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songsofadelaide · 1 year ago

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Paraselene

On one side of the coin of fate, Okkotsu Yuuta stopped wanting things ever since he lost one most precious to him, even though it was due to circumstances beyond his control. He decided against wanting anything ever again.

And on the other side… As a beloved daughter of an age-old sorcerer clan, you often got everything you wanted. That is why you were allowed to grace the stage of many of Tokyo's extravagant places of gathering as one of this generation's most popular idols. And upon meeting Yuuta for the first time, you resolved that this man would be no exception— that you would get him, too— no matter how hard he tried to evade you and your most curious gaze.

Though admittedly, he didn't try very hard.

Still reeling from an overseas mission, Special Grade Sorcerer and for-hire bodyguard Okkotsu Yuuta gets roped into a one-night stand with a retiring idol trying to evade an unwanted engagement arranged by her family— and the choice that changes the trajectory of both your lives.

[An Okkotsu Yuuta x Reader AU one-shot]

cw/tw: female reader, reader is an idol, sorcerer x idol romance au where things are all well (but not really), original characters, no use of yn and instead follows my usual naming convention (I use Otome as a placeholder for yn since it means maiden, which pretty much means yn too), song fic, inaccurate depictions of idol life, fluff, slice of life, some fun until it's not, it's kind of slow burn but maybe not really, mentions of heartbroken gay men because of the stigma, Nana and Soul Eater references, the Zenins are assholes here, too, mentions of the death of a loved one, arranged marriages and family traditions and breaking said family traditions, and a lovely, happy ending (for those who want to know beforehand)— ✦ oc guide here wc: 22.5k

"Twilight—and you, Quiet—the stars; Snare of the shine of your teeth, Your provocative laughter, The gloom of your hair; Lure of you, eye and lip; Yearning, yearning, Languor, surrender;" — El Beso, Angelina Weld Grimke

— The boy in the shadows and the girl with stars in her eyes.

"Whenever I look at you, your shadow seems to cast a smile— hiding your teardrops from me secretly, like you always do—"

Simply put, Yuuta was tired.

It hasn't been a full 24 hours since he returned from the peacekeeping mission in Monaco that was previously assigned to him by his superior, but here he was with said superior, standing among the audience of a full Yokohama Arena. The lights, music, costumes and stage design were all so artfully made, its calibre unlike anything he had ever seen before— and it was all for the graduation of the centre of sensational idol group Rose Gold.

"See her? The one in the sparkling red dress."

The boy with dark eyes followed his teacher's steady and slender finger as he pointed at the bright stage just mere steps away from where they were standing in the audience.

There were five girls in total, but his eyes were drawn to the very same one the older man was pointing at.

"The centre?" He responded, squinting at the brightness of the stage to help his vision adjust and focus on the figure happily waving in the middle, all spotlights on her as she moved her glossy lips to sing to the audience.

"Hope always may be found in the water's evidence— The loneliness of silence, oh, yes, I know that well, too—"

Pretty, he thought to himself as he was allowed a moment to rest his eyes on you.

"And do you see that thing over there?" His teacher then pointed overhead, just above the steel truss holding all the colourful lights illuminating the stage. Yuuta saw the shadow of a cursed spirit hovering above the centre of the performance, the girl in the sequined dress seemingly sparkling on stage and unaware of the danger that loomed over her.

But dense, he shook his head. "All right. I know what to do."

"Then the future starts to move, racing on— Open up the door! It's what you're searching for…"

"E—motion!" The enthusiastic crowd sang along, followed by the flickering of thousands of multicoloured light sticks illuminating the arena even further, like twinkling stars reflected in the inky ocean waves.

"Suddenly, I know this sky— It's the one that's in my dreams! So anxiously, my heart resounds, passionate and warm!"

Yuuta quietly got up from his seat and shuffled out of the audience, seemingly disappearing backstage with his blade concealed under his jacket. He walked unnoticed, melting into the background as the melodious song filled the still air.

"Secretly, I long to repeat these dreams I had of you… So quietly, just close your eyes and hold me in your arms!"

The blood rushing through your ears and the heavy pounding of your heart flooded your senses as the final bow call started, wet palms taking wet palms as your group granted your most grateful audience a graceful bow in unison. You could only look up in anticipation as the spotlights drew to a close, the dark energy you had been keeping an eye on for days just gone.

And how odd it was that it just vanished after it metastasised into something you knew you couldn't do anything about if it went berserk all of a sudden.

As your fellow idols shuffled off the stage to prepare for the after-concert handshake event, you stood there pondering the events of this show and the disappearance of the cursed spirit that had been plaguing you for weeks, the ache in your feet from the high heels you wore going unnoticed until your manager called your attention.

Kagomura Sana was one of the few adults you trusted at your talent agency. Rose Gold was composed of five girls— each one with their own manager who reported to the group's main handler, whom you only know as Kyou-san. You didn't care much for the other managers or for Kyou-san, but Sana was someone special to you— she knew you and your peculiar circumstances, and why you were graduating at the height of your group's success.

"Otome! It's Gojo-san! He's here to see you!"

Snapping out of your reverie, you were approached by two figures, the more familiar one flashing his million-dollar smile at you, bright blue eyes concealed under a pair of darkened sunglasses. In his hands was a bouquet of soft pink roses that added an even softer splash of colour to the exquisitely made crimson dress you were wearing.

"Yo, ojou-chan!"

"Satoru nii-san!" You beamed at him like you were still onstage, your arms open to receive the blooms bundled in white and pink crepe paper. "Thank you for coming, even though I know Kazu nii-san asked for your help with that, um, thing…"

"Oh, that?" Gojo Satoru raised a thoughtful hand to his chin. "Your brother mentioned it, but we didn't expect it to grow that huge. Either someone's super mad or super obsessed with you."

"Or both," you groaned, cradling the flowers close to your chest. "But still, I must thank you for handling that thing in a… clean way. Anything other than that would have spooked everyone onstage and would have caused a scene…"

"You should be thanking him," the older man jerked his thumb at the younger man standing behind him. "This is his mission, after all."

"I see," you replied with a nod, curiously peering over Satoru's right arm. "Then I must thank you for exorcising that curse, jujutsu-shi."

The younger sorcerer was slightly startled by your approach, even more so when you extended your finely manicured hand for a handshake, your wrist bejewelled with frilly bracelets adorned with fine plastic crystals.

"It's no problem," said Yuuta. His smile was that of someone not entirely sure what he should do, but he gently took your hand in his and gave it a short shake.

It was your turn to be surprised when you realised it wasn't another old man with Satoru, but a young sorcerer around your age instead. "O-Oh! I-I didn't know you were just a boy! I thought Satoru nii-san brought another old man like him again."

"Hey! I'm not that old!"

Yuuta saw the abundance of stars in your eyes as you nervously smiled and rambled at him, not at all minding how you grasped him with a sweaty hand. His teacher's rant faded into the air as he mustered a small smile. There was an assortment of equally sparkling jewellery and adornments on your pulled-up hair and right now he was unconsciously thinking you were just as pretty up close as you were on stage earlier.

"Now that the two of you have been introduced, we should get down to business," Satoru started. "Yuuta's been tasked with searching for the one responsible for all these curses, ojou-chan. I know you have your ever-faithful guardian Yohan-san with you, but Yuuta will stick around to look after you as well."

"I suppose nii-san petitioned this to the magic school," you said with a sigh, only to brighten up with a smile as you clutched the younger man's hand even closer. "Yuuta-san, isn't it? You must allow me to treat you as thanks."

"No worries, ojou-san," he replied, echoing how his superior addressed you before softly gesturing to your sparkling outfit. "But won't you have a hard time moving around?"

His assumption elicited an even softer laugh from you. You graciously gave him your name before finally replying. "I won't go out like this, of course. I must apologise in advance, though, as I still have my final handshake event to get to. It may take some time…"

"Please don't worry about it," the young man reassured you. "It's my duty to keep you safe while you're still on the clock, so…"

—

You never really believed in the saying less is more, especially when it came to style and costumes. The popular idol group Rose Gold is known for its breathtaking and extravagant imagery that drew audiences of all ages from inside and outside the city. Apart from the idols' superb skills, their costumes by the head costume designer Irino Izuna, are often praised for their fine craftsmanship and her specific attention to detail.

As a former idol herself, she found it a pleasure to dress those with star potential. Rose Gold was named after a precious metal, after all. For Izuna, more is better, and it became the group's principle.

This would be Izuna's final year as the group's head costume designer since she will be getting married soon, making your graduation outfit her penultimate masterpiece. The older woman had long been enamoured by you ever since you first auditioned to become a member many years ago and has since dressed you for every concert, every music video, and every guesting and show you starred in.

"This one I made especially for you. It would hurt me to see another wearing it, so the group resolved to hand it over to you, Otome-san, if you'll accept, of course."

"Is that heavy? Let me help you carry it."

Even in your simple civilian clothing, with the glamorous costume and accessories discarded, you still exuded the same kind of vibrance and elegance that made Yuuta rather nervous.

"Thank you very much, Yuuta-san," you replied, allowing his larger hand to take your suitcase filled with costumes from your fingers. He paused in his tracks when he came in contact with the luggage. "Is something wrong?"

"There's a curse in this luggage, Otome-san."

"O-Oh! How could I have not noticed?" Your brows furrowed in confusion. Yuuta pulled away from you as you reached for the suitcase once more. "Yuuta-san?"

"You must be exhausted," he remarked. "Can you not sense them?"

"I can, but faintly. Believe it or not, my family is pretty well-known in jujutsu society. I'm… not just some idol, I suppose," you nodded at him. "I believe my brother has made arrangements for you to stay with us for the duration of your mission."

He nodded at you this time, a smile still forming on his otherwise tired face. "I have a week to solve your predicament, but the investigation will be made quicker if you tell me everything you know, like people you suspect."

"Of course. Anything to help you, Yuuta-san," you eagerly nodded once more. The two of you were approached by an older man in a dark-coloured haori, his salt and pepper hair cut short and neat. Though his eyes were concealed under a pair of aviator sunglasses, there was no mistaking the sharpness of his sight. "This is Sakashita Yohan-san. Satoru nii-san mentioned him earlier. He is one of the Koganei Clan's finest sorcerers and has been my guardian since birth. He takes orders directly from my father and my brother, too, since he will be inheriting leadership soon."

The two sorcerers acknowledged each other with similar bows, the older one taking the cursed suitcase from the younger one.

"They are harmless at best, something you can easily sweep under the rug if you wish," stated Yohan. You gestured for Yuuta to follow the older man as he led you out of the arena. "Ojou-san, this way, please."

The car ride home was pleasant, but the two men couldn't help but keep their senses on high alert even after the exorcism of the seemingly harmless cursed spirit that chased you wherever you went.

"Yo-chan, you think we can stop by a convenience store? I want some Yakult…"

"I'll call the estate ahead and let them know that you want some, ojou-san."

The older man could have sworn he heard a small grumble of protest from where you sat in the vehicle.

The Koganei Clan made their home alongside the golden ginkgo trees that lined part of the Meiji-Jingu Gaien, part of the estate shrouded with a curtain due to the perennial nature of the golden tree within the gated property. With a keen eye, any sorcerer would be able to knock on the gates that were hidden from the normal human being.

Yuuta knew that the older sorcerer families had treasures to their names— even yours, whose origins were considered lowly compared to the Great Three Sorcerer Clans. You were welcomed home by a line of female servants in mustard-coloured yukata, the one closest to your age at the very front with a warm smile on her face.

"Welcome home, ojou-sama!"

You nearly forgot your manners as you happily embraced the other girl. "Marin-chan! Oh, how long has it been?"

"Eight months to this day, ojou-sama. We're all so happy to see you back home," Marin replied as she returned her liege's embrace.

Sakashita Marin was Yohan's niece whom he raised as his daughter. Given his close ties to the masters of the house, Marin was given her own task of being your attendant. You did not agree with her at first due to her straitlaced personality, but you soon became fast friends after bonding over the first generation of Rose Gold.

"Ah, yes. We have a guest, as I'm sure you're all aware of," you said with a smile as you gestured towards the rather tired-looking young man standing right next to you. "This is Okkotsu Yuuta-san. He is a pupil of Satoru nii-san and has been tasked with guarding me?"

"Uh, yes. I will serve as another bodyguard for Otome-san. I-I'll be in your care, then."

"It's an honour to have another esteemed sorcerer in our home," Marin bowed before him. "Please make yourself comfortable. We will handle your belongings."

"I'll prepare some tea for you, Yuuta-san," you told him. "If it's not much of a bother, could you perhaps tell me more about the magic school? It's always been my dream to study there, but my family blocked my application to the school because they say it's too dangerous for someone like me to even consider…"

"Oh, uh, I wouldn't want to impose…" Came his reply as he quickly followed you into your spacious home. "For starters, I was a pretty problematic kid. I have Gojo-sensei to thank for pulling the strings…"

For someone who held a three-hour-long farewell concert earlier today, you still had the boundless energy of someone who just woke up from a long rest. The servants in the kitchen were surprised by your arrival and even insisted on preparing the tea you promised your guest, urging you to rest for the night.

"I suppose we both have something to be thankful for that weird old man," you said with a laugh as you were both shooed away from the kitchen and led to one of the guest rooms prepared for the young sorcerer. "If you don't mind me asking, what rank are you?"

A single futon was laid out on the tatami, along with most of Yuuta's belongings for the week. His sheathed blade rested against the paper-thin walls while you took your seat on the floor, a tranquil image now unknowingly burned into his mind. He sat across from you and lowered his eyes briefly before fishing out his sorcerer licence from the left breast pocket of his grey jacket. You graciously accepted it with both hands and were visibly surprised by the fact presented to you.

"You're a Special Grade sorcerer! Incredible! I see I've made quite a talented friend."

He smiled rather sheepishly, a hand on his nape as he attempted to refute your point. "Not really… It's not all good, after all. Having this kind of power."

It was only when he lowered his gaze that you saw the exhaustion on his face, the dark circles under his eyes and a look that seemed to beg for even a moment's repose, only he was too polite to tell you to leave.

"You must be tired, Yuuta-san. Let's continue this conversation tomorrow," you said with a smile as you slowly rose from your seat. "Please make yourself comfortable. I—"

"O-Oh, are you leaving now, Otome-san?" His eyes followed your movement, lit up by some kind of expectation. "Sorry… To be honest, I'm… having a hard time resting with all of this space. I was hoping you could stay a little bit more to chat…"

You blinked at him, surprised at his sudden insistence. He raised his hands in defence.

"O-Only if you'd like! But I know you're probably tired yourself…"

"Not at all," you said as you shook your head and took your seat across from him once again. "You know, Yuuta-san, I understand if you feel like your skills may be a curse. Even I… I thought my technique to be my strength, but it made me weaker than the average sorcerer that I couldn't even study at the magic college."

Yuuta couldn't tear his tired eyes away from your leisurely-paced movement, the wave of your legs as you embraced them, the sparkle in your manicured nails, a polish of your choosing, and the tenderness of your voice as you spoke to him deep in the night, with his traditional-styled room illuminated by a single candle.

"At the end of the day, we are what we make out of our skills. I want to be one of this society's… Well, let's just say I want to help even if I cannot defend myself in battle," you told him with a small curl to your lips. "Yuuta-san, you have the strength to protect many people… Don't ever say it's not all good."

"Perhaps the only regret I have was…" He didn't have the strength to dispute your declaration any further, only enough to start a tale he can't bring himself to finish. "Believe it or not, I had a fiancée before. She was a childhood friend of mine…"

Yes, even with all of his strength and gifts, he was powerless against death itself.

— A madness and beauty unlike any other.

Sleep eluded you last night, and it was unfortunate that it was made so evident by the dark crescents under your eyes. On the contrary, your hired bodyguard had a refreshed look on his face as he stepped out of his room in his same grey jacket and his blade in tow.

"Oh, what are we going to do about this?" Marin queried as she fussed over you as you both stood in the hallway. Compared to your decked-out form from yesterday, you were dressed more casually today. "Sana-san will definitely be asking you why you look like that, ojou-sama."

You yawned into your palm, warm tears prickling your eyes as you fought the urge to drive your fists into them, even more so as you saw Yuuta approaching you with a smile. He looked like he had a good night's rest and he deserved it more than you since you weren't careful with your words.

"Good morning, Otome-san," he greeted you, to which Marin replied with a polite bow before you could even muster a response.

"Okkotsu-san," she started. "I understand ojou-sama must have kept you up and you gladly regaled her with stories about your work as a jujutsu-shi, but her work as a celebrity has not fully concluded yet. Please urge her to rest once today's activities have ended."

"M-Marin-chan! Th-There's no need to scold Yuuta-san—"

"O-Of course, Marin-san. My apologies. I thought there would be no harm in talking… But yes, we didn't expect it to go all night," Yuuta replied with a quick bow.

"Nothing inappropriate, I can only hope," Marin concluded before turning back to you. "Otou-san will be here with the car in a bit. Please send Sana-san my regards, ojou-sama. We are comrades in arms, after all!"

"It means they both look after me and my well-being," you said with a laugh as you finally approached the young man, who had a rather confused look on his face. "Good morning, Yuuta-san. I trust you had a good night's sleep."

Too good, he wanted to say. In fact, your conversation from the previous night about his past before becoming a sorcerer lifted a weight off his shoulders for some reason. He wanted to apologise for making you cry because of his story as well.

"Well, just like Marin said, work's not done just yet," you started, gently psyching yourself up. "Today we're going to my talent agency, Mieux Folie Productions, to say my farewells and get my final paycheck. I suppose that's a good place to start checking the, uh…"

"It's the best place to start, Otome-san," Yuuta nodded at you. "We want to be thorough, even though I can't really sense any more of that lingering maliciousness from your concert last night."

"We'll see about that," you can only say as you stepped out of the main house's genkan, where Yohan waited in the running car.

Cradled in the heart of Yokohama was the headquarters of Mieux Folie Productions, one of the city's top talent agencies known for producing the most popular personalities of this time, one of which is the Tall Idol Takada-chan. Since Rose Gold's inception nearly ten years ago and the debut of its second generation, Mieux Folie has maintained its stellar reputation as a star-making machine, eventually branching out to produce more talent on platforms like YouTube.

But Rose Gold remained the agency's pride and joy and ultimate money-making machine, so the departure of one of its prized idols was met with a lot of disappointment.

"Otome! You're here!" You were greeted by Sana, whom Yuuta recognised as your manager. The older woman had a cordial smile on her face, though her eyes were a little red and puffy. As she moved to embrace you, you returned her hold and beckoned your bodyguard to approach.

"Oh, could this be the rumoured husband-to-be?" Sana asked in a hushed voice as she released you from her embrace.

"Oh, no, I…" You replied with a small laugh. "Sa-chan, this is Okkotsu Yuuta-san. My family hired him as an additional, uh, bodyguard of sorts. He's from the, uh… And he's tasked with the, hmm… Yeah, that's pretty much it!"

"I see, I see!" Sana nodded at you, completely understanding your fragmented statements. "It's a pleasure, Okkotsu-san! I will leave my dear Otome in your capable hands, then."

"Y-Yes, of course, Kagomura-san."

Yuuta could tell from a single look that Sana had nothing but deep affection for you which you happily reciprocated, so she couldn't possibly be the root of that malicious cursed spirit from last night.

"Ah! Kagomura-san has Otome-chan!" Came a voice from one of your agency's many conference rooms.

"They've been waiting for you, Otome," Sana nodded at you with a smile. "You should say your goodbyes since—"

The door finally burst open, followed by two girls running in your direction. "Otome-chan!"

"O-Oh! Maho-chan! Nina-chan!" You exclaimed as the pair trapped you in their embrace.

"Nooo! We can't believe it's finally happening! You're really retiring now!" The blonde girl with pigtails sobbed as she buried her face in your chest.

"We're going to miss you so much!" The black-haired girl cried, trying to squeeze herself in your chest as well.

"I, uh…" You said with a defeated smile as you returned their embrace. "I'll miss you guys a lot, too."

"Maho, Nina, that's enough from you two," said another girl in a chic bob haircut. "We've prepared for this for a long time now, so don't make Otome sad with all the waterworks."

"Th-That's right! We p-promised Otome-chan not to cry, s-so…" A girl in braids stammered as she shyly hid behind the one whom Yuuta could only assume was the older sister of the group.

As the five of them regained their composure, they got into their respective positions and flashed their audience with one of their killer poses and catchphrases. "Rose Gold shines too! Kira Kira!"

Mieux Folie's staff clapped in wonder and amusement, pausing from their daily tasks to feast their eyes on their company's highest-acclaimed idol group. You stepped forward with the warmest smile on your face and gave everyone on the floor a deep bow of gratitude eternal.

"Thank you very much for all your support and for taking good care of me for the last five years, everyone! I am truly grateful to have been managed by such kind and steadfast people."

Yuuta could only blend into the background and observe. At some point in their lives, your brilliance has touched the people in this company, evident by how fondly they looked at you as you said your farewells to them. Some of them were even crying to themselves as you continued your appreciation spiel.

"…most importantly, I'd like to thank my manager, Kagomura Sana-san. She has done a wonderful job of keeping me on track and step with my fellow idols…"

And then it hits him like whiplash— the distinct malicious energy so similar to the one from last night. He tried to move unnoticed so he could investigate further, but he couldn't stop his eyes from being drawn to the middle of the room where you stood.

"…fellow idols, my co-stars, girls whom I consider as good as sisters, Goda Karin onee-san, Kondou Shinju-chan, Tateyama Maho-chan, and Onodera Nina-chan… I hope you continue to support Rose Gold as they are now. My absence from the group doesn't make them any less spectacular, of course. They will continue doing their best…"

His trail ends in an inconspicuous corner of the room where a slightly older bespectacled woman stood, and though she had a warm smile on her face, she radiated the same dim energy that only seemed to rebound in the area. His approach was halted by the sound of applause and cheering from the centre of the floor, where the agency's idols were gathered, along with another figure he easily recognised as the Tall Idol Takada-chan, his colleague Toudou Aoi's one true love.

"Oh! Look at this! It's Rose Gold, in the flesh!" Takada happily spoke into the screen of her mobile phone, where she seemed to be live on her YouTube account. "Rose Gold shines too!"

To which you and the four other girls replied with the same cordial smiles on your faces. "Kira Kira!"

"Now, word on the street is that my good friend Otome-chan has retired from her idol duties! I'm sure many of your fans are wondering…"

"I have family duties to attend to," you replied to her question with warmth and cheer despite being put on the spot. "I cannot thank my family enough for allowing me to pursue my dreams and meeting everyone in the process, but now it's time for me to return home. I hope everyone continues to support Rose Gold and Takada-chan, too!"

"I'm going to miss our silly little chats, Otome-chan, but we idols will know how and where to find you just in case!" Takada happily declared. "Oh, manager-san! Would you be so kind as to hold my live for us?!"

Sana stepped up as Takada motioned for someone to hold her mobile phone for them. Dutiful as ever, she made sure that all members of Rose Gold and the Tall Idol were perfectly framed onscreen.

"Since it's your final day here, you wouldn't mind doing one last dance with me, would you, Otome-chan?"

Karin, Shinju, Maho, and Nina nodded at you in unison, while you threw a sure thumbs-up at Takada. "Let's go! Rose Gold!"

One of Rose Gold's oldest upbeat songs filled the air, and even though the agency's staff had seen your group perform countless times now, each one of them was simply bewitched as you took to the impromptu stage, your blocking and choreography as seamless as always.

"I wanna be a viral star on a shiny stage somewhere! It may be sad— But I still a dream in the darkness of my mind!"

And Yuuta was just as bewitched as he followed your every hop and sway, completely drawn to your electric energy.

"A larger stage suits her better, wouldn't you agree?"

His daydream was cut short when the bespectacled woman posed a question that was clearly directed at him.

"We don't need a special future! I don't care if it's just fake— Whatever happens, I just want to grab that light!"

"There's no need to be so suspicious of me, jujutsu-shi. You caught me, and I admit my mistake," Izuna stated. "It's true that I was responsible for that… thing, but I didn't expect it to grow out of proportion…"

"Who are you?" Yuuta questioned, the gleam in his eyes replaced by a bloodlust not many people can sense. Upon hearing how she addressed him, he concluded that she must be a part of jujutsu society herself.

"Who I am isn't important. I want to know what's going to happen to Otome-san from here on out," she answered him. "I suppose you could call me a fan…"

"Walkin' the streets between the junk, but it's a path I chose myself…"

"When she first walked in here five years ago as an idol trainee, I recognised from the very start that she was from a sorcerer family. I suppose it takes one to know one. She was incredibly empathic, after all… But how she managed to convince her family that she wanted to be an idol, I'll probably never know…" She said with a rueful smile on her face. "Her mere presence here was a sign of upheaval for women of our kind. It meant that she was subverting everyone's expectations of her. Because where else should she be if she wasn't going to be a sorcerer from the start?"

Yuuta could only listen, the excitement of the moment drowned out by the older woman's statement.

"Girls from sorcerer families are only as valuable as the cursed techniques and the blood that runs in their veins. And I thought that she managed to escape that very fate. That's not the case, unfortunately, since I know she'll be married off to a son of one of the Great Three Sorcerer Clans," Izuna continued, her eyes not at all swayed by the other girls dancing alongside you. "I must have unknowingly cursed her… for not even going against her family's wishes for her. For giving up so quickly on her dreams. But who am I to assume such things when she could be doing all of this on her own accord? Who am I to curse her when I'm just a coward myself…"

He didn't know about that detail. Perhaps his superior found it irrelevant to his investigation that he didn't even bother mentioning it at all. Still, for his sensei to miss out on such a vital piece of information…

Yuuta raised his dark gaze to rest on your dazzling figure. "She has a warmth that soothes a mind so close to jumping off the edge…"

"Right?! I knew I wasn't the only one who felt that way," the older woman replied before eventually bowing down deep before him. "Please… know that I meant her no harm. Like everyone else in this building, I adore Otome-san and the rest of Rose Gold. I didn't mean for it to grow like that. I didn't mean for it to terrify her."

That's a case closed, he thought to himself. Izuna no longer radiated that stark sinister energy but instead now cried tears of regret, her sobs drowned out by the resounding cheers and applause from the floor as the idols flashed their audience with Takada's signature Taka-tan Beam.

"There in the window in the reflection, I see my uneasy smile— Wait for the day when sunshine puts the spot on me!"

"Otome-chan, your new bodyguard's pretty good-looking!"

You looked up from your strawberry and mango crepe as Maho and Nina made doe eyes at Yuuta, who was seated further away from the group with a cup of black coffee in hand as you shared desserts with the other girls in a cute little cafe neatly tucked away in a corner of the city.

"What happened to Yo-chan?" Karin asked rather curiously as she stirred the ornate plastic straw around her iced caramel macchiato. For some reason, Yohan was incredibly popular with your friends despite his age.

"Yo-chan is still around! He's been busy is all, with Kazu nii-san ordering him around and stuff…" You replied to the older girl's question. "A-As for Yuuta-san, he's only going to be my bodyguard for a short while…"

"Ooh, is that right?! I suppose you won't mind us helping ourselves to him once he's done with his work, then!" Maho said teasingly, the slightly younger girl amused by your rather panicked reaction.

"M-Maho-chan! Y-Yuuta-san is—"

You had to admit that Yuuta was pretty handsome, even when you first saw him so exhausted— standing next to that old man Satoru, too. There was something charming about his reserved nature; refreshing, even, compared to the other men around you who always wanted to have their best foot forward and impress you with just that.

"Oh, right! While we're still here, I wanted to talk to you about something, Otome-chan," Nina fished out her mobile phone from her purse. "Noah onii-chan called me earlier this week and said that he wants you to model for one last photobook."

"Really?!" You remarked excitedly. "I'd love to, of course! Noah-san takes the most gorgeous photos of us…"

"Onii-chan said that it's just you, though, Otome-chan. He even has a theme and a date ready and all…" Nina stated as she browsed through her texts with her older brother.

Onodera Noah and Nina are the children of a famous actor from the 80s to 90s who married a foreign socialite and made a home in Japan. The siblings were no strangers to the entertainment industry, though the paths they chose couldn't be any different. Nina enjoyed her stardom as one of your generation's favourite idols, while her older brother Noah preferred working as a magic maker behind the camera.

The blonde handed her phone to you to read the details of her brother's planned photoshoot— a punk and grunge theme that stepped away from Rose Gold's usual cute style.

[ O. Noah お兄ちゃん 📷: It's a perfect theme for Otome-chan since she's moving away from Rose Gold's immaculately cute and pristine image. It's something that screams— ]

"…Cool…" Was all you could say after seeing Noah's mood board, which was composed of several images of Osaki Nana, the highly acclaimed vocalist of BLAST, a popular rock band from the early 2000s. Her dusky eye makeup, crimson lips, edgy accessories and husky voice were iconic, almost legendary, and to think that a talented photographer wanted to frame you as such… "O-Of course I'll do it! Noah-san has such great taste!"

"Thanks, Otome-chan! I'm sure onii-chan will be pleased. I'll send you the details on LINE," Nina said with a smile as she proceeded to message her brother. "I'll ask him if I come along too, just to assist you guys and all."

"Tell him I can do it tomorrow," you said, surprising the other girls at the table. "I… have to be in Kyoto first thing next week and I don't know when I'll be back, so…"

Ping! Came the sound of the notification from Nina's phone. "Onii-chan says… Oh, would you look at that? He asked if you were available tomorrow. Sounds like he's super excited for this."

"I'm looking forward to it, too," you concluded before happily digging into your creamy fruit crepe once more.

"Aww! I want to go, too!" Maho exclaimed. "With Rose Gold on break at the moment, my manager loaded me up with so many solo photoshoots and product endorsement shoots that I hardly have any time to slack off…"

"Y-You're lucky, Maho-chan… My manager's having s-such a hard time booking me for anything…" Shinju quietly replied as she lifted her matcha latte to her lips.

"We'll find you something worthwhile to do, Shinju," Karin stated with a sure smile on her lips. "Best of luck on your final photobook, Otome. Don't forget to send us a copy when it comes out."

"Of course! Thank you, Karin onee-san!"

From across the small cafe, Yuuta could hardly focus on anything other than following your every move. This place is what he would call your natural habitat. The staff there knew your group and, surprisingly, respected your privacy. Rose Gold weren't idols at that moment, but just regular cute girls doing regular cute girl things. You were laughing about something this time, your eyes lighting up in mirth as the blonde girl, Nina, poked your side. Maho, the brunette, stole a bite from your crepe, while the older sister figure Karin was busy fixing one of Shinju's braids.

He lowered his eyes to his half-empty cup of coffee, feeling somewhat embarrassed at intruding on such a sacred time reserved for you and your friends whom you'll have to part with soon. The feeling was short-lived, however, when he caught Maho and Nina smiling and waving at him while you attempted to pull them back down to their seats. Their giggling filled the cafe even further when he decided to smile and wave back at them.

Huh. It was his turn to be embarrassed. Maybe he was getting a little too ahead of himself.

A few moments passed before you finally decided to take your leave, giving each of your friends a long and warm hug. The cafe staff politely asked for your autograph and if you could kindly pose for photos, too, which you happily obliged to.

Yuuta downed the rest of his coffee as he watched the small crowd around you, all smiles as you flashed Rose Gold's signature pose for the photo. They all gratefully bowed deep before you and you gladly reflected their movement, equally grateful for this little corner of peace and quiet in your ever-changing world as an idol.

By the time the crowd died out and the rest of the girls left the cafe, you finally approached your bodyguard's table with an apologetic expression. "Yuuta-san, I'm so sorry you had to wait…"

"It's not a problem, Otome-san. It's my job to keep you safe," said Yuuta as he rose from his seat. "But don't your friends think it's strange that you have a bodyguard?"

"Oh, no, they don't think it's weird at all since they believe my backstory," you said with a small dismissive wave of your hand. "That I'm from a rich family. That's partly true when you think about it. They don't know about… the other thing, though."

The other thing being your sorcerer origins.

"Of course. I suppose not everyone can understand that side of you and that side of things. I'll do my best to make sure you can continue on with your life as normal," he replied with a nod of understanding before eventually standing up. "Shall we go, then?"

"Y-Yuuta-san, I… Well…"

Oh, shoot. You stammered at him without even thinking about what you were about to ask. His full attention was on you. "Yes?"

This is all Maho's fault, you couldn't help but think to yourself. It was completely normal for idols to sign autographs for their fans if they could, but Yuuta didn't seem like the kind of guy who liked Takada-chan.

"M-my friends and I were… Well, uh, they were asking why you asked… Takada-chan for an autograph," you said quietly before pursing your lips.

"Oh, that was for my colleague Toudou. He's a massive Takada-chan fan. Here, let me show you his Instagram," he replied with a smile on his face before pulling out his mobile phone from his pocket and scrolling through his apps. "Here we are. Toudou's always present at her fan meets, but due to the time constraints, he's never gotten her autograph before."

You're presented with the Instagram profile of Toudou, @aoisboogiewoogie— and most of his grid showed him and his fanboying over your agency's madly popular Tall Idol Takada-chan. He has photos of him beside her standees, photos of him outside her fan meet venues, photos of him with products labelled with her face, photos of him Takada-chan merchandise— you name it, he must have a photo of it.

"Oh, wow. I've never seen such a dedicated fan before," you said as you slowly scrolled through more of Toudou's uploads.

"I'm sure you must have a lot of fans, Otome-san."

"I suppose…"

When you clicked on Yuuta's Instagram profile, @okkopi, it was just as you expected, perhaps even more neat and curated than you thought. There were very few posts, some with his friends and colleagues, you can only assume, some photos of his meals, and upon scrolling even deeper, you found a photo of a girl.

Pretty. She had long dark hair and a distinct mole on the corner of her smiling lips while holding up what seemed to be a half-eaten strawberry doughnut with sprinkles.

This must be his fiancée, Rika.

"O-Oh, I'm so sorry for going through your photos, I…" Realising your actions, you could only hand him back his mobile phone without even looking him in the eye. You turned away from him, cheeks hot with embarrassment and something you couldn't quite put your finger on. "I'll call Yo-chan so he can pick us up now."

To which Yuuta could only conclude with… "Ah… Did she see that I was already following her on Insta? Was it weird?"

It was only later that night when you were doomscrolling through your Instagram in the confines of your bedroom that you realised Yuuta was already following your account. "Oh, man, what have I been posting about lately? Nothing silly, I hope."

You couldn't follow back his account without anyone noticing and you didn't want him to be on the receiving end of any questioning messages, especially as to why the recently-retired centre of Rose Gold was following a private citizen.

You switched from your main account, @yn_rosegoldmfp, to another one. "He'll recognise this profile, I think?"

As he was drying his hair after his bath, Yuuta's mobile phone lit up with a single notification—

[ Instagram: @daysofyn_ requested to follow you. ]

—

Your photoshoot the next day wasn't until the afternoon when the sun's calmed down a little, so you were afforded a slow-paced morning you spent lazing around in the kitchen while Marin was preparing your breakfast.

"You should wait in the dining hall, ojou-sama. Okkotsu-san must be there already and you normally have breakfast with him before everything else," Marin told you with a hand on her waist. She moved to adjust the crooked collar of your pale blue yukata.

"Mmmnnggh…"

"Ojou-sama!"

Marin couldn't believe the unpleasant groan that left your mouth as you sat at the servants' table with your head in your hands. You fought the urge to yawn since you knew she would scold you for staying up too late. Her warm hand brushed over the hair on your forehead and you heard her breathe a sigh of relief since you weren't unwell.

A small knock on the kitchen's wide wooden door frame alerted your attendant, but you couldn't be bothered to lift your head from your oddly depressive state.

"Good morning, Marin-san. Have you seen Otome-san this morning? She wasn't in her room when I passed by…"

It was Yuuta with the same refreshed and rested look on his face. He walked into the kitchen in a plain white shirt that seemed to hug his incredibly sturdy form. He didn't have his familiar grey jacket on yet, his blade nowhere in sight, too. Around his neck hung a silver chain that glinted in the morning light, the pendant concealed underneath his shirt.

Marin furrowed her eyebrows at him before opening her mouth to speak but then decided against it when your eyes met, prompting the outsider to turn around and face the figure seated at the servants' table.

"Ah, good morning," he greeted you with a polite bow, but you could see his expression slowly change into a look of complete surprise as you rose your head to greet him back.

"Good morning, Yuuta-san."

"O-Otome-san?!"

Oh, you got that a lot. Your work as an idol required you to put on a sweet kind of makeup for all of your gigs meant to accentuate your features and make them a bit sharper. Meanwhile, your bare face made you look younger than usual. Plainer, too, probably.

"My apologies… I, uh…" Yuuta said with a nervous smile on his face, a hand on his nape as though embarrassed by his reaction. "I almost didn't recognise you…"

"Don't worry, I—"

You were surprised when he got down on his knee so your eyes would meet, your face heated up once again as he held your gaze with his eyes that were a deep shade of ocean blue. "You must hear this all the time, but I think you're really pretty."

"Ahem!"

Marin's feigned cough prompted both of you to straighten up.

"Good morning, Okkotsu-san! Ojou-sama will be with you shortly," she stated with a warm smile on her face. "Please wait for her in the dining hall."

"Of… Of course."

The young sorcerer left as quietly as he arrived, though he was unable to remove his gaze from your already evident embarrassment. He stepped out of the kitchen with a small smile on his face which he covered with one of his hands.

"Ojou-sama, that's no good. You know by now what your responsibility entails."

"I know," you shot right back at your attendant, trying not to let your disappointment in yourself show any more later on. "I am set to be married off to the Kamo Clan's heir. Otou-sama went through a painstaking ordeal to see that this marriage would push through because we minor sorcerer clans are always at the mercy of the Great Three Sorcerer Clans."

There was a reason why it was always older jujutsu sorcerers who handled missions related to you. They would go about their day without so much as having to talk to you because they had absolutely nothing in common with you. Older jujutsu-shi would accomplish their missions neatly, like walking in and out of a room without having to touch anything inside it.

Marin, whom you grew up beside, knew every ebb and glow of your face like the back of her hand. She was sure of one thing right now— You were smitten with this young jujutsu-shi assigned to be your bodyguard in the meantime.

"Besides, it's not like Yuuta-san would truly look my way," you said with a crooked smile and another dismissive wave of your hand. "I… I'm sure he was just being nice."

And that his heart still belonged to a girl already far beyond his reach.

—

When the afternoon rolled in, you and Yuuta were dropped off by Yohan at the Shibuya photo studio Nina sent you through LINE. It was a chic place that made sense given Noah's known straightforward personality. From the way the studio staff warmly greeted you, it was clear that the Onodera siblings Noah and Nina were no strangers to the place.

"Ah! They're here!" Nina happily exclaimed as you were led to the main studio. Her older brother, who was busy setting up his gear, was equally elated to see you. Noah followed his sister's trail and enveloped the hugging girls in his arms.

"Otome-chan! Welcome! I'm so glad you agreed to this!"

"Oh, the honour is all mine, being the subject of the highly-skilled and highly acclaimed celebrity photographer Onodera Noah," you chuckled at him as he smothered you and his sister into an even bigger embrace.

"Ah, and who is this?" Noah asked, his curiosity piqued as Yuuta dutifully stood a few paces behind you. "Don't tell me you got a boyfriend so soon after you retired from idol work."

"Of course not, Noah-san! This is Okkotsu Yuuta-san. He's my temporary bodyguard…"

Yuuta could only stand and watch as you introduced him once more as your bodyguard in the meantime. He could be called back to headquarters anytime now that the mystery of the cursed spirits hounding you has been solved.

One of the studio's staff offered him a chair seeing as he won't be part of the shoot, but he insisted on remaining on his feet so he could act much quicker if needed.

And now that he's thinking about it, bodyguard work is much tamer compared to most of the missions he is always being assigned to. This was something even a Second Grade sorcerer could handle, but his superior specifically chose him for this job. Why that is, he will probably never know. It was impossible to get a read on how his teacher's mind worked.

As he had always done for the last couple of days, Yuuta followed your every movement as attentive as he could, watching from the corner as Nina carefully applied a shimmery dusky purple shadow over your closed eyes, lined your waterline with a heated eyeliner pencil, and swiped a striking shade of crimson over your lips.

"Oh! Good job, Nini! Her makeup is spot on!" Noah ruffled his younger sister's hair as he praised her.

"Naturally! I studied Osaki Nana-san's makeup last night and…"

The makeup was darker than your usual look and made even heavier by the way you lowered your eyelashes, giving you a more mysterious and gloomy yet haughty appearance.

For Yuuta, however, there was no masking your radiance, even more so when you broke character and laughed at Nina's glitter-tinged fingertips.

"Noah onii-chan really pulled out all the stops for this photoshoot, Otome-chan. He even reached out to some of Papa's costume designer friends and colleagues to ask for their advice… Though we all know that BLAST's Osaki Nana is such an icon," the blonde girl said as she ran a comb through your hair, parting it in the middle. "I think one of the older costume designers even lent him a few pieces of clothing for today."

True enough, Noah wheeled out a rack filled with various plaid and leather articles, along with imitation black leather boots your size. "I wish we could have brought in some real Vivienne Westwood stuff, though. Our old man's friend was pretty stingy, but we're thankful, still!"

Nina accompanied you behind the special partition assembled so you could change your clothes and get into character. Meanwhile, Noah did some empty test shots while ensuring the lights were all placed correctly. "All right, looks like everything's set."

Yuuta deduced that Noah could be around his age, or maybe a bit older. He was surprised when the blonde boy approached him with his DSLR camera around his neck.

"So have you been doing this bodyguard gig for how long?"

"Oh, uh… I've been doing it for quite some time now."

Not really, he thought to himself as he tried to throw off the photographer from his case.

"I gotta say, you're younger than Otome-chan's usual bodyguards. I know her family's the richy rich kind, but it's so strange seeing one so close to her age," Noah chuckled. "Ah, but I didn't mean to underestimate you! I just thought it was kinda refreshing to see a younger guy accompanying her."

"No offence taken," Yuuta replied with a kind smile. He knew that those weren't bodyguards, though, but sorcerers handling her cases.

The two young men exchanged a few more words before turning their attention to you, who stepped back out of the studio barefoot. You were like a different person in the leather jacket, plaid red skirt, dark stockings and spiked accessories, along with your styled hair and edgy makeup…

"Noah-san! Th-the laces of the boots are—!"

But as Yuuta said, there was no masking your radiance and your sweetness.

"Oh, they're still undone from top to bottom, huh? What a drag. Let me…" Noah moved to assist you, only for him to pause in his tracks when Yuuta stepped up.

"I can help you, Otome-san. Please have a seat first."

The blonde siblings exchanged knowing looks as they watched your bodyguard place a hand on the small of your back and gesture to the seat that was presented to him earlier.

"Let's put them on and lace them at once," Yuuta stated as he knelt down before you, gently taking the boots in your hands and slipping your stockinged feet in them. From your vantage point, you could see how dark his eyes and lashes were as he tenderly worked the laces through their hooks. "Not too tight, I hope."

"Just right," you replied to him with a small smile. The boots fit you well, even more so with the laces now tied. "Thanks, Yuuta-san."

Nina approached her older brother with a glint of mischief in her blue eyes. "Onii, you don't suppose…"

"…Yeah, I see it. I see a vision!" Noah nodded. "What's your bodyguard's name again, Otome-chan?"

You slowly rose from your seat while Yuuta got up from the floor. "O-Oh, his name is Okkotsu Yuuta-san."

"Okkotsu-san, yeah? Listen, can you do us a favour?"

"Sure. Anything I can help you with?"

Noah lifted one of the larger leather jackets in Yuuta's direction. "Put this on."

Yuuta blinked at him in surprise. "M-Me?"

"Yes, you. Has anyone ever told you that you have such a fine frame?"

"Noah-san means to say your build is… is good," you told him rather nervously. After seeing him in his form-hugging shirt this morning, you concluded that he wasn't just built well. He was built just like his teacher— the finest of their kind.

"Nini, his hair."

"Got it," Nina nodded at her brother before turning to the dark-haired boy with a sweet smile. "If I may, Okkotsu-san? We'll just change your style a bit, nothing too drastic, I promise."

"O-Okay."

"Let's take some test shots, Otome-chan. And don't worry, Nini won't do anything strange to him, not while I'm around," Noah said with a laugh as he pointed at the spot where you should stand, all the lights shining in your direction now. "The stage is yours."

You took a deep breath before getting into character once more, shrugging off a sleeve from your shoulder to expose a bit of your skin.

"Good, good! Here, I brought these as props. We don't have to light them," the young photographer fished out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it in your direction. You caught it deftly, only for it to be taken from your hands by Yuuta, who was now sporting a similar leather jacket and a rather large but stylish chain around his neck. His hair was styled with a bit of wax and his gaze was smouldering.

"Y—"

"I-I'm sorry. I'm a little nervous," he finally spoke, breaking out of his supposed character. "Nina-san said that Honjo Ren was cool and collected, but I'm not…"

"Y-You were doing well, actually!" You reassured him. "He doesn't smile that much, so…"

"Osaki Nana's story is one of beauty and tragedy, but that's not what I want to capture here," Noah stated as he slowly raised his camera viewfinder to his eye. "In this story, she reunites with her one true love, Honjo Ren, so that is what I want you to do: hold each other as though you're about to lose each other."

A look of perplexion and despondency washed over Yuuta's features— And you realised why.

Wasn't he able to hold her in her final moments?

"Yuuta-san, look at me."

He does so upon your urging, his darkened gaze meeting your sparkling eyes. You placed your hand on his nape, your fingers tenderly grazing the ends of his jet-black hair, pulling him down much closer to you so your faces were but a breath apart. You took his hand and strategically placed it on your back, feeling the warmth of his hold even through your fashionable clothes.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about," the photographer stated with a rumble of excitement in his voice as he finally started taking photos. The flashing lights didn't faze you one bit, but you could tell that Yuuta was tense.

"It's okay. I'll be the one to hold you," you whispered to him. "Let me take care of you while we're here."

"You can relax, Okkotsu-san! If you're worried about your face showing, don't. Otome-chan is still the focal point here, so your face won't really be seen. Maybe some bits, but not the whole thing."

"What a relief," he sighed to himself. "I can't imagine the trouble I'll be in if Gojo-sensei finds out about this."

"I'll beat him up for you if he scolds you," you said with a laugh, to which he could only reply with the same low chuckle.

"Stop smiling, you two!"

"S-Sorry!"

Fortunately, Yuuta only had to stand in for a few photographs. You spent the rest of the photoshoot shuffling in and out of the different outfits the siblings planned and styled for you. As Noah signalled Nina to bring in another of his props, this time a microphone stand, you couldn't help but hum to yourself while trying to stay in character.

"Oh, that song! That's one of BLAST's hits, right? Don't be shy now, just sing!"

"Wh-What?! Don't make me sing!"

"You do know that your face is more honest than your words, don't you, Otome-san?"

You shook your head and tried to stay in character, but as instructed by her brother once more, Nina played the song for you to sing along to.

"I could have seen the other side, taking a step into the sky… Ah, I'm always late! I could've done the same routine, showing the old and golden scene— Ah, I'm lying again to make them go!"

It was cheesy having to do it, but the song evoked so many emotions in you that you couldn't help but try to picture yourself in the vocalist's shoes. In her position. Didn't she go through the same painstaking road of starting as nobodies before skyrocketing to fame?

"Wearing again my rocking shoes over the puddles made of tears— Flashback, I know you're clever! I remember…"

Oh, you kind of wanted to cry right now. Your idol journey has come to an end, you still couldn't believe it. It wasn't like your path to becoming an idol was easy, yet you knew deep inside that you were born for something else entirely.

That must have been the reason why Izuna-san didn't bother saying goodbye to you at all. Because you were a coward. A slave to your destiny just like she was. Being cursed was the least of your concerns.

"I know we could cross over rainbows! I wish that we could aim for the sun again. I know we could dream for tomorrow… To share the long-forgotten glamorous days!"

Yohan nearly had to carry you out of the studio with how tuckered out you were. You could tell from his sharp yet gentle gaze that he was admiring this new look on you, nodding at you in approval.

"Yo-chan!" Nina excitedly hovered around the older man as he arrived at the studio in his usual pressed haori and hakama. "You're still so dapper as always!"

"Good evening, Nina-san," he gave her a short bow before patting her head. "And you are just as lovely."

"Ooh, I cannot wait to tell this to the girls! Karin-nee is going to smack me!"

You groaned in exhaustion as you approached your guardian, your makeup still immaculately in place as you handed him your things. "Ah, I'm beat! I'm so glad you're here, Yo-chan. Noah-san's asking for more photos, but I'm spent!"

Yuuta followed closely behind you with more of your belongings in his hands. The older man furrowed his brows and gave him a quizzical look.

"Yuuta-san."

"Y-Yes, Yohan-san?"

"…I like what they did to your hair."

"Oh! Nina-san fixed it for me earlier…"

You bid your farewells to the good-looking siblings, who were still settling their accounts with the photo studio. Nina gave you one last good look before engulfing you in another tight embrace. "Make sure to still call me and message me whenever you can, Otome-chan."

"Of course, Nina-chan."

"Otome-chan, I can't thank you enough for making this dream photoshoot a reality," Noah proceeded to embrace the two girls once more. "The photobook will be ready in a month or so. I'll be sure to send you your copy ASAP."

"Thank you as well for all your trust in me, Noah-san. You two should come visit me in Kyoto every once in a while."

"Just say the word, then. We'll be there."

—

As the car passed by the more familiar corridors of Shibuya, your after-work craving reared its head once more. It was unreasonable of you to ask if you could stop by a convenience store given anyone could recognise you then and there…

"Yo-chan, you think we can stop by a convenience store? I want some Yakult…"

You were ready to be dismissed from your request like he always does, but your heart was thrilled to bits when he decided to park his car in a corner next to a Lawson Store.

"I'll wait here, then. Yuuta-san will accompany you. Do you have money?"

Oh, crap.

"I—"

I didn't think I'd get this far!

Your pause made Yuuta gently tap your hand. "I have some money here. Let's go grab your Yakult, Otome-san."

The two of you shuffled out of the car and into the streets, your face unable to contain your excitement as you entered the convenience store with your bodyguard close behind you, the chilly air making you sneeze all of a sudden.

"Ot— Ah…" He knew it would be unwise to call you by your name in a public place, so he stepped into your space to gently grab hold of your hand instead. "Don't go where I can't see you, sweetheart."

"?!"

Your eyes widened in surprise at his chosen remark, which was the quickest thing he could think of at that moment without saying your name out loud so you wouldn't get separated.

"Excuse me, onee-san? Is this man bothering you?" A young girl in a high school uniform approached you, looking at your bodyguard rather apprehensively. "I-It's just that you looked a bit…"

"O-Oh! Oh, no, I-I'm all right!" You stammered at her before raising your other hand in defence. You instinctively clung onto his arm this time. "M-My boyfriend was just making sure he can see where I'm going. Thank you for your concern!"

Yuuta was struggling to stifle his own laughter and embarrassment at the situation you got yourselves in. He was thankful that a stranger was concerned for others, but you two really should have come up with a plan for such instances. He gave the stranger a small nod of affirmation before leading the way to the refrigerators, leaning down against you to whisper an apology. "I'm so sorry, Otome-san."

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart," you whispered back at him, only to burst into laughter not long after. He gently elbowed you as he hid his face in his hand, trying to quell the amusement bubbling in his throat.

How could you laugh so warmly, sweetly and carelessly in the midst of almost being recognised by someone? It was crazy of you.

"Mmm, maybe I should grab some canned coffee, too? Oh, wait, I'm broke!"

But he savoured the sound of your tender laughter, the softness of your voice that did not suit your moody makeup, and the light in your eyes that seemed to say, things are going to be okay.

— Chasing a dream.

Yuuta's week-long assignment as your bodyguard finally came to an end. While you contemplated asking your brother to pull some strings for you so he could remain in your service for a while longer, you figured you couldn't hold him at home when there were more important missions for him to accomplish.

The estate clamoured in activity as they prepared a little send off for the Special Grade sorcerer who solved their lady's predicament. The male servants in particular were grateful for his service. You only found out now that Yuuta not only trained with them every early morning, but even helped out with some of the heavy lifting they had to do throughout the estate.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. I felt more like a guest than a bodyguard, if I'm being honest…"

You were prepared to bid him farewell as well as he thanked your family for their kindness during his stay. As you both waited for the vehicle from Jujutsu Headquarters to arrive, you decided to muster up the courage to ask for his contact details even though you were set to be married soon.

No, that's no good. You need to gracefully let go of this fleeting infatuation before it gets out of hand. It would be unfair to both him and your future husband if you—

A familiar black car rolled into your driveway, followed by the entrance of a familiar silver-haired sorcerer into your home. "Yo, Yuuta-kun! Ojou-chan!"

"Satoru nii-san!"

The Koganei servants were quick to assemble at the genkan when they heard of Gojo Satoru's arrival, and even the masters of the house made their presence known by greeting him at the doorstep, most especially your older brother Kazuya, who looked both annoyed and pleased by his visit.

"Satoru."

"Kazuya! Long time no see!"

It was a jest, of course, for the two older men only met a few days back to discuss the curse that previously hung over your head. Satoru's nonchalance irked your older brother, the crooked smile on his face slowly straightening out as the silver-haired man walked over to him for a quick handshake.

"Now that you're here, Kazuya, I'd like to let you know that your request for an escort to Kyoto has been approved," Satoru stated with a smile before eventually turning to his pupil. "That also happens to be your next mission, Yuuta-kun."

You blinked at Kazuya, not at all believing what you were hearing at the moment. "Kazu nii-san, you mean to say—?"

Your brother nodded at you. "Yes, I petitioned for Okkotsu-san to escort you and Marin-chan to the Kamo estate in Kyoto."

"B-But I have Yo-chan with me, too!"

"Sensei, if I may…" Yuuta started. "I'm not disagreeing with this, but if Otome-san is as important as her family says, why is it just Yohan-san and I escorting her to Kyoto?"

The older men exchanged looks, with Satoru nodding at Kazuya to explain the decision.

"Because my sister will have one of this generation's finest Special Grade sorcerers with her, plus a First Grade sorcerer worth at least 20 men in terms of martial prowess and cursed energy output. I'd accompany her to Kyoto myself if I could, but I have duties I can't leave, and I think any more than you and Yo-san would already be overkill."

Yuuta couldn't believe his ears when he heard of Yohan's capabilities. He never thought that the unassuming old man was that terrifying. If your brother was right, Yohan's cursed energy output would put him on par with the elite himself, Nanami. Or Toudou, too.

You sighed to yourself. "Well, it's not like there's gonna be a fuss or anything… It doesn't really matter who takes me to Kyoto as long as I get there."

Kazuya furrowed his eyebrows at your statement. He opened his mouth to say something but eventually decided against it. You noticed how Satoru lightly nudged your older brother with his elbow, to which the latter replied with a small shake of his head.

"Shall I have the servants prepare tea and sweets for you, big brothers?" You smiled at the older men. "Surely you must have other things to discuss…"

"Not really. In fact, Satoru was just about to get going," your older brother smiled back at you, a hand now clamped onto the outsider's shoulder to lead him out and away from the crowd.

"I-I was?" The silver-haired sorcerer could only stammer in response to Kazuya's urging, a confused expression undoubtedly impressed upon his blindfolded eyes. "O-Oi! Kazu—"

You blinked in confusion as your older brother and older brother figure both stepped out of the house, a soundless struggle ensuing between them as you watched them pass nudges and pinches at each other. Sometimes you forget that they are just that close— very much so that your brother manages to bypass Satoru's Infinity. Or was it Satoru who lets his guard down?

"I see. Safe travels then, Satoru nii-san!"

The tall man was shoved back into the vehicle from which he came from and was unceremoniously sent off with a single wave by Kazuya. "Good riddance. I'm sorry you had to see that, Otome. Okkotsu-san."

"I-It's all right, Koganei-san. If I remember right, you're the second person I've seen capable of manhandling Gojo-sensei like that," Yuuta chuckled.

"Suguru, I assume. Then again, he has the patience of a saint…" Kazuya uncharacteristically rolled his eyes before composing himself once more. "With all of that said, I owe you an apology for not disclosing our family's plans to extend your… service as a bodyguard of sorts, Okkotsu-san."

"It's not a problem. I live to take orders from my superiors, after all."

"That's a pretty grim outlook on life," the older man stated before posing a question about the Kamo heir. "Are you familiar with him? Kamo Noritoshi-kun, I mean."

"Noritoshi-kun is the husband candidate closest to my age. We only met briefly once and he was pleasant to talk to. For that, I'm actually rather relieved," you said with a smile that didn't really reach your eyes. "I'm surprised the Kamo Clan even bothered to respond to my father's request all the while the Zenin Clan had been sending out messages to him, too."

"We've only worked together briefly, but I can tell you that he's an all-around good guy. Responsible and honest to a fault," Yuuta replied with the same smile that seemed more synthetic than convincing. "You'll be in safe hands, Otome-san."

"That's… reassuring to hear," you said with a nod, allowing the uncomfortable conversation to fizzle out in order to escape. "Well, I… Marin-chan and I ought to continue our preparations."

That was a lie, since Marin had already prepared everything you needed ahead of time. Yet she understood the look you threw at her the moment your eyes met, and you both bowed before the men in unison before disappearing into the main house.

Kazuya watched as his younger sister faded into the backdrop of the estate before he eventually turned to the younger man left wondering as well. "Okkotsu-san, if you don't mind me asking, how have the past few days been for you? I trust your needs have been met…"

"Ah, yes, Koganei-san! I really have no words for how well your family has treated me…"

"That's heartening to hear. Rest assured that you'll be compensated accordingly for this mission as well," Kazuya continued. "And my sister… I trust she hasn't been troublesome to deal with."

"N-No! Not at all," Yuuta raised his hands in defence. "Otome-san has been nothing but kind and pleasant to me. It's a pleasure to be of service to someone like her."

Kazuya was surprised to hear that from the young sorcerer. Most of the older sorcerers previously tasked with looking after you found you a little bit too demanding for their age and liking— but they all agreed that you were a kind young woman. He expected you to make a bit of mischief with someone around your age handling you, but you were on your best behaviour now.

Or was it because of the demands your father imposed on you that you're finally taking things more seriously now? Either way, the entire thing was an anomaly to Kazuya.

"That's good to hear. You must have your own preparations to make as well, Okkotsu-san. We'll leave you to it," he said as he casually slid his hands into the sleeves of his hakama. "I can have one of my men drive you to your home."

"Thank you, but there's really no need for that, Koganei-san. Your home is located in one of the most scenic places in the city, so I might just take a walk around the area before I head home."

"I see. I suppose a walk around town would be nice," the older man said, only for him to impose a subtle question. "But you must have a girlfriend to hurry home to."

"Uh, no. Not really," Yuuta said with a more sincere yet sheepish smile this time. "I've been… Well…"

"You don't have to answer that question, Okkotsu-san. I apologise for being nosy," Kazuya chuckled at him.

"If you don't mind me asking, Koganei-san…"

"Yes?"

Kazuya was told that Yuuta could be a bit inquisitive if something piques his attention, and something about this mission must have set him off.

"What does Otome-san think about this arrangement?"

The young clan heir fought the urge in his lips to crack into a crooked smile that could let on more than what he intended.

"Well, you can expect a biassed comment from me, but she has all the time in the world to answer your question once you're on your way to Kyoto."

—

Though Yuuta made several attempts to talk to you throughout the day, all have been rebuffed by Marin, who simply said that her mistress needed her rest, for many days of celebration await her when she arrives at Kyoto. You were thankful for her presence and always counted on her to help set you on the right track, but sometimes you wished she wasn't so attentive.

Nightfall marked your final evening with your family in your home— in the meantime, at least. If you and Noritoshi come to a mutual understanding in your short homestay, you will have to inform your family that you agree to the marriage. They will head to Kyoto, with your marriage and union the final seal to the deal.

The meeting was just a pretence, for you truly had no say in this matter at all. Same goes for Noritoshi, who has no choice but to accept you as his bride as decreed by his family. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for both your families, but it didn't put much thought into your compatibility. All you knew is that the Kamo Clan wanted another heir to secure their foothold in Jujutsu society and they needed new blood for that to happen.

Did your father not at all consider that you might be unhappy with the decision? Perhaps not. You were expected to conduct yourself as a lady of the house would, not a spoiled daughter like you already were. More importantly, he somewhat underestimated the gravity of your gift— your cursed technique— so much that he even ignored the advances of the more cutthroat Zenin Clan.

It was clear that your father did not account for reprisal. It made you think if the trouble and violence that comes with making a choice and choosing the lesser evil was worth it.

Kazuya selected Yuuta from a line of capable sorcerers as your second guard because a whole retinue of sorcerers from your family will only invite unwanted attention. Though Marin was raised and trained to be an attendant, she knew the basics of having to defend her master.

It was only when you were fast asleep and already halfway to Kyoto when your single vehicle was ambushed by sorcerers with a distinct cursed energy that raised so many alarm bells in your head. The sedan screeched to a stop with your path barred and a shadowy curtain laid above your position.

"Looks like the Zenin are trying to bargain," Yohan sighed as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Y-Yo-chan! Where are you going?!" You asked nervously as Marin prepared to spirit you away from the scene.

"To bargain, ojou-san," the older man stated. He took a deep breath and removed his aviator sunglasses, carefully dispensing it in your hands. "No need to worry. I'll be back."

"Yohan-san, I can—" Yuuta started, unbuckling his seatbelt as he watched the older sorcerer turn off the car's ignition. He was swiftly cut off, however.

"Your task is to keep Otome ojou-san safe, Okkotsu-san. I trust you can do that while I'm occupied with these—" Yohan clicked his tongue in obvious annoyance. "—uninvited guests."

"But they're—"

"A trifle in our trip, so I'll be quick."

"No! Yo-chan! We're not—" You cried out anxiously, only for you to be hastily pulled out of the car by Marin, who was ready to make a run for it. "Marin-chan!"

"I am charged to keep you safe, ojou-sama. If Otou-san says he'll handle it—"

Yohan and Yuuta were finished conversing, the tired look in the young sorcerer's eyes replaced with a glint of tenacity.

"Otome-san, Yohan-san needs the area. We'll come back for him," Yuuta tried to coax you out of the car willingly. "It's a terrible turn of events, but this is why we're here. Why I'm here. Just as you have faith in me, have faith in him, too."

The anxiety in your heart boiled over ever since you left your home. It did not bubble down even as you slept soundly moments ago. You were gripped with the fear of losing those precious to you when you're finally married off, but this panic you felt right now was something else.

"He's right, ojou-san. Have a little faith in this old man," Yohan chuckled at you. "I promise you I'll be quick."

Yohan was just as much of a father to you as he was to Marin. He was the kind of man who was married to his duties, thus his current unmarried status. He once said that he'll retire when the time is right, and it's never too late for him to get married since he's quite the looker, or so he once joked.

"Hear me and obey, Yo-chan," you stated, feigning bravery as you stepped out of the car. "Return to me!"

"Of course, ojou-san."

You slipped his sunglasses over your eyes before running off with Marin and Yuuta, his blade unsheathed as he watched your back for any attackers. Those who dared to follow you were swiftly dealt with by Yuuta, whom the Zenin did not take into account when planning this ambush.

It was only when you were running that you completely gauged the situation. The Zenin sent out a unit of sorcerers that were plenty in number but were short in cursed energy. So much so that Yohan's cursed technique, Gold Smoke, eclipsed their barrage of attacks.

From the distance and hidden in the bush, you saw how the ambushers fell to the ground like flies dropping dead as the curtain was dispersed.

"You know, ojou-sama, it's unlike you to worry so much about otou-san," Marin remarked as she crouched down next to you. "He's dealt with more dangerous situations than this before."

"You're right. I somehow forgot that he's a First Grade sorcerer," you replied with a sigh, deciding against speaking about your irrational fear of losing those you love. "Even if Yo-chan finishes soon, we've already been derailed from our appointment."

"I already informed Kazuya-san about this, Otome-san. He will get in touch with the Kamo Clan and inform them about this incident," Yuuta stated rather calmly. He didn't want to spook you any further by talking about details and the chances of your circumstances turning into a serious crisis. After securing your safety, he was just about ready to jump into the scene to assist the older sorcerer, but his intentions were unnecessary when you spotted your car's bright red tail lights blinking in the distance.

The signal, he thought to himself, nearly in disbelief. He really did them in.

True enough, there was nary a hint of the other party's presence in the area, the blow of the gentle evening breeze the only thing you could feel apart from the rush of blood in your ears.

"Stay close to me," Yuuta told you as he straightened his back and angled his blade in defence. Marin nodded at you to follow his lead as he walked out of the bush and back onto the main road. Your guardians sandwiched you between themselves, an air of caution and aversion as you all approached Yohan, his favourite cigarette lighted between his lips as he stood by the driver's side of the car.

A wave of relief washed over you as you three stood before him, all the adrenaline leaving your body as you fell on your knees, much to Marin's surprise. "Y-Yo-chan…"

The older sorcerer grinned at you as he caught you by your arm. "I told you I'd be quick, didn't I, ojou-san?"

"And you nearly gave me a heart attack, too!" You retorted, tears pricking your eyes as you broke into weak laughter. "I can't do that again, Yo-chan… The next time this happens, I—"

"No, that is enough. After all of this, I simply cannot, in good faith, send you to the Kamo House," Yohan stated firmly. While he was known to be fiercely loyal to the Koganei Clan, he wasn't above showing his masters the error of their ways. He shook his head with what seemed to be a look of disappointment. "I warned the master against this, that your gift is both a blessing and a curse and should be nurtured… But instead he chose to sell you off— The decision itself is inconceivable!"

Marin was taken aback by this sudden outburst. "Otou-san! What are you saying?! You shouldn't speak against our master—"

"Marin, my child, this is madness! Sending our young mistress to one of the Great Three Sorcerer Clans as though she is nothing but a breeding mare," he spat out the stubbed out cigarette. "They're making a mistake sending her there. To the Kamo House. To the Zenin House. Fortunately Gojo-san is sensible enough to—"

Yohan was visibly disturbed and angered by the turn of events. His fingers shook as he raised another of his cigarettes to his mouth, unable to spark a flame with his gilded lighter. It was only when you gripped his wrists that he steadied himself once more. "Ojou-san, please… Just say the word. Say it and I will gladly take you back."

"I…"

I want to go home.

"I'll take whatever punishment the master has for me if it means you'll be safe back home."

But there is no going back from this.

"No, Yo-chan. This is my duty. To our family, first and foremost. I can live a lifetime of unhappiness and displeasure if it means I can secure the clan's future. They've drilled it into me for so long that it was impossible to avoid, even when I became an idol."

So that's what she thinks about this, Yuuta thought to himself as he watched you purse your lips. However, there was simply no concealing the shine of your tears that soaked your lashes even underneath Yohan's aviator sunglasses. You would subject yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness and live with it if it meant your own family could live comfortably undetected and protected by one of the Great Three Sorcerer Clans.

But still, why would someone willingly walk to their own undoing? Why curse yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness? He couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"We'll take a detour tonight, ojou-san. If the Kamo Clan truly values their ties with our family, they will agree to meet us at a rendezvous point first thing tomorrow morning," Yohan finally stated as he urged the three of you to get in the car once more. "I will take responsibility for this excursion, so please take this opportunity to take it easy and rest up after all that's happened."

"All right, then…"

"And if by tomorrow morning, you've had a change of heart, we can always return to Tokyo," Yohan reassured you once more as he started the car and drove off as though nothing happened, even though the incident stirred so much unrest in your heart.

It took about an hour of driving before Yohan took an unexpected turn and another 20 minutes of untraceable road before the vehicle eventually ground to a halt outside a well-maintained ryokan concealed deep in the woods edging Kyoto. It didn't take long for you to notice that there was a curtain around the area.

"This place is owned by a good friend of mine," Yohan started as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "They've maintained this place for as long as I can remember."

Soon enough, an older woman around his age stepped out of the ryokan to welcome your group. She had an elegant, cordial smile on her face that suited the muted orange kimono she wore.

"It's good to see you well, Yohan," the elderly woman said with a warm smile as she rested her gaze on you. "Ah, and you must be the lady of the Koganei House. You truly are as lovely as he recounted. Your guardian has told me much about you… And this one must be your Marin. How pretty you are as well!"

As for Yuuta, she only had a quick nod when she recognised him as one of jujutsu society's Special Grade sorcerers.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. I am the proprietor of this inn. My name is Irino Izana. My husband and I are long-time friends with your Yohan."

"Irino?" You asked curiously. "Do you happen to know an Irino Izuna-san?…"

"Why, yes. She's my daughter. I— Oh, it's you. You must be the one… The idol she so adores dressing up in elaborate clothes and costumes. I couldn't believe it at first when she said you were…" Izana stated with a rueful smile. "Just like her, she said— a girl from a sorcerer family who found her way to stardom."

It clicks in your head all of a sudden. The reason why Izuna adored you so even when you were just an idol trainee, why she favoured you over everyone else in the group. You were just like her.

"Izuna-san has since retired from her idol work and from her costume designing. Has she… been well?"

Izana averted her gaze from your face. "Yohan said that you are to be the bride of the Kamo heir. Your family must be overjoyed that you're fulfilling your duties…"

"Um, yes, I suppose," you replied with a small smile. "If… If Izuna-san is here, I would love to see her…"

Izana raised her eyes to meet yours, a subtle sharpness in her gaze that seemed more like a look of regret. "My apologies, ojou-san, but Izuna isn't here. You must have heard from your agency… the reason she retired from her job."

"Oh. They said she was going to get married, but…"

You and Yuuta exchanged glances, to which he said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Irino-san. If it's alright with you, Otome-san would like to get some rest."

"Ah, of course. How silly of us to be standing here when I should have welcomed you inside. Please, please come in! I will have our attendants carry your belongings to your lodging," the elderly woman said, her demeanour back to that of a hotelier.

As your group was ushered inside the quaint traditional inn, you quietly caught Yuuta by his sleeve, prompting him to slow his steps so that you were side by side.

"Ojou—" Marin attempted to pull you back next to her, only for her to be stopped by Yohan. "O-Otou-san?"

"Leave them be. He is capable of protecting her, but I doubt anyone would find us here."

"But—"

"Otome knows what she is doing, Marin."

"She is disregarding her obligation to the masters of—"

The older man shook his head. "She is simply deciding for herself."

The spacious ryokan allowed for your small group to each have their own room. While the quiet night was perfect for resting, too many thoughts raced through your mind for you to even lie down on the futon carefully laid out in the middle of the room.

Was Yohan serious about returning home if you said you wanted to? More importantly, he was ready to accept whatever punishment your father would give him, all for your sake.

The pearly white moon hung perfectly in the middle of your window like an exquisite painting. It was hard to tear your eyes from its beauty, so you beheld it even more by resting your head on the window sill.

"Izuna-san must have been married off, too."

She did not have someone who would intercede on her behalf. Perhaps you may have been more spoiled than the other daughters of sorcerer families… Because how fortunate were you to have someone like that in your life? Yohan did not want you to live a lifetime of unhappiness. He did not want you to curse yourself to a lifetime of displeasure.

And happiness for you was so simple. Being able to continue the work you love. Receiving the adoration of your friends and many fans. Drinking Yakult after a long day at work. Dressing up in all of Izuna's finely crafted costumes.

"Mm…" You hummed to yourself as you recalled those precious moments that are now just memories meant to be cherished.

—

Yuuta couldn't sleep either. But neither could Yohan, and they were equally surprised to find each other downstairs at the common area. While the older sorcerer made use of the yukata provided by their lodging, the younger one was still in his clothes from earlier that day.

"Are you having trouble sleeping, Yohan-san?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Yohan replied with a chuckle. "I used to work with the owners of this inn back when they were still sorcerers. Surprisingly, they got together one day and the rest was history."

"Ah, so that's what Irino-san meant when she said that you were good friends."

"Yes. Her husband was mad jealous of me back then, too, but I never understood why he felt that way," Yohan stated as he fished out his lighter and pack of cigarettes.

"He must have thought you were a rival for, uh…"

"Izana? What a joke," the older man snorted, bringing a cigarette to his lips. "I would have accepted him being more jealous of my skills rather than being interested in the same girl. After all, Yoshitaka despised how I went about my work since I had very little regard for it. He came from an esteemed sorcerer clan while I was an outsider to jujutsu society with no significant ties to any family. It was only when Seito— Otome's father— commissioned me to be his guard that I found myself an anchor in this society."

"I see…"

"Izana is a good friend, but I never liked her that way," Yohan said as he blew a puff of smoke away from Yuuta's direction.

For Yuuta, it almost seemed like the more experienced sorcerer was basking in his nostalgia— wistful, even.

"It was good that Seito-sama offered me this position when we met off the bat. He is a good master— he pays well and is an attentive clan leader, but he's not exactly the wisest when it comes to reading people, especially his children," the older man said with a small laugh. "If he had taken the time to get to know his children better, he would have known that ojou-san loves her work as an idol and that she makes so many people happy. That Kazuya-kun only has eyes for one person and one person alone and he could never have him— not in this lifetime, at least… If Seito-sama had grown to understand her, he'd know for certain that he would be cursing his daughter to a lifetime of unhappiness."

Yohan adjusted his aviator sunglasses, but Yuuta couldn't miss how red his nose had become.

"Yoshitaka made an offer before Seito-sama did, but I rejected it because I'd be cursing myself to a lifetime of unhappiness too, had I accepted it. He despised how modern I was compared to his more antiquated ways. If I had accepted his offer, I wouldn't be the person I am now. I would have been tied to his outdated beliefs, too," he continued with the same rueful smile on his now-evidently tired face. "I might have loved him, but I valued my freedom of being more than anything."

Loved?

"What? Yohan-san, you—"

"Cursing yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness… What bullshit," Yohan shook his head. "If ojou-san decides to return home, I will show her father the error of his ways. That is if she does decide to… But if she insists on pressing forward with the rendezvous, then I have no choice but to heed her orders."

Unhappiness was the very same thing Yuuta cursed himself with. He tormented himself with a life of contentment without wanting anything— anything at all— because why on earth was he free to live his life while she— Rika— had to die? Yet it wasn't like he was the cause of all of it. Why did he blame himself for something that was far beyond his control?

Wanting always leads to loss, after all, he told himself. But what if it didn't have to?

"You know Otome happens to be very fond of you," Yohan stated with a smile. "Somehow it always felt like her family knew this would happen. That's why they always hired older sorcerers for these kinds of jobs. Still, Gojo-san himself insisted that you take this job."

"I didn't think much of it, either," Yuuta replied with a small chuckle. "Otome-san has been pleasant to work with…"

"And what do you think of her?"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"What do you think of her?" Yohan repeated his question. "Especially since you know that she looks upon you with fondness."

"W-Well, she's… She's beautiful, kind, and warm… I, uh…"

"Does she make you nervous?"

Yohan noticed how the younger sorcerer went bright red at his queries. He couldn't help but laugh all of a sudden.

"Y-You know you shouldn't make fun of your juniors, Yohan-san," Yuuta managed a weak rebuttal. "O-Otome-san is a wonderful woman, but— But I know where I should stand in this—"

"This circus? This sham of an engagement?" The older sorcerer replied as he stubbed out his cigarette. "I know you aren't as gutless as you make yourself out to be, Yuuta-kun. I think it's about time you started using that status of yours to your advantage. It's not just for display, is it?"

"But… But what if it's just me?" Yuuta said with a slight quiver in his voice. "Rika will never forgive me…"

"But what if it isn't just you?" Yohan shot back at him. "The dead can neither forgive nor dictate what it is the living can still do. And I mean no disrespect to her, but what you're doing to yourself is tantamount to emotional suicide."

"I'm afraid that if I want her too badly, she… She might—"

"Listen, kid. The worst thing that could happen is her wanting you just as much."

—

For once in a long time, Yuuta had a grasp of what he wanted— For himself, more than anything. He could still hear Yohan's voice in his head apart from the blood rushing in his ears as he hastily made his way to your room. He had no idea if you were already asleep, but he needed you to know something.

So when you slid open the door for him after he asked if you were still awake, you were both equally surprised. And equally at a loss. And equally waiting, anticipating, the thumping in your chests seeming unheard, but you could— You could feel your heart in your throat now. What the hell was going on?

And Yuuta couldn't tear his eyes off you. He meant it when he said that you were beautiful even in this state of undoneness— your hair unkempt, your yukata slightly left open, the twinkle of wonder and confusion in your gaze that made him want to answer your every question.

"It crossed my mind," he told you, finally breaking the silence. "Taking you away. We can go wherever you want to go."

"Y-Yuuta-san? Wh-Whatever do you mean?…"

"I hope you don't find it strange that I… want to be at your beck and call. And… And I know it won't be much work at all because you want so little—"

You stepped into his space and carefully brought a hand to his cheek. He was shaking in his spot, but he sank into your palm so comfortably and contentedly and the sigh of relief he breathed out was just so warm.

"Do you even know what you're doing to me now?" You quietly asked him. He held your wrist in place when you tried to pull away from him.

"Without a doubt, I like you more than you think…" He chuckled. "I wish you'd trust me to be honest, even for just a little bit…"

What?

"You… like me?"

"Is it a terrible idea for you?"

"No, no, not at all," you shook your head at him. "But why… Where is this all coming from?"

"I… had a little help," Yuuta stated with a nervous smile as he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. "And I know I'm wanting something— someone way above my paygrade—"

"You're silly," you cut him off with a laugh. "You're a Special Grade sorcerer. You can have anything you want…"

"So long as I work for it."

"Then work for it," you said, taking his free hand into yours to finally pull him into your room. "You said that you didn't mind being at my beck and call, so does that mean you'll do whatever it is I tell you?"

Yuuta visibly swallowed at your question, but he allowed himself to be pulled in by your tender hold. He resisted so little when you pulled him down to your futon, his eyes now wide with surprise and wonder.

"Are you… holding back?" Your voice was hushed to a whisper. The ghost of a smile danced on your lips as you gently drew him closer to you.

Yuuta was a master of self-control, but the hardened warrior in him was rendered absolutely malleable in your hands as you pleaded to him with that look you gave him— that gaze so full of stars and a slightly crimson smile. Pretty girls with pretty smiles have always been his weakness. Not that he'd ever admit it, but it was already a given fact.

Rika. The girl in the picture had the most mischievous smile that was still so endearing to him, after all.

"You don't have to hold back at all."

His resolve crumbled bit by bit the lower your yukata fell off your shoulders.

"The work you do is hard. If… If there's any way I canmmf—"

He closed the distance between the two of you with one swift kiss, one so chaste that it pulled at your heart and made you think twice about seducing him further.

"I think you do plenty," he murmured, his warm forehead resting against your own. "I'm no stranger to being adored, yet it does feel quite different coming from a living, breathing heart."

You were done appeasing ghosts from the past, but that didn't mean you would disrespect their memory.

"Because I'm certain Rika-san would want me to cherish you."

No, you weren't, but did any of that matter at all now? You adored him now. And now is all you have.

"You're not sure, are you?" He chuckled, the tiny smile on his obviously tired face slowly melting into a thin line. "You should know that I… I've never been with anyone at all, so I may be lack—"

"What? And you think I'm some expert at this?" You said with a small smile, warm hands on his even warmer face. "Oh, Yuuta. I've never wanted anyone as terribly as I want you. I—"

His fingers gently dug into the skin of your thighs as he lifted you onto his lap, lips on lips as you coaxed him to soften his tense shoulders.

You didn't need the light to know that he was flushed all over.

"I am yours," he breathed the words against your cheek. "If you'll have me."

"I most certainly will."

Something about the way he spoke to you made you tear up. How you wish you could kiss away the hurt that was so evident on his face.

"The moon is exquisitely beautiful tonight, isn't it?" You whispered against his brow. A low hum of agreement that left his lips tickled your neck.

"You're still prettier," he mumbled back, curling his arms around you to pull you even closer to him. You gently collided with his bare chest, allowing him to hold you tighter.

"Don't say that," you chided him before running your fingers through his dark hair. "Mm…"

"Is something on your mind?"

"No, nothing at all," you told him, contentedly resting your hand on his nape.

"Can you sing for me?"

"Demanding things from me now, are we?" You said with a laugh.

"I heard you humming something earlier this evening. Can you sing that one?"

"Now that is above my paygrade. But since you asked so nicely, I might just…"

Yuuta released you from his embrace and allowed you to sit up, pulling up the covers with you while he watched you with rapt anticipation despite his sleepy gaze.

"I'm who I am, as I am; you're who you are, as who you are— The final words you whispered, before you left me with a scar."

"On your familiar silver jacket splattered coffee's left a stain, destined always to remain… And still we're lost inside the habit— Tears reflecting in the pane show our pitiful refrain."

You brought your hand to his cheek once more, but he grasped your fingers to press a tender kiss on your palm.

"Stay with me… In the dead of night I'm banging on your door. I'm begging you, without you I'm done for. Now the winter arrived, like the tears in our eyes—"

"Stay with me… While your voice remains an echo of the past, I'm holding on to moments that won't last. I will never forget, I will never regret our love…"

This time, he felt courageous enough to pull you down back next to him and press another kiss on your lips, tasting your sweetness once more along with the saltiness of your tears.

"Are you okay?" He asked you, your face in his warm hands. A look of concern lit his eyes as he surveyed your expression. "Are you cold?"

"I'm fine," you said. It was your turn to grip his wrists in place this time. "There is something I must tell you, though… A-And I can understand if you feel it will be such a huge undertaking for you."

Yuuta sat up and helped you up as well, sensing the seriousness of this conversation. "I'm listening."

"My family… My cursed technique is called Soul Resonance. A binding vow between a fellow sorcerer and I will allow me to turn into a weapon— any weapon you might desire. I, uh… You must have realised by now why I am so against my arranged marriage. I cannot allow myself or my cursed technique to be used by someone I don't know. Someone who may abuse this power," you stated as you wrung your fingers around the covers over your shoulders. "And this… This binding vow will be for eternity. My power will be yours until the day I die."

It finally dawned on Yuuta why two of the Great Three Sorcerer Clans wanted you into their fold and why your presence stirred so much controversy. You lowered your gaze in shame, your mind now grasping at straws and desperately thinking of ways this revelation could go wrong, and how he could outright reject you… But he stepped up, and you thought to yourself that I should, too.

"Yuuta… You wanted nothing from me but me. You will neither yearn for nor despise my power because you have no need for it," you said, finally raising your eyes to meet his steady blue gaze. "You want me simply because you adore me."

You couldn't get a read on his expression, but it was soft and somewhat sympathetic.

"So I feel my power rests safe and well in your hands, while my heart is safe next to yours," you concluded with a small nod. "Only if you'll have me."

It was a power that ostracised you, much like him when he was just starting as a sorcerer. How could he not understand where you were coming from? And your wisdom— the way you knew full well that it would be a source of conflict if not managed well. His desire to protect you as charged to him flowered into a desire to hold you close simply because he adored you.

Yuuta smiled at you before eventually taking your hands in his, raising your cold knuckles to his warm lips. "I would want nothing more than for your heart to be safe next to mine."

— Where my heart is safe.

It was a soundless, wordless understanding when you and Yuuta stepped out of the inn hand in hand. Yohan simply nodded at you both and gestured for you to get in the car. You turned to the boy, who gently released your hand so you could bid farewell to the owner of the establishment.

"I must thank you for accommodating us, Irino-san," you said with a smile as you bowed down before the older woman. "Um, if you have any means of communicating with Izuna-san, I'd like for you to tell her that I… I'm well, I followed my heart, and that I forgive her. And that I hope she finds it in her heart to forgive herself, too."

Izana held your gaze for a moment before smiling back at you. She took your hands in hers and gently squeezed them, as though letting you know that things will be alright from here on out. "Of course. I'll be sure to let her know."

When Yohan approached the older woman, they simply exchanged a quick but heartfelt embrace. "Be safe, Yohan. I'll let Taka know that you dropped by"

"No need," he replied with a grin. "I'm certain he still despises me to the point of cursing my existence."

"Yohan," Izana stated as she caught him by his hand. "Taka may have resented you a little for rejecting his proposition, but he never hated you."

Yuuta was quick to notice the change in the older sorcerer's expression, the hint of yearning that flashed across his aged face—

"We should get going, Yo-chan," You called out to your guardian as you read the notification on your mobile phone. "I just received a text from Kazu nii-san telling me to return home…"

"What? Did he just send that message now?" Yuuta asked. You nodded as you handed over your phone to him. "Yohan-san."

"I hear you, kid. We have to go."

"What? Wait, what's going on?" You asked, evidently confused by Yohan's sudden sense of urgency as he hurriedly urged you to get in the car.

"We'll explain on the way back."

—

And it was just how Yuuta and Yohan described the whole thing. They were warned beforehand that the Zenin Clan did not take rejection well, so they should be prepared for anything, such as the attack from last night. Kazuya instructed them that he will be their point of contact and he will inform them of the clan's decisions before they made their move. But if he ever reaches out to his sister instead, that is something else.

It was an emergency.

Sorcerers from the Zenin Clan surrounded your estate's perimeters, but they allowed you entrance since it was you they were looking for, after all.

The Zenin Clan sorcerers did not permit Yohan, Marin or Yuuta to accompany you to your family's audience hall, but a single nod was all it took for the three of them to understand. Do what you must.

In the middle of the estate shoin sat the ever domineering head of the Zenin Clan, and he stank of alcohol even though you were still a metre's length away from him. Your clan's servants were gathered around him like he was the master of the house, while your father and brother sat adjacent to him.

"Oh, I can see now why Naoya's so upset—" Zenin Naobito stated before taking another swig of sake from his glazed ceramic bottle. "She's as ripe as a peach."

"Zenin-sama," you greeted the older man. You tried to do so warmly, but your expression betrayed you as your lips curled in disgust, a look he didn't miss.

"You wound me, girl. I would have had you flogged for looking at me that way if you were my daughter."

"Yes, so you see now why I'm trying to avoid that from happening," you shot back at him, much to your father and brother's surprise. You saw Kazuya shake his head at you, his sharp gaze telling you to stop it with your smart mouth.

And yet Naobito responded to your amusing quip with thunderous laughter. "What a quick witted girl you are. Though you'd be dead by now if not for that cursed technique of yours… The blood that flows in your veins. Since you want to be all smart with me, you know by now what will happen if you refuse to acquiesce to our clan's generous offer."

"The only thing that's going to happen is you and your clan leaving my home," you stated. "Or do you want to do this the hard way and be kicked out instead?"

Naobito unceremoniously dropped his bottle of sake on the tatami floor and turned to your father. "Seito! You said she would be an agreeable girl!"

"She—"

You raised a hand to stop your father from speaking any further. He quieted down, much to your surprise.

"My father and I will speak later, Zenin-sama," you continued. "But you will leave my family alone after this. You won't find much value in me, after all. Not after I—"

A scuffle by the entrance of the audience hall prompted your house's servants to gather in a single corner while your father and brother rose to their feet to shield them from possible harm. But the smoke was glimmering gold, which only meant one thing— Yohan cleared the way.

"Otome!"

From the smoke emerged Yuuta and his unsheathed blade, his arm outstretched toward you as you lunged right at him, meeting his open arms and kissing him then and there. You paid no mind to the gasps from your family's servants, the sounds of the clashing blades and heavy footsteps fading into the distance as you suddenly felt completely weightless.

Your shared cursed energy easily and effortlessly melded together, allowing you to take the form of a gilded weapon he was most adept at using, your spirit form now perched upon his shoulder.

"She formed a binding vow… with that lad! Special Grade sorcerer Okkotsu Yuuta!" Naobito slowly rose to his feet, the same look of amusement on his face as the gilded blade was aimed at him. "I should have known this worthless family would pull such a trick!"

"You forget just how fast I am, old man," Yuuta stated point blankly, unfazed by the older sorcerer's tirade. "Perhaps not as fast as you, but I sure as hell can take you in a fight."

Naobito came here at his youngest son's behest— the spoiled thing— and he expected almost little to no resistance from your family. Seito was a known sycophant and he would have willingly handed over his daughter to keep the peace. The Zenin didn't account for Yuuta at all, and that you had a mind of your own. "Tch."

"Her offer still stands, by the way. Either you take your filth out of their home or I'll do it for her."

And how embarrassing would be it be for the rest of the society to know that he, of all people, attempted to bully a low-ranking clan into submission.

—

While you and your father were busy ensuring all of your family's staff and servants were accounted for, Yohan and Yuuta were surveying the estate's perimeters.

Kazuya was making important phone calls to the magic college when the door to the master's den slid open.

"Kazu nii-san, it's Satoru nii-san. He came to check on us after that thing," you said with a smile.

Satoru entered the den with an unreadable expression on his face though his blindfold hung around his neck. "Kazuya."

But your older brother had an aggrieved look on his face as compared to his usual annoyed expression. "Where were you, you idiot? I called you as soon as they started raiding our home—"

"I'm sorry. I still came here as soon as I could—"

"Stop apologising, damn it! I'm so tired of it!"

In a rare moment of weakness, Kazuya dropped to his knees in tears, no longer caring for how his hakama creased and wrinkled up under his weight. Satoru got down on one knee and carefully placed a hand on his friend's quivering shoulder, not at all sure if he would be rebuffed.

"Hey, ojou-san. Why don't we catch up later?" Satoru told you, the confusion on your face clear as day. "Your brother and I have to talk for a bit."

"Oh, uh, o-okay then."

You slid the door closed behind you, only to find Yuuta standing right outside the den.

"I heard that Gojo-sensei just arrived."

"Ah, yeah. He rushed all the way to nii-san, though… He was, well… pretty upset about the situation and how Satoru nii-san didn't come much sooner."

"Oh, I see…" Was all he could say, because while you were bewildered by your older brother's unusual unstable reaction, he knew the reason, perhaps a little bit too well. The sadness in Yohan's voice was so palpable, after all. Kazuya-kun only has eyes for one person and one person alone and he could never have him— not in this lifetime, at least…

Yuuta made a conclusion he couldn't quite share with you yet. He must have felt abandoned by sensei.

"We should wait for them outside," he told you with a small smile on his face. He took you by the hand and everything was well in the world again, for you, at least.

"I suppose I have some explaining to do, after all," you replied with a sigh of defeat. "B-But don't worry! My father is an agreeable man a-and we have Yo-chan on our corner, too."

"About that…"

As he gently pulled you out by hand to your estate's sprawling gardens, you found your father Seito and Yohan conversing just under the aged ginkgo tree, its golden foliage akin to a canopy overhead.

"I think Yohan-san gave your father the scolding he threatened to give," Yuuta chuckled as you stood side by side. "It fills me with confidence that we have someone like him in our corner."

"Mm…"

"I'm only a little worried. The binding vow we made will tie us to each other for eternity. After having resonated with you, I understand why you wished for this power to end up in the right hands. I'm not saying I am the right choice for this, but I… I'll endeavour to…"

You squeezed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. "I know, Yuuta."

He squeezed your hand right back before eventually lifting it to his chest. "And you… might feel obligated to accompany me on missions, but I'll never require you to do so…"

"I'm not really that noble, Yuuta, so I'll be sure not to get in your way. Also, I doubt that HQ will let me join you since I'm technically an ungraded sorcerer— I'm pretty much like a civilian, to say the least."

It was your turn to chuckle this time. "However, we'll have to register this… newfound relationship that we have, for formality's sake. We are weapon and meister now."

"Ah, of course."

"And you do know the best way to keep our power safe is by marrying into my family, correct?"

"Well, I— w-wait, did you say marry into your family?!"

"Oh, is the thought so disagreeable to you?" You pouted at him this time, only for the corner of your lips to drop to a small frown. "But I understand your apprehension… You were once engaged, after all…"

Padded footsteps from behind you made their approach, another pair closely following.

"Ojou-san, you aren't a replacement for what he lost. Yuuta sees you as you are. He understands that you and Rika-chan are two different people, thus he should see you differently."

It was Satoru with a Cheshire Cat grin on his lips. His blue eyes were concealed beneath his dark blindfold once more, the look you and everyone else was more accustomed to. Closely behind him was your older brother, no more tears on his face yet the corner of his eyes remained red from his weeping.

"Yuuta's pretty gutsy going against the wishes of three clans, especially when he doesn't even have a claim on you. Then again, he has his big name and high status to gamble on," Satoru stated with a small shrug. "There's so little to gamble on, anyway. Noritoshi didn't stand a chance and neither did that Zenin brat Naoya."

"Yes, all according to plan, just like you said," Kazuya said with a wave of his hand. "I believe I owe you an apology, my dearest little sister."

"Did I hear you right? You… you just said Satoru nii-san planned this?"

"Well, not the whole fiasco with the Zenin," the silver-haired man replied. "But yes… I orchestrated the meeting between you and Yuuta. Only because your brother begged me—"

Your brother quickly elbowed his friend. "I asked Satoru to find you a suitable match, one that didn't require you to leave home or sacrifice yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness."

"But—"

"Satoru told me that your first meeting sparked a need within you both, or at least that's how he understood the situation. After all, he said that Okkotsu-san was absolutely bewitched by your presence."

Yuuta immediately turned red at the very pointed truth your brother had just told you.

"So you didn't know about this, Yuuta?"

He shook his head at you, a hint of defeat evident in his smile. "Not at all. Though I suppose sensei knew how to use my very weakness to his advantage…"

"Pretty girls with pretty smiles," Satoru stated with another cheeky grin. "But once he sets his eyes on someone, that's the end of the game."

"Did Yo-chan know about this… plan of yours?"

"No, it was just me and Satoru," Kazuya stated as he shook his head. "Though knowing how much that old man adores you, he might have had an inkling… More importantly, you and I have something to talk about. If you'll excuse us for a while, gentlemen…"

Your brother offered his elbow to you which you gladly took, slipping your hands to grip his arm as he led you to where your father and Yohan stood in the middle of your estate's garden. As Yuuta eyed your retreating figure, Satoru clamped a hand on his pupil's shoulder.

"You can always start wanting things again, Yuuta. Her death was beyond your control. None of what happened to her was ever your fault," the older man said. It was a truth so plain and simple yet something Yuuta had such a hard time believing.

Rika died of an illness, one that plagued her since childhood. Her dreams of becoming a sorcerer by his side were nipped in the bud, for Yuuta wouldn't allow her to die a sorcerer's death, which was such an undignified death… She died a human, her heart full of love and gratitude for those who loved her and cared for her in her final days.

And the last thing Rika bade him do was to live a life of happiness, because that's what he would have wanted her to do if he were in her position.

How could I have forgotten that? Yuuta shook his head and simply smiled to himself upon remembering.

"There is a girl who wears her heart on her sleeve who has fallen in love for the very first time in her life," Satoru patted his pupil's back. "What you can control now is how things will move forward from here."

"I know, sensei. I guess I just feel a little… apprehensive," Yuuta chuckled rather nervously. "I mean, you said it yourself, I went against the agreement of three sorcerer clans and entangled myself with the Koganei Clan's precious daughter— even though I'm just a nobody."

"A nobody?" His teacher laughed at the incredulous statement that left his lips. "You're Okkotsu Yuuta, one of this generation's finest Special Grade sorcerers. The Koganei should be more than grateful to welcome you into their fold. And if their old man gives you shit, which I doubt he will given how spineless he actually is, you're just going to have to remind him who's protecting his house."

"I-I wouldn't go that far, sensei…"

"Only if he gives you shit."

"I hope he doesn't…" Yuuta muttered to himself. "I-I'll work hard to earn his approval. A-And I'll cherish Otome, so…"

From across the garden, you eyed the anxious smile that lit Yuuta's face as he spoke to his teacher. About what, you'll never truly know. All you know for certain now is that things are about to change in your family's way of life, especially with how they regard you.

"I'm an old man. I can't keep up with all of this. And after all that's happened, I have enough reason to believe that our family's faith in me has been shaken," Seito stated with a slight raise of his hand. "It's good that you've made your preparations to inherit, Kazuya. I feel… No, I believe that you're better equipped to lead our clan in these ever-changing times…"

Your father admitting his ineptitude came as a surprise to you, but not so much to your brother, who simply nodded in agreement.

"And what are your plans now, Otome?" Your father asked you, the edge in his voice gone and replaced with genuine concern for your future. "That binding vow you made with that young sorcerer will tie you to him for the rest of your life. Are you ready for that kind of commitment?"

"O-Of course! I-If it's with Yuuta, I'd be more than happy to!" You said, suddenly conscious about the heat rising to your face. "I… I want to get to know him more. And if he'll let me, he and I w-will have all the time in the world to…"

From where he stood, Yuuta could see just how flustered you were while the older men simply chuckled at your enthusiastic response. He knew that you meant well, too. That you would nothing more than for his heart to be safe next to yours, too.

~ ten months later.

Your marriage to Yuuta was conducted in the shadow of your older brother's inheritance ceremony. It was an even more private traditional ceremony that officially welcomed him into the Koganei Clan. Your marriage still took place despite all the apprehension he felt, but not much changed afterwards. Neither of you wore any wedding bands and he never took your name— and you didn't mind that at all since none of those formalities mattered to you, anyway. All that mattered to you was that he would come home to you at the end of every day. While his mandated work from Jujutsu Headquarters still took precedence over clan duties, he still proved to be a capable enforcer when called upon by Kazuya.

Yuuta owed much to his brother-in-law, after all, especially since he vouched for his merits so he could marry you without so much of a hitch.

Still, there was more to your brother's relationship with your husband than they let you in on, even more so when Kazuya started persuading you to return to your work in the entertainment industry.

"No one wants to see a married idol, nii-san," you joked to him, but the look in his eyes was serious. "Do you… actually want me to start working again?"

"Why not? If you can't be an idol anymore, I'm sure there's a demand for you somewhere else. In fact, why don't you ask that smart manager of yours?" He told you from across his office table as he browsed through his usual paperwork.

"Nii-san, we've arrived," came a most familiar voice from outside his den.

"Perfect. Come in, Yuuta. I believe you have a surprise for my sister," Kazuya stated as he set down the documents he was reading. As the shoji slid open, you were elated to see your husband come home from running errands for your brother, but an even larger smile lit your face when you saw the person who entered right after him.

"Sa-chan!"

"Oh! Otome! It does my heart good to see you well!" Sana happily exclaimed as she returned your embrace. "And I'm even more excited to see you return to work!"

"B-But who told you that? I…"

"I… did," Yuuta stated. "I'm sorry for being so presumptuous, but I… can see how much you miss your work every time you watch TV or check out your socials. You should know that I don't want to stop you from what you love. I know how passionate you are about your craft, s-so I—"

"I told Yuuta to get in touch with Kagomura-san," Kazuya finished his sentence. "You should be doing something you love rather than just languishing here at home, Otome."

"R-Right he is, Otome! Oh, Kyou-san will be thrilled to have you back at Mieux Folie, but not as an idol anymore. In fact, when Okkotsu-san reached out to me, the agency was mulling over who to give this certain movie role to, so it's like fate!" Sana squeezed your hands in sheer excitement over the possibility of signing you back in the agency as— "It's your acting debut!"

"And you're okay with this, n-nii-san?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kazuya answered your question. "I'm not like our old man. I actually see value in your talent as an entertainer."

"Really?" You quirked an eyebrow at his statement.

"Of course I do," he stated with a thoughtful hand on his chin. "If you become an actress, you'll be invited to all sorts of events and occasions. Maybe you can tell a friend or two that you have an equally good-looking older brother—"

"All right, Sa-chan. Let's do it," You squeezed her hands back with a newfound exhilaration. "I'll sign back on with Mieux Folie, but only if you promise to be my manager."

"As if I'd say no to that!" Sana stated with a smile on her face. "You know, Otome, Okkotsu-san is a pretty generous husband. Other husbands would want their actress wives to give up their careers to focus on their families instead, but he's here pushing you to pursue your dreams."

"Isn't that thoughtful of him?" You gave your manager a cheeky grin. "I suppose earning a little pocket money before we try for a baby is a great idea."

"O-Otome!" Came Yuuta's nervous interjection. "P-Please don't neglect to tell me if you're feeling strange or under the weather. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you without us knowing if you're actually pregnant…"

His concerns were eased when you took his hand this time and lifted it to your face. Just as your hearts were tied together by your marriage, your souls were tied together by something far greater. "Believe me, sweetheart. You'll know."

~ one year later.

"Is this thing on?"

You spoke into the screen of your mobile phone as you sat on the cushy couch in your spacious living room. After having starred in Onodera Noah's directorial debut film "Ever I Wander", which kickstarted your work as an actress this time around, you and Yuuta moved out of your family's estate to a condominium unit in the city. Your job as an actress demanded much of your time, but always made it a point to reserve days for rest with your husband, who was distant from the living room yet visible onscreen as you went live on your preferred SNS account.

[ Aaaaaa ]

[ It's Otome-san!!! ]

[ I can't believe you're going on live today! ]

[ What a great morning! ]

[ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ]

[ wwww such a blessed day!! ]

[ Good morning, Otome-san! ]

[ … ]

Numerous comments and reactions from your adoring fans and followers flashed and rained on your screen as you confirmed that you were indeed livestreaming at the moment.

"Hello, everyone! I hope you're having a lovely day so far!" You waved to your screen with your megawatt smile. "I'm just hopping on here to give everyone a big thanks for supporting Noah-san's work, 'Ever I Wander', and of course for supporting me in my first-ever acting role as Hinarin."

[ ❤️❤️❤️ ]

[ You did such a great job with Hinarin!! ]

[ ❤️ ]

"I'm so glad everyone loved the film. Noah-san and I have been good friends for quite a while now and I can attest to his dedication to his craft and the calibre of his work. I'm certain he's still on a high after the film's release. 'Ever I Wander' is such a profound piece of media that tackles so many relevant themes of our time, so please recommend it to your family and friends!"

Yuuta approached you with a bowl of freshly cut fruit, careful not to appear onscreen but many eagle-eyed viewers saw his arm enter the frame.

[ Is that your husband??? ]

[ Wow I can tell from his arm that he works out!! ]

[ ❤️❤️ ]

[ … ]

[ He has such a mysterious aura… ]

[ But didn't he accompany her on the film's premiere? ]

[ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ]

"Yes, that was my husband. He just handed me a bowl of my favourite fruits. Isn't he just the sweetest?" You couldn't help but gush and beam as you happily showed off the fresh and juicy fruit slices neatly arranged in the bowl. "His job requires him to work out a lot and I suppose it shows even though it isn't his intention to brag about his build. All the better to lift me, I guess!"

[ 😂😂😂 ]

[ 😂 ]

[ He must be the strongest soldier wwwww ]

[ 😂😂😂 ]

[ Can you please show us the photo on your background? ]

"The photo on my background…" You repeated the comment before eventually turning around to point at what the viewer mentioned. "Aha! Another one of Noah-san's works! This was from my last photobook after I retired from my idol work two years ago."

[ It's so risque 😳 ]

[ The theme is kinda sexy?? ]

[ 😳😳😳 ]

[ ❤️❤️ ]

The blown-up photo was one of you and Yuuta, a memento Noah sent you as a wedding gift. Just as he said before, you were the focal point of that photoshoot and Yuuta was just a mere framing device. With his back turned from the camera, he was an alluring mystery that gave the photo an even more charming appeal to the viewer.

"Noah-san really knows how to make magic, doesn't he? My husband and I were so surprised to receive it, but we figured it had to be displayed somewhere…"

[ Your husband is sooo lucky!! ]

[ I say Otome-san is lucky with her husband he's hot wwwww ]

[ ❤️❤️❤️ ]

[ Will you ever show us your husband?? ]

[ ❤️❤️ ]

[ Let's respect their privacy ]

"You're right. My husband and I like things the way they are and I don't want to spook him by asking him to come on cam with me. He's actually very shy… But I suppose that's what makes him so charming."

Yuuta chuckled at your remark, just enough for your viewers to hear. Your screen erupted with hearts and even more reactions when he reached out to ruffle your hair.

"He is my home, and I'm so happy that my heart is always safe next to his."

Your coffee table vibrated as your work phone lit up with a call from your manager Sana. You picked it up. "Hello, Sa-chan?… Oh, right! Of course, how could I forget?"

You turned to your ongoing livestream once more and gave your viewers another smile and a kind bow. "I'll have to cut our conversation short because I have some work to do! Thank you all again so much for your support for 'Ever I Wander', and for me in general! Please stay safe and let's talk again soon!"

[ Livestream ended ]

"I'll drive you," Yuuta stated as he grabbed his black jacket on the couch. "Send me the details on LINE."

"Oh, sweetheart, you don't have to! I know it's your day off and all and you should be resting…" You told him as you fixed your setup and dismantled your little tripod.

"And miss out on seeing you on the job again? You know it's always my pleasure to be at your beck and call," He said with a small laugh. "Plus, I want to make sure you get there safe."

"You're right. What better way to ensure my safety than by driving me there yourself?" You replied to him before planting a tender kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, baby!"

What was once his duty became his very pleasure— standing right next to you as you both pursued your dreams, your hearts safe and content right next to each other.

#songsofadelaidewrites💛#jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader

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thequietmanno1 · 1 year ago

Text

Thelreads, MHA 284, Replies Part 1

1) “It’s time for us to continue, and today we’ll see Midoriya kicking ass and taking names to avenge all the people that died so far. The battle has been elevated to new heights, so let us jump in Chapter 284: Deep Blue Battle

I said new heights Horikoshi, that name implies that the battle is taking place in the bottom of the ocean”- Well, if Tomura’s Decay keeps on going to its logical conclusion, now that the limiting fetter of the blowback on his body is gone, then theoretically, he could just….keep the Decay wave going until there’s nothing left of Japan but Sea and Sky. A battle upon the Earth is one wherein he rules supreme, so the only way to fight him is in one of those two arenas….assuming he can’t figure out how to make Decay work underwater. God, can you imagine the consequences of that? Global annihilation in 7 days, tops. 2) “Yeah Midoriya, but remember that air particles are physical objects, meaning that he can technically destroy everything with decay even while flying.

…

I hope horikoshi didn’t thought about this.”- Tomura’s already destruction incarnate, don’t go making him further OP by applying scientific logic to his superpowered abilities! It’s bad enough when Jojo characters start working science facts into their Stand powers for maximum carnage. 3) “Well, I mean, that was quite the leap in power you just took, you could barely keep Black whip under check on close-combat and now you’re using it on long-ranges and flying

I’m surprised your body didn’t just disintegrated itself with all that energy. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug indeed”- Thankfully, so far it seems the other Quirks within OFA don’t have the physical blowback and potential crippling effect on Midoria’s body as the main super-strength enhancement does. Exceeding his control just seems to come with pain and a loss of control over said particular ability, which in Black Whip’s case just means the power lines disintegrate before he’s finished using them. I wonder what losing control over Float would be like- Instantly plummeting to the Earth, or flying off randomly in another direction all of a sudden? 4) “Rest at ease Endeavor, you did your part, there are no more roads for you to destroy, now it’s time for the real heroes to step up and show what they are made of

Also, after that city-sized blanket of fire you deployed a few chapters ago I’m surprised you’re still standing.”- Spite and Stubbornness is also one hell of a drug. Endeavour will fall down when the job of the Number One Hero is done, no sooner or later. That said, currently he’s just not able to perform as the Number One Hero, because the sheer power on display before him in these two children makes it clear that he’s just a side character to their fight, not a main performer in his own right. Outdone by a Kid who’s still in middle school and a dropout who did All the body enhancements – that’s gotta sting. 5) “Have you guys tried to forcefully open Aizawa’s eyelids and make him stare at Shigaraki? I mean, I know it probably won’t work since he’s unconscious, but… You know, it doesn’t cost anything trying something stupid”- well….not to put too fine a point on it, but if you look closely at the way Tomura’s fingers were gouging into the surface of Aizawa’s skull on his last attack, he may not actually have any eyes to open anymore. 6) “If only Uraraka was here, we could’ve finished shigaraki by throwing him into space like Kars. I wonder how long it would be until he stopped thinking.”- Unfortunately, unlike Kars, Tomura has enough underdog experience and the same bullshit “I can do anything I want” powerset, so even if we did chuck him into the Stratosphere, he’d instantly be able to adapt and figure out a workaround using his stockpiled Quirk abilities to get back down to Earth. Kars spent all his time in the manga being Superior to all, and like many OP villains it was his lack of being put into a corner that undid him in the end. However, unlike him, or even AFO, Tomura’s been nothing but an underdog this whole time, having to struggle and learn and adapt to the world, even with AFO’s manipulative backing supporting him, and it means that he’s used to being in a corner- hell, the more the heroes force him into one, the happier and more ferocious he gets in a fight, because that’s home territory for him. 7) “Shigaraki this is not the moment for a battle of wits, don’t try to be funny, also Midoriya is not going to heaven anyway so that’s a double no.”- Well, it’s easy to win a battle of witty banter when your enemy’s only retort is crazed screaming and trying to punch your head off. Smack-talk in a fight is Bakugo’s forte, not Izuku’s, he’s just down for the murdering at this point.

8) “Alright Midoriya is definitely not up for chatting anyway, he’s going into murder mode and by god I feel the flying broccoli is not gonna stop until someone is dead.”- See, that’s the problem. The heroes have already subjected Tomura to enough damage to easily kill him serveral times over, not to mention Izuku punching him several times at 100%. He started this fight being clinically dead – he just won’t stay that way if he feels he’s still got a job to do. 9) “Alright Bakugo, now the moment of truth, are you gonna sit there and sulk about not being as good as midoriya, or are you going to jump up there and fight till someone is dead?”- He’s not sulking because he’s not as good as Midoira – Bakugou’s a little too pro-active to stay on his ass and mope- he’s afraid because he’s not as good as Midoira, simply not capable of keeping up with his sheer levels of speed and power to actively make a difference in this fight, and thus step in to restrain his not-a-friend rival from going too far trying to beat Tomura in a battle of endurance. Izuku has shown time and again that yes, he can win fights on his own, but he’s simply too reckless and lacking in self-preservation to avoid going over the limit doing that solo. Every major fight he’s had, he always won through teamwork and support in the end to come out the other side unscathed, and those he couldn’t, left a lasting mark, like Muscular. The rub is that, given enough time, any other Quirk could theoretically have the sheer levels of power of AFO and OFA, if there was a way to preserve and refine them over the years, but due to AFO’s manipulations and striking whilst the iron is still hot, fresh off the heels of All Might’s retirement, there’s simply not any other valid candidate who could sub in to cover Midoria in this clash of Titans. Both Quirks are in a league of their own, but whilst it’s good that the heroes have something like OFA to counter AFO, it’s also bad because it’s been made clear time and again that Izuku just can’t win without a severe cost if he fights solo, and he’s not being given any choice but to do that to protect the weaker heroes on the field. 10) “Oh here comes a flashback, let us see what’s gonna propel bomberboy into the skies”- Guilt, regret angst, appologies yet to be said – you know, That Good Shit for character development. 11) “OHHHH IT’S THE CUTE THREE, I WASN’T EXPECTING THAT

ALSO, WHAT COULD BAKUGO POSSIBLY WANT AS HELP, BAKUGO NEVER ASKS FOR HELP ANYWAY, EVEN WHEN HE SHOULD”- Bakugo’s “train Izuku by blowing him up until he gets it” tactic isn’t working out so good, so they need somebody to sub in whilst All Might tries unsuccessfully to get him to reign it in. 12) “But okay, I can see why he asked those three, they are the ones that are used to moving stuff around with their powers, they are the best options. He could’ve asked Aizawa as well, since he uses his battle scarf, but, that works.”- Their powers combined also basically emulate the ful range and power/flexibility of the Float + Black Whip combo, Sero being able to shoot out and reel in tape from afar to move, Tsuyu’s tongue basically being a black whip, with her free range of flexibility and strength put through it, and Uraraka’s Anti-Gravity giving Izuku a feel for what it’s like to fly untethered. I do like that they included this both to illustrate how Izuku isn’t losing control of this new power when he’s in a situation where he needs to keep it active (granted, in simply holding Tomura aloft whist he repeatedly blasts him he doesn’t need much fine control or direction other than making sure he doesn’t punch him too close to the ground) but also to illustrate the other unspoken point that vexes Bakugo in the present- it takes three of his fellow classmates working together to emulate a situation that Izuku can do solo, again showing the sheer power gap between him and every other student, and how, despite their wishes to aid him, no one hero can possibly step in to support Izuku in a fight that pushes him to his utmost limits, because his limits are simply that far beyond anybody that was born with a natural Quirk. 13) “OH MY GOD YOU KIDS

AND OF COURSE URARAKA IS THE ONE TO CALL HIM OUT ON IT, EVEN THOUGH THIS TIME IT WAS MIDORIYA’S FAULT”- Bakugo’s manoeuvrability and sheer speed in a 3-D environment surpasses Iida’s, as long as they’re not racing across a flat plane, so trying to get the hang of Black Whip’s fine control via tagging him is a good idea….except for the fact that he also “penalises” you with an explosion every time you miss. Probably good training for izuku’s durability though. 14) “YEAH SEE, EVEN PHILL SWIFT AGREES WITH ME ON THAT ONE”- Aizawa’s sure been having a rough time of it this week. Learned your friend was frankenstiend back to life, had to watch another hero sacrifice himself to save you, put yourself at risk to stop a calamity that’s targeting your kids specifically and got absolutely mangled for it…. And he still doesn’t even know that he was the real reason behind Shirakumo’s transformation, that he just very narrowly avoided having that fate for himself by his friend’s sacrifice… 15) “All Might dodged the question there, I bet they asked Aizawa and he told them to piss off.”- Not inaccurate. Like, All Might probably avoided asking him in the first place because he could see how that conversation was going to go, but Aizawa would not have been in a cheery mood to any shmuck that actually dared to ask him to be a teacher whilst he was drowning in his old reopened angst. 16) “…

oh, right, I… forgot about that. ): “- Bakugo’s not the only one dealing with childhood trauma today, though Aizawa’s is from the perspective of the victim, rather than Bakugo retroactively coming to terms with the fact that he was the aggressor towards Izuku and his own poor self-esteem issues. 17) “And god I hope Midoriya paid attention to Professor Uraraka’s class, because he’s definitely gonna need it back in the present.”- He just has to keep himself and Tomura up in the air simultaneously whilst making sure to land his own shots into Tomura’s face and dodging his decay touch every time he reels him in for a punch, like the world’s deadliest game of hot potato. Should be no more complicated than patting your head and rubbing your stomach simultaneously, whilst singing the national anthem in a foreign language, wherein you die if you flub a single step of that. 18) “And also gonna comment about how now Midoriya and Uraraka have the same quirk technically speaking, but instead let me focus on the fact we’re probably gonna have All Might giving a motivational speech to a sulking Bakugo that is gonna make him spring into action back in the present before being immediately destroyed by decay.”- Actually, it’s more along the lines of Bakugo being the one to give the motivational speech and everything, having finally come to accept his failings and regrets about them, and desire to make amends for his past missteps. In a small quiet, personal, talk with All Might even, the exact opposite of his usual loud, brash demeanour, making it clear that he means this. Even since his and Izuku’s last fight, he’s come to accept where he went wrong and the burden of responsibility that’s been placed on Izuku, and now, first and foremost, he’s concerned with making sure that burden doesn’t crush him underneath its weight.

@thelreads

#my hero academia #bnha #chapter replies #thelreads #mha 284

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fandoms-x-reader · 3 years ago

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Adrenaline Rush - Chapter 17 Roman Reigns x Reader

You woke up the next morning before Roman and decided to sneak out of the hotel room and go back to the hotel room you were sharing with Dean. Luckily, when you got there, Dean was still asleep, so he wouldn't ask you any questions about where you were.

You got ready for the day and when you exited the bathroom Dean was awake. "Good morning," you said with a smile. "Morning, how did you sleep?" he asked. "Really good actually. What about you?" you questioned. "Good," he said with a smile before entering the bathroom.

You and Dean just hung out in the hotel room for most of the morning before deciding to head towards the arena where the show was being held. You and Dean entered the room where you usually got your hair and make-up done and changed into your ring gear; and, when you entered, a large smile spread across your face as both yours' and Dean's Shield gear was there.

"Finally!" you said with a smile, making Dean laugh as you excitedly grabbed your ring gear and left to change into it. The moment you put it on, you felt so much better. You then got your hair and make-up done and Dean entered the room with his Shield gear on.

You smiled at him and told him, "You look great." He smiled in response and replied, "So do you." "Too bad we don't have a match tonight," you said and he nodded his head. You and Dean were supposed to just go out there and mess with Roman, The Usos, and Seth by wearing your Shield gear. "That's okay, I have fun just messing with them too," Dean said, making you chuckle.

You were finally done with your hair and make-up and you and Dean waited for all four men to be in the ring before you made your way to the entrance spot. You were going to go classic shield and enter through the audience.

You and Dean stood at the curtain and the Shield music started playing which you knew would throw them off. You and Dean then started entering through the crowd, making the fans scream in excitement. A large smile graced your face as you and Dean made your way down to the ring, and as you got closer, you could see the stunned looks on Seth's and Roman's faces.

You and Dean entered the ring with microphones and The Usos immediately approached the two of you, holding microphones of their own. "Hey uce, you can put on those sad outfits but it ain't gonna change anything," Jey said, standing right in front of you.

"Excuse me, Jey, while the adults talk, or do you want to get flattened again by a woman?" you told him with a smirk. Jey struggled to find a response so Roman stepped in front of him, asking for the microphone. "What do you want?" Roman asked you. "You already know the answer to that," Dean stated, walking to stand right in front of Seth.

Seth laughed his classic laugh as Roman asked, "When are you going to realize that it's not going to happen?" You shrugged your shoulders before giving Roman your best smile and saying, "Can't blame a girl for trying." Roman almost caved in at your smile, but he knew he had to stay in character.

"Look, it's simple, you guys either pull your heads out of your asses on your own or we'll beat some sense into you," Dean stated. "I'd like to see you try, uce," Jey yelled. Dean looked at you and you just smiled before running up and wrapping your legs around Roman's neck, bringing him to the ground while Dean attacked Seth.

Once Roman hit the ground, you paused for a moment to quietly tell him, "Sorry about this." You then gave him a quick wink and went after Jimmy since Dean was already attacking Jey. Eventually, all four men rolled out of the ring, leaving you and Dean victorious again.

"You can keep talking your big talk, but we can take you anytime, anywhere," Dean said in the microphone as the men walked away before turning to you as the two of you put your fists in the middle of the ring as the Shield music began playing.

After a couple more moments, you and Dean left the ring. Dean went off to the locker room, and you went to try and find Roman. You were just passing his locker room when you felt a strong pair of arms pull you into the room before the door shut and locked. You smiled as Roman stood behind you with his hands on your hips, pulling you into him.

"I love this outfit on you," Roman told you, his lips only centimeters from your ear. You smirked and replied, "I bet you'd like it even better when it's off of me." Roman let out a small groan as he spun you around to face him.

He crashed his lips to yours, pulling away after another moment and saying, "You left before I woke up this morning." "I wasn't sure if you wanted people to know yet, so I went back to my hotel room before Dean woke up," you responded, letting out a soft moan as Roman began kissing your jawline and neck.

Roman stopped for a moment at yours words and stated, "I'm going to make sure the whole world knows your mine." The way he looked at you when he said that sent a shiver down your spine. He quickly moved you to the couch that was in his locker room and made sure to make the most out of the alone time the two of you had.

#roman reigns #roman reigns imagine #roman reigns x reader #the shield #the shield imagines #the shield x reader

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songbirdsingingthings · 4 years ago

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You and Your Everything - Shouto Todoroki x Reader

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Kohei Horikoshi

MHA Masterlist - Main Masterlist

WARNINGS: Your parents being the absolute worst, a few minor curse words, a lil angsty

Requested by Anonymous:

HI i love your writing and i saw that your requests were open? i was wondering if you could do like a shoto x reader but instead y/ns parents are like the opposite of shoto and endeavor? like for an example how shoto wants nothing to do with his dad and and all y/n wants to do is please her parents or make them happy since they never pay attention to her like that? both house holds are still toxic but i feel like thatd be an interesting dynamic

A/N: This was so interesting and cool to write! Obviously, the subject matter was much angstier and sadder than a lot of the stuff I have written, but I found writing this, like, entire paragraph of dialogue of Shouto (you’ll know it when you see it) to be so entirely incredible. I just kept on writing. Thank you so much for this awesome rec!

Word Count: 1.8K

“You’ve reached the voicemail of Kana Y/L/N. Please leave a message. BEEP”

“Hi Mom, it’s me again. Just calling to remind you that third years are allowed to reserve a box for their parents in the Sports Festival arena! I saved one for you and Dad in the front row, which are the best seats in the whole place. The Festival takes place tomorrow, as I told you guys about three months ago so you could put it on your calendars. I’m, uh, looking forward to seeing you again! Love you, bye!” Pressing the red circle that represented an “end call” button, you heaved a sigh and looked through your recent calls. Nine recent calls that your mother had missed within the last three days. Ten that your father had. They’re just busy, you tell yourself, trying to ease your mind. They’re just busy right now, but they had said that they’d come. They’ll come. Your thoughts had consumed you to such a point you didn’t even register the little nudges to your side.

“.../N? Y/N?” You blinked quickly to rid your consciousness of its prior dilemma and turn your head to the side. With heterochromatic eyes blinking fondly at you matched with a slight frown of concern, your boyfriend prompts the same question that had earlier feel upon deaf ears. “Y/N, I was asking if you are alright. You seemed a little… not here when I asked you just a minute ago.” Shouto’s voice, like always, is level, however little hints of emotion always tend to slip in between the cracks of his pronunciations. Like now, for instance, you hear the traces of worry cling onto his words.

“Oh, sorry, I was just leaving a voicemail.” You say simply. The sentence that left your mouth would seem normal to any person that you were friendly with. However, Shouto knew the implications. His shoulders seemed to tense as he took your hand. You squeeze his hand to reassure him. “Don’t worry Sho, they’re just really busy people. I’m sure they definitely carved time out of their schedules to come and watch me. I just need to make sure I get into the tournament round so I don’t waste their time.” You say, laughing a little dryly. Shouto doesn’t smile at the joke you made at your own expense.

“I just don’t get it.” He says, which makes your smile drop into a frown. “Why do you try so hard for them.” Your spine straightens at his words and your grip on his hand loosens. “Y/N, they’re awful people-”

“They’re my parents and I want to make them proud.” You say swiftly, a slight grimace on your face. Silence settles between the two of you, that is, until you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. Jumping up immediately and grabbing your phone, you take a glance at the caller ID. Your heart sinks as you see it’s a random telemarketer, and click decline call. You look back to your boyfriend, which was a mistake, because his eyes pooled with pity. Not feeling quite right in the space you were in, you grab your school bag and stuff your phone the furthest down it would go. “I’m going to go freshen up before dinner.” You decide, nodding towards Shouto and walking away a bit.

“Do you want me to come with you?” His suggestion on a normal basis would make your face flush and your heart beat a bit faster, however today you just wanted to be alone for a bit.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll see you at dinner.” You say quickly.

“Y/N.” His grip came softly around your wrist, tugging you back a bit to face him. “I’m… I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I just love you,” he said those last two words a bit softer than the others, “and I want to see you happy.” Butterflies took flight in the pit of your stomach as you held Shouto’s gaze, his heartfelt and earnest words weighing heavily within your heart. Your frown wobbles into a smile as you lean in to place a quick kiss to his cheek.

“I know.”

“Did you see me out there?!” You cheer, careening down the arena hallway towards where Shouto was waiting with open arms. You leapt directly into them and was quickly picked up and spun around in a little circle.

“I did, you were incredible.” Shouto gushes, his cheek squished against yours. You laughed joyously as you felt his arms squeeze you closer to him, your heart racing with both leftover adrenaline from your second round tournament match and the feeling of love from your boyfriend. However, your laughter and the embrace you were tucked into died down when you heard the faint clearing of a throat, causing both of you to turn towards the sound. If you were looking into a mirror, you’re sure you would see your eyes grow to the size of saucers and your jaw dropping just a tad at the sight before you. There, standing about ten paces away, were your parents. Your mother, with her hair tied back in an uncomfortable looking bun with her freshly pressed pencil skirt and matching career jacket. Your father at her side, his suit and pants looking as sharp as ever. And the expressions they held…

“M-mother? Father? You two made it?” You stammer out, dumbfounded at their appearance. “But I, uh, didn’t see either of you in the stands.” You admit, earning a nonchalant expression from both parents.

“Well, with that lackluster performance that you executed, did you really think we would want to show our faces? It’s bad enough our colleagues know of you and all your little failures that you like to categorize as triumphs. Honestly, you really thought that we would want to be on camera for the entire world to see?” Your mother’s bored tone and biting words struck you hard. You felt your spine straighten and your hands stick to your side as you bit the inside of your cheek.

“But… I won.” You said, so soft that the sound of someone’s heartbeat could overpower it. If your gaze wasn’t stuck to your parents’ forms, you would have seen Shouto’s eyebrows narrow, awaiting for the oncoming onslaught.

“Good Lord, you want to call that a win? It makes me wonder how you ever got into this school or passed any physical examination in your class.” Your father’s tone, just as bored and apathetic as your mother’s, sent trembles down your spine. You clenched your fists and jaw to try and prevent crying. But, of course, it was of no use. The tears trickled their way, one by one, down your cheek like raindrops on a car window.

“And you’re crying now. Fantastic.” Your mother retorts, turning her to your father now. “I told you we should have sent her directly to the Hero Public Safety Commission. Would’ve toughened her up in no time-”

“CAN’T YOU SEE SHE’S UPSET?!” You almost didn’t recognize his voice. The soft spoken, pensive Shouto Todoroki that you knew to be your boyfriend rarely got upset. When he did, it was almost always in the middle of a battle or fight, just as he was about to use a special move. But this time, it was pure rage and anger that clung onto his words. Your parents, now sprouting an expression of slight surprise turned their attention to the seething red-and-white haired boy at your side. “All she ever does is work to make you happy. Day and night, twenty-four seven, it’s for you. And now here you come, strutting back into her life with some agenda on how she should fight and how much of a so-called failure she is?! Well screw that! You don’t get to have an opinion when it comes to her! She has been trying to get a hold of both of you for months on end and getting no more than the same damn message from your voicemails, telling her that you’re too busy for her!” Shouto’s face was red now. His fists were balled up and the tiniest flecks of flames were flaking from his left side. “And then, you’re now finally here, and you come with this holier-than-thou attitude! Y/N L//N, your daughter, is the most incredible and capable person I have met in my entire life. The fact that a person like her can rise like a phoenix from the ashes that is your attitudes and parenting styles is a miracle, because in every way, shape and form, she will forever be a marvel. To me, to our classmates, and to the entire world. I just can’t wait to see the look on your sorry asses when the time comes for her to give her thank you speech after becoming the number one hero, and you don’t hear either of your names mentioned once.” The silence is deafening after Shouto finishes speaking. You feel your whole body trembling and can recognize that there are tears falling down past your cheeks, but nothing else. Nothing else, until that constricting feeling that you felt bound to you to your parents’ approval starts to loosen the moment Shouto takes your hand in his.

“Let’s go.” Your words, merely more than a whisper, is all it takes for Shouto to wrap and arm around your waist as he marches past your dumbstruck parents, towards a private room. The second Shouto clicks the lock shut, you let yourself break down. Sobs racked your body as you clung onto his shirt, his arm, and his love. “They’re supposed to be my parents. How… I can’t even do anything.” You hiccup into his tear-stained gym uniform, the one identical to yours (without the blotches of tears).

“Hey, shh, you’re okay. You’re fine.” Shouto says, his reassuring words grounding you. “You will get through this whole… mess, okay? I know you can. All you need to do is take it one day at a time.” You nod into his chest and let your head lie there as the tears finally started to cease from falling.

“You, uh, probably have to get ready for your match, right?” You sniff, moving one of your hands up to your face to rub at your nose.

“I’m fine here.” Shouto says, wrapping his arms around you. “Y/N, you really were incredible out there. Do not let them make you think otherwise.” You nod again as you feel Shouto begin to play lightly with your hair. “You are enough. More than, in fact. They might think otherwise, but I don’t. I love you, and your smile, and your everything.” You were too fried emotionally to say anything back, but Shouto knew. He knew that it would take time to finally break from your parents’ psychological hold over you and that he would always be there at your side.

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cryptidofthekeys · 3 years ago

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IWTDFD (Chapter One)

IWTDFD stands for ‘Interview with The Devil’s Favorite Demon’ btw I dont got a better title for this one but I HAVE to call it something, this story was something I wanted to work on in 2020 but I was extremely self conscious then, especially with wrestling related shit- so this was a project from then continued now ...and also I fucking hate writing V*nce not bc of well you know...

But hes not a fun character to write so uh lmao if I accidentally somehow gave the impression that he might return- hes not, its only gonna be Steph and HHH I wanna explain what this story is gonna be but ya know what, I’ll let my writing do the talking for the next chapters

also this is a good a time as any to say I write STRICTLY kayfabe only, none of my wrestling fanfics will EVER be out of kayfabe, I don’t uh do that shit

TWs: Stalking, Mentions of eviscerating (I mean it IS a certain someone’s favorite word...) but it DOESNT ACTUALLY HAPPEN I SHOULD SAY, V*nce’s crusty dusty musty sorry ass is in here but only for the first bit, Choking and Violence

~5000 Words (thats what my goog docs counted it at so, i,, i trust)~

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You stared up at the large arena, this was the place, or well so you had been told according to the directions Mr. McMahon had given you, the sheer size of the arena alone was enough to intimidate you but then there was also the fear of not impressing him enough… What if you didn’t actually get the job? You took a deep breath and headed into the building anyway, it was now or never… You headed straight to his office since you were told he wasn’t one you wanted to keep waiting, and okay honestly? Trying to find his office in the middle of all, well, t h i s was easier said than done but eventually you managed to make your way there, you looked up at his door, it had his name in big bold letters on it and a golden star even …The man thought highly of himself that was for sure but then again he was the owner of the company sooo… Either way, you took a deep breath, trying to shake the nervous feeling that had built up in your system.

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This was it, this was the first big step into potentially getting hired here… It was now or never, and if worst comes to worst well you could manage, you plastered a smile on your face as you knocked on the door, albeit a bit hesitantly… Not even a few seconds later and a gravelly voice called out from inside “Come in!” You sucked in another breath before pushing the door open, that smile still plastered on your face, you looked over to Vince who was sitting at his desk, looking over some documents before finally he looked up at you, a small smile appearing on his face

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“Ah! (Y/N)! Just the person I wanted to see…! Come on, have a seat” Vince pointed to the seat across from his desk, you nodded at this and quickly sat down, still with that smile on your face even though the air felt extremely tense right now… Once you were seated, Vince cleared his throat and then spoke up “Well, let’s begin shall we?” You nodded at this and then McMahon spoke again “So, I take it you wish to help out in… Interviewing our superstars, is that correct?” You nodded “Yes sir” Vince nodded “I see… Well, I want to see how well you do, so I’m going to assign you a simple task, not uh, usually how we conduct business… However, I think these tests will prove to me if your a loyal, hard working person”

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You were confused by this, you hadn’t expected to be put on the spot just like this… Okay now you felt even more nervous than before, you watched him grab a microphone and then he handed it to you “I’ll uh, give you someone relatively easy and simple to interview… To start off with, let’s see here… Hm…” Mr.McMahon looked up in thought for a bit before he seemed to get an idea “Let’s start you off with err… The Miz! I will warn you, he does have an… Ego but he won’t be too difficult to interview compared to uh some of the others, I’ll be waiting here for your return, I have cameras so I can watch you from there…” You gulped but nodded

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“Y-Yes sir…” Vince could sense how tense you were and he chuckled a little before patting you on the back after you had stood up “Relax, I get you wanting to impress me given that I am the boss, but I’m not as bad as others have cracked me up to be! I promise you that!” (...mhm suuuurree..) You nodded and took a deep breath, geez how many of those would you be taking today? Vince encouraged you as he led you to the door, and then he ushered you out, telling you just where you could find The Miz around this time.

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You nodded and then he wished you luck, closing the door behind you… You sighed, okay this… You could do this, you had come too far to turn back now anyways, you couldn’t afford to… You walked ahead, heading off in the directions Vince had told you, you didn’t know much about the superstars in all honesty but eh…

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You figured if you had managed to get the job here you’d be getting to know them all soon enough, first thing was first of course… ACTUALLY managing to get said job, you continued down the long almost never ending hallways, these things felt so confusing ugh… Sure, Vince told you exactly where to go but these winding halls nearly dazed and confused you, you continued down the path you figured was right, you also needed to keep in mind just what you were interviewing The Miz for… Speaking of… Eventually you had FINALLY made it to The Miz’s locker room, you sighed in pure relief and then you remembered… Vince had probably been watching you this entire time, he was probably even laughing at you which that thought had embarrassed you, you quickly tried to shake it away and then you knocked on The Miz’s door, a voice called out, seemingly a bit confused “Uh, come in?” You slowly opened the door and then saw The Miz look even more confused before he looked down to the mic in your hand and grinned “Ah, guess you're here to interview me about my upcoming title defense match, hm?”

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You nodded “Yes sir, I am!” You walked up to him and cleared your throat “So, Miz, may I get your commentary on said match? What are your thoughts about your opponent?” The Miz chuckled, once you held the microphone up to him, he cleared his throat, a cocky grin spread across his features “My opponent? Psh!” …And okay, wow, he kinda… Got spit on you, that was gross and rude… “C’mon, I mean, really? Is there any d o u b t? I’ll mop the floor with ‘em! I am THE Miz! I’m awesome!”

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“There’s no way that lil punk can even come c l o s e to someone like me! I’ll beat them AND take their title! It’s plain and simple, there’s no way they could ever physically beat me, and I know my opponent is watching this little… Interview so hey, you, yeah you… Pay attention, here’s how this ‘match’ is going to go…” With that Miz looked into the camera “I’m going to beat you down, and then I’m going to take that title from you, so you better get prepared to lose that belt… Because I’ll tell you right now, you see this right here?” Miz gestured to himself “You’re looking at the future champion right now because I’m The Miz and I’M…. AWESOME!”

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And with that Miz was shooing you away, you thanked him for his time but in actuality you… Hated… Every bit of that, holy s h i t this dude… DEFINITELY had an ego on him that’s for sure, you were quick to head out of his room now that you were finished with that… Ordeal, once you were out of his room you took a breath and pinched the bridge of your nose, after that you shook your head and began to quickly head back to Vince’s office, you had hoped this had impressed Vince, at least a LITTLE bit… It was fairly simple sure but having to be in a room with that dude for more than a few seconds was exhausting

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(I promise, I might be throwing shade but I love Miz, he’s such a bastard <3) You weren’t paying attention to where you were walking, mostly in thought as to if this was really worth it to work with dudes like… Well, like that, maybe not every one of them would be like that… You sighed and as you stepped forward, you ran into something, and whatever it was, it was fairly huge… It had managed to knock you down, you blinked and looked up at whatever was in front of you and then you noticed… It was a person, and oh… Oh jeez…

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He was tall to say the very least for starters but he hadn’t even stumbled back, he was just staring down at you, through a red mask that covered his face, he had red and black attire on in general actually… You glanced up at his eyes and you felt a shiver go down your spine…

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His eyes were glaring right into your very soul it seemed, it definitely made you feel… Uncomfortable to say the least, you scooted back slightly before standing back up and dusting yourself off, even if you felt a little nervous in the moment, you still didn’t want to be rude… “Sorry, I uh, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going… Th… That uh, that’s my bad man…” The figure in front of you said nothing, he simply continued to stare at you which only made you grow more nervous, you fidgeted for a moment with the mic in your hands before you apologized again and then tried to casually pass by him… He didn’t make any moves to try and stop you at that moment but even as you got past, you could feel him still staring at you… You could feel his eyes boring into the back of your head as you briskly walked away, once you had managed to get out of sight you quickly gasped in a deep breath, your body beginning to tremble a slight bit “...Geez… I wonder what that guy’s problem is…” (he’s got several)

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You knew he was probably a bit angry at you running into him like that but there was just something… Off with the way he was staring at you… …You shook your head and quickly made your way back to Vince’s office, you knocked on the door but this time a much more feminine sounding voice called out for you to come in, you blinked in confusion but opened the door anyways, you saw a woman standing there and what was presumably her husband, sitting on the couch, just fiddling away with something, you looked toward the woman who was smiling “Hi, you must be (Y/N)... My name’s Stephanie… Stephanie McMahon, I’m sure you were probably expecting to see my father here but he had to step out for a bit…

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

He explained to me what I needed to know about you, and of course we watched your performance on camera as well” You nodded at this and then she spoke up again “I’m pleased to say that your performance was nothing less than perfect! Since my father left me in charge while he’s gone… I’m going to tell you right now that… Congratulations (Y/N) (L/N)... You’ve got the job” She extended a hand which you happily took, shaking it and you had a big smile on your face.

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“Oh thank you ma’am! Thank you so much! I promise… I’ll do the best I can!” Stephanie smiled at this and nodded “I’m sure of that… I think a tour is in order before you get to the other interviews we have planned for you, to at least, get you more accustomed to the building’s layout, my husband, Triple H will guide you around just follow Hunter” The man got up from the couch and walked over, patting you on the back a bit roughly “Yeah let’s go, get this done and outta the way” You nodded at this and walked out of the room with Hunter, it would be nice to get a proper layout of this place before getting started… Triple H showed you where certain halls lead, where the doors led, some of the locker rooms for some of the superstars, those were fairly easy to memorize given that the doors had the respective names of said superstars on them.

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

Hunter didn’t take you out to the ring but he showed you what lead to it, and showed you down the ramp, you noticed there was in fact a match going on right now, there was no lingering around for too long as Triple H then sped off in another direction, the whole time he talked about certain areas, talked about some of the superstars, etc…

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It was honestly a lot to take in and process but you were eager, eager to work here and eager to please in all honesty, the tour wasn’t too long thankfully because before you knew it, you two were heading back to the office, Hunter as he walked asked a question “So… What do you think of the place so far?” You didn’t seem to hear his question because as the two of you got halfway down the hall, there was this feeling that was beginning to arise in you… Beginning to take over, you felt very uneasy and eventually you slowed to a stop, you looked around and then slowly turned behind you, you saw nothing… You saw nobody, well, aside of course the typical crew that was walking around and making sure everything was in order, it was strange…

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You had felt like someone was stalking you, watching you from afar, the crew however couldn’t be the ones because they were completely ignoring your presence there, going about their daily routine it seemed …Still, you faintly wondered… If… And then a hand on your shoulder made you yelp and spin around, this made Triple H raise a hand in defense “Woaahh! Hey hey, it's me, it’s just me!” You sighed and shook your head “Shit, sorry… I just, I dunno, I got a weird feeling all of a sudden” Hunter raised a brow at this “What kinda feeling?”

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You looked back slightly before looking forward to Triple H “I… I felt like someone was… Was watching me or something…” Hunter grinned slightly at that, patting you a bit roughly on the shoulder “I mean… There are cameras everywhere, it must just be the crowd, I wouldn’t let ‘em bother ya” For a moment you were silent, now sure, you knew the cameras were around, you knew there was an audience out there but it didn’t feel like it was them but you slowly shook your head and smiled back “Yeah, prob… Probably just them then” Triple H nodded and let go of your shoulder “Yeah, c’mon, let’s get back to Steph, she doesn’t like to be kept waiting too long… And another thing, you still didn’t uh, answer my question” You looked to him as you were now following alongside him rather than behind him “What was it?” Hunter then repeated his question from a bit ago “How’d ya like the place? Whaddya think? Pretty sweet, right?” You smiled and nodded, shaking off that feeling from earlier “Oh yeah, I love it here… It might take a bit getting used to even with the tour but… I’m sure I can manage” Hunter chuckled “There we go, I like to see confidence in the newbies!”

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“Don’t worry, once ya get used to this place, it won’t seem too endless, eventually you’ll be walking around the halls like it’s your own house, ya get used to it real quick” You nodded and eventually you two made it back to the office without any trouble, HHH knocked on the door and Steph of course responded with the typical ‘come in!’ and then Hunter made his way in, you alongside him, this made Steph smile “Back already, you two?” HHH nodded and looked over at you then to Stephanie “Yep, they’re a pro already it seems, confident as hell, and they soaked up every word I said like a damn sponge” Stephanie seemed delighted by that “That’s good to hear… (Y/N), you just seem so eager and determined, we appreciate that eagerness, that determination, and certainly that confidence” You smiled slightly and nodded “Of course…” You were giddy, you were very giddy in fact! You could hardly contain your excitement but in order to keep from looking unprofessional you kept your composure.

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Hunter headed back to the couch to sit down now as you and Steph talked “Alright, now, to further ease you into the business… I’ll give you some more superstars to interview, to start off relatively easy, you’ll do an interview with R-Truth and then Seth Rollins, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion” You nodded at this “Sounds good to me, I’ll get right to it!” Stephanie nodded and then waved as you walked out “Good luck!” She called out and you thanked her and then closed the door behind you, you took a deep breath, you were going to have fun here. You could just feel it, this was going to be so exciting! You couldn’t wait to get started, you slowly began to walk off, away from the office door, as you got about halfway you suddenly stopped again, you felt a chill go up your spine…

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Something was wrong, you felt that same strange feeling a few moments ago when walking with Hunter, you quickly turned around this time, eyes darting around the place, but there was nothing …Nobody, well aside from the obvious crew walking the floor and making sure everything is functioning and going smoothly, but still… You couldn’t shake that strange feeling but you simply shook your head. Triple H had literally told you it was probably just the feeling of the crowd’s eyes and not to mention, those two were more than likely watching you as well, you were alright, nothing could or would happen to you… You sucked in a deep breath and continued down the hall, shaking that feeling off, you couldn’t focus on that too much, you had a job to do.

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You walked down the hall, looking around, you needed to get used to this building so this was good for you, even despite the tour, you still needed to fully memorize where each place was, you walked for what felt like forever before you suddenly just found R-Truth walking around backstage, you immediately ran up to him to catch him, now Stephanie had told you what to ask (...pretend she told you what to do, i just,, forgot to write that bit sh- sh shush) “Excuse me! Mr. Truth! Sir, you just came from a long match for the Intercontinental Championship against The Miz, you unfortunately did not win the championship this time, how does that make you feel?” R-Truth looked at you, he looked a little upset before suddenly looking to his right “...You hear what they just asked me, Little Jimmy? They just asked me if I was upset” You were completely confused, th… There was nowhere there…? And then he turned back to you “Of course I’m upset! I just lost my chance at a title…! Do you think I’d be happy or sumn?” You brought the mic back to your face “...Erm… No, no sir, I-I didn’t think you would be…”

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R-Truth once again looked back to that same spot, nodded a few times before turning back to you, you lifted the mic up and he gently took a hold of it “Little Jimmy says we gon’ get him next time, that Intercontinental Championship WILL be ours, and that’s all we got to say about that!” And with that he walked away, leaving you stunned, you… You genuinely didn’t know what to make of the situation there, you stood there for a few moments, completely in shock before a voice called out “...Wow, what the heck was t h a t?” You jumped and spun around, there was a man who was wearing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, he looked down at you, he seemed just as confused as you were before a sly grin made its way onto his face “Well aside from… T h a t… I just got one thing to say to the entire locker room here, I know you all want t h i s!” He pointed to the champion belt, smacking it even before laughing suddenly, leaning close into the mic “If you want MY championship… Not that any of you deserve it of course”

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“Then you’ll have to pry it from my cold, lifeless fingers!” And then he laughed again, and finally Seth was stepping away, however before fully walking away, he paused for a moment, turning back to you, he still had that shit-eating grin on his face “...What’s your name by the way?” You quickly spoke up “My name is (Y/N)!” Seth took a moment, seemingly processing before nodding “Got it, well you already know my name, so I trust there’s no need for an introduction after all, who doesn’t know Seth Rollins! The WWE World Heavyweight Champion!” And then he was laughing again before finally walking away, leaving you just fidgeting with the microphone for a few moments, man… It was going to take some getting used to here, with these guys, some of them were weirdos and some just had such big egos, you shook your head before slowly turning around, a gasp escaping you as you nearly bumped into a face that quite frankly you didn’t want to see… It was that man in the mask again, you locked eyes with him, one of his eyes was a very vibrant shade of blue while the other one was a dark gray…

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Those eyes stared intensely into yours, you somewhat glanced down to notice his hand clenching and unclenching, that made you tense up, you didn’t dare say a word, you could hear him breathing, it was a little heavy but instead of locking eyes with him again you quickly tried to sidestep him, however that didn’t work, he immediately stepped in front of you again, you began to grow more nervous, you could feel yourself beginning to shake slightly, you snuck a glance only to see him tilting his head to the side, a look of… Curiosity it seemed… You took a deep breath and tried to sidestep him once again only to have him do the same thing, he repeated this for a bit before suddenly grabbing you by the throat, causing a strangled gasp to escape from your lips, you instantly dropped the microphone in your hand, hands shooting up to grip at his arm, trying desperately to pry it off your throat, you could feel his grip get tighter, you wheezed out a breath, tears threatening to spill from your eyes as you tried desperately to hit at his arm, it did nothing, he simply continued to squeeze your throat tighter and tighter, his head tilted still.

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You struggled as hard as you could before suddenly, you reared a leg back and kicked him as hard as you could between the legs, you heard him yell out in pain but you felt the hand rip away from your throat, you suddenly gasped, falling down onto your ass, you gently grasped at your throat, trying to get as much air back into your lungs as you possibly could, while the man in the mask was on his knees, clutching at his crotch, you slowly crawled back after catching your breath before suddenly he looked up, he looked absolutely enraged and that was your sign to run, you quickly got to your feet and made a beeline past him, after all he was still clutching his wounded area… You sprinted as fast as your legs could carry you, you tried desperately not to panic and run every which way but it was really difficult when you knew that he was surely going to come after you, you had been right! There was someone watching you! But it wasn’t the crowd, nor just Stephanie and Hunter… It was him! It was that same man you ran into earlier, you knew something was off about him… You looked around, every direction and you were beginning to panic.

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It felt like everything was spinning, the room was disorienting to look at, you looked at each direction you could take but you didn’t know the way back to the office, not, not when your mind was racing with a million thoughts and questions an hour, you were petrified…

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You were absolutely terrified about what would happen if he caught you especially now that you pissed him off, your eyes widened as you heard a voice shout out down through the hall “WHERE ARE THEY?!?” You looked around at the options before finally making a decision, not wanting to stick around there for too long, you tore off in the direction you picked, you hoped, you p r a y e d it was the right way… Your legs were getting tired far more quickly with how fast you were running, the crew and even other superstars looked at you confused, however in the distance when they heard a familiar angry voice yelling out and stuff being thrown around, they instantly tore out of there themselves, getting out of the way… You quickly began to realize as you got further into the hall, this was the wrong way… This wasn’t the way to Steph and Hunter’s office! Shit! You quickly barged through the two doors in your way, not stopping for even a second, this room… It was full of places to hide!

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You’d hide here until he left and then you’d try retracing your steps, you quickly looked around and found one of those bins, it was a large one, you ran over and opened the bin up, hurriedly hopping inside and shutting the lid, your breathing was heavy and ragged and your body was shaking like a leaf, you felt around your throat again, gently massaging it since it was starting to hurt a little bit now… For a while all was silent until you heard that familiar shouting come from down the hall, it was muffled but you could still hear his angry yells and then him throwing stuff around, tears pricked at your eyes at this point, you were so scared as you sat there in the pitch black bin… it wasn’t long before you heard the sounds of his footsteps, he was running, you quickly clasped a hand over your face when you heard the doors get forcefully pushed open, and then aside from the awful banging sound the doors made when closing again.

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It was relatively silent, the only thing you could hear was his breathing, heavy and ragged much like yours had been, even his breath let you know that he was absolutely incensed right now… You could feel yourself beginning to tremble more, you still kept that hand clasped over your mouth, stifling your own breathing so you wouldn’t be easily found… After all, this room right here was much more silent, there was nobody in here, no crew, no superstars, nobody but you and that monster chasing you of course… For a bit, he seemed to be catching his own breath now, it took him a good bit in order to do so before finally his breath calmed and you couldn’t hear it anymore. The room had fallen into pure silence, no voice, no breathing, n o t h i n g… But you knew he was still there, you hadn’t heard the door open back up, he was still there just simply waiting in the dark, if you climbed out of the bin now you’d be caught instantly, he was probably waiting right by the door for you in all honesty.

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You were both merely playing the waiting game for one another, the man in the mask either waiting for you to run into the room or maybe out of it… And you were waiting for him to leave, after what felt like more than thirty minutes, he seemed to finally relent in the waiting game… He didn’t leave however as you hoped he would, no… You heard his footsteps, slow now, stalking around the room. You heard the footsteps go past the bin which you were thankful for and then you heard him moving something very fast, he only huffed seemingly in frustration, what or better yet w h o he wanted was not there it seemed… And then you finally heard him speak, a voice that sent absolute chills down your spine, a voice that rasped out very lowly now “...I know you’re in here, if you come out now… I might NOT eviscerate you e n t i r e l y…”

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. . . Yeah no, that wasn’t convincing in the slightest because quite frankly you didn’t want to be eviscerated at all, in fact you’d much prefer your innards to stay i n s i d e your body because that’s where they belonged, you heard him rummage around some more before finally he had looked all around the room, all except for one place… Even though you were in the bin you could feel his eyes boring holes into it, you could feel him staring directly at the bin and then sure enough his footsteps slowly walked over, he was merely taunting you at this rate, his walk was even more slow than before, he was definitely taunting you right now, you could feel the sinister grin on his face even though you couldn’t see him, as he stalked over to the bin and then he stopped, you imagined he was directly in front of it now, your eyes were wide and you felt tears spilling out of them now but you kept the hand clasped over, and tried desperately not to sob, you felt his hand slam down on the bin, it made the entire thing jar and you had to force yourself not to yelp or scream at that… And then slowly… Very Agonizingly slowly…

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The Lid Began To Creak Open. . .

(End of IWTDFD Chapter One, ooh a scary cliffhanger, what’ll happen to the reader next. . .? . . . :) heh)

#wwe fanfiction #wwe kane #wwe triple h #wwe stephanie mcmahon #(not tagging vince bc fuck him he doesnt matter)#reader insert #wwe seth rollins #wrestling fanfiction #kayfabe only #tw choking #tw violence #tw stalking #tw evisceration mention #cliffhanger lmao #multi-chapter story #The Cryptid's Stories #also if i didnt put that line at the end- the lid part would've not been spaced out properly

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moxishcowboyshitinthejungle · 4 years ago

Text

Vintage Headcanons & Imagines

Part 2:

Back by popular demand...may I present to you...different story same old Stinger.

~90s Crow Sting~

• You would've never expected that being part of a wrestling roster was so exhausting.

•Not the part in the ring...of course not ! Being professional wrestler had always been your dream since you had heard about May Young.

• Needless to say the day you signed with WCW had been one of the best days of your life.

•But the part concerning all the backstage politics and mind games people tried to play would get on your nerves.

•You just didn't feel like part of the squad so to speak...

•Male wrestlers were trying to either insult you or flirt with you in the most stupid kinda ways, female wrestlers were talking behind your back and trying to steal your spotlight and higher ups often seemed to forget you existed.

• After a loooong discussion concerning your next match you were so in rage that you stormed out the door and kicked a trash can over...immediatly feeling sorry for making a mess that someone else would need to clean up. You held your hands against your face and sobbed quietly, deciding then and there that you didn't want to turn into one of those characters you despised.

• "Are you okay ?"

•You looked up meeting the eyes of Sting who was standing a few steps down the hallway.

•You wiped away your tears "I'm fine."

• He walked a few steps towards you "I can leave you alone if you want to but I've been meaning to tell you for a while now that I really enjoy watching your matches."

• A few more tears rolled down your cheeks but this time it were happy tears "Thank you", you whispered.

•"Ehhm you wanna come with me and watch the show from the rafters ?"

•"Yeah", you answered and smiled.

●●●●●●●●●

•Fast forward a few weeks the arena was packed, there wasn't a single seat empty and you were ready to turn the whole building upside down.

•You looked at Sting who, you could see it in his eyes, was just as tired of all the dishonesty and hypocrisy as you were. All of that would change tonight.

•"Show 'em girl", he said before you turned around and made your way down to all the people. The lights went off- that was your sign.

•You went passed the people and snuck under the ring. You heard members of the NWO above you tremble, eager for what's to come. But you would bet all you had that they could never guess what was about to hit them.

•The lights went back on again, the crowd cheered. You heard a female scream, must've been one of the many that joined the NWO entourage for a short time. You crawled behind the ring, no one noticed you because they were all looking up to the rafters were Sting was flying down to the ring. All eyes on him. But he didn't have his bat with him. He gave it to you.

•You slided inside the ring, tapping Hollywood Hulk Hogan on the shoulder. He turned around, confusion written all over his face, while he unknowingly looked at you with a Sting mask on your face and the bat in your hands, ramming it into his stomach before giving him another big it on the back that put him to the floor.

•You threw the bat away and started punching the girl grabbing her by the hair when you realized that your momentum was gone and the other members of the NWO were coming for you. But just as Scott Hall was about to lift you up Sting was entering the ring, you used their surprise and hit Hall with a hurricanrana. Throwing the bat to Sting afterwards.

•He cleared the ring, finishing the NWO up faster, than you had ever seen someone do it.

•After he was done and the crowd was going nuts, the two of you stood next to each other in the middle of the ring. You slowly lifted your mask up, revealing to everyone your true self.

74 notes · View notes

romiantic · 4 years ago

Text

𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒕𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒙 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓!𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌!𝒇𝒆𝒎!𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 ࿐ྂ

彡 ❛ 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 ❜

彡 𝗳𝘁. ryota kise

彡 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: fluff with very little angst

彡 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 2.3k

彡 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: suggestive theme at the end

彡 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: all characters are 18+. also can we talk about how BOMB this song is 🤧 y’all sleepin on this song fr

·˚ ༘ੈ✩‧₊˚ ╰┈➤ ❛❛ 𝙄 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙔 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘿𝙊 𝙄𝙏 ❜❜

❝ 𝐘/𝐍 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎 𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐔𝐏! You have two minutes till showtime.” Your manager, AKA, older brother, barged and announced to you like he didn’t update you almost five minutes ago.

You did your usual of sucking your teeth and rolling your teeth every time he barged in and interrupted your call, you replied with annoyance in your tone, “AJ I know! Can you wait a minute? Damn, so impatient for absolutely no reason.”

“I’m sorry who’s the one with hundreds of thousands of fans screaming their name and waiting for their ass outside? Me or you? Oh okay. Anyways, end yo little call with yo boyfr-”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” You interrupted, becoming irritated with your brother and simply wanted him to shut the fuck up. A great manager and brother, yet way too uptight for his job.

AJ rolled his eyes and muttered something but you flipped him off and pretended not to hear him until he left your dressing room. You gave your attention back to your phone, giving a cheeky smile to the blonde boy on your screen. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a nervous look growing on you but from what you could tell, he was choosing what shirt to wear to his photoshoot. Leaving him to be seen with a no top on and a pair of denim jeans.

Though it was typical to see your best friend’s exposed upper body, it was a sight you never got used to. His well-toned body, results from years of playing basketball in middle and high school, making your face hot, adding on to the nervousness you were already facing from your upcoming performance. Along with the pearly white smile he flashed at you creating a sick feeling in your stomach, something that you made you clench onto it and try to ignore. Now was not the time to be drooling over your best friend, who interrupted your stare with a laugh and said, “Are you gonna keep staring or are you gonna take a picture?”

Of course, he’d ruin it with some cocky line like that, you rolled your eyes and sucked your teeth. “Boy calm down, ain’t nobody wanna was staring.”

“Your nervous face said otherwise.”

“Akekeke, don’t you have a photoshoot to go to?”

Kise replied with the same energy as yours, “And don’t you have a performance to go to?”

You held up a finger to a screen then crossed your arms, “Aht aht, don’t worry about me now. Worry about yo lil pictures with that famous ass Russian model.” You wanted to roll your eyes just thinking about the brought-up woman but it would make it seem like you’re being jealous for no reason.

Kise let out a small laugh, adoring the irritated look that was starting to creep up on your face. “Somebody sounds jealous.”

You rolled your eyes and let out a scoff, “Oh please, like I would be.” You looked at the time on your watch and noticed it was about one minute until your performance. Your eyes widened at the time and hurried, you quickly ended the call with Kise, “Shit, fuck! I gotta go perform but I’ll call you back when I’m done.”

“And I’ll be waiting for you beautiful when you get back.” The golden-eyed boy winked at you yet you cringed and scrunched your face. “You’re so fucking corny Kise.” You hung up the call, grab any other pieces missing from your outfit, and headed out of your dressing room.

You traveled quickly around backstage, passing by many coworkers and background dancers waiting for you, to head into the small tunnel for artists to come out on stage. You stopped at the exit and gulped as you scanned the stage. An outside arena with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering your name, waiting for your appearance.

Usually, you would be at ease with concerts this large but for some reason this time is different. Unknowing the reason nor cause, you started to feel anxious, your hands mildly shaking and your throat going dry.

There was something in the back of your mind attempting to not make you perform, something telling you to not do it, it won’t be good, people will hate you. A voice there to influence thoughts, hoping that you would fall into the trap and just give up on singing. Though of course, you wouldn’t listen to that voice, that voice always lingered around whenever you were brought to perform, no matter where you were.

The only thing to distract you and keep you safe from that tiny voice is someone who you’ve longed to love. One who just settles your nerves, bringing comfort, and removing all anxious thoughts. One who would deem you as one of the greatest artists he’s ever listened to, maybe it’s opinionated but he loves you too much to disagree.

The now dawdling thought of his soft voice whenever he spoke or his flirtatious nature when you two joked around made a familiar feeling grow greater than before. Something replaced the anxiousness that was growing, a feeling that replaced the nervousness and calmed your shaky hands. Something that was the thought of Ryota Kise, he was like the medicine to all the pain you’ve suffered. A remedy to your anxiety, one of the many causes of the cheeky smile social media often sees you with.

Someone who you grew up and spent all your life with, always noticing how protective he was of you or the way he hummed one of your pre-recorded tracks that he was the only one to listen to. Celebrating one of your songs had hit #1 on the Billboard chart and the way he helped out whenever you hit writer’s block.

Every single thing, noticeable or not, made you grown to love the boy, starting from a platonic, playground friendship blooming to many years of trying to figure out if you are romantically in love with him. Growing familiar feelings of butterflies mixed with the thought of just wanting to cup his face and kiss him whenever he was around.

Just the ultimate feeling of wanting to be buried in the blonde boy’s arms and explain the blooming love for him made you want to sing the song you wrote for him. A new single that you never wanted to put out since you wanted only Kise to hear it, including that the song was your way of telling him what you felt all these years.

Though something changed your mind, something in your brain told you to tell everyone around you that you’re singing solo, no backup singers or dancers, only you on that stage. In this performance, you just had to do it yourself, nothing but you, the stage, and the microphone.

Everyone was confused by the last-minute change of plans but went along with it. They rescheduled it to where your first “official” song to start the concert with was right after your solo performance. You gave thanks to your team and took some deep breaths. You made sure your Bluetooth set was on and working properly in your ear, AJ handed you a mic and brushed off any wrinkling from your outfit and any smoothed out your hair. Uptight about his job yet made sure his little sister was looking the greatest for her performances.

You took deep breaths again, shook off any bad nerves, and walked on stage. The already excited crowd enraged and their volume expanded as they saw you stand before them. Everyone waving their signs that said, “I love you y/n!!” or “Y/N is so beautiful!” You waved to the audience and stopped at the middle of the stage, walking closer to the front of the stage as well.

You turned on the mic and tapped it to see if it was working, “Mic check one two, can you guys hear me?” The crowd immediately responded yes, you continued on to talk to them, “Okay good, have been getting technical difficulties with my mic and I really don’t feel like switching mics three times. Anyways, afternoon to all my lovely fans who made it out here or to those that are watching me live. I love you all and thank you for supporting me, I truly am grateful for every single one of y’all.” Everyone screamed out how much they love you and adore you, showing off their merch that they bought and waving the homemade posters.

You smiled at their response and cleared your throat as you introduced the song, “Thank you, I love you too. This first song is one that has been sitting too comfortably in my heart. A piece that came from genuine emotions and feelings I’ve tried to bury yet couldn’t no matter how hard I tried. It’s something that I never planned on dropping but I just felt like the world had to hear what I had to say. Hopefully, you guys enjoy it cause I did when I was writing this song at two in the morning before I snuck into the studio and recorded it. Was it worth it? Definitely. Now I may introduce to you, Not Another Love Song. A contradicting title isn’t it?”

You took a large breath in and out, you took a position as you waited for the beat to drop. As soon as you heard the familiar melody start, you sang, “I don’t wanna mess this up, could it be too much to say I’m in?”

The crowd lowered down and became silent to hear your new single, grasping the beautiful new lyrics you were singing and just vibing along with it.

You yourself were placing emotion as you sang, not noticing how proudly you sang the chorus or how you were smiling at the crowd the entire time. One thing was clouding your mind to even pay attention to those details, the same thing that more than likely pushed you to sing the song.

As you sang, the feelings for your best friend grew stronger, butterflies in your stomach, and the deprivation of his touch grew on you. Not even realizing how much you missed him until you turned initially to smile at AJ and your team yet saw a familiar face appear as well. You questioned it but then turned back to continue singing to the audience, only thinking that mind is playing games with you.

“I'm finna take my time, my mind, my rules. This ain't no crimе makin' love to you, though you ain't say this. But I had a hard time waitin' for you, boy. Like ooh, boy, you, boy. Got me where you want, just gotta say and it's on, it's like, ooh, boy, do you know you got me like where do you go when you're alone?”

As you sang, you noticed the crowd growing silent, their eyes widening, and their jaws dropping. You were utterly confused at was catching their attention, you turned to your team and your brother pointed behind, giving you a goofy smile as well.

You turned around to what was the cause of this silent commotion and right along with everyone else, your jaw drop and your eyes widened. The flirtatious, handsome model that everyone knew of was standing in front of you with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He walked up to you and smiled greatly, closing in the large gap between the both of you.

Seeing him walk closer to you made you want to say forget concert and sing the rest to him. Half of your feeling was already poured out, not even knowing he was listening to all of it. You didn’t think he would even be here since he had a photoshoot, not standing on an outside stage with a bouquet of roses and dressed in casual attire.

He handed you the roses and kissed your forehead, telling you, “Alone with you, away from the world, where else would I be when I’m alone?”

No response came from you, not even a single gasp or a sniffle to signify that you might cry. The way you responded to his presence was something that shocked the arena, everyone watching you on live, your team, and even the two of you yourself. Who would’ve thought you would be bold enough to grab his face and kiss him right then and there? You snaked your arm around his waist and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. He responded back by wrapping his hands around your shoulders and hugging you tightly, holding onto you to make sure you wouldn’t separate from him.

You pulled back from the kiss and smiled, softly combed his blonde hair, and expressed, “I love you, Kise.” Saying his name like it was something you’ve been aching to say, a name that you’ve buried away yet brought out today. A name that sounded so lovely and romantic when you say it.

Kise expressed as well, “I love you too y/n. I’ve always loved you and I will never stop loving you.” He kissed you again, he removed his hand from your shoulders and trailed around to find your hands. He removed your hands from his waist and instead intertwined them with his.

He felt you smile when he held your hand and smiled back. He stated in between kisses, “You know I’m staying on this stage to hear you finish that song right?”

“It’s fine, I need someone to do my next performance on anyways.” He looked at you and you did nothing but wink and mischievously smiled at him. Kise had a small idea of what he could expect but suppressed it to enjoy the soft moment he wanted between the both of you. A moment that he’ll never forget and a concert that will always be remembered for everyone around you.

彡 it’s like 5 am and I’m tired 🦧 the only thing that kept me up was the fact that I don’t have school plus I loveeeeee kise

彡 also the show olivia

彡 I don’t think I ever mentioned to y’all how much I love his ass but now is definitely not the time 😁

彡 I’m convinced if it silent black hair blue eye powerful men weren’t my type, cocky and flirtatious ones would be runner up

彡 anyways hope you guys enjoy + pleaseee listen to the song, I highly recommend plus ella mai is VERY underrated

bye babes, drink your water, stay hydrated, and remember that you are the baddest bitch on the planet 🥰 no matter what ANYONE says

𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝟏𝟖:𝟑𝟎 💗

#knb x black reader #knb x black!reader #ryouta kise x black reader #ryouta kise x black!reader #knb fluff #kise fluff #ryouta kise fluff

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charming-2d-boys · 4 years ago

Note

I'm about to get stupid specific! May I please have some Hisoka who's s/o has kids from a previous relationship (that he is very attached to) with 31 when the kids bio father tries rejoining their lives out of nowhere? Please and thank you!

Anon, I love you so much for this request! 😭💞

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did! 🙇

31. “They’re not your kids, back the f*ck off.”

A/N: a bit long, but I had too much fun and I just love the idea since I read something like this with other HxH characters by @ask-hunterxhunter (definitely recommend them, their writing is awesome and really well-thought).

Also, (E/N) stands for “ex’s name”.

-----

When you had gotten into a relationship with Hisoka, you were a bit apprehensive. Not just because of Hisoka’s personality, but also because of your little... secrets. Anyone could figure out at least some of the reasons why getting into a relationship while having kids from a previous relationship was something to be slightly scared of. This was exactly your case.

Of course, you hadn’t told Hisoka that you had kids during your first date. Or the next one. You really didn’t think that you’d get to go on even more dates with Hisoka in the following weeks or months, but somehow, you did. You were both getting along and everything seemed to go well. Maybe there was hope for this unlikely relationship. Maybe it was because of this that you decided to have a serious talk with Hisoka.

Even during this date, he was as charming and teasing as always. He seemed the same even when you told him that you wanted to talk, though you thought you saw his smile falter a little. Honestly, you weren’t feeling any better. Hisoka didn’t seem like the type to settle down anytime soon and the thought of one of the most exciting relationships you’ve ever had in years ending so abruptly honestly left you feeling uneasy. But your children were more important.

And that’s exactly what you thought about as you told Hisoka everything: the failed relationship that resulted in your daughter and son being born, the heartbreak and hardships, and the dating. You explained it in simple terms but with a firm conviction: since the relationship was getting longer and serious, you thought it would be the right thing to do; but it all depended on him. Hisoka’s face that day really left you wondering: would it work out? Would he leave you like others did? Or would he be the one to actually stay and try to make it work?

Turns out, after a few days of radio silence, Hisoka asked to see you again. At least he’d break up with you face to face.

Imagine your shock when Hisoka said he’d be okay with trying to work it out. Your kids were a little hesitant, but definitely open to meeting someone their parent trusted. Your daughter had immediately taken the initiative, shaking his hand as she introduced herself, while her younger brother timidly copied her. He did seem to be more confident when around you and his sister, but this was one of the moments when it didn’t apply. Hisoka just knew that he liked them already: kind and polite, but also brave - just like you.

Hisoka had grown attached to them quickly, as did they to him. He was fun, coloured, knew magic tricks and seemed to be a magnet, always playful and charming. He was always up for playing with them and enjoyed the fact that they looked up to him. It was like watching two ducklings follow their mother whenever he’d be on the phone, talking and pacing around while your kids followed behind him, eyes sparkling and admiring him as they talked quietly about his conversation, coming up with their own ideas and theories regarding the caller and subject. It never failed to amuse your boyfriend and in turn, you.

You had to admit that one of the best moments was after around a year or so of Hisoka being around and already considered part of the family. Hisoka was staying in your shared bed, both your daughter and son on either side of him, arms over his waist as he was reading. Their eyes were slowly closing, though you could see the struggle to keep them open as they blearily looked at the colourful pictures and tried to pay attention to his voice. It was honestly hard not to giggle or coo at the sight. Your boyfriend glanced at you, smiling and winking before going back to the book, making your heart beat faster.

As soon as he was sure that they were both asleep, he took your son in his arms while you took your daughter, slowly taking them to their actual beds in their bedroom next to yours. When you were ready to leave their room, as you left only their nightlight on, you heard your son wish him goodnight, calling him daddy afterwards. Hisoka automatically wished him goodnight and left with you to your shared bedroom. He was quiet until the both of you were ready to fall asleep and your fingers went over one of his cheeks.

“He called me daddy... ♣” He said in a low voice, looking a little... lost? And also little happy? Worried? You couldn’t really tell.

“Are you okay with that, Hisoka?” You were worried. Your kids already saw your boyfriend as their father, which was adorable. But what did he think about this?

Hisoka was quiet for a few more seconds before nodding, placing his hand above your own and keeping them both on his cheek. It must’ve really struck him if he didn’t really know what to say. But he seemed happier the more he thought about it.

Soon, both of your kids started calling him that and when they saw that Hisoka didn’t say anything and neither did you, it became something official. You didn’t feel the need to ask your boyfriend about whether he came to see your kids as his own. The way he acted with them and how he was actually treating them so gently and lovingly was enough proof of what he actually thought about this whole situation - a shock considering how Hisoka could be. The father role fit him pretty well and you were sure to tell him that constantly, one way or another.

What neither of you were expecting was a surprise visit from the kids’ actual father. Just like you’d told Hisoka when he curiously asked you, their father had left soon after your son was born. Apparently, being a father wasn’t really his thing, as he’d put it. You suspected that the fact that he couldn’t live his youth anymore or be with anyone else were also deciding factors in his decision to just up and leave in the middle of the night. You hadn’t heard anything about him for years and the fact that he just showed up at your house during a weekend was both shocking and confusing. The anger soon followed.

“Hey, (Y/N)! Long time, no see.” Your ex greeted you, a smile on his face and looking almost the same as the last time you’d seen him. You couldn’t utter a word, but your eyes were wide as you stared at him, almost thinking that maybe your mind was playing tricks on you. But it was real, you knew it, so you quickly snapped yourself out of your thoughts.

“What are you doing here, (E/N)?” You wouldn’t let him come in. And you also hoped that Hisoka was still staying with the kids on the couch, all of them watching TV together.

“I came to talk. About the kids. About us.”

“There’s no us. There hasn’t been since you left.” You crossed your arms, glaring at him.

“Oh, come on, you have to understand and get over it already! I was young! I was scared! I wasn’t ready to have a family and raise kids!”

“And I was? You think I was any more prepared than you?” You almost shouted, before realising that you didn’t want your family coming over or even being seen by (E/N).

“Look, I’m not here to fight. I want to talk to the kids. I want to get back into their lives and-”

“No. Absolutely not. You left and that’s that. If you would’ve come after a bit of time, maybe I would’ve overlooked this. But you came now. After so many years.” Your ex opened his mouth before you felt a presence behind you. You felt Hisoka’s arm go around your waist protectively before he gently came to stand beside you, slightly pulling you so you weren’t in front, just in case something happened. Though you both doubted that.

“And who might you be? ♣” Hisoka asked with a smile, though it was one that you had never seen before. It looked cold and sharp, like it could cut. Your ex gulped, clearly feeling the bloodlust aimed at him that was slowly growing in intensity.

“I’m (E/N). I-I’m here to talk with my kids.” You felt your boyfriend tense just the slightest bit and he actually made a card appear between his pointer and middle fingers.

“Since when do you get to decide that? I think my lovely (Y/N) right here is the one who gets to decide who the actual father is. ♣” The TV was still on and you actually looked behind, grateful that your children were still in the living room. You only hoped that things wouldn’t escalate, though you already had a feeling things wouldn’t go so smoothly.

“I am their father! I get to decide when I want to see my kids!” (E/N) shouted angrily, apparently not caring about the bloodlust anymore. That is, until he felt it come in waves. Even you started sweating a bit, scared about Hisoka’s power. You hadn’t felt anything like this before, not even during his hardest matches at Heaven’s Arena. This was another type of bloodlust - it was more personal.

“They’re not your kids, back the fuck off. ♣” Hisoka’s smile was completely gone and he almost seemed taller, more powerful than before. It was also one of the first times you’d heard him curse like that and were honestly worried about where you’d hide your ex’s body if he got murdered. You squeezed Hisoka’s bicep subconsciously when you saw (E/N) open his mouth again, only to see him stand frozen as a thin cut appeared on his neck. One corner of Hisoka’s card had a bit of blood on it and both you and your ex stared at it in shock. A trickle of blood slowly started going down, staining his shirt while Hisoka stared at him with anger and barely restrained murderous intention.

“Leave. ♣”

You had never seen anyone run so quickly in your life. (E/N) almost tripped as he tried to get away, not even glancing back as both you and your boyfriend stared at his retreating back until you couldn’t see him anymore. Hisoka’s arm pulled you into his side and he pressed a kiss to your temple, sighing and making you return to reality.

“Are you okay?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that, lovely? ♦️” You assured him you were fine before the both of you went back inside, finding your kids playing together while the TV filled the background with noise.

“Daddy, who was that at the door?” Your daughter asked, confused, especially when she saw that you were both a little more tense than before. She must’ve noticed that you were both taking your time at the door and the yelling probably made her take action, trying to distract her little brother before you both returned.

“No one important, munchkin, don’t worry~ ♥️️” Both of your kids ran towards you and hugged you before Hisoka scooped them up in each arm, both hugging him and then pulling you in as well for a big group hug. Hisoka smirked and kissed you on the lips, making both of your kids say ewww loudly before he also kissed them on the cheeks, with you tickling them.

“Can we have pizza for dinner?” Your son asked, looking at you with those big, innocent eyes of his.

“Sure, go and choose the toppings and everything.” Hisoka put them down before they dashed to the kitchen, where the menus were. You boyfriend hugged you tightly, kissing your neck and swaying you a little.

“Thank you, Hisoka. For everything.” You hugged him back just as tightly, thankful to have him and your kids.

“No need to thank me, lovely~ ♥️️” He felt just as thankful for the chance you’d offered him.

#500 followers event #hxh #hunter x hunter #hunter x hunter x reader #hunter x reader #hisoka #hisoka morrow #hisoka x reader #hisoka morrow x reader #hxh hisoka #hxh writing

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pedanticat · 4 years ago

Text

RWBY Volume 8 Intro Analysis

After a long wait, RWBY is finally back! New opening means its time for me to analyze every thing within the opening! This is a long one so read below the cut:

These shots seem to highlight the struggle of Atlas and Mantle trying to survive Salem invasion due to how if flickers between serene and chaotic. This is actually quite figuring since regardless of rather if things are serene or chaotic, Ruby struggle expressions are shown in both.

We get your standard group shot only with Ruby separated from everyone. Some people suspect that this means Ruby will be kidnapped but I see it as further proof of her struggle as she tries to lead them all.

Afterwards, its your standard “Focus on each member of Team RWBY” shot though I want to point out how I believe that the ball of lights repersent the light that they represent in this darkest hour.

The opening highlights how Ironwood descent into darkness will continue with it doing nothing but hurting his kingdom since at first we see Ironwood in the light with his eyes being bright and Atlas being in pristine condition only for him to become engulfed in a shadow, his eyes dim and Atlas is on fire

The opening reafirms Clover death by having him let go of his pin with each leaf reflecting a different character. Elm has a determined expression, Vine is meditating, Marrow has a sad and conflicted expression, Harriet is seething in rage and Qrow hangs his head low and defeated. While there expression could represent how they feel about Clover death, they may also represent how they feel about the current situation. I really want to focus on Marrow and Harriet since I think these two will be very important in the volume. Considering how he had reservations about fighting team RWBY, his reservations will only increase due to how Ironwood is acting. I feel like if any memer of the Ace-Ops turned on the Ironwood, it would be Marrow. Meanwhile with Harriet, with how she’s seething with anger, I feel like she blames Qrow for Clover death along with being furious with Team RWBY due to how they not only made the situation “worse” but possibly hurt her pride as well.

Continuing from the final leaf where Qrow is still hanging his head low, Robyn reaches out her hand to Qrow which he accepts. This affirms that Qrow won’t regress to how he was before despite losing Clover and will keep moving forward with Robyn helping him with the two no doubt planning their jail break.

As the Volume 8 hinted at, Oscar will be captured by Salem who is naturally overwhelmed and terrified by the situation.

I feel like this scene demonstrate not only how Ren and Nora are drifting apart from each other, but also how Jaune isn’t aware of what’s happening between his friends/teammates.

People think this signify Nora becoming a maiden but I believe its foreshadwoing the evolution of Nora semblance.

Classic symmetry to show the division of Weiss and Winter along with the surprise appearance of Willow and Whitley! For the former, it naturally shows how Winter and Weiss are on opposite sides which is a nice contrast to their scene in volume 7 in which the two are standing together. Though while Weiss holds her heads high which shows her conviction, Winter hand her head low which highlights her lack of faith of what’s she’s doing. And just like Weiss, Whitley appearance in this opening contrasts V7 in which instead of his father, he’s with Willow with him being uncertain instead of indifferent.

Chess has been used as an allegory within RWBY since the very first volume with V8 opening really highlighting that as it shows a chess game between Salem and Ironwood with Salem clearly winning. This makes a lot of sense since while Salem is smart enough to know that she’ll need assistance in order to execute her plan, Ironwood is still trying to do everything by himself with him not utilizing the chess pieces he could use. Hence why his chess pieces devolve and he ends up being the only piece on the chessboard.

I was bummed out how in V7, we didn’t get any Pietro and Watts interactions so I’m happy to see that V8 will be fixing that remedy with them appearing to be in a hack off. I like to believe that the hack off is over Watts attempt at controlling Penny with Pietro doing his best to ward off his advances as he looks concerningly at Penny. Not only would Penny cracked reflection in the scene could symbolize her battle for control along with the scene later on in the opening with Penny eyes turning red. It’s common knowledge that whenever a character eyes turns red, it symbolize said character turning evil.

This scene is a bit confusing but If I had to take my best guess, I’d say that despite Ren and Nora drifting apart from each other, they aren’t alone.

A cool action sight with the one on the left demonstrating all the obstacles the team is facing with Amity Arena residing in the middle which serves as one of the goals this volume. And on the right, despite Ruby and Yang different beliefs on what they should do, the two sisters are still on good terms

The heroes and grimm become frozen due to Cinder walking past themwhile ignoring Neo and Emerald. Neo is completely done with Cinder whereas Emerald is eager to see Cinder but is hurt when she ignores her. I feel like we’re going to get some Emerald and Neo interactions this volume along with Emerald realizing that Cinder doesn’t care about her. In addition, we see Cinder grasp her Grimm arm in pain as her power radiates from her body. I think its safe to say that the Grimm arm will spread more throughout her body.

The shot emphasizes how Salem has her eyes on the relics with us also getting a better look at the relic of creation with it radiating smoke just like the lamp. I’ve been unsure whether or not if the Relic of Creation has a spirit lime the Relic of Knowledge does, but the smoke does seem to strengthen that theory.

We go back to the glitching imagery at the start of the scene only for it to transition from chaos to serenity instead of the other way around which probably highlights how Ruby won’t back down and believe she and the others can make things right.

It took forever but the opening really went full anime with team RWBY sinking down in the water with Ruby even doing the “reaching hand out” trope you see in a bunch of openings.

Text that glitches in which while before glitch it would say Happy Ever After, the altered text says Happy? Ever again which really highlights how dark this volume is going to be. We even see the jaws of the Grimm that will be tracking down Oscar.

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kaz11283 · 4 years ago

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Chapter 5

Characters: Clint, you, Loki

Warnings: this is a SLOW burn, slight angst, fluff at the end, Loki starting shit.

Summary: life has never really bwen this complicated. Or well the life that you think you know has never really been this complicated. Living with the avengers, learning new things, yeah its gonna be a long road but what else do you have to look forward to other than the random runins with the god of mischief.

Loki Masterlist

~~~~~

It had been about a week since you had arrived at the tower and just as long as your incounter with Loki, you hadnt had much time to think about it though since you were normally nose deep in class work or training with Nat and Clint since Tony had sent you the message "If your gonna be an avenger you have to train like one, training starts at 6." You had left him on read after that, you had never been a morning person and you sure as hell wasnt about to start now.

"Alright y/n, lets try you on the bow today." Clint smiled walking into the arena where most of your training took place.

"After I finish this." You said pointing to your coffee. "I swear, you would think that after saving lives you would want to sleep in." You grumbled.

"Bad guys dont sleep, we dont get to sleep." Clint said wiping down a few of his practice arrows.

"You didnt get back till like 3 this morning. Im really starting to wonder if you sleep at all." You tossed your cup away and got up starting to do your stretches.

"Get over here so I can show you how to hold this thing." He saod holding out the bow.

"I know how to use a bow, I was in archery in high school. Top of my team." You grabbed the bow feeling the cool metal in your hand. His bow was diffrent than what you was use to, as light as air almost were yours had been heavy.

"This bow is probably a little different than what your use to. The metal is vibranium, the strings are made of some type of industrial woven string that Tony invinted in his lab. Might be a littlw hard for you to pull back." He smiled looking at the bow like a child.

"It is very beautiful." You examined it looking down the sights has you pulled the string back easily. "Absolutly magnificent peice of weaponry." You looked over at him and seen that he was staring at you wide eyed. "What?"

"No one else has ever been able to draw the string back like that." You let the string gently go back into place amd handed it back to him.

"I told you, I was in archery while I was in high school."

"Theres no way that someone no matter how skilled they are can pull that back."

"Well if your forgetting, apperantly Im not from here either."

"Yup almost forgot, Asguardian. Anyways. You know how to use one of these so lets set up a few targets and get to work. Tony wants to try you out on a few different things, eval you, and see what suits you best. Im already leaning toward you being good at the bow."

After he talked you through some of the basics that you had informed him you knew and he insisted on stating that it was 'mandatory' you were finally able to pick up one of the training bows.

"These bows suck. Stark has all the money in the world and he buys walmart brand bows? If you pull this one back to many times the string will break. Why cant I just use yours?" You roll your eyes looking back at Clint.

"My bow, my baby. If you want ine bad enough you can start off at the bottom and work your way up. You have a card why dont you buy one?" He countered, just then the foor opened drawing your attention.

"Sorry, didnt realize that the area was occupied today, I just wanted to get a few throws in woth the new daggers Stark and Banner decided to enhance for me. Wanted to make sure that they wouldnt bloe up in my face." Loki said walking over to the bay next to you and Clint. You hadnt had a moment alone with the trickster since in the hall weeks ago and now he was here acting as of nothingbhad happened. You looked down at the daggers that he had laid out.

"Wow, those are beautiful." You noticed that not only had he laid down two simple green handeled knives but he had also laid down a set of electric blue ones and a set of gold handle ones engraved with ancient symbols and roses with the stems winding down the hilt. "May I?" You asked leaning down to get a closer look.

"Of course y/n, you are the one that gave me those." He answered casually. Your breathing hitched and you turned to look at him.

"Thats not funny Loki."

"I dont know what your talking about. I was simpl-" he started before you cut him off.

"You know damn good and well what I am talking about. What did you expect? Me to pick it up and everything come barreling back to me? Here I'll do you one even better." You stormed up to the daggers and grabbed one of the gold ones up throwing it at the target on the far side of the room. You had expected it to fall short and clink to the floor but you never hears it fall. When you looked at the target you noticed you had hit the middle.

Clints jaw had dropped as he was looking around the wall to see what you had been yelling about. Loki looked at you with a smug expression. "I assume they must have had knife throwing classes at the school you attended as well."

"Shut up. Clint are we done, I have some studying for class that I really need to do." You looked at clint as he knodded still awestruck. "Thanks, I'll talk with Tony about getting a better bow for me to practice with." You took off toward your room.

Later after you had taken a hot shower and changed into some leggings and a baggy shirt you decided to go to the one place in the tower that you had decided to claim as your own little study corner. It was located on of of the high up floors that happened to be more of an observation deck, you could watch the team leave on missions, see the ocean, and watch some of the most beautiful sun sets that you had seen. You had notice while checking the place out that there was a fairly large window seat that you could spead your work out on as you looked out over the city, this small part of the tower was your little hid away, you hadnt seen any other member of the team up here so you figured when you needed the alone time you could come here. It had seemed to work for the most part until today.

You notice the shadow of the figure standing over you before looking up into the eyes of Lokis confused ones, you had noticed his lips moving before rolling your eyes and taking out your noise canceling ear pods.

"What do you want Loki?" You sighed placing them back into the chsrging dock.

"Well if you hadnt had those things in you would have heard me tell you that I was sorry for earlier." He sassed crossing his arms.

"How did you find me? No one really bothers coming up here." You pulled your legs under your chin and covering you feet with the throw that you had brought up with you this time.

"The AI system has no bounderies when it comes to privacy, it can tell you were anyone is in this god forsaken place." He responded. "May I sit?"

"And if I say no?"

"I'll sit anyways." He shrugged.

"Then what is the point in asking?" You leaned forward moving your papers and books out of the way. He reached down and grabbed a few of the papers to help you.

"Your doing a paper on Shakespeare?" He asked as he sat down reading over the page.

"Umm, yeah. Part of my agreement to come here is so that I can finish up my collage classes. Drama and Art Major." He hamded the paper back to you so that you could stick it in your binder. He gave you a look that you were use to getting from him. "Don't say it Loki." You out your hand up to stop him before he could even open his mouth.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He held his hands up.

"Hum, interesting. The god of lies actually sucks at lying. I should remember that." You smiled. This was the first time you had actually felt half way confortable around him.

"I could never lie to you." He smiled back. "You have always had a knack for seeing right through me."

"I wish you wouldnt do that." You sighed leaning your heas agints the window behind you.

"Do what exactly?" He askes mirroring your position.

"Where you mention something about my past. Its annoying and it breaks my heart."

"Well Dove, how do you think I feel? The worst part about it for me is that while you remember nothing I am stuck remembering everything. Your past, my past, our past together. It truly is the worst pain that I have ever felt. To have something that you have wanted for so long in front of you and they dont even want you back." He sighed looking out the window.

"Loki," you crossed your legs and placed your elbows on your knees. "I have never said that I didnt want you. I just dont know what is what."

"So you do want me?" He laughted.

"That is not what I meant and you know it." You leanded back again. "Tell me about us. About how you and Thor know me." He eyes lite up.

Chapter 6

Tag list:

@high-functioning-lokipath

@serpentargo

@drbaureid

@poetic-fiasco

@kgirardin

@sophlubbwriting

@supbeeches

@rosaline-black

@jesuswasnotawhiteman

@natandersonnla

@delightfulheartdream

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avengerscompound · 4 years ago

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It’s You and Me - Chapter 8

It’s You and Me: A Hawkeye Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Clint Barton x F!Reader

Word Count: 1724

Rating: E

Warnings: Mentions of past abuse

Synopsis: You and Clint Barton go way back. Since you joined the circus as a child, he took it upon himself to keep you away from the people who really wanted to hurt you. For years the two of you danced a line between dark and light.

When he chooses light the two of you go your separate ways.

Fifteen years later he tracks you down. Those feelings the two of you shared never went away, but now he is not only an Avengers but a single father. Can the two of you make it work after all this time when your lives have gone in such different directions?

A series told in flashbacks and current day.

Chapter 9: Then

“Welcome to the ring, the man who can’t miss - Hawkeye!”

The crowd cheered and Clint cantered his horse out into the ring, he climbed up, so he was standing and waved to the crowd as he did a lap.

“And the girl he can’t seem to hit, Sugar Snap!”

You rode out, first flipping off the front of your horse and then back on again, before bringing your horse up beside his, so the two of you were riding, standing up, side-by-side. “Ready?” Clint said.

“Always,” you replied.

You sat back down and spurred the horse on. As you took the lead on Clint, you collected your bow and an arrow from one of the clowns standing at the side of the ring. Clint did the same as he passed them and watched as you got into the handstand position on your moving horse. The crowd went deadly silent as you knocked your arrow with your feet, Clint got into the same position. You loosed the arrow as you passed the target, hitting it dead center. The crowd erupted in applause but before it even reached its peak, Clint loosed his arrow with his feet and it hit yours, splitting the shaft right down the middle.

The crowd went berserk. You and Clint, both vaulted off your horses and landed side by side in the middle of the ring, your arms raised. You bowed together, first to one side of the crowd and then the other, soaking in the applause.

You were 18 now, and the act was flawless. The ringmaster always had you opening these days, and it had been a long time since anyone had approached either of you about doing any of their criminal dealings. There had been an incident a year back where Clint had discovered Jacques with a load of stolen money and when he’d gone to turn the swordsman in, Jacques attempted to kill him. Clint had ended up with two broken legs, and his brother Barney had left the circus to go to college to get away from everything the circus was not long after that. He had asked Clint to go with him, but Clint had been so high on this rush of what he could only call fame, that there was no way he could let it go now.

Besides, he had Eden and he knew that if he left the circus it would mean leaving her too and he was not willing to do that.

Some of the clowns brought the rest of the equipment in and Clint put his quiver on his back and grabbed his bow. The next part of the act was about precision archery, acrobatics, perfect timing, and making sure he selected the correct arrow for each shot.

He turned and aimed an arrow so it looked as if it was aiming at you, but was in fact aiming at a small target stuck to one of the tent poles just next to the audience. Close enough that they could all see how he hit the target and that it would feel like they were at risk, but not so close that there was in any risk at all.

You ran backward and did a backflip, just as you launched yourself up off the ground, Clint loosed the arrow and it sailed under you, hitting the center of the target with a thud as you landed back on your feet. You began to run around the outside of the arena, and he loosed arrow after arrow in front of you, and you flipped over each one again and again, to the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ of the crowd while each arrow hit the target perfectly.

When you reached the target board, Clint changed the arrows. He began to loose them so each hit about a foot apart and a foot higher than the last, forming steps up the board. You climbed them as they hit, so it appeared as if you were stepping into the air and he was catching you with the arrows. When you reached the high wire platform above, Clint moved into a different routine.

He hit moving targets, including pinning three small targets that swung down from three different directions and pinning them together with one arrow. He hit targets while he was flipping from one platform to another. All the while soaking in the attention from the crowd. Above him, you were getting into a harness that would only be visible to the keenest of eyes.

When you were secure, you began dropping things on him. He started by quickly loosing arrows, sometimes three or four at a time, and pinning each item you dropped to a different target around the tent. Then he switched, dropping his bow and arrow and picking up a sword, as each item fell from above he sliced it in half.

A few of the clowns came out with big trench coats on and carrying umbrellas. You began dropping water balloons on them and while everyone was distracted, Clint put on his special trenchcoat and hat. It was the one designed for the finale of the routine. It had a locking mechanism in the arm that allowed him to catch you on the blade of a sword without his arm jerking on impact.

A huge bag of confetti dropped and exploded, queuing the clowns to scatter. You dropped a few more things down on him, letting Clint use his left arm to slice them in two, to show the crowd that the sword was real and not blunt.

Then you jumped. You spun in the air, corkscrewing down toward him, he brandished his sword, and when you hit the springboard, you jumped up and flipped. Clint switched hands and lunged forward, the elbow mechanism locking in place so the flat of the blade was facing up. You landed on it, sending a shock through his arm. Everyone clapped and you curtsied while standing on the blade. Clint moved to grab you in a large over-exaggerated way and you backflipped catching the brim of his hate with your toe and flipping it off his head. You landed and ran forward, catching the hat on your head.

The crowd erupted, everyone getting to their feet and cheering for you both. You helped Clint off with his coat and both of you bowed as your horses cantered back into the ring. You each ran to your horse and vaulted onto it’s back, taking a lap. Maynard entered the ring with his whip and took his spot on a podium in the middle as the clowns rushed in and cleaned up. “Let’s hear it again, for Hawkeye and Sugar Snap!’

The crowd applauded more and Clint followed you out of the ring. “And now, our very own Garden of Eden!” Maynard called, and Eden ran out past Clint, winking as she passed him.

Clint got off his horse and rolled his shoulders as you approached him. “I think I need to work on that first jump. I felt that arrow,” you said.

“You always say that, and I always tell you it’s in your head,” Clint teased. He walked over to the lip of the curtain and looked out at Eden as she did her contortion act. You stepped up beside him.

“Just before I came out, Jacques approached her and said something about some art job,” you said.

Clint bristled. He’d been hearing rumors about an art job for the past few days. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, mostly because he just tried to steer clear of all of that. There had definitely been a meeting with some art guy and the Ringmaster. Clint had remembered seeing the bald man with his black turtleneck and rectangular framed glasses talking to Tiboldt about the circus performers coming to some art museum as part of a charity gig. “She’s probably going to be part of that charity gig.”

You shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”

Clint turned and looked at you. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing,” you said, though he wasn’t convinced.

Clint had managed to get you to legal age without any more explicit photos being taken, but he knew Jacques still had a habit of sniffing around you. Barely legal wasn’t as good as illegal, but it would still make him money, and you had other things to offer now. The ability to parkour was a huge advantage to them, and you were very good with a blade. Clint knew that while the act was as good as it was, Jacques couldn’t threaten to have you kicked out, but he could offer you things and Clint wasn’t totally sure if you would always say no. Not if it was something like breaking and entering, and if this was some scam being organized by Tiboldt, then he was the boss, and if he said jump, you jumped.

“Sugar?” Clint pressed.

You huffed. “Wanted me to help him break in and help them steal some art. Said Tiboldt wanted everyone on the job.”

“Sugar!” Clint yelped.

“I said no!” You said. “Who wants a bunch of dusty old paintings anyway?”

“You think he’s trying to recruit Eden?” Clint asked.

You shrugged again. “Probably. Or Tiboldt already has and he was just passing on a message.”

Clint sighed, he wanted to believe that she wouldn’t be involved in anything like that, but love and trust were not things that were linked very strongly for him. “She wouldn't, would she?” He asked.

You shrugged again. “I dunno, Clint. You know her better than me. I do know that just about everyone else here would.”

He shook his head and stepped away from the curtain. “I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You nodded and didn’t say anything. Just as he moved away he looked back at you. “Hey… thanks… you know…? For letting me know.”

You nodded and folded your hands over your chest. “Anytime, Clint. You know that. It’s me and you.”

Clint wasn’t so sure about that. He’d believed it before about other people who had let him down. But as he sized you up, he thought maybe of all the people in this circus he was supposed to think of as family, you might be the one that fit the description best.

// NEXT

#clint barton #clint barton x reader #hawkeye #hawkeye fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #it's you and me

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songsofadelaide · 1 year ago

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