#since it's unprecedented for me in a lot of ways
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aphel1on · 7 months ago
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god looking at early planning for kmsa is so funny.
"if it gets to 20k i'll start actually posting it"
> fic is currently 114k
"i should be able to finish the burial mounds arc in like 30k idk"
> burial mounds arc was 75k
"jinlintai arc should end up about the same length as burial mounds arc"
> took me 35k to get in the fucking building.
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scorpiosbite · 8 months ago
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the time actress!reader mentioned obx in her interview
𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 ────୨ৎ──── while the obx cast were together in drew’s hotel room madelyn in her ever obsession of game of thrones brought up that you had mentioned how much you love obx in an interview. causing them to watch the interview together.
𝜗𝜚 pairing: actress!reader x drew starkey
author’s note: this takes place in 2023 during the filming of obx 4 and 3 weeks after the first time they watched the show together. at this point of my timeline the cast have watched the entire first season of game of thrones.
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drew was scrolling through his phone, you had followed him back on instagram a week ago and he was on the moon. though he hadn’t messaged you yet. unsure on what to say to you. drew prided himself on being a confident man yet, your ability to make him nervous through a screen was unprecedented.
while stalking your profile for the umpteenth time he found himself wondering about you yet again. your limited amount of posts made you even more intriguing to him. he wondered what kind of person you are. what things made you tick, whether you would stare up at him with those siren eyes, whether you moaned or whimpered during sex, whether your face scrunched up and your mouth hung open as your chest heaved like it did in your sex scene that hasn’t left his brain since the moment he watched it.
just as he fell into a spiral of thoughts about you madelyn spoke up from her seat across the room, drawing the attention of everyone else, and drew was suddenly reminded that he wasn’t alone in his room. “oh my fucking god! i forgot to tell you guys!” she was staring down at her phone. but drew was having trouble focusing on her, still consumed in his thoughts of you.
the others, however, had no problem driving their attention to her, so drew remained in his bubble staring at the most recent post on your profile, a vogue magazine cover from three months ago, of you, seated, legs spread on the iron throne with the sword dark sister held in your hands standing between your legs, the crown of aegon the conquerer tilted on your head, the lace thigh high socks with garters disappearing under the skirt of your tight mini dress and the bold red coating your lips enticing him further.
it wasn’t till he heard your name slip from madelyn’s lips, was his attention torn from the captivating sight on his screen. “wait, what you just say?” madelyn smirked “of course, only when i say y/n’s name, do you listen.” drew blushed lightly. but didn’t make the move to defend himself, after all they would be right, he had been distracted from the moment he saw you in all your glory stealing the screen.
“what i was saying that y/n mentioned obx in an interview, just pass me the remote, i’ll show you.” drew’s heart rate spiked, the thought of you having seen him in his element, doing his job, made him self conscious in a way that he wasn’t ready to admit. once madelyn had the video loaded on the screen, drew was once again struck by how effortlessly beautiful you are. dressed in simple black pants and an off-shoulder cream long sleeve top, brown boots disappearing under your pants and simple gold hoop earrings, your brunette hair loose and following in natural waves. drew looked at your empty neck and thought how good you would look if there was a necklace with his initial hanging there, branding you as his.
madelyn skipped through the video until the moment you were talking. the interviewer asked you and your cast-mate what shows you watch during your down time when filming, your voice rang through the silent room and drew was struck once again by how attractive your accent sounded, your british accent deep and sultry but more casual than the tone you use when playing visenya. “oh, well mimi and i love outer banks a lot, to the point where we quote it on set quite often. i think we’ve annoyed everyone.” you laughed and drew thought about how he wanted to hear that sound for the rest of his life.
your cast mate and best friend, mimi who plays arianne martell laughed and agreed and the interviewer who was surprised by your answer said that obx was one of her favourite shows too. your face immediately brightened as you watched her intently as she spoke about the show. what drew would give to have you look at him like that.
madelyn paused the video and drew knew that once everyone had left his room he was going to watch the entire video. “that’s so cool!” jd gasped. “i know right? that’s so crazy that she’s seen our show.” madison replied. but drew couldn’t bring himself to speak, he wondered what you thought of him after watching his performance. he wondered if you had the same all consuming thoughts he had about you, about him.
“i followed her when i first watched the show and she followed me back, but after seeing that clip a week ago i messaged her and we’ve been talking back and forth ever since, she’s so fucking cool, it’s insane. i think we’re friends now!” madelyn raved. “you’re friends with her?!.” drew was baffled, how was madelyn just bringing this up, she has known about his developing crush for weeks. “ah, now you want to chime in drew?” “yes, we’re friends and she’s gonna be in la when we get back so i told her she should come hang out with us, what you guys think?”
drew’s heart felt like it was going a mile a minute, he was gonna meet you. what the fuck.
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thank you for all the love on the first part i’m so grateful. and for everyone who wants to be added to the tag list i’m figuring out how to do that so please be patient with me. also please send me asks about this au i would love to do like a drew starkey x actress!reader thoughts thing, but let me know what you thought of this part!
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docrobinavitch · 28 days ago
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chasing ghosts
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dr. abbot x f!resident!reader masterlist content: 18+ mdni, sexually explicit content, lots of angst, age gap, swearing, alcohol, mentions of child death/multiple casualties at the beginning during a shift words: 8.1K synopsis: you and jack share a kiss during your second year of residency and you spend the next two years trying to outrun those feelings. until the pitt's annual summer party. jack abbot is down absolutely fucking horrendously. like i meaaaaan unprecedented levels of yearning. a/n: hi, i think i blacked out while writing this. eyeeeee had so so much fun. i hope i did jack justice. let me know what you think!!!!
The annual summer party for the Pitt is an all day affair in order to make sure everyone, regardless of who’s working what shift that day, has a chance to stop in.
You wouldn’t think it, but the ER knew how to throw a good party. In the morning, it started with brunch at a place downtown with bottomless mimosas, top tier pancakes, and a drag performance. After brunch, they’d go hang out at the park by the river for a few hours before reconvening for dinner and bar hopping downtown.
Jack Abbot was off today, but still skipped all the morning and afternoon activities in favor of the evening. His sleep schedule was built that way now and even on his off days, it was rare for him to be out during the day. Besides, he was hoping he’d run into you there after your own shift.
You never came to these types of events, but that didn’t stop him from hoping every time. His eyes were always searching, hoping they’d stumble upon yours.
He hadn’t seen or spoken to you much in the last two years, since you switched to the day shift. When shift change occurred, you largely avoided him. He asked Robby about you and Robby always said the same thing, “She’s a great doctor, but she keeps to herself.”
It hadn’t been like that when you were on the night shift. You were shy, sure, but it hadn’t taken Jack very long to pry you out of your shell. 
He wondered sometimes if you regretted it, now. Letting him in.
Now, he was making the rounds at the first bar of the night, not so subtly looking for you.
“You’re pathetic,” Robby teased as he sipped his beer.
“Huh?” Jack said, finally bringing his eyes back to the man in front of him. 
Robby smirked knowingly, “She is here, you know.”
“Really?” 
“Yeah,” He said, “But her boyfriend is supposed to be meeting her here.”
His heart stuttered in his chest, “Boyfriend?”
Robby nodded, “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone until today. I overheard her mention it to Heather.”
Fuck. Not only were you seeing someone, you were bringing him here, to meet everyone in the Pitt. You must’ve been serious about him, then.
“Do you know where she is?”
Robby tilted his head as he looked at Jack, “You sure you wanna go down that road?”
“I just want to talk to her.” He said, and it was true. Mostly. 
The two of you hadn’t had a real conversation since the week before you had requested the shift change. That night on the roof. He felt it was long overdue for the two of you to sit down and talk about it like adults. Maybe Robby was right, maybe it was much too late for that. 
But Jack couldn’t accept that.
Robby sighed heavily, “I saw her go upstairs to the rooftop bar with Heather and Samira twenty minutes ago.”
“Thanks, brother.” Jack clapped him on the back as he headed up the stairs.
***
You liked the quiet of the night time. Being awake and working when everyone else was asleep brought with it a sort of peaceful solitude you couldn’t quite explain.
But Jack hadn’t needed you to explain, he had understood it intrinsically.
The night shift, of course, could become hectic and even nightmarish at times. But if you stepped outside for some air, either on the roof or the ambulance bay, the quiet of the night cocooned you in safety.
And that’s where you were that night two years ago, on the roof and leaning over the railing, trying to catch your breath.
There had been a six car pile up almost immediately rushed in after the day shift had trickled out. Ten patients. Four of them were in critical condition when they arrived, in that terrible purgatory between life and death. For five hours, you, Abbot, Shen, and Ellis had bounced between them. Still, you lost all four of them.
You had kept it together for the half hour after you had called the last patient, despite the fact that you had felt Jack’s eyes on you the whole time.
But he seemed able to keep it together, to not fall apart, so you would too. The knee jerk response to impress him, to make him proud of you had never quite dulled in your two years of residency. It felt a bit fucking pathetic, actually.
Worse, still, that he seemed to notice how badly you craved his validation and so gave it freely. 
“Hey,” He stepped close to you, his warm breath caressing your cheek, “Go take a break, I’ll come find you in fifteen.”
“I don’t need a break.” You said quickly.
“You do,” He said, undeterred, “You’ve been staring dead eyed at the board for the last two minutes. Shen tried to call you over for a code stroke thirty seconds ago and you didn’t blink.”
You turned to him finally, panic on your face, “Fuck, seriously?” 
You started to walk to go find Shen and the stroke patient, but Jack grabbed your arm, “Nope, uh-uh. Break first. Now.”
It was rare that Jack wasn’t joking with you, trying to make you smile. Now he looked deadly serious. Like he would physically remove you from the floor himself if you refused. You must’ve looked like shit.
“Okay.” You said finally, “Fine.”
He released your arm, but his eyes trained on your every step as you walked away, “I catch you on a patient in the next fifteen minutes and I’m sending you home.” He called after you.
You raised your hand over your head in a thumbs up to signal that you’d heard and kept walking.
And that was how you ended up on the roof. Bathed in the moonlight with the quiet midnight streets of Pittsburgh below, silent tears streamed down your cheeks as you greedily sucked the night air into your lungs.
You weren’t aware of time passing and your mind had gone blissfully blank until you heard him come up behind you.
“How come you, Ellis, or Shen didn’t need a break?” You asked, your voice wavering, “Is there something wrong with me?”
He leaned over the railing at your side and turned his head to look at you, but you avoided his eyes, knowing they’d be soft and warm and inviting. You did not need to see him looking at you like that right now. Just like you had been trying not to notice the way he watched you more than the others, touched you more than was necessary, handed out praise to you more generously.
“Not even a little bit.” He said softly, voice rough, “You were perfect down there. Nothing else you could have done.“
You breathed out a shaky breath, “Then why does it feel so bad?”
“Because you’re human,” He said softly, “And because you were the only one of us to call time of death on a seven year old tonight.”
You swallowed, tilting your head up towards the sky so you could see the moon. A moon that seven year old kid would never see again. “Does it ever hurt less?”
“Fuck, no.” He sighed, “But it makes you a better doctor, I think. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself to try to make it all mean something.”
Finally, you looked at him, and the sight of your red rimmed eyes wrecked him, “It does make you a better doctor,” You hiccuped and gave him a small smile, “The best, probably.”
He shook his head, smirking, and looked down at his hands, “Careful, kid. You keep talking like that, I might think you actually like me.”
Feeling brave, you nudged your shoulder against his, “I mean it. I feel really grateful that you’re my attending. I wouldn’t want to learn under anyone else.”
He pushed his shoulder back against yours and your hands brushed where they each grasped the railing, “I came up here to make you feel better and somehow you’re the one comforting me. How did you get so good at deflecting?”
You laughed through your tears and he relished the sound, “I learned from the best,” You said pointedly as you looked over at him.
“See,” He pointed at you, teasing, “That’s what I’m talking about. Much better. You’re way less unsettling when you’re mean.”
You smiled and he found himself staring at your mouth, enraptured by it, really. The truth was, he had noticed the ways in which he was better when he was around you. Both as a doctor and a teacher. You made him want to be better. He knew he had been giving you more attention than the others, bordering on an inappropriate amount. And he knew, before he came up to the roof, that he’d have a hard time being alone with you and not imagining what you taste like or what your soft skin would feel like under his calloused hands.
He thought you felt the same, but you could be hard to read sometimes. Sometimes, he swore you leaned into his touch, other times you jumped away from it as if he had burned you. Sometimes you went whole days seemingly trying to avoid him, others you followed him around like a puppy waiting for a pat on the head and for him to tell you what a good girl you are.
But now, fuck, now you were gazing at his mouth, too. And he tried, really fucking tried, to rein in the desire. He shouldn’t have kissed you. And he would think about it every day for days and weeks and months and years how badly he wished he could take it back. Not because he didn’t mean it or didn’t want it, but because it had started this downward spiral of silence and distance until you were so far away he hadn’t really seen you up close in two years. If he could go back, he would’ve told himself it wasn’t worth it. Because having only this much of you day in and day out while he yearned for more was better than having nothing at all, than you slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. 
But he didn’t know then what he knew now. 
Cautiously, he moved his face towards yours, waiting for you to pull back. But inch by inch he moved, and you stayed put. And when he was close enough to share breath with you, he met your eyes and was greeted with pupils that had completely devoured your irises. No color in sight, just an endless abyss of desire and want. Your breath faltered when his lips just barely brushed yours, and he stilled for a moment before his self restraint crumbled.
The kiss was hesitant and gentle, at first. Jack kept his hands to himself, slowly kissed you in a way that repeatedly seemed to ask Is this okay? Is this alright? Are you okay? Are you sure?
It was you who deepened the kiss first, tongue darting out to swipe gently at his lower lip.
And the cord between you, that was already so tenuous and frayed, snapped.
His hands shook as he touched you, moving from your waist, to your neck, to your face. It was like his body knew first what his brain didn’t, that he was taking too much and not enough, that hours and days and months and years of touching you would never satiate him anyway and he should just fucking quit while he was ahead. His traitorous mouth that moaned into yours was a bottomless, greedy pit and it could never have you, not really, not even as it sucked desperately at your neck in a useless attempt to mark you as his.
The marks would fade and you would fade from him along with them. 
He thinks now he probably knew as soon as you pulled away, at the panic in your eyes, that he had lost you before he had even really had the chance to have you. 
But he would deny it to himself, even as you ran off the roof ignoring the way your name came out strangled from his throat. 
He would deny it when you didn’t look at him the rest of the night, when you pretended not to hear when he tried to talk to you after the shift change that morning.
He would deny it when you handed him your shift change request form after a week of avoiding him, asking for his signature as you looked anywhere but at him.
He would deny it when his broken voice asked “Is this really what you want?” and you only silently nodded.
Jack Abbot knew he had lost you, he wasn’t delusional, but he could convince himself it was only temporary. He was patient. So fucking patient. He’d find you again, when you were ready.
***
Jack could admit that you having a boyfriend had not been part of his plan. Not that he had a plan, more so an overwhelming sense that if he waited long enough, you’d fall back into him.
But you had still been fleeing the ER at shift change without acknowledging him. He was patient, but it aggravated him to no end, the way you seemed so unaffected. Sometimes it made him feel like maybe he had made it all up in his head and that you had never wanted him at all. But then the film would play on loop again in his head and he knew he didn’t imagine your blown out pupils or the way you deepened the kiss first or the way you moaned when his mouth plucked bruises from your neck like ripened strawberries.
You had wanted him just as badly, he was sure of that. He just couldn’t understand why you were still acting like he didn’t exist.
When he got to the rooftop and looked around, he found you first at a table in the corner, eyes glued to your phone. Another quick glance around and he saw Heather and Samira talking at the bar.
Perfect. You were alone.
When he crossed the roof and sat in the empty seat next to you and you didn’t immediately look up, he realized you had marked his presence on the rooftop as soon as he got here.
The man was like a fucking sonar to your brain. You knew when he was in the same room as you before your eyes could track him. Tonight was no different.
“You look like you could use a drink.” Jack said.
Oh, you hadn’t realized how much you had missed the pleasant roughness of his voice, how it soothed you effortlessly. It practically sent chills down your spine.
You swallowed, continuing to stare at your phone. The second you met those warm hazel eyes, it would be over for you, you knew. It was the reason you had avoided him so diligently the last two years.
“Heather and Samira are getting me one.”
He wordlessly held his own drink out to you. When you stared blankly at it for a few moments, he shook it lightly, ice rattling against the glass, “It’s just a tequila soda. It’s not poison.”
Against your better judgment, and perhaps to indulge that stupid fucking instinct in your head that demanded you not disappoint him, you took it from him. You did your best not to pay attention to the sensation that shot across your skin when your fingers brushed, but the traitorous goosebumps spread across your arms anyway.
You took a sip and handed it back to him, still looking at your phone.
“Why aren’t you with them at the bar?”
“I had to take a call.”
“From your boyfriend?” Finally, fucking finally, you looked at him. It was disdain all over your face, but fuck it, he’d take it. He smirked and held his hands up in surrender, “I didn’t ask, Robby told me. Said he was meeting you here.”
Quickly, you looked back at your phone and he saw your throat bob, “He called to say he couldn’t make it, so.”
Jack watched you carefully, the way you frowned and your mouth turned down just slightly. You were upset, and not just at him. 
“I’m sorry,” He said softly, but you scoffed at his apology and shook your head. And that pissed him off, “Look, you may fuckin’ hate me, but I still care about you and I mean it. I’m sorry if he stood you up. I don’t like seeing you sad.”
You rubbed at your forehead in agitation, “I don’t hate you. I’ve never fucking hated you. That’s the problem.”
Well, that was news to him. But he decided not to comment on it. He didn’t want to piss you off anymore than he already had, which seemed to be an awful lot considering he had just got here.
“How long have you been together?” You shot him that annoyed look again, “Christ, I’m just making conversation.”
“Right,” You said sarcastically and shook your head, but you answered all the same, “Two and a half years.” You said quietly. It hadn’t quite caught up to you yet, what you were admitting when telling him that. It took a couple of moments for your brain to catch up, but by then it was too late.
But Jack’s brain was already there, making the mental calculations you had long forgotten about.
Two and a half—? No, that—That couldn’t be right. Because that would mean—
Your face and ears had reddened and you wouldn’t look at him.
Jack’s ears were ringing. He started to say your name—
“Dr. Abbot,” Heather and Samira were back, the latter handing you a drink, “Catching up with your old resident?”
He forced a smile and stood, acted like his world wasn’t fucking falling apart around him, like you hadn’t just dropped a fucking bomb on him in casual conversation.
He was impressed with his ability to hold damn near cheerful conversation with Heather and Samira until he was able to excuse himself.
And this time, it was you who called after him when he left the roof.
“Jack,” Your voice was a soft plea behind him. It was a language he used to be fluent in, but clearly, he didn’t fucking know you anymore. He was starting to think he never had, “Jack, wait—“
He rounded on you in the stairwell, you still a couple of steps above him so the two of you were eye level, “Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”
You seemed to be caught off guard that he had actually stopped, and just blinked at him for a moment, “What difference would it have made?”
“What difference—?” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, “All this time I’ve been driving myself out of my goddamn mind trying to figure out what I did wrong when it turns out I was your fucking, what, side piece? Affair?”
“Affair?” You hissed incredulously, “We kissed once!”
He squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head, “Does he know?” 
“What?”
He was quickly becoming frustrated with your inability to keep up with the urgency this situation demanded. To him, at least, the whole world had shifted around him. And you were behaving as if he was the one acting crazy.
“Your boyfriend, does he know? About us?”
“Jack,” You said breathlessly, “There is no us. There was never an us.”
Jack shook his head, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?” You asked, exasperated.
“I’ve been pining after you for two fucking years and you’ve compartmentalized so goddamn well that you’ve convinced yourself it was nothing. That it meant nothing.”
For a second, he thought he saw a flicker of the version of you he used to know. Your face faltered for just a second, but then the walls were immediately back up, “I don’t owe you anything.” You said coldly, “It’s not my fault you’ve spent the last two years chasing a ghost.”
You stared each other down for a few more moments, the rage pulsating between you, before Jack broke your stare by tossing back the rest of his drink, “You’re right,” He said finally, and turned away from you to head down the stairs, “I’m sorry I disrupted your evening. Won’t happen again.”
You sighed, “Jack—“
“It’s Dr. Abbot,” He said coldly, turning back to face you again, “If you don’t mind.”
Your face fell marginally and he almost took it back when he thought he saw your lower lip wobble, but he couldn’t be sorry. If you wanted to pretend like there was nothing between the two of you, then he would do the same.
He turned again and jogged down the rest of the stairs. He needed another drink. Or seven.
***
Your hands were shaking. You stood in the stairwell staring stupidly after Jack for longer than was acceptable. You couldn’t go back upstairs to Heather and Samira like this, they’d know something was up. And you certainly couldn’t follow after Jack.
You should just go home. It was a stupid fucking idea to come here in the first place, you knew it was. And still you had come, why?
Because some part of you wanted to see him? No matter how much you denied it? Never mind the fact you had basically only invited your boyfriend because you knew his presence would keep you accountable if you were forced to be alone with Jack?
You hadn’t wanted him here, not really. Not for reasons that made sense. If you were honest with yourself, which you hadn’t been in a long, long time, your relationship had been over for at least six months.
Seeing Jack again, hearing his voice again made that very clear to you. And a part of you hated Jack for it. You had been able to convince yourself for two years that your current relationship was as good as it would get. Your mistake with Jack on the roof was just that, a mistake. Nothing more.
You had thought after all this time Jack must’ve felt the same. He fucked up and kissed his hot, younger resident, just once. He hadn’t meant to and he would be glad it was all over. You had been doing him a favor, you thought.
But when you had allowed yourself to look at him, really look at him tonight, that hadn’t been what you’d seen. In fact, he was angry with you. He had looked at you with such hurt and betrayal as if all this time he had been in love with you.
It didn’t make any fucking sense. You sat in the stairwell and pressed the heels of your palms into your eyes. None of it made any fucking sense.
You should go home.
***
Robby eyed Jack with silent suspicion when he joined him back at the bar and ordered two tequila sodas. He knocked the first one back in one go and then rested his head in his hands on the bar top.
“So it went well, I take it?” Robby asked mildly.
Jack glared at Robby and then looked back at his drink, “She has a boyfriend.”
Robby nodded, “Right. I’m glad we’re on the same page about that, now.”
Jack shook his head and felt the tequila make its way through him, “No, you see, she’s had a boyfriend. Since before she moved to the day shift. The same one.”
Robby was silent for a moment, then, “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Jack knocked back his second tequila soda and ordered another.
“Alright, I can see you’re upset, but all the tequila sodas in the world aren’t going to make you feel better.”
“No,” Jack agreed, “But maybe it’ll stop me from thinking about her for just a while.”
Just then, as Robby was trying to subtly get the bartender to cut off Jack, Robby’s phone buzzed with a text from Heather.
What did Abbot say to Y/N? Found her crying in the stairwell. She won’t stop.
He sighed heavily and turned back to Jack, “You made her cry?”
“What?” Jack looked at him incredulously, “No.”
“Heather says she’s sobbing in the stairwell.”
Oh, he hated the way that sent an ache through him. There was a time when he would’ve taken off running to get to you if he had heard that. Maybe even just earlier today. Not now, though.
“Believe me, her eyes were fucking bone dry when I left her.”
Robby’s phone buzzed again.
Never mind. Finally got her to say something coherent. Broke up with her boyfriend over the phone. Nothing to do with Abbot.
Christ. Nothing to do with Abbot. Right, Robby thought and rubbed a hand down his face, somehow he doubted that very much.
Robby looked back at his friend, debating if he should deliver this news to Jack or not. But Jack was very drunk now and he’d probably just tear after you like a man on a mission. Neither of you needed that right now, Robby thought. He’d tell Jack in the morning.
***
Heather and Samira sat on either side of you as you tried and failed to explain everything to them. You were very bad at this. Having work friends. Shen and Ellis had tolerated you, always including you, buying you coffee, but you knew really you were mostly third wheeling. And you hadn’t minded it. You had always tried to draw a firm line between your work and personal life, which is probably why the situation with Jack fucked you up so badly.
Heather started again, “So you and Abbot—“ 
“Yes.”
“And that’s why you switched to the day shift.”
“Yes.”
“And Jack also wanted you moved to the day shift?”
This is where things got murky for you. Tiredly, you rubbed your eyes, “I don’t know what Jack wanted because I never asked.”
“He didn’t know about your boyfriend then, either?”
You shook your head slowly, “I thought the fact that I was his resident was excuse enough. I left because I didn’t trust myself around him and I thought it’d be easier on us both.”
“And today was the first time you’d really spoken in two years?”
“Yes.”
“And this one conversation spurred you to break up with your long term boyfriend on a whim?”
You looked at Heather and smirked, “So you’re getting it now? Why I should be institutionalized?”
Heather and Samira both laughed, but Heather shook her head, “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think you’re finally being honest with yourself about your feelings. Which is really fucking brave.”
“I say we go to the next bar and get very drunk.” Samira said, standing.
“Oh, I— No,” You shook your head, panicking, “What if he’s there?”
“Oh, I hope he is.” Heather laughed and the two of them linked arms with you.
***
Robby walked silently next to Jack as they made their way to the next bar, his hands stuffed in his pockets, “Brother, I really think maybe you should just sleep this one off.”
Jack turned to Robby, “It’s only 10 PM which is roughly 10 AM by my standards. So there will be no sleeping from me for a while. But you, by all means, can go home.”
Robby inhaled slowly through his nose. He was fucking exhausted, but he didn’t trust Jack in this state. And he had seen you go off with Heather and Samira not too long ago, headed in the same direction they were walking in right now.
So he kept walking, eyeing Jack every so often until they got to the bar.
He should have just gone home, probably.
Because once they got to the bar, all hell broke loose.
***
The room was spinning. The text had come in just moments after back to back lemon drop shots and your vision was blurred. You were unsure if it was from tears or the alcohol.
“Hey, what happened?” Samira was shouting in your ear over the din of the bar.
You passed the phone to her wordlessly as you ordered another shot. You needed to be belligerent if you were going to survive this.
Samira’s jaw dropped as she watched the video. She scrubbed back and forth a few times before she handed the phone back to you.
“This is the boyfriend who couldn’t meet you here because of ‘work’?”
You nodded.
“Well, you made the right call then, breaking up with him.”
You laughed humorlessly, and then you were sobbing, “I don’t know… why I care…” You hiccuped, “I don’t think I’ve loved him for a long time.”
Samira sighed, rubbing a hand down your back, “It sounds like you tried really hard to salvage the relationship. Probably feels like a waste of almost three years of your life now,” This renewed your sobs and Samira looked at you with alarm, “I’m not saying I think you wasted three years, I just mean, it probably felt that way— I’m gonna go find Heather, she’s much better at this sort of thing.”
Alone, you ordered a drink and wiped at your cheeks. You knew Jack was next to you before you smelt his cologne and sighed heavily.
“Don’t worry,” He said softly, “I’m just getting a drink and then I’ll go as far away from you as possible.”
You only nodded. The man you had chosen to fight for had stood you up to go to a bar across town and make out with the coworker he swore for months you had nothing to worry about while your best friend unknowingly filmed him from across the room.
The man you were beginning to suspect had been in love with you for close to four years now, you had spent the last two years running away from and now he hated you.
It felt like a big cosmic joke.
You rested your head on your arms and willed him away so you wouldn’t have to confront the long string of bad decisions you’d made that had led you here.
But Jack just couldn’t resist when you looked so miserable, “Are you alright, kid? Hate seeing you like this.”
You pushed your head up and met his eyes. Despite your earlier argument, he was looking at you with tenderness and concern. He meant it, that he cared, you could see it all over him. It made you want to burst into tears again. And maybe that’s why you decided to poke the bear, see how far you could push, what would make him really, truly loathe you? It was what you deserved after all, right?
You turned your head away from him and unlocked your phone, tapping to the video your friend had sent, hitting play and sliding it over the bar top to Jack, “You’ll be happy to know this is what my boyfriend was too busy doing to meet me tonight. Some sort of fucked up karma, I suppose.”
Jack’s face betrayed nothing as he watched the video, but you thought maybe a muscle in his jaw ticked. He slid the phone back to you, “Whatever you think of me, I’m not enjoying this.”
You scoffed and shook your head, looking down at the bar top.
“I’m serious. I would never—“ You hear him sigh in frustration, “Just because I’m hurting doesn’t mean I wish you were hurting, too. If anything, if you were happy, maybe it’d all make more sense to me.”
He tapped his finger on top of your phone case, “That guy’s a fucking idiot. You deserve way better than that.” You chewed on the inside of your cheek, carefully avoiding looking at him, “Hey,” He said and crooked a finger under your chin, gently pulling until you met his gaze, “You deserve better, okay?”
You were conscious of the fact that you wanted to kiss him. And you knew he saw the way your eyes drifted dangerously to his mouth. 
“I did the same thing to him.” You said quietly, still staring at his mouth, “Only seems fair.”
Jack released your chin and shook his head, “Don’t compare what we did to… To that.”
He sounded disgusted and it made you want to laugh, “How is it any different?”
“That is just drunken lust.” He leaned towards you on his forearms, “What we did meant something. Maybe not to you, but it did to me.”
“And that makes it better?”
“Did it mean something to you?” He shot back.
His face was very close to yours now, you could smell the tequila on his breath. 
“Tell me,” He said slowly, “Tell me it didn’t mean anything to you and I swear to God, I’ll walk away and you’ll never hear from me again.”
You swallowed, blinking rapidly to clear the watering of your eyes. Of course you couldn’t tell him it meant nothing. You had thought about it nearly every day for two years. 
But you were drunk and a fucking wreck and you didn’t know anything anymore except that you still remembered exactly what Jack Abbot tasted like and that he was looking at you right now like he would get on his knees for you in this crowded bar if you asked.
“I should go.” You whispered softly, broken, and slid from your bar stool.
He let you pass, but then called after you, loudly enough that people around you quieted, “What the fuck are you so scared of?”
You turned back, knowing that your face was flushed from the attention of others, “Goodnight, Dr. Abbot.”
***
“Hey, let her go,” Robby stood in front of Jack who was now trying to exit the bar and follow after you, “You’re drunk.”
“I’m fine,” Jack insisted, and when he looked around Robby, he saw it had started to downpour outside, “She’s drunk and it’s storming out there.”
“Heather will check in with her and make sure she gets home okay.”
Jack looked from the door to Robby a few times before sighing and running a hand through his hair, “Sorry, I just… She really gets under my fucking skin.”
Robby nodded and tried to stifle a yawn, “I noticed.”
Jack sighed, “Go home, Robby, seriously. I’m not gonna do anything stupid. I promise.” He shook his head, “I should probably just go home, too.”
Robby offered a sad smile and clapped him on the shoulder, “It’ll all make more sense in the morning, brother.”
Jack snorted, “Historically, that has never been true for me.”
***
It felt pretty melodramatic to be standing in the park overlooking the river as it poured. It was all very Jane Austen of you, you decided. Except Mr. Darcy would not be showing up to declare his love for you, Mr. Darcy was likely dry and headed home in his UberX.
You didn’t know where home was anymore. Luckily, you hadn’t moved in with your boyfriend yet. It was one of the many things that should have been a red flag, the fact that you hadn’t had a desire to cohabitate with him. You liked when he left in the morning and you liked the nights where he got home too late and went to his own apartment so as not to disturb your rest.
But still, there were traces of him all through your apartment. You didn’t want to be there.
You’re not sure how long you sit in the warm rain before your phone buzzed. You expected Heather or Samira, but were shocked to see Jack’s name on the banner, alerting you to a text.
Jack hadn’t texted you in something like two years.
I know I shouldn’t be texting you, it read, But I just want to be sure you got home safe. Please  text when you’re home.
After staring at your phone for a few minutes, now soaked with the rain, you attempted to dry the screen with the sleeve of your jacket. It worked only slightly, but allowed you to hold down the text and “like” it.
After about thirty seconds, the speech bubble appeared on your phone to indicate he was typing.
Well don’t just fucking like the message. Are you home?
You could lie, you supposed. Probably, you could walk into PTMC and sleep in an empty room upstairs.
But you were growing tired of all the pretending.
no. You replied finally.
His reply was immediate, Where are you? 
in the park.
It’s raining.
excellent observation, dr. abbot.
You stared at the screen as his speech bubble appeared and disappeared, over and over, for a couple minutes.
Send me your location. Then, almost as an afterthought, Please.
This was a bad idea, probably. After the events of today, you should not be sending Jack Abbot your location. You should not be speaking to Jack Abbot at all. After today, you should probably resign from your residency and maybe join a convent.
You watched as seemingly of their own volition, your hands tapped all the right buttons to send Jack a pin.
A few moments later, he texted a screenshot of an Uber being sent to your location with the car information and license plate.
i don’t want to go home. You sent him in a rush.
Yeah, I got that, he replied, The Uber is bringing you to me.
You blew a long breath out between your lips, you sure that’s a good idea?
Nope. Uber’s pulling up now.
Sure enough, headlights lit up the raindrops behind you. You turned to see the car, quickly giving the license plate a cursory once over to make sure it matched what Jack sent. 
You could send the car off. Say it was a mistake. Not get in. Showing up at Jack’s apartment soaked to the skin in the middle of the night, still drunk and emotionally unstable felt like boarding a train you knew would derail. 
You still got in the car, though. You didn’t have anywhere else to go.
***
When Jack opened the door to his apartment, the frigid air from his AC assaulted you and you shivered, wrapping your arms around yourself.
He stepped aside to allow you in and you kicked off your water logged shoes.
You had been here only once before, the first week of your residency. Jack would host a team dinner (early, so you could all still make your shift in time) whenever a new resident was added to the night shift. 
You had been really nervous you recalled, until Jack had cracked a joke that made you choke on your soda.
It had been almost four years, but his apartment hadn’t changed much at all. It was neat and tidy, nothing out of place. The furniture was well taken care of, but everything was in varying shades of gray and blue. The only hints of personality being some pictures on his fridge, vinyls by a stereo, and some books on a shelf.
But one photo on his fridge caught your eye and before you knew what you were doing, you were walking to it.
Early in your second year of residency, you had presented your research on cardiogenic pulmonary edema outcomes in the ER at a conference in New York. Jack had shown up without telling you he was coming. He stayed near your poster all day while you presented to interested passersby, giving you a thumbs up or “solid work” when you needed it, smuggling you snacks, making sure you drank water. And at the end of it you remembered he took you out to dinner and told you how proud he was of you and what a great emergency medicine doctor you would be.
You had taken a picture with him in front of your poster and this was the photo on his fridge. You had a huge smile on your face and Jack had an arm wrapped around your shoulders.
“I didn’t know you had this.” You said softly.
He didn’t say anything so you turned to look at him, but his eyes were trained on the photo, “Let’s get you out of those wet clothes,” He said finally, walking by you to his bedroom.
You watched in his doorway as he pulled a pair of clean sweatpants and a t shirt from his closet and placed them at the edge of his bed, “The shower’s in that room,” He pointed to a door off the bedroom, “There’s clean towels under the sink, use whatever soap you like.”
He started to walk past you, but you grabbed his arm, and he stopped, eyes snagging on the hand that was touching him, “Thank you.” You said softly.
His eyes slowly roved upwards until they met yours. He searched your face, though you weren’t sure what he was looking for, then pressed a kiss to your forehead before he left the room.
***
After you were showered and changed, you wandered out to the living room where Jack sat on the couch, an arm draped over his forehead. He had taken his prosthetic off and it was propped up next to the coffee table.
When he heard you pad into the room, he cracked his eyes open, “Feeling better?” You nodded. “Good. Take the bed, I’ll sleep out here.”
But you still stood there, staring at him, arms wrapped around yourself, “Do you love me?” You asked, voice small.
He stared at you for a moment and sat up, running a hand over his face, “Have I not made it painfully obvious?”
“For how long?”
He shook his head and smiled at you incredulously, “You don’t get to do this.”
“Do what?”
“You’ve been in control of this,” He gestured between the two of you, “From the second I fucking met you and now you’re trying to what, decode the situation? See what outcome is most advantageous? I mean, Jesus Christ, what do you want?”
“What do I want?”
“Yes,” He said, “Not what seems correct, not what seems rational, what is it that you want?”
“I—“ You shook your head, “I don’t– I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” He said firmly, “Do you want your cheating boyfriend?”
You frowned, “No.”
“Did you ever want him?”
You huffed in frustration, “What do you mean?”
“I mean when you chose him over me, was that what you wanted?”
“That’s not a fair characterization of what happened—“
“Was it what you wanted?”
You faltered, “It was what was safest.” You said softly.
He smiled at you sadly, “He couldn’t hurt you if you didn’t love him, right?”
You stared up at the ceiling, willing the tears back into your eyes, “I didn’t think it meant that much to you.”
“You never gave me the chance to tell you.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw, “I’ll ask you again, what do you want?”
You looked at him, eyes watering, and you swallowed hard before you moved to him. He watched you as you placed a knee on either side of his legs, straddling his lap. His eyes followed your every movement reverently, your face just above his as you rested your forehead against his. His hands knotted themselves in your hair, “I’m scared,” You breathed shakily into his mouth.
“Of what?” He asked, his mouth near centimeters from yours.
“Of you. Of wanting you too much. Of losing you. Of everything.”
“I can’t promise you that this will work,” He said softly, “But I can promise I’ll fight like hell to make it work.”
You swallowed, “Because you love me?”
Finally, he laughed, “Yes, I fucking love you. Now be quiet.” He said before he kissed you.
He tasted exactly like you remembered, except tonight, there were remnants of tequila on his tongue. It was like he was trying to make up for lost time, the way he kissed you on that couch. He pushed his tongue into your mouth almost immediately, like he was searching for something he’d lost. Already, you were out of breath, hips grinding down on him without realizing. He sucked your lower lip into his mouth and bit down gently, groaning when you rubbed yourself on his growing erection.
“Slow down,” He chastised.
“You started it.” You reminded him.
“Fuck,” He moaned and then pushed you off him so he could crawl over you, “You’re sure?” He asked as you looked up at him, hair fanning around your head on the couch cushion like a halo.
You nodded, “I want you.”
He smirked and lowered his head to yours again, pulling kisses from you as one hand worked its way under your t-shirt. Your skin was smooth and soft there and he inched up slowly, until his fingers just brushed the underside of your breast. Touching you like this, he thought a lot about that night on the roof, the way he had kissed you like he knew he was already out of time.
Now… Now the world seemed to open up. He could take as much time as he wanted. You weren’t going anywhere, not this time. You were his and he wouldn’t let you go so easily again.
Gently, he tugged the t-shirt over your head so he could look at you and he was unable to suppress the sigh that tumbled from his lips. He squeezed your breast with one hand, thumbed your nipple and watched it pebble as you sighed. Still watching you, he pinched your nipple lightly between his thumb and forefinger and your eyes rolled back into your head as you writhed beneath him.
He kissed you, fingers still teasingly rolling your nipple between his fingers, and then he began to kiss down your jaw and neck until he was able to suck your nipple into his mouth. The moan that fell from your lips when he swirled his tongue around you went straight to his cock. 
He was overly conscious of the fact that because he had imagined this very moment for two years minimum, likely longer, because he had imagined it hundreds of times while getting himself off, it was likely he would last all of thirty seconds once he was inside you, once he felt the real thing. So he would make this last for you.
Jack shimmied the sweatpants off of you and forgot that because you were here and you had just showered, you weren’t wearing panties. And suddenly, he felt feral. 
“Jesus Christ,” He shook his head looking at you, it felt like maybe he was dreaming a little, having you naked beneath him. He felt almost delirious with it.
You looked up at him, those pupils once again whole saucers, “Touch me, please?” You whined.
He kissed you again, licking into your mouth as he reached a hand down between your thighs. You gasped as he fully sunk a finger into you. When he moved his mouth back down to suck on your other nipple, your back arched and it sent him into another dimension, being able to make you feel like this.
With two of his fingers pumping you slowly and a thumb on your clit, he felt the moment when you climaxed before you cried out, “That’s it, sweetheart,” He said softly, “Look so pretty when you come for me like that.”
As you caught your breath, you watched as he pulled his fingers out of you and then sucked your juices from his digits. “Taste so good, too.”
Your eyes stayed locked on one another as he reached for a wooden bowl on the coffee table. He took the top off, pulled out an aluminum packet, and closed it again. And suddenly you were giggling, “What?” He asked, ripping the package open.
“D’you fuck mad bitches on this couch or something, Jack?”
He rolled his eyes, but smirked, “Shut up.”
When he slid into you, forehead pressed to yours, you gasped at the sensation. You had thought about this countless times before, Jack Abbot above you, like this. What you had never really thought about was that maybe while he did it, he’d be looking at you like he was in love with you. And it nearly shattered you.
“I love you,” You murmured into his mouth as you felt him beginning to come undone, “I love you so much.”
He moaned your name as he finished and collapsed against you, damp and breathless, “You love me, huh?” He said after a moment.
You lightly scratched the back of his head, “I’ve loved you for years,” You said softly, “Just spent a lot of that time denying it.”
He pulled his head back and kissed you messily, your chin grasped firmly in his hand. 
“Better late than never.”
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netsuijae · 4 months ago
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I would love to see what your hypothetical Kanade crash out would look like ngl (you don't need to draw for this if you don't want to a text explanation would still be awesome)
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ok soooo this isn't exactly the crashout but rather building up to it i guess :P
the rest of this post is gonna be rambling and predictions ⬇️
alright this ask enabled me, im gonna just dump all my thoughts as of now on what's to come for kanade's story :) i could end up being completely wrong, but hey im just theorizing and having fun here while i wait very impatiently lol
To start, I don't think kana5 will be on the scale of mizu5 (i mean i might be biased but idk if anything will come close to that level of insanity again), mainly because there hasn't been as much build-up to a breaking point. Kanade's issues have been pushed aside (by herself especially) and not heavily focused on up to this point in the story. There hasn't been any increasing tension for things to reach a climax yet. Having her big break be in this next event would be too sudden and sort of unprecedented. For this event at least, I highly doubt that'll be the case. Instead, I think this event will start to touch on Kanade's buried issues more, and begin building that tension for something bigger. I can see this being a multiple event arc, similar to the events leading up to the climax of Mafuyu's story. Summarizing that, yes I think Kanade's got some real tough shit ahead of her, but that's why this won't be a one-off event story. I think it'll just be the beginning.
That being said, to touch more on my predictions for kana5 itself, I think Kanade will start to slip, and the others, Mafuyu especially, will take notice. I can't really predict anything specific, but I think something will happen that will make her question her ability to save people, or cause her to be harder on herself, as she has in the past, to keep composing persistently, neglecting her own needs and health. However, things are different now than they were before niigo. She has more people around her that will be able to see the damage she's doing to herself. But she also knows they all look up to her, and that her music lifts them up. She knows they all have a lot they're dealing with, and she needs to be there for them. She can't let them down.
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Then, when Kanade pushes herself past her limits at the cost of her well-being, what will she do then? She meets with the others on nightcord every night, and Mafuyu is living at her place. She won't be able to rot away by herself anymore without people noticing. But she still feels this need to be the group's rock and to be the one to save everyone, so she'll try her damn hardest to prevent the others from worrying about her. She'll shoot down their attempts at trying to talk about it. I think she might be especially stubborn this time around, and it might cause niigo to have to figure out a way to help Kanade, since they won't be able to get through to her at first.
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Kanade has shown in the past to get uncharacteristically aggressive when she's pushing herself too hard, as shown above. She starts to take on everything herself, and snaps at anyone who tries to stop her. I think this side of her will be shown more going forward, as she begins to go down this kind of self-destructive path yet again. At least, that's where I think her story will go. Her tendency to work herself to the bone hasn't really been resolved, and she's gone so far with it before to end up in the hospital after passing out. She doesn't care what happens to her, as long as she can save people. The only reason she has ((slightly)) gotten better at taking care of herself is so that she can be able to keep composing without ending up in the hospital again. Not because she cares about her health. Because she must keep composing. She still only does the bare minimum for herself. If it's her cooking, she's only having instant ramen, and most days she's probably not going to see the sun. She still doesn't sleep much, and Mafuyu has said that she's often falling asleep at her computer.
This might be getting a little rambley atp, but my point is that Kanade neglects her own needs in her determination to save others. I mentioned how she neglects her physical health in the last paragraph, but she also neglects her own feelings as well.
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She minimizes her own problems or just doesn't even talk about them. I think she truly believes that her problems don't matter, that they only distract her from her goals. The reason she doesn't open up is likely because she herself doesn't believe her feelings are important at all. She doesn't pay them any mind, and she doesn't want anyone else to either.
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Of course, I have to bring this card up. I think this is just a perfect visual representation of Kanade's feelings, and it's great foreshadowing for what's to come. Those feelings are buried deep within Kanade, yet to be addressed or solved. THIS is what we're getting into. Kanade, depicted as an angel, surrounded by death. I think this is related to her guilt surrounding what happened to her father, believing it was her fault. That she destroyed everything. But because of that incident, she told herself she has to keep composing, and never stop, in order to save people. She feels like she owes that much, and that that's her sole purpose. She won't allow herself to think otherwise. No matter how much it destroys her, she must be a savior for others.
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Last thing I wanted to add, because I saw this reblog under a prev kanade analysis post, and they brought up great points. Especially how dangerous Kanade's composing grind can get. We wouldn't even have a story if Honami hadn't found Kanade unconscious!!! I think she might get to a really low point again like this, but having Mafuyu there especially, it won't be able to go unnoticed. I don't have much else to add to those tags though cus they speak for themselves 🙏
Finally, just real quickly going back to the little comic I drew, this is just a rough idea of how I think Kanade could act. She'll get noticeably worse, but will try to hide that fact from the others and deny any help from them. I also mentioned that I think we could see more aggression from her again, so I included that, as she feels threatened in a way by Mafuyu worrying about her. She can't let that happen. Also, Kanade's impending doom aside, I think this progression in the story may also spark some change in Mafuyu. She might show some more emotion in this or future events, and she may realize how much Kanade means to her, motivating her to do more for her. I think it'll be a full group effort to save Kanade, but I wanna see Mafuyu taking a bigger role in this. I just think this also has the potential to grow Mafuyu's character more.
Also, as for the Kanade crashout, I really don't know how they'll handle that. I can't really predict what they're gonna do with her climax. But I want her screaming yelling and crying !!! like she better go insaneeee 🙏 and I also feel like they have a lot of potential with her seiyuu/VA and stepping out of the soft quiet voice to do some crazy shit, maybe in the songs too pls pls pls give us loud kanadeeee
OKAY THATS ENOUGH YAPPING its 5 am i havent slept....
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afloweroutofstone · 6 months ago
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Strongly convinced that this is one of the primary culprits behind a lot of the most harmful social trends of recent years. Obviously the decline of in-person socialization has been happening for about half a century now (see Bowling Alone), but the last five years have turbo-charged it in an unprecedented way.
Americans are spending less time with other people than in any other period for which we have trustworthy data, going back to 1965. Between that year and the end of the 20th century, in-person socializing slowly declined. From 2003 to 2023, it plunged by more than 20 percent, according to the American Time Use Survey, an annual study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among unmarried men and people younger than 25, the decline was more than 35 percent. Alone time predictably spiked during the pandemic. But the trend had started long before most people had ever heard of a novel coronavirus and continued after the pandemic was declared over. According to Enghin Atalay, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Americans spent even more time alone in 2023 than they did in 2021... Eroding companionship can be seen in numerous odd and depressing facts of American life today. Men who watch television now spend seven hours in front of the TV for every hour they spend hanging out with somebody outside their home. The typical female pet owner spends more time actively engaged with her pet than she spends in face-to-face contact with friends of her own species. Since the early 2000s, the amount of time that Americans say they spend helping or caring for people outside their nuclear family has declined by more than a third. Self-imposed solitude might just be the most important social fact of the 21st century in America. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many observers have reduced this phenomenon to the topic of loneliness. In 2023, Vivek Murthy, Joe Biden’s surgeon general, published an 81-page warning about America’s “epidemic of loneliness,” claiming that its negative health effects were on par with those of tobacco use and obesity. A growing number of public-health officials seem to regard loneliness as the developed world’s next critical public-health issue. The United Kingdom now has a minister for loneliness. So does Japan. But solitude and loneliness are not one and the same. “It is actually a very healthy emotional response to feel some loneliness,” the NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg told me. “That cue is the thing that pushes you off the couch and into face-to-face interaction.” The real problem here, the nature of America’s social crisis, is that most Americans don’t seem to be reacting to the biological cue to spend more time with other people. Their solitude levels are surging while many measures of loneliness are actually flat or dropping. A 2021 study of the widely used UCLA Loneliness Scale concluded that “the frequently used term ‘loneliness epidemic’ seems exaggerated.” Although young people are lonelier than they once were, there is little evidence that loneliness is rising more broadly today. A 2023 Gallup survey found that the share of Americans who said they experienced loneliness “a lot of the day yesterday” declined by roughly one-third from 2021 to 2023, even as alone time, by Atalay’s calculation, rose slightly. Day to day, hour to hour, we are choosing this way of life—its comforts, its ready entertainments. But convenience can be a curse. Our habits are creating what Atalay has called a “century of solitude.” This is the anti-social century. Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with psychologists, political scientists, sociologists, and technologists about America’s anti-social streak. Although the particulars of these conversations differed, a theme emerged: The individual preference for solitude, scaled up across society and exercised repeatedly over time, is rewiring America’s civic and psychic identity. And the consequences are far-reaching—for our happiness, our communities, our politics, and even our understanding of reality.
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jinxvex · 5 months ago
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hiii!! i love ur abby hcs 😭😭😭
pleasee write abt abby and like the reader touching herself when shes not supposed to and abby has to punish her 🙏
♱ numb. ♱
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mm!! yes me thinks!!
syp: abby punishing that p***y wbk...!!
cw: nsfw content!!, daddy kink (oops!), mean!dom abby, sub!reader, lots of degradation and rough treatment (yummy), finger-fucking, vulgar language/dirty talk, bdsm-ish elements, squirting, cunt slapping, slight choking!!
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to put things simply, abby anderson owns you; every aspect of you. your heart, mind, body, and soul belong to her and you quite like it that way. you like the control of it all—the feeling of your brain shutting down and having someone who loves and cares about you take the reins. she lifts the weight off of your shoulders and holds it up whilst she plunges her cock into the deepest parts of you to awaken something so pleasurable that you melt away.
not to mention the other times she uses her tongue to lick the stress away—her fingers to press the negative thoughts and energy from your body forcing orgasm after orgasm out of your poor, achy little cunt. although, there is a layer of gentleness.
she’s holding back.
at times, you want her to fuck you until you’re numb. you want her to fuck you until the only thing spilling from your mouth are incoherent little pleads and moans for her to slow down and take it easy on you.
nevertheless, she doesn’t have many serious rules regarding your sex life. but! there is one that she’s been extremely adamant about from the start of the sexual part of your relationship which, hadn’t begun until fairly recently. her only rule as of late:
“don’t touch yourself without my permission, got it?”
knowing the extent of her rules or lack thereof, sparked some sort of disobedience within you—a craving to be ravished and punished and to push her so far beyond her limits that she has no choice but to punish you and ruin your pussy for anyone else.
oh! how you’d come to just slightly regret your approach to that… (you love it)!!
“f-fuhh-ck!! oh fuck, please! daddy, please ‘m- i can’t!” you plead to abby with shiny, tearful eyes.
right now, she’s resting her back against the headboard whilst she has your back pressed against her front. you can feel the swell of her warm breasts and the heat of her clothed pussy on your rear as she takes you apart. your legs are spread apart by hers. she’s got your legs locked under her strong, muscular ones—forcing you to take everything she’s giving you. her fingers that is.
her other hand is placed firmly on your throat not squeezing but holding you there for one sole reason.
so you can’t escape.
“nuh-uh. shut the fuck up. take it—take this shit. you’re gonna take everything i give this slutty little pussy since you wanted it so fuckin’ bad. you were begging f'me as soon as i walked through the door.”
the room smells strongly of sex, sweat, and your own sweet desperation, it’s almost painful the way abby’s fucking your pussy open on her fingers—you feel yourself going numb. at this point, your cunt has perfectly molded around her middle and ring finger, sucking her in to compensate for the intrusive way she bullied herself into you with no prep. the sounds being produced from you are downright sinful—loud squelches and creamy pussy noises.
not that it wasn’t easy, breaking you in. you were already awfully wet before she walked in on you. you’d been rubbing your clit to one of her ab pictures for an unprecedented amount of time, waiting for her to just walk into your open apartment to pick you up for the dinner date you’d scheduled. she’d walked in on you touching yourself in skimpy black lingerie—loud porno-sounding moans coming from your lips and filling up the entirety of the space around you.
she was furious. and still is from the way she’s handling you.
“‘m so sorry, baby! ‘m sorry, please. it hurts, ‘s too much, i already came twice!” you sob.
“thought this is what you wanted? huh?” she tuts disapprovingly. she pulls her fingers out of you to whack your cunt with the palm of her hand. that motion causes your wetness from your previous orgasms to splatter on her upper arm and your inner thighs. you can’t see her face at this angle, but you can hear the anger seeping from her tone.
“didn’t you want me to stretch this little pussy out? so i could break you open ‘n loosen you up for daddy's cock?”
you moan but make no orderly response.
she slaps your cunt once again, and from the force of her strike, you knew she wouldn’t ask again. “mm, f-fuck! i- i don’t know, i just—yes. i wanted it, daddy. wanted you to punish me. wanted it.” you babble.
she laughs out and whispers an octave quieter into your ear, her tone dripping sex, “i know, sweetheart, i know. you jus' needed to get this pussy fucked up for being so needy, hm?”
“who’s pussy is this, huh?” she asks you, unwavering.
“‘s yours! ‘s yours, promise!” you respond.
“yeah, it is. good girl. ‘s my fuckin’ cunt and i get to decide who touches it. even you, baby.”
her fingers then slam right back into your heat and they seem to reach deeper into you, hitting your g-spot so good that your pussy squirts out violently all over the bed and all over you both, soaking you in your own juices and creating a creamy white ring around her pruney digits. she’s fucking you through your high at the same pace she’s had the whole time, unrelenting.
slow and steady—yet rough and deep.
“don’t worry. i’m not stopping. 'm not gonna stop fucking this cunt until you pass the fuck out.”
you’d be lying if you said her comments didn’t cause your eyes to cross so far into each other that your vision spots—her words cause you to moan so loud that you’re bound to get a noise complaint. you need this. you need for her to be so mean and rough that it’s borderline psychotic, masochistic.
‘fuck.’ you curse yourself internally.
and as if she could hear your inner thoughts, “yeah, babe. you should be happy, though. you wanted to get fucked so bad,
— and now you’re gonna get it ‘til you’re numb.”
...
600 notes · View notes
fluentmoviequoter · 2 months ago
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Father's Faults
Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!cop!reader
Summary: Tim is distracted by his memories of his father, so you find an unprecedented way to keep him focused. After he lashes out at you for overstepping, he realizes that you understand and have your own memories to battle. Rather than bonding over that, you accept what's been between you since you first met.
Warnings: discussion of child abuse, domestic violence, Tim and r have a lot of childhood and job-related trauma, angst to fluff, confessions and kisses
Word Count: 3.8k+ words
A/N: @nevereclipse inspired this with magnificent ideas about Tim and a traumatized reader. I hope you like it!!🤍
Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info
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There’s a scuff in the dashboard of Tim’s shop. It’s been there for as long as you can remember, but there’s something different about it today. Tracing the ragged scrape marks with your eyes, you try to come up with a story about how it got there or an explanation for its appearance. Anything other than acknowledging the tense silence in the car or your partner's tight grip on the steering wheel.
“7-Adam-100,” dispatch radios, “there’s an active home invasion in your area.”
“7-Adam-100 responding,” Tim replies, dropping the radio after he finishes.
You don’t speak, opting to look out the window as Tim drives to the address with the blue lights spinning. Part of you feels like you should know what’s bothering Tim, but he’s not exactly easy to read, nor is he willing to admit that something is going on. So, until - or if - you can deduce what’s making him so distant and easily angered this week, you’ll give him the room and the quiet he clearly desires.
“Side gate is open,” Tim says as he parks beside the neighbor’s house. “We’ll use it for entry, split up and clear the house. I’ll go right.”
“Yes, sir,” you reply, opening your door.
As you follow Tim through the gate and duck under windows lining the side of the house, you focus on the job. Tim’s back muscles are tense beneath his uniform, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll think about him and let your guard down. Entering the broken back door, you tap Tim’s shoulder before you turn left into a small dining area. With your gun raised, you move quickly but carefully through the room. A crash sounds down the hall, so you press your back to the wall and move toward the noise, keeping your steps light and breathing quiet.
Tim exits a door behind you, and you drop your gun as soon as you realize it’s him. Moving together, you prepare to enter the room where the intruder is shouting demands.
“On three,” Tim whispers, covering the door so you can enter. “One. Two. Three.”
He pushes the door open, stepping into the doorway as you move inside. 
“LAPD!” you announce. “Put your hands up!”
The large man - whose boot likely matches the shoe print on the back door - bares his teeth at you before he turns to the woman guarding her son. They’re both sporting bruises and a wound at the woman’s hairline drips blood down her cheek.
“Let me see your hands!” you demand, stepping toward the man.
Tim doesn’t move, his eyes bouncing between the suspect and the young boy cowering behind his mother.
“It’s my house,” the man says.
“Not anymore,” the woman interjects. “We have a restraining order.”
With his jaw clenched, Tim lowers his gun and steps forward. “Last chance. You walk out with us or you can keep being a coward and we’ll drag you out.”
The man sneers, turning toward Tim as he prepares to lunge. You holster your weapon quickly, pulling your taser out instead. Pointing it at the larger man’s chest, you shake your head.
“Is that your son?” you ask. “Do you really want him to remember you like this?”
He hesitates, then swings. Tim ducks out of his reach at the last second, and you depress the trigger on the taser, sending 1,500-volt pulses through his body as he folds in on himself and collapses.
Tim steps over the man’s leg to cuff him, and you set your taser down to approach the man’s son and his ex-wife. The boy clings to his mother but looks up at your shield with a small smile.
“We’re Code 4, need an RA at this location,” Tim alerts. “One in custody.”
“This card has my number on it,” you say, offering a large cardstock square to the woman before you. “There’s also a list of numbers on the back that can help support you during this time. The domestic violence hotline can give you information about keeping your address private and hopefully preventing something like this in the future.”
“Thank you,” she replies. “He just showed up out of nowhere.”
You pull a tissue off a nearby table and offer it to her, watching her son as she presses it to her bleeding forehead. The ambulance is only a few minutes away, but you kneel to check on the boy.
“Let’s go,” Tim murmurs, hauling the abusive father to his feet.
“I need an ambulance!” he moans. “She tased me.”
“You will be seen, but you’re trespassing.”
“I can’t walk,” he argues.
“Then I’ll drag you,” Tim snaps.
The man stands then, his head hanging toward his chest as he pulls his feet rather than taking normal steps. You notice that Tim has his hand on the handcuffs rather than the suspect’s arm. Tim's past, you remember. Tim has been in this situation before, he knows precisely what this mother and child are thinking, and that’s why he reacted like he did. There has to be more to it, though.
Tim is thinking about something and he endangers himself every time the thought surfaces.
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“Bradford is all yours,” Angela says, shaking her head as she exits Wade’s office. “I know he’s going through some stuff, but how do you deal with him when he’s like this?”
“What’s he going through?” you ask, looking through the glass door.
“It’s almost the anniversary of his dad’s death,” she explains. “I understand being a little touchy, but-”
“We took a domestic call this morning,” you complain, pressing your thumb and forefingers against your eyes. “I didn’t realize the date. I should have told him to let someone else handle it.”
“He’s a cop, he can handle the job,” Angela assures you. She looks at Tim and sighs. “I just… none of us can get through to him. It’s like he’s holding himself hostage in his own memories.”
“I- I’ll see what I can do,” you offer.
“Don’t beat yourself up if he won’t talk. And don’t take anything he says this week personally.”
“You ready?” Tim asks, exiting Wade’s office.
“Yeah,” you answer, nodding to Angela as you follow Tim back to the shop. If he’s thinking about his dad too much, maybe you can give him something else to consider.
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The corner store is silent as you walk down the center aisle. At midnight, the building is empty, the radio is off, and the cashier sits silently at the register, earbuds in as she stares at her phone. You should find the silence enjoyable after being yelled at by Tim four times in one night. Instead, it makes you uncomfortable, desperate for something to happen.
“Aha,” you murmur when you find the small selection of cleaning products.
It’s probably a bad idea, you think while you fill the small, handheld shopping basket with various items. You tried to get Tim’s mind off his dad, and their strained past, but none of your attempts were successful. He thought about you long enough to yell, accuse you of overstepping, and make vague threats to discourage you from attempting to make small talk with him. But even then, he retreated into his mind as soon as you agreed and fell quiet again.
“Uh,” the cashier mumbles when you place the basket on the counter. “Is this… you good?”
You look at the odd collection of items ranging from candy and a Dodgers sweatshirt to twine and a spray bottle, smiling. “Yeah.”
“Whatever you say.”
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Tim glances at your bag as you place it on the floorboard of the shop but doesn’t say anything. You’ll let him reach his own conclusions about its contents for now. After double-checking with Angela this morning, you learned that there are two days until the actual anniversary of Tom Bradford’s death, and you plan to help Tim through the next forty-eight hours, no matter what it takes.
Now that you've been reminded of the date, it’s clear that Tim is thinking about his father. His tight jaw, distant stare, defiant act of threatening an abusive father, and how he stands at least a foot away from everyone, even if it’s someone he knows and trusts, it's all indicative of his trauma response. Thinking back to yesterday, you remember that he stiffened when you touched his back during calls, and it all begins to make sense.
Tim has a tell, you discover. When he’s thinking about his past, his nostrils flare. You will never admit to watching him that closely, especially not to someone like Angela or Nell, who are convinced you’re in love with him. Yet, you observed him enough yesterday afternoon and during roll call to confirm your suspicion. Even as you watch him now, his fingers tighten around the steering wheel, and his nostrils flare quickly.
“What’s your opinion on stop and frisk?” you inquire.
His hand relaxes as he furrows his brows and asks, “As a policing technique or in general?”
“Policing.”
“So, Terry stops. I think that if there’s reasonable suspicion and no bias it is a useful and protective tactic.”
“Interesting. How can you tell if there’s bias, though? And what makes suspicion reasonable?”
“What are you doing?” Tim asks.
“I’m making conversation, getting opinions, learning,” you list dramatically. “Is that so bad?”
“When we’re in this shop, we’re partners. I’m not your personal podcast.”
“That would actually be really nice,” you reply. “Anyone ever told you your voice is soothing?”
“Stop.”
“It’s just a question!”
“Stop.”
You lift your hands in surrender and turn into your seat properly again. Tim drives through a green light, sees a father walking his son into a playground, and the look returns. You sigh and pull your bag open.
“What was that?!” Tim exclaims, swerving slightly as his right hand raises to his face.
“It’s water,” you answer, shaking the spray bottle. “I need you focused. I can’t worry about you or we’ll both get killed.”
“Focused? I am your superior!” Tim argues as he wipes his hand on his pants.
“Then work with me,” you plead.
“What makes you think I’m unfocused?” he inquires.
“You’re thinking about other things. Just… keep your mind in this shop today, and I won’t spray you again.”
“If you like this job you won’t spray me again,” Tim amends.
“If that’s what you need to hear.”
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“She bought Wesley a tie with lobsters on it,” Angela tells Nyla.
“My dad has a tie with fish,” Lucy says. “What’s wrong with that?”
“You called?” you interrupt as you follow Tim to the detectives' desks.
“Yeah, we need you to run down a lead,” Nyla answers. “Unless you’d rather hear about Lucy’s dad’s ugly ties.”
“Hey, I chose some of those ties! Father’s Day is coming up if you want to know where I got them,” she offers.
“Oh, I already bought James a gift,” Nyla answers with faux disappointment.
“What lead?” Tim asks.
Standing behind Tim with one hand behind your back, you spray him without anyone noticing. He turns his head toward you, his eyes warning you to stop. You smile, nodding along with Nyla’s explanation.
“I am not a cat,” Tim whispers as you exit the station.
“Then take the hint,” you reply softly.
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Nyla’s lead was indeed helpful, and you deliver a new suspect to the station before you return to patrol. In the shop, you hold the spray bottle in your lap as Tim drives. When you move your fingers toward the top, Tim slams on the brakes and snatches it out of your hand.
“You don’t get to decide what I think about!” he exclaims. “If you’re so worried that I can’t do this job right now, then get out and go back to the station.”
“Tim, that’s not what-”
“It is not your business,” he continues. Loudly. You flinch, but he's too mad to notice. “It is not your place to be my therapist and tell me to only think about good things or to stay in the moment. Whatever it is you think is on my mind is not worth this!”
You take several breaths, watching Tim’s chest heave.
“I know it’s almost the anniversary,” you say, forcing your voice to stay level as you press your palms against your thighs. “Your dad… he clearly got to you, your childhood affects you. And that’s okay. I’m not saying to forget everything or let those experiences become meaningless.”
“Then let it go.”
You look down at your hands as Tim drops the spray bottle beside your feet and begins driving again.
“I’m sorry,” you offer after several minutes. “It was affecting you, and I thought giving you something else to think about would help.”
“Not your call,” Tim grumbles.
Nodding, you locate the scuff on the dashboard, staring at it until your vision blurs. 
“How’d that mark get there?” you whisper.
“What?” Tim asks, glancing toward you. “I don’t know.”
“There were marks on my mom’s dash, too,” you say. “Nobody knew how they got there. Nothing we would admit while my dad was around, anyway.”
Tim’s eyes find you again, his gaze different. But you’re still looking at the scratched plastic.
“It was like a switch was flipped,” you confess. “One day, he was at a recital, cheering on his baby. And the next… there were marks on the dashboards and new scars that- that I didn’t ask for. So, I have an idea of how painful the memories can be, how far and how fast they can drag you under until it feels like you’re drowning. I went about it wrong, and I can see that now, so I’m sorry. But my intentions are still the same. I don’t want to sit by while a memory of being hurt keeps hurting you.”
Tim doesn’t reply as he shifts his eyes back to the road. You don’t watch him during the remainder of your shift to know if his nostrils flare or if his breathing returns to normal after his outburst. What you do know is that if Tim is willing to let himself be controlled by memories, you can’t stay close enough to watch it happen.
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Scrolling through your notifications as you exit the station, you let your body run on autopilot as you make your way home. You’re nearly across the parking lot when someone says your name. You stop and look up, surprised to see Tim’s full attention on you.
“Lopez thinks you were flirting with me,” Tim says, leaning against the tailgate of his truck.
“When?” you ask. There are several feet between you, and you’d prefer to keep it that way.
“Well, she says it pretty often, but the spray bottle. She noticed that my back was wet, saw it in the shop, put it together.”
You nod, holding your phone with both hands so you don’t fidget and expose how uncomfortable you are.
“Could we talk?” Tim asks.
“Not if it’s about me flirting with you,” you reply lightly.
Tim’s lips quirk up. “No. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you flirt, and that wasn’t it.”
“Then, what do you want to talk about?”
“What I’m not supposed to think about.” Tim slides his hands into his front pockets and shrugs. “I should talk to someone, not just retreat into who I used to be, dissect what could have been different. I just thought… If I’m going to talk, I need to tell someone I trust. Someone who understands.”
“And that’s me? Last I heard, I was overstepping and needed to let it go.”
Tim nods, stepping back toward his driver’s door.
“But,” you call after him, “if you’ve changed your mind, we can talk.”
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Tim’s house is warm, comfortable, manly, and everything you expected. Yet, it’s awkward as you lower onto his couch and watch him move in his kitchen. It’s oddly domestic, but the connection between you and Tim is hanging on by a thread. 
“I’m not mad at you,” Tim says suddenly. With his hands spread on the counter, he watches you. “I shouldn’t have lashed out like that. I… my mind feels like my archenemy some days, and I fight that battle alone. You tried to help, and I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry.”
“No one knows the mess we’re in,” you agree. ��The voices in my head say I’m being paranoid, but I know it will pull me under someday if I let it. You don’t have to apologize, Tim. I get it.”
“I don’t know what hurts worse, letting go or remembering,” Tim adds, walking to the couch with two glasses. He sets one in front of you, then sits beside you. There’s not as much distance between you now, but the vulnerability makes it feel like you’re exposed face-to-face.
“You were right,” Tim admits. “I’ve been thinking about what happened when I was a kid, wondering where everything went wrong, trying to identify something I could have done differently. Now that he’s gone, I guess I’ll never know.”
“Tim,” you breathe out, your heart breaking for him. “That was not your fault. None of it was because of you.”
“You’ve never wondered?”
“I didn’t say that.” You lift your glass, holding it between your hands to look down at it. “I used to lay awake at night trying to figure out what part of me was so broken that someone would do that to me. Especially someone I loved and who was supposed to love me.”
“But it’s not our fault,” Tim repeats. “It’s theirs.”
“And we can’t save everyone.”
“We shouldn’t have had to save anyone. Not even ourselves. I think back now, and I don’t remember my dad ever hitting my mom. He was verbally abusive, threatened to go farther, exhausted her emotionally and mentally. I tried to stay between him and Genny.”
“From what I’ve heard, you protected Genny from more than the bruises,” you offer. “You’re an incredible person, Tim.”
Tim smiles, turning his head toward you as his elbows rest on his thighs. “Was that flirting?”
“You’ll know when I’m flirting, Bradford,” you answer with a smile.
“When I was deployed, there were a couple guys whose wives divorced them,” Tim begins. “I found myself wondering why my mom didn’t do that. My dad would disappear for a week or so here and there. She could have left, but she didn’t.”
“I think moms try to fix everything in the only way they know how. If my mom even knew, she never showed it. But, I wondered the same thing. 20/20 hindsight, I guess.”
Tim empties his glass, then says, “Thank you.”
“For what?” you inquire, setting your cup beside his.
“The stuff in my locker? No one else would have put it there.”
You duck your chin to hide your smile. “It’s what I wanted when I was stuck in this cycle as a kid. I had panic attacks for a while. Music, something comfortable to wear, something rough to hold and ground myself with, and snacks I wouldn’t get otherwise felt like an escape to a world where I was safe, different.”
“I saw a therapist who told me to find ‘a portal to a better world’ when my PTSD was at its worst,” Tim says, leaning back against the couch, his hand falling toward you. “I was reliving memories that were killing me, and couldn’t figure out how to stop the bloodshed long enough to discover Narnia.”
“Narnia?” you repeat. “I didn’t realize you were a man of taste.”
“Next time, you won’t try to distract me with sports.”
“No. Although, I’d prefer a world where there isn’t a next time.”
“That’s a world we’d have to make.”
You lock eyes with Tim, shifting closer to him as the soft hum of his air conditioner fills the room.
“Are you okay?” you whisper, brushing your fingers against Tim’s.
“Would it sound like I was flirting if I said I am now?” he questions, leaning toward you as he smiles.
“Maybe,” you admit. “But would that be such a bad thing?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Me neither. After all, you trust me and I understand.”
Tim rolls his eyes at your teasing, and when you inhale, preparing to continue, he raises his right hand to your face, holding your jaw. You silence, watching Tim’s eyes.
“I don’t…” he begins. “I don’t want to be crutches.”
“Tim,” you breathe. “We’re not showing each other our scars to learn how to support each other. I’m telling you who I am because you make me better. You help me see who I am now, not who I force myself to see in the mirror. You aren’t my salvation, but I think you could be something.”
“I’ve lived in fear for most of my adult life that I couldn’t love someone, that I could tell them the truth about everything, about me. With you… telling the truth is as easy as breathing.”
“Breathing before, after, or during a panic attack?” you clarify.
“Why are we even having this conversation?” Tim jokes, shrugging. “You’ve been flirting with me for years, you clearly want me.”
“Then I guess it’s up to you,” you reply. “We’re at the edge, Tim. It’s your call. Are we going over the edge or running back to safety?”
“Tell me something about yourself,” Tim requests, pushing your hair over your shoulder.
You hum, dragging your fingers along his forearm. “I thought I was undesirable until I was, like, mid-20s.”
“What changed?” 
You shrug. “Put on the uniform, met a few badge bunnies, I don’t know. I still feel it sometimes.”
“With me?”
“No,” you whisper. “But I think you see more than my face. Your turn.”
Tim licks his lips as he thinks. “You know all my secrets now.”
“Then tell me something that isn’t a secret.”
“I didn’t think I’d be able to fall in love after Isabel. Not until a few years ago.”
“You had a girlfriend?”
Tim laughs. “What else changed a few years ago?”
You trace your own life back one year, then two, then… “Oh. Me?”
“Oh. You,” Tim repeats. “I was also called Reaper in the Army.”
“That’s so much cooler than falling in love with me. How’d you get that name?”
Tim’s lips are mere inches from you as he asks, “Is that really what you want to focus on right now?”
“Promise you know we’re not crutches?” you request.
Tim takes your hand and says, “I know. You’re clearly more of a walker.”
You huff, but Tim closes the distance - finally - and kisses you slowly. With his hand on your face, your hands joined, and your knees against his thigh, you forget everything except Tim Bradford and the future you want with him.
He pulls back first, searching your eyes before you drop your chin and kiss a scar on his neck. Tim takes a shaky breath as you sit back on your socked feet. You’d felt so out of place when you first arrived, and now you’re not sure you want to leave the comfort and seclusion of Tim’s home and his arms.
“You know we’re not going to be allowed to ride together anymore, right?” Tim asks.
“Yeah. Now we can do so much more,” you reply.
“Such a flirt,” Tim murmurs.
“I’m here for you,” you remind him. “No matter when, no matter what.”
Tim smiles as he pulls you closer. “Prove it.”
270 notes · View notes
elodieunderglass · 3 months ago
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FAQ May 2025
(wtf is #eggs for killie, etc)
Killie / Throw Your Heart Over
okay, so I apologise, because KILLIE is A LOT OF THIS TUMBLR at the moment. but also I don't.
Killie is an original character. he's an angry little racehorse jockey with an unfortunate psychic connection to his rancid racehorse frenemy (O Holy Thunder), a redemption-arc relationship with his nice nerdy boyfriend (Derek), an elusive twin brother (Charlie) and a messy, rambling family of horse-obsessed weirdos who are overly-invested in the fascinating, complex, dirty, problematic and unhinged world of horse racing. he is a short athletic ginger jock like an angry little wet cat, who is always getting injured, and we love him for this. at some point his book (Throw Your Heart Over) will get written (probably). but as I wasn't actually expecting to do this in real life, at the moment, we write comics and AUs and fanfiction about him. yes I know this is backwards, shut up, WE ARE HAVING FUN, and maybe it's actually FORWARDS. (by the way - does anyone know how to write a book?)
@aqueenvictorious kindly and brilliantly did this roundup.
Eggs for Killie
I will have to be UNPRECEDENTLY brave and work VERY hard to write a book about Killie. so I said that if everyone else was very brave with me, and attacked a similarly scary creative project by the end of March, Killie could have an egg (eggs are a treat for him). The intention was to leverage each other's courage and momentum to all make progress together, with accountability and a deadline. to add urgency, Killie was trying to stay fit to (metaphorically) ride in the Grand National, a large UK steeplechase, on April 5th.
I thought we’d have 5 eggs to chase up. There were over 150 eggs for Killie by the time I had to close the inbox. It was an incredible outpouring of vitality that I’m still astonished and impressed by.
With incredible kindness and intelligence and bravery and truth, @patheticprogrammingperson took on the task of making the Eggs for Killie tumblr, where you can submit your intention of finishing a creative project/WIP in 30 days. The blog will accept your ask and assign you a 30-day check in, to which you can reply with your progress and receive one egg 🥚 to throw at Killie’s head. Go ahead and try it!
The Leucism Channel (open to other colour morphs)
I have had this tag for over 10 years! I collect leucistic animals, but I am also interested in other colour morphs. Rather than trying to run separate channels, I am now putting non-leucistic animals in this tag.
Horrible things with legs
Apparently this tag is only 8 years old, but I genuinely think that's a mistake on tumblr's part. I think I've been running it since the Palaeozoic era.
what do you like, do?
this is such a good question. here's how I tried to answer it.
Works In Progress
His Delicious Materials - chapters 10/12, IN PROGRESS
Dungeon Meshi x His Dark Materials fusion. Tumblr tag https://www.tumblr.com/elodieunderglass/tagged/his%20delicious%20materials
A Weasel Heart in Defiance - chapters 12/20, IN PROGRESS
Dungeon Meshi x His Dark Materials fusion. Tumblr tag https://www.tumblr.com/elodieunderglass/tagged/weasel%20heart%20in%20defiance
Swan Comics for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
general swan comics.
I am sousverre on AO3 and I have a bluesky.
Sorry, I don't do fundraisers as asks. my fundraiser policy for the past 10 years has been that I'll signal boost for mutuals.
thanks for your time and attention. goodbye.
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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 1 year ago
Note
The "Luffy's fruit is a Zoan" reveal/retcon was extremely controversial when 1044 was first released; do you think Oda did a good job foreshadowing it?
yes!! it addresses a lot of idle questions i had about luffy's powers for quite some time (while also raising a ton more, of course, but that's the nature of one piece).
(all of my thoughts here and on gear 5 in general owe some credit to @grainjew, who has been my main discussion partner on this topic)
luffy's fruit has always been, from what we've seen, kind of weird for a paramecia? obviously since the categorization of 'paramecia' is sort of a grab bag and a lot less well-defined than logias or zoans, that's kind of a hard claim to make, but generally speaking, most of the paramecia users we see throughout the series do not have their powers always on. (the strongest counter-example i could think of to this trend is brook, and even that is one i think you can argue.) luffy's power is way more passive, in the sense that he doesn't have to activate it- it's just there, always. even seastone and seawater do not make luffy not rubber, they just sap his energy and stop him from stretching himself, as we see as early as arlong park.
that is weird! what we see of most other paramecias is that they have to use their powers intentionally, even when those powers do involve transforming their body in some way, like with mr. 1 or alvida. there's a whole plot in dressrosa about knocking a specific paramecia user unconscious so she'll lose her grip on her power and it'll disappear. luffy will stretch when he is asleep, when he is underwater, and without knowing he's doing it. he's always rubber.
so luffy is weird for a paramecia, though not completely unprecedented. his power has always seemed to me to be... almost logia adjacent, in the sense that he's made from a specific material and all his powers are based on being that material, but that doesn't quite track either. aside from the fact that the thing he's composed of is tangible and, again, he can't turn it off, he clearly has access to a greater level of complexity in his transformations than logias do (whose devil fruit powers seem to be basically a binary system).
which actually leads me to compare him to chopper, who is the zoan we know the best, and who, conveniently, also ate a version of the hito hito no mi.
i think the way luffy and chopper interact with their powers is actually very similar. much like luffy, chopper was fundamentally altered by his consumption of a devil fruit in a way he cannot return from. he can still look like a normal reindeer, but he can never actually be one, because the most important trait his devil fruit gave him was human sentience. and he would still have that if you put him in seastone, he just wouldn't be able to transform. similarly, luffy had his body fundamentally altered by his fruit in a manner he does not seem to be capable of even temporarily reversing. he can't make himself not rubber any more than chopper can return himself to being a normal reindeer.
like chopper, luffy's power progression has been based around finding new ways to transform his body and force it into new and more powerful forms. his gears are roughly comparable to chopper's points. that is zoan stuff! chopper is the main other person we see interact with his fruit in that specific way. so, yeah, i actually do think it does make sense for luffy's power to have actually always been a zoan. at the very least, it makes more sense than him being a paramecia, to me.
however, having said that, i also don't think it's as straightforward as luffy just being a zoan instead of a paramecia. we see that the awakening of his fruit definitely has both paramecia and zoan qualities, since he's transforming both himself and the environment around him, as well as other people. (the wiki puts this down to him being a mythical zoan but i just don't think that's true. kaidou is also a mythical zoan and he is completely baffled by what he's seeing.)
i made a bunch of jokes in discord about luffy being devil fruit nonbinary while i was reading this chapter- there's three genders and you have to pick one, and you can't just go switching it up, etc- and i do think that what luffy's fruit indicates is that the sorting system of devil fruits itself is imperfect. outliers do exist that don't fit cleanly between the lines- which we already knew! just look at katakuri.
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szarina · 11 months ago
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never let me go
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PAIRING. HOSHINA SOSHIRO x CHUBBY! READER
CONTENT WARNINGS. angst + engineer! researcher! reader + orphan! reader + swordsmith! reader + brief flashbacks + slight spoilers + reader is obsessed with kaijus + childhood friends + insecurities + doubts + jealousy + breaking up + arranged marriage + eventual smut + fluff + talks of death + injuries+ blood + slight spoilers + body insecurities + lots of crying.
NOTES. a huge thanks to @ohikoti for helping me with this. giving me the pep talk to finish this one and for giving the time to watch the series after i express my desire to write for hoshina. more kaiju no. 8 content to come, since I desire to write for narumi and kafka.
SYNOPSIS. you made a few tough decisions in your life and one of them is to call off your engagement to soshiro even it breaks your heart and there's soshiro who won't accept the break up without proper explanation despite being away from each other. can unprecedented meetings still make a way to continue a once broken romance? was there even a romance in the first place?
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gray clouds began to scatter around the area. covering the once shining bright sun and hoshina can hear the faint rumble of thunder from afar. a telltale sign that it's going to rain soon and soshiro frowns a bit. his lips in a thin line. he eyes the half eaten mont blanc in front of him. the steam rising from his cup of green tea and your favorite drink sits in front of him. it was supposedly to be a good day. considering it's his day off and yours and he's going to finally meet you once again but the weather won't allow it.
as if a weather would stop it. sunny or not as long he can spend time will you, it was fine. the vice captain of the third division sighs and then his senses is telling him that there is something bad going to happen. it settles in the pit of his gut and such warnings should not be ignored. he looks at the busy streets of tokyo. bystanders, students and salarymen walk in a normal pace. his brows furrow. is there a kaiju going to appear out of nowhere? did something bad happen to you and he hates himself for thinking of something like that. all of his worries melted when he sees you half-walking, half-running towards the cafe where he is. the dread slowly dissolves and was replaced by the same warmth he always feel when he's with you.
the bell chimes, a signal upon an arrival of a customer. he follows your every move and the way your eyes search for him in the cafe and he sees the gleam in your eyes filled with relief upon seeing him. a apologetic smile in your face when you slowly approach him in his table. sitting down, “thank you for waiting me, soshiro.” you said. smiling apologetically and hoshina's closed eyes cracked open a bit to show his crimson colored eyes.
your order arrived and was placed in front of you. the food look appetizing and was certainly a pleasant to eyes to see your favorite dessert. months cooped up in the laboratory doing research and projects for kaijus have you occupied all the time with a little to no time to yourself. you can't even savor the food you were eating and now that you're outside of the laboratory and feel the weather in your skin and the change of sceneries, it was nice for once although it hasn't been nice. how could it be when you look at the man in front of you being the happiest he can while you can't bring to say the words you wanted. the words you didn't want to say but is needed.
one thing hoshina have prided in is that he can almost read everyone like an open book and you are no exception to this. you have been so always easy to read and he was grateful for it that he was able to know and adore all your little quirks. starting from how your face lights up upon tasting upon the first bite of a food that is delicious. therefore creating a chain link reaction of you happy that will stay for the rest of the day and soshiro can look at you without getting tired.
it was a pure bliss to see you like that. a reminder that you are still the same person he loved many years ago and now. despite the circumstances that this relationship was just an arranged marriage.
today, with you sitting in front of him. he didn't need to read you. it was blatantly obvious that you were feeling under the weather or more than that. you've been mindlessly stirring your drink with the straw and the ice starting to melt. you didn't even took a bite of the food. lost in your thoughts that you didn't hear him call your name until he clears his throat. “are you okay, (y/n)?” and soshira regretted that he have to ask you that question cause he wasn't prepared to hear you say the next works when you broke out in your trance.
“i'm calling off the engagement.”
is what you said without hesitation. soshiro's smile slowly left in his lips and his closed eyes that was open since your arrival. his carmine red eyes glimmering with intensity and you swore you have seen them at the times where he's serious and deadly. you almost swallow nervously. knowing how intense soshiro can be at times.
“what's the reason for the sudden decision, (y/n)?” he asked you. bewildered at the sudden decision. you swallowed the lump in your throat before replying. “it's just i don't see any future in this union and it's not like we wanted it.” you say to him without blinking. forcing a smile and looking straight to his eyes to show that you are serious and hoped he won't catch you lying under your teeth.
vivid is the day you remember the matchmakers in the clan of his and yours decided that you and soshiro shall wed for the next years to come after soshiro joined the defense forces. it was a great match they say but to you it's nonsense. it will be bound of tradition and duty and you don't want soshiro to be tied to you.
you were an orphan. having lost your whole family from a kaiju attack and the head of the clan that have long ties with the hoshina clan came in the picture to save you. gave you shelter and a home for you to call. treated you as their daughter and with the hoshina clan came of a long history of slaying kaijus. samurais they are and they weren't if not without their swords and the clan who took you were the swordsmiths of the hoshina clan.
showing your gratitude to the people who took you, you learned to hold the hammer. holding mastery over steel and fire. crafting the sharpest of blades and later on was the career path you took at the neutralization bureau as the engineer of anti-kaiju weapons and a researcher.
if it wasn't for soshiro you wouldn't be at that kind of stuff. your friend since he found you watching him train with his bamboo sword in their backyard. your dear soshiro that you would later love.
it's for the best. you decided of it for a long time and you don't want to hurt yourself for being tied to soshiro. it pains you so much that despite the support you have given him, all the years others have invalidated him including his father. undermining his talents as a swordsman and that broke your heart to see soshiro being brought down by their ugly words.
then you received the news, soshiro got accepted at the third division. not as a troop member but the vice-captain of third division standing behind captain ashiro. the news brought you joy but there's a dull ache in your heart. soshiro's being recognized for his talent, that brought a smile to your face and he was able to show his talents. feats after feats of defeating kaijus. left and right victories. the people recognizing him as the vice-captain and his talents.
the television plays their latest victory. successfully annihilating another kaiju who decided to surface and wreck havoc at the city. there you hear the newscaster commentating that it was another accomplishment for the third division, lead by none the other captain ashiro and your vice-captain fiance. the news bringing a smile to your face that you were confused why the ink in your papers with the prototypes you have created were starting to bleed. surrounding the areas and the important details started to distort, only to realize that you were crying. the tears smudging the once clear print of your blueprints.
since when did you have become so emotional over such things? was it soshiro's achievements that you started to be like this? or is it realizing that you no longer served a purpose to be in soshiro's life aside from being his fiancee?
you didn't even realize the rift with your relationship with soshiro have gotten worst since he was transferred in the third division and your workload from extensive researches and planning of developing weapons. communication is no longer an easy feat to do. it was dragging. there were no calls in the night and even a simple text message is proven to be tasking. you understand that at this profession, sacrifices are made and that's what you and soshiro decided. what you decided.
the air felt heavy and soshiro feels like he needed a respirator to help him breath. soshiro have always know what to say but he remains silent. trying to find the right words to say. “you didn't see a future in us. is that right?” he began. soshiro's eyes began to search for any hidden truths in your face but he finds nothing. you nodded at his question. “this is sudden like i have said earlier. have you been feeling this way for a long time?” he asks you. there's a hint of pained sound in his voice and it kills you to hear him that. it was for the best you convinced yourself.
“i do.” you look at him straight in the eyes once again to see that you were dead serious about it. hoshina's gaze softens at you. “would it be selfish of me to say i wanted this relationship to work even it was an arranged one?” hoshina clenched his fist in a tight manner. “it's not, soshiro. i don't want us to waste time for a union and it's not the right time. we have our priorities.” his expression pained you and it wasn't like for him to be this vulnerable to you.
“priorities. was our priorities that different that you are willing to throw this away, (y/n)? i thought we decided that no matter where we are, we will work together. what happened to that?” his voice solemn. it took you the control to not cry in front of him. you both did talked about that but it was different.
soshiro have a purpose in his life now with captain ashiro and you're no longer needed in the picture. that's what you needed and it won't hurt no more. it would be difficult but you were tougher than what you're made of and what's a heartbreak if you can't survive it.
“it's for the best.” is what you said to yourself after leaving the cafe shortly after breaking it up with him. you don't know if you can still retain the passive expression if you stayed longer. you the gray clouds have turned into more of a darker shade and rain started pouring over the city along with your tears.
hoshina have never felt more empty. it was like you took all the colors in his life and left him as a blank canvass. the sweet taste of the caramel from his mont blanc starts to feel bitter in his tongue. the fox-eyed vice captain recalls the conversation he had with you earlier. you seem too eager to break the engagement. have he done something wrong to make you feel that way or was it a sudden change in your heart that you don't want him anymore? there's a thousand questions running in his mind and he can't answer even a single one of them and it wasn't for him to be like this. rain have started to pour outside and the temperature drops.
he can't accept that you were breaking up with him and whatever reason you have, he was going to find out even you just told him earlier. this isn't over.
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the neutralization bureau never sleeps. engineers and scientist alike researches various ways to combat kaijus and using their deceased bodies as weapons. tonight, it wasn't going to be any different. you're going to work until you passed out. surprisingly you felt numb after the earlier dilemma. calm even, considering you've bawled your eyes out. pathetic for an adult like you who have called off an engagement.
before you can drown out in the large stack of blueprints needing revision from you. the intercom announced that you were needed at one of the top floors where the director of the department is located. sighing, you immediately made your way.
“have you enlisted in the defense forces?” you blinked a few times before you understand the question asked by the director of the bureau.
“u-ugh, yes sir.” you answer. finding the question rather odd cause you were a engineer and you don't see any relevance of why your director was asking you.
“how long were you in there?”
“a few months, sir. before i requested to transfer here.” he nods. you follow his movements and noticed that on his table is your file. “if i may ask sir, what's the relevance of these inquiries?”
the director hands you a document and you scanned it momentarily. it's from the jakfd. “the amount of officers enrolling have decreased significantly these past years and the amount of kaiju attacks have increased.” he began. “my point is you're a officer wasting your talents in these laboratories.”
“i appreciate it, sir but the reason why am i here is because my skills are best suited here than me being in the front lines and i'm not exactly soldier material, sir.” it always hurts when you say the truth and lying also. before being an engineer at the izumo tech, you were a officer having passed the written and physical exams. you have always known that you are going to be stuck as a sore thumb when you have joined the tanks. women in the defense forces were slim, petite, slender and any definition of being skinny in the dictionary whereas you were fat. it sticks out in everywhere and sometimes you were the center of backhanded compliments.
the defense force isn't just for you and besides you were happier here. “think about it for the meantime. the defense force needs you more than us.” the director dismisses you before you can say anything to oppose him and when just you're about to step outside of his office you heard him say it. “have some faith in yourself.”
the next week after that, you were transferred in the division one. as an officer/researcher. it won't be in vain in joining the defense force once again. you will be on the field with your expertise. you will use the missions as your research field and you were fine with the arrangement. except for captain narumi who didn't hold much about you. straight up calling you useless in the defense force not until you have beaten him on his own game. his field of expertise of course. that shut him up and he treated you as his equal since then.
“shinonome-san, where are you taking me?” you said helplessly as one of the platoon leaders, shinonome drags you from your workshop where you used to hole yourself up. “to the field. the third division is here and captain narumi is looking for you.” she explained coolly. you gulped when you hear the third division is going to be present at the fields. it means it's either captain ashiro or your ex-fiance will be there and you hoped that it will be the former and you were proven wrong as you hear bickering.
“hoshina! what the hell you think you're doing here!?” captain narumi's voice echoed. menacing it is and annoyed from the sound of it. you hear another voice. “oho, narumi. didn't see you there.” the vice-captain says in a mocking tone and that seems to spur captain narumi in his foul mood at the vice-captain of the third division. “of course you didn't, you fox-eyed bastard!” he retaliates and before hoshina can piss him more with some remark, his eyes cracks open upon seeing you being dragged by a platoon leader.
“captain, (y/n)'s here.” shinonome informs him and it looks like a switch have been flipped when narumi sees you. “here's the new recruit.” he mutters and it took a whole of control for hoshina to not punch the living daylights out of narumi from how close he was to you and what a surprise to see you here in a another division and he wishes you were in the third division so he can keep an eye for you.
it didn't help that narumi is openly flirting with you. his arm draped around your shoulder and the other is holding your hand to inspect it. “you're researching those kaijus again.” narumi comments. “it's my job and i've been doing research about them.” you mutter softly and soshiro melts at what he heard. always the one who obsessed upon those creatures and he find it endearing except for the closeness you're having with that lazy bastard.
a vein popped in soshiro's and it was close to bursting if narumi was doing it intentionally when he intertwined his hands to yours. eliciting a shocked reaction from you. finding the situation awkward and inappropriate you quickly pulled your hand from his and stuffing it in the pockets of your uniform. dismissing yourself you went away from them. clearly embarrassed. he closes his eyes and went back to face narumi and his rowdy members.
soshiro wanders through the halls of one of the compounds of the ariake base. he couldn't miss a night without training his skills and he was directed to a training room. he finds one of the library doors is open and it wasn't any different at the third division for someone to stay late at night. he just plans to walk by and he would be in the training room but to his surprise when he took a peek at the library, he sees you, sleeping. your laptop open and various of books are stacked in the table where you rest.
hoshina unzips his jacket to cover you. he can get it to you for later after he finished his training and maybe he can take you to your room or his if you remained asleep. just as he was to drape his jacket around you. you stirred in your sleep. slowly waking up and muttering something incoherent.
“soshiro?” you mumbled. raising your head from where it rested moments ago. yawning, you stretched your arms and you were now fully awake.
the vice-captain glances at your laptop and he noticed you were creating a new type of weapon, not just any weapon. a dual blade sword. similar to the one he uses. “oh.” you gasp. closing the laptop in a speed that it looks like you have been caught watching inappropriate. “i assume it's for me.” he started and you nodded in reply. “always have been when it comes to swords.” you confessed. gathering the papers you have been scribbling with notes. soshiro interrupted you. “we need to talk.”
“can we have it tomorrow?”
“no. you're avoiding me.”
“i'm not.”
“yes, you are and you're not being good at it.”
“soshiro, it's late.” you reason but it was possible to convince him. “you can go after we have this conversation.”
“what do you need to know?”
“why did you call off our engagement?”
you sigh, “i already told you about it, soshiro.” hoshina refuses to accept it. “it's not an explanation and suddenly you're here in the first division.”
“they wanted me back in the defense force even though i didn't wanted it but it's the only way.”
“the way of what?”
“can you stop asking me questions!?” you half screamed, whispered. irritated at his questions and it wasn't like for soshiro to be like this. “i won't stop until i know the reason why my fiancee suddenly departed her previous job and to find you here.”
“i'm not your fiancee anymore. i broke it off and it's none of your business.” you hissed. grabbing your laptop to get away from him but he stopped you from doing so. “answer me, (y/n).” he orders you. trapping your soft jaw in his hand and forcing you to look at his eyes. you hated yourself from how weak you turn to when met with his eyes.
“it's the only way i can be of use.” you began to sob. your tears trickling down your cheeks. “i was happy when you found your place at captain ashiro's side. i thought that it was fine but the moment you started there, the distant you have become. i understand it. i can't be selfish. i don't want to hinder you when you're there in the front lines looking so contented, fulfilled.”
it never felt so good to say the words you've been bottling away but the guilt that followed it was unbearable. you never sounded so selfish and greedy but it was the truth. “why you didn't tell me that you have been feeling this way for so long, (y/n)? i thought we promised that were going to be honest to each other.” his grip loosened. cupping your face in his hand. he didn't know you were feeling those ugly emotions. “i'm just me. your fiancé. your fiancé from a arranged marriage. not what you wanted and not what you needed. it's not my place to tell you things, soshiro.”
soshiro leans down. wiping the tears in your face. “in arranged marriages...” he began. “it serves a purpose. our duty to our families. honoring the tradition. and our union fulfills it all. the day they announced our engagement, i am happy it was you that i am engaged to. i know our union is arranged but please don't treat it as one that you would put your feelings aside for mine. you're more than my fiancee. you're everything that i could ever want and need. you're mine.” he says before kissing your forehead and soshiro thought that it's been so long since he had done this. “and i'm sorry that i hurt you. i won't forgive myself for that.”
“don't say that, soshiro.” you softly mutter. daring to meet his dark red eyes with your own. you see your reflection in his eyes. a being who have taken the form of insecurity. an ugly entity who pushed people for her own selfishness and soshiro can see you for what you really are.
he stays in the same position before you stopped him what he's currently doing to you. “it's late. i believe we have smoothed things over.” you say and hoshina allowed you to stand up. letting you continue what you were about to do earlier before you have talked about it.
the paper's thin and despite the countless of documents you've handled. your finger getting cut by the sharp edge of a paper is mostly likely to happen and it sure did. a sharp pain travels throughout your body, making you wince as blood surfaces up through the split skin.
the distress brought the younger hoshina sibling to your side. holding your hand and inspecting the wound in your finger. there's nothing serious about it except for the crimson color of your blood oozing at the pad of your finger. “it's nothing —”
a silent gasp slips past your lips. without warning soshiro grasps your finger before taking a lick. the sensation stinging if it wasn't for the comfort of soshiro's tongue lapping at your blood. it didn't help that you were in a compromised position with him. it offered no comfort of escape. the cold table with your belongings and soshiro have blocked your way.
it's a sight to burn in his memory at this very moment. watch your flustered expression and the way you tensed up from his ministration. your blood it tastes like iron. the same as his own with the aftertaste of rust. his canine-like tooth nibbles on the soft flesh of your finger while his tongue swirls around your digit.
whatever emotions you were having earlier didn't compare to this. hoshina's sultry gaze emitting from those eyes staring at you and observing every move you partake. you find it difficult to avoid his gaze. leaving you flustered and even in the dimness of the room, you can make every muscle of his straining in that black compression shirt of his. a heat of desire pooling in the pit of your stomach spreading throughout your body.
cold. your skin is cold against his warmer ones and he's surprised that you weren't even shivering in the coldness of the room. caressing the roundness of your cheek with his thumb. tracing the outline of your lips and feel the softness of it.
you were the image of what you are and this closeness will be the end of his. every fiber of his being screaming to just kiss you and that's what he did. letting instincts to take over. he didn't kiss you out of the blue. just brushed his lips to yours. the same he did many nights ago under the roof of his house away from the eyes of the others. the night where your engagement to his announced.
tender and slow when he pressed his own to yours. “soshiro, no.” you said when he broke the kiss and to only to do it again. you hold his wrist to stop him from going further but your actions betray you too. your lips following his and soshiro smirks at this but decided not to tease you. “we're nothing anymore. i broke up with you...” explaining the circumstances and it's not right to be this close to him. not when you two are no longer acquainted with each other. you both are merely colleagues. “i didn't agree with it though, we're still engaged unless you have feelings for a another man.” he murmurs to your lips. his eyes turning into more of a warning. showing such intensity and he maybe result in your murder if you find yourself falling for a man that is not him.
he kisses you again. starting in a slow manner and hoshina can hear the gasps and the silent whines leaving your lips. muffled in his own. his fingers find the plushness of your skin under your shirt. rubbing the skin with his fingers. the coarseness of his calloused hands are a welcome sensation to your skin. whereas it provided security and warmth spreading throughout your whole body.
there aren't any words to speak when both of your mouths are occupied on the feeling of each other.
“soshiro...” he hears you say his name and he smiles at you. showing his canines and he find the soft flesh of your buttocks. grabbing it to raise your upper body and therefore placing you in the table.
his ruby-colored eyes seems to burn more with color when looking at you. his strong, smart girl. always the one who sets aside her feelings for others. the woman of his. forging and engineering weapons for him. he likes to think that it's always for him. your hands gains the familiar thickness of callous but retains the softness he's familiar with. endearingly adorable. his (y/n). his (y/n) that he have from a arranged union. his (y/n) that he loves and hoshina wouldn't admit that he have the shortcomings when it comes to you and it's been grave since you have told him.
a tug on his shirt and hoshina hasn't been able to take his eyes off you for more than a second. your loose white shirt and the shorts you're wearing have been growing on him. desperate to take it off but he's not an animal to completely strip you off with the cold temperature dropping.
it's been so long since you both have been intimate and hoshina hasn't been doing so well after it. always thinking the reason of the separation and he's one to be blamed for it.
he pulls you closer. his hand on the small of your back until it descended in the waistband of your short to tug it and take it away. leaving you bare for him to see. he have pried your thighs open and slotted his body between them. his cock twitching inside of his pants and in desperate need of relief by your fat pussy.
soshiro groans. he already have discarded his pants and the tip of his cock rubs between the slit of your pussy. making your back arch and without warning, he swiftly enters the hole of your pussy with his cock. making you cry out and hug him. pulling him closer to you. “it won't be long, baby. i just need you to cum for me.” is what he said. planting his palm to the cold surface of the table. bucking his hips and beginning to thrust. starting as gentle and tender as he started to get impatient.
you're too good wrapped around him and it wasn't good that you're chanting his name. “more, soshiro. more...” your hips meeting his thrusts and even if you deny him that you two aren't no more, it's evident that your body misses him just like you do and he's also in the same position as you minus the denial. he won't let you go.
soshiro glance at the door still open and how fortunate for someone to walk on you both and see how good he's fucking you. still he dislike where he's making love to you. it should be on his private quarters but certain matters didn't apply for it.
you continue to call his name. trying to quiet down but it's hard to ignore how his cock rubs all over and hitting your sweet spots that it's already making your legs quake with need for release and the familiar know getting tighter in your abdomen. he seems to notice not cause he's now holding your plush waist to get deeper, faster.
he sees the way your eyes flutter and your lips parted. he wasted no time crashing his lips into yours. engulfing it with such need that it's bruising and his tongue is making territory inside your mouth. he just wanted to kiss you. he always liked kissing you and he wants it to continue until you're both cumming.
moaning in the kiss, soshiro knows you're not going to last and he is too. a low growl sound comes from his throat when he feels you have cummed around his cock and he buries his cock to the hilt before spilling his load inside you. making sure that there aren't a drop wasted and you have took them well like you always have.
he was still kissing you and you retuning the gesture until your highs have come down. he hears you hiss as he pulls his softening cock. after cleaning himself and you. he notices how your eyes are getting droopy. he must have tire you out in which he have no qualms for. he scoops you in his arms before bringing you to his personal quarters. he kisses your forehead and you hear him say something but you're too tired to know it and argue with him so you sleep on the arms of the man you feel safest the most.
when you wake up, you weren't in your bed. a heavy arm is flung into you. wrapped around your waist with a grip that have no intention of letting you go. then you notice a new weight on your finger. it's a ring. you gently turned around without waking him up and laid still. “no need for it, soshiro.” you softly mutter to his still sleeping figure.
however you appreciated the gesture. it was like he's telling you that he's not ever to going to let you go and that's enough for you.
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contentloadingandstuff · 3 months ago
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Equals: Chapter III - Kitsune!Male!Reader x Yae Miko
A/N: Finally, eh? I didn't expect this idea to get so popular. This one got quite chonky, 4.5k words, so I decided to post it early and just split things up. This way, you get content early and I get something to look forward to. As for making Reader an actual character, I decided that I will give him the name Fractal when I post it to AO3. Anyway, do enjoy! CW: Light violence, mentions of body modification, mentions of suicide. It's just the aperitif.
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Respected Yumemizuki Mizuki,
It has been a while since our last outing, and I cannot help but wonder if you hold a grudge for that jovial bit of teasing regarding the recent customer crisis of your bathhouse. I can only assure you I meant no harm, and pray most piously to the Sacred Sakura for your forgiveness. It was my intention all along to motivate you out of your, do not take offence, rather pathetic state of defeatism. Judging by how the issue was resolved, it seems that my ploy found significant success. Wouldn’t you agree?
Regardless, there is a matter of great importance that happens to require our attention. I am sure the situation regarding a certain destructive white fox has reached your adorable, pointy ears - it is indeed the topic of this letter. You may remember that he was rescued quite recently from the open ocean, but until yesterday, he was rather docile in terms of behavior. His sudden outburst worries me greatly; dark bags under his eyes, seemingly relentless night terrors and his words all lead me to the conclusion that his unprecedented episode of mania is related to his dreams. I will share more details at my home - feel free to visit me at your earliest convenience. Haste would be appreciated as the sedatives will wear off in about a day or so; I believe the opportunity to examine him without resistance will significantly speed up our work. 
If you indeed hold a grudge towards me, I ask you to do it for him, not for me.
Awaiting your visit, 
The Beloved, Beautiful and Powerful Kitsune Guuji of the Narukami Shrine
Yae Miko
That morning, with the warm sun shining down on her, Mizuki was greeted with the sight of soldiers as she approached the Yae estate. The walls around Miko's home towered high but, clearly, proved inefficient at stopping one of her kind. Even if in her heart Mizuki doubted that humans, further slowed by armour, could stop a fox, she acknowledged the reasoning. 
The standing officer nodded as she went past him and further into the courtyard towards the Tengu General, exchanging words with her subordinates. Mizuki stepped up, attracting Sara's attention. 
“Greetings, Yumemizuki Mizuki.” She bows formally, a gesture returned by the newcomer. 
“Good afternoon, general-sama.” 
The soldier bows deeply and walks away, leaving the two women alone. Sara glances towards the building and sighs. 
“I assume you are here for Y/N? He made a lot of hassle, I'm sure you've heard.” The Tengu crosses her arms. “He sneaked between the house staff and left shamelessly through the front gate in his fox form.”
Mizuki nods. “I see. I wonder, if I may… Isn't it too trivial of an incident for you to get personally involved?”
“Not at all. After all, the fox escaped because of the incompetence of Tenryu guards. It's no insignificant matter as the escapee was a kitsune. As you know, they are highly dangerous.”
The doctor frowns. Wasn't Y/N supposed to be docile? From Miko's previous descriptions he sounded more like a traumatised child than a violent one. 
“Was anybody hurt, general?” She asks, looking around for any bandaged or limping soldiers. 
“Hm. Well… Sort of.” Sara clears her throat. “During his extraction from a cave by the beach, two officers tried to take him in by force. Y/N resisted, scratching and biting.”
Sara turns and waves a duo of soldiers closer. “See, despite what Yae Miko told me, not only did they escape with their lives, but also with little to no harm done to them. Show her.”
One of the soldiers passes his spear to the other and, saluting his superior, wraps up his sleeve to reveal… Nothing on his left forearm. Mizuki takes his arm and moves her face closer. There are no obvious marks - no blood, no scars, not even redness of the skin. Eventually, her sharp eyes spot two barely noticeable dents. She runs her fingers over them. It's almost as if this wasn't a bite, but a simple poke with two fingers. 
“That's… Strange.” She mumbles to herself, seeking out more of these bite marks. There are very few, as if the kitsune was playing, not seriously intending to defend himself. “Did he attack you anywhere else?”
“Mhm. Here, on my face.”
Indeed - Mizuki’s eyes quickly found multiple bruises and red lines across the man's right cheek. Again, however, these didn't seem like an honest attempt at doing harm, even superficial. The markings clearly signaled the fox's hands to be the weapon, but he must have had his nails trimmed so significantly that they lost any hardness in them. Was that even possible? 
Mizuki nods. “Thank you, soldiers, general. Is Lady Miko home?”
“She is, waiting for you and keeping an eye on the Yokai. Go in, we shan't keep you here any longer.”
After a brief exchange or parting pleasantries, the women part ways. Mizuki skips up the stairs and places a few polite knocks on the door. Almost instantly it opens, revealing Miko's exhausted, but smiling face. Without a word she moves to the side and motions towards the house’s depths, inviting her guest in. Mizuki enters. 
“What's the situation? How does he feel?” She asks, looking around to guess where Miko is leading her. 
“Asleep”, comes the answer. “The Naku Weed brew will keep him like this for the next three, maybe four hours. We can work in peace.”
Mizuki lifts her perfectly groomed brow. “Isn't that poisonous?”
“Heh. Not at all, for us kitsune at least. This kind of dose would do irreparable damage to the nervous system of most yokai and humans, but our race is more protected against it.” Miko explains, pressing the knob and pushing open the door to your room. “No need to be quiet, he's out.”
Her eyes land on your unconscious body, your back turned on her. The long, grizzly scars carved into your body assault her eyes. Some are new, staring back at her with recently scabbed crimson, but some seem old - so old that their only remnant is a colourless, white line left on uneven skin. Snow-white bandages snake around your torso, some stained with dark, red blood. There are many scratches and sickly-purple bruises across your arms and torso, likely there from your mad dash of an escape. In places untouched by harm, your skin is clean, pristine, so soft that just looking at it feels like caressing velvet. The hair in your head, as white as the bandages, seems to grow messily around two pointy, fox ears, only barely relaxed due to your state. 
“He went through much trouble, I can tell.” Mizuki sits down on one of the chairs facing the bed. “Who is he? A warrior?”
Miko looks down on her hands, tone nonchalant. “Hardly. I'd say that the term… Slave… Would be more descriptive of his life.”
“S-slave…? Yours?” There is surprise, but also worry in the baku’s voice. After all, the wretched act of taking away another's freedom was prohibited for centuries, ever since Makoto came to power. The thought of Miko enslaving one of her kin…
“Not at all. I should feel insulted by the mere notion that I would stoop so low as to chain another, but I'm willing to forgive your ignorance.” Miko's gaze hardens as she looks at her friend. “You don't seem to know the basics of our history.”
“Then, please, enlighten me.”
Miko crosses her arms. “Inazuma was always welcoming towards Yokai, was it not? No matter the age, all of us could find shelter here. Baku, kappa, oni, tengu… Even malicious spirits like umibozu or ningen were left to their devices, provided they did no harm. But to this rule there was an exception. Us, kitsune.”
A sigh escapes her lips. “Before humans settled here, Inazuma was primarily a mess of city-states belonging to Yokai species, constantly warring for influence and territory. Kitsune were, of course, major players. Even a single fox could strike down tens of oni or swat even the most nimble of tengu from the sky. Our power was grand, but so was our thirst for conquest. My kind would have long conquered this land if it weren't for a major burden nature left us with. Kitsune mature slowly, so slowly that replenishing losses took centuries, millennia even. Every war was a blow to our population. Vixen like me bring litters into the world, counting up to seven kits true, but we can't reproduce at will - starvation would quickly set upon us. We knew we were a dwindling race, but we didn't bother changing our disposition.”
The Guuji stands up, starting to walk up and down the room at an even pace as she recounts. “We accumulated hate, curses, hexes. We drowned in evil, but we made light of various nithings and omens. Most of those bad charms were able to be nullified, but the more we turned against our kind, the more powerful our next opponents became. Until one fateful curse befell us.”
Mizuki stays silent, a part of her surprised at Miko's voice growing ever more silent. The next words are spoken with great care, as if to avoid insulting whatever being cast that spell. 
“May your daughters forever weep, for your unborn sons and brothers shall repent for your crimes and writhe in agony within the world below. Plague shall befall your fathers and husbands and brothers and sons until only the ninth remains standing, able to raise his arm in the name of evil.” Miko says, staring out the window. “These words, clear of any hatred towards its foxian killers, were spoken by a dying kirin.” She turns, a somber expression on her face. “Indeed, it is as you think. We, kitsune, murdered a kirin. And we were punished for it.”
You stirr in your drug-induced sleep. Miko quickly comes to your side as you turn on your back. She places a hand on your pale, scarred breast. 
“That day every male was brought to his knees by an illness unlike we saw before. It acted fast, so fast that most weren't able to even go home, let alone get help. Choking to death on their own blood, clutching their throats with veiny, purple hands, they fell and died on the street, corpses soon littering every corner. They died in agony and panic, no matter who they were - a soldier, a hunter, a doctor, a farmer… All paid for something our entire race was responsible for. Not even children were spared… They… Died the quickest. Newborns died in their cribs while infants spasmed in their mother's wombs. As it said - the majority of our dogs died, leaving the nation’s vixens in maddening grief. Only one in nine males survived, and each was only decades old… Far too young to hold a spear.”
She continues, stroking your hair. “In a matter of years our society plummeted into disarray. From the lack of engineers to keep our cities whole to a dreadful absence of warriors to fend off other, vengeful races. A male birth was an event so grand that entire towns came to greet the kit. We crumbled into dust, gradually pushed back to the brink of extinction, saved only by the coming of Makoto who chose to enforce peace between the Yokai.”
Her hands roam around to yours, her index finger stroking the bruises and scratches around your wrists. “Dogs became previous. They had to be protected, at all costs. We kept them inside, we monitored their every step, rushed to their side with medicine at the smallest cough. Their extinction meant our end - we couldn't allow that. Us vixen took it to heart so much that, over the centuries, males went from priceless treasure to slaves. To goods, like gold or the purest jewels. They were trained from birth to obey, forced into a rigorous training regiment to remain healthy and appealing to their owners, and sold when the time came - for Mora or political favours. Some vixens treated their dogs well, while some enjoyed torturing them for their sick entertainment; but no matter the personal preference, we sent them a clear message - they weren't people.”
Both women remain silent; Mizuki takes in her friend's words while Miko grips your wrists gently, clenching her teeth. For what they did to you, they deserved to be treated likewise. They deserved to be fed from a bowl, to be fed raw meat, to be assaulted whenever their captors wished. To have their clothes, their children, their dignity, their foxhood stripped away. 
“They deserve to be treated like animals. For what they did.” She hisses through her teeth, feeling the sting of tears behind her eyes. Helplessness. 
“Hm?” Mizuki shakes her head out of deep thought and asks. 
“Nevermind.” Milo sighs. “There is a reason, Mizuki, that even the benevolent and kind Makoto could not bare to see what we were doing to them. She ordered our race to cease our barbarity or be gone from this land. The answer to what happened next should be obvious - most of us, noblewomen and mistresses with their entourages, families, entire clans even, left. Some of us stayed. I was, for example, abandoned at just three years of age during the exodus. Those that remained took me in, raised me to be who I am today. Our matron Hakushin was one of the fair few who did not choose to participate in this cruelty and tried to fight back when we were exiled, to wrench at least one male from the claws of her kin. Kitsune Guuji chose to live a childless life of chastity in the name of those crushes in our claws. And she failed.”
“I see. I'm… I can't even imagine what he went through. How old is he?” The baku asks. 
“Six hundred years old. Can you picture that? Six centuries of slavery, torture, rape. Six centuries of being fed like a canine, kicked away or being forced upon. Six centuries… Tens of litters, either pried from your hands or never allowed to be there in the first place. A living nightmare. A hell that, for him, was reality.” She raises up and turns back towards Mizuki. “As for what he'd been through, we shall see.”
The woman freezes. What? Surely, Miko wouldn't be willing to metaphorically crowbar his mind open and see inside…
“Oh my, I can tell what's going on inside your head, Mizuki. Are you perhaps thinking I would violate his privacy without proper cause?” Miko turns, her gloomy expression now replaced with a light smirk. “Whoever do you take me for?”
Mizuki stands up and crosses her arms. “Sure, sure. I know you have a reason, but we'll see if it's convincing enough. I never force myself into any mind, and I wouldn't make an exception for you.”
“I understand. Let me tell you, then, why this course of action is not only the best, but also the necessary one. I doubt you understand the true scale of his mind's corruption. If things were, indeed, less severe, I would have just waited for him to rest and taken him to the bath house.”
Miko leans over you and places a hand over your forehead, checking the temperature. It's normal, making her breathe a sigh of relief. 
“When I caught up to him and had the rickety old house he hid in surrounded, I went in on my own. I didn't want to scare him, you see. Y/N pounced on me from the ceiling wielding a rusty knife. I shielded myself, making him fly across the room like a rag, collapsing into some shelves. He didn't surrender though - he rose up, coughing, and attacked me with his bare hands. I had to push back yet again, but this time he fell and did not strike again. Instead, I saw tears in his eyes. The words he spoke are why you are here.”
“Ugh…” You clutch your chest, trying in vain to stop the blunt ache from spreading across your body. The dust and sand raised by the commotion gets into your lungs - you cough. Her pink hair pierces through the colourless cloud of dust, slowly coming closer. 
Your hand desperately pats your closest surroundings in search of a weapon. Nothing. 
“Calm down, please.” She speaks, raising both her hands in an attempt to look less threatening. But you know these tricks like the back of your hand. Even the softest of tones can carry the most hateful of words. “I don't want to hurt you.”
“Liar! Do you think I'm… Ah… Stupid enough to believe you?!” You crawl back but soon feel the woodworm-chewed wood of the hut against your skin. There is no way out, but you won't go quietly. “What is this new torture? Did you find my screams and pleads boring enough for you to invade my dreams too? Do you think that you infesting my waking life is not enough?!”
She stops, her hands lowering. You can't see her face through the dust-caused tears, but she looks… disoriented. A soft “what” reaches your ears. 
“So that's how it is, Matsui. If you think you can fool me with a simple change of face and name, you're wrong. And if you think you can rape my mind too, you're mistaken! This is my dream, I have the power here! And I can do whatever I want. I can kill you. Or I can kill myself.” You look around, spotting a dusty razor blade, half-buried under the debris. You make sure not to look at it directly. “You may hurt me in the physical world, but you won't hurt me in the only safe haven I have left. Fuck you!”
Leaping forward towards the weapon, you quickly feel your body freeze in mid air. Thin, purple lightning wraps around your wrists, arms, ankles… You're stuck. You wiggle your fingers, desperately trying to reach your way out. Your proof of agency. Your display that you can influence what happens to you, that you’re not a mindless object. This simple tool that will break her toy once and for all. 
But regardless of your desires, Miko snares you with her elemental powers, just short of the razor. An ancient painting of helplessness and dread. 
“I hate you! I hate you!” You scream, ears folding in rage. “I hate you and everything you stand for!”
Miko doesn’t respond. She simply does not know if any word could convey the feelings brewing in her mind; neither the confusion about the reason for your outburst, nor the astonishment at just what came out of your mouth, are expressible. She observes you as your malnourished body trembles with rage, with hate. Vitriol rolls freely off your tongue. You call her every single insult you know in a hopeless attempt to… Scare her, make her back off, make her react somehow. The silence confuses you… Does she not want to kick you into shutting up? Your futile resistance against the bindings falters, wrath turning into hopeless sadness. Yet again you feel tears rolling down your face. 
“H-hate you… W-why…”
Your body is lowered back onto the floor and you immediately fall limp. The world, your past, your future and your present overwhelm your senses. You don’t want this, you never did. You didn’t plead in the face of Gods to let you come into this world, experience neither the pleasures, nor the pains of what surrounds you. You cannot deal with this yourself. You cannot be a hero. You cannot be an example that it’s possible, that you can endure anything and live on. You’re weak. 
So weak and witless that you can’t even kill yourself. 
You hear her shuffle closer to you. Normally you would move away from her, dodge her touch as best as you could. But this time your hands wrap around her loose sleeves and pull them closer. Before long your face nuzzles into her chest, attempting to hide from the world, even behind the one that hurt you so much. She strokes your hair, softly speaking to you in an attempt to ease your nerves, fruitlessly. Because, sobbing, you realise why you cling onto her so much. Even after she broke your tails, even after she broke your ribs, branded you, starved and humiliated and assaulted and belittled and objectified you. 
It’s because you have nobody else. 
Only her. Only Matsui. 
Mizuki listens intently to Miko’s report, her mind already picking apart your words and analysing it for potential basis. Her conclusions come swiftly and decidedly. 
“Derealisation”, she says. “Clear signs of post traumatic stress disorders, suicidal ideation and rock-bottom self esteem. Nod-Krai syndrome.”
“I’m unfamiliar with that. What does it mean?” Miko sits by your side, eyes boring into your unconscious face with a vague, hateful expression. She wants to hug you, shelter you from the world like she did just hours ago. But she would much more tear out the throat of Matsui, whoever she was - sky kitsune or a lowly fox, it did not matter. 
“Nod-Krai was conquered by the Cryo Archon, who quickly began decisive repressions against the local culture and ethnic identity.” Mizuki explains. “However, thanks to circumstances, local power play and propaganda, the native people of the land became thankful and loyal to their oppressor, the destroyer of altars and the murderer of entire villages. In the same exact way, Y/N seems to cling to Matsui - in this case, believing you’re her in disguise, despite everything she did to him in the past.”
Miko clenches her other hand, keeping the one on your shoulder soft and open. She nods. “I understand.”
There’s a moment of silence before the baku picks up the conversation. 
���Would you let me examine him?” She stands up. “I might not be a trained medic, but I think I can pick up some things you might have missed.”
The other woman, having shaken off the gloom of her memory, sends her friend a playfully indignant expression. 
“With respect to your own skill, Lady Guuji.” 
Miko smiles. “Ah, such compliments. In that case, you may have a look.”
Mizuki nods in thanks and takes the spot just freed by her host. Your defences seemed rather timid - the reason could be simple restraint or mercy, but judging by Miko’s accounts of your mistrust and paranoia, something else was at play. She guides her finger closer to your lips and carefully lifts up your lip, revealing perfectly tended, pristine teeth. Upon a closer look, she notices what exactly stands out among them. 
“His canines. They are filed down, see?” She opens your jaw a little, revealing just how even your teeth are, deprived of the four points in the corners. “The ends are imperfectly flat and there are small chips on the inside of each tooth. It could have been done with a simple nail file… I barely see red, meaning they must have been fairly long before.”
Ignoring the chills running down her spine from the mental image for curiosity’s sake, Miko leans in to get a better look. “Isn’t the pulp inside the entire tooth?”
“It is.” Mizuki nods. “But here it has a large circumference, meaning this is the base of the tooth.” Her own teeth hurt as if in solidarity with yours. “By the Shogun, I pray he wasn’t awake for this…”
Miko refrains from speaking to avoid words unbefitting of the Guuji slipping from her lips. The psychologist’s eyes wander down to your hands. The sight of perfectly clipped nails, so much so that they end with not the thinnest of white lines, seems odd to her. Surely after an extensive journey to Narukami Island by sea, and presumably no manicure from Miko, they would have grown even a little bit. She takes your left index finger into her hand and pauses right away. The nail… It’s not tough. To verify her suspicion, she scratches at it with her own fingernails, only to find that they meet no resistance. What’s more, something brown flakes off. Mizuki does this some more and proceeds to gather up the shavings onto her palm, turning around and presenting it to Miko. 
“Can you please tell me what they smell like?” She asks. “I touched his fingernails and they flaked off.”
Without question, Miko lifts Mizuki’s hand up to her nose and takes a careful whiff.
“Hm…” She muses. “His scent, sweat and… Leather? Yes. Tanned leather, the sort used for shoes.”
“Then it is just as I had feared. Miko, I think he’s been… Declawed, in a manner of speaking.” She presses your fingers into her arms, as hard as she can, but she feels no toughness digging into her skin. 
Miko’s heart begins to beat faster. “Declawed? Like a cat, you say? How is that even possible if he is in human form? Human nails grow all the time…”
“That’s a good question. I’d guess that the techniques they used to subdue dogs became advanced enough to do that. Even if it’s impossibly cruel… It’s impressive.” She shows your hand to Miko. “These painted strips of leather do look like normal fingernails.”
Your caretaker glances at your hand, then back at your peaceful face. It seems like your owners didn’t like their toy having any capability to fight back, or just show displeasure. Like a cat that paws anybody in defence or a dog, biting its cruel owner, you were stripped of your natural defences. She can already imagine it wasn’t enough - judging by how you acted, they tried to remove your very instinct to oppose and protect yourself. If not for this episode of confusion between dreams and the waking world, would she never see you fight back? Never see you refuse, stand your ground, all because whatever you could use was taken away and your mind was washed with cruelty and abuse to be unable to comprehend consent, self-preservation?
Most importantly…
Was this done to you right away, or as punishment…?
“I want to know. I want to see what he experienced.” Miko says, her brow furrowing. “He might not be able to tell me, but I must know. I must understand.”
Mizuki nods. “Give me a moment. We’ll see soon enough.”
In Miko’s gaze, resting on your limp, nailless, tortured hand, there is a promise. 
She’s coming for you. 
She’ll pick up the pieces and put you back together, however shattered you might be. 
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Thanks for reading!
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saltoru · 2 years ago
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cw: talks of body image
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whenever you critique and complain of your body, gojo always quips back with a lighthearted “then just give it to me”
the first time you had this conversation, you were both standing in your kitchen after breakfast. you were wiping down the countertops when you opened up to him about thoughts regarding your body image, adding in a few lighthearted jokes and comments along the way.
he took a swig of his sweetened coffee and eyed you up and down from the corner of his eye. "then just give it to me," he exhales, setting the cup down and giving you a small shrug. you stopped wiping and looked at him confused.
"if you're not going to appreciate all this," he dramatically waves his hands in front of you, "then give it to someone who will. i certainly will, so just hand it over anytime."
amused, yet still confused, you frown and say, "how is that even supposed to work-"
he cuts you off and says, "your body will still be with you, but starting now, i'll be in charge of taking care of it." he looks behind him and adds, "you know what, my body's feeling kinda thirsty."
you watch him fill up a glass of water, mouth slightly ajar from puzzlement.
he brings the glass up to your lips and lightly taps your chin. "here, drink up."
you glare at him with furrowed brows as you somewhat reluctantly take a sip of water. "wait, so-" you begin.
"from now on, i'll be in charge of caring for your body," satoru firmly says, bringing his hands to your shoulders to make you look at him. "so you can't make those mean comments anymore. it's not right to talk about other people's bodies, right? this one ain't yours anymore until you start appreciating it."
and with that, he places his hand on your back and ushers you to the bathroom because "my body's feeling a little dirty, needs a bath."
for the next couple days, you decide to entertain his little gimmick to see how far he takes it. within these days, he diligently scrubbed you clean, fed you good, frequently made you drink water, take you on walks, and decide your outfits. you heard a lot of "how's my body doing, feeling kinda sore?" and then he'd spend the next 15 minutes massaging an area you never said was sore. "my body's craving ice cream," he'd say, and get up to get you your favorite ice cream.
"why is your body's favorite ice cream also my favorite ice cream?" you ask him as he hands you the carton and a spoon.
"coincidence," he shrugs.
"i'm feeling blue today," he'd say as he would hold up your light blue pants next to you. "hmm maybe dark blue...no, definitely light blue, even though both looks so good"
one afternoon, he suddenly said, "my body would look so good in this," and brought out his favorite baby blue lingerie set that he got you on one of his business trips. (it wasn't on sale and there was no special occasion, he just felt like getting one for you) satoru quickly ushered you to room to put it on.
"why would you randomly put your body in lingerie at 2:35 in the afternoon," you ask, trying to sound annoyed but really, you can't help your heart from fluttering at his dedication to this
"because i look good and i can," he widely grins as he looks you up and down. "c'mere, i'm suddenly feeling cold and need to be warmed up." he pats his lap and opens his arms. you bite your lip to stop yourself from smiling too hard.
since the beginning of your relationship, he had always been touchy, but this level was touchiness from these couple of days is unprecedented. his hands always had a place on your body. it used to just be one hand on your thigh or just his chin resting of your shoulder, but lately, it's been both hands on your thighs and his chin resting of your shoulder while his hands ran up your shirt. "gotta show my body extra love," he'd say when you question him. "since the previous owner wasn't so good at doing so"
the first time this happened, it lasted around a week. you found his whole gimmick amusing until after a while, you wanted to choose your own outfits, when you wanted to exercise ("not if," he insisted before giving your body back to you. "when" ), and what to eat, and after a quick promise to appreciate your body, he gave you a quick kiss and "handed it back."
this gimmick hasn't happened in a while, but every once in a while when he hears you complain, he just shakes his head and motions for you to hand it to him.
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yuesya · 5 months ago
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“No.”
Satoru-niichan huffs, “At least finish listening to what I have to say–”
“No,” Shiki repeats herself. “Absolutely not. I refuse.”
The older sorcerer sighs. For a moment, he is silent, but then there is a light rustle as he sits down beside her.
“I know you don’t like it,” he says quietly. “For what it’s worth, this is just a ‘what-if’ if we encounter the worst-case scenario. You’ve already heard the news, same as I did. Kyoto fell in a single day when Tsukumo turned.”
… Yes, Shiki knows. In face of the disastrous outbreak of cursed spirits on a massive, world-wide scale, Tsukumo Yuki swiftly became one of the busiest sorcerers –both due to her position as a powerful Special Grade sorcerer, and because of her numerous well-developed global contacts. The woman poured her focus into finding out the reason for this unprecedented, unnatural phenomenon, so that they would be able to fix it–
But now she’s dead.
And it wasn’t because she had exhausted herself and fallen in battle.
According to the reports, Tsukumo had been tirelessly poring over older documents in Kyoto, before she suddenly doubled over, as if in pain. A black, smoky liquid had dripped down from her lips –first a trickle, and then an unending flood. Her body had twisted, then split; cracking open the way a butterfly emerged from its chrysalis.
But it was no butterfly that had metamorphosed from Tsukumo’s corpse, but instead a cursed spirit. 
… Another of those terrible cursed spirits. The ones which covered the world in inky darkness wherever they went, cursing the land and all the humans who lived upon that land.
Previously, there had already been several separate cases of lower-ranked sorcerers… turning. Somehow, inexplicably, turning into the very cursed spirits that they hunted. The information had been swiftly suppressed, for fear of causing panic, particularly since there were a lot more sorcerers nowadays than there had ever historically been–
But Tsukumo’s case was the first recorded incident of a Special Grade sorcerer turning into a monstrous curse, one that immediately leveled Kyoto to the ground upon its appearance.
There’s no way to hide this, and it also raises the question of–
Would the same also happen to other Special Grade sorcerers?
The worry is not an unfounded one. 
… It’s not like Shiki doesn’t understand where Satoru-niichan is coming from, making the request of her that he did. But all the same, it’s–
It’s terrible.
Terrible, but necessary. Especially in a broken world like this. Especially since their options are limited. But that does not make Shiki any more predisposed towards the very notion of what Satoru-niichan is asking of her. What he wants of her, what only she can promise him.
“… I don’t want to,” she whispers.
“I know,” Satoru-niichan acknowledges, which is quite cruel of him. But Shiki has always known that Satoru-niichan could be cruel. She loves him anyways. “If there was any other option, any other way of getting insurance, you know I would never ask this of you. But you’re the only one I’d trust with something like this, Shiki.”
Yes. She knows.
Shiki closes her eyes.
“I’ll only agree on one condition: You have to promise to do the same. 
If I ever become a mindless curse, then you need to kill me.”
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bigfatbreak · 2 years ago
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more mlp au dumps
3 am palette cleanser. tis the season
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additional fun for my dorky ass twibra au... twilight's friends mimic the elements of harmony in a way that reflects the magic of their pony selves (bc I said so lmao) and it's what brings her back from the brink after principal cinch grenade tosses her little magical collector in her face and blasts her with equestrian magic
details:
Chrysalis represents generosity specifically because of how she's selfish on behalf of her friends. she's absolutely willing to dupe other people and manipulate them if she thinks it'll help out anyone in the squad, even if the fallout could be cataclysmic. This has led to a really bad reputation following her around, and though its not really unprecedented, her friends still keep her around as she means well. It's a bit hard training her out of fawning over other people to try and make them stay, but she just wants everyone well-fed and happy.
Stygian has the loyalty blessing because he's the real ride or die. He would rather physically staple himself to his friends than possibly lose them, especially since he was subject to losing a friend group in the past which left him deserted at a really bad time. Meeting Tempest around that time was the only thing that kept him going, and now he's fiercely protective of his new friend group.
Spike is laughter because I love him. puppy power
Tempest gets honesty because she's extremely blunt, even though sometimes its to the point of insulting, she genuinely just wants communication to be established at any cost. Her straightforward attitude is very effective at stopping Chryssie's schemes and keeping Stygian grounded, and she doesn't mind being an anchor for the team, especially since she used to be team captain on her volleyball team before she lost her arm. The sense of "these people need me" helps anchor her as much as it anchors them.
Sombra can be exceedingly kind, showering people in gifts and lavish trips, assisting them in whatever programs they're in, and he's more than willing to put the effort in and sacrifice things of his own if it means his friends will benefit from it - but it stops there. His kindness is wonderful only to those in his close circle, and most importantly, to Twilight.
though their dynamic sometimes isn't the healthiest, they're all recovering from friendship issues of their own - some done to them, some because of what THEY did to others - and Twilight's the precious sun they seem to rotate around, as being a shut-in only focusing on her studies has given her zero inclination to have any sort of preconceived notions of other people. For friends with a bad past they're trying to work through, its incredibly refreshing, and they would rather die than lose her.
even more additional details:
Sombra collects pretty minerals, and wears a lot of jewelry as a result. He often compares Twilight to precious stones and seems smug about dating her.
Tempest and Stygian are room mates, but they're not dating, sharing a purely platonic relationship. (Stygian is gay and Tempest is a lesbian. they're each other's beards, basically)
Chryssie lives in an apartment Sombra pays the rent to, but only under the agreement that she stop dating people just to raid their houses. It's worked so far, at least according to CCTV footage
once the magic Twilight absorbed disperses into the team, giving them magic, Spike gets dragon attributes along with being able to talk. This means sometimes he eats Sombra's fancy gemstones and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it because if he yells at his gf's dog/little brother he'll get smacked. Sombra is in hell but everyone else loves it
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calicoheartz · 1 year ago
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Paige x fem!wbbp reader.
Paige and the reader have been playing together since high school. What's the chance they both commit to the same uni? 👀
(Can I request to be 🦢 annon?)
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A Pretty Perfect Match ; Paige Bueckers ››
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꣑୧ — summary | basically the prompt !!! :)
wc ; 1.4k
— warnings | lots of romantic tension & fluff , friends to lovers
my master list ㇀♡
1) omg yes of course you can be 🦢 anon ! It makes me so happy I’m finally getting anons like this! yay!
a/n : I wasn’t sure if you wanted this to be romantic anon , so I did some hints and implied romantic attraction throughout the story. Enjoy ! ◡̈
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Paige leaned against the worn wooden bleachers, with her gaze being focused on the basketball court below. The sound of sneakers squeaking against the vinyl floor, the thud of the ball, the cheers from the crowd – it all felt like home to her. After all, she had spent hours on that court, pouring her entire heart and soul into the game. 
Beside her, stood her longtime friend and teammate, your presence bringing a comforting and warm energy into the busy and chaotic environment. 
You both had been inseparable since the beginning of freshman year, with your strong love for the game bringing you both closer together. With your bond forged by victories, defeats, laughs and tears, and Paige couldn't imagine her life without you by her side.
As the final buzzer rang, signaling the end of the game, you and Paige exchanged a tired but content smile. Your team had won, as it always did when the two of you played together. But tonight was different, as it marked the end of an era. An era that had lasted since they were 14, that was now the end of a chapter, as they embarked on a new change to their lives.
As the two of you walked off the court together and into the locker room, Paige decided the break the silence by saying, “So, have you decided where you're going to college yet?", her voice tinged with excitement and apprehension.
You shrugged, a thoughtful expression gracing your face, “i'm still weighing my options. What about you?”
Paige hesitated, her mind racing with possibilities. She had received offers from several universities, each promising the chance to continue her basketball career at the collegiate level. But there was one school that stood out above the rest—a school that offered not only a top-tier basketball program, but also the opportunity to hopefully study alongside you.
Unbeknownst to you, Paige had always seen you differently, you were definitely one of her best friends, but her feelings manifested into something different, something she didn't feel towards the rest of her friends. She never knew exactly how to get her feelings across to you, as it was quite apparent that your love and commitment to basketball was above every other aspect in your life. But little did she know, that you yourself also felt the same way she did, also dealing with the unprecedented issue on how to admit her newfound feelings to the blonde. 
"I think I've made up my mind," Paige said finally, her heart pounding in her chest. "I'm going to commit to UConn.” your eyes widened in surprise to her sudden statement,  with a small smirk spreading across your face, “Wait for real? That's where I was planning on going! I was just scared to commit since I wasn't sure if any of my other friends were going.”
Paige's heart soared at the news, relief flooding through her. She couldn't imagine navigating the challenges of college without her closest friend by her side. Together, they had conquered high school basketball, and now they would take on the next chapter of their lives together as well.
As they made their way out of the locker room, Paige couldn't shake the feeling of excitement coursing through her veins. The prospect of attending UConn with you by her side, filled her with a sense of anticipation unlike anything she had ever experienced before. For the first time in her life, she felt truly ready to take on whatever the future held.
Over the next following months, you and Paige had become immersed into your applications and studies, spending long hours honing your skills on the court, preparing yourselves for the challenges that lay ahead of you. So it was not surprising that when the acceptance letters finally came in, you celebrated with one another, knowing that your dreams were finally within reach. 
As your white manicured nails gripped around the now empty can of whiteclaw, you couldnt help but wonder about your future with Paige. Yeah you two were going to the same school, but could you really continue hiding your feelings from her? I mean eventually she was bound to find out, what would you even do when in time she got a girlfriend? 
Paige could tell you were stressed, as she took your face into her hands and cupped your cheeks, something she often did, but this time it seemed different. “Don't be stressed”, she said, with a hint of alcohol lingering in her voice. “It's all gonna be okay, we finally did it. It's only uphill from here.” You smiled at her remark, slowly beginning to lean closer to her. Her eyes made their way onto your lips, as she gave you that look. You quickly leaned away, breaking your eye contact. You laughed slightly, chucking up your actions to the alcohol, and got up from your chair. “I should head home” you stated, immediately regretting opting out of the possibility of kissing your longtime best friend. Before the blonde could respond, you were already on your way, walking back towards the direction of your house. 
As the summer drew to a close and the start of college loomed on the horizon, you and Paige found yourselves filled with a mix of excitement and nervousness. But ever since that day, the blonde knew she had to come clean about her feelings, as you two would be playing side by side at UConn for the next 4 years. But still, a weight of anxiety weighed itself onto Paige's shoulders, she knew she had to tell you. There was no way she could avoid it for any longer, or procrastinate even further. 
She made her way over to your house, knocking at your door slightly, when you opened it your gaze was surprised but loving, not expecting to find the 6 '0 girl on your doorstep. 
She soon broke the silence, mumbling a “Sorry for coming without notice, I just needed to see you.” you nodded slightly, opening the door further as an invitation for the blonde to let herself in, before making your way to your bedroom. 
You sat on your bed, your eyes avoiding Paige’s gaze, not really sure what to say, let alone what the blonde needed to discuss. Paige made her way towards you, plopping on the space right beside you before facing you, starting off with a “Look, I know we've been friends for freshman year, but I need to be honest with you y/n.” You furrowed your brows slightly, giving her a confused look in reply. She continued slowly… “I like you y/n, like like, not like a friend, but- fuck. I don't even know what to say, I completely understand if you don't feel the same way but please just hear-” you couldn't even let the blonde finish her sentence before placing a passionate kiss on her lips, one that only lasted a few seconds but felt like an entire lifetime had passed. 
It felt as if fireworks were going off inside your head, as all your worries melted away as you yourself melted into the kiss. You soon pulled away, before whispering “that's my answer, P.”
Since that day, your relationship blossomed day by day as you prepared for the sudden switch in your lives, navigating the first year of college together.
Over the next four years, you and Paige forged a path through college unlike any other. You studied together, laughed together, and yes, even argued from time to time. But through it all, your  bond remained unbreakable, a constant source of strength and support in a world that was constantly changing.
And on the basketball court, you both were unstoppable. With Paige's skill and your determination, you both led UConn to victory after victory, cementing your places in the annals of college basketball history. 
As graduation day approached, you both were filled with a mix of emotions. Of course you were sad to say goodbye to the place that had been your home for the past four years, but you both were also excited to see what the future held for your relationship.
 As you stood on stage together, your hands intertwined and your diplomas in hand, you knew that no matter where life took you,  you both would always be there for each other, ready to face whatever challenges came your way.
As they stepped out into the world beyond the walls of UConn, you and Paige knew that your journey was far from over. You were now ready to take on whatever the future held, knowing that as long as you had each other, you could accomplish anything.
omggggggg this was so cute wtf !!!! I LOVED writing this and hope I can write more stuff like this in the future (most likely will ngl) as always tysm for reading !!
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daemonbrain · 3 months ago
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Jaime Lannister x targaryen!reader | A Snippet
a/n: Posting this to hold myself accountable because the fic has been sitting in my drafts since February 1st... she's at 18k words y'all...
edit: fully posted here
cw: none, reader is Aerys's daughter, set in 281 A.C.
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As the summer weather had finally chosen to grace the Crownlands with it's presence, Viserys had taken to playing his new favorite game ‘maid in the tower’ with you and your knight. Jaime would take on the role of barbarian keeping you captive while Viserys the Valiant (a name he fashioned himself) would come to your rescue. You couldn’t count how many times you cringed and winced when Viserys would wack Jaime at full strength, with a wooden training sword your knight had thought was a brilliant idea to give him. His teeny cords of muscle working hard under the strain of the surprisingly intensive game. The two of you might’ve been creating the next Dragon Knight with all the running and hitting and whatever else it is warriors do.
Thankfully, Jaime took each strike in stride, barely budging before finding some way to send your little brother running. Jaime prowled around you, making a point of goading the poor boy on.
“I guess you don’t actually want to save the princess… I wonder what I'll do with her?” Jaime shouted.
You had gasped in feigned shock, voice taking on a disbelieving tone. “Never monster! Viserys the Valiant will rescue me!”
Once your little brother had retrieved his oaken weapon -which Jaime had thrown into a bush- his face was one of determination. He charged Jaime with an unprecedented speed and swung hard. The Lannister met him halfway with a grunt, taken off guard by the surprise attack. Wood clashed against wood, Viserys relentless in his attempts to win the game while your knight met each blow with a single handed grip on his play-sword.
“I’ll keep her forever, locked away in my tower.”
“No! She-” another hit, “-is MY sister!”
It had been hours of this running around and the air turned more suffocating the higher the sun climbed, the heat had caused for sweat to pool uncomfortably under your heavy layers. You were dead sure if you suggested going inside before your brother could win, he would pitch a fit.
To make things worse, Jaime was amused by the way Viserys lunged at him. He seethes not being able to land a hit on the knight almost ten years his elder, and Jaime seemed content to bask in the humidity and sweat, but you certainly weren’t.
“Boys! While I appreciate the vigor which you both have on my behalf, why don’t we all just make peace? Lunch sounds a lot better than beating each other with sticks, and it’s dreadful out here. Any longer and i'll melt into a puddle.”
The both of them didn’t spare you a glance as they continued. 
“No! I don’t want to go inside, I want to win!” Viserys yelled furiously, still on the attack. Dodging a particularly forceful jab, Jaime caused your brother to stumble forward as he sidesteps him. An a-ha came from the knight as he evaded yet again.
“I would sooner risk my honor protecting you then let you go free, princess.” Jaime said, wholly absorbed in his villainous role.
“What honor?! You’re meant to be a barbarian!” You exclaimed.
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The Lannister dividers are by @targaryen-dynasty!
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