#so great now i have that to deal with what the actual fuck did i do to get that ughhhhhh

[silentscrying]

🏀 buzzer beater | chapter ELEVEN.

nba!gojo x manager!reader

summary: you thought you'd gotten rid of arrogant NBA star satoru gojo when he left the curses after your first year in basketball management. but when your contract is up three years later, you find yourself working with him once again as the manager for the sorcerers. as you navigate playoff season alongside long-time friend ieiri shoko and the sorcerers' insufferable star player, you start to realize his sudden departure from the curses may not have been what it seemed, and maybe gojo isn't exactly the person (or player) you thought he was, either.

warnings: language, slight unwanted advances, mahito in general, fangirl todo. || sfw. 5.3k words.

THE NEXT DAY, the Curses take the series against the Foxes. It’s official: the Sorcerers-Curses rivalry will come to a head in the NBA championships, starting on Friday in San Diego.

The team went harder than ever at practice today, not only drilling but talking strategy and getting into the nitty-gritty of the psychological impact of the rivalry. Yaga knows Mei Mei and the Curses don’t go easy, or fair. They’re ready.

As you pull out the keys to your apartment, you frown at the package on your welcome mat, a weird cylindrical shape with no return address. After you make it to the kitchen, you open it and find a rolled-up sheet of glossy paper. What?

You spread it out on your countertop and see an official signed poster of Satoru, in full uniform, palming a basketball in one hand with a huge smirk on his face. With the photo’s professional editing, his eyes look even more blue than usual, and you may or may not stare at them a second too long.

“Jesus fuck,” you say.

As if on cue, your phone buzzes.

six: did you get my gift?? you: is this for target practice? how sweet six: :( you: baby six: oh it’s like that😏 you: that was an insult

When your phone goes off again after you’ve relegated the rolled-up poster to an end table, you assume it’s Satoru responding. But instead, you find a text from Geto.

suguru geto: Thought about my offer at all?

Great. He waited until the Curses made the championships and just thought he’d try again? You screenshot the text and send it to Satoru.

you: what if i turn on read receipts just for this

six: HAHAHAHA

You won’t, because you’re still planning on taking Geto by surprise on Friday when he realizes you and Satoru are actually together. Your phone rings, and your brow furrows as you realize you don’t recognize the number or the area code.

“Sorcerers management,” you greet, and a high-pitched voice comes through the speaker.

“Hi there! This is Takada with the Reggie Star Show.” You hesitate for a moment. Reggie’s show is kind of a huge deal, and Takada has become something of a personality herself, although you’ve always found her a bit over the top.

“Uh, how can I help you?” you ask finally.

“So! Reggie would love to invite Satoru Gojo onto the show before the NBA championships.” You stand stock-still in your kitchen.

What the fuck, you mouth silently to yourself. It’s not like Reggie never has athletes on the show. But only Satoru?

“Not the rest of the team?” you clarify, and Takada laughs, a high, kind of shrill sound that has you holding your phone a bit away from your ear.

“Well, you see, we’re hoping to promote the series a bit by pulling the centers from both teams! Mr. Geto has already agreed, so we’d love to interview him and Mr. Gojo together.”

Oh, Jesus.

You are 100% certain this is Mei Mei’s doing. You instinctively want to reject her now, but this isn’t really your call.

“Let me run this by Gojo and the coaches, and I can get back to you, Takada,” you say, hoping that tides her over for now.

“No problem. Thank you!” she chirps, and the line goes dead. You groan, staring at the ceiling. This is not worth the hassle. You swipe to Satoru’s contact and call him.

He picks up on the first ring.

“Miss me already?” he drawls, and you roll your eyes.

“Asshole. So, guess who just called me?”

“If you say Suguru I’m flying to San Diego early and cornering him in an alley.”

You laugh. “Okay, Jesus. No. Uh, the Reggie Star Show?”

“What?” Satoru screeches.

“They have Geto coming on before championships,” you sigh, “and they want you too. To ‘promote the series’ or whatever. Drama on screen.”

“Mei Mei’s idea?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“I don’t really think I have time, considering… it’s championships and we’re training every day? Yaga would be pissed, probably. Not much of a publicity guy.”

Something in your chest loosens at his words. Truthfully, you really don’t want him to go, to be in a situation where he and Geto can only verbally spar through a guise of political politeness.

“Also, I just… don’t want to?” he says. You grin.

“Good. I was hoping.”

“Aw, don’t want me to launch my television career?” You sink onto your couch as he keeps talking. “That could be a great return on investment for you, you know. You have my autograph now.”

“Shut up. And don’t tell Nobara about this. She’d be so mad at you.”

“Scaryyy,” he says, and he’s not joking. “Come over for dinner?” The change in topic has you smiling as you kick your feet up on the coffee table. “Miki and Gumi are coming. And Yuji.”

“And the dogs?”

“Am I not enough for you?” he scoffs, and you grin.

“Not even close.”

“Yes, the dogs, you heathen.”

“Wouldn’t miss it!” you say innocently, and hang up on him.

—

Tsumiki meets you at Satoru’s door with a massive grin on her face and immediately pulls you into a hug.

“Hi!” she says excitedly, ushering you inside.

“Hey, Tsumiki,” you smile, and then there’s a rapid pitter-patter of the dogs rounding the corner into the entryway, and you fall into a pile of fur and kisses. “Hi, buddies! Hi!” Shiro shoves her nose into your face and Kuro plops himself down in your lap right as Satoru rounds the corner.

“Stealing my girlfriend,” he whines.

“Dumbass,” you say, and let him help you up. He plants a kiss on the top of your head and you blush against your will.

“C’mon. Pasta’s ready.” You follow Satoru into the kitchen and find Yuji and Megumi putting plates on the small table. You raise a brow.

“Whose cooking?”

“Whose do you think?” Tsumiki asks.

“I helped!” Yuji insists, pointing to the oven. “I’m making garlic bread!”

Tsumiki pats him on the shoulder and says, “Yes, Yuji, you did a great job.”

You fire off a quick message to Yaga to confirm that it’s okay to reject Takada’s offer, and he responds within two minutes, Please do.

You step out to make the call, and when you come back into the kitchen, Yuji and Tsumiki are giggling at something.

“What are you two on about?” you ask, and Tsumiki, still snickering, hands you her phone. It’s open to a tweet of a grainy computer screenshot, and it says SOMEONE LOOK AT ME THE WAY SATORU GOJO LOOKS AT THE SORCERERS MANAGER PLS PLSPLS

That’s not even the part that gets you. First of all, it’s not from the most recent game—it’s from before you were together. You’re wearing the Limitless shirt.

Second, Kasumi retweeted it.

“Jesus,” you say, and Satoru appears at your shoulder.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.” You swat at him without looking and then pull out your phone to text Kasumi. “I need to tell her before she finds out somewhere else.”

As if on cue, your phone lights up with her name. Your first thought is that she somehow already knows and is FaceTiming you to scream at you. You swipe and her face materializes in front of you, a massive grin on her face and—has she been crying?

“Kasumi! Are you okay?”

“Yes!” she practically screams. And then she holds up her hand, and you stare for a long moment before realizing she’s wearing a ring.

“Holy shit!” you screech. “Kasumi!” The grin splits across your face, and she’s laugh-crying on the other end of the phone, and then she abruptly freezes.

And you realize Satoru’s very much visible in the frame behind you.

“Alley-oop,” she says. “You motherf—Alley. Is that—”

You can see the tips of your ears going pink in the camera in the corner of the screen. “Surprise?”

“To you, maybe!” she laughs. “Holy shit. Holy shit! This is the best day of my life.”

Muta appears beside Kasumi, squinting at the screen. “Tell me it’s because we’re getting married and not because she and Gojo finally banged.” Megumi wrinkles his nose at the other end of the table.

“Kokichi,” Kasumi scolds, but Satoru cracks up behind you and you can’t help but follow suit.

“Congrats, you guys,” you say. “I’m so happy for you. Does Akari know?”

“She’s next on the list,” Kasumi grins.

“We’ll let you go, then,” you say, and take a moment to just appreciate how fucking happy your friend looks. Her blue hair is a mess and her eyes are rimmed red, but she’s glowing. This has been a long time coming. You couldn’t be happier for her, honestly.

When she hangs up, Satoru grins and says, “Aw, basketball romance.” Then he looks pointedly at Yuji and Megumi.

“I suddenly feel like a fifth wheel,” Tsumiki announces. Then she looks at Shiro and Kuro, curled up together on the couch. “Seventh wheel?”

You plop into the chair next to Tsumiki and wrap your arm around her. “Nah, Satoru’s seventh wheeling. I’m here for you.”

She grins, and Satoru falls to his knees and dramatically fakes his own death. The dogs leap off the couch to investigate, and soon he’s laughing as Shiro slobbers all over him while Kuro decides to lay across his legs.

In truth, you don’t remember the last time you felt this content. It’s a nice feeling, warm.

And then a smell hits you, like something burning, and you furrow your brows and turn toward the kitchen. “Is something—”

“Oh my god!” Yuji screeches, practically falling out of his chair and bolting for the kitchen. “The garlic bread!”

—

The results of turning down the Reggie Star offer have, quite possibly, the funniest results of all time.

You’re curled up on Satoru’s couch two days later with your feet on his lap and Tsumiki on your other side, Megumi and Yuji sprawled with the dogs on the floor. On the TV, Todo walks on stage to a cheering studio audience and locks eyes with Takada, and you honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he just passed out right now.

“Simp,” Satoru says. You look at him incredulously. “Okay, hey, I did not say I wasn’t also.” He plants a kiss on your temple and Megumi pretends to gag.

You swear Todo literally has physical stars in his eyes when he looks at her. He shakes her hand with both of his and does a weird half-bow and says, “It’s such an honor, Ms. Ta—“

“Oh, please,” Takada giggles. “Just call me Takada.” Todo goes red again, stammering out a response.

“This is the most painful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Megumi says. He’s only watching this because Yuji wants to.

“Mr. Aoi Todo,” Reggie Star says grandly, throwing an arm around him like they’re already best buds. “Take a seat, take a seat. Thanks again for joining us on such short notice!”

Todo takes his place on the couch while Reggie and Takada sit in opposing armchairs, the background flashing the Reggie Star Show logo as the theme music peters out. Reggie grills Todo with questions about the Samurai-Sorcerers series, playing against Yuji after playing with him in college, all the connections the team has with half of the championship bracket. And throughout, Todo just can’t tear his gaze away from Takada.

By the time it’s over you’re nearly falling off the couch, laughing yourself halfway to tears.

“Guys, it’s cute! He has a crush!” Yuji exclaims, and you all laugh harder. Tsumiki collapses into you, her hair spreading out over the fabric of the shirt you’re wearing—one of Satoru’s, blue and black and smelling like him.

After the commercial break, which consisted of an actually absurd amount of Takada promoting various useless products, Todo is nowhere to be found. Geto sits on the couch in his place with a press-worthy smile and a crisp, navy blue suit.

“And here we’ve got the starting center of one of the two NBA teams gunning for the championship title, Mr. Suguru Geto,” Reggie introduces, and the studio audience whoops and cheers as Geto waves them off, smiling modestly. You kind of want to slap him.

“Now, let’s not beat around the bush here, Suguru—you’re going up against the Sorcerers the day after tomorrow, and that means you’re coming face to face with your old teammate, Satoru ‘Six-Eyes’ Gojo.” Reggie looks pointedly out at the crowd, like they’re in on some big secret, and turns back to Geto. “How do you feel about this match-up, two starting centers with a lengthy history on the court with stakes this high?”

Geto sighs and leans forward a bit in his seat, one elbow on the armrest. “Well, Reggie, Satoru and I go back a long time.” You wrinkle your nose at the sound of his first name in Geto’s mouth. You feel weirdly defensive about it. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but we went to high school together and then college, so we’ve been playing basketball together since our early teens.”

Takada chimes in, “That’s quite the bond, going through the most formative parts of your careers together!” You can’t take her seriously, because in your head she’s still winking at the camera and waxing poetic about the merits of some new Japanese skincare line.

Reggie nods, encouraging Geto to go on. “I’ve gotta say, I am looking forward to seeing him again. He’s a hard man to get ahold of these days. It’ll be good to see him, albeit on opposite sides of the court.”

“No, it will not,” Satoru says with a false cheer in his voice, pointing a finger gun at the TV.

“And how do you think your odds are looking for this series?”

“Well,” Geto laughs, “the Sorcerers are talented, I’ll give them that. Clearly, they’ve made it this far. But I will say that the Curses are first seed with home court advantage.” He shrugs. “So do with that what you will.”

Takada glances at Reggie, as if asking permission for something, and he nods. “If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Geto, there’s another familiar face on the other side of things as well, a former manager of the Curses.”

Geto nods, a wide smile crossing his face, and you feel Satoru tense up beside you. “Oh, we miss her a lot, yes. She’s great at what she does. I keep telling her she should make her way back to San Diego if she feels so inclined.” He laughs, like this is some great ongoing joke.

“Oh, so you two still speak regularly, then?” Reggie asks, intrigued. Your jaw clenches, and Satoru’s hand encloses yours before it can become a fist.

“I just recently paid her a visit out east.” Oh my god. Oh my god.

“That fucker,” Satoru growls. Your phone buzzes with a message from Ieiri.

my wife: this little man bun bitch

my wife: what if i commit murder. what then

You’re seething, and even Tsumiki is frowning, the lines creasing her face, turning the corners of her mouth down. Paid you a visit? As if you’re friends and he came to catch up with you over coffee, not dropped in on your street in the dark to harass you about a job you don’t want?

“Well, sounds like it’ll be quite the reunion,” Reggie is saying by the time the smoke clears out of your ears enough for you to hear again.

Tsumiki reaches across you to ruffle Satoru’s hair. “He’s just trying to get under your skin. Don’t let him.”

You shoot a quick message back to Ieiri.

you: tbh i’d pay a lot of money to see y’all in a cage match

Reggie and Takada shift to broader questions about the series and you tune out most of the remainder of the segment, irritated when Geto answers one too many questions with Satoru’s name, subtly suggesting that the Sorcerers have none of the grit and discipline the Curses do.

“They’re a fun bunch,” he says at one point. “Like a barrel of monkeys. They just have a good time.” The tone is all fake, smoothed-out public relations, and it makes your blood boil. You know what he’s really implying, that it’s an insult. That the Sorcerers spend all their time hanging off hoops instead of drilling themselves into the ground. You know it’s not true. You’ve watched them work their asses off all year.

“God forbid we know how to have fun,” Satoru snorts, and you feel the tension easing from your shoulders just at the sound of his voice.

“You don’t,” you say teasingly, flipping yourself around on the couch so your head lands in his lap. “That’s entirely Kento.”

Satoru gasps and looks down at you. “You take that back. Nanami is the most unfun—“

“Not a word,” Tsumiki says helpfully.

“Everyone in this house hates me! Slander under my own roof!” He digs his fingers into your sides and starts tickling you, and you squirm out of his grasp and onto the ground, but he follows you. Soon it’s a mess of Shiro and Kuro frantically pouncing on both of you as you squeal for Satoru to let you go, and Tsumiki is definitely filming this whole thing, and it’s all so incredibly domestic and unserious and right that your heart swells in your chest.

Fuck Geto. He can’t get to you here, and he can’t take you away from the team you love.

—

Being in San Diego again is strange. The facilities are familiar, the gyms, the locker rooms, but you’re walking them a different person than you left them, experiencing the same setting in a new context that makes you feel like you’re living in one prolonged moment of déjà vu.

Nobara walks alongside you, bouncing between social media notifications and ranting about the way Geto made the Sorcerers sound on national television last night. Ieiri’s setting up in the training room down the hall, and Yaga’s pulled the guys into the locker room for a quick meeting before they launch into their last practice before the next day’s match.

You keep thinking about Yaga pulling you aside this morning, murmuring a quick warning in your ear. “If you see Mei Mei, no you don’t. Not worth the time. Just slip away.”

So far there’s been no sign of the other manager, and you’re glad for it.

Nobara’s phone starts ringing and she nods at you and peels off, pressing it to her ear and slipping deeper into the building. You lean against the wall, checking your own phone, making sure you don’t have any missed calls or emails.

The side doors open loudly, metal scraping across the floor, and you look up.

Fuck.

It seems Mei Mei doesn’t do her own damn dirty work.

“Oh, hello!” Mahito crows, making his way over to you. You didn’t like him when you worked for the Curses and you don’t like him now, his leering grin too wide for his face, hair tied into three sections behind his back. Him, you know—but you haven’t yet met the man beside him, a lanky, tall guy with oddly wide eyes and a long blond ponytail weirdly off-center on his head.

Of course, you know who he is. You’ve done your research, you’ve seen the roster. Haruta Shigemo.

“I hoped you’d be here.” Mahito comes to a stop in front of you as you push off the wall, crossing your arms.

“Mahito.” Your voice is cold, flat.

He frowns, an exaggerated, off-putting gesture. “Thought it’d be a happier reunion,” he says. He holds his arms out toward Shigemo with a flourish. “I’d like you to meet Haruta. He, ah, was something of a replacement for your Six-Eyes.”

Shigemo stares at you, unblinking, a small, close-lipped smile sending a shiver down your spine. You’re suddenly aware of how close these two men are to you, that your back is to the wall, that you’re alone in the hallway.

“Look, I really have a lot to get done—”

“Oh, we don’t mean to bother you!” Mahito laughs, high-pitched and manic. “We just wanted to welcome you back home, you know. Make sure you settled in to the old stomping grounds.” He leans in, breath smelling like some odd combination of fruity gum and stale crackers. You shudder involuntarily. “I hope you don’t take it too hard when they lose,” he whispers, too close to your face. “Should you need an out, remember we’re in your corner.”

Shigemo holds a hand up as you’re about to retort, tilting his head and studying you. “If he’s not your type,” he giggles, nodding at Mahito, “I’ve got some time on my hands tonight.”

Your face flushes deep red with anger, fists going white-knuckled at your side. “I do not need—”

“Excuse me,” says a cool, familiar voice, and the tension in your muscles goes slack as Kento comes to stand directly between you and your newfound nuisances. “I believe we’ve already taken care of any business that needed tending to before the match tomorrow, yes? Is there anything else I can help you with? We’re just about to kick off practice, and I’m afraid our time is limited.”

Mahito steps back, holding his arms up in false surrender. “Nanami! Hello!” He grins widely. “We’re representatives, of a sort. Just making sure the bunch of you are settled in.” Shigemo nods and looks Kento up and down, calculating.

“We are just fine,” he says flatly, nudging you with a hand behind his back. You nod at the two Curses players and storm down the hallway toward the gym, heart racing in your chest. Behind you, you hear Kento still talking. “Do tell Mei Mei her… thoughtfulness is noted.”

In the gym, the guys are warming up, and your eyes immediately lock on Megumi, angrily slamming an innocent basketball against the wall, over and over. Yuji dribbles between his knees without looking at his ball, watching Megumi intently.

You don’t see Satoru, and for a moment you’re worried, feeling a little off-balance, until you feel hands on your shoulders, spinning you around. “Well, hello,” he says, and you laugh, dropping your head into his chest.

“Fuck is up with Megumi?” you ask, nodding toward him, and Satoru frowns. You notice now the tension in him, the slight anger in his eyes, an energy like impatience and frustration all around his edges.

“Suguru was fucking with him. Saying shit about Tsumiki. I was dealing with him.” He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, considering as he looks over your shoulder at Yuji drawing Megumi back onto the court. “He’s such a dick.”

Kento walks in then, making his way straight over to you. “You okay?” he asks, and Satoru’s brows knit together.

“What? Why wouldn’t she—” He turns to you. “Why wouldn’t you be okay? What happened?”

“Mahito,” you say. “Shigemo, too. Fucking pricks.”

Satoru breathes in sharply, his grip on your shoulder tightening protectively. “If they put their fucking hands on you—”

“Toru,” you say, the nickname slipping out without your permission. It seems to calm him down a little, makes him look at you steadily. “Kento got them out of the way. And they won’t do anything to me. They’re just doing Mei Mei’s bidding, same as Geto, probably.” You grab his hands in yours, nodding at Kento to say you’ll be okay. He inclines his head and walks away, gathering the rest of the team in the center of the gym.

“They want to get under your skin. Don’t let them."

Your voice is steady and calm, coated with a reassurance you don’t feel. Your nerves are still on high alert, Mahito’s breathing down your neck, Shigemo’s unsettling scrutiny lingering in your mind. But you know they’re not after you. You’re a conduit for them, a way to fuck with Satoru. And you will not let them.

“Don’t let them,” he echoes, sighing, pulling you in, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“Remember, flagrantly disgusting display of public affection. Imagine their faces.”

He laughs, loud and bright, and something warm blooms in you at the sound. “God, you’re the best.”

“I know.” You pull back and shove him in the direction of the team. “Now go practice so I can watch you kick their asses.”

He grins at you, does a little half-bow, snapping back into his untouchable, unbothered self. “Anything for you.”

—

There's really no reason for you to have the clipboard in your hands. Every note you’ve taken is committed to memory. You know both team’s rosters inside and out, know every detail of the schedule, what a win or a loss means for the schedule, score projections, all of it. But you need something to do with your hands, so you hold onto it, clicking and unclicking your pen, scribbling in the margins of old brackets, trying to contain all your nervous energy into a manageable space.

And you’re not the only one overflowing with energy. The stadium is alive. The lights are bright, the crowd raucous, the massive hanging scoreboard broadcasting CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWN SPONSORED BY KFC. You don’t think you could eat right now even if someone shoved a bucket of fried chicken into your hands.

“That’s just mean,” Satoru mutters under his breath, gazing up at the advertisement.

“What?”

He shakes his head. “Nothin’.”

He glances down at you and then across the court, where Geto has been tracking the two of you with searching eyes. Mei Mei hides behind a clipboard as well, though you notice her eyes flickering back and forth, studying Satoru, you, Yaga. You pointedly avoid looking at Mahito and Shigemo. Pricks.

The NBA championship series. Sorcerers versus Curses. It all comes to a head here, an endless rivalry for a championship title.

“So, I’m thinking now or never,” Satoru says, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. When you realize what he means, it takes everything in you not to glance across the court at Geto. A smirk spreads across your face, and you grab Satoru’s jersey and pull him toward you.

“Good luck,” you say, and then you kiss him, hard and long and intentional, and you know Geto sees you.

“I think,” Satoru says, pulling back a little breathlessly, “we should do that every game.” He grins and you swat him away, making your way over to Ieiri and Nobara in the far corner, and you can’t wipe the smile from your own face. On the way there you chance a look across the court. Geto isn’t looking at you, but he’s looking at Satoru, talking lowly out of the corner of his mouth to Mei Mei.

Point for me, you think.

“You’re actually nauseating,” Nobara says when you reach her. You know she’s not serious. She knew the plan. She loved the plan.

“I’m making a point,” you say anyway. She follows your tilted head toward Geto and Mei Mei, and you watch the slow, shit-eating grin spread across her face.

“Oh, so worth it,” she murmurs.

You tug the headset on and listen to the unfamiliar announcers, wishing it was Zenin and Panda in your ears but settling for the new, faceless voices instead. They’re not the same guys who usually commentated on the home court when you worked for the Curses, and you’re oddly glad about it, that there’s not another reminder of the loaded history here right in your ears.

“Charles Bernard here with Rika Orimoto,” the new voice says, “ready to watch this long-time rivalry play out in real time.”

When she speaks up, Rika’s voice is bright and younger than you expected, animated where Bernard is entirely deadpan. Interesting partnership.

As the starters take their positions, you’re surprised to see that Satoru’s not the one taking the tip-off.

Kento is. And in front of him, eye-to-eye with a sardonic smile, is Mahito.

Ah, shit.

The ref’s expression is flat and unaffected, but his eyes dart between the two shooting guards as they face off in the center of the court. You wish you could hear what they’re saying.

“An unusual choice for both teams here as we kick off this final series,” Bernard says. “Neither of our centers taking the tip-off today.”

Kento shows no emotion as the ref lets go of the ball, and Mahito leaps, but he’s not fast enough.

“Number thirty-seven Kento Nanami swipes the tip-off without hesitation!” Rika announces. “Back to number six, the Sorcerers' Satoru Gojo, and a fantastic pass up to Fushiguro.”

The Curses' hulking point guard, Jogo, is right up in Megumi’s face with a massive hand reaching out to block, but Yuji grabs the rebound and pounds it through the hoop in seconds.

“And the Sorcerers take the lead just sixteen seconds in,” Bernard says. You look over at Ieiri and Nobara, grinning, and then back to where Mei Mei stands with a stony expression across the court.

You feel good about this.

Back and forth, back and forth. Ino is giving Jogo a run for his money, using his speed to dart around the massive point guard before he even sees what’s coming. In his breakaways Yuji keeps finding himself pitted against Mahito, and it seems like it’s always a fifty-fifty whether the block is successful.

“Some subs as we enter the second quarter. On San Diego's side we have Haruta Shigemo on for Fumihiko Takaba.”

“Yuta Okkotsu on for the Sorcerers!” Rika says, a little too excitedly, before she catches herself and calms down.

“Someone has a fangirl,” Nobara snorts beside you, holding just one side of the headset to her ear.

You can’t tear your eyes away from Satoru and Geto as they go up and down the court, always on each other’s heels, breathing hard. It’s personal, and everyone can see it. If they’re saying anything you can’t make it out.

Both teams are going all-out right now, and the fans feel it too. Megumi’s guarding Naoya Zenin like a shadow, something in the air around them tense and constant. You don’t see Yuji’s uncle but you can certainly hear him, somewhere behind you on the visitors’ side, screaming, “HELL YEAH! SHOW THEM WHAT A WIN REALLY MEANS! THESE FUCKERS WOULDN’T KNOW FIRE IF IT LIT UNDER THEIR ASSES!”

You give it two minutes before he’s kicked out.

Inumaki goes on, then Hakari, and at some point the Curses swap Jogo out for Dagon, and it’s go, go, go. You can barely catch your own breath by the half, the game wrapping around you like you’re the one playing it, and Satoru’s drenched in sweat as the team files back to the locker room. He reaches out and pinches you in the side and you stick your tongue out at him, like the mature adult you are.

“Gross,” Nobara says.

The rest of the game goes by in a similar blur of shots and blocks and heated matchups, Toge nailing a few free throws, Takaba coming back on and managing to slip past Megumi only once. The scoreboard never reads more than a six-point deficit.

You almost don’t hear the buzzer when it’s finally over, players skidding to a stop on the court, their heads turned up toward the scoreboard.

“Holy shit,” Ieiri breathes beside you. “We won. We actually fucking won.”

You rip off the headset, the grin overtaking you, relief and pride flooding your veins like a drug, and the rest of the team floods the court in celebration. They beat a first seed team on their home court.

Satoru catches your eye over the mass of people and smiles, and you wave back.

And this is only the beginning.

directory. || prev.

jjk taglist open: just send me a message!

@shutuppeter @mikikkoo @reactwithjan @theclassbookworm @lilactaro

[eddiegettingshot]

why not team buck? :(

like eddie deserves to go through his sad girl era after being so joyous but buck revels in almost dying

becauseeeee in daily life when the world is pressing in on him from all sides eddie, like bobby, truly believes that living is a curse. but when he’s dying all the noise cuts out. he is forced to stare down all the things he stands to lose and is left with his base-level instincts which tell him he needs to fight and that he was built to survive the anguish. as much as he is making small joyful choices he also needs to “choose” to stick around because he is not something his loved ones need to be protected from. and also i haven’t watched him struggle since season 4, plus we only got a whisper of what happens to buck when he thinks something is mortally wrong with eddie in 7x06 when he thought eddie was dead in the bathtub. if buck has the nde i am deprived of the opportunity to see buck do what he does best: scream and flail around in a way that is reserved exclusively for when eddie gets fucked up.

also buck almost dying pretty much never leads him to introspect but only inspires him to become a new version of himself defined by whatever it was that happened to him. you’re right he likes dying too much. they literally have done nothing with the time he already did die for whatever reason so i’m bored already. however the conditions now (he is bisexual, already sad/lonely/questioning what the hell he’s doing, eddie is unrepressing and probably not as inclined to hide behind chris) are such that having to deal with eddie almost dying again could throw some things into sharp clarity.

the reason i am very amenable to having it be both of them is that, even though everyone is always talking about how eddie never got to see buck’s reaction to the well or the shooting or whatever, i don’t think that is actually very important. what would be great is buck should see how his living/dying impacts EDDIE while simultaneously being forced to confront the possibility that he doesn’t have time to be stupid anymore because eddie is about to be gone and he needs to embrace reality, and fast, before he loses the chance to have what he actually wants for even just a minute <3

[donutfloats]

Wait, are The Fox And Ratau's friendship the "friendship turned mutually destructive that will never heal because neither can trust the other as they once did" variety of The Farmer and The Snake tale or are they the "trusting person helps someone in need, only to be betrayed once their help is no longer required" variety?

I'm pretty sure it's the latter, because yk its the Fox we're talking about, but can't never be to sure considering googling it will lead you to both versions of the tale, so that's why Im asking lol

Both if I were to be honest!

They were friends at one point, sharing similar situations (fucked over by gods)

The Fox however was using Ratau to get to the Red Crown, as it’s the only crown left that he has not tasted

Problem is that he maybe sorta kinda caught actual feelings, and started to care about the Rat, but when Ratau discovered The Fox’s plan he cut off contact entirely to them

So present day The Fox requests to eat Ratau with the thought that it’s because he’s the only being he can eat now that has a connection to the Red Crown, but really he still has feelings for Ratau and wants him close again

They were not healthy for eachother because of their relationship being built off of their dislike of the other gods

The Fox is basically in complete denial of how they feel, while Ratau has trust issues and deals with it by devoting himself entirely to The Red Crown

What would happen if Fox ate Ratau though?

My idea is below the cut (cw emetophobia, only mention of it)

So to explain why Fox would have this reaction I’m about to describe I have to quickly explain Fox’s motives for why they want to eat someone that’s related to The Red Crown

In my au Fox, when they were a mortal, was alive during The Great War. They saw gods die, homes burn, fields wither and seasons stop entirely

There was an intense famine during this time, perhaps a tactic used by Heket to dwindle the numbers of opposing cultists. Fox was amongst those starving

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Fox ate the corpse of a dead god

It wasn’t the first time they had to eat a person, they were starving after all so there were plenty of bodies to pick from for a time, but the bodies rotted away and there were fewer every day. So when they found the body of a dead god they jumped at the opportunity

They discovered that it had a taste to it, something completely unique that made it stand out from mortal flesh- and he liked it

That’s how it started, every time he found a dead god, he’d eat their body. Time would pass, the fields would grow plentiful again, but The Fox still craved more of the godly flesh

So they made it their goal to taste every crown bearer, and if they couldn’t eat the crown bearer- they’d eat their disciple instead, ones who have consumed their gods blood and now had it course through their veins

That is why they wanted the Red Crown, it is the last one, the final course

With that explanation of Fox’s motives, this is what would happen if they were given Ratau and ate him:

Fox would discover that the Red Crown’s flesh tasted of… nothing. No bitterness, sweetness, sourness- hell they would have taken rotten

But it didn’t taste of anything, and they’re devastated about this

All this time, all this waiting, even eating the one person who ever cared for them- it was for NOTHING

So that sends Fox into a melt down, they want to take back what they had done, so they throw up what ever remains of Ratau

All that’s left is bones

That’s why you never see Fox again after handing Ratau to him, as he sits at the spot he spat Ratau up at. Having made a pitiful shrine with what ever remained of his body, and sits there: in denial of what he has done, hoping maybe Ratau will come back to life again one day like he always did when he was a Vessel

[pizzabox-box]

Ah this is cringe as heck for me, but screw it, the last ask you got about a person not feeling much sympathy all for Peppi-No really was great, kudos to the OP of that comment since it really got me thinking, why even if I agree what the dude is doing is awful... I actually feel pretty fucking bad for him XD.

Like, I think we can all agree we've done shit in our lives that wasn't great, and that doesn't diminish the harm done or the fact other people have gotten hurt from our own stupid decisions. I also just think sympathetic villains are so interesting. (when done right, and hell you could argue even if he is the protagonist of the DMW AU, Peppi-No is a bit of an anti-villian) it really makes you think about the fact its so normal for people do try to avoid the consequences of their actions. I'm sure everyone has done something bad and instead of admitting fault have doubled down and tried to save face because they were SURE they could "fix" it without getting hurt from it.

Sure most of the time, (...I hope) its not as bad as murdering a person and taking on their identity... I think there is something really human about wanting to not get hurt, and feeling like shit about regrets we've had.

I think that Peppi-No even if what he doing is wrong, still... I dunno I can empathize. I mean.. he's sooo sowwy 🥺, its kinda pathetic, like a more extreme version of a puppy that just destroyed something important to you. Like "awww... you asshole, you're so cute though but goddamn it..."

I both am loving the angst of this AU and know its going to be so cathartic to see Peppi-no finally deal with his lie blowing up in his face and suffering MORE >:). I feel sympathy yes but I also love angst hehe.

(sorry if that wasn't super well worded? I don't normally send things like these >//>)

I assure you, it’s not cringe! It’s nice to see both sides voice their opinions!

Personally, I’m pretty divided on how I feel about Peppi-no. Part of me wants to strangle him for what he did (and what he might still do*cough* ), but at the same time, he’s,like you said, a sad, pathetic "sowwy" puppy, and I can’t help but feel bad for him.

When he took a piece of Peppino, he may have gained a conscience but not emotional maturity. He’s like a kid who just realized he fucked up in the worst way possible and is terrified of the consequenses. And fear can drive people to do terrible things, after all. Before that, his entire existence was just scrambling around, making pizzas out of whatever he could find: pigs, other clones, pizza monsters. He ended many lives, that but never faced any sort of repercussions. Never got a chance to learn "murder bad" ,

Then he takes a bite out of one of the kind Peppino—bam! Conscience, coherent thoughts, and memories of the guy he killed flood into his head. Can you imagine the whiplash, the shock, the stress? I certainly can’t.

Obviously, I’m not some dough doppelgänger pretending to be someone I killed. That would just be silly… no, really, I’m not.. But I can relate a little to what Peppi-no’s going through.

And let’s be honest, how many of us would have the absolute balls of steel to admit we killed someone’s friend in cold blood? Sure, it’s the morally right thing to do, but… you know. I’m not sure I could. (Once again purely hypothetical scenario)

Peppi-no's actions are unexcusable, he should know better than this by now, but at the same time you can kinda understand why he acts the way he does.

[kkukverse]

Driving Me Wild | jungkook x reader

“You're fucked, and you're making me fucked and we're fucked!” Jungkook intensely rubbing the sides of his head. If he breathed fire like Seokjin, he would definitely burn down the Perse garden. Though actually he would never dare because great-great-great grandpa Hades built it for Lady Persephone. Burn it down is equivalent to eternally expelled to the mortal realm. Just thinking about that makes Jungkook break in cold sweat. 

“Jungkook, where the hell are we?” Your voice starts to sound so little just like your body slowly inching closer to Jungkook. You just followed him to his room. The tiny room in your tiny apartment. You're the only one who resides in a slightly bigger room than his but this, there’s no walls! No door! It’s a garden! With hedge maze and all, the bushes are five times bigger than you. An endless spread of fields, as far as your eyes can see. 

“Exactly, we’re in hell,”

Jungkook chuckles bitterly as he whispered to himself. Not wanting to panic you even more. He can see your pupils shaking so bad and your whole body is quivering. Sighing, Jungkook, massaging the back of his neck tiredly. Of course, you’re a human, no one will get used to this. But the garden is like the most normal part of this hell. Great Grandpa Hades insisted on making it as if Lady Persephone is in her mom’s garden.

Though it’s a little dark in Jungkook’s opinion. It’s hell. Everything is dark, greyish and gloomy here. 

You can feel sweat running down your back spine, because when you’re nervous you sweat a lot. And this time it's no exception.

“Jungkook, you better answer me now, I swear. Stop groaning and stop making me more nervous. You’re not helping! Did we travel through time or what? Or, or universe? Oh god, don’t tell me it’s your brownie pot. Goddamnit I told you I can only eat one piece at a time. How much do you put in it? Because I always get so high like a kite-” your were stopped at his loud groan. With disbelieving looks on your face, your mouth gap at his attitude. He is rolling his eyes to the back of his skull.

He can do that easily since he has no brain! You scoffed. 

“Excuse me, this is not your time to act like you’re annoyed. This is all your fault,” your fingers frantically flapping around, pointing at him and everywhere. True, it’s his fault. If you’re not mad at him, you wouldn't follow him. And if you didn’t follow him like a mom nagging her lazy son to clean his room, none of you would be in this situation. 

Jungkook scrunching his brows together, biting his tongue trying to compose himself to not let out a yell. His yell in hell can shake the entire kingdom. Unlike on earth where a lion would've been rolling on the dirt at his squeaky yell. 

“____, shut up.” Jungkook breathed. Controlling his temper by slowly inhaling and exhaling. A method he learned with his brothers, the other princes. Shutting his eyes tight as he tries to think of a solution and trying to not burn this whole place down and wake everyone up with his yelling. You’re always stepping on his nerve and usually he can deal with that but not today. Nope.

“ARGH, are you kidnapping me?! Great! I don’t even have money! My parents wouldn’t be surprised! Super peachy fine, my whole stack of unfinished master thesis and my cat! Good job Jungkook, you caught a billion dollar victim.” You exasperated. Saying whatever it is on your mind.

Your cat Xi Yu, poor little plumpy Xi Yu, who will feed her now? Suddenly your face falls at the thought. Ignoring Jungkook’s figure that grows darker and darker with every word you spits. Hearing a grunt before his voice booming. 

“I’M TRYING TO TALK NICELY TO YOU SO PLEASE SHUT UP I NEED TO THINK!” Jungkook seethes through his teeth, panting heavily. 

Everything went on pause at his thundering roar yet you scoffed, breaking the three seconds silence.

“Really scary, Jungkook,” you smirks. See, anyone would've cried at that but this is Jungkook. Your annoying roommate who lates at paying rent, who shows up whenever he wants, who treats the house like a hotel room with room service maid -in his mind, that’s you- cleaning up his dishes, his dirty clothes on the floor. Sometimes he’d gone for weeks and showed up all grumpy and moody. Who does he think he is? 

The youngest Sin's prince, Jungkook The Wrath would want nothing but to snap your fragile little neck into two. Fist balled tight, he silently counting from one to ten backwards. Trying to calm down when his patience is almost non-existence. He gotta play the Jungkook The Roommate first because you have no idea you’re sharing a house with a Sin. 

How in the world can she walk through the portal? She is clearly unharmed -judging by her perfectly healthy pitch nagging voice- and she seems to be in a decent shape, two hands, two -short- legs. Just fine. But how? No mortal can walk through his portal. Jungkook thought.

He thanks his luck that he planted his portal in the secret passage of the garden. You would be dead if you suddenly showed up at the mansion. 

Calm down Jungkook, you’re so cool. You can fix this. Just drag her back to the portal, bribe her with endless stock of Reese’s and she will forget about today. Forcing a smile on his face, he turns to face you. 

Jungkook is tall and buff and every time he suddenly comes too close to you, it will always surprise you. Though flinching you still managed to shoot a glare. Hope it zaps him like lightning. But he doesn’t blink. Too used to your sharp glare.

“____, I’m gonna need you to listen to me,” Jungkook speaks in a hushed voice. He doesn’t want any underworld creatures to start noticing anything suspicious from the little commotion. 

As his figure looming over yours, Jungkook catches the sweet citrus smell and natural sweaty smell. Your smell. He curses as he sucks another breath of your fresh smell. You can see the deep furrow on his forehead, sharp eyes inspecting your face and neck, his nose sniffing you and you gasp so loud at that.

How dare he! 

Before you can scream at him Jungkook immediately palming your whole mouth with his heavily tattooed hand. 

“Shut up if you wanna live,” he warns. Dragging you behind a humongous bush, shaped like a man with a pair of wings. Both of your hands move on reflect, scratching his wrist from his hand that’s clasping your mouth. He hissed as your nails are hurting his skin. 

“You are making me crazy.” The scratch doesn’t actually bother him, he can handle pain, what a pair of clipped nails of yours can do to him? It’s your muffling voice, it annoyed him to no end. Though at disadvantage you’re still acting like you're a fierce tiger when you’re definitely a kitten at this moment. 

“Huppphh Jung-huh kook!” You tried to get away from his hold but he kept pushing you till your back hit some sticks and leaves, they’re not fluffy and they’re poking your back. You whine at the discomfort and maybe Jungkook noticed that because he spins you around. 

“Promise me you will not scream or else I can do this all day,” he says, more like threatening you.    

Aside from your heavy breathing, you can clearly listen to your heart beating so loud. Both from the extreme close proximity with Jungkook and the fear. You nod slowly, accepting the defeat. After he can sense that you’re calming down, he lifts off his hand from your face, “listen, you’re not supposed to be here,” Jungkook’s serious face is so scary, you noted in your mind. 

“No shit, Sherlock,” you retort back. It was just a petty habit whenever you’re bickering with Jungkook. 

Jungkook tuts, abruptly stopped and his eyes are challenging you to disobey him one more time. But you cower down, knowing that it’s a losing battle. You pouted.

“How the fuck am I gonna explain all of this to you?” Jungkook sigh, the question is more to himself actually but you can hear them loud and clear too. You bite back your tongue because you really wanna talk back at him, after seeing his death glare, you fly out a white flag. 

“And your smell,” Jungkook groans, his eyes landing on your neck, the area where you scent is so strong. That makes your mouth open and your eyes too, very wide. 

“You bastard!” You whisper yelling at him. Feeling so offended, you punch his chest, his stupid sturdy and hard chest. It almost makes a sound when you fist smack one of the pecks. 

Jungkook lost count on how many sighs he lets out in the span of less than 10 minutes. “What are you so mad at?!” He hissed back at you. “All I said was your smell, and you’re all feral for what?” Jungkook doesn’t pray but right he can do one or two. 

You gasp at his question. How dare he! Does his parents never teach him manners! To never mention a lady’s scent?! Acting like a DEA dog trained to sniff drugs. “Oh boohoo you’re a fool Jungkook. I know sometimes I sweat a lot, but that’s because I’m scared. And maybe I did run a little before I got to our home,” you turn shy at the last line of your explanation. “But that doesn’t give you the right to complain about how I smell, you sick psycho!” Jabbing your tiny finger on his chest. 

Jungkook blinks, once and twice at that. You’re upset because you think he thinks you smell bad? For the first time today, right after you managed to squeeze your small body through the portal, Jungkook burst out laughing. He laughs so hard while clutching his stomach and head thrown back. You can only see his sets of white teeth and wide mouth. Barking out a loud laugh. He wants to control the hysterical laugh that he himself has no idea he can do that, but they come out as wheezing. Wiping the tears on the corners of his eyes as he sucks up a breath. He stands back to face you. Only to fail once again at your dumbfounded face. You’re blinking foolishly but your face is upset. Lips frowning and brows scrunching. 

“Jungkook!” You stomped your foot to snap him out of it. Is he going insane?

“You’re driving me crazy,” Jungkook still hiccuping from the laughter. “You thought I think you’re smelly?” Jungkook wheezes. “Oh ____, you’re so stupid,” he continued. 

Frustratingly you pushed him aside and you mindlessly walked -stomping- your legs away from him. Whatever this place is, anywhere is better as long as you’re not with him. The imbecile!

“No no no. No, come back.” Jungkook strides his long legs and he laughs even more at how he can easily catch up to you. Your short legs are so amusing to him. How can someone as adult as you are and yet so small? “____,” he calls for you but your flushed face is like an answer that you’re not in the mood. Grinning wide, Jungkook lets you walk but he is way too close to your side. “Okay, ignore me,” he chuckles. 

You don't even know where you're going but you let your feet take over anyway. Jungkook is biting his tongue so he won't let out a loud laugh. Hands slide into the pocket of his pants while yours are crossed on your chest, your over sized hoodie is bouncing along as you stomped harder. A sign of protest.

Jungkook shakes his head at the contrast of your attire and his. He had just gone back from visiting a general who also resides on the mortal realm before he decided to buy some groceries. It was his turn anyway or maybe it’s the humane part in him pitying you who’d been all alone after he had to finish some task in hell. You once told him the reason why you need a roommate is because you are scared of being alone. Seems like he’s not being a good one. Well, he was never a good one ever since he stayed there but still.

When he stepped into the house with bags of groceries, he can see that you were wrapping yourself with your blanket as your eyes were trained on your laptop. The moment you can see Jungkook walking past you, you hit the spacebar of your keyboard to pause the drama that you were watching. Scoffing loudly, you stand up behind him. 

“Look I don’t usually meddle with other people’s business but good job Jungkook, you found your way back to this house. I thought I lived alone.” You clapped. Seeing his broad back only moving as he assembled the groceries into their place in the kitchen. You wished he takes care of his other stuff like how he delicately takes care of the snacks.

“Shut up,” Jungkook’s voice echoes, he bends down to place the milk into the fridge. Your eyes follow his movement before you let out a gasp. 

“I told you I drink full cream! That’s low fat!” You complained. Every grocery trip, the milk must be full cream. You can buy it on your own. What's the point of pooling together to buy groceries if Jungkook can’t even get it right?! 

“You’re being ridiculous. It’s milk. Full cream, low fat or chocolate or strawberry, it’s still a milk. Taste the same. Period.” Jungkook harshly grabs the carton of milk from your hold. He wants to put it in the fridge but you’re not backing down. You pulled the poor milk back and hence began the tug war of milk with Jungkook. That’s right, nothing ends well if the two of you bicker. No one knows how to surrender first. Jungkook pulled it a little too hard causing it to slip from your reddened fingers and his strength caused it to fall down the kitchen counter. Spilled milk is everywhere. Tainting the floor white. 

“You stupid!” You yelled at him. Looks like Jungkook himself was in shock as he certainly didn’t mean it. But there’s no use of crying over the spilled milk. 

“Great, you don’t want it right. Good job, ____.” He smirks devilishly at your frowning face. Annoyed that he used your favorite phrase whenever you wanted to torment him. “You clean it,” Jungkook makes a disgusting face and turns away while wiping the remnants of milk on his expensive pants.    

“No! It’s your fault. It was your hand!” You point your finger at him. Jungkook ignores you completely as he snaps the door handle to his room. He wanted to go back to hell away from you for a while. That is how this mess began. He has no idea how you managed to slip along the portal with him. Usually, not for the rest of Jungkook’s life, no one ever walked the portal. Unharmed and still sane. 

To you it’s bewildering, you swear you followed him to his room not this eerie garden. 

“Come closer,” he said with a low voice. He doesn’t want anyone eaves-dropping. Hell creatures are very fast at catching scared human’s smell. So, he thought the best way is to mask your smell with his. He pulled you closer since you don’t seem like you wanted to obey him anyway and he instantly hugged you. Not a polite greeting kind of hug, this is like a tight embrace, bone crushing hug.

“Jungkook what the fuck! You’re suffocating me,” you tried to wiggle away from his hold, but failed miserably. 

“Stay still,” he groaned. Irritated, but he will never forgive himself if anything happened to you because believe it or not he actually has a soft spot for you. The sin's prince will never let anyone take another breath if he was screamed at the way you screamed at him. Yet you're the only one allowed to torment him. 

Honestly, the hug shouldn’t take this long but Jungkook is lost in your smell. He will never admit it but you're so soft and tiny, and it takes him zero effort to circle your whole figure with his arms. He likes it. Nuzzling around your hair and neck, making sure he is spreading his scent all over you. “Kook,” you softly call him, feeling extremely ticklish. The whole scenario is so weird because you stone cold roommate Jungkook is hugging and smelling your hair. But you’re suppressing the laugh that is boiling ready to burst out. It tickles!

Closing his eyes he rubs his cheeks on the top of your head. Holy hell I never know this is so cozy. Jungkook thought to himself. 

“Kook,” you squeaked out loud giggles at the sudden move from him and Jungkook’s eyes were shot open. Your laugh is too loud. Everyone will definitely hear you now. The thing about hell is, it’s a place of agony and pain. The usual sounds echoing the place are sobbing, crying, wailing or shallow screaming of pain. But laugh and giggles? That obviously wakes someone up. 

Jungkook is right. 

Suddenly there’s a flock of crows flying above his head with loud caws. Indicating someone is awake. Must be one of his brothers. He silently pleaded it’s not Seokjin while muttering curses here and there. Pulling you tighter to his chest you were left speechless. This is because you don’t know what is going on and Jungkook is just dragging your body through the bushes. You let him, it’s not like you can stop him anyway. Weirdly enough, Jungkook is moving so fast, seeing the blurry of everything around you and yet he holds you so tenderly. With his one hand cupping the back of your head and the other one is on your waist. You didn’t even realize that your feet are not touching the ground, Jungkook just carried you. 

“Jungkook,” you sound so scared. 

“You’re okay, we’ll get out of here. Hold tight.” Jungkook hushed you. Of course this is scary to you and Jungkook shakes his head at his own mistakes. He needs to fix the portal, and explain everything to you.

The only one he can think of right now is looking back for his portal in the garden. It's close but then he heard you whimper while your hands are tight on him, hiding your face on the crook of his neck. You saw a big fire. So big! It’s like a tsunami but it’s fire. 

Jungkook doesn’t need to turn around to see because he already knows it’s Seokjin. Seokjin is his dear big brother. He is in charge of the garden. If Seokjin can sense intruders in the garden he just breathes out fires. To scare them away, his fire can never burn Grandpa Hades fire-proofed garden but it can be terrorizing to small creatures. Especially a human. The one that he’s carrying right now.  

Your eyes are shut tight as you can feel that your breath is getting more laboured. You can feel the heat from the fire and even though Jungkook is fast, the fire seems determined to chase him. This must be a nightmare. Your eyes started to water. You’ve always been scared easily. Which is why you needed a roommate in the first place.

Jungkook gasps in relief as he can see his portal. It’s not a door, it’s an emblem he hid around the black flower bed. You cannot catch words coming out of Jungkook’s mouth. They sound so foreign and you listen to him chanting the words. 

A rush of wind sweeps across your face and suddenly Jungkook halts in his step. He doesn’t even pant like any other human being did after they run a mile. He doesn’t even sweat. He waited for you to raise your head from his neck and your whimpering is echoing. You whip your head up as you can hear your own voice, it means that you’re in a tiny space, unlike the garden. And you almost collapse after seeing the same plain walls, your laptop and the paused drama, the spilled milk on the floor, and Xi Yu is licking them. 

“Xi Yu stop! It will make your tummy ache!” You jumped down from Jungkook’s arms. Rushing to grab your chubby cat. She is so heavy. 

Jungkook stares at you in disbelief, and he scoffed at you wiping the dripping milk under the cat’s chin. Xi Yu is a messy eater, but she likes Jungkook so Jungkook loves her too. “Well, your welcome.” he purposely raised his voice so you can hear him. Still carrying Xi Yu, with so much effort on one hand, you shuffled to Jungkook. 

He thought you were going to kiss his cheek as a thank you token, like in the movies, or maybe he gets to see you blush. What he didn’t expect was you kicked him on his leg, real hard. making him hopping with a painful look on his face. Glaring daggers and muttering “that’s for almost got me killed,” and you kicked on the other leg, “almost got burned up and roasted!” 

He yelped and rubbed his legs furiously. “Should’ve let Seokjin burned you,” 

You continue to scratch Xi Yu’s neck. Eyes squinting scandalously at Jungkook,  clearly you’re upset.

“I gotta go and settle this, I will explain later. Stay put, you brat,” Jungkook pointed at you and Xi Yu took this chance to start licking his finger. Jungkook instantly cooed at the fluffy ball. 

Jungkook turned his heel back to his door, but before he took another step, he looked back at you. With his sharp eyes and angry brows, and you imitate his looks. “Do not follow me this time.” He said in a low tone, intimidating you. 

“And when I come back, do that thing to me,” is that a red shade on Jungkook’s cheeks?

“What thing,” you bite back. 

“You know, the thing. Where I put my arms around you,” Jungkook swallowed hard at his own pathetic explanation while gesturing his hand towards his chest and you.

“Hugging?” You tilted your head, “You want a hug?” 

“Okay _____, fine. I’ll hug you later. Don’t have to ask.” Jungkook left you with a mouth wide open and his laugh echoed as he entered his room. 

“Did he just-” you asked the poor cat in your arms. She only meowed back.

“Yea, he wanted a hug and he made me ask if he wanted a hug and suddenly I’m the one who insisted him to hug me?” You shake your head. Truthfully you wanted to hug him too. He was so warm, or maybe it was you burning from the inside but no one needs to know that.

X

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“Jungkook!” Seokjin is already waiting at the gate of his portal. hands across his chest and his foot tapping the ground. his wings are wide spread, he just arrived at Jungkook’s portal after he found out the intruders of the garden

“You bring your mortal mate here?!”

[thenexusofsouls]

"Yeah, it would be wild... in all the wrong ways," Wade said. "Better that, though, I guess, than... than losin' your kid entirely..." And just like that, he had kindof a moment with himself. His head shook a little as he tried to get rid of the thought. What would his and Rose's kid been like? Would she even have let him be a part of its life? If Crenshaw had lived, would Rose have wanted to raise the kid with him instead? He'd never know... 'cause Crenshaw, Rose, and the baby were all dead because of his catastrophic failure as a leader and a friend. Wade cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway..." he whispered.

"I'm definitely not the ideal candidate for 'dad,' that's for sure. I guess it couldn't hurt to try at some point, but... not with my life the way it is now. I don't wanna be the reason my kid grows up angry at the world because he had a shitty childhood, you know? It's a big deal, bein' a parent. If I don't think I can do it right, then I'm not gonna do it," Wade said firmly. That it was important to him was plain to see.

Wade felt so badly for Rockland. Clearly, he was a great kid. Good head on his shoulders. Some issues, but all good kids had a sprinkling of those. To hear him say he kept messing up all the time made Wade sad, because that wasn't coming from him, it was coming from someone who kept telling him that. "Sounds like a problem with whoever's sayin' that, not you. So what if you keep messin' up? Mistakes are important in life, man. That's how people learn things. That's how we find out what not to do, and how not to conduct ourselves. Every kid makes mistakes and screws things up, they're still learnin' shit. If someone keeps harpin' on that like it's somehow unacceptable or somethin' out of the ordinary, sounds like their hang up, not yours."

He knew well, though, how powerless kids were sometimes to help themselves. They only had so much agency and then it was up to the parents, the guardians, the relatives, etc. to be the teachers and protectors. If those people dropped the ball or were abusive, kids couldn't do much about that most often. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'd say you could come stay with me, but I think that's call child abduction in most states," he said by way of a little levity, since the boy looked so downtrodden. "But hey... I'm probably gonna stick around in this city for a while. If you ever need help, you need a place to stay overnight, you need a little cash to get by... you can always ask me, okay? It won't fix everything, I know, but maybe it'll take the edge off to know you've got a safety net, right?"

Wade let Rockland look at the photo as long as he wanted before putting it back into his wallet. "Yeah, they were. They were really good people who didn't deserve to die like that," Wade said stoically. "That photo was as painful as it was somethings he could never part with.

He tried his best to answer the boy's question without getting too dark again. "Yeah, I had the most experience out of all of 'em. We uh... Sometimes when you go after bail jumpers, things get ugly. They run, they fight back, sometimes there's guns or knives or explosives involved, so we had our own weapons and tactical gear and all that. We functioned like a military unit, and I was like their officer. Ronnie and me, we were actually retired military, so we had more formal training, and we helped make sure everybody else knew how to use all the weapons and equipment, everybody understood the laws and what we were allowed to do, all that stuff. I researched the jobs, I made the plans, and out in the field, I gave the orders, and everybody had their part. Sometimes time and safety were an issue, so we had to be a well-oiled machine, you know? And we were, I thought. 'Til I went and fucked it all up. They did what I said, no questions asked. I demanded it of 'em. I ran a tight ship. And I got 'em all killed."

"Opera? Get the hell outta here, what're you talkin' about, opera..." Wade said, laughing more. "Do I look like I'd belt out an aria to you? Nah, man, I'm all about rock. Classic rock, that's where it's at. What about you, what kinda music're you into?"

When Rockland whipped out his own family photograph, Wade nodded. "Nice. Is that you in there?" he asked, pointing to the woman's belly. "That's nice that you carry that with you like that. It's important to remember loved ones. It keeps us grounded, right? It's not good to go around with your head stuck in the clouds." He'd meant that as a real sentiment, but then, feeling things were getting a bit heavy, he tried to lighten the mood once more. "Foggy clouds in your face... gettin' rained on... every now and then a migratin' goose flies at your head, you get hit upside the head with goose ass, it's just not good to keep your head up there."

Well that caught their attention alright. A middle finger had shot into the air, directed at a group of teens across the street who were hovering by a Duncan Donuts long closed for the night. The boy beneath the hoodie, propelling said finger, sneered. Just like that, the group of five moved towards him, the tallest, Shacks, sauntering forward with an irritating air of confidence. And to think, there'd been a time when Rockland had thought he was cool.

"You can't seriously blame us, Rocky." He looked to the others with cruel amusement, "It was a prank, get a sense of hum-" Too busy searching for the favour of his crew, he'd missed the draw of the younger teen's fist before it met his cheek.

"Prank my ass, I could've been arres-oof." Rockland was tackled by Archie, the smallest of the bunch, who was about a head shorter than he was, but kinda stalky for his age, and with the element of surprise on his side. Cane clattering out of hand, and across the sidewalk, the lanky teen scraped across the pavement, electric pain radiating up from his tailbone. He caught the breath that had been knocked out of him just in time to catch the thump of a fist to the nose in return. - For Wade

Wade didn't know what to make of this city yet. He'd only been here a couple days and was still trying to get his bearings. It wasn't a bad city, he thought, just cold. Just... really cold when you're alone, like all cities are. Nevertheless, Wade did some hunting and stocked up on other supplies, always wanting to stay on the move. That's how he got jobs, and that's how he kept sane.

Tonight had been quiet enough so far... that is until he heard sounds of a fight. But a fight... between kids? Was he hearing this right? Wade made his way toward the sounds, and sure enough, some kids whose parents were absent and whose bedtimes must be fast-approaching were going at it. Or rather, several kids were beating up on one unfortunate one.

"Hey! Come on, cut it out, what the hell're you guys doin'?!" Wade yelled, hoping to scatter the bullies. "You know better than this, get off him! Don't make me call the cops!" he said, watching as they all scattered... save for one. Wade knelt down beside the boy lying on the ground. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" he asked gently.

[vaguely-concerned]

the idea this game posits that just as much as or even more so than lucanis is having a demon problem, spite is currently having a lucanis problem. is everything to me. spite voice bitch you live like this???

[burinazar]

[note: i know for a fact i'm doing this for the same reason that i fixate on nebulous fandom anxieties at other times: helplessness regarding anxieties about larger geopolitical issues]

feeling in a very weird position right now thinking about the fact theres a nonzero chance that either one of the cosplayers ive become acquainted with or someone in their immediate circle could do brownface in the future and people are gonna come at me like 'hey why are you not calling them out and/or giving them a racial sensitivity seminar and/or personally fistfighting them on the floor of the doujin circle event'

[potter-inthe-tardis]

...

[kyuala]

SOOOOOO hard to go through everyday life trying to ignore the never-ending feeling that im just irreparably fucked up and therefore should just give up on everything

[mars-ipan]

every now and again i wonder why izuru assigned me hajime kin so damn hard it came true like how did this motherfucker know everything like that. and then i remember the section of my pinned post asking that people please not use the word "talent" if they want to compliment me bc i have a rough history with the idea of inherent talent. and how that is a genuine fact about me and something that has deeply influenced who i am as a person. and that that has been in my pinned post for longer than i've been a danganronpa fan. and i understand

[meatmensch]

The people that have abandoned me really need to stop talking to me like they have any right to tell me what to do, or I swear to God, I'm gonna get the FUCKING hammer.

[biolums]

does anyone know when life is supposed to calm down. does anyone know when it all ends

[thewalrus-said]

#twisting that knife with the biggest most innocent eyes (via @autumnslantern)

AS WELL HE SHOULD because, Lan Xichen!!!!! How long have you known that was da-ge's body, Lan Xichen?!?! How long have you known and yet Huaisang has had no word from you, no letter, no messenger pigeon or smoke signal to tell him da-ge's body had been fucking dismembered, Lan Xichen????? Why is Huaisang hearing about this at the same moment as everyone else, including the murder suspect, Lan Xichen?????

Ugh. I love Lan Xichen as a blorbo but (lbr, because) he is the most morally frustrating character in the whole story.

THE UNTAMED Episode 42/50

[im-like-if-a-girl]

I go back to college in a day I'm fucjing sick thinking about it

[mer-acle]

Aight now let the God Games begin.

Apollo: Uh I... Like killing that many Sirens was slight overkill don't you think?

Athena: Tbf the sirens are massive bitches...

Apollo: Fair, that was good vocal work sis, let him go.

Hephaestus: Trust is not given it's FORGED (winks) you see what I did there? Anyways he sacrificed his entire crew that wasn't his best moment.

Athena: Yes, but if you let him go, he can still BUILD a future with his fam.

Hephaestus (laughing): Good one, let him go.

Aphrodite: Odysseus should have been home sooner then his Mom wouldn't have died.

Athena:

Athena: Wtf seriously?

(Quick Thought)

Athena: Come on, Aphrodite.

Ares: DON'T MESS WITH MY GIRL ALSO YOUR ODYSSEUS IS A SLY BITCH JUST LIKE YOU AND HIS SON'S A LOSER.

Athena: (rage activate) DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK OF MY BOY LIKE THAT!

Ares: gods okay chill

Aphrodite: awww so cute you do have a heart

Athena: Besides Ares we can watch ody kill all those assholes in his palace and I'll get popcorn.

Ares: GREAT FUCKING DEAL!

Hera: Look I've been pretty pissed at Zeus lately just gimme one good reason.

Athena: So he's smart.

Hera:

Athena: He's... Uh... Did I mention he's smart?

Hera:

Athena: He's kinda funny.

Hera: seriously?

Athena: Okay goddamnit he's not a serial cheater like Dad alright?

(Collective gasps, Hermes is lying on the floor laughing silently)

Apollo: Oh wow.

Artemis: She actually just said that.

Athena: (internally) shit fuck just act like you didn't just say that.

Hera: Husband goals, let him go.

Athena: (internally) act natural... (To Zeus) So I won, let him go.

Zeus: You little shit-

(lightning)