somehow convinces me to post the next part—shout out to cath my biggest supporter<3

[the-anxious-youth]

Bubbles II

Pairing: Buggy x gn!Reader

Summary: Now that Buggy has agreed to help you find Nami, the two of you get closer, and shenanigans ensue.

Warnings: none, general flirting but nothing too spicy, the reader is written as gender neutral but Buggy does call them pretty, some talks of insecurity but it's more comfort than hurt

Word Count: 4.7K

Author's Note: Here's the highly anticipated part two of my Buggy fic! He's quickly become one of my comfort characters so writing about him has been fun. Also, I made some major changes to the plot in regards to rescuing Nami because I felt I couldn't do it justice since I haven't seen episode 7 yet and didn't want to mess up such an emotional scene. Thank you for being so patient and I hope you enjoy! (Up next is a Shanks fic, so keep on the lookout for that) banners by cafekitsune

Part 1

Luffy’s eyes brightened when he saw you, a cheerful aura surrounding your captain. His smile triggers your own, and you walk up to him, holding Buggy in your hands. Luffy looks down at the clown’s head, and his smile grows even wider.

“Did you give him a makeover? It looks great, Y/N!” says the enthusiastic man, always in a good mood. You chuckle and nod in response, thanking him softly. Out of everyone in the crew, Luffy had always been the most supportive and you’re glad his reaction was the polar opposite of Zoro’s. 

“Good news, I got him to tell me how to get to Arlong Park so we can rescue Nami!” Your tone is cheerful, and your Captain’s face reflects how you feel.

“Really? That’s awesome! How’d you do it?” Luffy leans against the side of the boat, visibly impressed by the way you’d been able to tame the beast, considering that a few hours ago, they all thought they’d have to torture it out of him. Looking down at Buggy, you smile softly, debating on whether or not you should tell the whole story. Before you can answer, Buggy lets out a laugh and responds for you.

“Guess I just have a soft spot for them,” he says, sending a wink in your direction. By now his flirtatious confidence is fully restored. Luffy watches the two of you making eyes at each other for a few seconds, before breaking the silence.

“Well, I’m glad you worked it out.” Luffy notices how your eyes sparkle when looking at Buggy, but he decides not to comment on it, instead moving to pull out a map. Spreading it across a table, he gestures for you to come closer.

“So this is where we are right now, approximately.” Your captain points to a spot on the map, and you recognize it as part of the East Blue. You gently place the clown’s head on the table, allowing him to look at the map. “And this is where we think Nami is,” utters Luffy, pointing his finger to an area adjacent to where he said you all are.

“You’re heading in the wrong direction, pal.” Buggy chuckles as he says this, not surprised that your crew wasn’t good with directions. After all, Nami was the navigator, the impact of her absence being very visible. Not waiting to hear what Luffy has to say, the clown continues.

“Arlong Park is on the other side of the East Blue, next to Cocoyasi Village, which is along the coastline.” Since he doesn’t have hands, he tilts his head to gesture towards the location of your desired destination. Your captain nods with a smile.

“I think I know where that is. See, was that so hard?” Luffy says teasingly, looking down at Buggy with a cheeky smile. The clown just glares in return, his smile not reappearing until you gently pick him up in your hands.

“Need me to go tell the others or do you want to do it?” You ask softly. Luffy smiles at you before responding.

“I’ve got it. I am the Captain after all.” He says cockily, though you know he means no harm. You chuckle and nod, finding his happy mood contagious.

“Yes, you are.” He pats you on the shoulder before heading off to inform the rest of the crew of the new developments. You look down at Buggy, his amorous grin causing the heat to rise to your face.

“Now what, sweetness?” He says, his tone smooth. Cocking your head at him, you hum while thinking.

“How about some food? I’m getting pretty hungry and I bet you are too.” You smile at him softly, to which he admires your face.

“You have no idea,” the clown mutters, excited at the prospect of food. Carrying him in your arms, you head to the kitchen, which incidentally is where the rest of the crew seems to be chatting. 

As you walk into the room, everyone turns to look at you. Luffy smiles at you gently, Zoro’s face is humorless, and it seems like he’s still irritated about earlier, Sanji’s eyebrows furrow, confused to see you so happy with the clown, and Usopp wears a look of amusement as if he’s just along for the ride. For a moment, everything is quiet, before you decide to walk over to the pantry to find something to eat. Snapping out of his daze, Sanji walks over to you, the others resuming their discussion.

“What can I get for you, dear?” says the cook, gazing at you with a suave smile. 

“Just a snack please, enough for two.” Your tone is soft, and you don't miss the look of surprise on Sanji’s face when he understands what you are referring to. You don’t notice it, but Buggy’s face is smug, enjoying watching the other man squirm. Sanji is silent for a moment, his face turning concerned.

“You do know he’s a bad guy, right? Remember what he did to that town?” asks the chef, leaning closer to you, to which Buggy scoffs.

“Lighten up, blondie, you weren’t even there.” Spits out the clown. His tone reads annoyance, not wanting the chef to impact your view of him. Sanji glares down at the head, crossing his arms.

“Yes, I remember. I just figure you get further with people using kindness.” Sanji’s eyes soften at your words, internally reminding himself that this is just who you are. He sighs, before meeting your gaze.

“Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you getting taken advantage of,” he says softly, and you smile at his words in an attempt to comfort him. 

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Chuckling softly at the blonde man’s concern, he nods his head, doing his best to smile back at you. He opens one of the cupboards and pulls out some snacks, handing them to you carefully. 

“Let me know if you need help, alright?” Sanji’s eyes still hold some worry, but his easy-going smile is back on his face. You nod in response, thanking him for the food before heading to the top deck, wanting to get some fresh air.

Unbeknownst to you, the rest of the crew watched your interaction with Sanji, teasing him as soon as you were out of earshot.

“Is someone a little jealous?” teases Usopp, to which Sanji shakes his head, brushing him off.

Back on the deck, you take a seat on a blanket, putting Buggy’s head down next to you. He looks up at you with a sense of wonder, admiring your features.

“So what sounds good, apples? Crackers?” You gesture to the pile of snacks in front of you, a soft smile on your face.

“Just give me whatever you don’t want,” says the clown, his smile widening at the surprised look on your face.

“I thought you were this tough guy who only cares about himself?” Your voice is gentle, with a hint of curiosity. He chuckles at your words, shaking his head softly.

“Don’t believe everything you hear, doll.” His eyes twinkle as he speaks. “Who knows, maybe I just like you.” Feeling the heat rise to your face, you look down bashfully, not sure how to respond.

“Apples it is then.” Reaching over to grab one of the apples, you pull out the knife Sanji gave you and start cutting it into smaller pieces, slipping one into your mouth every so often. The clown just watches you, taking the opportunity to admire you while he can. Secretly, he plans to charm you so that you’ll leave with him once this is all over. 

After cutting the apple into enough pieces, you move to give one to Buggy, when an idea comes into your mind.

“Here comes the choo choo train!” You say teasingly, waving the apple slice around like you would for a toddler. His eyes narrow at you, and you can tell he’d be crossing his arms if they were with him.

“Very funny,” he says unamusedly, though there is still a hint of a smile on his face. Chuckling at his response, you finally give him the apple slice, and he watches you while he chews.

“I didn’t pick these apples out so if they’re bad it’s not my fault.” You smirk at him cheekily, and he just shakes his head before swallowing.

“It’s fine,” he says, still smiling at you. “Trust me, I’ve eaten much worse.” Taking an apple slice for yourself, you pop it into your mouth, taking a look at the view around you.

“The sea sure is pretty,” you comment, admiring the fluffy clouds above you.

“Not as pretty as you.” Buggy’s statement makes you turn your head toward him. Searching his eyes for insincerity, your eyebrows furrow as you find none. By now you’re sure you’re blushing, and you look down at the apple to hide the apparent flush on your face. 

“You’re quite the flirt, aren’t you?” Anxiety fills your chest, wondering whether his words were truthful or just a way to lower your guard. You fiddle with your fingers, sparing glances in his direction. Almost as if he can hear your thoughts, the clown speaks up, his tone softer than before. 

“I’m being serious, you’re gorgeous, babe.” His eyes scan your face, hoping you’ll believe him, the corner of his mouth upturned into a soft smile. You just shake your head softly, his cheeky smile prompting your own. Gaining some confidence, you respond in a pert tone.

“Yeah, well you’re quite the looker yourself. I bet the girls go crazy for you.” Buggy’s cocky demeanor falters for a second, used to giving compliments rather than receiving them. He laughs nervously, thankful for the makeup on his face for hiding the blush on his cheeks. 

“Depends on how you define crazy,” he says, tilting his head slightly. Even though you can’t visibly see the flush on his cheeks, his demeanor tells you enough. Chuckling to yourself, you reach for an apple slice, observing the clown as you chew.

“I guess we’re both not used to compliments.” Timbre hushed, you watch as he nods, silently agreeing with your statement. The two of you exchange friendly conversation, slowly opening up to one another. Before you know it, the sun is setting on the horizon as the day comes to a close, and all the snacks you got from Sanji are gone.

“If your captain correctly follows my directions, we should arrive at Arlong Park within a day.” Buggy’s tone is kind, something unusual for him, though there’s still a hint of playfulness. Nodding in response, you move to pick him up, being careful as always. He always gets a weird look on his face when you treat him with such fragility, and you assume it’s because being treated in such a way is unfamiliar territory for him. 

Walking down the stairs, you head towards your room, smiling at your crew members as you pass them. Stopping by the kitchen to get some fresh water, you run into Sanji, who seems to be writing something down in a notebook. Probably his meal plan for tomorrow, you think to yourself. The chef turns to you as you enter, surprised to see you still with the clown. 

“Aren’t you getting sick of watching him? Why don’t you let one of us take a turn, you’ve been on clown watch all day.” He says with a concerned smile. 

“That’s okay, I don’t mind.” Sanji looks at you as you speak, his eyes scanning over your face as if it were a puzzle to be deciphered. His eyebrows furrow, revealing his confusion. To him, watching a pretty person choose to hang out with a homicidal maniac was like watching a scientist write poetry, it made absolutely no sense. He narrows his eyes for a moment, debating on what to say.

“Well, if you’re happy I guess.” His tone indicates that he wants to say more, but is restraining so as to not upset you.

“I’ll just get some water and I’ll be out of your way,” you say mellowly, the awkward tension becoming uncomfortable. At your comment, Sanji sends a flirty smirk in your direction.

“You’re never in my way, darling.” Feeling the blush rise to your cheeks, you nod quickly and head to grab the water. You couldn’t see it, but if looks could kill, the glare Buggy was giving the chef would have knocked him dead. After finding the water, you make a beeline for your room, not wanting to deal with more problematic interactions. As Sanji watches you leave, he wonders to himself how the clown has caught your interest, clearly not understanding the appeal.

Shutting the door to your cabin, you let out a sigh, gingerly placing Buggy on your bed, and moving to sit next to him. He notices the change in your mood, already missing the smile on your face. 

“Everything okay, dollface?” His tone is the gentlest it’s been in years. The last time he could recall speaking in such a manner was with Shanks, and that was quite a long time ago. Nodding slowly, you start to fidget with your fingers, signaling your uneasiness.

“There’s just something about the way he looked at me like I was doing something wrong. It just reminds me how I don’t fit in with the rest of the crew.” You bring your hand up to start picking at your lips, the anxiety in your gut triggering the habit that appears whenever you get nervous. The action does not go unnoticed by the clown, and he tries to think of a way to calm you down.

“Hey, don’t do that. You’ll get scars,” Buggy says gently, wishing he had his body with him so he could grab your hand and pull it away from your face. Pausing your movements to look at him, you notice how concerned he seems, which ignites a strange feeling in your chest, comfort perhaps. You chuckle softly before replying, watching how his eyes never leave your face.

“It’s a little too late for that, I’m afraid.” He doesn’t match your laughter, aware of your attempt at deflection. A deep pit of sorrow seeps its way through his chest, which feels strange considering it’s not currently attached to him. It’s at this moment when he realizes how much he cares for you and decides that when you find Nami and the rest of his body, you’re coming with him. He’d be damned if he let anyone make you feel anything other than happiness. For a few minutes, you just watch each other, deciding what to say. In the end, Buggy is the one to break the silence.

“I know what it’s like to not fit in, but trust me when I say you’re a treasure, and anyone who doesn’t see that is an idiot. This crew is lucky to have you, they should be making you happy, not sad.” He smiles at you, his usual teasing nature completely gone in exchange for raw sincerity. 

“Look, I know we haven’t known each other long, but I meant it when I said I had a spot for you on my crew. You’d be treated like royalty, which is exactly what you deserve.” Unlike the first time he said it, you actually consider what it would be like to join him, the thought bringing a small smile to your face. 

“There’s that gorgeous smile. You’re too pretty to be sad, angel.” His words may be flirty, but he means each of them wholeheartedly. You chuckle and blush breaking into a full smile.

“How are you so sure your crew will like me?” You ask softly, tilting your head at him.

“They’d be stupid not to like you. And even if they don’t, their Captain does which means they don’t really have much of a choice.” He smirks up at you, enjoying the little giggle you let out. “At the end of the day, they’re below me and you’d be beside me, so at the very least they’d respect you. Knowing my crew though, I can pretty much guarantee they’ll like you.” 

You listen to him speak with a smile, and for the first time in a long time, you feel like someone actually understands you, even if that someone is technically your crew’s rival. He grins as you nod, observing you with an almost wondrous look.

“We have to find Nami first though, okay?” You declare, pointing your finger at him playfully. Buggy laughs and nods, swearing that neither of you will leave before the redhead is found. A yawn slips out as you chuckle, the fatigue from the day reappearing like a weight on your shoulders.

“It’s late, we should get some sleep. Besides, tomorrow’s the day we rescue your friend and I’d rather you didn’t fall asleep on me.” He says with a smirk, and you nod, giggling softly to yourself. Pulling back the blanket, you move to lie down, placing Buggy’s head on its side on a pillow in front of you.

“Good night, Bugs.” The clown smiles at the nickname, gazing at you fondly as you snuggle up with the blanket.

“Good night, darling.” He says softly, watching you close your eyes. He takes the opportunity to study your features, afraid that if he looks away he’ll forget them. After a while he hears your breathing even out, signaling your unconscious state. Only then he closes his eyes, hoping to dream of you.

—---

The next morning goes by quickly, everyone preparing for the rescue they’re about to attempt. Buggy’s directions were correct, and Arlong Park was visible just on the horizon. The energy is full of excitement and anticipation, with everyone looking forward to seeing Nami again. Right now, you’re sitting on the deck surrounded by the rest of the crew as they discuss the game plan.

“You know the layout of Arlong Park, don’t you, clown?” Zoro’s tone is harsh, and Buggy has to physically resist rolling his eyes. He’s placed on your lap, something that keeps catching the eyes of Sanji, perhaps with a hint of jealousy. The only person who isn’t actively glaring daggers at him is Luffy, though that doesn’t say much considering the pirate is always happy.

“Yes, but I won’t be much help as a head, so we need to find my body first. Then we can go after your navigator.” If it wasn’t for your gentle touch on the sides of his neck, he would’ve gone off by now, annoyed at being treated like a prisoner. 

“I can help with that,” you pipe up, and everyone nods in agreement. The group discusses some more, everyone being assigned various roles to assist in the operation going smoothly. After that, you all gear up, your goal being to reattach Buggy’s head to his body before you can help the others. Soon, the boat is docked a little away from your destination, not wanting to signal Arlong’s men of your arrival. 

Trekking through the foliage, you finally make it to the gates and split into groups, deciding that it’ll be easier to cover more ground that way. Your group consists of yourself, Buggy, and Sanji, as the chef didn’t trust the clown being alone with you. The blue-haired pirate directs you towards a hidden entrance along the side of the park, one in which you hopefully wouldn’t be spotted. Following his directions, you come across a small clearing in the trees, Sanji following right behind you. 

“Where do you think your body is being kept?” You ask quietly, hoping your voice doesn’t tell Arlong or his men of your locations. 

“Probably somewhere amongst the carnival games. Since he’s taken it I’ve noticed they’ve been throwing something at it, probably darts based on the sensation. Arlong likes to mess with people anyway, so it would make sense.” Nodding, you head towards that area, allowing Buggy to tell you where to go since he’s the only one who’s been here before. Not long after, you stumble upon what you’re looking for, Buggy’s body pinned up against some balloons. Breaking out into a large smile, you look down at Buggy, and he grins back up at you.

“Wow, you were actually right,” Sanji comments, his words full of surprise and bitterness, his distaste for the clown painfully obvious.

“You say that like it’s a miracle.” The clown says in rebuttal, sharing the disdain for the chef. Suddenly, Buggy’s head flies out of your hands as the various parts of his body reattach themselves. Once he’s back to being a whole person, he hops down from the wall, running towards you with joy written on his face.

“It feels better than I even remembered!” Says the clown, running his hands up and down his arms. He turns to you with a grin.

“Now let’s go find your friend.” You nod at him, his happiness triggering your own. 

While searching for Nami, you run into the rest of your crew, who seem to be in a bit of a hurry.

“What’s the matter? Did you find her? Is she okay?” Right as Usopp is about to answer, a familiar voice rings into the air. 

“Miss me that much?” You turn your head in the direction of the sound, and a huge smile breaks out on your face as you see Nami running towards you. She smirks at your expression before continuing. “We need to get out of here before the rest of the Arlong pirates find us, we can catch up later.” You nod quickly, picking up your pace, and start running behind the others, Buggy at your side. 

Once you all are far enough away from Arlong Park, the crew stops to properly greet Nami, yourself included. You can tell she’s not much of a hugger, so you make sure your embrace is short. As you all talk amongst yourselves, Buggy stands a few feet away, not wanting to interrupt the moment. After everyone had a chance to talk to the red-haired girl, she finally notices the clown standing awkwardly a few steps away and furrows her eyebrows in confusion. 

“What the hell is he doing here?” She asks shortly, starting to walk in his direction. You quickly move to stand in front of her, preventing the two from fighting. 

“It’s okay, he’s okay,” you say quickly, and are met with a confused look from the girl. “He actually helped us find you. I mean, we had no idea where we were going until he showed up, considering you are our navigator.” She scoffs at the idea of Buggy willingly helping someone who isn’t part of his crew.

“Oh yeah? How’d you get him to do that? Torture him or something?” Nami looks at Buggy suspiciously, not believing that he actually did something nice for once. You shake your head, chuckling nervously, not sure how to explain the whole ‘I gave him a bath and we kinda connected’ thing. Lucky for you, Buggy speaks up.

“Your crew member here is very convincing.” He takes a step forward, gesturing to you with a cheeky smile. She just watches the two of you for a moment, finally connecting the dots between Buggy’s friendly attitude and your flustered demeanor. 

“Huh. Well, that’s something I didn’t expect to see today,” says the redhead, her timbre nonchalant.

“What didn’t you expect to see, Nami?” Sanji quickly asks. Now that she’s back, Sanji is taking every opportunity he can find to speak with Nami.

“Y/N hooking up with the clown. They didn’t seem like the type but I guess we all have secrets.” She looks at you with a smirk, a deep blush blossoming on your face. The rest of the crew looks surprised, especially Usopp, now that your little fancy has been blatantly stated.

“Wait, you have a thing for the clown captain? How am I only finding out about this now?” Usopp asks with a smile on his face.

“You really haven’t noticed? Even though I can’t possibly fathom why, they’ve been spending every second together the past few days. I mean, they’re always blushing around him, and that’s a sign of only one thing.” You’re surprised that Zoro seems so calm now, especially considering the way he reacted in the beginning. There’s no smile on his face, but he doesn’t appear to be upset. “You really need to be more observant of your surroundings, Usopp.” The swordsman shakes his head, baffled at his crew member’s ignorance.

It’s Sanji who turns to you next, a mix of emotions on his face. “So you two are really a thing?” he asks hesitantly, not sure if he really wants to hear the answer. By now you’re sure your face is deeply flushed, not used to being put in the spotlight.

“Let’s just say I’m pretty fond of your crew member,” Buggy looks at you cheekily, enjoying the blush on your visage. Sanji stays silent for a moment before nodding, leaning closer to say something to you.

“Just be careful, darling, okay?” His voice is gentle, and he backs away as soon as he sees the glare the clown is giving him. Suddenly Nami walks up to Buggy with a tough look on her face.

“If you hurt them, I’ll make sure you’re just a head, permanently.” He immediately puts his hands up in surrender, knowing that she fully means the threat.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, they’re too precious.” The look on the clown’s face shows his fear of her, a sight that almost makes Nami’s lip quirk. 

“Good.” She turns back to you, the smile returning to her face. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’ll actually miss you.” You knew this was the closest Nami got to being sappy, and you moved to give her one last hug.

“I’ll miss you too, Nami. Keep the boys in check for me, will you?” The navigator chuckles at your question, letting you go from the hug.

“Oh I will, you don’t need to worry about that.” Despite not knowing you for long, Nami secretly always liked you, finding you the most enjoyable to be around, unbeknownst to you.

Turning to the rest of your crew, you can tell they’ve already figured out your decision. You walk up to Luffy first, who’s beaming at you like a little boy.

“We’ll miss you too but I can tell this is what you want.” Your lips tug upwards at his statement, appreciating the way he values your wants and desires. “You know you’re always welcome on the straw hat crew, right?” His question makes you smile, and you nod in response. Stepping closer, you give him a tight hug which he happily reciprocates. ‘Always so touchy’ you think to yourself fondly. After pulling away, you say goodbye to the rest of the crew members, even getting a small “good luck kid” from Zoro. 

“Until we meet again.” You say to all of them, nodding as a sign of respect. They wave at you as you walk away, following Buggy to go find his crew. As you’re walking, he stops abruptly and turns to you.

“Oh! I forgot something.” Raising your eyebrows, you start to open your mouth to ask him what he meant, when suddenly he carefully grabs the back of your neck, pulling your lips against his. Your eyes widen for a second out of surprise, but you quickly close them and kiss him back, moving your hand to his bicep. He grins at you after you pull away, taking pleasure in the shy look on your face.

“Cat got your tongue?” The blue-haired man says softly, referring to the conversation you had the day you first met. You giggle and shake your head, hiding your face in his chest. He laughs and wraps his arms around you.

“You’re too cute, you know that? Now come on, I’ve got some people to introduce you to.” You look up at him as you pull away, smiling as he grabs your hand to lead you to his crew. 

©️the-anxious-youth, 2023

Please do not replicate/repost :)

[thebestandrealestever]

..shut up my moms calling !

miles morales 42 x black fem reader

sum: miles is always there . warns : cursing . a/n : the blue story is not coming out right now, i done got my heart played wid so bad . it hurts to much to write that story and i need sum happy . it is coming out just not now, sorry to let u down . and sorry this short i got finals coming up , bop = hoe

based off jace nd crystal from swagger .

miles has always been there , even when he wasn’t he was . you could feel his eyes on you when he wasn’t even in the room , you hoped it wasn’t just you being delusional and your falling out hurt him as much as it did you . now what you didn’t know is it hurt him so much more, it consumed him . and he did swing by your house , your school , and your job . where ever he knew you would be just to see you . you fell out because he was with a girl and he wasn’t treating her the best and u checked him on it . he didn’t wanna be with her and you didn’t want him to either but you’ve known each other way too long to say anything . his parents and yours would often tell each other it was only temporary, you both thought it was weird they stayed in touch but you both hoped it was. you checked on him too , watching his location on your phone or even stopping by the bodega he’s always at . you were actually doing it right now , at the lil corner store miles was always at . you roamed the store just to do it and then you saw curly hair that couldn’t be any one else , you saw your best friend . but to not make it look like you were stalking him, you quietly walked in the aisle he was in . fake looking at the candy while your mind and heart were racing . and he noticed you too , he noticed you walk all the way over there and noticed you looking at candy you didn��t even like.

“hey bop” he finally said turning his head to quickly scan you then turning back and his tone irked you a little but you shook it off .

“who a bop ? anyway hey girl .. “ “ i miss you .” he said in a hushed tone so maybe you wouldn’t hear . “i miss you too, a lot.” you said and his nonchalant demeanor broke , the real him returning , only you could do that . he put his candy down , hugging you as he let out a breath he didn’t know he had . you leaned into the familiar touch , you really really missed him .

“can we not do this again ? life so boring without my favorite hoe .” you said with a sweet smile truly meaning every word , “say it again i bet iah smack tf outta you .” he said laughing and you laughed too, acting as it no time had passed , but you both knew nothing could go unsaid , as the laughter died down and you left the store he spoke up . “ i’m sorry.. about acting like that , i just don’t get why it made you so upset i was with her .” he said walking on the outside of you like he always did . “ion know i guess i didn’t want you with her , you were also treating her like a dog .” you said mindlessly only realizing when it already left your mouth , did you just say that ? “shit not that like i wanted you or anything, i just didn’t want gwen to be h-“ “she wasn’t you , i tried to see you in her but i just couldn’t .” he said stopping in his tracks pulling your hand to turn around at him , “oh , u want me real bad get off my body damn .” you said obviously kidding to avoid talking about your feelings “u play too much” he said leaning into kiss you for like the 4th time ? you always ended up kissing miles , so you let him and it happened like it always happened . it was special like always, different than anybody you’d ever kissed . “you like me or sum ? you always kissing me like damn nigga get out my mouth !” “yo stfu fore i rly do sum to you lil boy .” he said as he starting walking again and you looked around for the “lil boy” “where he at? ion see no lil boys” you said catching up with him and he just chuckled as his response . “i want you , i want us” he finally said as you smiled at the words you’ve waited so long for , “me too .”

[etheries1015]

Adult (20+) MC finally figures out how to properly make money, BESIDES working for Azul. Become not only the prefect and be a student, but an on the call designated therapist!

"Crowley, really. I'm far older than the other students, it is not my fault the mirror has brought you a full grown adult rather than another proper student! I finished all of my schooling where I am from, I do not wish to repeat it along side these....kids!" You had complained to him. Well, what was he to do? The mirror had obviously chosen you to be at that school, you had no other merits at the time to offer him, and to simply put it...without a way to go home, what else could possibly occupy your time in a world in which you know nothing about, than gather intel by throwing yourself into the most prestigious of schools? The answer seemed obvious at the time, until you realized just how bad it was.

Teenagers are still teenagers, after all. Especially a bunch of teenage boys surrounded by...well... Other teenage boys. Magic or not, they were still going through any other mental struggles as any normal human. However, putting magic into the mix had surely caused you some...extra unprecedented grief you had never needed to worry about in your world. After what, three? Four? Overblots and life endagerment exibitions, you had an epiphany. With extensive knowledge of the human brain system, life experience, and a plothera of coping mechanisms under your belt, what better way to open the door than to become none other than the designated student body therapist?

With some rather convincing techniques, you had managed to convince Crowley to, as you put it...

"Let me take this off of your plate! You are so busy being such an amazing head master running this school as perfectly as you are, I understand the durasic increase of overblots have your hands tied behind your back! As you know, I am an adult with ample experience in the field of mental health. Although I don't have the documents to prove it as much at this time seeing as they are back in my world....I just know you will not regret hiring me as a therapist."

A few more convincing lines (and perhaps a week of pestering, begging, manipulating-- I mean convincing , he had eventually hired you as the school therapist! With, of course, the expectation that you had to take an additional class to further certify you were able to properly do such a job. (You were kind of mad a bout that, seeing as you knew you were qualified, but hey. Pick and choose your battles I guess. At least you managed to get by with a couple additional classes, instead of a million years of schooling.)

You had a personal office in ramshackle, an empty dorm becoming suitable with your own personal desk, computer, book shelf, and another necessities. You had a location in the main building, the room connected to the nurses office had been refurnished as your main office. Book shelves of self care, items for fiddling with, bean bags, posters with encouraging words, and a desk full of papers, along with other needed items graciously funded by the school (you threatened Crowley at one point, accusing him of not caring of his students.) Of course, being on call meant students may drop by the dorm at any given time for your aid and expertise, so the ramshackle dorm lounge was also redecorated suited for sessions that were a bit more casual.

But of course, you also managed to juggle your studies as a student, wanting to continue to learn about magic. Working on the call was nice, keeping your phone on and excusing yourself whenever official work called for you. Unless you rather not be a student, that is fine, too. Full time therapist work may be the job for you!

Helping students heal one tragic back story at a time seemed perfectly fitting. (You just wanted to finally get paid and recognized for what you were already doing.)

[icequeenbae]

Boy Next Door (m) Ch.1 | BBH

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader

Neighbor AU, slow burn, hurt/comfort, fluff, smut

Warnings [whole story]: Baek being the neighbor we’re all dreaming of, harassment (nothing graphic), a bit of body image/ insecurity, MC sucks at relationships, explicit content, unprotected sex

Word Count: ~18.5k (total), 4.5k (pt.1)

Summary: Your neighbor Baekhyun has been a pleasant acquaintance since you moved into your current apartment almost a year ago. Could he also be… a perfect match?

© Please do not copy/ post on other platforms without permission.

Chapter Masterlist: Pt. 1 > Pt. 2 > Pt. 3 > Pt. 4 (fin)

Author’s note: This has taken me so, SO long to write and edit that I cannot believe the time has come to post it lmao I just wanted to write something simple with the classic boy-next-door vibe but as usual, the story ended up being much longer than planned and I am going to post it as a mini-series. Please keep in mind that your feedback is what motivates me to write and post more <3 And biiig thanks to the lovely @beomcoups for taking on the beta duties on this whole story~

Network Tags: @bbh-net  @k-vanity  @ksmutsociety

PART 1

In the lobby or on your floor – those were the two locations where you’d been bumping into Baekhyun most often. Which wasn’t that strange, considering that you were neighbors. But it somehow always caught you off guard and left you flustered.

Just like the first time.

It happened almost a year ago when you were waiting for the elevator on the first floor of your building with your best friend Yuki, who came early to help you with preparations. A guy in a loose white dress shirt and jeans stepped into the elevator with you, politely greeting you before pressing his floor number.

‘Oh, you live on the 13th as well? So, you and our Y/N are neighbors!’ Yuki exclaimed.

‘Nice to meet you,’ you muttered and bowed, shy from the sudden introduction. He reciprocated, chocolate hair falling into his eyes charmingly.

‘You should come to her housewarming party! It’s in a couple hours,’ Yuki chimed in again. ‘You don’t need to bring anything, it’s just a small thing with a couple friends and neighbors. We’re making sure Y/N-ie settles in nicely here. So please come, we have tons of food!’

If anyone could ever say no to your friend… Well, you had never met such a person. You guessed that Baekhyun was simply too stunned by her enthusiasm, so he said he’d swing by for sure. In a way, you were thankful that she’d asked him – you’d have never had the guts to invite someone like that; especially not anyone as good-looking and cool as Baekhyun.

You regretted letting your bestie invite him the following evening when your party was in full swing for several hours. Most of the food was devoured, so now you were all drinking, crunching on snacks, and conversing; or trying to while jumping from one topic to another.

‘I wish we could gather more often. We all like to hang out with you, you know?’

As always, Yuki nagged at you for being too ‘stay-at-home’ of a friend.

‘I like to hang out too. But home is home. You know parties aren’t really my… favorite pastime.’

‘What is your favorite pastime, lying in bed cuddling your blanket?’ Chanyeol joked insensitively.

He should’ve known better since you were the most troubled in your group of friends regarding relationships. It was super tough for you to find a match, even when you made an effort to get out of the house and meet new people, mostly because of your history of failed relationships where your partners gained interest in someone else. It seemed like you were too plain to hold someone’s attention for long. So, you’d been ‘that single friend’ for several lonely years now. And at this time, you were actually in the very beginning of a new, promising relationship. You were still pretty insecure about it; thus, Yeol’s comment really did make you flinch. He was drunk, so that was understandable, but you still sulked at his words, mainly because they were true.

‘Hey, it doesn’t have to be a blanket.’ You frowned, pressing the straw to your lips in frustration.

‘I’m kinda sad that guy you’ve been talking to couldn’t come,’ Yuki interjected. ‘I wanted to find out what he’s like.’

‘Minho had work-related travel, so he’s resting up.’ You shrugged, sipping your drink timidly.

‘I’m sure the guy made this excuse just to avoid meeting your friends. How long have you known him for, like, two days?’ Chanyeol interjected.

‘It’s been a few weeks, actually,’ you corrected, and Hoseok, Yuki’s boyfriend, muttered a reproaching ‘hyung’ in his direction.

‘Gosh, you’re really this stupid while drunk,’ Yuki shook her head disapprovingly at your friend, who simply shrugged.

Baekhyun was pretty silent during the latest exchange, so when you briefly made eye contact, it reminded you that he could also hear all of that chatter. Which made you want to choke on your drink from humiliation. Thankfully, one of your friends still had some tact left that night, so they quickly changed the direction of the conversation. Still… you’d been mortified for weeks after the event, doing your best to avoid bumping into Baekhyun when leaving for work.

***

The next time you met, Baekhyun was also in the lobby of your apartment building. And once again, before a gathering at your place. Just days prior you had lost it and left your resignation letter at your boss's desk. Working such long hours under the constant pressure of absolutely unrealistic deadlines was taking its toll on you for sure. But when you found out they promoted a person, who was obviously less experienced and capable than you in working (but more capable in flirting with your manager), instead of you… It became the last straw.

Baekhyun appeared right on time as you struggled to push the elevator button with a whole case of beer in your hands.

‘Y/N,’ you heard his velvety voice call. ‘Nice to see you.’

‘Oh- Hi, Baekhyun.’ You greeted awkwardly, puffing from the weight you had to balance.

‘Let me help you with that?’ His suggestion sounded like a question, yet he instantly scooped the case from your hands.

‘You don’t need- thank you,’ you said, and he shook his head to indicate that it wasn’t a big deal.

‘So… having a party again?’ He asked as the elevator doors closed.

‘I wouldn’t call it a party,’ you hummed, looking at your feet. ‘I kinda had to quit my horrible job of 4 years, so my friends are making me celebrate it. Not that becoming unemployed calls for a celebration…’

You trailed off, not wanting to be a nuisance to your neighbor. He was just making small talk.

‘I’m sorry to hear that. Are you taking a break now or looking for something else?’

‘I’ll start looking next week. It’s Friday, my friends are coming… So I’ll try to just clear my mind and rest for one full weekend before I start stressing about a new job. Hopefully, my friends wouldn’t talk my ear off about it – that’s what the beer’s for. My little trick,’ you chuckled sheepishly.

‘Aren’t your friends supposed to treat you in this situation?’ Baekhyun huffed, shaking his head to rearrange his hair and better see you.

‘They should… bring more alcohol with them, I think. I couldn’t have them over for nothing, though.’

The doors opened after a robotic voice announced your floor.

‘Well, anyhow. Thanks a lot for your help!’ You tried taking the beer from Baekhyun, but he didn’t let you.

‘Open the door first; you can’t do it while holding this.’

‘Right. Thanks,’ you fussed, pressing your password in.

Baekhyun quickly placed the case on the floor of your hallway.

‘You should come!’ You blurted out, instantly getting flustered. ‘If you want.’

‘I might drop by if I’m free,’ he smiled softly. ‘My family wanted to have a video call later. That may take long.’

‘Of course. Have fun!’ You nodded, beating yourself up in your mind for being so weird suddenly.

‘You have fun,’ he chuckled, stepping towards his apartment. ‘Oh, and Y/N?’

Looking up at him as he called your name, you were met with his warm yet serious eyes.

‘If you need anything… You know where to find me.’

That made you strangely sentimental.

‘T-thank you.’

He sent you a message later on and let you know he couldn’t make it to your party. But in a way, he was there – on your mind.

***

It was about three weeks after you’d broken things off with Minho. If you could even consider it one, the relationship wasn’t long, only a couple months. At first, you thought it could be something, realizing later that it was only wishful thinking. There was no way the two of you could make it work; you were just not compatible with each other. The more you got to know him, the more you were reassured of that. Your life goals were different, your outlook on relationships was different… even your ideas of quality time with a significant other didn’t match. This time, the initial infatuation wore off rather quickly – probably because you didn’t go out of your way to appease him. You knew it was probably for the better. Pretty much all of your relationships ended the same way, with your boyfriends telling you they found someone else. Someone… more exciting.

This was the case for your first relationship halfway in your first year of university.

‘I’m sorry, Y/N. I just don’t feel the spark, you know? You’re so… domestic,’ your then-boyfriend said in his breakup speech. ‘I’m young, I want to experience stuff, be bold, and have fun. And there are people that I can do this with, who’ll also enjoy it.’

It repeated less than two years later when you’d barely worked up the courage to try and start something with another person. When it happened the third time, you decided you weren’t really made for relationships. It was ironic since you always wanted to be in one. You were very affectionate and were keen on taking care of people. Yes, you weren’t that into big gatherings and parties, and maybe it was a little too difficult to drag you anywhere when you were stressing about the upcoming tests and stuff… But you weren’t completely closed off! Even with those limitations, you were very sociable and had many friends. Was it so bad that you didn’t say yes to every suggestion? Did your inclination to stay at home and have cozy dates instead of outdoorsy stuff make you a non-relationship material? It seemed like every time someone else appeared, your boyfriends easily decided to move on.

And even though you weren’t in love with Minho, this breakup still made you sour. What made this particular day suck was that you’d found out that he was already in a new relationship; happily broadcasting it everywhere.

You weren’t jealous of him for being with someone else. You envied him for being able to find another partner in mere days after you parted ways, while for you, it felt like you’d never find or be able to retain anyone. Ever. Never ever.

‘Earth to Y/N!’ You jumped from someone’s voice ringing in your ears.

Looking up, you saw that the elevator doors were held open by your dashing neighbor, who was staring directly at you.

‘Sorry, I spaced out,’ you quickly entered. ‘Hi.’

‘Hey,’ Baekhyun smiled, pressing the button for your floor. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Um, yeah. No. I mean-’ You sighed. ‘I’m just a bit out of sorts.’

‘Trouble at work?’

‘No, my new job is great. A huge improvement on the previous one. It’s just… everything else is not nearly as great?’

Yeah, because you pushed yourself to get back on the market to finally not be alone, and here you were. Back to square one.The sniffling you produced startled even your own self.

‘Oh god, I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay. There’s nothing to be sorry about,’ he replied, his voice gentle. ‘Do you want to talk?’

‘Oh no, I wouldn’t dream about boring you with my stupid problems.’

‘I’m sure they aren’t stupid,’ he said. ‘And I have ice cream. Almost any flavor you could think of.’

You looked at him silently, and he smiled again reassuringly.

‘It’s not mandatory for you to tell me anything. But I can treat my favorite neighbor with some ice cream, can I not?’

‘Am I your favorite just because you don’t know anyone else?’ You snickered gawkily.

‘No. Not just-’

He was interrupted by the usual announcement of your floor.

‘So, what do you think? You can change first and then come, no hurry. I’m free tonight.’

You puckered your lips, genuinely intrigued by his offer. Ice cream sounded perfect right about now. Although agreeing just because of the promised treats was pretty childish, you couldn’t help but be seduced by his suggestion. So, you gave him a shy nod.

‘Okay. Throw on something comfy and come over.’

You entered your respective apartments, and only after the door behind you locked… you realized that your heart was racing.

‘Damn you, Y/N, why did you agree to do this??’ You whined, catching a glimpse of your scrunched-up face in the mirror.

Fishing your phone out of your handbag quickly, you messaged Yuki.

You | I fucked up, Yu!!

You | Idk what to do now…. ㅠㅠ

Ki-yaah | What happened?? Did you like a pic on Minho’s new gf’s SNS??

Ki-yaah | I’m so dumb for telling you about this… I’m so sorry Y/N ㅠㅠ

You | No, not that

You | Who cares about Minho and his girlfriend??

You | I mean, I was a bit salty about this… But I met Baekhyun again!

Ki-yaah | Baekhyun? Your cute as fuck neighbor Baekhyun??

You | No

You | Yes?

You | My neighbor Baekhyun. I blurted out that I wasn’t in the greatest mood, and he invited me to his place for ice cream!

Ki-yaah | WHAT

Ki-yaah | YAH

Ki-yaah | THAT SLEEK BASTARD

Ki-yaah | I hope you’re texting me from his couch

Ki-yaah | Or kitchen counter

Ki-yaah | Or wherever you kids decide to do it

A bunch of obscene emojis appeared on your screen, making you blush on the spot.

You | Do it?? We’re not doing anything. I’m home!

Ki-yaah | So, you’ve already done it?? HOW WAS IT??

Ki-yaah | Waaah, you’re quick these days, Y/N-ah! Finally, you’re learning your lessons

Ki-yaah | I hope you wrapped it up though

Ki-yaah | I wouldn’t blame you if you skipped it, though, I can imagine how starved you are on good sex.. Still, safety first!

Ki-yaah | Wait, so was he?? Any good??

Ki-yaah | You’re silent!

She typed so fast that you didn’t even have a second to write back, mostly from shock – your friend wasn’t always this shameless, actually.

Then she started calling.

‘Yah, why aren’t you spilling the beans?? Too worn out to type, bestie?’ She smirked on the phone, making you cringe.

‘Because there’s nothing to spill! I haven’t even gone over yet.’

There was a second of silence.

‘… What?!’

‘I have to change; I just came from work, you know? My makeup needs fixing too…’

Your phone instantly started vibrating as a video call request came in, which you begrudgingly accepted.

‘Damn, you can’t go like this. It’s not seductive at all!’ She exclaimed.

‘I’m not going over to seduce anyone! And he told me to wear something comfy…’

‘What?? Hm, actually…’ She tapped her index finger on her chin, deep in thought. ‘He does look like the type to be into that.’

‘I-into what?’

‘Cute girls! I told you already, he was probably crushing on you since the time he came to your housewarming party!’

‘Pfft, that’s ridiculous. And don’t bring up him allegedly glaring at Yeol for his stupid comments again, I beg of you!’

‘Alright. But he’s always so nice to you! Oh-Em-Gee, you’d look so cute together,’ she squealed.

‘I don’t have time for this. I can’t have him waiting for much longer, and I need to shower…’

‘Yes! And remove your makeup while you’re at it.’

‘Huh?? If I redo my makeup… isn’t it gonna look strange? Like I’m trying too hard?’

‘You won’t have to redo it. You’ll have only very basic nude makeup on. Looking all natural and cute.’

‘I swear, if you say ‘cute’ one more time-’

‘Can’t a girl dream?? I can already imagine how cute your children would be…’ Your friend kept musing.

‘I’m hanging up.’

‘Yah, take this seriously. Clean up nicely, and let your hair down. Also, shave your-’

‘Yuki!!’

‘You never know!! One second, he’s licking ice cream off his spoon; the other, he’s l-’

Quickly tapping on your phone screen, you canceled this embarrassing call. The vivid images didn’t leave your mind as fast, though, so you shivered, shaking your head to get rid of the obscenities.

‘She’s a bad influence, for sure,’ you muttered, still ashamed of yourself for imagining your neighbor in such a context.

The time was ticking, so you decided that Yuki was somewhat right and needed to clean up. You also needed to hurry the heck up; you didn’t want to make Baekhyun wait too long. Thirty minutes later, you were in front of his door.

‘Come in, come in,’ he ushered you inside, having you change your footwear for the pink house slippers.

Why did he have those again?

‘Cute, right? I ordered them for my niece and got the size completely wrong, but they fit you perfectly. I guess I wasn’t wrong after all.’

He looked at your feet for another second before blinking and clearing his throat.

‘Let’s not waste any more time, everything’s ready. Come on!’

Everything? Did he prepare a whole reception?

You took a good look at the back of his head as he walked you to his kitchen, noticing that his hair was slightly wet. Did he also shower? You swallowed at the thought. He probably didn’t invest as much time into the preparations as you did, though. You blamed your best friend for the inappropriate thought she planted in your head!

‘Here, take a look.’

He opened his freezer, and you gasped.

There was an entire collection of ice cream. Cones, popsicles, buckets… All different flavors and manufacturers.

‘I see you’re impressed,’ he smirked. ‘I have a niece and a nephew, you know? Kids aren’t easy to please these days.’

‘Can’t deny that I am. How many do you have here?’

‘No idea… I just keep buying them. Which one’s to your liking? You can try different ones. I’m in the mood for mint choco and lemon.’

‘Those are my favorites!’ You jumped up like a kid.

‘Really? Both?’

‘Yeah! I haven’t seen a lemon ice cream anywhere, only sorbets! Where did you find it?’ You closed the freezer as he got the two buckets out.

Baekhyun suddenly seemed pleased with himself.

‘You think I give away trade secrets just like that…’ He replied mysteriously.

‘I wanna buy some too,’ you pouted, circling around him while he took the lids off. ‘If you don’t tell me… I’ll eat all of yours!’

‘Ha, go ahead. There’s more where that came from,’ he teased right back, hovering slightly over you.

Lowering your gaze to avoid staring directly at him, you noticed something.

‘What’s this?’

Baekhyun turned back to the counter.

‘Ah, this old thing? You know how ice cream scoops are sold in paper cups or cones? This thing,’ he picked it up. ‘Is to make those. Watch.’

He dipped the instrument in water and shook it slightly, then scooped the mint ice cream, creating a smooth green ball with tiny pieces of chocolate adding to its hue.

‘Cool,’ you muttered, genuinely finding that fascinating.

‘Right? It’s awesome!’

‘Let me guess: the kids don’t appreciate it enough?’ You asked.

‘Those little- Here, you try with lemon.’ He pressed on a small lever and dropped the green globe into a bowl.

You shook your head.

‘I’ll mess it up; you do it.’

‘Come on, Y/N. You can’t mess it up; it��s just ice cream.’

‘Just ice cream? You don’t deserve to know the secret selling spots for this!’

He snorted, moving to the side to give you more space to try and repeat his previous actions.

You dipped it in water like he did and shook it before moving the lemon ice cream bucket closer. Spending about twenty seconds taking aim, you huffed.

‘I can’t do it! Yours is so round and pretty; I am not that professional.’

‘I’ll help,’ he chuckled at your meltdown, holding your wrist and softly pressing down on your hand to guide it. ‘Scoop it this way to make it full and round.’

You did as you were told, yet your mind was far away from the scooping technique. The entire focus of your being was now set on the unprecedented proximity you were in. He held your hand, his chest so close to your shoulder that you could feel the heat radiating off him. When you dropped a yellow ball of lemon ice cream into the bowl, you could only pray that he didn’t notice the goosebumps littering your arms.

‘See? Yours is even better-shaped than mine,’ he hummed close to your ear.

‘Y-yeah.’

As if sensing your perturbation, Baekhyun suddenly stepped back.

‘Trying just two flavors is a waste of an evening. Let’s get more.’

Ten minutes later, you were sitting in his living room at the small table in front of his couch. The bowl with at least a dozen different ice creams sat atop another one, which was filled with ice.

‘No one likes melted goo, right?’ Baekhyun chuckled while constructing this mobile freezer.

You tried all of them one by one, gushing about each flavor.

‘The grape one isn’t tickling my fancy,’ he said, nudging the oddly-colored glob away.

‘Really?’ You reached for it with your spoon.

‘Don’t even try it. That’s bad,’ he scrunched his nose. ‘I can taste every chemical they used to make this grape flavor.’

You laughed, trying it despite his protests.

‘It tastes like… very cheap jelly,’ you said.

‘Exactly! Such a strange texture. Hmm, I shall look for a better option then. My nephew Siwoo loves grapes.’

You smiled at his concern for his youngest family member’s preferences.

‘Your nephews must be the happiest kids in town with an uncle like that,’ you murmured, stealing a bite from the rest of the lemon ball that he subtly nudged your way earlier.

‘They’re pretty lucky, aren’t they?’ He agreed easily, earning a snicker from you.

As you savored the last of the lemon flavor on your tongue, he leaned in, eyes focused on your lips.

‘You eat just like Siwoo,’ he instinctively wiped your lower lip with his thumb.

Looking up at him, you caught the moment he realized what he was doing and retreated.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered awkwardly. ‘It’s a habit.’

Pressing your finger to your lower lip, which was now burning, you shook your head neutrally.

‘It’s okay. You must spend a lot of time with them,’ you scooped more in your spoon to somehow soothe the burn on your lips.

‘Not as much as I’d like. Most of the time, our schedules don’t match up, especially with them living in a different city. I try to have them over or visit them as much as possible.’

Baekhyun’s voice became warmer as he reminisced.

‘I get scolded by hyung a lot for spoiling them. But what can I do? At least they’ll have those pleasant memories and presents to remember me by while we’re apart.’

‘Are they close in age?’

‘About four years apart. Seoyul is pretty grown already; I can’t believe her little brother is going to school soon as well.’ He smiled, remembering something. ‘When she started her first grade, he was so upset. He cried every time she left the house.’

‘Aw, that’s so cute,’ you cooed. ‘So they’re getting along well?’

‘Yeah, apart from the occasional bickering. Siwoo is… a boy.’

‘A little daredevil?’

‘He’s driving his noona insane sometimes. To be honest, I was exactly the same at his age. We’re both lucky to have siblings several years older.’

‘Ah, so your hyung is much older than you?’

‘Seven years. He was almost like a father,’ Baekhyun chuckled. ‘But had he been even a couple of years younger… Pretty sure he would’ve given me a piece of his mind back then.’

‘I wouldn’t ever imagine that you were a maknae of your family.’

‘Why? I had so much aegyo as a child! Yes, my mom had to exercise lots of patience, but I was cute as hell.’

‘I’m sure that’s how it was,’ you hummed.

‘I’m still in the top-3 cutest of our family list. Might even be cuter than Seoyul at times; she’s way too serious these days.’

‘Wow, going over your nephews’ heads after the title… How mature of you.’

‘Hey, don’t blame me for being extremely cute.’

‘Show me some aegyo then,’ you challenged him with a smile.

‘Huh, you wish. You’re not ready for my aegyo, Y/N-ie.’ He responded sassily.

‘Is that so?’ You smirked, holding his gaze up until the chime of your phone provided an interruption.

Your bestie found a great time to pry into your business, which was evident from the message previews on the screen.

Ki-yaah | You’re not texting me back…

Ki-yaah | Which either means that you chickened out…

Ki-yaah | …or his stamina is REALLY freaking impressive

Ki-yaah | Which one is it??? I hope it’s the latter!

You inhaled sharply and started coughing, barely managing to swipe those messages off the screen before Baekhyun could see them.

‘Are you okay?’ He patted you on the back to help you overcome your coughing fit.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t realize it was so late… It was so rude of me to keep you up. Let me help you clean this up.’

‘Leave it,’ he shook his head, catching you by the wrist. ‘I’ll put this away later.’

‘I’ll… get going then,’ you stood so abruptly that your legs couldn’t keep up with you, completely numb from being in the same position for so long.

‘Y/N!’ Baekhyun rose to catch you by the arms. ‘Take a second, sit on the couch. Your legs must’ve fallen asleep.’

You swatted at your legs with your palms, urging the blood flow to restore quicker.

‘Sorry…’

‘Why are you sorry? I’m not in a hurry to get rid of you.’ He stated simply.

‘It’s just so late… and… you must have stuff to do.’

‘Nope. I actually had fun. I rarely get to sit around at home munching on ice cream and enjoying another grownup’s company.’

You bit your lip shyly at his words, and he suddenly tsked.

‘Although I feel like we were mostly talking about me. That’s a shame. I want to hear about you as well,’ Baekhyun mused, walking you to the door. ‘Well, let’s save it for next time.’

Next time, he said.

Next time??

You turned your back on him to conceal the shade of your cheeks and pretended to fidget with the doorknob.

‘Let me,’ he reached over you, pressing his warm chest to your back for a second to unlock the door.

But before you could step outside, his fingers wrapped around your forearm in a lax hold.

‘And Y/N… If you ever find yourself craving some lemon ice cream… I’m ready to provide it.’

With that, he pushed the door open and allowed you to leave his apartment.

Masterlist

A/N: Thank you for reading! Another BBH mini-series started 💫 I hope you enjoyed part 1~ Pls let me know what you think via comments, asks and reblogs, my darlings 💜 Also, I am very curious if you are picturing anyone in particular as Hoseok hehe 🙃

[hxney-lemcn]

Not A Hero — Farmworld! Finn Mertens x gn! reader

summary: Reader divulges in telling stories of their world to the Merten kids. Later that night, Finn can't help but ask to hear more.

tw: slight angst, is this hurt/comfort?, mentions of death

a/n: This can be read as a one shot but it's technically a continuation of my previous fic. I'm probably gonna make this into a one shot series.

wc: 1k

Chapter Two

Master List | Chapter One

“What’s your world like?” Bonnie asked, eyes seeming to sparkle. 

I hesitated, pausing the weeding I was doing, “I…I shouldn’t talk about it.”

Finn had been kind enough to let me stay, and I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. One of them clearly being any talk of magic. 

“Pleeeeeeeease,” Bonnie whined. “I promise I won’t tell Daddy.”

I bit my lip, eyes turning to the weeds I pulled out to avoid her puppy dog eyes. 

“Are there dragons?” Fern asked, surprising me as he appeared from seemingly nowhere. 

“Uh…” I trailed off, not sure what to do.

“Are there robots?” Neptr asked, joining as well.

“How about giants?” Stormo asked.

Before I knew it, most of the Mertens family was sitting around me, looking expectantly at me. 

“Break it up guys,” Jay spoke up, walking over to us. “We don’t want to overwhelm them.”

“Awe c’mon Jay,” Bonnie whined once more. “Aren’t you even a teeny bit curious?”

Jay paused, Little Destiny speaking up from his side, “I’m a bit curious…”

Jay also bit his lip, seeming to know the dilemma I’m in, “I guess…”

Two more expectant eyes were on me and I felt myself caving.

“Well, I guess I can share a little…”

I talked about the candy kingdom, all the princesses, and the adventures that I was sent on. I felt myself loosen up as all their faces shared a look of awe. I couldn’t help myself from talking about the Finn and Jake from my world, explaining how Jake was like Cake but a dog, and how we all went on adventures all the time. 

“Whoah,” Bonnie awed. “I wanna be a princess!”

“So I’m a pie throwing robot in your world?” Neptr asked uncertainly, unsure how to feel about that. 

“What’s a video game?” Fern asked. 

“Dad in your world sounds super cool!” Stormo exclaimed. 

I laughed at all their comments, “Your dad here is super cool too.”

“Eh,” They all chorused, looking at each other with doubt. 

I rolled my eyes at their antics, “He literally has a blow torch prosthetic.” 

“What’s going on?” Finn asked, walking up to our little group circle. 

“Nothing,” The kids replied over each other, quickly rushing off elsewhere. I waved them off as Finn stood to my side, watching them run with squinted eyes. His gaze then lowered to me, glancing at my bandaged wing before meeting my eyes. 

“I…uh…” I rambled nervously, turning to dig out a weed I was going to before being distracted. “Just giving them weeding tips?” I replied in a more questioning tone than statement. 

“I don’t want you giving them ideas,” Finn stated with a slight glare. 

“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized, fiddling with the grass. “Th-they kept asking and they were giving me puppy dog eyes…”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Finn huffed, before walking off towards the house. 

…

I’ve been here for a few nights, and something I noticed was that Finn seemed to have a habit of staying up a bit next to the furnace. Since that location was basically my bed, I had the pleasure of staying up with him. We never really talked, but we didn’t really need to. It was nice to just sit in each other's company…and Jake’s of course.

I scratched Jake's head gently as he laid his head on my lap. I smiled down at him, heart twisting in a bittersweet feeling. He was so old, it reminded me of Jake from my world. Except he had already…

“What’s he like?” Finn asked, and I looked up at him in confusion. “The Finn from your world.” My eyes widened, he must’ve heard more of the kids and I’s conversation then he let on.

“Brave, heroic, cheerful, selfless,” I replied, those were the first things I could think of. I smiled grimly and looked down at Jake, “But after Jake…after he passed, Finn became a bit more…careless. We drifted apart after a while, but we check in on each other from time to time.”

I looked up, meeting Finn’s gaze, “You two are pretty different personality wise, but there’s a lot of similarities. Like you seem to be just as brave as my world's Finn. You’re also protective of the ones you care for, and also heroic.” Only the crackling of the fire was heard for a few minutes. Finn seemed to be contemplating my words.

“I’m not a hero,” He finally replied in a gravelly voice. My eyebrows furrowed, how was him, willing to risk his life for us strangers, not heroic?

“You risked your life for Fionna, Cake and Simon,” I replied in confusion. “You didn’t have to, but you did.”

“You risked your life for mine,” Finn rebutted. 

“And I was a hero in my world alongside Finn,” I glared playfully. 

“I’ve hurt people,” Finn grumbled. “I’m no hero.”

I stared at him in concern, but he continued to face the fire. I wasn’t sure how to respond, gaze landing back down to Jake. How would Jake reply? ‘Everyone makes mistakes, we can only improve ourselves after we make them.’

“Everyone makes mistakes,” I replied. “We can only improve ourselves and become a better person after we make them.” He continued to stare into the fire, and now I knew why he held that heavy stare. At least to some degree. Something real messed up must have happened to him if he actually hurt people. 

“You can’t blame yourself forever,” I finished, placing a hand on his arm. 

He glanced down at my hand before looking towards Jake, “Yes I can.”

I huffed, crossing my arms, “You’re only going to make yourself miserable doing that. Look around you! You have a nice house and farm with a lovely family. Yes you may have done bad things in your past, but guess what, that’s your past. This is the present, you're a father who takes care of his family, you took strangers in even though you didn’t trust them. You’re a good person whether you like it or not.”

A warm silence settled over us after that. He seemed to be considering my words thoughtfully, and I can only hope that I got through to him in some way. He added a last piece of wood to the furnace before turning into bed. 

“Good night,” Finn murmured, taking the lamp that sat next to his stool.

I stared at him with wide eyes. This was the first time he bid me a good night.

“Good night,” I smiled back at him.

← Previous Chapter Next Chapter →

[dw19791967]

That Feeling Part 1

Pairing: Dean x reader (eventual), OFC Tyler

Warnings: language, unrequited love, angst, unwanted kissing.

Trigger Warning: This fic contains unwanted kissing, if that could be triggering for you I would skip out on this one. It is based on some experiences I have had in real life.

*All mistakes are my own!

Sorry for being gone for so long! Had a lot going on. This is going to be part one of a new series. I have no plan of when I am posting and I don't want to make promises I may not be able to keep. Thank you all for your support and love.

-Layla

____________________________

“And where are you off to this evening?” Dean asked me while sitting in the library. 

I went in there to grab my jacket. I figured he would be in his room or out at this point. 

“Going to meet up with a friend, you don’t know them.” I looked at him with a smile on my face. 

Ok, there is a good chance he is going to ask who, what, when, and where. He would never admit it but he was a little over protective of me as I was of him. He and Sam were the first people I had bonded with in forever when we had met two years ago. Sam was a loveable teddy bear, the big brother I had always dreamed of having. Dean….he was different. His cocky attitude, his smile, I knew I was doomed. I knew he would never see me as anything more than a friend so I hid my feelings deep down. I tried to find other ways to occupy my mind instead of dreaming of the perfect life with the older Winchester. That was hard. 

“How did you meet them and where are you going?” Dean didn’t look up from his book. 

“Well it’s a long story but we grew up in the same town and he knew I was living in Kansas now so he wanted to meet up. He’s in town on a business trip. I haven’t talked to anyone from there since I was 16 so I thought it might do me some good to see an old friend. We are meeting at the bar not too far from here but far enough.” I felt like I had to justify myself. Why does he make me nervous?

“Do you need me to go with you?” He finally looked at me. God those eyes. 

“No, I’m a big girl plus I have my knife in my purse if things go sideways which I highly doubt they will. He’s a good guy Dean, don't worry.” I grabbed my jacket and patted him on the shoulder. 

“Sweetheart I will always worry especially when I know you always try to see the good in people.” He went to stand.

I rolled my eyes. “I promise I will be careful, my location is on and you know I will leave if he tries anything.” I grabbed my purse and started heading to the door. 

He grabbed my arm. “Please be careful.” 

“You know I will.” I smiled at him.

_____________________________________________

I was waiting in the bar. I wasn’t nervous before but now I am. The fact that Dean was worried about me was nothing new but it gave me a weird feeling. Nothing bad of course, just a feeling that maybe he does care for me as more than a friend. 

My thinking was distracted when I heard my name called. “Y/N?” 

“Hey, Tyler! How are you?” I stood to give the man a hug.

“I’m doing great, damn you look good.” He winked at me. 

I smiled awkwardly, “Well thanks!” I moved to sit down again. 

“So how have you been?” Tyler asked.

“You know, same old same old, still same job nothing new going on really. What about you?” I suddenly felt nervous. 

“Oh nothing new with me either, hey do you want to get out of here we could drive around for a bit. It’s kinda loud in here.” Tyler moved to stand.

“I guess we can.” I moved to stand as well. 

It wasn’t until we were outside and getting into his car that I felt more nervous than I did before. He drove around and we talked for a bit. Then he pulled off into a field. 

My hunter senses were going off now. What is happening?

“Y/N” Tyler said. 

I looked at him, the next thing I knew he was kissing me. What the actual hell. 

“Please don’t” I said as I pushed him off of me. I got out of the car. 

“Woah hey where ya going?” He got out after me. 

“Listen I don’t know if I gave you the wrong impression or something but I was not ok with that. I thought we were friends?” I asked. I was holding it together fairly well and trying not to cry. 

“Well I just figured since we have known each other for a while now and you were kinda flirty in some of our messages this is where we were headed.” He smiled at me. 

“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression but that was not my intention. I would really like it if you could take me back to my car now.” I hugged my jacket together around me. 

“I’m sorry for doing that. I figured it would be no big deal to you.” He moved closer to me. 

I backed up. 

“It was. You can go, I’ll walk to the road and call an uber.” I am scared now. 

“Y/N please I’m sorry, let’s just talk about this.” 

“It’s ok, just please go ok? I’ll message you later.” I started walking towards the road. 

He got in his car and peeled out of there. Thank the Lord he left.

 Oh God, what happened? How could I be so stupid? Dean is going to be pissed at me.

I pulled my phone out of my purse. Dean had texted me. 

Dean: 

Why are you in a field?

Are you ok?

I’m on my way.

I sat down to wait. I never expected that to happen….

_____________________________________________

I had been sitting there for around five minutes when I heard the roar of Baby.

My head was down when he got out of the car. 

“Sweetheart?” Dean approached me slowly.

He knelt down to me. “Hey, what happened?”

I  broke. I leapt into his arms and began to sob. I am such an idiot. 

I looked up at him, “I’m so sorry.” I continued to cry.

“Hey hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. Look at me Y/N.” 

I looked at him. He had tears in his eyes.

“Let’s go home ok?” He stood back up. He reached his arm out to help me stand. 

We drove back to the bunker in silence. He held my hand the whole time. I had stopped crying at this point and went into auto pilot mode. 

We walked into the bunker. “How about you go get changed and I’ll meet you in my room, ok?” 

I nodded at him.

I went down the hallway and to the bathroom. I decided a shower was a good idea to wash away the shame I had. What girl doesn’t realize when a guy is going to come onto her, what girl freaks out when a guy kisses her. I guess this girl. 

I was drying off when I heard a knock on the bathroom door. I heard Dean speak “Hey I left your pj’s and stuff out here. I’ll head to my room while you get changed.” 

He was being sweet. Of course he was. He knew I needed him right now. How he could always tell, I don’t know how. 

I got changed then headed to his room. He was sitting on his bed, he moved over when he saw me and opened his arms. 

I laid down and let him hold me. I began to cry again. 

“He kissed me Dean.” I cried into his chest. 

He knew why I had issues, we had discussed that before. 

“It’s ok sweetheart, I’m here.” He kissed my head.

“I just don’t understand, we were friends, we had never discussed anything more. Hell, I've only talked to him for a few months now. I should have known better when he wanted to meet up randomly. God I’m an idiot.”

“You are not an idiot Y/N. You didn’t know. He’s the one at fault, not you.” 

“Who freaks out over someone kissing them, that’s not normal!” I looked up at him. 

“Y/N, it shocked you. You weren’t expecting it and he should have asked in my opinion. Especially if there was no hint of the night going in that direction.”

“I’m just crazy. No one is ever going to love me and at this point I don’t even know if I could handle it. I’m a mess.” 

“You are not crazy! Don’t say that about yourself. You are going to find the guy of your dreams some day, someone who takes it one day at a time on your terms, I promise. And if you are a mess, what am I?” He looked down at me. 

“You are my amazing best friend. I should have taken your talk as a hint of how the night was going to go.” I sighed. 

“You didn’t know sweetheart, and like I said you always try to see the good in people even when I don’t think you should. I was so worried. Especially when I saw you were in some random ass field. That guy is an ass and I would like to punch the son of a bitch in the face. I’m just thankful he didn’t try to do anything more. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you Y/N.” 

“I know Dean and I’m sorry. I am going to look into talking to a counselor. I think that could help. Thank you for coming, for saving me.” I sat up and kissed his cheek. 

He looked at me. Really looked at me. There it was, that feeling. The feeling of being scared about how much I cared about him. What scared me even more was how much I needed him. 

“I will always save you sweetheart, always.”

[mageofsleep]

Yukari Goes Outside But She's Still Sleeping (I Don't Really Have a Good Title For This, But It's A Sequel to the Koishi One) Fumo Friday Short Story 2

Second Part to Koishi and the Starry Apple Please click "Keep Reading" After you're done with the first paragraph. Yukari wandered about Gensokyo looking for something to do, but it was so boring to her and nothing was happening. She had decided to open a gap in the wilderness to the Outside and a fox had climbed onto her shoulder as she walked into the gap. As soon as she entered the Outside into an alleyway of a bustling city filled with skyscrapers, a green satori girl aimlessly passed by her and ran off deeper into the Outside. The fox on her shoulder exclaimed, "Lady Yukari, a satori followed us to the outside! She could read our minds, and she might disappear, you know. What should we do?" "I wouldn't worry about it too much, Miss Ran. We've already met her before plenty of times, she is Koishi Komeiji, the sister of the Satori in Chireiden. Her third eye is sealed and won't be able to read minds. As long as she stays this way, she is the unknown and filled with surprises, just like me and the Nue that travels to this place. Plus, she's not from Gensokyo and I'm not working, so it's not my problem to worry about." Yukari turned back and looked at Koishi headed towards a grocery store, "But.... it would be interesting to watch her mischief while sleeping than whatever I was planning. Let's find a nice spot to watch her."

Yukari then opens another gap and enters into a marshy land, and lays down on the ground between the ponds. She then opens a gap on the ground that she can see out of and the other side located on the ceiling of the grocery store that Koishi had entered. Yukari and Ran both watch her gaze at the starry apples. Ran noticed something and became startled, "Lady Yukari, you see that? Her third eye opened a little bit, the stitches of the eye started to unravel and then it quickly closed shut again!" Yukari consoled her, "No matter how hard her 'self' tries to awaken and break free, she will never be able to undo the barrier, or the 'stitches', on the eye." They then watch Koishi collecting lots of apples. Koishi prances away to the exit, as the employees try to warn her that she didn't check out. Alarms by the door that Koishi exited had sounded and the manager on the loud speakers called for security. Yukari had closed the gap on the ground and rested her head on the muddy ground. "Oh dear... I guess she is getting into a lot of trouble..... I better take the satori back to her home," she sighed. Koishi danced away with bags of apples as the police were chasing her, Yukari opened a gap in front of an aimless Koishi, then closed it after she had entered. Ran asked Yukari, "Lady Yukari, should we summon the cat and the shikigami crows to dispose of the camera footage?" "Not needed.... The seal on her third eye makes everyone around her forget her. The asset protection managers will only know that someone had stolen those apples, and the camera will only show a girl stealing apples from the grocery store and never seen again. It will all only be a single column of a newspaper and nothing more," Yukari replied, "Nowadays, with every information that is spread, disinformation is also spread. Even if an outrageous article about youkai trends on social media, people will think the photo is fake or a hoax. Reactions to events such as this is subjective and relative to each one's own minds. With every human who believes that it is fake, there will be some who will believe that it was the work of an 'alien' in a human disguise, outsiders that genuinely believe in youkai. Feeding on that human fear of the unknown like that is what lets youkai like us thrive in the Outside." Ran tilted her little fox head, "That's true, but if everyone forgets about Koishi, then how are you able to remember her?" "It's because the stitches on her eye are a barrier, a barrier that separates her access of the conscious and the unconscious. Both the conscious and unconscious are the boundaries of thought itself that everyone can use, and that barrier separates them. Now, she only has access to the unconscious, even in those of others, with great effect, and her access to the conscious is suppressed, albeit the seal is not fully perfect. I could unravel the stitches, but it was her own decision to have the seal be done," Yukari continued, "Here, if you're so bored, why don't you go play around and find cattails for you and Chen to play with? The shrine maiden can take care of whatever duties we could for now." "Lady Yukari, I'm not like those other beasts!" Ran gazes at the cattails and purple loosestrife swaying from the wind by a small pond, "But... an order is still an order," Ran then scurried to the cattails and loosestrife.

Elsewhere, a girl, with a purple plaid dress and red glasses, reads from a computer screen showing a social media website, "That's a satori! One that my doppelgänger took pictures of even!" a post in the middle of the screen is shown from a news account that says, in English, "Woman Steals Apples From Grocery Store, Then Suddenly Disappears Without A Trace!" while indented then is read "This woman was only caught via CCTV cameras and police bodycamera footage, nobody even remembered her at all, and when she exited the building with bags of apples, none of the employees who had tried to warn her or the police who had chased her remembered the incident at all. Could it have been an alien, in a disguise? Could it have been stealing apples and controlling people's minds, making earthlings forget all about the act?" "Well, obviously the rest of the article is pretty bogus, it's getting quote ratio'd to death, but that satori is Miss Satori's sister who sealed her eye!" the girl excitedly claims, "If there are more youkai who can travel to the Outside other than Miss Futatsuiwa, then I must find them and make real and interesting posts better than these cringe articles!! Outsiders would totally believe in youkai again for sure! We could make the Outside World a much more interesting place than what it is now!"

Note: purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), part of the loosestrife (Lythraceae) family. It is a flower native to Greece, and Yukari/Merry is based on a Greco-Irish author born in Greece, Lafcadio Hearn/Yakumo Koizumi. The flower's name and the name of the plant family was coined from the general and successor to Alexander the Great and King of Thrace named Lysimachos(Λυσίμαχος), which in literal terms means loosestrife. Note 2: cognitive relativism is the philosophy of cognitive science that "the truth" (of an event) is relative to people's own minds and experiences. This is the subject that Merry majors in, although hers seems to be more on the spiritual/occultist side. Also, I tried my best to make sense of Koishi's seal, since in the lore the satoris' story tries to merge both psychology(most likely something that Merry studied a great deal with the major she chose, too) but also some spiritual/fantasy elements since they are youkai. Koishi is a pretty hard character to understand imo.

[kfkr1ze]

[002-A11] Future Century Africa

Summary — ✈︎ Some of the students are whispering to each other privately about something. When Kaede stumbles upon them, they seem to be uncomfortable. Kaede then realizes what they were hiding. 

Characters— ✈︎ Akuta, Kiroku, Nanaki, Muneuji, Ushio

Location: Otomari Chuuzaemon Inn in Shodoshima

Nanaki: Is it fine if I look inside? I wanna check its status

Muneuji: Go ahead.

Kaede: (I wonder what that’s about… They’re huddled together and whispering to each other…)

(They’re pulling something out of that drawstring bag…?)

Muneuji: Gh…… Who’s there!?

Nanaki: Oh shit…!

Kaede: (Ah… They hid it. I guess it can’t be helped.)

Sorry! I wasn’t trying to spy on you guys or anything.

Muneuji: Ah- ah I see. I know that Chief isn’t the type of person to do something like that. I understand that. 

Nanaki: Y-Yeah. It was just a coincidence. It really was… a coincidence.

Right, Kaguya-kun?

Muneuji: Correct, It was…… A coincidence.

Kaede: Just want on earth were you guys looking at?

That drawstring bag is really cute.

Nanaki: Ah, no, this is… Haha…

Muneuji: There’s nothing in particular worth… mentioning…

Kaede: ( … There’s something strange going on. It’s pretty weird for these two to act all flustered like thisーー)

(Wait!?)

(Aahhh〜！So it’s something like that! They’re teens after all…

They must’ve brought some shady stuff with them.)

Nanaki: ………

Muneuji: ………

Kaede: (I’ve had similar experiences when I was traveling with my friends too. We would take turns watching those kinds of videos at night.)

(Alright… I have to let them know that we’re on the same page here.)

I get it! It’s fun to watch that type of stuff with your friends, isn’t it? The best part about trips like this is talking about what your type is during the night!

Nanaki: Hah? What are you talkingーー

Kaede: Ah, it’s okay! I get it! It’s fine, right?

Muneuji: I see. It helps that you understand as well.

Nanaki: Wait, I don’t think he understands what’s going on at all…

Kaede: Then, I’ll just take the trash out and head back to my room!

I won’t bother you guys anymore so it’s all good! See you tomorrow!

Nanaki: Ah… Sigh…… He definitely just misunderstood something here. 

He was acting overly considerate too.

Muneuji: How did he misunderstand?

Nanaki: Ah, whatever. It doesn’t matter.

…… Adults are just all kinds of annoying. 

Location: Beach in Shodoshima

Gannosuke: Everyone, good morning!

Today is the start of the hospitality training. Soーー

I’d like to start off by checking your resolve. 

Kaede: … Is what I was going to say.

Gannosuke: I’m aware that you students are beginners when it comes to hospitality.

And your only weapon right now is those eyelashes sculpted by the Gods…

Akuta: What are eyelashes sculpted by Gods?

Muneuji: It’s a long story, but they seem to be a divine tool that I possess.

Gannosuke: In order to ease the suffering of those who lack this sort of weapon… that is where your “spirit” comes in!

“We’re going to provide the best hospitality!” is the spirit you need! Be bold!

First up, show me your true feelings!

Depending on the results, the contents of your training may end up changing here and there!

Kaede: Alright, everyone, let’s do our best to provide great hospitality…!

「OMOTENASHI BATTLE」

Gannosuke: That’s enough! 

Kaede: Hah, hah… Thank you for your guidance…!

Gannosuke: There’s no time to rest.

Next up is on-site training! Then, let’s go!

Kaede: (H-He’s more of a spartan than I thought…!)

Gannosuke: Now is time for a break!

Ushio: Hah, hah… Hard…

Akuta: I’M TIREEDDDDDDD!

I want to eat something sweet… Anything will doーー Regular sugar, brown sugar, or a sweet banana…

Nanaki: A café au lait would be really good right now.

With a lot of sugar and more beans too… I feel like lightly roasting them today.

Muneuji: Personally, I really love chocolate.

Kiroku: ……I want…… sweets that are…… fancy and pretty.

Akuta: Ughhh anything's fine! I want something that’s sweet.

Gannosuke: I thought you would say something like that. I arranged a place for us to have brunch. With a set of crepes and coffee!

Location: Cafe in Shodoshima

Kaede: Wah, it looks delicious! Thank you very much!

Then, let’s have a meeting about our plans while we eat!

All 5: Thank you for the meal.

Ushio: ………

Akuta: This is super good! My tiredness is melting away〜！

All the delicious ingredients are soaking into every one of my organs〜！

Kaede: It really feels like it!

And, these crepes taste a little different from usual crepes…

Ushio: …… Olives.

Kaede: Eh?

Gannosuke: You got it correct.

Yes, I usually recommend having crepes with lemon olive oil.  

Kaede: I see… So you use olives to accentuate the flavor of the crepes!

Gannosuke: Yes. Olives are a specialty from Shodoshima after all.

It’s a unique flavor you won’t find anywhere elseーー And it’s delicious, isn’t it?

Ushio: ………

Gannosuke: You were the only one who noticed the olives. Do you think it tastes good?

Ushio: ………

Gannosuke: … Good grief, you’re not an honest one, are you?

Kaede: (He’s the one who’s eating the most out of all of us, so it’s pretty obvious what he thinks.)

Afterwards, and after discussing it with everyone, the assignments for the summer festival were decided. 

Kiroku-kun will be the one painting the lanterns being displayed at the venue.

Nanaki-kun will be in charge of the musical composition to go with the 2,000 fireworks.

Ushio-kun will be opening a stall in an area that’s lacking in food stalls.

Akuta-kun will be in charge of video recording, and Muneuji-kun will help with overall management.

And thenーー

Kaede: I wanted to thank you all for your hard work on the first day of training. You’ll be free for the rest of the afternoon.

I would like each of you to deepen your understanding of Shodoshima, so you can do so by looking around in various different areas.

Keep your GPS on. And, don’t forget to submit a schedule of what activities you plan to do. Contact us regularly too!

Then, everyone is dismissed!

Akuta: WE’RE FREE, YAAYYY!! I’M A FREE BEING!!

Theeen～. What movie will we watch tonight?

Nanaki: Hey hey, don’t tell me you plan on sleeping over again tonight?

Kaede: Akuta-kun, did you stay over at Nanaki-kun’s room yesterday?

Nanaki: Yeah. He suddenly came in saying “Let’s watch a movie〜”

Kiroku: ……

Nanaki: In the end, we all ended up sleeping together in a big pile. I didn’t get enough sleep at all. 

…Right?

Kiroku: Mhm……

Muneuji: Even though he managed to win a room by himself, he still decided to go to someone else’s room? Isotake is a strange person.

Ushio: He’s strange, yeah, but maybe he’s the type who doesn’t like to be alone.

There’s a lot of people like that. 

A person who can only keep themselves together by being with other people.

Or maybe he’s just the type of person who can’t sleep by himself.

Like a baby who can’t sleep without his mommy by his side. Hahaha.

Kaede: H-Hey, stop that, Ushio-kun…!

Akuta: Too bad, you’re wrong! I can definitely fall asleep on my own.

But, it’s boring to just do things like normal, so I’m gonna stay over again!

Y’know, Nanaki has been sleeping with a goat plushie ever since we were in the Oden Groupーー

Nanaki: Ah! You…! Isotake-ku… Akutaa!!

Akuta: UGoh… Goho… It… hurts…!

Kaede: That’s one hell of a chokehold… 

By the way, what’s the Oden Group?

Nanaki: It doesn’t matter. I’ve known Akuta since we were in kindergarten… We were in the Oden Group together. 

… In the middle of elementary school, we went to separate schools, and then we met again in middle school. 

Akuta: I give, I give…! I ‘ m gon na… die…!

Nanaki:  Well, that’s all there is to it.

There’s nothing else to add, that’s all there is to that story.

Kaede: I-I see.

Um… I think you can let Akuta-kun go now… His face is turning purple…

Nanaki: … Fine, I’ll release him.

Akuta: Gohou… Cough cough… Goho! What was that, all of a sudden〜!?

I swear I saw a flower field on the other side. My first near-death experience!

Kaede: I can only laugh…

Kiroku: …… Pretty… tough.

Akuta: Well whatever! That’s why〜. 

As friends from the Oden Group, let’s see a movie together again tonight!

Nanaki: Sigh… I guess I have no choice. What movie do you wanna see?

Akuta: How about “Future Century Africa”!?

Nanaki: … That one is no good.

Kaede: (Huh? Nanaki-kun’s behavior is getting…)

Akuta: Ehhh… Why not～？

Nanaki: I promised someone else that I’d see that movie with them.

…… I see. So it already got screened.

Akuta: I get it I get it～

But that kind of promise expires once the movie has finished screening y’know.

Nanaki: ……

…Whatever, I already know that, but.

It doesn’t matter. I won’t watch that movie.

That’s all so, bye.

Kaede: Ah, wait, Nanaki-kunーー！

Previous — ✈︎ Masterlist — ✈︎ Next

[sunflowersandcherryblossoms]

Ask game: 10, 13, 22

10. ls there a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Some have, and mostly because they were better accepted than what I expected.

The very first one I wrote (which actually was a continuation from an abandoned fic, whose original author I contacted for permission and credited, of course) was for Star Wars.

I wrote Hidden Fantasies back in 2016 (I was not in fandoms before that... Portugal was... An outlier in this, I guess. Not much attention to fandoms.) and I was actually expecting nothing. I just knew I had to write it a post it. And then I had a first comment and I just went like "Wait? People actually READ my stuff?"

Another one I wasn't expecting to have the acceptance it had was Talking Is Hard from the VLD/Klance fandom.

It's currently on second place Hits wise, after My Dream Has Your Eyes...

I had a comment that said that for them, that fanfic was their season 8 and I cried. I actually cried of happiness.

On the disappointed side I have pretty much all I wrote for the Legend Of The Galactic Heroes fandom. It might be because it's a small fandom, but some of those fics have 20 hits...

The Bleach fandom has always surprised me for the positive!

I had one that was kinda falling behind, but that's my fault because I tagged it wrong. It picked up after correcting that.

Still, I wrote an OC only story, Brothers By Death, that I was counting on getting nothing at all!

It has 48 hits which for what it is, I think it's really good! And I have comments there!

So, yeah... The Bleach fandom had been treating me really nice. I love writing my Byaichi stories.

13. How much planning do you do before writing?

Whenever some new idea crosses my mind, I always brainstorm with my older son and start developing some initial lore and worldbuilding with his help.

Depending on what the plot is, I'll go researching for the initial idea to come together in a manner that seems logical.

Afterwards I just get to write and I keep my son as a "soundboard" for how I'm developing my stories.

I will research stuff like maps of the locations. Things that happened in that place on the year I'm setting my story in. Names and their meanings. The language of the characters and places where the action occurs, etc...

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

Yes.

Most of the times I have a very definite idea of how the story is supposed to end.

Rarely I've made radical changes to it. Sometimes I change more easily middle parts, (In my Sunflowers And Cherry Blossoms series, Byakuya and Ichigo were supposed to re-encounter only after five years. I changed it to two years.) than the actual ending.

I might change the place where the ending takes place, but not the ending per se. (My Dream Has Your Eyes was supposed to end at the Kuchiki Manor, instead of their Karakura home, but the content of that chapter would have been the exact same.)

My To Other Shores fanfic already has the final scene written down, I just need to decided exactly how to get there... And I have twenty years of supposed plot points and slice of life stuff to write to get there. (Wish me luck!)

[armandssilkshirt]

Wip wednesday, for a fic I’m tentatively titling: such sweet sorrow

I haven’t written fic for a big fandom like this in years atp and I don’t know how to navigate fandom space anymore! Anyway!

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The plane ticket arrives in a sleek, cream envelope, inscribed with his name and nothing else, written out in neat, precise block capitals. Daniel takes note of several things immediately, of varying levels of importance and with varying degrees of incredulity:

The Vampire Armand knows his address, and either hand delivered the ticket himself, or puppeteered one of his neighbors or delivery guys into doing so on his behalf. By extension, either he was close by, or has been in near enough vicinity to get someone else to do his bidding, just waiting to ruin Daniel’s perfectly good Tuesday afternoon. It occurs to Daniel, too, that the plane ticket is Armand purposefully tipping his hand. The likelihood that he’s still around, watching him receive his spontaneous gift right now through a goddamn crack in the wall or some other gross invasion of privacy, is significantly greater than zero. He always did like to see a plan through to the end, after all. This is unlikely to be the exception.

The timing of the ticket itself is also more than disquieting, and not likely to be a coincidence. Daniel signed off an all his last approvals two days ago, and is now waiting on his publisher and agent to get back to him with details about the proposed marketing campaign and book tour, as well as hear back from the designer’s mock up for the cover, which he can comment on, but not, apparently veto. In publishing, Daniel has long learned you need to pick your battles and let the book speak for itself. Everyone’s going to think he’s clinically insane anyway, who cares if the art department intern who gets shoved this job gets a little carried away with it. Anyway—Daniel’s work is mostly done, and from here till the promotional calendar, it’s pretty much dead time. Armand has been listening. As far as ‘Congrats on completing your book!’ presents go, Daniel’s had better but he’s also had worse, too—his ex-wife served him divorce papers after his last one—so Daniel will take the plane ticket, actually. And Armand knows that if he’s going to take a vacation, now would be the time to do it. He wonders if his emails are accessible, or if Armand’s just been playing it old-school, standing on his balcony listening to him bitch out his editor, instead. He supposes he should be grateful that he’s been allowed the short lull beforehand, and that the ticket is booked a week in advance, enough notice to tie up any loose ends in New York that he might need to attend to. Considerate, really, Daniel has to admit.

All of which is to say, of course, that any illusions Daniel had been laboring under about the safety of his own home—the ignorance is bliss attitude he’d adopted since he’d stumbled through his front door two months ago, still shaking the Dubai wall dust off his shirt—are shattered. He’s attracted an undead stalker, and you can’t exactly take a restraining order out on those guys. It’s a bitch, because Daniel really did like this apartment, too. Even if Armand isn’t here to kill him—the plane ticket seems to suggest he at least has a different location in mind—that isn’t to say some other vampire won’t try to beat him to the job, and decide to turn his living room into a morgue as some sort of warning if/when he happens to not be at home. Maybe he should drape a sheet over his couch. He’s spilled enough red wine over it to know it stains like hell.

Charles De Gaulle airport is unexpected, but in a split second retrospect, he guesses it shouldn’t be. Obviously, Armand wants to rehash the story, spin his own series of events, even if he was too late to try to edit the first book, and he’s dramatic enough to want to walk the streets he spilled with blood while he does it. Daniel hasn’t been to Europe in a while. He remembers Paris in October as being beautiful; the turning of the leaves running crimson and orange through the city, cool and crisp but not yet so bitter as to be unpleasant. He could have picked worse places to stage his temper tantrum. Daniel can also understand him wanting to get out of the metropolitan maze of Dubai, and the penthouse that might as well have been a prison tower, though for whom, Daniel’s now not sure.

Which brings him to the shock of the ticket itself, and Armand’s unwelcome but now obvious presence in his life. When Daniel picked up his few belongings and high-tailed it out of the penthouse before any more rubble could fall on his head, literally or figuratively, Armand had been hunched in on himself, tucked against the baseboard, plaster hanging like teardrops onto the black of his eyelashes. Even with the baleful look in his eyes, he’d seemed, to Daniel, like a boy—suddenly forced to stop playing dress up and close the costume-box lid. Smaller, younger, both fearful and indignant at his newfound nakedness. Ready to lash out, of course, but also on the precipice of caving in. An unstable death star. Perhaps it would have been too easy, but he’d wondered if Armand might, as one last act of self-sacrificing spite, find himself a fire to throw himself into, hoping to haunt Louis as Lestat did. He’d even been half-expecting it. That he didn’t is almost more concerning. It suggests that Armand has unfinished business. If it’s with Daniel, for ruining his shambolic supernatural marriage, then Daniel supposes Paris is as nice a place to die as any. Hopefully Armand will dispose of his body efficiently. He’d hate for his daughters to have to pay for posthumous repatriation. That would be a terrible reason to go into credit card debt.

Lastly, with an almost amused observation, he notes that the handwriting on the envelope is not the same as the writing in the margins of the script he flung down like a hand grenade on that table weeks ago. Armand’s writing there had sprawled across the page, the loops of his cursive proving to be his noose. That he’s decided to adopt a new style is unsurprising. As a professional chameleon and an evidenced control freak, it makes sense that Armand would pay attention to details enough to change this aspect too. This is Armand reinventing himself; a signifier of the new start he’s trying to establish and the distance he’s trying to put between himself and his past crimes. In comparison to the writing on the script, this new style is careful, takes up little space, and is officiously self-aware. Deceptively nondescript. It almost makes Daniel laugh. Armand’s relying on him knowing who the envelope is from anyway, so the change in signature is nothing but set-dressing.

Well, not quite—the very last thing he observes, with some belated horror and disappointment aimed squarely at himself—is that immediately, Daniel knows he’s going to take the ticket. It’s barely a conscious decision. There’s precedent, of course—he’s already jumped on a plane in an ongoing pandemic to go on an ill-advised research trip. Armand could be reasonably sure he’d roll the dice and go for another. He tries to argue with the part of himself that screams it’s the height of stupidity to take another risk in exactly the same way, that, actually, staying would only be shoving his head in the sand. He’s made himself a target, or he’s about to when publication rolls around, and Armand might turn out to be the least of his problems, in the long run. Why not see what he wants in the meantime? And besides—isn’t it better the Devil you know? 

[superstarz9]

Alright I wanted to post my opinion about dislyte’s new story mode and what I think they could’ve done different

SPOILERS FOR DISLYTE’S NEW STORY

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-

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So to start; having the player be a character. It very much caught be off guard and I very much disliked how the first few chapters were hinting at Dislyte becoming an isekai. While I’m glad I was proven wrong, the player character still felt very jarring. What also felt jarring was the immediate assumption that the player used he/him, which separated that connection between the character and I. I feel like if Dislyte added the ability to change and customize your pronouns that would already improve the story mode experience. Similarly, I feel like the player character could’ve been designed a bit differently. Maybe give the character gloves or utilize that rocky material that hints at the player’s origins. We’ll told that throughout the story the reason why the player needs to wear that stupid helmet is to hide the fact that he’s half-miramon, but we as the actual player don’t see that until the very end for a few seconds. Finally, I wish we had a few dialogue options instead of pre-written dialogue for the player character. For most of the story, the player character felt kind of static and robotic, but having a few different reaction dialogue could’ve fixed those problems immediately while also having the player interact with the story rather than view the story. And it’s not like they couldn’t do that, because we see Dislyte use the multi-choice feature during the introduction and Tevor’s draw and guess sections.

Now for the story itself, I actually didn’t mind it at all. I appreciated that it was a wide range of character rather than the same ten in the original story mode. While the past few event stories have been a bit lacking, I honestly feel like it was because the better half of the writers were tasked with the new story mode. There’s a significant improvement in the narrative and characters, which was refreshing especially after cellblock tango. The world-building was also done well, allowing the world of Dislyte to feel more like a whole world rather than separated locations. Things tied it pretty decently in my opinion. It was also really nice being able to interact with other characters like Triki, Xuan Pin, Raven, etc. While the shadow decree felt a bit sidelined, it was also nice to see character development and interactions from them. In the normal story, we mostly see Leon and Freddy, with a bit of Anesidora in the later chapters. The new story, however, fleshes out Freddy and Anesidora a lot more (they fucked Leon though like bro had NOTHING). Especially during that cave scene, which I can do a whole character analysis on if this post does decently or I just wanna talk about it. Having those quirky character moments also felt very nice, once again referring to the golden city chapters. While I wasn’t crazy about Sachiko’s writing, and especially her character dump before the ending, but I did grow to appreciate her.

Now compared to the original story mode? Ehhhhhhhhhh hard to say. Truth be told, I wasn’t super crazy about the original story mode, mainly for the character writing. While every character had their moments, everyone felt one-dimentional and bland. Felt like if you took a shot everytime Brynn asked where Sieg was you’d be passed out before chapter 7. The original story was much more closed-off compared to the new story, almost like an event story. While the original story showcased the effects of the miracle and the displacement it caused thanks so Bernice’s character, there really wasn’t much else that the main story affected. I think that was one of the main critiques the main story faced as event stories fleshed out the world of Dislyte but not the main plot, so having a story mode that ties most events together is a lot more fulfilling. However, I can’t imagine how new players would react to the story not knowing the world-building stories from previous events. While it’s alright on its own, there are a few moments that new players would probably be very confused by, such as the use of the withered miracle and the lion’s heart. I’ll be honest, I skip stories that I don’t care as much for, so I never read Abigale’s event stories, Javid’s story, or Mateo’s story. While that didn’t effect my experience, I still had to adjust to Yamato being a prominent character for the first half, the use of the lion’s heart gem, and other small event easter eggs that I missed out on. This is probably Dislyte’s was to get newer players to buy the older stories in order to understand these details, but it still doesn’t feel new-player friendly unlike the original story mode. If I could change anything about this, I would made the easy story mode be Brynn’s story and the harder difficulty be the player’s story.

Finally, the elephant in the room; Gaius. Don’t get me wrong, I hate Gaius being the twist villain and shadow councillor. However, I feel like there should’ve been more than “Gaius is the bad guy now.” Similarly to Freddy and Anesidora, I could go into a whole character deep-dive about Gaius’ character, but to put it simply: I think Gaius is trying to be the balance rather mastermind. While it still feels like a character assassination, I feel like Gaius is trying to keep the esper union and the shadow decree at bay to prevent either side from taking over. I’d like to believe Gaius is playing the devil’s advocate as we see him constantly making sure the shadow decree doesn’t directly involve themselves with the union. A lot of people suggested that Hyde should’ve been the shadow councillor and while I do believe Hyde is another councillor, Hyde didn’t create the shadow decree to be the union’s evil counterpart. While he follows an antagonistic role, Hyde isn’t a villain, much like a good portion of the shadow decree. In the end, I hope they fix Gaius and tie in his original writing for future events and make overall improvements with the direction of the story.

On a completely separate note might write a what if dislyte fic with the shadow decree

[corrodedseraphine]

dos oruguitas | #2 welcome home

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

chapter summary: When you return to Hawkins after unsuccessfully trying to arrange your life in Indianapolis, it seems to you that time in the town has stopped. Only when you step your foot in Forest Hills Trailer Park again you find out that the changes are more serious than you think.

the story is also avaliable on ao3

previous chapter | masterlist | eddie munson masterlist | general masterlist

thank you @i-me-mine for listening to my rambling and helping me with the ideas to this chapter, you are the best! 🥰

If you have any ideas what would you like to see in the story feel free to tell me about them in comments or in my inbox which is always open for you guys! Thank you so much for reading!

you can also take part in a small poll where you can help me decide what should I write next 😊

"Welcome home, kid." Your dad said as you passed the Hawkins sign smiling warmly. You had mixed feelings, excitement blended with fear. You hadn't been to this place for more than three years, but the longer you drove past the streets of the town you noticed that in truth almost nothing had changed, except that they had somehow managed to get rid of the damage caused by the "earthquake."

Robin had found her real life in Indianapolis, nowhere did you see her happier, in every possible way. She found a very well-paid job at a translation agency, through which she met the love of her life, Rosa, who turned out to be the daughter of the office cleaner. The two immediately fell madly in love with each other, so it was a matter of time when they would live together. You, unfortunately, did not do so well. After graduating from community college, you tried looking for jobs, but none of them turned out to be permanent. You could say that your love life was nonexistent. There was nothing there to keep you around. Deep down you knew this was not the place for you. Having vacated your place for Rosa in the apartment, you made the decision that it was time to return to Hawkins. You hoped that a few months in your hometown would help you find some plan for the future. 

"Hey, uhm... listen," began your dad as you approached Trailer Park. "I think there's something you should know. I know you didn't want to hear anything about Eddie, but it's really important."

"Dad, please, let's talk about it later." during one of your dad's visits to Indy and a big moment of weakness, you told him what was the real reason for your moving out. 

"I don't know if there will be an opportunity later-" 

"Dad, please." you interrupted him. The man just sighed and drove into the last turn leading in front of your trailer. 

As you stepped out of the car the sun over Hawkins was just beginning to rise. You smiled at the sight of your old home and surroundings, you didn't even realize how much you missed it.

"Holy shit!" you heard a familiar voice and immediately turned toward it. Max, after a moment, however, was already at your side locking you in a bear hug. "I thought I'd never see you here again. Welcome home." she muttered into your shirt.

"I missed you too, Red." You chuckled squeezing her back even tighter.

"For how long are you staying?"

"I have no idea, definitely a few months."

"Yes, we need to spend some time before I leave for college! I have to call El and tell her you're back!"

"You can also say that I'm taking you both out for ice cream tomorrow. Today, sadly," you pouted. "I have to deal with unpacking."

"So, it's a date!" she laughed winking at you. She hugged you again and ran back to her trailer.

"You really didn't tell anyone you were coming back?" your dad asked.

"Nope."

"Why?" He was puzzled.

"I don't know, I guess I wanted to give them a little surprise." You smiled slightly. "Are we going to start?" you asked looking toward the car in which the cardboard boxes with your things were located.

After unpacking everything, you decided to go for a little shopping at a nearby grocery store, you wanted to prepare dinner for your dad tonight. About twenty minutes later you were back outside your trailer. You still couldn't believe you were back here. Everything seemed like a weird dream to you.

"Am I hallucinating?" you heard Wayne's voice as you put your shopping bags by the door and pulled out your keys. "Are my old eyes mistaken?" you turned to look at him with a smile. He was walking toward you holding a little girl who had a storm of curls on her head with colorful bobby pins in it. Her big dark eyes looked curiously in your direction, and you too, despite your efforts, could not hide your surprise.

When they got a little closer he put the girl on the ground and opened his arms inviting you into a hug, which you quickly accepted.

"God, I missed you so much!" you said squeezing him even tighter.

"Me too, kid. Welcome home."

When you finished hugging, you took a step back to look at him, nothing had changed, he was completely the same as you remembered. Your gaze, however, quickly shifted to the little person who was now hiding behind his leg clutching his pants leg. Following your line of sight, Wayne swiftly picked her up in his arms again.

"Come on, sweetheart, introduce yourself." he smiled warmly.

"Hello, I am Beatrice." the girl said quietly, clinging to Wayne's neck.

"Well, hello, you have such a beautiful name." you replied smiling and extending your hand toward her.

"Everybody calls me Trixie." she added as her small hand tightened on your finger. "What's your name?" she asked more confidently.

"Oh! My name is y/n." you stammered nervously.

"I know you." she continued.

"You do?" you asked confused.

"You are the lady from the photos!" she exclaimed clapping her hands. "Daddy and Grandpa have your photos on the wall!"

Daddy and Grandpa. Suddenly you felt your legs bending under you. At first when you saw her in Wayne's arms you tried to force yourself to think that it was the child of friends, relatives, anyone. Now, though, you couldn't escape the truth. The beautiful curls on her head and chocolate eyes left no trace of doubt. Beatrice. You knew perfectly well why they chose exactly this name, and you did not hide the fact that it touched you. A cute little Trixie named after the most wonderful woman in the world.

"Alright, kiddo, why don't you go play with your new ball for a bit while grandpa and y/n have a little talk?" The man immediately sensed your confusion and awkward atmosphere. The girl quickly rushed over to their trailer, where a colorful ball was lying and started playing with it. You and Wayne sat down at the picnic table.

"So…Grandpa?" you asked nervously placing your hands under your thighs.

"Things got pretty crazy when you left, y'know?" he chuckled. "This little lady, she wrapped us around her finger right from the start." he said, watching Trixie chasing a colorful ball with a smile.

"Congratulations." you said smiling.

You recalled the words you said to Eddie during your last conversation about moving on. He really did. No one would have ever expected him to be the first to start a family, but you also knew all along that Eddie Munson was full of surprises. You wondered where he was now, maybe at work? Maybe he and Samantha were both working which is why Wayne is taking care of Trixie until they get home, and then as a whole happy family they sit around the table. Despite the passage of time, your wounds related to Eddie have not healed. And despite the fact that whenever someone mentioned something about him you changed the subject and tried to avoid him like a fire, he never left your thoughts. Worse, he didn't leave your heart either.

"Uh-" You didn't know how to start but you had to ask the question. You had to know no matter how much of a blow it would be to you.

"Eddie and Samantha, uhm- are- are they…" you began to stammer. The word married didn't want to pass your lips, you had the feeling that it stopped in your throat in the form of a giant gulp.

"Don't say anything about this girl." The man sighed. "Normally I would have kept a cigarette in my mouth a long time ago, but since Trixie showed up we both stopped smoking." He shook his head.

"Then we have a little miracle worker here."

"You have no idea." he laughed. "We found her in a box. She dumped her on our doorstep in a box like she was a damn animal." Hearing this you felt a sting in your heart. You looked at the girl. How could she do something like that? "Since that day, she disappeared totally, taking no interest in her own daughter at all. God knows what would have happened to Trixie if she had stayed with her mother."

Before you had time to respond anything Trixie ran up to Wayne pulling him by the sleeve so that he was leaning into her and started whispering something in his ear. After a moment, they both looked at you.

"So…" Wayne began. "Trixie would like to ask you something."

"Oh, what is it?" you leaned over to be at about level with the girl. But she, shyly, ran away hiding behind his back.

"Hey, don't be shy." he laughed, grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up seating her between you on the bench.

"Can you color with me?" she asked timidly, covering her face with her small hands. You didn't expect such a proposal. You hadn't had much experience with young children in your life, so you didn't really know how to behave in her company either. The atmosphere was still a bit awkward, but that didn't stop you from agreeing. "Garandpa, can you be my crayons?" she asked with a broad smile.

"What's the magic word?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Please!"

When Wayne returned with the crayons and coloring book you laid everything out in front of the two of you. Trixie, unfortunately, was too low to color comfortably on the table, but a solution quickly appeared in her mind. You watched in surprise as she clumsily climbed into your lap and found a place on it. Shock was quickly replaced by a smile as you saw that she was beginning to feel comfortable in your company. As time passed, you too began to relax in hers too.

After a while, your dad also joined you. The next few hours until dinnertime you told Wayne about your life in Indianapolis, in between coloring or playing ball with your new little friend.

As you washed the dishes after dinner you still couldn't get the constant thoughts of the news you found out today out of your head. Slowly you began to regret that you had always run away from the subject of Eddie, that you never wanted to know how he was doing despite the fact that everyone thought it was important and that you should know. Now the truth was out and you yourself didn't know how you felt about it. You also wondered what would have happened if you hadn't left. If you had stayed in Hawkins and been there for him from the beginning. There was a slight twinge of remorse, because you were sure that the beginning had been awfully difficult for him and Wayne, and surely your help would have made everything easier for them. Unfortunately, time cannot be turned back.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of coughing from the bathroom.

"Dad are you okay?" you asked knocking lightly on the door. "Dad?" you asked again when you didn't get an answer.

"'m fine" he said after a long moment still coughing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to get some air, are you coming with me?" you offered.

"No."

"I'll be in front of the trailer if you change your mind." You said and left.

The evening was pleasantly warm. The sun had already gone behind the horizon, and the first stars and moon appeared in the sky. You sat at the table gazing at the sky and returned to getting lost in your thoughts.

You looked toward the trailer that once belonged to Mrs. Gómez. You would have given a lot for one more conversation with her, surely she would have known what to advise you and how to get rid of the burden that had been deposited on your heart. She always knew what to say to make you feel better, she always knew how to find in you the remaining strength to overcome all the problems that stood in your way. Now you had the feeling that you needed her more than ever. Maybe she had always known that this was how it would end between you? Inseparable caterpillars need to drift apart so that later their paths would merge back into one? Was it possible? Was there even a shadow of a hope for rebuilding your relationship? Would there be a place for you in Eddie's current life?

Fate completely as if reading your thoughts made a van pull up in front of the trailer on the opposite side, at the sight of which your heart dropped. Stunned, you watched as a man stepped out of it. Clenching your hands on the edges of the bench, in the dim light of the lamps you saw a familiar but completely different face. His curls were now much shorter yet still wild, seeming to have a life of their own on his head. The stubble covered up some of the fatigue on his face, but the bags under his eyes were all too visible. He was wearing work clothes soiled with grease with a small badge on which his name was written.

When he noticed that someone was sitting at the picnic table he quickly glanced in that direction, thinking it was one of his neighbors. Only after a moment something inside him trembled.

The silhouette was familiar yet seemed completely out of place. He turned around a second time and heavily swallowed, realizing who he was seeing. His heart beat faster and his legs carried themselves toward you. Over the years, he had thought almost every day about what it would be like for you to meet for the first time after all these years. Each time he was racked by mixed feelings, anger at the fact that you had left and longing that made him want to call you every night and beg you to come back. In his thoughts, many times he kept yelling at you for breaking the promise and disappearing from his life without giving a specific reason. There were also visions where he simply brings you down into his arms and doesn't let you out of them, so that you don't disappear again.

Now having you in front of him for the first time in years, he did not feel an ounce of anger. The nostalgia that had been inside him all these years finally seemed to quiet down, and when you got up slowly from the bench and stood in front of him, so that only two steps separated you, he couldn't stop smiling.

"Hi, Eddie." you said quietly awkwardly waving your hand. He quickly grabbed you by it and pulled you close, hugging you tightly. Anger could wait. For years he had been waiting for this moment, for years he had been waiting for the voice of sadness and longing haunting him to disappear.

"Welcome home." he muttered into your hair squeezing you even tighter as he felt your arms tighten around his tummy.

Welcome home. You've heard those two words many times today but now, for the first time, it really felt like it, like you were home.

When Eddie returned to the trailer Trixie was already asleep and Wayne was slowly getting ready for work.

"What got you so smiley, boy?" he asked for the first time seeing his nephew smiling after working overtime.

"Nothin'." Eddie replied, walking over to the refrigerator. "A new drawing?" he asked noticing a colorful unicorn tagged with a magnet on the metal door.

"Yeah, the work of Trixie and her new friend." laughed Wayne.

"New friend?" he asked puzzled, not recalling that there were any new children in the neighborhood for Trixie to play with.

"Yeah, y'know the one who just got back from Indy and moved in across the street." He winked at him and grabbed the door handle.

"She was excited to finally meet the lady from the pictures. Goodnight son." Wayne said and walked out, leaving him alone in the living room.

When he changed out of his work clothes he sat on the couch staring at the photos on the wall. Ever since Trixie came into their lives Wayne had been crazy about photos, so the wall opposite the one with his huge collection of mugs was full of frames with pictures. Wayne claimed it made the place much more family-like. Among them, several photos showed just you and Eddie in different age groups. She was excited to finally meet the lady from the photos. Eddie couldn't help feeling relieved that his current life had revealed itself to you before he had to do so.

taglist: @i-me-mine @phantypurple @tlclick73 @browneyes528 @sidthedollface2 @bellalillyrose

[happyinjection]

♠️♥️High Card Short Story 1 “Mint Soda and Cafe au Lait Float”♦️♣️ (1/3)

When the black phone rings, it’s a sure sign of another mission. Today’s mission is...?

Original: https://twitter.com/highcard_pj/status/1529296246149550082

Author: https://twitter.com/poipheno

Artist: https://twitter.com/ebimoji3

I was organizing the documents on my desk when I heard the black antique phone ringing again today.

“Bernard speaking.”

Not even a greeting came from the other end of the line, as the caller went straight to the requirements. “...understood. Leo, Wendy, and Vijay are out on other businesses, so I’ll let the other two go on this one.” It’s likely that the CEO is contacting me more often because the situation is becoming more dire. “Please do not worry about it. Everyone starts out small... and they are growing better everyday. We shall continue watching over them for now.”

After being chastised for having such a naive belief, I hung up. 

“Well... sometimes even I do wonder if they are being serious about their job.”

♠️♥️♦️♣️

“Chris-san, Finn-san—” As I came out of the office and entered the showroom, I was immediately met with an abundance of playing cards shooting through the air and scattered all over the place.

“C-close! Finn, that was really close, what a pity!” “Whoa, Bernard-ojisan! Did you see that? I think I’m gonna nail it for real this time!”

Lately, Chris had been keen on teaching Finn card tricks. I can’t help but let out a small sigh.

“Leo-sama will scold you if he caught you fooling around just because there are currently no customers around. I can’t guarantee that I would keep my mouth shut.”

Batting his mascara-thick eyelashes, Chris straightened his crimson suit. Meanwhile, Finn picked up the cards from the floor then climbed on his feet. I walked over to help fix his crooked tie.

“This is a direct order from the president. The two of you are assigned on a new mission together.”

“What, now? Like, right now? Why are we always given directive on such a short notice~?”

When Finn raised an eyebrow, Chris added,

“From the president’s perspective, we’re nothing more than mere labor force. Once he no longer needs us, we would be no different than pawns to be discarded. But the truth is we are valuable players. That’s why I want us to be treated with more respect.”

“Now, now, let’s not speak too harshly.”

Chris gave a half-hearted grunt in return as he brushed his charcoal gray hair back.

“Anyway, jii-chan, what’s the objective this time?”

Finn stood up with his back straight like a child getting dressed for school, staring directly into my eyes. I adjusted the knot of his tie and tapped at the final result. He wiggled his neck as if he was still getting used to the suit, as though it was still a tad too tight.

“We’re dealing with a mafia transaction. There’s a possibility that a card is involved, so please go and investigate.”

“Is it the Klondike family?”

“No, not at all. They are not a very well-known mafia organization, but they have been active as of late. That said, please be on guard.”

“Gotcha, gotcha. Finn, let’s stop at a cafe on the way there. Today I’m in the mood for a caramel latte float.” He twirled the car keys with his finger.

“Whatever you say, I guess.”

“Hey, what’s up with that attitude?”

Gently, I nudged Finn toward the exit door. 

“Chris-san. You are Finn-san’s mentor, so please take a good care of him. And then, Finn-san, what was the promise that you made before?”

“Um, let’s see... ‘don’t immediately charge forward without permission’!”

“That’s right. You remembered it well, didn’t you.”

I chuckled, and he gave me a boyish grin over his shoulder in return.

“Come on, let’s go, Finn~”

“I’ll send over the details and the map of the location to you.”

“Alright then, jii-chan, I’m off!”

“Have a safe trip. It’s only a nice little detour.”

With his back turned at me, Chris waved his hand, walking away. I watched as Finn ran to catch up with him.

♠️♥️♦️♣️

TL notes: I’m in no way a professional translator so if you find any mistakes, please do not hesitate to inform me right away. I love the High Card gang and I found it very unfortunate that while it is meant to be a multimedia project, I can’t seem to find the translated versions of any materials (beside the anime) anywhere (if this is against copyright, I will take it down). Hopefully this small TL would help international viewers gain better understanding of HC universe and characters. The author of these SS himself said that he hoped fans would have their “so that’s what it is!” moments when they watch the anime after reading his short stories. So with that in mind, let’s enjoy High Card together~

[crimsonfluidessence]

Prompt 28: Deleterious

There were quite a few things Esredes did not like to read in a letter sent to him by a familiar acquaintance, or anyone, really. And 'I have come into possession of a Dark Knight soulstone' was in fact, one of them. "Let's talk downstairs," Esredes said when the acquaintance arrived to the meeting. "It'll be private enough for our purposes." "You make it sound like we're breaking the law." "Your letter mentioned something illegal in it." "Hey," the Maelstrom soldier said as he followed Esredes downstairs, "I was a sellsword, not gonna pretend I respect the sanctity of the courts but what, are soul stones illegal now?" "The one of a Dark Knight? Absolutely, if you're going to stay around here." Esredes took a seat at one of the banquet tables. If you needed to meet someone in an ambiguous location, The Hive- his new name for the manor Bee Club was hosted in- had you covered. "Do you not know what that thing is truly capable of?" "Teaching you how to leverage a heavy sword and using your emotions to scare corrupt knights and nobles?" Esredes paused at this. "...Well, I can't exactly say that's an incorrect way of putting it. But it's downplaying the severity of it." Leon tilted his head as his eyes darted around the ceiling. "I'm guessing this piece of rock it's considered a lot more than just learning tool like Skysteel has been passing around?" He looked directly at Esredes.

Somehow, Esredes resisted the urge to sigh. "All right. So I'm taking it you don't know what a Dark Knight truly is, yes?" "Well in Dalmasca they're psychopathic knights with umbral magics. But I'm not using umbral magics so I assume what you're thinking about is different. The stories you hear from outside Ishgard are about a bunch of rogue knights who clean house whenever some temple knight or priest puts their hand on a maiden. Usually impaling people with darkness... but not like void darkness. Not sure how it works exactly, not gonna lie. Been letting the stone do most of the work." "You've been using it already- good gods, stop." Esredes said, throwing his hands up. "Don't do that. Do not just rush in to this kind of magic with no idea what it is or does." He throws his arms out in opposite directions. "Aren't you a ranked military officer? Surely you have more common sense than you act like you don't have??" As per usual, Esredes quickly worked himself up. It took a couple minutes of conversation for him to settle down again. "I'll admit I don't know all that much about you. But consider this advice from a concerned acquaintance. You mention an incident- I can read between the lines. You lost control of yourself, yes?" Leon looked away. "Before the soul stone. I hurt people because of some... issues stemming from a group I signed up with after the war... After the storm settled, the dark knight gave me his stone. This is why I said what I said earlier about getting rid of it being a bad idea." "A Dark Knight gave you a stone but explained nothing about it or how to use it." "He told me that it'd help keep... whatever is wrong with me from hurting others. I haven't heard from him in months outside of occasionally crossing paths for a few minutes at most. I got issues, Rosemond. I'm not gonna pretend I'm a normal functional person but the knight is off doing some self reflection journey and isn't able to mentor me with it. Something he did is making me feel bad about doing my job. I care when I didn't before and whatever was inside my head making me angry all the time has calmed down." "Then he shouldn't have given it to you in the first place." Esredes remarked. "You cannot rush into dangerous magic without a mentor. Nor can you teach other vulnerable people like yourself anything about it. You will get yourself and all of those people you mentioned killed or arrested or worse if you use that soulstone. So. There is a much simpler, much less dangerous solution you are completely overlooking." "Which is?" "I'm a part time counselor. And I know how to cure peoples' problems with keeping control. Get rid of the stone safely and throw away the thought of teaching anyone else about it. If you need to sort out your problems, then fine. I will help instead, if it means preventing a long line of potential misery." Leon showed hesitance with 'head doctors', but Esredes simply offered a five-minute sample and it turned into a long and emotional conversation. And at the end of it, he reached into his jacket and took out a Dark Knight Soulstone attached to a chain necklace. "You hold onto it till next time. I actually haven't parted with it since it did 'fix' me before. Just... don't get rid of it... yet." "...I won't," Esredes said as he took the necklace by the chain. "I'll keep it somewhere safe."

Leon wasn't the first, and Esredes knew he wouldn't be the last. They came to him in counseling with a dark entity taking them over or making them speak. They showed no mercy to tempered parties with that all-consuming dark magic. His beloved and trusted right-hand confessed to him once that it was slowly taking him over and making him more cruel when he took out his targets. Esredes never understood this phenomenon, and he didn't think he ever would. Sure, it was an evil boogeyman and fairy tale when he was a knight, but seeing it firsthand as a harrier was still a dance of fear and awe that never quite went away. When he knew it was being used to protect him and his, he felt safe. But watching the way it consumed others, and the way it could simply erase people from existence outright- Esredes shuddered each time he thought about it. And so he never trusted a Dark Knight on the spot. Why such dark and unhealthy magic existed, he didn't know- but even as he relied on it to keep him and his safe, he could never be certain if it was truly worth the risk of what it did to others.

He could feel, faintly, each time he handled something like that soulstone, the abyss calling to him. It reached out with gentle, caressing hands, beckoning him to manifest that swirling storm within him. And each and every time, he ignored it. He would never get away with having such dark power, and he knew it would consume him instantly. Esredes would never be a Dark Knight, but at least he could ensure others didn't fall to its trap. They would control the abyss, or else they wouldn't get to channel it at all.